The Pious Collier 2

In the course of his walks, this man called at the house of an infidel, who surlily said to him, "We do not read such books here." With great good temper he replied, "Never mind, I will call again." On the next sabbath he fulfilled his word, when he met with a still more ungracious reception from the infidel's wife, who angrily and contemptuously said, "What an ignorant fellow you are! We don't want your books, and will not have them." He said the same words in the same unoffending, inoffensive manner, "Never mind, I will call again." Some might have been tempted to return railing for railing.

But so must not a tract distributor. He must remember our Lord's words, "Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you." And also the apostle's exhortation, "In meekness instructing those that oppose; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." The next Sunday this man, who was named "Old Jack," went upon his rounds, and determined to give the infidel one more call. He knocked at the door, and the man himself opened it, when the tract distributer put his wooden leg within the door to prevent its being closed against him. On seeing this, his opponent tried in vain to shut it, and in a temper suited to his words, and to get rid as he supposed, of his troublesome visitant said, "Well, give me a tract."

Of course the request was complied with. The following Sunday old Jack made another call, when the wife was so far softened as civilly to ask him in, and solicited two tracts, one for herself and one for her husband, who did not then happen to be at home. The result was the reformation, if not the conversion, of this individual, who renounced his infidelity, and with his whole family, from that time, regularly attended a place of worship. In writing to a friend and giving an account of this incident, Round said, "What has God wrought! Be sure and tell your tract distributers to 'call again.'" Yes, the mild and gentle perseverance which was so successful in this case, will be followed with similar results in others.

Joseph Round had connected himself with that body of professing Christians called Primitive Methodists, who, like the other sections of the Methodist body, employ, in addition to the regular preachers, laymen of approved piety and talents as "local preachers." Round was called to this way of labor, and in his humble ministrations was very acceptable to the poor people of his neighborhood. In this new capacity of an exhorter, he did not forget his former occupation as a distributer of tracts, but always carried a bundle with him; so that when it was his turn to go to the people, they hailed his visit with the saying, "Joseph is coming today, and we shall be sure to have some more tracts." This expectation attracted some, who but for the little books, perhaps would not have come for the exhortation.

The neighboring villages were not the only scenes of his labors as a preacher. He had a deep solicitude for his fellow colliers, and persuaded them to listen to his addresses in the place of their daily labor. Some extracts from a letter may be introduced here; which after Round's death was received from one of his acquaintances, written in answer to another inquiring about the estimation in which he was held in the neighborhood.

"The first time I fell in with this man was on a beautiful Sabbath morning, when he was standing beneath the canopy of heaven, with the people whom he was addressing all around him. I went up to listen, and the first words that caught my ear were, 'Let us view the enrapturing scene of redeeming love.' He then led his audience to Calvary, and implored them to flee from the wrath to come, and to take the water of life freely. I heard him finish his sermon, and then was anxious to know who the preacher was, and found he was a poor collier of the name of Joseph Round. I took the first opportunity when I went into his neighborhood to pay him a visit, and went to see where he was at work.

I stood upon the bank of the pit, and, prompted by curiosity, I made up my mind to descend the shaft. On reaching the bottom, I was conducted into a large apartment cut out of the coal. All around this place were benches cut out of the solid coal. At one end was a pulpit, also cut out of the solid coal; and in the center and front of the pulpit was a missionary box cut out of the coal; and having engraved upon it the words Missionary Box. The steps to the pulpit were cut out of the coal.

All around were pegs driven into the coal on which the men hung their hats. In the center of the little chapel was stuck a large thorn bush, on which the candles were hung when the service was being held. Here poor Round used to gather his fellow laborers, and point them to the cross of Christ. And as I looked round, and felt the solemnities of the place, I could not but exclaim, 'This is none other than the house of God and the very gate of heaven.' I had but one more interview with him before his death; and as we walked along the road together our conversation turned upon heaven and heavenly things. Among other remarks, he said, 'I am but a poor collier, and have nothing of this world's goods, but I would not change my hope of heaven for worlds.' All of a sudden he began to chant those beautiful lines of Dr. Watts, 'There shall I bathe my weary soul,' 'Oh,' said he, 'that we could fix our eyes always on the crown that awaits us in the skies—then,

'Fearless of hell and ghastly death,
I'd break through every foe;
The wings of love and arms of faith
Should bear me conqueror through.'

He delighted to dwell upon such contemplations as these, that "those who have much forgiven, oh how much they love!"

Let us for a moment turn to the little chapel cut out of the coal, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the earth, and in imagination behold the preacher and his audience. See them all, teacher and taught, with their flannel jackets, and their faces covered with coal-dust, listening in that extraordinary sanctuary to the pious, yet humble strains of heavenly mercy flowing from the lips of their fellow laborer, who had laid down his pickaxe to take up his Bible, while they all devoted a part of their dinner hour to hear an address which led their thoughts up from a coal pit to that city whose streets are of gold, its foundation of precious stones, and its gates of pearl.

No gorgeous fabric in mediaeval taste, no gothic arch, or painted window, or clustered columns, or organ's solemn peal was there. But He who receives no glory from anything, but imparts it to everything, was there, according to His promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." He despised not the inelegant and uncouth strains in which His own redeeming love was poured into the ears of that humble audience by that lowly preacher, nor did He turn away from the rough unmusical voices with which the colliers sang, as they best could, His high praises. Yes, and there the tear of penitence sometimes rolled down their dark cheeks; and the life that is to last forever in heavenly glory was communicated by the Holy Spirit to their souls.

