Noble Deeds of American Women: With Biographical Sketches of Some of the More Prominent
History
Noble Deeds of American Women: With Biographical Sketches of Some of the More Prominent
Women -- United States -- Biography
OTWAY.
"The amazing influence of one Christian, who shows in her life the
spirit of Christ, is illustrated in a striking manner, in the life of a
lady who died not long since, in one of the principal cities of the
United States. I am not permitted to give her name, nor all the
particulars of her life. But what I relate may be relied upon, not only
as facts, but as far below the whole truth. She had been for a long time
afflicted with a drunken husband. At length the sheriff came, and swept
off all her property, not excepting her household furniture, to
discharge his grog bills. At this distressing crisis, she retired to an
upper room, laid her babe upon the bare floor, kneeled down over it, and
offered up the following petition: "O Lord, if thou wilt _in any way_
remove from me this affliction, I will serve thee _upon bread and
water_, all the days of my life." The Lord took her at her word. Her
besotted husband immediately disappeared, and was never heard of again
till after her death. The church would now have maintained her, but she
would not consent to become a charge to others. Although in feeble
health, and afflicted with the sick headache, she opened a small school,
from which she obtained a bare subsistence; though it was often no more
than what was contained in the condition of her prayer--literally bread
and water. She was a lady of pleasing address, and of a mild and gentle
disposition. "In her lips was the law of kindness." Yet she possessed an
energy of character and a spirit of perseverance, which the power of
faith alone can impart. When she undertook any Christian enterprise, she
was discouraged by no obstacles, and appalled by no difficulties. She
resided in the most wicked and abandoned part of the city, which
afforded a great field of labor. Her benevolent heart was pained at
seeing the grog shops open upon the holy Sabbath. She undertook the
difficult and almost hopeless task of closing these sinks of moral
pollution upon the Lord's day, and succeeded. This was accomplished by
the mild influence of persuasion, flowing from the lips of kindness, and
clothed with that power which always accompanies the true spirit of the
gospel. But she was not satisfied with seeing the front doors and
windows of these houses closed. She would, therefore, upon the morning
of the Sabbath, pass round, and enter these shops through the dwellings
occupied by the families of the keepers, where she often found them
engaged secretly in this wickedness. She would then remonstrate with
them, until she persuaded them to abandon it, and attend public worship.
In this manner, she abolished, almost entirety, the sale of liquors
upon the Sabbath, in the worst part of the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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