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August 1925
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
God th a t He will lay th e burden of intercession more deeply upon the h earts of you, our readers, for our selves and for th e Association, as well as for those who are lost. A le tte r to us about th is unique, in teresting and. we feel, most helpful paper, will bring you inform ation regarding it. If you have a son, a brother, a fath er, among the officers of th e Merchant Marine, let us kflow and we will endeavor to link th em up w ith th e Association. Safety F irs t In these days of h u rry and rush th e re is a much used word th a t we see everywhere we go, “ Safety first!” We see it a t the stree t corners, upon telephone poles, a t the railro ad cross ings, in the shops, on th e highways— everywhere we tu rn we are confronted w ith th is sign,—^“Safety first!” I t’.s a good w arning and we do well to heed it. The sailor lad, out upon the high seas, has little need for th is sign. His life is free from rushing stree t cars, reckless automobile drivers, and all such things. “W hat a relief,” we say. Yes, it m ight seem a relief, a real tre a t, to some of us (a t least for a tim e) to be away from the “madding crowd,” away from th e noise and hurry and turmoil. But it’s a lonely life.. In po rt everything is m erry and gay, fo r our sailor lads are petted and made glad am id b righ t ligh ts and welcoming Christian cheer. And then they sail away, and th ere is a monot onous grind of daily tasks, sickness perhaps, loneliness, pain, and so, very often, habits are formed th a t afford Satan an opportunity of getting a tig h ter and tig h ter grip upon a life, and none bu t the power of God can loose those chains of vice and sin. Making a Safe H arbor Recently we entered th e room of two mess boys, 6000 miles from home, lonesome, tired and blue. One was a backslider, off in th e far country, and th e other was worse th a n a backslider. He was a tram p in mid-ocean, w ith a false compass and chart. The boys were weary and disheartened, there was no peace in th eir h earts. Some poet has described well the dead calm ness of a h e a rt th a t is weary and dis couraged. “Upon my sea dead calm has fallen; My ships are harbored, my sun is set. And th e tide is low." So it was w ith these two sailor lads, so far from home, and w hat a joy it was to open wide th e doors of God’s g reat grace, and give them a glimpse of happiness in Him, and of th a t peace th a t passeth understanding. Care fully we w ent over God’s chart, a knot a t a time, passing th rough fogs, m ist and storm . Soon the ligh t broke over one of th e boys, and w ith a bu rst of joy he cried, “ I see it! ” How precious it is to lead a soul out of th e darkness of false hopes and despair into the ligh t of the sure, safe haven of the Gospel. And you my friends, you prayer helpers, had a share in th a t conversion. Then we talked w ith th e room-mate — the backslider— and he was only too glad to come back to th e Lord. And (Continued on page 367)
learned in th e class, repeating John 1:12 and Rom. 10:9-10, and having h er sister say “ I take Jesus to be my Saviour, my Lord and my K ing.” I’ve rarely seen a happier face th an I saw th e day she told me of all th a t had happened. A] week or so la te r th is same girl brought one of her schoolmates to the class and she too accepted Christ as her Saviour, and we little realized th a t it was th e first and last tim e th a t she would be allowed to visit the class. She had an accident, and when I went to see her one week later, I asked if she was still tru stin g Jesus as her Sav iour and F riend. She said, “ Oh, yes,” and looked so happy. I gave her a Testam ent before I left, and th is was the last tim e I saw her. Shortly after this our Lord called her home to be w ith Him. This sudden homegoing of dear Louise made a deep impression on all th e girls in th is class, and several other classes, and has resu lted in eighteen conversions. An invitation given, an invitation received! Oh, what a blessed ending, w hat joy and peace! May everyone who reads th is be equally on fire for th e Lord as the girl who first led her sister to the Lord, and presented her as a gift to th e Master, and then went out and told ano ther of the blessedness of a Bible study class (2 Tim. 2 :1 5 ). B roadcasting th e Bible Lesson The season fo r th e Bible Sections in the Women’s Clubs closed w ith th e usual luncheons. The in te