Chapter V

ALICE was deeply concerned for the salvation of her unconverted friends, and many letters written to such are remarkable for their clear and simple statements of gospel truth. It has, however, been found impossible to insert them all, and only some of those written in the earlier part of her Christian life have been retained. While much of the fruit of her labours has been manifested, eternity alone will reveal all the blessings which are the result of these letters, written in faith and with many prayers.

“Tswedelle, April 19, 1S60.
” My Dear Friend, —

“I am as much surprised at finding myself writing to you again as you probably are at receiving another letter from me. I should not have thought of doing so, but I believe the Lord has given me a concern to write to you, for I cannot shake it off. It certainly is not the Lord’s will that you should continue thus doubting His mercy toward you, when there is absolutely nothing but unbelief between you and perfect peace, and there is no reason why you should not, this very night, nay, this very hour, know that all your sins are forgiven, and that you are a child of God. You cannot find any reason in yourself, and surely you cannot in God. You may have been prevented by something which you saw in your own heart, which you imagine was a sufficient reason why you should not feel sure of God’s forgiveness; but if God were to say that nothing that you can find in your heart is an insurmountable obstacle to your being forgiven and accepted as His child now, at this very time, would you not believe it? And this is just what God has said. He says He will forgive you out of pure mercy, because Christ gave Himself a ransom for your sins, and not because of any worthiness, or even partial worthiness, in you; for He tells you Himself that you are utterly unworthy; but exactly as you are, He can and does forgive you all your sins freely for Christ’s sake, if you will only believe Him when He tells you so. But if, when you ask to be forgiven, you doubt and say to yourself, ‘I cannot dare to believe that all my sins will be forgiven now, because my heart is not right, it is so cold, or, perhaps, indifferent,’ are you not saying in effect that when God does forgive you, you expect Him to do it because your heart is right at the time you ask Him? If so, you are expecting Him to forgive you for your own sake, and not for Christ’s; or, at best, partly for your own sake, and partly for Christ’s sake.

“No wonder you feel no confidence in this hope, for God only promises to do it for Christ’s sake alone, and it is by resting your hopes entirely on His promises, and nothing else, that you can really feel confidence and true peace. Are you not just keeping yourself from the joy of knowing yourself forgiven by an idea which has no foundation in the truth of the case?

“Oh, throw it aside; give up the idea of making yourself better before you come trustingly to Jesus, and do not dishonour His free mercy any longer by doubting its reality, but listen now to the glad tidings.

“‘Jesus Christ died to save sinners.’ And are you not a sinner? And did He not die for you? And if He died for you, are you not, by virtue of His death, reconciled and forgiven? Oh, all you need is to believe it!

“‘He that believeth hath eternal life.’ Christ is a perfect Saviour; His atonement is not only sufficient for the forgiveness of your past sins, but for the present sinful condition of your heart. Trust in it, take it to God as your plea for acceptance, and take it as your reason for believing that He has heard your prayer. Just rest all your hope on Christ. Ask and trust Him to do everything for you, to help you to trust in Him, to strengthen your faith in Him, and to make you what He would have you to be.

“You cannot think that He will refuse to hear you. Has He not said, ‘Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out;’ and He cannot be untrue to His word.”

“MlLLVILLE, April, 1860.

“My Dear Father, —

“Thy ’ voluntary and entirely spontaneous letter,’ written at mother’s ’ earnest solicitations, was duly received this afternoon, and was read with much relish.... We drove out to see the old Loderman this morning; he is still alive, though very weak indeed. He was delighted with thy old dressing-gown which we took him, and said it would keep him so warm he is always chilly, even with a hot fire. It really seemed to be the very thing needed. He appeared glad to hear us sing some hymns. I thought even my dear father would have been convinced that it is only the abuse and not the use of singing hymns that is wrong. It seemed to soothe his feelings so when we sang Cowper’s beautiful one, commencing

‘There is a fountain filled with blood,’ Sec.

“He said it did him so much good to hear those words; they were all true, every word of them, and he thought of them when we were gone, and they seemed to go to just the right place in his heart. He has a great deal of simplicity, of course, in his way of expressing himself; but I think he has a firm trust in the Saviour. He said he could not last long; perhaps before we came again he would be gone. I asked him how he felt when he thought of dying. He replied that he was not afraid to die, for Jesus was his friend. He does love to hear all about Christ’s having died to save sinners, and likes to dwell on His wondrous love and kindness to him. It really is a great pleasure to go and see him.”

