The Little Gleaner Part 24

"THOU, G.o.d, SEEST ME!"

"George," said a big boy, winking hard at his curly-headed little comrade, "you may pick me some of those apples. Your father has fallen asleep over his book in the study." George raised his fearless, honest eyes to the older lad's face, and replied, "My Father is father's Father too, and He neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psa. cxxi. 4). George's Father was the all-seeing G.o.d.

A VISIT TO THE IDRIAN MINES.

After pa.s.sing through several parts of the Alps, and having visited Germany, I thought I could not return home without visiting those dreadful subterraneous caverns, where thousands are condemned to reside, shut out from all hopes of ever seeing the cheerful light of the sun, and obliged to toil out a miserable life under the whips of imperious task-masters.

Imagine to yourself a hole in the side of a mountain, about five yards over. Down this you are lowered in a kind of bucket to a depth of more than one hundred fathoms, the prospect growing still more gloomy, yet still widening as you descend. At length, after swinging in terrible suspense for some time in this precarious situation, you reach the bottom, and tread on the ground, which, by its hollow sound under your feet, and the reverberations of the echo, seems thundering at every step you take. In this gloomy and frightful solitude you are enlightened by the feeble gleam of lamps, here and there dispersed, so as that the wretched inhabitants of these mansions can go from one place to another without a guide; though I could scarcely discern, for some time, anything--not even the person who came to show me these scenes of horror.

From this description, I suppose you have but a disagreeable idea of the place; yet let me a.s.sure you that it is a palace, if the habitation be compared with the inhabitants. Such wretches my eyes never yet beheld.

The blackness of their visages only serves to cover a horrid paleness, caused by the noxious qualities of the mineral they are employed in procuring.

As they, in general, consist of malefactors, condemned for life to this task, they are fed at the public expense; but seldom consume much provision, as they lose their appet.i.tes in a short time, and commonly, in about two years, expire, through a total contraction of all the joints.

In this horrid mansion I walked after my guide for some time, pondering on the strange tyranny and avarice of mankind, when I was accosted by a voice behind me, calling me by name, and inquiring after my health with the most cordial affection. I turned, and saw a creature all black and hideous, who approached me, and, with a piteous accent, said, "Ah!

Everard, do you not know me?" What was my surprise when, through the veil of this wretchedness, I discovered the features of a dear old friend. I flew to him with affection, and, after a tear of condolence, asked him how he came there. To this he replied that, having fought a duel with an officer of the Austrian Infantry, against the Emperor's command, and having left him for dead, he was obliged to flee into the forests of Istria, where he was first taken, and afterwards sheltered by some banditti, who had long infested that quarter. With these he lived nine months, till, by a close invest.i.ture of the place in which they were concealed, and after a very obstinate resistance, in which the greater part of them were killed, he was taken, and carried to Vienna, in order to be broken alive upon the wheel. However, upon arriving at the capital, he was quickly known, and several of the a.s.sociates of his accusation and danger witnessing his innocence, his punishment of the rack was changed into that of perpetual banishment and labour in the mines of Idria.

As my old friend was giving me this account, a young woman came up to him who at once I perceived to be born for a better fortune. The dreadful situation of this place was not able to destroy her beauty; and, even in this scene of wretchedness, she seemed to have charms sufficient to grace the most brilliant a.s.sembly. This lady was, in fact, daughter to one of the first families in Germany; and having tried every means to procure her husband's pardon without effect, was at last resolved to share his miseries, as she could not relieve them. She accordingly descended with him into these mansions, whence few of the living return, despising the splendour of opulence, and contented with the consciousness of her own constancy.

I was afterwards spectator of the most affecting scene I ever beheld. In the course of some days after my visiting the gloomy mansion I have represented to you, a person came post from Vienna to the Idrian bottom, who was followed by a second, and he by a third. The first inquiry was after my unfortunate friend, and I, happening to overhear the demand, gave them the first intelligence. Two of these were the brother and cousin of the lady; the third was an intimate acquaintance and fellow-soldier of my friend. They came with his pardon, which had been procured by the general with whom the duel had been fought, and who was perfectly cured of his wounds. I led him, with all the expedition of joy, down to this dreary abode, presented to him his friends, and informed him of the happy change of his circ.u.mstances. It would be impossible to describe the joy that brightened upon his grief-worn countenance, nor were the young lady's emotions less vivid at seeing her friends, and hearing of her husband's liberty.

Some hours were employed in mending the appearance of this faithful couple; nor could I, without a tear, behold my friend taking leave of the former wretched companions of his toil. To one he left his mattock, to another his working clothes, and to a third such utensils as were necessary for him in that situation. We soon emerged from the mine, where he once again revisited the light of the sun, that he had totally despaired of ever seeing again. A post-chaise and four were ready the next morning to take them to Vienna, where, I am since informed by a letter from himself, they are returned. The Emperor has again taken him into favour, his fortune and rank are restored, and he and his fair partner have now the pleasing satisfaction of feeling happiness with double relish, as they once knew what it was to be miserable.--_Selected._

["What a happy deliverance!" say you. Ah! but it is only a faint emblem of that deliverance which Jesus wrought. These people were delivered from sufferings which would only have been for a short time, but Jesus died to deliver His people from the wrath to come--the fire that shall not be quenched.

