And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.
Mrs. Knowles's life, throughout, was characterized by great sincerity and steadfastness of purpose. As an evidence of it, I will give a sketch of her experience and work from her own pen, illustrating how the closing hours of her life were chiefly devoted to "Gathering Jewels" for Christ, as the secret of a truly beautiful life.
"In my field of labor I have met with much success and encouragement, though, indeed, there are more cases very trying and painful to witness, but all difficulties can be encountered, and many overcome, by prayer. I feel more and more the blessedness of the privilege I enjoy in being permitted to labor for Christ in the salvation of so many poor souls, and in being the means of aiding so many who are sick, cast down, and discouraged. How many there are who neglect the house of prayer from the contagion of bad example around them, and the want of a kind word of invitation, until the habit becomes fixed, and it needs urging to remind them of their duty? I often think of the words of Christ: 'Compel them to come in.' Yes, compulsion of the right kind is very needful, and a word of interest and encouragement such a help. One poor woman whom I visited a short time since, told me her lot was the hardest in the world—that she had seven children all out of Christ. I told her not to be disheartened; that if she could say God was her God, she could say he was the God of her seed, and that Jesus had said: 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, believing, ye shall receive.' She said: 'I have hoped so long, but now I am discouraged.' I told her the mother of St. Augustine said she had prayed for fourteen long years for her son, and her friend said to her: 'I tell you the subject of so many long and earnest prayers cannot be lost.' And that son, of whom she was then in search, and whom she met a short time afterward, was then under deep conviction, and soon afterward brought to Christ, and became an earnest and devoted minister; 'and you, my friend, need not be discouraged, for the same Spirit can work as powerfully on the hearts of your children as on his.' I prayed with her, and left her begging me to pray for her; calling on her a few days since, she met me with a cheerful countenance, and told me what I had said, together with reading the promise of an answer to prayer, had greatly encouraged her, and that her eldest son, who was the most unruly of all, had accompanied her to church on the last Sabbath, and she believed now the rest would be led to follow his example. I told her to doubt no longer, and with a word of cheer left her."
Here I will make a few comments on the above.
All difficulties can be encountered, and many overcome by prayer.—How true and weighty is this remark. Remembrance of this would guard and govern aright the actions of Christians, and deliver them from all unprofitable and injudicious murmurings. It suggests the only true antidote for the ills of life. A pleasant path to tranquillity of mind is prayer. Whether amid the crowded city or in the quiet hamlet, on land or on sea, at home or abroad, no matter where we are, God's ear is always open to the cry of His children. Prayer is the divinely appointed means to the attainment of peace. It lifts the soul above the cares and vicissitudes of life. Its effect is nearness to God. Earth's sighs are numerous. The tears flow thick and fast. Tears of affright. The enemy comes in like a flood, but the Lord lifts up a standard against them all; and the blest remembrance of the promise, "Cast thy burden by prayer on the Lord, and He will sustain thee," imparts fresh courage amid the conflict. The man who forgets to pray in the hour of trial is like one who has lost his way on a dark, stormy night; he is, indeed, a benighted traveller on a lonesome, dreary road. But let us thank God that—
From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat;
'Tis found beneath the Mercy Seat.