It gave Alice’s parents much pleasure to gather all their children and grandchildren about them in the summer season for a long visit. As this was the only time during the year the sister from St John was able to come on, it was looked upon by all as a season of great enjoyment. It was on one of these visits home,

JET. 20.

the first after Alice had become a child of God, that she was made the means of blessing to this sister. Although Annie had been a Christian for years, she had not Alice’s simple faith, and consequently not her rejoicing confidence; and she could not be long in the company of this young disciple without feeling that though only a babe in Christ, Alice had an assured confidence in Him, to which she was a stranger.

As the trio of sisters together read and studied the Scriptures, many passages came out in a new light. Alice often had some forcible illustration or quotation from a favourite author which made the subject more plain. She frequently quoted the words: “For one look at self take ten looks at Christ,” and her sister felt that it was just here that she needed to take a step forward. If she would be happy and vigorous in her Christian life she must, like Alice, look past her own sins and shortcomings, to Christ’s atonement for sin, and His power to save to the uttermost; and it was not long before Alice’s heart was made glad in seeing this sister, who had formerly so faithfully endeavoured to lead her youthful steps into the narrow way, brought to rejoice in like full assurance of faith with herself.

Alice’s quiet influence was ever after felt by Annie to be a means of strength and establishment. The latter thus refers to it: “Dear Alice grew very rapidly in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in after years she became my teacher in many things,”’

After her conversion, Alice felt that these family reunions were seasons of deep responsibility, as well as times of great enjoyment. Not only should they be able to see in each other growth and advancement since their last meeting, but the very meetings themselves should be as stepping-stones onward in their Christian life. Alice often made it a special subject of prayer, for weeks before these visits, that herself and sisters might be strengthened to put aside other things in order to devote a quiet hour every day to the reading of the Scriptures and unitedly seeking the throne of grace. She particularly enjoyed united prayer, saying that there was an especial blessing promised to it. She delighted to plead, Matt, xviii. 19, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything,” &c, and often dwelt upon it with a peculiar faith.

The following letter refers to this annual meeting under the parental roof: —

“Tswedelle, May 6, I S60.

“My Darling Carrie, —

“I can scarcely write, I want to see thee so much. We look forward with a great deal of pleasure to seeing thee next week, if the Lord sees best to allow us the privilege of being all once more together.

“Oh, is it not a perfect rest to know that He always does everything just right, and will never deny us any privilege or happiness, unless He knows in His infinite love and wisdom that it is not best for us. Don’t thee remember how afraid of the future I used to be? It is such a comfort never to have to worry about it any more....

“I suppose thou wants to hear all about us, but there does not seem much to tell; the time goes by so fast without bringing much to pass, that it sometimes quite distresses me; but I am sure we only want to please the Lord, so if we try each moment, we need not worry ourselves about the whole.”

“Tswedelle, May 28, 1860.

“My own Carrie, —

“A whole week to-day since I wrote thee last! Too bad, I know, but I am sure if thou had been here thou would not have wondered at it, for although it was rainy nearly all last week, still there seemed no time to spare, and we did nothing, after all, but go three times to see a sick man. He is not a Christian, but likes to hear us talk, though I fear he is not aware either that he is dying or that he is a sinner. Did I

tell thee about our going to M ’s last first day

afternoon? We walked there, and, to our surprise, they, that is the old people, seemed glad to see us.

Mrs M said she had been wishing I would come

again and talk to her ever since I was there last

winter, and Mr M seemed very cordial, and

wanted us to come again; so last first day we went. His sister was there. He said he brought her over on purpose, as she said she would like to hear us talk. I feel it to be a great responsibility, as well as a great privilege; but I cannot doubt but that the Lord is thus opening my way Himself, so I leave all anxiety about it with Him, as I am sure He never calls us to do anything in His service without giving us the strength and wisdom needed.”

The following letter is addressed to the invalid whom she mentioned having visited in New York during her stay there in the second month : —

MEMOIR OF ALICE B. IVH1TALL. ?$

“Tswedelle, May 29, 1860.

“My Dear Bella Cooke, —

“It has been so long since I promised to write to you that I fear you think I have forgotten you, and the talks that we had upon the subject of holiness when I had the privilege of visiting you last February. But it is far otherwise, for I often thank the Lord for taking me to your bedside, there to learn more of the simplicity of the way of faith. You helped me very much, although you did not, I confess, clear away all my difficulties.

