All posts by Mary Walker

Still More Book Reviews

Still More Books About Extraordinary Women

These reviews include two famous women explorers, a godly pastor’s wife who wrote a very famous hymn, a champion of the poor, and a missionary to western Africa. It is marvelous how many ways God uses women to take the Gospel to the lost. I hope you will get these books. You will be inspired and blessed!

— Soskice, Janet, The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels, (Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, New York, 2010).

During the nineteenth century the Bible came under attack by liberal scholars influenced by the so-called “higher criticism”. Critics not only doubted the dates of the Gospels but they doubted the integrity of the text itself.

Faithful Christians never doubted that the Word of God was given by the Holy Spirit and that the Scriptures had been protected by God down through the centuries. They longed to counter the claims of the liberals but there were very few ancient copies of the Scriptures to authenticate their claim that the Bible indeed was written by Paul and other men of God during the first century.

But God has continually protected His Word and in His providence directed the finding of evidence of its veracity. Twin sisters – Margaret Smith Gibson and Agnes Smith Lewis – came across one of the earliest known copies of the four Gospels in a secluded monastery in the Sinai Peninsula.

Janet Soskice tells the story of these remarkable twin sisters in a very engaging manner. Not only is this a great adventure story, but Janet Soskice gives all of the background to the machinations and intrigues of those scholars who hunted for ancient manuscripts. Cambridge University wanted to downplay any credit to the Smith twins, simply because they were women. God chooses whom He will to serve Him and these sisters gave a great gift to the world. You will have a hard time putting this book down.

— James, Sharon, Elizabeth Prentiss: ‘More Love to Thee’, (The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA, 2006).

Many people are familiar with the hymn “More Love to Thee”. Not many know that it was written by a very godly Christian woman after the nearly fatal illness of her daughter. Elizabeth had suffered many tragedies in her life but always remained faithful to Christ.

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
This is my earnest plea,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

In this wonderful biography of Elizabeth Prentiss Sharon James relates the story of this virtuous pastor’s wife in a way that will bless you as you seek to grow in your love for God. For over one hundred and forty years Christians have been given hope by the words of Elizabeth Prentiss through her hymns and her writings. She truly lived for Christ and has inspired many to do the same.

— Prentiss, Elizabeth, Stepping Heavenward, (The Bible People, USA, 2014).

Elizabeth Prentiss wrote many books and poetry. Her children’s stories were very popular in the mid nineteenth century. “Stepping Heavenward” is one of the books that remains popular today. Elizabeth’s hymn, “More Love to Thee” expressed all that she wanted for her life. That message is timeless and many Christian women have been drawn closer to God while reading this book.

Published in 1869, within thirty years more than 200,000 copies were sold. “Stepping Heavenward” relates the theme of the centrality of our love for God in the form of a story. It appears as a diary of a woman who gives the day to day events of her life as she prepares for eternal life with God.

There are many editions of “Stepping Heavenward”. The one referenced above also contains study questions that may be used by women’s Bible studies.

— Kent, Deborah, Dorothy Day: Friend to the Forgotten, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, 1996).

Deborah Kent presents this story beginning with Dorothy’s early memories of her mother’s aid to the destitute and homeless after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, through the devastation of the depression, the aftermath of World War II, and the demonstrations for worker’s rights in the 1970’s, and many other causes.

Dorothy Day’s life was one of service to others for over four decades. She is well known as the leader of the Catholic Worker Movement. She was committed to social justice because of her love for Christ. Her Bible was her main solace.

Dorothy believed that the best way to get people to behave well was to set the example of Christian living. This she did until her death. Many people today are following in her path of caring for the poor with food, shelter, and love.

This edition of the biography of Dorothy Day is part of a series written for young people entitled, “Women of Spirit”. Most of these volumes seem to be out of print but if you can find them it will be rewarding. They tell the stories of women who made great contributions to society while highlighting their faith.

If you cannot find this edition, get any good book on Dorothy Day because her example of how to truly “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk” is what made her so endearing to those around her.

— Lutz, Lorry, When God Says Go: The Amazing Journey of a Slave’s Daughter (Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids, 2002).

Growing up a “poor little black girl” in Texas, Eliza Davis George learned about Jesus and then chose to serve Him by taking the Gospel to her ancestors in western Africa. She served in Liberia and lived to the remarkable old age of 100. Many hundreds of Liberians called her “Mother Eliza” as she rescued girls from forced marriages to old men and provided education for tribal peoples.

When the official leaders would not support her mission, she raised the funds herself. She went to Africa with very little money but she knew God had called her and she went trusting in Him to care for her. When she returned to the States she raised money for Africa.

This feisty little woman will want to make you cheer as you read how she overcame so many obstacles to love people with the love of Jesus.

Lorry Lutz’s book reads like a novel and you will really enjoy it! You will be so blessed by this indomitable woman – one that I truly cannot wait to talk to when I get to Heaven!

Elizabeth Prentiss – More Love to Thee, O Christ

Most Christians are familiar with the inspirational story about Horatio Spafford, composer of the words to the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul” (1873).

God allowed much tragedy in Mr. and Mrs. Spaffords’ lives and they lost their only son. Then they lost all of their possessions in the great Chicago Fire in 1871. In 1873 Horatio Spafford arranged a trip to Europe for his wife and daughters to help them recover from the tragedies. On the way the ship had an accident and all four of the Spafford daughters were drowned; only Mrs. Spafford survived.

On board the ship on the way to England to comfort his wife, Horatio Spafford penned the famous words, “When sorrow like sea billows roll; it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Later, Philip Bliss would be inspired by Horatio Spafford’s story and write the music to go with the poem. Millions of people have been comforted and inspired by this song.

Many people are also familiar with the hymn “More Love to Thee”. Not many know that it was written by a very godly Christian woman after the nearly fatal illness of her daughter. Like Horatio Spafford, this woman had suffered many tragedies in her life but always remained faithful to Christ. This woman was Elizabeth Payson Prentiss.

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
This is my earnest plea,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss was born in Portland, Maine on October 26, 1818. She came from a long line of ministers including Edward Payson (early seventeenth century) who was married to Mary Eliot, the sister of the famous John Eliot, “Apostle to the Indians”. Elizabeth’s father, also named Edward Payson and mother Ann Louisa Shipman had eight children (only six survived); Elizabeth was the fifth child. She was a beautiful, slender, dark-eyed, and quiet yet observant young lady. It was said that no one could know her without loving her. All of her life she would put others before herself.

Elizabeth’s father died when she was barely nine years old. She grew close to her mother. When the family moved to New York Elizabeth contributed to the care of her mother through teaching. In May of 1831, Elizabeth made a public profession of faith in Christ and joined the church. She never did anything by halves; she dedicated her entire life to serving Christ by serving others.

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek; give what is best:
This all my prayer shall be,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Elizabeth taught for several years in Richmond, Virginia. While she was away she carried on a correspondence with good friend Anna Prentiss. Anna’s brother George grew interested in Elizabeth. When the school closed in Richmond, Elizabeth moved back home and three weeks later she accepted George Prentiss’s proposal of marriage!

In 1845 George and Elizabeth settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. George became the pastor of the South Trinitarian Church.

Elizabeth’s first child, Annie, was born in 1846. Twenty-one months later in 1848 Elizabeth had a baby boy, Edward Payson named after her late father. The joy of this baby was overshadowed by the death of Elizabeth’s mother only three weeks after Eddy’s birth.

