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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
spoke in the morning upon the Eastern Question. The subject was of
special interest, and the people listened with the most earnest attention.
In the afternoon it was difficult to make my way to the desk through
the standing crowd. Upon reaching it, a sea of heads was before me.
The mammoth tent was full, and thousands stood outside, making a
living wall several feet deep. My lungs and throat pained me very
much, yet I believed that God would help me upon this important
occasion. While speaking, my weariness and pain were forgotten as I
realized that I was speaking to a people that did not regard my words
as idle tales. The discourse occupied over an hour, and the very best
attention was given throughout. As the closing hymn was being sung,
the officers of the Temperance Reform Club of Haverhill solicited me,
as on the previous year, to speak before their association on Monday
evening. Having an appointment to speak at Danvers, I was obliged to
decline the invitation.
Monday morning we had a season of prayer in our tent in behalf
of my husband. We presented his case to the Great Physician. It was
a precious season; the peace of heaven rested upon us. These words
came forcibly to my mind: “This is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith.” We all felt the blessing of God resting upon
us. We then assembled in the large tent; my husband met with us and
spoke for a short time, uttering precious words from a heart softened
and aglow with a deep sense of the mercy and goodness of God. He
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endeavored to make the believers in the truth realize that it is their
privilege to receive the assurance of the grace of God in their hearts,
and that the great truths we believe should sanctify the life, ennoble
the character, and have a saving influence upon the world. The tearful
eyes of the people showed that their hearts were touched and melted
by these remarks.
We then took up the work where we had left it on the Sabbath, and
the morning was spent in special labor for sinners and backsliders, of
whom two hundred came forward for prayers, ranging in years from
the child of ten to gray-headed men and women. More than a score
of these were setting their feet in the way of life for the first time. In
the afternoon thirty-eight persons were baptized, and quite a number
delayed baptism until they should return to their homes.
Monday evening, in company with Elder Canright and several
others, I took the cars for Danvers. My husband was not able to