Chapter 14

H.--"Well, perhaps so; but the question with me in such cases, is this: What is duty? Admit that he cannot pay it, or even that he will not try; is it not better to relieve his desperate need, than to have him perhaps turn criminal and prey upon society? He _must_ leave the house he is in; he _cannot_ get another without the money, and he is desperate; feels that five dollars he must have, by fair means or foul. Moreover, think of his wife and children, leaving him out of the question. Now let us open this little Bible, and see what meets our eye first."

Q.--"Oh, pshaw! You know I do not believe in that kind of thing! Do you go to the Bible for everything?"

H.--"Why not? Can we have any better guide?"

Q.--"Oh! well, I don't work that way. Now about that man and his money. I will toss up a penny with you, whether I lend or not."

H.--"No you won't! You know I don't believe in chance, but in the Lord. And would you sooner rest your decision on a gambler's test, than on God's promise? Now just let us open the book."

Q.--"Well; what do you see?"

H.--"'The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous sheweth mercy, and lendeth.'" 37th Psalm, 21st verse.

As there was no hunting up of passages, nor leaves turned down to open easily, the coincidence was impressive, as well as amusing, and H., following it up, said, "Lend him the money, and if he does not pay you next Saturday night, I will."

It was so agreed upon, and, when the man called on the missionary on Monday morning, he was sent to Q. for the relief.

The week passed on, as they all pass, weighted and freighted with human ills; some capable of alleviation, some not; but of the former, a full share had come under the notice and care of the missionary, and Saturday found him stepping into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N.Y., for fresh encouragement and benediction on his labors.

At its close, a gentleman said to him, "Mr. H., I have known you by sight for years; know your work; but have never given you anything; and I promised myself the next time I saw you, I would do so. Have you any special need of five dollars now? If so, and you will step to the bank with me, you shall have it." Instantly it flashed through the mind of H. that this was the day when, either the borrower or he, must pay his friend. It may be supposed that he went to the bank with alacrity. Going back to B. and meeting the friend, he learned that neither man nor money had appeared, and at once tendered the five dollars, telling the story of the Lord's care in the matter.

Q. was so interested in this manner of obtaining supplies, that he refused to take the money, and instructed H. to use it in the Lord's work.

PRAYING FOR MONEY FOR A JOURNEY.

A lady, Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when his only grocers were the ravens, too old for new ambitions, too well acquainted with the gray mists of life to hope for many rifts through which the sunshine might enter, she had no sum of money at all approaching the cost of the trip between the two places.

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew. She lives literally, _only one day at a time_, and walks literally by faith and not by sight. So then as ever, the Lord was her committee of ways and means; but for three days the answer was delayed. Then, an old lady called to express her indebtedness for Miss E.'s services three years before, and ask her acceptance of ten dollars therefor, "no sort of equivalent for days and days of writing and searching law papers, but only a little token that the service was not forgotten."

There was the answer to her prayer; there the redemption of the pledge: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth, even forever."

EMPLOYMENT FOUND.

A man and wife were out of employment, and in very great trouble. Mr. H. (missionary) had added his efforts to theirs, and sedulously sought among the families he knew, for positions for them. After two weeks' fruitless endeavor, he said to the man, "Well, John, let us go into the Fulton street meeting and leave it with the Lord." They did so; the request was read and remembered.

The very next day, Mr. H. received a note from one of the families to whom he had already applied, and without success, requesting him to send the man and wife of whom he had spoken. Very joyfully he did so, and they were both engaged! Mr. H. considered it a very marked answer to prayer, inasmuch as it was quite difficult to find a family who wanted a man as well as woman servant; and that particular family was, of all others, the least likely to make such an arrangement!

A BARREL OF FLOUR.

For the "Faith Home for Incurables" Mr. H. received, one day, five dollars. A barrel of flour was terribly needed. He went to a large house in New York, hoping the Lord would incline the proprietor to sell him a barrel for that sum. He felt too poor, was not willing; and with a heavy heart, Mr. H. returned, asking the Lord what next he should do. He called at the store of a friend, where the following conversation took place. "Well, did you get the flour?" "I did not; they feel too poor, and I am terribly disappointed. It is almost dark now; I have lost my time going over there, and at this hour, the flour merchants here are closed." "Well, Mr. ---- called here, and I told him you were in, and on what errand you had gone to New York. He said he would send a barrel to my store if I would send it up to the Home; and I did so, about an hour ago."

WONDERFUL WAYS OF THE LORD IN GUIDING HIS PEOPLE.

