In Burma

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 7, 1910

Having attended a general meeting in Burma, Elder W. W. Miller writes:—

“We held three meetings a day. One was for the church, one for the Burmese, and one in the evening for the public. The Lord blessed in these meetings in a special manner, giving power to the messages borne. The theme that was made most prominent was the second coming of Christ to this world.

“The attendance was good from the beginning to the end, and a good interest was manifested all the way through. Many heard some of the special truths for the first time. The mixed congregation was quite noticeable, there being Parsees, Cingalese, Chinese, Tamils, Negroes, Burmese, and Europeans. At the close of the meetings three Burmese and three Europeans were baptized by Brother R. R. Cook.

“The work in Burma is advancing quite rapidly, and it looks as if Burma is ripe for the third angel’s message. We need more workers in Burma to study the language and get out among the people and give the last call, ‘Come; for all things are now ready.’ While in Rangoon, we visited the Pagoda Temple one evening, and among the worshipers who were paying homage to Buddha was

one woman in particular that attracted our attention. She was in a kneeling posture before the temple, and had a large cheroot in her fingers. She would spend a little time in bowing before the image, then she would smoke her cheroot. She also had her mouth full of pahn. It was very evident that her worship was a dead form. How far short it came from fulfilling the scripture, ‘Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord’!

“As we looked at this temple and beheld its magnificence and thought of the great amount of money that was spent in its erection and its maintenance, we realized that all this wealth was poured out to build up a religion that is only a dead form. We thought, too, of how the banner of the third angel’s message, the living truth for these last days, trails in the dust because of lack of means. It seemed to us that it is time our people were wide-awake and making greater sacrifices, that means might flow into the Lord’s treasury, and these people in Burma hear the truth for these last days and be turned away from their worship of idols to serve the living God.”