O mighty tree, o'ershadowing all the earth,
In loneliest wilds thy seedling had its birth.
NOW our narrative nears its close. The last glimpse of our friend Mary shows us an aged woman clad in the curious old Welsh dress.
She holds in one hand a staff for the support of her trembling limbs, once so active and nimble; while with the other she clasps to her side her beloved Bible, the companion of so many years, the consoler and comforter, the guide and teacher of her life.
How much of joy or of sorrow, of trial or of what the world calls success, had fallen to Mary's lot during her long life of eighty-two years, we know not. We learn that she had eight children, several of whom may have died in early life. One son, we believe, is living now [1882], having made his home in America.
Little as we know, however, of Mary's actual experiences, it was impossible that during her married life she should not have learned what deep sorrow meant, as it is almost certain that she survived several of her children, and quite certain that her husband too died before she did.
Still, since we are taught that God's children do not sorrow as those without hope, so we are sure that the childlike, trusting spirit of this handmaid of the Lord was as ready to suffer as to do the will of the Divine Master, and that however deep the affliction, there was no bitterness in the grief, no despair in the tears that watered the graves of loved ones gone before.
Feeble and tottering was now our once bright, bonny, blithe maiden, but it was only physically that Mary was altered. She was still the same brave, simple-hearted, earnest, faithful follower of Christ. Time with its changes, in parting her from most of those whom she loved on earth, had not separated her from the love of Jesus, or taken away her delight in the Word of the Lord that endureth forever.
Indeed she loved her Bible better even than of old, for she understood it more fully, and had proved its truth beyond all doubting, again and again, in her daily life for so many years.
Can we doubt, then, that when the summons came, and she heard the voice which she had known and loved from childhood, saying to her " Come up higher!" she had no fears, no shrinking, but felt that surely since goodness and mercy had followed her all the days of her life, she should dwell in the house of the Lord—that house above, not made with hands—forever.
Mary Jones died December the 28th, 1866, at the good old age of eighty-two. We have no particulars of her last moments, save that on her death-bed she bequeathed her precious Bible to the Rev. Robert Griffiths, who in his turn bequeathed it to Mr. Eres.
This Bible, which is now in the possession of the British and Foreign Bible Society, is a thick octavo, of the edition published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in 1799—the last edition of the Welsh Bible previous to the establishment of the Bible Society.
The volume contains, in addition to the actual text of the now recognized and authorized Scripture, John Cannes' marginal references, the Apocrypha, the Book of Common Prayer, a metrical version of the Psalms by Edmund Prys, and various Church tables. It also contains, in Mary Jones's handwriting—in perhaps the first English that she had learned—a note that she bought it in the year 1800, when she was sixteen years old.
So, full of days, and like Dorcas of old, of good works, Mary Jones passed away from earth to the rest that remaineth for the people of God; a sheaf of ripe corn safely garnered at last in the heavenly granary.
She was buried in the little churchyard at Bryncrug, and a stone has been raised to her memory by those who loved to recall the influence of her beautiful life, and the important if humble part she had taken in the founding of the great work of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
As it is only by a view of the mighty stemmed, wide-spreading oak that we can judge of the acorn's potency, its wealth of hidden and concentrated power, so we can hardly appreciate the great importance of the simple narrative which here stands recorded, unless we cast a brief glance over some of the details of the glorious work that arose from the small beginnings which form the subject of our story It is an undeniable fact that the idea of the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society laid fast hold of the public mind in Great Britain—a hold which extended with marvelous rapidity, as will be seen when we say that while during the first year the money expended in the operations of the Committee amounted to 691£. in the eleventh year its expenditure had grown to 81,000£.,swelling in the fifty-first year to 149,000£, while in 1890 the sum reached the enormous proportions of nearly 228,000£.
During the first three years following the establishment of the Society, it circulated 81,000 Bibles and Testaments, while in the year 1890 its distribution of Bibles, Testaments, and single books of Scripture, amounted to 3,792,263.
When the Society was founded, the Bible existed in less than fifty languages. Since then, by its agency, versions have been published in no less than 291 languages.
