p. 12 | A Ruler’s Visit

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 25, 1916

A Ruler’s Visit

FROM the Shan States of Burma, one of our medical missionaries, Dr. Ollie Törnblad, sends this experience:—

“About ten days ago a ruler, whom I had met and whose daughter I had attended, was passing our place. He stopped and spent the night with us. His family wanted to come too, but as he had five wives and nineteen children, with the children’s children the entire family consisted of sixty-three persons; so he told them they were too many for all to come. He and two of his attendants came. Not being accustomed to entertaining royalty, I do not know that I did it right. These rulers are subject to Great Britain, but they have great power in their own states.

“I was talking to him about the eternal God, when he asked me, ‘If the Christian’s God is all-powerful and knows all things, why are these Christian nations that worship this same God, fighting and killing one another?’”

“This old man, though he cannot speak English, and lives far from any center of communication, knew the location of the European countries, with their populations. He was also well acquainted with the location and population of the largest cities in the United States. His tribe, with others here in Burma, greatly need help that they may learn of God’s true character.”