Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

this time that I really began to feel the necessity and value of a personal application of the provisions of that atonement to my own case. The change was like what may be supposed would take place were it possible to cure a case of "colour blindness." The perfect freeness with which the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God's book drew forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us with his blood, and a sense of deep obligation to him for his mercy, has influenced, in some small measure, my conduct ever since. But I shall not again refer to the inner spiritual life which I believe then began, nor do I intend to specify with any prominence the evangelistic labours to which the love of Christ has since impelled me. This book will speak not so much of what has been done as of what still remains to be performed before the Gospel can be said to be preached to all nations.

In the glow of love which Christianity inspires, I soon resolved to devote my life to the alleviation of human misery, Turning this idea over in my mind, I felt that to be a pioneer of Christianity in China might lead to the material benefit of some portions of that immense empire, and therefore set myself to obtain a medical education, in order to be qualified for that enterprise.

In recognizing the plants pointed out in my first medical book-that extraordinary old work on astrological medicine, Culpepper's "Herbal "—I had the guidance of a book on the plants of Lanarkshire, by Patrick. Limited as my time was, I found opportunities to scour the whole country side, "collecting simples." Deep and anxious were my studies on the still deeper and more perplexing profundities of astrology, and I believe I got as far into that abyss of fantasies as my author said he dared to lead me. It seemed perilous ground to tread on farther, for the dark hint seemed to my youthful mind to loom towards "selling soul and body to the devil,” as the price of the unfathomable knowledge of the stars. These excursions, often in company with brothers, one now in Canada, and the other a clergyman in the United States, gratified my intense love of nature; and though we generally returned so unmercifully hungry and fatigued that the embryo

parson shed tears, yet we discovered so many to us new and interesting things, that he was always as eager to join us next time as he was the last.

On one of these exploring tours we entered a limestone quarry-long before geology was so popular as it is now. It is impossible to describe the delight and wonder with which I began to collect the shells found in the carboniferous limestone which crops out in High Blantyre and Cambuslang. A quarryman, seeing a little boy so engaged, looked with that pitying eye which the benevolent assume when viewing the insane. Addressing him with, "However did these shells come into these rocks? "When God made the rocks, he made the shells in them," was the damping reply. What a deal of trouble geologists might have saved themselves by adopting the Turk-like philosophy of this Scotchman!

[ocr errors]

My reading while at work was carried on by placing the book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that I could catch sentence after sentence as I passed at my work; I thus kept up a pretty constant study undisturbed by the roar of the machinery. To this part of my education I owe my present power of completely abstracting the mind from surrounding noises, so as to read and write with perfect comfort amidst the play of children or near the dancing and songs of savages. The toil of cotton-spinning, to which I was promoted in my nineteenth year, was excessively severe on a slim loosejointed lad, but it was well paid for; and it enabled me to support myself while attending medical and Greek classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the divinity lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands in summer. I never received a farthing of aid from any one, and should have accomplished my project of going to China as a medical missionary in the course of time by my own efforts, had not some friends advised my joining the London Missionary Society, on account of its perfectly unsectarian character. It "sends neither Episcopacy, nor Presbyterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of Christ to the heathen." This exactly agreed with my ideas of what a missionary society ought to do; but it was not without a pang that I offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one accustomed to work his own way to become in a

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

SKETCH OF THE REV. SAMUEL on of georg MOODY,

[ocr errors]

The Famous New England Minister.*.. BY THE REV. JOTHAM SEWALL. FATHER MOODY's first wife was the sister of my grandfather. His daughter Mary was the wife of Mr. Joseph Emerson, who was minister in those days in Malden, near Boston. Mr. Emerson used to write out his sermons correctly, before he preached them whereas Father Moody wrote but little, and was rather scattering in his manner of preaching. Mr. Emerson would now and then take his wife home, and spend a Sabbath with her father, and give the people a couple of his good written sermons. Numbers of Father Moody's hearers were very much taken with Mr. Emerson's wellstudied discourses. "Oh, what instructive sermons! we can learn some thing from them," they were wont to say. Father Moody found it out, and thought within himself, "If I should once in a while write out a sermon in full, perhaps I might benefit those people who do not so well relish my random fires." So he concluded to put the matter to trial, and wrote a sermon with this object in view. After opening the meeting as usual, he began to read his manuscript, and kept on reading till he got tired; and then stopped, and looked round upon the people, and said, "Emerson must be Emerson, and Moody must be Moody; I feel as if I had my head in a bag. You call Moody a rambling preacher, and it is true enough; but his preaching will do to catch up rambling sinnersyou are all runaways from the Lord." And so he went on his old way; he would not submit to be trammeled at that rate. LA

At a meeting of the Association to which he belonged, held at his own

* From the new work of Dr. Sprague, lately published in the United States.

