May 1924
T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
290
Though showing no outward emotion as sentence is pro nounced it is with the greatest difficulty that he makes his way back to his cell with the officer. On Sunday afternoon in our Jewish meeting, as one after another Hebrew-Christian" rises to his feet and gives his testimony a young converted Jewess seated near the front of the room rises and in a choked voice asks those present to pray for her brother, who is about to die, that he might come to believe in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. This was the converted sister of the young man just sen tenced by the Court, and at that time the writer was re quested to visit her brother in jail and try to persuade him to become a believer in Jesus Christ. After some little difficulty I was permitted to interview this young man. In the course of the conversation that fol lowed this young boyish-looking lad (for he was scarcely more than that) said: “ It does not seem right for me to now accept Jesus Christ and be saved when all my life I have refused to have any thing to do with Him. The case of the “ thief on the cross’ was cited as showing that even in the eleventh hour, God is willing and even glad to have us believe in Christ and be saved, and then how glad I was to turn to Isa. 1:18 and tell him (for he needed just that verse) that “ Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them like snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.” Looking across the table into his face I said: “ That’s good news, isn’t it?” , and he said “ It surely is.” Now we said “ if you can say from your heart, that you will here and now accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour I want you to reach over and give me your hand.” He did so with a grip that was like iron— holding my hand for a long time as I sought through the Word of God to help him into as surance of salvation. As I left the jail that day I thought what a cruel master Satan is, and how true are the words of Scripture, “ The wages of sin is death;” but then I rejoiced that here was an illustration that the Gospel was still “ The power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Alii. .■$!£. M M BIOLA HALL W O R K David Cant, Supt.—Our City Mission for Men in the center of Los Angeles. Meetings continuous from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. but when the isolation and loneliness creeps over them and gets too heavy to bear it is always the message of the cross presented in the Spirit’s power which brings them back to their first love. It recalls the man who, on a bitterly cold morning while crossing the ferry boat from Brooklyn, to New York was slowly but surely freezing. His friend notic ing this began to walk him rapidly up and down rubbing snow upon the numb parts. “ Tom,” he cried, “ if you love me, for God’s sake, leave me alone.” “Why, Bill, its be cause I do love you that I won’t leave you alone.” One of our men, dealing with a backslider, recently found him a very hard, stubborn case but as he turned away from the message of grace, another man, overhearing, expressed his desire to hear more and soon was brought to the true light. His aged mother, over ninety, praying for her boy had given him a Bible on leaving home, but know- E find so many people who in coming to California drop all their Christianity behind not even bring ing their Bibles along. “ I left it back East” is the frequent expression,
To be the instrument of carrying the joy of salvation to others, is the greatest privilege in this world. It is the means of satisfaction and makes life worth while. We wonder that Christian people in general are not more active in this soul saving work. Preachers have no monopoly on this kind of work. God is looking for men and women who will do that which is cited in the text which heads this article, “ Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season.” We don’t have to wait for a revival or a church service, but on the streets, stores and shops and the homes there are abundant opportunities. In the month of February we had a Union Meeting in the Bible Institute when believers came in from the sur rounding towns to witness the baptism of some converts and also to partake of the Lord’s Supper. It was our privi lege to baptize four converts, including a man and wife over seventy years of age. How we praise God that they are willing to obey the Lord in baptism. A congregation of about forty gathered. Will you not hold these converts up in prayer, for they have many peculiar temptations. We see the great possibility of increasing or extending this message of salvation, if we send a colporteur from house to house and thus reach every family in all the Mex ican colonies and section houses. We alone are unable to do it, so we ask of you, dear reader, to please help us in your prayers that God would provide the necessary means to have a helper in the great work that could thus be done. Pray! pray! pray! W O R K AM O N G THE JEWS James A. Vaus, Supt.——Bible classes and Personal Work, Street Meet ings and Semi-monthly Mass Meetings for Jews of Los Angeles. There is a passage in the Bible which the Holy Spirit caused to be recorded there—perhaps because He knew that particular passage would meet the need of some men and women better than any other. That passage is Isa. 1:18, “ Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” E would like (in fancy) to take our readers with us to the County Court House of this city. We make our way to one of the court rooms of this building. Here a trial is in session. The court room is crowded with spectators. The judge is seated on the bench. Be fore a long table are seated the attorneys, both for the de fense and the prosecution. Securely handcuffed to an of- 'flcer, and seated in the prisoner’s chair, is a young Jewish man. On one side are grouped together the twelve men ;and women that compose the jury. The jury has just returned a verdict of “ Guilty of mur der in the First Degree,” and without any recommendation •of mercy. The time for sentence has come. The judge •calls upon* the prisoner to stand and hear the sentence of the court. A solemn hush comes over the crowded court room and a •chill strikes every heart, as all realize that the extreme penalty is about to be pronounced. The judge turns his head away as though reluctant to perform the disagreeable duty before him, and then after asking if there is any reason why sentence should not be pronounced he condemns this young Jewish man to be “ hanged by the neck until dead.”
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