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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Power of Faith, by Isabella Graham
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Power of Faith
+ Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.
+
+Author: Isabella Graham
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2005 [EBook #16276]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POWER OF FAITH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tom Roch and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE POWER OF FAITH,
+
+ EXEMPLIFIED IN
+
+ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
+ OF THE LATE
+ MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.
+
+
+ A NEW EDITION,
+ ENRICHED BY HER NARRATIVE OF HER HUSBAND'S DEATH, AND
+ OTHER SELECT CORRESPONDENCE
+
+
+ The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor
+is humility. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud; but he will
+ establish the border of the widow. PROV. 15:25, 33.
+
+
+ PUBLISHED BY THE
+ AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
+ 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK:
+ 28 CORNHILL, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843,
+ by JOANNA BETHUNE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
+ for the Southern District of New York.
+
+ Copyright transferred to the American Tract Society.
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+ _______________
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ EARLY LIFE--RESIDENCE IN CANADA.
+
+Foundation of the excellence of her character--Birth--
+ Education--Conversion--Marriage--Voyage to Quebec--
+ Doddridge's Rise and Progress--Residence at Montreal and
+ Fort Niagara--Sails for Antigua--1742-1772, .................. 7
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+Dr. Graham called to St. Vincents--His safe return--State of
+ his mind--Death of Mrs. Graham's mother--Letter
+ describing the death of Dr. Graham--Kindness of Dr. H.--
+ Reflections--Letters to Mrs. Grandidier and to her father--
+ Departure for Scotland--1773-1775, ............................ 22
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ RETURN TO SCOTLAND--SCHOOL AT EDINBURGH.
+
+Perilous voyage--Trust in God--Return to Cartside--Care of
+ her father--Residence at Paisley--Depressed circumstances--
+ Peace in God--Singular investment and result--School
+ in Edinburgh--Friends--Benevolence to poor tradesmen--
+ Dancing--Letter of Lady Glenorchy--Origin of the Society
+ for the Relief of the Destitute Sick--Death and character
+ of Lady Glenorchy--Letter to a daughter--Visit to
+ Cartside and Paisley--Reposes all upon Christ--Removal to
+ New York--Devotional exercises--1776-1789, ................... 54
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ SCHOOL IN NEW YORK--DEATH OF HER PASTOR,
+ DR. JOHN MASON--LAST NEWS OF HER SON.
+
+Voyage and reception at New York--Marriage of Mrs. Stevenson--
+ Anxiety for her son--He escapes a press-gang--Confidence
+ in God--Sickness and death of her pastor, Dr. John Mason--
+ His character--Dr. John M. Mason installed pastor--
+ Devotional exercises--Letter to A.D.--Letter to her son--
+ Last intelligence of him--Reflections--1789-1794, ............ 82
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER--FIRST MISSIONARY
+ SOCIETY IN NEW YORK.
+
+Marriage of Mrs. Bethune--Death of Mrs. Stevenson--Strong
+ consolation--Singular receipts and liberality--Devotional
+ exercises--Anniversary of her daughter's birth and death--
+ First Missionary Society in New York--Reflections--
+ Acquaintance with Mrs. C---- near Boston--Letter and
+ devotional exercises--1795-1797, ............................. 115
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY--
+ CLOSE OF HER SCHOOL.
+
+Rise of the Widows' Society--First monthly missionary
+ prayer-meeting--Letter to a young man on joining the
+ church--The Essay on Man--Marriage of Mrs. Smith--Close
+ of her school--Labors for widows and the poor--Letters to
+ Mrs. C.--The yellow-fever--Death of Washington--Devotional
+ exercises--1797-1800, ........................................ 144
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN--
+ CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+Schools and labors connected with the Widows' Society--Her
+ friend Mrs. Hoffman--Anniversary of the Widows' Society--
+ Visit to Boston--Want of evangelical preaching--Letters
+ to Miss M---- of Boston--Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Bethune in
+ Britain--Anxiety for them--Confidence in God--Church
+ discipline--Dr. Mason sails for Britain--1800-1801, .......... 167
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ JOURNAL AND LETTERS--LADIES' SCHOOL
+ FOR POOR CHILDREN.
+
+Death of a grandchild--Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Bethune in
+ Britain--Death of B.--Of another grandchild--Of Pero, a
+ colored man--Return of Mr. and Mrs. Bethune--Takes up her
+ abode with them--Devotional exercises--Ladies' school for
+ poor children--Address on its formation--Supplications for
+ a revival of God's work--Labors for the suffering poor--
+ Letters to Mrs. C.--Letter to the widow of her brother--
+ 1801-1805, ................................................... 200
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY--FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.
+
+Letters--Formation and success of the Orphan Asylum--
+ Inscription for Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Hoffman--Labors in the
+ New York hospital and among female convicts--Miss
+ Farquharson, first American missionary to foreign lands--
+ Visit of Rev. Dr. Morrison and others--Letter to her
+ children at the Springs--Letter to Mrs. Juliet S.--Visits
+ Rockaway--Reminiscence of Elderslie--1806-1809, .............. 250
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY--ASSOCIATIONS FOR PRAYER--
+ HAPPY OLD AGE.
+
+Letters--Bible Society organized--Efforts for the revival and
+ extension of religion--Admissions to the communion--
+ Narrow escape from drowning at Rockaway--Barrenness of
+ preaching without Christ--Devotional exercises--Letters
+ to Miss Van Wyck and James Todd--Happy old age--Letter to
+ Mrs. C---- in affliction--Letter to Mrs. G.Y.--Prayer for
+ ministers--Magdalen Society--Lancasterian school--
+ 1809-1811, ................................................... 270
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND LETTERS.
+
+Indwelling sin lamented--Day of fasting--Happiness of the
+ aged Christian--Sermon in the state-prison--Happy
+ reminiscences--Two grandchildren unite with the church--
+ Unfaithfulness to people of the world lamented--Rich
+ temporal blessings--Letter to Mrs. J.W.--Day of fasting--
+ 1812-1814, ................................................... 309
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR--SICKNESS AND DEATH.
+
+Society for the promotion of industry among the poor--
+ Sunday-school of eighty children--Love of evangelical books
+ Last two weeks--Communion--Last sickness--Peaceful
+ death--Character by Dr. Mason--Epitaph--1814, ................ 348
+
+
+ PROVISION FOR PASSING OVER JORDAN.
+
+Scripture extracts--Meditations--Poetic effusions, ............... 379
+
+
+
+
+ LIFE
+
+ OF
+
+ MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.
+
+ _______________
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ EARLY LIFE--RESIDENCE IN CANADA.
+
+ Mankind take an interest in the history of those who, like
+themselves, have encountered the trials and discharged the duties of
+life. Too often, however, publicity is given to the lives of men
+splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in whom the secret exercises of
+the heart would not bear a scrutiny. The memoirs are comparatively few
+of those engaged in the humble and useful walks of active benevolence,
+where the breathings of the soul would display a character much to be
+admired, and more to be imitated.
+
+ As the celebrated Dr. Buchanan has observed, that if you were to
+ask certain persons in Christian countries, if they had any
+acquaintance with the _religious_ world, they would say "they had
+never heard there _was_ such a world;" so, while the external
+conduct of individuals is made the subject of much critical remark,
+the religion of the heart, the secret source of action, too frequently
+escapes unnoticed and unexplored.
+
+ It is only when the career of life is closed, that the character
+is completely established. On this account memoirs of the living are,
+in few instances, read with much interest; but when the soul has
+departed, and the body sleeps in dust, it may prove useful to
+survivors to examine the principles which led their departed friend to
+a life of honorable benevolence, and to a peaceful end.
+
+ Such considerations as these, and the urgent request of many
+respectable individuals, have induced the preparation of the following
+sketch of the life and writings of Mrs. ISABELLA GRAHAM, whose
+character was so esteemed, and whose memory is so venerated by all who
+knew her. The evident purity of motive which impelled her to activity
+in deeds of benevolence, at once commanded love and respect, which, in
+her case peculiarly, was unalloyed with any risings of jealousy, envy,
+or distrust.
+
+ Blessed with a spirit of philanthropy, with an ardent and
+generous mind, a sound judgment, and an excess of that sensibility
+which moulds the soul for friendship, a cultivated intellect and rich
+experience, her company was eagerly sought and highly valued by old
+and young. Though happily qualified to shine in the drawing-room, her
+time was seldom wasted there; for such a disposition of it would have
+been waste, contrasted with her usual employments. Her steps were not
+seen ascending the hill, of ambition, nor tracing the mazes of popular
+applause. Where the widow and the orphan wept, where the sick and the
+dying moaned, thither her footsteps hastened; and there, seen only by
+her heavenly Father, she administered to their temporal wants,
+breathed the voice of consolation on their ear, shed the tear of
+sympathy, exhibited the truths of the gospel from the sacred volume,
+and poured out her soul for them in prayer to her Saviour and her God.
+
+ In a few such deeds she rested not, nor was the story of them
+obtruded upon others, or recorded by herself. The recollection of past
+exertions was lost in her zeal to accomplish greater purposes and
+greater good: her heart expanded with her experience, and her means
+were too limited, the active powers of her vigorous mind too feeble,
+to fulfil the abounding desires of her soul in alleviating the
+miseries and increasing the comforts of the poor, the destitute, and
+afflicted. To learn the latent springs of such excellence is worthy of
+research; they may be all summed up in this, _the religion of
+the heart_.
+
+ The extracts from Mrs. Graham's letters and devotional exercises,
+which constitute so large a part of the following pages, will furnish
+the best development of her principles; and may, with the blessing of
+God, prove useful to those who read them. In all her writings will be
+manifested the power of _faith_, the efficiency of _grace_,
+and in them, as in her own uniform confession, Jesus will be magnified
+and self will be humbled. Her life was chiefly distinguished by her
+continual dependence on God, and his unceasing faithfulness and mercy
+towards her.
+
+
+ ISABELLA MARSHALL, afterwards Mrs. Graham, was born July 29,
+1742, in the shire of Lanark, in Scotland. Her grandfather was one of
+the elders who quitted the established church with the Rev. Messrs.
+Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine. She was educated in the principles of the
+church of Scotland. Her father and mother were both pious; indeed, her
+mother, whose maiden name was Janet Hamilton, appears, from her
+letters yet extant, to have possessed a mind of the same character as
+her daughter afterwards exhibited.
+
+ Isabella was trained to an active life, as well as favored with a
+superior education. Her grandfather, whose dying-bed she assiduously
+attended, bequeathed her a legacy of some hundred pounds. In the use
+to which she applied this money, the soundness of her judgment was
+thus early manifested. She requested it might be appropriated to the
+purpose of procuring a thorough _education_. When ten years of
+age, she was sent to a boarding-school taught by a lady of
+distinguished talents and piety. Often has Mrs. Graham repeated to her
+children the maxims of Mrs. Betty Morehead. With ardent and unwearied
+endeavors to attain mental endowments, and especially moral and
+religious knowledge, she attended the instructions of Mrs. Morehead
+for seven successive winters. How valuable is early instruction. With
+the blessing of God, it is probable that this instructress laid the
+foundation of the exertions and usefulness of her pupil in after-life.
+How wise and how gracious are the ways of the Lord. Knowing the path
+in which he was afterwards to lead Isabella Marshall, her God was
+pleased to provide her an education of a much higher kind than was
+usual in those days. Who would not trust that God, who alone can be
+_the guide of our youth_?
+
+ Her father, John Marshall, farmed a paternal estate, called the
+Heads, near Hamilton. This estate he sold, and rented the estate of
+Elderslie, once the habitation of Sir William Wallace. There Isabella
+passed her childhood and her youth.
+
+ She had no definite recollection of the period at which her heart
+first _tasted that the Lord is gracious_. As far back as she
+could remember, she took delight in pouring out her soul to God. In
+the woods of Elderslie she selected a bush, to which she resorted in
+seasons of devotion. Under this bush she believed she was enabled to
+devote herself to God, through faith in her Redeemer, before she had
+entered on her tenth year. To this favorite, and to her, sacred spot,
+she would repair, when exposed to temptation or perplexed with
+childish troubles. From thence she caused her prayers to ascend, and
+there she found peace and consolation.
+
+ Children cannot at too early a period seek the favor of the God of
+heaven. How blessed to be reared and fed by his hand, taught by his
+Spirit, and strengthened by his grace.
+
+ The late Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, afterwards president of Princeton
+college, was at this time one of the ministers of the town of Paisley.
+Isabella sat under his ministry, and at the age of seventeen publicly
+professed her faith in Christ. In the year 1765 she was married to Dr.
+John Graham, then a practising physician in Paisley, a gentleman of
+liberal education and of respectable standing.
+
+ About a year after their marriage, Dr. Graham, having been
+appointed surgeon to the 60th or royal American regiment, was ordered
+to Canada, where that corps was stationed. Mrs. Graham accompanied
+him, and a plan was digested--with how limited a knowledge of the
+future will appear--for their permanent residence in America. Dr.
+Graham calculated on disposing of his commission, and purchasing a
+tract of land on the Mohawk river, where his father-in-law, Mr.
+Marshall, was to follow him. The letter subjoined gives the
+interesting incidents of their voyage, and forms a pleasant
+introduction to the character of Mrs. Graham at this period of
+her life.
+
+
+ "QUEBEC, August 29, 1767.
+
+ "MY DEAREST PARENTS--This is the fifth letter I have written to
+you, although I know it is the first that can reach you. All the time
+I was at sea I kept a letter lying by me, in hope of getting it put on
+board some vessel bound for Britain; but I have met with many
+disappointments. We spoke several ships, but I never could get a
+letter put on board. At one time I was told the wind was too high, at
+another that the ship was at too great a distance, and so was put off
+till I began to understand a more substantial reason, namely, that it
+would cost the captain rather too much trouble.
+
+ "We have now, however, got safe here, after a tedious voyage of
+nine weeks, and I will give you a short account of what happened
+during that time.
+
+ "We sailed, as you know, from Greenock, June 10. For the first
+five or six days we had fine weather and fair winds, and got quite
+clear of land; after this, we had nearly six weeks of most tempestuous
+weather, and the wind, except for about two days, directly against us.
+The gentlemen after some time began to be very impatient; for my part
+I should not have cared although it had lasted twelve months. I had
+left all that was dear to me behind, except one dear friend, that one
+was constantly with me, and although the rest of the company in the
+ship was very agreeable, yet I was the great object of his attention,
+and his invention was ever on the stretch to find amusement for me. It
+is not possible for me to say with what indulgent tenderness I was
+treated; but though I love my husband even to extravagance, yet my
+dear friends whom I left behind have a large share of my heart. They
+dwell on my mind in the daytime; and at night, when sleep lays the
+body aside and leaves the soul at liberty, she on the wings of
+imagination makes one skip over whole seas, and is immediately with
+those dear friends whose absence she so much lamented during the day,
+and in an imaginary body as truly enjoys you for the time as if really
+present with you.
+
+ "The gentlemen on board soon found reason to be thankful for the
+preservation of life, and got something very different to think of
+than fret at the contrary winds. A leak sprung in the ship, which
+alarmed them all so much that a consultation was held among them
+whether if any ship came near they should hail it and go on board
+wherever she was bound. I was perfectly unconcerned about the whole
+matter, not being aware of the danger, which was kept secret from me
+till we came on shore. I saw the men constantly pumping, but thought
+it was what they were obliged to do in every ship. After coming to
+land, on examining the ship, they found the leak to be so large that
+one might put his five fingers into it; indeed, it seemed next to a
+miracle that she kept above water; but every day of our lives may
+convince us what dependent creatures we are. While God's merciful
+providence protects us we are safe, though in the midst of apparent
+danger; should he withdraw that protection but for a moment,
+inevitable evils surround us, even when we think ourselves in
+perfect safety.
+
+ "A proof of this we had in a most distressing event, which took
+place about six weeks after we left Greenock. The wind was in our
+favor, the day was fine, and we were all amusing ourselves on deck in
+various ways, when Captain Kerr, who was standing close by us,
+stumbling backwards, fell overboard. He got above water before the
+ship passed him, and called to throw him a rope, but alas, no rope was
+at hand, and before one was got the ship was out of his reach.
+Immediately they threw over a large hen-coop, but, poor man, he could
+not swim, so he soon disappeared. The boats were put out with great
+expedition, and in less than a quarter of an hour he was found. You
+may believe no means were left unemployed to restore animation; but
+alas, the spirit had taken its final leave; it was no longer an
+inhabitant of earth, not the least signs of life appeared. The day
+after, being Sunday, his body was committed to the deep, from whence
+it had been rescued the day before. Dr. Graham read in public the
+church of England burial service. Every one on board seemed much
+affected; I cannot tell you how much I was.
+
+ "About eight days after, we got to the Banks of Newfoundland;
+while there the fog was so dense we could not see forty yards in any
+direction, and the cold was excessive, notwithstanding the season of
+the year. There were a great many islands of ice floating on the
+water; I saw three within twenty yards of us, much larger than the
+ship. The captain said if the ship ran against any one of them, she
+would be dashed to pieces. And here, again, my former observation
+holds good, for sure it could not be the art of man, either in the
+dark night or in the dense fog, which could protect the ship flying
+before the wind, through dangers so thick on every side of us. For
+several days and nights we saw neither sun nor stars, which distressed
+the captain much, for he knew not where we were, and apprehending we
+were near land, was afraid of running upon some rock; so we were
+obliged to cruise about till the atmosphere cleared.
+
+ "The sail up the river St. Lawrence is extremely pleasant. You
+know how fond I have ever been of wood and water. This country, in
+this respect, is quite to my taste, and could I only get half a dozen
+of those friends I could name settled down on either side of us, with
+five hundred pounds' worth of land to give to each, I should ask no
+more in this world.
+
+ "When we arrived, the doctor's friend Mr. Findley came on board,
+took us on shore, and brought us to his elegant mansion. He begged we
+would look on him as an old friend, feel perfectly at home, and remain
+with him as long as we could. Give my love to my dear boys;* you see
+them often, I have no doubt. Do, my dearest mamma, write me soon, and
+tell me all about them and yourself; and ever believe me, my dear
+parents, with the greatest affection,
+
+*Dr. Graham's two sons by a former marriage, who were left under the
+ care of Mr. Davidson, rector of the grammar-school of Paisley.
+
+ "Your dutiful daughter,
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ In a letter a month, later, Mrs. Graham refers to the gay and
+fashionable circles to which they were introduced in Quebec, and
+mentions her visiting the beautiful falls of Montmorency; but mourns
+over the low state of religion, and the prevailing desecration of the
+Sabbath. She adds:
+
+ "I have read Doddridge's Rise and Progress. I little knew what a
+treasure Mr. Ellis put into my hand when he gave me that book. I
+cannot say it is my daily companion, but I can with truth say it is
+often so. Let my mind be in ever so giddy and thoughtless a frame, or
+ever so much busied in those amusements I am engaged in, it makes me
+serious, and gives my thoughts a different turn; there is scarce any
+situation the mind can be in, but it will find something suitable
+there. I must not, however, make remarks on the particular contents of
+it; it would occupy more paper than I have to spare. I would have you
+purchase the book; I am sure you would like it; and when you have read
+it, it will be matter of great satisfaction to you that John and I
+have such a treasure in our possession. In it are contained every
+advice you could give us, and cautions against the temptations which,
+on account of youth, company, and the country we are in, we are
+exposed to."
+
+ They were expecting to spend the winter in Quebec, but were
+ordered to Montreal, where Jessie, her eldest daughter, was born, and
+where Mrs. Graham received intelligence of the death of her infant
+son, who had been left with her mother in Scotland. Further orders
+were soon received for the doctor to join the second battalion of his
+regiment at fort Niagara, on lake Ontario; Mrs. Graham followed him,
+and they continued here in garrison for four years, during which her
+second and third daughters, Joanna and Isabella, were added to
+her charge.
+
+ Under date of February 3, 1771, we find, from her own pen, the
+following description of her occupations and enjoyments, in a letter
+addressed to her beloved mother:
+
+
+ "My two Indian girls come on very well indeed. The eldest milked
+the cows all summer; she washes and irons all the clothes for the
+family, scrubs the floors, and does the most part of the kitchen work.
+The young one's charge is the children, and some other little turns
+when the infant is asleep. I teach them to read and to sew when they
+have any spare time. As for me, I find I have enough to do to
+superintend. You may be sure I help a little too, now and then. I make
+and mend what is necessary for the family, for I must be tailor,
+mantua-maker, and milliner.
+
+ "In the forenoon the doctor makes his rounds as usual. I generally
+trot about till two o'clock, dress the children, order dinner, dress
+myself, and twenty other things, which you know are necessary to be
+looked after by the mistress of a family. After dinner I sit down to
+my work, and we have always a book, which the doctor reads when I can
+attend; when I cannot, he reads something else.
+
+ "As I am at present the only wife in the place, we have a regular
+tea-table, and now and then a little frugal supper; for the doctor has
+come more into my way of thinking, and does not insist upon cutting a
+figure as much as some time ago. When alone, he reads and I work, as
+usual. He is seldom out, and never but when I am with him. We are easy
+in our circumstances, and want for nothing that is necessary; in
+short, my ever dear parents, my life is easy and pleasant. The Lord my
+God make it pious and useful.
+
+ "Could I place myself and family in the same circumstances, and
+every thing go on in the same manner, within a few miles of you, I
+should be happy for life; and were it not for this hope, which my
+heart is set upon, I could not be so, with all I have told you.
+
+ "We find the newspapers full of preparations for war; may the Lord
+dispose all hearts to peace, for I hate the sound, though it is the
+wish of the greatest number about me. There is no prospect of our
+leaving this place for a year yet. For my part I have only two reasons
+for wishing it. The first is, I should like to be in some Christian
+society; the other, that I might do something towards getting home. To
+return to the gay world, again I have no ambition. My family here, and
+my friends at home, engross all my attention; and when I see the one,
+and hear of the other being well, I am happy. Time never hangs heavy
+on my hand; I can always find employment, and amusement too, without
+the assistance of what go under the name of diversions.
+
+ "We have lately had several visits from a great family. The chief
+of the Seneca nation having a daughter not well, brought her to the
+doctor to see what could be done for her; he, his squaw or lady, and
+daughters breakfasted with us several times. I was kind, and made all
+the court to them I could, though we could not converse but by an
+interpreter. I made the daughters some little presents, and the doctor
+would not be feed. Who knows but these little services may one day
+save our scalps? There have been several threatenings of an Indian
+war; thank God, it seems to be quite hushed again.
+
+ "War with civilized nations is nothing to war with Indians. They
+have no mercy, nor give any quarter to man, woman, or child: all meet
+the same fate, except where they take a liking to particular persons;
+those they adopt as their children, and use them as such.
+
+ "The doctor joins in affectionate respects to my dear father, and
+you, the boys, and all our dear friends. I am as much as ever, and
+will be to my latest breath, my dear mamma, your affectionate
+daughter,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham always considered the time she passed at Niagara as
+the happiest of her days, considered in a temporal view. The officers
+of the regiment were amiable men, attached to each other, and the
+ladies were united in the ties of friendship. The society there,
+secluded from the world, exempt from the collision of individual and
+separate interests, which often create so much discord in large
+communities, and studious to promote the happiness of each other,
+enjoyed that tranquillity and contentment which ever accompany a
+disinterested interchange of friendly offices. But this fort being
+detached from other settlements, the garrison were deprived of
+ordinances and the public means of grace, and the life of religion in
+the soul of Mrs. Graham sunk to a low ebb. A conscientious observance
+of the Sabbath, which throughout life she maintained, proved to her at
+Niagara as a remembrance and revival of devotional exercises. She
+wandered on those sacred days into the woods around Niagara, searched
+her Bible, communed with God and herself, and poured out her soul in
+prayer to her covenant Lord. Throughout the week, the attentions to
+her friends, her domestic comfort and employments, and the amusements
+pursued in the garrison, she used to confess, occupied too much of her
+time and of her affections.
+
+ Here we behold a little society enjoying much comfort and
+happiness in each other, yet falling short of that preëminent duty and
+superior blessedness of glorifying, as they ought to have done, the
+God of heaven, who fed them by his bounty, and offered them a full and
+free salvation in the gospel of his Son. No enjoyments nor
+possessions, however ample and acceptable, can crown the soul with
+peace and true felicity, unless accompanied with the fear and favor of
+Him who can speak pardon to the transgressor, and _shed abroad his
+love in the hearts_ of his children; thus giving an earnest of
+spiritual and eternal blessedness along with temporal good.
+
+ The commencement of the revolutionary struggle in America rendered
+it necessary, in the estimation of the British government, to order to
+another and very diverse scene of action the sixtieth regiment,
+composed in a great measure of Americans.
+
+ Their destination was the island of Antigua: Dr. and Mrs. Graham
+and their family, consisting of three infant daughters and two young
+Indian girls, sailed from Niagara to Oswego, and from thence, by a
+path through the woods, reached the Mohawk, which river they descended
+in batteaux to Schenectady. Here Dr. Graham left his family, and went
+to New York to complete a negotiation he had entered into for
+disposing of his commission, to enable him to settle, as he originally
+intended, on a tract of land which it was in his power to purchase on
+the banks of the river they had just descended. The gentleman
+proposing to purchase his commission, not being able to perfect the
+arrangement in time, Dr. Graham found himself under the necessity of
+proceeding to Antigua with the regiment. Mrs. Graham on learning this,
+hurried down with her family to accompany him, although he had left it
+optional with her to remain till he should have ascertained the
+nature of the climate, and the probability of his continuing in the
+West Indies.
+
+ At New York they were treated with much kindness by the late Rev.
+Dr. John Rodgers and others, especially by the family of Mr. Vanbrugh
+Livingston. With Mr. Livingston's daughter, the wife of Major Brown,
+of the sixtieth regiment, Mrs. Graham formed a very intimate
+friendship, which continued during the life of Mrs. Brown.
+
+ They embarked with the regiment, November 5, 1772, for Antigua.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+ Within three weeks after their arrival at Antigua, six companies
+were ordered to the island of St. Vincents to quell an insurrection of
+the Caribs. The doctor accompanied them, and Mrs. Graham was called to
+the pain of separation under circumstances more trying than she had as
+yet experienced, as the war with savages might expose him to the most
+cruel death. In these circumstances she wrote him as follows:
+
+ "ANTIGUA, January 16, 1773.
+
+ "MY DEAREST DOCTOR--This goes by Mr. W----, who sails to-morrow;
+also a letter to Captain G----. Mr. M---- begs to be remembered to
+you; he has been foot and hand to me since you left. My dearest
+doctor, suffer me to put you in remembrance of what you put in the end
+of your trunk the morning you left me,* and let it not lie idle.
+Read it as the voice of God to your soul. My dearest love, I have been
+greatly distressed for fear of your dear life; but the love I bear to
+your soul is as superior to that of your body, as the value of one
+surpasses the other; consequently my anxiety for its interest is
+proportioned. May heaven preserve my dearest love--lead you, guide
+you, direct you, so can you never go wrong--protect and defend you, so
+shall you ever be safe, is the daily prayer of your affectionate wife,
+
+*Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM.
+
+
+ "P.S. I am told that you have taken a number of prisoners. I know
+not if you have any right to entail slavery on these poor creatures.
+If any fall to your share, do set them at liberty."
+
+ On the 8th of June, Mrs. Graham wrote to her mother, expressing
+her gratitude for her husband's safe return, and noticing some
+gratifying indications of the calm and peaceful state of his mind:
+
+ "You would be surprised to hear the doctor preach. He says we
+ought to be thankful; we have hitherto been richly and bountifully
+provided for; we ought not to repine, nor doubt, seeing we have the
+same Providence to depend upon; that we ought not to set our hearts
+upon any thing in this world; being very short-sighted, we cannot know
+what is proper for us. Having done for the best, when we are
+disappointed, we ought to rest satisfied that either what we wish is
+not for our good, or it will in some future dispensation of Providence
+be brought about another way and in a fitter time. Indeed, my dear
+mamma, in some things he is a better Christian than I am. _May God
+make him so in every thing._"
+
+ Thus was the Lord preparing his servant for what was so soon
+to follow--not his dismission from the regiment, which he so
+ardently desired, but from this world and its temptations and snares.
+Mrs. Graham's prayers were answered, but "by terrible things
+in righteousness."
+
+ She added a request that her mother would receive her eldest
+daughter, who, though at the early age of _five years_, she
+feared would receive injurious influences from the corrupt state of
+society around her, and accordingly, not long after, sent her to
+Scotland; but before her arrival, her grandmother had been called to a
+better world. In reference to this event Mrs. Graham wrote to her
+bereaved father as follows:
+
+ "ANTIGUA, August 21, 1773.
+
+ "MY DEAREST PAPA--The heart-rending tidings of my dear, my
+tender, my affectionate mother's death reached me yesterday. I am so
+distressed that I can scarcely write, and no wonder, for never was
+there such a mother. My loss is indeed great; but O, my dear, my
+afflicted father, how my heart bleeds for you. Father of mercies,
+support my aged parent, and enable him to place his hopes of happiness
+beyond this transitory world, and to follow the footsteps of the
+dear departed saint till he joins her in glory, never, never more to
+be separated.
+
+ "My dearest father, we may indeed mourn for ourselves; but she
+is happy--that is beyond all doubt. Her delight was with God while
+she was here; her closet was a Bethel; her Bible was her heart's
+treasure, and His people were her loved companions. She has now
+joined the innumerable company above, where she continues the same
+services without human frailty, and the enjoyment heightened beyond
+our highest conceptions.
+
+ "O then, my dear father, be comforted; let us now try to follow
+her; let her Saviour now be ours, and then shall we be blest with
+like consolations.
+
+ "My dearest father, I cannot tell you how much I feel for you; my
+tears will not allow me, they flow so fast that I cannot write; what
+would I give to be with you. But these are vain words.
+
+ "The doctor, however, fully expects that next summer will bring
+him leave to go home; then, I trust, we shall be in some fixed place
+of abode, and, my dear papa, you will come and live with us. I shall
+feel it to be a privilege beyond what I can tell, to perform every
+service you stand in need of, soothe your pains and comfort you under
+the infirmities of old age.
+
+ "My dear, my worthy brother--how has that tender letter, and the
+noble resolution he has taken, endeared him to me. It is certainly his
+indispensable duty to stay with you in your present solitary
+situation; such a dutiful, affectionate son must be a great comfort to
+you, and he will not lose his reward.
+
+ "I am anxious, my dearest father, to know the particulars of my
+mother's death: who attended her in her illness? was the nurse who was
+with her a good woman? was she sensible? did she expect death? and did
+she mention me, and leave me her blessing? My dear, dear father, tell
+me all.
+
+ "Farewell, my beloved father; may your God and Redeemer be your
+support and final portion, is the prayer of your affectionate
+daughter,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+ In her grief for the loss of her inestimable mother, Dr. Graham
+had said to her that "God might perhaps call her to a severer trial by
+taking her husband also," and the warning appeared prophetic; but her
+own words best describe the emotions of her bleeding heart.
+
+
+ To Miss Margaret Graham, Glasgow.
+
+ "MY DEAR SISTER--Prepare yourself for a severe shock from an
+event that has robbed me of every earthly joy. Your amiable brother is
+no longer an inhabitant of this lower world. On the seventeenth of
+November he was seized with a putrid fever, which, on the
+twenty-second, numbered him with the dead, and left me a thing not to
+be envied by the most abject beggar that crawls from door to door.
+Expect not consolation from me: I neither can give nor take it. But
+why say I so? _Yes, I can._ He died as a Christian, sensible to
+the last, and in full expectation of his approaching end. O, you knew
+not your brother's worth; you knew him not as a husband: he was not
+the same as when you knew him in his giddy years: he was to me all
+love, all affection, and partial to my every fault; prudent too in
+providing for his family. I had gained such an entire ascendency over
+his heart as I would not have given for the crown of Britain.
+
+ "On Wednesday, at one o'clock, the seventeenth day of November,
+1773, my dear doctor was seized with a violent fever. I sent for his
+assistant, Dr. Bowie: he not being at home, Dr. Muir came, who
+prescribed an emetic in the evening, and his fever having greatly
+abated, it was accordingly given. In the morning Dr. Bowie thought him
+so well I did not ask for any other assistance. At ten o'clock his
+fever greatly increased, though not so violent as it had been the day
+before. He was advised to lose a little blood, which he did; and
+towards evening it again abated.
+
+ "I found he was not quite satisfied with what had been done for
+him; at the same time he would do nothing for himself. Thursday
+evening I begged Dr. Bowie to call in Dr. Warner's assistance,
+notwithstanding he assured me there was not one dangerous symptom.
+Friday morning they both attended, and both pronounced him in a fair
+way of recovery.
+
+ "About three o'clock Dr. Eird came, who seemed surprised the
+thing had not been done which Dr. Graham himself had been dissatisfied
+for the want of the day before. Soon after the medicine was sent; but
+O, my dear doctor said it was then too late. In the evening they all
+again attended, and insisted there was no danger. Saturday morning he
+seemed very easy, and the physicians said he was in a fine way. The
+fever was gone; the decoction of bark prescribed; and they said he
+would be able to-morrow to take it in substance. I was not now the
+least apprehensive of danger, and was very earnest in prayer that the
+Lord would sanctify his affliction, and not suffer it to go off
+without leaving a sensible effect on his mind. Nay, I even said in my
+heart, 'the rod is too soon removed, it will do him no good.' Oh, that
+fools will still persist to prescribe to infinite wisdom and goodness.
+I was soon severely punished.
+
+ "About eleven he took the hiccup. I did not like it, but little
+knew it was so dangerous a symptom as I afterwards understood. I sent
+for Dr. Bowie, who assured me that though it was a disagreeable
+symptom with other attendants, in his case it was of no more
+consequence than if he or I were to take it. All that day it was so
+moderate that a mouthful of any liquid stopped it, though it always
+returned again: he often said it would be his death; but I imagined
+the pain it gave him extorted these words from him rather than a sense
+of danger, and was much pleased to hear him often pray that the Lord
+would give him patience and resignation to his blessed will, and still
+more to observe that he bore it with a patience beyond what was
+natural to him. He was of a quick temper, and being of a healthy
+constitution, was but little accustomed to pain; but, during the whole
+of his severe and trying affliction, I do not remember to have heard a
+murmuring word escape his lips; so that I cannot doubt but his prayers
+were heard, and the grace prayed for bestowed. In the evening the
+hiccup increased, and all that night it was very severe, so that he
+could not bear to be any way disturbed, nor could I possibly prevail
+upon him to take his medicine, from two in the morning until ten
+o'clock, when the physicians again attended and persuaded him to
+comply. This was Sunday. About mid-day Dr. Warner sent some old hock,
+with orders that he should take some in his drink, and now and then a
+little plain. When the wine was brought in and put on the table, he
+asked me what it was. I told him. He said, 'Yes, they are now come to
+the last shift.'
+
+ "Mr. Frank Gilbert, a good man, and, I believe, a real
+Christian, having come to town to preach--for he is a Methodist
+minister--sent a note, kindly inquiring after him, and intimating,
+if it would be agreeable to him, he would visit him in the morning.
+He said, by all means, he should be very glad to see him. I said,
+'My love, you know I have great faith in the prayers of God's
+people; suppose you should beg an interest in them this afternoon?'
+He answered, 'My dear, do you think they will forget me?' I said,
+'I hope, my love, you are not ashamed to desire the prayers of the
+people of God; it is not now a time to mind the ridicule of the
+world.' He said, 'No, Bell, I care not a farthing for the whole
+world, and you may make it my own request.'
+
+ "His disorder gained ground very fast that day, and I began to be
+much alarmed; yet still I thought it would not end in death, but
+though severe and dangerous, was sent in answer to my repeated,
+earnest prayers to awaken in him a real concern about his eternal
+interest, to set the world and its vanities in their true light, and
+bring about that entire change of heart which our blessed Lord styles
+the new birth, and without which, he says, we cannot enter the kingdom
+of heaven.
+
+ "It was now become very difficult for him to speak; but by the
+motion of his hands and eyes, which were continually lifted up when he
+had the smallest respite, I could easily see his thoughts were fixed
+on the importance of his situation; besides, many sentences and half
+sentences broke from his lips at different times, which left me
+without a doubt. 'Farewell,' said he, 'vain world; an idle world it
+is, nothing but shadows, and we keep chasing them as children do
+bubbles of water, till they break, and we find them nothing but air.'
+
+ "Observing this inward recollection, I seldom disturbed him. He
+was perfectly acquainted with the truth, and believed it. The
+doctrines of religion were often the subject of our conversation, and
+in every point of faith we entirely agreed: they only wanted to be
+felt and applied to the heart. I remained in silence to my dear
+husband, but not to my God: I was incessant in prayer, begging and
+beseeching that the Lord himself would carry on what he had so
+graciously begun--that he would every way suit himself to his
+necessities, and give conviction or consolation, as he saw needful;
+but when he spoke I endeavored to answer him from God's own word, as I
+was able or assisted. Once he exclaimed, 'Draw me, and I will run
+after thee;' at another time, 'Surely thou wilt not allow thy blessed
+Son to plead in vain for me, an obstinate sinner.' This was a degree
+of faith, and I endeavored to strengthen it. I said, 'My love, you
+know the way to the Father, through Christ, the only Mediator. You say
+right, he cannot plead in vain; fly to him; cast yourself at his feet;
+trust in him; hear his own invitation, 'Come unto me, all ye that
+labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;' 'him that cometh
+unto me I will in no wise cast out.' At another time these words broke
+from his lips, 'Form me, train me, prepare me for thyself.' Here was a
+breathing after sanctification; might not the promise be applied, 'I
+will create a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within thee.'
+
+ "In the evening the physicians again attended, but could hardly
+get a word from him. While they sat by the bedside I went out to the
+gallery with Mrs. Grandidier; the apparent struggle she had to conceal
+her distress, the compassion and sympathy in her countenance struck
+me. I easily perceived she gave up hope, and, I began to suspect, not
+from her own judgment alone; she advised me to send away my children
+to a friend's house, and to send for a person who was capable of
+assisting me, it being no longer proper for me to be alone. Thus far I
+had not allowed any person to do the least thing about him but myself,
+nor stirred from his bedside, except for a few minutes, to pour out my
+soul into the bosom of my God. I hardly, if ever, prayed for his
+recovery, being willing the rod should remain till it effected the
+purpose for which it was sent, and then I believed it would be
+removed--as if the Lord was to follow exactly the rules prescribed by
+my weak, foolish, ignorant heart.
+
+ "Hitherto I had suffered little, believing all to be the answer
+to my prayers; but I had not seriously thought of parting with him. I
+was now truly alarmed, and determined to know, as far as appearances
+went, the worst. Accordingly I stopped Dr. Bowie on the gallery: 'Tell
+me, doctor,' said I, 'what have I to expect? It is cruel to flatter
+me: if you give me some warning, and prepare me, I may perhaps be able
+to support it; but if you suffer it to come upon me all at once, I
+shall certainly sink under the shock.' He was silent for some time,
+and then replied, 'I am really at a loss how to answer you.' I said,
+'I will answer for you, there is no hope.' He said, 'God forbid--he is
+in great danger; but still there is hope; and if you value his life,
+be calm.' I was composed. Strange composure; I neither cried nor
+complained; tears were denied a passage; I was fixed and dumb like a
+statue. Can I, or any one else, describe my situation, or what I felt
+at that moment? It was urged of what consequence it was that I should
+be composed, that I might be able to do my duty to him, as no one
+could supply my place to his satisfaction, and perhaps even now he
+might be in want of me. I returned to my post, which was, except when
+doing some necessary office about him, generally on my knees by his
+bedside, partly that I might not lose the least whisper that came from
+his lips, and partly because it is my favorite posture for prayer,
+from which I could not cease, no, not for one minute.
+
+ "There were different medicines prescribed for that night, some
+in case that others proved too strong for his stomach, others in case
+of the increase of the hiccup. I found my head confused and my memory
+incapable of retaining the variety of directions given. I therefore
+accepted of the offer of a friend of his to sit up with us that night,
+whom I begged to pay particular attention to the directions, and to
+watch the proper times the medicines were to be given. This he did
+with great care, and my dear doctor was very pliable in taking them as
+they were offered. As for me I was so deeply engaged with the concerns
+of his soul, I was unfit for any thing else.
+
+ "After Dr. Bowie let me know the danger he was in, I sent a
+letter to Mr. Gilbert, begging he would not delay his visit till
+morning, as perhaps by that time he might not be able to speak to him.
+Accordingly he came; he asked him how he did; he answered, 'Very ill;'
+he asked him the situation of his mind; he answered, 'Entirely
+resigned to the divine will;' he asked him what hopes he had; he said,
+'his hope was in the mercy of God, through Christ;' Mr. Gilbert said,
+'You have no dependence on any thing besides?' he said, 'No, no, I
+have nothing else to depend upon.' Then the doctor desired him to
+pray, but at the same time to be short, as he had but short intervals
+from the hiccup. After prayer, Mr. Gilbert told me it seemed difficult
+for him to speak, and he did not think it would be prudent to say
+more; that he would call again in the morning.
+
+ "Monday morning he was greatly weakened, having had little rest
+all night from the severity of the hiccup. At ten o'clock the
+physicians again attended; but I could easily perceive they had but
+small hopes. My doctor asked Dr. Warner if he thought it would be long
+before he would be at rest, who said his pulse was still strong. He
+said, 'It is a hard thing to die!" Mrs. Brannan came to spend the day
+with us, one of the Methodist society, and Mr. McNab, whom my doctor
+desired to pray with him, which he did. All this day he said little,
+but still continued in inward prayer, as was visible by the motions of
+his hands and eyes; he had many agonizing struggles, and often
+exclaimed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 'Blessed Jesus, come and
+receive me to thyself--come--come--blessed Jesus, come!' Once, after a
+long struggle, he exclaimed, 'Release me, O release me, and let me fly
+to the bosom of my Father!' All this time I never parted from his
+bedside but a few minutes to give my soul a freer vent at the throne
+of grace. I never prayed for life, but that he might be washed,
+sanctified, and have all God's salvation completed in his soul, and be
+received into the arms of his mercy. I also had been, and still was,
+very importunate that God would give me some token, some assurance
+that he would save his soul, and give him an abundant entrance into
+the kingdom of his glory; and, by all that I had heard, seen, and
+felt, I was now satisfied that the most merciful God had sealed his
+pardon for Jesus' sake; and I found myself ready, dearly as I loved
+him, to resign him into the hands of divine mercy; but still I
+breathed after some further manifestation.
+
+ "In the evening Dr. Galloway, an old acquaintance, arrived from
+the island of Dominico, and hearing of his friend's illness, came
+immediately to visit him. When my doctor heard his voice only whisper
+how he was, he said, 'I hear Galloway's voice,' and stretched out his
+hand; so fully had he his senses to the last. Upon their feeling his
+pulse, he asked if they thought he would be long in dying. Dr. Eird
+replied, 'You must not talk of dying, but of living; you are stronger
+than when I was here this morning, and I have seen many worse recover.
+Do, do be advised, take your medicine, and try for life.' These words
+brought a gleam of hope to my despairing soul, and what had been
+denied me for twenty-four hours, a flood of tears, and I was greatly
+relieved. I went out to the gallery and gave a free vent to my
+bursting heart. I now also begged the Lord for his life, and said in
+my heart, should he now be restored, how doubly blessed would he be,
+healed in soul and body. I returned to his bedside and thus addressed
+my beloved: 'My dearest life, the doctors still have hopes, and we
+know nothing is impossible with God. Who knows what further service he
+may have for you in this world; or whether he may not give you to my
+prayers, and restore you to your Bell and family? God works by means;
+O be persuaded to take every thing prescribed, and pray to God for the
+blessing; devote your future life to his service, and, for poor Bell's
+sake, offer up a petition for life.' He did not interrupt me, but
+answered, 'Disengage yourself, Bell, disengage yourself from me. I
+want to lift up my soul to God, and bless him for Jesus Christ.'
+
+ "Dr. Galloway was determined to stay with him all night, and see
+him take his medicine. Some time after, he had a severe attack of
+hiccup, and said to Dr. Galloway, 'I hope you are now convinced.' He
+said, 'Of what?' My doctor said, 'That dissolution is near.' A little
+after, he said, 'Who died for all?' and again repeated, 'Who died for
+all?' I was forbid to speak to him, as rest was so much wanted, so I
+answered, 'Christ, my love; but give up your soul to God, and try to
+shut your weary eyes, and get a little rest for your body;' and so he
+did, and got a little sleep. All that night he did every thing he was
+desired, but would drink nothing but cold water, which had been
+allowed him; the wine he would not touch. His disorder increased so
+fast that Dr. Galloway, about five in the morning, said to me, 'I may
+go home--I can be of no service, and I cannot stand it.' I said, 'I
+suppose I need not disturb him any more with medicine.' He said, 'No,
+you may give him what he calls for.' Now, my God, all is over; I
+resign him up to thee. Only one parting word--something yet I require,
+to assure my heart that thou wilt receive his soul. Some time after he
+laid his hand upon Mrs. Brannan's lap and made a sign to her;
+afterwards he made a sign to me, who was at the back of the bed, to
+come round. Mrs. Brannan thought he wanted her to retire, which she
+did. He looked after her. I said, 'My love, she thinks you want to say
+something to me; can you speak?' He said, 'Join--pray,' which we did.
+He spoke no more for some time, only, 'Come, sweet Jesus,' and
+frequently, 'Receive my spirit.' These words were given for my sake. I
+cried, 'I am satisfied, Lord, and I yield him up to thee with all my
+heart; thou hast given me all my asking. I will not be longer
+faithless, but believing. Continue to support his departing soul, and
+let the enemy find nothing in him.'
+
+ "The next attack of hiccup laid him back speechless, and I
+believe senseless in the last parting work: he had no further
+struggle, nor need of any person to support him. I therefore again
+placed myself on my knees by his bedside, determined not to quit the
+posture till his soul had entered its rest; but nature was worn out,
+and though I swallowed hartshorn and water in great quantities, I was
+so overcome that I was obliged to lie down at the back of the bed to
+save me from fainting. Three hours did he continue in this last work
+of the heart. I watched his last, and delivered him up with a hearty
+prayer and a full assurance; but O, how earnestly I wished to go with
+him! I was, for the time, entirely insensible to my own loss: my soul
+pursued him into the invisible world, and for the time cordially
+rejoiced with the Spirit. I thought I saw the angel band ready to
+receive him, among whom stood my dear mother, the first to bid him
+welcome to the regions of bliss.
+
+ "I was then desired to leave the room, which I did, saying, 'My
+doctor is gone. I have accompanied him to the gates of heaven: he is
+safely landed; that is now not him that lies there. You, nurse, will
+see it decently dressed; then I may again be permitted to take another
+parting kiss.' So, embracing the precious clay, I went into the
+parlor. Some friends came in to see me. My composure they could not
+account for: our sincere and tender regard for each other was too well
+known to allow them to impute it to indifference. My distress at
+parting with him, even for a couple of months, when he went to St.
+Vincent, and dejection of spirit the whole time till his return, left
+them as little room to impute it to want of sensibility: at last they
+imagined that I was stupefied with grief and fatigue; but they little
+knew that at that hour I rejoiced; indeed I told them, but I suppose
+was not believed. I was asked if I had any thing particular to say
+respecting the funeral. I said, 'Nothing--my charge is gone to rest; I
+would leave it to them.' It was then proposed to bury next day at ten
+o'clock. I said that was very early; they answered, by that time I
+would be satisfied it was not too early.
+
+ "In the evening I returned to our bed-chamber to take a last
+farewell of the dear remains. The countenance was so very pleasant I
+thought there was even something heavenly, and could not help saying,
+'You smile upon me, my love; surely the delightful prospect opening on
+the parting soul left that benign smile on its companion the body.' I
+thought I could have stood and gazed for ever; but for fear of
+relapsing into immoderate grief, I withdrew after a parting embrace,
+and with an intention not to ask for another, lest a change in his
+countenance might shake my peace; for Oh, we are weak, and at certain
+times not subject to reason. I went to bed purely to get alone, for I
+had little expectation of sleep; but I was mistaken; nature was fairly
+overcome with watching and fatigue. I dropped asleep, and for a few
+hours forgot my woes; but Oh; the pangs I felt on my first awaking. I
+could not for some time believe it true that I was indeed a widow, and
+that I had lost my heart's treasure--my all I held dear on earth. It
+was long before day. I was in no danger of closing my eyes again, for
+I was at that time abandoned to despair, till recollection and the
+same considerations which at first supported me brought me a little to
+myself. I considered, I wept for one that wept no more; that all my
+fears for his eternal happiness were now over, and he beyond the reach
+of being lost; neither was he lost to me, but added to my heavenly
+treasure, more securely mine than ever. Those snares and temptations
+arising from the corrupt customs of a degenerate age, which had so
+often caused my fears, could never reach him there. The better, dearer
+half of myself was now secure beyond the possibility of falling, and
+waiting my arrival to complete his bliss. O happy hour, which shall
+also set my soul at liberty, and unite us, never to part more.
+
+ "In the morning I asked the nurse if there was any alteration;
+she said, no. I again returned to take another view, and was surprised
+to find his color and countenance unchanged. I began to be extremely
+uneasy at having consented to so early a burial. I returned again, and
+again; O, how I wished to have kept him for ever. Ten o'clock came;
+the company assembled; I became very uneasy; at last I discovered it
+to Dr. Bowie, begged he would only view him; how fresh the color--how
+every way like life. He assured me there was not the smallest doubt
+but that he was gone. I was not satisfied with this, but made them all
+inspect him. All agreed in the same thing, and I was obliged to yield,
+and the dear remains were ravished from my sight. What a night I
+passed the night after the funeral! I had ordered our own bed to be
+made up, and at the usual time retired; but in vain did I try to
+sleep; the moment my senses began to lose sensibility, I was in a kind
+of dream. Finding myself alone, I imagined he was out at supper,
+though he seldom was without me; now I thought I heard his foot on the
+stairs, and started up to listen if it were he, and to bid him
+welcome, when my roused senses told me what I could still hardly
+credit, that I had no husband to expect, and threw me into a fresh
+agony, which kept me awake till I had in some measure again reconciled
+myself to my solitary situation. But having only slept a few hours
+since my dear doctor was taken ill, I no sooner got my mind a little
+composed, than sleep again began to overpower my senses, when the
+same, or a similar imagination roused me.
+
+ "The morning came. When I was called down to breakfast, the sight
+of his empty seat distracted me. I returned to my room, though I
+thought it my duty to take some nourishment. I had it brought to me.
+Alas, I could nowhere turn my eyes but the sight was connected with
+this dear idea, and recalled past delights, never more to return. Our
+back windows looked into the garden, on which he had bestowed so much
+labor and pains, and which he was just bringing to perfection. Here we
+had spent many pleasant hours together, and indulged that freedom of
+conversation, the natural consequence of an unbounded confidence. The
+double arbor he had reared, and so contrived as to screen from both
+the south and the western sun, bid fair, in a short time, to screen us
+also from every eye. Hitherto we had been confined to morning hours,
+or afternoon, when it was shaded by the house; but had often pleased
+ourselves with the hours we should spend in this cool retreat, even at
+noonday, while, screened from the sun's scorching rays, we might enjoy
+the refreshing breeze through its leafy openings; but these delightful
+prospects were now for ever at an end. I might, indeed, there take my
+seat; but the tongue which everywhere charmed, was buried in deepest
+silence. The company which rendered every scene pleasant was gone,
+never to return: his sheep, his goats, nay, even the poultry, were
+often fed from his hand: every thing served to distract. As for my
+children, they were by kind friends kept for some time out of my
+sight; for not only to view them fatherless distressed me, but their
+thoughtless mirth and play was altogether insupportable.
+
+ "I accepted an invitation from Mr. Gilbert's family to spend some
+time in the country with them; for though it was impossible for me to
+forget for one moment, yet, when these objects were removed from my
+sight, I was more able to turn my thoughts upward, to where my heart's
+treasure now is, and where I myself expect to be. We had two
+men-servants, and my two Indian girls; one of the men I dismissed, the
+other I left to take care of the living creatures about the place. One
+of my girls I boarded where she would be in good company, and with my
+children and their maid I abandoned my solitary dwelling. I met with a
+very tender reception from that worthy family. My situation here was
+such as I both expected and wished, and attended with many outward
+circumstances which had the probability of making it supportable. I
+was allowed to be as much by myself as I chose. No one intruded on my
+privacy without my consent; but one or other of the Mrs. Gilberts
+often visited me in my own room, and drew from my bursting heart all
+its griefs, sympathizing, soothing, and advising at the same time.
+They are both women of great piety, having for many years devoted
+their hearts, time, talents, and fortune to the service of God; and
+their two husbands likewise, whose business it has been to instruct
+the ignorant negroes without fee or reward. Had it not been for this
+family, I know not where the distraction of my mind might have
+ended." * * * *
+
+
+ Thus was Mrs. Graham, at the early age of thirty-one, left a
+widow in a land of strangers. Her husband, companion, protector, was
+gone: a man of superior mind, great taste, warm affection, and
+domestic habits. She was left with three daughters, the eldest of whom
+was not over five years of age, and expecting an increase of her
+infant charge. Of temporal property she possessed very little: she was
+at a distance from her father's house: the widow and the fatherless
+were in a foreign land. The change in her circumstances was as sudden
+as it was great.
+
+ That sympathizing heart with which she was accustomed to receive
+and return the confidence of unbounded friendship, and thus, by
+reciprocal communion, to alleviate the trials and enrich the
+enjoyments of life, was chilled in death. All the pleasing plans, all
+the cherished prospects of future settlement in life were cut off in a
+moment. While sinking into a softened indifference to the world, in
+the contemplation of her severe loss, she was, on the other hand,
+roused into exertion for the sustenance and support of her young
+family, whose earthly dependence was now necessarily upon her.
+
+ Not satisfied with the custom of the island, in burying so soon
+after life is extinct, her uneasiness became so great that her friends
+judged it prudent to have her husband's grave opened, to convince her
+that no symptoms of returning life had been exhibited there. The
+fidelity of her heart was now as strongly marked as her tenderness.
+She dressed herself in the habiliments of a widow, and determined
+never to lay them aside. This she strictly adhered to, and rejected
+every overture afterwards made to her of again entering into the
+married state. She breathed the feelings of her heart in a little
+poem, in which she dedicated herself to her God as a widow indeed.
+
+ On examining into the state of her husband's affairs, she
+discovered that there remained not quite two hundred pounds sterling
+in his agent's hands.
+
+ These circumstances afforded an opportunity for the display of
+the purity of Mrs. Graham's principles, and her rigid adherence to the
+commandments of her God in every situation.
+
+ It was proposed to her, and urged with much argument, to sell the
+two Indian girls, her late husband's property; but no considerations
+of interest or necessity could prevail upon her thus to dispose of
+immortal beings, the work of her heavenly Father's hand. One of these
+girls accompanied her to Scotland, where she was married; and the
+other died in Antigua, leaving an affectionate testimony to the
+kindness of her dear master and mistress.
+
+ The surgeon's mate of the regiment was a young man whom Dr.
+Graham had early taken under his patronage. The kindness of his patron
+had so far favored him with a medical education, that he was enabled
+to succeed him as surgeon to the regiment.
+
+ Notwithstanding the slender finances of Mrs. Graham, feeling for
+the situation of Dr. H----, she presented to him her husband's medical
+library and his sword: a rare instance of disinterested regard for the
+welfare of another.
+
+ This was an effort towards observing the second table of the law,
+in doing which she was actuated likewise by that principle which flows
+from keeping the first table also. Nor was the friendship of Dr. and
+Mrs. Graham misplaced. The seeds of gratitude were sown in an upright
+heart. Dr. H----, from year to year, manifested his sense of
+obligation, by remitting to the widow such sums of money as he could
+afford. This was a reciprocity of kind offices, equally honorable to
+the benefactors and to them who received the benefit: an instance,
+alas, too rarely met with in a selfish world.
+
+ It may here be remarked, in order to show how much temporal
+supplies are under the direction of a special providence, that Dr.
+H----'s remittances and friendly letters were occasionally received by
+Mrs. Graham until the year 1795; after this period her circumstances
+were so favorably altered as to render such aid unnecessary; and from
+that time she heard no more from Dr. H----, neither could she learn
+what was his subsequent history.
+
+ It may be profitable here to look at Mrs. Graham, contrasted with
+those around her whose condition in the world was prosperous. Many
+persons then in Antigua were busy and successful in the accumulation
+of wealth, to the exclusion of every thought tending to holiness, to
+God, and to heaven. The portion which they desired they possessed.
+What then? They are since gone to another world. The magic of the
+words, "my property," "an independent fortune," has been dispelled;
+and that for which they toiled, and in which they gloried, has since
+passed into a hundred hands; the illusion is vanished, and unless they
+made their peace with God through the blood of the cross, they left
+this world, and alas, found no heaven before them. But amidst apparent
+affliction and outward distress, God was preparing the heart of this
+widow, by the discipline of his covenant, for future usefulness--to be
+a blessing, probably to thousands of her race, and to enter finally on
+that "rest which remaineth for the people of God."
+
+ Her temporal support was not, in her esteem, "an independent
+fortune," but a life of dependence on the care of her heavenly Father:
+she had more delight in suffering and doing his will, than in all
+riches. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he
+will show them his covenant." To those who walk with God, he will show
+the way in which they should go, and their experience will assure them
+that he directs their paths. "Bread shall be given them, and their
+water shall be sure." She passed through many trials of a temporal
+nature, but she was comforted of her God through them all; and at last
+was put in possession of an eternal treasure in heaven, "where neither
+moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." May
+this contrast be solemnly examined, and the example of this child of
+God made a blessing to many.
+
+ In anticipation of her approaching trial, with which her own life
+might be suddenly terminated, Mrs. Graham _set her house in
+order_, and wrote the two following letters: one to her friend Mrs.
+Grandidier, to whom and her husband Capt. Grandidier, she committed
+the charge of her family and affairs; the other to her father in
+Scotland, commending her children to his protection. Her tender and
+affectionate appeals to each of them in respect to their own eternal
+welfare, are a beautiful specimen of that Christian fidelity and love
+of the souls of men which so strongly characterized her future life.
+
+
+ "ST. JOHNS, Antigua, 1774.
+
+ "MY DEAR MRS. GRANDIDIER--The long and steady friendship which
+has subsisted between us, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and
+adversity, ever the same, without change or diminution, leaves me no
+room to doubt that it will extend to my little family, and that you
+will be as ready, to the utmost of your power, to befriend them, as
+you have been to the dear father already gone, and your friend, who
+is, perhaps, about to follow.
+
+ "If it should please God to take me away in my approaching
+confinement, I leave you and Capt. Grandidier full power to dispose of
+every thing in this house, and belonging to me in this island, as you
+shall think most for the advantage of my little family. You know my
+extreme tenderness for their dear father made me unable to part with
+any of his clothes, but these can be of no consequence to me when I
+shall again have joined him for whose sake I kept them; you may
+therefore dispose of them, and also of my own, if you think the avails
+will be of more service to the children. But I do not choose to leave
+any particular directions about my trifling effects; you will consult
+with other friends, and I am certain you will act for them to the best
+of your judgment. It is a great relief to my mind that I have such
+steady and tried friends to leave the charge of them upon. Miss
+G. B---- has promised to take J----, and it is my desire that the
+others, and the infant yet unborn, if it survive, be sent to my
+father, where I will leave them to be disposed of and provided for by
+that God who has fed me all my life, by their heavenly Father, who has
+commanded me to leave my fatherless children upon him, that he will
+preserve them alive, and whose promise I have, that he will never
+leave them nor forsake them.
+
+ "Mr. Reid will not be less kind to the offspring of his friend
+when they have lost, than when they were under a mother's protection.
+May the blessing of the widow and the fatherless follow him wherever
+he goes, and may God recompense him a thousand-fold in blessings
+spiritual and temporal. Let Diana* be sent with my children; if
+there be an infant, you know a nurse must be found for it, whatever it
+cost. As for Susan,* I am at a loss what to do with her; my heart
+tells me I have no right to entail slavery upon her and her offspring;
+I know I shall be blamed, but I am about to be called to account by a
+higher power than any in this world for my conduct, and I dare not
+allow her to be sold. I therefore leave it to herself either to remain
+here, or if it be her desire, to accompany the children. I beg Mr.
+Reid will be kind enough to allow her a passage with the rest.
+
+*The two Indian girls.
+
+ "And now, my dear friend, as the greatest happiness I can wish
+you, may that God whom I have chosen as my own portion, be yours also;
+may he, by his outward providence and by the inward operations of his
+Spirit on your heart, lead you to himself and convince you of the
+truth. But O, my dear friend, shut not your eyes and ears against
+conviction. You are not satisfied that the Bible is indeed the word of
+God. Is it not worth inquiring into? What would you think of a man who
+had a large fortune, and the whole depending on proving some certain
+facts, and yet would not be at the pains to inform himself? Are the
+interests of this world of such importance, which in a few fleeting
+years we must leave and have done with for ever, and our final state
+in the next, which is to fix us in happiness or misery through the
+endless days of eternity, not worth a thought? Think then, and
+seriously ask, 'What if it be so? What if this be indeed the word of
+God given by inspiration, for the rule of both our faith and manners,
+and by which we are to be judged? What if this same God, who so kindly
+reveals his will to men, has with it given the clearest evidences and
+strongest proofs that it is his own word?' Think, I say, my dear
+friend, if it should be so, what they deserve who either reject or
+neglect it without taking the trouble to inform themselves, or to be
+convinced that it either is or is not of divine authority.
+
+ "How many great, learned, and wise men have sifted these
+evidences with the greatest care, and the deeper they entered into the
+search, the more clear they appeared, even those whose lives are
+entirely contrary to it, and whose interest it is to wish it false,
+cannot deny. As to the various explanations of it, it is every one's
+duty to read for himself, and although there may be some parts of it
+too deep for every capacity, and which may perhaps require a knowledge
+of the history of the times to understand, yet the simple truths of
+the gospel, what we are to believe concerning God, and what duties he
+requires of us, and what he forbids, are equally plain and easy. If we
+can only once be satisfied that it is indeed the word of God, set
+ourselves to study it with an unprejudiced mind, with a sincere desire
+to know the truth and be led by it, with earnest prayer that the same
+Spirit which inspired the writers would make it plain to our hearts
+and understandings, that God himself would teach us its true meaning,
+and save us from error, we shall, I venture to say, be taught all
+necessary knowledge, and be led in the way to eternal life, and not
+suffered to err: we have God's promise that it shall be so. 'If any
+man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of
+God.'
+
+ "Forgive me, my dear friend; the subject appears to me so
+important that I know not how to have done. I love you with a true
+and sincere friendship: I love your soul, and am deeply interested
+in its eternal happiness. Once more I commit you to that God, who
+only can lead you to himself and to true happiness; and that you may
+know the truth of this from deep experience, to the eternal joy,
+peace, and safety of your immortal soul, is the last prayer of your
+affectionate friend, who hopes to meet and rejoice with you in our
+Redeemer's kingdom.
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham to her Father.
+
+ "ANTIGUA, May, 1774.
+
+ "MY EVER-DEAR FATHER--If this ever reach you, it will be when I
+have taken my final leave of this world, and received my portion for
+eternity in the next, when I hope I shall have gained the summit of my
+wishes, and be happy in the society of my dear husband and much-loved
+mother, in the kingdom of our Redeemer.
+
+ "My truly orphan children I have desired to be sent to you;
+though I see no visible way you have to provide for them, yet I am
+perfectly easy concerning them. I leave them upon that God who has fed
+me all my life, and whose tender care I have experienced in a thousand
+dangers--upon their and my heavenly Father, who has commanded me to
+leave my fatherless children upon him, and he will preserve them
+alive. The God of providence will prepare for them a home, and raise
+up friends, perhaps from a quarter neither you nor I could expect.
+
+ "My only concern and prayer to God for them is, that they may be
+early taught to love God and serve him--that they may fall into such
+hands as will carefully instruct them in the principles of morality
+and religion, and teach them the great, but too little thought of
+truth, that our chief business in life is to prepare for death. As to
+the polite parts of education, I look upon them as of no consequence;
+they may be as good Christians, perhaps better, without than with
+them; the perfection of their nature no way depends upon them. I am
+equally indifferent what station of life they may occupy, whether they
+swim in affluence or earn their daily bread, if they only act their
+part properly, and obtain the approbation of their God in that station
+wherein he in his infinite wisdom sees fit to place them.
+
+ "Remember to give my love to all my dear children. I reckon all
+that sprung from my dear doctor mine; and though I did not suffer a
+mother's pangs for them, Heaven knows how equally I love them with
+those who cost me dearer. Tell them I leave them a mother's blessing;
+and my last prayers, if it please God to continue my senses, shall be
+for their best interests.
+
+ "And now, my dear father, suffer one parting word, though from
+one no way entitled to advise: this is the third loud call for you to
+be also ready; according to the course of nature, you must very
+shortly follow; you can have very little more to do in this world, and
+therefore the smallest share of your attention is due to it. The
+young, the gay, the giddy, and thoughtless hold it a wise maxim to
+forget their departed friends as soon as possible; this may be
+worldly, but it cannot be heavenly wisdom. To be fully and entirely
+resigned to the will of God in all things, is certainly the
+characteristic of a Christian; but this is perfectly consistent with
+the most tender remembrance. That resignation--but indeed it deserves
+not the name--which consists in forgetfulness, in banishing thought
+and drowning reflection in worldly cares and amusements, can be no
+grateful offering to Him who has commanded us to have our loins girt
+and our lamps trimmed, and to be always ready, for in such an hour as
+we think not 'the Son of man cometh.' How often are we commanded to
+watch, to set our affections on things above, to be dead to the world,
+to lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven. These injunctions are
+inconsistent with forgetfulness; and if it be our duty to meditate on
+death and eternity, nothing more naturally leads our minds to that
+subject than the recollection of departed friends, who, if pious, are
+not lost, but only gone a little while before, taken from our earthly
+and added to our heavenly treasure.
+
+ "Believe me, my dear father, to a mind abstracted from the world
+and devoted to God, death, though solemn, has nothing dreadful in it;
+on the contrary, to a mind rightly disposed it is rather a desirable
+object. Just conceptions of God, and converse with him, will very soon
+change the aspect of the king of terrors to a welcome messenger, who
+comes to set open the gates of immortality, and to usher us into the
+kingdom of our heavenly Father. And now may our most gracious God
+grant you, through your few remaining days, his direction and
+consolation; may he bestow upon you that peace which the world can
+neither give nor take away; and when the appointed time of your change
+shall come, may the comforts of his Holy Spirit so cheer and refresh
+your soul, that you may be able, without a doubt or a fear, to resign
+it into the hands of your Redeemer.
+
+ "Give my love to Hugh. The sentiments expressed in his letters
+bespeak him a worthy brother, and deserving of my highest esteem. I
+would have written to him, but I have still some directions to commit
+to writing concerning my little family, and my hour is at hand; but
+tell him I will remember him in my last prayers. I charge him not to
+banish the idea of his worthy and now glorified mother, lest with that
+he also forget her precepts; but prepare to meet us who are gone
+before; and O, that our meeting may be with joy on both sides. It is
+hard for youth, in the present age, to follow our Christian pattern.
+Every real Christian, every Bible Christian, must lay his account with
+being branded with the name of enthusiast; but tell him to remember
+that the opinion of the world cannot alter the nature of holiness, nor
+the maxims of Christ. Let him read, think, and judge for himself with
+an unprejudiced mind; with a hearty desire to know and be led by the
+truth; to be taught of God, and conformed to his will in all things,
+and I venture to promise he will not be suffered to err. But let him
+avoid disputes about religion, they are seldom productive of any good;
+let him fortify his mind against banter and ridicule, it is no small
+degree of persecution. Yet, if he be determined to follow his Lord, he
+must expect to meet with it, and I know from experience it is hard to
+bear. I have found the safest way is to receive it in silence; for
+those who are disposed to ridicule the appearance of religion in
+another, are not in a fit disposition to be convinced by any argument,
+at least at that time, and few can dispute without heat, which is a
+transgression against the virtue of meekness, and very apt to lessen
+our love to the person who opposes us. We lose the spirit of brotherly
+love in hot-headed zeal, which perhaps deserves a harder name, but
+conceals itself under that appearance; and it is no small victory
+gained over ourselves if we are able to love, wish well to, and be
+ready to serve those whose sentiments differ from ours.
+
+ "I leave you and yours, and mine, upon the Fountain of all
+goodness, and may the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
+keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of
+his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you
+always. Amen.
+
+ "Your ever dutiful and affectionate daughter,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ It pleased God to preserve the life of Mrs. Graham, and to make
+her the grateful mother of a son, whom she called after the name of
+his father, and endeavored, in humble trust, to consecrate to the
+Author of his being.
+
+ Having now no object to induce her to stay longer at Antigua, she
+disposed of her slender property, and placing her money in the hands
+of Major Brown, requested him to take a passage for herself and
+family, and to lay in their sea-stores. After seeing a railing placed
+around the grave of her beloved husband, that his remains might not be
+disturbed until mingled with their kindred dust, she bade adieu to her
+kind friends, and with a sorrowful heart turned her face towards her
+native land.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ RETURN TO SCOTLAND--SCHOOL IN EDINBURGH.
+
+ No ship offering at this time from Antigua for Scotland, Mrs.
+Graham embarked with her family in one bound to Belfast, Ireland.
+Major Brown and his brother officers saw her safely out to sea; and he
+gave her a letter to a gentleman in Belfast, containing, as he said, a
+bill for the balance of the money she had deposited with him. After a
+stormy and trying voyage, she arrived in safety at her destined port.
+The correspondent in Ireland of Major Brown delivered her a letter
+from that officer expressive of esteem and affection, and stating that
+as a proof of respect for the memory of their deceased friend, he and
+his brother officers had taken the liberty of defraying the expenses
+of her voyage.
+
+ Consequently the bill he had given was for the full amount of her
+original deposit; and thus, like the brethren of Joseph, _she found
+all her money in the sack's mouth._ Being a stranger in Ireland,
+without a friend to look out for a proper vessel in which to embark
+for Scotland, she and her children went passengers in a packet; on
+board of which, as she afterwards learned, there was not even a
+compass. A storm arose and they were tossed to and fro for nine hours
+in imminent danger. The rudder and the mast were carried away; every
+thing on deck thrown overboard; and at length the vessel struck in the
+night upon a rock, on the coast of Ayr, in Scotland. The greatest
+confusion pervaded the passengers and crew. Among a number of young
+students, going to the University at Edinburgh, some were swearing,
+some praying, and all were in despair. The widow only remained
+composed. With her babe in her arms she hushed her weeping family, and
+told them that in a few minutes they should all go to join their
+father in a better world. The passengers wrote their names in their
+pocket-books, that their bodies might be recognized and reported for
+the information of their friends. One young man came into the cabin,
+asking, "Is there any peace here?" He was surprised to find a female
+so tranquil; a short conversation soon evinced that religion was the
+source of comfort and hope to them both in this perilous hour. He
+engaged in prayer and then read the 107th Psalm. While repeating these
+words, "he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are
+still," the vessel swung off the rock by the rising of the tide. She
+had been dashing against it for an hour and a half, the sea making a
+breach over her, so that the hold was now nearly filled with water.
+Towards morning the storm subsided, and the vessel floated until she
+rested on a sand-bank. Assistance was afforded from the shore, and the
+shipwrecked company took shelter in a small inn, where the men seemed
+anxious to drown the remembrance of danger in a bowl of punch. How
+faithful a monitor is conscience! This voice is listened to in extreme
+peril; but O, infatuated man, how anxious art thou to stifle the
+warnings of wisdom in the hour of prosperity. Thousands of our race,
+no doubt, delay their preparation for eternity until, by sudden death,
+they have scarcely a moment left to perform this solemn work.
+
+ Mrs. Graham retired to a private room, to offer up thanksgiving
+to God for his goodness, and to commend herself and her orphans to his
+future care.
+
+ A gentleman from Ayr, hearing of the shipwreck, came down to
+offer assistance; and in him Mrs. Graham was happy to recognize an
+old friend. This gentleman paid her and her family much attention,
+carrying them to his own house, and treating them with kindness
+and hospitality.
+
+ In a day or two after this she reached Cartside, and entered her
+father's dwelling; not the large ancient mansion in which she had left
+him, but a thatched cottage, consisting of three apartments. Possessed
+of a too easy temper and unsuspecting disposition, Mr. Marshall had
+been induced to become security for some of his friends, whose failure
+in business had reduced him to poverty. He now acted as factor of a
+gentleman's estate in this neighborhood, of whose father he had been
+the intimate friend, with a salary of twenty pounds sterling per annum
+and the use of a small farm.
+
+ In a short time, however, his health failed, and he was deprived
+of this scanty pittance, being incapable, as the proprietor was
+pleased to think, of fulfilling the duties of factor.
+
+ Alive to every call of duty, Mrs. Graham now considered her
+father as added, with her children, to the number of dependents on her
+industry. She proved indeed a good daughter--faithful, affectionate,
+and dutiful, she supported her father through his declining years; and
+he died at her house, Feb. 13, 1783, aged 75, during her residence in
+Edinburgh, surrounded by his daughter and her children, who tenderly
+watched him during his last illness.
+
+ Having resided two years at Cartside, she removed to Paisley in
+1778, where she taught a small school. The slender profits of such an
+establishment, with a widow's pension of sixteen pounds sterling, were
+the means of subsistence for herself and her family. When she first
+returned to Cartside a few religious friends called to welcome her
+home. The gay and wealthy part of her former acquaintances, who, like
+the butterfly, spread their silken wings only to bask in the warmth of
+a summer sun, found not their way to the lonely cottage of an
+afflicted widow. Her worth, though in after-life rendered splendid by
+its own fruits, was at this time hidden, excepting to those whose
+reflection and wisdom had taught them to discern it more in the faith
+and submission of the soul, than in the selfish and extravagant
+exhibitions of that wealth bestowed by the bounty of Providence, but
+expended too often for the purposes of vanity and dissipation.
+
+ In such circumstances, the Christian character of Mrs. Graham was
+strongly marked. Sensible that her heavenly Father saw it good, at
+this time, to depress her outward condition, full of filial
+tenderness, and like a real child of God resigned to whatever should
+appear to be his will, her conduct conformed to his dispensations.
+With a cheerful heart, and in the hope of faith, she set herself to
+walk down into the valley of humiliation, "leaning upon Jesus," as the
+beloved of her soul. "I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law
+is within my heart," was the spontaneous effusion of her genuine
+faith. She received with affection the scriptural admonition, "Humble
+yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
+you in due time; casting all your care upon him, for he careth
+for you."
+
+ She laid aside her children's fine frocks, and clothed them in
+homespun. At Cartside she sold the butter she made, and her children
+were fed on the milk. It was her wish to eat her own bread, however
+coarse, and to owe no person anything but love. At Paisley, for a
+season, her breakfast and supper was porridge, and her dinner potatoes
+and salt. Peace with God and a contented mind supplied the lack of
+earthly prosperity, and she adverted to this her humble fare, to
+comfort the hearts of suffering sisters, with whom she corresponded at
+a later period of life, when in comfortable circumstances.
+
+ Meantime the Lord was not unmindful of his believing child; but
+was preparing the minds of her friends for introducing her to a more
+enlarged sphere of usefulness.
+
+ Her pious and attached friend, Mrs. Major Brown, had accompanied
+her husband to Scotland, and they now resided on their estate in
+Ayrshire. Mr. Peter Reid, a kind friend when in Antigua, was now a
+merchant in London. This gentleman advised her to invest the little
+money she had brought home--and which she had still preserved--in
+muslins; which she could work into finer articles of dress, and he
+would ship them in a vessel of his own/freight free, to be sold in the
+West Indies. His object was partly to increase her little capital, and
+partly to divert her mind from meditating so deeply on the loss of her
+lamented husband. The plan so kindly proposed was soon adopted; the
+muslin dresses were shipped; but she soon afterwards learned that the
+ship was captured by the French. This was a severe loss, and more
+deeply felt as it was received at the time when her father was
+deprived of his office.
+
+ Mrs. Brown, after consulting with the Rev. Mr. Randall of
+Glasgow, the Rev. Mr. Ellis of Paisley, Lady Glenorchy and Mrs. Walker
+of Edinburgh, proposed to Mrs. Graham to take charge of a
+boarding-school in that metropolis.
+
+ The friends of religion were of opinion that such an
+establishment, under the direction of one possessing the
+qualifications of Mrs. Graham, would be of singular benefit to young
+ladies destined for important stations in society. Her liberal
+education, her acquaintance with life, and her humble yet ardent
+piety, were considered peculiarly calculated to qualify her for so
+important a trust.
+
+ Another friend had suggested to Mrs. Graham the propriety of
+opening a boarding-house in Edinburgh, which he thought could, through
+his influence, be easily filled by students.
+
+ She saw obstacles to both: a boarding-house did not appear
+suitable, as her daughters would not be so likely to have the same
+advantages of education as from a boarding-school; and to engage as an
+instructress of youth on so large a scale, with so many competitors,
+appeared for her an arduous undertaking.
+
+ In this perplexity, as in former trials, she fled to her unerring
+counsellor the Lord, her covenant God. She set apart a day for fasting
+and prayer. She spread her case before the Lord, earnestly beseeching
+him to make his word "a light to her feet and a lamp to her path," and
+"to lead her in the way in which she should go;" especially that she
+might be directed to choose the path in which she could best promote
+his glory and the highest interests of herself and her children. On
+searching the Scriptures, her mind fastened on these words in John
+21:15, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith
+unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
+Feed my lambs."
+
+ Never, perhaps, was this commandment applied with more filial
+confidence, or accompanied with a richer blessing, since the days of
+the apostle, than in the present instance.
+
+ Her determination was accordingly made. She resolved to undertake
+the education of youth, trusting that her Lord would make her an
+humble instrument of training some for his service on earth, and his
+praises in heaven. Here was exhibited an instance of simple yet
+powerful faith in a believer surrounded by temporal perplexities, and
+of condescension and mercy on the part of a compassionate God. Light
+unseen by mortal eyes descended on her path.
+
+ How weak, perhaps enthusiastic, would this have appeared to the
+busy crowd, blind to the special providence exercised by the God of
+heaven towards all his creatures. She felt the pressure of her
+affliction; but, like the Psalmist, _gave herself unto prayer_:
+
+ "Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream
+ Of glory on the consecrated hour
+ Of man in audience with the Deity."
+
+ Though her faith was strong, yet her mind was under such
+agitation, from her total want of funds to carry her plan into effect,
+and from other conflicting exercises, as to throw her into a nervous
+fever, which kept her confined to her bed for some weeks. On her
+recovery, she felt it her duty to _go forward,_ trusting that He,
+who had directed her path, would provide the means that were necessary
+to enable her to walk in it: she sold her heavy furniture, packed up
+all her remaining effects, and prepared to set out from Paisley for
+Edinburgh on a Monday, in the year 1779.
+
+ On the Saturday previous she sat by her fire musing and wondering
+in what manner the Lord would appear for her at this time, when a
+letter was brought to her from Mr. Peter Reid, enclosing a sum of
+money which he had recovered from the underwriters, on account of Mrs.
+Graham's muslins captured on their passage to the West Indies. Mrs.
+Graham had considered them as totally lost, but her friend had taken
+the precaution to have them insured.
+
+ With this supply she was enabled to accomplish her object, and
+arrived in Edinburgh with her family. Her friend Mrs. Brown met her
+there, and stayed with her a few days, to comfort and patronize her in
+her new undertaking. Mrs. Brown was her warm and constant friend until
+her death, which occurred at Paisley in 1782, when she was attending
+the communion. She bequeathed her daughter Mary to Mrs. Graham's care.
+But in 1785 the daughter followed the mother, being cut off by a fever
+in the twelfth year of her age.
+
+ It may be proper here to introduce the name of Mr. George
+Anderson, a merchant in Glasgow, who had been an early and particular
+friend of Dr. Graham. He kindly offered his friendly services, and the
+use of his purse, to promote the welfare of the bereaved family of his
+friend. Mrs. Graham occasionally drew upon both. The money she
+borrowed she had the satisfaction of repaying with interest. A
+correspondence was carried on between them after Mrs. Graham's removal
+to America, until the death of Mr. Anderson, in 1802.
+
+ During her residence in Edinburgh she was honored with the
+friendship and counsel of many persons of distinction and piety. The
+Viscountess Glenorchy, Lady Boss Baillie, Lady Jane Belches, Mrs.
+Walter Scott, mother of the poet, Mrs. Dr. Davidson, and Mrs.
+Baillie Walker, were among her warm personal friends. The Rev. Dr.
+Erskine, and Dr. Davidson, formerly the Rev. Mr. Randall of Glasgow,
+and many respectable clergymen, were also her friends. She and her
+family attended on the ministry of Dr. Davidson, an able,
+evangelical, useful pastor.
+
+ Her school soon became respectable in numbers and character. Her
+early and superior education now proved of essential service to her.
+She was indefatigable in her attention to the instruction of her
+pupils. While she was faithful in giving them those accomplishments
+which were to qualify them for acting a distinguished part in this
+world, she was also zealous in directing their attention to that
+gospel by which they were instructed to obtain an inheritance in that
+to come. She felt a high responsibility, and took a deep interest in
+their temporal and spiritual welfare. As "a mother in Israel," she
+wished to train them up in the ways of the Lord.
+
+ She prayed with them morning and evening; and on the Sabbath,
+which she was careful to devote to its proper use, she took great
+pains to imbue their minds with the truths of religion. Nor did she
+labor in vain. Although she was often heard to lament of how little
+use she had been compared with her opportunities of doing good, yet
+when her children, Mr. and Mrs. B. visited Scotland in 1801, they
+heard of many individuals, then pious and exemplary, who dated their
+first religious impressions from those seasons of early instruction
+which they enjoyed under Mrs. Graham while in Edinburgh.
+
+ Mrs. Graham's manner in the management of youth was peculiarly
+happy. While she kept them diligent in their studies, and strictly
+obedient to the laws she had established, she was endeared to them by
+her tenderness; and the young ladies instructed in her school retained
+for her in after-life a degree of filial affection which was expressed
+on many affecting occasions. This was afterwards remarkably the case
+with her pupils in America. Her little republic was completely
+governed by a system of equitable laws. On every alleged offence, a
+court-martial, as they termed it, was held, and the accused tried by
+her peers. There were no arbitrary punishments, no sallies of
+capricious passion. The laws were promulgated, and obedience was
+indispensable; the sentences of the courts-martial were always
+approved, and had a salutary effect. In short, there was a combination
+of authority, decision, and tenderness in Mrs. Graham's government,
+that rendered its subjects industrious, intelligent, circumspect, and
+happy. She enjoyed their happiness; and in cases of sickness, she
+watched over them with unremitting solicitude and care, sparing no
+expense to promote their restoration to health.
+
+ A strong trait in her character was distinctly marked by her
+educating the daughters of pious ministers at half price. This was
+setting an example worthy of imitation. It was a conduct conformable
+to scriptural precept. Said Paul, "If we have sown unto you spiritual
+things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Do ye
+not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things
+of the temple? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach
+the gospel should live by the gospel."
+
+ Always conscientious in obeying the commandments of her God, she
+observed them in this matter, giving, in her proportion, at least the
+widow's mite.
+
+ By another plan, for she was ingenious in contrivances to do
+good, she greatly assisted those in slender circumstances, especially
+such as were of the household of faith. Believing that the use of sums
+of ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds in hand would be serviceable by way
+of capital to persons in a moderate business, she was in the habit of
+making such advances, and taking back the value in articles they had
+for sale. She charged no interest, being amply repaid in the luxury of
+her own feelings, when she beheld the benefit it produced to her
+humble friends. The board of her pupils being paid in advance, she was
+enabled to adopt this plan with more facility. Were her spirit more
+prevalent in the world, what good might be done. The heart would be
+expanded, reciprocal confidence and affection cherished; and instead
+of beholding worms of the dust fighting for particles of yellow sand,
+we should behold a company of affectionate brethren leaning upon and
+assisting each other through the wilderness of this world. "Look not
+every man on his own things," said Paul, "but every man also on the
+things of others. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law
+of Christ."
+
+ On the subject of promoting the external accomplishments of her
+scholars, it became a question how far Mrs. Graham was to
+countenance them in their attendance on public balls--to what length
+it was proper for her to go so as to meet the received opinions of
+the world in these concerns. She consulted with her pious friends,
+and wrote to Lady Glenorchy on the subject. Her ladyship's letter in
+reply is so excellent that the serious reader will be gratified with
+its insertion.
+
+
+ "BARNTON, December 27, 1781.
+
+ "DEAR MADAM--I received your letter last week, and also one some
+time ago from Mrs. Walker, in which she desired me to send you my
+sentiments upon the alteration you had made, and still thought of
+making, upon your plan.
+
+ "I have since endeavored to consider, with all the attention of
+which I am _at present_ capable, the arguments that may be
+brought on both sides of the question; and with regard to the first
+point, the _practisings_, I will frankly own, that could you send
+your young ladies to one where _girls only_ are admitted, I
+should more readily yield my opinion of the matter to those Christians
+who have advised you to it. But as I learn that it is a promiscuous
+dance of boys and girls, I must in conscience say that I look upon
+such a meeting to be as pernicious in its effects upon the minds of
+young people, as balls and public assemblies on persons of riper
+years. When you mentioned the subject to me first, I thought it had
+been a practising of girls _only_, else I should then have given
+you my sentiments fully upon that head.
+
+ "As to the _reading of plays_, or any part of them, to your
+young people, I must own, it does not appear to me to be expedient; it
+may be productive of bad consequences, and the _good_ arising
+from it is, at most, uncertain. It is, no doubt, very desirable to
+enlarge young people's minds and improve their taste as well as their
+persons; but such is the state of things in this world, that to attain
+this to the degree wished for by every person of refined taste, some
+things must be sacrificed of much greater value: for example, a girl
+cannot acquire the smart, polished air of a person of fashion, without
+imbibing too much of the spirit of the world. _Vanity_ and
+_emulation_ must be awakened and cultivated in the heart, before
+she will apply herself with diligence to outward accomplishments; nor
+can her mind and taste be much improved in _polite_ literature,
+without losing its relish for simple truth. I grant you, there are a
+few Christians in the world who have acquired the outward
+accomplishments of it, and have, by grace, been enabled to turn these
+to good account--who, like the Israelites, having spoiled the
+Egyptians, have made use of _their_ jewels in adorning the
+tabernacle; but this can never serve as an argument on your side of
+the question. If the Lord sees fit to manifest his power and grace by
+plucking a brand from the burning, this is no reason why children
+should be initiated into the ways of sin and folly, in hopes that some
+time or other he will bring them out. We are never to do evil that
+good may come; and this brings the question to a short issue.
+
+ "Do you think it lawful for Christians to attend public places,
+or to spend their time in reading plays? Do you think these things
+tend, either immediately or remotely, to promote the glory of God? If
+you do not, I cannot see how you, _as a Christian_, can have any
+hand in introducing young ladies to the one or in giving them a taste
+for the other.
+
+ "This, dear madam, is _my_ view of the matter; but I do not
+wish _you_ to walk by _my_ light. I believe all the children of God
+are _taught by him_, and ought to follow the dictates of their own
+consciences: I therefore pretend not _to advise_ you, but shall
+endeavor to _pray_ that the great _unerring_ Counsellor may give you
+divine wisdom to be your teacher, to lead you into all truth, and to
+keep you from every thing inconsistent with his holy will.
+
+ "I have met with so many interruptions since I began this letter,
+that I fear that it is hardly intelligible. I shall be sorry if I have
+said any thing that gives you uneasiness; your spirits seem low, and
+your business does not succeed so well as could be wished: perhaps I
+ought to have employed my pen in the way of consolation and
+encouragement, than by throwing in fresh matter of perplexity. Sure I
+am, I do not _mean_ to add affliction to the afflicted; but
+rather have been impelled, from a regard to truth, to write my real
+sentiments, as you desired.
+
+ "Your friend and humble servant,
+
+ "W. GLENORCHY."
+
+
+ In after-life, Mrs. Graham was of opinion that she and her
+scholars had gone too far in conformity with the opinions and manners
+of the world. A reference to this deviation from what she considered a
+close Christian walk in life, will be frequently found in her
+subsequent exercises.
+
+ Lady Glenorchy being in a delicate state of health, made frequent
+use of Mrs. Graham as her almoner to the poor. On one of these visits,
+Mrs. Graham called on a poor woman with a present of a new gown. "I am
+obliged to you and her ladyship for your kindness," said the poor
+woman rich in faith, "but I maun gang to the right airth first; ye wad
+na hae come, gin ye had na been sent; the Lord hath left me lately wi'
+but ae goon for week-day and Sabbath, but now he has sent you wi' a
+Sabbath-day's goon." Meaning, in plain English, that her thankfulness
+was first due to the God of providence, who had put it into the hearts
+of his children to supply the wants of this poor disciple.
+
+ Mrs. Graham used to repeat with pleasure an anecdote of her
+friends Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. Mr. Douglas was a tallow-chandler, and
+furnished candles for Lady Glenorchy's chapel. The excise-tax was very
+high on making those articles, and many persons of the trade were
+accustomed to defraud the revenue by one stratagem or another.
+Religious principle would not permit Mr. Douglas to do so. Mrs. Graham
+one evening was remarking how handsomely the chapel was lighted. "Aye,
+Mrs. Graham," said Mrs. Douglas, "and it is all pure--the light is all
+pure, it burns bright." It would be well if Christians of every trade
+and profession were to act in like manner; that the merchant should
+have no hand in unlawfully secreting property, or encouraging perjury
+to accumulate gains; that the man of great wealth should have neither
+usury nor the shedding of blood by privateering to corrode his
+treasures; that all should observe a just weight and a just measure in
+their dealings, as in the presence of God. Let every Christian seek
+after the consolation of Mrs. Douglas, that the light which refreshes
+him may be pure.
+
+ It being stated as matter of regret, that poor people when sick
+suffered greatly, although while in health their daily labor supported
+them, Mrs. Graham suggested the idea of every poor person in the
+neighborhood laying aside _one penny a week_ to form a fund for
+relieving the contributors when in sickness. Mr. Douglas undertook the
+formation of such an institution. It went for a long time under the
+name of "The Penny Society." It afterwards received a more liberal
+patronage, has now a handsome capital, and is called, "The Society for
+the Relief of the Destitute Sick."
+
+ In July, 1786, Mrs. Graham attended the dying bed of her friend
+and patroness Lady Glenorchy: this lady had shown her friendship in a
+variety of ways during her valuable life; she had one of Mrs. Graham's
+daughters for some time in her family, condescended herself to
+instruct her, and sent her for a year to a French boarding-school in
+Rotterdam. She defrayed all her expenses while there, and furnished
+her with a liberal supply of pocket-money, that she might not see
+distress without the power of relieving it. So much does a person's
+conduct in maturer years depend upon the habits of early life, that it
+is wise to accustom young people to feel for and to contribute in
+their degree to the relief of the afflicted and the needy.
+
+ Lady Glenorchy was a character in whom was eminently displayed
+the power of religion. Descended from an ancient family, married to
+the eldest son of the Earl of Broadalbaine, beautiful and
+accomplished, she was received into the first circles of society. With
+her husband she made the tour of Europe, visiting the several courts
+on that continent. Yet all these things she "counted but loss for the
+excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord." She became a
+widow while yet in the bloom of youth. She devoted herself to the
+service of the Lord, and was made singularly useful. She kept a
+regular account of her income, and of the different objects to which
+it was applied. She built and supported several chapels in England,
+and erected one in Edinburgh, in which pious ministers of different
+denominations should be admitted to preach.
+
+ She also built a manufactory for the employment of the poor,
+where the education of children was strictly attended to: even the
+porters' lodges on each side of her gate were occupied as schools for
+the neighboring poor. Her pleasure-grounds were thrown open for the
+accommodation of the numbers who usually come from a distance to
+attend a communion-season in Scotland. In a year of scarcity the same
+grounds were planted with potatoes for the supply of the poor. She
+distributed with great judgment various sums of money in aid of
+families who were poor, yet deserving. She never encouraged idleness
+or pride, and often remarked that it was better to assist people to do
+well in the sphere which Providence had assigned them, than to attempt
+to raise them beyond it. There was so much wisdom in the active
+application of her charities, as to render them both efficient and
+extensive. She seldom was seen in these works of beneficence; her
+object was to do good: the gratitude of those on whom she bestowed
+benefits was no part of her motive, or even of her calculation. What
+she did she did unto God, and in obedience to his commands; her faith
+and hope were in God.
+
+ She contributed largely to the public institutions established at
+Edinburgh in her day. Of one or two of the most useful she was the
+first to suggest the idea, always accompanying her recommendation with
+a handsome donation to encourage the work.
+
+ The venerable Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
+and Piety shared largely her patronage; and at her death she
+bequeathed them five thousand pounds.
+
+ She indulged the hope of seeing a union of exertion, among all
+Christian denominations, for sending the gospel to the heathen. How
+delighted would she have been with the missionary societies of
+London and elsewhere, had her life been spared to behold their
+extensive operations.
+
+ She sold her estate of Barnton that she might apply the money to
+a more disinterested object than her personal accommodation, and that
+her fortune might be expended with her life, "I recollect here," said
+Saurin in one of his sermons, "an epitaph said to be engraven on the
+tomb of Atolus of Rheims: _He exported his fortune before him into
+heaven by his charities--he Has gone thither to enjoy it_."
+
+ This might be truly said of Lady Glenorchy. In her manner she
+discovered great dignity of character tempered with the meekness and
+benevolence of the gospel. Her family was arranged with much economy,
+and a strict regard to moral and religious habits. She usually
+supported some promising and pious young minister as her chaplain,
+which served him as an introduction to respectability in the church.
+With very few exceptions, all those who entered her family as servants
+were in process of time brought under religious impressions. So far it
+pleased the Lord to honor her pious endeavors to render her family one
+of the dwellings of the God of Jacob.
+
+ Mrs. Graham had the honor of attending the death-bed, and of
+closing the eyes of this distinguished child of God. It had been Lady
+Glenorchy's express desire that Mrs. Graham should be sent for, if
+within twenty miles of her, when such attendance should be necessary.
+
+ The following letter to a daughter, two months later, gives us
+another illustration of the self-denial and anxiety for the salvation
+of the soul, with which Mrs. Graham personally ministered to the needy
+and the suffering, and how skilfully she improved these scenes for the
+benefit of others.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, September, 1786.
+
+ "MY DEAR DAUGHTER--Such a scene as I have been witness to!--poor
+M. B---- is gone to her last abode; her state is fixed for ever. I
+attended her sick-bed for eight successive days and nights, except
+perhaps for an hour that I lay down in the same room. I held by life
+to the very last, because I feared she was not in a fit state to die.
+
+ "She took every medicine that was prescribed for her, which I
+administered with my own hand; but the time appointed to end her
+mortal state had arrived, and go she must. She lived four days after
+the physicians had lost all hope, and I think I never witnessed
+greater distress. I watched every word with anxious care to find if
+any breath of prayer was to be heard; but alas, I had no such
+satisfaction. As she was insensible after the first few days, it was
+not to be expected she could either think or pray.
+
+ "O, why will sinners resist the grace of God, and spend the
+precious time given to seek and find it in thoughtless folly? What can
+they do, on such a bed of distress, who have no God? Time misspent and
+gone--opportunities unimproved and gone--calls resisted never to be
+repeated--death hunting the soul through every avenue of life--a
+dreadful, unknown, unthought of eternity at hand--an awful Judge, and
+no Advocate secured to plead. A time was when a kind Saviour was
+expostulating with them: 'Why will you die?' 'Hear, and your soul
+shall live;' 'Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find;
+knock, and it shall be opened unto you;' 'Look unto me and be ye
+saved, all ye ends of the earth;' '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;' 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
+waters'--blessings purchased by Christ: pardon of sin, reconciliation
+with God, a new heart and spirit, all that is necessary for time and
+eternity--'He that hath no money,' no merit, no good about him, no
+claim upon any account whatever, 'come, buy and eat, without money and
+without price;' 'Why spend ye your money,' time, talents, affections,
+desires, 'for that which is not bread,' and cannot satisfy? 'incline
+your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will
+make an everlasting covenant with you. Now is the accepted time; now
+is the day of salvation. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not
+your heart.'
+
+ "Such is the language of the dear Redeemer to sinners every day,
+in his written word, from the pulpit, and in the dispensations of his
+providence; but O, the madness of sinners, who will not think, who
+will not attend, will not apply to this Saviour, whose sole errand
+into this world was to seek and to save sinners, yea, the very chief;
+but they will not put their souls into his hands, nor give him any
+service. A time will come, and we are forewarned of it, when this same
+inviting Saviour will say, 'Because I have called and ye refused,
+stretched out my hand and no man regarded, I also will laugh at your
+calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh.'
+
+ "Improve this dispensation, my dear child; beg of the Lord to
+search you and try you, and see that your hopes be well grounded.
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The following to her beloved friend Mrs. Walker, shows the
+impressions made on the mind of Mrs. Graham by visiting _the place
+of her nativity and the scene of her struggles with this world's
+adversity_, when the hand of God was heavy upon her.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, September, 1787.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--I have been on a jaunt for nearly three weeks; my
+school mostly dismissed, the remainder I left with Miss S----.
+Goodness and mercy have followed me, and the Lord has taken care of my
+house also in my absence. Yours was put into my hand on my return, and
+brought fresh cause of thankfulness; your observation, that we were
+mutually feeding on the same allowance, continues to hold. I too have
+been considering the works and doings of the Lord, and many of them
+have been renewed in my memory by the scenes I have passed through.
+
+ "I visited the seat of my juvenile years with my dear and only
+brother. There I recollected the days of my vanity, and the Lord's
+patience and long-suffering; my repenting, my returning, his
+pardoning, his blessing; my backslidings, his stripes and
+chastisements, his restoring and recovering, yea, many and many times.
+There, too, I found my old acquaintances no more; most of them had
+finished their course under the sun; some I could still clasp in the
+arms of faith, as united to the glorious Head, and now singing the
+song of Moses and the Lamb. From the idea of others, I was obliged to
+turn away and say, 'The Judge of all the earth shall do right.'
+
+ "I recollected a lowly cottage, where lived a pious father,
+mother, two daughters, and a son; where the voice of prayer seldom
+ceased, the voice of complaint was seldom heard: not one stone
+remained upon another; only the bushes which surrounded it, and the
+ruins of a little garden, the seat of secret communion of each with
+their God in turn; for one little earth-floored place was all their
+house-convenience, and in the winter's storm their little cow-house,
+built under the same humble roof, was their secret temple. I found
+three had gone to glory: of the other two I could learn no tidings;
+but I shall see them one day in very different mansions. I saw others
+spreading like a green bay-tree, adding field to field, and dwelling
+alone, servants and dependents excepted.
+
+ "I saw my father's cottage, in the day when the Lord pressed
+him down, and the place where my dear glorified-mother poured out
+many prayers for me and mine; my own retirement too, after the
+vanity I had seen of human life, and when tired and sick of it, I
+sought to end my days in solitude, saying, 'It is enough; here let
+thy servant depart in peace, and let my children be reared in
+obscurity.' Then I returned to the town where my husband had
+practised as a physician, where I had been respected and tasted
+largely of life's comfort. I saw the house we had lived in, and many
+tender scenes passed; to this same town I had returned a widow,
+helpless and poor, neglected and forgotten. I saw the house where I
+had taught my little school, and earned my porridge, potatoes, and
+salt; when I found myself totally neglected by some who once thought
+themselves honored by my acquaintance; while others, once shining in
+affluence, were now reduced to humble dwellings.
+
+ "The Lord has been saying, 'Know and consider all the way by
+which I have led thee, to prove thee, and try thee, to show thee what
+was in thy heart, that he might do thee good in thy latter end.' He is
+now saying, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;'
+'Occupy till I come.' Oh, for a thankful heart, a loving, a zealous
+heart, a meek and humble heart. Oh, for diligence and steadiness in
+the path of duty, a due sense of our own weakness and inability, of
+the Lord's power and all-sufficiency, and firm faith in the same. Give
+my love to ----, she is the Lord's: her heavenly Father mingles her
+cup; not one unnecessary bitter drop shall be put into it; bid her
+trust in the Lord; the time, the set time for deliverance shall come.
+I can witness, with many thousands on earth, and an innumerable
+company in heaven, that he is the best of masters. I have suffered
+much, yet not one word of all that he has said has failed. I expect to
+suffer more; but whatever bitter draughts may yet await me, I would
+not give one drop of my heavenly Father's mixing for oceans of what
+the world styles felicity.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Under another date she adds:
+
+ "When we trace the tenderness of our Daysman's conduct through
+the whole of his tabernacling here below, and add to this the many
+gracious words which he spoke, and to these again what were spoken by
+the disciples by his authority, can we refuse to cast all our burdens
+on him, and to trust him with ourselves and them? You know how sweet
+it is, in the time of tumultuous distress, when the spirit is
+overwhelmed, when God's mercy seems clean gone for ever, and his
+promise to fail, how sweet to get even a lean upon the Saviour; but
+when he, as he does at times, takes the soul out of itself, and away
+from forebodings, reasonings, and suppositions, to his own divine
+attributes, and gives it a believing view of its interest in them all,
+in his wisdom as unerring, his power as almighty, his goodness as
+boundless, his faithfulness unchanging; when we add to these his
+humanity, and consider that our High-priest was in all points tempted
+as we are, yet without sin, and that he has a feeling for our
+infirmities; when we find him listening to every petition--a widowed
+mother for her son--the centurion for his servant--weeping with two
+sisters over a brother's grave--embracing and blessing the little
+children whom mothers, like you and me, pressed through the crowd, in
+spite of the reprehensions of disciples, to present to him--accepting
+the effusions of Magdalene's penitent heart with tender consolation, O
+how near does this bring the Divinity to us, and how sweetly may we
+confide in such tenderness. Oh my friend, He rests in his love. Let us
+rest in our confidence. All shall be well."
+
+
+ When Dr. Witherspoon visited Scotland in the year 1785, he had
+frequent conversations with Mrs. Graham on the subject of her removal
+to America. She gave him at this time some reason to calculate on her
+going thither as soon as her children should have completed the course
+of education she had proposed for them. She had entertained a strong
+partiality for America ever since her former residence there, and had
+indulged a secret expectation of returning. It was her opinion, and
+that of many pious people, that America was the country where the
+church of Christ would preeminently flourish. She was therefore
+desirous to leave her offspring there.
+
+ After some correspondence with Dr. Witherspoon, and consultation
+with pious friends, her plan received the approbation of the latter;
+and having had an invitation from many respectable characters in the
+city of New York, with assurances of patronage and support, she
+arranged her affairs for quitting Edinburgh. The Algerines being then
+at war with the United States, her friends insisted on her chartering
+a small British vessel to carry herself and family to the port of New
+York. This increased her expenses; but Providence, in faithfulness and
+mercy, sent her at this time a remittance from Dr. Henderson, the
+young friend of Dr. Graham, who succeeded him as surgeon of the
+regiment; and a legacy of two hundred pounds bequeathed her by Lady
+Glenorchy, as a mark of her regard, was now of great use to her.
+
+ Thus in the month of July, 1789, Mrs. Graham once more prepared
+_to go into a land which the Lord seemed to tell her of_.
+
+ The two following extracts from her private journal, indicate the
+state of her mind and heart previous to leaving Edinburgh.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, March, 1789.
+
+ "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and
+let thy widows trust in me,' Jer. 49: 11; the Lord's promise, which he
+made to me in the days of my widowhood, and which I have made the
+subject of my prayers from day to day, taking the words in a spiritual
+sense. The Lord has done wonders for me and mine since the day I was
+left a widow with three orphans, and the fourth not born, in a strange
+land, without money, at a distance from friends; or rather, without
+friends. Hitherto he has supplied all my wants, and laid to hand every
+necessary and many comforts; supporting character and credit, making a
+way for me through the wilderness, pointing out my path, and settling
+the bounds of my habitation.
+
+ "For all these blessings I desire to be grateful to the God of
+providence, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof; but these I
+cannot take as the substance of the promise; neither have they been
+the chief matter of my prayers. The salvation and the life I have
+wrestled for, is that which Christ died to purchase, and lives to
+bestow--even spiritual life, and salvation from sin. My God knows I
+have held fast this view of the words, seeking first the kingdom of
+God for my children, leaving temporals to be given or withheld, as may
+best suit with the conversion and sanctification of their souls. I
+have not asked for them health, beauty, riches, honor, or temporal
+life: God knows what share of these consists with their better
+interests; let him give or withhold accordingly. One thing I have
+asked of the Lord, one thing only, and will persist in asking, trust
+in him for, and for which I think I have his promise--even the life of
+their and my soul. 1 Thess. 5:23, is my petition for me and mine;
+verse 24, my anchor of hope, preceded by Jeremiah 49:11."
+
+ "EDINBURGH, March 17, 1789.
+
+ "This day from the head of his own table did the Lord, by his
+servant Mr. R----, proclaim his name the I AM, and called on me to
+write under what I would, for time and eternity. My soul rejoices that
+God is, and that he is what he is; nothing less than himself can
+content me, nothing more do I desire.
+
+ "This great I AM is my portion--what can I ask beside? He hath
+opened my eyes to see his excellency; he hath determined my will, to
+choose him for my portion. He hath arranged and set in order a rich
+testament sealed by the blood of his own Son, containing every
+blessing for time and for eternity. All my heart's desire is there
+promised, and faith given to believe there shall be a full
+performance. What have I to say then, but, Amen, do as thou hast
+said? Father, glorify thy name. Thou hast said, 'Then will I
+sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your
+filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
+also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I
+will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
+you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause
+you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do
+them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers:
+and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.' Amen; Lord, do
+as thou hast said. Behold, I take hold of thy covenant for myself
+and for my children. It is well ordered in all things, and it is
+sure. My heart accords to every part of it. Wilt thou guide us by
+thy counsel while we live, and afterwards receive us to thy glory?
+Amen and amen--do as thou hast said.
+
+ "If we forsake thy laws, and go astray; if we depart from thee
+and break thy commandments, wilt thou visit our faults with rods, and
+our sins with chastisements. Blessed promise; amen, Lord, do as thou
+hast said: seeing thy loving-kindness is secured to us, and thou wilt
+not cast us off from being thy people, nor alter that which thou hast
+spoken; wilt thou keep us as the apple of thine eye? wilt thou cover
+us with the shadow of thy wing? Art thou my Husband? art thou the
+Father of my fatherless children? wilt thou be the stay of these
+orphans, and their and my shield in a strange land? wilt thou perfect
+what concerns us? wilt thou care for us? wilt thou _never leave us,
+never forsake us_? in the valley of the shadow of death shall thy
+rod and staff support us? What can thy servant say but, Amen, do as
+thou hast said."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ SCHOOL IN NEW YORK--DEATH OF HER PASTOR
+ DR. JOHN MASON--LAST NEWS OF HER SON.
+
+ MRS. GRAHAM, after a pleasant though tedious voyage, landed in
+New York on the 8th day of September, 1789, where she and her family
+were received with the greatest cordiality and confidence. The late
+Rev. Dr. Rodgers and Rev. Dr. John Mason were especially kind to her.
+She came eminently prepared to instruct her pupils in all the higher
+branches of female education; and the favorable change effected by her
+exertions was soon visible in the minds, manners, and accomplishments
+of the young ladies committed to her care. She opened her school on
+the 5th of October, 1789, with five scholars, and before the end of
+the same month the number increased to fifty. She not only imparted
+knowledge to her pupils, but also, by her conversation and example,
+prepared their minds to receive it in such a manner as to apply it to
+practical advantage. While she taught them to regard external
+accomplishments as ornaments to the female character, she was careful
+to recommend the practice of virtue as the highest accomplishment of
+all, and to inculcate the principles of religion as the only solid
+foundation for morality and virtue. The annual examinations of her
+scholars were always well attended, and gave great satisfaction.
+General Washington while at New York honored her with his patronage.
+The venerable and amiable Bishop of the Episcopal church in the state
+of New York, then the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, was never once absent
+from those examinations. She was sensible of his friendship, and
+always spoke of him in terms of great esteem and respect.
+
+ She united in communion with the church under the pastoral care
+of the Kev. Dr. Mason. This excellent man was her faithful friend and
+wise counsellor. Under his ministry her two daughters, Joanna and
+Isabella, joined the church in the year 1791. Her eldest daughter
+Jessie, who had made a profession of religion in Scotland, was married
+in July, 1790, to Mr. Hay Stevenson, merchant of New York, and she
+became a member of the church under the care of Dr. Rodgers, where her
+husband attended.
+
+ In the year 1791 her son, who had been left in Scotland to
+complete his education, paid his mother a visit. Mrs. Graham,
+considering herself as inadequate to the proper management of a son,
+had at an early period of his life sent him to the care of a friend,
+who had promised to pay due attention to his morals and education. The
+boy had a warm affectionate heart, but possessed, at the same time, a
+bold and fearless spirit. Such a disposition, under proper management,
+might have been formed into a noble character; but he was neglected,
+and left in a great measure to himself by his first preceptor.
+
+ For two years of his life he was under the care of Mr. Murray,
+teacher of an academy at Abercorn. He was a man truly qualified for
+his station. He instructed his pupils with zeal; led even their
+amusements; and to an exemplary piety added the faithful counsel of
+a friend. He loved, and was therefore beloved. Under his
+superintendence John Graham improved rapidly, and gained the
+affections of his teacher and companions. Happy for him had he
+continued in such a suitable situation. He was removed to Edinburgh
+to receive a more classical education. Being left there by his
+mother and sisters, the impetuosity of his temper and a propensity
+for a sea-faring life induced his friends to place him as an
+apprentice in the merchant-service. He was shipwrecked on the coast
+of Holland, and Mr. Gibson of Rotterdam, a friend of Mrs. Graham,
+took him to his house, and enabled him to come to the United States.
+He remained at New York for some months. His mother deemed it his
+duty to return to Scotland to complete his time of service. He
+evidently inclined to the profession of a sailor; she therefore
+fitted him out handsomely, and he embarked for Greenock in the same
+ship with Mr. John M. Mason, the only son of Dr. John Mason, who
+went to attend the theological lectures at the Divinity Hall
+in Edinburgh.
+
+ The following extract shows the anguish of Mrs. Graham's mind in
+parting with her son, and how she cast him upon the covenant mercy of
+her God, placing a blank, as to temporal things, in her Lord's hand,
+but holding on with a fervent faith and hope to the promise of
+spiritual life.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, May 20, 1791.
+
+ "This day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he is
+again launched on the ocean, God's ocean. The Lord saved him from
+shipwreck, brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to indulge
+the yearning of my heart over him. Short has been the time he has been
+with me, and ill have I improved it: he is gone from my sight, and my
+heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord, have mercy on the widow's
+son--'the only son of his mother, and she a widow,'
+
+ "I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my
+petition--save his soul alive; give him salvation from sin. It is not
+the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships he
+must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in this
+world: it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the promise in
+him. I discern not the new birth nor its fruits, but every symptom of
+captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will. This, O this is what
+distresses me: and in connection with this, his being shut out from
+ordinances, at a distance from Christians; and shut up with those who
+forget God, profane his name, and break his Sabbaths.
+
+ "O Lord, many wonders hast thou shown me; thy ways of dealing
+with me and mine have not been common; add this wonder to the rest:
+call, convert, regenerate, and establish a sailor in the faith. Lord,
+all things are possible with thee: glorify thy Son, and extend his
+kingdom by sea and land; take the prey from the strong. I roll him
+over upon thee. Many friends try to comfort me; miserable comforters
+are they all. Thou art the God of consolation; only confirm to me thy
+gracious word, on which thou causedst me to hope in the day when thou
+saidst to me, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them
+alive.' Only let this life be a spiritual life, and I put a blank in
+thy hand as to all temporal things. 'I wait for thy salvation.' Amen."
+
+
+ Three months afterwards she learned that a press-gang had boarded
+the ship in which her son was, and although he was saved from their
+grasp by a stratagem of the passengers, yet all his effects were taken
+away from him. In the following reflections on this event, the anxious
+mother shows that she would not withdraw the blank she had put into
+her Redeemer's hands.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, August 18, 1791.
+
+ "Thus far the Lord hath tried me, and kept me to my choice.
+This night I have tidings, through a letter to Dr. Mason, that my
+son has been seized by the press-gang. Through God's help, he
+escaped; but all his assortment of necessaries that his sisters and
+I made up with so much care, labor, and expense, they have carried
+off, and he is once more left naked. Satan and a corrupt heart unite
+in tempting me to complain. Dare I utter a word or harbor a
+murmuring thought? Would I withdraw the blank I have put into the
+Redeemer's hand? Has he not hitherto done all things well? Have not
+my own afflictions been my greatest blessings? Have not I asked for
+my children their mother's portion? Has not God chiefly made use of
+afflictions as means of hedging me in, and shutting me up to my
+choice of this portion, as well as showing me that He is a
+sufficient portion without any other? When matters have been at the
+worst with me as to this world, my triumphs in God have been
+highest, and prospects for eternity brightest.
+
+ "Has the Lord given me in some measure victory over the world? Do
+its honors, riches, and gaudy splendor appear to me empty and vain,
+and not worth an anxious thought? Does provision of food and raiment
+by the way through this wilderness seem all that is necessary? and is
+it my wish, as well as form of prayer, that the Lord may give that in
+kind and degree which he sees fittest for me? And shall I covet that
+for my child which I despise for myself? Alas, Lord, it is because he
+feeds not on better things, and sometimes I fear he has no better
+portion. Still, still foolish. Was it when I was full, or when in
+want, that I returned to my heavenly Father? Do I desire, have I asked
+and persisted in asking for my children, salvation from sin and self?
+Do I anxiously wish them to reach and to surpass my present measure of
+submission and resignation to thy will--to enjoy God in all things,
+and nothing without him? And shall I, dare I complain when I see the
+Lord making use of the same means which first brought me to myself,
+and recovered me also from numberless backslidings since I first
+tasted the blessedness of his chosen?
+
+ "Lord, I renew my blank. I afresh roll them all over upon thee. I
+will try to look on, in the faith that all things shall work together
+for good to their souls, and that I shall yet see the day, or if I see
+it not, that it will come, when they shall bow at thy footstool, sink
+into the open arms of thy mercy in Christ, melted down in holy,
+humble, acquiescing, cordial submission to thy severest dealings with
+them; when thou shalt put a new song into their mouths, and they shall
+sing as I do now, It hath been very good for me that I have been
+afflicted. I wait for thy salvation. Amen."
+
+
+ Again we mark her trust in God in the more common events of life,
+and her gratitude in the reception of blessings from his hand.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, September, 1791.
+
+ "Many have been my burdens of late; strangers laid upon me to
+provide for, even when I thought I had not sufficient to give to all
+their due and provide for my own family. But what is that to me? the
+Lord increases business, lays more largely to hand, bears me and my
+burdens, provides for me and strangers. Lord, it is all well: give
+when thou wilt, and call for it again when and for what purpose thou
+wilt; it is thine own. I am thine, and all that thou givest me is
+thine; the world calls it mine, but I call it thine. If it be thy
+will, lead me in a plain path, or if thou lead me by a way which I
+know not, hold up my goings, so shall I be in peace and safety
+still. Amen."
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 10, 1791.
+
+ "This day did the Lord's sent servant, in a solemn manner, take
+us all to witness, and call in the witness of angels, that we had once
+more avouched ourselves to be the Lord's, and that once more Christ
+and his salvation had been offered to all within the walls. This same
+day, for the second time, have my two daughters sat down at the
+Redeemer's table among his professing people, and, I have reason to
+think, given their hearty assent to his covenant.
+
+ "Glory, glory, glory, to the hearer of prayer. I have cast my
+fatherless children on the Lord, and he has begun to make good my
+confidence. _One thing_, one only thing have I asked for them,
+leaving every thing else to be bestowed or withheld as consisting with
+that: I seek for my four children and myself, first of all, _the
+kingdom of God_.
+
+ "My God from day to day adds many other comforts, and strengthens
+my hopes by promising appearances, that _the grain of mustard
+seed_ is sown in the hearts of my three daughters. They have joined
+themselves to the people of God, and I have reason to think the Lord
+has ratified their surrender of themselves to him; he has made them
+willing for the time, and he will hedge them in to the choice they
+have made.
+
+ "Saturday, September, 1791, the Lord made me a grandmother,
+assisted my poor weakly girl, and gave a son to her and my arms.
+'There was joy that a man-child was born into the world,' and
+according to that word 'she remembered no more the anguish.'
+
+ "Thanks be to God for this salvation; but, Lord, this is but a
+small thing with thee. Look, O look on this twig from a guilty stock;
+poor, helpless, feeble creature, it can do nothing for its body, and
+still less for its soul. O God of _the spirits of all flesh_,
+give it a plunge in _the blood of Jesus_--cleanse, O cleanse him
+from original sin, and now, even now, in thy own sovereign and
+mysterious way, sow _the grain of mustard seed_ in his soul."
+
+
+ In the spring of 1792, Mrs. Graham and her family were called to
+a severe trial by the translation of their beloved pastor, Dr. Mason,
+to a better world. A few months before his decease, while preaching to
+his people, his recollection failed, his sermon was gone from his
+mind, and he sat down in his pulpit unable to proceed. After a short
+pause, he arose and addressed his people in a pious and affectionate
+strain; he considered this event as a call from his heavenly Master to
+expect a speedy dismission from the earth, and solemnly admonished
+them also to be prepared for the will of God. His people, who loved
+him, were affected to tears. An illness soon followed, which
+terminated in the death of the body. He departed on the night when
+Mrs. Graham took her turn of watching with him, and she closed his
+eyes, which she always accounted a privilege and honor bestowed upon
+her by her divine Master. But this tender and affecting scene is best
+described in a letter which she wrote to her sympathizing friend Mrs.
+Walker, of Edinburgh.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, April, 1792, Sabbath noon.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--It is not my custom to take my pen on this day
+even to write to a Christian friend, having occasion for the whole
+time with my family or in secret with my God; but I cannot go to
+dinner, I cannot eat, I cannot talk to my girls; my heart must bleed
+afresh on the same altar upon which it has often been pierced. O,
+madam, my dear Dr. Mason goes, and leaves me here alone: in all
+probability his course is nearly finished, and his crown awaits him.
+Five physicians now attend him closely. I have seen him often, and he
+says, 'All is well, all will be well,' Of the physicians he said,
+'Yes, yes, it is very well; they are useful men in God's hand; they
+may be instrumental in patching up the tabernacle a little. If it be
+raised to usefulness, I am content; if not to usefulness, I do not
+desire it. I feel no concern about the issue of this; the will of the
+Lord be done.'
+
+ "I say, Amen; but Oh, I feel alone. I should need large
+communications from his Master to fill up this blank. I cannot write
+for weeping; now my face is so swelled I cannot go to church. I called
+at his house this morning, found the doctors in the parlor, and
+learned from them the worst. The bell was ringing for church. I
+stifled as much as possible my grief; would fain have come home to
+give it vent, but durst not be absent from the house of God. I heard a
+stranger in Dr. Rodgers' church; our doors are closed; his text was,
+'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends;' he ran the parallel
+between human friendship and that subsisting between Christ and his
+disciples. I ought to be comforted, nay, I am comforted.
+
+ "The Bible lies open before me; it is full of consolation; but
+all is in prospect. I look at God, what he is in himself, what he is
+to his people _now_ and what he will be to _eternity_: the
+consolations of hope are mine; but for the present, I feel like the
+sparrow on the house-top, or like a pelican in the wilderness; and
+when I think on my years and the robustness of my constitution, and
+that I may have a long journey before me, I am not able to look at it.
+At the same time, when I consider my children, who, having lost their
+pastor, who bore them on his heart to the throne of grace, have double
+need of a mother, I dare not indulge a wish, far less put up a
+petition for release. O, that I could get under the influence of that
+spirit which I have witnessed in my dear pastor--that entire
+confidence in God--that perfect resignation to his will--that
+complacency in all he has done, is doing, or will do--that rest in
+God, of which he seems to be put in possession even now, while his
+breast is laboring and heaving like a broken bellows, and he cannot
+fetch one full breath. O, what cannot God effect.
+
+ "SUNDAY EVENING. I have again seen my dear pastor, and discern
+the clay dissolving fast. The words of dying saints are precious, and
+his are few. He thus accosted me: 'I am just waiting the will of God;
+for the present I seem a useless blank in his hand; I can say very
+little; be not too anxious for my life, but transfer your care to the
+church; my life or death is but a trifle; if the Lord have any use for
+me, it is easy for him to raise me up still; and if he do, it will be
+agreeable to observe his hand distinct from men; if he should not, you
+will all be cared for; leave all to him and seek his glory.' He could
+say no more, nor will I to-night, but address myself to our Lord on
+his behalf, yours, my own, and our dear concerns.
+
+ "Several days have elapsed since I last wrote; our dear doctor
+still lives, often recruits, and again is reduced; but man can do no
+more; my last page, before the vessel sails, shall be of him.
+
+ "As to myself and family, we are as the Lord would have it with
+us, and I make no doubt as we need. Business very full; a house full
+of boarders, and about sixty scholars. I begin to feel the effects of
+fatigue or age, I know not which. The almond-tree flourishes; those
+that look out at the windows begin to be darkened; but the keepers of
+the house stand firm, and all the wheels and springs discharge their
+office, though more heavily; there is no judging of my days by present
+appearances. Well, let me once more return to my rest--_God_;
+commit my way to him, who shall bring to pass what is best, and in the
+end shall complete my happiness.
+
+ "APRIL 23, MONDAY. It is finished. My dear minister's bitter
+draught is over. On Thursday, the 19th of this month, a quarter before
+ten o'clock, A.M., the Lord received his spirit and laid his weary
+flesh to rest. He had a sore conflict with the king of terrors, who
+seemed allowed to revel through every part of his mortal frame: his
+legs were mortified to his knees; he had not been able to lie down for
+four weeks, and died in his chair. Like his Master, he groaned, but
+never complained: he had a draught of his Master's cup, but the bitter
+ingredient _desertion_ made no part of it. I had the honor to
+close his dear eyes, and to shut those dear lips from whence so many
+precious truths have proceeded, and to mix with the ministering
+spirits who attended to hail the released. This honor I had desired,
+but did not reckon myself worthy, and hardly hoped for it; but the
+Lord saw the wish, though never formed into a petition, and indulged
+me. I bless him for it. And now, farewell human friendships; let me
+gird up the loins of my mind, and run with patience the little
+further, looking unto Jesus, and following also him my pastor, 'who,
+through faith and patience, now inherits the promises.'
+
+ "This is a great work finished. Dr. Mason was 'a city set on a
+hill.' He was with the army during all the war after the evacuation of
+New York; had great influence over the soldiers; preached the gospel
+of peace uniformly, but never meddled with politics, though he was
+fully capable. In every situation the Lord supported him in uniformity
+and consistency of character, and carried him through without a single
+spot or stain. Glory to God in the highest for this repeated proof of
+his faithfulness. 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for
+the end of that man is peace.'
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Great was the grief of Dr. Mason's congregation on his removal.
+In him, to great learning were united meekness, prudence, diligence,
+and knowledge of the world, and an affectionate superintendence of the
+interests, spiritual and temporal, of his flock. He so arranged his
+avocations and studies in regard to time, that he had always a few
+hours in the afternoon to devote to visiting the families of his
+congregation. So regular was the order he observed, that Mrs. Graham
+and her family knew when to calculate on seeing him, and always
+expected him with the anticipation of profit and pleasure. Once every
+week they were sure of seeing him, if in health. His visits were
+short, his conversation serious, awakening, instructive, and
+affectionate. He inquired about their temporal affairs, and in cases
+of difficulty gave them his best advice. His counsels were salutary;
+his knowledge of the world and his discrimination of character
+rendered him well qualified to advise. In one of his visits to Mrs.
+Graham she mentioned to him the want of good servants as one of her
+trials. "Mrs. Graham," said he, "have you ever prayed to the Lord to
+provide good servants for you? Nothing which interests our comfort is
+too minute for the care of our heavenly Father."
+
+ To one of her daughters, who felt a strong inclination to profess
+her faith in Christ by joining the communion of his church, but yet
+was afraid that her heart was not sufficiently engaged for the service
+of God, Dr. Mason proposed the following question: "If," said he, "the
+world, with all its wealth, pleasures, and power, were placed in one
+scale, and Christ alone in the other, which would your heart freely
+choose as a portion?" On her replying there would be no hesitation as
+to her choice of Christ, he gave her encouragement to profess her
+faith, although it might not at present amount to the full assurance
+of hope.
+
+ He was indeed a faithful shepherd of his flock, and his people
+mourned for him as for an affectionate father. It is much to be
+desired that his example were more followed by Christian pastors. To
+preach with eloquence and acceptance is a talent of great value in a
+minister of the gospel; this makes him respected, and his congregation
+admire him, because, for one reason, they are proud of him; but to
+gain their affections, to make a congregation the children of an aged
+pastor, or the friends and brethren of a younger one, let the minister
+visit the families of his people; this will seal on their hearts the
+regard which their understandings had already dictated.
+
+ Very few ministers have been more remarkable for a strict
+attention to this duty, than the late Dr. John Mason and his venerable
+and attached friend Dr. Rodgers. When the former died, the latter
+exclaimed, "I feel as if I had lost a right arm."
+
+ The congregation, bereaved of their pastor, wrote immediately to
+his son, the late Rev. Dr. John Mitchell Mason, to hasten his return
+from Edinburgh to New York; and after preaching to them with great
+acceptance for several months, he was ordained and installed pastor of
+the church in April, 1793. Mrs. Graham entertained for him the most
+affectionate attachment, and this attachment was reciprocal.
+
+ At this date we find some of Mrs. Graham's delightful
+devotional exercises.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1793.
+
+ "Blessed Lord, thou hast, to the praise of thy grace, given me
+the heritage of them that fear thy name; thou hast prepared my heart
+to pray, and inclined thine ear to hear; thou hast drawn me into thy
+fold, and hast fed me in thy green pastures. I rejoice in Israel's
+Shepherd; not one of his flock shall be lost. Often have I wandered
+from his presence and sought pasture among the swine, but my Shepherd
+has ever drawn or driven me back. He has a rod and I have felt it; but
+I bless the hand and kiss the rod.
+
+ "O, how wonderful to look back and see 'all the way by which he
+has led me, to prove me, to try me, to show me what was in my heart,
+that he might do me good at my latter end.' Amen, my God, I leave
+myself in thy hands. I should lose myself; but thou wilt keep me from
+foes without and foes within. What then have I to care for? My
+Shepherd careth for all; he slumbers not nor sleeps, and he will
+perfect what concerns me; of this I am as sure as that I now write it.
+
+ "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than gold and silver. O
+how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. Thou, through thy
+commandments--or the whole of thy truth--hast made me wiser than my
+teachers. The law of God makes the simple wise. How sweet are thy
+words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy
+precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. 'Thy
+word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.' How safe, how
+happy are they who are taught by the word of God. 'Blessed art thou,
+Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not taught thee this, but my
+Father who is in heaven.'
+
+ "O my children, enrich your minds with a full acquaintance with
+the word of God; lay it up in your memories, when you can do nothing
+more; be assured, if ever you are made wise unto salvation, it must be
+by this word; if ever you are taught of God, he will teach you by the
+words contained in the Bible. 'Search the Scriptures, for they are
+they which testify of me;' search the Scriptures, for in them are
+contained the words of eternal life. 'Be followers of them who,
+through faith and patience, now inherit the promises.'
+
+ "Holy David went forward, heavenward, improving in the knowledge
+of God, of himself, and of God's plan of salvation for ruined sinners,
+by studying the word, the works, and the providences of God, but
+chiefly the word of God; praying for, watching for the influences of
+God's Spirit on his judgment and thinking powers: it was by this that
+he became wiser than his teachers. He was a king, and had the cares of
+the nation to occupy his mind; he was a man of war, and had that art
+to study. But O, the privilege of the Christian! he goes through every
+part, even of his earthly way, leaning upon God. David could say, even
+of war, 'The Lord teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.'
+'The Lord subdued the people under me.' In temporals and in
+spirituals, he is my shield, my strength, my buckler, my strong
+tower.' I shall not fear what man can do unto me.' 'In Judah's land
+God is well known; there he brake the spear, the bow, and the battle.'
+He ascribes all to God. We hear nothing of his own wisdom, his
+disciplined armies, his order of battle and warlike powers, though
+attention to all these was his duty, and not neglected by him. He
+devoted all his natural talents to God; he exercised them diligently,
+but still he knew and acted under the influence of that knowledge,
+that unless the Lord build the house, the builders lose their pains;
+unless the Lord keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain. He, as well
+as worldly men, chose the means best adapted to the end proposed. Let
+natural men assert, and let it be admitted, that David knew better how
+to use a sling and a stone, than mail, helmet, and sword; therefore he
+chose them. But follow David until he meets the hostile foe. Do we
+hear a word of his art as a slinger, as a marksman? though we may
+suppose he was expert at both. 'Thou comest to me with a sword, a
+spear, and a shield; but I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
+God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied; and this assembly
+shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear'--these are
+not essential--'for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you
+into our hands.'
+
+ "How comfortably might Christians go through life did they walk
+with God in their daily business and occupations, carefully observing
+the leadings of Providence, cautiously avoiding either running before
+or lagging behind; but in all things making their requests known to
+God; at all times committing their way to him, being careful about
+nothing, but to use with diligence the means of grace, and also the
+means of acquiring the good things of life, leaving the issues of both
+to God, in the full assurance that what is good the Lord will give.
+'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and
+verily thou shalt be fed.' In spirituals and in temporals, 'the hand
+of the diligent maketh rich.' Be 'not slothful in business, fervent in
+spirit, serving the Lord.'
+
+ "Lord, teach me thy law graciously, in all its perfection, its
+extent, order, beauty, and harmony, and grant me all the assistance
+provided to enable a lost, depraved, corrupted child of Adam, to set
+out in thy good ways, to go forward, and to finish in the same course;
+and all the consolation, joy, and peace which thou hast provided to be
+enjoyed in a measure even here, and to be perfected in the world to
+come. Amen.
+
+ "'O Israel, return unto the Lord, for thou hast fallen by thine
+iniquity.' Hos. 14. Yes, fallen, O how fallen from God the only good,
+the fountain of happiness. Lost his image, which was the glory of man
+in paradise. Lost that sweet complacency and delight in his
+perfections and attributes which innocence enjoyed. Lost rectitude of
+reason and judgment. No longer can we judge of excellence, no longer
+love what God loves. Our wills no longer straight with his will, but
+crooked, opposing God, and choosing evil instead of good. 'O Israel,
+thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' Amen, says my
+soul, in thee is my help."
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 3, 1793.
+
+ "'One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself
+by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto
+the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.' Isaiah 44:5.
+
+ "I, as one, subscribe to the truth of all that God has said: I,
+as one, subscribe my assent to all he has done. I set my amen to his
+well-ordered covenant, well-ordered in all things, and sure. And this
+is the covenant, even Christ, the sum and substance, for he hath given
+him to be a covenant of the people. The whole and every part of it is
+God's covenant. To me it must be a testament, the new testament in
+Christ's blood. To me it must be a covenant of gifts and promises. I
+can be no party, having nothing to give; nothing with which to
+covenant. He hath said, 'Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy
+help.' Amen. Be my help, my deliverer.
+
+ "'Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved; for I am
+God, and there is none else.' I do look unto thee alone for salvation.
+Thou art God; there is none else: besides thee there is no Saviour.
+
+ "'I will pour water on the thirsty, and floods on the parched
+ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy
+offspring.' Amen. I yield my soul into thy hand, dry and parched, to
+receive thy showers of reviving, quickening, fructifying grace."
+
+
+ Writing about this date to her beloved friend Mrs. O---- of
+Edinburgh, Mrs. Graham, for the encouragement of her friend, gives
+her, in confidence, the following record of her own Christian
+experience:
+
+
+ "It is now. I think, thirty-five years since I simply, but
+solemnly, accepted of the Lord's Christ, as God's gift to a lost
+world. I rolled my condemned, perishing, corrupted soul upon this
+Jesus, exhibited in the gospel as a Saviour from sin. My views then
+were dark compared with what they now are: but this I remember, that
+at the time I felt heart-satisfying trust in the mercy of God, as the
+purchase of Christ; and for a time rejoiced with joy scarce
+supportable, singing almost continually the 103d Psalm.
+
+ "I took a view of the promises of God, and wrote out many of
+them, and called them mine; and among the foremost was that in Psalm
+89:30-33; and well has the Lord kept me to it, and made it good: for,
+my dear friend, never was there a more unsteady, unwatchful Christian;
+never did the children of Israel's conduct in the wilderness depict
+any Christian's heart and conduct in the gospel times better than
+mine; and just so has the Lord dealt with me. When he slew me, then I
+trusted in him; when he gave me carnal ease and comfort, I forgot my
+Rock and rebelled. Often did I stumble too from legality, instead of
+looking at my own weakness and impotence, and trusting wholly in my
+Redeemer's strength. I was wroth with myself, wondered at myself, and
+thought it impossible I could be as I had been. I made strong
+resolutions, yea, vows, and became a slave in means to hedge in this
+wandering, worldly, vain, flighty heart; but, alas, a few months found
+me where I was, with scarce a thought of God from morning to night;
+prayer huddled over in words that had no effect on my heart; and the
+fear of hell the chief restraint from sin or spur to duty. Then, in
+general, the Lord had some affliction for me, which laid me afresh at
+his feet, and made me take a fresh grasp of Christ, and a fresh view
+of his covenant: then again I felt safety, joy, peace, and happiness.
+
+ "Thus, by line upon line, by precept upon precept, aye, and by
+stripe upon stripe, he taught me that I could not walk a moment
+alone. This is now my fixed faith; and in proportion as I keep it in
+sight, I walk safely; but I still forget, and still stumble and
+still fall; but I am lifted up and taught lesson after lesson; and I
+shall stumble and shall fall while sin is in me; but the last
+stumble shall come, and the last stripe shall be laid on, and the
+last lesson taught, and that which concerns me shall be perfected.
+O, then shall I look back, and see 'all the way by which he has led
+me, to prove me and try me, and show me what was in my heart, that
+he might do me good in my latter end.'
+
+ "I am often, even in this valley of darkness and ignorance,
+allowed this retrospective view; and am led to say not one word of
+all that he promised has failed. 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped, he
+hath been the guide of my youth, and even unto hoar hairs will he
+lead me;' and when he calls me to pass through the valley of the
+shadow of death, I shall even then fear no evil, for his rod and
+staff shall support me; and I shall enter into the presence of my
+Redeemer, white and clean, dressed in his most perfect righteousness;
+angels and saints shall know me in this glorious robe; my Redeemer
+will acknowledge me as his ransomed, and I shall be for ever with the
+Lord."
+
+
+ To Mr. A.D., Edinburgh.
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1793.
+
+ "I have just been reading over my dear friend's precious letters,
+and am refreshed anew by the same truths and uniform experience of
+every Christian; which all amounts to this, that the Lord is the
+portion of his people, and that whom he loves, he loves to the end. My
+soul melts with tenderness when I recollect my fellow-travellers in
+the wilderness; those dear associates with whom I have so often taken
+sweet counsel; who so often comforted me with the same comforts with
+which they themselves were comforted. I am also led to recollect some
+who have finished their warfare; some whose trials were sharp and
+long, but who, through the same grace in which we trust, were
+steadfast to the end; and now inherit a crown of life--the reward of
+grace, not of debt.
+
+ "I rejoice to hear that your children are promising; I think it
+is the greatest comfort a parent can enjoy in this world. I have a
+large share of it in my three daughters; but my prodigal is not come
+to himself; he still feeds on husks, nor thinks of the plenty in his
+Father's house. I had great hopes last winter; I heard he had been
+very ill in consequence of very severe treatment from his captain. The
+Lord has been emptying him from vessel to vessel, and I have been
+waiting the issue; but mine eyes almost fail. I have great hopes that
+God's time of mercy will come. I am also satisfied that it will be the
+best time; but still I cry, O how long? My dear friends, I think I
+would recommend it to you to _keep your children about you_. No
+other had ever the influence over him that I had; and I regret that I
+did not bring him with me.
+
+ "Our young Timothy, J.M., is a perfect champion for the gospel of
+Jesus; the Lord has well girded him and largely endowed him; he walks
+closely with God, and speaks and preaches like a Christian of long
+experience: he was ordained about two months ago in his father's
+church, and a few weeks after married a lady of eminent piety, and
+preached all the day, both the Sabbath before and after: no levity, no
+novelty appeared in word or gesture, which is not always the case with
+the best at such times. There is probably no church in New York whose
+discipline is as strict, nor one which has so many communicants. He is
+reckoned a man of great talents and an orator; and many of even the
+idle and careless go to hear him.
+
+ "A few Sabbaths ago he preached from these words, 'I determined
+to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.'
+After proving that all the Scriptures, from the beginning of Genesis
+to the end of Revelation, pointed to Christ and his great work of
+redemption, and asserting that that sermon could not be called the
+gospel of which He was not the subject, he spoke home to his audience,
+and told them that this, through the aid of divine grace, was his firm
+purpose--to dwell on redeeming love. He was sure no subject would be
+welcome to any Christian, where Christ was not to be found; nor would
+any such subject ever convert a sinner; and therefore, if any were
+about to take their place there, expecting to hear any new or strange
+thing, let them not disappoint themselves. O, for a thankful heart;
+the Lord has indeed done wonders for me and mine; and blessed be his
+name for his mercy also, that in a remarkable manner, by a strange
+concurrence of circumstances, he hedged me in to become a member of
+this congregation, where I am led and fed with the same truths which
+nourished my soul in Zion's gates at Edinburgh; and I am helped to
+sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. Often have I been tempted to
+hang my harp upon the willow, 'when Zion I thought on;' but this was,
+and sometimes still is my sin and ingratitude, for I ought to build
+houses, and plant vineyards, and seek the good of the land; for he has
+a small vineyard here, which he waters and cultivates, and I ought to
+labor therein, and do whatsoever my hand findeth to do with diligence,
+and say, 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; heaven is
+his throne, the earth his footstool,' and he fills all things and
+all places.
+
+ "'What aileth thee, Hagar?' O what a God of mercy is our God!
+Often has he hailed me in some such language: 'What aileth thee?' why
+is thy countenance sad? am I not better to thee than ten friends? Then
+has he turned my heart to him, made me feel myself close to him; he
+has suffered me to lean on his bosom, hang on his arm, and lisp out,
+Abba. At such blest moments I have thought the whole earth but one
+point, and from that to heaven but one step, and the time between but
+as one moment; and my company here sufficient to satisfy me by the
+way. At such blest moments I felt perfect, full, entire satisfaction
+with all that God is, all that he does; and could trust him fully with
+all my concerns, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. But, alas, by and
+by, like a peevish child, I began to fret, wish this, wish that;
+grieve for this, grieve for that; fear this, fear that; stagger,
+stumble, fall. O what a God of patience and long-suffering. And O how
+rich that well-ordered covenant, that provides suitable grace for all
+these unsteady seasons. It is my greatest consolation that the Lord
+knows it all. There are times when I cannot see him, but every moment
+he sees me. I should fall off and leave him, but he holds me fast and
+never leaves me. O blessed plan, where God secures us in safety, even
+from ourselves. We have not only destroyed ourselves, and he has been
+our help; but we are ever destroying ourselves, and still he renews
+this help.
+
+ "Well, what shall we say? Father, glorify thy name, and let us
+lie in thy hand as clay in the potter's, till thou finish thy
+workmanship, and fit us vessels of mercy, to be filled with happiness,
+when thou shalt have done thy good pleasure in us, and by us, in this
+world, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, who loved us, and
+gave himself for us; to whom be glory, honor, and praise in the church
+below, and in the general assembly above, now and ever. Amen.
+
+ "My love, my heart's love, to my dear Mrs. D----. I am ever your
+affectionate friend, in the bonds of the gospel,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Early in 1793 Mrs. Graham heard, from a worthy clergyman at
+Greenock, who, at her request, paid attention to her son, that he had
+been very ill of a fever, and subsequently subject to epileptic fits.
+In one of these he had fallen from the mast-head, and was rendered
+unfit for service for many months. The gentleman to whom he was
+apprenticed, permitted him to leave. In these circumstances Mrs.
+Graham addressed to him the following letter:
+
+
+ "MY LONG-LOST BUT STILL DEAR SON--If this ever reach you, hearken
+to the voice of your mother, your only parent, and to the voice of God
+by her. O, my son, you have had a long race in the service of Satan;
+he has kept you in bondage and made you his drudge. You are far
+advanced in the broad way that leads to destruction--to that place of
+endless torment prepared for the devil and his angels, to which Satan
+is dragging you. He has even been seeking the destruction of your
+body, that he might have you secure.
+
+ "O, my son, think. Has he proved a good master? What have you
+found in his service? and has he not disappointed all your gayest
+hopes, and fed you with husks? Have you, my son, been happy? Are you
+not obliged to drive away your own reflections? I know you are. Dare
+you, my son, sit down and think over all the past, all the present,
+and look forward to the future with any degree of comfort? My son, you
+cannot. Hear then the word of the Lord; that Lord, that merciful Lord,
+who has seen you in all your rebellion, heard every profane oath you
+may have uttered, seen you rioting among the sons of Belial; yet what
+is his voice to you? O, my son, it is not, 'Bind him hand and foot,
+and cast him into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; where
+there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, where the worm
+dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' No, my son, the door of
+mercy is still open to you; the Lord calls, 'O sinner, thou hast
+destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' Only repent, so iniquity
+shall not prove your ruin.' 'Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that
+are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall
+not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry.' 'Hear, and your
+soul shall live.' 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
+saved'--saved from hell; saved from Satan and his snare; saved from
+the force of corruption in your heart.
+
+ "I do not call upon you, my poor corrupt boy, to turn from sin
+and work righteousness in your own strength; this you can no more do
+than the Ethiopian can change his skin; but I do call upon you to
+receive the whole of God's salvation, and power to resist sin is a
+principal part of it. In God's word it is said, that the Lord gave
+Christ to be a covenant to the people: we have to covenant with him on
+our part; we are all poor, lost, miserable creatures, I as well as
+you, by nature; but the Lord Christ is God's gift to sinners. All the
+other promises are made to those who have received and accepted of
+this gift; but Christ himself is God's gift to sinners--to the chief
+of sinners--_to you, John Graham, by name_; and the Bible says,
+to as many as receive him, to them gives he power to become the sons
+of God. God gave Christ to become the price in our hand; we take this
+gift, and offer back, as the price of our redemption, his atoning
+sacrifice, his all-perfect righteousness; and on this ground we are
+entitled, by his own plan, which he prepared from first to last, to
+plead for the full accomplishment of all the promises in the Bible:
+for the pardon of sin; yea, for an entire new nature.
+
+ "O, my son, open your Bible, go to your knees, look out words
+there fit for your case; present them humbly before God, turn all the
+promises you find there, all the offers, all the calls, all the
+commands, all the threatenings into prayer--for you of yourself can do
+nothing--and ask that God, for Christ's sake, may pour out on you the
+spirit of prayer. I know not how to have done; yet I well know, unless
+the Lord soften your poor obdurate heart, it will still remain hard.
+O, my son, be willing to put it in his hand, to receive his salvation,
+and give yourself up to his guiding. I beg you will read with care the
+15th chapter of the gospel of Luke. The Lord spoke these parables to
+show how very willing he is to receive returning sinners. Your mother
+and all your sisters are willing to follow his example; return to us,
+my son. We will watch over you we will pray over you, and we will try,
+by every endearing method, to restore you not only to health, but to
+comfort. Your sisters wish you to come; all your friends are willing
+to receive you; we will not upbraid you.
+
+ "Do, my dear, leave Greenock; come out to us by any way you can
+find, I will pay your passage here; or if you can get to any port in
+America, you can write me from that, and I will get you forwarded
+here; and, after you are here, if you still wish to follow the sea, we
+can get you a berth in some trading vessel from this. All your friends
+here send best wishes. And now, my son, I commend you to the Lord. O,
+that he may bless this to you,
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The last intelligence that Mrs. Graham received of her
+unfortunate son was in a letter from himself, dated Demarara, 1794, in
+which he states that he had sailed from Amsterdam in a Dutch vessel;
+was taken by the French, and retaken by the English; had arrived at
+Demarara in the ship Hope; and should he not soon hear from his
+mother, would return to Europe with a fleet which was shortly to sail
+under convoy. Mrs. Graham notices this event as follows:
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, February 20, 1794.
+
+ "This day I have a letter from my poor wanderer. It is more than
+a year since I heard of him. Accept of my thanks, good and gracious
+Lord. I feared his cup had been full, and he called out of the world
+with all his sins on his own head; for I have no tidings of his
+turning from his sinful courses, or fleeing from the wrath to come, by
+taking hold of the hope set before him.
+
+ "I bless thee, Oh, I bless thee, for thy sparing mercy, thy
+long-suffering, thy patience, thy forbearance. Yea, even to him, thou
+hast been more than all this. Thou hast been his preserver, his
+provider; thou hast watched over him in many imminent dangers, in the
+great deeps, in burning and in frozen climes.
+
+ "Thou hast followed him with thy preserving mercy and temporal
+bounty. He is still in the land of the living, and among those who are
+called to look unto thee and live. Still thou feedest my hopes of
+better things for him. Thou sufferest my prayers to lie on the table
+of thy covenant. I will trust, I will hope, I will believe, that in an
+accepted time thou wilt hear me, and in a day of thy power thou wilt
+bow his stubborn will, and lay him an humble suppliant at thy feet.
+Oh, I trust thou wilt bring this poor prodigal to himself, and turn
+his steps towards his Father's house. See how he feeds with the swine
+upon husks, and even these not his own. O turn his thoughts to his
+'Father's house, where there is bread enough, and to spare.'
+
+ "'Lord, remember thy gracious word, on which thou hast caused me
+to hope,' and which has ever been my comfort in the time of my
+affliction, and in my straits my only relief.
+
+ "He is again launched into thy great ocean. Lord, he is far from
+every friend and from every means of grace, and for any thing I know,
+far from thee by wicked works; under thy curse and hateful in thy
+sight; but thou, God, seest him. Means are not necessary, if thou
+willest to work without. Thou canst find an avenue to his heart at
+once. Dead as he is, vile as he is, guilty as he is, far from help of
+man, and in the most unlikely situation to receive the help of God,
+yet I know all these hinderances, all these mountains shall melt as
+wax at thy presence.
+
+ "Lord, I believe, thou knowest I believe, that if thou but speak
+the word, this dead soul shall live; this vile, this guilty soul shall
+be cleansed, shall be renewed, and my son be changed to an humble,
+thankful, genuine child of God, through the cleansing blood of
+atonement, through the imputation of the Redeemer's righteousness and
+the implantation of thy Spirit. I can do nothing for him, but thou
+canst do all this. I wait for it, Lord, I wait for thy salvation.
+Lord, let there be 'joy in heaven over this one sinner repenting.' I
+roll him on thee. I trust in thy sovereign, free, unmerited mercy in
+Christ. Amen."
+
+
+ All inquiries instituted by kind friends respecting this son
+proved fruitless; and as a vessel named the Hope was some months after
+reported as having been taken by the French, it is perhaps probable
+that he died in a French prison.
+
+ Thus again had his afflicted mother to exercise faith and
+submission, not without hope towards God that the great Redeemer had
+taken care of, and would finally save this prodigal son. She had known
+a case in her father's family, which excited their solicitude and
+encouraged her hope. Her younger brother, Archibald Marshall, a lad of
+high temper, though possessed of an affectionate heart, had gone to
+sea, and was not heard of at all for several years. A pious woman, who
+kept a boarding-house in Paisley, found one of her boarders one day
+reading Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, with
+Archibald Marshall's name written on the blank leaf. On inquiry, the
+stranger told her that he got that book from a young man on his
+death-bed as a token of regard. That young man was Archibald Marshall;
+he was an exemplary Christian, "and I have reason," added he, "to
+bless God that he ever was my mess-mate." The woman who heard this
+account, transmitted it to Mr. Marshall's family, who were known to
+her. Mrs. Graham had no such consolatory account afforded to her; but
+under much yearning of heart she left this concern, as well as every
+other, to the disposal of that God "who doeth all things well."
+
+ Again she sings of mercy in a sweet meditation.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 1, 1794
+
+ "'Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt
+bountifully with thee.'
+
+ "Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous
+loving-kindness in a strong city--Christ, the city of refuge.
+
+ "Thou hast given me my heart's desire, and hast not withholden
+the request of my lips. 'One thing have I desired of the Lord,' and
+through life sought after for myself and the children whom thou hast
+given me; 'that all the days of our lives we might dwell in the house
+of the Lord,' behold his beauty, and inquire in his holy temple; that
+in the time of trouble he would hide us in his pavilion, in the secret
+of his tabernacle, and set our feet upon a rock.
+
+ "O thou incarnate God; thou blessed temple not made with hands;
+thou blessed pavilion, in which thy people hide in the time of
+trouble, and are safe; thou Rock of ages, on which we build our hopes
+for time and eternity, and defy the assaults of sin, Satan, and the
+world: thou, Jehovah Jesus, art all these to thy people. Thou
+broughtest them 'from a fearful pit and from the miry clay; thou
+settest their feet upon this spiritual rock, and establishest their
+goings; thou puttest a new song in their mouths, even praise unto
+their God.' Many have seen it and sung it; many now see and sing it;
+many shall see and sing it, and trust in the Lord. They find in thee
+all that is expressive of life; all that is expressive of safety; all
+that is expressive of comfort; all that is expressive of happiness.
+
+ "'O how many are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
+thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order
+unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than
+can be numbered.' Thou, thy blessed self, art the sum and substance of
+every good to man. All this I know; all this have I at different times
+experienced; and yet my heart is heavy, my spirits depressed. There is
+no cause, Oh no. Thy very afflictive providences have met my wishes,
+and been so many answers to my prayers.
+
+ "Thou Husband of the widow, thou Father of the fatherless, O how
+fully, how manifestly hast thou fulfilled these relations to thy
+worthless servant. Thou, in my early widowhood, didst call me to leave
+my fatherless children on thee, annexing the promise that thou wouldst
+preserve them alive.
+
+ "Thou didst put it into my heart to plead the promise in a
+spiritual sense; to ask, to hope, to wait for the new birth, the life
+which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow.
+
+ "In three of these fatherless I have seen thy work. Long did the
+grain of mustard-seed lie buried among the weeds of worldly-mindedness;
+long were my hopes and fears alternate; but now the blessed
+discipline of the covenant has been exercised; I have witnessed it, I
+have felt it--suffered the rod with them and for them, but waited for
+the fruits in hope; and glory to thee, dear Husband and Father, I
+have not waited in vain. Thou hast written _vanity,_ and opened our
+eyes to read vanity written on every earthly enjoyment, except so far
+as thou art enjoyed in them. Thou hast enabled not only thine aged
+servant, but her children, to put a blank into thy hand, and to say,
+'Choose thou for us.' We take hold of thy covenant, and choose it for
+our portion. Is not this, O Lord, the full amount of my desires? Thou
+wilt finish the work in thy own time, and by means of thy appointing.
+Amen. Lord, do as thou hast said."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER--FIRST MISSIONARY
+ SOCIETY IN NEW YORK.
+
+ In July, 1795, Mrs. Graham's second daughter, Joanna, was married
+to Mr. Divie Bethune, merchant in New York. In the following month her
+eldest daughter, Mrs. Stevenson, was seized with a fatal illness.
+Possessing a most amiable disposition and genuine piety, she viewed
+the approach of death with the composure of a Christian and the
+intrepidity of faith.
+
+ She had been in delicate health for some years, and now a
+complication of disorders denied all hope of recovery. She sung a hymn
+of triumph until the struggles of death interrupted her. Mrs. Graham
+displayed great firmness of mind during the last trying scene, and
+when the spirit of her daughter fled, the mother raised her hands, and
+looking towards heaven, exclaimed, 'I wish you joy, my darling.' She
+then washed her face, took some refreshment, and retired to rest.
+
+ Such was her joy of faith at the full salvation of her child; but
+when _the loss of her company_ was felt, the tenderness of a
+mother's heart afterwards gave vent to feelings of affectionate
+sorrow: nature will feel, even when faith triumphs. In her devout
+meditations before God, Mrs. Graham improves this event as follows:
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 4, 1795.
+
+ "Why, O why is my spirit still depressed? Why these sobs? Father,
+forgive. 'Jesus wept.' I weep, but acquiesce. This day two months the
+Lord delivered my Jessie, _his Jessie,_ from a body of sin and
+death, finished the good work he had begun, perfected what concerned
+her, trimmed her lamp, and carried her triumphing through 'the valley
+of the shadow of death.' She overcame through the blood of the Lamb.
+
+ "I rejoiced in the Lord's work, and was thankful that the one,
+the only thing I had asked for her, was now completed. I saw her
+delivered from much corruption within, from strong and peculiar
+temptation without. I had seen her often staggering, sometimes falling
+under the rod; I had heard her earnestly wish for deliverance from
+sin, and when death approached she was more than satisfied: said she
+had been a great sinner, but she had a great Saviour; praised him and
+thanked him for all his dealings with her--for hedging her in, for
+chastising her; and even prayed that sin and corruption might be
+destroyed, if the body should be dissolved to effect it. The Lord
+fulfilled her desire, and, I may add, mine. He lifted upon her the
+light of his countenance; revived her languid graces; increased her
+faith and hope; loosed her from earthly concerns, and made her rejoice
+in the stability of his covenant, and to sing, 'All is well, all is
+well; good is the will of the Lord.' I did rejoice, I do rejoice; but
+O Lord, thou knowest my frame; she was my pleasant companion, my
+affectionate child; my soul feels a want. O fill it up with more of
+thy presence; give yet more communications of thyself.
+
+ "We are yet one in Christ our head--united in him; and though she
+shall not return unto me, I shall go to her, and then our communion
+will be more full, more delightful, as it will be perfectly free from
+sin. Christ shall be our bond of union, and we shall be fully under
+the influence of it.
+
+ "Let me then gird up the loins of my mind, and set forward to
+serve my day and generation, to finish my course. The Lord will
+perfect what concerns me; and when it shall please him, he will
+unclothe me, break down these prison-walls, and admit me into the
+happy society of his redeemed and glorified members: then 'shall he
+wipe away all tears from my eyes,' and I shall taste the joys which
+are at his right hand, and be satisfied for evermore."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham made it a rule to appropriate _a tenth_ part of
+her earnings to be expended for pious and charitable purposes. She had
+taken a lease of two lots of ground on Greenwich-street from the
+corporation of Trinity church, with a view of building a house on them
+for her own accommodation; the building, however, she never commenced.
+By a sale of the lease, which her son Mr. Bethune made for her in
+1795, she got an advance of one thousand pounds. So large a profit was
+new to her. "Quick, quick," said she, "let me appropriate the tenth
+before my heart grows hard." What fidelity in duty; what distrust of
+herself. Fifty pounds of this money she sent to Mr. Mason in aid of
+the funds he was collecting for the establishment of a Theological
+Seminary. Her own version of this matter we have in a letter to her
+familiar friend Mrs. Walker, of Edinburgh:
+
+
+ "1795.
+
+ "MY DEAR MRS. WALKER--My last informed you that we had been
+made to taste of the Lord's visitation--the yellow-fever--but in
+great mercy had been spared in the midst of much apparent danger. I
+have now in my house a girl who lost both father and mother, and
+many whole families were cut off; my house was emptied; my school
+broken up; we confined to town, and heavy duty laid upon us at the
+same time. I trembled again for fear of debt; but 'the Lord brought
+meat out of the eater.'
+
+ "Three years ago, when tried by having one house taken over my
+head, another bought, and obliged to move three times in as many
+years, some speculating genius brought me under the influence of the
+madness of the times, and persuaded me I might build without money. It
+is quite common here to build by contract. I could not purchase
+ground, but I leased two lots of church land, got a plan made out, and
+worried myself for six months, trying to hatch chickens without eggs.
+I had asked the Lord to build me a house, to give success to the
+means, still keeping in view covenant provision, 'what is good the
+Lord will give.' After many disappointments I said, Well; I have
+asked--I am refused--it is not good--the Lord will not give it: he
+will provide, but in his own way, not mine.
+
+ "Of course I had to pay ground-rent, which in three years
+amounted to two hundred and twenty dollars. I think I hear you say, I
+never could have believed that Mrs. Graham could be guilty of such
+folly--nor I; but seeing and hearing of many such things, I fancied
+myself very clever. Last year a basin was formed, and wharves around
+it, opposite to the said lots; the epidemic raging on the other side
+of the city brought all the vessels that came in round to them, and
+great expectations were formed for this new basin; houses and stores
+sprung up like mushrooms, and Mr. Bethune sold my lease for one
+thousand pounds. Lo, and behold, part of it is already spent. All my
+provision through this wilderness has been so strongly marked by
+peculiar providences, my mind seems habituated to a sense of
+certainty. I feel my portion of earthly good safer and better in my
+Lord's hand than in my own."
+
+
+ In the ensuing year we find the following outbreathings of her
+rich Christian experience:
+
+
+ "JANUARY 3, 1796.
+
+ "'Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice. Let
+your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.'
+Philippians 4:4-7.
+
+ "'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
+supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto
+God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
+your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "Christ Jesus! what does not this name comprehend? He is mine,
+and all is mine. I do rejoice in the Lord, yea, more or less, I
+rejoice always. This heart of mine is sensible to every human
+affliction; my tears flow often and fast: I weep for myself, and still
+more for others; but in these very moments of heart-wringing
+bitterness, there is a secret joy that Jesus is near; that he sees,
+knows, and pities. He is Jehovah as well as Jesus, and could have
+prevented the affliction under which I groan; but for my good, and the
+good of those near and dear to me, he suffered it, or prepared it. The
+good of his people is connected with his glory; they cannot be
+separated: therefore, Father, glorify thy name; I rejoice, and will
+rejoice. The Lord can remove, and will remove the affliction the
+moment it has answered the gracious purpose for which it was sent. I
+would not wish it one moment sooner. While it lies heavy, he is my
+almighty friend, my rest, my staff of support.
+
+ "'In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion; in
+the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon
+a rock." Psalm 27:5.
+
+ "'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in
+him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; with my
+song I will praise him,' and in his strength and by his grace, let
+my 'moderation be known unto all men.' My Lord is at hand--at hand
+to support, at hand to overrule, at hand to deliver. Therefore I
+rejoice always.
+
+ "Blessed be God for the heart-easing, heart-soothing privilege of
+casting all my cares upon him, and for the blessed assurance that he
+careth for me and mine: that he allows, invites, yea, commands me to
+be careful for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication,
+with thanksgiving, to let my requests be made known unto him, who is
+man, and touched with the feeling of our infirmities--Jesus wept--and
+God, the almighty God, to support, overrule, deliver. Therefore my
+heart rejoiceth always."
+
+
+ "MAY 16, 1796.
+
+ "'If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,
+if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I
+visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with
+stripes: nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from
+him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break,
+nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89: 30. Amen;
+blessed promise. Oh, it is a well-ordered covenant, and it is sure. Of
+all the provisions of the covenant, this has been to my soul among the
+most comfortable. Thanks be to God for the discipline of the covenant;
+often has it been administered: thou knowest, and I know in part, how
+necessarily, although I shall not know nor understand all, until that
+blessed rod shall have perfected its correction, and shall never more
+be lifted up.
+
+ "Many ups and downs has thy servant experienced in this vale of
+tears; many tears have watered these now aged cheeks; in a variety of
+ways hast thou stricken, and at times stripe has followed stripe, but
+mercy and love accompanied every one of them. I bless thee, Oh, I
+praise thee, that I have seldom received a stripe but I had with it a
+token of love. Sin was imbittered, a Saviour endeared, and grace given
+to kiss the rod, and cleave to him that had appointed it. And now I
+can read in legible characters where, in many instances, thy check met
+my wandering steps, stopt me short of huge precipices, and preserved
+me from destroying even my worldly comfort. In some instances--I thank
+thee they have not been many--thou hast been pleased to let me alone,
+to let me pursue my own way, ways so wise in my own eyes that I have
+either not sought counsel at all, or sought it as Balaam did, with my
+heart set on my own will.
+
+ "In some cases thou hast let me eat of the fruit of my own
+doings, and let me weary myself in my own way, until I found it not
+only vanity and vexation of spirit, but sometimes a labyrinth from
+which I could find no escape: then did I cry unto the Lord; then did I
+remember my backslidings; then did I seek unto the cleansing fountain
+and to the appointed Mediator, the maker up of the breach: then did I
+experience afresh the Lord's power to save.
+
+ "In how many instances has he given a sudden turn to providences,
+which have been made means of my deliverance; not only so, but brought
+good out of my evil, so that I have been made to wonder, and to say,'
+Surely this is the finger of God.'
+
+ "I destroy myself, but in thee is my help found. O let these
+wanderings end; fix it deep on my mind, that in the Lord only have I
+wisdom as well as strength: that 'it is not in man that walketh, to
+direct his steps.' When shall I learn to live simply on Christ, by
+the light of his pure unerring word, and the Spirit coinciding; and
+have done with these carnal reasonings, the wisdom of men. 'Search
+me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and
+see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
+everlasting.' Amen."
+
+
+ "MAY 28, 1796.
+
+ "This is the anniversary of my dear Jessie's birth, no more to
+call us together here; but I yet remember it as a day in which our God
+Was merciful to me, and made me the mother of an heir of salvation. I
+bless, I praise my covenant God, who enabled me to dedicate her to him
+before she was born, and to ask only one thing for her as for myself,
+even an interest in his great salvation, leaving it to him to order
+the means, time, and manner, as of her natural birth and ripening age,
+so of her spiritual birth and ripening for glory; he accepted the
+charge, and he has finished the work, to his own glory, to her eternal
+happiness, and my joy and comfort. I have witnessed remaining
+corruption fighting hard against her, and bringing her again and again
+into captivity to the law of sin and death warring against her. I have
+seen the rod of God lie heavy upon her, according to the tenor of the
+covenant, when she forsook his laws and went astray: when she walked
+not in his judgments, but wandered from his way, he visited her faults
+with rods and her sins with chastisements, but his loving-kindness he
+never took from her, though he often hid it, nor altered the word
+which he had spoken, that he would never leave her, never forsake her;
+that in due time he would deliver her from all her enemies. I
+perceived her desires to be delivered from the world and the body, and
+taken home to the bosom of her God, since that appeared at times the
+only way she could be delivered from sin. I heard her lament her
+unfruitfulness, her unsteadiness: I heard her exclaim, 'Oh, what a
+sinner, what a great sinner;' and, 'Oh, what a Saviour; O the goodness
+of God in hedging me in, and saving me from myself; his covenant
+stands fast, it is established, it is sure.' I witnessed a God
+pardoning sin, yet taking vengeance on inventions. I witnessed the
+sinner, after being sixteen years in the school of Christ, taught by
+his ministers, and most effectually by his rod, taking shelter in 'the
+city of refuge,' in the atonement of God's providing, and in 'a surety
+righteousness,' and finishing her struggles with, 'All is well.' My
+heart echoed, and does echo, and will to all eternity, 'All is well.'
+Glory to God; sing, not unto her, not unto me, not unto any creature,
+but 'to God be the glory,' that she is now delivered from 'a body of
+sin and death, and made meet to be a partaker with the saints in
+light.' HALLELUJAH."
+
+
+ "JUNE, 1796.
+
+ "'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of
+the Lord.' Psalm 122.
+
+ "'The house of the Lord, whither the tribes go up, the tribes
+of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the
+name of the Lord,' to seek his face, to learn his will, to taste his
+love, to behold his' glory, to enjoy God as their own God and
+reconciled Father.
+
+ "Lord, let my heart be warmed more towards thy house; I have
+sought and found thee in thy sanctuary, read thy providences, and been
+taught thy will; I have tasted thy love and beheld thy glory; I have
+enjoyed thy presence as my own reconciled Father in Christ Jesus; I
+have been satisfied with thy goodness, as with marrow and fatness; and
+yet how cold and languid at times, how little desire to return, how
+small my expectations, how wandering my imagination. How do I sit
+before thee as thy people, and my heart with the fool's eyes at the
+ends of the earth. Lord, I should blush and be ashamed were a
+fellow-mortal to see my heart at times. I may hide my eyes from
+viewing vanity, but the evil lies within. O Lord, thou knowest the
+cause. After all I have heard, seen, tasted, and handled of the word
+of life, I am still of myself an empty vessel, unable to speak a good
+word, or think a good thought. Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord.
+'Quicken me according to thy word; turn thou away my eyes from
+beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy way: then shall I run in the
+way of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart.'
+
+ "The house of God; the owner, the builder, and maker is God,
+and it is his peculiar treasure. Christ is the foundation and chief
+corner-stone, and his house are we, built upon him, cemented
+together, a spiritual building; the foundation cannot fail, the
+corner-stone can never give way; neither can we fall to pieces, or
+be separated from him.
+
+ "The house of God; 'Jerusalem, Zion, the rest of God, where he
+delights to dwell,' where he will for ever stay; the house of God, the
+church, yea, the body of Christ: Christ the head, his people the
+church, his members whose life is in him, and derived from him; and
+because he lives we shall live also. Lord, enlarge my understanding to
+comprehend more and more of the height and depth, length and breadth
+of the love of Christ, which passeth all understanding. Open my eyes
+to behold wondrous things in thy law and gospel. I am as yet but a
+babe; glory to God that I am what I am, a babe in Christ. I shall be
+nourished with life and strength from my divine Head; educated and
+nurtured by the blessings of the new covenant. I shall arrive at the
+perfection of stature appointed, and stand in my lot at the latter
+day. Amen."
+
+
+ "AUGUST 4, 1796.
+
+ "A day to be remembered. Rose at four, not to mourn--no, but to
+repeat my grateful thanks to my covenant God for the work he finished
+this day last year, in delivering my weak, feeble, tossed, and tried
+Jessie from a body of sin and death, and giving her 'the victory
+through Jesus Christ, who loved her and gave himself for her.' To thee
+she was dedicated ere she saw the light; to thee a thousand times I
+repeated the dedication, begging that thou mightest bring her within
+the bond of thy covenant; this was the sum and substance of all my
+askings for her. I witnessed the time of her second birth, saw the
+tears of conviction and remorse. I witnessed thy loosing her bonds,
+and tuning her heart and tongue to praise redeeming love. I witnessed
+the teaching of thy Spirit, and the enlightening of her eyes, and the
+taste thou gavest her of thy salvation; I thought her mountain stood
+strong, and she would not be easily moved; but who can tell the
+deceitfulness of the human heart? Too soon did we all turn aside like
+a deceitful bow, forsook the fountain of living waters, and hewed out
+broken cisterns that could hold no water. Glory to God for the
+discipline of the covenant, that he did not cast us off, but chastened
+and corrected. He repeated the discipline stripe upon stripe: I stood
+by and saw it, and though my heart melted at times, I said, 'She is in
+her Father's hand, let him do his pleasure.'
+
+ "I too was unfaithful to her, thou knowest, and often entered
+into the same vanity of mind, which stifled the love of God in our
+hearts, instead of guarding her and warning her; still, still the
+Shepherd of Israel followed after both, and with the precious rod
+restored both, time after time, till it pleased thee to finish her
+warfare, and deliver her from both body and sin. Lord, I thank thee
+for all the circumstances, for the privilege of attending her in her
+warfare, for the cheerfulness of her spirits, for the rich support we
+all experienced, for the view we all had of thy faithfulness and
+fatherly dealing, and for her last words, 'All is well.' O yes, every
+thing thou doest is well, and this was peculiarly well. I resigned her
+to thee with joy and thankfulness, and I still acquiesce. Her thou
+hast taken, me thou hast left, to be yet exercised with further
+discipline. It is well; thy will be done. O help me to profit by every
+pang. Let sin be mortified and my soul be purified; enlarge my heart
+to run the ways of thy commandments. Now may I lay aside every weight,
+and that vanity of mind which doth so easily beset me, and hath been
+the secret spring of much backsliding both to myself and to my
+children. Lord, destroy it.. O let me now live to God, closely and
+consistently; down with my will, with self in every form. O purify my
+motives, and let my whole heart, soul, body, substance, and influence
+in the world be devoted to thee. Empty me of every thing that is my
+own, and let 'Christ live in me the hope of glory,' and let the glory
+of thy workmanship in my soul redound to thee, and thee alone. Amen."
+
+
+ "AUGUST 13, 1796.
+
+ "'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have
+been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.' Colossians 2:6.
+
+ "O Lord, this is what I pant after. I would fain have done with
+wandering, Lord, thou knowest, for the work is thine. I have
+received the Lord Jesus as thy gift to a lost world, as thy gift to
+me an individual of that world, as having made peace by the blood of
+the cross. I account it a faithful saying, worthy of all
+acceptation, that 'Christ came into the world to save sinners, of
+whom I am chief,' I have received thee as the Lord my righteousness,
+crediting thy own word, that 'Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness,' and that 'there is no condemnation to them that are
+in Christ Jesus.' I have received thee as 'the covenant given of the
+people.' In all the relations by which thou art held out to me in
+this Bible, so far as I know or understand, I have received thee. I
+have no hope in myself, no trust in myself, nor any views of
+communication from God of any kind, but through the one 'mediator
+between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "O my God, what is my life, what is my happiness but a continual
+receiving? Thou art 'the bread of life' that must keep alive the
+living principle in my soul. In thee 'dwelleth all the fulness of the
+Godhead bodily.' Thy people are complete in thee; thou art their head,
+they are thy body, and by joints and bands have nourishment ministered
+to them, and are knit together, and increase with the increase of God.
+
+ "This, O this is what my soul pants after, closer and more
+intimate union and communion. I would be transformed into thine image;
+I would be thy temple; I would have thee live in me, walk in me, make
+me one with thee; I would be delivered from self-will, self-wisdom,
+self-seeking; I would be delivered from that philosophy and vain
+deceit which spoils souls and leads them off from their head: then,
+and not till then, shall I cease to wander, shall 'run and not be
+weary, walk and not faint.' Then shall 'I run in the way of thy
+commandments,' and no longer turn aside to crooked ways. Then shall I
+eat and drink, work and recreate, all to thy glory. Lord, send thy
+Spirit into my heart, that he may continually take of the things of
+Christ and show them unto me; that I may grow and be no longer a babe,
+but arrive at the fulness of stature in Christ Jesus, and more
+steadily, and more purely, and more zealously, and O, more humbly live
+to God, and glorify him in the world. Amen."
+
+
+ The following extracts of letters to her friend Mrs. Walker, show
+how ardently the true missionary spirit burned in the heart of Mrs.
+Graham, and how efficiently it was exemplified, not only in her
+pecuniary donations, but her active and self-denying efforts to
+diffuse information and enlist others in so worthy a cause. The
+efforts alluded to in the first extract evidently gave rise to the
+event recorded in the second, _the formation of the first Missionary
+Society in New York._ It is delightful also to notice her
+attachment to Christians of other denominations, and the gratitude
+with which she remembered kindness received by herself when Providence
+had cast her lot on what was truly missionary ground.
+
+
+ "Do you remember how much I used to say about our dear Methodist
+Society in Antigua? and the three holy, harmless, zealous Moravian
+brethren? and how the preachers gave each other the right hand of
+fellowship, forgetting their differences, in that land of open
+hostilities, on the kingdom of their common Lord? Thither the Lord
+brought me from a land of entire barrenness, where, as far as I know,
+a gospel sermon was never preached. Here I was brought into great
+affliction, and to pass through the severest trial that I ever
+experienced before or since.
+
+ "'The Lord brought me into this fold, a poor straggling lamb, who
+had for five years herded among the goats; and little difference was
+there between them and me, except that my soul longed after green
+pastures and rejoiced to hear the shepherd's voice, and when I heard
+it I knew it, though from one who did not belong to my original fold;
+these good people nourished me with tenderness, bore with patience my
+carnality. When my dear husband was taken ill, they wrestled for him
+in prayer; Mr. Gilbert was every day with him; the Lord heard and gave
+a joyful parting; yes, joyful, never did I experience such joy; then
+they sympathized with and soothed the widowed heart, fed her with
+promises, and in a measure established her: thus they wrought with God
+in calling in one, and restoring another; never, never shall I forget
+the labors of love of that dear little society.
+
+ "How many such stragglers as I may be wandering in both East and
+West Indies, and may be restored by these precious missionaries. I owe
+them, of my labors, more than others. I send you a bill for _fifty
+pounds._ I have received eighteen copies of the Missionary
+Magazine, as far as No. 9. I have got subscribers for them all, who
+will continue; pay these, and send me what more numbers have been
+published by the return of the Edinburgh packet, also eighteen
+complete sets from the beginning. I hope to be successful in disposing
+of them also. I suppose the sermons go to the same fund; send me a
+hundred sermons, I will see to get them disposed of; send them single,
+not bound, and of the best; perhaps they may pave the way for more to
+follow; every little helps; drops make up the ocean. We cannot yet
+produce anything; we are gathering intelligence, and endeavoring to
+collect money; but I grudge that what we can spare should be idle in
+the meantime; the cause is one; pay the magazines at once, and the
+sermons if you have enough of my money. I hope to remit again in
+September. I have a great wish to have a finger in your pie in some
+way; if I must not subscribe past our own society, I may sell books
+for yours.
+
+ "Ever, my dear friend, yours,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "1796-7.
+
+ "I thank my friend for her letter. I rejoice with you, and
+bless the widow's God. He has indeed been so to us, to the full
+amount of the promise. I have now much to sing of, little to
+complain of; my dear girls and Mr. B---- go forward steadily, having
+laid aside the weights of amusements and gayety, and seem determined
+to follow the Lord fully through good and through evil report. Bless
+the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. We have a full
+school, and a very comfortable set of girls. The Lord has delivered
+from all heavy burthens.
+
+ "Last week a considerable number of ministers and lay Christians
+met for the third time, and established a society for sending
+missionaries among the Indians, and also among the poor scattered
+settlers on the frontiers. A sermon was preached in the evening in one
+of the Dutch churches, 'The liberal deviseth liberal things,' etc.,
+after which an address was read by the Secretary--our dear Mr.
+Mason--which, when printed, I will send you.
+
+ "The society is to keep up a correspondence with your and the
+other societies. If they can effect anything themselves, apart here in
+America, well; if not, they will throw their subscriptions into the
+common funds and get help from you. This view is very pleasant to us.
+There is great need of itinerant preachers in our back settlements;
+they are scattered, and no churches of any kind; even in some thick
+settled counties they will not pay a minister. These are 'the highways
+and hedges;' O that the Lord may compel them to come in.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ We next find Mrs. Graham administering consolation and imparting
+instruction to a lady residing near Boston, Mrs. C----. With this lady
+Mrs. Graham formed an acquaintance in New York, shortly after her
+arrival in America. She was then a gay young widow; but having a
+strong and cultivated mind, was delighted with Mrs. Graham and family;
+and a friendship was formed between them, which ceased only with
+their lives.
+
+ As a proof of her friendship, Mrs. C---- wished to introduce her
+young female friends into gay fashionable society. This Mrs. Graham
+opposed; and while she stated her reasons she endeavored to persuade
+her young friend to come out from the world and cast in her lot with
+the people of God.
+
+ "A word spoken in due season, how good it is." This was verified
+in the case of Mrs. C----, who, like her friend, was destined to enter
+the heavenly kingdom "through much tribulation." She afterwards
+entered the marriage state, and became a second time a widow while her
+children were still young; and though not destitute, her income was
+considerably reduced; which circumstances may throw light on parts of
+Mrs. Graham's letters. Unhappily there was no evangelical minister
+near her place of residence, which, with the want of early religious
+training, may account for so much darkness as to her spiritual state.
+Mrs. Graham often visited her, and it pleased God in due time to
+scatter the darkness. Mrs. C---- for many years fully enjoyed the
+consolations of religion. She trained up her children according to the
+maxims of her friend, and had the happiness of seeing them following
+in her steps. One, Mrs. J.W., she saw depart in peace; and her own
+dying-bed was soothed by the prayers and attentions of her son, an
+esteemed and highly useful clergyman in one of our populous cities. As
+Mrs. C---- adopted the signature of _Pilgrim,_ the letters to her
+inserted in the former editions of this memoir, are noticed as
+addressed to P----.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, a Lady near Boston.
+
+ "FEBRUARY 10, 1797.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR FRIEND--The desire of waiting you a long letter has
+occasioned too much delay on my part. One thing I can assure you of,
+you have been much on my mind, and the subject of all our prayers.
+
+ "Tears of joy ran down my cheeks when J---- told me the state
+of your mind, and I thank our good and gracious God for opening your
+eyes to see the vanity of this world, the corruption of your own
+heart, your need of atoning blood, and of a better righteousness
+than your own. Hail, my sister in Jesus; flesh and blood hath not
+taught you this, but your Father who is in heaven: the work is his,
+evidently his; and being begun, he will carry it on, and finish it
+too. Commit your soul then into his hand; he 'came not to call the
+righteous, but _sinners_ to repentance;' his errand to our world was
+to seek and to save the _lost_. Trusting in his mercy, through
+Christ, your soul is as safe as his word is true; for none perish
+that trust in him.
+
+ "'Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own
+understanding;' be not discouraged because of deadness, darkness,
+wandering, want of love, want of spirituality, want of any kind. Who
+told you of these evils and wants? the Sun of righteousness shining
+into your soul has shown you many of the evils there, but the half you
+know not yet. The more you learn of the holiness and purity of the
+divine nature and the spirituality of his law, the more you will be
+dissatisfied with every thing yours. Even a holy apostle said, 'In me,
+that is, in my flesh,' or natural mind, dwelleth no good thing. The
+flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so
+that the things that I would, I do not; and the things that I would
+not, those I do. Yet it is not I,' not my new nature, 'but sin that
+dwelleth in me; for to will is present with me, but how to perform
+that which is good I find not.'
+
+ "If this was the case with the apostle, who sealed his testimony
+with his life, is it strange that you and I should have hearts full of
+all abominable things? These realities are cause of deep humility
+before God, but none of despair or doubt. All are alike guilty and
+vile, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart unsound; therefore
+we need a whole Christ to atone for our sin, to cover our naked souls
+with his imputed righteousness, and to be surety for us; to sanctify
+us by his Spirit, and prepare us for the purchased inheritance. O try
+to rest in him: believe it, you are complete in him; give up, my dear
+friend, poring over and diving into your own heart and frames, and try
+to trust in an almighty Saviour to save you from foes without and foes
+within. Read Romaine's Walk and Life of Faith: he himself attained to
+a high degree of holiness by getting out of himself, and trusting,
+resting, believing from day to day, for grace, for every duty, as it
+occurred. The promise runs, 'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'
+
+ "I cannot at this distance, and knowing nothing of characters,
+offer you any advice with respect to outward means; but if you know
+any truly pious, spiritual minister, I should think it your duty to
+lay open your mind to him. You may find in books matter as good as any
+man living can speak; but it is the Lord's appointed way, and he often
+honors his servants, his ministers, by making them messengers of peace
+and comfort to his children. 'Are any sick, let them call for the
+elders of the church, and let them pray over them.' See how the
+Christians of old associated with one another. I am now doubly
+yours, etc.,
+
+ "I.G."