[ocr errors]

house, the ministers undertook to call him to an account for his odd expressions and back-handed strokes. Father Moody, we do not think you do right." "Why, what have I done?" "Why, we are told that at such a time, you expressed yourself so and so. Now you know whether it is true or not. If it is, we do think you ought to be more careful; for you are liable by such a course to injure the good cause. He made no answer, but stepped into his study, and soon returned with a memorandum of twenty or thirty cases of the hopeful conversion of persons who had been awakened by just such expressions as his brethren were condemning. As he read it over to them, with the dates, etc., they looked at each other with no little surprise, and one of them remarked, "If the Lord owns Father Moody's oddities, we must let him take his own way;" and to this they all agreed.

[ocr errors]

In a time of revival among his people, there was much excitement, some taking sides for and some against the work. He was passing the road one day, and came upon two men disputing warmly in respect to the existing state of things in the community. In his zeal (forgetting the prohibition, "Be no striker "), he gave one of them a blow on the shoulder with his cane, exclaiming, "I'll teach you better than to dispute against the work of God.' After some talk he found that it was the friend of the work whom he had undertaken to chastise. He immediately fell down upon his knees, there in the road, and asked forgiveness, and so the matter was settled.

On one occasion, he had a lecture at a private house, and there was no one present who was competent to conduct the singing except his hired man. So he called on his man, John, to tune the psalm while the line was given out in detail. John obeyed; and after they had got through, Mr. Moody thus accosted him: "John, you never shall set the psalm again; for you are ready to burst with pride."

One morning, late in the fall, after snow had begun to come, he rose early before his wife, and while he was making a fire in his kitchen, there came in a poor woman, and asked if Madam Moody had not an old pair of shoes that were better than hers, that would keep her feet from the snow and

cold ground. Mr. Moody took his wife's shoes and gave her, and she went off highly delighted. By-and-by, when Mrs. Moody arose, and could find nothing of her shoes, Mr. Moody, hearing her inquire for them, said, "I gave them away to such a poor woman this morning." "Why, Mr. Moody, how could you do so, when you knew they were all the shoes I had in the world?" "Never mind; the Lord will send in another pair before night, I don't doubt." And the prediction was verified; in the course of the day a new pair of shoes was actually sent to her.

A couple of strangers called on Father Moody one day early in the forenoon. Their horses were put out, and he took them into the sitting-room, and engaged in conversation with them. His wife opened a door from another room, and beckoned to him to come to her. He went, and she said to him, "Dear Mr. Moody, what shall we do? We have nothing to set before these men for dinner." "Never mind; set the table, and I do not doubt that the Lord will send us something by dinner time." One of his church members, who lived in sight, and saw the men call at the parsonage, said to her daughters, "There are a couple of strangers gone to Mr. Moody's, and I guess it is pretty short times with them; let us prepare a dinner and send it in." They did so, and thus the set table was furnished in season.

When Cape Breton was taken the first time, Father Moody served as chaplain. After the capture was effected, the officers of the navy and land forces dined together. Some of Mr. Moody's friends, who knew his partiality for long services, were apprehensive that he would be so long asking a blessing that the food would get cold before they could commence eating it. When dinner was ready, General Pepperell spoke to Mr. Moody, and he came to the table, lifting up both hands, and saying, "Oh, Lord, we have so much to bless thee for, we must refer it to eternity, for time is too short; so bless our food and fellowship for Christ's sake." His friends were so agreeably disappointed that they took down his long blessing in writing, and brought it home; and by that means I obtained it.

