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THE WORLD WIDE REVIVAL.
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Netos of God's Toto er in Fields Tar and Near,
I.
A MACEDONIAN CALL.
HE recent work of grace among the
Karens and Musos in India makes
twenty-five women missionaries an im
perative necessity to meet the increas
ed demands of the converts and inqui
ries for the full knowledge of the gos
pel. The Missionary Witness says:
“For years the average annual in
crease to the Baptist churches of
T
Burma has been between 2,000 and 3,000.
But last year witnessed the baptism of 7,000
converts. This large increase is chiefly the
result of two wonderful movements. The one
among the Karens under the leadership of Ko-
San-Ye, and the other even more wonderful, among
the 'Musos on the outskirts of Burma. Over 1,500
of these people were baptized during the year. The
missionaries in conference felt their hearts strong
ly moved to pray for twenty-five single ladies to be
sent within the next two years to meet most press
ing needs in manning existing stations and opening
new ones at strategic centers. The work among the
Karens and Musos also calls for immediate rein
forcement. ’ ’
WONDERFUL SCENES IN ROCHESTER.
Not since the great revival under the leadership
of Charles G. Finney has the city of Rochester
been so moved as during the recent mission con
ducted by Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman and his corps
of evangelists and gospel singers. During three
weeks over 1,500 expressed a desire to accept Christ
as their Savior. Sometimes at a great men’s meet
ing as many as 127 persons went to the front to
publicly confess Christ.
A correspondent of the Congregationalist pictures
some of the stirring scenes in connection with the
great awakening:
u Wonders have followed wonders during these
Pentecostal days of November and hundreds have
signed cards indicating their resolve to become dis
ciples of Jesus. Nothing has occurred here like this
since the days of Finney.
“The movetment is one of Dr. J. W. Chapman’s
simultaneous evangelistic campaigns. Seven evan
gelists, accompanied by as many singers, have held
services nightly for eighteen days in seven sections
of the city. Mr. C. T. Schaeffer has spoken to chil
dren and young people, and Mr. and Mrs. Asher
have conducted meetings in the saloons and the
jail. It was indeed a marvelous sight, when twen
ty men knelt upon the floor of a bar room in a
prayer of consecration.
“Churches and pastors have been drawn into a
remarkable fellowship. Denominational lines have
been forgotten. Ministers have become better ac
quainted in three weeks than during as many years
hitherto—-church members have acknowledged their
backslidings, active Christians have engaged in per
sonal work, and the whole city has received a dis
tinct spiritual uplift. The cross of Christ has been
held very high.
“Some might have called the street marching
spectacular. But it was a grand testimony. One
man, an out of town physician, was caught in the
crowd, and almost forced into the opera house. He
told a worker who spoke to him that he was a skep
tic. Ten days later he approached this same worker
and declared that the cumulative force of the meet
ings had been too much for him. He had surren
dered to the Great Physician and had determined to
become a medical missionary. The prayers of over
twenty years were answered in the case of another
convert. A young fellow put into Dr. Chapman’s
hands a letter expressing his mother’s joy that he
had been reclaimed from drink through one of Mr.
Asher’s saloon addresses. Instances might be mul
tiplied. Enough to say that the power of the gos
pel has been demonstrated anew to the Church and
The Golden Age for February 28, 1907.
By GEORGE T. B. DjAVIS.
to the world. Though the evangelists have gone
the evangelistic spirit remains and will abide, we
believe, for many years.’’
e 111.
A REMARKABLE JAPANESE CONVERT.
One of the men who is helping to win Japan for
Christ is Tsurukiehi, once an expert burglar, and
who has spent twenty-three of his forty-two years
behind prison bars. He recently publicly confessed
Christ, and told the sitory of his past career, which
is given in the Missionary Gleaner:
“Tsurukiehi was a professional pickpocket, steal
ing principally from women. By the time he was
fifteen years of age he had been imprisoned five or
six times, and it was his ambition to become a
clever burglar. He prospered in his evil course and
for a while lived in luxury, but later on his crime
was exposed and he was sentenced for thirteen years
in a Hokkaido prison, 'where he shared his cell with
a man under sentence of death. Here he heard
much about Jesus Christ, but paid little attention
to what he heard. He wss one of many prisoners
released on the occasion of the death of the Dow
ager Empress, and on leaving this prison he de
termined to change his life; but, as he said, ‘My
repentance being a thing without life did not last
long.’
“His desire for money led him to another bur
glary for which he received a sentence of six years.
