DAILY MISSIONARY WORK.
Shall He come and find me faithful
To His parting words to me;
"If I go--a place preparing--
I will quickly come to thee."
Shall He come and find me working
In the vineyard full of love;
Only working, till the glory
Breaks upon me from above?
The following part of her narrative of Christian work, taken from _Our
Missing Link_, is deeply interesting, and deserves the reader's careful
perusal.
At one time Mrs. Knowles wrote that, during part of the summer months
great weakness and general debility prevented her from laboring as much
as usual; and when she resumed her visits, she found many had been
making inquiries after her in church, not knowing her place of
residence. One young woman especially, who had made an unfortunate
marriage, and who had been badly treated by her husband, was extremely
anxious to see her, to tell her what comfort she had derived from a
Bible given her by Mrs. Knowles. She said she had never read so much in
one before. She had been brought up a Roman Catholic, but having lived
a few months in a Protestant family, she had there seen a Bible, and
occasionally read in it. That upon leaving the family the lady
presented her with one, which she was obliged to hide away in her bed,
lest her mother should know she possessed it. It afterward disappeared
and she thought one of her family must have seen her reading in it, and
since then she had never been able to procure another. "When I gave her
this one, her husband had spent all her wages, and she had not the
means of paying for it; but now she paid me for it, and hoped I would
come again soon and talk with her about it.
"I am kindly received wherever I go in my new district. There has been
much sickness, especially among the children, and much care is needed.
One man I visited presented a pitiable condition. When I entered his
room he was far gone in consumption. A little girl was raising his head
to give him drink, as the mother had gone to her work. He looked
surprised to see a stranger enter his room, but I went forward and asked
him if he was looking unto Jesus. He said, like many while in health, he
had thought too little about those things. I read and prayed with him.
Upon leaving him he shook my hand and asked me to come again, saying the
Lord must have sent me. I returned soon with some nourishment, which was
greedily partaken of--'It tasted so good.' He lived but little more than
a week, and I visited him daily, reading and praying with him. I carried
with me the little book _Come to Jesus_, which he loved to hear, as, 'It
was so full of Jesus;' but he said he had neglected the Saviour, and how
could he hope He would have mercy on him now. I told him how Christ died
praying for his enemies, and that the thief on the cross looked to him
and was saved, and repeated to him the hymn 'Just as I am,' etc. This
seemed to encourage him, and he said he wanted to trust in the mercy of
God through Christ to save him; while all who came to see him, he would
urge not to delay, as he had done, coming to Jesus. He said I was the
first to speak to him about the salvation of his soul, and expressed
great gratitude to me, and great solicitude about his wife and children,
till I told him he could surely trust One, who had done so much for him,
to care for them. He finally became too weak to speak, but toward the
last I saw him clasp his hands together, while he repeated, 'O blessed
Jesus, save me.'
"The woman whom I mentioned in a former report as so solicitous about
her children being all out of Christ, tells me she is much encouraged,
as her eldest son now attends church with her, and is so changed and so
much concerned about the other members of the family, she has great
reason to hope for great things for all the rest.
"If those dear ladies who furnish us with means could only see for
themselves how grateful these poor creatures are for any small kindness
done them, or for a word spoken in kindness, how greatly encouraged
they would be. And how great is the responsibility of the Bible woman,
as she goes from house to house, and from one apartment to another,
listening to the many tales of distress which greets her ears, and
witnesses for herself the many objects of pity and destitution which
meet her gaze, while she knows that something is expected from her to
alleviate, in some measure, the sorrow of these poor sufferers; and
then, when these people look up to her for counsel and advice, she is
often at a loss to know what to say to them. I often entreat them to go
to Jesus, and kneel and pray with them that the Lord may direct them
what to do.
"I have brought a number of persons to church, and trust, through
blessing, prayer, and continued efforts, much more may be accomplished
in the future."
It is only by an experimental knowledge of the condition of the
citizens of New York and other large centres of population, who are
huddled together in the high tenement houses, that we are able to form
a correct understanding of the peculiar circumstances that surround the
daily life of the faithful city missionary, especially when they are
not thoroughly acclimated. A native-born American does not feel the
stifling heat of the summer sun like those who are born in a more
northerly European country. But even the Americans themselves suffer
severely from the heat. Hence, many of them close their churches and
Sabbath-schools, and resort to their summer retreats by the seashore,
at Ocean Grove or Long Branch, while others seek rest and refreshment
to their jaded spirits at Saratoga, or snuff the balmy breezes at Mount
McGregor, where General Grant breathed his last, and ended his
creditable career in the cause of his country.
