tihtavy of trhe Ch^ological ^eminarji' 
 
 PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Dr. Earl A. Pope 
 
 Manson Professor of Bible 
 
 Lafayette College 
 
 The Earl A. Pope Collection 
 
 rSX 4827 .B62 B62 1887 
 Boardman, William Edwin, 
 iLife and labours of the Rev 
 W. E. Boardman 
 
■<y 
 
 Z '^-<-c ^ . T 
 
 o^ 
 
LIFE AND LABOURS 
 
 REV. W. E. BOARDMAN 
 
LIFE AND LABOURS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Rev. W. E. BOARDMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. BOARDMAN 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY THE 
 
 REV. MARK GUY PEARSE 
 
 Christ in you the hope of glory."— G;/. 
 
 •i^R^ OF PR!/VCf7g;j 
 SEP 6 2000 , 
 
 S^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1887 
 
PREFACE 
 
 MRS. BOARDMAN has asked me to write a few 
 words as preface to the very interesting story 
 of Mr. Boardman's life and work. My own indebted- 
 ness to his influence and teaching makes it impossible 
 for me to do other than readily accede to such a 
 request, conscious though I certainly am that I can 
 add nothing to the story told so well within these 
 pages. 
 
 Of all the signs of our times there is certainly none 
 more marked, and in every way more full of promise, 
 than the fact that the great doctrine of Holiness unto 
 the Lord should have come to hold so prominent a 
 place in the religious teaching of the day. Whatever 
 slight differences of opinion there may be on this 
 subject, yet surely it cannot but be a matter of great 
 thankfulness that the Churches of the land have been 
 so generally stirred to earnest enquiry about our fuller 
 privileges in Christ Jesus. The despised doctrine of 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 the early Methodists has become the glorious heritage 
 of all denominations. 
 
 In connection with this great work, there is no man 
 whose influence has been more deeply and widely felt 
 than the subject of these memoirs. For more than 
 forty years his life was at once a constant advocacy 
 and a beautiful illustration of entire consecration to God, 
 amidst circumstances more varied and thrilling than it 
 is given to many men to know. Amongst all classes 
 he triumphantly tested the glorious truth of a full salva- 
 tion by faith in Jesus Christ — now amidst the rough 
 miners and settlers of Snake Hollow, "so called from 
 the fact that a colony of rattle snakes had taken 
 possession of a cavern at the head of a ravine ; " — 
 and then amidst the tutors and students of the Lane 
 Seminary, and later at orthodox *' Old Yale \ " — again, as 
 the travelling organizer of Sunday Schools amongst the 
 scattered settlers of the far west ; — then further west still, 
 in California, with its strange population of Spaniards, 
 Indians, gambling Saxons, and Chinese ; — then rendering 
 splendid service amongst the wounded soldiers of the 
 Civil War, as Secretary of the Christian Commission ; — 
 later in England and Sweden ; — and, in the last years of 
 his life, amidst the quiet and hallowed services of 
 Highbury Place, Such a life could not fail to be 
 brimful of stirring incident. How these opportunities 
 were turned to account can never be fully told on earth, — • 
 that record is on hi^rh. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Mr. Boardman's temperament had come to be one 
 peculiarly fitted for the advocacy of this great truth — intense 
 and ardent, yet with a calmness and simplicity that seemed 
 never to be ruffled ; the spirit of a little child enabled him 
 at once to make the doctrine of this blessed hfe clear to the. 
 understanding, and yet within the reach of those who 
 thought they could never attain to that which was high. 
 His exposition of scripture was rich and beauiiful ; yet made 
 homely and real, a thing for rough wear and common daily 
 use, by the illustrations drawn from life. His varied expe- 
 rience gave him the opportunity of testing the truth in all 
 sorts and conditions of men, and showed him thus its many- 
 sidedness. His very appearance gave his words an authority ; 
 one saw at a glance and felt something of the peace and 
 light that filled his soul. His book on " The Higher Chris- 
 tian Life " was perhaps the first popular treatise on this 
 subject that won its way amongst all denominations ; and its 
 vast circulation, both in America and England, not only 
 melted the prejudices of hosts against this subject, but made 
 it possible for other writers to follow in the paths which he 
 had opened, and led multitudes of timid souls out of the 
 misty dawn into the clear shining of the sun. 
 
 Even where the doctrine of holiness was received, it 
 had come to be thought of as an experience only fitted 
 for the very courageous and skilful amongst Christians ; 
 for those hardy mountaineers in religion, who were at 
 once very ambitious, very resolute, and very daring, — but 
 for common pilgrims there was nothing but the low and 
 
viii PREFACE, 
 
 dusty ways in which they were going as others went. 
 Bright and glorious stood out memorials of this grace, 
 yet they seemed dazzling in their splendour, a sun in 
 the highest heavens. 
 
 Mr. Boardman's words set this great grace forth as present 
 and within reach — an experience for common people 
 and for common circumstances ; a life, not an act ; a 
 fulness of blessing waiting for every believer in Jesus, 
 and to be found not as the result of agonizing struggles, 
 not to be purchased by costly sacrifices, but to be 
 received and retained like forgiveness, by simple faith 
 in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 With thousands of others we would join in thanking 
 God for the blessed word of His honoured servant ; 
 and earnestly pray that this record may carry like bless- 
 ing to thousands more. 
 
 M. G. P. 
 
 Bristol, 
 
 September ^ 1886, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Chile^hood — Conversion — A Sceptic Saved - - i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Marriage ---24 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 LIoviNG Farther On - 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Blessed Results of Abiding in Christ - - 59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Higher Life Evangelism in a School of the 
 
 Prophets 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 Life in Greenfield .-_-__ 3i 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Organizing Sunday Schools — A Higher Christian 
 
 Life -_------_96 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Life in California ---__. io6 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 As Secretary of the Christian Commission - 1^7 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 First Visit to Europe — Further Authorship — 
 
 Holiness Conventions - - - - - 131 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A Further Step in Faith - - _ - . 142 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Third Trip to Europe — Conferences in England 155 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Visit to Scotland and Return to America - 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Return to England — Work in Sweden - - 181 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Further Work in Sweden — Letters - - - 206 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 A New Departure - - - - - - -221 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 The Last Days _-_»__- 239 
 
CHAPTER L 
 
 CHILDHOOD—CONVERSION — A SCEPTIC SAVED, 
 
 *' Wherever there is a soul, there is a paradise lost or a oaradise 
 regained." 
 
 ILLIAM EDWIN BOARDMAN was the 
 second son of Isaac and Eliza Boardman. 
 He was born in Smithfield, New York, on 
 October nth, 1810, and was one of four 
 sons. 
 
 To this family of boys a daughter was added, who 
 became the joy of her parents, and the pet of her brothers. 
 She was the special charge of her second brother William, 
 and it was one of the greatest delights of his boyhood to 
 take his little sister out with him in a small rustic chariot 
 of his own construction. She used to accompany him in 
 his nutting and fishing excursions, and was evidently as 
 happy as a bird, regarding herself as a little queen, quite 
 worthy of all this homage and devotion from her fond 
 brother. And when she grew up, although sometimes 
 they were separated for years, yet the most tender affection 
 ever subsisted between them. 
 
 In the year 1868, when in New York city, it was Mr. 
 Boardman's privilege to be instrumental in the recovery of 
 
CHILDHOOD. 
 
 this dearly-loved sister. She was very ill, too ill to eat, and 
 her life was fast ebbing away, when her brother William 
 succeeded in inducing her to take a little food prepared 
 by his own hands, and administered with such skill and 
 tender love as was quite irresistible. It was a turning 
 point : from this moment she began to revive, and was 
 eventually restored, after her friends had given up all hope 
 of her recovery. 
 
 But we must not anticipate. When William was about 
 twelve years old, a new era commenced in his life. Up to 
 this time, he had been a slow, plodding boy, taking but 
 little interest in any kind of study. But now he fell into 
 the hands of a skilful teacher, who aroused all his latent 
 energies, and stirred him up to earnest work. Often did he 
 refer to this period of his youth, as having been a time of the 
 utmost importance ; influencing the whole future course 
 of his life, by leading him to delight in mental application. 
 And it was a very simple way that his teacher took to 
 arouse him. He pointed to an uncultivated field covered 
 with stumps of trees, logs lying about, and tangled heaps of 
 brushwood scattered over it. " You see that waste ground, 
 how unsightly it is ? That is just like an uncultivated mind ; 
 yet nature has provided all the material for making it like 
 yonder fertile field. Look at the difference," he continued, 
 pointing to a cultivated spot, *' you see how richly it pro- 
 duces, and how much can be obtained from it, besides 
 being so very pleasant to the eye ? Now the choice lies 
 with yourself which you will resemble ; which do you prefer? 
 You have plenty of natural ability ; shall your mind lie 
 waste like that uncultivated field, or will you bend your 
 whole will to consent to the cultivation of your intellect ? 
 I am willing, my lad, to do my part, and help you on, but 
 I cannot force your will to choose aright." 
 
CHILDHOOD, 3 
 
 It did not take long to decide, and from that hour young 
 William set to work, and soon found that the very things 
 which had been irksome to him became a delight. Nothing 
 was now so pleasant as study, and it soon became as 
 natural to him to master completely any subject he under- 
 took, as it had been before to be indolent and careless over 
 his lessons. The next episode of his life was the most 
 important, and happily, he has left an account of the steps 
 by which God led him to turn from darkness to light, and 
 from the power of Satan unto God. This we give in his 
 own words : — 
 
 ** With the blood of a Christian ancestry, I inherited also 
 a traditional Christian faith ; and yet my early years passed 
 without much religious instruction. My father and mother, 
 though traditional believers, were somewhat slow to follow 
 the ancestral example of entering early the gate of life ; in 
 fact, they remained unconverted until after some of their 
 own children led the way. 
 
 *' It was a country place where we lived, and without a 
 church. Certain zealous ministers came once a month, and 
 held service in our little school-house ; and I remember 
 going once a year to visit at a village not far away, where 
 my mother's mother dwelt in a cottage by herself, near her 
 eldest son ; and there attending church from time to time in 
 a larger room of the village academy. But of all these 
 services not a vestige remains in my memory except the 
 general fact, and some quaint peculiarities of the ministers 
 themselves. Well may I remember those of the village 
 pastor. Sitting one day with four or five other boys on a 
 form directly in front of the desk, we were struck by the 
 inevitable disjunctive, conjunctive phrase, ' And but again,' 
 with which he cut off, by sledge-hammer blows, and welded 
 again with fervent heat, the chain of his fiery logic ; and 
 
CHILDHOOD, 
 
 every time the preacher in thunder-tones used these words, 
 we, in a tittering whisper, passed them round amongst 
 ourselves. My grandmother saw this, and when the door 
 of her cottage closed upon herself and me, shutting us in, 
 and shutting out all the world beside, she impressed the 
 matter by a stinging birch lecture that, for once, made a 
 smart lad of me, and left a tingle in my memory which has 
 remained even until now. 
 
 " Another scarcely less impressive lecture was afterwards 
 drawn down upon me in connection with one of our school- 
 house services at home. One beautiful, summer Sunday 
 morning, — and oh, how exquisite the summer mornings 
 were in the bright climate amongst my native hills, — I 
 obtained a somewhat reluctantly-given permission from my 
 father to bathe in our sweet, crystal Susquehanna river, as 
 a preparation for the clean Sunday suit and the sacred 
 service. The deliciously cool waters, and the marvellous 
 sport of swimming and diving with a merry company of 
 fellow-bathers, enticed us to remain longer than we ought 
 to have done before coming out of the water ; and then, 
 when out, the warming exercise of running and leaping 
 soon brought a heat and perspiration which excused and 
 induced a second bath, followed by exercise again, and this 
 by still another bath, and so the time wore away, and the 
 hour of service went by. 
 
 " My father was a kind man, and seldom found it necessary 
 to use the rod ; yet he had the wisdom to * command his 
 children after him,' and loved them too well to spare them 
 when the alternative was that they must temporarily smart 
 or be permanently spoiled. It was with more pain to him- 
 self, I am sure, than to me, that on this occasion he laid 
 upon my back the weight of my offending ; and probably 
 I remember it all the more vividly, because it was so seldom 
 
CHILDHOOD, 
 
 that my dues were received in this coin. Nevertheless, 
 even my own sense of justice, though it heartily approved 
 the faithfulness of my father in this instance, as it had done 
 that of my grandmother in the other, could not increase 
 very much my love for religious services, costing me, as 
 they had, two of the very few experiences I had had in all 
 my life of a striped jacket. 
 
 ** MY GREAT PERIL. 
 
 "T^e one incident of my boyhood, however, which I 
 remember as having a powerful bearing upon my character 
 and destiny as a responsible, immortal being, was that of, — 
 what shall I call it? — a spurious conversion, shall I say? 
 Hardly that ; but no matter, I will describe it. Oh, how 
 much reason have I to bear in mind every feature of it ! 
 Many and many a time have I turned it over, and weighed 
 it from that day to this ; and at every turn, for years, I drew 
 from it something to smooth my way into a trap set for me 
 by the arch enemy, which, but for the grace of God, had 
 proved my eternal ruin. 
 
 " I have been in many perils first and last — perils by 
 land and water, in war and peace, in sickness and by vio- 
 lence, from carelessness and from malice, by temptation 
 and perversion, but never in any so great as that of 
 scepticism. Thanks be to God for the boundless grace 
 which wrought by wonderful counsel and excellent working 
 for my deliverance. 
 
 *'my false step, and how it was taken. 
 
 ** The incident happened when I was about thirteen years 
 old. A beloved schoolmate, somewhat older than myself, 
 whilst away from home, became a very joyous Christian 
 convert, and returned to relate the story of his happiness 
 
CHILDHOOD. 
 
 to all his schoolfellows and friends. One after another gave 
 evidence that his experience had deeply impressed them. 
 The interest naturally grew and extended day by day, and 
 some time passed before any extravagant demonstration 
 appeared. At last, however, the excitement reached a 
 stage quite remarkable for such a secluded corner of the 
 world. Our school-house was the grand gathering-place 
 where we boys held meetings amongst- ourselves. The 
 leadership was in hands without experience. We lacked 
 the balance wheel of discretion for safe and steady working, 
 and our meetings were not conducted after the orderly 
 apostolic rule of speaking and praying one at a time. 
 How much more good might have been secured, and how 
 much less evil endured, if, with the fullest liberty in the 
 spirit, there had been the fullest wisdom in the process ! Who 
 can tell ? Some semblance of order was observed during 
 the first half-hour of our gatherings, but after that came a 
 general confusion, for, notice having been given by the 
 leader, a space was cleared in the centre of the room, into 
 which all who desired the prayers of Christians were urged, 
 both by public and personal appeal, and often by the 
 almost resistless grasp of eager hands. Those who were 
 to be prayed for were surrounded by a circle of those who 
 were to pray for them. When^ the ring was formed, the 
 verse of a hymn was sung : then all knelt down and began 
 to cry aloud, many voices at once — some for mercy, others 
 for the power of God ; one in mere ejaculations, another 
 in continuous supplications ; some in distress, others in 
 triumphant joy ; making altogether a Babel of noise quite 
 overpowering. By and by, one of those enclosed in the 
 circle would rise to his feet and shout, when all would 
 respond in loud Amens and Glory, Hallelujahs ; rise, as 
 if by simultaneous impulse, throw their arms over each 
 
CHILDHOOD. 7 
 
 Other's shoulders, strike up some lively chorus or familiar 
 hymn, and sing, swaying back and forth all together to the 
 time of their music. 
 
 " In one of these meetings, although I had not the first 
 ray of intelligent conviction of sin or need of salvation, I 
 allowed myself to be dragged into the circle by the kindly 
 violence of over-urgency and the warm grasp of a friendly 
 hand, and there, by the side of another lad, I knelt down. 
 Carried along by blind impulse, following his lead, I cried 
 in a loud voice for mercy ; then when, a few moments later, 
 he rose up and shouted, and everybody else followed suit, 
 I sprang up and shouted too. 
 
 " After this, just when I had begun to have some sense 
 of my false position, I felt the pressure of a strong hand 
 upon my shoulder, and looking up, I saw standing outside 
 of the circle a dear friend of my father's, with an expression 
 of painful sympathy for me on his face, and through all the 
 din, his whispered words reached my ear, saying, ' Come ; 
 Will, come with me ; your father wants you.' Stooping 
 down, I slid through and passed out of the ring, and left 
 the house with my father's friend, conscious that many eyes 
 were upon us. The truth flashed upon me in a moment 
 that I had played the fool. The power of sympathetic 
 impulse had been too strong for my weak judgment and 
 will, and I had been rushed into an utterly false position. 
 Oh, how painful were my reflections in that homeward 
 walk ! It was less than a mile, and yet it seemed a whole 
 day's journey. Still, it was all too quickly at an end. 
 
 " Very well I knew that the whole matter would be talked 
 over in every household of our little world — all the world to 
 me ; and that I should be reckoned, first among the 
 converts, and afterwards among the backsliders. ' Oh,' I 
 thought, *if I had only seen all this before. But alas I 
 
CHILDHOOD, 
 
 was blind, and led like a blind fool into this wretched 
 position ! And what shall I do ? What can I do ? Shall 
 I come out frankly with the truth ? That would be right 
 and noble, but then I shall stand self-confessed a fool. 
 Shall I keep aloof and say nothing ? Then I shall be set 
 down as a backslider, fickle, and unreliable. Or shall I 
 keep along as best I may, and quietly allow my zealous 
 friends to number me amongst themselves? That would 
 be to take upon myself the conscious stamp of hypocrisy, 
 which I never could do.' The quandary was a painful 
 one, and in my indecision I left the whole matter to right 
 itself as best it might, and suffered, in my reticence and 
 sensitiveness, untold agonies for many days. 
 
 *' Not all who came within the the circle of this excitement, 
 perhaps not even a majority of them, were urged blindly on 
 into any such false step as that taken by me. Some there 
 were who have given evidence by cheerful, steadfast devo- 
 tion to the cause of Christ, all their life long, and by 
 triumphant faith in the hour of death, that they were truly 
 converted to God. 
 
 " My own brother, two years my senior, took a decided 
 stand as a Christian during this excitement, and it was 
 through his subsequent testimony that the Lord was pleased 
 to deliver me at last from the great peril of my hfe. So in 
 the very time, place, and circumstances wherein I was 
 prepared for the snare that awaited me, my unknown 
 Guardian and Saviour prepared also the hand that should 
 break the snare and set me free. 
 
 *' MY FATAL COMPANIONSHIP AND FOOLISH 
 PHILOSOPHISINGS. 
 
 " Shortly after this period, my brother left home to enter 
 upon an apprenticeship, in a village not far away, as a 
 
CHILDHOOD. 
 
 merchant's clerk. Two years more I remained in school, 
 and then, following his example, entered upon a course of 
 training for a business-life in a town still more remote. 
 Here I fell into a most fascinating companionship with a 
 fellow-clerk who w^as much my superior in years. His 
 knowledge of literature was something marvellous to me. 
 The interest and delight he took in introducing me to his 
 favourite authors charmed and flattered me. Unhappily, 
 the books he admired the most were less elevated in morals 
 than in style, more elegant than chaste, but none the less 
 fascinating on that account ; and no thanks to them if the 
 foundations of virtue in my heart were not completely 
 swept away. Sometimes too they incidentally jostled my 
 hereditary veneration for the Bible, and shook it to its 
 base. Very soon a desire began to grow in my mind, in- 
 sensibly at first, to throw off the shackles of all belief in 
 religion, and to be able to follow my own inclinations, right 
 or wrong, without fear of future punishment. This wish 
 soon became father to the fact. The most serious obstacle 
 in the w^ay was my traditional belief in religious experience 
 as a supernatural work wrought in the hearts of men by the 
 Holy Spirit. The false step already described facilitated 
 the speedy removal of this difficulty. Had I not felt the 
 power of sympathetic impulse, in times of high excitement, 
 to make one do and say things absolutely groundless and 
 absurd? And for the rest, had not imagination force 
 enough to create all that was supposed to be supernatural ? 
 " How easy it would be, under the influence of zealots 
 like my schoolmates, and by means of the vivid pictures 
 drawn by them, for any one to think and feel himself a guilty 
 sinner in the hands of an angry God, and then what more 
 natural than that the lovely picture of a forgiving Saviour, 
 who counted His life not dear, but freely gave it up to save 
 
10 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 the sinner, should chase away the gloom and fear of hell by 
 the hope of heaven ? 
 
 " In this way, by the two-fold force of sympathetic im- 
 pulse and an excited imagination, I was able to account for 
 the phenomena of experimental religion entirely to my own 
 satisfaction, and to make the prevalent idea, that it is a super- 
 natural work, appear absurd and superstitious. As for the 
 Bible, that was easily set aside, and a specious philosophy 
 of the universe, essentially pantheistic, set me at ease 
 concerning any future state for man. I said to myself, 
 * There is no personal God hke the Jehovah of the Bible ; 
 the God of nature is Nature itself. All things are God, and 
 God is all things.' Crude and shallow as my theorisings 
 were, they were profound and beautiful to me ; all the 
 more so, too, because I had a parental fondness for them. 
 Although, no doubt, as old as the days of Cain and the 
 antediluvian children of his perverseness, they were new 
 and fresh to me, and as purely original as if they had not 
 already been elaborated in millions of perverted hearts 
 before. 
 
 " A REMARKABLE DRIVE — THE TURNING-POINT. 
 
 "Five years passed smoothly on, and every day my 
 sceptical delusions grew stronger, until I became entirely 
 confident that they never could be overthrown. Yet at 
 that very moment the leverage was ready which was des- 
 tined in an hour to overthrow all this work of years. How 
 little did I know what was prepared for me in the gracious 
 fore-cast of Him, whose very existence as a God of provi- 
 dence and grace I had theorised away ! 
 
 " Once a year my brother and I were wont together to 
 pay a visit hoj7ie, as we still delighted to call the old birth- 
 place, and a happy time it was to us. All the people 
 
CHILDHOOD, 11 
 
 greeted us with the warmest welcome, and all the game and 
 fish, nuts and fruits, seemed to await our coming and court 
 our presence, for whosoever's baskets and tables might be 
 empty of these things, ours were sure to be full. 
 
 *' Our fifth annual visit was made at a period full of in- 
 terest to us both. I was just out of my apprenticeship, and 
 had commenced a promising and prosperous business on my 
 own account, being now tvventy-one years of age, and my 
 brother was on the eve of beginning a like enterprise for 
 himself. Our plans and prospects afforded us, of course, 
 a great deal to talk about. Indeed, a thousand things 
 pressed for utterance on the one side and the other 
 as we journeyed homeward. Yet, full as were our 
 minds and hearts of other things, my theorisings were 
 too expansive to be held down. The fact, too, that 
 my brother had, seven years before, been a joyous Christian 
 convert, but had meanwhile, as I knew full well, ceased all 
 active participation in religious matters, and surrounded 
 himself with gay and worldly companions, made me very 
 anxious to sound him, and gain still further confirmation 
 for my sceptical position. I said to myself, ' Surely he has 
 come to my conclusion, that religion is all superstitious 
 nonsense, and no doubt he knows now that he was impelled 
 by sympathetic excitement, and deceived by the power of 
 his own imagination, stimulated by all he heard ; there- 
 fore all I shall have to do to draw out a full confession 
 of these facts, will be to tell him the conclusion I myself 
 have reached.' So I ventilated my views freely to him. 
 
 " All things favoured me. Our conveyance was a quiet, 
 easy-going chaise, which made no noise, and Ned, the 
 horse, though spirited, was wise and docile — a horse 
 to be trusted anywhere. And my brother Hstened 
 without a word of interruption, whilst I proceeded with 
 
12 CHILDHOOD. 
 
 the most perfect confidence of his approvaL Indeed, 
 I expected nothing else but a complacent appreciation of 
 my profound theory of the universe, and a complete assent 
 to my philosophy of the new birth. He listened in silence 
 till I had finished, and paused for an answer. Even then 
 he said nothing, until his silence made me feel so uncom- 
 fortable that I asked him plainly what he thought about the 
 matter j then, with a painful reluctance, he said in a low 
 voice, full of suppressed emotion, * Will, I hate to say any- 
 thing on this subject. My life, I know, has been such as to 
 destroy the weight of anything I could say, and I am only 
 afraid now, that you will think worse than ever of the truth 
 I have to tell you, because it is told you by one so far from 
 being what he ought to be. I would give anything in the 
 world at my command now rather than answer your ques- 
 tion, if I dared to let it go without reply ; but as you have 
 asked me, I feel bound by the interest I have in you as my 
 own brother to give you an honest and decided answer. Your 
 theories are very plausible, and might fully satisfy those who 
 do not know the truth, but I do know them to be untrue ; I 
 do know that conversion, real conversion, is not produced, 
 as you suppose, by the power of sympathy and imagination, 
 but must be the work of God.' Then, to confirm this, he 
 narrated his own experience, as it occurred seven years before. 
 *' His sincerity could not be doubted, for his testimony 
 was given, not with the zeal of a partisan, but with the 
 reluctance of a witness from whom it was forced against his 
 wishes. Then, too, he had been seven long years in cir- 
 cumstances which could not fail to tempt him, if possible, 
 to believe religion a delusion. He assured me that in my 
 theorisings about conversion I had failed to take into ac- 
 count the really important facts of the case. He said, 
 * Instead of being the product of my own imagination, it was 
 
CONVERSION. 13 
 
 at every step and in everything entirely different from my 
 previous imaginings. My conviction of sin was not what I 
 had imagined it would be. I thought a conviction of sin 
 would be a deep sense of the guilt of certain acts of my life 
 known to be wrong, and so I tried to make these known 
 sins as black as possible, but when the Holy Spirit really 
 convinced me of sin, I saw, to my amazement, that my 
 whole life had been one continuous rejection of Jesus, and 
 disregard of God. But my surprise was still greater 
 when conversion came. Seeing my whole Hfe to have 
 been wrong, I gave it up, and gave myself up to God. 
 Then my burden left me. I did not know that I was 
 converted, and was disheartened that I could not feel 
 miserable any %ore, and feared that, for lack of feehng 
 sorrowful, I should fail of repentance and never be con- 
 verted. This went on for two whole days, and when at 
 last, through the account given by another of the way in 
 which she had been brought to Christ, I saw that the 
 point of my submission to God had been the turning point 
 of my conversion, it was to me a very great surprise, because 
 it was all so entirely different from my previous imaginings. 
 Then came other surprises, one after the other, in the 
 revelations of God to my soul, filling me with His light and 
 love. His joy and peace, until my joy was so full that I 
 could contain no more.' 
 
 " By the time my brother had finished, my theories were 
 all gone. These facts poured upon them a flood which 
 swept away their sandy foundations till they fell, and great 
 to me was the fall thereof. 
 
 "a singular coincidence. 
 
 " It was a singular coincidence that this happened on the 
 road, just where, once before, my life had been saved 
 
14 CONVERSION. 
 
 almost as by a miracle. The mountain approaches the 
 river so very closely here that the roadway has had to be 
 cut out of the rock, forming what is known as *The 
 Narrows.' The cliff lifts its lofty head above, overhanging 
 the road, and on the other side a steep, rough, rocky 
 precipice descends to the water's edge. And just here, in 
 The Narrows, it had happened to me, while an infant in my 
 mother's arms, to be thrown over that very precipice. My 
 father, seated by my mother's side in a chaise like the one we 
 now were in, was driving along, when suddenly the chaise 
 was overturned, carrying with it horse and all, and we rolled 
 over and over to the bottom. Often and often have I heard 
 my father and mother express their wonder that we were not 
 all killed, still more, that we were not even badly injured. 
 The horse and chaise wxre soon righted up in travelling order. 
 Father escaped unharmed, mother was terribly frightened 
 and somewhat bruised, and I carry yet the tiny scar of a 
 wound inflicted by a broken shrub — a slight memento of a 
 wonderful deliverance. And now here again, on this same 
 spot, I had another and more V70nderful deliverance from a 
 peril ten thousand times greater than the first. The vain 
 chariot of scepticism in which I was gliding along towards 
 the pit in the most complacent security, was suddenly over- 
 turned, and rolled down, not to the water's edge alone, but 
 into the river, and there was swallowed up for ever, whilst I 
 escaped, not without mementoes of my deliverance never 
 to be forgotten. Very soon I was righted up again, so as 
 to resume conversation — not, however, on that subject. 
 Vanity enough to inflate and lift a balloon had been let off, 
 and I was sobered and made wiser. My mind was made 
 up to put the matter to a practical test at the earliest con- 
 venient time, and so I dismissed the subject. 
 
 " Our visit home ended, business was resumed, and the 
 
CONVERSION. 15 
 
 new enterprise, before mentioned, like the twelve yoke of 
 oxen, the wedlock, or the farm, was an ample excuse for 
 putting the matter off. Left to myself I should have put it 
 off for ever. 
 
 " One Sabbafh morning, however, the Master of the 
 feast sent a servant extraordinary to compel me to come in. 
 It was my old minister from the village where I had served 
 my apprenticeship, and common courtesy would not allow 
 me to stay at home when he was to preach. His subject 
 was, 'The opportunities afforded by the passing visits 
 of Jesus,' taken from the incident of His restoring 
 sight to blind Bartimeus on the road to the Judaean 
 City of the Palms. He told us that there would be, two 
 weeks hence, a * four days' meeting,' and several well-known 
 men of eloquence and zeal would come from places at a 
 distance to take part in the proceedings, and, best of all, 
 Jesus Himself would be there, and that all who would 
 might then profit by His passing presence. And as he told 
 us this, his heart seemed to burn within him, and fill him 
 with unwonted life and energy. I remember well how his 
 great fist, sledge-hammer-like (he was six feet three inches, 
 and weighed three hundred pounds), came down upon the 
 desk, as if to drive home the facts he uttered, and fasten 
 them as a nail in a sure place. Whilst yet the thunder of 
 his heavy words and blows were in my ears, the still 
 small voice in my heart whispered, ' This is thy convenient 
 time.' 
 
 "the darkest hour. 
 
 ** When the meetings began, my arrangements were all 
 made to attend them morning, noon and night, to the end, 
 in full expectation of receiving all that my brother's 
 description had led me to expect. The first day was one of 
 
16 
 
 CONVERSION. 
 
 trial and gloom beyond any other of all my life before. In 
 the intervals between, meetings were appointed for special 
 instruction to those who desired to receive it, and as the 
 building where they were being held was in the public street, 
 all who entered would certainly be observed. 
 
 *' My first trial was that of going to this meeting. I de- 
 sired, above all things, to have the proffered instruction, but 
 I hated, above all things, to have anybody know it. To go 
 in at the door would be equivalent to publishing my serious- 
 ^ ness at the top of the street, and I could not bear to do it. 
 My pride rose up against it. And besides, what if, after 
 exposing myself to all this, I should fail at last, and find 
 nothing in religion, or nothing of it in myself? The strug- 
 gle in my soul was something awful. Never did a door 
 handle before so burn the hand that grasped it, or a latch 
 so strain the hand that lifted it, or a burden so weigh down 
 the one that carried it ; — so it seemed to me. That was a 
 crushing step, when taken, to my pride, but it served only to 
 increase the crushing, bursting load on my heart. Tlie 
 instructions given were clear enough to those who gave 
 them, but to me they were as dark as Egypt, and mystic as 
 the oracles of Delphos. The next day came, and repeated 
 the first day's history. Interest deepened and extended. 
 Every one, coming forth with beaming face out of the gloom 
 and darkness, served to oppress me by the contrast more 
 and more, until at last, on the third day, the point of de- 
 spair was well nigh reached. All along my cry had been for 
 the new heart promised me. I thought I had only to ask 
 and receive, knock and have opened. Like Job, I thought 
 at last that my burdens were greater than I could bear ; and 
 in my heart I complained of God as one who hideth 
 Himself. 
 
 *< My first step had been to seek the light of life by means 
 
conversion; 17 
 
 of ministers and Christians, and accordingly I took every 
 opportunity, public and private, to gain it in this way — and 
 failed. Again and again, I was told to go directly to Christ. 
 * Call upon Him — cast yourself upon His mercy — submit to 
 Him — trust Him — believe in Him — yield to Him — give 
 Him your heart ' ; but these injunctions were without 
 meaning or force to me, until I gave up all expectation 
 or hope from men or meetings. Then, but not 
 ti:l then, I was prepared to appeal from these and all things 
 else to the Lord Himself. When all intermediate persons, 
 means, and measures had been practically tried, and proved 
 unavailing, I turned at last, and cried, ' Jesus of Nazareth, 
 have mercy on me.' And then I paid no attention what- 
 ever to the voices, whether of instruction or discouragement, 
 around me. At first, as one has said, *It seemed to me 
 as if I were praying to nothing in the dark ; ' or as another 
 puts it, * My prayer seemed to go no higher than my head.' 
 '* The last day of the meetings came, and the last meeting 
 of the day, and my soul was not saved. Oh ! the weight of 
 the load I carried to that meeting I can never describe. 
 My feet were reluctant and slow ; my face, as I had glanced 
 at it in the glass, told the tale of a sad, sorrowful, woe- 
 begone soul. 
 
 "the crisis and decision. 
 
 "Yet I cared for none of these things. I forgot them all 
 in the one absorbing cry to God for mercy. I took my 
 place in the crowded assembly, mechanically rose when 
 they rose, sat down when they sat down, heard the text 
 when it was announced, and enough of the sermon to have 
 it give shape to my thoughts ; yet, ever and anon, like the 
 bent bow set loose, my thoughts flew back to my burden, 
 and to my cry for mercy. The subject was, Christ on the 
 
18 CONVERSION. 
 
 cross between the two malefactors, one on either hand, the 
 one reviling Him and the other praying to Him, whilst He 
 keeps silence towards the reviler, but assures the praying 
 one of admission with Him that very day to paradise. A 
 contrast was drawn by the preacher between the two classes ; 
 the rejectors and the acceptors of Jesus, in their spirit and 
 in their daily lives. I saw myself, as I had been all my 
 life, depicted in the one, and as I ought to have been in the 
 other. I saw that I owed my being and every good thing I 
 ever had to God, and yet had never in my heart so much as 
 thanked Him. And I saw that He had loved me with a 
 love infinitely more tender, deep, and true, than ever was 
 felt by any father for his son, and yet I had never really 
 loved Him a particle. And, on the other side, I saw that 
 I ought to have loved Him with all my heart and acknow- 
 ledged Him in all my ways. Then came the question of 
 all questions for decision, Shall I now give my heart to 
 Jesus ? And immediately a whole troop of ifs came before 
 me in slow and appalling procession. If I do, and yet fail 
 of the joyful experience I have been seeking, what then? 
 Then a gloomy Hfe and a hard one. If I do, and afterwards 
 fall back, then what ? Then the reproach of fickleness and 
 backsliding. If I do, and take my stand before the world, 
 then what? Then my gay young friends will turn from 
 me, and I shall lose them all. If I do, and carry Christian 
 principle through all my business, and give up the selfish 
 maxims by which merchants grow rich, what then? Then I 
 shall become poor, while they become rich. 
 
 " To these and all other * ifs ' there came promptly face 
 to face as many *if nots,' outweighing them every one. 
 But the one great fact, predominating over all besides, was 
 this, — that to love a?id serve God was right, and not to do it 
 was wrong. And on this ground my mind was at last 
 
CONVERSION, 19 
 
 made up, my decision taken, my heart given, my life 
 devoted ; and then I was at rest. 
 
 "the light appears. 
 
 *' These internal questions settled, my thouglits were 
 liberated to look abroad, out and away from myself; then 
 what did I see? The first thing was the picture of Jesus 
 suffering death with sinners for sinners. The. indescribable 
 loveliness of His spirit beamed upon me from every line of 
 His features, every word of His mouth, and every drop of 
 His blood. Oh, what divine compassion in Him to come 
 down from the glories He had with His Father before the 
 world was, to take our nature, and lay down His life for us 
 to save us from eternal death and give us life eternal ! Oh, 
 what forbearance of meekness to receive the insults and 
 scoffs, the spitting and blows, the mockery and cruelty of 
 His enemies, and not command upon them avenging de- 
 struction, but in the last moments to pray, ' Father forgive 
 them ; for they know not what they do !' Oh, how tender 
 and timely, in the eleventh hour — as both He and the 
 malefactor by His side were about to pass out of the 
 world — to listen to the appeal of the condemned one, whose 
 whole life had been wasted in crime against God and man, 
 and instantly to accept his repentance, and give him assur- 
 ance of a home in heaven that very day ! All this while it 
 never for a moment occurred to me to think of myself at 
 all. Whether I was converted or unconverted, saved or 
 unsaved, was a question which, for the time, did not enter 
 my thoughts. My bliss was wholly in Jesus, not in myself, 
 and in Jesus it was full. It was first love, — first and 
 passionate love, and, as such, stands alone in my memory ; 
 though since then I have learned to love Him more deeply 
 and more steadily, because I have been shown from time to 
 
20 CONVERSION. 
 
 time more of the length and breadth, and depth and 
 height, of His own love, which passes knowledge, and so 
 have been increasingly filled with the fulness of God. 
 
 *'my burden rolled off. 
 
 " When, at the close of the service, the assembly rose, 
 and I essayed to rise at the same time, instead of getting 
 upon my feet and lifting myself up, as I had been doing for 
 days, as if a hundred pound pack were pressing me down, 
 to my astonishment I rose with an elasticity such as I never 
 felt before, and stood up, feeling as light as a feather. And 
 then the thought first flashed upon me that the burden of 
 my cry had been heard and answered. * Really,* said I to 
 myself, * I am converted ! ' This thought gave me new joy, 
 and joy of another kind ; yet nothing like so deep and full 
 of peace as that which came from seeing Christ as He 
 stands revealed in the Bible, and as God had revealed Him 
 in my heart. 
 
 *' The hymn sung in closing was another joy which it is 
 quite impossible to convey in words. Some day, not far 
 away, I hope to hear the new song, in the new Jerusalem, 
 sung by rapturous spirits ; but shall I ever hear anything 
 sweeter than the melody of that song on that night of 
 my betrothal ? The shepherds of the plain were entranced 
 by the bright vision of angels and the blissful announcement 
 of the birth of Jesus, and by the choral song of glory and 
 peace sung by the heavenly host ; but if they were more 
 filled than I with the peace and glory embodied in the 
 melody, they were filled more than full ! 
 
 " After the meeting I found that not only had my eyes 
 been opened, but my tongue, which for days had been tied, 
 was now loosed, for I wanted to talk of these things all the 
 time, and tell everybody ; and that night my sleep was as 
 sweet as that of a child. 
 
CONVERSION, 21 
 
 " MY HEAVENLY FATHER REVEALED TO MY SOUL. 
 
 " The next morning as I rose from my bed, though I did 
 not feel oppressed with the terrible burden of the previous 
 days, I missed the sense of that wonderful buoyancy which 
 so delighted me the evening before. And instantly the 
 thought rose up, that perhaps, after all, the vision and the 
 bliss, like the buoyancy, were only as a passing dream, and 
 that there was no permanent and radical change in me such 
 as 1 had supposed. This was sad enough, and I went on 
 for an hour or so with no very pleasant reflections about the 
 matter ; my mind fixed the while steadily on myself. How- 
 ever, I put on my hat and started for a stroll, more for the 
 purpose of avoiding others than of gaining any special 
 benefit for myself. My way was across a bridge which 
 spanned a shallow, crystal stream, running over a pebbly bed. 
 On the bridge, about the middle, I stopped to look down 
 over the side into the water at the fish and pebbles. In a 
 moment the wonderful and beautiful philosophy of water 
 came up in my thought — how by its having less solidity 
 than the earth, and greater gravity than the air, it runs 
 along its bed downward towards the ocean, and on its way at 
 every step affords joy and gladness to man, not only directly, 
 but through the fishes, animals and birds, trees and flowers, 
 fruits and grains, which would not, could not, live without 
 it. And how it becomes, in rivers, lakes, and oceans^ a 
 highway of trade and commerce for the human family. 
 And then, how through the laws of evaporation, it is taken 
 up in invisible vapour, and carried by air currents over 
 plains, hills, and valleys, and to the very tops of the highest 
 mountain peaks. And how, as it goes, it is distilled by the 
 laws of condensation into dews and showers, to water all the 
 world with fertility and beauty, and fill the pools, fountains, 
 rills, and streamlets, to keep the rivers and ocean full ; — all, 
 
22 CONVERSION. 
 
 all for man's sustenance and comfort. Aiid God mea7it it to 
 be so — made it for this very purpose, 
 
 " This thought carried me out of myself again, up into 
 the Fatherhood of God, and again filled me full of bliss. 
 From that bridge I went in bounding spirits onward into 
 the wood beyond ; and every tree, shrub, flower, and blade 
 of grass — every insect, bird, squirrel, horse, cow, or sheep 
 that met my eye, seemed joyous in the goodness of God, 
 who made and sustained them. The love of God displayed 
 in them all, by their structure and by the wonderful pro- 
 vision for their life and happiness, seemed so exquisitely 
 tender and delicate, as well as deep and rich, that I could 
 not describe it. The very spider, with his dewy web under 
 my feet, and his wonderful economy and instincts, seemed, 
 as the work and care of God, too sacred to be crushed by a 
 careless tread. And all nature seemed to me to be sending 
 up its silent morning anthem of praise, and its invisible 
 cloud of incense to the God and Father of all, 7fiy God and 
 Father. 
 
 "I remember at this period of my life, one night in 
 particular. My day's work done, I started out to 
 attend one of our precious meetings. The sky was 
 clear, and the stars were bright ; yet there was no- 
 thing that particular night in the aspect of the heavens 
 to create astonishment or delight. If the aurora borealis, 
 as sometimes seen in our northern hemisphere, had 
 been playing, filling all the heavens with its flashing 
 light; or if a meteoric shower of so-called shooting 
 stars had been in process, — then there would have been in 
 the night itself something to set one agaze with wonder. 
 But it was not so; it was a clear, quiet starlight night — 
 nothing more. Yet, as alone — though never less alone — I 
 was walking along the road, and lifted up my eyes, thoughts 
 
CONVERSION. 23 
 
 unutterably sublime, and feelings inexpressibly sweet, came 
 upon me. As the father of the faithful was led forth, and 
 bidden to look up and count the stars, so I, one of the last 
 and least of the children of faith, tried to measure the 
 universe of God, and number His countless worlds, and 
 was lost in the majesty of the great King, and the glory of 
 His dominions. And as Abraham received from God the 
 peculiar covenant of his great place in the kingdom as the 
 "father of many nations" — and of the Messiah, in whom 
 all nations would be blessed — so I also received in my heart 
 of hearts the seal of God's peculiar covenant for me, that I 
 should have somewhere in His boundless kingdom the very 
 best place in it for me — the place the loving hand of Jesus 
 had prepared for me. 
 
 " So dawned in my soul the morning of eternal life, so 
 rose upon me the Sun of Righteousness ; to whom with 
 Thee, the Father, and the Holy Comforter, be glory through 
 its endless day. Amen, and amen." 
 
24 MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 l^^y^^^HE wonderful change that had taken place in 
 yl^l^Jy ^^ heart of Mr, Boardman, brought him at 
 =^^Pi-^!i once into a different relationship towards the 
 world, as well as towards the people of God ; 
 it also changed the whole tenour of his life 
 as regarded his business affairs. He had commenced life 
 full of ambition to become very wealthy. But now his 
 mind turned to the ministry with the greatest desire to 
 preach this glorious salvation, of which he had become 
 a partaker; and this thought becoming intensified, he 
 longed to go out of business. He told the Lord that if He 
 would send a purchaser, he would sell off everything, invest 
 the money, and commence studying for the ministry. 
 
 It was not many weeks before one came, who offered the 
 very amount Mr. Boardman had fixed upon as that which 
 the business and stock of goods were worth. It did not 
 take long to arrange matters between them, and Mr. B. 
 found himself at liberty to carry out his cherished plan. He 
 entered with all his heart into this preparation, and began a 
 course of study which he kept up for two years, when he 
 
MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 was drawn aside by an offer from one of his cousins to in- 
 vest what he had in a business, by which he could make a 
 fortune in a year's time. ** And," said his cousin by 
 way of inducement, **you can educate a dozen ministers by 
 what you can make in a year." ** Sure enough," thought 
 Mr. B., and that settled the whole thing. Once more he 
 was in the vortex of business life. And he did make money 
 enough the first year to educate a dozen for the ministry 
 had he chosen to use it for that purpose. But, alas, he had 
 much else to do with the money, as it had brought him back 
 into a worldly Hfe, so that he drifted away from God. 
 
 It was during these years of prosperity in worldly matters 
 that Mr. B. was brought into the society of the gay and 
 fashionable. And in this vortex of worldliness he 
 made my acquaintance. It was with him love at first 
 sight, and he sought and ultimately obtained a promise of 
 marriage. A more thoughtless, giddy girl could not easily 
 be found than I was at this time. I never remember to 
 have had any serious thoughts of God, or of salvation, until 
 a few months before my marriage, when I was brought to 
 death's door by an attack of fever of the most malignant 
 kind. At that time, while apparently unconscious, I over- 
 heard the physicians in their consultation saying one to an- 
 other, " If she lives until morning she may possibly recover." 
 So dark was my mind, that I immediately congratulated 
 myself upon being fully prepared for heaven, and thought 
 thus, " How glad I am that I am so good. I am not like 
 such and such a one of my school companions. I am glad 
 that I have always told the truth, and that I have been so 
 honest and upright." 
 
 I remembered also how I used to take some nice things 
 to poor old women, to whom my mother sent me. And for 
 this they would call me "blessed" and '*a sweet angel;" 
 
26 MARRIAGE. 
 
 and how I delighted to hear it. Thus I counted up my good 
 deeds, and solaced myself with the thought that I was far 
 better than most people, and so I should have a very good 
 entrance into the kingdom of heaven. I fancied that heaven 
 was a very beautiful place, where there would be pleasures 
 of all kinds, suited to each person's taste, and thus all would 
 be happy in carrying out their own desires, and gratifying 
 themselves in the way they each chose. 
 
 That night proved to be the crisis of the fever ; by morn- 
 ing the change had really come, and I was out of danger. 
 Still, as I thought of what had been said the previous night, 
 death was before my mind. I therefore asked my precious 
 mother to read me a portion of Scripture. 
 
 Tears of joy came into her eyes as she took the Bible 
 and thought upon the wonderful change that had come over 
 her child, making her wish to hear God's Word. My 
 mother never recognised herself to be a Christian, and yet 
 she always delighted in the worship of God. At the early 
 age of seven, she was under great conviction of sin. She 
 had been angry with her little brother, and had slapped him, 
 and the Lord let her see by this that she was sinful. She 
 went at that time to one of the church elders, and to the 
 minister, and told them of her distress of soul. But they 
 told her she must get rid of such notions, and go home and 
 read " ^sop's Fables " and other stories. She went, how- 
 ever, to God in her own bedroom, and there she obtained 
 forgiveness of her sins, so that she had peace, and from that 
 time she loved the things of God. Therefore it was with 
 great delight she now read me a portion of God's Word. 
 But she little knew what was passing in my mind, for I was 
 congratulating myself on my own goodness in having the 
 Bible read to me, and was not in the least interested in the 
 truth it contained. 
 
MARRIAGE. 27 
 
 My recovery was rapid ; previous arrangements had been 
 made for sending me to Miss Sheldon's school at Schenec- 
 tady, but as I was engaged to be married to Mr. Boardman, 
 and not as yet very strong in heahh, my father said I need 
 not go off to school, but that under these circumstances, he 
 would let me go into the city, and take lessons in music and 
 French. At the same time I was allowed to go into all kinds 
 of worldly gaiety, so that parties, balls, and amusements of 
 various kinds occupied nearly all my time and thoughts. 
 
 The Christmas of 1836 found me with a severe cough 
 setded on my chest, which would not yield to medical 
 treatment. A journey south was proposed as the only hope 
 of relief, and Mr. Boardman, having occasion in the spring 
 to travel in the south, was very much pleased with the 
 prospect of an early marriage. 
 
 Accordingly we were married in February, 1837, and 
 commenced journeying, and after awhile, my cough left 
 me, as had been predicted by the physicians. 
 
 It was not until we were returning home, some months 
 later, that a word was ever said to me on the subject of 
 salvation. Travelling in our own carriage through the 
 state of New York, we stopped at the house of a cousin for 
 a few days' visit. Whilst there, a bright, intelligent girl, the 
 daughter of the family, said to me, " Mother feels so sorry 
 that cousin Edwin has left the Presbyterian Church." 
 
 ** The Presbyterian Church ! " I exclaimed, '* I am quite 
 sure he never had any connection with those people ; why 
 nothing would have induced me to marry a Presbyterian ! 
 Presbyterians think that if a person believes anything 
 different from what they say to be the truth, they will go 
 straight to hell ; they think it's a sin to dance, or to go to 
 the theatre, or have any kind of pleasure ; to me it seems 
 a dreadful religion.'' 
 
28 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ** But," persisted the young girl, ** Cousin Edwin was a 
 Presbyterian ; I am sure he did join that Church." 
 
 " There must be some mistake about it," I replied, not 
 in the least convinced by what she had said. 
 
 In those days the Presbyterian Church of America did 
 not allow its members to dance, or play cards, or attend the 
 opera or the theatre. Of course it is all very different at 
 the present time. However, as soon as there was an oppor- 
 tunity, I told my husband what had been said, and asked if 
 it were possible he could ever have been a member of that 
 denomination. 
 
 *• Yes, I have been a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church." This answer was given very reluctantly. 
 
 *' Then it's true !" I exclaimed. " But do they not require 
 something quite different from our ideas of life ? I thought 
 they believed in such strictness that they were afraid to 
 smile, or have any pleasure of any sort. Do they not 
 require something that is very dreadful to do ? " 
 
 " They do believe one must have a change of heart in 
 order to be saved." 
 
 '* A change of heart? What is that? Do tell me, I do 
 not in the least understand what you mean." 
 
 " A change of heart, my dear child, is a change in one's 
 affections and desires, which turns the incHnations from the 
 love of the world to the love of God." 
 
 " And have you had that change ? " I eagerly asked, 
 not feeling very happy in thinking that my husband had 
 anything that I did not share with him. And when he told 
 me that he had known this change of heart, by an actual 
 experience, I again asked if he thought everyone must 
 have this change in order to be saved. 
 
 " Yes, it is true ; no one can possibly go to heaven 
 without being fitted for the worship of heaven; for by nature 
 
MARRIAGE. 29 
 
 we do not love God, so we must be changed into His image 
 by having this change of heart." 
 
 ** I am sure if I had such a belief, I should wish everybody 
 to know it, and could never rest until those I loved were 
 fitted for heaven," I exclaimed. 
 
 Little did I know at this time what my words conveyed 
 to my dear husband, and what a dagger was being thrust 
 into his conscience. It was a severe ordeal through which 
 he was passing, as he looked back over his life, and thought 
 how little either the past or present corresponded with this 
 experience, the confession of which I had just drawn from 
 him. 
 
 My curiosity was now thoroughly aroused, and I begged 
 that I might have all the particulars. " Do let me know all 
 about the way this change was brought about. How did 
 you get at it ? What did you do ? " 
 
 Thus urged he began to relate : " I was a pantheist in the 
 early part of my life." Here I interrupted by asking what 
 he meant by being a pantheist. ** A pantheist is one who 
 believes that all that is or can be known of God, is seen in 
 nature, and thus it does away with revelation." 
 
 "Now do, please, go on," I said rather impatiently, 
 fearing I might lose the narrative. He continued : 
 '* It was in the course of a conversation with my 
 brother John, who had experienced this change of heart, 
 that I became convinced that my theory was entirely false. 
 I had been seeking to prove the impossibility of any such 
 change ; but when any one has heart-experience he cannot 
 be driven from it by argument. And my brother went on 
 to tell me how very blessed it was to know one's sins for- 
 given, and to be sure of an inheritance in heaven. I was 
 greatly interested in all he said, and not long after this con- 
 versation my brother met with an accident, which proved 
 
80 MARRIAGE. 
 
 fatal. When he died he knew that he was going to glory, 
 and was happy to leave this world, although he was young, 
 with every prospect in life open before him. I sought for a 
 long time to know what this experience was which John had, 
 and which made him so restful and happy. But it was 
 some months before I found out. I heard there were meet- 
 ings to be held for four days in the place where we lived, 
 and I determined to attend them, with the hope of discover- 
 ing the great mystery of salvation which my brother had 
 known. Each day I listened with ears and heart wide open. 
 But it was not until the last day of the meetings that my 
 soul found rest. And then it came in a most unexpected 
 way. The minister was speaking of the love of Jesus, and 
 showing how great and glorious was that love which could 
 forgive a thief who had reviled Him a short time before. I 
 thought if God could forgive such a one, He would forgive 
 me, and I ventured on Him for all, and left all with Him. 
 