rest in the series h as been most encouraging. The course th is year has been, “Through th e Bible, a Book a t a Time.” Of course only th e first few books of th e Old Testam ent have been covered, and they have been tak en in the strictly synthetic method, as th ere has not been tim e for detailed, analytic work. Another in teresting work th is year has been the Radio Bible class. Each Thursday evening, th e lesson for th e following Sunday, as selected in th e Whole Bible Lesson Series, has been, taugh t. The subjects have been for th e most p a rt along the line of th e g reat doctrines of the historic church and many have w ritten in to express th e ir appreciation. Reports have come from as far no rth as B ritish Columbia, telling of splendid reception nearly two thousand miles away. The cor respondence in connection w ith such a class is both amusing and most satis fying. Some w rite to express in no uncer ta in term s th e ir disagreem ent w ith th e speaker, and if paper could burn up in the mail because of a warm tira d e w ritten thereon, th en some of th e letters would never have arrived in good condition! But again, the w riter will tell of blessings received, the shut-in will give th ank s to the Lord for being able to study th e Bible even though kep t away from public service, and friends will w rite to ask how to do certain phases of personal, work which present difficulties to them . A ltogether, th is kind of a Bible class seems to be one way of using the p articu lar domain of the "P rin ce of the power of th e a ir” (Ephesians 2 :1 ) to b reak down his kingdom . P ray er is asked for this class th a t many will “Tune in ” who
need to hear the Gospel of the grace of Christ, and th a t many who have been wavering in th e ir faith, will have all th e ir doubts swept away by the power of God’s Word over the “w ire less.” gfe g4» SPANISH WORK R obert H. B ender, Supt.'—Gospel M eetings an d H ouse to H ouse W ork am ong 50,000 M exicans in Los A ngeles an d V icinity. “A nd th e th in g s th a t thou h a st heard of me am ong m any w itnesses, th e sam e com m it thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach o th ers also.” JHIS portion of th e Scriptures exhorts us who are workers tog ether w ith God as to one of th e ways by which to extend the influence of the Word of God. In some of our former articles we have made mention of the way in which the converts have propa gated th e message in th e ir vicinity and you will also remember th a t we men tioned some of the converts had retu rn ed to Mexico. Some recent letters from these con verts reveal to us how they have been faith fu l in giving out the Word of God, and we are glad to say th a t two of these believers already have estab lished Sunday Schools in th e town where they live, and ano ther also car ries on meetings. Now these men are not being supported by any Church or Mission Board. They are making it th eir business to preach th e Gospel while laboring otherw ise to m a k e expenses; but, praise God, they are men of faith and know how to tru st the Lord. Our Bible class has prom ised to send the lite ra tu re they need, bu t up to date has no t been able to send them any money, nor have they asked for it. How it rejoices our h ea rt th a t we had a share in teaching them th e tru th , and we feel it has been a service worth while. We believe in th is way we can do the g reatest good to th e Mexicans in our midst. The work a t th e Plaza every Lord’s Day has been very fru itfu l in th e con version of many souls, as well as in other sections where we labor. In these summer months we are carrying on Children’s Meetings in all p arts of the city and also in th e towns round about. Our special request is th a t you will remember us in your prayers th a t God may give us many souls. SEAMEN’S DEPARTMENT C laude H . P earson, Supt.— O ur W orkers b oard all vessels in th e p o rt of San Pedro, holding G ospel' Services and D istrib u tin g L iteratu re. !OW our h earts have been warmed these past few days, and w hat rejoicing has come to our souls! We have been reading le tte rs printed in “Living L inks,” th e organ of th e Mer chant Service Officers’ Christian Asso ciation, and our h earts are tru ly glad dened and encouraged as God’s faith fulness in answering prayer is realized afresh. We w rote in the March number of The K ing’s Business something about th is Association, and again we cry to
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