Missionary Accomplishments

       "When the American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands, they struck off the shackles from the whole race, breaking the power of the kings and chiefs. They set the common man free, elevated his wife to a position of equality with him, and gave a piece of land to each to hold forever. They set up schools and churches, and imbued the people with the spirit of the Christian religion. If they had had the power to augment the capacities of the people, they could have made them perfect; and they would have done it, no doubt.
      The missionaries taught the whole nation to read and write, with facility, in the native tongue. I don't suppose there is to-day a single uneducated person above eight years of age in the Sandwich Islands! It is the best educated country in the world, I believe. That has been all done by the American missionaries. And in a large degree it was paid for by the American Sunday-school children with their pennies. I know that I contributed." -- Samuel L. Clemens.

"How They Worship," Wow.

God moves in a mysterious way...

God moves in a mysterious way...

by William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up His bright designs,

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings o'er your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Life's Journey With God

Jeanette McMillan writes in this poem of a life's journey with God:

My plans were made, I thought my path all

bright and clear,

My heart with songs o'erflowed, the world

seemed full of cheer.

My Lord I wished to serve, to take Him for

my Guide,

To keep so close that I could feel Him by my

side;

And so I traveled on.

But suddenly, in skies so clear and full of

light.

The clouds came thick and fast, the day

seemed changed to night.

Instead of paths so clear and full of things

so sweet,

Rough things, and thorns, and stones seemed

all about my feet,

I scarce could travel on,

I bowed my head and wondered why this

change should come.

And murmured, "Lord, is this because of

aught I've done?

Has not the past been full enough of pain

and care?

Why should my path again be changed to

dark from fair?"

But still I traveled on.

I listened - quiet and still, there came a voice:

"This path is mine, not thine; I made the

choice.

Dear child, this service will be best for thee

and me

If thou wilt simply trust and leave the end

with me."

And so we travel on. 

The Ear-Trumpet Held Fast

       An aged sailor, on the coast of Kent, (Eng.,) was recently an object of much solicitude to some pious persons, who were acquainted with his state. He had passed his eightieth year, was so deaf that he could hear no one speak, and was rapidly advancing to the grave, as he could not take food, and would not employ medicine. The opposition he had manifested to divine truth was now diminished, but it was only as, in common with other objects of dislike, he became less sensible of their real character.

       The anxiety of those who pitied his spiritual condition was in consequence increased, and a speaking and an ear trumpet were both employed, in the hope of gaining an entrance to his mind. The experiment succeeded; he could now hear what was said, and truths of the first importance were plainly and faithfully stated. So offended, however, was he with the appeal of a Christian minister, that for ten days he would not allow him to be re-admitted to his room. But tracts - so often useful under the blessing of God - were not thus excluded, and he suffered several of them to be read to him, some of which proved both interesting and instructive. Still it was observed that he carefully removed the ear-trumpet whenever any part of a sentence bore hard on his state as a sinner before God.

       In his second interview, the minister made more guarded and careful approaches to the conscience of the old sailor, and by gradually exhibiting his state in the use of seafaring allusions, he awakened his attention. Aware of the artifice of his auditor, he held the ear-trumpet fast with his own hand, and by day and night he explained and enforced the great truths of the gospel of God.

       At length success crowned his efforts. Animated by the injunction - "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good;" he had the happiness of seeing that sailor, once so hostile to divine truth, humble, teachable, grateful, and prayerful. He died in the spring of 1839, in the attitude of prayer, leaving behind him satisfactory evidence that the language of devotion was followed by that of praise. His remains were interred before a small place of worship in one of the bays of the Kentish coast; and it is delightful to add, that his widow and three daughters rejoice, it is believed, in a scriptural hope of meeting him in glory. 

• How to Hear the Word of God
• How Should We Listen To God's Word?
• Hearing the Voice of the Lord in Your Pastor's Sermon

Education

       To what shall I liken education? I would liken education to a voyage: A great ship rides in dock near a flat shore covered with small, low houses, and troops of little people go on board. The ship swings away from the wharf and makes out for the open sea. Captain, mates, and most of the crew know the course and the haven; but the passengers never crossed before. It is a long, long, voyage through storm and calm, through cold and heat; a voyage of years; a voyage that tests faith. The years pass and the little people grow and grow. During the voyage most of the passengers go overboard into the open sea; but some make the voyage to arrive at a coast with mountains and valleys, cities and castles, a world of powers and of activities unseen by the dwellers upon the low coast on the other side of the sea of life.

Such is education. And the question is how to keep the passengers on board until the ship makes harbor. William Estabrook 

• There Go The Ships
• Dare to Leave The Boat
• Paul at Sea: A Seafaring Saga with Random Interruptions
  

Danger Stimulating Exertion

       In the homeward voyage of the Atlantic fleet, on its cruise around the world, a historian of its experiences tells of a rescue of one of the sailors in a great storm that arose. The storm was at its height and there ran through the fleet a report that the Minnesota had lost a man overboard. The signal, indicating that fact, went up to the foremast and the fleet stopt.

      Could they save the man? It was noticed that the Minnesota swung around a little, as if to afford a lee, and the Vermont following held true. A life-buoy had been thrown to the struggling man, and he, being a good swimmer, caught it, and drifted down toward the Vermont. Those on the Vermont saw him and ran their bow up close to him, turned it a little so as to afford shelter, and were preparing to lower a boat for him. A life-line was thrown overboard, and, to the astonishment of those on the Vermont, the man left the life-buoy and swam for the line. Those on board shouted to him not to do it; but he took the chance, swam to the life-line and wrapt it around his wrist and was drawn on board the Vermont. The next day we heard that there was a similar rescue by the Kentucky of a man lost from the Kearsarge.

      The imminent danger caused strenuous exertion. Similarly the man in moral peril can only keep out of danger by exerting all his powers.

• Our Lifeline
• Prayer: Our Lifeline To God
• Prayer: Our Lifeline To God

Tim Hughes sings "My Jesus, My Lifeline"

Night For Rest

Night For Rest

Between the days, the weary days,
He drops the darkness and the dew;
Over tired eyes his hands he lays.
And strength and hope and life renews.
Thank God for rest between the days! 

Else who could bear the battle stress,
Or who withstand the tempest's shocks,
Who tread the dreary wilderness
Among the pitfalls and the rocks;
Came not the night with folded flocks?

The white light scorches and the plain
Stretches before us, parched with the heat;
But, by and by, the fierce beams wane;
And lo! the nightfall, cool and sweet.
With dews to bathe our aching feet!

For he remembereth our frame!
Even for this I render praise.
O, tender Master, slow to blame
The falterer on life's stormy ways,
Abide with us - between the days!