THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S one had ever placed a value on his life before and the truth struck home, and after that it wasn’t a bit hard to get a hearing from the crowd. It was fine. A body of earnest fellows was left behind, and a hearty “ come again” was given, and several wanted Testaments. Several of the Christian Japanese officers, who were just in their careers as such when we first met them a few years ago, are now holding very advanced positions and will soon be chief officers and captains of vessels. One such officer was met on one of the largest trans-Pacific lines and a hearty invitation was given the worker to talk over “ old times” and a real blessed time was had. The Book was opened and what a talk we did have! It was inter esting to see his real grasp of the truth which answers the question, “ Do these brethren of the Orient have a larger or smaller conception of the truth?” He said: “ It was a great moment in my life when I found myself or rather, was found of God to be a sinner. For years my supreme effort was to make myself pure and holy before Him. Another great moment was when I found my righteousness, not in time, but in Him, who was crucified for my sins. For years I tried to realize in myself and others the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A third, and perhaps the greatest, moment in my life was when I was shown that my complete work is not yet, and that when Christ shall appear again, then, and not till then, shall I be like Him. Conviction of sin, salvation by faith and hope of His Coming,— these were three steps by which my soul was lifted up to the joy and freedom of the heavenly vision.” How Working Men Are Reached Those of us who have been associated in the work of carrying the good news to the men in the shops, experience .a feeling of sadness as another school
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hands of the coming Christ, _'f-^it is evident that few can so realize the
WORK IN PACIFIC COAST HARBORS Oscar Zimmermann
absolute dependence and trust one must have in the sure Word of God as can the mrfn who boards a vessel with the Book in his hand, in these times of fev erish haste to load and unload vessels. God is giving access to the vessels and open doors for conversation on the busiest of ships, and the aim of the worker at San Francisco not to miss a single vessel, has only come short of that mark through utter impossiblity to reach an unexpected arrival in case the vessel left the port immediately. In some cases, however, even then, the same ship would enter the harbor again, giving us another opportunity. To show how the Lord opens doors to hearts time and again: A crew of Portu- guest men was found on a vessel lazily sitting around. They were at first hos tile to the Word. A Moody book was given to one of them and a conversa tion was begun. The fellow peeping through the book, apparently uninter ested, handed it back and said, ‘'Better give this book to someone else; it is only wasted on me if I take it.” By that time the other “ denizens of this sailors’ palace” were listening and now was the time to sa.y the right word. God gave it to the worker and turned the situa tion in favor of the Gospel. “No,” we said to the sailor, “ there never has been a time in our life when it was con sidered, even for a moment, that a book with God’s Word in it was wasted when given to a soul for whom Christ died.” “ You can’t make me believe it.” “ Sup pose this book cost us a thousand dol lars; what would that be in contrast to your soul valued more than the whole world? Besides this book only cost ten cents, and not ten worlds like this could save your soul.” Do you think he saw the point? Well, he took the book gladly. I suppose no
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