At this time we find that she suffered much during the summer months of
1867. Great weakness and general debility hindered her from laboring
incessantly, as was her usual custom for her dear Saviour. Sickness
seems to have been the only limitation to her labors. When I think that
I am writing not about some imaginary character, but one with an
untainted reputation, a _beau ideal_ as a Christian worker, known
perhaps to a few outside of the circle in which she lived and labored,
encouraged not by applauding throngs, but attracted and held to her
toil, year after year, by sorrowful hearts and weeping eyes, and
helpless hands that hang down the widow and the fatherless--these were
the objects of her Christ-like and heart-felt compassion.
Chalmers observes, in a sermon preached at an Anniversary Missionary
meeting, held in the High Church in Edinburgh: "What the man of liberal
philosophy is in sentiment, the missionary is in practice. He sees in
every man a partaker of his own nature, and a brother of his own
species. He contemplates the human mind in the generality of its great
elements. He enters upon the wide field of benevolence, and disdains
those geographical barriers by which little men would shut out one-half
of the species from the kind offices of the other. His business is with
man, and let his localities be what they may, enough for his large and
noble heart that he is bone of the same bone. To get at him he will
shun no danger, he will shrink from no privation, he will spare himself
no fatigue, he will brave every element of heaven, he will hazard the
extremities of every clime, he will cross seas, and work his
persevering way through the briars and thickets of the wilderness. In
perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by the heathen, in
weariness and painfulness, he seeks after him. The cast and the color
are nothing to the comprehensive eye of the missionary. His is the
broad principle of good-will to the children of men. His doings are
with the species, and, overlooking all the accidents of climate or of
country, enough for him if the individual he is in quest of be a man--a
brother of the same nature--with a body which a few years will bring to
the grave, and a spirit that returns to the God who gave it. The
missionary is a man of large and liberal principles."
These characteristics, enumerated by the warm and large, and
generous-hearted Chalmers, dwelt richly in her whose biography we have
tremblingly attempted to portray. She knew little of the soothing
influences of nature and solitude. Her life's work was spent in this
city, so cosmopolitan, composed, almost, of every creed and color under
heaven.
After restoration to health, the great purpose of her life was joyously
resumed. And at this time we have an opportunity of knowing thoroughly,
and weighing precisely, the opinions of her parishioners regarding her,
for when she began to resume her labors she found that the dear ones
she had brought to Jesus were kindly inquiring about her. Surely, it is
good to be missed, when either laid aside by sickness or called away by
death.
How precious are the promises of God's Word, amid domestic difficulties
and trials. The relations of the home circle are such that, unless
there is the utmost harmony and good-will, one toward another,
everything seems to go wrong. Hence, the importance of the injunction
of the Apostle, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."
Her own domestic happiness was constantly preserved. They told me on
the steamer, during a summer excursion, "that during the forty-seven
years of their wedded life, they never needed to be reconciled." And
the secret of their joy at home, even when they commenced housekeeping,
was that they erected the family altar, and established a church in the
house. Conceive, then, her feelings of gratitude to God, when she
learned that the young Roman Catholic wife, unfortunate in her
marriage, who was badly treated by her husband, was greatly comforted
through the prayerful perusal of the Bible. Her deep feelings of moral
sensibility enabled her to truly sympathize with her own sex in their
home troubles.
Her intense love for the children was a magnificent trait in her
character. Why? Because she felt the significance that attaches itself
to the sayings of Christ, bearing on the children. His authority must
be recognized. He said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." There is a
beautiful passage in Isaiah, that illustrates how tenderly God cares
for the little ones:
"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in
His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."
"Whoso," said Jesus, "shall receive one such little child in my name,
receiveth me."
There are too many instances in our daily experience where the children
are sadly neglected, and where they are looked upon as little heathens,
and discouraged in their endeavors to follow Jesus in early life. It
should be the constant care of parents and Sunday-school teachers to
take the children to Him who will in no wise cast them out. Who can
look into the clear, bright, blue eyes of a little boy or girl, and not
see in their countenance a holy radiance expressive of trustfulness,
innocence, and affection? It is no wonder, then, that Jesus said:
"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye can in
nowise enter into the kingdom of heaven."
"Are you looking unto Jesus?" she said. Where can we look for a more
important searching question to shadow forth the indispensable
necessity of not only this consumptive man, but all men, whether in
health or sickness, to renounce all other methods of trying to get to
heaven, but by "looking unto Jesus." No change of character can take
place in any other way. "Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of
the earth, for I am God, and beside me there is none else." They looked
unto Him and were lightened. "O! it is easy to look to the hills from
whence cometh our help," when the Holy Spirit is working upon the
heart. But ah, it is a tremendously difficult task to perform when the
poor sinner is bereft of this divine power.