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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
that night without relief, yet relying with firm confidence upon the
promises of God. I could not sleep, but continued my silent prayer.
Just before day I fell asleep.
I awoke at sunrise perfectly free from pain. The pressure upon my
heart was gone, and I was very happy. Oh, what a change! It seemed
to me that an angel of God had touched me while I was sleeping. I
was filled with gratitude. The praise of God was upon my lips. I
awoke my husband, and related to him the wonderful work that the
Lord had wrought for me. He could scarcely comprehend it at first;
but when I arose and dressed and walked around the house, he could
praise God with me. My afflicted eye was free from pain. In a few
days the swelling disappeared, and my eyesight was fully restored.
The work was complete.
Again I visited the physician, and as soon as he felt my pulse, he
said: “Madam, an entire change has taken place in your system; but
the two women who visited me for counsel when you were last here
are dead.” I stated to him that his medicine had not cured me, as I
could take none of it. After I left, the doctor said to a friend of mine:
“Her case is a mystery. I do not understand it.”
We soon visited Michigan again, and I endured long and wearisome
journeys over the rough logways, and through mud sloughs, and my
strength failed not. We felt that the Lord would have us visit Wisconsin,
and arranged to take the cars at Jackson at ten in the evening.
As we were preparing to take the train, we felt very solemn, and
proposed a season of prayer. And as we there committed ourselves
to God, we could not refrain from weeping. We went to the depot
with feelings of deep solemnity. On boarding the train, we went into a
forward car, which had seats with high backs, hoping that we might
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sleep some that night. The car was full, and we passed back into the
next, and there found seats. I did not, as usual when traveling in the
night, lay off my bonnet, but held my carpetbag in my hand, as if
waiting for something. We both spoke of our singular feelings.
The train had run about three miles from Jackson when its mo-
tion became very violent, jerking backward and forward, and finally
stopping. I opened the window, and saw one car raised nearly upon
end. I heard agonizing groans, and there was great confusion. The
engine had been thrown from the track; but the car we were in was
on the track, and was separated about one hundred feet from those