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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
they were so much scattered, it was necessary for us to be on the road
much of the time. For want of means we took the cheapest private
conveyance, second-class cars, and lower-deck passage on steamers.
In my feeble condition I found traveling by private conveyance most
comfortable. When on second-class cars, we were usually enveloped
in tobacco smoke, from the effects of which I often fainted. When
on steamers, on lower deck, we suffered the same from the smoke
of tobacco, besides the swearing and vulgar conversation of the ship
hands and the baser portion of the traveling public. At night we lay
down to sleep on the hard floor, dry goods boxes, or sacks of grain,
with carpetbags for pillows, and overcoats and shawls for covering.
If suffering from the winter’s cold, we would walk the deck to keep
warm. When oppressed by the heat of summer, we would go upon
the upper deck to secure the cool night air. This was fatiguing to me,
especially when traveling with an infant in my arms. This manner
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of life was by no means one of our choosing. God called us in our
poverty, and led us through the furnace of affliction, to give us an
experience which should be of great worth to us, and an example to
others who should afterward join us in labor.
Our Master was a man of sorrows; He was acquainted with grief;
and those who suffer with Him will reign with Him. When the Lord
appeared to Saul in his conversion, He did not purpose to show him
how much good he should enjoy, but what great things he should suffer
for His name. Suffering has been the portion of the people of God
from the days of the martyr Abel. The patriarchs suffered for being
true to God and obedient to His commandments. The great Head of the
church suffered for our sake; His first apostles and the primitive church
suffered; the millions of martyrs suffered, and the Reformers suffered.
And why should we, who have the blessed hope of immortality, to
be consummated at the soon appearing of Christ, shrink from a life
of suffering? Were it possible to reach the tree of life in the midst of
the Paradise of God without suffering, we would not enjoy so rich a
reward for which we had not suffered. We would shrink back from the
glory; shame would seize us in the presence of those who had fought
the good fight, had run the race with patience, and had laid hold on
eternal life. But none will be there who have not, like Moses, chosen
to suffer affliction with the people of God. The prophet John saw the
multitude of the redeemed, and inquired who they were. The prompt