313
T H E K IN G ’ S BU S INE SS
agement they went back to the village. Here they farted and prayed for three days. At length a great spiritual revival came; they returned to the seacoast and from thirty to sixty men moved the logs, and almost before they knew it, the timbers were in the site for the new church. * MEXICO Many different objects o f religious ven eration are voluntarily surrendered by the Mexicans when they become evangelical Christians. Some of' these objects are scourges, whips for self-flagellation, cord made o f prickly and spiny glass, to be worn next to the skin as a girdle; crucifixes, medals o f gold, silver, brass, copper and iron, prayer beads, scapularies o f all kinds; silver votive offerings, representing arms, legs, hands and heads, which are regarded as holy relics to be preserved and vener ated in commemoration o f miraculous cures wrought by various saints and images. Agents o f the American Bible Society have canvassed a Mexican city and its suburbs for one month, offering copies o f the Bible, Testaments, and portions o f the Scriptures at every door, the humble hut where famine conditions prevail and the homes o f the well-to-do. In that one month, in spite o f the traditional fear o f the Book, the agents o f the American Bible Society sold in those thirty days over ten thousand copies. So far have the Mexican people come in their idea that God’s Word is the foundation o f the true liberty for which they long .—Missionary Review. The long planned-for opening o f the Union Theological School in Mexico has come to pass. A suitable building in Mex ico City was :secured, the central plaza turned into a great audience room with the wide corridor on the second floor serving as a gallery, and a platform built under the arch at the end o f the plaza. Here the dedi cation and opening exercises took place. The first five students to register repre sented as many different denominations. The boys come from far and near. Two came from Chihuahua, far in the north,
braving dangers o f travel, and one o f them was robbed on the way o f everything except the clothes he had on. The number o f pupils at the official opening was fourteen. ----------- O Testaments for Munition Workers Now that the work o f the Scripture Gift Mission in placing the W ord o f God in the hands o f the British soldiers is well organized, it was a happy thought on the part o f the comipittee to issue the Munition Workers’ Testament, specially, bound in khaki and lettered accordingly, and bearing as a foreword the King’s own words con cerning the daily regular reading o f the Word o f God. It is hoped to issue at least a hundred thousand copies almost immedi ately to be distributed at the various cen ters among munition workers. The need has only to be known to be realized. Huge munition centers have been called into being in various parts o f the country; men and women o f all ranks, classes, creeds and characters are working side by side, doing the most laborious and in some cases the most dangerous and deadly work that human hands have ever undertaken. ------------ 0 - — — The Word of God in Russia In spite o f all the unrest, revolution and upheaval in Russia the work o f distributing the Scriptures still makes steady progress. The superintendent o f the Scripture Gift Mission in Petrograd writes: “I have never had so many ask for the Portions, and never had so many thank me for them in one. week as I have had this week. My heart aches that I cannot do more. Db please pray much that all the Scriptures-being spread may bear fruit. At times I have to give up work when I have the opportunity o f giving thousands more who probably will never have the opportun ity o f getting any portion o f God’s Word again. Could those who love God’s Word see the crowds that we can reach every day, they would help you as they have never done, especially did they realize, as we do, that it will never again be possible to reach these. With most it is now or never.”
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker