Gathering Jewels Part 25

What a picture of all that is conceivable of human suffering. Alone, poor, persecuted, yet thankful and trustful. Oh! How amazing is G.o.d's grace.

Oh, yes, to the uttermost Jesus is able To save the poor sinner who cometh to Him; His word is most sure, and His promise is stable: Though feeble thy trust and thy faith very dim, Yet listen again to the soul-cheering sound, Our Jesus can save to the uttermost bound.

Did I hear some one say, "But what of to-morrow, For my foes are so strong, and I'm sinful indeed?"

He is able to save to the end of the journey-- To the uttermost bound of thy uttermost need.

That same Jesus who died for us now ever lives, And as mightily saves as He freely forgives.

WORK AMONG THE JEWS.

"Though laboring to bring souls to Christ, of any nation, my chief interest and work is among the Jews.

"I called upon a family of very religious Jews. I talked with them of Christ as the true Messiah and of His sacrifice for our sins. I saw that they had the Old and New Testament, given them by a Christian lady. They said they often read it together, and I could not but think that the good seed was sown in their hearts.

"I am often discouraged by the opposition of one member of a family. A child who goes to Sunday-school is kept away by an unbelieving father, just as the truth has found a lodgement in her heart; but, again, my heart is filled with joy when I find that my labor has not been in vain. Such was the case in a family where I have prayed, and conversed often about their souls' salvation. The mother, a Jewess by birth, had changed her Jewish religion some time ago. But her heart remained untouched. I endeavored to make her understand what a change of heart is, and persuaded her to go with me to a German church. Some weeks after the father spoke of his faith in Christ, and a week since his wife also gave evidence of being a Christian woman. During the month of March I visited a poor woman who had had great sorrows. She asked me for a Bible, for which she was most thankful. Her husband, a Catholic, now reads it with her, and shows by his greater kindness to her its blessed effect. What a blessing, indeed, is this holy book in these poor homes?"

ANOTHER YOUNG JEWESS BROUGHT TO CHRIST.

"A young Jewess, who had found and believed in Jesus as her Saviour, wanted to unite with a Christian church, but her aged mother would not allow it. I encouraged her to pray for her mother, and one day calling to see her, I found she had now no objection to her daughter doing as she wished. I have had many conversations with Jews, and have often been allowed to read the Bible to them."

It is certainly very encouraging to read how intensely interested she was in the conversion of the Hebrew people. We cannot wonder at this when we consider that they were the chosen people of G.o.d; and also to those who are in the habit of prayerfully consulting their Bibles, especially the prophecies pertaining to the Messiah, as they behold them literally fulfilled, not only as to the time and place of His birth, but His person, life, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"He surely came unto His own and His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him them gave He power to become the Sons of G.o.d, even to those who believed in His name."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

LOVE FOR THE HEBREWS.

A weeping sinner kneels, The chains of death are broken, And soon his glad heart feels The Saviour's welcome spoken.

Christ said, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees." She seemed to hate everything that looked like spiritual pride, or idolatry, or worldliness. Hence her sternness and courage in watching for sin in herself or others was marked. The language of Jesus ever sounded in her ears: "Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: for _so_ shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pa.s.s, and to stand before the Son of man."

She felt also that G.o.d was no respecter of persons, and her great ambition on this account was to try and save the Hebrew people from their vain delusions that they were still the chosen people of G.o.d, notwithstanding their rejection of the Messiah.

This is evident from the following conversation with a Jewish woman about G.o.d's Word.

"Visiting another Jewish woman, she asked me to sit down, and soon we were in earnest conversation about the Bible, and her soul's salvation.

After hearing me read some pa.s.sages, she said, 'We Jews must all be wrong if you are right.' I told her it was not my word, but the Word of G.o.d. I begged her to search the Scriptures for herself, and left with her a tract relating to Christ, written by a Jew. She asked to have a Bible, which I carried to her. Again we conversed on this great subject. She liked the tract, and had lent it to several of her friends. She said she would read the Bible with prayer, and if she was wrong, the Lord would open her eyes. During these four months I have made over one thousand visits, distributed many tracts and given away eight Bibles, besides taking several children to the Sunday-school, and using the Mission funds in a.s.sisting the poor.

"There has been a great deal of sickness this summer, especially among the children. But I have been enabled to do some good by taking these little ones and their mothers into the country. Among them were several Roman Catholic families. They expressed surprise that we should do so much for them, saying, 'It was more than their own people would do for them.' In visiting one of these women soon after, she said her husband had told her she had better take my advice and read the Bible. He said she had better have one, for it could do her no harm. I took her the Gospel of Matthew, which she has been reading attentively, and her children learning verses by heart. She gave me fifty cents, asking if that would be enough to buy a Bible.

