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A CURE FOR DESPONDENCY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 18, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 16.

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A CURE FOR DESPONDENCY.

By Mrs. H. Hurd Haskell

Several years ago, while working in Ireland, I called upon a lady who had been in the habit of giving way to frequent spells of despondency. While speaking of the victory she had gained over it, she related to me the following story:—
“My little boy is very fond of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’ He never tires of it. I have read it to him several times, but it is always new, and he seems to thoroughly understand that it represents Christian experience. For many years I had been in the habit of giving way to despondency, never thinking there was anything in it that was incompatible with my Christian experience. One day, while feeling very low spirited, my little boy looked up into my face, saying:—
“What is the matter, mama?”
“I replied, ‘I feel despondent, my boy.’
“Does that mean you are in the ‘slough of despond,’ mama?”
“‘Why, yes, I suppose it does,’ was my reply.
“I shall never forget the earnest look he gave me, as he said:—
“‘Have you ever been through the “wicket gate,” mama?’
“‘Yes, Hammie, yes, I trust I have passed the “wicket gate.”’
“‘Then how can you be in the “slough of despond;” for the “slough of despond” is the other side of the “wicket gate”?’”
“The words of my boy rang in my ears all day, ‘How can you be in the “slough of despond;” for the “slough of despond” is the other side of the “wicket gate”?’ And I humbly promised the Lord I would never dishonor Him again by going back into the mire, after He had once set me free.”
We are told to “rejoice in the Lord always.” Be sure you are safely through the “wicket gate.” “I am the Door,” Christ says; “by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved,” saved from his hereditary traits, saved from himself, and translated into the kingdom of light, beyond the “slough of despond,” out of reach of even the margin of it, which some call “the blues.”
MRS. H. HURD HASKELL.