The First 'Baptism in the Inland Sea, Japan 
 
 Amfrlratt Sapttsf iltHaianarg Intott 
 
 THEMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 jcan SecHon 
 
THE ” FUKUIN MARU” 
 

 
 
 
 *‘3IFuktt£n JMacu” 
 
 
 
 THE GOSPEL SHIP 
 
 
 
 
 
 HE Inland Sea of Japan, famous for its scenery of 
 exquisite beauty, lies between the southwestern 
 portion of the main island of Hondo and its two 
 near neighbors on the south, the islands of Kiushiu 
 and Shikoku. Its charm consists in the many 
 wooded and terraced islands, large and small, which 
 dot its surface, many of which rise abruptly from 
 the water’s edge, some to a height of two or even 
 three thousand feet. Small hamlets lie nestled at their base, 
 and are alive with all the strange activities of the East. Every 
 island and every village has its Buddhist temple and Shinto 
 shrine which, with their characteristic architecture, add to the 
 natural charm of the landscape. Farming in miniature, sugar 
 growing, weaving on hand looms, straw braiding, making 
 mats and toys, fishing, and quarrying granite, are among the 
 industries extensively carried on. Every island has its school- 
 teacher and doctor, who cling to their antiquated methods 
 with a respect for tradition quite in harmony with an oriental. 
 
 Up to within a few years, however, no attempt had been 
 made to give the gospel to the multitudes living on these islands, 
 who in spite of the great natural beauty in the midst of which 
 they dwell, appear wholly indifferent to nature’s God. Some 
 years ago, Rev. R. A. Thomson, a missionary of the Missionary 
 
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Union in Kobe, Japan, at tlie eastern end of the Inland Sea, 
 urged that steps be taken to meet the need of this field, and 
 suggested the using of a mission ship, which might serve both 
 as the home of the missionary and as a means of reaching these 
 numerous islands with their hundreds of towns and villages. 
 He succeeded in arousing the sympathy and interest of a friend 
 in the project, Mr. Robert S. Allan, a ship builder of Glasgow, 
 Scotland, and a generous donation was made to the Missionary 
 Union with which to build the proposed vessel. 
 
 (daptaitt and tlxt ^t|tp 
 
 The question of where to secure the man for the enterprise 
 was not easily answered, but in the good providence of God a 
 diligent search was rewarded in the person of Mr. Luke W. 
 Bickel, son of Dr. Philipp Bickel, for years the devoted manager 
 of our Baptist Publishing House in Cassel, Germ.any. Captain 
 Bickel seemed eminently fitted to meet the peculiar demands of 
 the occasion; for, having been an officer in the British merchant 
 marine, and later a missionary in the heart of London, he was 
 at home on land and sea, and could both sail a vessel and preach 
 the gospel. America is his native land and he gladly responded 
 .to the call of the Missionary Union. He went to Japan in 1898, 
 and at once devoted himself to the study of the language and 
 to the superintendence of the building of the ship. 
 
 The “ Fukuin Maru,” or “ Ship of Good News,” as she was 
 called, was built at Yokohama and launched in September, 
 1899. Her chief dimensions are: Length between perpendic- 
 ulars, seventy-five feet; length over all, eighty-five feet; breadth 
 extreme, nineteen feet, two inches; depth moulded, ten feet. 
 
 4 
 
six inches. All timbers, strakes and deadwoods are of native 
 hard wood, decks and planking of Oregon pine. The vessel is 
 copper fastened and copper sheathed; her large spars are of 
 Oregon pine, the small ones of native “ hinoki.” Her rig is 
 that of a two-masted fore and aft schooner. The trial trip 
 
 346 miles of 
 
 extended over 
 ocean and nar 
 tween Y o k o 
 Kobe. The 
 vere one, but 
 were more 
 tory. It w a s 
 of the year for 
 three gales 
 tered during 
 “ But,” says 
 whether 
 whether ‘full 
 all plain sail,’ 
 to ’ or ‘ beating 
 shore,’ all of 
 convey to the 
 something 
 
 CAPTAIN BICKEL 
 
 rows lying be- 
 ll a m a and 
 test was a se- 
 the results 
 than satisfac- 
 the worst time 
 that coast, and 
 were encoun- 
 f i V e days, 
 the captain, 
 ‘running,’ 
 and by under 
 whether ‘ hove 
 hard off a lee 
 which terms 
 nautical mind 
 definite, the 
 
 result was the same, and justified the official mark against the 
 name of the ‘ Fukuin Maru,' ‘ Star Ai at Lloyd’s, 10 years.’ ” 
 A permit to float the stars and stripes was secured from the Min- 
 ister of Communication, and with a heart full of joyful antici- 
 pation, yet not without a sense of peculiar responsibility in 
 undertaking a work which partook so largely of the nature of an 
 experiment, the captain of the little craft set forth on his mission. 
 
