Chapter 17

“Then farewell, pure spirit! and oh that on allThy mantle of love and devotion might fall!Like thee may we toil, that with thee we may rest,With our Saviour above, in the home of the blest!”

“Then farewell, pure spirit! and oh that on all

Thy mantle of love and devotion might fall!

Like thee may we toil, that with thee we may rest,

With our Saviour above, in the home of the blest!”

SECOND AND BETTER BIRTH.

Miss Fiske could neither remember the time when she was unimpressed by religious truth, nor the precise period at which she was born again. To her father she was indebted for that remarkable acquaintancewith the Bible, which often surprised and delighted her friends. Fond of general reading, he took a special pleasure in consulting the lively oracles. He honoured the Bible in the family. When his children manifested a distaste for their lessons in the catechism, he permitted them to substitute the inspired for the uninspired word. He believed that it was quite as safe to drink at the fountain-head as at the stream. When thirteen years of age, her Sabbath-school teacher—a daughter of her pastor—one day faithfully addressed her class on the subject of personal religion. That night Fidelia lay on her bed wakeful and tearful. At length her anxiety became too great to be concealed. Her mother suspecting the true state of the case, and alluding to the fact that something seemed to be troubling her, one day kindly said, “What is it, my child?” The full heart instantly overflowed with the long pent-up feeling, as she answered, “Mother, I am a lost sinner.” She had a wise counsellor, who led her to look well into the grounds of her hope; and the result was a Christian profession, not only free from palpable defect, but unusually enriched with the fruits of the Spirit. When an infant leaves the womb, although the same, it may be said to be a new creature. Now, just because the change wrought on the soul in conversion is also great, it is called a birth. That is the first; this is the second, and better birth. Better! because in that a daughter of man is born but for the grave; whereas in this a daughter of God is born for glory.

JUVENILE HABIT OF DOING GOOD.

She soon began to take a deep and active interest in the spiritual welfare of others. Her heart went forth most tenderly towards the poor of Christ’s flock, amongst whom she spent a large portion of her time, seeking not only to comfort them, but to improve her own piety by listening to their simple records of Divine goodness. She loved the Lord’s poor intensely; and could not bear to hear their infirmities too freely animadverted upon. She delighted unbidden to soothe the sorrows of those who were in distress, no matter how bad their previous conduct may have been. To activity in her kind offices she joined perseverance. Her charity was an evergreen, preserving its verdure at all seasons.

The Sabbath-school was to her a most congenial sphere of usefulness, and to its labours she gave herself with full purpose of heart. She had a high idea of the importance of this work; spent much time in preparation for her class; and was an example of punctuality, regularity, kindness, and devotion. Her interest in her pupils was not confined to the hour spent with them on the Sabbath. She sought, in various ways, to win them to Christ, often calling the pen to her aid. Verily she believed that the whole Church was formed of individual members, and the whole tide of Christian exertion made up of single acts; just as the ocean is formed of drops, the globe of particles, and the nocturnal glory of single stars. Her sentiments were in harmony with the following inspiring verses:—

“Go up and watch the new-born rill,Just bursting from its mossy bed;Streaking the heath-clad hill,With a bright emerald thread.Canst thou its bold career foretell,What rock it may o’erleap or rend;How far in ocean swell,Its freshening billows send?Perchance that little rill may flowThe bulwark of some mighty realm—Bear navies to and fro,With monarchs at their helm.A pebble in the streamlet scant,Has turned the course of many a river;A dew-drop on the tiny plant,May warp the giant oak for ever.”

“Go up and watch the new-born rill,Just bursting from its mossy bed;Streaking the heath-clad hill,With a bright emerald thread.

“Go up and watch the new-born rill,

Just bursting from its mossy bed;

Streaking the heath-clad hill,

With a bright emerald thread.

Canst thou its bold career foretell,What rock it may o’erleap or rend;How far in ocean swell,Its freshening billows send?

Canst thou its bold career foretell,

What rock it may o’erleap or rend;

How far in ocean swell,

Its freshening billows send?

Perchance that little rill may flowThe bulwark of some mighty realm—Bear navies to and fro,With monarchs at their helm.

Perchance that little rill may flow

The bulwark of some mighty realm—

Bear navies to and fro,

With monarchs at their helm.

A pebble in the streamlet scant,Has turned the course of many a river;A dew-drop on the tiny plant,May warp the giant oak for ever.”

A pebble in the streamlet scant,

Has turned the course of many a river;

A dew-drop on the tiny plant,

May warp the giant oak for ever.”

MISSIONARY LIFE.

Miss Fiske had the spirit of a missionary, before she had the most distant conception of ever being engaged in the work. Her missionary life would not suffer by comparison with that of the most devoted agents who ever entered the field. At Seir, the Lord gave her an earnest of the blessing He was about to bestow on her self-renouncing labours in Persia. When the intelligence was received by her of sixty young ladies who were unconverted at the time she left Mount Holyoke, and all but six of whom were now rejoicing in hope, she burst into a flood of grateful tears.