 I had been weighed down with a'sense of sin, and carrying 
 a heavy burden, which had been growing heavier each 
 day, until it seemed as if I could bear it no longer. As 
 soon, however, as I ceased struggling to get rid of my 
 burden, and let the Lord have all the care of my sins, my 
 burden dropped off, and I could not bring it back. At first 
 I felt a little anxious, lest in losing the sense of guilt I had 
 lost all, but ere long I had such a revelation of God's love, 
 that it cast all doubts out of my mind for ever. It came 
 while I was standing on the bridge which crossed the 
 Susquehanna. 
 
 All nature seemed to breathe fresh praises to God ; I 
 saw Him in every blade of grass, and every warbling bird ; 
 I saw the thousand ways in which the water was adapted for 
 the use of man, and I was filled with wonder and astonish- 
 ment at the greatness of God's love in doing so much 
 
MARRIAGE. 81 
 
 for those He had created. But the greatest wonder of all 
 was that I had not seen this before. Everything had 
 existed as it was then, and God had been the same ; but 
 how was it I had never known all this ? Where had I been 
 that all this love of God had been shut out of my soul ? I 
 seemed to be in a new state of existence, a new world had 
 opened to my view. Oh, those were happy days when I 
 was filled with God, and I sought at once to tell others of 
 my new-found joy, and felt surprised they did not see it 
 as well as I." 
 
 Of course intense longing for this experience sprang up in 
 my heart, and 1 desired to see this bridge where my 
 husband had received such marvellous manifestations of 
 God's love. 
 
 " And will you take me to see that bridge ? I should so 
 like to look at it." 
 
 "Yes, my child ; we will drive over there the first thing 
 to-morrow." 
 
 It was about eight miles distant, and with each mile the 
 desire to see this wonderful sight increased, until at last 
 (and it was not very long with our fast trotting horses), my 
 husband drew up, and there was the bridge in full view 
 before us. 
 
 " There it is, you see ! " he said, as he pointed to a long 
 bridge. 
 
 " .What, is that all ? " I exclaimed in a tone of the greatest 
 disappointment ; " why, it's nothing like what I expected," 
 and with these words I burst out crying bitterly, as I looked 
 at the dilapidated old bridge, with whatever paint had once 
 brightened it entirely gone. 
 
 " And what were you expecting to see ? " said he. 
 
 " I thought I should see something bright and beautiful, 
 that would make me feel just as you did." 
 
32 MARRIAGE. 
 
 *' Why it was nothing in the place, my child, it was some- 
 thing in my heart. The outward surroundings were nothing 
 to me. You are happy with me wherever we are, just as the 
 Apostle Paul was happy in the prison with nothing to look 
 at but the damp stone walls. He was made happy by the 
 dwelling of the Lord in his heart, and His presence made all 
 bright within, by His love shed abroad." 
 
 The impressions made upon me at this time were never 
 forgotten. Often, amid scenes of pleasure, the thought of 
 the necessity of this change of heart, and the reality of the 
 experiences I had heard, lessened the delights of the ball- 
 room. But just now, as we were being entertained 
 by friends, many parties were made for us, so I put off 
 giving the necessary attention to this subject. 
 
 Some months after, another line of events opened up 
 which changed all our outward life. My husband found, 
 that instead of gaining, he had failures, one after another, 
 until at last total ruin was threatening him. The first of 
 these losses was by fire. A large hotel, of which he was the 
 principal owner, had been just finished, and not yet insured, 
 when it was burnt to the ground ; this was a heavy loss. 
 Then came the failure of a bank in which he was largely 
 interested ; and next, the bankruptcy of one for whom he 
 had become security to a large amount. 
 
 The hand of God was evident in these losses, coming 
 as they did, one after another. One day as my husband 
 was about starting on a journey in hope of saving a large sum 
 which was in danger, he said to me, " I go, but I do not 
 expect to save anything. I deserve this. I deserve to lose 
 all I have in the world, and to lose you too, for the life I 
 have led since I knew God." 
 
 This was the first intimation I had ever had that the life 
 we were living was not consistent with my husband's views 
 
MARRIAGE. 83 
 
 of what a religious life should be. It was in perfect accord- 
 ance with my own ideas of the way in which Christians 
 should live. But now my responsibilities as a wife pressed 
 in upon me, and I said to myself, " How could my husband 
 live differently, if I did not choose to lead a life such as he 
 might desire ? If a religious life requires us to pray and 
 go regularly to church, and all that, it must be very different 
 to the way we are living. Then, how could we be religious 
 with our present surroundings and worldly friends ? But 
 I must have this change of heart, and know for myself 
 what it is like." 
 
 It did not take long for these thoughts to go through my 
 m.ind, and now I fully determined I would never rest until 
 I had this experience. I had made arrangements to accom- 
 pany my husband on this journey, but as we knew many 
 worldly people living in the town to which he was going, I de- 
 termined to remain at home, to read my Bible and pray, and 
 do all that lay in my power to attain this change of heart. 
 
 Accordingly, I shut myself up in my chamber, and went 
 to work in earnest. The more I prayed, and the harder I 
 studied to find out about this mystery, the more wretched 
 I became, and soon this oppression of mind told upon my 
 body, and I became so ill as to be obliged to keep my bed. 
 And here I lay sighing and groaning night and day. I 
 cultivated this state of mind, thinking that when I had 
 suffered as much as it was possible for me to bear, and had 
 gone over the ground of what I had 7iot done, as thoroughly 
 as I had reckoned up the good things I had done when I 
 was at death's door, — relief would come. 
 
 After an absence of three days my husband returned, 
 and was met at the door by old Pete, a coloured servant, 
 who quickly informed him that I was in bed, laid up, 
 *' Berry sick indeed." 
 
Si MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Yes, that is just what I feared, the Lord is going to 
 take away my wife ; just what I deserve." 
 
 He was soon at my bedside, and I was not very slow in 
 telling out my difficulty. 
 
 " It is no matter about the body, it is the mind I am in 
 such misery about ; I feel so burdened with sin, I thought 
 I had never done anything wrong, now I see that I have 
 never done anything good ; I know now if I am not for- 
 given I shall lose my soul." 
 
 "Shall I pray for you?" asked my husband, scarcely 
 knowing what to do or what to think. Grasping at the 
 thought of having some one to intercede for me, I said, 
 *' Yes, do ; pray as hard as ever you can." 
 
 ** But then I fear the Lord will not hear me, I have been 
 such a backslider." 
 
 " Oh, yes, He will, I believe God will hear anybody, if 
 they are only in earnest; I am praying all the time." 
 
 At that bed-side my husband began a life of prayer that 
 was never to cease while life should last ; it was 
 
 HIS TRUE RETURN TO CHRIST. 
 
 The days rolled on. Every kind of test was put to me 
 by my husband. Was I willing everybody should know 
 how I felt ? Would I go forward at a Methodist meeting 
 to be prayed for ? etc. At first I said " No," but soon saw 
 that would not do, pride must go under. 
 
 About twenty miles from us lived an old lady, who was a 
 very remarkable Christian. She had known me when I was 
 a child at home. I then used often to go and see her, for 
 I was delighted with her singing, and it was such a wonder 
 to me how she could be so happy without anything (that I 
 could see) to make her so. My father was a thorough 
 Churchman, and, although a Unitarian, was very strict in 
 
MARRIAGE. 35 
 
 having all his family attend church regularly, and had 
 never allowed us to go to any other place of worship 
 when living where there was an Episcopalian Church. One 
 day I told her that my father did not like my coming to 
 see her so often, for he felt afraid I might take up with her 
 religious views, and I begged her to promise that she would 
 never say anything to me about these things, for I dearly 
 loved to come and see her, but could no longer do so 
 unless she would make this promise. She replied, " I'll not 
 say anything until you want to hear it, but some day you 
 are sure to ask me to tell you about Jesus, for I shall pray 
 for you, and God always hears my prayers." 
 
 I was delighted to take this message to my father, who 
 laughingly said, " Does she think she can change the mind 
 of God, and make the Almighty do as she wishes ? " 
 
 I made no reply, but young as I was, I thought it strange 
 we should repeat prayers at Church, if no one was going to 
 hear them. I afterwards went away to school, and had not 
 seen the old lady for five years, and had scarcely thought of 
 her during that time. Yet now her words came back to my 
 mind, as I was groaning over my sins, and I felt a strong 
 desire to see her. As soon as this wish was made known to 
 my husband, he sent the carriage for her, but to my great 
 disappointment she was unable through illness to come, so 
 she sent her daughter, who was a lovely Christian, to take 
 her place. When she came to my bed-side she said, " Mother 
 was very sorry not to come herself, but she sent her best 
 love, and wishes me to say that she could do you no good ; 
 no one but Jesus can help you now, and He will deliver you 
 if you will trust Him." 
 
 I was very angry when I heard this. Like Naaman, I 
 was not prepared to receive blessing in God's way. I 
 frankly told my visitor that she was most unfeeling to bring 
 
36 MARRIAGE, 
 
 such a message to one in such distress of mind. I thought 
 that she would rather have pitied and sympathised with me, 
 and it was quite different from what I expected of one who 
 seemed so kind years ago. Why had she so changed as not 
 to comfort me when I so needed it ? I was glad when she 
 proposed returning home the next day. 
 
 Thus I went on bearing this burden of sin, scarcely daring 
 to sleep lest I should lose all whilst sleeping. The last part 
 of the second week I began to recover, and was so much 
 better, that when the Sabbath came I went with my husband 
 to a place of worship, which was something quite new to us. 
 
 I shall ever remember the oppression and weight upon me 
 as I took my seat amongst the congregation ; it seemed 
 impossible to endure this weight of sin any longer. I 
 resolved that if I did not find relief before leaving that place 
 I should give up altogether. The service continued till it 
 came to the last prayer, and I said mentally that I had done 
 all that it was possible for me to do, and now I would give it 
 all over into the hands of God. If He saved me I would be 
 saved, but if not I must be lost. 
 
 It was indeed death to all hope from my own doings, 
 death to all self- efforts for salvation ; and just now it was 
 that I lost my burden, and the heavy weight dropped off, 
 when I ceased all struggles to get free, and accepted God's 
 plan of salvation. 
 
 Oh, what a change did this simple act of casting all upon 
 Jesus bring to me ! I went out of that place feeling light, 
 and free as a bird let out of a cage. But I did not under- 
 stand in the least what had been done in me, and was 
 greatly surprised that I could not get back my burden. It 
 had gone for ever, gone to the Cross where my Saviour 
 died. Everything seemed so strange to me. However, 
 when we got home I found myself thoroughly exhausted, so 
 
MARRIAGE. 37 
 
 much so that I was obliged to lie down as soon as I had 
 finished dinner. I had a restful sleep, such as I had been 
 a stranger to for weeks, and we went again to the same 
 place of worship in the afternoon. 
 
 While the last hymn was being sung my soul leaped for 
 joy, for Jesus was revealed to me as 7ny Saviour. I then 
 saw the preciousness of the Blood to cleanse from all sin. 
 I saw how the Lord had taken away my heart of stone, and 
 given me a heart of flesh. The passage in Ezekiel xxxvi. 
 25-27 was brought home to me by the Holy Spirit, and I 
 knew that God had indeed sprinkled clean water upon me, 
 and that I was clean, and I could now testify to a change of 
 heart. 
 
 It was glorious, this new found joy, this knowledge of 
 sins forgiven — never from that day have I had a doubt of 
 my having passed from death unto life. Sometimes I 
 thought I ought to doubt a Uttle, because such good people 
 said it was presumption in me not to doubt, but still I 
 never could be persuaded that I had not been born again. 
 And what joy my husband had in my salvation. What 
 happy days followed ! How we went on hand in hand, and 
 how precious were the hours of worship ! How sweet it 
 was to sing the new song of redeeming love together ! How 
 melted were our hearts in view of what God had done for 
 each of us ! How tasteless all the pleasures of the world 
 became ; how insipid those things seemed which had 
 formerly given us such delights ! It would indeed have 
 been a great trial to dance or play cards, for old things had 
 passed away, and all things had become new. 
 
 THE NEW HOME IN STIRLING. 
 
 No sooner was my husband fairly out again in the enjoy- 
 ment of God's forgiving and restoring love, than his old 
 
83 MARRIAGE, 
 
 longing for the salvation of souls returned with renewed 
 power. 
 
 Having once before commenced preparation for the 
 ministry, how desirous he now felt to have the years 
 restored that the cankerworm had destroyed ! Nothing 
 seemed of worth to him but publishing the glad tidings of 
 salvation. However, in the present state of his affairs, he did 
 not feel at liberty to step out of business altogether, and it 
 was nearly three years before the Lord let him have his 
 heart's desire. 
 
 These years of waiting were not lost ; there was a pre- 
 paratory process of education going on, quite as important 
 in God's sight as that which came afterwards in "the 
 school of the prophets." In His own way, by paths we 
 knew not, and which did not at the time seem to be 
 bringing His servant any nearer to the fulfilment of his 
 desires — how blessedly the Lord was leading on 1 
 
 With the change in our temporal circumstances (which 
 had tended to turn my husband's mind back to the Lord), 
 came the necessity of a change in our manner of Uving. 
 But this caused no sorrow ; on the contrary, we were both 
 very happy in the thought of leaving all our old worldly 
 associations to mix only with those who loved our Lord 
 Jesus. Thus the prospect of a new home in the West 
 looked rather attractive than otherwise. 
 
 My husband's object in going so far away was that he 
 might commence business anew where but a small capital 
 would be needed for starting. Stirling, Illinois, in the Rock 
 River district, proved to be our destination. On the banks 
 of this beautiful stream (so named on account of its having 
 a solid rock bed for many miles) we pitched our tent, in a 
 lovely prairie country, in the year 1840. Stretching out 
 before us lay a grand expanse of land, dotted here and 
 
MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 there with charming groves of noble forest trees, looking 
 like islands amid the vast stretches of prairie, with scarcely 
 a single shrub to break the monotony of its level surface. 
 
 It was in this new home, away from the busy rush of city 
 life, that our service for Jesus began, in a more direct and 
 effective way than before. Here workers were fewer, and 
 people more willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation. 
 The books taken with us (religious biographies, etc.) proved 
 a great source of good, as they were scattered among the 
 families, and found eager readers. 
 
 It was the custom of that day in the newly settled parts, 
 to form what was called a " band," composed of Christians of 
 different denominations, who united together to have ser- 
 vices on the Sabbath. Putting aside all differences of 
 opinion on non-essentials, they came together, as did our 
 pilgrim fathers, with one heart and mind to worship God. 
 
 The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches had 
 entered into this union. The two denominations took in 
 all others who were willing to join. And it was a boon to 
 such as could not enjoy worship in their own particular 
 denomination to have this opportunity of communion with 
 other Christians. 
 
 Precious to all were these gatherings in the weekly prayer 
 meeting and on the Sabbath. It was considered quite a 
 blessing when any minister, regularly ordained, could be 
 found to take the Sabbath services, for in that day ordina- 
 tion was thought to be essential. However well qualified 
 a layman might be for teaching, as a leader he was never 
 looked upon as really in his proper place. It was very 
 different to the present day in that respect, for now there 
 are hundreds of laymen, most acceptable, evangelizing in all 
 parts of the world. My husband was made leader of this 
 band ; that meant that he should be present at the prayer 
 3 
 
40 MARRIAGE. 
 
 meetings and on the Sabbath, if no ordained minister were 
 present. On such occasions he did not attempt to preach, 
 but read out of a book of published sermons. 
 
 So the work of God went steadily on, with Mr. Boardman 
 as the leader, and the interest somewhat increased from 
 week to week, until the Lord sent Mr. Fox, a Presbyterian 
 minister, who held meetings daily for two weeks, and was 
 the means of 
 
 ROUSING THE WHOLE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 Being our guest, he began his work with myself, by 
 bringing me to see what a mistake I had been making in 
 not praying before others. I shall never forget how very 
 penetrating were his words and looks, when he put the 
 question, reprovingly, " Is it possible that you have been a 
 Christian over a year, and never prayed before another, 
 not even with your own husband ? " 
 
 "Why that would be the hardest of all," I replied, "for 
 he knows how to pray, and prays beautifully." 
 
 " Ah ! ah ! my child," was his fatherly reply (for I was but 
 a child in the estimation of all who knew me,) "you must 
 not think about beautiful prayers, but look at what you are 
 losing as a wife by not praying with your husband. My 
 wife knelt down by my side as soon as we had the oppor- 
 tunity after our marriage, and to me that prayer was the 
 sweetest I had ever heard from mortal lips, and she became 
 a help to me, and you must be to your husband a true 
 * helpmeet.' And do you know that means * one going 
 before ' ? That is what God wanted Eve to become, and 
 what she would have been had she not fallen first, so that 
 upon woman fell the heaviest curse. Jesus has restored 
 woman to be a helpmeet. Now begin to-day, and kneel 
 down and pray with your brother, who is awakened; you can 
 reach him as no one else can." 
 
MARRIAGE, 41 
 
 I said nothing, as my eyes were filled with tears of deep 
 contrition, that I had so long neglected such a privilege as 
 I now saw this to be. 
 
 "Will you promise to pray with your brother this very 
 day ? " asked Mr. Fox. I made the promise. 
 
 That day my brother, who with his wife was living with 
 us, having become partner with my husband in the busi- 
 ness, came over from the store, bringing his books to make 
 up his accounts in the house, which he had never done 
 before. He was evidently awakened, and his conscience 
 troubled him for having spoken unkindly, even rudely, to 
 Mr. Fox the previous day. Mr. Fox had asked him if he 
 was saved; he replied that he never allowed anyone to 
 meddle with his religious opinions, etc. And now as he 
 sat with his books before him, I went into the room with 
 the determination to fulfil the promise made to Mr. Fox. 
 
 " Mary," he exclaimed as soon as he saw me, "I cannot 
 live with you if you are going to have such impertinent 
 people in your house as that Mr. Fox. He made me speak 
 rudely, and I could not sleep last night, just because he had 
 attacked me about my religion ; and you know I am as good 
 as he is. Where is my life wrong, I should like to know ? " 
 
 " My dear brother, you know you do not love Jesus, and 
 you are not happy ; we have prayed for you continually, and 
 now, it was not Mr. Fox who was wrong, but yourself." And 
 with this I threw my arms around his neck and cried like a 
 child. 
 
 He broke down altogether, and said that my tears were 
 too much for him, I should break his heart j and he was 
 quite willing to let me pray, which I did, finding liberty in 
 utterance. He also prayed, "Lord be merciful to me a 
 sinner ; " these words he repeated over and over until finally 
 he had peace in believing, He, who had for years been a 
 
42 MARRIAGE. 
 
 sceptic, was now saved ; he had accepted God's way of 
 salvation " through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant," 
 and at once gave up all thoughts of his own righteousness. 
 It was a joy to us all when the next day he, who had not 
 heretofore bent the knee in prayer even in family worship, 
 now, not only knelt down, but prayed very humbly and yet 
 full of calm and peaceful delight in Jesus as his Saviour. 
 He had a great sense of God's forgiving love to him who 
 had for weeks, if not months, been fighting against his 
 own convictions. 
 
 Stirling being now thoroughly aroused, the little band 
 was organised into a church. Backsliders had been re- 
 claimed, and converts added, so that it became necessary to 
 have a pastor. Ere long one was found, a man of God, 
 who took up the work in a more methodical, but less 
 practical way, but he was a faithful pastor in visiting, and 
 kept the flock together. 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 N His own way did the Lord now send us 
 out into a far greater wilderness than our 
 former abode. Either my husband or his 
 partner must go where there was a market 
 for the produce taken from the farmers in 
 exchange for goods at their store. 
 
 Mr. Boardman's attention was drawn to a large lead 
 mining district in the north of Illinois, to a place called 
 Potosi, not far from Galena. Originally Potosi was called 
 *' Snake Hollow," from the fact that a colony of rattle snakes 
 had taken possession of a cavern in a rock at the head of a 
 ravine. The old name might well have been retained, so com- 
 pletely was the place under the dominion of ** the old 
 Serpent, the devil," for wickedness did so abound here. 
 Gambling, drinking, and lotteries were the order of the day. 
 The employment was in itself most exciting, for a man 
 might one day be without a cent, and the next day, if he 
 struck a lead, as it was called, his fortune was made, for 
 these leads usually led on to extensive beds of ore that 
 seemed sometimes to be exhaustless. 
 
44 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 In the year 1842, we settled in this place, which had but 
 one street running up a ravine from the river for a mile and 
 a half; a second street would have been an impossibility, 
 as there were high cliffs on either side. Sometimes the 
 valley widened out to quite a quarter of a mile, and then 
 again it became so narrow as barely to admit of the road 
 and houses, which were built up quite against the hillside. 
 
 The back of our house was thus situated, and when there 
 was a heavy rain, the mud came sweeping down the banks 
 in a channel that found a passage way into the house, 
 leaving our only carpeted room in a sad plight. The house 
 could not boast much of architectural beauty. In one 
 respect it was like the Venetian buildings, having various 
 styles of architecture ! It had formerly been a warehouse, 
 with one very large room below and one above. By adding 
 a small kitchen, and partitioning off rooms with calico, we 
 could boast of five rooms. 
 
 We little knew when we pitched our tent in this far off 
 valley of Potosi, what the dear Lord had in store for us 
 here, among the rugged hills and the still rougher miners. 
 The appearance of these men as they came out of the 
 mines, covered as they were with the yellow earth, put 
 terror into the hearts of those unaccustomed to seeing them, 
 for it was really difficult to tell whether they were human. 
 But many a noble, generous heart, for whom a mother's 
 prayers had been daily ascending, was hidden under this 
 earthy garb. Many here were brought out to shine as 
 jewels in the kingdom of our Lord. 
 
 Yes, it was here in our little rough home that the Lord 
 Jesus became to us nearer and dearer than ever before. 
 As regarded justification, He could not of course be nearer. 
 But here we learnt the preciousness of Jesus' indwelling \ 
 here we received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and Jesus 
 
MOVING FARTHER CN. 45 
 
 was seen and known as a risen, living Saviour. We were 
 brought to understand the truth of those words, "He" (the 
 Holy Spirit) ''shall not speak of Himself;" "He shall 
 testify of Me." " He shall take of Mine, and shall show it 
 unto you." Yes, "He shall reveal to you what I am, so that 
 you may learn My power to keep you, and sin shall not 
 have dominion over you." And these promises proved 
 true, for our Lord was as near to us here as He was to the 
 disciples when they trod together the streets of Jerusalem. 
 
 It was a memorable day when, on looking over our books, 
 I took up the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor. In the 
 course of my reading I came to a very remarkable letter, in 
 which he gave an experience that was most attractive. He 
 told how very precious Christ had become; how He was 
 revealed to him, as not only with him but in him, 
 
 CHRIST, A PRESENT SAVIOUR, KEEPING HIM 
 
 in perfect peace all the day long, and making life one song 
 of praise. Coming to the end of this beautiful letter, I 
 went at once to find my husband, in order to read to him 
 the delightful bit I had found. " Taylor had sunshine in 
 his heart all the time," I exclaimed, as I finished reading. 
 " How much he knew of Christ ! it is lovely to hear this ! " 
 
 "It is exceedingly beautiful, Mary, and that shall be my 
 experience." 
 
 " O no, that is impossible ; it is too great an experience 
 for us common Christians. It is just the same as the 
 Apostles taught and lived, but for us it would be presump- 
 tion to think of such a thing." 
 
 " But why not ? Taylor was a man in the usual walk of 
 life like myself, and God is no respecter of persons. I can 
 see no reason why I should not know Jesus in the same way 
 he did, and by His grace this experience shall be mine." 
 
 " Yes, and then when you have it you will die ; Taylor 
 
46 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 died when quite young, and it is given on purpose to fit one 
 for death. You never see one living on this earth who has 
 such a wonderful knowledge of the presence of Jesus as 
 always with him, keeping sunshine always in the heart ; and 
 I am sure if you get this you will die ; and so I hope you 
 will not get it, for I am not prepared to part with you." 
 
 ** I shall never rest, my child, until I have just such a 
 sense of the presence of God as is here described by Taylor. 
 I need it, O so much ! more than words can tell, and I 
 believe God will give it to me, unworthy as I am." 
 
 "I cannot see how it is that you can feel such a need, 
 such a child of God as you are, so true to Him and to your 
 own convictions in every way." 
 
 " I know my need," replied my husband, " and there is a 
 craving within me that cannot be satisfied without being 
 filled with God. And He who has implanted this longing 
 of soul will meet it, I am sure of it." 
 
 From that hour the whole energy of Mr. Boardman's 
 being was bent on this one thing, and all his powers con- 
 centrated on becoming filled with the presence of God. 
 And then followed months of misdirected effort, and, there- 
 fore, of fruitless struggles. Sometimes he would prostrate 
 himself flat on his face before God, and cry out : ** Just 
 now, O Lord, just this very minute, come and fill me with 
 Thyself." At other times he would fast, and was continu- 
 ally going through with all manner of processes of consecra- 
 tion. Our scanty household furniture, even the little old 
 carpeting we had, was thought unnecessary, and a thing to 
 be dispensed with. Anything and everything which could 
 be done to obtain this desired blessing was done. And 
 constant failure did not quench his ardour, neither did 
 remonstrances prove of the least use. His heart was fixed, 
 and he was not to be turned aside. 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 47 
 
 How mysterious this seemed to me in one, who was 
 considered by all who knew him at that time, to be a most 
 consistent Christian, upright in all his dealings with others, 
 full of zeal for the salvation of souls, and far ahead of most 
 Christians in his consistent daily walk. What else could 
 such a man need, and why should he spend month after 
 month in this useless search for something far beyond his 
 reach in this life ? 
 
 But he not only persevered in seeking for light himself, 
 but he tQok every opportunity of urging others to seek for 
 the same blessing, and very often in the little prayer 
 meeting he would so earnestly say, " I tell you, brethren, 
 there is an experience that we should all be seeking. We 
 all need something. Can you not see how very necessary 
 it is to have more life in Christ, and more of the presence of 
 God ? " 
 
 With silent lips my wicked heart would answer, "And 
 can you not see that your efforts are all fruitless, and that 
 you were much happier before you ever thought about this 
 experience, and would you not be better off to let it all 
 alone ? " I did not seem to myself to be resisting the Lord, 
 for I had no light on the subject, the Spirit had not revealed 
 to me the possibility of anything better than the experience 
 we had at conversion. I knew we must grow in grace, and 
 regretted that my growth was not at all apparent. It was a 
 great mystery to me how any one was to grow, as I thought 
 growth meant getting better, and doing better, and having 
 more work for the Lord ; and that this growth was attained 
 by culture, that is, cultivating whatever gifts one had, and 
 spending time in fasting and prayer. And as mine was 
 a very busy life, and on the whole happy, I seemed never 
 to get time for the necessary work attending growth in 
 grace. 
 
48 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 EYES OPENED. 
 
 The time came, God's time, for bringing me down out 
 of all my own ideas, and letting me see His way of filling 
 the heart with Himself. It was a lovely Sabbath morning 
 in the month of May, when, not feeling well, I was left 
 alone, my husband having gone to the only place of worship 
 in the valley, where services were held in a log meeting 
 house. I was looking over our books, and my eye chanced 
 to light on one left by a Methodist minister when on one 
 of his circuit visits to us. As he was our guest, and had 
 charged me to read this book before his return, which 
 would be in a few days' time, I took it to run over its pages, 
 so as to be able to say I knew what it was about. It was 
 upon the doctrine of Christian Perfection, and as I had 
 not the slightest interest in this subject, I was about to put 
 it down, when, on turning to the last pages of the book, I 
 saw the experiences of Professor Finney and Dr. Mahan. 
 I read these experiences with intense interest. 
 
 To my great astonishment, here I found living witnesses 
 to the fact of being filled with the presence of God, and 
 kept filled by the power of the Holy Ghost. They had 
 found out the great secret of the power of God to save them 
 from their sins, and this to my mind was something very 
 practical and most desirable. It was an actual fact that just 
 as they were delivered from condemnation and eternal death 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ, so they were delivered from 
 reigning sin, — they who had been troubled with the same 
 sins that beset me, sins that I sought most earnestly to put 
 down, such as anxiety, ambition, pride, a man-fearing spirit, 
 impatience, and love of the good opinion of others. 
 
 How often during my past Ufe had I written down reso- 
 lutions, and placed them on a chair, then kneeling before 
 them, asked the Lord to see how solemn a vow I was 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 49 
 
 making, would He help 7?ie to keep it ? To think of asking 
 God's help, as if I were the head, and He a helper in doing 
 that, which I afterwards saw w^as wholly His work to do 1 
 And now what light burst in upon me as to Who was to do 
 all ! I saw that it was as much God's work to save me from 
 my sins, as it was to convert my sciul in the first place. 
 
 CHRIST MUST DO ALL. 
 
 And could it be possible that this experience was just 
 what my husband had been seeking, without knowing 
 exactly what it was he so longed after ? To my mind it 
 now assumed such a definite form as to be within reach. 
 It was a tangible thing, this being saved from besetting sins. 
 I needed this very deliverance of which the brethren wrote, 
 and to which they testified, and I too made up my mind 
 that, cost what it might, this experience should be mine. 
 The first question that arose was, " How long would it take 
 to get hold of this new life ? " I feared I could not hold 
 out in any lengthened effort, as I still was happy in my 
 first love^ never having backslidden, but always delighting 
 in service for the Master. But I went down before the 
 Lord, and made, what seemed to me to be a very complete 
 surrender to Him of all that I had, and of myself as well. 
 I then asked the Lord to show me what else I had to do, 
 and He assured me that no further process was necessary. 
 He would do the rest. It was His work to cleanse and 
 keep me from sin. I trusted Plim to do all, and peace 
 filled my soul. My spirit was restful and serene as I let 
 myself go into His hands, believing in His power and will- 
 ingness to do everything I needed. Jesus was now 
 enthroned within as King, to reign and govern His own 
 dominion. 
 
 Precious moments these, but alas ! scarce twenty minutes 
 
50 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 passed ere a question arose in my mind. ** Have you given 
 your lips to the Lord ? Are you willing to tell what He is 
 to you now ? " 
 
 ** How can I do more than I have done in the way of 
 giving my lips, dear Lord ? Surely it cannot be that Thou 
 dost want me to speak in any public way, when the Word 
 says women are to keep silence in the churches ! I talk to 
 individuals ; I do pray in small circles ; and what else can I 
 do ?" It sounded in my heart, " You must tell what I am to 
 you wherever I wish; your lips are Mine, and must be fully 
 surrendered." 
 
 *' But there is no opportunity," I argued. This objection 
 was very quickly overruled, as the answer came that the 
 Methodist class was open to me. 
 
 "lean never go there," was my thought. " What will 
 such and such a one think and say ? I can never go there, 
 and it cannot be that the Lord wishes it." The pressure 
 increased ; my peace had taken wings, and I was in greater 
 darkness than I had been at any time since my conversion. 
 I tried to think this pressure was from Satan, but I could 
 not get away from it. Darker became my mind, and 
 heavier was my spirit, until at last I said, ** Lord, what can 
 I do ? I am not willing, and I cannot make myself wilHng 
 to speak in any public way, it is all so against what seems 
 right and proper. But, Lord, I give my unwiUingness to 
 Thee." 
 
 HOW LIGHT CAME. 
 
 It seemed but a moment ere I was more than willing to 
 tell out the story of what Jesus was, and what He could do 
 for all who would consecrate themselves, and trust fully in 
 Him. Only an hour before I had been in a spirit of oppo- 
 sition, not knowing what I was resisting. I did it in ignor- 
 ance, as thousands do. 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON, 51 
 
 When my husband returned home, I hastened to tell him 
 of my new-found rest of soul, and how the Lord had been 
 dealing with me during his absence. He, never thinking it 
 possible that I could so quickly have come into the ex- 
 perience he was seeking, said, ♦' The Lord be praised for 
 this ; you may get hold of it before I do," 
 
 " Get hold of it ? why there's nothing to get hold of, it is 
 letting go all hold of everything but Jesus." He was indeed 
 mystified, and scarcely knew what to say, but was very glad 
 to see me S3 full of delight in Jesus. I was greatly dis- 
 appointed, because I thought my dear husband would see 
 that Jesus would do all for him, as soon as I told him what 
 He had become to me. And now to find that he did not 
 see it at all, and could have no sympathy with me, when he 
 had been six months seeking, was as great a surprise to me 
 as my new-found joy was to him. But I was comforted to 
 know that the time was near at hand when he would see the 
 simplicity of trusting Jesus for everything, by letting all go, 
 and leaving all efforts and strugglings. And I said to him, 
 "What you want is faith." 
 
 "Yes, that must be so," he quickly replied, **for I have 
 tried everything else ; so now I will try to get faith." And 
 at once, his thoughts being directed to faith as the object 
 rather than the Lord Jesus, he was in as great difficulty as 
 before. But he kept on struggling after the necessary faith, 
 forgetting that faith must be centred on the Object — Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 THE HOUR ARRIVED FOR THE METHODIST 
 CLASS MEETING, 
 
 and I found my feet more than willing, for with joy did 
 I go forward to tell the blessedness of what Jesus could do. 
 I did not wish to speak of myself, for I saw how the Lord 
 
52 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 Jesus had come to take up His abode in my heart, on 
 purpose to reign as King over all its affections and desires. 
 
 My testimony in the class meeting stirred the people, and 
 I don't know how much good might have been done, had 
 not a brother said, ** Sister Boardman, you will not shrink 
 back from professing the whole truth, and calling things by 
 their right names. You'll have to profess perfection, or 
 you'll not keep the blessing." 
 
 "But I have no perfection to profess, I never before felt 
 my imperfection as I now do. I always thought myself 
 somebody, but now I see I am nothing and nobody." 
 
 *'Yes," replied the brother, "but all that need not 
 prevent your professing perfection, for it is not absolute 
 perfection we mean, but Christian perfection. And I am 
 sure you'll lose the blessing, if you do not come out boldly 
 on the subject, and declare the whole truth." 
 
 " But, brother, I cannot tell an untruth, and I am not 
 perfect, but Jesus is my perfect Saviour, and I cannot lose 
 Him. He has taken up His abode in my heart, and I do 
 not think He will go away while I trust Him to stay and 
 keep me. It is His presence that is my joy and happiness." 
 
 The words of the brother might have troubled me more 
 had not my mind been taken up with the thought of my 
 husband. I so longed to have him know this glorious 
 Saviour as I knew Him. But there seemed no prospect of 
 his ceasing all effort, for he was most intently seeking faith 
 
 Just at this time, the Lord, knowing our ignorance and 
 seeing our need, sent a dear sister in the Lord to stay with 
 us. She had a rich experience, and had seen something of 
 the error of those professing to be sanctified, but had 
 passed safely through the Scylla and Charybdis of perfec- 
 tionism on the one hand, and of indifference or opposition 
 on the other. 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 53 
 
 The bulk of professing Christians were then as now, 
 indifferent, or opposed to the glorious truth that Jesus can 
 deliver from the dominion of sin, and keep those who trust 
 Him from yielding to temptation. She had been a member 
 of Dr. Kirk's Church, in Albany, and fifteen years before 
 this, she was one of thirty members who had been turned 
 out, as having embraced great error. 
 
 Half of the thirty had gone into antinomian perfec- 
 tionism, which led them into many very extravagant ideas, 
 all the while under the impression that they were guided by 
 the Holy Spirit. Because they prayed without ceasing, 
 therefore they followed the suggestion of the adversary, that 
 secret prayer was unnecessary. On the same ground they 
 gave up family worship. So they imagined that the Lord 
 told them they need not observe the Sabbath, as they kept a 
 holy Sabbath every day in their souls. Therefore the wives 
 and daughters did the same on Sunday as on weekdays, and 
 while professing holiness, were not ashamed to be seen 
 seated at the window, engaged in sewing, on the Lord's 
 day. Thus Satan, as an angel of light, led them into many 
 errors, and brought into great disrepute the cause of Christ. 
 
 But this dear old lady, who had been dismissed from the 
 church with the others, but without sharing in their errors, 
 was God's special gift to us. She taught us many 
 things, and strengthened me in the belief that Jesus would 
 keep me in this blessed peace, if I never allowed anything 
 to come between my soul and Christ, but would take every- 
 thing to Him, just as a loving child would take all its little 
 wants to its mother. All this was a wonderful help for 
 had she put me upon the ground of what I must do, or 
 what I must be, she would have brought me into bondage, 
 instead of helping me to stand fast in the Hberty wherewith 
 Christ had set me free. As the days went on, we were 
 
54 MOVING FARTHER ON, 
 
 continually before the Lord in prayer for my dear husband, 
 and the time came when, in a little prayer meeting, he was 
 brought out. 
 
 Once a week we gathered together at the house of Mrs. 
 Galapsie for prayer and to give testimony. She was 
 an earnest Christian, living further up the ravine, and 
 had a large commodious room for this purpose. As we 
 were going to this meeting, I was feeling very desirous of 
 telling out what the Lord had done for me, as I had 
 promised Him I would do, but the fear of being called a 
 perfectionist was on my mind. And I said to my husband 
 that I should so delight to tell them at the meeting what 
 Jesus had become to me, but if they were going to call it 
 " perfection," as they did at the class meeting, I could not 
 speak of it, because I felt my imperfection as never before. 
 *'WhatshallI do?" 
 
 **You need not trouble yourself about this," he replied \ 
 "I have never found it of the least profit to dwell on 
 doctrines, and why should you ? Just tell out in a simple 
 way what Jesus has done for you, and what He is to you, 
 and let the rest alone. Trying to settle your experience 
 to suit the opinions of others, will only confuse you, and 
 you are nowhere told in the Word of God to profess 
 perfection." 
 
 " Sure enough," I exclaimed, and at once my soul was 
 set at liberty on this point ; then instantly my whole thoughts 
 were absorbed in my husband's state of mind, for it seemed 
 so very strange that he who had always been as my teacher, 
 leading me on, should now be in such distress of mind and 
 so oppressed. 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PRAYER MEETING. 
 
 For some time past there had been much interest in 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 55 
 
 this little prayer meeting. But on this most memorable 
 occasion one was leading who was not spiritually minded. 
 He was fond of hearing himself talk, and had consumed 
 nearly half the time allotted to the meeting in this sort of 
 self-entertainment. It was most trying thus to see the 
 precious moments frittered away, and my dear husband, 
 pressed as he was in spirit, felt like giving the man a sound 
 thrashing. And he fully determined, when he had finished 
 talking, to reprove him with great severity. He would tell 
 him to stay at home another time, and get his own cold 
 heart warmed up, and not come to a meeting like this, and 
 spread out his own views, thus taking all the life out of the 
 meeting. 
 
 Then came into his mind a far different thought, a gentle 
 suggestion from the Master of this meeting. " What would 
 Jesus do were He here. He, in all His compassion and love ; 
 what would He say? Jesus would not lose patience with the 
 individual. He would call attention to Himself, and in 
 some way He would draw all to look to Him as the Saviour, 
 and fill them with joy, as He did the woman at the well, 
 and make them rejoice in Himself by revealing His own 
 love." "If He were here, yes, if He were only here!" 
 thought my husband. Then came another word, so full, so 
 clear, ♦* Lo ! \ am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
 world." And faith, receiving what was said as a real fact, 
 brought the presence of Christ Himself, a risen Saviour, 
 alive from the dead, with him for evermore. Soon came 
 another word quite as clear, *' Thou shalt call His name 
 Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That 
 moment he rolled over upon Christ, as his present Saviour 
 from sin, the whole responsibility of keeping him. 
 
 A wonderful change was this after all the toiling and 
 struggling of the past half year ! It was in many respects 
 
56 MOVING FARTHER ON, 
 
 a glad surprise, a glorious disappointment. It was not 
 entirely different from what he had expected, but a great 
 deal better. He had been looking to be made holy in him- 
 self, instead of which his eyes were opened to see, and his 
 heart to accept, his own utter bankruptcy in himself, and 
 his solvency in Christ alone. And this was unspeakable 
 joy, because it bound him indissolubly to Christ for ever by 
 the bond of an absolutely necessary dependence for every- 
 thing pertaining to life and godliness. He now saw where 
 had been his great mistake. He had been toiling and 
 trying to believe for a completed work wrought in himself, 
 a state of sanctification, in which all would be completed, so 
 that he might take satisfaction in his own holiness, instead 
 of in Jesus his Sanctification. 
 
 My husband rose from his knees to his feet in the little 
 meeting to tell others what had been revealed to him. And 
 he had now something to say which he thought would thrill 
 every heart as it had done his own. He was greatly disap- 
 pointed that all present did not quickly respond. But even 
 the two who had already become somewhat convinced and 
 anxious for a fuller life in Christ did not meet his expecta- 
 tions. In his joy he had well nigh forgotten the wanderings 
 of the wilderness life in which he had spent half a year 
 before reaching the Land. But now fairly in the Land, and 
 seeing that it was but to step over Jordan and he was there, 
 he thought he could quickly point out the way to others. 
 But, alas ! he found that souls were puzzled and perplexed here 
 in this little meeting, and this calls to mind what he afterwards 
 wrote concerning his own journey ings from Egypt to Canaan. 
 
 We quote his own words : '* In all the wanderings of the 
 children of Israel I see my own experience wonderfully fore- 
 shown. Looking back over all the way in which the Lord 
 has led me, I see at every step two things — 
 
MOVING FARTHER ON. 57 
 
 " MY OWN SHAME AND GOD's GLORY. 
 
 *'When I look at my own part in it I see murmurs, and fears, 
 and rebellions ; but, wlien I look at God's part, I see the 
 whole route ablaze with His glory, His patience, forbear- 
 ance, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and love. Yes, and 
 in the Land He is all the glory of it. Oh ! how my heart 
 melts at the thought ! " 
 
 Again we take up his own expression of the heart- 
 felt satisfaction experienced this very hour of the revelation 
 of God to him : " But, oh, when the Lord led me into rest 
 of heart in Jesus for sanctification, how sweet it was ! What 
 an hour was that, and what a place ! If ten years before 
 the open vision of Christ on the cross had made the little 
 school-house, where forgiveness was shown me, the gate of 
 heaven — this place where now I saw Jesus in His invincible 
 presence with me, face to face, though it was only a plain 
 widow's cottage on earth, seemed within the walls of heaven. 
 
 what a revelation was that to me, when in the very name 
 of Jesus — so called because He should ' save His people 
 from their sins' — His office as my Emancipator from sin was 
 embodied ! O how my soul was gladdened with the assur- 
 ance that the work would be done, that I should be purified 
 unto God, and made zealous of good works, and should be 
 kept by the power of God, and presented faultless before 
 the throne in the great day, when I saw that it was the 
 work and the delight of the Saviour to do this for me ! 
 Henceforth, in this matter, my soul was at rest ; and, oh, 
 what a peace flowed in upon me and overflowed me ! Then 
 
 1 could realize the preciousness of the words of Christ, ' My 
 peace I give unto you,' and of the prophet's wonderful 
 words, ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind 
 is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.' Hence- 
 forth, the Bible, precious as it had been to me before, 
 
58 MOVING FARTHER ON. 
 
 received a double illumination to my apprehension. A 
 mighty vein, before hidden, now unfolded itself, insomuch 
 that the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, was 
 again a new book to me. Here, again, for this new neces- 
 sity my heart had found its rest, and every want was 
 satisfied." 
 
 However, the experience of the six months of mistaken 
 efforts, before coming into the light, were of great benefit to 
 him all through life. It enabled him to teach others to 
 avoid these self-imposed processes, and to lead them to 
 come directly to Jesus, to find in Him every need of the 
 soul met. Yes, fully met. To him it was not the end 
 of sanctification, but the beginning of a life of full, abiding 
 union with Jesus. It was a new and better starting 
 point for full and real progress in all time to come, 
 all the springs of which were in Christ, not in him- 
 self. And this gave him unbounded satisfaction, because it 
 bound him to Christ for all future progress, and gave him 
 the precious assurance that there would be no end of growth, 
 and also no stint of fruitage. Glory be to God ! 
 
BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 
 
 NEW era dawned, not only upon the little 
 nucleus of Christians in Potosi, but upon 
 the whole valley and neighbourhood around. 
 The Christians were the first moved upon 
 by God. One after another came into the 
 light as Christ was revealed to them, and week after week 
 the interest increased, so that the people came together 
 almost every evening without waiting to be invited, and 
 souls were gathered into the fold. Among these were many 
 young men with mothers at home, whose prayers had 
 followed them to this land whither they had come to seek 
 their fortunes. Our hearts were stirred within us as we 
 saw those who had left their comfortable homes now living 
 in shanties with rough men, steeped in all sorts of dissipa- 
 tion. There was no more effective way of reaching them 
 than by getting hold of one at a time, and drawing them 
 out to tell us something of their childhood and home life. 
 It usually brought tears to their eyes to speak of their 
 parents and sisters who were left behind. We frequently 
 found there was a chord in each heart that could be 
 
60 BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST, 
 
 touched, especially such as had felt the pressure of a 
 mother's hand upon their heads as they knelt at her side, 
 and looking up to God, said the simple prayer of childhood. 
 I recollect a man, past thirty years of age, who could only 
 pray in the words, *' Now I lay me down to sleep," though he 
 was anything but sleepy, in fact, was wide awake in seeking 
 the salvation of his soul. He often laughed about his first 
 attempts at prayer after he had become accustomed to 
 speaking before others, and had learned how to speak with 
 the Lord as if in His immediate presence. 
 
 A SCOFFER SAVED. 
 
 One young man who was talking about the revival in the 
 town, and ridiculing religion with a number of others in a 
 neighbouring drinking saloon, was induced to come over to 
 our house to hear what I might have to say, so that he 
 could return to his companions and make fun of it. I was 
 well known to them, as I was accustomed to meet them on 
 their own ground in the drinking saloon, where I went to 
 give tracts and to talk to them. The young man came, and 
 was received by me with very great delight, because I 
 thought the Lord had sent him that he should be saved. 
 My husband being away attending a meeting, I was left 
 alone with him, and we fell into conversation, he doing 
 most of the talking by being drawn out to tell of his early 
 life ; and when •! found he had a praying mother, I was 
 sure the time had come for her prayer to be answered, and 
 pressed him to accept Christ now. 
 
 Some weeks after this I happened to be at a meeting, and 
 heard him telling his experience, and how God met him 
 at that very time. He did not wish to return to the drink- 
 ing place that night, and when he met his companions, it 
 was to tell them how he had humbled his heart before God, 
 and began to pray in our house the night he left them. 
 
BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. CI 
 
 We found it very blessed to be able to point those who 
 were saved, to a Saviour who could take away every unholy 
 desire, and set them free from the appetite of strong drink. 
 It would have been a tremendous fight for them to have 
 tried to stand in their own strength against the evil influences 
 around them. Under the old teaching of trying to over- 
 come sin by good resolutions, or striving to conquer old 
 habits by a determination of will, none could have stood their 
 ground, but when taught that there was One who would 
 undertake all for then\ that He would save from sin and 
 keep that which was committed unto Him, many who were 
 then saved, turned from their own trying to trust Jesus. 
 
 It was not long before the report of what was going on 
 in Potosi spread through the mining region around. A 
 message came from one of the chief citizens of a place 
 sixteen miles away. He was in great distress of mind, as 
 well as body, being confined to the house by disease of the 
 arteries, and expected to die at~any moment. Although he 
 had been for forty years an officer in the church before 
 coming to this wicked country, yet he had never heard how 
 Jesus could save those who thus trusted Him, from all de- 
 pression of spirits, and lift them out of all doubts and fears. 
 He wanted Mr. Boardman to come to him with the secret 
 of salvation from sin, and called together his friends and 
 neighbours to hear what my husband had to say of this 
 wonderful salvation. They listened with intense interest. 
 Everyone present seemed stirred up to seek deliverance 
 from the dominion of sin, and another meeting was sug- 
 gested for the next week. In the second meeting some of 
 those who had been seeking for light, and longing to know 
 how to be saved from anxieties and all their besetting sins, 
 came into perfect liberty. It was a glorious revelation to 
 them. 
 
62 BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 
 BURNING THE BRIDGE. 
 
 The suffering brother at whose house we had gathered 
 was also brought out into full liberty, as my husband was 
 showing that those who wished to enter this life of victory 
 over sin must make a thorough consecration of all to Jesus, 
 and not leave one thing to fall back upon as a dependence. 
 All hope of doing anything must be abandoned. Trust in 
 Jesus must be complete, they must do as Washington did at 
 the Brandy-wine — burn the bridge behind them. They 
 must step off, and step over upon the promises, not only 
 by believing with the heart, but by confessing with the 
 mouth. 
 
 He had scarcely time to close the sentence before the 
 sufferer arose and exclaimed, "I'll burn the bridge! I see 
 how it is, no retreat possible. I am free, and feel light as 
 a feather, all the depression gone ! Praise the Lord, He is 
 the One who will do all when we surrender all. I see I 
 have been afraid to venture fully. It is so like conversion, 
 you can all see how simple it is — ^just putting oneself into 
 the hands of God." 
 
 This brother's testimony gave a great impetus to the 
 meeting, and two weeks later on, when my husband visited 
 him again, what was his astonishment to find him engaged 
 in hard labour at his wood pile, sawing wood. *' And how- 
 is this ? What can it mean ? " exclaimed my husband on 
 seeing him look so well. 
 
 •' Mean ! " he repeated, " It means that I am a well man, 
 I who have been pronounced incurable by several doctors, 
 I who have not been out of my house for six months, 
 here I am strong and well, delivered from all disease. 
 The Lord hath done wonders for body as well as soul ! " 
 
 " Do you say that God has actually healed your body ? " 
 
 *' Yes, He has done it Himself. As I had trusted Him for 
 
BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDIXG IN CHRIST. 63 
 
 my soul, and He had delivered me from that awful 
 depression and anxiety that weighed upon me so heavily, 
 just so I thought He could and would heal my body. I 
 fully believed He would hke to have me free in body, 
 so that I could go round proclaiming what He had done, and 
 what He had become to me. And you may be sure people 
 will hear of it, I'm not going to keep still. I tell you, brother 
 Boardman, I never was so happy or so strong in body as I 
 am to day ', I am a new man, body, soul, and spirit." 
 
 Thus early in our Uves did the Lord seek to teach us the 
 fulness of His redemption for the body as well as for soul 
 and spirit. But not until late in life, many years after- 
 wards, did we learn to understand this glorious fact. 
 
 The work of God and all His wonderful doings spread 
 from place to place. Dumb spirits were cast out, so that 
 the mouths of those were opened to speak forth the praises 
 of God, whose lips had been closed in silence all their lives, 
 and a tide of blessing spread through the country all about. 
 
 THE TWO EVANGELISTS. 
 
 It was the custom in this country for settled pastors to 
 have time given to them to go and help the feeble churches. 
 Hearing of the work that was going on at Potosi, Mr. 
 
 Holbroke, of and another minister came over 
 
 to help us. Seeing the great need of Evangelistic work in 
 the place, and the spiritual hunger of the people, they con- 
 sented to remain and hold a series of meetings if any 
 suitable place could be found. The little log church, 
 already built, was refused them, but a much larger log 
 building was found, and the counters, shelves, stairway, etc., 
 were taken out of it, and seats and desk put in. The 
 people gave the necessary money joyfully, and worked at it 
 with delight ; and it was quickly done. 
 4 
 
64 BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 
 
 The meetings began. The season was the worst of the 
 year. Winter was breaking up, frost coming out of the 
 ground, snow melting, rain falUng, and the mud in the 
 streets very deep, yet the house was full every night. A 
 converted hotel-keeper had a good pair of horses and a stout 
 wagon, and never were they put to better use than in 
 bringing load after load of those who could not wade to the 
 meeting ; while those who could make their own way 
 through mud and water did so. Three weeks the meetings 
 went on, and a great work was done. The tide was rising 
 still, but the ministers could remain no longer. They left, 
 and now what was to be done ? 
 
 The Lord solved the question. My husband in this emer- 
 gency was laid hold upon by the brethren, who said, " You 
 must take the lead ; try and give us a sermon next Sunday, 
 and we will sustain you by prayer." 
 
 ** I cannot preach," was the reply. 
 
 " Then do what is very much better for us here, give us 
 a talk ; there are plenty of hungry souls to be fed." 
 
 Thus pushed forward, he took his stand in the desk on 
 the following Sunday, and I shall never forget how my heart 
 beat with fearful anxiety lest he should break down. The 
 text was, " Adam, where art thou ? " I must say I was 
 thankful when all the hiding places of the soul had been 
 laid before the people and the discourse ended ; it was a 
 relief to know that my dear husband had got through, and 
 found plenty to say. I fear in that first attempt at pulpit 
 oratory I was too much occupied with how he should get 
 through to think much about the people. And there was no 
 need of anxiety, for it was all written out, and there was 
 nothing to prevent him from reading what was before him. 
 
 Being thus led out, my husband went to work to build 
 a house of worship, as the present place had become too 
 
BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 65 
 
 small to accommodate the people. The money for this was 
 not obtained by bazaars, concerts, or entertainments of any 
 kind, but collected from the men of the town. The saloon- 
 keepers gave towards it, and no one at the card table thought 
 of refusing to aid in this work. They would lay aside their 
 cards, and write down their names in the subscription book 
 in the most business-like way, then return to their occupa- 
 tion without in the least appearing to have been disturbed. 
 
 The house was built of brick, a good substantial building. 
 Many a man was drawn into it because he had an interest 
 in it as a subscriber ; so more of these men were finally 
 brought into the fold of Christ than ever could have been, 
 had they not given their money towards the building of this 
 place of worship. While my husband was pushing forward 
 with the building, and taking charge of the Sunday services, 
 he longed more than ever to be wholly free from all business 
 trammels. And before the completion of the church, the 
 Lord in infinite wisdom opened the way, and led him out, 
 free from debt, and from all habilities of every kind. It was 
 a happy release, and he now went forward as being practically 
 the leader and pastor. 
 
 Meanwhile the people were very desirous to have him 
 ordained as a minister of the Gospel, that thus he might be 
 able to administer all the ordinances of the sanctuary. The 
 presbytery of the United Congregational and Presbyterian 
 Churches, meeting at a neighbouring town, were in session, 
 and my husband, pressed by the people as well as by the 
 circumstances in which the Lord had placed him, went for- 
 ward, and was ordained. 
 
 All seemed united and happy in this arrangement, both 
 pastor and people. The Lord continued to bless the little 
 church gathered in this wilderness ; souls were added, and 
 many desperately wicked men and women were brought 
 
66 BLESSED /RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 
 
 into the fold. Two Irishwomen, who had been drinking 
 and fighting in the streets so fiercely as to draw blood, were 
 among the number added to the fold of God, and became 
 active in bringing others in to be saved. There were also 
 visitations of judgment at this time. One man, who was 
 passing the Httle church while it was in process of building, 
 cursed the people at work upon it, and used blasphemous 
 language which it was awful to hear. Before that same hour 
 next day he was in eternity, struck dead by the God whom 
 he had defied. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES IN THE WORK. 
 
 The Mormons were troublesome. They came to the 
 meetings and would persist in giving out their own place 
 and hour of gathering, after this fashion : " A Mormon 
 Elder will hold a meeting, in which you will hear the Bible 
 explained in the light of the new discoveries of the Mormon 
 Church," or something to that effect. They seemed to 
 have an influence upon those who were awakened and had 
 begun to enquire after the truth, and some who were under 
 conviction were drawn quite away. They were beguiled 
 into thinking the Mormon must be right, because for a 
 whole hour he quoted or read from the Bible, one part after 
 another, without note or comment. ** So very Scriptural," 
 the ignorant would say ; ** I like all that from the Bible ; 
 what the Word of God says must be true." And some of 
 the listeners were persuaded to be immersed, which, in every 
 instance, put an end to all their serious impressions, as they 
 were taught that all their sins were washed away by this 
 observance. 
 
 One man, who was a very sober, honest, steady man of 
 business, a moral man but not seeing the need of the 
 blood of Jesus, was awakened. The Spirit strove with him 
 
BLESSED RESULTS OF ABIDING IN CHRIST. 67 
 
 until he lost all appetite, and became ill with fever. When 
 he was convalescent we prayed with him and talked to him 
 every day. Sometimes he seemed on the point of yielding 
 himself to God, but something kept him back. We found 
 that the Mormons were coming daily to see him, and 
 he was vacillating, sometimes believing that he must accept 
 salvation through the Blood, and then, turning from the 
 Cross, he would be drawn to follow his natural inclination 
 to be saved by doing something. Finally he said, '* I 
 must ,try the Mormon plan," and nothing that could be said 
 was of the least avail to turn him from his purpose. He 
 was immersed, and much gibberish was said over him, and 
 many promises made to encourage his faith in Mormonism. 
 But, alas ! from the day he yielded to their persuasions he 
 became hardened against God. In fact, afterwards he went 
 from bad to worse, until in less than a year he died, blas- 
 pheming God. 
 
 This was a lawless place, and there were terrible forms of 
 sin with which to contend. Though Wisconsin was not a 
 slave state, men, in spite of the law, held slaves in bondage, 
 and they were so hardened in heart that it did not seem 
 possible to approach them. The pro-slavery feeling was 
 very strong; many of the people having come from the 
 South, full of prejudice against abolition. Potosi w^as ac- 
 cessible to the slave-holder ; he could come up the Missis- 
 sippi river bringing his slaves with him, and, in this lawless 
 place, be protected by public sentiment which is often 
 stronger than law. 
 
 One case grieved us greatly, that of a Mulatto woman, 
 who took in washing. She was most valuable in the com- 
 munity, where it was almost impossible to get anything of 
 the kind done. She had been converted, and was a great 
 favourite with all whom she served. Hearing that her 
 
68 BLESSED RESULTS OF ABLDING IN CHRIST. 
 
 master was going back to the South, she became alarmed, 
 and we had promised to protect her from this cruel man. 
 He however, seeing she was afraid, told her she could be 
 quiet, he should not take her back with him. Thus he 
 managed to lull all our fears, and then carried his point in 
 this way. He waited until a steamer was at the landing, 
 then took the mother and children by night, and driving 
 furiously down to the river, held a whip over her head, 
 threatening to kill her and his own children if either uttered 
 a word. Thus was she dragged back into the darkness of 
 slavery with her little ones, and to what, God only knows ! 
 What notes of gratitude rise from the hearts of those who 
 have witnessed even a very little of the evils of slavery, 
 knowing it is done with ; that slavery no more exists in the 
 United States. Praise the Lord 1 
 
HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM. 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM IN A SCHOOL OF 
 THE PROPHETS. 
 
 LTHOUGH SO pleasantly situated with the 
 little congregation gathering at Potosi, and 
 although amply sustained, — all our temporal 
 needs being supplied by them, — neverthe- 
 less, my husband felt deeply his need of 
 culture and of special training for his work, and yearned 
 for an opportunity of going to some theological school 
 where he could take a full course of study. God answered 
 his prayers by a very unlooked-for series of events. 
 
 Near the middle of the second year of his ministry, 
 when he was about thirty-four years of age, an agent of the 
 Wisconsin Anti-Slavery Society came to Potosi and asked 
 for the use of the Church, in order to speak to the people 
 in the name of the Lord, on behalf of the poor slaves of 
 the South. It was not in my husband's heart to refuse, 
 though he knew that excitement must follow. A dema- 
 gogue, seeing that he could make political capital of this, 
 took the matter up, challenged the stranger to a public 
 
70 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM 
 
 discussion, and soon raised so great a storm that the man's 
 life was in danger. 
 
 My husband had taken part in the discussion on the side 
 of Hberty, and now took the stranger to his own house for 
 protection ; and soon the storm passed over sufficiently for 
 him to be sent away in safety. But from that day the tide 
 of popular feeling turned, and ceased to set towards the 
 church, and Mr. Boardman saw at once that this was the 
 opportunity for which he had been longing. As soon as 
 provision could be made to supply his place, he struck his 
 tent and departed. 
 
 LANE SEMINARY IN OHIO, 
 
 Was the school of his choice, and there the \velcome he 
 received was very hearty, and peculiar respect was paid 
 to him. No doubt the knowledge of the work the Lord 
 had already done by him in Potosi, paved the way for 
 the work He purposed to do through him at Lane. 
 Nevertheless it was all very different from what we had 
 anticipated. My husband had taken it for granted that a 
 *• School of the prophets" would be all alive, and full 
 of interest in all the experimental realities of faith. It was 
 a sad surprise to find the whole drift of thought and 
 aspiration setting, not toward the Lord, nor toward a 
 deeper personal acquaintance with God, but rather toward 
 the acquisition of such knowledge as should make eloquent 
 orators, or professional scholars ; men who should be great 
 before their fellow men, rather than instruments wholly 
 yielded up to God for His use. 
 
 My husband saw that there was a necessity for evan- 
 gelistic work amongst Christians, and that to be effectual, it 
 should be especially amongst the young men preparing for ^ 
 the ministry. The opportunity presented was a grand one. 
 
IN A SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 71 
 
 Here were sixty-six young men associated together in the 
 same place and the same pursuit, all looking forward to be 
 engaged in the ministry of the Gospel, some of them intend- 
 ing to remain with him in the school three years, some two, 
 and none of them less than one year — yet he alone among 
 them all possessed the great secret of the real presence of 
 Christ within the heart, as a living Saviour from the 
 dominion of sin. He alone knew Jesus also as a constant 
 and faithful Keeper of that which is committed to Him.* 
 
 It did not take long to show that there were mountains 
 of difficulty on every side, impossible of removal to any but 
 the Lord Himself; my husband, therefore, betook himself 
 to prayer without ceasing on this behalf. Two very distinct 
 requests were pressed daily at the throne of mercy ; the one 
 was for wisdom — seeing his own need of it, so to speak and 
 act as to win his fellow-students and not excite their preju- 
 dices ; and the other was for the interposition of God's 
 power to remove the difficulties. But alas ! the mountains 
 seemed to grow instead of falling down, and the necessity 
 of wisdom from God was still more deeply apprehended 
 from day to day. Encouraged by the promise of wisdom 
 given in James, and the gift of wisdom to Solomon, he set 
 himself to follow the example of Daniel, and waited on the 
 Lord, taking no "pleasant food," for three weeks, with 
 heart uplifted for those two things, wisdom and the power 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT AT THE SEMINARY. 
 
 The three full weeks came and went without my husband 
 seeing any distinct answer to either the one or the other of 
 these petitions. Then he became convinced that nothing 
 he could do would bring down the blessing so much needed. 
 And at the end of his fasting, having come to the end of 
 
72 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM 
 
 self-effort, he accepted his helplessness, and accepted God's 
 power to work, thus entering into rest respecting the students 
 for whom he had been burdened. This, the moment of 
 man's extremity, proved to be God's opportunity. The 
 Lord said to him, as He said to Daniel : " From \k\^ first day 
 thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thy- 
 self before thy God, thy words were heard." The following 
 is his own record of God's teaching at this time: — 
 
 " The twenty-first day of my abstinence came on the day 
 set apart for prayer for colleges. The dinner hour of that 
 day was given up by a fellow student and myself to prayer 
 instead of eating. We were bowed together in my room. 
 As the hour drew to its close, whilst waiting before the 
 Lord, He sweetly unfolded to me the fact, that Jesus with 
 me, was my Wisdom, and ihdX Jesus with me, tvas fny Power. 
 I had been seeking imparted wisd6m and power in myself, 
 just as I had once sought sanctification in myself, but now 
 I found embodied Wisdom and Power in Jesus. My heart 
 was at rest; at rest in Jesus. I saw that with such a Saviour 
 always at hand to counsel and direct me, I need never lack 
 wisdom for any emergency into which He might bring me ; 
 and I saw that in the hands of such a Leader and Com- 
 mander, His cause would not suffer, nor would His followers 
 lack any amount of power for whatever work He should 
 give them to do. Oh, how sweet was now the rest of my 
 heart in Jesus ! My burden was all gone ; my soul was all 
 buoyant ; my mourning was ended, and my heart was sing- 
 ing from morning till night, and from night till morning. 
 Thus it was that my wonderful Teacher taught me the 
 lesson of 
 
 "SERVICE BY FAITH. 
 
 ** I had been overwhelmed with my responsibilities and 
 desires. Now, although I still stood alone, I had turned 
 
IN A SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 73 
 
 over all my responsibilities to my great Burden-bearer, and 
 had a heart as light as if there had been nothing to do or to 
 desire— yea, far lighter, for it was full of delight. Thence- 
 forth, I no more carried the burden of the Lord's work, but 
 He carried me, burden and all, and my only burden was 
 the burden of joy. 
 
 " And what did the Lord do as to His own work? And 
 how was it as to wisdom for the difficulties before me ? 
 While teaching me this lesson of rest in Him, the Lord 
 Himself had been working, and convincing some of the 
 students of the necessity of being fully yielded to God for 
 the work of the ministry. 
 
 *' One of them came to our house as an enquirer, humbled 
 and dispirited. His fellow students and the Faculty, the 
 
 seminary social circle, all knew S as the greatest worker for 
 
 the Lord among them. Once before, when in spiritual 
 distress he had sought from a minister some help out of his 
 difficulties, the advice he received was that he should work 
 yet more earnestly, and in the press of work his doubts for 
 the time disappeared. 
 
 " But when the power of God was manifest in the seminary, 
 and he had tangible proof that a life, which he had not 
 before known, was becoming the blessed experience of others, 
 he was at once upon the stretch after it. He came to me 
 with the question, * What shall I do ? * 
 
 " ' What have you been doing ? ' 
 
 "'Working' 
 
 " * It is trusting, not working, by which God has ordained 
 to save sinners.' 
 
 " 'What ! Do you say that working to save others will not 
 deliver me from my own sins ? ' 
 
 '• ' I do. Work is not the Saviour, Jesus alone can save ; 
 works spring from faith, not faith from works.' 
 
74 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM 
 
 *' ' Do you say that praying and fasting, reading the Bible, 
 and teaching others to do so, will not, under Jesus, save my 
 soul from the power of corruption? ' 
 
 " ' I do say just that. Your own work for yourself or 
 others can never save your soul. You are rejecting Jesus 
 the only Saviour, and putting your own imperfect and 
 polluted work in His stead ; not, it is true, as your merit, 
 but as the power by which God is to save you. Jesus alone 
 is the Saviour, and trust in Him alone is the condition upon 
 which He saves.' 
 
 " The effect of this one moment's conversation was over- 
 whelming to poor S . Every prop upon which he was 
 
 leaning seemed to be suddenly stricken from under him. 
 His footing seemed in one instant to have changed from the 
 firmness of the solid rock to the mobility of quicksand. He 
 threw himself back in his arm-chair, clasped his hands over 
 his face, and a convulsive shiver shook his manly frame 
 from head to foot in every muscle. He grew pallid and horror- 
 stricken, rolled up his eyeballs convulsively, and exclaimed 
 hoarsely, huskily catching for breath like one in the agonies 
 of sudden death, * I am sinking, I am sinking— into hell ! ' 
 
 " I was confounded for a moment, then most affectionately 
 
 and urgently assured S that he could not sink into hell, 
 
 Jesus was with him and would save him ; but all in vain. 
 Constrained at last to leave him to himself and the 
 Saviour, with a subdued and saddened spirit 1 went to my 
 own quarters, to bear the poor fellow up before the mercy 
 
 seat. Next morning I found S pale but peaceful, 
 
 stripped of all glorying and trusting in works, and resting 
 now upon Jesus, humbled, quiet, and subdued. He lived to 
 work on, revival after revival crowned his labours. But he 
 will never again put his works in the place of Jesus as his 
 Saviour from sin." 
 
IN A SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 75 
 
 MR. L 'S EXPERIENCE. 
 
 He had a prominent place in the seminary, and was very 
 much interested in all that he heard of the deeper Hfe in 
 Christ. He became convinced that he did not possess what 
 
 he heard Mr. S and others speak about. Mr. Boardman 
 
 put the following question to him in a very direct way : 
 " What is your thought upon this subject ? Do you beheve 
 that every Christian may have this experience of deliverance 
 from all their besetting sins ?" 
 
 ** I know brother S has found out some secret of which 
 
 I am ignorant. I cannot understand what it is. But I 
 know I need deliverance from depression, which at times 
 comes upon me Uke a nightmare, and unfits me for all my 
 duties." 
 
 "From that, brother, you may have perfect deliverance. 
 It is not the Lord who oppresses or depresses you, but 
 Satan ; and if you will give over all your own care of this, 
 and accept Jesus to deliver, He will free you entirely." 
 
 "But I tell you honestly that I fear if I were to come 
 into this, it would make me unpopular with the Faculty, for 
 they do not altogether approve of what is going on, es- 
 pecially Professor A . He seems to be actually opposed, 
 
 while the others are looking on with fear lest something 
 heterodox should grow out of it. You see I should not like 
 to be out of joint with them." 
 
 " But, brother, it will not do to regard man more than 
 God. You cannot come into this glorious experience with- 
 out sacrificing your reputation. We cannot believe so long 
 as we * receive honour one of another, and seek not the 
 honour that cometh from God only.' " 
 
 " Yet," replied IMr. L , *' this would make one so 
 
 peculiar, so different to other Christians. It seems a separa- 
 tion from everything and everybody one holds dear. I 
 
76 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM 
 
 find it much more difficult to give up all now than I did at 
 the time of my conversion. Then my friends prayed that 
 I might be brought out of all my sceptical notions. I foresee 
 now only opposition from these very friends who desired my 
 conversion, who helped and encouraged me, and congratula- 
 ted me upon coming into the Kingdom. I am sure I shall be 
 branded as a fanatic if I take this stand and come out openly." 
 
 " This is so," said my husband. " The Holy Spirit has 
 revealed to you the true position of things, and you must 
 choose for yourself whether it shall be a hfe of ups and downs, 
 without joy, without salvation from the power of sin ; or a 
 life of blessed continuous victory, with the consciousness of 
 a real personal Saviour always with you, making heaven in 
 your soul by His divine presence." 
 
 " I see the difference ; but I fear in that case no church 
 would receive me as a pastor. I have looked forward to a 
 large sphere, as pastor of some influential church in the city, 
 for which my friends think I have the talent. I shall soon 
 be through my course here, so you see how all my future 
 prospects would be dashed to pieces." 
 
 *' Yes, that is all true, dear brother. You have such a 
 position opened before you, as perhaps no other student 
 here has or can have ; but with Jesus as your Head, and 
 enthroned in your heart, an obscure life in the far West 
 would outshine all your bright prospects without Jesus 
 filling the true place in your life. There is nothing worth 
 living for if Christ does not occupy the throne of your affec- 
 tions, as the very God of love and peace. He can put an 
 end to all ambition. I myself had quite as much as you 
 have, but without your opportunities of having it gratified, 
 for I had neither your talent nor your influence among the 
 church authorities ; but the Lord has graciously taken it 
 from me — praise His name ! " 
 
IN A SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 77 
 
 " I have opened my heart freely to you, dear Boardman," 
 
 replied Mr. L , *' as I never before did to anyone, and I 
 
 tell you I cannot sleep at night for thinking of all this, I 
 feel such a pressure upon me ; but I am not yet prepared 
 for the surrender." 
 
 They parted, but that very evening this brother found his 
 way back to our house so burdened, that he exclaimed as 
 soon as seated, ** Brother Boardman, I shall die if I do not 
 have this experience ! I cannot live another hour without 
 it ; I am willing now to make the fullest surrender of all to 
 the Lord ; what else shall I do ? " 
 
 Now that L had come to the point of co7isecratio?i and 
 
 full surrender, it was easy to lead him on to the place of 
 faith, and to show him that he had nothing to do but drop 
 into the Lord's hands. He did so, and found peace and joy 
 in believing. 
 
 EXPERIENCE OF MR. H . 
 
 Among the students there was one young man whom 
 God had endowed with many gifts, and who had become 
 exceedingly anxious to have the blessing he saw some of 
 his fellow students enjoying. But there seemed to be a 
 hindrance; something stood in his way. Although natu- 
 rally frank and open-hearted, yet there was a reserve about 
 him which quite puzzled my husband. Time after time he 
 came and went away without getting one ray of light. We 
 were greatly interested in his case, and were often in prayer 
 for him, beseeching the Lord to bring him out into full 
 liberty. We had not then learned, what the Lord has since 
 taught us, that when we ask we are to believe that we 
 receive, and we shall have. The Lord however answered 
 
 our prayer, and the secret was revealed ; Mr. H was 
 
 engaged to be married to one who was not a decided 
 Christian, and he suffered under the thought that he must 
 
78 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM 
 
 give her" up. His heart rebelled against doing this, and yet 
 he knew that he could not lead a consecrated life if this 
 lady should become his wife. Then again, he did not see 
 how he could honourably relinquish the engagement, so 
 that his bondage was not merely the silken thread, he 
 was in real iron fetters as well. But at last he told out his 
 heart-trial, and my husband assured him that he need have 
 no difficulty whatever. He advised him to write to his 
 friend, and tell her that his mind was impressed wiih the 
 fact that God was calling him to a sphere of labour very 
 different from that which he had marked out for himself, — 
 that instead of seeking a rich congregation in some large 
 town, he felt called to go either to the foreign field as a 
 missionary, or to labour for the Master in some part of 
 the West, where labourers were much needed. He also 
 advised him to ask her frankly, if she thought she could 
 give up all she would be obliged to surrender, in order to 
 accompany him ? Thus the great difficulty was solved. 
 Mr. H. saw that this course would be right and honourable ; 
 his heavenly Father must be first, and it was his determin- 
 ation to let Him have the entire control of his future life. 
 He therefoie put the whole matter into God's hands, leaving 
 the result with Him. This done, every hindrance dis- 
 appeared, all was on the Altar, and he felt himself a free 
 man. From that hour he entered into the Hberty wherewith 
 God makes His people free, and left the house, strong in 
 the sweet consciousness of the presence of a risen Saviour. 
 He went to his room and wrote the letter, but just after it 
 was posted, he received one from the young lady, saying 
 that she had not been pleased with his last letters, and she 
 feared he was becoming righteous over much ; that he had 
 hinted something about a foreign field of labour which she 
 did not quite understand. She finished her letter saying, 
 
IN A SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS. 79 
 
 that if he was willing to drop all further correspondence, 
 she for her part should prefer doing so. 
 
 The Bible had for years been a very great delight to Mr. 
 
 H , but the morning after this full surrender of that 
 
 which had been nearly as dear to him as his own soul, he 
 opened the Word with fresh delight. His eye fell on these 
 words, " They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness 
 of Thine House ; and Thou shalt make them drink of the 
 river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of 
 life; in Thy light shall we see light.'' And again in the 
 sixty-third psalm, " My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow 
 and fatness ; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful 
 lips." He afterwards said that when he took up his Bible 
 to find any passage, he was Hke a little boy sent on an 
 errand who, going through a garden of flowers and fruits, 
 stopped to pluck the fruit and pick the flowers ; his attention 
 was so arrested by the beauties lying along his pathway, that 
 he quite forgot what he had on his mind when he first 
 started out. 
 
 A volume might be filled with illustrations of the 
 work of grace wrought by God among the students of 
 Lane Seminary, for these were but the first fruits. Several 
 of them left, the first year of our stay there, to go forth and 
 proclaim the truth as the Lord had taught them, knowing 
 that He had said, '' Lo, I am with you alway," and, " Thou 
 shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from 
 their sins." 
 
 Our house soon became the resort of those whose hearts 
 were opened. Very often our little room was filled with those 
 wishing to have a private meeting, and the neighbours, 
 who were interested, felt quite hurt that they were not invited 
 to partake of the fatness of His House. But alas ! the lack 
 of room was a difficulty not easily overcome, and thus the 
 
80 HIGHER LIFE EVANGELISM. 
 
 students found it quite necessary not to let us know when 
 they were coming, lest the room should be over filled. 
 
 No other three years of my husband's life bore the like 
 fruit. It does not often fall to the lot of man to have such 
 a glorious opportunity. Those were wonderful years. So 
 far from being time lost as to actual work and present fruit- 
 age, it may be questioned whether so much could have been 
 accomplished in the same time, in any work anywhere in the 
 world. Three classes of students, sixty-six in all, passed out 
 of the Seminary into the ministry direct from the atmosphere 
 of this remarkable work. Two other classes entered and 
 came under its influence. All these felt the pressure, but 
 all did not make the necessary surrender, for many refused 
 to yield to the truth. But from year to year the work was 
 continued. Who can tell the good thus disseminated 
 through the church and the world ? 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 81 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 FTER finishing his three years' course of 
 study at Lane Seminary, Mr. Boardman felt 
 a very great desire for missionary work. The 
 harder the field of labour, and the greater 
 the difficulties to be overcome, the better 
 pleased would he be, as he saw in the Lord such possi- 
 bilities for overcoming every obstacle. 
 
 Accordingly, in the year 1846 we set out for the far 
 West, to seek a wilderness home, where the ground had 
 never been broken. Central Indiana was our choice, it being 
 specially destitute of all religious privileges. On arriving at 
 Indianapolis, Mr. Boardman made his w^ay to the house of 
 Henry Ward Beecher, with whom he was acquainted, and ex- 
 pressed to him his desire of having a hard mission field, 
 where no one else was willing to labour. In his peculiarly 
 jocose way, Mr. Beecher replied (without thinking for a 
 moment that Mr. Boardman would really go to such a 
 spot), "There's a place called Greenfield, about twenty 
 miles from here, so sickly no one can stay there ; every one 
 suffers from the miasma, as the country for twenty miles 
 
82 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 round is low and flat, in some places quite marshy, and 
 even the cattle die of liver complaint ! Don't you think 
 you had better go there ? It would be a good field for 
 hardships to be endured, and you seem to think that 
 important." 
 
 " But there are people living there, are there not? " 
 
 *' Yes," said Mr. Beecher, " there are very large farms 
 there, for the land is so rich and productive that it is no 
 trouble to cultivate it ; but then, after rich ingatherings of 
 fruit and grain, they have no market to dispose of the 
 produce. I should think that would be the place for you.^^ 
 This was said with a peculiar sort of ironical smile. 
 
 *'Yes, that is just the place for me; the Lord will 
 take care of our health." At once my husband made up 
 his mind that Greenfield should be the sphere of his future 
 labours, and, the Lord opening the way, we found ourselves 
 ere long settled in a cottage, with a very wide field of labour 
 open before us, and no one to interfere. 
 
 The arrangement made with brethren, who were interes- 
 ted in building up the cause of Christ in this place, was, 
 that he should have half his time to go on missions to other 
 spiritual deserts. The roads in winter being impassable for 
 any vehicle, the travelling from place to place was most 
 dif^cult and could only be accomplished on horseback, by 
 which means Mr. Boardman and I travelled in that year 
 five hundred miles through perilous floods, and numberless 
 impediments of mud and ice. The mail was brought 
 strongly fastened to a beam, between two immense wheels, 
 drawn by oxen, who slowly trod their way, often through the 
 frozen mud. 
 
 SEED BY THE V/AYSIDE. 
 
 Many a time, when threatened with an attack of the 
 fever of the country, and scarcely able to hold up my head, 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 83 
 
 I have set off with my husband on one of these perilous 
 journeys, when we have been compelled to travel quite late 
 at night, in order to reach the place of our destination, to 
 fulfil an engagement. Doubtless our lives were preserved 
 by these journeys, dangerous as they seemed at the 
 time. The exercise and change of air counteracted the 
 effects of the deadly miasma. 
 
 I remember one night, after having ridden over thirty 
 miles, I became so worn and exhausted as to be scarcely 
 able to keep the saddle. It seemed impossible to go 
 another step ; I cared not if I did drop off the horse, and 
 was ready to lie down on the ground by the road side. My 
 husband was desirous of reaching the town, in order to meet 
 his engagement, and he did all he could to keep me up, by 
 talking of such things as at another time would have greatly 
 interested me. Then we tried changing horses, and I 
 was put on the man's saddle, in the hope of being relieved 
 by a change of position, but I was too far exhausted to rally. 
 We passed several cabins but no one could take us in for tlie 
 night ; every place was full. One after another said, 
 " A mile or two from here there is a house where you will 
 find accommodation." And oh, what miles ! Each one 
 seemed like ten at least ! After being so often refused, we 
 were thankful when a woman let us in to stay for the night. 
 On getting off my horse I fell flat on the ground, and was 
 taken up and carried into the house. The woman took her 
 children out of a bed in one corner of the room, and thank- 
 ful was I to find this place, where I threw myself down to 
 rest for the night, with all my clothes on, too weary even to 
 eat. I slept soundly, to awake in the morning finding my- 
 self very worn and stiff. 
 
 She was truly a kind-hearted woman to put herself to so 
 much inconvenience in allowing us a shelter for the night. 
 
84 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 I felt deeply for her soul, as I saw she had no religious 
 privileges whatever. And when she replied to some question 
 put to her, that she did not need a Saviour, and could not 
 thank Him for having died for her, I felt most sad. " How 
 could God punish the like of me," she continued, " when I 
 would not harm a living creature } " 
 
 *' I thought at one time exactly as you do. I felt I was 
 very good, but the Lord let me see what a terrible sinner I 
 was in His sight, just because I did not care that Jesus 
 had died for me." 
 
 " Well, if you were doing the best you could, how were 
 you sinning ? " And without waiting for an answer she 
 turned away to attend to something else, not taking in what 
 I had said. 
 
 I felt so sad in thinking of her condition, that I could not 
 keep back the tears. She saw my tears; her heart was 
 touched. She turned back and said, " I hope I didn't hurt 
 your feelings, did I ? I'm real sorry if I did." 
 
 " O that's nothing," I sobbed out, " I am sorry to be so 
 weak, but Jesus has done so much for me. I am over- 
 whelmed when I look back upon the time when I thought 
 exactly as you do. If you only knew what love and beauty 
 there is in Jesus, and what brightness He can bring into the 
 life, if you could but have His love shed abroad in your 
 heart, you would see how blessedly this cabin would be 
 lighted up by His presence. Heaven would seem so glorious, 
 you would be looking forward into its beauties. If 
 you were converted you would see everything in respect to 
 God so differently. All would be so changed." 
 
 " But I tell you honestly I can't believe I am a sinner. 
 I can't think it would be right in God to do anything bad 
 to me, when I wouldn't do a wrong thing." 
 
 " Now suppose," I continued, "some one in whom you 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD, 85 
 
 had very great confidence, should come and tell you of a 
 beautiful palace where you might go and live, and have every- 
 thing your heart could desire ; but one thing was necessary in 
 order to reach it. You must travel there the way the owner 
 had marked out. It was a very easy way when once you 
 got into it, but you saw other ways that looked to be far 
 better, so you kept on the way you chose, — would you ever 
 reach the palace ? " 
 
 " Don't suppose I should." 
 
 ** Just so there is but one way to get to heaven, and the 
 Owner of all has a perfect right to mark out that way. 
 God's way is by the blood of Jesus. He says, * Without 
 shedding of blood there is no remission of sin,' therefore, 
 you cannot get to heaven in any other way." 
 
 *' Now that's something I could never like to hear about. 
 It is the most unreasonable thing, to think of the blood of 
 Jesus being necessary for salvation ; I cannot see into it." 
 
 *' No, you never will unless the Holy Spirit shows you. 
 But will you promise to ask the Lord to show you the 
 truth? — and believe that He will? Now give me the 
 promise," I continued, as I saw my husband coming with 
 the horses. 
 
 She made the promise, and said she would never rest until 
 she knew for herself whether these things were so. I 
 never saw her after this, but was assured that the Lord 
 had sown seed in her heart, that would spring up and bear 
 fruit. 
 
 It was but four miles farther on to the town where my 
 husband was to hold meetings, and thankful were we to 
 arrive in time for the morning gathering. 
 
 This part of the country was principally settled by 
 Southerners whohad come up here to live, so as to avoid 
 the terrible influences of slavery upon themselves and their 
 
86 LIFE IN GREENFIELD, 
 
 families. They were kind and hospitable, but their wives 
 knew scarcely anything about housekeeping. They were all 
 great readers, keeping up intercourse with the outer world by 
 quantities of newspapers which reached them from 
 different parts of the country. The soil was ready for seed 
 to be sown, and we were permitted to see some of it spring 
 up in resurrection hfe. The places we visited seemed ready 
 for blessing. The " household of faith " becam.e established 
 by seeing the Hfe-giving power in Christ Jesus, and sinners 
 were saved. 
 
 In many localities visited churches had been formed, and 
 houses of v;orship erected. Very often one minister had 
 the charge of two churches, where he preached alternate 
 Sabbaths. It was customary for ministers to have 
 several days' service before communion, which was cele- 
 brated four times a year. Usually these days were given up 
 to the worship of God, and all work put aside, reminding one 
 of the feasts of the ancient people of God, when they went 
 three times a year to Jerusalem to worship in His holy temple. 
 We profited by these occasions to preach a full salvation, 
 and to deal individually with many souls. Christians 
 desirous of being saved from sinning, and of having 
 their spiritual life invigorated, were most anxious to know 
 how they might be made alive in Christ Jesus, and see Him 
 in all the freshness of His beauty, as they heard described by 
 those who understood His healing and keeping power. 
 And many receptive ones were led on to take Jesus as 
 their Saviour, to save and keep them in their daily walk. 
 
 FORDING A RIVER. 
 
 All through the winter months our journeyings were often 
 attended with considerable peril as, for instance, when we 
 had come one night to the water's edge, and gone on into 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 87 
 
 the stream, which was easy to ford in the summer time, but 
 was now rendered quite impassable by the rains, which had 
 turned the shallow stream into a raging torrent. We soon 
 found, on riding into the water, that it came up to the saddle 
 girths, and, not being able to see the opposite shore, we re- 
 traced our steps, and returned to a house we had passed. 
 As we rode up, and my husband shouted to the inmates, a 
 woman opened the door, and stood there with a child on 
 each side of her ; we could see her distinctly, while the 
 darkness, hid us from her. It was impossible, she replied, 
 to accommodate any one ; her husband was away, and she 
 could not think of admitting strangers, being quite alone 
 with her little children. I exclaimed, " You will be obliged 
 to let me come in, for I cannot hold up my head another 
 minute ; and I can sleep on the floor." 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed, "You have a woman there; I 
 thought it was only men. Come in by all means, and I'll 
 make you as comfortable as I can." 
 
 We entered, and found her very kind ; a bed was 
 provided for us in an unfinished room, and in the 
 morning, although feeling very stiff, I managed to get 
 on my horse, and again ride down to the ford. Crossing 
 the stream was no trifling aftair, the neighbours turning out 
 to assist. Our horses were tied together, and the largest 
 horse that could be found was mounted by one of the com- 
 pany, who led the others through, while a boat took us 
 across with our saddles and luggage. It was clear to all 
 that, had we persisted in trying to cross the previous night, 
 we must have lost our lives owing to the force of the cur- 
 rent. Thus mercifully preserved, and safely over the perils 
 of the way, we soon reached the town, and in less than an 
 hour found many thankful to God for bringing us in safely 
 
 to them. 
 
 5 
 
88 LIFE IN GREENFIEID. 
 
 We had been expected the evening before ; but the 
 people had a profitable time in seeking the blessing of the 
 Lord on our meetings. The days spent here were most 
 precious in fruitage. Ministers from the adjacent towns 
 had come for the very purpose of receiving something from 
 the Lord, and many were led out of the bondage of sin to 
 find perfect satisfaction in Jesus, as a full and complete 
 Deliverer. 
 
 A MINISTER LED INTO THE LIGHT. 
 
 In one of the Western towns, w^hich had grown up very 
 rapidly to be a large place, the Lord worked gloriously. 
 
 Mr. T , the minister of quite a large Presbyterian 
 
 church, was a slave to the use of tobacco. He had been 
 greatly interested in reading accounts of the conversion and 
 sanctification of some of those who lived in the days of 
 Wesley; and hearing that my husband taught that one could 
 be saved from besetting siris, he sent for us to come and hold 
 meetings for a few days in his church. He had great 
 influence among his people, as he was very kind. He had 
 also a keen sense of humour, and was full of fun. We had 
 not been long in his house before he frankly confessed that 
 he was very dependent upon his pipe, and yet he knew that 
 in this he was not setting a bright example to the flock, over 
 whom the Lord had placed him. He said he had tried, per- 
 haps hundreds of times, to get rid of the habit, but after 
 spending several days each time in torment to himself, as 
 well as to those around him, he had returned to the use of it, 
 and was quite irritated if any one spc)ke to him concerning 
 this indulgence. "And I have finally given up trying to do 
 anything more with myself; I feel as helpless as an infant. 
 Can you prescribe for me, Brother Boardman?" 
 
 " O yes, for you have come to the position where the 
 Lord will meet you. It is when a man has given up all 
 
LIFE IN- GREENFIELD. 89 
 
 hope in himself that the Lord meets him, and undertakes all 
 for him. Let Jesus have the whole care of this habit, and 
 He will take away every particle of desire for it, and you 
 will go free. But you must trust Him fully." 
 
 ** But you do not mean to say that I shall not desire it? 
 Why I should be like one who had been imprisoned for 
 eighteen years, who was suddenly taken out into liberty ! 
 Why I should not know what to do with myself! I am 
 happy at the very thought of it." 
 
 " Make up your mind," answered Mr. Boardman, " that 
 it shall be victory or death ; that you will have done with it 
 for ever; put it over into the hands of the Lord, and venture 
 fully upon Him for this, as you did for salvation in the first 
 place." 
 
 " It's done," replied Mr. S , as he went to a cupboard 
 
 by the side of the fire place, and took out all his pipes, 
 cigars and tobacco, and threw them into the fire. *' I 
 never have had such clearing out work as this before, but I 
 see it is necessary to be thorough. Now I have done my part, 
 the Lord must do the rest, and He will ; of course He will 
 save me out and out, He must want to do it." He burst 
 forth in a song of praise, for he was very fond of singing, 
 and was a capital leader in the meetings which he after- 
 wards attended. 
 
 He never wearied of telling how Jesus had saved him from 
 this appetite, as well as from anxiety and irritability which 
 had been his besetting sins ; and he said in one of the 
 meetings, which he attended some weeks after he had come 
 into the light, " I have seen more of the work of the Holy 
 Spirit amongst my people in these last weeks, than I have 
 in all the ten years of my ministry. I do not speak of con- 
 versions, the Lord has given me souls all along, but He has 
 wonderfully moved the church to seek for spirituality, and 
 
90 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 our prayer meetings are quite another thing. He has sent 
 such life into our hearts, such hope for something different 
 from this hfe for self, which characterises those children of 
 God who are not saved from sin." 
 
 This brother's influence was felt far and near, for he was 
 an out and out mar, and very independent. He was a great 
 help in these Higher-life meetings, which he would travel 
 miles to attend. 
 
 The days passed quickly, notwithstanding the hardships 
 w^e met with ; and indeed, they were very real sometimes ; 
 especially when we came to a stream, and found that thin ice 
 had formed since the last vehicle had passed through. 
 The horses were taught to push away the ice, but sometimes 
 they did not understand, and would try to leap upon it, 
 and thus endanger the life of the riders. It was with terror 
 that 1 saw my husband's horse leap up in this way, as he 
 rode before me into a stream, to make a passage for 
 me to follow. Seeing how fractious his horse was, I turned 
 mine back, and was soon on the shore we had left, where I 
 could watch my husband's movements, with my heart in 
 terrible commotion. 
 
 Oh, what a relief when he gave up trying, and returned 
 to take my horse, who knew his work, and would push his 
 breast against the ice and so part it. I followed, on the 
 other timid animal, keeping close behind, and we arrived 
 in safety on the other side. 
 
 Yes, there were perils by water, perils by mud, and 
 perils by cold, for at one time my nose and forehead were 
 frozen, so that I had to put my face into cold water to 
 draw out the frost before going near the fire. 
 
 The spring came, bursting forth in all its resurrection life 
 of beauty, but we found that the year's work had told upon 
 us; fever and ague set in, and neither of us could rally. 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 91 
 
 The thought of leaving Greenfield was forced upon my 
 husband, who concluded we could not encounter another 
 winter there. In fact, when the hot weather set in, we were 
 quite unable to do anything. 
 
 It did not take long for Mr. Boardman to decide the next 
 step, as the doctor had said we must go East. Before he 
 left Lane Seminary he had thought of attending a six 
 months' course of lectures at Yale, in New Haven, Conn., 
 which was the oldest theological college in the United 
 States, ,but he so strongly felt the call to labour in the 
 Home Mission work that he put this thought aside for the 
 time. Now that he must go East, he felt the time had come 
 for him to carry out this desire, and attend the lectures of 
 Professor Taylor. He also thought that the Lord would 
 open to him just the same work He had permitted him to 
 do at Lane Seminary ; and rejoiced in the prospect of 
 working among the theological students at Yale, as he had 
 done there. 
 
 With this prospect before him we bid farewell to the 
 people, and took a last look at the neat little church which 
 my husband had been enabled to complete for the worship 
 of God here, and turned our faces eastward to enter upon 
 a very different life amongst an entirely different class of 
 people. 
 
 LIFE AT OLD YALE. 
 
 Although happy in doing what we knew was the will of 
 the Lord for us at this time, it was with feelings of regret 
 that we yielded to the necessity for leaving the vast West, 
 and especially our field of labour at Greenfield and the 
 country round, and go where there was such an abundance 
 of labourers. Still there were but few who could tell the 
 people of God how to be saved from sin ; very few who 
 understood what was the power of an indwelling personal 
 
92 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 Saviour. And this we felt was the work God called us to 
 do wherever we should be placed. The Lord had saved 
 souls and established His own people in Greenfield and 
 other places. In Centreville, a village not far from Green- 
 field, a church had been formed which was supplied by 
 the occasional visits of ministers. In the county in which 
 we lived twenty Sunday schools had been formed, and a 
 blessed work was going on in each place. Each school was 
 supplied with a small library of books given by some large City • 
 Sunday School, as they sent their old books out to destitute 
 places whenever they renewed their libraries. 
 
 It was not long after we had fairly decided to leave, before 
 we turned our faces eastward, on our way to this old, famous 
 seat of learning. After travelling some days and nights, 
 we were soon settled into our resting place in the 
 city of New Haven, which seemed to us exceedingly 
 beautiful, the more so, probably, from its contrast to the 
 rough, western country where we had been living. 
 
 Here was rest, O so sweet to us both, after the hard 
 work in the Home Missionary field ; nor were we afraid 
 to accept this quiet time, since we were both very much 
 worn down. 
 
 Very delightful service opened at once to my husband, 
 he being invited to occupy such country pulpits in the 
 neighbourhood as were vacant for the time being ; and 
 almost every Sabbath he was called to take the place of 
 one or another absent pastor. He became greatly invigo- 
 rated in health, and no doubt the change was, under God, 
 the means of prolonging his life. But we found no such 
 general interest in the subject of the Higher Life as we 
 had seen while at Lane Seminary. The Lord seldom 
 meets our expectations by repeating the same thing, or 
 letting us pass through the same order of events. To be 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 93 
 
 sure, there were individuals led into this deeper life, but 
 the mass of Christians were quite satisfied to go on in 
 the usual way, and live in the seventh of Romans, instead 
 of stepping on into the eighth. In fact it was thought 
 by most, if not all, of the orthodox Church to be presump- 
 tuous, and lacking in humility, for any one to speak wiih 
 assurance of salvation ! The children of God never ven- 
 tured to express more than a " hope," this was the term used 
 to express their standing in Christ : they *' hoped they 
 were saved," and it was with extreme caution that the oldest 
 and most devoted children of God, whose lives were the 
 most consistent, dared to express even that hope. We 
 were regarded as both extravagant and very presumptuous 
 to declare so boldly that we knew we had " passed from 
 death unto life." 
 
 THE AWAKENING. 
 
 Not many miles from New Haven was a church, where a 
 work of grace had been going on, and the minister, being 
 desirous of knowing more about this teaching of the assur- 
 ance of salvation, and having in his household one who had 
 formerly known us, asked us to come over on a visit. My 
 husband could not leave at the time, so he persuaded me to 
 go without him, with the promise of joining me in a few 
 days, if I found there was sufficient interest to warrant his 
 leaving home. 
 
 I went there, and found a delightful New England home. 
 The pastor and his wife were most cordial and kind in their 
 reception of me. Having heard of our extraordinary views 
 through this mutual friend, they at once questioned me as 
 to the propriety of my being sure about the salvation of my 
 soul. How did it accord with humility to say that I knew 
 all about it ? Was it not one of the greatest signs of humility 
 to doubt ? And was not the Bible very strong on this point 
 
94 LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 
 
 of being humble ? My answer was, that I could no more 
 help believing I was born again than I could help believing 
 that I was born into this world, and that I had never tried 
 to doubt it since I found God's Word taught us so plainly 
 that unbelief was the greatest sin we could possibly commit. 
 Since the Lord had revealed that what He wanted was our 
 ti'ust and full confidence, that we should believe Him ready 
 to fulfil all that He had promised, I could see no reason 
 for doubting. 
 
 It was very blessed to see how the Lord led this pastor 
 and his precious wife to understand their privilege, and 
 accept full and free pardon for all past offences, and salvation 
 from the guilt and consequences of sin. It was indeed a 
 glorious lighting up in their dwelling, nor did the work stop 
 there, for the pastor began at once to tell his people how 
 they too might know that they were born again, and have 
 the greatest assurance of their salvation. His preaching 
 made a great stir in the church ; some of the leading 
 members and oldest friends of the pastor became so 
 alarmed that they actually left the church, saying they dare 
 not listen to such false teaching, for there was no telling to 
 what other errors it might lead. They felt sure some 
 dreadful extravagances would be seen, and that the quiet, 
 humble church members would become puffed up with 
 wonderful notions of their own goodness. But all this 
 uproar and opposition did not move the pastor one whit, 
 for nothing could take from him the blessed peace he had 
 come into, through being fully assured of his safety in 
 Christ. He had the witness in himself, and dared to rejoice 
 that his " name was written in the Lamb's book of Life." 
 
 And not only did he see his privilege of believing God's 
 Word that he had passed from death unto hfe, but he was 
 quite ready to step on into the " life more abundant." 
 
LIFE IN GREENFIELD. 95 
 
 Shortly after my visit, my husband was invited to go for a 
 few days and hold a series of meetings ; and the Lord so 
 poured out His Holy Spirit that not a few knew that they 
 were saved, and many also came to see Jesus as their 
 Saviour from sin, and to rejoice in the liberty wherewith 
 Christ makes His people free ; and each one who came out 
 told the story to others. 
 
 Again there came a division in the Church : but it was 
 not disbanded nor did it fall to pieces, for the Lord added 
 so many more members that it grew far beyond its former 
 size, and was never so much alive, and never exerted such 
 an influence before. 
 
 Many were filled with joy, and those who stood coldly 
 aside were obliged to acknowledge that something very 
 delightful had happened to some of their dearest friends, 
 and if they could believe it was really orthodox they would 
 not stand aloof. Orthodoxy was the greatest hindrance to 
 these dear souls, it w^as a sort of God among them, and all 
 teaching must be based upon what was considered " ortho- 
 dox." This sentiment had gained power through a division 
 that had arisen in the Congregational Church. Unitarian 
 views had insidiously crept in, and a separation had taken 
 place, the Congregational Church being called *'The Ortho- 
 dox Church," in contradistinction to the Unitarian, which had 
 gone out from it. And it was not to be wondered at that 
 those who were true to Jesus should fear any innovation, 
 since nearly half their people had been swept away by this 
 great error. 
 
96 ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS — A HIGHER 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 HILE living in Newhaven an offer was made 
 by the Sunday School Union to Mr. Board- 
 man to engage in the work of supplying the 
 great West with Mission Sunday Schools. 
 It was very definitely laid before the Lord, 
 and my husband was fully satisfied that it was a call from 
 Him, as he saw in this field of labour a very great and 
 important work open out before him. He had already seen 
 the pressing need of very direct efforts for the establishment 
 of Sunday Schools amongst the thinly scattered population, 
 where not even the itinerant minister had found his way, 
 and where the people had no means of grace of any kind. 
 Having duly considered the matter, he entered this open 
 door, and began at once to move in this direction. 
 
 In the year 1852 we returned to Michigan, which in that 
 day was in great need of this very work. We pitched our 
 tent in Detroit, our old home. It was a trial to leave the more 
 direct work of teaching God's people the glorious truth of 
 
A HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 97 
 
 salvation from sin, leading them to see the blessing, which is 
 the privilege of all God's people. But afterwards, when we 
 saw how much was done by laying the foundation of that 
 which we knew would prove a blessing to thousands, we 
 were convinced that God had indeed called us to this. 
 
 The work was quite small in its beginning. The first 
 summer my husband spent in searching the country around 
 us. Wherever there was a saw or grit mill attracting settlers, 
 there he saw an opening. There w^as sure to be some man 
 or woman in the neighbourhood who would begin by calling 
 together both old and young, reading and giving them a 
 Bible lesson, in which they would become interested. This 
 would be the commencement of a Sunday School. 
 
 In one instance, Mr. Boardman came across a widow liv- 
 ing on a farm which her husband had left her. This good 
 woman was longing to have service of some kind for the 
 Master. There was no preaching within seven miles of her 
 farm. She hailed with delight the visit of a servant of God, 
 and at once fell in with my husband's suggestion of having 
 a Sunday School in her house. After prayer and consulta- 
 tion he left with her a small library of books. The next day 
 she started forth with horse and buggy to let the people 
 know of it, and when Sunday came she had ten scholars of 
 diiferent ages, from five to sixteen years old. A few months 
 later on my husband called at her home to see how she was 
 getting on, and was greatly pleased to find she had a room 
 full of happy young people, some of whom had walked four 
 and even five miles, often coming through the rain. They 
 were very glad to use the Sunday School library, as 
 books were not so abundant in that day as at the present 
 time. 
 
 Schools commenced in this quiet way usually led on to 
 something more important as the country became more 
 
98 ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 
 
 settled. The number attending them increased with the in- 
 crease of the population, and then they would be obliged 
 to adjourn to the district school-house, where the itinerant 
 minister would hold an occasional service. Thus was laid 
 the foundation of many a church. 
 
 The work grew in interest as various districts were aroused 
 by the introduction of this new element. Lads of all sizes 
 would be gathered in, and sometimes the older ones became 
 unruly. I remember going at the request of a farmer's wife to 
 commence a Sunday School in the district school-house 
 quite near her dwelling. We found on entering the school- 
 room that every seat was occupied. The boys and girls 
 who were in the habit of attending this school during the 
 week had come in full force. The seats rose one above 
 another, and on the highest were six full-grown lads who 
 were evidently intent on mischief. We felt rather appalled 
 to see this array of young men, but found that we must 
 proceed and ignore their presence. However, they began 
 groaning at what was said, and laughing during the prayer. 
 We concluded we must give up all hope of doing anything 
 here in this school-house, and told the children that since 
 these lads had come on purpose to break up the school, we 
 would give up the place to them altogether, and adjourn to 
 
 the house of Mrs. D , who would open her own kitchen, 
 
 which was a large room, and then admit only those who 
 wished to attend. Upon hearing this, the leader of the band 
 took his hat and went quickly out, the rest following as 
 rapidly as they could, thus leaving us in quiet possession of 
 the place. We went on, and had a very interesting hour 
 with those who remained. Twenty-five names were taken 
 down, and each one had a book to take home to keep for 
 two weeks if they wished. This school was supplied with 
 Sunday School books, and was most successfully carried on. 
 
A HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 99 
 
 The way my husband began the work was most laborious. 
 Often he would go on foot through some forest to reach an 
 out-of-the-way settlement, when the roads were scarcely yet 
 passable, to farms but newly commenced, to tell them 
 the glad tidings of salvation, and get them started in 
 forming a Sunday School. Usually, however, he went 
 on horseback, and carried a bag of Sunday School books 
 with him, which was always a very great attraction to 
 the grown-up people as well as the children. By thus work- 
 ing indefatigably a good beginning was made, and all 
 thoughout Michigan Sunday Schools were formed, which 
 were a power for good in every neighbourhood wherever 
 they were established. 
 
 The second summer Colporteurs, called Sunday School 
 Missionaries, were employed in this State. 
 
 ENLARGEMENT IN THE WORK. 
 
 The second winter gave birth to a movement which has 
 been improved upon and enlarged until its power for good 
 is felt throughout the Christian world. 
 
 The idea occurred to my husband of a Sunday School 
 Convention, in which the teachers should be taught to 
 teach, and the officers should learn the best methods of 
 conducting Sunday Schools and managing libraries, as well 
 as how to use the great power of song in the choice of 
 appropriate hymns and tunes. He suggested it to Dr. 
 Samuel H. Hall, then a pastor in Marshall, Michigan, and 
 to Mr. Hovey K. Clarke, the superintendent of his Sunday 
 School, and asked w^hat they thought of it. They both 
 replied, " Capital 1 Come here and try it." A programme 
 was made out for a two days' convention, a call issued, and 
 promptly responded to. The interest aroused by it was so 
 great that invitations came from county after county saying, 
 
100 ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 
 
 " Give us also a convention." These calls were met, and so 
 the winter was filled up with county Sunday School Con- 
 ventions, bringing immense blessing to the churches as well 
 as the schools, and the movement culminated in a grand 
 State Sunday School Convention the following year. Thus 
 began, as is believed, the Sunday School Convention system, 
 which has now spread so widely and been so greatly 
 improved upon. 
 
