The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher Part 11

"Yes, it is obedience to G.o.d," Mrs. Kauffman explained. "But there is more to his plan than that. G.o.d wants us to love and reverence his Son for all that he has done. To do this we must ask G.o.d to forgive and to receive us back into his family for Jesus' sake. This is a true prayer when it comes from the heart."

"Is that the prayer that I prayed when I was converted?" Edwin asked, remembering the three little words that he had selected from one of the prayers in Mr. Meyer's tent.

"No," Mrs. Kauffman replied; "your prayer was different. It was really no prayer at all, but you see you did not understand these things or know how to pray. G.o.d knew what you wanted, because he understands the heart, and he knew that you would have asked for it in proper words if you could have understood."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman were very good to Edwin; for after he had left their neighborhood, they had learned something of his worth. Every day during the meeting they endeavored in some way to help him to understand what it means to be a Christian, and some of the wonderful things that are in the Bible. Much of their effort was lost, however, because of his ignorance, but it seemed that each time he was able to grasp a new thought that would correspond and link on to his own experience.

When the last day of the camp-meeting arrived, Edwin was sorry, for he felt that it had been a good place to be; but since he had received the benefit for which he had come, he was ready to return to the farm and fulfil his agreement with Mr. Miller and do all that he could to make up for the time that he had been away at the meeting. The Kauffmans, Itterlys, and Meyers had all given him pressing invitations to visit them in their homes, and with many happy remembrances of the meeting in his mind he was soon well on his way down the dusty road in the direction of his employer's home.

Again he noted the sweet songs of the little birds, and nature seemed all aglow with her beauty and grandeur; but as before, when he was on his way to the meeting, his mind was too full of weightier things to give outside things much thought or attention.

As he pa.s.sed in through the open gate, he remembered that Mrs. Kauffman had said that in a certain city not more than ten miles away a Bible could be purchased, and, knowing that Mr. Miller occasionally went to that city to do his trading, he decided to ask him to get him a copy while there.

When he reached the summer-kitchen, he found the old couple partaking of their evening meal, and when Edwin had taken his accustomed place on the end of the bench, he was asked to give an account of the meeting and to tell how he had enjoyed himself while there. It was in glowing terms that Edwin described each little detail and the effect that the entire meeting had produced in his life. When he had finished, Mrs. Miller remarked:

"I'm glad, Edwin, that you have at last found out what it means to be converted. But of course you will have to join the church. You can go with us to our church every Sunday if you want to, and after you go a while they will tell you whether they want you to become a member."

Edwin gladly accepted the invitation, and then after telling what Mrs.

Kauffman had said about the Bible, he asked Mr. Miller if he would buy him a copy the next time he went to the city. The latter said that he would do the best that he could. When the smoking-hour arrived, Edwin remained, but to visit, not to smoke. He cared no longer for his pipe, for the appet.i.te for tobacco was all gone.

Although Edwin was disappointed a number of times because of his employer's forgetfulness to do his errand, a few weeks after the camp-meeting had closed, a little red leather pocket Testament in both the German and English languages was placed in his hand, and what a treasure it was! The price that Edwin had paid for it seemed very small indeed, but he did not know that the little volume was only a part of the wonderful book of which he had heard such thrilling accounts.

In the days that followed a great longing to read the sacred pages of his little Testament came into his heart, but even to have the little book in his possession was a great comfort, and very often he drew it from his pocket and pressed it to his heart while he was at his work.

On Sunday, Edwin never failed to go with Mr. and Mrs. Miller to the little church that was on the corner where the roads met and crossed, and he was still as earnest and anxious to learn as he had been at the camp-meeting; but the difficulty of the language was ever before him, and his extreme ignorance concerning the Bible was very noticeable.

At last when the subject concerning whether he should be accepted as a candidate for a member of their denomination arose, a lengthy discussion among the most prominent brethren followed, and it was decided in Edwin's hearing that he was far too ignorant on Bible lines ever to amount to anything among them. It would therefore, they said, be best to drop the matter at once.

"Think of it!" said one, "it doesn't stand to reason that any one with so little education and knowledge concerning the Bible could be so easily converted. He will be like a wave of the sea--lost and forgotten, in a very short time. Why, he can't even understand the preaching yet or the things that you try to explain to him! To my mind his case isn't worth bothering with."

