She was praying for their
conversion. At last she became willing to lay them upon the altar and
she did it thoroughly. She gave them to the Lord a living sacrifice. In
a short time her four oldest were converted, and in due time the two
others as they grew up were also brought into the fold of Christ. She
rejoiced and praised God for this and often expressed herself that her
children were not her own, they were the Lord's, for his service or
sacrifice, just as he should see proper. At last this consecration was
brought to the test. The Lord began to kindle the fire to consume the
"burnt offering." He laid his hand upon one and took her home to heaven.
Then another, and sent him thousands of miles away to preach the gospel
in regions beyond. Then another, and sent him far distant in another
direction to labor in the gospel vineyard. Then another, and sent her
still another direction to publish the word of God; and as these
cherished objects thus vanished out of her sight she could say, "They
are the Lord's, not mine." In one of her letters she wrote me these
words: "Well, my dear boy, I truly realized what it meant years ago to
lay my dear children upon the altar of the Lord: but now I realize what
it means to see them consumed into smoke."

Dear brother and sister, this is what a burnt offering means, and how
good our heavenly Father is to require this sacrifice of us! Oh, how
many sad heartaches it saves us! How many bitter tears of anguish and
sorrow! I have stood at the open grave where a poor grief-stricken
mother wrung her hands and cried out, "Oh, I cannot, I cannot give up my
precious darling. Let me be buried with it--I cannot be parted from it!"
I have also stood at another grave, where the form of a consecrated
loved one was sinking out of human sight. The mother stood gazing at
the object of earth as it was laid back to dust, then with her eyes
turned toward heaven she said, "Dear Lord, thou hast only taken thine
own to thyself; my heart feels the parting pangs, but I say willingly,
'Thy will be done.'"

Ah, what a contrast! The one mother knew nothing of this blessed
consecration, the other did. The one had but little grace to sustain her
in her bereavement, the other had the abounding grace, for she had
already yielded up her sacred treasures to the Lord. The one buried all
her comfort and hope in the grave, the other simply buried a lifeless
form of clay; though sacred and precious to her heart, yet she h