 The beginning of the third summer in this work of 
 Sunday School organization, my husband was called to 
 Philadelphia by the American Sunday School Union to take 
 in hand what was known as their *' Students' Mission 
 Service." This was the employment of theological students, 
 during their summer vacation, in opening Sunday Schools in 
 neglected districts, and visiting those already in existence ; 
 supplying alike the old and the new schools with Sunday 
 School papers and libraries. This work grew in his hands. 
 The number of students employed was increased from about 
 thirty, to three hundred and seventy-six, the third year. 
 
 Amongst the number were T. De Witt Talmage, Edward 
 Payson Hammond, and many others whose names are now 
 widely known in the Christian world. More than five 
 thousand Sunday Schools were organized during the three 
 years of this service, and as many more were supplied with 
 workers. 
 
 The following is a letter recently received from Mr. 
 Hammond : — 
 
 *' Dear Mrs. Boardman, 
 
 " It gives me pleasure to write a few words in 
 remembrance of your dear husband. 
 
 " I first met him in Philadelphia, where he was Secretary 
 of the American Sunday School Union. That important 
 position he filled with very great acceptance. During my 
 
A HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 101 
 
 vacation in Williams' College, he sent me out to plant Sun- 
 day Schools beyond the Alleghany Mountains. He was at 
 that time a man one could not forget. He had the same 
 earnest spirit then as in later years. I learned to love him 
 then, and have never ceased to do so. 
 
 " During all these years I have read with pleasure the 
 numerous productions of his pen. In all parts of the world 
 I am sure there are thousands who have been benefited by 
 them. I once asked Rev. William Reid, the author of the 
 ' Blood of Jesus,' a work that has been much blessed of 
 God, what book had most influenced him. He pointed to 
 a well-worn copy of the ' Higher Christian Life,' and said, 
 * Except the Bible, that book has inspired me to seek for 
 higher attainments in the divine life more than any other I 
 have ever read.' Many others, I have no doubt, have had 
 a similar experience. 
 
 " I pray that the influence of his life of faith may stimu- 
 late others to a firmer trust in the promises of God's Word, 
 and to the efficacy of the prayer of faith in Jesus' name. 
 
 " May the Lord comfort and sustain you in your great 
 bereavement. 
 
 " Yours, in Him, 
 
 "E. P. Hammond." 
 
 After the third year, through the financial embarrassment 
 of the Sunday School Union, it became necessary to curtail 
 this service. My husband would willingly have enlarged 
 this blessed work, but he could not consent to any material 
 diminution, with so wide a field open before him. And in 
 fact the work could only go on through enlargement. He 
 therefore found it impossible, under these circumstances, to 
 retain his- position. He resigned his secretaryship, and 
 retired from the service of the Sunday School Union. 
 
102 ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 
 
 GLOUCESTER CITY. 
 
 Why this place had " City " added to its name was never 
 ascertained by us, excepting it may have been to distinguish 
 it from a place of the same name in Massachusetts. It was 
 anything but a city, either in size or appearance. It was 
 situated on the flat shores of the Delaware river, opposite 
 to Philadelphia, and was not only unattractive, but decidedly 
 unhealthy. 
 
 One of Mr. Boardman's life-long principles was to seek 
 those fields of labour which offered no great attraction, so 
 as to induce others to wish for them. Once more at liberty, 
 he cast about for a place where there was plenty of work, 
 without such financial support as would make it desirable 
 to any competent minister. This he found in Gloucester 
 City. 
 
 Here stood a large, vacant house of worship, surrounded 
 by a populous community, mostly workpeople in the cotton 
 mills, print works, or china potteries. The congregation 
 was very small, and the material support still smaller. 
 There were scarcely any Christian workers, everybody seem- 
 ed to be asleep, and yet here was all this mass of people to 
 be reached. It was an undertaking to labour among them, 
 for it was quite certain the people could not be reached 
 from the pulpit, since the greater part of them never went 
 into any place of worship at any time; the best way to interest 
 them seemed to be that of forming classes, and so getting 
 at them personally. So there was much visiting from house 
 to house. And although there was no general interest 
 awakened here, yet the Lord blessed these efforts, and souls 
 were saved, as we found from letters received after we had 
 left them. Several young men of Gloucester City lost their 
 lives on the battle-field during the war with the South, and 
 letters received from them, written by some kindly hand, 
 
A HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 103 
 
 were sent on to tell us how happy they were in view of death, 
 and how thankful they were to know their sins were forgiven, 
 and that they were ready to go. 
 
 During those years in which we were engaged in the 
 Sunday School work, there was a great pressure laid upon 
 my heart to have a book written upon the subject of full 
 salvation. I longed for the people of God more generally 
 to know that there was this blessed and glorious definite 
 experience for all who were willing to lead a life of separa- 
 tion from the world, and be united to Christ. And very 
 often I urged my husband to write such a book. I tried 
 to write one myself, and spent much time, thought, and 
 prayer over the manuscript. But when I asked some 
 friends who were publishers what they thought of it, they 
 said if I would first write some stories for Sunday School 
 libraries, I might learn to write such a very religious book 
 as I had set my mind on. So I tried my hand at this, and 
 succeeded in getting the first one accepted for publication 
 by the Sunday School Union. 
 
 O how perfectly delighted I was with this, my first book. I 
 do not know whether any other living mortal was pleased 
 with it, but I know one who was. But this did not teach me 
 how to write the book I wanted, so I went back to work on 
 the old manuscript, all the while urging my husband to write 
 himself, for I felt assured we were not spreading the know- 
 ledge God had given us of the Lord Jesus Christ as a 
 Saviour from sin, as much as we might do for His Glory. I 
 wrote enough to fill a large volume, and now I begged my 
 husband to take the manuscript, correct, and have it published. 
 Finally he was persuaded to leave his work, take the steamer 
 to Boston and spend his time on the water in going over it 
 before taking it to a friend, a publisher of religious 
 works. When, however, my husband began to examine the 
 
lOi ORGANIZING SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 
 
 book, he saw that the form, being that of an essay, 
 would certainly hinder its being read, and cause it to fall flat. 
 It was then that the Lord flashed into his mind with perfect 
 clearness the plan of a book which should set forth the truth 
 in clear, simple, direct statements, illustrated by examples, as 
 he afterwards worked it out. 
 
 After a short visit in Boston he returned home and set to 
 work on 
 
 THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE, 
 
 carrying out the conception of it which God had given him 
 while on board the steamer. In three months, without any 
 neglect of either pulpit or people, he had completed it, and 
 was again on his way to Boston with his own manuscript, to 
 be published by the same friend. 
 
 He remained in Boston until the first five hundred copies 
 came from the binder's hands, and were sold as soon as 
 received. The sale was rapid beyond all precedent in the 
 class of solid Christian literature. It was impossible for many 
 weeks to supply the demand. People thronged, and even 
 waited outside the store in order to obtain the book, and 
 while it was thus called for in America, it found its way across 
 the great Atlantic, and was taken up in London by several 
 publishers, who gave it wings in England and other countries. 
 
 Miss Marsh, author of "English Hearts and English 
 Hands," and of many other valuable books, published it 
 through Nisbet & Co. Her father's likeness formed the 
 frontispiece, and she wrote a most kind and appreciative 
 letter to the author, saying it was the first book she had ever 
 seen that she felt was worthy of having the likeness of that 
 precious, dear, old saint of God, the Rev. Dr. Marsh. She 
 also said that as other editions had been issued in cheaper 
 form than hers, she did not know whether any market could 
 be found for this more expensive edition, except among her 
 
A HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 105 
 
 special friends. But the sale reached its thousands, so that 
 she sent my husband a royalty, such as she herself received 
 from the American publishers of her own books. 
 
 It was also published by Strachan & Co. in a very cheap 
 form, and had a very large sale, and one publisher states that 
 more than sixty thousand copies had been sent out from his 
 house alone twelve years ago. 
 
 To the praise of our Lord be it said, that blessing has 
 attended the reading of this book in all parts of the world. 
 Letters and testimonials have been received from distant 
 islands of the sea, and from most, if not all, countries whither 
 the missionary has gone forth to proclaim the gospel. 
 Even since my husband's departure to glory, it would be 
 difficult to tell how many letters I have received, testifying to 
 the blessing that has come through the reading of this book. 
 Yes, God has owned and blessed it to thousands, and for 
 over twenty years it has been doing its blessed work in the 
 hearts of God's people, and bringing home to millions the 
 gladdening truth of the keeping power of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. It was with the greatest satisfaction that I committed 
 my own manuscript to the flames. That for which I had 
 prayed and laboured was now accomplished in God's own 
 best way. 
 
106 
 
 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII, 
 
 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 T was blessed to see how the dear Lord 
 shielded Mr. Boardman from the tide of 
 opposition that followed the publication of 
 the "Higher Christian Life," by sending 
 him to California, quite apart from the strife 
 of tongues. Here we were quietly settled down so far 
 away, that not a line could reach us in less than three weeks. 
 There was no railway across the plains at that time, and no 
 telegraph wires to herald any news. As soon, however, as 
 letters could reach us, we had many from various quarters, 
 urging my husband to take up the cudgels in self-defence, 
 and to let the public know what was true and what was not. 
 Friends wrote beseeching me to exert my influence and 
 induce him to answer the many attacks made upon the 
 book. But no, not a word did he ever give to the public in 
 defence of anything he had written. He said, "The Lord 
 has given the book, and He can take care of His own 
 truth." 
 
 It had become necessary for us to remove from Gloucester 
 City, as my health had thoroughly broken down. The 
 
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 107 
 
 damp air had told upon my throat and lungs, so that on 
 consulting a physician, we were told that we must leave 
 at once, that the only hope for me was to live in a dry 
 atmosphere, where I could be much in the open air ; and 
 California was recommended. 
 
 I was not pleased with this, and tried to persuade the 
 physician that a southern climate, near at hand, would 
 answer as well. But he persisted in saying that it must be 
 California, so that my husband thought it was the voice of 
 the Lord telling us to go there. 
 
 " It is such a distance off from every one we know, I do 
 not like the thought of it," I said to my husband, who 
 replied very gravely, " If it is the voice of God, He will 
 make it all very plain, and we shall be perfectly satisfied to 
 do His will." 
 
 " But I do not see how we can possibly leave this place. 
 Just see all these mill girls that come to our house each 
 week, how the Lord is blessing them. Then this class of 
 poor boys, brought out of the very depths of sin — and they 
 are so interested in their meeting, and so many are being con- 
 verted. Then you know there are the poor women who 
 are being led on, what will become of them? There is 
 no one to take up this work. And who is there to take 
 your place ? What minister would be induced to come 
 here ? The people will be left without a pastor, I am sure 
 of that." 
 
 " But if the Lord sends us away He must provide," 
 replied my husband. " The responsibility rests with Him, 
 not with us. And your voice is almost gone, so that you 
 cannot continue the work you have been doing. Your 
 classes must suffer for want of a teacher, even if you remain 
 here, which cannot be thought of, as there is a necessity for 
 going somewhere, and that very soon." 
 
108 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The prospect of being put aside from all service for the 
 Lord did not suit me. I had to learn the lesson anew with 
 which 1 began this life of trust. The Lord taught me then 
 that He was with me just as really in my kitchen, as when I 
 was labouring directly for Him. He led me to be very 
 quiet, and to enjoy fellowship and communion with Himself, 
 and to be perfectly satisfied with whatever He did. But 
 now I saw that I felt myself to be indispensable to the 
 Lord's work, and had become quite absorbed in service for 
 Him, thus rather losing sight of that, which to Him is of the 
 greatest importance — an appreciation of Himself personally. 
 
 Many who opposed the teaching of the " Higher Life" 
 said that people who came to trust fully in Jesus were lulled 
 to sleep, and became inactive, resting only on their own 
 spiritual enjoyment. And in order to prove how untrue 
 was such an accusation in my own case, I had yielded to 
 my natural energy and overtaxed my strength. And this 
 did not please the Lord. 
 
 The blessing of the Lord was manifested in the conver- 
 sion of many souls. And I was so much absorbed in the 
 work, that I failed to hear the voice of the Lord in this 
 matter of going to California. But most important and 
 never-to-be-forgotten lessons were these that the dear Lord 
 was now teaching me. I saw how hurt my husband would 
 be if I sought more to work for him, than to be with him 
 when I could enjoy his society. Just so I was taught that 
 the Lord wanted me for Himself. He desired more of my 
 heart and affections, for He alone could see how my heart 
 was drawn away, even while I was very hard at work for 
 Him. I delighted in what I was doing for Him more than in 
 fellowship with Him. And now the time had come when 
 all direct service was to cease, and this was the most difficult 
 of all lessons to learn. But the Lord was very patient, and 
 
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 109 
 
 waited until I was ready to hear what He had to say. And 
 I learned that instead of so much serving, He wished me to 
 take the bride's place, so united to Him as the Bridegroom of 
 my soul, that it should no longer be " I," but " us " and " we." 
 " Let us go forth into the fields, let ms lodge in the villages, 
 let us see if the vine flourish " (Cant. vii. ii, 12). O 
 how blessed it is when we see the privilege of being the bride, 
 and really become one with the Lord in all the desires and 
 purposes of life, so that we take the position of being 
 seated together with Him in the heavenlies ! Living there 
 we are taken up first with Himself, and then trust Him 
 to give us such service as He hkes. 
 
 One who was a great worker for the Lord, who in fact kept 
 herself worn out with service, sought a deeper experience, a 
 fuller union with the Lord, that she might be able to do 
 much more for His glory, that is, win more souls to Christ. 
 She obtained what she sought, and was overwhelmed with 
 a sense of the presence of Jesus. She saw Him in nearer, 
 fuller relation to herself than ever before, and came into 
 perfect rest in Him, trusting Him to save and keep her 
 from yielding to sin ; and was kept. But what was her 
 astonishment when she found herself laid aside from all 
 work. There came over her such a prostration, such a lack 
 of strength, that she was obliged to seek a very quiet place, 
 that she might have complete rest. 
 
 At first she grieved the blessed Holy Spirit by pining for 
 work, but after a while she learned that the Lord was teach- 
 ing her a new lesson. She must not prize service above rest 
 of spirit and communion with Him, and must be perfectly 
 satisfied with Himself, even if He should never give her 
 a particle of service. This she learned most thoroughly 
 before she was allowed to return to her classes, and she did 
 praise the Lord for so patiently teaching her, leading her 
 beside the still waters, as well as through the green pastures. 
 
110 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA, 
 
 Since it had become necessary for us to leave Gloucester 
 City, we soon broke up our connection with the people, and 
 started for that far off region of gold. 
 
 It was in the year 1859 that we took steamer, and went 
 down the Atlantic ocean. Passing into the Carribbean 
 Sea, we landed at Aspinwall, a place on the Isthmus of 
 Darien, settled by Spaniards. The night spent at the 
 hotel here left us most lively reminiscences ; no one could 
 sleep amid the jargon of tongues, the various musical 
 instruments that sounded shrilly through the air, the bark- 
 ing and howling of dogs, and other unmelodious sounds. 
 This was the one day and night of the week when the 
 arrival of the steamer produced the effect of waking up, not 
 only the men, women, and children, but the dogs, cats, and 
 roosters as well. When the steamer left, all settled down in- 
 to their accustomed monotony. 
 
 The ride in the railroad across the Isthmus to Panama 
 next morning was intensely interesting. We had left high 
 banks of snow in the north, and in eight days were in a land 
 of sunny brightness and summer heat. We were struck with 
 the costume of the natives at work on the canal. It consist- 
 ed of a straw hat with a broad brim ! The government 
 requiring some article of clothing to be worn by them, they 
 had adopted that which was to them most comfortable ! 
 
 We were charmed with the profusion of drapery with 
 which the trees were clothed ; garlands hung gracefully in 
 wreaths from the trees, connecting them together, making 
 every inch of the way most lovely. We were sorry when we 
 reached Panama, and found ourselves fairly on board the 
 steamer, and 
 
 OUT ON THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Our voyage up the coast was just such as quite justified its 
 
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. Ill 
 
 being called "the peaceful," for it was a great contrast to 
 the Atlantic passage. 
 
 Stopping for a few hours at Acapulco, we had a fair view 
 of one of the loveliest bays in the world. Stretching along 
 one side was a grove of banana trees with their clusters of 
 fruit. Here and there were several kinds of stately, ancient 
 looking palm trees, some had cocoa nuts hanging upon 
 them. The bay was bounded by hills gently sloping down to 
 the quiet waters. All was beautifully green though it was 
 in the wipter season. But soon our attention was arrested 
 by an uproar of voices as loud and clamorous as the cab- 
 men in New York City, only these natives were in boats, not 
 cabs, and their clothing more scanty. But the boats quite 
 made up for this lack by their fine adornments of painted 
 coral, looking so bright and gay. The boatmen were engaged 
 for service, and such service as quite shocked us at first, for 
 we were obliged to step upon their backs as they made a plat- 
 form for us by bending their heads down to the ground. But 
 they were accustomed to this mode of helping travellers to 
 descend from the steamer into their little boats when the tide 
 was low. 
 
 This was our only stopping place until we landed at San 
 Francisco, and here we found everybody wide-awake, rush- 
 ing hither and thither, as though their lives depended upon 
 their reaching a given point in no time. Such a contrast to 
 the lazy indolent people in Acapulco, whom we saw lazily 
 swinging in their hammocks with nothing to do, not the 
 least disturbed by the observation of passers by ! There is 
 something peculiarly exhilarating in the air of San Francisco. 
 It braces the physical system, and keeps up the spirits, so 
 that there seems a lack of thoughtfulness among the people, 
 and we found that nothing of a serious nature seemed to take 
 hold of them. 
 6 
 
112 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 My brother was with us on account of his health, which 
 was precarious. His life seemed hanging on a very brittle 
 thread, for consumption had deep hold of him, and it was 
 thought best for his sake, as well as my own, that we should 
 go to a softer climate. 
 
 LOS ANGELOS. *' 
 
 The principal place in Southern California was our destina- 
 tion, and we again took steamer, going back over the same 
 waters four hundred miles down the coast, and landing 
 twenty miles from the town. We, with others, took the 
 stage coach, drawn by four unbroken horses, which had 
 never been in harness before, just caught from the plains, 
 and driven in this wild untrained condition. In starting, 
 they knew not at first whether their course was to be down- 
 ward on the earth, or upward toward the heavens ! When 
 once these creatures got fairly under way they were kept at 
 a full gallop, and not allowed to stop until quite worn out, 
 when they were exchanged for others, driven in the same 
 way. No deference whatever was paid to the passengers as 
 to whether their limbs were broken (such a fate seemed 
 at times to threaten us !) but as we rushed on we had to 
 keep ourselves right side up as best we could, whilst we were 
 jolted over the hillocks, and sent bounding from one side of 
 the coach to the other. Wonderful was it to us all to find 
 ourselves, without any serious disaster, in the suburbs of Los 
 Angelos, which is situated in a lovely valley. Travelling at 
 that rate, we were not long in arriving there. As soon as we 
 entered the valley we felt the air delicious, a perfect luxury 
 to breathe, so sweet and balmy, while yet not in the least 
 debilitating. But alas, this lovely and balmy atmosphere, of 
 which everyone could partake so freely, seemed like some 
 fatal enchantment that dulled the senses, an^ drowned all 
 
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 113 
 
 thought that there was anything better than to do, each one 
 as he liked, and gratify his own desires. It was to most of 
 the people all the heaven they cared for, just to hve, and 
 breathe out their existence, and fritter away \\iQ as they 
 chose. 
 
 We found it very hard work to gain the attention of 
 the people. The population was largely Spanish and native 
 Indian, Papists connected with the church of Rome. Wor- 
 ship on Sunday morning, bull-fights in the a/ternoon, 
 and coclc-fights in the evening, had been, until recently, the 
 order of Sabbath observance there. Drinking and gambling 
 were sadly prevalent. Dancing was the general amusement, 
 kept up all night long, especially on Saturday nights. 
 
 Although the Protestants were glad to have one minister 
 among them to bury their dead, perform marriage rites for 
 the living, and preach once a week, it seemed to be im- 
 possible to induce them to heed the word preached, or to turn 
 to the Lord at all. It was quite evident that the Lord had 
 sent us here for rest, and that His time had not yet come 
 for bringing out even His own people to take a stand for Him. 
 
 It did not take long to collect a congregation for a Sunday 
 morning service, and through the influence of one of the 
 prominent citizens, the use of the court-house was granted us, 
 and Judge Ogie took a foremost part in helping to sustain the 
 worship here, although not himself, at that time, a child of God. 
 After some months of meeting in the court-house, efforts were 
 made to build a place of worship. The ground was at last 
 purchased with difficulty, and the corner stone laid with as 
 much ceremony as possible under the circumstances. There 
 was no other Protestant minister,within four hundred miles 
 of Los Angelos. Occasionally one would come for a few 
 days' rest, but my husband was cut off from fellowship with 
 any ministerial brethren. 
 
114 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 
 
 Walking one day a little way out of the town, I was 
 astonished to see a person seated on the piazza of her house 
 reading the Bible. This was a glad sight for my eyes, for 
 the Bible was little cared for here, so I ventured in, and 
 said I was attracted by seeing her studying the Word of God. 
 She was very cordial, although I was a perfect stranger to 
 her. We talked of the state of things in the town, and she 
 spoke in^ very discouraging way as to anything being done 
 for the Lord ; the people were so full of mirth and so given 
 to pleasure. But notwithstanding all these discouragements, 
 she was willing to undertake to have a prayer meeting, and 
 appointed a day, saying she would let the neighbours know, 
 make all necessary arrangements, and give a cup of tea to 
 any who would come. I went home full of delight to tell 
 my husband what " a glorious opening " we now had at the 
 house of this lady. He rejoiced at the prospect of having 
 a social meeting in a neighbourhood where we were not 
 acquainted, and we knew not to what it might lead. We 
 looked forward to it with great expectation, and not a little 
 pleasure, and went on the day appointed to find no one 
 presetit but the lady herself^ not even her daughters ! So we 
 took the Word of God, and encouraged each other's hearts 
 by looking at the promises, and enjoyed a sweet season of 
 prayer together, in which the daughters of this Christian 
 woman were put into the hands of God. 
 
 This is a fair sample of the way in which we found 
 seemingly open doors closed. It was just the same with our 
 efforts in the Sunday School work here. At one time we had 
 quite a number of children collected, with books to form a 
 library, and all looked most promising. The children 
 seemed delighted to come, but it was only for a few 
 
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 115 
 
 Sabbaths thot we saw their faces, and then they were off; 
 something more attractive had drawn them away. 
 
 There were very few Christians in the place, and those who 
 were the Lord's felt very little inclination to push on into 
 anything but the most ordinary Christian life. As to being 
 possessed by the Lord, and endeavouring to live wholly for 
 Him, scarcely any one cared even to hear about it. There- 
 fore we said but little upon the subject, and, of course, our 
 own interest in teaching the blessed keeping power of Jesus 
 became somewhat dimmed for the time being, and we found 
 from experience that the life more abundant will only keep 
 full as we let it overflow to water others. 
 
 A great variety of people had gathered together here in 
 this lovely valley, where nature seemed to have done all that 
 was possible to render the climate delightful and most 
 productive. So rich w^as the soil, that without doing any- 
 thing to enrich it, two crops of grain could be easily raised 
 off it in one year, and on one plantation there were fifteen 
 kinds of fruit, wdth some of the finest varieties. 
 
 Beside the inhabitants of this town before mentioned, 
 there were also a variety of others, French, German, Spanish 
 Jew^s, Chinese, with a large number of half-breeds who 
 laboured on the plantations. Most of the outdoor work was 
 done by the latter, while the Chinese were indoor servants. 
 These half-breeds w^orked by the week ; each day they had a 
 loaf of bread, and a pound of meat, which they cooked for 
 themselves. They went on working well for the week, but 
 when Saturday evening came and their wages were paid, they 
 spent all in drink, and getting intoxicated, they were put 
 into gaol. On Monday morning, those who wished to hire 
 them, went to the gaol, bought them out, and set them 
 going for another week, when they would go on again, work- 
 ing well until the next pay-day came round. The man who 
 
n6 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 worked for us was missing, and after a few days he sent us 
 word that he would like to be bought out of gaol. I thought 
 it would be well for him to stay there awhile, but a friend, 
 seeing that we were really in need of him, paid the fees, and 
 he came back grinning as if he had done a very fine thing ! 
 It was quite impossible to reason with him, as my knowledge 
 of the Spanish language was limited to just the words neces- 
 sary to tell him what I wished him to do, and even this was 
 done with the aid of a book. 
 
 In the year 1861 broke out that great "War of the 
 Rebellion," which threatened the life of the American Union. 
 
 President Lincoln was inaugurated March 4th, 1861. Fort 
 Sumter was bombarded April 13th and 14th. A pro- 
 clamation of the President issued April 15th, called forth the 
 Militia of the Union to the number of 75,000, and convened 
 both Houses of Congress in extra session. The nation was 
 ready for the call, a blaze of enthusiasm shot up all over the 
 land. Throughout the entire circle of the loyal States the 
 response was immediate and most hearty. 
 
 And here we were, surrounded by those who were not in 
 sympathy with us. As our hearts became warm on the side 
 of the Abolitionists, we felt ready to help in any way 
 that we could, but all our best friends in Los Angelos were 
 in favour of slavery. They were most kind and attentive, and 
 endeavoured to let it make no difference, but we were not 
 comfortable, and felt we must leave, and go to be with those 
 with whom we were in sympathy on this great momentous 
 question. We had ceased to derive benefit from the climate. 
 My own health had again utterly failed, and in March, 1862, 
 we left California for the East. 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 117 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AS SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 jNCE more we found ourselves making our 
 home for ten or twelve days in one of the 
 palace steamers belonging to the Pacific side. 
 And it was not a difficult matter to settle 
 down happily in our capacious state room, 
 surrounded with every comfort, and with a saloon cabin 
 on the deck of the steamer. 
 
 As soon as our faces were fully set to the other side 
 of the continent, my husband determined to give his time 
 and strength to work among the soldiers on the battle-field. 
 It was with this thought pressing upon him, that he at once 
 took steps to secure a chaplaincy in the army, that being 
 the best way he knew of gaining the desired access to the 
 men. But the Lord had a ten-fold larger field for him than 
 that of a chaplaincy, and very soon the way was opened. 
 
 From the earliest date of the great American conflict, 
 (April 15, 1 86 1,) the Young Men's Christian Associations had 
 felt the necessity of ministering, spiritually and materially, to 
 those on the battle-ground. They had sent forth their agents 
 from Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. 
 
118 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 The war however rapidly assumed vast proportions, and a 
 demand for much more extensive measures of reUef led to 
 the call for a general convention of the Y. M. C. A., which 
 was held in New York, November 14, 1861. The outcome 
 of this gathering was the organization of the 
 
 UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, 
 
 with G. H. Stuart as its President. 
 
 The Society took its name from its main idea, viz., to 
 commission, send forth, and sustain Christian workers in 
 all parts of the army and navy. It became the work of the 
 Commission to develop, organize, and direct the sympathies 
 of the Christian public at home, and to be the almoners of 
 its bounty to the soldiers and sailors of the Union and Rebel 
 forces alike, as it had opportunity. During the four years 
 of its operation, the Christian Commission received for this 
 object five and a half miUions of dollars, from all parts 
 of the United States, and disbursed the same through a 
 noble band of Christian workers. 
 
 In the beginning there was a lack of detailed and 
 comprehensive method. History records that the work 
 of the great Commission, though not fruitless, was painfully 
 inadequate the first year of its existence. It was no easy 
 task to systematize this work, for it increased with the 
 increase of the war, and continually outgrew the channels 
 made for it. 
 
 Mr. Stuart (the President), though necessarily much en- 
 grossed by his own large commercial interests, had personally 
 taken the matter in hand, rather than allow it to go by 
 default; and now he was on the look-out for some one, able 
 and willing to join him in thoroughly organizing the work of 
 the Commission. 
 
 He had known Mr. Boardman years before, in the 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 119 
 
 Sunday School Union, and now they met on the 4th of 
 July, 1862, in a large assembly called to confer upon the ex- 
 tension of the work of the Commission. When Mr. Stuart 
 appealed for men to go as Agents to the army, Mr. 
 Boardman responded from the other side of the assembly 
 room, "Here am I, send me." Mr. Stuart answered, "I 
 will send you to morrow." He started forthwith and spent 
 several weeks in visiting the military hospitals and posts in 
 Maryland and Virginia, opening the way for the service of 
 Agents, (or "Delegates," as they were afterwards called), 
 who were sent to the army for personal work among the 
 soldiers. He found a vast work to be done at the front, 
 and when he returned with his report, the Commission 
 proposed to him to take its general Agency in all fields. He 
 accepted it immediately, and shortly afterwards, when its 
 Secretary resigned, he was elected in his stead. 
 
 The Christian Commission Agency worked in various 
 ways. At the encampments chapel-tents were built. The 
 canvas roofs were provided by the Commission, the walls 
 and floors being siippUed by the soldiers themselves. With 
 a hearty good will, they cut and brought from the forests the 
 timber used in the work. At permanent stations, reading 
 rooms also were supplied. Among the Commission's 
 appliances may be reckoned Loan Libraries, Diet Kitchens, 
 Flying Hospitals, extra Ambulance Wagons, Store Trans- 
 ports, Office Wagons, etc., etc. 
 
 ORGANIZING THE WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 When we remember that this work was called to meet the 
 need of four gigantic armies, those of the Potomac, Ohio, Ten- 
 nessee, and Cumberland — and of the navy along the whole 
 south-eastern coast of the United States, and on the Mis- 
 sissippi river, and that these places were separated by 
 thousands of miles — we readily see how vast the 
 
120 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 organization necessary to effect the transport and delivery at 
 the scene of action, of the stores of all kinds represen- 
 ted by five and a half millions of dollars. No less vast was 
 the organization needed to call forth and fit to their places the 
 large body of volunteer workers, and to sustain the interest 
 at home. 
 
 In a letter of reminiscences from Mr. Morrison (the former 
 secretary), dated June 21, 1866, he writes, "I can think of 
 nothing worth chronicling in the way of Annals of the Chris- 
 tian Commission during the period preceding the Rev. W. 
 E, Boardman's appointment to the Secretaryship, which I 
 most joyfully yielded over to him. It would be but a sorry 
 detail of abortive attempts to enlist men of weight, to extend 
 the organization, to stir up branch committees throughout 
 the North, and generally to revive our work, which, just at 
 that moment, seemed about to drop into complete inanition." 
 
 But God meant it otherwise. He had purposes of bless- 
 ing to army and navy through this instrumentality. 
 
 In this vast field of labour there was ample scope for the 
 gift of organization with whi :h Mr. Boardman had been 
 endowed by nature : a gift ea ly laid on God's altar, and at 
 this time marvellously used by Him. 
 
 To thoroughly re-organize the work in its two branches 
 — supply from home, and relief in the army — was felt to be 
 the pressing necessity of the hour. In conjunction with 
 Mr. Stuart, the devoted President, as "a wheel within a 
 wheel," Mr. Boardman had room to carry out all the plans 
 and suggestions God gave him. 
 
 We find no record of a subsequent meeting of the Com- 
 mission or its Executive Committee during that year, but 
 the work went forward with continual increase. 
 
 It was a time of wonderful opportunity, and with God 
 leading on, it was wonderfully improved. There was 7ieed of 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, 121 
 
 men of rare talent for soul-saving, with tender, loving hands, 
 to go among the wounded and the dying ; and God gave 
 them. About five thousand noble Christians, ministers and 
 laymen, served as " Delegates " without pay, for terms longer 
 or shorter. A few of them were captured and incarcerated 
 in rebel prisons ; and to some this work became their altar 
 of sacrifice, and they died on the battle-field. 
 
 The following incident related at a Williams' College 
 Alumni (or public breakfast) gives a 
 
 SAMPLE OF A DELEGATE. 
 
 After the battle of Antietam, a gentleman, passing over 
 the field of blood, saw a man washing at a brook. As he 
 came near he recognised a Doctor of Divinity, the pastor of 
 one of the largest churches in Philadelphia, and a Delegate. 
 
 Said he : " Doctor, what are you doing?" 
 
 The D.D. straightened up, and pointing with his finger, 
 said : " Over yonder are six hundred wounded men ; most 
 of them lying in the bloody shirts in which they were 
 wounded. Our shirts are out, and we shall have none till 
 to-morrow morning, so I thought I would take a few of the 
 worst out here, and wash and dry them in the sun. Do 
 you think there is any harm in it ? " 
 
 Said the gentleman : *' Doctor, I know God has blessed 
 you abundantly in your work in Philadelphia, but I do 
 not think the Master ever looked upon any act of your 
 life with more pleasure than upon this." 
 
 " I believe it," said the Doctor, and returned to his 
 washing. 
 
 ANOTHER SAMPLE 
 
 Whose "horse, plunging during a battle, struck him on the 
 knee-pan. His leg swelled and stiffened until the pain be- 
 came unendurable. When he could no longer stand it, he 
 
122 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, 
 
 gave his horse to a servant, and laid himself down on the 
 ground. He had to take a wounded soldier's place that 
 night. As he lay suffering he heard a voice, " O my God !" 
 He thought, " Can anybody be swearing in such a place 
 as this?" He hstened again, and a prayer began; it was 
 from a wounded soldier. *♦ How can I get at him?" was 
 his first impulse. He tried to draw up his stiffened limbs, 
 but could not rise. He put his arm around a sapling, drew 
 up his well foot, and tried to extend the other without 
 bending, that he might walk ; but he fell back in the effort, 
 jarred through as if he had been stabbed. He then 
 thought, " I can roll!" and over and over he rolled, in pain, 
 through blood, and by dead bodies, until he fell against the 
 dying man, and there he preached Christ and prayed. At 
 length one of the Hne officers came up, and said : — 
 
 " ' Where is the chaplain ? One of the staff officers is 
 dying.' 
 
 " ' Here he is ; here he is,' cried out the sufferer. 
 
 *' ' Can you come and see a dying officer ?' 
 
 *' * I cannot move ! I had to roll myself to this dying man 
 to talk to him.' 
 
 *' ' If I detail two men to carry you, can you go ?' — " ' Yes.' 
 
 " They took him up gently and carried him. And that 
 live-long night the two men bore him over the field, and 
 laid him down beside bleeding, dying men, while he 
 preached Christ and prayed." 
 
 But not only did God supply the need of organization 
 in the work, and the need of devoted workers, but the 
 equally great need of the favour of Government officials, 
 civil and military. 
 
 In August, the Rev. W. E. Boardman was deputed to go 
 to Washington to consult with the President and others, and 
 to secure, permanently if possible, access to the army. He 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 123 
 
 writes to Mr. Stuart, Aug. i6th, 1862, of his visit to General 
 Halleck. "His answer was brief, definite, decisive. All 
 hospitals and camps this side of Virginia are open to us for 
 our Delegates and supplies. All supplies for the army 
 in Virginia wnll be duly forwarded, and faithfully delivered, 
 as we may direct, but 
 
 NO PASSES 
 
 will be given at present to any part of the army in Virginia. 
 No exceptions tvill be made under any circumstances.^^ The 
 reason given was, that such favours would "bring upon them a 
 swarm of applications from others." Mr. Boardman re- 
 marks, " This rigid rule is understood to be temporary, and 
 may soon be relaxed." And so it was, for a little later we 
 read of ** the promise of passes for all regular Delegates." 
 Under date of Nov. 22nd, after having several times placed 
 restrictions upon the Agents of the Commission, Surgeon- 
 General William A. Hammond writes, " I shall always be 
 ready to aid the United States Christian Commission in 
 any way that may be in my power." 
 
 But of all needs the greatest was that of 
 
 THE SPIRIT OUTPOURED 
 
 upon the dying men in behalf of whom this Agency was 
 moving. This also God graciously supplied. A volume 
 could be filled with reports Uke the following, written by a 
 Delegate at the Murfreesboro' Headquarters of the army. 
 • " Nearly forty thousand men, made thoughtful in the 
 battle of Stone River, were encamped within the radius 
 of a mile. A large majority of them had lost their Testa- 
 ments with their knapsacks, in that battle. A systematic 
 distribution of the Scriptures to all the regiments Avas at 
 once undertaken. In one month, twenty- five thousand 
 Bibles and thirty thousand Soldiers' Hymn-books were 
 
124 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 given away ; and never has God's praise been sung 
 in nobler chorus than around the Murfreesboro' camps. In 
 a few weeks there were tokens of unusual religious interest. 
 Chaplains held extra religious meetings in their regiments. 
 The Delegates increased to thirty, who laboured incessantly 
 with most blessed results. At one of the moonlight meetings 
 in Camp Convalescent five hundred rose for prayer. 
 
 " When the second year of the work of the Commission 
 began, the number of Auxiliary Associations and Committees 
 throughout the North was forty-four ; when it closed, the 
 number was one hundred and eleven. Its home organiza- 
 tion was enlarged and strengthened, and its methods in 
 the field considerably modified and improved. 
 
 " Pastors and others who visited the army as Delegates 
 during the winter of 1863-4, declared that their experience 
 was unlike anything conceived before. There was a 
 religious revival among the soldiers, which made labours at 
 home seem formal and fruitless. It was felt to be worth a 
 journey to the army, to find men who were positively eager 
 to learn the way of salvation, and they were found there 
 by the thousa?td." 
 
 When the men saw glittering on the breast of these faith- 
 ful workers, the words "Christian Commission" in black 
 letters on white metal plates, they knew well what that 
 meant, and, although many among them never before cared 
 for the word '* Christian," yet now it was full of meaning 
 and spoke to their fainting spirits words of cheer that 
 melted away all past opposition, and made them ready for 
 the teaching they so much needed. 
 
 A work of grace was also going on at Camp Convalescent 
 near Washington. At one of the testimony meetings a man 
 got up and said, " I hear say you are going East to Massa- 
 chusetts. Well, tell them that a Yankee of the Yankees, 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 125 
 
 who never prayed at home, has learned to ask God morning 
 and night to bless the Christian Commission." As he sat 
 down, a young man rose, his arm in a sling, his face pale 
 from long-continued illness. He was deeply moved, and 
 could hardly speak. At last he said, " Chaplain, you will 
 know what I think of the Christian Commission when I tell 
 you my simple story. After I was wounded I lay all night 
 on the battlefield. I shall never forget that night. O 
 Chaplain, it was so hard to die, when I knew I might live 
 if I could only get somebody to help me. But nobody 
 came near me. After awhile I saw a light glimmering on 
 the field ; it came nearer. I made out the shadow of a 
 man carrying a lantern in his hand. By and by I saw him 
 stoop down, then get up, move along a little and stoop 
 down in another place. He was lifting up wounded men. 
 Then I began to pray with all my might that he would come 
 near me, and give me a mouthful of water. In a moment 
 more he was kneeling by my side, and pouring, what I 
 thought was heaven, down my throat ! It was cool lemon- 
 ade. I exclaimed, ' God bless you ! God bless you I Who 
 are you, sir?' He lifted my head, and flashing in the light 
 of the lantern I saw the badge of the Christian Commission. 
 I could not help crying out, * Hurrah, boys ! The Christian 
 Commission has come ! We are all right now !' ' Thank 
 God ! Thank God !' the men answered back. Ah, Chaplain, 
 the Christian Commission saved my life that time, and it 
 has saved many and many a life.'' 
 
 A large body of these Christian workers were known as 
 ** minute men." Their domestic, Churchy or business relations 
 were such that they could not volunteer service for an in- 
 definite length of time, but their names were handed in 
 as those who, on the eve of any great battle, or in the pres- 
 sure of work after a great slaughter, would tear themselves 
 
126 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 away from home duties for at least a few days. Thus many 
 Christian merchants, lawyers, and medical men had the 
 privilege of serving in the thickest of the battle. And many 
 a congregation managed for itself for a Sunday while their 
 pastor was ** at the front." More than one hundred and fifty 
 ladies also served gratuitously in the management of the 
 ** Extra Diet Kitchens" of the Commission, in the great "Field 
 Hospitals." Regular diet-lists or bills of fare were provided, 
 on which the ward surgeon, as he made his daily rounds, 
 was expected to prescribe the diet for the sick with as much 
 care as he prescribed the medicine. These lists were re- 
 turned to the kitchen, and governed the preparation and 
 distribution of the food. Sixty chapel tents (army churches), 
 as well as other places of worship, were opened, and served 
 also as libraries and reading rooms. Two hundred and 
 eighty-five Loan Libraries were distributed in the general hos- 
 pitals, permanent posts, large forts, and on the war-ships. 
 Thus 32,125 religious and standard works were put into the 
 men's hands. 
 
 Wagons were sent out with many divisions of the troops, 
 laden with stores, in charge of a driver and Agent and 
 sometimes accompanied by relief corps of Delegates. 
 
 THE FIRST COFFEE WAGON 
 
 was invented, built, and presented to the Commission by a 
 gentleman of Philadelphia. It was divided into compart- 
 ments to contain coffee, tea, sugar, and corn flour, with a 
 place also for two gridirons and an axe. It had three large 
 boilers, each boiler held fourteen gallons, and on the march 
 tea, coffee, or chocolate could be supplied from each at the 
 rate of ten gallons in twenty minutes, or ninety gallons an hour. 
 After the terrible day of the mine explosion and bloody 
 repulse before Petersburg, a party of Delegates volunteered 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 127 
 
 to respond to a call among the sufferers for coffee. Fires were 
 lighted, water boiled, coffee made, and soon the vehicle, 
 drawn by two powerful horses, and attended by half-a-score 
 of willing labourers, was on its way from division to division. 
 Up the hospital avenue it rumbled and rolled, past the long 
 rows of white tents, stopping here and there to pour out its 
 generous supply. You should have seen the wondering 
 looks of the men as it passed. How they rolled themselves 
 over to get a glimpse of it 1 How they stretched their necks 1 
 The wounded heads forgot to ache, and the wounded limbs 
 almost forgot to cry for nursing in that moment of eager 
 curiosity. Was it a new sort of ambulance ? What did the 
 three black pipes mean, and the three glowing fires ? *' Is it 
 a steam fire-engine, and are they going to give us a bath } " 
 As the engine poured its coffee into their little cups, they 
 were soon beyond doubt as to its intention. One by one, 
 such as were able crowded about it with curious faces and 
 affectionate comments. 
 
 *' I say. Bill, ain't that a machine 1 " 
 
 " Yes sir, it's the greatest institution I ever saw.'* 
 
 "That's what you might call the Christian Light Artillery," 
 says a third. *' A great deal pleasanter ammunition in it 
 than the Rebs sent us this morning." 
 
 "Well, doctor," said a Delegate to a surgeon, ''what do 
 you think of this ? " 
 
 *' I thank the Lord for it. That's all I can say," was his 
 reply. 
 
 Thus crowned with praises and benedictions, from that 
 day ** Coffee Wagons" became "peculiar institutions" of 
 the Commission. 
 
 The following is penned by an actor in the scenes. 
 
 " The engagements over, our first care, in connection with 
 the surgeons and chaplains, was to remove the wounded to 
 
128 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 a large mansion near by, where 
 
 **A 'FLYING hospital' 
 
 was established. We went over the fields with our lanterns, 
 carefully searching for the dead and wounded. When one 
 of the former was found, we carried him and placed him by 
 the side of others, ready for a soldier's burial ; when one 
 of the latter, he was assisted, or carried on a stretcher, to 
 the hospital. 
 
 '•' Going over the field late in the evening, I stumbled upon 
 a dead body. Removing the blanket that covered it, I found 
 a soldier asleep lying by it. Upon waking him, I found he 
 was a brother of the deceased, and had come to lie by him 
 for the last time. As we removed the body, he followed, 
 sobbing, and when we laid it down, again sought its side 
 for the night's rest. * He was only my half brother, but I loved 
 him just as well ! ' w^as his exclamation in broken French, as 
 we took leave. Upon another body, I found a Soldier's 
 Hymn-book, completely saturated with his own heart's blood, 
 and through the crimson stain I read, ' Presented by the 
 U. S. Christian Commission.' I brought it home as a precious 
 relic of that field of death and glory. 
 
 " The wounded all safely brought from the field, and into 
 hospital, our next care was to provide them w^ith something 
 to eat and drink. With pails of beef-tea and coffee, plenty 
 of tin dippers, and haversacks filled with soft biscuit, 
 we went among the men. Meanwhile, other Delegates were 
 busy combing out the tangled hair, sponging the bloody 
 faces, wiping off the grim marks of strife, aiding the surgeons 
 in any and every way, while still others could be seen telling 
 such as were soon to die, of Jesus, His love. His sacrifice 
 for sin, His power to save, and then lifting up the voice in 
 prayer for God's Spirit to come down and make His temple 
 in the sinking breast ere the spirit fled. 
 
SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 129 
 
 " It was midnight before ^Ye sought the rest our bodies so 
 much needed, and the next morning we were up before hght 
 preparing refreshments and serving them to the men. 
 
 " Several whose groans filled our ears the night before had 
 gone to sleep — the sleep ' without dreams.' " 
 
 THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 
 
 A Delegate visiting in Fourth Street Hospital, Cincinnati, 
 writes : — " A poor fellow was brought in whose right arm was 
 almost shot to pieces. I found him a very bright Christian. 
 The surgeon told me he must die. * No use to take off his 
 arm ; he cannot live through it.' His father was telegraphed 
 for. He came next morning, and went in to see his boy. 
 He stood up in our daily prayer meeting at noon with this 
 request : ' Brethren, I have a son in hospital. The surgeon 
 says he must die. I believe if you will pray God to restore 
 him to health, He will do it.' Prayer was offered. The 
 
 next day I went into the hospital, Surgeon N met me. 
 
 • Contrary to all expectations, sir, that young man you are 
 interested in is improving.* He grew better every day. 
 Once after, I found the father sitting by his son's cot. Dr. 
 
 N came by. * Tell me, doctor,' said I, 'how do you 
 
 account for this ? You physicians told me he was going to 
 die ; how do you explain his present condition ? ' ' Well, 
 sir,' replied the surgeon, ' I can only say I consider it a 
 miracle.' " 
 
 But we must no longer linger among these memories of 
 God's great goodness in creating and using the Christian 
 Commission. We must also close this chapter in the life of 
 W. E. Boardman. His arduous duties at head-quarters as 
 Secretary and General Agent had not prevented his visiting, 
 from time to time, the work on the field. This was his 
 peculiar delight ; and while thus engaged in service at the 
 
130 SECRETARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 front my husband, presuming upon his great natural strength, 
 over-exerted himself in lifting wounded soldiers into the 
 ambulances. Both Mr. Stuart and Mr. Boardman were 
 quite worn out, under the pressure of the work, and 
 incessant demands upon them ; and just as the war was 
 ending my husband completely broke down, and was 
 obliged to give up and spend a month in bed under 
 medical treatment. 
 
 I am deeply indebted to Mr. Geo. H. Stuart for access to *' Annals 
 of the U.S. Christian Commission," and "Incidents of U.S. Christian 
 Commission." In this chapter I have quoted freely from both these 
 sources. — Ed. 
 
FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 131 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE — FURTHER AUTHORSHIP — 
 HOLINESS CONVENTIONS. 
 
 HE Lord in His own infinite wisdom and 
 tenderness, caused this enforced idleness to 
 be less oppressive by opening our way for a 
 trip across the ocean. In the hearts of most 
 Americans there is usually a longing desire 
 to visit the Old world, and we were not sorry for the 
 opportunity afforded by the necessity of rest. 
 
 Mention has been made of Mr. Boardman's sister, whose 
 life was saved, humanly speaking, by the kindly minis- 
 trations of her brother. She was advised at this time to 
 cross the ocean, as the best means of regaining her health 
 and strength. And I, also, was again suffering from my old 
 enemy bronchitis with congestive chills, which had reduced 
 me until I could scarcely move about. 
 
 Our sister's husband, having more money than time at his 
 disposal, desired Mr. Boardman to take both her and me to 
 Europe, to try the German springs. Accordingly, in the 
 year 1868, she was carried on to the steamer and laid in her 
 
132 FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 berth, for at this time she was too weak to hold up her 
 head. But the second day out at sea she was able to sit up, 
 and in a few days she was with us in the saloon, so 
 marvellously was she benefited by the bracing sea-air; 
 and each one of the party was revived and greatly invigo- 
 rated. It was a wonderfully quick voyage. All the days we 
 were on the ocean it was as calm as a river. 
 
 We landed at Brest in France, and only an American can 
 know the pleasure it gives one, who for over forty years has 
 read and heard of the Old world, and studied its history and 
 literature, when first his foot is set on its soil, and he awakes 
 to the fact that he is really in Europe. The first impres- 
 sions can never be repeated. The strange language, the 
 clatter of wooden shoes on the stones, the costume of the 
 peasantry, the old style of architecture, all that met us as we 
 drove through the streets of this quaint old city, awakened 
 all the romance of our younger days. And when a dwelling 
 was pointed out as having been built before our Lord was 
 on this earth, we were intensely interested, and wished to 
 stop and gaze upon this wonder of wonders. Not because 
 it was anything beautiful to look upon, but it made us 
 realize how short a time it is since Jesus was here upon 
 earth, walking about and living as we do at the present day. 
 It would only take eighteen people to have lived each one 
 hundred years, to bring down by word of mouth the record 
 of that which Jesus did upon earth ! 
 
 Our line of march was first to Marseilles, thence by steamer 
 to Naples. After we had visited Rome, Florence and other 
 places of interest, we passed over the Alps into Switzerland. 
 Here we saw that which all travellers are not permitted to 
 see, a road cut through the snow on the Alps. And it sent 
 quite a shiver through one to see these cold high walls on 
 each side. I will not attempt here to speak of our journey 
 
HOLINESS CONVENTIONS, 133 
 
 as we passed on through the beautiful and interesting 
 country. We hastened to reach our place of destination 
 as we had come for the purpose of finding health. 
 
 Germany abounds with springs of mineral waters, and 
 each traveller coming for health must be directed by a 
 physician to the waters best suited to their case. We were 
 ordered to Ems, while our sister and her companion had to 
 separate from us and go to Wiesbaden. It was a quiet life 
 we led here, for, having no knowledge of any language but 
 our own, we were shut up to communicate with thoser 
 only who spoke English. 
 
 The process of inhaling, drinking, and bathing was very 
 tiresome, and we could not but regret spending so much 
 precious time over the poor, frail tenement in which the 
 spirit is encased. But the result was marvellous, the pro- 
 cess being greatly blessed of God. We did not then know 
 that we might go directly to the Lord for healing of the 
 body, as we learned afterwards it was our privilege to do. 
 We were like children let out of school when we were 
 through with the bathing, inhaling, drinking, observing 
 dietary rules, and found ourselves on our way to England 
 It was most charming to us ; quite like getting home, 
 although we had never been there before. No country 
 in the world was more full of interest to us than Old 
 England with all its ancient monuments of history, with 
 which we had been familiar from childhood. Seeing these 
 special objects of interest took all the time we had to 
 spend here on our way back to America. We made 
 scarcely any acquaintances on this visit, and delivered none 
 of the many letters of introduction which had been kindly 
 furnished us by friends at home. The object having been 
 accomplished for which we came, we returned to New York, 
 after an absence of eight months. 
 
134 FIJ^ST VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 During this year my husband was pressed by the Lord 
 into writing his second book, 
 
 "he that overcometh, or a conquering gospel." 
 
 Which he divided into " Life, Work, and Results." It 
 might be expressed thus : *' The place of faith in our life, 
 and in our work for God." Some precious truths are uttered 
 on subjects of great moment to all those w^ho are seeking 
 to follow the Lord in active Christian service, illustrated by 
 a number of brief histories of workers. The path of faith is 
 clearly and fully traced, and many a lesson may be gathered 
 which will enrich the gatherer to all eternity. This book 
 was reprinted in England, on his own responsibility, by a 
 gentleman, and the edition was soon disposed of. 
 
 At this time my husband was without any pastoral engage- 
 ment, and consequently without any regular salary. He 
 desired, as far as possible, to preach the ** gospel of Christ 
 without charge ;" and to be enabled to do so he was led to 
 enter into a business arrangement with a friend, whereby he 
 hoped to secure a competent maintenance at the cost of a 
 very small portion of his time. We had not at this time 
 fully ventured on the Lord for our daily bread, nor learned 
 the preciousness of being wholly dependent on our heavenly 
 Father for the supply of our temporal needs ; but we were 
 being led on to this. 
 
 It now became necessary for either Mr. Boardman or his 
 friend to come to Europe in order to carry out their plans, 
 we therefore undertook a second voyage to England for the 
 furtherance of this business. 
 
 SECOND VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 We left New York in the year 1869, and, after tossing 
 over the ocean for ten days, we again placed our feet on 
 English soil, with the assurance that the Lord had 
 more for us to do here than this little matter of business. 
 