Joseph Round, in addition to these labors, was ever ready at the call of illness, and was often found at the deathbed of his neighbors, pointing the soul to Christ; and when the cholera was going like the destroying angel through the country, fearless of infection, he braved its terrors to administer instruction and consolation to its victims.

Neither religion nor usefulness exempts its possessor from the sicknesses, accidents, and calamities to which we are exposed in this world. The distinctions of the righteous are of another kind than this. Joseph Round was liable equally with his fellow laborers to the perils of his calling. Many were the escapes, and many the injuries he experienced during his life. Among the former may be mentioned a deliverance which was granted him about eleven years ago. He said to his wife one morning, "You may depend upon it there will be an explosion down at our pit this morning. It presses on my mind that something will happen at our place."

Acting upon his impression, he did not go to his work. While he was at breakfast, some of the neighbors came running to his house in great consternation, with the information that an explosion had taken place, and that fourteen lives were lost. This is not necessarily to be considered as any special revelation of God. Round might have thought the pit dangerous the preceding day from something he noticed. Nor should it lead us to give too much weight and importance to mental impressions as indications of Providence or guides of conduct. It was certainly a great, and we may truly say, a providential preservation.

He was not, however, always so happy as to escape without injury. In the course of twenty-seven years he was brought home six times, more or less hurt by the falling in of the coal. On one occasion he had his ankle put out in the pit, which, for want of skillful attention, was the cause, for some time, of much pain and inconvenience.

About six months before his death, as he was at his work in the pit, a considerable fall of coal took place, which much injured him. From this accident he so far recovered as to resume, though with considerable weakness, his employment in the pit, and his addresses to the people. About twelve days before his death he took a violent cold, which affected the parts that had been injured by the falling of the coal, and he was confined to his house, and eventually to his bed.

During the last few months of his life, he often said to the men in the pit, "I shall soon put off my old flannel," alluding to the dress in which the miners work, "for a robe, and my cap for a crown." His glorious anticipations were soon to be realized. To one of his fellow laborers in the mine, who visited him in his sickness, he said, "We have often sung and prayed together, and spoken of ranging the sweet plains on the banks of the river; I shall soon be there." On being asked by this friend concerning the state of his mind, he replied, "I am still trusting in the Lord." He exhorted him to go on in the old way, and, under the influence of his ruling passion strong in death, desired him still to go to the friends at Carr's-lane for tracts, and to continue distributing them. "I do not know," said this friend, "that I ever visited one who was so composed."

On the morning of the day he died, he said, "I feel as I never felt before." "Do you know you are dying?" said his wife. "Yes," he calmly replied, "I do know;" and having uttered his last wish and prayer in words so often repeated by waiting, dying saints, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," this poor but holy collier departed, to be with Him whom his soul loved. He died in the fifty-first year of his age. His funeral was attended by a large number of his friends, who were eager thus to testify their respect for his memory. His minister preached a funeral sermon for him, from the words of the apostle, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

Dr. Marsh, in writing to a friend, says of this humble and earnest follower of the Lamb, "Round was, I believe, a simple-hearted Christian, and a useful man among the colliers. He is out of the pit now, and in the palace." No one who knew him will question the truth of this testimony.

The history of this man is full of instruction.

1. Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning? and does it not prove and illustrate the grace of God in pardoning and sanctifying some of the chief of sinners? Who that heard poor Round blaspheming God, and shocking even ordinary swearers by his terrible oaths and curses, could have thought such lips would ever pray, such a swearer be as fervent in praise as he had been in profanity, and such a sinner be as anxious to save men's souls by his holy life and labors, as he seemed at one time to be to corrupt and destroy them by his example? But whom cannot the mercy of God forgive, and His grace sanctify? "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin." "He is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him." Him that comes to me I will never cast out." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

Does any one ask the question, "What must I do to be saved?" I reply with the apostle, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Reader, you must be convinced of sin, be sorry for it, forsake it, while trusting wholly, confidently, joyfully in Christ for pardon, holiness, and eternal life. Whoever does this, whatever may have been his sins, for numbers, magnitude, and long continuance--shall be saved. It was thus that poor Round sought and obtained mercy.

2. What a blessed thing the religion of Christ is, which makes such a change in a man's character, mode of life, and standing in society! But for this, Round would have remained a wretched swearing man, and, in all probability, would have added various other vices to his profanity, lived a wicked life, and died a miserable death, as many of his companions did. But the grace of God which changed his heart, made him also a respectable and a holy man. He was pious, useful, and happy. Yes, the gospel received into the heart, makes us, I say, respectable and useful.

So the apostle Paul said of Onesimus, "Who in time past was to you unprofitable, but now profitable to you and to me." Onesimus was a slave of Philemon, who robbed his master, ran away, heard Paul preach, was converted, and then this poor dishonest runaway slave, when changed by the grace of God, was useful even to an apostle, and became a minister of the gospel. Divine grace never leaves us as it finds us; it makes the robber honest, the lewd chaste, the drunkard sober, the swearer devout. To render us profitable and useful--is the sure effect of Christianity. And, then, usefulness with christian uprightness is the way to honor. Who does not respect a useful upright man? He is the salt of a corrupt world, and the light of a dark one. Such a man was Joseph Round.

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