THE KING’S BUSINESS
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when it occurred to me that I ought to give him a tract, and i selected two,- “Have You Heard?” and “Ye Must Be Born Again.” He took them, read both carefully, then began to re-read them, so I said: “You are interested in the tracts; let me give you another one,” not intending to deal with him at all, but he said, “What does it mean to be born again? I do not understand.” I showed him that by birth we were chil dren of Satan and must be born again to become children of God. As simply as possible I explained the nature of the new birth and the way of salvation^ Just as we reached the city, where he left the car, he said he would receive Jesus as his Saviour, and promised to confess Him as Lord. In a few minutes a crowd gathered and the Word was preached to hungry hearts; and how hungry they were could be seen in their faces and their earnest attention, and in the fact that sixteen desired to become Christians. Only those who were present can fully understand what that meant to the workers, and only those who have been on board one of these ships can realize the dif ference between the .Japanese here in the city, and those who come across the Pacific —their first time away from heathenism. In that meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, testimonies were given by two or three passengers who were among the first to openly confess Christ. They had brought some tracts with them from Yoko hama, and thus their hearts had been pre pared for the message. As we noticed, here and there bowed heads and tears in the eyes of men and women, we were overpowered with the consciousness that God was work ing, and that He, having begun a good work, “would finish it until the day of Christ.” One meets so many young men who have Christian parents; who have once been in
church, but there never was any change and I have no assurance that I have ever been saved.” This was said with tears rolling down her cheeks. The whole class stayed another hour looking into the Word about the plan and way of salvation. It was all new to her, strange as it may seem, but the light came and we left her with full assur ance that she had a real union for the first time with Him. It was a clear case of God using His Word to convince of sin. It was on^ a street car that I met him. He was a working man and sat next to me. His swarthy skin and black hair bespoke a foreign birth. I was busy with a book, A GAIN the workers have had to leave a scene dear to their hearts, because of the manifest presence of God revealing the power of His Word and Spirit. The third of the fleet of big Japanese vessels had come; in itself a little floating community, having in all 700 souls aboard. God again opened wide the door in answer to prayer, and the hungry multitude was fed with the Bread of Life. Weeks before, prayer had gone up for those on board, and although there was not one Christian among the crew and the Captain’s request to the port officials had been not to let any Asiatics on board, a passage through the customs lines was granted, and a ready welcome given by Captain and crew to seven workers. “We are not Christians,”' they said, ‘‘but if you are Gospel men; we will help you preach, the Gospel.” Waiting in an officer’s cabin while he pre sented to the Captain our request to hold a service, the answer came: “Yes, you can haye a meeting,” and he ordered that the best place for a meeting should be given us. Also that the officers were to go through the ship to announce the arrival of the “mis sionaries.”
. ------ 4 ------------ WORK AT LOS ANGELES HARBOR Oscar Zimmerman, Supt.
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