When David Livingstone went to Africa there was a Scottish woman by the name of Mrs. MacRobert who was quite advanced in years. As she was unable to go herself she gave Livingstone thirty pounds which she had saved and said, "When you go into Africa I want you to spare yourself unnecessary exposure and bodily toil by hiring some competent servant, who shall go with you wherever you go and share your sacrifices and your exposures." With that money he hired the faithful Sebalwe, who saved him from death by a lion, and this added those last thirty years of wonderful service to the world.
(2754)
Results not Processes—See Silent Processes.
RESULTS OF GOOD DEEDS
Charles Mackay writes of the good that is done by apparently insignificant services:
A little stream had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern;
A passing stranger scooped a well,
Where weary men might turn;
He walled it in and hung with care
A ladle at the brink;
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that all might drink.
He passed again, and lo! the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues,
And saved a life beside.
A nameless man, amid a crowd
That thronged the daily mart
Let fall a word of hope and love,
Unstudied from the heart;
A whisper on the tumult thrown,
A transitory breath—
It raised a brother from the dust,
It saved a soul from death.
O germ! O fount! O word of love!
O thought at random cast!
Ye were but little at the first,
But mighty at the last.
(2755)
Results Unforeseen—See One, Winning.
RESULTS VERSUS DISPLAY
It is not by the number of discourses that
you can test the effect of the ministry of any
preacher, but has it brought those who heard
him nearer to the divine life, nearer to the
life in God? Sir Astley Cooper, when in
Paris once, met the chief surgeon in France,
who told him about a difficult operation he
had performed. He said: "I have performed
this operation 160 times; how often
have you performed it?" Sir Astley replied:
"I have performed it thirteen times." "And
how many of your operations were successful?"
"Eleven of my cases have lived." said
Sir Astley; "how many of yours?" The
great French surgeon replied: "All my 160
cases have died, but the operation was most
brilliant."
(2756)
RESURRECTION
The following gives an idea of the strong faith of D. L. Moody; it is the law of the resurrection in operation:
"Some day," he said, "you will read in the
papers that D. L. Moody is dead. Don't you
believe a word of it. At that moment I
shall be more alive than I am now. That
which is born of the spirit will live forever."
(Text.)
(2757)
See Judgment Day.
RESUSCITATION
Lamar Fontaine describes his sensations when he was about to be buried alive after being desperately wounded on the battle-field:
Some time in the night I heard the approach
of voices and the tramp of men.
Soon I heard the sound of picks and spades
and caught the gleam of lanterns, and knew
a burial-party was on the field, and that
surgeons, with their attendants, had come
to pick up and care for the wounded. Again
and again I tried to speak, but no sound
came. Presently I felt the jar of the picks
and spades as they dug a grave by my side,
and then I felt a strong hand grasp my head
and another my feet, and lift me clear of the
ground. There was a sharp click, and then
a loud buzzing sound in my ears, and my
whole body was in an agony of pain. A
fearful thirst tortured me. I spoke, and
my friends let me drop suddenly to the
ground. The jar awoke every faculty to
life. I asked for water, and at once a strong
light was flashed in my face, a rubber canteen
applied to my lips, and I felt a life-giving
stream of cold, refreshing water flow
down my swollen throat, and seemingly into
every part of my frame.—"My Life and My
Lectures."
(2758)