After Edwin had heard this man's reasoning and had found that it was the decision of all, he was given an opportunity to speak for himself. He said:

"I'm sure that you are mistaken when you say that I will not stand. I know that I am very ignorant about what is in the Bible, but if you will just give me ten years, I will prove to you that G.o.d, who has brought me through all my past difficulties, and in spite of all my ignorance has directed me always in the right way, will never fail to teach me the next best thing to do."

After Edwin's speech it was decided that it would be all right for him to attend the meetings, but that they could not accept his name even on probation.

It was with a sad heart the following day that Edwin went about his work upon the farm. He could not understand why the brethren had doubted his ability to stand nor their reason for not allowing him the same privilege that was given to others, simply because he was ignorant and his conversion had not required so long a time as they were in the habit of allowing their more enlightened members. "G.o.d surely knew what he was doing," he reasoned, "and I believe that my life is as precious to him as that of any other man, though he may know a great deal more than I do."

All day long he was burdened and sad, and when night came, instead of resorting to the summer-kitchen as had been his habit for so long, he went to his room immediately after the evening ch.o.r.es were done. Falling upon his knees and taking from his pocket his little red Testament, he opened it and laid it upon the chair before him. Then as tears blinded his eyes, he buried his face in his hands and, bending reverently over the little volume, made his request known to G.o.d.

"O G.o.d!" he cried, not caring by whom he was heard, "you who have been so faithful to me in the past, in helping me out of all my difficulties, help me now! I have learned that this little book is to make me know what you want me to do, so help me to be able to read what is in it."

To Edwin this task was no greater for him than others had been that he had mastered, and with perfect faith, believing that G.o.d would open his understanding sufficiently for him to comprehend the meaning of all that he needed to know, he began the work of learning what he should have known many years before.

With his finger Edwin carefully traced in several words the outline of the letters, until suddenly a few of the characters that he had learned from the school-teacher when, in his early childhood days, he was sent to school as protector of his younger cousins, returned to his mind, and although they had been meaningless then and had been long since forgotten, they corresponded perfectly with those before him. Thus he continued to labor long into the night, and during the days and evenings that followed, whenever there was a moment to spare, a moment that he could feel was his own, he endeavored to locate the same letters in other words. But although he could locate several of the letters, he did not know their names.

Later on, after the corn-husking was done, Mr.

Miller decided that he could get along with the work by himself, and Edwin began looking for another place. When the word became circulated that Edwin was wanting a job, several opportunities to get into good families were offered him, but he would decide on none of them until he had spent a few weeks in visiting the kind friends whom he had met at the camp-meeting.

During Edwin's stay with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Edwin had learned to respect them very highly, and their kindness and sympathy meant very much to him, but he felt that he was sadly misunderstood by them both and that their judgment was not altogether good. He was sad, too, because of the att.i.tude of the church-members toward him, but his only thought was to prove to all that he was sincere, and although so coldly held off by some he continued to attend the meetings regularly.

On the morning of his departure, Mrs. Miller in her motherly way invited him to visit them occasionally, and after thanking them kindly for all their interest in him, Edwin left for the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman.

Frank Kauffman was at his mother's home when Edwin arrived, and when he saw the welcome that she gave to the one whom she had so severely condemned, because of the influence she was afraid he might have upon her son, he could not help smiling. He had heard that Edwin had given up the use of tobacco, and it was not long until he learned from Edwin himself his reasons for doing so. Frank was much impressed by the story and felt that perhaps Edwin was right about the matter, and he would have been glad to give up the use of tobacco himself, but the power of habit was great, and the poisonous nicotine was so working in his system that his strength of decision was limited.

Edwin's stay with the Kauffman's was prolonged to several months; for these people, finding that Edwin was so anxious to learn to read his Bible, began at the foundation and taught him both the English and the German alphabets and instructed him how to use them in forming words. Until then Edwin had not understood the difference in the languages, and, finding that the words used in prayer and preaching, were not a heavenly language as he had supposed, but were meant for any one to speak, he decided at once to master them both. He reasoned that what he could not comprehend in the one language he might in the other, and his progress in the undertaking was so rapid that it was marvelous.

When he learned that the Bible was in two parts--a New and an Old Testament--and that his little red-covered book was only the New, he longed for the complete volume and was soon in possession of one.

"Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee" (Psa. 143: 7, 8).

