Books: The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher

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CHAPTER XVIII

DISCOVERS THE EXISTENCE OF GOD'S WORD

O precious volume! only in thy pages
We read the duty of all our race;
Only thy sunbeams, shining through the ages.
Reveal the wonders of saving grace.

--Daniel S. Warner.

Edwin had heard that there was such a book as the Bible, but that the Bible
was a good book or of any more value in the world than the almanac or the
"Book of Black Arts," that had been in the home of Mrs. Fitch, had never
been suggested to his mind. So of course he did not know that the Bible was
God's great message to the world. It was therefore a wonderful thought when
the truth first dawned upon his mind.

The little group that had been present at the time of his conversion were
the first to explain the matter to him, and when Mrs. Kauffman added, in
words that he could understand, that the Bible contained the story of
Jesus, she found that he had never heard that there had ever been any one
on the earth by that name. It was a long story, but after hearing a little,
Edwin was anxious to hear the remainder, and when his kind friend had
finished speaking, he asked simply, "Was Jesus God's son and yet a man just
as I am?"

"Yes," Mrs. Kauffman replied; "God made man in the first place, good and
pure like himself, and he was made master of all that was in the world. In
return for all these blessings, God demanded obedience and said that death
to all the human race would be the penalty for his disobedience."

Then she related that man yielded to sin and fell from the holy state in
which he was created, receiving as his penalty eternal banishment from
God's presence, and she went on to tell of the provision that had been
promised at the time of the fall.

"For more than four thousand years," she said, "this awful blight of sin
continued; then Jesus, the provision that God had promised, came into the
world to live a life of perfect obedience to God. And God sent to all the
world by his Son the message that any and all who would follow Christ's
example and live as he had told them at the first to live, would be
forgiven and with his Son would become a part of his own great family (Heb.
5: 8,9). God in this way formed a bridge across the gulf that had been
fixed between the sinner and his Maker. Now it is possible for any one who
will, to cross the bridge and to enter heaven, but they must prepare for
the journey before they die."

"Is all that in the Bible?" Edwin asked in astonishment; "and is it so that
God's Son once lived upon this earth?"

"Yes, Edwin, it is true," Mrs. Kauffman answered. Then she read and
explained Heb. 1:1-3 and 5:8, 9: "God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high." "Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he
became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."

She then told him that the place where Jesus had lived was far away from
there, but that it was a country similar to our own. As she continued to
talk about Jesus' home, Edwin exclaimed, "Oh, if only I could some time go
and see that place for myself!" But when he thought of what such a trip
would cost, his hope of ever getting there was destroyed. As Edwin
considered the wonderful love that had prompted God and his Son to make so
great a sacrifice for men and women who had been disobedient to his laws
and commands, his heart was flooded with love for his Creator, and he
cried:

"I knew that God must have made some way for man to know where he was going
to land in eternity! Jesus is that provision. I can see it all now, and the
assurance that we are going aright is that we are obedient to God?" he
added with a rising inflection.

"Yes, it is obedience to God," Mrs. Kauffman explained. "But there is more
to his plan than that. God wants us to love and reverence his Son for all
that he has done. To do this we must ask God to forgive and to receive us
back into his family for Jesus' sake. This is a true prayer when it comes
from the heart."

"Is that the prayer that I prayed when I was converted?" Edwin asked,
remembering the three little words that he had selected from one of the
prayers in Mr. Meyer's tent.

"No," Mrs. Kauffman replied; "your prayer was different. It was really no
prayer at all, but you see you did not understand these things or know how
to pray. God knew what you wanted, because he understands the heart, and he
knew that you would have asked for it in proper words if you could have
understood."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman were very good to Edwin; for after he had left
their neighborhood, they had learned something of his worth. Every day
during the meeting they endeavored in some way to help him to understand
what it means to be a Christian, and some of the wonderful things that are
in the Bible. Much of their effort was lost, however, because of his
ignorance, but it seemed that each time he was able to grasp a new thought
that would correspond and link on to his own experience.

When the last day of the camp-meeting arrived, Edwin was sorry, for he felt
that it had been a good place to be; but since he had received the benefit
for which he had come, he was ready to return to the farm and fulfil his
agreement with Mr. Miller and do all that he could to make up for the time
that he had been away at the meeting. The Kauffmans, Itterlys, and Meyers
had all given him pressing invitations to visit them in their homes, and
with many happy remembrances of the meeting in his mind he was soon well on
his way down the dusty road in the direction of his employer's home.

