Manila, Luzon Island – Entry made in parlor of No. 2 Calle Santa Elena, Tondo Dist.
Clouds hang on the horizon, but for all that the sun shone upon the city all day. Weather cool for this climate; no rain. Read in Numbers, then prayed & prepared to cook breakfast, but while so engaged the Owens invited me to breakfast with them. Accepted the invitation. Following breakfast Owens prepared for the Christian Commission tent meeting which he was advertised to lead, and I for Bilibid prison.
Private (Bro.) Devine (Landon) dropped in. Made a cup of lemonade for himself with my consent. Complains still of poor health. Devine & I had a quiet talk in the front room about the state of his soul personally & spiritual matters generally. Before I started for Bilibid we prayed together, I then left him in charge of the house & reached the prison about 10 a.m. Inspection was over. Provost-Sergeant J. Houser was quite a different man this Sabbath from what he proved himself last Sunday. Getting Lieut. Wolf to hunt me up a sergeant last week appears to have made Houser more accommodating. He was lying down when I arrived but immediately got up. He hurried off to wards & brought me quite a batch of prisoners. They were taken to the civil prison and a long service was held. Audience 27. Four hands up for prayer. The men were very friendly & invited me to take dinner with them. Refused. Don’t care to do anything contrary to rules. Lt. Wolf said last Sunday that he did not want the prisoners mixed. My meetings in this prison have been changed a number of times, but looking to God to bless them, I go ahead making the most of the situation.
When I got back found that friend Devine had gone back to his quarters. Private (Bro. Methodist) Lyons came in, fresh from Rev. Owens’ service in the tent, where he said one soul was forward, praise God.
Lyons & I had a conversation re education, knowledge, the object of life, salvation etc. I advised him to put God first in everything & do the best of he could to spread the Kingdom of Christ on earth. Lyons is a converted Catholic (Roman) His parents are of that faith.
En route from Bilibid in Paseo Azcarraga, a 13th Minn. soldier came along in quilez. Is fresh from Gen. Lawton’s army. Recognizing me, he jumped out of the vehicle & we had a talk. Tackled him about his soul’s salvation.
Personal dealing with people about the salvation of their souls, if many of them are ever reached at all must be done by this method. Bro. Devine produced a letter written to him from East Berkeley, Cal. by Putzker, the father of a private Bruno Putzker in K. Battery, 3d Heavy Artillery. The young man was killed. His father secured a discharge for the boy, but death gave him a discharge in battle. The letter Devine enclosed a printed folder, which contained a eulogistic obituary of the soldier. The boy’s parents are Unitarian. The poor fellow was never taught evidently by them, to seek salvation thro’ Christ, the only name given under heaven among men whereby they must be saved. Bro. Devine did so several times, although (so far as he could see) unsuccessfully. Personal dealing reached him with the blessed tidings of eternal life thro’ the Lord Jesus Christ, before the dread summons came to meet his God.
Private Clayton Freeman the Tennessee man belonging to the 1st Colorado Vol. Inf. who professed conversion May 7th in Bilibid stood up before his fellow prisoners & exhorted them to turn from their evil ways.
I gave a New Testament to a prisoner.