+
+
+ "APRIL 14, 1797.
+
+ "Eternity seems very near. I have often thought so without any
+visible cause. Well, it will come; a few more rolling years, months,
+weeks, or days will assuredly land me on Canaan's happy shore. Then
+shall I know and enjoy what ear hath not heard, eye seen, nor heart
+conceived, even the blessedness that is at God's right hand. I have
+desired, though I know not that I have asked, to glorify God on my
+death-bed, and to leave my testimony at the threshold of eternity,
+that not one word of all that my God has promised has failed. He has
+been--O what has he not been?--in all my trials, all my afflictions,
+all my temptations, all my wanderings, all my backslidings, he has
+been all that the well-ordered covenant has said. Let this Bible tell
+what God in Christ, by his Spirit and his providence, has been to me;
+and let the same Bible say what he will be to me 'when flesh and heart
+fails;' yea, when 'the place that now knows me shall know me no more.'
+Perhaps when the messenger does come I shall not know him, but depart
+in silence. Well, as the Lord wills; he knows best how to glorify
+himself. Jesus shall trim my lamp and perfect his image on my soul,
+sensible or insensible. I shall enter into his presence, washed in his
+blood, clothed in his righteousness, and my sanctification perfected.
+I shall 'see him as he is,' and be like him.
+
+ "Mourn not, my children, but rejoice; gird up the loins of your
+mind,' and set forward on your heavenly journey through this
+wilderness. So far as I have followed Christ, so far follow my
+example; still living on Christ, depending on him for all that is
+promised in the well-ordered covenant. O stumble not into the world
+except when duty calls; at best it is a deadly weight, a great
+hinderance to spiritual-mindedness, and in as far as it gets a footing
+in your heart, it will not only mar your progress, but your comfort.
+Lord, feed my children constantly with 'thy flesh and thy blood,' that
+they may never hunger nor thirst for this world, but grow in the
+divine life, and in the joy and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 20, 1797.
+
+ "How condescending is our covenant God. All we have or enjoy is
+from his hand; he gave us our being; our lives, although forfeited a
+thousand times, have been preserved. 'Our bread has been given us, and
+our water sure;' and not only these necessaries, but many comforts and
+good temporal things have fallen to our lot; 'thou hast furnished our
+table,' hast provided medicines and cordials when sick. Lord, I thank
+thee for all these mercies, but above all, that we can call thee our
+reconciled Father; that we have them not as the world have them, who
+are far from thee, and have no portion among thy children, nor
+interest in thy well-ordered covenant; but that we have them as thy
+redeemed, as part of covenant provision, and with a covenant blessing,
+and among the _all things_ that work together for our good. Lord,
+enable us to be rich in good works. How condescending, that thou
+acceptest a part of thine own as freewill-offerings, and hast annexed
+promised blessings to those who consider the poor; hast said, 'He who
+giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord.'
+
+ "I thank thee that thou hast laid to hand a sufficiency to enable
+me and mine to eat our own bread; even that which, according to the
+regulations of society, men call our own. Thou only hast a right to
+call it not so, for we are thine, and all that thou hast given us; but
+of thy free bounty and kind providence, 'thou hast enabled us to
+provide things honest and of good report in the sight of all men,' and
+to give a portion to them who need.
+
+ "I trust thy Spirit has directed my judgment in the determination
+I have taken to set apart, from time to time, this portion, according
+as thou prosperest us in business, and preservest us in health and
+ability to pursue it. I bless thee for indulgent, encouraging
+appearances, that since I began the practice thou hast added to my
+stock, and that which I have given has never straitened, but thou hast
+prospered me more and more. My poor's purse has never been empty when
+called for, neither has my family purse. Of thine own I give thee, and
+bless thy name for the privilege.
+
+ "Grant direction with respect to whom, and how much to give."
+
+
+ The following meditations will afford refreshment to every
+Christian heart:
+
+
+ "1797.
+
+ "'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have
+been taught, abounding there in with thanksgiving.'
+
+ "Yes, just so, and no other way shall any poor corrupted creature
+attain holiness, in the very same manner that he received the Lord
+Jesus at first. He is' the Alpha; and Omega, the first and the last,
+the beginning and the end.'
+
+ "O Lord, my Saviour, my complete Saviour, and in whom I am
+complete, I received thee as my expiatory sacrifice, by whom atonement
+was made for my sins; by whom reconciliation was made; I reconciled to
+God, and God to me. I was then delivered from the power of darkness
+and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, and have redemption
+through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This same blood must
+cleanse my daily spots, must cleanse my very best services; this same
+blood must cleanse my conscience daily, and give me confidence in God,
+as my reconciled Father. By this same peace-speaking blood I daily
+present myself in his presence, and know that he sees no iniquity in
+me so as to condemn me.
+
+ "O Lord, I receive thee as my justifying righteousness,
+disclaiming all confidence in my own works, throwing them aside as
+filthy rags. I place my sole dependence upon an imputed righteousness,
+_that_ righteousness wrought out by thee as my surety, in thy
+holy, meritorious life and death; believing thy testimony, that 'the
+wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through
+Jesus Christ our Lord.' Just so must I go on, trusting in, resting
+upon, rejoicing in the Lord my righteousness. By one man's offence
+many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many, and I
+among others, be made righteous. 'Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness,' therefore I walk at liberty, free from all dread of
+condemnation. Not as a slave, not as a servant, not as a hireling, not
+as a probationer; but as a child and heir of God, to whom the
+inheritance is made sure. I have received the seal of the testament,
+ratified and made sure by the death of the testator. All the blessings
+contained in this Bible, the records of the well-ordered covenant, are
+mine; and, Oh glorious truth, the testator died to ratify and insure
+this testament; but he lives again, the glorious executor.
+
+ "O Lord, I received thee as my king: depending upon promised
+strength, I swore allegiance to thee, and to thy government. Just so,
+my dear sovereign Master, must I go on: rejoicing in its privileges,
+subjecting myself cheerfully to its restrictions; studying with care
+its positive commands, and setting myself to obey; submitting with
+meekness to its discipline; claiming thy kingly power to subdue the
+corruptions of my heart, to defend from foes within and foes without;
+and when thou callest me to fight, to arm me for battle, and lead me
+on to victory.
+
+ "I received thee as my divine Saviour, as the covenant of the
+people: the covenant arranged, ratified, and fulfilled; to me a
+covenant of free gift. Receiving thee, I received all the promises in
+their fullest extent, as legally made over and confirmed to me by the
+irrevocable gift of Deity: and in thee, as my Saviour, dwelleth all
+the fulness of the Godhead bodily; yes, dwelleth in him for his
+people, his ransomed; dwelleth in him as our head; we are united to
+him, one with him, as he and the Father are one, and being one with
+him, we are complete in him. He is the head, we the members; he is the
+vine, we the branches; he is the foundation and chief corner-stone, we
+the building. Thus let us walk in him; rooted and built up in him;
+filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual
+understanding; walking worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing--being
+fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
+strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power; unto all
+patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness; for it is he who worketh
+in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure; and although of
+ourselves we can do nothing, yet we can do all things through Christ
+strengthening us; and he has promised, that 'as our days so shall our
+strength be.'
+
+ "It is well, Lord, it is well. Thou art mine, and I am thine:
+thou art mine with all thy fulness, what can I want besides? Nothing,
+Lord. Thou hast given me 'the heritage of those that fear thy name;' I
+am satisfied with my portion. Amen. Be my God and the God of my seed,
+and glorify thy name in us."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER, 1797.
+
+ "'Remove far from me vanity and lies,' Psa. 119. Every deviation
+from rectitude and truth is sin. Who that knows any thing of the
+corruption of the human heart, and its strange tendency to stray, to
+err, yea, even to pervert the plainest, simplest, and most obvious
+truths, but must see the propriety of his joining the psalmist, and
+crying out, Lord, remove far from me the way of lies.
+
+ "The way of lies as it respects our judgment and sentiments, as
+it respects our motives of action, and as it respects our conduct.
+
+ "As it respects our judgment: how does every species of error
+abound; even the serious and earnest seekers of truth differ in many
+things, which, although they may not prevent their final salvation,
+mar their progress in knowledge, in holiness, and in comfort. Lord,
+remove far from us the way of lies. Lead us to the pure, unmixed,
+unerring word of truth, as it respects our sentiments, and as it
+respects our conduct. O how many deceive themselves by resting on a
+speculative knowledge of the truth, or what they esteem such, while
+their hearts remain unaffected, their tempers unsanctified, and their
+lives unfruitful. Passionate, stubborn, relentless, unmerciful,
+implacable tempers indulged and unmortified, must be a way of lies.
+'Learn of me,' says the Saviour, 'for I am meek and lowly in heart,
+and ye shall find rest to your souls.' 'The meek will he guide in
+judgment,' the meek will he teach his way.
+
+ "'Remove far from me the way of lies, and teach me thy law
+graciously.'
+
+ "'Teach me thy law graciously,' not the ceremonial and the moral
+law alone, but the whole of God's revealed will. The psalmist knew the
+law ceremonial and moral, but he wants more and more of the teaching
+of the Spirit of God. 'He,' the Spirit of truth, 'shall take of mine,
+and show it unto you.' The word of God is ever the same; it contains
+the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; every thing necessary to
+safety, to holiness, and happiness: but O, the difference between him
+who reads with a mind enlightened by the Spirit of God, and him who
+reads with no other assistance than his own poor blinded, darkened
+reason. Teach me then thy law graciously. I will praise thee with
+uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy judgments. 'Open
+thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' The
+psalmist thirsted after more and more extensive views of the word of
+God, and still as his views were enlarged he desired more. 'The earth
+is full of thy mercy,' verse 64; this was one lesson, but still he
+cries, 'Teach me thy statutes. Thou hast dealt bountifully with me, O
+Lord, according to thy word.' Still he cries, 'Teach me good judgment
+and knowledge. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
+might learn thy statutes.'"
+
+
+ "OCTOBER, 1797.
+
+ "I love to feel the kindlings of repentance, self-loathing under
+a sense of ingratitude, heart-melting with the view of pardoning
+grace. I love to feel the sprinkling of my Redeemer's blood on my
+conscience, drawing forth the tears of joy and gratitude in the view
+of a free pardon. I love to dwell on the seal of reconciliation, while
+my heart, glowing with gratitude, sinks into the arms of my redeeming
+Lord, in full confidence of his love and my safety for ever. I love to
+feel longings after closer communion, after more conformity to his
+image, more usefulness to my fellow-members of the body of Christ, and
+to all his creatures. I love to feel deeply interested in the success
+of the gospel, in the declarative glory of Jehovah, as manifested in
+his works of creation and providence, but chiefly in the
+superexcellent work of redemption: for 'thou hast magnified thy word
+above all thy name.'"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY--
+ CLOSE OF HER SCHOOL.
+
+ In November, 1797, the "Society for the Relief of Poor Widows
+with small Children" was instituted at New York; a society which has
+risen into great respectability, and has been productive of very
+beneficent effects. The Lord, in his merciful providence, prepared
+this institution, to grant relief to the many bereaved families who
+were left widows and orphans by the ravages of the yellow-fever in the
+years 1798 and 1799.
+
+ It took its rise from an apparently adventitious circumstance.
+Mr. B----, in the year 1796, was one of the distributing managers of
+the St. Andrew's Society. The distribution of this charity was of
+course limited to a certain description of applicants. Mrs. B----,
+interested for widows not entitled to share in the bounty of the St.
+Andrew's Society, frequently collected small sums for their relief.
+She consulted with a few friends on the propriety of establishing a
+female society for the relief of poor widows with small children,
+without limitation. Invitations in the form of circular letters were
+sent to the ladies of New York, and a very respectable number
+assembled at the house of Mrs. Graham. The proposed plan was approved,
+and a society organized. Mrs. Graham was elected first directress,
+which office she held for ten years.
+
+ At the semiannual meeting in March, 1798, Mrs. Graham made a very
+pleasing report of the proceedings of the Managers, and of the amount
+of relief afforded to the poor. The ladies of New York truly honored
+themselves and religion by their zeal in this benevolent undertaking,
+in reference to which Mrs. Graham says, in a letter to her friend
+Mrs. Walker:
+
+
+ "I mentioned in my last that we had planned a society for the
+relief of poor widows with small children: the success has been beyond
+our most sanguine expectations. We have now a hundred and ninety
+subscribers, at three dollars a year, and nearly a thousand dollars in
+donations. We have spent three hundred dollars this winter, and nearly
+all upon worthy objects. The poor increase fast: emigrants from all
+quarters flock to us, and when they come they must not be allowed to
+die for want. There are eight hundred in the almshouse, and our
+society has helped along many, with their own industry, that must
+otherwise have been there. The French, poor things, are also starving
+among us; it would need a stout heart to lay up in these times."
+
+
+ In the same letter she informs her of the first monthly
+missionary prayer-meeting known to have been held in the city of
+New York.
+
+
+ "The second Wednesday in February we commenced our first monthly
+meeting for prayer for the Lord's blessing on ours, and all the
+missionary societies. It was far from full; but we must be thankful
+for the day of small things, and pray, and wait, and hope. The Dutch
+churches, the Baptist and Presbyterian have united so far as to
+officiate in each other's churches; they have collected about
+seventeen hundred dollars, and are looking out for two missionaries to
+send among the Indians, or to the frontiers."
+
+
+ A few months later we find the following letter to a young man on
+his joining the church:
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1798.
+
+ "MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND--You have now ratified in a public manner
+that transaction which, no doubt, passed previously in private between
+you and your God. You have declared your belief of the gospel, and
+have taken hold of God's covenant of promise. You have fallen in with
+his own plan, which he has appointed for the salvation of guilty
+sinners; and rested your soul upon his word of promise that you shall
+be saved. You have, at the same time, dedicated and devoted your soul,
+your body, your time, your talents, your substance, your influence,
+all that you are and have, to be disposed of at his pleasure, and for
+his glory, in the world. You are no longer your own. You are bought
+with a price, adopted into the family of God, numbered with and
+entitled to all the privileges of his children. Your motives of
+action, your views, your interests, are all different from those of
+the worldling. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, your aim
+must be, and will be, to do all to his glory. This must go with you,
+and be your ruling principle in all the walks of life. By your
+integrity, uprightness, diligence, and disinterested attention to the
+interest of your employers, you will glorify God and have his presence
+with you in business. By a due and marked observance of the Sabbath,
+and attendance on the ordinances, you will glorify him. By regularity,
+order, and temperance, crowned with an open acknowledgment of God
+before all who may surround your board, you will glorify him in an
+especial manner in these days of degeneracy, and, crowned with family
+worship, you will glorify him, and his presence will be with you, and
+great will be your comfort. God's interest in the world must also be
+yours. The good of his church in general, and that of your own family
+in particular; and O, my son, if you would be rich in comfort, follow
+the Lord fully, and follow him openly; and if you would do it so as to
+suffer the least from the sneer of the world, do it at once.
+
+ "Already you have received congratulations on your joining the
+church, by those belonging to it; soon will it be known to those who
+will scoff at it. But Christians and worldlings will look for
+consistency; and if it be wanting, the last will be the first to mark
+it. A decided character will soon deliver you from all solicitations
+to what may be even unseemly, and dignified consistent conduct will
+command respect. Not but the Lord may let loose upon you the
+persecuting sneer and banter of the wise of this world, whose esteem
+you wish to preserve; but, if he do, the trial will be particular, and
+he will support you under it, and bring his glory and your good out
+of it.
+
+ "And now, my son, suffer the word of exhortation. You have
+entered the school of Christ, and have much to learn, far beyond what
+men or books can of themselves teach, and you have much to receive on
+divine credit, beyond what human reason can comprehend.
+
+ "I would recommend to you to read carefully, and pause as you
+read, and pray as you read for the teaching of the Spirit, the epistle
+of Paul to the Ephesians. Read it first without any commentary, and
+read it as addressed to you, S---- A----. You will there find what may
+in part stagger your reason; you will find what far surpasses your
+comprehension; but yet read on, with conscious weakness, and
+ignorance, and absolute dependence on divine teaching. When you have
+read it through, then take Brown's or Henry's exposition of it.
+
+ "A degree of mystery, my son, runs through the whole of God's
+revealed word; but it is _his_, and to be received with
+reverence, and believed with confidence, because it is _his_. It
+is to be searched with diligence, and compared; and, by God's teaching
+and the assistance of his sent servants, the child of God becomes
+mighty in the Scriptures. Let not mystery stagger you: we are
+surrounded with mysteries; we ourselves are mysteries inexplicable:
+nor let the doctrine of election stagger you; how small a part of
+God's ways do we know, or can comprehend! rejoice that he has given
+you the heritage of his people--leave the rest to him: 'Shall not the
+Judge of all the earth do right?'
+
+ "Jesus took once a little child and set him in the midst of the
+people, and said, 'Except ye be converted, and become as little
+children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,' intimating with what
+simplicity and docility men ought to receive the gospel; and the
+following text also alludes to this: 'Suffer little children to come
+unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
+There are many promises made to the diligent searchers after truth:
+'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.' 'The secret of
+the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his
+covenant.' Yet the highly enlightened Paul calls the gospel a mystery,
+and godliness a mystery; 'for now we see through a glass darkly; but
+then face to face: now I know in part; but then,' in heaven, 'shall I
+know even as also I am known.' Therefore, while you use all diligence,
+accompanied with prayer and the expositions of God's faithful
+ministers, to understand every part of divine revelation, be neither
+surprised nor disheartened at the want of comprehension, far less
+attempt to reduce it to human reason, as many have done to their ruin.
+The Scripture says, 'Vain man would be wise, though born like the wild
+ass's colt.' 'The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.'
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Again we have the following merited strictures by one taught from
+above, on a passage in Pope's Essay on Man.
+
+
+ "1798.
+
+ "'Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees.'
+
+ "There the poet must stop: thus far the natural mind, richly
+endowed with human powers, can go and trace a God of power, wisdom,
+and beneficence: O that thou hadst had eyes to see, and discern what
+flesh and blood could never reach; that all these glories dwindle into
+tapers, when compared with Jehovah manifested in the face of Jesus
+Christ. Every star, every tree, all vegetating, bursting, blooming
+life, answer the end of their creation, manifesting his glory as thou
+sayest; but can they tell thee how this God can be just, and yet
+justify those who have rebelled against all his attributes; torturing
+even his fair and beautiful creation, and bringing it into subjection
+to their lusts, as thou hast well sung; murmuring at, and rebelling
+against his dispensations in providence; hardening themselves against
+his government; perverting every good to their own misery, and
+imbibing wretchedness from means of blessedness? Can all that thou
+hast sung bring into congeniality perfection of wickedness and
+perfection of holiness, perfection of wretchedness and perfection of
+happiness, perfect opposition in nature and principle? Here thy song
+stops short. Thou seest the evils and the misery; thou hast a glimpse
+of an opposite good, but all means proposed by thee ever have proved,
+and ever will prove inadequate to the attainment of it: the very
+attributes of a just and holy God oppose it: heaven and earth must
+stand amazed at the declaration that God would justify the ungodly."
+
+
+ In the month of September, 1798, Mrs. Graham's daughter Isabella
+was married to Mr. Andrew Smith, merchant, then of New York. Her
+family being thus settled to her satisfaction, and her health not
+good, she was prevailed upon to retire from her school, and to live
+with her children.
+
+ During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1798, it was with
+much difficulty Mrs. Graham was dissuaded from going into the city to
+attend on the sick: the fear of involving her children in the same
+calamity, in the event of her being attacked by the fever, was the
+chief reason of her acquiescing in their wish to prevent so hazardous
+an undertaking. During the subsequent winter she was indefatigable in
+her attentions to the poor, she exerted herself to procure work for
+her widows, and occupied much of her time in cutting it out and
+preparing it for them. The managers of the Widows' Society had each a
+separate district; and Mrs. Graham, as first Directress, had a general
+superintendence of the whole. She was so happy in the execution of her
+trust, as to acquire the respect and confidence of the ladies who
+acted with her, as well as the affections of the poor.
+
+ Her whole time was now at her command, and she devoted it very
+faithfully to promote the benevolent object of the institution over
+which she presided. The extent of her exertions, however, became
+known, not from the information given by herself, but from the
+observations of her fellow-laborers, and especially from the testimony
+of the poor themselves. When she had been absent for some weeks, on a
+visit to her friends in Boston, in the summer of 1800, her daughter,
+Mrs. B----, was surprised at the frequent inquiries made after her by
+persons with whom she was unacquainted: at length she asked some of
+those inquirers what they knew about Mrs. Graham. They replied, "We
+live in the suburbs of the city, where she used to visit, relieve, and
+comfort the poor. We had missed her so long, that we were afraid she
+had been sick; when she walked in our streets, it was customary with
+us to come to the door and receive her blessing as she passed."
+
+
+ We next find letters to her female friend near Boston, who was
+still in much spiritual darkness and despondency.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, near Boston.
+
+ "MARCH, 1799.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR FRIEND--I have just read your letter, painful to
+you to write, but to me as the mother's anguish which precedes her
+joy. The day will soon break, and the shadows flee away; and the dear
+Saviour whom you seek, will again comfort his returning prodigal.
+
+ "I will do what you desire me, and though I have the highest
+opinion of our young Timothy, J.M., I will pass by him in this case,
+and lay it before one of the aged Christians, Dr. R----rs or Dr.
+L----n; at the same time, my friend, I am as sure of their answer as
+if I were already in possession of it. Who told my friend that she was
+blind, and miserable, and wretched, and naked? Flesh and blood never
+yet taught proud man or woman this lesson.
+
+ "My dear friend, there is nothing new nor strange in all you have
+told me: there is scarce a heaven-taught soul, who has made any
+advances in the spiritual warfare, but could sympathize with you from
+experience. What have you experienced more than the Scriptures tell
+us: that 'the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
+wicked?' Only the Lord can search it, only he can cleanse it. He takes
+the prerogative to himself, and he calls it his covenant that he will
+make with sinners in gospel times. You may strive and fight, and
+resolve and vow--all will not do: you lie at his mercy for holiness as
+well as pardon. He is exalted as a Prince to give repentance, and he
+is the author and finisher of faith. He works all our works in us, and
+without him we are not equal to one good thought. We are his
+workmanship, 'created anew in Christ Jesus,' My dear friend, put the
+work into his hand, and try to wait on him in hope--hope in every
+situation; do more, trust.
+
+ "You entirely mistake the situation of others; none of us have
+our heaven here: no, sin dwelleth in us; the very best have their ups
+and downs. Do you think your friend is always on the mount? very far
+from it. I am at times so cold, so dead, so stupid, that I can neither
+pray, read, nor hear. I have begun the same chapter over and over,
+still trying to fix my thoughts, and as often they wander on every
+trifle; but my peace lies where you will soon learn to place yours, in
+the merits of my almighty Saviour. My safety depends not on my frames,
+but his promise and when tossed and tempted, dead and lifeless,
+emptied of every good, perhaps buffeted like you with abominable
+thoughts, the fiery darts of Satan, casting all on Him, I am safe as
+when basking in the sunshine of his love, and tasting what you have
+tasted: for you have tasted, and you shall yet taste the joys of his
+salvation. I too have proved false to his covenant, have gone off with
+the world, and been intoxicated with its vanities and empty delights,
+and have laid up for myself seasons of deep remorse; my sins have
+often separated between my God and me, especially in my younger days;
+the Lord calls to watchfulness and diligence in the use of means, and
+he generally honors these means, of his own appointing, with his
+blessing. When we either trust to these means, and fancy merit in
+them, or neglect to use them as his appointment, he generally makes us
+feel our error, but he does not cast us out of his family; he chastens
+us, and restores us.
+
+ "I write hastily, just to say that you have my sympathy and my
+love; for well I know, the almighty Lord alone can loose your bonds,
+and give you 'joy and peace in believing.' All my advice may be summed
+up in this--trust in the Lord with all your heart; at least aim at
+this; I say, aim at it, for this too must be given you. Roll yourself,
+your doubts, your fears, your sins, your duties, all on him: say,
+'Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.' He is an almighty Saviour to
+deliver sinners from sin as well as from punishment. I leave you on
+the Father of mercies, and will, when the Lord enables, pray for you.
+
+ "Yours, etc."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "At last, my dear friend, the Lord appears; appears the Bible
+God--'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in
+goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
+transgression, and sin.'
+
+ "When was it that the Lord proclaimed this, and took unto
+himself this name? After Israel, his chosen, had been guilty of that
+awful sin in the wilderness, of making the golden calf, and
+proclaiming, 'These be thy gods, O Israel:' David takes it up in the
+103d Psalm, 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
+plenteous in mercy.' Read on, my dear, then turn to the 130th. This
+God is your God, and has long been your God; his work was upon your
+heart, though you could not discern it. In bondage you have long
+been, but not a willing captive; unbelief kept you in bondage, long,
+long after your eyes were opened to see your bondage; and even to
+discern, in some feeble measure, your remedy.
+
+ "The Lord has wise reasons for all you have suffered: if not now,
+you shall in some after-time 'know and consider all the way by which
+he has led you, to prove you, to try you, and show you what was in
+your heart, that he might do you good in your latter end.' You did not
+wait patiently for the Lord your God; you did not in general say,
+'Though he slay me, I will trust in him:' no, my friend has been a
+great unbeliever, yet hath the Lord, the sovereign Lord, 'whose ways
+are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts,' brought you
+out of 'a fearful pit, and out of the miry clay; set your feet upon a
+rock, and established your goings; put a new song into your mouth,
+even praise unto our God.' Now you sing the 34th Psalm. I do rejoice
+with my friend; I bless the Lord with her; let us exalt his name
+together. It is establishing to my own soul. I have long prayed, and
+long looked for this: I lived in the faith of it, assured that He who
+had begun the good work, would perfect it in his own time.
+
+ "I cannot but regret your want of pastoral food; yet ought I to
+regret any thing? The Lord himself is your Shepherd. My Bible lies on
+my lap, and I had turned to the 34th Psalm, to know if it contained
+what I would point out to you: on finishing the last verse, I
+unconsciously turned my eye on the Bible; the words that met it were,
+'I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go: I
+will guide thee with mine eye.' Psa. 32:8. And so it shall be. Amen,
+my God, Amen. Do as thou hast said.
+
+ "Perhaps, my friend, by this time your notes are lowered. It has
+pleased the Lord to give you a strange sight: Mary Magdalene, a great
+sinner at the feet of Jesus, pardoned, comforted, and highly honored
+in after-life.
+
+ "This history, accompanied by the Spirit of God, has consoled,
+strengthened, and raised up many bowed down since that day, many now
+around the throne, who sing of pardoning love.
+
+ "I now wish to say, hold fast the beginning of your confidence.
+Your experience is that of God's people. To rejoice in the Lord at all
+times is your privilege, but will not be always your attainment. The
+Lord has done great things for you, whereof I am glad; but, my dear
+friend, the warfare is not over: you must endure trials as others;
+engage with 'principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in
+high places,' and, worst of all, a treacherous heart within; which,
+for all that it has seen and tasted, is yet corrupt and deceitful. The
+new life which Christ gives to the soul, evidences itself in the
+desires of the heart and affections. As certainly as the new-born babe
+desires the breast, as certainly and as evidently does the new-born
+soul desire union to God, communion with him, and conformity to him in
+heart, life, and conversation. This principle is in its own nature
+perfectly pure, but the old nature, the law in the spiritual members,
+is as perfectly corrupt: 'in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.'
+
+ "In the order of God's covenant it has not pleased him to deliver
+even believers, all at once, from sinful inclinations and passions; he
+has provided for their final complete deliverance, and sin shall not
+have dominion over them even here; but it is still in them while in
+the body, and a dying body; and the remains of sin in the soul make
+the believer's life a warfare, and this world a wilderness; soul and
+body are diseased; both are redeemed, and provision made for the
+entire deliverance of both--for the soul at death, for the body at the
+resurrection; but while in the body, 'if any man say he has no sin, he
+deceiveth himself, and the truth is not in him.' I John, I:8. Look at
+Paul's experience--what does he say of the believer's state? He calls
+it a warfare, a fight, a captivity for a time: see 1 Tim. 6:12;
+1 Cor. 9:26.
+
+ "I write not thus to dishearten you, but as a friend I warn you,
+lest you fall again into unbelief. Look not within for comfort, for
+consolation, for confidence. Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness, his blood the atonement, and you are complete in him,
+his grace is sufficient for you, his strength shall be perfected in
+your weakness, and you shall go on. Grieve for sin you will, grieve
+you ought; but keep ever in your remembrance 1 John, 2:1, and 5:11.
+
+ "Yours, etc."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "JANUARY 14, 1800.
+
+ "My dear friend says, 'O that I could have the society of some
+aged pious clergyman or Christian, who had gone through his warfare.'
+O that you could, in the Lord's hand. I hope it might do you good:
+yet, after all, the Lord himself must loose your bonds; aye, and he
+will, and also appoint the means.
+
+ "There are two kinds of rest awaiting you, the one in this life,
+the other will not be attained till the mortal shall put on
+immortality. When was it that Paul, the great apostle, could say he
+had fought the good fight? Not till he could also say he had finished
+his course, and was ready to be offered up; till then, he like others
+had to continue the warfare between grace and corruption; like others,
+found a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, so
+that the thing that he would, he did not, and that which he would not,
+that he did. Notwithstanding this, there is a blessed rest attainable
+here, rest from the fear of wrath and hell--a rest in Christ as our
+atonement, our surety, our complete righteousness, our title to
+eternal life, and all the grace necessary to fit us for it. This is
+the work of faith, or rather, this is faith itself. The soul
+established in this can rest in all possible circumstances; it depends
+not on its frames: in darkness, when it is tossed, tempted, wandering,
+conscious of unhallowed tempers, perhaps of the actual commission of
+sin, though at such times the warfare between grace and corruption is
+so strong as to make the Christian exclaim, 'O wretched man that I am!
+who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?' he can still
+say, 'The Lord lives, blessed be my Rock;' see the 42d and 43d Psalms.
+The Christian can still say, my Lord and my God; he is sure the
+conflict will end, and that his God will bring good out of it; he
+enjoys hope; he feels his state as safe as in the most enlarged frame
+of mind, when he can pray, praise, love, rejoice. This is a riddle
+which only Christians can understand, and even they require many
+lessons to comprehend it, many more to practise.
+
+ "Have you Newton's letters? See his second letter in Cardiphonia.
+O try to fix your anchor of hope on that sure foundation which God has
+laid in Zion, Christ himself. Trust him to save you from every evil
+without you and within you. When your own weakness sinks you, try to
+be strong in his strength; when guilt disturbs, wash in the open
+Fountain. But hold fast the beginning of your confidence unto the end.
+
+ "Be comforted, fight on, aim at trusting, and you shall, in the
+Lord's time, also, cease from your own works, and rest, with more
+advanced Christians, on the faithfulness of your own God in Christ.
+See Hebrews 4:9, also chap. 12 throughout. I finish with chap.
+13:20, 21, my earnest prayer and sure hope for you, my precious
+friend.
+
+ Yours, etc."
+
+
+ Writing to her brother Dr. Marshall, she alludes to the prevalent
+neglect of the voice of God in his judgments, and notices the death
+of Washington.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, March 3, 1800.
+
+ "Here comes a letter of woe from my dear brother, on a subject
+almost already forgotten in New York, the yellow-fever. Strange as
+it may seem, the disease, and all that it carried off, seem entirely
+out of mind. No mention made of the past, no apprehensions for the
+future. Country retreats are multiplying around, and people appear
+as if they had made a covenant with death. Potter's Field is filled
+with our principal citizens; the prison and prison limits with
+many of the survivors. The rest are _feasting_, _dancing,_ and
+_revelling_, or weeping over feigned woe in the theatre--a few
+excepted, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them,
+whose eyes have been opened to discern the danger and accept the
+offered Saviour: among which number, I dare, through grace, reckon
+your sister and her children. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
+not all his benefits.'
+
+ "The city, indeed the United States, have been swallowed up in
+the loss of Washington. The utmost stretch of human eloquence has been
+called forth in panegyric. His eulogium has been sounded in every
+possible mode--not excepting our pulpits. The 22d of February, his
+birthday, was set apart to his memory. Two of our ministers were
+appointed to pronounce an eulogium on his character: one of whom was
+Dr. Mason, the other Dr. Linn. The last I admired; it had its due
+influence over me; but of my own minister I could form no judgment:
+the church, the pulpit, the man, the words, seemed so connected with
+the 'Lord Jesus Christ,' his favorite theme, I could not realize the
+_mere_ orator.
+
+ "Great things were said of Washington, and they were due.
+
+ "The Lord himself called him by name, girded him, subdued great
+armies before him, with handfuls, like Gideon. He gave him wisdom in
+counsel, and prudence in executing justice. A nation blessed him
+while he lived, and with all the power of language lamented his
+death. Ah, human depravity, how striking. Bursting with gratitude to
+a creature--with enmity to a Saviour God; to God, who 'so loved the
+world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
+on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; and to as many
+as receive him gives power to become the sons of God,' by putting
+his Spirit within them, and causing them to love and walk in his
+statutes. But alas, the carnal unrenewed mind is enmity against God
+and his Christ. O that men were wise, and could see their disease,
+and the remedy.
+
+ "What misery is in the world at this day. It is only equalled by
+the wickedness. How does potsherd dash against potsherd, mutually
+destroying each other. How consoling to the Christian 'that the Lord
+reigns. The Lord sits King among the nations,' even our own Jesus,
+'Head over all principalities and powers, and dominions, and every
+name that is named in heaven and in earth;' all these shakings,
+turnings, and overturnings, shall prove subservient to the real
+prosperity of his church."
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "I have entered into my closet; I have shut my door; I would pray
+to my Father who is in secret; I would be shut up with my indwelling
+God; but see the crowds that follow; see my treacherous heart that
+gives them admission; see my unsanctified imagination going off with
+them, leaving nothing before thee but a lifeless lump of clay. Help,
+Lord. Hast thou not redeemed me from vain imaginations? Lord, fill all
+thy temple; cast out the buyers and sellers; thyself prepare room for
+close, undisturbed, holy conference. Grant that, according to the
+riches of thy glory, I may be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in
+the inner man: dwell in my heart by faith, that 'rooted and grounded
+in love, I may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the
+breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of
+Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of
+God.' Give unto thy redeemed servant the Spirit of wisdom and
+revelation. Reveal thyself more and more in my soul; enlighten the
+eyes of my understanding. Lord, improve, enlarge the powers of the new
+man. Spirit of the Father and of the Son, do thine office; take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto me; that I may know what is the
+hope of his calling, and what the 'riches of the glory of his
+inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
+power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
+power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
+and set him at the Father's right hand, in the heavenly places, far
+above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and
+every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
+which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and given
+him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,
+the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' Filled with all the
+fulness of God; 'the fulness of him who filleth all in all!' O what
+things are these. My soul stretches to comprehend; but, weak and
+feeble, cannot climb those glorious heights, nor dig into these, to
+me, unsearchable depths. I can only spell after the language of the
+Holy Ghost, lisp out his own words. I dare not trust my powers of
+comprehension to vary even the mode of expression.
+
+ "Well, it may be best for me; the valley of humility may be
+safest for me. 'Father, glorify thy name.' Thou hast quickened me; I
+am not what I was. Thou hast wrought in me a measure of faith and
+love; thou hast sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise; thou hast
+given me the earnest of my inheritance; the full possession shall come
+in thy appointed time. Wherefore I will sing unto Him that is able,
+and will do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask, think, or
+comprehend, according to that same mighty power that worketh in us.
+Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
+world without end. Amen.
+
+ "My covenant God, and the God of my house. Thy Spirit saith, 'If
+any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.' Thou knowest the difficulty
+and danger of the present case. We are ignorant of hidden motions and
+principles, of Satan's suggestions, of corresponding or discordant
+circumstances, of future providences and events. Lord, give counsel.
+
+ "If information and advice be duty on the part of thy servant,
+determine on the side of duty, be the danger what it may; and Oh,
+search, try, and deliver from every selfish or hidden impure motive.
+Give prudence in the choice of words, in the time and manner as well
+as purity in the matter. Save from injuring any of the individuals
+concerned. And Oh, prepare the heart of thy other servant to receive
+this office of friendship with a proper degree of confidence. Save
+from unjust suspicions, that it may be taken as meant in love, in
+Christian love and friendship.
+
+ "O thou who knowest all hearts, all motives, all circumstances
+past, present, and future, overrule for the manifestation of truth,
+for the safety and good of thy servant, and for the closer union of
+all concerned in the bands of Christian love, confidence, and
+affection; and as our covenant God, in whom we trust for guidance in
+every path of duty, glorify thy name.
+
+ "I record this prayer in faith, and wait an answer of peace from
+thy inward teaching and manifestation in the course of thy providence.
+Amen."
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as
+long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall
+call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
+alone doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for
+ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and
+Amen.' Psalm 72:17.
+
+ "Again have I and my children been fed with Christ's flesh and
+his blood at his own table. Glorious things are said of thee, thou
+city of our God; and rich the provision of the house of our God;
+wonderful the scheme that hath made sinful, guilty, rebel sinners the
+citizens of this holy city, inhabitants of this holy house. Mysterious
+truth. The city itself the house of God; the temple of the Lord, in
+which he delighteth to dwell. Closer yet, more mysterious, yet equally
+true, 'his body, his flesh, and his bones;' closer still, one Spirit
+with him. As Mediator Emmanuel, he is the bond of union, whereby the
+guilty sons and daughters of Adam are made one with the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost.
+
+ "Wonderfully and fearfully are we made as creatures: as a
+rational creature, who can understand and comprehend himself; how
+these members were fashioned; how this spark of vital flame was
+breathed into the lifeless lump or atom? Wonder-working Lord, thou
+only knowest. Wonderful are all the works of creation; but Oh, what
+are they to thy work of redemption? To bring worlds out of nothing, to
+bring light out of darkness, was thy easy work; but to bring good out
+of evil, this, this was the wonder. Thousands and ten thousands of
+worlds were, and may yet be created without cost. God says, Let it
+_be_, and it is; but redemption! O, who can tell the cost?
+Blessed Jesus, God manifested in the flesh; Christ, babe of
+Bethlehem--man of sorrows--victim on the cross; thou only canst tell.
+'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things,
+and blessed be his glorious name for ever!' Whatever the cost, _it
+is finished_. He bowed his head and said, 'It is finished!' This
+finished work is the new testament which he bequeathed to his
+disciples 'the same night in which he was betrayed,' when he took
+bread, blessed it, brake it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take,
+eat, this is my body broken for you; and took the cup, and gave
+thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is
+the new testament in my blood, which is shed for many, for the
+remission of sins.
+
+
+ "The new testament! O, who can tell the blessings and benefits
+contained in this testament, this dying legacy of our dear Emmanuel,
+purchased and sealed with his blood! What is the amount of it? What
+the sum of blessings contained in it? Behold, God is become our
+salvation. This is the amount. God himself, God in Christ reconciling
+us unto himself: by his mighty power subduing the enmity that is in
+us; melting our flinty hearts; drawing us with the cords of love;
+creating us anew after his own image, which we had totally lost;
+uniting us to himself, even _us_, who were enmity itself, but now
+are become one with God, who is love. This is the work we have this
+day been celebrating: a given, a born, a living, a suffering, dying,
+risen, ascended, glorified, reigning Saviour. The Lord of hosts, the
+King of kings, the Almighty God dwelling with men, dwelling in men,
+and feeding them with his own body and blood. 'Behold, God is become
+our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah
+is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation,
+therefore with joy will we draw water out of the wells of salvation.'
+His attributes are the never-failing source; his ordinances the wells
+of salvation. God himself is ours, all that he is is ours, to bless
+and to make us happy. Ten thousand springs issue from this blessed
+source, specified and particularized in his Bible, experienced and
+celebrated by his saints. Let us drink and be refreshed, rejoice and
+praise: for Oh, who can tell the amount of our riches, in having God
+for our portion? All things are ours, we are Christ's, and Christ
+is God's."
+
+
+ The Widows' Society met monthly, when the money in the treasury
+was divided among the managers, for the relief of the widows under
+their care. Mrs. Graham, as directress, thus acknowledges God and asks
+his counsel:
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "O my God, I account it an honorable office thou hast given me. I
+have received it from thee. Enable me to execute it to thee.
+
+ "Father of the fatherless, husband of the widow, make me a fit
+instrument in thy hand of distributing thy bounty. Give discernment
+and judgment, tenderness, gentleness, humility, and love; let love to
+thee be the principle of my every action; lead me in the straight path
+of duty; on the matter, the manner, the time, let 'holiness to the
+Lord' be written. I thank thee for this sum towards the relief of thy
+creatures; be with us this evening, and direct our determination as to
+the division of it. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN--
+ CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+ The "Society for the relief of Poor Widows with small Children,"
+having received a charter of incorporation, and some pecuniary aid
+from the Legislature of the state, the ladies who constituted the
+board of direction were engaged in plans for extending their
+usefulness: Mrs. Graham took an active part in executing these plans.
+The Society purchased a small house, where they received work of
+various kinds for the employment of their widows. They opened a school
+for the instruction of their orphans, and many of Mrs. Graham's former
+pupils volunteered their services, taking upon themselves, by
+rotation, the part of instructors. Besides establishing this school,
+Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows best qualified for the task,
+and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day schools for
+the instruction of the children of widows in distant parts of the
+city: she also established two Sabbath-schools, one of which she
+superintended herself, and the other she placed under the care of her
+daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in poverty, she
+visited and comforted them; and in some instances, opened small
+subscription lists to provide for their support.
+
+ She attended occasionally for some years at the almshouse, for
+the instruction of the children there in religious knowledge: in this
+work she was much assisted by an humble and pious female friend, who
+was seldom absent from it on the Lord's day. In short, her whole time
+was occupied in searching out the distresses of the poor, and devising
+measures to comfort and establish them to the extent of her influence
+and means. At the same time, far from arrogating any merit to herself,
+she seemed always to feel how much she was deficient in following
+fully the precepts and the footsteps of her beloved Lord and Saviour,
+who "went about doing good."
+
+ It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, taking
+with her a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about eight
+o'clock. Her only dinner on such days was her bread, and perhaps some
+soup at the soup-house, established by the Humane Society for the
+poor, over which one of her widows had been, at her recommendation,
+appointed. She and her venerable companion, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman,
+second directress of the Widows' Society, travelled many a day and
+many a step together in the walks of charity. Mrs. Graham was a
+Presbyterian, Mrs. Hoffman an Episcopalian. Those barriers, of which
+such an unhappy use has been made by sectarians to separate the
+children of God, fell down between these two friends at the cry of
+affliction, and were consumed on the altar of Christian love. Arm in
+arm, and heart to heart, they visited the abodes of distress,
+dispensing temporal aid from the purse of charity, and spiritual
+comfort from the word of life.
+
+ At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to
+the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers through
+the preceding year.
+
+ In April, 1800, she stated that "again the pestilence had emptied
+the city; again every source of industry was dried up; even the
+streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those storehouses,
+from which relief was issued to thousands in former calamities, now
+disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the pestilence were
+ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had no friends in the
+country, under whose roof they might for a time seek shelter, were
+shut up to the only relief within their power, even to that society
+which had formerly saved them in many a strait. They came, were
+received with tenderness, assisted with, food, advice, and medicine.
+
+ "Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives,
+remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One
+hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children,
+under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have,
+from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved. Widow
+is a word of sorrow in the best of circumstances; but a widow left
+poor, destitute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small
+children, shivering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face
+with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any
+probable prospect of procuring--her situation is neither to be
+described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during the
+last winter; and though none could restore the father and the husband,
+the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers, while they
+dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father and their
+Husband, God."
+
+
+ In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in
+Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B---- as follows:
+
+
+ "BOSTON, August, 1800.
+
+ "I yesterday received my dear J----'s letter, which gives fresh
+cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less I
+am able to support the want of intelligence. Let us all bless God
+together for all his mercies: among those which are temporal, health
+is the chief; and I believe to most mothers it is more valued in their
+children than in their own persons. I rejoice with you over our
+restored J----y. O that our covenant God may give the more important
+blessing of divine life. You had need to be importunate for this,
+after the importunity exercised for natural life. I thank God also for
+the alleviation of your own distress, for our dear D----'s restoration
+from complaints less alarming so far as they existed, but which might
+have been the seeds of serious affliction.
+
+ "I could go on enumerating, for causes of thankfulness crowd into
+my mind; but all are swallowed up in the grand mercy, the
+distinguishing mercy of redeeming love to our souls. Salvation, not
+only to me, but to my house. Oh, all words fail here. Read over with
+me, sing with me, in your heart, the 103d Psalm. O my God, dare I even
+sigh in thy presence, under any temporal pain, or hurt of body or
+mind, with such a Father, such a Christ, such a Comforter, such a
+richly-furnished well-ordered covenant, such a constitution of grace
+and providence--O, such an all in all, even 'all the fulness of God.'
+My God and the God of my seed, the God of my house; yea, and the God
+of my prodigal, who shall in heaven, if never on earth, join the song,
+'To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be
+glory, honor, dominion, power, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.' O
+shall a murmur ever pass these lips, shall this unthankful heart
+indulge even a sigh over any object but sin; shall I shrink from any
+cross with such a crown? Father, glorify thy name.
+
+ "I have been to church; the subject, 'be not weary in
+well-doing.' Many arguments were adduced for exertion; but the gospel
+was wanting. O that my friends could hear our shepherd; he would sound
+his Master's voice more in unison with their own hearts' experience,
+and views of new covenant provision and gospel motives: except in the
+Baptist congregations, the gospel is much mutilated here, and kept out
+of sight even by the few who are supposed to build upon it.
+
+ "Sabbath next brings round your--I will add, my gospel feast. I
+will endeavor to meet you to-morrow evening, and to have you all on my
+heart, then and on the Sabbath, in that one Lord, one faith, one
+Spirit, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and
+in all redeemed to himself by Jesus Christ, and sanctified by that one
+Spirit uniting all. What subjects! I cannot attain to the
+comprehension, but I experience the truth and enjoy the comfort
+of them."
+
+
+ The two following letters, addressed to a young lady whose
+acquaintance Mrs. Graham made while at Boston, show how tenderly she
+sympathized with the feelings of the young, and how earnestly she
+sought their good.
+
+
+ To Miss M----, Boston.
+
+ "There was, my dear Miss M----, something in your countenance and
+manner, at our last interview, which has dwelt on my mind ever since.
+Your former attentions, which I also marked, I attributed to the
+natural benevolence of your heart; but your following a stranger, an
+old woman, of whom you know so little, and whom you were likely never
+to see again, to solicit her friendship and an interest in her
+prayers, spoke a language beyond nature. Either my sweet friend has
+already chosen God in Christ to be her portion, and his love in her
+heart powerfully draws her to every one in whom she thinks she
+discerns his image, or she conceives that this world cannot give her
+happiness even in this life; and impressed with the importance of that
+which is to come, she wishes to cast in her lot among God's people,
+that she may know the good of his chosen and rejoice in their joy, and
+become a partaker of that peace which the Saviour bequeathed to his
+disciples when about to leave them: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace
+I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
+
+ "Let me congratulate my friend, which ever of these be the case.
+If the first, you have, or will soon have, a peace which the world can
+neither give nor take away; if the last, the Saviour stands at the
+door of your heart and knocks, soliciting that heart which has too
+long been hunting shadows and vanity. If your soul is dissatisfied
+with the things of the world, and tired with disappointment, cast a
+longing eye to the fountain of happiness. This is the claim of that
+God whose name is love: 'My son, give me thy heart.' 'Come unto me,
+all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' 'In
+the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.'
+Be assured, my dear friend, if you could obtain all of this world that
+your heart could wish for, you would find vanity written on the
+possession. Nothing short of God himself can give happiness to the
+soul; and exactly in proportion as man becomes weaned from the world,
+and his affections centre in God, is he in possession of happiness.
+
+ "But how is this to be attained? By God's own plan, and no other.
+As many weary themselves in vain, hunting the shadows of time; so,
+many great philosophers, sensible of this great truth, that God alone
+can satisfy the rational soul, also weary themselves in vain, because
+they will not seek the blessing in God's own way. 'When the world by
+wisdom knew not God, it pleased him by the foolishness of
+preaching'--what was esteemed so--'to save them that believe.' 'I
+thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise
+and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'
+
+ "The Saviour said, 'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have
+life. No man can come to the Father but by me. I am the way, the
+truth, and the life.' 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
+have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.' The
+Scripture testifies what our own hearts must assent to, that human
+nature is depraved and corrupt; broken off from God; at a distance
+from him by sin; enmity against him in his true character; opposed to
+his holy law, in its extent and spirituality: we are also helpless,
+dead in trespasses and sins. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed
+thyself'--blessed be God for what follows--'but in me is thy help.'
+
+ "The same Scripture which testifies the misery of man, reveals
+also his remedy--a remedy of God's own providing, by which man may be
+restored to the image and favor of God, and to that communion with
+him which is life and bliss. 'God so loved the world, that he gave
+his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not
+perish, but have everlasting life: for God sent not his Son into the
+world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
+saved. And this is life eternal, that ye believe on him whom he hath
+sent.' When man becomes convinced that he is lost, helpless,
+wretched, lying at mercy, and submits to the method of God's own
+providing; casts himself on the mercy of God in Christ, and coming to
+him, rests on his free promise, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no
+wise cast-out;' disclaiming all confidence in himself, or in his own
+works, he accepts of God's offered grace, in God's own way, a _free_
+and _finished_ salvation. This is the record of God, that he giveth
+unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; who, of God, is
+made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
+complete redemption. Believing this, according to his faith it shall
+be. Christ shall be in him, 'a well of water springing up to
+everlasting life.' He will shed abroad his love in his heart, and
+according to his promise, give him power to become a child of God.
+The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shall be given unto him, to teach him
+the knowledge of the Scriptures, and to become a principle of
+holiness in his heart. Then shall he find that wisdom's ways are ways
+of pleasantness, and all her paths peace; then shall he experience
+the blessedness of that man whose God is the Lord; then is the way
+open for communion and converse with God the Father, Son, and Holy
+Ghost.
+
+ "If, my dear Miss M----, I have made myself understood, you have
+my view of God's method of making his creatures happy; and I believe
+he will make us to know that he is a sovereign God, and that there is
+no other name, or method, by which men can be saved, but the name of
+Christ Jesus. But, take nothing on my word, nor the word of any
+creature; search the Scriptures; read the first eight chapters of the
+Romans, the whole of the Ephesians: stumble not at mysteries--pass
+them over, and take the milk for babes; pray for the teaching of the
+Spirit; and let me recommend to you the advice of Mr. Newton, in his
+Omicron's Letters, a book well worth your reading. 'Lay not too much
+stress on detached texts, but seek for the sense which is most
+agreeable to the general strain of Scripture.'
+
+ "My dear Miss M----, I am now old, and I hope have done with the
+world; but I have been young and drunk deeply of youth's choicest
+pleasures. I was blest with the best and most indulgent of parents; I
+was the wife of a man of sense, sentiment, and sensibility, who was my
+very first love and lover; and that love ripened and improved with
+years. My children were good and healthy; love, health, peace, and
+competency blessed our dwelling. I had also, in early life, taken hold
+of God's covenant, and tasted his covenant love; and devoted myself to
+his service, which was in my mind a principle of moderation, compared
+with mere worldlings; but very far was I from that non-conformity to
+the world which the precept of the gospel requires. Had I kept close
+to my covenant God, enjoyed his bounty with thankfulness, occupied my
+talents, devoted my time to usefulness and communion with him; had I
+prayed against corruption within and temptation without, the Lord
+would have directed my steps and held up my goings, and I should have
+continued to inherit the earth, and should not have been diminished.
+But this was very far from being my conduct; the bent of the natural,
+unrenewed heart, is still opposed to God; and the best are sanctified
+only in part, while in this life; the law in the members still wars
+against the law of the Spirit of life in the mind. The goodness of
+God, which ought to have been a powerful motive to gratitude, love,
+and diligence, was misimproved; I enjoyed the gifts, and forgot the
+giver; 'hugged my comforts to death.' Many, many light chastisements,
+my dear, my kind, my indulgent heavenly Father exercised me with; I
+had many repenting seasons under his strokes, many manifestations of
+pardon I received, and many fresh and solemn dedications of my heart,
+life, and substance did I make; but no sooner was ease and comfort
+restored, than my heart turned aside like a deceitful bow: my whole
+life, from fifteen till the thirtieth year of my age, was one
+continued succession of departure and backsliding on my part--of
+chastening, forgiving, restoring, and comforting on the part of
+my God.
+
+ "He did not cast me off, but dealt with me according to the
+constitution of his well-ordered covenant: 'If his children,'
+Christ's, 'forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break
+my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their
+transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
+Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor
+suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor
+alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89:30. This is the
+covenant--made with Christ as the head of all who believe--of which I
+took hold in early life; my God kept me to my choice, and manifested
+his own faithfulness and the stability of his covenant. When lighter
+afflictions proved ineffectual, he at last, at one blow, took from me
+all that made life dear, the very kernel of all my earthly joys, my
+idol, my beloved husband. Then I no longer halted between two
+opinions; my God became my all. I leave it as my testimony, that he
+has been a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, the
+stranger's shield and orphan's stay. Even to hoar hairs and to old age
+he has carried me, and not one good word has failed of all that he has
+promised. 'He has done all things well,' and at this day I am richer
+and happier than ever I was in my life. Not that I am yet made free
+from sin, that is still my burden--want of love and gratitude,
+indolence in commanded duty, self-will, and nestling in the creature.
+But my heart's wish and earnest desire is conformity to the divine
+will. The bent of my will is for God; and if my heart deceive me not,
+my God is the centre of my best affections. It is by grace that I am
+what I am, and the same grace engages to perfect the work begun.
+
+ "This God is my God; he will guide me even unto death, through
+death, and be my portion to eternity. This God I recommend to my
+friend; and this well-ordered covenant, this all-sufficient Saviour,
+for your acceptance: the Bible for your guide, pray to God for his
+Holy Spirit to lead you to the knowledge of the very truth as it is in
+Jesus. Accept this as a testimony of friendship, and believe me
+
+ "Yours, in love,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "NOVEMBER 2, 1800.
+
+ "You have, I find, been the child of affliction: she is a stern,
+rugged nurse; but blessed often are the lessons she teaches. I have,
+says God, chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. It is God's
+ordinary way of drawing sinners to himself, either to dry up or
+imbitter the streams of worldly comfort, that he may shut them up to
+seek that comfort that depends not on any transitory source.
+
+ "I have no doubt but you shall yet sing with the royal Psalmist,
+'It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was
+afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Blessed is the
+man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' Many
+are the texts to the same purport; take them for your consolation as a
+part of God's well-ordered covenant.
+
+ "You have met with a late bereavement, which has entered deep
+into your soul. We are not called to stoicism, but to tenderness of
+heart and spirit. Jesus wept with the two sisters over a brother's
+grave. But still, the Christian's spirit must be resigned, and say,
+and try to say with cheerfulness, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
+And Oh, my friend, great will be the wisdom and happy the
+acquisition, if every new bereavement enlarge the room for divine
+love in the heart, and be filled up with that most noble, most
+blessed of principles. Seek not, my friend, to replace friendship
+with any mere worldling; beg of God to fill up the vacuum, then will
+you be a great gainer.
+
+ "Why hesitate to join the church? Let not a sense of unworthiness
+keep you back--a deep sense of unworthiness is one grand part of due
+preparation; and no worthiness of yours can give you any title to that
+new testament in Christ's blood, which was shed for the remission of
+sins. Worthless, vile, empty, helpless is every son and daughter of
+Adam's race: but it was for the ungodly that Christ died; it was while
+we were without strength; his name was called Jesus, because he should
+save his people from their sins. In that day, that great day of the
+feast, Jesus stood among a mixed multitude, and cried, 'If any man
+thirst, let him come to me and drink--whosoever will, let him take the
+water of life freely.'
+
+ "If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul
+to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness, sanctified
+by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go as a
+_sinner_ to a _Saviour_; go at his command, put honor on his
+appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you _are_,
+_have_, or _can_ have, over the symbols of his body broken
+for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in his mercy, and leave
+all to his management, believing that _he will_ shed abroad his
+love in your heart, order your footsteps in his ways, and in due time
+perfect his image in your soul. Keep close to him in the use of means,
+but look beyond the means for life and power. I commit you to our God
+and Saviour, and pray that he may be to you 'wisdom, righteousness,
+sanctification,' and complete 'redemption.'
+
+ "I am, my dear Miss M----,
+
+ "Your ever affectionate,
+
+ "I.G."
+
+
+ In March, 1801, the health of her daughter Mrs. B----, requiring
+a sea-voyage and absence from care, Mr. and Mrs. B---- sailed for
+Britain, and the following letters were addressed to them during
+their absence:
+
+
+ "MARCH 23, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--This is mortifying to us all that you should
+be anchored half a mile from us, and there lie for hours; but even
+this, trifling as it may appear, has its end to answer in _His_
+scheme, without whom 'not a sparrow falls.' I have retired with my
+Bible, to commit you, and all my cares and concerns, afresh to that
+God whose goodness and mercy have followed us through life; who is my
+God, your God, and the God of our children; who answered my prayers in
+opposition to my inconsistent conduct; took you out of my idolatrous
+management into his own more merciful guidance. He has done all things
+well, and he will perfect his own work.
+
+ "Now, may the Angel that redeemed you, be with you, keep you in
+the hollow of his hand, and as the apple of his eye; be with you on
+his own ocean, and command the billows not to touch you; carry you to
+the bosom of your dear native country, where a large proportion of his
+body live in him and by him; bless you, and make you a blessing
+wherever his providence shall carry you, and restore you with
+blessings to us, in his own time. Amen."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, after morning service, March 29.
+
+ "This, my dear children, is a day of storm, wind, and rain. O
+that the prayer of our dear pastor, and I hope of many present, may be
+with you, and be answered to and for you: Lord, be with that family,
+who now, on the mighty ocean, desire an interest in our prayers. May
+he whom winds and waves obey, preserve them in this tempestuous
+season; may they see and improve his wonders in the great deep; may
+the blessings of the everlasting gospel preserve their souls in peace,
+conduct them in safety to their destined port, and restore them to us,
+enriched with the blessings of thy well-ordered covenant.
+
+ "I sent two notes for the Dutch churches, enclosed to Mr. B----;
+one for Wall-street, to Mr. A----, and one for the Brick church, to
+Mr. M----. I watered all with my tears.
+
+
+ "FIVE O'CLOCK."
+
+ "O, how it blows and rains. O my children, how my poor heart
+aches for you; if not in danger, yet sick, and in much discomfort. I
+gave a note in the old church in the afternoon, supposing the
+congregation on this dreadful day to be different. Mr. M---- prayed:
+"The Angel of thy presence be with them; give them much of the
+consolations of thy Spirit. Conduct them in safety to the place of
+their destination, and restore them, enriched with thy blessing, to
+worship with us again in this thy house of prayer.' I write on this
+day merely to record, for your perusal, the prayers of your church. I
+think you ought, if the Lord conduct you safe, to propose public
+thanks to that God who heard and answered, if agreeable to Mr. M----.
+Write me how it was with you on this day. Now I will go to a throne of
+grace for you and all of us. O keep close to the Lord; may he save you
+from a dissipated, trifling, carnal spirit; may he sanctify all your
+comforts, and give you a just estimation of all you see and hear: may
+the Christian's portion rise more and more; and the world and its
+vanities sink in your view."
+
+
+ "APRIL 10.
+
+ "What the Lord is going to do with his and my children I know
+not; but the Samuel Elam has returned to port with a leak, after being
+out nineteen days. On the day of storm, she had seven feet of water in
+her hold. I hope the Lord, in mercy to you, to his church, and to me
+his unworthy servant, has guided you in safety, and that the prayers
+of his church were answered in your behalf. O, my children, what would
+be the situation of my heart had I not confidence of your being within
+the ark. I desire to rejoice over all my fears, for this unspeakable
+consolation, that nothing can hurt you. I experience for you what I
+did in my own case, when darkness and tempest added to the horrors of
+many, while our vessel kept dashing on the rock: I, too, expected her
+to go to pieces every moment; but the idea was ever with me, 'in the
+bosom of God's ocean, I shall find the bosom of my Saviour.' On the
+night of the 29th of March I dreamt my dear J----y fell overboard, and
+I saw her floating on the billows, supporting herself by her little
+chair: this is the state of my mind; yet I am thankful, and enjoy much
+peace. The Lord has given me what I have asked--the salvation of your
+souls. In a little time we shall all be gathered around his throne.
+Well may I leave to him all intervening circumstances, as well as who
+goes first, and how. O how he blesses my latter end, how he soothes
+and comforts my old age; far other things have I merited, that my soul
+knows; but he has not only pardoned, but comforts, and draws a veil
+over my transgressions, covering them from the world's observation.
+What can I say? He is God, a God of mercy."
+
+
+ "APRIL 17.
+
+ "I have brought the reality near me, that mine eyes may never
+behold you again on earth. I can say, even of that, it is well; but
+the idea of the horrors of tempest, a leaky vessel racked by the
+storm, and sinking by inches; sickness, nervous timidity, and the
+sufferings to be undergone before the entrance to the haven of rest be
+attained, is my chief disquietude, I will not even say distress,
+because when these horrors--horrors they are to mere nature--dart
+across my mind, filling my soul with momentary anguish, Satan too
+seeking to distract my mind, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a
+standard against him, and comforts me with his own word, the
+everlasting promises suited to every possible circumstance in the
+believer's lot. Thousands of times have I grasped that promise, 'Leave
+thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' I pleaded it for
+the life of their souls; He answered my prayers; he has given them
+life, and they live to him. Yes, I see the fruit, and though
+iniquities still prevail against them, he still purges away their
+transgressions; kindles their repentance; humbles their souls; lays
+them prostrate in penitential confession; washes them afresh in the
+open fountain; restores to them the joys of his salvation; seals their
+pardon by shedding abroad his love in their hearts, and making them
+walk in the path of righteousness for his own name's sake.
+
+ "Thus he carries them on from strength to strength by various
+means of his own appointing, and some terrible things in
+righteousness, in the course of his providence; in all which he is
+sovereign, but ever consistent with his new covenant name, as
+proclaimed to Moses on the mount, as manifested in the character of
+God dwelling with us in our own nature, in whom mercy shone prominent;
+by which mercy they shall appear in Zion, before God, in due time.
+
+ "Is it so? Is this God my God, and the God of my seed? Is he
+himself become our salvation? Are we heirs of God and joint-heirs with
+Christ? Is our life hid with Christ in God? When he appears, shall we,
+I and the children which he hath given me, in very deed appear with
+him in glory? Is all this so, and shall I tremble at the approach of
+any of his providences? Shall I not say when it has taken place, 'The
+will of the Lord be done,' especially when clothed with love? I trust
+that as my day, so shall my strength be, and in the interim I have the
+same confidence for you; for 'he giveth power to the faint, and to
+them that have no might he increaseth strength.'"
+
+
+ "APRIL 25.
+
+ "The wind roars and howls in my windows, though not facing the
+storm, and the white waves in the river picture in my mind the foaming
+billows of the ocean. The name of our God is my consolation: 'though
+the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
+swelling thereof, there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad
+the city of God. God shall help her, and that right early.' When I
+walk about Zion, and go round about her, when I tell the towers
+thereof, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, my heart
+rejoices that 'this God is our God; he will be our guide even unto
+death; and O the joy that my children are the citizens of this Zion,
+and the heirs of all the promises by virtue of the new testament in
+Christ's blood. A covenant of works it was to our Surety, and his
+heart's blood finished the requisites of it. It is now a testament to
+you, sealed by the same blood. Wherever in his word I meet the
+character, the providence, the work of God, I read my own and my
+children's interest. I hope your experience shall be in Psalm 107:28.
+If not wholly, it shall terminate in Psalm 23:4. Though you walk
+through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil, for
+this God, who is your guide even unto death, shall be with you, his
+rod and staff shall comfort you; and our darling Jessy he shall carry
+as a lamb in his arms, and hide her from the horrors, in his bosom. I
+dwell much on these subjects, and I feel comforted, whatever be
+the event.
+
+ "If the Lord has carried you safe through, and you live to read
+this in the body, know that our God continues to bless us abundantly
+in health, peace, and plenty, as to temporals; we also experience the
+peace of his covenant, and have tastes of the bread and of the water
+of life. Thanks, all thanks to our new covenant Head for the stability
+of the covenant; we change, but he changeth not. He himself is the
+covenant given to the people, and because he lives, his people shall
+live also, in spite of Satan and his colleague sin in our hearts: sin
+may, and does bring his people into captivity, but it shall not keep
+them in bondage for ever. The time of deliverance shall come, when
+they shall revive as the corn. Oh, is it not a well-ordered covenant,
+and sure?"
+
+
+ Her next letter gives an illustration of fidelity in a difficult,
+and, it is to be feared, much-neglected duty.
+
+
+ "MAY 10, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Last evening was preparation sermon. Mr. Y----
+preached a very excellent sermon from the Song of Solomon, 'Who is
+this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?' First
+the wilderness of this world, next the church coming up, then the
+attitude leaning, and on whom; I thought the simile well supported,
+and practical, as he went on. His application was rich on the
+Christian's support, where he brought into view many of the names
+of Christ.
+
+ "After sermon we witnessed a most affecting scene; two female
+members rebuked and restored to the communion of the church. Never,
+never did our dear Mr. M---- shine so bright in my eyes; many tears
+were shed. I knew nothing of it, and wondered to what he was leading,
+when he addressed the congregation, after sermon, upon Christian walk,
+watchfulness, and temptation, and the distress occasioned in Christian
+society when any of the members were left to fall into open and
+aggravated sin. Such was the case in our own congregation: two, naming
+the offenders, had been so far left; but while deeply wounded by the
+sin and scandal, he was consoled by their penitence: he assured the
+congregation that they had given great evidence of deep contrition;
+and were now come forward to acknowledge their crime before their
+offended and grieved brethren, and to give all the satisfaction in
+their power, by submitting to the censure of the church in this public
+manner, which, although painful to him, he must pronounce according to
+God's appointment. 'Them who sin before all, rebuke before all.' He
+then asked them to rise; scarce an individual turned to look; many
+were weeping while he laid before them their guilt in strong, yet
+tender terms; and finished by expressing his approbation of their thus
+submitting to the rod, and exhorting them to humility and redoubled
+watchfulness. Then again he addressed the members, requesting them to
+receive into their Christian love and affection their repenting,
+returning sisters; that they would treat them with tenderness, and
+restore them in the spirit of meekness, considering themselves as also
+in the body and subject to temptation. 'Let no one put them in
+remembrance of the sin which the Father of mercies has blotted out,
+nor open those wounds which he has closed,' 'He doth not chide
+continually, nor retain his anger for ever.'
+
+ "May the Lord bless the discipline of his church; may he meet us
+to-morrow with multiplied pardons: may he melt our hearts to
+contrition, heal our backslidings, and manifest himself as married
+unto us; may he bring us into his banqueting house and his banner over
+us be love; may his grace be magnified and his name glorified; and may
+he send a portion to my dear children--yea, a Benjamin's portion; may
+he open wide the leaves of that new testament, and let them read their
+rich inheritance and rejoice in their portion.
+
+ "Farewell, my dear children. The Lord bless you, keep you, guide
+you, and cause his face to shine on you, prays your affectionate
+mother."
+
+
+ The following to the same, was written while on a visit to a
+worldly friend:
+
+
+ "MAY 21, 1801.
+
+ "I would fain begin to hope that my children are now on, or near
+the green fields of Albion. Many a severe gale has agitated them, and
+tried their faith and confidence before this day. But as He who
+sitteth on the clouds, commanding and governing the elements, is
+their own God in covenant, who loves them, careth for them, and
+perfects what concerns them, I hope they have had much of his
+presence: I hope they have found, even on the boisterous ocean,
+amidst the horrors of the swelling deep, agitated with winds and
+tempests, all things necessary to life and godliness in these great
+and precious promises, accompanied by divine power, by which they are
+made partakers of divine life, and escape the pollution that is in
+the world through lust. I hope they are enriched in experience, and
+advanced in the divine life, by all they have suffered, and all they
+have tasted of divine support in their sufferings; that Christ is
+still more precious, his word more tried, and their confidence in him
+more established: if so, great is their gain. And our darling J----,
+being a sharer in the suffering, shall, at her God's hand, be also a
+gainer, though it be not evident to our perception. O how rich is the
+Christian, how inexhaustible his portion! his table is ever
+furnished, his cup ever full; all is blessing, no curse mingled--that
+our Surety took to himself; prosperity and adversity, sickness and
+health, light and darkness, all, all shall bless us, work for our
+good, turn to our profit, and end in the glory of God and our
+unspeakable, inconceivable happiness.
+
+ "I have been here a week yesterday; all vegetable nature glows
+and shines in the perfection of beauty; flowers, shrubs, trees, grain,
+grass, falling waters turning the busy mill, the brook murmuring on
+its way to the ocean, fit emblem of eternity, all glorify their
+Creator; and although no such birds as in Britain charm the listening
+ear, we have some sweet chirpers of his praise; and what is wanting to
+the ear, is made up to the eye, for in beauty they excel.
+
+ "These I may enjoy; with these hold communion; for Oh, spiritual
+death holds all within these walls in dismal bondage; not one symptom
+of life appears, but death, as the dry bones in the valley of vision.
+Why do I not wrestle more for the Spirit to breathe on them? I do
+pray: but Oh, formal, formal."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "JUNE 17, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Difficult it is for me to exercise patience:
+the 23d, of this month will make three months since you waved the
+handkerchief on board the Mars, off the Battery. I had made up my mind
+not to give way to expectation short of three months; they are nearly
+past: how many events take place in that space of time; how many
+duties ought to be performed; how many sins are really committed; how
+guilty to wish to annihilate the time that a certain event may come
+round. For every moment of time we must account, and not one moment of
+it can we recall. Much you have seen; much you have suffered; much,
+perhaps, also enjoyed: for the Lord can give songs in the night, and
+in a dungeon. 'Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;' to
+them there is no want. The Lord is their shepherd, he feedeth them in
+green pastures beside the gently flowing waters; if they wander, he
+restoreth them, perhaps with the rod, but it is the rod of love; they
+need not be afraid to enter even the valley of the shadow of death;
+their Shepherd is with them, and his rod, rod of support, and staff
+shall comfort them.
+
+ "I hope this has been a profitable time to you both; that you
+have seen more of the evil of sin, and of your own hearts, their
+deceitful double turnings and windings to cover and conceal the enemy
+of God and your own souls; more of the extent and spirituality of the
+divine law, fulfilled indeed in every jot and tittle by your Surety;
+but still doubly binding on you as a rule of life in the hand of your
+Redeemer, who hath bought you to himself, and taken you into his own
+hands, that you might be a holy people to himself, delivered not
+merely from the penalty and curse, but from the power and indwelling
+of sin. I hope you have seen more of the unsearchable riches of
+Christ in all he has done and is now doing for your and his church's
+happiness, and of those exceeding great and precious promises by
+which you are made partakers of the-divine life, and privileged to
+escape the pollution that is in the world through lust; more of the
+faithfulness of God, as a God in Christ, pardoning sin and
+reconciling you to himself; and day by day, teaching you by his word,
+Spirit, and providences.
+
+ "I am but just beginning to see that I am blind; my own character
+opening upon me as a sinner, in heart and tongue and conduct, against
+my God, my neighbor, and my own soul: how comes it then that I am at
+ease in God's world; in health, in peace, in comfort, all in an
+extraordinary degree as to temporals; and as to spirituals, though
+grieved with self, my joy in Christ also abounds. Can I believe it?
+What can I say; what can I render to the Lord for all his gifts to me?
+Nothing can I do, but just take the cup of salvation, calling upon the
+name of the Lord, and remain an eternal debtor to his grace for
+spirituals and temporals."
+
+
+ "JUNE 26.
+
+ "By this time you are already in port, on earth or in heaven.
+Blessed alternative. Ought I to be sad, who can say, 'or in heaven?' O
+no, I trust grace will be given to acquiesce in his most blessed will;
+a most gracious will it has been to me and mine.
+
+ "I wrote you in my last, that our dear Mr. M---- leaves us next
+month for Britain; his errand is to state the situation of this
+country, as greatly in want of ministers and the means of educating
+ministers. Many of his people are dissatisfied, as he has two
+congregations to supply, and a large family of his own. Why should he
+be the man? For my own part, I think he is the very man; and I am
+thankful to feel a degree of disinterestedness. Though I love my
+minister, value his ministry and his person, I hope the general
+interest of Christ's body is more dear to me, and of infinitely more
+importance than my private comfort, which, after all, I do not believe
+can suffer by parting cheerfully with its apparent food to Christ, who
+himself is the sum and substance of all that any minister can be
+instrumental in conveying. All means are alike to him, or no means. I
+therefore rejoice in his will, and pray that the Lord may prosper him,
+give him a double portion of his Spirit, and favor in the eyes of all
+whose influence is necessary to advance the Redeemer's kingdom
+in America.
+
+ "Our friend Mrs. K---- is gone; she died suddenly: both Mr. and
+Mrs. T---- died at their country-seat; he first. She fancied she was
+getting better. The physician advised her not to ride, as she could
+not stand the fatigue; she had more faith in air and exercise: the
+last day she went out she fainted getting into the carriage, and again
+coming out; and died in the afternoon. She lived near us, yet I never
+saw her, nor offered one kind office towards the salvation of her
+soul, which, if lost, leaves me not innocent of her blood, and if
+saved, as I hope it may be, my sinful neglect is not the less. What a
+picture in them of the vanity of all under the sun; and in me of the
+evil of procrastination, for I meant to visit her. O my Saviour, is
+this the return I make for the millions of pardons which thou hast
+passed on my account; sparing even the rod, and blessing me with
+health, restored limbs, and mercy on mercy, comfort on comfort? I want
+words to paint my abominable ingratitude, indolence, and cruelty; and
+yet, Oh yet I am spared, and my mercies are spared, as far as I
+know--but trial may be at hand. Perhaps I write what my children may
+never read. Well, even then, mercy, mercy shall be my song; for I sing
+the song on earth which they sing in heaven. I am just going to town
+to attend preparation sermon. Our feast is on Sabbath."
+
+
+ "JULY 17, 1801.
+
+ "What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies--mercies
+temporal, mercies spiritual, mercies eternal, multiplied mercies? The
+one thing that I asked of the Lord has been answered in full, and Oh,
+how much added. God himself become my salvation, and the salvation of
+my house; how unspeakable the blessing. Although chastisement and
+affliction were the means of correction and sanctification, or even
+the vengeance taken on my inventions, yet, as a God, he at the same
+time pardoneth. For Oh, my character is ever the same with backsliding
+Judah and treacherous Israel. Glory to that name which is ever the
+same, and changeth not. 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin.' This was his name among a
+stiff-necked people, an idolatrous, ungrateful people; this is his
+name to me alike in character. O how he has magnified this name to me,
+a backslider in heart and life; multiplying pardons while I have
+multiplied transgressions: still he has been last with me, healing my
+backsliding; restoring my soul; leading me to the open fountain;
+giving faith to wash, and joy and peace in believing; not only so, but
+in this land of drought, this waste howling wilderness, this vale of
+tears, where 'man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards,' my
+cup with temporal comfort is full and running over; all his creatures
+minister to my comfort; and as days and nights roll on, his daily
+providence adds, and diminishes not.
+
+ "I had hardly hoped to see the faces of my children again; for he
+commanded, and raised the stormy winds and lifted up the waves of the
+sea; they mounted to heaven and sunk again to the deep; death with all
+its _natural_ horrors surrounded them; the deep yawned to devour
+them; but God, their own God, was at hand, their anchor of hope, their
+ark of safety, their hiding-place till the calamity was past: they
+cried to him, and he saved them out of their distresses; he made the
+storm a calm, and the waves thereof still, and brought them to the
+desired haven. This trouble was not unto death, but for the glory of
+God and the exercising of your faith, for the manifestation of his
+power and goodness, and the enriching of your experience.
+
+ "O then let us praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
+wonderful works to the children of men. Let us exalt him in the
+congregation of his people, and praise him in the assembly of
+the elders."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 23, 1801.
+
+ "Surely, surely my heart feels grateful for the time, though
+this, like every other good motion, will, like the morning dew, soon
+pass away.
+
+ "My children not only preserved through the tempestuous storms
+that threatened death with circumstances shocking to nature, but my
+poor sick child preserved during a long and fatiguing journey; that
+journey made comfortable, yea, delightful, by the warm reception of
+many kind friends, dear to nature, and many doubly endeared by grace:
+among the last, the mother and sisters of the kindest and best of
+husbands; they receiving her as their own flesh and blood, as well as
+their fellow-member in Christ; blest with a measure of health to enjoy
+all, and a measure of grace to profit by all; eyeing by faith the dear
+invisible hand of a covenant God, preserving, leading, guiding through
+every step--his love the marrow of the whole, and their charter for
+safety, even amidst the dangers of prosperity.
+
+ "Is not godliness gain? profitable for this life as well as that
+which is to come? What is the portion of the worldling? even in this
+life 'shadowy joy or solid woe,' without a balance to the first, or
+consolation in the last; no sure footing in the one, nor support in
+the other; distanced from the fountain of happiness by nature,
+prosperity incrusts their hearts and increases their carnality;
+nestling in their worldly comforts, they forget they are the creatures
+of a day, that an endless eternity lies before them, and only the
+feeble uncertain thread of life between them and that curse under
+which they were born. Not so the child of God; all things work
+together for his good--_all things;_ his standing is not in
+himself; his footsteps are directed by infinite wisdom: he is kept by
+the power of God, through faith, unto salvation. Nothing can separate
+him from the love of God. His life is hid with Christ in God: there is
+cause to rejoice always; his privileges are boundless, infinite, for
+God himself is become his salvation.
+
+ "Have we then any cause for fear? Yes, my children, yes; though
+nothing can rob us of our charter, there is another side to be beheld.
+In Christ we have all things richly to enjoy, but we have not all in
+possession: what we have is by faith; all is secured by our Surety for
+eternity. We shall overcome by the blood of the Lamb; but by the
+constitution of the covenant we must enter into that rest, that
+perfect rest, through great tribulation. While our eternal salvation
+is secured by our Surety, it hath pleased infinite Wisdom to appoint
+another connection, which shall exist while we remain on earth: even
+the connection between our steadfastness, consequently our comfort,
+and the means of grace which he hath appointed, making the first to
+depend in a great measure on our diligent use of the last, insomuch
+that a great number of the promises are proposed conditionally. Many
+exhortations are given in this view, and also many threatenings. 'They
+that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,' etc. 'Seek, and ye
+shall find; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened
+unto you.' 'Abide in me; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no
+more can ye, except ye abide in me.'
+
+ "Close, intimate, near communion with God, is to be sought by
+means of prayer, meditation, and reading. If the Christian be careful
+to husband time, and set apart a portion for God, and set about these
+duties, he will not always miss communion; and this prepares him for
+other duties, and arms him against temptation; as the promise is
+concerned to keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.
+'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
+much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that
+ask him.' 'So shall ye know the Lord, if ye follow on to-know him.'
+'Delight thyself in God, he will give thee the desire of thy heart.'
+'Nevertheless, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel,' etc.
+'If his children forsake my laws, and go astray, I will visit their
+faults,' etc. 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'
+'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,' etc. 'Thy
+Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' All is laid
+before us in the Scriptures, in the view of comfort during our
+pilgrimage, as well as the certainty of our inheritance in the end;
+the ground whereon we stand, our danger, and the means of safety.
+See Eph. 6:11.
+
+ "There is provision made in the covenant for great comfort,
+consistent with human frailty and imperfection, but not with
+carelessness and negligence. While, therefore, we rejoice in the Lord,
+we have good reason to join trembling with our exultation; while
+standing high in comfort, to take heed lest we fall, through the
+deceitfulness of sin. We carry about with us 'a body of sin and
+death;' 'the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
+may devour.' We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with
+principalities and powers,' etc. We live in a world lying in
+wickedness; the captives of sin and Satan exerting every faculty to
+banish all thoughts of God, death, and eternity; contriving, with
+unwearied industry and amazing ingenuity, new gratifications for body
+and mind in endless variety, suited to all constitutions, all tempers
+and dispositions, and to those in all circumstances. Of these, the
+most rational are the most subtle, and, in the hand of the enemy, the
+most calculated to keep men ignorant of themselves, their misery, and
+of the great salvation; and alas, by these he often _spoils_
+unwary Christians, who, though heirs of heaven, heirs of God, and
+joint-heirs with Christ, are, during their minority, subject to like
+passions with themselves, and ever in danger of being spoiled of their
+comforts when off their guard.
+
+ "With the people of the world Christians have much to do: they
+are fellow-members of society with them; they have many duties to
+perform to them, with them, and by them; many of the things of the
+world are necessary to them, many of its pleasures lawful; for 'the
+earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and he gives them of it
+as his wisdom sees good for them. That which he gives them they gather
+in the same manner as and in society with the world, by industry and
+diligence in their lawful calling and business. Keeping near the
+Captain of salvation, and armed in his whole armor, they are safe.
+When off their guard, the vigilant enemy gains some advantage, and
+they get into trouble. O how many gracious names our dear Redeemer has
+assumed in his word, for our comfort, our meditation, our spiritual
+exercise; how pleasant and delightful in the light of his countenance
+to analyze them! Besides the names peculiar to himself as God-man, how
+many has he condescended to take from among men, and the natural
+comforts and safeguards of men--our Shepherd, our Rock, our Ark, all
+the relations in life--and ends with our All in all. But I must have
+done, that I may tell you that goodness and mercy follow us in this
+family also."
+
+
+ "July 28, 1801.
+
+ "My dear pastor, Mr. M----, sailed for Britain. I thank thee,
+good and kind Shepherd of Israel, for all those providences, which
+seemed small things at the time, that hedged me into that
+congregation; for all the benefits and comforts I enjoyed under the
+ministry of thy aged servant now before thy throne, and that thou
+preparedst thy young servant to fill his place when the time of his
+departure came.
+
+ "I thank thee for all the endowments of our young pastor, of
+nature and grace. I thank thee, that thou hast kept him faithful to
+Him who has called him, and for the precious treasure thou hast put in
+that earthen vessel.
+
+ "Now, Lord, that thou hast called him to leave his family and his
+flock, to travel to a foreign land in the service which thou
+requirest, go with him, prosper him, overrule all his concerns for thy
+glory, the good of his soul, of the church in general, and his own
+little flock in particular. Amen. Glorify thy name"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ JOURNAL AND LETTERS--LADIES' SCHOOL
+ FOR POOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 22, 1801.
+
+ "ISABELLA SMITH," a grandchild, "is very ill; she appears to be
+in a stupor. Two physicians are attending, but my eyes are to the
+Lord. She is his own, given to him by faith, as a covenant God in
+Christ for her in particular, for ourselves and our children. I desire
+not to draw back, but, the Lord strengthening me, to give up at his
+call. If it be his will to spare her, she is still his own, to be done
+by, with, and for, as his infinite wisdom may see fit, for his own
+glory and her eternal interest. If he is about to remove her out of
+the world, she is his own; out of the mouth of this babe will he
+perfect praise; with that company of whom is the kingdom of heaven,
+she shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb, 'to Him that loved
+us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory,
+honor, dominion, and power.'
+
+ "O Lord, one petition I prefer--if it be thy will to take her out
+of the world, take her in thine arms and carry her through the dark
+valley; grant to her a gentle and easy passage, and an abundant
+entrance into thy kingdom; and tune our hearts to sing, 'The Lord
+gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
+Amen."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 23.
+
+ "This day the dear Isabella joined the church triumphant, and
+took her place among that company which Christ has pronounced blessed.
+I yesterday asked of the Lord that he would take her in his arms and
+carry her through the dark valley, that he would give her a gentle and
+easy passage, and an abundant entrance into his kingdom. He heard my
+prayer; it was indeed soft and gentle; not a struggle, not a groan;
+and the affliction which brought down the frame was moderate
+throughout. I was enabled to resign the Lord's own into his own hand,
+in the faith that he did receive, and would keep that which I
+committed to him.
+
+ "My soul is satisfied--more than satisfied; I rejoice, and
+congratulate the lovely babe on her early escape from a world of sin
+and sorrow, to the arms of her dear Redeemer, and to perfect
+blessedness with him."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 24.
+
+ "It is done--finished--the soul with God, the body in the tomb.
+It is all well; yes, our covenant God, thou doest all things well. I
+firmly believe thy mercy is over all thy works. Goodness, mercy, yea,
+loving-kindness has marked thy every step. I believe it now. I shall
+see it soon.
+
+ "Now, our God, follow this bereavement with thy purifying,
+sanctifying grace. Enable us all to search and try our ways. Lead our
+souls into a knowledge of the secret corruptions of our hearts, that
+we may confess and mourn over them, wash in the blood of Christ, be
+pardoned, restored, and get a great victory. Enable us through life to
+abide in Christ; to keep close to thee, transacting all our affairs
+with thee, before they come into the view of the world. Let thy wisdom
+and thy Spirit, in connection with thy providences, be our
+counsellors. O keep us in a dependent frame of mind, humble and
+watchful. Strip us of all self-confidence. May we at the same time be
+strong in the Lord and in the power of thy might; rejoicing in thee,
+the God of our salvation, the strength of our heart, and our portion
+for ever. Glory, glory, glory, to Father, Son, and blessed Spirit.
+Amen, and Amen."
+
+
+ "DECEMBER, 1801.
+
+ "It is my earnest desire to 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge
+of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' It is my desire to love the
+Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength,
+and with all my mind; and to love my neighbor as myself, so as to do
+to Mm whatever I could expect from Christian principles in him, on an
+exchange of circumstances.
+
+ "It is my desire to give all diligence to add to my faith virtue,
+to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience,
+to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly
+kindness charity, that these things being in me and abounding, I may
+be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and
+Saviour Jesus Christ.
+
+ "I desire to grow in grace day by day, to profit by every
+ordinance of God's appointing, and by every providence; and I pray,
+Lord, I pray that thou wouldst grant me my desire, so as that I may
+become more spiritual, more discerning in the Scriptures, more
+fruitful in good works: that thou mayest increase also my humility.
+Open to my view more of the extent and spirituality of thy divine law;
+the majesty, purity, holiness, of thy nature; the exceeding sinfulness
+of sin; the hidden corruptions of my own heart, and my inability to
+search them out, and to crucify them: give me also more just views of
+my past life, that I may ever be convinced that I am, what I really
+am, the very chief of sinners, and the least of all saints; and that
+it is entirely of grace that I am what I am. O make out this promise
+to me; I will record it in thine own words: 'I will establish my
+covenant with thee: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,' Ezekiel
+16:62. I confess myself the character described in the two foregoing
+chapters; and though thou hast chastened me ten thousand times less
+than my iniquities deserve, even by the constitution of the new
+covenant, thou hast chastened me. Now, O Lord, most merciful and
+gracious, who 'pardonest iniquity, transgression, and sin,' for thy
+name's sake, do to and for me as thou hast said: 'I will establish my
+covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. That thou
+mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
+because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that
+thou hast done, saith the Lord God.' Amen."
+
+
+ To Mr. and Mrs. B----, in Britain.
+
+ "DECEMBER 7, 1801.
+
+ "I have received my dear J----'s three letters from Dingwall:
+fresh matter of praise to our covenant God. You have had your season
+of affliction; and now you have a season of refreshing, a
+resting-time. The cup of the Christian is always more or less mixed.
+Your afflictions have ever been mixed with much mercy, and now your
+season of rest is also mixed. I well know that no temporal comfort can
+compensate the absence of your justly beloved D----. He, however, who
+is the God of both, who goes with him, and stays with you, can not
+only support, but comfort. The omniscient, the omnipresent, the
+omnipotent God is our God, and the God of our house; all that he is is
+ours, to bless us. Behold, God is become our salvation. Every
+endearing name known among men he takes to himself, to inspire us with
+pleasing, confiding love--every name that connects the idea of
+protection, to keep our minds in quiet peace, in the assurance of
+safety: Father, Husband, Brother, Friend, Prophet, Priest, King,
+Physician, Help, Health, Light, Life, Counsellor, Guide, Sanctuary,
+Anchor--but I should fill my sheet. I said it all at first: God is
+ours, and ours with the knowledge of all our backslidings, which he
+heals; our wanderings, from which he restores us; and our sins, which
+he forgives: one of his names is the God of pardons. He delights in
+mercy. Are we not his witnesses? What has our whole life been, but
+sin, backslidings, and wanderings? What have his dealings with us
+been, but pardons, healings, restorations? Therefore we remain, as at
+this day, with our desires towards him, and our faces Zion-wards. What
+he hath begun he will perfect, and in a little while our eyes shall
+behold him, our hearts shall enjoy him, we shall be like him, and see
+him as he is."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "DECEMBER 26, 1801.
+
+ "I rejoice over my dear children, and bless our gracious God that
+he has led them a sweet and most delightful sojourning among his
+churches, animating their spirits by their mutual communion; blessing
+them, and, I hope, making them blessings. I pray the Lord may make our
+dear D---- an instrument among others of spreading his gospel,
+building up his church, and pulling down the strong-holds of Satan;
+and that you may be in your place a help-meet for him, in this as in
+every thing else. May the Lord choose his path and direct his steps,
+and yours with him. Women were helpers of the apostles and others in
+Paul's days: at the same time care must ever be taken not to obtrude
+in any respect. I pray that you may be kept spiritual and humble:
+eminence in God's service is truly desirable, if the heart be kept
+humble. If the Lord open the eyes to behold more of the extent and
+spirituality of his law, the holiness and purity of his nature, the
+evil of sin, and its contrariety to all that is in God; and if he turn
+the eyes inward to the hidden corruptions of the heart, when it is
+evident to the soul that all is of grace, then may eminent services
+be safe.
+
+ "'I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,' was the exercise
+of Job; and justly so. Job, who was eyes to the blind and feet to the
+lame, a father to the poor, and the cause which he knew not he
+searched it out: when the ear heard him, it blessed him; when the eye
+saw him, it gave witness to him; who withheld not the poor from his
+desire, nor caused the eye of the widow to fail; the stranger did not
+lodge in the street, but he opened his door unto the traveller: all
+this was true as far as the external act, and as he then thought, with
+a proper temper of heart, Job could justify himself before his
+fellow-sinners, Blind like himself; but when God comes to deal with
+him, how different his views. Then it was, 'Behold, I am vile; what
+shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand on my mouth:' even with the
+very best there is cause for this exercise, could we see in the
+same light.
+
+ "How deceitful is the human heart; how unfaithful the conscience;
+how little do we know of the sins of our daily walk. We are called to
+watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation; to walk with God in
+close, intimate communion: whether we eat or drink, to do all to his
+glory: to consult him in all the affairs of life, narrowly observing
+his providence in connection with our circumstances; weighing all in
+his presence, requesting him to determine our wills and direct our
+steps. We ought not to say, 'We will go into such a city,' and do this
+or that; but, 'If the Lord will.' How inconsistent our conduct with
+these rules. How often do rashness, precipitation, and self-will
+accompany our determinations and movements. And how often do His
+goodness and wisdom over rule our folly, save us from our own pits,
+and prevent the evil that might be expected. At no time does he deal
+with us as we sin, though sometimes he stands by and allows us a taste
+of our folly: then we are in trouble, we dig our pits and fall into
+them, but we cannot deliver ourselves. O what a God! who, even at such
+a time, says to us, 'Call on me in the time of trouble; I will deliver
+thee, and thou shalt glorify my name; thou hast destroyed thyself, but
+in me is Blessed help; mercy to pardon, goodness to wisdom to guide,
+faithfulness to carry through and perfect what concerns us, overruling
+our very follies, and causing them to teach us to profit. This is
+God's way, according to many declarations of himself in his word, and
+the experience of all his redeemed.
+
+ "Blessed then is the man that trusteth in the Lord; they truly
+are a blessed people whose God Jehovah is."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1802.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED CHILDREN--I trust the Lord is your support;
+I know you are in trouble; it cannot be that opportunities have been
+wanting all this time, nor can it be that my children have been
+negligent: no, no, I cannot suppose it. My children are in trouble;
+they could not write that they were otherwise, and therefore remain
+silent until they can write the issue. It is proper, and sure the Lord
+feeds me with comfort. O the comfort of knowing that the Almighty God
+is their own reconciled Father by an everlasting covenant; Christ, the
+Mediator and Surety, their Advocate, Brother, and Friend; the Holy
+Ghost their Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. It cannot be ill with my
+dear children, who are also God's dear children. My Father, I know it,
+thou chastenest for their profit. I know not where they are, nor how
+they fare. I know not what to ask for them; but thou art everywhere
+present, thine eye is upon them, thou knowest all their wants, all
+their burdens, all their bereavements, or whatever tries them. O let
+thy sensible presence be with them; open wide the leaves of that new
+testament in Christ's blood, and let them read their rich legacy,
+their unsearchable riches in Christ; give them confidence in thy
+wisdom and goodness, and sweet acquiescence in all thy dealings with
+them. Thou hast spared in mercy, perhaps now thou hast taken in mercy:
+yes, thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and a large ingredient
+in every cup thou puttest into the hand of thy children. It is well,
+it is well.
+
+ "Since writing the above, I have received my dear D----'s
+letter, second copy, by the way of London. The Lord is your God. and
+the God of your seed. John the Baptist leaped in the womb when the
+salutation of Mary sounded in his mother's ears; he was then a living
+soul, and an heir of salvation at that moment. If your babe was
+conceived in sin by the first covenant, he is an heir of grace by the
+second. Think it not hard; no, you do not think it hard that you have
+conceived him in sickness, carried him in sickness, and suffered the
+pangs of birth without the succeeding joy to make you forget your
+anguish. All this shall be for the glory of God, and that is what you
+seek; believe it now, you shall see it soon. I do sympathize; my fond
+heart had embraced a sweet babe added to the family for one taken.
+The Lord has taken this also; it is his due: I shall soon leave the
+mortal and join the immortal; five have joined the head, six remain;
+and one I know nothing of, more than that I cast him on the Lord, and
+look for mercy. I thank my God that he gave you the grace of
+resignation, and supported you in the solitary confinement. Alas, my
+child, did you listen for the voice of your babe? O, what a suspense;
+but let me stop--he had reached maturity ere that time; without the
+fight, obtained the victory; he is of the travail of the Redeemer's
+soul; children are God's heritage, the fruit of the womb his reward.
+Rest then in the Lord; this is to his glory, both without and within
+your soul."
+
+
+ "MAY 20, 1802.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Here am I in my little room, surrounded with
+every comfort, and as the provision of my God, I value all; but there
+lies the chief, _my Bible_, the testament of my dying, risen,
+ascended, reigning Saviour, bequeathing to me eternal life, executed
+in full, and made as sure as the promise and oath of God. The
+influences of the Holy Ghost on my mind, taking of the things of
+Christ, and showing them unto me; opening wide the leaves of that new
+testament, in which I read unsearchable riches, and my title to them
+sure: yes, sure, even to me, a base idolatrous gentile, a rebel
+against the eternal King, my Creator, Preserver, Provider; a
+backslider in heart and in life. What has such a one to do with a holy
+God? He hath said only return; and he himself hath turned to me,
+chastened, convinced, restored, comforted. His ways are not as our
+ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts; but as the heavens are above
+the earth, so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts high above
+our thoughts, and his plans above our conception. For although it is
+for ever true, that he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
+cannot look on iniquity; that his law has denounced a curse upon the
+transgressor who keepeth it not in every jot and tittle; it is for
+ever true, that this God is unchangeable in his nature and purposes.
+What he hath said, that will he do. It is for ever true, that I am all
+I have said, and worse, a sinner in heart, tongue, and practice; yet
+am I a beloved child, a justified one, an heir of God.
+
+ "Here is the testament, here is my charter with the seal of God
+upon it--JESUS, thou art the Secret of the Lord; thou art the Lion of
+the tribe of Judah, the root and offspring of David. Thou hast
+prevailed to open this book of secrets, to loose the seven seals, and
+lay open its mysteries. Thou Lamb of God, the appointed and anointed
+to the great work; in our room, and in our nature, thou hast sustained
+the curse. Thou hast obeyed the law; thou hast drunk the last drop of
+the last vial of that wrath which would have sunk my soul in the
+endless depths of misery; and I never could have expended one drop,
+but sunk deeper and deeper under it. O not unto me, not unto
+ministers, not unto any creature be the praise. As for me, I am, in a
+word, all that is vile in myself; ministers, providences, afflictions
+are just what God makes them; without his blessing they will not only
+pass without profiting, but Satan and corruption will make them
+ministers to themselves. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for he has
+redeemed me with his blood. Worthy is the Lamb to receive power, and
+riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and
+blessing--to him, to him alone, be the praise; who, of an heir of
+hell, hath made an heir of heaven, by a substitutional righteousness
+wrought out in his own person: mine by free gift, in which I am
+completely justified. To this work let nothing be added, with this
+work let nothing be mixed.
+
+ "There is another work going on by the same Spirit of truth; also
+his purchase and gift--sanctification. In this I am called to occupy,
+watch, strive, fight. Life is given; means of support and growth
+provided; weapons of warfare--all things necessary to life and
+godliness: these are promised to the diligent use of means; and
+poverty, stagnation, discomfort threatened to the indolent. O how
+sovereign and gracious has my God been in his dealings with me in this
+respect also. For a sluggard have I been in the days of youth and the
+prime of life; yet to me hath he given the comforts promised only to
+the diligent. Here I sit on the verge of threescore; my heart in some
+good measure loosened from the world, although in full possession of
+it. Health, ease, plenty, elegance, friendship, respectability; old
+age welcome, death unstung become a familiar friend, the messenger of
+my Father to fetch me home to those mansions which my Redeemer has
+taken possession of in my name. My hope is strong for my offspring.
+Stately have been his steps of mercy towards them already, and he
+saved them from their mother's snares; he heard and answered my
+prayers, for his name's sake, and overruled my practices; he is my
+God, and the God of my children; the God of my children's children to
+the latest generation; my cup is full of comfort, temporal and
+spiritual. O praise him, praise him, for he is your God, and the God
+of your offspring also."
+
+
+ "JUNE 4, 1802.
+
+ "Making allowances for the difference of time, and supposing my
+dear children in health, all about them is in a racket. This is his
+majesty's birthday; and you are at this moment, perhaps, set in some
+social company, by invitation, to honor the anniversary, to repeat
+the wish of long life, health, and comfort to the lawful sovereign
+of Britain.
+
+ "Here sit I in my dear little room, with a lovely landscape in
+view; B. M----'s park in velvet verdure; the full-grown trees
+scattered thin to display the carpet, and in full foliage; the clump
+of willows weeping to the very ground, with a gentle wave agitated by
+the zephyr; while the other trees keep their firm, majestic posture;
+the Hudson river covered with vessels crowded with sail to catch the
+scanty breeze; some sweet little chirpers regaling the ear with their
+share of pleasure. I think I never heard any little warbler in this
+land sing so sweet as those which now salute my ear.
+
+ "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good.'
+
+ "Can all the philosophic ingenuity of London, this evening,
+produce such a scene? The gardens no doubt will be glorious, but the
+groundwork is also God's; but why say I that in particular? All is
+his; the very notes that warble through so many guilty throats are his
+creation; all the art of man cannot add to their number. Sweet bird,
+thy notes are innocent, O how sweet. Lovely trees--ye who stand erect,
+and ye who weep and wave; I wish no brighter scene. The shadows
+lengthen fast, so do yours and mine, my sovereign;* a few, a very
+few anniversaries, and we must change the scene--change to where no
+courtiers flatter, no false meteors blaze--where shadows flee away,
+realities appear, and nothing but realities will stand in any stead.
+
+*Mrs. Graham received a pension as a British officer's widow until
+ her death.
+
+ "O may we meet; for me, I nothing have, I nothing am. But One
+there is, who was and is all that the mind of saint or angel can
+conceive of glory and of happiness; and he is mine, and I am most
+blessed. Lengthen on, ye shadows, until all is shadow on these orbs of
+flesh. Then, O then,
+
+ "'My captive soul set free
+ From cloggish earth which oft has made me sigh,
+ Ascends the eternal hills, as seen to see,
+ As known to know, and grasp the Deity.'"
+
+
+ "1802.
+
+ "Our friend B---- has now proved how far it is safe to leave the
+fate of eternity unsettled. He is gone to the state of the dead: with
+whom his soul is gathered, He only knows whose mercy none ought to
+limit; he is gone to his own place; if without a Surety-righteousness,
+which he sought not after in health, we know where that place is; but
+after reading of a thief on the cross, nothing with God is impossible.
+My mind is much impressed; that sentence rings in my ears, so often
+repeated, 'I am determined to do all the good I can, and leave the
+rest to God. I have no time to search.' Oh, oh, one thing is needful.
+
+ "'Life's a folly, age a dream
+ Borne along the common stream,
+ Earth's a bubble light as air,
+ If my rest be centered there.
+ How can that be solid joy
+ Which a moment may destroy?'
+
+ "Mr. B---- was seized with the fever in its most malignant form;
+for him every genius was exerted, and the medical store ransacked for
+the healing balsam, but in vain. The Judge calls for the soul, and the
+body must, at his command, dislodge its tenant; how awful, if no
+surety was at hand, if he must stand naked--we know the rest: did I
+say we know? O no. What can we know of that wrath which in the garden
+of Gethsemane, when no murderous hand was near, no high-priest, no
+council, or cross, wrung the blood through every pore of the pure, the
+innocent Lamb of God, supported by Godhead. If such things were done
+in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
+
+
+ Another of her grandchildren was shortly after removed by death;
+his illness is noticed in the following meditation:
+
+
+ "AUGUST, 1802.
+
+ "'And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that
+ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries,
+to serve wood and stone.' 'And I will bring you into the wilderness,
+and there will I plead with you face to face: like as I pleaded with
+your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead
+with you, saith the Lord God; and I will cause you to pass under the
+rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.' 'And ye
+shall remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been
+defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all
+your evils that ye have committed: and ye shall know that I am the
+Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according
+to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house
+of Israel, saith the Lord God.' Ezek. 20:32, 35, 36, 43, 44.
+
+ "It is good, yes, Lord, it is all good; too often have we said,
+'we will be as the heathen, to serve wood and stone.' Often hast thou
+chastened, often have we confessed, often resolved that we would walk
+more softly, more tenderly, more circumspectly before thee. But, alas,
+when thy hand is removed, when thou healest us, and restorest to us
+health, comfort, and our pleasant things, we wax fat and kick, nestle
+in our comfort, abuse thy gifts, and lose sight of the giver. Alas,
+Lord, thus it must ever be with us, when we keep not near to thee; we
+cannot walk one step alone without stumbling. Thou knowest these
+naturally wicked hearts, that they are deceitful above all things;
+they betray us before we are aware. Blessed, ever blessed be our God
+for his well-ordered covenant. Blessed for the discipline of it. O
+Lord, we are again in the wilderness, and under thy chastising rod:
+for weeks past, we have 'eaten no pleasant bread;' thy rod is still
+suspended over our pleasant, our dear child; the streams of life ebb,
+he sickens, he dies, if thou interfere not. But the issues of death
+are in thy hand, and our eyes are towards thee. In vain are all means,
+all medicines, if thou impart not the healing virtue. Thy weeping
+servants seek the healing virtue from thy waters, thy seas, thy pure
+air. All nature is in thy hand and ministers thy pleasure; to some
+conveying health, to some disease. An herb to be boiled in simple
+milk, as the figs for Hezekiah's boils, has been proposed, O let this
+prove the appointed means, or direct and point out that which thou
+wilt bless, and let our hearts and tongues give the glory to thee.
+
+ "We deserve this bereavement; but, Lord, what do we not deserve?
+Even according to the constitution of the covenant of grace, and
+consistent with thy pardoning, saving mercy, and all thy
+long-suffering, wert thou to take vengeance on our inventions, by
+exercising all thy threatened chastisements, should we ever be out of
+the furnace? But even in this view, thou never hast dealt with us as
+our iniquities deserved. 'He will not always chide, neither will he
+keep his anger for ever.' Thou hast, in thousands of instances, 'cast
+our sins behind thy back, into the midst of the sea; blotted them out,
+to remember them no more for ever. Thy ways are not as our ways, nor
+thy thoughts as our thoughts,' We may plead, 'Deal not with us as we
+sin; but according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out our
+transgressions. Pardon our iniquity, for it is great.' Affliction is
+appointed, but it is 'in measure, when it shooteth forth.' O debate
+with it, and according to thy promise, 'stay thy rough wind in the day
+of thine east wind.' Lord, say it is enough, give the blessing, and by
+this measure shall iniquity be purged, and the fruit be to take away
+sin. All means are alike in thy hand, and any measure. In holy
+sovereignty and consummate wisdom thou afflictest, and in thy hand
+afflictions yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness: the hearts of
+thy people are melted, and they sing of mercy and of judgment, and
+glorify thy name. But, O Lord, a look, such as thou gavest to Peter,
+will melt our hearts and restore our backsliding souls. The announcing
+of our pardon by the same power, will make them overflow with love. If
+thou but call us by name, as thou didst her who sought thee at thy
+sepulchre, with the same power we shall recognize our Saviour and
+worship him.
+
+ "O Lord our God, ever faithful to thy promises, thou hast said,
+'Whatsoever ye ask in my name, believing that ye receive, I will do
+it.' O Lord, I ask not the life of this child on this ground. I have
+through life asked one thing of thee, and that will I seek to obtain
+while life and breath remain, and reason and grace; I will seek it,
+seek it with importunity, holding fast by thy promise to do it, and
+believing that it shall be according to my petition. Make good to me
+this thy promise, in a spiritual and eternal sense. Be my God, and the
+God of my children, and of my children's children, to the latest
+generation. Let my children according to the flesh, be thine by
+regeneration of the Holy Ghost: it is a great boon; but hast thou not
+said, 'Open thy mouth wide, I will fill it?' Father, do as thou hast
+said: this is my one petition, and I cannot be said nay. I ask for
+myself, my children, and my children's children, to the latest
+generation, the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives to
+bestow, that we may be made one with him, and our life hid with him in
+God. Amen, and Amen.
+
+ "But, O my Father, thou hast said, 'Be careful for nothing; but
+in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
+your requests be made known unto God.' I ask, with submission to thy
+holy will, if consistent with thy glory, his good, and the good of the
+parents, the life of this child; that thou mayest spare him for our
+comfort, but first for thine own glory; that thou mayest give the
+different branches of this family a joyful meeting, a full feast of
+grateful thanks to thee for all thy mercies; and our hearts may
+rejoice before thee for the abundance of comfort. Shouldst thou, in
+thy adorable wisdom, otherwise determine, thy blessed and thy holy
+will be done. Wash the soul of this child in the blood of Jesus,
+clothe him with thy righteousness, sanctify him by thy Spirit, and fit
+him in every respect for thy kingdom. And O, my divine Redeemer, I
+renew my petition which thou didst so evidently grant in the case of
+our dear Isabella: take him in thine arms of mercy; soften and shorten
+the parting pangs, and carry him gently through the dark valley, and
+give him an abundant entrance into thy heavenly kingdom, to join the
+hosannas of thy little children, of whom thy kingdom is partly made
+up: and O, sanctify the affliction to all concerned; direct our
+discipline according as thine all-seeing, heart-searching eye sees we
+need; that it may bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness,
+and 'the fruit of affliction be to take away sin,' and the glory of
+all redound to thee, Father, Son, and blessed Spirit. Amen, and Amen."
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "'What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
+conversation?'
+
+ "'O give thanks unto God, for he is good; his mercy endureth
+for ever.'
+
+ "'How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is
+the sum of them.'
+
+ "'If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
+When I awake I am still with thee.'
+
+ "'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and
+of great mercy.'
+
+ "'The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all
+his works.'
+
+ "'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
+bless thee.'
+
+ "'He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
+according to our iniquities.'
+
+ "'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
+passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He
+retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.'
+
+ "'He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will
+subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths
+of the sea.'
+
+ "'Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
+and with him is plenteous redemption.'
+
+ "'And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.'
+
+ "'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'
+The Lord hath turned our captivity, filled our mouth with laughter and
+our tongue with singing.
+
+ "Thomas," her grandchild, "is restored to perfect health. Thou
+hast heard our petitions, and continuest to us all our pleasant things.
+
+ "It is a time of prosperity; thou givest us the 'upper and the
+nether springs;' thou blessest my children 'in their basket and in
+their store;' and while the riches of many are making to themselves
+wings and flying away--while many are sinking from affluence to
+poverty, falling on the right hand and on the left, by thy most
+manifest providence thou hast preserved them from the wreck. O teach
+them to acknowledge thy hand in all this, and to say and feel, 'Not
+unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory.' It is God
+that giveth power to get riches. O, enable them to honor thee with
+their substance, and with the first-fruits of all their increase.
+
+ "In the day of prosperity let them rejoice, but let this joy be
+in the Lord. O let thy gifts ever, ever lead them to the giver, and
+fill their hearts with gratitude, their mouths with praise; and let
+their very actions be worship, while they acknowledge thee in all
+their ways, and thou directest their steps. May they be as 'a city set
+on a hill, which cannot be hid,' and their light so shine before men,
+that they seeing their good works, may glorify their Father in heaven.
+
+ "And now, O Lord, we wait for thy blessing in the restoration of
+our dear D---- and I. B---- and J----. 'Thou hast shown them great and
+sore adversities,' and thou hast manifested thy power to save. When
+they passed through the waters thou wast with them, and through the
+rivers they did not overflow them. When they walked through the fire
+they were not burnt, neither did the flames kindle upon them. For thou
+art the Lord their God, the Holy One of Israel, their Saviour.
+
+ "Thou didst stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind,
+and in the multitude of their thoughts within them did thy comforts
+delight their soul. Thou humbledst them under thy mighty hand, and
+thou hast in the multitude of thy mercy exalted them in due time.
+
+ "In all their sojourning thou hast been with them; and in
+fellowship with thy church greatly hast thou comforted them. Thou hast
+given them favor in the hearts of thy people, and made 'the stones of
+the field to be at peace with them.' And now, O Lord, restore them to
+their friends and Christian society, and to their place which thou
+hast in thy goodness given and preserved to them. Here may they be thy
+witnesses, that 'thou art the Lord, and besides thee there is
+no Saviour.'"
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "This day has the Lord our God answered our prayers, and enriched
+us beyond the ordinary lot of humanity. D---- and I. B---- and J----
+are restored to their preserved places, and to the bosom of their
+family. We are as men who dream; our mouths are filled with laughter,
+our tongues with singing; the Lord hath done great things for us,
+whereof we are glad. Thou hast turned our captivity as the streams in
+the south. We sowed in tears, we have reaped in joy. Bless the Lord, O
+our souls; ever true and faithful is his word: 'He that goeth forth
+and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
+rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'
+
+ "'O Lord, from thee is our fruit found;' may our sheaves be many
+and weighty, thou working all our works in us, to thine own glory and
+our blessedness. Amen."
+
+
+ "1802.
+
+ "Dear brother Pero,* happy brother Pero, thy Jesus, in whom thou
+trustedst, has loosed thy bonds, has brought thee to that rest which
+remains for the people of God; thou drinkest of the pure river that
+maketh glad the city of our God; of that blessed fountain from which
+issue all the streams which refresh and revive us weary pilgrims. But
+a little while ago, and thou wast weary, dark, and solitary; thy flesh
+fettering and clogging thy spirit; thy God trying thy faith, hope, and
+patience, which he had previously implanted, watered, and made
+vigorous, to stand that trial more precious than gold that perisheth,
+though it be tried by fire, and was made manifest to the glory of that
+Saviour who leaves not his people in any case. If need be, they are in
+heaviness, through manifold temptations; but he knows how to deliver
+them, having himself been tempted.
+
+*Pero was an elderly man of color whom Mr. Andrew Smith had
+ purchased, and made free.
+ Pero had previously been a freed man of Christ. He had been for some
+ time in ill health; Mrs. Graham kindly attended on him, and read the
+ Scriptures to him: he died by the bursting of a bloodvessel, at an
+ hour when none of the family were with him. Mrs. Graham, in humility
+ of spirit, reproaches herself in this exercise, for having been
+ absent from him, without inquiring into his situation for one hour.
+
+ "Thou hadst a taste of his cup: like him thou didst endure the
+contradiction of sinners; like him thou didst experience the desertion
+of friends, even thine old mistress, whom thou lately didst esteem as
+a sister in Christ, and to whom thou didst look for fresh
+communication from and through that written word, which she could
+read and thou couldst not. Oh, how did she prove as a broken reed
+unto thee; how did she neglect thy necessity, and her own opportunity
+of bringing forth fruit in its season. Thou hast been no loser. The
+Lord passed by the slothful servant, the unfaithful steward, who
+neglected to give thee thy meat in due season, and himself took her
+place; took thee from that household which was not worthy of thee,
+and led thee to those mansions of bliss which himself purchased and
+prepared; set thee at that table which shall never be drawn, where
+thou shalt feast on all the fulness of God, and drink of those
+pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore. No need of old
+mistress now; no need of any earthly vessel now, nor of that written
+word which thou didst so highly prize. The Word made flesh has
+removed the veil that shaded the glory of the God-man from thine
+eyes; flesh and blood could not behold it; of this he has unclothed
+thee--left it with us to look upon and mourn our sin. Thee he has
+introduced into the full vision of eternal day, where thou knowest as
+thou art known, and seest as thou art seen. O that full communion
+enjoyed between a holy soul and the perfection of holiness! O that
+light of life, that ocean of love, that inconceivable blessedness.
+How hast thou outrun us, brother Pero; how distanced us in a moment.
+Oh, could I not watch with thee one hour? Oh that I had received thy
+last blessing, instead of which, conscious offence, deserved rebuke,
+painful compunction wring my heart; and perhaps the rod of correction
+may be suspended, and now ready to fall on my guilty head.
+
+ "Father, O my Father, am I not still thy child--still thy
+adopted? Have not I an Advocate with thee, Jesus Christ the righteous,
+whom thou hearest always? does not the blood of Christ cleanse from
+all sin? yes, O yes. This is my universal remedy; thousands and ten
+thousands of times have I experienced its efficacy. Father, I again
+apply; blessed Spirit, do thine office. Wash me, and I shall be clean;
+purge me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I confess my sin, I
+acknowledge mine iniquity. Thou didst bring to me an old disciple,
+near and dear to his and my Saviour; thou didst require me to minister
+unto him all that he needed; the honor was great, the opportunity
+valuable. Thou didst empty thy servant for a time, thou didst hide his
+comfort, that I might, through thy written word, draw living waters
+for him, and give him to drink. O the honor; O the negligence. Thou
+didst send the call for thy disciple to come up to thee; in thy
+providence thou didst make it first known to me, that I might be
+instrumental in conveying to him, through the same channel, oil and
+trimming for his lamp. Great was the honor; dignified the service; but
+lost to me for ever. I passed by on the other side. Blessed, blessed
+Jesus; thou good Samaritan, who pouredst the oil and wine into his
+wounds, and tookest him, not to an inn, but to those mansions in the
+skies which thou, with thine own blood, purchasedst for him; sanctify,
+O sanctify to me this thy providence; pardon my neglect. Saviour, wash
+me in thy blood, and sanctify and bring good out of even my
+transgression. By thy grace, let it be a means of stirring me up to
+more watchfulness, that I may meet the opportunities afforded me in
+thy providence, to occupy till thou come."
+
+
+ "DECEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "The lovely plant which the Lord had blasted, which brought down
+our hearts with grief, which he had restored and clothed with smiling
+health and comfort, again sickened, declined, wasted; every means
+proved ineffectual; the Lord refused the healing virtue. He was
+brought to town to be near the physicians, but the Physician of Israel
+aided them not. Disease increased; with pain, sickness, convulsion,
+much he suffered, and long; he had a taste of the bitterness of sin,
+but no part of the curse: _that_ the Redeemer drank and expended;
+and having by his atoning blood purged this little one from his sins,
+and perfected all his redeeming work in his soul, he received him into
+his own heavenly abodes. It is well, all well. Amen."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham lived alternately with her children Mrs. Bethune and
+Mrs. Smith until 1803, when Mrs. Smith removed from New York. After
+that time she made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bethune until her
+departure to her heavenly home. They loved her not only from natural
+affection, but for her superior worth. They believed that her prayers
+brought a blessing on the family, as the ark of God did to the house
+of Obed-Edom.
+
+
+ "MARCH, 1803.
+
+ "I read this day the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, and pleaded God's
+promises from the 22d verse to the end, for myself, for my children,
+and for my children's children; for the church of God throughout the
+world, in particular for this country, for Britain and Ireland, France
+and Germany, where his name was once known, and his gospel flourished.
+That the Lord would 'build the waste places and repair the breaches;'
+that he would 'purify the sons of Levi,' fill all pulpits with able,
+faithful ministers of the new testament, who shall 'declare the whole
+counsel of God;' and that wherever his name is recorded, the Holy
+Ghost might fill the place, and convince the hearts of preachers and
+hearers, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; might take of the
+things of Christ and show unto them; and that the great Head of the
+church might regulate and overrule all these breaches, differences,
+and shakings in his churches.
+
+ "O Lord, I am ignorant; I know not the mind of the Spirit of
+promise as thou knowest it. The promise of the fruit of the tree, and
+the increase of the earth, of the corn, the wine, and the oil is
+thine, as are all others. I am ignorant how far this refers to
+spiritual prosperity, how far to temporal. I ask, O Lord, covenant
+provision, the fruit of the seed sown in the hearts of men by thine
+own Spirit; and that thou mayest build the ruined cities of thy
+churches, and fill them 'with men like a flock, as the flock of
+Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled
+with flocks of men, and they shall know that thou art the Lord.' Thy
+fair, thy rich, thy beautiful creation is also the fruit of grace. The
+wicked possess it, but they enjoy it not. Thy people are the heirs,
+but thou, as a wise and merciful Father, givest them to possess
+according as thy wisdom sees safe and good for them. When with the
+things of this world they imbibe the spirit of the men of the world;
+when they nestle in thy gifts and forget the Giver; when they enjoy
+with a carnal spirit, and not with thankfulness and a due sense of
+their dependence on thee as the God of providence as well as of grace;
+thou, in mercy as in sovereignty, blastest their pleasant things,
+mixest their cup of prosperity with wormwood and gall, or sweepest all
+away with a turn of thy hand, that thou mayest teach them that man
+doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
+the mouth of God; that thou mayest withdraw them from sinful purposes,
+and hide pride from them; that thou mayest open their ears to
+instruction, and seal it on their hearts: thou dashest to pieces their
+broken cisterns, that thou mayest lead them back to the fountain of
+living waters.
+
+ "It is good, O Lord, all good; I lay hold upon it: be thou the
+provider of me and mine; feed us with food convenient for us. Thine
+own word testifies that 'every creature of God is good, and nothing is
+to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is
+sanctified by the word of God and prayer.' I and the children for whom
+I pray, possess many, yea, and abundance of temporal good things. O
+Lord, give suitable grace, grace for grace. Spirit of grace, keep us
+thankful, humble, dependent, spiritual; enable us to receive all
+through a covenant channel, as the provision of our Father by the way,
+through this wilderness. O may all be sanctified by thy word and
+prayer, and we be enabled 'to eat and drink to thy glory.' Amen.
+
+ "Read the 138th Psalm: 'Though the Lord be high, yet hath he
+respect unto the lowly; though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou
+wilt revive me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; thy
+mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine
+own hands.'
+
+ "Redeeming work is thy work; regenerating work is thy work;
+sanctifying work is also thine.
+
+ "The first is finished, the second begun, to be perfected in the
+third. O Lord, I hang on thy promises, which with Christ are all mine,
+though I have not at all times the savor of them; this is mine
+infirmity, and often my sin. O keep me looking unto Jesus."
+
+
+ "MARCH 25, 1803.
+
+ "Communion Sabbath, Dr. M---- preached from Romans 6:17: 'But God
+be thanked that ye were'--were in the past time, not now--'the
+servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
+doctrine which was delivered you.'
+
+ "O Lord, I believe the doctrines of thy gospel; I know that I am
+delivered from sin as a master; it hath not dominion over my will, nor
+entire dominion over my affections; I would be thine, thy servant, thy
+child, thine in all obedience. I feel this new principle in the
+desires of my soul. I would do all things to thee, in act and in
+principle. But O, Lord, the old man is still here, harassing and
+hindering my new will, which I have received from thee, from acting
+with freedom and energy. Unhallowed motives steal in, by-ends present
+themselves; and when outward duty is attained to, there is more of sin
+than of righteousness. Though entered upon with some measure of
+purity, yet before it is finished I am at a loss to discern the true
+principle by which I am actuated. Lord, help me; hast thou not
+promised to work in me both 'to will and to do of thy good pleasure?'
+Is it not the grand end of thy death, that thou mightest purify to
+thyself a glorious church, 'not having spot nor wrinkle, nor any such
+thing;' and shall not I be a partaker? Art thou not made of God unto
+thy people, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?
+
+ "O Lord, my heart pants for redemption from indwelling sin. This
+depravity of my nature, this opposition, this evil that is ever
+present with me when I would do good, this indolence, this
+listlessness, this want of zeal, or else self-will, keenness of
+temper, impatience, haste: O Lord, there is a host of enemies; gird
+me, arm me, shield me, lead me forth under thy banner; be my
+victorious King. 'I will go in thy name, trusting in thy promised
+strength and grace to help in every time of need.' Glory be to God,
+Father, Son, and blessed Spirit, for the grace in which I stand. But
+for grace I had been a willing slave to sin to this hour. By that same
+grace I shall one day attain to victory. I cast my burden on the Lord,
+he will sustain until he deliver; I will go up through the wilderness,
+trusting in the promises, and continue fighting in his strength. 'My
+soul waits for thy salvation.' Lord, enable me to keep 'looking unto
+Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.' O give faith in every part
+of his mediatorial character. May I feed upon him and be strong for
+this sore fight. Give courage, O Lord; press me forward: may I
+resolve, and keep the resolution, to resist unto blood, striving
+against sin.
+
+ "I have been a slothful servant in thy family, an idle laborer in
+thy vineyard, 'an unfruitful branch,' a poor dwarfish member in thy
+body. Grant, O grant a little fruit on the topmost bough. O, at the
+'eleventh hour' may I begin to work, to bear some fruit, to the glory
+of that grace by which my soul is saved from the wages of sin, death,
+and hell, and made heir, by free gift, of the wages of righteousness,
+eternal life, and glory. I wait for thy salvation."
+
+
+ There being no public, free, or Sabbath-schools in the city, Mrs.
+Graham used her endeavors to promote such as would at least furnish
+education to the children of the widows under her care; and several
+young ladies offered their services, which she thus notices:
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1804.
+
+ "A new thing is on the wheel in the city of New York. A society
+of ladies, organized for the purpose of relieving widows with small
+children, was new in this country. It is now, by the blessing of God,
+apparently established. It was entered upon with prayer; it has been
+conducted thus far with prayer. The blessing of God has rested upon
+it, and much good has been done by it. Some of us have looked long,
+and requested of God to open a way by which the children of these
+widows might be instructed and taught to read his word, and by his
+blessing on it, come to the knowledge of the way of salvation. One
+means has been attempted of an ordinary kind: twelve children were
+last week placed at school with Mrs. L----, to be taught to read, and
+some more are to be placed with another of our widows, for the same
+purpose. But this indeed is new. A society of young ladies, the first
+in rank in the city, in the very bloom of life, and full of its
+prospects, engaged in those pleasures and amusements which tend to
+engross the mind and shut out every idea unconnected with them, coming
+forward and offering--not to contribute towards a school, but their
+own personal attendance to instruct the ignorant, O Lord, prosper
+their work. If this be of thee, it shall prosper, and be productive of
+much good; but if thou bless not, it will come to nothing but shame.
+No good can be done but by thee, for there is none good but One;' and
+what are all thy creatures, but instruments in thy hand, by which thou
+bringest to pass the purposes of thy will? _Christians_,
+redeemed, enlightened, sanctified, are no more; thou workest all their
+works in them; they themselves are thy workmanship, created in Christ
+Jesus unto good works, which thou hast prepared, that they should walk
+in them. Worldlings also are thy instruments: by them thou workest and
+bringest to pass the counsels of thy will; thou puttest into their
+heart the good thing which thou workest, and girdest them for the
+purpose: though not the children of thy covenant, they are the
+instruments of thy providence.
+
+ "O Lord, take up this matter; gird these young women to this very
+purpose, and prosper them in the art of teaching these orphans of thy
+providence. And Oh, Lord, hear my more important petition. I am not
+worthy to be heard. O Lord, I am not worthy to be named in connection
+with any good done by thee. I am the chief of sinners, the chief of
+backsliders; every thing in me, of me, or by me, is vile as far as it
+is mine. All that is otherwise, all good implanted in me, or done by
+me, is thine own; it is grace, free grace, the purchase of thine own
+Anointed, my dear Redeemer, my dying, risen, ascended Saviour, and the
+fruit of the Holy Ghost, the sent of the Father and of the Son, to set
+up a kingdom of righteousness in the hearts of the redeemed. Let me,
+as a sinner saved by grace, to whom thou hast been pleased to give the
+exceeding great and precious promises--let me, under the sprinkling of
+the blood of the covenant, and in entire dependence on my
+surety-righteousness--let me draw near and present my petition, in the
+name and for the sake of Him whom thou hearest always. O Lord God
+Almighty, by this very thing, build up thy Zion. Lay hold of these
+young creatures, and while they are in the way of thy providence,
+bring them to the house of our master's brethren. O thou great
+Teacher, teach thou teacher and taught. Be found of them who seek thee
+not, and say with power, 'Behold me, behold me,' to a people not yet
+called by thy name, and out of this small thing in thy providence,
+bring revenues of praise to thy name as the God of grace. Amen.
+
+ "And now, O Lord, for myself, I pray for deep humility; I ask,
+for His sake who was meek and lowly, to be kept where my place really
+is, at the feet of all thy servants; and if it be thy pleasure to make
+me a useful instrument, in proportion make me a humble soul. Let me
+ever remember my ways and be ashamed, and never open my mouth any more
+because of my shame, when thou art pacified towards me for all that I
+have done. O keep me in this contrite frame of mind. In all that to
+which thou callest me, give me a willing heart, and furnish me with
+every necessary for thy glory. And now prepare me to speak to these
+young women good and acceptable words. Save me from sacrificing truth,
+or departing, in any respect, from Christian duty; give me such wisdom
+as maybe suited to the occasion: in all things mine eyes are to the
+Lord; from thee let my fruit be found."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 17, 1804.
+
+ "Saturday, the 11th, twenty-nine young ladies met with Mrs.
+Hoffman and myself, at Mr. O. Hoffman's, Wall-street, on purpose to
+receive instructions respecting the school; and having paired
+themselves according to their mind, I delivered what I had prepared
+for them: they all seemed hearty in their engagement; and on Monday,
+the 13th inst., Miss L----t and Miss L----n attended at the
+school-room and commenced teaching thirteen children; four have been
+added since.
+
+ "Again, O Lord, let me request thy blessing on this institution;
+put thy seal upon it, and mark it for thine own. Gird the teachers for
+their work, and open the minds of the scholars to instruction. And O,
+Lord, in thine own time, and by means of thine own devising, provide
+spiritual instruction for teachers and taught. Is it thy pleasure,
+Lord, that I attend the children on a day appointed for the purpose?
+Wilt thou accept of me as an instrument by which thou wilt do good to
+the souls of these children; and wilt thou keep me humble and contrite
+in my own soul? Bless also Mrs. L----'s school; there too let thy work
+appear; deal with her soul as 'thou dealest with thy chosen;' teach
+her the way of salvation, and make her a teacher by thine own Spirit.
+If it be my dear Master's pleasure to use me, I would also attend that
+school as his instrument. 'Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try
+me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me,
+and lead me in the way everlasting.'"
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham's address to the young ladies, above alluded to, is
+given as a specimen of the appropriateness of her addresses on similar
+occasions, and as an incentive to kindred exertions in every condition
+of life.
+
+
+ "MY DEAR YOUNG LADIES--Every thing new becomes matter of
+speculation and variety of opinion.
+
+ "An association of ladies for the relief of destitute widows and
+orphans, was a new thing in this country. It was feeble in its origin,
+the jest of most, the ridicule of many, and it met the opposition of
+not a few. The men could not allow our sex the steadiness and
+perseverance necessary to establish such an undertaking. But God put
+_his_ seal upon it; and under his fostering care it has prospered
+beyond the most sanguine expectations of its propagators. Its fame is
+spread over the United States, and celebrated in foreign countries. It
+has been a precedent to many cities, who have followed the laudable
+example. This fame is not more brilliant than just. The hungry are
+fed, the naked are clothed, shelter is provided for the outcasts,
+medicine and cordials for the sick, and the soothing voice of sympathy
+cheers the disconsolate. Who are the authors of all these blessings?
+Your mothers, ladies, the benevolent members of this so justly famed
+Society. But who are these children that idly ramble through the
+streets, a prey to growing depravity and vicious example? hark, they
+_quarrel_, they _swear_, and such no doubt will _lie_ and _steal_. And
+that group of dear little creatures, running about in the most
+imminent danger, apparently without protection, are they under the
+care of this so justly famed society? They are; they are fed, they are
+clothed, their mother's fireside is made warm for them; but no culture
+is provided for their minds, nor protection from baneful example.
+These will in time follow that of the older ones, and grow up the
+slaves of idleness and vice, the certain road to ruin.
+
+ "Alas, alas, and is there no help--no preventive? Yes, there is.
+Behold the angelic band; hail, ye virtuous daughters; worthy of your
+virtuous mothers, come forward and tread in their steps. Snatch these
+little ones from the whirling vortex; bring them to a place of safety;
+teach them to know their Father, God: tell them of their Saviour's
+love; lead them through the history of his life; mark to them the
+example he set, the precepts he recorded for their observance, and the
+promises for their comfort. And by teaching them to read, enable them
+to retrace all your instructions when their eyes see you no more.
+
+ "My dear young ladies, the sacrifice you have made shall most
+assuredly meet its reward: but like your mothers, you will experience
+much painful banter, you will be styled school-madams. Let it pass;
+suffer it quietly; when your scheme begins to ripen and the fruits
+appear, who shall be able to withhold their praise? Only be steadfast,
+draw not back and justify the prophecies of many.
+
+ "A great general, in ancient times, in search of glory, landed
+his troops on the hostile coast, and then burnt all his ships: they
+must conquer, or die. You have, ladies, already embarked in this
+design; there is no remaining neuter now; your name and undertaking
+are in every mouth; you must press forward and justify your cause: and
+justified it shall be, if you persevere; it cannot be otherwise. The
+benevolence you contemplate is as superior to that already in
+operation, as the interest of the soul is to that of the body; and it
+is your own--the very scheme originated in a young mind in this
+company. The society were contemplating mercenary agents, schools for
+pay, and one is already established.
+
+ "But this labor of love; who could have hoped for it? A society
+of _young ladies,_ in rank the first in the city, in the very bloom
+of life, and full of its prospects, engaged in those pleasures and
+amusements which generally engross the mind, and shut out every idea
+unconnected with self, coming forward and offering--what? not their
+purses, that were _trash;_ but their own personal services to
+instruct the ignorant, and become the saviors of many of their sex.
+It is indeed a new thing, and more strange in this age of dissipation
+than that institution from which it sprung. May this too become the
+darling of Providence. May God put his seal upon this also. May he
+bless and prosper you in this undertaking, bless you, and make you
+a blessing."
+
+
+ We next have her wrestling supplications for the revival of God's
+work in the church with which she was connected.
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 21, 1804.
+
+ "O Thou, who art Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, who
+holdest the seven stars in thy right hand, and walkest in the midst of
+the seven golden candle-sticks, who livest and was dead, and art alive
+for evermore. Amen. And hast the keys of hell and of death. Out of thy
+mouth goeth a sharp twoedged sword, by which thou reachest the hearts
+of the most hardened. O write with power, speak with power, in the
+heart of the angel of this church. Hast thou not in former days had
+thy dwelling among them? in days of trouble didst thou not work in
+them the fruits of labor and patience, so that for thy name's sake
+they labored and fainted not? Thou blessedst them and gave them peace,
+and they rejoiced in the light of thy countenance; thou multipliedst
+them also, so that from a handful they became _two bands_. Alas,
+Lord, we have, Jeshurun-like, 'waxed fat and kicked;' we have left our
+first love; we have not watched and prayed, as thou gavest
+commandment, and thou hast left us to enter into temptation; we have
+forsaken the counsel of our old men, and given heed to flatterers; we
+have forgotten our dependence on thee, and said, 'Ashur shall save us,
+we will ride upon horses.' We have set up our idols in our hearts, and
+put the stumbling-block of our iniquity before our eyes; we have taken
+counsel, but not of thee, and covered ourselves with a covering, but
+not of thy Spirit; we have gloried in our own wisdom, and strengthened
+ourselves in our own strength.
+
+ "We are poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked; rich in our
+fancied wisdom, seeing by our own light, and compassing ourselves
+about with our own sparks; we feed on ashes: a deceived heart has
+turned us aside.
+
+ "'O Lord, the hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof.' It is of
+the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. To us belong shame and
+confusion of face--O cover us with it--but to thee belongs mercy.
+Humble us, O Lord, and we shall be humbled; 'turn us, and we shall
+be turned.'
+
+ "It is in our nature to backslide for ever; thou, and thou only,
+knowest the deceitfulness of the heart; thou, and thou only, canst
+search it. O search us, and try us, and show us what wicked ways there
+are in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Deal not with us
+according to our sins, but according to the multitude of thine own
+mercies. We have no other plea; our sins call for judgment, and until
+thou, thine own blessed self, turn us, we are in no situation to
+receive mercy. Work with us for thy name's sake, establish with us
+thine own covenant of free, unmerited, undeserved mercy. Then shall we
+know that thou art the Lord.
+
+ "Make us thine by thine own covenant, established in Christ,
+thine own anointed; the blessed surety, by thine own appointment; our
+substitute, on whom it hath pleased thee to lay the iniquities of us
+all; in whose sacred person thou tookest vengeance for all our sins;
+by whom thy law is fulfilled, magnified, and made honorable; whose
+doing and suffering in our stead is accepted by Jehovah. 'The Lord is
+well pleased for his righteousness' sake.' No covenant short of one
+fulfilled in every jot and tittle could benefit us.
+
+ "Thy covenant is well-ordered in all things, and it is sure.
+
+ "Here, O Lord, I take my stand; here I lay my foundation, and on
+this thy covenant I build; or rather, here thou thyself hast laid my
+foundation, and on this rock hast thou set my soul and built my hopes,
+thou subduing my enmity. I acquiesce. I will now 'remember the years
+of thy hand,' look back to thy dealings with thine own nation, whom
+thou didst choose and set apart from all other nations, though of the
+same blood with all those that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
+
+ "They, like us, destroyed themselves, but in thee was their help.
+They also sinned, committed iniquity, and did wickedly; they
+remembered not thy mercy, but provoked thee at the Red sea, after the
+great deliverance thou hadst wrought for them, and the wonders thou
+madest to pass before them in the land of Egypt. Nevertheless thou
+savedst them for thy name's sake, that thou mightest make thy mighty
+power known; thou didst repeat thy wonders, and didst dry up the sea
+before them. He fed them with corn from heaven; they did eat angel's
+food. He clave the rock in the wilderness, and caused waters to run
+down like a river. After all, they forsook the God of their mercies;
+they believed not his promises, nor trusted in his salvation; they
+lusted, and they murmured, and desired to turn back to Egypt. Thou
+didst chasten them sore for their sin, and didst bring down their
+heart with grief.
+
+ "When thou didst slay them, they sought thee, and remembered
+that God was their rock, and the most high God their Redeemer.
+Nevertheless they did flatter with their mouth and lied unto thee with
+their tongue, for their heart was not right with thee, neither were
+they steadfast in thy covenant. But thou being full of compassion,
+forgavest their iniquity and destroyedst them not; yea, many a time
+turnedst thou away thine anger, and didst not stir up all thy wrath.
+
+ "O how many times did they turn back, tempted God, and limited
+the Holy One of Israel. Yet did he fulfil all his promises, and by
+wonders in the sea, wonders in the desert, wonders in Zoan's field,
+and in the camps of their enemies, he led them safely to the border of
+his sanctuary, to the mountain which his right hand had purchased. He
+cast out the heathen before them, and gave them rest in the land of
+promise. Even there they provoked the Most High, provoked him to
+jealousy with their graven images.
+
+ "Again thou didst chasten them sore, let loose the corruptions of
+men upon them, and suffer them to fall before their enemies. Thou
+deliveredst thy strength into captivity, and thy glory into the hands
+of their enemies.
+
+ "Yet, O Lord, again didst thou deliver them, and sentest
+provision for them by thine own covenant. Thou didst choose David thy
+servant, and take him from the sheep-folds. Thou broughtest him to
+feed Jacob thy people, and Israel thine inheritance. So he fed them
+according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the
+skilfulness of his hands.
+
+ "Such are the people with whom thou hast still to do. Such, O God
+of infinite mercy, such the God with whom we sinners have to do, even
+'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, keeping mercy for thou sands,
+forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and that will by no means
+clear the guilty.' O what could man or angel have done with this last
+character of thy name? Thy covenant makes provision. In Christ Jesus,
+our blessed substitute, all is reconciled. Thy name is one; the just
+God, and the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus; This God
+is our God; we will make mention of his righteousness, and his only.
+By his own covenant, in his own time, and by means of his own
+providing, he will revive us. Amen."
+
+
+ "APRIL, 1804
+
+ "All my desire is before thee, and it is all contained in thy
+well-ordered covenant. Many years of vanity, of idolatry, of
+backsliding, wandering, and folly have passed over my head since I
+first took hold of thy covenant. How fickle, false, and deceitful have
+I proved; yet thou knowest, thine own Spirit through all my wanderings
+testified in my heart, that out of the channel of this covenant there
+could be neither safety nor comfort; and never, so far as I can
+remember, have I deliberately chosen to be dealt with by any other.
+Its corrections and chastisements have reached the deepest
+sensibilities of my heart. Thine arrows stuck fast in me, thy hand
+pressed me sore; there was no soundness in my flesh, neither rest in
+my bones, because of my sin; mine iniquities went over my head, were a
+burden too heavy to bear. I was feeble and sore broken, and roared by
+reason of the disquiet of my heart. My lovers and friends stood aloof
+from my sore, and my kinsmen stood afar off. I was ready to halt, and
+my sorrow was continually before me; yet even in my darkest, deepest
+afflictions, when deep called to deep, and thy waves and billows were
+passing over me; when my soul seemed sinking in the mire where there
+was no standing, I groped in the dark; my heart panted, my strength
+failed, and the light of mine eyes seemed gone out. I was weak with my
+groaning; in the night I made my bed to swim with my tears; yet even
+then, by that same covenant by which I was suffering, light sprang out
+of darkness, glimmering hope in the midst of despair. I remembered the
+years of thy right hand; in the multitude of my thoughts within
+me--the provision made in this covenant--thy comforts delighted
+my soul.
+
+ "I was furnished with a plea which would condemn, by every
+covenant but thine: Pardon my iniquities, for they are great. Thou,
+even thou, art he who blottest out transgressions as a cloud, and
+iniquity as a thick cloud. Verily thou art a God that pardoneth,
+though thou takest vengeance on the inventions of thy rebellious
+children. 'Vengeance!' not the vengeance of the curse; no, that, O
+thou blessed Covenant, thou blessed Surety, that fell on thy devoted
+head. Thou by this covenant wast 'made a curse for us.' Thou didst
+tread the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none to help
+thee. Thou didst expend the last drop of that cup of vengeance. Every
+cup put into our hand, though a cup of trembling, is a cup of
+blessing. I this day take a fresh hold of thy covenant, for myself,
+for my children, and for my children's children, to the latest
+generation. For my brother and sister, for their children, and
+children's children; for the near concerns of our dear D. B----; and
+for all whom I carry on my mind to thy throne of grace. This is the
+sum and substance of my prayers. Bring them into the bond of this
+covenant, and deal with them according to the order of it, and the
+provision made for them in it, in all possible circumstances. Amen.
+
+ "O God, in the multitude of thy mercies hear me, in the truth of
+thy salvation. Truth of thy salvation! thou only knowest the truth of
+thy salvation. How little do we know of thy work. Many of those
+providences which appear to us dark and dismal, are wheels turning
+round 'the truth of thy salvation;' opening our blinded eyes to the
+issues of sin, and also delivering from the snares of the devil. Deal
+not, O Lord, with me, and mine, as our iniquities deserve; this has
+never been thy way with us; but according to thy former
+loving-kindness, and to all the long-suffering, patience, and
+pardoning mercy which thy aged servant has experienced through her
+sinful guilty pilgrimage. Thou hast forgiven me all the way from
+Egypt. Leave me not now, when I am old and grey-headed; but when
+strength and heart fail, be thou the strength of my heart and portion
+for ever. Amen."
+
+
+ The winter of 1804-5 was unusually severe: the river Hudson was
+shut by frost as early as November; fuel was consequently scarce and
+dear, and the poor suffered greatly. Mrs. Graham visited those parts
+of the city where the poorer class of sufferers dwelt;* in upwards of
+two hundred families she either found a Bible their property, or gave
+them one; praying with them in their affliction. She requested a
+friend to write, first one religious tract and then another, suited to
+the peculiar situation of those afflicted people. One was called, "A
+Donation to Poor Widows with Small Children;" the other, "A Second
+Visit to Poor Widows with Small Children." And lest it might be said
+it was cheap to give advice, she usually gave a small sum of money
+along with the tracts she distributed. There was at this time neither
+a Bible nor Tract Society in New York. Mrs. Hoffman accompanied her in
+many of her excursions. In the course of their visits, they discovered
+a French family from St. Domingo in such extremity of distress as made
+them judge it necessary to report their case to the Honorable Dewitt
+Clinton, then mayor of the city. The situation of this family being
+made public, three hundred dollars were voluntarily contributed for
+their relief. Roused by this incident, a public meeting was called at
+the Tontine Coffee-house, and committees from the different wards were
+appointed to aid the corporation in ascertaining and supplying the
+immediate wants of the suffering poor. The zeal of Mrs. Graham and
+Mrs. Hoffman paved the way for this public-spirited exertion, which
+probably was the means of saving the lives of some of the destitute
+and friendless.
+
+*The following notice of these scenes appeared in one
+ of the periodical publications of the day:
+
+ "When sorrow shrunk before the piercing wind,
+ And famine, shelterless, in suffering pined;
+ When sickness drooped in solitary pain,
+ Mid varying misery's relentless reign;
+ Oh, then tumultuous rose the plaints of grief,
+ And loud and strong the clamors for relief!
+ Then active charity, with boundless care,
+ From gloomy faces chased the fiend Despair,
+ Dispelled the horrors of the wintry day,
+ And none that asked went unrelieved away.
+ "Yet there are some who sorrow's vigils keep,
+ Unknown that languish, undistinguished weep;
+ Behold yon ruined building's shattered walls,
+ Where drifting snow through many a crevice falls;
+ Whose smokeless vent no blazing fuel knows,
+ But drear and cold the widow's mansion shows;
+ Her fragile form, by sickness deeply riven,
+ Too weak to face the driving blasts of heaven,
+ Her voice too faint to reach some pitying ear,
+ Her shivering babes command her anguished tear:
+ Their feeble cries in vain assistance crave,
+ And expectation 'points but to the grave.'
+ "But lo, with hasty step a female form
+ Glides through the wind and braves the chilling storm,
+ With eager hand now shakes the tottering door,
+ Now rushes breathless o'er the snow-clad floor.
+ Her tongue soft comfort to the mourner speaks,
+ Her silver voice with soft emotion breaks;
+ Round the drear hovel roves her moistened eye,
+ Her graceful bosom heaves the lengthened sigh.
+ "I know thee now--I know that angel frame--
+ O that the muse might dare to breathe thy name:
+ Nor thine alone, but all that sister-band
+ Who scatter gladness o'er a weeping land;
+ Who comfort to the infant sufferer bring,
+ And 'teach with joy the widow's heart to sing.'
+ "For this, no noisy honors fame shall give,
+ In your own breasts your gentle virtues live;
+ No sounding numbers shall your names reveal,
+ But your own hearts the rich reward shall feel.
+ "ALBERT."
+
+
+ In the month of August, 1805, Mrs. Graham paid another visit to
+her friends in Boston, of whom she spoke with much affection and
+esteem. She used to mention, with peculiar approbation, a society of
+pious ladies there, who met once in every week for prayer and mutual
+edification.
+
+ On returning to New York, she again wrote to her friend Mrs.
+C----, renewing her endeavors for her consolation and establishment in
+the faith of Christ; and soon after informed her of the dangerous
+illness of two of her grandchildren, one of whom, in the righteous
+dispensations of an unerring Providence, was taken, and the
+other left.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, Boston.
+
+ "GREENWICH, N.Y., Sept. 26, 1805.
+
+ "MY DEAR FRIEND--I arrived here on Monday. I found my children in
+health, but much affected with the death of the amiable youth M----,
+and the melancholy situation of his bereaved parents.
+
+ "The epidemic spreads over the city in every direction among the
+few remaining in it. All the public offices are here; crowds of the
+citizens, and houses and stores spring up in a day; all is bustle and
+confusion, and all seem mad on business.
+
+ "Parting with my dear friend was most painful, so painful that
+nothing could alleviate it but the presence of my own children, who,
+could there have been room from deeper sorrows, would have shared it
+with me. O that I could put my God in my place in your heart. What are
+earthly friends? How few are steady against all change of
+circumstances; of these, fewer still have it in their power to supply
+every link of friendship's chain; a thousand unforeseen incidents
+disappoint their wishes and frustrate their hopes, rendering abortive
+their greatest exertions. But there is a Friend, everywhere present,
+thoroughly acquainted with every circumstance of the heart and of the
+life; all-powerful to relieve; whose love is invariable, and ever the
+most tender when every other friend stands aloof; a friend in
+adversity, 'a friend who sticketh closer than a brother,' whose love
+surpasseth the love of women. This Friend receiveth sinners--casts out
+none who come to him. He was never known to disappoint the hopes of
+any poor sinner. He receives them into his heart; he takes all their
+burdens and cares on himself, pays all their debts, answers all
+demands against them, and is every way surety for them; they become
+his own, no one has any thing to say to them but himself. He knows
+them--how apt to err, to wander, yea, to forget him, and prove
+ungrateful; all this he knows, but he has made provision for all. He
+has a rod, and he will subdue their iniquities. He will heal their
+backslidings, he will bring back and restore his wanderers. He will in
+due time perfect what concerns them, and present them to his Father
+purified, without spot or wrinkle.
+
+ "In the meantime he requires them to confide in him; to go up
+through this wilderness leaning upon him; to tell him all their
+complaints and griefs, and to comfort themselves: and he will impress
+the comfort by means of his great and precious promises, scattered
+like so many pearls through his sacred Bible, tabled there on purpose
+for us to ground our prayers upon, and delight ourselves in. This is
+your friend's Friend, and of ten thousand besides. This was the wicked
+Magdalene's Friend; this, the persecuting Paul's Friend, wicked
+Manasseh's Friend; the adulterous, murdering David's Friend. And he is
+your Friend, though your eyes are holden that you see him not. He is
+leading you by a way that you know not. This is one of his characters,
+'I will bring the blind by a way that they know not.'
+
+ "I was happy to find your niece was to return with Mr. C----;
+but, my dear, a painful dread has assaulted my peace, lest Satan get
+the advantage by means of a stranger in the family, and undo what has
+been begun. The world may have peace without God; but you shall not.
+You have, however feebly, taken hold of his covenant, and he will keep
+you to your choice. 'If his children forsake his laws and go astray,'
+etc. Psalm 79:30."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER, 1805.
+
+ "MY DEAR FRIEND--This is not our rest; through much tribulation
+all Christ's disciples must follow him. There is a rest prepared for
+the people of God: as far as tasted in this world--and in this world
+it is tasted--it consists in a mind resigned to the will of God in
+proportion as it can say, 'Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in
+heaven.' Christ himself was made perfect through suffering, and all
+his followers shall be so in their appointed measure. What is our cup
+to his? O my dear friend, we are ransomed, we are redeemed, and we are
+fitting and preparing for the purchased inheritance, that perfect rest
+prepared for the people of God when their warfare is finished. Let him
+do all his pleasure with us here; let him subdue our iniquities in his
+own way; let him glorify his name by our sufferings--his glory is ever
+connected with his people's best interests. We shall one day
+acknowledge that he has done all things well, and that not one word of
+all that he has promised has failed.
+
+ "It has pleased the Lord to take from us our dear sweet Rebecca;
+young as she was, through much tribulation she entered in: I have
+scarcely seen severer suffering, nor a harder dismission. It is well;
+the Lord will answer his own ends by it for the good of all concerned,
+as well as for his own glory. Our dear G---- was ill at the same time,
+and all hope was lost as to him also; for a whole week we looked upon
+him as dying, A bold measure was taken with him, which succeeded; the
+Lord had commanded life; it was not thought of for her. God had
+appointed to her entrance into life eternal. It is all well. Blessed,
+blessed be his name; for her he has taken and him he has restored,
+both equally. I.G. S---- was confined at the same time with a broken
+arm; N. B---- with the fever and pleurisy. Deep have been the wounds in
+this aged heart, not yet weaned from earth, but tremblingly alive to
+every thing that concerns my children. Yet I do give up. I have asked
+but one thing with importunity, and by that I abide. I did not ask for
+temporal life, but the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives
+to bestow; let him answer my petition by means of his own appointing:
+by health or by sickness, by riches or by poverty, by long life or
+early deaths--only let all mine by the ties of nature, be his by
+regeneration of his Spirit."
+
+
+ Having felt the trials and the responsibilities of widowhood, she
+wrote to her brother's widow, Mrs. Marshall, in 1805:
+
+
+ "You are now, my dear sister, the only head of your family. Will
+you take Joshua's determination? 'As for me and my house, we will
+serve the Lord.' Take hold of God's covenant for your orphan children
+as for yourself, and consider them as his, to be brought up for him.
+Be a priestess in your own house, and keep up the worship of God daily
+in your family, and confess your Lord and Master before angels, men,
+and devils. Those who thus honor God, he will honor.
+
+ "You are indeed, my dear, arrived at an important stage of your
+journey through this great wilderness. You are now the head of the
+family, and are to God immediately answerable. No earthly
+consideration must make you give up the government of it, nor the
+prerogative which he hath given you, to counsel, and even beseech your
+household to serve the Lord. You cannot give grace; you cannot give
+life; and where there is no life there can be no spiritual exercise:
+but you may use means, although there is much prudence to be observed
+to avoid disgust.
+
+ "Be faithful, then, my dear sister, to your important trust. See
+that your household remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; your
+children, of course, will accompany you to the house of God, but let
+not your servants absent themselves from his ordinances, and endeavor,
+on your return home, to explain and bring home the word that may have
+been spoken to their consciences. Above all, let it be your constant
+aim to set before them a godly, consistent example, and be much
+engaged in prayer for them--I mean for your servants as well as for
+your children, and God will, in all probability, make you a mother in
+Israel, the mother of many spiritual children, and turn your captivity
+into rejoicing, and fill your mouth with songs of praise; or should
+you not have this comfort, should the night of adversity last to the
+very valley of the shadow of death, the morning of eternal rest shall
+then beam forth upon your own soul, and your prayers may be answered
+for others, when the eyes that wept and the breast that heaved are at
+rest in the dust. O, then, my sister, possess your soul in patience,
+and seek to make daily advances in holiness."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY--FOREIGN
+ MISSIONARIES--LETTERS.
+
+
+ On the 15th of March, 1806, the female subscribers to proposals
+for providing an asylum for orphan children met at the City Hotel;
+Mrs. Graham was called to the chair, a society organized, and a board
+of direction chosen, Mrs. Hoffman was elected the first directress of
+the Orphan Asylum Society. Mrs. Graham continued in the office of
+first directress of the Widows' Society, but took a deep interest in
+the success of the Orphan Asylum also; she, or one of her family,
+taught the orphans daily, until the funds of the institution were
+sufficient to provide a teacher and superintendent. She was a trustee
+at the time of her decease. The wish to establish this new society was
+occasioned by the pain which it gave the ladies of the Widows' Society
+to behold a family of orphans driven, on the decease of a widow, to
+seek refuge in the almshouse; no melting heart to feel, no redeeming
+hand to rescue them from a situation so unpromising for mental and
+moral improvement.
+
+ "Among the afflicted of our suffering race," thus speaks the
+constitution of the society, "none makes a stronger or more impressive
+appeal to humanity than the _destitute orphan_. Crime has not
+been the cause of its misery, and future usefulness may yet be the
+result of its protection; the reverse is often the case of more aged
+objects. God himself has marked the fatherless as the peculiar
+subjects of his divine compassion. 'A Father of the fatherless is God
+in his holy habitation,' 'When my father and my mother forsake me,
+then the Lord will take me up.' To be the blessed instrument of,
+divine Providence in making good the promise of God, is a privilege
+equally desirable and honorable to the benevolent heart.'"
+
+
+ And truly God has made good his promise towards this benevolent
+institution. He has crowned the undertaking with his remarkable
+blessing. It was begun by his disciples in faith, and he has
+acknowledged them in it. Having for fourteen months occupied a hired
+house for an asylum, the ladies entertained the bold idea of building
+an asylum on account of the society. They had then about three hundred
+and fifty dollars as the commencement of a fund for the building; they
+purchased four lots of ground in the village of Greenwich, on a
+healthful, elevated site, possessing a fine prospect. The corner-stone
+was laid on the 7th of July, 1807. They erected a building fifty feet
+square; from time to time they proceeded to finish the interior of the
+building, and to purchase additional ground as their funds would
+permit; and such was the liberality of the legislature and of the
+public, that the society soon possessed a handsome building and nearly
+an acre of ground, all of which must have cost them little short of
+twenty-five thousand dollars. In that house Mrs. Graham and Mrs.
+Hoffman spent much of their time; there they trained for eternity the
+children of those whose widowed dying mothers they had cheered with
+the hope that when they should be taken away, God would fulfil his
+gracious promise and preserve their fatherless children alive.
+
+ Mrs. Hoffman survived Mrs. Graham seven years. Her end, like that
+of her friend, was peace. But though God removed those mothers in
+Israel, their prayers are still before him, and the institution
+continues to prosper. In 1836, the city having extended to where the
+asylum was situated, and the property at the same time increased in
+value, the society became desirous to remove where the children would
+enjoy purer air, and have greater convenience for a garden and pasture
+for cows. With the advice of their patrons, they sold the property for
+about thirty-nine thousand dollars; purchased nearly ten acres of
+ground at Bloomingdale, and on the 9th of June the same year laid the
+foundation-stone of their present beautiful building.
+
+ In the Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the society for 1840, we
+find the following record of God's goodness:
+
+ "On no former occasion has the board of direction been privileged
+to make to the friends and patrons of this institution a more
+favorable report than the present. The orphan's home is completed, and
+the beautiful building on the banks of the Hudson is alike an ornament
+to the city and a memorial of the liberality of its inhabitants.
+Within it are found, not only ample accommodations for a numerous
+family, but a place for the Lord, a habitation for the orphans' God.
+On the 19th of November last the chapel was opened for religious
+worship; the services were performed by reverend clergy of different
+denominations; and a highly respectable and apparently gratified
+audience attended. All the children, one hundred and sixty-five in
+number, were present, from the infant in arms to the youth who will
+this day pronounce the valedictory.
+
+ "To those who have witnessed the progress of this institution
+from the _small frame-house_ of 1806 to the noble edifice of
+1840, accompanied by the recollection that the door has never been
+closed against the destitute orphan, how deep must be the conviction
+of an overruling Providence--the truth of the declaration, that God is
+the father of the fatherless in his holy habitation, and the
+fulfilment of his gracious promise, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I
+will preserve them alive.' Nor is the orphan family merely furnished
+with sufficient accommodation for dwelling and moral and religious
+education: the grounds afford ample room for exercise and recreation;
+the garden supplies them with fruit and vegetables; and there being
+pasture for several cows, wholesome milk is added to their simple
+breakfast, while the abounding river invigorates the frame by a saline
+bath, and by casting a net into it, furnishes an occasional dinner of
+fresh fish."
+
+ The society, ever grateful to the founders, have erected a tablet
+on the wall of the beautiful chapel, which bears the following
+inscription:
+
+
+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+ OF
+
+ ISABELLA GRAHAM,
+ WHO DIED 27TH JULY, 1814;
+
+ AND OF
+
+ MRS. SARAH HOFFMAN,
+ WHO DIED 29TH JULY, 1821.
+
+ THEY WERE BOTH FOUNDERS OF THIS INSTITUTION.
+
+ TO THEIR PRAYER OF FAITH,
+ AND WISDOM IN DIRECTING ITS COUNSELS,
+ THE SOCIETY IS INDEBTED FOR MUCH OF THE SUCCESS THAT HAS
+ ATTENDED IT.
+
+ THEY WERE LOVELY IN THEIR LIVES,
+ AND DURING MANY YEARS THEY TRAVELLED TOGETHER THE WALKS
+ OF CHARITY.
+
+ WHEN THE EAR HEARD THEM IT BLESSED THEM, AND THEY CAUSED THE
+ WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR JOY.
+
+ THEY NOW REST FROM THEIR LABORS,
+
+ PARTAKERS OF THE BLESSEDNESS OF THOSE
+ WHO DIE IN THE LORD:
+
+ THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.
+
+ The success which has attended the Orphan Asylum Society,
+furnishes strong encouragement to attempt great and good objects even
+with slender means. God in his providence will command a blessing on
+exertions of this character. It is too common a mistake, and one fatal
+to the progress of improvement, that great means should be in actual
+possession before great objects should be attempted. Ah, were our
+dependence simply on apparent instruments, how small must be our hopes
+of success. There is a mystery, yet a certainty, in the manner by
+which God is pleased in his providence to conduct feeble means to a
+happy conclusion. Has he not preserved, cherished, and blessed his
+church through many ages, amidst overwhelming persecutions, and that
+often by means apparently inadequate to this end? We must work for, as
+well as pray for the blessing which God has promised to bestow on our
+sinful race. We must put our shoulder to the wheel, while we look up
+to heaven for assistance, and God will bless those who are found in
+the path of duty.
+
+ In this asylum, the ladies have set no limits to the number to be
+received; and it has pleased God also not to set limits to the means
+necessary for their support. The institution is a great favorite with
+the public, and is frequently visited by strangers, who are delighted
+with the cleanliness, health, and cheerful countenances of the
+orphans.
+
+ The Society have received a charter of incorporation from the
+legislature; they have a handsome seal, with this inscription:
+"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have
+done it unto me."
+
+ For several years it was customary with Mrs. Graham to visit the
+New York hospital; and before the admirable provision since made for
+the separate care of those mentally deranged, she paid a particular
+attention to patients of this description.
+
+ To the apartments appropriated to sick female convicts in the
+state prison, she also made many visits; she met with some affecting
+circumstances among this class.
+
+ In the winter of 1807-8, when the suspension of commerce by the
+embargo rendered the situation of the poor more destitute than ever,
+Mrs. Graham adopted a plan best calculated in her view to detect the
+idle applicant for charity, and at the same time to furnish employment
+for the more worthy among the female poor. She purchased flax, and
+lent wheels where applicants had none. Such as were industrious, took
+the work with thankfulness and were paid for it; those who were
+beggars by profession never kept their word by returning for the flax
+or the wheel. The flax thus spun was afterwards wove, bleached, and
+made into table-cloths and towels for family use.
+
+ Mrs. Graham used to remark, that until some institution should be
+formed to furnish employment for industrious poor women, the work of
+charity would be incomplete. It was about this time that, deeming the
+duties too laborious for her health, she resigned the office of first
+directress of the Widows' Society, and took the place of a manager.
+She afterwards declined this also, and became a trustee of the Orphan
+Asylum Society, as more suited to her advanced period of life.
+
+ The lady to whom the following letter was addressed was Miss
+FARQUHARSON, a person of genuine piety and worth, whom Mrs. Graham had
+educated and prepared to become her assistant in teaching. When Mrs.
+Graham retired from her school, Miss Farquharson declined to succeed
+her, preferring to accompany and enjoy the society of her patroness
+and friend. Until 1804 she proved as efficient an assistant to Mrs.
+Graham in her charitable labors in the Widows' Society and
+Sabbath-school, as she had been in her boarding-school.
+
+ During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1804, she was called
+to attend her own dying mother, and underwent so much fatigue, that on
+her return to Mrs. Graham she broke a bloodvessel, and for four months
+was confined to her room, during all which time Mrs. Graham attended
+her night and day. Her medical attendants prescribed a long voyage and
+residence in a hot climate as the only means of saving her life. About
+that time Mr. Andrew Smith was preparing to sail for the East Indies
+with his family, by the way of England. With them she embarked. She
+sojourned several weeks in Birmingham, and there the circumstances
+commenced which eventually led Miss Farquharson to become a
+missionary's wife, and the first American missionary to foreign lands.
+Her history has been published by Rev. Mr. Knill, in a tract entitled,
+"The Missionary's Wife."
+
+ The London Missionary Society were preparing to establish a
+mission in the idolatrous city of Surat, but the East India Company
+would not allow Christian missionaries to sail in their ships. The
+Society thankfully availed themselves of the privilege of sending Mr.
+Loveless and Dr. Taylor in the American ship Alleghany. They arrived
+in Madras, June, 1805.
+
+ During the voyage an attachment was formed between Mr. Loveless
+and Miss Farquharson which death only could sever, and introduced her
+to scenes of usefulness for more than thirty years, for which she was
+eminently qualified by early training. As soon as Mrs. Graham heard
+how her friend was going to be employed, she wrote to her as follows:
+
+
+ "MY DEAR SALLY--Many tears have I shed over your letter. What a
+changing lot has been that of my family! The Lord's providences to me
+and mine have not been of the ordinary kind, and you, as one in it,
+seem to be a partaker with us. Surely, of all others, we have most
+reason to say, We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Oh that we
+may drink into the true spirit of that phrase, and enjoy the genuine,
+firm faith of an everlasting habitation, of living at home with God.
+
+ "My dear Sally, take the comfort of this, that it is the Lord who
+hath led you all the way by which you have gone. Of all persons whom I
+know, you were, from your temper and disposition, the least likely to
+travel, still less to continue a traveller. No ordinary means would
+have led you to leave your friends and religious privileges. And many
+a pang it has cost me, on reflection, to think how positive I was that
+you should take the voyage. But it was of the Lord. The physicians
+urged it as the only chance you had for life, and they had reason; for
+of all those who were attacked in the same manner, there is not one
+alive, within my knowledge, at this day.
+
+ "The Lord, by wonderful means, called you from your native land,
+and led you to the very spot where you met Mr. Loveless. The same God,
+being also his God, led him, by means perhaps equally unforeseen and
+uncommon, to the same spot, united your hearts to each other, and made
+you one in his hand, and I trust to his glory. You ask my blessing: I
+have carried both of you to my God and Saviour, and have prayed, and
+continue to pray, that the Lord will bless you individually and
+unitedly, give you much sweet communion with himself, and much social
+enjoyment with him and with one another. May he bless Mr. Loveless as
+a missionary, and give him the spirit of his office, and much fruit
+among the heathen, as seals to his ministry; and may you be a helper
+with him, and both be blessed and made a blessing.
+
+ "I feel my loss. You were a comfort and a help to us all,
+especially to me: but I do not mourn; I heartily acquiesce. This is
+not only agreeable to me, as it is one of God's wise arrangements to
+you and us all, but I think it will be more to your comfort. Religion
+and conjugal love will sweeten almost any lot. It is the Lord's
+appointment and his richest earthly blessing.
+
+ "My dear Sally, I have ever considered you as my child. You are
+very dear to my heart. Tell Mr. Loveless he must ever consider me as
+his mother.
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ In the month of January, 1807, the London Missionary Society, of
+which Mr. Bethune was a foreign director, sent to this country the
+Rev. Messrs. Gordon, Lee, and Morrison; the two first to sail in an
+American ship for the East Indies, and Mr. Morrison for China. These
+devoted missionaries shared largely in the hospitalities of Christians
+in New York, and spent much of their time with Mr. Bethune's family.
+Mrs. Graham took great delight in conversing and advising with them,
+and though none of her letters addressed to them have come to hand, it
+is believed she corresponded with them. The following extract of a
+letter from Dr. Morrison, indicates the respect and Christian
+affection with which he regarded her.
+
+
+ "ON BOARD THE TRIDENT, May 24, 1807.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR MOTHER GRAHAM--I think you were led by the special
+interference of our gracious Lord, to put into my hands the work which
+you did, accompanied by the edifying and comforting letter which you
+wrote me.
+
+ "I thank you for telling me what God did for your soul, and join
+with you in ascribing to the Lord salvation and honor. I had, my
+mother, from the time of leaving my dear relations and friends, passed
+through waters deep as the fathomless ocean which I crossed; but with
+the Lord there is mercy; with him is 'plenteous redemption.' He is
+ready to forgive. He has restored to me, in some measure, 'the joy of
+his salvation,' and will not, I trust, take his Holy Spirit from me.
+This is my prayer. To-day he enabled me, on board of this vessel, to
+open my lips to teach transgressors his way. O, that sinners may be
+converted unto him."
+
+
+ To Mr. and Mrs. B----, at Ballston Springs.
+
+ "NEW YORK, August, 1807.
+
+ "MY BELOVED CHILDREN--A husband, wife, and child, make a family,
+and God ought to be acknowledged by them as such. I am anxious that
+you should meet in your room for that purpose some time every morning.
+
+ "If it cannot be accomplished at an early hour, redeem that time
+in a later, and also before going to rest in the evening. The Lord has
+honored your family worship with genuine fruits, follow it up in all
+places. Like Abraham of old, wherever you pitch your tent, for a
+longer or shorter period, there raise an altar to the Lord, to that
+God who has fed you all your life, carried you as on eagle's wings,
+and will carry you to old age and gray hairs."
+
+
+ To Mrs. Juliet S----, New York, one of her former pupils.
+
+ "BELLEVILLE, September 16, 1808.
+
+ "MY DEAR JULIET--Since the hour I received your letter, you have
+been little out of my mind. You call upon me as mother, friend,
+counsellor. Shall conscious unworthiness, or weakness, or ignorance,
+prevent my answering? No; for God often chooses weak instruments to
+bring to pass great ends, I have been once and again to a throne of
+grace, for wisdom to direct me, and grace to be faithful. If your
+desire after spiritual knowledge be sincere, and from the Spirit of
+God operating on your heart, you will bear searching.
+
+ "You are a communicant, my Juliet; this presupposes that a very
+great and important change has taken place in your mind--that you have
+been made deeply sensible of what the word of God testifies of every
+son and daughter of Adam's race. 'As it is written, There is none
+righteous, no, not one.' Rom. 3:10. Man is born as the wild ass's
+colt, going astray from the womb. Job. The heart is deceitful above
+all things, and desperately wicked; I the Lord search it. Having the
+understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God, through the
+ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our hearts. Dead
+in trespasses and sins. Eph. 4:18; 2:1.
+
+ "Your profession presupposes that this chapter may be addressed
+to you, Juliet, by name: 'You hath he quickened, who were dead in
+trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the
+course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
+the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among
+whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of
+our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
+were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is
+rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
+were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace
+are ye saved, through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.'
+Works there are, my Juliet, most assuredly; every quickened soul will
+live, and bring forth fruits of righteousness; but these works are not
+attainable but in God's way and order. It follows, 'For we are his
+workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
+before ordained that we should walk in them.'
+
+ "My Juliet says, 'To you then I look up to teach me.' Let me then
+bring you to the great Teacher and Prophet of the church, without
+whose teaching all human instruction will be ineffectual. We read of
+two amiable characters coming to Christ professedly for instruction.
+The first you will find in Matthew 19:16. The young man asks him,
+'What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?' Jesus
+answers him by referring him to the moral law: the young man, not made
+acquainted by the Spirit of God, either with the extent or
+spirituality of that law, or of the depravity of his own nature,
+answers, as many in like circumstances still do,' All these things
+have I kept from my youth up.' I do not suppose any one could
+contradict him. It is added that Jesus loved him, and he was a person
+of attractive character; but Jesus knew that the true principle was
+not there--supreme love to God, 'with all the heart, with all the
+soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind:' therefore he gave
+him a test which proved that the world was uppermost in his heart. He
+went away sorrowful, and we hear no more of him.
+
+ "Of the other person we read in that remarkable chapter, the
+third of John's gospel--Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and also a
+teacher. Well knew he the law, as to the letter of it, both moral and
+ceremonial; he must also have been acquainted with all the Old
+Testament scripture types and prophecies, it being his office to
+expound; and no doubt, among others, was looking for the promised
+Messiah. Jesus does not send him to either the law or the prophets.
+This ruler comes with a conviction and an acknowledgment that Jesus
+himself was a teacher immediately from God; and Jesus immediately
+takes upon himself his great office, and begins with urging that which
+is a sinner's first business--'to know himself,' what he is by nature,
+and the necessity of the new birth. Nicodemus, with all his learning,
+was a stranger to this doctrine: 'How can a man be born when he is
+old?' Jesus repeats his doctrine, 'He must be born of water and the
+Spirit;' baptized with water and the Holy Ghost. 'That which is born
+of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
+Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again.' Humble that
+proud reason that will believe nothing but what it can understand.
+'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
+thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so
+is every one that is born of the Spirit.' A mystery it is;
+nevertheless it is true.
+
+ "Follow out the chapter, my dear: Jesus preaches his own gospel,
+and brings in that beautiful type, the serpent, which he had commanded
+to be raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery
+serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed.
+Read it, my dear, in the 21st of Numbers; and in reference to this, he
+himself says, 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
+earth.' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
+Quickened, renewed in the spirit, of his mind, old things pass away
+and all things become new--new principles, new desires, new pleasures,
+new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan of redemption is his from
+first to last. It is clearly revealed in Scripture, and there is no
+dispute among Christians concerning it. The fall of man, his
+corruption and depravity; his state under the curse of a broken
+covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his helplessness and
+total inability to gain acceptance with God; his ignorance of
+himself--'dead in trespasses and sins,' 'without God and without hope
+in the world:' this is his situation by nature. But there is good news
+proclaimed: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
+Son,' to become the surety of lost sinners. He took our nature upon
+him, our sins upon him, our duties upon him: he was placed in our
+stead; sustained the penalty of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost
+demands; redeemed us; gave us a new covenant, of which himself
+is the surety: and there is 'no condemnation to them that are in
+Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, are the
+sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as the
+atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one sacrifice for sin;
+Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; all is made ours by
+free gift. 1 John, 5:11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God
+reconciled, peace proclaimed. But what is all this to a thoughtless
+world, insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful
+saying, but it is of the Holy Ghost, If our gospel be hid, it is hid
+to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded
+their minds, and darkened their understandings, and hardened their
+hearts, etc. Therefore the application of this grace is also of God;
+it is all within his plan; he has appointed means, and commanded our
+diligence in the use of them. We have his Bible in our hands, his
+ministers in our churches, who are also pastors and teachers if we
+apply for their aid in private; we have a throne of grace to go to,
+and many great and precious promises held up in God's word for us to
+embrace and plead for Christ's sake: we have many prayers in the
+Scriptures which we may adopt.
+
+ "I acknowledge we are all still dependent for the effect; that
+must be from God himself. But he does honor his own ordinances. He
+puts forth his power, and convinces of sin; this is his first work.
+The soul is awakened, aroused, convinced of sin and misery; sins of
+the heart, sins of the tongue, sins of the life, press upon the
+conscience which never disturbed us before; misspent time, wasted
+talents, lost opportunities, neglect of God's word and ordinances, so
+that the soul cannot rest. O, my Juliet, this is a hopeful case. I
+hope you have experienced something of this. It is one of the surest
+marks of the operation of the Spirit of God, and a prelude to the new
+birth. It never takes place without it, for the whole need not a
+physician, but they that are sick. Only the weary and heavy laden will
+prize rest, and Christ is the rest they need; only a convinced sinner
+will or can prize the Saviour, and now the Lord opens his mind to
+understand the Scriptures. He sees the provision which God has made
+for ruined sinners, by providing a substitute to stand in his room; he
+perceives how God can be just and justify the sinner who takes shelter
+in Jesus; he falls in with God's gracious plan: receives the Lord
+Jesus as God's gift to sinners; trusts entirely in his merits for
+pardon, peace, reconciliation, and eternal life; resigns his soul into
+the hands of his Saviour, in the faith that he will save it, and
+devotes himself unreservedly to his service, in the faith that he will
+give him grace to live to him in all holy obedience. Now, and not till
+now, according to God's promise, he receives power to become his
+child; this is God's order, John 1:12. Now he receives life and begins
+to live; but there is yet a great work before him. It hath pleased God
+in his plan to finish at once a justifying righteousness; it is his
+own work, and was finished in that awful hour when he announced it in
+his last words on the cross. John 19:30. To this nothing of ours is to
+be added, with this nothing of ours mixed; it is for ever perfect, it
+is God's gift made ours in the hour when we first believe, receive it,
+rest our souls upon it.
+
+ "But it hath not pleased God in this plan to deliver the believer
+at once from indwelling sin. This is the subject of the Christian
+warfare, the race, the good fight. Now the believer receives life, and
+is called to work. 'Work out your own salvation with fear and
+trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.'
+All the promises in this blessed Bible are his, they are yea and amen
+in Christ; Christ himself is his; his Spirit dwells in him. The
+believer is united to Jesus by as real a union as the branch to the
+vine, the members to the head, the building with the foundation. Yet
+sin dwelleth in him, and is to be expunged by constant applications to
+Christ in prayer; by means of watching, striving, fighting--fighting
+under his banner. In his blessed word we are informed where our
+strength lies, what our weapons, what our armor. But what can I say on
+those subjects? the whole word of God is on the subject of redemption;
+to this refer the whole labors of Christ's ministers, and the whole
+dispensation of God's providence.
+
+ "Are these things so? My Juliet, this is not the doctrine of any
+one church. About these subjects there is no dispute. Presbyterians,
+Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, all agree in these great
+things. And are these things so indeed? O, my Juliet, where is the
+time to be spared for plays, assemblies, and such numerous idle
+parties of various descriptions? I must stop; the subject is great,
+and we have many excellent treatises on the various parts of it, by
+able, pious men. It would be improper to crowd it thus into a letter,
+unless to instigate to further investigation.
+
+ "Farewell; I ever am, my dear Juliet,
+
+ "Yours affectionately,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The delicate state of health to which one of her granddaughters
+was reduced in 1808, made it necessary for her to spend the summer
+season for five successive years at Rockaway, Long Island, for the
+advantage of sea-bathing. Mrs. Graham went with her, it being
+beneficial to her own health also. In this place she met with many
+strangers; the company residing there treated her with much affection
+and respect. She always attended to the worship of God morning and
+evening in her room, and was usually accompanied by some of the ladies
+who boarded in the house. Her fund of information, vivacity of manner,
+and the interest which she felt in the happiness of all around her,
+made her society highly valued and pleasing. Few of those ladies who
+stayed with her at Rockaway for any length of time, failed to express,
+at parting, their esteem for her, and they generally added a pressing
+invitation for a visit from her, if ever she should travel near where
+they dwelt.
+
+
+ The following is one of her sweet meditations while at Rockaway:
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, August, 1809.
+
+ "Sweet health again returns, which, considering the agitation of
+my mind, surprises me; but it is the Lord's pleasure. I did not wish
+to recover. I was in hopes the Lord was about to deliver me from 'this
+body of sin and death.' Lord, reconcile me to thy most holy will.
+Health is certainly a great blessing. I feel its sweetness. O make me
+thankful. Great and numerous are my mercies. Every thing pleasant and
+every thing necessary to life, to godliness, is mine: food and raiment
+to the utmost desires of nature; the beauties of thy fair creation
+surround my ordinary dwelling; my dear little room, my Bible, and
+books of every virtuous kind--by grace, thy chief mercy, I desire no
+other--and by the kindness of my children, I possess all as if they
+were my own personal property. By thy wonderful loving-kindness, thou
+hast given me, instead of the contempt which I have merited, the love
+and esteem of thy people, and thou hast made the very stones of
+the field to be at peace with me, so that wherever I go I meet
+with kindness."
+
+
+ To Mrs. Marshall.
+
+ "NEW YORK, October, 1809.
+
+ "I find your letter dated 'Elderslie'--the very name gives a
+thrill to my old heart; in a moment the various scenes of my youthful
+days rise before me--the old mansion itself, and all its beloved
+inmates, every one of whom have now crossed the Jordan of death,
+leaving me a solitary wanderer in this weary wilderness. Ah, I can at
+this moment think of spots, by the burnside and the braeside, endeared
+to my heart by a thousand tender associations. There have I wandered
+with my beloved, idolized husband, and there has he delighted my heart
+with professions of love. These were indeed moments of ecstasy; but
+hush, there are you a widow with very, very different sensations, and
+here am I a widow with sensations equally different. The Lord has
+showed us many and sore adversities, but he will bring us up from the
+deeps below; we are much nearer our Father's house, and I hope
+proportionably riper for those joys which are at his right hand; and
+although your letter has brought some pleasing recollections to my
+mind--days of love and courtship, days, some of solitude, some of
+disappointment, some of ecstasy--yet I find they were all days of
+idolatry, therefore to be mourned over, not retasted, reënjoyed with
+delight. No, no; Father, forgive me."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY--ASSOCIATIONS FOR
+ PRAYER--HAPPY OLD AGE--LETTERS.
+
+ "In December, 1809, a Bible Society was organized in New York,
+and about the same time twenty respectable persons united in a
+society, to wait on the Lord, to know what their hands could find to
+do to promote his glory, to advance his kingdom, to spread the savor
+of the Redeemer's name, or in any way to benefit the souls of their
+fellow-sinners.
