With all our helps to Bible study there is less instruction in the Holy Word than in former days. There are so many more things to engross our minds that we have little leisure. There are so many books claiming our attention that we give less to the Bible. Our tables are covered with books and magazines, our shelves are crowded. The odd moments of time are taken up with the newspaper. We feel ourselves in correspondence with the whole world, and daily read the doings of the most distant countries. The Bible is crowded out. It is quite possible that the “helps” increase the displacing forces.
In addition to this, we are safe in saying that the religious training in the home is not the factor in life it once was. The Sabbath-school has invaded the domain of the home to some extent, and the prevailing worldly influences give more of the secular spirit to the family life. Family worship is neglected, in some cases is rendered well nigh impossible by the pressure of the economic life. We may add to this the decline of expository preaching by pastors. Formerly it was the rule that the morning sermon should be expository, and after this was relaxed, pastors still gave much of their pulpit ministration to this form of preaching. The people had their Bibles and used them, following the minister in his discussion of the consecutive verses or chapters. This was accompanied by a corresponding study of the Word in the home. There was much searching of the Scriptures whether these things were so. Much attention was given to committing the Scriptures to memory; in the Sabbath-school this was made prominent. The result of all was a remarkable degree of intelligence in the Bible, not of the words only, but of the doctrines contained in it. Children grew up with definite convictions, and personal character of strong moral fiber was formed. In this we now fail. Creedal statements do not command considerations, for convictions are feeble; doctrinal discussion is at a discount, for the faith is less positive. Much is said of our going back from creeds and doctrine to the simple and direct words of the Scripture, but in fact we are going back from the definite knowledge of the Word of God.
We need a revival of the study of the Bible in the home, and in the church as well. We confess to a preference for clear and strong expository preaching, sermons that bring much of the sacred book under review, and show its thought in its unity. We should seek to increase our familiarity with the facts recorded for our instruction, with the devotional parts of the Bible, and with the precepts and commands contained in every part. The Bible should be woven into the life; it should become the warp and woof of character. It should furnish familiar texts as mottoes for daily living. Its promises should be so familiar to us that they would come at once to mind as we need them. It should be the accepted standard of truth and right, the guide to our feet, the light to illumine the way.
And all this specially when we are young. In the early years the mind readily receives the divine truth. It speaks to the tender heart as it can not in later years, when the hardening influence of the world has been felt. It becomes fixed in the memory, and is precious in time of perplexity and trial. How the Psalms committed when we were young live with us now, and the gracious promises taught us by loving parents are now fountains of comfort. When there is perplexity, some familiar precept throws its beam of light upon our difficulties. When the pain and the sorrow come, how sweet and comforting are the assurances of the love and care of our Father in heaven. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste.”
“These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”—*United Presbyterian.
The Archbishop on Sunday Observance
MUCH interest has been taken in a letter written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in reply to a correspondent who called his attention to the fact that Mr. Balfour played golf on Sundays. The archbishop's secretary writes:—
“Detailed rules to be adopted by any conscientious Christian man with regard to the observance of Sunday, are, in the archbishop’s judgment, a matter for his own conscience, as it is certain that the Christian church has never laid down detailed directions affecting the action of individuals in this matter.
“Each of them is responsible to God for so using the Lord’s day as to fit him best for the working days that follow.”
The Daily News interviewed a number of prominent ministers, and gives their opinions on the subject, but it is noticeable that not one of the replies makes any reference to the Scriptures. The reason is obvious to the Bible student. There is not a hint in the Bible of Sunday sacredness.
This being so, it is a perversion of Bible language to apply the terms “Lord’s day” and “Sabbath” to the first day of the week. From the creation until now, the only day which the Lord calls his day is the seventh day of the week, Saturday.
Thousands of men and women in all parts of the world have turned from Sunday-keeping to Sabbath-keeping, as soon as they found that they had been following tradition with the multitude, instead of the Word of God.
The Reformation is not ended yet. If there are those who admire the stand taken by the Reformers when they stepped out on the truth of God, and faced the consequences, there is still opportunity to follow their example. God has left a test for these days, to prove the devotion and faith of his people. Those who turn from the broad way of sin to walk in the narrow path of truth, who leave the observance of the ancient day of the sun, and return to the ancient Sabbath of Jehovah, are noted with approval in heaven. The enduring of this test prepares them for the coming of their Lord, and separates them from the world. Of them the words are said:
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12.—Present Truth.
