During the revival in 1846, two of the pupils spent a whole night in
prayer for the conversion of their brothers, first one leading in
devotion, and then the other, till morning. Like Jacob they felt,
"We will not let thee go except thou bless us." While the
missionaries admired their pious zeal, it is proper to add, that
they generally insisted on the observance of regular hours of sleep,
as conducive alike to bodily and spiritual health. Yet one writes on
a similar occasion, "Sometimes, in my anxiety, I have gone to their
cold closets to persuade them to leave; but the fervor of their
prayers has oftener driven me to mine, than it has allowed me to
call them from theirs."
Twice, and even three times, a day, were not enough for them to
retire for communion with God. Many spent hours every day at the
mercy seat. There were but few closets, and this was a great trial
to them. Often three or four of them might be seen sitting, in
tears, waiting their turn to go in to the mercy seat. Would that
they might have had some of those closets at home that are never
entered! At another time, the Bible of one of the girls was found on
one of their wooden stools, open at the fifty-first psalm, and the
page blotted with weeping, as she read it preparatory to retiring
for prayer.
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