“I am delighted to hear a good report of you all, and rejoice to think how happy you must be now that the work is finished and the scaffold down. Notwithstanding all hindrances, it is an easier matter to beautify the outside than to reform that which is within. We cannot set the heart right with Portland cement!
“I cannot say much about myself. I hope the Lord may have given His blessing, but I have not had the sense of power as in former days: possibly I have not sought it so much from the Lord; possibly people expect more from me, and are disappointed at what they hear.
“It is curious to find how ‘Rome, Turkey, and Jerusalem’ is read and thought about. I hear of it in all directions, and people express a great interest in it.
“The owner of the enclosed letter was also interested about ‘Inspiration,’ as he remembered the address when originally given, and I promised to send him a copy.”
“Caterham, April 14th, 1878.
“I hope you are enjoying a peaceful Sunday; but I cannot bear to be away from you, for I do not feel very happy about you. I have felt afraid that I was not sufficiently grateful for all your kind care of me, and that I sometimes seemed cross when I ought to have been full of gratitude! But I did not feel poorly enough to justify all the care that was taken of me. I hope I may be all right by the time I come home, and that if I am not I may at all events be in a more thankful and submissive spirit. I think it is a very possible thing that a man living with a party of young people does not always realise what they are feeling, and so does not show that tender sympathy which is the beautiful peculiarity of a mother’s love. But I have often prayed that I may be a mother as well as a father to you all, and, I trust, may be enabled to meet your hearts’ desires more fully than I have ever done yet.
“But, oh! what a wonderful mercy it is that in the recollection of all our defects and failings we may fall back on the finished Atonement! ‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ There is a resting-place for sons, for daughters, and, blessed be God, for fathers.”
“King’s Lynn, October 9th, 1878.
“I hope that you have been interested about the Congress, and have read carefully Canon Tristram’s most interesting speech in the Times of Saturday. It is one of the most remarkable addresses I ever met with, and I rejoice to find how well it is reported in the secular papers. Do read it together, if you have not done so already.
“I do not know what to say of my own speech, and am puzzled by the way in which it was received. My own friends were most cordial, but what astonished me most was that — — and — [204a] came after the meeting and thanked me for it. [204b] What it was for which they felt grateful I cannot imagine. I delight to hope that God may have helped them to see His Gospel more plainly than before; but He knows, and He only.”
In the year 1879 there came an earnest request for a Mission Tour in some of the dioceses in India, similar to the one alluded to on a previous page as emanating from Australia. He was anxious to accept the invitation, but his medical adviser in London, Sir William Jenner, absolutely forbade the undertaking, and it had to be given up.
The description of the death of an old and valued servant is very characteristic. The writer well remembers the calm that pervaded the household next morning, and the mingled sorrow at the loss of a faithful friend and yet of thanksgiving at the thought of one of their household being called to the Palace of the King.
“Tunbridge Wells, March 8th, 1880.
“I hope you all enjoyed a happy and peaceful Sunday yesterday, as we did at home, notwithstanding the solemn, but peaceful, event with which ours concluded. F— had passed a bad night and felt poorly in the morning, but she came to prayers as usual. She did not go to church, and H— went to Dr. Marsack for some medicine. During the day she lay on her bed a good deal; but when we went to evening church she was in the kitchen with S—, sitting in her chair, reading her Bible. S— went into the pantry for two or three minutes, and when she returned there was our faithful friend with not a muscle moved or a feature changed, but the spirit gone. Her Bible was open at the text on which I had been preaching in the morning (2 Cor. v. 1, 6); and so, gently and without the slightest struggle, the knowledge by faith was exchanged for that by sight and she entered into the visible presence of her Lord. . . .
“When I came home from Southborough I found her laid out in the little room, looking just the same as usual, with a perfectly peaceful, tranquil appearance, with no more disturbance of expression than a little child shows in its sleep.
“I need not tell you what a sense of solemnity there was last night throughout the house. We have all deeply felt it, but I must say that thankfulness prevails, for all who knew her had felt anxious for her future. How graciously does God deal with His children! and how needless are our anxieties!”
