King's Business - 1916-08

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THE KING’S BUSINESS

just overflowing with praise and thanksgiv­ ing to God for all these various open doors. Oh, such hungry men with great, big, unsat­ isfied hearts! Oh, these tired, sad, wistful faces o f women! Oh, these light, careless, painted faces o f young girls! The women, knowing the sham and unreality o f the great, big, hard, cold world, drinking in the life-giving Word o f God like my poor old neglected lawn when once a week the opportunity comes to satisfy it with a good drink. How grateful these sad hearts are for the personal word o f hope and cheer, and oh, these mother’s boys with their poor, thin, pale dissipated faces in jails and hos­ pitals; what awful wrecks sin has made o f their lives—mental, physical, mbral! These great multitudes o f impotent folk, FEW days ago the graphic story o f •U*- the sudden loss o f the ill-fated steamer “Koanoke” appeared in the papers, With as much o f the details as could be learned ffom the three or four survivors o f the, whole crew. It was all so sudden and all so terrible, and such a tremendous, lesson o f the shortness o f man’s time and the need of salvation. In a few moments all on board, except three or four, were lost. The cause o f the disaster will never be known. Among the lost were the names o f officers and men, and many interviews were recalled by the workers on that ship throughout the time o f their labor in the harbor. Often passengers were spoken to, and time and time again the Gospel in print was given to, every man on the ship. Who knows the thoughts o f some o f those men when the end was in sight and no help to be seen anywhere out there on the storm- tossed sea, soon to be their grave? We believe that God must have been speaking to -them; the memory was alive with the message they had heard or read, we doubt not, and leaving, all to Him we can rejoice A

blind, halt, withered, waiting for the mov­ ing o f the waters—some hardly more than mere lads ,in their teens, while still others with their infirmities for more than thirty and eight years,' with np man when the water is troubled to put them into the pooL Oh, Christ! for men and women who have caught the vision, yielded to Thee, blessed Saviour o f sinners, to carry to these weary, tired, hungry,' despairing hearts the water o f life flowing from Thy great, loving, compassionate heart! So much to do, so many to reach, and the laborers so few ! Pray ye, therefore, the Lord o f the harvest that He would thrust forth laborers into His vineyard, for, brethren, the time is short and the night cometh when no man can work. in having had the opportunity to bring the Gospel message to them, having prayed Him often to own the Word. The last month again was full o f oppor­ tunities and while the hardness o f hearts seems greater than ever, and conviction of sin almost extinct in the hearts o f the greatest sinners, we found here and there that God’s Holy Spirit moved men to accept Christ. Among the large opportunities were the visits to the flagship o f the Pacific Fleet, where, while being allowed to leave the Gospel in print and Moody books m the cabins o f each officer, including the Captain and the còpimander o f the entire fleet in these waters, two men accepted Christ through personal work, and at night three men came put in a Bible Class held on. board in a'small gun room. The work­ ers found good attention, and also three or more consecrated Christian men on board o f the big ship. In talking with a number o f the men we found one almost persuaded and under conviction, and prayer is asked for that young officer. Since our last writing concerning thè

— --------- o _ ------------ WORK AT LOS ANGELES HARBOR Oscar Zimmermann, Supt.

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