Part 25 (2/2)
”To several Catholic families I have lent Bibles, and they now wish to purchase them, paying for them in small sums, as they are able. One man, who has led a very wicked life and abused his family, is now so changed that when he comes home he asks his children to read to him. He does not go to church, but says he does not know why his people are not allowed to read the Bible.
”A poor woman to whom I gave a Bible handed me one dollar, saying she wished she was able to give more, as it had been such a blessing to her in her sickness and poverty. I have been much encouraged by the grat.i.tude expressed for my reading the Scriptures in some families. A Catholic woman was in great distress for her husband. She begged me to pray for him, and calling her five children about her, we knelt in prayer.
”I have a mothers' meeting at my house, at which several women have desired prayers for their husbands. Visiting in a house where were some Jewish families, I asked if they would allow me to pray with them. They said they would not dare to kneel, but would stand and listen. On my leaving them, they shook my hand, with tears in their eyes, and said they liked to hear my prayer. Another Jewess said she would be sorry if she thought we would not meet in heaven. I begged her to pray G.o.d to show her the true way, and read to her in Isaiah the prophecies concerning the Messiah. She, too, promised to think, and pray for light.
”I have good hopes of several intemperate persons. They have abstained from drinking for several weeks, one has joined the Temperance Society, and another has promised to drink no more. They asked for a Bible, which I took to them. We have opened our Sewing-school again, and have the hope of accomplis.h.i.+ng much good this winter among the children.”
GLADNESS IN COMING TO THE HOUSE OF G.o.d.
She continues to write thus: ”Some of the women who attend my mother's meeting have never attended any place of wors.h.i.+p, and it is encouraging to hear them speak of reading the Scriptures, which they have never done before, and of the pleasure they take in going to the House of G.o.d, and in listening to His Word.
”A Jewess, to whom I spoke of the Saviour, said, 'Your religion must be very comforting, when you have something to rest upon. I would like to go to your church, and hear about your Saviour.'
”I found a family where the mother was sick; the father without work, and four children to be fed. I obtained a.s.sistance for them, and after doing what I could to make them comfortable, I read a portion of Scripture to them. As the woman lay listening, the father came into the room and said, 'You are reading the Bible; it is a good book; my children love to hear it; they learn in the Sabbath-school what will do them good, but the times are hard; I can get no work, and everything seems dark.' His wife said, 'G.o.d has sent us help just when we needed it the most.' I urged him to trust in our Heavenly Father, and pray to Him; he said, 'I will try.'”
Why not? for
E'en the hour that darkest seemeth Will His changeless goodness prove; From the gloom His mercy streameth; G.o.d is wisdom, G.o.d is love.
The shadows of earth are immediately dispelled when we trust G.o.d, for He says, ”Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me.” This pa.s.sage has been the cup of great blessing to many a benighted soul.
She writes: ”In another family, the kindness shown has led the father (who has also been ill) to think seriously of religion, and resolve on leading a new life.
”One poor woman, to whom I had given a Bible, said to me, a few days since, that she wanted to 'pay something for her Bible,' it had been such a comfort to her in her lonely hours. She said she had never read so much of the Scriptures before, nor found so much comfort from reading them, as during the last few weeks; and now she wished me take ten cents as part payment; she had been keeping it for me, and would add more soon, as she wanted to give me fifty cents. She was living alone; her husband dead; her son, having married recently, had left her, but gives a little toward her support. She was also made happy by some addition for Thanksgiving.
”My visits among the children of the Sewing-school are also productive of good. One little girl whom I brought to Sabbath-school for the first time, induced her mother to come to church, where she was enough pleased to desire to come again. This family have usually spent their Sabbaths in reading stories in the newspapers, as is the case with many others from which we have gathered the children, and when they say at parting, 'Do come and see my mother,' I feel here is a wide field of usefulness opening before us, inviting us to enter in and work for the Master.”
CHAPTER XXIX.
THANKFULNESS TO G.o.d.
He is a whole Christ--He is a full Saviour!
He saves to the uttermost all who believe; His arms of compa.s.sion are ever extended, The contrite and penitent souls to receive.
St. Augustine says: ”The Kingdom of Light was from its very commencement a.s.sailed by the Kingdom of Darkness.” But, notwithstanding the opposition of Satan, and the strong prejudices of his ancient people, how encouraging to read the following narrative from her pen:
”I have been able to supply the immediate necessities of some poor families, and it encourages my heart to see their grat.i.tude for what is done for them, but, above all, for their joy at receiving the 'Word of G.o.d,' and knowing that it was their own. From four persons I have received payment for the Bibles, who were anxious to receive them, and who read them daily. I have met with some success among the Jews. A Jewish girl who has been in my Sewing-school is very happy to be there, and says that now her father does not forbid her to read the Bible or attend Sunday-school. A young girl who attends the meeting which I hold in my house has joined the church in Allen Street, and is so much in earnest that she is trying to induce others to follow her example. I am thankful that my efforts for the young have not been without results.”
Why? we ask; because He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him also _freely give us_ all things.
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