CIRCULATING THE SCRIPTURES.
O land of the blessed, thy hills of delight
Sometimes on my vision unfold;
Thy mansions celestial, thy palaces bright,
Thy bulwarks of jasper and gold.
Dear voices are chanting thy chorus of praise,
Dear eyes in thy sunlight are fair;
I look from my valley of shadow below,
And whisper: Would God I were there.
Amid the toil and sufferings of earth, how comforting is the assurance
in our hearts that Jesus is preparing a place for his people. O, how
cheering, when we can adopt the language in the song of Solomon, and
say:
"My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until
the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou
like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether."
It will not be long before we will be done with the cares and
vicissitudes of life, and enter into that "Rest that remains for the
people of God." I am sure that in the midst of her toil, she ever found
joy in the hope that one day she would be forever with the Lord. She
had indeed laid up treasures in heaven, and her earnest desire
evidently was, not to go to heaven alone, but to take some others with
her. This was the joy of her life. Like the Master who, for the joy
that was set before Him, endures the cross. Hence she enjoyed a uniform
experience of peace, although she witnessed many a sorrowful sight. A
late writer, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, has well observed:
"Joy will reach farthest out to sea where troubled mariners are seeking
the shore. Even in your deepest griefs you can rejoice in God. As waves
phosphoresce, let joys flash from the swing of the sorrow of your
souls. Low measures of feeling are better than ecstacies for ordinary
life. God sends His rains in gentle drops, else flowers would be beaten
to pieces."
Ah, it was the peace of God that passeth all understanding that enabled
her to bear up during the hot summer months in which she penned the
following, wherein she says:
"The past three months have been the most trying of any I have
experienced since I began my work. There has been much sickness and
many deaths. But I have been kept and sustained amid many difficulties.
I have been kindly received in many Roman Catholic and Jewish families.
A poor woman whose husband was killed a year since, who had lost one
child, and has another very sick, is glad to have me read and pray with
her, and when I point her to the Saviour she says He is, indeed, her
best friend. Another Catholic woman said, she did not see why her
priest forbade her reading the Bible, 'for what you have read to me is
so beautiful.' When asked if she would like to have a Bible, she said
she would, and when I took one to her she gave me twenty-five cents,
and said she wished she could give me more. One day I was addressed in
the street by a little girl, who asked me to go and see her mother.
When I enquired who she was, I found she was a woman whom I had visited
some time before. She was very glad to see me, showed me the Testament
I had given her, and asked me many questions which would have led to
argument; but I told her I only taught the religion of the Lord Jesus,
and I wished them to come to Him and seek for light and salvation. She
urged me to come again, and gladly listened when I read to them from
the Scriptures.
"A young woman on being asked to attend church said, 'The only church I
go to is the theatre.' I gave her a Testament which she promised to
read; she has now begun to go to church regularly, and says she hopes
never again to live the life she has lived. I have been able to take a
number of mothers and their children to the sea side, which has been a
great blessing. I have given the Bible to two women who have paid for
it, and wished for one for a neighbor."
* * * * * *
It is a true and striking fact, that there are very few women who ever
labored so assiduously for the good of others as this Missionary,
especially in trying to save souls and make others happy.
We may say we believe in Jesus and, therefore, we will be saved; but we
must remember also that faith without works is dead, and on the great
day of judgment all will be made known, for St. John says in the
Apocalypse: "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of
life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."