+
+ "On Monday a meeting for prayer was instituted in Hetty-street,
+and another in Mulberry-street, with which the Presbyterian ministers
+have agreed to meet in rotation. It is the Lord. We have heard of
+revivals all around, but feared lest the aggravated sins of New York
+might provoke the Lord to pass by, leaving our fleece dry, while the
+dew wet all around. Great have been our privileges; the gospel trumpet
+has sounded in every corner of our city. The Lord's servants have set
+before us life and death, assuring us, from God's word, that 'though
+hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished;' beseeching us
+to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on the hope set before
+us. God in his providence has visited us with mercies and with
+judgments: stricken us, and healed us; scattered us, and gathered us:
+but alas, alas, we were 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
+marriage.' Many, very many, wasting their time, health, and substance,
+in all manner of immorality, and our rulers caring for none of these
+things; yea, many of them practising the same things; and Oh, God's
+own saved people sitting still, restraining testimony before men and
+prayer before God. What were we to expect but that God should say, Why
+should they be stricken any more? they will revolt more and more: they
+are joined to idols; let them alone. Such, O Lord, would be the case
+didst thou not deliver us out of our own self-destroying snares. If
+thou turn us not, we shall never turn; it is in our nature to
+backslide for ever.
+
+ "But is not the time come to pass when before thy people call
+thou answerest, and while they are yet speaking, thou hearest? Art
+thou not calling with power, 'Return, ye backsliding children, and I
+will heal your backslidings?' and hast thou not prepared their hearts
+to answer, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God?
+truly, in vain is salvation looked for from the hills, and from the
+multitude of mountains; truly, from the Lord our God is the salvation
+of Israel. Hast thou not, O God, prepared the hearts of thy people to
+pray, and thine ear to hear? Is not this Bible Society, and are not
+these associations for prayer, tokens from thee for good? More and
+more, Lord, may thy people give thee no rest, until thou make Zion a
+praise in the earth. O the Hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof, be
+not as a wayfaring man, that turneth aside for a night. May thy people
+constrain thee to abide with us for ever, to form us a people for
+thyself, to show forth thy praise.
+
+ "I have just conveyed dear Mrs. A----le to the confines of the
+eternal world. I trust the dear Redeemer received her spirit. I have a
+good hope that she is now in possession of the mansion purchased and
+prepared for her by that dear Saviour whose name she professed, and I
+think, in an humble, steady, quiet way, faithfully followed. She loved
+the word of God, the house of God, the people of God. She spoke
+little, but said she had a good hope: asked me to read the Bible
+different times, and also to pray; said the invitations of the gospel
+were sweet to her: observed that the Lord had been very merciful to
+her in her affliction.
+
+ "A few hours before her death she desired me to read that hymn,
+
+ "'To him that loved the souls of men,' etc,
+
+Also,
+
+ "'Come, let us join our cheerful songs,' etc.
+
+She asked if I thought she would continue long. I said, No, my
+dear, you will very soon be with Jesus; and encouraged her as the Lord
+enabled me. She repeated the question some time after, and I gave her
+the same answer. She then said, 'This night?' I answered, Yes, my
+love, this night. She bowed her head with a sweet smile, laid it in a
+reclining posture, and set herself to wait with patience the Lord's
+time. She was very much oppressed, and breathed with much difficulty.
+Some time after she asked me to pray, which I did, and begged that the
+Lord would increase her faith and patience, and, if according to his
+will, give her a gentle passage and an abundant entrance. In a short
+time her breathing became short and low; she shut her eyes and gently
+breathed weaker and weaker, till her God delivered her without motion
+or groan. I was on my knees praying. I then thanked God for his
+goodness in this sweet dismission; prayed for the husband, the
+children, the two young men present, and us all, gave glory to God,
+and rose to watch to future duty.
+
+ "O my God, is not my own death at hand? It is a hard battle. My
+Jesus, thou knowest the struggle. I too must drink of this cup; mix it
+for me, my Redeemer. O let a full sense of free pardon, the
+recollection of the great and precious promises, a bright view of the
+joys at God's right hand, as the fruit of thy death, be applied to my
+soul in that awful hour. Holy Spirit, pour in the oil and wine of thy
+consolations in that trying hour. O let me not be straitened. Open
+wide to my soul the leaves of that well-ordered covenant, of which
+Christ himself is the sum and substance. Redeeming God, may I
+experience proof in that solemn hour, that 'thy flesh is meat indeed,
+and thy blood is drink indeed.' O feed me with this living food; may I
+feel life spring up in my soul, and be assured that I shall 'never
+die.' O my God, grant one more request. Open my lips, and let them, as
+well as my heart, be filled with the high praises of my redeeming God.
+
+ "I know I am unworthy; the vilest of the vile; but magnify thy
+grace. I have much forgiven; O let my heart burn with love and
+gratitude in that hour, and my lips utter its effusions in songs of
+praise. Amen.
+
+ "When the short thick breathing comes, and the slow fetches,
+sealing up speech and expelling the spirit from its abode, O let me
+hear or understand thee saying unto me, 'It is I, be not afraid.'"
+
+
+ "JANUARY, 1810.
+
+ "'Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he
+will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days
+will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall
+live in his sight.'
+
+ "O Lord, turn us and we shall be turned, draw us and we will run
+after thee. Revive us, and we shall live in thy sight. Thou must ever
+be first. It is in our nature to backslide for ever: and whenever we
+see a backslider restored, or a rebel lay down the weapons of
+rebellion, _there_ we may trace thy footsteps, O God of grace.
+
+ "No external providence will touch our hard, our deceitful
+hearts. All that goes under the name of misfortune will but drive us
+_from_ thee, never _to_ thee, till thou teach us to profit,
+and lead us by the way that we should go. Thou callest, 'Return, ye
+backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings;' but we have
+been foolish, sottish children, without understanding, wise to do
+evil, but to do good having no knowledge.
+
+ "Let the days come when the children of America--the earth is the
+Lord's--shall 'come with weeping, and seek the Lord their God;' when
+'they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward;' when
+they shall come, saying, 'Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a
+perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten.' O the Hope of Israel and
+Saviour thereof, is not that day and that time come? Hast thou not
+been working on the right hand and on the left? Thou hast given us
+pastors according to thine own heart, who feed us with knowledge and
+understanding: and thou art here and there proving thy gospel thy
+power and thy wisdom, to the salvation of sinners; casting down the
+imaginations of pride, and bringing all into subjection to thy Son
+Jesus.
+
+ "O pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, upon thy living
+members, that they may wrestle with thee, and not let thee go until
+thou bless us, until thou make this 'cloud like a man's hand' cover
+our heavens with blackness, and issue in a plentiful rain. O pour
+water upon him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; thy
+Spirit upon our seed, and thy blessing upon our offspring. O Lord,
+hast thou not said that thou wilt do it, and that they shall spring up
+as among the grass, and as willows by the water-courses. One shall
+say, I am the Lord's, another shall call himself by the name of Jacob,
+and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname
+himself by the name of Israel. Amen, O our God, Amen.
+
+ "Last week the Lord's young servant, Mr. R----, received to the
+communion of the church seven adults, Mrs. B---- and her two
+daughters, Dr. H---- and sister, Mr. C----, and a black woman, servant
+to Mr. H----. It was a glorious sight, and revived the hearts of God's
+people who witnessed it. O God of grace, grant that the fruits of
+righteousness may prove that they are broken off from the wild
+olive-tree, and grafted into thee, thou living and life-giving
+olive-tree; from thee must their fruit be found. O cause them to bring
+forth much fruit. Herein is the Father glorified, that they bear much
+fruit; so shall they be Christ's disciples, and attain to the
+assurance of that happy state. Father, glorify thy name. Amen."
+
+
+ In the year 1810, while bathing at Rockaway, she was carried by
+the surf beyond her depth, and for some time there was scarcely a hope
+of her regaining the shore. Her grandchildren were weeping on the
+beach, and the company assembled there were afflicted but hopeless
+spectators of her danger. At that moment of peril she prayed to the
+Lord for deliverance, but acquiesced in his will, if he should see fit
+to take her to himself in this manner. Able to swim a little, she kept
+herself afloat for some time: she became at length very faint; and
+when her friends on the beach apprehended her lost, they perceived
+that the waves had impelled her somewhat nearer to them. A gentleman
+present, and her female attendant, stepped into the surf and extending
+their arms for mutual support, one of them was enabled to lay hold on
+Mrs. Graham's bathing-gown and to pull her towards them. When they
+brought her ashore she was much exhausted, and had swallowed a
+considerable quantity of water. It was some hours before she revived,
+when she addressed the company in a very serious and impressive manner
+that affected them to tears. Her health during the following winter
+was much impaired by the shock it had received.
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, June 15, 1810.
+
+ "Came here the first of the month, with the children in the
+whooping-cough. No 'church-going bell' here, but the Lord is
+everywhere; and I have found him here, warming my heart with gratitude
+and contrition, and drawing it out in prayer for his people met to
+worship in his sanctuary.
+
+ "When at a distance from my own people, it has been my practice
+to join with whatever class of professing Christians might be near me.
+Here it has been with the Methodists, who, I believe, enjoy communion
+with God. Yesterday I went to a meeting of ----, who lay great stress
+on good morals; but, O my God, what could I do, shut up with them?
+Without the finished work of my Saviour, I could have no hope; without
+his law-fulfilling righteousness, I must stand a law-condemned sinner.
+
+ "The preacher yesterday took no text; in the course of his sermon
+he said the Scriptures were only secondary guides. He began with the
+importance of thinking of death, and said it could not be possible for
+a rational being to live carelessly, with thoughts of death and
+eternity in view. Is it so? No; we see sinners die, under the full
+conviction that they are dying, as thoughtless as they have lived.
+
+ "He said, that by constantly attending to the motions of the
+Spirit and complying with them, Christians arrived at a state of
+perfection even here; and brought in that text, 'He that is born of
+God cannot sin,' etc. Spoke highly of watchfulness, and avoiding
+connection with the world; said a real Christian could not hold any
+office of power among men. Paul held one, but he gave it up when he
+became an apostle. Christ's kingdom was not of this world. Laws and
+officers were necessary among the men of the world, but not among
+Christians. Spoke of the cross of Christ as consisting in suffering
+and self-denial. His blood was the Spirit which cleansed from all sin,
+by delivering all who obeyed him from its power. He named not my
+blessed Saviour, except when he had occasion to mention some of his
+moral sayings. He said, indeed, that he was the Light that lightened
+every man that came into the world, and the condemnation was that men
+would not receive it; but one word of his blessed priesthood he spoke
+not, but said we were in a state of probation, and every one would be
+judged according to his works, taking into view the advantages he had
+enjoyed; recommended the reading of the Scriptures, especially the
+inspired books, the New Testament and the prophets; for it needed no
+inspiration to write the national history of the Jews more than that
+of any other nation. Said the Scriptures were good secondary guides,
+and contained excellent lessons and truths.
+
+ "When I was coming away he offered me his hand, saying that I was
+not a resident there. I answered no, I was separated from my own
+people, but wished to unite with any class of Christians who met
+professedly to worship God; but confessed I could not live upon what
+he had this day delivered. He asked what was wrong. I answered, he had
+given some good exhortations; I agreed with him in many things
+respecting conduct; but I missed the foundation. He repeated the
+scriptures, 'Other foundation can no man lay,' etc. I said, Exactly:
+off this foundation there is no salvation; on this foundation there
+may be loss, but no condemnation. We have a great and merciful
+High-priest, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and them who are
+out of the way; and there may be straw, hay, stubble, which will be
+burnt up, but the soul itself, being on the foundation, is safe. He
+said with firmness, That will be burnt up in this world; without
+holiness no man shall see the Lord. I said, True; but why avoid the
+tenor of Scripture? read all the epistles; the Lord Jesus Christ, the
+gift of God, the propitiatory sacrifice, the meritorious
+law-fulfilling righteousness, is set forth, in every one of them, as
+that which saves from wrath and entitles to eternal life. He said they
+were all emblems of our being made holy in heart and life; Christians
+were baptized unto the death of Christ, and rise with him to newness
+of life, buried with him, etc. I granted that as one reading of these
+words. He said every other view was shadow. I said, No--the blood of
+bulls and goats is shadow; Christ himself, his person, his offices,
+his life, his sufferings, his death, his burial, resurrection,
+ascension, and intercession within the veil, are all substance--the
+sole foundation of my hope, and my only plea at a throne of grace.
+
+ "Dear Name, the rock on which I build,
+ My shield and hiding-place,
+ My never-failing treasury, filled
+ With boundless stores of grace.
+
+ Jesus, my Husband, Shepherd, Friend,
+ My Prophet, Priest, and King,
+ My Lord, my life, my way, my end,
+ Accept the praise I bring."
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, August, 1810.
+
+ "Hebrews is my ordinary, when no other passage of Scripture
+attracts my particular attention. This is the third morning I have
+opened the New Testament on the 14th chapter of John, and have fed
+delightfully on the first three verses. There is at all times a thorn
+in my heart, keeping me in continual remembrance of my vile,
+ungrateful backslidings, so that I eat my sweetest morsels with bitter
+herbs. It was particularly painful to me this morning; nevertheless;
+the Lord God, merciful and gracious, repeated on my heart, 'Let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' I was arrested at
+the fourth verse, 'Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.' I have
+had many comfortable exercises on the eighth verse, the Redeemer's
+answer to Philip's inquiry. But this morning my mind was led to a
+different view of that saying, and which I think was literally
+included. The Redeemer was going to his Father, and his way lay
+through death, the death of the cross. The hour was at hand when he
+was to make his holy and righteous soul an offering for sin, that he
+might become the author of salvation to all who obey him. All the sins
+confessed and pardoned by the sacrifices under the law were laid on
+this blessed Surety--they were only the shadows, he was the
+substance--the real Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the
+world, was now to be offered up. This was he who said, 'Sacrifice and
+offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in
+burnt-offerings and offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure; then
+said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God:' by which will we are
+sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
+for all.
+
+ "He was going to the garden--Oh that garden! Peter had said he
+was able to drink of that cup and to be baptized with that baptism. Ah
+no, Peter; that exceeding sorrow in the garden, when no visible hand
+was upon him, was a cup the least drop of which would have overwhelmed
+the strongest angel. No strength short of omnipotent could have
+sustained that hour and power of darkness. It was not the scourge, the
+thorns, the nails, nor the last pangs of dissolution; through all
+these he was as a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
+shearers, dumb. It was a mysterious horror, of which no created being
+can have any conception. It was this that wrung the great drops of
+blood through every pore of his sacred body--this that extorted the
+agonizing prayer, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
+me;' and again, in his last moments on the cross, 'My God, my God, why
+hast thou forsaken me?' Blessed, for ever blessed be our Jehovah
+Jesus, who said, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' The will of God was
+done, and he said, 'It is finished,' and gave up the ghost.
+
+ "All his people must follow him by the way of death; nearly all
+his disciples followed by the death of the cross, and many others
+after them, supported by his almighty grace, rejoiced that they were
+counted worthy to suffer for his sake; but they drank not of that cup.
+
+ "Some of his people, for holy and wise purposes, have had a taste
+in the hiding of God's face, but no curse; that he himself drank to
+the last drop: He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there
+was none with him. By his own death he destroyed him that had the
+power of death, and secured victory to all his followers: he changed
+its aspect from that of the king of terrors to that of a welcome
+messenger from their redeeming God, to conduct them to those blessed
+mansions which he has purchased and prepared for them; neither will he
+leave them alone with that messenger: 'And if I go, I will come again
+and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. I
+will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. The world seeth me
+no more, but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also. Let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' Amen. 'Come, Lord
+Jesus.'
+
+ "'Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast
+thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
+Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of
+me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is in my heart.'
+Psalm 40:6. 'Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and
+burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst
+pleasure therein--which are offered by the law--then said he, Lo, I
+come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may
+establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the
+offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This man, after he
+had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
+hand of God. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
+are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for
+after that he had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make
+with them after those days,' in consequence of Christ's doing the will
+of God, fulfilling all righteousness: 'I will put my laws into their
+hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and
+iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is,
+there is no more offering for sin. Having, therefore, boldness to
+enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,
+which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
+his flesh; and having a High-priest over the house of God; let us draw
+near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
+sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
+water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
+for he is faithful that promised.' Hebrews 10:8-23; 8:10. Again, 'The
+Lord sware, and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever after the
+order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better
+testament; because he continueth ever, and hath an unchangeable
+priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that
+come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
+them,' Heb. 7:21-25. 'Christ glorified not himself to be made a
+high-priest, but He that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I
+begotten thee; as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest
+for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' Heb. 5:5, 6. 'For the law
+maketh men high-priests which have infirmity; but the word of the
+oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for
+evermore.' Heb. 7:28. 'The word which God sent unto the children of
+Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all. How God
+anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who
+went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
+devil; for God was with him. To him give all the prophets witness,
+that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
+remission of sins.'" Acts 10:36-38, 43.
+
+
+ How well she was qualified to give instruction to young
+disciples, will appear in the following letters to two, who died
+shortly after of consumption.
+
+
+ To Miss Van Wyck, New York.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, 1810.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA--Mr. and Mrs. B---- are here on a
+visit for one night. I did not expect to see them so soon, or I would
+have had a letter ready. I expect another opportunity in the course of
+a few days, when I will send you a long letter, from my heart, and, I
+hope, dictated by your and my Teacher.
+
+ "I learn by my children that you continue much in the same way in
+which I left you. It is your own God who mixes your cup, and it is to
+you a cup of blessing; there is no curse in it. Your Jesus drank that
+cup to the very dregs, that bitter as well as sweet might be to you a
+cup of blessing. O then, my darling, hold fast by your Redeemer: he is
+the Lord your righteousness, and the Lord your strength; he connects
+your profit with his own glory. You shall in this protracted
+affliction manifest it, and hold out the word of life to those around
+you.* You shall witness for him that he is the Lord, and besides him
+there is no Saviour--that he gathers the lambs in his arms, and
+carries them in his bosom--that he is to them a hiding-place from the
+wind, and a covert from the tempest--as rivers of water in a dry
+place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. That it is
+he that teacheth them to profit, and leadeth them by the way that they
+should go, and that in due time he will perfect all that concerns
+them. Farewell.
+
+*This prediction was remarkably fulfilled in the experience of
+ this dear young saint; an interesting account of whose illness
+ and death was published in the Christian's Magazine, and
+ afterwards as a Tract.
+
+ "Yours with affection,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, Sabbath, 1810.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA--I wrote you a few lines yesterday by
+Mr. B----. I now propose to fulfil my promise. I expect an opportunity
+to-morrow or next day, for I saw a great many carriages pass this way
+to the tavern, as I suppose, from New York. It is a common thing with
+some to come here on Saturday and return on Monday, to spend this
+blessed day in pastime. You would not, I know, exchange situation's
+with them; you would rather be suffering than sinning.
+
+ "It is your own observation that God does all in wisdom; in this
+wisdom he is pleased to lengthen your day of affliction. Sin, my
+darling, is the cause of all suffering; but is not always the
+_immediate_ cause. Besides particular chastisement for particular
+sins, there are afflictions to be filled up in the body of Christ--his
+church--a measure of which, in kind and degree, is appointed by
+unerring wisdom to each individual member. Col. 1:24. These sufferings
+bear no part in atoning for sin, nor in redeeming our forfeited
+inheritance. Christ trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there
+was none to help him. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in him; who when he had by
+himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
+high. Heb. 1:3. Again, 'And every priest,' in the Levitical law,
+'standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
+sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had
+offered _one sacrifice_ for sins for ever, sat down on the right
+hand of God. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
+are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also a witness to us; for
+after he had said before'--see from verse 5--'This is the covenant
+which I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will
+put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
+and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where
+remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.' Heb.
+10:11-18. Paul says the Holy Ghost is a witness, because he copies
+from the ancient Scriptures the prophecies of Jer. 31:31, and Ezek.
+36:25, and from Psalm 60:7. Your mother will read to you also the
+eighth chapter of Hebrews, containing the same things, the new
+covenant, in consequence of Christ, as the surety of sinners, having
+made full atonement, magnified the law, and made it honorable;
+therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in
+Christ Jesus.
+
+ "It has pleased God, my darling, in the adorable plan of
+reconciling sinners to himself by Jesus Christ, to perfect at once a
+justifying righteousness for them, and to bestow it upon them as a
+free gift. 'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal
+life; and this life is in his Son.' 1 John, 5:11. But it has not
+pleased him to deliver us at once from depravity; provision is made
+for final deliverance by the same covenant, and is effected by the
+same power: but in this believers are called to work. It is evident
+from Scripture, and the experience of Christians answers to it, that
+in the hour of believing they pass from death to life, considered as a
+state. This is the hour of the new birth: they then receive life for
+the time, and it is their privilege, by the constitution of the new
+covenant, to ask and receive, from day to day, grace to help in every
+time of need. To them, and not to the unregenerate, the exhortation is
+addressed, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for
+it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good
+pleasure,' The means are of God's appointing, in the diligent use of
+which they go from strength to strength. The grand means is faith in
+God's promises, of which there are very many in the Scriptures.
+Believers are to put forth their own exertions, as the children of
+Israel were called to go out against their enemies, in the faith that
+God would give them victory and lead them to their promised rest. The
+battle was the Lord's, and he fought for them; but the means were
+their exertions. Believers are God's workmanship; but this work he
+carries on by exercising their natural powers, which he sanctifies to
+a different end from that to which they were formerly by their own
+spirit directed. Still, the Scripture testifies that if any man say he
+has no sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him; and
+while sin remains, its consequence, suffering, must. The judgments of
+God, as the moral Governor of the world, are denounced against, and
+executed upon the workers of iniquity. The children of God experience
+personal chastisements for personal sins, as a provision of the
+covenant. Psalm 89:30. And, if I mistake not, there are afflictions
+experienced by individuals, as members of Christ's body, in which God
+does not bring into view the personal sins of the sufferer. In this
+sense I read Paul's epistle to the Colossians, 1:24: 'Who now rejoice
+in my sufferings, and fill up that which is behind of the sufferings
+of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church.' 'I
+sent Timotheus to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your
+faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions; for
+yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.' 1 Thes. 3:3. 'Yea,
+if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy
+and rejoice with you all; for the same cause do ye joy and rejoice
+with me.' Phil. 2:17. 'And whether we be afflicted, it is for your
+consolation and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your
+salvation and consolation.' 2 Cor. 1:6. There is no conscious personal
+sin expressed in these sufferings; on the contrary, Paul says, 'For
+our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in
+simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the
+grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more
+abundantly to you-ward.' 2 Cor. 1:12.
+
+ "Most of the prophets and apostles suffered martyrdom. They
+indeed sustained public characters, but the beggar Lazarus, who, in
+addition to poverty, was full of sores, was carried by the angels from
+the rich man's gate to Abraham's bosom. And thousands and tens of
+thousands of redeemed highly sanctified ones have suffered lengthened
+martyrdom, and perished with hunger, in holes and caves of the earth,
+unknown in history, except in groups--unseen at the time, except by
+the eye of the omniscient Jehovah, by whom the hairs of their head are
+numbered; their tears are in his bottle; nor shall one sigh nor one
+groan perish without its result.
+
+ "O my Eliza, what delightful wonders shall open to our view when
+delivered from these prison-holds of earth.
+
+ "I have finished one sheet, my dear Eliza; I fear it is too much,
+and may prove too fatiguing, especially as there are many references
+requiring a stretch of attention. I have been reading the epistle to
+the Hebrews, and you have naturally got my thoughts on part of it.
+
+ "I remember once of your complaining that you had made small
+progress in knowledge, in comparison of a young person that had just
+left you; but you checked yourself, and said, 'The Lord has given me
+faith, let me be thankful.' I at that time considered your departure
+as very near, and advised you to keep your eye fixed on Christ, as
+your Redeemer and Saviour, who had performed all things for you, and
+would perfect all that concerned you; and added, one hour in heaven
+will make you wiser than the most enlightened saint on earth. Since
+that it has pleased your Lord to add many days to your life. He has
+mitigated your pain, and given you some intervals of ease and
+composure, and our dear Eliza has grown in that time. Should it please
+God to spare you for a yet longer season, and continue your intervals
+of ease, no subject can be so profitable; and I hope your Lord will
+make it pleasant as that of the contents of the New Testament, which
+your Saviour bequeathed to you, sealed and ratified in his blood.
+There is a vast variety of precious promises contained in the
+Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are all yours with
+Christ; for, as a member of his body, 'you are built upon the
+foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
+the chief corner-stone.' And now I commend you to your own covenant
+God, who does and will support you, through life and through death, to
+that happy land where we shall all meet; and Oh then, eye hath not
+seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the
+things he hath prepared for them that love him.
+
+ "I am, with much love and affection, yours,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To Mr. James Todd, New York.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, Long Island.
+
+ "MY DEAR JAMES--This will probably be handed you by our mutual
+friend Mrs. C----. The thought of her being with you, makes me part
+with her with less reluctance. You have not been forgotten by either;
+we have talked much of you, and have united in prayer to your and our
+God, that he may manifest himself unto you as your reconciled Father
+in Christ Jesus; and give you 'joy and peace in believing'--that he
+may give you patience in suffering, and entire resignation to his most
+holy will.
+
+ "It has, my dear young friend, been my earnest inquiry,
+especially of late years, standing on the brink of eternity, 'What is
+there within us, or without us, on which a sinner can rest in a dying
+hour?' If it be a holy life, there is no peace for me. Taking the law
+of God for my rule, backslider is my name; yet peace I have found, and
+on the best Security; this blessed Bible is my charter. I have
+searched it with diligence and prayer, and my mind is confirmed in the
+following truths: That the whole world is become guilty before God,
+and is under his wrath and curse on that account. This is our state: a
+miserable state it is, and as hopeless as miserable, for any thing we
+can do merely of ourselves. But I read in this Bible to the full
+amount of the following conclusions--that in the counsel of the
+mysterious Triune Jehovah, Jesus Christ, the second person of the
+incomprehensible Trinity, was sanctified, or set apart to become the
+Saviour of law-condemned sinners, to take their nature upon him,
+comply with the requisitions of the eternal immutable law of God, and
+become their surety. Man is a rebel, it is put to his account: a
+penalty is incurred--He, as their surety, is made liable. Are they
+again to be made heirs of eternal life? Perfect obedience is the
+condition--and of Him, as their surety, it is demanded. All this being
+fulfilled, sinners are become his property: he has paid their debt,
+and merited for them eternal life, all in their own nature, as their
+Head and representative; so that believers are complete in him. This
+is the righteousness of God, wrought out by Jesus Christ, in his own
+person, God-man, as their surety. To this nothing of the believer's is
+to be added--with this nothing of his mixed; it is for ever perfect;
+entirely distinct from that holiness of heart and life which is
+wrought in him in consequence of this. God has declared himself well
+pleased with this righteousness, and that being himself reconciled, he
+is in Christ Jesus reconciling sinners to him.
+
+ "Hence all the invitations scattered thick in the Old and New
+Testament, not only to the penitent, weary, and heavy laden, but to
+the stout-hearted, the backslider, to them that are wearying
+themselves in their own way. 'Ho, every one that thirsteth'--'Whosoever
+will, let him take the water of life freely,' Hence all the promises
+annexed to believing, accepting, receiving, trusting, resting: Christ
+the Saviour is the object--the gift of God to sinners for all the
+above purposes. The Lord has convinced me that I have nothing in
+myself on which I can rest; my conscience echoes to his word in all
+that it asserts of my nature and my state; but this Saviour is
+provided for sinners exactly of this description. I am invited to put
+in my claim, I believe the record, I rest my salvation on his word;
+God giveth to me eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Jesus
+calls me to look unto him, and be saved; I do look unto him, and I am
+saved. He assures me that those who come unto him shall never be cast
+out. I do go to him and commit my sinful soul to his keeping; I shall
+not be cast out. As many as receive the gift of his Son, receive at
+the same time power to become the children of God. I do receive his
+gift, and lay claim to his promise. He is my reconciled Father, and I
+am his adopted child, and he hath sent his Spirit into my heart, by
+which I can say, Abba, Father.
+
+ "I have, my dear James, taken this method of laying before you
+the grounds of my own hope, because I think it the most simple method,
+and containing at the same time my counsel to you to lay hold on the
+same hope. The warrant is given us in God's own word, as sinners,
+without respect to fruit or any works of ours. I can, if necessary,
+give you chapter and verse, to the full amount; but you have those
+about you who can give it to you by little and little, as your weak
+state can bear it. This gift is held out to the sinner's acceptance in
+many places of the word of God, and becomes the sinner's in the moment
+of believing. Provision is made by the same covenant for his
+sanctification; but that makes no part of justifying righteousness.
+Christ is made of God unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
+and redemption. Try, my precious young friend, to lay hold on this
+hope, and enter into the rest provided for the believer here. Stretch
+forth 'the withered hand,' the Lord himself will give you strength.
+Commit your precious soul into his hands, and rest assured that he
+will perfect all that concerns you--work all his work in you--carry
+you safely through the Jordan of death, and put you in possession of
+the inheritance he has purchased for you. That all this shall be,
+is the prayer and firm hope of
+
+ "Your affectionate friend,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The two following extracts, addressed to Mrs. C----, near Boston,
+present a very gratifying view of Mrs. Graham in her advanced years,
+and may well awaken the desire not only to die the death, but to enjoy
+the "fruitful old age" of "the righteous."
+
+
+ "I have, as you know, enjoyed much in life, enjoyed its dearest,
+sweetest comforts, love and friendship, with a heart tremblingly alive
+to both. Lover and friends of youth are long since gone, other
+friendships I have formed, and have been happy even in these; now I am
+shut up with ails and aches. The world, properly so called, is a dead
+blank to me; yet I do think I never enjoyed life more. I would not
+exchange my present happiness for the most transporting moments of my
+life--of which I have had a large share--though thousands of years
+were added to enjoy them. I do not mean barely that happiness which
+consists in the anticipation of pleasure beyond the grave; that is
+indeed delightful; but I enjoy life now. Books of taste are mine no
+more: still less those of science and history; but my dear Bible;
+precious subjects; my dear Saviour. The height, the depth, the
+breadth, the length of the glorious plan of redemption open to my
+delightful perception more and more, and the Spirit witnesseth with my
+spirit, that I have my part in it by the gift of _faith_. I
+believe the record, that God giveth to us eternal life, and I put in
+my claim as a sinner. I account it a 'faithful saying, and worthy of
+all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
+sinners, of whom I am the chief,' I still enjoy the ordinances of the
+gospel: my memory, as you know, is much impaired: I recollect very
+little of the sermons I hear; but I think I never heard with so much
+attention. I am delighted, instructed, and fed at the time, and the
+subjects open to me without my being able to recollect the order or
+the words of the speaker. O let me recommend this dear Lord to your
+heart and confidence; commit all your concerns to him; mistrust no
+part of his providential dealings with you; his wisdom shall manage
+for you, and you shall one day say, 'He hath done all things well.'"
+
+
+ "MARCH, 1811.
+
+ "I am daily on the lookout; one year and three months will
+complete my threescore and ten. I do not know one individual alive
+whom I know in my school-days; it has been the case for many years. I
+do not long for my dismission, neither am I tired of life; but nothing
+in this world, unless closely connected with another, interests me;
+and Oh, I am tired of sin; still it cleaves to me; in all things I
+come short, and many duties neglect altogether; for I still have a
+considerable, share of health, and might do some good, had I will
+equal to my opportunities; as to the power, it is not in me, but I
+know I have it in my blessed Head, and for the asking. I cannot but
+long to be delivered from sin, and sinful apathy in particular; for
+really my heart must be wickedly fertile, to find out opportunities of
+moral transgression. Food and raiment are mine without care; my
+children, under God, care for me. I have my dear little room, my
+Bible, and books founded on it. I have a dear pastor and Christian
+friends, lively ordinances, and also much of the Lord's presence at
+times; my cup runs over with blessings, but my gratitude bears no
+proportion; my zeal for the glory of God and the good of my
+fellow-sinners seems buried under self-indulgence and apathy. O that
+the goodness of the Lord may lead me to repentance.
+
+ "And now, my dear friend, let me know how it is with you and your
+dear family. The severe winter is past; how have you got along? with
+what temporal comfort, and how has the Lord dealt with your soul? Has
+the barrel of meal or the cruse of oil failed? Does the opening spring
+cheer your spirits, and furnish a song of praise? Does it find you in
+a situation to dig your garden, sow your seeds, and make provision for
+future comfort? Has the Lord turned your captivity, and dried up the
+bitter waters that flowed against you? How are your eyes, after all
+the briny tears that have steeped them? How are your poor nerves,
+after all the shocks that have agitated them? All these things have
+been on my mind; but from my long silence, you cannot believe it. What
+are we all, but broken reeds, which pierce the hand when laid hold of
+for support? There is but one Friend to poor, fallen, miserable man,
+in the universe. He is mercy; he is goodness; he is truth; he is
+wisdom; he is unchangeable, and never will fail you: take him to your
+heart; give it all to him; he only is worthy, no other is."
+
+
+ Her friend Mrs. C---- had now experienced new trials, by which
+she was again plunged into the depth of despondency. In the following
+we have a noble effort of Mrs. Graham's mind and heart to raise her up
+to "sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
+
+
+ "JUNE 27, 1811.
+
+ "I received my dear friend's letter this day week, and have been
+answering it ever since. Never was I in such a strait. It contains the
+effusions of disappointed hopes and anticipations of sore evils;
+indicates a soul deeply wounded, and taking in Christian principles
+under temptation. Where shall I begin? I have laid it before our
+compassionate High-priest, I have requested direction. Assist me, O
+thou blessed Comforter, whose office it is to convince of sin, as well
+as to minister consolation. Do both, from the heart and by the pen of
+thy handmaid.
+
+ "It appears to me salutary to call your attention first to the
+sovereignty of God. The silver and the gold are his, and the cattle on
+a thousand hills; he gives them to whomsoever he pleases; he setteth
+up one and putteth down another, doing whatsoever pleaseth him in the
+armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this earth; none can
+stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? He attributes to
+himself all events; men and other creatures are but instruments. Men's
+wicked hearts impel them to commit evil, but the events are of the
+Lord, which he overrules for his own glory, and for the good of his
+people. 'Him being delivered by the determinate counsel' of God, ye
+have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified him. Joseph said, 'Ye
+thought evil against me; but God meant it for good,' 'to save much
+people alive.' The Lord does not often, at the time, give his people
+reasons for afflicting them, though they can often read them at an
+after-period.
+
+ "Job was a holy man; his afflictions from God's own hand were
+very deep; the teasing unkindness and injustice of his friends made
+great part of the temptation, and he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
+When God did appear, he did not answer his cavils, nor give him one
+reason why he had dealt with him thus; but silenced him with views of
+his majesty, power, and wisdom--of his own meanness and vileness,
+though correct in his conduct beyond most others. I believe he spoke
+truth when he said, 'I delivered the poor that cried, and the
+fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him
+that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart
+to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
+I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched
+out.' God allowed the weight of the trial to be upon his spirit, with
+the conviction of his presumption, till he brought him to his feet.
+'Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee?' 'I will lay my hand
+upon my mouth.' 'I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' These
+things were written for our example and profit.
+
+ "This afflictive providence is now finished, at least so far.
+What you now possess is the allotment of your God. Set all instruments
+aside and listen to the Holy Ghost: 'Humble yourselves under the
+mighty hand of God, and he shall exalt you in due time.' In order to
+this, I would recommend to you to take a close, retrospective view of
+your past life, with earnest prayer that God would search you and try
+you, and show you what wicked ways have been or now are in you. Go
+back to the days of your youth; take a close view of the use you made
+of affluence and influence; not comparing yourself with others, but
+judging yourself by the law of God, the only standard of right and
+wrong, truth and error. Seek for humbling views of yourself in
+yourself. If the Holy Ghost enlighten, you will find sufficient
+grounds. Seek for consolation in the free promises of God, through
+Jesus Christ, of which there are also abundance, even to the chief of
+sinners. What I recommend to you has been my own practice, especially
+in times of trial; and if health will admit of it, add fasting,
+because I think it is the Lord's ordinance. 'The days shall come when
+the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then shall they fast in
+those days.'
+
+ "Read the third chapter of Jeremiah's lamentations; endeavor to
+come under the feelings of contrition on account of your sins, and
+derive consolation from faith in God's great mercy; ever keeping in
+view the only channel through which mercy can flow to sinners of
+Adam's race. Take also a view of God's dealings with his elect nation,
+in the wilderness: they had nothing but manna, and were punished for
+murmuring; while at that very time the nations in Canaan, the
+Egyptians, and Assyrians, were living in all manner of luxury. What
+was their whole history but backsliding, threatening upon threatening?
+then chastisement, turning, repenting, pardon, reconciliation, and the
+same round again, every chastisement severer than the last, while
+worldlings in general have their day to the end; then 'are they
+brought into desolation as in a moment.' I wish you to take a
+particular view of God's dealings with them, before Nebuchadnezzar
+sacked the city of Jerusalem. The decree was passed after many
+warnings, and much long-suffering. How many pauses, as it were, did
+the merciful Lord God make before he gave them finally up to their
+enemies; and when the decree was irrevocable, and the chastisement to
+take place, still he followed them with mercy. See Jeremiah 27:12; and
+chapter 29, the letter which God commanded Jeremiah to write to those
+who had been carried away captive with Jehoiakim, advising them to
+build houses and plant vineyards, and to make the most of their
+situation. Those at Jerusalem were commanded to submit to the king of
+Babylon, as in that case he would not destroy the city; but no, they
+stood it out, and the threatened vengeance overtook them.
+
+ "The poor were left to take care of the vineyards. Jeremiah
+remained with them in preference to going with the king of Babylon to
+be promoted to honor. God offered to take them under his protection
+and be their God: but no, they would go to Egypt, and put themselves
+under the king of Egypt's protection. Jeremiah told them from the
+Lord, that Egypt itself should soon go into captivity. But to Egypt
+they went and carried Jeremiah with them. See Isaiah's prophecy on
+this occasion, chapter 30:1-4. Now look at chapter 42:24; there you
+see God's judgment and chastening; follow him in the beginning of
+chapter 43, and view his mercy; in the end of the same chapter, again,
+see his charge against them, but it is followed, with mercy,
+not judgment.
+
+ "Thus we learn the character of God. Thus we learn his dealings
+with his people. They are not called to earthly comfort and
+prosperity. They ever have been, and still are a suffering people;
+they are all sinners--sin brings suffering, and God overrules
+suffering, so as to make it profitable to them. Though redeemed by the
+life and death of Christ, being justified by faith, they have peace
+with God; yet the Lord has not pleased all at once to qualify them for
+the purchased possession. They receive a new birth, new life, and are
+called to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, with
+this consolation, that God worketh in them both to will and to do of
+his good pleasure. This is not their home, here they have no
+continuing city; they are travelling through the wilderness, to the
+city and mansions purchased and prepared for them by their Saviour,
+and must be made holy before they can enter in. They have many
+corruptions to be mortified, and many errors in their estimation of
+men and things to be corrected. Their hearts require to be made
+spiritual, humble, tender, resigned, and loving. 'Who fed thee in the
+wilderness with manna--that he might humble thee, and that he might
+prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.'
+
+ "Besides, all suffering is not the immediate punishment of sin in
+the individual sufferer, nor for his exclusive profit; it is evident
+from Scripture, there is suffering for the benefit of the body of
+Christ, _his church_, of which, I think, all have some share. God
+has wise ends to answer by all the suffering of his creatures, and
+especially of the members of his body. The apostles rejoiced in this,
+and so ought we. 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with
+him.' Paul says, 'I fill up in my flesh that which is behind of the
+sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which is the church.'
+
+ "Now, my dear friend, look at your real situation, as a suffering
+member of a suffering body. Take a view of the saints of God in
+history, sacred or profane, and compare your own individual suffering
+with theirs: I am apt to think that, great as it is, it will not rise
+to mediocrity. I could expatiate on this subject, from what comes
+every day within my own knowledge. The Lord is working in this way all
+around me; but of that another time. In your own case, try for a
+moment to shut out of view every thing without your own family, what
+you once were, what you once possessed and enjoyed; also what your
+friends possess and enjoy at this present time; detach yourself from
+all. What was yours is gone; what you calculated upon is also gone;
+set all aside, and consider yourself a sinner saved from destruction
+by grace; in a state of purgation and preparation for happiness; on a
+pilgrimage with thousands of others your fellow-saved sinners, through
+the wilderness, to that inheritance which was purchased for you at
+_such a price_. Your Saviour is your leader, protector, provider;
+also your physician, and the physician of the whole body, perfectly
+acquainted with the constitution, disposition, and temper of every
+individual. He has made provision for each, all the journey through,
+and given security that none shall suffer _real_ want.
+
+ "Bread and water are promised; nothing beyond these, though in
+general he gives more; to each he gives a portion in hand, to some for
+a day, some for a week, some for a year, which they calculate upon
+with more or less probability: none with certainty. Your portion
+is--for a year; take a view of those whom you know; one with another,
+I am inclined to think the Lord has still given you your full share of
+privilege. Look at the ordinary provision he makes for the ministers
+of his gospel, most of them with large families; many of those in the
+country have five hundred dollars, some four hundred, some three
+hundred, generally ill paid. The Lord puts a blessing in it, he makes
+it go far; they do what their hands find to do, and get along: so will
+he do with you, my dear. He will put you upon methods of industry and
+economy: your one chicken divided into six parts, with a little bit of
+pork, with the fruit of God's blessing on your industry in the garden,
+shall both taste sweet and satisfy for the time. Try to be thankful;
+Moses said of the manna, 'This is the bread which the Lord your God
+giveth you.' Pray and watch against dwelling on the plentiful tables
+of others; and when bidden to a feast take your portion, and say, this
+is from the Lord for the time. Do not let a thought of misery or
+wretchedness dwell upon your mind. O no, God is good; you shall not
+want. O, what sweet meals have I and my children made on hot potatoes,
+nicely boiled and cracked, with salt--not merely content, but they
+tasted good and savory. There are peculiar pleasures in a life of that
+kind. You shall yet sing of it.
+
+ "Now, my dear friend, I have done with what I had to say on this
+head. I have had great fears of wounding, lest you should reckon me
+among Job's friends; but you call me mother, and it is required of a
+mother to be faithful. I now leave it with the Lord. We are delighted
+to find you girding up the loins of your mind and setting about active
+duty. Let us meet at a throne of grace, and look to the course the
+Lord marks out for us."
+
+
+ To Mrs. G---- Y----.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--I have just parted with my dear afflicted friend
+Mrs. C----; she left it in charge to me, that I should write to you in
+the time of your affliction. Surely I would do any thing whatever that
+I thought might alleviate either her or your distress. But there are
+cases to which God alone can speak; afflictions which he alone can
+console. Such are those under which the sufferer is commanded to be
+'still and know that he is God.' He never leaves his people in any
+case, but sometimes shuts them up from human aid. Their grief is too
+great to be consoled by human tongue or pen.
+
+ "Such I have experienced. I lost my only son; I neither know when
+nor where; and for any thing I know, in a state of rebellion against
+God. Here at my heart it lies still; who can speak to me of it?
+neither can I reason upon it. Aaron held his peace. Old Eli said, 'It
+is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.' Samuel in his turn had
+his heart wrung by his ungodly son. David lamented over his beloved
+Absalom; but it availed him nothing. Job's sons and daughters were all
+cut off in one day; he himself lay in deep, sore bodily affliction;
+his friends sat seven days and seven nights without opening their
+mouths, because they saw his affliction was very great; and if they
+spoke, it was to aggregate it; and when God himself spoke, he gave him
+no reason for his dealings, but charged him with folly and madness.
+'Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that
+reproveth God, let him answer it.' Then he laid his hand on his mouth,
+confessed himself vile, and became dumb before God; abhorring himself,
+and repenting in dust and ashes, instead of the splendid catalogue of
+virtues enumerated in chapter 29, and complaints in chapter 10, which
+I make not the least doubt were true, as far as human virtue can
+reach; but if God charge even his angels with folly, shall man,
+corrupt, self-destroyed man, plead merit before God?
+
+ "But, my dear friend, I do not find in all God's Bible any thing
+requiring us to acquiesce in the final destruction of any, for whom we
+have prayed, pleaded, and committed to him; least of all, our
+offspring whom he has commanded us to train up for him. Children are
+God's heritage. I do not say he has given us any promise for the
+obstinately wicked; but when cut off, he only requires us to be still,
+to hold our peace. I do not think he takes hope from us. God has set
+limits to our faith for others; our faith must not rest in opposition
+to his threatenings. We must believe that the wicked shall be turned
+into hell, and all that forget God; but he hath set no bounds to his
+own mercy; in that glorious plan of redemption, by which he
+substitutes his own Son in the stead of sinners, he has made provision
+for the chief of sinners, and can now be just and consistent while he
+justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus. Short was the time between
+the thief's petition and the promise of salvation; nay, the petition
+was the earnest of it. The same was the case with the jailer; I think,
+too, the publican had the earnest in his petition. Now, instead of
+laboring to bring my mind to acquiesce in the condemnation of my
+child, on the supposition of its being for God's glory, I try to be
+still, as he has commanded: not to follow my child to the yet
+invisible world; but turning my eyes to that character which God has
+revealed of himself--to the plan of redemption--to the sovereignty of
+God in the execution of that plan--to his names of grace, 'The Lord,
+the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
+goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,'
+while he adds, 'and that will by no means clear the guilty;' I meet it
+with his own declaration, 'He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew
+no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' I read
+also that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment,' and many other like
+scriptures, which, although I dare not ground a belief of his
+salvation on them, afford one ray of hope after another, that God may
+have made him a monument of mercy to the glory of his grace.
+
+ "Thus God himself consoles his own praying people, while man
+ought to be very cautious, if not silent, where the Scriptures are
+silent, as it respects the final state of another, whose heart we
+cannot know, nor what God may have wrought in it. God hath set bounds
+to our faith, which can nowhere find solid ground to fix upon but in
+his own written promise. Yet, as I said above, he has set no bounds to
+his own mercy, and he has made provision for its boundless flow, as
+far as he shall please to extend it, through the atonement and merits
+of his own Son, 'who is able to save to the uttermost all who come
+unto God by him,' Now, my dear friend, you have my ideas of our
+situation; if they be correct, I pray that our compassionate Father
+may comfort you by them; if otherwise, may he pardon what is amiss,
+and lead you, my dear friend C----, and myself, to such consolation as
+he himself will own as the work of his Spirit, and save us from the
+enemy and our own spirit.
+
+ "Since writing the foregoing, I feel afraid of what I have said;
+it is dangerous seeking comfort where the Scriptures are silent; yet
+while we plead with God to be preserved from error, and try to be
+still before him, he will save us from the subtlety of the serpent, as
+well as from the rage of the lion. I am, with love,
+
+ "Your sympathizing friend,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, September 10, 1811.
+
+ "I have been here four Sabbaths. The first I spent at home, the
+weather not permitting our going abroad; the second I spent at a
+prayer-meeting with the Methodist brethren; the third we rode to
+Hempstead, where I heard two plain gospel sermons from Mr. C----,
+Presbyterian minister; and the last I attended at the Episcopal
+church, same place; heard a good plain gospel sermon from Mr. H----,
+and witnessed the dispensation of the Lord's supper.
+
+ "To sing the praises of our redeeming God, and to lift up my
+heart in prayer with my fellow-sinners, in the comfortable hope that
+there are other living souls praising and praying with me, refreshes
+me: to hear the word of God read, and to be led to meditate upon it,
+however simple and common the exposition, also refreshes me. I am
+generally led to pray much for minister and people; to consider myself
+as one with them in Christ. However weak his natural powers, however
+few or small his talents, if I have reason to think that he is taught
+of God that which flesh and blood cannot teach, I desire to esteem him
+highly for his work's sake. I thank God for the meanest and weakest
+of such: I believe they never labor in vain. 'Out of the mouths of
+babes and sucklings,' in talents as well as in years, God will
+perfect praise.
+
+ "In this new world, thickly settled in many places with natural
+men 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,' while the
+flood of wrath is hastening to overwhelm them, and none to warn them
+of their danger, nor point out the ark of safety; shall such men be
+reckoned of none account, and their labors of no value? No, the wealth
+of both Indies cannot balance their work; nor all the talents ever
+possessed by fallen man, with all the orthodoxy which mere talents are
+capable of acquiring, without that divine teaching which many of
+those, thus contemned, possess. That same small discourse, those few
+plain points, these same things repeated in the same way, contain
+truths by which sinners may be saved, by which sinners shall be saved.
+
+ "Suppose, for it is but a supposition, that these men have made a
+mistake. They are the Lord's, and in their place by his providence. He
+will be forth-coming for them, and without miracle. From him shall
+their fruit be found, and his power be manifested by their weakness.
+Exert your energies, ye gifted doctors of divinity; and may the Lord
+prosper the means used to produce a ministry which shall render
+attendance upon their ministrations the interest of both the
+understanding and the heart. Persuade men who are adding field to
+field, house to house, thousand to thousand, to provide a competent
+maintenance for them. If these last remain obstinate, and it be idle
+to hope that youths of talents without fortune, whatever be their
+piety, will serve the church of God at the expense of devoting
+themselves to infallible penury, and all the wretchedness which
+belongs to it--is it wise to weaken the hands and discourage the
+hearts of those ministers already settled pastors, or to furnish their
+people with arguments in their own vindication for leaving them in
+want and penury?"
+
+
+ In the year 1811, some gentlemen of New York established a
+Magdalen Society: they elected a board of ladies, requesting their aid
+to superintend the internal management of the Magdalen House. This
+board chose Mrs. Graham their presiding lady, which office she held
+until her decease; the duties attendant on it she discharged with
+fidelity and zeal. In 1812 the trustees of the Lancasterian school
+solicited the attendance of several pious ladies, to give catechetical
+instruction to their scholars one afternoon in every week: and Mrs.
+Graham was one of those who attended regularly to this duty.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 8, 1812.
+
+ "'By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
+the son of Pharaoh's daughter; esteeming the reproach of Christ
+greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto
+the recompense of the reward: choosing rather to suffer affliction
+with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
+season.' Heb. 11:24.
+
+ "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
+persecution; the natural heart is enmity against God, and hates his
+image wherever found. If individual Christians have the favor of
+individual worldlings, it never is for their piety, that is rather
+borne with than loved; and too often Christians save themselves from
+reproach by unfaithfulness; that, alas, has been my sin and shame. In
+all my friendships with worldlings, some of which have been tender,
+how unfaithful have I been to friendship's highest office. How seldom
+have I endeavored to rescue my friend from sin and Satan, by leading
+her to the Friend of sinners, the source of happiness. Contenting my
+vile, selfish heart, with things pertaining to this life unconnected
+with that to come, leaving her under the influence of 'the lust of the
+eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life;' without eyes to
+see her danger, or friend to warn her of it; and while she
+communicated with me in things common to both, in all the good she
+knew, keeping back nothing from me of all she possessed; how often
+have I concealed my richest treasure, without inviting her to the
+participation. O, faithless friend! O, ungrateful, unfaithful--first
+to that gracious God who opened mine own eyes, arrested ray attention,
+stopped up my path, and turned me to the way of life; and next to
+my friend, whom I have left to pursue that same way of death,
+without attempting to lead her to this same sovereign, merciful,
+gracious Deliverer.
+
+ "And what withheld! Shame belongs to the heart governed by such
+motives; fear of contempt, reproach, or, at most, the loss of a carnal
+friendship. Of three such friends, now gone to their place, two
+continued their worldly course to the last, so far as I know; for the
+third the Lord provided a more faithful friend, who became worker
+together with the Spirit of God, led her to the Friend of sinners, who
+has compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, By
+Him she was received, and in Him she found life, light, and peace.
+
+ "She soon outran faithless me in the heavenly race; gently chid
+me for my remissness, but continued my friend and helper. Ever
+foremost in the race, humble and steady in faith, she looked not back,
+nor halted. She has long since finished her course, received her crown
+and reward of grace, and become fruit to the account of that friend
+who supplied what was wanting in me. I rejoice with them both, give
+glory to God, from whom their fruit was found, and take shame and
+confusion for my part.
+
+ "How many opportunities have I lost, and from the same sinful,
+shameful cause. O my Redeemer, what can I say to thee? Words are
+wanting to express my loathing of that vile, selfish cowardice.
+
+ "Didst Thou, who art the Creator of heaven and earth, the
+brightness of the glory of God, the express image of his person, and
+upholder of all things, suffer shame, contempt, anguish, death for my
+sake, that thou mightest redeem me from the second death, and purchase
+for me eternal life; and do I shrink and turn away from the least
+taste of thy cup, though the curse is extracted and a blessing
+infused!
+
+ "And after all this, art thou pacified towards me? I search in
+vain for words to express the amazing grace. 'As the heaven is high
+above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him, and
+towards vile me, who can lay small claim to that character; yet, as
+far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed my
+transgressions from him. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, who excel in
+strength, that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his
+word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do
+his pleasure; ye ministering spirits, sent forth to watch over and
+minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1812.
+
+ "Dr. M----. 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
+the world,' John 1:29.
+
+ "He dwelt chiefly on the substitution of the victim in the room
+of the transgressor. When a victim was offered for an individual, he
+was to lay his hand on the head of the animal, by the appointment of
+God, as a token of his faith that his sins should be transferred to
+the victim which suffered death in his stead, and that his sins were
+forgiven and his person accepted. If the victim was for the whole
+congregation, then the elders, as their representatives, were to lay
+their hands upon the head of the victim, signifying the same faith.
+Great was the subject of the plan of redemption: The Son of God
+clothed with our nature, given and set apart as a propitiatory
+sacrifice, the victim upon whom the sins of his elect were laid, and
+he sacrificed in their stead.
+
+ "The Lamb of God, which took away the sins not only of the Jewish
+transgressors, but the sins of the elect out of every nation, kindred,
+and tongue throughout the world--on this Lamb of God rests my own
+individual hope for pardon and for acceptance. I lay my own individual
+hand of faith on his dear head, confess my sin, and rely upon his
+sacrifice for pardon and acceptance, through the atonement made by
+himself, God's anointed Priest."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, April, 1812.
+
+ "Dr. Romeyn. 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
+shall suffer persecution.' 2 Timothy 3:12. Gone as usual; but it came
+home to my heart. I have not suffered persecution; and why? because my
+life has not testified sufficiently against a sinful world. Alas,
+alas! the world loves its own, and I have been so accommodating, to
+say the least, as not to disturb it. 'The carnal mind is enmity
+against God; is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be;'
+but the world saw little in me of that image which they hate, and
+enough of assimilation to balance that little. O my God, my
+long-suffering, sin-pardoning God, thou knowest my vile cowardice;
+with professors a professor of thy name, with worldlings a seeming
+worldling. And now the season is past, the opportunity lost; the time
+of life is arrived when the world itself expects to be abandoned. No
+line of conduct in me will now reprove them; they account it wise to
+look out for a better portion, when the world can no longer be
+enjoyed; and through the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and the
+suggestions of the ever-vigilant enemy of souls, may be hardened in
+sin, by hoping to become religious in old age. O, let thy grace
+prevent it.
+
+ "The sinfulness, and O, the ingratitude of my past life rise in
+magnitude every review I take of it. And what can I say? Father,
+forgive. Yes, I dare say, Father, forgive. I dare say more, Thou hast
+forgiven. This grief of heart proves that thou hast not sealed me up
+in impenitence. Thou rememberest thy covenant with me in the days of
+my youth, when thou didst draw me with the cords of love and the bands
+of a man; and though no language can express my baseness and my
+ingratitude, through all my backsliding life, thy covenant stands
+fast.
+
+ "'I remember, and am confounded, and will never open my mouth any
+more because of my shame, now that thou art pacified towards me for
+all that I have done. And I know that thou art the Lord.
+
+ Contrition dwell within this breast,
+ That God within this heart may rest:
+ Shame and confusion flush this face,
+ And magnify this glorious grace.
+ Grace be my theme while I have breath,
+ And on my quivering lips in death.
+ Angels and fellow-sinners, say,
+ Will you not join me in this lay,
+ Now, and through heaven's eternal day?
+
+ "Blessed Comforter, thou seest old age upon me, loss of memory,
+and a desultory mind; I cannot retain even the substance of my dear
+pastor's sermons. I thank thee for the food and refreshment at the
+time, and often after for refreshing meditations on the same subjects.
+I commit all to thee; keep them for me, and feed me with these truths
+as thou seest I need. O be to me memory, judgment, presence of mind,
+for order, regularity, and natural powers are gone. I rejoice in my
+dear Saviour, who of God is made unto me wisdom, righteousness,
+sanctification, and redemption. He shall perfect that which concerneth
+me, and finish the work he has begun. Therefore I say, All is well."
+
+
+ "COMMUNION SABBATH, May 17, 1812.
+
+ "Was much melted under a sense of indwelling sin, and the
+deceitfulness of the human heart, and of my own heart in particular. I
+have been. I think, much in the exercise of contrition for the sins of
+my past life, and exercised in watching over my words, thoughts, and
+actions; now that the Lord has delivered me from all necessity to
+care, having every thing provided for me _necessary to life and
+godliness:_ pleasant food and clothing both for body and mind; my
+dear room, retirement, fire, candle, attendance; my precious Bible,
+and precious, lively, spiritual ordinances; a faithful and beloved
+pastor, who feeds me with truth: I taste it, and I am fed. I am, as
+the Lord God merciful and gracious has awarded, under the constant
+influence of shame and confusion for my highly aggravated
+transgressions: but I also enjoy the full sense of pardon; being
+justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
+Christ; and knowing that I have a 'great high-priest that is passed
+into, the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,' I am enabled to hold fast my
+profession, comforted by this, that I have not a high-priest who
+cannot be touched with the feeling of my infirmities, but was in all
+points tempted as we are, yet without sin. I dare come, not very
+boldly, for I am under much depression, to the throne of grace, that I
+may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Every time is
+a time of need with me, for sin still dwelleth in me. I have peace
+with God through my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but am at
+constant war with myself. I plead thy promise, that thou wilt subdue
+my iniquities, that sin shall not have dominion over me. And now,
+Captain of salvation, I renew the fight, but it is depending upon thee
+to fight for me, with me, and in me. I will set myself to watch, but I
+shall watch in vain, if thou keep not the avenues of my heart, and the
+door of my lips. O, clothe me with thy meek and lowly spirit."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, July 26, 1812.
+
+ "Tired of the bustle of Rockaway, and having some subordinate
+motives for returning home for a time, I embraced this season in
+particular; having, in the compass of one week, Sabbath, Wednesday my
+birthday, and the day set apart both by the General Assembly of our
+church and the Governor of our state, for fasting, prayer, and
+humiliation, besides lectures on the same evening. I returned
+therefore on Friday, the 24th.
+
+ "Dr. R---- preached from Psalm 27:1,'The Lord is my light and my
+salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of
+whom shall I be afraid?'
+
+ "O my God, my merciful and gracious God, what can I say of thy
+amazing, distinguishing mercy to me? Delivered from all these fears,
+and able to adopt the text fully, I know of none who have more or
+greater cause of fear as sinners. My transgressions have been of
+_crimson_ and _scarlet_ hue. O my God, thou knowest them,
+words cannot paint them. My Saviour, thou knowest them, for thou
+baredst them; every jot and tittle was put to thy account, and thou
+didst cancel all. O that garden, that cry on the cross! the effects
+were seen on thy sacred body, but who can conceive the mysterious
+horror which agonized thy sacred soul? But thou saidst, _It is
+finished,_ and finished it is. Lamb of God, which takest away the
+sins of the world, on thy consecrated head I lay the hand of faith,
+confess my sins, pray for forgiveness, and believe that I am forgiven.
+
+ "July 29th, my birthday, and the last day of the threescore years
+and ten of my sinful life. What an, exhibition will that day produce,
+when the secrets of all hearts will be laid open, all my actions and
+all the springs of them. In all the myriads which shall appear at the
+bar of God, will there be such a sinner--taking into view the early
+grace manifested?
+
+ "Born, I think, about the seventeenth year of my natural life;
+previously instructed in the doctrines and precepts of the Scriptures,
+as far as the natural mind can conceive, by pious parents and a
+faithful pastor; with milk provided for my spiritual infancy, and
+richer food set before me for my growth; the leaves of the new
+covenant were opened to my view, and the fulness treasured in Christ
+for my supply, to be asked, to be delighted in; and delighted I was,
+and satisfied. But Oh, I forsook the fountain of living waters, and
+hewed out broken cisterns, that could hold no water. Where can
+language be found to depict my ingratitude, my madness, my folly; and
+where to describe the long-suffering, the compassionate remonstrances,
+the kindly, fatherly chastisements, the repeated pardons and
+restorations of my gracious God in days of youth--aggravating my
+renewed backslidings, bringing upon my sinful soul vengeance for my
+inventions? What were the sins of Israel and Judah to mine? Mine were
+committed after the great atonement was made; the adorable
+High-priest, Jesus, had with his own blood entered within the veil,
+and was set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty of the
+heavens: the minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,
+which the Lord pitched, and not man. The new covenant was exhibited,
+established on better promises, himself the Mediator. The new and
+living way was consecrated to the holiest of all by the blood of
+Jesus; a throne of grace was established, Jesus himself our Advocate
+and Intercessor. We are now privileged to come boldly to a throne of
+grace, that we may find grace to help in the time of need. O how
+aggravated my sin above theirs, having such great and precious
+privileges and promises, and a High-priest who can be touched with the
+feeling of our infirmities, who was in all points tempted as we are;
+who owns us as his brethren and sisters, yea, the very _members of
+his body_, and his Spirit dwelleth in us.
+
+ "I set apart the day for fasting and deep humiliation; took
+another survey of my past sinful life; confessed particulars on my
+knees, and made a fresh application to the blood of sprinkling which
+cleanseth from all sin; took a fresh hold of his new covenant of
+promise. 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those
+days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their
+minds will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities will I
+remember no more.' Lord, do as thou hast said. I rest my immortal soul
+on thy promise."
+
+
+ "JULY 30, 1812.
+
+ "The day set apart by the General Assembly and State Legislature
+for fasting and humiliation, confession of sin and prayer.
+
+ "Our pastor read the second chapter of Jeremiah, a great portion
+of which belongs to my own character as an individual; and is laid up
+as part of that provision which is to support me through the last
+stage in the wilderness, and through Jordan, over which I must shortly
+pass; laid in as a proof of the amazing long-suffering of God, and his
+readiness to forgive even the vile backslider in heart and life, as
+proclaimed in chapter three."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, NOV. 22."
+
+ "'Turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope.' Zech. 9:12.
+My Jesus--my hope, my stronghold, my safety, my Saviour, my portion,
+my life, my happiness--yes, my happiness, for safe I am and happy,
+though sometimes in heaviness, for yet sin dwelleth in me, and in
+others dear as my own soul; and though I know it is pardoned, and
+provision made for pardon to the end, yet, O it is bitter, and bitter
+let it be. I would not have it otherwise. Heal my depravity, O God;
+take sin out of this heart; O fill it with love to thee, and to all my
+fellow-sinners. My dear High-priest, it can be but a little further to
+Jordan. My seventy years are run. Does not the ark of the covenant
+appear, going before me? am I not called to decamp and follow after? O
+my blessed, blessed High-priest, keep my eye fixed on thy person, and
+let me the little further follow thee step by step, foot after foot,
+without losing one mark all the way to Jordan; and there let me see
+thee. Blessed ark of the covenant, roll back the waters of terror,
+stand firm in Jordan, and bid me come unto thee, and set up the stones
+of memorial in a song of praise in the midst of Jordan.
+
+ "O then thy glory let me see,
+ Then cause thy face to shine on me,
+ And tune my heart, and tune my voice,
+ And language furnish to rejoice,
+ That all around may lend their tongue,
+ And sweetly join my dying song."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, December 8, 1812.
+
+ "'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me:
+thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against mine enemies, and thy right
+hand shall save me.' 'The Lord will perfect that which concerns me:
+thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine
+own hands.' Psalm 138:7, 8.
+
+ "I will no longer mourn over loss of memory; I think the Lord has
+more than made it up to me by his sensible presence while hearing and
+applying the sermon to my heart at the time; not only so, he
+enlightens my understanding; it opens more to the elucidations of my
+pastor; and though I forget the words and the order of his discourses,
+I am instructed in the knowledge of the subject and the Scriptures in
+general. Shall I deny the grace of God through fear or pride? I see it
+not to be my duty. Can I attribute any thing to myself? No; shame and
+confusion of face belong to me, for my carelessness and idleness in
+the use of means during health and strength of body and mind. Never
+has God dealt with me as I sinned, but according to his own mercy, and
+in a way of great sovereignty. Let me record his great goodness, his
+tender mercies, and bless his name.
+
+ "Old age is upon me, and some of its infirmities; my memory is
+much impaired, and my mind in temporal things and subjects becomes
+very desultory. Not so in spirituals: I think I not only hear and read
+with more intense attention and prompt application, but my mind is
+more disposed to meditation; and though I cannot remember much of the
+sermons I hear, yet my mind is often furnished with happy and
+profitable thoughts on the same subjects; and I find myself instructed
+without remembering the instructions. This is evidently from the Lord.
+It appears to me also that I have not lost the sensibility of youth. I
+often shed tears, not only of compunction, but of gratitude. I seldom
+commune without tears. I think much of death; am solemnized, but
+not afraid.
+
+ "As far as I know, my confidence rests upon a
+surety-righteousness, exclusive of every thing in myself. I am not
+conscious of self-righteousness; I have no complacency in any thing
+ever done by me. I not only believe that in all things I come short,
+and that sin is mixed in all I do, because God hath said so, but am
+sensible of the particular depravity. It is my sincere desire to be
+stript of every thing that is mine--sins and duties laid in one
+heap--and to be clothed in the surety-righteousness of my Redeemer;
+all that is mine put to his account, and all that he did and suffered,
+as the Mediator and surety of the covenant, to mine.
+
+ "I am afflicted with rheumatism, but God gives me patience,
+disposes me to enumerate my many remaining mercies--eyes to read his
+word and ears to hear it preached; hitherto such moderation of pain as
+very often to be able to attend with fixedness. I have my room at my
+own command, candle, fire, and attendance; and O, bless the Lord, my
+soul, much of his sensible presence. In the night when my aches
+prevent me from sleeping, he gives me some sweet hymn; I sing, my pain
+is diverted, while my heart is melted and warmed under the
+expressions, and I often drop asleep with the words on my tongue.
+
+ "I am convinced that the provision I have laid in for my last
+journey in the wilderness and through Jordan, is selected by the
+influence of the Holy Ghost. He takes of the things of Christ and
+shows them unto me; and while he keeps upon my mind my meanness, my
+vileness, wrings my heart with the retrospect of my backslidings and
+highly aggravated transgressions, he opens at the same time the leaves
+of the New Testament and shows me my deliverance from punishment, the
+redemption of my soul, and my translation into the kingdom of God's
+dear Son: I weep and rejoice; I loathe myself, and clasping my Saviour
+to my heart, am at a loss for words to express how precious he is to
+my saved soul.
+
+ "Jesus, I love thy charming name,
+ 'Tis music to my ear;
+ Fain would I sound it out so loud
+ That heaven and earth should hear.
+
+ Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
+ My transport and my trust,
+ My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ No other good I boast.
+
+ All my capacious powers can wish,
+ In thee doth richly meet;
+ Not to mine eyes is light so dear.
+ Nor friendship's self so sweet.
+
+ Thy grace shall dwell upon my heart
+ And shed its fragrance there,
+ The noblest balm of all my wounds,
+ And cordial of my care.
+
+ I'll speak the honors of thy name
+ While I have life and breath;
+ Then, speechless, clasp thee in my arms,
+ The antidote of death.'
+
+ "Dr. M---- preached in the evening from Eph. 3:30: 'For we are
+members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.' It was a rich
+sermon; I enjoyed it at the time, but cannot recall it. Blessed
+Spirit, keep it for me, and feed me with the substance of it, as I
+stand in need.
+
+ "Accept of my thanks, blessed Jesus; that through thy meritorious
+life and death, I have an interest in the great whole. Accept of my
+thanks, blessed Spirit, for thus taking the things of Christ and
+showing them unto me. And accept of my thanks, Father of mercies, for
+the gift of thy Son, and all these blessings in him.
+
+ "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in
+Christ Jesus.' Amen."
+
+
+ "GREENWICH, Sabbath.
+
+ "Heard Dr. Milledoler preach in the state prison to the convicts,
+from Luke 19:10: 'For the Son of man is come to seek and save that
+which was lost.' He addressed them as fellow-sinners, all being by
+nature lost and dependent on the same means for recovery.
+
+ "True, my heart accords. O Lord, thou knowest I stand in my own
+estimation a sinner, the chief of sinners. These have added to their
+sin against thee, breach against men, and are suffering the penalty.
+
+ "My sins have been chiefly, though far from exclusively, against
+God, and with many aggravations. That I was born in a Christian land,
+of pious parents, who gave me religious instructions; brought up under
+faithful, lively ministers, and in religious society; exposed to few
+temptations but what arose from the corruptions of my own heart, are
+aggravations, which, perhaps, many are mourning over, as heightening
+the sin of unbelief in their unregenerated state. But the
+aggravations--the painful remembrance of which mars my comfort and
+covers me with shame and confusion even now, though I know that God is
+pacified with me--are as far above these as the heavens are above the
+earth. For in that Christian land, under those Christian parents and
+faithful pastors, while yet young and tender, I was enlightened,
+tasted of the heavenly gift, was made a partaker of the Holy Ghost,
+tasted of the good word of God and the power of the world to come. I
+was taken from the fearful pit and miry clay; my feet set upon the
+rock, and a new song put into my mouth, even to the amount of, O
+death, where is thy sting?--of redeeming love, pardoning grace, new
+covenant mercy, I had 'joy and peace in believing,' But forgetting my
+natural character, the extreme volatility of my spirits, my taste for
+gayety; forgetting the danger of smothering the heavenly spark by
+indulging to the utmost bound of lawful pleasure; forgetting my
+continual need of fresh supplies of grace to preserve and feed that
+new life which could not live on earthly food; forgetting the
+deceitfulness of my heart, the injunctions of my Bible, I became cold,
+negligent in the use of means, distant in prayer, lost enjoyment, and
+my heart, naturally carnal and madly fond of pleasure, got entangled.
+'The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life'
+regained their power; other loves usurped the place of that Beloved
+who had bought me with his blood, and betrothed me to himself; 'that
+which came into my mind was, that I would be as the families of the
+countries, to serve wood and stone.' Blessed be his name, he said, 'It
+shall not be.' He brought me into the wilderness and pleaded with me,
+caused me to pass under the rod, brought me again into the bond of
+the covenant.
+
+ "O how often hast thou wrought with me, for thy name's sake. One
+self-willed step brought with it a train of consequences dangerous to
+spiritual life, filling even the path of duty with pits and snares,
+cutting me off from ordinances, pastor, parents, church, country, and
+Christian society; placing me at the same time in the midst of carnal
+delights; and every thing in my natural temper and dispositions was
+congenial to them. What saved me? What in heaven or earth could save
+me, but thy covenant? Truly thy covenant standeth fast; therefore I
+was not lost in the vortex. But 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin,' kept his eye upon me; many a time
+did he stop up my path. O from how many delusions of my own seeking;
+how many snares and nets of my own weaving; how many pits of my own
+digging, hast thou delivered me, when wandering, bewildered, on
+temptation's ground, in the cloudy dark day. How often hast thou
+sought me out; how often bound me up when broken, strengthened me when
+sick, and fed me with judgment, and very, very often, thou madest
+thyself known to me. I knew thy hand when it shook the rod, when it
+arrested me on some mad career. I knew thy hedge, thy bar; saw not
+only escapes, but my Deliverer: often paused, turned, and took fast
+hold of thy covenant. I had no afflictions in those days, but every
+pleasure lawful to be enjoyed, and natural to the heart of woman; but
+no pastor, no church, no Christian society; yet God was there, my
+Bible, my Doddridge, and other good books. And to my shame and
+confusion this day, he was not, in the midst of all my idolatry, a
+barren wilderness, nor a land of drought to me. I had many Sabbaths;
+literally the Sabbath was a sign between my covenant God and me: ill
+spent it often was, but not with company; it was spent in retirement.
+The Lord did not leave me so far as to give up the Sabbath to the
+world. Though my heart was incrusted, and spiritual life scarcely
+discernible, sometimes the Lord met me, and strange to tell, not with
+threatenings causing terror, but with compunction, melting, turning,
+and ere the day was over, manifestations of pardon, though not joy;
+for I was grieved at my ingratitude.
+
+ "I did expect affliction long before it came, and my presumptuous
+heart calculated upon the fruit being the peaceable fruit of
+righteousness, and to take away sin; but still I held my way, gadding
+about, drinking the waters of Sihor and the rivers of Syria, and
+eating the worldling's dainties. Oh, Oh, at last it came; yes, it
+came. Thou didst cut off the desire of my eyes with a stroke, and with
+that made the world a blank to me. But O the stately steps of thy
+providential mercy previous to that trying hour. O my God, I must ever
+wonder and stand amazed at thy exuberant grace. In consistence with
+thy covenant, thou mightest have struck me among these worldlings, in
+that dry and barren land, where not one tongue could speak the
+language of Canaan, nor bring forth from thy precious Bible the words
+of consolation to my wounded and bereaved spirit; richly had I merited
+this; but never, no, never hast thou dealt with me as I sinned.
+Through the whole of my life, from the time that the Lord called me
+out of darkness into his marvellous light--from the time that he first
+led me to the Saviour, and enabled me to take hold of his covenant,
+wanderer, backslider, transgressor, rebel, idolater, ingrate, and if
+there be any name more expressively _vile_ and _abominable_,
+that is mine. And from the hour of my birth, through the whole of this
+refractory perverse life, 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin,' has been, and now is, thy
+name to me.
+
+ "No, ye strong-built walls, ye grated windows, ye gloomy cells,
+ye confine no such sinner as I. And did the Lord take vengeance on my
+inventions? O no, _mercy_ preceded, _mercy_ accompanied
+judgment; yea, it was all mercy, not vengeance. He brought me and my
+idol out of that barren land, placed us under the breath of prayer,
+among a dear little society of Methodists; he laid us upon their
+spirits, and when the messenger Death was sent for my beloved, the
+breath of prayer ascended from his bedside, from their little meeting,
+and I believe from their families and closets. The God of mercy
+prepared their hearts to pray, and his ear to hear, and the answer did
+not tarry. Behold, my husband prayeth; confesses sin; applies to the
+Saviour; pleads for forgiveness for his sake; receives comfort;
+blesses God for Jesus Christ, and dies with these words on his tongue,
+'I hold fast by the Saviour,' Behold another wonder; the idolatress in
+an ecstasy of joy. She who never could realize a separation for one
+single minute during his life, now resigns her heart's treasure with
+praise and thanksgiving.
+
+ "O the joy of that hour; its savor remains on my heart to this
+moment. For five days and nights I had been little off my knees: it
+was my ordinary posture at his bedside, and in all that time I had but
+_once_ requested life. Surely the spirit of prayer and supplication
+was poured out. The Spirit helped mine infirmities with groanings
+which could not be uttered, leading me to pray for that which God had
+determined to bestow; making intercession for my husband, according
+to the will of God.
+
+ "O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous
+things. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
+The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness hath he
+openly shown in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
+and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth
+have seen the salvation of our God." Psalm 98.
+
+
+ "FRIDAY, December.
+
+ "Sermon from John 4:10: 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and who
+it is that saith, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him,
+and he would have given thee living water,'
+
+ "This is part of my provision laid in for my passage through
+Jordan. Christ is the gift of God. Christ is the water of life; he is
+this living water, and the bread of life _given_; given by God,
+received by the sinner. Life and comfort are experienced, and fruit
+produced is the evidence; but first of all, this gift must be known,
+and the soul's need must be known; Christ, the anointed prophet,
+taught this woman both, and no other could. 'Search me, O Lord, and
+try me.' Hast thou not taught my soul its miserable and ruined state
+by nature; its helplessness as well as misery? Hast thou not also
+brought me to this living, life-giving water? Oh, hast thou not given
+me faith to come, faith to drink; and have I not experienced its
+solacing quality? Has it not satisfied my soul, and in some degree
+allayed my thirst for carnal delights? Blessed Spirit, the gift of the
+Father and of the Son, pour into my soul repeated draughts of this
+living water; yea, be in me, according to my Redeemer's promise, a
+well of water springing up to eternal life, and cause me to bring
+forth fruit to the glory of the Father.
+
+ "'Other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid,
+Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "Do I, O my God, seek for or desire any other foundation? Are not
+all my hopes for time and eternity built on this foundation? Is not
+Christ all my salvation and all my desire? Do I not embrace thy
+covenant just as it is, believing that thou givest unto me eternal
+life, and that this life is in thy Son, whom thou hast given 'to be a
+covenant of the people.' Iniquities prevail against me; but thou wilt
+not only purge them away, but wilt subdue them. Sin shall not have
+dominion over me, for I am not tinder the law, but under grace."
+
+
+ To Miss Walker, Edinburgh.
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1812.
+
+ "My dear Miss Walker, I think, is in my debt; but that is no
+reason why I may not inquire after her health and welfare, and through
+her, of that of her brother, sister, and other dear friends yet in
+their pilgrimage. My dear, dear Mrs. Walker lives in my affections,
+and surely what concerns her children can never be to me a matter of
+indifference. Your dear brother's persevering kindness and tried
+friendship have written gratitude in indelible characters on my heart.
+'A friend in need is a friend indeed;' and such was he. I trust the
+Lord has rewarded and will reward him. I have still in my possession
+many dear remembrances of your worthy mother; her sensible, pious
+letters, some of which have proved prophetic, are among my treasures.
+What a lovely group presses upon my memory at this moment, united to
+Jesus and to one another on earth, and the union is now perfected in
+heaven. Your dear mother, Mrs. Brown, dear Mrs. Randall, and Lady
+Glenorchy, all zealous for the welfare of the widow and orphans, whose
+way lay peculiarly through Vanity Fair, and whose spirits were too
+much assimilated to the wares there exhibited, and most unworthy of
+all the care and pains they bestowed upon her. Tell my then dear
+pastor the pilgrim is not lost; he will find her in the 18th chapter
+of Ezekiel: he may remember that he and dear Doctor Erskine gave me
+over to the Lord when leaving Edinburgh. Well has he kept the charge,
+though I have not my part, after all the chastisements and charges
+received. But he is 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.'
+
+ "I am now a happy Mary, enjoying the full sense of pardon and the
+light of his countenance in the meantime, and the full prospect of
+being soon with him, made like him, and capacitated to praise him.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, January 18.
+
+ "Dr. R----. 'By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of
+yourselves: it is the gift of God.'
+
+ "All is of grace, all is free gift, or we wicked, wretched
+sinners, could have no interest in it. Thanks be unto God for his
+unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ, given for a covenant of the people.
+Thanks be unto God for the gift of faith, by which we apprehend this
+covenant, and become interested in him, as the salvation of our souls.
+Thanks be unto God for life to work; for new principles and new
+motives, new desires, new hopes, new fears, and, in some measure, new
+conduct. All of grace, and to the God of grace be all the glory.
+
+ "Afternoon. 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
+let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in
+his riches: but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he
+understandeth and knoweth me; that I am the Lord which exercise
+righteousness, loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth: for in
+these things I delight, saith the Lord.' Jer. 9:23.
+
+ "O Lord, hast thou not taught me by thy word, by observation, and
+by experience, that 'all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as
+the flower of grass?' Alas, how much have I gloried in even more
+worthless and transient things; but thou hast put a worm in them,
+which I hope has cut the roots, and they are in a dying state. O let
+grace supplant them; let me now glory only in thee and thy blessed,
+gracious, and well-ordered covenant. Do I understand and know thee,
+that thou art the Lord which exerciseth righteousness,
+loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth? Dare I say that I, worm
+as I am, and a sinful worm, am the subject of this loving-kindness,
+through the righteousness of Christ? Yes, I dare, by the constitution
+of thine own covenant--the Covenant of the people, the Mediator, the
+guarantee of the covenant of grace, which is all summed up in him.
+
+ "When thou givest Christ, thou givest freely all the blessings of
+the new covenant.
+
+ "'And this is the record, That God hath given to us eternal life,
+and this life is in his Son.'
+
+ "I believe the record, and do understand and know that thou art
+the Lord, etc."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 4, 1813.
+
+ "My dear grandchildren J. and I. B---- waited on their beloved
+pastor Dr. Romeyn, and professed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
+as the Saviour of sinners and their Saviour, their desire to give
+themselves to the Lord and to his church, and to be in all things
+governed by it; to receive the seal of the covenant of grace,
+commemorate the dying love of their Redeemer the next opportunity, and
+swear allegiance to him over the symbols of his body and blood.
+
+ "Glory to God for this fresh manifestation of his mercy and grace
+to sinners. Not unto us, O Lord God, but to thy name be the glory.
+Thou hast made a covenant with thy chosen, and with believers in him;
+and thou hast, by thy Holy Spirit, drawn them to take hold of this thy
+own covenant, and to give themselves to thee to be made the subjects
+of it. And now, O Lord, remember thy own covenant, and do as thou hast
+said: Put thy laws in their minds, and write them in their hearts, and
+be unto them a God, and they shall be unto thee a people; be merciful
+to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities remember
+no more. Give them understanding to know and believe thy laws,
+memories to retain them, hearts to love them, consciences to recognize
+them, courage to profess and power to put in practice. O, grant that
+the whole habit and frame of their souls may be a table and transcript
+of thy law. Blessed Redeemer, gather these lambs in thy arms and carry
+them in thy bosom. O, seal them with the Holy Spirit of promise. They
+look forward to that feast of love which thou didst institute in that
+same night in which thou wast betrayed into the hands of sinners. If
+it may please thee, manifest thyself to them as thou dost not unto the
+world. Blessed Shepherd, call these lambs by name; may they know thy
+voice, rejoice to hear it, and follow thee. In all the preparatory
+exercises speak to their hearts and commune with them in secret. O
+give them some love-tokens, which they may never forget; and make
+thyself known to them in the breaking of bread. Exercise their parents
+with thankfulness and gratitude, and thine aged servant, to whom, in
+an especial manner, belong 'shame and confusion of face,' while she
+stands amazed at the stately steps of thy free, sovereign mercy and
+grace to her, and to her children according to the flesh. Husband of
+the widow, Father of the fatherless, Shield of the stranger, glorify
+thy name, magnify thy grace: all these thou hast been to me; give
+these parents deep humility, if they have received grace to be more
+faithful than I; yet thy holy eye has seen much shortcoming in them
+also. Glory to thy name for the grace in which they stand, and that
+thou hast enabled them to train up these children for thee. Oh, let
+this be a heart-searching time with us all; humble us, and exalt thy
+name, and magnify thy grace.
+
+ "O Lord, my covenant God, all my desire is before thee; is it not
+that thou magnify thy grace in me and in my family? There are others,
+Lord, and the residue of the Spirit is with thee. Put forth thy power
+in the heart of I.G. S----, and compel him to come in. And Oh, my dear
+I. S---- and her family; thou biddest me open my mouth wide. Lord, see,
+there is much for thee to do. I praise thy name for what thou hast
+done, and lay me at thy feet waiting for further manifestations of thy
+mercy, thy sovereign mercy: I have no other plea.
+
+ "Work with us, for thy name's sake, and with J. M----, for whom
+my worthless prayers have been presented to thee, as also a member of
+this family. O Lord, he is now gone out into the world; he is no
+longer under the control of man; bring him under thy gracious control;
+call him into thy kingdom of grace, and make him a willing subject in
+the day of thy power. Father, glorify thy name."
+
+
+ "APRIL, Sabbath, 1813.
+
+ "'Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
+hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speaking, as new-born babes
+desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.' 2
+Peter, 2:1, 2.
+
+ "Blessed Spirit, thou hast convinced me of the indwelling of
+every one of these, and also of my helplessness of myself to make
+successful war against them. But Oh, hast thou not led me to the
+Captain of salvation for armor, for strength, for wisdom, for power;
+and is not my dependence for success on thy promise that sin shall not
+have dominion over me; that thy grace is sufficient for me; that as my
+day, so shall my strength be?"
+
+
+ "MAY 5.
+
+ "'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
+through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Rom. 5:1.
+
+ "Blessed, blessed, blessed doctrine; by no other doctrine can I
+be justified and saved. Christ the gift of God, and faith the gift of
+God. All, all is of grace.
+
+ "I have shut my door, desiring to commune with God, but feeling
+dull and lifeless, ask what shall I read? My Bible lies just at hand;
+where shall I read? every part is good. I open and find it marked: 'My
+prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time; O God, in the
+multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.' Psalm
+69:13. In an acceptable time--when? 'To-day if ye will hear his
+voice.' Nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou holdest me by
+my right hand, and ever upholdest me, in the time of need especially.
+
+ "'In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy
+salvation.' What is the truth of God's salvation? To be the property
+of Christ by purchase, to have Christ made our property by the
+Father's gift; to have the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts, to
+enlighten our understandings, to govern our wills, to regulate our
+affections and tempers, and to be in us 'a well of water springing up
+into everlasting life.' Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ours by gift and
+by power; this. Oh, this contains all my asking for myself, for my
+children and children's children, for nay friends and all dear to me.
+Take us, O Lord, and in 'the truth of thy salvation' give thyself to
+us; do all the needful for us, and glorify thy name."
+
+
+ "SABBATH.
+
+ "'A certain man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his
+servants at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
+things are ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make
+excuse.' Luke 14:16.
+
+ "Alas, such are our hearts, that we make idols even of the
+blessings and bounties of providence; no room is left for Christ,
+though without him every temporal good is under a curse, and our own
+persons also.
+
+ "O Lord, bless the gracious invitations given to perishing
+sinners this day; the pathetic and tender remonstrances of thy
+faithful servant. O, may many of the poor, the maimed, the halt, the
+blind, from the streets and lanes of the city, and may many from the
+highways and hedges, be compelled to come, that thy house may be
+filled. And Oh, my gracious Father, let these careless ones, who are
+my flesh and blood, be among the number. Hear, O hear the prayers
+offered this day for poor, self-deluded, self-destroying sinners;
+awaken them, O Lord, and sweep away all lying refuges, and, gracious
+God, settle and establish these halters. O bring to the birth, and
+give life and love and zeal to make a full profession to the glory of
+thy powerful grace, and to the joy and comfort of fellow-members. Let
+thy kingdom come."
+
+
+ "GREENWICH, June 11, 1813.
+
+ "In my large light closet, within my airy, comfortable room; the
+prospect from my windows such as I have ever delighted in, woods and
+water, flower-garden and fruit-trees, and beautiful shrubs of various
+kinds, all as much mine as if my own individual property by the laws
+of the land in which I live; surrounded with books, and my children's
+rich library at my command; enjoying rich gospel ordinances, under a
+godly, gifted pastor, with pious, loving, sensible church-members; a
+carriage to convey me, Sabbath and week-days, to places of worship;
+children whose desire is that I may enjoy all these to the full
+without care or trouble, they caring for me; with all these a large
+measure of health, my eyes see my teachers, my ears hear their voice.
+Why then these tears? Are they all for sin? Lord, search and see. Does
+no wounded pride, no selfish hurt mix? Ah, Lord, thou knowest. I have
+detected much, and mourn and weep on that account; but I fear there is
+yet much lurking and working that I know not.
+
+ "I have set apart the remainder of this day for fasting and
+humiliation on account of past sins which I already know, and for yet
+further search into what I know not of at present. Lord, give me
+heart-searching exercises. Glory, glory, glory to Father, Son, and
+blessed Comforter, that I am forgiven; thy Spirit witnesseth with my
+spirit that I am forgiven. Thou hast given me faith in the truth of
+thy testimony, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin--that
+this is thy own provision for sinners--that Christ died for the
+ungodly--that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us--that
+Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us--that 'God so loved the
+world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
+him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' These last words
+came from thy own lips of flesh. Thou gift of God to a perishing
+world, and to me, one of the most guilty in it, thou also saidst, 'He
+that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' Thy Spirit
+witnesseth with my spirit, that to me it is given on the behalf of
+Christ to believe in him. Phil. 1:29. Therefore I have everlasting
+life. Him who was slain and hanged on a tree, 'Him hath God exalted to
+be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and remission of
+sins.' From this exalted Prince I have repentance and forgiveness of
+sin, and therefore I dare look at my sins: I look with grief, but not
+with terror. Though forgiven, and though provision is made for
+forgiveness, sin is still an evil and a bitter thing.
+
+ "This day is set apart for mourning. I desire to search, to know
+more of my vileness, that I may mourn yet more; that while my heart is
+wrung for my ingratitude, the Lord may make it the means of crucifying
+my sins, especially that which so easily besets me, that he will give
+me the prayer of faith that they may be forgiven, and that I may be
+delivered from their power in my heart; that I may be clothed with
+humility, so humble that nothing can hurt me, wearing my Redeemer's
+yoke, leaning upon him who was 'meek and lowly,' that I may find rest
+to my soul. Now, Lord, assist me for the rest of the day" and let
+to-morrow be the beginning of days."
+
+
+ "Ten o'clock at night.
+
+ "The day is spent, and I look for the blessing. It has not been
+spent so much in my usual way of retracing, confessing, and bewailing,
+but with Owen on the subject of indwelling sin, of purification and
+the, means appointed by God. The blood of Christ is the only effectual
+means not only as atonement for sin, setting us free from
+condemnation, but also for cleansing, as sprinkled on the conscience
+by the Holy Ghost, and purging it from dead works. There are means in
+which we are to exercise ourselves, depending on the Spirit for
+benefit. We are to work in the faith that God works in us.
+Mortification is one means, and though the mortification of the body
+is perhaps one of the lowest, I think it is of divine appointment,
+therefore not to be neglected. I have been also studying the death of
+Christ, and his previous sufferings; the unbelief, the opposition,
+contradiction, contempt, and cruel mocking which he endured; and his
+meekness, patience, and submission under them; healing Malchus' ear,
+praying for his murderers; that, as the children of Israel were healed
+by looking to the brazen serpent, I may be healed by looking unto the
+uplifted Jesus; the Spirit producing the effect. And as the woman with
+the bloody issue was healed by a touch, exercising faith in the power
+of Christ, so I may be healed by a look, exercising the same faith,
+the Spirit producing the effect of conformity to his example, working
+in me that meek and lowly spirit for which I have been praying. And
+now, by grace communicated, I hope to watch over my spirit with more
+success than formerly. I wait for thy salvation."
+
+
+ The following letter shows how Mrs. Graham persevered in her
+endeavors to guide and benefit immortal souls as long as God gave her
+powers to be employed.
+
+ To Mrs. J. W----.
+
+ "GREENWICH, 1814.
+
+ "Did not the dove, my dear J----, get into the ark? Yes, Noah put
+out his hand and pulled her in; both are types of Christ. He is the
+Ark of safety from the flood of wrath that must overwhelm unbelievers.
+
+ "I know not, my dear, the amount of that over which you mourn
+with so much agony; I know not even if it be sinful, except in the
+circumstances; you are conscious of sincerity, and you do not now wish
+to draw back. We can, my dear, do nothing in our own strength; no, not
+so much as think a good thought. To make any resolution without
+dependence on God for strength to perform, is sinful; to make any vow
+without a consciousness of our weakness and dependence on God for
+strength to perform, is an aggravation of the evil.
+
+ "I suppose my J---- has sinned; what then? If any man say he has
+no sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. And if you
+suppose that your sin in this is greater than many other sins with
+their aggravations, you judge wrong. I think that any one
+_deliberate_ sin, wilfully committed with a knowledge that it is
+sin, is greater than yours in such circumstances. You are bound by
+your vow, and God will enable you to perform it. Turn, my dear, to the
+second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter preaches to
+the very murderers of our blessed Saviour, and charges the guilt upon
+them, verse twenty-second; and again in verse thirty-sixth, 'Therefore
+let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that this same Jesus whom
+ye crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ; and when they heard
+this, they were pricked in their hearts.' Read on, my dear; Peter
+exhorts even them to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ, for
+the remission of sins. I make no doubt but many have made vows in a
+rash manner; but, so far as I know, you have vowed only to serve the
+Lord; this you are bound to do with or without a vow; and if the Lord
+makes this vow the means of keeping you watchful and humble, and firm
+in avoiding what you have vowed against, it will, by his overruling
+Spirit, prove a blessing.
+
+ "You 'do not know where to look for comfort!' To, Jesus, my dear;
+not to yourself, nor to any creature. 'Look unto me and be ye saved,
+all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.' Isa.
+45:22. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.'
+Hosea 13:9; chap. 14. Take a view, my dear, of the character of God in
+his dealings with his perverse Israel, after they had made the molten
+calf, and sinned otherwise grievously against God. He, at the
+intercession of Moses, forgave their sin, and proclaimed that
+wonderful name, which to this day is the encouragement of convicted
+sinners, and mine in particular. And the Lord passed by him (Moses)
+and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' And how can
+God do this, whose law is, as himself, immutable; and who adds 'that
+he will by no means clear the guilty?' Exodus 34:6. Look now to the
+fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where you will find your Redeemer
+standing in your stead. In the thirtieth chapter is another amazing
+display of God's forgiveness. The prophet begins the chapter with,
+'Woe to the rebellious children!' and lays grievous things to their
+charge till you come to the eighteenth verse, where he says,
+'Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious to you;
+therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you; for the
+Lord is a God of judgment, blessed are all they that wait for him.'
+Once more look at the proclamation, Jeremiah 3:12. God has provided a
+sacrifice of sufficient value to atone for our most aggravated
+transgressions, and a righteousness answerable to the uttermost extent
+of his holy law. Both are made over to the sinner by free gift. 'He
+hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
+the righteousness of God in him.' 2 Cor. 5:21. _In Him_--He, our
+surety, having fulfilled all righteousness for us, _as_ our
+surety and representative.
+
+ "You fear that it is not the hand of the Lord that is upon you. I
+do think that it is, my J----. It is the peculiar office of the Spirit
+to convince of sin, and I do think that he is at this time dealing
+with your soul. But why look so much at your vow? you have sinned, my
+J----, in heart, lip, and life. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
+all thy heart.' O my J----, what prostituted affections, what misspent
+time. While God says, 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do,
+do all to the glory of God,' what self-indulgence and self-will,
+instead of self-denial. Listen to the voice of convictions, listen to
+it as the voice of mercy, leading you to Christ the great propitiatory
+sacrifice, 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'
+
+ "Go to Christ, my dear, as a sinner; tell him you commit your
+sinful soul into his hands; say, Thou hast bid me look unto thee and
+be saved. Saviour, I do look unto thee for salvation. Wash me in thy
+blood, clothe me in thy righteousness, sanctify me by thy grace,
+accept of me as thy pardoned, saved child; and be a surety for me for
+good, that having vowed to thee that I would be thy servant, I may
+perform my vow; furnish me with both will and power to devote myself
+to thee every day of my life.
+
+ "Try, my dear, to rest on Christ; put your trust in him; if you
+do he will not disappoint you; as your faith, so shall it be unto you.
+Now faith is a saving grace; thereby we receive and rest upon Christ
+for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. Do as you have
+said: wait his appointed time, in the use of means, till he manifest
+himself to you. I am hurried for time to get this to town. Farewell. I
+will pray for you.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "1814.
+
+ "'A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
+darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.' Joel 2:2.
+
+ "Not in temporals, nor in the means of grace; every thing that
+earth can afford is gathered into my present cup; it is full and runs
+over with earthly good, and a large measure of health to enjoy it.
+Moral temporals are also mine in no common degree, friendship, society
+at my choice, and respectability in it. Rich means of grace within my
+reach, my Bible, and books of every kind and great variety at my hand,
+of instruction and of devotion. Mine eyes see my teachers, and my
+judgment approves their doctrine as corresponding with that sure word
+of testimony given me as the test of all human writings. Yet it is a
+day of darkness and of gloom.
+
+ "'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
+of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him
+trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.' Isa. 50:10.
+
+ "To trust in the name of the Lord and to stay myself upon my God
+is still my privilege, and though with little life and little comfort,
+my experience. My mind is so desultory! My Bible, and helps derived
+from men's deductions and experiences, seem useless; they are not
+blessed as means to fix my heart; trifles of every sort pass and
+repass often; while my eyes read the words, my mind is gone in a dream
+on some other subject; my heart remains unimpressed, my mind
+uninformed; the same in prayer, especially in secret and in the
+family; less so in the sanctuary.
+
+ "I seem, as to apprehension, left to my own dark, dismal, carnal
+self; naked faith on the finished work of my Redeemer is all that
+supports me; and that as a bare preventive of fear and source of a
+hope that 'I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance
+and my God.' I know his covenant stands fast, I have taken hold of it;
+I do at this cold and stupid moment place my confidence in it. Christ
+is God's covenant, God's gift to sinners; I believe it; he is the Lamb
+of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; I believe it; I
+believe on the Son for all the purposes for which God has sent him
+into the world; therefore I have everlasting life; I believe the
+record that God gave of his Son; that God hath given to me eternal
+life, and this life is in his Son, not in me, but in union with him.
+'He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son, hath
+not life.' John 5.
+
+ "I thank thee, my God, that thou hast not left me to cast away my
+confidence in Christ. I have life in him, and no life but as I have it
+from him. Thou seest how it is with me. Thou art my reconciled Father
+in Christ, but thou hast shut me out from thy presence. I do not enjoy
+thee; my poor heart is tossed from trifle to trifle. It has been my
+way through life to destroy myself, and thy way to deliver me. Thou
+hast been very gracious to me in my old age. I have enjoyed much of
+thy presence in thy sanctuary and in my private hours; and although
+sin has dwelt and does dwell in me, I have enjoyed thy forgiving
+grace, and have tasted thy love, far beyond what I have for weeks
+past. 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my
+thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
+way everlasting.' Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. Am I
+living in the indulgence of any known wilful sin; or in the habitual
+neglect of any known duty? Lord, 'it is not in man that walketh to
+direct his steps.' I know I have been unthankful, unwatchful, idle;
+alas, this is my ordinary course; but it is not the ordinary course of
+my Lord God, merciful and gracious, to mark iniquity against me, but
+to forgive me daily, to lead me to the blood of sprinkling, to give me
+contrition, and to restore me to his favor by giving me 'joy and peace
+in believing.' Help, Lord; give me heart-searching exercises. I read
+thy word, I set about that to which thou callest me. I set apart this
+day for fasting, but the gracious exercises are not in me. Come, O
+come, and be with me. Exalted Prince, give repentance and remission;
+in thy light let me see light.
+
+ "'Therefore now turn ye unto me with all your heart, with
+fasting, with weeping and mourning; rend your heart and not your
+garments, turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and
+merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of
+the evil.' Joel 2:12. O, do I not know thee by this name; has it not
+been thy name to me throughout this wide wilderness, 'pardoning
+iniquity, transgression, and sin?' Thou hast prepared a prayer for me,
+'Turn me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God.' Jer.
+31:18. I look to thy new covenant in the same chapter; it is all
+promise, I can do nothing in it. Christ by thine own appointment
+answers for my part; or rather, I have no part. I can render nothing
+to the Lord for all his benefits to me. I will put forth the withered
+hand to 'take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.'
+
+ "Ten o'clock. The day is spent; I have confessed, and endeavored
+to turn to the Lord with mourning, but with little sensibility.
+
+ "I attended meeting in the evening, heard two excellent
+discourses on the priesthood of Christ, and joined in two prayers and
+three hymns with more fixed attention than has been my attainment
+lately; for this I thank thee, my God. Many have been the beginnings
+of days and of months which thou hast afforded after backsliding. O
+add this to the number. 'Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my
+supplications; in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy
+righteousness. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy
+sight shall no man living be justified.' Psalm 143.
+
+ "My spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is
+desolate. I stretch out my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after
+thee in a thirsty land. Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth;
+hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto those that go down into
+the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in
+thee do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I
+lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies; I
+flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my
+God. Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken
+me, O Lord, for thy name's sake; for thy righteousness' sake bring my
+soul out of trouble. I wait for thy salvation.
+
+ This heart my Jesus bought with blood,
+ It is his honest claim;
+ O seize it, fix it, Saviour God,
+ To give it is my aim.
+
+ Take full possession of this heart,
+ And here set up thy throne;
+ Command each idol to depart,
+ And make it all thine own.
+
+ O dare I not to thee appeal,
+ That 'tis my first desire,
+ That on this heart thou stamp thy seal
+ And grave it with love's fire?
+
+ To fix this heart to stray no more
+ I e'en would quit the clay;
+ Would hasten on to Jordan's shore,
+ And plough the watery way.
+
+ Nor fear nor dread my soul should move,
+ With Jesus in my heart;
+ Each passion swallowed up in love,
+ I'd court the friendly dart.
+
+ The resurrection and the life
+ In death itself he'll prove,
+ And while he closes mortal strife,
+ Breathe his own life of love.
+
+ Then boast not, monster, of thy sting,
+ Nor of thy victory, grave;
+ In th' arms of God's anointed King
+ I dare thy fiercest brave.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR--
+ SICKNESS AND DEATH.
+
+ During the last two years of her life, Mrs. Graham found her
+strength inadequate to so extensive a course of visiting the poor as
+formerly; there were some distressed families, however, that
+experienced her kind attentions to the last. She would occasionally
+accompany the Rev. Mr. Stanford on his visits to the state-prison,
+hospital, and to the Magdalen house. This gentleman was the stated
+preacher employed by "the Society for the Support of the Gospel among
+the Poor," and devoted his time to preaching in the almshouse,
+hospital, state-prison, debtors'-prison, etc., with great assiduity
+and acceptance.
+
+ Mrs. Graham now spent much of her time in her room, devoted to
+meditation, prayer, and reading the Scriptures; she seemed to be
+weaning from earth and preparing for heaven. Prayer was that sweet
+breath of her soul which brought stability to her life. Genuine
+humility was obvious in all her sentiments and deportment. Religious
+friends prized her conversation, counsel, and friendship; sometimes
+they would venture on a compliment to her superior attainments, but
+always experienced a decided rebuke. To her friend Colonel L----, who
+expressed a wish to be such a character as she was, she quickly
+replied with an air of mingled pleasantry and censure, "Get thee
+behind me, Satan." To a female friend who said, "If I were only sure
+at last of being admitted to a place at your feet I should feel
+happy." "Hush, hush," replied Mrs. Graham, "There is ONE SAVIOUR."
+Thus she was always careful to give her divine Redeemer the whole
+glory of her salvation.
+
+ This example of humility, self-denial, and sensibility to the
+imperfection of her conduct, is the more to be valued, as it is so
+difficult to be followed. Flattery is too commonly practised; and
+there is no sufficient guard against its dangerous consequences,
+except a constant and humbling recognition of the spirituality of the
+law of God, and our lamentable deficiency in fulfilling it. Pride was
+not made for man: "I have seen an end of all perfection," said the
+Psalmist, "but thy commandment is exceeding broad." It was by
+cherishing this sentiment, by studying her Bible, by searching her
+heart and its motives, and above all, by grace accorded of heaven in
+answer to her prayers, that Mrs. Graham was enabled to maintain such
+meekness of spirit, such an uniformity of Christian character
+throughout her life. May all who read her history be directed to the
+same sources of true peace and genuine happiness.
+
+ In the spring of 1814 she was requested to unite with some ladies
+in forming a society for the promotion of industry among the poor.
+This was the last act in which she appeared before the public. A
+petition, signed by about thirty ladies, was presented to the
+corporation of New York, praying that they would assign them a
+building in which work might be prepared and given out to the
+industrious poor, who being paid for their labor, might be saved the
+necessity of begging, and at the same time cherish habits of industry
+and self-respect. The corporation having returned a favorable answer,
+and provided a house, a meeting of the Society was held, and Mrs.
+Graham once more was called to the chair. It was the last time she was
+to preside at the formation of a new society. Her articulation, once
+strong and clear, was now observed to have become more feeble. The
+ladies present listened to her with affectionate attention; her voice
+broke upon the ear as a pleasant sound that was passing away. She
+consented to have her name inserted on the list of managers, and to
+give what assistance her age would permit in forwarding so beneficent
+a work. Although it pleased God that she should cease from her labors
+before the House of Industry was opened, yet the work was carried on
+by others and prospered. Between four and five hundred women were
+employed and paid during the following winter. The corporation
+declared in strong terms their approbation of the result, and enlarged
+their donation, with a view to promote the same undertaking for the
+succeeding winter.
+
+ In the month of May, 1814, a report was received from Mr. Stephen
+Prust of Bristol, in England, of the Society for establishing
+Adult-schools. Mrs. Graham was so delighted with a perusal of it, as
+immediately to undertake the formation of such a school in the village
+of Greenwich. She called on the young people who were at work in some
+neighboring manufactories, and requested them to attend her for this
+purpose every Sabbath morning at eight o'clock. This was kept up after
+her decease as a Sunday-school, and consisted of nearly eighty
+scholars. She was translated from this work of faith on earth, to
+engage in the sublimer work of praise in heaven.
+
+ For some weeks previous to her last illness she was favored with
+unusual health and much enjoyment of religion; she appeared to have
+sweet exercises and communion in attending on all God's ordinances and
+appointed means of grace. She was also greatly refreshed in spirit by
+the success of Missionary and Bible Societies, and used to speak with
+much affection of Mr. Gordon, Mr. Lee, Mr. May, and Dr. Morrison, with
+whom she had been acquainted when in New York, on their way to
+missionary stations in India and China.
+
+ Mrs. Graham was very partial to the works of Dr. John Owen, Rev.
+William Romaine, and Rev. John Newton, and read them with pleasure and
+profit. One day she remarked to Mr. B----, that she preferred the
+ancient writers on theology to the modern, because they dealt more in
+italics. "Dear mother," he replied, "what religion can there be in
+italics?" "You know," said she, "that old writers expected credit for
+the doctrines they taught, by proving them from the word of God to be
+correct: they inserted the scripture passages in italics, and their
+works have been sometimes one-half in italics. Modern writers on
+theology, on the contrary, give us a long train of reasoning to
+persuade us to their opinions, but very little in italics." This
+remark of hers has great force, and deserves the serious attention of
+those who write and those who read on theological subjects.
+
+ On the two Sabbaths preceding her last illness she joined in
+communion at the Lord's table. On the 10th of July, 1814, at
+Greenwich, and on the 17th at her own church in Cedar-street. On each
+week preceding these seasons she attended three evenings on religious
+exercises; on Thursdays at the Orphan Asylum, on Friday evenings the
+preparation sermons, and on Saturday evenings at the prayer-meetings.
+She appeared lively, and expressed comfort in those religious seasons,
+and continued actively useful until the very day on which her
+illness commenced.
+
+ On the morning of the 17th she attended the Sabbath-school with
+her daughter and grandchildren. Thus the Lord was pleased to direct
+that she should lead her children's children into the walks of
+usefulness before she took her flight to heaven, and impose a pleasing
+obligation on them that they should follow her steps. Of the same date
+is the last meditation in her diary.
+
+
+ "COMMUNION SABBATH, July 17, 1814.
+
+ "'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
+not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
+receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls,' 1
+Peter, 1:8, 9.
+
+ "I had requested to be brought to my Lord's banqueting-house, and
+to be feasted with love this day. I ate the bread and drank the wine,
+in the faith that I ate the flesh and drank the blood of the Son of
+man, and dwelt in him and he in me. Took a close view of my familiar
+friend Death, accompanied with the presence of my Saviour, _his
+sensible presence_. I cannot look at it without this; it is my only
+petition concerning it. I have had desires relative to certain
+circumstances, but they are nearly gone. It is my sincere desire that
+God may be glorified, and he knows best how and by what circumstances.
+I retain my one petition,
+
+ "Only to me thy countenance show,
+ I ask no more the Jordan through."
+
+ Thus she arose from her Master's table, was called to gird on her
+armor for a combat with the king of terrors, and came off more than
+conqueror, through Him who loved her.
+
+ On Monday she appeared in perfect health, and visited and gave
+religious instruction to the orphans in the asylum.
+
+ On Tuesday, the 19th of July, she complained of not feeling well,
+and kept her room; on Thursday her disorder proved to be a
+cholera-morbus, and her children sent for a physician. She thought
+this attack was slighter than in former seasons. On Saturday, however,
+she requested that Mrs. Chrystie might be sent for; this alarmed Mrs.
+B----, knowing there existed an understanding between those two
+friends, that one should attend the dying-bed of the other, Mrs.
+Chrystie was a very dear friend of Mrs. Graham. For upwards of
+twenty-four years they had loved each other, feeling reciprocal
+sympathy in their joys and their sorrows; the hope of faith was the
+consolation of both, and oftentimes it had been their delightful
+employment to interchange their expressions of affection towards Him
+whom having not seen, they loved, and in whom, though they saw him
+not, yet believing on him, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full
+of glory. On Mrs. Chrystie's entering the chamber of her friend, Mrs.
+Graham welcomed her with a sweet expressive smile, seeming to say, "I
+am going to get the start of you, I am called home before you; it will
+be your office to fulfil our engagement." When she sat by her bedside,
+Mrs. Graham said, "Your face is very pleasant to me, my friend."
+
+ During Saturday night, a lethargy appeared to be overpowering her
+frame. On Sabbath morning she was disposed to constant slumber;
+observing Mr. B---- looking at her with agitation, she was roused from
+her heaviness, and stretching her arms towards him and embracing him,
+she said, "My dear, dear son, I am going to leave you; I am going to
+my Saviour." "I know," he replied, "that when you do go from us, it
+will be to the Saviour; but, my dear mother, it may not be the Lord's
+time now to call you to himself." "Yes," said she, "now is the time;
+and Oh, I could weep for sin." Her words were accompanied with her
+tears. "Have you any doubts, then, my dear friend?" asked Mrs.
+Chrystie. "Oh no," replied Mrs. Graham; and looking at Mr. and Mrs.
+B---- as they wept, "My dear children, I have no more doubt of going
+to my Saviour, than if I were already in his arms; my guilt is all
+transferred; he has cancelled all I owed. Yet I could weep for sins
+against so good a God: it seems to me as if there must be weeping even
+in heaven for sin."
+
+ After this she entered into conversation with her friends,
+mentioning portions of scripture and favorite hymns which had been
+subjects of much comfort and joy to her. Some of these she had
+transcribed into a little book, calling them her "victuals" prepared
+for crossing over Jordan; she committed them to memory, and often
+called them to remembrance as her songs in the night when sleep had
+deserted her. She then got Mr. B---- to read to her some of these
+portions, especially the eighty-second hymn of Newton's third book:
+
+ "Let us love, and sing, and wonder;
+ Let us praise the Saviour's name:
+ He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
+ He has quenched mount Sinai's flame:
+ He has washed us with his blood,
+ He has brought us nigh to God," etc.
+
+ Mrs. Graham then fell asleep, nor did she awaken until the voice
+of the Rev. Dr. Mason roused her. They had a very affectionate
+interview, which he has partly described in the excellent sermon he
+delivered after her decease. She expressed to him her hope as founded
+altogether on the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: were she left to
+depend on the merit of the best action she had ever performed, that
+would be only a source of despair. She repeated to him, as her view of
+salvation, the fourth verse of the same hymn:
+
+ "Let us wonder: grace and justice
+ Join, and point at mercy's store;
+ When, through grace, in Christ our trust is,
+ Justice smiles and asks no more;
+ He who washed us with his blood,
+ Has secured our way to God."
+
+Having asked Dr. Mason to pray with her, he inquired
+if there was any particular request she had to
+make of God by him; she replied, that God would
+direct: then as he kneeled, she put up her hands, and
+raising her eyes towards heaven, breathed this short
+but expressive petition, "Lord, lead thy servant in
+prayer."
+
+ After Dr. Mason had taken his leave, she again fell into a deep
+sleep. Her physicians still expressed a hope of her recovery, as her
+pulse was regular and the violence of her disease had abated. One of
+them, however, declared his opinion that his poor drugs would prove of
+little avail against her own ardent prayers to depart and be with
+Christ, which was far better for her than a return to a dying world.
+
+ On Monday the Rev. Mr. Rowan prayed with her, and to him she
+expressed also the tranquillity of her mind, and the steadfastness of
+her hope, through Christ, of eternal felicity.
+
+ Her lethargy increased; at intervals from sleep she would
+occasionally assure her daughter, Mrs. B----, that all was well; and
+when she could rouse herself only to say one word at a time, that one
+word, accompanied with a smile, was, "Peace." From her there was a
+peculiar emphasis in this expression of the state of her mind: "Peace
+I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," had been a favorite
+portion of scripture with her, and a promise, the fulfilment of which
+was her earnest prayer to the God who made it. She also occasionally
+asked Mr. B---- to pray with her, even when she could only articulate,
+as she looked at him, "Pray." She was now surrounded by many of her
+dear Christian friends, who watched her dying-bed with affection and
+solicitude. On Tuesday afternoon she slept with little intermission.
+This, said Dr. Mason, may be truly called "falling asleep in Jesus."
+It was remarked by those who attended her, that all terror was taken
+away, and that death seemed here as an entrance into life. Her
+countenance was placid, and looked younger than before her illness.
+
+ At a quarter past twelve o'clock, being the morning of the 27th
+of July, 1814, her spirit gently winged its flight from a mansion of
+clay to the realms of glory, while around the precious remnant of
+earth her family and friends stood weeping, yet elevated by the scene
+they were witnessing. After a silence of many minutes, they kneeled by
+her bed, adored the goodness and the grace of God towards his departed
+child, and implored the divine blessing on both the branches of her
+family, as well as on all the Israel of God.
+
+ Thus she departed in peace, not trusting in her wisdom or virtue,
+like the philosophers of Greece and Rome; not even like Addison,
+calling on the profligate to see a good man die; but like Howard,
+afraid that her good works might have a wrong place in the estimate of
+her hope, her chief glory was that of "a sinner saved by grace."*
+
+*This was Howard's epitaph, dictated by himself.
+
+ After such examples, who will dare to charge the doctrines of the
+cross of Christ with licentiousness? Here are two instances of
+persons, to whose good works the world have cheerfully borne
+testimony, who lived and died in the profession of these doctrines. It
+was faith that first purified their hearts, and so the stream of
+action from these fountains became pure also. Had not Christ died and
+risen again, all the powers of man could never have produced such
+lives of benevolence, nor a death so full of contrition, yet so
+embalmed with hope. Hallelujah, "unto Him who loved us, and washed us
+from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
+unto God and his Father: to him be glory and dominion, for ever and
+ever. Amen."
+
+ At the next weekly prayer-meeting which she had usually attended,
+the circumstances of her death were made subjects of improvement. On
+the 16th of July she was a worshipper with her brethren and sisters
+there, and on the evening of the 30th they were called to consider her
+by faith as in the immediate presence of her God, among "the spirits
+of the just made perfect." The services of that evening were closed
+with the following hymn from Dobell's collection, which is beautifully
+descriptive of her happy change:
+
+ "'Tis finished! the conflict is past,
+ The heaven-born spirit is fled;
+ Her wish is accomplished at last,
+ And now she's entombed with the dead.
+
+ The months of affliction are o'er,
+ The days and the nights of distress,
+ We see her in anguish no more--
+ She's gained her happy release.
+
+ No sickness, or sorrow, or pain,
+ Shall ever disquiet her now;
+ For death to her spirit was gain,
+ Since Christ was her life when below.
+
+ Her soul has now taken its flight
+ To mansions of glory above,
+ To mingle with angels of light,
+ And dwell in the kingdom of love.
+
+ The victory now is obtained;
+ She's gone her dear Saviour to see;
+ Her wishes she fully has gained--
+ She's now where she longed to be.
+
+ The coffin, the shroud, and the grave
+ To her were no objects of dread;
+ On Him who is mighty to save,
+ Her soul was with confidence stayed.
+
+ Then let us forbear to complain,
+ That she is now gone from our sight;
+ We soon shall behold her again,
+ With new and redoubled delight."
+
+ Mrs. Graham's death created a strong sensation in the public
+mind. Magistrates of the city were careful to express their sense of
+the public loss sustained, and many charitable institutions paid
+affectionate tributes to her memory. Several clergymen also made her
+death the subject of their discourses, among whom was her beloved
+pastor, Dr. JOHN M. MASON, who, on Sabbath evening, Aug. 14, delivered
+the well-known powerful sermon, "CHRISTIAN MOURNING," from 1 Thess.
+4:13, 14: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
+them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
+no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
+them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
+
+ Contrasting the consolations afforded to the Christian with the
+darkness and doubt of the pagan or infidel; dwelling on the
+Christian's death as "sleeping in Jesus;" his immediate entrance into
+bliss, and his glorious resurrection and reigning with Christ in the
+judgment, he thus proceeds:
+
+ "In this faith the apostles labored and the martyrs bled. Ages
+have elapsed and it is still the same. It is not a distant wonder; not
+a brilliant vision; but a solid and present reality, under the power
+of which at this moment, while the words are on my lips, Christians,
+in various parts of the world, are closing their eyes to sleep in
+Jesus. It has come home to our own business and bosoms. It has chosen
+our houses to be the scene of its miracles. But rarely does it fall to
+the lot of human eyes to witness so high a display of its value and
+virtue, as was witnessed in that blessed woman whose entrance into the
+joy of her Lord has occasioned our assembling this evening.
+
+ "As we are commanded to be followers of them who through faith
+and patience inherit the promises, we should have their example before
+us, that we may learn to imbibe their spirit, to imitate their graces,
+and be ready for their reward. With this view, permit me to lay before
+you some brief recollections of our deceased friend.
+
+ "It is not my intention to relate the history of her life. That
+will be a proper task for biography. I design merely to state a few
+leading facts, and to sketch such outlines of character as may show to
+those who knew her not, what manner of person she was in all holy
+conversation and godliness. Those who knew her best require no such
+remembrancer, and will be able, from their own observation, to supply
+its defects.
+
+ "ISABELLA MARSHALL, known to us as Mrs. GRAHAM, received from
+nature qualities which, in circumstances favorable to their
+development, do not allow their possessor to pass through life
+unnoticed and inefficient.
+
+ "An intellect strong, prompt, and inquisitive--a temper open,
+generous, cheerful, ardent--a heart replete with tenderness, and alive
+to every social affection and every benevolent impulse--a spirit at
+once enterprising and persevering--the whole crowned with that rare
+and inestimable endowment, good sense--were materials which required
+only skilful management to fit her for adorning and dignifying any
+female station. With that sort of cultivation which the world most
+admires, and those opportunities which attend upon rank and fortune,
+she might have shone in the circles of the great without forfeiting
+the esteem of the good. Or had her lot fallen among the literary
+unbelievers of the continent, she might have figured in the sphere of
+the Voltaires, the Duffauds, and the other _esprits forts_ of
+Paris. She might have been as gay in public, as dismal in private, and
+as wretched in her end, as any of the most distinguished among them
+for their wit and their woe. But God had destined her for other scenes
+and services--scenes from which greatness turns away appalled, and
+services which all the cohorts of infidel wit are unable to perform.
+She was to be prepared by poverty, bereavement, and grief, to pity and
+to succor the poor, the bereaved, and the grieving. The sorrows of
+widowhood were to teach her the heart of the widow--her babes,
+deprived of their father, to open the springs of her compassion to the
+fatherless and orphan--and the consolations of God, her refuge and
+strength, her very present help in trouble, to make her a daughter
+of consolation to them who were walking in the valley of the shadow
+of death.
+
+ "To train her betimes for the future dispensations of his
+providence, the Lord touched the heart of this chosen vessel in her
+early youth. The spirit of prayer sanctified her infant lips, and
+taught her, as far back as her memory could go, to pour out her heart
+before God. She had not reached her eleventh year when she selected a
+bush in the retirement of the field, and there devoted herself to her
+God by faith in the Redeemer. The incidents of her education,
+thoughtless companions, the love of dress, and the dancing-school, as
+she has herself recorded, chilled for a while the warmth of her piety,
+and robbed her bosom of its peace. But her gracious Lord revisited her
+with his mercy, and bound her to himself in an everlasting covenant,
+which she sealed at his own table about the seventeenth year of
+her age.
+
+ "Having married, a few years after, Dr. John Graham, surgeon to
+the 60th British regiment, she accompanied him first to Montreal, and
+shortly after to Fort Niagara. Here, during four years of temporal
+prosperity, she had no opportunity, even for once, of entering the
+habitation of God's house, or hearing the sound of his gospel.
+Secluded from the waters of the sanctuary and all the public means of
+growth in grace, her religion began to languish and its leaf to droop.
+But the root was perennial--it was of the seed of God, which liveth
+and abideth for ever. The Sabbath was still to her the sign of his
+covenant. On that day of rest, with her Bible in her hand, she used to
+wander through the woods, renew her self-dedication, and pour out her
+prayer for the salvation of her husband and her children. He who
+'dwelleth not in temples made with hands,' heard her cry from the
+wilds of Niagara, and strengthened her with strength in her soul.
+
+ "By one of those vicissitudes which checker military life, the
+regiment was ordered to the island of Antigua in the West Indies. Here
+she met with that exquisite enjoyment to which she had been long a
+stranger--the communion of kindred spirits in the love of Christ: and
+soon did she need all the soothing and support which it is fitted to
+administer; for in a very short time the husband of her youth, the
+object of her most devoted affection, her sole earthly stay, was taken
+from her by death. The stroke was, indeed, mitigated by the sweet
+assurance that he slept in Jesus. But a heart like hers, convulsed by
+a review of the past and anticipation of the future, would have burst
+with agony, had she not known how to pour its sorrows into the bosom
+of her heavenly Father. Trials which beat sense and reason to the
+ground, raise up the faith of the Christian, and draw her closer to
+her God. O, how divine to have him as the rock of our rest when every
+earthly reliance is a broken reed.
+
+ "Bowing to his mysterious dispensation, and committing herself to
+his protection as the Father of the fatherless and the Husband of the
+widow, she returns with her charge to her native land, to contract
+alliance with penury, and to live by faith for her daily bread. That
+same grace under whose teaching she knew how to abound, taught her
+also how to suffer need. With a dignity which belongs only to them who
+have treasure in heaven, she descended to her humble cot, employment,
+and fare. But her humility, according to the Scripture, was the
+forerunner of her advancement. The light of her virtues shone
+brightest in her obscurity, and pointed her way to the confidential
+trust of forming the minds and manners of young females of different
+ranks in the metropolis of Scotland. Here, respected by the great and
+beloved by the good; in sacred intimacy with 'devout and honorable
+women,' and the friendship of men who were in truth servants of the
+most high God, she continued in the successful discharge of her duties
+till Providence conducted her to our shores.
+
+ "She long had a predilection for America, as a land in which,
+according to her favorite opinion, the church of Christ is signally to
+flourish. Here she wished to end her days and leave her children. And
+we shall remember with gratitude, that in granting her wish, God cast
+her lot with ourselves. Twenty-five years ago she opened in this city
+a school for the education of young ladies, the benefits of which have
+been strongly felt, and will be long felt hereafter, in different and
+distant parts of our country. Evidently devoted to the welfare of her
+pupils--attentive to their peculiarities of character--happy in
+discovering the best avenue of approach to their minds--possessing in
+a high degree the talent of simplifying her instruction and varying
+its form, she succeeded in that most difficult part of a teacher's
+work, the inducing youth to take an interest in their own improvement,
+and to educate themselves by exerting their own faculties.
+
+ "In governing her little empire, she acted upon those principles
+which are the basis of all good government, on every scale and under
+every modification--to be reasonable, to be firm, and to be uniform.
+Her authority was both tempered and strengthened by condescension. It
+commanded respect while it conciliated affection. Her word was law,
+but it was the law of kindness. It spoke to the conscience, but it
+spoke to the heart; and obedience bowed with the knee of love. She did
+not, however, imagine her work to be perfected in fitting her élèves
+for duties and elegance of life. Never did she forget their immortal
+nature. Utterly devoid of sectarian narrowness, she labored to infuse
+into their minds those vital principles of evangelical piety which
+form the common distinction of the disciples of Christ, the peculiar
+glory of the female name, and the surest pledge of domestic bliss. Her
+voice, her example, her prayers concurred in recommending that pure
+and undefiled religion without which no human being shall see the
+Lord. Shall we wonder that her scholars should be tenderly attached to
+such a preceptress; that they should leave her with their tears and
+their blessing; that they should carry an indelible remembrance of her
+into the bosom of their families; that the reverence of pupils should
+ripen with their years into the affection of friends; and that there
+should be among them, at this day, many a wife who is a crown to her
+husband, and many a mother who is a blessing to her children, and who
+owes, in a great degree, the felicity of her character to the
+impressions, the principles, and the habits which she received while
+under the maternal tuition of Mrs. GRAHAM?
+
+ "Admonished at length by the infirmities of age, and importuned
+by her friends, this venerable matron retired to private life. But it
+was impossible for her to be idle. Her leisure only gave a new
+direction to her activity. With no less alacrity than she had
+displayed in the education of youth, did she now embark in the relief
+of misery. Her benevolence was unbounded, but it was discreet. There
+are charities which increase the wretchedness they are designed to
+diminish; which, from some fatal defect in their application, bribe to
+iniquity while they are relieving want, and make food and raiment and
+clothing to warm into life the most poisonous seeds of vice. But the
+charities of our departed friend were of another order. They selected
+the fittest objects--the widow, the fatherless, the orphan, the
+untaught child, and the ignorant adult. They combined intellectual and
+moral benefit with the communication of physical comfort.
+
+ "In her house originated the Society for the Relief of Poor
+Widows with Small Children. Large, indeed, is this branch of the
+family of affliction, and largely did it share in her sympathy and
+succor. When at the head of this noble association, she made it her
+business to see with her own eyes the objects of their care; and to
+give, by her personal presence and efforts, the strongest impulse to
+their humane system. From morning till night has she gone from abode
+to abode of these destitute, who are too commonly unpitied by the
+great, despised by the proud, and forgotten by the gay. She has gone
+to sit beside them on their humble seat, hearing their simple and
+sorrowful story, sharing their homely meal--ascertaining the condition
+of their children--stirring them up to diligence, to economy, to
+neatness, to order--putting them into the way of obtaining suitable
+employment for themselves and suitable places for their
+children--distributing among them the word of God, and tracts
+calculated to familiarize its first principles to their
+understanding--cherishing them in sickness, admonishing them in
+health--instructing, reproving, exhorting, consoling--sanctifying the
+whole with fervent prayer. Many a sobbing heart and streaming eye is
+this evening embalming her memory in the house of the widow.
+
+ "Little if any less is the debt due to her from that invaluable
+charity, the Orphan Asylum. It speaks its own praise, and that praise
+is hers. Scores of orphans redeemed from filth, from ignorance, from
+wretchedness, from crime--clothed, fed, instructed--trained in
+cleanliness to habits of industry--early imbued with the knowledge and
+fear of God--gradually preparing for respectability, usefulness, and
+happiness, is a spectacle for angels. Their infantine gayety, their
+healthful sport, their cherub faces, mark the contrast between their
+present and former condition; and recall very tenderly the scenes in
+which they used to cluster round their patron-mother, hang on her
+gracious words, and receive her benediction.
+
+ "Brethren, I am not dealing in romance, but in sober fact. The
+night would be too short for a full enumeration of her worthy deeds.
+Suffice it to say that they ended but with her life. The Sabbath
+previous to her last sickness occupied her with a recent
+institution--a Sunday-school for ignorant adults; and the evening
+preceding the touch of death, found her at the side of a faithful
+domestic, administering consolation to his wounded spirit.
+
+ "Such active benevolence could hardly be detected in company with
+a niggardly temper. Wishes which cost nothing; pity which expires on
+the lips; be ye warmed and be ye clothed, from a cold heart and an
+unyielding gripe, never imprinted their disgraceful brand upon
+Isabella Graham. What she urged upon others she exemplified in
+herself. She kept a purse for God. Here, in obedience to his command,
+she deposited the first-fruits of all her increase; and they were
+sacred to his service, as in his providence he should call for them.
+No shuffling pretences, no pitiful evasions, when a fair demand was
+made upon the hallowed store; and no frigid affectation in determining
+the quality of the demand. A sense of duty was the prompter, candor
+the interpreter, and good sense the judge. Her disbursements were
+proportioned to the value of the object, and were ready at a moment's
+warning, to the very last farthing.* How pungent a reproof to those
+ladies of opulence and fashion who sacrifice so largely to their
+dissipation or their vanity, that they have nothing left for mouths
+without food, and limbs without raiment! How far does it throw back
+into the shade those men of prosperous enterprise and gilded state
+who, in the hope of some additional lucre, have thousands and ten
+thousands at their beck; but who, when asked for decent contributions
+to what they themselves acknowledge to be all-important, turn away
+with this hollow excuse, 'I cannot afford it.' Above all, how should
+her example redden the faces of many who profess to belong to Christ;
+to have received gratuitously from him what he procured for them at
+the expense of his own blood, 'an inheritance incorruptible and
+undefiled, and that fadeth not away;' and yet, in the midst of
+abundance which he has lavished upon them, when the question is about
+relieving his suffering members, or promoting the glory of his
+kingdom, are sour, reluctant, mean. Are these the Christians? Can it
+be that they have committed their bodies, their souls, their eternal
+hope, to a Saviour whose thousand promises on this very point of
+honoring him with their substance, have less influence upon their
+hearts and their hands than the word of any honest man? Remember the
+deceased, and hang your heads--remember her, and tremble; remember
+her, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
+
+*The author knew her, when in moderate circumstances, to give,
+ unsolicited, _fifty pounds at once_ out of that sacred purse to
+ a single most worthy purpose.
+
+ "In that charity, also, which far surpasses mere almsgiving,
+however liberal, the charity of the gospel, our friend was
+conspicuous. The love of God shed abroad in her own heart by the Holy
+Ghost, drew forth her love to his people wherever she found them.
+Assuredly she had in herself this witness of her having 'passed from
+death unto life,' that she loved the brethren. The epistle, written
+not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
+stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart; yet read and known of all
+men: that is, the Christian temper manifested by a Christian
+conversation, was to her the best letter of recommendation. Unwavering
+in her own faith as to the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, she could
+nevertheless extend love without dissimulation, and the very bowels of
+Christian fellowship, to others who, whatever might be their mistakes,
+their infirmities, or their differences in smaller matters, agreed in
+the great Christian essential of acceptance in the Beloved. Deeply did
+she deplore the conceit, the bigotry, and the bitterness of sect. O
+that her spirit were more prevalent in the churches; that we could
+labor to abase our crown of pride; to offer up with one consent upon
+the altar of evangelical charity, those petty jealousies, animosities,
+and strifes which are our common reproach; and walk together as
+children of the same Father, brethren of the same Redeemer, and heirs
+of the same salvation.
+
+ "To these admirable traits of character were added great
+tenderness of conscience and a spirit of prayer. Her religion, not
+contented to justify her before men, habitually aimed at pleasing God,
+who looketh upon the heart. It was not enough for her to persuade
+herself that a thing might be right. Before venturing upon it, she
+studied to reduce the question of right to a clear certainty. How
+cautious and scrupulous and jealous of herself she was in this matter,
+they best can tell who saw her in the shade of retirement as well as
+in the sunshine of public observation. Perhaps it is not going too far
+to say, that her least guarded moments would, in others, have been
+marked for circumspection. At the same time her vigilance had nothing
+austere, gloomy, constrained, or censorious--nothing to repress the
+cheerfulness of social intercourse, or to excite in others, even the
+thoughtless, a dread of merciless criticism after they should retire.
+It was sanctified nature moving gracefully in its own element. And
+with respect to the character and feelings of her neighbors, she was
+too full of Christian kindness not to keep her tongue from evil and
+her lips from speaking guile.
+
+ "These virtues and graces were maintained and invigorated by her
+habit of prayer. With the 'new and living way into the holiest by the
+blood of Jesus,' she was intimately familiar. Thither the Spirit of
+grace and supplication daily conducted her; there taught her to pray,
+and in praying to believe, and in believing to have 'fellowship with
+the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.' She knew her God as the God
+that heareth prayer; and could attest that 'blessed is she that
+believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things which were
+told her from the Lord.'
+
+ "Under such influence her course could not but be correct, and
+her steps well ordered. The 'secret of the Lord is with them that fear
+him; and he will show them his covenant, he will guide them in
+judgment.' Thus he did with his handmaid whom he hath called home.
+Wherever she was, and in whatever circumstances, she remembered the
+guide of her youth, who, according to His promise, never left her, nor
+forsook her; but continued His gracious presence with her when she was
+old and gray-headed.
+
+ "You may perhaps imagine, that with such direction and support it
+was impossible she should see trouble. Nay, but waters of a full cup
+were wrung out to her. She often ate the bread of sorrow steeped in
+wormwood and gall. Her heavenly Father showed her great and sore
+adversities; that he might try her as silver is tried, and bring her
+forth from the furnace purified seven times. It was during these
+refining processes that she found the worth of being a Christian.
+Though her way was planted with thorns and watered with her tears, yet
+the candle of the Lord shone upon her head; and from step to step she
+had reason to cry, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped.
+
+ "In a word, like Enoch, she walked with God; like Abraham, she
+staggered not at his promise through unbelief; like Jacob, she
+wrestled with the angel and prevailed; like Moses, endured as seeing
+Him who is invisible; like Paul, finished her course with joy. Blessed
+were the eyes of the preacher, for they saw the victory of her faith;
+and his ears, for they heard her song of salvation. 'You can say with
+the apostle, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is
+able to keep that which I have committed unto him?' 'O yes, but I
+cannot say the other, I have fought a good fight; I must say, I have
+fought a poor fight, I have run a poor race; but Christ fought for me.
+Christ ran with me, and through Christ I hope to win,' 'But you have
+no fear, no doubts, about your going to be with Christ?' 'O no, not a
+doubt; I am as sure of that as if I were already in my Saviour's
+arms.' It was her final conversation with children of the dust. The
+next day, when her flesh and her heart had so far failed that she was
+incapable of uttering a sentence, she still proved her God to be the
+strength of her heart, and knew him to be her portion for ever. I said
+to her, 'It is peace,' She opened her eyes, smiled, closed them again,
+bowed her dying head, and breathed out, 'Peace,' It was her last word
+on this side heaven. The attending spirits caught it from her lips,
+and brought to her the next day permission to sleep in Jesus.
+
+ "From this review allow me to urge the value of private exertions
+in promoting general good.
+
+ "In pursuing his gratifications, man is apt to look upon himself
+as a being of great importance; in fulfilling his duties, to account
+himself as nothing. Both are extravagances which it will be his wisdom
+and happiness to correct. He is neither supreme in worth nor useless
+in action. Let him not say, 'I am but one; my voice will be drowned in
+the universal din; my weight is lighter than a feather in the public
+scale. It is better for me to mind my own affairs, and leave these
+higher attempts to more competent hands.' This is the language, not of
+reason and modesty, but of sloth, of selfishness, and of pride. The
+amount of it is, 'I cannot do every thing, therefore I will do
+nothing,' But you can do much. Act well your part according to your
+faculties, your station, and your means. The result will be honorable
+to yourself, delightful to your friends, and beneficial to the world.
+I advise not to gigantic aims, to enormous enterprise. The world has
+seen but one Newton, and one Howard. Nothing is required of you but to
+make the most of the opportunities within your reach.
+
+ "Recall the example of Mrs. Graham. Here was a woman, a widow, a
+stranger in a strange land, without fortune, with no friends but such
+as her letters of introduction and her worth should acquire, and with
+a family of daughters dependent upon her for their subsistence. Surely
+if any one has a clear title of immunity from the obligation to carry
+her cares beyond the domestic circle, it is this widow, it is this
+stranger. Yet within a few years this stranger, this widow, with no
+means but her excellent sense, her benevolent heart, and her
+persevering will to do good, awakens the charities of a populous city,
+and gives to them an impulse, a direction, and an efficacy unknown
+before.
+
+ "What might not be done by men--by men of talent, of standing, of
+wealth, of leisure? How speedily, under their well-directed
+beneficence, might a whole country change its physical, intellectual,
+and moral aspect; and assume, comparatively speaking, the face of
+another Eden, a second garden of God. Why then do they not diffuse
+thus extensively the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of bliss? I
+ask not for their pretences; they are as old as the lust of lucre, and
+are refuted by the example which we have been contemplating: I ask for
+the true reason, for the inspiring principle of their conduct. It is
+this--let them look to it when God shall call them to account for the
+abuse of their time, their talents, their station, their 'unrighteous
+mammon'--it is this: they believe not 'the words of the Lord Jesus,
+how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' They labor
+under no want but one, they want _the heart_. The bountiful God
+add this to the other gifts which he has bestowed upon them. I turn to
+the other sex.
+
+ "That venerable mother in Israel who has exchanged the service of
+God on earth for his service in heaven, has left a legacy to her
+sisters: she has left the example of her faith and patience; she has
+left her prayers; she has left the monument of her Christian deeds;
+and by these she being dead, yet speaketh. Matrons, has she left her
+mantle also? Are there none among you to hear her voice from the tomb,
+Go and do thou likewise? None whom affluence permits, endowments
+qualify, and piety prompts, to aim at her distinction by treading in
+her steps? Maidens, are there none among you who would wish to array
+yourselves hereafter in the honors of this virtuous woman? Your hearts
+have dismissed their wonted warmth and generosity, if they do not
+throb as the revered vision rises before you. Then prepare yourselves
+now, by seeking and serving the God of her youth. You cannot be too
+early adorned with the robes of righteousness and the garments of
+salvation in which she was wedded, in her morning of life, to Jesus
+the King of glory. That same grace which threw its radiance around
+her, shall make you also to shine in the beauty of holiness; and the
+fragrance of those virtues which it shall create, develope, and
+ennoble, will be 'as the smell of a field which the Lord hath
+blessed.'
+
+ "Yea, let me press upon all the transcendent excellence of
+Christian character, and the victorious power of Christian hope. The
+former bears the image of God; the latter is as imperishable as his
+throne. We fasten our eyes with more real respect and more heart-felt
+approbation upon the moral majesty displayed in walking as Christ also
+walked, than upon all the pomps of the monarch or decorations of the
+military hero. More touching to the sense and more grateful to high
+heaven is the soft melancholy with which we look after our departed
+friend, and the tear which embalms her memory, than the thundering
+plaudits which rend the air with the name of a conqueror. She has
+obtained a triumph over that foe who shall break the arm of valor, and
+strike off the crown of kings. 'The fashion of this world passeth
+away.' Old Time approaches towards his last hour. The proudest
+memorials of human grandeur shall be food for the conflagration to be
+kindled when 'the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming
+fire. Then shall he be glorified in his saints, and admired in all
+them that believe.'
+
+ "There are those perhaps, in the present assembly, who repute
+godliness fanaticism, and the sobriety of Christian peace the gloom of
+a joyless spirit; but who cannot forbear sighing out, with the prophet
+of mammon, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end
+be like his.' If they proceed no further, their wish will not be
+granted. None shall die the death of the righteous, unless by a rare
+dispensation of mercy, who do not live his life. They only are fit to
+be with God who love God and keep his commandments. In that day of
+transport and of terror which we shall all witness, how many of the
+thoughtless fair who now 'sport themselves with their own deceivings,'
+would give all the treasures of the east and thrones of the west to
+sit with Isabella Graham on the right hand of Jesus Christ. If ye be
+wise betimes, ye may. Now is the accepted time; to-day is the day of
+salvation. The gospel of the Son of God offers you at this very
+moment, the forgiveness of your sins, and an inheritance among them
+that are sanctified. The blessing comes to you as a free gift: accept
+it, and live; accept it, and be safe; accept it, and put away the
+shudderings of guilt and the fear of death. Then shall you too, like
+our friend, go in due season to be with Christ. Your happy spirit
+shall rejoin hers in the mansions of the saved. God shall bring you in
+soul and body with her when he makes up his jewels. Then shall he
+gather his elect from the four winds of heaven, shall perfect that
+which concerneth them, and make them fully and for ever blessed. Be
+our place among them in that day.'
+
+
+ EXTRACT FROM MRS. GRAHAM'S
+ LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.
+
+ "My children and my grandchildren I leave to my covenant God--the
+God who hath fed me all my life with the bread that perisheth, and the
+bread that never perisheth; who has been a Father to my fatherless
+children, and a Husband to their widowed mother thus far. And now,
+receiving my Redeemer's testimony, John 3:33, I set to my seal that
+God is true; and believing the record in John's epistle, that God hath
+given to me eternal life, and this life is in his Son, who, through
+the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God, and being
+consecrated a priest for ever, hath with his own blood, entered into
+the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for me. I also
+believe that he will perfect what concerns me, support and carry me
+safely through death, and present me to his Father, complete in
+his own righteousness, without spot or wrinkle. Into the hands
+of this redeeming God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I commit my
+redeemed spirit."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham's epitaph on a tablet in the Pearl-street church, is
+associated with that of her son-in-law Mr. Bethune, to whom before his
+connection with the family she was a spiritual mother; who prepared
+her memoir, wrote and printed tracts for her widows, imported Bibles
+for her to distribute, replenished her charity purse when exhausted;
+with whom she took sweet counsel and walked to the house of God in
+company; and for whom she was pleased to leave the written and
+honorable testimony: "He stands in my mind, in temper, conduct, and
+conversation, the nearest to the gospel standard of any man or woman I
+ever knew as intimately. Devoted to his God, to his church, to his
+family, to all to whom he may have opportunity of doing good, duty is
+his governing principle; cast upon his care, under God he nourishes me
+with kindness," etc. They have entered into rest. One sepulchre
+contains their sleeping dust, and one monument bears the following
+tribute to their memory:
+
+
+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+ OF
+ DIVIE BETHUNE,
+ MERCHANT OF THIS CITY,
+ WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 18, 1824, AGED 53 YEARS;
+
+ AND OF
+
+ ISABELLA GRAHAM,
+ HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW,
+ WHO DIED JULY 27, 1814, AGED 72 YEARS.
+
+ THEY WERE BOTH NATIVES OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+ THIS MONUMENT
+ IS REARED BY HIS BEREAVED WIDOW AND HER ORPHAN DAUGHTER,
+ AS A TESTIMONIAL OF TWO SERVANTS OF JESUS CHRIST:
+ THE ONE A RULING ELDER IN HIS CHURCH, THE OTHER A MOTHER IN ISRAEL;
+ WHO, LIKE ENOCH, WALKED WITH GOD,
+ LIKE ABRAHAM, OBTAINED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH,
+ AND, LIKE PAUL, FINISHED THEIR COURSE WITH JOY.
+ THEY WERE LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES,
+ AND THEY REST HERE TOGETHER IN THEIR GRAVES.
+
+"THE BLESSING OF HIM THAT WAS READY TO PERISH CAME UPON THEM; AND
+THEY CAUSED THE WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR JOY." JOB 29:13.
+
+"OH HOW GREAT IS THY GOODNESS, WHICH THOU HAST LAID UP FOR THEM
+THAT FEAR THEE; WHICH THOU HAST WROUGHT FOR THEM THAT TRUST IN THEE
+BEFORE THE SONS OF MEN!" PSA. 31:19.
+
+
+
+
+ PROVISION
+
+ FOR
+
+ MY LAST JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS
+
+ AND
+
+ PASSAGE OVER JORDAN.*
+
+*Found in Mrs. Graham's pocket after her decease.
+
+ "'Prepare you victuals, for within three days ye shall pass over
+this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God
+giveth you to possess it. When ye see the ark of the covenant of the
+Lord your God, and the priests bearing it, then ye shall remove and go
+after it: that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have
+not passed this way heretofore.'
+
+ "'Sanctify yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders
+among you.'
+
+ "'Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
+passeth over before you into Jordan: and it shall come to pass, that
+as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of
+the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters, that
+the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down
+from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.'
+
+ "'And it came to pass, that when the people removed from their
+tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the
+covenant before the people, that as they that bare the ark were come
+into Jordan, and the feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of
+the water, that the waters that came down from above stood and rose up
+upon a heap; and the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the
+Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the
+Israelites passed over on dry ground.'
+
+ "'And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the
+place where the feet of the priests that bare the ark of the covenant
+of the Lord stood; and they are there unto this day.'
+
+ "'When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come,
+saying, What mean these stones? ye shall let your children know,
+saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land; for the Lord your
+God dried up the waters from before you until ye were passed over, as
+the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up, until we were
+passed over; that all people of the earth might know the hand of the
+Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for
+ever,' Amen. Josh. 1:11; chap. 3, 4.
+
+ "Oh, thou Jehovah; Israel's God, and by thy new covenant, my God;
+thus far hast thou brought me through the wilderness: bearing,
+chastising, forgiving, restoring. Well hast thou made out thy
+wilderness name to me: 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Great have
+been my provocations, but greater still thy covenant mercy. I have not
+perished with them that believed not; sore bitten I am, but thou hast
+fixed mine eyes on the lifted-up Healer, and I am in his hand for
+further cure. My journey has been long, and my way devious; but my
+blessed Joshua is still in view. I must be near to Jordan's flood; I
+have been preparing victuals from thine own repository of truth. And
+now, my blessed High-priest and Ark of the covenant, lead on my
+staggering steps the little further. I have not gone this way
+heretofore, but thou hast measured these waters while they overflowed
+all their banks. Thou hast passed through, and made the passage safe
+for thy people. At thy command the waters stand up upon a heap, and
+they pass through in thy presence on faith's firm ground. Keep then
+mine eye upon thee, and I shall fear no evil. And Oh, my, blessed
+Leader, if it might please thee, I would ask a boon, yet with
+submission, that thy sensible presence might be with me all the way
+through; and that thou wouldst bring from my quivering lips a
+testimony to the glory of thy grace, that my children may know that
+thou hast pardoned, restored, perfected, dried up the waters of
+terror, carried me triumphantly through, and put me in possession of
+the purchased inheritance. Amen.
+
+ "'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
+Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.'
+1 Tim. 1:15.
+
+ "I have often inquired, What is there within us, or without us,
+on which a sinner can rest in peace in a dying hour? If it be a holy
+life, there can be no peace for me--taking the law of God for my
+standard; backslider is my name; yet I think in this sacred volume I
+find a hope even for me, the chief of sinners.
+
+ "'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
+the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
+not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he
+gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not
+perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son into the world
+to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.'
+'He that cometh from heaven is above all, and what he hath seen and
+heard, that he testifieth.' 'He that receiveth his testimony has set
+to his seal that God is true.' 'The Father loveth the Son, and hath
+given all things into his hand; he that believeth on the Son hath
+everlasting life.' John 3:14-36. Here is a hope for me; the world is
+made up of sinners, I am one of them, and though the chief, am not
+excluded. The Son of man came to save that which was lost, Matt.
+18:11; I am of that description. 'The Pharisees said, Why eateth your
+master with publicans and sinners? Jesus said, The whole need not a
+physician, but they that are sick.' Matt. 9:11. I am a sinner, and
+sick. 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call
+the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' I am a sinner, and need
+repentance. 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince
+and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.'
+Acts 5:31. 'The Lord is long-suffering, not willing that any should
+perish, but that all should come to repentance.' 2 Pet. 3:9.
+
+ "Christ said to the woman of Samaria, a notorious sinner, 'If
+thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give
+me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
+thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
+again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,
+shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
+him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' John 4:10,
+14. Yes, my Redeemer, a draught of this water, received in faith from
+the hand of the Spirit, will give life in death. O pour it into my
+thirsty soul in that searching hour.
+
+ "Jesus said to a mixed multitude of sinners like me, 'Labor not
+for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
+everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him
+hath God the Father sealed,' John 6:27. These sinners said unto him,
+'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' 'That ye
+believe on Him whom he hath sent. My Father giveth you the true bread
+from heaven, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
+and giveth life unto the world: I am the bread of life; he that cometh
+unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never
+thirst. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man
+eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. And the bread which I shall
+give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Jesus
+said unto them, Except ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the
+Son of man, ye have no life in you: whoso eateth my flesh, and
+drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
+hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he
+shall live by me.' The Father giveth this bread, the Son giveth this
+bread; whosoever will, may take of this bread, and the promise with
+it. Father, I take this bread, I take and believe that I have in thee
+eternal life, according to thy word. O holy and blessed Comforter,
+Spirit of the Father and of the Son, whose office it is to take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto his redeemed, when the bread and
+the water that perish can no longer refresh this dying body, apply
+this living bread and living water to my soul, that life may spring up
+in the midst of death; and in that trying hour, bear witness with my
+spirit that I dwell in Christ, and Christ in me, and that I shall
+never die.
+
+ "'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
+cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that
+believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
+flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit, that they
+who believe on him should receive.' John 7:37. This he proclaimed to a
+mixed multitude of sinners like myself. Lord, I believe, and am sure
+that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Be it unto me
+according to thy word: 'I am the resurrection and the life: he that
+believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever
+liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?'
+John 11:25. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
+God, which should come into the world; the promised Messiah; the gift
+of the Father, the covenant given to the people; the anointed Prophet
+and King, and consecrated High-priest; who through the eternal Spirit
+offeredst thyself without spot unto God; who came to do that most
+perfect will of God, by which we are sanctified through the offering
+of the body of Christ once for all. Lamb of God, which takest away the
+sins of the world, on thee I lay my precious never-dying soul; wash me
+in thy blood, clothe me in thy righteousness; sanctify me, soul,
+spirit, and body, to thy service. I have no other foundation of hope,
+nothing within me, nothing without me; my entire dependence is on thy
+finished work; into thy hands I commit my spirit.
+
+ "Let me hear thy consoling voice, compassionate Saviour. 'Let not
+your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
+Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told
+you. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive
+you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also,' John 14:1-3.
+O seal this upon my heart, and it is enough. To be where thou art, is
+heaven enough to me. To be where thou art, to see thee as thou art,
+and to be made like thee, the last sinful motion for ever past--no
+more opposition, no more weariness, listlessness, dryness, deadness;
+but conformed to my blessed Head, every way capacitated to serve him,
+and to enjoy him--this is heaven.
+
+ "'Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man
+cometh to the Father, but by me.' Blessed Comforter, do thine office;
+take these things of Christ and show them unto me; lead me in this
+way, feed me with this truth, and animate me with this life:
+'Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, that will I do,
+that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask any thing in my
+name, I will do it.' Blessed Comforter, here also do thine office: I
+know not what to ask for as I ought; help mine infirmities as thou
+hast said; suggest the prayer, be in me the spirit of prayer and
+supplication, and especially in that hour of need, when sickness saps
+the clay tabernacle, discomposing the spirit, and confusing perhaps
+the ideas: still, still let my thoughts rise to my God. Oh, let no
+unhallowed subject get hold of me in that hour, but keep my Saviour's
+name in my heart, and on my lips. Is not this according to thy will?
+watch over it then, and keep the avenues of my soul from every
+vain idea.
+
+ "'If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the
+Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
+with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
+receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know
+him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. He that hath my
+commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that
+loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
+manifest myself unto him; and we will come and make our abode with
+him. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
+in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
+your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with
+you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto
+you: let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' In
+that last warfare, when nothing on earth can give peace; when the
+world recedes, and disappears; when friends must stand aloof and leave
+me to the combat alone; Oh, blessed and promised Comforter, bring to
+my remembrance, and impress on my weary spirit these sweet words of my
+Saviour. But it has often occurred to me, and may in that hour, that
+though Jesus received sinners, they were ignorant sinners. The Jews
+understood not the gospel contained in their types and sacrifices;
+they were unenlightened and unconverted; the Gentiles were totally
+blind, serving dumb idols; neither had known the gospel, neither had
+tasted the grace of God, neither were backsliders, like me. I have
+known the truth, been enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, been
+made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the good word of God, and
+of the power of the world to come.
+
+ "Fifty years ago the Lord convinced me of my sin, my misery, and
+my total helplessness. I was also, I think, enabled to lay hold on the
+hope set before me.
+
+ "I have, in numerous exercises and acts, accepted of God's gift
+of Jesus Christ to me a condemned sinner; taking hold of the Scripture
+words of invitation and promise held out for my acceptance. I have
+pleaded his own covenant provision, in the substitution of his own Son
+in my stead, making him to be sin, who knew no sin, that sinners might
+be made the righteousness of God in him. I put in my claim as a
+sinner, among the ungodly for whom Christ died. I believed his
+testimony, and set to my seal that God is true. I rested on this
+foundation--I yet have no other; I know there is no other. The
+foundation standeth sure. But Oh, what am I to think of the fruits? I
+have again and again turned back into the world, grieved the Spirit,
+crucified the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. No wonder
+I stand alarmed at the apostle's assertion: my conscience testifies
+that my character is nearly, if not altogether, such as the apostle,
+by the Holy Spirit, says it is impossible to renew to repentance.
+Hebrews 6:4, 5. But thou hast renewed to repentance! Thy name is 'the
+Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
+abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Thou wilt by no means clear the
+guilty; but thou hast provided a substitute, and laid my guilt and
+guilty person on thine own Son.
+
+ "By this gracious name thou wast known to thy backsliding Israel
+in the wilderness; whose heart, like mine, was not right with God;
+neither were they steadfast in his covenant; but he, 'being full of
+compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not.' Many a
+time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. They
+forgot God their Saviour, who had done great things for them; they
+transgressed his commandment, and in their heart turned back again to
+Egypt; they brought upon themselves many afflictions, and many times
+did he deliver them; they provoked him with their counsel, and were
+brought low for their iniquity; nevertheless, he heard their cry, and
+repented according to the multitude of his mercies; while the blood of
+bulls and of goats typified the great propitiatory sacrifice, by which
+'God can be just and justify the ungodly.' By this name was the Lord
+God, merciful and gracious, known in the pleasant land; and by the
+same sacrifice, the blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, was
+typified. Psalms 103, 51.
+
+ "The prophets prophesied in his name. 'All we, like sheep, have
+gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He
+was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities;
+the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, and by his stripes we
+are healed.' 'Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a
+ransom.' Even backsliders, among whom I stand chief, have been
+recalled. 'My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me
+the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to themselves
+cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Is Israel a
+servant; is he a home-born slave; wherefore is he spoiled? Hast thou
+not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy
+God, when he led thee by the way? And now what hast thou to do in the
+way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in
+the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own
+wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove
+thee. Know therefore, and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
+that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in
+thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old I have broken thy yoke,
+and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon
+every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the
+harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how
+art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
+Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be
+ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Have I been a
+barren wilderness, or a land of darkness unto thee? Wherefore say my
+people, We are lords, and will come no more to thee? Can a maid forget
+her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me,
+days without number.' Jeremiah 2. 'They say, If a man put away his
+wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return
+to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast
+played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again unto me, saith
+the Lord. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me. My Father, thou
+art the guide of my youth?' What can I say to such grace? Thou art
+infinite in thy mercy to pardon, and in thy power to save. Such has
+been my character, and such the amazing mercy of my offended God.
+Often, often has he pardoned, restored, blessed, and made me happy.
+But Oh, just is the renewed charge against me. 'For the house of
+Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with me,
+saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he,
+neither shall evil come upon us.' 'Go and proclaim these words, and
+say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not
+cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord,
+I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that
+thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God; and ye have not
+obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, for I
+am married unto you.' Jer. 3. What, O what can I say to such grace?
+Truly, thy ways are not as our ways, nor thy thoughts as our thoughts.
+For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are thy ways higher
+than our ways, and thy thoughts than our thoughts. Oh, how is my guilt
+aggravated by all this grace; and yet thou callest, _Return;_ and
+thou thyself turnest me. I do, O Lord God, merciful and gracious, I do
+acknowledge my iniquity; every time I turn back my eyes upon my past
+life my sins rise in magnitude, heightened by more enlarged views of
+thy goodness. It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed,
+because his compassions fail not.
+
+ "A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplication
+of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their ways, and
+they have forgotten the Lord their God. Yes, thou hast, my gracious
+God, granted repentance. Thine eye has seen the tears I have shed;
+thou hast given me a contrite heart. I have looked upon him whom I
+have pierced, and been in bitterness as for a first-born. I feel it
+now, and must feel it while the body of sin exists. But Oh, Lord God,
+merciful and gracious, the cause is in thyself, that I hear thy voice,
+and that I answer. 'Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal
+your backslidings. Behold, I come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our
+God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and the
+multitude of mountains. Truly, in the Lord God is the salvation of
+Israel. We lie down in our shame, our confusion covereth us: for we
+have sinned against the Lord our God; we and our fathers, even from
+our youth; and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord God. Thus saith
+the Lord God, I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast
+despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will
+remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth; and I will
+establish unto thee an everlasting covenant, and thou shalt know that
+I am the Lord. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never
+open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified
+towards thee, saith the Lord God.' Amen, Lord God, merciful and
+gracious. Be it so. It is so _now_--it _must_, it will be
+so, until death shall open mine eyes on that mystery: The glory of God
+arising out of the abounding of sin, through the superabounding of
+grace, and grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, by
+Jesus Christ our Lord!
+
+ "Till then, while sin dwelleth in me, let me enjoy the
+blessedness of a contrite heart; yea, even shame and confusion, since
+it is the sign that thou art pacified with me. Thou hast dealt with
+me, thou hast chastened, and in some instances taken vengeance on my
+inventions. But thou art pacified with me, and I dare look again to
+thy holy temple, to the temple not made with hands, to the minister of
+the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not
+man; to the blessed High-priest, who through the eternal Spirit
+offered himself a sacrifice without spot unto God, and by his own
+blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
+redemption for us, and when he had purged our sins, sat down on the
+right hand of the Majesty on high; to the blessed Mediator of the new
+and better covenant, established on better promises; to the Surety of
+the new testament, and sealed with his own blood. Oh, I will look unto
+Jesus, the object, the author, and the finisher of that faith which
+interests us in himself and the whole of his purchase. He bids me look
+unto him, and be saved. I do look unto him, and I am saved. Who dares
+condemn the sinner whom Christ acquits? Who shall lay any thing to his
+charge? 'It is Christ that died; yea, rather, who is risen again;
+who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession
+for us.'"
+
+
+ ISAIAH 44:22. "RETURN UNTO ME.
+
+ A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B----
+
+ "Return to thee, my God? dost thou
+ The invitation yet renew?
+ Return to thee! my chiefest joy,
+ Till sin did all my peace destroy.
+
+ "And yet, to hear thy pardoning voice
+ Must make my trembling heart rejoice;
+ Though sin is there, thou well dost know
+ It is my burden and my foe.
+
+ "O let me hear those gracious words:
+ Be still, my soul, they are the Lord's;
+ That God, who once on thee did shine,
+ And filled thee with a hope divine.
+
+ "'Thy black transgressions, trembling soul--
+ Thy sins so heinous and so foul,
+ Which like a cloud obscure thy day,
+ I've blotted out, I've washed away.
+
+ "'Return to me, thou 'rt mine; I own
+ Thee for my servant, and my son;
+ I have redeemed thy precious soul,
+ And none my purchase shall control.'
+
+ "I hear, I come, my covenant God:
+ Thy love's my life, my raiment, food;
+ Thy favor, through my Jesus given,
+ Is to my soul the bliss of heaven.
+
+ "I come, my Jesus; hold me fast,
+ Till, life and Jordan's journey past,
+ My faith to vision yield her place,
+ And I shall see thy unveiled face.
+
+ "Then, with the loudest of the throng,
+ Of sins forgiven I'll raise the song--
+ Of pardon bought with Jesus' blood,
+ Sinners made kings and priests to God."
+
+
+ PSALM 103. FIFTY YEARS AGO.
+
+ "Oh thou, my soul, bless God the Lord,
+ And all that in me is
+ Be stirréd up, his holy name
+ To magnify and bless," etc.
+
+ "'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a
+little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I
+live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
+Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Believest thou not that I am in
+the Father, and the Father in me? He that hath seen me, hath seen the
+Father. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you
+into all truth. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and
+shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine;
+therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
+you.' John 14; 16:14. 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
+also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may
+be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be one
+in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
+glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one,
+even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
+perfect in one; that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and
+hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also,
+whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold
+my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the
+foundation of the world.' John 17:20, etc. 'All are yours; and ye are
+Christ's; and Christ is God's.' 1 Cor. 3:22. 'Ye are dead, and your
+life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
+appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' Col. 3:3. 'For
+in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
+complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.'
+Col. 2:9. 'There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
+one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
+and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
+But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of
+the gift of Christ.' Eph. 4:4.
+
+ "'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
+Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I
+live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
+for me,' Gal. 2: 20.
+
+ "'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!
+And looking upon Jesus as he walked, John saith, Behold the Lamb of
+God!' John 1:29, 36.
+
+ "'Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours;
+whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
+or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are
+Christ's; and Christ is God's,' 1 Cor. 3:21.
+
+ "'It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He
+sitteth alone and keepeth silence; he putteth his mouth in the dust,
+if so be there may be hope; he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth
+him: he is filled full with reproach.' Lam. 3:27.
+
+ "'That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open
+thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward
+thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.' Ezek. 16:63.
+_Amen._
+
+ "'A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
+thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. Therefore,
+also now, saith the Lord, turn ye unto me with all your heart, with
+fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Rend your heart, and not
+your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and
+merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of
+the evil,' Joel 2:2, 12.
+
+ "'I will visit upon her the days of Baalim: she went after her
+lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. I will allure her, and bring
+her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will
+betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in
+righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
+mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
+shalt know the Lord.' Hosea 2:13.
+
+ "'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help.'
+'Return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
+Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away all
+iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of
+our lips. Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses:
+neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our
+gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' Hosea 13:14.
+
+ "'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for
+mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel;
+he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
+Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard
+him, and observed him. I am like a green fir-tree; from me is thy
+fruit found.' Hosea 14.
+
+ "'O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, because we have
+sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and
+forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.' Daniel 9.
+
+ "'He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the
+lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom; and shall gently lead
+those that are with young. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O
+Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over
+from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the
+everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching
+of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that
+have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and
+be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait
+upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
+wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk,
+and not faint.' Isa. 40:11, etc.
+
+ "'Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not
+the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in
+his ways, neither were they obedient to his law. Therefore he hath
+poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and
+it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned
+him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now thus saith the Lord that
+created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not;
+for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art
+mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
+through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
+through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame
+kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
+thy Saviour. Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been
+honorable, and I have loved thee.' Isa. 42:24, etc.
+
+ "Yes, my God, I remember and am confounded; amazed at my
+ingratitude, amazed at thy grace. I am thy witness, just so has been
+thy way with me. What can I say? Thou hast wrought with me for thy
+name's sake. I am dumb before thee; Oh, I am vile--and yet I am thine!
+Thou hast redeemed me; it is thy good pleasure to save me. Glorify thy
+name. 'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and
+as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing,
+O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the
+earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every
+green tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified
+himself in Israel.'
+
+ "'For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more
+they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
+righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus. Where sin
+abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto
+death, so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life,
+by Jesus Christ our Lord.'
+
+ "'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I
+am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is
+gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
+me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one
+say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall
+men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In
+the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.'
+'Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house
+of Israel. Even to your old age, I am he; and even to hoar hairs will
+I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will
+deliver you.' Isa. 45:22; 46:3.
+
+ "'Thus saith the Lord; I, even I, will both search my sheep, and
+seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he
+is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep,
+and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
+in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people,
+and gather them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of
+Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
+And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
+Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and
+in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will
+feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.
+I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven
+away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that
+which was sick.' Ezek. 34:11. He hath done it, I am his witness: I,
+the poor wanderer, the happy subject of this grace. 'And I will raise
+up for them a plant of renown,' my Jesus, 'and they shall be no 'more
+consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the
+heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am
+with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people,
+saith the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men,
+and I am your God, saith the Lord God.' Ezek. 34:29. 'As the mountains
+are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from
+henceforth, even for ever.' Psa. 125:2.
+
+ "'When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
+it by their own way and by their doings. And I scattered them among
+the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries; according
+to their ways and according to their doings I judged them. And when
+they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my
+holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord,
+and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for my holy name,
+which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they
+went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God:
+I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy
+name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
+went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the
+heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen
+shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be
+sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among
+the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you
+into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
+shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols,
+will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
+will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
+your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
+Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
+keep my judgments, and do them. I will also save you from all your
+uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and
+lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and
+the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of
+famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways,
+and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in
+your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Not for
+your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be
+ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.'
+Ezek. 36:17, etc."
+
+
+ EZEKIEL 16:63; 36:32.
+
+ A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B----.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for, born unclean,
+ The slaves of Satan and of sin.
+ I saw no comeliness in you,
+ To bid my grace such wonders do.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for when my love
+ And grace should your affections move,
+ The working of an evil heart
+ Still makes you from my truth depart.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for, bold and blind,
+ To lust and avarice inclined,
+ Each shadowy idol you obey,
+ Disowning my paternal sway.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; with heaven in view,
+ For sin you sell your souls anew;
+ You barter, for a gilded bait,
+ The joys of an eternal state.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for though you eyed
+ The cross of Christ on which he died,
+ You scorn his love for worldly ends,
+ And wound him in the house of friends.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; with Jesus' name,
+ You put him to an open shame;
+ And by your sins, consent again
+ To have the dear Redeemer slain.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; 'tis my free grace
+ That grants you pardon, life, and peace;
+ And works a change on all your frame,
+ And binds you to adore my name.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--I hail the sound;
+ Let power of grace my pride confound:
+ Salvation is a work divine;
+ Confusion and the shame be mine.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--did I but trust
+ To weakness, vanity, and dust,
+ I ne'er could reach the heavenly prize,
+ Nor hope a mansion in the skies.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--yet save and call;
+ Let Jesus be my all in all:
+ When glory comes I'll self disown,
+ And grace, free grace shall wear the crown."
+
+ "'Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is
+good: for his mercy endureth for ever.' Psalm 106:1.
+
+ "'Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy
+people: O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy
+chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may
+glory with thine inheritance.' Psalm 106:4, 5.
+
+ "'At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
+commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
+having no hope, and without God in the world; but now, in Christ
+Jesus, ye who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
+Christ.' Eph. 2:12, 13.
+
+ "'Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt
+prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: to judge the
+fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more
+oppress.' Psalm 10:17.
+
+ "'Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee
+these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to
+know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
+commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
+and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy
+fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by
+bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
+Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did
+thy foot swell, these forty years.'
+
+ "'Thou shalt also consider in thy heart, that as a man chasteneth
+his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt
+keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to
+fear him.' Deut. 8:2-6.
+
+ "'Thou, God, seest me.' Gen. 16:13.
+
+ "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
+Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
+the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
+love: having predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ
+to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise
+of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
+Beloved; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
+of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath
+abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto
+us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
+hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of
+times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
+are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him, in whom also we
+have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
+purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
+will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
+in Christ.' Eph. 1:3-12.
+
+ "'God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
+loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
+with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together,
+and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in
+the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in
+his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye
+saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
+God: not of works, lest any man should boast; for we are his
+workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
+before ordained that we should walk in them. Now therefore ye,'
+Gentiles, 'are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
+with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the
+foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
+the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together
+groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded
+together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.' Eph. 2:4, etc.
+'I,' Paul, 'bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
+whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
+grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
+with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in
+your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may
+be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and
+length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which
+passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of
+God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
+that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
+unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
+world without end. Amen.' Eph. 3:14-21.
+
+ "'I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
+worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and
+meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love;
+endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
+There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
+of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
+of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto
+every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
+Christ. That we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
+even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
+compacted by that which every joint supplieth'--ministers and people
+in the use of all appointed means--'according to the effectual working
+in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the
+edifying of itself in love.' Eph. 4:1, etc.
+
+ "'I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I
+in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do
+nothing.' John 15:5, 7.
+
+ "'And Moses said, The Lord heareth your murmurings that ye murmur
+against him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but
+against the Lord. And Moses said, This is the bread which the Lord
+hath given you to eat. And the children of Israel did eat manna until
+they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.' Exodus 16.
+
+ "'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man
+eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will
+give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. He that
+eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
+The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.'
+John 6:51, etc.
+
+ "'For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
+wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' 1 Cor.
+1:30.
+
+ "'Seeing then that we have a great High-priest, who is passed
+into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
+profession. For we have not a High-priest who cannot be touched with
+the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
+we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne
+of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
+need.' Heb. 4:14. 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the
+house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws
+into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them
+a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach
+every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
+Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I
+will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
+iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant,
+he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
+ready to vanish away.' Heb. 8:10-13.
+
+ "'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and
+this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that
+hath not the Son of God, hath not life.' 1 John 5:11, 12. Thanks be to
+God for his unspeakable gift.' 2 Cor. 9:15.
+
+ "'Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation.
+He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. My soul, wait thou
+only upon God, for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock and
+my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my
+salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in
+God.' Psa. 62:1-7."
+
+ _______________
+
+ REST.
+
+ "'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished: and on the
+seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested the
+seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the
+seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from
+all his work that he had created and made.' Genesis 2:1-3.
+
+ "'And Moses said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto
+the Lord. So the people rested on the seventh day.' Exodus 16:23, 30.
+
+ "'And the women followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how
+his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and
+ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.'
+Luke 23:55, 56.
+
+ "Christ rested in the tomb of Joseph the last Sabbath under the
+law; but the evening and the morning were the first day. On that
+morning he closed his work of humiliation, manifested his victory over
+death--the curse denounced--by rising from the tomb, and rested on the
+first day of the week from all his humiliation work; his death,
+burial, and rest in the grave on the seventh day being the last part
+of that work."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, thy service well demands
+ The remnant of my days:
+ Why is this feeble life preserved,
+ But to repeat thy praise?
+
+ "Thine arms of everlasting love
+ Do this weak frame sustain,
+ While life is hovering o'er the grave,
+ And nature sinks with pain.
+
+ "Thou, when the pains of death assail,
+ Wilt chase the fears of hell,
+ And teach my pale and quivering lips
+ Thy matchless grace to tell.
+
+ "Calmly I'll lay my fainting head
+ On thy dear faithful breast:
+ Pleased to obey my Father's call
+ To his eternal rest.
+
+ "Into thy hands, my Saviour God,
+ Do I my soul resign,
+ In firm dependence on that truth
+ That made salvation mine."
+
+
+ THE INWARD WARFARE.
+
+ "Strange and mysterious is my life;
+ What opposites I feel within:
+ A stable peace, a constant strife,
+ The rule of grace, the power of sin.
+ Too often I am captive led,
+ Yet daily triumph in my Head.
+
+ "I prize the privilege of prayer;
+ But O, what backwardness to pray:
+ Though on the Lord I cast my care,
+ I feel its burden every day.
+ I seek his will in all I do,
+ Yet find my own is working too.
+
+ "I call the promises mine own,
+ And prize them more than mines of gold;
+ Yet, though their sweetness I have known,
+ They leave me unimpressed and cold.
+ One hour upon the truth I feed;
+ The next, I know not what I read.
+
+ "I love the holy day of rest,
+ When Jesus meets his gathered saints:
+ Sweet day, of all the week the best,
+ For its return my spirit pants;
+ Yet often, through my unbelief,
+ It proves a day of guilt and grief.
+
+ "While on my Saviour I rely,
+ I know my foes shall lose their aim;
+ And therefore dare their power defy,
+ Assured of conquest through his name;
+ But soon my confidence is slain,
+ And all my fears return again.
+
+ "Thus different powers within me strive,
+ And death and sin by turns prevail.
+ I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
+ And victory hangs in doubtful scale;
+ But Jesus has his promise passed,
+ That grace shall overcome at last."
+
+ _______________
+
+ FLESH AND SPIRIT.
+
+ "What different powers of grace and sin
+ Attend our mortal state:
+ I hate the thoughts that work within,
+ Yet do the works I hate.
+
+ "Now I complain, and groan, and die,
+ While sin and Satan reign;
+ Now raise my songs of triumph high,
+ For grace prevails again.
+
+ "So darkness struggles with the light,
+ Till perfect day arise;
+ Water and fire maintain the fight,
+ Until the weaker dies.
+
+ "Thus will the flesh and spirit strive,
+ And vex and break my peace;
+ But I shall quit this mortal life,
+ And sin for ever cease."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Join all the names of love and power
+ That ever men or angels bore;
+ All are too mean to speak his worth,
+ Or set Emmanuel's glory forth.
+
+ "But O, what condescending ways
+ He takes to teach his heavenly grace:
+ Mine eyes, with joy and wonder, see
+ What forms of love he bears for me.
+
+ "The Angel of the covenant stands,
+ With his commission in his hands;
+ Sent from his Father's milder throne,
+ To make his great salvation known.
+
+ "Great Prophet, let me bless thy name;
+ By thee the joyful tidings came,
+ Of wrath appeased and sins forgiven,
+ Of hell subdued, and peace with heaven.
+
+ "My bright Example, and my Guide,
+ I would be walking by thy side;
+ Oh, let me never run astray,
+ Nor follow the forbidden way.
+
+ "I love my Shepherd, he shall keep
+ My wandering soul among his sheep;
+ He feeds his flock, he tells their names,
+ And in his bosom bears the lambs.
+
+ "My Surety undertakes my cause,
+ Answering his Father's broken laws:
+ Behold my soul at freedom set,
+ My Surety paid the dreadful debt.
+
+ "Jesus, my great High-priest, has died,
+ I seek no sacrifice beside;
+ His blood did once for all atone,
+ And now it pleads before the throne.
+
+ "My Advocate appears on high,
+ The Father lays his thunders by;
+ Not all that earth or hell can say,
+ Shall turn my Father's heart away.
+
+ "My Lord, my Conqueror, and my King,
+ Thy sceptre and thy sword I sing;
+ Thine is the victory, and I sit
+ A joyful subject at thy feet.
+
+ "Aspire, my soul, to glorious deeds,
+ The Captain of salvation leads;
+ March on, nor fear to win the day,
+ Though death and hell obstruct thy way.
+
+ "Though death and hell, and powers unknown,
+ Put all their forms of mischief on,
+ I shall be safe, for Christ displays
+ Salvation in more sovereign ways."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Be this my one great business here,
+ With holy trembling, holy fear,
+ To make my calling sure;
+ Thine utmost counsel to fulfil,
+ And suffer all thy righteous will,
+ And to the end endure.
+
+ "Then, Saviour, then my soul receive,
+ Transported from this vale, to live,
+ And reign with thee above:
+ Where faith is sweetly lost in sight,
+ And hope in full supreme delight,
+ And everlasting love."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Hush, my distrustful heart,
+ And cease to flow, my tears;
+ For greater, Lord, thou art
+ Than all my doubts and fears.
+ Did Jesus once upon me shine?
+ Then Jesus is for ever mine.
+
+ "Unchangeable his will,
+ Whatever be my frame:
+ My Saviour's heart is still
+ Eternally the same.
+ My soul through many changes goes,
+ His love no variation knows.
+
+ "Thou, Lord, wilt carry on,
+ And perfectly perform,
+ The work thou hast begun
+ In me, vile sinful worm.
+ Mine own self-will brings grief and woe,
+ But Jesus will not let me go.
+
+ "The bowels of thy grace,
+ At first did freely move;
+ And still I see thy face,
+ And feel that God is love.
+ Into thine arms my soul I cast;
+ By sovereign mercy saved at last.
+
+ "The Priest and Ark now move
+ To Jordan's gulfy strand;
+ Come now in covenant love,
+ Take firm thy promised stand:
+ Only to me thy countenance show,
+ I ask no more the Jordan through."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Come, let us join our cheerful songs
+ With angels round the throne;
+ Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
+ But all their joys are one.
+
+ "Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry,
+ To be exalted thus;
+ Worthy the Lamb, our souls reply,
+ For he was slain for us.
+
+ "Jesus is worthy to receive
+ Honor and power divine;
+ And blessings, more than we can give,
+ Be, Lord, for ever thine.
+
+ "The whole creation join in one,
+ To bless the sacred name
+ Of Him that sits upon the throne,
+ And to adore the Lamb."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Give me the wings of faith, to rise
+ Within the veil, and see
+ The saints above, how great their joys,
+ How bright their glories be.
+
+ "Once they were mourners here below,
+ And wet their couch with tears;
+ They wrestled hard, as we do now,
+ With sins, and doubts, and fears.
+
+ "I ask them whence their victory came:
+ They, with united breath,
+ Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
+ Their triumph to his death.
+
+ "They marked the footsteps that he trod;
+ His zeal inspired their breast;
+ And following their incarnate God,
+ Possessed the promised rest.
+
+ "Our glorious Leader claims our praise,
+ For his own pattern given;
+ While the long cloud of witnesses
+ Show the same path to heaven."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "With heart and hands, and lifted eyes,
+ I'll praise thee while I've life and breath;
+ And, while my loosened spirit flies,
+ I'll gasp thy praise in very death.
+
+ "Faith fain would say, in cheerful mood,
+ Thy name be glorified,
+ By leading through the swelling flood,
+ Or through the channel dried.
+
+ "If grace in time of need I have,
+ And strength as is my day,
+ I'll triumph through the foaming wave,
+ As through the side-walled way."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath;
+ And when my voice is lost in death,
+ Praise shall employ my noblest powers;
+ My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
+ "While life and thought and being last.
+ And immortality endures."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, indulge my humble claim;
+ Thou art my hope, my joy, my rest;
+ The glories that compose thy name
+ Stand all engaged to make me blest.
+
+ "Thou great and good, thou just and wise,
+ Thou art my Father and my God;
+ And I am thine by sacred ties,
+ Thy child, thy servant, bought with blood.
+
+ "With heart, and eyes, and lifted hands,
+ For thee I long, to thee I look;
+ As travellers in thirsty lands
+ Pant for the cooling water-brook."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, the weary wanderer's rest,
+ Give grace thy sovereign will to bear;
+ With steadfast patience arm my breast,
+ With holy love and lowly fear.
+
+ "Thankful, I take the cup from thee,
+ Prepared and mingled by thy skill;
+ Though bitter to the taste it be,
+ It has a sovereign power to heal.
+
+ "Be thou a Rock of ages nigh;
+ My savéd soul on thee alone
+ Shall safely rest, and fears shall fly,
+ As clouds before the mid-day sun.
+
+ "Speak to my troubled conscience peace;
+ Say to my trembling heart, Be still;
+ My power thy strength and fortress is.
+ Amen, to all thy sovereign will.
+
+ "O Death, where is thy sting? where now
+ Thy boasted victory, O grave?
+ Who shall contend with God, or who
+ Condemn whom he delights to save."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
+ In a believer's ear:
+ It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
+ And drives away his fear.
+
+ "It makes the wounded spirit whole,
+ And calms the troubled breast;
+ 'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
+ And to the weary, rest.
+
+ "Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
+ My Shield and Hiding-place;
+ My never failing Treasury, filled
+ With boundless stores of grace:
+
+ "Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ My Prophet, Priest, and King,
+ My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
+ Accept the praise I bring.
+
+ "Weak is the effort of my heart,
+ And cold my warmest thought;
+ But when I see thee as thou art,
+ I'll praise thee as I ought.
+
+ "Till then I would thy love proclaim
+ With every fleeting breath;
+ And may the music of thy name
+ Refresh my soul in death."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
+ That saved a wretch like me:
+ I once was lost, but now am found;
+ Was blind, but now I see.
+
+ "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
+ And grace my fears relieved:
+ How precious did that grace appear
+ The hour I first believed.
+
+ "Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
+ Already I have come:
+ 'Twas grace that brought me safe thus far,
+ And grace will lead me home.
+
+ "Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail,
+ And mortal life shall cease,
+ I shall possess, within the veil,
+ A life of joy and peace."
+
+ A swelling Jordan rolls between--
+ A timid pilgrim, I;
+ But grace shall order all the scene,
+ And Christ himself be nigh.