Again he noted the sweet songs of the little birds, and nature seemed all
aglow with her beauty and grandeur; but as before, when he was on his way
to the meeting, his mind was too full of weightier things to give outside
things much thought or attention.

As he passed in through the open gate, he remembered that Mrs. Kauffman had
said that in a certain city not more than ten miles away a Bible could be
purchased, and, knowing that Mr. Miller occasionally went to that city to
do his trading, he decided to ask him to get him a copy while there.

When he reached the summer-kitchen, he found the old couple partaking of
their evening meal, and when Edwin had taken his accustomed place on the
end of the bench, he was asked to give an account of the meeting and to
tell how he had enjoyed himself while there. It was in glowing terms that
Edwin described each little detail and the effect that the entire meeting
had produced in his life. When he had finished, Mrs. Miller remarked:

"I'm glad, Edwin, that you have at last found out what it means to be
converted. But of course you will have to join the church. You can go with
us to our church every Sunday if you want to, and after you go a while they
will tell you whether they want you to become a member."

Edwin gladly accepted the invitation, and then after telling what Mrs.
Kauffman had said about the Bible, he asked Mr. Miller if he would buy him
a copy the next time he went to the city. The latter said that he would do
the best that he could. When the smoking-hour arrived, Edwin remained, but
to visit, not to smoke. He cared no longer for his pipe, for the appetite
for tobacco was all gone.

Although Edwin was disappointed a number of times because of his employer's
forgetfulness to do his errand, a few weeks after the camp-meeting had
closed, a little red leather pocket Testament in both the German and
English languages was placed in his hand, and what a treasure it was! The
price that Edwin had paid for it seemed very small indeed, but he did not
know that the little volume was only a part of the wonderful book of which
he had heard such thrilling accounts.

In the days that followed a great longing to read the sacred pages of his
little Testament came into his heart, but even to have the little book in
his possession was a great comfort, and very often he drew it from his
pocket and pressed it to his heart while he was at his work.

On Sunday, Edwin never failed to go with Mr. and Mrs. Miller to the little
church that was on the corner where the roads met and crossed, and he was
still as earnest and anxious to learn as he had been at the camp-meeting;
but the difficulty of the language was ever before him, and his extreme
ignorance concerning the Bible was very noticeable.

At last when the subject concerning whether he should be accepted as a
candidate for a member of their denomination arose, a lengthy discussion
among the most prominent brethren followed, and it was decided in Edwin's
hearing that he was far too ignorant on Bible lines ever to amount to
anything among them. It would therefore, they said, be best to drop the
matter at once.

"Think of it!" said one, "it doesn't stand to reason that any one with so
little education and knowledge concerning the Bible could be so easily
converted. He will be like a wave of the sea--lost and forgotten, in a very
short time. Why, he can't even understand the preaching yet or the things
that you try to explain to him! To my mind his case isn't worth bothering
with."

After Edwin had heard this man's reasoning and had found that it was the
decision of all, he was given an opportunity to speak for himself. He said:

"I'm sure that you are mistaken when you say that I will not stand. I know
that I am very ignorant about what is in the Bible, but if you will just
give me ten years, I will prove to you that God, who has brought me through
all my past difficulties, and in spite of all my ignorance has directed me
always in the right way, will never fail to teach me the next best thing to
do."

After Edwin's speech it was decided that it would be all right for him to
attend the meetings, but that they could not accept his name even on
probation.

It was with a sad heart the following day that Edwin went about his work
upon the farm. He could not understand why the brethren had doubted his
ability to stand nor their reason for not allowing him the same privilege
that was given to others, simply because he was ignorant and his conversion
had not required so long a time as they were in the habit of allowing their
more enlightened members. "God surely knew what he was doing," he reasoned,
"and I believe that my life is as precious to him as that of any other man,
though he may know a great deal more than I do."

All day long he was burdened and sad, and when night came, instead of
resorting to the summer-kitchen as had been his habit for so long, he went
to his room immediately after the evening chores were done. Falling upon
his knees and taking from his pocket his little red Testament, he opened it
and laid it upon the chair before him. Then as tears blinded his eyes, he
buried his face in his hands and, bending reverently over the little
volume, made his request known to God.

"O God!" he cried, not caring by whom he was heard, "you who have been so
faithful to me in the past, in helping me out of all my difficulties, help
me now! I have learned that this little book is to make me know what you
want me to do, so help me to be able to read what is in it."