An Accuser Silenced
By Horatius Bonar
Two fellow travelers were seated together in a railway carriage, engaged in earnest conversation. It was of a religious nature, and one of them, a skeptic, was evidently seeking to excuse his skepticism by expatiating on the various evils which afflict Christendom. He was detailing, with manifest pleasure, the hypocrisy and the craft and the covetousness and the divisions found in the professed church, and then he pointed to some of the leaders as the most markedly corrupt of the whole.
In front of them sat a Christian who was compelled to hear all this. Had he felt the accusations to be false, he might have suffered them all, as a part of the hatred the world bears toward Christ, and been truly happy in so suffering; but he knew them to be true—too true to be concealed from the most charitable mind, so all he could do was to bow his head and bear the deserved reproach.
Soon, however, the accuser, anxious to extend the circle of his audience, addressed this fellow passenger in front of him.
“I see you are quick to detect evil,” answered the Christian, “and you read character pretty well. You have been uncovering here the abominable things which have turned Christendom into a wreck, and are fast ripening it for the judgment of God. You have spared none, but given all a good measure. Now, I am a Christian, and I love the Lord Jesus and his people. Not a word shall I offer in defense, but I here solemnly challenge you to speak the first word against the Lord Jesus Christ himself.”
The skeptic was surprised. He seemed almost frightened, and sheepishly replied: “Well, no; I couldn’t find fault with him. He was perfect.”
“Just so,” said the Christian, “and therefore was my heart attracted to him; and the more I looked at him, the more I found I wasn’t like him at all, but only a poor, sinful, guilty man. But tell me yourself if I hadn’t a right to be happy and to love him when I found out that he had died for me? Ever since then I truly love him, and all the evil which professed followers of his may do can they not turn me away from him. My salvation hangs on what he has done, and not on what they are doing.”—Horatius Bonar.
In Church
Just in front of my pew sits a maiden—
A little brown wing in her hat,
With its touches of tropical azure,
And sheen of the sun upon that.
Through the bloom-colored pane shines
a glory
By which the vast shadows are stirred,
But I pine for the spirit and splendor
That painted the wing of the bird.
The organ rolls down its great anthem;
With the soul of a song it is blent;
But for me, I am sick for the singing
Of one little song that is spent.
The voice of the preacher is gentle;
“No sparrow shall fall to the ground;”
But the poor broken wing on the bonnet
Is mocking the merciful sound.
— Our Sunday Afternoon.
The Honorable Calling of the Farmer
IT is a matter about which it is useless to moralize, perhaps, but one of the most distressing tendencies of the times is the drift of young men from the country to the city.
It is a trite saying and true that the country boy is the backbone of the town. The successful business and professional men of our cities are probably more than half country boys. Hence there is always present to the imagination of the country boy the alluring prospect of brilliant success in the city. We would not discourage any boy who cherishes an honorable ambition, but the truth is, that of the country boys who come to town only a small percentage succeed. A number, through ability, force of character, and good luck force themselves to the front. But in doing it they climb over the shoulders of other country boys — and not always by the most scrupulous methods.
Morally and financially the average country boy will be better off in the end for staying in the country. If he goes to town, he may become a great merchant or financier, but the chances are about one hundred to one that he will become and remain a small clerk or a small book-keeper, eking out a bare living on a meager salary, a mere inconsequential cog in one of the small wheels of the vast machinery of the city, a thing of no particular account, and on the whole not able to call his soul his own.
On the contrary, the boy who remains on the farm is his own master. He may not get rich, but he is apt to become a man. There may be mud on his boots, but there is not apt to be mud on his character — and mud comes off the boots, while it doesn't come off the character.
But taking it purely as a financial proposition, the average boy will do better by staying on the farm than he will by going to town. If he has the stuff in him to succeed in town, he will succeed on the farm. And there is to-day plenty of money to be made on the farm by exercising only a tithe of the care and forethought required to succeed in business in the city.
