Catherine Booth

n and Sou

saved who was too idle

ave been tempted to break your vows by becoming engaged to some one who does not w

that our Army Mother had just such

ry fond of his cousin, and Catherine found how nice it was to have some one to give her presents and to love her as he did. At last he begged her to promise that by and by she would be engaged to him.

of the seat to make her laugh. Perhaps you can guess the struggle it was for Katie to decide what her answer should be. 'If you will only say "yes," and be engaged to him, I am sure you will be abl

he read the verse in 2 Corinthians vi. 14: 'Be ye not unequally yo

usin a letter, telling him just why she could never be engaged to him, and breaking it al

chosen to follow her own feelings and wishes, instead of obeying God's command, all her life would have been altered, and she would never have done the gloriou

victory Catherine bec

'Was she not conv

, felt God's Holy Spirit striving with her. Sometimes, when quite a little girl,

fteen she longed to know

saved all your life. You have always wanted to do right. How can you expe

' cried poor Katie in an agony of fear. 'I have been

verted. I cannot rest till Thou hast changed my whole nature

sins rose before her: those bursts of temper when she was at school, those wrong thoughts and feelings.

on and the forgiveness of my sins; if God has saved me, He would surely have made me certai

with her Bible and hymn-book under her pillow, praying that God would Himself tell her that her sin

, I am

comfort

to know that m

cores of times before, but they came th

e soul was filled with light and joy. She now possessed what she had been seeking all these weeks–the assurance of Salvation! And then wha

ven–Jesus is my Saviour!' she cried, flinging herself into her mother's arms. And this was the same Katie, who had been so shy and backward that she

ere walking on air. 'I used to tremble,' she tells us, 'and even lon

, to walk by faith, not by sight, and to serve and fo

nce of Salvation, that therefore she had no more fight

c. No one, of course, asked her to speak–such a thing was never dreamed of; but the lady who took the Bible Class which she attend

tes before she had courage to say a few words. 'Don't ask me to pray again,' s

er; 'you must break through your timidity;

entry made some time later in the diary that she kept, whi

ks as I was to-night. I prayed aloud. Th

olently, but I f

age of eighteen every one felt sure she was going into a decline. But, sick or well, h

in the same little diary, 'b

begun to desire and long for it. She also writes at this time: 'I see that this Full Salvation is very necess

lves wrong, or to confess when they have sinned. Catherine was not of t

elieve me, with all my faults an

ust learn to live by method–that is, doing right, whether she liked

olutions; and as they may be of help to you, I w

e to keep to them! But, above all, I am determined to search the Scriptures more attentively, for in them I have eternal life. I have read my Bible through twice during the past sixteen months, but I must read it with mo

raise by it, but simply because she felt it was right. One of these rules was to do without

ne great sorrow which darkened all her early years. So

near a Meeting. You can fancy what agony this was to both Mrs. Mumford and her daughter. They prayed and wept in vain–he only

g others Thy willingness to save, be engaged in uttering the lamentations of the lost! Oh, awful thought! Lord, have mercy! Save, Oh! save him in any way Thou seest best, though it be ever so painful. If by re

nd prayer; and at last she had the unspeakable joy of seeing her dear father come back to God through one of her own Meeti