HE leads us on, by paths we did not know,
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow,
Though oft we faint and falter on the way,
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day,
Yet when the clouds are gone
We know He leads us on.

He leads us on through all the trialsome years;
Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts, and fears
He guides our steps. Through all the tangled maze
Of sin, of sorrow, and o'erclouded days
We know His will is done;
And still He leads us on.

And then, at last, after the weary strife,
After the restless fever we call life,
After the dreariness, the aching pain,
The wayward struggles which have proved in vain,
After our toils are past--
He'll give us rest at last.

This section of the Report is more in the nature of a letter, or series of letters, to the home folks--THE INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS-- rather than to the public in general.

On Board S.S. Shinyo Maru, Mid-Pacific Ocean, December 28, 1911.

To the Ecclesia of I.B.S.A., at Chicago, Ill., U.S.A. Dearly Beloved in the Lord:--

At 10 o'clock we were obliged to say good-by and started for Dallas, Texas. As there are just eight in our party, we occupy two tables in the dining car, and eat at the same time, which gives special opportunity for fellowship. It was a ride of a day and night to our next stop.

WE arrived here about 9 o'clock in the morning, with the rain coming down plentifully. A number of the Dallas friends were at the station to meet the party, and gave us the usual Southern hearty welcome and all had the "Millennial Dawn Smile," notwithstanding the rain.

I TRAVELED two days and nights, arriving at Los Angeles about noon. Brother Mitchell met me and took me in his auto to the Alexandria Hotel, and after registering I went with him to Boos Bros. Cafeteria, where a number of friends meet every noon for lunch --both spiritual and natural. (Such an arrangement obtains among friends in other large cities--those who work down in the cities--and it affords a splendid opportunity for discussing matters of interest.) There I met about a dozen of the friends.

A LARGE delegation of the Los Angeles Class of International Bible Students escorted the committee to the Alexandria Hotel, and, after registering, we all went to the parlor of the hotel, and Pastor Russell told the friends about the meetings at Dallas and San Antonio.

There would have been no message sent to mankind exhorting to righteousness and to turn from sin had God not intended to redeem man by the death of His Son; and redeeming them means to give each and all of the human family another opportunity, another trial, another judgment--to test their worthiness or unworthiness of everlasting life--to prove to what extent their acquaintance with sin and its penalty has taught them the great lesson respecting the sinfulness and undesirability of sin and the sureness of its penalty --death.

For more than eighteen centuries this message has been going forth--namely, that God has provided for the race a redemption from the original death sentence, and that there is to be a "resurrection of the dead, both of the Just and the unjust." All mankind who hear this Message are thereby warned that every art of the present life will have its weight, either in the uplifting or in the degrading of his own character, and thus have a bearing upon his future interests. It is in view of this future opportunity for life or death everlasting that our conduct in the present time has a bearing.

It should be clear to us then, that, in harmony with our text, the whole world is now under the wrath of God, which came upon the race through the disobedience of our first parents; and the only ones who have escaped from that wrath and gotten back into harmony with God are the saintly few, begotten of the Holy Spirit. The escape of these from Divine wrath or the death sentence is not actual, but by faith. They reckon themselves as having passed "from death unto life."

It had been arranged to hold the public service at 3 o'clock in a large auditorium, but at the last moment it was found that the hall could not be put in readiness, and the next best thing was a large tent. This proved to be just the thing, as it held a large number of people who filled every seat and listened with very great attention for about an hour and a half while Bro. Russell spoke on "Which Is the True Gospel?" At the close of the service hundreds of people took the "Hell Tower" as copies of it were handed out.

THE San Francisco and Oakland Classes consolidated for the day and all meetings were therefore held in Oakland. The morning service was a Testimony Meeting, participated in by the audience in general, and the members of the committee.

TUESDAY, Dec. 31, 1911--The great day came when we were to leave America for the far East, and hurry home, by way of India, Egypt, etc. Arrangements were made to sail on the Japanese boat, "Shinyo Maru," which signifies "Springtime on the Ocean." The weather was almost like July, the air brisk and the skies as blue as indigo. There were about fifty friends at the wharf to see the party off. Besides these, there were many others, friends of the other passengers. Our friends came on board and inspected our new home for the next few weeks. Incidentally, they left Brother Russell many bouquets, decorated his berth with flowers, gave him several boxes of candy, etc., all tokens of their Christian love and esteem, for his work's sake. Just before leaving the ship they assembled before the stateroom door and sang, "God be with you till we meet again." In response he offered a brief prayer and a parting blessing upon them all.

