King's Business - 1918-05

THE KING’S BUSINESS 371 of intoxicating liquors in Great Britain is now only one-third of what it was four years ago” but why should it not cease altogether until the grains thus wasted are no longer needed to keep people from starvation or at least from suffering? We received yesterday a letter from Japan from Mr.-Archie L. Dyer, an associate of the well-known Rev. Barclay Buxton, that contains Some para­ graphs of the deepest interest as showing God’s way of working in behalf of those who trust in Him. He Writes : “ Some of us have long felt that Convention work in Japan needs to be more closely linked up with evangelism, and under the stress of a deep convic­ tion that it could be successfully accomplished I felt led to arrange a series of special meetings in Himeji in the autumn of last year in which we proposed to bring before the churches these two phases of Christian life 'and service con­ jointly. “ I sent a. letter home in which I wrote of my desire, and the response in the matter of financial help and prayerful sympathy was both Spontaneous and liberal, and we were given to See the fulfillment of our program beyond our most sanguine thoughts. Those special meetings of holiness and evangelism were wonderfully blessed of God and proved a most happy and effectual com­ bination. The program ran through six days and cpnsisted of sunrise prayer meetings, morning Bible readings, afternoon convention meetings and evening evangelistic services, these latter being held in one of the largest theatres in the city which we hired for the occasion. Pastors, evangelists and Bible women, together with a goodly number of Christians of almost every denomination gathered for these meetings, some cycled in from a distance of thirty or forty miles, while others came by train from even greater distance. The two chief speakers were Rev. B. F. Buxton and Nakada San, and both seemed to be spe­ cially anointed of God for those services. The Daily Bible Readings and Con­ vention meetings were very searching and very blessed, and as far as I could find out there was hardly a soul present at those meetings that was not met and blessed of God. This of course prepared the way for a time of blessing at the evangelistic services in the evenings, and the spirit of expectant faith and prayer of the Christians, interspersed as they were all over the building, helped to clear the atmosphere of unholy associations and made it electric with Divine energy. So intense' was the spirit of desire and eager listening pn the part of thè large audience which gathered at those services; that many felt the nightly evangelis­ tic meetings ought to have been continued on after the Convention for Chris­ tians had closed. As a matter of fact some one brought me a message during the meetings that the people were complaining that the evening meetings were far too quickly brought to a close ! Some of them had come from the farthest limits of the city to hear the Gospel and the addresses were all too short to satisfy the hunger of their spiritual natures which had been aroused as they sat thrilled by the peerless Story of the Cross, notwithstanding the fact that we had two and sometimes three speakers each evening. A good part of the audi­ ence consisted of theatre-goers who were accustomed to the suggestive plays and lewd songs and coarse jokes tainted with the sulphurous atmosphere of the pit, which are always to be seen and heard in such places, but they were moved and stirred and melted by a new and mystic power as they listened to the sub1 I T OW GOD WORKS. ■“

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