Year: 1876

WrOng; and on looking care
fully INTO my heart, ! found
the little matter of a mort
gage which l had forcClosed
on a poor man, and got away
his farm, when he had no sus-
picion but l would give aim
time to redeem it. BY that
means l had got into my pos
session property worth two
thousand dollars, for which I
did not actually pay, and for
which Isaac Dorr neveractu-
ally realized more than half
that amount. But the procee-
ding was entirely legal, ,and so
l tried to excuse myself. But
my awakened conscience kept
saying, You have taken a
poor mans lard without Civ
ing him a just return; the law
of God condemns you, altho'
the law of man sanctions the
wrong. You shall have no
peace of soul, your heart will
burn you, until with justice
you wipe out your own injus-
tice to him and to all others
whom you have wronged.'


Against the decree of my
conscience I rcbclled a long
time. 1t was hard for me to
raise a thousand dollars, to-
gether with the interest due
from the time the mortgage
was foreclosed; and it was like
taking a portion of my lifeto
be obliged tosubtract somuch
money from my gains, and
give it to a man who had no
legal claim upon me. I groan-
ed and moaned over it in Sc
cret, and tried to pray, but
that mortgage came right up
between my prayer and God,
and heaven looked dark and
frowning through it. At last
| could not resist the appeals
of conscience any longer,and
l went again to the minister,
told him my trouble, ard ask
ed him what l should do.


There is a simple test. said
he. DO you love your neigh
bor as yourself! If you do,
you will be just to him, if it
takes from You the last dollar
you have in the world


That wasa terrible sentence.
[ won't out staggering from it
as if | had received a blow.
% God! [ said, how can | be
a christian?' But / had help
beyond myself, otherwise /
could never have ended that
struggle. / knelt before God
and sJlemnly vowed for His
sake, for the sake of His par
don and love- [ would not on
ly d" justly to the poor man
l had wronged, but would
give up, if need he, all l had
in the world, SO that I might
find peare in Him. "A strange,
soothing influence came over
my soul, and 4 voice seemed
to say, Though you lose all
you have, God and Christ,
and all the blesslngsofa heart
pure and at peace, shall be left
you, the best and only true
source of happiness and life.
And in tho solemn night
time, after I gave up the
struggle, that comfort seemed
to me so great and precious
that / felt willing,ifit would
only stay with me, to accept
poverty, and go into the world
poor and despised, hugging
that priceless blessing in my
heart. The next day I was as
light as if / had had wings.
Nothing could keep me from
going to see Isaac Dorr, with
a couple of hundred dollars
in my pocket, and a note for
the remainder of what I owed
him.


'Well,' said the narrator,
with tears running down his
cheeks, I only wish that eve-
ry person here could have
seen the Dorr family when /
visited them, land made known
my errand. Poor Isaac had
growc quite discouraged, and
had just made mp his mind to
quit his wife and children,
and go to California. His
children were crying, and his
wife was in the extremity oi
distress and despair. She re-
ceiTed me a great deal better
than | anticipated; / had &C.
ted accordingly TO law, she
said, and Isaac, careless and
v,Nr,Np1,v.sI1nf xn..1-A1