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Two Testimonies

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 12, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 40.

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Two Testimonies

By M. D. Wood

M. D. WOOD
In the second epistle of John, the apostle said, in writing to the “elect lady,” “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth.” The missionaries have such occasions of rejoicing when they find their children also walking in the truth. Perhaps you would like to hear two testimonies which came to me this week concerning our Marathi Christians.

One Testimony

One was about a man who had been in our mission employ as a servant for over a year. His name is Rama. He was not a member of our mission, but was a professed Christian, and he with his wife and little boy frequently attended our Sabbath school and other church services. He left our employ of his own accord, saying he wanted to work on the railroad.
He came back this week for a little money we owed him. After receiving the money, he said, “Sir, may I attend your Sabbath school and other meetings as usual?”
I replied, “Yes, certainly you may, and welcome.”
This greatly pleased him, and he then related his experience with his superiors on the railroad. After being in their employ a few days he went to the official, and said, “Sir, I am willing to work all day Sunday, but will you please give me Saturday off?”
“Why Saturday?” the man inquired. “Are you not a Christian, and do you not want Sunday?”
“Yes, sir, I am a Christian; but I do not keep Sunday any more.”
“That is strange, when all Christians keep Sunday the world over.”
“But, sir,” said Rama, “I have lived with a missionary at Kalyan who showed me that the Bible teaches Sabbath and not Sunday, and so I cannot keep Sunday any more.”
“Well, I never knew about this before,” said the official, “but since you are so sincere about it, you may have your Sabbath, as you call it, and work on Sunday.”
“So,” said Rama, “you may expect my wife, our little John, and me at the Sabbath school and church services hereafter.”

The Other Testimony

Thomas came to us in the year 1896, with seventeen other boys from the famine district of Central India. He was three and a half or four years old. He was cared for as all the other boys, till we went to America, when we put him in a large Methodist boarding school.
Hearing of our return to India, Thomas wrote that he wanted to come to us, and we told him he might do so.
We scarcely knew the lad when we saw him, he had grown so tall and manly. He helped us in the mission building work last year, and finally decided to become a nurse. He has now studied and worked hard for more than a year, and we feel we could not well do without him.
A few days ago one of the railroad men, a European, suddenly became ill. He was sent to the railroad hospital in Kalyan; but this hospital is for natives, and does not take Europeans. However, the man was too sick to be moved to the Bombay hospital, so it was decided to make the best of the situation, though there was no one qualified to care for a European at that place. Some of the ladies of the town went in with food, etc.
The Bombay railroad doctor was called, and he said the man had pneumonia. Then the question was, “Who shall care for him?” Finally Mrs. Wood was called; and while the man was not her patient, she felt she must do all she could for him, so she informed Thomas that he must go and do his best for the sick man. To this Thomas gladly agreed, promising to be faithful. For a time the sick man was practically entirely in his charge. Then a European nurse came from the Bombay hospital to care for the man during the day, but Thomas was left to care for him at night. The nurse said, “I can trust that Christian boy entirely, he is so faithful;” and the doctor in charge of the hospital said, “That fellow is all right; and the patient is much improved.” The doctor from Bombay said, “I wish I had that boy to work for me in Bombay; he seems to get on well with everybody.”
But the best testimony was from one of the officials of the railroad, who had been spending the night at the hospital for the sake of the young patient, although his parents had now come to Kalyan. He said: “Mr. Wood, that boy you call Thomas is a genuine Christian, I can tell you that. He spent all last night with that poor sick man; and when the man couldn’t sleep at three o’clock, Thomas began to talk to him about God and prayer. The sick man asked him to pray for him, and Thomas gladly responded. There I stood and looked at that quiet scene. Thomas did what I could not do, and I am a European and supposed to be a Christian; but I can’t pray. I just turned away my head; it nearly choked me. The patient was gently saying ‘Amen,’ while Thomas talked with God in his behalf.”
Such work as this counts, my friends. Thomas does not know that I am telling you these things, but I wish you to know that this message of truth is helping the converted heathen to live as we ourselves seek to live, and is helping them to get others ready to meet Christ. These things encourage the hearts of the missionaries.