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 No. 32 
 
 Woman’s Union Missionary Society 
 
 MUSIC OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 By Miss GarDNER 
 
 MISSIONARY AT CAWNPORE, INDIA 
 
 jf: a small house in the native portion of the city- of Cawnpore 
 
 a woman lay dying, and though surrounded by a whole city full 
 of idolatry and sin, the light of Divine love was in her face, and the 
 name of Christ was on her lips. She was approaching the ‘‘dark 
 valley”’ with a joy and peace nothing could disturb. In her presence, 
 one could almost catch sight of the glory that awaited her, and 
 Faber’s beautiful hymn forced itself upon the mind: 
 
 ‘‘Onward we go, for still we hear them singing : 
 ‘Come, weary souls! for Jesus bids you come’ ; 
 And through the dark, its echoes swiftly ringing, 
 The music of the Gospel leads us home.” 
 
 Shall I tell you of this dear child whom the ‘‘music of the 
 Gospel” led to the Heavenly Home, her Father’s House? A high- 
 caste Bengali woman, nurtured and brought up as a native lady; 
 
(2) 
 
 instructed in all that pertains to heathen life, its rites and super- 
 stitions, the first and most beloved wife of her husband, notwith- 
 standing the fact that she had borne him no children, and, according 
 to the Hindu custom he had for this reason taken another, her life 
 seemed, to her less fortunate sisters, a singularly fortunate one. 
 From the time of her early marriage no onerous labor had ever been 
 laid upon her, and no more important duty than the right discharge 
 of her obligations to the gods, in the offering of flowers which she, 
 day by day, presented to her household deity, and the care of her 
 household stuff, and jewels. But there was something in this 
 woman’s soul which this kind of life could not satisfy ; there was 
 a crying out amidst her worship of the seen and visible, for the 
 unseen but true; a consciousness that there was something to be 
 had, which she had not; a dim groping after God. Day by day— 
 how can I| write it ?—this woman, with all a woman’s earnestness 
 and intense longing after holiness, knelt down in her blindness to a 
 block of wood and stone and tried to find, by a conscientious doing 
 of the only thing she knew how to do, the rest for which her soul 
 craved. How often she arose from her humble prostration, weary 
 in body and mind, and ready to cry out, ‘‘Why art Thou so far 
 from me?” 
 
 But the light was to come, as the alms and prayers of Cornelius 
 came up for him as a memorial before God, and more light was 
 given him because he had done the best he could with what he had. 
 So God’s messenger came to this longing soul, and more light was 
 to be given to her. One of the zenana visiting ladies found her out, 
 and asked if she might read to her. How eagerly she accepted. 
 Something of wonder and exaltation came into her mind as she 
 listened to the beautiful story of the Cross. Obscurity began to 
 scatter and light to dawn on her mind, as she grasped the idea of 
 the unutterable love, ‘‘This Father all her own.” She learned to 
 
(3) 
 
 read, that she might herself read and study the life of Him who 
 could do so much for her. Her heart was ready for the indwelling, 
 and He came and took His abode there, never more to depart. 
 
 Now I wish I might leave her story here and say no more about 
 it, but alas! I cannot. ‘‘I suffered much for thee.”” ‘*‘ What canst 
 thou bear for Me?” God often asks this question of His children. 
 He asked it of this dear child, and she proved that she could drink 
 the bitter cup to its dregs. She could no longer worship idols, of 
 course. ‘‘It is wrong, I cannot do it,” was her repiy to her hus- 
 band’s oft-repeated command; ‘‘I must obey God rather than you.’ 
 Then began a series of persecutions, slight at first, but increasing as 
 the persistence of the woman become more apparent, and her quiet, 
 undisturbed life was broken. Her husband’s love was shadowed by 
 the terrible fear, that his wife, by becoming a Christian, would dis- 
 grace him and cause him to be despised among his friends, so he 
 persuaded, then threatened, and finally resorted to that right the 
 native man claims as his, and beat her. But each and all were 
 without effect. She remained strong and fearless, and true to the 
 faith she had taken as hers, and still the Lord asked, ‘‘ What canst 
 thou bear for me?” and she was able through it all to recognize His 
 loving hand upholding her, and to feel that though the cross was 
 heavy He was holding the heavier end, and to answer: “ What 
 Thou wilt ’’—‘*Not my will but Thine be done.” 
 
 One day her husband left her altogether, and the delicate and hith- 
 erto carefully-shielded zenana lady was left alone. Hoping to frighten 
 her back to what he called her senses he had taken this extreme 
 measure. Three miserable days she lived thus, cared for as much as 
 possible by us, for she shrank from leaving her home. She was able 
 to say through it all, ‘‘Christ is precious, oh, most precious! ’’ But 
 all this suffering and exposure were too much for the carefully-nurtured 
 plant; a cold developed into a cough which would not yield to reme- 
 
(4) 
 
 dies, and consumption quickly followed. Strange and difficult all 
 the lessons she had been taught, but the blessing she needed lay 
 behind, and now she found it very sweet and complete. As the end 
 drew near how close He came to her, filling her with the Spirit’s 
 power, giving her in the needed hour His own message to comfort 
 and sustain. All uncertainties passed away, and she rested abundantly 
 in His love. Now she was not afraid to speak of the blessedness 
 that had come to her. Weak in body she was strong and fearless to 
 tell of the love of Christ. To her husband, who, finding it useless to 
 oppose, had come back and was now gentle and kind to her; to her 
 heathen friends who came to see her, lovingly she spoke the word 
 that told of the glorious hope and gracious comforts so tender, sweet, 
 and true, that had come into her short Christian life. Earnestly did 
 she strive to point out the way to them, and surely the contrast as 
 she drew near the valley of the shadow of death without fear, 
 rejoicing rather that she was so near the city of holy rest, gently led 
 thereto by her Saviour, must have struck those who had witnessed 
 so many death-beds where abject fear made the passing away of the 
 soul a terrible sight,—no knowledge of the future, and only a sinful 
 life to look back upon. Who could help shrinking from it? But 
 there was no fear in her; death had lost its sting in the certainty of 
 the life beyond; the day was dawning; the darksome night was 
 passed; fragments of the songs above reached her ear. 
 
 ‘‘ How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling 
 Of that new life where sin shall be no more!” 
 
 And so she passed away. Would that there might be more 
 death-beds like this in India, and more who loved the Lord to point 
 out the way! Surely the Master could ask no greater service of His 
 children, than thus to show the way heavenward to those who, 
 though longing after it, cannot themselves discern it. 
 
(5) 
 
 For these women the WoMAN’s UNION MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 was organized in 1860, the first of its kind in this country. It is 
 independent in character, truly a union of evangelical Christians, 
 conducted by unsalaried officers. It needs your interest. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE WOMAN’S UNION MISSIONARY 
 SOCIETY: 
 
 Mrs. HENRY JOHNSON, Preszdent., 
 
 Miss. S. D. DOREMUS, | ie Sapte day 
 MissrO. bs CLARKE, f orresponding Secretartes 
 
 Miss MARY S. STONE, 
 Miss ELIZABETH B. STONE, 
 
 Mission Room, 67 Bible House, New York. 
 
 Assistant Treasurers. 
 
 The MISSIONARY LINK is its organ. Fifty cents a year.