WHAT IT COST TO BREAK THE SABBATH

The "Jinrikisha" -- Egypt, India, China and Japan.

So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it the ship. Jonah 1:3.

     We have had the privilege of preaching in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and the large cities on the coast, but have never used the Sunday street car. Strange then that we should let the "jinrikisha" be the first and only offense.

     We were now at Port Said, Egypt, having stopped off at other ports along the way, but in each instance were saved the unpleasantness of embarking or disembarking on the Lord's Day.

     After embarking for India we found that all the steamers over which line we had booked to Yokohama were due to arrive in Colombo on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. Notwithstanding this, while going down the Red Sea we remembered the God of miracles and prayed Him to either speed or delay us in landing. To the surprise of the sailors they were enabled to cast anchor at 3 p, m., Saturday, for which we rejoiced.

     After spending six weeks in India, we returned to Colombo to resume our journey to the Orient. We were in hopes that our incoming steamer would be ahead of time as before, but to our dismay she landed Sunday at noon. Instead of remaining in port eighteen or twenty-four hours as usual, she posted notice to set sail Sunday night at 12 o'clock. What shall we do? Why, embark of course! That is what most holiness professors and preachers do. Yes, and that was what we did, though it was not God's best plan, hence we paid dearly for it.

     It is so easy in times of sudden distress or emergency to lean to one's own understanding and reason away conviction and God's plain Word. Most of us think it a light thing to do this if it will only suit our own convenience. So we reasoned that it would cost too much to wait two weeks for the next steamer when perhaps the same thing might occur again. Then what about disappointing the missionaries who were to meet us at Shanghai and conduct us up into the interior where we were to have a convention? That would never do. But the still small whisper of the Spirit came with equal force, "Shall we do evil that good may come?" Some of the missionaries present tried to make it look right and necessary to go, but the Spirit said, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil."

     Every time we resorted to the Word for direction we opened to something like this: "Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath Day; neither carry forth a burden [our baggage] out of your houses on the Sabbath Day." These with many other passages and checks of the Spirit seemed to go against all reason and indicate that we should remain for two weeks on that beautiful island of Ceylon, where the "spicy breezes blow." We needed the rest and, had we remained, no doubt God would have enabled us to help some of those hungry but worldly missionaries.

     The time was now passing and we must decide one way or the other. Oh, that souls could always remember that a hurry spirit is not of God. But here we weakened, then failed. "You must not be so over-conscientious," said the missionaries. "We are not under the law but under grace." "What harm," say they, "could there be in taking a street car, or a jinrikisha, to the jetty, where the company's launch would convey us to the steamer: especially since our boat would not sail until after midnight?" So we yielded to the pressure and compromised by waiting until nearly midnight and then secured our conveyances, but with a cast-down air. Oh, what a ride that was!

     We took the steamer, but had a hard fifteen-day voyage, arrived in Shanghai late and during a cold snap. The result was that some of the missionaries were sick and it was so cold that the thought of getting together in a convention was impracticable. We spent but two weeks in the interior, had an attack of pneumonia and returned to Shanghai just in time to miss our boat for Japan. This boat was ahead of time and was the one we should have waited for in Colombo. Now, the only thing left to do was either pay board in cold, dirty Shanghai for two weeks or forfeit our passage to Japan on the North German Lloyd, and pay transportation again on another line. We preferred to do the latter, and paid out $28.00 passage money -- the same, exactly, that it would have cost for board for two weeks on that beautiful island of Ceylon.

     We gained nothing, by getting agitated and in a hurry. We set or followed a bad example, missed a golden opportunity for doing and receiving much good, while wife suffered much during the rough voyage and I almost lost my life with pneumonia in China. Two weeks later the weather was fine for sailing and traveling up into the interior.

     What did we learn by all this? We learned anew that God does not so much want the Gospel preached that He is willing to indorse Sabbath-breaking. Of course, this position may cause us loss, yea, distress. But of what value is our religion if it does not stand some sacrifice? Call me a fanatic if you desire! It is always safe to be on the safe side. "Them that honor me I will honor."