When the American missionaries went to Persia, there was but a single Nestorian female who could read. She was Helena, the sister of the Patriarch,whose superior rank secured her this accomplishment. The rest were not only ignorant, but content to remain so. In addition to this, the poor Nestorians groaned under the bondage of a Mohammedan yoke, whose rule was capricious and tyrannical. In entering on her missionary duties, Miss Fiske writes: “Soon after our arrival, one of the elder members of our circle remarked that he did not know of five in the whole Nestorian nation whom he could look upon as true Christians.” The female seminary, which has done so much for the social, intellectual, and spiritual improvement of woman in Persia, was, during the first five years of its existence, simply a day-school: the pupils boarding at home, and spending only a few hours daily with their teachers in the school-room. From the first, she was very desirous of changing the character of the school, making it a boarding-school, in which pupils might remain several years, and be under the exclusive care and training of the teachers. The very idea of such a school was so repugnant to all the hereditary views of social propriety among the Nestorians, as to seem almost chimerical. Most of the girls were betrothed before they were twelve years of age; and the parents were afraid to give up those who were not, lest they should lose some favourable opportunity of marriage. They were also apprehensive that if their daughters were put to a boarding-school, they would not be able to carry heavy burdens, nor wield the spade so successfully as their companions who had never learned to read. But notwithstanding these difficulties, Miss Fiske succeeded in establishing a flourishing school conformed to her own ideal.

Her efforts to interest the women in the Bible were sometimes amusing. After reading the history of the creation, she asked, “Who was the first man?” They answered, “What do we know? we are women.” Then she told them that Adam was the first man, and made them repeat the name till they remembered it. The next question was, “What does it mean?” Here too they could give no answer; but were delighted to find that the first man was calledred earth, because he was made of it. This was enough for one lesson. It woke up faculties previously dormant. She was not content with the few women who came to receive religious instruction at the seminary; but visited them at their homes, going from house to house, where filth and vermin would have repelled any woman of refinement whose heart did not glow with love to Christ, and love to perishing souls for whom He died.

RESULT OF A CONSECRATED LIFE.

The great study of Miss Fiske was to be Christ-like. She lived but for one object—the glory of the Redeemer in connection with the salvation of immortal souls. Hence, she carried with her a kind of hallowing influence into every company into which she entered; and her friends were accustomed to feel as if all were well when their measures met with the sanction and approval of the young missionary. In January, 1846, the work of the Holy Spirit became deep and general. The first Monday of the new year was observed by the mission as a day of fasting and prayer. “We had spoken,” writes Miss Fiske, “ofpassing that day in wrestling for souls. But we had only begun toseek, not towrestle, when we learned that souls were pleading for themselves.” The intellects of the girls seemed greatly quickened by the grace in their hearts; thus illustrating the power of the gospel, to elevate and improve the whole character and life. The conversion of Deacon Gewergis, one of the vilest of the Nestorians; and his subsequent devotion to Christ, is too beautiful and of too profound significance to be omitted. After much faithful and affectionate conversation, Miss Fiske said to him, “When we stand at the bar of God, and when you are found on theleft hand, as you certainly will be if you go on in your present course, promise me that you will tell the assembled universe that, on this 22nd day of February, 1846, you were told your danger.” She could say no more; her heart was full. He burst into tears, and said, “My sister, I need this salvation.” On the 12th March, 1856, he died in the Lord. The year 1849 witnessed one of the most interesting and extensive revivals that ever occurred in connection with the Nestorian mission. All the girls in the female seminary over twelve years of age, were hopefully converted, and many of them were, from that time, bright and shining lights in that dark land. The secret of these conversions may surely be said to be the spirit of entire dependence upon God. The imagination was not appealed to by terrors. There were no dramatic scenes to awaken fear. There was no mere got-up excitement. It was as if flowers that had been in darkness were persuaded to crave the blessed sunlight.

CHARACTER OF MISS FISKE.

Some of our great writers portray the physique of their heroes and heroines so minutely that they start into life before our eyes. Height, size, complexion, conformation of features, to a gauntlet or ribbon, all are on the graphic page. But the excellent memoir recently published in England, gives us no account of thepersonnelof Fidelia Fiske. Judging from her portrait, she was about the middle size, finely formed features, rather delicate, loving eye, mild face, naturally diffident, yet cheerful, trustful, and hopeful.

She was a singularly gifted woman, and could accomplish with comparative ease what would be quite impracticable, or very difficult, to others. There was the quick comprehension, and the executive tact, which hardly ever made a failure, or put forth an inefficient effort. Every stroke and every touch from her always told in every undertaking. There was not the slightest bluster nor pretension about her. So quiet and unostentatious were her movements, that they would not have been observed, but for their marvellous results. If endowed with genius; it was unaccompanied by eccentricity or folly.

We need scarcely add that she was a noble specimen of true Christian womanhood. With the testimony of Dr. Kirk, the eminent Congregationalist minister of Boston, we close our pleasant task. “I wish to speak carefully; but I am sure I can say I never saw one who came nearer to Jesus in self-sacrifice. If ever there should be an extension of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, I think the name of Fidelia Fiske wouldstand there. That is a list of those who either had remarkable faith, or who suffered for the truth. She was a martyr. She made the greatest sacrifice.She had given up her will; and when you have done that, the rest is easy. To burn at the stake for awhile, to be torn on the rack, to be devoured by wild beasts, is as nothing when you have torn out your own will, and laid it upon God’s altar.”

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