Baby Eddy had many health issues including colic and sleeplessness. Elizabeth herself was plagued with sleeplessness and had to seek some rest. God blessed her with returning strength and she lovingly resumed her duties.

George was offered an associate pastorship at Mercer Street Presbyterian Church in New York City. The Prentisses moved there in 1851. This church was actively involved in mission work that thrilled the tender and caring heart of Elizabeth.

Early in 1852 Eddy succumbed to a severe illness (possibly meningitis). His suffering while dying was tremendous; the medical treatments at that time were painful and unhelpful. Elizabeth grieved tremendously. She was six months pregnant and had not recovered from her grief when her third child, Bessie (Elizabeth) was born.

Elizabeth was only to get some comfort from this newborn child for about a month. Then she noticed that something was seriously wrong. Elizabeth had a premonition that this child was going to die also. Little Bessie succumbed to a burning fever and died on May 19, 1852. Elizabeth was now left with “One child and two green graves.” Completely exhausted she went away for the summer with her remaining daughter, Annie and got some rest.

Elizabeth turned to writing for relief. She wrote many books, including one that is still popular today, “Stepping Heavenward”. She wrote a number of children’s books and she wrote poetry.

On July 23, 1854 Minnie was born. This child was often sick and fell seriously ill at age 18 months. The doctor told Elizabeth that Minnie was dying. Elizabeth stayed at Minnie’s side praying through the night and nursing her until Minnie finally pulled through.

Later in “Stepping Heavenward” she recalled, “Alas, my faith seemed, for a time, to flee, and I could see just what a poor, weak human being is without it. But before daylight crept into my room light from on high streamed into my heart, and I gave even this, my ewe lamb, away, as my free-will offering to God. Could I refuse Him my child because she was the very apple of my eye? No indeed …Could I not endure heart-sickness for Him who had given His only Son for me!” What joy in the morning when Minnie opened her eyes and gave her sweet smile to Elizabeth!

Her husband George thought that it was probably at this time that Elizabeth wrote the poem that would later became the famous hymn, “More Love to Thee”.

Let sorrow do its work, send grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Elizabeth had three more healthy children and published more books. Though a busy pastor’s wife who ministered to the needy in the congregation, Elizabeth put her own family’s needs first. Her heart ached for Eddie and Bessie, but she had much joy in her other children.

George suffered from failing health and the family moved to Europe for a time so he could rest. In 1860 they returned to New York where George took up his responsibilities again as pastor of the Mercer Street Church. He also held a chair and Union Theological Seminary.

Elizabeth was plagued off and on with severe health problems of her own. Once in 1873 she fell critically ill. She called her children to her bed thinking that the time had come when God was calling her home. She kissed them all good-bye but then recovered.

George and Elizabeth later settled in Dorset, Vermont. Elizabeth continued writing books until her last illness in 1878. She passed away on August 13, 1878 at fifty-nine years of age. A simple service took place the next day at her home. Family, friends, and neighbors all mourned this selfless woman who believed that this life is just a preparation for Heaven. Her hymn, “More Love to Thee” was sung at her funeral.

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise,
This still its prayer shall be,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Elizabeth Prentiss

The music for the words was provided by William Doane (1832-1915), composer of over 2000 hymns including many for Fanny Crosby.

For over one hundred and forty years Christians have been given hope by the words of Elizabeth Prentiss through her hymns and her writings. She truly lived for Christ and has inspired many to do the same.

Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson, Part 2

In the course of Agnes’s life she had on many occasions blessed a Greater Providence, but never more ardently than when she stumbled across this blackened wodge of text. How fortunate that her brother-in-law had prevented her from visiting St. Catherine’s six years earlier. How glorious now that former disappointment! Had she and Grace not been stopped at Suez by Gibson’s telegrams, they might have made the desert crossing and passed some time pleasantly enough with the monks, but as tourists – nothing more! She would not have read Rendel Harris’s description of the ‘dark closet’ or have studied Syriac. Nor would she have had any connection to the University of Cambridge, or the interest of its scholars in directing her enquiries; and of course no signed and stamped letter of introduction from the vice-chancellor to ease her progress in Cairo. She would not have had the faintest idea about cameras or the general familiarity with antiquities and manuscripts gained simply from having been married to Samuel Lewis, the keep of the Parker Library. *

(Continued from Part 1, February 23, 2016)

Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson set out on the difficult and dangerous journey to St. Catherine’s monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai in 1892. They had longed for nearly ten years to be able to return to St. Catherine’s Monastery and view the Syriac manuscripts that were supposed to be hidden away in a dark closet. Circumstances, including their brief but happy marriages precluded them from fulfilling their dream.

Agnes and Margaret would later reflect that had they set out any earlier on this adventure they might not have been successful. They believed in a providential God and realized that going on the trip had to wait until His perfect timing.

During their wait, God was preparing them in ways they didn’t understand before they could set out. Agnes was disappointed when her brother-in-law, James Gibson sent her warnings not to go to Sinai because he thought it was too dangerous. She honored him and returned home. Later, she and her husband, Samuel Lewis, would travel to other places. She never lost her desire to see the Holy Land.

It is very exciting to see how the sisters would accomplish the desire of their hearts. They were in mourning as widows but did not sit around for long. Agnes and Margaret would later understand the reasons why they were chosen to find the Sinai Palimpsest even though many men had failed and even though they had to wait. God granted them the success where others had failed.

In the first place, the monks at St. Catherine’s Monastery did not trust European scholars any more. In 1859 the famous Constantin von Tischendorf visited the monastery in search of the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest known copies of the Bible ever found, predating other copies by almost 600 years. It seems that von Tischendorf told the monks that he wanted to “borrow” the manuscript so he could copy it. The generous monks believed him. Von Tischendorf made off with the manuscript to eventual worldwide fame. After publishing a facsimile of the valuable manuscript, von Tischendorf “loaned” it to the Tsar of Russia who had financed his trip. The Tsar took it as a gift.

The monks were wary of most visitors but they trusted a Quaker scholar named Rendel Harris. Harris had received a warm welcome at St. Catherine’s and he had been allowed to study a valuable work, a full text in Syriac called, “Apology of Aristides”. This find was important because it dated to early fourth century and proved once again that a completely developed Christian theology existed before the liberal scholars were willing to concede any developed Christian thought.

Secondly, while at St. Catherine’s Harris had been told about a dark closet off of a chamber beneath the archbishop’s rooms where more manuscripts were kept. He had not had a chance to look at them but he knew that Agnes and Margaret were planning a trip to Mount Sinai. After returning home from his own find, Rendel Harris rushed to Castlebrae, the twins’ home, and told them about his trip, his warm welcome by the monks, and what he suspected about the existence of other important manuscripts. He admired the twins and knew that they had the abilities necessary to be welcomed by the monks. He encouraged them in their dreams of visiting Sinai.

Thirdly, one of the reasons that Rendel Harris got along with the monks was because he could speak modern Greek. This impressed the monks and Rendel Harris knew that the ability to speak the language fluently would give the twins a warm welcome that could be refused to others. He also advised Agnes to brush up on Syriac so that she could positively identify the manuscripts that he believed were hidden away at St. Catherine’s. Agnes applied herself to learning this ancient language that was a variation of the Aramaic spoken by Jesus in the first century. God was getting this remarkable woman ready to identify one of the oldest copies of the Gospels in existence.