"To several Catholic families I have lent Bibles, and they now wish to purchase them, paying for them in small sums, as they are able. One man, who has led a very wicked life and abused his family, is now so changed that when he comes home he asks his children to read to him. He does not go to church, but says he does not know why his people are not allowed to read the Bible.

"A poor woman to whom I gave a Bible handed me one dollar, saying she wished she was able to give more, as it had been such a blessing to her in her sickness and poverty. I have been much encouraged by the grat.i.tude expressed for my reading the Scriptures in some families. A Catholic woman was in great distress for her husband. She begged me to pray for him, and calling her five children about her, we knelt in prayer.

"I have a mothers' meeting at my house, at which several women have desired prayers for their husbands. Visiting in a house where were some Jewish families, I asked if they would allow me to pray with them. They said they would not dare to kneel, but would stand and listen. On my leaving them, they shook my hand, with tears in their eyes, and said they liked to hear my prayer. Another Jewess said she would be sorry if she thought we would not meet in heaven. I begged her to pray G.o.d to show her the true way, and read to her in Isaiah the prophecies concerning the Messiah. She, too, promised to think, and pray for light.

"I have good hopes of several intemperate persons. They have abstained from drinking for several weeks, one has joined the Temperance Society, and another has promised to drink no more. They asked for a Bible, which I took to them. We have opened our Sewing-school again, and have the hope of accomplishing much good this winter among the children."

GLADNESS IN COMING TO THE HOUSE OF G.o.d.

She continues to write thus: "Some of the women who attend my mother's meeting have never attended any place of worship, and it is encouraging to hear them speak of reading the Scriptures, which they have never done before, and of the pleasure they take in going to the House of G.o.d, and in listening to His Word.

"A Jewess, to whom I spoke of the Saviour, said, 'Your religion must be very comforting, when you have something to rest upon. I would like to go to your church, and hear about your Saviour.'

"I found a family where the mother was sick; the father without work, and four children to be fed. I obtained a.s.sistance for them, and after doing what I could to make them comfortable, I read a portion of Scripture to them. As the woman lay listening, the father came into the room and said, 'You are reading the Bible; it is a good book; my children love to hear it; they learn in the Sabbath-school what will do them good, but the times are hard; I can get no work, and everything seems dark.' His wife said, 'G.o.d has sent us help just when we needed it the most.' I urged him to trust in our Heavenly Father, and pray to Him; he said, 'I will try.'"

Why not? for

E'en the hour that darkest seemeth Will His changeless goodness prove; From the gloom His mercy streameth; G.o.d is wisdom, G.o.d is love.

The shadows of earth are immediately dispelled when we trust G.o.d, for He says, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me." This pa.s.sage has been the cup of great blessing to many a benighted soul.

She writes: "In another family, the kindness shown has led the father (who has also been ill) to think seriously of religion, and resolve on leading a new life.

"One poor woman, to whom I had given a Bible, said to me, a few days since, that she wanted to 'pay something for her Bible,' it had been such a comfort to her in her lonely hours. She said she had never read so much of the Scriptures before, nor found so much comfort from reading them, as during the last few weeks; and now she wished me take ten cents as part payment; she had been keeping it for me, and would add more soon, as she wanted to give me fifty cents. She was living alone; her husband dead; her son, having married recently, had left her, but gives a little toward her support. She was also made happy by some addition for Thanksgiving.

"My visits among the children of the Sewing-school are also productive of good. One little girl whom I brought to Sabbath-school for the first time, induced her mother to come to church, where she was enough pleased to desire to come again. This family have usually spent their Sabbaths in reading stories in the newspapers, as is the case with many others from which we have gathered the children, and when they say at parting, 'Do come and see my mother,' I feel here is a wide field of usefulness opening before us, inviting us to enter in and work for the Master."

CHAPTER XXIX.

THANKFULNESS TO G.o.d.

He is a whole Christ--He is a full Saviour!

He saves to the uttermost all who believe; His arms of compa.s.sion are ever extended, The contrite and penitent souls to receive.

St. Augustine says: "The Kingdom of Light was from its very commencement a.s.sailed by the Kingdom of Darkness." But, notwithstanding the opposition of Satan, and the strong prejudices of his ancient people, how encouraging to read the following narrative from her pen:

"I have been able to supply the immediate necessities of some poor families, and it encourages my heart to see their grat.i.tude for what is done for them, but, above all, for their joy at receiving the 'Word of G.o.d,' and knowing that it was their own. From four persons I have received payment for the Bibles, who were anxious to receive them, and who read them daily. I have met with some success among the Jews. A Jewish girl who has been in my Sewing-school is very happy to be there, and says that now her father does not forbid her to read the Bible or attend Sunday-school. A young girl who attends the meeting which I hold in my house has joined the church in Allen Street, and is so much in earnest that she is trying to induce others to follow her example. I am thankful that my efforts for the young have not been without results."

Why? we ask; because He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him also _freely give us_ all things.