There were pomegranates fair
Grown in Persia's soft air,
And tortillas from Mexico found there;
And there did appear
Grapes and grains from Korea,
And all of the things that abound there.
A Syrian date
Did not turn up too late;
He need not for tea to Japan go;
Tamerinds were not few,
There were oranges too,
And from India many a mango.
"Now," thought little Jack,
"What shall I send back
To these lands for their presents to me?
The Bible, indeed,
Is what they all need
So that shall go over the sea."
(1282)
Gospel, Spread the—See Story, Power of the Old.
GOSPEL SUCCESS
Mr. Nagota, Japanese pastor of the Episcopal
Church in Tsu, gives the following
account of his conversion to Christianity:
A colporteur was trying to persuade a soldier
to buy a gospel. He was rebuffed by
gross insults and most uncalled for anger.
The colporteur bore the indignity with so
much meekness that Mr. Nagota, who
chanced to be passing by, was amazed, and
bought the gospel for the sake of the
maligned man. He took the little volume
home and read it carefully, and through
reading, became a Christian.
(1283)
GOSPEL, TRANSFORMING POWER OF
THE
A striking illustration of this is found in the history of the noted African chief, Africaner, notorious in his day until reached by the gospel:
In 1819, finding it necessary to go to Cape
Town, Moffat determined to take Africaner
with him, attired as his attendant. The chief
was an outlaw, with a price of one thousand
rix-dollars upon his head, but finally agreed
tc go. As they passed through the Dutch
farms on his way, Moffat found that he was
supposed to have been long before murdered
by Africaner. One man told him that
he had seen Moffat's bones. Moffat told a
farmer that Africaner (the chief being still
in disguise) he knew to be a truly good
man. This the man could not credit, and
said that his one wish was to see that terror
before he himself should die; whereupon
Moffat turned and said quietly, pointing to
his mild attendant, "This, then, is Africaner."
The farmer, looking at the Christian man
before him, exclaimed: "O God, what a
miracle of Thy power! What can not Thy
grace accomplish!"
That which Africaner exhibited of
the power of the gospel in character, is
shown by a host of redeemed ones, such
as Jerry McAuley, who through their
careers, have magnified the power that
saved them.—"Gloria Christi."
(1284)
Gospel Truth Written in Faces—See Face, The, Revealing the Gospel.
Gossip—See Other Side, The.
GRACE
Grace in human agents is manifested in doing the good we are under no just obligation to do:
The Plymouth Congregational Church, of
Cleveland, Ohio, years ago built themselves
a beautiful church edifice. The contractor
drew the money due for work done, and instead
of paying his workmen, left for parts
unknown, carrying the funds with him. These
workmen had not a shadow of a claim upon
the trustees, and expected nothing from
them. But thirteen hundred dollars were
due them from the absconded contractor,
and they needed the money. The pastor,
Rev. Mr. Collins, said to his people: "True,
we do not owe these men a farthing; still,
let us make an effort to give them what
their dishonest employer owes them, and
never let it be said that unrequited toil went
into the rearing of this temple of the Most
High." And all the people said, Amen. The
laborers went that night to their homes rejoicing,
carrying their lost and found pieces
of silver with them.
(1285)
See Law and Grace.
GRACE, NOT GROWTH
Touch a piece of black coal, and flaky soot
falls off; fuse that coal with fire, and nature
makes it impossible for the carbon to throw
off blackness, but only light and heat. One
of the biggest facts in human experience is
this, that a new heart is possible for bad