Fourthly, through her happy but brief marriage to the Cambridge scholar Samuel Lewis, Agnes was introduced into Cambridge society. She made many friends there. A traveler can’t just go waltzing into St. Catherine’s Monastery without letters of introduction and credentials. Agnes and Margaret were able to get an introductory letter from Cambridge and permission from the Archbishop in Cairo. This would not have been possible ten years before.

Fifthly, the sisters knew that they would not be able to take manuscripts away from the monastery. So these remarkably gifted women learned photography! They traveled with photographic equipment including 1000 film exposures. Later they would develop most of the pictures themselves. Again, God was preparing them to find and reveal the oldest copy of the Gospels then known to the world in the only way available at the time.

At last the day came for them to travel to Egypt. Ready now with command of Greek and Syriac, letters of introduction and permission, cameras, medicine, courage, and experience Agnes and Margaret set out to fulfill their dream of finding manuscripts that would prove that the Bible was written earlier than skeptics said.

When the sisters reached the monastery they were welcomed by the monks who had heard about them and were expecting them. The monks were delighted with these intelligent women who spoke perfect Greek. It also happened to be the custom of the monastery to welcome women pilgrims for their protection. The twins pitched their tents in the convent gardens and made friends with the monks. They began to work in the library the next day.

Agnes spotted a manuscript of dirty vellum. It seemed to be at first glance a collection of stories of women saints, but looking closer Agnes could see writing in columns underneath. This document was a “palimpsest”, containing pages where the old writing had been scraped down and new writing put on top. Agnes could see words such as “Of Matthew” and “of Luke” and realized that she was looking at possibly the oldest copy of the Gospels ever found. Agnes thanked the Lord for His providence in preparing her in every way to be the one to find this document.

Agnes and Margaret made photographic copies of their find and returned home. The Sinai Palimpsest (also called the Lewis Codex) proved to be from the fourth century. More remarkable still, it was a translation of a copy of the Gospels that dated to around 170 A.D. This was proof that Christianity was much older than the skeptics had said.

The scholars in Cambridge refused to acknowledge the find as significant. The sisters were ignored until scholars Robert Bensly and Francis Burkitt finally got a proper look at the photographs. They were excited and even frantic to get to the monastery to make a copy of the manuscript before anyone else could do it.

Agnes and Margaret put together another trip to Sinai with the three world famous scholars, Robert Bensly, Francis Burkitt, and their friend Rendel Harris and went back to St. Catherine’s to transcribe the manuscript. They were welcomed by the monks who gave them every assistance. When the work was finished the three returned home where most of the publicity centered around the sisters.

Agnes and Margaret were finally accepted into scholarly circles. They were denied degrees by Cambridge which did not grant women degrees until 1948, but other institutions were willing to honor the sisters as they should be. They received honorary degrees from St. Andrews and Heidelberg, Trinity College and Halle.

Agnes and Margaret went on traveling and exploring. The sisters were welcomed by professors for their expertise in ancient manuscripts. The twins were instrumental in the founding of Westminster College in 1899. Margaret died in 1920 and Agnes passed away in 1926. Agnes wrote several books describing their travels and especially the journey to Sinai to St. Catherine’s.

Even in our day the Bible is criticized as a work entirely of humans containing errors. Unbelievers are always looking for ways to ignore the fact that the Scriptures are the very Word of God. God has protected His Word over the centuries. How wonderful that he used two women to find a lost manuscript that would help boost the veracity of Christianity.

It is so ironic that the men at Cambridge refused to accept the testimony of Agnes Smith and Margaret Gibson because they were women. And yet, because they were women they were allowed to do what many men before them could not do. Because they were faithful women they were allowed to handle the manuscripts at St. Catherine’s and give a great gift to the world.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong… (I Corinthians 1:27)

*Soskice, Janet, The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels. (Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., New York, 2010) page 126.

Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson and the find of the Century

Agnes But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:20,21)

Christians for many centuries have believed that the Bible is the very word of God. It was not questioned by most of the faithful until the nineteenth century. Then the Bible came under attack by liberal scholars influenced by the so-called “higher criticism” that originated in Germany. Skeptics relegated the stories in the Old and New Testaments to mythology. In an age of escalating scientific discoveries, many no longer believed in miracles such as a six-day creation, the Flood, or the parting of the Red Sea.

Not only did the facts in the Bible come under criticism, but scholars doubted the integrity of the text itself. They assumed that there could not be any such thing as prophecy, therefore the stories must have been written years after the events were supposed to have happened according to biblical authors. Liberals also applied the principle of evolution to the development of Christianity. Unbelievers such as Thomas Paine declared that the Gospels could not have been written until at least three or four hundred years after Christ.

But God has continually protected His Word and in His providence directed the finding of evidence of its veracity. Twin sisters – Margaret Gibson and Agnes Lewis – came across one of the earliest known copies of the four Gospels in a secluded monastery in the Sinai Peninsula. This palimpsest dated to the fourth century but it was a translation of a copy that dated to the late second century. As news of this discovery spread Christians around the world rejoiced. The date of the writing of the Scriptures now came very near to the beginning of Christianity.

How did these Scottish twins, with no formal university training become the ones who would make the Biblical find of the century?

Agnes and Margaret Smith were born on January 11, 1843 to John and Margaret Smith in Irvine, Scotland. Mrs. Smith would die only two weeks later. John vowed never to marry again and to bring up the twins by himself. In his sorrow he never mentioned his wife Margaret afterwards, but despite his aloofness on the subject of his wife, he was a loving and generous father.

John Smith educated his daughters as if they were boys. He taught them logic and reasoning. Typical of Scottish Presbyterianism, their school educated boys and girls together. There was a high priority placed on being able to read the Bible for men and women alike. Christians were expected to attend church twice on Sunday. Agnes and Margaret were blessed in that their minister was one of the finest preachers in Scotland and his sermons were rich in illustrations from the Bible, especially the Old Testament.

The twins’ father told them that for each foreign language they would learn he would reward them with a visit to that country. These bright girls took advantage of their father’s offer and mastered French, German, Spanish and Italian while young. The sisters had always been deeply interested in studying the Bible and between them learned several Biblical languages – Hebrew and Greek- and later modern Greek, Arabic, and Syriac. This love for God’s Word and for the history of God’s people would later be part of the motivation for the sisters to travel to Sinai in search of lost manuscripts.

John Smith died when the sisters were only 23 years old. He left them with a huge inheritance of a quarter of a million pounds. Most unmarried wealthy women would have probably headed for the Riviera or Paris. But Agnes and Margaret decided to head to Egypt instead.

Margaret and Agnes mourned for their father but not for too long. After all, he was in a better place and lengthy mourning periods only showed lack of faith in the life to come. Though they shocked some people they decided to assuage their grief by doing something that they knew he would applaud. They would travel. Hadn’t he brought them up not to worry about what other people think? Didn’t they know nine other languages and so could travel with ease where most people would have difficulty?

Being devout Presbyterians with a love for God’s Word it was natural for them to think of a religious tour rather than a frivolous one. The sisters had no other relations to tell them what to do and so these inseparable twins set out on an adventure. They hired a lady companion, Grace Blyth, and set out for the Nile.

Their first adventure was fraught with difficulties including a cheating dragoman. The sisters received rebukes saying that they should have traveled under a male escort. But dauntless Agnes felt otherwise. Their mistake, she said, was in not knowing the language of the country. They would continue to travel – but learn the language first!

Upon returning from their year long adventure, Agnes and Margaret settled in London. Some years later both would marry and both would be widowed after only three years of wedded happiness. Margaret married James Gibson a preacher of some renown. He passed away in 1886 after a brief illness. During their marriage James Gibson prevented the sisters from traveling to Sinai again. Though they dearly wanted to, James thought it was too dangerous. They respected his guidance.

