mbers was
increased, from about fifty, to three hundred.

The amazing influence of one Christian, who lives out the spirit of
Christ, is illustrated, in a still more striking manner, in the life of
a lady, who died not long since, in one of the principal cities of the
United States. I am not permitted to give her name, nor all the
particulars of her life. But what I relate may be relied upon, not only
as _facts_, but as far below the _whole truth_. She had been, for a long
time, afflicted with a drunken husband. At length the sheriff came and
swept off all their property, not excepting her household furniture, to
discharge his _grog bills_. At this distressing crisis, she retired to
an upper room, laid her babe upon the bare floor, kneeled down over it,
and offered up the following petition: "O Lord, if thou wilt _in any
way_ remove from me this affliction, I will serve thee _upon bread and
water_ all the days of my life." The Lord took her at her word. Her
besotted husband immediately disappeared, and was never heard of again
till after her death. The church would now have maintained her, but she
would not consent to become a charge to others. Although in feeble
health, and afflicted with the sick headache, she opened a small school,
from which she obtained a bare subsistence; though it was often no more
than what was contained in the condition of her prayer--literally _bread
and water_. She had also another motive for pursuing some regular
employment. She wished to avoid the reproach which would have arisen to
the cause of Christ from her being maintained upon the bounty of the
church, while engaged in the system of Christian activity which she
adopted. She remembered the duty of being _diligent in business_, as
well as fervent in spirit. She was a lady of pleasing address, and of a
mild and gentle disposition. "In her lips was the law of kindness." Yet
she possessed an energy of character, and a spirit of perseverance,
which the _power of faith_ alone can impart. When she undertook any
Christian enterprise, she was discouraged by no obstacles, and appalled
by no difficulties. She resided in the most wicked and abandoned part of
the city, which afforded a great field of labor. Her benevolent heart
was pained at seeing the grog-shops opened upon the holy Sabbath. She
undertook the difficult and almost hopeless task of closing these sinks
of moral pollution upon the Lord's day, and succeeded. This was
accomplished by th