Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/87

Rh ‘He has worn that cloak eleven years. He retired from business with a handsome property, and he is so miserly that he cannot take the use of it. I replied, ‘That man visits the widow and the fatherless, and supplies their need. He goes to the Mission House and leaves fifty or a hundred dollars, but his name never appears. The gifts of a “Friend of Missions” are very frequent. He is the best model of a Presbyterian elder I know.’

“I missed Mr. Steel for a few days, and when he came back he said to me, ‘I have received a precious lesson since I saw you last. One evening I had made some calls, and returning hung my hat and cloak on the stand in the hall and went into the parlor. Without any warning, I fell unconscious on the floor. My family procured medical assistance, and after some time I became conscious and revived. I was apparently dead without tasting of death. For many years I had been subject to bondage through fear of death, and the dear Lord has taught me now that I need not fear any more.’

“When Mr. Steel was more than eighty years old, his old partner came to spend the day with him. They had sweet communing, and on parting the two stood in front of the house at sunset and bade each other farewell. Mr. Steel returned to his parlor, and fell down unconscious, He was not, for God took him. How often his instructive remarks have helped me onward! One little incident which he related to me I may mention: ‘When I was a young man, about the beginning of this century, I lived in New Jersey. The yellow-fever broke out in New York, and I came to the city to visit a very dear friend. He was attacked by the fever. In the evening I walked along Beekman Street till I came to the Brick Church. I heard singing, and went in to the lecture-room. They sang the ninety-first Psalm. It