To Edwin this task was no greater for him than others had been that he had
mastered, and with perfect faith, believing that God would open his
understanding sufficiently for him to comprehend the meaning of all that he
needed to know, he began the work of learning what he should have known
many years before.

With his finger Edwin carefully traced in several words the outline of the
letters, until suddenly a few of the characters that he had learned from
the school-teacher when, in his early childhood days, he was sent to school
as protector of his younger cousins, returned to his mind, and although
they had been meaningless then and had been long since forgotten, they
corresponded perfectly with those before him. Thus he continued to labor
long into the night, and during the days and evenings that followed,
whenever there was a moment to spare, a moment that he could feel was his
own, he endeavored to locate the same letters in other words. But although
he could locate several of the letters, he did not know their names.

Later on, after the corn-husking was done, Mr.

Miller decided that he could get along with the work by himself, and Edwin
began looking for another place. When the word became circulated that Edwin
was wanting a job, several opportunities to get into good families were
offered him, but he would decide on none of them until he had spent a few
weeks in visiting the kind friends whom he had met at the camp-meeting.

During Edwin's stay with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Edwin had learned to respect
them very highly, and their kindness and sympathy meant very much to him,
but he felt that he was sadly misunderstood by them both and that their
judgment was not altogether good. He was sad, too, because of the attitude
of the church-members toward him, but his only thought was to prove to all
that he was sincere, and although so coldly held off by some he continued
to attend the meetings regularly.

On the morning of his departure, Mrs. Miller in her motherly way invited
him to visit them occasionally, and after thanking them kindly for all
their interest in him, Edwin left for the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman.
Frank Kauffman was at his mother's home when Edwin arrived, and when he saw
the welcome that she gave to the one whom she had so severely condemned,
because of the influence she was afraid he might have upon her son, he
could not help smiling. He had heard that Edwin had given up the use of
tobacco, and it was not long until he learned from Edwin himself his
reasons for doing so. Frank was much impressed by the story and felt that
perhaps Edwin was right about the matter, and he would have been glad to
give up the use of tobacco himself, but the power of habit was great, and
the poisonous nicotine was so working in his system that his strength of
decision was limited.

Edwin's stay with the Kauffman's was prolonged to several months; for these
people, finding that Edwin was so anxious to learn to read his Bible, began
at the foundation and taught him both the English and the German alphabets
and instructed him how to use them in forming words. Until then Edwin had
not understood the difference in the languages, and, finding that the words
used in prayer and preaching, were not a heavenly language as he had
supposed, but were meant for any one to speak, he decided at once to master
them both. He reasoned that what he could not comprehend in the one
language he might in the other, and his progress in the undertaking was so
rapid that it was marvelous.

When he learned that the Bible was in two parts--a New and an Old
Testament--and that his little red-covered book was only the New, he longed
for the complete volume and was soon in possession of one.

"Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me,
lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy
loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know
the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee" (Psa. 143:
7, 8).

CHAPTER XIX

DEVOTION AND WORKS

Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death,
To break the shock blind nature can not shun,
And lands thought smoothly on the further shore.

--Young.

During his visit in the Kauffman home, Edwin learned what was meant not
only by prayer but by a life of true devotion, for Mrs. Kauffman was a very
spiritual woman. She was sorry for the decision of the brethren to refuse
Edwin even a trial for membership in the church, but she endeavored to
encourage him in the belief that all would come out right in the end, and
Edwin very courageously said that he was sure it would. And the fact that
he was misunderstood by some did not lessen his confidence in the brethren
nor cool his intense love for humanity. Neither did it dampen his desire to
be a blessing to mankind, and so great did the latter longing become that
he began to seek for opportunities of doing good.

By living in such sweet communion with God he learned a great many lessons
that were very helpful to him in different ways; and with a little help
from his kind friends he learned to read in such a marvelously short time
that it was plain to all that God was truly his teacher.

One day while Edwin was quietly meditating upon the wonderful things that
he had read within the Bible, he compared them with the experiences through
which he had passed, and he marveled at the manner in which they
corresponded. Then, while thinking of what had taken place at the camp
meeting, he remembered his mother and his surprize at seeing her at such a
place. "Could it be possible," he said to Mrs. Kauffman, "that my mother's
reason for attending the meeting was that she was interested in spiritual
things?" His friends thought it was probable, and then Edwin said that if
such was the case he would like to tell her about some of the wonderful
things God had done for him. In this Mrs. Kauffman encouraged him, and she
helped him to find several appropriate passages of Scripture that he could
read to his mother, and when he went she bade him Godspeed.

