Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's Mission — John Shaqi
Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's MissionEddy, Daniel C. (Daniel Clarke)
History
Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's Mission
Eddy, Daniel C. (Daniel Clarke)
Women -- Biography; Women missionaries
While at Bradford Academy, Miss Hasseltine became a subject of renewing
grace. Her own account of her conversion, found in her published memoir and
elsewhere, is of the deepest and most thrilling interest to every pious
heart. During the first sixteen years of her life, she, according to her
own statement, had few convictions. She had been taught that she must be
moral and virtuous, and in this way avoid suffering and secure peace of
conscience. The awful necessity of being "born again" did not press itself
upon her attention. Light and vain amusements engrossed much of her time,
and employed many hours which should have been given to God and the
practice of holiness. The prayers which she learned in youth were now
forgotten, her Bible neglected, and her mind given up to vain and sinful
pleasure. She did not realize that she was immortal; that she was a
traveller to a long and unknown eternity; but the present hour, the present
moment, received all her care and engrossed all her attention. From this
state she was aroused by seeing in a little volume which she took up to
read on Sabbath morning, just before going to the house of God, this solemn
sentence: "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." The words
sunk deep into her thoughtless heart. In vain she strove to banish them;
but they would return upon her memory, and linger there with tormenting
obstinacy. Vain was it that she mingled in scenes of gayety and mirth;
vainly did she become "the gayest of the gay." The conviction became
stronger, as each week rolled away, that she was _a lost sinner_. Under the
influence of divine truth she continued to become more deeply impressed
with the importance of giving her heart to God and being a new creature.
She herself says, "I lost all relish for amusements; felt melancholy and
dejected; and the solemn truth that I must obtain a new heart, or perish
forever, lay with weight upon my mind." At length her feelings-became so
overpowering that she could not confine them within her own bosom. God had
rolled such a weight of conviction on her mind that she was almost crushed
to the earth. How God could forgive _her_ sins, she could not see. How one
so guilty, so rebellious, so hardened, could obtain mercy, she did not
know. Instead, at this time, of giving her heart to God, she resorted to
other means to find relief from sin. She gave up many of the comforts
of life, locked herself into her room, and spent many weary hours in
self-imposed penance. Against the holy claims of God her heart soon
rebelled, and she longed to be taken out of her misery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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