AN OLD CROYDON SCHOLAR.

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"Old Captain Linklater, the commander of the Harmony, the Moravian Mission ship, with tears in his eyes related to me many years after, some of the incidents of the voyage in which Isaac Sharp was his passenger en route for those lands of ice and snow, where his visits came as a streak of sunshine amongst those devoted messengers of peace and goodwill to men. The worthy old captain wound up his remarks by saying, 'If ever there was a man of God in this world, it was Isaac Sharp.'

"In Africa and elsewhere, the Moravian missionaries cherish lovingly the remembrance of his visits, and whenever I have met with companies of the Moravian brethren, which has frequently been the case, there have been numerous inquiries about him. His visit of two years

amongst our own members in the Australasian Colonies endeared him greatly to them. Entering, as he did, into sympathy with them in their various trials, their hearts were drawn out towards him as a messenger from the Lord; and lasting impressions for good have followed in the wake of this truly pastoral visit."

A resident of Molino, Florida, an old Croydon scholar, writes: "How well do I remember as a boy the visit of this good man to our schoolrooms and to the meetinghouse, the powerful preaching which we, as children, listened to with a feeling of awe from one whom we recognised as a great traveller in Iceland and the North of Europe. It had been long years since I had heard of Isaac Sharp, but I, with many others, dropped a tear after reading 'Last Days of Isaac Sharp, by B.G.,' in The Friend. The words of the apostle may well be repeated: 'I have fought a good fight; I have kept the faith.""

The testimony of Professor Magnusson, of Cambridge, to Isaac Sharp's character is of interest. "Isaac Sharp was, within my experience, the most perfect type of a true Christian. To me, who knew him for more than five and thirty years, his life never presented itself under any other aspect than that of saintliness. To begin with, he was a

74

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CHAPTER VII.

"I want, I want, I want the Christians to go all over the world, spreading the glad news." Almost the last words of Reginald Radcliffe."

IT

T was in 1877 Isaac Sharp started on his seven years' mission, his companions then being Theodore Harris and Langley Kitching.

"I pray it may be in all humility that I am sensible of being entrusted with a high commission," he wrote from South Africa, the country first visited. "The guiding hand of the Lord has surely brought us here. How great is the mercy of being able to tell of perfect health and strength!"

At Wellington, Isaac Sharp and his companions were be guests of Andrew Murray,* pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, whose name is now so widely known nd loved in England. A meeting for worship was held t Wellington on the evening of the arrival of the Friends. As it was thought that most present would understand nglish, no interpreter was provided. An elder of the hurch who was present said in Dutch, in reference to mself and two other elders: "We could not understand hat was spoken but we felt the power." Andrew Murray's mark was: "For six Sundays past I have been preaching my congregation on the power of the Holy Spirit and s teaching, having felt my mind drawn to do so."

Isaac Sharp was interested in Andrew Murray's earnest orts for the religious education of the young residents in

Author of " Abide in Christ," "The Spirit of Christ," " With Christ in the School of r." etc., etc. Jas. Nisbet and Co.

Nature's gentleman of as perfect a type as ever could be met with. In his heart I never could trace the least element of bitterness. He abominated evil, but he did it from an overflowing love for good, from a deep sense of sorrow at seeing the ideal of good disfigured or mutilated. His heart was as generous as his character; his moral constitution was noble. In his whole personality there was nothing but what was lovable and attractive, nothing but what ennobled by contact. With a son's devotion,

I clung to this noblest of Christ's knights from the day we first met until the end, and in memory I continue to do so still."

In 1869 Isaac Sharp acted as companion to James Owen, an American minister, in his religious service in Norway. Three years later he visited the meetings of Friends in the south and south-west of England. In 1873 he was again engaged in religious service in Norway. Here he was taken dangerously ill in December, and it was not until the following April that he could be carried in an ambulance to the water's edge for embarkation. He passed over the North Sea when it was calm, not a common occurrence in spring, as, with his thankful spirit, he did not fail to note. He was nursed in the house of his brother-in-law, John Dunning. His physician and friends had but little hope of his rallying, but he saw wide fields of service before him. William Jones, to whom he was closely united in the bonds of Christian fellowship, and who was for some years his neighbour and partner in business at Middlesbrough-on-Tees, thus writes :

"Sunderland, 29th October, 1897.

"Our houses being situated near each other facilitated much social, friendly intercourse, so that our relations were those of most intimate friends. I well remember his return in 1874 from a religious visit to Norway in a very suffering condition. On several occasions I found him

A VISION OF THE FUTURE.

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prostrated by pain and want of sleep, the result in part, no doubt, of the actual cautery which had been applied to his back. Though very weak in body, he was strong in faith. No murmur ever escaped his lips, but in his own bright and cheerful manner he would say: 'There can be no doubt about my being in my right place here,' meaning in bed at his own home, which was then at the house of his brother and sister Dunning. Fearing that he was growing weaker under his protracted sufferings, I one day spoke sympathizingly to him, gently intimating that it might be the will of his heavenly Father to take him from his bed of sickness to Himself. The reply he gave me, after a pause of some length, was uttered in brief sentences with impressive intervals between. After the lapse of so many years I cannot pretend to give his very words, but having regard to his extremely prostrate condition, the spirit of his communication was so deeply impressive, that I cannot, as long as memory lasts, fail to remember the essence and substance of it.

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་ ་ 0 my dear friend,' he said, 'my Lord has shown me whilst I have been laid on this bed of sickness, that He has yet much work for me to do, and that I shall be raised up to do it. He has shown me clearly a prospect of service at Cape Colony, including visits to the mission stations in the far interior. Thence to our Friends' Missions in Madagascar. After this, extensive service awaits me in each of our Australian Colonies and in New Zealand. I have further seen that the mighty Pacific Ocean must be crossed, and that I am to enter the United States of America by the 'Golden Gate' of San Francisco. The work before me there includes not only the meetings of Friends, but also the various missions among native Indians, the Negro population, and the far-off missions in Mexico.'

"It is now matter of history that Isaac Sharp was raised up in renewed health and vigour to circumnavigate the globe in the accomplishment of the service which he foresaw on his sick bed.