p. 10 | HEALING OF A MAGDALEN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 27, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 43.

HEALING OF A MAGDALEN.

S. S. Davis, chaplain and manager of the Evansville, Indiana, Helping Hand Mission, was recently interviewed by a representative of the Logansport Reporter concerning his work. The newspaper man introduced the subject by asking, “Do you work among the fallen women of the city? Please give us an example of how you work.”

To this Brother Davis replied as follows:—

“The first instance of a reclaimed woman was a peculiar one. It was during a cottage prayer-meeting, and we were engaged in prayer, when a woman came into our meeting. We continued to pray, and she wept piteously. At the close of the prayer I asked her why she wept. She said a woman of the same character as herself lay dying a short distance away, and having heard us singing, sent this companion in sin to ask some of us to come over and pray for her, saying that she was paralyzed and dying, and that she had sent to several ministers to come and pray for her, but none came. We took the entire company at the meeting and went to the house. We found ourselves in a regular den of prostitutes, a room full of them, who had come in to see the poor woman die. I began to converse with her about her spiritual welfare and the Saviour. She listened attentively, and requested prayer, saying she had sent for different ministers to visit her, but they would not come. As we talked of Jesus’ love, and willingness to hear, and power to save, she wept. There followed a general breaking down and weeping among all the women present.

“Then the woman asked me, after telling me something of her history and the causes of her being in that place of shame, if I thought the Lord would heal her. This was a strange question for one in her position to ask. I told her I did not know, but asked her why she was solicitous to regain her health, and whether she would resume the old life of sin. She most emphatically said, ‘No.’ I told her we would leave it with the Lord, and if it was His will to heal her, well; if not, we would be resigned to His will, and to this end we prayed. In a short time she grew better and began to improve, and the next day was up. . . . She is now well, a Christian, and lives in Princeton, Ind.

“Those fallen women pleaded with me to return and hold prayer-meetings with them. And so our work goes on, with the Lord’s blessing, and each day brings its rich experiences.”