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CHAPTER XVII.

"It would seem to me that our Lord really did value social opportunities as such; that it was more congenial to Him to mix with men than to avoid them; and that He found His opportunities for the higher service to mankind naturally—so to speak —as He went along. . . . Must we not feel that it is right to aim at being as universal as our Master, both in our sympathies and our hopes? Length and breadth,' as well as 'height and depth,' belong to the love which passeth knowledge, and is it not of the most thoughtful of poets has said,

true that, as one

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If Hope prostrate lie,

Love, too, will sink and die.'"

M.L.C.

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N the 3rd of June, 1893, Isaac Sharp reached Chicago, where his Gospel services were peculiarly acceptable and satisfactory. He says in his diary: "The well-known words of George Fox were very present with me, 'We are nothing, Christ is all,' and yet to a large extent it is equally true that our lives are what we make them, and our meetings too. Charles Lamb said a Friends' meeting was 'like a flock of sheep, many feeding as one.'

Cast

thy burden upon the Lord: the burden of sin, of sorrow, of bereavement, or any other. Pray without ceasing, not always repeating words of prayer, but living in the spirit of prayer. The sparrow taught me a lesson long ago, not always on the wing, but ever ready to mount upwards, just as the need might be.

"John T. Dorland spoke instructively, emphasising the four words, 'He careth for you.' C.F.C. remarked on the

ministry of the present day, that, in not a few instances, there is more of the intellectual and less of the earlier old Gospel prophecy."

When a second visit was paid to Chicago, a Friend of that city wrote: "We feel that there can be no question as to Isaac Sharp's call to the work in which he is now engaged, and as to the power of the Holy Spirit accompanying him."

To a nephew, Isaac Sharp writes: "New England Yearly Meeting closed on the 14th, in joint session, sealed with a solemn and comforting evidence of the presence of the Lord, that overshadowing which may be realised with thanksgiving, but which words may fail to utter. The pastoral question came up at one of the meetings. A great diversity of sentiment was manifest and freely uttered, but love covered all. On this very important subject, New England Yearly Meeting may be considered as wisely conservative."

After a Friend who was present had alluded to a narrow escape from serious accident, Isaac Sharp quoted the text, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." He added: "I believe our dear brother is a witness of this deliverance. I have said in many lands and among many people, that

'They who mark the hand of Providence,

Shall never want a Providence to mark.'

Nevertheless, we are all children of Adam, and liable as others to the various ills pertaining to our common lot, but the Lord is able to interpose and send His angel."

At the meeting on ministry and oversight, an hour or two was spent over Isaac Sharp's certificates for religious service-his "parchments" he often called them.

He tells a nephew that "cordial welcome all round, prayer and praise with testimony and thanksgiving followed in continuous flow," and adds: "This morning the 1890 certificate was read, and followed by another outpouring.

NEW BEDFORD PRISON.

247

It was dealt with as an object lesson. I felt humbled under it to tears."

In the journal he writes: "In the Yearly Meeting the pastoral system came forward. I remarked: 'I have not much to say, but my heart is full. The subject is much before Friends in England with deep concern. The authority and government of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are involved. If the pastor take charge of the congregation, others are practically shut out. I have seen and own the blessing in pastoral work; so I can and do give the right hand of fellowship to the Salvation Army, but I am not prepared to adopt their lines of action.'”

He was at New Bedford on the "flower day" for the prisoners, and had an opportunity of addressing them. He spoke of how chains and fetters of sin are more deadly than prison bonds of deliverance for all who feel their need and flee to the loving Saviour. He told them that long ago he had tried wine, spirits, and tobacco, but gave them all up, once and for ever, and at the age of eightyseven was there to tell the tale.

Early in July we find him at Toronto, after attending Canada Yearly Meeting, almost too heavily burdened with "overdue and hugely increasing correspondence," but rejoicing that he can once more go up and down stairs without difficulty.

In a letter to a nephew, after reference to some of his relatives, he says: "Katherine Backhouse (of the bygone) once said to me, I sometimes feel as if we might be made up of sympathy.' I realise how strong are the claims for it all."

In reference to one of the meetings he had attended since leaving California, he remarks: "The pastor was away, so there was conscious sense of more liberty. There is a mighty difference between a pastor in a meeting and the pastor over a meeting."

Much service lay before him in Canada. On the 27th of July, he says in a letter to his daughter: "Yesterday

was one of my memorial days: 26th of Seventh Month, 1842, thy dear mother gently passed away at the 'Lowlights.' Her face was radiant in expression as she gently breathed her life away; it might, in remembrance, be fitly likened to the heavenly mould.”

As we turn over the pages of the diary in its least eventful records, the thought arises whether there may not have been as much service accomplished for the Master, whose will was so dear to him, in private as in public, and by influence unconsciously exerted, as by definite effort to help others. His heartfelt interest in the young and in the old, his sympathy with the sick and the sorrowful and the bereaved, must have opened the door of many hearts to heavenly messages.

In the outline account of the Yearly Meeting at Wilmington, Ohio, he says: "My parchments were read, and a minute of record was entered on the books. The Clerk read it. Then came a new departure, new at least to me. The Clerk said those who wished to unite with the minute and to welcome our aged Friend' might now do so, whereupon the whole Yearly Meeting rose to their feet simultaneously. There was a touch of the overwhelming in it, but no room to call in question the genuine character of welcome to which age no doubt largely contributed."

Again, in reference to Ohio Yearly Meeting, he says: "My parchments were read, and many warm welcomes followed. My presence was regarded as an incentive to work in the harvest field. I ventured to say that I had long felt that the trial of faith and patience through which I had passed was not for myself alone. One Friend remarked: 'My being here to-day I owe to thee. When I saw what thou art doing at thy time of life, I took fresh courage and came hither.'"

Isaac Sharp's diaries contain a large variety of matter. One entry records the following confession in reference to duty left undone : "Several Friends, on C. W.'s invitation, called in. The interview was a pleasant one, but sadly

ANDREW MURRAY ON FAILURE.

249

marred by a want of watchfulness on my part. Prayer should have been offered. I have felt this deeply, and am sorry for it. The Lord, of His tender compassion, has passed His pardoning love upon it.'"

Do we not see here that he could endure no earth-born cloud to rest between him and his Lord; that there had been the prompt and honest confession of failure, and the trustful laying hold of the promised forgiveness? How well does Andrew Murray say, “What did Peter do? The very opposite of what most do. What did he do when he began to sink? That very moment, without one word of self reproach or self condemnation, he cried, 'Lord, help me!' I remember the time in my spiritual life when that became clear to me, for up to that time when I failed, my only thought was to reproach and condemn myself, and I thought that would do me good. I found it did not; and I learn from Peter that my work is the very moment I fail, to say, 'Jesus, Master, help me!' And the very moment I say that, Jesus does help me. The Living Jesus is near, so gracious and so mighty."

Isaac Sharp writes at another time in reference to an agnostic who said he was very happy: "Alas! alas! ‘If the light that be in you be darkness how great is that darkness.' 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man.' I feel deeply there will yet be a tremendous awakening; the Lord of His mercy grant with quickening power that it be on this side the grave. Oh, it is sad, very sad, deeply sad."

In reference to one of the meetings, he writes: “The singing as heard from the street was on the vehement side. I walked in and sat down, and soon after, prayer was offered, but the responses here and there competed with the voice of the suppliant. I waited awhile and then embraced an opening, rising with the words, I will be as the dew unto Israel'; although these words were for the chosen people of the Lord we may have our share in the refreshing of the heavenly

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