+
+ He shall roll back the foaming wave,
+ Command the channel dry;
+ No sting has death, no victory grave?
+ With Jesus in my eye.
+
+ "Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
+ Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
+ Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
+ Call for songs of endless praise.
+
+ "Teach me some melodious sonnet,
+ Sung by flaming tongues above;
+ Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it--
+ Mount of God's unchanging love.
+
+ "Here I raise my Ebenezer,
+ Hither by thy help I'm come,
+ And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
+ Safely to arrive at home.
+
+ "Jesus sought me when a stranger,
+ Wandering from the fold of God;
+ He, to save my soul from danger,
+ Interposed with precious blood.
+
+ "Oh, to grace how great a debtor
+ Daily I'm constrained to be:
+ Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
+ Bind my wandering heart to thee.
+
+ "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
+ Prone to leave the God I love;
+ Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
+ Seal it from thy courts above."
+
+ _______________
+
+ Eternal God, I bless thy name,
+ The same thy power, thy grace the same;
+ The tokens of thy friendly care
+ Open and crown and close the year.
+
+ I mid ten thousand dangers stand,
+ Supported by thy gracious hand;
+ And see, when I survey thy ways,
+ Ten thousand monuments of grace.
+
+ Thus far thine arm has led me on;
+ Thus far I make thy mercy known;
+ And while I tread this desert land,
+ New mercies shall new songs demand.
+
+ My grateful soul on Jordan's shore
+ Shall raise one sacred pillar more;
+ Then bear, in thy bright courts above,
+ Inscriptions of immortal love.
+
+ _______________
+
+ No works to rest upon have I,
+ No boast of moral dignity;
+ If e'er I lisp a song of praise,
+ Grace is the note my soul shall raise.
+
+ 'Twas grace that quickened me when dead;
+ 'Twas grace my soul to Jesus led,
+ Grace brings me pardon for my sin,
+ And grace subdues my lusts within.
+
+ 'Tis grace that sweetens every cross,
+ 'Tis grace supports in every loss;
+ In Jesus' grace my soul is strong,
+ Grace is my hope, and Christ my song.
+
+ Thus, 'tis alone of grace I boast,
+ And 'tis alone in grace I trust:
+ For all that's past, grace is my theme,
+ For what's to come 'tis still the same.
+
+ And when I come to Jordan's shore,
+ I'll raise one Ebenezer more;
+ Th' ark of the covenant in my view,
+ I'll sing of grace the Jordan through.
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Is this the kind return,
+ Are these the thanks we owe--
+ Thus to abuse eternal love,
+ Whence all our blessings flow?
+
+ "To what a stubborn frame
+ Has sin reduced our mind!
+ What strange rebellious wretches we,
+ And God as strangely kind!
+
+ "Turn, turn us, mighty God!
+ And mould our souls afresh;
+ Break, sovereign grace, these hearts of stone,
+ And give us hearts of flesh.
+
+ "Let past ingratitude
+ Provoke our weeping eyes;
+ And hourly, as new mercies fall,
+ Let hourly thanks arise."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O the sweet wonders of that cross,
+ Where Christ my Saviour loved and died;
+ Her noblest life my spirit draws,
+ From his dear wounds and bleeding side.
+
+ "I would for ever speak his name,
+ In sounds to mortal ears unknown;
+ With angels join to praise the Lamb,
+ And worship at his Father's throne."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, the vision of thy face
+ Hath overpowering charms;
+ Scarce shall I feel death's cold embrace,
+ If Christ be in my arms."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O glorious hour! O blest abode!
+ I shall be near and like my God;
+ And flesh and sin no more control
+ The sacred pleasures of my soul."
+
+ "When in death's gloomy vale I tread,
+ With joy e'en there I'll lift my head;
+ From fear and dread he'll keep me free,
+ His rod and staff shall comfort me."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, to thy dear faithful hand
+ My naked soul I trust;
+ My flesh but waits for thy command,
+ To drop into the dust."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Before we quite forsake our clay,
+ Or leave this dark abode,
+ The wings of love bear us away
+ To see our smiling God."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O make it true, my Saviour God;
+ Raise me all fears above;
+ And when I think on Jesus' blood,
+ Let my last pulse beat love."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O for an overcoming faith,
+ To cheer my dying hours;
+ To triumph o'er the monster Death,
+ And all his frightful powers.
+
+ "Joyful, with all the strength I have,
+ My quivering lips should sing,
+ 'Where is thy boasted victory, Grave,
+ And where the monster's sting?'
+
+ "If sin be pardoned, I'm secure;
+ Death has no sting beside;
+ The law gives sin its damning power,
+ But Christ, my Ransom, died.
+
+ "Now to the God of victory,
+ Immortal thanks be paid;
+ Who makes us conquerors while we die,
+ Through Christ, our living Head."
+
+ _______________
+
+ All mortal vanities be gone,
+ Nor tempt mine eyes, nor tire mine ears;
+ Behold, amidst the eternal throne,
+ A vision of the Lamb appears.
+
+ All the assembling saints around,
+ Fall worshipping before the Lamb;
+ And in new songs of gospel sound,
+ Address their honors to his name.
+
+ Our voices join the heavenly strain,
+ And with transporting pleasure sing,
+ Worthy the Lamb that once was slain,
+ Our blessed Prophet, Priest, and King.
+
+ Thou hast redeemed our souls from hell,
+ With thine invaluable blood;
+ And wretches, that did once rebel,
+ Are now made fav'rites of their God.
+
+ Worthy for ever is the Lord,
+ That died for treasons not his own,
+ By every tongue to be adored,
+ And dwell upon his Father's throne.
+
+ _______________
+
+ THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.
+
+ "The promise of my Father's love,
+ Shall stand for ever good;
+ He said, and gave his soul to death,
+ And sealed it with his blood.
+
+ "To this dear covenant of thy word,
+ I set my worthless name;
+ I seal the engagement of the Lord,
+ And make my humble claim.
+
+ "The light, and strength, and pardoning grace,
+ And glory shall be mine;
+ My life and soul, my heart and flesh,
+ And all my powers are thine.
+
+ "I call that legacy mine own,
+ Which Jesus did bequeath;
+ 'Twas purchased with a dying groan,
+ And ratified in death.
+
+ "Sweet is the memory of His name,
+ Who blessed us in his will:
+ And to his testament of love
+ Made his own life the seal.
+
+ "To him that washed me in his blood,
+ Be everlasting praise;
+ Salvation, honor, glory, power,
+ Eternal as his days."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Blest be the Father, and his love,
+ To which celestial source we owe
+ Rivers of endless joys above,
+ And rills of comfort here below.
+
+ "Glory to the great Son of God;
+ From his dear wounded body rolls
+ A precious stream of vital blood,
+ Pardon and life for dying souls.
+
+ "We give thee, sacred Spirit, praise,
+ Who in our hearts of sin and woe
+ Mak'st living springs of grace arise,
+ And into boundless glory flow.
+
+ "Thus God the Father, God the Son,
+ And God the Spirit, we adore;
+ The sea of life and love unknown,
+ Without a bottom or a shore."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Let me but hear my Saviour say,
+ Strength shall be equal to thy day;
+ Then I rejoice in deep distress,
+ Leaning on all-sufficient grace.
+
+ "I glory in infirmity,
+ That Christ's own power may rest on me:
+ When I am weak, then am I strong;
+ Grace is my shield, and Christ my song.
+
+ "I can do all things, or can bear
+ All sufferings, if my Lord be there;
+ Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains,
+ While his strong hand my head sustains.
+
+ "Faith has an overcoming power,
+ It triumphs in the dying hour;
+ Christ is our life, our joy, our hope,
+ Nor can we sink with such a prop."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, I love thy charming name,
+ 'Tis music to mine ear;
+ Fain would I sound it out so loud
+ That heaven and earth should hear.
+
+ "Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
+ My transport and my trust;
+ My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ No other good I boast.
+
+ "All my capacious powers can wish,
+ In thee doth richly meet;
+ Not to mine eye is light so dear,
+ Nor friendship half so sweet.
+
+ "Thy grace still dwells upon my heart,
+ And sheds its fragrance there:
+ The noblest balm of all my wounds,
+ The cordial of my care.
+
+ "I'll speak the honors of thy name
+ With my last faltering breath;
+ Then speechless clasp thee in my arms,
+ The antidote of death."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Grace, 'tis a charming sound,
+ Harmonious to my ear;
+ Heaven with the echo shall resound,
+ And all the earth shall hear.
+
+ "Grace first contrived the way
+ To save rebellious man;
+ And all the steps _that_ grace display,
+ Which drew the wondrous plan.
+
+ "Grace taught my wandering feet
+ To tread the heavenly road;
+ And new supplies each hour I meet,
+ While pressing on to God.
+
+ "Grace all the work shall crown,
+ Through everlasting days;
+ It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
+ And well deserves the praise."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, the spring of all my joys,
+ The life of my delights,
+ The glory of my brightest days,
+ And comfort of my nights:
+
+ "In darkest shades, if thou appear,
+ My dawning is begun;
+ Thou art my soul's sweet Morning-star,
+ And thou my rising Sun.
+
+ "The opening heavens around me shine
+ With beams of sacred bliss,
+ While Jesus shows his heart is mine,
+ And whispers I am his.
+
+ "My soul would leave this heavy clay,
+ At that transporting word;
+ Run up with joy the shining way,
+ T' embrace my dearest Lord.
+
+ "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."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Backward with humble shame I look,
+ On my original;
+ How is my nature dashed and broke,
+ In our first father's fall.
+
+ "To all that's good averse and blind,
+ But prone to all that's ill;
+ What dreadful darkness veils my mind,
+ How obstinate my will.
+
+ "Conceived in sin: O wretched state;
+ Before I drew my breath,
+ My first young pulse began to beat
+ Iniquity and death.
+
+ "How strong in my degenerate blood
+ The old corruption reigns;
+ And mingling with the crooked flood,
+ Wanders through all my veins.
+
+ "Yet, mighty God, thy wondrous love
+ Can make my nature clean;
+ While Christ and grace prevail above
+ The tempter, death, and sin.
+
+ "The second Adam shall restore
+ The ruins of the first;
+ Hosanna to that sovereign power,
+ That new-creates our dust."
+
+ _______________
+
+ JORDAN.*
+
+ Joshua 1:11, chapter 3; Psalm 23:4; 73:24.
+
+*The three following effusions by Mrs. Graham, constituting a
+ part of her "Provision," were found in a separate paper after her
+ funeral sermon was preached. The hymn of Newton which she had annexed
+ to the first, was selected by Dr. Mason and sung on that occasion; and
+ the circumstances described at the beginning of the third, page 434,
+ occurred at her death, as narrated in the memoir, though the existence
+ of this paper was then unknown.
+
+ The solemn hour, my soul, draws near,
+ The holy ark and priests appear;
+ They forward move to Jordan's flood,
+ The type, thou knowest, thy covenant God.
+
+ The signal too to thee is known;
+ Obey, remove, and follow on;
+ The ark appears, thy hallowed guide;
+ Shrink not, but face the rolling tide.
+
+ The waves toss high their foaming heads,
+ But can'st thou perish? Jesus leads.
+ This way before I ne'er did pass,
+ But Jesus thy forerunner has.
+
+ When all its banks it overflowed,
+ All nature wrapt in midnight cloud;
+ While darkness held its awful power,
+ And all God's billows passed him o'er.
+
+ The waves for him must not divide,
+ Deep calls to deep on every side;
+ Around his head the surges roll,
+ And rush into his inmost soul.
+
+ He was the sufferer in my stead,
+ The curse for sin lay on his head;
+ The law's demands came like a flood,
+ My Surety met them with his blood.
+
+ Till every tittle had been paid,
+ Till due atonement had been made,
+ No beam appeared of heavenly grace,
+ A cloud concealed his Father's face.
+
+ From brim to bottom he drank up
+ Of wrath the deep mysterious cup;
+ This Jordan passed, he rose on high,
+ And captive led captivity.
+
+ Justice now fully satisfied,
+ The law now honored, magnified,
+ At God's right hand he takes his place,
+ Executor of covenant grace.
+
+ Crowned by Jehovah's firm decree
+ With universal sovereignty,
+ All nature owns his powerful sway--
+ He speaks, the elements obey.
+
+ The emblem then thou may'st pursue,
+ And safely pass this Jordan through;
+ The priests but touch the watery space,
+ When, lo, the floods desert their place.
+
+ They gather up upon a heap,
+ Leave dry the channel of the deep;
+ The ark and priests there take their stand,
+ And beckon thee to leave the land.
+
+ I come, my best Beloved, I come;
+ Now lead me to our Father's home;
+ On thy dear person fix mine eye,
+ And faith firm footing shall supply.
+
+ I fear no ill while thou art near;
+ But let thy voice salute my ear,
+ Should spirits faint and 'scape the sigh,
+ With these sweet words, "Fear not; 'tis I."
+
+ With courage fresh my soul shall tread
+ On faith's firm ground where thou dost lead;
+ While still upon thy gracious face
+ My steady eye maintains its place.
+
+ And now, my Joshua, choose, and lay
+ The stones in Jordan's middle way;
+ Let them o'ertop the flowing wave,
+ Memorial of thy power to save.
+
+ For, once a suit I did prefer,
+ With feeble hope and trembling fear,
+ That I might have a Pisgah view,
+ In Jordan's swells, of Canaan new.
+
+ Thy softened glory let me see,
+ Then cause thy face to shine on me;
+ And tune my heart, and tune my voice,
+ And language furnish to rejoice.
+
+ That all around may lend their tongue,
+ And sweetly join my dying song;
+ Then, Newton, saved by grace like me,
+ We'll sing of sovereign grace with thee.
+
+ _______________
+
+ *"Let us love, and sing, and wonder,
+ Let us praise the Saviour's name;
+ He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
+ He has quenched mount Sinai's flame;
+ He has washed us in his blood,
+ He has brought us nigh to God.
+
+*Olney Hymns, 82, book 3.
+
+ "Let us love the Lord who bought us,
+ Pitied us when enemies;
+ Called us by his grace, and taught us;
+ Gave us ears, and gave us eyes:
+ He has wafted us in his blood,
+ He presents our souls to God.
+
+ "Let us sing, though strong temptation
+ Threaten hard to bear us down:
+ For the Lord, our strong salvation,
+ Holds in view the conqueror's crown,
+ He who washed us in his blood,
+ Soon shall bring us home to God.
+
+ "Let us wonder, grace and justice
+ Join and point to mercy's store;
+ When through grace, in Christ our trust is,
+ Justice smiles, and asks no more.
+ He who washed us in his blood,
+ Has secured our way to God.
+
+ "Let us praise, and join the chorus
+ Of the saints enthroned on high;
+ Here they trusted him before us,
+ Now their praises fill the sky.
+ Thou hast washed us in thy blood,
+ Thou art worthy, Lamb of God.
+
+ "Hark, the name of Jesus sounded
+ Loud from golden harps above;
+ On that rock our hopes are founded;
+ Sovereign grace, and sovereign love.
+ We shall conquer through his blood,
+ Kings and priests be made to God."
+ NEWTON
+
+
+ HEAVEN.
+
+ To be where thou my Saviour art,
+ To see, and be conformed to thee,
+ Perfect in holiness this heart;
+ _This; this_ is heaven itself to me.
+
+ To see thee in thy glory, Lord,
+ Thy Father's glory and thy own;
+ The eternal, the incarnate Word,
+ Adored upon his Father's throne.
+
+ To see as seen, to know as known,
+ My Saviour in my flesh and blood;
+ To be made like him, with him one,
+ I in him, and he in God.
+
+ The holy, holy, holy One,
+ Who was, and is, and is to come,
+ The earth his footstool, heaven his throne,
+ The church his bride, he her Bridegroom.
+
+ Angels and elders, earth and heaven,
+ Are summoned to unseal the book;
+ But silent all, no answer given,
+ None worthy found therein to look.
+
+ But Judah's Lion, David's Son,
+ And David's Root, the great I AM,
+ Appears upon his Father's throne,
+ As slain for sacrifice, the Lamb.
+
+ He takes the book he can unseal;
+ He worthy is, and he has power
+ God's secret counsels to reveal,
+ And to fulfil each in its hour.
+
+ The heavenly host united fall
+ In humble worship at his feet;
+ One glorious theme inspires them all,
+ The joy is full, the concert sweet.
+
+ New odors to the throne ascend,
+ In accents new their praises soar;
+ Each finds in each a glowing friend,
+ And all the God of all adore.
+
+ And shall I join that prostrate throng,
+ In love's ecstatic heaven-taught lays,
+ With powers expanded, that new song
+ Hymn to the Lamb's exalted praise?
+
+ "Worthy art thou to take the book,
+ And loose the seals, and read therein,
+ God's holy mysteries to unlock;
+ Worthy art thou, for thou wast slain.
+
+ "Thou hast redeemed us with thy blood,
+ From every nation of the earth;
+ And made us kings and priests to God,
+ And sharers of a heavenly birth."
+
+ Myriads of angels stand around,
+ Uniting in the loud acclaim;
+ And fill the temple with the sound
+ Of our Redeemer's gentle name.
+
+ "Worthy the Lamb that once was slain,
+ A sacrifice for every sin,
+ All power and glory to obtain,
+ And universal empire win."
+
+ Heaven, earth, and sea shall swell the tone
+ Of fervent universal praise;
+ And grateful joy around the throne,
+ Its voice from age to age shall raise.
+
+ In all these myriads, is there one
+ Who had on earth so much forgiven?
+ And shall I reach their highest tone
+ Of love to Jesus? THIS IS HEAVEN.
+
+ And when this breast to heave shall cease,
+ And heart and lungs are hushed to peace,
+ Some friendly hand the eyelids close,
+ And leave the clay to short repose.
+
+ Still on your knees be thanks expressed,
+ According as the Lord has blessed;
+ This tongue, then mute, can now foretell
+ Jesus shall have done all things well.
+
+ Should the great Sovereign will it so,
+ That I in secret with him go,
+ 'T will be enough that He stands by,
+ He all my wants will well supply.
+
+ Upon his dear, his faithful breast,
+ My heart and head shall safely rest;
+ The fluttering pulse and bursting sigh,
+ He'll soothe with, "Fear not; it is I."
+
+ Into his hands my spirit I'll breathe,
+ Inhaling life from him in death;
+ Though none should see, faith can foretell
+ My Jesus shall do all things well.
+
+ Though he deny my half-formed prayer,
+ Well may I cast on Him my care;
+ All things are mine, or life or death;
+ In praise of Him I'll spend my breath.
+
+ Be this my only wish beside,
+ That God's great name be glorified,
+ What me concerns faith can foretell,
+ My Jesus shall do all things well.
+
+
+ WIDOWHOOD.
+
+ WRITTEN IN THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA
+ SHORTLY AFTER DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+ PART I.
+
+ Hail; thou state of widowhood,
+ State of those that mourn to God;
+ Who, from earthly comforts torn,
+ Only live to pray and mourn.
+
+ Meanest of the number, I
+ For my dear companion sigh;
+ Patiently my loss deplore,
+ Mourn for one that mourns no more.
+
+ Me my consort hath outrun,
+ Out of sight he quite has gone;
+ He his course has finished here,
+ First come to the sepulchre.
+
+ Following on with earnest haste,
+ Till my mourning days are past,
+ I my partner's steps pursue,
+ I shall soon be happy too;
+
+ Find the ease for which I pant,
+ Gain the only good I want;
+ Quietly lay down my head,
+ Sink into my earthy bed.
+
+ There my flesh shall rest in hope,
+ Till the quickened dust mount up,
+ When to glorious life I'll rise,
+ To meet my husband in the skies.
+
+
+ PART II.
+
+ Happy they who trust in Jesus,
+ Jesus turns our loss to gain;
+ Still his balmy mercies ease us,
+ Sweeten all our grief and pain.
+
+ When he calls our friends t' inherit
+ All the glories of the blest,
+ He assures the widowed spirit,
+ "Thou shalt quickly be at rest."
+
+ Though my flesh and spirit languish,
+ Let me not too much complain;
+ Sure at last t' outlive my anguish,
+ Sure to find my friend again.
+
+ Ransomed from a world of sorrow,
+ He to-day is taken home;
+ I shall be released to-morrow--
+ Come, my dear Redeemer, come.
+
+ From my sanctified distresses,
+ Now, or when thou wilt, receive;
+ Grant with him in thine embraces,
+ After all my deaths, to live.
+
+
+ PART III.
+
+ Hail, holy, holy, holy Lord,
+ Mysterious Three in One!
+ For ever be thy name adored,
+ Thy will for ever done.
+
+ For this alone on earth I wait,
+ To glorify my God;
+ And suffer, since thou will'st, the state
+ Of sacred widowhood.
+
+ And may I, in thy strength, fulfil
+ My awful character;
+ And prove thine acceptable will,
+ And do thy pleasure here;
+
+ The children to thyself restore,
+ Whom thou to me hast given;
+ And rule my house with all my power,
+ And train them up for heaven.
+
+ Be this my hospitable care:
+ The stranger to receive,
+ The burden of thy church to bear,
+ And all their wants relieve;
+
+ My labor of unwearied love
+ With pleasure to repeat,
+ My faith unto thy saints to prove,
+ And gladly wash their feet.
+
+ The servant of thy servants bless
+ With active earnest zeal;
+ And every work of righteousness
+ I shall with joy fulfil.
+
+
+ LINES,
+
+Occasioned by viewing the portrait of Mrs. Graham, prefixed to the
+ first edition of her memoir. By the late Mrs. Margaret Brown,
+ daughter of Rev. Dr. John Mason.
+
+ While in this faded form I trace
+ The features which I loved so well,
+ Remembrance brings each mental grace
+ Within its hallowed shrine to dwell.
+
+ For I have seen that darkened eye
+ In all the fire of genius roll,
+ With eagle-gaze explore the sky,
+ Or with a keener glance descry
+ The secret workings of the soul.
+
+ And I have seen this pallid cheek
+ Suffused with feeling's richest glow;
+ And virtue's brightest halo deck
+ With sacred charms these locks of snow.
+
+ And on these lips in silence closed,
+ With rapt attention oft I hung,
+ And heard those wondrous truths disclosed
+ Which sages taught or seraphs sung.
+
+ And I have known this withered hand
+ Extended wide the poor to bless;
+ And this contracted breast expand
+ With generous schemes to aid distress.
+
+ And now, though far removed from earth
+ And every scene of mortal pain,
+ This dear memorial of her worth
+ Shall many a drooping heart sustain.
+
+ Still shall it dry the widow's tear,
+ The hapless orphan's want supply,
+ Guide to a blessed asylum here,
+ And point to happier realms on high.
+
+ My father's friend--how poor the praise,
+ By his unworthy offspring given,
+ Who thus records, in humble lays,
+ What angels registered in heaven.
+
+FRANKFORT, Kentucky, August, 1816.
+
+
+
+
+ One hundred dollars was paid by John W. Hamersley, Esq. of New
+York, towards perpetuating this volume.
+
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+"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st June 2004), see www.w3.org" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
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+<title>The Power of Faith, by Mrs. Isabella Graham.</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Power of Faith, by Isabella Graham
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Power of Faith
+ Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.
+
+Author: Isabella Graham
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2005 [EBook #16276]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POWER OF FAITH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tom Roch and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div>
+<center><img src="images/0443.jpg" alt=
+"MRS ISABELLA GRAHAM" width="535" height="900" /></center>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<!--Page 001--><a name="P001" id="P001"></a>
+<h2>THE POWER OF FAITH,</h2>
+<h4>EXEMPLIFIED IN</h4>
+<h2>THE LIFE AND WRITINGS</h2>
+<h4>OF THE LATE</h4>
+<h1>MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.</h1>
+<br />
+<br />
+<center>A NEW EDITION,<br />
+<br />
+<font size="-1">ENRICHED BY HER NARRATIVE OF HER HUSBAND'S
+DEATH,<br />
+AND OTHER SELECT CORRESPONDENCE</font><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor
+is humility. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud; but he
+will establish the border of the widow. P<font size=
+"-1">ROV</font>. 15:25, 33.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<font size="-1">PUBLISHED BY THE</font><br />
+AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,<br />
+<font size="-1">150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK:<br />
+28 CORNHILL, BOSTON.</font><br /></center>
+<!--Page 002--><a name="P002" id="P002"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<p class="center">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
+1843, by J<font size="-1">OANNA</font> B<font size=
+"-1">ETHUNE</font>, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for
+the Southern District of New York.<br />
+<br />
+The American Tract Society.</p>
+<!--Page 003--><a name="P003" id="P003"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<hr />
+<h3><a href="#P007">CHAPTER I.</a></h3>
+<h4>EARLY LIFE &mdash; RESIDENCE IN CANADA.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter I">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Foundation of the excellence of her character
+&mdash; Birth &mdash; Education &mdash; Conversion &mdash; Marriage
+&mdash; Voyage to Quebec &mdash; Doddridge's Rise and Progress
+&mdash; Residence at Montreal and Fort Niagara &mdash; Sails for
+Antigua &mdash; 1742-1772,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom">&ensp;&ensp;<a href="#P007">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P022">CHAPTER II.</a></h3>
+<h4>RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA &mdash; DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter II">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Dr. Graham called to St. Vincents &mdash; His
+safe return &mdash; State of his mind &mdash; Death of Mrs.
+Graham's mother &mdash; Letter describing the death of Dr. Graham
+&mdash; Kindness of Dr. H. &mdash; Reflections &mdash; Letters to
+Mrs. Grandidier and to her father &mdash; Departure for
+Scotland &mdash; 1773-1775,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom">&ensp;<a href="#P022">22</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P054">CHAPTER III.</a></h3>
+<h4>RETURN TO SCOTLAND &mdash; SCHOOL AT EDINBURGH.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter III">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Perilous voyage &mdash; Trust in God &mdash;
+Return to Cartside &mdash; Care of her father &mdash; Residence at
+Paisley &mdash; Depressed circumstances &mdash; Peace in God
+&mdash; Singular investment and result &mdash; School in Edinburgh
+&mdash; Friends &mdash; Benevolence to poor tradesmen &mdash;
+Dancing &mdash; Letter of Lady Glenorchy &mdash; Origin of the
+Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick &mdash; Death and
+character of Lady Glenorchy &mdash; Letter to a daughter &mdash;
+Visit to Cartside and Paisley &mdash; Reposes all upon Christ
+&mdash; Removal to New York &mdash; Devotional exercises &mdash;
+1776-1789,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom">&ensp;<a href="#P054">54</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<!--Page 004--><a name="P004" id="P004"></a>
+<h3><a href="#P082">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3>
+<h4>SCHOOL IN NEW YORK &mdash; DEATH OF HER PASTOR, DR.&nbsp;JOHN
+MASON &mdash; LAST NEWS OF HER SON.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter IV">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Voyage and reception at New York &mdash;
+Marriage of Mrs. Stevenson &mdash; Anxiety for her son &mdash; He
+escapes a press-gang &mdash; Confidence in God &mdash; Sickness and
+death of her pastor, Dr. John Mason &mdash; His character &mdash;
+Dr. John M. Mason installed pastor &mdash; Devotional exercises
+&mdash; Letter to A.D. &mdash; Letter to her son &mdash; Last
+intelligence of him &mdash; Reflections &mdash; 1789-1794,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom">&ensp;<a href="#P082">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P115">CHAPTER V.</a></h3>
+<h4>DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER &mdash; FIRST MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NEW
+YORK.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter V">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Marriage of Mrs. Bethune &mdash; Death of Mrs.
+Stevenson &mdash; Strong consolation &mdash; Singular receipts and
+liberality &mdash; Devotional exercises &mdash; Anniversary of her
+daughter's birth and death &mdash; First Missionary Society in New
+York &mdash; Reflections &mdash; Acquaintance with Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; near
+Boston &mdash; Letter and devotional exercises &mdash;
+1795-1797,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P115">115</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P144">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3>
+<h4>FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY &mdash; CLOSE OF HER
+SCHOOL.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter VI">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Rise of the Widows' Society &mdash; First
+monthly missionary prayer-meeting &mdash; Letter to a young man on
+joining the church &mdash; The Essay on Man &mdash; Marriage of
+Mrs. Smith &mdash; Close of her school &mdash; Labors for widows
+and the poor &mdash; Letters to Mrs. C. &mdash; The yellow-fever
+&mdash; Death of Washington &mdash; Devotional exercises &mdash;
+1797-1800,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P144">144</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P167">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3>
+<h4>BENEVOLENT LABORS &mdash; MRS. HOFFMAN &mdash;
+CORRESPONDENCE.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter VII">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Schools and labors connected with the Widows'
+Society &mdash; Her friend Mrs. Hoffman &mdash; Anniversary of the
+Widows' Society &mdash; Visit to Boston &mdash; Want of evangelical
+preaching &mdash; Letters to Miss M&mdash;&mdash; of Boston &mdash; Letters
+to Mr. and Mrs. Bethune in Britain &mdash; Anxiety for them &mdash;
+Confidence in God &mdash; Church discipline &mdash; Dr. Mason sails
+for Britain &mdash; 1800-1801,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P167">167</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<!--Page 005--><a name="P005" id="P005"></a>
+<h3><a href="#P200">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3>
+<h4>JOURNAL AND LETTERS &mdash; LADIES' SCHOOL FOR POOR
+CHILDREN.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter VIII">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Death of a grandchild &mdash; Letters to Mr.
+and Mrs. Bethune in Britain &mdash; Death of B. &mdash; Of another
+grandchild &mdash; Of Pero, a colored man &mdash; Return of Mr. and
+Mrs. Bethune &mdash; Takes up her abode with them &mdash;
+Devotional exercises &mdash; Ladies' school for poor children
+&mdash; Address on its formation &mdash; Supplications for a
+revival of God's work &mdash; Labors for the suffering poor &mdash;
+Letters to Mrs. C. &mdash; Letter to the widow of her brother
+&mdash; 1801-1805,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P200">200</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P250">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3>
+<h4>ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY &mdash; FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter IX">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Letters &mdash; Formation and success of the
+Orphan Asylum &mdash; Inscription for Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Hoffman
+&mdash; Labors in the New York hospital and among female convicts
+&mdash; Miss Farquharson, first American missionary to foreign
+lands &mdash; Visit of Rev. Dr. Morrison and others &mdash; Letter
+to her children at the Springs &mdash; Letter to Mrs. Juliet S.
+&mdash; Visits Rockaway &mdash; Reminiscence of Elderslie &mdash;
+1806-1809,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P250">250</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P270">CHAPTER X.</a></h3>
+<h4>NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY &mdash; ASSOCIATIONS FOR PRAYER &mdash;
+HAPPY OLD AGE.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter X">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Letters &mdash; Bible Society organized &mdash;
+Efforts for the revival and extension of religion &mdash;
+Admissions to the communion &mdash; Narrow escape from drowning at
+Rockaway &mdash; Barrenness of preaching without Christ &mdash;
+Devotional exercises &mdash; Letters to Miss Van Wyck and James
+Todd &mdash; Happy old age &mdash; Letter to Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; in
+affliction &mdash; Letter to Mrs. G.Y. &mdash; Prayer for ministers
+&mdash; Magdalen Society &mdash; Lancasterian school &mdash;
+1809-1811,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P270">270</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<!--Page 006--><a name="P006" id="P006"></a>
+<h3><a href="#P309">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3>
+<h4>DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND LETTERS.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter XI">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Indwelling sin lamented &mdash; Day of fasting
+&mdash; Happiness of the aged Christian &mdash; Sermon in the
+state-prison &mdash; Happy reminiscences &mdash; Two grandchildren
+unite with the church &mdash; Unfaithfulness to people of the world
+lamented &mdash; Rich temporal blessings &mdash; Letter to Mrs.
+J.W. &mdash; Day of fasting &mdash; 1812-1814,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P309">309</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3><a href="#P348">CHAPTER XII.</a></h3>
+<h4>CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR &mdash; SICKNESS AND DEATH.</h4>
+<table summary="Chapter XII">
+<tr>
+<td align="justify">Society for the promotion of industry among the
+poor &mdash; Sunday-school of eighty children &mdash; Love of
+evangelical books Last two weeks &mdash; Communion &mdash; Last
+sickness &mdash; Peaceful death &mdash; Character by Dr. Mason
+&mdash; Epitaph &mdash; 1814,</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="bottom"><a href="#P348">348</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<h4><a href="#P379">PROVISION FOR PASSING OVER JORDAN.</a></h4>
+<table summary="Provision for Passing">
+<tr>
+<td>Scripture extracts &mdash; Meditations &mdash; Poetic
+effusions,
+&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;
+&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;</td>
+<td>&ensp;&ensp;</td>
+<td valign="top"><a href="#P379">379</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+<!--Page 007--><a name="P007" id="P007"></a><br />
+<h2>LIFE</h2>
+<h4>OF</h4>
+<h2>MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.</h2>
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+<h4>EARLY LIFE &mdash; RESIDENCE IN CANADA.</h4>
+<p>M<font size="-1">ANKIND</font> take an interest in the history
+of those who, like themselves, have encountered the trials and
+discharged the duties of life. Too often, however, publicity is
+given to the lives of men splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in
+whom the secret exercises of the heart would not bear a scrutiny.
+The memoirs are comparatively few of those engaged in the humble
+and useful walks of active benevolence, where the breathings of the
+soul would display a character much to be admired, and more to be
+imitated.</p>
+<p>As the celebrated Dr. Buchanan has observed, that if you were to
+ask certain persons in Christian countries, if they had any
+acquaintance with the <i>religious</i> world, they would say "they
+had never heard there <i>was</i> such a world;" so, while the
+external conduct of individuals is made the subject of much
+critical remark, the religion of the heart, the secret source of
+action, too frequently escapes unnoticed and unexplored.
+<!--Page 008--><a name="P008" id="P008"></a></p>
+<p>It is only when the career of life is closed, that the character
+is completely established. On this account memoirs of the living
+are, in few instances, read with much interest; but when the soul
+has departed, and the body sleeps in dust, it may prove useful to
+survivors to examine the principles which led their departed friend
+to a life of honorable benevolence, and to a peaceful end.</p>
+<p>Such considerations as these, and the urgent request of many
+respectable individuals, have induced the preparation of the
+following sketch of the life and writings of Mrs. I<font size=
+"-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>, whose character
+was so esteemed, and whose memory is so venerated by all who knew
+her. The evident purity of motive which impelled her to activity in
+deeds of benevolence, at once commanded love and respect, which, in
+her case peculiarly, was unalloyed with any risings of jealousy,
+envy, or distrust.</p>
+<p>Blessed with a spirit of philanthropy, with an ardent and
+generous mind, a sound judgment, and an excess of that sensibility
+which moulds the soul for friendship, a cultivated intellect and
+rich experience, her company was eagerly sought and highly valued
+by old and young. Though happily qualified to shine in the
+drawing-room, her time was seldom wasted there; for such a
+disposition of it would have been waste, contrasted with her usual
+employments. Her steps were not seen ascending the hill, of
+ambition, nor tracing the mazes of popular applause. Where the
+widow and the orphan wept, where the sick and the dying moaned,
+thither her footsteps hastened; and there, seen only by her
+heavenly Father, she administered to their temporal wants, breathed
+the voice of <!--Page 009--><a name="P009" id="P009"></a>
+consolation on their ear, shed the tear of sympathy, exhibited the
+truths of the gospel from the sacred volume, and poured out her
+soul for them in prayer to her Saviour and her God.</p>
+<p>In a few such deeds she rested not, nor was the story of them
+obtruded upon others, or recorded by herself. The recollection of
+past exertions was lost in her zeal to accomplish greater purposes
+and greater good: her heart expanded with her experience, and her
+means were too limited, the active powers of her vigorous mind too
+feeble, to fulfil the abounding desires of her soul in alleviating
+the miseries and increasing the comforts of the poor, the
+destitute, and afflicted. To learn the latent springs of such
+excellence is worthy of research; they may be all summed up in
+this, <i>the religion of the heart</i>.</p>
+<p>The extracts from Mrs. Graham's letters and devotional
+exercises, which constitute so large a part of the following pages,
+will furnish the best development of her principles; and may, with
+the blessing of God, prove useful to those who read them. In all
+her writings will be manifested the power of <i>faith</i>, the
+efficiency of <i>grace</i>, and in them, as in her own uniform
+confession, Jesus will be magnified and self will be humbled. Her
+life was chiefly distinguished by her continual dependence on God,
+and his unceasing faithfulness and mercy towards her.</p>
+<br />
+<p>I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> M<font size="-1">ARSHALL</font>,
+afterwards Mrs. Graham, was born July 29, 1742, in the shire of
+Lanark, in Scotland. Her grandfather was one of the elders who
+quitted the established church with the Rev. Messrs. Ralph and
+Ebenezer Erskine. She was educated <!--Page 010--><a name="P010"
+id="P010"></a> in the principles of the church of Scotland. Her
+father and mother were both pious; indeed, her mother, whose maiden
+name was Janet Hamilton, appears, from her letters yet extant, to
+have possessed a mind of the same character as her daughter
+afterwards exhibited.</p>
+<p>Isabella was trained to an active life, as well as favored with
+a superior education. Her grandfather, whose dying-bed she
+assiduously attended, bequeathed her a legacy of some hundred
+pounds. In the use to which she applied this money, the soundness
+of her judgment was thus early manifested. She requested it might
+be appropriated to the purpose of procuring a thorough
+<i>education</i>. When ten years of age, she was sent to a
+boarding-school taught by a lady of distinguished talents and
+piety. Often has Mrs. Graham repeated to her children the maxims of
+Mrs. Betty Morehead. With ardent and unwearied endeavors to attain
+mental endowments, and especially moral and religious knowledge,
+she attended the instructions of Mrs. Morehead for seven successive
+winters. How valuable is early instruction. With the blessing of
+God, it is probable that this instructress laid the foundation of
+the exertions and usefulness of her pupil in after-life. How wise
+and how gracious are the ways of the Lord. Knowing the path in
+which he was afterwards to lead Isabella Marshall, her God was
+pleased to provide her an education of a much higher kind than was
+usual in those days. Who would not trust that God, who alone can be
+<i>the guide of our youth</i>?</p>
+<p>Her father, John Marshall, farmed a paternal estate, called the
+Heads, near Hamilton. This estate <!--Page 011--><a name="P011" id=
+"P011"></a> he sold, and rented the estate of Elderslie, once
+the habitation of Sir William Wallace. There Isabella passed her
+childhood and her youth.</p>
+<p>She had no definite recollection of the period at which her
+heart first <i>tasted that the Lord is gracious</i>. As far back as
+she could remember, she took delight in pouring out her soul to
+God. In the woods of Elderslie she selected a bush, to which she
+resorted in seasons of devotion. Under this bush she believed she
+was enabled to devote herself to God, through faith in her
+Redeemer, before she had entered on her tenth year. To this
+favorite, and to her, sacred spot, she would repair, when exposed
+to temptation or perplexed with childish troubles. From thence she
+caused her prayers to ascend, and there she found peace and
+consolation.</p>
+<p>Children cannot at too early a period seek the favor of the God
+of heaven. How blessed to be reared and fed by his hand, taught by
+his Spirit, and strengthened by his grace.</p>
+<p>The late Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, afterwards president of Princeton
+college, was at this time one of the ministers of the town of
+Paisley. Isabella sat under his ministry, and at the age of
+seventeen publicly professed her faith in Christ. In the year 1765
+she was married to Dr. John Graham, then a practising physician in
+Paisley, a gentleman of liberal education and of respectable
+standing.</p>
+<p>About a year after their marriage, Dr. Graham, having been
+appointed surgeon to the 60th or royal American regiment, was
+ordered to Canada, where that corps was stationed. Mrs. Graham
+accompanied him, and a plan was digested &mdash; with how limited a
+<!--Page 012--><a name="P012" id="P012"></a> knowledge of the
+future will appear &mdash; for their permanent residence in
+America. Dr. Graham calculated on disposing of his commission, and
+purchasing a tract of land on the Mohawk river, where his
+father-in-law, Mr. Marshall, was to follow him. The letter
+subjoined gives the interesting incidents of their voyage, and
+forms a pleasant introduction to the character of Mrs. Graham at
+this period of her life.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"Q<font size="-1">UEBEC</font>, August 29,
+1767.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAREST</font> P<font size=
+"-1">ARENTS</font> &mdash; This is the fifth letter I have written
+to you, although I know it is the first that can reach you. All the
+time I was at sea I kept a letter lying by me, in hope of getting
+it put on board some vessel bound for Britain; but I have met with
+many disappointments. We spoke several ships, but I never could get
+a letter put on board. At one time I was told the wind was too
+high, at another that the ship was at too great a distance, and so
+was put off till I began to understand a more substantial reason,
+namely, that it would cost the captain rather too much trouble.</p>
+<p>"We have now, however, got safe here, after a tedious voyage of
+nine weeks, and I will give you a short account of what happened
+during that time.</p>
+<p>"We sailed, as you know, from Greenock, June 10. For the first
+five or six days we had fine weather and fair winds, and got quite
+clear of land; after this, we had nearly six weeks of most
+tempestuous weather, and the wind, except for about two days,
+directly against us. The gentlemen after some time began to be very
+impatient; for my part I should not have cared although it had
+lasted twelve months. I had left all that was dear to me behind,
+except one <!--Page 013--><a name="P013" id="P013"></a> dear
+friend, that one was constantly with me, and although the rest of
+the company in the ship was very agreeable, yet I was the great
+object of his attention, and his invention was ever on the stretch
+to find amusement for me. It is not possible for me to say with
+what indulgent tenderness I was treated; but though I love my
+husband even to extravagance, yet my dear friends whom I left
+behind have a large share of my heart. They dwell on my mind in the
+daytime; and at night, when sleep lays the body aside and leaves
+the soul at liberty, she on the wings of imagination makes one skip
+over whole seas, and is immediately with those dear friends whose
+absence she so much lamented during the day, and in an imaginary
+body as truly enjoys you for the time as if really present with
+you.</p>
+<p>"The gentlemen on board soon found reason to be thankful for the
+preservation of life, and got something very different to think of
+than fret at the contrary winds. A leak sprung in the ship, which
+alarmed them all so much that a consultation was held among them
+whether if any ship came near they should hail it and go on board
+wherever she was bound. I was perfectly unconcerned about the whole
+matter, not being aware of the danger, which was kept secret from
+me till we came on shore. I saw the men constantly pumping, but
+thought it was what they were obliged to do in every ship. After
+coming to land, on examining the ship, they found the leak to be so
+large that one might put his five fingers into it; indeed, it
+seemed next to a miracle that she kept above water; but every day
+of our lives may convince us what dependent creatures we are. While
+<!--Page 014--><a name="P014" id="P014"></a> God's merciful
+providence protects us we are safe, though in the midst of apparent
+danger; should he withdraw that protection but for a moment,
+inevitable evils surround us, even when we think ourselves in
+perfect safety.</p>
+<p>"A proof of this we had in a most distressing event, which took
+place about six weeks after we left Greenock. The wind was in our
+favor, the day was fine, and we were all amusing ourselves on deck
+in various ways, when Captain Kerr, who was standing close by us,
+stumbling backwards, fell overboard. He got above water before the
+ship passed him, and called to throw him a rope, but alas, no rope
+was at hand, and before one was got the ship was out of his reach.
+Immediately they threw over a large hen-coop, but, poor man, he
+could not swim, so he soon disappeared. The boats were put out with
+great expedition, and in less than a quarter of an hour he was
+found. You may believe no means were left unemployed to restore
+animation; but alas, the spirit had taken its final leave; it was
+no longer an inhabitant of earth, not the least signs of life
+appeared. The day after, being Sunday, his body was committed to
+the deep, from whence it had been rescued the day before. Dr.
+Graham read in public the church of England burial service. Every
+one on board seemed much affected; I cannot tell you how much I
+was.</p>
+<p>"About eight days after, we got to the Banks of Newfoundland;
+while there the fog was so dense we could not see forty yards in
+any direction, and the cold was excessive, notwithstanding the
+season of the year. There were a great many islands of ice floating
+on the water; I saw three within twenty yards
+<!--Page 015--><a name="P015" id="P015"></a> of us, much larger
+than the ship. The captain said if the ship ran against any one of
+them, she would be dashed to pieces. And here, again, my former
+observation holds good, for sure it could not be the art of man,
+either in the dark night or in the dense fog, which could protect
+the ship flying before the wind, through dangers so thick on every
+side of us. For several days and nights we saw neither sun nor
+stars, which distressed the captain much, for he knew not where we
+were, and apprehending we were near land, was afraid of running
+upon some rock; so we were obliged to cruise about till the
+atmosphere cleared.</p>
+<p>"The sail up the river St. Lawrence is extremely pleasant. You
+know how fond I have ever been of wood and water. This country, in
+this respect, is quite to my taste, and could I only get half a
+dozen of those friends I could name settled down on either side of
+us, with five hundred pounds' worth of land to give to each, I
+should ask no more in this world.</p>
+<p>"When we arrived, the doctor's friend Mr. Findley came on board,
+took us on shore, and brought us to his elegant mansion. He begged
+we would look on him as an old friend, feel perfectly at home, and
+remain with him as long as we could. Give my love to my dear boys;*
+you see them often, I have no doubt. Do, my dearest mamma, write me
+soon, and tell me all about them and yourself; and ever believe me,
+my dear parents, with the greatest affection,</p>
+<p class="note">*Dr. Graham's two sons by a former marriage, who
+were left under the care of Mr. Davidson, rector of the
+grammar-school of Paisley.</p>
+<p class="center">"Your dutiful daughter,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<!--Page 016--><a name="P016" id="P016"></a>
+<p>In a letter a month, later, Mrs. Graham refers to the gay and
+fashionable circles to which they were introduced in Quebec, and
+mentions her visiting the beautiful falls of Montmorency; but
+mourns over the low state of religion, and the prevailing
+desecration of the Sabbath. She adds:</p>
+<p>"I have read Doddridge's Rise and Progress. I little knew what a
+treasure Mr. Ellis put into my hand when he gave me that book. I
+cannot say it is my daily companion, but I can with truth say it is
+often so. Let my mind be in ever so giddy and thoughtless a frame,
+or ever so much busied in those amusements I am engaged in, it
+makes me serious, and gives my thoughts a different turn; there is
+scarce any situation the mind can be in, but it will find something
+suitable there. I must not, however, make remarks on the particular
+contents of it; it would occupy more paper than I have to spare. I
+would have you purchase the book; I am sure you would like it; and
+when you have read it, it will be matter of great satisfaction to
+you that John and I have such a treasure in our possession. In it
+are contained every advice you could give us, and cautions against
+the temptations which, on account of youth, company, and the
+country we are in, we are exposed to."</p>
+<p>They were expecting to spend the winter in Quebec, but were
+ordered to Montreal, where Jessie, her eldest daughter, was born,
+and where Mrs. Graham received intelligence of the death of her
+infant son, who had been left with her mother in Scotland. Further
+orders were soon received for the doctor to join the second
+battalion of his regiment at fort Niagara, <!--Page 017--><a name=
+"P017" id="P017"></a> on lake Ontario; Mrs. Graham followed him,
+and they continued here in garrison for four years, during which
+her second and third daughters, Joanna and Isabella, were added to
+her charge.</p>
+<p>Under date of February 3, 1771, we find, from her own pen, the
+following description of her occupations and enjoyments, in a
+letter addressed to her beloved mother:</p>
+<p>"My two Indian girls come on very well indeed. The eldest milked
+the cows all summer; she washes and irons all the clothes for the
+family, scrubs the floors, and does the most part of the kitchen
+work. The young one's charge is the children, and some other little
+turns when the infant is asleep. I teach them to read and to sew
+when they have any spare time. As for me, I find I have enough to
+do to superintend. You may be sure I help a little too, now and
+then. I make and mend what is necessary for the family, for I must
+be tailor, mantua-maker, and milliner.</p>
+<p>"In the forenoon the doctor makes his rounds as usual. I
+generally trot about till two o'clock, dress the children, order
+dinner, dress myself, and twenty other things, which you know are
+necessary to be looked after by the mistress of a family. After
+dinner I sit down to my work, and we have always a book, which the
+doctor reads when I can attend; when I cannot, he reads something
+else.</p>
+<p>"As I am at present the only wife in the place, we have a
+regular tea-table, and now and then a little frugal supper; for the
+doctor has come more into my way of thinking, and does not insist
+upon cutting a figure as much as some time ago. When alone, he
+<!--Page 018--><a name="P018" id="P018"></a> reads and I work,
+as usual. He is seldom out, and never but when I am with him. We
+are easy in our circumstances, and want for nothing that is
+necessary; in short, my ever dear parents, my life is easy and
+pleasant. The Lord my God make it pious and useful.</p>
+<p>"Could I place myself and family in the same circumstances, and
+every thing go on in the same manner, within a few miles of you, I
+should be happy for life; and were it not for this hope, which my
+heart is set upon, I could not be so, with all I have told you.</p>
+<p>"We find the newspapers full of preparations for war; may the
+Lord dispose all hearts to peace, for I hate the sound, though it
+is the wish of the greatest number about me. There is no prospect
+of our leaving this place for a year yet. For my part I have only
+two reasons for wishing it. The first is, I should like to be in
+some Christian society; the other, that I might do something
+towards getting home. To return to the gay world, again I have no
+ambition. My family here, and my friends at home, engross all my
+attention; and when I see the one, and hear of the other being
+well, I am happy. Time never hangs heavy on my hand; I can always
+find employment, and amusement too, without the assistance of what
+go under the name of diversions.</p>
+<p>"We have lately had several visits from a great family. The
+chief of the Seneca nation having a daughter not well, brought her
+to the doctor to see what could be done for her; he, his squaw or
+lady, and daughters breakfasted with us several times. I was kind,
+and made all the court to them I could, though we could not
+converse but by an interpreter. <!--Page 019--><a name="P019" id=
+"P019"></a> I made the daughters some little presents, and the
+doctor would not be feed. Who knows but these little services may
+one day save our scalps? There have been several threatenings of an
+Indian war; thank God, it seems to be quite hushed again.</p>
+<p>"War with civilized nations is nothing to war with Indians. They
+have no mercy, nor give any quarter to man, woman, or child: all
+meet the same fate, except where they take a liking to particular
+persons; those they adopt as their children, and use them as
+such.</p>
+<p>"The doctor joins in affectionate respects to my dear father,
+and you, the boys, and all our dear friends. I am as much as ever,
+and will be to my latest breath, my dear mamma, your affectionate
+daughter,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p>Mrs. Graham always considered the time she passed at Niagara as
+the happiest of her days, considered in a temporal view. The
+officers of the regiment were amiable men, attached to each other,
+and the ladies were united in the ties of friendship. The society
+there, secluded from the world, exempt from the collision of
+individual and separate interests, which often create so much
+discord in large communities, and studious to promote the happiness
+of each other, enjoyed that tranquillity and contentment which ever
+accompany a disinterested interchange of friendly offices. But this
+fort being detached from other settlements, the garrison were
+deprived of ordinances and the public means of grace, and the life
+of religion in the soul of Mrs. Graham sunk to a low ebb. A
+conscientious observance of the Sabbath, which
+<!--Page 020--><a name="P020" id="P020"></a> throughout life she
+maintained, proved to her at Niagara as a remembrance and revival
+of devotional exercises. She wandered on those sacred days into the
+woods around Niagara, searched her Bible, communed with God and
+herself, and poured out her soul in prayer to her covenant Lord.
+Throughout the week, the attentions to her friends, her domestic
+comfort and employments, and the amusements pursued in the
+garrison, she used to confess, occupied too much of her time and of
+her affections.</p>
+<p>Here we behold a little society enjoying much comfort and
+happiness in each other, yet falling short of that pre&euml;minent
+duty and superior blessedness of glorifying, as they ought to have
+done, the God of heaven, who fed them by his bounty, and offered
+them a full and free salvation in the gospel of his Son. No
+enjoyments nor possessions, however ample and acceptable, can crown
+the soul with peace and true felicity, unless accompanied with the
+fear and favor of Him who can speak pardon to the transgressor, and
+<i>shed abroad his love in the hearts</i> of his children; thus
+giving an earnest of spiritual and eternal blessedness along with
+temporal good.</p>
+<p>The commencement of the revolutionary struggle in America
+rendered it necessary, in the estimation of the British government,
+to order to another and very diverse scene of action the sixtieth
+regiment, composed in a great measure of Americans.</p>
+<p>Their destination was the island of Antigua: Dr. and Mrs. Graham
+and their family, consisting of three infant daughters and two
+young Indian girls, sailed from Niagara to Oswego, and from thence,
+by a path through the woods, reached the Mohawk, which river
+<!--Page 021--><a name="P021" id="P021"></a> they descended in
+batteaux to Schenectady. Here Dr. Graham left his family, and went
+to New York to complete a negotiation he had entered into for
+disposing of his commission, to enable him to settle, as he
+originally intended, on a tract of land which it was in his power
+to purchase on the banks of the river they had just descended. The
+gentleman proposing to purchase his commission, not being able to
+perfect the arrangement in time, Dr. Graham found himself under the
+necessity of proceeding to Antigua with the regiment. Mrs. Graham
+on learning this, hurried down with her family to accompany him,
+although he had left it optional with her to remain till he should
+have ascertained the nature of the climate, and the probability of
+his continuing in the West Indies.</p>
+<p>At New York they were treated with much kindness by the late
+Rev. Dr. John Rodgers and others, especially by the family of Mr.
+Vanbrugh Livingston. With Mr. Livingston's daughter, the wife of
+Major Brown, of the sixtieth regiment, Mrs. Graham formed a very
+intimate friendship, which continued during the life of Mrs.
+Brown.</p>
+<p>They embarked with the regiment, November 5, 1772, for
+Antigua.</p>
+<!--Page 022--><a name="P022" id="P022"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+<h4>RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA &mdash; DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.</h4>
+<p>W<font size="-1">ITHIN</font> three weeks after their arrival at
+Antigua, six companies were ordered to the island of St. Vincents
+to quell an insurrection of the Caribs. The doctor accompanied
+them, and Mrs. Graham was called to the pain of separation under
+circumstances more trying than she had as yet experienced, as the
+war with savages might expose him to the most cruel death. In these
+circumstances she wrote him as follows:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">NTIGUA</font>, January 16,
+1773.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAREST</font> D<font size="-1">OCTOR</font>
+&mdash; This goes by Mr. W&mdash;&mdash;, who sails to-morrow; also a letter
+to Captain G&mdash;&mdash;. Mr. M&mdash;&mdash; begs to be remembered to you; he has
+been foot and hand to me since you left. My dearest doctor, suffer
+me to put you in remembrance of what you put in the end of your
+trunk the morning you left me,* and let it not lie idle. Read it as
+the voice of God to your soul. My dearest love, I have been greatly
+distressed for fear of your dear life; but the love I bear to your
+soul is as superior to that of your body, as the value of one
+surpasses the other; consequently my anxiety for its interest is
+proportioned. May heaven preserve my dearest love &mdash; lead you,
+guide you, direct you, so can you never go wrong &mdash; protect
+and defend you, so shall you ever be safe, is the daily prayer of
+your affectionate wife,</p>
+<p class="note">*Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the
+Soul.</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>.</p>
+<!--Page 023--><a name="P023" id="P023"></a>
+<p>"P.S. I am told that you have taken a number of prisoners. I
+know not if you have any right to entail slavery on these poor
+creatures. If any fall to your share, do set them at liberty."</p>
+<p>On the 8th of June, Mrs. Graham wrote to her mother, expressing
+her gratitude for her husband's safe return, and noticing some
+gratifying indications of the calm and peaceful state of his
+mind:</p>
+<p>"You would be surprised to hear the doctor preach. He says we
+ought to be thankful; we have hitherto been richly and bountifully
+provided for; we ought not to repine, nor doubt, seeing we have the
+same Providence to depend upon; that we ought not to set our hearts
+upon any thing in this world; being very short-sighted, we cannot
+know what is proper for us. Having done for the best, when we are
+disappointed, we ought to rest satisfied that either what we wish
+is not for our good, or it will in some future dispensation of
+Providence be brought about another way and in a fitter time.
+Indeed, my dear mamma, in some things he is a better Christian than
+I am. <i>May God make him so in every thing.</i>"</p>
+<p>Thus was the Lord preparing his servant for what was so soon to
+follow &mdash; not his dismission from the regiment, which he so
+ardently desired, but from this world and its temptations and
+snares. Mrs. Graham's prayers were answered, but "by terrible
+things in righteousness."</p>
+<p>She added a request that her mother would receive her eldest
+daughter, who, though at the early age of <i>five years</i>, she
+feared would receive injurious influences from the corrupt state of
+society around her, and <!--Page 024--><a name="P024" id=
+"P024"></a> accordingly, not long after, sent her to Scotland;
+but before her arrival, her grandmother had been called to a better
+world. In reference to this event Mrs. Graham wrote to her bereaved
+father as follows:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">NTIGUA</font>, August 21,
+1773.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAREST</font> P<font size="-1">APA</font>
+&mdash; The heart-rending tidings of my dear, my tender, my
+affectionate mother's death reached me yesterday. I am so
+distressed that I can scarcely write, and no wonder, for never was
+there such a mother. My loss is indeed great; but O, my dear, my
+afflicted father, how my heart bleeds for you. Father of mercies,
+support my aged parent, and enable him to place his hopes of
+happiness beyond this transitory world, and to follow the footsteps
+of the dear departed saint till he joins her in glory, never, never
+more to be separated.</p>
+<p>"My dearest father, we may indeed mourn for ourselves; but she
+is happy &mdash; that is beyond all doubt. Her delight was with God
+while she was here; her closet was a Bethel; her Bible was her
+heart's treasure, and His people were her loved companions. She has
+now joined the innumerable company above, where she continues the
+same services without human frailty, and the enjoyment heightened
+beyond our highest conceptions.</p>
+<p>"O then, my dear father, be comforted; let us now try to follow
+her; let her Saviour now be ours, and then shall we be blest with
+like consolations.</p>
+<p>"My dearest father, I cannot tell you how much I feel for you;
+my tears will not allow me, they flow so fast that I cannot write;
+what would I give to be with you. But these are vain words.</p>
+<p>"The doctor, however, fully expects that next
+<!--Page 025--><a name="P025" id="P025"></a> summer will bring
+him leave to go home; then, I trust, we shall be in some fixed
+place of abode, and, my dear papa, you will come and live with us.
+I shall feel it to be a privilege beyond what I can tell, to
+perform every service you stand in need of, soothe your pains and
+comfort you under the infirmities of old age.</p>
+<p>"My dear, my worthy brother &mdash; how has that tender letter,
+and the noble resolution he has taken, endeared him to me. It is
+certainly his indispensable duty to stay with you in your present
+solitary situation; such a dutiful, affectionate son must be a
+great comfort to you, and he will not lose his reward.</p>
+<p>"I am anxious, my dearest father, to know the particulars of my
+mother's death: who attended her in her illness? was the nurse who
+was with her a good woman? was she sensible? did she expect death?
+and did she mention me, and leave me her blessing? My dear, dear
+father, tell me all.</p>
+<p>"Farewell, my beloved father; may your God and Redeemer be your
+support and final portion, is the prayer of your affectionate
+daughter,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>In her grief for the loss of her inestimable mother, Dr. Graham
+had said to her that "God might perhaps call her to a severer trial
+by taking her husband also," and the warning appeared prophetic;
+but her own words best describe the emotions of her bleeding
+heart.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Miss Margaret Graham, Glasgow.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> S<font size="-1">ISTER</font>
+&mdash; Prepare yourself for a severe shock from an event that has
+robbed me of every earthly <!--Page 026--><a name="P026" id=
+"P026"></a> joy. Your amiable brother is no longer an inhabitant
+of this lower world. On the seventeenth of November he was seized
+with a putrid fever, which, on the twenty-second, numbered him with
+the dead, and left me a thing not to be envied by the most abject
+beggar that crawls from door to door. Expect not consolation from
+me: I neither can give nor take it. But why say I so? <i>Yes, I
+can.</i> He died as a Christian, sensible to the last, and in full
+expectation of his approaching end. O, you knew not your brother's
+worth; you knew him not as a husband: he was not the same as when
+you knew him in his giddy years: he was to me all love, all
+affection, and partial to my every fault; prudent too in providing
+for his family. I had gained such an entire ascendency over his
+heart as I would not have given for the crown of Britain.</p>
+<p>"On Wednesday, at one o'clock, the seventeenth day of November,
+1773, my dear doctor was seized with a violent fever. I sent for
+his assistant, Dr. Bowie: he not being at home, Dr. Muir came, who
+prescribed an emetic in the evening, and his fever having greatly
+abated, it was accordingly given. In the morning Dr. Bowie thought
+him so well I did not ask for any other assistance. At ten o'clock
+his fever greatly increased, though not so violent as it had been
+the day before. He was advised to lose a little blood, which he
+did; and towards evening it again abated.</p>
+<p>"I found he was not quite satisfied with what had been done for
+him; at the same time he would do nothing for himself. Thursday
+evening I begged Dr. Bowie to call in Dr. Warner's assistance,
+notwithstanding he <!--Page 027--><a name="P027" id="P027"></a>
+assured me there was not one dangerous symptom. Friday morning they
+both attended, and both pronounced him in a fair way of
+recovery.</p>
+<p>"About three o'clock Dr. Eird came, who seemed surprised the
+thing had not been done which Dr. Graham himself had been
+dissatisfied for the want of the day before. Soon after the
+medicine was sent; but O, my dear doctor said it was then too late.
+In the evening they all again attended, and insisted there was no
+danger. Saturday morning he seemed very easy, and the physicians
+said he was in a fine way. The fever was gone; the decoction of
+bark prescribed; and they said he would be able to-morrow to take
+it in substance. I was not now the least apprehensive of danger,
+and was very earnest in prayer that the Lord would sanctify his
+affliction, and not suffer it to go off without leaving a sensible
+effect on his mind. Nay, I even said in my heart, 'the rod is too
+soon removed, it will do him no good.' Oh, that fools will still
+persist to prescribe to infinite wisdom and goodness. I was soon
+severely punished.</p>
+<p>"About eleven he took the hiccup. I did not like it, but little
+knew it was so dangerous a symptom as I afterwards understood. I
+sent for Dr. Bowie, who assured me that though it was a
+disagreeable symptom with other attendants, in his case it was of
+no more consequence than if he or I were to take it. All that day
+it was so moderate that a mouthful of any liquid stopped it, though
+it always returned again: he often said it would be his death; but
+I imagined the pain it gave him extorted these words from him
+rather than a sense of danger, and was much pleased to hear him
+often pray that the Lord would give him patience and
+<!--Page 028--><a name="P028" id="P028"></a> resignation to his
+blessed will, and still more to observe that he bore it with a
+patience beyond what was natural to him. He was of a quick temper,
+and being of a healthy constitution, was but little accustomed to
+pain; but, during the whole of his severe and trying affliction, I
+do not remember to have heard a murmuring word escape his lips; so
+that I cannot doubt but his prayers were heard, and the grace
+prayed for bestowed. In the evening the hiccup increased, and all
+that night it was very severe, so that he could not bear to be any
+way disturbed, nor could I possibly prevail upon him to take his
+medicine, from two in the morning until ten o'clock, when the
+physicians again attended and persuaded him to comply. This was
+Sunday. About mid-day Dr. Warner sent some old hock, with orders
+that he should take some in his drink, and now and then a little
+plain. When the wine was brought in and put on the table, he asked
+me what it was. I told him. He said, 'Yes, they are now come to the
+last shift.'</p>
+<p>"Mr. Frank Gilbert, a good man, and, I believe, a real
+Christian, having come to town to preach &mdash; for he is a
+Methodist minister &mdash; sent a note, kindly inquiring after him,
+and intimating, if it would be agreeable to him, he would visit him
+in the morning. He said, by all means, he should be very glad to
+see him. I said, 'My love, you know I have great faith in the
+prayers of God's people; suppose you should beg an interest in them
+this afternoon?' He answered, 'My dear, do you think they will
+forget me?' I said, 'I hope, my love, you are not ashamed to desire
+the prayers of the people of God; it is not now a time to mind the
+ridicule of the world.' He said, 'No, Bell, I care not a
+<!--Page 029--><a name="P029" id="P029"></a> farthing for the
+whole world, and you may make it my own request.'</p>
+<p>"His disorder gained ground very fast that day, and I began to
+be much alarmed; yet still I thought it would not end in death, but
+though severe and dangerous, was sent in answer to my repeated,
+earnest prayers to awaken in him a real concern about his eternal
+interest, to set the world and its vanities in their true light,
+and bring about that entire change of heart which our blessed Lord
+styles the new birth, and without which, he says, we cannot enter
+the kingdom of heaven.</p>
+<p>"It was now become very difficult for him to speak; but by the
+motion of his hands and eyes, which were continually lifted up when
+he had the smallest respite, I could easily see his thoughts were
+fixed on the importance of his situation; besides, many sentences
+and half sentences broke from his lips at different times, which
+left me without a doubt. 'Farewell,' said he, 'vain world; an idle
+world it is, nothing but shadows, and we keep chasing them as
+children do bubbles of water, till they break, and we find them
+nothing but air.'</p>
+<p>"Observing this inward recollection, I seldom disturbed him. He
+was perfectly acquainted with the truth, and believed it. The
+doctrines of religion were often the subject of our conversation,
+and in every point of faith we entirely agreed: they only wanted to
+be felt and applied to the heart. I remained in silence to my dear
+husband, but not to my God: I was incessant in prayer, begging and
+beseeching that the Lord himself would carry on what he had so
+graciously begun &mdash; that he would every way suit himself to
+his necessities, and give conviction or consolation, as he
+<!--Page 030--><a name="P030" id="P030"></a> saw needful; but
+when he spoke I endeavored to answer him from God's own word, as I
+was able or assisted. Once he exclaimed, 'Draw me, and I will run
+after thee;' at another time, 'Surely thou wilt not allow thy
+blessed Son to plead in vain for me, an obstinate sinner.' This was
+a degree of faith, and I endeavored to strengthen it. I said, 'My
+love, you know the way to the Father, through Christ, the only
+Mediator. You say right, he cannot plead in vain; fly to him; cast
+yourself at his feet; trust in him; hear his own invitation, 'Come
+unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
+rest;' 'him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' At
+another time these words broke from his lips, 'Form me, train me,
+prepare me for thyself.' Here was a breathing after sanctification;
+might not the promise be applied, 'I will create a clean heart, and
+renew a right spirit within thee.'</p>
+<p>"In the evening the physicians again attended, but could hardly
+get a word from him. While they sat by the bedside I went out to
+the gallery with Mrs. Grandidier; the apparent struggle she had to
+conceal her distress, the compassion and sympathy in her
+countenance struck me. I easily perceived she gave up hope, and, I
+began to suspect, not from her own judgment alone; she advised me
+to send away my children to a friend's house, and to send for a
+person who was capable of assisting me, it being no longer proper
+for me to be alone. Thus far I had not allowed any person to do the
+least thing about him but myself, nor stirred from his bedside,
+except for a few minutes, to pour out my soul into the bosom of my
+God. I hardly, if ever, prayed for his recovery, being willing the
+<!--Page 031--><a name="P031" id="P031"></a> rod should remain
+till it effected the purpose for which it was sent, and then I
+believed it would be removed &mdash; as if the Lord was to follow
+exactly the rules prescribed by my weak, foolish, ignorant
+heart.</p>
+<p>"Hitherto I had suffered little, believing all to be the answer
+to my prayers; but I had not seriously thought of parting with him.
+I was now truly alarmed, and determined to know, as far as
+appearances went, the worst. Accordingly I stopped Dr. Bowie on the
+gallery: 'Tell me, doctor,' said I, 'what have I to expect? It is
+cruel to flatter me: if you give me some warning, and prepare me, I
+may perhaps be able to support it; but if you suffer it to come
+upon me all at once, I shall certainly sink under the shock.' He
+was silent for some time, and then replied, 'I am really at a loss
+how to answer you.' I said, 'I will answer for you, there is no
+hope.' He said, 'God forbid &mdash; he is in great danger; but
+still there is hope; and if you value his life, be calm.' I was
+composed. Strange composure; I neither cried nor complained; tears
+were denied a passage; I was fixed and dumb like a statue. Can I,
+or any one else, describe my situation, or what I felt at that
+moment? It was urged of what consequence it was that I should be
+composed, that I might be able to do my duty to him, as no one
+could supply my place to his satisfaction, and perhaps even now he
+might be in want of me. I returned to my post, which was, except
+when doing some necessary office about him, generally on my knees
+by his bedside, partly that I might not lose the least whisper that
+came from his lips, and partly because it is my favorite posture
+for prayer, from which I could not cease, no, not for one minute.
+<!--Page 032--><a name="P032" id="P032"></a></p>
+<p>"There were different medicines prescribed for that night, some
+in case that others proved too strong for his stomach, others in
+case of the increase of the hiccup. I found my head confused and my
+memory incapable of retaining the variety of directions given. I
+therefore accepted of the offer of a friend of his to sit up with
+us that night, whom I begged to pay particular attention to the
+directions, and to watch the proper times the medicines were to be
+given. This he did with great care, and my dear doctor was very
+pliable in taking them as they were offered. As for me I was so
+deeply engaged with the concerns of his soul, I was unfit for any
+thing else.</p>
+<p>"After Dr. Bowie let me know the danger he was in, I sent a
+letter to Mr. Gilbert, begging he would not delay his visit till
+morning, as perhaps by that time he might not be able to speak to
+him. Accordingly he came; he asked him how he did; he answered,
+'Very ill;' he asked him the situation of his mind; he answered,
+'Entirely resigned to the divine will;' he asked him what hopes he
+had; he said, 'his hope was in the mercy of God, through Christ;'
+Mr. Gilbert said, 'You have no dependence on any thing besides?' he
+said, 'No, no, I have nothing else to depend upon.' Then the doctor
+desired him to pray, but at the same time to be short, as he had
+but short intervals from the hiccup. After prayer, Mr. Gilbert told
+me it seemed difficult for him to speak, and he did not think it
+would be prudent to say more; that he would call again in the
+morning.</p>
+<p>"Monday morning he was greatly weakened, having had little rest
+all night from the severity of the hiccup. At ten o'clock the
+physicians again attended; <!--Page 033--><a name="P033" id=
+"P033"></a> but I could easily perceive they had but small
+hopes. My doctor asked Dr. Warner if he thought it would be long
+before he would be at rest, who said his pulse was still strong. He
+said, 'It is a hard thing to die!" Mrs. Brannan came to spend the
+day with us, one of the Methodist society, and Mr. McNab, whom my
+doctor desired to pray with him, which he did. All this day he said
+little, but still continued in inward prayer, as was visible by the
+motions of his hands and eyes; he had many agonizing struggles, and
+often exclaimed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 'Blessed Jesus,
+come and receive me to thyself &mdash; come &mdash; come &mdash;
+blessed Jesus, come!' Once, after a long struggle, he exclaimed,
+'Release me, O release me, and let me fly to the bosom of my
+Father!' All this time I never parted from his bedside but a few
+minutes to give my soul a freer vent at the throne of grace. I
+never prayed for life, but that he might be washed, sanctified, and
+have all God's salvation completed in his soul, and be received
+into the arms of his mercy. I also had been, and still was, very
+importunate that God would give me some token, some assurance that
+he would save his soul, and give him an abundant entrance into the
+kingdom of his glory; and, by all that I had heard, seen, and felt,
+I was now satisfied that the most merciful God had sealed his
+pardon for Jesus' sake; and I found myself ready, dearly as I loved
+him, to resign him into the hands of divine mercy; but still I
+breathed after some further manifestation.</p>
+<p>"In the evening Dr. Galloway, an old acquaintance, arrived from
+the island of Dominico, and hearing of his friend's illness, came
+immediately to visit him. When my doctor heard his voice only
+whisper how he <!--Page 034--><a name="P034" id="P034"></a> was,
+he said, 'I hear Galloway's voice,' and stretched out his hand; so
+fully had he his senses to the last. Upon their feeling his pulse,
+he asked if they thought he would be long in dying. Dr. Eird
+replied, 'You must not talk of dying, but of living; you are
+stronger than when I was here this morning, and I have seen many
+worse recover. Do, do be advised, take your medicine, and try for
+life.' These words brought a gleam of hope to my despairing soul,
+and what had been denied me for twenty-four hours, a flood of
+tears, and I was greatly relieved. I went out to the gallery and
+gave a free vent to my bursting heart. I now also begged the Lord
+for his life, and said in my heart, should he now be restored, how
+doubly blessed would he be, healed in soul and body. I returned to
+his bedside and thus addressed my beloved: 'My dearest life, the
+doctors still have hopes, and we know nothing is impossible with
+God. Who knows what further service he may have for you in this
+world; or whether he may not give you to my prayers, and restore
+you to your Bell and family? God works by means; O be persuaded to
+take every thing prescribed, and pray to God for the blessing;
+devote your future life to his service, and, for poor Bell's sake,
+offer up a petition for life.' He did not interrupt me, but
+answered, 'Disengage yourself, Bell, disengage yourself from me. I
+want to lift up my soul to God, and bless him for Jesus
+Christ.'</p>
+<p>"Dr. Galloway was determined to stay with him all night, and see
+him take his medicine. Some time after, he had a severe attack of
+hiccup, and said to Dr. Galloway, 'I hope you are now convinced.'
+He said, 'Of what?' My doctor said, 'That dissolution is near.'
+<!--Page 035--><a name="P035" id="P035"></a> A little after, he
+said, 'Who died for all?' and again repeated, 'Who died for all?' I
+was forbid to speak to him, as rest was so much wanted, so I
+answered, 'Christ, my love; but give up your soul to God, and try
+to shut your weary eyes, and get a little rest for your body;' and
+so he did, and got a little sleep. All that night he did every
+thing he was desired, but would drink nothing but cold water, which
+had been allowed him; the wine he would not touch. His disorder
+increased so fast that Dr. Galloway, about five in the morning,
+said to me, 'I may go home &mdash; I can be of no service, and I
+cannot stand it.' I said, 'I suppose I need not disturb him any
+more with medicine.' He said, 'No, you may give him what he calls
+for.' Now, my God, all is over; I resign him up to thee. Only one
+parting word &mdash; something yet I require, to assure my heart
+that thou wilt receive his soul. Some time after he laid his hand
+upon Mrs. Brannan's lap and made a sign to her; afterwards he made
+a sign to me, who was at the back of the bed, to come round. Mrs.
+Brannan thought he wanted her to retire, which she did. He looked
+after her. I said, 'My love, she thinks you want to say something
+to me; can you speak?' He said, 'Join &mdash; pray,' which we did.
+He spoke no more for some time, only, 'Come, sweet Jesus,' and
+frequently, 'Receive my spirit.' These words were given for my
+sake. I cried, 'I am satisfied, Lord, and I yield him up to thee
+with all my heart; thou hast given me all my asking. I will not be
+longer faithless, but believing. Continue to support his departing
+soul, and let the enemy find nothing in him.'</p>
+<p>"The next attack of hiccup laid him back speechless, and I
+believe senseless in the last parting work: he
+<!--Page 036--><a name="P036" id="P036"></a> had no further
+struggle, nor need of any person to support him. I therefore again
+placed myself on my knees by his bedside, determined not to quit
+the posture till his soul had entered its rest; but nature was worn
+out, and though I swallowed hartshorn and water in great
+quantities, I was so overcome that I was obliged to lie down at the
+back of the bed to save me from fainting. Three hours did he
+continue in this last work of the heart. I watched his last, and
+delivered him up with a hearty prayer and a full assurance; but O,
+how earnestly I wished to go with him! I was, for the time,
+entirely insensible to my own loss: my soul pursued him into the
+invisible world, and for the time cordially rejoiced with the
+Spirit. I thought I saw the angel band ready to receive him, among
+whom stood my dear mother, the first to bid him welcome to the
+regions of bliss.</p>
+<p>"I was then desired to leave the room, which I did, saying, 'My
+doctor is gone. I have accompanied him to the gates of heaven: he
+is safely landed; that is now not him that lies there. You, nurse,
+will see it decently dressed; then I may again be permitted to take
+another parting kiss.' So, embracing the precious clay, I went into
+the parlor. Some friends came in to see me. My composure they could
+not account for: our sincere and tender regard for each other was
+too well known to allow them to impute it to indifference. My
+distress at parting with him, even for a couple of months, when he
+went to St. Vincent, and dejection of spirit the whole time till
+his return, left them as little room to impute it to want of
+sensibility: at last they imagined that I was stupefied with grief
+and fatigue; but they little knew that at that hour I rejoiced;
+<!--Page 037--><a name="P037" id="P037"></a> indeed I told them,
+but I suppose was not believed. I was asked if I had any thing
+particular to say respecting the funeral. I said, 'Nothing &mdash;
+my charge is gone to rest; I would leave it to them.' It was then
+proposed to bury next day at ten o'clock. I said that was very
+early; they answered, by that time I would be satisfied it was not
+too early.</p>
+<p>"In the evening I returned to our bed-chamber to take a last
+farewell of the dear remains. The countenance was so very pleasant
+I thought there was even something heavenly, and could not help
+saying, 'You smile upon me, my love; surely the delightful prospect
+opening on the parting soul left that benign smile on its companion
+the body.' I thought I could have stood and gazed for ever; but for
+fear of relapsing into immoderate grief, I withdrew after a parting
+embrace, and with an intention not to ask for another, lest a
+change in his countenance might shake my peace; for Oh, we are
+weak, and at certain times not subject to reason. I went to bed
+purely to get alone, for I had little expectation of sleep; but I
+was mistaken; nature was fairly overcome with watching and fatigue.
+I dropped asleep, and for a few hours forgot my woes; but Oh; the
+pangs I felt on my first awaking. I could not for some time believe
+it true that I was indeed a widow, and that I had lost my heart's
+treasure &mdash; my all I held dear on earth. It was long before
+day. I was in no danger of closing my eyes again, for I was at that
+time abandoned to despair, till recollection and the same
+considerations which at first supported me brought me a little to
+myself. I considered, I wept for one that wept no more; that all my
+fears for his eternal happiness were now over,
+<!--Page 038--><a name="P038" id="P038"></a> and he beyond the
+reach of being lost; neither was he lost to me, but added to my
+heavenly treasure, more securely mine than ever. Those snares and
+temptations arising from the corrupt customs of a degenerate age,
+which had so often caused my fears, could never reach him there.
+The better, dearer half of myself was now secure beyond the
+possibility of falling, and waiting my arrival to complete his
+bliss. O happy hour, which shall also set my soul at liberty, and
+unite us, never to part more.</p>
+<p>"In the morning I asked the nurse if there was any alteration;
+she said, no. I again returned to take another view, and was
+surprised to find his color and countenance unchanged. I began to
+be extremely uneasy at having consented to so early a burial. I
+returned again, and again; O, how I wished to have kept him for
+ever. Ten o'clock came; the company assembled; I became very
+uneasy; at last I discovered it to Dr. Bowie, begged he would only
+view him; how fresh the color &mdash; how every way like life. He
+assured me there was not the smallest doubt but that he was gone. I
+was not satisfied with this, but made them all inspect him. All
+agreed in the same thing, and I was obliged to yield, and the dear
+remains were ravished from my sight. What a night I passed the
+night after the funeral! I had ordered our own bed to be made up,
+and at the usual time retired; but in vain did I try to sleep; the
+moment my senses began to lose sensibility, I was in a kind of
+dream. Finding myself alone, I imagined he was out at supper,
+though he seldom was without me; now I thought I heard his foot on
+the stairs, and started up to listen if it were he, and to bid him
+welcome, when my <!--Page 039--><a name="P039" id="P039"></a>
+roused senses told me what I could still hardly credit, that I had
+no husband to expect, and threw me into a fresh agony, which kept
+me awake till I had in some measure again reconciled myself to my
+solitary situation. But having only slept a few hours since my dear
+doctor was taken ill, I no sooner got my mind a little composed,
+than sleep again began to overpower my senses, when the same, or a
+similar imagination roused me.</p>
+<p>"The morning came. When I was called down to breakfast, the
+sight of his empty seat distracted me. I returned to my room,
+though I thought it my duty to take some nourishment. I had it
+brought to me. Alas, I could nowhere turn my eyes but the sight was
+connected with this dear idea, and recalled past delights, never
+more to return. Our back windows looked into the garden, on which
+he had bestowed so much labor and pains, and which he was just
+bringing to perfection. Here we had spent many pleasant hours
+together, and indulged that freedom of conversation, the natural
+consequence of an unbounded confidence. The double arbor he had
+reared, and so contrived as to screen from both the south and the
+western sun, bid fair, in a short time, to screen us also from
+every eye. Hitherto we had been confined to morning hours, or
+afternoon, when it was shaded by the house; but had often pleased
+ourselves with the hours we should spend in this cool retreat, even
+at noonday, while, screened from the sun's scorching rays, we might
+enjoy the refreshing breeze through its leafy openings; but these
+delightful prospects were now for ever at an end. I might, indeed,
+there take my seat; but the tongue which everywhere
+<!--Page 040--><a name="P040" id="P040"></a> charmed, was buried
+in deepest silence. The company which rendered every scene pleasant
+was gone, never to return: his sheep, his goats, nay, even the
+poultry, were often fed from his hand: every thing served to
+distract. As for my children, they were by kind friends kept for
+some time out of my sight; for not only to view them fatherless
+distressed me, but their thoughtless mirth and play was altogether
+insupportable.</p>
+<p>"I accepted an invitation from Mr. Gilbert's family to spend
+some time in the country with them; for though it was impossible
+for me to forget for one moment, yet, when these objects were
+removed from my sight, I was more able to turn my thoughts upward,
+to where my heart's treasure now is, and where I myself expect to
+be. We had two men-servants, and my two Indian girls; one of the
+men I dismissed, the other I left to take care of the living
+creatures about the place. One of my girls I boarded where she
+would be in good company, and with my children and their maid I
+abandoned my solitary dwelling. I met with a very tender reception
+from that worthy family. My situation here was such as I both
+expected and wished, and attended with many outward circumstances
+which had the probability of making it supportable. I was allowed
+to be as much by myself as I chose. No one intruded on my privacy
+without my consent; but one or other of the Mrs. Gilberts often
+visited me in my own room, and drew from my bursting heart all its
+griefs, sympathizing, soothing, and advising at the same time. They
+are both women of great piety, having for many years devoted their
+hearts, time, talents, and fortune to the service of
+<!--Page 041--><a name="P041" id="P041"></a> God; and their two
+husbands likewise, whose business it has been to instruct the
+ignorant negroes without fee or reward. Had it not been for this
+family, I know not where the distraction of my mind might have
+ended."&emsp;&emsp;*&emsp;&emsp;*&emsp;&emsp;*&emsp;&emsp;*</p>
+<br />
+<p>Thus was Mrs. Graham, at the early age of thirty-one, left a
+widow in a land of strangers. Her husband, companion, protector,
+was gone: a man of superior mind, great taste, warm affection, and
+domestic habits. She was left with three daughters, the eldest of
+whom was not over five years of age, and expecting an increase of
+her infant charge. Of temporal property she possessed very little:
+she was at a distance from her father's house: the widow and the
+fatherless were in a foreign land. The change in her circumstances
+was as sudden as it was great.</p>
+<p>That sympathizing heart with which she was accustomed to receive
+and return the confidence of unbounded friendship, and thus, by
+reciprocal communion, to alleviate the trials and enrich the
+enjoyments of life, was chilled in death. All the pleasing plans,
+all the cherished prospects of future settlement in life were cut
+off in a moment. While sinking into a softened indifference to the
+world, in the contemplation of her severe loss, she was, on the
+other hand, roused into exertion for the sustenance and support of
+her young family, whose earthly dependence was now necessarily upon
+her.</p>
+<p>Not satisfied with the custom of the island, in burying so soon
+after life is extinct, her uneasiness became so great that her
+friends judged it prudent to have her husband's grave opened, to
+convince her that <!--Page 042--><a name="P042" id="P042"></a>
+no symptoms of returning life had been exhibited there. The
+fidelity of her heart was now as strongly marked as her tenderness.
+She dressed herself in the habiliments of a widow, and determined
+never to lay them aside. This she strictly adhered to, and rejected
+every overture afterwards made to her of again entering into the
+married state. She breathed the feelings of her heart in a little
+poem, in which she dedicated herself to her God as a widow
+indeed.</p>
+<p>On examining into the state of her husband's affairs, she
+discovered that there remained not quite two hundred pounds
+sterling in his agent's hands.</p>
+<p>These circumstances afforded an opportunity for the display of
+the purity of Mrs. Graham's principles, and her rigid adherence to
+the commandments of her God in every situation.</p>
+<p>It was proposed to her, and urged with much argument, to sell
+the two Indian girls, her late husband's property; but no
+considerations of interest or necessity could prevail upon her thus
+to dispose of immortal beings, the work of her heavenly Father's
+hand. One of these girls accompanied her to Scotland, where she was
+married; and the other died in Antigua, leaving an affectionate
+testimony to the kindness of her dear master and mistress.</p>
+<p>The surgeon's mate of the regiment was a young man whom Dr.
+Graham had early taken under his patronage. The kindness of his
+patron had so far favored him with a medical education, that he was
+enabled to succeed him as surgeon to the regiment.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the slender finances of Mrs. Graham, feeling for
+the situation of Dr. H&mdash;&mdash;, she presented to him her husband's
+medical library and his <!--Page 043--><a name="P043" id=
+"P043"></a> sword: a rare instance of disinterested regard for
+the welfare of another.</p>
+<p>This was an effort towards observing the second table of the
+law, in doing which she was actuated likewise by that principle
+which flows from keeping the first table also. Nor was the
+friendship of Dr. and Mrs. Graham misplaced. The seeds of gratitude
+were sown in an upright heart. Dr. H&mdash;&mdash;, from year to year,
+manifested his sense of obligation, by remitting to the widow such
+sums of money as he could afford. This was a reciprocity of kind
+offices, equally honorable to the benefactors and to them who
+received the benefit: an instance, alas, too rarely met with in a
+selfish world.</p>
+<p>It may here be remarked, in order to show how much temporal
+supplies are under the direction of a special providence, that Dr.
+H&mdash;&mdash;'s remittances and friendly letters were occasionally received
+by Mrs. Graham until the year 1795; after this period her
+circumstances were so favorably altered as to render such aid
+unnecessary; and from that time she heard no more from Dr. H&mdash;&mdash;,
+neither could she learn what was his subsequent history.</p>
+<p>It may be profitable here to look at Mrs. Graham, contrasted
+with those around her whose condition in the world was prosperous.
+Many persons then in Antigua were busy and successful in the
+accumulation of wealth, to the exclusion of every thought tending
+to holiness, to God, and to heaven. The portion which they desired
+they possessed. What then? They are since gone to another world.
+The magic of the words, "my property," "an independent fortune,"
+has been dispelled; and that for which they <!--Page 044--><a name=
+"P044" id="P044"></a> toiled, and in which they gloried, has
+since passed into a hundred hands; the illusion is vanished, and
+unless they made their peace with God through the blood of the
+cross, they left this world, and alas, found no heaven before them.
+But amidst apparent affliction and outward distress, God was
+preparing the heart of this widow, by the discipline of his
+covenant, for future usefulness &mdash; to be a blessing, probably
+to thousands of her race, and to enter finally on that "rest which
+remaineth for the people of God."</p>
+<p>Her temporal support was not, in her esteem, "an independent
+fortune," but a life of dependence on the care of her heavenly
+Father: she had more delight in suffering and doing his will, than
+in all riches. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,
+and he will show them his covenant." To those who walk with God, he
+will show the way in which they should go, and their experience
+will assure them that he directs their paths. "Bread shall be given
+them, and their water shall be sure." She passed through many
+trials of a temporal nature, but she was comforted of her God
+through them all; and at last was put in possession of an eternal
+treasure in heaven, "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor
+thieves break through and steal." May this contrast be solemnly
+examined, and the example of this child of God made a blessing to
+many.</p>
+<p>In anticipation of her approaching trial, with which her own
+life might be suddenly terminated, Mrs. Graham <i>set her house in
+order</i>, and wrote the two following letters: one to her friend
+Mrs. Grandidier, to whom and her husband Capt. Grandidier, she
+committed the charge of her family and affairs; the other
+<!--Page 045--><a name="P045" id="P045"></a> to her father in
+Scotland, commending her children to his protection. Her tender and
+affectionate appeals to each of them in respect to their own
+eternal welfare, are a beautiful specimen of that Christian
+fidelity and love of the souls of men which so strongly
+characterized her future life.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">T</font>. J<font size=
+"-1">OHNS</font>, Antigua, 1774.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> M<font size="-1">RS.</font>
+G<font size="-1">RANDIDIER</font> &mdash; The long and steady
+friendship which has subsisted between us, in sickness and in
+health, in prosperity and adversity, ever the same, without change
+or diminution, leaves me no room to doubt that it will extend to my
+little family, and that you will be as ready, to the utmost of your
+power, to befriend them, as you have been to the dear father
+already gone, and your friend, who is, perhaps, about to
+follow.</p>
+<p>"If it should please God to take me away in my approaching
+confinement, I leave you and Capt. Grandidier full power to dispose
+of every thing in this house, and belonging to me in this island,
+as you shall think most for the advantage of my little family. You
+know my extreme tenderness for their dear father made me unable to
+part with any of his clothes, but these can be of no consequence to
+me when I shall again have joined him for whose sake I kept them;
+you may therefore dispose of them, and also of my own, if you think
+the avails will be of more service to the children. But I do not
+choose to leave any particular directions about my trifling
+effects; you will consult with other friends, and I am certain you
+will act for them to the best of your judgment. It is a great
+relief to my mind that I have such steady and tried friends to
+leave the charge of them upon. Miss <!--Page 046--><a name="P046"
+id="P046"></a> G. B&mdash;&mdash; has promised to take J&mdash;&mdash;, and it is my
+desire that the others, and the infant yet unborn, if it survive,
+be sent to my father, where I will leave them to be disposed of and
+provided for by that God who has fed me all my life, by their
+heavenly Father, who has commanded me to leave my fatherless
+children upon him, that he will preserve them alive, and whose
+promise I have, that he will never leave them nor forsake them.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Reid will not be less kind to the offspring of his friend
+when they have lost, than when they were under a mother's
+protection. May the blessing of the widow and the fatherless follow
+him wherever he goes, and may God recompense him a thousand-fold in
+blessings spiritual and temporal. Let Diana* be sent with my
+children; if there be an infant, you know a nurse must be found for
+it, whatever it cost. As for Susan,* I am at a loss what to do with
+her; my heart tells me I have no right to entail slavery upon her
+and her offspring; I know I shall be blamed, but I am about to be
+called to account by a higher power than any in this world for my
+conduct, and I dare not allow her to be sold. I therefore leave it
+to herself either to remain here, or if it be her desire, to
+accompany the children. I beg Mr. Reid will be kind enough to allow
+her a passage with the rest.</p>
+<p class="note">*The two Indian girls.</p>
+<p>"And now, my dear friend, as the greatest happiness I can wish
+you, may that God whom I have chosen as my own portion, be yours
+also; may he, by his outward providence and by the inward
+operations of his Spirit on your heart, lead you to himself and
+convince you of the truth. But O, my dear friend, shut
+<!--Page 047--><a name="P047" id="P047"></a> not your eyes and
+ears against conviction. You are not satisfied that the Bible is
+indeed the word of God. Is it not worth inquiring into? What would
+you think of a man who had a large fortune, and the whole depending
+on proving some certain facts, and yet would not be at the pains to
+inform himself? Are the interests of this world of such importance,
+which in a few fleeting years we must leave and have done with for
+ever, and our final state in the next, which is to fix us in
+happiness or misery through the endless days of eternity, not worth
+a thought? Think then, and seriously ask, 'What if it be so? What
+if this be indeed the word of God given by inspiration, for the
+rule of both our faith and manners, and by which we are to be
+judged? What if this same God, who so kindly reveals his will to
+men, has with it given the clearest evidences and strongest proofs
+that it is his own word?' Think, I say, my dear friend, if it
+should be so, what they deserve who either reject or neglect it
+without taking the trouble to inform themselves, or to be convinced
+that it either is or is not of divine authority.</p>
+<p>"How many great, learned, and wise men have sifted these
+evidences with the greatest care, and the deeper they entered into
+the search, the more clear they appeared, even those whose lives
+are entirely contrary to it, and whose interest it is to wish it
+false, cannot deny. As to the various explanations of it, it is
+every one's duty to read for himself, and although there may be
+some parts of it too deep for every capacity, and which may perhaps
+require a knowledge of the history of the times to understand, yet
+the simple truths of the gospel, what we are to believe concerning
+<!--Page 048--><a name="P048" id="P048"></a> God, and what
+duties he requires of us, and what he forbids, are equally plain
+and easy. If we can only once be satisfied that it is indeed the
+word of God, set ourselves to study it with an unprejudiced mind,
+with a sincere desire to know the truth and be led by it, with
+earnest prayer that the same Spirit which inspired the writers
+would make it plain to our hearts and understandings, that God
+himself would teach us its true meaning, and save us from error, we
+shall, I venture to say, be taught all necessary knowledge, and be
+led in the way to eternal life, and not suffered to err: we have
+God's promise that it shall be so. 'If any man will do His will, he
+shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.'</p>
+<p>"Forgive me, my dear friend; the subject appears to me so
+important that I know not how to have done. I love you with a true
+and sincere friendship: I love your soul, and am deeply interested
+in its eternal happiness. Once more I commit you to that God, who
+only can lead you to himself and to true happiness; and that you
+may know the truth of this from deep experience, to the eternal
+joy, peace, and safety of your immortal soul, is the last prayer of
+your affectionate friend, who hopes to meet and rejoice with you in
+our Redeemer's kingdom.</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">Mrs. Graham to her Father.</p>
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">NTIGUA</font>, May, 1774.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y EVER-DEAR</font> F<font size=
+"-1">ATHER</font> &mdash; If this ever reach you, it will be when I
+have taken my final leave of this world, and received my portion
+for eternity in the next, when I hope I shall have gained the
+summit of my wishes, and be happy in the society of my dear
+<!--Page 049--><a name="P049" id="P049"></a> husband and
+much-loved mother, in the kingdom of our Redeemer.</p>
+<p>"My truly orphan children I have desired to be sent to you;
+though I see no visible way you have to provide for them, yet I am
+perfectly easy concerning them. I leave them upon that God who has
+fed me all my life, and whose tender care I have experienced in a
+thousand dangers &mdash; upon their and my heavenly Father, who has
+commanded me to leave my fatherless children upon him, and he will
+preserve them alive. The God of providence will prepare for them a
+home, and raise up friends, perhaps from a quarter neither you nor
+I could expect.</p>
+<p>"My only concern and prayer to God for them is, that they may be
+early taught to love God and serve him &mdash; that they may fall
+into such hands as will carefully instruct them in the principles
+of morality and religion, and teach them the great, but too little
+thought of truth, that our chief business in life is to prepare for
+death. As to the polite parts of education, I look upon them as of
+no consequence; they may be as good Christians, perhaps better,
+without than with them; the perfection of their nature no way
+depends upon them. I am equally indifferent what station of life
+they may occupy, whether they swim in affluence or earn their daily
+bread, if they only act their part properly, and obtain the
+approbation of their God in that station wherein he in his infinite
+wisdom sees fit to place them.</p>
+<p>"Remember to give my love to all my dear children. I reckon all
+that sprung from my dear doctor mine; and though I did not suffer a
+mother's pangs for them, Heaven knows how equally I love them with
+<!--Page 050--><a name="P050" id="P050"></a> those who cost me
+dearer. Tell them I leave them a mother's blessing; and my last
+prayers, if it please God to continue my senses, shall be for their
+best interests.</p>
+<p>"And now, my dear father, suffer one parting word, though from
+one no way entitled to advise: this is the third loud call for you
+to be also ready; according to the course of nature, you must very
+shortly follow; you can have very little more to do in this world,
+and therefore the smallest share of your attention is due to it.
+The young, the gay, the giddy, and thoughtless hold it a wise maxim
+to forget their departed friends as soon as possible; this may be
+worldly, but it cannot be heavenly wisdom. To be fully and entirely
+resigned to the will of God in all things, is certainly the
+characteristic of a Christian; but this is perfectly consistent
+with the most tender remembrance. That resignation &mdash; but
+indeed it deserves not the name &mdash; which consists in
+forgetfulness, in banishing thought and drowning reflection in
+worldly cares and amusements, can be no grateful offering to Him
+who has commanded us to have our loins girt and our lamps trimmed,
+and to be always ready, for in such an hour as we think not 'the
+Son of man cometh.' How often are we commanded to watch, to set our
+affections on things above, to be dead to the world, to lay up
+treasure for ourselves in heaven. These injunctions are
+inconsistent with forgetfulness; and if it be our duty to meditate
+on death and eternity, nothing more naturally leads our minds to
+that subject than the recollection of departed friends, who, if
+pious, are not lost, but only gone a little while before, taken
+from our earthly and added to our heavenly treasure.</p>
+<p>"Believe me, my dear father, to a mind abstracted
+<!--Page 051--><a name="P051" id="P051"></a> from the world and
+devoted to God, death, though solemn, has nothing dreadful in it;
+on the contrary, to a mind rightly disposed it is rather a
+desirable object. Just conceptions of God, and converse with him,
+will very soon change the aspect of the king of terrors to a
+welcome messenger, who comes to set open the gates of immortality,
+and to usher us into the kingdom of our heavenly Father. And now
+may our most gracious God grant you, through your few remaining
+days, his direction and consolation; may he bestow upon you that
+peace which the world can neither give nor take away; and when the
+appointed time of your change shall come, may the comforts of his
+Holy Spirit so cheer and refresh your soul, that you may be able,
+without a doubt or a fear, to resign it into the hands of your
+Redeemer.</p>
+<p>"Give my love to Hugh. The sentiments expressed in his letters
+bespeak him a worthy brother, and deserving of my highest esteem. I
+would have written to him, but I have still some directions to
+commit to writing concerning my little family, and my hour is at
+hand; but tell him I will remember him in my last prayers. I charge
+him not to banish the idea of his worthy and now glorified mother,
+lest with that he also forget her precepts; but prepare to meet us
+who are gone before; and O, that our meeting may be with joy on
+both sides. It is hard for youth, in the present age, to follow our
+Christian pattern. Every real Christian, every Bible Christian,
+must lay his account with being branded with the name of
+enthusiast; but tell him to remember that the opinion of the world
+cannot alter the nature of holiness, nor the maxims of Christ. Let
+him read, think, and judge for <!--Page 052--><a name="P052" id=
+"P052"></a> himself with an unprejudiced mind; with a hearty
+desire to know and be led by the truth; to be taught of God, and
+conformed to his will in all things, and I venture to promise he
+will not be suffered to err. But let him avoid disputes about
+religion, they are seldom productive of any good; let him fortify
+his mind against banter and ridicule, it is no small degree of
+persecution. Yet, if he be determined to follow his Lord, he must
+expect to meet with it, and I know from experience it is hard to
+bear. I have found the safest way is to receive it in silence; for
+those who are disposed to ridicule the appearance of religion in
+another, are not in a fit disposition to be convinced by any
+argument, at least at that time, and few can dispute without heat,
+which is a transgression against the virtue of meekness, and very
+apt to lessen our love to the person who opposes us. We lose the
+spirit of brotherly love in hot-headed zeal, which perhaps deserves
+a harder name, but conceals itself under that appearance; and it is
+no small victory gained over ourselves if we are able to love, wish
+well to, and be ready to serve those whose sentiments differ from
+ours.</p>
+<p>"I leave you and yours, and mine, upon the Fountain of all
+goodness, and may the peace of God, which passeth all
+understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love
+of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of
+God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be among you, and
+remain with you always.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p class="center">"Your ever dutiful and affectionate daughter,</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>It pleased God to preserve the life of Mrs. Graham, and to make
+her the grateful mother of a son, whom <!--Page 053--><a name=
+"P053" id="P053"></a> she called after the name of his father,
+and endeavored, in humble trust, to consecrate to the Author of his
+being.</p>
+<p>Having now no object to induce her to stay longer at Antigua,
+she disposed of her slender property, and placing her money in the
+hands of Major Brown, requested him to take a passage for herself
+and family, and to lay in their sea-stores. After seeing a railing
+placed around the grave of her beloved husband, that his remains
+might not be disturbed until mingled with their kindred dust, she
+bade adieu to her kind friends, and with a sorrowful heart turned
+her face towards her native land.</p>
+<!--Page 054--><a name="P054" id="P054"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+<h4>RETURN TO SCOTLAND &mdash; SCHOOL IN EDINBURGH.</h4>
+<p>N<font size="-1">O</font> ship offering at this time from
+Antigua for Scotland, Mrs. Graham embarked with her family in one
+bound to Belfast, Ireland. Major Brown and his brother officers saw
+her safely out to sea; and he gave her a letter to a gentleman in
+Belfast, containing, as he said, a bill for the balance of the
+money she had deposited with him. After a stormy and trying voyage,
+she arrived in safety at her destined port. The correspondent in
+Ireland of Major Brown delivered her a letter from that officer
+expressive of esteem and affection, and stating that as a proof of
+respect for the memory of their deceased friend, he and his brother
+officers had taken the liberty of defraying the expenses of her
+voyage.</p>
+<p>Consequently the bill he had given was for the full amount of
+her original deposit; and thus, like the brethren of Joseph, <i>she
+found all her money in the sack's mouth.</i> Being a stranger in
+Ireland, without a friend to look out for a proper vessel in which
+to embark for Scotland, she and her children went passengers in a
+packet; on board of which, as she afterwards learned, there was not
+even a compass. A storm arose and they were tossed to and fro for
+nine hours in imminent danger. The rudder and the mast were carried
+away; every thing on deck thrown overboard; and at length the
+vessel struck in the night upon a rock, on the coast of Ayr, in
+Scotland. The greatest confusion pervaded <!--Page 055--><a name=
+"P055" id="P055"></a> the passengers and crew. Among a number of
+young students, going to the University at Edinburgh, some were
+swearing, some praying, and all were in despair. The widow only
+remained composed. With her babe in her arms she hushed her weeping
+family, and told them that in a few minutes they should all go to
+join their father in a better world. The passengers wrote their
+names in their pocket-books, that their bodies might be recognized
+and reported for the information of their friends. One young man
+came into the cabin, asking, "Is there any peace here?" He was
+surprised to find a female so tranquil; a short conversation soon
+evinced that religion was the source of comfort and hope to them
+both in this perilous hour. He engaged in prayer and then read the
+107th Psalm. While repeating these words, "he maketh the storm a
+calm, so that the waves thereof are still," the vessel swung off
+the rock by the rising of the tide. She had been dashing against it
+for an hour and a half, the sea making a breach over her, so that
+the hold was now nearly filled with water. Towards morning the
+storm subsided, and the vessel floated until she rested on a
+sand-bank. Assistance was afforded from the shore, and the
+shipwrecked company took shelter in a small inn, where the men
+seemed anxious to drown the remembrance of danger in a bowl of
+punch. How faithful a monitor is conscience! This voice is listened
+to in extreme peril; but O, infatuated man, how anxious art thou to
+stifle the warnings of wisdom in the hour of prosperity. Thousands
+of our race, no doubt, delay their preparation for eternity until,
+by sudden death, they have scarcely a moment left to perform this
+solemn work. <!--Page 056--><a name="P056" id="P056"></a></p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham retired to a private room, to offer up thanksgiving
+to God for his goodness, and to commend herself and her orphans to
+his future care.</p>
+<p>A gentleman from Ayr, hearing of the shipwreck, came down to
+offer assistance; and in him Mrs. Graham was happy to recognize an
+old friend. This gentleman paid her and her family much attention,
+carrying them to his own house, and treating them with kindness and
+hospitality.</p>
+<p>In a day or two after this she reached Cartside, and entered her
+father's dwelling; not the large ancient mansion in which she had
+left him, but a thatched cottage, consisting of three apartments.
+Possessed of a too easy temper and unsuspecting disposition, Mr.
+Marshall had been induced to become security for some of his
+friends, whose failure in business had reduced him to poverty. He
+now acted as factor of a gentleman's estate in this neighborhood,
+of whose father he had been the intimate friend, with a salary of
+twenty pounds sterling per annum and the use of a small farm.</p>
+<p>In a short time, however, his health failed, and he was deprived
+of this scanty pittance, being incapable, as the proprietor was
+pleased to think, of fulfilling the duties of factor.</p>
+<p>Alive to every call of duty, Mrs. Graham now considered her
+father as added, with her children, to the number of dependents on
+her industry. She proved indeed a good daughter &mdash; faithful,
+affectionate, and dutiful, she supported her father through his
+declining years; and he died at her house, Feb. 13, 1783, aged 75,
+during her residence in Edinburgh, surrounded by his daughter and
+her children, who tenderly watched him during his last illness.
+<!--Page 057--><a name="P057" id="P057"></a></p>
+<p>Having resided two years at Cartside, she removed to Paisley in
+1778, where she taught a small school. The slender profits of such
+an establishment, with a widow's pension of sixteen pounds
+sterling, were the means of subsistence for herself and her family.
+When she first returned to Cartside a few religious friends called
+to welcome her home. The gay and wealthy part of her former
+acquaintances, who, like the butterfly, spread their silken wings
+only to bask in the warmth of a summer sun, found not their way to
+the lonely cottage of an afflicted widow. Her worth, though in
+after-life rendered splendid by its own fruits, was at this time
+hidden, excepting to those whose reflection and wisdom had taught
+them to discern it more in the faith and submission of the soul,
+than in the selfish and extravagant exhibitions of that wealth
+bestowed by the bounty of Providence, but expended too often for
+the purposes of vanity and dissipation.</p>
+<p>In such circumstances, the Christian character of Mrs. Graham
+was strongly marked. Sensible that her heavenly Father saw it good,
+at this time, to depress her outward condition, full of filial
+tenderness, and like a real child of God resigned to whatever
+should appear to be his will, her conduct conformed to his
+dispensations. With a cheerful heart, and in the hope of faith, she
+set herself to walk down into the valley of humiliation, "leaning
+upon Jesus," as the beloved of her soul. "I delight to do thy will,
+O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart," was the spontaneous
+effusion of her genuine faith. She received with affection the
+scriptural admonition, "Humble yourselves therefore under the
+mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
+<!--Page 058--><a name="P058" id="P058"></a> time; casting all
+your care upon him, for he careth for you."</p>
+<p>She laid aside her children's fine frocks, and clothed them in
+homespun. At Cartside she sold the butter she made, and her
+children were fed on the milk. It was her wish to eat her own
+bread, however coarse, and to owe no person anything but love. At
+Paisley, for a season, her breakfast and supper was porridge, and
+her dinner potatoes and salt. Peace with God and a contented mind
+supplied the lack of earthly prosperity, and she adverted to this
+her humble fare, to comfort the hearts of suffering sisters, with
+whom she corresponded at a later period of life, when in
+comfortable circumstances.</p>
+<p>Meantime the Lord was not unmindful of his believing child; but
+was preparing the minds of her friends for introducing her to a
+more enlarged sphere of usefulness.</p>
+<p>Her pious and attached friend, Mrs. Major Brown, had accompanied
+her husband to Scotland, and they now resided on their estate in
+Ayrshire. Mr. Peter Reid, a kind friend when in Antigua, was now a
+merchant in London. This gentleman advised her to invest the little
+money she had brought home &mdash; and which she had still
+preserved &mdash; in muslins; which she could work into finer
+articles of dress, and he would ship them in a vessel of his
+own/freight free, to be sold in the West Indies. His object was
+partly to increase her little capital, and partly to divert her
+mind from meditating so deeply on the loss of her lamented husband.
+The plan so kindly proposed was soon adopted; the muslin dresses
+were shipped; but she soon afterwards learned that the ship was
+captured by the <!--Page 059--><a name="P059" id="P059"></a>
+French. This was a severe loss, and more deeply felt as it was
+received at the time when her father was deprived of his
+office.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Brown, after consulting with the Rev. Mr. Randall of
+Glasgow, the Rev. Mr. Ellis of Paisley, Lady Glenorchy and Mrs.
+Walker of Edinburgh, proposed to Mrs. Graham to take charge of a
+boarding-school in that metropolis.</p>
+<p>The friends of religion were of opinion that such an
+establishment, under the direction of one possessing the
+qualifications of Mrs. Graham, would be of singular benefit to
+young ladies destined for important stations in society. Her
+liberal education, her acquaintance with life, and her humble yet
+ardent piety, were considered peculiarly calculated to qualify her
+for so important a trust.</p>
+<p>Another friend had suggested to Mrs. Graham the propriety of
+opening a boarding-house in Edinburgh, which he thought could,
+through his influence, be easily filled by students.</p>
+<p>She saw obstacles to both: a boarding-house did not appear
+suitable, as her daughters would not be so likely to have the same
+advantages of education as from a boarding-school; and to engage as
+an instructress of youth on so large a scale, with so many
+competitors, appeared for her an arduous undertaking.</p>
+<p>In this perplexity, as in former trials, she fled to her
+unerring counsellor the Lord, her covenant God. She set apart a day
+for fasting and prayer. She spread her case before the Lord,
+earnestly beseeching him to make his word "a light to her feet and
+a lamp to her path," and "to lead her in the way in which she
+should <!--Page 060--><a name="P060" id="P060"></a> go;"
+especially that she might be directed to choose the path in which
+she could best promote his glory and the highest interests of
+herself and her children. On searching the Scriptures, her mind
+fastened on these words in John 21:15, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
+thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest
+that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs."</p>
+<p>Never, perhaps, was this commandment applied with more filial
+confidence, or accompanied with a richer blessing, since the days
+of the apostle, than in the present instance.</p>
+<p>Her determination was accordingly made. She resolved to
+undertake the education of youth, trusting that her Lord would make
+her an humble instrument of training some for his service on earth,
+and his praises in heaven. Here was exhibited an instance of simple
+yet powerful faith in a believer surrounded by temporal
+perplexities, and of condescension and mercy on the part of a
+compassionate God. Light unseen by mortal eyes descended on her
+path.</p>
+<p>How weak, perhaps enthusiastic, would this have appeared to the
+busy crowd, blind to the special providence exercised by the God of
+heaven towards all his creatures. She felt the pressure of her
+affliction; but, like the Psalmist, <i>gave herself unto
+prayer</i>:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a
+stream<br /></span> <span>Of glory on the consecrated
+hour<br /></span> <span>Of man in audience with the
+Deity."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>Though her faith was strong, yet her mind was under such
+agitation, from her total want of funds to carry her plan into
+effect, and from other conflicting exercises, as to throw her into
+a nervous fever, which <!--Page 061--><a name="P061" id=
+"P061"></a> kept her confined to her bed for some weeks. On her
+recovery, she felt it her duty to <i>go forward,</i> trusting that
+He, who had directed her path, would provide the means that were
+necessary to enable her to walk in it: she sold her heavy
+furniture, packed up all her remaining effects, and prepared to set
+out from Paisley for Edinburgh on a Monday, in the year 1779.</p>
+<p>On the Saturday previous she sat by her fire musing and
+wondering in what manner the Lord would appear for her at this
+time, when a letter was brought to her from Mr. Peter Reid,
+enclosing a sum of money which he had recovered from the
+underwriters, on account of Mrs. Graham's muslins captured on their
+passage to the West Indies. Mrs. Graham had considered them as
+totally lost, but her friend had taken the precaution to have them
+insured.</p>
+<p>With this supply she was enabled to accomplish her object, and
+arrived in Edinburgh with her family. Her friend Mrs. Brown met her
+there, and stayed with her a few days, to comfort and patronize her
+in her new undertaking. Mrs. Brown was her warm and constant friend
+until her death, which occurred at Paisley in 1782, when she was
+attending the communion. She bequeathed her daughter Mary to Mrs.
+Graham's care. But in 1785 the daughter followed the mother, being
+cut off by a fever in the twelfth year of her age.</p>
+<p>It may be proper here to introduce the name of Mr. George
+Anderson, a merchant in Glasgow, who had been an early and
+particular friend of Dr. Graham. He kindly offered his friendly
+services, and the use of his purse, to promote the welfare of the
+bereaved family of his friend. Mrs. Graham occasionally
+<!--Page 062--><a name="P062" id="P062"></a> drew upon both. The
+money she borrowed she had the satisfaction of repaying with
+interest. A correspondence was carried on between them after Mrs.
+Graham's removal to America, until the death of Mr. Anderson, in
+1802.</p>
+<p>During her residence in Edinburgh she was honored with the
+friendship and counsel of many persons of distinction and piety.
+The Viscountess Glenorchy, Lady Boss Baillie, Lady Jane Belches,
+Mrs. Walter Scott, mother of the poet, Mrs. Dr. Davidson, and Mrs.
+Baillie Walker, were among her warm personal friends. The Rev. Dr.
+Erskine, and Dr. Davidson, formerly the Rev. Mr. Randall of
+Glasgow, and many respectable clergymen, were also her friends. She
+and her family attended on the ministry of Dr. Davidson, an able,
+evangelical, useful pastor.</p>
+<p>Her school soon became respectable in numbers and character. Her
+early and superior education now proved of essential service to
+her. She was indefatigable in her attention to the instruction of
+her pupils. While she was faithful in giving them those
+accomplishments which were to qualify them for acting a
+distinguished part in this world, she was also zealous in directing
+their attention to that gospel by which they were instructed to
+obtain an inheritance in that to come. She felt a high
+responsibility, and took a deep interest in their temporal and
+spiritual welfare. As "a mother in Israel," she wished to train
+them up in the ways of the Lord.</p>
+<p>She prayed with them morning and evening; and on the Sabbath,
+which she was careful to devote to its proper use, she took great
+pains to imbue their minds with the truths of religion. Nor did she
+labor in <!--Page 063--><a name="P063" id="P063"></a> vain.
+Although she was often heard to lament of how little use she had
+been compared with her opportunities of doing good, yet when her
+children, Mr. and Mrs. B. visited Scotland in 1801, they heard of
+many individuals, then pious and exemplary, who dated their first
+religious impressions from those seasons of early instruction which
+they enjoyed under Mrs. Graham while in Edinburgh.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham's manner in the management of youth was peculiarly
+happy. While she kept them diligent in their studies, and strictly
+obedient to the laws she had established, she was endeared to them
+by her tenderness; and the young ladies instructed in her school
+retained for her in after-life a degree of filial affection which
+was expressed on many affecting occasions. This was afterwards
+remarkably the case with her pupils in America. Her little republic
+was completely governed by a system of equitable laws. On every
+alleged offence, a court-martial, as they termed it, was held, and
+the accused tried by her peers. There were no arbitrary
+punishments, no sallies of capricious passion. The laws were
+promulgated, and obedience was indispensable; the sentences of the
+courts-martial were always approved, and had a salutary effect. In
+short, there was a combination of authority, decision, and
+tenderness in Mrs. Graham's government, that rendered its subjects
+industrious, intelligent, circumspect, and happy. She enjoyed their
+happiness; and in cases of sickness, she watched over them with
+unremitting solicitude and care, sparing no expense to promote
+their restoration to health.</p>
+<p>A strong trait in her character was distinctly
+<!--Page 064--><a name="P064" id="P064"></a> marked by her
+educating the daughters of pious ministers at half price. This was
+setting an example worthy of imitation. It was a conduct
+conformable to scriptural precept. Said Paul, "If we have sown unto
+you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your
+carnal things? Do ye not know that they which minister about holy
+things live of the things of the temple? Even so hath the Lord
+ordained that they which preach the gospel should live by the
+gospel."</p>
+<p>Always conscientious in obeying the commandments of her God, she
+observed them in this matter, giving, in her proportion, at least
+the widow's mite.</p>
+<p>By another plan, for she was ingenious in contrivances to do
+good, she greatly assisted those in slender circumstances,
+especially such as were of the household of faith. Believing that
+the use of sums of ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds in hand would be
+serviceable by way of capital to persons in a moderate business,
+she was in the habit of making such advances, and taking back the
+value in articles they had for sale. She charged no interest, being
+amply repaid in the luxury of her own feelings, when she beheld the
+benefit it produced to her humble friends. The board of her pupils
+being paid in advance, she was enabled to adopt this plan with more
+facility. Were her spirit more prevalent in the world, what good
+might be done. The heart would be expanded, reciprocal confidence
+and affection cherished; and instead of beholding worms of the dust
+fighting for particles of yellow sand, we should behold a company
+of affectionate brethren leaning upon and assisting each other
+through the wilderness of this world. "Look not
+<!--Page 065--><a name="P065" id="P065"></a> every man on his
+own things," said Paul, "but every man also on the things of
+others. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of
+Christ."</p>
+<p>On the subject of promoting the external accomplishments of her
+scholars, it became a question how far Mrs. Graham was to
+countenance them in their attendance on public balls &mdash; to
+what length it was proper for her to go so as to meet the received
+opinions of the world in these concerns. She consulted with her
+pious friends, and wrote to Lady Glenorchy on the subject. Her
+ladyship's letter in reply is so excellent that the serious reader
+will be gratified with its insertion.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"B<font size="-1">ARNTON</font>, December 27,
+1781.</p>
+<p>"D<font size="-1">EAR</font> M<font size="-1">ADAM</font>
+&mdash; I received your letter last week, and also one some time
+ago from Mrs. Walker, in which she desired me to send you my
+sentiments upon the alteration you had made, and still thought of
+making, upon your plan.</p>
+<p>"I have since endeavored to consider, with all the attention of
+which I am <i>at present</i> capable, the arguments that may be
+brought on both sides of the question; and with regard to the first
+point, the <i>practisings</i>, I will frankly own, that could you
+send your young ladies to one where <i>girls only</i> are admitted,
+I should more readily yield my opinion of the matter to those
+Christians who have advised you to it. But as I learn that it is a
+promiscuous dance of boys and girls, I must in conscience say that
+I look upon such a meeting to be as pernicious in its effects upon
+the minds of young people, as balls and public assemblies on
+persons of riper years. When you mentioned the subject to me first,
+I thought it had been a practising <!--Page 066--><a name="P066"
+id="P066"></a> of girls <i>only</i>, else I should then have
+given you my sentiments fully upon that head.</p>
+<p>"As to the <i>reading of plays</i>, or any part of them, to your
+young people, I must own, it does not appear to me to be expedient;
+it may be productive of bad consequences, and the <i>good</i>
+arising from it is, at most, uncertain. It is, no doubt, very
+desirable to enlarge young people's minds and improve their taste
+as well as their persons; but such is the state of things in this
+world, that to attain this to the degree wished for by every person
+of refined taste, some things must be sacrificed of much greater
+value: for example, a girl cannot acquire the smart, polished air
+of a person of fashion, without imbibing too much of the spirit of
+the world. <i>Vanity</i> and <i>emulation</i> must be awakened and
+cultivated in the heart, before she will apply herself with
+diligence to outward accomplishments; nor can her mind and taste be
+much improved in <i>polite</i> literature, without losing its
+relish for simple truth. I grant you, there are a few Christians in
+the world who have acquired the outward accomplishments of it, and
+have, by grace, been enabled to turn these to good account &mdash;
+who, like the Israelites, having spoiled the Egyptians, have made
+use of <i>their</i> jewels in adorning the tabernacle; but this can
+never serve as an argument on your side of the question. If the
+Lord sees fit to manifest his power and grace by plucking a brand
+from the burning, this is no reason why children should be
+initiated into the ways of sin and folly, in hopes that some time
+or other he will bring them out. We are never to do evil that good
+may come; and this brings the question to a short issue.</p>
+<!--Page 067--><a name="P067" id="P067"></a>
+<p>"Do you think it lawful for Christians to attend public places,
+or to spend their time in reading plays? Do you think these things
+tend, either immediately or remotely, to promote the glory of God?
+If you do not, I cannot see how you, <i>as a Christian</i>, can
+have any hand in introducing young ladies to the one or in giving
+them a taste for the other.</p>
+<p>"This, dear madam, is <i>my</i> view of the matter; but I do not
+wish <i>you</i> to walk by <i>my</i> light. I believe all the
+children of God are <i>taught by him</i>, and ought to follow the
+dictates of their own consciences: I therefore pretend not <i>to
+advise</i> you, but shall endeavor to <i>pray</i> that the great
+<i>unerring</i> Counsellor may give you divine wisdom to be your
+teacher, to lead you into all truth, and to keep you from every
+thing inconsistent with his holy will.</p>
+<p>"I have met with so many interruptions since I began this
+letter, that I fear that it is hardly intelligible. I shall be
+sorry if I have said any thing that gives you uneasiness; your
+spirits seem low, and your business does not succeed so well as
+could be wished: perhaps I ought to have employed my pen in the way
+of consolation and encouragement, than by throwing in fresh matter
+of perplexity. Sure I am, I do not <i>mean</i> to add affliction to
+the afflicted; but rather have been impelled, from a regard to
+truth, to write my real sentiments, as you desired.</p>
+<p class="center">"Your friend and humble servant,</p>
+<p class="right">"W. G<font size="-1">LENORCHY</font>."</p>
+<p>In after-life, Mrs. Graham was of opinion that she and her
+scholars had gone too far in conformity with the opinions and
+manners of the world. A reference to this deviation from what she
+considered a close <!--Page 068--><a name="P068" id="P068"></a>
+Christian walk in life, will be frequently found in her subsequent
+exercises.</p>
+<p>Lady Glenorchy being in a delicate state of health, made
+frequent use of Mrs. Graham as her almoner to the poor. On one of
+these visits, Mrs. Graham called on a poor woman with a present of
+a new gown. "I am obliged to you and her ladyship for your
+kindness," said the poor woman rich in faith, "but I maun gang to
+the right airth first; ye wad na hae come, gin ye had na been sent;
+the Lord hath left me lately wi' but ae goon for week-day and
+Sabbath, but now he has sent you wi' a Sabbath-day's goon."
+Meaning, in plain English, that her thankfulness was first due to
+the God of providence, who had put it into the hearts of his
+children to supply the wants of this poor disciple.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham used to repeat with pleasure an anecdote of her
+friends Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. Mr. Douglas was a tallow-chandler,
+and furnished candles for Lady Glenorchy's chapel. The excise-tax
+was very high on making those articles, and many persons of the
+trade were accustomed to defraud the revenue by one stratagem or
+another. Religious principle would not permit Mr. Douglas to do so.
+Mrs. Graham one evening was remarking how handsomely the chapel was
+lighted. "Aye, Mrs. Graham," said Mrs. Douglas, "and it is all pure
+&mdash; the light is all pure, it burns bright." It would be well
+if Christians of every trade and profession were to act in like
+manner; that the merchant should have no hand in unlawfully
+secreting property, or encouraging perjury to accumulate gains;
+that the man of great wealth should have neither usury nor the
+shedding of blood by privateering to corrode
+<!--Page 069--><a name="P069" id="P069"></a> his treasures; that
+all should observe a just weight and a just measure in their
+dealings, as in the presence of God. Let every Christian seek after
+the consolation of Mrs. Douglas, that the light which refreshes him
+may be pure.</p>
+<p>It being stated as matter of regret, that poor people when sick
+suffered greatly, although while in health their daily labor
+supported them, Mrs. Graham suggested the idea of every poor person
+in the neighborhood laying aside <i>one penny a week</i> to form a
+fund for relieving the contributors when in sickness. Mr. Douglas
+undertook the formation of such an institution. It went for a long
+time under the name of "The Penny Society." It afterwards received
+a more liberal patronage, has now a handsome capital, and is
+called, "The Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick."</p>
+<p>In July, 1786, Mrs. Graham attended the dying bed of her friend
+and patroness Lady Glenorchy: this lady had shown her friendship in
+a variety of ways during her valuable life; she had one of Mrs.
+Graham's daughters for some time in her family, condescended
+herself to instruct her, and sent her for a year to a French
+boarding-school in Rotterdam. She defrayed all her expenses while
+there, and furnished her with a liberal supply of pocket-money,
+that she might not see distress without the power of relieving it.
+So much does a person's conduct in maturer years depend upon the
+habits of early life, that it is wise to accustom young people to
+feel for and to contribute in their degree to the relief of the
+afflicted and the needy.</p>
+<p>Lady Glenorchy was a character in whom was eminently displayed
+the power of religion. Descended <!--Page 070--><a name="P070" id=
+"P070"></a> from an ancient family, married to the eldest son of
+the Earl of Broadalbaine, beautiful and accomplished, she was
+received into the first circles of society. With her husband she
+made the tour of Europe, visiting the several courts on that
+continent. Yet all these things she "counted but loss for the
+excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord." She became a
+widow while yet in the bloom of youth. She devoted herself to the
+service of the Lord, and was made singularly useful. She kept a
+regular account of her income, and of the different objects to
+which it was applied. She built and supported several chapels in
+England, and erected one in Edinburgh, in which pious ministers of
+different denominations should be admitted to preach.</p>
+<p>She also built a manufactory for the employment of the poor,
+where the education of children was strictly attended to: even the
+porters' lodges on each side of her gate were occupied as schools
+for the neighboring poor. Her pleasure-grounds were thrown open for
+the accommodation of the numbers who usually come from a distance
+to attend a communion-season in Scotland. In a year of scarcity the
+same grounds were planted with potatoes for the supply of the poor.
+She distributed with great judgment various sums of money in aid of
+families who were poor, yet deserving. She never encouraged
+idleness or pride, and often remarked that it was better to assist
+people to do well in the sphere which Providence had assigned them,
+than to attempt to raise them beyond it. There was so much wisdom
+in the active application of her charities, as to render them both
+efficient and extensive. She seldom was seen in these works of
+beneficence; her object <!--Page 071--><a name="P071" id=
+"P071"></a> was to do good: the gratitude of those on whom she
+bestowed benefits was no part of her motive, or even of her
+calculation. What she did she did unto God, and in obedience to his
+commands; her faith and hope were in God.</p>
+<p>She contributed largely to the public institutions established
+at Edinburgh in her day. Of one or two of the most useful she was
+the first to suggest the idea, always accompanying her
+recommendation with a handsome donation to encourage the work.</p>
+<p>The venerable Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
+and Piety shared largely her patronage; and at her death she
+bequeathed them five thousand pounds.</p>
+<p>She indulged the hope of seeing a union of exertion, among all
+Christian denominations, for sending the gospel to the heathen. How
+delighted would she have been with the missionary societies of
+London and elsewhere, had her life been spared to behold their
+extensive operations.</p>
+<p>She sold her estate of Barnton that she might apply the money to
+a more disinterested object than her personal accommodation, and
+that her fortune might be expended with her life, "I recollect
+here," said Saurin in one of his sermons, "an epitaph said to be
+engraven on the tomb of Atolus of Rheims: <i>He exported his
+fortune before him into heaven by his charities &mdash; he Has gone
+thither to enjoy it</i>."</p>
+<p>This might be truly said of Lady Glenorchy. In her manner she
+discovered great dignity of character tempered with the meekness
+and benevolence of the gospel. Her family was arranged with much
+economy, and a strict regard to moral and religious habits. She
+<!--Page 072--><a name="P072" id="P072"></a> usually supported
+some promising and pious young minister as her chaplain, which
+served him as an introduction to respectability in the church. With
+very few exceptions, all those who entered her family as servants
+were in process of time brought under religious impressions. So far
+it pleased the Lord to honor her pious endeavors to render her
+family one of the dwellings of the God of Jacob.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham had the honor of attending the death-bed, and of
+closing the eyes of this distinguished child of God. It had been
+Lady Glenorchy's express desire that Mrs. Graham should be sent
+for, if within twenty miles of her, when such attendance should be
+necessary.</p>
+<p>The following letter to a daughter, two months later, gives us
+another illustration of the self-denial and anxiety for the
+salvation of the soul, with which Mrs. Graham personally ministered
+to the needy and the suffering, and how skilfully she improved
+these scenes for the benefit of others.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"E<font size="-1">DINBURGH</font>, September,
+1786.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> D<font size="-1">AUGHTER</font>
+&mdash; Such a scene as I have been witness to! &mdash; poor M.
+B&mdash;&mdash; is gone to her last abode; her state is fixed for ever. I
+attended her sick-bed for eight successive days and nights, except
+perhaps for an hour that I lay down in the same room. I held by
+life to the very last, because I feared she was not in a fit state
+to die.</p>
+<p>"She took every medicine that was prescribed for her, which I
+administered with my own hand; but the time appointed to end her
+mortal state had arrived, and go she must. She lived four days
+after the physicians had lost all hope, and I think I never
+witnessed <!--Page 073--><a name="P073" id="P073"></a> greater
+distress. I watched every word with anxious care to find if any
+breath of prayer was to be heard; but alas, I had no such
+satisfaction. As she was insensible after the first few days, it
+was not to be expected she could either think or pray.</p>
+<p>"O, why will sinners resist the grace of God, and spend the
+precious time given to seek and find it in thoughtless folly? What
+can they do, on such a bed of distress, who have no God? Time
+misspent and gone &mdash; opportunities unimproved and gone &mdash;
+calls resisted never to be repeated &mdash; death hunting the soul
+through every avenue of life &mdash; a dreadful, unknown, unthought
+of eternity at hand &mdash; an awful Judge, and no Advocate secured
+to plead. A time was when a kind Saviour was expostulating with
+them: 'Why will you die?' 'Hear, and your soul shall live;' 'Ask,
+and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it
+shall be opened unto you;' 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye
+ends of the earth;' '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;' 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters'
+&mdash; blessings purchased by Christ: pardon of sin,
+reconciliation with God, a new heart and spirit, all that is
+necessary for time and eternity &mdash; 'He that hath no money,' no
+merit, no good about him, no claim upon any account whatever,
+'come, buy and eat, without money and without price;' 'Why spend ye
+your money,' time, talents, affections, desires, 'for that which is
+not bread,' and cannot satisfy? 'incline your ear, and come unto
+me; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
+covenant <!--Page 074--><a name="P074" id="P074"></a> with you.
+Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation. To-day if ye
+will hear his voice, harden not your heart.'</p>
+<p>"Such is the language of the dear Redeemer to sinners every day,
+in his written word, from the pulpit, and in the dispensations of
+his providence; but O, the madness of sinners, who will not think,
+who will not attend, will not apply to this Saviour, whose sole
+errand into this world was to seek and to save sinners, yea, the
+very chief; but they will not put their souls into his hands, nor
+give him any service. A time will come, and we are forewarned of
+it, when this same inviting Saviour will say, 'Because I have
+called and ye refused, stretched out my hand and no man regarded, I
+also will laugh at your calamity, and will mock when your fear
+cometh.'</p>
+<p>"Improve this dispensation, my dear child; beg of the Lord to
+search you and try you, and see that your hopes be well
+grounded.</p>
+<p class="center">"Your affectionate mother,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>The following to her beloved friend Mrs. Walker, shows the
+impressions made on the mind of Mrs. Graham by visiting <i>the
+place of her nativity and the scene of her struggles with this
+world's adversity</i>, when the hand of God was heavy upon her.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"E<font size="-1">DINBURGH</font>, September,
+1787.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> M<font size="-1">ADAM</font>
+&mdash; I have been on a jaunt for nearly three weeks; my school
+mostly dismissed, the remainder I left with Miss S&mdash;&mdash;. Goodness
+and mercy have followed me, and the Lord has taken care of my house
+also in my absence. Yours was put into <!--Page 075--><a name=
+"P075" id="P075"></a> my hand on my return, and brought fresh
+cause of thankfulness; your observation, that we were mutually
+feeding on the same allowance, continues to hold. I too have been
+considering the works and doings of the Lord, and many of them have
+been renewed in my memory by the scenes I have passed through.</p>
+<p>"I visited the seat of my juvenile years with my dear and only
+brother. There I recollected the days of my vanity, and the Lord's
+patience and long-suffering; my repenting, my returning, his
+pardoning, his blessing; my backslidings, his stripes and
+chastisements, his restoring and recovering, yea, many and many
+times. There, too, I found my old acquaintances no more; most of
+them had finished their course under the sun; some I could still
+clasp in the arms of faith, as united to the glorious Head, and now
+singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. From the idea of others, I
+was obliged to turn away and say, 'The Judge of all the earth shall
+do right.'</p>
+<p>"I recollected a lowly cottage, where lived a pious father,
+mother, two daughters, and a son; where the voice of prayer seldom
+ceased, the voice of complaint was seldom heard: not one stone
+remained upon another; only the bushes which surrounded it, and the
+ruins of a little garden, the seat of secret communion of each with
+their God in turn; for one little earth-floored place was all their
+house-convenience, and in the winter's storm their little
+cow-house, built under the same humble roof, was their secret
+temple. I found three had gone to glory: of the other two I could
+learn no tidings; but I shall see them one day in very different
+mansions. I saw others spreading like a green bay-tree, adding
+field to field, <!--Page 076--><a name="P076" id="P076"></a> and
+dwelling alone, servants and dependents excepted.</p>
+<p>"I saw my father's cottage, in the day when the Lord pressed him
+down, and the place where my dear glorified-mother poured out many
+prayers for me and mine; my own retirement too, after the vanity I
+had seen of human life, and when tired and sick of it, I sought to
+end my days in solitude, saying, 'It is enough; here let thy
+servant depart in peace, and let my children be reared in
+obscurity.' Then I returned to the town where my husband had
+practised as a physician, where I had been respected and tasted
+largely of life's comfort. I saw the house we had lived in, and
+many tender scenes passed; to this same town I had returned a
+widow, helpless and poor, neglected and forgotten. I saw the house
+where I had taught my little school, and earned my porridge,
+potatoes, and salt; when I found myself totally neglected by some
+who once thought themselves honored by my acquaintance; while
+others, once shining in affluence, were now reduced to humble
+dwellings.</p>
+<p>"The Lord has been saying, 'Know and consider all the way by
+which I have led thee, to prove thee, and try thee, to show thee
+what was in thy heart, that he might do thee good in thy latter
+end.' He is now saying, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
+with thy might;' 'Occupy till I come.' Oh, for a thankful heart, a
+loving, a zealous heart, a meek and humble heart. Oh, for diligence
+and steadiness in the path of duty, a due sense of our own weakness
+and inability, of the Lord's power and all-sufficiency, and firm
+faith in the same. Give my love to &mdash;&mdash;, she is
+<!--Page 077--><a name="P077" id="P077"></a> the Lord's: her
+heavenly Father mingles her cup; not one unnecessary bitter drop
+shall be put into it; bid her trust in the Lord; the time, the set
+time for deliverance shall come. I can witness, with many thousands
+on earth, and an innumerable company in heaven, that he is the best
+of masters. I have suffered much, yet not one word of all that he
+has said has failed. I expect to suffer more; but whatever bitter
+draughts may yet await me, I would not give one drop of my heavenly
+Father's mixing for oceans of what the world styles felicity.</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>Under another date she adds:</p>
+<p>"When we trace the tenderness of our Daysman's conduct through
+the whole of his tabernacling here below, and add to this the many
+gracious words which he spoke, and to these again what were spoken
+by the disciples by his authority, can we refuse to cast all our
+burdens on him, and to trust him with ourselves and them? You know
+how sweet it is, in the time of tumultuous distress, when the
+spirit is overwhelmed, when God's mercy seems clean gone for ever,
+and his promise to fail, how sweet to get even a lean upon the
+Saviour; but when he, as he does at times, takes the soul out of
+itself, and away from forebodings, reasonings, and suppositions, to
+his own divine attributes, and gives it a believing view of its
+interest in them all, in his wisdom as unerring, his power as
+almighty, his goodness as boundless, his faithfulness unchanging;
+when we add to these his humanity, and consider that our
+High-priest was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,
+and that he has a feeling for our infirmities; when we find him
+listening to every <!--Page 078--><a name="P078" id="P078"></a>
+petition &mdash; a widowed mother for her son &mdash; the centurion
+for his servant &mdash; weeping with two sisters over a brother's
+grave &mdash; embracing and blessing the little children whom
+mothers, like you and me, pressed through the crowd, in spite of
+the reprehensions of disciples, to present to him &mdash; accepting
+the effusions of Magdalene's penitent heart with tender
+consolation, O how near does this bring the Divinity to us, and how
+sweetly may we confide in such tenderness. Oh my friend, He rests
+in his love. Let us rest in our confidence. All shall be well."</p>
+<p>When Dr. Witherspoon visited Scotland in the year 1785, he had
+frequent conversations with Mrs. Graham on the subject of her
+removal to America. She gave him at this time some reason to
+calculate on her going thither as soon as her children should have
+completed the course of education she had proposed for them. She
+had entertained a strong partiality for America ever since her
+former residence there, and had indulged a secret expectation of
+returning. It was her opinion, and that of many pious people, that
+America was the country where the church of Christ would
+preeminently flourish. She was therefore desirous to leave her
+offspring there.</p>
+<p>After some correspondence with Dr. Witherspoon, and consultation
+with pious friends, her plan received the approbation of the
+latter; and having had an invitation from many respectable
+characters in the city of New York, with assurances of patronage
+and support, she arranged her affairs for quitting Edinburgh. The
+Algerines being then at war with the United States, her friends
+insisted on her chartering a small <!--Page 079--><a name="P079"
+id="P079"></a> British vessel to carry herself and family to the
+port of New York. This increased her expenses; but Providence, in
+faithfulness and mercy, sent her at this time a remittance from Dr.
+Henderson, the young friend of Dr. Graham, who succeeded him as
+surgeon of the regiment; and a legacy of two hundred pounds
+bequeathed her by Lady Glenorchy, as a mark of her regard, was now
+of great use to her.</p>
+<p>Thus in the month of July, 1789, Mrs. Graham once more prepared
+<i>to go into a land which the Lord seemed to tell her of</i>.</p>
+<p>The two following extracts from her private journal, indicate
+the state of her mind and heart previous to leaving Edinburgh.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"E<font size="-1">DINBURGH</font>, March,
+1789.</p>
+<p>"Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and
+let thy widows trust in me,' Jer. 49:11; the Lord's promise, which
+he made to me in the days of my widowhood, and which I have made
+the subject of my prayers from day to day, taking the words in a
+spiritual sense. The Lord has done wonders for me and mine since
+the day I was left a widow with three orphans, and the fourth not
+born, in a strange land, without money, at a distance from friends;
+or rather, without friends. Hitherto he has supplied all my wants,
+and laid to hand every necessary and many comforts; supporting
+character and credit, making a way for me through the wilderness,
+pointing out my path, and settling the bounds of my habitation.</p>
+<p>"For all these blessings I desire to be grateful to the God of
+providence, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof; but these I
+cannot take as the substance of the promise; neither have they been
+the chief <!--Page 080--><a name="P080" id="P080"></a> matter of
+my prayers. The salvation and the life I have wrestled for, is that
+which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow &mdash; even
+spiritual life, and salvation from sin. My God knows I have held
+fast this view of the words, seeking first the kingdom of God for
+my children, leaving temporals to be given or withheld, as may best
+suit with the conversion and sanctification of their souls. I have
+not asked for them health, beauty, riches, honor, or temporal life:
+God knows what share of these consists with their better interests;
+let him give or withhold accordingly. One thing I have asked of the
+Lord, one thing only, and will persist in asking, trust in him for,
+and for which I think I have his promise &mdash; even the life of
+their and my soul. 1 Thess. 5:23, is my petition for me and mine;
+verse 24, my anchor of hope, preceded by Jeremiah 49:11."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"E<font size="-1">DINBURGH</font>, March 17,
+1789.</p>
+<p>"This day from the head of his own table did the Lord, by his
+servant Mr. R&mdash;&mdash;, proclaim his name the I AM, and called on me to
+write under what I would, for time and eternity. My soul rejoices
+that God is, and that he is what he is; nothing less than himself
+can content me, nothing more do I desire.</p>
+<p>"This great I AM is my portion &mdash; what can I ask beside? He
+hath opened my eyes to see his excellency; he hath determined my
+will, to choose him for my portion. He hath arranged and set in
+order a rich testament sealed by the blood of his own Son,
+containing every blessing for time and for eternity. All my heart's
+desire is there promised, and faith given to believe there shall be
+a full performance. What have I to say then, but, Amen, do as thou
+hast said? Father, glorify thy name. Thou hast said, 'Then will I
+sprinkle <!--Page 081--><a name="P081" id="P081"></a> clean
+water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and
+from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
+give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take
+away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart
+of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to
+walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
+And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers: and ye
+shall be my people, and I will be your God.' Amen; Lord, do as thou
+hast said. Behold, I take hold of thy covenant for myself and for
+my children. It is well ordered in all things, and it is sure. My
+heart accords to every part of it. Wilt thou guide us by thy
+counsel while we live, and afterwards receive us to thy glory? Amen
+and amen &mdash; do as thou hast said.</p>
+<p>"If we forsake thy laws, and go astray; if we depart from thee
+and break thy commandments, wilt thou visit our faults with rods,
+and our sins with chastisements. Blessed promise; amen, Lord, do as
+thou hast said: seeing thy loving-kindness is secured to us, and
+thou wilt not cast us off from being thy people, nor alter that
+which thou hast spoken; wilt thou keep us as the apple of thine
+eye? wilt thou cover us with the shadow of thy wing? Art thou my
+Husband? art thou the Father of my fatherless children? wilt thou
+be the stay of these orphans, and their and my shield in a strange
+land? wilt thou perfect what concerns us? wilt thou care for us?
+wilt thou <i>never leave us, never forsake us</i>? in the valley of
+the shadow of death shall thy rod and staff support us? What can
+thy servant say but, Amen, do as thou hast said."</p>
+<!--Page 082--><a name="P082" id="P082"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+<h4>SCHOOL IN NEW YORK &mdash; DEATH OF HER PASTOR DR.&nbsp;JOHN
+MASON &mdash; LAST NEWS OF HER SON.</h4>
+<p>M<font size="-1">RS.</font> G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>, after
+a pleasant though tedious voyage, landed in New York on the 8th day
+of September, 1789, where she and her family were received with the
+greatest cordiality and confidence. The late Rev. Dr. Rodgers and
+Rev. Dr. John Mason were especially kind to her. She came eminently
+prepared to instruct her pupils in all the higher branches of
+female education; and the favorable change effected by her
+exertions was soon visible in the minds, manners, and
+accomplishments of the young ladies committed to her care. She
+opened her school on the 5th of October, 1789, with five scholars,
+and before the end of the same month the number increased to fifty.
+She not only imparted knowledge to her pupils, but also, by her
+conversation and example, prepared their minds to receive it in
+such a manner as to apply it to practical advantage. While she
+taught them to regard external accomplishments as ornaments to the
+female character, she was careful to recommend the practice of
+virtue as the highest accomplishment of all, and to inculcate the
+principles of religion as the only solid foundation for morality
+and virtue. The annual examinations of her scholars were always
+well attended, and gave great satisfaction. General Washington
+while at New York honored her with his patronage. The venerable and
+amiable Bishop of the Episcopal church in the state of New York,
+then the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, <!--Page 083--><a name="P083" id=
+"P083"></a> was never once absent from those examinations. She
+was sensible of his friendship, and always spoke of him in terms of
+great esteem and respect.</p>
+<p>She united in communion with the church under the pastoral care
+of the Kev. Dr. Mason. This excellent man was her faithful friend
+and wise counsellor. Under his ministry her two daughters, Joanna
+and Isabella, joined the church in the year 1791. Her eldest
+daughter Jessie, who had made a profession of religion in Scotland,
+was married in July, 1790, to Mr. Hay Stevenson, merchant of New
+York, and she became a member of the church under the care of Dr.
+Rodgers, where her husband attended.</p>
+<p>In the year 1791 her son, who had been left in Scotland to
+complete his education, paid his mother a visit. Mrs. Graham,
+considering herself as inadequate to the proper management of a
+son, had at an early period of his life sent him to the care of a
+friend, who had promised to pay due attention to his morals and
+education. The boy had a warm affectionate heart, but possessed, at
+the same time, a bold and fearless spirit. Such a disposition,
+under proper management, might have been formed into a noble
+character; but he was neglected, and left in a great measure to
+himself by his first preceptor.</p>
+<p>For two years of his life he was under the care of Mr. Murray,
+teacher of an academy at Abercorn. He was a man truly qualified for
+his station. He instructed his pupils with zeal; led even their
+amusements; and to an exemplary piety added the faithful counsel of
+a friend. He loved, and was therefore beloved. Under his
+superintendence John Graham improved rapidly, and gained the
+affections of his teacher and <!--Page 084--><a name="P084" id=
+"P084"></a> companions. Happy for him had he continued in such a
+suitable situation. He was removed to Edinburgh to receive a more
+classical education. Being left there by his mother and sisters,
+the impetuosity of his temper and a propensity for a sea-faring
+life induced his friends to place him as an apprentice in the
+merchant-service. He was shipwrecked on the coast of Holland, and
+Mr. Gibson of Rotterdam, a friend of Mrs. Graham, took him to his
+house, and enabled him to come to the United States. He remained at
+New York for some months. His mother deemed it his duty to return
+to Scotland to complete his time of service. He evidently inclined
+to the profession of a sailor; she therefore fitted him out
+handsomely, and he embarked for Greenock in the same ship with Mr.
+John M. Mason, the only son of Dr. John Mason, who went to attend
+the theological lectures at the Divinity Hall in Edinburgh.</p>
+<p>The following extract shows the anguish of Mrs. Graham's mind in
+parting with her son, and how she cast him upon the covenant mercy
+of her God, placing a blank, as to temporal things, in her Lord's
+hand, but holding on with a fervent faith and hope to the promise
+of spiritual life.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, May 20, 1791.</p>
+<p>"This day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he
+is again launched on the ocean, God's ocean. The Lord saved him
+from shipwreck, brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to
+indulge the yearning of my heart over him. Short has been the time
+he has been with me, and ill have I improved it: he is gone from my
+sight, and my heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord, have mercy
+on the <!--Page 085--><a name="P085" id="P085"></a> widow's son
+&mdash; 'the only son of his mother, and she a widow,'</p>
+<p>"I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my petition
+&mdash; save his soul alive; give him salvation from sin. It is not
+the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships
+he must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in
+this world: it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the
+promise in him. I discern not the new birth nor its fruits, but
+every symptom of captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will.
+This, O this is what distresses me: and in connection with this,
+his being shut out from ordinances, at a distance from Christians;
+and shut up with those who forget God, profane his name, and break
+his Sabbaths.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, many wonders hast thou shown me; thy ways of dealing
+with me and mine have not been common; add this wonder to the rest:
+call, convert, regenerate, and establish a sailor in the faith.
+Lord, all things are possible with thee: glorify thy Son, and
+extend his kingdom by sea and land; take the prey from the strong.
+I roll him over upon thee. Many friends try to comfort me;
+miserable comforters are they all. Thou art the God of consolation;
+only confirm to me thy gracious word, on which thou causedst me to
+hope in the day when thou saidst to me, 'Leave thy fatherless
+children, I will preserve them alive.' Only let this life be a
+spiritual life, and I put a blank in thy hand as to all temporal
+things. 'I wait for thy salvation.'&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>Three months afterwards she learned that a press-gang had
+boarded the ship in which her son was, and <!--Page 086--><a name=
+"P086" id="P086"></a> although he was saved from their grasp by
+a stratagem of the passengers, yet all his effects were taken away
+from him. In the following reflections on this event, the anxious
+mother shows that she would not withdraw the blank she had put into
+her Redeemer's hands.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, August 18, 1791.</p>
+<p>"Thus far the Lord hath tried me, and kept me to my choice. This
+night I have tidings, through a letter to Dr. Mason, that my son
+has been seized by the press-gang. Through God's help, he escaped;
+but all his assortment of necessaries that his sisters and I made
+up with so much care, labor, and expense, they have carried off,
+and he is once more left naked. Satan and a corrupt heart unite in
+tempting me to complain. Dare I utter a word or harbor a murmuring
+thought? Would I withdraw the blank I have put into the Redeemer's
+hand? Has he not hitherto done all things well? Have not my own
+afflictions been my greatest blessings? Have not I asked for my
+children their mother's portion? Has not God chiefly made use of
+afflictions as means of hedging me in, and shutting me up to my
+choice of this portion, as well as showing me that He is a
+sufficient portion without any other? When matters have been at the
+worst with me as to this world, my triumphs in God have been
+highest, and prospects for eternity brightest.</p>
+<p>"Has the Lord given me in some measure victory over the world?
+Do its honors, riches, and gaudy splendor appear to me empty and
+vain, and not worth an anxious thought? Does provision of food and
+raiment by the way through this wilderness seem all that
+<!--Page 087--><a name="P087" id="P087"></a> is necessary? and
+is it my wish, as well as form of prayer, that the Lord may give
+that in kind and degree which he sees fittest for me? And shall I
+covet that for my child which I despise for myself? Alas, Lord, it
+is because he feeds not on better things, and sometimes I fear he
+has no better portion. Still, still foolish. Was it when I was
+full, or when in want, that I returned to my heavenly Father? Do I
+desire, have I asked and persisted in asking for my children,
+salvation from sin and self? Do I anxiously wish them to reach and
+to surpass my present measure of submission and resignation to thy
+will &mdash; to enjoy God in all things, and nothing without him?
+And shall I, dare I complain when I see the Lord making use of the
+same means which first brought me to myself, and recovered me also
+from numberless backslidings since I first tasted the blessedness
+of his chosen?</p>
+<p>"Lord, I renew my blank. I afresh roll them all over upon thee.
+I will try to look on, in the faith that all things shall work
+together for good to their souls, and that I shall yet see the day,
+or if I see it not, that it will come, when they shall bow at thy
+footstool, sink into the open arms of thy mercy in Christ, melted
+down in holy, humble, acquiescing, cordial submission to thy
+severest dealings with them; when thou shalt put a new song into
+their mouths, and they shall sing as I do now, It hath been very
+good for me that I have been afflicted. I wait for thy
+salvation.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>Again we mark her trust in God in the more common events of
+life, and her gratitude in the reception of blessings from his
+hand.</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 088--><a name="P088" id="P088"></a>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, September, 1791.</p>
+<p>"Many have been my burdens of late; strangers laid upon me to
+provide for, even when I thought I had not sufficient to give to
+all their due and provide for my own family. But what is that to
+me? the Lord increases business, lays more largely to hand, bears
+me and my burdens, provides for me and strangers. Lord, it is all
+well: give when thou wilt, and call for it again when and for what
+purpose thou wilt; it is thine own. I am thine, and all that thou
+givest me is thine; the world calls it mine, but I call it thine.
+If it be thy will, lead me in a plain path, or if thou lead me by a
+way which I know not, hold up my goings, so shall I be in peace and
+safety still.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, October 10, 1791.</p>
+<p>"This day did the Lord's sent servant, in a solemn manner, take
+us all to witness, and call in the witness of angels, that we had
+once more avouched ourselves to be the Lord's, and that once more
+Christ and his salvation had been offered to all within the walls.
+This same day, for the second time, have my two daughters sat down
+at the Redeemer's table among his professing people, and, I have
+reason to think, given their hearty assent to his covenant.</p>
+<p>"Glory, glory, glory, to the hearer of prayer. I have cast my
+fatherless children on the Lord, and he has begun to make good my
+confidence. <i>One thing</i>, one only thing have I asked for them,
+leaving every thing else to be bestowed or withheld as consisting
+with that: I seek for my four children and myself, first of all,
+<i>the kingdom of God</i>.</p>
+<p>"My God from day to day adds many other comforts, and
+strengthens my hopes by promising appearances,
+<!--Page 089--><a name="P089" id="P089"></a> that <i>the grain
+of mustard seed</i> is sown in the hearts of my three daughters.
+They have joined themselves to the people of God, and I have reason
+to think the Lord has ratified their surrender of themselves to
+him; he has made them willing for the time, and he will hedge them
+in to the choice they have made.</p>
+<p>"Saturday, September, 1791, the Lord made me a grandmother,
+assisted my poor weakly girl, and gave a son to her and my arms.
+'There was joy that a man-child was born into the world,' and
+according to that word 'she remembered no more the anguish.'</p>
+<p>"Thanks be to God for this salvation; but, Lord, this is but a
+small thing with thee. Look, O look on this twig from a guilty
+stock; poor, helpless, feeble creature, it can do nothing for its
+body, and still less for its soul. O God of <i>the spirits of all
+flesh</i>, give it a plunge in <i>the blood of Jesus</i> &mdash;
+cleanse, O cleanse him from original sin, and now, even now, in thy
+own sovereign and mysterious way, sow <i>the grain of mustard
+seed</i> in his soul."</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1792, Mrs. Graham and her family were called to
+a severe trial by the translation of their beloved pastor, Dr.
+Mason, to a better world. A few months before his decease, while
+preaching to his people, his recollection failed, his sermon was
+gone from his mind, and he sat down in his pulpit unable to
+proceed. After a short pause, he arose and addressed his people in
+a pious and affectionate strain; he considered this event as a call
+from his heavenly Master to expect a speedy dismission from the
+earth, and solemnly admonished them also to be prepared
+<!--Page 090--><a name="P090" id="P090"></a> for the will of
+God. His people, who loved him, were affected to tears. An illness
+soon followed, which terminated in the death of the body. He
+departed on the night when Mrs. Graham took her turn of watching
+with him, and she closed his eyes, which she always accounted a
+privilege and honor bestowed upon her by her divine Master. But
+this tender and affecting scene is best described in a letter which
+she wrote to her sympathizing friend Mrs. Walker, of Edinburgh.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, April, 1792, Sabbath noon.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> M<font size="-1">ADAM</font>
+&mdash; It is not my custom to take my pen on this day even to
+write to a Christian friend, having occasion for the whole time
+with my family or in secret with my God; but I cannot go to dinner,
+I cannot eat, I cannot talk to my girls; my heart must bleed afresh
+on the same altar upon which it has often been pierced. O, madam,
+my dear Dr. Mason goes, and leaves me here alone: in all
+probability his course is nearly finished, and his crown awaits
+him. Five physicians now attend him closely. I have seen him often,
+and he says, 'All is well, all will be well,' Of the physicians he
+said, 'Yes, yes, it is very well; they are useful men in God's
+hand; they may be instrumental in patching up the tabernacle a
+little. If it be raised to usefulness, I am content; if not to
+usefulness, I do not desire it. I feel no concern about the issue
+of this; the will of the Lord be done.'</p>
+<p>"I say, Amen; but Oh, I feel alone. I should need large
+communications from his Master to fill up this blank. I cannot
+write for weeping; now my face is so swelled I cannot go to church.
+I called at his house this morning, found the doctors in the
+parlor, <!--Page 091--><a name="P091" id="P091"></a> and learned
+from them the worst. The bell was ringing for church. I stifled as
+much as possible my grief; would fain have come home to give it
+vent, but durst not be absent from the house of God. I heard a
+stranger in Dr. Rodgers' church; our doors are closed; his text
+was, 'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends;' he ran the
+parallel between human friendship and that subsisting between
+Christ and his disciples. I ought to be comforted, nay, I am
+comforted.</p>
+<p>"The Bible lies open before me; it is full of consolation; but
+all is in prospect. I look at God, what he is in himself, what he
+is to his people <i>now</i> and what he will be to <i>eternity</i>:
+the consolations of hope are mine; but for the present, I feel like
+the sparrow on the house-top, or like a pelican in the wilderness;
+and when I think on my years and the robustness of my constitution,
+and that I may have a long journey before me, I am not able to look
+at it. At the same time, when I consider my children, who, having
+lost their pastor, who bore them on his heart to the throne of
+grace, have double need of a mother, I dare not indulge a wish, far
+less put up a petition for release. O, that I could get under the
+influence of that spirit which I have witnessed in my dear pastor
+&mdash; that entire confidence in God &mdash; that perfect
+resignation to his will &mdash; that complacency in all he has
+done, is doing, or will do &mdash; that rest in God, of which he
+seems to be put in possession even now, while his breast is
+laboring and heaving like a broken bellows, and he cannot fetch one
+full breath. O, what cannot God effect.</p>
+<p>"S<font size="-1">UNDAY</font> E<font size="-1">VENING</font>. I
+have again seen my dear pastor, and discern the clay dissolving
+fast. The words of dying saints are precious, and his are few. He
+thus <!--Page 092--><a name="P092" id="P092"></a> accosted me:
+'I am just waiting the will of God; for the present I seem a
+useless blank in his hand; I can say very little; be not too
+anxious for my life, but transfer your care to the church; my life
+or death is but a trifle; if the Lord have any use for me, it is
+easy for him to raise me up still; and if he do, it will be
+agreeable to observe his hand distinct from men; if he should not,
+you will all be cared for; leave all to him and seek his glory.' He
+could say no more, nor will I to-night, but address myself to our
+Lord on his behalf, yours, my own, and our dear concerns.</p>
+<p>"Several days have elapsed since I last wrote; our dear doctor
+still lives, often recruits, and again is reduced; but man can do
+no more; my last page, before the vessel sails, shall be of
+him.</p>
+<p>"As to myself and family, we are as the Lord would have it with
+us, and I make no doubt as we need. Business very full; a house
+full of boarders, and about sixty scholars. I begin to feel the
+effects of fatigue or age, I know not which. The almond-tree
+flourishes; those that look out at the windows begin to be
+darkened; but the keepers of the house stand firm, and all the
+wheels and springs discharge their office, though more heavily;
+there is no judging of my days by present appearances. Well, let me
+once more return to my rest &mdash; <i>God</i>; commit my way to
+him, who shall bring to pass what is best, and in the end shall
+complete my happiness.</p>
+<p>"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font> 23, M<font size="-1">ONDAY</font>.
+It is finished. My dear minister's bitter draught is over. On
+Thursday, the 19th of this month, a quarter before ten o'clock,
+<font size="-1">A.M.</font>, the Lord received his spirit and laid
+his weary flesh to rest. He had a sore conflict with the king of
+terrors, <!--Page 093--><a name="P093" id="P093"></a> who seemed
+allowed to revel through every part of his mortal frame: his legs
+were mortified to his knees; he had not been able to lie down for
+four weeks, and died in his chair. Like his Master, he groaned, but
+never complained: he had a draught of his Master's cup, but the
+bitter ingredient <i>desertion</i> made no part of it. I had the
+honor to close his dear eyes, and to shut those dear lips from
+whence so many precious truths have proceeded, and to mix with the
+ministering spirits who attended to hail the released. This honor I
+had desired, but did not reckon myself worthy, and hardly hoped for
+it; but the Lord saw the wish, though never formed into a petition,
+and indulged me. I bless him for it. And now, farewell human
+friendships; let me gird up the loins of my mind, and run with
+patience the little further, looking unto Jesus, and following also
+him my pastor, 'who, through faith and patience, now inherits the
+promises.'</p>
+<p>"This is a great work finished. Dr. Mason was 'a city set on a
+hill.' He was with the army during all the war after the evacuation
+of New York; had great influence over the soldiers; preached the
+gospel of peace uniformly, but never meddled with politics, though
+he was fully capable. In every situation the Lord supported him in
+uniformity and consistency of character, and carried him through
+without a single spot or stain. Glory to God in the highest for
+this repeated proof of his faithfulness. 'Mark the perfect man, and
+behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.'</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>Great was the grief of Dr. Mason's congregation on his removal.
+In him, to great learning were united <!--Page 094--><a name="P094"
+id="P094"></a> meekness, prudence, diligence, and knowledge of
+the world, and an affectionate superintendence of the interests,
+spiritual and temporal, of his flock. He so arranged his avocations
+and studies in regard to time, that he had always a few hours in
+the afternoon to devote to visiting the families of his
+congregation. So regular was the order he observed, that Mrs.
+Graham and her family knew when to calculate on seeing him, and
+always expected him with the anticipation of profit and pleasure.
+Once every week they were sure of seeing him, if in health. His
+visits were short, his conversation serious, awakening,
+instructive, and affectionate. He inquired about their temporal
+affairs, and in cases of difficulty gave them his best advice. His
+counsels were salutary; his knowledge of the world and his
+discrimination of character rendered him well qualified to advise.
+In one of his visits to Mrs. Graham she mentioned to him the want
+of good servants as one of her trials. "Mrs. Graham," said he,
+"have you ever prayed to the Lord to provide good servants for you?
+Nothing which interests our comfort is too minute for the care of
+our heavenly Father."</p>
+<p>To one of her daughters, who felt a strong inclination to
+profess her faith in Christ by joining the communion of his church,
+but yet was afraid that her heart was not sufficiently engaged for
+the service of God, Dr. Mason proposed the following question:
+"If," said he, "the world, with all its wealth, pleasures, and
+power, were placed in one scale, and Christ alone in the other,
+which would your heart freely choose as a portion?" On her replying
+there would be no hesitation as to her choice of Christ, he gave
+her encouragement <!--Page 095--><a name="P095" id="P095"></a>
+to profess her faith, although it might not at present amount to
+the full assurance of hope.</p>
+<p>He was indeed a faithful shepherd of his flock, and his people
+mourned for him as for an affectionate father. It is much to be
+desired that his example were more followed by Christian pastors.
+To preach with eloquence and acceptance is a talent of great value
+in a minister of the gospel; this makes him respected, and his
+congregation admire him, because, for one reason, they are proud of
+him; but to gain their affections, to make a congregation the
+children of an aged pastor, or the friends and brethren of a
+younger one, let the minister visit the families of his people;
+this will seal on their hearts the regard which their
+understandings had already dictated.</p>
+<p>Very few ministers have been more remarkable for a strict
+attention to this duty, than the late Dr. John Mason and his
+venerable and attached friend Dr. Rodgers. When the former died,
+the latter exclaimed, "I feel as if I had lost a right arm."</p>
+<p>The congregation, bereaved of their pastor, wrote immediately to
+his son, the late Rev. Dr. John Mitchell Mason, to hasten his
+return from Edinburgh to New York; and after preaching to them with
+great acceptance for several months, he was ordained and installed
+pastor of the church in April, 1793. Mrs. Graham entertained for
+him the most affectionate attachment, and this attachment was
+reciprocal.</p>
+<p>At this date we find some of Mrs. Graham's delightful devotional
+exercises.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, 1793.</p>
+<p>"Blessed Lord, thou hast, to the praise of thy grace, given me
+the heritage of them that fear thy name; <!--Page 096--><a name=
+"P096" id="P096"></a> thou hast prepared my heart to pray, and
+inclined thine ear to hear; thou hast drawn me into thy fold, and
+hast fed me in thy green pastures. I rejoice in Israel's Shepherd;
+not one of his flock shall be lost. Often have I wandered from his
+presence and sought pasture among the swine, but my Shepherd has
+ever drawn or driven me back. He has a rod and I have felt it; but
+I bless the hand and kiss the rod.</p>
+<p>"O, how wonderful to look back and see 'all the way by which he
+has led me, to prove me, to try me, to show me what was in my
+heart, that he might do me good at my latter end.' Amen, my God, I
+leave myself in thy hands. I should lose myself; but thou wilt keep
+me from foes without and foes within. What then have I to care for?
+My Shepherd careth for all; he slumbers not nor sleeps, and he will
+perfect what concerns me; of this I am as sure as that I now write
+it.</p>
+<p>"The law of thy mouth is better unto me than gold and silver. O
+how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. Thou, through
+thy commandments &mdash; or the whole of thy truth &mdash; hast
+made me wiser than my teachers. The law of God makes the simple
+wise. How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than
+honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
+therefore I hate every false way. 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
+and a light unto my path.' How safe, how happy are they who are
+taught by the word of God. 'Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
+flesh and blood hath not taught thee this, but my Father who is in
+heaven.'</p>
+<p>"O my children, enrich your minds with a full acquaintance with
+the word of God; lay it up in your <!--Page 097--><a name="P097"
+id="P097"></a> memories, when you can do nothing more; be
+assured, if ever you are made wise unto salvation, it must be by
+this word; if ever you are taught of God, he will teach you by the
+words contained in the Bible. 'Search the Scriptures, for they are
+they which testify of me;' search the Scriptures, for in them are
+contained the words of eternal life. 'Be followers of them who,
+through faith and patience, now inherit the promises.'</p>
+<p>"Holy David went forward, heavenward, improving in the knowledge
+of God, of himself, and of God's plan of salvation for ruined
+sinners, by studying the word, the works, and the providences of
+God, but chiefly the word of God; praying for, watching for the
+influences of God's Spirit on his judgment and thinking powers: it
+was by this that he became wiser than his teachers. He was a king,
+and had the cares of the nation to occupy his mind; he was a man of
+war, and had that art to study. But O, the privilege of the
+Christian! he goes through every part, even of his earthly way,
+leaning upon God. David could say, even of war, 'The Lord teaches
+my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.' 'The Lord subdued the
+people under me.' In temporals and in spirituals, he is my shield,
+my strength, my buckler, my strong tower.' I shall not fear what
+man can do unto me.' 'In Judah's land God is well known; there he
+brake the spear, the bow, and the battle.' He ascribes all to God.
+We hear nothing of his own wisdom, his disciplined armies, his
+order of battle and warlike powers, though attention to all these
+was his duty, and not neglected by him. He devoted all his natural
+talents to God; he exercised them diligently, but still he knew and
+acted under the influence of that knowledge, that
+<!--Page 098--><a name="P098" id="P098"></a> unless the Lord
+build the house, the builders lose their pains; unless the Lord
+keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain. He, as well as worldly
+men, chose the means best adapted to the end proposed. Let natural
+men assert, and let it be admitted, that David knew better how to
+use a sling and a stone, than mail, helmet, and sword; therefore he
+chose them. But follow David until he meets the hostile foe. Do we
+hear a word of his art as a slinger, as a marksman? though we may
+suppose he was expert at both. 'Thou comest to me with a sword, a
+spear, and a shield; but I come in the name of the Lord of hosts,
+the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied; and this
+assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear'
+&mdash; these are not essential &mdash; 'for the battle is the
+Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.'</p>
+<p>"How comfortably might Christians go through life did they walk
+with God in their daily business and occupations, carefully
+observing the leadings of Providence, cautiously avoiding either
+running before or lagging behind; but in all things making their
+requests known to God; at all times committing their way to him,
+being careful about nothing, but to use with diligence the means of
+grace, and also the means of acquiring the good things of life,
+leaving the issues of both to God, in the full assurance that what
+is good the Lord will give. 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so
+shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.' In
+spirituals and in temporals, 'the hand of the diligent maketh
+rich.' Be 'not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the
+Lord.'</p>
+<p>"Lord, teach me thy law graciously, in all its perfection,
+<!--Page 099--><a name="P099" id="P099"></a> its extent, order,
+beauty, and harmony, and grant me all the assistance provided to
+enable a lost, depraved, corrupted child of Adam, to set out in thy
+good ways, to go forward, and to finish in the same course; and all
+the consolation, joy, and peace which thou hast provided to be
+enjoyed in a measure even here, and to be perfected in the world to
+come.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"'O Israel, return unto the Lord, for thou hast fallen by thine
+iniquity.' Hos. 14. Yes, fallen, O how fallen from God the only
+good, the fountain of happiness. Lost his image, which was the
+glory of man in paradise. Lost that sweet complacency and delight
+in his perfections and attributes which innocence enjoyed. Lost
+rectitude of reason and judgment. No longer can we judge of
+excellence, no longer love what God loves. Our wills no longer
+straight with his will, but crooked, opposing God, and choosing
+evil instead of good. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but
+in me is thy help.' Amen, says my soul, in thee is my help."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, October 3, 1793.</p>
+<p>"'One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself
+by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand
+unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.' Isaiah
+44:5.</p>
+<p>"I, as one, subscribe to the truth of all that God has said: I,
+as one, subscribe my assent to all he has done. I set my amen to
+his well-ordered covenant, well-ordered in all things, and sure.
+And this is the covenant, even Christ, the sum and substance, for
+he hath given him to be a covenant of the people. The whole and
+every part of it is God's covenant. To me <!--Page 100--><a name=
+"P100" id="P100"></a> it must be a testament, the new testament
+in Christ's blood. To me it must be a covenant of gifts and
+promises. I can be no party, having nothing to give; nothing with
+which to covenant. He hath said, 'Thou hast destroyed thyself, but
+in me is thy help.' Amen. Be my help, my deliverer.</p>
+<p>"'Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved; for I am
+God, and there is none else.' I do look unto thee alone for
+salvation. Thou art God; there is none else: besides thee there is
+no Saviour.</p>
+<p>"'I will pour water on the thirsty, and floods on the parched
+ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon
+thy offspring.' Amen. I yield my soul into thy hand, dry and
+parched, to receive thy showers of reviving, quickening,
+fructifying grace."</p>
+<p>Writing about this date to her beloved friend Mrs. O&mdash;&mdash; of
+Edinburgh, Mrs. Graham, for the encouragement of her friend, gives
+her, in confidence, the following record of her own Christian
+experience:</p>
+<p>"It is now. I think, thirty-five years since I simply, but
+solemnly, accepted of the Lord's Christ, as God's gift to a lost
+world. I rolled my condemned, perishing, corrupted soul upon this
+Jesus, exhibited in the gospel as a Saviour from sin. My views then
+were dark compared with what they now are: but this I remember,
+that at the time I felt heart-satisfying trust in the mercy of God,
+as the purchase of Christ; and for a time rejoiced with joy scarce
+supportable, singing almost continually the 103d Psalm.</p>
+<p>"I took a view of the promises of God, and wrote out many of
+them, and called them mine; and among <!--Page 101--><a name="P101"
+id="P101"></a> the foremost was that in Psalm 89:30-33; and well
+has the Lord kept me to it, and made it good: for, my dear friend,
+never was there a more unsteady, unwatchful Christian; never did
+the children of Israel's conduct in the wilderness depict any
+Christian's heart and conduct in the gospel times better than mine;
+and just so has the Lord dealt with me. When he slew me, then I
+trusted in him; when he gave me carnal ease and comfort, I forgot
+my Rock and rebelled. Often did I stumble too from legality,
+instead of looking at my own weakness and impotence, and trusting
+wholly in my Redeemer's strength. I was wroth with myself, wondered
+at myself, and thought it impossible I could be as I had been. I
+made strong resolutions, yea, vows, and became a slave in means to
+hedge in this wandering, worldly, vain, flighty heart; but, alas, a
+few months found me where I was, with scarce a thought of God from
+morning to night; prayer huddled over in words that had no effect
+on my heart; and the fear of hell the chief restraint from sin or
+spur to duty. Then, in general, the Lord had some affliction for
+me, which laid me afresh at his feet, and made me take a fresh
+grasp of Christ, and a fresh view of his covenant: then again I
+felt safety, joy, peace, and happiness.</p>
+<p>"Thus, by line upon line, by precept upon precept, aye, and by
+stripe upon stripe, he taught me that I could not walk a moment
+alone. This is now my fixed faith; and in proportion as I keep it
+in sight, I walk safely; but I still forget, and still stumble and
+still fall; but I am lifted up and taught lesson after lesson; and
+I shall stumble and shall fall while sin is in me; but the last
+stumble shall come, and the last stripe <!--Page 102--><a name=
+"P102" id="P102"></a> shall be laid on, and the last lesson
+taught, and that which concerns me shall be perfected. O, then
+shall I look back, and see 'all the way by which he has led me, to
+prove me and try me, and show me what was in my heart, that he
+might do me good in my latter end.'</p>
+<p>"I am often, even in this valley of darkness and ignorance,
+allowed this retrospective view; and am led to say not one word of
+all that he promised has failed. 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped, he
+hath been the guide of my youth, and even unto hoar hairs will he
+lead me;' and when he calls me to pass through the valley of the
+shadow of death, I shall even then fear no evil, for his rod and
+staff shall support me; and I shall enter into the presence of my
+Redeemer, white and clean, dressed in his most perfect
+righteousness; angels and saints shall know me in this glorious
+robe; my Redeemer will acknowledge me as his ransomed, and I shall
+be for ever with the Lord."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mr. A.D., Edinburgh.</p>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, 1793.</p>
+<p>"I have just been reading over my dear friend's precious
+letters, and am refreshed anew by the same truths and uniform
+experience of every Christian; which all amounts to this, that the
+Lord is the portion of his people, and that whom he loves, he loves
+to the end. My soul melts with tenderness when I recollect my
+fellow-travellers in the wilderness; those dear associates with
+whom I have so often taken sweet counsel; who so often comforted me
+with the same comforts with which they themselves were comforted. I
+am also led to recollect some who have finished their warfare; some
+whose trials were sharp and long, but who, through the same grace
+in which we trust, were steadfast <!--Page 103--><a name="P103" id=
+"P103"></a> to the end; and now inherit a crown of life &mdash;
+the reward of grace, not of debt.</p>
+<p>"I rejoice to hear that your children are promising; I think it
+is the greatest comfort a parent can enjoy in this world. I have a
+large share of it in my three daughters; but my prodigal is not
+come to himself; he still feeds on husks, nor thinks of the plenty
+in his Father's house. I had great hopes last winter; I heard he
+had been very ill in consequence of very severe treatment from his
+captain. The Lord has been emptying him from vessel to vessel, and
+I have been waiting the issue; but mine eyes almost fail. I have
+great hopes that God's time of mercy will come. I am also satisfied
+that it will be the best time; but still I cry, O how long? My dear
+friends, I think I would recommend it to you to <i>keep your
+children about you</i>. No other had ever the influence over him
+that I had; and I regret that I did not bring him with me.</p>
+<p>"Our young Timothy, J.M., is a perfect champion for the gospel
+of Jesus; the Lord has well girded him and largely endowed him; he
+walks closely with God, and speaks and preaches like a Christian of
+long experience: he was ordained about two months ago in his
+father's church, and a few weeks after married a lady of eminent
+piety, and preached all the day, both the Sabbath before and after:
+no levity, no novelty appeared in word or gesture, which is not
+always the case with the best at such times. There is probably no
+church in New York whose discipline is as strict, nor one which has
+so many communicants. He is reckoned a man of great talents and an
+orator; and many of even the idle and careless go to hear him.</p>
+<p>"A few Sabbaths ago he preached from these
+<!--Page 104--><a name="P104" id="P104"></a> words, 'I
+determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
+crucified.' After proving that all the Scriptures, from the
+beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, pointed to Christ
+and his great work of redemption, and asserting that that sermon
+could not be called the gospel of which He was not the subject, he
+spoke home to his audience, and told them that this, through the
+aid of divine grace, was his firm purpose &mdash; to dwell on
+redeeming love. He was sure no subject would be welcome to any
+Christian, where Christ was not to be found; nor would any such
+subject ever convert a sinner; and therefore, if any were about to
+take their place there, expecting to hear any new or strange thing,
+let them not disappoint themselves. O, for a thankful heart; the
+Lord has indeed done wonders for me and mine; and blessed be his
+name for his mercy also, that in a remarkable manner, by a strange
+concurrence of circumstances, he hedged me in to become a member of
+this congregation, where I am led and fed with the same truths
+which nourished my soul in Zion's gates at Edinburgh; and I am
+helped to sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. Often have I been
+tempted to hang my harp upon the willow, 'when Zion I thought on;'
+but this was, and sometimes still is my sin and ingratitude, for I
+ought to build houses, and plant vineyards, and seek the good of
+the land; for he has a small vineyard here, which he waters and
+cultivates, and I ought to labor therein, and do whatsoever my hand
+findeth to do with diligence, and say, 'The earth is the Lord's,
+and the fulness thereof; heaven is his throne, the earth his
+footstool,' and he fills all things and all places.</p>
+<!--Page 105--><a name="P105" id="P105"></a>
+<p>"'What aileth thee, Hagar?' O what a God of mercy is our God!
+Often has he hailed me in some such language: 'What aileth thee?'
+why is thy countenance sad? am I not better to thee than ten
+friends? Then has he turned my heart to him, made me feel myself
+close to him; he has suffered me to lean on his bosom, hang on his
+arm, and lisp out, Abba. At such blest moments I have thought the
+whole earth but one point, and from that to heaven but one step,
+and the time between but as one moment; and my company here
+sufficient to satisfy me by the way. At such blest moments I felt
+perfect, full, entire satisfaction with all that God is, all that
+he does; and could trust him fully with all my concerns, spiritual,
+temporal, and eternal. But, alas, by and by, like a peevish child,
+I began to fret, wish this, wish that; grieve for this, grieve for
+that; fear this, fear that; stagger, stumble, fall. O what a God of
+patience and long-suffering. And O how rich that well-ordered
+covenant, that provides suitable grace for all these unsteady
+seasons. It is my greatest consolation that the Lord knows it all.
+There are times when I cannot see him, but every moment he sees me.
+I should fall off and leave him, but he holds me fast and never
+leaves me. O blessed plan, where God secures us in safety, even
+from ourselves. We have not only destroyed ourselves, and he has
+been our help; but we are ever destroying ourselves, and still he
+renews this help.</p>
+<p>"Well, what shall we say? Father, glorify thy name, and let us
+lie in thy hand as clay in the potter's, till thou finish thy
+workmanship, and fit us vessels of mercy, to be filled with
+happiness, when thou shalt have done thy good pleasure in us, and
+by us, in <!--Page 106--><a name="P106" id="P106"></a> this
+world, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, who loved us, and
+gave himself for us; to whom be glory, honor, and praise in the
+church below, and in the general assembly above, now and
+ever.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"My love, my heart's love, to my dear Mrs. D&mdash;&mdash;. I am ever your
+affectionate friend, in the bonds of the gospel,</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>Early in 1793 Mrs. Graham heard, from a worthy clergyman at
+Greenock, who, at her request, paid attention to her son, that he
+had been very ill of a fever, and subsequently subject to epileptic
+fits. In one of these he had fallen from the mast-head, and was
+rendered unfit for service for many months. The gentleman to whom
+he was apprenticed, permitted him to leave. In these circumstances
+Mrs. Graham addressed to him the following letter:</p>
+<br />
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y LONG-LOST BUT STILL DEAR</font> S<font size=
+"-1">ON</font> &mdash; If this ever reach you, hearken to the voice
+of your mother, your only parent, and to the voice of God by her.
+O, my son, you have had a long race in the service of Satan; he has
+kept you in bondage and made you his drudge. You are far advanced
+in the broad way that leads to destruction &mdash; to that place of
+endless torment prepared for the devil and his angels, to which
+Satan is dragging you. He has even been seeking the destruction of
+your body, that he might have you secure.</p>
+<p>"O, my son, think. Has he proved a good master? What have you
+found in his service? and has he not disappointed all your gayest
+hopes, and fed you with husks? Have you, my son, been happy? Are
+you not obliged to drive away your own reflections? I know you are.