Agnes married Samuel Lewis, a Fellow and antiquarian librarian at Cambridge. This marriage allowed Agnes into the Cambridge society and she met many scholars who would influence her later. Samuel also passed away somewhat unexpectedly in 1891. The widows were in deep mourning but both had the assurance that they would see their beloved husbands in Heaven.

Margaret and Agnes were now free to travel again. They could at last return to Sinai. Dangerous as it might be the twins longed to travel on the same route as the Israelites. They wanted to visit the spot where Moses saw the burning bush and then returned later to receive the Ten Commandments. Eventually they wanted to trod where Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus trod on the way to Egypt.

A friend and fellow biblical scholar, Rendel Harris, had told Agnes about a manuscript that he had found at St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai several years earlier. This was a fabulous find. It was a record of a developed Christian doctrine dating to the second century. This was the kind of proof that Christian scholars were looking for to refute the skeptics who said that Christian doctrine was not developed for hundreds of years.

But the most exciting thing, he told Agnes, was that there was a dark closet in the Monastery where there were many other documents that he did not get to look at. These documents were in Syriac, a form of the Aramaic that was spoken in the first century. This was the language spoken by Jesus. Agnes studied Syriac in anticipation of finding these documents. She wanted to be able to identify them accurately.

Now prepared to meet the monks in the Sinai monastery with their command of modern Greek and their ability to read Syriac, the sisters set out on their quest for the most important Bible find of the century.

Continued Next Week…….

Sarah Doremus – Loving, Compassionate Service

Mrs. Doremus’s life in any aspect – intellectually, socially, or religiously – is a lesson and a treasure to the women of any country; for the wise may be wiser and the good better by considering it. There is only one solution of it: her whole nature and all its possibilities were at the bidding of a Master whom she loved, and in whose service she was spent. Annie Ryder Gracey

Sarah Platt Haines Doremus (1802 – 1877) is remembered as the founder and first president of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands. But this devoted follower of Christ was also a loving wife and mother of nine children, faithful church attender, worker in local charities, and a best friend to hundreds of missionaries.

In 1834 Reverend David Abeel, returning from the mission field in the East spoke to mission boards in England and the United States pleading for female missionaries. In England the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East was formed. However, in the United States the response was slower. Sarah Doremus tried to form a society similar to the one in England but there was opposition from the mission boards. They were not ready to allow single women to go as missionaries.

It would be twenty-five years before the hearts of the Christians in America were touched for the downtrodden women in foreign lands sufficiently to spur them to action. About 1859 or 1860 Mrs. Mason, missionary from Burma, visited the United States and told such heart wrenching stories of the heathen women that women in this country decided to do something about it even if they had to form their own organization. The result was the forming of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society in 1861.

Sarah Doremus had been busy during those twenty-five years between the time when she first wanted to send women missionaries to the East and when the Women’s Union Missionary Society was formed. Sarah was active as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York. Her husband encouraged her in her charitable activity. In 1828 Sarah organized a relief society for the Greeks who were being persecuted by the Turks. She helped to get essential items for everyday life to Greek women. In 1835 she aided the Baptist Mission at Grande Ligne, Canada distributing food and other supplies to the needy.

Mrs. Doremus began a Sabbath service in the city prison which later developed into the Women’s Prison Association which she was connected to for over thirty years. She was one of the founders of the New York House and School of Industry. She was connected to the Nursery and Child’s Hospital which she helped found. She also worked with the Presbyterian Home for Aged Women. She was manager of the City Bible Society for twenty-eight years and manager of the City and Tract Mission Society for thirty-six years.

In 1855 Sarah worked tirelessly to establish the Woman’s Hospital, the first one of its kind in the world. She not only did much of the fund raising and took care of the legal work, but she also visited the sick regularly cheering and comforting them spiritually.

All the while Sarah raised nine children. Her home was active and loving. Though she was busy with charitable activities outside of the home, Sarah was devoted to her family. She painted, designed her own patterns for embroidery, modeling in wax, and working with her children. She also adopted children into her home. She saw to the education of all of her children. Though she was involved in so many organizations she did not let anything interfere with her motherly duties.

How was one woman able to do all of this? Mrs. Gracey, a missionary herself, tells us:

Much of what she accomplished was due to a very rare combination of endowments. She had power to lay great plans and organize grand movements, a marvelous memory, and a talent for details. Nothing was too trivial to be made use of if it would aid in perfecting the organization, and to her latest day her memory was true to its trust for dates and incidents, every one accurate and thoroughly at her command, and all used for the benefit and comfort of others. Annie Ryder Gracey

In spite of being involved in enough charity work for any three or four women, as soon as Sarah heard the pleas of Mrs. Mason she was ready to try and form a missionary society to aid the women in foreign lands. This was how the Woman’s Union Missionary Society came into being.

The Woman’s Union Missionary Society included all denominations. The women concentrated on the Gospel and did not want to be sectarian. Because of this they worked independently of church mission boards. The church mission boards were still uneasy about sending out single women but women were desperately needed in missions. The Society’s aim was to send unmarried women abroad to serve as teachers and missionaries who would enter homes carrying the Gospel to those who could not receive it any other way.

This was a huge undertaking and the first of its kind. The women leaders prayed for good judgment. They wisely decided to fund the organization in a way that did not interfere with any of the usual church collections or with any other missionary organization. Through contributions made by women in America that were over and above their regular church giving, over one and a half million dollars was raised in a period of thirty years!

Sarah Doremus was elected the first president. For the first fifteen years the society was headquartered in her home in New York. Sarah welcomed every missionary in her home and took care of them. When they left for foreign fields, Sarah accompanied them to the dock. Then when they returned, Sarah was there to meet them.

While the female missionaries were so far from home, Sarah wrote to them as a mother. She sent them news stories and books and other items that might cheer them up. She believed that this encouragement would give them strength for their arduous duties.

Consistent with her beliefs that all Gospel believing women should receive support on the mission field no matter which denomination they belonged to, Sarah sent support to the Methodist Mission in North India. Work among the Indian women and girls was progressing slowly. Mrs. Doremus soon sent a letter with a check for fifty dollars to be used to employ a native Christian woman as a Bible teacher. This was the first financial contribution to women’s work in the North India Conference.

All of her life Sarah was devoted to her Redeemer. She consecrated everything to His service – all of her gifts, her time, and her many abilities. Eventually the Lord called her to cease all of these loving activities. Sarah suffered an accident in her home in January, 1877. She was prostrated for a week before succumbing.

Missionaries from all over the world felt that they had lost a friend. At her funeral one minister summed up her beautiful life: “Mrs. Doremus seems to have given the whole of herself to the Lord; the whole of herself to every suffering heart she met, and yet the whole of herself to home and children.”

Many organizations paid their respects to this godly woman. The Woman’s Union Missionary Society has perpetuated her name by calling their home in Calcutta, India the “Doremus Home”.

What a powerhouse for Christ! Imagine what could be accomplished if all of us Christian women would take on even one or two activities that would further the Gospel. Sarah Doremus showed us what can be done by a person who is totally sold out to Christ.

The quotes in this story are from: Gracey, Mrs. J. T., Eminent Missionary Women, (Missionary Campaign Library, Number Two, 1898).

