tell you. There was once a young man in your position: he had begun to pray, and his father knew it. He said to him, “John, you know I am an enemy to religion, and prayer is a thing that never shall be offered in my house.” Still the young man continued earnest in supplication. “Well,” said the father one day, in a hot passion, “you must give up either God or me; I solemnly swear that you shall never darken the threshold of my door again, unless you decide that you will give up praying. I give you until tomorrow morning to choose.” The night was spent in prayer by the young disciple. He rose in the morning, sad to be cast away by his friends, but resolute in spirit, that come what might he would serve his God. The father abruptly accosted him — “Well, what is the answer?” “Father,” he said, “I cannot violate my conscience, I cannot forsake my God.” “Leave immediately,” he said. And the mother stood there; the father’s hard spirit had made hers hard too, and though she might have wept she concealed her tears. “Leave immediately” he said. Stepping outside the threshold the young man said, “I wish you would grant me one request before I go; and if you grant me that, I will never trouble you again.” “Well,” said the father, “you shall have anything you like, but mark my words, you must go after you have had that; you shall never have anything again.” “It is,” said the son, “that you and my mother would kneel down, and let me pray for you before I go.” Well, they could hardly object to it; the young man was on his knees in a moment, and began to pray with such unction and power, with such evident love for their souls, with such true and divine earnestness, that they both fell flat on the ground, and when the son rose there they were; and the father said, “You need not go, John; come and stop, come and stop”; and it was not long before not only he, but all of them began to pray and they were united to a Christian Church. So do not give way. Persevere kindly but firmly. It may be that God shall enable you not only to have your own souls saved, but to be the means of bringing your persecuting parents to the foot of the cross. That such may be the case is our earnest prayer.
{a} The Goodwin Sands are a 10-mile long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east of Deal in Kent, England. As the shoals lie close to major shipping channels, more than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked upon them and as a result, they are marked by numerous lightships and buoys. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwin_Sands”
{b} Tenterden is a municipal borough in the Ashford parliamentary division of Kent, England. The church of St Mildred is Early English and later, and its tall, massive Perpendicular tower is well known for the legend connecting it with Goodwin Sands. The story is that the Abbot of St Augustine, Canterbury, diverted the funds by which the sea-wall protecting Earl Godwin’s island was kept up, for the purpose of building Tenterden steeple, the consequence being that in 1099 an inundation took place and “Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands.” See Explorer “http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Tenterden”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