+Dare you, my son, sit down and <!--Page 107--><a name="P107" id=
+"P107"></a> think over all the past, all the present, and look
+forward to the future with any degree of comfort? My son, you
+cannot. Hear then the word of the Lord; that Lord, that merciful
+Lord, who has seen you in all your rebellion, heard every profane
+oath you may have uttered, seen you rioting among the sons of
+Belial; yet what is his voice to you? O, my son, it is not, 'Bind
+him hand and foot, and cast him into the lake that burns with fire
+and brimstone; where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of
+teeth, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' No,
+my son, the door of mercy is still open to you; the Lord calls, 'O
+sinner, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' Only
+repent, so iniquity shall not prove your ruin.' 'Hearken unto me,
+ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my
+righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not
+tarry.' 'Hear, and your soul shall live.' 'Believe in the Lord
+Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved' &mdash; saved from hell;
+saved from Satan and his snare; saved from the force of corruption
+in your heart.</p>
+<p>"I do not call upon you, my poor corrupt boy, to turn from sin
+and work righteousness in your own strength; this you can no more
+do than the Ethiopian can change his skin; but I do call upon you
+to receive the whole of God's salvation, and power to resist sin is
+a principal part of it. In God's word it is said, that the Lord
+gave Christ to be a covenant to the people: we have to covenant
+with him on our part; we are all poor, lost, miserable creatures, I
+as well as you, by nature; but the Lord Christ is God's gift to
+sinners. All the other promises are made to those
+<!--Page 108--><a name="P108" id="P108"></a> who have received
+and accepted of this gift; but Christ himself is God's gift to
+sinners &mdash; to the chief of sinners &mdash; <i>to you, John
+Graham, by name</i>; and the Bible says, to as many as receive him,
+to them gives he power to become the sons of God. God gave Christ
+to become the price in our hand; we take this gift, and offer back,
+as the price of our redemption, his atoning sacrifice, his
+all-perfect righteousness; and on this ground we are entitled, by
+his own plan, which he prepared from first to last, to plead for
+the full accomplishment of all the promises in the Bible: for the
+pardon of sin; yea, for an entire new nature.</p>
+<p>"O, my son, open your Bible, go to your knees, look out words
+there fit for your case; present them humbly before God, turn all
+the promises you find there, all the offers, all the calls, all the
+commands, all the threatenings into prayer &mdash; for you of
+yourself can do nothing &mdash; and ask that God, for Christ's
+sake, may pour out on you the spirit of prayer. I know not how to
+have done; yet I well know, unless the Lord soften your poor
+obdurate heart, it will still remain hard. O, my son, be willing to
+put it in his hand, to receive his salvation, and give yourself up
+to his guiding. I beg you will read with care the 15th chapter of
+the gospel of Luke. The Lord spoke these parables to show how very
+willing he is to receive returning sinners. Your mother and all
+your sisters are willing to follow his example; return to us, my
+son. We will watch over you we will pray over you, and we will try,
+by every endearing method, to restore you not only to health, but
+to comfort. Your sisters wish you to come; all your friends are
+willing to receive you; we will not upbraid you.</p>
+<!--Page 109--><a name="P109" id="P109"></a>
+<p>"Do, my dear, leave Greenock; come out to us by any way you can
+find, I will pay your passage here; or if you can get to any port
+in America, you can write me from that, and I will get you
+forwarded here; and, after you are here, if you still wish to
+follow the sea, we can get you a berth in some trading vessel from
+this. All your friends here send best wishes. And now, my son, I
+commend you to the Lord. O, that he may bless this to you,</p>
+<p class="center">"Your affectionate mother,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>The last intelligence that Mrs. Graham received of her
+unfortunate son was in a letter from himself, dated Demarara, 1794,
+in which he states that he had sailed from Amsterdam in a Dutch
+vessel; was taken by the French, and retaken by the English; had
+arrived at Demarara in the ship Hope; and should he not soon hear
+from his mother, would return to Europe with a fleet which was
+shortly to sail under convoy. Mrs. Graham notices this event as
+follows:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, February 20, 1794.</p>
+<p>"This day I have a letter from my poor wanderer. It is more than
+a year since I heard of him. Accept of my thanks, good and gracious
+Lord. I feared his cup had been full, and he called out of the
+world with all his sins on his own head; for I have no tidings of
+his turning from his sinful courses, or fleeing from the wrath to
+come, by taking hold of the hope set before him.</p>
+<p>"I bless thee, Oh, I bless thee, for thy sparing mercy, thy
+long-suffering, thy patience, thy forbearance. Yea, even to him,
+thou hast been more than all this. Thou hast been his preserver,
+his provider; thou hast <!--Page 110--><a name="P110" id=
+"P110"></a> watched over him in many imminent dangers, in the
+great deeps, in burning and in frozen climes.</p>
+<p>"Thou hast followed him with thy preserving mercy and temporal
+bounty. He is still in the land of the living, and among those who
+are called to look unto thee and live. Still thou feedest my hopes
+of better things for him. Thou sufferest my prayers to lie on the
+table of thy covenant. I will trust, I will hope, I will believe,
+that in an accepted time thou wilt hear me, and in a day of thy
+power thou wilt bow his stubborn will, and lay him an humble
+suppliant at thy feet. Oh, I trust thou wilt bring this poor
+prodigal to himself, and turn his steps towards his Father's house.
+See how he feeds with the swine upon husks, and even these not his
+own. O turn his thoughts to his 'Father's house, where there is
+bread enough, and to spare.'</p>
+<p>"'Lord, remember thy gracious word, on which thou hast caused me
+to hope,' and which has ever been my comfort in the time of my
+affliction, and in my straits my only relief.</p>
+<p>"He is again launched into thy great ocean. Lord, he is far from
+every friend and from every means of grace, and for any thing I
+know, far from thee by wicked works; under thy curse and hateful in
+thy sight; but thou, God, seest him. Means are not necessary, if
+thou willest to work without. Thou canst find an avenue to his
+heart at once. Dead as he is, vile as he is, guilty as he is, far
+from help of man, and in the most unlikely situation to receive the
+help of God, yet I know all these hinderances, all these mountains
+shall melt as wax at thy presence.</p>
+<p>"Lord, I believe, thou knowest I believe, that if
+<!--Page 111--><a name="P111" id="P111"></a> thou but speak the
+word, this dead soul shall live; this vile, this guilty soul shall
+be cleansed, shall be renewed, and my son be changed to an humble,
+thankful, genuine child of God, through the cleansing blood of
+atonement, through the imputation of the Redeemer's righteousness
+and the implantation of thy Spirit. I can do nothing for him, but
+thou canst do all this. I wait for it, Lord, I wait for thy
+salvation. Lord, let there be 'joy in heaven over this one sinner
+repenting.' I roll him on thee. I trust in thy sovereign, free,
+unmerited mercy in Christ.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>All inquiries instituted by kind friends respecting this son
+proved fruitless; and as a vessel named the Hope was some months
+after reported as having been taken by the French, it is perhaps
+probable that he died in a French prison.</p>
+<p>Thus again had his afflicted mother to exercise faith and
+submission, not without hope towards God that the great Redeemer
+had taken care of, and would finally save this prodigal son. She
+had known a case in her father's family, which excited their
+solicitude and encouraged her hope. Her younger brother, Archibald
+Marshall, a lad of high temper, though possessed of an affectionate
+heart, had gone to sea, and was not heard of at all for several
+years. A pious woman, who kept a boarding-house in Paisley, found
+one of her boarders one day reading Doddridge's Rise and Progress
+of Religion in the Soul, with Archibald Marshall's name written on
+the blank leaf. On inquiry, the stranger told her that he got that
+book from a young man on his death-bed as a token of regard. That
+young man was Archibald Marshall; he <!--Page 112--><a name="P112"
+id="P112"></a> was an exemplary Christian, "and I have reason,"
+added he, "to bless God that he ever was my mess-mate." The woman
+who heard this account, transmitted it to Mr. Marshall's family,
+who were known to her. Mrs. Graham had no such consolatory account
+afforded to her; but under much yearning of heart she left this
+concern, as well as every other, to the disposal of that God "who
+doeth all things well."</p>
+<p>Again she sings of mercy in a sweet meditation.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, October 1, 1794</p>
+<p>"'Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt
+bountifully with thee.'</p>
+<p>"Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous
+loving-kindness in a strong city &mdash; Christ, the city of
+refuge.</p>
+<p>"Thou hast given me my heart's desire, and hast not withholden
+the request of my lips. 'One thing have I desired of the Lord,' and
+through life sought after for myself and the children whom thou
+hast given me; 'that all the days of our lives we might dwell in
+the house of the Lord,' behold his beauty, and inquire in his holy
+temple; that in the time of trouble he would hide us in his
+pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle, and set our feet upon a
+rock.</p>
+<p>"O thou incarnate God; thou blessed temple not made with hands;
+thou blessed pavilion, in which thy people hide in the time of
+trouble, and are safe; thou Rock of ages, on which we build our
+hopes for time and eternity, and defy the assaults of sin, Satan,
+and the world: thou, Jehovah Jesus, art all these to thy people.
+Thou broughtest them 'from a fearful pit and from the miry clay;
+thou settest their feet upon this <!--Page 113--><a name="P113" id=
+"P113"></a> spiritual rock, and establishest their goings; thou
+puttest a new song in their mouths, even praise unto their God.'
+Many have seen it and sung it; many now see and sing it; many shall
+see and sing it, and trust in the Lord. They find in thee all that
+is expressive of life; all that is expressive of safety; all that
+is expressive of comfort; all that is expressive of happiness.</p>
+<p>"'O how many are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
+thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in
+order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are
+more than can be numbered.' Thou, thy blessed self, art the sum and
+substance of every good to man. All this I know; all this have I at
+different times experienced; and yet my heart is heavy, my spirits
+depressed. There is no cause, Oh no. Thy very afflictive
+providences have met my wishes, and been so many answers to my
+prayers.</p>
+<p>"Thou Husband of the widow, thou Father of the fatherless, O how
+fully, how manifestly hast thou fulfilled these relations to thy
+worthless servant. Thou, in my early widowhood, didst call me to
+leave my fatherless children on thee, annexing the promise that
+thou wouldst preserve them alive.</p>
+<p>"Thou didst put it into my heart to plead the promise in a
+spiritual sense; to ask, to hope, to wait for the new birth, the
+life which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow.</p>
+<p>"In three of these fatherless I have seen thy work. Long did the
+grain of mustard-seed lie buried among the weeds of
+worldly-mindedness; long were my hopes and fears alternate; but now
+the blessed discipline of <!--Page 114--><a name="P114" id=
+"P114"></a> the covenant has been exercised; I have witnessed
+it, I have felt it &mdash; suffered the rod with them and for them,
+but waited for the fruits in hope; and glory to thee, dear Husband
+and Father, I have not waited in vain. Thou hast written
+<i>vanity,</i> and opened our eyes to read vanity written on every
+earthly enjoyment, except so far as thou art enjoyed in them. Thou
+hast enabled not only thine aged servant, but her children, to put
+a blank into thy hand, and to say, 'Choose thou for us.' We take
+hold of thy covenant, and choose it for our portion. Is not this, O
+Lord, the full amount of my desires? Thou wilt finish the work in
+thy own time, and by means of thy appointing. Amen. Lord, do as
+thou hast said."</p>
+<!--Page 115--><a name="P115" id="P115"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+<h4>DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER &mdash; FIRST MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NEW
+YORK.</h4>
+<p>I<font size="-1">N</font> July, 1795, Mrs. Graham's second
+daughter, Joanna, was married to Mr. Divie Bethune, merchant in New
+York. In the following month her eldest daughter, Mrs. Stevenson,
+was seized with a fatal illness. Possessing a most amiable
+disposition and genuine piety, she viewed the approach of death
+with the composure of a Christian and the intrepidity of faith.</p>
+<p>She had been in delicate health for some years, and now a
+complication of disorders denied all hope of recovery. She sung a
+hymn of triumph until the struggles of death interrupted her. Mrs.
+Graham displayed great firmness of mind during the last trying
+scene, and when the spirit of her daughter fled, the mother raised
+her hands, and looking towards heaven, exclaimed, 'I wish you joy,
+my darling.' She then washed her face, took some refreshment, and
+retired to rest.</p>
+<p>Such was her joy of faith at the full salvation of her child;
+but when <i>the loss of her company</i> was felt, the tenderness of
+a mother's heart afterwards gave vent to feelings of affectionate
+sorrow: nature will feel, even when faith triumphs. In her devout
+meditations before God, Mrs. Graham improves this event as
+follows:</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 116--><a name="P116" id="P116"></a>
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">CTOBER</font> 4, 1795.</p>
+<p>"Why, O why is my spirit still depressed? Why these sobs?
+Father, forgive. 'Jesus wept.' I weep, but acquiesce. This day two
+months the Lord delivered my Jessie, <i>his Jessie,</i> from a body
+of sin and death, finished the good work he had begun, perfected
+what concerned her, trimmed her lamp, and carried her triumphing
+through 'the valley of the shadow of death.' She overcame through
+the blood of the Lamb.</p>
+<p>"I rejoiced in the Lord's work, and was thankful that the one,
+the only thing I had asked for her, was now completed. I saw her
+delivered from much corruption within, from strong and peculiar
+temptation without. I had seen her often staggering, sometimes
+falling under the rod; I had heard her earnestly wish for
+deliverance from sin, and when death approached she was more than
+satisfied: said she had been a great sinner, but she had a great
+Saviour; praised him and thanked him for all his dealings with her
+&mdash; for hedging her in, for chastising her; and even prayed
+that sin and corruption might be destroyed, if the body should be
+dissolved to effect it. The Lord fulfilled her desire, and, I may
+add, mine. He lifted upon her the light of his countenance; revived
+her languid graces; increased her faith and hope; loosed her from
+earthly concerns, and made her rejoice in the stability of his
+covenant, and to sing, 'All is well, all is well; good is the will
+of the Lord.' I did rejoice, I do rejoice; but O Lord, thou knowest
+my frame; she was my pleasant companion, my affectionate child; my
+soul feels a want. O fill it up with more of thy presence; give yet
+more communications of thyself.</p>
+<!--Page 117--><a name="P117" id="P117"></a>
+<p>"We are yet one in Christ our head &mdash; united in him; and
+though she shall not return unto me, I shall go to her, and then
+our communion will be more full, more delightful, as it will be
+perfectly free from sin. Christ shall be our bond of union, and we
+shall be fully under the influence of it.</p>
+<p>"Let me then gird up the loins of my mind, and set forward to
+serve my day and generation, to finish my course. The Lord will
+perfect what concerns me; and when it shall please him, he will
+unclothe me, break down these prison-walls, and admit me into the
+happy society of his redeemed and glorified members: then 'shall he
+wipe away all tears from my eyes,' and I shall taste the joys which
+are at his right hand, and be satisfied for evermore."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham made it a rule to appropriate <i>a tenth</i> part of
+her earnings to be expended for pious and charitable purposes. She
+had taken a lease of two lots of ground on Greenwich-street from
+the corporation of Trinity church, with a view of building a house
+on them for her own accommodation; the building, however, she never
+commenced. By a sale of the lease, which her son Mr. Bethune made
+for her in 1795, she got an advance of one thousand pounds. So
+large a profit was new to her. "Quick, quick," said she, "let me
+appropriate the tenth before my heart grows hard." What fidelity in
+duty; what distrust of herself. Fifty pounds of this money she sent
+to Mr. Mason in aid of the funds he was collecting for the
+establishment of a Theological Seminary. Her own version of this
+matter we have in a letter to her familiar friend Mrs. Walker, of
+Edinburgh:</p>
+<!--Page 118--><a name="P118" id="P118"></a>
+<p class="right">"1795.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> M<font size="-1">RS</font>.
+W<font size="-1">ALKER</font> &mdash; My last informed you that we
+had been made to taste of the Lord's visitation &mdash; the
+yellow-fever &mdash; but in great mercy had been spared in the
+midst of much apparent danger. I have now in my house a girl who
+lost both father and mother, and many whole families were cut off;
+my house was emptied; my school broken up; we confined to town, and
+heavy duty laid upon us at the same time. I trembled again for fear
+of debt; but 'the Lord brought meat out of the eater.'</p>
+<p>"Three years ago, when tried by having one house taken over my
+head, another bought, and obliged to move three times in as many
+years, some speculating genius brought me under the influence of
+the madness of the times, and persuaded me I might build without
+money. It is quite common here to build by contract. I could not
+purchase ground, but I leased two lots of church land, got a plan
+made out, and worried myself for six months, trying to hatch
+chickens without eggs. I had asked the Lord to build me a house, to
+give success to the means, still keeping in view covenant
+provision, 'what is good the Lord will give.' After many
+disappointments I said, Well; I have asked &mdash; I am refused
+&mdash; it is not good &mdash; the Lord will not give it: he will
+provide, but in his own way, not mine.</p>
+<p>"Of course I had to pay ground-rent, which in three years
+amounted to two hundred and twenty dollars. I think I hear you say,
+I never could have believed that Mrs. Graham could be guilty of
+such folly &mdash; nor I; but seeing and hearing of many such
+things, I fancied myself very clever. Last year a basin was formed,
+and wharves around it, opposite to the said lots;
+<!--Page 119--><a name="P119" id="P119"></a> the epidemic raging
+on the other side of the city brought all the vessels that came in
+round to them, and great expectations were formed for this new
+basin; houses and stores sprung up like mushrooms, and Mr. Bethune
+sold my lease for one thousand pounds. Lo, and behold, part of it
+is already spent. All my provision through this wilderness has been
+so strongly marked by peculiar providences, my mind seems
+habituated to a sense of certainty. I feel my portion of earthly
+good safer and better in my Lord's hand than in my own."</p>
+<p>In the ensuing year we find the following outbreathings of her
+rich Christian experience:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">ANUARY</font> 3, 1796.</p>
+<p>"'Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice. Let your
+moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.' Philippians
+4:4-7.</p>
+<p>"'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
+supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
+unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
+shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus.'</p>
+<p>"Christ Jesus! what does not this name comprehend? He is mine,
+and all is mine. I do rejoice in the Lord, yea, more or less, I
+rejoice always. This heart of mine is sensible to every human
+affliction; my tears flow often and fast: I weep for myself, and
+still more for others; but in these very moments of heart-wringing
+bitterness, there is a secret joy that Jesus is near; that he sees,
+knows, and pities. He is Jehovah as well as Jesus, and could have
+prevented the affliction under which I groan; but for my good,
+<!--Page 120--><a name="P120" id="P120"></a> and the good of
+those near and dear to me, he suffered it, or prepared it. The good
+of his people is connected with his glory; they cannot be
+separated: therefore, Father, glorify thy name; I rejoice, and will
+rejoice. The Lord can remove, and will remove the affliction the
+moment it has answered the gracious purpose for which it was sent.
+I would not wish it one moment sooner. While it lies heavy, he is
+my almighty friend, my rest, my staff of support.</p>
+<p>"'In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion; in
+the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up
+upon a rock." Psalm 27:5.</p>
+<p>"'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in
+him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; with my
+song I will praise him,' and in his strength and by his grace, let
+my 'moderation be known unto all men.' My Lord is at hand &mdash;
+at hand to support, at hand to overrule, at hand to deliver.
+Therefore I rejoice always.</p>
+<p>"Blessed be God for the heart-easing, heart-soothing privilege
+of casting all my cares upon him, and for the blessed assurance
+that he careth for me and mine: that he allows, invites, yea,
+commands me to be careful for nothing, but in all things, by prayer
+and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let my requests be made
+known unto him, who is man, and touched with the feeling of our
+infirmities &mdash; Jesus wept &mdash; and God, the almighty God,
+to support, overrule, deliver. Therefore my heart rejoiceth
+always."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 16, 1796.</p>
+<p>"'If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,
+if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I
+visit their transgression <!--Page 121--><a name="P121" id=
+"P121"></a> with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes:
+nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him,
+nor suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break,
+nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89: 30.
+Amen; blessed promise. Oh, it is a well-ordered covenant, and it is
+sure. Of all the provisions of the covenant, this has been to my
+soul among the most comfortable. Thanks be to God for the
+discipline of the covenant; often has it been administered: thou
+knowest, and I know in part, how necessarily, although I shall not
+know nor understand all, until that blessed rod shall have
+perfected its correction, and shall never more be lifted up.</p>
+<p>"Many ups and downs has thy servant experienced in this vale of
+tears; many tears have watered these now aged cheeks; in a variety
+of ways hast thou stricken, and at times stripe has followed
+stripe, but mercy and love accompanied every one of them. I bless
+thee, Oh, I praise thee, that I have seldom received a stripe but I
+had with it a token of love. Sin was imbittered, a Saviour
+endeared, and grace given to kiss the rod, and cleave to him that
+had appointed it. And now I can read in legible characters where,
+in many instances, thy check met my wandering steps, stopt me short
+of huge precipices, and preserved me from destroying even my
+worldly comfort. In some instances &mdash; I thank thee they have
+not been many &mdash; thou hast been pleased to let me alone, to
+let me pursue my own way, ways so wise in my own eyes that I have
+either not sought counsel at all, or sought it as Balaam did, with
+my heart set on my own will.</p>
+<p>"In some cases thou hast let me eat of the fruit of
+<!--Page 122--><a name="P122" id="P122"></a> my own doings, and
+let me weary myself in my own way, until I found it not only vanity
+and vexation of spirit, but sometimes a labyrinth from which I
+could find no escape: then did I cry unto the Lord; then did I
+remember my backslidings; then did I seek unto the cleansing
+fountain and to the appointed Mediator, the maker up of the breach:
+then did I experience afresh the Lord's power to save.</p>
+<p>"In how many instances has he given a sudden turn to
+providences, which have been made means of my deliverance; not only
+so, but brought good out of my evil, so that I have been made to
+wonder, and to say,' Surely this is the finger of God.'</p>
+<p>"I destroy myself, but in thee is my help found. O let these
+wanderings end; fix it deep on my mind, that in the Lord only have
+I wisdom as well as strength: that 'it is not in man that walketh,
+to direct his steps.' When shall I learn to live simply on Christ,
+by the light of his pure unerring word, and the Spirit coinciding;
+and have done with these carnal reasonings, the wisdom of men.
+'Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my
+thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
+the way everlasting.'&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 28, 1796.</p>
+<p>"This is the anniversary of my dear Jessie's birth, no more to
+call us together here; but I yet remember it as a day in which our
+God Was merciful to me, and made me the mother of an heir of
+salvation. I bless, I praise my covenant God, who enabled me to
+dedicate her to him before she was born, and to ask only one thing
+for her as for myself, even an interest in his great salvation,
+leaving it to him to order the means, <!--Page 123--><a name="P123"
+id="P123"></a> time, and manner, as of her natural birth and
+ripening age, so of her spiritual birth and ripening for glory; he
+accepted the charge, and he has finished the work, to his own
+glory, to her eternal happiness, and my joy and comfort. I have
+witnessed remaining corruption fighting hard against her, and
+bringing her again and again into captivity to the law of sin and
+death warring against her. I have seen the rod of God lie heavy
+upon her, according to the tenor of the covenant, when she forsook
+his laws and went astray: when she walked not in his judgments, but
+wandered from his way, he visited her faults with rods and her sins
+with chastisements, but his loving-kindness he never took from her,
+though he often hid it, nor altered the word which he had spoken,
+that he would never leave her, never forsake her; that in due time
+he would deliver her from all her enemies. I perceived her desires
+to be delivered from the world and the body, and taken home to the
+bosom of her God, since that appeared at times the only way she
+could be delivered from sin. I heard her lament her unfruitfulness,
+her unsteadiness: I heard her exclaim, 'Oh, what a sinner, what a
+great sinner;' and, 'Oh, what a Saviour; O the goodness of God in
+hedging me in, and saving me from myself; his covenant stands fast,
+it is established, it is sure.' I witnessed a God pardoning sin,
+yet taking vengeance on inventions. I witnessed the sinner, after
+being sixteen years in the school of Christ, taught by his
+ministers, and most effectually by his rod, taking shelter in 'the
+city of refuge,' in the atonement of God's providing, and in 'a
+surety righteousness,' and finishing her struggles with, 'All is
+well.' My heart echoed, and <!--Page 124--><a name="P124" id=
+"P124"></a> does echo, and will to all eternity, 'All is well.'
+Glory to God; sing, not unto her, not unto me, not unto any
+creature, but 'to God be the glory,' that she is now delivered from
+'a body of sin and death, and made meet to be a partaker with the
+saints in light.' H<font size="-1">ALLELUJAH</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">UNE</font>, 1796.</p>
+<p>"'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of
+the Lord.' Psalm&nbsp;122.</p>
+<p>"'The house of the Lord, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of
+the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the
+name of the Lord,' to seek his face, to learn his will, to taste
+his love, to behold his' glory, to enjoy God as their own God and
+reconciled Father.</p>
+<p>"Lord, let my heart be warmed more towards thy house; I have
+sought and found thee in thy sanctuary, read thy providences, and
+been taught thy will; I have tasted thy love and beheld thy glory;
+I have enjoyed thy presence as my own reconciled Father in Christ
+Jesus; I have been satisfied with thy goodness, as with marrow and
+fatness; and yet how cold and languid at times, how little desire
+to return, how small my expectations, how wandering my imagination.
+How do I sit before thee as thy people, and my heart with the
+fool's eyes at the ends of the earth. Lord, I should blush and be
+ashamed were a fellow-mortal to see my heart at times. I may hide
+my eyes from viewing vanity, but the evil lies within. O Lord, thou
+knowest the cause. After all I have heard, seen, tasted, and
+handled of the word of life, I am still of myself an empty vessel,
+unable to speak a good word, or think a good thought. Great are thy
+tender mercies, <!--Page 125--><a name="P125" id="P125"></a> O
+Lord. 'Quicken me according to thy word; turn thou away my eyes
+from beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy way: then shall I run
+in the way of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my
+heart.'</p>
+<p>"The house of God; the owner, the builder, and maker is God, and
+it is his peculiar treasure. Christ is the foundation and chief
+corner-stone, and his house are we, built upon him, cemented
+together, a spiritual building; the foundation cannot fail, the
+corner-stone can never give way; neither can we fall to pieces, or
+be separated from him.</p>
+<p>"The house of God; 'Jerusalem, Zion, the rest of God, where he
+delights to dwell,' where he will for ever stay; the house of God,
+the church, yea, the body of Christ: Christ the head, his people
+the church, his members whose life is in him, and derived from him;
+and because he lives we shall live also. Lord, enlarge my
+understanding to comprehend more and more of the height and depth,
+length and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth all
+understanding. Open my eyes to behold wondrous things in thy law
+and gospel. I am as yet but a babe; glory to God that I am what I
+am, a babe in Christ. I shall be nourished with life and strength
+from my divine Head; educated and nurtured by the blessings of the
+new covenant. I shall arrive at the perfection of stature
+appointed, and stand in my lot at the latter day.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">UGUST</font> 4, 1796.</p>
+<p>"A day to be remembered. Rose at four, not to mourn &mdash; no,
+but to repeat my grateful thanks to my covenant God for the work he
+finished this day last <!--Page 126--><a name="P126" id=
+"P126"></a> year, in delivering my weak, feeble, tossed, and
+tried Jessie from a body of sin and death, and giving her 'the
+victory through Jesus Christ, who loved her and gave himself for
+her.' To thee she was dedicated ere she saw the light; to thee a
+thousand times I repeated the dedication, begging that thou
+mightest bring her within the bond of thy covenant; this was the
+sum and substance of all my askings for her. I witnessed the time
+of her second birth, saw the tears of conviction and remorse. I
+witnessed thy loosing her bonds, and tuning her heart and tongue to
+praise redeeming love. I witnessed the teaching of thy Spirit, and
+the enlightening of her eyes, and the taste thou gavest her of thy
+salvation; I thought her mountain stood strong, and she would not
+be easily moved; but who can tell the deceitfulness of the human
+heart? Too soon did we all turn aside like a deceitful bow, forsook
+the fountain of living waters, and hewed out broken cisterns that
+could hold no water. Glory to God for the discipline of the
+covenant, that he did not cast us off, but chastened and corrected.
+He repeated the discipline stripe upon stripe: I stood by and saw
+it, and though my heart melted at times, I said, 'She is in her
+Father's hand, let him do his pleasure.'</p>
+<p>"I too was unfaithful to her, thou knowest, and often entered
+into the same vanity of mind, which stifled the love of God in our
+hearts, instead of guarding her and warning her; still, still the
+Shepherd of Israel followed after both, and with the precious rod
+restored both, time after time, till it pleased thee to finish her
+warfare, and deliver her from both body and sin. Lord, I thank thee
+for all the circumstances, <!--Page 127--><a name="P127" id=
+"P127"></a> for the privilege of attending her in her warfare,
+for the cheerfulness of her spirits, for the rich support we all
+experienced, for the view we all had of thy faithfulness and
+fatherly dealing, and for her last words, 'All is well.' O yes,
+every thing thou doest is well, and this was peculiarly well. I
+resigned her to thee with joy and thankfulness, and I still
+acquiesce. Her thou hast taken, me thou hast left, to be yet
+exercised with further discipline. It is well; thy will be done. O
+help me to profit by every pang. Let sin be mortified and my soul
+be purified; enlarge my heart to run the ways of thy commandments.
+Now may I lay aside every weight, and that vanity of mind which
+doth so easily beset me, and hath been the secret spring of much
+backsliding both to myself and to my children. Lord, destroy it.. O
+let me now live to God, closely and consistently; down with my
+will, with self in every form. O purify my motives, and let my
+whole heart, soul, body, substance, and influence in the world be
+devoted to thee. Empty me of every thing that is my own, and let
+'Christ live in me the hope of glory,' and let the glory of thy
+workmanship in my soul redound to thee, and thee
+alone.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">UGUST</font> 13, 1796.</p>
+<p>"'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye
+have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.' Colossians
+2:6.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, this is what I pant after. I would fain have done with
+wandering, Lord, thou knowest, for the work is thine. I have
+received the Lord Jesus as thy gift to a lost world, as thy gift to
+me an individual <!--Page 128--><a name="P128" id="P128"></a> of
+that world, as having made peace by the blood of the cross. I
+account it a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that
+'Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,' I
+have received thee as the Lord my righteousness, crediting thy own
+word, that 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,' and
+that 'there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' I
+have received thee as 'the covenant given of the people.' In all
+the relations by which thou art held out to me in this Bible, so
+far as I know or understand, I have received thee. I have no hope
+in myself, no trust in myself, nor any views of communication from
+God of any kind, but through the one 'mediator between God and man,
+the man Christ Jesus.'</p>
+<p>"O my God, what is my life, what is my happiness but a continual
+receiving? Thou art 'the bread of life' that must keep alive the
+living principle in my soul. In thee 'dwelleth all the fulness of
+the Godhead bodily.' Thy people are complete in thee; thou art
+their head, they are thy body, and by joints and bands have
+nourishment ministered to them, and are knit together, and increase
+with the increase of God.</p>
+<p>"This, O this is what my soul pants after, closer and more
+intimate union and communion. I would be transformed into thine
+image; I would be thy temple; I would have thee live in me, walk in
+me, make me one with thee; I would be delivered from self-will,
+self-wisdom, self-seeking; I would be delivered from that
+philosophy and vain deceit which spoils souls and leads them off
+from their head: then, and not till then, shall I cease to wander,
+shall 'run and not be weary, <!--Page 129--><a name="P129" id=
+"P129"></a> walk and not faint.' Then shall 'I run in the way of
+thy commandments,' and no longer turn aside to crooked ways. Then
+shall I eat and drink, work and recreate, all to thy glory. Lord,
+send thy Spirit into my heart, that he may continually take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto me; that I may grow and be no
+longer a babe, but arrive at the fulness of stature in Christ
+Jesus, and more steadily, and more purely, and more zealously, and
+O, more humbly live to God, and glorify him in the
+world.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>The following extracts of letters to her friend Mrs. Walker,
+show how ardently the true missionary spirit burned in the heart of
+Mrs. Graham, and how efficiently it was exemplified, not only in
+her pecuniary donations, but her active and self-denying efforts to
+diffuse information and enlist others in so worthy a cause. The
+efforts alluded to in the first extract evidently gave rise to the
+event recorded in the second, <i>the formation of the first
+Missionary Society in New York.</i> It is delightful also to notice
+her attachment to Christians of other denominations, and the
+gratitude with which she remembered kindness received by herself
+when Providence had cast her lot on what was truly missionary
+ground.</p>
+<p>"Do you remember how much I used to say about our dear Methodist
+Society in Antigua? and the three holy, harmless, zealous Moravian
+brethren? and how the preachers gave each other the right hand of
+fellowship, forgetting their differences, in that land of open
+hostilities, on the kingdom of their common Lord? Thither the Lord
+brought me from a land of entire barrenness, where, as far as I
+know, a gospel sermon <!--Page 130--><a name="P130" id=
+"P130"></a> was never preached. Here I was brought into great
+affliction, and to pass through the severest trial that I ever
+experienced before or since.</p>
+<p>"'The Lord brought me into this fold, a poor straggling lamb,
+who had for five years herded among the goats; and little
+difference was there between them and me, except that my soul
+longed after green pastures and rejoiced to hear the shepherd's
+voice, and when I heard it I knew it, though from one who did not
+belong to my original fold; these good people nourished me with
+tenderness, bore with patience my carnality. When my dear husband
+was taken ill, they wrestled for him in prayer; Mr. Gilbert was
+every day with him; the Lord heard and gave a joyful parting; yes,
+joyful, never did I experience such joy; then they sympathized with
+and soothed the widowed heart, fed her with promises, and in a
+measure established her: thus they wrought with God in calling in
+one, and restoring another; never, never shall I forget the labors
+of love of that dear little society.</p>
+<p>"How many such stragglers as I may be wandering in both East and
+West Indies, and may be restored by these precious missionaries. I
+owe them, of my labors, more than others. I send you a bill for
+<i>fifty pounds.</i> I have received eighteen copies of the
+Missionary Magazine, as far as No. 9. I have got subscribers for
+them all, who will continue; pay these, and send me what more
+numbers have been published by the return of the Edinburgh packet,
+also eighteen complete sets from the beginning. I hope to be
+successful in disposing of them also. I suppose the sermons go to
+the same fund; send me a hundred sermons, I will see to get them
+disposed of; send them single, <!--Page 131--><a name="P131" id=
+"P131"></a> not bound, and of the best; perhaps they may pave
+the way for more to follow; every little helps; drops make up the
+ocean. We cannot yet produce anything; we are gathering
+intelligence, and endeavoring to collect money; but I grudge that
+what we can spare should be idle in the meantime; the cause is one;
+pay the magazines at once, and the sermons if you have enough of my
+money. I hope to remit again in September. I have a great wish to
+have a finger in your pie in some way; if I must not subscribe past
+our own society, I may sell books for yours.</p>
+<p class="center">"Ever, my dear friend, yours,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"1796-7.</p>
+<p>"I thank my friend for her letter. I rejoice with you, and bless
+the widow's God. He has indeed been so to us, to the full amount of
+the promise. I have now much to sing of, little to complain of; my
+dear girls and Mr. B&mdash;&mdash; go forward steadily, having laid aside the
+weights of amusements and gayety, and seem determined to follow the
+Lord fully through good and through evil report. Bless the Lord, O
+my soul, and forget not all his benefits. We have a full school,
+and a very comfortable set of girls. The Lord has delivered from
+all heavy burthens.</p>
+<p>"Last week a considerable number of ministers and lay Christians
+met for the third time, and established a society for sending
+missionaries among the Indians, and also among the poor scattered
+settlers on the frontiers. A sermon was preached in the evening in
+one of the Dutch churches, 'The liberal deviseth liberal things,'
+etc., after which an address was read by the
+<!--Page 132--><a name="P132" id="P132"></a> Secretary &mdash;
+our dear Mr. Mason &mdash; which, when printed, I will send
+you.</p>
+<p>"The society is to keep up a correspondence with your and the
+other societies. If they can effect anything themselves, apart here
+in America, well; if not, they will throw their subscriptions into
+the common funds and get help from you. This view is very pleasant
+to us. There is great need of itinerant preachers in our back
+settlements; they are scattered, and no churches of any kind; even
+in some thick settled counties they will not pay a minister. These
+are 'the highways and hedges;' O that the Lord may compel them to
+come in.</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>We next find Mrs. Graham administering consolation and imparting
+instruction to a lady residing near Boston, Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;. With this
+lady Mrs. Graham formed an acquaintance in New York, shortly after
+her arrival in America. She was then a gay young widow; but having
+a strong and cultivated mind, was delighted with Mrs. Graham and
+family; and a friendship was formed between them, which ceased only
+with their lives.</p>
+<p>As a proof of her friendship, Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; wished to introduce her
+young female friends into gay fashionable society. This Mrs. Graham
+opposed; and while she stated her reasons she endeavored to
+persuade her young friend to come out from the world and cast in
+her lot with the people of God.</p>
+<p>"A word spoken in due season, how good it is." This was verified
+in the case of Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;, who, like her friend, was destined to
+enter the heavenly kingdom "through much tribulation." She
+afterwards entered <!--Page 133--><a name="P133" id="P133"></a>
+the marriage state, and became a second time a widow while her
+children were still young; and though not destitute, her income was
+considerably reduced; which circumstances may throw light on parts
+of Mrs. Graham's letters. Unhappily there was no evangelical
+minister near her place of residence, which, with the want of early
+religious training, may account for so much darkness as to her
+spiritual state. Mrs. Graham often visited her, and it pleased God
+in due time to scatter the darkness. Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; for many years
+fully enjoyed the consolations of religion. She trained up her
+children according to the maxims of her friend, and had the
+happiness of seeing them following in her steps. One, Mrs. J.W.,
+she saw depart in peace; and her own dying-bed was soothed by the
+prayers and attentions of her son, an esteemed and highly useful
+clergyman in one of our populous cities. As Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; adopted the
+signature of <i>Pilgrim,</i> the letters to her inserted in the
+former editions of this memoir, are noticed as addressed to
+P&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;, a Lady near Boston.</p>
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font> 10, 1797.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y EVER DEAR</font> F<font size=
+"-1">RIEND</font> &mdash; The desire of waiting you a long letter
+has occasioned too much delay on my part. One thing I can assure
+you of, you have been much on my mind, and the subject of all our
+prayers.</p>
+<p>"Tears of joy ran down my cheeks when J&mdash;&mdash; told me the state of
+your mind, and I thank our good and gracious God for opening your
+eyes to see the vanity of this world, the corruption of your own
+heart, your need of atoning blood, and of a better righteousness
+than your own. Hail, my sister in Jesus; flesh
+<!--Page 134--><a name="P134" id="P134"></a> and blood hath not
+taught you this, but your Father who is in heaven: the work is his,
+evidently his; and being begun, he will carry it on, and finish it
+too. Commit your soul then into his hand; he 'came not to call the
+righteous, but <i>sinners</i> to repentance;' his errand to our
+world was to seek and to save the <i>lost</i>. Trusting in his
+mercy, through Christ, your soul is as safe as his word is true;
+for none perish that trust in him.</p>
+<p>"'Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine
+own understanding;' be not discouraged because of deadness,
+darkness, wandering, want of love, want of spirituality, want of
+any kind. Who told you of these evils and wants? the Sun of
+righteousness shining into your soul has shown you many of the
+evils there, but the half you know not yet. The more you learn of
+the holiness and purity of the divine nature and the spirituality
+of his law, the more you will be dissatisfied with every thing
+yours. Even a holy apostle said, 'In me, that is, in my flesh,' or
+natural mind, dwelleth no good thing. The flesh lusteth against the
+Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so that the things that I
+would, I do not; and the things that I would not, those I do. Yet
+it is not I,' not my new nature, 'but sin that dwelleth in me; for
+to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I
+find not.'</p>
+<p>"If this was the case with the apostle, who sealed his testimony
+with his life, is it strange that you and I should have hearts full
+of all abominable things? These realities are cause of deep
+humility before God, but none of despair or doubt. All are alike
+guilty and vile, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart
+<!--Page 135--><a name="P135" id="P135"></a> unsound; therefore
+we need a whole Christ to atone for our sin, to cover our naked
+souls with his imputed righteousness, and to be surety for us; to
+sanctify us by his Spirit, and prepare us for the purchased
+inheritance. O try to rest in him: believe it, you are complete in
+him; give up, my dear friend, poring over and diving into your own
+heart and frames, and try to trust in an almighty Saviour to save
+you from foes without and foes within. Read Romaine's Walk and Life
+of Faith: he himself attained to a high degree of holiness by
+getting out of himself, and trusting, resting, believing from day
+to day, for grace, for every duty, as it occurred. The promise
+runs, 'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'</p>
+<p>"I cannot at this distance, and knowing nothing of characters,
+offer you any advice with respect to outward means; but if you know
+any truly pious, spiritual minister, I should think it your duty to
+lay open your mind to him. You may find in books matter as good as
+any man living can speak; but it is the Lord's appointed way, and
+he often honors his servants, his ministers, by making them
+messengers of peace and comfort to his children. 'Are any sick, let
+them call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over
+them.' See how the Christians of old associated with one another. I
+am now doubly yours, etc.,</p>
+<p class="right">"I.G."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font> 14, 1797.</p>
+<p>"Eternity seems very near. I have often thought so without any
+visible cause. Well, it will come; a few more rolling years,
+months, weeks, or days will assuredly land me on Canaan's happy
+shore. Then shall I know and enjoy what ear hath not heard, eye
+<!--Page 136--><a name="P136" id="P136"></a> seen, nor heart
+conceived, even the blessedness that is at God's right hand. I have
+desired, though I know not that I have asked, to glorify God on my
+death-bed, and to leave my testimony at the threshold of eternity,
+that not one word of all that my God has promised has failed. He
+has been &mdash; O what has he not been? &mdash; in all my trials,
+all my afflictions, all my temptations, all my wanderings, all my
+backslidings, he has been all that the well-ordered covenant has
+said. Let this Bible tell what God in Christ, by his Spirit and his
+providence, has been to me; and let the same Bible say what he will
+be to me 'when flesh and heart fails;' yea, when 'the place that
+now knows me shall know me no more.' Perhaps when the messenger
+does come I shall not know him, but depart in silence. Well, as the
+Lord wills; he knows best how to glorify himself. Jesus shall trim
+my lamp and perfect his image on my soul, sensible or insensible. I
+shall enter into his presence, washed in his blood, clothed in his
+righteousness, and my sanctification perfected. I shall 'see him as
+he is,' and be like him.</p>
+<p>"Mourn not, my children, but rejoice; gird up the loins of your
+mind,' and set forward on your heavenly journey through this
+wilderness. So far as I have followed Christ, so far follow my
+example; still living on Christ, depending on him for all that is
+promised in the well-ordered covenant. O stumble not into the world
+except when duty calls; at best it is a deadly weight, a great
+hinderance to spiritual-mindedness, and in as far as it gets a
+footing in your heart, it will not only mar your progress, but your
+comfort. Lord, feed my children constantly with 'thy flesh and thy
+blood,' that they may never hunger nor thirst for this world,
+<!--Page 137--><a name="P137" id="P137"></a> but grow in the
+divine life, and in the joy and comfort of the Holy
+Ghost.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">CTOBER</font> 20, 1797.</p>
+<p>"How condescending is our covenant God. All we have or enjoy is
+from his hand; he gave us our being; our lives, although forfeited
+a thousand times, have been preserved. 'Our bread has been given
+us, and our water sure;' and not only these necessaries, but many
+comforts and good temporal things have fallen to our lot; 'thou
+hast furnished our table,' hast provided medicines and cordials
+when sick. Lord, I thank thee for all these mercies, but above all,
+that we can call thee our reconciled Father; that we have them not
+as the world have them, who are far from thee, and have no portion
+among thy children, nor interest in thy well-ordered covenant; but
+that we have them as thy redeemed, as part of covenant provision,
+and with a covenant blessing, and among the <i>all things</i> that
+work together for our good. Lord, enable us to be rich in good
+works. How condescending, that thou acceptest a part of thine own
+as freewill-offerings, and hast annexed promised blessings to those
+who consider the poor; hast said, 'He who giveth to the poor,
+lendeth to the Lord.'</p>
+<p>"I thank thee that thou hast laid to hand a sufficiency to
+enable me and mine to eat our own bread; even that which, according
+to the regulations of society, men call our own. Thou only hast a
+right to call it not so, for we are thine, and all that thou hast
+given us; but of thy free bounty and kind providence, 'thou hast
+enabled us to provide things honest and of good report in the sight
+of all men,' and to give a portion to them who need.</p>
+<!--Page 138--><a name="P138" id="P138"></a>
+<p>"I trust thy Spirit has directed my judgment in the
+determination I have taken to set apart, from time to time, this
+portion, according as thou prosperest us in business, and
+preservest us in health and ability to pursue it. I bless thee for
+indulgent, encouraging appearances, that since I began the practice
+thou hast added to my stock, and that which I have given has never
+straitened, but thou hast prospered me more and more. My poor's
+purse has never been empty when called for, neither has my family
+purse. Of thine own I give thee, and bless thy name for the
+privilege.</p>
+<p>"Grant direction with respect to whom, and how much to
+give."</p>
+<p>The following meditations will afford refreshment to every
+Christian heart:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1797.</p>
+<p>"'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye
+have been taught, abounding there in with thanksgiving.'</p>
+<p>"Yes, just so, and no other way shall any poor corrupted
+creature attain holiness, in the very same manner that he received
+the Lord Jesus at first. He is' the Alpha; and Omega, the first and
+the last, the beginning and the end.'</p>
+<p>"O Lord, my Saviour, my complete Saviour, and in whom I am
+complete, I received thee as my expiatory sacrifice, by whom
+atonement was made for my sins; by whom reconciliation was made; I
+reconciled to God, and God to me. I was then delivered from the
+power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's
+<!--Page 139--><a name="P139" id="P139"></a> dear Son, and have
+redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This
+same blood must cleanse my daily spots, must cleanse my very best
+services; this same blood must cleanse my conscience daily, and
+give me confidence in God, as my reconciled Father. By this same
+peace-speaking blood I daily present myself in his presence, and
+know that he sees no iniquity in me so as to condemn me.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, I receive thee as my justifying righteousness,
+disclaiming all confidence in my own works, throwing them aside as
+filthy rags. I place my sole dependence upon an imputed
+righteousness, <i>that</i> righteousness wrought out by thee as my
+surety, in thy holy, meritorious life and death; believing thy
+testimony, that 'the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
+eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Just so must I go on,
+trusting in, resting upon, rejoicing in the Lord my righteousness.
+By one man's offence many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
+one shall many, and I among others, be made righteous. 'Christ is
+the end of the law for righteousness,' therefore I walk at liberty,
+free from all dread of condemnation. Not as a slave, not as a
+servant, not as a hireling, not as a probationer; but as a child
+and heir of God, to whom the inheritance is made sure. I have
+received the seal of the testament, ratified and made sure by the
+death of the testator. All the blessings contained in this Bible,
+the records of the well-ordered covenant, are mine; and, Oh
+glorious truth, the testator died to ratify and insure this
+testament; but he lives again, the glorious executor.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, I received thee as my king: depending upon promised
+strength, I swore allegiance to thee, <!--Page 140--><a name="P140"
+id="P140"></a> and to thy government. Just so, my dear sovereign
+Master, must I go on: rejoicing in its privileges, subjecting
+myself cheerfully to its restrictions; studying with care its
+positive commands, and setting myself to obey; submitting with
+meekness to its discipline; claiming thy kingly power to subdue the
+corruptions of my heart, to defend from foes within and foes
+without; and when thou callest me to fight, to arm me for battle,
+and lead me on to victory.</p>
+<p>"I received thee as my divine Saviour, as the covenant of the
+people: the covenant arranged, ratified, and fulfilled; to me a
+covenant of free gift. Receiving thee, I received all the promises
+in their fullest extent, as legally made over and confirmed to me
+by the irrevocable gift of Deity: and in thee, as my Saviour,
+dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; yes, dwelleth in
+him for his people, his ransomed; dwelleth in him as our head; we
+are united to him, one with him, as he and the Father are one, and
+being one with him, we are complete in him. He is the head, we the
+members; he is the vine, we the branches; he is the foundation and
+chief corner-stone, we the building. Thus let us walk in him;
+rooted and built up in him; filled with the knowledge of his will,
+in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; walking worthy of the
+Lord, unto all pleasing &mdash; being fruitful in every good work,
+and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all
+might, according to his glorious power; unto all patience and
+long-suffering, with joyfulness; for it is he who worketh in us
+both to will and to do of his good pleasure; and although of
+ourselves we can do nothing, yet we can do all things through
+Christ strengthening us; <!--Page 141--><a name="P141" id=
+"P141"></a> and he has promised, that 'as our days so shall our
+strength be.'</p>
+<p>"It is well, Lord, it is well. Thou art mine, and I am thine:
+thou art mine with all thy fulness, what can I want besides?
+Nothing, Lord. Thou hast given me 'the heritage of those that fear
+thy name;' I am satisfied with my portion. Amen. Be my God and the
+God of my seed, and glorify thy name in us."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">CTOBER</font>, 1797.</p>
+<p>"'Remove far from me vanity and lies,' Psa. 119. Every deviation
+from rectitude and truth is sin. Who that knows any thing of the
+corruption of the human heart, and its strange tendency to stray,
+to err, yea, even to pervert the plainest, simplest, and most
+obvious truths, but must see the propriety of his joining the
+psalmist, and crying out, Lord, remove far from me the way of
+lies.</p>
+<p>"The way of lies as it respects our judgment and sentiments, as
+it respects our motives of action, and as it respects our
+conduct.</p>
+<p>"As it respects our judgment: how does every species of error
+abound; even the serious and earnest seekers of truth differ in
+many things, which, although they may not prevent their final
+salvation, mar their progress in knowledge, in holiness, and in
+comfort. Lord, remove far from us the way of lies. Lead us to the
+pure, unmixed, unerring word of truth, as it respects our
+sentiments, and as it respects our conduct. O how many deceive
+themselves by resting on a speculative knowledge of the truth, or
+what they esteem such, while their hearts remain unaffected, their
+tempers unsanctified, and their lives unfruitful. Passionate,
+stubborn, relentless, unmerciful, implacable
+<!--Page 142--><a name="P142" id="P142"></a> tempers indulged
+and unmortified, must be a way of lies. 'Learn of me,' says the
+Saviour, 'for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
+to your souls.' 'The meek will he guide in judgment,' the meek will
+he teach his way.</p>
+<p>"'Remove far from me the way of lies, and teach me thy law
+graciously.'</p>
+<p>"'Teach me thy law graciously,' not the ceremonial and the moral
+law alone, but the whole of God's revealed will. The psalmist knew
+the law ceremonial and moral, but he wants more and more of the
+teaching of the Spirit of God. 'He,' the Spirit of truth, 'shall
+take of mine, and show it unto you.' The word of God is ever the
+same; it contains the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; every
+thing necessary to safety, to holiness, and happiness: but O, the
+difference between him who reads with a mind enlightened by the
+Spirit of God, and him who reads with no other assistance than his
+own poor blinded, darkened reason. Teach me then thy law
+graciously. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I
+shall have learned thy judgments. 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may
+behold wondrous things out of thy law.' The psalmist thirsted after
+more and more extensive views of the word of God, and still as his
+views were enlarged he desired more. 'The earth is full of thy
+mercy,' verse 64; this was one lesson, but still he cries, 'Teach
+me thy statutes. Thou hast dealt bountifully with me, O Lord,
+according to thy word.' Still he cries, 'Teach me good judgment and
+knowledge. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
+might learn thy statutes.'"</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 143--><a name="P143" id="P143"></a>
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">CTOBER</font>, 1797.</p>
+<p>"I love to feel the kindlings of repentance, self-loathing under
+a sense of ingratitude, heart-melting with the view of pardoning
+grace. I love to feel the sprinkling of my Redeemer's blood on my
+conscience, drawing forth the tears of joy and gratitude in the
+view of a free pardon. I love to dwell on the seal of
+reconciliation, while my heart, glowing with gratitude, sinks into
+the arms of my redeeming Lord, in full confidence of his love and
+my safety for ever. I love to feel longings after closer communion,
+after more conformity to his image, more usefulness to my
+fellow-members of the body of Christ, and to all his creatures. I
+love to feel deeply interested in the success of the gospel, in the
+declarative glory of Jehovah, as manifested in his works of
+creation and providence, but chiefly in the superexcellent work of
+redemption: for 'thou hast magnified thy word above all thy
+name.'"</p>
+<!--Page 144--><a name="P144" id="P144"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+<h4>FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY &mdash; CLOSE OF HER
+SCHOOL.</h4>
+<p>I<font size="-1">N</font> November, 1797, the "Society for the
+Relief of Poor Widows with small Children" was instituted at New
+York; a society which has risen into great respectability, and has
+been productive of very beneficent effects. The Lord, in his
+merciful providence, prepared this institution, to grant relief to
+the many bereaved families who were left widows and orphans by the
+ravages of the yellow-fever in the years 1798 and 1799.</p>
+<p>It took its rise from an apparently adventitious circumstance.
+Mr. B&mdash;&mdash;, in the year 1796, was one of the distributing managers
+of the St. Andrew's Society. The distribution of this charity was
+of course limited to a certain description of applicants. Mrs.
+B&mdash;&mdash;, interested for widows not entitled to share in the bounty of
+the St. Andrew's Society, frequently collected small sums for their
+relief. She consulted with a few friends on the propriety of
+establishing a female society for the relief of poor widows with
+small children, without limitation. Invitations in the form of
+circular letters were sent to the ladies of New York, and a very
+respectable number assembled at the house of Mrs. Graham. The
+proposed plan was approved, and a society organized. Mrs. Graham
+was elected first directress, which office she held for ten
+years.</p>
+<p>At the semiannual meeting in March, 1798, Mrs.
+<!--Page 145--><a name="P145" id="P145"></a> Graham made a very
+pleasing report of the proceedings of the Managers, and of the
+amount of relief afforded to the poor. The ladies of New York truly
+honored themselves and religion by their zeal in this benevolent
+undertaking, in reference to which Mrs. Graham says, in a letter to
+her friend Mrs. Walker:</p>
+<p>"I mentioned in my last that we had planned a society for the
+relief of poor widows with small children: the success has been
+beyond our most sanguine expectations. We have now a hundred and
+ninety subscribers, at three dollars a year, and nearly a thousand
+dollars in donations. We have spent three hundred dollars this
+winter, and nearly all upon worthy objects. The poor increase fast:
+emigrants from all quarters flock to us, and when they come they
+must not be allowed to die for want. There are eight hundred in the
+almshouse, and our society has helped along many, with their own
+industry, that must otherwise have been there. The French, poor
+things, are also starving among us; it would need a stout heart to
+lay up in these times."</p>
+<p>In the same letter she informs her of the first monthly
+missionary prayer-meeting known to have been held in the city of
+New York.</p>
+<p>"The second Wednesday in February we commenced our first monthly
+meeting for prayer for the Lord's blessing on ours, and all the
+missionary societies. It was far from full; but we must be thankful
+for the day of small things, and pray, and wait, and hope. The
+Dutch churches, the Baptist and Presbyterian have united so far as
+to officiate in each other's <!--Page 146--><a name="P146" id=
+"P146"></a> churches; they have collected about seventeen
+hundred dollars, and are looking out for two missionaries to send
+among the Indians, or to the frontiers."</p>
+<p>A few months later we find the following letter to a young man
+on his joining the church:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">EPTEMBER</font>, 1798.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR YOUNG</font> F<font size=
+"-1">RIEND</font> &mdash; You have now ratified in a public manner
+that transaction which, no doubt, passed previously in private
+between you and your God. You have declared your belief of the
+gospel, and have taken hold of God's covenant of promise. You have
+fallen in with his own plan, which he has appointed for the
+salvation of guilty sinners; and rested your soul upon his word of
+promise that you shall be saved. You have, at the same time,
+dedicated and devoted your soul, your body, your time, your
+talents, your substance, your influence, all that you are and have,
+to be disposed of at his pleasure, and for his glory, in the world.
+You are no longer your own. You are bought with a price, adopted
+into the family of God, numbered with and entitled to all the
+privileges of his children. Your motives of action, your views,
+your interests, are all different from those of the worldling.
+Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, your aim must be, and
+will be, to do all to his glory. This must go with you, and be your
+ruling principle in all the walks of life. By your integrity,
+uprightness, diligence, and disinterested attention to the interest
+of your employers, you will glorify God and have his presence with
+you in business. By a due and marked observance of the Sabbath, and
+attendance on the ordinances, you will <!--Page 147--><a name=
+"P147" id="P147"></a> glorify him. By regularity, order, and
+temperance, crowned with an open acknowledgment of God before all
+who may surround your board, you will glorify him in an especial
+manner in these days of degeneracy, and, crowned with family
+worship, you will glorify him, and his presence will be with you,
+and great will be your comfort. God's interest in the world must
+also be yours. The good of his church in general, and that of your
+own family in particular; and O, my son, if you would be rich in
+comfort, follow the Lord fully, and follow him openly; and if you
+would do it so as to suffer the least from the sneer of the world,
+do it at once.</p>
+<p>"Already you have received congratulations on your joining the
+church, by those belonging to it; soon will it be known to those
+who will scoff at it. But Christians and worldlings will look for
+consistency; and if it be wanting, the last will be the first to
+mark it. A decided character will soon deliver you from all
+solicitations to what may be even unseemly, and dignified
+consistent conduct will command respect. Not but the Lord may let
+loose upon you the persecuting sneer and banter of the wise of this
+world, whose esteem you wish to preserve; but, if he do, the trial
+will be particular, and he will support you under it, and bring his
+glory and your good out of it.</p>
+<p>"And now, my son, suffer the word of exhortation. You have
+entered the school of Christ, and have much to learn, far beyond
+what men or books can of themselves teach, and you have much to
+receive on divine credit, beyond what human reason can
+comprehend.</p>
+<!--Page 148--><a name="P148" id="P148"></a>
+<p>"I would recommend to you to read carefully, and pause as you
+read, and pray as you read for the teaching of the Spirit, the
+epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. Read it first without any
+commentary, and read it as addressed to you, S&mdash;&mdash; A&mdash;&mdash;. You will
+there find what may in part stagger your reason; you will find what
+far surpasses your comprehension; but yet read on, with conscious
+weakness, and ignorance, and absolute dependence on divine
+teaching. When you have read it through, then take Brown's or
+Henry's exposition of it.</p>
+<p>"A degree of mystery, my son, runs through the whole of God's
+revealed word; but it is <i>his</i>, and to be received with
+reverence, and believed with confidence, because it is <i>his</i>.
+It is to be searched with diligence, and compared; and, by God's
+teaching and the assistance of his sent servants, the child of God
+becomes mighty in the Scriptures. Let not mystery stagger you: we
+are surrounded with mysteries; we ourselves are mysteries
+inexplicable: nor let the doctrine of election stagger you; how
+small a part of God's ways do we know, or can comprehend! rejoice
+that he has given you the heritage of his people &mdash; leave the
+rest to him: 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'</p>
+<p>"Jesus took once a little child and set him in the midst of the
+people, and said, 'Except ye be converted, and become as little
+children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,' intimating with
+what simplicity and docility men ought to receive the gospel; and
+the following text also alludes to this: 'Suffer little children to
+come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
+heaven.' There are many <!--Page 149--><a name="P149" id=
+"P149"></a> promises made to the diligent searchers after truth:
+'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.' 'The secret
+of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his
+covenant.' Yet the highly enlightened Paul calls the gospel a
+mystery, and godliness a mystery; 'for now we see through a glass
+darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then,' in
+heaven, 'shall I know even as also I am known.' Therefore, while
+you use all diligence, accompanied with prayer and the expositions
+of God's faithful ministers, to understand every part of divine
+revelation, be neither surprised nor disheartened at the want of
+comprehension, far less attempt to reduce it to human reason, as
+many have done to their ruin. The Scripture says, 'Vain man would
+be wise, though born like the wild ass's colt.' 'The wisdom of this
+world is foolishness with God.'</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>Again we have the following merited strictures by one taught
+from above, on a passage in Pope's Essay on Man.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1798.</p>
+<p class="center"><font size="-1">"'Glows in the stars and blossoms
+in the trees.'</font></p>
+<p>"There the poet must stop: thus far the natural mind, richly
+endowed with human powers, can go and trace a God of power, wisdom,
+and beneficence: O that thou hadst had eyes to see, and discern
+what flesh and blood could never reach; that all these glories
+dwindle into tapers, when compared with Jehovah manifested in the
+face of Jesus Christ. Every star, every tree, all vegetating,
+bursting, blooming life, answer the end of their creation,
+manifesting his glory as thou sayest; but can they tell thee how
+this <!--Page 150--><a name="P150" id="P150"></a> God can be
+just, and yet justify those who have rebelled against all his
+attributes; torturing even his fair and beautiful creation, and
+bringing it into subjection to their lusts, as thou hast well sung;
+murmuring at, and rebelling against his dispensations in
+providence; hardening themselves against his government; perverting
+every good to their own misery, and imbibing wretchedness from
+means of blessedness? Can all that thou hast sung bring into
+congeniality perfection of wickedness and perfection of holiness,
+perfection of wretchedness and perfection of happiness, perfect
+opposition in nature and principle? Here thy song stops short. Thou
+seest the evils and the misery; thou hast a glimpse of an opposite
+good, but all means proposed by thee ever have proved, and ever
+will prove inadequate to the attainment of it: the very attributes
+of a just and holy God oppose it: heaven and earth must stand
+amazed at the declaration that God would justify the ungodly."</p>
+<p>In the month of September, 1798, Mrs. Graham's daughter Isabella
+was married to Mr. Andrew Smith, merchant, then of New York. Her
+family being thus settled to her satisfaction, and her health not
+good, she was prevailed upon to retire from her school, and to live
+with her children.</p>
+<p>During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1798, it was with
+much difficulty Mrs. Graham was dissuaded from going into the city
+to attend on the sick: the fear of involving her children in the
+same calamity, in the event of her being attacked by the fever, was
+the chief reason of her acquiescing in their wish to prevent so
+hazardous an undertaking. During <!--Page 151--><a name="P151" id=
+"P151"></a> the subsequent winter she was indefatigable in her
+attentions to the poor, she exerted herself to procure work for her
+widows, and occupied much of her time in cutting it out and
+preparing it for them. The managers of the Widows' Society had each
+a separate district; and Mrs. Graham, as first Directress, had a
+general superintendence of the whole. She was so happy in the
+execution of her trust, as to acquire the respect and confidence of
+the ladies who acted with her, as well as the affections of the
+poor.</p>
+<p>Her whole time was now at her command, and she devoted it very
+faithfully to promote the benevolent object of the institution over
+which she presided. The extent of her exertions, however, became
+known, not from the information given by herself, but from the
+observations of her fellow-laborers, and especially from the
+testimony of the poor themselves. When she had been absent for some
+weeks, on a visit to her friends in Boston, in the summer of 1800,
+her daughter, Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, was surprised at the frequent inquiries
+made after her by persons with whom she was unacquainted: at length
+she asked some of those inquirers what they knew about Mrs. Graham.
+They replied, "We live in the suburbs of the city, where she used
+to visit, relieve, and comfort the poor. We had missed her so long,
+that we were afraid she had been sick; when she walked in our
+streets, it was customary with us to come to the door and receive
+her blessing as she passed."</p>
+<p>We next find letters to her female friend near Boston, who was
+still in much spiritual darkness and despondency.</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 152--><a name="P152" id="P152"></a>
+<p class="center">To Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;, near Boston.</p>
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">ARCH</font>, 1799.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y EVER DEAR</font> F<font size=
+"-1">RIEND</font> &mdash; I have just read your letter, painful to
+you to write, but to me as the mother's anguish which precedes her
+joy. The day will soon break, and the shadows flee away; and the
+dear Saviour whom you seek, will again comfort his returning
+prodigal.</p>
+<p>"I will do what you desire me, and though I have the highest
+opinion of our young Timothy, J.M., I will pass by him in this
+case, and lay it before one of the aged Christians, Dr. R&mdash;&mdash;rs or
+Dr. L&mdash;&mdash;n; at the same time, my friend, I am as sure of their
+answer as if I were already in possession of it. Who told my friend
+that she was blind, and miserable, and wretched, and naked? Flesh
+and blood never yet taught proud man or woman this lesson.</p>
+<p>"My dear friend, there is nothing new nor strange in all you
+have told me: there is scarce a heaven-taught soul, who has made
+any advances in the spiritual warfare, but could sympathize with
+you from experience. What have you experienced more than the
+Scriptures tell us: that 'the heart is deceitful above all things,
+and desperately wicked?' Only the Lord can search it, only he can
+cleanse it. He takes the prerogative to himself, and he calls it
+his covenant that he will make with sinners in gospel times. You
+may strive and fight, and resolve and vow &mdash; all will not do:
+you lie at his mercy for holiness as well as pardon. He is exalted
+as a Prince to give repentance, and he is the author and finisher
+of faith. He works all our works in us, and without him we are not
+equal to one good thought. We are his workmanship, 'created
+<!--Page 153--><a name="P153" id="P153"></a> anew in Christ
+Jesus,' My dear friend, put the work into his hand, and try to wait
+on him in hope &mdash; hope in every situation; do more, trust.</p>
+<p>"You entirely mistake the situation of others; none of us have
+our heaven here: no, sin dwelleth in us; the very best have their
+ups and downs. Do you think your friend is always on the mount?
+very far from it. I am at times so cold, so dead, so stupid, that I
+can neither pray, read, nor hear. I have begun the same chapter
+over and over, still trying to fix my thoughts, and as often they
+wander on every trifle; but my peace lies where you will soon learn
+to place yours, in the merits of my almighty Saviour. My safety
+depends not on my frames, but his promise and when tossed and
+tempted, dead and lifeless, emptied of every good, perhaps buffeted
+like you with abominable thoughts, the fiery darts of Satan,
+casting all on Him, I am safe as when basking in the sunshine of
+his love, and tasting what you have tasted: for you have tasted,
+and you shall yet taste the joys of his salvation. I too have
+proved false to his covenant, have gone off with the world, and
+been intoxicated with its vanities and empty delights, and have
+laid up for myself seasons of deep remorse; my sins have often
+separated between my God and me, especially in my younger days; the
+Lord calls to watchfulness and diligence in the use of means, and
+he generally honors these means, of his own appointing, with his
+blessing. When we either trust to these means, and fancy merit in
+them, or neglect to use them as his appointment, he generally makes
+us feel our error, but he does not cast us out of his family; he
+chastens us, and restores us.</p>
+<!--Page 154--><a name="P154" id="P154"></a>
+<p>"I write hastily, just to say that you have my sympathy and my
+love; for well I know, the almighty Lord alone can loose your
+bonds, and give you 'joy and peace in believing.' All my advice may
+be summed up in this &mdash; trust in the Lord with all your heart;
+at least aim at this; I say, aim at it, for this too must be given
+you. Roll yourself, your doubts, your fears, your sins, your
+duties, all on him: say, 'Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.'
+He is an almighty Saviour to deliver sinners from sin as well as
+from punishment. I leave you on the Father of mercies, and will,
+when the Lord enables, pray for you.</p>
+<p class="right">"Yours, etc."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p>"At last, my dear friend, the Lord appears; appears the Bible
+God &mdash; 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
+abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
+forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.'</p>
+<p>"When was it that the Lord proclaimed this, and took unto
+himself this name? After Israel, his chosen, had been guilty of
+that awful sin in the wilderness, of making the golden calf, and
+proclaiming, 'These be thy gods, O Israel:' David takes it up in
+the 103d Psalm, 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
+and plenteous in mercy.' Read on, my dear, then turn to the 130th.
+This God is your God, and has long been your God; his work was upon
+your heart, though you could not discern it. In bondage you have
+long been, but not a willing captive; unbelief kept you in bondage,
+long, long after your eyes were opened to see your bondage; and
+even to discern, in some feeble measure, your remedy.</p>
+<!--Page 155--><a name="P155" id="P155"></a>
+<p>"The Lord has wise reasons for all you have suffered: if not
+now, you shall in some after-time 'know and consider all the way by
+which he has led you, to prove you, to try you, and show you what
+was in your heart, that he might do you good in your latter end.'
+You did not wait patiently for the Lord your God; you did not in
+general say, 'Though he slay me, I will trust in him:' no, my
+friend has been a great unbeliever, yet hath the Lord, the
+sovereign Lord, 'whose ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts
+as our thoughts,' brought you out of 'a fearful pit, and out of the
+miry clay; set your feet upon a rock, and established your goings;
+put a new song into your mouth, even praise unto our God.' Now you
+sing the 34th Psalm. I do rejoice with my friend; I bless the Lord
+with her; let us exalt his name together. It is establishing to my
+own soul. I have long prayed, and long looked for this: I lived in
+the faith of it, assured that He who had begun the good work, would
+perfect it in his own time.</p>
+<p>"I cannot but regret your want of pastoral food; yet ought I to
+regret any thing? The Lord himself is your Shepherd. My Bible lies
+on my lap, and I had turned to the 34th Psalm, to know if it
+contained what I would point out to you: on finishing the last
+verse, I unconsciously turned my eye on the Bible; the words that
+met it were, 'I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way that
+thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.' Psa. 32:8. And so
+it shall be. Amen, my God, Amen. Do as thou hast said.</p>
+<p>"Perhaps, my friend, by this time your notes are lowered. It has
+pleased the Lord to give you a strange sight: Mary Magdalene, a
+great sinner at the feet of <!--Page 156--><a name="P156" id=
+"P156"></a> Jesus, pardoned, comforted, and highly honored in
+after-life.</p>
+<p>"This history, accompanied by the Spirit of God, has consoled,
+strengthened, and raised up many bowed down since that day, many
+now around the throne, who sing of pardoning love.</p>
+<p>"I now wish to say, hold fast the beginning of your confidence.
+Your experience is that of God's people. To rejoice in the Lord at
+all times is your privilege, but will not be always your
+attainment. The Lord has done great things for you, whereof I am
+glad; but, my dear friend, the warfare is not over: you must endure
+trials as others; engage with 'principalities and powers, and
+spiritual wickedness in high places,' and, worst of all, a
+treacherous heart within; which, for all that it has seen and
+tasted, is yet corrupt and deceitful. The new life which Christ
+gives to the soul, evidences itself in the desires of the heart and
+affections. As certainly as the new-born babe desires the breast,
+as certainly and as evidently does the new-born soul desire union
+to God, communion with him, and conformity to him in heart, life,
+and conversation. This principle is in its own nature perfectly
+pure, but the old nature, the law in the spiritual members, is as
+perfectly corrupt: 'in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.'</p>
+<p>"In the order of God's covenant it has not pleased him to
+deliver even believers, all at once, from sinful inclinations and
+passions; he has provided for their final complete deliverance, and
+sin shall not have dominion over them even here; but it is still in
+them while in the body, and a dying body; and the remains of sin in
+the soul make the believer's life a warfare, and this
+<!--Page 157--><a name="P157" id="P157"></a> world a wilderness;
+soul and body are diseased; both are redeemed, and provision made
+for the entire deliverance of both &mdash; for the soul at death,
+for the body at the resurrection; but while in the body, 'if any
+man say he has no sin, he deceiveth himself, and the truth is not
+in him.' 1&nbsp;John, 1:8. Look at Paul's experience &mdash; what
+does he say of the believer's state? He calls it a warfare, a
+fight, a captivity for a time: see 1&nbsp;Tim. 6:12; 1&nbsp;Cor.
+9:26.</p>
+<p>"I write not thus to dishearten you, but as a friend I warn you,
+lest you fall again into unbelief. Look not within for comfort, for
+consolation, for confidence. Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness, his blood the atonement, and you are complete in
+him, his grace is sufficient for you, his strength shall be
+perfected in your weakness, and you shall go on. Grieve for sin you
+will, grieve you ought; but keep ever in your remembrance
+1&nbsp;John, 2:1, and 5:11.</p>
+<p class="right">"Yours, etc."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">ANUARY</font> 14, 1800.</p>
+<p>"My dear friend says, 'O that I could have the society of some
+aged pious clergyman or Christian, who had gone through his
+warfare.' O that you could, in the Lord's hand. I hope it might do
+you good: yet, after all, the Lord himself must loose your bonds;
+aye, and he will, and also appoint the means.</p>
+<p>"There are two kinds of rest awaiting you, the one in this life,
+the other will not be attained till the mortal shall put on
+immortality. When was it that Paul, the great apostle, could say he
+had fought the good fight? Not till he could also say he had
+finished his course, and was ready to be offered up; till then, he
+like others <!--Page 158--><a name="P158" id="P158"></a> had to
+continue the warfare between grace and corruption; like others,
+found a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, so
+that the thing that he would, he did not, and that which he would
+not, that he did. Notwithstanding this, there is a blessed rest
+attainable here, rest from the fear of wrath and hell &mdash; a
+rest in Christ as our atonement, our surety, our complete
+righteousness, our title to eternal life, and all the grace
+necessary to fit us for it. This is the work of faith, or rather,
+this is faith itself. The soul established in this can rest in all
+possible circumstances; it depends not on its frames: in darkness,
+when it is tossed, tempted, wandering, conscious of unhallowed
+tempers, perhaps of the actual commission of sin, though at such
+times the warfare between grace and corruption is so strong as to
+make the Christian exclaim, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall
+deliver me from this body of sin and death?' he can still say, 'The
+Lord lives, blessed be my Rock;' see the 42d and 43d Psalms. The
+Christian can still say, my Lord and my God; he is sure the
+conflict will end, and that his God will bring good out of it; he
+enjoys hope; he feels his state as safe as in the most enlarged
+frame of mind, when he can pray, praise, love, rejoice. This is a
+riddle which only Christians can understand, and even they require
+many lessons to comprehend it, many more to practise.</p>
+<p>"Have you Newton's letters? See his second letter in
+Cardiphonia. O try to fix your anchor of hope on that sure
+foundation which God has laid in Zion, Christ himself. Trust him to
+save you from every evil without you and within you. When your own
+weakness sinks you, try to be strong in his strength;
+<!--Page 159--><a name="P159" id="P159"></a> when guilt
+disturbs, wash in the open Fountain. But hold fast the beginning of
+your confidence unto the end.</p>
+<p>"Be comforted, fight on, aim at trusting, and you shall, in the
+Lord's time, also, cease from your own works, and rest, with more
+advanced Christians, on the faithfulness of your own God in Christ.
+See Hebrews 4:9, also chap. 12 throughout. I finish with chap.
+13:20, 21, my earnest prayer and sure hope for you, my precious
+friend.</p>
+<p class="right">Yours, etc."</p>
+<p>Writing to her brother Dr. Marshall, she alludes to the
+prevalent neglect of the voice of God in his judgments, and notices
+the death of Washington.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, March 3, 1800.</p>
+<p>"Here comes a letter of woe from my dear brother, on a subject
+almost already forgotten in New York, the yellow-fever. Strange as
+it may seem, the disease, and all that it carried off, seem
+entirely out of mind. No mention made of the past, no apprehensions
+for the future. Country retreats are multiplying around, and people
+appear as if they had made a covenant with death. Potter's Field is
+filled with our principal citizens; the prison and prison limits
+with many of the survivors. The rest are <i>feasting</i>,
+<i>dancing,</i> and <i>revelling</i>, or weeping over feigned woe
+in the theatre &mdash; a few excepted, who have fled for refuge to
+the hope set before them, whose eyes have been opened to discern
+the danger and accept the offered Saviour: among which number, I
+dare, through grace, reckon your sister and her children. 'Bless
+the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.'</p>
+<p>"The city, indeed the United States, have been
+<!--Page 160--><a name="P160" id="P160"></a> swallowed up in the
+loss of Washington. The utmost stretch of human eloquence has been
+called forth in panegyric. His eulogium has been sounded in every
+possible mode &mdash; not excepting our pulpits. The 22d of
+February, his birthday, was set apart to his memory. Two of our
+ministers were appointed to pronounce an eulogium on his character:
+one of whom was Dr. Mason, the other Dr. Linn. The last I admired;
+it had its due influence over me; but of my own minister I could
+form no judgment: the church, the pulpit, the man, the words,
+seemed so connected with the 'Lord Jesus Christ,' his favorite
+theme, I could not realize the <i>mere</i> orator.</p>
+<p>"Great things were said of Washington, and they were due.</p>
+<p>"The Lord himself called him by name, girded him, subdued great
+armies before him, with handfuls, like Gideon. He gave him wisdom
+in counsel, and prudence in executing justice. A nation blessed him
+while he lived, and with all the power of language lamented his
+death. Ah, human depravity, how striking. Bursting with gratitude
+to a creature &mdash; with enmity to a Saviour God; to God, who 'so
+loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
+believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; and
+to as many as receive him gives power to become the sons of God,'
+by putting his Spirit within them, and causing them to love and
+walk in his statutes. But alas, the carnal unrenewed mind is enmity
+against God and his Christ. O that men were wise, and could see
+their disease, and the remedy.</p>
+<p>"What misery is in the world at this day. It is only equalled by
+the wickedness. How does potsherd <!--Page 161--><a name="P161" id=
+"P161"></a> dash against potsherd, mutually destroying each
+other. How consoling to the Christian 'that the Lord reigns. The
+Lord sits King among the nations,' even our own Jesus, 'Head over
+all principalities and powers, and dominions, and every name that
+is named in heaven and in earth;' all these shakings, turnings, and
+overturnings, shall prove subservient to the real prosperity of his
+church."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1800.</p>
+<p>"I have entered into my closet; I have shut my door; I would
+pray to my Father who is in secret; I would be shut up with my
+indwelling God; but see the crowds that follow; see my treacherous
+heart that gives them admission; see my unsanctified imagination
+going off with them, leaving nothing before thee but a lifeless
+lump of clay. Help, Lord. Hast thou not redeemed me from vain
+imaginations? Lord, fill all thy temple; cast out the buyers and
+sellers; thyself prepare room for close, undisturbed, holy
+conference. Grant that, according to the riches of thy glory, I may
+be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in the inner man: dwell in
+my heart by faith, that 'rooted and grounded in love, I may be able
+to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and
+height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth
+knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God.' Give unto
+thy redeemed servant the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Reveal
+thyself more and more in my soul; enlighten the eyes of my
+understanding. Lord, improve, enlarge the powers of the new man.
+Spirit of the Father and of the Son, do thine office; take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto me; that I may know what is the
+hope of his calling, and what <!--Page 162--><a name="P162" id=
+"P162"></a> the 'riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
+saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward
+who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he
+wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at
+the Father's right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all
+principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and every name
+that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
+come; and hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be
+the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
+fulness of him that filleth all in all.' Filled with all the
+fulness of God; 'the fulness of him who filleth all in all!' O what
+things are these. My soul stretches to comprehend; but, weak and
+feeble, cannot climb those glorious heights, nor dig into these, to
+me, unsearchable depths. I can only spell after the language of the
+Holy Ghost, lisp out his own words. I dare not trust my powers of
+comprehension to vary even the mode of expression.</p>
+<p>"Well, it may be best for me; the valley of humility may be
+safest for me. 'Father, glorify thy name.' Thou hast quickened me;
+I am not what I was. Thou hast wrought in me a measure of faith and
+love; thou hast sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise; thou
+hast given me the earnest of my inheritance; the full possession
+shall come in thy appointed time. Wherefore I will sing unto Him
+that is able, and will do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask,
+think, or comprehend, according to that same mighty power that
+worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus,
+throughout all ages, world without end.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<!--Page 163--><a name="P163" id="P163"></a>
+<p>"My covenant God, and the God of my house. Thy Spirit saith, 'If
+any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.' Thou knowest the
+difficulty and danger of the present case. We are ignorant of
+hidden motions and principles, of Satan's suggestions, of
+corresponding or discordant circumstances, of future providences
+and events. Lord, give counsel.</p>
+<p>"If information and advice be duty on the part of thy servant,
+determine on the side of duty, be the danger what it may; and Oh,
+search, try, and deliver from every selfish or hidden impure
+motive. Give prudence in the choice of words, in the time and
+manner as well as purity in the matter. Save from injuring any of
+the individuals concerned. And Oh, prepare the heart of thy other
+servant to receive this office of friendship with a proper degree
+of confidence. Save from unjust suspicions, that it may be taken as
+meant in love, in Christian love and friendship.</p>
+<p>"O thou who knowest all hearts, all motives, all circumstances
+past, present, and future, overrule for the manifestation of truth,
+for the safety and good of thy servant, and for the closer union of
+all concerned in the bands of Christian love, confidence, and
+affection; and as our covenant God, in whom we trust for guidance
+in every path of duty, glorify thy name.</p>
+<p>"I record this prayer in faith, and wait an answer of peace from
+thy inward teaching and manifestation in the course of thy
+providence.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1800.</p>
+<p>"'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as
+long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall
+call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
+alone <!--Page 164--><a name="P164" id="P164"></a> doeth
+wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let
+the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.' Psalm
+72:17.</p>
+<p>"Again have I and my children been fed with Christ's flesh and
+his blood at his own table. Glorious things are said of thee, thou
+city of our God; and rich the provision of the house of our God;
+wonderful the scheme that hath made sinful, guilty, rebel sinners
+the citizens of this holy city, inhabitants of this holy house.
+Mysterious truth. The city itself the house of God; the temple of
+the Lord, in which he delighteth to dwell. Closer yet, more
+mysterious, yet equally true, 'his body, his flesh, and his bones;'
+closer still, one Spirit with him. As Mediator Emmanuel, he is the
+bond of union, whereby the guilty sons and daughters of Adam are
+made one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.</p>
+<p>"Wonderfully and fearfully are we made as creatures: as a
+rational creature, who can understand and comprehend himself; how
+these members were fashioned; how this spark of vital flame was
+breathed into the lifeless lump or atom? Wonder-working Lord, thou
+only knowest. Wonderful are all the works of creation; but Oh, what
+are they to thy work of redemption? To bring worlds out of nothing,
+to bring light out of darkness, was thy easy work; but to bring
+good out of evil, this, this was the wonder. Thousands and ten
+thousands of worlds were, and may yet be created without cost. God
+says, Let it <i>be</i>, and it is; but redemption! O, who can tell
+the cost? Blessed Jesus, God manifested in the flesh; Christ, babe
+of Bethlehem &mdash; man of sorrows &mdash; victim on the cross;
+thou only canst tell. 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
+<!--Page 165--><a name="P165" id="P165"></a> who alone doeth
+wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name for ever!'
+Whatever the cost, <i>it is finished</i>. He bowed his head and
+said, 'It is finished!' This finished work is the new testament
+which he bequeathed to his disciples 'the same night in which he
+was betrayed,' when he took bread, blessed it, brake it, gave it to
+his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body broken for you;
+and took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
+Drink ye all of it; for this is the new testament in my blood,
+which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.</p>
+<p>"The new testament! O, who can tell the blessings and benefits
+contained in this testament, this dying legacy of our dear
+Emmanuel, purchased and sealed with his blood! What is the amount
+of it? What the sum of blessings contained in it? Behold, God is
+become our salvation. This is the amount. God himself, God in
+Christ reconciling us unto himself: by his mighty power subduing
+the enmity that is in us; melting our flinty hearts; drawing us
+with the cords of love; creating us anew after his own image, which
+we had totally lost; uniting us to himself, even <i>us</i>, who
+were enmity itself, but now are become one with God, who is love.
+This is the work we have this day been celebrating: a given, a
+born, a living, a suffering, dying, risen, ascended, glorified,
+reigning Saviour. The Lord of hosts, the King of kings, the
+Almighty God dwelling with men, dwelling in men, and feeding them
+with his own body and blood. 'Behold, God is become our salvation;
+we will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is our
+strength and our song; he also is become our salvation, therefore
+with joy <!--Page 166--><a name="P166" id="P166"></a> will we
+draw water out of the wells of salvation.' His attributes are the
+never-failing source; his ordinances the wells of salvation. God
+himself is ours, all that he is is ours, to bless and to make us
+happy. Ten thousand springs issue from this blessed source,
+specified and particularized in his Bible, experienced and
+celebrated by his saints. Let us drink and be refreshed, rejoice
+and praise: for Oh, who can tell the amount of our riches, in
+having God for our portion? All things are ours, we are Christ's,
+and Christ is God's."</p>
+<p>The Widows' Society met monthly, when the money in the treasury
+was divided among the managers, for the relief of the widows under
+their care. Mrs. Graham, as directress, thus acknowledges God and
+asks his counsel:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1800.</p>
+<p>"O my God, I account it an honorable office thou hast given me.
+I have received it from thee. Enable me to execute it to thee.</p>
+<p>"Father of the fatherless, husband of the widow, make me a fit
+instrument in thy hand of distributing thy bounty. Give discernment
+and judgment, tenderness, gentleness, humility, and love; let love
+to thee be the principle of my every action; lead me in the
+straight path of duty; on the matter, the manner, the time, let
+'holiness to the Lord' be written. I thank thee for this sum
+towards the relief of thy creatures; be with us this evening, and
+direct our determination as to the division of it.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<!--Page 167--><a name="P167" id="P167"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+<h4>BENEVOLENT LABORS &mdash; MRS.&nbsp;HOFFMAN &mdash;
+CORRESPONDENCE.</h4>
+<br />
+<p>T<font size="-1">HE</font> "Society for the relief of Poor
+Widows with small Children," having received a charter of
+incorporation, and some pecuniary aid from the Legislature of the
+state, the ladies who constituted the board of direction were
+engaged in plans for extending their usefulness: Mrs. Graham took
+an active part in executing these plans. The Society purchased a
+small house, where they received work of various kinds for the
+employment of their widows. They opened a school for the
+instruction of their orphans, and many of Mrs. Graham's former
+pupils volunteered their services, taking upon themselves, by
+rotation, the part of instructors. Besides establishing this
+school, Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows best qualified for
+the task, and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day
+schools for the instruction of the children of widows in distant
+parts of the city: she also established two Sabbath-schools, one of
+which she superintended herself, and the other she placed under the
+care of her daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in
+poverty, she visited and comforted them; and in some instances,
+opened small subscription lists to provide for their support.</p>
+<p>She attended occasionally for some years at the almshouse, for
+the instruction of the children there in religious knowledge: in
+this work she was much assisted by an humble and pious female
+friend, who <!--Page 168--><a name="P168" id="P168"></a> was
+seldom absent from it on the Lord's day. In short, her whole time
+was occupied in searching out the distresses of the poor, and
+devising measures to comfort and establish them to the extent of
+her influence and means. At the same time, far from arrogating any
+merit to herself, she seemed always to feel how much she was
+deficient in following fully the precepts and the footsteps of her
+beloved Lord and Saviour, who "went about doing good."</p>
+<p>It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, taking
+with her a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about
+eight o'clock. Her only dinner on such days was her bread, and
+perhaps some soup at the soup-house, established by the Humane
+Society for the poor, over which one of her widows had been, at her
+recommendation, appointed. She and her venerable companion, Mrs.
+Sarah Hoffman, second directress of the Widows' Society, travelled
+many a day and many a step together in the walks of charity. Mrs.
+Graham was a Presbyterian, Mrs. Hoffman an Episcopalian. Those
+barriers, of which such an unhappy use has been made by sectarians
+to separate the children of God, fell down between these two
+friends at the cry of affliction, and were consumed on the altar of
+Christian love. Arm in arm, and heart to heart, they visited the
+abodes of distress, dispensing temporal aid from the purse of
+charity, and spiritual comfort from the word of life.</p>
+<p>At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to
+the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers
+through the preceding year.</p>
+<p>In April, 1800, she stated that "again the pestilence had
+emptied the city; again every source of industry
+<!--Page 169--><a name="P169" id="P169"></a> was dried up; even
+the streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those
+storehouses, from which relief was issued to thousands in former
+calamities, now disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the
+pestilence were ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had
+no friends in the country, under whose roof they might for a time
+seek shelter, were shut up to the only relief within their power,
+even to that society which had formerly saved them in many a
+strait. They came, were received with tenderness, assisted with,
+food, advice, and medicine.</p>
+<p>"Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives,
+remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One
+hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children,
+under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have,
+from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved.
+Widow is a word of sorrow in the best of circumstances; but a widow
+left poor, destitute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small
+children, shivering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face
+with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any
+probable prospect of procuring &mdash; her situation is neither to
+be described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during
+the last winter; and though none could restore the father and the
+husband, the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers,
+while they dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father
+and their Husband, God."</p>
+<p>In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in
+Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash; as follows:</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 170--><a name="P170" id="P170"></a>
+<p class="right">"B<font size="-1">OSTON</font>, August, 1800.</p>
+<p>"I yesterday received my dear J&mdash;&mdash;'s letter, which gives fresh
+cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less
+I am able to support the want of intelligence. Let us all bless God
+together for all his mercies: among those which are temporal,
+health is the chief; and I believe to most mothers it is more
+valued in their children than in their own persons. I rejoice with
+you over our restored J&mdash;&mdash;y. O that our covenant God may give the
+more important blessing of divine life. You had need to be
+importunate for this, after the importunity exercised for natural
+life. I thank God also for the alleviation of your own distress,
+for our dear D&mdash;&mdash;'s restoration from complaints less alarming so
+far as they existed, but which might have been the seeds of serious
+affliction.</p>
+<p>"I could go on enumerating, for causes of thankfulness crowd
+into my mind; but all are swallowed up in the grand mercy, the
+distinguishing mercy of redeeming love to our souls. Salvation, not
+only to me, but to my house. Oh, all words fail here. Read over
+with me, sing with me, in your heart, the 103d Psalm. O my God,
+dare I even sigh in thy presence, under any temporal pain, or hurt
+of body or mind, with such a Father, such a Christ, such a
+Comforter, such a richly-furnished well-ordered covenant, such a
+constitution of grace and providence &mdash; O, such an all in all,
+even 'all the fulness of God.' My God and the God of my seed, the
+God of my house; yea, and the God of my prodigal, who shall in
+heaven, if never on earth, join the song, 'To him that loved us and
+washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory,
+<!--Page 171--><a name="P171" id="P171"></a> honor, dominion,
+power, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.' O shall a murmur ever
+pass these lips, shall this unthankful heart indulge even a sigh
+over any object but sin; shall I shrink from any cross with such a
+crown? Father, glorify thy name.</p>
+<p>"I have been to church; the subject, 'be not weary in
+well-doing.' Many arguments were adduced for exertion; but the
+gospel was wanting. O that my friends could hear our shepherd; he
+would sound his Master's voice more in unison with their own
+hearts' experience, and views of new covenant provision and gospel
+motives: except in the Baptist congregations, the gospel is much
+mutilated here, and kept out of sight even by the few who are
+supposed to build upon it.</p>
+<p>"Sabbath next brings round your &mdash; I will add, my gospel
+feast. I will endeavor to meet you to-morrow evening, and to have
+you all on my heart, then and on the Sabbath, in that one Lord, one
+faith, one Spirit, one God and Father of all, who is above all,
+through all, and in all redeemed to himself by Jesus Christ, and
+sanctified by that one Spirit uniting all. What subjects! I cannot
+attain to the comprehension, but I experience the truth and enjoy
+the comfort of them."</p>
+<p>The two following letters, addressed to a young lady whose
+acquaintance Mrs. Graham made while at Boston, show how tenderly
+she sympathized with the feelings of the young, and how earnestly
+she sought their good.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Miss M&mdash;&mdash;, Boston.</p>
+<p>"There was, my dear Miss M&mdash;&mdash;, something in your countenance
+and manner, at our last interview, <!--Page 172--><a name="P172"
+id="P172"></a> which has dwelt on my mind ever since. Your
+former attentions, which I also marked, I attributed to the natural
+benevolence of your heart; but your following a stranger, an old
+woman, of whom you know so little, and whom you were likely never
+to see again, to solicit her friendship and an interest in her
+prayers, spoke a language beyond nature. Either my sweet friend has
+already chosen God in Christ to be her portion, and his love in her
+heart powerfully draws her to every one in whom she thinks she
+discerns his image, or she conceives that this world cannot give
+her happiness even in this life; and impressed with the importance
+of that which is to come, she wishes to cast in her lot among God's
+people, that she may know the good of his chosen and rejoice in
+their joy, and become a partaker of that peace which the Saviour
+bequeathed to his disciples when about to leave them: 'Peace I
+leave with you. My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth,
+give I unto you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
+afraid.'</p>
+<p>"Let me congratulate my friend, which ever of these be the case.
+If the first, you have, or will soon have, a peace which the world
+can neither give nor take away; if the last, the Saviour stands at
+the door of your heart and knocks, soliciting that heart which has
+too long been hunting shadows and vanity. If your soul is
+dissatisfied with the things of the world, and tired with
+disappointment, cast a longing eye to the fountain of happiness.
+This is the claim of that God whose name is love: 'My son, give me
+thy heart.' 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
+and I will give you rest.' 'In the world ye shall have
+<!--Page 173--><a name="P173" id="P173"></a> tribulation, but in
+me ye shall have peace.' Be assured, my dear friend, if you could
+obtain all of this world that your heart could wish for, you would
+find vanity written on the possession. Nothing short of God himself
+can give happiness to the soul; and exactly in proportion as man
+becomes weaned from the world, and his affections centre in God, is
+he in possession of happiness.</p>
+<p>"But how is this to be attained? By God's own plan, and no
+other. As many weary themselves in vain, hunting the shadows of
+time; so, many great philosophers, sensible of this great truth,
+that God alone can satisfy the rational soul, also weary themselves
+in vain, because they will not seek the blessing in God's own way.
+'When the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased him by the
+foolishness of preaching' &mdash; what was esteemed so &mdash; 'to
+save them that believe.' 'I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast
+hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
+unto babes.'</p>
+<p>"The Saviour said, 'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have
+life. No man can come to the Father but by me. I am the way, the
+truth, and the life.' 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think
+ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.' The
+Scripture testifies what our own hearts must assent to, that human
+nature is depraved and corrupt; broken off from God; at a distance
+from him by sin; enmity against him in his true character; opposed
+to his holy law, in its extent and spirituality: we are also
+helpless, dead in trespasses and sins. 'O Israel, thou hast
+destroyed thyself' &mdash; blessed be God for what follows &mdash;
+'but in me is thy help.'</p>
+<!--Page 174--><a name="P174" id="P174"></a>
+<p>"The same Scripture which testifies the misery of man, reveals
+also his remedy &mdash; a remedy of God's own providing, by which
+man may be restored to the image and favor of God, and to that
+communion with him which is life and bliss. 'God so loved the
+world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
+on him might not perish, but have everlasting life: for God sent
+not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
+through him might be saved. And this is life eternal, that ye
+believe on him whom he hath sent.' When man becomes convinced that
+he is lost, helpless, wretched, lying at mercy, and submits to the
+method of God's own providing; casts himself on the mercy of God in
+Christ, and coming to him, rests on his free promise, 'Him that
+cometh to me, I will in no wise cast-out;' disclaiming all
+confidence in himself, or in his own works, he accepts of God's
+offered grace, in God's own way, a <i>free</i> and <i>finished</i>
+salvation. This is the record of God, that he giveth unto us
+eternal life, and this life is in his Son; who, of God, is made
+unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and complete
+redemption. Believing this, according to his faith it shall be.
+Christ shall be in him, 'a well of water springing up to
+everlasting life.' He will shed abroad his love in his heart, and
+according to his promise, give him power to become a child of God.
+The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shall be given unto him, to teach
+him the knowledge of the Scriptures, and to become a principle of
+holiness in his heart. Then shall he find that wisdom's ways are
+ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace; then shall he
+experience the blessedness of that man whose God is the Lord; then
+is the way open for communion <!--Page 175--><a name="P175" id=
+"P175"></a> and converse with God the Father, Son, and Holy
+Ghost.</p>
+<p>"If, my dear Miss M&mdash;&mdash;, I have made myself understood, you have
+my view of God's method of making his creatures happy; and I
+believe he will make us to know that he is a sovereign God, and
+that there is no other name, or method, by which men can be saved,
+but the name of Christ Jesus. But, take nothing on my word, nor the
+word of any creature; search the Scriptures; read the first eight
+chapters of the Romans, the whole of the Ephesians: stumble not at
+mysteries &mdash; pass them over, and take the milk for babes; pray
+for the teaching of the Spirit; and let me recommend to you the
+advice of Mr. Newton, in his Omicron's Letters, a book well worth
+your reading. 'Lay not too much stress on detached texts, but seek
+for the sense which is most agreeable to the general strain of
+Scripture.'</p>
+<p>"My dear Miss M&mdash;&mdash;, I am now old, and I hope have done with the
+world; but I have been young and drunk deeply of youth's choicest
+pleasures. I was blest with the best and most indulgent of parents;
+I was the wife of a man of sense, sentiment, and sensibility, who
+was my very first love and lover; and that love ripened and
+improved with years. My children were good and healthy; love,
+health, peace, and competency blessed our dwelling. I had also, in
+early life, taken hold of God's covenant, and tasted his covenant
+love; and devoted myself to his service, which was in my mind a
+principle of moderation, compared with mere worldlings; but very
+far was I from that non-conformity to the world which the precept
+of the gospel requires. Had I kept close to my covenant
+<!--Page 176--><a name="P176" id="P176"></a> God, enjoyed his
+bounty with thankfulness, occupied my talents, devoted my time to
+usefulness and communion with him; had I prayed against corruption
+within and temptation without, the Lord would have directed my
+steps and held up my goings, and I should have continued to inherit
+the earth, and should not have been diminished. But this was very
+far from being my conduct; the bent of the natural, unrenewed
+heart, is still opposed to God; and the best are sanctified only in
+part, while in this life; the law in the members still wars against
+the law of the Spirit of life in the mind. The goodness of God,
+which ought to have been a powerful motive to gratitude, love, and
+diligence, was misimproved; I enjoyed the gifts, and forgot the
+giver; 'hugged my comforts to death.' Many, many light
+chastisements, my dear, my kind, my indulgent heavenly Father
+exercised me with; I had many repenting seasons under his strokes,
+many manifestations of pardon I received, and many fresh and solemn
+dedications of my heart, life, and substance did I make; but no
+sooner was ease and comfort restored, than my heart turned aside
+like a deceitful bow: my whole life, from fifteen till the
+thirtieth year of my age, was one continued succession of departure
+and backsliding on my part &mdash; of chastening, forgiving,
+restoring, and comforting on the part of my God.</p>
+<p>"He did not cast me off, but dealt with me according to the
+constitution of his well-ordered covenant: 'If his children,'
+Christ's, 'forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they
+break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit
+their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
+<!--Page 177--><a name="P177" id="P177"></a> Nevertheless, my
+loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
+faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor alter the
+thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89:30. This is the
+covenant &mdash; made with Christ as the head of all who believe
+&mdash; of which I took hold in early life; my God kept me to my
+choice, and manifested his own faithfulness and the stability of
+his covenant. When lighter afflictions proved ineffectual, he at
+last, at one blow, took from me all that made life dear, the very
+kernel of all my earthly joys, my idol, my beloved husband. Then I
+no longer halted between two opinions; my God became my all. I
+leave it as my testimony, that he has been a father to the
+fatherless, a husband to the widow, the stranger's shield and
+orphan's stay. Even to hoar hairs and to old age he has carried me,
+and not one good word has failed of all that he has promised. 'He
+has done all things well,' and at this day I am richer and happier
+than ever I was in my life. Not that I am yet made free from sin,
+that is still my burden &mdash; want of love and gratitude,
+indolence in commanded duty, self-will, and nestling in the
+creature. But my heart's wish and earnest desire is conformity to
+the divine will. The bent of my will is for God; and if my heart
+deceive me not, my God is the centre of my best affections. It is
+by grace that I am what I am, and the same grace engages to perfect
+the work begun.</p>
+<p>"This God is my God; he will guide me even unto death, through
+death, and be my portion to eternity. This God I recommend to my
+friend; and this well-ordered covenant, this all-sufficient
+Saviour, for your acceptance: the Bible for your guide, pray to God
+<!--Page 178--><a name="P178" id="P178"></a> for his Holy Spirit
+to lead you to the knowledge of the very truth as it is in Jesus.
+Accept this as a testimony of friendship, and believe me</p>
+<p class="center">"Yours, in love,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">OVEMBER</font> 2, 1800.</p>
+<p>"You have, I find, been the child of affliction: she is a stern,
+rugged nurse; but blessed often are the lessons she teaches. I
+have, says God, chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. It is
+God's ordinary way of drawing sinners to himself, either to dry up
+or imbitter the streams of worldly comfort, that he may shut them
+up to seek that comfort that depends not on any transitory
+source.</p>
+<p>"I have no doubt but you shall yet sing with the royal Psalmist,
+'It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was
+afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Blessed is
+the man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.'
+Many are the texts to the same purport; take them for your
+consolation as a part of God's well-ordered covenant.</p>
+<p>"You have met with a late bereavement, which has entered deep
+into your soul. We are not called to stoicism, but to tenderness of
+heart and spirit. Jesus wept with the two sisters over a brother's
+grave. But still, the Christian's spirit must be resigned, and say,
+and try to say with cheerfulness, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
+And Oh, my friend, great will be the wisdom and happy the
+acquisition, if every new bereavement enlarge the room for divine
+love in the heart, and be filled up with that most noble, most
+<!--Page 179--><a name="P179" id="P179"></a> blessed of
+principles. Seek not, my friend, to replace friendship with any
+mere worldling; beg of God to fill up the vacuum, then will you be
+a great gainer.</p>
+<p>"Why hesitate to join the church? Let not a sense of
+unworthiness keep you back &mdash; a deep sense of unworthiness is
+one grand part of due preparation; and no worthiness of yours can
+give you any title to that new testament in Christ's blood, which
+was shed for the remission of sins. Worthless, vile, empty,
+helpless is every son and daughter of Adam's race: but it was for
+the ungodly that Christ died; it was while we were without
+strength; his name was called Jesus, because he should save his
+people from their sins. In that day, that great day of the feast,
+Jesus stood among a mixed multitude, and cried, 'If any man thirst,
+let him come to me and drink &mdash; whosoever will, let him take
+the water of life freely.'</p>
+<p>"If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul
+to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness,
+sanctified by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go
+as a <i>sinner</i> to a <i>Saviour</i>; go at his command, put
+honor on his appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you
+<i>are</i>, <i>have</i>, or <i>can</i> have, over the symbols of
+his body broken for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in
+his mercy, and leave all to his management, believing that <i>he
+will</i> shed abroad his love in your heart, order your footsteps
+in his ways, and in due time perfect his image in your soul. Keep
+close to him in the use of means, but look beyond the means for
+life and power. I commit you to our God and Saviour, and pray that
+<!--Page 180--><a name="P180" id="P180"></a> he may be to you
+'wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,' and complete
+'redemption.'</p>
+<p>"I am, my dear Miss M&mdash;&mdash;,</p>
+<p class="center">"Your ever affectionate,</p>
+<p class="right">"I.G."</p>
+<p>In March, 1801, the health of her daughter Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, requiring
+a sea-voyage and absence from care, Mr. and Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash; sailed for
+Britain, and the following letters were addressed to them during
+their absence:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">ARCH</font> 23, 1801.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> C<font size="-1">HILDREN</font>
+&mdash; This is mortifying to us all that you should be anchored
+half a mile from us, and there lie for hours; but even this,
+trifling as it may appear, has its end to answer in <i>His</i>
+scheme, without whom 'not a sparrow falls.' I have retired with my
+Bible, to commit you, and all my cares and concerns, afresh to that
+God whose goodness and mercy have followed us through life; who is
+my God, your God, and the God of our children; who answered my
+prayers in opposition to my inconsistent conduct; took you out of
+my idolatrous management into his own more merciful guidance. He
+has done all things well, and he will perfect his own work.</p>
+<p>"Now, may the Angel that redeemed you, be with you, keep you in
+the hollow of his hand, and as the apple of his eye; be with you on
+his own ocean, and command the billows not to touch you; carry you
+to the bosom of your dear native country, where a large proportion
+of his body live in him and by him; bless you, and make you a
+blessing wherever his providence shall carry you, and restore you
+with blessings to us, in his own time.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 181--><a name="P181" id="P181"></a>
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, after morning
+service, March 29.</p>
+<p>"This, my dear children, is a day of storm, wind, and rain. O
+that the prayer of our dear pastor, and I hope of many present, may
+be with you, and be answered to and for you: Lord, be with that
+family, who now, on the mighty ocean, desire an interest in our
+prayers. May he whom winds and waves obey, preserve them in this
+tempestuous season; may they see and improve his wonders in the
+great deep; may the blessings of the everlasting gospel preserve
+their souls in peace, conduct them in safety to their destined
+port, and restore them to us, enriched with the blessings of thy
+well-ordered covenant.</p>
+<p>"I sent two notes for the Dutch churches, enclosed to Mr. B&mdash;&mdash;;
+one for Wall-street, to Mr. A&mdash;&mdash;, and one for the Brick church, to
+Mr. M&mdash;&mdash;. I watered all with my tears.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">IVE O'CLOCK</font>."</p>
+<p>"O, how it blows and rains. O my children, how my poor heart
+aches for you; if not in danger, yet sick, and in much discomfort.
+I gave a note in the old church in the afternoon, supposing the
+congregation on this dreadful day to be different. Mr. M&mdash;&mdash;
+prayed: "The Angel of thy presence be with them; give them much of
+the consolations of thy Spirit. Conduct them in safety to the place
+of their destination, and restore them, enriched with thy blessing,
+to worship with us again in this thy house of prayer.' I write on
+this day merely to record, for your perusal, the prayers of your
+church. I think you ought, if the Lord conduct you safe, to propose
+public thanks to that God who heard and answered, if agreeable to
+Mr. M&mdash;&mdash;. Write me how it was with you on this day. Now I will go
+<!--Page 182--><a name="P182" id="P182"></a> to a throne of
+grace for you and all of us. O keep close to the Lord; may he save
+you from a dissipated, trifling, carnal spirit; may he sanctify all
+your comforts, and give you a just estimation of all you see and
+hear: may the Christian's portion rise more and more; and the world
+and its vanities sink in your view."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font> 10.</p>
+<p>"What the Lord is going to do with his and my children I know
+not; but the Samuel Elam has returned to port with a leak, after
+being out nineteen days. On the day of storm, she had seven feet of
+water in her hold. I hope the Lord, in mercy to you, to his church,
+and to me his unworthy servant, has guided you in safety, and that
+the prayers of his church were answered in your behalf. O, my
+children, what would be the situation of my heart had I not
+confidence of your being within the ark. I desire to rejoice over
+all my fears, for this unspeakable consolation, that nothing can
+hurt you. I experience for you what I did in my own case, when
+darkness and tempest added to the horrors of many, while our vessel
+kept dashing on the rock: I, too, expected her to go to pieces
+every moment; but the idea was ever with me, 'in the bosom of God's
+ocean, I shall find the bosom of my Saviour.' On the night of the
+29th of March I dreamt my dear J&mdash;&mdash;y fell overboard, and I saw her
+floating on the billows, supporting herself by her little chair:
+this is the state of my mind; yet I am thankful, and enjoy much
+peace. The Lord has given me what I have asked &mdash; the
+salvation of your souls. In a little time we shall all be gathered
+around his throne. Well may I leave to him all intervening
+<!--Page 183--><a name="P183" id="P183"></a> circumstances, as
+well as who goes first, and how. O how he blesses my latter end,
+how he soothes and comforts my old age; far other things have I
+merited, that my soul knows; but he has not only pardoned, but
+comforts, and draws a veil over my transgressions, covering them
+from the world's observation. What can I say? He is God, a God of
+mercy."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font> 17.</p>
+<p>"I have brought the reality near me, that mine eyes may never
+behold you again on earth. I can say, even of that, it is well; but
+the idea of the horrors of tempest, a leaky vessel racked by the
+storm, and sinking by inches; sickness, nervous timidity, and the
+sufferings to be undergone before the entrance to the haven of rest
+be attained, is my chief disquietude, I will not even say distress,
+because when these horrors &mdash; horrors they are to mere nature
+&mdash; dart across my mind, filling my soul with momentary
+anguish, Satan too seeking to distract my mind, the Spirit of the
+Lord lifts up a standard against him, and comforts me with his own
+word, the everlasting promises suited to every possible
+circumstance in the believer's lot. Thousands of times have I
+grasped that promise, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I will
+preserve them alive.' I pleaded it for the life of their souls; He
+answered my prayers; he has given them life, and they live to him.
+Yes, I see the fruit, and though iniquities still prevail against
+them, he still purges away their transgressions; kindles their
+repentance; humbles their souls; lays them prostrate in penitential
+confession; washes them afresh in the open fountain; restores to
+them the joys of his salvation; seals their pardon by
+<!--Page 184--><a name="P184" id="P184"></a> shedding abroad his
+love in their hearts, and making them walk in the path of
+righteousness for his own name's sake.</p>
+<p>"Thus he carries them on from strength to strength by various
+means of his own appointing, and some terrible things in
+righteousness, in the course of his providence; in all which he is
+sovereign, but ever consistent with his new covenant name, as
+proclaimed to Moses on the mount, as manifested in the character of
+God dwelling with us in our own nature, in whom mercy shone
+prominent; by which mercy they shall appear in Zion, before God, in
+due time.</p>
+<p>"Is it so? Is this God my God, and the God of my seed? Is he
+himself become our salvation? Are we heirs of God and joint-heirs
+with Christ? Is our life hid with Christ in God? When he appears,
+shall we, I and the children which he hath given me, in very deed
+appear with him in glory? Is all this so, and shall I tremble at
+the approach of any of his providences? Shall I not say when it has
+taken place, 'The will of the Lord be done,' especially when
+clothed with love? I trust that as my day, so shall my strength be,
+and in the interim I have the same confidence for you; for 'he
+giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he
+increaseth strength.'"</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font> 25.</p>
+<p>"The wind roars and howls in my windows, though not facing the
+storm, and the white waves in the river picture in my mind the
+foaming billows of the ocean. The name of our God is my
+consolation: 'though the waters roar and be troubled, though the
+mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river the
+<!--Page 185--><a name="P185" id="P185"></a> streams whereof
+shall make glad the city of God. God shall help her, and that right
+early.' When I walk about Zion, and go round about her, when I tell
+the towers thereof, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, my
+heart rejoices that 'this God is our God; he will be our guide even
+unto death; and O the joy that my children are the citizens of this
+Zion, and the heirs of all the promises by virtue of the new
+testament in Christ's blood. A covenant of works it was to our
+Surety, and his heart's blood finished the requisites of it. It is
+now a testament to you, sealed by the same blood. Wherever in his
+word I meet the character, the providence, the work of God, I read
+my own and my children's interest. I hope your experience shall be
+in Psalm 107:28. If not wholly, it shall terminate in Psalm 23:4.
+Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you
+shall fear no evil, for this God, who is your guide even unto
+death, shall be with you, his rod and staff shall comfort you; and
+our darling Jessy he shall carry as a lamb in his arms, and hide
+her from the horrors, in his bosom. I dwell much on these subjects,
+and I feel comforted, whatever be the event.</p>
+<p>"If the Lord has carried you safe through, and you live to read
+this in the body, know that our God continues to bless us
+abundantly in health, peace, and plenty, as to temporals; we also
+experience the peace of his covenant, and have tastes of the bread
+and of the water of life. Thanks, all thanks to our new covenant
+Head for the stability of the covenant; we change, but he changeth
+not. He himself is the covenant given to the people, and because he
+lives, his people shall live also, in spite of Satan and his
+<!--Page 186--><a name="P186" id="P186"></a> colleague sin in
+our hearts: sin may, and does bring his people into captivity, but
+it shall not keep them in bondage for ever. The time of deliverance
+shall come, when they shall revive as the corn. Oh, is it not a
+well-ordered covenant, and sure?"</p>
+<p>Her next letter gives an illustration of fidelity in a
+difficult, and, it is to be feared, much-neglected duty.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 10, 1801.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> C<font size="-1">HILDREN</font>
+&mdash; Last evening was preparation sermon. Mr. Y&mdash;&mdash; preached a
+very excellent sermon from the Song of Solomon, 'Who is this that
+cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?' First the
+wilderness of this world, next the church coming up, then the
+attitude leaning, and on whom; I thought the simile well supported,
+and practical, as he went on. His application was rich on the
+Christian's support, where he brought into view many of the names
+of Christ.</p>
+<p>"After sermon we witnessed a most affecting scene; two female
+members rebuked and restored to the communion of the church. Never,
+never did our dear Mr. M&mdash;&mdash; shine so bright in my eyes; many tears
+were shed. I knew nothing of it, and wondered to what he was
+leading, when he addressed the congregation, after sermon, upon
+Christian walk, watchfulness, and temptation, and the distress
+occasioned in Christian society when any of the members were left
+to fall into open and aggravated sin. Such was the case in our own
+congregation: two, naming the offenders, had been so far left; but
+while deeply wounded by the sin and scandal, he was consoled by
+their <!--Page 187--><a name="P187" id="P187"></a> penitence: he
+assured the congregation that they had given great evidence of deep
+contrition; and were now come forward to acknowledge their crime
+before their offended and grieved brethren, and to give all the
+satisfaction in their power, by submitting to the censure of the
+church in this public manner, which, although painful to him, he
+must pronounce according to God's appointment. 'Them who sin before
+all, rebuke before all.' He then asked them to rise; scarce an
+individual turned to look; many were weeping while he laid before
+them their guilt in strong, yet tender terms; and finished by
+expressing his approbation of their thus submitting to the rod, and
+exhorting them to humility and redoubled watchfulness. Then again
+he addressed the members, requesting them to receive into their
+Christian love and affection their repenting, returning sisters;
+that they would treat them with tenderness, and restore them in the
+spirit of meekness, considering themselves as also in the body and
+subject to temptation. 'Let no one put them in remembrance of the
+sin which the Father of mercies has blotted out, nor open those
+wounds which he has closed,' 'He doth not chide continually, nor
+retain his anger for ever.'</p>
+<p>"May the Lord bless the discipline of his church; may he meet us
+to-morrow with multiplied pardons: may he melt our hearts to
+contrition, heal our backslidings, and manifest himself as married
+unto us; may he bring us into his banqueting house and his banner
+over us be love; may his grace be magnified and his name glorified;
+and may he send a portion to my dear children &mdash; yea, a
+Benjamin's portion; may he open wide the leaves of that new
+testament, and let <!--Page 188--><a name="P188" id="P188"></a>
+them read their rich inheritance and rejoice in their portion.</p>
+<p>"Farewell, my dear children. The Lord bless you, keep you, guide
+you, and cause his face to shine on you, prays your affectionate
+mother."</p>
+<p>The following to the same, was written while on a visit to a
+worldly friend:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 21, 1801.</p>
+<p>"I would fain begin to hope that my children are now on, or near
+the green fields of Albion. Many a severe gale has agitated them,
+and tried their faith and confidence before this day. But as He who
+sitteth on the clouds, commanding and governing the elements, is
+their own God in covenant, who loves them, careth for them, and
+perfects what concerns them, I hope they have had much of his
+presence: I hope they have found, even on the boisterous ocean,
+amidst the horrors of the swelling deep, agitated with winds and
+tempests, all things necessary to life and godliness in these great
+and precious promises, accompanied by divine power, by which they
+are made partakers of divine life, and escape the pollution that is
+in the world through lust. I hope they are enriched in experience,
+and advanced in the divine life, by all they have suffered, and all
+they have tasted of divine support in their sufferings; that Christ
+is still more precious, his word more tried, and their confidence
+in him more established: if so, great is their gain. And our
+darling J&mdash;&mdash;, being a sharer in the suffering, shall, at her God's
+hand, be also a gainer, though it be not evident to our perception.
+O how rich is the Christian, how inexhaustible his portion!
+<!--Page 189--><a name="P189" id="P189"></a> his table is ever
+furnished, his cup ever full; all is blessing, no curse mingled
+&mdash; that our Surety took to himself; prosperity and adversity,
+sickness and health, light and darkness, all, all shall bless us,
+work for our good, turn to our profit, and end in the glory of God
+and our unspeakable, inconceivable happiness.</p>
+<p>"I have been here a week yesterday; all vegetable nature glows
+and shines in the perfection of beauty; flowers, shrubs, trees,
+grain, grass, falling waters turning the busy mill, the brook
+murmuring on its way to the ocean, fit emblem of eternity, all
+glorify their Creator; and although no such birds as in Britain
+charm the listening ear, we have some sweet chirpers of his praise;
+and what is wanting to the ear, is made up to the eye, for in
+beauty they excel.</p>
+<p>"These I may enjoy; with these hold communion; for Oh, spiritual
+death holds all within these walls in dismal bondage; not one
+symptom of life appears, but death, as the dry bones in the valley
+of vision. Why do I not wrestle more for the Spirit to breathe on
+them? I do pray: but Oh, formal, formal."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">UNE</font> 17, 1801.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> C<font size="-1">HILDREN</font>
+&mdash; Difficult it is for me to exercise patience: the 23d, of
+this month will make three months since you waved the handkerchief
+on board the Mars, off the Battery. I had made up my mind not to
+give way to expectation short of three months; they are nearly
+past: how many events take place in that space of time; how many
+duties ought to be performed; how many sins are really committed;
+how guilty to wish to annihilate the time that a
+<!--Page 190--><a name="P190" id="P190"></a> certain event may
+come round. For every moment of time we must account, and not one
+moment of it can we recall. Much you have seen; much you have
+suffered; much, perhaps, also enjoyed: for the Lord can give songs
+in the night, and in a dungeon. 'Surely his salvation is nigh them
+that fear him;' to them there is no want. The Lord is their
+shepherd, he feedeth them in green pastures beside the gently
+flowing waters; if they wander, he restoreth them, perhaps with the
+rod, but it is the rod of love; they need not be afraid to enter
+even the valley of the shadow of death; their Shepherd is with
+them, and his rod, rod of support, and staff shall comfort
+them.</p>
+<p>"I hope this has been a profitable time to you both; that you
+have seen more of the evil of sin, and of your own hearts, their
+deceitful double turnings and windings to cover and conceal the
+enemy of God and your own souls; more of the extent and
+spirituality of the divine law, fulfilled indeed in every jot and
+tittle by your Surety; but still doubly binding on you as a rule of
+life in the hand of your Redeemer, who hath bought you to himself,
+and taken you into his own hands, that you might be a holy people
+to himself, delivered not merely from the penalty and curse, but
+from the power and indwelling of sin. I hope you have seen more of
+the unsearchable riches of Christ in all he has done and is now
+doing for your and his church's happiness, and of those exceeding
+great and precious promises by which you are made partakers of
+the-divine life, and privileged to escape the pollution that is in
+the world through lust; more of the faithfulness of God, as a God
+in Christ, pardoning sin and reconciling you to himself;
+<!--Page 191--><a name="P191" id="P191"></a> and day by day,
+teaching you by his word, Spirit, and providences.</p>
+<p>"I am but just beginning to see that I am blind; my own
+character opening upon me as a sinner, in heart and tongue and
+conduct, against my God, my neighbor, and my own soul: how comes it
+then that I am at ease in God's world; in health, in peace, in
+comfort, all in an extraordinary degree as to temporals; and as to
+spirituals, though grieved with self, my joy in Christ also
+abounds. Can I believe it? What can I say; what can I render to the
+Lord for all his gifts to me? Nothing can I do, but just take the
+cup of salvation, calling upon the name of the Lord, and remain an
+eternal debtor to his grace for spirituals and temporals."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">UNE</font> 26.</p>
+<p>"By this time you are already in port, on earth or in heaven.
+Blessed alternative. Ought I to be sad, who can say, 'or in
+heaven?' O no, I trust grace will be given to acquiesce in his most
+blessed will; a most gracious will it has been to me and mine.</p>
+<p>"I wrote you in my last, that our dear Mr. M&mdash;&mdash; leaves us next
+month for Britain; his errand is to state the situation of this
+country, as greatly in want of ministers and the means of educating
+ministers. Many of his people are dissatisfied, as he has two
+congregations to supply, and a large family of his own. Why should
+he be the man? For my own part, I think he is the very man; and I
+am thankful to feel a degree of disinterestedness. Though I love my
+minister, value his ministry and his person, I hope the general
+interest of Christ's body is more dear to me, and of infinitely
+more importance than my private comfort, which, after
+<!--Page 192--><a name="P192" id="P192"></a> all, I do not
+believe can suffer by parting cheerfully with its apparent food to
+Christ, who himself is the sum and substance of all that any
+minister can be instrumental in conveying. All means are alike to
+him, or no means. I therefore rejoice in his will, and pray that
+the Lord may prosper him, give him a double portion of his Spirit,
+and favor in the eyes of all whose influence is necessary to
+advance the Redeemer's kingdom in America.</p>
+<p>"Our friend Mrs. K&mdash;&mdash; is gone; she died suddenly: both Mr. and
+Mrs. T&mdash;&mdash; died at their country-seat; he first. She fancied she
+was getting better. The physician advised her not to ride, as she
+could not stand the fatigue; she had more faith in air and
+exercise: the last day she went out she fainted getting into the
+carriage, and again coming out; and died in the afternoon. She
+lived near us, yet I never saw her, nor offered one kind office
+towards the salvation of her soul, which, if lost, leaves me not
+innocent of her blood, and if saved, as I hope it may be, my sinful
+neglect is not the less. What a picture in them of the vanity of
+all under the sun; and in me of the evil of procrastination, for I
+meant to visit her. O my Saviour, is this the return I make for the
+millions of pardons which thou hast passed on my account; sparing
+even the rod, and blessing me with health, restored limbs, and
+mercy on mercy, comfort on comfort? I want words to paint my
+abominable ingratitude, indolence, and cruelty; and yet, Oh yet I
+am spared, and my mercies are spared, as far as I know &mdash; but
+trial may be at hand. Perhaps I write what my children may never
+read. Well, even then, mercy, mercy shall be my song; for I sing
+the song on earth which they sing in heaven. I am just
+<!--Page 193--><a name="P193" id="P193"></a> going to town to
+attend preparation sermon. Our feast is on Sabbath."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">ULY</font> 17, 1801.</p>
+<p>"What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies &mdash;
+mercies temporal, mercies spiritual, mercies eternal, multiplied
+mercies? The one thing that I asked of the Lord has been answered
+in full, and Oh, how much added. God himself become my salvation,
+and the salvation of my house; how unspeakable the blessing.
+Although chastisement and affliction were the means of correction
+and sanctification, or even the vengeance taken on my inventions,
+yet, as a God, he at the same time pardoneth. For Oh, my character
+is ever the same with backsliding Judah and treacherous Israel.
+Glory to that name which is ever the same, and changeth not. 'The
+Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant
+in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.'
+This was his name among a stiff-necked people, an idolatrous,
+ungrateful people; this is his name to me alike in character. O how
+he has magnified this name to me, a backslider in heart and life;
+multiplying pardons while I have multiplied transgressions: still
+he has been last with me, healing my backsliding; restoring my
+soul; leading me to the open fountain; giving faith to wash, and
+joy and peace in believing; not only so, but in this land of
+drought, this waste howling wilderness, this vale of tears, where
+'man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards,' my cup with
+temporal comfort is full and running over; all his creatures
+minister to my comfort; and as days and nights roll on, his daily
+providence adds, and diminishes not.</p>
+<p>"I had hardly hoped to see the faces of my children
+<!--Page 194--><a name="P194" id="P194"></a> again; for he
+commanded, and raised the stormy winds and lifted up the waves of
+the sea; they mounted to heaven and sunk again to the deep; death
+with all its <i>natural</i> horrors surrounded them; the deep
+yawned to devour them; but God, their own God, was at hand, their
+anchor of hope, their ark of safety, their hiding-place till the
+calamity was past: they cried to him, and he saved them out of
+their distresses; he made the storm a calm, and the waves thereof
+still, and brought them to the desired haven. This trouble was not
+unto death, but for the glory of God and the exercising of your
+faith, for the manifestation of his power and goodness, and the
+enriching of your experience.</p>
+<p>"O then let us praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
+wonderful works to the children of men. Let us exalt him in the
+congregation of his people, and praise him in the assembly of the
+elders."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">CTOBER</font> 23, 1801.</p>
+<p>"Surely, surely my heart feels grateful for the time, though
+this, like every other good motion, will, like the morning dew,
+soon pass away.</p>
+<p>"My children not only preserved through the tempestuous storms
+that threatened death with circumstances shocking to nature, but my
+poor sick child preserved during a long and fatiguing journey; that
+journey made comfortable, yea, delightful, by the warm reception of
+many kind friends, dear to nature, and many doubly endeared by
+grace: among the last, the mother and sisters of the kindest and
+best of husbands; they receiving her as their own flesh and blood,
+as well as their fellow-member in Christ; blest with a measure of
+health to enjoy all, and a measure of grace <!--Page 195--><a name=
+"P195" id="P195"></a> to profit by all; eyeing by faith the dear
+invisible hand of a covenant God, preserving, leading, guiding
+through every step &mdash; his love the marrow of the whole, and
+their charter for safety, even amidst the dangers of
+prosperity.</p>
+<p>"Is not godliness gain? profitable for this life as well as that
+which is to come? What is the portion of the worldling? even in
+this life 'shadowy joy or solid woe,' without a balance to the
+first, or consolation in the last; no sure footing in the one, nor
+support in the other; distanced from the fountain of happiness by
+nature, prosperity incrusts their hearts and increases their
+carnality; nestling in their worldly comforts, they forget they are
+the creatures of a day, that an endless eternity lies before them,
+and only the feeble uncertain thread of life between them and that
+curse under which they were born. Not so the child of God; all
+things work together for his good &mdash; <i>all things;</i> his
+standing is not in himself; his footsteps are directed by infinite
+wisdom: he is kept by the power of God, through faith, unto
+salvation. Nothing can separate him from the love of God. His life
+is hid with Christ in God: there is cause to rejoice always; his
+privileges are boundless, infinite, for God himself is become his
+salvation.</p>
+<p>"Have we then any cause for fear? Yes, my children, yes; though
+nothing can rob us of our charter, there is another side to be
+beheld. In Christ we have all things richly to enjoy, but we have
+not all in possession: what we have is by faith; all is secured by
+our Surety for eternity. We shall overcome by the blood of the
+Lamb; but by the constitution of the covenant we must enter into
+that rest, that perfect <!--Page 196--><a name="P196" id=
+"P196"></a> rest, through great tribulation. While our eternal
+salvation is secured by our Surety, it hath pleased infinite Wisdom
+to appoint another connection, which shall exist while we remain on
+earth: even the connection between our steadfastness, consequently
+our comfort, and the means of grace which he hath appointed, making
+the first to depend in a great measure on our diligent use of the
+last, insomuch that a great number of the promises are proposed
+conditionally. Many exhortations are given in this view, and also
+many threatenings. 'They that wait on the Lord shall renew their
+strength,' etc. 'Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and ye shall
+receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' 'Abide in me; as
+the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no more can ye, except ye
+abide in me.'</p>
+<p>"Close, intimate, near communion with God, is to be sought by
+means of prayer, meditation, and reading. If the Christian be
+careful to husband time, and set apart a portion for God, and set
+about these duties, he will not always miss communion; and this
+prepares him for other duties, and arms him against temptation; as
+the promise is concerned to keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
+stayed on Him. 'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
+your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give his
+Holy Spirit to them that ask him.' 'So shall ye know the Lord, if
+ye follow on to-know him.' 'Delight thyself in God, he will give
+thee the desire of thy heart.' 'Nevertheless, I will be inquired of
+by the house of Israel,' etc. 'If his children forsake my laws, and
+go astray, I will visit their faults,' etc. 'Watch and pray, that
+ye enter not into temptation.' 'But thou, when
+<!--Page 197--><a name="P197" id="P197"></a> thou prayest, enter
+into thy closet,' etc. 'Thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall
+reward thee openly.' All is laid before us in the Scriptures, in
+the view of comfort during our pilgrimage, as well as the certainty
+of our inheritance in the end; the ground whereon we stand, our
+danger, and the means of safety. See Eph.&nbsp;6:11.</p>
+<p>"There is provision made in the covenant for great comfort,
+consistent with human frailty and imperfection, but not with
+carelessness and negligence. While, therefore, we rejoice in the
+Lord, we have good reason to join trembling with our exultation;
+while standing high in comfort, to take heed lest we fall, through
+the deceitfulness of sin. We carry about with us 'a body of sin and
+death;' 'the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom
+he may devour.' We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with
+principalities and powers,' etc. We live in a world lying in
+wickedness; the captives of sin and Satan exerting every faculty to
+banish all thoughts of God, death, and eternity; contriving, with
+unwearied industry and amazing ingenuity, new gratifications for
+body and mind in endless variety, suited to all constitutions, all
+tempers and dispositions, and to those in all circumstances. Of
+these, the most rational are the most subtle, and, in the hand of
+the enemy, the most calculated to keep men ignorant of themselves,
+their misery, and of the great salvation; and alas, by these he
+often <i>spoils</i> unwary Christians, who, though heirs of heaven,
+heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, are, during their
+minority, subject to like passions with themselves, and ever in
+danger of being spoiled of their comforts when off their guard.</p>
+<!--Page 198--><a name="P198" id="P198"></a>
+<p>"With the people of the world Christians have much to do: they
+are fellow-members of society with them; they have many duties to
+perform to them, with them, and by them; many of the things of the
+world are necessary to them, many of its pleasures lawful; for 'the
+earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and he gives them of
+it as his wisdom sees good for them. That which he gives them they
+gather in the same manner as and in society with the world, by
+industry and diligence in their lawful calling and business.
+Keeping near the Captain of salvation, and armed in his whole
+armor, they are safe. When off their guard, the vigilant enemy
+gains some advantage, and they get into trouble. O how many
+gracious names our dear Redeemer has assumed in his word, for our
+comfort, our meditation, our spiritual exercise; how pleasant and
+delightful in the light of his countenance to analyze them! Besides
+the names peculiar to himself as God-man, how many has he
+condescended to take from among men, and the natural comforts and
+safeguards of men &mdash; our Shepherd, our Rock, our Ark, all the
+relations in life &mdash; and ends with our All in all. But I must
+have done, that I may tell you that goodness and mercy follow us in
+this family also."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"July 28, 1801.</p>
+<p>"My dear pastor, Mr. M&mdash;&mdash;, sailed for Britain. I thank thee,
+good and kind Shepherd of Israel, for all those providences, which
+seemed small things at the time, that hedged me into that
+congregation; for all the benefits and comforts I enjoyed under the
+ministry of thy aged servant now before thy throne, and that thou
+preparedst thy young servant to fill his place when the time of his
+departure came.</p>
+<!--Page 199--><a name="P199" id="P199"></a>
+<p>"I thank thee for all the endowments of our young pastor, of
+nature and grace. I thank thee, that thou hast kept him faithful to
+Him who has called him, and for the precious treasure thou hast put
+in that earthen vessel.</p>
+<p>"Now, Lord, that thou hast called him to leave his family and
+his flock, to travel to a foreign land in the service which thou
+requirest, go with him, prosper him, overrule all his concerns for
+thy glory, the good of his soul, of the church in general, and his
+own little flock in particular. Amen. Glorify thy name"</p>
+<!--Page 200--><a name="P200" id="P200"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+<h4>JOURNAL AND LETTERS &mdash; LADIES' SCHOOL FOR POOR
+CHILDREN.</h4>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">OVEMBER</font> 22, 1801.</p>
+<p>"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> S<font size="-1">MITH</font>,"
+a grandchild, "is very ill; she appears to be in a stupor. Two
+physicians are attending, but my eyes are to the Lord. She is his
+own, given to him by faith, as a covenant God in Christ for her in
+particular, for ourselves and our children. I desire not to draw
+back, but, the Lord strengthening me, to give up at his call. If it
+be his will to spare her, she is still his own, to be done by,
+with, and for, as his infinite wisdom may see fit, for his own
+glory and her eternal interest. If he is about to remove her out of
+the world, she is his own; out of the mouth of this babe will he
+perfect praise; with that company of whom is the kingdom of heaven,
+she shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb, 'to Him that
+loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be
+glory, honor, dominion, and power.'</p>
+<p>"O Lord, one petition I prefer &mdash; if it be thy will to take
+her out of the world, take her in thine arms and carry her through
+the dark valley; grant to her a gentle and easy passage, and an
+abundant entrance into thy kingdom; and tune our hearts to sing,
+'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name
+of the Lord.'&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">OVEMBER</font> 23.</p>
+<p>"This day the dear Isabella joined the church triumphant, and
+took her place among that company <!--Page 201--><a name="P201" id=
+"P201"></a> which Christ has pronounced blessed. I yesterday
+asked of the Lord that he would take her in his arms and carry her
+through the dark valley, that he would give her a gentle and easy
+passage, and an abundant entrance into his kingdom. He heard my
+prayer; it was indeed soft and gentle; not a struggle, not a groan;
+and the affliction which brought down the frame was moderate
+throughout. I was enabled to resign the Lord's own into his own
+hand, in the faith that he did receive, and would keep that which I
+committed to him.</p>
+<p>"My soul is satisfied &mdash; more than satisfied; I rejoice,
+and congratulate the lovely babe on her early escape from a world
+of sin and sorrow, to the arms of her dear Redeemer, and to perfect
+blessedness with him."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">OVEMBER</font> 24.</p>
+<p>"It is done &mdash; finished &mdash; the soul with God, the body
+in the tomb. It is all well; yes, our covenant God, thou doest all
+things well. I firmly believe thy mercy is over all thy works.
+Goodness, mercy, yea, loving-kindness has marked thy every step. I
+believe it now. I shall see it soon.</p>
+<p>"Now, our God, follow this bereavement with thy purifying,
+sanctifying grace. Enable us all to search and try our ways. Lead
+our souls into a knowledge of the secret corruptions of our hearts,
+that we may confess and mourn over them, wash in the blood of
+Christ, be pardoned, restored, and get a great victory. Enable us
+through life to abide in Christ; to keep close to thee, transacting
+all our affairs with thee, before they come into the view of the
+world. Let thy wisdom and thy Spirit, in connection with thy
+providences, <!--Page 202--><a name="P202" id="P202"></a> be our
+counsellors. O keep us in a dependent frame of mind, humble and
+watchful. Strip us of all self-confidence. May we at the same time
+be strong in the Lord and in the power of thy might; rejoicing in
+thee, the God of our salvation, the strength of our heart, and our
+portion for ever. Glory, glory, glory, to Father, Son, and blessed
+Spirit. Amen, and Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"D<font size="-1">ECEMBER</font>, 1801.</p>
+<p>"It is my earnest desire to 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge
+of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' It is my desire to love the
+Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my
+strength, and with all my mind; and to love my neighbor as myself,
+so as to do to Mm whatever I could expect from Christian principles
+in him, on an exchange of circumstances.</p>
+<p>"It is my desire to give all diligence to add to my faith
+virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance
+patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness,
+to brotherly kindness charity, that these things being in me and
+abounding, I may be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge
+of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.</p>
+<p>"I desire to grow in grace day by day, to profit by every
+ordinance of God's appointing, and by every providence; and I pray,
+Lord, I pray that thou wouldst grant me my desire, so as that I may
+become more spiritual, more discerning in the Scriptures, more
+fruitful in good works: that thou mayest increase also my humility.
+Open to my view more of the extent and spirituality of thy divine
+law; the majesty, purity, holiness, of thy nature; the exceeding
+sinfulness of sin; the hidden corruptions of my own heart, and my
+<!--Page 203--><a name="P203" id="P203"></a> inability to search
+them out, and to crucify them: give me also more just views of my
+past life, that I may ever be convinced that I am, what I really
+am, the very chief of sinners, and the least of all saints; and
+that it is entirely of grace that I am what I am. O make out this
+promise to me; I will record it in thine own words: 'I will
+establish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know that I am the
+Lord,' Ezekiel 16:62. I confess myself the character described in
+the two foregoing chapters; and though thou hast chastened me ten
+thousand times less than my iniquities deserve, even by the
+constitution of the new covenant, thou hast chastened me. Now, O
+Lord, most merciful and gracious, who 'pardonest iniquity,
+transgression, and sin,' for thy name's sake, do to and for me as
+thou hast said: 'I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou
+shalt know that I am the Lord. That thou mayest remember, and be
+confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame,
+when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith
+the Lord God.'&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mr. and Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, in Britain.</p>
+<p class="right">"D<font size="-1">ECEMBER</font> 7, 1801.</p>
+<p>"I have received my dear J&mdash;&mdash;'s three letters from Dingwall:
+fresh matter of praise to our covenant God. You have had your
+season of affliction; and now you have a season of refreshing, a
+resting-time. The cup of the Christian is always more or less
+mixed. Your afflictions have ever been mixed with much mercy, and
+now your season of rest is also mixed. I well know that no temporal
+comfort can compensate the absence of your justly beloved D&mdash;&mdash;.
+He, however, who is the God of both, who goes with
+<!--Page 204--><a name="P204" id="P204"></a> him, and stays with
+you, can not only support, but comfort. The omniscient, the
+omnipresent, the omnipotent God is our God, and the God of our
+house; all that he is is ours, to bless us. Behold, God is become
+our salvation. Every endearing name known among men he takes to
+himself, to inspire us with pleasing, confiding love &mdash; every
+name that connects the idea of protection, to keep our minds in
+quiet peace, in the assurance of safety: Father, Husband, Brother,
+Friend, Prophet, Priest, King, Physician, Help, Health, Light,
+Life, Counsellor, Guide, Sanctuary, Anchor &mdash; but I should
+fill my sheet. I said it all at first: God is ours, and ours with
+the knowledge of all our backslidings, which he heals; our
+wanderings, from which he restores us; and our sins, which he
+forgives: one of his names is the God of pardons. He delights in
+mercy. Are we not his witnesses? What has our whole life been, but
+sin, backslidings, and wanderings? What have his dealings with us
+been, but pardons, healings, restorations? Therefore we remain, as
+at this day, with our desires towards him, and our faces
+Zion-wards. What he hath begun he will perfect, and in a little
+while our eyes shall behold him, our hearts shall enjoy him, we
+shall be like him, and see him as he is."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"D<font size="-1">ECEMBER</font> 26, 1801.</p>
+<p>"I rejoice over my dear children, and bless our gracious God
+that he has led them a sweet and most delightful sojourning among
+his churches, animating their spirits by their mutual communion;
+blessing them, and, I hope, making them blessings. I pray the Lord
+may make our dear D&mdash;&mdash; an instrument <!--Page 205--><a name="P205"
+id="P205"></a> among others of spreading his gospel, building up
+his church, and pulling down the strong-holds of Satan; and that
+you may be in your place a help-meet for him, in this as in every
+thing else. May the Lord choose his path and direct his steps, and
+yours with him. Women were helpers of the apostles and others in
+Paul's days: at the same time care must ever be taken not to
+obtrude in any respect. I pray that you may be kept spiritual and
+humble: eminence in God's service is truly desirable, if the heart
+be kept humble. If the Lord open the eyes to behold more of the
+extent and spirituality of his law, the holiness and purity of his
+nature, the evil of sin, and its contrariety to all that is in God;
+and if he turn the eyes inward to the hidden corruptions of the
+heart, when it is evident to the soul that all is of grace, then
+may eminent services be safe.</p>
+<p>"'I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,' was the
+exercise of Job; and justly so. Job, who was eyes to the blind and
+feet to the lame, a father to the poor, and the cause which he knew
+not he searched it out: when the ear heard him, it blessed him;
+when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him; who withheld not the
+poor from his desire, nor caused the eye of the widow to fail; the
+stranger did not lodge in the street, but he opened his door unto
+the traveller: all this was true as far as the external act, and as
+he then thought, with a proper temper of heart, Job could justify
+himself before his fellow-sinners, Blind like himself; but when God
+comes to deal with him, how different his views. Then it was,
+'Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand on
+my mouth:' even with the very best there <!--Page 206--><a name=
+"P206" id="P206"></a> is cause for this exercise, could we see
+in the same light.</p>
+<p>"How deceitful is the human heart; how unfaithful the
+conscience; how little do we know of the sins of our daily walk. We
+are called to watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation; to
+walk with God in close, intimate communion: whether we eat or
+drink, to do all to his glory: to consult him in all the affairs of
+life, narrowly observing his providence in connection with our
+circumstances; weighing all in his presence, requesting him to
+determine our wills and direct our steps. We ought not to say, 'We
+will go into such a city,' and do this or that; but, 'If the Lord
+will.' How inconsistent our conduct with these rules. How often do
+rashness, precipitation, and self-will accompany our determinations
+and movements. And how often do His goodness and wisdom over rule
+our folly, save us from our own pits, and prevent the evil that
+might be expected. At no time does he deal with us as we sin,
+though sometimes he stands by and allows us a taste of our folly:
+then we are in trouble, we dig our pits and fall into them, but we
+cannot deliver ourselves. O what a God! who, even at such a time,
+says to us, 'Call on me in the time of trouble; I will deliver
+thee, and thou shalt glorify my name; thou hast destroyed thyself,
+but in me is Blessed help; mercy to pardon, goodness to wisdom to
+guide, faithfulness to carry through and perfect what concerns us,
+overruling our very follies, and causing them to teach us to
+profit. This is God's way, according to many declarations of
+himself in his word, and the experience of all his redeemed.</p>
+<p>"Blessed then is the man that trusteth in the
+<!--Page 207--><a name="P207" id="P207"></a> Lord; they truly
+are a blessed people whose God Jehovah is."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font>, 1802.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR, MY BELOVED</font> C<font size=
+"-1">HILDREN</font> &mdash; I trust the Lord is your support; I
+know you are in trouble; it cannot be that opportunities have been
+wanting all this time, nor can it be that my children have been
+negligent: no, no, I cannot suppose it. My children are in trouble;
+they could not write that they were otherwise, and therefore remain
+silent until they can write the issue. It is proper, and sure the
+Lord feeds me with comfort. O the comfort of knowing that the
+Almighty God is their own reconciled Father by an everlasting
+covenant; Christ, the Mediator and Surety, their Advocate, Brother,
+and Friend; the Holy Ghost their Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. It
+cannot be ill with my dear children, who are also God's dear
+children. My Father, I know it, thou chastenest for their profit. I
+know not where they are, nor how they fare. I know not what to ask
+for them; but thou art everywhere present, thine eye is upon them,
+thou knowest all their wants, all their burdens, all their
+bereavements, or whatever tries them. O let thy sensible presence
+be with them; open wide the leaves of that new testament in
+Christ's blood, and let them read their rich legacy, their
+unsearchable riches in Christ; give them confidence in thy wisdom
+and goodness, and sweet acquiescence in all thy dealings with them.
+Thou hast spared in mercy, perhaps now thou hast taken in mercy:
+yes, thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and a large
+ingredient in every cup thou puttest into the hand of thy children.
+It is well, it is well.</p>
+<!--Page 208--><a name="P208" id="P208"></a>
+<p>"Since writing the above, I have received my dear D&mdash;&mdash;'s
+letter, second copy, by the way of London. The Lord is your God.
+and the God of your seed. John the Baptist leaped in the womb when
+the salutation of Mary sounded in his mother's ears; he was then a
+living soul, and an heir of salvation at that moment. If your babe
+was conceived in sin by the first covenant, he is an heir of grace
+by the second. Think it not hard; no, you do not think it hard that
+you have conceived him in sickness, carried him in sickness, and
+suffered the pangs of birth without the succeeding joy to make you
+forget your anguish. All this shall be for the glory of God, and
+that is what you seek; believe it now, you shall see it soon. I do
+sympathize; my fond heart had embraced a sweet babe added to the
+family for one taken. The Lord has taken this also; it is his due:
+I shall soon leave the mortal and join the immortal; five have
+joined the head, six remain; and one I know nothing of, more than
+that I cast him on the Lord, and look for mercy. I thank my God
+that he gave you the grace of resignation, and supported you in the
+solitary confinement. Alas, my child, did you listen for the voice
+of your babe? O, what a suspense; but let me stop &mdash; he had
+reached maturity ere that time; without the fight, obtained the
+victory; he is of the travail of the Redeemer's soul; children are
+God's heritage, the fruit of the womb his reward. Rest then in the
+Lord; this is to his glory, both without and within your soul."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 20, 1802.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> C<font size="-1">HILDREN</font>
+&mdash; Here am I in my little room, surrounded with every comfort,
+and as the provision of my God, I value all; but there lies the
+chief, <!--Page 209--><a name="P209" id="P209"></a> <i>my
+Bible</i>, the testament of my dying, risen, ascended, reigning
+Saviour, bequeathing to me eternal life, executed in full, and made
+as sure as the promise and oath of God. The influences of the Holy
+Ghost on my mind, taking of the things of Christ, and showing them
+unto me; opening wide the leaves of that new testament, in which I
+read unsearchable riches, and my title to them sure: yes, sure,
+even to me, a base idolatrous gentile, a rebel against the eternal
+King, my Creator, Preserver, Provider; a backslider in heart and in
+life. What has such a one to do with a holy God? He hath said only
+return; and he himself hath turned to me, chastened, convinced,
+restored, comforted. His ways are not as our ways, nor his
+thoughts as our thoughts; but as the heavens are above the earth,
+so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts high above our
+thoughts, and his plans above our conception. For although it is
+for ever true, that he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
+cannot look on iniquity; that his law has denounced a curse upon
+the transgressor who keepeth it not in every jot and tittle; it is
+for ever true, that this God is unchangeable in his nature and
+purposes. What he hath said, that will he do. It is for ever true,
+that I am all I have said, and worse, a sinner in heart, tongue,
+and practice; yet am I a beloved child, a justified one, an heir of
+God.</p>
+<p>"Here is the testament, here is my charter with the seal of God
+upon it &mdash; J<font size="-1">ESUS</font>, thou art the Secret
+of the Lord; thou art the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root and
+offspring of David. Thou hast prevailed to open this book of
+secrets, to loose the seven seals, and lay open its mysteries. Thou
+Lamb of God, the appointed and anointed to the great work; in our
+<!--Page 210--><a name="P210" id="P210"></a> room, and in our
+nature, thou hast sustained the curse. Thou hast obeyed the law;
+thou hast drunk the last drop of the last vial of that wrath which
+would have sunk my soul in the endless depths of misery; and I
+never could have expended one drop, but sunk deeper and deeper
+under it. O not unto me, not unto ministers, not unto any creature
+be the praise. As for me, I am, in a word, all that is vile in
+myself; ministers, providences, afflictions are just what God makes
+them; without his blessing they will not only pass without
+profiting, but Satan and corruption will make them ministers to
+themselves. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for he has redeemed
+me with his blood. Worthy is the Lamb to receive power, and riches,
+and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing
+&mdash; to him, to him alone, be the praise; who, of an heir of
+hell, hath made an heir of heaven, by a substitutional
+righteousness wrought out in his own person: mine by free gift, in
+which I am completely justified. To this work let nothing be added,
+with this work let nothing be mixed.</p>
+<p>"There is another work going on by the same Spirit of truth;
+also his purchase and gift &mdash; sanctification. In this I am
+called to occupy, watch, strive, fight. Life is given; means of
+support and growth provided; weapons of warfare &mdash; all things
+necessary to life and godliness: these are promised to the diligent
+use of means; and poverty, stagnation, discomfort threatened to the
+indolent. O how sovereign and gracious has my God been in his
+dealings with me in this respect also. For a sluggard have I been
+in the days of youth and the prime of life; yet to me hath he given
+the comforts promised only to the diligent. Here I sit on
+<!--Page 211--><a name="P211" id="P211"></a> the verge of
+threescore; my heart in some good measure loosened from the world,
+although in full possession of it. Health, ease, plenty, elegance,
+friendship, respectability; old age welcome, death unstung become a
+familiar friend, the messenger of my Father to fetch me home to
+those mansions which my Redeemer has taken possession of in my
+name. My hope is strong for my offspring. Stately have been his
+steps of mercy towards them already, and he saved them from their
+mother's snares; he heard and answered my prayers, for his name's
+sake, and overruled my practices; he is my God, and the God of my
+children; the God of my children's children to the latest
+generation; my cup is full of comfort, temporal and spiritual. O
+praise him, praise him, for he is your God, and the God of your
+offspring also."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">UNE</font> 4, 1802.</p>
+<p>"Making allowances for the difference of time, and supposing my
+dear children in health, all about them is in a racket. This is his
+majesty's birthday; and you are at this moment, perhaps, set in
+some social company, by invitation, to honor the anniversary, to
+repeat the wish of long life, health, and comfort to the lawful
+sovereign of Britain.</p>
+<p>"Here sit I in my dear little room, with a lovely landscape in
+view; B. M&mdash;&mdash;'s park in velvet verdure; the full-grown trees
+scattered thin to display the carpet, and in full foliage; the
+clump of willows weeping to the very ground, with a gentle wave
+agitated by the zephyr; while the other trees keep their firm,
+majestic posture; the Hudson river covered with vessels crowded
+with sail to catch the scanty breeze; some sweet little chirpers
+regaling the ear with their share <!--Page 212--><a name="P212" id=
+"P212"></a> of pleasure. I think I never heard any little
+warbler in this land sing so sweet as those which now salute my
+ear.</p>
+<p class="center"><font size="-1">"These are thy glorious works,
+Parent of good.'</font></p>
+<p>"Can all the philosophic ingenuity of London, this evening,
+produce such a scene? The gardens no doubt will be glorious, but
+the groundwork is also God's; but why say I that in particular? All
+is his; the very notes that warble through so many guilty throats
+are his creation; all the art of man cannot add to their number.
+Sweet bird, thy notes are innocent, O how sweet. Lovely trees
+&mdash; ye who stand erect, and ye who weep and wave; I wish no
+brighter scene. The shadows lengthen fast, so do yours and mine, my
+sovereign;* a few, a very few anniversaries, and we must change the
+scene &mdash; change to where no courtiers flatter, no false
+meteors blaze &mdash; where shadows flee away, realities appear,
+and nothing but realities will stand in any stead.</p>
+<p class="note">*Mrs. Graham received a pension as a British
+officer's widow until her death.</p>
+<p>"O may we meet; for me, I nothing have, I nothing am. But One
+there is, who was and is all that the mind of saint or angel can
+conceive of glory and of happiness; and he is mine, and I am most
+blessed. Lengthen on, ye shadows, until all is shadow on these orbs
+of flesh. Then, O then,</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span class="i4">"'My captive soul set
+free<br /></span> <span>From cloggish earth which oft has made me
+sigh,<br /></span> <span>Ascends the eternal hills, as seen to
+see,<br /></span> <span>As known to know, and grasp the
+Deity.'"<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1802.</p>
+<p>"Our friend B&mdash;&mdash; has now proved how far it is safe to leave the
+fate of eternity unsettled. He is <!--Page 213--><a name="P213" id=
+"P213"></a> gone to the state of the dead: with whom his soul is
+gathered, He only knows whose mercy none ought to limit; he is gone
+to his own place; if without a Surety-righteousness, which he
+sought not after in health, we know where that place is; but after
+reading of a thief on the cross, nothing with God is impossible. My
+mind is much impressed; that sentence rings in my ears, so often
+repeated, 'I am determined to do all the good I can, and leave the
+rest to God. I have no time to search.' Oh, oh, one thing is
+needful.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"'Life's a folly, age a
+dream<br /></span> <span>Borne along the common
+stream,<br /></span> <span>Earth's a bubble light as
+air,<br /></span> <span>If my rest be centered there.<br /></span>
+<span>How can that be solid joy<br /></span> <span>Which a moment
+may destroy?'<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>"Mr. B&mdash;&mdash; was seized with the fever in its most malignant form;
+for him every genius was exerted, and the medical store ransacked
+for the healing balsam, but in vain. The Judge calls for the soul,
+and the body must, at his command, dislodge its tenant; how awful,
+if no surety was at hand, if he must stand naked &mdash; we know
+the rest: did I say we know? O no. What can we know of that wrath
+which in the garden of Gethsemane, when no murderous hand was near,
+no high-priest, no council, or cross, wrung the blood through every
+pore of the pure, the innocent Lamb of God, supported by Godhead.
+If such things were done in the green tree, what shall be done in
+the dry?"</p>
+<p>Another of her grandchildren was shortly after removed by death;
+his illness is noticed in the following meditation:</p>
+<!--Page 214--><a name="P214" id="P214"></a><br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">UGUST</font>, 1802.</p>
+<p>"'And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that
+ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the
+countries, to serve wood and stone.' 'And I will bring you into the
+wilderness, and there will I plead with you face to face: like as I
+pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt,
+so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God; and I will cause you
+to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the
+covenant.' 'And ye shall remember your ways, and all your doings,
+wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in
+your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed: and ye
+shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my
+name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to
+your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.'
+Ezek. 20:32, 35, 36, 43,&nbsp;44.</p>
+<p>"It is good, yes, Lord, it is all good; too often have we said,
+'we will be as the heathen, to serve wood and stone.' Often hast
+thou chastened, often have we confessed, often resolved that we
+would walk more softly, more tenderly, more circumspectly before
+thee. But, alas, when thy hand is removed, when thou healest us,
+and restorest to us health, comfort, and our pleasant things, we
+wax fat and kick, nestle in our comfort, abuse thy gifts, and lose
+sight of the giver. Alas, Lord, thus it must ever be with us, when
+we keep not near to thee; we cannot walk one step alone without
+stumbling. Thou knowest these naturally wicked hearts, that they
+are deceitful above all things; they betray us before we are aware.
+Blessed, ever blessed be our God for his well-ordered
+<!--Page 215--><a name="P215" id="P215"></a> covenant. Blessed
+for the discipline of it. O Lord, we are again in the wilderness,
+and under thy chastising rod: for weeks past, we have 'eaten no
+pleasant bread;' thy rod is still suspended over our pleasant, our
+dear child; the streams of life ebb, he sickens, he dies, if thou
+interfere not. But the issues of death are in thy hand, and our
+eyes are towards thee. In vain are all means, all medicines, if
+thou impart not the healing virtue. Thy weeping servants seek the
+healing virtue from thy waters, thy seas, thy pure air. All nature
+is in thy hand and ministers thy pleasure; to some conveying
+health, to some disease. An herb to be boiled in simple milk, as
+the figs for Hezekiah's boils, has been proposed, O let this prove
+the appointed means, or direct and point out that which thou wilt
+bless, and let our hearts and tongues give the glory to thee.</p>
+<p>"We deserve this bereavement; but, Lord, what do we not deserve?
+Even according to the constitution of the covenant of grace, and
+consistent with thy pardoning, saving mercy, and all thy
+long-suffering, wert thou to take vengeance on our inventions, by
+exercising all thy threatened chastisements, should we ever be out
+of the furnace? But even in this view, thou never hast dealt with
+us as our iniquities deserved. 'He will not always chide, neither
+will he keep his anger for ever.' Thou hast, in thousands of
+instances, 'cast our sins behind thy back, into the midst of the
+sea; blotted them out, to remember them no more for ever. Thy ways
+are not as our ways, nor thy thoughts as our thoughts,' We may
+plead, 'Deal not with us as we sin; but according to the multitude
+of thy mercies blot out our transgressions. Pardon
+<!--Page 216--><a name="P216" id="P216"></a> our iniquity, for
+it is great.' Affliction is appointed, but it is 'in measure, when
+it shooteth forth.' O debate with it, and according to thy promise,
+'stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind.' Lord, say it
+is enough, give the blessing, and by this measure shall iniquity be
+purged, and the fruit be to take away sin. All means are alike in
+thy hand, and any measure. In holy sovereignty and consummate
+wisdom thou afflictest, and in thy hand afflictions yield the
+peaceable fruits of righteousness: the hearts of thy people are
+melted, and they sing of mercy and of judgment, and glorify thy
+name. But, O Lord, a look, such as thou gavest to Peter, will melt
+our hearts and restore our backsliding souls. The announcing of our
+pardon by the same power, will make them overflow with love. If
+thou but call us by name, as thou didst her who sought thee at thy
+sepulchre, with the same power we shall recognize our Saviour and
+worship him.</p>
+<p>"O Lord our God, ever faithful to thy promises, thou hast said,
+'Whatsoever ye ask in my name, believing that ye receive, I will do
+it.' O Lord, I ask not the life of this child on this ground. I
+have through life asked one thing of thee, and that will I seek to
+obtain while life and breath remain, and reason and grace; I will
+seek it, seek it with importunity, holding fast by thy promise to
+do it, and believing that it shall be according to my petition.
+Make good to me this thy promise, in a spiritual and eternal sense.
+Be my God, and the God of my children, and of my children's
+children, to the latest generation. Let my children according to
+the flesh, be thine by regeneration of the Holy Ghost: it is a
+great boon; <!--Page 217--><a name="P217" id="P217"></a> but
+hast thou not said, 'Open thy mouth wide, I will fill it?' Father,
+do as thou hast said: this is my one petition, and I cannot be said
+nay. I ask for myself, my children, and my children's children, to
+the latest generation, the life which Christ died to purchase, and
+lives to bestow, that we may be made one with him, and our life hid
+with him in God. Amen, and Amen.</p>
+<p>"But, O my Father, thou hast said, 'Be careful for nothing; but
+in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
+your requests be made known unto God.' I ask, with submission to
+thy holy will, if consistent with thy glory, his good, and the good
+of the parents, the life of this child; that thou mayest spare him
+for our comfort, but first for thine own glory; that thou mayest
+give the different branches of this family a joyful meeting, a full
+feast of grateful thanks to thee for all thy mercies; and our
+hearts may rejoice before thee for the abundance of comfort.
+Shouldst thou, in thy adorable wisdom, otherwise determine, thy
+blessed and thy holy will be done. Wash the soul of this child in
+the blood of Jesus, clothe him with thy righteousness, sanctify him
+by thy Spirit, and fit him in every respect for thy kingdom. And O,
+my divine Redeemer, I renew my petition which thou didst so
+evidently grant in the case of our dear Isabella: take him in thine
+arms of mercy; soften and shorten the parting pangs, and carry him
+gently through the dark valley, and give him an abundant entrance
+into thy heavenly kingdom, to join the hosannas of thy little
+children, of whom thy kingdom is partly made up: and O, sanctify
+the affliction to all concerned; direct our discipline
+<!--Page 218--><a name="P218" id="P218"></a> according as thine
+all-seeing, heart-searching eye sees we need; that it may bring
+forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and 'the fruit of
+affliction be to take away sin,' and the glory of all redound to
+thee, Father, Son, and blessed Spirit. Amen, and Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">EPTEMBER</font>, 1802.</p>
+<p>"'What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
+conversation?'</p>
+<p>"'O give thanks unto God, for he is good; his mercy endureth for
+ever.'</p>
+<p>"'How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great
+is the sum of them.'</p>
+<p>"'If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
+When I awake I am still with thee.'</p>
+<p>"'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger,
+and of great mercy.'</p>
+<p>"'The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all
+his works.'</p>
+<p>"'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
+bless thee.'</p>
+<p>"'He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
+according to our iniquities.'</p>
+<p>"'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
+passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He
+retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in
+mercy.'</p>
+<p>"'He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will
+subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the
+depths of the sea.'</p>
+<p>"'Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
+and with him is plenteous redemption.'</p>
+<!--Page 219--><a name="P219" id="P219"></a>
+<p>"'And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.'</p>
+<p>"'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'
+The Lord hath turned our captivity, filled our mouth with laughter
+and our tongue with singing.</p>
+<p>"Thomas," her grandchild, "is restored to perfect health. Thou
+hast heard our petitions, and continuest to us all our pleasant
+things.</p>
+<p>"It is a time of prosperity; thou givest us the 'upper and the
+nether springs;' thou blessest my children 'in their basket and in
+their store;' and while the riches of many are making to themselves
+wings and flying away &mdash; while many are sinking from affluence
+to poverty, falling on the right hand and on the left, by thy most
+manifest providence thou hast preserved them from the wreck. O
+teach them to acknowledge thy hand in all this, and to say and
+feel, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the
+glory.' It is God that giveth power to get riches. O, enable them
+to honor thee with their substance, and with the first-fruits of
+all their increase.</p>
+<p>"In the day of prosperity let them rejoice, but let this joy be
+in the Lord. O let thy gifts ever, ever lead them to the giver, and
+fill their hearts with gratitude, their mouths with praise; and let
+their very actions be worship, while they acknowledge thee in all
+their ways, and thou directest their steps. May they be as 'a city
+set on a hill, which cannot be hid,' and their light so shine
+before men, that they seeing their good works, may glorify their
+Father in heaven.</p>
+<p>"And now, O Lord, we wait for thy blessing in the restoration of
+our dear D&mdash;&mdash; and I. B&mdash;&mdash; and <!--Page 220--><a name="P220" id=
+"P220"></a> J&mdash;&mdash;. 'Thou hast shown them great and sore
+adversities,' and thou hast manifested thy power to save. When they
+passed through the waters thou wast with them, and through the
+rivers they did not overflow them. When they walked through the
+fire they were not burnt, neither did the flames kindle upon them.
+For thou art the Lord their God, the Holy One of Israel, their
+Saviour.</p>
+<p>"Thou didst stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind,
+and in the multitude of their thoughts within them did thy comforts
+delight their soul. Thou humbledst them under thy mighty hand, and
+thou hast in the multitude of thy mercy exalted them in due
+time.</p>
+<p>"In all their sojourning thou hast been with them; and in
+fellowship with thy church greatly hast thou comforted them. Thou
+hast given them favor in the hearts of thy people, and made 'the
+stones of the field to be at peace with them.' And now, O Lord,
+restore them to their friends and Christian society, and to their
+place which thou hast in thy goodness given and preserved to them.
+Here may they be thy witnesses, that 'thou art the Lord, and
+besides thee there is no Saviour.'"</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">EPTEMBER</font>, 1802.</p>
+<p>"This day has the Lord our God answered our prayers, and
+enriched us beyond the ordinary lot of humanity. D&mdash;&mdash; and I. B&mdash;&mdash;
+and J&mdash;&mdash; are restored to their preserved places, and to the bosom
+of their family. We are as men who dream; our mouths are filled
+with laughter, our tongues with singing; the Lord hath done great
+things for us, whereof we are glad. Thou hast turned our
+<!--Page 221--><a name="P221" id="P221"></a> captivity as the
+streams in the south. We sowed in tears, we have reaped in joy.
+Bless the Lord, O our souls; ever true and faithful is his word:
+'He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
+doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
+him.'</p>
+<p>"'O Lord, from thee is our fruit found;' may our sheaves be many
+and weighty, thou working all our works in us, to thine own glory
+and our blessedness.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"1802.</p>
+<p>"Dear brother Pero,* happy brother Pero, thy Jesus, in whom thou
+trustedst, has loosed thy bonds, has brought thee to that rest
+which remains for the people of God; thou drinkest of the pure
+river that maketh glad the city of our God; of that blessed
+fountain from which issue all the streams which refresh and revive
+us weary pilgrims. But a little while ago, and thou wast weary,
+dark, and solitary; thy flesh fettering and clogging thy spirit;
+thy God trying thy faith, hope, and patience, which he had
+previously implanted, watered, and made vigorous, to stand that
+trial more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried by
+fire, and was made manifest to the glory of that Saviour who leaves
+not his people <!--Page 222--><a name="P222" id="P222"></a> in
+any case. If need be, they are in heaviness, through manifold
+temptations; but he knows how to deliver them, having himself been
+tempted.</p>
+<p class="note">*Pero was an elderly man of color whom Mr. Andrew
+Smith had purchased, and made free.<br />
+&emsp;Pero had previously been a freed man of Christ. He had been
+for some time in ill health; Mrs. Graham kindly attended on him,
+and read the Scriptures to him: he died by the bursting of a
+bloodvessel, at an hour when none of the family were with him. Mrs.
+Graham, in humility of spirit, reproaches herself in this exercise,
+for having been absent from him, without inquiring into his
+situation for one hour.</p>
+<p>"Thou hadst a taste of his cup: like him thou didst endure the
+contradiction of sinners; like him thou didst experience the
+desertion of friends, even thine old mistress, whom thou lately
+didst esteem as a sister in Christ, and to whom thou didst look for
+fresh communications from and through that written word, which she
+could read and thou couldst not. Oh, how did she prove as a broken
+reed unto thee; how did she neglect thy necessity, and her own
+opportunity of bringing forth fruit in its season. Thou hast been
+no loser. The Lord passed by the slothful servant, the unfaithful
+steward, who neglected to give thee thy meat in due season, and
+himself took her place; took thee from that household which was not
+worthy of thee, and led thee to those mansions of bliss which
+himself purchased and prepared; set thee at that table which shall
+never be drawn, where thou shalt feast on all the fulness of God,
+and drink of those pleasures which are at his right hand for
+evermore. No need of old mistress now; no need of any earthly
+vessel now, nor of that written word which thou didst so highly
+prize. The Word made flesh has removed the veil that shaded the
+glory of the God-man from thine eyes; flesh and blood could not
+behold it; of this he has unclothed thee &mdash; left it with us to
+look upon and mourn our sin. Thee he has introduced into the full
+vision of eternal day, where thou knowest as thou art known, and
+seest as thou art seen. O that full communion enjoyed between a
+holy soul and the perfection of holiness! O that light of
+<!--Page 223--><a name="P223" id="P223"></a> life, that ocean of
+love, that inconceivable blessedness. How hast thou outrun us,
+brother Pero; how distanced us in a moment. Oh, could I not watch
+with thee one hour? Oh that I had received thy last blessing,
+instead of which, conscious offence, deserved rebuke, painful
+compunction wring my heart; and perhaps the rod of correction may
+be suspended, and now ready to fall on my guilty head.</p>
+<p>"Father, O my Father, am I not still thy child &mdash; still thy
+adopted? Have not I an Advocate with thee, Jesus Christ the
+righteous, whom thou hearest always? does not the blood of Christ
+cleanse from all sin? yes, O yes. This is my universal remedy;
+thousands and ten thousands of times have I experienced its
+efficacy. Father, I again apply; blessed Spirit, do thine office.
+Wash me, and I shall be clean; purge me, and I shall be whiter than
+snow. I confess my sin, I acknowledge mine iniquity. Thou didst
+bring to me an old disciple, near and dear to his and my Saviour;
+thou didst require me to minister unto him all that he needed; the
+honor was great, the opportunity valuable. Thou didst empty thy
+servant for a time, thou didst hide his comfort, that I might,
+through thy written word, draw living waters for him, and give him
+to drink. O the honor; O the negligence. Thou didst send the call
+for thy disciple to come up to thee; in thy providence thou didst
+make it first known to me, that I might be instrumental in
+conveying to him, through the same channel, oil and trimming for
+his lamp. Great was the honor; dignified the service; but lost to
+me for ever. I passed by on the other side. Blessed, blessed Jesus;
+thou good Samaritan, who pouredst the oil and wine into his wounds,
+and tookest him, not to an inn, <!--Page 224--><a name="P224" id=
+"P224"></a> but to those mansions in the skies which thou, with
+thine own blood, purchasedst for him; sanctify, O sanctify to me
+this thy providence; pardon my neglect. Saviour, wash me in thy
+blood, and sanctify and bring good out of even my transgression. By
+thy grace, let it be a means of stirring me up to more
+watchfulness, that I may meet the opportunities afforded me in thy
+providence, to occupy till thou come."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"D<font size="-1">ECEMBER</font>, 1802.</p>
+<p>"The lovely plant which the Lord had blasted, which brought down
+our hearts with grief, which he had restored and clothed with
+smiling health and comfort, again sickened, declined, wasted; every
+means proved ineffectual; the Lord refused the healing virtue. He
+was brought to town to be near the physicians, but the Physician of
+Israel aided them not. Disease increased; with pain, sickness,
+convulsion, much he suffered, and long; he had a taste of the
+bitterness of sin, but no part of the curse: <i>that</i> the
+Redeemer drank and expended; and having by his atoning blood purged
+this little one from his sins, and perfected all his redeeming work
+in his soul, he received him into his own heavenly abodes. It is
+well, all well.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham lived alternately with her children Mrs. Bethune and
+Mrs. Smith until 1803, when Mrs. Smith removed from New York. After
+that time she made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bethune until her
+departure to her heavenly home. They loved her not only from
+natural affection, but for her superior worth. They believed that
+her prayers brought a blessing on the family, as the ark of God did
+to the house of Obed-Edom.</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 225--><a name="P225" id="P225"></a>
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">ARCH</font>, 1803.</p>
+<p>"I read this day the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, and pleaded God's
+promises from the 22d verse to the end, for myself, for my
+children, and for my children's children; for the church of God
+throughout the world, in particular for this country, for Britain
+and Ireland, France and Germany, where his name was once known, and
+his gospel flourished. That the Lord would 'build the waste places
+and repair the breaches;' that he would 'purify the sons of Levi,'
+fill all pulpits with able, faithful ministers of the new
+testament, who shall 'declare the whole counsel of God;' and that
+wherever his name is recorded, the Holy Ghost might fill the place,
+and convince the hearts of preachers and hearers, of sin, of
+righteousness, and of judgment; might take of the things of Christ
+and show unto them; and that the great Head of the church might
+regulate and overrule all these breaches, differences, and shakings
+in his churches.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, I am ignorant; I know not the mind of the Spirit of
+promise as thou knowest it. The promise of the fruit of the tree,
+and the increase of the earth, of the corn, the wine, and the oil
+is thine, as are all others. I am ignorant how far this refers to
+spiritual prosperity, how far to temporal. I ask, O Lord, covenant
+provision, the fruit of the seed sown in the hearts of men by thine
+own Spirit; and that thou mayest build the ruined cities of thy
+churches, and fill them 'with men like a flock, as the flock of
+Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled
+with flocks of men, and they shall know that thou art the Lord.'
+Thy fair, thy rich, thy beautiful creation is also the fruit of
+grace. The wicked possess it, but <!--Page 226--><a name="P226" id=
+"P226"></a> they enjoy it not. Thy people are the heirs, but
+thou, as a wise and merciful Father, givest them to possess
+according as thy wisdom sees safe and good for them. When with the
+things of this world they imbibe the spirit of the men of the
+world; when they nestle in thy gifts and forget the Giver; when
+they enjoy with a carnal spirit, and not with thankfulness and a
+due sense of their dependence on thee as the God of providence as
+well as of grace; thou, in mercy as in sovereignty, blastest their
+pleasant things, mixest their cup of prosperity with wormwood and
+gall, or sweepest all away with a turn of thy hand, that thou
+mayest teach them that man doth not live by bread alone, but by
+every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; that thou
+mayest withdraw them from sinful purposes, and hide pride from
+them; that thou mayest open their ears to instruction, and seal it
+on their hearts: thou dashest to pieces their broken cisterns, that
+thou mayest lead them back to the fountain of living waters.</p>
+<p>"It is good, O Lord, all good; I lay hold upon it: be thou the
+provider of me and mine; feed us with food convenient for us. Thine
+own word testifies that 'every creature of God is good, and nothing
+is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is
+sanctified by the word of God and prayer.' I and the children for
+whom I pray, possess many, yea, and abundance of temporal good
+things. O Lord, give suitable grace, grace for grace. Spirit of
+grace, keep us thankful, humble, dependent, spiritual; enable us to
+receive all through a covenant channel, as the provision of our
+Father by the way, through this wilderness. O may all be sanctified
+by thy word and <!--Page 227--><a name="P227" id="P227"></a>
+prayer, and we be enabled 'to eat and drink to thy
+glory.'&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"Read the 138th Psalm: 'Though the Lord be high, yet hath he
+respect unto the lowly; though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou
+wilt revive me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; thy
+mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine
+own hands.'</p>
+<p>"Redeeming work is thy work; regenerating work is thy work;
+sanctifying work is also thine.</p>
+<p>"The first is finished, the second begun, to be perfected in the
+third. O Lord, I hang on thy promises, which with Christ are all
+mine, though I have not at all times the savor of them; this is
+mine infirmity, and often my sin. O keep me looking unto
+Jesus."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">ARCH</font> 25, 1803.</p>
+<p>"Communion Sabbath, Dr. M&mdash;&mdash; preached from Romans 6:17: 'But
+God be thanked that ye were' &mdash; were in the past time, not now
+&mdash; 'the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart
+that form of doctrine which was delivered you.'</p>
+<p>"O Lord, I believe the doctrines of thy gospel; I know that I am
+delivered from sin as a master; it hath not dominion over my will,
+nor entire dominion over my affections; I would be thine, thy
+servant, thy child, thine in all obedience. I feel this new
+principle in the desires of my soul. I would do all things to thee,
+in act and in principle. But O, Lord, the old man is still here,
+harassing and hindering my new will, which I have received from
+thee, from acting with freedom and energy. Unhallowed motives steal
+in, by-ends present themselves; and when outward duty is attained
+to, there is more of sin than of righteousness.
+<!--Page 228--><a name="P228" id="P228"></a> Though entered upon
+with some measure of purity, yet before it is finished I am at a
+loss to discern the true principle by which I am actuated. Lord,
+help me; hast thou not promised to work in me both 'to will and to
+do of thy good pleasure?' Is it not the grand end of thy death,
+that thou mightest purify to thyself a glorious church, 'not having
+spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing;' and shall not I be a
+partaker? Art thou not made of God unto thy people, wisdom,
+righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?</p>
+<p>"O Lord, my heart pants for redemption from indwelling sin. This
+depravity of my nature, this opposition, this evil that is ever
+present with me when I would do good, this indolence, this
+listlessness, this want of zeal, or else self-will, keenness of
+temper, impatience, haste: O Lord, there is a host of enemies; gird
+me, arm me, shield me, lead me forth under thy banner; be my
+victorious King. 'I will go in thy name, trusting in thy promised
+strength and grace to help in every time of need.' Glory be to God,
+Father, Son, and blessed Spirit, for the grace in which I stand.
+But for grace I had been a willing slave to sin to this hour. By
+that same grace I shall one day attain to victory. I cast my burden
+on the Lord, he will sustain until he deliver; I will go up through
+the wilderness, trusting in the promises, and continue fighting in
+his strength. 'My soul waits for thy salvation.' Lord, enable me to
+keep 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.' O give
+faith in every part of his mediatorial character. May I feed upon
+him and be strong for this sore fight. Give courage, O Lord; press
+me forward: may I resolve, and keep <!--Page 229--><a name="P229"
+id="P229"></a> the resolution, to resist unto blood, striving
+against sin.</p>
+<p>"I have been a slothful servant in thy family, an idle laborer
+in thy vineyard, 'an unfruitful branch,' a poor dwarfish member in
+thy body. Grant, O grant a little fruit on the topmost bough. O, at
+the 'eleventh hour' may I begin to work, to bear some fruit, to the
+glory of that grace by which my soul is saved from the wages of
+sin, death, and hell, and made heir, by free gift, of the wages of
+righteousness, eternal life, and glory. I wait for thy
+salvation."</p>
+<p>There being no public, free, or Sabbath-schools in the city,
+Mrs. Graham used her endeavors to promote such as would at least
+furnish education to the children of the widows under her care; and
+several young ladies offered their services, which she thus
+notices:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font>, 1804.</p>
+<p>"A new thing is on the wheel in the city of New York. A society
+of ladies, organized for the purpose of relieving widows with small
+children, was new in this country. It is now, by the blessing of
+God, apparently established. It was entered upon with prayer; it
+has been conducted thus far with prayer. The blessing of God has
+rested upon it, and much good has been done by it. Some of us have
+looked long, and requested of God to open a way by which the
+children of these widows might be instructed and taught to read his
+word, and by his blessing on it, come to the knowledge of the way
+of salvation. One means has been attempted of an ordinary kind:
+twelve children were last week placed at school with Mrs. L&mdash;&mdash;, to
+be <!--Page 230--><a name="P230" id="P230"></a> taught to read,
+and some more are to be placed with another of our widows, for the
+same purpose. But this indeed is new. A society of young ladies,
+the first in rank in the city, in the very bloom of life, and full
+of its prospects, engaged in those pleasures and amusements which
+tend to engross the mind and shut out every idea unconnected with
+them, coming forward and offering &mdash; not to contribute towards
+a school, but their own personal attendance to instruct the
+ignorant, O Lord, prosper their work. If this be of thee, it shall
+prosper, and be productive of much good; but if thou bless not, it
+will come to nothing but shame. No good can be done but by thee,
+for there is none good but One;' and what are all thy creatures,
+but instruments in thy hand, by which thou bringest to pass the
+purposes of thy will? <i>Christians</i>, redeemed, enlightened,
+sanctified, are no more; thou workest all their works in them; they
+themselves are thy workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
+works, which thou hast prepared, that they should walk in them.
+Worldlings also are thy instruments: by them thou workest and
+bringest to pass the counsels of thy will; thou puttest into their
+heart the good thing which thou workest, and girdest them for the
+purpose: though not the children of thy covenant, they are the
+instruments of thy providence.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, take up this matter; gird these young women to this
+very purpose, and prosper them in the art of teaching these orphans
+of thy providence. And Oh, Lord, hear my more important petition. I
+am not worthy to be heard. O Lord, I am not worthy to be named in
+connection with any good done by thee. I am the chief of sinners,
+the chief of backsliders; every <!--Page 231--><a name="P231" id=
+"P231"></a> thing in me, of me, or by me, is vile as far as it
+is mine. All that is otherwise, all good implanted in me, or done
+by me, is thine own; it is grace, free grace, the purchase of thine
+own Anointed, my dear Redeemer, my dying, risen, ascended Saviour,
+and the fruit of the Holy Ghost, the sent of the Father and of the
+Son, to set up a kingdom of righteousness in the hearts of the
+redeemed. Let me, as a sinner saved by grace, to whom thou hast
+been pleased to give the exceeding great and precious promises
+&mdash; let me, under the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant,
+and in entire dependence on my surety-righteousness &mdash; let me
+draw near and present my petition, in the name and for the sake of
+Him whom thou hearest always. O Lord God Almighty, by this very
+thing, build up thy Zion. Lay hold of these young creatures, and
+while they are in the way of thy providence, bring them to the
+house of our master's brethren. O thou great Teacher, teach thou
+teacher and taught. Be found of them who seek thee not, and say
+with power, 'Behold me, behold me,' to a people not yet called by
+thy name, and out of this small thing in thy providence, bring
+revenues of praise to thy name as the God of grace.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"And now, O Lord, for myself, I pray for deep humility; I ask,
+for His sake who was meek and lowly, to be kept where my place
+really is, at the feet of all thy servants; and if it be thy
+pleasure to make me a useful instrument, in proportion make me a
+humble soul. Let me ever remember my ways and be ashamed, and never
+open my mouth any more because of my shame, when thou art pacified
+towards me for all that I have done. O keep me in this contrite
+frame of <!--Page 232--><a name="P232" id="P232"></a> mind. In
+all that to which thou callest me, give me a willing heart, and
+furnish me with every necessary for thy glory. And now prepare me
+to speak to these young women good and acceptable words. Save me
+from sacrificing truth, or departing, in any respect, from
+Christian duty; give me such wisdom as maybe suited to the
+occasion: in all things mine eyes are to the Lord; from thee let my
+fruit be found."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font> 17, 1804.</p>
+<p>"Saturday, the 11th, twenty-nine young ladies met with Mrs.
+Hoffman and myself, at Mr. O. Hoffman's, Wall-street, on purpose to
+receive instructions respecting the school; and having paired
+themselves according to their mind, I delivered what I had prepared
+for them: they all seemed hearty in their engagement; and on
+Monday, the 13th inst., Miss L&mdash;&mdash;t and Miss L&mdash;&mdash;n attended at the
+school-room and commenced teaching thirteen children; four have
+been added since.</p>
+<p>"Again, O Lord, let me request thy blessing on this institution;
+put thy seal upon it, and mark it for thine own. Gird the teachers
+for their work, and open the minds of the scholars to instruction.