When all is said, however, the occupation of the farmer is the most honorable and the most independent in the commercial world. He is his own master upon the free expanse of his own acres. He does not have to cringe to this man, dissemble to that, and economize the truth to the other. The hundred dubious devices by which men climb in the cities are of no use to him. He has to do with the sunshine and the rain and the outdoors that know no hypocrisy. He does not have to compromise with his conscience or pad his principles to make them fit the occasion. He is a lucky man, and his son will do well to follow his footsteps in the furrow. — Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
Dangerous Sleep Producers
A CABLEGRAM from London, February 7, reads as follows: “Four women patients of the Portsmouth Lunatic Asylum have died suddenly under suspicious circumstances, and it is feared that they were poisoned by an overdose of chloral, administered to them by order of one of the lady doctors on the staff of the institution.”
It is not generally understood that the man who swallows a sleeping potion puts himself under the influence of a powerful drug, an overdose of which is capable of destroying his life. Mr. Tyndall died from the effects of taking such a drug. His wife gave him a mixture of chloral to induce sleep; by mistake she administered two teaspoonfuls instead of one, and that giant life went out. It is important for people to understand that these drugs are poisons. The sleep that they give is a paralytic sleep; it is not natural. Under such conditions there is no repair of the tissues, no natural rebuilding of the body. If a person can not sleep naturally, the cause of the sleeplessness must be found and removed. You might as well knock a man senseless with a club as to paralyze him with a drug.
It is important that during sleep the body should be just as thoroughly alive as when we are awake. But it is a different kind of life. Animal life rules our waking hours, but organic life is supreme when we sleep. The man who takes drugs for the purpose of putting himself to sleep, goes down to the brink of death; he looks into the grave, and it is only necessary for him to go a little farther actually to step into it.— Australasian Good Health.
“Out on Strike”
THE Albany Argus tells a story of the walking delegate who was never tired of talking about the strike. He held that it was justifiable if ever a strike was, and he was prepared to demonstrate that it was perfectly proper to strike to secure a desired result. He told his wife so, and she appeared to agree with him. She said it seemed the easiest way.
That night when he came home, he found that the table was not set.
“I want a new dress,” she said, when he asked what the trouble was.
“I know you’ve been bothering me for that dress for a month,” he said, “but how about supper?”
“There isn’t any,” she replied. “This is a strike.”
“A strike?”
“Yes, I’ve been trying to secure a peaceable settlement of this trouble for some time; now I’ve struck.”
“Do you dare—”
“O, don’t talk to me that way! If I can’t get you to arbitrate, why, I’ve got to strike.”
“But, Mary, you don’t understand.”
“O, yes, I do. I’ve made my demands, and they’ve been refused. I’ve asked for arbitration with a view to a compromise, and that has also been refused. A strike is all there is left, and I’ve struck.”
“But your demands are unreasonable.”
“I don’t think they are.”
“You’re no judge.”
“You’re the judge of your own demands when you strike, and I’m as good a judge as you are when I want something. It’s no use talking. The strike is on.”
She folded her arms in a determined way, and he subsided. It was perhaps half an hour later when he looked up and said: “Well, what are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “The strike is on.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“No. I saw that there was something in the treasury before the strike was ordered.”
“Meaning the pantry?” he remarked.
“Meaning the pantry,” she repeated.
“I believe I’ll get a little,” he said.
“It’s locked,” she answered. “The reserve is to be used to keep the strike going. You can’t touch the striker’s resources.”
“Be careful, Mary!” he said, warningly.
“If I cut off the cash ——” She nodded toward the locked pantry.
“I can stick it out a week,” she returned.
Five or ten minutes later he proposed that they compromise on the basis of ten dollars.
“Twenty,” she replied, firmly.
“But I can’t afford it,” he protested.13
“That’s your business,” she answered. “I offered to arbitrate once.”
It was ten o’clock that night when he finally gave in, and somehow he felt he had experienced a new phase of the strike business. It looked different from the other side of the fence.—Selected.
Reform in the Mastication of Foods
MR. HORACE FLETCHER is making great headway in converting the public to his views of chewing. Fletcherizing food is coming to be almost a fad in scientific circles. Fortunately, this is the kind of fad that can not possibly do anybody any harm, and the more it is cultivated, the better for every one. Mr. Fletcher insists that we ought to chew our food at least four or five times as long as we are accustomed to do. Those who have followed his advice for a month have been wonderfully pleased with the results. An eminent United States Senator said to the writer the other day, when complimented upon his well-preserved appearance, “I expect never to be sick again. In fact, I am going to try to live forever. I have got hold of a new idea which is making a new man of me.” On inquiry it appeared that he had recently had the good fortune to secure one of Mr. Fletcher’s books, “What Sense?” and upon reading it, had become convinced of the importance of chewing. Having adopted the practise, he found himself wonderfully improved in vigor of mind and body.