Louisa Mariah Layman Woosley – 1862-1952

Louisa Woosley knelt by her ailing daughter’s bed and prayed. She felt that her daughter’s illness was her fault. God had clearly given Louisa a call to the ministry and she had disobeyed the call. Louisa asked for God’s forgiveness and promised the Lord that if He would restore her daughter to health she would answer the call.

God did restore her daughter to health and now Louisa was in a dilemma. How could she deliver on her promise? This was 1882 and America was clearly a patriarchal society. Women were not supposed to preach in public. Though Louisa had read through her Bible twice and underlined all of the passages where women served God, she still thought that it would be impossible for her to answer God’s call to the ministry as a woman.

So torn was Louisa that she entered a dark depression and was confined to her bedroom for six months. She deteriorated to the point where she was even unable to sit up in bed on her own. Finally, she realized that she must commit her whole life to God and answer His call no matter what. She determined to enter the Gospel ministry.

Immediately her health improved.

On January 1, 1887 the elders of her church invited Louisa to preach when the regular minister was gone. Her preaching was well received and Louisa began to preach whenever she was asked.

How did Louisa rise above her fears and doubts and become the trailblazer for women to follow in ministry?

Louisa Mariah Layman was born on March 24, 1862 in Kentucky. She was brought up in a Baptist household and committed her life to the Savior when she was twelve years old. It was soon after this that Louisa received her call from God. She thought that maybe she misunderstood because she did not know any women preachers at that time. Believing that women were forbidden to speak in public she decided to answer the call in a way that she believed was Biblical, by becoming a pastor’s wife.

She married a Christian, Charles G. Woosley in 1879 in the hopes that he would have the call to the pastorate. Instead Charles became a farmer. He was a good man but had no desire to work in full time ministry. Louisa struggled as she realized that she was not going to be able to fulfill her call through Charles.

A few years later, in 1882, Louisa studied the Scriptures looking for what God had to say about women in ministry. She came to the conclusion that God does not play favorites. There were too many women named in the Bible who selflessly served God for there to be any doubt now. God did call women to the ministry.

Imagine the turmoil for this woman in the 1800’s as she thought about actually obeying God by preaching in public. She was certain of God’s call, but how she agonized as she went through the idea of being the first woman that she knew of to be called to the preaching ministry! No wonder she suffered through so much turmoil. She wanted to be absolutely certain. Her first thought was to please God. And so after her daughter was restored and she herself was graciously healed, Louisa had the courage to rise above her doubts and go forth in obedience to God.

Louisa knew that she would face obstacles but by this time she also knew that God was with her and would help her through them. It was an amazing answer to her doubts when she was first asked to preach. God showed her that He meant business when her preaching was accepted by others.

From there Louisa went on as a pioneer for women in ministry. In just a few years Louisa preached 912 sermons resulting in over 2000 conversions to Jesus Christ. How can anyone deny that women should preach? The most important thing for any person is to get right with God. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). What more fruit does any Christian want to bear than bringing others out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light? Many thousands are thankful for the faithful work of women evangelists.

Louisa’s work opened the doors for other female ministers. Perhaps during her trials in her
early marriage she might have questioned what God was doing. All of us can look back and see what God was teaching us through trials. Louisa had her sincere doubts before God showed her that He was truly calling her. And so she was able to truthfully give an answer later when men questioned her about whether or not women should preach. Louisa had sought God’s will by doing the right things. She went to God’s Word first. She prayed. At first she listened to men and she tried to do what she thought the ordained ministers wanted. In the end, she simply obeyed God.

With heartfelt words and an honest, compelling testimony, Louisa convinced the men who were questioning her about whether or not women should preach. Many men changed their minds in face of the evidence – Louisa’s unshakeable faith and the many thousands who were accepting Christ.

This all happened in the late 1800’s. Today women still face opposition from those who insist that only men may preach. But what is preaching? Is it not a call to sinners to repent and put their faith in Christ? Are women disciples supposed to obey Christ too? Are they not supposed to call their loved ones to repentance and faith in Christ?

As Louisa saw in the Scriptures, women are part of God’s plan for the salvation of His world. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3;28). The man or woman who puts their faith in Christ and has new peace with God is grateful for the one who shared the Gospel with them. It does not matter if that person was a woman or a man. A soul is now redeemed. God’s Word is true whether spoken by a male or a female.

Louisa obeyed God’s calling. This was incredibly courageous for a woman in the nineteenth century. Only the conviction that she was in God’s will could keep her going. Like Peter and John before her she had to obey God rather than men. She lived through ridicule and persecution as many saints did before her but she knew after the miracles God had performed for her that she was in God’s will. All alone as a pioneer Louisa trusted God that she was chosen by Him to be His servant and she joyfully served God for the rest of her life.

How grateful we can all be that Louisa did not remain in fear but chose to follow God believing, ““God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. ‘These all have to learn that it is, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.’”

Significant Nineteenth Century Christian Women

Significant Nineteenth Century Christian Women

For the last few months I have posted stories on significant women from the nineteenth century. Many thousands of people were helped by their work. Untold thousands today are still benefitting from the organizations or movements founded by these women.

Relive the fascinating lives of Dorothea Dix, Mary Lyon, and Clara Swain through these biographies and their personal writings.

— Lightner, David L., Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse: The Writings and Reform Work of Dorothea Dix in Illinois, (Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1999).

Though little recognized today for her tremendous work of reform, Dorothea Dix was one of the most famous women of her time. In this first of two books that I recommend you will find accounts, written by Dorothea herself, of what the living conditions were like for the insane, prisoners, and the poor. Many documents that are reprinted by the author recount her efforts to get the laws changed in order to provide more compassionate treatment for the insane.

This book focuses on these documents and their significance. One example of a document is a “Memorial” that she presented to the legislature of Massachusetts asking that the budget be increased to include money to improve the State Mental Hospital at Worcester. Many improvements were made in the state hospitals and prisons thanks to Dorothea. She continued traveling to many states seeking similar changes.

While the author concentrates on his home state of Illinois, he gives a fine account of Dorothea’s life and accomplishments. The last chapters recount the Dorothea’s tremendous legacy – hundreds of thousands of people down through the years have benefitted from the reforms that she initiated.

— Colman, Penny, Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorothea Lynde Dix, (ASJA Press, New York, 2007).

Those looking for a biography that is more “story-like” will enjoy this book. Penny Colman is a fine author of many books. She relates Dorothea’s childhood and early life and how they contributed to the campaign that Dorothea went on at nearly forty years of age. You will be impressed as you learn more about the personal fortitude and courage of Dorothea Dix. It never ceases to amaze me how just one person can make such a difference! Dorothea Dix is especially extraordinary because she was only a “retired school teacher in frail health without wealth or power to support her cause” (Page 55).

Dorothea Dix contributed her efforts to reforming the treatment of the mentally ill who were often housed in prisons in horrible conditions. Dorothea did this by changing the way people thought about mental illness. “It is time that people should have learnt that to be insane is not to be disgraced; that sickness is not to be ranked with crime; and that mental disability is almost invariably the result of mere bodily ailment” (Page 73). Today we take it for granted that mental illness is not a crime. It’s hard to imagine how people thought that it was in the nineteenth century. Dorothea called for Christians to care for the poor as the Savior did. Her campaign resulted in the building of 32 institutions in the United States where the mentally ill could be cared for in a more compassionate way.

— Green, Elizabeth Alden, Mary Lyon and Mount Holyoke: Opening the Gates, (University Press of New England, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1979).