+And O, Lord, in thine own time, and by means of thine own devising,
+provide spiritual instruction for teachers and taught. Is it thy
+pleasure, Lord, that I attend the children on a day appointed for
+the purpose? Wilt thou accept of me as an instrument by which thou
+wilt do good to the souls of these children; and wilt thou keep me
+humble and contrite in my own soul? Bless also Mrs. L&mdash;&mdash;'s school;
+there too let thy work appear; deal with her soul as 'thou dealest
+with thy chosen;' teach her the way of salvation, and make her a
+teacher by <!--Page 233--><a name="P233" id="P233"></a> thine
+own Spirit. If it be my dear Master's pleasure to use me, I would
+also attend that school as his instrument. 'Search me, O Lord, and
+know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be
+any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'"</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham's address to the young ladies, above alluded to, is
+given as a specimen of the appropriateness of her addresses on
+similar occasions, and as an incentive to kindred exertions in
+every condition of life.</p>
+<br />
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR YOUNG</font> L<font size=
+"-1">ADIES</font> &mdash; Every thing new becomes matter of
+speculation and variety of opinion.</p>
+<p>"An association of ladies for the relief of destitute widows and
+orphans, was a new thing in this country. It was feeble in its
+origin, the jest of most, the ridicule of many, and it met the
+opposition of not a few. The men could not allow our sex the
+steadiness and perseverance necessary to establish such an
+undertaking. But God put <i>his</i> seal upon it; and under his
+fostering care it has prospered beyond the most sanguine
+expectations of its propagators. Its fame is spread over the United
+States, and celebrated in foreign countries. It has been a
+precedent to many cities, who have followed the laudable example.
+This fame is not more brilliant than just. The hungry are fed, the
+naked are clothed, shelter is provided for the outcasts, medicine
+and cordials for the sick, and the soothing voice of sympathy
+cheers the disconsolate. Who are the authors of all these
+blessings? Your mothers, ladies, the benevolent members of this so
+justly famed Society. But who are these children that
+<!--Page 234--><a name="P234" id="P234"></a> idly ramble through
+the streets, a prey to growing depravity and vicious example? hark,
+they <i>quarrel</i>, they <i>swear</i>, and such no doubt will
+<i>lie</i> and <i>steal</i>. And that group of dear little
+creatures, running about in the most imminent danger, apparently
+without protection, are they under the care of this so justly famed
+society? They are; they are fed, they are clothed, their mother's
+fireside is made warm for them; but no culture is provided for
+their minds, nor protection from baneful example. These will in
+time follow that of the older ones, and grow up the slaves of
+idleness and vice, the certain road to ruin.</p>
+<p>"Alas, alas, and is there no help &mdash; no preventive? Yes,
+there is. Behold the angelic band; hail, ye virtuous daughters;
+worthy of your virtuous mothers, come forward and tread in their
+steps. Snatch these little ones from the whirling vortex; bring
+them to a place of safety; teach them to know their Father, God:
+tell them of their Saviour's love; lead them through the history of
+his life; mark to them the example he set, the precepts he recorded
+for their observance, and the promises for their comfort. And by
+teaching them to read, enable them to retrace all your instructions
+when their eyes see you no more.</p>
+<p>"My dear young ladies, the sacrifice you have made shall most
+assuredly meet its reward: but like your mothers, you will
+experience much painful banter, you will be styled school-madams.
+Let it pass; suffer it quietly; when your scheme begins to ripen
+and the fruits appear, who shall be able to withhold their praise?
+Only be steadfast, draw not back and justify the prophecies of
+many.</p>
+<!--Page 235--><a name="P235" id="P235"></a>
+<p>"A great general, in ancient times, in search of glory, landed
+his troops on the hostile coast, and then burnt all his ships: they
+must conquer, or die. You have, ladies, already embarked in this
+design; there is no remaining neuter now; your name and undertaking
+are in every mouth; you must press forward and justify your cause:
+and justified it shall be, if you persevere; it cannot be
+otherwise. The benevolence you contemplate is as superior to that
+already in operation, as the interest of the soul is to that of the
+body; and it is your own &mdash; the very scheme originated in a
+young mind in this company. The society were contemplating
+mercenary agents, schools for pay, and one is already
+established.</p>
+<p>"But this labor of love; who could have hoped for it? A society
+of <i>young ladies,</i> in rank the first in the city, in the very
+bloom of life, and full of its prospects, engaged in those
+pleasures and amusements which generally engross the mind, and shut
+out every idea unconnected with self, coming forward and offering
+&mdash; what? not their purses, that were <i>trash;</i> but their
+own personal services to instruct the ignorant, and become the
+saviors of many of their sex. It is indeed a new thing, and more
+strange in this age of dissipation than that institution from which
+it sprung. May this too become the darling of Providence. May God
+put his seal upon this also. May he bless and prosper you in this
+undertaking, bless you, and make you a blessing."</p>
+<p>We next have her wrestling supplications for the revival of
+God's work in the church with which she was connected.</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 236--><a name="P236" id="P236"></a>
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font> 21, 1804.</p>
+<p>"O Thou, who art Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, who
+holdest the seven stars in thy right hand, and walkest in the midst
+of the seven golden candle-sticks, who livest and was dead, and art
+alive for evermore. Amen. And hast the keys of hell and of death.
+Out of thy mouth goeth a sharp twoedged sword, by which thou
+reachest the hearts of the most hardened. O write with power, speak
+with power, in the heart of the angel of this church. Hast thou not
+in former days had thy dwelling among them? in days of trouble
+didst thou not work in them the fruits of labor and patience, so
+that for thy name's sake they labored and fainted not? Thou
+blessedst them and gave them peace, and they rejoiced in the light
+of thy countenance; thou multipliedst them also, so that from a
+handful they became <i>two bands</i>. Alas, Lord, we have,
+Jeshurun-like, 'waxed fat and kicked;' we have left our first love;
+we have not watched and prayed, as thou gavest commandment, and
+thou hast left us to enter into temptation; we have forsaken the
+counsel of our old men, and given heed to flatterers; we have
+forgotten our dependence on thee, and said, 'Ashur shall save us,
+we will ride upon horses.' We have set up our idols in our hearts,
+and put the stumbling-block of our iniquity before our eyes; we
+have taken counsel, but not of thee, and covered ourselves with a
+covering, but not of thy Spirit; we have gloried in our own wisdom,
+and strengthened ourselves in our own strength.</p>
+<p>"We are poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked; rich in our
+fancied wisdom, seeing by our own light, and compassing ourselves
+about with our own <!--Page 237--><a name="P237" id="P237"></a>
+sparks; we feed on ashes: a deceived heart has turned us aside.</p>
+<p>"'O Lord, the hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof.' It is of
+the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. To us belong shame and
+confusion of face &mdash; O cover us with it &mdash; but to thee
+belongs mercy. Humble us, O Lord, and we shall be humbled; 'turn
+us, and we shall be turned.'</p>
+<p>"It is in our nature to backslide for ever; thou, and thou only,
+knowest the deceitfulness of the heart; thou, and thou only, canst
+search it. O search us, and try us, and show us what wicked ways
+there are in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Deal not with
+us according to our sins, but according to the multitude of thine
+own mercies. We have no other plea; our sins call for judgment, and
+until thou, thine own blessed self, turn us, we are in no situation
+to receive mercy. Work with us for thy name's sake, establish with
+us thine own covenant of free, unmerited, undeserved mercy. Then
+shall we know that thou art the Lord.</p>
+<p>"Make us thine by thine own covenant, established in Christ,
+thine own anointed; the blessed surety, by thine own appointment;
+our substitute, on whom it hath pleased thee to lay the iniquities
+of us all; in whose sacred person thou tookest vengeance for all
+our sins; by whom thy law is fulfilled, magnified, and made
+honorable; whose doing and suffering in our stead is accepted by
+Jehovah. 'The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake.' No
+covenant short of one fulfilled in every jot and tittle could
+benefit us.</p>
+<p>"Thy covenant is well-ordered in all things, and it is sure.</p>
+<!--Page 238--><a name="P238" id="P238"></a>
+<p>"Here, O Lord, I take my stand; here I lay my foundation, and on
+this thy covenant I build; or rather, here thou thyself hast laid
+my foundation, and on this rock hast thou set my soul and built my
+hopes, thou subduing my enmity. I acquiesce. I will now 'remember
+the years of thy hand,' look back to thy dealings with thine own
+nation, whom thou didst choose and set apart from all other
+nations, though of the same blood with all those that dwell on the
+face of the whole earth.</p>
+<p>"They, like us, destroyed themselves, but in thee was their
+help. They also sinned, committed iniquity, and did wickedly; they
+remembered not thy mercy, but provoked thee at the Red sea, after
+the great deliverance thou hadst wrought for them, and the wonders
+thou madest to pass before them in the land of Egypt. Nevertheless
+thou savedst them for thy name's sake, that thou mightest make thy
+mighty power known; thou didst repeat thy wonders, and didst dry up
+the sea before them. He fed them with corn from heaven; they did
+eat angel's food. He clave the rock in the wilderness, and caused
+waters to run down like a river. After all, they forsook the God of
+their mercies; they believed not his promises, nor trusted in his
+salvation; they lusted, and they murmured, and desired to turn back
+to Egypt. Thou didst chasten them sore for their sin, and didst
+bring down their heart with grief.</p>
+<p>"When thou didst slay them, they sought thee, and remembered
+that God was their rock, and the most high God their Redeemer.
+Nevertheless they did flatter with their mouth and lied unto thee
+with their tongue, for their heart was not right with thee,
+<!--Page 239--><a name="P239" id="P239"></a> neither were they
+steadfast in thy covenant. But thou being full of compassion,
+forgavest their iniquity and destroyedst them not; yea, many a time
+turnedst thou away thine anger, and didst not stir up all thy
+wrath.</p>
+<p>"O how many times did they turn back, tempted God, and limited
+the Holy One of Israel. Yet did he fulfil all his promises, and by
+wonders in the sea, wonders in the desert, wonders in Zoan's field,
+and in the camps of their enemies, he led them safely to the border
+of his sanctuary, to the mountain which his right hand had
+purchased. He cast out the heathen before them, and gave them rest
+in the land of promise. Even there they provoked the Most High,
+provoked him to jealousy with their graven images.</p>
+<p>"Again thou didst chasten them sore, let loose the corruptions
+of men upon them, and suffer them to fall before their enemies.
+Thou deliveredst thy strength into captivity, and thy glory into
+the hands of their enemies.</p>
+<p>"Yet, O Lord, again didst thou deliver them, and sentest
+provision for them by thine own covenant. Thou didst choose David
+thy servant, and take him from the sheep-folds. Thou broughtest him
+to feed Jacob thy people, and Israel thine inheritance. So he fed
+them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by
+the skilfulness of his hands.</p>
+<p>"Such are the people with whom thou hast still to do. Such, O
+God of infinite mercy, such the God with whom we sinners have to
+do, even 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, keeping mercy for
+thou sands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and that
+will by no means clear the guilty.' O what <!--Page 240--><a name=
+"P240" id="P240"></a> could man or angel have done with this
+last character of thy name? Thy covenant makes provision. In Christ
+Jesus, our blessed substitute, all is reconciled. Thy name is one;
+the just God, and the justifier of the ungodly who believe in
+Jesus; This God is our God; we will make mention of his
+righteousness, and his only. By his own covenant, in his own time,
+and by means of his own providing, he will revive
+us.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font>, 1804</p>
+<p>"All my desire is before thee, and it is all contained in thy
+well-ordered covenant. Many years of vanity, of idolatry, of
+backsliding, wandering, and folly have passed over my head since I
+first took hold of thy covenant. How fickle, false, and deceitful
+have I proved; yet thou knowest, thine own Spirit through all my
+wanderings testified in my heart, that out of the channel of this
+covenant there could be neither safety nor comfort; and never, so
+far as I can remember, have I deliberately chosen to be dealt with
+by any other. Its corrections and chastisements have reached the
+deepest sensibilities of my heart. Thine arrows stuck fast in me,
+thy hand pressed me sore; there was no soundness in my flesh,
+neither rest in my bones, because of my sin; mine iniquities went
+over my head, were a burden too heavy to bear. I was feeble and
+sore broken, and roared by reason of the disquiet of my heart. My
+lovers and friends stood aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stood
+afar off. I was ready to halt, and my sorrow was continually before
+me; yet even in my darkest, deepest afflictions, when deep called
+to deep, and thy waves and billows were passing over me; when my
+soul seemed <!--Page 241--><a name="P241" id="P241"></a> sinking
+in the mire where there was no standing, I groped in the dark; my
+heart panted, my strength failed, and the light of mine eyes seemed
+gone out. I was weak with my groaning; in the night I made my bed
+to swim with my tears; yet even then, by that same covenant by
+which I was suffering, light sprang out of darkness, glimmering
+hope in the midst of despair. I remembered the years of thy right
+hand; in the multitude of my thoughts within me &mdash; the
+provision made in this covenant &mdash; thy comforts delighted my
+soul.</p>
+<p>"I was furnished with a plea which would condemn, by every
+covenant but thine: Pardon my iniquities, for they are great. Thou,
+even thou, art he who blottest out transgressions as a cloud, and
+iniquity as a thick cloud. Verily thou art a God that pardoneth,
+though thou takest vengeance on the inventions of thy rebellious
+children. 'Vengeance!' not the vengeance of the curse; no, that, O
+thou blessed Covenant, thou blessed Surety, that fell on thy
+devoted head. Thou by this covenant wast 'made a curse for us.'
+Thou didst tread the wine-press alone, and of the people there was
+none to help thee. Thou didst expend the last drop of that cup of
+vengeance. Every cup put into our hand, though a cup of trembling,
+is a cup of blessing. I this day take a fresh hold of thy covenant,
+for myself, for my children, and for my children's children, to the
+latest generation. For my brother and sister, for their children,
+and children's children; for the near concerns of our dear D. B&mdash;&mdash;;
+and for all whom I carry on my mind to thy throne of grace. This is
+the sum and substance of my prayers. Bring them into the bond of
+this covenant, and deal with them according to the order
+<!--Page 242--><a name="P242" id="P242"></a> of it, and the
+provision made for them in it, in all possible
+circumstances.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"O God, in the multitude of thy mercies hear me, in the truth of
+thy salvation. Truth of thy salvation! thou only knowest the truth
+of thy salvation. How little do we know of thy work. Many of those
+providences which appear to us dark and dismal, are wheels turning
+round 'the truth of thy salvation;' opening our blinded eyes to the
+issues of sin, and also delivering from the snares of the devil.
+Deal not, O Lord, with me, and mine, as our iniquities deserve;
+this has never been thy way with us; but according to thy former
+loving-kindness, and to all the long-suffering, patience, and
+pardoning mercy which thy aged servant has experienced through her
+sinful guilty pilgrimage. Thou hast forgiven me all the way from
+Egypt. Leave me not now, when I am old and grey-headed; but when
+strength and heart fail, be thou the strength of my heart and
+portion for ever.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>The winter of 1804-5 was unusually severe: the river Hudson was
+shut by frost as early as November; fuel was consequently scarce
+and dear, and the poor suffered greatly. Mrs. Graham visited those
+parts of the city where the poorer class of sufferers dwelt;* in
+upwards of two hundred families she either found a
+<!--Page 243--><a name="P243" id="P243"></a> Bible their
+property, or gave them one; praying with them in their affliction.
+She requested a friend to write, first one religious tract and then
+another, suited <!--Page 244--><a name="P244" id="P244"></a> to
+the peculiar situation of those afflicted people. One was called,
+"A Donation to Poor Widows with Small Children;" the other, "A
+Second Visit to Poor Widows with Small Children." And lest it might
+be said it was cheap to give advice, she usually gave a small sum
+of money along with the tracts she distributed. There was at this
+time neither a Bible nor Tract Society in New York. Mrs. Hoffman
+accompanied her in many of her excursions. In the course of their
+visits, they discovered a French family from St. Domingo in such
+extremity of distress as made them judge it necessary to report
+their case to the Honorable Dewitt Clinton, then mayor of the city.
+The situation of this family being made public, three hundred
+dollars were voluntarily contributed for their relief. Roused by
+this incident, a public meeting was called at the Tontine
+Coffee-house, and committees from the different wards were
+appointed to aid the corporation in ascertaining and supplying the
+immediate wants of the suffering poor. The zeal of Mrs. Graham and
+Mrs. Hoffman paved the way for this public-spirited exertion, which
+probably was the means of saving the lives of some of the destitute
+and friendless.</p>
+<p class="note">*The following notice of these scenes appeared in
+one of the periodical publications of the day:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span class="i2">"When sorrow shrunk before the
+piercing wind,<br /></span> <span>And famine, shelterless, in
+suffering pined;<br /></span> <span>When sickness drooped in
+solitary pain,<br /></span> <span>Mid varying misery's relentless
+reign;<br /></span> <span>Oh, then tumultuous rose the plaints of
+grief,<br /></span> <span>And loud and strong the clamors for
+relief!<br /></span> <span>Then active charity, with boundless
+care,<br /></span> <span>From gloomy faces chased the fiend
+Despair,<br /></span> <span>Dispelled the horrors of the wintry
+day,<br /></span> <span>And none that asked went unrelieved
+away.<br /></span> <span class="i2">"Yet there are some who
+sorrow's vigils keep,<br /></span> <span>Unknown that languish,
+undistinguished weep;<br /></span> <span>Behold yon ruined
+building's shattered walls,<br /></span> <span>Where drifting snow
+through many a crevice falls;<br /></span> <span>Whose smokeless
+vent no blazing fuel knows,<br /></span> <span>But drear and cold
+the widow's mansion shows;<br /></span> <span>Her fragile form, by
+sickness deeply riven,<br /></span> <span>Too weak to face the
+driving blasts of heaven,<br /></span> <span>Her voice too faint to
+reach some pitying ear,<br /></span> <span>Her shivering babes
+command her anguished tear:<br /></span> <span>Their feeble cries
+in vain assistance crave,<br /></span> <span>And expectation
+'points but to the grave.'<br /></span> <span class="i2">"But lo,
+with hasty step a female form<br /></span> <span>Glides through the
+wind and braves the chilling storm,<br /></span> <span>With eager
+hand now shakes the tottering door,<br /></span> <span>Now rushes
+breathless o'er the snow-clad floor.<br /></span> <span>Her tongue
+soft comfort to the mourner speaks,<br /></span> <span>Her silver
+voice with soft emotion breaks;<br /></span> <span>Round the drear
+hovel roves her moistened eye,<br /></span> <span>Her graceful
+bosom heaves the lengthened sigh.<br /></span> <span class="i2">"I
+know thee now &mdash; I know that angel frame &mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>O that the muse might dare to breathe thy name:<br /></span>
+<span>Nor thine alone, but all that sister-band<br /></span>
+<span>Who scatter gladness o'er a weeping land;<br /></span>
+<span>Who comfort to the infant sufferer bring,<br /></span>
+<span>And 'teach with joy the widow's heart to sing.'<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"For this, no noisy honors fame shall
+give,<br /></span> <span>In your own breasts your gentle virtues
+live;<br /></span> <span>No sounding numbers shall your names
+reveal,<br /></span> <span>But your own hearts the rich reward
+shall feel.<br /></span>
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;
+&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; "ALBERT."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 244A--><a name="P244A" id="P244A"></a>
+<p>In the month of August, 1805, Mrs. Graham paid another visit to
+her friends in Boston, of whom she spoke with much affection and
+esteem. She used to mention, with peculiar approbation, a society
+of pious ladies there, who met once in every week for prayer and
+mutual edification.</p>
+<p>On returning to New York, she again wrote to her friend Mrs.
+C&mdash;&mdash;, renewing her endeavors for <!--Page 245--><a name="P245" id=
+"P245"></a> her consolation and establishment in the faith of
+Christ; and soon after informed her of the dangerous illness of two
+of her grandchildren, one of whom, in the righteous dispensations
+of an unerring Providence, was taken, and the other left.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;, Boston.</p>
+<p class="right">"G<font size="-1">REENWICH</font>, N.Y., Sept. 26,
+1805.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> F<font size="-1">RIEND</font>
+&mdash; I arrived here on Monday. I found my children in health,
+but much affected with the death of the amiable youth M&mdash;&mdash;, and
+the melancholy situation of his bereaved parents.</p>
+<p>"The epidemic spreads over the city in every direction among the
+few remaining in it. All the public offices are here; crowds of the
+citizens, and houses and stores spring up in a day; all is bustle
+and confusion, and all seem mad on business.</p>
+<p>"Parting with my dear friend was most painful, so painful that
+nothing could alleviate it but the presence of my own children,
+who, could there have been room from deeper sorrows, would have
+shared it with me. O that I could put my God in my place in your
+heart. What are earthly friends? How few are steady against all
+change of circumstances; of these, fewer still have it in their
+power to supply every link of friendship's chain; a thousand
+unforeseen incidents disappoint their wishes and frustrate their
+hopes, rendering abortive their greatest exertions. But there is a
+Friend, everywhere present, thoroughly acquainted with every
+circumstance of the heart and of the life; all-powerful to relieve;
+whose love is invariable, and ever the most tender when every other
+friend stands aloof; a friend in adversity, 'a friend who sticketh
+closer than a brother,' whose love surpasseth the
+<!--Page 246--><a name="P246" id="P246"></a> love of women. This
+Friend receiveth sinners &mdash; casts out none who come to him. He
+was never known to disappoint the hopes of any poor sinner. He
+receives them into his heart; he takes all their burdens and cares
+on himself, pays all their debts, answers all demands against them,
+and is every way surety for them; they become his own, no one has
+any thing to say to them but himself. He knows them &mdash; how apt
+to err, to wander, yea, to forget him, and prove ungrateful; all
+this he knows, but he has made provision for all. He has a rod, and
+he will subdue their iniquities. He will heal their backslidings,
+he will bring back and restore his wanderers. He will in due time
+perfect what concerns them, and present them to his Father
+purified, without spot or wrinkle.</p>
+<p>"In the meantime he requires them to confide in him; to go up
+through this wilderness leaning upon him; to tell him all their
+complaints and griefs, and to comfort themselves: and he will
+impress the comfort by means of his great and precious promises,
+scattered like so many pearls through his sacred Bible, tabled
+there on purpose for us to ground our prayers upon, and delight
+ourselves in. This is your friend's Friend, and of ten thousand
+besides. This was the wicked Magdalene's Friend; this, the
+persecuting Paul's Friend, wicked Manasseh's Friend; the
+adulterous, murdering David's Friend. And he is your Friend, though
+your eyes are holden that you see him not. He is leading you by a
+way that you know not. This is one of his characters, 'I will bring
+the blind by a way that they know not.'</p>
+<p>"I was happy to find your niece was to return with Mr. C&mdash;&mdash;;
+but, my dear, a painful dread has assaulted <!--Page 247--><a name=
+"P247" id="P247"></a> my peace, lest Satan get the advantage by
+means of a stranger in the family, and undo what has been begun.
+The world may have peace without God; but you shall not. You have,
+however feebly, taken hold of his covenant, and he will keep you to
+your choice. 'If his children forsake his laws and go astray,' etc.
+Psalm&nbsp;79:30."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">OVEMBER</font>, 1805.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> F<font size="-1">RIEND</font>
+&mdash; This is not our rest; through much tribulation all Christ's
+disciples must follow him. There is a rest prepared for the people
+of God: as far as tasted in this world &mdash; and in this world it
+is tasted &mdash; it consists in a mind resigned to the will of God
+in proportion as it can say, 'Thy will be done on earth, as it is
+done in heaven.' Christ himself was made perfect through suffering,
+and all his followers shall be so in their appointed measure. What
+is our cup to his? O my dear friend, we are ransomed, we are
+redeemed, and we are fitting and preparing for the purchased
+inheritance, that perfect rest prepared for the people of God when
+their warfare is finished. Let him do all his pleasure with us
+here; let him subdue our iniquities in his own way; let him glorify
+his name by our sufferings &mdash; his glory is ever connected with
+his people's best interests. We shall one day acknowledge that he
+has done all things well, and that not one word of all that he has
+promised has failed.</p>
+<p>"It has pleased the Lord to take from us our dear sweet Rebecca;
+young as she was, through much tribulation she entered in: I have
+scarcely seen severer suffering, nor a harder dismission. It is
+well; the Lord will answer his own ends by it for the good of all
+concerned, as well as for his own glory. Our dear G&mdash;&mdash;
+<!--Page 248--><a name="P248" id="P248"></a> was ill at the same
+time, and all hope was lost as to him also; for a whole week we
+looked upon him as dying, A bold measure was taken with him, which
+succeeded; the Lord had commanded life; it was not thought of for
+her. God had appointed to her entrance into life eternal. It is all
+well. Blessed, blessed be his name; for her he has taken and him he
+has restored, both equally. I.G. S&mdash;&mdash; was confined at the same
+time with a broken arm; N. B&mdash;&mdash; with the fever and pleurisy. Deep
+have been the wounds in this aged heart, not yet weaned from earth,
+but tremblingly alive to every thing that concerns my children. Yet
+I do give up. I have asked but one thing with importunity, and by
+that I abide. I did not ask for temporal life, but the life which
+Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow; let him answer my
+petition by means of his own appointing: by health or by sickness,
+by riches or by poverty, by long life or early deaths &mdash; only
+let all mine by the ties of nature, be his by regeneration of his
+Spirit."</p>
+<p>Having felt the trials and the responsibilities of widowhood,
+she wrote to her brother's widow, Mrs. Marshall, in 1805:</p>
+<p>"You are now, my dear sister, the only head of your family. Will
+you take Joshua's determination? 'As for me and my house, we will
+serve the Lord.' Take hold of God's covenant for your orphan
+children as for yourself, and consider them as his, to be brought
+up for him. Be a priestess in your own house, and keep up the
+worship of God daily in your family, and confess your Lord and
+Master before angels, men, and devils. Those who thus honor God, he
+will honor.</p>
+<!--Page 249--><a name="P249" id="P249"></a>
+<p>"You are indeed, my dear, arrived at an important stage of your
+journey through this great wilderness. You are now the head of the
+family, and are to God immediately answerable. No earthly
+consideration must make you give up the government of it, nor the
+prerogative which he hath given you, to counsel, and even beseech
+your household to serve the Lord. You cannot give grace; you cannot
+give life; and where there is no life there can be no spiritual
+exercise: but you may use means, although there is much prudence to
+be observed to avoid disgust.</p>
+<p>"Be faithful, then, my dear sister, to your important trust. See
+that your household remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; your
+children, of course, will accompany you to the house of God, but
+let not your servants absent themselves from his ordinances, and
+endeavor, on your return home, to explain and bring home the word
+that may have been spoken to their consciences. Above all, let it
+be your constant aim to set before them a godly, consistent
+example, and be much engaged in prayer for them &mdash; I mean for
+your servants as well as for your children, and God will, in all
+probability, make you a mother in Israel, the mother of many
+spiritual children, and turn your captivity into rejoicing, and
+fill your mouth with songs of praise; or should you not have this
+comfort, should the night of adversity last to the very valley of
+the shadow of death, the morning of eternal rest shall then beam
+forth upon your own soul, and your prayers may be answered for
+others, when the eyes that wept and the breast that heaved are at
+rest in the dust. O, then, my sister, possess your soul in
+patience, and seek to make daily advances in holiness."</p>
+<!--Page 250--><a name="P250" id="P250"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+<h4>ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY &mdash; FOREIGN MISSIONARIES &mdash;
+LETTERS.</h4>
+<br />
+<p>O<font size="-1">N</font> the 15th of March, 1806, the female
+subscribers to proposals for providing an asylum for orphan
+children met at the City Hotel; Mrs. Graham was called to the
+chair, a society organized, and a board of direction chosen, Mrs.
+Hoffman was elected the first directress of the Orphan Asylum
+Society. Mrs. Graham continued in the office of first directress of
+the Widows' Society, but took a deep interest in the success of the
+Orphan Asylum also; she, or one of her family, taught the orphans
+daily, until the funds of the institution were sufficient to
+provide a teacher and superintendent. She was a trustee at the time
+of her decease. The wish to establish this new society was
+occasioned by the pain which it gave the ladies of the Widows'
+Society to behold a family of orphans driven, on the decease of a
+widow, to seek refuge in the almshouse; no melting heart to feel,
+no redeeming hand to rescue them from a situation so unpromising
+for mental and moral improvement.</p>
+<p>"Among the afflicted of our suffering race," thus speaks the
+constitution of the society, "none makes a stronger or more
+impressive appeal to humanity than the <i>destitute orphan</i>.
+Crime has not been the cause of its misery, and future usefulness
+may yet be the result of its protection; the reverse is often the
+case of more aged objects. God himself has marked the fatherless as
+the peculiar subjects of his divine compassion. 'A
+<!--Page 251--><a name="P251" id="P251"></a> Father of the
+fatherless is God in his holy habitation,' 'When my father and my
+mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.' To be the
+blessed instrument of, divine Providence in making good the promise
+of God, is a privilege equally desirable and honorable to the
+benevolent heart.'"</p>
+<p>And truly God has made good his promise towards this benevolent
+institution. He has crowned the undertaking with his remarkable
+blessing. It was begun by his disciples in faith, and he has
+acknowledged them in it. Having for fourteen months occupied a
+hired house for an asylum, the ladies entertained the bold idea of
+building an asylum on account of the society. They had then about
+three hundred and fifty dollars as the commencement of a fund for
+the building; they purchased four lots of ground in the village of
+Greenwich, on a healthful, elevated site, possessing a fine
+prospect. The corner-stone was laid on the 7th of July, 1807. They
+erected a building fifty feet square; from time to time they
+proceeded to finish the interior of the building, and to purchase
+additional ground as their funds would permit; and such was the
+liberality of the legislature and of the public, that the society
+soon possessed a handsome building and nearly an acre of ground,
+all of which must have cost them little short of twenty-five
+thousand dollars. In that house Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Hoffman spent
+much of their time; there they trained for eternity the children of
+those whose widowed dying mothers they had cheered with the hope
+that when they should be taken away, God would fulfil his gracious
+promise and preserve their fatherless children alive.</p>
+<!--Page 252--><a name="P252" id="P252"></a>
+<p>Mrs. Hoffman survived Mrs. Graham seven years. Her end, like
+that of her friend, was peace. But though God removed those mothers
+in Israel, their prayers are still before him, and the institution
+continues to prosper. In 1836, the city having extended to where
+the asylum was situated, and the property at the same time
+increased in value, the society became desirous to remove where the
+children would enjoy purer air, and have greater convenience for a
+garden and pasture for cows. With the advice of their patrons, they
+sold the property for about thirty-nine thousand dollars; purchased
+nearly ten acres of ground at Bloomingdale, and on the 9th of June
+the same year laid the foundation-stone of their present beautiful
+building.</p>
+<p>In the Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the society for 1840, we
+find the following record of God's goodness:</p>
+<p>"On no former occasion has the board of direction been
+privileged to make to the friends and patrons of this institution a
+more favorable report than the present. The orphan's home is
+completed, and the beautiful building on the banks of the Hudson is
+alike an ornament to the city and a memorial of the liberality of
+its inhabitants. Within it are found, not only ample accommodations
+for a numerous family, but a place for the Lord, a habitation for
+the orphans' God. On the 19th of November last the chapel was
+opened for religious worship; the services were performed by
+reverend clergy of different denominations; and a highly
+respectable and apparently gratified audience attended. All the
+children, one hundred and sixty-five in number, were present, from
+the infant in arms <!--Page 253--><a name="P253" id="P253"></a>
+to the youth who will this day pronounce the valedictory.</p>
+<p>"To those who have witnessed the progress of this institution
+from the <i>small frame-house</i> of 1806 to the noble edifice of
+1840, accompanied by the recollection that the door has never been
+closed against the destitute orphan, how deep must be the
+conviction of an overruling Providence &mdash; the truth of the
+declaration, that God is the father of the fatherless in his holy
+habitation, and the fulfilment of his gracious promise, 'Leave thy
+fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' Nor is the orphan
+family merely furnished with sufficient accommodation for dwelling
+and moral and religious education: the grounds afford ample room
+for exercise and recreation; the garden supplies them with fruit
+and vegetables; and there being pasture for several cows, wholesome
+milk is added to their simple breakfast, while the abounding river
+invigorates the frame by a saline bath, and by casting a net into
+it, furnishes an occasional dinner of fresh fish."</p>
+<p>The society, ever grateful to the founders, have erected a
+tablet on the wall of the beautiful chapel, which bears the
+following inscription:</p>
+<!--Page 254--><a name="P254" id="P254"></a><br />
+<p class="center"><b>Sacred to the Memory</b><br />
+<font size="-2">OF</font><br />
+ISABELLA GRAHAM,<br />
+<font size="-1">WHO DIED 27TH JULY, 1814;</font><br />
+<font size="-2">AND OF</font><br />
+MRS. SARAH HOFFMAN,<br />
+<font size="-1">WHO DIED 29TH JULY, 1821.</font><br />
+<font size="-2">THEY WERE BOTH FOUNDERS OF THIS
+INSTITUTION.</font><br />
+<font size="-2">TO THEIR PRAYER OF FAITH,</font><br />
+<font size="-2">AND WISDOM IN DIRECTING ITS COUNSELS,</font><br />
+<font size="-2">THE SOCIETY IS INDEBTED FOR MUCH OF THE SUCCESS
+THAT HAS ATTENDED IT.</font><br />
+<font size="-1">THEY WERE LOVELY IN THEIR LIVES,</font><br />
+<font size="-2">AND DURING MANY YEARS THEY TRAVELLED TOGETHER THE
+WALKS</font><br />
+<font size="-1">OF CHARITY.</font><br />
+<font size="-2">WHEN THE EAR HEARD THEM IT BLESSED THEM, AND THEY
+CAUSED THE</font><br />
+<font size="-2">WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR JOY.</font><br />
+<font size="-1">THEY NOW REST FROM THEIR LABORS,</font><br />
+<font size="-2">PARTAKERS OF THE BLESSEDNESS OF THOSE</font><br />
+<font size="-2">WHO DIE IN THE LORD:</font><br />
+<font size="-1">THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.</font><br />
+<br /></p>
+<p>The success which has attended the Orphan Asylum Society,
+furnishes strong encouragement to attempt great and good objects
+even with slender means. God in his providence will command a
+blessing on exertions of this character. It is too common a
+mistake, and one fatal to the progress of improvement, that great
+means should be in actual possession before great objects should be
+attempted. Ah, were our dependence simply on apparent instruments,
+how small must be our hopes of success. There is a mystery,
+<!--Page 255--><a name="P255" id="P255"></a> yet a certainty, in
+the manner by which God is pleased in his providence to conduct
+feeble means to a happy conclusion. Has he not preserved,
+cherished, and blessed his church through many ages, amidst
+overwhelming persecutions, and that often by means apparently
+inadequate to this end? We must work for, as well as pray for the
+blessing which God has promised to bestow on our sinful race. We
+must put our shoulder to the wheel, while we look up to heaven for
+assistance, and God will bless those who are found in the path of
+duty.</p>
+<p>In this asylum, the ladies have set no limits to the number to
+be received; and it has pleased God also not to set limits to the
+means necessary for their support. The institution is a great
+favorite with the public, and is frequently visited by strangers,
+who are delighted with the cleanliness, health, and cheerful
+countenances of the orphans.</p>
+<p>The Society have received a charter of incorporation from the
+legislature; they have a handsome seal, with this inscription:
+"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye
+have done it unto me."</p>
+<p>For several years it was customary with Mrs. Graham to visit the
+New York hospital; and before the admirable provision since made
+for the separate care of those mentally deranged, she paid a
+particular attention to patients of this description.</p>
+<p>To the apartments appropriated to sick female convicts in the
+state prison, she also made many visits; she met with some
+affecting circumstances among this class.</p>
+<p>In the winter of 1807-8, when the suspension of commerce by the
+embargo rendered the situation of the <!--Page 256--><a name="P256"
+id="P256"></a> poor more destitute than ever, Mrs. Graham
+adopted a plan best calculated in her view to detect the idle
+applicant for charity, and at the same time to furnish employment
+for the more worthy among the female poor. She purchased flax, and
+lent wheels where applicants had none. Such as were industrious,
+took the work with thankfulness and were paid for it; those who
+were beggars by profession never kept their word by returning for
+the flax or the wheel. The flax thus spun was afterwards wove,
+bleached, and made into table-cloths and towels for family use.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham used to remark, that until some institution should
+be formed to furnish employment for industrious poor women, the
+work of charity would be incomplete. It was about this time that,
+deeming the duties too laborious for her health, she resigned the
+office of first directress of the Widows' Society, and took the
+place of a manager. She afterwards declined this also, and became a
+trustee of the Orphan Asylum Society, as more suited to her
+advanced period of life.</p>
+<p>The lady to whom the following letter was addressed was Miss
+F<font size="-1">ARQUHARSON</font>, a person of genuine piety and
+worth, whom Mrs. Graham had educated and prepared to become her
+assistant in teaching. When Mrs. Graham retired from her school,
+Miss Farquharson declined to succeed her, preferring to accompany
+and enjoy the society of her patroness and friend. Until 1804 she
+proved as efficient an assistant to Mrs. Graham in her charitable
+labors in the Widows' Society and Sabbath-school, as she had been
+in her boarding-school.</p>
+<p>During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1804,
+<!--Page 257--><a name="P257" id="P257"></a> she was called to
+attend her own dying mother, and underwent so much fatigue, that on
+her return to Mrs. Graham she broke a bloodvessel, and for four
+months was confined to her room, during all which time Mrs. Graham
+attended her night and day. Her medical attendants prescribed a
+long voyage and residence in a hot climate as the only means of
+saving her life. About that time Mr. Andrew Smith was preparing to
+sail for the East Indies with his family, by the way of England.
+With them she embarked. She sojourned several weeks in Birmingham,
+and there the circumstances commenced which eventually led Miss
+Farquharson to become a missionary's wife, and the first American
+missionary to foreign lands. Her history has been published by Rev.
+Mr. Knill, in a tract entitled, "The Missionary's Wife."</p>
+<p>The London Missionary Society were preparing to establish a
+mission in the idolatrous city of Surat, but the East India Company
+would not allow Christian missionaries to sail in their ships. The
+Society thankfully availed themselves of the privilege of sending
+Mr. Loveless and Dr. Taylor in the American ship Alleghany. They
+arrived in Madras, June, 1805.</p>
+<p>During the voyage an attachment was formed between Mr. Loveless
+and Miss Farquharson which death only could sever, and introduced
+her to scenes of usefulness for more than thirty years, for which
+she was eminently qualified by early training. As soon as Mrs.
+Graham heard how her friend was going to be employed, she wrote to
+her as follows:</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> S<font size="-1">ALLY</font>
+&mdash; Many tears have I shed over your letter. What a changing
+lot has been that of my family! The Lord's providences to me and
+mine have <!--Page 258--><a name="P258" id="P258"></a> not been
+of the ordinary kind, and you, as one in it, seem to be a partaker
+with us. Surely, of all others, we have most reason to say, We are
+strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Oh that we may drink into the
+true spirit of that phrase, and enjoy the genuine, firm faith of an
+everlasting habitation, of living at home with God.</p>
+<p>"My dear Sally, take the comfort of this, that it is the Lord
+who hath led you all the way by which you have gone. Of all persons
+whom I know, you were, from your temper and disposition, the least
+likely to travel, still less to continue a traveller. No ordinary
+means would have led you to leave your friends and religious
+privileges. And many a pang it has cost me, on reflection, to think
+how positive I was that you should take the voyage. But it was of
+the Lord. The physicians urged it as the only chance you had for
+life, and they had reason; for of all those who were attacked in
+the same manner, there is not one alive, within my knowledge, at
+this day.</p>
+<p>"The Lord, by wonderful means, called you from your native land,
+and led you to the very spot where you met Mr. Loveless. The same
+God, being also his God, led him, by means perhaps equally
+unforeseen and uncommon, to the same spot, united your hearts to
+each other, and made you one in his hand, and I trust to his glory.
+You ask my blessing: I have carried both of you to my God and
+Saviour, and have prayed, and continue to pray, that the Lord will
+bless you individually and unitedly, give you much sweet communion
+with himself, and much social enjoyment with him and with one
+another. May he bless Mr. Loveless as a missionary, and give him
+the spirit of <!--Page 259--><a name="P259" id="P259"></a> his
+office, and much fruit among the heathen, as seals to his ministry;
+and may you be a helper with him, and both be blessed and made a
+blessing.</p>
+<p>"I feel my loss. You were a comfort and a help to us all,
+especially to me: but I do not mourn; I heartily acquiesce. This is
+not only agreeable to me, as it is one of God's wise arrangements
+to you and us all, but I think it will be more to your comfort.
+Religion and conjugal love will sweeten almost any lot. It is the
+Lord's appointment and his richest earthly blessing.</p>
+<p>"My dear Sally, I have ever considered you as my child. You are
+very dear to my heart. Tell Mr. Loveless he must ever consider me
+as his mother.</p>
+<p class="center">"Your affectionate mother,</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p>In the month of January, 1807, the London Missionary Society, of
+which Mr. Bethune was a foreign director, sent to this country the
+Rev. Messrs. Gordon, Lee, and Morrison; the two first to sail in an
+American ship for the East Indies, and Mr. Morrison for China.
+These devoted missionaries shared largely in the hospitalities of
+Christians in New York, and spent much of their time with Mr.
+Bethune's family. Mrs. Graham took great delight in conversing and
+advising with them, and though none of her letters addressed to
+them have come to hand, it is believed she corresponded with them.
+The following extract of a letter from Dr. Morrison, indicates the
+respect and Christian affection with which he regarded her.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"O<font size="-1">N BOARD THE</font> T<font size=
+"-1">RIDENT</font>, May 24, 1807.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y EVER DEAR</font> M<font size=
+"-1">OTHER</font> G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font> &mdash; I think you
+were led by the special interference of our gracious
+<!--Page 260--><a name="P260" id="P260"></a> Lord, to put into
+my hands the work which you did, accompanied by the edifying and
+comforting letter which you wrote me.</p>
+<p>"I thank you for telling me what God did for your soul, and join
+with you in ascribing to the Lord salvation and honor. I had, my
+mother, from the time of leaving my dear relations and friends,
+passed through waters deep as the fathomless ocean which I crossed;
+but with the Lord there is mercy; with him is 'plenteous
+redemption.' He is ready to forgive. He has restored to me, in some
+measure, 'the joy of his salvation,' and will not, I trust, take
+his Holy Spirit from me. This is my prayer. To-day he enabled me,
+on board of this vessel, to open my lips to teach transgressors his
+way. O, that sinners may be converted unto him."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mr. and Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, at Ballston Springs.</p>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, August, 1807.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y BELOVED</font> C<font size=
+"-1">HILDREN</font> &mdash; A husband, wife, and child, make a
+family, and God ought to be acknowledged by them as such. I am
+anxious that you should meet in your room for that purpose some
+time every morning.</p>
+<p>"If it cannot be accomplished at an early hour, redeem that time
+in a later, and also before going to rest in the evening. The Lord
+has honored your family worship with genuine fruits, follow it up
+in all places. Like Abraham of old, wherever you pitch your tent,
+for a longer or shorter period, there raise an altar to the Lord,
+to that God who has fed you all your life, carried you as on
+eagle's wings, and will carry you to old age and gray hairs."</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 261--><a name="P261" id="P261"></a>
+<p class="center">To Mrs. Juliet S&mdash;&mdash;, New York, one of her former
+pupils.</p>
+<p class="right">"B<font size="-1">ELLEVILLE</font>, September 16,
+1808.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> J<font size="-1">ULIET</font>
+&mdash; Since the hour I received your letter, you have been little
+out of my mind. You call upon me as mother, friend, counsellor.
+Shall conscious unworthiness, or weakness, or ignorance, prevent my
+answering? No; for God often chooses weak instruments to bring to
+pass great ends, I have been once and again to a throne of grace,
+for wisdom to direct me, and grace to be faithful. If your desire
+after spiritual knowledge be sincere, and from the Spirit of God
+operating on your heart, you will bear searching.</p>
+<p>"You are a communicant, my Juliet; this presupposes that a very
+great and important change has taken place in your mind &mdash;
+that you have been made deeply sensible of what the word of God
+testifies of every son and daughter of Adam's race. 'As it is
+written, There is none righteous, no, not one.' Rom. 3:10. Man is
+born as the wild ass's colt, going astray from the womb. Job. The
+heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; I the
+Lord search it. Having the understanding darkened, alienated from
+the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us, because of
+the blindness of our hearts. Dead in trespasses and sins. Eph.
+4:18; 2:1.</p>
+<p>"Your profession presupposes that this chapter may be addressed
+to you, Juliet, by name: 'You hath he quickened, who were dead in
+trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to
+the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
+the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
+disobedience: among whom also we all <!--Page 262--><a name="P262"
+id="P262"></a> had our conversation in times past, in the lusts
+of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
+and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God,
+who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
+even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
+Christ; by grace are ye saved, through faith, not of works, lest
+any man should boast.' Works there are, my Juliet, most assuredly;
+every quickened soul will live, and bring forth fruits of
+righteousness; but these works are not attainable but in God's way
+and order. It follows, 'For we are his workmanship, created in
+Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
+we should walk in them.'</p>
+<p>"My Juliet says, 'To you then I look up to teach me.' Let me
+then bring you to the great Teacher and Prophet of the church,
+without whose teaching all human instruction will be ineffectual.
+We read of two amiable characters coming to Christ professedly for
+instruction. The first you will find in Matthew 19:16. The young
+man asks him, 'What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit
+eternal life?' Jesus answers him by referring him to the moral law:
+the young man, not made acquainted by the Spirit of God, either
+with the extent or spirituality of that law, or of the depravity of
+his own nature, answers, as many in like circumstances still do,'
+All these things have I kept from my youth up.' I do not suppose
+any one could contradict him. It is added that Jesus loved him, and
+he was a person of attractive character; but Jesus knew that the
+true principle was not there &mdash; supreme love to God, 'with all
+the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, and with all
+the mind:' <!--Page 263--><a name="P263" id="P263"></a>
+therefore he gave him a test which proved that the world was
+uppermost in his heart. He went away sorrowful, and we hear no more
+of him.</p>
+<p>"Of the other person we read in that remarkable chapter, the
+third of John's gospel &mdash; Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and
+also a teacher. Well knew he the law, as to the letter of it, both
+moral and ceremonial; he must also have been acquainted with all
+the Old Testament scripture types and prophecies, it being his
+office to expound; and no doubt, among others, was looking for the
+promised Messiah. Jesus does not send him to either the law or the
+prophets. This ruler comes with a conviction and an acknowledgment
+that Jesus himself was a teacher immediately from God; and Jesus
+immediately takes upon himself his great office, and begins with
+urging that which is a sinner's first business &mdash; 'to know
+himself,' what he is by nature, and the necessity of the new birth.
+Nicodemus, with all his learning, was a stranger to this doctrine:
+'How can a man be born when he is old?' Jesus repeats his doctrine,
+'He must be born of water and the Spirit;' baptized with water and
+the Holy Ghost. 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
+which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto
+you, Ye must be born again.' Humble that proud reason that will
+believe nothing but what it can understand. 'The wind bloweth where
+it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
+whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born
+of the Spirit.' A mystery it is; nevertheless it is true.</p>
+<p>"Follow out the chapter, my dear: Jesus preaches his own gospel,
+and brings in that beautiful type, the <!--Page 264--><a name=
+"P264" id="P264"></a> serpent, which he had commanded to be
+raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery
+serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed.
+Read it, my dear, in the 21st of Numbers; and in reference to this,
+he himself says, 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of
+the earth.' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
+of God. Quickened, renewed in the spirit, of his mind, old things
+pass away and all things become new &mdash; new principles, new
+desires, new pleasures, new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan
+of redemption is his from first to last. It is clearly revealed in
+Scripture, and there is no dispute among Christians concerning it.
+The fall of man, his corruption and depravity; his state under the
+curse of a broken covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his
+helplessness and total inability to gain acceptance with God; his
+ignorance of himself &mdash; 'dead in trespasses and sins,'
+'without God and without hope in the world:' this is his situation
+by nature. But there is good news proclaimed: 'God so loved the
+world that he gave his only begotten Son,' to become the surety of
+lost sinners. He took our nature upon him, our sins upon him, our
+duties upon him: he was placed in our stead; sustained the penalty
+of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost demands; redeemed us; gave
+us a new covenant, of which himself is the surety: and there is 'no
+condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.'</p>
+<p>"The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, are the
+sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as
+the atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one sacrifice for
+sin; Christ is the <!--Page 265--><a name="P265" id="P265"></a>
+end of the law for righteousness; all is made ours by free gift.
+1&nbsp;John, 5:11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God reconciled,
+peace proclaimed. But what is all this to a thoughtless world,
+insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful
+saying, but it is of the Holy Ghost, If our gospel be hid, it is
+hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath
+blinded their minds, and darkened their understandings, and
+hardened their hearts, etc. Therefore the application of this grace
+is also of God; it is all within his plan; he has appointed means,
+and commanded our diligence in the use of them. We have his Bible
+in our hands, his ministers in our churches, who are also pastors
+and teachers if we apply for their aid in private; we have a throne
+of grace to go to, and many great and precious promises held up in
+God's word for us to embrace and plead for Christ's sake: we have
+many prayers in the Scriptures which we may adopt.</p>
+<p>"I acknowledge we are all still dependent for the effect; that
+must be from God himself. But he does honor his own ordinances. He
+puts forth his power, and convinces of sin; this is his first work.
+The soul is awakened, aroused, convinced of sin and misery; sins of
+the heart, sins of the tongue, sins of the life, press upon the
+conscience which never disturbed us before; misspent time, wasted
+talents, lost opportunities, neglect of God's word and ordinances,
+so that the soul cannot rest. O, my Juliet, this is a hopeful case.
+I hope you have experienced something of this. It is one of the
+surest marks of the operation of the Spirit of God, and a prelude
+to the new birth. It never takes place without it, for the whole
+need not <!--Page 266--><a name="P266" id="P266"></a> a
+physician, but they that are sick. Only the weary and heavy laden
+will prize rest, and Christ is the rest they need; only a convinced
+sinner will or can prize the Saviour, and now the Lord opens his
+mind to understand the Scriptures. He sees the provision which God
+has made for ruined sinners, by providing a substitute to stand in
+his room; he perceives how God can be just and justify the sinner
+who takes shelter in Jesus; he falls in with God's gracious plan:
+receives the Lord Jesus as God's gift to sinners; trusts entirely
+in his merits for pardon, peace, reconciliation, and eternal life;
+resigns his soul into the hands of his Saviour, in the faith that
+he will save it, and devotes himself unreservedly to his service,
+in the faith that he will give him grace to live to him in all holy
+obedience. Now, and not till now, according to God's promise, he
+receives power to become his child; this is God's order, John 1:12.
+Now he receives life and begins to live; but there is yet a great
+work before him. It hath pleased God in his plan to finish at once
+a justifying righteousness; it is his own work, and was finished in
+that awful hour when he announced it in his last words on the
+cross. John 19:30. To this nothing of ours is to be added, with
+this nothing of ours mixed; it is for ever perfect, it is God's
+gift made ours in the hour when we first believe, receive it, rest
+our souls upon it.</p>
+<p>"But it hath not pleased God in this plan to deliver the
+believer at once from indwelling sin. This is the subject of the
+Christian warfare, the race, the good fight. Now the believer
+receives life, and is called to work. 'Work out your own salvation
+with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you
+<!--Page 267--><a name="P267" id="P267"></a> both to will and to
+do.' All the promises in this blessed Bible are his, they are yea
+and amen in Christ; Christ himself is his; his Spirit dwells in
+him. The believer is united to Jesus by as real a union as the
+branch to the vine, the members to the head, the building with the
+foundation. Yet sin dwelleth in him, and is to be expunged by
+constant applications to Christ in prayer; by means of watching,
+striving, fighting &mdash; fighting under his banner. In his
+blessed word we are informed where our strength lies, what our
+weapons, what our armor. But what can I say on those subjects? the
+whole word of God is on the subject of redemption; to this refer
+the whole labors of Christ's ministers, and the whole dispensation
+of God's providence.</p>
+<p>"Are these things so? My Juliet, this is not the doctrine of any
+one church. About these subjects there is no dispute.
+Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, all agree in
+these great things. And are these things so indeed? O, my Juliet,
+where is the time to be spared for plays, assemblies, and such
+numerous idle parties of various descriptions? I must stop; the
+subject is great, and we have many excellent treatises on the
+various parts of it, by able, pious men. It would be improper to
+crowd it thus into a letter, unless to instigate to further
+investigation.</p>
+<p>"Farewell; I ever am, my dear Juliet,</p>
+<p class="center">"Yours affectionately,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p>The delicate state of health to which one of her granddaughters
+was reduced in 1808, made it necessary for her to spend the summer
+season for five successive <!--Page 268--><a name="P268" id=
+"P268"></a> years at Rockaway, Long Island, for the advantage of
+sea-bathing. Mrs. Graham went with her, it being beneficial to her
+own health also. In this place she met with many strangers; the
+company residing there treated her with much affection and respect.
+She always attended to the worship of God morning and evening in
+her room, and was usually accompanied by some of the ladies who
+boarded in the house. Her fund of information, vivacity of manner,
+and the interest which she felt in the happiness of all around her,
+made her society highly valued and pleasing. Few of those ladies
+who stayed with her at Rockaway for any length of time, failed to
+express, at parting, their esteem for her, and they generally added
+a pressing invitation for a visit from her, if ever she should
+travel near where they dwelt.</p>
+<p>The following is one of her sweet meditations while at
+Rockaway:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, August,
+1809.</p>
+<p>"Sweet health again returns, which, considering the agitation of
+my mind, surprises me; but it is the Lord's pleasure. I did not
+wish to recover. I was in hopes the Lord was about to deliver me
+from 'this body of sin and death.' Lord, reconcile me to thy most
+holy will. Health is certainly a great blessing. I feel its
+sweetness. O make me thankful. Great and numerous are my mercies.
+Every thing pleasant and every thing necessary to life, to
+godliness, is mine: food and raiment to the utmost desires of
+nature; the beauties of thy fair creation surround my ordinary
+dwelling; my dear little room, my Bible, and books of every
+virtuous kind &mdash; by grace, thy chief mercy, I desire no other
+&mdash; and by the kindness of my children, <!--Page 269--><a name=
+"P269" id="P269"></a> I possess all as if they were my own
+personal property. By thy wonderful loving-kindness, thou hast
+given me, instead of the contempt which I have merited, the love
+and esteem of thy people, and thou hast made the very stones of the
+field to be at peace with me, so that wherever I go I meet with
+kindness."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mrs. Marshall.</p>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, October, 1809.</p>
+<p>"I find your letter dated 'Elderslie' &mdash; the very name
+gives a thrill to my old heart; in a moment the various scenes of
+my youthful days rise before me &mdash; the old mansion itself, and
+all its beloved inmates, every one of whom have now crossed the
+Jordan of death, leaving me a solitary wanderer in this weary
+wilderness. Ah, I can at this moment think of spots, by the
+burnside and the braeside, endeared to my heart by a thousand
+tender associations. There have I wandered with my beloved,
+idolized husband, and there has he delighted my heart with
+professions of love. These were indeed moments of ecstasy; but
+hush, there are you a widow with very, very different sensations,
+and here am I a widow with sensations equally different. The Lord
+has showed us many and sore adversities, but he will bring us up
+from the deeps below; we are much nearer our Father's house, and I
+hope proportionably riper for those joys which are at his right
+hand; and although your letter has brought some pleasing
+recollections to my mind &mdash; days of love and courtship, days,
+some of solitude, some of disappointment, some of ecstasy &mdash;
+yet I find they were all days of idolatry, therefore to be mourned
+over, not retasted, re&euml;njoyed with delight. No, no; Father,
+forgive me."</p>
+<!--Page 270--><a name="P270" id="P270"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+<h4>NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY &mdash; ASSOCIATIONS FOR PRAYER &mdash;
+HAPPY OLD AGE &mdash; LETTERS.</h4>
+<p>"I<font size="-1">N</font> December, 1809, a Bible Society was
+organized in New York, and about the same time twenty respectable
+persons united in a society, to wait on the Lord, to know what
+their hands could find to do to promote his glory, to advance his
+kingdom, to spread the savor of the Redeemer's name, or in any way
+to benefit the souls of their fellow-sinners.</p>
+<p>"On Monday a meeting for prayer was instituted in Hetty-street,
+and another in Mulberry-street, with which the Presbyterian
+ministers have agreed to meet in rotation. It is the Lord. We have
+heard of revivals all around, but feared lest the aggravated sins
+of New York might provoke the Lord to pass by, leaving our fleece
+dry, while the dew wet all around. Great have been our privileges;
+the gospel trumpet has sounded in every corner of our city. The
+Lord's servants have set before us life and death, assuring us,
+from God's word, that 'though hand join in hand, the wicked shall
+not go unpunished;' beseeching us to flee from the wrath to come,
+and lay hold on the hope set before us. God in his providence has
+visited us with mercies and with judgments: stricken us, and healed
+us; scattered us, and gathered us: but alas, alas, we were 'eating
+and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.' Many, very many,
+wasting their time, health, and substance, in all manner of
+immorality, <!--Page 271--><a name="P271" id="P271"></a> and our
+rulers caring for none of these things; yea, many of them
+practising the same things; and Oh, God's own saved people sitting
+still, restraining testimony before men and prayer before God. What
+were we to expect but that God should say, Why should they be
+stricken any more? they will revolt more and more: they are joined
+to idols; let them alone. Such, O Lord, would be the case didst
+thou not deliver us out of our own self-destroying snares. If thou
+turn us not, we shall never turn; it is in our nature to backslide
+for ever.</p>
+<p>"But is not the time come to pass when before thy people call
+thou answerest, and while they are yet speaking, thou hearest? Art
+thou not calling with power, 'Return, ye backsliding children, and
+I will heal your backslidings?' and hast thou not prepared their
+hearts to answer, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord
+our God? truly, in vain is salvation looked for from the hills, and
+from the multitude of mountains; truly, from the Lord our God is
+the salvation of Israel. Hast thou not, O God, prepared the hearts
+of thy people to pray, and thine ear to hear? Is not this Bible
+Society, and are not these associations for prayer, tokens from
+thee for good? More and more, Lord, may thy people give thee no
+rest, until thou make Zion a praise in the earth. O the Hope of
+Israel, and the Saviour thereof, be not as a wayfaring man, that
+turneth aside for a night. May thy people constrain thee to abide
+with us for ever, to form us a people for thyself, to show forth
+thy praise.</p>
+<p>"I have just conveyed dear Mrs. A&mdash;&mdash;le to the confines of the
+eternal world. I trust the dear Redeemer <!--Page 272--><a name=
+"P272" id="P272"></a> received her spirit. I have a good hope
+that she is now in possession of the mansion purchased and prepared
+for her by that dear Saviour whose name she professed, and I think,
+in an humble, steady, quiet way, faithfully followed. She loved the
+word of God, the house of God, the people of God. She spoke little,
+but said she had a good hope: asked me to read the Bible different
+times, and also to pray; said the invitations of the gospel were
+sweet to her: observed that the Lord had been very merciful to her
+in her affliction.</p>
+<p>"A few hours before her death she desired me to read that
+hymn,</p>
+<p class="center"><font size="-1">"'To him that loved the souls of
+men,' etc,</font></p>
+<p>Also,</p>
+<p class="center"><font size="-1">"'Come, let us join our cheerful
+songs,' etc.</font></p>
+<p>She asked if I thought she would continue long. I said, No, my
+dear, you will very soon be with Jesus; and encouraged her as the
+Lord enabled me. She repeated the question some time after, and I
+gave her the same answer. She then said, 'This night?' I answered,
+Yes, my love, this night. She bowed her head with a sweet smile,
+laid it in a reclining posture, and set herself to wait with
+patience the Lord's time. She was very much oppressed, and breathed
+with much difficulty. Some time after she asked me to pray, which I
+did, and begged that the Lord would increase her faith and
+patience, and, if according to his will, give her a gentle passage
+and an abundant entrance. In a short time her breathing became
+short and low; she shut her eyes and gently breathed weaker and
+weaker, till her God delivered her without motion or groan. I was
+on my knees praying. I then thanked God for his goodness in this
+sweet dismission; prayed <!--Page 273--><a name="P273" id=
+"P273"></a> for the husband, the children, the two young men
+present, and us all, gave glory to God, and rose to watch to future
+duty.</p>
+<p>"O my God, is not my own death at hand? It is a hard battle. My
+Jesus, thou knowest the struggle. I too must drink of this cup; mix
+it for me, my Redeemer. O let a full sense of free pardon, the
+recollection of the great and precious promises, a bright view of
+the joys at God's right hand, as the fruit of thy death, be applied
+to my soul in that awful hour. Holy Spirit, pour in the oil and
+wine of thy consolations in that trying hour. O let me not be
+straitened. Open wide to my soul the leaves of that well-ordered
+covenant, of which Christ himself is the sum and substance.
+Redeeming God, may I experience proof in that solemn hour, that
+'thy flesh is meat indeed, and thy blood is drink indeed.' O feed
+me with this living food; may I feel life spring up in my soul, and
+be assured that I shall 'never die.' O my God, grant one more
+request. Open my lips, and let them, as well as my heart, be filled
+with the high praises of my redeeming God.</p>
+<p>"I know I am unworthy; the vilest of the vile; but magnify thy
+grace. I have much forgiven; O let my heart burn with love and
+gratitude in that hour, and my lips utter its effusions in songs of
+praise.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"When the short thick breathing comes, and the slow fetches,
+sealing up speech and expelling the spirit from its abode, O let me
+hear or understand thee saying unto me, 'It is I, be not
+afraid.'"</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">ANUARY</font>, 1810.</p>
+<p>"'Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he
+will heal us; he hath smitten, and <!--Page 274--><a name="P274"
+id="P274"></a> he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
+us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his
+sight.'</p>
+<p>"O Lord, turn us and we shall be turned, draw us and we will run
+after thee. Revive us, and we shall live in thy sight. Thou must
+ever be first. It is in our nature to backslide for ever: and
+whenever we see a backslider restored, or a rebel lay down the
+weapons of rebellion, <i>there</i> we may trace thy footsteps, O
+God of grace.</p>
+<p>"No external providence will touch our hard, our deceitful
+hearts. All that goes under the name of misfortune will but drive
+us <i>from</i> thee, never <i>to</i> thee, till thou teach us to
+profit, and lead us by the way that we should go. Thou callest,
+'Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your
+backslidings;' but we have been foolish, sottish children, without
+understanding, wise to do evil, but to do good having no
+knowledge.</p>
+<p>"Let the days come when the children of America &mdash; the
+earth is the Lord's &mdash; shall 'come with weeping, and seek the
+Lord their God;' when 'they shall ask the way to Zion, with their
+faces thitherward;' when they shall come, saying, 'Let us join
+ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, never to be
+forgotten.' O the Hope of Israel and Saviour thereof, is not that
+day and that time come? Hast thou not been working on the right
+hand and on the left? Thou hast given us pastors according to thine
+own heart, who feed us with knowledge and understanding: and thou
+art here and there proving thy gospel thy power and thy wisdom, to
+the salvation of sinners; casting down the imaginations of pride,
+and bringing all into subjection to thy Son Jesus.</p>
+<!--Page 275--><a name="P275" id="P275"></a>
+<p>"O pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, upon thy
+living members, that they may wrestle with thee, and not let thee
+go until thou bless us, until thou make this 'cloud like a man's
+hand' cover our heavens with blackness, and issue in a plentiful
+rain. O pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry
+ground; thy Spirit upon our seed, and thy blessing upon our
+offspring. O Lord, hast thou not said that thou wilt do it, and
+that they shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the
+water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's, another shall call
+himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his
+hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
+Amen, O our God, Amen.</p>
+<p>"Last week the Lord's young servant, Mr. R&mdash;&mdash;, received to the
+communion of the church seven adults, Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash; and her two
+daughters, Dr. H&mdash;&mdash; and sister, Mr. C&mdash;&mdash;, and a black woman,
+servant to Mr. H&mdash;&mdash;. It was a glorious sight, and revived the
+hearts of God's people who witnessed it. O God of grace, grant that
+the fruits of righteousness may prove that they are broken off from
+the wild olive-tree, and grafted into thee, thou living and
+life-giving olive-tree; from thee must their fruit be found. O
+cause them to bring forth much fruit. Herein is the Father
+glorified, that they bear much fruit; so shall they be Christ's
+disciples, and attain to the assurance of that happy state. Father,
+glorify thy name.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>In the year 1810, while bathing at Rockaway, she was carried by
+the surf beyond her depth, and for some time there was scarcely a
+hope of her regaining <!--Page 276--><a name="P276" id=
+"P276"></a> the shore. Her grandchildren were weeping on the
+beach, and the company assembled there were afflicted but hopeless
+spectators of her danger. At that moment of peril she prayed to the
+Lord for deliverance, but acquiesced in his will, if he should see
+fit to take her to himself in this manner. Able to swim a little,
+she kept herself afloat for some time: she became at length very
+faint; and when her friends on the beach apprehended her lost, they
+perceived that the waves had impelled her somewhat nearer to them.
+A gentleman present, and her female attendant, stepped into the
+surf and extending their arms for mutual support, one of them was
+enabled to lay hold on Mrs. Graham's bathing-gown and to pull her
+towards them. When they brought her ashore she was much exhausted,
+and had swallowed a considerable quantity of water. It was some
+hours before she revived, when she addressed the company in a very
+serious and impressive manner that affected them to tears. Her
+health during the following winter was much impaired by the shock
+it had received.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, June 15,
+1810.</p>
+<p>"Came here the first of the month, with the children in the
+whooping-cough. No 'church-going bell' here, but the Lord is
+everywhere; and I have found him here, warming my heart with
+gratitude and contrition, and drawing it out in prayer for his
+people met to worship in his sanctuary.</p>
+<p>"When at a distance from my own people, it has been my practice
+to join with whatever class of professing Christians might be near
+me. Here it has been with the Methodists, who, I believe, enjoy
+communion with God. Yesterday I went to a meeting
+<!--Page 277--><a name="P277" id="P277"></a> of &mdash;&mdash;, who lay
+great stress on good morals; but, O my God, what could I do, shut
+up with them? Without the finished work of my Saviour, I could have
+no hope; without his law-fulfilling righteousness, I must stand a
+law-condemned sinner.</p>
+<p>"The preacher yesterday took no text; in the course of his
+sermon he said the Scriptures were only secondary guides. He began
+with the importance of thinking of death, and said it could not be
+possible for a rational being to live carelessly, with thoughts of
+death and eternity in view. Is it so? No; we see sinners die, under
+the full conviction that they are dying, as thoughtless as they
+have lived.</p>
+<p>"He said, that by constantly attending to the motions of the
+Spirit and complying with them, Christians arrived at a state of
+perfection even here; and brought in that text, 'He that is born of
+God cannot sin,' etc. Spoke highly of watchfulness, and avoiding
+connection with the world; said a real Christian could not hold any
+office of power among men. Paul held one, but he gave it up when he
+became an apostle. Christ's kingdom was not of this world. Laws and
+officers were necessary among the men of the world, but not among
+Christians. Spoke of the cross of Christ as consisting in suffering
+and self-denial. His blood was the Spirit which cleansed from all
+sin, by delivering all who obeyed him from its power. He named not
+my blessed Saviour, except when he had occasion to mention some of
+his moral sayings. He said, indeed, that he was the Light that
+lightened every man that came into the world, and the condemnation
+was that men would not receive it; but one word of his blessed
+priesthood he spoke not, but said <!--Page 278--><a name="P278" id=
+"P278"></a> we were in a state of probation, and every one would
+be judged according to his works, taking into view the advantages
+he had enjoyed; recommended the reading of the Scriptures,
+especially the inspired books, the New Testament and the prophets;
+for it needed no inspiration to write the national history of the
+Jews more than that of any other nation. Said the Scriptures were
+good secondary guides, and contained excellent lessons and
+truths.</p>
+<p>"When I was coming away he offered me his hand, saying that I
+was not a resident there. I answered no, I was separated from my
+own people, but wished to unite with any class of Christians who
+met professedly to worship God; but confessed I could not live upon
+what he had this day delivered. He asked what was wrong. I
+answered, he had given some good exhortations; I agreed with him in
+many things respecting conduct; but I missed the foundation. He
+repeated the scriptures, 'Other foundation can no man lay,' etc. I
+said, Exactly: off this foundation there is no salvation; on this
+foundation there may be loss, but no condemnation. We have a great
+and merciful High-priest, who can have compassion on the ignorant,
+and them who are out of the way; and there may be straw, hay,
+stubble, which will be burnt up, but the soul itself, being on the
+foundation, is safe. He said with firmness, That will be burnt up
+in this world; without holiness no man shall see the Lord. I said,
+True; but why avoid the tenor of Scripture? read all the epistles;
+the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God, the propitiatory sacrifice,
+the meritorious law-fulfilling righteousness, is set forth, in
+every one of them, as that which saves from wrath and entitles
+<!--Page 279--><a name="P279" id="P279"></a> to eternal life. He
+said they were all emblems of our being made holy in heart and
+life; Christians were baptized unto the death of Christ, and rise
+with him to newness of life, buried with him, etc. I granted that
+as one reading of these words. He said every other view was shadow.
+I said, No &mdash; the blood of bulls and goats is shadow; Christ
+himself, his person, his offices, his life, his sufferings, his
+death, his burial, resurrection, ascension, and intercession within
+the veil, are all substance &mdash; the sole foundation of my hope,
+and my only plea at a throne of grace.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Dear Name, the rock on which I
+build,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My shield and
+hiding-place,<br /></span> <span>My never-failing treasury,
+filled<br /></span> <span class="i2">With boundless stores of
+grace.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Jesus, my
+Husband, Shepherd, Friend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My
+Prophet, Priest, and King,<br /></span> <span>My Lord, my life, my
+way, my end,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Accept the praise I
+bring."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, August, 1810</p>
+<p>"Hebrews is my ordinary, when no other passage of Scripture
+attracts my particular attention. This is the third morning I have
+opened the New Testament on the 14th chapter of John, and have fed
+delightfully on the first three verses. There is at all times a
+thorn in my heart, keeping me in continual remembrance of my vile,
+ungrateful backslidings, so that I eat my sweetest morsels with
+bitter herbs. It was particularly painful to me this morning;
+nevertheless; the Lord God, merciful and gracious, repeated on my
+heart, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
+I was arrested at the fourth verse, 'Whither I go ye know, and the
+way ye know.' I have <!--Page 280--><a name="P280" id=
+"P280"></a> had many comfortable exercises on the eighth verse,
+the Redeemer's answer to Philip's inquiry. But this morning my mind
+was led to a different view of that saying, and which I think was
+literally included. The Redeemer was going to his Father, and his
+way lay through death, the death of the cross. The hour was at hand
+when he was to make his holy and righteous soul an offering for
+sin, that he might become the author of salvation to all who obey
+him. All the sins confessed and pardoned by the sacrifices under
+the law were laid on this blessed Surety &mdash; they were only the
+shadows, he was the substance &mdash; the real Lamb of God which
+taketh away the sin of the world, was now to be offered up. This
+was he who said, 'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a
+body hast thou prepared me; in burnt-offerings and offerings for
+sin thou hast had no pleasure; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy
+will, O God:' by which will we are sanctified through the offering
+of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.</p>
+<p>"He was going to the garden &mdash; Oh that garden! Peter had
+said he was able to drink of that cup and to be baptized with that
+baptism. Ah no, Peter; that exceeding sorrow in the garden, when no
+visible hand was upon him, was a cup the least drop of which would
+have overwhelmed the strongest angel. No strength short of
+omnipotent could have sustained that hour and power of darkness. It
+was not the scourge, the thorns, the nails, nor the last pangs of
+dissolution; through all these he was as a lamb led to the
+slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers, dumb. It was a
+mysterious horror, of which no created being can have any
+conception. It was this that <!--Page 281--><a name="P281" id=
+"P281"></a> wrung the great drops of blood through every pore of
+his sacred body &mdash; this that extorted the agonizing prayer,
+'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;' and again,
+in his last moments on the cross, 'My God, my God, why hast thou
+forsaken me?' Blessed, for ever blessed be our Jehovah Jesus, who
+said, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' The will of God was done,
+and he said, 'It is finished,' and gave up the ghost.</p>
+<p>"All his people must follow him by the way of death; nearly all
+his disciples followed by the death of the cross, and many others
+after them, supported by his almighty grace, rejoiced that they
+were counted worthy to suffer for his sake; but they drank not of
+that cup.</p>
+<p>"Some of his people, for holy and wise purposes, have had a
+taste in the hiding of God's face, but no curse; that he himself
+drank to the last drop: He trod the wine-press alone, and of the
+people there was none with him. By his own death he destroyed him
+that had the power of death, and secured victory to all his
+followers: he changed its aspect from that of the king of terrors
+to that of a welcome messenger from their redeeming God, to conduct
+them to those blessed mansions which he has purchased and prepared
+for them; neither will he leave them alone with that messenger:
+'And if I go, I will come again and receive you to myself, that
+where I am, there ye may be also. I will not leave you comfortless,
+I will come to you. The world seeth me no more, but ye see me;
+because I live, ye shall live also. Let not your heart be troubled,
+neither let it be afraid.' Amen. 'Come, Lord Jesus.'</p>
+<!--Page 282--><a name="P282" id="P282"></a>
+<p>"'Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast
+thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not
+required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is
+written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is
+in my heart.' Psalm 40:6. 'Above when he said, Sacrifice and
+offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not,
+neither hadst pleasure therein &mdash; which are offered by the law
+&mdash; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh
+away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will
+we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
+once for all. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
+for ever, sat down on the right hand of God. For by one offering he
+hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy
+Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
+'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,'
+in consequence of Christ's doing the will of God, fulfilling all
+righteousness: 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
+minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I
+remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no
+more offering for sin. Having, therefore, boldness to enter into
+the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
+he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
+flesh; and having a High-priest over the house of God; let us draw
+near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our
+hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed
+with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
+without wavering; for he is <!--Page 283--><a name="P283" id=
+"P283"></a> faithful that promised.' Hebrews 10:8-23; 8:10.
+Again, 'The Lord sware, and will not repent; thou art a priest for
+ever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a
+surety of a better testament; because he continueth ever, and hath
+an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to
+the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
+make intercession for them,' Heb. 7:21-25. 'Christ glorified not
+himself to be made a high-priest, but He that said unto him, Thou
+art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee; as he saith also in
+another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of
+Melchizedek.' Heb. 5:5, 6. 'For the law maketh men high-priests
+which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the
+law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.' Heb. 7:28.
+'The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching
+peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all. How God anointed Jesus of
+Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing
+good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was
+with him. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his
+name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.'"
+Acts 10:36-38, 43.</p>
+<p>How well she was qualified to give instruction to young
+disciples, will appear in the following letters to two, who died
+shortly after of consumption.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Miss Van Wyck, New York.</p>
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, 1810.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR, MY BELOVED</font> E<font size=
+"-1">LIZA</font> &mdash; Mr. and Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash; are here on a visit for
+one night. I did not <!--Page 284--><a name="P284" id=
+"P284"></a> expect to see them so soon, or I would have had a
+letter ready. I expect another opportunity in the course of a few
+days, when I will send you a long letter, from my heart, and, I
+hope, dictated by your and my Teacher.</p>
+<p>"I learn by my children that you continue much in the same way
+in which I left you. It is your own God who mixes your cup, and it
+is to you a cup of blessing; there is no curse in it. Your Jesus
+drank that cup to the very dregs, that bitter as well as sweet
+might be to you a cup of blessing. O then, my darling, hold fast by
+your Redeemer: he is the Lord your righteousness, and the Lord your
+strength; he connects your profit with his own glory. You shall in
+this protracted affliction manifest it, and hold out the word of
+life to those around you.* You shall witness for him that he is the
+Lord, and besides him there is no Saviour &mdash; that he gathers
+the lambs in his arms, and carries them in his bosom &mdash; that
+he is to them a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the
+tempest &mdash; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the
+shadow of a great rock in a weary land. That it is he that teacheth
+them to profit, and leadeth them by the way that they should go,
+and that in due time he will perfect all that concerns
+them.&emsp;Farewell.</p>
+<p class="center">"Yours with affection,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p class="note">*This prediction was remarkably fulfilled in the
+experience of this dear young saint; an interesting account of
+whose illness and death was published in the Christian's Magazine,
+and afterwards as a Tract.</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 285--><a name="P285" id="P285"></a>
+<p class="center">To the same.</p>
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, Sabbath,
+1810.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR, MY BELOVED</font> E<font size=
+"-1">LIZA</font> &mdash; I wrote you a few lines yesterday by Mr.
+B&mdash;&mdash;. I now propose to fulfil my promise. I expect an opportunity
+to-morrow or next day, for I saw a great many carriages pass this
+way to the tavern, as I suppose, from New York. It is a common
+thing with some to come here on Saturday and return on Monday, to
+spend this blessed day in pastime. You would not, I know, exchange
+situation's with them; you would rather be suffering than
+sinning.</p>
+<p>"It is your own observation that God does all in wisdom; in this
+wisdom he is pleased to lengthen your day of affliction. Sin, my
+darling, is the cause of all suffering; but is not always the
+<i>immediate</i> cause. Besides particular chastisement for
+particular sins, there are afflictions to be filled up in the body
+of Christ &mdash; his church &mdash; a measure of which, in kind
+and degree, is appointed by unerring wisdom to each individual
+member. Col. 1:24. These sufferings bear no part in atoning for
+sin, nor in redeeming our forfeited inheritance. Christ trod the
+wine-press alone, and of the people there was none to help him. He
+was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
+righteousness of God in him; who when he had by himself purged our
+sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Heb. 1:3.
+Again, 'And every priest,' in the Levitical law, 'standeth daily
+ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
+never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered <i>one
+sacrifice</i> for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.
+For by <!--Page 286--><a name="P286" id="P286"></a> one offering
+he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the
+Holy Ghost is also a witness to us; for after he had said before'
+&mdash; see from verse 5 &mdash; 'This is the covenant which I will
+make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
+into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their
+sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission
+of these is, there is no more offering for sin.' Heb. 10:11-18.
+Paul says the Holy Ghost is a witness, because he copies from the
+ancient Scriptures the prophecies of Jer. 31:31, and Ezek. 36:25,
+and from Psalm 60:7. Your mother will read to you also the eighth
+chapter of Hebrews, containing the same things, the new covenant,
+in consequence of Christ, as the surety of sinners, having made
+full atonement, magnified the law, and made it honorable; therefore
+there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.</p>
+<p>"It has pleased God, my darling, in the adorable plan of
+reconciling sinners to himself by Jesus Christ, to perfect at once
+a justifying righteousness for them, and to bestow it upon them as
+a free gift. 'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal
+life; and this life is in his Son.' 1 John, 5:11. But it has not
+pleased him to deliver us at once from depravity; provision is made
+for final deliverance by the same covenant, and is effected by the
+same power: but in this believers are called to work. It is evident
+from Scripture, and the experience of Christians answers to it,
+that in the hour of believing they pass from death to life,
+considered as a state. This is the hour of the new birth: they then
+receive life for the time, and it is their privilege, by the
+constitution of the new covenant, to <!--Page 287--><a name="P287"
+id="P287"></a> ask and receive, from day to day, grace to help
+in every time of need. To them, and not to the unregenerate, the
+exhortation is addressed, 'Work out your own salvation with fear
+and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you, both to will and
+to do, of his good pleasure,' The means are of God's appointing, in
+the diligent use of which they go from strength to strength. The
+grand means is faith in God's promises, of which there are very
+many in the Scriptures. Believers are to put forth their own
+exertions, as the children of Israel were called to go out against
+their enemies, in the faith that God would give them victory and
+lead them to their promised rest. The battle was the Lord's, and he
+fought for them; but the means were their exertions. Believers are
+God's workmanship; but this work he carries on by exercising their
+natural powers, which he sanctifies to a different end from that to
+which they were formerly by their own spirit directed. Still, the
+Scripture testifies that if any man say he has no sin, he deceives
+himself, and the truth is not in him; and while sin remains, its
+consequence, suffering, must. The judgments of God, as the moral
+Governor of the world, are denounced against, and executed upon the
+workers of iniquity. The children of God experience personal
+chastisements for personal sins, as a provision of the covenant.
+Psalm 89:30. And, if I mistake not, there are afflictions
+experienced by individuals, as members of Christ's body, in which
+God does not bring into view the personal sins of the sufferer. In
+this sense I read Paul's epistle to the Colossians, 1:24: 'Who now
+rejoice in my sufferings, and fill up that which is behind of the
+sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the
+<!--Page 288--><a name="P288" id="P288"></a> church.' 'I sent
+Timotheus to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your
+faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions; for
+yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.' 1 Thes. 3:3.
+'Yea, if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
+I joy and rejoice with you all; for the same cause do ye joy and
+rejoice with me.' Phil. 2:17. 'And whether we be afflicted, it is
+for your consolation and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it
+is for your salvation and consolation.' 2 Cor. 1:6. There is no
+conscious personal sin expressed in these sufferings; on the
+contrary, Paul says, 'For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of
+our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with
+fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our
+conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.' 2 Cor.
+1:12.</p>
+<p>"Most of the prophets and apostles suffered martyrdom. They
+indeed sustained public characters, but the beggar Lazarus, who, in
+addition to poverty, was full of sores, was carried by the angels
+from the rich man's gate to Abraham's bosom. And thousands and tens
+of thousands of redeemed highly sanctified ones have suffered
+lengthened martyrdom, and perished with hunger, in holes and caves
+of the earth, unknown in history, except in groups &mdash; unseen
+at the time, except by the eye of the omniscient Jehovah, by whom
+the hairs of their head are numbered; their tears are in his
+bottle; nor shall one sigh nor one groan perish without its
+result.</p>
+<p>"O my Eliza, what delightful wonders shall open to our view when
+delivered from these prison-holds of earth.</p>
+<!--Page 289--><a name="P289" id="P289"></a>
+<p>"I have finished one sheet, my dear Eliza; I fear it is too
+much, and may prove too fatiguing, especially as there are many
+references requiring a stretch of attention. I have been reading
+the epistle to the Hebrews, and you have naturally got my thoughts
+on part of it.</p>
+<p>"I remember once of your complaining that you had made small
+progress in knowledge, in comparison of a young person that had
+just left you; but you checked yourself, and said, 'The Lord has
+given me faith, let me be thankful.' I at that time considered your
+departure as very near, and advised you to keep your eye fixed on
+Christ, as your Redeemer and Saviour, who had performed all things
+for you, and would perfect all that concerned you; and added, one
+hour in heaven will make you wiser than the most enlightened saint
+on earth. Since that it has pleased your Lord to add many days to
+your life. He has mitigated your pain, and given you some intervals
+of ease and composure, and our dear Eliza has grown in that time.
+Should it please God to spare you for a yet longer season, and
+continue your intervals of ease, no subject can be so profitable;
+and I hope your Lord will make it pleasant as that of the contents
+of the New Testament, which your Saviour bequeathed to you, sealed
+and ratified in his blood. There is a vast variety of precious
+promises contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament,
+which are all yours with Christ; for, as a member of his body, 'you
+are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
+Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.' And now I commend you
+to your own covenant God, who does and will support you, through
+life and through <!--Page 290--><a name="P290" id="P290"></a>
+death, to that happy land where we shall all meet; and Oh then, eye
+hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
+of man the things he hath prepared for them that love him.</p>
+<p class="center">"I am, with much love and affection, yours,</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mr. James Todd, New York.</p>
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, Long Island.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> J<font size="-1">AMES</font>
+&mdash; This will probably be handed you by our mutual friend Mrs.
+C&mdash;&mdash;. The thought of her being with you, makes me part with her
+with less reluctance. You have not been forgotten by either; we
+have talked much of you, and have united in prayer to your and our
+God, that he may manifest himself unto you as your reconciled
+Father in Christ Jesus; and give you 'joy and peace in believing'
+&mdash; that he may give you patience in suffering, and entire
+resignation to his most holy will.</p>
+<p>"It has, my dear young friend, been my earnest inquiry,
+especially of late years, standing on the brink of eternity, 'What
+is there within us, or without us, on which a sinner can rest in a
+dying hour?' If it be a holy life, there is no peace for me. Taking
+the law of God for my rule, backslider is my name; yet peace I have
+found, and on the best Security; this blessed Bible is my charter.
+I have searched it with diligence and prayer, and my mind is
+confirmed in the following truths: That the whole world is become
+guilty before God, and is under his wrath and curse on that
+account. This is our state: a miserable state it is, and as
+hopeless as miserable, for any thing we can do merely of ourselves.
+But I read in this Bible to the full amount of the following
+conclusions &mdash; that in the counsel of <!--Page 291--><a name=
+"P291" id="P291"></a> the mysterious Triune Jehovah, Jesus
+Christ, the second person of the incomprehensible Trinity, was
+sanctified, or set apart to become the Saviour of law-condemned
+sinners, to take their nature upon him, comply with the
+requisitions of the eternal immutable law of God, and become their
+surety. Man is a rebel, it is put to his account: a penalty is
+incurred &mdash; He, as their surety, is made liable. Are they
+again to be made heirs of eternal life? Perfect obedience is the
+condition &mdash; and of Him, as their surety, it is demanded. All
+this being fulfilled, sinners are become his property: he has paid
+their debt, and merited for them eternal life, all in their own
+nature, as their Head and representative; so that believers are
+complete in him. This is the righteousness of God, wrought out by
+Jesus Christ, in his own person, God-man, as their surety. To this
+nothing of the believer's is to be added &mdash; with this nothing
+of his mixed; it is for ever perfect; entirely distinct from that
+holiness of heart and life which is wrought in him in consequence
+of this. God has declared himself well pleased with this
+righteousness, and that being himself reconciled, he is in Christ
+Jesus reconciling sinners to him.</p>
+<p>"Hence all the invitations scattered thick in the Old and New
+Testament, not only to the penitent, weary, and heavy laden, but to
+the stout-hearted, the backslider, to them that are wearying
+themselves in their own way. 'Ho, every one that thirsteth' &mdash;
+'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely,' Hence all
+the promises annexed to believing, accepting, receiving, trusting,
+resting: Christ the Saviour is the object &mdash; the gift of God
+to sinners for all the above purposes. The Lord has convinced me
+that I have <!--Page 292--><a name="P292" id="P292"></a> nothing
+in myself on which I can rest; my conscience echoes to his word in
+all that it asserts of my nature and my state; but this Saviour is
+provided for sinners exactly of this description. I am invited to
+put in my claim, I believe the record, I rest my salvation on his
+word; God giveth to me eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
+Jesus calls me to look unto him, and be saved; I do look unto him,
+and I am saved. He assures me that those who come unto him shall
+never be cast out. I do go to him and commit my sinful soul to his
+keeping; I shall not be cast out. As many as receive the gift of
+his Son, receive at the same time power to become the children of
+God. I do receive his gift, and lay claim to his promise. He is my
+reconciled Father, and I am his adopted child, and he hath sent his
+Spirit into my heart, by which I can say, Abba, Father.</p>
+<p>"I have, my dear James, taken this method of laying before you
+the grounds of my own hope, because I think it the most simple
+method, and containing at the same time my counsel to you to lay
+hold on the same hope. The warrant is given us in God's own word,
+as sinners, without respect to fruit or any works of ours. I can,
+if necessary, give you chapter and verse, to the full amount; but
+you have those about you who can give it to you by little and
+little, as your weak state can bear it. This gift is held out to
+the sinner's acceptance in many places of the word of God, and
+becomes the sinner's in the moment of believing. Provision is made
+by the same covenant for his sanctification; but that makes no part
+of justifying righteousness. Christ is made of God unto him wisdom,
+righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Try, my
+<!--Page 293--><a name="P293" id="P293"></a> precious young
+friend, to lay hold on this hope, and enter into the rest provided
+for the believer here. Stretch forth 'the withered hand,' the Lord
+himself will give you strength. Commit your precious soul into his
+hands, and rest assured that he will perfect all that concerns you
+&mdash; work all his work in you &mdash; carry you safely through
+the Jordan of death, and put you in possession of the inheritance
+he has purchased for you. That all this shall be, is the prayer
+and firm hope of</p>
+<p class="center">"Your affectionate friend,</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<p>The two following extracts, addressed to Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash;, near
+Boston, present a very gratifying view of Mrs. Graham in her
+advanced years, and may well awaken the desire not only to die the
+death, but to enjoy the "fruitful old age" of "the righteous."</p>
+<p>"I have, as you know, enjoyed much in life, enjoyed its dearest,
+sweetest comforts, love and friendship, with a heart tremblingly
+alive to both. Lover and friends of youth are long since gone,
+other friendships I have formed, and have been happy even in these;
+now I am shut up with ails and aches. The world, properly so
+called, is a dead blank to me; yet I do think I never enjoyed life
+more. I would not exchange my present happiness for the most
+transporting moments of my life &mdash; of which I have had a large
+share &mdash; though thousands of years were added to enjoy them. I
+do not mean barely that happiness which consists in the
+anticipation of pleasure beyond the grave; that is indeed
+delightful; but I enjoy life now. Books of taste are mine no more:
+still less those of science and <!--Page 294--><a name="P294" id=
+"P294"></a> history; but my dear Bible; precious subjects; my
+dear Saviour. The height, the depth, the breadth, the length of the
+glorious plan of redemption open to my delightful perception more
+and more, and the Spirit witnesseth with my spirit, that I have my
+part in it by the gift of <i>faith</i>. I believe the record, that
+God giveth to us eternal life, and I put in my claim as a sinner. I
+account it a 'faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
+Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the
+chief,' I still enjoy the ordinances of the gospel: my memory, as
+you know, is much impaired: I recollect very little of the sermons
+I hear; but I think I never heard with so much attention. I am
+delighted, instructed, and fed at the time, and the subjects open
+to me without my being able to recollect the order or the words of
+the speaker. O let me recommend this dear Lord to your heart and
+confidence; commit all your concerns to him; mistrust no part of
+his providential dealings with you; his wisdom shall manage for
+you, and you shall one day say, 'He hath done all things
+well.'"</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">ARCH</font>, 1811.</p>
+<p>"I am daily on the lookout; one year and three months will
+complete my threescore and ten. I do not know one individual alive
+whom I know in my school-days; it has been the case for many years.
+I do not long for my dismission, neither am I tired of life; but
+nothing in this world, unless closely connected with another,
+interests me; and Oh, I am tired of sin; still it cleaves to me; in
+all things I come short, and many duties neglect altogether; for I
+still have a considerable, share of health, and might do some good,
+had I will equal to my opportunities; as to the
+<!--Page 295--><a name="P295" id="P295"></a> power, it is not in
+me, but I know I have it in my blessed Head, and for the asking. I
+cannot but long to be delivered from sin, and sinful apathy in
+particular; for really my heart must be wickedly fertile, to find
+out opportunities of moral transgression. Food and raiment are mine
+without care; my children, under God, care for me. I have my dear
+little room, my Bible, and books founded on it. I have a dear
+pastor and Christian friends, lively ordinances, and also much of
+the Lord's presence at times; my cup runs over with blessings, but
+my gratitude bears no proportion; my zeal for the glory of God and
+the good of my fellow-sinners seems buried under self-indulgence
+and apathy. O that the goodness of the Lord may lead me to
+repentance.</p>
+<p>"And now, my dear friend, let me know how it is with you and
+your dear family. The severe winter is past; how have you got
+along? with what temporal comfort, and how has the Lord dealt with
+your soul? Has the barrel of meal or the cruse of oil failed? Does
+the opening spring cheer your spirits, and furnish a song of
+praise? Does it find you in a situation to dig your garden, sow
+your seeds, and make provision for future comfort? Has the Lord
+turned your captivity, and dried up the bitter waters that flowed
+against you? How are your eyes, after all the briny tears that have
+steeped them? How are your poor nerves, after all the shocks that
+have agitated them? All these things have been on my mind; but from
+my long silence, you cannot believe it. What are we all, but broken
+reeds, which pierce the hand when laid hold of for support? There
+is but one Friend to poor, fallen, miserable man, in the universe.
+He is mercy; <!--Page 296--><a name="P296" id="P296"></a> he is
+goodness; he is truth; he is wisdom; he is unchangeable, and never
+will fail you: take him to your heart; give it all to him; he only
+is worthy, no other is."</p>
+<p>Her friend Mrs. C&mdash;&mdash; had now experienced new trials, by which
+she was again plunged into the depth of despondency. In the
+following we have a noble effort of Mrs. Graham's mind and heart to
+raise her up to "sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">UNE</font> 27, 1811.</p>
+<p>"I received my dear friend's letter this day week, and have been
+answering it ever since. Never was I in such a strait. It contains
+the effusions of disappointed hopes and anticipations of sore
+evils; indicates a soul deeply wounded, and taking in Christian
+principles under temptation. Where shall I begin? I have laid it
+before our compassionate High-priest, I have requested direction.
+Assist me, O thou blessed Comforter, whose office it is to convince
+of sin, as well as to minister consolation. Do both, from the heart
+and by the pen of thy handmaid.</p>
+<p>"It appears to me salutary to call your attention first to the
+sovereignty of God. The silver and the gold are his, and the cattle
+on a thousand hills; he gives them to whomsoever he pleases; he
+setteth up one and putteth down another, doing whatsoever pleaseth
+him in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this
+earth; none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? He
+attributes to himself all events; men and other creatures are but
+instruments. Men's wicked hearts impel them to commit evil, but the
+events are of the Lord, which he <!--Page 297--><a name="P297" id=
+"P297"></a> overrules for his own glory, and for the good of his
+people. 'Him being delivered by the determinate counsel' of God, ye
+have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified him. Joseph said,
+'Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good,' 'to save
+much people alive.' The Lord does not often, at the time, give his
+people reasons for afflicting them, though they can often read them
+at an after-period.</p>
+<p>"Job was a holy man; his afflictions from God's own hand were
+very deep; the teasing unkindness and injustice of his friends made
+great part of the temptation, and he spoke unadvisedly with his
+lips. When God did appear, he did not answer his cavils, nor give
+him one reason why he had dealt with him thus; but silenced him
+with views of his majesty, power, and wisdom &mdash; of his own
+meanness and vileness, though correct in his conduct beyond most
+others. I believe he spoke truth when he said, 'I delivered the
+poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help
+him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and
+I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the
+blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and
+the cause which I knew not, I searched out.' God allowed the weight
+of the trial to be upon his spirit, with the conviction of his
+presumption, till he brought him to his feet. 'Behold, I am vile,
+what shall I answer thee?' 'I will lay my hand upon my mouth.' 'I
+abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' These things were
+written for our example and profit.</p>
+<p>"This afflictive providence is now finished, at least so far.
+What you now possess is the allotment of your God. Set all
+instruments aside and listen to the <!--Page 298--><a name="P298"
+id="P298"></a> Holy Ghost: 'Humble yourselves under the mighty
+hand of God, and he shall exalt you in due time.' In order to this,
+I would recommend to you to take a close, retrospective view of
+your past life, with earnest prayer that God would search you and
+try you, and show you what wicked ways have been or now are in you.
+Go back to the days of your youth; take a close view of the use you
+made of affluence and influence; not comparing yourself with
+others, but judging yourself by the law of God, the only standard
+of right and wrong, truth and error. Seek for humbling views of
+yourself in yourself. If the Holy Ghost enlighten, you will find
+sufficient grounds. Seek for consolation in the free promises of
+God, through Jesus Christ, of which there are also abundance, even
+to the chief of sinners. What I recommend to you has been my own
+practice, especially in times of trial; and if health will admit of
+it, add fasting, because I think it is the Lord's ordinance. 'The
+days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then
+shall they fast in those days.'</p>
+<p>"Read the third chapter of Jeremiah's lamentations; endeavor to
+come under the feelings of contrition on account of your sins, and
+derive consolation from faith in God's great mercy; ever keeping in
+view the only channel through which mercy can flow to sinners of
+Adam's race. Take also a view of God's dealings with his elect
+nation, in the wilderness: they had nothing but manna, and were
+punished for murmuring; while at that very time the nations in
+Canaan, the Egyptians, and Assyrians, were living in all manner of
+luxury. What was their whole history but backsliding, threatening
+upon threatening? then chastisement, <!--Page 299--><a name="P299"
+id="P299"></a> turning, repenting, pardon, reconciliation, and
+the same round again, every chastisement severer than the last,
+while worldlings in general have their day to the end; then 'are
+they brought into desolation as in a moment.' I wish you to take a
+particular view of God's dealings with them, before Nebuchadnezzar
+sacked the city of Jerusalem. The decree was passed after many
+warnings, and much long-suffering. How many pauses, as it were, did
+the merciful Lord God make before he gave them finally up to their
+enemies; and when the decree was irrevocable, and the chastisement
+to take place, still he followed them with mercy. See Jeremiah
+27:12; and chapter 29, the letter which God commanded Jeremiah to
+write to those who had been carried away captive with Jehoiakim,
+advising them to build houses and plant vineyards, and to make the
+most of their situation. Those at Jerusalem were commanded to
+submit to the king of Babylon, as in that case he would not destroy
+the city; but no, they stood it out, and the threatened vengeance
+overtook them.</p>
+<p>"The poor were left to take care of the vineyards. Jeremiah
+remained with them in preference to going with the king of Babylon
+to be promoted to honor. God offered to take them under his
+protection and be their God: but no, they would go to Egypt, and
+put themselves under the king of Egypt's protection. Jeremiah told
+them from the Lord, that Egypt itself should soon go into
+captivity. But to Egypt they went and carried Jeremiah with them.
+See Isaiah's prophecy on this occasion, chapter 30:1-4. Now look at
+chapter 42:24; there you see God's judgment and chastening; follow
+him in the beginning of chapter 43, <!--Page 300--><a name="P300"
+id="P300"></a> and view his mercy; in the end of the same
+chapter, again, see his charge against them, but it is followed,
+with mercy, not judgment.</p>
+<p>"Thus we learn the character of God. Thus we learn his dealings
+with his people. They are not called to earthly comfort and
+prosperity. They ever have been, and still are a suffering people;
+they are all sinners &mdash; sin brings suffering, and God
+overrules suffering, so as to make it profitable to them. Though
+redeemed by the life and death of Christ, being justified by faith,
+they have peace with God; yet the Lord has not pleased all at once
+to qualify them for the purchased possession. They receive a new
+birth, new life, and are called to work out their own salvation
+with fear and trembling, with this consolation, that God worketh in
+them both to will and to do of his good pleasure. This is not their
+home, here they have no continuing city; they are travelling
+through the wilderness, to the city and mansions purchased and
+prepared for them by their Saviour, and must be made holy before
+they can enter in. They have many corruptions to be mortified, and
+many errors in their estimation of men and things to be corrected.
+Their hearts require to be made spiritual, humble, tender,
+resigned, and loving. 'Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna
+&mdash; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to
+do thee good at thy latter end.'</p>
+<p>"Besides, all suffering is not the immediate punishment of sin
+in the individual sufferer, nor for his exclusive profit; it is
+evident from Scripture, there is suffering for the benefit of the
+body of Christ, <i>his church</i>, of which, I think, all have some
+share. God <!--Page 301--><a name="P301" id="P301"></a> has wise
+ends to answer by all the suffering of his creatures, and
+especially of the members of his body. The apostles rejoiced in
+this, and so ought we. 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign
+with him.' Paul says, 'I fill up in my flesh that which is behind
+of the sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which is the
+church.'</p>
+<p>"Now, my dear friend, look at your real situation, as a
+suffering member of a suffering body. Take a view of the saints of
+God in history, sacred or profane, and compare your own individual
+suffering with theirs: I am apt to think that, great as it is, it
+will not rise to mediocrity. I could expatiate on this subject,
+from what comes every day within my own knowledge. The Lord is
+working in this way all around me; but of that another time. In
+your own case, try for a moment to shut out of view every thing
+without your own family, what you once were, what you once
+possessed and enjoyed; also what your friends possess and enjoy at
+this present time; detach yourself from all. What was yours is
+gone; what you calculated upon is also gone; set all aside, and
+consider yourself a sinner saved from destruction by grace; in a
+state of purgation and preparation for happiness; on a pilgrimage
+with thousands of others your fellow-saved sinners, through the
+wilderness, to that inheritance which was purchased for you at
+<i>such a price</i>. Your Saviour is your leader, protector,
+provider; also your physician, and the physician of the whole body,
+perfectly acquainted with the constitution, disposition, and temper
+of every individual. He has made provision for each, all the
+journey through, and given security that none shall suffer
+<i>real</i> want.</p>
+<!--Page 302--><a name="P302" id="P302"></a>
+<p>"Bread and water are promised; nothing beyond these, though in
+general he gives more; to each he gives a portion in hand, to some
+for a day, some for a week, some for a year, which they calculate
+upon with more or less probability: none with certainty. Your
+portion is &mdash; for a year; take a view of those whom you know;
+one with another, I am inclined to think the Lord has still given
+you your full share of privilege. Look at the ordinary provision he
+makes for the ministers of his gospel, most of them with large
+families; many of those in the country have five hundred dollars,
+some four hundred, some three hundred, generally ill paid. The Lord
+puts a blessing in it, he makes it go far; they do what their hands
+find to do, and get along: so will he do with you, my dear. He will
+put you upon methods of industry and economy: your one chicken
+divided into six parts, with a little bit of pork, with the fruit
+of God's blessing on your industry in the garden, shall both taste
+sweet and satisfy for the time. Try to be thankful; Moses said of
+the manna, 'This is the bread which the Lord your God giveth you.'
+Pray and watch against dwelling on the plentiful tables of others;
+and when bidden to a feast take your portion, and say, this is from
+the Lord for the time. Do not let a thought of misery or
+wretchedness dwell upon your mind. O no, God is good; you shall not
+want. O, what sweet meals have I and my children made on hot
+potatoes, nicely boiled and cracked, with salt &mdash; not merely
+content, but they tasted good and savory. There are peculiar
+pleasures in a life of that kind. You shall yet sing of it.</p>
+<p>"Now, my dear friend, I have done with what I
+<!--Page 303--><a name="P303" id="P303"></a> had to say on this
+head. I have had great fears of wounding, lest you should reckon me
+among Job's friends; but you call me mother, and it is required of
+a mother to be faithful. I now leave it with the Lord. We are
+delighted to find you girding up the loins of your mind and setting
+about active duty. Let us meet at a throne of grace, and look to
+the course the Lord marks out for us."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mrs. G&mdash;&mdash; Y&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+<p>"M<font size="-1">Y DEAR</font> M<font size="-1">ADAM</font>
+&mdash; I have just parted with my dear afflicted friend Mrs.
+C&mdash;&mdash;; she left it in charge to me, that I should write to you in
+the time of your affliction. Surely I would do any thing whatever
+that I thought might alleviate either her or your distress. But
+there are cases to which God alone can speak; afflictions which he
+alone can console. Such are those under which the sufferer is
+commanded to be 'still and know that he is God.' He never leaves
+his people in any case, but sometimes shuts them up from human aid.
+Their grief is too great to be consoled by human tongue or pen.</p>
+<p>"Such I have experienced. I lost my only son; I neither know
+when nor where; and for any thing I know, in a state of rebellion
+against God. Here at my heart it lies still; who can speak to me of
+it? neither can I reason upon it. Aaron held his peace. Old Eli
+said, 'It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.' Samuel in
+his turn had his heart wrung by his ungodly son. David lamented
+over his beloved Absalom; but it availed him nothing. Job's sons
+and daughters were all cut off in one day; he himself lay in deep,
+sore bodily affliction; his friends sat seven days and seven nights
+without opening their <!--Page 304--><a name="P304" id=
+"P304"></a> mouths, because they saw his affliction was very
+great; and if they spoke, it was to aggregate it; and when God
+himself spoke, he gave him no reason for his dealings, but charged
+him with folly and madness. 'Shall he that contendeth with the
+Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.'
+Then he laid his hand on his mouth, confessed himself vile, and
+became dumb before God; abhorring himself, and repenting in dust
+and ashes, instead of the splendid catalogue of virtues enumerated
+in chapter 29, and complaints in chapter 10, which I make not the
+least doubt were true, as far as human virtue can reach; but if God
+charge even his angels with folly, shall man, corrupt,
+self-destroyed man, plead merit before God?</p>
+<p>"But, my dear friend, I do not find in all God's Bible any thing
+requiring us to acquiesce in the final destruction of any, for whom
+we have prayed, pleaded, and committed to him; least of all, our
+offspring whom he has commanded us to train up for him. Children
+are God's heritage. I do not say he has given us any promise for
+the obstinately wicked; but when cut off, he only requires us to be
+still, to hold our peace. I do not think he takes hope from us. God
+has set limits to our faith for others; our faith must not rest in
+opposition to his threatenings. We must believe that the wicked
+shall be turned into hell, and all that forget God; but he hath set
+no bounds to his own mercy; in that glorious plan of redemption, by
+which he substitutes his own Son in the stead of sinners, he has
+made provision for the chief of sinners, and can now be just and
+consistent while he justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus.
+Short was the <!--Page 305--><a name="P305" id="P305"></a> time
+between the thief's petition and the promise of salvation; nay, the
+petition was the earnest of it. The same was the case with the
+jailer; I think, too, the publican had the earnest in his petition.
+Now, instead of laboring to bring my mind to acquiesce in the
+condemnation of my child, on the supposition of its being for God's
+glory, I try to be still, as he has commanded: not to follow my
+child to the yet invisible world; but turning my eyes to that
+character which God has revealed of himself &mdash; to the plan of
+redemption &mdash; to the sovereignty of God in the execution of
+that plan &mdash; to his names of grace, 'The Lord, the Lord God,
+merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and
+truth, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,' while he
+adds, 'and that will by no means clear the guilty;' I meet it with
+his own declaration, 'He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no
+sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' I read
+also that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment,' and many other like
+scriptures, which, although I dare not ground a belief of his
+salvation on them, afford one ray of hope after another, that God
+may have made him a monument of mercy to the glory of his
+grace.</p>
+<p>"Thus God himself consoles his own praying people, while man
+ought to be very cautious, if not silent, where the Scriptures are
+silent, as it respects the final state of another, whose heart we
+cannot know, nor what God may have wrought in it. God hath set
+bounds to our faith, which can nowhere find solid ground to fix
+upon but in his own written promise. Yet, as I said above, he has
+set no bounds to his own mercy, and he has made provision for its
+boundless <!--Page 306--><a name="P306" id="P306"></a> flow, as
+far as he shall please to extend it, through the atonement and
+merits of his own Son, 'who is able to save to the uttermost all
+who come unto God by him,' Now, my dear friend, you have my ideas
+of our situation; if they be correct, I pray that our compassionate
+Father may comfort you by them; if otherwise, may he pardon what is
+amiss, and lead you, my dear friend C&mdash;&mdash;, and myself, to such
+consolation as he himself will own as the work of his Spirit, and
+save us from the enemy and our own spirit.</p>
+<p>"Since writing the foregoing, I feel afraid of what I have said;
+it is dangerous seeking comfort where the Scriptures are silent;
+yet while we plead with God to be preserved from error, and try to
+be still before him, he will save us from the subtlety of the
+serpent, as well as from the rage of the lion. I am, with love,</p>
+<p class="center">"Your sympathizing friend,</p>
+<p class="right">"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"R<font size="-1">OCKAWAY</font>, September 10,
+1811.</p>
+<p>"I have been here four Sabbaths. The first I spent at home, the
+weather not permitting our going abroad; the second I spent at a
+prayer-meeting with the Methodist brethren; the third we rode to
+Hempstead, where I heard two plain gospel sermons from Mr. C&mdash;&mdash;,
+Presbyterian minister; and the last I attended at the Episcopal
+church, same place; heard a good plain gospel sermon from Mr.
+H&mdash;&mdash;, and witnessed the dispensation of the Lord's supper.</p>
+<p>"To sing the praises of our redeeming God, and to lift up my
+heart in prayer with my fellow-sinners, in the comfortable hope
+that there are other living souls praising and praying with me,
+refreshes me: to <!--Page 307--><a name="P307" id="P307"></a>
+hear the word of God read, and to be led to meditate upon it,
+however simple and common the exposition, also refreshes me. I am
+generally led to pray much for minister and people; to consider
+myself as one with them in Christ. However weak his natural powers,
+however few or small his talents, if I have reason to think that he
+is taught of God that which flesh and blood cannot teach, I desire
+to esteem him highly for his work's sake. I thank God for the
+meanest and weakest of such: I believe they never labor in vain.
+'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,' in talents as well as
+in years, God will perfect praise.</p>
+<p>"In this new world, thickly settled in many places with natural
+men 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,' while
+the flood of wrath is hastening to overwhelm them, and none to warn
+them of their danger, nor point out the ark of safety; shall such
+men be reckoned of none account, and their labors of no value? No,
+the wealth of both Indies cannot balance their work; nor all the
+talents ever possessed by fallen man, with all the orthodoxy which
+mere talents are capable of acquiring, without that divine teaching
+which many of those, thus contemned, possess. That same small
+discourse, those few plain points, these same things repeated in
+the same way, contain truths by which sinners may be saved, by
+which sinners shall be saved.</p>
+<p>"Suppose, for it is but a supposition, that these men have made
+a mistake. They are the Lord's, and in their place by his
+providence. He will be forth-coming for them, and without miracle.
+From him shall their fruit be found, and his power be manifested
+<!--Page 308--><a name="P308" id="P308"></a> by their weakness.
+Exert your energies, ye gifted doctors of divinity; and may the
+Lord prosper the means used to produce a ministry which shall
+render attendance upon their ministrations the interest of both the
+understanding and the heart. Persuade men who are adding field to
+field, house to house, thousand to thousand, to provide a competent
+maintenance for them. If these last remain obstinate, and it be
+idle to hope that youths of talents without fortune, whatever be
+their piety, will serve the church of God at the expense of
+devoting themselves to infallible penury, and all the wretchedness
+which belongs to it &mdash; is it wise to weaken the hands and
+discourage the hearts of those ministers already settled pastors,
+or to furnish their people with arguments in their own vindication
+for leaving them in want and penury?"</p>
+<p>In the year 1811, some gentlemen of New York established a
+Magdalen Society: they elected a board of ladies, requesting their
+aid to superintend the internal management of the Magdalen House.
+This board chose Mrs. Graham their presiding lady, which office she
+held until her decease; the duties attendant on it she discharged
+with fidelity and zeal. In 1812 the trustees of the Lancasterian
+school solicited the attendance of several pious ladies, to give
+catechetical instruction to their scholars one afternoon in every
+week: and Mrs. Graham was one of those who attended regularly to
+this duty.</p>
+<!--Page 309--><a name="P309" id="P309"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+<h4>DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND CORRESPONDENCE.</h4>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font> 8, 1812.</p>
+<p>"'B<font size="-1">Y</font> faith Moses, when he was come to
+years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
+esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
+of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward:
+choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than
+to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.' Heb. 11:24.</p>
+<p>"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
+persecution; the natural heart is enmity against God, and hates his
+image wherever found. If individual Christians have the favor of
+individual worldlings, it never is for their piety, that is rather
+borne with than loved; and too often Christians save themselves
+from reproach by unfaithfulness; that, alas, has been my sin and
+shame. In all my friendships with worldlings, some of which have
+been tender, how unfaithful have I been to friendship's highest
+office. How seldom have I endeavored to rescue my friend from sin
+and Satan, by leading her to the Friend of sinners, the source of
+happiness. Contenting my vile, selfish heart, with things
+pertaining to this life unconnected with that to come, leaving her
+under the influence of 'the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh,
+and the pride of life;' without eyes to see her danger, or friend
+to warn her of it; and while she communicated with me in things
+common to both, in all the good she <!--Page 310--><a name="P310"
+id="P310"></a> knew, keeping back nothing from me of all she
+possessed; how often have I concealed my richest treasure, without
+inviting her to the participation. O, faithless friend! O,
+ungrateful, unfaithful &mdash; first to that gracious God who
+opened mine own eyes, arrested ray attention, stopped up my path,
+and turned me to the way of life; and next to my friend, whom I
+have left to pursue that same way of death, without attempting to
+lead her to this same sovereign, merciful, gracious Deliverer.</p>
+<p>"And what withheld! Shame belongs to the heart governed by such
+motives; fear of contempt, reproach, or, at most, the loss of a
+carnal friendship. Of three such friends, now gone to their place,
+two continued their worldly course to the last, so far as I know;
+for the third the Lord provided a more faithful friend, who became
+worker together with the Spirit of God, led her to the Friend of
+sinners, who has compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out
+of the way, By Him she was received, and in Him she found life,
+light, and peace.</p>
+<p>"She soon outran faithless me in the heavenly race; gently chid
+me for my remissness, but continued my friend and helper. Ever
+foremost in the race, humble and steady in faith, she looked not
+back, nor halted. She has long since finished her course, received
+her crown and reward of grace, and become fruit to the account of
+that friend who supplied what was wanting in me. I rejoice with
+them both, give glory to God, from whom their fruit was found, and
+take shame and confusion for my part.</p>
+<p>"How many opportunities have I lost, and from the same sinful,
+shameful cause. O my Redeemer, <!--Page 311--><a name="P311" id=
+"P311"></a> what can I say to thee? Words are wanting to express
+my loathing of that vile, selfish cowardice.</p>
+<p>"Didst Thou, who art the Creator of heaven and earth, the
+brightness of the glory of God, the express image of his person,
+and upholder of all things, suffer shame, contempt, anguish, death
+for my sake, that thou mightest redeem me from the second death,
+and purchase for me eternal life; and do I shrink and turn away
+from the least taste of thy cup, though the curse is extracted and
+a blessing infused!</p>
+<p>"And after all this, art thou pacified towards me? I search in
+vain for words to express the amazing grace. 'As the heaven is high
+above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him,
+and towards vile me, who can lay small claim to that character;
+yet, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed my
+transgressions from him. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, who excel
+in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of
+his word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his
+that do his pleasure; ye ministering spirits, sent forth to watch
+over and minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font>, 1812.</p>
+<p>"Dr. M&mdash;&mdash;. 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
+of the world,' John 1:29.</p>
+<p>"He dwelt chiefly on the substitution of the victim in the room
+of the transgressor. When a victim was offered for an individual,
+he was to lay his hand on the head of the animal, by the
+appointment of God, as a token of his faith that his sins should be
+transferred to the victim which suffered death in his stead, and
+that his sins were forgiven and his person <!--Page 312--><a name=
+"P312" id="P312"></a> accepted. If the victim was for the whole
+congregation, then the elders, as their representatives, were to
+lay their hands upon the head of the victim, signifying the same
+faith. Great was the subject of the plan of redemption: The Son of
+God clothed with our nature, given and set apart as a propitiatory
+sacrifice, the victim upon whom the sins of his elect were laid,
+and he sacrificed in their stead.</p>
+<p>"The Lamb of God, which took away the sins not only of the
+Jewish transgressors, but the sins of the elect out of every
+nation, kindred, and tongue throughout the world &mdash; on this
+Lamb of God rests my own individual hope for pardon and for
+acceptance. I lay my own individual hand of faith on his dear head,
+confess my sin, and rely upon his sacrifice for pardon and
+acceptance, through the atonement made by himself, God's anointed
+Priest."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, April, 1812.</p>
+<p>"Dr. Romeyn. 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
+shall suffer persecution.' 2&nbsp;Timothy 3:12. Gone as usual; but
+it came home to my heart. I have not suffered persecution; and why?
+because my life has not testified sufficiently against a sinful
+world. Alas, alas! the world loves its own, and I have been so
+accommodating, to say the least, as not to disturb it. 'The carnal
+mind is enmity against God; is not subject to the law of God,
+neither indeed can be;' but the world saw little in me of that
+image which they hate, and enough of assimilation to balance that
+little. O my God, my long-suffering, sin-pardoning God, thou
+knowest my vile cowardice; with professors a professor of thy name,
+with worldlings a seeming worldling. And now the season is
+<!--Page 313--><a name="P313" id="P313"></a> past, the
+opportunity lost; the time of life is arrived when the world itself
+expects to be abandoned. No line of conduct in me will now reprove
+them; they account it wise to look out for a better portion, when
+the world can no longer be enjoyed; and through the deceitfulness
+of their own hearts, and the suggestions of the ever-vigilant enemy
+of souls, may be hardened in sin, by hoping to become religious in
+old age. O, let thy grace prevent it.</p>
+<p>"The sinfulness, and O, the ingratitude of my past life rise in
+magnitude every review I take of it. And what can I say? Father,
+forgive. Yes, I dare say, Father, forgive. I dare say more, Thou
+hast forgiven. This grief of heart proves that thou hast not sealed
+me up in impenitence. Thou rememberest thy covenant with me in the
+days of my youth, when thou didst draw me with the cords of love
+and the bands of a man; and though no language can express my
+baseness and my ingratitude, through all my backsliding life, thy
+covenant stands fast.</p>
+<p>"'I remember, and am confounded, and will never open my mouth
+any more because of my shame, now that thou art pacified towards me
+for all that I have done. And I know that thou art the Lord.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>Contrition dwell within this
+breast,<br /></span> <span>That God within this heart may
+rest:<br /></span> <span>Shame and confusion flush this
+face,<br /></span> <span>And magnify this glorious
+grace.<br /></span> <span>Grace be my theme while I have
+breath,<br /></span> <span>And on my quivering lips in
+death.<br /></span> <span>Angels and fellow-sinners,
+say,<br /></span> <span>Will you not join me in this
+lay,<br /></span> <span>Now, and through heaven's eternal
+day?<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>"Blessed Comforter, thou seest old age upon me,
+<!--Page 314--><a name="P314" id="P314"></a> loss of memory, and
+a desultory mind; I cannot retain even the substance of my dear
+pastor's sermons. I thank thee for the food and refreshment at the
+time, and often after for refreshing meditations on the same
+subjects. I commit all to thee; keep them for me, and feed me with
+these truths as thou seest I need. O be to me memory, judgment,
+presence of mind, for order, regularity, and natural powers are
+gone. I rejoice in my dear Saviour, who of God is made unto me
+wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He shall
+perfect that which concerneth me, and finish the work he has begun.
+Therefore I say, All is well."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"C<font size="-1">OMMUNION</font> S<font size=
+"-1">ABBATH</font>, May 17, 1812.</p>
+<p>"Was much melted under a sense of indwelling sin, and the
+deceitfulness of the human heart, and of my own heart in
+particular. I have been. I think, much in the exercise of
+contrition for the sins of my past life, and exercised in watching
+over my words, thoughts, and actions; now that the Lord has
+delivered me from all necessity to care, having every thing
+provided for me <i>necessary to life and godliness:</i> pleasant
+food and clothing both for body and mind; my dear room, retirement,
+fire, candle, attendance; my precious Bible, and precious, lively,
+spiritual ordinances; a faithful and beloved pastor, who feeds me
+with truth: I taste it, and I am fed. I am, as the Lord God
+merciful and gracious has awarded, under the constant influence of
+shame and confusion for my highly aggravated transgressions: but I
+also enjoy the full sense of pardon; being justified by faith, I
+have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; and knowing that
+I have a 'great high-priest that is <!--Page 315--><a name="P315"
+id="P315"></a> passed into, the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,'
+I am enabled to hold fast my profession, comforted by this, that I
+have not a high-priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of my
+infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without
+sin. I dare come, not very boldly, for I am under much depression,
+to the throne of grace, that I may obtain mercy and find grace to
+help in time of need. Every time is a time of need with me, for sin
+still dwelleth in me. I have peace with God through my dear Lord
+and Saviour Jesus Christ, but am at constant war with myself. I
+plead thy promise, that thou wilt subdue my iniquities, that sin
+shall not have dominion over me. And now, Captain of salvation, I
+renew the fight, but it is depending upon thee to fight for me,
+with me, and in me. I will set myself to watch, but I shall watch
+in vain, if thou keep not the avenues of my heart, and the door of
+my lips. O, clothe me with thy meek and lowly spirit."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, July 26,
+1812.</p>
+<p>"Tired of the bustle of Rockaway, and having some subordinate
+motives for returning home for a time, I embraced this season in
+particular; having, in the compass of one week, Sabbath, Wednesday
+my birthday, and the day set apart both by the General Assembly of
+our church and the Governor of our state, for fasting, prayer, and
+humiliation, besides lectures on the same evening. I returned
+therefore on Friday, the 24th.</p>
+<p>"Dr. R&mdash;&mdash; preached from Psalm 27:1,'The Lord is my light and my
+salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life;
+of whom shall I be afraid?'</p>
+<!--Page 316--><a name="P316" id="P316"></a>
+<p>"O my God, my merciful and gracious God, what can I say of thy
+amazing, distinguishing mercy to me? Delivered from all these
+fears, and able to adopt the text fully, I know of none who have
+more or greater cause of fear as sinners. My transgressions have
+been of <i>crimson</i> and <i>scarlet</i> hue. O my God, thou
+knowest them, words cannot paint them. My Saviour, thou knowest
+them, for thou baredst them; every jot and tittle was put to thy
+account, and thou didst cancel all. O that garden, that cry on the
+cross! the effects were seen on thy sacred body, but who can
+conceive the mysterious horror which agonized thy sacred soul? But
+thou saidst, <i>It is finished,</i> and finished it is. Lamb of
+God, which takest away the sins of the world, on thy consecrated
+head I lay the hand of faith, confess my sins, pray for
+forgiveness, and believe that I am forgiven.</p>
+<p>"July 29th, my birthday, and the last day of the threescore
+years and ten of my sinful life. What an, exhibition will that day
+produce, when the secrets of all hearts will be laid open, all my
+actions and all the springs of them. In all the myriads which shall
+appear at the bar of God, will there be such a sinner &mdash;
+taking into view the early grace manifested?</p>
+<p>"Born, I think, about the seventeenth year of my natural life;
+previously instructed in the doctrines and precepts of the
+Scriptures, as far as the natural mind can conceive, by pious
+parents and a faithful pastor; with milk provided for my spiritual
+infancy, and richer food set before me for my growth; the leaves of
+the new covenant were opened to my view, and the fulness treasured
+in Christ for my supply, to be asked, to be delighted in; and
+delighted I was, and <!--Page 317--><a name="P317" id=
+"P317"></a> satisfied. But Oh, I forsook the fountain of living
+waters, and hewed out broken cisterns, that could hold no water.
+Where can language be found to depict my ingratitude, my madness,
+my folly; and where to describe the long-suffering, the
+compassionate remonstrances, the kindly, fatherly chastisements,
+the repeated pardons and restorations of my gracious God in days of
+youth &mdash; aggravating my renewed backslidings, bringing upon my
+sinful soul vengeance for my inventions? What were the sins of
+Israel and Judah to mine? Mine were committed after the great
+atonement was made; the adorable High-priest, Jesus, had with his
+own blood entered within the veil, and was set on the right hand of
+the throne of the Majesty of the heavens: the minister of the
+sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and
+not man. The new covenant was exhibited, established on better
+promises, himself the Mediator. The new and living way was
+consecrated to the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus; a throne
+of grace was established, Jesus himself our Advocate and
+Intercessor. We are now privileged to come boldly to a throne of
+grace, that we may find grace to help in the time of need. O how
+aggravated my sin above theirs, having such great and precious
+privileges and promises, and a High-priest who can be touched with
+the feeling of our infirmities, who was in all points tempted as we
+are; who owns us as his brethren and sisters, yea, the very
+<i>members of his body</i>, and his Spirit dwelleth in us.</p>
+<p>"I set apart the day for fasting and deep humiliation; took
+another survey of my past sinful life; confessed particulars on my
+knees, and made a fresh application to the blood of sprinkling
+which cleanseth <!--Page 318--><a name="P318" id="P318"></a>
+from all sin; took a fresh hold of his new covenant of promise.
+'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
+saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their
+minds will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities will I
+remember no more.' Lord, do as thou hast said. I rest my immortal
+soul on thy promise."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"J<font size="-1">ULY</font> 30, 1812.</p>
+<p>"The day set apart by the General Assembly and State Legislature
+for fasting and humiliation, confession of sin and prayer.</p>
+<p>"Our pastor read the second chapter of Jeremiah, a great portion
+of which belongs to my own character as an individual; and is laid
+up as part of that provision which is to support me through the
+last stage in the wilderness, and through Jordan, over which I must
+shortly pass; laid in as a proof of the amazing long-suffering of
+God, and his readiness to forgive even the vile backslider in heart
+and life, as proclaimed in chapter three."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, Nov. 22."</p>
+<p>"'Turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope.' Zech. 9:12.
+My Jesus &mdash; my hope, my stronghold, my safety, my Saviour, my
+portion, my life, my happiness &mdash; yes, my happiness, for safe
+I am and happy, though sometimes in heaviness, for yet sin dwelleth
+in me, and in others dear as my own soul; and though I know it is
+pardoned, and provision made for pardon to the end, yet, O it is
+bitter, and bitter let it be. I would not have it otherwise. Heal
+my depravity, O God; take sin out of this heart; O fill it with
+love to thee, and to all my fellow-sinners. My dear High-priest, it
+can be but a little further to Jordan. My <!--Page 319--><a name=
+"P319" id="P319"></a> seventy years are run. Does not the ark of
+the covenant appear, going before me? am I not called to decamp and
+follow after? O my blessed, blessed High-priest, keep my eye fixed
+on thy person, and let me the little further follow thee step by
+step, foot after foot, without losing one mark all the way to
+Jordan; and there let me see thee. Blessed ark of the covenant,
+roll back the waters of terror, stand firm in Jordan, and bid me
+come unto thee, and set up the stones of memorial in a song of
+praise in the midst of Jordan.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"O then thy glory let me
+see,<br /></span> <span>Then cause thy face to shine on
+me,<br /></span> <span>And tune my heart, and tune my
+voice,<br /></span> <span>And language furnish to
+rejoice,<br /></span> <span>That all around may lend their
+tongue,<br /></span> <span>And sweetly join my dying
+song."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, December 8,
+1812.</p>
+<p>"'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me:
+thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against mine enemies, and thy
+right hand shall save me.' 'The Lord will perfect that which
+concerns me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the
+works of thine own hands.' Psalm 138:7, 8.</p>
+<p>"I will no longer mourn over loss of memory; I think the Lord
+has more than made it up to me by his sensible presence while
+hearing and applying the sermon to my heart at the time; not only
+so, he enlightens my understanding; it opens more to the
+elucidations of my pastor; and though I forget the words and the
+order of his discourses, I am instructed in the knowledge of the
+subject and the Scriptures in general. Shall I deny the grace of
+God through fear or pride? <!--Page 320--><a name="P320" id=
+"P320"></a> I see it not to be my duty. Can I attribute any
+thing to myself? No; shame and confusion of face belong to me, for
+my carelessness and idleness in the use of means during health and
+strength of body and mind. Never has God dealt with me as I sinned,
+but according to his own mercy, and in a way of great sovereignty.
+Let me record his great goodness, his tender mercies, and bless his
+name.</p>
+<p>"Old age is upon me, and some of its infirmities; my memory is
+much impaired, and my mind in temporal things and subjects becomes
+very desultory. Not so in spirituals: I think I not only hear and
+read with more intense attention and prompt application, but my
+mind is more disposed to meditation; and though I cannot remember
+much of the sermons I hear, yet my mind is often furnished with
+happy and profitable thoughts on the same subjects; and I find
+myself instructed without remembering the instructions. This is
+evidently from the Lord. It appears to me also that I have not lost
+the sensibility of youth. I often shed tears, not only of
+compunction, but of gratitude. I seldom commune without tears. I
+think much of death; am solemnized, but not afraid.</p>
+<p>"As far as I know, my confidence rests upon a
+surety-righteousness, exclusive of every thing in myself. I am not
+conscious of self-righteousness; I have no complacency in any thing
+ever done by me. I not only believe that in all things I come
+short, and that sin is mixed in all I do, because God hath said so,
+but am sensible of the particular depravity. It is my sincere
+desire to be stript of every thing that is mine &mdash; sins and
+duties laid in one heap &mdash; and to be clothed in the
+surety-righteousness of my Redeemer; all that is
+<!--Page 321--><a name="P321" id="P321"></a> mine put to his
+account, and all that he did and suffered, as the Mediator and
+surety of the covenant, to mine.</p>
+<p>"I am afflicted with rheumatism, but God gives me patience,
+disposes me to enumerate my many remaining mercies &mdash; eyes to
+read his word and ears to hear it preached; hitherto such
+moderation of pain as very often to be able to attend with
+fixedness. I have my room at my own command, candle, fire, and
+attendance; and O, bless the Lord, my soul, much of his sensible
+presence. In the night when my aches prevent me from sleeping, he
+gives me some sweet hymn; I sing, my pain is diverted, while my
+heart is melted and warmed under the expressions, and I often drop
+asleep with the words on my tongue.</p>
+<p>"I am convinced that the provision I have laid in for my last
+journey in the wilderness and through Jordan, is selected by the
+influence of the Holy Ghost. He takes of the things of Christ and
+shows them unto me; and while he keeps upon my mind my meanness, my
+vileness, wrings my heart with the retrospect of my backslidings
+and highly aggravated transgressions, he opens at the same time the
+leaves of the New Testament and shows me my deliverance from
+punishment, the redemption of my soul, and my translation into the
+kingdom of God's dear Son: I weep and rejoice; I loathe myself, and
+clasping my Saviour to my heart, am at a loss for words to express
+how precious he is to my saved soul.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Jesus, I love thy charming
+name,<br /></span> <span class="i2">'Tis music to my
+ear;<br /></span> <span>Fain would I sound it out so
+loud<br /></span> <span class="i2">That heaven and earth should
+hear.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 322--><a name="P322" id="P322"></a> <span>Yes, thou art
+precious to my soul,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My transport and
+my trust,<br /></span> <span>My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband,
+Friend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">No other good I
+boast.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>All my
+capacious powers can wish,<br /></span> <span class="i2">In thee
+doth richly meet;<br /></span> <span>Not to mine eyes is light so
+dear.<br /></span> <span class="i2">Nor friendship's self so
+sweet.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Thy grace shall
+dwell upon my heart<br /></span> <span class="i2">And shed its
+fragrance there,<br /></span> <span>The noblest balm of all my
+wounds,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And cordial of my
+care.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>I'll speak the
+honors of thy name<br /></span> <span class="i2">While I have life
+and breath;<br /></span> <span>Then, speechless, clasp thee in my
+arms,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The antidote of
+death.'<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>"Dr. M&mdash;&mdash; preached in the evening from Eph. 3:30: 'For we are
+members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.' It was a rich
+sermon; I enjoyed it at the time, but cannot recall it. Blessed
+Spirit, keep it for me, and feed me with the substance of it, as I
+stand in need.</p>
+<p>"Accept of my thanks, blessed Jesus; that through thy
+meritorious life and death, I have an interest in the great whole.
+Accept of my thanks, blessed Spirit, for thus taking the things of
+Christ and showing them unto me. And accept of my thanks, Father of
+mercies, for the gift of thy Son, and all these blessings in
+him.</p>
+<p>"'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in
+Christ Jesus.'&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"G<font size="-1">REENWICH</font>, Sabbath.</p>
+<p>"Heard Dr. Milledoler preach in the state prison to the
+convicts, from Luke 19:10: 'For the Son of <!--Page 323--><a name=
+"P323" id="P323"></a> man is come to seek and save that which
+was lost.' He addressed them as fellow-sinners, all being by nature
+lost and dependent on the same means for recovery.</p>
+<p>"True, my heart accords. O Lord, thou knowest I stand in my own
+estimation a sinner, the chief of sinners. These have added to
+their sin against thee, breach against men, and are suffering the
+penalty.</p>
+<p>"My sins have been chiefly, though far from exclusively, against
+God, and with many aggravations. That I was born in a Christian
+land, of pious parents, who gave me religious instructions; brought
+up under faithful, lively ministers, and in religious society;
+exposed to few temptations but what arose from the corruptions of
+my own heart, are aggravations, which, perhaps, many are mourning
+over, as heightening the sin of unbelief in their unregenerated
+state. But the aggravations &mdash; the painful remembrance of
+which mars my comfort and covers me with shame and confusion even
+now, though I know that God is pacified with me &mdash; are as far
+above these as the heavens are above the earth. For in that
+Christian land, under those Christian parents and faithful pastors,
+while yet young and tender, I was enlightened, tasted of the
+heavenly gift, was made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the
+good word of God and the power of the world to come. I was taken
+from the fearful pit and miry clay; my feet set upon the rock, and
+a new song put into my mouth, even to the amount of, O death, where
+is thy sting? &mdash; of redeeming love, pardoning grace, new
+covenant mercy, I had 'joy and peace in believing,' But forgetting
+my natural character, the extreme volatility of my spirits, my
+taste for gayety; forgetting <!--Page 324--><a name="P324" id=
+"P324"></a> the danger of smothering the heavenly spark by
+indulging to the utmost bound of lawful pleasure; forgetting my
+continual need of fresh supplies of grace to preserve and feed that
+new life which could not live on earthly food; forgetting the
+deceitfulness of my heart, the injunctions of my Bible, I became
+cold, negligent in the use of means, distant in prayer, lost
+enjoyment, and my heart, naturally carnal and madly fond of
+pleasure, got entangled. 'The lust of the flesh, the lust of the
+eye, and the pride of life' regained their power; other loves
+usurped the place of that Beloved who had bought me with his blood,
+and betrothed me to himself; 'that which came into my mind was,
+that I would be as the families of the countries, to serve wood and
+stone.' Blessed be his name, he said, 'It shall not be.' He brought
+me into the wilderness and pleaded with me, caused me to pass under
+the rod, brought me again into the bond of the covenant.</p>
+<p>"O how often hast thou wrought with me, for thy name's sake. One
+self-willed step brought with it a train of consequences dangerous
+to spiritual life, filling even the path of duty with pits and
+snares, cutting me off from ordinances, pastor, parents, church,
+country, and Christian society; placing me at the same time in the
+midst of carnal delights; and every thing in my natural temper and
+dispositions was congenial to them. What saved me? What in heaven
+or earth could save me, but thy covenant? Truly thy covenant
+standeth fast; therefore I was not lost in the vortex. But 'the
+Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
+goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,'
+kept his eye upon me; many a time did he stop up my path. O from
+how <!--Page 325--><a name="P325" id="P325"></a> many delusions
+of my own seeking; how many snares and nets of my own weaving; how
+many pits of my own digging, hast thou delivered me, when
+wandering, bewildered, on temptation's ground, in the cloudy dark
+day. How often hast thou sought me out; how often bound me up when
+broken, strengthened me when sick, and fed me with judgment, and
+very, very often, thou madest thyself known to me. I knew thy hand
+when it shook the rod, when it arrested me on some mad career. I
+knew thy hedge, thy bar; saw not only escapes, but my Deliverer:
+often paused, turned, and took fast hold of thy covenant. I had no
+afflictions in those days, but every pleasure lawful to be enjoyed,
+and natural to the heart of woman; but no pastor, no church, no
+Christian society; yet God was there, my Bible, my Doddridge, and
+other good books. And to my shame and confusion this day, he was
+not, in the midst of all my idolatry, a barren wilderness, nor a
+land of drought to me. I had many Sabbaths; literally the Sabbath
+was a sign between my covenant God and me: ill spent it often was,
+but not with company; it was spent in retirement. The Lord did not
+leave me so far as to give up the Sabbath to the world. Though my
+heart was incrusted, and spiritual life scarcely discernible,
+sometimes the Lord met me, and strange to tell, not with
+threatenings causing terror, but with compunction, melting,
+turning, and ere the day was over, manifestations of pardon, though
+not joy; for I was grieved at my ingratitude.</p>
+<p>"I did expect affliction long before it came, and my
+presumptuous heart calculated upon the fruit being the peaceable
+fruit of righteousness, and to take away sin; but still I held my
+way, gadding about, drinking <!--Page 326--><a name="P326" id=
+"P326"></a> the waters of Sihor and the rivers of Syria, and
+eating the worldling's dainties. Oh, Oh, at last it came; yes, it
+came. Thou didst cut off the desire of my eyes with a stroke, and
+with that made the world a blank to me. But O the stately steps of
+thy providential mercy previous to that trying hour. O my God, I
+must ever wonder and stand amazed at thy exuberant grace. In
+consistence with thy covenant, thou mightest have struck me among
+these worldlings, in that dry and barren land, where not one tongue
+could speak the language of Canaan, nor bring forth from thy
+precious Bible the words of consolation to my wounded and bereaved
+spirit; richly had I merited this; but never, no, never hast thou
+dealt with me as I sinned. Through the whole of my life, from the
+time that the Lord called me out of darkness into his marvellous
+light &mdash; from the time that he first led me to the Saviour,
+and enabled me to take hold of his covenant, wanderer, backslider,
+transgressor, rebel, idolater, ingrate, and if there be any name
+more expressively <i>vile</i> and <i>abominable</i>, that is mine.
+And from the hour of my birth, through the whole of this refractory
+perverse life, 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity,
+transgression, and sin,' has been, and now is, thy name to me.</p>
+<p>"No, ye strong-built walls, ye grated windows, ye gloomy cells,
+ye confine no such sinner as I. And did the Lord take vengeance on
+my inventions? O no, <i>mercy</i> preceded, <i>mercy</i>
+accompanied judgment; yea, it was all mercy, not vengeance. He
+brought me and my idol out of that barren land, placed us under the
+breath of prayer, among a dear little society
+<!--Page 327--><a name="P327" id="P327"></a> of Methodists; he
+laid us upon their spirits, and when the messenger Death was sent
+for my beloved, the breath of prayer ascended from his bedside,
+from their little meeting, and I believe from their families and
+closets. The God of mercy prepared their hearts to pray, and his
+ear to hear, and the answer did not tarry. Behold, my husband
+prayeth; confesses sin; applies to the Saviour; pleads for
+forgiveness for his sake; receives comfort; blesses God for Jesus
+Christ, and dies with these words on his tongue, 'I hold fast by
+the Saviour,' Behold another wonder; the idolatress in an ecstasy
+of joy. She who never could realize a separation for one single
+minute during his life, now resigns her heart's treasure with
+praise and thanksgiving.</p>
+<p>"O the joy of that hour; its savor remains on my heart to this
+moment. For five days and nights I had been little off my knees: it
+was my ordinary posture at his bedside, and in all that time I had
+but <i>once</i> requested life. Surely the spirit of prayer and
+supplication was poured out. The Spirit helped mine infirmities
+with groanings which could not be uttered, leading me to pray for
+that which God had determined to bestow; making intercession for my
+husband, according to the will of God.</p>
+<p>"O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous
+things. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the
+victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness
+hath he openly shown in the sight of the heathen. He hath
+remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All
+the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God."
+Psalm&nbsp;98.</p>
+<!--Page 328--><a name="P328" id="P328"></a><br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">RIDAY</font>, December.</p>
+<p>"Sermon from John 4:10: 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and
+who it is that saith, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of
+him, and he would have given thee living water,'</p>
+<p>"This is part of my provision laid in for my passage through
+Jordan. Christ is the gift of God. Christ is the water of life; he
+is this living water, and the bread of life <i>given</i>; given by
+God, received by the sinner. Life and comfort are experienced, and
+fruit produced is the evidence; but first of all, this gift must be
+known, and the soul's need must be known; Christ, the anointed
+prophet, taught this woman both, and no other could. 'Search me, O
+Lord, and try me.' Hast thou not taught my soul its miserable and
+ruined state by nature; its helplessness as well as misery? Hast
+thou not also brought me to this living, life-giving water? Oh,
+hast thou not given me faith to come, faith to drink; and have I
+not experienced its solacing quality? Has it not satisfied my soul,
+and in some degree allayed my thirst for carnal delights? Blessed
+Spirit, the gift of the Father and of the Son, pour into my soul
+repeated draughts of this living water; yea, be in me, according to
+my Redeemer's promise, a well of water springing up to eternal
+life, and cause me to bring forth fruit to the glory of the
+Father.</p>
+<p>"'Other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid,
+Christ Jesus.'</p>
+<p>"Do I, O my God, seek for or desire any other foundation? Are
+not all my hopes for time and eternity built on this foundation? Is
+not Christ all my salvation and all my desire? Do I not embrace thy
+<!--Page 329--><a name="P329" id="P329"></a> covenant just as it
+is, believing that thou givest unto me eternal life, and that this
+life is in thy Son, whom thou hast given 'to be a covenant of the
+people.' Iniquities prevail against me; but thou wilt not only
+purge them away, but wilt subdue them. Sin shall not have dominion
+over me, for I am not tinder the law, but under grace."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Miss Walker, Edinburgh.</p>
+<p class="right">"N<font size="-1">EW</font> Y<font size=
+"-1">ORK</font>, 1812.</p>
+<p>"My dear Miss Walker, I think, is in my debt; but that is no
+reason why I may not inquire after her health and welfare, and
+through her, of that of her brother, sister, and other dear friends
+yet in their pilgrimage. My dear, dear Mrs. Walker lives in my
+affections, and surely what concerns her children can never be to
+me a matter of indifference. Your dear brother's persevering
+kindness and tried friendship have written gratitude in indelible
+characters on my heart. 'A friend in need is a friend indeed;' and
+such was he. I trust the Lord has rewarded and will reward him. I
+have still in my possession many dear remembrances of your worthy
+mother; her sensible, pious letters, some of which have proved
+prophetic, are among my treasures. What a lovely group presses upon
+my memory at this moment, united to Jesus and to one another on
+earth, and the union is now perfected in heaven. Your dear mother,
+Mrs. Brown, dear Mrs. Randall, and Lady Glenorchy, all zealous for
+the welfare of the widow and orphans, whose way lay peculiarly
+through Vanity Fair, and whose spirits were too much assimilated to
+the wares there exhibited, and most unworthy of all the care and
+pains they bestowed upon her. Tell my then dear pastor the
+<!--Page 330--><a name="P330" id="P330"></a> pilgrim is not
+lost; he will find her in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel: he may
+remember that he and dear Doctor Erskine gave me over to the Lord
+when leaving Edinburgh. Well has he kept the charge, though I have
+not my part, after all the chastisements and charges received. But
+he is 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
+for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.'</p>
+<p>"I am now a happy Mary, enjoying the full sense of pardon and
+the light of his countenance in the meantime, and the full prospect
+of being soon with him, made like him, and capacitated to praise
+him.</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>, January 18.</p>
+<p>"Dr. R&mdash;&mdash;. 'By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not
+of yourselves: it is the gift of God.'</p>
+<p>"All is of grace, all is free gift, or we wicked, wretched
+sinners, could have no interest in it. Thanks be unto God for his
+unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ, given for a covenant of the
+people. Thanks be unto God for the gift of faith, by which we
+apprehend this covenant, and become interested in him, as the
+salvation of our souls. Thanks be unto God for life to work; for
+new principles and new motives, new desires, new hopes, new fears,
+and, in some measure, new conduct. All of grace, and to the God of
+grace be all the glory.</p>
+<p>"Afternoon. 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
+let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory
+in his riches: but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he
+understandeth and knoweth me; that I am the Lord which
+<!--Page 331--><a name="P331" id="P331"></a> exercise
+righteousness, loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth: for in
+these things I delight, saith the Lord.' Jer.&nbsp;9:23.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, hast thou not taught me by thy word, by observation,
+and by experience, that 'all flesh is grass, and all the glory of
+man as the flower of grass?' Alas, how much have I gloried in even
+more worthless and transient things; but thou hast put a worm in
+them, which I hope has cut the roots, and they are in a dying
+state. O let grace supplant them; let me now glory only in thee and
+thy blessed, gracious, and well-ordered covenant. Do I understand
+and know thee, that thou art the Lord which exerciseth
+righteousness, loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth? Dare I
+say that I, worm as I am, and a sinful worm, am the subject of this
+loving-kindness, through the righteousness of Christ? Yes, I dare,
+by the constitution of thine own covenant &mdash; the Covenant of
+the people, the Mediator, the guarantee of the covenant of grace,
+which is all summed up in him.</p>
+<p>"When thou givest Christ, thou givest freely all the blessings
+of the new covenant.</p>
+<p>"'And this is the record, That God hath given to us eternal
+life, and this life is in his Son.'</p>
+<p>"I believe the record, and do understand and know that thou art
+the Lord, etc."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"F<font size="-1">EBRUARY</font> 4, 1813.</p>
+<p>"My dear grandchildren J. and I. B&mdash;&mdash; waited on their beloved
+pastor Dr. Romeyn, and professed their faith in the Lord Jesus
+Christ as the Saviour of sinners and their Saviour, their desire to
+give themselves to the Lord and to his church, and to be in all
+things governed by it; to receive the seal of the covenant
+<!--Page 332--><a name="P332" id="P332"></a> of grace,
+commemorate the dying love of their Redeemer the next opportunity,
+and swear allegiance to him over the symbols of his body and
+blood.</p>
+<p>"Glory to God for this fresh manifestation of his mercy and
+grace to sinners. Not unto us, O Lord God, but to thy name be the
+glory. Thou hast made a covenant with thy chosen, and with
+believers in him; and thou hast, by thy Holy Spirit, drawn them to
+take hold of this thy own covenant, and to give themselves to thee
+to be made the subjects of it. And now, O Lord, remember thy own
+covenant, and do as thou hast said: Put thy laws in their minds,
+and write them in their hearts, and be unto them a God, and they
+shall be unto thee a people; be merciful to their unrighteousness,
+and their sins and their iniquities remember no more. Give them
+understanding to know and believe thy laws, memories to retain
+them, hearts to love them, consciences to recognize them, courage
+to profess and power to put in practice. O, grant that the whole
+habit and frame of their souls may be a table and transcript of thy
+law. Blessed Redeemer, gather these lambs in thy arms and carry
+them in thy bosom. O, seal them with the Holy Spirit of promise.
+They look forward to that feast of love which thou didst institute
+in that same night in which thou wast betrayed into the hands of
+sinners. If it may please thee, manifest thyself to them as thou
+dost not unto the world. Blessed Shepherd, call these lambs by
+name; may they know thy voice, rejoice to hear it, and follow thee.
+In all the preparatory exercises speak to their hearts and commune
+with them in secret. O give them some love-tokens, which they may
+never forget; and make thyself <!--Page 333--><a name="P333" id=
+"P333"></a> known to them in the breaking of bread. Exercise
+their parents with thankfulness and gratitude, and thine aged
+servant, to whom, in an especial manner, belong 'shame and
+confusion of face,' while she stands amazed at the stately steps of
+thy free, sovereign mercy and grace to her, and to her children
+according to the flesh. Husband of the widow, Father of the
+fatherless, Shield of the stranger, glorify thy name, magnify thy
+grace: all these thou hast been to me; give these parents deep
+humility, if they have received grace to be more faithful than I;
+yet thy holy eye has seen much shortcoming in them also. Glory to
+thy name for the grace in which they stand, and that thou hast
+enabled them to train up these children for thee. Oh, let this be a
+heart-searching time with us all; humble us, and exalt thy name,
+and magnify thy grace.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, my covenant God, all my desire is before thee; is it
+not that thou magnify thy grace in me and in my family? There are
+others, Lord, and the residue of the Spirit is with thee. Put forth
+thy power in the heart of I.G. S&mdash;&mdash;, and compel him to come in.
+And Oh, my dear I. S&mdash;&mdash; and her family; thou biddest me open my
+mouth wide. Lord, see, there is much for thee to do. I praise thy
+name for what thou hast done, and lay me at thy feet waiting for
+further manifestations of thy mercy, thy sovereign mercy: I have no
+other plea.</p>
+<p>"Work with us, for thy name's sake, and with J. M&mdash;&mdash;, for whom
+my worthless prayers have been presented to thee, as also a member
+of this family. O Lord, he is now gone out into the world; he is no
+longer under the control of man; bring him under
+<!--Page 334--><a name="P334" id="P334"></a> thy gracious
+control; call him into thy kingdom of grace, and make him a willing
+subject in the day of thy power. Father, glorify thy name."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"A<font size="-1">PRIL</font>, Sabbath, 1813.</p>
+<p>"'Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
+hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speaking, as new-born babes
+desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.'
+2&nbsp;Peter, 2:1,&nbsp;2.</p>
+<p>"Blessed Spirit, thou hast convinced me of the indwelling of
+every one of these, and also of my helplessness of myself to make
+successful war against them. But Oh, hast thou not led me to the
+Captain of salvation for armor, for strength, for wisdom, for
+power; and is not my dependence for success on thy promise that sin
+shall not have dominion over me; that thy grace is sufficient for
+me; that as my day, so shall my strength be?"</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"M<font size="-1">AY</font> 5.</p>
+<p>"'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
+through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Rom.&nbsp;5:1.</p>
+<p>"Blessed, blessed, blessed doctrine; by no other doctrine can I
+be justified and saved. Christ the gift of God, and faith the gift
+of God. All, all is of grace.</p>
+<p>"I have shut my door, desiring to commune with God, but feeling
+dull and lifeless, ask what shall I read? My Bible lies just at
+hand; where shall I read? every part is good. I open and find it
+marked: 'My prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time; O
+God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy
+salvation.' Psalm 69:13. In an acceptable time &mdash; when?
+'To-day if ye will hear <!--Page 335--><a name="P335" id=
+"P335"></a> his voice.' Nevertheless, I am continually with
+thee; thou holdest me by my right hand, and ever upholdest me, in
+the time of need especially.</p>
+<p>"'In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy
+salvation.' What is the truth of God's salvation? To be the
+property of Christ by purchase, to have Christ made our property by
+the Father's gift; to have the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts, to
+enlighten our understandings, to govern our wills, to regulate our
+affections and tempers, and to be in us 'a well of water springing
+up into everlasting life.' Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ours by
+gift and by power; this. Oh, this contains all my asking for
+myself, for my children and children's children, for nay friends
+and all dear to me. Take us, O Lord, and in 'the truth of thy
+salvation' give thyself to us; do all the needful for us, and
+glorify thy name."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"S<font size="-1">ABBATH</font>.</p>
+<p>"'A certain man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his
+servants at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for
+all things are ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make
+excuse.' Luke&nbsp;14:16.</p>
+<p>"Alas, such are our hearts, that we make idols even of the
+blessings and bounties of providence; no room is left for Christ,
+though without him every temporal good is under a curse, and our
+own persons also.</p>
+<p>"O Lord, bless the gracious invitations given to perishing
+sinners this day; the pathetic and tender remonstrances of thy
+faithful servant. O, may many of the poor, the maimed, the halt,
+the blind, from the streets and lanes of the city, and may many
+from the <!--Page 336--><a name="P336" id="P336"></a> highways
+and hedges, be compelled to come, that thy house may be filled. And
+Oh, my gracious Father, let these careless ones, who are my flesh
+and blood, be among the number. Hear, O hear the prayers offered
+this day for poor, self-deluded, self-destroying sinners; awaken
+them, O Lord, and sweep away all lying refuges, and, gracious God,
+settle and establish these halters. O bring to the birth, and give
+life and love and zeal to make a full profession to the glory of
+thy powerful grace, and to the joy and comfort of fellow-members.
+Let thy kingdom come."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"G<font size="-1">REENWICH</font>, June 11,
+1813.</p>
+<p>"In my large light closet, within my airy, comfortable room; the
+prospect from my windows such as I have ever delighted in, woods
+and water, flower-garden and fruit-trees, and beautiful shrubs of
+various kinds, all as much mine as if my own individual property by
+the laws of the land in which I live; surrounded with books, and my
+children's rich library at my command; enjoying rich gospel
+ordinances, under a godly, gifted pastor, with pious, loving,
+sensible church-members; a carriage to convey me, Sabbath and
+week-days, to places of worship; children whose desire is that I
+may enjoy all these to the full without care or trouble, they
+caring for me; with all these a large measure of health, my eyes
+see my teachers, my ears hear their voice. Why then these tears?
+Are they all for sin? Lord, search and see. Does no wounded pride,
+no selfish hurt mix? Ah, Lord, thou knowest. I have detected much,
+and mourn and weep on that account; but I fear there is yet much
+lurking and working that I know not.</p>
+<p>"I have set apart the remainder of this day for
+<!--Page 337--><a name="P337" id="P337"></a> fasting and
+humiliation on account of past sins which I already know, and for
+yet further search into what I know not of at present. Lord, give
+me heart-searching exercises. Glory, glory, glory to Father, Son,
+and blessed Comforter, that I am forgiven; thy Spirit witnesseth
+with my spirit that I am forgiven. Thou hast given me faith in the
+truth of thy testimony, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all
+sin &mdash; that this is thy own provision for sinners &mdash; that
+Christ died for the ungodly &mdash; that while we were yet sinners,
+Christ died for us &mdash; that Christ hath loved us, and given
+himself for us &mdash; that 'God so loved the world that he gave
+his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
+perish, but have everlasting life.' These last words came from thy
+own lips of flesh. Thou gift of God to a perishing world, and to
+me, one of the most guilty in it, thou also saidst, 'He that
+believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' Thy Spirit witnesseth
+with my spirit, that to me it is given on the behalf of Christ to
+believe in him. Phil. 1:29. Therefore I have everlasting life. Him
+who was slain and hanged on a tree, 'Him hath God exalted to be a
+Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and remission of
+sins.' From this exalted Prince I have repentance and forgiveness
+of sin, and therefore I dare look at my sins: I look with grief,
+but not with terror. Though forgiven, and though provision is made
+for forgiveness, sin is still an evil and a bitter thing.</p>
+<p>"This day is set apart for mourning. I desire to search, to know
+more of my vileness, that I may mourn yet more; that while my heart
+is wrung for my ingratitude, the Lord may make it the means of
+crucifying <!--Page 338--><a name="P338" id="P338"></a> my sins,
+especially that which so easily besets me, that he will give me the
+prayer of faith that they may be forgiven, and that I may be
+delivered from their power in my heart; that I may be clothed with
+humility, so humble that nothing can hurt me, wearing my Redeemer's
+yoke, leaning upon him who was 'meek and lowly,' that I may find
+rest to my soul. Now, Lord, assist me for the rest of the day" and
+let to-morrow be the beginning of days."</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"Ten o'clock at night.</p>
+<p>"The day is spent, and I look for the blessing. It has not been
+spent so much in my usual way of retracing, confessing, and
+bewailing, but with Owen on the subject of indwelling sin, of
+purification and the, means appointed by God. The blood of Christ
+is the only effectual means not only as atonement for sin, setting
+us free from condemnation, but also for cleansing, as sprinkled on
+the conscience by the Holy Ghost, and purging it from dead works.
+There are means in which we are to exercise ourselves, depending on
+the Spirit for benefit. We are to work in the faith that God works
+in us. Mortification is one means, and though the mortification of
+the body is perhaps one of the lowest, I think it is of divine
+appointment, therefore not to be neglected. I have been also
+studying the death of Christ, and his previous sufferings; the
+unbelief, the opposition, contradiction, contempt, and cruel
+mocking which he endured; and his meekness, patience, and
+submission under them; healing Malchus' ear, praying for his
+murderers; that, as the children of Israel were healed by looking
+to the brazen serpent, I may be healed by looking unto the uplifted
+Jesus; the Spirit producing the effect. And as the
+<!--Page 339--><a name="P339" id="P339"></a> woman with the
+bloody issue was healed by a touch, exercising faith in the power
+of Christ, so I may be healed by a look, exercising the same faith,
+the Spirit producing the effect of conformity to his example,
+working in me that meek and lowly spirit for which I have been
+praying. And now, by grace communicated, I hope to watch over my
+spirit with more success than formerly. I wait for thy
+salvation."</p>
+<p>The following letter shows how Mrs. Graham persevered in her
+endeavors to guide and benefit immortal souls as long as God gave
+her powers to be employed.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="center">To Mrs. J. W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+<p class="right">"G<font size="-1">REENWICH</font>, 1814.</p>
+<p>"Did not the dove, my dear J&mdash;&mdash;, get into the ark? Yes, Noah
+put out his hand and pulled her in; both are types of Christ. He is
+the Ark of safety from the flood of wrath that must overwhelm
+unbelievers.</p>
+<p>"I know not, my dear, the amount of that over which you mourn
+with so much agony; I know not even if it be sinful, except in the
+circumstances; you are conscious of sincerity, and you do not now
+wish to draw back. We can, my dear, do nothing in our own strength;
+no, not so much as think a good thought. To make any resolution
+without dependence on God for strength to perform, is sinful; to
+make any vow without a consciousness of our weakness and dependence
+on God for strength to perform, is an aggravation of the evil.</p>
+<p>"I suppose my J&mdash;&mdash; has sinned; what then? If any man say he has
+no sin, he deceives himself, and <!--Page 340--><a name="P340" id=
+"P340"></a> the truth is not in him. And if you suppose that
+your sin in this is greater than many other sins with their
+aggravations, you judge wrong. I think that any one
+<i>deliberate</i> sin, wilfully committed with a knowledge that it
+is sin, is greater than yours in such circumstances. You are bound
+by your vow, and God will enable you to perform it. Turn, my dear,
+to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter
+preaches to the very murderers of our blessed Saviour, and charges
+the guilt upon them, verse twenty-second; and again in verse
+thirty-sixth, 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know
+assuredly, that this same Jesus whom ye crucified, God hath made
+both Lord and Christ; and when they heard this, they were pricked
+in their hearts.' Read on, my dear; Peter exhorts even them to
+repent and be baptized in the name of Christ, for the remission of
+sins. I make no doubt but many have made vows in a rash manner;
+but, so far as I know, you have vowed only to serve the Lord; this
+you are bound to do with or without a vow; and if the Lord makes
+this vow the means of keeping you watchful and humble, and firm in
+avoiding what you have vowed against, it will, by his overruling
+Spirit, prove a blessing.</p>
+<p>"You 'do not know where to look for comfort!' To, Jesus, my
+dear; not to yourself, nor to any creature. 'Look unto me and be ye
+saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
+else.' Isa. 45:22. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in
+me is thy help.' Hosea 13:9; chap. 14. Take a view, my dear, of the
+character of God in his dealings with his perverse Israel, after
+they had made the molten calf, and sinned otherwise grievously
+against <!--Page 341--><a name="P341" id="P341"></a> God. He, at
+the intercession of Moses, forgave their sin, and proclaimed that
+wonderful name, which to this day is the encouragement of convicted
+sinners, and mine in particular. And the Lord passed by him (Moses)
+and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' And how can
+God do this, whose law is, as himself, immutable; and who adds
+'that he will by no means clear the guilty?' Exodus 34:6. Look now
+to the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where you will find your
+Redeemer standing in your stead. In the thirtieth chapter is
+another amazing display of God's forgiveness. The prophet begins
+the chapter with, 'Woe to the rebellious children!' and lays
+grievous things to their charge till you come to the eighteenth
+verse, where he says, 'Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be
+gracious to you; therefore will he be exalted, that he may have
+mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgment, blessed are all
+they that wait for him.' Once more look at the proclamation,
+Jeremiah 3:12. God has provided a sacrifice of sufficient value to
+atone for our most aggravated transgressions, and a righteousness
+answerable to the uttermost extent of his holy law. Both are made
+over to the sinner by free gift. 'He hath made him to be sin for
+us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
+in him.' 2 Cor. 5:21. <i>In Him</i> &mdash; He, our surety, having
+fulfilled all righteousness for us, <i>as</i> our surety and
+representative.</p>
+<p>"You fear that it is not the hand of the Lord that is upon you.
+I do think that it is, my J&mdash;&mdash;. It is <!--Page 342--><a name=
+"P342" id="P342"></a> the peculiar office of the Spirit to
+convince of sin, and I do think that he is at this time dealing
+with your soul. But why look so much at your vow? you have sinned,
+my J&mdash;&mdash;, in heart, lip, and life. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy
+God with all thy heart.' O my J&mdash;&mdash;, what prostituted affections,
+what misspent time. While God says, 'Whether you eat or drink, or
+whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God,' what
+self-indulgence and self-will, instead of self-denial. Listen to
+the voice of convictions, listen to it as the voice of mercy,
+leading you to Christ the great propitiatory sacrifice, 'the Lamb
+of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'</p>
+<p>"Go to Christ, my dear, as a sinner; tell him you commit your
+sinful soul into his hands; say, Thou hast bid me look unto thee
+and be saved. Saviour, I do look unto thee for salvation. Wash me
+in thy blood, clothe me in thy righteousness, sanctify me by thy
+grace, accept of me as thy pardoned, saved child; and be a surety
+for me for good, that having vowed to thee that I would be thy
+servant, I may perform my vow; furnish me with both will and power
+to devote myself to thee every day of my life.</p>
+<p>"Try, my dear, to rest on Christ; put your trust in him; if you
+do he will not disappoint you; as your faith, so shall it be unto
+you. Now faith is a saving grace; thereby we receive and rest upon
+Christ for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. Do as
+you have said: wait his appointed time, in the use of means, till
+he manifest himself to you. I am hurried for time to get this to
+town. Farewell. I will pray for you.</p>
+<p class="right">"I. G<font size="-1">RAHAM</font>."</p>
+<br />
+<!--Page 343--><a name="P343" id="P343"></a>
+<p class="right">"1814.</p>
+<p>"'A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
+darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.'
+Joel&nbsp;2:2.</p>
+<p>"Not in temporals, nor in the means of grace; every thing that
+earth can afford is gathered into my present cup; it is full and
+runs over with earthly good, and a large measure of health to enjoy
+it. Moral temporals are also mine in no common degree, friendship,
+society at my choice, and respectability in it. Rich means of grace
+within my reach, my Bible, and books of every kind and great
+variety at my hand, of instruction and of devotion. Mine eyes see
+my teachers, and my judgment approves their doctrine as
+corresponding with that sure word of testimony given me as the test
+of all human writings. Yet it is a day of darkness and of
+gloom.</p>
+<p>"'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
+of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him
+trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.'
+Isa.&nbsp;50:10.</p>
+<p>"To trust in the name of the Lord and to stay myself upon my God
+is still my privilege, and though with little life and little
+comfort, my experience. My mind is so desultory! My Bible, and
+helps derived from men's deductions and experiences, seem useless;
+they are not blessed as means to fix my heart; trifles of every
+sort pass and repass often; while my eyes read the words, my mind
+is gone in a dream on some other subject; my heart remains
+unimpressed, my mind uninformed; the same in prayer, especially in
+secret and in the family; less so in the sanctuary.</p>
+<p>"I seem, as to apprehension, left to my own dark,
+<!--Page 344--><a name="P344" id="P344"></a> dismal, carnal
+self; naked faith on the finished work of my Redeemer is all that
+supports me; and that as a bare preventive of fear and source of a
+hope that 'I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my
+countenance and my God.' I know his covenant stands fast, I have
+taken hold of it; I do at this cold and stupid moment place my
+confidence in it. Christ is God's covenant, God's gift to sinners;
+I believe it; he is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
+the world; I believe it; I believe on the Son for all the purposes
+for which God has sent him into the world; therefore I have
+everlasting life; I believe the record that God gave of his Son;
+that God hath given to me eternal life, and this life is in his
+Son, not in me, but in union with him. 'He that hath the Son hath
+life; he that hath not the Son, hath not life.' John&nbsp;5.</p>
+<p>"I thank thee, my God, that thou hast not left me to cast away
+my confidence in Christ. I have life in him, and no life but as I
+have it from him. Thou seest how it is with me. Thou art my
+reconciled Father in Christ, but thou hast shut me out from thy
+presence. I do not enjoy thee; my poor heart is tossed from trifle
+to trifle. It has been my way through life to destroy myself, and
+thy way to deliver me. Thou hast been very gracious to me in my old
+age. I have enjoyed much of thy presence in thy sanctuary and in my
+private hours; and although sin has dwelt and does dwell in me, I
+have enjoyed thy forgiving grace, and have tasted thy love, far
+beyond what I have for weeks past. 'Search me, O God, and know my
+heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked
+way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' Show me wherefore
+thou contendest <!--Page 345--><a name="P345" id="P345"></a>
+with me. Am I living in the indulgence of any known wilful sin; or
+in the habitual neglect of any known duty? Lord, 'it is not in man
+that walketh to direct his steps.' I know I have been unthankful,
+unwatchful, idle; alas, this is my ordinary course; but it is not
+the ordinary course of my Lord God, merciful and gracious, to mark
+iniquity against me, but to forgive me daily, to lead me to the
+blood of sprinkling, to give me contrition, and to restore me to
+his favor by giving me 'joy and peace in believing.' Help, Lord;
+give me heart-searching exercises. I read thy word, I set about
+that to which thou callest me. I set apart this day for fasting,
+but the gracious exercises are not in me. Come, O come, and be with
+me. Exalted Prince, give repentance and remission; in thy light let
+me see light.</p>
+<p>"'Therefore now turn ye unto me with all your heart, with
+fasting, with weeping and mourning; rend your heart and not your
+garments, turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and
+merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him
+of the evil.' Joel 2:12. O, do I not know thee by this name; has it
+not been thy name to me throughout this wide wilderness, 'pardoning
+iniquity, transgression, and sin?' Thou hast prepared a prayer for
+me, 'Turn me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God.'
+Jer. 31:18. I look to thy new covenant in the same chapter; it is
+all promise, I can do nothing in it. Christ by thine own
+appointment answers for my part; or rather, I have no part. I can
+render nothing to the Lord for all his benefits to me. I will put
+forth the withered hand to 'take the cup of salvation, and call on
+the name of the Lord.'</p>
+<!--Page 346--><a name="P346" id="P346"></a>
+<p>"Ten o'clock. The day is spent; I have confessed, and endeavored
+to turn to the Lord with mourning, but with little sensibility.</p>
+<p>"I attended meeting in the evening, heard two excellent
+discourses on the priesthood of Christ, and joined in two prayers
+and three hymns with more fixed attention than has been my
+attainment lately; for this I thank thee, my God. Many have been
+the beginnings of days and of months which thou hast afforded after
+backsliding. O add this to the number. 'Hear my prayer, O Lord;
+give ear to my supplications; in thy faithfulness answer me, and in
+thy righteousness. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in
+thy sight shall no man living be justified.' Psalm&nbsp;143.</p>
+<p>"My spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is
+desolate. I stretch out my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after
+thee in a thirsty land. Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit
+faileth; hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto those that
+go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the
+morning, for in thee do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I
+should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord,
+from mine enemies; I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy
+will, for thou art my God. Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the
+land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake; for
+thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. I wait for
+thy salvation.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>This heart my Jesus bought with
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">It is his honest
+claim;<br /></span> <span>O seize it, fix it, Saviour
+God,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To give it is my
+aim.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 347--><a name=
+"P347" id="P347"></a> <span>Take full possession of this
+heart,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And here set up thy
+throne;<br /></span> <span>Command each idol to
+depart,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And make it all thine
+own.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>O dare I not to
+thee appeal,<br /></span> <span class="i2">That 'tis my first
+desire,<br /></span> <span>That on this heart thou stamp thy
+seal<br /></span> <span class="i2">And grave it with love's
+fire?<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>To fix this
+heart to stray no more<br /></span> <span class="i2">I e'en would
+quit the clay;<br /></span> <span>Would hasten on to Jordan's
+shore,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And plough the watery
+way.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Nor fear nor
+dread my soul should move,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With Jesus
+in my heart;<br /></span> <span>Each passion swallowed up in
+love,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I'd court the friendly
+dart.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The resurrection
+and the life<br /></span> <span class="i2">In death itself he'll
+prove,<br /></span> <span>And while he closes mortal
+strife,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Breathe his own life of
+love.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Then boast not,
+monster, of thy sting,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Nor of thy
+victory, grave;<br /></span> <span>In th' arms of God's anointed
+King<br /></span> <span class="i2">I dare thy fiercest
+brave.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 348--><a name="P348" id="P348"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+<h4>CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR &mdash; SICKNESS AND DEATH.</h4>
+<p>D<font size="-1">URING</font> the last two years of her life,
+Mrs. Graham found her strength inadequate to so extensive a course
+of visiting the poor as formerly; there were some distressed
+families, however, that experienced her kind attentions to the
+last. She would occasionally accompany the Rev. Mr. Stanford on his
+visits to the state-prison, hospital, and to the Magdalen house.
+This gentleman was the stated preacher employed by "the Society for
+the Support of the Gospel among the Poor," and devoted his time to
+preaching in the almshouse, hospital, state-prison,
+debtors'-prison, etc., with great assiduity and acceptance.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham now spent much of her time in her room, devoted to
+meditation, prayer, and reading the Scriptures; she seemed to be
+weaning from earth and preparing for heaven. Prayer was that sweet
+breath of her soul which brought stability to her life. Genuine
+humility was obvious in all her sentiments and deportment.
+Religious friends prized her conversation, counsel, and friendship;
+sometimes they would venture on a compliment to her superior
+attainments, but always experienced a decided rebuke. To her friend
+Colonel L&mdash;&mdash;, who expressed a wish to be such a character as she
+was, she quickly replied with an air of mingled pleasantry and
+censure, "Get thee behind me, Satan." To a female friend who said,
+"If I were only sure at last of being admitted to a place
+<!--Page 349--><a name="P349" id="P349"></a> at your feet I
+should feel happy." "Hush, hush," replied Mrs. Graham, "There is
+<font size="-1">ONE</font> S<font size="-1">AVIOUR</font>." Thus
+she was always careful to give her divine Redeemer the whole glory
+of her salvation.</p>
+<p>This example of humility, self-denial, and sensibility to the
+imperfection of her conduct, is the more to be valued, as it is so
+difficult to be followed. Flattery is too commonly practised; and
+there is no sufficient guard against its dangerous consequences,
+except a constant and humbling recognition of the spirituality of
+the law of God, and our lamentable deficiency in fulfilling it.
+Pride was not made for man: "I have seen an end of all perfection,"
+said the Psalmist, "but thy commandment is exceeding broad." It was
+by cherishing this sentiment, by studying her Bible, by searching
+her heart and its motives, and above all, by grace accorded of
+heaven in answer to her prayers, that Mrs. Graham was enabled to
+maintain such meekness of spirit, such an uniformity of Christian
+character throughout her life. May all who read her history be
+directed to the same sources of true peace and genuine
+happiness.</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1814 she was requested to unite with some
+ladies in forming a society for the promotion of industry among the
+poor. This was the last act in which she appeared before the
+public. A petition, signed by about thirty ladies, was presented to
+the corporation of New York, praying that they would assign them a
+building in which work might be prepared and given out to the
+industrious poor, who being paid for their labor, might be saved
+the necessity of begging, and at the same time cherish habits of
+industry and self-respect. The corporation having returned
+<!--Page 350--><a name="P350" id="P350"></a> a favorable answer,
+and provided a house, a meeting of the Society was held, and Mrs.
+Graham once more was called to the chair. It was the last time she
+was to preside at the formation of a new society. Her articulation,
+once strong and clear, was now observed to have become more feeble.
+The ladies present listened to her with affectionate attention; her
+voice broke upon the ear as a pleasant sound that was passing away.
+She consented to have her name inserted on the list of managers,
+and to give what assistance her age would permit in forwarding so
+beneficent a work. Although it pleased God that she should cease
+from her labors before the House of Industry was opened, yet the
+work was carried on by others and prospered. Between four and five
+hundred women were employed and paid during the following winter.
+The corporation declared in strong terms their approbation of the
+result, and enlarged their donation, with a view to promote the
+same undertaking for the succeeding winter.</p>
+<p>In the month of May, 1814, a report was received from Mr.
+Stephen Prust of Bristol, in England, of the Society for
+establishing Adult-schools. Mrs. Graham was so delighted with a
+perusal of it, as immediately to undertake the formation of such a
+school in the village of Greenwich. She called on the young people
+who were at work in some neighboring manufactories, and requested
+them to attend her for this purpose every Sabbath morning at eight
+o'clock. This was kept up after her decease as a Sunday-school, and
+consisted of nearly eighty scholars. She was translated from this
+work of faith on earth, to engage in the sublimer work of praise in
+heaven.</p>
+<!--Page 351--><a name="P351" id="P351"></a>
+<p>For some weeks previous to her last illness she was favored with
+unusual health and much enjoyment of religion; she appeared to have
+sweet exercises and communion in attending on all God's ordinances
+and appointed means of grace. She was also greatly refreshed in
+spirit by the success of Missionary and Bible Societies, and used
+to speak with much affection of Mr. Gordon, Mr. Lee, Mr. May, and
+Dr. Morrison, with whom she had been acquainted when in New York,
+on their way to missionary stations in India and China.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham was very partial to the works of Dr. John Owen, Rev.
+William Romaine, and Rev. John Newton, and read them with pleasure
+and profit. One day she remarked to Mr. B&mdash;&mdash;, that she preferred
+the ancient writers on theology to the modern, because they dealt
+more in italics. "Dear mother," he replied, "what religion can
+there be in italics?" "You know," said she, "that old writers
+expected credit for the doctrines they taught, by proving them from
+the word of God to be correct: they inserted the scripture passages
+in italics, and their works have been sometimes one-half in
+italics. Modern writers on theology, on the contrary, give us a
+long train of reasoning to persuade us to their opinions, but very
+little in italics." This remark of hers has great force, and
+deserves the serious attention of those who write and those who
+read on theological subjects.</p>
+<p>On the two Sabbaths preceding her last illness she joined in
+communion at the Lord's table. On the 10th of July, 1814, at
+Greenwich, and on the 17th at her own church in Cedar-street. On
+each week preceding these seasons she attended three evenings on
+religious exercises; on Thursdays at the Orphan Asylum,
+<!--Page 352--><a name="P352" id="P352"></a> on Friday evenings
+the preparation sermons, and on Saturday evenings at the
+prayer-meetings. She appeared lively, and expressed comfort in
+those religious seasons, and continued actively useful until the
+very day on which her illness commenced.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the 17th she attended the Sabbath-school with
+her daughter and grandchildren. Thus the Lord was pleased to direct
+that she should lead her children's children into the walks of
+usefulness before she took her flight to heaven, and impose a
+pleasing obligation on them that they should follow her steps. Of
+the same date is the last meditation in her diary.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="right">"C<font size="-1">OMMUNION</font> S<font size=
+"-1">ABBATH</font>, July 17, 1814.</p>
+<p>"'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
+not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
+glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your
+souls,' 1&nbsp;Peter, 1:8,&nbsp;9.</p>
+<p>"I had requested to be brought to my Lord's banqueting-house,
+and to be feasted with love this day. I ate the bread and drank the
+wine, in the faith that I ate the flesh and drank the blood of the
+Son of man, and dwelt in him and he in me. Took a close view of my
+familiar friend Death, accompanied with the presence of my Saviour,
+<i>his sensible presence</i>. I cannot look at it without this; it
+is my only petition concerning it. I have had desires relative to
+certain circumstances, but they are nearly gone. It is my sincere
+desire that God may be glorified, and he knows best how and by what
+circumstances. I retain my one petition,</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Only to me thy countenance
+show,<br /></span> <span>I ask no more the Jordan
+through."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 353--><a name="P353" id="P353"></a>
+<p>Thus she arose from her Master's table, was called to gird on
+her armor for a combat with the king of terrors, and came off more
+than conqueror, through Him who loved her.</p>
+<p>On Monday she appeared in perfect health, and visited and gave
+religious instruction to the orphans in the asylum.</p>
+<p>On Tuesday, the 19th of July, she complained of not feeling
+well, and kept her room; on Thursday her disorder proved to be a
+cholera-morbus, and her children sent for a physician. She thought
+this attack was slighter than in former seasons. On Saturday,
+however, she requested that Mrs. Chrystie might be sent for; this
+alarmed Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, knowing there existed an understanding between
+those two friends, that one should attend the dying-bed of the
+other, Mrs. Chrystie was a very dear friend of Mrs. Graham. For
+upwards of twenty-four years they had loved each other, feeling
+reciprocal sympathy in their joys and their sorrows; the hope of
+faith was the consolation of both, and oftentimes it had been their
+delightful employment to interchange their expressions of affection
+towards Him whom having not seen, they loved, and in whom, though
+they saw him not, yet believing on him, they rejoiced with joy
+unspeakable and full of glory. On Mrs. Chrystie's entering the
+chamber of her friend, Mrs. Graham welcomed her with a sweet
+expressive smile, seeming to say, "I am going to get the start of
+you, I am called home before you; it will be your office to fulfil
+our engagement." When she sat by her bedside, Mrs. Graham said,
+"Your face is very pleasant to me, my friend."</p>
+<!--Page 354--><a name="P354" id="P354"></a>
+<p>During Saturday night, a lethargy appeared to be overpowering
+her frame. On Sabbath morning she was disposed to constant slumber;
+observing Mr. B&mdash;&mdash; looking at her with agitation, she was roused
+from her heaviness, and stretching her arms towards him and
+embracing him, she said, "My dear, dear son, I am going to leave
+you; I am going to my Saviour." "I know," he replied, "that when
+you do go from us, it will be to the Saviour; but, my dear mother,
+it may not be the Lord's time now to call you to himself." "Yes,"
+said she, "now is the time; and Oh, I could weep for sin." Her
+words were accompanied with her tears. "Have you any doubts, then,
+my dear friend?" asked Mrs. Chrystie. "Oh no," replied Mrs. Graham;
+and looking at Mr. and Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash; as they wept, "My dear children,
+I have no more doubt of going to my Saviour, than if I were already
+in his arms; my guilt is all transferred; he has cancelled all I
+owed. Yet I could weep for sins against so good a God: it seems to
+me as if there must be weeping even in heaven for sin."</p>
+<p>After this she entered into conversation with her friends,
+mentioning portions of scripture and favorite hymns which had been
+subjects of much comfort and joy to her. Some of these she had
+transcribed into a little book, calling them her "victuals"
+prepared for crossing over Jordan; she committed them to memory,
+and often called them to remembrance as her songs in the night when
+sleep had deserted her. She then got Mr. B&mdash;&mdash; to read to her some
+of these portions, especially the eighty-second hymn of Newton's
+third book:</p>
+<!--Page 355--><a name="P355" id="P355"></a>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Let us love, and sing, and
+wonder;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Let us praise the Saviour's
+name:<br /></span> <span>He has hushed the law's loud
+thunder,<br /></span> <span class="i2">He has quenched mount
+Sinai's flame:<br /></span> <span class="i2">He has washed us with
+his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">He has brought us nigh to
+God," etc.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>Mrs. Graham then fell asleep, nor did she awaken until the voice
+of the Rev. Dr. Mason roused her. They had a very affectionate
+interview, which he has partly described in the excellent sermon he
+delivered after her decease. She expressed to him her hope as
+founded altogether on the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: were
+she left to depend on the merit of the best action she had ever
+performed, that would be only a source of despair. She repeated to
+him, as her view of salvation, the fourth verse of the same
+hymn:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"Let us wonder: grace and
+justice<br /></span> <span class="i2">Join, and point at mercy's
+store;<br /></span> <span>When, through grace, in Christ our trust
+is,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Justice smiles and asks no
+more;<br /></span> <span class="i2">He who washed us with his
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Has secured our way to
+God."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>Having asked Dr. Mason to pray with her, he inquired if there
+was any particular request she had to make of God by him; she
+replied, that God would direct: then as he kneeled, she put up her
+hands, and raising her eyes towards heaven, breathed this short but
+expressive petition, "Lord, lead thy servant in prayer."</p>
+<p>After Dr. Mason had taken his leave, she again fell into a deep
+sleep. Her physicians still expressed a hope of her recovery, as
+her pulse was regular and the violence of her disease had abated.
