Читать книгу Eli and Sibyl Jones, Their Life and Work - Rufus M. Jones - Страница 11

"Oh may my future hours be given

To peace, to virtue, and to Heaven,

My hopes retain immortal birth,

My joys ascend above the earth,

My steps retrace the path they trod,

My heart be fixed alone on God!"

While still young she burned most of her prose and poetic compositions, partly because she was so often forced to read them aloud to company, and very little from those years remains.

The following short poem may be as interesting as any, as her early wish here expressed was so perfectly fulfilled in the character of her accepted life-companion:

"What! shall a face, then, win my heart,

Mere symmetry of form?

Such thrilling raptures this impart

With love my bosom warm?

As well might ocean's billow heave

When not a wind did rise,

As Fancy thus my heart deceive

And fix my wandering eyes,

No; 'tis the beauty of the soul

That could my bosom fire;

This would my tenderest thought control,

And love and truth inspire."

The thoughts expressed in some of her maxims show the bent of her mind, whether they are original or not. For example: "If you are told that another reviles you, do not go about to vindicate yourself, but reply thus: My other faults, I find, are hid from him, else I should have heard of them too;" "Fix your character and keep to it, whether alone or in company;" "No man can hurt you unless you please to let him; then only are you hurt when you think yourself so."

Whatever her early attempts may show, Sybil Jones was certainly of a highly poetic nature. Her whole organism was so delicate that musical tones proceeded from her at the slightest touches from within or without. Melodious words came almost unsummoned to her lips as she plead with sinners to come to the waters of life and "drink without money and without price." John Bright told the present writer that it was always a delight to him to listen to her, and that he regarded her as a poet of high degree in her thought and expression.

So with her daily duties and her thoughts of life and the future she developed from girlhood to womanhood, and at the age of twenty-five became the wife of Eli Jones. The joy and fruit resulting from their union show unmistakably how fully they were suited for each other, and they gave each other mutual help and inspiration. Their married life was begun at South China upon a farm which has since been divided into a number of smaller ones. The young wife was very careful in her expenditures, and an accurate account of all their expenses and their income was minutely kept by her.

The Friends' meeting-house was three miles away at Dirigo. Thither they rode through the long, quiet woods every First and Fifth day to take their places among the rows of Friends waiting upon the Lord. Few houses made with hands have received more devoted worshippers, and few places have been more hallowed by the presence of pure souls met with one purpose, that of honoring the Ruler of the universe and learning from His Holy Spirit. Here, in the presence of sympathizing listeners, the voices of these two young Friends were often heard, and they were early enrolled among the ministers of the Society. The phrase of the early Friends was truly fitting in their case: "Their gifts were acknowledged." The men and women of China meeting made it their greatest endeavor to serve God acceptably in the path of daily duty and self-denial. One by one their beautiful lives have ended; happily, a few of them are yet left as examples, but a Quakerism—or rather a Christianity—which could round and perfect such characters had no earthly origin. China meeting at this time did not abound in powerful ministers, but its members were men and women whose lives were transparent and pure. They were "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," and they lived sermons. There has almost always been in this community one or two Hymenæuses and Philetuses who have drawn creeds for their private guidance and who have severely troubled the Friends; but such disturbances have generally resulted in the exaltation of the true faith, and as in the natural world the struggle to overcome hindrances to growth adds strength and vigor, so a wolf in sheep's clothing within the fold increases the vigilance of the spirit and the dependence on the great Shepherd. There were many intricate questions now and then arising for discussion which gave valuable instruction to the young ministers, and they were gradually being prepared for useful service. Those of other denominations who know only of a training in a theological seminary as a fitting for preaching and teaching cannot understand how they were being taught in this remote country village; but "by the Spirit's finer ear" they were hearing truths of life and immortality, and on the Rock they were building characters of gold, silver, precious stones.

Eli Jones was a hard-working man, not only doing his farm-work, but at different times owning shares in mills at Albion and in China and assisting in the work of running them. After living a few years at South China he removed to Dirigo and settled on a farm near the Friends' meeting, where he lived until 1886.