Mr. Fletcher has succeeded in arousing so great an interest in buccal digestion in the scientific circles that the most eminent physiologists in all civilized countries are giving their attention to the matter, and arrangements have been perfected for extensive experiments, reaching through a considerable period of time, in which the most eminent savants of various countries will participate, and which will have the advantage of government support. He has recently undergone experiments at Bridgeport, Conn., where he was placed in a large iron box for three or four days at a time, his food passed in to him, and he was made to engage in work of various sorts, and his weight and other factors carefully studied. The results have invariably shown that by his thorough chewing he is able to accomplish the same work which others accomplish, with half or even less than half the usual amount of food, sometimes even gaining weight during the experiment. These results are of the highest value, and show most conclusively the great importance of thorough mastication of food, a duty which is perhaps neglected more than any other.
Physiologists have long understood the importance of mastication, and have taught it theoretically, but apparently no one had made an actual practical application of the principles involved until Mr. Fletcher took the matter in hand. The subject is one of vital importance, which no one can afford to neglect. Every morsel of food should be chewed until all the nutritive portion has become liquid. The result is an enormous reduction of the work required of the stomach and other digestive organs. The thorough digestion of food secures its complete absorption; thus none is wasted. There seems to be special economy in relation to the proteids, the most expensive and important element of foodstuffs.
Mr. Fletcher is not a strict vegetarian, but the tendency of his experiments and observations is to demonstrate that a flesh diet is altogether unnecessary, and not only unnecessary, but dangerous to health on account of the excess of proteids which it necessarily introduces into the system, the result of which is manifest in the great prevalence of rheumatism, gout, and other uric-acid disorders in flesh-eating countries.
The value of Mr. Fletcher’s theories is fully recognized at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where patients, physicians, and nurses are chewing after a fashion which would delight the heart of Gladstone if he were alive and cognizant of the fact, as thorough chewing was one of his hobbies. It is stated that Mr. Gladstone required his sons to execute at least forty movements of the jaws in masticating each morsel of food. An eminent English physiologist, writing recently upon the subject in the British Medical Journal, mentions an observation made upon a very old man who was remarkably well preserved. He gave him a bit of bread to eat, and noted that he executed, in chewing it, one hundred and twenty movements of the jaws, thus giving ample time for that thorough preparation to enter the stomach, which is the best guarantee of good digestion.
The philanthropic spirit manifested by Mr. Fletcher in his researches, and especially his efforts to enlist the interest of scientific experts, entitle him to great credit as a public benefactor. The good results of his efforts can not be estimated. Mr. Fletcher has written very charming books on social questions and questions pertaining to nutrition. No doubt nine tenths of all gastric disorders would disappear if the sufferers could be induced to masticate their food with thoroughness. Mr. Fletcher believes that proper chewing furnishes a most important means not only for the physical preservation of the race, but also for social and moral redemption.—Good Health.
To Color Egg Yolks
DURING the winter of 1902-03 a number of experiments were conducted at the West Virginia Experiment Station to study the effect upon the flavor of eggs of feeding different foods and flavoring materials. It is quite unnecessary to say that if eggs could be produced having a more agreeable flavor than ordinary eggs, they could be sold to special customers at a considerable advance over the usual market rates.
The grains fed either alone or in combination for this purpose include corn, wheat, oats, Canadian field peas, cow-peas, soy-beans, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. The flavoring materials employed were trimethylamin, celery oil, and oil of sassafras. Beef scrap was fed to balance the different rations, except in one case, when smoked herrings were used. The green food supplied consisted of sugar-beets, which were readily eaten.
Quite contrary to expectations, the flavor of the eggs was not noticeably altered by any of the rations of flavoring materials employed, although it has been shown by investigations at the North Carolina Station that the feeding of onions imparts a very distinct and undesirable flavor.
The different rations, however, very clearly affected the color of the yolks. When the grain ration consisted of wheat, oats, or white corn, fed alone or in combination with one another, the yolks were so light colored that the eggs would be quite unsuitable for fancy trade. When the grain supply consisted entirely of white corn, the yolks were very light colored, while, on the other hand, the feeding of yellow corn imparted to the yolks that rich yellow color which is so desirable.— Tribune.