...” How often I think of what you said, that it is just trusting the Lord moment by moment, and not for the future, as I was trying to do. I was trying to grasp holiness ’ for a whole year ahead,’ and trying to feel sure that I should not sin all that time, instead of just leaving the past and future, and clinging to Jesus to save me from sin at the present moment, trusting Him also to help me to trust Him the next minute when it comes. Oh, what a rest it is to be thus trusting the Lord! and yet I sometimes think I am the most unfaithful child my Saviour ever had who has entered into the way of holiness and entire dedication, for I so often forget to trust Him, and, of course, fall into sin. But praise be unto His holy name, He always brings me back to wash again in His own precious blood! Is it not wonderful how good He is? It astonishes me every day to see that He can love and bless so abundantly such a poor worthless creature as I am.

“I should have written you before on this subject, but my time has been, from several circumstances, very much occupied, and all that I could spare for letter- writing has been pretty much taken up by letters to a number cf my friends who have not yet known Christ as their Saviour, some of whom seemed really to be inquiring what they should do to be saved, and to whom I felt it to be my first duty and privilege to tell the glorious ’ glad tidings ’ that Jesus Christ died to save sinners.”

1 The following letter was to one of those inquiring friends above referred to, and to whom she had previously addressed several letters showing forth the gospel of the grace of God, only one of which we have before found room to insert, under date of April 19, of this year: —

“Tswedelle, J line 27, 1860.

“My Dear Friend, —

“I mentioned to A your trouble about the text in

James, and she gladly wrote out for you a few thoughts upon it, which I enclose. They are very nearly what I tried to express to you the other day, and are to me satisfactory.

“The more I think of it, and view the chapter as a whole, the more clearly I seem to see that this is James’ true meaning —

“‘Ye see how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only ’ (James ii. 24).

“‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?’ (James ii. 21).

“‘Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans v. 1).

“‘For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scriptures? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness ’ (Romans iv. 2).

“These passages being all true, must perfectly agree. Now, we have abundant proof from every part of Scripture that we are saved, reconciled, and made the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus alone, and that all works are but the natural consequence of faith, as breathing is the natural effect of being alive.

“Now, James seems to contradict and disagree with Paul, still both are true. It is evident that Paul speaks of the sovereign act of God in justifying or pardoning the sinner, while James speaks of the man’s faith being justified in the eyes of all who behold. The man is justified as a Christian, or his faith is justified: as when a man is tried before a court of justice for murder: if positive proof is found that he was in another place at the time the deed was committed, that proof justifies the man as innocent, but that proof does not make him innocent.

“James speaks to those who have a dead faith, who say, ‘I believe,” I have faith,’ and still prove by their works, and thoughts, and desires, that they have no faith. Therefore we must justify our faith by our works.

“Paul means to say — a man is saved by believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.

“James means — a man shows that he believes by his works.

“Both are perfectly true. As an illustration, James says, ‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar?’ He could not mean here the sovereign act of God in making Abraham his child and saving him, for that was done many years before, when God called him to leave his own country, and promised He would make of him a great nation (Gen. xii. 2, 3).

“When God promised him a son ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.’ He was at that time a saved and justified man, in Paul’s sense of the word. A great many years passed before that promise was fulfilled and Isaac was born, and the child was at least twelve years old before Abraham’s faith was proved or justified by offering him upon the altar.

“In James ii. 14, we see an instance of a mere profession of faith: ‘What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have faith and have not works? Can faith save him? ’ or can such a faith save him? It is not the active living faith Paul speaks of as justifying a man. 26th verse: ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.’ If we see the body of a man lying cold and motionless and stiff, we say that man is dead. But if we see a man moving and walking and talking, we say he is alive; but we do not say that walking or talking makes him alive: they only prove that he is alive.

“In the 1 st chapter, 27th verse, James says, ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ He here speaks of what the Christian life should be, and not what we must do to be saved. He does not say we must do this to become a Christian, but this is the effect of being a Christian.”

TO A FEIEND WHO HAD LOST A BROTHER.

“MlLLVILLE, July 19, 1860.

