Gathering Jewels: The Secret of a Beautiful Life: In Memoriam of Mr. & Mrs. James Knowles. Selected from Their Diaries.Knowles, James
Religion
Gathering Jewels: The Secret of a Beautiful Life: In Memoriam of Mr. & Mrs. James Knowles. Selected from Their Diaries.
Knowles, James
Allen Street Presbyterian Church (New York, N.Y.); Knowles, James, 1811-1886; Knowles, Matilda Darroch, 1811-1886
"One of those women, when I visited her, told me when I asked her to
attend church, that the devil was her best friend; he helped her out of
all her difficulties, by lying and cheating, and she intended to give
herself entirely to him. Such an expression falling from the lips of
any one, but especially from one for whom I have been watching and
praying for years, rendered me almost speechless; but I kissed her, and
saying there would be no use in my calling on her again, as she had
settled in indifference, I left her. In a few days she sent for me, and
I had another interview with her, which resulted in a promise, on her
part, to attend church. She did not do so for some weeks. A noon-day
prayer-meeting was then established in our church, and I invited her
there. In a few days she came, and since then has been attending both
noon and evening meetings, and coming to church. She has risen to ask
prayers for herself, her husband, and children, and a dear old mother,
nearly eighty years of age, still out of the ark of safety.
"Last Sabbath morning, upon entering the church, and seeing a stranger
in my pew, I could not express the feeling of joy that filled my soul,
upon discovering this was the same woman, now come to the house of God,
having exchanged masters, and forsaken the territory of Satan, anxious
to become the servant of Christ, and receive the gift of God which is
eternal life, instead of the wages of sin, which is death; and which, a
short time since, she avowed herself determined to secure.
"Another woman with whom I had talked about the sin of her encouraging
a love for dress and pleasure in her young daughter, acknowledged the
truth of what I said, and has since attended church, and undoubtedly
been brought to Christ. Her husband, also, who had not set his foot in
a church for fifteen years, but spent all his leisure time in a liquor
store, and associated with a rough class of men, according to his own
statements concerning himself, believes he has found the Saviour, and
attends the meetings regularly. A few evenings since he told me he had
to watch himself very closely, as he had become habituated to profane
swearing. The change that has been made in him is remarkable. It
appears clear to my mind that nothing but a Divine power could have
effected it.
"Another case is that of a young girl who was brought to the meeting by
her mother. She is so impressed herself, that her great concern is for
others with whom she has been associated, to induce them to attend, the
language of her heart being, 'Come with us, and we will do thee good,
for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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