A Cure for Trouble
THERE is no better way of forgetting one’s troubles than by attempting to relieve some one else who is in trouble. The more one thinks of his own troubles, the more power over him those troubles gain. When he is turned away for a time from himself in the effort to help another, personal troubles may perish from lack of attention and sustenance. Miss Havergal wisely says:—
“Seldom can a heart be lonely
If it seeks a lonelier still;
Self-forgetting, seeking only
Emptier cups of love to fill.”
However hard our own case may be, there is some one near us whose case is harder. In ministering to him, or in trying to give him comfort, we are likely to lighten his burden and our own.—Sunday School Times.
Oil Rubbing After Bathing
THIS is one of the most ancient procedures used in connection with hydrotherapy. The oil is applied by simple friction movement made in the direction of the blood current in the veins. The best effects are obtained when the application is made after a warm or tepid bath, as the epidermis then more readily absorbs the oil. Care must be taken to avoid the application of too much oil.
Vegetable oils should be employed for the purpose, and care should be taken that the oil is not in the slightest degree rancid, for the poisonous, fatty acids are apparently quite readily absorbed by the skin.
A certain amount of oily substance is secreted by the skin, which spreads out on it as a protection. Oil is especially useful in cold weather, because then it is necessary that the heat should be conserved. When a person takes a bath, especially after he has had a shampoo, he loses the oily covering from his skin, and is liable to take cold. That is the reason many people take cold after a bath.—Selected.
Honduras
By A. N. Allen
A. N. ALLEN
HONDURAS, one of the Central American republics, extends from the thirteenth to the sixteenth degree of north latitude. On the north it is washed by the waves of the Caribbean Sea, and on the south it has a good harbor from the waves of the Pacific, at Amapala, a small island in the Gulf of Fonseca. The distance from the Caribbean to the Pacific is only one hundred and fifty miles as the crow flies; but as it is all very mountainous, one is obliged to travel about twice that distance in crossing. The distance can not be covered in less than eight days, and in the rainy season twice that time is required, and still longer for the transportation of cargoes.
As only forty miles of railroad exist in this republic, traveling is very slow. Along the coast and up the rivers, boats, dories, and pitpans are used. In the interior, mules and horses form the only means of conveyance, except from San Lorenzo, on the Pacific side, to Tegucigalpa, the capital, where there is a ninety-mile cart road. Here oxen with yokes lashed to their horns draw low, lumbering, two-wheeled carts, the wheels being of solid wood. The heavier imported articles are brought into the country in this way, about a week being required to cover the ninety miles with a load.
This country enjoys one continual summer. Yet the time for planting and harvesting is as fixed as in the temperate zone. The rainy seasons vary as one passes from one coast to the other, and it is by these that the planter knows when to sow. The extreme heat of our summers in the States is unknown. The mercury seldom goes above eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Cyclones do not occur. We occasionally have heavy wind-storms, but these seldom do any damage, except along the coast and islands, where plantations are sometimes blown down. Once while we were in the interior, it hailed quite hard for a few minutes, much to the surprise and consternation of the children, who had never seen such a phenomenon before. To many it was the first ice they had ever seen.
The population of Honduras, according to President Sierra's last address to Congress, Jan. 1, 1903, is eight hundred thousand. Of these, only a small proportion can read. But this does not seem so strange when we stop to consider that only thirty per cent of the people of Spain, the country that conquered and populated Spanish America, can read. It must not be supposed, however, that all the people of Honduras are ignorant; for this is not true. There are as intelligent, well-educated, refined, and successful people here as in any other country. Some have been educated in the United States, others in France, and still many others in the schools of the country and the other republics.
NATIVE HUTS, HONDURAS
A distinct social line is drawn on the basis of wealth, position, and education. The laws of custom among the higher class are rigid, as all know. The more isolated the place, the narrower the minds of its people, and the more rigid its laws of custom. For instance, gentlemen are never supposed to walk into the country, but always to go mounted. A foreigner preferring to walk a few miles rather than hire a mule, is not recognized by the mounted man. But if he were riding, he would be treated as an equal or as a superior. On entering the country, it is wise to observe as much as possible the prevailing customs, and not cross the local ideas more than is necessary. To try to Americanize is dangerous, besides unwise; and if we give the impression that we are freaks, we lose our influence.