This book is about another obscure, young, penniless teacher from the early nineteenth century whose life made a difference to thousands. Mary Lyon believed that women should be able to get a college education. In 1837 this was an unpopular idea. In the early eighteen hundred’s it was thought that only men should get an education; it was thought to be wasted on women. Some said that it was impractical, unwise and even unchristian.

Mary Lyon believed that women should honor God with their gifts of intelligence. Mary struggled for three years raising the money for her institution of higher education for women. She set out mostly on foot going door-to-door to raise the $30,000 needed to open her school. She appealed for donations in the name of religion and based on the principle that education of the daughters of the Church called as rightfully for the free gifts of the Church as does that of her sons.

Man people agreed with her and in spite of so many others who discouraged or disdained her efforts Mary raised the money. Male town officials in Hadley, Massachusetts donated $8,000 and so the site for Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was located there.

Elizabeth Green tells the exciting account of Mary’s life and her accomplishments. Her girl’s school set the standard of quality education for years to come.

— Hartley, James E., Mary Lyon: Documents & Writings, (Doorlight Publications, South Hadley, MA, 2008)

After reading Elizabeth Green’s biography of Mary Lyon I couldn’t wait to read a book containing her letters and other writings. James Hartley put this compendium together in such a way as to allow readers to get a glimpse of Mary’s life and trials through her writing.

Hartley gives credit not only to Elizabeth Green but also to Edward Hitchcock. Edward Hitchcock was one man who supported Mary Lyon. He was the president of Amherst College in the early 1800’s and a friend and mentor of Mary. After her death he collected her letters to use in a biography. Praise God that he did because over time many of her letters were lost and we would not have such a remarkable account of one of the most important women of the early nineteenth century without his collection.

Mary was very modest and would not let anyone even think of naming the seminary after her. Mary’s missionary fervor was genuine. She believed that the income from Mount Holyoke belonged to the Lord. She only accepted a modest salary. She gave much of that meagre income to the poor and left her personal property to the American Board of Foreign Missions when she died. The school itself contributed nearly seven thousand dollars to foreign missions in the last seven years that Mary was there.

Her fervor was caught by her students. Over the twelve years Mary directed the school, hundreds of women became missionaries, teachers or wives of missionaries. Twelve students went on to take the Gospel to the Indians in the western United States. Scores of pastor’s wives were trained at Mount Holyoke.

Women owe Mary Lyon a big thank you for stepping out and founding a female seminary.

— Swain, Clara A., A Glimpse of India, (James Pott & Company, New York, 1909). (My copy is a reprint from: Classic Reprint Series, “Forgotten Books”, London, 2015).

Clara A. Swain was also a first among women in the nineteenth century. Clara Swain has the honor of being the first fully accredited missionary sent out by a Christian organization and the first woman physician in India. Clara also had the privilege of “standing before kings” when as a woman she was allowed to be the palace physician for an Indian Rajah’s family.

Upon arriving in Bareilly, India, Clara wasted no time but started a dispensary immediately. As the only women doctor within a 200-mile radius she was soon busy making over 250 house calls in her first year and treating 1000 patients.

This book is a collection of her letters that give us a wonderful idea of what it was like to be a doctor in India in 1870. Clara’s letters to her family and friends back home were detailed and colorfully written. In them we follow her progress as she opened hospitals, nursing schools, and dispensaries. She also led Bible studies and taught the women to sing Christian hymns.

Clara was as tireless in her devotion to her work as Dorothea Dix and Mary Lyon. Like Dorothea and May, Clara has many thousands of spiritual children on earth and in Heaven.

Therese of Lisieux – The Little Flower

It is with great happiness, then, that I come to sing the mercies of the Lord with you, dear Mother. It is for you alone I am writing the story of the little flower gathered by Jesus. … It seems to me that if a little flower could speak, it would tell simply what God has done for it without trying to hide its blessings…. She knows that nothing in herself was capable of attracting the divine glances, and His mercy alone brought about everything that is good in her. St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Marie Francoise Therese Martin penned these words when she was only twenty-three years old. Her humility and spiritual maturity are evident in these words. Sister Therese would live for only one more year after this. All of her life she was far above the average in maturity and it seems sad that the Lord called her to Heaven when she was only twenty-four years of age, but she left a legacy that has impacted many thousands of lives.

Born on January 2, 1873, she was the daughter of Louis Martin, a watchmaker and Zelie Guerin Martin a lace maker. Both had sought a religious life and both had been turned down because of lack of education. They brought their intense love of God into their marriage and raised all of their children with high standards. They had nine children but only five girls survived: Therese was the youngest.

God sent Therese challenges right from her birth. She was only two weeks old when she nearly died from intestinal troubles. At three months Therese was so ill that her mother had to entrust her to a nurse for her care. Therese was with this kind woman for nearly a year. She put on weight and thrived. Upon returning home this blond, blue-eyed precocious child soon became the pet of the family. She was spoiled, had outbursts of temper, and was stubborn, but her family was so thrilled to see her again that they devoured her with kisses.

While many children that were so pampered would have become self-centered and difficult to live with, Therese realized that she was blessed by God. She later wrote, “All my life God was pleased to surround me with love, and my first memories are imprinted with the most tender smiles and caresses!” Truly from a very early age Therese had a deep spiritual sensitivity.

The Martin’s had a solid faith and saw the hand of God in every area of their lives. Their family life revolved around the liturgical year. Yet this family was not legalistic or bigoted. They practiced their faith in loving ways feeding abandoned children, tramps, and the aged. The children grew up with a lifelong respect for the poor.

Besides being gifted by God at an early age with spiritual sensitivity, there were two incidents that contributed to Therese’s maturation. When Therese was only four years old, Madame Martin succumbed to breast cancer. Therese’s older sisters sheltered her throughout their mother’s intense suffering, but Therese was present when her mother died. She watched from the corner of the room as her mother received the sacrament. Her father encouraged her to kiss her mother’s cold brow. On her way out of the bedroom she saw the upright coffin in the hallway.

Therese shed many tears but showing a spiritual sensitivity far above her years she realized that even this was from God. She understood God’s goodness and became more serious and devout. About this time Therese began to think seriously about devoting her whole life to service in a convent.

The other occasion on which Therese felt a strong calling from God was Christmas Eve, 1886. At thirteen years of age she was moving from childhood to adulthood and she says that she became an adult in a single instant. It seems that her father had put out the customary little shoes for presents at the fireplace. Going to the room to see what treats Father Christmas had brought her, Therese overheard her father saying that this would be the last time for such a silly tradition. Therese was stung by his words but now like a grown up she entered the room pretending nothing had happened. She later said that she experienced a complete conversion as she contemplated the meaning of her father’s words.

Soon Therese began to seek to enter the Carmelite convent at Lisieux. First she approached the bishop who told her she was too young. The Mother Superior also said she had to be a minimum of sixteen, but since this order was an order of Carmelites, closer to twenty or twenty-one would be better. How could this Mother Superior know that Therese was already mature enough to decide on her life?

Undeterred, Therese decided to take her case all the way to the Pope. She went on a pilgrimage to visit Pope Leo XIII in Rome. When she arrived at the Vatican she was told that it was forbidden to speak. The pilgrims were merely to kiss his feet, receive a blessing and move on for the next person.

Therese was sure of her calling and sure that the Pope was the only one who could get her into the convent at age 15. She needed his permission. When it was her turn to kiss his feet, she instead raised tear filled eyes to his face and said, “Most Holy Father, I have a great favor to ask you!” He responded that she would enter a convent if it was God’s will. She was prevented from speaking further by two guards who literally forced her from the room.

