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
THE YOUNG JEWESS.--Writing under this head, she says: "Some time since I
became acquainted with a young Jewess, who was very sick. I visited her
from time to time, carrying her some little comforts and a bouquet of
flowers. I also read and prayed with her, which displeased her mother.
But ere long her daughter became a Christian, and when I asked her one
day if she fully believed in Jesus as her Messiah, she replied, 'Oh,
yes.' She always came to church, but being an invalid and dependent on
her mother, she could not come out boldly and confess Christ. I have
learned since that she has married a Christian man, is a member of the
Presbyterian Church, and is a happy woman."
It is quite possible for this young Jewess in her sickness to have been
led to the holy cross of Jesus through the missionary's thoughtfulness
in bringing sunshine into this sick room by those beautiful and
fragrant flowers.
THE FORSAKEN GERMAN WOMAN.--Of this case she states: "A poor woman who
had come from Germany not long ago, felt herself forsaken by all, and
longed for her old home. Telling her of the love of Christ, she seemed
to receive God's word with gratitude, and was very thankful for the
little temporal aid I could give her."
The great charm in her life was her almost universal benevolence to all
in deep distress. Consider this German woman forsaken and far from her
native home. She sighed for
Her dear sweet fatherland, and gazed across the sea,
But could not get a blink o' her ain countrie.
Oh! how blessed! truly blessed are those who are thus like minded. Oh!
the rich and inestimable value of such a life. Who can really estimate
the power of such human affection? It is emphatically real, true,
solid, and substantial. How influential! How full of Christ-like
generosity! Where can we find one so full of the spirit of her dear
master? Her life was spent for the temporal as well as the spiritual
welfare of those with whom she was providentially brought in contact.
See how tenderly she _noticed_ the change wrought among her
parishioners, after her return from a short respite from her incessant
labors. Some were dead, others were sick. To minister to these was her
continuous occupation. She felt her days were short, and as she remarked
on her own death-bed, "I must finish my work." Hence, short were her
intervals of repose. She says:
"The prospects of the poor are beginning to brighten. Some, who have
been out of work for some time, have now found employment. In the month
of February, of the two hundred families I visited, forty on whom their
families were depending for support were without any employment. I have
gathered several into the church and the Sabbath-school, as well as the
prayer-meeting, which is well attended. God help the poor!"
And again, after a somewhat short respite from her labors, she writes:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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