HOLINESS CONVENTIONS. 135 
 
 It was easy to see that my husband's heart was not in this 
 affair into which he had been drawn. He was so desirous 
 of presenting Jesus as the Rest for the soul, the Refuge from 
 all the cares and anxieties that press daily upon the children 
 of God, he saw so many unrestful Christians, who longed 
 for rest, that he desired to spend all his strength in teaching 
 a full salvation, which but few of those who professed to 
 love our Lord knew anything about. 
 
 The reading of the " Higher Christian Life " had been 
 blessed to so many in England, that we did not, this time, need 
 any of our letters of introduction, and we never found time 
 or opportunity for delivering them, except in one instance. 
 There were many kind hearts ready to give us a loving 
 welcome, and to receive the truth we presented, of a free and 
 complete Saviour. The Lord provided for us in every 
 possible way. He met our every need in a manner that 
 convinced us He had His eye of love upon us. And we 
 found, while watering others, and when engaged in this most 
 delightful work amid the dear appreciative children of God, 
 that the Lord was Himself teaching us to trust fully in Him 
 for our daily needs. 
 
 We had many opportunities of speaking in halls and school- 
 rooms, as well as in drawing-rooms. They were very 
 quiet meetings, and so wholly free from all opposition, that 
 the truth seemed to distil gently as the dew. And yet 
 there were, in each gathering, those who made a full surrender 
 of themselves to God, and who were brought to understand 
 by experience the abiding presence of the Lord Jesus. 
 Satan seemed not as fully roused to oppose this truth of full 
 surrender and full trust in Jesus as our Sanctification as he 
 was later on when making Christians afraid of heresy and 
 perfectionism, he caused them to shrink from becoming 
 known as God's peculiar treasure. 
 
136 FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 It was evident now that the Lord was drawing my husband 
 on to a full surrender of all his time to this direct service 
 among His own people \ and he became so very restful and 
 happy in the separation from all secular work, that whatever 
 doubts had heretofore crossed his mind, as to what the Lord 
 wanted him to do, disappeared for ever. 
 
 At this time he felt he had a definite call to a definite 
 work. As in his earlier life God had led him out into 
 evangelistic work among the unconverted, so now He dis- 
 tinctly called him to 
 
 EVANGELIZE AMONG CHRISTIANS, 
 
 and proclaim the Gospel of full rest in our indwelling 
 Saviour. 
 
 The time came when a return to America was necessary, 
 to wind up the business my husband had in hand. It was 
 a trial to leave the dear friends and the precious work the 
 Lord had so graciously put into our hands here. We could 
 scarcely believe it possible that over a year had passed ; so 
 pleasantly had the time been spent that it seemed but a few 
 months. 
 
 The voyage across the ocean was longer and more trying 
 than any before. Various things conspired to make it a 
 very slow passage ; but, after fifteen days out at sea, we 
 came safely into the harbour of New York, and were soon 
 among our old friends. 
 
 Not long after our return the Lord opened the way for 
 much more extensive spreading of His glorious truth of 
 full salvation by 
 
 CONVENTIONS FOR HOLINESS. 
 
 In the same year, 1870, a few Christian brethren gathered 
 together for prayer and consultation ; this resulted in their 
 forming an "Association for holding Union, Holiness 
 
HOLINESS CONVENTIONS. 137 
 
 Conventions." Mr. Boardman was made chairman of this 
 Association, and in the autumn they commenced work. 
 
 The first of the series was held in Newark, New Jersey, 
 called by the Young Men's Christian Association of that 
 place. As many of the brethren were present as could 
 attend. Mr. Boardman was always expected to be at hand, 
 as he was neither pastor of a congregation, nor engaged 
 in business, as were some of the others. The people were 
 glad to come together, especially the hungry, unsatisfied 
 Christians, who were longing for something better than the 
 up and down life they had been leading. Many found 
 the rest they had been seeking in the first meeting ; and 
 this Conference resulted in the establishment of a regular 
 Hohness Meeting in Newark. 
 
 A second followed immediately, held in Philadelphia, in 
 the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. It was 
 at a very unfavourable time, when most of the ministers 
 were absent, and the arrangements were so incomplete that 
 the public were not informed of the Convention. Still 
 God's presence was felt, and the evening meetings were 
 attended with blessing and profit to those who came to 
 them. The stone was kept rolling, for before this was ended, 
 a call for a third Convention came from Washington City, also 
 from the Young Men's Christian Association. The meetings 
 were held in their large rooms, and there was great interest 
 awakened among the people. Precious testimonies were 
 given by those who had decided to let the whole respon- 
 sibility of keeping their hearts and spirits go to the Lord 
 Jesus, who has promised to keep that which is committed 
 unto Him. 
 
 It was blessed to see how the Lord worked in the after- 
 noon meetings, " for ladies only." Some learned to praise 
 God out of a full heart, who had never opened their lips 
 
138 FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 before in any kind of meeting ; their hopes were brightened, 
 their hearts purified and freed from those besetments which 
 had brought them into captivity. Faces were lighted up, 
 telUng of a different state of mind from the oppression 
 which sin brings. They saw Jesus able to deliver from all 
 the oppression of the enemy, and were happy in His love 
 for them. And sinners also were reached. Many had been 
 kep": back by the fear of backsliding from taking a stand 
 for God; but now that they heard how the Lord could 
 keep them from yielding to sin, and save them from growing 
 cold in His service, they were ready to make the venture, 
 and give themselves to be wholly the Lord's. 
 
 Other Conventions were held, the last of this series being 
 at Wilmington, Delaware, in the Second Presbyterian 
 Church ; this completed the work the Association had 
 agreed to undertake, and they were harmoniously dissolved. 
 
 Having seen more of the development of this life of 
 faith, and finding that all the joy of the Christian, all his 
 strength, all his growth lay in becoming more and more 
 dead to self, and more alive to the person of Jesus, my 
 husband was impressed by the necessity of writing another 
 book. He wished to show the strength and beauty which 
 may be found in Christ, and to remove the difficulties 
 standing in the way of the Christian's growth in this life 
 of holiness. 
 
 <* GLADNESS IN JESUS " 
 
 appeared in a series of articles in Dr. CuUis' *' Times of 
 Refreshing," but was soon put into book form, and was like- 
 wise taken up and published in England. My husband 
 says in this book, " A solemn Christian repelled me, even 
 in the days of deepest solicitude, but a sunny Christian 
 greatly drew me. I remember two — one solemn as the 
 graye \ I reverenced him, but could no more open my heart 
 
HOLINESS CONVENTIONS. 139 
 
 to him than to a mile-stone. The other's tell-tale face indi- 
 cated the shining "Pearl of great price" in his heart, and 
 he had no need to ask me as to my condition ; my heart 
 opened to him of its own accord. He had no skill in point- 
 ing the blind to the door, but the sunshine in his face 
 assured me that I could not be far from it, when the sun was 
 beaming through upon him." Mr. B. speaks of the "anoint- 
 ing of gladness " as coming to him ten years after the joy of 
 conversion made his heart glad, with the anticipation of the 
 glories of heaven and its joy. He laments the gap in those 
 ten years, the little progress made, and the almost endless 
 struggles after something more than the hope of heaven at 
 the end of the journey. One of the most valuable bits in 
 this precious Uttle book is the chapter on the seventh of 
 Romans, shewing how one may step out of the " wretched 
 man " experience, in which the mass of God's people are 
 hving, under bondage to law, into the glorious liberty of 
 the eighth of Romans, and the " no condemnation to them 
 which are in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This reminds me of a lady who very positively affirmed 
 that there was no portion of God's Word more comforting to 
 her than this very seventh chapter of Romans. She was a 
 true child of God, and the mother of a large family of 
 children. She said she was always willing to do right, 
 desiring to be delivered from the bondage of sin, but, "just 
 like the Apostle " (!)she could see no way of deliverance. 
 The question with her each day was, " how to perform " that 
 which she willed, and in this sad perplexity she chose to live, 
 under the idea that she had the Apostle Paul as her 
 example ; neither could any argument of ours bring her out 
 of this delusion. 
 
 Mr. Boardman writes in the first edition — " If the Apostle 
 himself was in the seventh chapter at the time he wrote it, 
 
HO FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 
 
 he was also in the eighth, and so was in a greatly advanced 
 position at the same time, and so must have been greatly 
 ahead of himself. And more than this ; as he was the first 
 person singular, present in the seventh, and the first person 
 plural, present in the eighth chapter, implying that there were 
 other persons with him in the eighth ; yes, all w^ho had 
 passed from under the law, and found full salvation in 
 Christ — therefore, if the portrait in the seventh was his own 
 at the time, many others, and of these not a few who had 
 been brought there by his own blessed teachings, were ahead 
 of him. . . . Not only was he ahead of himself, but his 
 own children were ahead of him — a thing not easy to believe. 
 In fact, the reading of this seventh of Romans from the 
 Apostle's own point of view, as an illustration of the true 
 character of the law, and not at all as an example of true 
 Christian experience, clears the matter of all difficulty, and 
 causes no break in the steps of his own grand logic, mount- 
 ing up to the demonstration of his own proposition. While 
 on the other hand, the reading of it from a legal standpoint, 
 as a sketch of his experience at the time, involves one in 
 endless difficulty and monstrous absurdity." 
 
 This book being completed, my husband w^as at liberty to 
 follow that work for which he had been set apart by the Lord. 
 When the Association was dissolved, it was with the under- 
 standing that Mr. Boardman should be free to call any or all 
 of the members together again, for a renewal of their fellow- 
 ship, and, if occasion required, to organize them again 
 into a committee for Convention work. Organization, as 
 has been said, was one of my husband's greatest — "gifts" 
 shall I call it? And yet it was sometimes a hindrance, 
 especially when the Lord was calling to a single-handed work. 
 
 The result of the first series of Conventions had been 
 such that the friends were quite willing to respond to this 
 
HOLINESS CONVENTIONS. 141 
 
 call. Through all the following winter, spring, and summer, 
 Conventions were held in New York, Brooklyn, Williams- 
 burgh, Syracuse, Providence, Boston, and a number of 
 other places. In every one of these there was the manifest 
 presence and power of the Holy Spirit, shed forth by the 
 Lord Jesus from the Father. Many ministers and active 
 Christians were brought into an abiding realization of their 
 union with Jesus, and filled with the peace of God, passing 
 all understanding, insomuch that they found that sin had no 
 longer dominion over them, and that the power of God was 
 with them for the walk, work, worship, and warfare of life, 
 as never before. 
 
142 A FURTHER STEP /N FAITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 N all this work of the Conventions my husband 
 had gone forward without a salary from any 
 source, and the contributions made to the 
 Association, which paid in part the travelling 
 expenses of the members, were equally dis- 
 tributed among them. 
 
 It was at this time in the same year, 1870, that the Lord 
 called upon us to give up all our possessions, and enter upon 
 a life of full trust in Him for all our temporal needs. It was 
 but little that we did own, but that little was very dear, 
 particularly a house in Brooklyn that had been given to me. 
 It was just such a place as I thought the most delightful in 
 which to spend our last days. It had a garden with fruit, 
 and was convenient and sunny, situated on one of the 
 Avenues, and when first I was far away in Europe, my 
 thoughts would revert to that house as the most pleasant 
 spot on earth, and with emotions of gratitude and delight did 
 I praise the Lord for it. We had an uncertain hold upon 
 some other property in the West, but this house was secured 
 to me. 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 143 
 
 My husband, for some time before this, had been willing to 
 venture upon this life of trust, but would not do so finally 
 until he could obtain my full consent. 
 
 He said little about it, but at last the time came when the 
 Lord closed me into His own secret chamber, and asked me 
 to give up all and let Him have the entire care of providing 
 for us. It seemed impossible to me that the dear Lord 
 could wish to take away that house, I could not see how a 
 loving Father could have the heart to do such a thing \ and 
 then, what would all my relatives say ? I did not so much 
 mind about our being considered fools, that was a point 
 settled by them long before, but the pressure upon my mind 
 was, "What would they think of the God we served ? If they 
 heard that all was given up because the Lord said it must be 
 done, would they say He was a kind, loving Father ? " 
 
 Three days the Lord wrestled with me, as He did one 
 night with Jacob of old, and just as He saw the necessity of 
 getting Jacob out of joint with himself, so must He get me 
 out of joint with my own ideas, that He might get me into 
 joint with Himself. 
 
 O those days of bitter sorrow, because I was not willing to 
 let the Lord have all the care of me, and give up all 
 dependence upon the arm of flesh ! The Lord delights in 
 having us see and understand our dependence upon Him, so 
 that He may lead us into the green pastures, and take us 
 along by the still waters of His love. But, praise His Name ! 
 He does not let go His firm hold of us until He has accom- 
 plished His own purposes. Yet He does not willingly afflict ; 
 He did not wish to put Jacob's thigh out of joint, and make 
 him go limping through fife ; but better to be out of joint with 
 self than out of joint with God ! 
 
 It was a day long to be remembered, this third day, when 
 I bowed my head and said, " Yes, Lord, all is Thine ; the 
 
144 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 house is gone, given over in full trust to Thee " ! It was 
 then that God revealed Himself to me in a wonderful manner, 
 as He made very special promises of His care, and said so 
 lovingly, *' You are in your Father's house, My child, to go 
 out no more for ever." The " everlasting arms " were indeed 
 underneath ! The house was sold, and the money used. 
 Praise be to His Name, He has so fully met every need since, 
 that He has scarcely waited for us to ask for anything. But 
 there was one instance of withholding which I would 
 mention. We were owing 
 
 TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS 
 
 to a friend, and my husband was expecting to receive from 
 one who was owing him, more than double that amount. We 
 both asked the Lord that He would put it into this man's 
 heart to pay us. But days passed by, and this petition was 
 not granted, until one day my husband said, " Mary, what 
 can it mean ? I have never been in debt, and now that we 
 are trusting the Lord for the supply of every need, why is the 
 money not coming from the source from which it is due ? " 
 I replied, "It must be to teach us something, and I will find 
 out why.'' I went alone, and asked the Lord to show us 
 why the money did not come. The Lord said, " My child, 
 you have not asked Me. Ask and you will receive." That 
 ♦'^j>^" went through me like a thunder-bolt, I could never 
 forget it. I saw at once I had not been on the divine side in 
 asking. We had had but one thought as to the zvay in which 
 the Lord would send the money, but He was not shut up to 
 our way j our Father's thought was to teach us His way, and 
 therefore He waited until we were tired of our own ideas, 
 and were ready to listen to Him. 
 
 I went down to my husband and told him I believed the 
 Lord w^ould send the money at once ; that we had not asked 
 aright, and had a lesson to learn, and he saw it immediately. 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 145 
 
 That afternoon, when walking down Broadway, he met 
 a friend who gave him a cheque for two hundred dollars, 
 just the amount needed ; and, before the close of the day, 
 another two hundred dollars was given him by another 
 friend. 
 
 The first lesson learned was, that the Lord kept back the 
 money really needed, in order to teach me to ask for what- 
 ever I needed ; for I had quite made up my mind that I 
 would never beg the Lord for anything, but would accept 
 what He saw fit to give, and be perfectly satisfied whatever 
 it might be. This did not please Him. The Father now 
 taught me that I was never to feel independent of asking, 
 for He had given us a command to make all our requests 
 known to Him. And another lesson the Lord wished us to 
 learn was to ask in the will of the Father, without dictating 
 the way in which our needs were to be met. We had asked 
 that the man should pay what he was owing us, but that was 
 not God's way of meeting our need. 
 
 Since that day in which all was committed to the Lord, 
 there has never been an anxious thought as to how we 
 should get on, or how meet any debt, for the Lord has sup- 
 plied us even before asking, so that we have been free as the 
 birds, going wherever the Father sends us, without a fear 
 but that He would meet all expenses in His own way. 
 Thus have our lives been one song of praise and thanks- 
 giving for all His wonderful goodness shown to us ! 
 
 TRUSTING THE LORD TO SPEAK. 
 
 It was now necessary to work independently of others, 
 since it was the Lord who was to employ us. There is a 
 difference between doing the Lord's work and working for 
 the Lord ; just as a servant may keep busy all day long, 
 working for her mistress in her own way, and yet without 
 
146 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 doing just what the mistress wislies done. And now my 
 husband had so fully recognised his time as the Lord's, that 
 he ceased forming plans for service, as he had always 
 done heretofore. No more committees or organizations, 
 every step must now be directed by the Lord Himself. 
 
 From the time that the Association was dissolved he 
 worked on a new line, and waited for those who wished for 
 a Convention to call it themselves, and invite us. Many 
 more invitations came than could be met ; and so many 
 from the West that we decided to go on a tour, visiting 
 the towns and cities to which we were called as they came 
 in the way. , In this journeying we were accompanied by 
 Dr. Ward and his wife, who went with us from place to 
 place. 
 
 In Cincinnati arrangements were made for holding the 
 first meeting in one of their largest churches. This belonged 
 to the Methodists. It was rather appalling to both Mrs. 
 Ward and myself to think of speaking before a mixed 
 audience, having had but little experience in this service. 
 What was our astonishment on seeing our names placarded 
 in very large letters at the different points, as we drove 
 from the railway station. 
 
 " What shall we do?" asked Mrs. Ward. 
 
 " Do ? " I replied with great boldness. " Just meet it and 
 trust the Lord; we shall have to speak, so let us not fear." 
 
 Mrs. Ward was quieted by this remark, and said, " Surely 
 we could do nothing else but trust in the Lord." 
 
 We got on very well whenever the subject came up, until, 
 on the morning of the day of the meeting, the gentleman 
 with whom we were staying, who belonged to the " Friends," 
 said, " You brethren must not expect to occupy much time, 
 for there'll be a crowd gathered to hear the ladies. It is 
 something so new to have ladies speaking in this city." 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 147 
 
 My heart sank within me ; what should we do ? Of 
 course I said nothing to Mrs. Ward ; I was thankful that 
 she was not as upset as I was by hearing this remark. The 
 thought of my speaking made a tremendous commotion 
 within, and I told my husband it would be no use for me to 
 try to speak in that large church, for it would be impossible 
 to say one word. 
 
 *' But, my child, you must," he replied with his usual 
 calmness, "the Lord will not forsake you ; trust Him fully, 
 and your heart will stop that fluttering. I shall ask Him to 
 quiet you, and use you ; and He will'^ 
 
 Although " He will " was said in a very firm tone of voice, 
 yet it did not altogether quiet me, but the Lord did in His 
 own way. 
 
 The evening came ; this blessed Sabbath evening, and 
 with a beating heart and trembling limbs I walked up the 
 long aisle of the church, leaning on the arm of my husband, 
 looking timidly at the crowd of people gathered there. 
 After the preliminary service, Dr. Ward said, "Will you 
 speak first, or shall my wife ? She is quite willing." 
 
 " Of course your wife had better speak, I do not feel pre- 
 pared," I replied tremblingly, scarce knowing what I said. 
 
 Mrs. Ward gave a very clear statement of what the Lord 
 would do for all those who belonged to Him, who would 
 consecrate themselves fully, and trust Him to cleanse and 
 separate them from all that He saw standing between. She 
 also spoke to the unsaved in such a loving way that several 
 were brought to the Lord under the message He gave her. 
 She was not the least frightened, and it seemed to me 
 miraculous to see how she was sustained. 
 
 I was talking with the Lord, and begging Him to tell me 
 what I should do when called upon to speak. At last the 
 Lord did so quiet my poor, weak, fluttering heart, as to 
 
148 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 enable me to listen. I have never forgotten the words that 
 He said, " If I opened the mouth of a dumb ass, and spoke 
 through it, can I not speak through you, if you will let Me 
 by yielding all to Me ? " I was reassured in a moment ; it 
 was quite another thing if the Lord was going to speak. I 
 immediately came back to the ground I stood upon when I 
 first spoke to Mrs. Ward. Yes, it was no longer I, but 
 Jesus, and I could let Bim speak; and He did, so that I was 
 in danger afterwards of being elated by what I heard said ; 
 in fact, had I not heeded the kindly words of my dear 
 husband, who cautioned me against attributing anything to 
 self, I should have been puffed up. 
 
 A LAWYER FINDS CHRIST THE WAY. 
 
 That evening's meeting gave a great impetus to the work 
 of God. My husband and Dr. Ward followed up by short 
 and pointed addresses, and invited any who wished to do 
 so, to remain for conversation. Many stayed, and the next 
 morning a lawyer came to see Mr. Boardman. Leaving his 
 office at an early hour, he found his way to the house where 
 we were staying, and said he must have his mind settled 
 upon this subject of rest of soul. If indeed it was for all, as he 
 had heard my husband say, then it was for him. " And what 
 must I do to get rid of my irritability, which has troubled me 
 ever since I have been a Christian ? " 
 
 " Why, brother, you must give it to Jesus, there is no 
 other way ; He is the Way," replied Mr. Boardman. 
 
 " And did I understand you to say that this reception of 
 Jesus is instantaneous in every case ? " 
 
 " However long the struggle beforehand, and however 
 gradual the rising of the light in the soul afterwards, there is 
 a moment when Christ is first seen to be ' the Way.' There 
 is a time when the Christian leaves every other way (as the 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 149 
 
 unsaved do when they accept Christ as their Salvation), 
 gives up all hope of overcoming sin himself, and trusts solely 
 in Jesus. It is certainly pleasant to have distinct recollections 
 of one's conversion, and also of the first moment when full 
 trust for full salvation is placed in Jesus ; but the knowledge 
 of the time is by no means indispensable. To be in the 
 Way," continued my husband, " and to have Jesus for the 
 All in All is the great thing." 
 
 " And how may I obtain this apprehension of Jesus as my 
 Sanctificcttion ? " continued the lawyer. 
 
 "Just as you received Jesus as the S'acrifice for sin, so 
 do you practically receive Him as Sanctification. He will do 
 the whole work of making you right. He will take away the 
 disposition to irritability, if you put it into His hands without 
 having a care about it, for faith does not admit of care." 
 
 " It seems a very simple lesson to learn. I thought when 
 coming here that I must go through some tremendous 
 struggles of some sort, but if I understand you aright (and I 
 think I do), I am to accept Christ Jesus to do all for me in 
 this my daily walk, as I accepted Him for salvation in the 
 first place. How strange I did not see this before ; what 
 do you think was the hindrance ? I see what it is. I have 
 been trying for many years to overcome my besetting sins by 
 determinations. I have made no end of resolutions that 
 everything wrong in me should be put away. But thank the 
 Lord, dear brother, for your visit here. Thank Him for the 
 simplicity of the way. I am at rest now, seeing Jesus as 
 the Way." 
 
 In the evening when this brother told his experience, it 
 set many hearts longing for the same sweet inlet into Jesus 
 as the Way. 
 
 We returned to New York greatly encouraged, and 
 strengthened in faith in the Father as our Provider, as 
 
150 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 we experienced how bountifully He supplied every need, and 
 how easily He opened the way for the sowing of seed in 
 many places. And it seemed delightful thus to abide, to 
 live with the Lord Jesus, He the Head in all things, we 
 dependent upon Him in every way. For it seemed such a 
 very great privilege to look at God as a Father ; we, His 
 children, receiving all from Him ! It became a privilege 
 thus to trust, and was a new starting point, not a stopping 
 place. It was a blessed hberty for my husband to be free 
 from all bondage to serve in connection with Committees 
 or Associations ; a freedom which proved to be a new de- 
 parture as regarded spiritual life, as well as service. 
 
 LEARNING LESSONS THROUGH MISTAKES. 
 
 The work of holding meetings in this independent way 
 was kept up during all the autumn and winter. Twelve 
 different towns and cities in New England were visited, and 
 Conferences held in each place. The demand for them in- 
 creased, so that there was no lack of work opening to us. 
 Immediately upon the conclusion of these meetings, without 
 having any rest between, we took another tour into the 
 Western States. The Rev. Henry Belden and Miss Lucy 
 R. Drake were with us at this time, and meetings were called 
 for and held in Oberlin, Bellefontain, Columbus, Oxford, 
 Richmond, Indianopolis and other places. But this work 
 was pursued so long that it came near costing the life of 
 both Mr. Belden and my husband. 
 
 "Just one more meeting," Mr. Belden would say, "they 
 are so urgent for us to come to such and such a place," and 
 thus we kept on day after day. It seemed a pity to stop 
 while God was so signally blessing ; but we were each one 
 quite conscious that our powers of endurance were being 
 overtaxed. The meetings usually began at nine o'clock in 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 151 
 
 the morning, and continued until nine at night, with inter- 
 vals for dinner. 
 
 The way of the Lord was well known to the Apostle 
 Paul, who was forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the 
 word in Asia, and when he essayed to go to Bithynia, the 
 Spirit suffered him not. He knew the mind of the Spirit, 
 so that he did not do that which may have seemed to him 
 the best thing to do. He may have seen a field in Asia all 
 ready for the harvest, but the Lord said, " Go not there." 
 We made a great mistake, thus to go on until we were 
 all prostrated. My husband was told by the physician that 
 his head and spinal system were so affected, that there was 
 but a step between him and death. And Mr. Belden was 
 brought to the verge of the grave by an attack of paralysis 
 the very night he reached home, and no one had the least 
 hope of his recovery. 
 
 The Lord permits us to do things, which He sees may teach 
 us lessons of importance He would have us learn ; just as 
 a mother permits a child to do that which may hurt her for 
 the time. I knew one whose little one, just beginning to 
 run about, had a great desire to meddle with the embers. 
 The mother often told her that if she touched them she 
 would be burned. At last one day the mother saw the child 
 creeping towards the fire \ she said nothing, but appeared to 
 be looking another way. The little one, not knowing that 
 the loving eye of her mother was upon her, took up a live 
 coal, which she quickly dropped, and screamed out, ''Ma, 
 I'ze burnt!" 
 
 " Yes. What did I tell you ? Now you have learned the 
 lesson which I tried to teach you, not to touch the coals. 
 Next time you will do better, and find out that mother 
 knows best." The burnt finger was a mistake, but a lesson 
 was learned through this failure which would never be 
 
152 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 forgotten by the child. Just in this way do we often learn 
 lessons of importance by failures, which may have come, not 
 through direct disobedience, but through not waiting to find 
 out what the mind of God really is. 
 
 My husband w^as obliged to rest all during the summer 
 and autumn of 1872. 
 
 CENTERVILLE, ON CAPE COD, 
 
 was the most quiet, out of the way place that could be 
 thought of, and here my husband rested in the hope of 
 recovering from the overwork of the winter and spring cam- 
 paigns. The air here was very pleasant ; the soft sea 
 breezes seemed to lull one to sleep. We found the Con- 
 gregational minister deeply interested in the subject of 
 sanctification ; so we had many dehghtful meetings in the 
 lecture room of his church, and several drawing-room 
 meetings among the people. In fact it would have been 
 easy for us to have been drawn on into constant work, 
 but the lack of health and strength rendered it quite im- 
 possible to do much, although there was this open 
 door. We were reminded of the land of Palestine, which 
 lay desolate, because she did not keep her Sabbaths, until 
 threescore and ten years were fulfilled. Thus the Lord's 
 people must lie faMow, if they drag on with work when God 
 would have them rest. It was, however, while resting here 
 that my husband began his fourth book, 
 
 " IN THE POVi^ER OF THE SPIRIT." 
 
 This also came out in a series of articles published in 
 " Times of Refreshing," and at the same time, another work 
 was commenced, containing a history of Dr. CuUis' remark- 
 able Faith Work in Boston. Both these books were com- 
 pleted during the winter, after returning to Boston. A 
 friend writes : — 
 
A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 153 
 
 "■ ' In the Power of the Spirit' is perhaps less known than 
 any other of Mr. Boardman's books, but is one of the 
 deepest and most spiritual of any he has written. While 
 yet simple in its depth, it clearly explains the difference 
 between the gift of the Spirit for conversion, and that fuller 
 experience of which he thus speaks ; ' Our Saviour makes 
 this distinction in connection with the promise of the Spirit 
 as an indwelling One, "Who is with you, and shall be in 
 you." The Spirit is with us to convince of sin before we are 
 converted, and to regenerate us in the new birth ; and He is 
 with us afterwards to work in us everything that is of God. 
 But this is entirely a different thing from His coming in 
 to possess us fully for God as His temple ;* purify us to God 
 as His peculiar possession, f purchased by the blood of 
 the Son of God;t fill us with all the fulness of God;§ 
 keep us by the power of God ; % use us for the glory of God ; 
 attend us by the might of God ; and preserve us blame- 
 less unto the coming of Christ. ' \\ " 
 
 " And this gift he traces from the time of the Apostles to 
 our own times in the experience of the riper saints whom he 
 quotes. * These all testify of themselves that at a certain 
 moment during their Christian course they were suddenly 
 lifted up into Christ, and filled with the Spirit in an expe- 
 rience which stood at the beginning of a higher plane of 
 Christian life and power.' Again he says : ' The logic of 
 all this leads to the inevitable conclusion, that the Baptism 
 of the Spirit is not a gift of miraculous powers conferred 
 upon a few, but the gift of the Holy Ghost Himself to us, 
 to dwell in us, provided for every child of God who will 
 receive Him.' ' The time must come, will come, when 
 
 * I Cor. iii. i6, 17 ; vi. 19, 20. + Tit. ii. 14; I Pet. i. 22. 
 Pet. i. 18, 19. § Eph. iii. 1619. H i Pet. i. 5. 11 i Thess. v. 23. 
 
154 A FURTHER STEP IN FAITH. 
 
 men will learn that to be abiding in Christ is to be happy ; 
 and to be out of the abiding is to be out of the only true 
 line of happiness for which man was created.' And he goes 
 on to prove we can only attain to the abiding in Christ by 
 the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. Many a time, 
 speaking of the heavenly atmosphere into which he had 
 been brought by this glorious Baptism of the Spirit, and its 
 adaptation to all our faculties, he would exclaim, with an 
 intense fervour which glowed like a fire in his words : * It 
 suits me exactly, and I would not be without it for worlds ; 
 it is just as if you put a bird into the air or a fish into the 
 sea. God has put me into the element for which I was 
 created. Oh, beloved, lose your hold of everything else, 
 and drop into God ! ' " 
 
THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE— CONFERENCES IN 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 ^^^^^^HE spring of 1873 found my husband still 
 X^^li*:^ suffering from the effects of the prostration 
 
 
 suffering from the effects of the prostration 
 of the year before. Again the Lord opened 
 "ffl^H^^ijJll the way for crossing the ocean; and, as the 
 waters at Ems in Germany had before proved 
 so very beneficial to both my husband and myself, he con- 
 cluded to avail himself of them again, with the hope that he 
 would receive like benefit. In company with Dr. and Mrs. 
 Cullis and others, we went to Ems ; but my husband 
 did not recover, This time his hopes were not fully 
 realized, and, wearied with travelling, we were glad to leave 
 the large party of people who had joined us, and return to 
 England in September. 
 
 There we found Mr. R. P. Smith had been holding 
 meetings in London during the spring, which were attended 
 with considerable interest and some blessed results. He, 
 too, had been on the continent, and was now to recommence 
 his London meetings. My husband went into this work 
 with Mr. Smith in a more moderate way. And by resting 
 
156 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 a day in bed when he was wearied and beginning to be 
 prostrated, he recovered his health, even while still engaged 
 in service. He became convinced that God's plan was that 
 of resting when the system required it, and not struggling to 
 push on when worn down. And this proved most useful to 
 him all through life. But it is truly wonderful that, after he 
 took the Lord Jesus as his Healer, he did not rest a day in 
 bed for four years before he went to glory. Although not 
 largely attended, the interest felt in these meetings, held 
 with Mr. Smith in various places, was such as to lead to a 
 movement among the most remarkable upon record, both 
 in itself and in its fruits. 
 
 THE BREAKFASTS. 
 
 We quote now from a short account of these years in 
 England, given by Dr. CuUis, and published by him. 
 
 *' Mr. T. B. Smithies, well known in connection with The 
 British Workman, invited Mr. Smith and Mr. Boardman to 
 meet the Primitive Methodist ministers of London at a 
 breakfast at one of their Temperance Hotels. They met. 
 The breakfast over, a hymn was sung, the Scriptures read, 
 prayer offered, and the meeting opened for addresses from 
 Mr. Smith and Mr. Boardman, upon the subject of * The 
 Higher Christian Life, and Power for Service,' and the con- 
 clusion of the whole was a time of consecrating prayer, in 
 which several took part. They sat down at the breakfast 
 about nine in the morning, and separated between twelve 
 and one o'clock in the afternoon, having had two hours and 
 a half or more of the closest and most searching intercourse 
 before God. 
 
 " The tide of grateful acknowledgment for blessing receiv- 
 ed that morning, which flowed in upon Mr. Smithies, was 
 so great, that he at once went on to something greater on 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND. 157 
 
 the same lines. Associating himself with Mr. Samuel 
 Morley, and one or two others prominent in the Congrega- 
 tional connection, he invited the two hundred Independent 
 ministers of London, with leading laymen, in divisions of 
 from forty to sixty, to meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Boardman 
 at breakfast in the Young Men's Christian Association 
 rooms, Aldersgate Street. Four successive breakfasts 
 followed each other in four successive weeks, with these 
 heads of the congregational Churches of London, and two 
 hours and a half in each were spent with them, as already 
 described with the Primitive Methodists. At the last of the 
 four, Mr. Smithies stated publicly, that never in his life 
 before had the Lord permitted him to do anything that 
 brought him so much delight in his own soul, or so many 
 thanks from others for signal benefits received. 
 
 ** No sooner was this course completed, than this noble 
 man, in connection with Mr. Tritton, the banker, invited all 
 the Baptist ministers of London, and many laymen, a 
 company of four hundred or more, at one time to breakfast 
 in the Cannon Street Hotel. Another week he invited the 
 still larger number of Wesleyan and New Connection 
 Wesleyan ministers of London, with Sir Francis Lycett to 
 preside, assisted by the President of the Wesleyan Con- 
 ference and Rev. William Arthur, at the same hotel. And 
 later on, all the London City missionaries and the Christian 
 workers among the soldiers and sailors (six or seven 
 hundred) at the same hotel, with the same object in view. 
 
 *' Doubtless, even in such sacred soil, some of the seed 
 found place on critical ground, and was carried away by 
 the wicked one ; some was choked by the cares and ambi- 
 tions of ministerial life ; and some withered away ; but the 
 great day will reveal a wonderful harvest and succession of 
 harvests, greater and greater to the end, from the seed sown 
 
158 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE, 
 
 in the hearts of these twelve or fifteen hundred Christian 
 ministers and workers. 
 
 "The expense and labour of inviting, arranging, and paying 
 for these eight successive breakfasts was certainly no trifle. 
 Who furnished the money, is known to Mr. Smithies and 
 the Lord ; no appeals were made, nor any complaints 
 heard. All went along, from first to last, like machinery 
 well oiled. 
 
 " During the eight successive weeks in which the breakfasts, 
 arranged by Mr. Smithies, occurred, several others, similar 
 to these, were arranged by other persons in their own 
 dwellings, or in halls belonging to them. A large mansion at 
 the West End of London was opened for this purpose, and 
 a good number of the clergy of the Church of England 
 invited to meet Mr. Boardman and Mr. Smith at breakfast. 
 A gentleman at the head of the financial department of the 
 National Post Office invited the ministers of all denomina- 
 tions from Woolwich and its vicinity to a breakfast in a 
 public hall. Admiral Sir C. C. gave an evening meeting, 
 as well as morning breakfast, to a gathering of Church of 
 England, Baptist, Presbyterian, and other ministers of 
 Blackheath for the same purpose. A banker in another 
 part of London invited ministers to meet these brethren at 
 a breakfast. Lord F. also gave a breakfast at Mildmay 
 Conference Hall to a large number of ministers and 
 Christian workers. These were all given for the express 
 purpose of having conversation, and hearing from Mr, 
 Boardman and Mr. Smith about the higher Christian life 
 and power for service, and in most instances the whole 
 morning, until near one o'clock, was given to the direct work 
 of inducing entire consecration to God and faith in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 ** After these breakfasts were over, meetings were held in 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND. 159 
 
 various parts of London and its vicinity, sometimes with 
 Mr. Smith, and often without. One Congregational minister 
 immediately arranged for meetings to be held for a week in 
 his church. They commenced on Sunday night, and on 
 Monday, at noon, in opening the meeting, " Rock of Ages " 
 was given out as the first hymn. The minister led in sing- 
 ing it. He began, but broke down in the first verse for 
 very joy of soul. . . Jesus had so manifested Himself, that 
 it overpowered him altogether. All present were deeply 
 touched ;' the Lord had now begun to work blessedly, 
 and the power went on increasing to the end of the week. 
 
 "A Baptist pastor, in the same section of London, then 
 united with this Congregational pastor in meetings for 
 another week, which were continued two weeks, and held 
 alternately in the one church, and in the other. And this Bap- 
 tist minister often stated in public that very large numbers of 
 his people came out into the full Uberty and joy of abiding 
 union with Jesus, and that his church was made over new ! 
 Other ministers of all denominations invited similar gather- 
 ings, two or more in most instances uniting, and everywhere 
 blessing followed. While all this was going forward, two 
 very remarkable conferences were called ; one in Mildmay 
 Park Conference Hall, in the North of London, and the 
 other in the Queen's Rooms, Hanover Square, in the West 
 End. Both were attended with power, but the last greatly 
 surpassed the first, not in numbers, but in the sweet and 
 sacred impressiveness of its character. Then followed 
 similar meetings in various parts of England, filling up all 
 their time. Probably the average would not be throughout 
 less than two meetings a day the whole winter and spring. 
 
 *' Whilst these movements were going forward, the Bishops 
 of London and Ripon united in calling a meeting of the 
 Clergymen of the Church of England in St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 8 
 
160 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 to arrange for a mission week, that is, a week of continuous 
 evangelistic services every day in the week, in all the 
 churches, a thing never done in London before. The 
 Bishop of London made it his special object to press upon 
 the clergy entire consecration to God, as the indispensable 
 pre-requisite to success, in the great work before them. One 
 of the arguments used by him to induce them to make the 
 consecration was the fact that there was, at that very hour, 
 an assembly of ministers convened at another place, to be 
 addressed by Mr. Pearsall Smith and Mr. Boardman upon 
 that very subject. 
 
 BROADLANDS AND OXFORD CONFERENCES. 
 
 ** Summer came, and with it a meeting which made an 
 impression more profound than any before, called by the 
 Right Hon. Cowper Temple, M.P., the stepson of the late 
 Lord Palmerston. Broadlands, the Palmerston residence, 
 is beautiful. The park, the lawns and gardens, with the 
 river winding its way through, all combine to make it 
 exceedingly lovely, and, although there was a chapel in the 
 grounds near the house, yet the call w^as for an open-air 
 meeting. No more were invited than could be entertained 
 as guests. Mr. Cowper Temple filled his own large and 
 elegant mansion, and also took an hotel in Romsey near 
 by, and filled that. A number of French, Swiss, German, 
 Belgian, and Dutch pastors were among the guests, and 
 with these, as many English ministers and laymen, including 
 nobles and gentry, as could be accommodated. No doubt 
 the romance of the place and its associations was wonderfully 
 impressive, but above and beyond all this, the power of God, 
 like that in the Pentecostal upper chamber, was very great 
 and many were so signally set free from sin, and fear, and 
 care, and so filled with the fulness of God, that the report of 
 tl)p Broadlapds meetings went out far and near. 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND, 161 
 
 " Then came the early autumn, and with it the crowning 
 Conference of the year 1874, at Oxford. It lasted eight 
 days. About fifteen hundred people from all parts of the 
 kingdom, besides the people of Oxford themselves, were 
 in attendance. The same pastors from the Continent who 
 were at Broadlands came also to Oxford, and many more 
 with them. The Town Hall, the Corn Exchange, and the 
 Iron Room connected with St. Aldate's (Rev. Mr. Chris- 
 topher's), were the principal rooms in which the meetings 
 were held, and each of them, if they could speak, would tell 
 of glorious things done in them. Indeed they did speak, 
 day after day they were vocal with the echoes of testimony 
 upon testimony to the wonderful works of God in the souls of 
 the people. Probably never before had been held in that 
 ancient seat of learning such a meeting for power. It was 
 enough to make the martyrs Latimer and Ridley come forth 
 from the dead to give glory to God for the resurrection life 
 and power the risen Saviour was breathing into His people. 
 The Oxford meeting was arranged and presided over by 
 Mr. Pearsall Smith, and shortly after its close he sailed with 
 his wife and children from Liverpool for their home in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 " From Oxford, we went to Dover for a Conference arrang- 
 ed by Rev. G. A. Rogers, vicar of Christ Church, and from 
 there to London. All England now seemed open for the 
 work, and eager for meetings. Invitations came from many 
 places, but the work in London became so engrossing, that 
 only a few could be accepted out of town, and those, in the 
 main, from places so near, that they could be visited between 
 the times of London meetings. 
 
 "One of the places visited in this manner, was Milton 
 Abbey, an ancient monastery, and at one time a royal resi- 
 dence. Mornings and afternoons the meetings were held, 
 
THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 some in the library, others in the ancient and beautiful hall 
 of the Abbey, and evenings in the Abbey Church, which 
 had been recently restored by its owner. The clergy and 
 gentry from all the surrounding country came, morning and 
 afternoon, to the consecration meetings, and the villagers to 
 the evangelistic services in the evenings. Broadlands and 
 Romsey together were visited. There was a lunch at Broad- 
 lands for Clergymen of the Church of England, and on the 
 second day for Ministers of various denominations. 
 
 " In the Town Hall, Romsey, where general meetings were 
 held daily, the people became so earnest and full of the 
 power of God, that it was exceedingly difficult to bring the 
 last to a close, and many were converted and many brought 
 into full trust in Christ in the last moments. Southampton 
 was another place visited, and great good was accomphshed 
 there on each occasion. 
 
 " We were also invited to Riber Castle, Derbyshire, and 
 there the Lord met us and blessed the meetings in a marvellous 
 manner. One poor man came all the way from Ireland, 
 almost distracted with a sense of his lost condition, filled 
 with fear that he should never find the Saviour. He learned 
 there, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that the 
 Saviour had been searching for him all the while, and had 
 there found him. Oh, how happy he was ! 
 
 *' Uxbridge, an hour by rail from London, was another 
 place wonderfully moved and renewed by the power of God, 
 during two successive conferences, under the lead of Mr. 
 Boardman. Windsor too, was so moved by a similar con- 
 ference, that the ministers and people went on with services 
 from day to day, for not less than a week or fortnight after- 
 wards, and the various villages around were soon embraced 
 in the widening circle of the waves of salvation. Slough came 
 in also for a short conference following the one at Windsor. 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND. 163 
 
 " But of all the places visited, the manufacturing town of 
 
 ** CLECKHEATON, YORKSHIRE, 
 
 was the most mightily moved by the power of God. Never 
 was a work more signally from God than that. The place 
 was small. Its population did not exceed seven thousand, 
 and consisted mainly of mill- owners and work-people. 
 There were six or seven mills of various sorts in the place. 
 The people themselves had resolved upon a fortnight of 
 daily meetings, comprising a noon prayer-meeting, and a 
 preaching service in the Congregational Church in the 
 evening. A choir of forty or fifty singers was organised, and 
 soon sang with great spirit any or all of Sankey's hymns. 
 They had no promise of help from abroad. Hearing 
 that my husband was at Riber Castle, one who was an 
 entire stranger, appealed to him to come to their help. The 
 Lord had so ordered it, that during the fortnight of their 
 services, Mr. Boardman was to visit Manchester and Black- 
 burn, and one or two other places in Lancashire, for a single 
 meeting in each, and had the first Sunday and Monday free, 
 and as Cleckheaton was within easy reach of Manchester, he 
 consented to go there for the Sunday and Monday. 
 
 "Sunday morning the very large and delightful Congrega- 
 tional Church was full in every part. The afternoon service 
 was yet more crowded. It was specially for the young 
 people and children. No one could have failed of feeling 
 the mighty power of God present both morning and after- 
 noon. In the evening the scene was quite beyond the 
 common. The great audience were fairly bowed, and many 
 of them broken down, under the weight of God's presence. 
 Seven hundred or more remained for the after-meeting. 
 The better to deal with them, they were separated into three 
 different meetings. As many earnest inquirers as could get 
 
164 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 into a large room below, were invited to follow Mr. Board- 
 man there, while others went into another room to receive 
 instruction from another person, and the rest remained 
 where they were. 
 
 "The rooms below filled up immediately; a few home 
 questions were put to them, such as would have been asked 
 of any one of them alone, and they answered by signs ; and 
 when the final one was put, * Will you — do you now accept 
 the Lord Jesus as your Saviour ? ' a large part of them 
 answered, ' I do.' And then, when those who had accepted 
 Christ were requested to give place to those waiting outside, 
 a hundred or more rose at once and went out, and imme- 
 diately their places were filled by others. Again the matter 
 was put in the simplest and most direct way possible, and 
 the Holy Ghost seemed to fall on the people with the words, 
 and nearly all present gave testimony to Christ as having 
 saved them there. This is a meagre and imperfect state- 
 ment of some of that material facts of that day and evening. 
 The last day will declare the sum total of the conversions 
 which took place. 
 
 " The next day, a mill-owner, who had been brought into 
 full trust in the blessed Saviour during the Sunday morning 
 service, opened his mill for a special service for his work- 
 people on Monday, giving them for it the last three -quarters- 
 of-an-hour of the work-time of the day. Then he went from 
 mill to mill, and secured a similar arrangement in all the 
 mills. The Lord went before him in every instance. 
 To his amazement, when he proposed the matter to one 
 mill-owner, wholly unaccustomed to attend any place of 
 worship, he said at once, ' O yes, certainly ; I have done it 
 already. My workpeople came to me to know if they might 
 have the use of one of the rooms half-an-hour after closing 
 time, and I said, * Yes, and half-an-hour before too, and I'll 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND. 165 
 
 not dock the time.' ' Admiral Fishbourne joined Mr. 
 Boardman for the meetings in Lancashire, but stayed with 
 him for only one of them and then went to Cleckheaton, 
 and remained there until the Monday following, and the 
 Lord gladdened his heart by scenes, similar to those 
 described, every d^y to the end. 
 
 " Other places out of London were visited, and everywhere 
 the power of God was present to save the unconverted, and 
 to sanctify the Christians. But the v/ork of the wanter and 
 spring, until May, was mainly in London itself. In London 
 besides a great many meetings of shorter duration, confer- 
 ences, averaging about four days each, were held at King's 
 Cross, Vauxhall, Victoria Park, Stoke Newington, Shepherd's 
 Bush, Pimlico, Kensington, and Hammersmith. 
 
 *' In some respects the most remarkable movement of the 
 whole autumn and winter was that of 
 
 " THE CANNON STREET MEETINGS, 
 
 Mr. Charles de Selincourt, a manufacturer and merchant 
 of London, and an officer in Mr. Martin's (Congre- 
 gational) church, Westminster, returned from the Oxford 
 Conference with a heart so full of thanksgiving to God 
 for the wonderful deliverance from his sins and baptism 
 of the Holy Spirit received there, that he longed to do 
 something, anything the Lord would show him, as a thank- 
 offering for the benefits received. He had about five 
 hundred people under him, connected with his factory and 
 warehouse, and under the leading of the Holy Spirit he began 
 at once a work amongst them, which resulted in the conversion 
 of three times more, in two or three weeks, than had been 
 brought to the Lord in all the ten previous years. This, 
 however, only increased his desire to do more- 
 
 ^' In conversation with Mrs. Boardman, he learned she 
 
166 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 was asking the Lord for some central small hall for m.eet- 
 ings once a week, to which those, wishing instruction from 
 her husband and herself, might be invited from all parts of the 
 kingdom. • Why will not the Cannon Street Hotel do?' he 
 asked. 
 
 *' ' Oh, that would be too expensive,' was the reply. 
 
 " ' I will inquire,' said he. He did inquire, and found that 
 the Queen's Rooms, Hanover Square, or any other suitable 
 place, would cost as much, and none of them would be so 
 convenient. Mr. Boardman went with him to see, and 
 finally, not without misgiving about the too great capacity of 
 the ' Great Hall ' of the hotel, he assented to Mr. de Selin- 
 court taking it for the four successive Mondays in November, 
 from three to half-past nine o'clock in the evening. 
 
 " Mr. de Selincourt undertook all the work of making the 
 meetings known, and inviting guests, and when a friend 
 kindly proposed to share the expense with him, said, * No, 
 it is my thank-offering.' When he had fairly entered upon the 
 work, he found that the first Monday was Lord Mayor's Day, 
 of all the year the day for confusion in the City ! The dis- 
 covery was too late. Failure was predicted, but there was no 
 drawing back. Prayer was offered that the Lord would glorify 
 Himself by making it a success, all the greater because of 
 the difficulties, and the prayer was answered. It was made 
 a success in every respect. The numbers in attendance sur- 
 prised everybody, and the power of God's presence filled the 
 hall with glory. The second Monday every available inch 
 of space was filled, and many had to stand, and some to go 
 away ; and so also the third and the fourth Mondays. 
 
 " The meetings held each Monday were, at three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, a general meeting for addresses- 
 At four o'clock Mrs. Boardman led a ladies' meeting. Five 
 o'clock, tea. At six o'clock, a free conversational meeting. 
 
CONFERENCES IN ENGLAND, 167 
 
 At seven o'clock, a general meeting. And each day the tide 
 rose from the beginning to the end, and during the whole 
 series blessing and power increased. The final meeting was 
 wonderful. It was devoted mainly to short testimonies of 
 signal blessing received during the meetings. 
 
 ** A COLONEL CONVERTED. 
 
 ** Although the meetings were for consecration, from first to 
 last, the Lord also did exceeding abundantly above all that 
 had been asked or thought of, in the unlooked-for conversion 
 of souls. The following is an example. In one of the 
 evening meetings, a Colonel of the army sat listening. Mr. 
 Boardman spoke of a present rest remaining for the people 
 of God ; a rest from burdens and cares, as well as from the 
 dominion and torment of besetting sins. He urged present 
 trust, from the Apostle's words, " To-day, if ye will hear His 
 voice, harden not your hearts," repeating and strongly 
 emphasizing the word NOW. This made the Colonel very 
 angry. Before the night was over, however, he had sur- 
 rendered to God unconditionally, and found peace in 
 believing. Next morning he went with the good news to his 
 nieces, and to his amazement and joy he found that they 
 too had been converted. So mightily did God work. 
 
 '* The fruits of these meetings on the four Mondays in 
 November, were found in many and far distant places, and 
 continued to come to their knowledge all winter and spring, 
 up to the last days of their sojourn in England." 
 
 The year 1875 commenced with a Conference at the 
 Agricultural Hall, which continued during all the month of 
 January. Every day of the week, except Sunday, meetings 
 were held ; in the afternoon for ladies, and in the evening for 
 general conference ; and the Lord only knows what was done 
 during these meetings. They were not large, but the 
 
168 THIRD TRIP TO EUROPE. 
 
 company gathered there from day to day were greatly blest. 
 At each meeting there were strangers ; many coming for a 
 week or two, until they found the rest they were seeking, 
 and others then took their place. 
 
VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 VISIT TO SCOTLAND AND RETURN TO AMERICA. 
 
 ^E had often thought of sowing some seed in Scot- 
 land before sailing for America ; but Httle 
 did we think of the precious harvest awaiting 
 us both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. 
 Early in May we left London, taking Bolton 
 and Birmingham on the way. Mr. Boardman had been at 
 Bolton before, in March, and the power of God had been 
 manifested in no ordinary degree, so we only stayed there 
 one blessed day, and in Birmingham two days. Our 
 meetings were arranged by Mr. Sampson, a precious man 
 of God, whom we met at Riber Castle ; they were not in 
 a central place, yet the hall was filled ; and seldom, indeed, 
 is the sweetness of subduing grace felt as it was in those 
 meetings. At 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 most of the meetings were held in the Waverley Hall. 
 Prejudice now gave place to confidence, and fruits began to 
 appear. Among the first fruits, and the last also, were 
 conversions, although the main point was to have Christians 
 learn how to abide in Christ, and be filled with the Spirit. 
 The meetings grew daily, and great grace was upon them all. 
 
170 VISIT TO SCOTIA ND 
 
 Queen Street Hall, seating 2,500, was secured for the 
 Sabbath, and filled to the full ; and when the time came for 
 the final meeting on Tuesday evening, the hall was filled an 
 hour in advance, and the meeting commenced before the 
 appointed time. This was a service for giving glory to God 
 for what He had wrought during the week. Some hundreds 
 rose to bear testimony, and many who had not before 
 ventured wholly upon Christ, did so in these closing 
 moments. 
 
 The ladies' meetings, held in the afternoon, were also 
 crowned with blessing. The Lord broke down prejudice in 
 a very simple way — in pushing me by His Spirit at the 
 commencement of the first meeting, to repeat 
 
 THE lord's prayer. 
 
