MAKING my way down town on my bicycle I felt prompted to speak a few words with a dear aged saint of God who lived alone in a small room adjoining a large street chapel. After a short talk and a time of prayer I stepped out into the street. In the tea shop opposite the preaching chapel four men sat around a table gambling. The thought struck me, such a pronounced contrast! — a dear saint living in close communion with God and four men indulging in a false pleasure which invariably wrecks homes, depriving wives and children of the very necessities of life, and alas, dooms and damns souls through all eternity!
I had traveled only a couple of hundred yards when, quite unexpectedly, without the slightest warning, several squadrons of bombers, flying at a very low altitude, showered demolition bombs all over the main streets of the city.
I had no alternative but to stand exposed leaning against the front of a house. Small bombs fell uncomfortably close and shrapnel pierced the wall against which I leaned, but God’s protecting arm allowed me to escape uninjured. As the drone of the planes died away, I hurried back to my friend. The preaching chapel had suffered a direct hit and fear for my friend’s safety gripped my heart, but, glory be to God, on climbing over the debris, I found His precious one on her knees in her small room, safe and sound, and still in communion with her Heavenly Father.
But what of the four men whom I had witnessed serving the “god of this world”? A bomb had landed on their very table and all four had gone to await that great and terrible Day when the Book shall be opened―lost!! What a terrible word! What a challenging word! D. M.
“The Oriental Missionary Standard.”
HUSHED, at the dawning of the year I stand;
The gates are closed behind me, I must go.
I shade my eager eyes with trembling hand,
The way is dim before, I do not know
Just where the pathway lies. Pitfalls may wait
My unaccustomed feet; Lord, be Thou near,
For I must on―I cannot hesitate:
Hold Thou my hand, and I shall laugh at fear.
(SEL.)