ALL then went to our state rooms and began to arrange our things for about a four weeks' stay on the boat. She is comparatively a new boat, 550 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 38-½ feet deep. This is her third voyage.

This is the first work, then, of God in the redemption of mankind--the gathering of the Bride of Christ, the Church, to be associated with Christ, and to share in His glory, honor and immortality. We hope to be of this class, and to this class belong all the great promises that they with Him shall share with Him in the first resurrection, and then bless all the families of the earth with restitution. The world of mankind is to be restored to all that Adam had and lost, all of which Jesus redeemed at Calvary, and associated with Him will be the Church, called out of the world, a saintly class who have been walking in the footsteps of Jesus, as we read again in the words of Jesus, "Blessed and holy are those who have a part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power; they shall be priests unto God and Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." The thousand years of Messiah's reign, the thousand years of the world's uplift, the thousand in which Satan will be bound, the thousand years in which knowledge shall fill the whole earth, the thousand years in which the world shall be brought to the paradisaic condition, which was symbolically represented in the Garden of Eden, and when every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth shall be brought to that glorious condition where they will sing praises to God and to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever.

FROM San Francisco a voyage of six days, with gradually increasing temperature, brought us in sight of Diamond Head, the landmark of Honolulu. The Hawaiian Islands, our beautiful territory in the Pacific, have been aptly called the "Paradise of the Pacific." The sensuous beauty of the tropics is there mingled with the inspiring grandeur of high and rugged mountains and volcanic formations; the warmth of the torrid zone is tempered by the ever-present ocean or mountain breezes. Honolulu, the capital is a handsome city and with embowered streets, electric cars, electric lights and modern hotels. The houses are surrounded by gardens ablaze with blossoms, palms and all the wonderful foliage of the tropics. The population is most cosmopolitan and picturesque, including the "dark-eyed Kanakas," Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, East Indians and many other nationalities.

THE next afternoon on board ship we all got together in the parlor and this time had with us a lady passenger who was becoming interested. Brother Russell talked to her, and we all occasionally put in a question. He talked truth to her and we all asked questions as to the missionary work in Japan. She is or has been an Episcopalian, but is disgusted with the churches. She is a very fine lady and I believe is a real grain of wheat. Sister Wilson got her started, so you see the Lord has a reason for sending Sister Wilson along, the only lady in the party. This lady married a Japanese some twenty-five years ago, and he is connected with a large factory for the manufacture of Japanese pottery, which is shipped all over the world; they employ about three thousand people. The Missionaries have often tried to get her to co-operate with them because of her great influence on the Island, but she said she could not believe what they taught.

MONDAY, December 25--CHRISTMAS DAY. The ship's officers did everything to make this day a pleasant one for the passengers. It seemed rather strange to celebrate Christmas out on the big Pacific Ocean, without a tree in sight and no snow on the ground. However, they decorated the dining room with about four hundred flags of the various nations, also with colored trinkets, and we also had a real Christmas tree. Elaborate meals were prepared, also special programs for the afternoon and evening. All are feeling well and happy.

THERE is a great deal of interest, my dear friends, centered around this Infant, whose birth is celebrated by this day. It might be well, perhaps, to have in mind the basis for this Infant's birth and what it imports. I have, therefore, before my mind several questions:

Why was the expected babe?
How was this Babe peculiar--holy, harmless, undefiled?
Who was He who was thus born?
Why did He die?
What results have followed?
What may we expect?

Why were all men in expectation of Him at the time of His birth? What was there peculiar about Him to lead them to expect His birth?