One time Father Moody was some distance from home, and called on a brother in the ministry, thinking to

VOL. XV.

pass the Sabbath with him, if agreeable. The brother appeared glad to see him, and said, "I should be very glad to have you preach for me tomorrow, but I am almost ashamed to ask you." ." "Why, what is the matter?" "Our people are in such a habit of leaving before the meeting is closed, that it seems to be an imposition upon a stranger." "If that is all, I must and will stop to preach for you." When Sabbath day came, and he named his text, he looked round and said, "My friends, I am going to preach to two sorts of folks to-day, saints and sinners. Sinners, I am going to give you your portion first, and I would have you give good attention." He went on and preached to them as long as he thought proper, and then paused and said, "There, sinners, I have done with you now; you may take your hats and go out of the meeting-house as soon as you please." Of course no one availed himself of the permission.

Among Mr. Moody's stated hearers, there was a young man who took special pains, when he had a new pair of shoes to creak, or a new garment to show, to come into meeting after the service had commenced. After having annoyed Mr. Moody in this manner for some time, he came in, as he usually did, one morning during the prayer, and had to walk a considerable distance in the house before he reached his seat. The moment he stopped in his seat, Mr. Moody, with an elevated tone of voice, exclaimed, "O Lord, we pray thee, cure Ned Ingraham of that ungodly strut."

Mr. Moody, on one occasion, observed quite a number of his hearers asleep. He stopped in his sermon, and cried out at the top of his voice, "Fire! fire! fire!" One man, waking out of a sound sleep, asked, in the utmost consternation, "Where?" "In hell, for sleepy sinners," answered the preacher.

When he settled in York, he refused to have a stated salary, preferring to live upon charity and faith. After he became advanced in years, his people inserted in their warrant for a parish meeting an article, to see if the parish would settle a salary upon him. The circumstance having been communicated to him, he attended the meeting, and when that article was called up, he earnestly opposed it. His friends reminded him that age was creeping

C

upon him, that he received but a meagre support, and that the little that he did get was principally from some of his best friends, and that such a course operated very unequally. He inquired who his best friends were; and, without waiting for an answer, mentioned a number of persons, and asked if they were not among them. It was admitted that they were. "And are they not," added he, "the best livers in town?" "Yes," was the answer. "Yes," responded he, "and so they always will be so long as they lay themselves out for the support of the Gospel." He persevered in his

determination; and as he began in that way, he resolved to see it through; though I have understood he did not recommend the course to others.

From these various anecdotes, you I will collect what I believe tradition fully justifies that Mr. Moody was a man of great constitutional eccentricity, and much natural quickness of spirit, but remarkable for his shrewdness, his confidence in God, his fervent devotion, his never-failing charity, his glowing love of souls, and his intense and unyielding zeal in the cause of his Master.

Lay Preaching.

UNDER this head we do not presume to address ourselves to regular Ministers of the Gospel, who have been specially trained, and formally set apart to the service of the sanctuary; but to a class of men whose worth is in the inverse ratio of their position in public esteem, and in personal pretension-men, moreover, whom it is desirable to multiply by hundreds and thousands-who take, not merely in good part, but gratefully receive all that from time to time we set before them.

THE PREACHER'S WORK.

A young painter was once directed by his master to complete a picture on which the master had been obliged to suspend his labours on account of his growing infirmities. "I commission thee, my son," said the aged artist, "to do thy best upon this work. Do thy best. The young man had such reverence for his master's skill, that he felt incompetent to touch canvas which bore the work of that renowned hand. But "Do thy best" was the old man's calm reply; and again, to repeated solicitations, he answered, "Do thy best." The youth tremblingly seized the brush, and kneeling before his appointed work, he prayed: "It is for the sake of my beloved master that I implore skill and power to do this deed.' His hand grew steady as he painted. Slumbering genius awoke in his eye. Enthusiasm took the place of fear. Forgetfulness of himself supplanted his self-distrust, and with a calm joy he finished his labour. The "beloved master was borne on his couch into the studio, to pass judgment on the result. As his eye fell upon the triumph of art before him, he

