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332
MEDDELANDEN’ OCH AKTSTYCKEN
its existence in May 1856, to the last of December, i860, the Institution
lias sold or given gratis, more than 1,500,000 books and tracts. The
number of its colporteurs has now increased to 55, of which 49 are in
activity; the agents in the provinces amount to 120.
In the letters of our colporteurs we have many interesting evidences
of the faithful and almighty working of our Lord. There is one
characteristic feature, meeting us almost everywhere in their monthly
reports. They have had to struggle with animosity and resistance, and
they have also witnessed a most blessed change in places and in the very
same persons, in such a way, that those who were once their enemies,
have eagerly wished to hear them, and have cried: "Come here, come
down to us, come and preach to us!" And though we have now about
50 such Evangelists, we are not by far able to answer every special call,
and much less their number is in proportion to the real want.
I am sure it will interest you to hear some proofs of what the
Lord is doing among us, though in a letter like this, I cannot give you
anything more complete. One of our colporteurs in Wermland writes:
" I had a call to visit a forge. On my arrival I found assembled
in the open air a crowd of people, desirous to hear the Word of God.
Some of them had wandered many miles and others had little children
on their arms. It was very cold, the snow was deep, and the authorities
were not willing to give us a room where we could assemble for worship.
I wondered what our Heavenly Father intended to do with us. By
His Spirit he led me to go to the people where they stood in the snow,
and ask them if they wished to hear the Word of God. A very loud
’ yes, we do,’ was their unanimous answer. Some of them had tears in
their eyes. I read to them and spoke over Matth. 5: 1—12, and God let
us feel his presence and the power of his Word. It is a pleasure to tell
you, that when I had spoken for a while, a mild wind began to blow,
which unclouded the sun, whose brilliant rays warmed and cheered us."
In another parish of the same province, another colporteur found
a woman who had been awakened many years before. In her concern
for her salvation she had spoken to the clergyman of the parish, and
he had declared her to be mad. Her parents, unbelieving and hard
hearted people, had forbidden her to read the Word, and finally she
really grew weak of mind. " When I visited her," so he writes, " she
was bound with an iron chain, and had been so for many years. I
spoke to her, but she answered me very unpolitely. When I saw her
in this depraved state of moral and corporeal misery, my heart was
filled with compassion. I took my Bible, read the 25th Psalm, knelt
down and prayed to Jesus, that He might for the sake of His name,
rescue her soul and take off the horrid chain from this sheep, which
he had himself redeemed with his blood. In praying so my heart was
filled with joy and certainty of being heard. When I rose again, I
saw that the eyes of the poor woman were filled with tears; she stretched
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