November 1943
1Ò7
I was afraid that by morning I would have forgotten the words and tune. Without paper on which to write, I looked at the hard white surface of the wall as a possibility. But there was no pencil. To use the end of the shoe lace which I had used in the morning would take too long, and darkness would be on me before I had begun. I reached into my overcoat pocket to see whether the guards had overlooked anything in. searching me. Sure enough, wedged into a corner of the outside pocket was a small Man churian nickel. With the edge of .the coin I quickly scratched the words in longhand on the wall—all the while praying that I would be able to read them in the morning, for it was dark and I was not sure whether the coin was actually leaving, a mark. This done, I trustfully stretched myself on the floor to enjoy a night of forgetful ness. When the morning light began to penetrate the cell, there were the words, barely distinguishable but clear enough- that I could read them and fix them in my memory. A Guard Asks Questions The morning guard came to peer through the hole in my cell door. His eyes had not completed making the circuit of the room when with a star tled look he asked, “What’s that you’ve written on the wall?” I tried to trans late the words to him as best I could, wondering all the while how he had noticed them so quickly when I could barely make them out. Later I ob served that the light from the window struck the words in such a way that to any one standing at the door they stood out like a neon light. God had arranged it, that these words might be a testimony given for Him. I read: “ Give thanks, give thanks unto Jeho vah, for He of kings is King! Let every nation, race, each tongue and tribe, unto Him praises bring.” I told the guard how, even in my prison cell, my heart was overflowing with . thanksgiving and praise, and then I explained the words to him. I told him that “Jehovah,” the name of the God to whom my thanks were ad dressed, meant “I AM THAT I AM,” indicating that He is the self-existent and uncreated God, not descended from the sun, like the Japanese sun- goddess, and not the creation of men’s hands or of imaginations, as so many heathen idols are. I told him, what was obvious to both of us, that though I Was a citizen of the United States, my own country was/-fiot able to de liver me at that particular moment, but my confidence was primarily in One who is King of kings and Lord of lords, One who is greater than the ruler of my own country, and because [Continued on Page 438]
Thèmes for Thanksgiving By ARTHUR HEDLEY Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England
Could we begin the day more ap propriately than . by showing forth God’s loving-kindness? And at even tide it is pleasant and profitable to recall His faithfulness through another day. Beginning the Day with Praise His loving-kindness is to be our theme in the morning. “Cause me to i iear thy loving-kindness in the morn- ng” (Psa. 143:8), was the prayer of David. Psalmists and prophets rejoiced in “ the multitude of his loving-kind nesses” (Isa. 63:7). We live in days
"It is a good thing . . . to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faith fulness every night" (Psa. 92:1, 2 ). E VERY DAY should begin and everything by prayer and supplica tion with thanksgiving let your re quests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6). The Psalmist gives us two choice topics for praise—one for the morning and one for the evening.
end with praise. The note of gratitude and joy should be prominent in all our *devotions. “In
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