Nevertheless, she persisted with her father and with the Mother Superior in Lisieux and on April 9, 1888 she entered Carmel.

Life in convents is very closed to outsiders. We do not know much about Therese’s stay at the convent in Lisieux. Thanks to her autobiography we do know that Therese strived to serve God with all of her being every day.

Her heart was so sensitive that she would break down in tears if she offended anyone. One Sister used to clank her rosary beads very loudly when praying. It was such a distraction that Therese had a hard time concentrating and had bad thoughts about the nun. She repented and turned her thoughts into prayers for the sister. She also sought ways to serve the older nun and thereby learn to love her more.

Therese believed that even the smallest acts of kindness fulfilled Jesus’ command to love one another. One day when reading in First Corinthians about the spiritual gifts that Christians receive for service, she came across Paul’s words, “But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way” (I Corinthians 12:31). She understood that the body of Christ was composed of many members, all with different calls to serve. She understood that, “Love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, that it embraced all times and places… In a word, that it was eternal!” These and many other insights into how to live a Christian life came her way as she studied God’s Word. The nuns at the convent realized how wise she was and encouraged her to write her thoughts down. She did so in the form of an autobiography.

Therese composed her manuscripts during the last years of her life. She was ill much of the time and finally succumbed to tuberculosis in September of 1897. Within weeks of her funeral her manuscripts were published. Another nun had edited them and put them into one book.

Her book was sent to many convents where it was appreciated as great wisdom especially for one so young. Soon it spread throughout France. Eventually Therese was canonized on May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Three years later a young Albanian nun named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu would take the name Teresa in honor of Therese of Lisieux. This nun would go on to exemplify the love that Therese of Lisieux taught. We know her today as Mother Teresa.

Thousands of people have been blessed by reading the autobiography of Therese of Lisieux. Readers have learned that small acts done faithfully for Christ are the most important. The everyday, ordinary Christian will never become famous. Each one of us is only called to serve God in a simple practice our own vocations in the way of love.

Clara Swain – First Female Medical Missionary to Asia

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. (Proverbs 22:29)

Medical missionaries often have more opportunities to share the Gospel than ordinary preachers or church planters. By offering medical aid especially to people who might not otherwise get it, the medical missionary is in a position to share the love of Christ in a physical and spiritual way. There are many stories about the healing of helpless poor or of a leader’s wife or child by a missionary that opened the door to the Gospel.

Certainly in the nineteenth century this was especially true in third world countries. In rural areas doctors could be literally hundreds of miles away. Medical missionaries set up clinics, dispensaries, nursing schools, and hospitals within reach of the ordinary people. On occasion God would call the medical missionary to the aid of a wealthy leader where they had the rare privilege of “standing before kings”.

One fine example of this is Dr. Clara Swain. Clara Swain has the honor of being the first fully accredited missionary sent out by a Christian organization and the first woman physician in India. Clara also had the privilege of “standing before kings” when as a woman she was allowed to be the palace physician for an Indian Rajah’s family.

Clara was born in Elmira, New York in 1834. She was the youngest of John and Clarissa Swain’s ten children. When she was eight, Clara’s family moved to beautiful Castile, Wyoming County, N. Y., which was her home for the rest of her life.

Clara was self-educated and like many women of her time began her career with teaching. She did not really like teaching and longed to be a doctor. She got her chance when Dr. Cordelia Greene invited her to train at the Castile Sanitarium. Three years later she was admitted to the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. She completed her course in 1869. From early childhood Clara had also wanted to be a missionary. Very soon after her graduation this desire was fulfilled.

Mrs. D. W. Thomas, who had been the head of a girl’s orphanage in Bareilly, North India, saw the need for a female physician and appealed to the Woman’s Union Missionary Society to send someone if possible. Indian women were not allowed to be seen by male doctors and in any event the closest doctors were often many miles away.

The Woman’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church passed on the request for a medical missionary to Clara and Clara considered it with much prayer for three months. Then she decided on going. She got her things together quickly and left on November 3, 1869, arriving in Bareilly on January 20, 1870. She was welcomed enthusiastically and began treating girls even before her trunks with her medical supplies arrived.

Clara wasted no time. She started teaching classes in anatomy, physiology, and nursing to fourteen girls and three married women. She established a dispensary and began making plans for a much needed hospital.

Before the hospital could be built Clara had to house a few patients in the missionary house or visit the patients in their homes. This was time consuming and not really practical for people who needed more intensive care. In the first year of her ministrations Clara still managed to treat more than 1000 patients in the mission house and make over 250 home visits in the city and surrounding villages. Clara was the only female doctor within hundreds of miles. She welcomed each opportunity to share the Gospel as she was treating her patients. She made the long visits count by reading from the Bible in Hindustani and telling about the Great Physician, Jesus.

The ideal spot for the hospital was the land next to the mission. It was owned by a Mohammedan prince. He had sworn that he would resist the Western culture and especially the missionaries. Clara prayed and went to visit him to ask for just one acre to build a hospital for women and children. She was overwhelmed with gratitude when he gave her not just one acre but forty and an older house to use for the hospital! Clara wrote of her thankfulness later, “We were unprepared for so generous a gift… and were not a little surprised at the Nawab’s immediate and hearty reception of our request, and we accepted the gift with gratitude not to this prince alone, but to the King of the Universe, who, we believe, put it into his heart to give it to us.”

Repairs were made to the house and the first women’s hospital of its kind in all of Asia opened on January 1, 1874. This was a wonderful day for the women in India. Many came and received such good treatment that they would often ask if they could stay longer either at the hospital or at the mission house.

In addition to her medical work Clara held meetings on the Sabbath where she taught from the Bible. When the hospital dispensary was opened the prescriptions had Bible verses printed on each one in three different languages so that each woman could receive some word about the great Healer of souls.

In 1875 after six years of relentless work Clara was very worn out. She went home to America for a rest. After three years, in spite of urging from her family to stay home, she returned to India to work with her beloved women and girls. Thanks to the women she had trained as nurses as well as the opening of the hospital, by 1883 over 8000 patients were being treated.

Again Clara’s devotion to her work took a toll on her health. When she received a summons from a native prince, the Rajah of Khetri to come and help his ailing wife, she decided to accept it. Clara took a Christian teacher with her and moved to Khetri where she became the palace physician to care for the women and children.

The prince and his wife, the rani, had only one child, a little girl. Though the rani was Hindu she and Clara would read the Bible together. They grew close. We do not know whether or not the rani or her daughter ever accepted Christ, but they studied together and even sang Christian hymns for many years.

Clara was permitted to open a school for girls. The rani and her royal court women were allowed to attend as well. Clara wrote later, “We brought a quantity of religious books, parts of the Bible, and our hymn books, all in the Hindustani language, and as we have opportunity we distribute them. I suppose there are more than thirty persons singing our hymns here already, for we have taught them to every one who would learn. … What an opportunity for good this is! For some of their songs are very vulgar, and we would not think of listening to them. Our hymns reach every woman in the palace, and they are sometimes sung to his highness. We often find that we can sing Christianity to these people when we cannot preach it. This is an opportunity such as not one of our missionaries has had before, of carrying the Gospel in to the very heart of native royalty.” What a blessing from an all-wise God.

By 1896 Clara was again worn out and needed to return to America to restore her health. She was saddened to have to leave India; she considered India to be her real home. She spent her final years at her beautiful home in Castile, N.Y. where she died in December, 1910.

