“FOR some time my general health had not been good, and though my mother had given up the hope to which, as I told you, she had clung so fondly, that something might be done for my sight, it would, she thought, be good for me to have medical advice, and as she had heard that a very clever doctor might be consulted almost daily at a small hospital belonging to a Medical Mission at T—, she decided upon taking me there.
“It was the first time I had heard of Medical Missions, but as I have taken a great interest in the subject ever since, perhaps I had better tell you a little about them before going on with my story.
“You remember, do you not, how when the Lord was on earth, He not only preached the gospel of the kingdom, but made sick persons well.
“Flora says, ‘Yes, He healed Peter's wife's mother when she had been ill with fever, made her quite well all at once and so strong that she was able to rise from her bed and wait upon the Lord and His disciples.' (Matt. 8:14, 1514And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. (Matthew 8:14‑15).) And Maudie reminds us of the poor woman of whom we read in Luke 8, who had been ill for twelve long weary years, but who touched His garment and was made whole.
“When the Lord sent forth seventy of His disciples (Luke 10:11After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. (Luke 10:1)), He gave them a twofold commission: to heal the sick, and to say to all who would hear the message, ‘The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you' (Lukw 10:9); and though we have no reason to believe that the wonderful gifts of healing, of which we read in the Acts, remained in the christian company long after the days of the apostles, yet in many lands preaching and healing go on together, and the records of recent missions in China, India and Japan tell of converts who came with sick bodies to the Mission Hospital, but to whom the gospel they for the first time heard there has proved the power of God unto salvation.
“But as my little nieces would rather have a story than a lecture, they will, I know, be pleased to hear of a letter a friend of mine had not very long ago from a lady worker in a lonely place not far from the banks of the great African river the Congo. She writes—
“‘My life here is a very busy one, for as of course there is no such thing as a servant to be had, my own hands have to do so many things, that what with teaching school, trying to tell a few native women about the love of Christ, helping to make bandages, salve, etc. for the dispensary, doing a little, though as yet it is only a very little, in the work of translating a few hymns into the language of the people among whom we live and work, I have not much time for writing letters, but I wish you could see all the poor sick people who come every morning to get medicine or to have their wounds dressed.
“‘Sometimes a little child will get a deep cut, perhaps from falling upon a stone, and as no care is taken to keep the wound clean, or to prevent the dirt from getting into it, it often becomes a frightful sore and gives a great deal of trouble.
“‘Our own breakfast is an early one, and after we have had it and our household reading and prayer the patients begin to arrive.
“‘What a strange crowd: men, women and children; sometimes even tiny babies, all sick or suffering. And we who know that their souls have needs far deeper than those of their bodies, long to speak to them of the Lord Jesus and His love.
“‘A short gospel service is held, a passage of scripture read, a short prayer offered, and they are told in a few simple words about the one true God, who so loved the world that He gave His only Son to be a Savior. The next two hours are taken up with seeing patients, after which any of the women who care to stay, come to me to learn hymns and texts, or to ask questions about what they could not understand in the address already given.
“‘My room, which has to serve for many purposes besides school and sitting room, is always full at these times, the women sitting so closely together, that in the dim light (for we have no glass windows, and are glad to use blinds to keep out the rays of the sun) they look almost like one black mass.
“‘But they have souls, and we do so long to see many of them really brought to Christ.
“‘When the women first began to come it was very difficult to keep them quiet, but there has been a great improvement in this respect, and we are encouraged to hope that a real work of God has begun in the souls of a few at least of the numbers who come.'
“But I must not talk any longer about work on the Congo or I shall not have time to tell you about my own visit to the hospital.
“When the patients had all assembled, a lady entered the waiting-room, and taking her seat at a small table, began to read in a soft, low, but very distinct voice, part of the ninth chapter of John's Gospel; the story of how the man who had been born blind received sight.
“I knew it almost by heart, I had so often read it when at school, but on this occasion I listened with great interest.
“Something in the voice and manner of the reader had reminded me of Marion, and every word seemed to sink into my heart. A few very simple earnest words followed; I cannot remember all that was said, only one sentence that seemed to take hold of me. It was ‘When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He loved to open blind eyes; now He is in the glory of God, He loves to give light to dark souls.'
“Oh how I wished I had this light; I longed to ask, What I must do to be saved? but it was my turn to see the doctor, and I had no opportunity of getting even a word with the lady whom I never met there again.
“I continued to attend for many weeks, always taking care to be in time for the reading, to which I listened very attentively. I often wished someone would speak to me about my soul. I wanted to be a Christian, and though I often tried to remember all dear Marion had written to me, I did not understand what it meant to trust myself simply to Christ.
“The more I read my Bible and tried to pray, the more unhappy I grew. I began to tell the Lord that I did not understand the way of salvation, and asked Him to send someone to teach me.
“The answer came, though I do not think it was quite in the way I expected. A lady, who was quite a stranger to us, called at our cottage one day (my father having served his full time in the army had retired with a small pension, and we were no longer in military quarters, but lived in a pretty cottage with a long garden in the front),
“I was out on the day of her first visit, but she told my mother that having not very long before come a stranger to the place in which we were then living, it had been impressed upon her to visit the houses with gospel books and tracts suitable for lending.
“She had at first shrunk from doing so, but after much prayer had made a beginning that day, and ours was almost the first door at which she had knocked.
“How I wished I could have talked to her, I would I thought have told all my trouble, but if this could not be I might I hoped find a message in the book she had left, so I begged my mother to read it aloud. She did so. How eagerly I drank in every word!
“I do not remember the title of the little book, but it told how on the night of the passover, when the righteous judgment of God was upon guilty Egypt, there was a shelter provided: a bright, crimson stain on the lintel and doorposts of many houses told that a lamb had been slain, and its blood sprinkled in obedience to the word of God. He had said, ‘And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.' (Ex. 12:1313And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13).) The little book went on to tell how the lamb was a shadow-picture or type of the Lord Jesus, ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29).)
“I began to see a little more clearly that my own tears and prayers and good resolutions could not save me. I often said, as I was busy about my work, part of a hymn Marion had loved—
‘None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.'
“Still I could not have said that I was saved; I had not given up my own struggles to merit or earn salvation instead of taking it as the gift of God.
“How I hoped our unknown visitor would come again. I said, ‘Oh, mother, if the lady who left that little book calls next week you will ask her in, will you not, please? I think perhaps she might be able to tell me something that I very much want to know.'”