Part 20 (1/2)
”REV. DUNCAN M. YOUNG,
”DEAR SIR: I regret that I shall not be in New York for perhaps a couple of months, and therefore cannot see you in regard to the subject of Mrs. Knowles' work. She a.s.sisted my dear mother for many years in the Industrial School, and was greatly honored and beloved by all connected with her in that work.
”I do not think I can give you any information that you do not already know, in regard to Mrs. Knowles; but if I knew a little more as to what were your plans and desires in regard to getting out a book from her notes, I might consider what I could do. In any case, it can be only in a very slight degree that I am able to aid, as I have taken up Mrs. F. Harper's work in all directions, as well as my own. Any further communication addressed here will reach me.
”Very sincerely yours,
”MRS. D. H. SIBLEY.”
In our correspondence for the Master we are reminded of two things, first, the letter sent by the beloved disciple, John, in his second epistle:
”The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
”For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever:
”Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from G.o.d the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
”I rejoiced greatly, that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
”And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
”And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
And second, her place of residence for her health is the scene of our former labors for the Lord. In the vicinity of Lakewood we held revival services, and preached every night to a crowded house for over two months. Among those who were led to Christ was a physician and his wife, three public school-teachers, and two brothers--young men--one of them is now a minister of the gospel, the other the editor of a Temperance paper in the city of Philadelphia. But we are rapidly travelling to eternity, and these will, we know, be among the fruits of our labor. Still, we have to watch for souls and the bringing in of a brighter and better day, when one need not say to the other, ”Know ye the Lord?” for all shall know Him from the least even to the greatest.
”When the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the channels of the great deep.”
How beautiful and descriptive are the words of Mackay in his ”Watcher on the Tower,” that points to the time when, through the labors of His servants, truth shall be triumphant, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away:
It breaks, it comes, the misty shadows fly, A rosy radiance gleams upon the sky; The mountain-tops reflect it calm and clear; The plain is yet in shade, but day is near.
CHAPTER XX.
REACHING THE HEART.
Jesus, let me thus be waiting, Full of hope, and love, and zeal Let Thy coming, to my spirit, Be a hope divine and real.
Dr. Hanna once said: ”The heart is an interpreter. It is not in the intellect, it is in the conscience, in the heart, that the finest, most powerful organs of spiritual vision lie. There are seals that cover up many pa.s.sages and pages of the Bible which no light or fire of genius can dissolve; there are hidden riches here that no labor of mere learned research can get at and spread forth. But those seals melt like the snow-wreath beneath the warm breathings of desire and prayer, and those riches drop spontaneously into the bosom of the humble and the contrite, the poor and the needy.”
The great President Edwards, in his admirable work on the affections, declares that that religion which G.o.d requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak and lifeless inclinations raised but a little above a state of indifference. G.o.d, in His word, insists upon it, that we should be in earnest, fervent in spirit, and having our hearts vigorously engaged in religion. ”And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy G.o.d require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy G.o.d, to walk in all his ways, and to love him; and to serve the Lord thy G.o.d with _all thy heart_ and with all thy soul.” ”And the Lord thy G.o.d will circ.u.mcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”--Deut.
x.x.x. 6.
The primary object of the successful worker then is to reach the hearts of the parents through the children, constantly remembering the divinely inspired words, ”that a little child shall lead them.” Let the following extracts from her pen speak for themselves:
”During the last month I have made two hundred and five visits, and brought eight children to the Sunday-school. I often find if we can gain the affection of the children it opens a way to the parent's hearts. For example: On entering a room one day, I asked if they had a Bible. The father, a rough-looking man, said, 'We have no money to buy Bibles--we need all our money to get something to eat.' 'Oh,'