Reader, have you been brought to Him? Can you say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me"? or are you without hope of eternal life? Oh, that you may seek to win Christ, and be found in Him!--ED.]

ANSWER TO BIBLE ENIGMA.

(_Page 66._)

"_Thy will be done._"--MATTHEW xxvi. 42.

T imaeus Mark x. 46.

H arp Genesis iv. 21.

Y ear Leviticus xxv. 4.

W hale Job vii. 12.

I nfidel 2 Corinthians vi. 15.

L atin Luke xxiii. 38.

L aban Genesis xxix. 10.

B ehemoth Job xl. 15.

E phraim Genesis xli. 52.

D og Exodus xi. 7.

O nyx Genesis ii. 12.

N oon Solomon's Song i. 7.

E pistle 2 Corinthians iii. 1.

HARRY FREDERICK FORFEITT (Aged 10 years).

_Thong, near Gravesend._

AN ENCOURAGING SUNDAY SCHOOL GATHERING.

The twelfth annual meeting of the Sunday School, Devons.h.i.+re Road Chapel, Greenwich, was held on February 8th. The singing of a hymn was followed by the reading of Psalm xix. by Mr. Boorne, the Pastor, and prayer by Mr. Joseph Whittome.

Mr. Boorne, in his remarks, referred to Pharaoh's desire to keep the children in Egypt, even if the G.o.d of Israel compelled him to let their parents go. But they also had to come out from bondage.

He said a phrase was sometimes used to hinder the planting of Sunday Schools, namely, "that they are often only a nursery for the Church."

His opinion was, that a Sunday School might be put to a much worse use.

He thought it a good and desirable thing when it was so; and scholars taught of G.o.d, as well as by their teachers, pa.s.sed from the Sunday School into the Church.

The Secretary and Acting-Superintendent, Mr. Samuel Boorne, then read the report. He noted four encouraging facts. The increase of numbers--twenty new scholars, making 140 in all. That the infant cla.s.s, the _feeder_ of the school, was increasing. The manifest interest taken in their school by many of the scholars, for, though it was twelve years old, some of the original scholars were still connected with the Bible Cla.s.ses. Her Majesty's Jubilee year was commemorated by the gift to each child of an ornamental card, on which was printed the Coronation Oath, taken by Her Majesty on her accession, to preserve the Protestant liberties of her country. It was put into a gilt frame, and was much appreciated by the scholars. The collecting cards for the Aged Pilgrims'

Friend Society, issued this year _by request_, and always a voluntary effort on the part of the children, resulted in 6 10s.

Mr. Marshall, of Clifton, then interested many by his pleasant and solemn remarks. The _possibilities_ for the future represented by such a gathering of boys and girls formed a fitting theme. He hoped there were none present who would be the means of breaking their parents' hearts. A page from the life of a youth who really did do it, and who traced the beginning of his evil doings to _drink_, was pointed and solemn, Mr.

Marshall saying it was his conviction that children should never be allowed to acquire a taste for so dangerous a luxury. He said he was a total abstainer himself, and did not think--and probably the audience agreed with him--he looked any the worse for it.

His concluding words will be remembered. After fifty years' experience of the love and ways of G.o.d, he testified to young and old that there was no happiness in anything but the knowledge of G.o.d in Christ. It surpa.s.ses and eclipses all. "He will do everything for those who are His."

He then addressed a few words to the teachers, advising them to stick to the Word of G.o.d. The Holy Spirit was able to teach even children. He once baptized a girl of fourteen, of whom he could say he _knew_ she was a vessel of mercy; and why should he keep her out of the privileges of the Lord's people? He would not hesitate to baptize a child of ten if he or she gave sufficient evidence that they knew something of their own sinfulness, and something of the Lord Jesus. "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"

Mr. Wilmshurst then began his address by reminding his young friends of the many happy Sundays they had spent together. What pleasant gatherings they were! He had not forgotten them, if they had. But now he wished to speak of a most _remarkable_ gathering of people. He referred to the four hundred men who gathered to David in the cave Adullam (1 Sam.

xxii. 1, 2). The remarkable points were these:--

First, they were all remarkably _poor_--"in debt"--and bankrupts in those days were liable to be taken for bondmen, or slaves (see 2 Kings iv. 1). We are all in debt to G.o.d, and have "nothing to pay." We add to it hourly, and unless the heavy debt is paid by us (which is _impossible_), or by Another, we shall be shut up for ever in prison with Satan and his angels.

Secondly, these men were remarkably _discontented_--discontented with Saul, the reigning king, his service, and his rewards; and they came to David, an uncrowned king, with no apparent advantage to offer them. True type of those who, like Moses in a similar case, have "_chosen_ rather to suffer affliction with the people of G.o.d, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."

Thirdly, they were in remarkable _distress_. So are all those who come to King Jesus--a distress which others cannot understand, and often cannot account for. "What must I do to be saved?" is a strange trouble to many.