Memoirs of Mrs. Rebecca Steward Part 7

So with our Heavenly Father. He has done all for us that can be done; He has laid up an eternal Inheritance for us; He has prepared for us "many mansions," and preserves for us a crown "that fadeth not away,"

and now requires of us humble obedience, full submission to His holy will.

He not only commands us to repent and believe, but to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

If we wish to follow any one we must either see the person or the way in which he has walked; let us then find the foot-prints of Jesus, that we may walk therein and live.

While on earth, His whole life was spent in doing good; He was found among the needy and poor, the afflicted and sorrowing, relieving their afflictions, soothing their sorrow or quieting their fears. He was never found among the giddy and gay, in the halls of revelry and mirth. He was ever ready to weep with those who wept, and to rejoice with those who rejoiced in the truth. Was there a bereaved mother or disconsolate sister weeping over their dead? Christ was there to join His tears and comfort them. Did they need any of His a.s.sistance? He was ever ready to give it. Was any afflicted with sore disease? He was ready to heal them; none ever came to Him in vain; He upbraided never, and sent none empty away. He shunned none for their poverty and favored none for their wealth. He was never presumptuous or proud.

When tempted by Satan to exert His power for His own benefit, He refused, and silenced the tempter with the scathing rebuke: "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy G.o.d."

Thus in all things our Saviour was bearing His cross; tempted by Satan; hated and scorned by false friends; persecuted by enemies; and finally, dying for the sins of the world.

This, dear Christian, was the path trodden by our Saviour. And remember, He was a sanctified Saviour. "Him hath the Father sanctified," etc.

He has not only left His foot-prints for us to follow, but He has also left a rule for us to walk by, that, being in the light, we may walk in the light.

The first commandment given is: "Thou shalt LOVE;" and the second commandment is: "Thou shalt LOVE. LOVE is the fulfilling of the law."

This is the power that puts the whole Christian life in action. This love must be toward G.o.d, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to our neighbor as ourself. As impossible as this may appear to the "carnal mind," yet to the child of G.o.d it is very possible. What can be more possible than for a child to love his father and his own brothers and sisters! Although, as children, they may not all agree in everything, they will have different sentiments, different opinions, and different ways of acting. They will still be united in their love to their parents and their love to each other. They will not, by any means, do anything to injure each other, but will do all they can to a.s.sist each other; neither will they be first to expose one another's faults, but will practice that "charity that covereth a mult.i.tude of sins."

This is just what G.o.d requires of His children, viz.: to be _perfect in our love to Him, and to have perfect charity, one with another_.

"Charity, that thinketh no evil, is not easily provoked, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth." This is the love that helps us to overcome difficulties, that enables us to bear each other's burdens, that makes us feel each other's cares, and forgive each other's faults; that prevents us from taking "up a reproach against our neighbor, (Psalm xv., 3), and makes us one family in Christ."

This love purifies the heart and brings us close to G.o.d, making us bold to take up, and firm to sustain the consecrated cross. But it is impossible to attain to this perfect life without some trials and sufferings. Our Saviour had His trials and temptations, so must we have. He did not purchase our salvation and pa.s.s to Heaven "on flow'ry beds of ease," neither can we.

He laid aside His glory and made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore, in following Him, we must, as saith the apostle, lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us. We must strip ourselves of all un-G.o.dliness and worldly l.u.s.ts, of every appearance of evil, to the plucking out of the right eye or the cutting off of the right hand. It is better to live maimed than to die whole. We must also put on the whole armor of G.o.d which Christ alone can give, as the poet grandly sings:

"In the mountain of Zion, in Christ's armory There are sword, s.h.i.+eld and breast-plate and helmet for thee."

Having put on this "whole armor," the command is to _stand_!

"Stand then against your foes In close and firm array, Legions of wily friends oppose Throughout the evil day."

The world, the flesh, and Satan will oppose us. The flesh will continually cry for ease, for comfort and for pleasure that is not becoming. It will say the cross is too heavy, the way is too hard; the life we are trying to live is too perfect, we never can attain to it, our Saviour never intended it and no one ever did thus live. It will appeal to our self-love, and tell us we are already better than our neighbors and should not mingle with other people. It will appeal to our pride and tell us the valley of blessing is too low, and those that walk therein are far beneath us, and in our pride we may say of them: "Stand thou there, for I am holier than thou;" or it may appeal to our malice and say, your brethren and friends speak evil of you and do not believe you; and all this can only be overcome by that charity which is the "bond of perfection." These are some of the battles we have to fight, and we can only fight successfully clad in the armor of charity.

The world will display all its charms, cause all its glory to pa.s.s before us. It will show its mines of gold, its mountains of iron, its halls of learning, its s.h.i.+ps of commerce. It will introduce us to its halls of pleasure and its walks of recreation, but with an eye fixed on the glory of the eternal world, the glories of this must fade and become as nothing. Its gold becomes as dross and its pleasures less than the morning dew.

We have another dreaded foe, the Arch Fiend himself; who comes to us with all his power and all his rage. We have not only to contend with flesh and blood, but with princ.i.p.alities and powers, who will employ every means at their command to r.e.t.a.r.d our progress. But we must

"---- meet the sons of night And mock their vain design."

We must conquer them all through the blood of Christ and the sign of the Cross! In this alone can we conquer all our foes, this alone can help us to walk pleasantly in the valley of humiliation. It is only with the Cross of Christ on our shoulders and the love of G.o.d shed abroad in our hearts that we can walk the heavenly road.

