Miss S. It is very interesting to see how the Acts and Epistles explain one another. We have often spoken of the history of St. Paul; and now I shall ask you to pass on to Acts xvii. 11, where you find, after meeting with much opposition, the evangelist commends the noble Bereans, who" searched the Scriptures daily," for proof of what they heard concerning Christ. As I told you last week, there are always two classes of hearers-believers and unbelievers. This appears more and more plainly as we come to the first preaching to the Gentiles or idolaters. See how some at Ephesus, as well as elsewhere, turned from idolatry to serve the living God, 1 Thess. i. 9; Acts xix. 20. Harriet then read, "So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” Miss S. The word, you see, is everywhere the instrument employed. Now look at 1 Thess. ii. 14, and Hebrews x. 34, and you will see something more of the trials and persecutions that the first Christians endured. Every preacher is not called to suffer in the same manner, but every real believer in Christ will feel that the truths of the word of God can support in the heaviest trials, and are the best comforts they can offer to any of their fellow creatures in distress. The Bible will give consolation where nothing else can supply it. Some of you may have seen in the United Service Museum, in London, among the relics of the crew of Sir John Franklin, how their religious books, and especially their Bibles, were among the most valued and dearly prized of their possessions. One visitor said he could not help thinking how suited Psalm cxxxix. must have seemed in their sad condition. Ellen. Yes, there is a great deal in the Bible about sailors. Jonah and Paul were both at sea in storms. Miss S. Yet both these storms were overruled to the conviction of idolaters. There have been cases of the same kind in the countries visited by our missionaries. There is no situation for which something in the Bible may not be found. A young woman once, in consequence of a fever, became both deaf and blind. She could neither hear nor read. When she was first told that there was no hope of her recovery, and was much distressed in consequence, a friend put a Bible in her hand, and she knew what it was by her touch. She said, "I once learned to read this book, though I never shall see its pages again." Having been early instructed in a Sunday school, she began to repeat Psalm xxiii.; 1 Pet. v. 7; Prov. iii. 5, 6, and other passages, which proved soothing to her mind, so that she was never again seen under the power of fear; and God put it in the hearts of her friends to be kind and take care of her. Thus man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. You seldom, or perhaps never hear of hospitals for the needy, schools for the ignorant, or helps for the sick and afflicted, among those who are strangers to the gospel. You all know how cruel the heathens are in destroying their poor aged parents, exposing their children to perish, and forsaking those who are in need of any assistance. Some examples are given in Moffat's "Missionary Researches," and perhaps you will remember an anecdote that he relates. He and his companions had been much worn and harassed by a long journey, and the people of a native village had refused the shelter and food they needed, when a female stranger suddenly appeared carrying a bundle of wood and a vessel of milk, which she offered to them. After going away for a few minutes, she returned with a leg of mutton, and a cooking vessel and water. Then having prepared the meat, she said, in answer to their questions, "I love Him whose servants you are, and it is my duty to give you a cup of cold water in his name." Afterwards she showed them a Dutch New Testament, which she had some years before received at school, and said, "This is the fountain which I drink; this is the oil that causes my lamp to burn." Have any of you any questions you would like to ask me? Harriet. Are people ever persecuted now for their religion ? Miss S. Oh, yes. Many people have suffered in the land where our missionaries have laboured, especially in Madagascar; but I will not stop to tell you the particulars now, because I hope you will read about them when you grow older. Perhaps you all have heard lately something of the troubles Christians have endured in many eastern countries. The unbelieving world have never ceased to hate and oppose the people of God, though they have not always the same ways of doing it openly. But even now, in popish countries, persons are imprisoned as soon as they begin to read and distribute copies of the Scriptures, as the Madiai did at Florence. Only Christians must be careful not to give any cause for this opposition, except their holy and upright conduct, and then they need not fear when evil is spoken against them falsely. Our blessed Lord tells us he came not to send peace but a sword, and many of his people have passed through fiery trials; still, the promises of God are theirs. Mary. I wish we knew something more of the histories of the apostles and first preachers of the gospel. Miss S. It is truly said that St. Luke, at the end of the book of Acts, leaves us thirsting for more; yet we must not place much dependence on the early historians that were not inspired. However, it appears that the word of God was early known in India, in Spain, France, and perhaps even in Britain; some have supposed that St. Paul brought it here, but that is not certain. He gives us an account of his journeyings, Romans xv. 19, and this was written some years before the close of his life. Alice. But was it not a long time before the Bible was put into English as we have it now? Miss S. The heathen nations of the north, who were called barbarians, spread over the greater part of Europe, and the followers of the false prophet Mohammed subdued a great part of Asia and the north of Africa, so that, for a long time, the gospel was, as it were, hidden, and only a few minds, more learned than the rest, had light in the midst of darkness. Translations of parts of the Scriptures were made in different times and places, but it was not until after the invention of printing that the Bible became generally read and understood. This account, however, belongs rather to your lessons in general history, and we must leave it for the present. Only remember, that there never was or will be but one true religion by which we can draw nigh to God, though that has been better understood in some times and places than in others. |