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134 A Great Missionary Frogram for Russia
A Stirring Illustration
In the time of Oliver Cromwell, the iron man of England, an officer
of his army was found to be a traitor, and Oliver Cromwell signed
the death warrant for him. An order was given that the next morn-
ing when the bell from a nearby church steeple should ring at six
o’clock that officer was to be shot. The wife of the officer came
into the room where Oliver Cromwell was and fell upon her knees
and said, "Sir, won’t you pardon my husband?" "No," he said, "he
has been proving himself a traitor to the country and to the common-
wealth, and he must die tomorrow morning when the bell from the
church steeple nearby will ring at six o’clock, then he will be shot."
And, heart-broken, this woman of love went out of his presence.
Oh, what she experienced! She did not sleep that night, of course;
and early in the dawn, long before sun rise, the form of the wretched
woman, torn by grief in her heart, was seen hurrying towards the
church steeple; and up she went, step by step, until she reached
where the large bell was hanging; and before the man, perhaps ninety
years of age, both deaf and blind, who received a few shillings a
month for his service. At last the hour came for the man to ring
that bell. This woman, the wife of the officer, had gone and under
the bell she had hidden herself, and when that blind and deaf man
began to take hold of the tongue of the bell and pull this way, this
poor woman placed her hand between the brass tongue of the bell
and the side; and instead of striking the side of the bell, it struck
the soft hand of the loving wife of that officer; and no sound was
heard. Then the man swung it the other way, and this woman jumped
up and put her left hand upon the other side of the bell, and it struck
her left hand. For about five minutes it kept on striking against her
hands, until instead of fingers there were only shreds of flesh and
blood left. Tears were flowing down the face of that woman in her
suffering, but she never made a sound because she was suffering for
a loved one. And when the man had finished she went down, the
blood dropping to the floor, and she went to Cromwell, the man who
had said her husband must die. She stretched forth her bleeding
hands and said: "For the sake of these hands won’t you forgive my
husband?" Cromwell began to weep and he said: "Woman, great
is thy love. Go in peace."
Jesus Christ has given His hands for the poor Russian people.
Jesus Christ has suffered because of them, and when I see the sacri-
fice, when I see how much He loved me, what is it that I can hold
back, because this is His will? Let us now go to business.
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