“HAVE YOU ANY lamps to be mended?” The cry was heard again and again in the streets of Yokohama. He Eisho, the lamp mender, was well known to the missionaries and native Christians, for they knew that lamp mending was only a means to an end, and that end was the proclamation of the love of Jesus Christ the Saviour in every corner of the city.
He was born in China, but as his parents died when he was quite young, he chose his own way and went to Japan to seek his fortune. For a time he was prosperous and wealthy, but dark days came. He lost all his property, and nearly lost his reason as well.
Wretched, poor and ill, He wanted something to divert his mind, and seeing a rag dealer one day he purchased from him a book. That book proved to be a Bible, and led He to desire to know more of the Christian doctrine. Then a Christian man invited him to go to some gospel services, and by and by, He accepted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour and was baptized.
Said He, “God has taken away my earthly riches that He may give me heavenly riches. I’m quite willing to be poor, but I must find a way of leading others to the Saviour. How can I, a poor, humble Chinaman, do it in this land of Japan?”
Finally, he decided that going about mending lamps would give him wonderful opportunities to proclaim the gospel. So, day by day, he went up and down the streets with his little cart, crying: “Have you any lamps to be mended?” He had many earnest talks with his customers, and many passersby stopped to listen with interest to the beautiful message of love he told so simply and fearlessly.
When someone would press him to go into business again, he would reply, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
He lived in a tiny room in Chinatown and, poor as he was, he never kept all his earnings for his own use. Inside his old worn coat were two bags, and when he was paid for work he put half in each bag: one for the Lord and the other to supply his own need. He gave of his own living to the poor and needy. And often he would translate the preacher’s message from Japanese into Chinese for his own countrymen.
As he neared the end of his life he was taken to the hospital and there until the last he preached Christ to all around him. The day of his funeral, the little hall was filled with Chinese and Japanese, and missionaries, who mourned sincerely for the loss of the faithful devoted lamp mender who had gone home to be with his Saviour.
ML-03/22/1970