But these figures bewilder the mind, and it may be more interesting to see how the books have been distributed.
When from any fresh place the request comes for a supply of the Scriptures, special inquiries are instituted and all possible information obtained. The most accurate and trustworthy is supplied by missionaries laboring in the country whence the petition has been sent. It is the missionaries, too, who are for the most part the best qualified to translate the Divine Word, and the most ready to undertake this difficult but honorable task. When the translation is complete, the Society prints and sends over, free of cost, as many copies as are necessary for the mission work.
The thankful eagerness with which the Scriptures have been received by the South Sea Islanders, has been as pathetic as it was surprising. The natives would put down their names, months in advance, in the mission list, to bespeak a copy, willingly giving a dollar, or even two, for a Bible, showing thus their anxiety to possess the Scriptures.
Frequently it has been the case, as in Madagascar, that the deadly power of persecution has silenced the voice of the teacher But persecution was of no avail. " The Lord gave the word, and great was the company of the preachers! " Here a book, and there a chapter, and there again a verse- mute yet eloquent teachers, carrying the Gospel of our Divine Lord into the very heart of the cruel idol-lands.
Thus, while the martyrs fell in their Master's work, and the few godly men that remained were ready to wail with Elijah of old, " Lo I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away," the silent messengers were passing from hand to hand, the great work was going forward unseen, and the kingdom of God came once more, not with observation, but with a quiet, all-pervading power, turning chaos into order, and darkness into light.
It is a matter for deep thankfulness that in some countries—for instance Russia, where missionaries are not allowed to work—the Bible is welcomed by the people. Some touching incidents are recorded of the war with Turkey, showing clearly with what eagerness and gratitude the Scriptures were received.
An agent for the Bible Society residing at Warsaw, used to visit the infirmaries, accompanied by his daughters, and everywhere joy greeted their approach.
" We often saw the poor soldiers sitting at the window," this gentleman writes, " waiting for us, and saluting us at a great distance; and the moment we entered the passage, we were hemmed in by a crowd of men that had not been supplied with Bibles.
Even those who were struggling between life and death, and had apparently lost all interest in surrounding matters, would try and stretch out a hand to obtain a copy of the Scriptures; and when my daughters stooped down to them, asking ' Shall I read a few words to you? ' a smile would often light up their countenances, and they would whisper.
Yes, read, dear sister, and leave us the copy as a remembrance in case we recover.' "
During this war, too, the colporteurs of the Society followed the army on to the battlefields, selling thus about 15,000 volumes of the Scriptures, the soldiers buying copies to send home to loved ones whom they might never see again.
Then again, at the great fair of Nijni Novgorod, where the merchant and trade world of Russia assemble yearly for business transactions of every description, the Society has a stall, and at the fair of 1889 nearly 8,000 copies were sold.
As further proof of the power of the Bible and of its influence even where unaided by missionary zeal and enterprise, we give the following touching narrative.
A native of a little town on the shores of the Adriatic was obliged to leave home and go to Naples. There he was led to a knowledge of the truth through a Waldensian minister, and having embraced it, he joined the Church over which the minister presided.
Afterward he removed to Florence, and thence he sent a Bible to a friend of his at home, accompanied by a letter containing these words: " This book has greatly benefited my soul; read it, and it will bring a blessing to yours."
That man took his friend's advice, read the book, and finding in it the truths his soul needed, gathered his friends and acquaintances around him to read it with them.
We must not detail the many obstacles thrown in his way by the enemies of the Gospel, but need only say that notwithstanding these, numbers continued to come and hear the reading of God's word, and that when, a few months later, the pastor of the Naples church went there, he found a number of people who believed the Gospel, and were ready to make a profession of their faith at whatever cost. They proved as good as their word, and a short time afterward Signor Pons of Naples returned there to celebrate the Lord's Supper. He thus narrates the scene:" The event which took place at — last week, is one which I can never cease to remember—one of those consolations which rarely fall to the lot of God's servants, but which more than compensate for the toils and privations of a lifetime. I found our friends awaiting me with the greatest eagerness, and hardly had I come among them when I was asked, This time we shall celebrate the Supper of the Lord, shall we not, sir? '
" I did my best to set before them the solemnity of this step, but all my objections seemed only to quicken their ardor.