Edwin had not visited his mother since the time when her proud heart was
crushed because of the shame and disgrace that had been forced upon her
through Elmer's actions. Since then many things had taken place in her life
that had caused her to change some of her ways, but the "faith" that she
claimed to have taken up and that had encouraged her to attend the
camp-meeting was only a "try to do better" plan.

When Mrs. Fischer saw her son approaching the house, she at once remembered
his ignorance at the camp-meeting, the ridicule created by his queer
actions, and the hard feelings that, in her embarrassment, she had felt
toward him; still, she endeavored to treat him kindly, and at first she
permitted him to talk freely about his experiences before and after the
meeting. But when in conclusion, he said, "Mother, can't you see how
necessary it is for any one to be converted, or to be born again into God's
great family?" she exclaimed: "Oh, such trash! I won't listen any longer!
I've committed no sins that I need to repent of. _My_ 'faith' is good
enough for me, and I don't expect to know everything about heaven in this
life. The church that I have joined teaches that if you do as well as you
can you'll go to heaven anyway, and after you have pledged any church that
you will stand by it and then you go and join another and take up their
'faith,' you become a shame and disgrace to the church to which you did
belong."

"Yes, but you may not get to heaven if you do not anxiously seek to know
the right way," Edwin said, and the earnestness in his voice could be felt.

Then opening his Bible, which was already well marked, he read: "Wisdom
crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the
chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love
simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate
knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto
you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and ye
refused.... I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh.... Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel:
they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of
their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away
of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:20-33).

That his mother was surprized to hear Edwin reading the words was very
plain to be seen, but her spirit was still proud, and she cried: "No,
Edwin, I won't listen to any more. Those words are in the Old Testament, I
know, but they were written for the people who lived at that time, and not
for us. The New Testament is for us."

"Well, then, Mother," Edwin said, quickly turning to the third chapter of
St. John, "let me read to you something from the New Testament, some of the
words of God's own Son to all the world. Jesus was talking to a man who was
a teacher and very wise, but he told him that the only way to get to heaven
was to be born again, for he said: 'That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus
answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered.... God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through
him might be saved.' And now, Mother," Edwin said, "here is the part that I
want you to listen to especially: 'He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.'"

The reading of the last scripture had been more difficult for Edwin, but he
had reviewed the words so often under the direction of Mr. Kauffman, who
had taken a keen interest and delight in the manner in which Edwin was
learning, that he was able to read them both plainly and distinctly. But
still his mother said:

"That, too, was long ago. Things are different today. You needn't try to
tell me that what the people did and said at that time were anything like
what they say and do today."

Then as Edwin attempted to explain, she said:

"No, Edwin, you must not say anything more to me about these things. I'm
satisfied to let well enough alone; and if I'm contented, you ought to be."

Seeing that his mother was determined to continue in her uncertainty, Edwin
next thought of his own brother and sister in the flesh, whom he had never
seen. Through his mother he had found out where they were living, and
although it was a long distance to their homes and they were as strangers
to him, he decided to visit them and at once set out upon the journey.

The brother had heard through the mother some things about Edwin's
stupidity, as she called his extreme ignorance (for which she was herself
to blame), and he had also heard of Edwin's willingness to suffer cruel
punishments and unjust blame. "But," the mother had also said, "with all
his block-headedness, he has never done anything to compare with what
Elmer, his cousin, has done to make me ashamed."

It was therefore with real interest and curiosity that the brother received
him into his home, and he was shown much kindness by his brother's wife.
When Edwin explained how wondrously he had been led and taught of God, the
brother was astonished, for he could see that all Edwin had said was very
reasonable and sensible, and he wondered why he had never thought to search
out some of the things for himself. The brother's wife as well was greatly
interested, and when Edwin read and explained the verses from his
well-marked Bible, they were both convicted and exclaimed:

"O Edwin! what must we do to get this great salvation?"

Immediately Edwin turned to Acts 16: 30, 31, and read the jailer's words to
Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" and Paul's answer,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house."
He then explained that Jesus came to seek and save the people from their
sins and that he went about preaching the glad tidings of salvation, after
which he gave his life upon the cross that their salvation might be
possible.

Next he read Isa. 55: 6, 7: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call
ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

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