 Curiosity had brought many together, so that the hall was 
 packed. Some had said that we were setters forth of strange 
 doctrine, such as professing sinless perfection, etc. But all 
 this opposition was overruled. Why I felt impelled to repeat 
 this prayer, I did not understand, for I had never opened a 
 meeting in this way ; but it afterwards appeared that, among 
 other charges brought against us, was that of never saying the 
 Lord's Prayer ; and the reason assigned was that we could 
 not use that sentence, " Forgive us our trespasses." People 
 said we thought ourselves free from sin, and could never 
 ask to be forgiven anything. 
 
 It was delightful, however, after the meeting, to see the 
 loving-kindness with which these honest-minded Christians 
 greeted me. Six, one after the other, asked who had been 
 telling me that it was reported about us, that we could not 
 say the Lord's Prayer. And when they heard that not a 
 word had been said about it to either Mr. Boardman or me, 
 they felt it was surely the Lord Himself who had put it 
 
AND RETURN TO AMERICA. 171 
 
 into my heart to begin the meeting in this way, and thus to 
 remove prejudice, before commencing to tell out the story 
 of Jesus, our glorious Deliverer. In this simple way were 
 these dear people of God disarmed of their prejudice, and 
 they were prepared to receive the truth, and to listen to the 
 simple experience of what it is to come into resurrection 
 life in Christ Jesus. 
 
 In the next meeting I took up the thought of confession, 
 and told the story of the man who stopped for the night at 
 an inn, and was put into the same room with one who, before 
 getting into his bed in another corner of the room, knelt 
 down to pray in a low tone of voice. Most of his prayer 
 was taken up with confession. He asked the Lord to for- 
 give him, if there was any thought of murder in his heart, 
 any malice or ill-will toward any one, etc. The stranger in 
 the other corner heard the words murder and maUce, and 
 became alarmed, thinking he was put in the same room with 
 a murderer and, as he supposed, a thief. He watched his op- 
 portunity, and when the praying man was asleep, dressed 
 himself and went down stairs, afraid to stay in the same 
 room. While on the one hand the Lord cannot w^ish us to 
 go through with confessing that of which we are not guilty, 
 yet He does desire instant confession when we see we are 
 wrong in anything. And this led to my relating the Lord's 
 dealing with me when quite a young Christian. 
 
 CONFESSION. 
 
 It was after I had found Jesus as my indwelling Saviour, 
 ever with me to keep me in the daily walk of life ; when 
 I had for weeks enjoyed an uninterrupted rest of soul and 
 a peace that passeth all understanding, that my mind 
 became greatly exercised to go and see a brother in the 
 Methodist Church, and tell him that his pastor was really in 
 
172 VISIT TO SCOTLAND 
 
 very great want of the necessaries of life. He was a steward 
 in his church, and a rich man, living in the finest house in 
 the place. Many a time had I been pressed to go and see 
 him, to convince him how remiss he was in this matter, but 
 had delayed, until at last I decided that this time I must 
 go. I put it all into the Lord's hands, as I thought, and 
 
 started to find Mr. M . It was but a few minutes' walk, 
 
 and I soon found myself face to face with him. I laid the 
 whole matter before him in the plainest way possible. I 
 told him what I had seen with my own eyes, and of course 
 said much more than was absolutely necessary to say. I 
 was greatly astonished when he went into a rage, and, instead 
 of acknowledging himself in fault, looked angrily at me 
 and said : " You had better go home, and attend to your 
 own affairs. You do not belong to our Church, and have 
 no right to meddle with us. I think it is a great pity you 
 cannot find something better to do than to run round find- 
 ing fault with your neighbours." 
 
 I went home, feeling completely crushed. What could 
 it mean ? I felt so sure God had told me to see this brother, 
 and tell him the circumstances ; and I sought my chamber 
 that I might pour out my soul to the Lord, and be com- 
 forted by Him, for I was in great distress about it. I asked 
 
 the Lord if I had done wrong in going to Mr. M , but 
 
 I had the assurance from my Father that He wished me to 
 go. Then I pleaded to know what was wrong, and very 
 clearly did the Lord show me that my whole difficulty was 
 in not having a real spirit of love. I had not waited for the 
 Lord to speak, but spoke myself, in a reproving way, which 
 was not in the spirit of Jesus. As the Holy Spirit revealed 
 this, I soon saw it, and that my own earnestness in the 
 matter had stood in the way of the Lord's working. 
 
 "Yes, Lord," I said, " I do see it all; I was expecting 
 
AND RETURN TO AMERICA, 173 
 
 too much from what / might say, and it was not said in the 
 spirit of love. But what shall I do now ? " 
 
 " You must go back, my child, and ask Mr. M to 
 
 forgive you for hurting his feelings." 
 
 ♦' What !" I said, "must I ask forgiveness from a man who 
 has treated me as he has ? Thou knowest, dear Lord, I 
 have never before been spoken to in this way. It is I who 
 have been the abused one ; I do not see how I can do it." 
 Still it was pressed in upon me that I must ask his forgive- 
 ness for not speaking in a more quiet spirit of love. And, 
 finally, I said, " Lord, make me wiUing." In one moment 
 I was made willing, and went back as fast as my feet would 
 
 carry me. I began at once : ** Mr. M , I am very sorry 
 
 that I hurt your feelings, and I have come to ask you to 
 forgive me." 
 
 "Forgive you," he replied, '* why, Mrs. Boairdman, I have 
 felt as if I was the meanest man living, to treat you 
 as I did; you make me feel so ashamed of myself;" and 
 he wiped the tears from his eyes. " I know," he continued, 
 ** what a proud woman you have been ; and now I see what 
 the Lord has done in enabling you to do this thing. I be- 
 lieve in your kind of sanctification, it is just what the 
 Churches need. Why our people, some of them, who 
 profess to believe they are entirely sanctified (and they 
 always put in the ' entirely '), would not do what you have 
 done, no, not for anything ; for they will never admit that 
 they sin in any way. They think ' once cleansed always 
 cleansed,' and it is that sort of thing that has set me against 
 the doctrine of sanctification. Then too, they are no more 
 strict in business matters than I am, and I am not what I 
 should be. I own that I have been neglectful of my 
 minister, so that I felt every word you said to be true, and 
 it cut me to the quick ; but it shall not occur again. Do let 
 
174 VISIT TO SCOTLAND 
 
 US have prayer together, for I feel all broken up, and weak 
 as a baby." We prayed together, and I saw how wonder- 
 fully the Lord had blessed our conversation to this brother ; 
 while no one knows the blessing it was to myself, or how 
 it brought me to see the subtle ways of self, and how mixed 
 may be our very best acts. 
 
 It is only as the Holy Spirit reveals self that the soul can 
 see it. There is ever a vast territory within, to be pos- 
 sessed by our Lord, and He alone sees all the lurking 
 places of this hidden self, and He alone can show us. Is 
 it not more scriptural to be ready to confess, than to 
 imagine ourselves to have come into a state where con- 
 fession is never necessary? *' If we walk in the light, as 
 He is in the light, we (Christ and we) have fellowship 
 one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
 cleanseth us from all sin." When we are walking, going on 
 in the light, He reveals to us that from which we need to 
 be cleansed ; and we learn that whatever knowledge we 
 may have gained, and however deep may be our communion 
 with God to-day, it will not suffice for to morrow ; all we 
 have learned is only retained by the exercise of trust or 
 faith in the Lord moment by moment. 
 
 IN GLASGOW, 
 
 where we went immediately from Edinburgh, the Lord 
 had prepared the way for us in a manner all His 
 own. INIr. William Sloan, who invited us, had married the 
 daughter of the friend in whose drawing room we had held 
 our first meetings in London. He was a member of the 
 Evangelistic Committee under whom the work, begun by 
 Moody and Sankey, had been most efficiently carried on up 
 to that time. Thus we came directly into the current of the 
 great work still in progress. 
 
AND RETURN TO AMERICA. 175 
 
 Mr. Boardman's first meeting in Glasgow illustrates the 
 wonderful way in which the Lord opened the door for us 
 there. It was a " Fellowsliip meeting " for converts and 
 workers in Ewing Place Church, and was crowded. The 
 subject chosen and announced long before, was " Power for 
 service," of all subjects the one he would have chosen; 
 and in subsequent meetings, many gave thanks to God for 
 the enduement of power, for which their souls had been 
 yearning, received in that meeting. The time of year 
 was not the most favourable, still the meetings were large 
 from the beginning, and not chilled in the least by the 
 absence of many who would gladly have remained for them, 
 if they could have done so. 
 
 On the Sabbath afternoon, Mr. Boardman preached in 
 Dr. Andrew Bonar's church, and the subsequent testi- 
 monies to blessing received in the service were many; 
 amongst them those of three officers of the church. The 
 door was not opened at all for public testimonies until 
 the final meeting, Tuesday evening, but the hearts of the 
 people had become so full, that the rivers of water began to 
 flow unbidden. Mr. Sloan was the first to tell what the 
 Lord had done for his soul, and his clear, sweet, ringing 
 testimony to deliverance from sins, burdens, and cares, and 
 to the reception of the fulness of God in Christ by the 
 Holy Spirit, produced a profound impression, and was 
 sealed to the liberation of several who afterwards spoke. 
 
 This was Monday. Tuesday evening an hour was gained 
 by an earlier commencement, and the moment the meeting 
 was thrown open for personal thanksgiving, and praise for 
 blessing received during the week, the tide set in, and from 
 the beginning to the end it flowed on in an incessant stream. 
 But fruits and incidents of the Lord's work in these Con- 
 ferences would fill a volume if written out. 
 
176 VISIT TO SCOTLAND 
 
 RETURN TO AMERICA. 
 
 We bade, as we supposed, a final farewell to our loving 
 friends in England, without the least idea of again beholding 
 their faces on this earth. It was a greater trial than before 
 to leave these dear ones, but as the steamer bore us away 
 towards our native land, we were cheered by the thought of 
 a great work lying before us in the United States. Friends 
 had urged our return, feeling the utmost certainty that the 
 Lord wanted us there. And we thought with them that 
 our work in England was completed, and that we were 
 called henceforth to sow seed in our native land. 
 
 We were thankful to reach New York once more, for we 
 had encountered a heavy gale on the ocean. Many times 
 before had we seen storms at sea, but this was the most 
 furious : the waves dashed with force against the vessel, as 
 if trying their best to knock it to pieces. The foaming of 
 the waters seemed like the wrath of God. But it was 
 glorious to feel such safety in the presence of Jesus, whom 
 we knew to be always with us, in the storm as well as the 
 calm. We landed on the loth of June : a very hot day it 
 was, and as we drove up Broadway, we were struck with 
 seeing how busy the people were, trying to keep cool. The 
 heat was such a contrast to anything we had felt in England. 
 
 Ten days quite sufficed for staying in New York and its 
 vicinity, and my husband, desiring a few weeks' rest, em- 
 braced the opportunity of going to a farm in New Jersey. 
 It was indeed a luxury to be here, far away from the busy 
 throng, amid the green fields and lovely hills that enclose 
 two sides of this beautiful plain. Fresh air, pure water, 
 plenty of unadulterated milk and cream, with an old horse 
 and buggy to jog round the country, were not things to be 
 despised, and loving letters from friends in England soon 
 found their way to us. 
 
AND RETURN TO AMERICA. 177 
 
 Friends at home wrote urging us to attend a large 
 annual temperance gatliering at Sea Cliff Grove, and to 
 hold meetings there for teaching the Higher Christian Life. 
 These meetings, held each afternoon, proved a very great re- 
 freshment to the hard working Christians who would drop 
 into the little hall for an hour's communion with the Lord, 
 and enjoy the refreshing breezes from the land of Beulah. 
 
 The large yearly Camp Meeting, under the management of 
 Dr. CuUis, was held at S. Framingham. Here we found 
 plenty both to do and to hear, and met friends whom we 
 had not seen for many years. 
 
 These and various other meetings called us away from our 
 retreat, to which we returned to enjoy again the quiet of the 
 farm hfe. When my husband was here on the Sabbath, he 
 was sure to have the pleasure-of preaching for some pastor in 
 the neighbourhood. Dr. Cullis urged our coming to live in 
 Boston, saying there was much to be done there, but the 
 Lord did not incline our minds to this course. We often 
 wondered what He intended us to do, but we never doubted 
 for a moment that we had been guided by Him, since we had 
 put all into His hands ; and we knew that, in His own time 
 and way, He would show us where to locate and what to do. 
 
 GUIDANCE. 
 
 The autumn came, and we left our quiet resting place and 
 went to Philadelphia. We thought the time had come for 
 us to settle down, and enter upon our winter's work, which 
 we supposed would be that of visiting the churches in various 
 places, stirring up Christians, or it might be something quite 
 different to anything we had planned. Already we had 
 several places in mind, but first of all we must find a house 
 in some central part of New York or Philadelphia, which 
 would answer our purpose as being within reach of the 
 principal railway stations. 
 
178 VTSIT TO SCOTLAND 
 
 We spent a week in Philadelphia in fruitless search for 
 this desired object. Many houses did we see that would do 
 "all but." And the "all buts " came in to prevent our 
 settling in this city at all, as there was always a certain some- 
 thing that deterred us from taking any house which was at all 
 available. We consequently decided that New York was 
 the place in which we were to make our home. Accordingly 
 we went on to that city, full of the expectation that a suitable 
 place would fall into our hands at once ; but what was our 
 astonishment to meet with the same difficulty there as in 
 Philadelphia. There was something which prevented our 
 taking any place presented to us. We knew the Lord was in 
 this, quite as much as He had been hitherto in our finding 
 places, and well understood we had only to learn His will. 
 
 Meanwhile the Lord had made it very clear to my mind, 
 that we were to return to England. He had indeed spoken 
 to me in the night season, and shown me that this was His 
 will. But as it was not very pleasant to think about, I drove 
 the thought from my mind, whenever it came up. Heretofore, 
 when we crossed the ocean, there was some definite object to 
 be gained, some good reason for doing so. But now I could 
 not see why we should go back again, and take such a 
 journey without having any invitation, and without seeing 
 any opening when we should arrive there. I asked the Lord 
 to make me willing to return, and was enabled to give it all 
 over into His hands, and rest fully in His will concerning us. 
 I said not a word to my husband, as I waited for the Lord 
 to show him His mind, as He had done on all previous 
 occasions. 
 
 The days wxnt on, and the precious hours of each day 
 were now given to house hunting in Brooklyn, as nothing 
 was found in New York city. At last, after spending a 
 fortnight here with friends, interested in helping us in our 
 
AND RETURN TO AMERICA. 179 
 
 search for a suitable house, my husband began to think 
 the Lord had some other purpose in His mind for us. 
 Therefore I was not at all surprised to hear him say, *' Mary, 
 if this arrangement fails, and I do not settle with the house- 
 owner to take this furnished house, I shall fully conclude 
 that the Lord wishes us to return to England." 
 
 I said nothing, but how well I knew it would all fall 
 through ! It was not that we were so particular about being 
 suited, but the Lord did not seem to favour our settling 
 upon anything, because He had something He saw to be 
 far better for us, and He must teach us His way by letting 
 us try our own thought first. But this trying to find out 
 His plan was rather different to any past experience, as we 
 had usually found the door open, and were not in the habit 
 of pushing it open ; therefore, it was not to be wondered at 
 that my dear husband seemed rather tried during these 
 days of uncertainty. The Lord has many ways of teaching 
 us ; as much by His providence, or by circumstances, as by 
 His voice within. He says, ''Thine ears shall hear a word 
 behind Thee, saying. This is the way, walk ye in it, when 
 ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." 
 How may we hear this word ? By having the ear open 
 and stopping to listen. If the voice be behind, then we 
 cannot hear by rushing on ; we must stop, we must bend 
 the ear, to catch the mind of God our Father. We are 
 also guided by the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit must 
 open that Word to us, and make it as real to us as if we 
 heard the Father's voice. 
 
 God makes the way very plain, and all the difficulty 
 on our part respecting guidance comes from some lack of 
 understanding God's dealings with us. Samuel had to be 
 taught how to know the voice of God. At first he mistook 
 it for the voice of a man, and ran to Eli, but he was taught 
 
180 VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 
 
 of God, and learned to be guided by the Lord in a very 
 direct and simple way. And so may every child of God. 
 
 But to return. The evening came, and the gentleman 
 owning the house which suited us, made his appearance. 
 He had agreed to some conditions with which he now re- 
 fused to comply, and, therefore, that settled the whole 
 matter, and in a few minutes our return to England was 
 decided upon. There was no use arguing, " Why did the 
 Lord send us home to stay such a short time ? Why were 
 we allowed to think that such a great work awaited us in 
 America? Why did He let us settle never to return to 
 England, thinking our work was finished } " All ques- 
 tioning was at once and for ever at an end. The Lord 
 said, " Go back to England," and that was enough. There 
 was no obstacle in the way. Our Father had taken care 
 that we should not lack means sufficient for all travelling 
 expenses, for we were bountifully supplied. " The Lord is 
 good, a Stronghold in the day of trouble ; and He knoweth 
 them that trust in Him." 
 
RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN, 1 8 1 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN TO ENGLAND — WORK IN SWEDEN. 
 
 ROLLING stone gathers no moss." This 
 proverb is often repeated ; but God's ways 
 may be the reverse of this world's maxims. 
 And the movements of those who are living 
 in obedience to an unseen Guide must 
 appear inexplicable to those, who do not understand the 
 life of faith. 
 
 It was a strange look-out to find ourselves again on the 
 ocean, tossing over the waves in the very same way we had 
 done six months before, when going to America. But faith 
 in the One who had told us to go, made the future bright, 
 lighting it up with the presence of Him, whose face is the 
 open window into the glories of heaven. " In Thy presence 
 is fulness of joy." " Thou hast made known to me the way 
 of life, Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy coun- 
 tenance." And thus I believe no journey was ever more 
 illuminated with the Divine presence, because we were shut 
 up to faith alone, and put to the test of trusting God, 
 without knowing beforehand a single step we were to take. 
 
182 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN, 
 IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Here we were once more, having made our seventh voy- 
 age over the surging billows in safety. The quaint old town 
 of Gravesend was before us. It looks so much more 
 picturesque from the steamer than it does when treading its 
 streets. It was but a short stay we made here, and we were 
 soon off from this point, moving on up the famous old river 
 Thames. It was in November, the month of all others 
 most favourable for smoke in London, and slowly we pene- 
 trated into the heavy cloud in which the city was enshrouded. 
 And what a time it took for our steamer to thread its way 
 amongst the forest of vessels, and get to its own resting 
 place ! 
 
 Fairly landed, we were all bustle and hurry, and soon 
 wended our way up through the dingy streets of London, 
 until we came to our old neighbourhood, where we at once 
 felt at home. Here were the same warm, loving hearts, all 
 ready to welcome us back, and it was delightful to be with 
 them once more. 
 
 We were not long in settling down into our nest, for the 
 Lord had gone before us and pitched our tent. All we had 
 to do was to walk in and take possession of a house in the 
 North of London, which was all ready for us. No time now 
 was spent in house hunting, for we were in the will of God, 
 and He had prepared our habitation. While we were busy 
 making things straight in our hired house, and ere we had 
 time to fully settle down, we were off to Dunstable for a 
 week's meetings. Being pressed to go, we took it as a call 
 from God, and did not dare refuse. 
 
 Here in this old town we commenced work in the midst 
 of a severe snowstorm, which but few had the courage to 
 face. It was most difficult to get about. But after the first 
 two days the sun came out ; the Lord smiled upon us, and 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN 183 
 
 the meetings were well attended. Many were refreshed, 
 and the Lord was present to save sinners, as well as to 
 build up saints. 
 
 From this time there was no lack of service ; our days and 
 weeks were fully taken up. Conferences were held in 
 Scarborough, Manchester, Nottingham, Sunderland, Glasgow, 
 Camberwell, Uxbridge, and many other places. 
 
 MEETINGS IN ROCHESTER SQUARE. 
 
 We commenced a weekly meeting in our own house on 
 the first Monday of the year 1877, and have continued it 
 ever since up to the present time, changing the day from 
 Monday to Tuesday. All these years there have been but 
 three breaks, and never a meeting without some strangers 
 present Even one night when there was a terrific snow- 
 storm, and all traffic ceased, there were four present, two 
 of whom were strangers. 
 
 In a few years we found our rooms far too small for the 
 meetings. The house next us, owned by the same person, 
 was to let, and it had a large drawing-room. I said to the 
 owner that I thought the Lord wished us to have this house, 
 and if He did, she would not be able to let it to anyone else, 
 as our Father would make her keep it for us. 
 
 She replied, " It is four months yet before your lease is 
 up, and it will not remain vacant any time. It always lets 
 at once." But as three months passed, and the house 
 remained unoccupied, she came to see us and said that if we 
 could let No. 4 (the one we were in), we might have No. 3. 
 We told her that she would not probably let No. 4, the one 
 we were in, until she was willing to let us have the other. 
 
 A week before the time for us to move, the owner of the 
 houses came to us to say, that she believed God had some- 
 thing to do with her not being able to let the house, and 
 
184 RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN 
 
 that she had made up her mind to allow us to have No. 3, 
 without waiting to let the one we were occupying. 
 
 The lease was made out, and the papers signed. The 
 house being transferred to us, the purpose God had in view 
 seemed accomplished ; we all saw very clearly the hand of 
 the Lord in this, for that same day a person came and en- 
 gaged the house we were in. The landlady saw that it was far 
 better to let the Lord have His way. We were grateful to 
 the Lord for enlarging our borders, and we remained in 
 Rochester Square until 1884, when another enlargement was 
 necessary, and we moved into 3, Highbury Place. 
 
 The line of teaching in the Tuesday meetings has been, 
 Christ is all in all to meet every need in the daily walk as fully 
 as He meets us at the commencement of our Christian life : 
 the aim is to help each and all those whom the Lord sends. 
 Often unsaved ones have found Jesus as their Saviour ; but 
 the special object of the meeting has been to " feed the flock 
 of God." 
 
 VISIT TO SWEDEN. 
 
 It was in the year 1880 that my husband responded to 
 a pressing invitation from that country to " come over and 
 help" them. This call had been ringing in our ears for 
 twelve months past, but it seemed impossible to leave the 
 work in England. At last in June the way was made plain, 
 and we started. After three days on the North Sea, we 
 landed in the beautiful city of Gothenburg in the midst of a 
 
 pouring rain. Our friend, Captain R , met us and took 
 
 us to his own house, where we were welcomed by a happy 
 mother of eight little ones. These little mites were brought 
 forward to greet us, the mother holding in her arms the 
 baby, who smiled upon us in the happiest way possible to 
 babyhood, and by its bright little face bade us welcome 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 185 
 
 to the inside of this happy Swedish family. It was such a 
 contrast to the pouring torrents of rain without. 
 
 The simple manners and cordial reception quite charmed 
 us, and we felt at home at once, even among strangers 
 speaking another tongue. In a couple of hours the clouds 
 had discharged their freight, and the sun came forth in all 
 his cheering power, lighting up the trees, and making every 
 leaf glisten, as it quivered in the gentle breeze. 
 
 Friends in Jesus were here to greet us, and after a Bible- 
 reading in the afternoon, towards evening we went to church. 
 There my husband made his first attempt to speak to 
 people most of whom could not understand a word he 
 said ; but it was quickly made known to them through an 
 interpreter. 
 
 One feature strikes a stranger. More than half the 
 women in the congregation had handkerchiefs tied under the 
 chin in place of bonnets. These were of different colours, 
 some were plaid, and some were black silk. The Swedes 
 are much afraid of any innovation in this time-revered 
 custom, which has been handed down from generations 
 past, and the appearance of servants dressed in this simple 
 style is most charming. 
 
 Gothenburg is beautifully situated, with the river on one 
 side and a range of hills on the other. The dwellings are 
 built in flats, a family occupying one floor. There is a part of 
 the town called the English quarter, where there are fine 
 houses in rows, built in the English style, and most of them 
 occupied by the English. 
 
 Our stay in Gothenburg was limited to a week, because 
 we were urged to hasten on to Stockholm on account of the 
 lateness of the season, as it was feared the people would 
 have left the city for their country homes. Our friend, 
 Miss Borg, usually known as Aunt Elsa, who was mainly 
 
186 RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 
 
 instrumental in our going to Sweden, had come on to 
 Gothenburg to welcome us, and take us to Stockholm. 
 
 We did not travel so rapidly as in England or America, 
 but quite as fast as we wished, since we desired to see the 
 country in passing. On arriving in Stockholm, Aunt Elsa 
 took us to her own home in the outskirts of the city, situated 
 on a rocky hill called *' The White Mountains," because of 
 the white smooth bare stone of which it is composed. Her 
 dwelling has the picturesque name of " Hut," " The Hut," 
 as she delights to call it, and here was her 
 
 HOME FOR BIBLE-WOMEN, 
 
 where they are taught in the Word of God, and, when 
 sufficiently trained for their nursing and Bible work, go forth 
 to spread the glad tidings of salvation wherever a door opens. 
 In a neighbouring house she has an Orphanage, and three 
 others are now established ; also a Home for fallen women 
 near by where many are saved, and devote their lives to 
 doing good. It is usually full. 
 
 It proved true that it was late in the season for Stock- 
 holm. Most of the people whom we wished to see had 
 gone to the country, and were scattere4 in different direc- 
 tions. We were, however, soon among friends in their 
 country homes. There are lovely islands along the shores 
 of Sweden, as well as many in the inland lakes, which make 
 a delightful retreat, and there are many country residences 
 upon them amid the cool shade of trees, often looking out 
 upon the water. 
 
 We were taken from place to place, as the way opened ; 
 meetings were held daily, sometimes two on one day, and 
 the people seemed ready to listen, and, what was still better, 
 to receive into their hearts that which they heard with their 
 outward ears. The work went steadily on, the Lord opened 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 187 
 
 doors, and during all the months of my husband's stay in 
 Sweden his work was so arranged for him from day to day, 
 that everything fitted in like mosaic work. 
 
 The weeks flew rapidly by while we went together 
 from place to place among these dear, loving people of God, 
 and the time came all too quickly when we had expected to 
 be back in London. It was evident that my husband's work 
 in Sweden was not done, and that he must prolong his stay. 
 Therefore I left him in Stockholm the first of September, 
 and went to Jonkoping on my way back to England, 
 accompanied by a dear sister in the Lord who is now in 
 glory. While here I received the following letters from my 
 husband, which will give a vivid picture of the days he 
 spent in Sweden : — 
 
 "The Hut, Stockholm, Sept. 6, 1880. 
 
 *' My darling Wife, 
 
 " We are here again, back from Enkoping, 
 
 Miss H 's town. Saturday morning, before going, I had 
 
 the most precious time I have had in Sweden, speaking at 
 the Home. Then a five hours' charming steamboat ride, 
 reaching Enkoping at half-past seven, and a meeting the 
 same evening in the school-room of Miss H 's house. 
 
 *'The Lord worked in His own way. Many seemed to be 
 blessed, although I did not feel as fully at home as I have 
 done usually. 
 
 ** A very sober, solid Evangelist, who came with us on the 
 boat, was present, and told Aunt Elsa that he had all he 
 could do to keep from springing up and shouting, in the 
 joy of seeing that all the profuises were his very own. That 
 
 same day Miss A , an old fellow-teacher of my hostess, 
 
 came from a place two hours' sail beyond Enkoping to 
 hear about this full salvation; and she too, made the 
 promises her own, and came into full liberty. Miss H 's 
 
188 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN. 
 
 sister from the far north was also with us, and has gone back 
 to her home filled with joy in fully believing what God has 
 said. She has a school of loo or more, and one of her 
 teachers who was here said : ' I know now, I see as never 
 before, how all God says to His children is true, and to be 
 accepted by me. I am filled with praise to God.' 
 
 " Aunt Elsa, after quite four hours' work yesterday as trans- 
 lator, is decidedly better to-day in head and foot, and 
 stronger in the Lord. Praise His dear Name for this. 
 How wonderfully we see His hand in all this ! 
 
 " Another incident I must tell you is that of a captain of a 
 steamer, a good Christian, but under a sense of condemna- 
 tion because he 'does so little, and is so half-hearted in all he 
 does ' for the Lord. This dear man hailed the glad tidings 
 of the fulness of joy in Jesus as a personal Saviour, and 
 made a full surrender of all he had — his boat, himself, and, 
 best of all, his failings — over to the Lord ; and came into a 
 glorious liberty and freedom from all that oppressed him. 
 It would have rejoiced your heart to have seen his joy in 
 entering into this full salvation. 
 
 "And now good-bye for this time. You will hear again in 
 
 a few days. 
 
 " I am, yours with all my heart, 
 
 "W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
 "The Hut, 28, Nya Gatan, 
 
 "Sept. nth. 
 " My precious Wife, 
 
 "This morning brings me your longed for 
 letter of yesterday, and gives me the first hour free for writ- 
 ing to you since my last. How wonderfully the Lord leads ! 
 How blessedly He opens and no man shuts ! 
 
 " Captain A is very bright ; he told me that he had 
 
 heard of you through his sister, and it was all such good 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 189 
 
 news, etc. He said, 'This is the happiest day of my whole life.' 
 This was much for him to say ; his days have been -so happy 
 since the hour when Lord Radstock answered his question, 
 * How shall I keep this great happiness ?' — by holding up 
 a pencil between his thumb and finger and asking, ' Who 
 keeps this pencil from falling ? So the Lord shall keep 
 you.' This simple illustration was blessed to him. 
 
 '' THE lawyer's wife. 
 
 "Yesterday and the day before were quite wonderful days 
 in my little history here. The day before we went three 
 
 quarters of an hour out by rail. In a letter to E , Mrs. 
 
 U said, ' Come and help me to keep my joy.' Her 
 
 husband is a law7er, believes in no God, no Christ, no here- 
 after ! He loves his wife deeply, yet is enraged that she 
 loves the Lord, and thinks her somewhat out of her mind. 
 She, too, loves him very tenderly, and deals with him in all 
 open-heartedness. 
 
 " They have six sons, and have had two daughters ; the 
 first daughter the Lord took in order to bring the mother 
 to Himself. At the time of her birth the Lord com- 
 menced His work in the mother's heart, and convicted her 
 of sin. Then the Lord gave her another daughter, and the 
 father taking her in his arms, and looking piteously upon 
 her, said, ' Poor thing ; if you were only a boy ! ah, then 
 you might be saved from fanaticism. But you are a girl, 
 and it is impossible you should be saved ! You will be the 
 victim of your poor mother's religion !' The Lord soon 
 took the little one to glory, with Himself. She was the 
 darling idol of both father and mother. It almost killed 
 him, but it brought her to entire consecration, and to receive 
 the fulness of the blessing of Christ, while as yet she had 
 never heard such a thing was to be enjoyed upon earth. 
 
190 RE TURA' TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN. 
 
 Think what a delight to her to find E and others 
 
 enjoying this hfe also ! So slie has had her friends— friends 
 of Christ, and her husband has had his friends — friends of the 
 world ! She is a wonderful housekeeper, and has spared 
 no pains in preparing great dinners for his friends ; but, O 
 what a delight to prepare for her friends on Thursday ! We 
 had no less than three Bible meetings in the afternoon and 
 evening, one before dinner — two after dinner. 
 
 "To-day, the 13th, I will finish this letter to you, as I 
 
 have more to tell you about Mrs. U . She attends to 
 
 everything, not only in the house, but in the garden as well, 
 and has quantities of fruit of all kinds when other people 
 have none. She keeps four servants, and it is said they do 
 as much, under her management, as eleven usually do, and 
 yet they are not overworked. And this is because she has 
 taken the Lord as her Wisdom, as her Counsellor. She 
 asks and receives everything from Him; here is the 
 secret of it all. The gardens are scientifically laid out, and 
 the arrangement is something marvellous, when everyone 
 knows she has had instruction from no one but the Lord 
 Himself. 
 
 **They were obliged to bring water from a distance in 
 wagons. They had tried many times to find a spring, but 
 
 whenever they found one it dried up. At last Mrs. U 
 
 took it to the Lord, and He showed her where water could 
 be found ; so she persuaded her husband to dig in a spot 
 where certain bushes were growing that never grow without 
 water, and here they found an unfailing spring. 
 
 " The people thought Mrs. U was lifted up so high 
 
 that she would soon have to come down, and wondered how 
 she could be so happy with such opposition from her hus- 
 band. He is drawing off the two eldest sons, and tries 
 to keep them from being saved, but she trusts in Jesus, and 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 191 
 
 faith in Him, for the sons and for all else, keeps her above 
 everything that could depress. Her husband's friends say, 
 * Oh, we have seen only gloomy Christians before, but now 
 we see you so happy, we shall become Christians that we 
 may be happy too.' 
 
 " The Lord is teaching and humbling me, making me 
 glad in a deeper sense of my own nothingness and His all- 
 sufficiency. Good-bye, God bless you, and bless you ; yea, 
 seven times over, even with all His fulness, so as to enable 
 you to meet Him fully in His loving purposes." 
 
 "Sept. 13th, 1880. 
 
 **My precious Wife, 
 
 "A last word before breakfast ere you leave 
 Sweden for our home in London, where I suppose you feel 
 you ought to be, as soon as you can leave your work in 
 Gothenburg. It is not a pleasant thing to think that the 
 North Sea is so soon to be between us, and it is far from 
 delightful to let you go alone ; but it is a delight to do the 
 Lord's will, and to know that He cares for you more than 
 I can, and that He will be with you. . . Aunt Elsa sends 
 much love. Happily, letters, like hearts, may be full of love 
 to as many as love likes ; and one does not crowd out the 
 other, but makes room for it. Give my love to all the dear 
 ones as you meet them when you get home. 
 
 *' They will rejoice with us if you tell them that, more and 
 more the Lord is opening wide the door to His testimony 
 in this capital of Sweden. He brought together a chapel- 
 ful yesterday morning, and gave a large meeting in 
 the open air in the afternoon, and again in the evening 
 another opportunity, with much power of the Spirit. 
 
 " The Lord brought out many, in an after meeting which 
 I left to be conducted by others, while I went to the large 
 
192 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN. 
 
 chapel, which was filled, people standing in the aisles. 
 What the Lord did among these earnest listeners He alone 
 knows. One of the officers of this church showed me a 
 copy of ' The Higher Christian Life,' published by Morgan 
 and Scott. Said he had received great blessing from reading 
 it, and he wanted to have it scattere.d over the kingdom. He 
 is getting it translated. 
 
 *' Well, here I am again at Mr. H 's. I was carried 
 
 through the three meetings yesterday, and brought to * The 
 Hut ' at nine in the evening, feeling as fresh and free as 
 when I began. The Lord is the 'Wonderful, the Counsellor, 
 the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of 
 Peace,' and of the i7icrease of His government and peace 
 there is no end. So I find it. So His zeal makes it. I 
 am a ' Know-nothing ' as to the time when I am to return to 
 London. ' I leave it all with Jesus, for He knows ; yes. He 
 knows.' And we shall know in due time. Write as soon 
 as you get home, and as often as you can. I am looking 
 for a letter from you, though we may not be at the ' White 
 Mountains ' again before Friday. We go to Waxholm again 
 for Wednesday and Thursday, and probably shall remain 
 here over to-morrow, and drive across to where we can 
 meet a boat on Wednesday for Waxholm. 
 
 " One who speaks English waited after the meeting to 
 speak to me. He has an estate not far from Stockholm, and 
 has left it in care of another, and is here, on his way to Lon- 
 don. His object, as he said, was ' spiritual refreshing.' He 
 was in our meeting in another chapel two nights ago 
 and heard me speak about the man who gave up the key 
 to the Lord, and let Him come in and clean out, and set in 
 order His own house, and take up His abode in it with the 
 Father and the Spirit. He said, ' That hit the nail on the 
 head.' He took our London address, and said he should 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 193 
 
 come to our Tuesday meeting in London. His face beamed 
 with joy ; he said the refreshing he was longing for had 
 begun in his heart so much sooner than he expected. O 
 what a different Christian he will be now that the gloom has 
 gone, and the former hfe of ups and downs has given place 
 to a steady abiding in the love of Jesus ! Give much love 
 to all ; pray that all my faults and failings may be plainly 
 shown me, and grace given to take in Jesus — the Power — 
 to rest upon me, that I may glorify God. I pray for you ; 
 the Lord quicken. 
 
 " Your loving husband, 
 
 "W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
 ''September i8th. 
 ** My precious Wife, 
 
 " Thanks for your letter. The Lord is very 
 gracious to me ! O so precious ! no tongue can tell His love 
 for us ! I am kept, covered and carried all the day long. 
 He gives the word, and opens ears to listen and hearts to 
 receive. Very marked signs of good were visible in the 
 
 meeting at Mr. H 's, the address was listened to, and the 
 
 truth received. In the evening we had a most remarkable 
 scene. No meeting had been arranged. The people in 
 considerable numbers gathered in the drawing-room, and 
 two or three united in requesting the privilege of asking 
 
 questions. I gladly sat down, with dear E as my 
 
 tongue. Two or three questions were asked at once, and 
 I answered them one at a time. Then Dr. T , 
 
 AN OLD MISSIONARY, 
 
 who has been in India and Turkey, a very learned man, 
 who reads many languages, and speaks twenty — asked a long 
 question. The purport was this — * Is it not true that many 
 struggle long under conviction ? And does not the Lord 
 
194 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN, 
 
 leave them in darkness and sorrow, weighed down with their 
 sins, before He reveals Himself to them ? ' 
 
 " I answered * Yes. But are we therefore to tell others 
 He itnll do so ! Did the Apostles deal thus with those 
 under conviction when they cried out, " Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do " to be saved ? Did the Apostles answer 
 them, " Be patient, you will have to wait a long time and 
 suffer a great deal. You have been very wicked, and if 
 you wait long enough, and suffer deeply enough, the Lord 
 may, somewhere in the future, accept you and bring you 
 out into the light of His favour ? " ' 
 
 " *0h, no! No, no!' was the response on all sides; most 
 heartily of all from the good Doctor. 
 
 " * No.' I said, ' The answer was, *' Repent and be bap- 
 tized ... in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
 sins." And is that all ? No! "And ye shall receive the 
 Holy Ghost," and as many as gladly received the word 
 were baptized, and the promise was fulfilled to them.' 
 
 " * Yes, oh, yes,' responded many. 
 
 " ' Then shall not we say to all who enquire, " Turn at 
 once to Jesus, confess Him, believe on Him, accept the 
 fact, that He will fill you with His Spirit, and let yourselves 
 go into His hands ? " ' 
 
 " ' O yes, yes, yes,' was the answer again. 
 
 « ' Why is it distressed ones remain in darkness ? ' I 
 asked. * Is it not because they keep on thinking of them- 
 selves and their sins, and faults, and failings, instead of 
 turning to Jesus, who alone can save them from all ? ' 
 
 *' 'Yes, yes.' 
 
 '* ' Then what we should do is to turn at once to Jesus 
 in our need, and find in Him our supply according to God's 
 riches in Jesus ; should we not ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes, yes, yes.' 
 
RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN. 195 
 
 " Then I said, * My heart yearns to tell everybody just 
 this, and have them turn at once to Jesus and find all in 
 Him.' This is a bare sketch. When I had done, there came 
 from all sides, as if by one consent, the request to be led 
 to the Lord in prayer to leave all with Him and receive all 
 in Him. It was a wonderful moment. 
 
 **A scene almost as impressive came also on Thursday 
 evening, in Waxholm, which I have not time now to de- 
 scribe. 
 
 "Butjv^//r letter is very precious. I am so thankful to 
 our loving Lord for all His care, and that He keeps you 
 longer in Gothenburg. 
 
 " Your loving husband, 
 
 " W. E. B." 
 
 I was detained at Jonkoping, where I had gone on my 
 way home, very much longer than I expected, for the Lord 
 opened doors in this lovely part of Sweden. As I was 
 staying some miles out of Jonkdping, we had many fine 
 drives into the town by the side of the beautiful lake, at 
 the head of which is the Home for Cripples. This is quite a 
 little community in itself, having several cottages, and a 
 mission hall and school room. And a good work it is, that 
 of caring for and nursing these poor, helpless, little ones. 
 
 The time came for me to go on my way towards home, 
 and at the right moment the Lord in His loving-kindness 
 provided for me one who was going to Gothenburg, a 
 child of God who had been blessed in the meetings, and 
 seemed pleased to afford me the benefit of her English 
 during the journey. Here again, I was detained as many 
 weeks as I had expected to remain days. The Lord opened 
 doors for service, and the first of October found me still in 
 this city. 
 
196 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WE DEN. 
 
 The following letters were received from my husband 
 during my stay in Gothenburg : — 
 
 "Sept. 20th, 1880. 
 
 ** My dear Wife, 
 
 " A lady came this morning before the time, 
 
 not knowing that we were to have a meeting. E ■ 
 
 introduced us, and asked her to stay, and she accepted the 
 invitation. Directly I was talking to her closely about her 
 own personal state, and she was opening her heart as freely 
 to me as if she had come on purpose. She was all at sea ; 
 doubting whether she was a Christian, sometimes doubting 
 whether Christ is the Son of God, and many like things; 
 then again believing and having peace. Very bright, very 
 clever, very quick ; hard to keep to the point ; flying off 
 at a tangent — yet coming back at call. Finally she said, ' I 
 am astonished at myself ! I never did such a thing before ! 
 Here I am talking out all my heart to you, one I have never 
 seen before. Strange, too, how I came, or was led here at 
 this time.' She seemed to see my aim, and said, *You 
 present Christ as a full Saviour, all in all in you, as He is 
 for you.' Then, while I was reading and speaking in the 
 evening, I saw her, O, so intent ! sometimes covering her 
 eyes in prayer, sometimes looking as if she would pene- 
 trate the deepest depths. And when the meeting was closed 
 she thanked me, and said, * I see it all.' 
 
 " * Do you take it all ? ' She reddened, but finally said 
 
 * Yes,' and went away. E told me afterwards that she 
 
 is in an official position in the Deaconess Institute, and has 
 been a foreign missionary ; and that she had much wished 
 us to meet, but had not brought it about, and would have 
 felt very sorry had I gone home without seeing her; so was 
 glad the Lord had, in His own way, brought her here. 
 *' Sunday. The morning meeting was packed, and people 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN, 197 
 
 standing. I do find it so blessed to carry no burden of any 
 kind ; to have such a Saviour, O so precious, so loving ! I 
 am so free and happy in Him. And He carries me on day 
 by day ; I am covered as well as carried ; it is joy unspeak 
 able. Although Sunday was rather a crowded day, and 
 I got no rest, yet I was carried all the day through, and 
 borne up by the Lord. 
 
 "Stockholm, Sept. 22nd. 
 
 " On Monday I called with Aunt Elsa upon Pastor B , 
 
 who Has a large Lutheran Church, built after the pattern of 
 Spurgeon's Tabernacle. I found him at home, just free from 
 the bustle of the opening of a large school, which he has 
 besides his church and congregation. He was very cordial 
 indeed. In the evening I had a nice large drawing-room 
 
 meeting at Mrs. L 's, who opened her house at Aunt 
 
 Elsa's request. Many friends and two pastors were there. 
 The Lord gave the word, very simple, full, and clear, and 
 brought out, by questions, precious things that would not 
 otherwise have been given. The Spirit was upon us in 
 power. On the way home to the 'Hut' one was intro- 
 duced to me who speaks English, and she began at once to 
 say, ' I would gladly give myself wholly to Jesus if I knew 
 how.' I said, ' If you should now let yourself go, and let 
 yourself alone in the hands of Jesus, would He take you, 
 and take the whole care of you?' She answered, 'Yes.' 
 
 * Then will you do it ? ' * Yes.' * Do you do it ? ' * Yes.' 
 
 *''Then He has you now, and has all the care of you?' 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 '"And you have Him as your own full Saviour?' 
 
 * Yes.' And in the gaslight I could see that her face was 
 already lighted up. She has an ungodly husband, and has 
 the more need of the keeping power of Jesus. I am to see 
 her again to-morrow, D.V, 
 
198 RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 
 
 " And I do praise God that He has in Gothenburg such 
 a precious circle of those who love Him, and love to glorify 
 Him. The rod of His strength is to go forth more and 
 more from that circle, through all the united kingdom. I 
 see a bright day rising upon Scandinavia, and upon Finland 
 as well. 
 
 *' Love to each of the dear ones in Gothenburg, and to 
 the precious ones in London, whom I long to see again. 
 My whole heart to my precious wife, from her loving 
 husband, " W. E. Boardman." 
 
 "Sept. 25th. So it will be eight weeks to-night since we 
 moored in the ' Bele,' in the port of Gothenburg ! How swiftly 
 the time has flown away ! It seems a dream. I have just 
 come in from the morning's work at the Home for the fallen. 
 
 Amongst others, Miss P , the Principal of the beautiful 
 
 Home where we dined one day, was present, and was 
 brought very clearly into full trust in a moment, while 
 I was praying at the close. I prayed that if there were one 
 heart in our little assembly yet unopened to Jesus for His 
 incoming as a Saviour from sin, the Lord would open it, and 
 come in and fill it, and fit it for Himself, and keep it as His 
 own home for ever. She said, * That is me, the Lord hears 
 this united prayer and comes in. I am His, and He is 
 mine.' Then shortly after came the temptation : ' Ah, it 
 will all come to nothing, you will be the same as ever.' 
 But she said, 'That is Satan ; Lord take care of it; Thou 
 wilt,' and she is at rest. 
 
 " As soon as we had risen, she came and told me through 
 my ears, who is also my tongue (Aunt Elsa), all about it. 
 So it seems clear that another precious Home is to be blessed 
 by having its head under Christ, in full union with Him 
 as her Head, and Head over all things in the Home. 
 
RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WEDEN. 199 
 
 " Last night the Lord filled the Seamen's Chapel more 
 full than on any previous week-day evening, and gave a 
 message about Christian Warfare as one waged against us 
 by Satan, to prevent our practically and experimentally 
 accepting and abiding in the wonderful inheritance we have 
 in God, and the inheritance, yet more wonderful in its riches 
 in glory, which God has in us through our union with 
 Jesus as His body, His habitation, and His bride. He gave 
 the message with much ease to me, and with much power 
 upon the' people. Yesterday morning He was with us here 
 in power during the service in the Home, and afterwards in 
 conversation He brought one of the very best of the Bible 
 women to take the Lord as her Physician. She had had 
 bronchial difficulty of long standing, much aggravated by 
 last winter's residence in the Island of Gothland in the 
 Baltic ; also a chronic trouble with one of her legs, 
 which swelled so that she had great difficulty in walking. 
 She took Christ as her Healer as well as her Keeper in 
 health. The Lord gave her immediate and full relief from 
 all care of it, and filled her with His Holy Spirit, while 
 we were praying with and anointing her in the name of the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Then we had a hard fight of faith over another of the 
 Bible women. She was strong in self, and that was her 
 great weakness ; and she has tried her strength and found 
 it fail her so often that she has despaired of herself, and 
 made up her mind she was not fit to be a Bible woman at all, 
 and never could be ; that she could never speak to people, 
 had nothing to say, and was tongue-tied. I put before 
 her the privilege of trusting Jesus, and the certainty that He 
 would be with her in all He would call her to do ; and also 
 the consequences of not giving up her will to Him, and the 
 danger of taking her own way in drawing aside from the 
 
200 RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 
 
 work to which He had called her. She still persisted in 
 saying, * It is no use, I shall be the same as ever.' 
 
 *' I then gave up saying anything more, and left her in the 
 hands of the Lord. 
 
 '* She rose to go as if her mind was fully made up, but 
 suddenly she stopped. Aunt Elsa spoke to her, putting her 
 hands lovingly upon her shoulder. She broke down, and 
 said, * Yes, I see I must say No, or Yes, and it shall be Yes.' 
 The struggle with her was the struggle of death to self. The 
 Lord got the victory, and she sobbed, 'Yes Lord, yes; Thine 
 wholly. Thy way, not mine.' 
 
 " I think I wrote you before about Thursday morning. 
 The evening was given to a Bible reading at Mr. A 
 
 B 's. My subject was Christ with us, our Head in all 
 
 the affairs of life ; with every ship at sea as its invisible 
 Captain ; with every sailor as his Head ; in every school the 
 Principal over each teacher and pupil ; in every house Head 
 of the household and each one in it, etc., etc. I en- 
 deavoured to show the contrast between affairs conducted 
 by faith in Him, and those conducted by mere human heads, 
 and how we are to give Christ His place as Head over all 
 
 things. Pastor F , who is one of the most lovely of all 
 
 the older Lutheran clergymen, said several very bright things 
 after I had finished ; amongst others, * Two heads to one 
 body, that is not a very good thing ! ' Then he added in 
 explanation, ' One head in religion and another in business.' 
 This gives you something of the history of the busy hours 
 since my last in reversed order, last first, and first last. 
 
 *' This morning a card came from Mrs. T , saying that 
 
 the Pastor of the Lutheran Church, in which Lord Radstock 
 spoke so often in English without an interpreter, has returned, 
 and most gladly offers his Church for services, both with and 
 without a translator. Aunt Elsa has greatly desired this and 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 201 
 
 waited for it, and now has gone at once to see both Mrs. 
 
 S and the Pastor to arrange. Affairs so turn that I 
 
 do not now see how I can return to London until the 
 middle of November. The Lord makes me perfectly rest- 
 ful in the daily work, as fresh at night as in the morning. 
 " Lovingly your husband, 
 
 "W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
 " Oct. 4th. I received your letter with its last words writ- 
 ten at Captain R 's, just before you left these shores for 
 
 our tent' in London. The Captain's sister has just been 
 here, and told us that she had a letter from her brother the 
 day you left, telling us that you had a meeting every day 
 the last week in Gothenburg. 
 
 "NOT UNDER LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE." 
 
 "The Lord is favouring us greatly. There are many glad 
 hearts and bright faces, more and more from day to day. 
 I must tell you a singular thing. One, whom I do not know 
 at all, came to the meetings, and was greatly wrought upon 
 by the Spirit. One night I gave an account of the great 
 blessing that came upon Mr. Freeman, at the Agricultural 
 Hall, London, through turning from saying, * O wretched 
 man that lam,' to saying, 'Thank God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ,' so passing out of the experience of the seventh 
 of Romans into that of the eighth. This lady went away 
 in great distress, saying, ' Must I then give up the seventh 
 of Romans and come into the eighth ! No, I cannot.' And 
 she wept bitterly at the thought that she must give up what 
 she had cherisiied as being the highest form of Christian Hfe, 
 and the real experience of tlie Apostle Paul. She said 
 this was a severe trial to her, because she had thought it 
 the most meritorious humility possible, to be for ever busy 
 with her own inability to do that which her heart longed 
 
202 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WED EN. 
 
 to do ; and it filled her with anguish to give up all the 
 satisfaction she had received from cherishing these ideas. 
 Just then she heard that a good man, v^ho had been a 
 comfort to her fifteen years before when she was first 
 awakened, had come to town. She went immediately to see 
 him in her distress, and asked him, ' Must I give up the 
 seventh of Romans and come into the eighth ?' * O no, no ! 
 my child, no ; you may live in the seventh all your life, and 
 never come into the eighth. I will pray for you that you may 
 never come out into the eighth.' 
 
 " Her tears were stayed, she was comforted as he prayed 
 with her, and she went home strong in her old faith ; so 
 she thought. But she could not stay away from the meet- 
 ings, and one night last week I spoke from * God is love ; ' 
 and the dear Lord revealed Himself to her ; all her difficulties 
 vanished away in a moment at the coming into her heart of 
 the Holy Spirit, and she went away with a shining face, say- 
 ing to one of the Bible women as she passed out, ' I never 
 heard anything like this before.' Evidently she was out of 
 Romans vii., under grace, not under law. 
 
 '* The last was a very busy week, and a very blessed one. 
 Each day two meetings, and one day three ; and yesterday 
 was the crowning day in the work hitherto. In the morning 
 I spoke in the hall recently re-opened; the same as the 
 previous Sunday morning, very full, and the Lord was 
 with us. In the evening in the Bethlehem Church, 
 built after Spurgeon's tabernacle in form, the largest place 
 in Stockholm, full from top to bottom. And the Lord 
 gave by me the clearest, fullest, testimony that I have ever 
 yet given of His fulness, and of our completeness in Him; 
 with much direct dealing with the unconverted and 
 with Christians. Praise His holy name ! It was He, 
 not I, who did it. With you I see more clearly than 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 203 
 
 ever, that it is not "• I,' but' He,' who gives the word and 
 uses it. 
 
 "Oct. 6. Only think of it ! Five days more and I shall 
 have reached my threescore and ten ; and here I am in 
 Sweden, speaking publicly twice or thrice a day, and talking 
 much between, and thinking nothing of walking from North 
 to South of this outstretched city. Fresh every evening, not 
 merely every morning. Surely I am proving that though 
 the youths faint, they that wait on the Lord exchange their 
 strength, and more than renew their youth.' " 
 
 MY RETURN TO LONDON. 
 