CHAPTER XIX

DEVOTION AND WORKS

Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death, To break the shock blind nature can not shun, And lands thought smoothly on the further sh.o.r.e.

--Young.

During his visit in the Kauffman home, Edwin learned what was meant not only by prayer but by a life of true devotion, for Mrs. Kauffman was a very spiritual woman. She was sorry for the decision of the brethren to refuse Edwin even a trial for members.h.i.+p in the church, but she endeavored to encourage him in the belief that all would come out right in the end, and Edwin very courageously said that he was sure it would. And the fact that he was misunderstood by some did not lessen his confidence in the brethren nor cool his intense love for humanity. Neither did it dampen his desire to be a blessing to mankind, and so great did the latter longing become that he began to seek for opportunities of doing good.

By living in such sweet communion with G.o.d he learned a great many lessons that were very helpful to him in different ways; and with a little help from his kind friends he learned to read in such a marvelously short time that it was plain to all that G.o.d was truly his teacher.

One day while Edwin was quietly meditating upon the wonderful things that he had read within the Bible, he compared them with the experiences through which he had pa.s.sed, and he marveled at the manner in which they corresponded. Then, while thinking of what had taken place at the camp meeting, he remembered his mother and his surprize at seeing her at such a place. "Could it be possible," he said to Mrs. Kauffman, "that my mother's reason for attending the meeting was that she was interested in spiritual things?" His friends thought it was probable, and then Edwin said that if such was the case he would like to tell her about some of the wonderful things G.o.d had done for him. In this Mrs. Kauffman encouraged him, and she helped him to find several appropriate pa.s.sages of Scripture that he could read to his mother, and when he went she bade him G.o.dspeed.

Edwin had not visited his mother since the time when her proud heart was crushed because of the shame and disgrace that had been forced upon her through Elmer's actions. Since then many things had taken place in her life that had caused her to change some of her ways, but the "faith" that she claimed to have taken up and that had encouraged her to attend the camp-meeting was only a "try to do better" plan.

When Mrs. Fischer saw her son approaching the house, she at once remembered his ignorance at the camp-meeting, the ridicule created by his queer actions, and the hard feelings that, in her embarra.s.sment, she had felt toward him; still, she endeavored to treat him kindly, and at first she permitted him to talk freely about his experiences before and after the meeting. But when in conclusion, he said, "Mother, can't you see how necessary it is for any one to be converted, or to be born again into G.o.d's great family?" she exclaimed: "Oh, such tras.h.!.+ I won't listen any longer!

I've committed no sins that I need to repent of. _My_ 'faith' is good enough for me, and I don't expect to know everything about heaven in this life. The church that I have joined teaches that if you do as well as you can you'll go to heaven anyway, and after you have pledged any church that you will stand by it and then you go and join another and take up their 'faith,' you become a shame and disgrace to the church to which you did belong."

"Yes, but you may not get to heaven if you do not anxiously seek to know the right way," Edwin said, and the earnestness in his voice could be felt.

Then opening his Bible, which was already well marked, he read: "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and ye refused.... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.... Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:20-33).

That his mother was surprized to hear Edwin reading the words was very plain to be seen, but her spirit was still proud, and she cried: "No, Edwin, I won't listen to any more. Those words are in the Old Testament, I know, but they were written for the people who lived at that time, and not for us. The New Testament is for us."

"Well, then, Mother," Edwin said, quickly turning to the third chapter of St. John, "let me read to you something from the New Testament, some of the words of G.o.d's own Son to all the world. Jesus was talking to a man who was a teacher and very wise, but he told him that the only way to get to heaven was to be born again, for he said: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered.... G.o.d so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For G.o.d sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.' And now, Mother," Edwin said, "here is the part that I want you to listen to especially: 'He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of G.o.d. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in G.o.d.'"

The reading of the last scripture had been more difficult for Edwin, but he had reviewed the words so often under the direction of Mr. Kauffman, who had taken a keen interest and delight in the manner in which Edwin was learning, that he was able to read them both plainly and distinctly. But still his mother said:

"That, too, was long ago. Things are different today. You needn't try to tell me that what the people did and said at that time were anything like what they say and do today."

Then as Edwin attempted to explain, she said:

"No, Edwin, you must not say anything more to me about these things. I'm satisfied to let well enough alone; and if I'm contented, you ought to be."