Our missionaries move amidst the reality of scenes which religious fiction vainly strives to equal. Remarkable proofs of genuine and vivid piety, triumphs of patience and grace, lifting their possessors above the most painful and distressing circumstances, are met with in all their explorations, and more than repay them for toil or privation.

WONDERFUL CONVERSION OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC.

A frame dwelling in an alley, two rooms on the first floor, in the smaller one a bed-ridden old colored man, who had fought the battle of life for ninety years, fifteen of them on his bed, with eyes so dimmed by age that he could not even read; and a wife who was eye, ear and solace to him, are the salient points of our first picture.

They were both earnest, exultant Christians, around whom the angels of God encamped day and night. The wife was brought up in the West Indies, as a Catholic, but her ideas of religion consisted mostly in counting beads on a rosary. After coming to Brooklyn, she became a servant in the family of a well-known naval officer, and was always a favorite on account of her vivacity. One day, a young painter who was working there, and proved to be one of the Christians whose light shines for all in the house, spoke to her, and invited her to a prayer-meeting in a Protestant chapel. She refused, laughing; but the painter's assurance next day, that she had been prayed for in that meeting, made her restless, uneasy and sick. In a few days, she was confined to her bed and pronounced by some doctors, a victim to consumption. One, more sagacious than the rest, said her trouble was of the mind, not the body, and a minister would be better than a doctor.

It proved to be the case; she was soon led into a glimmering hope, though feeling that she literally carried a burden on her back. Starting out, one night, to look for a place of worship, she turned her feet to a Methodist meeting from whence the sound of singing had reached her. In the prayer and exhortation, however, there were words which revealed to her the secret of faith and salvation. She felt the burden loosen and fall from her shoulders, so sensibly, that involuntarily, she turned and looked for it on the floor. In a few moments she began to realize the freedom she had gained, and started to her feet in joy and wonder.

Her work then began in her own home, and through her prayers of faith, five members of the Commodore's own family and an Irish Catholic servant girl, were brought to "Christ, the living way." For years her faith was proved by her works; her daily example in the household, her watchings and waitings by the bedside of her helpless husband--poverty, sickness, perplexities of every sort, but made her hope the brighter, her hold the firmer. With no dependence for their daily bread but the benefactions of one and another person, sometimes entire strangers, they never knew what it was to suffer actual want, nor did Frances ever believe that her friend would forget her.

REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM LIGHTNING IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.

I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest came up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be seen--a lonely, wind-swept summit. I knew that the lightning on those high elevations was fearful in intensity. I was appalled at the prospect before me, but feeling that God had promised to care for his children-- "No evil shall befall thee or come nigh thy dwelling"--I composed myself, and though on horseback, with the rain beating in torrents, I offered simple prayer to God that he would save me from the rain and stop it. But _No_, it came harder than ever; then I prayed that I might be protected from all danger, "_for I trusted in Him_!"

I rode on and on for miles, chilly, cold, wet through, the clouds hanging low and the lightning flashing above me, around me, striking near me, constant flashes, peals of thunder; but I was not terrified. "God must keep me." _Twice I was distinctly struck_ with the electric flash, detached portions or sparks from the electric cloud, directly in the center of the forehead, but it had no more force than just to close my eyes, shake my head a little, obscure my sight a moment, and then it was all over, and I was clearer, cooler, calmer, happier, and more self-possessed than ever before. I attribute my protection from peril entirely to prayer, and the fierceness of the tempest and the proximity of danger were permitted by the Lord to try my trust. Those portions which struck me, if in ordinary times had been given me from an electric battery in a school-room, a shock with sparks only one-hundredth the size, would have killed me.

I can thus say with thanks, faith was then made perfect in danger, and the Lord _was faithful_ in hearing his child's cry, and delivered him.

GOD NEVER FAILED HER.

An aged colored woman, lived that life of faith which shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Born a slave, on Long Island, she was never taught to read, never enjoyed any social privileges; but the God of the widow of Sarepta, who had neither "store-house nor barn," was her God, and brought her out of the house of spiritual bondage.

She outlived all her early associations; all her children and grandchildren, husband and brother passed on before, leaving her alone in poverty and sickness. Yet she sat in her little hut, a cheerful, happy Christian; a living witness for God as a covenant-keeper. Doubting, despondent souls were always glad to visit her, to listen to her simple words of wisdom and gather strength from her invincible trust. Roman Catholic neighbors persecuted and even threatened her; but in reply to a missionary who remarked that it must be very trying and somewhat dangerous, she said, "Don't you know the Lord has a hook in the jaws of the wicked, so they shan't hurt us if we belong to him? Jesus is always with me; so I'm never alone and never afraid."

