130
THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S
be ashamed and never open my mouth any more, because of my former un belief. “I cannot describe all I passed through, but I desire with humility and gratitude to say I was made willing in a day of Christ’s power. He melted down my proud heart with His love; He shut my mouth forever from cavilling at any difficulties in the written Word; and one of the first things in which the great change appeared was that whereas before preaching had been a misery, now it became my delight to be able to say, without a host 01 skeptical or infidel doubts rushing into my mind— ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ I am quite certain no natural man can see the things of God; and I am equally certain that he cannot make himself do so. 'It was the Lord that exalted Moses and Aaron,’ said Samuel; and, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am,' said St. Paul; and so in a modified and humble sense I can truly say. “It used to be a terrible stumbling block to me to find so many learned men, so many acute men, so many scien tific men, infidels. It is not so now, I see that God has said, ‘Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.’ I see, as plainly as it is possible for me to see anything, that no natural man can receive the things of the Spirit of God. Hence I ex pect to find men of this stamp of in tellect coming out boldly with their avowals of unbelief in the written Word of God. “The only answer I can give to them is this: ‘God has in mercy taught me better’; and never do I sing those beau tiful words in the well-known hymn but I feel my eyes filling with tears of grati tude to the God of all compassion:— ‘Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God.’ “So it is with me; so it must be with any one of them, if ever they are to know the truth in its power, or to
receive the love of the truth that they may be saved. “I feel very much for the young of this generation, remembering the con flicts I passed through in consequence of the errors of men of ability. “A FORMER FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.” Arresting words, coming from such a man! How true, “The entrance of Thy Words giveth light.” • SUCH IS LIFE The following item is of interest, es pecially since taken from “Life,” the New York comic magazine: “After being prevented by the rules of the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Brooklyn from seeing her father foi thirty years, Sister Mary of the Rosary will be allowed to look upon his body tomorrow by a special dispensation from Bishop McDonnel, of Long Island. Mr. Long had lived near the convent ever since his daughter became a nun in 1880. He was allowed to talk with her periodically through a screen, bui they could not see each other. “ ‘This reads like an extract from some gruesome tragedy of the dark ages. Sister Mary is, as we understand it, a life prisoner. Her offense consisted in being young and inexperienced. She allowed her religious emotions to be worked upon by Catholic priests. She took vows administered by those men, which vows, she, in her innocence, con siders binding. But the Catholic priests who administered those vows—are they also volunteers for life imprisonment? Hardly. They may be unwise in some ways, but not to that extent. It would be more in accordance with the laws of civilized countries, and with the American spirit of fair play, if Sister Mary be set at liberty, and the priests who deceived her put behind the bars.’ ”
Made with FlippingBook HTML5