Learning from another prisoner that religious
books could be purchased by the prisoners he
bought a New Testament and began to Study that
he might be able to read. At the end of one year’s
study he was able, though with great difficulty, to
read the Gospel of Matthew. After three years he
had read through the whole Bible. ‘Then,’ he says,
‘the old Tsurukiehi died and a new Tsurukiehi was
born.’ After he was released from prison he con
sorted with the Christians and was baptized. For
a year he has been working as a jinrikisha man.
He now knows his Bible thoroughly, is always at
church, an eager listener, and in every way is con
ducting himself as a Christian man. Such is the
power of the gospel.’’
IV.
A MOSLEM’S CONFESSION.
Another interesting convert is reported from
Cairo, Egypt. He is a young Moslem sheik in the
great Mohammedan College, El-Azhar. The Mis
sionary Witness says of his striking confession of
faith:
“It seems that while a Moslem Minister of the
Interior and a Captain Minister of Foreign Affairs
were calling one day recently on Lord Cromer, the
British Minister in Egypt, this young sheik also
called, and in the presence of the three men, after
a cross-examination, signed a statement that by his
own free will he had determined to be a Christian.
The act on his part causes him the loss of wealth
and position, and the hostility of his relatives as
well as of his friends. The event, it is said, has
caused a profound sensation among the Moslem pop
ulation. It remains to be seen whether such a man
can live and labor as a Christian in Egypt.’’
V.
AMONG THE SAVAGE NGONI.
The Gospel message is making glorious progress
among the savage Ngoni. Speaking of the rapid
growth of the work, the Missionary Record of the
United Free Church, Scotland, says:
“Mission work was begun among the Ngoni in
1883, but not till 1887 was liberty given to open a
school or to preach the Gospel.
“They were determined to prevent anything
likely to weaken their power as upheld by the spear,
and it required years of patient waiting for liberty
to carry on organized work.
“Medical work, however, was welcomed from the
first, and extensively carried on; and under cover
of darkness, while the tribe slept, we conducted
a small school in our house, in which several youths
were taught to read and write, and received in
struction in Scriptural truth.
“Last year we had over 140 schools, with 315
Christian teachers, and an average daily of over
13,000 scholars. There are over 2,000 baptized
adults in three congregations, each with a native
kirk-session, and their contributions last year for
home and foreign missions, building of schools and
churches, and for education, amounted to over
426 pounds.’’
Temperance Work in Washington.
During the past week there occurred an event
in the District of Columbia which has seldom been
equaled in the history of the Prohibition movement
in this country. There was being presented to
the House of Representatives a bill to rid the Dis
trict of Columbia of the liquor traffic, and during
the reading of this bill by Representative Weber,
of Ohio, ONE THOUSAND temperance advocates
marched through the halls of the capitol. Only
about fifty could possibly find space in the small
committee room, but the door was open and before
this door there passed a steady stream of men,
women and children, all showing the white ribbon
of the W. C. T. U., whose members formed the
predominating element in the “army.’’ The presi
dent of this movement in the District of Columbia
is Mrs. Clinton Smith, who headed a- column com
posed of prominent members of the Rechabites,
Independent Order of Good Templars, Prohibition
Crusaders, Catholic Total Abstainers’ Union, the
Christian Endeavorers and other organizations for
the promotion of the Prohibition movement.
“Surrender” was the watchword of this self
constituted army, and during the march through the
great halls of the capitol, frequent allusion was
made to the magnificent painting of the surrender
of Cornwallis which hung on the wall.
In his speech, which opened the session, Mr.
Weber pointed out that liquor was responsible for
ninety per cent of the persons in the jail, work
house and insane asylum of the District, and in
reviewing the receipts from the liquor license, he
stated that each year it fell about SBOO,OOO short
of supporting these very institutions which were
filled by liquor victims.
Mr. Robert Crane led the argument against the
Prohibition Bill, and he made a number of state
ments which called forth vigorous denials from the
Prohibitionists, both within and without the com
mittee room. Among other things, he said that
Tennessee had found crime on the increase since
the passage of the prohibition laws, to which state
ment Representative Sims replied that Mr. Crane
evidenced that he knew nothing of the situation
of which he spoke; that Tennessee had found li
quor legislation a perfect success, and that other
states adopting similar laws would have similar
experiences.
An Example of Self-Control.
An old negro woman stopped in front of a gro
cery store and gazed longingly at some early water
melons piled on the sidewalk. To the proprietor,
who came out just then, she said:
“Mistah, does yo’ sell dem melons by de dozen?’'
“Why, yes, if you want to buy them that way,’
was the reply.
The old woman looked at the melons wistfully
for a moment. “Well, sah,” she said at last, taking
a nickel from her mouth, “gimme a fl’cent loaf ui
bread.”—Ex.
“Be atrong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift—
We have work to do. and loads to lift—-
Shun not the struggle—face it. it is God’s gift.’’
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