HIS MOTHER'S PRAYER.

A poor sailor, leading a most profligate and abandoned life, whose praying mother followed him like a shadow into and out of his drinking saloons and gambling houses, at last absented himself from home, whenever he was in port. Her burden, finally, seemed too great to bear, and she resolved to make a stronger effort than ever before, to cast it upon the Lord. As she knelt, with her heart well-nigh bursting with this desire, she felt a powerful conviction that, at last, she was answered. For several years the son went on in his wicked career, and the mother sorrowed that it was so, but her soul was no longer laden with fear; she felt the assurance of his conversion, sooner or later. Again, for several years, she never heard of him, and thought him dead; then she ceased praying for him, and was steadfast in the faith of meeting him in heaven. But sight was to be given her, as a reward for faith. He returned, at last, only thirty years of age, but broken down in health, and worn out by dissipation and hardship. Still unconverted, but, to satisfy his mother, he consented to remain in the room during a visit of the missionary of that district; a man with sufficient tact not to make his efforts obnoxious. He did not tell the young man he was a sinner and must flee from the wrath to come; he merely presented the _love_ of Jesus; the love that saved to the very _uttermost_; that waited more patiently than any earthly friend, and forgave more royally. At first, he listened indifferently, but, at last, burst into tears, saying, "I thought I was so bad He didn't want anything to do with me." A long conversation, and others at intervals followed, and, before his death, which occurred several months after, his mother's heart was gladdened by the account of his change, and the knowledge that, in farthest lands, his thoughts were back with her. The deeper he went in sin, the more unsatisfactory and abhorrent it became, and he would have turned, long before, to the Lord, had he believed there was the least hope for him. When he closed his eyes to earth, a few friends enabled his mother to give him respectable burial, in the same grave where, years before, his father was laid.

THE HEART OF STONE RELENTS.

Another consumptive in the neighborhood, was thoroughly an infidel. Mr. A. visited the house three times a week, and, at last, succeeded in overcoming his objections to a weekly prayer-meeting in his house. In his hearing, earnest supplication was always made for him, and, at the end of four months, the heart of stone relented. He had not, at first, the courage to appropriate the promises to himself; but one morning very early he sent for the missionary to reveal the news that he felt all his sins forgiven, and had "Christ _in_ him, the hope of glory." four months more he lived to hear witness continually to God's amazing mercy, and then joyfully expired, declaring himself saved by grace alone.

A DISCOURAGED ONE REVIVED.

Mr. C----, walking home one Saturday afternoon, fell into a discouraged train of thought because he appeared to have done so little for the Master that whole week. At that moment a young man took him by the hand saying--"You do not know me, but I know you. A few weeks ago I was on the high road to destruction, but now through your instrumentality I am in the narrow path which leads to everlasting life. I attended your prayer-meeting one evening in company with a friend of mine. You spoke with great earnestness, and after we sang the last hymn you remarked, 'How can I bless whom God has cursed? For he declares, If any man love not the Lord, he shall be accursed.' I cannot describe my sensations. For several days I could find no peace, but when at last my faith rested on Jesus, I found that peace which flows like a river; and now, like Moses, I have chosen rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, for I know if I have to face any trouble on account of my religion, I can look forward to a glorious reward."

THE PRISONER LOOSED.

On the third floor of a tenement house, a missionary, Mr. B., found a comely, intelligent young English woman in great distress. Her heart seemed wrung by grief. A few kind words of sympathy drew from her the story of her woe. She came to this country with her husband and three young children. He was employed as book-keeper in a large mercantile house; but soon became addicted to drink, and the story is ever the same; loss of position, poverty, disgrace, suffering and recklessness. On the day of the missionary's visit, he was in a prison cell, committed as a vagrant and common drunkard. The wife was bitterly weeping in her cheerless home, and the children around her fretting with hunger. Mr. B. was so touched he could scarcely find words with which to console her, but turned to Isaiah and read, "For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name." "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee." After his prayer, she felt calmer, and entreated him to come the next week, on the day her husband would be released. He complied; found a prepossessing and cultivated man; and upon telling him how earnestly his wife and himself had prayed for him, was rejoiced to learn that in that lonesome cell the Spirit of God had visited him, filled him with a sincere wish to reform the future and redeem the past. The missionary called again and again, and witnessed the strong determination of the young man to fight against his pernicious habit. He was soon employed again in a large house, became a regular attendant at the Lord's house, and began to pray both publicly and privately for help from on high. Only a few months, and both husband and wife united with a church and became teachers in the Sabbath school. Their own home, once laid waste, again blossomed like the rose.

