THE subject of our story was a dear child of God. He went to be with the Lord eight years ago. His parents did not know the true God, and the father was a zealous idol worshipper. He had a large idol placed in his house. There lived an old Christian woman just opposite Sei-chan. In the same house with this old Christian lived two or three other Christians. Sei-chan having often gone to see this old sister in Christ, heard the story of the Lord Jesus, and, believing, learned to sing hymns of praise to his new-found Saviour. He used to say,— “When the Lord comes, I will, with my aunt, sister and uncles go to be with Him, but my poor father and mother, as they worship idols, they cannot go to heaven”. Thus he waited for the Lord’s coming. He attended the children’s meetings. A brother who used to teach the children once said,— “Sei-chan, understands the Scriptures very well.” Every night before he went to sleep Sei-chan prayed in a low voice. One night, after his prayer was finished, his mother asked him,— “What were you saying just now?” “I said”, answered Sei-chan, “O Lord, now I am going to sleep, take care of me”, and then continuing to speak to his mother, he said, “My aunty has taught me to pray”. But his mother answered, “What, you pray!” speaking in derision for she considered her child’s prayer only affectation.
Thus while the idolatrous worship of the parents went on, Sei-chan alone believed in the Lord Jesus. He was often scolded on account of his faith: his father had frequently sought to persuade him to worship idols, nevertheless Sei-chan courageously refused to do it. One summer Sei-chan was taken ill with croup: He was not quite eight years old. The parents sought help from their physician and from their idols, but all to no purpose. At the beginning of his illness, the parent thought the right thing to do was to put Seichan’s bed right in front of the box containing the idol, but Sei-chan would not submit to this and the father did not insist, and so he lay just under the window opposite the old sister’s house where he had heard the gospel. The parents being greatly deceived by the Buddhist teachings, sought to compel their son to drink some filthy water which had been offered to the idol, or another abominable mixture of an excrement and water, saying to him, — “Unless you drink this you will surely die”. But Sei-chan shook his head. They insisted, “Drink it! drink it!” but the boy closing his teeth together refused to take the devilish concoction. After two or three days while his father was outside beseeching the idol for his son’s immediate recovery, at the time when the sun was setting in the west, Sei-chan’s spirit calmly left the body and went to be with the Lord. One day a little while after his death, his mother said to the dear old Christian woman living opposite,— “My Sei-bo was a true Christian, after a while I’ll believe the God of Sei bo” (“Sei-bo” is the pet name for Seichan). Sad to say, however, she did not believe on Him, notwithstanding her knowledge of the Saviour. The parents buried their Sei-chan according to the Buddhist ceremony, but his soul is with the Lord, and he is very happy now. Among many, many believers whom we shall see in the Lord’s presence when we are caught up to meet our Saviour, this dear Seichan will be among the number. Dear reader, though you are yet young, you do not know when death will come. Will you fall asleep with a peaceful heart as Sei-chan did? or are you one of those who have no peace, like Sei-chan’s father? If you believe in Christ you will have no fear. “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord: and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” Rom. 14:7, 87For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. (Romans 14:7‑8).
ML 11/01/1903