 The time came for me to return home, and with a heart 
 trusting alone in Jesus, I bade farewell to the dear loving 
 Swedes who accompanied me to the steamer, and parted 
 with the one who had been my interpreter during the last 
 days there. I had such a sense of loneliness as would have 
 taken complete possession of me, had not the Lord delivered, 
 for I had left my dear husband, and must now go through 
 the new experience of being on the sea without him. And 
 not only without his loving care, but without any one with 
 whom I could converse during the three days while crossing 
 to London. The Lord saved me from sea-sickness, and was 
 so very tender and loving in His care of me that my heart 
 did rejoice in Him, as for hours I lay in my berth looking 
 out of the port hole upon the water over which I was 
 being borne. 
 
 Our meetings were recommenced the first Tuesday after 
 my return home, and were carried on during the two months 
 of my husband's absence, the Lord Himself sustaining the 
 gatherings week by week by His own presence. He proved 
 faithful to His own Word of promise, and blessed us each 
 week according to our faith in Him. 
 
204 RE TURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN S WEDEN 
 THE BURGLARY. 
 
 One blessed Sabbath evening, as I was returning from 
 the liouse of God with a friend who wa;? staying widi me, 
 we entered the sitting-room of our house and saw spoons, 
 forks, and other things taken out of the sideboard and 
 scattered over the carpet. The silver articles had been 
 culled out, the rest left in disorder. 
 
 " Thieves ! thieves ! " I exclaimed, and sank back into a 
 chair, almost breathless, at the thought that my Father 
 had forgotten to be gracious. I could not imagine that He 
 could allow this to happen. All was His, and I had taken it 
 for granted that such a thing w^ould never occur to one who 
 was so fully consecrated, and trusting in the Lord. 
 
 " Did you put the house specially into the Lord's hands 
 when you went out this evening ? " asked my friend. 
 
 " No ; but it was all His, and I supposed He would take 
 care of His own property. I don't care at all for what 
 they have .taken, but that the Lord should have allowed it, 
 that is what hurts me." 
 
 My friend, who was bold and fearless, went in search of 
 the thieves. I should have done that once myself; and 
 indeed at the age of twelve had frightened away one who 
 had entered the front door, and was stealthily making his 
 way towards the pantry where the silver was kept. I called 
 to my father, and the thief went much faster than he came ; 
 but the natural strength and heroism of a child of God will 
 not avail, when hard thoughts towards Him are indulged in. 
 It was a trifling thing to have the thieves break in, but it was 
 no small thing that I should feel my Father had not inten- 
 ded it all for good to me. 
 
 One night I was thinking it over as I lay on my bed, and 
 still feeling how strange it was on the Lord's part, when my 
 Father revealed to me how wrong my spirit was, and how 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND— WORK IN SWEDEN. 205 
 
 different to Christ's when He forgave the thief on the cross. 
 I had not been praying for and pitying these thieves, or if I 
 had it was in a formal way. He also showed me that He 
 allowed His own sacred vessels to be carried away out of 
 His temple, and to be used by very wicked men in their 
 bacchanalian feasts. 1 was humbled in the dust. I saw 
 how self, rather than the spirit of Jesus had acted in me. And 
 after all the thieves has taken but little, for in a little drawer 
 were sixteen pounds they were not allowed to touch. With- 
 in two inches of it they had dropped a bit of candle, but the 
 hand of God protected the money, which had been left there 
 by mistake. It had been brought down stairs the day before 
 to pay the house rent, the landlady having sent word she 
 should call on Saturday, but she did not come, and I had 
 forgotten it. 
 
206 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN — LETTERS. 
 
 HE following letters were received after my 
 return to London, during the remaining 
 months of my husband's sojourn in Sweden: 
 •* The Hut, Stockholm, 
 
 "October nth, 1880. 
 " My dear Wife, 
 
 "I have just drawn away from the company 
 left in the sitting room, that is from the precious ones of 
 the two -Homes. They have been giving me here the sur- 
 prise of a Swedish birthday festival, which is quite new to 
 me. I was awakened by the breaking forth of a song in the 
 sitting room, soon after daylight, sung by several voices to- 
 gether, and followed by another and yet another. At last 
 I was summoned, and found the dining table arranged in 
 birthday dress. In the centre was an Oleander reaching up 
 to the hanging lamp, around it smaller shrubs and flowers, 
 making a fine pyramid, covering a large space in the centre, 
 besides an ornamental border to the table-cover of ivy-vine 
 in semi-circular curves, leaving spaces for the plates, all 
 arranged with great skill and taste. 
 
FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 207 
 
 *' * What does this mean,' I said in bewilderment. 
 
 " 'This is our Swedish custom.' 
 
 " ' About what ? — I do not understand.' 
 
 " ' Why, for a birthday !' Then it came to me, ' Yes, yes, 
 this is indeed my seventieth birthday ! My cup runneth over.' 
 On side tables were coffee cups, cakes, biscuits, etc., 
 and in a semi-circle in one corner, stood the Bible women 
 and others, with their hymn-books, ready to sing. So an- 
 other song greeted me, followed by a cup of coffee and 
 another song. Then all gathered around me, and each 
 presented a chromo card with texts and flowers on one side, 
 and some greeting for me on the other. Then came Baron 
 
 O , who joined the birthday party. Then Mrs. S 
 
 and her friend, with beautiful mementos, as you will see 
 
 when we meet. Mr. S and Mrs. S , Mr. and Mrs. 
 
 T all came forward with their tokens of love. Then 
 
 followed an hour with the Bible women, and after that a 
 birthday breakfast, finishing up with prayer and song. Thus 
 passed off the happy Swedish birthday festival. 
 
 ♦' Now I must tell you about Sunday. The evening 
 
 meeting was at Mr. W 's chapel. I dined with them. 
 
 They feared the meeting would be small, some failure 
 about publishing the notices, the new place, etc., etc. But 
 when the time came the house was full, gallery and all, and 
 some standing. Many came from the North end, notwith- 
 standing the long way and high hill. And the word from the 
 Lord was with power. One of the most singular instances 
 
 of blessing is that of Mr. W himself, which happened 
 
 not in the chapel, but here at the Bible women's Home. I 
 felt constrained one morning to try and set two of the Bible 
 women free about Baptism, and took the matter up freely, 
 
 as it lies in the Scripture. Mr. W came in to morning 
 
 prayers, while I was talking and opening up the Scriptures 
 10 
 
208 
 
 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 upon the subject. He sat in the little ante-room, so I did 
 not know he was there. He had come to invite me to speak 
 again at his chapel, and overheard my talk about freedom, 
 specially in the matter of baptism ; and the Lord used it to 
 set him at liberty and fill his soul. Verily, the Lord's ways 
 are not our ways. It was the last thing I should have 
 talked about, had I known that he, a Baptist minister, 
 was listening. Yet that was the Lord's way for giving him 
 the fulness of blessing. Surely He is wonderful in counsel, 
 and excellent in working ! 
 
 **Oct. 12. I had supposed, when I wrote yesterday 
 morning, that my Swedish birth-day festival was over. In- 
 deed, I was told that according to Swedish custom it was 
 a morning affair, at least so I understood it. But one 
 can never be sure that they have a fall understanding of any 
 custom, of a country in which they are strangers. I 
 had no thought of anything more, than seeing and speaking 
 to a few friends in their drawing-room later on in the day. 
 We were ushered in, and I was almost bewildered. In 
 front, as we entered, stood a large easy chair, tastefully 
 but simply decorated, under the canopy of a large and 
 beautiful Oleander. In the centre a table, also beautifully 
 decorated with plants and flowers, and upon it several 
 parcels — one large and one small one quite conspicuous 
 amongst them. And opposite it, against the wall, hung a 
 transparency, quite rustic and simple, in brown paper, with 
 rustic letters shining through 
 
 GOODNESS. 
 
 70 YEARS. 
 
 MERCY. 
 
FUR THER WORK IN S WEDEN—LE TTERS. 209 
 
 *' You may judge how touching it was, and what a rush of 
 memories it brought in upon me of the goodness and mercy 
 which have followed me all the days of my life, with an 
 overwhelming sense of my own unworthiness ! 
 
 ** Nadharnmar, October i6th. — You were just getting a 
 little rest and comfort from the Lord, after the shock 
 of the robbery of the house the evening before, while I 
 was in the midst of all the Swedish demonstration of affec- 
 tion in the celebration of my birthday. I see a7id feel 
 how th6 shock affected you, and I praise the Lord that 
 He showed you how His hand stayed the hand of the 
 poor wretched victims of Satan, and hid from them the 
 most valuable things, and so gave you comfort in Him. O, 
 I do so pity them ! Who can tell whether, through this 
 miserable act of theirs, the Lord, in His own wonderful 
 counsel and excellent working, will not save them ? Stranger 
 things have happened, greater wonders have been wrought 
 by the Lord. 
 
 "We left the station fairly white with waving handker- 
 chiefs, according to Swedish custom, and arrived here at 
 about 5 o'clock for dinner, meeting several friends. 
 
 " Mrs. L , the wife of one of the principal men of 
 
 Bethlehem Church, was a great invalid for years, and was 
 healed in answer to prayer by Lord Radstock. Before quite 
 helpless; now quite well. However, the crowning day was 
 Wednesday, my last day in the work in Stockholm. It was 
 a day added because of the urgent request of the Methodist 
 minister to give them an evening. At first I declined, 
 saying to myself, * I ought to be at Nadhammar, revising 
 books that day.' So also I said to E . 
 
 " She asked, ' Have you enquired of the Lord ? ' I said, 
 • No, not directly.' This checked me, and I let the answer 
 wait over night. In the night the Lord showed me clearly 
 
210 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 that the answer I had given E to give the minister was 
 
 not from Him. 
 
 " Our meeting last night was very full, and the Lord was 
 with us. These last days of the work in Sweden have been 
 in the power of the Spirit, and in the ease also and comfort 
 of the Spirit, beyond any in all my life before. Praised be 
 the Lord ! Hallelujah ! 
 
 " Kumla, October 23rd. We, that is, Mr. and Mrs. 
 
 T and I, left E and Mrs. L at Molnbo 
 
 station the morning of the 21st. They brought us there 
 in a snowstorm, the ground all covered and the air full, 
 yet we were snug as could be in the comfortable ' bridal 
 carriage,' as it has been called, because it has been 
 honoured by carrying six different brides at as many 
 different times, to go away on their bridal journeys. 
 They returned to Nadhammar ; we came on to Halsberg. 
 
 Pastor F and his wife were there to meet us. A good 
 
 dinner and a little rest refreshed me for the evening, when 
 we had one of the best meetings we have had since I came 
 to this land. The meeting-house was full, a great many 
 standing. The Lord gave the word in demonstration of the 
 Spirit, and in power. 
 
 *' When the benediction had been given, the congregation 
 remained standing for awhile. Then the people came 
 crowding as much as they could, without confusion, toward 
 the desk. There I stood, leaning over the rail, taking the 
 hands of all comers, young and old, giving to each such 
 words as the Lord gave me. The whole scene touched my 
 heart very deeply. Results are with the Lord. After sup- 
 per we came on here — seven miles — and were in bed soon 
 after eleven. 
 
 " In the morning, at 7.30, we had a service in this house. 
 At one p.m., a great assembly in the large parish church of 
 
FUR THER WORK IN S WEDEN. —LE TTERS. 211 
 
 Kumla — the first parish church I have preached in. The 
 Stockholm churches in which I have spoken are independent 
 churches without parishes, Hke Marcus Rainsford's in Lon- 
 don. This is a parish church, with 6000 people belonging 
 to it. There was marvellous stillness, showing the deepest 
 attention from the first word to the last. And many came 
 here afterwards. Indeed, all the afternoon and evening 
 were occupied in question and answer, and conversation 
 about the wonderful things of God. 
 
 A NEW NAME. 
 
 " I arose at six this morning, refreshed. At 7.30 
 before breakfast, we had an hour's service here in the 
 house again, and all seemed deeply touched. A number of 
 those present were before unsaved. One of them, who was 
 about to leave, whose name has been Samuelsson, told 
 
 Pastor F he wanted a new name. (Swedes have a right 
 
 to take a new name.) The Pastor said, ' Well, you are to be 
 a new man, take the name of'Nyman" (Newman), and 
 he did so. 
 
 "Orebro, Sunday, Oct. 26th. I have been here now 
 a little more than two days, and have had three public 
 meetings in a beautiful chapel, and four meetings in 
 private houses, and I must confess that last night, after 
 the meeting in the chapel, I was a little overdone. This 
 morning, however, I am somewhat rested and refreshed. 
 The doors here are not all open yet, and I cannot stay 
 till they do open. Our meetings here on Sunday were 
 very full ; in the evening a large number standing, and 
 O so still ! There is much interest, but the walls are not 
 yet broken down. Jericho stood it out till the seventh day ; 
 Orebro ought to fall at the Lord's feet in less time. 
 
 "Oct. 27th. Our meeting at the Baroness 's was 
 
212 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 capital. The Lord also, within an hour or so after I wrote 
 to you, opened wide the door amongst the State Church 
 people. Two Pastors and others of them were at the 
 Baroness', very cordial ; one of them had read ' Gladness,' 
 or ' Joy in Jesus,' as it is in Swedish. The Lord sent a State 
 Church Pastor here from Stockholm, and it was through his 
 w^arm words to the people that the key was turned, and 
 the door opened wide among the Lutherans. The two 
 Pastors I met last night are lovely, and I trust they will ac- 
 cept Jesus in the fulness of blessing, and become the banner- 
 men here. There is an open ear for the testimony, and 
 many seemed gladly to receive it. 
 
 *' Borrow no anxiety about me : the Lord is my Healer 
 and my Keeper. Pray for me. Pray for Gothenberg 
 especially. 
 
 " Oct. 28th. At Baron S 's. After writing yesterday 
 
 I found myself without an envelope, or a moment's time to 
 get one. Now we are another stage on the journey. The 
 two meetings yesterday were full, and in the power of the 
 
 Spirit. On going to dine with Mr. and Mrs. L , I found 
 
 Mrs. L all broken down, sobbing, and pouring out her 
 
 tears and her heart, the moment I spoke to her. Whilst 
 
 speaking with her, Mr. L and two of her sisters also 
 
 showed that their hearts were moved the same way. ' In- 
 deed,' he said, *we all feel alike.' They listened while I 
 talked with the wife, and she seemed at last to leave all 
 with Jesus. I am to see them again on Monday. 
 
 " Early on Friday morning we took a goods train for a 
 station, at which we arrived about nine ; and had an hour 
 and a half, plenty of time for breakfast. Then we came on by 
 a mail train to Gothenburg, where we were met by Captain 
 R , Mr. W , and others, with a warm welcome. Fri- 
 day evening, a reading at Captain R 's, at which I met 
 
(( ( 
 
 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 213 
 
 some of your dear friends. I spent Saturday morning revising 
 
 the 'Higher Life'; dined at Mr. H 's. Sunday morning, 
 
 preached for Pastor F , the Lord graciously holding, 
 
 leading, and using me, and holding the people in most in- 
 tense attention. 
 
 ** Miss R was here, and opened her heart to me, 
 
 saying, * How can I come into this peace ? ' 
 
 *' I said, ' It is peace then you seek ? ' — ' Yes.' 
 
 *' * But it \s Jesus you want ; He is the blessing.' Then I 
 said, * Do you believe He loves us as the Father loves 
 Him?'— 'Yes.' 
 
 " * Then you believe He \owqs yon with all His heart ?' 
 
 ** * No, I cannot say that.* 
 
 But is it not so ? ' Then I gave her His own words. 
 Oh, yes ; but it was to His disciples He said that.' 
 
 ** * True ; but did He not pray also for all those who shall 
 believe on His name through their word ? ' — ' Yes.' 
 
 '* • That they may be one with Him, and that the world may 
 believe that the Father loves them, even as He loves the 
 Son?' 'Yes.' 
 
 " True ; He loves you as He loves the Son. You have 
 believed on Him through their word ? ' ' Yes.' 
 
 " ' Will you then let Him love you with all His heart, and 
 be to you all His love will make Him ? ' ' Yes.' 
 
 ** * Then you take Himy not merely His gifts ? ' — ' Yes.' 
 
 " Her joy glistened through her tears. So I trust she is 
 now, by faith, letting Jesus be all in all. . . . 
 
 "Nov. 3rd, Kumla, Tuesday. I called at Baroness 
 
 T 's to pray with and anoint her little daughter, who has for 
 
 eight years been ill in her bones, all over her body, especially 
 in her legs. The dear child said, ' When my sisters come 
 home from school I shall rise and go to meet them.' Her 
 mother left her on the sofa on which she had been laid, and 
 
214 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN.— LETTERS. 
 
 went with us, out through the drawing room and hall, to the 
 gate of the front garden. When she returned, there stood 
 her precious child in the door to receive her, with glad 
 heart and shining face. She had said to me of her own 
 accord, * I shall be the Lord's own child now.' Her mother 
 came to the station at 1.45 to see us off, and was so full of 
 joy in the Lord. 
 
 ** There were many glad hearts and happy faces at the 
 station, and a whole carriage-full came on in the next train 
 after us to Halsberg, where we had another meeting, packed 
 as before, many standing, and no small stir among the 
 people. . , . 
 
 " Blessing increases. It has been greater at Orebro than 
 at Stockholm, taking into account the shortness of the 
 time ; two Sundays only, and three days of the week spent 
 in the northern trip to Wedewag, Linde, and Copparberg. 
 The Lord is very gracious, and strengthens me so that the 
 work is as easy as breathing, and a great delight. 
 
 '' I have very joyous letters from those who have been 
 brought out into the glorious liberty wherein the children of 
 God are made free, and it is a blessed privilege to be used to 
 light up the hearts of His people here in dear Sweden. 
 Praise His name ! 
 
 "Nov. 8th, 1880. Since my last, each day has been 
 filled full. Wednesday, we came to Manistad, pleasantly 
 situated upon the border of the largest of the Swedish lakes. 
 It was dark and raining when we arrived there, but a warm 
 
 welcome awaited us from Miss C and her helpers, in 
 
 the Home for Idiots. A crowded and happy meeting in the 
 hall closed the day. 
 
 " Thursday morning, after a nice early breakfast. Miss 
 
 C and her helpers gathered round us for a Httle talk. 
 
 Miss C had already taken Mr. T out for a half- 
 
FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 215 
 
 hour's walk and talk, and had told him that she was longing 
 inexpressibly for the fulness of the blessing of Christ. He, 
 however, had not told me, but it w^as apparent without telling. 
 She could not keep her tears back, and seemed moved 
 
 deeply by the Spirit. One of her helpers is one of E 's 
 
 Bible women, who came to the Home in Stockholm while I 
 was there, and, in a conversation with me, was led out into 
 the fulness. She was, O so happy ! and so glad also to 
 have Christ thus presented. She had brought with her from 
 
 E \ * Gladness in Jesus ' in her heart, as well as the 
 
 book. Through the book a teacher had already found rest, 
 and had a shining face. They all seem stirred to the depths. 
 So the work has commenced in another of Sweden's Faith 
 Homes, and will not stop. 
 
 " Miss C told us that a little boy had already, at six 
 
 o'clock that evening, told his mother all I had said the night 
 before in the meeting. Bidding them farewell, we came on 
 (Thursday) to Kofde, and were met at the station by Mr. 
 
 P , an earnest Baptist Pastor, who was imprisoned for 
 
 preaching Christ. Here again at Kofde he has been fined 
 100 crowns, and forbidden to preach. He preaches on 
 however, and the people love to hear him. He seems 
 free from all ill-will, and says nothing against his per- 
 secutors, but works on for the Lord, and allows the law to 
 take its course. He tells the officers to do their duty ; he 
 does not blame them. His wife has written several beau- 
 tiful hymns. 
 
 "Halmstad, Nov. 15th. Very much has transpired since 
 I last wrote. I was then in uncertainty whether the Lord 
 would take me home to my tent in London, or whether I was 
 
 to come on here. Mr. T found himself free and also 
 
 glad to come, and so we are here, and our visit nearly over. 
 The Hand that took us up and set us down here, is about 
 
216 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 to take us onward further south to Helsingborg and Lands- 
 krona. * * « 
 
 " In Gothenburg we had a great deal to praise the Lord 
 for before leaving. ... In one of the drawing-room 
 meetings a brother showed too plainly the opposition of his 
 heart. But the next evening, Tuesday, our meeting was in 
 the Mission Hall, and many went away rejoicing. I put 
 myself, and this brother, and all into the hands of the Lord, 
 and He led me so to speak, that at the close the brother 
 followed me into the room where I had left my hat and 
 coat, embraced me warmly, and said, * I have spoken against 
 this teaching, yes, too much ; I see it is all Christ — not self, 
 and I rejoice.' 
 
 " After a little supper at Captain R 's we went on 
 
 board the steamboat, and slept there at the wharf, until 
 with the break of day we steamed out to sea, and had nine 
 hours of it, not very rough, stopping once in the way, and 
 arriving here at about 4 p.m. A warm welcome awaited us, 
 and blessed work. » ♦ « 
 
 *' The Lord seems to be using ' Gladness in Jesus ' here, 
 as He did ' The Higher Life ' in America and England ; 
 many are battling against it and being conquered. A man 
 came with his wife fourteen miles, and remained here from 
 
 Friday till Monday. H used to read to them parts of 
 
 • Gladness ' before it was published here. The wife, from the 
 first, was delighted with what she heard, but her husband 
 stormed against it. Every little while he got up, strode out 
 of the room saying, * He's a Methodist ! He's a Metho- 
 dist ! ' and then came back to hear more. At last he went 
 away by himself, dropped on his knees before the Lord, and 
 said, ' O God, am I fighting against Thy truth ? O for- 
 give me,' and broke down, and the light broke in upon him 
 yesterday." 
 
FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 217 
 
 ** Helsingborg, Nov. 20th. Here we are at the narrowest 
 point of the strait between Sweden and Denmark, where it is 
 only a mile and a half wide. Just across, on the Danish side, 
 stands the old Fort jutting out into the sea, which used to levy 
 a toll upon all passing vessels ; now it is a fort without guns. 
 It still has jaws, but its teeth are drawn, and it cannot even 
 bark at the multitude of sails and steamers going out and 
 into the Baltic. To day we came past the island where 
 Tycho Brahe, the renowned astronomer, had his observatory 
 underground two centuries ago. Now the only observatories 
 on the island are windmills ! 
 
 " An urgent inquiry came here from Denmark saying, * Can 
 you come to us ? We greatly need you. ' The answer had 
 to be, ' Not this time ; another time if the Lord will.' " 
 
 *' Malmo, Nov. 27th. Your letter posted Monday the 
 15th is the last I have heard from you. I am sure the 
 Lord's grace was sufficient for you on Tuesday, and that He 
 gave you better meetings than you would have had if you 
 had not had occasion to trust Him more fully than usual. 
 
 ** God is still dealing wonderfully with me. In Helsing- 
 borg the interest grew. The numbers attending were large and 
 increasing to the end. In Landskrona, the interest from the 
 first was greater, and it grew yet more abundantly. Our last 
 evening there, the night before last, was quite beyond the 
 common. At 7 p.m. I spoke three-quarters of an hour; 
 then we had a general tea, and very many crowded around 
 me to ask how to receive fulness of blessing — the mission 
 house was 'full. After tea all seated themselves, and liberty 
 was given for questions; and it was used. Not a moment was 
 lost, but when it had come to be almost midnight, I felt con- 
 strained to say, ' We must close,' and we did ; but the 
 people would, so far as I could see, have remained all night. 
 One very bright teacher followed with us to the friend's 
 
218 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS. 
 
 house where we were lodging, as I supposed, to have prayer 
 for heahng, but no, it was to have prayer for rest. She 
 found it, and we had no sleep till nearly i a.m. I . . , 
 
 " One man, a slave to sin, who was our fellow-traveller on 
 the boat, presented himself at the close of the first meeting 
 here. He had come by rail, a four hours' journey, and praised 
 the Lord that he was healed, and he has gone home rejoicing 
 in Him who makes ' free indeed.' Yesterday we came by 
 way of Copenhagen, and had nearly an hour to look about. 
 This has been my only opportunity of setting foot upon 
 Danish land. The modern part of the town is bright, quite 
 Parisian, without the gilding. But I am told on all sides 
 that there is great need of the Gospel there. 
 
 " Malmo, Nov. 30th. Our work is all but finished. The 
 Lord has done, and is doing, wonderful things here. Praise 
 His holy name ! The meetings have been very large from 
 the first, and the interest growing. Sunday night the crowd 
 was great. After the sermon, I gave liberty to any who wished 
 conversation to remain. This I had done first the night 
 before, and so many remained that I had to speak to them 
 in a body. Sunday night we took a different course. There 
 are a number of faithful workers here, and they all went to 
 work personally with the anxious ones, while about me, 
 wherever I went, many gathered to hear. Though I only 
 spoke with one at a time, many listened. It was not easy to 
 dismiss them, even when it was too late to remain longer. 
 
 Wednesday, i p.m. We came on to Lund, where I 
 preached to a very full and wonderfully attentive congrega- 
 tion in the Methodist Hall. The minister who invited me 
 is a remarkable man : he was one of the Royal Opera 
 musicians, but was converted, and has become a humble, 
 laborious preacher, living in the simplest possible manner, 
 and happy as a king — which he is — and a priest, too, to God. 
 
FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEN— LETTERS, 219 
 
 He is in the fulness of blessing. We shall hear from him 
 soon about the work in Lund. 
 
 "Gothenburg, Saturday, Dec. nth 1880. Here I am 
 
 still. Friday was a busy day, Mrs. R let a number of 
 
 sick and sad ones know that I would tell them something 
 from the Bible about Jesus as the Healer; and her 
 drawing-room was quite filled at the appointed hour, with 
 a number more sitting in the little bedroom on the one 
 side, and in the children's room on the other. 
 
 " When I had put the matter before them and closed, 
 one after another came forward for prayer and anointing 
 until twelve, or perhaps more, had presented themselves. 
 Then, when there were no more to be prayed for, and we 
 had given thanks and risen to separate, one whom I had not 
 noticed, poor, sick and lame, who had been prayed for the 
 evening before, came up to where many were standing, and 
 told us that the Lord had done great things for her both in 
 body and soul, whereof she was glad. It was a surprise, 
 and all were astonished to see her who had been so lame, 
 walking about and praising God. 
 
 " The first one presented for prayer and anointing was 
 
 N R 's little baby. C K had told her 
 
 that a little baby hail been prayed for in Halmstad when I 
 was there, and all its pains taken away, so that it slept 
 quietly all night from that time, though it had not slept 
 before, except for a little while at a time. This induced 
 
 N to present her little one, and she fully expected it to 
 
 be healed, and to sleep quietly. Great therefore was her 
 surprise, and terrible the trial of her faith, when she found 
 the baby much more unrestful than before. She had not 
 seen that she stood in her infant child's place, and that it 
 must be her faith in the Lord that should be answered by 
 Him. She trusted in my faith, and so put my faith between 
 
220 FURTHER WORK IN SWEDEJV— LETTERS. 
 
 her and the Lord. The trial served to show her, in answer 
 to her prayer for light, very much about faith that she had 
 not known before. 
 
 ** Letters to others and to me have come from Hahnstad 
 and Lykan saying that the blessing there is great and 
 growing ! Hardness is melting away where it has been long 
 
 growing, and there is great joy there. Mr. T has 
 
 been here from Helsingborg, and told us that the blessing 
 
 there is great. Mr. F has been here from Landskrona^ 
 
 and says it is wonderful there. 
 
 ** And now once more, for a few days only, farewell. 
 Praise the Lord for all His grace, so abounding to one so 
 unworthy ! I rejoice greatly in the signal tokens of His 
 favour to you, in giving you such decided instances of 
 blessing upon those who come to the meetings. 
 
 " Give my dear love to all the precious ones. I long to 
 meet them again. I long to be with you in the sweet home 
 the Lord has given us. God bless you abundantly. He 
 will. Your loving Husband, 
 
 ** W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 {^Contributed by Mrs. M. Baxter.) 
 
 iOME of the steps which had brought Mr. 
 Boardman to know, receive, and teach 
 God's revelation of Himself as "The Lord 
 that healeth thee " (Ex. xv. 26), are given 
 in his book bearing the same title. As 
 with most Evangelists and Christian teachers, who follow 
 the Lord wholly, instances of healing had occurred in his 
 work, in answer to prayer ; signally his own case, and that of 
 Father Aiken. 
 
 He thus mentions his own case. "My temporary abode 
 was in Pontiac, I^vlichigan, where I was working in 
 connection with the S. S. Union. The distances were 
 great, the snow deep, exposure unavoidable, and often 
 long continued. I took a heavy cold, inflammation of the 
 lungs followed, and brought me within a hair's breadth of 
 death . . . Eternity seemed very near ; the veil be- 
 tween earth and the glory of the saved, earth and the 
 perdition of the lost, seemed attenuated to gauze. I 
 could see through to discern, not persons and figures, but 
 
222 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 realities . . . Then, in the stillness of the night, when 
 all was hushed, the question came to me, not in an audible 
 voice, but in silent words in my own heart. ' Will you die 
 and be taken to glory, or will you live and glorify God on 
 earth ? ' 
 
 " The answer to this was as silent as the question, yet in 
 words as distinct, 'I would not choose; choose Thou for 
 me.' 
 
 "Moments passed; I know not how many or how few; 
 sufficient however to review my life in the light of eternity. 
 If all should be written that was shown me in that hour, 
 it would fill a volume ! Oh, how real, the transcendent glory 
 awaiting those in Christ, the very glory of Christ Himself 
 in whom they are one with the Father ! Oh how real, and 
 how awful the eternal punishment from the presence of God 
 and the glory of His power, of those who reject Christ ! 
 Then the grace of Christ towards His own, and particularly 
 towards me, so utterly unworthy ; how inexpressibly deep 
 and tender His love and pity for those who are rejecting 
 Him ! ... In the light of these great realities, how 
 meagre seemed the little I had ever done to save the lost or 
 to build up the saved in Christ ! And there came into my 
 heart silent words as before, ' If I may live and so glorify 
 God, let me live ; if not, let me die.' In these moments 
 the pain and discomfort of my body were entirely forgotten, 
 and when they had passed, the pain, the fever, and the 
 oppression had gone with them never to return. 
 
 '* When the doctor came the next morning and examined 
 me, he said, ' Capital ! You will soon be up. You 
 need no more medicine. Good nursing and good food is 
 what you want now.' Very soon I left my bed, went out, 
 of doors, and was engaged in my work again." 
 
 But he further writes thus — " In all this I failed at the time 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 223 
 
 to see the Lord as my Healer ; though full of joy in Him, 
 and of praise to His name as my Saviour, my blindness to 
 His glory as the Healer continued years after that, and it 
 was only when He began to open my eyes to see Jehovah- 
 Rophi, that I came to see it was He Himself who had 
 healed me at that time." 
 
 During Mr. Boardman's last visit to America, before he 
 finally settled in England in December, 1875, he saw much 
 of Dr. Cullis. He says, ** Soon after arriving in New York, 
 then my home, I went to Boston, and spent several days 
 with Dr. Cullis, speaking twice each day in connection with 
 his work. Meanwhile, Dr. Cullis had become convinced 
 that the promise in James v. 14, 15, is for us, at the present 
 time — ' Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders 
 ... let them pray . . . and the prayer of faith shall save 
 the sick.' He was quite full of the matter 3 for it had 
 opened up to him a glorious relation of Christ to His Church, 
 and a precious, permanent heritage of His Church in Him, 
 which he had not seen before. I was quite prepared, 
 through what I had seen and heard in London, to agree 
 with him in this. His faith, however, rested largely on the 
 promise in James with its accompanying instructions ; mine 
 took form rather from Psalm ciii." 
 
 "the lord that healeth thee." 
 
 Meanwhile this truth continued to make advances in 
 England. Articles on "Faith-heahng," as it was then called, 
 appeared in several religious papers. Meetings for healing 
 were held by several well-known Christian workers. Books on 
 the subject — large and small — were written, and some widely 
 distributed ; and all this had more or less influence on Mr. 
 Boardman's mind, and prepared him for the precious testi- 
 mony to God's full salvation, which he was privileged to bear 
 during the closing years of his precious and most fruitful life. 
 
224 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 Early in the year 1880, at a holiness conference in the 
 West End of London, it was my privilege to sit one day at 
 breakfast between Pastor Stockmayer and Mr. Boardman. 
 To my great delight, the latter began to ask questions about 
 God's way of healing in connection with Christ's redemption 
 work, and a most earnest and helpful conversation followed, 
 in which the Pastor showed how in the death and resurrection 
 of Christ — accepted personally by us— we have pardon, 
 sanctification, and physical healing. And then it transpired 
 that Mr. Boardman was, at the very time, engaged in 
 writing a book on Healing, of which he gave a comprehen- 
 sive and interesting sketch. 
 
 It will be remembered that during Mr. Boardman's visit 
 to Sweden, some precious cases of healing had taken place 
 amidst a work of great spiritual blessing. The letters which 
 he wrote from thence were read by Mrs. Boardman in the 
 weekly hohness meetings, and naturally aroused great in- 
 terest. The visit of Dr. Cullis to England, in the following 
 spring, increased and deepened this interest, many being 
 blessed and healed at that time. 
 
 The publication of "The Lord that Healeth Thee," fairly 
 launched Mr. Boardman as a teacher of divine healing. The 
 subject came naturally into the Tuesday evening meetings, 
 generally, however, having only a subordinate place. 
 
 It was at this time that Miss Murray (one of my associates 
 in the work of God on the Continent) and I first attended 
 the meetings at Rochester Square. They were made a great 
 help to us both, and we found there, not only a constant 
 stream of spiritual blessing and testimony, from many delivered 
 from the power of sin and awakened to a life of victory and 
 rest in the Lord, but also, from time to time, cases of 
 healing. 
 
 ** One evening, half an hour after the Tuesday meeting 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 225 
 
 began, we heard an unusual clump, clump, clump in the 
 passage, drawing all eyes to the door, when, lo and behold, 
 a foot was seen, followed by a leg, stretched out horizontally 
 at an angle of ten degrees upwards. Then appeared the 
 person of the man to whom the foot and leg belonged, mak- 
 ing his way on the other foot by the aid of a crutch and 
 stick. V/hen he sat down amongst tlie people the same leg 
 and foot were still suspended in the air, resting on the top of 
 his crutch. 
 
 " This man was Joseph Moody. By his own statement, it 
 appeared that for six years past he had suffered so much in 
 his leg and foot as to be unable for his employment, and he 
 could only obtain a precarious living by selling sweets, etc., 
 in the streets. His case had interested medical men, but 
 they had been unable to help him. His great toe had been 
 amputated, but during his last visit to London, Sir James 
 Paget told him that his foot and his leg itself might be taken 
 off, but the disease remain untouched. A physician, who 
 was in the room with us, examined the leg, and found it only 
 skin and bone. 
 
 " In response to his request, earnest prayer was offered, and 
 he was anointed when the meeting was over, and to our 
 great joy the leg which had been for six years in a horizontal 
 position, came down, and— though with much pain — he 
 could walk round the room. He remained a fortnight in 
 London, and at the end of the third meeting went down the 
 street literally * leaping, and walking, and praising God ! ' " 
 
 Mr. Boardman's already large correspondence was much 
 increased by inquirers who sought physical healing, and very 
 large numbers have been healed in their own homes, by 
 simply trusting the Lord, as they were directed to do in his 
 letters to them. He seemed peculiarly led of the Spirit in 
 detecting the hindrances to full Uberty of soul and body, and 
 
226 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 invariably pointed to Christ Himself as being the Remedy 
 for every evil. The following are examples of his letters ; the 
 first addressed to a minister of the Gospel, who had been 
 anointed by him for healing of the body : — 
 
 "March 17th, 1884. 
 
 ** My dear Mr. S , 
 
 *' Many thanks for your letter of Saturday. Praise 
 the Lord for all the way He is leading you. I see He is 
 breaking up the thoughts and ways that are not from Him- 
 self, but gendered by the precedents of the past, and by 
 the present prevalent sentiments in and out of the Church. 
 He is breaking up in order to set you free, as the Son only 
 can make us free, by the perfect law of liberty, which is the 
 power of life in Christ Jesus, dwelling in us. 
 
 "The great need of the Kingdom to-day, is men and 
 women so perfectly in the hands of the Lord Himself that 
 He can use them in the unhindered fulness of His power, 
 in the work which He alone can do in the world. Men and 
 women so in the Spirit, so filled, so led, so used by the 
 Spirit, that He can use them as the Father used the Son, 
 and as the Son used His apostles ; that He might use them 
 in defeating the devil in the souls and bodies of all who are 
 willing to hear and heed the Word, the proclamation of 
 Christ to them as their perfect Redeemer, Saviour, 
 Liberator, dwelling in them to do His work, and to Hve His 
 life in and by them. 
 
 " I am glad you are coming to London. There are days 
 awaiting us here, and work- before us which will satisfy the 
 deepest, truest longings of our best moments and highest 
 aspirations ; nay, that will satisfy God's own heart. 
 
 "It is spring time with me ; glory to Him who is my 
 Life. It will be so with you shortly ; your winter is about 
 over. The sun is coming northward. Look up ; let all 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 227 
 
 go ; start anew. Let yourself go into the hands of your 
 Maker, your Redeemer, your Saviour, your Healer, your 
 Head. Give Him, for the remainder of your days on earth, 
 the coveted privilege of having you so in hand that He can 
 do with you what He did with the fishermen of Galilee, 
 and with Saul of Tarsus. 
 
 " He shall have the privilege with me, and shall prove 
 what He can do with a youth of seventy-four, but how much 
 more He can do with one like you, in the morning of life ! 
 " Truly yours in Him, 
 
 "W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
 The following is to a dwarf in answer to a request for 
 prayer that God would make him as tall and straight as 
 other men, because he felt so mortified by the remarks occa- 
 sioned by his appearance : — 
 
 ''Bethshan, May ist, 1882. 
 
 ** My dear Brother in Christ, 
 
 '' I received your letter on the 25th of April, and 
 have been moved and taught much through it. My sympa- 
 thies were deeply touched, and I was driven to the Lord for 
 special light ; and, thanks to His blessed Name, He has not 
 withheld it. In the light He gives me, I see for you a privi- 
 lege so wonderful, that very few on earth have had it set 
 before them. 
 
 " Two things are possible to the Lord in your case. He 
 can give you a new start in growth, and increase of stature 
 and proportions to the full ideal of a perfect manhood in 
 body, as easily as He can wave the branch of a tree by the 
 wind ; or He can use you for His glory and for the benefit 
 and salvation of men, as you are in stature and proportions, 
 more wonderfully than would be possible if you were made 
 perfect in stature and form. You will see at a glance that 
 if, as you are, you should be given up to the Lord, as the 
 
228 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 Apostles and such men as Stephen and Philip were, be 
 filled with the Holy Spirit as they were, — so as to forget your 
 personal appearance, or remember it only to glory in the 
 singularity which would attract so many to see and hear 
 you — what a power it would be to draw crowds to listen 
 as you should tell them of Christ and His glory. 
 
 " Multitudes would flock to hear you, who would not go to 
 hear any other living man. God has, as I see by your letter, 
 given you natural gifts and educational advantages. You 
 are able to think clearly, and express yourself plainly, per- 
 spicuously, and concisely. And your very sensitiveness, too, 
 as well as other things, shows that you have a heart which 
 the Lord can turn wholly to Himself, and fill with His love, 
 and enlarge to take in His fulness, in no ordinary measure. 
 All you need is to have the fulness of the Holy Spirit given 
 you and received by you, as He was given and received in 
 Apostolic times (yes, and is now !), to have the promise 
 of our gracious Lord fulfilled to you, that rivers of living 
 water — the water of life, the living truth as it is in Christ in 
 the power of the Spirit — should flow forth from your soul, 
 blessing multitudes with the fulness of the blessing of 
 Christ (John vii. 38 ; Rom. xv. 29). The promise of the 
 fulness of the Spirit as a free gift Xoyou is clear and explicit. 
 The Apostle Peter's words are conclusive, " The promise 
 is unto j)w/, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
 even as many as the Lord our God shall call." That in- 
 cludes you. 
 
 " Now I am free to say that though I am content with 
 my comparatively obscure lot and work, as a servant 
 of our glorious Lord, yet if the choice were given me 
 whether to be made perfect in stature and form, and 
 used as fully as the Lord could use me, or to be made as 
 singular in stature and form as you describe yourself, and 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 229 
 
 be ' filled with the Holy Ghost and with faith ; ' so as to rise 
 above all care as to what people would think of me, while 
 yet, they in multitudes would be drawn to hear me pour 
 forth in the power of the Spirit the glorious things of 
 God, — I should not be long in choosing. If only God 
 may be glorified, and the perishing saved and enriched 
 with all the fulness of God, let me be little and despised 
 among men. The glory of God and the glory He gives, is 
 the only glory that will last, or that is worth having or 
 even asking. 
 
 *' I know that what I am putting before you is awfully 
 crucifying to the flesh ; but it is a crucifixion that, at the 
 very uttermost, lasts no longer than the few hours our 
 Lord hung dying on the cross, with possibly the preparatory 
 hours of Gethsemane of agony, — while giving yourself up 
 as a living sacrifice to be crucified with Christ. And a few 
 hours' ignominy in the crucial thought of standing before 
 multitudes, gathered to hear you, because you are only four 
 feet high, and feeling the scorn and insult they might heap 
 upon you. But that would soon be over and gone. You 
 would be practically, actually, experimentally crucified with 
 Christ as you now are positively and judicially. And then, 
 too, you would be really risen with Christ, and Christ your 
 Life would be living in you. And you would be so filled 
 with His fulness, revealed in you by the Holy Spirit given 
 you by Him, and received by you through faith, that all 
 that now seems so terrible, so unendurable, would be 
 nothing ; nay more, would be a glory, because of its attrac- 
 tive advantages to bring men to you, and give you their eyes 
 and their ears for the Gospel of the grace of God, and their 
 hearts for the God of all grace and for His Son Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 •' Oh ! what a grand opportunity He has placed before 
 
230 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 you ! Be it so, that it is a crucifixion to begin with. Did 
 not Christ Himself say to the Father, ' Father, glorify 
 Thy name,' knowing what He said, — that it meant Geth- 
 semane, the Judgment Hall, and Calvary. To which the 
 Father responded in a thunder-like voice from above, ' I 
 have both glorified it and will glorify it again.' This before 
 the crucifixion. Then when it had been done and He was 
 risen from the dead, did He not say to the two on the way 
 to Emmaus, ' Ought not Christ to have suffered these 
 things and to enter into His glory ? ' Ah ! Yes, He did 
 endure the crucifixion, despising the shame, counting it all 
 joy, for the glory that should follow to God and for man. 
 
 '' Do not shrink — do not waste time and prolong 
 agony. Just give yourself up to the Lord — your body as it 
 is — a living sacrifice, sacred to God, your reasonable service, 
 and let Him have you in His own hands to mould you in 
 heart and mind and will to suit Himself, and to make a// 
 HE can of you for His own glory and the good of man : 
 and \€i yourself alone m His hands, that He may be free to 
 do it. 
 
 "Accept Him as indwelling in your heart and filling 
 your body, soul, and spirit, and the agony will be over, and 
 the glory will follow. The Lord bless you and use you 
 gloriously. 
 
 ** Lovingly and truly yours, 
 
 "W. E. BOARDMAN." 
 
 Some months before the opening of Bethshan, I had 
 written to Mr. Boardman asking him how it was that while I 
 trusted the Lord, as I thought fully, for healing, weaknesses 
 still remained. The following is taken from his answer : — 
 
 " The solution of the practical problem of your own you 
 present to me, I seem to see. This I know, you are complete 
 in Him. In Him is all the fulness of God, yours. Your 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 231 
 
 completeness or fulness is in Him in you. Heretofore you 
 
 have taken it in bits ; very largely, certainly, as compared 
 
 with most of us, for you have been far in advance of me in 
 
 seeing and trusting our Lord as the Healer, and so in 
 
 presenting healing to others in His name through faith. I 
 
 confess this to my shame, for I have been saved, and have 
 
 known my Saviour, I suppose, from since before you were 
 
 born. And, indeed, I have known Him as my Saviour 
 
 from my own conscious sins as long as you have known 
 
 your right hand from your left, yet, oh, so slow to believe 
 
 in Him, as complete for body as well as for soul ! He 
 
 forgives, but I may well hide my face as last and least, 
 
 because of this slowness of heart. And He so worthy of 
 
 honour, praise, and power as the Healer ! But do you 
 
 know He is more than this ? He is the Life^ the All of life 
 
 for body as well as sotd, cofnplete. In Him dwelleth all fulness ; 
 
 we are filled full in Him. He is the Vine-stock of Life for 
 
 the whole creation, Head over all as the First Born, by 
 
 whom and for whom were all things made, and in whom all 
 
 things hold together. 
 
 ** Fulness, absolute fulness of life dwells in Him alone; and 
 
 in us, only as He dwells in us by faith. Fulness of life is 
 
 fulness of health. Disease is incompatible with fulness of 
 
 life. His presence in us, welcomed by faith as our fulness of 
 
 life, and so of health, is really the expulsive power that 
 
 rebukes and expels disease. The same is true of strength. 
 
 'God is my strength,' says the Psalmist; 'and He maketh 
 
 my way perfect.' Samson was strong when the Spirit of 
 
 God came upon him, but weak like another man when left 
 
 without the strength of God in him. We are created and 
 
 redeemed to be the habitation of God by the Spirit, temples 
 
 of the Spirit in our bodies, and besought by the tender 
 
 yearnings of God's own heart to present our bodies to Him, 
 11 
 
232 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 holy, wholly, sacredly His— our reasonable service, that we 
 may really be not conformed to this world, but transfigured 
 in mind, that we may prove what is that good, acceptable, aiid 
 perfect will of God, mdidiQ ?iCiM2i\\y complete in Him. Our 
 completeness in Him cannot be actualized until our faith 
 welcomes Him in whom dwells the -^//-fulness, as our 
 Fulness of life and health in the body, as well as in the soul. 
 As long as we take healing fro7n Him bit by bit, bits will 
 yet be lacking. As long as we take strength from Him bit by 
 bit, bits of infirmities will remain. He took our infirmities 
 truly as our sicknesses, and both as truly as our sins, and 
 then in Matthew's sense, as well as Isaiah's sense, as the 
 Bearer first, and then the Taker-away — the Expulsor as well. 
 He is the great Expulsor of ' the world, the flesh (self) and 
 the Devil,' and that by His own continual presence in us, 
 in His own fulness, the Fulness of God. And so He is the 
 Expulsor of sin, sickness, weakness, and all that can oppress, 
 whether in spirit, soul, or body. 
 
 *' This reveals clearly His reason for not healhig us once for 
 all when we trust in Him to heal us. We look for and take 
 healing/;-*?;;/ Him, and not in Him, and so have healing, 
 but not Hirn — Healer, Health, Strength, Life, and All, in us, 
 Himself All in all. His purpose for us is so much 
 higher, fuller, better, more glorious than our faith sees 
 and accepts, that we get bits from Him, instead of Himself, 
 the Fulness of all in us, welcomed evermore, trusted in 
 always as All in all. Is it not so ? As heaven is high above 
 earth, so high are His ways for us above our ways, and His 
 thoughts above our thoughts, and fulness, completeness in 
 healing, health, strength, as well as in spiritual blessing, 
 can only be ours through an uplift by the Spirit, out of our 
 ways and thoughts into His ways and thoughts. And the 
 prominent work of the Spirit is just this — to uplift us into 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 233 
 
 Christ, and unfold Bim in all His fulness, the Fulness of 
 God in us." 
 
 The following is a letter regarding one mentally afflicted 
 who was shortly afterwards fully restored : — 
 
 *' 3j Rochester Square, 
 
 "Dec. 14th, 1882. 
 
 " My dear Mr. B , 
 
 " Many, many thanks for your letter, so full 
 and clear in its details concerning your precious daughter, 
 
 ^* It is very evident that our gracious Lord in His infinite 
 wisdom and love is working in her, all unconsciously to her- 
 self, and will never cease until she is perfectly set free from 
 herself, and thoroughly established in Himself. 
 
 " More and more clearly I see the Lord's way in such 
 cases generally, and more and more the light the Lord gave 
 concerning her in particular, is increased and confirmed since 
 the day of your call upon me here. I see, in the light the 
 Lord gives me, the principle of His dealings exemplified 
 in the three most remarkable instances of which the Bible 
 gives us the details in sufficient fulness to show how He 
 works it out to the end. First, that He is now in, and well 
 on in the process of really and for ever crucifying in her, 
 selfhood (the ' flesh' to use the Apostle Paul's word for it), 
 preparatory to revealing Himself in her as All in all, her Wis- 
 dom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. And 
 next that this preparatory work has already been in so far 
 completed, that though she talks hopelessness, she really 
 yearns for, and expects deliverance. The deliverance is not 
 far off, and the delay will not be one moment longer than 
 the Lord in His boundless love and wisdom sees to be in- 
 dispensable to the perfection and perpetuity of the work. 
 
 " Your wisdom, and that of your dear wife and son-in-law, 
 is to roll over to the Lord all your care and fear, and 
 
234 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 to begin praising Him that it is in His hands, and that 
 He will do all, and will guide all who have anything to do 
 in the matter, in the very best and shortest way, to make the 
 deliverance and the future all right, and bright for His glory ; 
 in making her the channel of blessing to very many, and also 
 in making the trial and the outcome a greater good to you, 
 each and all, than you can ask or think. 
 
 *' Miss W- -, whose case was so very like that of your 
 
 daughter, was with us yesterday afternoon, bright as a sun- 
 beam, as she soon will be. The Lord is faithful, and will 
 soon do in her what He has already done perfectly, in tak- 
 ing and bearing all, for her. Lovingly and truly yours, all 
 and each, in Jesus. W. E. Boardman." 
 
 BETHSHAN. 
 
 As the Tuesday meetings in Rochester Square grew in 
 numbers and interest, persons from a distance came and 
 took lodgings in the neighbourhood. These were often in- 
 valids, and again and again the thought occurred to me : 
 " Why not open a house for their accommodation ? " One 
 day I was pressed to speak of this to Mr. Boardman, and 
 found that for more than a month past he and Mrs. Board- 
 man had been praying the Lord for this very thing. This 
 led to the opening and furnishing of Bethshan by Miss 
 Murray and me, with Miss Murray as house-mother, in 
 May, 1882 ; Mr, and Mrs. Boardman continuing to reside 
 and hold their meetings at Rochester Square, but always 
 giving much help and counsel in the work. Mr. Board- 
 man presided at the Sunday evening meetings, and the 
 weekly meeting for healing on Wednesday afternoons at 
 Bethshan, 
 
 An announcement in the Christiati Herald and in the 
 Christian was sufficient to fill the house. The Lord was 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE, 235 
 
 with us, and several remarkable and blessed cases of 
 healing took place immediately, and many of those who 
 have been healed are now earnest and successful winners 
 of souls. 
 
 It is almost universally the case, that those who take Jesus 
 for their Healer come into great spiritual blessing, and a 
 nearness and reality of intercourse with Him, beyond what 
 they have known before. There is something of sacred awe, 
 as well as child-like joy, when the hardened lungs expand 
 with the breathing of Jesus through them ; when the horrible, 
 offensive, cancerous discharge ceases, and the yellow com- 
 plexion becomes pink and healthy ; when the limb, dried 
 and withered to skin and bone, with neither feeling nor 
 power, begins to throb with new life, and once again bears 
 the body to which it has been for years but a troublesome 
 appendage. The whole being bows in adoration, and cries, 
 »'It is the Lord!" 
 
 The first house opened as "Bethshan " (Heb., House of 
 Rest) proving too small. Miss Murray purchased the present 
 house, lo, Drayton Park, and Miss E. Sisson, of New Lon- 
 don, Connecticutj'^vho had been seven years a missionary in 
 India, joined us in the work. The house was altered to 
 admit of a hall for meetings, but in a few weeks after the 
 opening this overflowed, and, in dependence on God alone, 
 we built the present Bethshan Hall to seat 600. 
 
 Here, week by week, Mr. Boardman in his precious mes- 
 sages led to the person of Jesus. Often in the meetings, which 
 he conducted with all liberty of the Spirit, questions would 
 be asked, and the answer was almost always in some way an 
 unfolding of Jesus. "How may I know that it is God's 
 will to heal me ?" would be often asked. 
 
 " What would He do if He were here in bodily presence 
 amongst us ? Was it not always His Joy to do His Father's 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 will in healing the sick ? Is He not the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever ? " would be in substance the answer. 
 