PRAYING FOR TEA.

On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one hundred and ten years old! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was plunged in despairing grief. "Why, why was I left, old and rheumatic and useless, and Mary, a smart, busy, capable woman taken away without a minute's warning?" was her continual cry. But the son was left desolate, and the two rooms were to be kept clean, the meals provided before he left for his work in the morning, and after his work at night; there was no one else to do it, and love for him called out new effort. With cane in one hand she treads the rooms back and forth, performing the household duties. Eyes undimmed, faculties unimpaired, she _does what she can_. Upon receiving a call a few months after the death of her daughter-in-law, she said--"You've brought me a whole pound of that nice tea! Well, honey, _I asked the Lord for some good tea last night, and I knowed well enough it would be along some time to-day, cos He never keeps me waiting long_. I found out why he took Mary instead of me; old as I was, I wasn't half so fit to go, and he was so full of mercy he let me stay long enough to see it! You know, honey, I've got no one to talk over old times with. There ain't none of 'em left that I was young with, and not many I was old with; but I'm never lonesome, for I'm too busy thinking of all the Lord's watching and waiting for me. I'm dreadful little use, but my son couldn't get along very well without me, and then I tell you I'm so busy thinking, I ain't got any time to be lazy or lonesome. Good many little things we want, too, and I have to be runnin' to the Lord for 'em."

"Do they come every time, auntie?", "Every single time, honey! He never fails, no matter who else does. He knows I don't ask for no nonsense; only for the things we really need, and he has promised them all the time." "But, are there not times, auntie, for instance, when your son is sick, when you cannot see where rent and food is coming from?" "Don't want to see, honey! What's the use seein'? Believin's the thing! Believin's better than money." And so, all the revolving months, this relic of the last century walks by faith in the unseen.

GIVING HER LAST DOLLAR TO THE LORD.

A poor woman, sitting in a little church, heard the minister make an urgent appeal for money enough to pay a debt of two hundred dollars, contracted by the church the previous Winter. She had one dollar in her pocket; half drew it out; thought of the improbability of having any more for several days; put it back. Thought again, "Trust in the Lord for more;" drew it wholly out, and deposited it in the basket. The next morning, a lady called to settle a bill of two dollars, so long unpaid that it was, long before, set down among the losses.

THE DANISH GIRL'S BLESSING.

A very poor Danish girl, broken down in health, utterly unable longer to labor for her own support, was provided with the means, and urged to go to Denmark, as her friend felt sure there was some good in store for her there, meaning, more definitely, the restoration of her health. She could not be induced until, thoroughly satisfied by several tokens that it was the Lord's will, and then she consented.

A devout, humble Christian missionary became acquainted with her soon after her arrival, and, being struck with the beauty of holiness in every action and conversation of her life, asked her to marry him, that he might have the constant satisfaction of rendering her life comfortable, and finding his own encouragement in her unfailing faith. His letters are full of his saintly wife, and her signally blessed efforts in winning people to put their trust where it need fear no betrayal.

THE SWEDISH GIRL BLESSED.

A Christian Swedish girl, who had, for three years, done the washing of a certain family, had so interested them by her care of an aged father, and gained their esteem by her humble piety, that, wishing to go to Europe for six months, they offered her two rooms in their house for that time, that she might not only save the labor necessary to pay her rent, but, also, take charge of their effects. The offer was gladly accepted, and recognized as a token especially from the Lord.

In times when the father was yet able to work a little, they had economized to a degree that resulted in saving twenty dollars. It was laid by for three months' rent, when he should be no longer able to earn it. That time had come; as yet the money had not been touched; but Satan sent a wicked woman to hire the next room, and, while the father was asleep, and his poor daughter at church, she stole it. Their grief was great, but they reminded the Lord how hardly it was earned, and how faithful lie had always been to His promises. It can be easily understood with what emphasis this unexpected offer came to them.

SAVED FROM DROWNING.

A poor German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring she would drown herself that very night if _no_ one would give her work. A family on the same floor gave her the use of a very small, bare room for one week, free of charge; after that, it would be eighty cents per week rent. Her countrywoman shared with her, such as she had for the evening and the morning, and after the breakfast, sent for a good, ever-ready missionary to talk and pray her into a better frame of mind. He did so, but confirmed and rested her faith on substantial works. He procured employment for her before the sun set; enough to pay the rent and get a little common food. Then obtained coal sufficient to last a couple of months; and so, leading her little by little into light and hope, drew her into regular attendance at the Mission chapel in her neighborhood.

THE WIDOW IN "WANT".