(1753)
Last Words—See [Death Compelling Sincerity].
LATENT POSSIBILITIES
Beauty of character may be evolved out of the most unpromising material which only seems fit to be flung forth and burned. If a child cries we should try to make it laugh; if we meet melancholy folk, we should seek to cheer them; if they have to live in contact with evil tempers, we must endeavor to sweeten them.
At certain seasons of the year some great conservatories are full of ugly plants, with terrible spines sticking out of great, fat, succulent, selfish-looking leaves. These plants are cacti. They wear only a frightful and repellent aspect. Yet they are favorites of the horticulturist. He waters them and nurtures them. And suddenly the whole place is ablaze with their unspeakable loveliness. They have burst into glorious efflorescence, and spectators come to look on them with joy and wonder. Many of them bloom, especially in the night.
(1754)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE GOSPEL
There are inhabitants of three hundred towns in the Philippine Islands to-day who are stretching out their hands to America for Christian missionaries, and there is not a single person to go. Do they need us? I reply by telling you an incident. I sent a man named Nicholas Zamora, one of our preachers, out about four or five miles from the city. The man has a good voice; it is like a bell, and you can hear it four or five blocks. They were singing for about ten minutes, when a policeman came along and rushed the whole company off to jail. We have a saying in the Philippines that our converts do not have any backbone until they have been in jail about three times. They did not have any regular jail, using instead the lower floor in the policeman’s house. When they arrived there, Nicholas said: “Well, we are here; I guess we might as well do something”; and they began to sing the first verse of “Nearer, my God, to Thee.” The policeman came down-stairs and said that singing must cease, and went back up-stairs. Nicholas said, “I guess we might as well have the second verse,” and they began to sing it. The policeman came down again in high dudgeon and berated them most vigorously; and having cooled off, he went up-stairs again. Nicholas said, “We will now have the third verse.” The policeman came down again as they were starting in strongly on the third verse. This was too much for the policeman, who said in anger: “Get out of here, and go right back to America. I don’t propose to have any psalm-singing Methodists in my jail.”—J. L. McLaughlin, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
(1755)