He had been reading Pike's Guide
to Young Disciples, and the chapter on backsliding moved him deeply.
For a long time, he went mourning his departure from God. One day he
was reading aloud in the Seminary, when a missionary came in, and
wondering to see him there, asked what he was doing. He replied, "I
am studying backsliding; and O, sir, I love it very much;" meaning
to say that he loved to study the way back to the enjoyment of God.
This state of mind was followed by earnest effort for the salvation
of others, and the hopefully pious first passed through a season of
deep heart-searching and renewed consecration to God. Under an awful
sense of the violation of covenant vows, for many days some of them
did nothing but weep and pray. "How unfaithful have I been to my
Saviour and to immortal souls!" was the cry on all sides. One whose
Bible was found blotted with tears, had been converted in 1846, and
her grief was on account of her unfaithfulness as a follower of
Christ. Having thus wept bitterly herself, she was well fitted to
lead others to the God of all comfort. Her labors were unwearied,
both in and out of school.
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