A Book of Quaker SaintsHodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Religion
A Book of Quaker Saints
Hodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Society of Friends
William Savery was right. The burst of weeping relieved John Smith's
over-wrought feelings. Besides, he really was almost faint with
hunger. In a few moments, when the coffee was actually held to his
lips, he found he could drink it--right down to the bottom of the cup.
As if by magic, the cup was filled up again, and then, very quickly,
the meatpies too began to disappear.
At each mouthful the man grew calmer. It was an entirely different
John Smith who took leave of his kind friends an hour later. Again
they followed him to the door. 'Try to do well, John, and thou wilt
always find a friend in me,' William Savery said, as they parted. Mary
Savery added no words--she was never a woman given to much talk. Only
she slipped her fingers into her guest's hand with a touch that said
silently, 'Fare thee well, _friend_.'
The next day John Smith entered the tanyard, not this time slinking in
as a thief in the darkness, but introduced by the master himself as an
engaged workman. For many years he remained with his employer, a
sober, honest, and faithful servant, respected by others and
respecting himself. The secret of the first visit was kept. William
and Mary Savery never alluded to it, and John Smith certainly did not,
though the memory of it never left him and altered all the rest of his
life.
Long years after John Smith was dead, William Savery, in telling the
story, always omitted the man's name. That is why he has to be called
John Smith, because no one knows now, no one ever will know, what his
real name may have been. 'But,' as William Savery used to say when he
was prevailed on to tell the story, 'the thing to know and remember is
that it is possible to overcome Evil with Good.'
XXXI. HOW A FRENCH NOBLE BECAME A FRIEND
_Sentences from 'No Cross, No Crown,'
by WILLIAM PENN._
_'Come, Reader, hearken to me
awhile; I seek thy salvation; that
is my plot; thou wilt forgive me.'_
_'Thou, like the inn of old, hast
been full of guests; thy affections
have entertained other lovers;
there has been no room for thy
Saviour in thy soul ... but his
love is after thee still, & his
holy invitation continues to save
thee.'_
_'Receive his leaven, & it will
change thee; his medicine and it
will cure thee; he is as infallible
as free; without money and with
certainty.... Yield up the body,
soul & spirit to Him that maketh
all things new: new heavens & new
earth, new love, new joy, new
peace, new works, a new life &
conversation....'_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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