Truly this remarkable woman followed Christ as she went about teaching the Gospel and healing many.

Anne Marie Javouhey – Soldier of Christ

“May God be glorified! In everything and everywhere may His holy will be done!” Anne Marie Javouhey

Anne Marie Javouhey, or “Nanette” as she was affectionately called, was born in 1779 in France, ten years before the outbreak of the French Revolution.

The fifth of ten children Anne Marie grew up in a devout Catholic home. Anne Marie was drawn to a religious life as a young child. When she was only ten years old she heard a small voice within her say, “You will belong to Me. You will be consecrated to Me. You will serve the poor and care for orphans.” Anne Marie believed that this was the call of God and throughout her life she would follow the Lord’s leading.

Anne Marie was only ten years old when the French Revolution began and she showed great courage and strength throughout her teen years. Her brave actions showed just how much stamina she had and prepared her for the trials and tribulations that she would go through in her later years.

The French Revolution was a horribly bloody and frightening time in the history of France. Besides murdering their rightful king and queen and every other royal or wealthy person who did not escape, the French government attacked the Church. Many priests and nuns were murdered if they did not renounce allegiance to the Church and take an oath of allegiance to the State. Church property was confiscated, desecrated, or destroyed. Religious people were hounded down and executed in front of gleeful crowds. It was a most anti-God time in the history of France and indeed the whole world.

Anyone caught helping priests or nuns was considered a traitor and was subject to the death penalty. Anne Marie’s family hid the priests who decided to flee rather than take the oath. Anne Marie herself would then help the priests to escape to a safe place. She was suspected by the authorities of being the one who led the priests to safety but they were reluctant to arrest a thirteen-year old girl. Her faith in God even during such a horrific time when she must stand against strong political enemies prepared Anne Marie to later face government officials, including a king, and church officials when it came time to defend herself and her people.

One of the brave priests whom Anne Marie helped suggested to her that she would be a good nun. Already encouraged to serve God because of her religious upbringing and her call to serve others, Anne Marie took a private vow of celibacy and determined to help educate children and care for the poor for the rest of her life.

After the Revolution was over, Master Balthazar Javouhey planned to have Anne Marie run the family farm. Recognizing that she was the brightest of the children including his sons, he hoped that she would marry and raise a family and run the business.

But Anne Marie “took the veil” and became a nun. She felt the call of God to serve the poor very strongly. Her father realized that she was serious when she convinced her suitor to become a Trappist monk and her two brothers to become churchmen as well.

Anne Marie joined several orders but their type of secluded life did not suit her. She knew that God had called her to be actively involved in the world and so went to work with a different order that worked among the poor.

About this time in her life she had another vision from God. She was surrounded by black people begging her for help. She did not know what it meant then, but the sight of the poor starving black children wrenched at her heart and she never forgot it.

Anne Marie remembered her girlhood promise to educate children and so she opened a school for girls in 1806 in Chamblanc. The French Revolution had left many poor people devastated and without much hope. Nanette and her sisters began the Order of Saint Joseph of Cluny in 1805 as a teaching order. In 1807 they bought a friary and began their school.

In 1815 the new government recognized what a good job Anne Marie was doing in schools and asked her to establish schools and hospitals first in France and then in Senegal and Guiana. Anne Marie became famous for teaching white and colored, rich and poor alike with no discrimination. And her schools and hospitals thrived where others had failed.

In 1828 Nanette traveled to Guiana with 36 nuns and established a self supporting community. They labored among the poor
to educate them especially. The selfish men who had run the colony had left it a disaster. Nanette fought snakes, insects,
ceaseless rain, and petty officials who would not cooperate due to their jealousy.

After four years of prayer and hard work, Nanette succeeded in getting the former villainous men to attend prayer meetings, build infrastructure, plant bananas and other crops, and raise livestock. Her community was a bright shining light among the others in Guiana.

Nanette returned to France in 1833 where she added her voice to those who wanted to end slavery. This brave woman who had defied the evil French government during the revolution now boldly went before King Louis Philippe with a plan to help the blacks.

In 1830 Louis Philippe became king in France. Everywhere in the world nations were beginning to try and end slavery. Louis Philippe wanted to do the same and in 1831 he declared the emancipation of the slaves in his realm including the colonies. The slave holding colonists in Guiana protested. They did not believe that blacks had the mental capacity to run their own lives. More importantly, they liked having the black “beasts of burden” doing all of the heavy work on their plantations. Trouble broke out when 500 slaves left their plantations and marched to the capital city of Cayenne. They were penniless and hoped to find jobs. The slave owners were determined to return them to the plantations.

King Louis Philippe asked Nanette if black people were really incapable of running their own affairs. “Nonsense!” answered Nanette. And she had a plan to prove it! She said that she could establish a colony with those 500 freed slaves and that they would be successful. The king commissioned her to go back to Guiana in 1835. He accompanied her to the carriage that would take her to the ship and exclaimed that she was a “great man”. The sea captain who took her to Guiana called this indomitable woman “my most seasoned sailor”.

Back at Guiana Nanette did indeed help the 500 slaves form a successful community. Everywhere else in Guiana people were starving but in Nanette’s community there was plenty of food. Nanette structured the colony as she would a religious community. Religious instruction was available to all; everyone worked cooperatively to grow food, fish, hunt, and build homes. The black people were all very happy. By 1838 all of the freed slaves were owners of their own cottages and had money that they had earned. Later government officials said that this colony was more prosperous than Cayenne itself!

Life was not so smooth as it should have been for Anne Marie. God sent her a thorn in the flesh in the form of a young, conceited, power hungry bishop back in France who was in charge of Anne Marie’s district. Bishop d’Hericourt tried to get the Sisters of St. Joseph to rewrite their constitution putting him in charge. His struggle to gain control of the order lasted for eighteen years. At one point he even excommunicated Nanette. For two years Nanette watched as her sisters and friends took communion while she sat and prayed unwilling to protest and cause a scandal. This brave and righteous woman who defied the government during the French revolution now stood firm in her beliefs again.

In 1843 when her goals of establishing the colony were accomplished Nanette sailed back to France. She was happy to be home but still faced the opposition from d’Hericourt. Though he fought her, she established a good enough relationship to continue her mission work. Anne Marie traveled to India, Tahiti, and South America. Anne Marie continued to work for equality for blacks. She also was willing to work among the lepers. Nanette continued to oversee her order as it grew to 118 houses with over 1000 sisters.

In the meantime the controversy with d’Hericourt continued but was finally adjudicated by an Archbishop in Paris. Archbishop Sibour was familiar with the situation and patiently heard both sides. In the end he determined that the control of the Sisters of St. Joseph should be left with Anne Marie. Nanette was exonerated and d’Hericourt was exposed as the power-grabber that he was. D’Hericourt was very angry but there was nothing he could do.

This struggle took its toll on both Anne Marie and d’Hericourt. They died within the same year. In March 1851 Anne Marie suffered a stroke. She nearly died but recovered for a few days. Upon hearing that d’Hericourt had died she said, ‘We almost met, he and I, on that very day, before the judgment seat of God. So he’s gone in ahead of me, that good bishop. Well, that is as it should be. A bishop should always enter first.” Nanette prayed for the bishop’s soul and then she died the next morning.

Coming through the dangerous and bloody French revolution to a life of steadfast faith Anne Marie succeeded as she sought to spread the love of Christ to as many people as she could.

In 1950 Anne Marie Javouhey was beatified by Pope Pius XII.

Author: Mary Walker