The early Californians left scarcely
any path of sin unexplored, and were a sad set of sinners, but for
virtuous women and religion they never lost their reverence. Both were
scarce in those days, when it seemed to be thought that gold-digging and
the Decalogue could not be made to harmonize. The pioneer preachers
found that one good woman made a better basis for evangelization than a
score of nomadic bachelors. The first accession of a woman to a church
in the mines was an epoch in its history. The church in the house of
Lydia was the normal type--it must be anchored to woman's faith, and
tenderness, and love, in the home.
He visited San Francisco during my pastorate in 1858. On Sunday morning
he preached a sermon of such extraordinary beauty and power that at the
night-service the house was crowded by a curious congregation, drawn
thither by the report of the forenoon effort. His subject was the faith
of the mother of Moses, and he handled it in his own way. The powerful
effect of one passage I shall never forget. It was a description of the
mother's struggle, and the victory of her faith in the crisis of her
trial. No longer able to protect her child, she resolves to commit him
to her God.
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