s one whom I visit often. I have
aided his family with coal, and also in buying food and nourishment for
himself. He reads a Bible that I gave him every day, and when his
children come from school he gets them to read to him. He says: 'If I
had been a better man; had read my Bible and taken care of my health, I
might have been different, but now I am trusting in the Lord that He
will forgive and accept me, and that is my only hope. I tell my wife
that when I am gone she must never give up the Bible, but read it every
day with her children.'"

We must ever remember, dear reader, that the unfolding of the _Gospel of
Christ_ is the _power of God unto salvation to everyone who believeth_.
What a tremendous power was manifested by the preaching of the Gospel to
the savages of North America, in 1743. Mr. Brainerd, in his journal,
gives an instance of the effects which followed the preaching of the
Word of God. "There was much concern," says he, "among them while I was
discoursing publicly; but afterward, when I spoke to one and another
whom I perceived more particularly under concern, the power of God
seemed to descend upon the assembly, 'like a mighty rushing wind,' and
with an astonishing energy bore down all before it.

"I stood amazed at the influence that seized upon the audience almost
universally. Almost all persons of all ages, were bowed down together.
Old men and women, who had been drunken wretches for many years, and
some little children, not more than six or seven years of age, appeared
in distress for their souls, as well as persons of middle age. These
were almost universally praying and crying for mercy in every part of
the house, and many out of doors, and numbers could neither go nor
stand; their concern was so great, each for himself, that none seemed
to take any notice of those about them, but each prayed for himself.
Methought this had a near resemblance to the day of God's power,
mentioned Josh. x. 14; for I must say, I never saw any day like it in
all respects; it was a day wherein the Lord did much to destroy the
kingdom of darkness among this people." A church was soon afterward
gathered among these poor pagans; and such was the change effected
among them, that many exclaimed with astonishment, "What hath God
wrought?"

He spent whole days in fasting and prayer, that God would prepare him
for his great work; and, indeed, throughout his whole life he was truly
a "man of prayer," lifting up his heart