+One of them, however, declared his opinion that his poor drugs
+would prove of little avail against her own ardent
+<!--Page 356--><a name="P356" id="P356"></a> prayers to depart
+and be with Christ, which was far better for her than a return to a
+dying world.</p>
+<p>On Monday the Rev. Mr. Rowan prayed with her, and to him she
+expressed also the tranquillity of her mind, and the steadfastness
+of her hope, through Christ, of eternal felicity.</p>
+<p>Her lethargy increased; at intervals from sleep she would
+occasionally assure her daughter, Mrs. B&mdash;&mdash;, that all was well;
+and when she could rouse herself only to say one word at a time,
+that one word, accompanied with a smile, was, "Peace." From her
+there was a peculiar emphasis in this expression of the state of
+her mind: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," had
+been a favorite portion of scripture with her, and a promise, the
+fulfilment of which was her earnest prayer to the God who made it.
+She also occasionally asked Mr. B&mdash;&mdash; to pray with her, even when
+she could only articulate, as she looked at him, "Pray." She was
+now surrounded by many of her dear Christian friends, who watched
+her dying-bed with affection and solicitude. On Tuesday afternoon
+she slept with little intermission. This, said Dr. Mason, may be
+truly called "falling asleep in Jesus." It was remarked by those
+who attended her, that all terror was taken away, and that death
+seemed here as an entrance into life. Her countenance was placid,
+and looked younger than before her illness.</p>
+<p>At a quarter past twelve o'clock, being the morning of the 27th
+of July, 1814, her spirit gently winged its flight from a mansion
+of clay to the realms of glory, while around the precious remnant
+of earth her family and friends stood weeping, yet elevated by the
+<!--Page 357--><a name="P357" id="P357"></a> scene they were
+witnessing. After a silence of many minutes, they kneeled by her
+bed, adored the goodness and the grace of God towards his departed
+child, and implored the divine blessing on both the branches of her
+family, as well as on all the Israel of God.</p>
+<p>Thus she departed in peace, not trusting in her wisdom or
+virtue, like the philosophers of Greece and Rome; not even like
+Addison, calling on the profligate to see a good man die; but like
+Howard, afraid that her good works might have a wrong place in the
+estimate of her hope, her chief glory was that of "a sinner saved
+by grace."*</p>
+<p class="note">*This was Howard's epitaph, dictated by
+himself.</p>
+<p>After such examples, who will dare to charge the doctrines of
+the cross of Christ with licentiousness? Here are two instances of
+persons, to whose good works the world have cheerfully borne
+testimony, who lived and died in the profession of these doctrines.
+It was faith that first purified their hearts, and so the stream of
+action from these fountains became pure also. Had not Christ died
+and risen again, all the powers of man could never have produced
+such lives of benevolence, nor a death so full of contrition, yet
+so embalmed with hope. Hallelujah, "unto Him who loved us, and
+washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings
+and priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory and dominion,
+for ever and ever.&emsp;Amen."</p>
+<p>At the next weekly prayer-meeting which she had usually
+attended, the circumstances of her death were made subjects of
+improvement. On the 16th of July she was a worshipper with her
+brethren and sisters <!--Page 358--><a name="P358" id=
+"P358"></a> there, and on the evening of the 30th they were
+called to consider her by faith as in the immediate presence of her
+God, among "the spirits of the just made perfect." The services of
+that evening were closed with the following hymn from Dobell's
+collection, which is beautifully descriptive of her happy
+change:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>"'Tis finished! the conflict is
+past,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The heaven-born spirit is
+fled;<br /></span> <span>Her wish is accomplished at
+last,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And now she's entombed with the
+dead.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The months of
+affliction are o'er,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The days and the
+nights of distress,<br /></span> <span>We see her in anguish no
+more &mdash;<br /></span> <span class="i2">She's gained her happy
+release.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>No sickness,
+or sorrow, or pain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Shall ever
+disquiet her now;<br /></span> <span>For death to her spirit was
+gain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Since Christ was her life when
+below.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Her soul has
+now taken its flight<br /></span> <span class="i2">To mansions of
+glory above,<br /></span> <span>To mingle with angels of
+light,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And dwell in the kingdom of
+love.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The victory now
+is obtained;<br /></span> <span class="i2">She's gone her dear
+Saviour to see;<br /></span> <span>Her wishes she fully has gained
+&mdash;<br /></span> <span class="i2">She's now where she longed to
+be.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The coffin, the
+shroud, and the grave<br /></span> <span class="i2">To her were no
+objects of dread;<br /></span> <span>On Him who is mighty to
+save,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Her soul was with confidence
+stayed.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Then let us
+forbear to complain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">That she is now
+gone from our sight;<br /></span> <span>We soon shall behold her
+again,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With new and redoubled
+delight."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 359--><a name="P359" id="P359"></a>
+<p>Mrs. Graham's death created a strong sensation in the public
+mind. Magistrates of the city were careful to express their sense
+of the public loss sustained, and many charitable institutions paid
+affectionate tributes to her memory. Several clergymen also made
+her death the subject of their discourses, among whom was her
+beloved pastor, Dr. J<font size="-1">OHN</font> M. M<font size=
+"-1">ASON</font>, who, on Sabbath evening, Aug. 14, delivered the
+well-known powerful sermon, "C<font size="-1">HRISTIAN</font>
+M<font size="-1">OURNING</font>," from 1&nbsp;Thess. 4:13,&nbsp;14:
+"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them
+which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
+hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
+them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."</p>
+<p>Contrasting the consolations afforded to the Christian with the
+darkness and doubt of the pagan or infidel; dwelling on the
+Christian's death as "sleeping in Jesus;" his immediate entrance
+into bliss, and his glorious resurrection and reigning with Christ
+in the judgment, he thus proceeds:</p>
+<p>"In this faith the apostles labored and the martyrs bled. Ages
+have elapsed and it is still the same. It is not a distant wonder;
+not a brilliant vision; but a solid and present reality, under the
+power of which at this moment, while the words are on my lips,
+Christians, in various parts of the world, are closing their eyes
+to sleep in Jesus. It has come home to our own business and bosoms.
+It has chosen our houses to be the scene of its miracles. But
+rarely does it fall to the lot of human eyes to witness so high a
+display of its value and virtue, as was witnessed in that blessed
+woman whose entrance into the joy of her Lord has occasioned our
+assembling this evening.</p>
+<!--Page 360--><a name="P360" id="P360"></a>
+<p>"As we are commanded to be followers of them who through faith
+and patience inherit the promises, we should have their example
+before us, that we may learn to imbibe their spirit, to imitate
+their graces, and be ready for their reward. With this view, permit
+me to lay before you some brief recollections of our deceased
+friend.</p>
+<p>"It is not my intention to relate the history of her life. That
+will be a proper task for biography. I design merely to state a few
+leading facts, and to sketch such outlines of character as may show
+to those who knew her not, what manner of person she was in all
+holy conversation and godliness. Those who knew her best require no
+such remembrancer, and will be able, from their own observation, to
+supply its defects.</p>
+<p>"I<font size="-1">SABELLA</font> M<font size=
+"-1">ARSHALL</font>, known to us as Mrs. G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>, received from nature qualities which, in
+circumstances favorable to their development, do not allow their
+possessor to pass through life unnoticed and inefficient.</p>
+<p>"An intellect strong, prompt, and inquisitive &mdash; a temper
+open, generous, cheerful, ardent &mdash; a heart replete with
+tenderness, and alive to every social affection and every
+benevolent impulse &mdash; a spirit at once enterprising and
+persevering &mdash; the whole crowned with that rare and
+inestimable endowment, good sense &mdash; were materials which
+required only skilful management to fit her for adorning and
+dignifying any female station. With that sort of cultivation which
+the world most admires, and those opportunities which attend upon
+rank and fortune, she might have shone in the circles of the great
+without forfeiting <!--Page 361--><a name="P361" id="P361"></a>
+the esteem of the good. Or had her lot fallen among the literary
+unbelievers of the continent, she might have figured in the sphere
+of the Voltaires, the Duffauds, and the other <i>esprits forts</i>
+of Paris. She might have been as gay in public, as dismal in
+private, and as wretched in her end, as any of the most
+distinguished among them for their wit and their woe. But God had
+destined her for other scenes and services &mdash; scenes from
+which greatness turns away appalled, and services which all the
+cohorts of infidel wit are unable to perform. She was to be
+prepared by poverty, bereavement, and grief, to pity and to succor
+the poor, the bereaved, and the grieving. The sorrows of widowhood
+were to teach her the heart of the widow &mdash; her babes,
+deprived of their father, to open the springs of her compassion to
+the fatherless and orphan &mdash; and the consolations of God, her
+refuge and strength, her very present help in trouble, to make her
+a daughter of consolation to them who were walking in the valley of
+the shadow of death.</p>
+<p>"To train her betimes for the future dispensations of his
+providence, the Lord touched the heart of this chosen vessel in her
+early youth. The spirit of prayer sanctified her infant lips, and
+taught her, as far back as her memory could go, to pour out her
+heart before God. She had not reached her eleventh year when she
+selected a bush in the retirement of the field, and there devoted
+herself to her God by faith in the Redeemer. The incidents of her
+education, thoughtless companions, the love of dress, and the
+dancing-school, as she has herself recorded, chilled for a while
+the warmth of her piety, and robbed her bosom of its peace. But her
+gracious Lord revisited <!--Page 362--><a name="P362" id=
+"P362"></a> her with his mercy, and bound her to himself in an
+everlasting covenant, which she sealed at his own table about the
+seventeenth year of her age.</p>
+<p>"Having married, a few years after, Dr. John Graham, surgeon to
+the 60th British regiment, she accompanied him first to Montreal,
+and shortly after to Fort Niagara. Here, during four years of
+temporal prosperity, she had no opportunity, even for once, of
+entering the habitation of God's house, or hearing the sound of his
+gospel. Secluded from the waters of the sanctuary and all the
+public means of growth in grace, her religion began to languish and
+its leaf to droop. But the root was perennial &mdash; it was of the
+seed of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. The Sabbath was
+still to her the sign of his covenant. On that day of rest, with
+her Bible in her hand, she used to wander through the woods, renew
+her self-dedication, and pour out her prayer for the salvation of
+her husband and her children. He who 'dwelleth not in temples made
+with hands,' heard her cry from the wilds of Niagara, and
+strengthened her with strength in her soul.</p>
+<p>"By one of those vicissitudes which checker military life, the
+regiment was ordered to the island of Antigua in the West Indies.
+Here she met with that exquisite enjoyment to which she had been
+long a stranger &mdash; the communion of kindred spirits in the
+love of Christ: and soon did she need all the soothing and support
+which it is fitted to administer; for in a very short time the
+husband of her youth, the object of her most devoted affection, her
+sole earthly stay, was taken from her by death. The stroke was,
+indeed, mitigated by the sweet assurance that he slept
+<!--Page 363--><a name="P363" id="P363"></a> in Jesus. But a
+heart like hers, convulsed by a review of the past and anticipation
+of the future, would have burst with agony, had she not known how
+to pour its sorrows into the bosom of her heavenly Father. Trials
+which beat sense and reason to the ground, raise up the faith of
+the Christian, and draw her closer to her God. O, how divine to
+have him as the rock of our rest when every earthly reliance is a
+broken reed.</p>
+<p>"Bowing to his mysterious dispensation, and committing herself
+to his protection as the Father of the fatherless and the Husband
+of the widow, she returns with her charge to her native land, to
+contract alliance with penury, and to live by faith for her daily
+bread. That same grace under whose teaching she knew how to abound,
+taught her also how to suffer need. With a dignity which belongs
+only to them who have treasure in heaven, she descended to her
+humble cot, employment, and fare. But her humility, according to
+the Scripture, was the forerunner of her advancement. The light of
+her virtues shone brightest in her obscurity, and pointed her way
+to the confidential trust of forming the minds and manners of young
+females of different ranks in the metropolis of Scotland. Here,
+respected by the great and beloved by the good; in sacred intimacy
+with 'devout and honorable women,' and the friendship of men who
+were in truth servants of the most high God, she continued in the
+successful discharge of her duties till Providence conducted her to
+our shores.</p>
+<p>"She long had a predilection for America, as a land in which,
+according to her favorite opinion, the church of Christ is signally
+to flourish. Here she <!--Page 364--><a name="P364" id=
+"P364"></a> wished to end her days and leave her children. And
+we shall remember with gratitude, that in granting her wish, God
+cast her lot with ourselves. Twenty-five years ago she opened in
+this city a school for the education of young ladies, the benefits
+of which have been strongly felt, and will be long felt hereafter,
+in different and distant parts of our country. Evidently devoted to
+the welfare of her pupils &mdash; attentive to their peculiarities
+of character &mdash; happy in discovering the best avenue of
+approach to their minds &mdash; possessing in a high degree the
+talent of simplifying her instruction and varying its form, she
+succeeded in that most difficult part of a teacher's work, the
+inducing youth to take an interest in their own improvement, and to
+educate themselves by exerting their own faculties.</p>
+<p>"In governing her little empire, she acted upon those principles
+which are the basis of all good government, on every scale and
+under every modification &mdash; to be reasonable, to be firm, and
+to be uniform. Her authority was both tempered and strengthened by
+condescension. It commanded respect while it conciliated affection.
+Her word was law, but it was the law of kindness. It spoke to the
+conscience, but it spoke to the heart; and obedience bowed with the
+knee of love. She did not, however, imagine her work to be
+perfected in fitting her &eacute;l&egrave;ves for duties and
+elegance of life. Never did she forget their immortal nature.
+Utterly devoid of sectarian narrowness, she labored to infuse into
+their minds those vital principles of evangelical piety which form
+the common distinction of the disciples of Christ, the peculiar
+glory of the female name, and the surest <!--Page 365--><a name=
+"P365" id="P365"></a> pledge of domestic bliss. Her voice, her
+example, her prayers concurred in recommending that pure and
+undefiled religion without which no human being shall see the Lord.
+Shall we wonder that her scholars should be tenderly attached to
+such a preceptress; that they should leave her with their tears and
+their blessing; that they should carry an indelible remembrance of
+her into the bosom of their families; that the reverence of pupils
+should ripen with their years into the affection of friends; and
+that there should be among them, at this day, many a wife who is a
+crown to her husband, and many a mother who is a blessing to her
+children, and who owes, in a great degree, the felicity of her
+character to the impressions, the principles, and the habits which
+she received while under the maternal tuition of Mrs. G<font size=
+"-1">RAHAM</font>?</p>
+<p>"Admonished at length by the infirmities of age, and importuned
+by her friends, this venerable matron retired to private life. But
+it was impossible for her to be idle. Her leisure only gave a new
+direction to her activity. With no less alacrity than she had
+displayed in the education of youth, did she now embark in the
+relief of misery. Her benevolence was unbounded, but it was
+discreet. There are charities which increase the wretchedness they
+are designed to diminish; which, from some fatal defect in their
+application, bribe to iniquity while they are relieving want, and
+make food and raiment and clothing to warm into life the most
+poisonous seeds of vice. But the charities of our departed friend
+were of another order. They selected the fittest objects &mdash;
+the widow, the fatherless, the orphan, the untaught child, and the
+ignorant adult. They combined intellectual and
+<!--Page 366--><a name="P366" id="P366"></a> moral benefit with
+the communication of physical comfort.</p>
+<p>"In her house originated the Society for the Relief of Poor
+Widows with Small Children. Large, indeed, is this branch of the
+family of affliction, and largely did it share in her sympathy and
+succor. When at the head of this noble association, she made it her
+business to see with her own eyes the objects of their care; and to
+give, by her personal presence and efforts, the strongest impulse
+to their humane system. From morning till night has she gone from
+abode to abode of these destitute, who are too commonly unpitied by
+the great, despised by the proud, and forgotten by the gay. She has
+gone to sit beside them on their humble seat, hearing their simple
+and sorrowful story, sharing their homely meal &mdash; ascertaining
+the condition of their children &mdash; stirring them up to
+diligence, to economy, to neatness, to order &mdash; putting them
+into the way of obtaining suitable employment for themselves and
+suitable places for their children &mdash; distributing among them
+the word of God, and tracts calculated to familiarize its first
+principles to their understanding &mdash; cherishing them in
+sickness, admonishing them in health &mdash; instructing,
+reproving, exhorting, consoling &mdash; sanctifying the whole with
+fervent prayer. Many a sobbing heart and streaming eye is this
+evening embalming her memory in the house of the widow.</p>
+<p>"Little if any less is the debt due to her from that invaluable
+charity, the Orphan Asylum. It speaks its own praise, and that
+praise is hers. Scores of orphans redeemed from filth, from
+ignorance, from wretchedness, from crime &mdash; clothed, fed,
+instructed &mdash; trained <!--Page 367--><a name="P367" id=
+"P367"></a> in cleanliness to habits of industry &mdash; early
+imbued with the knowledge and fear of God &mdash; gradually
+preparing for respectability, usefulness, and happiness, is a
+spectacle for angels. Their infantine gayety, their healthful
+sport, their cherub faces, mark the contrast between their present
+and former condition; and recall very tenderly the scenes in which
+they used to cluster round their patron-mother, hang on her
+gracious words, and receive her benediction.</p>
+<p>"Brethren, I am not dealing in romance, but in sober fact. The
+night would be too short for a full enumeration of her worthy
+deeds. Suffice it to say that they ended but with her life. The
+Sabbath previous to her last sickness occupied her with a recent
+institution &mdash; a Sunday-school for ignorant adults; and the
+evening preceding the touch of death, found her at the side of a
+faithful domestic, administering consolation to his wounded
+spirit.</p>
+<p>"Such active benevolence could hardly be detected in company
+with a niggardly temper. Wishes which cost nothing; pity which
+expires on the lips; be ye warmed and be ye clothed, from a cold
+heart and an unyielding gripe, never imprinted their disgraceful
+brand upon Isabella Graham. What she urged upon others she
+exemplified in herself. She kept a purse for God. Here, in
+obedience to his command, she deposited the first-fruits of all her
+increase; and they were sacred to his service, as in his providence
+he should call for them. No shuffling pretences, no pitiful
+evasions, when a fair demand was made upon the hallowed store; and
+no frigid affectation in determining the quality of the demand. A
+sense of <!--Page 368--><a name="P368" id="P368"></a> duty was
+the prompter, candor the interpreter, and good sense the judge. Her
+disbursements were proportioned to the value of the object, and
+were ready at a moment's warning, to the very last farthing.* How
+pungent a reproof to those ladies of opulence and fashion who
+sacrifice so largely to their dissipation or their vanity, that
+they have nothing left for mouths without food, and limbs without
+raiment! How far does it throw back into the shade those men of
+prosperous enterprise and gilded state who, in the hope of some
+additional lucre, have thousands and ten thousands at their beck;
+but who, when asked for decent contributions to what they
+themselves acknowledge to be all-important, turn away with this
+hollow excuse, 'I cannot afford it.' Above all, how should her
+example redden the faces of many who profess to belong to Christ;
+to have received gratuitously from him what he procured for them at
+the expense of his own blood, 'an inheritance incorruptible and
+undefiled, and that fadeth not away;' and yet, in the midst of
+abundance which he has lavished upon them, when the question is
+about relieving his suffering members, or promoting the glory of
+his kingdom, are sour, reluctant, mean. Are these the Christians?
+Can it be that they have committed their bodies, their souls, their
+eternal hope, to a Saviour whose thousand promises on this very
+point of honoring him with their substance, have less influence
+upon their hearts and their hands than the word of any honest man?
+Remember the deceased, and hang your heads &mdash; remember
+<!--Page 369--><a name="P369" id="P369"></a> her, and tremble;
+remember her, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance.</p>
+<p class="note">*The author knew her, when in moderate
+circumstances, to give, unsolicited, <i>fifty pounds at once</i>
+out of that sacred purse to a single most worthy purpose.</p>
+<p>"In that charity, also, which far surpasses mere almsgiving,
+however liberal, the charity of the gospel, our friend was
+conspicuous. The love of God shed abroad in her own heart by the
+Holy Ghost, drew forth her love to his people wherever she found
+them. Assuredly she had in herself this witness of her having
+'passed from death unto life,' that she loved the brethren. The
+epistle, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living
+God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart;
+yet read and known of all men: that is, the Christian temper
+manifested by a Christian conversation, was to her the best letter
+of recommendation. Unwavering in her own faith as to the peculiar
+doctrines of the gospel, she could nevertheless extend love without
+dissimulation, and the very bowels of Christian fellowship, to
+others who, whatever might be their mistakes, their infirmities, or
+their differences in smaller matters, agreed in the great Christian
+essential of acceptance in the Beloved. Deeply did she deplore the
+conceit, the bigotry, and the bitterness of sect. O that her spirit
+were more prevalent in the churches; that we could labor to abase
+our crown of pride; to offer up with one consent upon the altar of
+evangelical charity, those petty jealousies, animosities, and
+strifes which are our common reproach; and walk together as
+children of the same Father, brethren of the same Redeemer, and
+heirs of the same salvation.</p>
+<p>"To these admirable traits of character were added great
+tenderness of conscience and a spirit of prayer. Her religion, not
+contented to justify her before men, <!--Page 370--><a name="P370"
+id="P370"></a> habitually aimed at pleasing God, who looketh
+upon the heart. It was not enough for her to persuade herself that
+a thing might be right. Before venturing upon it, she studied to
+reduce the question of right to a clear certainty. How cautious and
+scrupulous and jealous of herself she was in this matter, they best
+can tell who saw her in the shade of retirement as well as in the
+sunshine of public observation. Perhaps it is not going too far to
+say, that her least guarded moments would, in others, have been
+marked for circumspection. At the same time her vigilance had
+nothing austere, gloomy, constrained, or censorious &mdash; nothing
+to repress the cheerfulness of social intercourse, or to excite in
+others, even the thoughtless, a dread of merciless criticism after
+they should retire. It was sanctified nature moving gracefully in
+its own element. And with respect to the character and feelings of
+her neighbors, she was too full of Christian kindness not to keep
+her tongue from evil and her lips from speaking guile.</p>
+<p>"These virtues and graces were maintained and invigorated by her
+habit of prayer. With the 'new and living way into the holiest by
+the blood of Jesus,' she was intimately familiar. Thither the
+Spirit of grace and supplication daily conducted her; there taught
+her to pray, and in praying to believe, and in believing to have
+'fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.' She
+knew her God as the God that heareth prayer; and could attest that
+'blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a performance of
+those things which were told her from the Lord.'</p>
+<p>"Under such influence her course could not but be
+<!--Page 371--><a name="P371" id="P371"></a> correct, and her
+steps well ordered. The 'secret of the Lord is with them that fear
+him; and he will show them his covenant, he will guide them in
+judgment.' Thus he did with his handmaid whom he hath called home.
+Wherever she was, and in whatever circumstances, she remembered the
+guide of her youth, who, according to His promise, never left her,
+nor forsook her; but continued His gracious presence with her when
+she was old and gray-headed.</p>
+<p>"You may perhaps imagine, that with such direction and support
+it was impossible she should see trouble. Nay, but waters of a full
+cup were wrung out to her. She often ate the bread of sorrow
+steeped in wormwood and gall. Her heavenly Father showed her great
+and sore adversities; that he might try her as silver is tried, and
+bring her forth from the furnace purified seven times. It was
+during these refining processes that she found the worth of being a
+Christian. Though her way was planted with thorns and watered with
+her tears, yet the candle of the Lord shone upon her head; and from
+step to step she had reason to cry, Hitherto hath Jehovah
+helped.</p>
+<p>"In a word, like Enoch, she walked with God; like Abraham, she
+staggered not at his promise through unbelief; like Jacob, she
+wrestled with the angel and prevailed; like Moses, endured as
+seeing Him who is invisible; like Paul, finished her course with
+joy. Blessed were the eyes of the preacher, for they saw the
+victory of her faith; and his ears, for they heard her song of
+salvation. 'You can say with the apostle, I know whom I have
+believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
+have committed unto him?' 'O yes, but I cannot say the
+<!--Page 372--><a name="P372" id="P372"></a> other, I have
+fought a good fight; I must say, I have fought a poor fight, I have
+run a poor race; but Christ fought for me. Christ ran with me, and
+through Christ I hope to win,' 'But you have no fear, no doubts,
+about your going to be with Christ?' 'O no, not a doubt; I am as
+sure of that as if I were already in my Saviour's arms.' It was her
+final conversation with children of the dust. The next day, when
+her flesh and her heart had so far failed that she was incapable of
+uttering a sentence, she still proved her God to be the strength of
+her heart, and knew him to be her portion for ever. I said to her,
+'It is peace,' She opened her eyes, smiled, closed them again,
+bowed her dying head, and breathed out, 'Peace,' It was her last
+word on this side heaven. The attending spirits caught it from her
+lips, and brought to her the next day permission to sleep in
+Jesus.</p>
+<p>"From this review allow me to urge the value of private
+exertions in promoting general good.</p>
+<p>"In pursuing his gratifications, man is apt to look upon himself
+as a being of great importance; in fulfilling his duties, to
+account himself as nothing. Both are extravagances which it will be
+his wisdom and happiness to correct. He is neither supreme in worth
+nor useless in action. Let him not say, 'I am but one; my voice
+will be drowned in the universal din; my weight is lighter than a
+feather in the public scale. It is better for me to mind my own
+affairs, and leave these higher attempts to more competent hands.'
+This is the language, not of reason and modesty, but of sloth, of
+selfishness, and of pride. The amount of it is, 'I cannot do every
+thing, therefore I will do nothing,' But you can do much. Act well
+your part <!--Page 373--><a name="P373" id="P373"></a> according
+to your faculties, your station, and your means. The result will be
+honorable to yourself, delightful to your friends, and beneficial
+to the world. I advise not to gigantic aims, to enormous
+enterprise. The world has seen but one Newton, and one Howard.
+Nothing is required of you but to make the most of the
+opportunities within your reach.</p>
+<p>"Recall the example of Mrs. Graham. Here was a woman, a widow, a
+stranger in a strange land, without fortune, with no friends but
+such as her letters of introduction and her worth should acquire,
+and with a family of daughters dependent upon her for their
+subsistence. Surely if any one has a clear title of immunity from
+the obligation to carry her cares beyond the domestic circle, it is
+this widow, it is this stranger. Yet within a few years this
+stranger, this widow, with no means but her excellent sense, her
+benevolent heart, and her persevering will to do good, awakens the
+charities of a populous city, and gives to them an impulse, a
+direction, and an efficacy unknown before.</p>
+<p>"What might not be done by men &mdash; by men of talent, of
+standing, of wealth, of leisure? How speedily, under their
+well-directed beneficence, might a whole country change its
+physical, intellectual, and moral aspect; and assume, comparatively
+speaking, the face of another Eden, a second garden of God. Why
+then do they not diffuse thus extensively the seeds of knowledge,
+of virtue, and of bliss? I ask not for their pretences; they are as
+old as the lust of lucre, and are refuted by the example which we
+have been contemplating: I ask for the true reason, for the
+inspiring principle of their conduct. It is this &mdash; let them
+look to it when God shall call them to account
+<!--Page 374--><a name="P374" id="P374"></a> for the abuse of
+their time, their talents, their station, their 'unrighteous
+mammon' &mdash; it is this: they believe not 'the words of the Lord
+Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
+They labor under no want but one, they want <i>the heart</i>. The
+bountiful God add this to the other gifts which he has bestowed
+upon them. I turn to the other sex.</p>
+<p>"That venerable mother in Israel who has exchanged the service
+of God on earth for his service in heaven, has left a legacy to her
+sisters: she has left the example of her faith and patience; she
+has left her prayers; she has left the monument of her Christian
+deeds; and by these she being dead, yet speaketh. Matrons, has she
+left her mantle also? Are there none among you to hear her voice
+from the tomb, Go and do thou likewise? None whom affluence
+permits, endowments qualify, and piety prompts, to aim at her
+distinction by treading in her steps? Maidens, are there none among
+you who would wish to array yourselves hereafter in the honors of
+this virtuous woman? Your hearts have dismissed their wonted warmth
+and generosity, if they do not throb as the revered vision rises
+before you. Then prepare yourselves now, by seeking and serving the
+God of her youth. You cannot be too early adorned with the robes of
+righteousness and the garments of salvation in which she was
+wedded, in her morning of life, to Jesus the King of glory. That
+same grace which threw its radiance around her, shall make you also
+to shine in the beauty of holiness; and the fragrance of those
+virtues which it shall create, develope, and ennoble, will be 'as
+the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.'</p>
+<p>"Yea, let me press upon all the transcendent
+<!--Page 375--><a name="P375" id="P375"></a> excellence of
+Christian character, and the victorious power of Christian hope.
+The former bears the image of God; the latter is as imperishable as
+his throne. We fasten our eyes with more real respect and more
+heart-felt approbation upon the moral majesty displayed in walking
+as Christ also walked, than upon all the pomps of the monarch or
+decorations of the military hero. More touching to the sense and
+more grateful to high heaven is the soft melancholy with which we
+look after our departed friend, and the tear which embalms her
+memory, than the thundering plaudits which rend the air with the
+name of a conqueror. She has obtained a triumph over that foe who
+shall break the arm of valor, and strike off the crown of kings.
+'The fashion of this world passeth away.' Old Time approaches
+towards his last hour. The proudest memorials of human grandeur
+shall be food for the conflagration to be kindled when 'the Lord
+Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire. Then shall he
+be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that
+believe.'</p>
+<p>"There are those perhaps, in the present assembly, who repute
+godliness fanaticism, and the sobriety of Christian peace the gloom
+of a joyless spirit; but who cannot forbear sighing out, with the
+prophet of mammon, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let
+my last end be like his.' If they proceed no further, their wish
+will not be granted. None shall die the death of the righteous,
+unless by a rare dispensation of mercy, who do not live his life.
+They only are fit to be with God who love God and keep his
+commandments. In that day of transport and of terror which we shall
+all witness, how many of the thoughtless <!--Page 376--><a name=
+"P376" id="P376"></a> fair who now 'sport themselves with their
+own deceivings,' would give all the treasures of the east and
+thrones of the west to sit with Isabella Graham on the right hand
+of Jesus Christ. If ye be wise betimes, ye may. Now is the accepted
+time; to-day is the day of salvation. The gospel of the Son of God
+offers you at this very moment, the forgiveness of your sins, and
+an inheritance among them that are sanctified. The blessing comes
+to you as a free gift: accept it, and live; accept it, and be safe;
+accept it, and put away the shudderings of guilt and the fear of
+death. Then shall you too, like our friend, go in due season to be
+with Christ. Your happy spirit shall rejoin hers in the mansions of
+the saved. God shall bring you in soul and body with her when he
+makes up his jewels. Then shall he gather his elect from the four
+winds of heaven, shall perfect that which concerneth them, and make
+them fully and for ever blessed. Be our place among them in that
+day.'</p>
+<br />
+<h4>EXTRACT FROM MRS. GRAHAM'S LAST WILL AND&nbsp;TESTAMENT.</h4>
+<p>"My children and my grandchildren I leave to my covenant God
+&mdash; the God who hath fed me all my life with the bread that
+perisheth, and the bread that never perisheth; who has been a
+Father to my fatherless children, and a Husband to their widowed
+mother thus far. And now, receiving my Redeemer's testimony,
+John&nbsp;3:33, I set to my seal that God is true; and believing
+the record in John's epistle, that God hath given to me eternal
+life, and this life is in his Son, who, through the eternal Spirit,
+offered himself without spot unto God, and being consecrated a
+<!--Page 377--><a name="P377" id="P377"></a> priest for ever,
+hath with his own blood, entered into the holy place, having
+obtained eternal redemption for me. I also believe that he will
+perfect what concerns me, support and carry me safely through
+death, and present me to his Father, complete in his own
+righteousness, without spot or wrinkle. Into the hands of this
+redeeming God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I commit my redeemed
+spirit."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Graham's epitaph on a tablet in the Pearl-street church, is
+associated with that of her son-in-law Mr. Bethune, to whom before
+his connection with the family she was a spiritual mother; who
+prepared her memoir, wrote and printed tracts for her widows,
+imported Bibles for her to distribute, replenished her charity
+purse when exhausted; with whom she took sweet counsel and walked
+to the house of God in company; and for whom she was pleased to
+leave the written and honorable testimony: "He stands in my mind,
+in temper, conduct, and conversation, the nearest to the gospel
+standard of any man or woman I ever knew as intimately. Devoted to
+his God, to his church, to his family, to all to whom he may have
+opportunity of doing good, duty is his governing principle; cast
+upon his care, under God he nourishes me with kindness," etc. They
+have entered into rest. One sepulchre contains their sleeping dust,
+and one monument bears the following tribute to their memory:</p>
+<!--Page 378--><a name="P378" id="P378"></a>
+<p class="center"><b>Sacred to the Memory</b><br />
+<font size="-2">OF</font><br />
+<b>DIVIE BETHUNE,</b><br />
+<font size="-2">MERCHANT OF THIS CITY,</font><br />
+<font size="-1">WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 18, 1824, AGED 53
+YEARS;</font><br />
+<font size="-2">AND OF</font><br />
+<b>ISABELLA GRAHAM,</b><br />
+<font size="-2">HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW,</font><br />
+<font size="-1">WHO DIED JULY 27, 1814, AGED 72 YEARS.</font><br />
+<font size="-2">THEY WERE BOTH NATIVES OF SCOTLAND.</font><br />
+<br />
+THIS MONUMENT<br />
+<font size="-2">IS REARED BY HIS BEREAVED WIDOW AND HER ORPHAN
+DAUGHTER,<br />
+AS A TESTIMONIAL OF TWO SERVANTS OF JESUS CHRIST:<br />
+THE ONE A RULING ELDER IN HIS CHURCH, THE OTHER A MOTHER IN
+ISRAEL;</font><br />
+<font size="-1">WHO, LIKE ENOCH, WALKED WITH GOD,<br />
+LIKE ABRAHAM, OBTAINED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH,<br />
+AND, LIKE PAUL, FINISHED THEIR COURSE WITH JOY.</font><br />
+<font size="-2">THEY WERE LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES,<br />
+AND THEY REST HERE TOGETHER IN THEIR GRAVES.</font><br />
+<br /></p>
+<p><font size="-3">"THE BLESSING OF HIM THAT WAS READY TO PERISH
+CAME UPON THEM; AND THEY CAUSED THE WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR
+JOY."&emsp;JOB&nbsp;29:13.<br />
+<br />
+"OH HOW GREAT IS THY GOODNESS, WHICH THOU HAST LAID UP FOR THEM
+THAT FEAR THEE; WHICH THOU HAST WROUGHT FOR THEM THAT TRUST IN THEE
+BEFORE THE SONS OF MEN!"&emsp;PSA.&nbsp;31:19.</font></p>
+<!--Page 379--><a name="P379" id="P379"></a><br />
+<hr />
+<h3>PROVISION</h3>
+<h5>FOR</h5>
+<h3>MY LAST JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS</h3>
+<h5>AND</h5>
+<h3>PASSAGE OVER JORDAN.</h3>
+<p class="note">*Found in Mrs. Graham's pocket after her
+decease.</p>
+<p>"'P<font size="-1">REPARE</font> you victuals, for within three
+days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land
+which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. When ye see the
+ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests bearing
+it, then ye shall remove and go after it: that ye may know the way
+by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way
+heretofore.'</p>
+<p>"'Sanctify yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders
+among you.'</p>
+<p>"'Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
+passeth over before you into Jordan: and it shall come to pass,
+that as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the
+ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the
+waters, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters
+that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.'</p>
+<p>"'And it came to pass, that when the people removed from their
+tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the
+covenant before the people, that as they that bare the ark were
+come into Jordan, and the feet of the priests were dipped in the
+<!--Page 380--><a name="P380" id="P380"></a> brim of the water,
+that the waters that came down from above stood and rose up upon a
+heap; and the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord
+stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the
+Israelites passed over on dry ground.'</p>
+<p>"'And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the
+place where the feet of the priests that bare the ark of the
+covenant of the Lord stood; and they are there unto this day.'</p>
+<p>"'When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come,
+saying, What mean these stones? ye shall let your children know,
+saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land; for the Lord your
+God dried up the waters from before you until ye were passed over,
+as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up, until
+we were passed over; that all people of the earth might know the
+hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord
+your God for ever,' Amen. Josh.&nbsp;1:11;
+chap.&nbsp;3,&nbsp;4.</p>
+<p>"Oh, thou Jehovah; Israel's God, and by thy new covenant, my
+God; thus far hast thou brought me through the wilderness: bearing,
+chastising, forgiving, restoring. Well hast thou made out thy
+wilderness name to me: 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
+keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and
+sin.' Great have been my provocations, but greater still thy
+covenant mercy. I have not perished with them that believed not;
+sore bitten I am, but thou hast fixed mine eyes on the lifted-up
+Healer, and I am in his hand for further cure. My journey has been
+long, and my way devious; but my blessed Joshua is still in view. I
+must be near to <!--Page 381--><a name="P381" id="P381"></a>
+Jordan's flood; I have been preparing victuals from thine own
+repository of truth. And now, my blessed High-priest and Ark of the
+covenant, lead on my staggering steps the little further. I have
+not gone this way heretofore, but thou hast measured these waters
+while they overflowed all their banks. Thou hast passed through,
+and made the passage safe for thy people. At thy command the waters
+stand up upon a heap, and they pass through in thy presence on
+faith's firm ground. Keep then mine eye upon thee, and I shall fear
+no evil. And Oh, my, blessed Leader, if it might please thee, I
+would ask a boon, yet with submission, that thy sensible presence
+might be with me all the way through; and that thou wouldst bring
+from my quivering lips a testimony to the glory of thy grace, that
+my children may know that thou hast pardoned, restored, perfected,
+dried up the waters of terror, carried me triumphantly through, and
+put me in possession of the purchased inheritance.&emsp;Amen.</p>
+<p>"'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
+Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
+chief.' chief.' 1&nbsp;Tim. 1:15.</p>
+<p>"I have often inquired, What is there within us, or without us,
+on which a sinner can rest in peace in a dying hour? If it be a
+holy life, there can be no peace for me &mdash; taking the law of
+God for my standard; backslider is my name; yet I think in this
+sacred volume I find a hope even for me, the chief of sinners.</p>
+<p>"'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
+the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
+not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that
+he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
+<!--Page 382--><a name="P382" id="P382"></a> believeth on him
+should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son
+into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
+might be saved.' 'He that cometh from heaven is above all, and what
+he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth.' 'He that receiveth his
+testimony has set to his seal that God is true.' 'The Father loveth
+the Son, and hath given all things into his hand; he that believeth
+on the Son hath everlasting life.' John 3:14-36. Here is a hope for
+me; the world is made up of sinners, I am one of them, and though
+the chief, am not excluded. The Son of man came to save that which
+was lost, Matt. 18:11; I am of that description. 'The Pharisees
+said, Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? Jesus
+said, The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.'
+Matt. 9:11. I am a sinner, and sick. 'I will have mercy, and not
+sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
+repentance.' I am a sinner, and need repentance. 'Him hath God
+exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give
+repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.' Acts 5:31. 'The Lord
+is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all
+should come to repentance.' 2&nbsp;Pet. 3:9.</p>
+<p>"Christ said to the woman of Samaria, a notorious sinner, 'If
+thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee,
+Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
+have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water
+shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
+shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
+him shall be in him a well of water springing
+<!--Page 383--><a name="P383" id="P383"></a> up into everlasting
+life.' John 4:10, 14. Yes, my Redeemer, a draught of this water,
+received in faith from the hand of the Spirit, will give life in
+death. O pour it into my thirsty soul in that searching hour.</p>
+<p>"Jesus said to a mixed multitude of sinners like me, 'Labor not
+for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
+everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him
+hath God the Father sealed,' John 6:27. These sinners said unto
+him, 'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' 'That
+ye believe on Him whom he hath sent. My Father giveth you the true
+bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he which cometh down
+from heaven, and giveth life unto the world: I am the bread of
+life; he that cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he that
+believeth on me shall never thirst. I am the living bread which
+came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live
+for ever. And the bread which I shall give is my flesh, which I
+will give for the life of the world. Jesus said unto them, Except
+ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the Son of man, ye have no
+life in you: whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth
+in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live
+by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.' The
+Father giveth this bread, the Son giveth this bread; whosoever
+will, may take of this bread, and the promise with it. Father, I
+take this bread, I take and believe that I have in thee eternal
+life, according to thy word. O holy and blessed Comforter, Spirit
+of the Father and of the Son, whose office it is to take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto his redeemed, when the bread
+and the <!--Page 384--><a name="P384" id="P384"></a> water that
+perish can no longer refresh this dying body, apply this living
+bread and living water to my soul, that life may spring up in the
+midst of death; and in that trying hour, bear witness with my
+spirit that I dwell in Christ, and Christ in me, and that I shall
+never die.</p>
+<p>"'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
+cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that
+believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
+flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit, that they
+who believe on him should receive.' John 7:37. This he proclaimed
+to a mixed multitude of sinners like myself. Lord, I believe, and
+am sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Be it
+unto me according to thy word: 'I am the resurrection and the life:
+he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;
+and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.
+Believest thou this?' John 11:25. I believe that thou art the
+Christ, the Son of the living God, which should come into the
+world; the promised Messiah; the gift of the Father, the covenant
+given to the people; the anointed Prophet and King, and consecrated
+High-priest; who through the eternal Spirit offeredst thyself
+without spot unto God; who came to do that most perfect will of
+God, by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
+Christ once for all. Lamb of God, which takest away the sins of the
+world, on thee I lay my precious never-dying soul; wash me in thy
+blood, clothe me in thy righteousness; sanctify me, soul, spirit,
+and body, to thy service. I have no other foundation of hope,
+nothing within me, nothing without me; my entire dependence
+<!--Page 385--><a name="P385" id="P385"></a> is on thy finished
+work; into thy hands I commit my spirit.</p>
+<p>"Let me hear thy consoling voice, compassionate Saviour. 'Let
+not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
+In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would
+have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again
+and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be
+also,' John 14:1-3. O seal this upon my heart, and it is enough. To
+be where thou art, is heaven enough to me. To be where thou art, to
+see thee as thou art, and to be made like thee, the last sinful
+motion for ever past &mdash; no more opposition, no more weariness,
+listlessness, dryness, deadness; but conformed to my blessed Head,
+every way capacitated to serve him, and to enjoy him &mdash; this
+is heaven.</p>
+<p>"'Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man
+cometh to the Father, but by me.' Blessed Comforter, do thine
+office; take these things of Christ and show them unto me; lead me
+in this way, feed me with this truth, and animate me with this
+life: 'Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, that will
+I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask any
+thing in my name, I will do it.' Blessed Comforter, here also do
+thine office: I know not what to ask for as I ought; help mine
+infirmities as thou hast said; suggest the prayer, be in me the
+spirit of prayer and supplication, and especially in that hour of
+need, when sickness saps the clay tabernacle, discomposing the
+spirit, and confusing perhaps the ideas: still, still let my
+thoughts rise to my God. Oh, let no unhallowed subject get hold of
+me in that hour, but keep my Saviour's name in my heart, and on my
+lips. <!--Page 386--><a name="P386" id="P386"></a> Is not this
+according to thy will? watch over it then, and keep the avenues of
+my soul from every vain idea.</p>
+<p>"'If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the
+Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
+with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
+receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know
+him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. He that hath my
+commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that
+loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
+will manifest myself unto him; and we will come and make our abode
+with him. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
+will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
+things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace
+I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world
+giveth, give I unto you: let not your heart be troubled, neither
+let it be afraid.' In that last warfare, when nothing on earth can
+give peace; when the world recedes, and disappears; when friends
+must stand aloof and leave me to the combat alone; Oh, blessed and
+promised Comforter, bring to my remembrance, and impress on my
+weary spirit these sweet words of my Saviour. But it has often
+occurred to me, and may in that hour, that though Jesus received
+sinners, they were ignorant sinners. The Jews understood not the
+gospel contained in their types and sacrifices; they were
+unenlightened and unconverted; the Gentiles were totally blind,
+serving dumb idols; neither had known the gospel, neither had
+tasted the grace of God, neither were backsliders, like me. I have
+known the truth, been enlightened, tasted of the
+<!--Page 387--><a name="P387" id="P387"></a> heavenly gift, been
+made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the good word of God,
+and of the power of the world to come.</p>
+<p>"Fifty years ago the Lord convinced me of my sin, my misery, and
+my total helplessness. I was also, I think, enabled to lay hold on
+the hope set before me.</p>
+<p>"I have, in numerous exercises and acts, accepted of God's gift
+of Jesus Christ to me a condemned sinner; taking hold of the
+Scripture words of invitation and promise held out for my
+acceptance. I have pleaded his own covenant provision, in the
+substitution of his own Son in my stead, making him to be sin, who
+knew no sin, that sinners might be made the righteousness of God in
+him. I put in my claim as a sinner, among the ungodly for whom
+Christ died. I believed his testimony, and set to my seal that God
+is true. I rested on this foundation &mdash; I yet have no other; I
+know there is no other. The foundation standeth sure. But Oh, what
+am I to think of the fruits? I have again and again turned back
+into the world, grieved the Spirit, crucified the Son of God
+afresh, and put him to open shame. No wonder I stand alarmed at the
+apostle's assertion: my conscience testifies that my character is
+nearly, if not altogether, such as the apostle, by the Holy Spirit,
+says it is impossible to renew to repentance. Hebrews 6:4, 5. But
+thou hast renewed to repentance! Thy name is 'the Lord, the Lord
+God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
+goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Thou wilt by no means clear the
+guilty; but thou hast provided a substitute, and laid my guilt and
+guilty person on thine own Son.</p>
+<!--Page 388--><a name="P388" id="P388"></a>
+<p>"By this gracious name thou wast known to thy backsliding Israel
+in the wilderness; whose heart, like mine, was not right with God;
+neither were they steadfast in his covenant; but he, 'being full of
+compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not.' Many a
+time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
+They forgot God their Saviour, who had done great things for them;
+they transgressed his commandment, and in their heart turned back
+again to Egypt; they brought upon themselves many afflictions, and
+many times did he deliver them; they provoked him with their
+counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity; nevertheless, he
+heard their cry, and repented according to the multitude of his
+mercies; while the blood of bulls and of goats typified the great
+propitiatory sacrifice, by which 'God can be just and justify the
+ungodly.' By this name was the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+known in the pleasant land; and by the same sacrifice, the blood of
+Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, was typified. Psalms
+103,&nbsp;51.</p>
+<p>"The prophets prophesied in his name. 'All we, like sheep, have
+gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
+He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our
+iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, and by
+his stripes we are healed.' 'Deliver him from going down to the
+pit; I have found a ransom.' Even backsliders, among whom I stand
+chief, have been recalled. 'My people have committed two evils:
+they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and have hewn
+out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
+water. Is Israel a servant; is he a home-born slave; wherefore is
+he spoiled? Hast thou not procured <!--Page 389--><a name="P389"
+id="P389"></a> this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the
+Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way? And now what hast thou
+to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what
+hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the
+river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy
+backslidings shall reprove thee. Know therefore, and see that it is
+an evil and bitter thing, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,
+and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. For
+of old I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou
+saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under
+every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had
+planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how art thou turned
+into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Why gaddest
+thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of
+Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Have I been a barren
+wilderness, or a land of darkness unto thee? Wherefore say my
+people, We are lords, and will come no more to thee? Can a maid
+forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have
+forgotten me, days without number.' Jeremiah&nbsp;2. 'They say, If
+a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another
+man's, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly
+polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet
+return again unto me, saith the Lord. Wilt thou not from this time
+cry unto me. My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?' What can I
+say to such grace? Thou art infinite in thy mercy to pardon, and in
+thy power to save. Such has been my character, and such the amazing
+mercy of my offended God. <!--Page 390--><a name="P390" id=
+"P390"></a> Often, often has he pardoned, restored, blessed, and
+made me happy. But Oh, just is the renewed charge against me. 'For
+the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very
+treacherously with me, saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord,
+and said, It is not he, neither shall evil come upon us.' 'Go and
+proclaim these words, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel,
+saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you:
+for I am merciful, saith the Lord, I will not keep anger for ever.
+Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed
+against the Lord thy God; and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith
+the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, for I am married unto you.'
+Jer.&nbsp;3. What, O what can I say to such grace? Truly, thy ways
+are not as our ways, nor thy thoughts as our thoughts. For as the
+heavens are higher than the earth, so are thy ways higher than our
+ways, and thy thoughts than our thoughts. Oh, how is my guilt
+aggravated by all this grace; and yet thou callest, <i>Return;</i>
+and thou thyself turnest me. I do, O Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, I do acknowledge my iniquity; every time I turn back my
+eyes upon my past life my sins rise in magnitude, heightened by
+more enlarged views of thy goodness. It is of the Lord's mercies
+that I am not consumed, because his compassions fail not.</p>
+<p>"A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and
+supplication of the children of Israel, for they have perverted
+their ways, and they have forgotten the Lord their God. Yes, thou
+hast, my gracious God, granted repentance. Thine eye has seen the
+tears I have shed; thou hast given me a contrite heart. I have
+looked upon him whom I have pierced, and <!--Page 391--><a name=
+"P391" id="P391"></a> been in bitterness as for a first-born. I
+feel it now, and must feel it while the body of sin exists. But Oh,
+Lord God, merciful and gracious, the cause is in thyself, that I
+hear thy voice, and that I answer. 'Return, ye backsliding
+children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, I come unto
+thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation
+hoped for from the hills and the multitude of mountains. Truly, in
+the Lord God is the salvation of Israel. We lie down in our shame,
+our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our
+God; we and our fathers, even from our youth; and have not obeyed
+the voice of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God, I will even
+deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath in
+breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant
+with thee in the days of thy youth; and I will establish unto thee
+an everlasting covenant, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
+That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy
+mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards
+thee, saith the Lord God.' Amen, Lord God, merciful and gracious.
+Be it so. It is so <i>now</i> &mdash; it <i>must</i>, it will be
+so, until death shall open mine eyes on that mystery: The glory of
+God arising out of the abounding of sin, through the superabounding
+of grace, and grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal
+life, by Jesus Christ our Lord!</p>
+<p>"Till then, while sin dwelleth in me, let me enjoy the
+blessedness of a contrite heart; yea, even shame and confusion,
+since it is the sign that thou art pacified with me. Thou hast
+dealt with me, thou hast chastened, and in some instances taken
+vengeance on my <!--Page 392--><a name="P392" id="P392"></a>
+inventions. But thou art pacified with me, and I dare look again to
+thy holy temple, to the temple not made with hands, to the minister
+of the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched,
+and not man; to the blessed High-priest, who through the eternal
+Spirit offered himself a sacrifice without spot unto God, and by
+his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
+eternal redemption for us, and when he had purged our sins, sat
+down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; to the blessed
+Mediator of the new and better covenant, established on better
+promises; to the Surety of the new testament, and sealed with his
+own blood. Oh, I will look unto Jesus, the object, the author, and
+the finisher of that faith which interests us in himself and the
+whole of his purchase. He bids me look unto him, and be saved. I do
+look unto him, and I am saved. Who dares condemn the sinner whom
+Christ acquits? Who shall lay any thing to his charge? 'It is
+Christ that died; yea, rather, who is risen again; who is even at
+the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us.'"</p>
+<br />
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>ISAIAH 44:22. "RETURN UNTO
+ME.<br /></span> <span>A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY
+D. B&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Return to
+thee, my God? dost thou<br /></span> <span>The invitation yet
+renew?<br /></span> <span>Return to thee! my chiefest
+joy,<br /></span> <span>Till sin did all my peace
+destroy.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"And yet, to
+hear thy pardoning voice<br /></span> <span>Must make my trembling
+heart rejoice;<br /></span> <span>Though sin is there, thou well
+dost know<br /></span> <span>It is my burden and my
+foe.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 393--><a name=
+"P393" id="P393"></a> <span>"O let me hear those gracious
+words:<br /></span> <span>Be still, my soul, they are the
+Lord's;<br /></span> <span>That God, who once on thee did
+shine,<br /></span> <span>And filled thee with a hope
+divine.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"'Thy black
+transgressions, trembling soul &mdash;<br /></span> <span>Thy sins
+so heinous and so foul,<br /></span> <span>Which like a cloud
+obscure thy day,<br /></span> <span>I've blotted out, I've washed
+away.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"'Return to me,
+thou 'rt mine; I own<br /></span> <span>Thee for my servant, and my
+son;<br /></span> <span>I have redeemed thy precious
+soul,<br /></span> <span>And none my purchase shall
+control.'<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I hear, I
+come, my covenant God:<br /></span> <span>Thy love's my life, my
+raiment, food;<br /></span> <span>Thy favor, through my Jesus
+given,<br /></span> <span>Is to my soul the bliss of
+heaven.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I come, my
+Jesus; hold me fast,<br /></span> <span>Till, life and Jordan's
+journey past,<br /></span> <span>My faith to vision yield her
+place,<br /></span> <span>And I shall see thy unveiled
+face.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Then, with the
+loudest of the throng,<br /></span> <span>Of sins forgiven I'll
+raise the song &mdash;<br /></span> <span>Of pardon bought with
+Jesus' blood,<br /></span> <span>Sinners made kings and priests to
+God."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>PSALM 103. FIFTY YEARS AGO.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Oh thou, my soul, bless God the
+Lord,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all that in me
+is<br /></span> <span>Be stirr&eacute;d up, his holy
+name<br /></span> <span class="i2">To magnify and bless,"
+etc.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>"'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a
+little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:
+because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that
+I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Believest thou not
+that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
+<!--Page 394--><a name="P394" id="P394"></a> He that hath seen
+me, hath seen the Father. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is
+come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me; for he
+shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that
+the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of
+mine, and shall show it unto you.' John&nbsp;14; 16:14. 'Neither
+pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me
+through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
+in me and I in thee, that they may be one in us: that the world may
+believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me
+I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in
+them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; that the
+world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou
+hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given
+me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which
+thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of
+the world.' John 17:20, etc. 'All are yours; and ye are Christ's;
+and Christ is God's.' 1&nbsp;Cor. 3:22. 'Ye are dead, and your life
+is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
+appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.'
+Col.&nbsp;3:3. 'For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
+bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
+principality and power.' Col.&nbsp;2:9. 'There is one body, and one
+Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: one
+Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
+above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of
+us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.'
+Eph.&nbsp;4:4.</p>
+<!--Page 395--><a name="P395" id="P395"></a>
+<p>"'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
+but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the
+flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
+gave himself for me,' Gal.&nbsp;2:&nbsp;20.</p>
+<p>"'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
+world! And looking upon Jesus as he walked, John saith, Behold the
+Lamb of God!' John 1:29,&nbsp;36.</p>
+<p>"'Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours;
+whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
+death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye
+are Christ's; and Christ is God's,' 1&nbsp;Cor. 3:21.</p>
+<p>"'It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He
+sitteth alone and keepeth silence; he putteth his mouth in the
+dust, if so be there may be hope; he giveth his cheek to him that
+smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.' Lam.&nbsp;3:27.</p>
+<p>"'That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open
+thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward
+thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.'
+Ezek.&nbsp;16:63. <i>Amen.</i></p>
+<p>"'A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
+thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.
+Therefore, also now, saith the Lord, turn ye unto me with all your
+heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Rend your
+heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for
+he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
+and repenteth him of the evil,' Joel 2:2,&nbsp;12.</p>
+<p>"'I will visit upon her the days of Baalim: she went after her
+lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. <!--Page 396--><a name=
+"P396" id="P396"></a> I will allure her, and bring her into the
+wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will betroth thee
+unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in
+righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
+mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
+shalt know the Lord.' Hosea&nbsp;2:13.</p>
+<p>"'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help.'
+'Return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine
+iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him,
+Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we
+render the calves of our lips. Ashur shall not save us; we will not
+ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our
+hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.'
+Hosea 13:14.</p>
+<p>"'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for
+mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto
+Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
+Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?
+I have heard him, and observed him. I am like a green fir-tree;
+from me is thy fruit found.' Hosea&nbsp;14.</p>
+<p>"'O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, because we have
+sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and
+forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.'
+Daniel&nbsp;9.</p>
+<p>"'He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the
+lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom; and shall gently
+lead those that are with young. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
+speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is
+passed over from my God? Hast thou not <!--Page 397--><a name=
+"P397" id="P397"></a> known, hast thou not heard, that the
+everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no
+searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and
+to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths
+shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but
+they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
+mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;
+they shall walk, and not faint.' Isa. 40:11,&nbsp;etc.</p>
+<p>"'Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not
+the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk
+in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law. Therefore he
+hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of
+battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not;
+and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now thus saith
+the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O
+Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by
+thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I
+will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
+thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt;
+neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy
+God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. Since thou wast precious
+in my sight thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee.' Isa.
+42:24,&nbsp;etc.</p>
+<p>"Yes, my God, I remember and am confounded; amazed at my
+ingratitude, amazed at thy grace. I am thy witness, just so has
+been thy way with me. What can I say? Thou hast wrought with me for
+thy name's sake. I am dumb before thee; Oh, I am vile &mdash; and
+<!--Page 398--><a name="P398" id="P398"></a> yet I am thine!
+Thou hast redeemed me; it is thy good pleasure to save me. Glorify
+thy name. 'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy
+transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I
+have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it:
+shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye
+mountains, O forest and every green tree therein; for the Lord hath
+redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.'</p>
+<p>"'For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more
+they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
+righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus. Where sin
+abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto
+death, so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
+life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.'</p>
+<p>"'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for
+I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
+is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return,
+that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely
+shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even
+to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall
+be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified,
+and shall glory.' 'Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the
+remnant of the house of Israel. Even to your old age, I am he; and
+even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear;
+even I will carry, and will deliver you.' Isa.
+45:22;&nbsp;46:3.</p>
+<p>"'Thus saith the Lord; I, even I, will both search my sheep, and
+seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that
+he is among his sheep <!--Page 399--><a name="P399" id=
+"P399"></a> that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and
+will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
+in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the
+people, and gather them to their own land, and feed them upon the
+mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places
+of the country. And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon
+the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they
+lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the
+mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to
+lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and
+bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which
+was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.' Ezek. 34:11.
+He hath done it, I am his witness: I, the poor wanderer, the happy
+subject of this grace. 'And I will raise up for them a plant of
+renown,' my Jesus, 'and they shall be no 'more consumed with hunger
+in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus
+shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that
+they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God.
+And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your
+God, saith the Lord God.' Ezek. 34:29. 'As the mountains are round
+about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from
+henceforth, even for ever.' Psa.&nbsp;125:2.</p>
+<p>"'When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
+it by their own way and by their doings. And I scattered them among
+the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries;
+according to their ways and according to their doings I judged
+them. And when they entered unto the heathen,
+<!--Page 400--><a name="P400" id="P400"></a> whither they went,
+they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the
+people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had
+pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among
+the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of
+Israel, thus saith the Lord God: I do not this for your sakes, O
+house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have
+profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my
+great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have
+profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am
+the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you
+before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and
+gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own
+land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
+clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I
+cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
+will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
+your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
+Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
+shall keep my judgments, and do them. I will also save you from all
+your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase
+it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of
+the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no
+more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember
+your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
+loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for
+your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the
+<!--Page 401--><a name="P401" id="P401"></a> Lord God, be it
+known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O
+house of Israel.' Ezek. 36:17,&nbsp;etc."</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span><br />
+EZEKIEL 16:63; 36:32.</span> <span><br />
+A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B&mdash;&mdash;.</span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>"Not for your sakes; for, born unclean,<br /></span>
+<span>The slaves of Satan and of sin.<br /></span> <span>I saw no
+comeliness in you,<br /></span> <span>To bid my grace such wonders
+do.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your
+sakes; for when my love<br /></span> <span>And grace should your
+affections move,<br /></span> <span>The working of an evil
+heart<br /></span> <span>Still makes you from my truth
+depart.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your
+sakes; for, bold and blind,<br /></span> <span>To lust and avarice
+inclined,<br /></span> <span>Each shadowy idol you
+obey,<br /></span> <span>Disowning my paternal sway.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your sakes; with heaven in
+view,<br /></span> <span>For sin you sell your souls
+anew;<br /></span> <span>You barter, for a gilded
+bait,<br /></span> <span>The joys of an eternal state.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your sakes; for though you
+eyed<br /></span> <span>The cross of Christ on which he
+died,<br /></span> <span>You scorn his love for worldly
+ends,<br /></span> <span>And wound him in the house of
+friends.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your
+sakes; with Jesus' name,<br /></span> <span>You put him to an open
+shame;<br /></span> <span>And by your sins, consent
+again<br /></span> <span>To have the dear Redeemer
+slain.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for your
+sakes; 'tis my free grace<br /></span> <span>That grants you
+pardon, life, and peace;<br /></span> <span>And works a change on
+all your frame,<br /></span> <span>And binds you to adore my
+name.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 402--><a name="P402" id="P402"></a> <span>"Not for my
+sake! &mdash; I hail the sound;<br /></span> <span>Let power of
+grace my pride confound:<br /></span> <span>Salvation is a work
+divine;<br /></span> <span>Confusion and the shame be
+mine.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for my
+sake! &mdash; did I but trust<br /></span> <span>To weakness,
+vanity, and dust,<br /></span> <span>I ne'er could reach the
+heavenly prize,<br /></span> <span>Nor hope a mansion in the
+skies.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Not for my
+sake! &mdash; yet save and call;<br /></span> <span>Let Jesus be my
+all in all:<br /></span> <span>When glory comes I'll self
+disown,<br /></span> <span>And grace, free grace shall wear the
+crown."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p>"'Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is
+good: for his mercy endureth for ever.' Psalm&nbsp;106:1.</p>
+<p>"'Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy
+people: O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of
+thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that
+I may glory with thine inheritance.' Psalm 106:4,&nbsp;5.</p>
+<p>"'At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
+commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
+promise, having no hope, and without God in the world; but now, in
+Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the
+blood of Christ.' Eph. 2:12,&nbsp;13.</p>
+<p>"'Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt
+prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: to judge
+the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no
+more oppress.' Psalm&nbsp;10:17.</p>
+<p>"'Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led
+thee these forty years in the wilderness, <!--Page 403--><a name=
+"P403" id="P403"></a> to humble thee, to prove thee, to know
+what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments,
+or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
+thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
+know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread
+only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
+Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither
+did thy foot swell, these forty years.'</p>
+<p>"'Thou shalt also consider in thy heart, that as a man
+chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore
+thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in
+his ways, and to fear him.' Deut.&nbsp;8:2-6.</p>
+<p>"'Thou, God, seest me.' Gen.&nbsp;16:13.</p>
+<p>"'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
+Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
+of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
+in love: having predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus
+Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
+the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
+accepted in the Beloved; in whom we have redemption through his
+blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
+grace; wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and
+prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
+according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
+that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
+together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
+<!--Page 404--><a name="P404" id="P404"></a> heaven, and which
+are on earth; even in him, in whom also we have obtained an
+inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
+who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we
+should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.'
+Eph.&nbsp;1:3-12.</p>
+<p>"'God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
+loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
+together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us
+up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
+Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
+of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. For
+by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves,
+it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast; for
+we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
+which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now
+therefore ye,' Gentiles, 'are no more strangers and foreigners, but
+fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and
+are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
+Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the
+building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the
+Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God
+through the Spirit.' Eph. 2:4, etc. 'I,' Paul, 'bow my knees unto
+the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in
+heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the
+riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in
+the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that
+ye being rooted and grounded in love, may <!--Page 405--><a name=
+"P405" id="P405"></a> be able to comprehend with all saints,
+what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know
+the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
+filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do
+exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according
+to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by
+Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.'
+Eph.&nbsp;3:14-21.</p>
+<p>"'I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye
+walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all
+lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another
+in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
+peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
+one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
+and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
+all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the
+measure of the gift of Christ. That we may grow up into him in all
+things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body
+fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint
+supplieth' &mdash; ministers and people in the use of all appointed
+means &mdash; 'according to the effectual working in the measure of
+every part, maketh increase of the body to the edifying of itself
+in love.' Eph. 4:1, etc.</p>
+<p>"'I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and
+I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can
+do nothing.' John 15:5,&nbsp;7.</p>
+<p>"'And Moses said, The Lord heareth your murmurings that ye
+murmur against him; and what are we? your murmurings are not
+against us, but against the <!--Page 406--><a name="P406" id=
+"P406"></a> Lord. And Moses said, This is the bread which the
+Lord hath given you to eat. And the children of Israel did eat
+manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.'
+Exodus 16.</p>
+<p>"'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man
+eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I
+will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
+He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and
+I in him. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
+they are life.' John 6:51,&nbsp;etc.</p>
+<p>"'For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
+wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.'
+1&nbsp;Cor. 1:30.</p>
+<p>"'Seeing then that we have a great High-priest, who is passed
+into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
+profession. For we have not a High-priest who cannot be touched
+with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted
+like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto
+the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
+help in time of need.' Heb. 4:14. 'For this is the covenant that I
+will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
+Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
+hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a
+people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every
+man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from
+the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
+unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I
+remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made
+the first old. Now that <!--Page 407--><a name="P407" id=
+"P407"></a> which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
+away.' Heb. 8:10-13.</p>
+<p>"'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
+and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he
+that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.' 1&nbsp;John
+5:11,&nbsp;12. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.'
+2&nbsp;Cor. 9:15.</p>
+<p>"'Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation.
+He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. My soul, wait thou
+only upon God, for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock
+and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is
+my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge
+is in God.' Psa. 62:1-7."</p>
+<br />
+<hr />
+<h4>REST.</h4>
+<p>"'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished: and on the
+seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested the
+seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed
+the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had
+rested from all his work that he had created and made.' Genesis
+2:1-3.</p>
+<p>"'And Moses said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto
+the Lord. So the people rested on the seventh day.' Exodus 16:23,
+30.</p>
+<p>"'And the women followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and
+how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and
+ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the
+commandment.' Luke 23:55,&nbsp;56.</p>
+<!--Page 408--><a name="P408" id="P408"></a>
+<p>"Christ rested in the tomb of Joseph the last Sabbath under the
+law; but the evening and the morning were the first day. On that
+morning he closed his work of humiliation, manifested his victory
+over death &mdash; the curse denounced &mdash; by rising from the
+tomb, and rested on the first day of the week from all his
+humiliation work; his death, burial, and rest in the grave on the
+seventh day being the last part of that work."</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My God, thy service well
+demands<br /></span> <span class="i2">The remnant of my
+days:<br /></span> <span>Why is this feeble life
+preserved,<br /></span> <span class="i2">But to repeat thy
+praise?<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Thine arms of
+everlasting love<br /></span> <span class="i2">Do this weak frame
+sustain,<br /></span> <span>While life is hovering o'er the
+grave,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And nature sinks with
+pain.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Thou, when the
+pains of death assail,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Wilt chase the
+fears of hell,<br /></span> <span>And teach my pale and quivering
+lips<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thy matchless grace to
+tell.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Calmly I'll lay
+my fainting head<br /></span> <span class="i2">On thy dear faithful
+breast:<br /></span> <span>Pleased to obey my Father's
+call<br /></span> <span class="i2">To his eternal
+rest.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Into thy hands,
+my Saviour God,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Do I my soul
+resign,<br /></span> <span>In firm dependence on that
+truth<br /></span> <span class="i2">That made salvation
+mine."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 409--><a name="P409" id="P409"></a>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;THE INWARD
+WARFARE.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Strange and
+mysterious is my life;<br /></span> <span class="i2">What opposites
+I feel within:<br /></span> <span>A stable peace, a constant
+strife,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The rule of grace, the power
+of sin.<br /></span> <span class="i2">Too often I am captive
+led,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Yet daily triumph in my
+Head.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I prize the
+privilege of prayer;<br /></span> <span class="i2">But O, what
+backwardness to pray:<br /></span> <span>Though on the Lord I cast
+my care,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I feel its burden every
+day.<br /></span> <span class="i2">I seek his will in all I
+do,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Yet find my own is working
+too.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I call the
+promises mine own,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And prize them
+more than mines of gold;<br /></span> <span>Yet, though their
+sweetness I have known,<br /></span> <span class="i2">They leave me
+unimpressed and cold.<br /></span> <span class="i2">One hour upon
+the truth I feed;<br /></span> <span class="i2">The next, I know
+not what I read.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I
+love the holy day of rest,<br /></span> <span class="i2">When Jesus
+meets his gathered saints:<br /></span> <span>Sweet day, of all the
+week the best,<br /></span> <span class="i2">For its return my
+spirit pants;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Yet often, through my
+unbelief,<br /></span> <span class="i2">It proves a day of guilt
+and grief.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"While on
+my Saviour I rely,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I know my foes
+shall lose their aim;<br /></span> <span>And therefore dare their
+power defy,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Assured of conquest
+through his name;<br /></span> <span class="i2">But soon my
+confidence is slain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all my fears
+return again.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 410--><a name="P410" id="P410"></a> <span>"Thus
+different powers within me strive,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">And death and sin by turns prevail.<br /></span> <span>I
+grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And
+victory hangs in doubtful scale;<br /></span> <span class="i2">But
+Jesus has his promise passed,<br /></span> <span class="i2">That
+grace shall overcome at last."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;FLESH AND
+SPIRIT.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"What
+different powers of grace and sin<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Attend our mortal state:<br /></span> <span>I hate the
+thoughts that work within,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Yet do the
+works I hate.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Now I
+complain, and groan, and die,<br /></span> <span class="i2">While
+sin and Satan reign;<br /></span> <span>Now raise my songs of
+triumph high,<br /></span> <span class="i2">For grace prevails
+again.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"So darkness
+struggles with the light,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Till
+perfect day arise;<br /></span> <span>Water and fire maintain the
+fight,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Until the weaker
+dies.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Thus will the
+flesh and spirit strive,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And vex and
+break my peace;<br /></span> <span>But I shall quit this mortal
+life,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And sin for ever
+cease."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Join all the names of love and
+power<br /></span> <span>That ever men or angels bore;<br /></span>
+<span>All are too mean to speak his worth,<br /></span> <span>Or
+set Emmanuel's glory forth.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>"But O, what condescending ways<br /></span> <span>He takes
+to teach his heavenly grace:<br /></span> <span>Mine eyes, with joy
+and wonder, see<br /></span> <span>What forms of love he bears for
+me.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 411--><a name=
+"P411" id="P411"></a> <span>"The Angel of the covenant
+stands,<br /></span> <span>With his commission in his
+hands;<br /></span> <span>Sent from his Father's milder
+throne,<br /></span> <span>To make his great salvation
+known.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Great Prophet,
+let me bless thy name;<br /></span> <span>By thee the joyful
+tidings came,<br /></span> <span>Of wrath appeased and sins
+forgiven,<br /></span> <span>Of hell subdued, and peace with
+heaven.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My bright
+Example, and my Guide,<br /></span> <span>I would be walking by thy
+side;<br /></span> <span>Oh, let me never run astray,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor follow the forbidden way.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I love my Shepherd, he shall
+keep<br /></span> <span>My wandering soul among his
+sheep;<br /></span> <span>He feeds his flock, he tells their
+names,<br /></span> <span>And in his bosom bears the
+lambs.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My Surety
+undertakes my cause,<br /></span> <span>Answering his Father's
+broken laws:<br /></span> <span>Behold my soul at freedom
+set,<br /></span> <span>My Surety paid the dreadful
+debt.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, my great
+High-priest, has died,<br /></span> <span>I seek no sacrifice
+beside;<br /></span> <span>His blood did once for all
+atone,<br /></span> <span>And now it pleads before the
+throne.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My Advocate
+appears on high,<br /></span> <span>The Father lays his thunders
+by;<br /></span> <span>Not all that earth or hell can
+say,<br /></span> <span>Shall turn my Father's heart
+away.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My Lord, my
+Conqueror, and my King,<br /></span> <span>Thy sceptre and thy
+sword I sing;<br /></span> <span>Thine is the victory, and I
+sit<br /></span> <span>A joyful subject at thy feet.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 412--><a name="P412" id=
+"P412"></a> <span>"Aspire, my soul, to glorious
+deeds,<br /></span> <span>The Captain of salvation
+leads;<br /></span> <span>March on, nor fear to win the
+day,<br /></span> <span>Though death and hell obstruct thy
+way.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Though death and
+hell, and powers unknown,<br /></span> <span>Put all their forms of
+mischief on,<br /></span> <span>I shall be safe, for Christ
+displays<br /></span> <span>Salvation in more sovereign
+ways."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Be this my one great business
+here,<br /></span> <span>With holy trembling, holy
+fear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To make my calling
+sure;<br /></span> <span>Thine utmost counsel to
+fulfil,<br /></span> <span>And suffer all thy righteous
+will,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And to the end
+endure.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Then,
+Saviour, then my soul receive,<br /></span> <span>Transported from
+this vale, to live,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And reign with
+thee above:<br /></span> <span>Where faith is sweetly lost in
+sight,<br /></span> <span>And hope in full supreme
+delight,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And everlasting
+love."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span class="i2">"Hush, my distrustful
+heart,<br /></span> <span class="i3">And cease to flow, my
+tears;<br /></span> <span class="i2">For greater, Lord, thou
+art<br /></span> <span class="i3">Than all my doubts and
+fears.<br /></span> <span>Did Jesus once upon me
+shine?<br /></span> <span>Then Jesus is for ever mine.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span class="i2">"Unchangeable his
+will,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Whatever be my
+frame:<br /></span> <span class="i2">My Saviour's heart is
+still<br /></span> <span class="i3">Eternally the
+same.<br /></span> <span>My soul through many changes
+goes,<br /></span> <span>His love no variation knows.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 413--><a name="P413" id=
+"P413"></a> <span class="i2">"Thou, Lord, wilt carry
+on,<br /></span> <span class="i3">And perfectly
+perform,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The work thou hast
+begun<br /></span> <span class="i3">In me, vile sinful
+worm.<br /></span> <span>Mine own self-will brings grief and
+woe,<br /></span> <span>But Jesus will not let me go.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span class="i2">"The bowels of thy
+grace,<br /></span> <span class="i3">At first did freely
+move;<br /></span> <span class="i2">And still I see thy
+face,<br /></span> <span class="i3">And feel that God is
+love.<br /></span> <span>Into thine arms my soul I
+cast;<br /></span> <span>By sovereign mercy saved at
+last.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span class="i2">"The
+Priest and Ark now move<br /></span> <span class="i3">To Jordan's
+gulfy strand;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Come now in covenant
+love,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Take firm thy promised
+stand:<br /></span> <span>Only to me thy countenance
+show,<br /></span> <span>I ask no more the Jordan
+through."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Come, let us join our cheerful
+songs<br /></span> <span class="i2">With angels round the
+throne;<br /></span> <span>Ten thousand thousand are their
+tongues,<br /></span> <span class="i2">But all their joys are
+one.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Worthy the Lamb
+that died, they cry,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To be exalted
+thus;<br /></span> <span>Worthy the Lamb, our souls
+reply,<br /></span> <span class="i2">For he was slain for
+us.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus is worthy
+to receive<br /></span> <span class="i2">Honor and power
+divine;<br /></span> <span>And blessings, more than we can
+give,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Be, Lord, for ever
+thine.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 414--><a name="P414" id="P414"></a> <span>"The whole
+creation join in one,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To bless the
+sacred name<br /></span> <span>Of Him that sits upon the
+throne,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And to adore the
+Lamb."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Give me the wings of faith, to
+rise<br /></span> <span class="i2">Within the veil, and
+see<br /></span> <span>The saints above, how great their
+joys,<br /></span> <span class="i2">How bright their glories
+be.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Once they were
+mourners here below,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And wet their
+couch with tears;<br /></span> <span>They wrestled hard, as we do
+now,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With sins, and doubts, and
+fears.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I ask them
+whence their victory came:<br /></span> <span class="i2">They, with
+united breath,<br /></span> <span>Ascribe their conquest to the
+Lamb,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Their triumph to his
+death.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"They marked
+the footsteps that he trod;<br /></span> <span class="i2">His zeal
+inspired their breast;<br /></span> <span>And following their
+incarnate God,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Possessed the promised
+rest.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Our glorious
+Leader claims our praise,<br /></span> <span class="i2">For his own
+pattern given;<br /></span> <span>While the long cloud of
+witnesses<br /></span> <span class="i2">Show the same path to
+heaven."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"With heart and hands, and lifted
+eyes,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I'll praise thee while I've
+life and breath;<br /></span> <span>And, while my loosened spirit
+flies,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I'll gasp thy praise in very
+death.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 415--><a name="P415" id="P415"></a> <span>"Faith fain
+would say, in cheerful mood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thy name
+be glorified,<br /></span> <span>By leading through the swelling
+flood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Or through the channel
+dried.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"If grace in
+time of need I have,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And strength as
+is my day,<br /></span> <span>I'll triumph through the foaming
+wave,<br /></span> <span class="i2">As through the side-walled
+way."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I'll praise my Maker while I've
+breath;<br /></span> <span>And when my voice is lost in
+death,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Praise shall employ my noblest
+powers;<br /></span> <span>My days of praise shall ne'er be
+past,<br /></span> <span>"While life and thought and being
+last.<br /></span> <span class="i2">And immortality
+endures."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My God, indulge my humble
+claim;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thou art my hope, my joy, my
+rest;<br /></span> <span>The glories that compose thy
+name<br /></span> <span class="i2">Stand all engaged to make me
+blest.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Thou great and
+good, thou just and wise,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thou art my
+Father and my God;<br /></span> <span>And I am thine by sacred
+ties,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thy child, thy servant, bought
+with blood.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"With
+heart, and eyes, and lifted hands,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">For thee I long, to thee I look;<br /></span> <span>As
+travellers in thirsty lands<br /></span> <span class="i2">Pant for
+the cooling water-brook."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, the weary wanderer's
+rest,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Give grace thy sovereign will
+to bear;<br /></span> <span>With steadfast patience arm my
+breast,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With holy love and lowly
+fear.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 416--><a name="P416" id="P416"></a> <span>"Thankful, I
+take the cup from thee,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Prepared and
+mingled by thy skill;<br /></span> <span>Though bitter to the taste
+it be,<br /></span> <span class="i2">It has a sovereign power to
+heal.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Be thou a Rock
+of ages nigh;<br /></span> <span class="i2">My sav&eacute;d soul on
+thee alone<br /></span> <span>Shall safely rest, and fears shall
+fly,<br /></span> <span class="i2">As clouds before the mid-day
+sun.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Speak to my
+troubled conscience peace;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Say to my
+trembling heart, Be still;<br /></span> <span>My power thy strength
+and fortress is.<br /></span> <span class="i2">Amen, to all thy
+sovereign will.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"O
+Death, where is thy sting? where now<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Thy boasted victory, O grave?<br /></span> <span>Who shall
+contend with God, or who<br /></span> <span class="i2">Condemn whom
+he delights to save."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"How sweet the name of Jesus
+sounds<br /></span> <span class="i2">In a believer's
+ear:<br /></span> <span>It soothes his sorrows, heals his
+wounds,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And drives away his
+fear.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"It makes the
+wounded spirit whole,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And calms the
+troubled breast;<br /></span> <span>'Tis manna to the hungry
+soul,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And to the weary,
+rest.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Dear Name, the
+Rock on which I build,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My Shield and
+Hiding-place;<br /></span> <span>My never failing Treasury,
+filled<br /></span> <span class="i2">With boundless stores of
+grace:<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, my
+Shepherd, Husband, Friend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My
+Prophet, Priest, and King,<br /></span> <span>My Lord, my Life, my
+Way, my End,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Accept the praise I
+bring.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 417--><a name="P417" id="P417"></a> <span>"Weak is the
+effort of my heart,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And cold my
+warmest thought;<br /></span> <span>But when I see thee as thou
+art,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I'll praise thee as I
+ought.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Till then I
+would thy love proclaim<br /></span> <span class="i2">With every
+fleeting breath;<br /></span> <span>And may the music of thy
+name<br /></span> <span class="i2">Refresh my soul in
+death."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Amazing grace! how sweet the
+sound<br /></span> <span class="i2">That saved a wretch like
+me:<br /></span> <span>I once was lost, but now am
+found;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Was blind, but now I
+see.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"'Twas grace that
+taught my heart to fear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And grace my
+fears relieved:<br /></span> <span>How precious did that grace
+appear<br /></span> <span class="i2">The hour I first
+believed.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Through
+many dangers, toils, and snares,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Already I have come:<br /></span> <span>'Twas grace that
+brought me safe thus far,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And grace
+will lead me home.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>"Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And mortal life shall cease,<br /></span> <span>I
+shall possess, within the veil,<br /></span> <span class="i2">A
+life of joy and peace."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>A swelling Jordan rolls between &mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A timid pilgrim, I;<br /></span> <span>But grace
+shall order all the scene,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And Christ
+himself be nigh.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>He
+shall roll back the foaming wave,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Command the channel dry;<br /></span> <span>No sting has
+death, no victory grave?<br /></span> <span class="i2">With Jesus
+in my eye.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 418--><a name="P418" id="P418"></a> <span>"Come, thou
+Fount of every blessing,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Tune my
+heart to sing thy grace;<br /></span> <span>Streams of mercy, never
+ceasing,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Call for songs of endless
+praise.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Teach me some
+melodious sonnet,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Sung by flaming
+tongues above;<br /></span> <span>Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
+it &mdash;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Mount of God's unchanging
+love.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Here I raise my
+Ebenezer,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Hither by thy help I'm
+come,<br /></span> <span>And I hope, by thy good
+pleasure,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Safely to arrive at
+home.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus sought me
+when a stranger,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Wandering from the
+fold of God;<br /></span> <span>He, to save my soul from
+danger,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Interposed with precious
+blood.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Oh, to grace
+how great a debtor<br /></span> <span class="i2">Daily I'm
+constrained to be:<br /></span> <span>Let that grace, Lord, like a
+fetter,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Bind my wandering heart to
+thee.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Prone to
+wander, Lord, I feel it,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Prone to
+leave the God I love;<br /></span> <span>Here's my heart, O take
+and seal it,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Seal it from thy courts
+above."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Eternal God, I bless thy
+name,<br /></span> <span>The same thy power, thy grace the
+same;<br /></span> <span>The tokens of thy friendly
+care<br /></span> <span>Open and crown and close the
+year.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>I mid ten
+thousand dangers stand,<br /></span> <span>Supported by thy
+gracious hand;<br /></span> <span>And see, when I survey thy
+ways,<br /></span> <span>Ten thousand monuments of
+grace.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 419--><a name="P419" id="P419"></a> <span>Thus far
+thine arm has led me on;<br /></span> <span>Thus far I make thy
+mercy known;<br /></span> <span>And while I tread this desert
+land,<br /></span> <span>New mercies shall new songs
+demand.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>My grateful
+soul on Jordan's shore<br /></span> <span>Shall raise one sacred
+pillar more;<br /></span> <span>Then bear, in thy bright courts
+above,<br /></span> <span>Inscriptions of immortal
+love.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>No works to rest upon have
+I,<br /></span> <span>No boast of moral dignity;<br /></span>
+<span>If e'er I lisp a song of praise,<br /></span> <span>Grace is
+the note my soul shall raise.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>'Twas grace that quickened me when
+dead;<br /></span> <span>'Twas grace my soul to Jesus
+led,<br /></span> <span>Grace brings me pardon for my
+sin,<br /></span> <span>And grace subdues my lusts
+within.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>'Tis grace
+that sweetens every cross,<br /></span> <span>'Tis grace supports
+in every loss;<br /></span> <span>In Jesus' grace my soul is
+strong,<br /></span> <span>Grace is my hope, and Christ my
+song.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Thus, 'tis alone
+of grace I boast,<br /></span> <span>And 'tis alone in grace I
+trust:<br /></span> <span>For all that's past, grace is my
+theme,<br /></span> <span>For what's to come 'tis still the
+same.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And when I come
+to Jordan's shore,<br /></span> <span>I'll raise one Ebenezer
+more;<br /></span> <span>Th' ark of the covenant in my
+view,<br /></span> <span>I'll sing of grace the Jordan
+through.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Is this the kind
+return,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Are these the thanks we owe
+&mdash;<br /></span> <span>Thus to abuse eternal love,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whence all our blessings flow?<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 420--><a name="P420" id=
+"P420"></a> <span>"To what a stubborn frame<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Has sin reduced our mind!<br /></span> <span>What
+strange rebellious wretches we,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And
+God as strangely kind!<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>"Turn, turn us, mighty God!<br /></span> <span class="i2">And
+mould our souls afresh;<br /></span> <span>Break, sovereign grace,
+these hearts of stone,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And give us
+hearts of flesh.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Let
+past ingratitude<br /></span> <span class="i2">Provoke our weeping
+eyes;<br /></span> <span>And hourly, as new mercies
+fall,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Let hourly thanks
+arise."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"O the sweet wonders of that
+cross,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Where Christ my Saviour loved
+and died;<br /></span> <span>Her noblest life my spirit
+draws,<br /></span> <span class="i2">From his dear wounds and
+bleeding side.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I
+would for ever speak his name,<br /></span> <span class="i2">In
+sounds to mortal ears unknown;<br /></span> <span>With angels join
+to praise the Lamb,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And worship at
+his Father's throne."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, the vision of thy
+face<br /></span> <span class="i2">Hath overpowering
+charms;<br /></span> <span>Scarce shall I feel death's cold
+embrace,<br /></span> <span class="i2">If Christ be in my
+arms."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"O glorious hour! O blest
+abode!<br /></span> <span class="i2">I shall be near and like my
+God;<br /></span> <span>And flesh and sin no more
+control<br /></span> <span class="i2">The sacred pleasures of my
+soul."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 421--><a name="P421" id="P421"></a> <span>"When in
+death's gloomy vale I tread,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With joy
+e'en there I'll lift my head;<br /></span> <span>From fear and
+dread he'll keep me free,<br /></span> <span class="i2">His rod and
+staff shall comfort me."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, to thy dear faithful
+hand<br /></span> <span class="i2">My naked soul I
+trust;<br /></span> <span>My flesh but waits for thy
+command,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To drop into the
+dust."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Before we quite forsake our
+clay,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Or leave this dark
+abode,<br /></span> <span>The wings of love bear us
+away<br /></span> <span class="i2">To see our smiling
+God."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"O make it true, my Saviour
+God;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Raise me all fears
+above;<br /></span> <span>And when I think on Jesus'
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Let my last pulse beat
+love."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"O for an overcoming
+faith,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To cheer my dying
+hours;<br /></span> <span>To triumph o'er the monster
+Death,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all his frightful
+powers.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Joyful, with
+all the strength I have,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My quivering
+lips should sing,<br /></span> <span>'Where is thy boasted victory,
+Grave,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And where the monster's
+sting?'<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"If sin be
+pardoned, I'm secure;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Death has no
+sting beside;<br /></span> <span>The law gives sin its damning
+power,<br /></span> <span class="i2">But Christ, my Ransom,
+died.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 422--><a name="P422" id="P422"></a> <span>"Now to the
+God of victory,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Immortal thanks be
+paid;<br /></span> <span>Who makes us conquerors while we
+die,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Through Christ, our living
+Head."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>All mortal vanities be
+gone,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Nor tempt mine eyes, nor tire
+mine ears;<br /></span> <span>Behold, amidst the eternal
+throne,<br /></span> <span class="i2">A vision of the Lamb
+appears.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>All the
+assembling saints around,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Fall
+worshipping before the Lamb;<br /></span> <span>And in new songs of
+gospel sound,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Address their honors to
+his name.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Our voices
+join the heavenly strain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And with
+transporting pleasure sing,<br /></span> <span>Worthy the Lamb that
+once was slain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Our blessed Prophet,
+Priest, and King.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Thou
+hast redeemed our souls from hell,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">With thine invaluable blood;<br /></span> <span>And wretches,
+that did once rebel,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Are now made
+fav'rites of their God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>Worthy for ever is the Lord,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">That died for treasons not his own,<br /></span> <span>By
+every tongue to be adored,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And dwell
+upon his Father's throne.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;THE NEW TESTAMENT
+IN</span> <span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.</span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"The promise of my Father's
+love,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Shall stand for ever
+good;<br /></span> <span>He said, and gave his soul to
+death,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And sealed it with his
+blood.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 423--><a name="P423" id="P423"></a> <span>"To this dear
+covenant of thy word,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I set my
+worthless name;<br /></span> <span>I seal the engagement of the
+Lord,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And make my humble
+claim.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"The light, and
+strength, and pardoning grace,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And
+glory shall be mine;<br /></span> <span>My life and soul, my heart
+and flesh,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all my powers are
+thine.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I call that
+legacy mine own,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Which Jesus did
+bequeath;<br /></span> <span>'Twas purchased with a dying
+groan,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And ratified in
+death.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Sweet is the
+memory of His name,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Who blessed us in
+his will:<br /></span> <span>And to his testament of
+love<br /></span> <span class="i2">Made his own life the
+seal.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"To him that
+washed me in his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Be
+everlasting praise;<br /></span> <span>Salvation, honor, glory,
+power,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Eternal as his
+days."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Blest be the Father, and his
+love,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To which celestial source we
+owe<br /></span> <span>Rivers of endless joys above,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And rills of comfort here below.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Glory to the great Son of
+God;<br /></span> <span class="i2">From his dear wounded body
+rolls<br /></span> <span>A precious stream of vital
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Pardon and life for dying
+souls.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"We give thee,
+sacred Spirit, praise,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Who in our
+hearts of sin and woe<br /></span> <span>Mak'st living springs of
+grace arise,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And into boundless glory
+flow.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 424--><a name="P424" id="P424"></a> <span>"Thus God the
+Father, God the Son,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And God the
+Spirit, we adore;<br /></span> <span>The sea of life and love
+unknown,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Without a bottom or a
+shore."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Let me but hear my Saviour
+say,<br /></span> <span>Strength shall be equal to thy
+day;<br /></span> <span>Then I rejoice in deep
+distress,<br /></span> <span>Leaning on all-sufficient
+grace.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I glory in
+infirmity,<br /></span> <span>That Christ's own power may rest on
+me:<br /></span> <span>When I am weak, then am I
+strong;<br /></span> <span>Grace is my shield, and Christ my
+song.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I can do all
+things, or can bear<br /></span> <span>All sufferings, if my Lord
+be there;<br /></span> <span>Sweet pleasures mingle with the
+pains,<br /></span> <span>While his strong hand my head
+sustains.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Faith has
+an overcoming power,<br /></span> <span>It triumphs in the dying
+hour;<br /></span> <span>Christ is our life, our joy, our
+hope,<br /></span> <span>Nor can we sink with such a
+prop."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Jesus, I love thy charming
+name,<br /></span> <span class="i2">'Tis music to mine
+ear;<br /></span> <span>Fain would I sound it out so
+loud<br /></span> <span class="i2">That heaven and earth should
+hear.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Yes, thou art
+precious to my soul,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My transport and
+my trust;<br /></span> <span>My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband,
+Friend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">No other good I
+boast.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"All my
+capacious powers can wish,<br /></span> <span class="i2">In thee
+doth richly meet;<br /></span> <span>Not to mine eye is light so
+dear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Nor friendship half so
+sweet.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 425--><a name="P425" id="P425"></a> <span>"Thy grace
+still dwells upon my heart,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And sheds
+its fragrance there:<br /></span> <span>The noblest balm of all my
+wounds,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The cordial of my
+care.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"I'll speak the
+honors of thy name<br /></span> <span class="i2">With my last
+faltering breath;<br /></span> <span>Then speechless clasp thee in
+my arms,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The antidote of
+death."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Grace, 'tis a charming
+sound,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Harmonious to my
+ear;<br /></span> <span>Heaven with the echo shall
+resound,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all the earth shall
+hear.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Grace first
+contrived the way<br /></span> <span class="i2">To save rebellious
+man;<br /></span> <span>And all the steps <i>that</i> grace
+display,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Which drew the wondrous
+plan.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Grace taught my
+wandering feet<br /></span> <span class="i2">To tread the heavenly
+road;<br /></span> <span>And new supplies each hour I
+meet,<br /></span> <span class="i2">While pressing on to
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Grace all the
+work shall crown,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Through everlasting
+days;<br /></span> <span>It lays in heaven the topmost
+stone,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And well deserves the
+praise."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My God, the spring of all my
+joys,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The life of my
+delights,<br /></span> <span>The glory of my brightest
+days,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And comfort of my
+nights:<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"In darkest
+shades, if thou appear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My dawning is
+begun;<br /></span> <span>Thou art my soul's sweet
+Morning-star,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And thou my rising
+Sun.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 426--><a name=
+"P426" id="P426"></a> <span>"The opening heavens around me
+shine<br /></span> <span class="i2">With beams of sacred
+bliss,<br /></span> <span>While Jesus shows his heart is
+mine,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And whispers I am
+his.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"My soul would
+leave this heavy clay,<br /></span> <span class="i2">At that
+transporting word;<br /></span> <span>Run up with joy the shining
+way,<br /></span> <span class="i2">T' embrace my dearest
+Lord.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Fearless of
+hell and ghastly death,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I'd break
+through every foe;<br /></span> <span>The wings of love, and arms
+of faith,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Should bear me conqueror
+through."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Backward with humble shame I
+look,<br /></span> <span class="i2">On my original;<br /></span>
+<span>How is my nature dashed and broke,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">In our first father's fall.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"To all that's good averse and
+blind,<br /></span> <span class="i2">But prone to all that's
+ill;<br /></span> <span>What dreadful darkness veils my
+mind,<br /></span> <span class="i2">How obstinate my
+will.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Conceived in
+sin: O wretched state;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Before I drew
+my breath,<br /></span> <span>My first young pulse began to
+beat<br /></span> <span class="i2">Iniquity and death.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"How strong in my degenerate
+blood<br /></span> <span class="i2">The old corruption
+reigns;<br /></span> <span>And mingling with the crooked
+flood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Wanders through all my
+veins.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Yet, mighty
+God, thy wondrous love<br /></span> <span class="i2">Can make my
+nature clean;<br /></span> <span>While Christ and grace prevail
+above<br /></span> <span class="i2">The tempter, death, and
+sin.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 427--><a name=
+"P427" id="P427"></a> <span>"The second Adam shall
+restore<br /></span> <span class="i2">The ruins of the
+first;<br /></span> <span>Hosanna to that sovereign
+power,<br /></span> <span class="i2">That new-creates our
+dust."<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;JORDAN.*<br /></span>
+<span>Joshua 1:11, chapter 3; Psalm 23:4; 73:24.<br /></span>
+<p class="note">*The three following effusions by Mrs. Graham,
+constituting a part of her "Provision," were found in a separate
+paper after her funeral sermon was preached. The hymn of Newton
+which she had annexed to the first, was selected by Dr. Mason and
+sung on that occasion; and the circumstances described at the
+beginning of the third, page 434, occurred at her death, as
+narrated in the memoir, though the existence of this paper was then
+unknown.</p>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The solemn hour, my soul, draws
+near,<br /></span> <span>The holy ark and priests
+appear;<br /></span> <span>They forward move to Jordan's
+flood,<br /></span> <span>The type, thou knowest, thy covenant
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The signal too to
+thee is known;<br /></span> <span>Obey, remove, and follow
+on;<br /></span> <span>The ark appears, thy hallowed
+guide;<br /></span> <span>Shrink not, but face the rolling
+tide.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The waves toss
+high their foaming heads,<br /></span> <span>But can'st thou
+perish? Jesus leads.<br /></span> <span>This way before I ne'er did
+pass,<br /></span> <span>But Jesus thy forerunner has.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>When all its banks it
+overflowed,<br /></span> <span>All nature wrapt in midnight
+cloud;<br /></span> <span>While darkness held its awful
+power,<br /></span> <span>And all God's billows passed him
+o'er.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The waves for
+him must not divide,<br /></span> <span>Deep calls to deep on every
+side;<br /></span> <span>Around his head the surges
+roll,<br /></span> <span>And rush into his inmost
+soul.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 428--><a name="P428" id="P428"></a> <span>He was the
+sufferer in my stead,<br /></span> <span>The curse for sin lay on
+his head;<br /></span> <span>The law's demands came like a
+flood,<br /></span> <span>My Surety met them with his
+blood.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Till every
+tittle had been paid,<br /></span> <span>Till due atonement had
+been made,<br /></span> <span>No beam appeared of heavenly
+grace,<br /></span> <span>A cloud concealed his Father's
+face.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>From brim to
+bottom he drank up<br /></span> <span>Of wrath the deep mysterious
+cup;<br /></span> <span>This Jordan passed, he rose on
+high,<br /></span> <span>And captive led captivity.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Justice now fully
+satisfied,<br /></span> <span>The law now honored,
+magnified,<br /></span> <span>At God's right hand he takes his
+place,<br /></span> <span>Executor of covenant grace.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Crowned by Jehovah's firm
+decree<br /></span> <span>With universal sovereignty,<br /></span>
+<span>All nature owns his powerful sway &mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>He speaks, the elements obey.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The emblem then thou may'st
+pursue,<br /></span> <span>And safely pass this Jordan
+through;<br /></span> <span>The priests but touch the watery
+space,<br /></span> <span>When, lo, the floods desert their
+place.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>They gather up
+upon a heap,<br /></span> <span>Leave dry the channel of the
+deep;<br /></span> <span>The ark and priests there take their
+stand,<br /></span> <span>And beckon thee to leave the
+land.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>I come, my best
+Beloved, I come;<br /></span> <span>Now lead me to our Father's
+home;<br /></span> <span>On thy dear person fix mine
+eye,<br /></span> <span>And faith firm footing shall
+supply.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 429--><a name="P429" id="P429"></a> <span>I fear no ill
+while thou art near;<br /></span> <span>But let thy voice salute my
+ear,<br /></span> <span>Should spirits faint and 'scape the
+sigh,<br /></span> <span>With these sweet words, "Fear not; 'tis
+I."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>With courage fresh
+my soul shall tread<br /></span> <span>On faith's firm ground where
+thou dost lead;<br /></span> <span>While still upon thy gracious
+face<br /></span> <span>My steady eye maintains its
+place.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And now, my
+Joshua, choose, and lay<br /></span> <span>The stones in Jordan's
+middle way;<br /></span> <span>Let them o'ertop the flowing
+wave,<br /></span> <span>Memorial of thy power to
+save.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>For, once a suit
+I did prefer,<br /></span> <span>With feeble hope and trembling
+fear,<br /></span> <span>That I might have a Pisgah
+view,<br /></span> <span>In Jordan's swells, of Canaan
+new.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Thy softened
+glory let me see,<br /></span> <span>Then cause thy face to shine
+on me;<br /></span> <span>And tune my heart, and tune my
+voice,<br /></span> <span>And language furnish to
+rejoice.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>That all
+around may lend their tongue,<br /></span> <span>And sweetly join
+my dying song;<br /></span> <span>Then, Newton, saved by grace like
+me,<br /></span> <span>We'll sing of sovereign grace with
+thee.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>*"Let us love, and sing, and
+wonder,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Let us praise the Saviour's
+name;<br /></span> <span>He has hushed the law's loud
+thunder,<br /></span> <span class="i2">He has quenched mount
+Sinai's flame;<br /></span> <span class="i3">He has washed us in
+his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">He has brought us nigh to
+God.<br /></span>
+<p class="note">*Olney Hymns, 82, book 3.</p>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <!--Page 430--><a name="P430" id=
+"P430"></a> <span>"Let us love the Lord who bought
+us,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Pitied us when
+enemies;<br /></span> <span>Called us by his grace, and taught
+us;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Gave us ears, and gave us
+eyes:<br /></span> <span class="i3">He has wafted us in his
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">He presents our souls to
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Let us sing,
+though strong temptation<br /></span> <span class="i2">Threaten
+hard to bear us down:<br /></span> <span>For the Lord, our strong
+salvation,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Holds in view the
+conqueror's crown,<br /></span> <span class="i3">He who washed us
+in his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Soon shall bring us
+home to God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Let us
+wonder, grace and justice<br /></span> <span class="i2">Join and
+point to mercy's store;<br /></span> <span>When through grace, in
+Christ our trust is,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Justice smiles,
+and asks no more.<br /></span> <span class="i3">He who washed us in
+his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Has secured our way to
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Let us praise,
+and join the chorus<br /></span> <span class="i2">Of the saints
+enthroned on high;<br /></span> <span>Here they trusted him before
+us,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Now their praises fill the
+sky.<br /></span> <span class="i3">Thou hast washed us in thy
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Thou art worthy, Lamb of
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Hark, the name
+of Jesus sounded<br /></span> <span class="i2">Loud from golden
+harps above;<br /></span> <span>On that rock our hopes are
+founded;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Sovereign grace, and
+sovereign love.<br /></span> <span class="i3">We shall conquer
+through his blood,<br /></span> <span class="i3">Kings and priests
+be made to God."<br /></span> <span class=
+"i4">&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;NEWTON.<br />
+</span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 431--><a name="P431" id="P431"></a>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;HEAVEN.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>To be where thou my Saviour
+art,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To see, and be conformed to
+thee,<br /></span> <span>Perfect in holiness this
+heart;<br /></span> <span class="i2"><i>This; this</i> is heaven
+itself to me.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>To see
+thee in thy glory, Lord,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Thy Father's
+glory and thy own;<br /></span> <span>The eternal, the incarnate
+Word,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Adored upon his Father's
+throne.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>To see as
+seen, to know as known,<br /></span> <span class="i2">My Saviour in
+my flesh and blood;<br /></span> <span>To be made like him, with
+him one,<br /></span> <span class="i2">I in him, and he in
+God.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The holy, holy,
+holy One,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Who was, and is, and is to
+come,<br /></span> <span>The earth his footstool, heaven his
+throne,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The church his bride, he her
+Bridegroom.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Angels and
+elders, earth and heaven,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Are
+summoned to unseal the book;<br /></span> <span>But silent all, no
+answer given,<br /></span> <span class="i2">None worthy found
+therein to look.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>But
+Judah's Lion, David's Son,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And
+David's Root, the great I AM,<br /></span> <span>Appears upon his
+Father's throne,<br /></span> <span class="i2">As slain for
+sacrifice, the Lamb.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>He takes the book he can unseal;<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">He worthy is, and he has power<br /></span> <span>God's secret
+counsels to reveal,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And to fulfil
+each in its hour.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The
+heavenly host united fall<br /></span> <span class="i2">In humble
+worship at his feet;<br /></span> <span>One glorious theme inspires
+them all,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The joy is full, the
+concert sweet.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 432--><a name="P432" id="P432"></a> <span>New odors to
+the throne ascend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">In accents new
+their praises soar;<br /></span> <span>Each finds in each a glowing
+friend,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all the God of all
+adore.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And shall I
+join that prostrate throng,<br /></span> <span class="i2">In love's
+ecstatic heaven-taught lays,<br /></span> <span>With powers
+expanded, that new song<br /></span> <span class="i2">Hymn to the
+Lamb's exalted praise?<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>"Worthy art thou to take the book,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">And loose the seals, and read therein,<br /></span>
+<span>God's holy mysteries to unlock;<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Worthy art thou, for thou wast slain.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Thou hast redeemed us with thy
+blood,<br /></span> <span class="i2">From every nation of the
+earth;<br /></span> <span>And made us kings and priests to
+God,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And sharers of a heavenly
+birth."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Myriads of
+angels stand around,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Uniting in the
+loud acclaim;<br /></span> <span>And fill the temple with the
+sound<br /></span> <span class="i2">Of our Redeemer's gentle
+name.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>"Worthy the Lamb
+that once was slain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">A sacrifice for
+every sin,<br /></span> <span>All power and glory to
+obtain,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And universal empire
+win."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Heaven, earth,
+and sea shall swell the tone<br /></span> <span class="i2">Of
+fervent universal praise;<br /></span> <span>And grateful joy
+around the throne,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Its voice from age
+to age shall raise.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>In
+all these myriads, is there one<br /></span> <span class="i2">Who
+had on earth so much forgiven?<br /></span> <span>And shall I reach
+their highest tone<br /></span> <span class="i2">Of love to Jesus?
+THIS IS HEAVEN.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 433--><a name="P433" id="P433"></a> <span>And when this
+breast to heave shall cease,<br /></span> <span>And heart and lungs
+are hushed to peace,<br /></span> <span>Some friendly hand the
+eyelids close,<br /></span> <span>And leave the clay to short
+repose.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Still on your
+knees be thanks expressed,<br /></span> <span>According as the Lord
+has blessed;<br /></span> <span>This tongue, then mute, can now
+foretell<br /></span> <span>Jesus shall have done all things
+well.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Should the great
+Sovereign will it so,<br /></span> <span>That I in secret with him
+go,<br /></span> <span>'T will be enough that He stands
+by,<br /></span> <span>He all my wants will well
+supply.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Upon his dear,
+his faithful breast,<br /></span> <span>My heart and head shall
+safely rest;<br /></span> <span>The fluttering pulse and bursting
+sigh,<br /></span> <span>He'll soothe with, "Fear not; it is
+I."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Into his hands my
+spirit I'll breathe,<br /></span> <span>Inhaling life from him in
+death;<br /></span> <span>Though none should see, faith can
+foretell<br /></span> <span>My Jesus shall do all things
+well.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Though he deny
+my half-formed prayer,<br /></span> <span>Well may I cast on Him my
+care;<br /></span> <span>All things are mine, or life or
+death;<br /></span> <span>In praise of Him I'll spend my
+breath.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Be this my
+only wish beside,<br /></span> <span>That God's great name be
+glorified,<br /></span> <span>What me concerns faith can
+foretell,<br /></span> <span>My Jesus shall do all things
+well.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 434--><a name="P434" id="P434"></a>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;WIDOWHOOD.<br /></span>
+<span>WRITTEN IN THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA<br /></span> <span>SHORTLY
+AFTER DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;PART I.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Hail; thou state of
+widowhood,<br /></span> <span>State of those that mourn to
+God;<br /></span> <span>Who, from earthly comforts
+torn,<br /></span> <span>Only live to pray and mourn.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Meanest of the number,
+I<br /></span> <span>For my dear companion sigh;<br /></span>
+<span>Patiently my loss deplore,<br /></span> <span>Mourn for one
+that mourns no more.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>Me my consort hath outrun,<br /></span> <span>Out of sight he
+quite has gone;<br /></span> <span>He his course has finished
+here,<br /></span> <span>First come to the sepulchre.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Following on with earnest
+haste,<br /></span> <span>Till my mourning days are
+past,<br /></span> <span>I my partner's steps pursue,<br /></span>
+<span>I shall soon be happy too;<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Find the ease for which I
+pant,<br /></span> <span>Gain the only good I want;<br /></span>
+<span>Quietly lay down my head,<br /></span> <span>Sink into my
+earthy bed.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>There my
+flesh shall rest in hope,<br /></span> <span>Till the quickened
+dust mount up,<br /></span> <span>When to glorious life I'll
+rise,<br /></span> <span>To meet my husband in the
+skies.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;PART
+II.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Happy they who
+trust in Jesus,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Jesus turns our loss
+to gain;<br /></span> <span>Still his balmy mercies ease
+us,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Sweeten all our grief and
+pain.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 435--><a name="P435" id="P435"></a> <span>When he calls
+our friends t' inherit<br /></span> <span class="i2">All the
+glories of the blest,<br /></span> <span>He assures the widowed
+spirit,<br /></span> <span class="i2">"Thou shalt quickly be at
+rest."<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Though my flesh
+and spirit languish,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Let me not too
+much complain;<br /></span> <span>Sure at last t' outlive my
+anguish,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Sure to find my friend
+again.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Ransomed from a
+world of sorrow,<br /></span> <span class="i2">He to-day is taken
+home;<br /></span> <span>I shall be released to-morrow
+&mdash;<br /></span> <span class="i2">Come, my dear Redeemer,
+come.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>From my
+sanctified distresses,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Now, or when
+thou wilt, receive;<br /></span> <span>Grant with him in thine
+embraces,<br /></span> <span class="i2">After all my deaths, to
+live.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;PART
+III.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>Hail, holy, holy,
+holy Lord,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Mysterious Three in
+One!<br /></span> <span>For ever be thy name adored,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy will for ever done.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>For this alone on earth I
+wait,<br /></span> <span class="i2">To glorify my God;<br /></span>
+<span>And suffer, since thou will'st, the state<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of sacred widowhood.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And may I, in thy strength,
+fulfil<br /></span> <span class="i2">My awful
+character;<br /></span> <span>And prove thine acceptable
+will,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And do thy pleasure
+here;<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The children to
+thyself restore,<br /></span> <span class="i2">Whom thou to me hast
+given;<br /></span> <span>And rule my house with all my
+power,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And train them up for
+heaven.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 436--><a name="P436" id="P436"></a> <span>Be this my
+hospitable care:<br /></span> <span class="i2">The stranger to
+receive,<br /></span> <span>The burden of thy church to
+bear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And all their wants
+relieve;<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>My labor of
+unwearied love<br /></span> <span class="i2">With pleasure to
+repeat,<br /></span> <span>My faith unto thy saints to
+prove,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And gladly wash their
+feet.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>The servant of
+thy servants bless<br /></span> <span class="i2">With active
+earnest zeal;<br /></span> <span>And every work of
+righteousness<br /></span> <span class="i2">I shall with joy
+fulfil.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 437--><a name="P437" id="P437"></a>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;__________<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span><font size=
+"+1">&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;LINES,</font><br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<p class="note">Occasioned by viewing the portrait of Mrs. Graham,
+prefixed to the<br />
+first edition of her memoir. By the late Mrs. Margaret Brown,<br />
+daughter of Rev. Dr. John Mason.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"><span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>While in this
+faded form I trace<br /></span> <span class="i2">The features which
+I loved so well,<br /></span> <span>Remembrance brings each mental
+grace<br /></span> <span class="i2">Within its hallowed shrine to
+dwell.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>For I have seen
+that darkened eye<br /></span> <span class="i2">In all the fire of
+genius roll,<br /></span> <span>With eagle-gaze explore the
+sky,<br /></span> <span>Or with a keener glance descry<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The secret workings of the soul.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And I have seen this pallid
+cheek<br /></span> <span class="i2">Suffused with feeling's richest
+glow;<br /></span> <span>And virtue's brightest halo
+deck<br /></span> <span class="i2">With sacred charms these locks
+of snow.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And on these
+lips in silence closed,<br /></span> <span class="i2">With rapt
+attention oft I hung,<br /></span> <span>And heard those wondrous
+truths disclosed<br /></span> <span class="i2">Which sages taught
+or seraphs sung.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And I
+have known this withered hand<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">Extended wide the poor to bless;<br /></span> <span>And this
+contracted breast expand<br /></span> <span class="i2">With
+generous schemes to aid distress.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>And now, though far removed from
+earth<br /></span> <span class="i2">And every scene of mortal
+pain,<br /></span> <span>This dear memorial of her
+worth<br /></span> <span class="i2">Shall many a drooping heart
+sustain.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<!--Page 438--><a name="P438" id="P438"></a> <span>Still shall
+it dry the widow's tear,<br /></span> <span class="i2">The hapless
+orphan's want supply,<br /></span> <span>Guide to a blessed asylum
+here,<br /></span> <span class="i2">And point to happier realms on
+high.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span> <span>My father's
+friend &mdash; how poor the praise,<br /></span> <span class=
+"i2">By his unworthy offspring given,<br /></span> <span>Who thus
+records, in humble lays,<br /></span> <span class="i2">What angels
+registered in heaven.<br /></span> <span>&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span>FRANKFORT, Kentucky, August, 1816.<br /></span></div>
+</div>
+<!--Page 439--><a name="P439" id="P439"></a><br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<p class="center">One hundred dollars was paid by John W.
+Hamersley, Esq. of New York, towards perpetuating this volume.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<!--Page 440--><a name="P440" id="P440"></a>
+<h2>The American Tract Society,</h2>
+<h3>PUBLISH</h3>
+<h4>THE RELIGIOUS (OR PASTOR'S) LIBRARY,</h4>
+<p>Comprising 25 standard volumes 12mo, at $10. Including some of
+the best practical works of the 17th century; <font size="-1">THE
+EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY; CHRISTIAN MEMOIRS; and D'AUBIGN&Eacute;S
+HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.</font></p>
+<h4>THE EVANGELICAL FAMILY LIBRARY,</h4>
+<p>Of 15 volumes, 18mo, price $5 50; with 21 additional volumes,
+bound to match this library. Price of the 36 volumes, $13 00.</p>
+<h4>THE YOUTH'S LIBRARY,</h4>
+<p>Of 70 volumes, at $10, comprising Hannah More's <font size=
+"-1">CHEAP REPOSITORY</font>, 8 volumes, and an invaluable
+collection of reading for the young; with 255 highly finished
+engravings.</p>
+<h4>BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR CHILDREN,</h4>
+<p>In neatly enveloped packets; or bound in attractive <font size=
+"-1">CHILDREN'S LIBRARIES</font>. Also a packet of 54 attractive
+<font size="-1">PICTURE-CARDS</font>.</p>
+<p>The energies of the Society are directed to the one object of
+issuing and circulating the best evangelical publications, at
+barely remunerating prices. Every Christian Parent is here provided
+with safe and instructive reading for his children.</p>
+<h4>The American Messenger,</h4>
+<p>Issued monthly to 200,000 families, at 25 cents single six for
+$1; twenty for $3; forty for $5.</p>
+<h4>The Child's Paper,</h4>
+<p>Is a gem welcomed monthly in more than 275,000 families. Ten
+copies for $1; fifty for $4 50; one hundred for $8. Payable in
+advance.</p>
+<h5>TO BE HAD AT</h5>
+<p>150 Nassau-street, New York; 28 Cornhill, Boston; and in other
+principal cities and towns.</p>
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<!--Page 441--><a name="P441" id="P441"></a>
+<h2>INTERESTING BOOKS</h2>
+<h6>FOR SALE AT</h6>
+<!--<p class="bkads">FOR SALE AT</p>-->
+<h4>150 NASSAU ST., NEW YORK: 28 CORNHILL, BOSTON.</h4>
+<hr />
+<p class="bkads">MEMOIR OF REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D.D.</p>
+<p class="bkads">D'AUBIGN&Eacute;S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 5
+vols.</p>
+<p class="bkads">BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.</p>
+<p class="bkads">NELSON'S CAUSE AND CURE OF INFIDELITY.</p>
+<p class="bkads">ANECDOTES FOR THE FAMILY.</p>
+<p class="bkads">SABBATH MANUAL.</p>
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+<p class="bkads">THE PASTOR'S WIFE; OR, MRS. MARTHA SHERMAN.</p>
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+<p class="bkads">ANXIOUS INQUIRER. CHRISTIAN PROGRESS.</p>
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+<p class="bkads">And numerous kindred works contained in the
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Power of Faith, by Isabella Graham
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Power of Faith
+ Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.
+
+Author: Isabella Graham
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2005 [EBook #16276]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POWER OF FAITH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tom Roch and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE POWER OF FAITH,
+
+ EXEMPLIFIED IN
+
+ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
+ OF THE LATE
+ MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.
+
+
+ A NEW EDITION,
+ ENRICHED BY HER NARRATIVE OF HER HUSBAND'S DEATH, AND
+ OTHER SELECT CORRESPONDENCE
+
+
+ The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor
+is humility. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud; but he will
+ establish the border of the widow. PROV. 15:25, 33.
+
+
+ PUBLISHED BY THE
+ AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
+ 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK:
+ 28 CORNHILL, BOSTON.
+
+
+
+ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843,
+ by JOANNA BETHUNE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
+ for the Southern District of New York.
+
+ Copyright transferred to the American Tract Society.
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+ _______________
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ EARLY LIFE--RESIDENCE IN CANADA.
+
+Foundation of the excellence of her character--Birth--
+ Education--Conversion--Marriage--Voyage to Quebec--
+ Doddridge's Rise and Progress--Residence at Montreal and
+ Fort Niagara--Sails for Antigua--1742-1772, .................. 7
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+Dr. Graham called to St. Vincents--His safe return--State of
+ his mind--Death of Mrs. Graham's mother--Letter
+ describing the death of Dr. Graham--Kindness of Dr. H.--
+ Reflections--Letters to Mrs. Grandidier and to her father--
+ Departure for Scotland--1773-1775, ............................ 22
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ RETURN TO SCOTLAND--SCHOOL AT EDINBURGH.
+
+Perilous voyage--Trust in God--Return to Cartside--Care of
+ her father--Residence at Paisley--Depressed circumstances--
+ Peace in God--Singular investment and result--School
+ in Edinburgh--Friends--Benevolence to poor tradesmen--
+ Dancing--Letter of Lady Glenorchy--Origin of the Society
+ for the Relief of the Destitute Sick--Death and character
+ of Lady Glenorchy--Letter to a daughter--Visit to
+ Cartside and Paisley--Reposes all upon Christ--Removal to
+ New York--Devotional exercises--1776-1789, ................... 54
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ SCHOOL IN NEW YORK--DEATH OF HER PASTOR,
+ DR. JOHN MASON--LAST NEWS OF HER SON.
+
+Voyage and reception at New York--Marriage of Mrs. Stevenson--
+ Anxiety for her son--He escapes a press-gang--Confidence
+ in God--Sickness and death of her pastor, Dr. John Mason--
+ His character--Dr. John M. Mason installed pastor--
+ Devotional exercises--Letter to A.D.--Letter to her son--
+ Last intelligence of him--Reflections--1789-1794, ............ 82
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER--FIRST MISSIONARY
+ SOCIETY IN NEW YORK.
+
+Marriage of Mrs. Bethune--Death of Mrs. Stevenson--Strong
+ consolation--Singular receipts and liberality--Devotional
+ exercises--Anniversary of her daughter's birth and death--
+ First Missionary Society in New York--Reflections--
+ Acquaintance with Mrs. C---- near Boston--Letter and
+ devotional exercises--1795-1797, ............................. 115
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY--
+ CLOSE OF HER SCHOOL.
+
+Rise of the Widows' Society--First monthly missionary
+ prayer-meeting--Letter to a young man on joining the
+ church--The Essay on Man--Marriage of Mrs. Smith--Close
+ of her school--Labors for widows and the poor--Letters to
+ Mrs. C.--The yellow-fever--Death of Washington--Devotional
+ exercises--1797-1800, ........................................ 144
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN--
+ CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+Schools and labors connected with the Widows' Society--Her
+ friend Mrs. Hoffman--Anniversary of the Widows' Society--
+ Visit to Boston--Want of evangelical preaching--Letters
+ to Miss M---- of Boston--Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Bethune in
+ Britain--Anxiety for them--Confidence in God--Church
+ discipline--Dr. Mason sails for Britain--1800-1801, .......... 167
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ JOURNAL AND LETTERS--LADIES' SCHOOL
+ FOR POOR CHILDREN.
+
+Death of a grandchild--Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Bethune in
+ Britain--Death of B.--Of another grandchild--Of Pero, a
+ colored man--Return of Mr. and Mrs. Bethune--Takes up her
+ abode with them--Devotional exercises--Ladies' school for
+ poor children--Address on its formation--Supplications for
+ a revival of God's work--Labors for the suffering poor--
+ Letters to Mrs. C.--Letter to the widow of her brother--
+ 1801-1805, ................................................... 200
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY--FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.
+
+Letters--Formation and success of the Orphan Asylum--
+ Inscription for Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Hoffman--Labors in the
+ New York hospital and among female convicts--Miss
+ Farquharson, first American missionary to foreign lands--
+ Visit of Rev. Dr. Morrison and others--Letter to her
+ children at the Springs--Letter to Mrs. Juliet S.--Visits
+ Rockaway--Reminiscence of Elderslie--1806-1809, .............. 250
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY--ASSOCIATIONS FOR PRAYER--
+ HAPPY OLD AGE.
+
+Letters--Bible Society organized--Efforts for the revival and
+ extension of religion--Admissions to the communion--
+ Narrow escape from drowning at Rockaway--Barrenness of
+ preaching without Christ--Devotional exercises--Letters
+ to Miss Van Wyck and James Todd--Happy old age--Letter to
+ Mrs. C---- in affliction--Letter to Mrs. G.Y.--Prayer for
+ ministers--Magdalen Society--Lancasterian school--
+ 1809-1811, ................................................... 270
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND LETTERS.
+
+Indwelling sin lamented--Day of fasting--Happiness of the
+ aged Christian--Sermon in the state-prison--Happy
+ reminiscences--Two grandchildren unite with the church--
+ Unfaithfulness to people of the world lamented--Rich
+ temporal blessings--Letter to Mrs. J.W.--Day of fasting--
+ 1812-1814, ................................................... 309
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR--SICKNESS AND DEATH.
+
+Society for the promotion of industry among the poor--
+ Sunday-school of eighty children--Love of evangelical books
+ Last two weeks--Communion--Last sickness--Peaceful
+ death--Character by Dr. Mason--Epitaph--1814, ................ 348
+
+
+ PROVISION FOR PASSING OVER JORDAN.
+
+Scripture extracts--Meditations--Poetic effusions, ............... 379
+
+
+
+
+ LIFE
+
+ OF
+
+ MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM.
+
+ _______________
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ EARLY LIFE--RESIDENCE IN CANADA.
+
+ Mankind take an interest in the history of those who, like
+themselves, have encountered the trials and discharged the duties of
+life. Too often, however, publicity is given to the lives of men
+splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in whom the secret exercises of
+the heart would not bear a scrutiny. The memoirs are comparatively few
+of those engaged in the humble and useful walks of active benevolence,
+where the breathings of the soul would display a character much to be
+admired, and more to be imitated.
+
+ As the celebrated Dr. Buchanan has observed, that if you were to
+ask certain persons in Christian countries, if they had any
+acquaintance with the _religious_ world, they would say "they had
+never heard there _was_ such a world;" so, while the external
+conduct of individuals is made the subject of much critical remark,
+the religion of the heart, the secret source of action, too frequently
+escapes unnoticed and unexplored.
+
+ It is only when the career of life is closed, that the character
+is completely established. On this account memoirs of the living are,
+in few instances, read with much interest; but when the soul has
+departed, and the body sleeps in dust, it may prove useful to
+survivors to examine the principles which led their departed friend to
+a life of honorable benevolence, and to a peaceful end.
+
+ Such considerations as these, and the urgent request of many
+respectable individuals, have induced the preparation of the following
+sketch of the life and writings of Mrs. ISABELLA GRAHAM, whose
+character was so esteemed, and whose memory is so venerated by all who
+knew her. The evident purity of motive which impelled her to activity
+in deeds of benevolence, at once commanded love and respect, which, in
+her case peculiarly, was unalloyed with any risings of jealousy, envy,
+or distrust.
+
+ Blessed with a spirit of philanthropy, with an ardent and
+generous mind, a sound judgment, and an excess of that sensibility
+which moulds the soul for friendship, a cultivated intellect and rich
+experience, her company was eagerly sought and highly valued by old
+and young. Though happily qualified to shine in the drawing-room, her
+time was seldom wasted there; for such a disposition of it would have
+been waste, contrasted with her usual employments. Her steps were not
+seen ascending the hill, of ambition, nor tracing the mazes of popular
+applause. Where the widow and the orphan wept, where the sick and the
+dying moaned, thither her footsteps hastened; and there, seen only by
+her heavenly Father, she administered to their temporal wants,
+breathed the voice of consolation on their ear, shed the tear of
+sympathy, exhibited the truths of the gospel from the sacred volume,
+and poured out her soul for them in prayer to her Saviour and her God.
+
+ In a few such deeds she rested not, nor was the story of them
+obtruded upon others, or recorded by herself. The recollection of past
+exertions was lost in her zeal to accomplish greater purposes and
+greater good: her heart expanded with her experience, and her means
+were too limited, the active powers of her vigorous mind too feeble,
+to fulfil the abounding desires of her soul in alleviating the
+miseries and increasing the comforts of the poor, the destitute, and
+afflicted. To learn the latent springs of such excellence is worthy of
+research; they may be all summed up in this, _the religion of
+the heart_.
+
+ The extracts from Mrs. Graham's letters and devotional exercises,
+which constitute so large a part of the following pages, will furnish
+the best development of her principles; and may, with the blessing of
+God, prove useful to those who read them. In all her writings will be
+manifested the power of _faith_, the efficiency of _grace_,
+and in them, as in her own uniform confession, Jesus will be magnified
+and self will be humbled. Her life was chiefly distinguished by her
+continual dependence on God, and his unceasing faithfulness and mercy
+towards her.
+
+
+ ISABELLA MARSHALL, afterwards Mrs. Graham, was born July 29,
+1742, in the shire of Lanark, in Scotland. Her grandfather was one of
+the elders who quitted the established church with the Rev. Messrs.
+Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine. She was educated in the principles of the
+church of Scotland. Her father and mother were both pious; indeed, her
+mother, whose maiden name was Janet Hamilton, appears, from her
+letters yet extant, to have possessed a mind of the same character as
+her daughter afterwards exhibited.
+
+ Isabella was trained to an active life, as well as favored with a
+superior education. Her grandfather, whose dying-bed she assiduously
+attended, bequeathed her a legacy of some hundred pounds. In the use
+to which she applied this money, the soundness of her judgment was
+thus early manifested. She requested it might be appropriated to the
+purpose of procuring a thorough _education_. When ten years of
+age, she was sent to a boarding-school taught by a lady of
+distinguished talents and piety. Often has Mrs. Graham repeated to her
+children the maxims of Mrs. Betty Morehead. With ardent and unwearied
+endeavors to attain mental endowments, and especially moral and
+religious knowledge, she attended the instructions of Mrs. Morehead
+for seven successive winters. How valuable is early instruction. With
+the blessing of God, it is probable that this instructress laid the
+foundation of the exertions and usefulness of her pupil in after-life.
+How wise and how gracious are the ways of the Lord. Knowing the path
+in which he was afterwards to lead Isabella Marshall, her God was
+pleased to provide her an education of a much higher kind than was
+usual in those days. Who would not trust that God, who alone can be
+_the guide of our youth_?
+
+ Her father, John Marshall, farmed a paternal estate, called the
+Heads, near Hamilton. This estate he sold, and rented the estate of
+Elderslie, once the habitation of Sir William Wallace. There Isabella
+passed her childhood and her youth.
+
+ She had no definite recollection of the period at which her heart
+first _tasted that the Lord is gracious_. As far back as she
+could remember, she took delight in pouring out her soul to God. In
+the woods of Elderslie she selected a bush, to which she resorted in
+seasons of devotion. Under this bush she believed she was enabled to
+devote herself to God, through faith in her Redeemer, before she had
+entered on her tenth year. To this favorite, and to her, sacred spot,
+she would repair, when exposed to temptation or perplexed with
+childish troubles. From thence she caused her prayers to ascend, and
+there she found peace and consolation.
+
+ Children cannot at too early a period seek the favor of the God of
+heaven. How blessed to be reared and fed by his hand, taught by his
+Spirit, and strengthened by his grace.
+
+ The late Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, afterwards president of Princeton
+college, was at this time one of the ministers of the town of Paisley.
+Isabella sat under his ministry, and at the age of seventeen publicly
+professed her faith in Christ. In the year 1765 she was married to Dr.
+John Graham, then a practising physician in Paisley, a gentleman of
+liberal education and of respectable standing.
+
+ About a year after their marriage, Dr. Graham, having been
+appointed surgeon to the 60th or royal American regiment, was ordered
+to Canada, where that corps was stationed. Mrs. Graham accompanied
+him, and a plan was digested--with how limited a knowledge of the
+future will appear--for their permanent residence in America. Dr.
+Graham calculated on disposing of his commission, and purchasing a
+tract of land on the Mohawk river, where his father-in-law, Mr.
+Marshall, was to follow him. The letter subjoined gives the
+interesting incidents of their voyage, and forms a pleasant
+introduction to the character of Mrs. Graham at this period of
+her life.
+
+
+ "QUEBEC, August 29, 1767.
+
+ "MY DEAREST PARENTS--This is the fifth letter I have written to
+you, although I know it is the first that can reach you. All the time
+I was at sea I kept a letter lying by me, in hope of getting it put on
+board some vessel bound for Britain; but I have met with many
+disappointments. We spoke several ships, but I never could get a
+letter put on board. At one time I was told the wind was too high, at
+another that the ship was at too great a distance, and so was put off
+till I began to understand a more substantial reason, namely, that it
+would cost the captain rather too much trouble.
+
+ "We have now, however, got safe here, after a tedious voyage of
+nine weeks, and I will give you a short account of what happened
+during that time.
+
+ "We sailed, as you know, from Greenock, June 10. For the first
+five or six days we had fine weather and fair winds, and got quite
+clear of land; after this, we had nearly six weeks of most tempestuous
+weather, and the wind, except for about two days, directly against us.
+The gentlemen after some time began to be very impatient; for my part
+I should not have cared although it had lasted twelve months. I had
+left all that was dear to me behind, except one dear friend, that one
+was constantly with me, and although the rest of the company in the
+ship was very agreeable, yet I was the great object of his attention,
+and his invention was ever on the stretch to find amusement for me. It
+is not possible for me to say with what indulgent tenderness I was
+treated; but though I love my husband even to extravagance, yet my
+dear friends whom I left behind have a large share of my heart. They
+dwell on my mind in the daytime; and at night, when sleep lays the
+body aside and leaves the soul at liberty, she on the wings of
+imagination makes one skip over whole seas, and is immediately with
+those dear friends whose absence she so much lamented during the day,
+and in an imaginary body as truly enjoys you for the time as if really
+present with you.
+
+ "The gentlemen on board soon found reason to be thankful for the
+preservation of life, and got something very different to think of
+than fret at the contrary winds. A leak sprung in the ship, which
+alarmed them all so much that a consultation was held among them
+whether if any ship came near they should hail it and go on board
+wherever she was bound. I was perfectly unconcerned about the whole
+matter, not being aware of the danger, which was kept secret from me
+till we came on shore. I saw the men constantly pumping, but thought
+it was what they were obliged to do in every ship. After coming to
+land, on examining the ship, they found the leak to be so large that
+one might put his five fingers into it; indeed, it seemed next to a
+miracle that she kept above water; but every day of our lives may
+convince us what dependent creatures we are. While God's merciful
+providence protects us we are safe, though in the midst of apparent
+danger; should he withdraw that protection but for a moment,
+inevitable evils surround us, even when we think ourselves in
+perfect safety.
+
+ "A proof of this we had in a most distressing event, which took
+place about six weeks after we left Greenock. The wind was in our
+favor, the day was fine, and we were all amusing ourselves on deck in
+various ways, when Captain Kerr, who was standing close by us,
+stumbling backwards, fell overboard. He got above water before the
+ship passed him, and called to throw him a rope, but alas, no rope was
+at hand, and before one was got the ship was out of his reach.
+Immediately they threw over a large hen-coop, but, poor man, he could
+not swim, so he soon disappeared. The boats were put out with great
+expedition, and in less than a quarter of an hour he was found. You
+may believe no means were left unemployed to restore animation; but
+alas, the spirit had taken its final leave; it was no longer an
+inhabitant of earth, not the least signs of life appeared. The day
+after, being Sunday, his body was committed to the deep, from whence
+it had been rescued the day before. Dr. Graham read in public the
+church of England burial service. Every one on board seemed much
+affected; I cannot tell you how much I was.
+
+ "About eight days after, we got to the Banks of Newfoundland;
+while there the fog was so dense we could not see forty yards in any
+direction, and the cold was excessive, notwithstanding the season of
+the year. There were a great many islands of ice floating on the
+water; I saw three within twenty yards of us, much larger than the
+ship. The captain said if the ship ran against any one of them, she
+would be dashed to pieces. And here, again, my former observation
+holds good, for sure it could not be the art of man, either in the
+dark night or in the dense fog, which could protect the ship flying
+before the wind, through dangers so thick on every side of us. For
+several days and nights we saw neither sun nor stars, which distressed
+the captain much, for he knew not where we were, and apprehending we
+were near land, was afraid of running upon some rock; so we were
+obliged to cruise about till the atmosphere cleared.
+
+ "The sail up the river St. Lawrence is extremely pleasant. You
+know how fond I have ever been of wood and water. This country, in
+this respect, is quite to my taste, and could I only get half a dozen
+of those friends I could name settled down on either side of us, with
+five hundred pounds' worth of land to give to each, I should ask no
+more in this world.
+
+ "When we arrived, the doctor's friend Mr. Findley came on board,
+took us on shore, and brought us to his elegant mansion. He begged we
+would look on him as an old friend, feel perfectly at home, and remain
+with him as long as we could. Give my love to my dear boys;* you see
+them often, I have no doubt. Do, my dearest mamma, write me soon, and
+tell me all about them and yourself; and ever believe me, my dear
+parents, with the greatest affection,
+
+*Dr. Graham's two sons by a former marriage, who were left under the
+ care of Mr. Davidson, rector of the grammar-school of Paisley.
+
+ "Your dutiful daughter,
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ In a letter a month, later, Mrs. Graham refers to the gay and
+fashionable circles to which they were introduced in Quebec, and
+mentions her visiting the beautiful falls of Montmorency; but mourns
+over the low state of religion, and the prevailing desecration of the
+Sabbath. She adds:
+
+ "I have read Doddridge's Rise and Progress. I little knew what a
+treasure Mr. Ellis put into my hand when he gave me that book. I
+cannot say it is my daily companion, but I can with truth say it is
+often so. Let my mind be in ever so giddy and thoughtless a frame, or
+ever so much busied in those amusements I am engaged in, it makes me
+serious, and gives my thoughts a different turn; there is scarce any
+situation the mind can be in, but it will find something suitable
+there. I must not, however, make remarks on the particular contents of
+it; it would occupy more paper than I have to spare. I would have you
+purchase the book; I am sure you would like it; and when you have read
+it, it will be matter of great satisfaction to you that John and I
+have such a treasure in our possession. In it are contained every
+advice you could give us, and cautions against the temptations which,
+on account of youth, company, and the country we are in, we are
+exposed to."
+
+ They were expecting to spend the winter in Quebec, but were
+ordered to Montreal, where Jessie, her eldest daughter, was born, and
+where Mrs. Graham received intelligence of the death of her infant
+son, who had been left with her mother in Scotland. Further orders
+were soon received for the doctor to join the second battalion of his
+regiment at fort Niagara, on lake Ontario; Mrs. Graham followed him,
+and they continued here in garrison for four years, during which her
+second and third daughters, Joanna and Isabella, were added to
+her charge.
+
+ Under date of February 3, 1771, we find, from her own pen, the
+following description of her occupations and enjoyments, in a letter
+addressed to her beloved mother:
+
+
+ "My two Indian girls come on very well indeed. The eldest milked
+the cows all summer; she washes and irons all the clothes for the
+family, scrubs the floors, and does the most part of the kitchen work.
+The young one's charge is the children, and some other little turns
+when the infant is asleep. I teach them to read and to sew when they
+have any spare time. As for me, I find I have enough to do to
+superintend. You may be sure I help a little too, now and then. I make
+and mend what is necessary for the family, for I must be tailor,
+mantua-maker, and milliner.
+
+ "In the forenoon the doctor makes his rounds as usual. I generally
+trot about till two o'clock, dress the children, order dinner, dress
+myself, and twenty other things, which you know are necessary to be
+looked after by the mistress of a family. After dinner I sit down to
+my work, and we have always a book, which the doctor reads when I can
+attend; when I cannot, he reads something else.
+
+ "As I am at present the only wife in the place, we have a regular
+tea-table, and now and then a little frugal supper; for the doctor has
+come more into my way of thinking, and does not insist upon cutting a
+figure as much as some time ago. When alone, he reads and I work, as
+usual. He is seldom out, and never but when I am with him. We are easy
+in our circumstances, and want for nothing that is necessary; in
+short, my ever dear parents, my life is easy and pleasant. The Lord my
+God make it pious and useful.
+
+ "Could I place myself and family in the same circumstances, and
+every thing go on in the same manner, within a few miles of you, I
+should be happy for life; and were it not for this hope, which my
+heart is set upon, I could not be so, with all I have told you.
+
+ "We find the newspapers full of preparations for war; may the Lord
+dispose all hearts to peace, for I hate the sound, though it is the
+wish of the greatest number about me. There is no prospect of our
+leaving this place for a year yet. For my part I have only two reasons
+for wishing it. The first is, I should like to be in some Christian
+society; the other, that I might do something towards getting home. To
+return to the gay world, again I have no ambition. My family here, and
+my friends at home, engross all my attention; and when I see the one,
+and hear of the other being well, I am happy. Time never hangs heavy
+on my hand; I can always find employment, and amusement too, without
+the assistance of what go under the name of diversions.
+
+ "We have lately had several visits from a great family. The chief
+of the Seneca nation having a daughter not well, brought her to the
+doctor to see what could be done for her; he, his squaw or lady, and
+daughters breakfasted with us several times. I was kind, and made all
+the court to them I could, though we could not converse but by an
+interpreter. I made the daughters some little presents, and the doctor
+would not be feed. Who knows but these little services may one day
+save our scalps? There have been several threatenings of an Indian
+war; thank God, it seems to be quite hushed again.
+
+ "War with civilized nations is nothing to war with Indians. They
+have no mercy, nor give any quarter to man, woman, or child: all meet
+the same fate, except where they take a liking to particular persons;
+those they adopt as their children, and use them as such.
+
+ "The doctor joins in affectionate respects to my dear father, and
+you, the boys, and all our dear friends. I am as much as ever, and
+will be to my latest breath, my dear mamma, your affectionate
+daughter,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham always considered the time she passed at Niagara as
+the happiest of her days, considered in a temporal view. The officers
+of the regiment were amiable men, attached to each other, and the
+ladies were united in the ties of friendship. The society there,
+secluded from the world, exempt from the collision of individual and
+separate interests, which often create so much discord in large
+communities, and studious to promote the happiness of each other,
+enjoyed that tranquillity and contentment which ever accompany a
+disinterested interchange of friendly offices. But this fort being
+detached from other settlements, the garrison were deprived of
+ordinances and the public means of grace, and the life of religion in
+the soul of Mrs. Graham sunk to a low ebb. A conscientious observance
+of the Sabbath, which throughout life she maintained, proved to her at
+Niagara as a remembrance and revival of devotional exercises. She
+wandered on those sacred days into the woods around Niagara, searched
+her Bible, communed with God and herself, and poured out her soul in
+prayer to her covenant Lord. Throughout the week, the attentions to
+her friends, her domestic comfort and employments, and the amusements
+pursued in the garrison, she used to confess, occupied too much of her
+time and of her affections.
+
+ Here we behold a little society enjoying much comfort and
+happiness in each other, yet falling short of that preeminent duty and
+superior blessedness of glorifying, as they ought to have done, the
+God of heaven, who fed them by his bounty, and offered them a full and
+free salvation in the gospel of his Son. No enjoyments nor
+possessions, however ample and acceptable, can crown the soul with
+peace and true felicity, unless accompanied with the fear and favor of
+Him who can speak pardon to the transgressor, and _shed abroad his
+love in the hearts_ of his children; thus giving an earnest of
+spiritual and eternal blessedness along with temporal good.
+
+ The commencement of the revolutionary struggle in America rendered
+it necessary, in the estimation of the British government, to order to
+another and very diverse scene of action the sixtieth regiment,
+composed in a great measure of Americans.
+
+ Their destination was the island of Antigua: Dr. and Mrs. Graham
+and their family, consisting of three infant daughters and two young
+Indian girls, sailed from Niagara to Oswego, and from thence, by a
+path through the woods, reached the Mohawk, which river they descended
+in batteaux to Schenectady. Here Dr. Graham left his family, and went
+to New York to complete a negotiation he had entered into for
+disposing of his commission, to enable him to settle, as he originally
+intended, on a tract of land which it was in his power to purchase on
+the banks of the river they had just descended. The gentleman
+proposing to purchase his commission, not being able to perfect the
+arrangement in time, Dr. Graham found himself under the necessity of
+proceeding to Antigua with the regiment. Mrs. Graham on learning this,
+hurried down with her family to accompany him, although he had left it
+optional with her to remain till he should have ascertained the
+nature of the climate, and the probability of his continuing in the
+West Indies.
+
+ At New York they were treated with much kindness by the late Rev.
+Dr. John Rodgers and others, especially by the family of Mr. Vanbrugh
+Livingston. With Mr. Livingston's daughter, the wife of Major Brown,
+of the sixtieth regiment, Mrs. Graham formed a very intimate
+friendship, which continued during the life of Mrs. Brown.
+
+ They embarked with the regiment, November 5, 1772, for Antigua.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+ Within three weeks after their arrival at Antigua, six companies
+were ordered to the island of St. Vincents to quell an insurrection of
+the Caribs. The doctor accompanied them, and Mrs. Graham was called to
+the pain of separation under circumstances more trying than she had as
+yet experienced, as the war with savages might expose him to the most
+cruel death. In these circumstances she wrote him as follows:
+
+ "ANTIGUA, January 16, 1773.
+
+ "MY DEAREST DOCTOR--This goes by Mr. W----, who sails to-morrow;
+also a letter to Captain G----. Mr. M---- begs to be remembered to
+you; he has been foot and hand to me since you left. My dearest
+doctor, suffer me to put you in remembrance of what you put in the end
+of your trunk the morning you left me,* and let it not lie idle.
+Read it as the voice of God to your soul. My dearest love, I have been
+greatly distressed for fear of your dear life; but the love I bear to
+your soul is as superior to that of your body, as the value of one
+surpasses the other; consequently my anxiety for its interest is
+proportioned. May heaven preserve my dearest love--lead you, guide
+you, direct you, so can you never go wrong--protect and defend you, so
+shall you ever be safe, is the daily prayer of your affectionate wife,
+
+*Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM.
+
+
+ "P.S. I am told that you have taken a number of prisoners. I know
+not if you have any right to entail slavery on these poor creatures.
+If any fall to your share, do set them at liberty."
+
+ On the 8th of June, Mrs. Graham wrote to her mother, expressing
+her gratitude for her husband's safe return, and noticing some
+gratifying indications of the calm and peaceful state of his mind:
+
+ "You would be surprised to hear the doctor preach. He says we
+ought to be thankful; we have hitherto been richly and bountifully
+provided for; we ought not to repine, nor doubt, seeing we have the
+same Providence to depend upon; that we ought not to set our hearts
+upon any thing in this world; being very short-sighted, we cannot know
+what is proper for us. Having done for the best, when we are
+disappointed, we ought to rest satisfied that either what we wish is
+not for our good, or it will in some future dispensation of Providence
+be brought about another way and in a fitter time. Indeed, my dear
+mamma, in some things he is a better Christian than I am. _May God
+make him so in every thing._"
+
+ Thus was the Lord preparing his servant for what was so soon
+to follow--not his dismission from the regiment, which he so
+ardently desired, but from this world and its temptations and snares.
+Mrs. Graham's prayers were answered, but "by terrible things
+in righteousness."
+
+ She added a request that her mother would receive her eldest
+daughter, who, though at the early age of _five years_, she
+feared would receive injurious influences from the corrupt state of
+society around her, and accordingly, not long after, sent her to
+Scotland; but before her arrival, her grandmother had been called to a
+better world. In reference to this event Mrs. Graham wrote to her
+bereaved father as follows:
+
+ "ANTIGUA, August 21, 1773.
+
+ "MY DEAREST PAPA--The heart-rending tidings of my dear, my
+tender, my affectionate mother's death reached me yesterday. I am so
+distressed that I can scarcely write, and no wonder, for never was
+there such a mother. My loss is indeed great; but O, my dear, my
+afflicted father, how my heart bleeds for you. Father of mercies,
+support my aged parent, and enable him to place his hopes of happiness
+beyond this transitory world, and to follow the footsteps of the
+dear departed saint till he joins her in glory, never, never more to
+be separated.
+
+ "My dearest father, we may indeed mourn for ourselves; but she
+is happy--that is beyond all doubt. Her delight was with God while
+she was here; her closet was a Bethel; her Bible was her heart's
+treasure, and His people were her loved companions. She has now
+joined the innumerable company above, where she continues the same
+services without human frailty, and the enjoyment heightened beyond
+our highest conceptions.
+
+ "O then, my dear father, be comforted; let us now try to follow
+her; let her Saviour now be ours, and then shall we be blest with
+like consolations.
+
+ "My dearest father, I cannot tell you how much I feel for you; my
+tears will not allow me, they flow so fast that I cannot write; what
+would I give to be with you. But these are vain words.
+
+ "The doctor, however, fully expects that next summer will bring
+him leave to go home; then, I trust, we shall be in some fixed place
+of abode, and, my dear papa, you will come and live with us. I shall
+feel it to be a privilege beyond what I can tell, to perform every
+service you stand in need of, soothe your pains and comfort you under
+the infirmities of old age.
+
+ "My dear, my worthy brother--how has that tender letter, and the
+noble resolution he has taken, endeared him to me. It is certainly his
+indispensable duty to stay with you in your present solitary
+situation; such a dutiful, affectionate son must be a great comfort to
+you, and he will not lose his reward.
+
+ "I am anxious, my dearest father, to know the particulars of my
+mother's death: who attended her in her illness? was the nurse who was
+with her a good woman? was she sensible? did she expect death? and did
+she mention me, and leave me her blessing? My dear, dear father, tell
+me all.
+
+ "Farewell, my beloved father; may your God and Redeemer be your
+support and final portion, is the prayer of your affectionate
+daughter,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+ In her grief for the loss of her inestimable mother, Dr. Graham
+had said to her that "God might perhaps call her to a severer trial by
+taking her husband also," and the warning appeared prophetic; but her
+own words best describe the emotions of her bleeding heart.
+
+
+ To Miss Margaret Graham, Glasgow.
+
+ "MY DEAR SISTER--Prepare yourself for a severe shock from an
+event that has robbed me of every earthly joy. Your amiable brother is
+no longer an inhabitant of this lower world. On the seventeenth of
+November he was seized with a putrid fever, which, on the
+twenty-second, numbered him with the dead, and left me a thing not to
+be envied by the most abject beggar that crawls from door to door.
+Expect not consolation from me: I neither can give nor take it. But
+why say I so? _Yes, I can._ He died as a Christian, sensible to
+the last, and in full expectation of his approaching end. O, you knew
+not your brother's worth; you knew him not as a husband: he was not
+the same as when you knew him in his giddy years: he was to me all
+love, all affection, and partial to my every fault; prudent too in
+providing for his family. I had gained such an entire ascendency over
+his heart as I would not have given for the crown of Britain.
+
+ "On Wednesday, at one o'clock, the seventeenth day of November,
+1773, my dear doctor was seized with a violent fever. I sent for his
+assistant, Dr. Bowie: he not being at home, Dr. Muir came, who
+prescribed an emetic in the evening, and his fever having greatly
+abated, it was accordingly given. In the morning Dr. Bowie thought him
+so well I did not ask for any other assistance. At ten o'clock his
+fever greatly increased, though not so violent as it had been the day
+before. He was advised to lose a little blood, which he did; and
+towards evening it again abated.
+
+ "I found he was not quite satisfied with what had been done for
+him; at the same time he would do nothing for himself. Thursday
+evening I begged Dr. Bowie to call in Dr. Warner's assistance,
+notwithstanding he assured me there was not one dangerous symptom.
+Friday morning they both attended, and both pronounced him in a fair
+way of recovery.
+
+ "About three o'clock Dr. Eird came, who seemed surprised the
+thing had not been done which Dr. Graham himself had been dissatisfied
+for the want of the day before. Soon after the medicine was sent; but
+O, my dear doctor said it was then too late. In the evening they all
+again attended, and insisted there was no danger. Saturday morning he
+seemed very easy, and the physicians said he was in a fine way. The
+fever was gone; the decoction of bark prescribed; and they said he
+would be able to-morrow to take it in substance. I was not now the
+least apprehensive of danger, and was very earnest in prayer that the
+Lord would sanctify his affliction, and not suffer it to go off
+without leaving a sensible effect on his mind. Nay, I even said in my
+heart, 'the rod is too soon removed, it will do him no good.' Oh, that
+fools will still persist to prescribe to infinite wisdom and goodness.
+I was soon severely punished.
+
+ "About eleven he took the hiccup. I did not like it, but little
+knew it was so dangerous a symptom as I afterwards understood. I sent
+for Dr. Bowie, who assured me that though it was a disagreeable
+symptom with other attendants, in his case it was of no more
+consequence than if he or I were to take it. All that day it was so
+moderate that a mouthful of any liquid stopped it, though it always
+returned again: he often said it would be his death; but I imagined
+the pain it gave him extorted these words from him rather than a sense
+of danger, and was much pleased to hear him often pray that the Lord
+would give him patience and resignation to his blessed will, and still
+more to observe that he bore it with a patience beyond what was
+natural to him. He was of a quick temper, and being of a healthy
+constitution, was but little accustomed to pain; but, during the whole
+of his severe and trying affliction, I do not remember to have heard a
+murmuring word escape his lips; so that I cannot doubt but his prayers
+were heard, and the grace prayed for bestowed. In the evening the
+hiccup increased, and all that night it was very severe, so that he
+could not bear to be any way disturbed, nor could I possibly prevail
+upon him to take his medicine, from two in the morning until ten
+o'clock, when the physicians again attended and persuaded him to
+comply. This was Sunday. About mid-day Dr. Warner sent some old hock,
+with orders that he should take some in his drink, and now and then a
+little plain. When the wine was brought in and put on the table, he
+asked me what it was. I told him. He said, 'Yes, they are now come to
+the last shift.'
+
+ "Mr. Frank Gilbert, a good man, and, I believe, a real
+Christian, having come to town to preach--for he is a Methodist
+minister--sent a note, kindly inquiring after him, and intimating,
+if it would be agreeable to him, he would visit him in the morning.
+He said, by all means, he should be very glad to see him. I said,
+'My love, you know I have great faith in the prayers of God's
+people; suppose you should beg an interest in them this afternoon?'
+He answered, 'My dear, do you think they will forget me?' I said,
+'I hope, my love, you are not ashamed to desire the prayers of the
+people of God; it is not now a time to mind the ridicule of the
+world.' He said, 'No, Bell, I care not a farthing for the whole
+world, and you may make it my own request.'
+
+ "His disorder gained ground very fast that day, and I began to be
+much alarmed; yet still I thought it would not end in death, but
+though severe and dangerous, was sent in answer to my repeated,
+earnest prayers to awaken in him a real concern about his eternal
+interest, to set the world and its vanities in their true light, and
+bring about that entire change of heart which our blessed Lord styles
+the new birth, and without which, he says, we cannot enter the kingdom
+of heaven.
+
+ "It was now become very difficult for him to speak; but by the
+motion of his hands and eyes, which were continually lifted up when he
+had the smallest respite, I could easily see his thoughts were fixed
+on the importance of his situation; besides, many sentences and half
+sentences broke from his lips at different times, which left me
+without a doubt. 'Farewell,' said he, 'vain world; an idle world it
+is, nothing but shadows, and we keep chasing them as children do
+bubbles of water, till they break, and we find them nothing but air.'
+
+ "Observing this inward recollection, I seldom disturbed him. He
+was perfectly acquainted with the truth, and believed it. The
+doctrines of religion were often the subject of our conversation, and
+in every point of faith we entirely agreed: they only wanted to be
+felt and applied to the heart. I remained in silence to my dear
+husband, but not to my God: I was incessant in prayer, begging and
+beseeching that the Lord himself would carry on what he had so
+graciously begun--that he would every way suit himself to his
+necessities, and give conviction or consolation, as he saw needful;
+but when he spoke I endeavored to answer him from God's own word, as I
+was able or assisted. Once he exclaimed, 'Draw me, and I will run
+after thee;' at another time, 'Surely thou wilt not allow thy blessed
+Son to plead in vain for me, an obstinate sinner.' This was a degree
+of faith, and I endeavored to strengthen it. I said, 'My love, you
+know the way to the Father, through Christ, the only Mediator. You say
+right, he cannot plead in vain; fly to him; cast yourself at his feet;
+trust in him; hear his own invitation, 'Come unto me, all ye that
+labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;' 'him that cometh
+unto me I will in no wise cast out.' At another time these words broke
+from his lips, 'Form me, train me, prepare me for thyself.' Here was a
+breathing after sanctification; might not the promise be applied, 'I
+will create a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within thee.'
+
+ "In the evening the physicians again attended, but could hardly
+get a word from him. While they sat by the bedside I went out to the
+gallery with Mrs. Grandidier; the apparent struggle she had to conceal
+her distress, the compassion and sympathy in her countenance struck
+me. I easily perceived she gave up hope, and, I began to suspect, not
+from her own judgment alone; she advised me to send away my children
+to a friend's house, and to send for a person who was capable of
+assisting me, it being no longer proper for me to be alone. Thus far I
+had not allowed any person to do the least thing about him but myself,
+nor stirred from his bedside, except for a few minutes, to pour out my
+soul into the bosom of my God. I hardly, if ever, prayed for his
+recovery, being willing the rod should remain till it effected the
+purpose for which it was sent, and then I believed it would be
+removed--as if the Lord was to follow exactly the rules prescribed by
+my weak, foolish, ignorant heart.
+
+ "Hitherto I had suffered little, believing all to be the answer
+to my prayers; but I had not seriously thought of parting with him. I
+was now truly alarmed, and determined to know, as far as appearances
+went, the worst. Accordingly I stopped Dr. Bowie on the gallery: 'Tell
+me, doctor,' said I, 'what have I to expect? It is cruel to flatter
+me: if you give me some warning, and prepare me, I may perhaps be able
+to support it; but if you suffer it to come upon me all at once, I
+shall certainly sink under the shock.' He was silent for some time,
+and then replied, 'I am really at a loss how to answer you.' I said,
+'I will answer for you, there is no hope.' He said, 'God forbid--he is
+in great danger; but still there is hope; and if you value his life,
+be calm.' I was composed. Strange composure; I neither cried nor
+complained; tears were denied a passage; I was fixed and dumb like a
+statue. Can I, or any one else, describe my situation, or what I felt
+at that moment? It was urged of what consequence it was that I should
+be composed, that I might be able to do my duty to him, as no one
+could supply my place to his satisfaction, and perhaps even now he
+might be in want of me. I returned to my post, which was, except when
+doing some necessary office about him, generally on my knees by his
+bedside, partly that I might not lose the least whisper that came from
+his lips, and partly because it is my favorite posture for prayer,
+from which I could not cease, no, not for one minute.
+
+ "There were different medicines prescribed for that night, some
+in case that others proved too strong for his stomach, others in case
+of the increase of the hiccup. I found my head confused and my memory
+incapable of retaining the variety of directions given. I therefore
+accepted of the offer of a friend of his to sit up with us that night,
+whom I begged to pay particular attention to the directions, and to
+watch the proper times the medicines were to be given. This he did
+with great care, and my dear doctor was very pliable in taking them as
+they were offered. As for me I was so deeply engaged with the concerns
+of his soul, I was unfit for any thing else.
+
+ "After Dr. Bowie let me know the danger he was in, I sent a
+letter to Mr. Gilbert, begging he would not delay his visit till
+morning, as perhaps by that time he might not be able to speak to him.
+Accordingly he came; he asked him how he did; he answered, 'Very ill;'
+he asked him the situation of his mind; he answered, 'Entirely
+resigned to the divine will;' he asked him what hopes he had; he said,
+'his hope was in the mercy of God, through Christ;' Mr. Gilbert said,
+'You have no dependence on any thing besides?' he said, 'No, no, I
+have nothing else to depend upon.' Then the doctor desired him to
+pray, but at the same time to be short, as he had but short intervals
+from the hiccup. After prayer, Mr. Gilbert told me it seemed difficult
+for him to speak, and he did not think it would be prudent to say
+more; that he would call again in the morning.
+
+ "Monday morning he was greatly weakened, having had little rest
+all night from the severity of the hiccup. At ten o'clock the
+physicians again attended; but I could easily perceive they had but
+small hopes. My doctor asked Dr. Warner if he thought it would be long
+before he would be at rest, who said his pulse was still strong. He
+said, 'It is a hard thing to die!" Mrs. Brannan came to spend the day
+with us, one of the Methodist society, and Mr. McNab, whom my doctor
+desired to pray with him, which he did. All this day he said little,
+but still continued in inward prayer, as was visible by the motions of
+his hands and eyes; he had many agonizing struggles, and often
+exclaimed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 'Blessed Jesus, come and
+receive me to thyself--come--come--blessed Jesus, come!' Once, after a
+long struggle, he exclaimed, 'Release me, O release me, and let me fly
+to the bosom of my Father!' All this time I never parted from his
+bedside but a few minutes to give my soul a freer vent at the throne
+of grace. I never prayed for life, but that he might be washed,
+sanctified, and have all God's salvation completed in his soul, and be
+received into the arms of his mercy. I also had been, and still was,
+very importunate that God would give me some token, some assurance
+that he would save his soul, and give him an abundant entrance into
+the kingdom of his glory; and, by all that I had heard, seen, and
+felt, I was now satisfied that the most merciful God had sealed his
+pardon for Jesus' sake; and I found myself ready, dearly as I loved
+him, to resign him into the hands of divine mercy; but still I
+breathed after some further manifestation.
+
+ "In the evening Dr. Galloway, an old acquaintance, arrived from
+the island of Dominico, and hearing of his friend's illness, came
+immediately to visit him. When my doctor heard his voice only whisper
+how he was, he said, 'I hear Galloway's voice,' and stretched out his
+hand; so fully had he his senses to the last. Upon their feeling his
+pulse, he asked if they thought he would be long in dying. Dr. Eird
+replied, 'You must not talk of dying, but of living; you are stronger
+than when I was here this morning, and I have seen many worse recover.
+Do, do be advised, take your medicine, and try for life.' These words
+brought a gleam of hope to my despairing soul, and what had been
+denied me for twenty-four hours, a flood of tears, and I was greatly
+relieved. I went out to the gallery and gave a free vent to my
+bursting heart. I now also begged the Lord for his life, and said in
+my heart, should he now be restored, how doubly blessed would he be,
+healed in soul and body. I returned to his bedside and thus addressed
+my beloved: 'My dearest life, the doctors still have hopes, and we
+know nothing is impossible with God. Who knows what further service he
+may have for you in this world; or whether he may not give you to my
+prayers, and restore you to your Bell and family? God works by means;
+O be persuaded to take every thing prescribed, and pray to God for the
+blessing; devote your future life to his service, and, for poor Bell's
+sake, offer up a petition for life.' He did not interrupt me, but
+answered, 'Disengage yourself, Bell, disengage yourself from me. I
+want to lift up my soul to God, and bless him for Jesus Christ.'
+
+ "Dr. Galloway was determined to stay with him all night, and see
+him take his medicine. Some time after, he had a severe attack of
+hiccup, and said to Dr. Galloway, 'I hope you are now convinced.' He
+said, 'Of what?' My doctor said, 'That dissolution is near.' A little
+after, he said, 'Who died for all?' and again repeated, 'Who died for
+all?' I was forbid to speak to him, as rest was so much wanted, so I
+answered, 'Christ, my love; but give up your soul to God, and try to
+shut your weary eyes, and get a little rest for your body;' and so he
+did, and got a little sleep. All that night he did every thing he was
+desired, but would drink nothing but cold water, which had been
+allowed him; the wine he would not touch. His disorder increased so
+fast that Dr. Galloway, about five in the morning, said to me, 'I may
+go home--I can be of no service, and I cannot stand it.' I said, 'I
+suppose I need not disturb him any more with medicine.' He said, 'No,
+you may give him what he calls for.' Now, my God, all is over; I
+resign him up to thee. Only one parting word--something yet I require,
+to assure my heart that thou wilt receive his soul. Some time after he
+laid his hand upon Mrs. Brannan's lap and made a sign to her;
+afterwards he made a sign to me, who was at the back of the bed, to
+come round. Mrs. Brannan thought he wanted her to retire, which she
+did. He looked after her. I said, 'My love, she thinks you want to say
+something to me; can you speak?' He said, 'Join--pray,' which we did.
+He spoke no more for some time, only, 'Come, sweet Jesus,' and
+frequently, 'Receive my spirit.' These words were given for my sake. I
+cried, 'I am satisfied, Lord, and I yield him up to thee with all my
+heart; thou hast given me all my asking. I will not be longer
+faithless, but believing. Continue to support his departing soul, and
+let the enemy find nothing in him.'
+
+ "The next attack of hiccup laid him back speechless, and I
+believe senseless in the last parting work: he had no further
+struggle, nor need of any person to support him. I therefore again
+placed myself on my knees by his bedside, determined not to quit the
+posture till his soul had entered its rest; but nature was worn out,
+and though I swallowed hartshorn and water in great quantities, I was
+so overcome that I was obliged to lie down at the back of the bed to
+save me from fainting. Three hours did he continue in this last work
+of the heart. I watched his last, and delivered him up with a hearty
+prayer and a full assurance; but O, how earnestly I wished to go with
+him! I was, for the time, entirely insensible to my own loss: my soul
+pursued him into the invisible world, and for the time cordially
+rejoiced with the Spirit. I thought I saw the angel band ready to
+receive him, among whom stood my dear mother, the first to bid him
+welcome to the regions of bliss.
+
+ "I was then desired to leave the room, which I did, saying, 'My
+doctor is gone. I have accompanied him to the gates of heaven: he is
+safely landed; that is now not him that lies there. You, nurse, will
+see it decently dressed; then I may again be permitted to take another
+parting kiss.' So, embracing the precious clay, I went into the
+parlor. Some friends came in to see me. My composure they could not
+account for: our sincere and tender regard for each other was too well
+known to allow them to impute it to indifference. My distress at
+parting with him, even for a couple of months, when he went to St.
+Vincent, and dejection of spirit the whole time till his return, left
+them as little room to impute it to want of sensibility: at last they
+imagined that I was stupefied with grief and fatigue; but they little
+knew that at that hour I rejoiced; indeed I told them, but I suppose
+was not believed. I was asked if I had any thing particular to say
+respecting the funeral. I said, 'Nothing--my charge is gone to rest; I
+would leave it to them.' It was then proposed to bury next day at ten
+o'clock. I said that was very early; they answered, by that time I
+would be satisfied it was not too early.
+
+ "In the evening I returned to our bed-chamber to take a last
+farewell of the dear remains. The countenance was so very pleasant I
+thought there was even something heavenly, and could not help saying,
+'You smile upon me, my love; surely the delightful prospect opening on
+the parting soul left that benign smile on its companion the body.' I
+thought I could have stood and gazed for ever; but for fear of
+relapsing into immoderate grief, I withdrew after a parting embrace,
+and with an intention not to ask for another, lest a change in his
+countenance might shake my peace; for Oh, we are weak, and at certain
+times not subject to reason. I went to bed purely to get alone, for I
+had little expectation of sleep; but I was mistaken; nature was fairly
+overcome with watching and fatigue. I dropped asleep, and for a few
+hours forgot my woes; but Oh; the pangs I felt on my first awaking. I
+could not for some time believe it true that I was indeed a widow, and
+that I had lost my heart's treasure--my all I held dear on earth. It
+was long before day. I was in no danger of closing my eyes again, for
+I was at that time abandoned to despair, till recollection and the
+same considerations which at first supported me brought me a little to
+myself. I considered, I wept for one that wept no more; that all my
+fears for his eternal happiness were now over, and he beyond the reach
+of being lost; neither was he lost to me, but added to my heavenly
+treasure, more securely mine than ever. Those snares and temptations
+arising from the corrupt customs of a degenerate age, which had so
+often caused my fears, could never reach him there. The better, dearer
+half of myself was now secure beyond the possibility of falling, and
+waiting my arrival to complete his bliss. O happy hour, which shall
+also set my soul at liberty, and unite us, never to part more.
+
+ "In the morning I asked the nurse if there was any alteration;
+she said, no. I again returned to take another view, and was surprised
+to find his color and countenance unchanged. I began to be extremely
+uneasy at having consented to so early a burial. I returned again, and
+again; O, how I wished to have kept him for ever. Ten o'clock came;
+the company assembled; I became very uneasy; at last I discovered it
+to Dr. Bowie, begged he would only view him; how fresh the color--how
+every way like life. He assured me there was not the smallest doubt
+but that he was gone. I was not satisfied with this, but made them all
+inspect him. All agreed in the same thing, and I was obliged to yield,
+and the dear remains were ravished from my sight. What a night I
+passed the night after the funeral! I had ordered our own bed to be
+made up, and at the usual time retired; but in vain did I try to
+sleep; the moment my senses began to lose sensibility, I was in a kind
+of dream. Finding myself alone, I imagined he was out at supper,
+though he seldom was without me; now I thought I heard his foot on the
+stairs, and started up to listen if it were he, and to bid him
+welcome, when my roused senses told me what I could still hardly
+credit, that I had no husband to expect, and threw me into a fresh
+agony, which kept me awake till I had in some measure again reconciled
+myself to my solitary situation. But having only slept a few hours
+since my dear doctor was taken ill, I no sooner got my mind a little
+composed, than sleep again began to overpower my senses, when the
+same, or a similar imagination roused me.
+
+ "The morning came. When I was called down to breakfast, the sight
+of his empty seat distracted me. I returned to my room, though I
+thought it my duty to take some nourishment. I had it brought to me.
+Alas, I could nowhere turn my eyes but the sight was connected with
+this dear idea, and recalled past delights, never more to return. Our
+back windows looked into the garden, on which he had bestowed so much
+labor and pains, and which he was just bringing to perfection. Here we
+had spent many pleasant hours together, and indulged that freedom of
+conversation, the natural consequence of an unbounded confidence. The
+double arbor he had reared, and so contrived as to screen from both
+the south and the western sun, bid fair, in a short time, to screen us
+also from every eye. Hitherto we had been confined to morning hours,
+or afternoon, when it was shaded by the house; but had often pleased
+ourselves with the hours we should spend in this cool retreat, even at
+noonday, while, screened from the sun's scorching rays, we might enjoy
+the refreshing breeze through its leafy openings; but these delightful
+prospects were now for ever at an end. I might, indeed, there take my
+seat; but the tongue which everywhere charmed, was buried in deepest
+silence. The company which rendered every scene pleasant was gone,
+never to return: his sheep, his goats, nay, even the poultry, were
+often fed from his hand: every thing served to distract. As for my
+children, they were by kind friends kept for some time out of my
+sight; for not only to view them fatherless distressed me, but their
+thoughtless mirth and play was altogether insupportable.
+
+ "I accepted an invitation from Mr. Gilbert's family to spend some
+time in the country with them; for though it was impossible for me to
+forget for one moment, yet, when these objects were removed from my
+sight, I was more able to turn my thoughts upward, to where my heart's
+treasure now is, and where I myself expect to be. We had two
+men-servants, and my two Indian girls; one of the men I dismissed, the
+other I left to take care of the living creatures about the place. One
+of my girls I boarded where she would be in good company, and with my
+children and their maid I abandoned my solitary dwelling. I met with a
+very tender reception from that worthy family. My situation here was
+such as I both expected and wished, and attended with many outward
+circumstances which had the probability of making it supportable. I
+was allowed to be as much by myself as I chose. No one intruded on my
+privacy without my consent; but one or other of the Mrs. Gilberts
+often visited me in my own room, and drew from my bursting heart all
+its griefs, sympathizing, soothing, and advising at the same time.
+They are both women of great piety, having for many years devoted
+their hearts, time, talents, and fortune to the service of God; and
+their two husbands likewise, whose business it has been to instruct
+the ignorant negroes without fee or reward. Had it not been for this
+family, I know not where the distraction of my mind might have
+ended." * * * *
+
+
+ Thus was Mrs. Graham, at the early age of thirty-one, left a
+widow in a land of strangers. Her husband, companion, protector, was
+gone: a man of superior mind, great taste, warm affection, and
+domestic habits. She was left with three daughters, the eldest of whom
+was not over five years of age, and expecting an increase of her
+infant charge. Of temporal property she possessed very little: she was
+at a distance from her father's house: the widow and the fatherless
+were in a foreign land. The change in her circumstances was as sudden
+as it was great.
+
+ That sympathizing heart with which she was accustomed to receive
+and return the confidence of unbounded friendship, and thus, by
+reciprocal communion, to alleviate the trials and enrich the
+enjoyments of life, was chilled in death. All the pleasing plans, all
+the cherished prospects of future settlement in life were cut off in a
+moment. While sinking into a softened indifference to the world, in
+the contemplation of her severe loss, she was, on the other hand,
+roused into exertion for the sustenance and support of her young
+family, whose earthly dependence was now necessarily upon her.
+
+ Not satisfied with the custom of the island, in burying so soon
+after life is extinct, her uneasiness became so great that her friends
+judged it prudent to have her husband's grave opened, to convince her
+that no symptoms of returning life had been exhibited there. The
+fidelity of her heart was now as strongly marked as her tenderness.
+She dressed herself in the habiliments of a widow, and determined
+never to lay them aside. This she strictly adhered to, and rejected
+every overture afterwards made to her of again entering into the
+married state. She breathed the feelings of her heart in a little
+poem, in which she dedicated herself to her God as a widow indeed.
+
+ On examining into the state of her husband's affairs, she
+discovered that there remained not quite two hundred pounds sterling
+in his agent's hands.
+
+ These circumstances afforded an opportunity for the display of
+the purity of Mrs. Graham's principles, and her rigid adherence to the
+commandments of her God in every situation.
+
+ It was proposed to her, and urged with much argument, to sell the
+two Indian girls, her late husband's property; but no considerations
+of interest or necessity could prevail upon her thus to dispose of
+immortal beings, the work of her heavenly Father's hand. One of these
+girls accompanied her to Scotland, where she was married; and the
+other died in Antigua, leaving an affectionate testimony to the
+kindness of her dear master and mistress.
+
+ The surgeon's mate of the regiment was a young man whom Dr.
+Graham had early taken under his patronage. The kindness of his patron
+had so far favored him with a medical education, that he was enabled
+to succeed him as surgeon to the regiment.
+
+ Notwithstanding the slender finances of Mrs. Graham, feeling for
+the situation of Dr. H----, she presented to him her husband's medical
+library and his sword: a rare instance of disinterested regard for the
+welfare of another.
+
+ This was an effort towards observing the second table of the law,
+in doing which she was actuated likewise by that principle which flows
+from keeping the first table also. Nor was the friendship of Dr. and
+Mrs. Graham misplaced. The seeds of gratitude were sown in an upright
+heart. Dr. H----, from year to year, manifested his sense of
+obligation, by remitting to the widow such sums of money as he could
+afford. This was a reciprocity of kind offices, equally honorable to
+the benefactors and to them who received the benefit: an instance,
+alas, too rarely met with in a selfish world.
+
+ It may here be remarked, in order to show how much temporal
+supplies are under the direction of a special providence, that Dr.
+H----'s remittances and friendly letters were occasionally received by
+Mrs. Graham until the year 1795; after this period her circumstances
+were so favorably altered as to render such aid unnecessary; and from
+that time she heard no more from Dr. H----, neither could she learn
+what was his subsequent history.
+
+ It may be profitable here to look at Mrs. Graham, contrasted with
+those around her whose condition in the world was prosperous. Many
+persons then in Antigua were busy and successful in the accumulation
+of wealth, to the exclusion of every thought tending to holiness, to
+God, and to heaven. The portion which they desired they possessed.
+What then? They are since gone to another world. The magic of the
+words, "my property," "an independent fortune," has been dispelled;
+and that for which they toiled, and in which they gloried, has since
+passed into a hundred hands; the illusion is vanished, and unless they
+made their peace with God through the blood of the cross, they left
+this world, and alas, found no heaven before them. But amidst apparent
+affliction and outward distress, God was preparing the heart of this
+widow, by the discipline of his covenant, for future usefulness--to be
+a blessing, probably to thousands of her race, and to enter finally on
+that "rest which remaineth for the people of God."
+
+ Her temporal support was not, in her esteem, "an independent
+fortune," but a life of dependence on the care of her heavenly Father:
+she had more delight in suffering and doing his will, than in all
+riches. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he
+will show them his covenant." To those who walk with God, he will show
+the way in which they should go, and their experience will assure them
+that he directs their paths. "Bread shall be given them, and their
+water shall be sure." She passed through many trials of a temporal
+nature, but she was comforted of her God through them all; and at last
+was put in possession of an eternal treasure in heaven, "where neither
+moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." May
+this contrast be solemnly examined, and the example of this child of
+God made a blessing to many.
+
+ In anticipation of her approaching trial, with which her own life
+might be suddenly terminated, Mrs. Graham _set her house in
+order_, and wrote the two following letters: one to her friend Mrs.
+Grandidier, to whom and her husband Capt. Grandidier, she committed
+the charge of her family and affairs; the other to her father in
+Scotland, commending her children to his protection. Her tender and
+affectionate appeals to each of them in respect to their own eternal
+welfare, are a beautiful specimen of that Christian fidelity and love
+of the souls of men which so strongly characterized her future life.
+
+
+ "ST. JOHNS, Antigua, 1774.
+
+ "MY DEAR MRS. GRANDIDIER--The long and steady friendship which
+has subsisted between us, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and
+adversity, ever the same, without change or diminution, leaves me no
+room to doubt that it will extend to my little family, and that you
+will be as ready, to the utmost of your power, to befriend them, as
+you have been to the dear father already gone, and your friend, who
+is, perhaps, about to follow.
+
+ "If it should please God to take me away in my approaching
+confinement, I leave you and Capt. Grandidier full power to dispose of
+every thing in this house, and belonging to me in this island, as you
+shall think most for the advantage of my little family. You know my
+extreme tenderness for their dear father made me unable to part with
+any of his clothes, but these can be of no consequence to me when I
+shall again have joined him for whose sake I kept them; you may
+therefore dispose of them, and also of my own, if you think the avails
+will be of more service to the children. But I do not choose to leave
+any particular directions about my trifling effects; you will consult
+with other friends, and I am certain you will act for them to the best
+of your judgment. It is a great relief to my mind that I have such
+steady and tried friends to leave the charge of them upon. Miss
+G. B---- has promised to take J----, and it is my desire that the
+others, and the infant yet unborn, if it survive, be sent to my
+father, where I will leave them to be disposed of and provided for by
+that God who has fed me all my life, by their heavenly Father, who has
+commanded me to leave my fatherless children upon him, that he will
+preserve them alive, and whose promise I have, that he will never
+leave them nor forsake them.
+
+ "Mr. Reid will not be less kind to the offspring of his friend
+when they have lost, than when they were under a mother's protection.
+May the blessing of the widow and the fatherless follow him wherever
+he goes, and may God recompense him a thousand-fold in blessings
+spiritual and temporal. Let Diana* be sent with my children; if
+there be an infant, you know a nurse must be found for it, whatever it
+cost. As for Susan,* I am at a loss what to do with her; my heart
+tells me I have no right to entail slavery upon her and her offspring;
+I know I shall be blamed, but I am about to be called to account by a
+higher power than any in this world for my conduct, and I dare not
+allow her to be sold. I therefore leave it to herself either to remain
+here, or if it be her desire, to accompany the children. I beg Mr.
+Reid will be kind enough to allow her a passage with the rest.
+
+*The two Indian girls.
+
+ "And now, my dear friend, as the greatest happiness I can wish
+you, may that God whom I have chosen as my own portion, be yours also;
+may he, by his outward providence and by the inward operations of his
+Spirit on your heart, lead you to himself and convince you of the
+truth. But O, my dear friend, shut not your eyes and ears against
+conviction. You are not satisfied that the Bible is indeed the word of
+God. Is it not worth inquiring into? What would you think of a man who
+had a large fortune, and the whole depending on proving some certain
+facts, and yet would not be at the pains to inform himself? Are the
+interests of this world of such importance, which in a few fleeting
+years we must leave and have done with for ever, and our final state
+in the next, which is to fix us in happiness or misery through the
+endless days of eternity, not worth a thought? Think then, and
+seriously ask, 'What if it be so? What if this be indeed the word of
+God given by inspiration, for the rule of both our faith and manners,
+and by which we are to be judged? What if this same God, who so kindly
+reveals his will to men, has with it given the clearest evidences and
+strongest proofs that it is his own word?' Think, I say, my dear
+friend, if it should be so, what they deserve who either reject or
+neglect it without taking the trouble to inform themselves, or to be
+convinced that it either is or is not of divine authority.
+
+ "How many great, learned, and wise men have sifted these
+evidences with the greatest care, and the deeper they entered into the
+search, the more clear they appeared, even those whose lives are
+entirely contrary to it, and whose interest it is to wish it false,
+cannot deny. As to the various explanations of it, it is every one's
+duty to read for himself, and although there may be some parts of it
+too deep for every capacity, and which may perhaps require a knowledge
+of the history of the times to understand, yet the simple truths of
+the gospel, what we are to believe concerning God, and what duties he
+requires of us, and what he forbids, are equally plain and easy. If we
+can only once be satisfied that it is indeed the word of God, set
+ourselves to study it with an unprejudiced mind, with a sincere desire
+to know the truth and be led by it, with earnest prayer that the same
+Spirit which inspired the writers would make it plain to our hearts
+and understandings, that God himself would teach us its true meaning,
+and save us from error, we shall, I venture to say, be taught all
+necessary knowledge, and be led in the way to eternal life, and not
+suffered to err: we have God's promise that it shall be so. 'If any
+man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of
+God.'
+
+ "Forgive me, my dear friend; the subject appears to me so
+important that I know not how to have done. I love you with a true
+and sincere friendship: I love your soul, and am deeply interested
+in its eternal happiness. Once more I commit you to that God, who
+only can lead you to himself and to true happiness; and that you may
+know the truth of this from deep experience, to the eternal joy,
+peace, and safety of your immortal soul, is the last prayer of your
+affectionate friend, who hopes to meet and rejoice with you in our
+Redeemer's kingdom.
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham to her Father.
+
+ "ANTIGUA, May, 1774.
+
+ "MY EVER-DEAR FATHER--If this ever reach you, it will be when I
+have taken my final leave of this world, and received my portion for
+eternity in the next, when I hope I shall have gained the summit of my
+wishes, and be happy in the society of my dear husband and much-loved
+mother, in the kingdom of our Redeemer.
+
+ "My truly orphan children I have desired to be sent to you;
+though I see no visible way you have to provide for them, yet I am
+perfectly easy concerning them. I leave them upon that God who has fed
+me all my life, and whose tender care I have experienced in a thousand
+dangers--upon their and my heavenly Father, who has commanded me to
+leave my fatherless children upon him, and he will preserve them
+alive. The God of providence will prepare for them a home, and raise
+up friends, perhaps from a quarter neither you nor I could expect.
+
+ "My only concern and prayer to God for them is, that they may be
+early taught to love God and serve him--that they may fall into such
+hands as will carefully instruct them in the principles of morality
+and religion, and teach them the great, but too little thought of
+truth, that our chief business in life is to prepare for death. As to
+the polite parts of education, I look upon them as of no consequence;
+they may be as good Christians, perhaps better, without than with
+them; the perfection of their nature no way depends upon them. I am
+equally indifferent what station of life they may occupy, whether they
+swim in affluence or earn their daily bread, if they only act their
+part properly, and obtain the approbation of their God in that station
+wherein he in his infinite wisdom sees fit to place them.