While Eli Jones was in London in 1875 he wrote to Sarah Fobey, a lifelong friend of his beloved wife, for her recollections of their school-days together, and her thoughts as to Sybil Jones's spiritual exercises then and since. She wrote from Montreux, Switzerland, as follows:

"My mind is filled with sweet and precious memories of the dear one. She and I met at Friends' School in Providence in 1825. We met as strangers, but a feeling of sympathy which is not easily explained soon drew us together, and our intercourse there was the commencement of one of the most delightful friendships that in all this changing scene grew stronger and brighter with every passing year. I remember her as one of the most studious pupils in the school, always coming to her class with her lessons fully prepared and reciting them in a manner that gained the admiration of her classmates. She had great love for the beautiful, and a keen enjoyment of beautiful language whether poetry or prose, and committing to memory, as she did, with ease, her mind thus early became stored with much that was an enjoyment to her in after years. In our Scripture lessons we made our own selections, hers were always the most beautiful portions of the Bible, often from Isaiah and the Psalms, a long chapter thoroughly committed to memory, and recited in a manner which showed she appreciated the truths it declared.

"To her schoolmates she was most kind and affectionate, and by her readiness to assist them in their lessons and in every way to do them good gained their universal love and esteem.

"She had a great flow of animal spirits, and entered with warmth and interest into all our innocent pleasures and amusements; but such was her sense of justice and of right that she would never overstep the bounds of order nor disobey the regulations of the school. Of her religious feeling and experience at that time I cannot speak. It was not the custom then, as now in our Society, to speak of conversion or to tell what God had done for our souls; and I had supposed that it was not until after her return home that she gave her heart to Jesus and became fully and entirely a child of His, ready to do His bidding, and desiring above every other consideration to follow Him in the way of His leading. How faithfully she did so, going from place to place, from city to city, from State to State, finally from continent to continent, declaring the unsearchable riches of Christ! One of the most affectionate and loving of mothers, she counted nothing too near or too dear to part with for His blessed name's sake.

"How many sinners she has warned! how many inquirers she has pointed to Jesus, the door of hope! how many mourners she has comforted! She faithfully obeyed the injunction, 'Sow ye beside all waters,' and the seed thus sown has taken root, and will continue to bear fruit long after we shall have gone to join the dear ones who earlier than we have entered into their Master's rest. Who can calculate the amount of good that one such life of dedication and devotion has accomplished? It seems to me that a faithful record of it should be an incentive to others to seek to follow her as she followed Christ. To me she was the most remarkable woman I have ever met, and I feel it to have been a peculiar blessing to have known her so long and loved her so well. Now, as I write, 'Memory opens the long vista of buried years,' and my heart travels through them all. I linger around sunny spots, happy hours, days of delight, seasons of sweet spiritual communion, in which she related to me the wonderful dealings of her heavenly Father toward her, and the remarkable manner in which she was often supplied with means to accomplish the service she believed He required of her—how when there seemed no way for her to move He made a way.

"She always seemed to me to be so spiritually-minded, and to live so near her Saviour, as to be led and guided in a remarkable manner by Him. I remember her when she opened her prospect to go to Europe for the last time. She rises before me now, as she has often done, as I saw her then. Soon after the meeting of ministers and elders assembled Doctor Tobey arose and said, 'If there is a subject of particular interest and importance to come before the meeting, this seems to be the proper time.'

"She had not expected to present it at that sitting, but, as she afterward told me, she said to herself, 'That surely means me.'

"She sat a little, while a feeling of great solemnity overspread the meeting. She then arose with the most beautiful and heavenly expression of countenance, her whole soul filled with the engrossing subject, and with a grace and elegance of manner of which she was entirely unconscious told us in beautiful and touching language what she felt called to do in the service of her Lord, gratefully acknowledging His many mercies thus far in her journey of life, and her unshaken confidence and trust in Him for all that was to come. The meeting was greatly moved and she was liberated with entire unity.

"How lovely and sweet she was! and, though she lived so many years and did so much good in them all, it always seems to me that she died 'in the midst of her years.'

"Oh, we should have liked to keep her longer, the dear one! But He who seeth to the end knew when to close the strife—

'Knew when to loose the silver cord,

To break the golden bowl,

And give to her that richest gift,

Salvation of the soul.'"