Part 1 (2/2)

He sat down in the woods to wonder and to pray It was not until soe in himself, and not until he returned from Litchfield did his father perceive it His conversion was thorough Not only was he turned about,--his face God-ward instead of self-ward,--but he was i in darkness” In his childhood, from his mother's lips, he often heard stories from the lives of Brainerd, Eliot, and other reat undertakings Once he heard her say, ”I have consecrated this child to the service of God as a missionary” Noas his joy to follow those noble examples, and to fulfill his part in the plans of God and his mother for hih the thought of separation tore their hearts His mother said to him, ”I cannot bear to part from you, my son” When he reminded her of her vow, she burst into tears, and never after made complaint To his father he said that he could ”not conceive of any course of life in which to pass the rest of his days, that would prove so pleasant, as to go and coospel of salvation to the poor heathen”

This desire to spread the Gospel grew to be a sublime purpose, and fros, with this supre God for his own salvation, he laid his life in God's hand, ie of that h, as he did Elisha He left the field for the college

CHAPTER II

COLLEGE--THE HAYSTACK--EFFORTS TO SPREAD THE INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS

He entered Willia his first visit home in June, he connected hie coursemen four years of frolic, or worse To others it is an opportunity to crae, that shall by-and-by astound the round world and they that dwell therein To one, at least, it was the tiiant adversary, whoh to meet alone, if need be, ”in the name of the Lord of Hosts”

As a scholar he was not brilliant, but as a Christian he was ”a bright and shi+ning light” To serve God was the highest aim of his life First of all, he served Him upon his knees He used to pray often and earnestly, alone and with others He pursued his studies for the after use he ht make of them, not for his own accomplishment As he visited his friends in their rooroves, the subject dearest to his heart was oftenest the theh you and I are very little beings, we must not rest satisfied till we have made our influence extend to the remotest corner of this ruined world”

His life was so consistent, his disposition so sweet, histhat every one was his friend Those who had been unfaithful to their voere reproved, and those opposed to religion were induced to follow his exa his first year there was a revival, which seemed to come in answer to his earnest prayers Many of his comrades became Christians, and so earnestly that they laid aside or sanctified their old ah the earth the fire kindled by this devoted youth

A e of Samuel Mills ”Where was he born?” asked the leader ”Under a haystack!”

replied a small boy Had the question been, Where was the An Missions born? the ansould not have been so far fro came some years later, but under a stack of hay in a e, it was born, nursed and prayed over

About fourteen years earlier foreign un across the Atlantic On this side, the attention of Christians had been occupied with their new homes and the needs of the destitute near at hand There were societies of domestic missions; but no scheme to touch hands God-blessed with hands idol-cursed, had ever been devised before the Lord of both put it into the heart of Mills

”God called him out of the midst of the bush” The bush was this haystack, but the place becaround” The Lord said: ”I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and have heard their cry”

”Come now, therefore, and I will send thee”

This coathered a few of his friends in a grove, to tell them his convictions and his hopes What was his surprise and joy to find that the ”Angel of the Lord” had appeared to them also A sudden thunder storm came upon them here, but his retreat, his place of safety, was near by He led theether, and with God And there they continued to h two seasons, and finally forn Missionary Society of this continent Its object was ”to effect in the persons of its members a mission to the heathen”

From the spot where the haystack once stood, now rises a lobe, underneath which is inscribed:

”THE FIELD IS THE WORLD”

”The Birthplace of An Missions, 1806”

SAMUEL J MILLS, JAMES RICHARDS, FRANCIS L ROBBINS, HARVEY LOOMIS, BYRAM GREEN

At every coe president leads to this uests Prayer is offered that the spirit of missions may still prevail at Williams, and that the traditions of the past may be maintained

In these years public opinion was decidedly opposed to the enterprise of these young ant and expected it soon to subside In order to arouse syht sentiment, they devised various means They discussed their projects with Christian people They distributed uished ing their suit A them, the first to take fire, was Dr Worcester With one of they Said the Doctor: ”I had always refused such applications, but froreed to criticise one sermon a week After that exercise he would commonly sit and draw letters very es to th I perceived that _studying divinity_ with me had been quite a secondary object, that his chief object was to get ed to execute his plans As soon as I discovered that, I told hi out his letters and all his plans, without reserve”

Mills became convinced that they could not expect help fro men ready to devote their lives to this cause He and his friends then separated for the purpose of establishi+ng societies in other colleges Mills went to Yale, hoping there to find kindred spirits This was not the case, but God had sent him for another purpose, and that to know Obookiah, a heathen boy froreatly increased his zeal

Sometimes a little seed, wafted by the wind, is borne far fron soil: but its fruit may be returned whence it caly cruel and adverse winds, was tossed upon our Christian shores by the good hand of God The shi+p which brought him touched other and idolatrous lands, but he was not to put his feet down till they could be planted in the right place

That his life touched Mills' life, both being quickened, is perhaps reason enough for giving here a portion of Obookiah's history and that of his native land, if there were not another reason, and that the opportunity, here afforded, of following a stream of influence to its sea