city in America, north or south, the So ciety has three agents assigned to Negro evangelization, plus a Bible store and a Scripture depository in Harlem. Re cently in connection with our distribu tion to the jails of the city, I was in vited to address the prisoners at the Raymond Street Jail of Brooklyn. When the prisoners filed in and the chapel was filled, I was surprised to find such a large percentage under twenty years of age, and particularly that there were so many Negroes. When I asked the chap lain if the proportion of Negro inmates of the institution was as large as the at tendance at the service indicated, he said, “ No, Negroes just naturally go to church more than white folks, even when they are in jail!” Another important aspect of bringing the Scriptures to New York’s millions is the ministry among its 1500 blind people. For twenty-one years Miss Mary Keebler, herself sightless since child hood, has visited in the homes of the blind of the city, distributing the Scrip tures and teaching them to read Braille. Last spring I accompanied her to the home of a pupil, Gayle Peters, whom she had been instructing since the first of the year. I found he was an elder in a Presbyterian church in Harlem, had been an employee of the post office for twenty-four years, and on the side had done considerable concert singing. Two years earlier he had lost the sight of one eye, and for a year he had been totally blind. On the day I called he had progressed sufficiently in his lessons to read a little. At the conclusion of the visit I presented him with a copy of the Psalms in Braille and asked him to read a verse of my choice as his first selection. What a thrill it was to hear him slowly spell out the words of the opening verses of Psalm 103: “ Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his Holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Continued on Page 14)
of our Jewish agents, who was able to spend two quiet hours in explaining the way of salvation, that way which is open to Jew and Gentile alike. Occasionally a humorous situation arises, as when a Jewish voice informed me over the phone that he was manager of one of the hotels. Said he, “ I think you will be interested to know that we do not hide your Bibles away in bureau drawers, as so many folks do, but keep them in plain view.” Naturally my curi osity was aroused, and he continued, “ Those books seem to have some kind of mystical influence, for we And that our towels do not disappear quite so rapidly when we keep the Bibles in sight!” Our three lady missionaries visit in over sixty hospitals regularly, leaving their message of comfort and hope. Often our visitors have the opportunity of reading a portion of the Scriptures to the ill or aged who are unable to read for themselves, and to have prayer with them. Recently one of our agents re quested me to call at the Polyclinic Hos pital to see a young man she had en countered who was to undergo a major operation on the following Friday. I discovered that this young man was married and had two children. He said that while living in the South he had accepted Christ as his Saviour, but had lost his experience in the crowds of pagan New York. As a result he was facing the coming ordeal with fear. I was able to leave him with the comfort of the Scriptures, after praying with him. When I left he seemed to be restful of heart, and asked if I would call to see his wife and children. In our language work we have agents among the Russians, Poles, Puerto Ri cans and Italians, and some of them, in addition to those languages, speak Chinese, German, Norwegian, Swedish, and Lithuanian. A hundred years ago New York was a relatively insignificant newcomer among the leading cities of the world. Today it is the great metropolis of the West, a
Harlem Visitation textbook melting pot whose residents were born in some 75 different countries and who speak most of the languages known to man. They started coming here in numbers in 1847. By 1905 more than 1,000,000 were passing through Ellis Island al most every year. They are the people who physically “made” New York, dug its subways, laid its sidewalks. And al though the immigration tap has been turned down to a trickle for two decades, the people, like their handiwork, remain. One out of every three persons in New York is a Jew; in fact, there are more Jews here than in any other city'of the world—far more than in all Israel. We have two workers assigned to Jewish evangelization. And within twenty minutes of Times Square by subway, we actually use three African dialects. Since there are more Negroes in New York than in any other
Marine Department. The service men appreciate the Word of God.
Bible Class in Brooklyn
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Page Twelve
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