True Self-devotedness

TRUE SELF DEVOTEDNESS THE most striking instance of self devotedness in cause of Christ of which I ever heard in these days of deadness I was told of last week by an English minister It has never been printed and therefore I will relate it to you just as I heard it to stir up our cold hearts that we may give ourselves to the Lord The awful disease of leprosy still exists in Africa Whether it be the same leprosy as that mentioned in the Bible I do not know but it is regarded as per fectly incurable and so infectious that no one dares to come near the leper In the south of Africa there is a lazar house for lepers It is an immense space enclosed by a very high wall and containing fields which the lepers cultivate There is only one entrance which is strictly guarded Whenever any one is found with the marks of leprosy upon him he is brought to this gate and obliged to enter in never to return No one who enters in by that awful gate is allowed to come out again Within this abode of there are multitudes of lepers in all stages of disease Dr Halbeck a missionary of the Church of England from the top of a neighbouring hill saw them at work He noticed two particularly sowing peas in the field The one had no hands the other had no feet these members being wasted away by the disease The one who wanted the hands was carry ing the other who wanted the feet upon his back and he again carried in his hands the bag of seed and dropped a pea every now and then which the other pressed into the ground with his foot and so they managed the work of one man between the two Ah how little we know of the misery that is in the world Such is this prison house of disease But you will ask Who cares for the souls of the hapless inmates Who will venture in at this dreadful gate never to return again Who will forsake father and mother houses and lands to carry the message of a Saviour to these poor lepers Two Moravian mis sionaries impelled by a divine love for souls have chosen the lazar house as their field of labour They entered it never to come out again and I am told that as soon as these die other Moravians are quite ready to fill their place Ah my dear friends may we not blush and be ashamed before God that we redeemed with the same blood and taught by the same Spirit should yet be so unlike these men in vehement heart consuming love to Jesus and the souls of men M Cheyne

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