But with this love we can say always: "Father, Thy will be done." In sickness or health, adversity or prosperity, in afflictions and all trials we can possess our souls in patience. This is the love that removes mountains, that makes enemies friends, and takes the _beam_ from our own eye, so that we may see the mote in our brother's eye, and enable us to help each other on the way.

If a brother is in need, or a sister in distress, or a mother bereaved, we are ready to lend a helping hand or give a word of consolation, thus fulfilling the law of Christ.

Love must then pervade the soul, and unite us to Christ and to each other, as the sap pervades the vine and the branches, uniting them together and causing them to produce fruit. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself: no more can we separate from Christ; but if we abide in Him, we shall bring forth much fruit. "If ye abide in me and my word in you, ye shall ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Let us ask daily for grace to keep us in this perfect way, "ask and ye shall receive." We need a constant daily supply of the bread of life, that feeds the soul and keeps it alive in Christ. Let us go daily to our Father's table, that we may partake of the dainties of Heaven and grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth.

"That having all things done, And all our conflicts pa.s.sed, We may o'ercome through faith alone, And stand entire at last."

Story originally written for her little Grandsons, James and Charley.

Dear Jim and Charley:

Here is one of my stories for little folks. It is about a giant, that lives about here, and in fact I guess he lives in a great many places. He is a monstrous big fellow, a great deal larger than the King of Og, whose bed it was said was twelve feet long and eight feet broad. He is bigger than Goliath whom David killed, in fact larger than any giant you ever heard of.

And if you ever meet with this big fellow, I hope _you_ will kill _him_, rather than become his subjects. For he is a king, or rather a despotic emperor; he holds complete control over his subjects and compels them to do whatever he wishes. He is always peering around, knocking at people's doors, and peeping into people's houses, to see if he can get any one to serve him. In fact sometimes he walks right boldly into _my_ house and compels _me_ to serve him. He is a wonderful fellow and I think he must be very old, and he is very ugly; he is blear-eyed and snub-nosed, and everything else that is ugly, and he makes people do ugly things. He makes men and women strut about and think they are somebody--why, I have heard of so many bad things he has caused people to do, that I hardly know what to tell you first. He has made nation go to war with nation, he makes men fight and kill each other, and many years ago he made an old king dress himself all up in purple robes, and sit upon his throne, and declare he was G.o.d. He made Joseph's brethren sell Joseph down into Egypt when he was a little boy. And Absalom, David's son, to pursue after his father to kill him, and he caused the wicked Jews to crucify our blessed Saviour and kill him.

Oh, he has done so many bad things, and is still doing bad; for he makes little boys and girls do bad. I must tell you something he makes them do; he makes little boys run away from their mother and tell lies and smoke segars and do a great many bad things; he makes little girls primp themselves up and think they are young ladies, and must not help their mothers any more; he makes children quarrel and fight and call names to get advantage of each other; he makes a little boy that I know call his little playmate----. And now boys what do you think of my giant, old and ugly and every way bad? Do you think you will be his subjects, or will you kill him when you meet him, as David did Goliath with a sling and stone? I should like to hear you guess his name, but as you are so far away I shall have to tell you; his name is "GIANT SELF." See what a great big fellow he is and what bad things he can make you do. Now if you don't want to be his subjects, I will tell you what you must do. When you meet him, for I know you will meet him, you must take the sling of faith and the stone of prayer and kill him. That is, when you feel any selfish thoughts coming into your heart you must ask your Heavenly Father to take them all away, and keep you from pleasing Giant Self, and make you good boys, help you to grow up good men, and ever keep you in His care----

Your grandma prays.

The little sc.r.a.ps of poetry which follow, have lain among my mother's papers for over thirty years. I do not think they were ever shown to any of her most intimate friends. They were written mostly in 1846, when my mother was about twenty-six years of age, and were simple heart effusions, never intended for public eye.

Even those addressed to particular persons I do not think were ever presented; and my mother, though fond of the poets, seems never to have thought herself gifted to write poetry. I selected the few found in these pages from an old sc.r.a.p-book, and I may say I regard these as the best, and perhaps the only ones adapted to public reading, found in the meagre collection. I make no corrections in them.

T. G. S.

Poetry

Thoughts suggested by the Return of Spring.

Once more I hail the happy spring Tho' sadness to my heart it brings, It brings to mind the seasons past When sporting in the joys of youth I sallied forth to meet the spring And hear the birds so sweetly sing.

But ah, those days are past and gone Those happy days forever flown And now, through weariness and care I wander on all through the year My youthful friends are fled and gone And not a friend for me remains I feel deserted and unknown A stranger in this world alone--

No one with me to sympathise Or share with me my cares or joys When sore afflictions rack my frame And not one hope for me remains Even then forsaken and alone I vent my sighs and make my moan And tho, I greet the happy spring Yet sadness to my heart it brings.

The Inscription to this is simply "Written after a Time of Affliction."

I love the Lord, my strength, my tower, The Lord my rock and fortress is, My G.o.d my strength in whom I trust, My buckler and my hope of bliss.

The Lord is worthy to be praised, He saves me from my enemies; Sorrow and death compa.s.s'd me round, Death and the grave made me afraid.

I called upon the Lord and cried:-- My G.o.d, he heard my feeble voice, Out of His temple. Lo! He came And bade my broken heart rejoice.

The earth shall tremble at His word, The hills shall fly at His command.

He bows the heavens as their Lord And rides upon a Cherrub's wings.