“My Dear L , —

“I have been sitting several minutes with my pen in hand, at a loss to know how to express, even in the faintest degree, the heart full of love and tenderness that has been reaching out toward you in yearning sympathy ever since I heard of your great bereavement. Dear L, I cannot express it; it only sounds

cold when I say that I give you my sincere sympathy; but I am sure if I could put my arms round your neck, and draw you close to me, I could make you feel that I do sympathise with you. I know I cannot realise half the natural grief that must fill your heart at thus parting with one so near and dear to you, whose heart has beat closely to yours for so many years, not only in the warm love of a brother, but in the closer bonds of Christian fellowship; this must make you miss him even more, and yet I know that it is in just this that you find your consolation; this tie is not severed: closer even it is drawn, for it has drawn you closer still to Jesus. In Him, emphatically, now he has his being. The bosom of Jesus is his only and perfect resting-place. And is it not the same with you? Yes, indeed, I rejoice in the knowledge that you do not sorrow as one without comfort; the thought of the sure and eternal inheritance awaiting your brother in Christ Jesus must give you great comfort. And then for yourself to know that all things are portioned out for you by the loving hand of your tender Shepherd gives sweetness to your severest sorrow, does it not? For Him you can bear it, for Him you can live, although all pleasure seems gone. To know that one all-powerful and loving is watching and guiding your feeble, faltering, and weary steps through this vale of shadows, straight upward to that eternal dwelling-place in Himself, where all joy and all love are perfected in one unbroken song of praise, must, indeed, be a comfort that no earthly sorrow or trouble can take from you. Is it not so? For however we may fail to realise or feel it, we know the fact remains the same — the glorious fact that we are numbered among Christ’s own flock; and if the flock of a faithful earthly shepherd is his constant care, and its wants his continual thought, surely the Good Shepherd will not let us want.”

“TSWEDELLE, Jill)1 3 1, lS6o.

“My own Darling Sister Annie, —

...” I had a delightful and very satisfactory visit at Millville; and yet it is very nice to get home again, mother is so sweet, and everything looks so homelike.

“O Annie! the Lord is so good to me. I do not know how to thank Him, or even begin to; but I must not stop to speak of this now.

...” On reaching home, I found that on

the next day they were expecting C. H, the

young girl we talked to at S, to spend two

weeks. Yesterday she duly arrived, and after tea we

all went to ride. C and I went in the buggy,

which gave us a good chance for a talk. She commenced by thanking me for Malan’s tracts, which I sent her. She said she had read and re-read, and liked them very much they seemed to make it so plain and simple (the way of salvation I suppose she meant), that while she read the ‘True Cross ’ it seemed as if the old man was in just the position she had been in all her life. I asked if now she felt that all her sins were blotted out, and that she was reconciled to God. She said she scarcely dared to say yes, for it seemed like presumption, and yet she did hope she believed, and so was the child of God. Thou can imagine what I said. Do pray for her, and for me, that I may not be unfaithful, but be made to do His will, for it really seems as though the Lord sent her here to hear more of His gospel.

...” M is also here. I need strength

indeed to strengthen her, and I feel that I am altogether weak; but I can say with David, ‘The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? ’

...” I told M and C about the nice

times we used to have reading our chapter every day. and proposed that we three should every morning go

up into M ’s room for the purpose, which they

both agreed to gladly; accordingly this morning we commenced. I thought the Gospel of John would

perhaps be the best to establish C in the truth, so

we began with the first chapter. I felt that it would be pleasing to the Lord that I should ask His presence in a few words; but somehow the ’ old man ’ did not want to; but the new life conquered, and I believe the Lord was with us, for we had a very satisfactory time. M. M. J really is very clear, and brought out the gospel as I did not believe she could; but the chapter is a very striking one.

... “Everything is in the Lord’s hands, who knows the end from the beginning; let us rest in that.

“While I was at Millville we had such a sweet time reading the Bible, and really studied it to find out our duty about baptism. We did not come to any definite conclusion, but have made up our minds not to stop studying God’s Word until we know what is truth. I must go, darling. May our Father indeed bless thee. Thy Own Alice,”

The young lady C. H, here spoken of, died soon

after she returned to her home, which was many hundred miles from Philadelphia, and though dear Alice never heard anything more from her, excepting the fact of her death, we cannot doubt that the all-powerful spirit of God carried on the work which He began in her heart, until faith was changed to sight.

“TSWEDELLE, Aug. II, 1860.

“My own Carrie, —

...” Thou speaks of my needing to go away from home, but indeed it is not so.

“I went over to Germantown day before yesterday, and down to the city and home again yesterday, and my head only ached worse while I was away, and I was so glad to get home. I think it really is the best place for me.