 S 
 
Wlial tlir fflaptain 3Fnun& 
 
 The experiences which have been crowded into the years 
 since first the “ Jesus Ship ” and the “ long foreign priest ” 
 made their appearance among a people, many of whom had 
 never seen a foreigner and knew nothing of the message he had 
 come to bring, have been sketched in picturesque language from 
 time to time by the ready pen of the captain. Of the people 
 whom he found and his reception among them, he says: 
 
 I find the islands to be far more densely inhabited, and by a more intelli- 
 gent class of people than one might naturally expect. The people are 
 also more isolated than one might believe to be possible. Many old 
 customs, ideas, and prejudices which have disappeared elsewhere, are 
 here in full force, but with them there remains a much greater simplicity, 
 greater sincerity and honesty of purpose than in the large centers where 
 the race for wealth has led men, in a great measure, to crowd to the 
 wall qualities which, in the absence of any true religious influence, are 
 seldom deeply rooted. The aims and desires of the vast majority of 
 these people are exceedingly low; their religious ideas, as far as they 
 have these at all, are represented by a vague fear of things incomprehen- 
 sible to them. The need of effort in their behalf is evident from the 
 fact that of 113 towns and villages aggregating 110,000 souls, visited 
 during the first three months, only one has been found in which the gospel 
 has ever been proclaimed. 
 
 fVe have found great encouragement in the reception accorded to 
 the vessel by the inhabitants of the islands. Our meetings have been 
 quiet and orderly, usually being limited only by the size of the houses in 
 which they were held, and those the largest available. We have expe- 
 rienced no small amount of kindness at the hands of the people, who 
 have listened gladly to our message. While most of the interest shown 
 is the outcome of curiosity, pure and simple, we rejoice to know that 
 we are doing the bidding of our Master in seeking to make known his 
 message of love. 
 
 6 
 
(0nr ^par*H Work 
 
 At the close of the first year’s cruise it was reported that 
 sixty-two islands had been visited, with some 350 towns and 
 villages. The reception by officials and people alike, with few 
 exceptions, had been most cordial, although there was as yet 
 no indication that his message was understood or appreciated. 
 In renewing his permit from the government for another year, 
 the captain was encouraged to learn that a notice concerning 
 the vessel and her captain had been sent to every village office, 
 with a request that he be treated with courtesy. Of the ex- 
 periences and efforts of the year he writes : 
 
 When we look back upon the year, our hearts are filled with joy in the 
 thought of the privilege of being the first messengers of God’s love to so 
 many island homes. But as we look into the faces of the forty thousand 
 in the meetings, and the other thousands met by the wayside, with all 
 their wonder and astonishment at the old, old story, so new to them, 
 and the sorrow, sadness, and sin of which they speak so plainly, bear in 
 upon our hearts, we long to reach more rapidly the thousands in other 
 islands for whom the long silence of the centuries has never yet been 
 broken. Whether on the beach, in farm-yards, in houses large or small, 
 in village hospitals cleared of contents for the occasion, or be it in the very 
 temple of some god, in factory or tile-yard, in rice-wine brewerv or 
 under the shadow of some idol-haunted old oak, there has always been 
 the same eager crowd. Staid old \-illage head men listen with a thought- 
 ful air and an occasional incredulous smile of superioritt' ; also officials, 
 doctors, priests, and schoolmasters, rvho receive the profound respect 
 of the simple islander with a martyr's mien. There are boys just in 
 from a romp and eager for another, but restrained by the appearance 
 of perhaps the only foreigner they have ever seen. Ever and again the 
 l.>urden bearer of the land, the poor woman with the wee bairn strapped 
 upon her back, modestly takes an unobtrusive place and listens, as ever 
 woman has listened from the days when the IMaster spoke till now, with 
 
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wonder and deep longing written upon her face, eager to know more 
 of One who said: “ Come unto me all ye that labor,” and whose life and 
 death was one great love. And so the scenes, the faces by. thousands, 
 came and went, and it would seem a long year to have held so much, 
 but ah! it was all too short to touch even the very fringe of the need 
 which they represent. 
 
 “ 3ln J^rrtla in tlir ” 
 
 There were other experiences crowded into that year which 
 do not so readily appear, and of which one can have little or no 
 conception except through actual experience. At first thought 
 it may seem like a perpetual pleasure trip to sail in and out 
 among these islands for weeks at a time. Such is far from being 
 the case, however, for a more treacherous and dangerous sheet 
 of water could scarcely be found. The islands for the m.ost 
 part are very precipitous; sometimes they are so close together 
 that the deep water rushes with great swiftness through the 
 narrow channels, rendering it difficult and extremely dangerous 
 to pass through them. Squalls and sudden gales, often of great 
 severity, arise with scarcely a moment’s warning, and treach- 
 erous rocks lie just beneath the surface of the water, with no 
 mark of warning to the unsuspecting sailor. 
 
