Part 15 (2/2)
”'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee.'
”'He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.'
”'Who is a G.o.d like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and pa.s.seth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.'
”'He will turn again, he will have compa.s.sion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.'
”'Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.'
”'And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.'
”'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'
The Lord hath turned our captivity, filled our mouth with laughter and our tongue with singing.
”Thomas,” her grandchild, ”is restored to perfect health. Thou hast heard our pet.i.tions, and continuest to us all our pleasant things.
”It is a time of prosperity; thou givest us the 'upper and the nether springs;' thou blessest my children 'in their basket and in their store;' and while the riches of many are making to themselves wings and flying away--while many are sinking from affluence to poverty, falling on the right hand and on the left, by thy most manifest providence thou hast preserved them from the wreck. O teach them to acknowledge thy hand in all this, and to say and feel, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory.' It is G.o.d that giveth power to get riches. O, enable them to honor thee with their substance, and with the first-fruits of all their increase.
”In the day of prosperity let them rejoice, but let this joy be in the Lord. O let thy gifts ever, ever lead them to the giver, and fill their hearts with grat.i.tude, their mouths with praise; and let their very actions be wors.h.i.+p, while they acknowledge thee in all their ways, and thou directest their steps. May they be as 'a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid,' and their light so s.h.i.+ne before men, that they seeing their good works, may glorify their Father in heaven.
”And now, O Lord, we wait for thy blessing in the restoration of our dear D---- and I. B---- and J----. 'Thou hast shown them great and sore adversities,' and thou hast manifested thy power to save. When they pa.s.sed through the waters thou wast with them, and through the rivers they did not overflow them. When they walked through the fire they were not burnt, neither did the flames kindle upon them. For thou art the Lord their G.o.d, the Holy One of Israel, their Saviour.
”Thou didst stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind, and in the mult.i.tude of their thoughts within them did thy comforts delight their soul. Thou humbledst them under thy mighty hand, and thou hast in the mult.i.tude of thy mercy exalted them in due time.
”In all their sojourning thou hast been with them; and in fellows.h.i.+p with thy church greatly hast thou comforted them. Thou hast given them favor in the hearts of thy people, and made 'the stones of the field to be at peace with them.' And now, O Lord, restore them to their friends and Christian society, and to their place which thou hast in thy goodness given and preserved to them. Here may they be thy witnesses, that 'thou art the Lord, and besides thee there is no Saviour.'”
”SEPTEMBER, 1802.
”This day has the Lord our G.o.d answered our prayers, and enriched us beyond the ordinary lot of humanity. D---- and I. B---- and J---- are restored to their preserved places, and to the bosom of their family. We are as men who dream; our mouths are filled with laughter, our tongues with singing; the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Thou hast turned our captivity as the streams in the south. We sowed in tears, we have reaped in joy. Bless the Lord, O our souls; ever true and faithful is his word: 'He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'
”'O Lord, from thee is our fruit found;' may our sheaves be many and weighty, thou working all our works in us, to thine own glory and our blessedness. Amen.”
”1802.
”Dear brother Pero,* happy brother Pero, thy Jesus, in whom thou trustedst, has loosed thy bonds, has brought thee to that rest which remains for the people of G.o.d; thou drinkest of the pure river that maketh glad the city of our G.o.d; of that blessed fountain from which issue all the streams which refresh and revive us weary pilgrims. But a little while ago, and thou wast weary, dark, and solitary; thy flesh fettering and clogging thy spirit; thy G.o.d trying thy faith, hope, and patience, which he had previously implanted, watered, and made vigorous, to stand that trial more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried by fire, and was made manifest to the glory of that Saviour who leaves not his people in any case. If need be, they are in heaviness, through manifold temptations; but he knows how to deliver them, having himself been tempted.
*Pero was an elderly man of color whom Mr. Andrew Smith had purchased, and made free.
Pero had previously been a freed man of Christ. He had been for some time in ill health; Mrs. Graham kindly attended on him, and read the Scriptures to him: he died by the bursting of a bloodvessel, at an hour when none of the family were with him. Mrs. Graham, in humility of spirit, reproaches herself in this exercise, for having been absent from him, without inquiring into his situation for one hour.
”Thou hadst a taste of his cup: like him thou didst endure the contradiction of sinners; like him thou didst experience the desertion of friends, even thine old mistress, whom thou lately didst esteem as a sister in Christ, and to whom thou didst look for fresh communication from and through that written word, which she could read and thou couldst not. Oh, how did she prove as a broken reed unto thee; how did she neglect thy necessity, and her own opportunity of bringing forth fruit in its season. Thou hast been no loser. The Lord pa.s.sed by the slothful servant, the unfaithful steward, who neglected to give thee thy meat in due season, and himself took her place; took thee from that household which was not worthy of thee, and led thee to those mansions of bliss which himself purchased and prepared; set thee at that table which shall never be drawn, where thou shalt feast on all the fulness of G.o.d, and drink of those pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore. No need of old mistress now; no need of any earthly vessel now, nor of that written word which thou didst so highly prize. The Word made flesh has removed the veil that shaded the glory of the G.o.d-man from thine eyes; flesh and blood could not behold it; of this he has unclothed thee--left it with us to look upon and mourn our sin. Thee he has introduced into the full vision of eternal day, where thou knowest as thou art known, and seest as thou art seen. O that full communion enjoyed between a holy soul and the perfection of holiness! O that light of life, that ocean of love, that inconceivable blessedness.
How hast thou outrun us, brother Pero; how distanced us in a moment.
Oh, could I not watch with thee one hour? Oh that I had received thy last blessing, instead of which, conscious offence, deserved rebuke, painful compunction wring my heart; and perhaps the rod of correction may be suspended, and now ready to fall on my guilty head.
”Father, O my Father, am I not still thy child--still thy adopted? Have not I an Advocate with thee, Jesus Christ the righteous, whom thou hearest always? does not the blood of Christ cleanse from all sin? yes, O yes. This is my universal remedy; thousands and ten thousands of times have I experienced its efficacy. Father, I again apply; blessed Spirit, do thine office. Wash me, and I shall be clean; purge me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I confess my sin, I acknowledge mine iniquity. Thou didst bring to me an old disciple, near and dear to his and my Saviour; thou didst require me to minister unto him all that he needed; the honor was great, the opportunity valuable. Thou didst empty thy servant for a time, thou didst hide his comfort, that I might, through thy written word, draw living waters for him, and give him to drink. O the honor; O the negligence. Thou didst send the call for thy disciple to come up to thee; in thy providence thou didst make it first known to me, that I might be instrumental in conveying to him, through the same channel, oil and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g for his lamp. Great was the honor; dignified the service; but lost to me for ever. I pa.s.sed by on the other side. Blessed, blessed Jesus; thou good Samaritan, who pouredst the oil and wine into his wounds, and tookest him, not to an inn, but to those mansions in the skies which thou, with thine own blood, purchasedst for him; sanctify, O sanctify to me this thy providence; pardon my neglect. Saviour, wash me in thy blood, and sanctify and bring good out of even my transgression. By thy grace, let it be a means of stirring me up to more watchfulness, that I may meet the opportunities afforded me in thy providence, to occupy till thou come.”
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