King's Business - 1919-02

T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S

129

for so many years, she became really concerned for h er sp iritu al w elfare and before leaving for home was persuaded to let th a t day become the anniversary of ano th er and g re a te r event in her life, namely h er acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Saviour and Lord.^^ Jam es Vaus, Supt. P u rg a to ry an d Confessional “When He saw th e m ultitude, He was moved w ith compassion * * because they were scattered abroad, as sheep ha,ving no shepherd.” Never before have we had SPANISH such a sense of p ity and WORK compassion for the Mexi­ cans as during th e past month, and as we see them in and around th e P laza and Mexican settle­ ments they do, indeed, seem as sheep w ithout a shepherd. “Oh, b u t,” says someone, “Don’t they have th eir p riests?” True, they have th e ir priests, bu t they belong to th e class of leaders whom th e G reat Shepherd had in mind when he spoke of “ thieves and rob­ b ers” who care nothing for th e sheep, th e ir g reatest in terest being to keep them in ignorance so th a t they can fleece them out of th e ir h ard earned cash. Often tim es when re tu rn in g from a camp or settlem en t where we have gone from house to house explaining th e way of salvation, th e though t comes “when will they ever comprehend th e simpli­ city of th e W ay?” and we b reathe a silent prayer to our Heavenly F ath e r th a t He will open th e ir blind eyes and understanding th a t they may see th eir g reat need and cry ou t to Him who alone can save. If it were not for th a t sure faith in th e Living Word which our Lord said was “sp irit and life,” we would have given up in discouragement long ago, b u t we praise God th a t “ faith is th e substance of things hoped for; th e evidence of things not seen.”

Recently, while we were explaining th e way of salvation in one of the homes, the wife tu rn ed to her husband and in a n undertone said, “Shall we ask him to say mass for Antonio?” It seems th a t a son had died some months ago, and— according to th e ir teaching — a mass must be said to gèt his soul out of purgatory, b u t no p riest can tell how many masses it is necessary to say to a tta in the desired result. When we heard this, we sought to show them th a t Jesus was offered once fo r all as a sacrifice for sin (th e mass is supposed to be thé sacrifice of the real body and blood of Je su s). We read to them Heb. 1,0:10-12, 17, 18 and explained' it. The woman said, “Then you mean to say th a t th e mass is of no valu e?” We said th a t was our mean­ ing, and she seemed to comprehend it, though it was all so new to her. T u rn ­ ing to ano ther woman who had ju st come in, she said, “Shall we ask him to go over and confess so and so?” In spite of our endeavor to explain the simplicity of salvation, she still held to w hat she had been ta u g h t of th e mass, the p riest and confession. Again we w ent over the whole m atter, explaining it point by point, and when a t last we had to leave, she asked th a t we re tu rn soon. In many of th e camps and settle­ ments th ere are children who are grow­ ing up in to tal ignorance concerning God. T h ere are no churches nor mis­ sion schools where they can receive any religious training, or any other kind of train ing . As these places are located d istan t from one ano ther and consequently difficult of access, we are praying th a t if it please th e Lord the means may be provided for th e pu r­ chase of an auto whereby th e work m ight be more efficiently, carried on. This is really Foreign Mission work brought rig h t to our doors, and presents a splendid opportunity for a paying Investm en t in the Lord’s work. W ith

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