 Self-sufficiency, too, on the part of the people meets the one 
 who tries to draw their attention to spiritual things. Isolated 
 as these islanders are from the outside world, they will never- 
 theless contend that their country has taken her stand along- 
 side the nations of Europe. “We have the telegraph, railways, 
 steamships, factories, an excellent educational system, a fine 
 armv and a constitutional government. What more can we 
 need?” Their spiritual apprehension is dull; their thoughts 
 
 8 
 
are only upon natural things, and all that tends to be ennobling 
 and uplifting exists only in theory. It is a sad comment on 
 their religion that in the towns which are Buddhist strongholds 
 there exists the greatest ignorance, the meanest squalor and 
 the lowest standard of morality. One must needs exercise 
 great patience, and not be discouraged if results are slow in 
 coming. As the captain says, such soil “ needs ploughing and 
 ploughing again, and then harrowing and harrowing again, as 
 well as sowing and re-sowing. Hard, persistent, patient work 
 alone, will with God’s blessing, give promise of results.” 
 
Uiln* iFtrlb 0iui5pJ» 
 
 Five years have passed since the Gospel Ship first entered 
 the Inland Sea. The day of experiment is now over. The 
 practicability of the enterprise has been demonstrated beyond 
 question, but in view of the great need which has come to light, 
 it is acknowledged that further help is necessary. The islands 
 have now been divided into three groups, in two of which evan- 
 gelists have been settled at strategic points. They preach and 
 visit, so far as they are able, the towns in their vicinity, and are 
 already winning their way by their unselfish lives and earnest 
 proclamation of the gospel. Captain Bickel aims to divide 
 his time as nearly as possible equally between the three groups, 
 taking each evangelist in turn with him on the ship for four 
 months, and visiting many places which could not be reached 
 except bj' means of the ship. It is his practise to go only to 
 places in which no work has been done or is likely to be in the 
 near future by any other agency; and the 350 villages and 
 hamlets already visited and the 400 or more which remain on 
 his list, thus far untouched, are all included in this category. 
 What a s])here of usefulness for a man whose heart is on fire 
 with love to the Master, and who has a message which means 
 life and salvation to lost souls! 
 
 One brief furlough has been taken by the captain, mainly for 
 the purpose of taking his wife and children to Europe, because 
 of the serious condition of Mrs. Bickel’s health. His return to 
 Japan via America afforded an opportunity of hearing from his 
 own lips the story of the blessings, the anticipations and the 
 ever enlarging opportunities of his work. We learned also 
 something of the dangers and difficulties, but of these he was 
 
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loath to speak except as their portrayal helped to show what 
 might be done to lessen this element, and furnish such equip- 
 ment as would render possible a more rapid evangelization of 
 the field. 
 
 3lttrrpaBP& JlarilitieB 
 
 With such an end in view, Mr. Allan, the first and loyal friend 
 of the enterprise, sent out, not long ago, a steam launch for use 
 in connection with the ship. It is proving verv helpful in reach- 
 ing many a town to which the larger vessel could not go. Not- 
 withstanding this added help, experience has proved the absolute 
 necessity of a motor engine in the ship itself. Such added power 
 will result not only in a vast saving of time now lost in waiting 
 for favorable winds and tides, but in the preservation of the 
 ship, so often jeopardized by the contrary winds and narrow 
 channels, and in the safeguarding of the lives of the captain 
 and his crew. 
 
 Jfirat Jlruita 
 
 With a courage born of a steadfast faith in the ultimate power 
 of his message, the captain said, at the beginning of the work: 
 “ We will wait ten years, if need be, and strive on unquestion- 
 ingly, not looking for tangible results on so wide and new a 
 field.” But ere he left for his enforced furlough he received 
 God’s seal of approval on his efforts in the baptism of two 
 from among the ship’s crew. The story of the transformation 
 of these lives is beautifully told in our leaflet entitled “ Eight 
 Bells.” Later news has been received, of preparations for the 
 baptism of a schoolteacher whose gradual coming to the light 
 
has made quite a stir in the large island where he lives. He 
 has faced the probability of losing the position of head teacher, 
 which he has held for thirteen years; he has piet the insults 
 of his relatives who say they will disown him; and his mother 
 threatens to commit suicide, in the event of his baptism. Still 
 he is firm. May many follow in his footsteps! 
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN 
 
 368*1 Ed.* 1 5M-t*05. Price, 3 cents; 20 cents per dozen 
 
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