[ocr errors]

burst into tears, and throwing his enfeebled arms around the young artist, he exclaimed, "My son, I paint no more!" That youth subsequently became the painter of "The Last Supper," the ruins of which, after the lapse of three hundred years, still attract annually to the refectory of an obscure convent in Milan hundreds of the worshippers of art. So shall it be with a youthful preacher, who stands in awe of the work to which his Master calls him. Let him give himself away to it as his life's work without reserve; let him do his best. Let him kneel reverently before his commission, and pray, "for the beloved Master's sake, that power and skill may be given him to do this deed." And the spirit of that Master shall breathe in the very greatness of the work. It shall strengthen him. His hand shall grow firm and his heart calm. His eye shall not quail in the presence of kings. He shall stand undismayed before those who, in the kingdom of God, are greater than they. Years of trust and of tranquil expectation shall follow his early struggles; or, if emergencies thicken as he advances, and one after

20

2

another of those on whom his spirit has leaned for support fall from his side, he shall be as the young men who increase in strength. He shall learn to welcome great trials of his character. With a holier joy than Nelson felt at Trafalgar, he shall look up and say of every such crisis in his ministry, "I thank thee, O my God, that thou hast given me this great opportunity of doing my duty."

BISHOP WILBERFORCE ON
PREACHING.

WHATEVER defects may cleave to the Bishop of Oxford, it admits of no dispute that he is a most sagacious man and a great orator. In recently addressing his Clergy, he expressed himself as follows on the subject of preaching:

"Again, suffer me to ask-and I ask it of myself just as much as of youare our sermons what they ought to be, and what labour and prayer might make them? Now, I am by no means disposed to give an indiscriminate assent to the truth of the popular outcry against our sermons which has of late reached the ears of all. But, yet, are they not too often deficient precisely in those qualities which are necessary to make them really effective with our people? For is there not in general the taste of essays or disquisitions about them, and their merit soundness, moderation, perhaps exactness? And is not their fault-that really unpardonable fault to the listeners of every class, and especially to our class of listeners-that of dulness? And is not what we want to teach our people a style of composition the exact opposite of this, one which is intellectual, terse, pointed, dealing in short sentences; using Saxon words as close to every-day life as it can be without being profane or vulgar; being at once impressive in its subjects, its applications, its illustrations, and its assertions? Should it not be rough enough, so to speak, to make it felt through their dull skin of ignorance and inattention? Should it not startle the careless, and positively jog the drowsy man ere his slumber is sound? Should it not be pathetic; for who more notices, than our common race, that which reaches them through the affections? Should it not, through illustrations, convey truths which the

unlearned never receive? Should it not avoid the easy uniformity of a man applying a nostrum, and, with the living earnestness of one who believes he has all-important truths to convey, declare the curse of sin and the blessed remedy provided for it in the sacrifices and perpetual offering of our Lord, and in the working of God the Holy Ghost? Should you not dwell on and proclaim Christ on his cross, Christ in his work of love, Christ in his word, Christ in his church, Christ in his sacraments, and Christ crucified; Christ risen, Christ mediating, Christ saving? Should it not embrace all the variety, and fire, and love which belong not to a mouth full of phrases, but a heart, and mind, and soul full of their subject, and that subject eternal life, man lost or man's salvation, and the love of Christ and the working of the eternal Spirit, and the blessedness of the church of the redeemed? And should not all these be delivered as if we were in earnest, because we are in earnest? I must leave it to you to determine for yourselves whether you can best speak, then, for Christ from or without a manuscript. I believe generally the best course is to preach once each Sunday a written and once an unwritten sermon-by no means one which has been committed to memory, but one which, through fresh utterings of the moment, is the product of thought, and study, and prayer; for the written sermon secures exactness and variety, and the unwritten the habit of speaking to our people from the heart to the heart, instead of reading a composition in their presence."

ADVANTAGES OF METHOD. ALL persons accustomed to hear different speakers or ministers are conscious of the fact that they retain in memory the thoughts and illustrations of some with far greater facility than of others. The reason is obvious:-A lady was complimenting a clergyman on the fact, that she could always recollect and recite more of his sermons than those of any other minister she was in the habit of hearing. She could not account for this, but thought the fact worthy of observation. The reverend gentleman remarked that he could explain the cause.

"I happen," said he, "to make a

« AnteriorContinuar »