116 ILLUSTRATIVE GLEANINGS. WANTS SATISFIED. PSALM Xxiii. 1.-"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." The Rev. John Cotton.-While minister of Boston, intelligence reached that town of the distress of the poor Christians at Sigatea, where a small church existed, the members of which were reduced to great extremity of suffering by persecution. Mr. Cotton immediately began to collect for them, and sent the sum of £700 for their relief. It is remarkable that this relief arrived the very day after they had divided their last portion of meal, without any prospect than that of dying a lingering death, and immediately after their pastor, Mr. White, had preached to them from the text, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." OBEDIENCE. DEUTERONOMY Viii. 6.—“Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God." The Best Soldier.-A story is told of a great captain who, after a battle, was talking over the events of the day with his officers. He asked them who had done the best that day. Some spoke of one man who had fought very bravely, and some of another. "No," he said, "you are all mistaken. The best man in the field to-day was a soldier who was just lifting up his arm to strike an enemy, but when he heard the trumpet sound a retreat, checked himself, and dropped his arm without striking the blow. That perfect and ready obedience to the will of his general is the noblest thing that has been done to-day." SIN CONFESSED. NUMBERS XXI. 7.-"Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned." A German Prince travelling through France visited the Arsenal at Toulon, where the galleys were kept. The commandant, as a compliment to his rank, offered to set at liberty any slave whom he selected. The prince went the round of the prison, therefore, and conversed with the prisoners. He inquired into the reason of their confinement, and met only with universal complaints of injustice, oppression, and false accusation. At last he came to one man, who admitted his imprisonment to be just. "My lord," said he, "I have no reason to complain. I have been a wicked, desperate wretch. I have often deserved to be broken upon the wheel, and it is a mercy that I am here.” The prince fixed his eyes upon the man, and without hesitation selected him, saying, "This is the man whom I wish released." LIVING OR DYING. PSALM CXVI. 15.-" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Owen in his last hours, when on his dying bed, dictated a short letter to a friend. The amanuensis had written "I am yet in the land of the living," when Owen at once arrested him. Stop, alter that; write, 'I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.' 66 999 Hope in Death.-The late Rev. John Griffin, some time before his death, said to a member of his family, "My dear child, how great are our mercies-my mercies! It is a great mercy that I am not in distress of mind. I have no distress in looking back, though I have much to humble me. No distress in looking forward, for I am trusting to that grace, resting on that foundation whereon every Christian who enters heaven must rest, whether he be in some respects an ignorant man, or a minister, who may be supposed to know more." His beloved partner asked him once if he felt any fear at the thought of dying. He said, "No, not fear, but I feel the solemnity, the great solemnity of entering into the presence of God." On the doctor's leaving the room he said, "He thinks me dying. I hope I am. I am ready, if it is the Lord's will to take me. The Lord's will be done." CHRIST BEFORE ALL. MATTHEW vi. 33.-" Seek ye first the kingdom of God." WHEN a young man made an open profession of the gospel, his father, greatly offended, gave him this advice :—“ James, you should first get yourself established in a good trade, then think of and determine about religion." Father," said the son, "Christ advises me differently; He says, • Seek ye first the kingdom of God.'" 66 BREAD TO EAT, ISAIAH Xxxiii. 16.-"Bread shall be given him.” The Waldensian Christians.-The Duke of Savoy was prevailed on by Louis XIV. to expel the Waldensian Christians from their native valleys. In 1689, eight or nine hundred of these persons, through great difficulties returned. Dr. Calamy, in his "Life and Times," relates that M. Arnauld, 118 ILLUSTRATIVE GLEANINGS. their minister and leader, told him that when they had nearly reached their houses, pursued by a number of their enemies, they were in great danger of dying from want of provisions. Such, however, was the kindness of God to them, that a sudden thaw removed in one night a mass of snow from the fields, when they discovered a considerable quantity of wheat that had been suddenly covered with snow, and which now as unexpectedly left it, standing in the earth ready for the sickle. On this corn they lived till other sources supplied them with food. PREPARATION FOR DEATH. LUKE xii. 37.-"Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching." 66 Safe in the arms of Jesus."-Towards the close of one of the stated prayer meetings of the Tenth Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Captain Timothy Rodgers, one of the most valued members, passed suddenly from the communion of saints on earth to heavenly companionship. The event came with startling effect upon the assembled congregation. But a half-hour before this glorious translation he called from his seat, "Please sing, There is a fountain filled with blood,'" and followed the singing of this familiar hymn with heartfelt expressions of his own interest in the precious blood of the Redeemer, and besought sinners to try its saving efficacy. Again a song of sacred significance, closing with,— "Safe in the arms of Jesus, Prayers were offered, and the pastor rose, and with earnest entreaty requested all who desired the special intercessions of God's people to come forward during the singing of a hymn. The assembly rose to sing, the captain in the midst. He stood gazing over the congregation, alert for saving souls, with more intense expectancy depicted on his noble face than when from the forecastle of his ship he peered over ocean's expanse for whitewinged sails to bring news from a far country. Suddenly he fell forward; his massive frame was caught by brethren standing near, but his soul was safe in the arms of Jesus. TRUE SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE, The Bridge across the Ganges.-True Science never does oppose true Revelation; it is rather its helper, sometimes its pioneer. A remarkable instance of this has occurred in India. One of the traditions of the Hindoos- -a tradition of uncertain yet considerable age, runs to this effect; "Over the sacred river Ganges there never can be a bridge." Millions of Hindoos were prepared to stake their religion on this. But an engineer employed in laying out roads in that country was surveying the valley of the Ganges, and saw that a bridge across the sacred river would save several miles in distance. Government ordered that the line should be proceeded with, the bridge was constructed, and over it trains began to pass. But the Brahmins said, "Wait until the rainy season comes, and our mother Ganges will carry away the structure." Not so, time went on, and still it stood fast; and the people begun to say, "The English are stronger than our gods." And is not the next thought just this? "Our gods are untrue, or else no gods." So science, instead of opposing Christianity, opens up its path. WHAT ONE PRINTING-PRESS MAY DO. The Rev. Alexander Dallas, first a soldier and afterwards a Christian minister, was appointed to the living of Winston in Hampshire in the year 1828. He entered upon his new sphere with energy, and succeeding years rather increased than diminished his activity, his work there being very fruitful. One of the agencies for good which he set on foot was the distribution of text papers, with questions, among the people of his parish; and as the labour of copying took up much time, he procured a small printing-press, and spent great part of every night in acquiring the use of it jointly with his schoolmaster. And we are told that this press not only issued spiritual instruction to the whole parish for twenty-five years, but was also the means of widely diffusing Scriptural studies throughout the country. It was afterwards transferred to an industrial school at Southampton. LOVE OF GOD. ALL things that are on earth shall wholly pass away, The blasted groves shall lose their fresh and tender green; THE POSITION OF THE REJECTOR OF REVELATION. STARTS your faith at what is strange? What less than wonders from the Wonderful? That cause uncaused! All other wonders cease; YOUNG. |
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