 Or again the question would come, ** How may I know 
 that I have faith to be healed ? " 
 
 " It is not your faith which is to do the work : Jesus is the 
 Healer. * / a7?t the Lord that healeth thee.' Will you let 
 Him have you to heal your faith first of all, and then to 
 have all the care of you, faith and all ? He yearns to do it 
 for you." 
 
 Or again, one in deep mental depression would tell out 
 all his agony of trouble, and say he felt he was lost, there 
 was no hope for him, he could not even say his desire for 
 God was real, he had sinned past hope. *' Then, brother, 
 this is the very hour of your deliverance, you shall be set 
 free now, Jesus is here to do it ; He delights to do it, and 
 He will do it for you J' Often have we seen those who en- 
 tered the Hall in utter despair, go out again with shining 
 faces, for the Son had made them free. 
 
 In many of the meetings for healing there would be 
 nothing for the eye to see, but always a precious stream of 
 testimony to blessing received, especially during the 
 anointing service which follows the " healing " meeting on 
 Wednesdays at Bethshan. And frequently have we seen 
 glorious manifestations of the power of God before our eyes. 
 We have seen hands, crippled with rheumatism, relaxed and 
 supple; some who came in deaf, enabled to hear every 
 word ; some blind, able to see ; lame ones, who have cast 
 away their crutches and walked. 
 
 At the same hour as this anointing service, Mrs. Boardman 
 holds in the old Hall a meeting for enquirers, especially 
 enquirers after the power of Christ in the life of the children 
 of God. God only knows how many burdened and perplexed 
 ones have here found Jesus to be all in all to them, and 
 
A NEW DEPARTURE. 237 
 
 have learned to let go themselves and their cares to Him 
 who, with Almighty hand and with a love which passeth 
 knowledge, careth for them. 
 
 At Bethshan dear Mr. Boardman was both the father and 
 the pastor of the work. While he never assumed any 
 position of authority, it was very precious to those of us who 
 had any part in this work to have his counsel, which we 
 knew was always sought and obtained from God, and it was 
 such a rest to know that, when we could not get the clue to 
 any difficulty, this loved and revered father, while meeting 
 us in sympathy on our level, would always lead us to God's 
 point of view. The love of God was the very atmosphere 
 which he breathed, and it shone in heaven's light upon his 
 face. Hundreds have said, " I cannot look on Mr. Board- 
 man's face without its doing me good." One dear friend 
 remarked, after a meeting in which our dear father had been 
 attempting to bring out in words something of God which 
 was too big for utterance, *' It is very blessed to see a man 
 who is already in heaven. One cannot pretend to under- 
 stand all he says, but it is beautiful to be near a man who is 
 in heaven." An(^yet he was the most approachable man we 
 ever met. It was always a joy to see him ; his happy, restful 
 face brought God near, and his knock at the door always 
 meant cheer. He seemed never to have any troubles of his 
 own ; he would sometimes wish that the troubles of others 
 were his, that he might cast them all on Him who careth for 
 us. 
 
 Our dear sick ones always loved to have a talk with him, 
 for he ever hoped for those whom everyone else despaired 
 of, and an interview with him was always a strength and 
 cheer ; often, very often, an entirely new acquaintance with 
 God. He was wonderfully patient, as we who worked with 
 him had cause to know, and we felt that he and God were 
 
238 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 at one about everything which he said to us. It was a 
 privilege, too precious to put in words, that we should have 
 been bound with him in our work, and it is only the inti- 
 mate and unspeakably tender way in which our God has 
 filled this place to us since his death, which makes a selfish 
 grief impossible. 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 
 T would not be possible to tell how often the 
 thought has been uttered, since the departure 
 of my husband to glory, that " To be in his 
 presence was like being in the atmosphere of 
 heaven." The last years of his life, his face 
 shone with a lustre not of earth ; the expression of his coun- 
 tenance beamed with the sunlight and joy of heaven, and 
 this became more and more settled until he passed into 
 glory. 
 
 Before he was forty years of age, a woman living in sin, 
 who scarcely believed there was a God, was convinced, not 
 only of the existence of God, but of a future state of blessed- 
 ness, by seeing the face of my husband as he passed her 
 house. She knew the hour he usually went to his little 
 study, connected with the place of worship, and would go to 
 the window, as she told me, and stand waiting for him to 
 pass, that she might catch a glimpse of heaven, for said she, 
 " It did me so much good even to think of such a place, 
 where the like of him lived." 
 
 And yet the glory of this holy of holies did not unfit him 
 
240 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 for the most common-place duties of life — if anything our 
 Father wishes us to do can be called common-place. 
 
 The last day he walked on this earth was Wednesday, 
 January 27th, the day of the meeting at Bethshan, which 
 commences at three p.m., and lasts till nearly seven, with 
 only an interval for tea. As this was rather a long ser- 
 vice, he usually kept in the open air in the morning ; and 
 this morning was full of busy duties. He went some little 
 distance to obtain things needed : he preferred doing the 
 marketing for our little household, and quite enjoyed walking 
 several miles each day, which he did without apparent fatigue. 
 There are very few who enjoy social life at the age of seventy- 
 five as he did; few who retain such youthful vigour ; but he 
 seemed to grow young in feeling these last years, and his 
 bodily strength was renewed after he learned to take the Lord 
 as Healer of the body. Whenever threatened with a bilious 
 attack he looked directly to the Lord, and was delivered. 
 
 The provision made for us in these last years was very won- 
 derful. The Lord in His own loving way gave us quite 
 a family of precious ones, who called themselves daughter- 
 kins, and us fatherkin and motherkin. Three of these are 
 associated together in the work at Bethshan, while the four 
 others are indirectly connected with it. There are other 
 friends also who say they esteem it a privilege to be in 
 this family relationship, who were exceedingly loving and 
 kind during my husband's life, and now are a very great 
 comfort to me, doing all in their power to cheer my pilgrim- 
 age while on the way to glory. 
 
 The following bit, taken from a letter written by my 
 husband to one of these daughterkins, shows the versatility 
 of his mind. *' Did I ever tell you of the day-dream of my 
 boyhood. It was this, that I had arrived at a patriarchal age 
 and position in life ; was owner of a wide domain of prairie 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 241 
 
 land in America, rich in this world's goods and honours, 
 dwelling at home amongst my own people, surrounded by 
 my own children and grandchildren, and with a great retinue 
 of dependents, in the midst of multitudes of loving friends 
 and neighbours; happy in all that, and perfectly satisfied 
 with my position in the world. Now how perfectly my boy- 
 hood's day-dream is finding its fulfilment in the very reverse 
 of all this. A tenting place amidst the four millions of the 
 world's great metropolis, without chick or child of my own, 
 or an, inch of land to my name; the world, as far as they 
 know my aim and dependence in life, thinking down 
 upon it as an old man's daydream, and yet, and yet — having 
 a whole lot of the precious ones of the earth (not earthly), 
 adopting me wdth my dear wife, and by their kind words and 
 loving hearts and hands, making me as happy as any patriarch 
 could well be in such a world as ours." 
 
 Not only has the Lord so preciously provided these dear 
 daughterkins, but in His tender love, He has given one to 
 be like a son, who willingly devoted his time in attending to 
 all the business details of which I was utterly ignorant. My 
 husband frequently visited Mr. Sole, at Harrow, in the year 
 1883, and during a long illness, often supplied his pulpit. 
 In speaking of these visits, Mr. Sole says " God was brouglU 
 very consciously near, and I was always enriched in heart 
 and strengthened in body every time your husband was 
 with me." 
 
 Little did I know at that time w^hat a boon God was 
 providing for me, when I said to my precious husband as he 
 was going out to Harrow to see Mr. Sole, " It seems to 
 me you spend much time and take great trouble with this 
 one man." I so well remember my husband's reply, as he 
 said " Yes, my dear, that is so, but he is worth all the time 
 I give liim, and I don't grudge one minute of it." 
 
242 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 In 1884, Mr. Sole removed to London, and he writes, 
 " Every day Mr. Boardman allowed me to call, and often, 
 when I have felt utterly prostrate, he has prayed for me, and 
 I have been raised up. What he was to me in my life for 
 eighteen months, only God knows ; when the end of his 
 most precious life came, and only then, did I realize how 
 much he had been to me. God be thanked for leading me to 
 know him, through whose instrumentality I have been led 
 to see Jesus as my Healer and Sanctifier." 
 
 During the last year of my husband's life he was often filled 
 with the "joy of the Lord ^'^ 2^^ he expressed it. He tried 
 to put his thoughts of this joy into words at our Tuesday 
 meeting. We saw his face lighted with beams of sunshine 
 from the Sun of Glory, but words utterly failed to convey 
 the brightness of this inner light. It was not possible for 
 this foretaste of the glory in which he now revels to be 
 conveyed through any human channel. He seldom spoke 
 of going home, he seemed to live in heaven here, so 
 that even during his last illness he was occupied with the 
 glorious present indwelling of God in his soul, and was so 
 desirous that others should know this glorious rest and. 
 more abundant life in God, that he did not recognise his 
 work here as completed. 
 
 The following account was written for our friends by Miss 
 Murray. It was published in " Thy Healer." 
 
 " On January 27th, after a very blessed Wednesday meet- 
 ing, in which our beloved father in Christ had spoken 
 most precious words on becoming ' as little children,' he 
 was struck with paralysis during the night, and entirely 
 lost the use of his right side. After prayer and anointing, 
 he recovered his consciousness, and in great measure his 
 speech, and within two hours he was speaking of a book 
 which he had been reading before retiring to rest. During 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 243 
 
 the week he was spared to us his mind was as vigorous 
 and clear as ever, his interest in all the work at Bethshan 
 was as keen as ever, he kept count of all the meetings 
 held, and whoever came in after a meeting was asked all 
 the details. Very blessed it was to see how deeply his 
 soul was steeped in God, how cloudless and unbroken 
 was the communion — his spiritual being so entirely 
 responsive to Him. The sick room was full of the pre- 
 sence of God. One thing was very remarkable. He never 
 seemed conscious that he was paralysed, or was in the 
 smallest degree occupied with his physical condition ; he 
 never saw his illness, he never saw death, he only saw God 
 and God's faithfulness, and he rested on the certainty that 
 all was for blessing. 
 
 '^ And so on February 4th, he passed from among us into 
 the glory which had been so near to him all through his life. 
 Often of late the veil between him and it seemed so thin 
 we seemed almost to catch its reflection on his face and in 
 his words. To him to live was Christ, and yet, to die was 
 gain. Gain to him in the glorious possibilities of service 
 within the veil, untrammelled by the limitations of the body ; 
 and in the increased capacity for knowing God. And even 
 to, us all, so intimately associated with him in his blessed 
 work, and to the Church of God, there is gain in this 
 death. We have learnt what God is, and what He can do, 
 as never before ; and a glorious witness has been added to 
 the completeness of the victory we have in Christ over death 
 and the grave, and to the truth of the words, * If a man 
 keep My saying, he shall never see death.' 
 
 'death is swallowed up in victory,' 
 
 * that mortality might be swallowed up of life.' 
 
 *' The children of Israel had been watching Moses as he 
 
244 THE LAST DAYS, 
 
 wentj full of vigour, up the mountain, and then he turned 
 some corner, and they saw him no more. Then came the 
 Word of the Lord, ' Moses My servant is dead ; now there- 
 fore' — therefore, just because Moses My servant is dead, 
 just because / am henceforth going to be to thee and thy 
 people more than Moses ever was or could be — ' now there- 
 fore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, 
 unto the land which I do give to them ' (Josh. i. i, 2). 
 
 "As I walked in the middle of the night down Holloway 
 Road, after hearing the summons, ' Please come at once, 
 for Mr. Boardman is very ill ' — as I walked on, not knowing 
 what I should meet when I entered, God spoke to me. He 
 gave me a blessed assurance that all that had happened, 
 and all that was about to happen, should be for the blessing 
 and enrichment of His work and His workers. And so, 
 through the days of watching, while I still saw nothing 
 clearly, whether this blessing and enrichment were to come 
 through life or death, I was kept in perfect peace, resting 
 on the Lord. I will not now dwell on the loss to myself 
 personally, though it represents almost all I have ever 
 known of an earthly father's love, nor on the loss to us in 
 the work, great, well-nigh overwhelming as it is, for the 
 Lord has caused a word to ring in my ears, and I feel I 
 must pass it on to you. * Now therefore arise ; ' — not sit still 
 and mourn — but '' arise^ go over this Jordan, thou and all 
 this people ; ' that means every one of us who are left 
 behind.- God's word to each one of us is, ' Arise — go over. 
 Go out on His promises, for ' Every place that the sole of 
 your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.' " 
 
 Miss Sisson, who knew us many years ago in America, 
 was also permitted to be much in his room during the last 
 days of my husband's life, and she has added her testimony, 
 as one who felt the atmosphere of his presence, and the 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 245 
 
 breathing of his words, not only in the sick room, but 
 during the years she has been associated with him at Beth- 
 shan. She writes as follows : — 
 
 " It had been a cherished idea with our dear father in the 
 Lord, all his life long, to educate young people for the work 
 of the Lord. He desired from the beginning that Bethshan 
 should be a training school for Christian workers. God 
 never brought this thought to pass quite as it had taken 
 shape in his mind, yet how emphatically the thought was 
 given by God, and was executed by Him, the lives of all 
 those associated with Mr. Boardman in the work through 
 those last precious years, will for ever testify. What a 
 training school Bethshan became to us through our associa- 
 tion with him ! 
 
 " Knowledge of the heart of God toward suffering 
 humanity was the lesson which all his teaching ever deep- 
 ened in us. His own soul basked in the sunlight of 
 heaven's glory. His Bible was illuminated, and its every 
 word told him in some new way of the joy of God in making 
 right earth's wrongs. No evil seemed gigantic enough to 
 throw a shadow over the sunshine in which he stood, for he 
 consciously dwelt in the presence of God ; the Sun ever 
 between him and every evil. He yeariied to make the 
 needy ones before him see the Lord he saw, and frequently, 
 in the meeting, pausing at the end of some precious pro- 
 clamation of grace, his face all a glow with a love too deep 
 for words, he simply stood and looked things unutterable. 
 In that heaven-freighted silence, I have sometimes seen 
 light from above fall into hearts ; * they saw the Lord ' and 
 were healed. His spirit had interpreted to them the Spirit 
 of the Lord. And not only were the sin-bound or sick ones 
 helped, but we workers were shamed out of our narrow, 
 feeble, hesitating thoughts into some truer appreciation of 
 
246 THE LAST DAYS, 
 
 our God, and of the length, and breadth, and instantaneous- 
 ness of His salvation. 
 
 ** The atmosphere surrounding our precious father in 
 Christ, became increasingly transparent and heaven-full, as 
 the earthly end drew near. None of those permitted to 
 pass in and out of his chamber that last week, when the 
 body lay partially paralysed, will ever forget the privilege. 
 The remark of one was the impression of all, * He is full of 
 God. This room is part of heaven ! ' 
 
 " Whenever we spoke with him, we found a glad, tender 
 interest in all around, with even a vein of gentle humour in 
 his words; but left undisturbed, like an undrawn bow, 
 he immediately returned to his centre — * Christ Himself.' 
 Even when his mind wandered, as it did once or twice at 
 the very last, the happy spirit's utterances through it were 
 like the droppings of pearls from a broken string — whispered 
 murmurs of ' glory,' * reigning,' * robes ready,' * ascension,' 
 * the King,' were accompanied with flashes of bright light, 
 playing over the sweet countenance. And thus he passed 
 from our vision, leaving a long train of light behind ; our 
 heritage of Christ in him. And thus we came down from 
 the mount * seeing no man save Jesus only.' " 
 
 A very short sketch of the blessed address given by the 
 Rev. C. Graham, at our house, 3, Highbury Place, on the 
 occasion of the funeral, is here given : — 
 
 " As a Christian^ I have known few to equal, fewer still to 
 excel, our venerable and venerated friend — might I not say 
 our father in Chirst? Between forty and fifty years, like 
 Enoch, he walked with God. Deep and abiding was his 
 communion with the Lord. His Christian life was a life of 
 victory. He believed in God for victory over his threefold 
 enemy, and he had it. With Paul he could say, * I live, yet 
 not I, but Christ liveth in me.' 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 247 
 
 "But our departed friend did more than trust the Lord 
 for victory over sin; he trusted Him also for power for 
 service, and he had that power pre-eminently. Have we 
 not felt how he prayed in the Spirit, and spoke in the 
 Spirit? With what unwearying diligence he pursued his 
 blessed service ! In the spirit and demeanour he showed, 
 there shone out the meekness and gentleness of his blessed 
 ^Master. No godly soul could be in his company without 
 being edified. His very countenance gave expression to 
 the grace that was within him. 
 
 *' I would speak of him again as a teacher. Two things 
 deeply impressed me in his teaching. First, his soundness 
 in the truth. I mean more than that he firmly held the 
 foundation doctrines of Christianity, and that in his creed 
 he was thoroughly evangelical ; I mean besides, that in his 
 teaching on the normal Christian life, he kept strictly to the 
 Word of God, and by it he sustained his statements. The 
 second thing that impressed me in his teaching was his 
 clear spiritual perception. This was apparent in his 
 bringing out the deep, spiritual truth of the Word. It 
 was strikingly apparent when he dealt with Christian ex- 
 perience, in meeting the soul's difficulties, and in exposing 
 the subtle and plausible temptations of our great spiritual 
 foe. Truly he was here pre-eminently ' a father in Israel.' 
 He gave us the mind of Christ. Who can tell the number 
 of souls stimulated and encouraged by his counsels and 
 addresses ; the numbers led to entire consecration to 
 God, and to the exercise of faith for continual victory 
 over besetting sin and temptation ; or the numbers 
 delivered from the snares and nets in which the enemy 
 of souls had taken and entangled them ? 
 
 *' As a writer, he wrote and published a considerable 
 number of books ; yet I am persuaded, from conversation 
 
243 THE LAST DAYS, 
 
 I had with him, that he never wrote a book but to meet, 
 what he beheved to be, a need of Christians, and also when 
 he beheved the Lord had given him a message for them. 
 This is true, likewise, of his many articles which have 
 appeared in magazines and periodicals. From these pro- 
 ducts of his pen scores of thousands have received 
 spiritual blessing, and I myself am one of the number. 
 His pen was consecrated to God, as was also himself, 
 and all he possessed ; and God greatly used all for His 
 glory. Wherever the English language is spoken, his 
 books have gone, and have been made a blessing. God 
 permitted him to continue his labours up to the very end 
 of his life. And I am persuaded that his holy life will yet 
 reproduce itself in many, who, in their turn, will be 
 blessings to others. Let us thank God for that pure and 
 holy life ; and let us follow him as he followed Christ.'' 
 
 In the Highgate Cemetery Chapel, the Rev. E. W. Moore 
 read the Service. The Chapel was crowded, and at the 
 close of the lesson he spoke from the words, *'To live is 
 Christ." He said, " I feel they are words eminently fitted 
 to describe the life of the honoured servant of God, whose 
 departure from among us we mourn this day. 
 
 " We who had the privilege of knowing Mr. Boardman, 
 must have felt that the thoughts suggested by this won- 
 derful expression were fulfilled in him. The Cross of Christ 
 was his birth-place ; the character of Christ was his example ; 
 the indwelling of. Christ, his power ; the personal Christ, 
 his joy ; the presence of Christ, his home ; and the glory 
 of Christ, the end and object for which he lived ! Of him, 
 as of Enoch, it might be safely and simply affirmed, that 
 he walked with God, and that he was not, for God took 
 him. 
 
 *' I have often been struck by the testimony that was borne 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 219 
 
 by the life, as well as the lips, of our departed brother to 
 the reality of the blessed privilege of abiding in Christ, 
 which it was his life work to set forth. Often has my own 
 faith been encouraged by the calm, consistent, and con- 
 tinuous witness to Christ's faithfulness which Mr. Board- 
 man's life afforded." 
 
 This following testimony from one''' who says he did not 
 fully accept all my husband's views, is so very true and 
 unvarnished that we are happy to give it a place in this 
 book :— 
 
 *' We felt a sincere sorrow as we saw the announcement 
 of the removal from among us of W. E. Boardman. A 
 beautiful soul was his; transparent as a sunbeam, and 
 adorned with the Spirit of his Master. He first became 
 known, many years ago, as the author of ' The Higher 
 Christian Life,' a book which presented in a popular form, 
 though not with entire clearness of doctrinal statement, the 
 truth concerning entire sanctification. The method of the 
 book was new, and resulted from a happy inspiration. 
 Instead of placing before his readers theological views on 
 holiness, Mr. Boardman began with facts of Christian expe- 
 rience, and reasoned from those facts, giving the various 
 theories which prevailed in the Churches. The idea was 
 novel, the incidents were attractively told, and the book 
 became wonderfully popular. It is not too much to say 
 that it has brought to the minds of thousands of Christian 
 people the first real hope of a life of purity, victory, and 
 settled assurance. * Gladness in Jesus,' ' In the Power of 
 the Spirit,' ' The Lord that Healeth Thee,' and other works 
 followed; all having the same characteristics, — simplicity 
 of style, deep spirituality, and attractive setting forth of 
 
 * J. E. Page. Editor of " The King's Highway.'* 
 
250 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 personal incident. He seemed to be always producing. At 
 one time he contributed to our pages, and the American 
 Times of Refreshing has continually had articles from his 
 pen. Of late he was drawn to give himself more especially 
 to * faith-healing ' teaching, but holiness of heart and life 
 never held a second place in his system. It was always 
 holiness first, 
 
 " We met him at Oxford for the first time many years 
 ago, and * took sweet counsel together.' How well we 
 remember those meetings of the great convention ! He was 
 not very prominent in the meetings ; we thought younger 
 and less experienced men were too much put forward then ; 
 but he did much valuable work in dealing with individuals. 
 We remember a walk we had together, in which he told us 
 that during the week nearly sixty persons had visited him at 
 his lodgings, seeking spiritual counsel. He said that as 
 each one told his case, he was mentally telling it to the 
 Lord and asking light ; and in almost every instance the 
 person went away assured and peaceful. We exchanged 
 letters now and again, and towards the end of 1884 the two 
 editors of this journal spent a happy evening with him at 
 Highbury Place. How pleasant was the conversation over 
 tea ! And better still the season of prayer in the drawing- 
 room afterwards. Christ was so manifest, that we felt, as 
 we returned, something as the disciples who said, ' We have 
 seen the Lord,' and the effect of that interview was not soon 
 lost. 
 
 " Here is an extract of a letter he wrote us some time 
 ago, in reply to one asking some questions as to Divine 
 healing : — 
 
 " * It is indeed a living tower of strength to know Jesus 
 as Lord and Christ ; our Heaven, our Life and Strength for 
 the whole being. Thank God, / do so know Him I I am 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 251 
 
 at this moment conscious of the reality that He is more to 
 me, physically, than all the vigour of youth or early manhood; 
 and I am enjoying brighter and better days, doing more 
 with less fatigue than when we first met. One week from 
 to-day will complete my threescore and thirteen, and put 
 me upon my seventy-fourth year ; and the past fortnight has 
 been so filled up with public and personal work that ten 
 years ago it would have exhausted me, and I should have 
 been constrained to sit down, or lie down, and get restora- 
 tion. But, blessed be His holy Name ! I am as fresh 
 to-day, through exchange with Him, as when the increase of 
 pressure began. I tell you this as a witness for Jesus, not 
 as a boaster of myself. Left to myself, I should have been 
 worn out, dead, and buried long before now.' 
 
 *' It is not well to call men saints while they are alive, but 
 he was one, as all who knew him recognised ; and now we 
 may accord him the title. A beautiful specimen of the 
 Divine workmanship was W. E. Boardman ! We thank 
 God that we ever knew him, and were permitted to hold a 
 place in his regard. We pray for grace to follow him, though 
 a long distance behind, and hope one day to see him, 
 * shining as the stars for ever.' " 
 
 The following conversation between Capt. Dennis and my 
 dear husband, was given at one of our Tuesday meetings, 
 and he has kindly acceded to my request to write it out : — 
 
 *' My dear Mrs. Boardman, 
 
 " The circumstance to which I referred a few 
 evenings since was as follows : — Mr. Boardman and I were 
 walking along the Whetstone Road. The subject of our 
 conversation had been Gal. v. 25, ' If we live in the Spirit, 
 let us also walk in the Spirit.' It was a beautiful day ; the 
 sun shining brightly ; the sky a clear, deep blue, and the 
 few clouds which were in it were so tinged with the sun's 
 
252 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 rays that they looked Hke frosted silver. The birds were 
 singing, a light wind cooled the air and just moved the 
 branches of the trees, and the air itself was scented with the 
 perfume of the fields and flowers. I remarked to him on 
 the beauty of the scene before us. ' Yes ! ' said he. * And 
 just as we are living in this, we should live in God. Just 
 as we are breathing this beautiful, fresh, invigorating air, so 
 should we draw in the Life of God with every breath, and 
 thus " live in Him." ' I said, 'What do you understand by 
 "walking in the Spirit"?' He replied, 'Just as we are walking 
 along this road — step by step. We are not to make one 
 plunge, as it were, and there let it end j neither are we to 
 stand here, and then make one long bound to right over 
 there, missing all the intervening space ; but we are to 
 ^^walk" in the Spirit — step by step — ^just as we are to 
 '''■live'' in Him — breath by breath. We must place our 
 hand in His, and let Him take us where He pleases, and 
 thus we shall be " led " of the Spirit. It is His to lead us, 
 and all we have to do is to commit ourselves entirely to 
 His guidance, and just keep step with Him.' 
 
 " The other circumstance of which I spoke was as fol- 
 lows : — You and Mr. Boardman were coming to Barnet with 
 me in the train, the carriage being quite full of gentle- 
 men returning from the city. A few days afterwards, a 
 gentleman, an entire stranger, accosted me with, ' Excuse 
 me, sir, but may I ask, Was that gentleman whom I saw with 
 you the other day an American minister ? ' I said, ' Yes ; 
 that was Mr. Boardman.' 'Was that Mr. Boardman ! ' he said, 
 ' I have often heard of him, but have never before seen him. 
 What a wonderfully peaceful face he has ! I do not think I 
 ever in my life saw a man with so peaceful a look on his 
 face.' I said, ' It is remarkable you should say that, for this 
 peacefulness is the great, distinguishing trait of his character.' 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 2S3 
 
 * Not at all remarkable,' he replied. ' No one accustomed to 
 dealing with men, and judging their characters could possi- 
 bly miss it. I never in all my experience saw a man whose 
 face was so peaceful, and betokened a mind so thoroughly 
 at rest as that of Mr, Boardman.' " 
 
 It has seemed to me a privilege to insert parts of 
 letters received from dear friends, but my difficulty is 
 where to stop. I can only give place to short extracts from 
 a few, so I take scraps from those best known to the world. 
 
 This first extract is from Mr. Bartlett, of Highgate : — 
 
 *' Your beloved husband was godly and faithful above 
 any servant of God whom it has been my privilege to 
 know, and I feel that in his decease ' a prince and a great 
 man ' has departed from our midst. Gladly and gratefully 
 we gathered around him to learn from him the way of God 
 more perfectly, and to be led, by his loving words of child- 
 like faith, and spiritual intuition, to draw more and more 
 fully from the unsearchable riches and all sufficiency of 
 that Saviour, whom he knew so intimately, loved so 
 perfectly, and trusted so implicitly. To myself and my 
 family, who owe so much to him as a spiritual teacher, 
 and who had the precious privilege of seeing and knowing 
 so much of his beautiful, restful, and victorious Hfe, the 
 world (humanly speaking), must henceforth seem much 
 poorer." 
 
 From the Rev. S. B. Figgis, of Brighton: — 
 
 *' My dear Mrs. Boardman, 
 
 *' I cannot let the week quite close without a line 
 to say with what emotion I read, two days ago, that God 
 had taken to the house of the saints, your saintly 
 husband. ]\Iy mind goes back, over twenty years ago, to 
 the time when his book was put into my hands by an 
 official of position in Dublin Castle. I little knew then 
 
254 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 what privilege I should have of meeting and knowing the 
 beloved author. The whole Church of Christ is under 
 obligation to him. We glorify God in him, for assuredly, 
 if anyone was made blameless and beautiful in all Christian 
 conversation and godliness, it was he. I remember his 
 meekness at Notting-ham and other places. Indeed he 
 was always a lesson to us all. Yours in the sympathy of 
 Jesus." 
 
 From W. Green, Esq., of Highgate : — 
 
 *' Allow me to have the great satisfaction of bearing my 
 testimony to the effect your dear late husband's teaching 
 had upon my own life. His life always testified to the 
 power of a living Christ, drawing people to Jesus. Mr. 
 Boardman's book, * In the Power of the Spirit,' was very 
 much blessed to me some time ago, and its teaching is 
 living in me and through me to-day. I very much wish 
 the whole of his works could be issued in a suitable form, 
 and presented gratis to the religious teachers of to-day ; it 
 would be a fitting memorial to his memory." 
 
 From Rev. W. Haslam : — 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Boardman, 
 
 " I consider that your dear husband was the first 
 standard-bearer on the subject of the Higher Life twenty- 
 seven years ago. I rejoiced in his first book, and found 
 it a great help in clearing up my own views of the 
 subject; I had been battling in experience for four or five 
 years, but could never explain it until I read his book." 
 
 From Miss Barclay, Bermondsey : — 
 
 " Dearest Motherkin, 
 
 " I must say a few words to express my 
 appreciation of Mr. Boardman's fatherliness, which has 
 left the deepest impress of the gentle, tender wisdom with 
 which he ever met my inquiries, and the counsel, always so 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 255 
 
 rich in heavenly truth, that seemed to leave the question 
 asked for ever settled, and gave me conceptions of the 
 Fatherhood of God beyond what I had ever known before. 
 There is one verse which more fully conveys my feelings 
 than any words of my own, * He being full of the Holy 
 Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the 
 glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of 
 God/ And we, ' looking steadfastly on him, saw his face 
 as it had been the face of an angel.' None of us can 
 ever forget what that rapt look was, when filled with the 
 fervour of the Spirit, he seemed to be gazing into things 
 unseen by us, and he would try in vain to convey to us 
 the immeasurable glories he beheld. Surely, as he neared 
 the horizon line, the veil grew thinner that hung between 
 him and the eternal, until it faded, and he, without the 
 consciousness of dying, found himself upon the further shore. 
 '' To us, who had the joy of being called his children, 
 the loss can never be replaced ; he was our leader, our 
 teacher, our counsellor. My own heart still finds its only 
 utterance in the cry of Elisha, ' My Father, my Father, the 
 chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof ! ' " 
 From the Rev. C. A. Fox, Eaton Square : — 
 "I had always the deepest regard and affection for 
 dear Mr. Boardman ; the beauty of his Christian character 
 greatly affected me. The singular unselfishness and deep 
 humility, as of one habitually in the presence of his Divine 
 Master, coupled with profound spiritual insight, and a lucid 
 discernment of deeper truth, shed about him the subdued 
 halo of God's own consecration. May we follow him as 
 he followed Christ." 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Very wonderful have been the dealings of the Lord with 
 12 
 
256 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 me since the departure of my precious husband. When I 
 first saw him stricken down, apparently passing away, I was 
 in such agony that all I could say was, '* Jesus ! Jesus !" 
 until there came the assurance that my dear one was to be 
 raised up. I became full of this one thought, so as to 
 exult in what God was going to do. I never felt more con- 
 vinced of anything in my life than that God had permitted 
 my precious one to be taken down with a disease that two 
 eminent physicians pronounced fatal, on purpose that He 
 might show forth His glory, as in the case of Lazarus. The 
 dear Lord permitted me to be thus carried away with this 
 thought for the time being, because He saw that otherwise 
 I might be crushed. And in allowing it, I was kept up and 
 prepared for what followed. 
 
 So I went on till the Sabbath, a day never to be forgotten. 
 The Lord took me aside, and said, " I want you to go far 
 deeper down into God than ever before ; down out of yourself, 
 and into God." And I said, '' That is what I want, Lord." 
 And He said, *I want you to know more of the glory of God's 
 will, and of the joy of God's will ; your joy must be on a far 
 deeper foundation than that of seeing your husband raised up 
 from this attack. And I will take you there if you will let Me ; 
 if you will yield your will and choice in the matter wholly 
 to Me, I will bring you to where you can rejoice in My 
 will." I said, " Yes, Lord." And then He showed me the 
 wonderful joy of Christ, all the way throughout His life, 
 in doing the Father's will. And that will of the Father 
 was not so much doing great and mighty works which 
 everybody saw, as it was the heart inhabiting God ; dwelling 
 in Him. All the time he let Himself be moved by the 
 Father, whether it was in public work, or alone in the daily 
 routine of life. And so He showed me how the deep joy of 
 the soul, — a far deeper joy than we could have in any other 
 
THE LAST DAYS, 257 
 
 way, — was the joy of His will ; the joy of accepting, of choos- 
 ing with Him. Nothing can touch this joy. Then He 
 brought me to rejoice in His will in a wonderful way, 
 a way that I never could have imagined possible, 
 and I saw the glory of His will. I saw how grand, how 
 sublime it was; how, if the earth was filled with it, it was all 
 we wanted for the Millennial glory ! 
 
 These days of separation from everything below, while my 
 dear one was kept here, were full of very precious teaching. 
 I had much to learn, for troublesome thoughts still pressed 
 in upon me ; thoughts as to why this should be — my dear 
 one cut off in health and vigour, while enjoying everything 
 in hfe ? He enjoyed the daily duties, he enjoyed his food, 
 walking out, doing the little errands ; he enjoyed every- 
 thing. So I thought, •' It seems so strange that this thing 
 should come so suddenly." The Lord wanted to take this 
 out of me, and He did. He said, '' I want you to praise 
 Me for the way I am taking. I want you to praise Me that I 
 am taking him in robust health and strength." I said the 
 word^ "Praise," but thought, "How can I praise? If Thou 
 dost put praise into my heart I can praise, but I cannot 
 without. Thou canst do all things, I can do nothing." 
 
 Then the Lord said, ** If you knew what I know, you 
 could not help praising Me for what I have done, for the 
 way I have done it, and for the very steps all the way 
 along, and you could not help praising Me for all the 
 way I am leading you.^^ Then I said " Lord, if Thou 
 wilt put the praise in my heart I can praise Thee, I 
 will accept Thy gift of praise ; and I do praise Thee that 
 Thou hast taken my precious one in the midst of health, 
 while he enjoyed life. I do praise Thee because Thou 
 seest why it is best, and Thou wilt be more glorified by taking 
 him in this way, than in any other. Thou seest how blessed 
 
258 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 and glorious will be that death, and Thou hast the right to 
 do as seemeth best with Thine own." From that hour God 
 has filled me with praise in Himself, for doing just what 
 He did, and as He did ; and He has come into my soul 
 in a way I never knew before, and all questionings are 
 gone. 
 
 It was after my loved one had breathed his last, as I 
 stood looking upon that dear face, thinking of the solemn 
 mystery that had separated him from all connection with 
 anything below, that the Lord spoke again distinctly to 
 my soul, and said that just as He had united us on 
 February 21st, 1837, and made us one in heart and soul, 
 and kept us one all the way through, just so He would now 
 separate me from that body, so dear to me, and make my 
 union with Himself as my Husband as complete as had 
 been that union in 1837. I said "Yes, Lord; lean do 
 nothing, Thou must do it all." And He did. He became 
 Adviser, Counsellor, Leader in all the material things that 
 concern me and go to make up the details of daily hfe. 
 There is a marvellous mystery in this oneness with an un- 
 seen Being who has gained ascendency over the mind, 
 and taken possession of the affections, so that the life 
 becomes one with His, and it is *'we," "us," and "our," 
 all the way on life's journey. 
 
 Those who knew the oneness of heart and union of 
 thought which held my dear husband's life and mine in one, 
 know something of what a marvellous work God has done 
 in me, and will, with me, praise Him for all He is still doing. 
 
 How wonderful that the greatest possible sorrow becomes, 
 when we choose with God, His opportunity for the most 
 glorious manifestation of Himself, present in us to take the 
 place of all He removes. 
 
 I see too, clearly, why my precious husband was detained 
 
THE LAST DAYS. 259 
 
 here a week after the sentence of death was upon him. He 
 saw no disease, he did not look at death, he saw only the 
 glory of God. And he was kept here to teach those who 
 were with him lessons of deepest worth, and especially 
 to show me how I could obey the command, given to me as 
 it was to the prophet Ezekiel, "Son of man, behold, I take 
 away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke. Yet 
 neither shalt thou mourn or weep, neither shall thy tears run 
 down." It was during this week the Lord taught me how to 
 obey this command. Ezekiel was not to eat the "bread of 
 man ; " he was to be fed with celestial food, the manna 
 that cometh down from heaven. This is the secret, — 
 the power of Jesus to supply the heart's hunger, and 
 reign supreme over the affections, desires, and inclinations. 
 I can testify to the keeping po^ver of God. He told me that 
 I should never know widowhood, and He is true to His word. 
 And how is it, now that seven months have passed 
 away since my precious husband went to glory? Have 
 there been no temptations to be overcome ? — no thoughts 
 of my great loss pressed in upon me? Was that work 
 of separation a real work wrought once for all? I say, 
 * Yes, it was ; but hke all other blessed revelations of God to 
 the soul, it can only be maintained by faith in Jesus ; not 
 by reliance on a work wrought in me, although there was 
 a wonderful work wrought in my heart, which remains as 
 true to me as the day when the Lord said He would separate 
 me. But how is it maintained ? Not by my counting on the 
 work as done once for all ; death to self is maiiitamed 
 by contifiiwus faith in God. My affections were not 
 destroyed, nor was I turned to stone. No, a Living 
 Heart came to take the place of him who was gone. 
 It is an overcoming love and overcoming power; the 
 love and power of Another, even Jesus. Not a vain 
 
260 THE LAST DAYS. 
 
 suppression of sorrow and grief, but a glorious liberty from 
 self ; not a liberty given once for all, but a blessed liberty 
 in which I am kept by the constant exercise of faith in 
 Jesus.' When the sorrow comes up, when the temptation 
 presses in upon me, then by instant trust in Jesus, instant 
 deliverance comes. 
 
 Christ, the Holy Bridegroom of our souls, teaches me 
 how to keep up the reckoning that He is my Husband, living, 
 abidi?7g, with me, who has given me the assurance that I 
 shall never know widowhood. The fight to the end is the 
 fight of Faith. '* Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in 
 Thee." " Now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, 
 whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, 
 and to die is gain." — F/iii. i. 20, 21. 
 
 The End. 
 
Ms of Efif. Georp D. Boarii. D.D. 
 
 Studies in tl\e Mountain Instructior\. 
 
 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 The Lectures, fourteen in number, embrace the following topics : 1. 
 Introductory ; 2. Christ's Doctrine of Blessedness ; 3. Christ's Doc- 
 trine OF the Church ; 4. Christ's Doctrine op Fulfillment ; 5. Christ's 
 Doctrine op Reconciliation ; 6. Christ's Doctrine op Asceticism ; 
 Y. Christ's Doctrine of Words ; 8. Christ's Doctrine op Perfection ; 
 9. Christ's Doctrine of Worship ; 10. Christ's Doctrine of Prater ; 
 11. Christ's Doctrine of Wealth; 12. Christ's Doctrine of Sonship ; 
 13. Christ's Doctrine of Society; 14. Christ's Doctrine op Character. 
 
 *' Replete with the Christian spirit, and the genius and learning for 
 which the speaker is noted." — Tlie Christian Union. 
 
 IT- 
 
 Studies in tl\e Creative Week. 
 
 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 The Lectures, fourteen in number, embrace the following topics ; 1. 
 Introduction ; 2. Genesis of the Universe ; 3. Of Order ; 4. Op Light ; 
 5. Of the Sky ; 6. Of the Lands ; 7. Op Plants ; 8. Op the Lumi- 
 naries ; 9. Op Animals; 10. Op Man; 11. Of Eden; 12. Op Woman; 
 13. Of the Sabbath ; 14. Palingenesis. 
 
 " We see in the Lectures more than the sensation of the hour. They 
 will have a marked effect in defining the position of the believer of to-day, 
 in certifying both to disciple and to skeptic just what is to be held against 
 all attack ; and the statement of the case will be in many cases the 
 strongest argument. They will tend to broaden the minds of believers, 
 and to lift them above the letter to the plane of the spirit. They will 
 show that truth and religion are capable of being defended without vio- 
 lence, without denunciation, without misrepresentation, without the im- 
 pugning of motives." — National Baptist. 
 
 "Revelation and Science can not really conflict, because 'truth can 
 not be contrary to truth ' ; but so persistent have been the attacks of 
 scientists on time-honored orthodoxy, that the believer in Revelation has 
 long demanded an exhaustive work on the first chapter of Genesis. In 
 response to this widespread feeling, the Rev. George Dana Boardman, 
 D. D., the learned pastor of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, was 
 requested to deliver a course of lectures covering this debatable ground." 
 
 ISeS next PASK.l 
 
WORKS OF REV. GEORGE D. BOARDMAN, B.D.— (Continued.) 
 
 in. 
 
 Studies in tl\e Model Prayer. 
 
 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 '* This prayer, short as it is, contains such an inexhaustible number 
 of suggestions that our author, in his well-written work, does not hope 
 to have nearly fathomed the subject. There are many paragraphs that 
 would have a place here were it not for lack of space. The book is 
 adapted equally to the pulpit-orator and the Christian citizen." — Chicago 
 Tribune. 
 
 " The lectures are lucid in style, devotional in spirit, and closely prac- 
 tical to the daily life." — Hartford Courant. 
 
 " A most scholarly, enthusiastic, and interesting consideration of the 
 deep and wonderful meaning condensed into the simple and brief sen- 
 tences of the Lord's Prayer." — Boston Journal of Commerce. 
 
 "The book is an exhaustive treatise upon its fruitful theme; few will 
 gainsay the author's profound study of his subject or question the sin- 
 cerity of his views. The chapter on temptation is one of the most origi- 
 nal and striking interpretations of this line of the prayer that has been 
 presented. The book is one that will have more than a passing interest." 
 —N. Y. Herald. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Epiphar\ies of tl\e Risen Lord. 
 
 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 "A volume of peculiar interest to religious readers." — Boston Evening 
 Transcript. 
 
 "The importance of the subject, and its scholarly, dispassionate, yet 
 reverent and Christian treatment should recommend it strongly to the 
 notice of all evangelical believers." — Boston Journal of Commerce. 
 
 "The author has brought to the study of the epiphanies that pro- 
 found knowledge of the sacred writings and clear and felicitous style 
 that make his works so popular. The first and second chapters relate to 
 the entombment and the resurrection. Then the epiphanies are discussed 
 in their order: 1. To Mary Magdalene; 2. To the other Women; 
 3. To THE Two; 4. To the Ten; 5. To Thomas; 6. The Epiphany in 
 THE Galilean Mountain ; 7. To the Seven ; 8. The Ascension ; 9. The 
 Forty Days; 10. To Saul of Tarsus. It is a book to be profitably 
 read." — Baltimore Gazette. 
 
 For sale by all booksellers ; or any volume sent by mail, post-paid, to 
 any address in the United States, on receipt of price. 
 
 D. APPLETON <Sc CO., Publishers, 1, 3, <& 5 Bond Street, New York. 
 
THE FOUNDATIONS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 
 
 THE METHODS OF NATURAL THEOLOGY VINDICATED AGAINST 
 MODERN OBJECTIONS. 
 
 (THE BISHOP PADDOCK LEOTUKES, 1883.) 
 
 By the Rev. W. D. WILSON, D. D., 
 
 Presbyter Diocese of Central New York, and Professor in Cornell University. 
 
 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 "Dr., Wilson treats his subject in the scientific spirit. He makes no appeal 
 either to the feelings or the imasination, but addresses himself exclusively to 
 the reason. Taking up the scientific and rationalistic objections to the super- 
 natnral basis of the Christian religion, he answers them seriatim, and while his 
 arguments are not like a mathematical demonstration, irresistibly convincing, 
 they must carry great weight with every impartial miu^.'"— Philadelphia North 
 American. 
 
 " Under the above general head are grouped seven lectures— known a? the 
 Bishop Paddock lecture?— delivered by Professor Wilson at the General Theo- 
 logical Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City last year, under the 
 provisions of the Bishop Paddock trust. They are careful examinations and dis- 
 cussions of the doctrines of natural theology, and are clearly and ably written." 
 —New York World. 
 
 " The author has approached the discussion of the subject of the foundation 
 of religion with a spirit of fairness that is as rare as it is commendable in one of 
 his profession. The considerations upon which his arguments are based are 
 two: 1. There can be, in his estimation, no satisfactory or successful presenta- 
 tion of the evidences of Christianity that does not assume the truths of natural 
 theology and the legitimacy of the methods by which they are obtained. 2. There 
 is no objection that is urged, or that can be urged, against the doctrines of natu- 
 ral theology, that may not be and is not in fact urged with far greater force and 
 appearance of reason against the doctrines of Christianity as taught by revela- 
 tion. What is especially commendable is the courage he has displayed in giving 
 to the subject of evolution a large share of his attention, which he admits to be 
 the great question of the age. It is a healthy sign when these subjects begin to 
 be discussed liberally from within the Church."— iVcw York Daily Graphic. 
 
 "Dr. Wilson's book will laeet with a ready response in the hearts of many 
 readers. It will help to remilate the ideas of some who have been unsettled by 
 the current discussions regarding the Bible and science. While he is not as sen- 
 sational as Joseph Cook, and does not aspire to the same degree of exact knowl- 
 edge in science, he is well informed upon the main lines of argument taken by 
 the agnostics, and is prepared to meet them on their own ground. Every reader 
 will acknowledge that his positions are skillfully taken, and that they demand 
 from ail unprejudiced persons careful study and consideration." — Utica (N. Y.) 
 Morning Herald. 
 
 " The lectures are seven in all, and there is a full and fair discussion of the 
 conflicting theories held on the one side and on the other. Orthodoxy is stoutly 
 but skillfnlly defended, and the e'ntire work does credit to the Bcholarship of the 
 American ^nX^iV— Philadelphia Weekly Item. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
EARLY CHRISTIAN 
 
 LITERATURE PRIMERS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 Professor GEORGE PAEK FISHEE, D. D. 
 
 The " Early Christian Literature Primers " embody, in a few small 
 and inexpensive volumes, the substance of the characteristic works of 
 the great Fathers of the Church. The plan recognizes four groups of 
 works : 
 
 1. The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists of the Second Century^ 
 
 A. D. 95-180. 
 
 2. The Fathers of the Third Century, a. d. 180-325. 
 
 3. The Post-Nicene Greek Fathers, a. d. 325-750. 
 
 4. The Post-Nicene Latin Fathers, a. d. 325-590. 
 
 These groups are embraced in four books. In the first book are given 
 exact translations of the principal works of the Apostolic Fathers and 
 the Apologists, preceded by introductions upon the writings of the period, 
 and by sketches of the several authors. Nearly every known author of 
 the period is mentioned, and his place pointed out. Only genuine works, 
 as translated from the latest critical texts, have been admitted, and of 
 these a very large part have been brought in. 
 
 By Rev. GEORGE A. JACKSON. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS AND THE APOLOGISTS OF 
 THE SECOND CENTURY, 
 
 A. D. 95-180. 
 
 Contents : Introdnction— The Earlier Patristic Writings— The Apostolic 
 Fathers— Clement of Rome— Sketch, Epistle to Corinthians, and Clementine 
 Literature ; Ignatius— Sketch, and Epistle to Romans, Ephesians, and Polyearp; 
 Polycarp— Sketch, and Epistle to Philippians ; Barnabas— Sketch, and Epistle. 
 Associated Authors. Hermas— Sketch, and the Shepherd ; Papias— Sketch, and 
 Fras:ments. 
 
 The Apologists.— Introductory Sketch— Notice, and Epistle to Diognetus ; 
 Jastin— Sketch, First Apolofjy, and Synopsis of Dialogue with Trypho ; Author 
 of Muratorian Fragment, and the Fragment ; Melito— Sketch and Fragment ; 
 Athenagoras— Sketch, Chapters from Mission about Christians, and Final Argu- 
 ment on the Resurrection. 
 
 By Rev. GEORGE A. JACKSON, 
 
 THE FATHERS OF THE THIRD CENTURY, 
 
 A. D, 180-325, ^ 
 
 Contents : Progress of Christianity in the Third Century ; Greek Writebs: 
 Introduction— Irenaeus—Hippolytus— Clement of Alexandria— Origen— Gregory 
 Thaumaturgus, and others ; Latin Writers : Introdaciion— TertuUian— Cyprian, 
 and others. 
 
 CSEE next PAQE.l 
 
Early Christian Literature Frimevs.— (Continued.) 
 
 By Rev. GEORGE A. JACKSON. 
 
 THE POST-NICENE GREEK FATHERS, 
 
 A. D. 325-750. 
 
 Contents : Chronolo(?ical Table ; The Alexandrian and the Antiochian 
 Schools : Symbols of First Four (Ecumenical Councils ; Pcst-Nicene Greek Fa- 
 thers ; Eusebius of Caesarea— Athanasius — Arius — Cyril of Jerusalem — Ephraera 
 Syrus— Marcellus and the ApuUinarii— Basil— Gregory Nazianzen— Gregory Nys- 
 sa— Didymus— Epiphanius— Diodorus of Tarsus— Chrysostom—Synesius— Theo- 
 dore of Mopsuestia— Theophilus — Cyril of Alexandria— Nef^torius—Theodoret— 
 The Church Historians ; other Fourth and Fifth Century Writers ; John of Da- 
 mascus ; other Late Writers. 
 
 By Rev. GEORGE A. JACKSON. 
 
 • THE POST-NICENE LATIN FATHERS 
 
 A. D. 325-590. 
 
 Contents : Introduction on the Influence of the Roman Jurisprudence upon 
 the Latin Church Writers— Lactantius ; Hilary ; Ambrose ; Jerome ; Augustine ; 
 John Cassian ; Leo the Great ; Gregory the Great ; the Historians Ruflnus, Sul- 
 piciuB Severus, and Cassiodorua. 
 
 Each volume, 18mo, cloth, 60 cents. 
 
 Opinions or Scholars. 
 
 " The work shows a great amount of careful study, and excellent judgment 
 and csLTidor.'^—Frofessor E. C. Smyth, D.D., Andover Theological Seminary. 
 (Congregational.) 
 
 " I commend your plan heartily, and hope you may be encouraged to carry it 
 oxiV— Professor T. W. Coit, Berkeley Divinity School, Middktown. (Episcopal.) 
 
 " Admirably adapted to the wants of students. . . . The beautiful monograph 
 suggests many profitable trains of ihou^hV— Professor William M. Black- 
 burn, D. D., Theological Seminary of the Northwest. (Presbyterian.) 
 
 " A valuable and unbiased introduction to an impo:-tant portion of the Pa- 
 tristic Literature."— Pro/m^ H. C. Sheldon, Theological Department, Boston 
 University. (Methodist.) 
 
 Professor Justus Bulklet, of Shurtleff College, to D. Appleton & Co., Septem- 
 ber 1, 1879 : 
 
 " A very hasty examination of the work satisfies me that you deserve the most 
 sincere thanks of the religious public for placing within the reach of the poorest 
 a copy of the Christian Fathers, so faithful to the originals, and yet so compact 
 and convenient."— Justus Bulkley, Theological Department, Shurtlef College. 
 (Baptist.) 
 
 " The book is incomparably more valuable than any selections possibly could 
 be, which aimed only at giving proofs and testimonies of opinions."— iVo/m(?r 
 J. H. Allen, Lecturer in Harvard Divinity School. (Unitarian.) 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
RELIGIOUS WORKS. 
 
 Critical^ Explanatory^ and Practical Notes on the 
 
 OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Designed for tlie Use of Pastors and People. 
 
 By Henry Cowles, D. D. Complete in 16 volumes, 12mo, uniformly 
 bound in cloth. Price, for the complete work, $25.00 ; or sepa- 
 rate volumes may be had at the prices given below. 
 
 The Old Testament. 
 
 The Pentateuch, in its Progressive Revelations of God to Men. 
 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 
 Hebrew History. From the Death of Moses to the Close of the 
 Scripture Narrative. 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 
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 Isaiah, l vol. Cloth, $2.25. 
 
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 Ezekiel and Daniel. 1 vol. Cloth, $2.25. 
 The Minor Prophets. 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 
 The New Testament. 
 Matthew and Mark. 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 Luke, Gospel History, and Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 
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 Longer Epistles of Paul : viz., Romans, Corintliians I and II. 
 
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 The Shorter Epistles; viz., Of Paul to the Galatians; Ephe- 
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 Philemon ; also, ©f James, Peter, and Jude. 1 vol. Cloth, $2.00. 
 
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 For sale by all booksellers. Any volume sent by mail, post-paid, to any address in 
 the United States, on receipt of price. 
 
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