“Called, Chosen, Faithful”

In Japan he was much impressed with the materialism of the people. He felt that there was a deep indifference to religion, and that appeals to the spiritual nature produced little effect, whilst the greed of money, love of power, and the terrible immorality prevailing, struck a chill of horror through his heart. The national religion . ‘appeared to have little hold on the people, and he saw temples fuller of visitors and guides than of worshippers. The rush and hurry of life distressed him.

A friend in Yokohama wrote :—

He spoke once to the foreign community and we were all struck with his apt illustrations, and when he could be persuaded to tell the story of his conversion. it impressed us as a modern version of St. Paul’s.

Another writer adds :—

Few could listen to the story of the Sikh lad who sought so earnestly after truth without their deepest feelings being stirred. St. Paul, after he had seen the heavenly vision, could not but testify to it. ‘‘ Now I not only know about Christ ; I have seen Him,” says this Sadhu of the twentieth century ; and as he tells the story, you feel with him the surprise he felt when suddenly Christ with wounded hands stood before him. ; 8

Whilst from Tokyo came yet another letter from a missionary in which he said :—

His clear putting of spiritual issues was very striking. His word had a spiritual authority behind it. He was our guest here and afterwards joint guest with us in Pekin.

The Rev. Takaharu Takamatsu, Japanese Pastor at Okasaki, wrote :—

He inspired many American missionaries resident in Kyoto, but the native ministers were even more inspired, I think.

A young Japanese who is in the senior class of the Third National College, Kyoto, had been coming to my house before the Sadhu’s visit. He is studying natural science and his mind is very rationalistic. He was seeking Light and could only see dimly. He was unable to be present at the Sadhu’s meetings, but came to my Bible Class when I spoke about him. He was very quiet and hung his head. A few days after he called at 7.30 a.m. to see me on his way to college. His right hand was bandaged. He told me that the previous night he had experienced the power of God.

He awoke at 3.30 a.m. after a very vivid dream, in which his father had forced him to do something against his will. He arose from his bed, and felt within himself a spiritual force at work that exercised the same control over his mind that his father’s had physically. We strove to resist it, but the more he fought against it the more he felt obliged to give way. Unconsciously his hands were clasped, and he began to tremble violently until his whole mind and body were filled with joy unspeakable. He wept aloud so that his friends in a neighbouring room woke up and came in to sce what was the matter.

The young man preached so earnestly that he constantly struck his right hand on the desk until it was hurt.

When he told me this story I explained to him that Christ was calling him, and he must confess Him and tell others of his experience.

That evening, returning from College with two students, one'a medical friend and the other a renegade Christian, he began to speak very earnestly about the Saviour, when a crowd gathered round to hear. The renegade Christian listening to his words wept out his repentance, and said that for the first time he had understood Christianity and would follow Christ.. Thus is the Sadhu’s short visit bearing fruit in the lives of our people.

Japanese Christians have been called to consider earnestly such great matters as single-mindedness and purity of aspiration after union with God; that prayer is not merely asking benefits but entering into communion with God; and that full self-surrender to Christ means a glad willingness to do and suffer His will even if it lead to the sacrifice of life itself. One such says :—

Because he has gone all the way possible in some directions he speaks with authority as a messenger from God.

A Japanese lady, after hearing of how Sundar found Christ, exclaimed :—

A dear friend of mine, deeply dissatisfied with the old teaching (of his own religion), struggled hard to find light, but failing he flung himself into a waterfall when he was but eighteen years of age. Alas! my friend knew nothing of Christ, had no one to go to in his darkness; the ground slipped away from under his feet, and so he ended his life.

For the help of such as these Sundar Singh went to Japan.

In China the Sadhu found the people still with a love and reverence for their ancient faiths, and declares them capable of high spiritual development. In both Japan and China he was amazed to find how by reason of there being no caste distinctions as in India, che acceptance of Christianity was made so much simpler from a social standpoint.

A missionary wrote from Peking :—

In Peking his coming was most timely, and I trust has given the Peking Cathedral congregation a gyeat lift. It was good to see a Methodist translating for the Sadhu in the Cathedral. It was fuller than it ever had been on a Sunday, and at the Monday meeting—a suddenly announced service—the Cathedral was again full.’ His way of putting things in English is after the model of the Gospels.

On the Sunday evening he preached to Europeans and Americans in the Union Church. From Peking he wrote saying he was in excellent health and enjoying the real cold of the fine climate.

At Hankow influenza was raging, but he was able to do some work. The son of the great missionary, Hudson Taylor, translated for him into Chinese. He then passed further into Shansi Province to the place where in 1900 many missionaries were martyred along with numbers of Chinese. When he heard how bravely they suffered, and how even boys had stood firm as they watched their parents done to death before they were called on to suffer, his soul was stirred to its profoundest depths.

He arrived unexpectedly at Nanking, so that no preparations had been made for him. The Rev. J. G. Magee went to the station to meet a friend, and finding the Sadhu there he took him home. Mr. Magee says :—

He preached at a chapel recently opened, and the people were much impressed by him personally, and by his striking message with its unique illustrations. They are still talking about him. Just to-day a young Chinaman said to me, without my raising the subject, that the Church members believed in Sundar Singh. He meant that Sundar Singh was leading the Christian life more fully than he had ever seen.

In the afternoon he spoke to a group of new converts, and at night to a mecting of missionaries on ‘‘ Witnessbearing.”” “ You would not need: to be told of the effect of his words on such a subject to such an audience,” the writer adds.

His own witness-bearing in those regions then came to an end, and within a short time he found himself amongst friends in Madras, and with their help speedily reached Simla. From there he went on to Sabathu, when he once more occupied the room where fourteen years before, after much prayer, he had put on the sadhu garb and made his solemn vow to follow Christ wherever He led.

At Kotgarh he was laid up with a wounded foot, and his journey into Tibet, much to his regret, was delayed. But on July 4 he was well, and once more turned his back on civilization and friends, and started on his lonely journey to the frozen highlands of his chosen field of labour, where amongst the great solitudes of the snow-clad Himalayas he again held high converse with God.

Even those windswept plateaux of Tibet, whose scanty populations refuse his message and drive him forth hungering into the wilderness, provide for him those great experiences about which he is so reticent, but which prove him to be specially called of God and cared for by Him when human help fails. For months together the Sadhu has wandered alone in regions seldom trodden by the foot of man, and has learnt to love the mountain peaks where he beholds God’s mighty works and often hears His “ still small voice.”

Amidst such scenes Sundar Singh has not only seen visions, but has gathered power for his ministry among the multitudes of the plains. And while his sensitive soul turns with longing to the wider spaces where he can be alone with God, he has walked-through countless temptations and still retains through them all the unspoilt sweetness and simplicity his lonely life of hardship for Christ has given him.