These Truths Our Defense

We do not have to defend this gift; it is our defense. An old West Indian man, aged seventy-eight, had the right idea of these books. He was always seen carrying the book, “Christ Our Saviour,” wherever he went.SPIAM 42.3

“I love this book,” he said. “When people ask me the reason for carrying it about with me, I reply: ‘Oh, this book is my bodyguard.’ From the time I started to read it, I have been a changed man. I do not know how the change came about. One thing I know, I changed since I started to read it.”SPIAM 42.4

Here is an item from the non-Christian land of Japan. The book, “Patriarchs and Prophets,” was officially commended to the public. Manager H. P. Evens, of our Japanese Publishing House, wrote: “Of all our books in Japan, this is the only one to be recommended to the public by the Imperial Department of Education. This is indicated on the title page, at the top, in large black characters.”SPIAM 42.5

Colporteur leader Kraft, who accompanied the Japanese colporteur to the department, told me: “The official himself volunteered to give the recommendation. It has put copies in schools and libraries, and many thousands of copies have been sold in Japan.”SPIAM 42.6

There is a voice in these writings that speaks with special force to even the non-Christian mind.SPIAM 43.1

When “The Desire of Ages” was brought out in Great Britain, a society lady in Edinburgh read a copy. She was agitated. She said to our people: “You are a small people. You ought not to have the circulation of a book like this. It ought to be in the hands of the big London publishers. It seems inspired.”SPIAM 43.2

She did not understand that our method of sale through colporteurs gave us a means of reaching more homes with a religious book than the big publishers would be likely to reach. (By the way, this method of book distribution was developed under instruction of the Spirit of prophecy, as we shall see later.)SPIAM 43.3