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
Dearly beloved, we may well ask, "Who are these arrayed in white
robes?" Oh, what celebrated personages are above! The prophets, the
apostles, the reformers, and the martyrs of Scotland are there. For in
a dream of the night I was wafted away to the moorland and moss, where
the martyrs lay. When the minister's home was the mountain and flood.
When they dared not worship God in daylight. Only at the dead of night,
when the wintry winds raved fierce, and the thunder-peal compelled the
men of blood to crouch within their den. Then the faithful few--true
followers of the blessed Jesus--would venture forth to some deep dell
by the rock o'er canopied; then, amid the glare of sheeted lightning,
those men of God would open the sacred Book and words of comfort speak.
Ah, it cost something to be a Christian in those days, when from the
high foaming crest of Solway to the smoothly polished breast of Loch
Katrine, not a river nor a lake but has swelled with the life's tide of
religious freedom. From the bonnie highland heather of her lofty
summits to the modest gowan on the lea, not a flower but has blushed
with the martyr's blood. But, beloved, the blood of the martyrs was the
seed of the Church. What holy, loving lessons does God teach us by the
history of the true Church, and a thoroughly consecrated
people--lessons of love, hope, fortitude, and long-suffering!
"Oh, Jesus, our Master, command to beat faster
These weary life-pulses that bring us to Thee."
Our dear departed sister had the true missionary spirit. She feared not
the things she was called on to suffer for Christ in her great work in
this city. Let us who are left behind catch her magnanimous and heroic
disposition in working for the blessed Jesus. Oh, that the spirit of our
noble ancestry might come upon us! Oh, that the Holy Spirit of God may
enter into all our hearts to-day, that we may be more humble, more
loving, more zealous, more sympathetic, and more sincere in our toil for
Christ and His Church; _then to die will be gain!_ and to Him shall be
all the glory, world without end. Amen.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
TESTIMONIALS AND LETTERS OF CONDOLENCE.
I've found a Friend; oh, such a Friend!
So kind, and true, and tender,
So wise a Counsellor and guide,
So mighty a Defender!
From him, who loves me now so well,
What power my love can sever?
Shall life, or death, or earth, or hell?
No, I am his forever.
The following resolutions and letters furnish, in a pre-eminent degree,
conclusive evidence of the high estimation in which His servant and
handmaiden were held by ministers, elders, and Sabbath-school workers
generally:
NEW YORK, January 12, 1869.
MRS. JAMES KNOWLES:
MY DEAR FRIEND--At the Annual Meeting of the Teachers' Association
of the Sabbath-school of the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, held last
evening, the following action was taken:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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