Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-02-01
HALF AN HouR IN SouruDx.-


| HALF AN HouR IN SorIruDx.-A
young lady possessing very sweet re.
Iligious spirit, gives the following &C,
count of her first serious impressions:
"I entered the seminary-the Noun
Holyoke, then under the care of the la,
mented Mary Lyon--s very gay and
thoughtless girl. 1 expected l should
have to become religious some time OIL
other, in order to save my soul from de
struction; but it was the last thing / de-
sired to do, and l hoped for long, long
years of enjoyment first. ~
Among other regulations which
were made known to US, we were in
formed that every pupil was required to
spend half an hour in her own room
alone, each day. In compliance with
this requisition, / entered my little apart
ment; all was silent, solemn; could
almost hear the bestings of my heart,
and an unaccountable. awe stole over nv
spirit. 1 could not trifie with. OF ridi-
cule the regulation. l could not even
spend the time in common reading. l
tried to, but dared not. Conscience
lifted up her voice in that deep silence,
and made itself heard. 1t told me
ought to pray; and l felt as if the AL
mighty himself stood by, commanding
me to pray, and listening to hear if l
complied. And yet / had no desire to
do it. My heart was cold and hard; /
was distressed, but not melted-afraid,
but not penitent. Slowly the time wore
away; gazed out of the window on
the noble range of mountains visible
from that beautiful location, and beheld
the glorious works of the great Creator;
but while my heart kindled into a kind
of poetic enthusiasm at the sight, / had
no desire to become the child Of that
divine and holy Being; there was an op-
position to the very idea rising up in
my breast. At length the bell sum-
moned me to the recitation-room, and /
gladly fled from that dreary solitude.
''Day after day passed in similar
manner. | sometimes read little in
my Bible, but it did not interest me; yet
l never dared read any thing else, SO
thoroughly was my conscience awaked.
After some days, it occurred to me what
a wicked creature l was, to be thus un-
willing to pray, and to seek Him who
had done so much for me, and who alone
could save my soul. / dwelt upon the
thought, and for several successive days
a sense of guilt accumulated, till the
burden was very heavy on my soul;
and the first sincere prayer ever Of
fered in my lonely room was wrung
from mesby a deep conviction of my
sinfulness. Almost unconsciously, |
cried, God be merciful to me a sinnerp
And he was merciful. He heard my
feeble cry, and before any one had
spoken to me individually upon the sub
ject Of religion, had been convinced of
my great guilt, and of my need of Jesus
for Saviour. Much excellent instruc-
ton was given to the pupils generally.
and when | had begun to cherish faint,
trembling hope that my sins were for
given, my class-teaeher one day asked
me if l hoped | was Christian.
"The Principal afterwards had con-
versation with me, and | need not say to
any one who has known her faithful
earnestness and tender anxiety for her
pupils, how replete that conversation
was with sound, practical wisdow.-l
When | told her how | was first led to |
feel upon this subject, she said, 'Oh yes,
il is because we do not think, that we
are so unconcerned. tits Satan's great
device to keep souls from God, to oc-
cupy them so completely with other
things, that they have no time nor
chance to think when we think, the
Holy Spirit can gain entrance, and it
leads us to see things as they are."
The pupil thus led to Christ is now in
a distant land; and thousands of miles
away from her New England home, she
is ditfusing the light and peace acquired
in those half-hours of solitary medita-
lion and prayer. N G.
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