“I had a very nice visit at A. F ’s, in spite of headache. She is real sweet. We went to see A. S after

tea, and had a delightful talk. She gave me some of the most precious thoughts. She is living in the realisation of Christ as the Bridegroom, and did express so sweetly just what I have only half thought. She is a real living and truly spiritual Christian.

...” Do not let us allow one day to pass without making baptism the subject of prayer and meditation. The old temptation besets me to leave the subject alone, but with God’s help I will not give way to it.

“May He be with thee, my darling, and with me,

“Thy Loving Sister.”

The following letter is addressed to the same friend to whom she wrote under date of June 27th of this year: —

“TSWEDELLE, Aug. l6, lS6o.

“Dear Friend, —

“Yet once again I take up my pen to write to you, for my heart has been filled with prayer for you, now that your soul is resting in Jesus in the full assurance of forgiveness and acceptance as His child, that you may indeed be filled with burning desires to glorify that precious Saviour; that you may know in reality what it is to ’ hunger and thirst after righteousness; ’ that for yourself you may long above all things to be pure and holy, for such is His will that you should be; yes, for this He called and washed us in His precious blood. In the 2d chapter of the Epistle of Paul to Titus, after having commanded us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, he adds, ‘Who gave

Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.’ The very first impression one gets from trie Bible, I think, is, that God would have men to be holy j and what is so soul-inspiring as to contemplate His way of making them so? If we had been set to work to devise a plan for this, we should have said to man, ‘Set thyself busily to work to cleanse thine own heart; do nothing that is evil, but all that is good, and I will give thee an entrance into heaven as thy reward.’ But God knew us better than we knew ourselves, and He knew that we could not do this; but to convince man that he could not, He gave the law, that by doing those things we should live by them. And then when man comes to confess himself really a sinner, utterly unable and helpless to fulfil the law, or bring himself back to holiness, or to reconcile himself to God, then God shows him His plan.

“Thus it is said, ‘The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.’ And just think what Christ’s plan for bringing man back to holiness is! He takes the sinner, all unworthy and sinful as he is; he bears Himself the full penalty of his sins; He picks him from the depths of his degradation; He gives him full reconciliation and union with the Father; He places him in the position of a dear and beloved child of God; and then He says to him, ‘I have done all this for thee out of mine own mercy, I have bought thee from eternal death with the price of my own blood, and given to thee the gift of eternal life; and now wilt thou not love me, wilt thou not follow in the paths of righteousness where I shall lead thee? ’ “Who could hear that voice without replying, ‘Yea, Lord, with my whole heart will I love Thee; in Thy strength with my whole heart will I serve Thee?’ O my friend! if Christ has done all this for us, that we might walk in purity and holiness with Him, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, shall we not gladly give all our energies and our whole souls to following Him, and to fulfilling His design concerning us!

“It is through us that He would be glorified! Let us try to realise what a position we are thus called to fill. We, who were once ’ dead in trespasses and sins,’ are called now to be to the praise of the glory of God! We may so live as to honour Him, as to glorify His name in the sight of men and of angels.

Oh, is not this a high and holy calling? And yet how sad it is to think how many Christians seem not to realise it * that not only does the world reject and despise the Saviour, but His own redeemed ones bring dishonour on His name! But let us seek to honour Him, let us offer up our ’ bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is indeed our reasonable service.’

“Let us come to our Jesus, and telling Him all our weakness and our ignorance, let us cast the care of making us fit for His service upon Him. He will perfect that which concerns us, because He has promised to do it, and we may safely trust Him to supply every needed grace. If we can trust Him with the salvation of our souls, we can surely trust Him to make us ready to do His own work. We have some sweet texts for this: ‘He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with

Him also freely give us all things.’ But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Think what a measure that is! ‘And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound in every good work; being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God’ (2 Cor. ix. 8-1 1).

“I cannot dwell longer now on this subject, though I have not said half I long to; but I can only write a very short time without getting a headache. Let me close with Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, ‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it.’...

“We have His own promise to be unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption! He alone can give us victory over our besetting sins, and draw all our affections into obedience unto Himself. But thanks be unto God, He can do it! Then shall we not, like little children, just throw ourselves on Christ as our only helper, and trust Him to do it?

“I do not mean simply for the whole future collectively, but let us trust Him to help us to please Him this moment, and each moment as it comes.”