Part 3

"And then there was a poor Irish girl in one of the wards, a Catholic, but one of the most devoted Christian girls I ever met.... Her home is in Ireland; but while visiting in this country, she met with a fearful accident, and was sent to the hospital for treatment. When I met her she was recovering, but was feeling somewhat disheartened because her friends were so far away; and she was often slighted on account of her being an 'Irish Catholic.'... I was enabled to cheer her up a great deal, and to do one or two little substantial acts of kindness for her, which went directly to her heart, and seemed to do her so much good that I thanked God, involuntarily, for the opportunity of cheering her, and being of service to her.

"But I was enabled to render the most assistance to an American lady,--a noble-hearted woman and a true Christian. Her life has been one of adventure and suffering, and one cannot listen to the recital of her touching story without feeling deeply interested in her. She has been in the hospital a long time, and is at present very weak and frail; and there is a great deal of doubt about her ever being any better. I bought little things for her that I knew did her good; and when I came away I left a very little money with her, in order that she might be able to procure any little thing that she felt as if she couldn't do without, even if the hospital did not furnish it. And so I had the pleasure of leaving her quite light-hearted and hopeful, believing more firmly than ever that the Lord would care for her, and never, never forsake her."

It was indeed a privilege to give assistance in any way to one so grateful as was Manning, for all that he received of blessing, and so ready to make others happy by ministering discreetly, and in a loving, Christ-like spirit, to the needy and heavy-burdened about him.

HOPE AGAINST HOPE.--THE PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN WORK.

From the hospital to his home, and again among friends who felt that his presence with them was in itself a blessing, Manning still sought health, while growing gradually weaker and less able to exert himself in body or mind. He would not see the dark side of his case, but still confidently hoped for recovery. "I don't feel natural yet, by any means," he wrote from Fiskdale, where he was with good friends on a farm, in October, 1867, "nor free from mental weakness, but I'm stronger physically than I have been since I left Andover, certain. You see we are a mile and a half from neighbors, and my friends are very quiet indeed, so I talk hardly any; and when I get to work husking corn, digging potatoes, and the like, I often even forget to _think_, and I gain by it rapidly; but when I come down to writing letters, it puts me back."

Manning's days of struggle with disease were not wholly profitless to others. He was the means of not a little good, in his moving from point to point in the last year of his toilsome life. At South Danvers, Bridgewater, Fiskdale, Winchester, Beverly, Hartford, and elsewhere, he raised his voice or used his warm and loving heart for precious souls, in ways that will never be forgotten. His crown in heaven will be bright with stars won in those months of vain search for health. And this work was ever a joy to him, and he thanked God for his part in it.

While in the hospital at Boston, he told in sadness of his disappointments in efforts at Christian activity,--of his going to a place in Vermont where was such need of religious endeavor that "even he could do something for Jesus," and of his being taken ill on the very day of his arrival there, and thus prevented raising his voice for the Master. "And so it has often been," he added, regretfully. "I don't know whether I've learned the right lesson from all this; but this is what it seems to me God is teaching me by these disappointments: It is a blessed privilege to work for Jesus. Jesus didn't need me in Vermont. He has never needed me anywhere; but he has let me work for him sometimes. Oh, if I ever get well enough to work for him again, won't I be thankful for it!" Would to God that all Christians had learned this lesson as well!

ONLY WAITING.--REST AT LAST.

At length the prolonged struggle drew towards its close. Early in May last, Manning--told by the physicians in a water-cure establishment, where he had been spending some months, that nothing more could be done for him with hope--turned his steps for the last time to his Warwick home. He still had hope of recovery, for he had passed so many perils safely that he could hardly realize there was any death for him; but he was now more resigned to inaction, in the same trustful love of Jesus and his cause. "I know that my Saviour will take care of me," he wrote: "I don't _think_ it, I _know_ it! I haven't the slightest doubt of it. He never manifested himself to me more wonderfully than he has of late; never satisfied the cravings of my heart more, or filled my soul more full! And I believe I never had so much love for him, or loved to speak of him to others, so well, as at the present time!" But he added, "It is not my business to think whether I am to live or die, but, rather, how I can best serve Christ. I want to do any thing, and be any thing, and suffer any thing that he wants me to." So, as he lay down on his home-bed to die, he had learned his last lesson,--he could wait as well as work.

"He was not eager, bold, Nor strong,--all that was past; He was ready not to do, At last, at last."

His faith grew firmer as his flesh failed, and the less he could himself do, the more he was ready to trust God to do for him. On one occasion, when it seemed as if his hour of death had come, his sisters who were nearest were all summoned to his bedside, and just then two other sisters came in unexpectedly,--one from Boston, the other from Wisconsin,--while a friend whom he had particularly desired to see again, also visited him. For the first time in several years the family were all together at home. This moved Manning to profoundest gratitude to God, and he repeatedly referred to it in this spirit, telling over the story of recent blessings secured to himself and his loved ones, as though he had just pride in the power and goodness of his heavenly Father, who had done all this for his comfort. Again, when he was pressed for means to supply his daily necessities, a sister came to him one morning to say that a letter had been received covering a gift of thirty dollars for his use. A pleasant smile came over his face as he responded, "I prayed for money last night. It was the first time I had asked for that in a good while."

There were long and weary weeks for him of final trial in racking pain--the whole inner system destroyed by the foul air of swamp and dungeon, and the scant or vile food of stockade and jail, while the still young and naturally vigorous outer man refused to be yet wholly crushed. There were dreams of prison-life, hunger and thirst ever unsatisfied; and seasons of agony in struggle for breath, as with slow, wasting flesh, and cold, clammy brow, the patient sufferer whispered with livid lips, in unfailing trust, "I want nothing; I wish for nothing; I hope for nothing: I only wait," until death brought relief and rest on the evening of Friday, Sept. 4, 1868. Two days later, his remains were borne out by loving hands from the church where, seven years before, that very month, he had stood up to witness for Jesus before going out to face death at the call of God, and tenderly laid away under the green turf of the neighboring hill-side cemetery, close by the tasteful granite shaft which stands "In Memory of Warwick's Soldiers who fell in the War of the Great Rebellion."

CLAIMS OF THE DEAD ON THE LIVING.

And thus the earthly warfare of another brave soldier is concluded. His was a noble work,--a work for others; for his fellows, his country, his God. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Henry Manning "hath done what he could" for the interests dear to the hearts of the Union soldiers. It is for those who survive him to hold sacred, and to guard jealously the principles and privileges--the supremacy of the Federal Government; the integrity of the national Union; the just liberties of the people of the Republic; the protection in their every right of all its citizens; the execution of the laws, and the inviolability of the national faith--for which he and so many other soldiers battled, endured, and prayed, and gave or risked their lives.

And the faith of Henry Manning should be deemed yet more admirable and holy than his work. His work was heroic: his faith was sublime! It was because of his faith in that Saviour who died for him, and was an ever-present help in all his needs, that he went out as a soldier, and endured unto the end so bravely. "He fought a good fight" because he "kept the faith." "Through faith" he "escaped the edge of the sword; out of weakness was made strong, waxed valiant in fight," "had trial ... of bonds and imprisonment, ... being destitute, afflicted, tormented," and out of all "obtained a good report;" and finally has "gotten the victory," and received "a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

Surely in view of his faith and his faithfulness, and of the cause for which Henry Manning lived and gave his life, it behooves the lovers of their Country and of the Cross, to "hold such in reputation, because, for the sake of Christ, he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply their lack of service."

Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Text in italics is indicated by underscores: _italics_.

Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.

Punctuation has been corrected without note.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows: Page 16: stanch has been changed to staunch