Testimony Through Affliction
By Wm. Gatchel
BRO. WM. GATCHEL writes from Cumberland Co., Me.: As I have been much interested in reading the testimonies in the Conference Department of the REVIEW, I feel that I want to add my testimony with yours, and tell you of my hopes and fears, my joy and my sorrows, my afflictions and consolations. I have never written but once before; but it has not been for lack of interest, but because of bodily infirmities. I have suffered much for the last four months. I have not been able to do more than four days' work in that time. I have been so weak that I could not move my feet more than four inches at a time. Some five weeks since, I was taken with such pain and anguish, it seemed that my senses would leave me. The doctor pronounced it the neuralgia. The pain caused such weakness in my eyes that I had to stop reading altogether; but the Lord has sustained me through it all. Oh! what should we do in such times, if it were not for the everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, given to comfort and sustain us in all our tribulations. I have suffered much from disease these many years. Sometimes the Lord's hand has been heavy upon me, and I have been severely chastened; but none too much for my good; for I feel that my Heavenly Father has done it in love. ‘For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son he receiveth.’ If it had not been for these afflictions, I might have been proud, high-minded, forgetful of God, striving to accumulate a treasure that in a short time will do me no good, and neglecting my eternal interest instead of enjoying much of the sweet consolation of religion, a calm, peaceful trust in God, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and having that confidence in him, that we can say, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. We are quite aged, and my companion is somewhat infirm, yet she has had all the household duties to perform, both indoors and out, besides taking care of me. But the Lord has sustained her wonderfully in bearing up under her burden. We have been in the habit of reading the Bible through once a year, and though she has been pressed down with cares, she has not neglected to read a portion of the word daily, and it has been a great comfort to me since I have been deprived of the privilege of reading for myself. Then again, we are glad to have the REVIEW come to us every week; for I have not been able to get out to meeting but twice since May; and my companion manages to read it through in the course of the week. It is a great comfort to me to hear the sermons and other good pieces read, while confined to the house. The testimonies often cheer my heart; while I think there are others who can feel for our infirmities, and though we may be far apart in body, yet in spirit we may be near, to sympathize and pray for each other, that the Lord may sustain us in all our afflictions. We are poor, but the Lord has provided for us so far, and we believe that he who hears the young ravens when they cry, will also hear us when we ask him for our daily bread. Since taking the stand that I have in keeping the Sabbath, I have lost the sympathy of some; still I would rather obey God than man. I love God's holy law. It was by that law I found I had need of a Saviour; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. I have had much time to meditate on the goodness of God for what he has done for me in giving me the light that he has; and in view of my own unworthiness, I would lie low at the feet of Jesus, in the depths of humility. We have much sympathy from the brethren of like precious faith, here; and those who live near have called on us often, and cheered our hearts with words of comfort and consolation, and prayed with, and for, us, for which we feel very thankful. We bless the Lord that he has raised up a people that can feel, and feel the right way, for those who are in trying circumstances. We ask the prayers of all those who are striving to gain an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, that we may be able to overcome every obstacle, through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and win a home in that better land, where we shall be clothed with immortality, and be forever free from pain; and with all the host of Israel's God stand on Mount Zion, and behold the King in his beauty.