The leading native industry is the manufacture of cigars. In the year 1902, there were exported 3,128,800 cigars and several million packages of cigarettes. The same year 15,000 palm-leaf “Panama” hats were made, and sent to the United States. The following is a list of some of the products for the same time: corn, 509,049 bushels; beans, 20,587 bushels; wheat, 15,813 bushels; rice, 38,613 quintals (one quintal, 500 pounds); 19,625 acres of land are producing annually 36,480,000 bananas. The number of plantains raised is not known, as most of them are consumed at home. There are about 1,239,500 cocoa-trees, which annually produce about 14,263,300 cocoanuts. Lemons, oranges, and limes form a fair percentage of the fruit production, from the port of La Cieba alone nearly 1,150,000 being exported to the United States. The coffee crop was 44,284 quintals. There are under cultivation 13,263 acres of sugar-cane. From this are made sugar and rum. About 9,000 acres are producing indigo. The number of cattle exported is 20,691. The total valuation of cattle, horses, mules, hogs, sheep, goats, etc., is 12,154,180 pesos. The value of the silver and gold removed from the mines of Honduras each year reaches the millions.
All the principal towns are connected with one another and the capital by telegraph. There are one hundred and eighty offices, and six hundred persons are employed in this service. The system comprehends 3,250 miles of lines. The country dollar, or sol, is worth only forty cents United States currency, yet these are on a par with the United States dollar.
Here is a country to which the Reformation of Luther's time never reached. God is blessing his Word in Utilla. The past week two souls have been liberated from the bondage of sin, and are now rejoicing in the freedom and peace of Jesus, their Saviour. God is striving mightily with several others. Some who have been members of the church, but through temptation have fallen, are preparing to return. We have just finished our first month's school. We have an enrolment of sixty-five. Much sickness prevails at present, and God has blessed our efforts to relieve some. To him be all the praise.
The People of Inland China Eager to Hear the Gospel
By A. C. Selmon
A. C. SELMON, M. D.
ONE of our stations is a city forty miles to the north of us. A young Buddhist priest in the city had heard a few words of the gospel, and was desirous of hearing more. He hired a cart, and came down to Sin Tsai Hsien, requesting that I go back with him and look at a house he wished to have us use if we would come to his city to preach the gospel and care for the sick. With my native teacher, I returned with him. As we passed through the cities and small villages, the inhabitants would quickly collect when they learned that a foreigner's cart was passing through. How I longed to be able to speak freely to these people, who have never so much as heard that there is a living Saviour. But I did what I could, and my small stock of Bible portions was quickly exhausted.
Reaching the city late in the afternoon, I was asked to stay with one of the inquirers. In the evening we had a15Bible study, and the next forenoon, being Sabbath, a little company of inquirers who had learned of my arrival, sixteen in all, gathered for a Sabbath service. My native teacher spoke to them of the soon coming of Jesus. We then had a song service and Bible study. Not having command of the language, I could only give them the texts, and pray that the Holy Spirit would bring the truths to their darkened minds.
After the Sabbath I was kept busy till late at night caring for the sick who had come for help.
Almost the whole city seemed to be devoted to idol worship. The population of the city was not over ten thousand, yet there were fifteen large idol temples, and the courtyards of these temples were thronged with people a great part of the time. Satan held full sway over the people, very little business was carried on, many of the shops were empty, and a large number of the people were opium-smokers. We are glad for the opportunity of holding up the True Light in this dark corner. We have rented a chapel, and now have one of our evangelists stationed here.
The young Buddhist priest, previously mentioned, was greatly interested in studying the account of creation as it is given in Genesis, and was glad to receive the portions of Scripture we gave him.
Buddhism is one of the three great religions of China, and is the one most devoted to idol worship. They have large temples and great numbers of priests in every city. The priests wear no queues, and so are very conspicuous among the mass of people.
One day while out selling some Bible portions, two Buddhist priests came up to the crowd that had gathered about me to buy the Bibles. They soon destroyed the interest of the crowd by telling them it was a bad doctrine.
A woman who had been a Buddhist for many years asked one of our workers to teach her how to pray to the true God, for she had found that it did no good to pray to idols. And so it is that there are many souls among this great multitude of people who are earnestly seeking for the true God, the God who hears and answers prayer.