In the Ladies’ Bible Class, when going through Acts xvi., he had urged upon his people the duty of ever looking out for opportunities of speaking for God. “Lydia” was the case in point, and the apostle’s readiness to make a personal appeal was shown to be God’s plan for this woman, who, residing in the very place which St. Paul was not allowed to visit, was yet brought all the way to Philippi to meet God’s messenger there. This will explain some passages in the following letter to his daughters:—
“Scarborough, July 12th, 1880.
“I have been thinking of you unceasingly ever since I left home, and am more and more amazed at my ever having done so. How I could bring myself to it I cannot imagine; but I hope it is for the Lord’s service.
“I have been looking out for ‘Lydia’ all the way, but not very successfully. When I got into the train at Tunbridge Wells there was a nice-looking lady who fixed her eyes on me so steadfastly, as if wishing to speak to me; so I soon opened the way, but I found the poor thing was out of her mind, being taken to London.
“In the next train there was a lady with her servant, very tearful, so as she sat opposite me I took the opportunity of a civil word about the window, but as soon as she could she got away to the other side of the carriage, so there was no opening there. But I am not sure that ‘Lydia’ may not be in this house, for there is a lady staying here, and both she and my hostess are eager for conversation on the great truths of the Gospel.
“I had a pleasant, quiet Sunday. The place is perfectly charming; the house and garden delightful, with the most lovely view of the sea and the opposite hills, so that I do not know how to tear myself away from my bedroom window.
“The church is very nice, but sadly small. . . . There were good congregations, but not a crowd. I preached in the evening, and I certainly could not have desired a better congregation. I hope the Lord was with us, bestowing His blessing.
“I heard in the morning a very good, practical sermon on the causes of restraint in prayer:
“Allowed sin,
“Unbelief,
“Worldliness,
“Business,
“Temper.“It was all true and profitable, but I should have been more profited if he had helped us to overcome them.”
“Newcastle-on-Tyne, October 4th, 1881.
“As for the Congress, I cannot say I like the thought of it, though I hope the Lord will make use of it and of me in it. I have been thinking of my text last Sunday, ‘Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?’ so I am rejoiced to act with my brethren, and I trust the Lord may unite us in His service, and give us not only meekness of wisdom but the wisdom of meekness.”
“Cromer, October 10th, 1881.
“I am rejoiced to hear of your happy visit to that dear home at Canterbury. I cannot say with what thankfulness I think on all the grace which our God and Saviour has shown there, and how delighted I am that you all should have the unspeakable joy of being employed as the Lord’s agents for conveying the glad tidings of life to precious souls.
“I return you Mr. Stock’s letter, as you wish it, though I am more inclined to put it in the fire, for it frightens me. But I believe the Lord was with me on the occasion to which he refers, and there was one very remarkable circumstance about it which he did not know.
“Dr. Bardsley and I had both sent in our cards, and I saw that he was eager to speak. About twenty minutes before the close of the meeting the Bishop turned to me and said that he could just manage to find a place for me. So I told him he had better call Bardsley instead, which he did. So B. spoke, and some other man after him, when the Bishop turned round again and said, ‘I think after all I can find time for you.’ All this made me the last speaker of the day. Off I went, and I believe before the Lord; He seemed to give me the ears and the good-will of the people at the very first sentence. I was enabled to say exactly what I wished, till at length, speaking of toleration, I said, ‘But if men introduce a ritual intended to symbolise Rome—’ when two or three persons cried out ‘No, no.’ But their objection only roused the whole multitude to what seemed like an almost unanimous cheer, which went on so long that at length the bell rang without my being able to finish my sentence, and there the discussion ended. So I lifted up my heart to the Lord and thanked Him for His mercy.
“I sent in my card next day on ‘Reformation Principles,’ but the Bishop of Carlisle, who was chairman, did not call me up.
“On Friday I read my paper. [209] Of course there was no excitement about that, but quite as much cause for thanksgiving, for several persons, amongst them Arch-deacon —, came to me in the evening and thanked me for it as having been a real help to them in their own souls. So I am come away with a thankful heart and a longing desire to spend what time remains as a firm and faithful witness for truth.”