" Several days were spent conversing, until, deeming that the time had arrived for administering the Lord's Supper to them, I proceeded to examine the candidates as to their knowledge of divine things. Thirty came forward, and most of these gave full satisfaction.
" The scene at the Lord's Supper was most moving. As I prayed before partaking, sobs burst from every part of the room, and not a cheek was dry.
" At the end of the service, one of the communicants rose and said, I can neither read nor write, but, by the grace of God, I feel that whereas before I wallowed in the mire and was blind, I am now in a glorious hall, illuminated by the blessed light of day.
I can say no more.' "
Nardini, the colporteur at Padua, tells an interesting story, which further illustrates the reforming and life-giving power of the Bible under the blessing of Almighty God. We will let him relate it himself.
" Having heard," he says, " that in a village not far from Vicenza a knife-grinder had died, giving a most encouraging testimony to the truths of the Gospel, I went to the place, to learn precisely the facts of the case.
" I found that his name was Batista, and that being unmarried, he had for several years lived with his brothers. He was converted to the Lord solely by means of a Bible which he had bought, it is supposed, from some passing colporteur. Before the time of his conversion, in 1872, he had been a very profane and immoral man, but afterward his conduct became blameless, and he urged all whom he knew to believe the Gospel. In the evenings, especially in winter and on the Lord's day, he invited others to join him in reading the Bible and talking of its precious truths. Batista died in July, 1877, (at the age of forty) with his Bible under his pillow. His life and death produced a deep impression on his neighbors, and his memory is fragrant in the village. As the result of his labors, two men who were dyers by trade have come firmly to believe the Gospel. He himself was never in a Protestant church in his life, nor did he even know a minister as member of one."
To the subject of colportage a brief space may not inappropriately here be given, as a means of good, the importance of which it would be impossible to over-estimate.
As probably every one knows, a colporteur is a man who carries something on his back.
He may really be called a creation of the Bible Society, and though not so conspicuous as the missionary, he does a right noble work.
One of these godly and earnest men sold in Holland during about forty years of labor among the people, 139,000 copies of the Scriptures; and when he lay dying, his room was visited by numbers he wished for the privilege of hearing the brave old Christian's testimony to the truth, and of seeing how firm—even now at the last—was his faith in the Word of the Lord, which nearly all his life long he had been trying to circulate among the people.
One important work done by the colporteur is not to be accomplished by any other agency. He takes the Bible to those regions most remote from the great centers—to wild, thinly-populated neighborhoods where the hum and bustle of traffic and mart, the cry of the crowded city, never penetrate.
For instance, in Norway, many of the peasants' homes are forty or fifty miles from any book-shop, and the people would never obtain the Scriptures, were it not for these devoted men, who toil up and down the mountains, and follow the fiords into the very midst of the country, carrying over land and by water the Word of Life.
Then again, the colporteurs are often the means of overcoming in the people's minds their unwillingness to purchase the Scriptures, and to listen to the truth.
They are earnest faithful Christians who love the Bible, and in telling what it has done for them, they bear testimony to what it can do for others. Often too they are men of wonderful memory and ready wit, and they can frequently arrest the attention of the careless by the quotation of some suitable passage, or startle the lethargic soul from its death-like stupor by the trumpet-blast of inspired warning.
We record the following instance, showing that the work of the colporteur is not confined to the mere porterage and sale of books. As it is taken from a German colporteur's journal, we give it in his own (translated) words: " One day, just after the dinner hour, I entered the house of a carpenter. When I found that he was taking his afternoon nap, my first thought was not to disturb him.
But I could not feel easy in leaving him, so after a moment's hesitation I went up to where he lay, awoke him, and said Will you buy a Bible? '
" I am a Catholic,' he replied, and do not want one; ' and he turned round to sleep again.
