Stray Arrows

Among the many delightful prayer-meetings held during a revival in the

town of B, there was one which I

never can forget, and which some souls, I trust, will remember in that hour when the redeemed shall be summoned in to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It was held in a private dwelling, and the rooms were thronged. The house was as silent as the grave, when I entered, and many were sitting with their heads bowed and their faces covered. An awful solemnity hung over the little assembly, for the Spirit of the Lord “was in that place.” An hour was spent in singing two or three inviting hymns, and while two aged men (both far up the Delectable Mountains) poured forth fervent prayers, which were interrupted by frequent sobs, and ejaculations. When the benediction was pronounced, a request was made that all who desired private conversation on the state of their souls would remain. The whole assembly settled back again, as one man, into their seats! The scene was overwhelming. Some of those before me were professed Christians, some had been openly profane, many of them were strangers. It was evident that a word must be spoken to all, and the bow be “drawn at a venture.”

Near me sat a young female dressed in black, whose face betokened a deep solemnity. I had never seen her before, and supposed her to be a member of a neighboring church who had come in to unite her prayers with. our own. Approaching her respectfully, I ventured to ask her if “she had any hope that she was a child of God?” Her head dropped in a moment; she burst into tears, and in her deep emotion her answer to me was not intellioible. With a kind word of exhortation I left her, and after a little inquiry I learned that she had been for a long time u.tterly thoughtless, and a perpetual neglecter of the house of God. At our next meeting I saw the same face again, but sadder than before. At the end of a fortnight (one of indescribable anguish to her struggling soul) the cloud left her brow, and the serenity of a peace that passeth understanding sat like a dove upon her happy countenance. She is now an humble and consistent member of the fold of Christ.

Farther on was a timid and retiring young member of my congregation, with whom I had never had an opportunity for conversation. As she sat with her face covered, I addressed a few pointed inquiries to her and turned away. The next day a member of my church called upon me to say that the person whom I had addressed as impenitent and thoughtless, was a church-member before I came

to B, but her name had either been

omitted from the record, or confounded with that of two others in the congregation bearing the same name. I sent the necessary explanation to her, and thought no more about it. When nearly a month had elapsed, the same person who had before waited on me, stopped me one evening at the church-door and said, “I

wish you would call on M T,

and endeavor to calm her.* She is in a state of utter despair. Those remarks that yon made to her in the inqniry-meeting by mistake have troubled her ever since. She fears now that she never was a true Christian, and after a long struggle with her pride, she can no longer conceal her anguish. I fear, sir, that she will lose her reason.” I called at once, as requested, and found the unhappy young woman the picture of despair. It was a long time before her weeping eyes could be turned toward Calvary, or she could be persuaded that there was mercy left for one who had so long done despite to the Spirit of divine grace. But the wound which the stray arrow — guided by infinite wisdom — had made, was at length healed. The Master’s gentle voice whispered “Peace.” She went on her way rejoicing, and though her eye may never rest on this humble volume, she can hardly forget to her dying- day that interview in the inquiry-meeting.

During the progress of the revival, it was pleasant to hear from one how he had been awakened by a tract handed to him, “at a venture” — how another had been aroused by some particular passage in a discourse — and how some had been reached by truths that were aimed at

others than themselves.” Dr. C

preached entirely at me last evening,” said a young man to me one Monday morning “He reached my own case exactly, and I never heard such a sermon before.” It is certain that he never heard before with such a spirit as then; and for that discourse he will doubtless bless Redeeming Love when the ransomed host shall shout their Harvest Home I

Fainting and desponding minister of

Christ ] who shall dare to tell you, when you have come back from preaching the cross boldly and earnestly, that many an arrow may not have pierced the waiting souls around you? You may not have seen its flight. You may have heard no outcry of the wounded soul. You may have seen no tears, and heard no groans. You may never hear of tkem in this world. But in the great day of retribution you shall stand as God’s appointed archer, with the trophies of redeeming grace about you, — and stars shall blaze in the coronet of your rejoicing, which are now unseen save by Him who se6th in secret and rewardeth openly. 2

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