The results that have followed have been that He himself proved His own faithfulness. Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, the death of the cross, the most ignominious form of death. It pleased the Father to thus prove Him, not only by death, but by the most ignominious form of death, hence dying as a culprit, being crucified between two thieves. What a terrible ignominy to die thus! It would be ignominy enough for us in our imperfection, but for Him, "Perfect, harmless, holy, undefiled and separate from sinners," it must have been a deep and poignant cause for sorrow. Having completed the laying down of his life during the three and a half years, he cried: "It is finished." What? Not his work, for that lay before him. He merely finished this part of the work, finished laying down His life for a ransom price. What next? After His death came His resurrection; and we read that, "God raised Him from the dead on the third day." According to the Scriptures, He was raised up from death a glorious being: "Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption: sown in dishonor, raised in honor: sown in weakness, raised in power: sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body." "Wherefore, God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and of things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every knee should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." But we see not yet all knees bowed to him.

Oh, yes, the Scriptures tell us that some will be lost, and that the loss they will sustain will be loss of life, of all the pleasure of life, loss of God's favor, of everything. They shall be as though they had not been. They shall be destroyed from amongst the people. St. Peter says, "They shall be taken and destroyed as brute beasts."

OUR ship anchored out in the harbor of Yokohoma, the seaport of Tokyo. Our big ship could not go up to the wharf, so we were landed by means of small boats. In America when we arrive at a station one usually sees a line of cabs, hacks or carriages waiting, and immediately there is a rush on the part of the drivers to secure your patronage. In Yokohoma, however, it is different. Instead of carriages, we found a long line of vehicles waiting for us, which to our western eyes were very strange. They are called "jinrickshas," and are like a large baby buggy on two wheels, but with a pair of shafts. The whole thing is pulled by a man who gets between the shafts and trots along, sometimes for miles without stopping. The men in charge of these made a rush for us as soon as we set foot on land, each trying to get a customer. Soon we were each seated in one of these queer conveyances, and off trotted our human horses. It was rather hard to reconcile oneself to such an experience of having another human being act as a beast of burden and pull you around while you sit comfortably in the ricksha. However, a person can get accustomed to almost anything, and as that is the custom in not only Japan, but in most of the Oriental countries, we soon forgot the contrast between our position and the man pulling the ricksha, especially in view of the fact that it was his business, we paid him for his services and he was well satisfied.

THIS the capital of the empire, is the home of the imperial family, and in many respects is quite modern. We stopped at the Imperial Hotel, which is quite European, though under Japanese management. Here we remained for a number of days.

THIS was the big day for us, as arrangements had been made for two meetings in the Y.M.C.A. There were fully thirteen hundred present, mostly young Japanese men, at the afternoon meeting, and seven hundred at the evening service. While there were some white people present, most of them were conspicuous by their absence. Pastor Russell spoke on the topic, "Signs of the Times." It was my privilege to introduce him, which I had to do through an interpreter, and then to lead the singing. Some sang in English and the rest in the Japanese language. The deep, reverent, earnest simplicity of those young men was very impressive and caused one to feel that he would like to do everything in his power to help them out of the darkness of their superstitions. Brother Russell then spoke and I never saw better attention from any gathering. The following is an introduction to the afternoon's discourse:

MR. YAMMAMATO, Secretary of the Tokyo Y.M.C.A., arranged for a photograph of the committee and others, which we reproduce herewith. Mr. Yammamato is the Japanese gentleman to the extreme left in the picture.

OUR subject for this evening is "The Great Hereafter." This afternoon we considered "The Signs of the Times." We found the signs of the times indicated in the Bible. We find the Bible telling exactly the signs we see about us today. We quoted from Daniel's prophecy, written twenty-four hundred years ago. Through that prophecy God tells us of these days when many are running to and fro with railways, steamships and every means of locomotion, and a great time of trouble.

FROM Kobe the course of our ship was through the Inland Sea, the most picturesque stretch of enclosed ocean in the world, for over 200 miles, an all-day scenery-feast. Silently the ship threads the narrowest of channels; square-sailed junks float by; towns, villages, castles, temples, forests, cultivated vales and terraced hills, sharply cut peaks and low-running mountain chains succeed one another for a whole day, until we came to the city of Nagasaki, where we stopped to take on coal.

AFTER a night and day's ride across the Yellow Sea we arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then a small steamer took us up the river about nine miles to the city of Shanghai. Here we found a very busy cosmopolitan city, with three general divisions, English, German and French, besides, of course, the Chinese. Some people, learning that we were coming, arranged for an afternoon and evening meeting on Sunday, and so Brother Russell spoke twice that day.