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
But we must constantly remember that it was the almost incomparable
faith of this woman in the God of Jacob, amid the greatest difficulties
and discouragements, that gave her such remarkable success.
Incompetency for Christian work is a lack, not only of patience, but of
faith in the great love of our God, and the triumphant death of Christ,
and the persistent power of the Holy Spirit, combined with a humble
trust in our own capabilities to do valiantly for Jesus. These are the
allied forces in waging war against the powers of darkness in this
wicked world. Christ said, "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I
you into the world. And greater works than these shall ye do, because I
go to my Father." Confidence in the word of our dear Incarnate Lord is
the warrant, not only of the stability of God's method of saving souls,
but in the progressive propagation of Christian principles. There is
growth in work for Christ, as well as in nature. And our younger
brethren would do well to remember that like this woman, we must expect
success, or we will never get it.
Dr. McCosh, the President of Princeton College, made the following
remarks in an address before the General Conference of the Evangelical
Alliance:
"It is useless to tell the younger naturalists that there is no truth
in the doctrine of development, for they know that there is truth which
is not to be set aside by denunciation. Religious philosophers might be
more profitably employed in showing them the religious aspects of the
doctrine of development; and some would be grateful to any who would
help them to keep their old faith in God and the Bible with their new
faith in science."
Again, in his book on "Development," Dr. McCosh says:
"It is no use denying in our day the doctrine of evolution, in the name
of religion or any good cause. It can now be shown that it rather
favors religion by its furnishing proofs of design, and by the
wonderful parallelism between Genesis and geology."
In this part of Mrs. Knowles' diary, the careful reader will observe a
most dramatic account of human nature, under the controlling power of
the Holy Ghost. The woman whom she had long visited was at last
conquered. The city of the soul was successfully bombarded. The sorrow
for sin, the sad lamentation over a misspent life, the flinging of her
arms round the neck of the missionary, the urgent request, "Oh, pray
for me, that the Lord may have mercy on me, and save my poor soul,"
together with the statement of transition from shadow to sunshine, from
grief to joy, from alienation to adoption, reveal to us the judiciously
connected operations of the deity, in the salvation of immortal souls
brought about by the power of prayer.
Why should we remain incredulous about God's willingness to save
sinners, after such a marvellous manifestation of Divine mercy?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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