"Church of G.o.d," was their answer.
"Good; so do I. Have you brought your letters?"
"No."
"But do you really belong to the "Church of G.o.d"?" said one. "Well, I _am_ glad to think we should find a "Church of G.o.d" minister way up here!"
This she said addressing the other women.
"Oh, well," said one, "he means that every church is a church of G.o.d!"
"Oh!" was the answer, with a shade of disappointment on her face.
"Well, well," I said, "is not that true?"
"Y-a-as; but it is not like ourn."
"What do you believe different from me?"
"Well, we believe in feet-washing for one thing, and in immersion."
"Oh, well, I think Christians should wash their feet too."
"Now, Elder, that ain"t right to be making fun of Scripter; for Christ told his disciples to wash one another"s feet, and said, "Happy are ye if ye do these things.""
I explained what I thought was the meaning of the lesson, but she shook her head.
I said, "Are you happy?"
"Not very. I feel lonesome here."
"But is not Christ here too?"
"Oh, yes; but it is not home."
"Well, I am glad you belong to Christ, and hope you will unite with us in fighting the common foe. Will you come to church, and bring the children to our Sabbath-school?"
"Well, we shall do that."
As I was leaving one of them said, "There is a new-comer across the street. She belongs to some church _outside_." By "outside" she meant the old, settled parts. "You better call on her."
I did so, and said that I was the home missionary. I asked her how she liked her new home?
"Not much. It is a dreadfully wicked place."
"Yes, that is true; and I hope you will lend a hand in the good work.
You are a Christian, I believe?"
"Yes; but I don"t belong to your church."
"What church are you now a member of?"
"Well, there is only one of my kind in the State that I know of."
"You must feel lonesome at times; but in what do you differ from us?"
"Well, we believe in being immersed three times in succession, face downwards. I intend doing what I can."
After giving her a cordial invitation to attend the church, I left the good woman, saying I hoped I could depend on her being at church. But, alas! trade became so brisk that the good sister had to work Sundays.
She felt very sorry, she said, but it did seem as if it was impossible to live a Christian life in such a wicked place; and she had concluded not to give her letter to the church until she could get into a better community, where she would not have to work Sundays. I told her I was surprised that one who had been so thoroughly cleansed should have fallen away so quickly.
"Yes; but it is such a wicked place."
"I know; but you have only to be just a small Christian here to pa.s.s for a first-cla.s.s saint!"
She smiled sadly, and said she guessed she would wait.
A man that must have a "New England element" to work in will feel depressed in such a field. But if, like Wesley, his field is the world, or, like Paul, he can say to the people, "called to be saints,"
then he can thrust in the sickle and begin harvesting. We must not only sow beside all waters, but reap too. Do not harvest the weeds and the darnel, nor reject the barley because it is not wheat. Often in the new settlements there are enough Christians to form the nucleus of one church; whereas, if we wait to have a church for each sect, it means waste of money and waste of men.
In one small town of less than three hundred people, where there were many denominations represented, the company that owned nearly all the land gave a lot and the lumber for a church. Most of the Christians united, and a minister was secured. Some, however, would not join with their brethren, but waited on the superintendent to get a lot for themselves. He said, "Yes, we will give you all a lot and help you build. Just as soon as this church becomes self-supporting we will give the next strongest a lot, and so on to the end."
This is level-headed Christian business. If we want to reap the harvest, we must "receive him that is weak in the faith." Hidden away in trunks are hundreds of church letters that should be coaxed out.
Faithful preaching, teaching, and visiting, will bring a glorious "Harvest Home." A goodly sight it is to see, under one roof, all these different branches of the Lord"s army worshipping the same Master, rejoicing in the same hope, and realizing in a small degree that there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, but that all are one in Christ Jesus.
x.x.x.
INJEANNY VS. HEAVEN.
The t.i.tle to this chapter bears about the same relation to its contents as the name of one sermon does to the other twenty in a given volume. I gave it this t.i.tle because it must have some heading; everything has a heading. Graves have headstones.
No greater variety of character exists on the frontier than elsewhere, but peculiar cases come to the surface oftener. Those women living in the woods, who belonged to the "Church of G.o.d," are good ill.u.s.trations. They had some peculiar ideas about the Scriptures, but it was much more refreshing to the missionary to find _peculiar_ views than none at all. I often introduced myself to them with a text of Scripture, and tried hard to induce them to move into the next village for their children"s sake. It was a much better place morally, although but a mile distant. But the influence of an organized church, with a good building and Sunday-school, made a greater difference than the distance would seem to warrant. One day, as I was pa.s.sing their home, I shouted out, "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" The next day I was off on my way to the other side of the State. As my journey well ill.u.s.trates the difficulties of travel in a new country, I will describe it.
At my first change of cars, I found that my train was delayed by a fire along the track, so that I could not make my next connection with a cross-country train. This troubled me, as it was Friday, and the young minister whom I was about to visit was doing manual work on his church building, and would probably be ill-prepared to preach himself.
I telegraphed him, and was just turning away when my eye caught sight of a map, and I noticed that the road I was on and the road he was on, although a hundred miles apart where I was then, gradually approached until within thirteen miles of each other, one hundred miles north. Remembering that a stage crossed at this point, I started on the late train, which, like a human being, seldom makes up for lost time, and was dropped into the pitch darkness about eleven P.M. The red lights of the train were soon lost in the black forest; I felt like Goldsmith"s last man.
Two or three little lights twinkled from some log cabins. A small boy, with a dilapidated mail-bag and a dirty lantern, stood near me. I asked him if there was a hotel in town.
He said, "Yep."
Would he guide me to it?
"Yep."