Part 7 (1/2)
”ELLOW! WHO'S THERE.”
Abe had a very quaint and original way of rendering the parable of our Lord on the importunate neighbour (Luke xi. 5).
”There was a good man who said one noight to his wife, 'Naa, la.s.s, we mun be getting to bed, I ha' to be up i' th' mornin' i' good toime.'
'Aye,' she said, 'thaa has?' So she put supper things away, and then she and th' childer sat daan while th' good man read a chapter i' G.o.d's Book; then they all knelt together at the family altar, and committed their souls to the keeping of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps. In a little while after that they were all in bed and th' candle blown aat; they were just settling daan into sleep, when there came a loud knocking at th' front door, ran, tan, tan, tan. 'Ellow! who's there?'
exclaimed th' good man of th' haase as he raised himself up in bed.
”'It's me!' answered a voice from th' aatside.
”'Me, who's me?'
”'I'm th' neighbour, thaa knaws.'
”'Aye, and a bonny neighbour thaa is to be comin' here knocking up sich a row at this toime o' th' noight.'
”'Why, I'm vary sorry,' chimes in th' voice aatsoide, 'vary sorry to trouble you, but a friend o' mine that's on a journey, has just come to aar haase, and wants his supper and a noight's lodgings, and we ha'nt a morsel o' bread to set before him, and I want to knaw if thaa'll lend us a loaf till my wife bakes.'
”'Get away hoam wi' the',' replied the man of th' haase. 'I'm i' bed, and canna be bothered; candle's aat, and we ha' no matches upstairs; go home and come agean in th' mornin', and I'll lend the' some. Remember me to the' friend, good-noight:' whereupon he shuffles daan into bed agean, and tries to compose himsen to sleep.
”But th' man aatsoide has been and fetched a big thick stick, and with this he starts to hammer th' door laader than ever, till he startles all th' sleepers in th' haase.
”'Naa then, what's th' matter?' shaats th' man from insoide, 'I thought thaa war gone hoam.'
”'Will thaa lend me a loaf till my wife bakes?' This was said in such a deliberate, determined voice, that the good man knows in a moment he won't be put off.
”'What thinks ta, la.s.s? Mun I get up and gie him one? I don't believe he'll goa away; he'll bray t' door daan afore dayloight.'
”While th' wife is rubbing her eyes and hesitating a bit, th' man aatside rings sich a clash of bells on th' front door, as brought th'
good man aat on th' floor in a twinkling.
”'Hold on! hold on, mon, I'm coming!' and he was off daanstairs to the cupboard like a shot, aat with a loaf, unlocked th' front door, handed forth th' bread to the man, who was just getting ready for another knock. 'I see,' said he, 'thaa weant be put off; tak' this, and go hoam wi' the'.'”
This story, told in the vernacular of the district, of which this is a very imperfect rendering, and accompanied with Abe's expressive gestures, was exceedingly effective, and not easily forgotten. Nor did he omit the beautiful moral of the parable, showing the necessity of prayer, importunate prayer, prayer at all times. ”Keep knocking!” Abe would say, ”G.o.d is only trying you a bit in not answering first knock; it's His way of proving whether you really mean it or not. Knock laader, pray on and on, He hears, He is coming, bless Him! He never said to th' seed of Jacob, 'Seek ye my face in vain.'”
”PUT UM ON THEESEN.”
The Prodigal Son was a favourite subject with the ”Little Bishop,” and many are the quaint sayings which fell from his lips while dwelling on this interesting parable. The singular pictures which he drew of this young man in his degradation brought many a smile on the faces of the congregation. But his chief aim always was to get the youth back to his father's house again; here his emotions often overpowered him, and his joy was so great that he hardly knew what he was saying. Many of the friends still remember him on one occasion at Outlane. He had brought the poor prodigal to the top of a lane leading down to his father's house; there he stood, covered in rags and dirt, his head bare and his shoes gone; he is just timidly stopping at the corner of the lane debating whether he shall go on or turn back, when at that moment out comes the old man to look up and down the road; he sees that bit of human misery at the lane end, and in an instant recognizes him as his son, ”'Mother! mother!' exclaims th' owd man, 'quick! quick! here's aar Jack standing at top o' th' loin. Oh, run! run my owd legs, tak' me to him! Here, Jack, my lad, come to me, the' father wants thee--come, come!' And in another moment the old man is hurrying with tottering steps and open arms towards his son, and folding him, rags and all, to his bursting heart.” It was so real to Abe, and he was so carried away with the picture which was before his vivid imagination, that when he got the lad into the house, he exclaimed, ”Put shoes on his hands, and rings on his feet,”--whereupon a brother in the chapel called out, ”Nay, nay, Abe lad, thaa mun't put shoes on th' lad's hands, and th'
rings on his feet; put um on roight, man.” But Abe responded at the top of his voice, while tears came rolling over his face, ”Put um on theesen and let me aloan! 'This, my son, was dead, and is alive again, he was lost and is faand!'” By that genuine burst of feeling, he reached a climax of eloquence that has seldom been surpa.s.sed in the history of preaching.
CHAPTER XVI.
”I am a Wonder unto Many.”
Such were the words of David in olden times, and with propriety did ”Little Abe” frequently adopt them in his day. Considering his condition prior to his conversion,--a wild, thoughtless, and wicked young man, having neither fear of G.o.d nor man before his eyes, and then contrasting it with what he had become by the grace of G.o.d; remembering his want of education, that he never could write, and by that means commit his thoughts to paper, and yet that his preaching was acceptable and profitable to the people, that he drew large congregations wherever he went, some people coming to hear him who seldom attended the places at any other time; that he was used by G.o.d in bringing many sinners into the fold of Christ, who are now useful members in the Church on earth, or enrolled among those who serve G.o.d in His temple in heaven, ”Little Abe” really was ”a wonder unto many.”
A woman once said to him, ”Aye, Abe, I like' to hear the' preach.”