On one occasion some unruly persons undertook to arrest and whip him,
and also several of his hearers, for holding religious meetings. After
the arrest one of the men thus accosted Uncle Jack, "Well, old fellow,
you are the ringleader of these meetings, and we have been anxious to
catch you; now what have you to say for yourself?"
"Nothing at all, master," was the reply.
"What! nothing to say against being whipped! how is that?"
"I have been wondering a long time," said the old Christian, "how it
was that so good a man as the Apostle Paul should have been whipped
three times for preaching the Gospel, while such an unworthy man as I
am should have been permitted to preach twenty years without getting a
lick." The young men immediately released him.
Uncle Jack died in 1843, aged one hundred years.
--_Blake's Biographical Dictionary._
CHRISTIAN KINDNESS.
In one of my early journeys, says Moffat, with some of my companions,
we came to a heathen village on the borders of Orange River, South
Africa. We had travelled far, and were hungry, thirsty, and fatigued.
From the fear of being exposed to lions, we preferred remaining at
the village to proceeding further during the night. The people of the
village rather roughly directed us to halt at a distance. We asked
for water, but they would not supply it. I offered the three or four
buttons which still remained on my jacket for a little milk; this also
was refused. We had the prospect of another hungry night at a distance
from water, though within sight of the river. We found it difficult to
reconcile ourselves to our lot; for in addition to repeated rebuffs,
the manner of the villagers excited suspicion.
When twilight drew on, a woman approached from the height beyond which
the village lay. She bore on her head a bundle of wood, and had a
vessel of milk in her hand. The latter, without opening her lips, she
handed to us, laid down the wood, and returned to the village. A second
time she approached with a cooking-vessel on her head, a leg of mutton
in one hand, and water in the other. She sat down without saying a
word, prepared the fire, and put on the meat. We asked again and again
who she was. She remained silent until affectionately entreated to give
us a reason for such unlooked-for kindness to strangers. A tear stole
down her sable cheek as she replied: "I love Him whose servants you
are; and surely it is my duty to give you a cup of cold water in His
name. My heart is full; therefore I cannot speak the joy I feel to see
you in this out-of-the-way place."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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