The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher: A True StoryByrum, Isabel C. (Isabel Coston)
Religion
The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher: A True Story
Byrum, Isabel C. (Isabel Coston)
Christian life -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
When Mrs. Fischer saw her son approaching the house, she at once remembered
his ignorance at the camp-meeting, the ridicule created by his queer
actions, and the hard feelings that, in her embarrassment, she had felt
toward him; still, she endeavored to treat him kindly, and at first she
permitted him to talk freely about his experiences before and after the
meeting. But when in conclusion, he said, "Mother, can't you see how
necessary it is for any one to be converted, or to be born again into God's
great family?" she exclaimed: "Oh, such trash! I won't listen any longer!
I've committed no sins that I need to repent of. _My_ 'faith' is good
enough for me, and I don't expect to know everything about heaven in this
life. The church that I have joined teaches that if you do as well as you
can you'll go to heaven anyway, and after you have pledged any church that
you will stand by it and then you go and join another and take up their
'faith,' you become a shame and disgrace to the church to which you did
belong."
"Yes, but you may not get to heaven if you do not anxiously seek to know
the right way," Edwin said, and the earnestness in his voice could be felt.
Then opening his Bible, which was already well marked, he read: "Wisdom
crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the
chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love
simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate
knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto
you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and ye
refused.... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh.... Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel:
they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of
their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away
of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:20-33).
That his mother was surprized to hear Edwin reading the words was very
plain to be seen, but her spirit was still proud, and she cried: "No,
Edwin, I won't listen to any more. Those words are in the Old Testament, I
know, but they were written for the people who lived at that time, and not
for us. The New Testament is for us."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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