" That is what you say,' I answered, but God says " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light?" ' The man started and sat up.
" I woke you purposely,' I continued, without caring whether you liked it or not; and in like manner, God, through His Word, is awaking you from your spiritual sleep.'
" But we are forbidden to read that book of yours,' he said.
" Nay,' I rejoined, what right has a priest to forbid what God commands?
Obey Him rather than man.'
" The man was silent. At last he said, A thing I had long forgotten comes to my memory. Twenty-five years ago I was working as a journeyman in Hamburg, and a friend of mine used every night, when we reached our lodgings, to read his Bible; and he told me just what you have been saying, to obey God rather than man.
I can hear his warning voice now; and perhaps you have been sent to revive the impression before it is too late. Yes, I will read it. Death may soon come. Only the other day a ladder fell with me on it, and it was a miracle that I was not killed; but it may have been God's will I should be spared to awake as you have urged me to do.' With that he bought a Bible, with the words, Ah, I wish I had done this long ago! ' "
Another striking story is told of one of the colporteurs in Bohemia.
He was coming to the end of a long day's work, sorely discouraged by the rebuffs with which he had met. There remained in the small town but one cluster of houses unvisited, and he was disposed to pass these by, especially as he knew one of them to be occupied by a gentleman who was an open enemy and mocker of the Bible. But his conscience was not easy. His instructions bade him, except for sufficient reason, call at every house; and besides this, to-day the words had been haunting him, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." In a humble sense those words described his own calling; and he felt he must be true to it. “Up, faint heart, and knock! " he said to himself; " who knows but thy fears shall be removed! "
So he plucked up courage to go to the door of this very man; and when it was opened, and the master of the house appeared, he could think of nothing to say but just this " Behold, I stand at the door and knock! "
The owner was taken aback, as the stranger added in a hurried, entreating tone: “I am not a common hawker; to-day Jesus Himself is standing at the door of your heart. You may turn me away, but oh, do not reject Him.
Only believe His Word; I bring it to you.
He will not cast you out." He paused, afraid at his own boldness, but not a word of rebuke followed.
The gentleman called his wife and daughter saying—" We must not let this good man go; let him sup with us."
He was led into the sitting-room, where they listened eagerly to him as he poured out freely all that was in his heart; and when they sat down to the evening meal, they looked to him to give thanks.
As to what the Society is doing at home, these pages are too brief to give any sort of record of the great work that is going on.
There is hardly a school, or a hospital, or an asylum that has not been helped by it again and again, while out of it (just as from the ever-rooting boughs of the banyan-tree new growths arise) numbers of branch Bible Societies have sprung, each a center of usefulness and of union in its own sphere.
And—speaking of union and sympathy in a common cause—it has been suggested, and with perfect truth, that even if the Bible Society had never circulated a single copy of the Scriptures, it would yet have done a noble work in affording a meeting-ground for Christian people of all ranks and stations, and of every denomination. For whatever the differences of opinion on some points, believers can unite as brothers in honoring God's Word, and speeding it forward over the whole earth.
Of the reality and genuineness of this sympathy and union, the great work done is perhaps the best testimony that could be offered Happy, nay, thrice blest are all those who have a share in it.
And by these we do not mean only such as can give largely, or serve the Society in great and conspicuous ways. Let no one say that what he can give is but as a drop in the bucket, and therefore of no value. It is by the tiny rills, that like a thread of silver wind adown the hill-side—by the silent night dews, by the softly-falling rains, by the quiet springs that swell among the peaty uplands—it is by these that the river is formed; by these that it is fed and sustained in its mighty flow, in the force and depth of the current that bears great ships on its bosom, down, down to the ocean. Not a drop is lost, nothing is valueless; all goes to make up an inestimably precious whole.
And now, in conclusion, dear friends young and old, if but one heart is moved by the perusal of these pages to more earnest work for the Master, to self-denial and loving service in the spread of His truth; to a more eager study of God's Word, and a greater zeal in circulating and making it known among others—then indeed this little story of the poor Welsh girl and her Bible will not have been written in vain.
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