“Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. ” (3 John 1:12).
Thomas Manton gave this account of a godly woman who exemplified her faith in walking with God:
The duty I owe to the memory of a great sister in Christ obliges me to testify to the world what I, as well as others who had the honor of knowing her, observed in her. She was one whom God had endowed with more than common gifts and graces; one of a piercing judgment, quick apprehension, great presence of mind, useful in all her relations. But that which adorned all was her eminent godliness, which was visible in the whole course of her conversation. She had a great understanding of the mysteries of the gospel; and though she abounded in good works, yet she knew how to account all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord. She was often in the admiration of the riches and freeness of God s grace in Jesus Christ; and all her hopes, trust, and confidence were in his merits and righteousness. She had a very high valuation and esteem of the ordinances of God; and when her long sickness had for some time hindered her from a public attendance on the worship of God, she would often complain of it, that she was as a leper shut out from the sanctuary of God. She was of a noble, generous, and charitable frame of spirit; and her charity was dispensed with great prudence. I cannot but mention one branch of it, viz., the relieving of sick persons, especially providing and giving medicines to the poor who had no money to buy them ; and God did wonderfully own her with great success in this. In her latter days God was pleased to exercise her with great trials, her sickness was long and tedious, her pains great and sharp; but under all, her steady adherence to God showed the strength of her faith and the truth of her patience. I have often heard her say this one thing silenced all complaints. It is God who hath done it. All the breaches God made upon her made no breach between God and her soul. In her languishing hours, when her strength failed her, she expressed the inward tranquillity and repose of her mind; it being almost the last words she said, All is well, all is well. Thus she lived and thus she died, and is now joined to that great assembly of glorified saints who are always praising, blessing and adoring God, where she is always beholding the face of her God in glory, and fully understands the meaning of all the dark providences of God towards her in the latter part of her life. Thomas Manton,The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (Vol. 17).
If this the kind of speech someone would give of you?
Contemplation:
O God, may Your Spirit speak in me that I may speak to You. O Lord Jesus, great high priest, You have opened a new and living way by which a fallen creature can approach You with acceptance.
Help me to contemplate the dignity of Your Person, the perfectness of Your sacrifice, the effectiveness of Your intercession.
O what blessedness accompanies devotion, when under all the trials that weary me, the cares that corrode me, the fears that disturb me, the infirmities that oppress me, I can come to You in my need and feel peace beyond understanding!
The grace that restores is necessary to preserve, lead, guard, supply, help me. And here Your saints encourage my hope; they were once poor and are now rich, bound and are now free, tried and now are victorious.
Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in You, the divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells. To You I repair for grace upon grace, until every void made by sin be replenished and I am filled with all Your fullness.
May my desires be enlarged and my hopes emboldened, that I may honor You by my entire dependency and the greatness of my expectation.
Be with me, and prepare me for all the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity, the losses of substance, the death of friends, the days of darkness, the changes of life, and the last great change of all. May I find Your grace sufficient for all my needs.