+
+ "Remember to give my love to all my dear children. I reckon all
+that sprung from my dear doctor mine; and though I did not suffer a
+mother's pangs for them, Heaven knows how equally I love them with
+those who cost me dearer. Tell them I leave them a mother's blessing;
+and my last prayers, if it please God to continue my senses, shall be
+for their best interests.
+
+ "And now, my dear father, suffer one parting word, though from
+one no way entitled to advise: this is the third loud call for you to
+be also ready; according to the course of nature, you must very
+shortly follow; you can have very little more to do in this world, and
+therefore the smallest share of your attention is due to it. The
+young, the gay, the giddy, and thoughtless hold it a wise maxim to
+forget their departed friends as soon as possible; this may be
+worldly, but it cannot be heavenly wisdom. To be fully and entirely
+resigned to the will of God in all things, is certainly the
+characteristic of a Christian; but this is perfectly consistent with
+the most tender remembrance. That resignation--but indeed it deserves
+not the name--which consists in forgetfulness, in banishing thought
+and drowning reflection in worldly cares and amusements, can be no
+grateful offering to Him who has commanded us to have our loins girt
+and our lamps trimmed, and to be always ready, for in such an hour as
+we think not 'the Son of man cometh.' How often are we commanded to
+watch, to set our affections on things above, to be dead to the world,
+to lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven. These injunctions are
+inconsistent with forgetfulness; and if it be our duty to meditate on
+death and eternity, nothing more naturally leads our minds to that
+subject than the recollection of departed friends, who, if pious, are
+not lost, but only gone a little while before, taken from our earthly
+and added to our heavenly treasure.
+
+ "Believe me, my dear father, to a mind abstracted from the world
+and devoted to God, death, though solemn, has nothing dreadful in it;
+on the contrary, to a mind rightly disposed it is rather a desirable
+object. Just conceptions of God, and converse with him, will very soon
+change the aspect of the king of terrors to a welcome messenger, who
+comes to set open the gates of immortality, and to usher us into the
+kingdom of our heavenly Father. And now may our most gracious God
+grant you, through your few remaining days, his direction and
+consolation; may he bestow upon you that peace which the world can
+neither give nor take away; and when the appointed time of your change
+shall come, may the comforts of his Holy Spirit so cheer and refresh
+your soul, that you may be able, without a doubt or a fear, to resign
+it into the hands of your Redeemer.
+
+ "Give my love to Hugh. The sentiments expressed in his letters
+bespeak him a worthy brother, and deserving of my highest esteem. I
+would have written to him, but I have still some directions to commit
+to writing concerning my little family, and my hour is at hand; but
+tell him I will remember him in my last prayers. I charge him not to
+banish the idea of his worthy and now glorified mother, lest with that
+he also forget her precepts; but prepare to meet us who are gone
+before; and O, that our meeting may be with joy on both sides. It is
+hard for youth, in the present age, to follow our Christian pattern.
+Every real Christian, every Bible Christian, must lay his account with
+being branded with the name of enthusiast; but tell him to remember
+that the opinion of the world cannot alter the nature of holiness, nor
+the maxims of Christ. Let him read, think, and judge for himself with
+an unprejudiced mind; with a hearty desire to know and be led by the
+truth; to be taught of God, and conformed to his will in all things,
+and I venture to promise he will not be suffered to err. But let him
+avoid disputes about religion, they are seldom productive of any good;
+let him fortify his mind against banter and ridicule, it is no small
+degree of persecution. Yet, if he be determined to follow his Lord, he
+must expect to meet with it, and I know from experience it is hard to
+bear. I have found the safest way is to receive it in silence; for
+those who are disposed to ridicule the appearance of religion in
+another, are not in a fit disposition to be convinced by any argument,
+at least at that time, and few can dispute without heat, which is a
+transgression against the virtue of meekness, and very apt to lessen
+our love to the person who opposes us. We lose the spirit of brotherly
+love in hot-headed zeal, which perhaps deserves a harder name, but
+conceals itself under that appearance; and it is no small victory
+gained over ourselves if we are able to love, wish well to, and be
+ready to serve those whose sentiments differ from ours.
+
+ "I leave you and yours, and mine, upon the Fountain of all
+goodness, and may the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
+keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of
+his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you
+always. Amen.
+
+ "Your ever dutiful and affectionate daughter,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ It pleased God to preserve the life of Mrs. Graham, and to make
+her the grateful mother of a son, whom she called after the name of
+his father, and endeavored, in humble trust, to consecrate to the
+Author of his being.
+
+ Having now no object to induce her to stay longer at Antigua, she
+disposed of her slender property, and placing her money in the hands
+of Major Brown, requested him to take a passage for herself and
+family, and to lay in their sea-stores. After seeing a railing placed
+around the grave of her beloved husband, that his remains might not be
+disturbed until mingled with their kindred dust, she bade adieu to her
+kind friends, and with a sorrowful heart turned her face towards her
+native land.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ RETURN TO SCOTLAND--SCHOOL IN EDINBURGH.
+
+ No ship offering at this time from Antigua for Scotland, Mrs.
+Graham embarked with her family in one bound to Belfast, Ireland.
+Major Brown and his brother officers saw her safely out to sea; and he
+gave her a letter to a gentleman in Belfast, containing, as he said, a
+bill for the balance of the money she had deposited with him. After a
+stormy and trying voyage, she arrived in safety at her destined port.
+The correspondent in Ireland of Major Brown delivered her a letter
+from that officer expressive of esteem and affection, and stating that
+as a proof of respect for the memory of their deceased friend, he and
+his brother officers had taken the liberty of defraying the expenses
+of her voyage.
+
+ Consequently the bill he had given was for the full amount of her
+original deposit; and thus, like the brethren of Joseph, _she found
+all her money in the sack's mouth._ Being a stranger in Ireland,
+without a friend to look out for a proper vessel in which to embark
+for Scotland, she and her children went passengers in a packet; on
+board of which, as she afterwards learned, there was not even a
+compass. A storm arose and they were tossed to and fro for nine hours
+in imminent danger. The rudder and the mast were carried away; every
+thing on deck thrown overboard; and at length the vessel struck in the
+night upon a rock, on the coast of Ayr, in Scotland. The greatest
+confusion pervaded the passengers and crew. Among a number of young
+students, going to the University at Edinburgh, some were swearing,
+some praying, and all were in despair. The widow only remained
+composed. With her babe in her arms she hushed her weeping family, and
+told them that in a few minutes they should all go to join their
+father in a better world. The passengers wrote their names in their
+pocket-books, that their bodies might be recognized and reported for
+the information of their friends. One young man came into the cabin,
+asking, "Is there any peace here?" He was surprised to find a female
+so tranquil; a short conversation soon evinced that religion was the
+source of comfort and hope to them both in this perilous hour. He
+engaged in prayer and then read the 107th Psalm. While repeating these
+words, "he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are
+still," the vessel swung off the rock by the rising of the tide. She
+had been dashing against it for an hour and a half, the sea making a
+breach over her, so that the hold was now nearly filled with water.
+Towards morning the storm subsided, and the vessel floated until she
+rested on a sand-bank. Assistance was afforded from the shore, and the
+shipwrecked company took shelter in a small inn, where the men seemed
+anxious to drown the remembrance of danger in a bowl of punch. How
+faithful a monitor is conscience! This voice is listened to in extreme
+peril; but O, infatuated man, how anxious art thou to stifle the
+warnings of wisdom in the hour of prosperity. Thousands of our race,
+no doubt, delay their preparation for eternity until, by sudden death,
+they have scarcely a moment left to perform this solemn work.
+
+ Mrs. Graham retired to a private room, to offer up thanksgiving
+to God for his goodness, and to commend herself and her orphans to his
+future care.
+
+ A gentleman from Ayr, hearing of the shipwreck, came down to
+offer assistance; and in him Mrs. Graham was happy to recognize an
+old friend. This gentleman paid her and her family much attention,
+carrying them to his own house, and treating them with kindness
+and hospitality.
+
+ In a day or two after this she reached Cartside, and entered her
+father's dwelling; not the large ancient mansion in which she had left
+him, but a thatched cottage, consisting of three apartments. Possessed
+of a too easy temper and unsuspecting disposition, Mr. Marshall had
+been induced to become security for some of his friends, whose failure
+in business had reduced him to poverty. He now acted as factor of a
+gentleman's estate in this neighborhood, of whose father he had been
+the intimate friend, with a salary of twenty pounds sterling per annum
+and the use of a small farm.
+
+ In a short time, however, his health failed, and he was deprived
+of this scanty pittance, being incapable, as the proprietor was
+pleased to think, of fulfilling the duties of factor.
+
+ Alive to every call of duty, Mrs. Graham now considered her
+father as added, with her children, to the number of dependents on her
+industry. She proved indeed a good daughter--faithful, affectionate,
+and dutiful, she supported her father through his declining years; and
+he died at her house, Feb. 13, 1783, aged 75, during her residence in
+Edinburgh, surrounded by his daughter and her children, who tenderly
+watched him during his last illness.
+
+ Having resided two years at Cartside, she removed to Paisley in
+1778, where she taught a small school. The slender profits of such an
+establishment, with a widow's pension of sixteen pounds sterling, were
+the means of subsistence for herself and her family. When she first
+returned to Cartside a few religious friends called to welcome her
+home. The gay and wealthy part of her former acquaintances, who, like
+the butterfly, spread their silken wings only to bask in the warmth of
+a summer sun, found not their way to the lonely cottage of an
+afflicted widow. Her worth, though in after-life rendered splendid by
+its own fruits, was at this time hidden, excepting to those whose
+reflection and wisdom had taught them to discern it more in the faith
+and submission of the soul, than in the selfish and extravagant
+exhibitions of that wealth bestowed by the bounty of Providence, but
+expended too often for the purposes of vanity and dissipation.
+
+ In such circumstances, the Christian character of Mrs. Graham was
+strongly marked. Sensible that her heavenly Father saw it good, at
+this time, to depress her outward condition, full of filial
+tenderness, and like a real child of God resigned to whatever should
+appear to be his will, her conduct conformed to his dispensations.
+With a cheerful heart, and in the hope of faith, she set herself to
+walk down into the valley of humiliation, "leaning upon Jesus," as the
+beloved of her soul. "I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law
+is within my heart," was the spontaneous effusion of her genuine
+faith. She received with affection the scriptural admonition, "Humble
+yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
+you in due time; casting all your care upon him, for he careth
+for you."
+
+ She laid aside her children's fine frocks, and clothed them in
+homespun. At Cartside she sold the butter she made, and her children
+were fed on the milk. It was her wish to eat her own bread, however
+coarse, and to owe no person anything but love. At Paisley, for a
+season, her breakfast and supper was porridge, and her dinner potatoes
+and salt. Peace with God and a contented mind supplied the lack of
+earthly prosperity, and she adverted to this her humble fare, to
+comfort the hearts of suffering sisters, with whom she corresponded at
+a later period of life, when in comfortable circumstances.
+
+ Meantime the Lord was not unmindful of his believing child; but
+was preparing the minds of her friends for introducing her to a more
+enlarged sphere of usefulness.
+
+ Her pious and attached friend, Mrs. Major Brown, had accompanied
+her husband to Scotland, and they now resided on their estate in
+Ayrshire. Mr. Peter Reid, a kind friend when in Antigua, was now a
+merchant in London. This gentleman advised her to invest the little
+money she had brought home--and which she had still preserved--in
+muslins; which she could work into finer articles of dress, and he
+would ship them in a vessel of his own/freight free, to be sold in the
+West Indies. His object was partly to increase her little capital, and
+partly to divert her mind from meditating so deeply on the loss of her
+lamented husband. The plan so kindly proposed was soon adopted; the
+muslin dresses were shipped; but she soon afterwards learned that the
+ship was captured by the French. This was a severe loss, and more
+deeply felt as it was received at the time when her father was
+deprived of his office.
+
+ Mrs. Brown, after consulting with the Rev. Mr. Randall of
+Glasgow, the Rev. Mr. Ellis of Paisley, Lady Glenorchy and Mrs. Walker
+of Edinburgh, proposed to Mrs. Graham to take charge of a
+boarding-school in that metropolis.
+
+ The friends of religion were of opinion that such an
+establishment, under the direction of one possessing the
+qualifications of Mrs. Graham, would be of singular benefit to young
+ladies destined for important stations in society. Her liberal
+education, her acquaintance with life, and her humble yet ardent
+piety, were considered peculiarly calculated to qualify her for so
+important a trust.
+
+ Another friend had suggested to Mrs. Graham the propriety of
+opening a boarding-house in Edinburgh, which he thought could, through
+his influence, be easily filled by students.
+
+ She saw obstacles to both: a boarding-house did not appear
+suitable, as her daughters would not be so likely to have the same
+advantages of education as from a boarding-school; and to engage as an
+instructress of youth on so large a scale, with so many competitors,
+appeared for her an arduous undertaking.
+
+ In this perplexity, as in former trials, she fled to her unerring
+counsellor the Lord, her covenant God. She set apart a day for fasting
+and prayer. She spread her case before the Lord, earnestly beseeching
+him to make his word "a light to her feet and a lamp to her path," and
+"to lead her in the way in which she should go;" especially that she
+might be directed to choose the path in which she could best promote
+his glory and the highest interests of herself and her children. On
+searching the Scriptures, her mind fastened on these words in John
+21:15, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith
+unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
+Feed my lambs."
+
+ Never, perhaps, was this commandment applied with more filial
+confidence, or accompanied with a richer blessing, since the days of
+the apostle, than in the present instance.
+
+ Her determination was accordingly made. She resolved to undertake
+the education of youth, trusting that her Lord would make her an
+humble instrument of training some for his service on earth, and his
+praises in heaven. Here was exhibited an instance of simple yet
+powerful faith in a believer surrounded by temporal perplexities, and
+of condescension and mercy on the part of a compassionate God. Light
+unseen by mortal eyes descended on her path.
+
+ How weak, perhaps enthusiastic, would this have appeared to the
+busy crowd, blind to the special providence exercised by the God of
+heaven towards all his creatures. She felt the pressure of her
+affliction; but, like the Psalmist, _gave herself unto prayer_:
+
+ "Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream
+ Of glory on the consecrated hour
+ Of man in audience with the Deity."
+
+ Though her faith was strong, yet her mind was under such
+agitation, from her total want of funds to carry her plan into effect,
+and from other conflicting exercises, as to throw her into a nervous
+fever, which kept her confined to her bed for some weeks. On her
+recovery, she felt it her duty to _go forward,_ trusting that He,
+who had directed her path, would provide the means that were necessary
+to enable her to walk in it: she sold her heavy furniture, packed up
+all her remaining effects, and prepared to set out from Paisley for
+Edinburgh on a Monday, in the year 1779.
+
+ On the Saturday previous she sat by her fire musing and wondering
+in what manner the Lord would appear for her at this time, when a
+letter was brought to her from Mr. Peter Reid, enclosing a sum of
+money which he had recovered from the underwriters, on account of Mrs.
+Graham's muslins captured on their passage to the West Indies. Mrs.
+Graham had considered them as totally lost, but her friend had taken
+the precaution to have them insured.
+
+ With this supply she was enabled to accomplish her object, and
+arrived in Edinburgh with her family. Her friend Mrs. Brown met her
+there, and stayed with her a few days, to comfort and patronize her in
+her new undertaking. Mrs. Brown was her warm and constant friend until
+her death, which occurred at Paisley in 1782, when she was attending
+the communion. She bequeathed her daughter Mary to Mrs. Graham's care.
+But in 1785 the daughter followed the mother, being cut off by a fever
+in the twelfth year of her age.
+
+ It may be proper here to introduce the name of Mr. George
+Anderson, a merchant in Glasgow, who had been an early and particular
+friend of Dr. Graham. He kindly offered his friendly services, and the
+use of his purse, to promote the welfare of the bereaved family of his
+friend. Mrs. Graham occasionally drew upon both. The money she
+borrowed she had the satisfaction of repaying with interest. A
+correspondence was carried on between them after Mrs. Graham's removal
+to America, until the death of Mr. Anderson, in 1802.
+
+ During her residence in Edinburgh she was honored with the
+friendship and counsel of many persons of distinction and piety. The
+Viscountess Glenorchy, Lady Boss Baillie, Lady Jane Belches, Mrs.
+Walter Scott, mother of the poet, Mrs. Dr. Davidson, and Mrs.
+Baillie Walker, were among her warm personal friends. The Rev. Dr.
+Erskine, and Dr. Davidson, formerly the Rev. Mr. Randall of Glasgow,
+and many respectable clergymen, were also her friends. She and her
+family attended on the ministry of Dr. Davidson, an able,
+evangelical, useful pastor.
+
+ Her school soon became respectable in numbers and character. Her
+early and superior education now proved of essential service to her.
+She was indefatigable in her attention to the instruction of her
+pupils. While she was faithful in giving them those accomplishments
+which were to qualify them for acting a distinguished part in this
+world, she was also zealous in directing their attention to that
+gospel by which they were instructed to obtain an inheritance in that
+to come. She felt a high responsibility, and took a deep interest in
+their temporal and spiritual welfare. As "a mother in Israel," she
+wished to train them up in the ways of the Lord.
+
+ She prayed with them morning and evening; and on the Sabbath,
+which she was careful to devote to its proper use, she took great
+pains to imbue their minds with the truths of religion. Nor did she
+labor in vain. Although she was often heard to lament of how little
+use she had been compared with her opportunities of doing good, yet
+when her children, Mr. and Mrs. B. visited Scotland in 1801, they
+heard of many individuals, then pious and exemplary, who dated their
+first religious impressions from those seasons of early instruction
+which they enjoyed under Mrs. Graham while in Edinburgh.
+
+ Mrs. Graham's manner in the management of youth was peculiarly
+happy. While she kept them diligent in their studies, and strictly
+obedient to the laws she had established, she was endeared to them by
+her tenderness; and the young ladies instructed in her school retained
+for her in after-life a degree of filial affection which was expressed
+on many affecting occasions. This was afterwards remarkably the case
+with her pupils in America. Her little republic was completely
+governed by a system of equitable laws. On every alleged offence, a
+court-martial, as they termed it, was held, and the accused tried by
+her peers. There were no arbitrary punishments, no sallies of
+capricious passion. The laws were promulgated, and obedience was
+indispensable; the sentences of the courts-martial were always
+approved, and had a salutary effect. In short, there was a combination
+of authority, decision, and tenderness in Mrs. Graham's government,
+that rendered its subjects industrious, intelligent, circumspect, and
+happy. She enjoyed their happiness; and in cases of sickness, she
+watched over them with unremitting solicitude and care, sparing no
+expense to promote their restoration to health.
+
+ A strong trait in her character was distinctly marked by her
+educating the daughters of pious ministers at half price. This was
+setting an example worthy of imitation. It was a conduct conformable
+to scriptural precept. Said Paul, "If we have sown unto you spiritual
+things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Do ye
+not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things
+of the temple? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach
+the gospel should live by the gospel."
+
+ Always conscientious in obeying the commandments of her God, she
+observed them in this matter, giving, in her proportion, at least the
+widow's mite.
+
+ By another plan, for she was ingenious in contrivances to do
+good, she greatly assisted those in slender circumstances, especially
+such as were of the household of faith. Believing that the use of sums
+of ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds in hand would be serviceable by way
+of capital to persons in a moderate business, she was in the habit of
+making such advances, and taking back the value in articles they had
+for sale. She charged no interest, being amply repaid in the luxury of
+her own feelings, when she beheld the benefit it produced to her
+humble friends. The board of her pupils being paid in advance, she was
+enabled to adopt this plan with more facility. Were her spirit more
+prevalent in the world, what good might be done. The heart would be
+expanded, reciprocal confidence and affection cherished; and instead
+of beholding worms of the dust fighting for particles of yellow sand,
+we should behold a company of affectionate brethren leaning upon and
+assisting each other through the wilderness of this world. "Look not
+every man on his own things," said Paul, "but every man also on the
+things of others. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law
+of Christ."
+
+ On the subject of promoting the external accomplishments of her
+scholars, it became a question how far Mrs. Graham was to
+countenance them in their attendance on public balls--to what length
+it was proper for her to go so as to meet the received opinions of
+the world in these concerns. She consulted with her pious friends,
+and wrote to Lady Glenorchy on the subject. Her ladyship's letter in
+reply is so excellent that the serious reader will be gratified with
+its insertion.
+
+
+ "BARNTON, December 27, 1781.
+
+ "DEAR MADAM--I received your letter last week, and also one some
+time ago from Mrs. Walker, in which she desired me to send you my
+sentiments upon the alteration you had made, and still thought of
+making, upon your plan.
+
+ "I have since endeavored to consider, with all the attention of
+which I am _at present_ capable, the arguments that may be
+brought on both sides of the question; and with regard to the first
+point, the _practisings_, I will frankly own, that could you send
+your young ladies to one where _girls only_ are admitted, I
+should more readily yield my opinion of the matter to those Christians
+who have advised you to it. But as I learn that it is a promiscuous
+dance of boys and girls, I must in conscience say that I look upon
+such a meeting to be as pernicious in its effects upon the minds of
+young people, as balls and public assemblies on persons of riper
+years. When you mentioned the subject to me first, I thought it had
+been a practising of girls _only_, else I should then have given
+you my sentiments fully upon that head.
+
+ "As to the _reading of plays_, or any part of them, to your
+young people, I must own, it does not appear to me to be expedient; it
+may be productive of bad consequences, and the _good_ arising
+from it is, at most, uncertain. It is, no doubt, very desirable to
+enlarge young people's minds and improve their taste as well as their
+persons; but such is the state of things in this world, that to attain
+this to the degree wished for by every person of refined taste, some
+things must be sacrificed of much greater value: for example, a girl
+cannot acquire the smart, polished air of a person of fashion, without
+imbibing too much of the spirit of the world. _Vanity_ and
+_emulation_ must be awakened and cultivated in the heart, before
+she will apply herself with diligence to outward accomplishments; nor
+can her mind and taste be much improved in _polite_ literature,
+without losing its relish for simple truth. I grant you, there are a
+few Christians in the world who have acquired the outward
+accomplishments of it, and have, by grace, been enabled to turn these
+to good account--who, like the Israelites, having spoiled the
+Egyptians, have made use of _their_ jewels in adorning the
+tabernacle; but this can never serve as an argument on your side of
+the question. If the Lord sees fit to manifest his power and grace by
+plucking a brand from the burning, this is no reason why children
+should be initiated into the ways of sin and folly, in hopes that some
+time or other he will bring them out. We are never to do evil that
+good may come; and this brings the question to a short issue.
+
+ "Do you think it lawful for Christians to attend public places,
+or to spend their time in reading plays? Do you think these things
+tend, either immediately or remotely, to promote the glory of God? If
+you do not, I cannot see how you, _as a Christian_, can have any
+hand in introducing young ladies to the one or in giving them a taste
+for the other.
+
+ "This, dear madam, is _my_ view of the matter; but I do not
+wish _you_ to walk by _my_ light. I believe all the children of God
+are _taught by him_, and ought to follow the dictates of their own
+consciences: I therefore pretend not _to advise_ you, but shall
+endeavor to _pray_ that the great _unerring_ Counsellor may give you
+divine wisdom to be your teacher, to lead you into all truth, and to
+keep you from every thing inconsistent with his holy will.
+
+ "I have met with so many interruptions since I began this letter,
+that I fear that it is hardly intelligible. I shall be sorry if I have
+said any thing that gives you uneasiness; your spirits seem low, and
+your business does not succeed so well as could be wished: perhaps I
+ought to have employed my pen in the way of consolation and
+encouragement, than by throwing in fresh matter of perplexity. Sure I
+am, I do not _mean_ to add affliction to the afflicted; but
+rather have been impelled, from a regard to truth, to write my real
+sentiments, as you desired.
+
+ "Your friend and humble servant,
+
+ "W. GLENORCHY."
+
+
+ In after-life, Mrs. Graham was of opinion that she and her
+scholars had gone too far in conformity with the opinions and manners
+of the world. A reference to this deviation from what she considered a
+close Christian walk in life, will be frequently found in her
+subsequent exercises.
+
+ Lady Glenorchy being in a delicate state of health, made frequent
+use of Mrs. Graham as her almoner to the poor. On one of these visits,
+Mrs. Graham called on a poor woman with a present of a new gown. "I am
+obliged to you and her ladyship for your kindness," said the poor
+woman rich in faith, "but I maun gang to the right airth first; ye wad
+na hae come, gin ye had na been sent; the Lord hath left me lately wi'
+but ae goon for week-day and Sabbath, but now he has sent you wi' a
+Sabbath-day's goon." Meaning, in plain English, that her thankfulness
+was first due to the God of providence, who had put it into the hearts
+of his children to supply the wants of this poor disciple.
+
+ Mrs. Graham used to repeat with pleasure an anecdote of her
+friends Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. Mr. Douglas was a tallow-chandler, and
+furnished candles for Lady Glenorchy's chapel. The excise-tax was very
+high on making those articles, and many persons of the trade were
+accustomed to defraud the revenue by one stratagem or another.
+Religious principle would not permit Mr. Douglas to do so. Mrs. Graham
+one evening was remarking how handsomely the chapel was lighted. "Aye,
+Mrs. Graham," said Mrs. Douglas, "and it is all pure--the light is all
+pure, it burns bright." It would be well if Christians of every trade
+and profession were to act in like manner; that the merchant should
+have no hand in unlawfully secreting property, or encouraging perjury
+to accumulate gains; that the man of great wealth should have neither
+usury nor the shedding of blood by privateering to corrode his
+treasures; that all should observe a just weight and a just measure in
+their dealings, as in the presence of God. Let every Christian seek
+after the consolation of Mrs. Douglas, that the light which refreshes
+him may be pure.
+
+ It being stated as matter of regret, that poor people when sick
+suffered greatly, although while in health their daily labor supported
+them, Mrs. Graham suggested the idea of every poor person in the
+neighborhood laying aside _one penny a week_ to form a fund for
+relieving the contributors when in sickness. Mr. Douglas undertook the
+formation of such an institution. It went for a long time under the
+name of "The Penny Society." It afterwards received a more liberal
+patronage, has now a handsome capital, and is called, "The Society for
+the Relief of the Destitute Sick."
+
+ In July, 1786, Mrs. Graham attended the dying bed of her friend
+and patroness Lady Glenorchy: this lady had shown her friendship in a
+variety of ways during her valuable life; she had one of Mrs. Graham's
+daughters for some time in her family, condescended herself to
+instruct her, and sent her for a year to a French boarding-school in
+Rotterdam. She defrayed all her expenses while there, and furnished
+her with a liberal supply of pocket-money, that she might not see
+distress without the power of relieving it. So much does a person's
+conduct in maturer years depend upon the habits of early life, that it
+is wise to accustom young people to feel for and to contribute in
+their degree to the relief of the afflicted and the needy.
+
+ Lady Glenorchy was a character in whom was eminently displayed
+the power of religion. Descended from an ancient family, married to
+the eldest son of the Earl of Broadalbaine, beautiful and
+accomplished, she was received into the first circles of society. With
+her husband she made the tour of Europe, visiting the several courts
+on that continent. Yet all these things she "counted but loss for the
+excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord." She became a
+widow while yet in the bloom of youth. She devoted herself to the
+service of the Lord, and was made singularly useful. She kept a
+regular account of her income, and of the different objects to which
+it was applied. She built and supported several chapels in England,
+and erected one in Edinburgh, in which pious ministers of different
+denominations should be admitted to preach.
+
+ She also built a manufactory for the employment of the poor,
+where the education of children was strictly attended to: even the
+porters' lodges on each side of her gate were occupied as schools for
+the neighboring poor. Her pleasure-grounds were thrown open for the
+accommodation of the numbers who usually come from a distance to
+attend a communion-season in Scotland. In a year of scarcity the same
+grounds were planted with potatoes for the supply of the poor. She
+distributed with great judgment various sums of money in aid of
+families who were poor, yet deserving. She never encouraged idleness
+or pride, and often remarked that it was better to assist people to do
+well in the sphere which Providence had assigned them, than to attempt
+to raise them beyond it. There was so much wisdom in the active
+application of her charities, as to render them both efficient and
+extensive. She seldom was seen in these works of beneficence; her
+object was to do good: the gratitude of those on whom she bestowed
+benefits was no part of her motive, or even of her calculation. What
+she did she did unto God, and in obedience to his commands; her faith
+and hope were in God.
+
+ She contributed largely to the public institutions established at
+Edinburgh in her day. Of one or two of the most useful she was the
+first to suggest the idea, always accompanying her recommendation with
+a handsome donation to encourage the work.
+
+ The venerable Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
+and Piety shared largely her patronage; and at her death she
+bequeathed them five thousand pounds.
+
+ She indulged the hope of seeing a union of exertion, among all
+Christian denominations, for sending the gospel to the heathen. How
+delighted would she have been with the missionary societies of
+London and elsewhere, had her life been spared to behold their
+extensive operations.
+
+ She sold her estate of Barnton that she might apply the money to
+a more disinterested object than her personal accommodation, and that
+her fortune might be expended with her life, "I recollect here," said
+Saurin in one of his sermons, "an epitaph said to be engraven on the
+tomb of Atolus of Rheims: _He exported his fortune before him into
+heaven by his charities--he Has gone thither to enjoy it_."
+
+ This might be truly said of Lady Glenorchy. In her manner she
+discovered great dignity of character tempered with the meekness and
+benevolence of the gospel. Her family was arranged with much economy,
+and a strict regard to moral and religious habits. She usually
+supported some promising and pious young minister as her chaplain,
+which served him as an introduction to respectability in the church.
+With very few exceptions, all those who entered her family as servants
+were in process of time brought under religious impressions. So far it
+pleased the Lord to honor her pious endeavors to render her family one
+of the dwellings of the God of Jacob.
+
+ Mrs. Graham had the honor of attending the death-bed, and of
+closing the eyes of this distinguished child of God. It had been Lady
+Glenorchy's express desire that Mrs. Graham should be sent for, if
+within twenty miles of her, when such attendance should be necessary.
+
+ The following letter to a daughter, two months later, gives us
+another illustration of the self-denial and anxiety for the salvation
+of the soul, with which Mrs. Graham personally ministered to the needy
+and the suffering, and how skilfully she improved these scenes for the
+benefit of others.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, September, 1786.
+
+ "MY DEAR DAUGHTER--Such a scene as I have been witness to!--poor
+M. B---- is gone to her last abode; her state is fixed for ever. I
+attended her sick-bed for eight successive days and nights, except
+perhaps for an hour that I lay down in the same room. I held by life
+to the very last, because I feared she was not in a fit state to die.
+
+ "She took every medicine that was prescribed for her, which I
+administered with my own hand; but the time appointed to end her
+mortal state had arrived, and go she must. She lived four days after
+the physicians had lost all hope, and I think I never witnessed
+greater distress. I watched every word with anxious care to find if
+any breath of prayer was to be heard; but alas, I had no such
+satisfaction. As she was insensible after the first few days, it was
+not to be expected she could either think or pray.
+
+ "O, why will sinners resist the grace of God, and spend the
+precious time given to seek and find it in thoughtless folly? What can
+they do, on such a bed of distress, who have no God? Time misspent and
+gone--opportunities unimproved and gone--calls resisted never to be
+repeated--death hunting the soul through every avenue of life--a
+dreadful, unknown, unthought of eternity at hand--an awful Judge, and
+no Advocate secured to plead. A time was when a kind Saviour was
+expostulating with them: 'Why will you die?' 'Hear, and your soul
+shall live;' 'Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find;
+knock, and it shall be opened unto you;' 'Look unto me and be ye
+saved, all ye ends of the earth;' '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;' 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
+waters'--blessings purchased by Christ: pardon of sin, reconciliation
+with God, a new heart and spirit, all that is necessary for time and
+eternity--'He that hath no money,' no merit, no good about him, no
+claim upon any account whatever, 'come, buy and eat, without money and
+without price;' 'Why spend ye your money,' time, talents, affections,
+desires, 'for that which is not bread,' and cannot satisfy? 'incline
+your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will
+make an everlasting covenant with you. Now is the accepted time; now
+is the day of salvation. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not
+your heart.'
+
+ "Such is the language of the dear Redeemer to sinners every day,
+in his written word, from the pulpit, and in the dispensations of his
+providence; but O, the madness of sinners, who will not think, who
+will not attend, will not apply to this Saviour, whose sole errand
+into this world was to seek and to save sinners, yea, the very chief;
+but they will not put their souls into his hands, nor give him any
+service. A time will come, and we are forewarned of it, when this same
+inviting Saviour will say, 'Because I have called and ye refused,
+stretched out my hand and no man regarded, I also will laugh at your
+calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh.'
+
+ "Improve this dispensation, my dear child; beg of the Lord to
+search you and try you, and see that your hopes be well grounded.
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The following to her beloved friend Mrs. Walker, shows the
+impressions made on the mind of Mrs. Graham by visiting _the place
+of her nativity and the scene of her struggles with this world's
+adversity_, when the hand of God was heavy upon her.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, September, 1787.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--I have been on a jaunt for nearly three weeks; my
+school mostly dismissed, the remainder I left with Miss S----.
+Goodness and mercy have followed me, and the Lord has taken care of my
+house also in my absence. Yours was put into my hand on my return, and
+brought fresh cause of thankfulness; your observation, that we were
+mutually feeding on the same allowance, continues to hold. I too have
+been considering the works and doings of the Lord, and many of them
+have been renewed in my memory by the scenes I have passed through.
+
+ "I visited the seat of my juvenile years with my dear and only
+brother. There I recollected the days of my vanity, and the Lord's
+patience and long-suffering; my repenting, my returning, his
+pardoning, his blessing; my backslidings, his stripes and
+chastisements, his restoring and recovering, yea, many and many times.
+There, too, I found my old acquaintances no more; most of them had
+finished their course under the sun; some I could still clasp in the
+arms of faith, as united to the glorious Head, and now singing the
+song of Moses and the Lamb. From the idea of others, I was obliged to
+turn away and say, 'The Judge of all the earth shall do right.'
+
+ "I recollected a lowly cottage, where lived a pious father,
+mother, two daughters, and a son; where the voice of prayer seldom
+ceased, the voice of complaint was seldom heard: not one stone
+remained upon another; only the bushes which surrounded it, and the
+ruins of a little garden, the seat of secret communion of each with
+their God in turn; for one little earth-floored place was all their
+house-convenience, and in the winter's storm their little cow-house,
+built under the same humble roof, was their secret temple. I found
+three had gone to glory: of the other two I could learn no tidings;
+but I shall see them one day in very different mansions. I saw others
+spreading like a green bay-tree, adding field to field, and dwelling
+alone, servants and dependents excepted.
+
+ "I saw my father's cottage, in the day when the Lord pressed
+him down, and the place where my dear glorified-mother poured out
+many prayers for me and mine; my own retirement too, after the
+vanity I had seen of human life, and when tired and sick of it, I
+sought to end my days in solitude, saying, 'It is enough; here let
+thy servant depart in peace, and let my children be reared in
+obscurity.' Then I returned to the town where my husband had
+practised as a physician, where I had been respected and tasted
+largely of life's comfort. I saw the house we had lived in, and many
+tender scenes passed; to this same town I had returned a widow,
+helpless and poor, neglected and forgotten. I saw the house where I
+had taught my little school, and earned my porridge, potatoes, and
+salt; when I found myself totally neglected by some who once thought
+themselves honored by my acquaintance; while others, once shining in
+affluence, were now reduced to humble dwellings.
+
+ "The Lord has been saying, 'Know and consider all the way by
+which I have led thee, to prove thee, and try thee, to show thee what
+was in thy heart, that he might do thee good in thy latter end.' He is
+now saying, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;'
+'Occupy till I come.' Oh, for a thankful heart, a loving, a zealous
+heart, a meek and humble heart. Oh, for diligence and steadiness in
+the path of duty, a due sense of our own weakness and inability, of
+the Lord's power and all-sufficiency, and firm faith in the same. Give
+my love to ----, she is the Lord's: her heavenly Father mingles her
+cup; not one unnecessary bitter drop shall be put into it; bid her
+trust in the Lord; the time, the set time for deliverance shall come.
+I can witness, with many thousands on earth, and an innumerable
+company in heaven, that he is the best of masters. I have suffered
+much, yet not one word of all that he has said has failed. I expect to
+suffer more; but whatever bitter draughts may yet await me, I would
+not give one drop of my heavenly Father's mixing for oceans of what
+the world styles felicity.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Under another date she adds:
+
+ "When we trace the tenderness of our Daysman's conduct through
+the whole of his tabernacling here below, and add to this the many
+gracious words which he spoke, and to these again what were spoken by
+the disciples by his authority, can we refuse to cast all our burdens
+on him, and to trust him with ourselves and them? You know how sweet
+it is, in the time of tumultuous distress, when the spirit is
+overwhelmed, when God's mercy seems clean gone for ever, and his
+promise to fail, how sweet to get even a lean upon the Saviour; but
+when he, as he does at times, takes the soul out of itself, and away
+from forebodings, reasonings, and suppositions, to his own divine
+attributes, and gives it a believing view of its interest in them all,
+in his wisdom as unerring, his power as almighty, his goodness as
+boundless, his faithfulness unchanging; when we add to these his
+humanity, and consider that our High-priest was in all points tempted
+as we are, yet without sin, and that he has a feeling for our
+infirmities; when we find him listening to every petition--a widowed
+mother for her son--the centurion for his servant--weeping with two
+sisters over a brother's grave--embracing and blessing the little
+children whom mothers, like you and me, pressed through the crowd, in
+spite of the reprehensions of disciples, to present to him--accepting
+the effusions of Magdalene's penitent heart with tender consolation, O
+how near does this bring the Divinity to us, and how sweetly may we
+confide in such tenderness. Oh my friend, He rests in his love. Let us
+rest in our confidence. All shall be well."
+
+
+ When Dr. Witherspoon visited Scotland in the year 1785, he had
+frequent conversations with Mrs. Graham on the subject of her removal
+to America. She gave him at this time some reason to calculate on her
+going thither as soon as her children should have completed the course
+of education she had proposed for them. She had entertained a strong
+partiality for America ever since her former residence there, and had
+indulged a secret expectation of returning. It was her opinion, and
+that of many pious people, that America was the country where the
+church of Christ would preeminently flourish. She was therefore
+desirous to leave her offspring there.
+
+ After some correspondence with Dr. Witherspoon, and consultation
+with pious friends, her plan received the approbation of the latter;
+and having had an invitation from many respectable characters in the
+city of New York, with assurances of patronage and support, she
+arranged her affairs for quitting Edinburgh. The Algerines being then
+at war with the United States, her friends insisted on her chartering
+a small British vessel to carry herself and family to the port of New
+York. This increased her expenses; but Providence, in faithfulness and
+mercy, sent her at this time a remittance from Dr. Henderson, the
+young friend of Dr. Graham, who succeeded him as surgeon of the
+regiment; and a legacy of two hundred pounds bequeathed her by Lady
+Glenorchy, as a mark of her regard, was now of great use to her.
+
+ Thus in the month of July, 1789, Mrs. Graham once more prepared
+_to go into a land which the Lord seemed to tell her of_.
+
+ The two following extracts from her private journal, indicate the
+state of her mind and heart previous to leaving Edinburgh.
+
+
+ "EDINBURGH, March, 1789.
+
+ "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and
+let thy widows trust in me,' Jer. 49: 11; the Lord's promise, which he
+made to me in the days of my widowhood, and which I have made the
+subject of my prayers from day to day, taking the words in a spiritual
+sense. The Lord has done wonders for me and mine since the day I was
+left a widow with three orphans, and the fourth not born, in a strange
+land, without money, at a distance from friends; or rather, without
+friends. Hitherto he has supplied all my wants, and laid to hand every
+necessary and many comforts; supporting character and credit, making a
+way for me through the wilderness, pointing out my path, and settling
+the bounds of my habitation.
+
+ "For all these blessings I desire to be grateful to the God of
+providence, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof; but these I
+cannot take as the substance of the promise; neither have they been
+the chief matter of my prayers. The salvation and the life I have
+wrestled for, is that which Christ died to purchase, and lives to
+bestow--even spiritual life, and salvation from sin. My God knows I
+have held fast this view of the words, seeking first the kingdom of
+God for my children, leaving temporals to be given or withheld, as may
+best suit with the conversion and sanctification of their souls. I
+have not asked for them health, beauty, riches, honor, or temporal
+life: God knows what share of these consists with their better
+interests; let him give or withhold accordingly. One thing I have
+asked of the Lord, one thing only, and will persist in asking, trust
+in him for, and for which I think I have his promise--even the life of
+their and my soul. 1 Thess. 5:23, is my petition for me and mine;
+verse 24, my anchor of hope, preceded by Jeremiah 49:11."
+
+ "EDINBURGH, March 17, 1789.
+
+ "This day from the head of his own table did the Lord, by his
+servant Mr. R----, proclaim his name the I AM, and called on me to
+write under what I would, for time and eternity. My soul rejoices that
+God is, and that he is what he is; nothing less than himself can
+content me, nothing more do I desire.
+
+ "This great I AM is my portion--what can I ask beside? He hath
+opened my eyes to see his excellency; he hath determined my will, to
+choose him for my portion. He hath arranged and set in order a rich
+testament sealed by the blood of his own Son, containing every
+blessing for time and for eternity. All my heart's desire is there
+promised, and faith given to believe there shall be a full
+performance. What have I to say then, but, Amen, do as thou hast
+said? Father, glorify thy name. Thou hast said, 'Then will I
+sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your
+filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
+also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I
+will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
+you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause
+you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do
+them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers:
+and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.' Amen; Lord, do
+as thou hast said. Behold, I take hold of thy covenant for myself
+and for my children. It is well ordered in all things, and it is
+sure. My heart accords to every part of it. Wilt thou guide us by
+thy counsel while we live, and afterwards receive us to thy glory?
+Amen and amen--do as thou hast said.
+
+ "If we forsake thy laws, and go astray; if we depart from thee
+and break thy commandments, wilt thou visit our faults with rods, and
+our sins with chastisements. Blessed promise; amen, Lord, do as thou
+hast said: seeing thy loving-kindness is secured to us, and thou wilt
+not cast us off from being thy people, nor alter that which thou hast
+spoken; wilt thou keep us as the apple of thine eye? wilt thou cover
+us with the shadow of thy wing? Art thou my Husband? art thou the
+Father of my fatherless children? wilt thou be the stay of these
+orphans, and their and my shield in a strange land? wilt thou perfect
+what concerns us? wilt thou care for us? wilt thou _never leave us,
+never forsake us_? in the valley of the shadow of death shall thy
+rod and staff support us? What can thy servant say but, Amen, do as
+thou hast said."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ SCHOOL IN NEW YORK--DEATH OF HER PASTOR
+ DR. JOHN MASON--LAST NEWS OF HER SON.
+
+ MRS. GRAHAM, after a pleasant though tedious voyage, landed in
+New York on the 8th day of September, 1789, where she and her family
+were received with the greatest cordiality and confidence. The late
+Rev. Dr. Rodgers and Rev. Dr. John Mason were especially kind to her.
+She came eminently prepared to instruct her pupils in all the higher
+branches of female education; and the favorable change effected by her
+exertions was soon visible in the minds, manners, and accomplishments
+of the young ladies committed to her care. She opened her school on
+the 5th of October, 1789, with five scholars, and before the end of
+the same month the number increased to fifty. She not only imparted
+knowledge to her pupils, but also, by her conversation and example,
+prepared their minds to receive it in such a manner as to apply it to
+practical advantage. While she taught them to regard external
+accomplishments as ornaments to the female character, she was careful
+to recommend the practice of virtue as the highest accomplishment of
+all, and to inculcate the principles of religion as the only solid
+foundation for morality and virtue. The annual examinations of her
+scholars were always well attended, and gave great satisfaction.
+General Washington while at New York honored her with his patronage.
+The venerable and amiable Bishop of the Episcopal church in the state
+of New York, then the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, was never once absent
+from those examinations. She was sensible of his friendship, and
+always spoke of him in terms of great esteem and respect.
+
+ She united in communion with the church under the pastoral care
+of the Kev. Dr. Mason. This excellent man was her faithful friend and
+wise counsellor. Under his ministry her two daughters, Joanna and
+Isabella, joined the church in the year 1791. Her eldest daughter
+Jessie, who had made a profession of religion in Scotland, was married
+in July, 1790, to Mr. Hay Stevenson, merchant of New York, and she
+became a member of the church under the care of Dr. Rodgers, where her
+husband attended.
+
+ In the year 1791 her son, who had been left in Scotland to
+complete his education, paid his mother a visit. Mrs. Graham,
+considering herself as inadequate to the proper management of a son,
+had at an early period of his life sent him to the care of a friend,
+who had promised to pay due attention to his morals and education. The
+boy had a warm affectionate heart, but possessed, at the same time, a
+bold and fearless spirit. Such a disposition, under proper management,
+might have been formed into a noble character; but he was neglected,
+and left in a great measure to himself by his first preceptor.
+
+ For two years of his life he was under the care of Mr. Murray,
+teacher of an academy at Abercorn. He was a man truly qualified for
+his station. He instructed his pupils with zeal; led even their
+amusements; and to an exemplary piety added the faithful counsel of
+a friend. He loved, and was therefore beloved. Under his
+superintendence John Graham improved rapidly, and gained the
+affections of his teacher and companions. Happy for him had he
+continued in such a suitable situation. He was removed to Edinburgh
+to receive a more classical education. Being left there by his
+mother and sisters, the impetuosity of his temper and a propensity
+for a sea-faring life induced his friends to place him as an
+apprentice in the merchant-service. He was shipwrecked on the coast
+of Holland, and Mr. Gibson of Rotterdam, a friend of Mrs. Graham,
+took him to his house, and enabled him to come to the United States.
+He remained at New York for some months. His mother deemed it his
+duty to return to Scotland to complete his time of service. He
+evidently inclined to the profession of a sailor; she therefore
+fitted him out handsomely, and he embarked for Greenock in the same
+ship with Mr. John M. Mason, the only son of Dr. John Mason, who
+went to attend the theological lectures at the Divinity Hall
+in Edinburgh.
+
+ The following extract shows the anguish of Mrs. Graham's mind in
+parting with her son, and how she cast him upon the covenant mercy of
+her God, placing a blank, as to temporal things, in her Lord's hand,
+but holding on with a fervent faith and hope to the promise of
+spiritual life.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, May 20, 1791.
+
+ "This day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he is
+again launched on the ocean, God's ocean. The Lord saved him from
+shipwreck, brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to indulge
+the yearning of my heart over him. Short has been the time he has been
+with me, and ill have I improved it: he is gone from my sight, and my
+heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord, have mercy on the widow's
+son--'the only son of his mother, and she a widow,'
+
+ "I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my
+petition--save his soul alive; give him salvation from sin. It is not
+the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships he
+must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in this
+world: it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the promise in
+him. I discern not the new birth nor its fruits, but every symptom of
+captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will. This, O this is what
+distresses me: and in connection with this, his being shut out from
+ordinances, at a distance from Christians; and shut up with those who
+forget God, profane his name, and break his Sabbaths.
+
+ "O Lord, many wonders hast thou shown me; thy ways of dealing
+with me and mine have not been common; add this wonder to the rest:
+call, convert, regenerate, and establish a sailor in the faith. Lord,
+all things are possible with thee: glorify thy Son, and extend his
+kingdom by sea and land; take the prey from the strong. I roll him
+over upon thee. Many friends try to comfort me; miserable comforters
+are they all. Thou art the God of consolation; only confirm to me thy
+gracious word, on which thou causedst me to hope in the day when thou
+saidst to me, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them
+alive.' Only let this life be a spiritual life, and I put a blank in
+thy hand as to all temporal things. 'I wait for thy salvation.' Amen."
+
+
+ Three months afterwards she learned that a press-gang had boarded
+the ship in which her son was, and although he was saved from their
+grasp by a stratagem of the passengers, yet all his effects were taken
+away from him. In the following reflections on this event, the anxious
+mother shows that she would not withdraw the blank she had put into
+her Redeemer's hands.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, August 18, 1791.
+
+ "Thus far the Lord hath tried me, and kept me to my choice.
+This night I have tidings, through a letter to Dr. Mason, that my
+son has been seized by the press-gang. Through God's help, he
+escaped; but all his assortment of necessaries that his sisters and
+I made up with so much care, labor, and expense, they have carried
+off, and he is once more left naked. Satan and a corrupt heart unite
+in tempting me to complain. Dare I utter a word or harbor a
+murmuring thought? Would I withdraw the blank I have put into the
+Redeemer's hand? Has he not hitherto done all things well? Have not
+my own afflictions been my greatest blessings? Have not I asked for
+my children their mother's portion? Has not God chiefly made use of
+afflictions as means of hedging me in, and shutting me up to my
+choice of this portion, as well as showing me that He is a
+sufficient portion without any other? When matters have been at the
+worst with me as to this world, my triumphs in God have been
+highest, and prospects for eternity brightest.
+
+ "Has the Lord given me in some measure victory over the world? Do
+its honors, riches, and gaudy splendor appear to me empty and vain,
+and not worth an anxious thought? Does provision of food and raiment
+by the way through this wilderness seem all that is necessary? and is
+it my wish, as well as form of prayer, that the Lord may give that in
+kind and degree which he sees fittest for me? And shall I covet that
+for my child which I despise for myself? Alas, Lord, it is because he
+feeds not on better things, and sometimes I fear he has no better
+portion. Still, still foolish. Was it when I was full, or when in
+want, that I returned to my heavenly Father? Do I desire, have I asked
+and persisted in asking for my children, salvation from sin and self?
+Do I anxiously wish them to reach and to surpass my present measure of
+submission and resignation to thy will--to enjoy God in all things,
+and nothing without him? And shall I, dare I complain when I see the
+Lord making use of the same means which first brought me to myself,
+and recovered me also from numberless backslidings since I first
+tasted the blessedness of his chosen?
+
+ "Lord, I renew my blank. I afresh roll them all over upon thee. I
+will try to look on, in the faith that all things shall work together
+for good to their souls, and that I shall yet see the day, or if I see
+it not, that it will come, when they shall bow at thy footstool, sink
+into the open arms of thy mercy in Christ, melted down in holy,
+humble, acquiescing, cordial submission to thy severest dealings with
+them; when thou shalt put a new song into their mouths, and they shall
+sing as I do now, It hath been very good for me that I have been
+afflicted. I wait for thy salvation. Amen."
+
+
+ Again we mark her trust in God in the more common events of life,
+and her gratitude in the reception of blessings from his hand.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, September, 1791.
+
+ "Many have been my burdens of late; strangers laid upon me to
+provide for, even when I thought I had not sufficient to give to all
+their due and provide for my own family. But what is that to me? the
+Lord increases business, lays more largely to hand, bears me and my
+burdens, provides for me and strangers. Lord, it is all well: give
+when thou wilt, and call for it again when and for what purpose thou
+wilt; it is thine own. I am thine, and all that thou givest me is
+thine; the world calls it mine, but I call it thine. If it be thy
+will, lead me in a plain path, or if thou lead me by a way which I
+know not, hold up my goings, so shall I be in peace and safety
+still. Amen."
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 10, 1791.
+
+ "This day did the Lord's sent servant, in a solemn manner, take
+us all to witness, and call in the witness of angels, that we had once
+more avouched ourselves to be the Lord's, and that once more Christ
+and his salvation had been offered to all within the walls. This same
+day, for the second time, have my two daughters sat down at the
+Redeemer's table among his professing people, and, I have reason to
+think, given their hearty assent to his covenant.
+
+ "Glory, glory, glory, to the hearer of prayer. I have cast my
+fatherless children on the Lord, and he has begun to make good my
+confidence. _One thing_, one only thing have I asked for them,
+leaving every thing else to be bestowed or withheld as consisting with
+that: I seek for my four children and myself, first of all, _the
+kingdom of God_.
+
+ "My God from day to day adds many other comforts, and strengthens
+my hopes by promising appearances, that _the grain of mustard
+seed_ is sown in the hearts of my three daughters. They have joined
+themselves to the people of God, and I have reason to think the Lord
+has ratified their surrender of themselves to him; he has made them
+willing for the time, and he will hedge them in to the choice they
+have made.
+
+ "Saturday, September, 1791, the Lord made me a grandmother,
+assisted my poor weakly girl, and gave a son to her and my arms.
+'There was joy that a man-child was born into the world,' and
+according to that word 'she remembered no more the anguish.'
+
+ "Thanks be to God for this salvation; but, Lord, this is but a
+small thing with thee. Look, O look on this twig from a guilty stock;
+poor, helpless, feeble creature, it can do nothing for its body, and
+still less for its soul. O God of _the spirits of all flesh_,
+give it a plunge in _the blood of Jesus_--cleanse, O cleanse him
+from original sin, and now, even now, in thy own sovereign and
+mysterious way, sow _the grain of mustard seed_ in his soul."
+
+
+ In the spring of 1792, Mrs. Graham and her family were called to
+a severe trial by the translation of their beloved pastor, Dr. Mason,
+to a better world. A few months before his decease, while preaching to
+his people, his recollection failed, his sermon was gone from his
+mind, and he sat down in his pulpit unable to proceed. After a short
+pause, he arose and addressed his people in a pious and affectionate
+strain; he considered this event as a call from his heavenly Master to
+expect a speedy dismission from the earth, and solemnly admonished
+them also to be prepared for the will of God. His people, who loved
+him, were affected to tears. An illness soon followed, which
+terminated in the death of the body. He departed on the night when
+Mrs. Graham took her turn of watching with him, and she closed his
+eyes, which she always accounted a privilege and honor bestowed upon
+her by her divine Master. But this tender and affecting scene is best
+described in a letter which she wrote to her sympathizing friend Mrs.
+Walker, of Edinburgh.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, April, 1792, Sabbath noon.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--It is not my custom to take my pen on this day
+even to write to a Christian friend, having occasion for the whole
+time with my family or in secret with my God; but I cannot go to
+dinner, I cannot eat, I cannot talk to my girls; my heart must bleed
+afresh on the same altar upon which it has often been pierced. O,
+madam, my dear Dr. Mason goes, and leaves me here alone: in all
+probability his course is nearly finished, and his crown awaits him.
+Five physicians now attend him closely. I have seen him often, and he
+says, 'All is well, all will be well,' Of the physicians he said,
+'Yes, yes, it is very well; they are useful men in God's hand; they
+may be instrumental in patching up the tabernacle a little. If it be
+raised to usefulness, I am content; if not to usefulness, I do not
+desire it. I feel no concern about the issue of this; the will of the
+Lord be done.'
+
+ "I say, Amen; but Oh, I feel alone. I should need large
+communications from his Master to fill up this blank. I cannot write
+for weeping; now my face is so swelled I cannot go to church. I called
+at his house this morning, found the doctors in the parlor, and
+learned from them the worst. The bell was ringing for church. I
+stifled as much as possible my grief; would fain have come home to
+give it vent, but durst not be absent from the house of God. I heard a
+stranger in Dr. Rodgers' church; our doors are closed; his text was,
+'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends;' he ran the parallel
+between human friendship and that subsisting between Christ and his
+disciples. I ought to be comforted, nay, I am comforted.
+
+ "The Bible lies open before me; it is full of consolation; but
+all is in prospect. I look at God, what he is in himself, what he is
+to his people _now_ and what he will be to _eternity_: the
+consolations of hope are mine; but for the present, I feel like the
+sparrow on the house-top, or like a pelican in the wilderness; and
+when I think on my years and the robustness of my constitution, and
+that I may have a long journey before me, I am not able to look at it.
+At the same time, when I consider my children, who, having lost their
+pastor, who bore them on his heart to the throne of grace, have double
+need of a mother, I dare not indulge a wish, far less put up a
+petition for release. O, that I could get under the influence of that
+spirit which I have witnessed in my dear pastor--that entire
+confidence in God--that perfect resignation to his will--that
+complacency in all he has done, is doing, or will do--that rest in
+God, of which he seems to be put in possession even now, while his
+breast is laboring and heaving like a broken bellows, and he cannot
+fetch one full breath. O, what cannot God effect.
+
+ "SUNDAY EVENING. I have again seen my dear pastor, and discern
+the clay dissolving fast. The words of dying saints are precious, and
+his are few. He thus accosted me: 'I am just waiting the will of God;
+for the present I seem a useless blank in his hand; I can say very
+little; be not too anxious for my life, but transfer your care to the
+church; my life or death is but a trifle; if the Lord have any use for
+me, it is easy for him to raise me up still; and if he do, it will be
+agreeable to observe his hand distinct from men; if he should not, you
+will all be cared for; leave all to him and seek his glory.' He could
+say no more, nor will I to-night, but address myself to our Lord on
+his behalf, yours, my own, and our dear concerns.
+
+ "Several days have elapsed since I last wrote; our dear doctor
+still lives, often recruits, and again is reduced; but man can do no
+more; my last page, before the vessel sails, shall be of him.
+
+ "As to myself and family, we are as the Lord would have it with
+us, and I make no doubt as we need. Business very full; a house full
+of boarders, and about sixty scholars. I begin to feel the effects of
+fatigue or age, I know not which. The almond-tree flourishes; those
+that look out at the windows begin to be darkened; but the keepers of
+the house stand firm, and all the wheels and springs discharge their
+office, though more heavily; there is no judging of my days by present
+appearances. Well, let me once more return to my rest--_God_;
+commit my way to him, who shall bring to pass what is best, and in the
+end shall complete my happiness.
+
+ "APRIL 23, MONDAY. It is finished. My dear minister's bitter
+draught is over. On Thursday, the 19th of this month, a quarter before
+ten o'clock, A.M., the Lord received his spirit and laid his weary
+flesh to rest. He had a sore conflict with the king of terrors, who
+seemed allowed to revel through every part of his mortal frame: his
+legs were mortified to his knees; he had not been able to lie down for
+four weeks, and died in his chair. Like his Master, he groaned, but
+never complained: he had a draught of his Master's cup, but the bitter
+ingredient _desertion_ made no part of it. I had the honor to
+close his dear eyes, and to shut those dear lips from whence so many
+precious truths have proceeded, and to mix with the ministering
+spirits who attended to hail the released. This honor I had desired,
+but did not reckon myself worthy, and hardly hoped for it; but the
+Lord saw the wish, though never formed into a petition, and indulged
+me. I bless him for it. And now, farewell human friendships; let me
+gird up the loins of my mind, and run with patience the little
+further, looking unto Jesus, and following also him my pastor, 'who,
+through faith and patience, now inherits the promises.'
+
+ "This is a great work finished. Dr. Mason was 'a city set on a
+hill.' He was with the army during all the war after the evacuation of
+New York; had great influence over the soldiers; preached the gospel
+of peace uniformly, but never meddled with politics, though he was
+fully capable. In every situation the Lord supported him in uniformity
+and consistency of character, and carried him through without a single
+spot or stain. Glory to God in the highest for this repeated proof of
+his faithfulness. 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for
+the end of that man is peace.'
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Great was the grief of Dr. Mason's congregation on his removal.
+In him, to great learning were united meekness, prudence, diligence,
+and knowledge of the world, and an affectionate superintendence of the
+interests, spiritual and temporal, of his flock. He so arranged his
+avocations and studies in regard to time, that he had always a few
+hours in the afternoon to devote to visiting the families of his
+congregation. So regular was the order he observed, that Mrs. Graham
+and her family knew when to calculate on seeing him, and always
+expected him with the anticipation of profit and pleasure. Once every
+week they were sure of seeing him, if in health. His visits were
+short, his conversation serious, awakening, instructive, and
+affectionate. He inquired about their temporal affairs, and in cases
+of difficulty gave them his best advice. His counsels were salutary;
+his knowledge of the world and his discrimination of character
+rendered him well qualified to advise. In one of his visits to Mrs.
+Graham she mentioned to him the want of good servants as one of her
+trials. "Mrs. Graham," said he, "have you ever prayed to the Lord to
+provide good servants for you? Nothing which interests our comfort is
+too minute for the care of our heavenly Father."
+
+ To one of her daughters, who felt a strong inclination to profess
+her faith in Christ by joining the communion of his church, but yet
+was afraid that her heart was not sufficiently engaged for the service
+of God, Dr. Mason proposed the following question: "If," said he, "the
+world, with all its wealth, pleasures, and power, were placed in one
+scale, and Christ alone in the other, which would your heart freely
+choose as a portion?" On her replying there would be no hesitation as
+to her choice of Christ, he gave her encouragement to profess her
+faith, although it might not at present amount to the full assurance
+of hope.
+
+ He was indeed a faithful shepherd of his flock, and his people
+mourned for him as for an affectionate father. It is much to be
+desired that his example were more followed by Christian pastors. To
+preach with eloquence and acceptance is a talent of great value in a
+minister of the gospel; this makes him respected, and his congregation
+admire him, because, for one reason, they are proud of him; but to
+gain their affections, to make a congregation the children of an aged
+pastor, or the friends and brethren of a younger one, let the minister
+visit the families of his people; this will seal on their hearts the
+regard which their understandings had already dictated.
+
+ Very few ministers have been more remarkable for a strict
+attention to this duty, than the late Dr. John Mason and his venerable
+and attached friend Dr. Rodgers. When the former died, the latter
+exclaimed, "I feel as if I had lost a right arm."
+
+ The congregation, bereaved of their pastor, wrote immediately to
+his son, the late Rev. Dr. John Mitchell Mason, to hasten his return
+from Edinburgh to New York; and after preaching to them with great
+acceptance for several months, he was ordained and installed pastor of
+the church in April, 1793. Mrs. Graham entertained for him the most
+affectionate attachment, and this attachment was reciprocal.
+
+ At this date we find some of Mrs. Graham's delightful
+devotional exercises.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1793.
+
+ "Blessed Lord, thou hast, to the praise of thy grace, given me
+the heritage of them that fear thy name; thou hast prepared my heart
+to pray, and inclined thine ear to hear; thou hast drawn me into thy
+fold, and hast fed me in thy green pastures. I rejoice in Israel's
+Shepherd; not one of his flock shall be lost. Often have I wandered
+from his presence and sought pasture among the swine, but my Shepherd
+has ever drawn or driven me back. He has a rod and I have felt it; but
+I bless the hand and kiss the rod.
+
+ "O, how wonderful to look back and see 'all the way by which he
+has led me, to prove me, to try me, to show me what was in my heart,
+that he might do me good at my latter end.' Amen, my God, I leave
+myself in thy hands. I should lose myself; but thou wilt keep me from
+foes without and foes within. What then have I to care for? My
+Shepherd careth for all; he slumbers not nor sleeps, and he will
+perfect what concerns me; of this I am as sure as that I now write it.
+
+ "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than gold and silver. O
+how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. Thou, through thy
+commandments--or the whole of thy truth--hast made me wiser than my
+teachers. The law of God makes the simple wise. How sweet are thy
+words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy
+precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. 'Thy
+word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.' How safe, how
+happy are they who are taught by the word of God. 'Blessed art thou,
+Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not taught thee this, but my
+Father who is in heaven.'
+
+ "O my children, enrich your minds with a full acquaintance with
+the word of God; lay it up in your memories, when you can do nothing
+more; be assured, if ever you are made wise unto salvation, it must be
+by this word; if ever you are taught of God, he will teach you by the
+words contained in the Bible. 'Search the Scriptures, for they are
+they which testify of me;' search the Scriptures, for in them are
+contained the words of eternal life. 'Be followers of them who,
+through faith and patience, now inherit the promises.'
+
+ "Holy David went forward, heavenward, improving in the knowledge
+of God, of himself, and of God's plan of salvation for ruined sinners,
+by studying the word, the works, and the providences of God, but
+chiefly the word of God; praying for, watching for the influences of
+God's Spirit on his judgment and thinking powers: it was by this that
+he became wiser than his teachers. He was a king, and had the cares of
+the nation to occupy his mind; he was a man of war, and had that art
+to study. But O, the privilege of the Christian! he goes through every
+part, even of his earthly way, leaning upon God. David could say, even
+of war, 'The Lord teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.'
+'The Lord subdued the people under me.' In temporals and in
+spirituals, he is my shield, my strength, my buckler, my strong
+tower.' I shall not fear what man can do unto me.' 'In Judah's land
+God is well known; there he brake the spear, the bow, and the battle.'
+He ascribes all to God. We hear nothing of his own wisdom, his
+disciplined armies, his order of battle and warlike powers, though
+attention to all these was his duty, and not neglected by him. He
+devoted all his natural talents to God; he exercised them diligently,
+but still he knew and acted under the influence of that knowledge,
+that unless the Lord build the house, the builders lose their pains;
+unless the Lord keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain. He, as well
+as worldly men, chose the means best adapted to the end proposed. Let
+natural men assert, and let it be admitted, that David knew better how
+to use a sling and a stone, than mail, helmet, and sword; therefore he
+chose them. But follow David until he meets the hostile foe. Do we
+hear a word of his art as a slinger, as a marksman? though we may
+suppose he was expert at both. 'Thou comest to me with a sword, a
+spear, and a shield; but I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
+God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied; and this assembly
+shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear'--these are
+not essential--'for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you
+into our hands.'
+
+ "How comfortably might Christians go through life did they walk
+with God in their daily business and occupations, carefully observing
+the leadings of Providence, cautiously avoiding either running before
+or lagging behind; but in all things making their requests known to
+God; at all times committing their way to him, being careful about
+nothing, but to use with diligence the means of grace, and also the
+means of acquiring the good things of life, leaving the issues of both
+to God, in the full assurance that what is good the Lord will give.
+'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and
+verily thou shalt be fed.' In spirituals and in temporals, 'the hand
+of the diligent maketh rich.' Be 'not slothful in business, fervent in
+spirit, serving the Lord.'
+
+ "Lord, teach me thy law graciously, in all its perfection, its
+extent, order, beauty, and harmony, and grant me all the assistance
+provided to enable a lost, depraved, corrupted child of Adam, to set
+out in thy good ways, to go forward, and to finish in the same course;
+and all the consolation, joy, and peace which thou hast provided to be
+enjoyed in a measure even here, and to be perfected in the world to
+come. Amen.
+
+ "'O Israel, return unto the Lord, for thou hast fallen by thine
+iniquity.' Hos. 14. Yes, fallen, O how fallen from God the only good,
+the fountain of happiness. Lost his image, which was the glory of man
+in paradise. Lost that sweet complacency and delight in his
+perfections and attributes which innocence enjoyed. Lost rectitude of
+reason and judgment. No longer can we judge of excellence, no longer
+love what God loves. Our wills no longer straight with his will, but
+crooked, opposing God, and choosing evil instead of good. 'O Israel,
+thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' Amen, says my
+soul, in thee is my help."
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 3, 1793.
+
+ "'One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself
+by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto
+the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.' Isaiah 44:5.
+
+ "I, as one, subscribe to the truth of all that God has said: I,
+as one, subscribe my assent to all he has done. I set my amen to his
+well-ordered covenant, well-ordered in all things, and sure. And this
+is the covenant, even Christ, the sum and substance, for he hath given
+him to be a covenant of the people. The whole and every part of it is
+God's covenant. To me it must be a testament, the new testament in
+Christ's blood. To me it must be a covenant of gifts and promises. I
+can be no party, having nothing to give; nothing with which to
+covenant. He hath said, 'Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy
+help.' Amen. Be my help, my deliverer.
+
+ "'Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved; for I am
+God, and there is none else.' I do look unto thee alone for salvation.
+Thou art God; there is none else: besides thee there is no Saviour.
+
+ "'I will pour water on the thirsty, and floods on the parched
+ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy
+offspring.' Amen. I yield my soul into thy hand, dry and parched, to
+receive thy showers of reviving, quickening, fructifying grace."
+
+
+ Writing about this date to her beloved friend Mrs. O---- of
+Edinburgh, Mrs. Graham, for the encouragement of her friend, gives
+her, in confidence, the following record of her own Christian
+experience:
+
+
+ "It is now. I think, thirty-five years since I simply, but
+solemnly, accepted of the Lord's Christ, as God's gift to a lost
+world. I rolled my condemned, perishing, corrupted soul upon this
+Jesus, exhibited in the gospel as a Saviour from sin. My views then
+were dark compared with what they now are: but this I remember, that
+at the time I felt heart-satisfying trust in the mercy of God, as the
+purchase of Christ; and for a time rejoiced with joy scarce
+supportable, singing almost continually the 103d Psalm.
+
+ "I took a view of the promises of God, and wrote out many of
+them, and called them mine; and among the foremost was that in Psalm
+89:30-33; and well has the Lord kept me to it, and made it good: for,
+my dear friend, never was there a more unsteady, unwatchful Christian;
+never did the children of Israel's conduct in the wilderness depict
+any Christian's heart and conduct in the gospel times better than
+mine; and just so has the Lord dealt with me. When he slew me, then I
+trusted in him; when he gave me carnal ease and comfort, I forgot my
+Rock and rebelled. Often did I stumble too from legality, instead of
+looking at my own weakness and impotence, and trusting wholly in my
+Redeemer's strength. I was wroth with myself, wondered at myself, and
+thought it impossible I could be as I had been. I made strong
+resolutions, yea, vows, and became a slave in means to hedge in this
+wandering, worldly, vain, flighty heart; but, alas, a few months found
+me where I was, with scarce a thought of God from morning to night;
+prayer huddled over in words that had no effect on my heart; and the
+fear of hell the chief restraint from sin or spur to duty. Then, in
+general, the Lord had some affliction for me, which laid me afresh at
+his feet, and made me take a fresh grasp of Christ, and a fresh view
+of his covenant: then again I felt safety, joy, peace, and happiness.
+
+ "Thus, by line upon line, by precept upon precept, aye, and by
+stripe upon stripe, he taught me that I could not walk a moment
+alone. This is now my fixed faith; and in proportion as I keep it in
+sight, I walk safely; but I still forget, and still stumble and
+still fall; but I am lifted up and taught lesson after lesson; and I
+shall stumble and shall fall while sin is in me; but the last
+stumble shall come, and the last stripe shall be laid on, and the
+last lesson taught, and that which concerns me shall be perfected.
+O, then shall I look back, and see 'all the way by which he has led
+me, to prove me and try me, and show me what was in my heart, that
+he might do me good in my latter end.'
+
+ "I am often, even in this valley of darkness and ignorance,
+allowed this retrospective view; and am led to say not one word of
+all that he promised has failed. 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped, he
+hath been the guide of my youth, and even unto hoar hairs will he
+lead me;' and when he calls me to pass through the valley of the
+shadow of death, I shall even then fear no evil, for his rod and
+staff shall support me; and I shall enter into the presence of my
+Redeemer, white and clean, dressed in his most perfect righteousness;
+angels and saints shall know me in this glorious robe; my Redeemer
+will acknowledge me as his ransomed, and I shall be for ever with the
+Lord."
+
+
+ To Mr. A.D., Edinburgh.
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1793.
+
+ "I have just been reading over my dear friend's precious letters,
+and am refreshed anew by the same truths and uniform experience of
+every Christian; which all amounts to this, that the Lord is the
+portion of his people, and that whom he loves, he loves to the end. My
+soul melts with tenderness when I recollect my fellow-travellers in
+the wilderness; those dear associates with whom I have so often taken
+sweet counsel; who so often comforted me with the same comforts with
+which they themselves were comforted. I am also led to recollect some
+who have finished their warfare; some whose trials were sharp and
+long, but who, through the same grace in which we trust, were
+steadfast to the end; and now inherit a crown of life--the reward of
+grace, not of debt.
+
+ "I rejoice to hear that your children are promising; I think it
+is the greatest comfort a parent can enjoy in this world. I have a
+large share of it in my three daughters; but my prodigal is not come
+to himself; he still feeds on husks, nor thinks of the plenty in his
+Father's house. I had great hopes last winter; I heard he had been
+very ill in consequence of very severe treatment from his captain. The
+Lord has been emptying him from vessel to vessel, and I have been
+waiting the issue; but mine eyes almost fail. I have great hopes that
+God's time of mercy will come. I am also satisfied that it will be the
+best time; but still I cry, O how long? My dear friends, I think I
+would recommend it to you to _keep your children about you_. No
+other had ever the influence over him that I had; and I regret that I
+did not bring him with me.
+
+ "Our young Timothy, J.M., is a perfect champion for the gospel of
+Jesus; the Lord has well girded him and largely endowed him; he walks
+closely with God, and speaks and preaches like a Christian of long
+experience: he was ordained about two months ago in his father's
+church, and a few weeks after married a lady of eminent piety, and
+preached all the day, both the Sabbath before and after: no levity, no
+novelty appeared in word or gesture, which is not always the case with
+the best at such times. There is probably no church in New York whose
+discipline is as strict, nor one which has so many communicants. He is
+reckoned a man of great talents and an orator; and many of even the
+idle and careless go to hear him.
+
+ "A few Sabbaths ago he preached from these words, 'I determined
+to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.'
+After proving that all the Scriptures, from the beginning of Genesis
+to the end of Revelation, pointed to Christ and his great work of
+redemption, and asserting that that sermon could not be called the
+gospel of which He was not the subject, he spoke home to his audience,
+and told them that this, through the aid of divine grace, was his firm
+purpose--to dwell on redeeming love. He was sure no subject would be
+welcome to any Christian, where Christ was not to be found; nor would
+any such subject ever convert a sinner; and therefore, if any were
+about to take their place there, expecting to hear any new or strange
+thing, let them not disappoint themselves. O, for a thankful heart;
+the Lord has indeed done wonders for me and mine; and blessed be his
+name for his mercy also, that in a remarkable manner, by a strange
+concurrence of circumstances, he hedged me in to become a member of
+this congregation, where I am led and fed with the same truths which
+nourished my soul in Zion's gates at Edinburgh; and I am helped to
+sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. Often have I been tempted to
+hang my harp upon the willow, 'when Zion I thought on;' but this was,
+and sometimes still is my sin and ingratitude, for I ought to build
+houses, and plant vineyards, and seek the good of the land; for he has
+a small vineyard here, which he waters and cultivates, and I ought to
+labor therein, and do whatsoever my hand findeth to do with diligence,
+and say, 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; heaven is
+his throne, the earth his footstool,' and he fills all things and
+all places.
+
+ "'What aileth thee, Hagar?' O what a God of mercy is our God!
+Often has he hailed me in some such language: 'What aileth thee?' why
+is thy countenance sad? am I not better to thee than ten friends? Then
+has he turned my heart to him, made me feel myself close to him; he
+has suffered me to lean on his bosom, hang on his arm, and lisp out,
+Abba. At such blest moments I have thought the whole earth but one
+point, and from that to heaven but one step, and the time between but
+as one moment; and my company here sufficient to satisfy me by the
+way. At such blest moments I felt perfect, full, entire satisfaction
+with all that God is, all that he does; and could trust him fully with
+all my concerns, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. But, alas, by and
+by, like a peevish child, I began to fret, wish this, wish that;
+grieve for this, grieve for that; fear this, fear that; stagger,
+stumble, fall. O what a God of patience and long-suffering. And O how
+rich that well-ordered covenant, that provides suitable grace for all
+these unsteady seasons. It is my greatest consolation that the Lord
+knows it all. There are times when I cannot see him, but every moment
+he sees me. I should fall off and leave him, but he holds me fast and
+never leaves me. O blessed plan, where God secures us in safety, even
+from ourselves. We have not only destroyed ourselves, and he has been
+our help; but we are ever destroying ourselves, and still he renews
+this help.
+
+ "Well, what shall we say? Father, glorify thy name, and let us
+lie in thy hand as clay in the potter's, till thou finish thy
+workmanship, and fit us vessels of mercy, to be filled with happiness,
+when thou shalt have done thy good pleasure in us, and by us, in this
+world, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus, who loved us, and
+gave himself for us; to whom be glory, honor, and praise in the church
+below, and in the general assembly above, now and ever. Amen.
+
+ "My love, my heart's love, to my dear Mrs. D----. I am ever your
+affectionate friend, in the bonds of the gospel,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Early in 1793 Mrs. Graham heard, from a worthy clergyman at
+Greenock, who, at her request, paid attention to her son, that he had
+been very ill of a fever, and subsequently subject to epileptic fits.
+In one of these he had fallen from the mast-head, and was rendered
+unfit for service for many months. The gentleman to whom he was
+apprenticed, permitted him to leave. In these circumstances Mrs.
+Graham addressed to him the following letter:
+
+
+ "MY LONG-LOST BUT STILL DEAR SON--If this ever reach you, hearken
+to the voice of your mother, your only parent, and to the voice of God
+by her. O, my son, you have had a long race in the service of Satan;
+he has kept you in bondage and made you his drudge. You are far
+advanced in the broad way that leads to destruction--to that place of
+endless torment prepared for the devil and his angels, to which Satan
+is dragging you. He has even been seeking the destruction of your
+body, that he might have you secure.
+
+ "O, my son, think. Has he proved a good master? What have you
+found in his service? and has he not disappointed all your gayest
+hopes, and fed you with husks? Have you, my son, been happy? Are you
+not obliged to drive away your own reflections? I know you are. Dare
+you, my son, sit down and think over all the past, all the present,
+and look forward to the future with any degree of comfort? My son, you
+cannot. Hear then the word of the Lord; that Lord, that merciful Lord,
+who has seen you in all your rebellion, heard every profane oath you
+may have uttered, seen you rioting among the sons of Belial; yet what
+is his voice to you? O, my son, it is not, 'Bind him hand and foot,
+and cast him into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; where
+there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, where the worm
+dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' No, my son, the door of
+mercy is still open to you; the Lord calls, 'O sinner, thou hast
+destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' Only repent, so iniquity
+shall not prove your ruin.' 'Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that
+are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall
+not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry.' 'Hear, and your
+soul shall live.' 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
+saved'--saved from hell; saved from Satan and his snare; saved from
+the force of corruption in your heart.
+
+ "I do not call upon you, my poor corrupt boy, to turn from sin
+and work righteousness in your own strength; this you can no more do
+than the Ethiopian can change his skin; but I do call upon you to
+receive the whole of God's salvation, and power to resist sin is a
+principal part of it. In God's word it is said, that the Lord gave
+Christ to be a covenant to the people: we have to covenant with him on
+our part; we are all poor, lost, miserable creatures, I as well as
+you, by nature; but the Lord Christ is God's gift to sinners. All the
+other promises are made to those who have received and accepted of
+this gift; but Christ himself is God's gift to sinners--to the chief
+of sinners--_to you, John Graham, by name_; and the Bible says,
+to as many as receive him, to them gives he power to become the sons
+of God. God gave Christ to become the price in our hand; we take this
+gift, and offer back, as the price of our redemption, his atoning
+sacrifice, his all-perfect righteousness; and on this ground we are
+entitled, by his own plan, which he prepared from first to last, to
+plead for the full accomplishment of all the promises in the Bible:
+for the pardon of sin; yea, for an entire new nature.
+
+ "O, my son, open your Bible, go to your knees, look out words
+there fit for your case; present them humbly before God, turn all the
+promises you find there, all the offers, all the calls, all the
+commands, all the threatenings into prayer--for you of yourself can do
+nothing--and ask that God, for Christ's sake, may pour out on you the
+spirit of prayer. I know not how to have done; yet I well know, unless
+the Lord soften your poor obdurate heart, it will still remain hard.
+O, my son, be willing to put it in his hand, to receive his salvation,
+and give yourself up to his guiding. I beg you will read with care the
+15th chapter of the gospel of Luke. The Lord spoke these parables to
+show how very willing he is to receive returning sinners. Your mother
+and all your sisters are willing to follow his example; return to us,
+my son. We will watch over you we will pray over you, and we will try,
+by every endearing method, to restore you not only to health, but to
+comfort. Your sisters wish you to come; all your friends are willing
+to receive you; we will not upbraid you.
+
+ "Do, my dear, leave Greenock; come out to us by any way you can
+find, I will pay your passage here; or if you can get to any port in
+America, you can write me from that, and I will get you forwarded
+here; and, after you are here, if you still wish to follow the sea, we
+can get you a berth in some trading vessel from this. All your friends
+here send best wishes. And now, my son, I commend you to the Lord. O,
+that he may bless this to you,
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The last intelligence that Mrs. Graham received of her
+unfortunate son was in a letter from himself, dated Demarara, 1794, in
+which he states that he had sailed from Amsterdam in a Dutch vessel;
+was taken by the French, and retaken by the English; had arrived at
+Demarara in the ship Hope; and should he not soon hear from his
+mother, would return to Europe with a fleet which was shortly to sail
+under convoy. Mrs. Graham notices this event as follows:
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, February 20, 1794.
+
+ "This day I have a letter from my poor wanderer. It is more than
+a year since I heard of him. Accept of my thanks, good and gracious
+Lord. I feared his cup had been full, and he called out of the world
+with all his sins on his own head; for I have no tidings of his
+turning from his sinful courses, or fleeing from the wrath to come, by
+taking hold of the hope set before him.
+
+ "I bless thee, Oh, I bless thee, for thy sparing mercy, thy
+long-suffering, thy patience, thy forbearance. Yea, even to him, thou
+hast been more than all this. Thou hast been his preserver, his
+provider; thou hast watched over him in many imminent dangers, in the
+great deeps, in burning and in frozen climes.
+
+ "Thou hast followed him with thy preserving mercy and temporal
+bounty. He is still in the land of the living, and among those who are
+called to look unto thee and live. Still thou feedest my hopes of
+better things for him. Thou sufferest my prayers to lie on the table
+of thy covenant. I will trust, I will hope, I will believe, that in an
+accepted time thou wilt hear me, and in a day of thy power thou wilt
+bow his stubborn will, and lay him an humble suppliant at thy feet.
+Oh, I trust thou wilt bring this poor prodigal to himself, and turn
+his steps towards his Father's house. See how he feeds with the swine
+upon husks, and even these not his own. O turn his thoughts to his
+'Father's house, where there is bread enough, and to spare.'
+
+ "'Lord, remember thy gracious word, on which thou hast caused me
+to hope,' and which has ever been my comfort in the time of my
+affliction, and in my straits my only relief.
+
+ "He is again launched into thy great ocean. Lord, he is far from
+every friend and from every means of grace, and for any thing I know,
+far from thee by wicked works; under thy curse and hateful in thy
+sight; but thou, God, seest him. Means are not necessary, if thou
+willest to work without. Thou canst find an avenue to his heart at
+once. Dead as he is, vile as he is, guilty as he is, far from help of
+man, and in the most unlikely situation to receive the help of God,
+yet I know all these hinderances, all these mountains shall melt as
+wax at thy presence.
+
+ "Lord, I believe, thou knowest I believe, that if thou but speak
+the word, this dead soul shall live; this vile, this guilty soul shall
+be cleansed, shall be renewed, and my son be changed to an humble,
+thankful, genuine child of God, through the cleansing blood of
+atonement, through the imputation of the Redeemer's righteousness and
+the implantation of thy Spirit. I can do nothing for him, but thou
+canst do all this. I wait for it, Lord, I wait for thy salvation.
+Lord, let there be 'joy in heaven over this one sinner repenting.' I
+roll him on thee. I trust in thy sovereign, free, unmerited mercy in
+Christ. Amen."
+
+
+ All inquiries instituted by kind friends respecting this son
+proved fruitless; and as a vessel named the Hope was some months after
+reported as having been taken by the French, it is perhaps probable
+that he died in a French prison.
+
+ Thus again had his afflicted mother to exercise faith and
+submission, not without hope towards God that the great Redeemer had
+taken care of, and would finally save this prodigal son. She had known
+a case in her father's family, which excited their solicitude and
+encouraged her hope. Her younger brother, Archibald Marshall, a lad of
+high temper, though possessed of an affectionate heart, had gone to
+sea, and was not heard of at all for several years. A pious woman, who
+kept a boarding-house in Paisley, found one of her boarders one day
+reading Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, with
+Archibald Marshall's name written on the blank leaf. On inquiry, the
+stranger told her that he got that book from a young man on his
+death-bed as a token of regard. That young man was Archibald Marshall;
+he was an exemplary Christian, "and I have reason," added he, "to
+bless God that he ever was my mess-mate." The woman who heard this
+account, transmitted it to Mr. Marshall's family, who were known to
+her. Mrs. Graham had no such consolatory account afforded to her; but
+under much yearning of heart she left this concern, as well as every
+other, to the disposal of that God "who doeth all things well."
+
+ Again she sings of mercy in a sweet meditation.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, October 1, 1794
+
+ "'Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt
+bountifully with thee.'
+
+ "Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous
+loving-kindness in a strong city--Christ, the city of refuge.
+
+ "Thou hast given me my heart's desire, and hast not withholden
+the request of my lips. 'One thing have I desired of the Lord,' and
+through life sought after for myself and the children whom thou hast
+given me; 'that all the days of our lives we might dwell in the house
+of the Lord,' behold his beauty, and inquire in his holy temple; that
+in the time of trouble he would hide us in his pavilion, in the secret
+of his tabernacle, and set our feet upon a rock.
+
+ "O thou incarnate God; thou blessed temple not made with hands;
+thou blessed pavilion, in which thy people hide in the time of
+trouble, and are safe; thou Rock of ages, on which we build our hopes
+for time and eternity, and defy the assaults of sin, Satan, and the
+world: thou, Jehovah Jesus, art all these to thy people. Thou
+broughtest them 'from a fearful pit and from the miry clay; thou
+settest their feet upon this spiritual rock, and establishest their
+goings; thou puttest a new song in their mouths, even praise unto
+their God.' Many have seen it and sung it; many now see and sing it;
+many shall see and sing it, and trust in the Lord. They find in thee
+all that is expressive of life; all that is expressive of safety; all
+that is expressive of comfort; all that is expressive of happiness.
+
+ "'O how many are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
+thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order
+unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than
+can be numbered.' Thou, thy blessed self, art the sum and substance of
+every good to man. All this I know; all this have I at different times
+experienced; and yet my heart is heavy, my spirits depressed. There is
+no cause, Oh no. Thy very afflictive providences have met my wishes,
+and been so many answers to my prayers.
+
+ "Thou Husband of the widow, thou Father of the fatherless, O how
+fully, how manifestly hast thou fulfilled these relations to thy
+worthless servant. Thou, in my early widowhood, didst call me to leave
+my fatherless children on thee, annexing the promise that thou wouldst
+preserve them alive.
+
+ "Thou didst put it into my heart to plead the promise in a
+spiritual sense; to ask, to hope, to wait for the new birth, the life
+which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow.
+
+ "In three of these fatherless I have seen thy work. Long did the
+grain of mustard-seed lie buried among the weeds of worldly-mindedness;
+long were my hopes and fears alternate; but now the blessed
+discipline of the covenant has been exercised; I have witnessed it, I
+have felt it--suffered the rod with them and for them, but waited for
+the fruits in hope; and glory to thee, dear Husband and Father, I
+have not waited in vain. Thou hast written _vanity,_ and opened our
+eyes to read vanity written on every earthly enjoyment, except so far
+as thou art enjoyed in them. Thou hast enabled not only thine aged
+servant, but her children, to put a blank into thy hand, and to say,
+'Choose thou for us.' We take hold of thy covenant, and choose it for
+our portion. Is not this, O Lord, the full amount of my desires? Thou
+wilt finish the work in thy own time, and by means of thy appointing.
+Amen. Lord, do as thou hast said."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER--FIRST MISSIONARY
+ SOCIETY IN NEW YORK.
+
+ In July, 1795, Mrs. Graham's second daughter, Joanna, was married
+to Mr. Divie Bethune, merchant in New York. In the following month her
+eldest daughter, Mrs. Stevenson, was seized with a fatal illness.
+Possessing a most amiable disposition and genuine piety, she viewed
+the approach of death with the composure of a Christian and the
+intrepidity of faith.
+
+ She had been in delicate health for some years, and now a
+complication of disorders denied all hope of recovery. She sung a hymn
+of triumph until the struggles of death interrupted her. Mrs. Graham
+displayed great firmness of mind during the last trying scene, and
+when the spirit of her daughter fled, the mother raised her hands, and
+looking towards heaven, exclaimed, 'I wish you joy, my darling.' She
+then washed her face, took some refreshment, and retired to rest.
+
+ Such was her joy of faith at the full salvation of her child; but
+when _the loss of her company_ was felt, the tenderness of a
+mother's heart afterwards gave vent to feelings of affectionate
+sorrow: nature will feel, even when faith triumphs. In her devout
+meditations before God, Mrs. Graham improves this event as follows:
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 4, 1795.
+
+ "Why, O why is my spirit still depressed? Why these sobs? Father,
+forgive. 'Jesus wept.' I weep, but acquiesce. This day two months the
+Lord delivered my Jessie, _his Jessie,_ from a body of sin and
+death, finished the good work he had begun, perfected what concerned
+her, trimmed her lamp, and carried her triumphing through 'the valley
+of the shadow of death.' She overcame through the blood of the Lamb.
+
+ "I rejoiced in the Lord's work, and was thankful that the one,
+the only thing I had asked for her, was now completed. I saw her
+delivered from much corruption within, from strong and peculiar
+temptation without. I had seen her often staggering, sometimes falling
+under the rod; I had heard her earnestly wish for deliverance from
+sin, and when death approached she was more than satisfied: said she
+had been a great sinner, but she had a great Saviour; praised him and
+thanked him for all his dealings with her--for hedging her in, for
+chastising her; and even prayed that sin and corruption might be
+destroyed, if the body should be dissolved to effect it. The Lord
+fulfilled her desire, and, I may add, mine. He lifted upon her the
+light of his countenance; revived her languid graces; increased her
+faith and hope; loosed her from earthly concerns, and made her rejoice
+in the stability of his covenant, and to sing, 'All is well, all is
+well; good is the will of the Lord.' I did rejoice, I do rejoice; but
+O Lord, thou knowest my frame; she was my pleasant companion, my
+affectionate child; my soul feels a want. O fill it up with more of
+thy presence; give yet more communications of thyself.
+
+ "We are yet one in Christ our head--united in him; and though she
+shall not return unto me, I shall go to her, and then our communion
+will be more full, more delightful, as it will be perfectly free from
+sin. Christ shall be our bond of union, and we shall be fully under
+the influence of it.
+
+ "Let me then gird up the loins of my mind, and set forward to
+serve my day and generation, to finish my course. The Lord will
+perfect what concerns me; and when it shall please him, he will
+unclothe me, break down these prison-walls, and admit me into the
+happy society of his redeemed and glorified members: then 'shall he
+wipe away all tears from my eyes,' and I shall taste the joys which
+are at his right hand, and be satisfied for evermore."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham made it a rule to appropriate _a tenth_ part of
+her earnings to be expended for pious and charitable purposes. She had
+taken a lease of two lots of ground on Greenwich-street from the
+corporation of Trinity church, with a view of building a house on them
+for her own accommodation; the building, however, she never commenced.
+By a sale of the lease, which her son Mr. Bethune made for her in
+1795, she got an advance of one thousand pounds. So large a profit was
+new to her. "Quick, quick," said she, "let me appropriate the tenth
+before my heart grows hard." What fidelity in duty; what distrust of
+herself. Fifty pounds of this money she sent to Mr. Mason in aid of
+the funds he was collecting for the establishment of a Theological
+Seminary. Her own version of this matter we have in a letter to her
+familiar friend Mrs. Walker, of Edinburgh:
+
+
+ "1795.
+
+ "MY DEAR MRS. WALKER--My last informed you that we had been
+made to taste of the Lord's visitation--the yellow-fever--but in
+great mercy had been spared in the midst of much apparent danger. I
+have now in my house a girl who lost both father and mother, and
+many whole families were cut off; my house was emptied; my school
+broken up; we confined to town, and heavy duty laid upon us at the
+same time. I trembled again for fear of debt; but 'the Lord brought
+meat out of the eater.'
+
+ "Three years ago, when tried by having one house taken over my
+head, another bought, and obliged to move three times in as many
+years, some speculating genius brought me under the influence of the
+madness of the times, and persuaded me I might build without money. It
+is quite common here to build by contract. I could not purchase
+ground, but I leased two lots of church land, got a plan made out, and
+worried myself for six months, trying to hatch chickens without eggs.
+I had asked the Lord to build me a house, to give success to the
+means, still keeping in view covenant provision, 'what is good the
+Lord will give.' After many disappointments I said, Well; I have
+asked--I am refused--it is not good--the Lord will not give it: he
+will provide, but in his own way, not mine.
+
+ "Of course I had to pay ground-rent, which in three years
+amounted to two hundred and twenty dollars. I think I hear you say, I
+never could have believed that Mrs. Graham could be guilty of such
+folly--nor I; but seeing and hearing of many such things, I fancied
+myself very clever. Last year a basin was formed, and wharves around
+it, opposite to the said lots; the epidemic raging on the other side
+of the city brought all the vessels that came in round to them, and
+great expectations were formed for this new basin; houses and stores
+sprung up like mushrooms, and Mr. Bethune sold my lease for one
+thousand pounds. Lo, and behold, part of it is already spent. All my
+provision through this wilderness has been so strongly marked by
+peculiar providences, my mind seems habituated to a sense of
+certainty. I feel my portion of earthly good safer and better in my
+Lord's hand than in my own."
+
+
+ In the ensuing year we find the following outbreathings of her
+rich Christian experience:
+
+
+ "JANUARY 3, 1796.
+
+ "'Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice. Let
+your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.'
+Philippians 4:4-7.
+
+ "'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
+supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto
+God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
+your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "Christ Jesus! what does not this name comprehend? He is mine,
+and all is mine. I do rejoice in the Lord, yea, more or less, I
+rejoice always. This heart of mine is sensible to every human
+affliction; my tears flow often and fast: I weep for myself, and still
+more for others; but in these very moments of heart-wringing
+bitterness, there is a secret joy that Jesus is near; that he sees,
+knows, and pities. He is Jehovah as well as Jesus, and could have
+prevented the affliction under which I groan; but for my good, and the
+good of those near and dear to me, he suffered it, or prepared it. The
+good of his people is connected with his glory; they cannot be
+separated: therefore, Father, glorify thy name; I rejoice, and will
+rejoice. The Lord can remove, and will remove the affliction the
+moment it has answered the gracious purpose for which it was sent. I
+would not wish it one moment sooner. While it lies heavy, he is my
+almighty friend, my rest, my staff of support.
+
+ "'In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion; in
+the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon
+a rock." Psalm 27:5.
+
+ "'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in
+him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; with my
+song I will praise him,' and in his strength and by his grace, let
+my 'moderation be known unto all men.' My Lord is at hand--at hand
+to support, at hand to overrule, at hand to deliver. Therefore I
+rejoice always.
+
+ "Blessed be God for the heart-easing, heart-soothing privilege of
+casting all my cares upon him, and for the blessed assurance that he
+careth for me and mine: that he allows, invites, yea, commands me to
+be careful for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication,
+with thanksgiving, to let my requests be made known unto him, who is
+man, and touched with the feeling of our infirmities--Jesus wept--and
+God, the almighty God, to support, overrule, deliver. Therefore my
+heart rejoiceth always."
+
+
+ "MAY 16, 1796.
+
+ "'If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,
+if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I
+visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with
+stripes: nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from
+him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break,
+nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89: 30. Amen;
+blessed promise. Oh, it is a well-ordered covenant, and it is sure. Of
+all the provisions of the covenant, this has been to my soul among the
+most comfortable. Thanks be to God for the discipline of the covenant;
+often has it been administered: thou knowest, and I know in part, how
+necessarily, although I shall not know nor understand all, until that
+blessed rod shall have perfected its correction, and shall never more
+be lifted up.
+
+ "Many ups and downs has thy servant experienced in this vale of
+tears; many tears have watered these now aged cheeks; in a variety of
+ways hast thou stricken, and at times stripe has followed stripe, but
+mercy and love accompanied every one of them. I bless thee, Oh, I
+praise thee, that I have seldom received a stripe but I had with it a
+token of love. Sin was imbittered, a Saviour endeared, and grace given
+to kiss the rod, and cleave to him that had appointed it. And now I
+can read in legible characters where, in many instances, thy check met
+my wandering steps, stopt me short of huge precipices, and preserved
+me from destroying even my worldly comfort. In some instances--I thank
+thee they have not been many--thou hast been pleased to let me alone,
+to let me pursue my own way, ways so wise in my own eyes that I have
+either not sought counsel at all, or sought it as Balaam did, with my
+heart set on my own will.
+
+ "In some cases thou hast let me eat of the fruit of my own
+doings, and let me weary myself in my own way, until I found it not
+only vanity and vexation of spirit, but sometimes a labyrinth from
+which I could find no escape: then did I cry unto the Lord; then did I
+remember my backslidings; then did I seek unto the cleansing fountain
+and to the appointed Mediator, the maker up of the breach: then did I
+experience afresh the Lord's power to save.
+
+ "In how many instances has he given a sudden turn to providences,
+which have been made means of my deliverance; not only so, but brought
+good out of my evil, so that I have been made to wonder, and to say,'
+Surely this is the finger of God.'
+
+ "I destroy myself, but in thee is my help found. O let these
+wanderings end; fix it deep on my mind, that in the Lord only have I
+wisdom as well as strength: that 'it is not in man that walketh, to
+direct his steps.' When shall I learn to live simply on Christ, by
+the light of his pure unerring word, and the Spirit coinciding; and
+have done with these carnal reasonings, the wisdom of men. 'Search
+me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and
+see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
+everlasting.' Amen."
+
+
+ "MAY 28, 1796.
+
+ "This is the anniversary of my dear Jessie's birth, no more to
+call us together here; but I yet remember it as a day in which our God
+Was merciful to me, and made me the mother of an heir of salvation. I
+bless, I praise my covenant God, who enabled me to dedicate her to him
+before she was born, and to ask only one thing for her as for myself,
+even an interest in his great salvation, leaving it to him to order
+the means, time, and manner, as of her natural birth and ripening age,
+so of her spiritual birth and ripening for glory; he accepted the
+charge, and he has finished the work, to his own glory, to her eternal
+happiness, and my joy and comfort. I have witnessed remaining
+corruption fighting hard against her, and bringing her again and again
+into captivity to the law of sin and death warring against her. I have
+seen the rod of God lie heavy upon her, according to the tenor of the
+covenant, when she forsook his laws and went astray: when she walked
+not in his judgments, but wandered from his way, he visited her faults
+with rods and her sins with chastisements, but his loving-kindness he
+never took from her, though he often hid it, nor altered the word
+which he had spoken, that he would never leave her, never forsake her;
+that in due time he would deliver her from all her enemies. I
+perceived her desires to be delivered from the world and the body, and
+taken home to the bosom of her God, since that appeared at times the
+only way she could be delivered from sin. I heard her lament her
+unfruitfulness, her unsteadiness: I heard her exclaim, 'Oh, what a
+sinner, what a great sinner;' and, 'Oh, what a Saviour; O the goodness
+of God in hedging me in, and saving me from myself; his covenant
+stands fast, it is established, it is sure.' I witnessed a God
+pardoning sin, yet taking vengeance on inventions. I witnessed the
+sinner, after being sixteen years in the school of Christ, taught by
+his ministers, and most effectually by his rod, taking shelter in 'the
+city of refuge,' in the atonement of God's providing, and in 'a surety
+righteousness,' and finishing her struggles with, 'All is well.' My
+heart echoed, and does echo, and will to all eternity, 'All is well.'
+Glory to God; sing, not unto her, not unto me, not unto any creature,
+but 'to God be the glory,' that she is now delivered from 'a body of
+sin and death, and made meet to be a partaker with the saints in
+light.' HALLELUJAH."
+
+
+ "JUNE, 1796.
+
+ "'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of
+the Lord.' Psalm 122.
+
+ "'The house of the Lord, whither the tribes go up, the tribes
+of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the
+name of the Lord,' to seek his face, to learn his will, to taste his
+love, to behold his' glory, to enjoy God as their own God and
+reconciled Father.
+
+ "Lord, let my heart be warmed more towards thy house; I have
+sought and found thee in thy sanctuary, read thy providences, and been
+taught thy will; I have tasted thy love and beheld thy glory; I have
+enjoyed thy presence as my own reconciled Father in Christ Jesus; I
+have been satisfied with thy goodness, as with marrow and fatness; and
+yet how cold and languid at times, how little desire to return, how
+small my expectations, how wandering my imagination. How do I sit
+before thee as thy people, and my heart with the fool's eyes at the
+ends of the earth. Lord, I should blush and be ashamed were a
+fellow-mortal to see my heart at times. I may hide my eyes from
+viewing vanity, but the evil lies within. O Lord, thou knowest the
+cause. After all I have heard, seen, tasted, and handled of the word
+of life, I am still of myself an empty vessel, unable to speak a good
+word, or think a good thought. Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord.
+'Quicken me according to thy word; turn thou away my eyes from
+beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy way: then shall I run in the
+way of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart.'
+
+ "The house of God; the owner, the builder, and maker is God,
+and it is his peculiar treasure. Christ is the foundation and chief
+corner-stone, and his house are we, built upon him, cemented
+together, a spiritual building; the foundation cannot fail, the
+corner-stone can never give way; neither can we fall to pieces, or
+be separated from him.
+
+ "The house of God; 'Jerusalem, Zion, the rest of God, where he
+delights to dwell,' where he will for ever stay; the house of God, the
+church, yea, the body of Christ: Christ the head, his people the
+church, his members whose life is in him, and derived from him; and
+because he lives we shall live also. Lord, enlarge my understanding to
+comprehend more and more of the height and depth, length and breadth
+of the love of Christ, which passeth all understanding. Open my eyes
+to behold wondrous things in thy law and gospel. I am as yet but a
+babe; glory to God that I am what I am, a babe in Christ. I shall be
+nourished with life and strength from my divine Head; educated and
+nurtured by the blessings of the new covenant. I shall arrive at the
+perfection of stature appointed, and stand in my lot at the latter
+day. Amen."
+
+
+ "AUGUST 4, 1796.
+
+ "A day to be remembered. Rose at four, not to mourn--no, but to
+repeat my grateful thanks to my covenant God for the work he finished
+this day last year, in delivering my weak, feeble, tossed, and tried
+Jessie from a body of sin and death, and giving her 'the victory
+through Jesus Christ, who loved her and gave himself for her.' To thee
+she was dedicated ere she saw the light; to thee a thousand times I
+repeated the dedication, begging that thou mightest bring her within
+the bond of thy covenant; this was the sum and substance of all my
+askings for her. I witnessed the time of her second birth, saw the
+tears of conviction and remorse. I witnessed thy loosing her bonds,
+and tuning her heart and tongue to praise redeeming love. I witnessed
+the teaching of thy Spirit, and the enlightening of her eyes, and the
+taste thou gavest her of thy salvation; I thought her mountain stood
+strong, and she would not be easily moved; but who can tell the
+deceitfulness of the human heart? Too soon did we all turn aside like
+a deceitful bow, forsook the fountain of living waters, and hewed out
+broken cisterns that could hold no water. Glory to God for the
+discipline of the covenant, that he did not cast us off, but chastened
+and corrected. He repeated the discipline stripe upon stripe: I stood
+by and saw it, and though my heart melted at times, I said, 'She is in
+her Father's hand, let him do his pleasure.'
+
+ "I too was unfaithful to her, thou knowest, and often entered
+into the same vanity of mind, which stifled the love of God in our
+hearts, instead of guarding her and warning her; still, still the
+Shepherd of Israel followed after both, and with the precious rod
+restored both, time after time, till it pleased thee to finish her
+warfare, and deliver her from both body and sin. Lord, I thank thee
+for all the circumstances, for the privilege of attending her in her
+warfare, for the cheerfulness of her spirits, for the rich support we
+all experienced, for the view we all had of thy faithfulness and
+fatherly dealing, and for her last words, 'All is well.' O yes, every
+thing thou doest is well, and this was peculiarly well. I resigned her
+to thee with joy and thankfulness, and I still acquiesce. Her thou
+hast taken, me thou hast left, to be yet exercised with further
+discipline. It is well; thy will be done. O help me to profit by every
+pang. Let sin be mortified and my soul be purified; enlarge my heart
+to run the ways of thy commandments. Now may I lay aside every weight,
+and that vanity of mind which doth so easily beset me, and hath been
+the secret spring of much backsliding both to myself and to my
+children. Lord, destroy it.. O let me now live to God, closely and
+consistently; down with my will, with self in every form. O purify my
+motives, and let my whole heart, soul, body, substance, and influence
+in the world be devoted to thee. Empty me of every thing that is my
+own, and let 'Christ live in me the hope of glory,' and let the glory
+of thy workmanship in my soul redound to thee, and thee alone. Amen."
+
+
+ "AUGUST 13, 1796.
+
+ "'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have
+been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.' Colossians 2:6.
+
+ "O Lord, this is what I pant after. I would fain have done with
+wandering, Lord, thou knowest, for the work is thine. I have
+received the Lord Jesus as thy gift to a lost world, as thy gift to
+me an individual of that world, as having made peace by the blood of
+the cross. I account it a faithful saying, worthy of all
+acceptation, that 'Christ came into the world to save sinners, of
+whom I am chief,' I have received thee as the Lord my righteousness,
+crediting thy own word, that 'Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness,' and that 'there is no condemnation to them that are
+in Christ Jesus.' I have received thee as 'the covenant given of the
+people.' In all the relations by which thou art held out to me in
+this Bible, so far as I know or understand, I have received thee. I
+have no hope in myself, no trust in myself, nor any views of
+communication from God of any kind, but through the one 'mediator
+between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "O my God, what is my life, what is my happiness but a continual
+receiving? Thou art 'the bread of life' that must keep alive the
+living principle in my soul. In thee 'dwelleth all the fulness of the
+Godhead bodily.' Thy people are complete in thee; thou art their head,
+they are thy body, and by joints and bands have nourishment ministered
+to them, and are knit together, and increase with the increase of God.
+
+ "This, O this is what my soul pants after, closer and more
+intimate union and communion. I would be transformed into thine image;
+I would be thy temple; I would have thee live in me, walk in me, make
+me one with thee; I would be delivered from self-will, self-wisdom,
+self-seeking; I would be delivered from that philosophy and vain
+deceit which spoils souls and leads them off from their head: then,
+and not till then, shall I cease to wander, shall 'run and not be
+weary, walk and not faint.' Then shall 'I run in the way of thy
+commandments,' and no longer turn aside to crooked ways. Then shall I
+eat and drink, work and recreate, all to thy glory. Lord, send thy
+Spirit into my heart, that he may continually take of the things of
+Christ and show them unto me; that I may grow and be no longer a babe,
+but arrive at the fulness of stature in Christ Jesus, and more
+steadily, and more purely, and more zealously, and O, more humbly live
+to God, and glorify him in the world. Amen."
+
+
+ The following extracts of letters to her friend Mrs. Walker, show
+how ardently the true missionary spirit burned in the heart of Mrs.
+Graham, and how efficiently it was exemplified, not only in her
+pecuniary donations, but her active and self-denying efforts to
+diffuse information and enlist others in so worthy a cause. The
+efforts alluded to in the first extract evidently gave rise to the
+event recorded in the second, _the formation of the first Missionary
+Society in New York._ It is delightful also to notice her
+attachment to Christians of other denominations, and the gratitude
+with which she remembered kindness received by herself when Providence
+had cast her lot on what was truly missionary ground.
+
+
+ "Do you remember how much I used to say about our dear Methodist
+Society in Antigua? and the three holy, harmless, zealous Moravian
+brethren? and how the preachers gave each other the right hand of
+fellowship, forgetting their differences, in that land of open
+hostilities, on the kingdom of their common Lord? Thither the Lord
+brought me from a land of entire barrenness, where, as far as I know,
+a gospel sermon was never preached. Here I was brought into great
+affliction, and to pass through the severest trial that I ever
+experienced before or since.
+
+ "'The Lord brought me into this fold, a poor straggling lamb, who
+had for five years herded among the goats; and little difference was
+there between them and me, except that my soul longed after green
+pastures and rejoiced to hear the shepherd's voice, and when I heard
+it I knew it, though from one who did not belong to my original fold;
+these good people nourished me with tenderness, bore with patience my
+carnality. When my dear husband was taken ill, they wrestled for him
+in prayer; Mr. Gilbert was every day with him; the Lord heard and gave
+a joyful parting; yes, joyful, never did I experience such joy; then
+they sympathized with and soothed the widowed heart, fed her with
+promises, and in a measure established her: thus they wrought with God
+in calling in one, and restoring another; never, never shall I forget
+the labors of love of that dear little society.
+
+ "How many such stragglers as I may be wandering in both East and
+West Indies, and may be restored by these precious missionaries. I owe
+them, of my labors, more than others. I send you a bill for _fifty
+pounds._ I have received eighteen copies of the Missionary
+Magazine, as far as No. 9. I have got subscribers for them all, who
+will continue; pay these, and send me what more numbers have been
+published by the return of the Edinburgh packet, also eighteen
+complete sets from the beginning. I hope to be successful in disposing
+of them also. I suppose the sermons go to the same fund; send me a
+hundred sermons, I will see to get them disposed of; send them single,
+not bound, and of the best; perhaps they may pave the way for more to
+follow; every little helps; drops make up the ocean. We cannot yet
+produce anything; we are gathering intelligence, and endeavoring to
+collect money; but I grudge that what we can spare should be idle in
+the meantime; the cause is one; pay the magazines at once, and the
+sermons if you have enough of my money. I hope to remit again in
+September. I have a great wish to have a finger in your pie in some
+way; if I must not subscribe past our own society, I may sell books
+for yours.
+
+ "Ever, my dear friend, yours,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "1796-7.
+
+ "I thank my friend for her letter. I rejoice with you, and
+bless the widow's God. He has indeed been so to us, to the full
+amount of the promise. I have now much to sing of, little to
+complain of; my dear girls and Mr. B---- go forward steadily, having
+laid aside the weights of amusements and gayety, and seem determined
+to follow the Lord fully through good and through evil report. Bless
+the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. We have a full
+school, and a very comfortable set of girls. The Lord has delivered
+from all heavy burthens.
+
+ "Last week a considerable number of ministers and lay Christians
+met for the third time, and established a society for sending
+missionaries among the Indians, and also among the poor scattered
+settlers on the frontiers. A sermon was preached in the evening in one
+of the Dutch churches, 'The liberal deviseth liberal things,' etc.,
+after which an address was read by the Secretary--our dear Mr.
+Mason--which, when printed, I will send you.
+
+ "The society is to keep up a correspondence with your and the
+other societies. If they can effect anything themselves, apart here in
+America, well; if not, they will throw their subscriptions into the
+common funds and get help from you. This view is very pleasant to us.
+There is great need of itinerant preachers in our back settlements;
+they are scattered, and no churches of any kind; even in some thick
+settled counties they will not pay a minister. These are 'the highways
+and hedges;' O that the Lord may compel them to come in.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ We next find Mrs. Graham administering consolation and imparting
+instruction to a lady residing near Boston, Mrs. C----. With this lady
+Mrs. Graham formed an acquaintance in New York, shortly after her
+arrival in America. She was then a gay young widow; but having a
+strong and cultivated mind, was delighted with Mrs. Graham and family;
+and a friendship was formed between them, which ceased only with
+their lives.
+
+ As a proof of her friendship, Mrs. C---- wished to introduce her
+young female friends into gay fashionable society. This Mrs. Graham
+opposed; and while she stated her reasons she endeavored to persuade
+her young friend to come out from the world and cast in her lot with
+the people of God.
+
+ "A word spoken in due season, how good it is." This was verified
+in the case of Mrs. C----, who, like her friend, was destined to enter
+the heavenly kingdom "through much tribulation." She afterwards
+entered the marriage state, and became a second time a widow while her
+children were still young; and though not destitute, her income was
+considerably reduced; which circumstances may throw light on parts of
+Mrs. Graham's letters. Unhappily there was no evangelical minister
+near her place of residence, which, with the want of early religious
+training, may account for so much darkness as to her spiritual state.
+Mrs. Graham often visited her, and it pleased God in due time to
+scatter the darkness. Mrs. C---- for many years fully enjoyed the
+consolations of religion. She trained up her children according to the
+maxims of her friend, and had the happiness of seeing them following
+in her steps. One, Mrs. J.W., she saw depart in peace; and her own
+dying-bed was soothed by the prayers and attentions of her son, an
+esteemed and highly useful clergyman in one of our populous cities. As
+Mrs. C---- adopted the signature of _Pilgrim,_ the letters to her
+inserted in the former editions of this memoir, are noticed as
+addressed to P----.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, a Lady near Boston.
+
+ "FEBRUARY 10, 1797.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR FRIEND--The desire of waiting you a long letter has
+occasioned too much delay on my part. One thing I can assure you of,
+you have been much on my mind, and the subject of all our prayers.
+
+ "Tears of joy ran down my cheeks when J---- told me the state
+of your mind, and I thank our good and gracious God for opening your
+eyes to see the vanity of this world, the corruption of your own
+heart, your need of atoning blood, and of a better righteousness
+than your own. Hail, my sister in Jesus; flesh and blood hath not
+taught you this, but your Father who is in heaven: the work is his,
+evidently his; and being begun, he will carry it on, and finish it
+too. Commit your soul then into his hand; he 'came not to call the
+righteous, but _sinners_ to repentance;' his errand to our world was
+to seek and to save the _lost_. Trusting in his mercy, through
+Christ, your soul is as safe as his word is true; for none perish
+that trust in him.
+
+ "'Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own
+understanding;' be not discouraged because of deadness, darkness,
+wandering, want of love, want of spirituality, want of any kind. Who
+told you of these evils and wants? the Sun of righteousness shining
+into your soul has shown you many of the evils there, but the half you
+know not yet. The more you learn of the holiness and purity of the
+divine nature and the spirituality of his law, the more you will be
+dissatisfied with every thing yours. Even a holy apostle said, 'In me,
+that is, in my flesh,' or natural mind, dwelleth no good thing. The
+flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so
+that the things that I would, I do not; and the things that I would
+not, those I do. Yet it is not I,' not my new nature, 'but sin that
+dwelleth in me; for to will is present with me, but how to perform
+that which is good I find not.'
+
+ "If this was the case with the apostle, who sealed his testimony
+with his life, is it strange that you and I should have hearts full of
+all abominable things? These realities are cause of deep humility
+before God, but none of despair or doubt. All are alike guilty and
+vile, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart unsound; therefore
+we need a whole Christ to atone for our sin, to cover our naked souls
+with his imputed righteousness, and to be surety for us; to sanctify
+us by his Spirit, and prepare us for the purchased inheritance. O try
+to rest in him: believe it, you are complete in him; give up, my dear
+friend, poring over and diving into your own heart and frames, and try
+to trust in an almighty Saviour to save you from foes without and foes
+within. Read Romaine's Walk and Life of Faith: he himself attained to
+a high degree of holiness by getting out of himself, and trusting,
+resting, believing from day to day, for grace, for every duty, as it
+occurred. The promise runs, 'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'
+
+ "I cannot at this distance, and knowing nothing of characters,
+offer you any advice with respect to outward means; but if you know
+any truly pious, spiritual minister, I should think it your duty to
+lay open your mind to him. You may find in books matter as good as any
+man living can speak; but it is the Lord's appointed way, and he often
+honors his servants, his ministers, by making them messengers of peace
+and comfort to his children. 'Are any sick, let them call for the
+elders of the church, and let them pray over them.' See how the
+Christians of old associated with one another. I am now doubly
+yours, etc.,
+
+ "I.G."
+
+
+ "APRIL 14, 1797.
+
+ "Eternity seems very near. I have often thought so without any
+visible cause. Well, it will come; a few more rolling years, months,
+weeks, or days will assuredly land me on Canaan's happy shore. Then
+shall I know and enjoy what ear hath not heard, eye seen, nor heart
+conceived, even the blessedness that is at God's right hand. I have
+desired, though I know not that I have asked, to glorify God on my
+death-bed, and to leave my testimony at the threshold of eternity,
+that not one word of all that my God has promised has failed. He has
+been--O what has he not been?--in all my trials, all my afflictions,
+all my temptations, all my wanderings, all my backslidings, he has
+been all that the well-ordered covenant has said. Let this Bible tell
+what God in Christ, by his Spirit and his providence, has been to me;
+and let the same Bible say what he will be to me 'when flesh and heart
+fails;' yea, when 'the place that now knows me shall know me no more.'
+Perhaps when the messenger does come I shall not know him, but depart
+in silence. Well, as the Lord wills; he knows best how to glorify
+himself. Jesus shall trim my lamp and perfect his image on my soul,
+sensible or insensible. I shall enter into his presence, washed in his
+blood, clothed in his righteousness, and my sanctification perfected.
+I shall 'see him as he is,' and be like him.
+
+ "Mourn not, my children, but rejoice; gird up the loins of your
+mind,' and set forward on your heavenly journey through this
+wilderness. So far as I have followed Christ, so far follow my
+example; still living on Christ, depending on him for all that is
+promised in the well-ordered covenant. O stumble not into the world
+except when duty calls; at best it is a deadly weight, a great
+hinderance to spiritual-mindedness, and in as far as it gets a footing
+in your heart, it will not only mar your progress, but your comfort.
+Lord, feed my children constantly with 'thy flesh and thy blood,' that
+they may never hunger nor thirst for this world, but grow in the
+divine life, and in the joy and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 20, 1797.
+
+ "How condescending is our covenant God. All we have or enjoy is
+from his hand; he gave us our being; our lives, although forfeited a
+thousand times, have been preserved. 'Our bread has been given us, and
+our water sure;' and not only these necessaries, but many comforts and
+good temporal things have fallen to our lot; 'thou hast furnished our
+table,' hast provided medicines and cordials when sick. Lord, I thank
+thee for all these mercies, but above all, that we can call thee our
+reconciled Father; that we have them not as the world have them, who
+are far from thee, and have no portion among thy children, nor
+interest in thy well-ordered covenant; but that we have them as thy
+redeemed, as part of covenant provision, and with a covenant blessing,
+and among the _all things_ that work together for our good. Lord,
+enable us to be rich in good works. How condescending, that thou
+acceptest a part of thine own as freewill-offerings, and hast annexed
+promised blessings to those who consider the poor; hast said, 'He who
+giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord.'
+
+ "I thank thee that thou hast laid to hand a sufficiency to enable
+me and mine to eat our own bread; even that which, according to the
+regulations of society, men call our own. Thou only hast a right to
+call it not so, for we are thine, and all that thou hast given us; but
+of thy free bounty and kind providence, 'thou hast enabled us to
+provide things honest and of good report in the sight of all men,' and
+to give a portion to them who need.
+
+ "I trust thy Spirit has directed my judgment in the determination
+I have taken to set apart, from time to time, this portion, according
+as thou prosperest us in business, and preservest us in health and
+ability to pursue it. I bless thee for indulgent, encouraging
+appearances, that since I began the practice thou hast added to my
+stock, and that which I have given has never straitened, but thou hast
+prospered me more and more. My poor's purse has never been empty when
+called for, neither has my family purse. Of thine own I give thee, and
+bless thy name for the privilege.
+
+ "Grant direction with respect to whom, and how much to give."
+
+
+ The following meditations will afford refreshment to every
+Christian heart:
+
+
+ "1797.
+
+ "'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
+rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have
+been taught, abounding there in with thanksgiving.'
+
+ "Yes, just so, and no other way shall any poor corrupted creature
+attain holiness, in the very same manner that he received the Lord
+Jesus at first. He is' the Alpha; and Omega, the first and the last,
+the beginning and the end.'
+
+ "O Lord, my Saviour, my complete Saviour, and in whom I am
+complete, I received thee as my expiatory sacrifice, by whom atonement
+was made for my sins; by whom reconciliation was made; I reconciled to
+God, and God to me. I was then delivered from the power of darkness
+and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, and have redemption
+through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. This same blood must
+cleanse my daily spots, must cleanse my very best services; this same
+blood must cleanse my conscience daily, and give me confidence in God,
+as my reconciled Father. By this same peace-speaking blood I daily
+present myself in his presence, and know that he sees no iniquity in
+me so as to condemn me.
+
+ "O Lord, I receive thee as my justifying righteousness,
+disclaiming all confidence in my own works, throwing them aside as
+filthy rags. I place my sole dependence upon an imputed righteousness,
+_that_ righteousness wrought out by thee as my surety, in thy
+holy, meritorious life and death; believing thy testimony, that 'the
+wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through
+Jesus Christ our Lord.' Just so must I go on, trusting in, resting
+upon, rejoicing in the Lord my righteousness. By one man's offence
+many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many, and I
+among others, be made righteous. 'Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness,' therefore I walk at liberty, free from all dread of
+condemnation. Not as a slave, not as a servant, not as a hireling, not
+as a probationer; but as a child and heir of God, to whom the
+inheritance is made sure. I have received the seal of the testament,
+ratified and made sure by the death of the testator. All the blessings
+contained in this Bible, the records of the well-ordered covenant, are
+mine; and, Oh glorious truth, the testator died to ratify and insure
+this testament; but he lives again, the glorious executor.
+
+ "O Lord, I received thee as my king: depending upon promised
+strength, I swore allegiance to thee, and to thy government. Just so,
+my dear sovereign Master, must I go on: rejoicing in its privileges,
+subjecting myself cheerfully to its restrictions; studying with care
+its positive commands, and setting myself to obey; submitting with
+meekness to its discipline; claiming thy kingly power to subdue the
+corruptions of my heart, to defend from foes within and foes without;
+and when thou callest me to fight, to arm me for battle, and lead me
+on to victory.
+
+ "I received thee as my divine Saviour, as the covenant of the
+people: the covenant arranged, ratified, and fulfilled; to me a
+covenant of free gift. Receiving thee, I received all the promises in
+their fullest extent, as legally made over and confirmed to me by the
+irrevocable gift of Deity: and in thee, as my Saviour, dwelleth all
+the fulness of the Godhead bodily; yes, dwelleth in him for his
+people, his ransomed; dwelleth in him as our head; we are united to
+him, one with him, as he and the Father are one, and being one with
+him, we are complete in him. He is the head, we the members; he is the
+vine, we the branches; he is the foundation and chief corner-stone, we
+the building. Thus let us walk in him; rooted and built up in him;
+filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual
+understanding; walking worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing--being
+fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
+strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power; unto all
+patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness; for it is he who worketh
+in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure; and although of
+ourselves we can do nothing, yet we can do all things through Christ
+strengthening us; and he has promised, that 'as our days so shall our
+strength be.'
+
+ "It is well, Lord, it is well. Thou art mine, and I am thine:
+thou art mine with all thy fulness, what can I want besides? Nothing,
+Lord. Thou hast given me 'the heritage of those that fear thy name;' I
+am satisfied with my portion. Amen. Be my God and the God of my seed,
+and glorify thy name in us."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER, 1797.
+
+ "'Remove far from me vanity and lies,' Psa. 119. Every deviation
+from rectitude and truth is sin. Who that knows any thing of the
+corruption of the human heart, and its strange tendency to stray, to
+err, yea, even to pervert the plainest, simplest, and most obvious
+truths, but must see the propriety of his joining the psalmist, and
+crying out, Lord, remove far from me the way of lies.
+
+ "The way of lies as it respects our judgment and sentiments, as
+it respects our motives of action, and as it respects our conduct.
+
+ "As it respects our judgment: how does every species of error
+abound; even the serious and earnest seekers of truth differ in many
+things, which, although they may not prevent their final salvation,
+mar their progress in knowledge, in holiness, and in comfort. Lord,
+remove far from us the way of lies. Lead us to the pure, unmixed,
+unerring word of truth, as it respects our sentiments, and as it
+respects our conduct. O how many deceive themselves by resting on a
+speculative knowledge of the truth, or what they esteem such, while
+their hearts remain unaffected, their tempers unsanctified, and their
+lives unfruitful. Passionate, stubborn, relentless, unmerciful,
+implacable tempers indulged and unmortified, must be a way of lies.
+'Learn of me,' says the Saviour, 'for I am meek and lowly in heart,
+and ye shall find rest to your souls.' 'The meek will he guide in
+judgment,' the meek will he teach his way.
+
+ "'Remove far from me the way of lies, and teach me thy law
+graciously.'
+
+ "'Teach me thy law graciously,' not the ceremonial and the moral
+law alone, but the whole of God's revealed will. The psalmist knew the
+law ceremonial and moral, but he wants more and more of the teaching
+of the Spirit of God. 'He,' the Spirit of truth, 'shall take of mine,
+and show it unto you.' The word of God is ever the same; it contains
+the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; every thing necessary to
+safety, to holiness, and happiness: but O, the difference between him
+who reads with a mind enlightened by the Spirit of God, and him who
+reads with no other assistance than his own poor blinded, darkened
+reason. Teach me then thy law graciously. I will praise thee with
+uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy judgments. 'Open
+thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' The
+psalmist thirsted after more and more extensive views of the word of
+God, and still as his views were enlarged he desired more. 'The earth
+is full of thy mercy,' verse 64; this was one lesson, but still he
+cries, 'Teach me thy statutes. Thou hast dealt bountifully with me, O
+Lord, according to thy word.' Still he cries, 'Teach me good judgment
+and knowledge. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
+might learn thy statutes.'"
+
+
+ "OCTOBER, 1797.
+
+ "I love to feel the kindlings of repentance, self-loathing under
+a sense of ingratitude, heart-melting with the view of pardoning
+grace. I love to feel the sprinkling of my Redeemer's blood on my
+conscience, drawing forth the tears of joy and gratitude in the view
+of a free pardon. I love to dwell on the seal of reconciliation, while
+my heart, glowing with gratitude, sinks into the arms of my redeeming
+Lord, in full confidence of his love and my safety for ever. I love to
+feel longings after closer communion, after more conformity to his
+image, more usefulness to my fellow-members of the body of Christ, and
+to all his creatures. I love to feel deeply interested in the success
+of the gospel, in the declarative glory of Jehovah, as manifested in
+his works of creation and providence, but chiefly in the
+superexcellent work of redemption: for 'thou hast magnified thy word
+above all thy name.'"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY--
+ CLOSE OF HER SCHOOL.
+
+ In November, 1797, the "Society for the Relief of Poor Widows
+with small Children" was instituted at New York; a society which has
+risen into great respectability, and has been productive of very
+beneficent effects. The Lord, in his merciful providence, prepared
+this institution, to grant relief to the many bereaved families who
+were left widows and orphans by the ravages of the yellow-fever in the
+years 1798 and 1799.
+
+ It took its rise from an apparently adventitious circumstance.
+Mr. B----, in the year 1796, was one of the distributing managers of
+the St. Andrew's Society. The distribution of this charity was of
+course limited to a certain description of applicants. Mrs. B----,
+interested for widows not entitled to share in the bounty of the St.
+Andrew's Society, frequently collected small sums for their relief.
+She consulted with a few friends on the propriety of establishing a
+female society for the relief of poor widows with small children,
+without limitation. Invitations in the form of circular letters were
+sent to the ladies of New York, and a very respectable number
+assembled at the house of Mrs. Graham. The proposed plan was approved,
+and a society organized. Mrs. Graham was elected first directress,
+which office she held for ten years.
+
+ At the semiannual meeting in March, 1798, Mrs. Graham made a very
+pleasing report of the proceedings of the Managers, and of the amount
+of relief afforded to the poor. The ladies of New York truly honored
+themselves and religion by their zeal in this benevolent undertaking,
+in reference to which Mrs. Graham says, in a letter to her friend
+Mrs. Walker:
+
+
+ "I mentioned in my last that we had planned a society for the
+relief of poor widows with small children: the success has been beyond
+our most sanguine expectations. We have now a hundred and ninety
+subscribers, at three dollars a year, and nearly a thousand dollars in
+donations. We have spent three hundred dollars this winter, and nearly
+all upon worthy objects. The poor increase fast: emigrants from all
+quarters flock to us, and when they come they must not be allowed to
+die for want. There are eight hundred in the almshouse, and our
+society has helped along many, with their own industry, that must
+otherwise have been there. The French, poor things, are also starving
+among us; it would need a stout heart to lay up in these times."
+
+
+ In the same letter she informs her of the first monthly
+missionary prayer-meeting known to have been held in the city of
+New York.
+
+
+ "The second Wednesday in February we commenced our first monthly
+meeting for prayer for the Lord's blessing on ours, and all the
+missionary societies. It was far from full; but we must be thankful
+for the day of small things, and pray, and wait, and hope. The Dutch
+churches, the Baptist and Presbyterian have united so far as to
+officiate in each other's churches; they have collected about
+seventeen hundred dollars, and are looking out for two missionaries to
+send among the Indians, or to the frontiers."
+
+
+ A few months later we find the following letter to a young man on
+his joining the church:
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1798.
+
+ "MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND--You have now ratified in a public manner
+that transaction which, no doubt, passed previously in private between
+you and your God. You have declared your belief of the gospel, and
+have taken hold of God's covenant of promise. You have fallen in with
+his own plan, which he has appointed for the salvation of guilty
+sinners; and rested your soul upon his word of promise that you shall
+be saved. You have, at the same time, dedicated and devoted your soul,
+your body, your time, your talents, your substance, your influence,
+all that you are and have, to be disposed of at his pleasure, and for
+his glory, in the world. You are no longer your own. You are bought
+with a price, adopted into the family of God, numbered with and
+entitled to all the privileges of his children. Your motives of
+action, your views, your interests, are all different from those of
+the worldling. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, your aim
+must be, and will be, to do all to his glory. This must go with you,
+and be your ruling principle in all the walks of life. By your
+integrity, uprightness, diligence, and disinterested attention to the
+interest of your employers, you will glorify God and have his presence
+with you in business. By a due and marked observance of the Sabbath,
+and attendance on the ordinances, you will glorify him. By regularity,
+order, and temperance, crowned with an open acknowledgment of God
+before all who may surround your board, you will glorify him in an
+especial manner in these days of degeneracy, and, crowned with family
+worship, you will glorify him, and his presence will be with you, and
+great will be your comfort. God's interest in the world must also be
+yours. The good of his church in general, and that of your own family
+in particular; and O, my son, if you would be rich in comfort, follow
+the Lord fully, and follow him openly; and if you would do it so as to
+suffer the least from the sneer of the world, do it at once.
+
+ "Already you have received congratulations on your joining the
+church, by those belonging to it; soon will it be known to those who
+will scoff at it. But Christians and worldlings will look for
+consistency; and if it be wanting, the last will be the first to mark
+it. A decided character will soon deliver you from all solicitations
+to what may be even unseemly, and dignified consistent conduct will
+command respect. Not but the Lord may let loose upon you the
+persecuting sneer and banter of the wise of this world, whose esteem
+you wish to preserve; but, if he do, the trial will be particular, and
+he will support you under it, and bring his glory and your good out
+of it.
+
+ "And now, my son, suffer the word of exhortation. You have
+entered the school of Christ, and have much to learn, far beyond what
+men or books can of themselves teach, and you have much to receive on
+divine credit, beyond what human reason can comprehend.
+
+ "I would recommend to you to read carefully, and pause as you
+read, and pray as you read for the teaching of the Spirit, the epistle
+of Paul to the Ephesians. Read it first without any commentary, and
+read it as addressed to you, S---- A----. You will there find what may
+in part stagger your reason; you will find what far surpasses your
+comprehension; but yet read on, with conscious weakness, and
+ignorance, and absolute dependence on divine teaching. When you have
+read it through, then take Brown's or Henry's exposition of it.
+
+ "A degree of mystery, my son, runs through the whole of God's
+revealed word; but it is _his_, and to be received with
+reverence, and believed with confidence, because it is _his_. It
+is to be searched with diligence, and compared; and, by God's teaching
+and the assistance of his sent servants, the child of God becomes
+mighty in the Scriptures. Let not mystery stagger you: we are
+surrounded with mysteries; we ourselves are mysteries inexplicable:
+nor let the doctrine of election stagger you; how small a part of
+God's ways do we know, or can comprehend! rejoice that he has given
+you the heritage of his people--leave the rest to him: 'Shall not the
+Judge of all the earth do right?'
+
+ "Jesus took once a little child and set him in the midst of the
+people, and said, 'Except ye be converted, and become as little
+children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,' intimating with what
+simplicity and docility men ought to receive the gospel; and the
+following text also alludes to this: 'Suffer little children to come
+unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
+There are many promises made to the diligent searchers after truth:
+'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.' 'The secret of
+the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his
+covenant.' Yet the highly enlightened Paul calls the gospel a mystery,
+and godliness a mystery; 'for now we see through a glass darkly; but
+then face to face: now I know in part; but then,' in heaven, 'shall I
+know even as also I am known.' Therefore, while you use all diligence,
+accompanied with prayer and the expositions of God's faithful
+ministers, to understand every part of divine revelation, be neither
+surprised nor disheartened at the want of comprehension, far less
+attempt to reduce it to human reason, as many have done to their ruin.
+The Scripture says, 'Vain man would be wise, though born like the wild
+ass's colt.' 'The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.'
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ Again we have the following merited strictures by one taught from
+above, on a passage in Pope's Essay on Man.
+
+
+ "1798.
+
+ "'Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees.'
+
+ "There the poet must stop: thus far the natural mind, richly
+endowed with human powers, can go and trace a God of power, wisdom,
+and beneficence: O that thou hadst had eyes to see, and discern what
+flesh and blood could never reach; that all these glories dwindle into
+tapers, when compared with Jehovah manifested in the face of Jesus
+Christ. Every star, every tree, all vegetating, bursting, blooming
+life, answer the end of their creation, manifesting his glory as thou
+sayest; but can they tell thee how this God can be just, and yet
+justify those who have rebelled against all his attributes; torturing
+even his fair and beautiful creation, and bringing it into subjection
+to their lusts, as thou hast well sung; murmuring at, and rebelling
+against his dispensations in providence; hardening themselves against
+his government; perverting every good to their own misery, and
+imbibing wretchedness from means of blessedness? Can all that thou
+hast sung bring into congeniality perfection of wickedness and
+perfection of holiness, perfection of wretchedness and perfection of
+happiness, perfect opposition in nature and principle? Here thy song
+stops short. Thou seest the evils and the misery; thou hast a glimpse
+of an opposite good, but all means proposed by thee ever have proved,
+and ever will prove inadequate to the attainment of it: the very
+attributes of a just and holy God oppose it: heaven and earth must
+stand amazed at the declaration that God would justify the ungodly."
+
+
+ In the month of September, 1798, Mrs. Graham's daughter Isabella
+was married to Mr. Andrew Smith, merchant, then of New York. Her
+family being thus settled to her satisfaction, and her health not
+good, she was prevailed upon to retire from her school, and to live
+with her children.
+
+ During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1798, it was with
+much difficulty Mrs. Graham was dissuaded from going into the city to
+attend on the sick: the fear of involving her children in the same
+calamity, in the event of her being attacked by the fever, was the
+chief reason of her acquiescing in their wish to prevent so hazardous
+an undertaking. During the subsequent winter she was indefatigable in
+her attentions to the poor, she exerted herself to procure work for
+her widows, and occupied much of her time in cutting it out and
+preparing it for them. The managers of the Widows' Society had each a
+separate district; and Mrs. Graham, as first Directress, had a general
+superintendence of the whole. She was so happy in the execution of her
+trust, as to acquire the respect and confidence of the ladies who
+acted with her, as well as the affections of the poor.
+
+ Her whole time was now at her command, and she devoted it very
+faithfully to promote the benevolent object of the institution over
+which she presided. The extent of her exertions, however, became
+known, not from the information given by herself, but from the
+observations of her fellow-laborers, and especially from the testimony
+of the poor themselves. When she had been absent for some weeks, on a
+visit to her friends in Boston, in the summer of 1800, her daughter,
+Mrs. B----, was surprised at the frequent inquiries made after her by
+persons with whom she was unacquainted: at length she asked some of
+those inquirers what they knew about Mrs. Graham. They replied, "We
+live in the suburbs of the city, where she used to visit, relieve, and
+comfort the poor. We had missed her so long, that we were afraid she
+had been sick; when she walked in our streets, it was customary with
+us to come to the door and receive her blessing as she passed."
+
+
+ We next find letters to her female friend near Boston, who was
+still in much spiritual darkness and despondency.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, near Boston.
+
+ "MARCH, 1799.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR FRIEND--I have just read your letter, painful to
+you to write, but to me as the mother's anguish which precedes her
+joy. The day will soon break, and the shadows flee away; and the dear
+Saviour whom you seek, will again comfort his returning prodigal.
+
+ "I will do what you desire me, and though I have the highest
+opinion of our young Timothy, J.M., I will pass by him in this case,
+and lay it before one of the aged Christians, Dr. R----rs or Dr.
+L----n; at the same time, my friend, I am as sure of their answer as
+if I were already in possession of it. Who told my friend that she was
+blind, and miserable, and wretched, and naked? Flesh and blood never
+yet taught proud man or woman this lesson.
+
+ "My dear friend, there is nothing new nor strange in all you have
+told me: there is scarce a heaven-taught soul, who has made any
+advances in the spiritual warfare, but could sympathize with you from
+experience. What have you experienced more than the Scriptures tell
+us: that 'the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
+wicked?' Only the Lord can search it, only he can cleanse it. He takes
+the prerogative to himself, and he calls it his covenant that he will
+make with sinners in gospel times. You may strive and fight, and
+resolve and vow--all will not do: you lie at his mercy for holiness as
+well as pardon. He is exalted as a Prince to give repentance, and he
+is the author and finisher of faith. He works all our works in us, and
+without him we are not equal to one good thought. We are his
+workmanship, 'created anew in Christ Jesus,' My dear friend, put the
+work into his hand, and try to wait on him in hope--hope in every
+situation; do more, trust.
+
+ "You entirely mistake the situation of others; none of us have
+our heaven here: no, sin dwelleth in us; the very best have their ups
+and downs. Do you think your friend is always on the mount? very far
+from it. I am at times so cold, so dead, so stupid, that I can neither
+pray, read, nor hear. I have begun the same chapter over and over,
+still trying to fix my thoughts, and as often they wander on every
+trifle; but my peace lies where you will soon learn to place yours, in
+the merits of my almighty Saviour. My safety depends not on my frames,
+but his promise and when tossed and tempted, dead and lifeless,
+emptied of every good, perhaps buffeted like you with abominable
+thoughts, the fiery darts of Satan, casting all on Him, I am safe as
+when basking in the sunshine of his love, and tasting what you have
+tasted: for you have tasted, and you shall yet taste the joys of his
+salvation. I too have proved false to his covenant, have gone off with
+the world, and been intoxicated with its vanities and empty delights,
+and have laid up for myself seasons of deep remorse; my sins have
+often separated between my God and me, especially in my younger days;
+the Lord calls to watchfulness and diligence in the use of means, and
+he generally honors these means, of his own appointing, with his
+blessing. When we either trust to these means, and fancy merit in
+them, or neglect to use them as his appointment, he generally makes us
+feel our error, but he does not cast us out of his family; he chastens
+us, and restores us.
+
+ "I write hastily, just to say that you have my sympathy and my
+love; for well I know, the almighty Lord alone can loose your bonds,
+and give you 'joy and peace in believing.' All my advice may be summed
+up in this--trust in the Lord with all your heart; at least aim at
+this; I say, aim at it, for this too must be given you. Roll yourself,
+your doubts, your fears, your sins, your duties, all on him: say,
+'Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.' He is an almighty Saviour to
+deliver sinners from sin as well as from punishment. I leave you on
+the Father of mercies, and will, when the Lord enables, pray for you.
+
+ "Yours, etc."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "At last, my dear friend, the Lord appears; appears the Bible
+God--'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in
+goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
+transgression, and sin.'
+
+ "When was it that the Lord proclaimed this, and took unto
+himself this name? After Israel, his chosen, had been guilty of that
+awful sin in the wilderness, of making the golden calf, and
+proclaiming, 'These be thy gods, O Israel:' David takes it up in the
+103d Psalm, 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
+plenteous in mercy.' Read on, my dear, then turn to the 130th. This
+God is your God, and has long been your God; his work was upon your
+heart, though you could not discern it. In bondage you have long
+been, but not a willing captive; unbelief kept you in bondage, long,
+long after your eyes were opened to see your bondage; and even to
+discern, in some feeble measure, your remedy.
+
+ "The Lord has wise reasons for all you have suffered: if not now,
+you shall in some after-time 'know and consider all the way by which
+he has led you, to prove you, to try you, and show you what was in
+your heart, that he might do you good in your latter end.' You did not
+wait patiently for the Lord your God; you did not in general say,
+'Though he slay me, I will trust in him:' no, my friend has been a
+great unbeliever, yet hath the Lord, the sovereign Lord, 'whose ways
+are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts,' brought you
+out of 'a fearful pit, and out of the miry clay; set your feet upon a
+rock, and established your goings; put a new song into your mouth,
+even praise unto our God.' Now you sing the 34th Psalm. I do rejoice
+with my friend; I bless the Lord with her; let us exalt his name
+together. It is establishing to my own soul. I have long prayed, and
+long looked for this: I lived in the faith of it, assured that He who
+had begun the good work, would perfect it in his own time.
+
+ "I cannot but regret your want of pastoral food; yet ought I to
+regret any thing? The Lord himself is your Shepherd. My Bible lies on
+my lap, and I had turned to the 34th Psalm, to know if it contained
+what I would point out to you: on finishing the last verse, I
+unconsciously turned my eye on the Bible; the words that met it were,
+'I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go: I
+will guide thee with mine eye.' Psa. 32:8. And so it shall be. Amen,
+my God, Amen. Do as thou hast said.
+
+ "Perhaps, my friend, by this time your notes are lowered. It has
+pleased the Lord to give you a strange sight: Mary Magdalene, a great
+sinner at the feet of Jesus, pardoned, comforted, and highly honored
+in after-life.
+
+ "This history, accompanied by the Spirit of God, has consoled,
+strengthened, and raised up many bowed down since that day, many now
+around the throne, who sing of pardoning love.
+
+ "I now wish to say, hold fast the beginning of your confidence.
+Your experience is that of God's people. To rejoice in the Lord at all
+times is your privilege, but will not be always your attainment. The
+Lord has done great things for you, whereof I am glad; but, my dear
+friend, the warfare is not over: you must endure trials as others;
+engage with 'principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in
+high places,' and, worst of all, a treacherous heart within; which,
+for all that it has seen and tasted, is yet corrupt and deceitful. The
+new life which Christ gives to the soul, evidences itself in the
+desires of the heart and affections. As certainly as the new-born babe
+desires the breast, as certainly and as evidently does the new-born
+soul desire union to God, communion with him, and conformity to him in
+heart, life, and conversation. This principle is in its own nature
+perfectly pure, but the old nature, the law in the spiritual members,
+is as perfectly corrupt: 'in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.'
+
+ "In the order of God's covenant it has not pleased him to deliver
+even believers, all at once, from sinful inclinations and passions; he
+has provided for their final complete deliverance, and sin shall not
+have dominion over them even here; but it is still in them while in
+the body, and a dying body; and the remains of sin in the soul make
+the believer's life a warfare, and this world a wilderness; soul and
+body are diseased; both are redeemed, and provision made for the
+entire deliverance of both--for the soul at death, for the body at the
+resurrection; but while in the body, 'if any man say he has no sin, he
+deceiveth himself, and the truth is not in him.' I John, I:8. Look at
+Paul's experience--what does he say of the believer's state? He calls
+it a warfare, a fight, a captivity for a time: see 1 Tim. 6:12;
+1 Cor. 9:26.
+
+ "I write not thus to dishearten you, but as a friend I warn you,
+lest you fall again into unbelief. Look not within for comfort, for
+consolation, for confidence. Christ is the end of the law for
+righteousness, his blood the atonement, and you are complete in him,
+his grace is sufficient for you, his strength shall be perfected in
+your weakness, and you shall go on. Grieve for sin you will, grieve
+you ought; but keep ever in your remembrance 1 John, 2:1, and 5:11.
+
+ "Yours, etc."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "JANUARY 14, 1800.
+
+ "My dear friend says, 'O that I could have the society of some
+aged pious clergyman or Christian, who had gone through his warfare.'
+O that you could, in the Lord's hand. I hope it might do you good:
+yet, after all, the Lord himself must loose your bonds; aye, and he
+will, and also appoint the means.
+
+ "There are two kinds of rest awaiting you, the one in this life,
+the other will not be attained till the mortal shall put on
+immortality. When was it that Paul, the great apostle, could say he
+had fought the good fight? Not till he could also say he had finished
+his course, and was ready to be offered up; till then, he like others
+had to continue the warfare between grace and corruption; like others,
+found a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, so
+that the thing that he would, he did not, and that which he would not,
+that he did. Notwithstanding this, there is a blessed rest attainable
+here, rest from the fear of wrath and hell--a rest in Christ as our
+atonement, our surety, our complete righteousness, our title to
+eternal life, and all the grace necessary to fit us for it. This is
+the work of faith, or rather, this is faith itself. The soul
+established in this can rest in all possible circumstances; it depends
+not on its frames: in darkness, when it is tossed, tempted, wandering,
+conscious of unhallowed tempers, perhaps of the actual commission of
+sin, though at such times the warfare between grace and corruption is
+so strong as to make the Christian exclaim, 'O wretched man that I am!
+who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?' he can still
+say, 'The Lord lives, blessed be my Rock;' see the 42d and 43d Psalms.
+The Christian can still say, my Lord and my God; he is sure the
+conflict will end, and that his God will bring good out of it; he
+enjoys hope; he feels his state as safe as in the most enlarged frame
+of mind, when he can pray, praise, love, rejoice. This is a riddle
+which only Christians can understand, and even they require many
+lessons to comprehend it, many more to practise.
+
+ "Have you Newton's letters? See his second letter in Cardiphonia.
+O try to fix your anchor of hope on that sure foundation which God has
+laid in Zion, Christ himself. Trust him to save you from every evil
+without you and within you. When your own weakness sinks you, try to
+be strong in his strength; when guilt disturbs, wash in the open
+Fountain. But hold fast the beginning of your confidence unto the end.
+
+ "Be comforted, fight on, aim at trusting, and you shall, in the
+Lord's time, also, cease from your own works, and rest, with more
+advanced Christians, on the faithfulness of your own God in Christ.
+See Hebrews 4:9, also chap. 12 throughout. I finish with chap.
+13:20, 21, my earnest prayer and sure hope for you, my precious
+friend.
+
+ Yours, etc."
+
+
+ Writing to her brother Dr. Marshall, she alludes to the prevalent
+neglect of the voice of God in his judgments, and notices the death
+of Washington.
+
+
+ "NEW YORK, March 3, 1800.
+
+ "Here comes a letter of woe from my dear brother, on a subject
+almost already forgotten in New York, the yellow-fever. Strange as
+it may seem, the disease, and all that it carried off, seem entirely
+out of mind. No mention made of the past, no apprehensions for the
+future. Country retreats are multiplying around, and people appear
+as if they had made a covenant with death. Potter's Field is filled
+with our principal citizens; the prison and prison limits with
+many of the survivors. The rest are _feasting_, _dancing,_ and
+_revelling_, or weeping over feigned woe in the theatre--a few
+excepted, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them,
+whose eyes have been opened to discern the danger and accept the
+offered Saviour: among which number, I dare, through grace, reckon
+your sister and her children. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
+not all his benefits.'
+
+ "The city, indeed the United States, have been swallowed up in
+the loss of Washington. The utmost stretch of human eloquence has been
+called forth in panegyric. His eulogium has been sounded in every
+possible mode--not excepting our pulpits. The 22d of February, his
+birthday, was set apart to his memory. Two of our ministers were
+appointed to pronounce an eulogium on his character: one of whom was
+Dr. Mason, the other Dr. Linn. The last I admired; it had its due
+influence over me; but of my own minister I could form no judgment:
+the church, the pulpit, the man, the words, seemed so connected with
+the 'Lord Jesus Christ,' his favorite theme, I could not realize the
+_mere_ orator.
+
+ "Great things were said of Washington, and they were due.
+
+ "The Lord himself called him by name, girded him, subdued great
+armies before him, with handfuls, like Gideon. He gave him wisdom in
+counsel, and prudence in executing justice. A nation blessed him
+while he lived, and with all the power of language lamented his
+death. Ah, human depravity, how striking. Bursting with gratitude to
+a creature--with enmity to a Saviour God; to God, who 'so loved the
+world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
+on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; and to as many
+as receive him gives power to become the sons of God,' by putting
+his Spirit within them, and causing them to love and walk in his
+statutes. But alas, the carnal unrenewed mind is enmity against God
+and his Christ. O that men were wise, and could see their disease,
+and the remedy.
+
+ "What misery is in the world at this day. It is only equalled by
+the wickedness. How does potsherd dash against potsherd, mutually
+destroying each other. How consoling to the Christian 'that the Lord
+reigns. The Lord sits King among the nations,' even our own Jesus,
+'Head over all principalities and powers, and dominions, and every
+name that is named in heaven and in earth;' all these shakings,
+turnings, and overturnings, shall prove subservient to the real
+prosperity of his church."
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "I have entered into my closet; I have shut my door; I would pray
+to my Father who is in secret; I would be shut up with my indwelling
+God; but see the crowds that follow; see my treacherous heart that
+gives them admission; see my unsanctified imagination going off with
+them, leaving nothing before thee but a lifeless lump of clay. Help,
+Lord. Hast thou not redeemed me from vain imaginations? Lord, fill all
+thy temple; cast out the buyers and sellers; thyself prepare room for
+close, undisturbed, holy conference. Grant that, according to the
+riches of thy glory, I may be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in
+the inner man: dwell in my heart by faith, that 'rooted and grounded
+in love, I may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the
+breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of
+Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of
+God.' Give unto thy redeemed servant the Spirit of wisdom and
+revelation. Reveal thyself more and more in my soul; enlighten the
+eyes of my understanding. Lord, improve, enlarge the powers of the new
+man. Spirit of the Father and of the Son, do thine office; take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto me; that I may know what is the
+hope of his calling, and what the 'riches of the glory of his
+inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
+power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
+power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
+and set him at the Father's right hand, in the heavenly places, far
+above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and
+every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
+which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and given
+him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,
+the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' Filled with all the
+fulness of God; 'the fulness of him who filleth all in all!' O what
+things are these. My soul stretches to comprehend; but, weak and
+feeble, cannot climb those glorious heights, nor dig into these, to
+me, unsearchable depths. I can only spell after the language of the
+Holy Ghost, lisp out his own words. I dare not trust my powers of
+comprehension to vary even the mode of expression.
+
+ "Well, it may be best for me; the valley of humility may be
+safest for me. 'Father, glorify thy name.' Thou hast quickened me; I
+am not what I was. Thou hast wrought in me a measure of faith and
+love; thou hast sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise; thou hast
+given me the earnest of my inheritance; the full possession shall come
+in thy appointed time. Wherefore I will sing unto Him that is able,
+and will do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask, think, or
+comprehend, according to that same mighty power that worketh in us.
+Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
+world without end. Amen.
+
+ "My covenant God, and the God of my house. Thy Spirit saith, 'If
+any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.' Thou knowest the difficulty
+and danger of the present case. We are ignorant of hidden motions and
+principles, of Satan's suggestions, of corresponding or discordant
+circumstances, of future providences and events. Lord, give counsel.
+
+ "If information and advice be duty on the part of thy servant,
+determine on the side of duty, be the danger what it may; and Oh,
+search, try, and deliver from every selfish or hidden impure motive.
+Give prudence in the choice of words, in the time and manner as well
+as purity in the matter. Save from injuring any of the individuals
+concerned. And Oh, prepare the heart of thy other servant to receive
+this office of friendship with a proper degree of confidence. Save
+from unjust suspicions, that it may be taken as meant in love, in
+Christian love and friendship.
+
+ "O thou who knowest all hearts, all motives, all circumstances
+past, present, and future, overrule for the manifestation of truth,
+for the safety and good of thy servant, and for the closer union of
+all concerned in the bands of Christian love, confidence, and
+affection; and as our covenant God, in whom we trust for guidance in
+every path of duty, glorify thy name.
+
+ "I record this prayer in faith, and wait an answer of peace from
+thy inward teaching and manifestation in the course of thy providence.
+Amen."
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as
+long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall
+call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
+alone doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for
+ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and
+Amen.' Psalm 72:17.
+
+ "Again have I and my children been fed with Christ's flesh and
+his blood at his own table. Glorious things are said of thee, thou
+city of our God; and rich the provision of the house of our God;
+wonderful the scheme that hath made sinful, guilty, rebel sinners the
+citizens of this holy city, inhabitants of this holy house. Mysterious
+truth. The city itself the house of God; the temple of the Lord, in
+which he delighteth to dwell. Closer yet, more mysterious, yet equally
+true, 'his body, his flesh, and his bones;' closer still, one Spirit
+with him. As Mediator Emmanuel, he is the bond of union, whereby the
+guilty sons and daughters of Adam are made one with the Father, the
+Son, and the Holy Ghost.
+
+ "Wonderfully and fearfully are we made as creatures: as a
+rational creature, who can understand and comprehend himself; how
+these members were fashioned; how this spark of vital flame was
+breathed into the lifeless lump or atom? Wonder-working Lord, thou
+only knowest. Wonderful are all the works of creation; but Oh, what
+are they to thy work of redemption? To bring worlds out of nothing, to
+bring light out of darkness, was thy easy work; but to bring good out
+of evil, this, this was the wonder. Thousands and ten thousands of
+worlds were, and may yet be created without cost. God says, Let it
+_be_, and it is; but redemption! O, who can tell the cost?
+Blessed Jesus, God manifested in the flesh; Christ, babe of
+Bethlehem--man of sorrows--victim on the cross; thou only canst tell.
+'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things,
+and blessed be his glorious name for ever!' Whatever the cost, _it
+is finished_. He bowed his head and said, 'It is finished!' This
+finished work is the new testament which he bequeathed to his
+disciples 'the same night in which he was betrayed,' when he took
+bread, blessed it, brake it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take,
+eat, this is my body broken for you; and took the cup, and gave
+thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is
+the new testament in my blood, which is shed for many, for the
+remission of sins.
+
+
+ "The new testament! O, who can tell the blessings and benefits
+contained in this testament, this dying legacy of our dear Emmanuel,
+purchased and sealed with his blood! What is the amount of it? What
+the sum of blessings contained in it? Behold, God is become our
+salvation. This is the amount. God himself, God in Christ reconciling
+us unto himself: by his mighty power subduing the enmity that is in
+us; melting our flinty hearts; drawing us with the cords of love;
+creating us anew after his own image, which we had totally lost;
+uniting us to himself, even _us_, who were enmity itself, but now
+are become one with God, who is love. This is the work we have this
+day been celebrating: a given, a born, a living, a suffering, dying,
+risen, ascended, glorified, reigning Saviour. The Lord of hosts, the
+King of kings, the Almighty God dwelling with men, dwelling in men,
+and feeding them with his own body and blood. 'Behold, God is become
+our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah
+is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation,
+therefore with joy will we draw water out of the wells of salvation.'
+His attributes are the never-failing source; his ordinances the wells
+of salvation. God himself is ours, all that he is is ours, to bless
+and to make us happy. Ten thousand springs issue from this blessed
+source, specified and particularized in his Bible, experienced and
+celebrated by his saints. Let us drink and be refreshed, rejoice and
+praise: for Oh, who can tell the amount of our riches, in having God
+for our portion? All things are ours, we are Christ's, and Christ
+is God's."
+
+
+ The Widows' Society met monthly, when the money in the treasury
+was divided among the managers, for the relief of the widows under
+their care. Mrs. Graham, as directress, thus acknowledges God and asks
+his counsel:
+
+
+ "1800.
+
+ "O my God, I account it an honorable office thou hast given me. I
+have received it from thee. Enable me to execute it to thee.
+
+ "Father of the fatherless, husband of the widow, make me a fit
+instrument in thy hand of distributing thy bounty. Give discernment
+and judgment, tenderness, gentleness, humility, and love; let love to
+thee be the principle of my every action; lead me in the straight path
+of duty; on the matter, the manner, the time, let 'holiness to the
+Lord' be written. I thank thee for this sum towards the relief of thy
+creatures; be with us this evening, and direct our determination as to
+the division of it. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN--
+ CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+ The "Society for the relief of Poor Widows with small Children,"
+having received a charter of incorporation, and some pecuniary aid
+from the Legislature of the state, the ladies who constituted the
+board of direction were engaged in plans for extending their
+usefulness: Mrs. Graham took an active part in executing these plans.
+The Society purchased a small house, where they received work of
+various kinds for the employment of their widows. They opened a school
+for the instruction of their orphans, and many of Mrs. Graham's former
+pupils volunteered their services, taking upon themselves, by
+rotation, the part of instructors. Besides establishing this school,
+Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows best qualified for the task,
+and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day schools for
+the instruction of the children of widows in distant parts of the
+city: she also established two Sabbath-schools, one of which she
+superintended herself, and the other she placed under the care of her
+daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in poverty, she
+visited and comforted them; and in some instances, opened small
+subscription lists to provide for their support.
+
+ She attended occasionally for some years at the almshouse, for
+the instruction of the children there in religious knowledge: in this
+work she was much assisted by an humble and pious female friend, who
+was seldom absent from it on the Lord's day. In short, her whole time
+was occupied in searching out the distresses of the poor, and devising
+measures to comfort and establish them to the extent of her influence
+and means. At the same time, far from arrogating any merit to herself,
+she seemed always to feel how much she was deficient in following
+fully the precepts and the footsteps of her beloved Lord and Saviour,
+who "went about doing good."
+
+ It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, taking
+with her a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about eight
+o'clock. Her only dinner on such days was her bread, and perhaps some
+soup at the soup-house, established by the Humane Society for the
+poor, over which one of her widows had been, at her recommendation,
+appointed. She and her venerable companion, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman,
+second directress of the Widows' Society, travelled many a day and
+many a step together in the walks of charity. Mrs. Graham was a
+Presbyterian, Mrs. Hoffman an Episcopalian. Those barriers, of which
+such an unhappy use has been made by sectarians to separate the
+children of God, fell down between these two friends at the cry of
+affliction, and were consumed on the altar of Christian love. Arm in
+arm, and heart to heart, they visited the abodes of distress,
+dispensing temporal aid from the purse of charity, and spiritual
+comfort from the word of life.
+
+ At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to
+the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers through
+the preceding year.
+
+ In April, 1800, she stated that "again the pestilence had emptied
+the city; again every source of industry was dried up; even the
+streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those storehouses,
+from which relief was issued to thousands in former calamities, now
+disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the pestilence were
+ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had no friends in the
+country, under whose roof they might for a time seek shelter, were
+shut up to the only relief within their power, even to that society
+which had formerly saved them in many a strait. They came, were
+received with tenderness, assisted with, food, advice, and medicine.
+
+ "Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives,
+remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One
+hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children,
+under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have,
+from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved. Widow
+is a word of sorrow in the best of circumstances; but a widow left
+poor, destitute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small
+children, shivering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face
+with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any
+probable prospect of procuring--her situation is neither to be
+described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during the
+last winter; and though none could restore the father and the husband,
+the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers, while they
+dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father and their
+Husband, God."
+
+
+ In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in
+Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B---- as follows:
+
+
+ "BOSTON, August, 1800.
+
+ "I yesterday received my dear J----'s letter, which gives fresh
+cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less I
+am able to support the want of intelligence. Let us all bless God
+together for all his mercies: among those which are temporal, health
+is the chief; and I believe to most mothers it is more valued in their
+children than in their own persons. I rejoice with you over our
+restored J----y. O that our covenant God may give the more important
+blessing of divine life. You had need to be importunate for this,
+after the importunity exercised for natural life. I thank God also for
+the alleviation of your own distress, for our dear D----'s restoration
+from complaints less alarming so far as they existed, but which might
+have been the seeds of serious affliction.
+
+ "I could go on enumerating, for causes of thankfulness crowd into
+my mind; but all are swallowed up in the grand mercy, the
+distinguishing mercy of redeeming love to our souls. Salvation, not
+only to me, but to my house. Oh, all words fail here. Read over with
+me, sing with me, in your heart, the 103d Psalm. O my God, dare I even
+sigh in thy presence, under any temporal pain, or hurt of body or
+mind, with such a Father, such a Christ, such a Comforter, such a
+richly-furnished well-ordered covenant, such a constitution of grace
+and providence--O, such an all in all, even 'all the fulness of God.'
+My God and the God of my seed, the God of my house; yea, and the God
+of my prodigal, who shall in heaven, if never on earth, join the song,
+'To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be
+glory, honor, dominion, power, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.' O
+shall a murmur ever pass these lips, shall this unthankful heart
+indulge even a sigh over any object but sin; shall I shrink from any
+cross with such a crown? Father, glorify thy name.
+
+ "I have been to church; the subject, 'be not weary in
+well-doing.' Many arguments were adduced for exertion; but the gospel
+was wanting. O that my friends could hear our shepherd; he would sound
+his Master's voice more in unison with their own hearts' experience,
+and views of new covenant provision and gospel motives: except in the
+Baptist congregations, the gospel is much mutilated here, and kept out
+of sight even by the few who are supposed to build upon it.
+
+ "Sabbath next brings round your--I will add, my gospel feast. I
+will endeavor to meet you to-morrow evening, and to have you all on my
+heart, then and on the Sabbath, in that one Lord, one faith, one
+Spirit, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and
+in all redeemed to himself by Jesus Christ, and sanctified by that one
+Spirit uniting all. What subjects! I cannot attain to the
+comprehension, but I experience the truth and enjoy the comfort
+of them."
+
+
+ The two following letters, addressed to a young lady whose
+acquaintance Mrs. Graham made while at Boston, show how tenderly she
+sympathized with the feelings of the young, and how earnestly she
+sought their good.
+
+
+ To Miss M----, Boston.
+
+ "There was, my dear Miss M----, something in your countenance and
+manner, at our last interview, which has dwelt on my mind ever since.
+Your former attentions, which I also marked, I attributed to the
+natural benevolence of your heart; but your following a stranger, an
+old woman, of whom you know so little, and whom you were likely never
+to see again, to solicit her friendship and an interest in her
+prayers, spoke a language beyond nature. Either my sweet friend has
+already chosen God in Christ to be her portion, and his love in her
+heart powerfully draws her to every one in whom she thinks she
+discerns his image, or she conceives that this world cannot give her
+happiness even in this life; and impressed with the importance of that
+which is to come, she wishes to cast in her lot among God's people,
+that she may know the good of his chosen and rejoice in their joy, and
+become a partaker of that peace which the Saviour bequeathed to his
+disciples when about to leave them: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace
+I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
+
+ "Let me congratulate my friend, which ever of these be the case.
+If the first, you have, or will soon have, a peace which the world can
+neither give nor take away; if the last, the Saviour stands at the
+door of your heart and knocks, soliciting that heart which has too
+long been hunting shadows and vanity. If your soul is dissatisfied
+with the things of the world, and tired with disappointment, cast a
+longing eye to the fountain of happiness. This is the claim of that
+God whose name is love: 'My son, give me thy heart.' 'Come unto me,
+all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' 'In
+the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.'
+Be assured, my dear friend, if you could obtain all of this world that
+your heart could wish for, you would find vanity written on the
+possession. Nothing short of God himself can give happiness to the
+soul; and exactly in proportion as man becomes weaned from the world,
+and his affections centre in God, is he in possession of happiness.
+
+ "But how is this to be attained? By God's own plan, and no other.
+As many weary themselves in vain, hunting the shadows of time; so,
+many great philosophers, sensible of this great truth, that God alone
+can satisfy the rational soul, also weary themselves in vain, because
+they will not seek the blessing in God's own way. 'When the world by
+wisdom knew not God, it pleased him by the foolishness of
+preaching'--what was esteemed so--'to save them that believe.' 'I
+thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise
+and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'
+
+ "The Saviour said, 'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have
+life. No man can come to the Father but by me. I am the way, the
+truth, and the life.' 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
+have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.' The
+Scripture testifies what our own hearts must assent to, that human
+nature is depraved and corrupt; broken off from God; at a distance
+from him by sin; enmity against him in his true character; opposed to
+his holy law, in its extent and spirituality: we are also helpless,
+dead in trespasses and sins. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed
+thyself'--blessed be God for what follows--'but in me is thy help.'
+
+ "The same Scripture which testifies the misery of man, reveals
+also his remedy--a remedy of God's own providing, by which man may be
+restored to the image and favor of God, and to that communion with
+him which is life and bliss. 'God so loved the world, that he gave
+his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not
+perish, but have everlasting life: for God sent not his Son into the
+world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
+saved. And this is life eternal, that ye believe on him whom he hath
+sent.' When man becomes convinced that he is lost, helpless,
+wretched, lying at mercy, and submits to the method of God's own
+providing; casts himself on the mercy of God in Christ, and coming to
+him, rests on his free promise, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no
+wise cast-out;' disclaiming all confidence in himself, or in his own
+works, he accepts of God's offered grace, in God's own way, a _free_
+and _finished_ salvation. This is the record of God, that he giveth
+unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; who, of God, is
+made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
+complete redemption. Believing this, according to his faith it shall
+be. Christ shall be in him, 'a well of water springing up to
+everlasting life.' He will shed abroad his love in his heart, and
+according to his promise, give him power to become a child of God.
+The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shall be given unto him, to teach him
+the knowledge of the Scriptures, and to become a principle of
+holiness in his heart. Then shall he find that wisdom's ways are ways
+of pleasantness, and all her paths peace; then shall he experience
+the blessedness of that man whose God is the Lord; then is the way
+open for communion and converse with God the Father, Son, and Holy
+Ghost.
+
+ "If, my dear Miss M----, I have made myself understood, you have
+my view of God's method of making his creatures happy; and I believe
+he will make us to know that he is a sovereign God, and that there is
+no other name, or method, by which men can be saved, but the name of
+Christ Jesus. But, take nothing on my word, nor the word of any
+creature; search the Scriptures; read the first eight chapters of the
+Romans, the whole of the Ephesians: stumble not at mysteries--pass
+them over, and take the milk for babes; pray for the teaching of the
+Spirit; and let me recommend to you the advice of Mr. Newton, in his
+Omicron's Letters, a book well worth your reading. 'Lay not too much
+stress on detached texts, but seek for the sense which is most
+agreeable to the general strain of Scripture.'
+
+ "My dear Miss M----, I am now old, and I hope have done with the
+world; but I have been young and drunk deeply of youth's choicest
+pleasures. I was blest with the best and most indulgent of parents; I
+was the wife of a man of sense, sentiment, and sensibility, who was my
+very first love and lover; and that love ripened and improved with
+years. My children were good and healthy; love, health, peace, and
+competency blessed our dwelling. I had also, in early life, taken hold
+of God's covenant, and tasted his covenant love; and devoted myself to
+his service, which was in my mind a principle of moderation, compared
+with mere worldlings; but very far was I from that non-conformity to
+the world which the precept of the gospel requires. Had I kept close
+to my covenant God, enjoyed his bounty with thankfulness, occupied my
+talents, devoted my time to usefulness and communion with him; had I
+prayed against corruption within and temptation without, the Lord
+would have directed my steps and held up my goings, and I should have
+continued to inherit the earth, and should not have been diminished.
+But this was very far from being my conduct; the bent of the natural,
+unrenewed heart, is still opposed to God; and the best are sanctified
+only in part, while in this life; the law in the members still wars
+against the law of the Spirit of life in the mind. The goodness of
+God, which ought to have been a powerful motive to gratitude, love,
+and diligence, was misimproved; I enjoyed the gifts, and forgot the
+giver; 'hugged my comforts to death.' Many, many light chastisements,
+my dear, my kind, my indulgent heavenly Father exercised me with; I
+had many repenting seasons under his strokes, many manifestations of
+pardon I received, and many fresh and solemn dedications of my heart,
+life, and substance did I make; but no sooner was ease and comfort
+restored, than my heart turned aside like a deceitful bow: my whole
+life, from fifteen till the thirtieth year of my age, was one
+continued succession of departure and backsliding on my part--of
+chastening, forgiving, restoring, and comforting on the part of
+my God.
+
+ "He did not cast me off, but dealt with me according to the
+constitution of his well-ordered covenant: 'If his children,'
+Christ's, 'forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break
+my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their
+transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
+Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor
+suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor
+alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89:30. This is the
+covenant--made with Christ as the head of all who believe--of which I
+took hold in early life; my God kept me to my choice, and manifested
+his own faithfulness and the stability of his covenant. When lighter
+afflictions proved ineffectual, he at last, at one blow, took from me
+all that made life dear, the very kernel of all my earthly joys, my
+idol, my beloved husband. Then I no longer halted between two
+opinions; my God became my all. I leave it as my testimony, that he
+has been a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, the
+stranger's shield and orphan's stay. Even to hoar hairs and to old age
+he has carried me, and not one good word has failed of all that he has
+promised. 'He has done all things well,' and at this day I am richer
+and happier than ever I was in my life. Not that I am yet made free
+from sin, that is still my burden--want of love and gratitude,
+indolence in commanded duty, self-will, and nestling in the creature.
+But my heart's wish and earnest desire is conformity to the divine
+will. The bent of my will is for God; and if my heart deceive me not,
+my God is the centre of my best affections. It is by grace that I am
+what I am, and the same grace engages to perfect the work begun.
+
+ "This God is my God; he will guide me even unto death, through
+death, and be my portion to eternity. This God I recommend to my
+friend; and this well-ordered covenant, this all-sufficient Saviour,
+for your acceptance: the Bible for your guide, pray to God for his
+Holy Spirit to lead you to the knowledge of the very truth as it is in
+Jesus. Accept this as a testimony of friendship, and believe me
+
+ "Yours, in love,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "NOVEMBER 2, 1800.
+
+ "You have, I find, been the child of affliction: she is a stern,
+rugged nurse; but blessed often are the lessons she teaches. I have,
+says God, chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. It is God's
+ordinary way of drawing sinners to himself, either to dry up or
+imbitter the streams of worldly comfort, that he may shut them up to
+seek that comfort that depends not on any transitory source.
+
+ "I have no doubt but you shall yet sing with the royal Psalmist,
+'It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was
+afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Blessed is the
+man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' Many
+are the texts to the same purport; take them for your consolation as a
+part of God's well-ordered covenant.
+
+ "You have met with a late bereavement, which has entered deep
+into your soul. We are not called to stoicism, but to tenderness of
+heart and spirit. Jesus wept with the two sisters over a brother's
+grave. But still, the Christian's spirit must be resigned, and say,
+and try to say with cheerfulness, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
+And Oh, my friend, great will be the wisdom and happy the
+acquisition, if every new bereavement enlarge the room for divine
+love in the heart, and be filled up with that most noble, most
+blessed of principles. Seek not, my friend, to replace friendship
+with any mere worldling; beg of God to fill up the vacuum, then will
+you be a great gainer.
+
+ "Why hesitate to join the church? Let not a sense of unworthiness
+keep you back--a deep sense of unworthiness is one grand part of due
+preparation; and no worthiness of yours can give you any title to that
+new testament in Christ's blood, which was shed for the remission of
+sins. Worthless, vile, empty, helpless is every son and daughter of
+Adam's race: but it was for the ungodly that Christ died; it was while
+we were without strength; his name was called Jesus, because he should
+save his people from their sins. In that day, that great day of the
+feast, Jesus stood among a mixed multitude, and cried, 'If any man
+thirst, let him come to me and drink--whosoever will, let him take the
+water of life freely.'
+
+ "If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul
+to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness, sanctified
+by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go as a
+_sinner_ to a _Saviour_; go at his command, put honor on his
+appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you _are_,
+_have_, or _can_ have, over the symbols of his body broken
+for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in his mercy, and leave
+all to his management, believing that _he will_ shed abroad his
+love in your heart, order your footsteps in his ways, and in due time
+perfect his image in your soul. Keep close to him in the use of means,
+but look beyond the means for life and power. I commit you to our God
+and Saviour, and pray that he may be to you 'wisdom, righteousness,
+sanctification,' and complete 'redemption.'
+
+ "I am, my dear Miss M----,
+
+ "Your ever affectionate,
+
+ "I.G."
+
+
+ In March, 1801, the health of her daughter Mrs. B----, requiring
+a sea-voyage and absence from care, Mr. and Mrs. B---- sailed for
+Britain, and the following letters were addressed to them during
+their absence:
+
+
+ "MARCH 23, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--This is mortifying to us all that you should
+be anchored half a mile from us, and there lie for hours; but even
+this, trifling as it may appear, has its end to answer in _His_
+scheme, without whom 'not a sparrow falls.' I have retired with my
+Bible, to commit you, and all my cares and concerns, afresh to that
+God whose goodness and mercy have followed us through life; who is my
+God, your God, and the God of our children; who answered my prayers in
+opposition to my inconsistent conduct; took you out of my idolatrous
+management into his own more merciful guidance. He has done all things
+well, and he will perfect his own work.
+
+ "Now, may the Angel that redeemed you, be with you, keep you in
+the hollow of his hand, and as the apple of his eye; be with you on
+his own ocean, and command the billows not to touch you; carry you to
+the bosom of your dear native country, where a large proportion of his
+body live in him and by him; bless you, and make you a blessing
+wherever his providence shall carry you, and restore you with
+blessings to us, in his own time. Amen."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, after morning service, March 29.
+
+ "This, my dear children, is a day of storm, wind, and rain. O
+that the prayer of our dear pastor, and I hope of many present, may be
+with you, and be answered to and for you: Lord, be with that family,
+who now, on the mighty ocean, desire an interest in our prayers. May
+he whom winds and waves obey, preserve them in this tempestuous
+season; may they see and improve his wonders in the great deep; may
+the blessings of the everlasting gospel preserve their souls in peace,
+conduct them in safety to their destined port, and restore them to us,
+enriched with the blessings of thy well-ordered covenant.
+
+ "I sent two notes for the Dutch churches, enclosed to Mr. B----;
+one for Wall-street, to Mr. A----, and one for the Brick church, to
+Mr. M----. I watered all with my tears.
+
+
+ "FIVE O'CLOCK."
+
+ "O, how it blows and rains. O my children, how my poor heart
+aches for you; if not in danger, yet sick, and in much discomfort. I
+gave a note in the old church in the afternoon, supposing the
+congregation on this dreadful day to be different. Mr. M---- prayed:
+"The Angel of thy presence be with them; give them much of the
+consolations of thy Spirit. Conduct them in safety to the place of
+their destination, and restore them, enriched with thy blessing, to
+worship with us again in this thy house of prayer.' I write on this
+day merely to record, for your perusal, the prayers of your church. I
+think you ought, if the Lord conduct you safe, to propose public
+thanks to that God who heard and answered, if agreeable to Mr. M----.
+Write me how it was with you on this day. Now I will go to a throne of
+grace for you and all of us. O keep close to the Lord; may he save you
+from a dissipated, trifling, carnal spirit; may he sanctify all your
+comforts, and give you a just estimation of all you see and hear: may
+the Christian's portion rise more and more; and the world and its
+vanities sink in your view."
+
+
+ "APRIL 10.
+
+ "What the Lord is going to do with his and my children I know
+not; but the Samuel Elam has returned to port with a leak, after being
+out nineteen days. On the day of storm, she had seven feet of water in
+her hold. I hope the Lord, in mercy to you, to his church, and to me
+his unworthy servant, has guided you in safety, and that the prayers
+of his church were answered in your behalf. O, my children, what would
+be the situation of my heart had I not confidence of your being within
+the ark. I desire to rejoice over all my fears, for this unspeakable
+consolation, that nothing can hurt you. I experience for you what I
+did in my own case, when darkness and tempest added to the horrors of
+many, while our vessel kept dashing on the rock: I, too, expected her
+to go to pieces every moment; but the idea was ever with me, 'in the
+bosom of God's ocean, I shall find the bosom of my Saviour.' On the
+night of the 29th of March I dreamt my dear J----y fell overboard, and
+I saw her floating on the billows, supporting herself by her little
+chair: this is the state of my mind; yet I am thankful, and enjoy much
+peace. The Lord has given me what I have asked--the salvation of your
+souls. In a little time we shall all be gathered around his throne.
+Well may I leave to him all intervening circumstances, as well as who
+goes first, and how. O how he blesses my latter end, how he soothes
+and comforts my old age; far other things have I merited, that my soul
+knows; but he has not only pardoned, but comforts, and draws a veil
+over my transgressions, covering them from the world's observation.
+What can I say? He is God, a God of mercy."
+
+
+ "APRIL 17.
+
+ "I have brought the reality near me, that mine eyes may never
+behold you again on earth. I can say, even of that, it is well; but
+the idea of the horrors of tempest, a leaky vessel racked by the
+storm, and sinking by inches; sickness, nervous timidity, and the
+sufferings to be undergone before the entrance to the haven of rest be
+attained, is my chief disquietude, I will not even say distress,
+because when these horrors--horrors they are to mere nature--dart
+across my mind, filling my soul with momentary anguish, Satan too
+seeking to distract my mind, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a
+standard against him, and comforts me with his own word, the
+everlasting promises suited to every possible circumstance in the
+believer's lot. Thousands of times have I grasped that promise, 'Leave
+thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' I pleaded it for
+the life of their souls; He answered my prayers; he has given them
+life, and they live to him. Yes, I see the fruit, and though
+iniquities still prevail against them, he still purges away their
+transgressions; kindles their repentance; humbles their souls; lays
+them prostrate in penitential confession; washes them afresh in the
+open fountain; restores to them the joys of his salvation; seals their
+pardon by shedding abroad his love in their hearts, and making them
+walk in the path of righteousness for his own name's sake.
+
+ "Thus he carries them on from strength to strength by various
+means of his own appointing, and some terrible things in
+righteousness, in the course of his providence; in all which he is
+sovereign, but ever consistent with his new covenant name, as
+proclaimed to Moses on the mount, as manifested in the character of
+God dwelling with us in our own nature, in whom mercy shone prominent;
+by which mercy they shall appear in Zion, before God, in due time.
+
+ "Is it so? Is this God my God, and the God of my seed? Is he
+himself become our salvation? Are we heirs of God and joint-heirs with
+Christ? Is our life hid with Christ in God? When he appears, shall we,
+I and the children which he hath given me, in very deed appear with
+him in glory? Is all this so, and shall I tremble at the approach of
+any of his providences? Shall I not say when it has taken place, 'The
+will of the Lord be done,' especially when clothed with love? I trust
+that as my day, so shall my strength be, and in the interim I have the
+same confidence for you; for 'he giveth power to the faint, and to
+them that have no might he increaseth strength.'"
+
+
+ "APRIL 25.
+
+ "The wind roars and howls in my windows, though not facing the
+storm, and the white waves in the river picture in my mind the foaming
+billows of the ocean. The name of our God is my consolation: 'though
+the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
+swelling thereof, there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad
+the city of God. God shall help her, and that right early.' When I
+walk about Zion, and go round about her, when I tell the towers
+thereof, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, my heart
+rejoices that 'this God is our God; he will be our guide even unto
+death; and O the joy that my children are the citizens of this Zion,
+and the heirs of all the promises by virtue of the new testament in
+Christ's blood. A covenant of works it was to our Surety, and his
+heart's blood finished the requisites of it. It is now a testament to
+you, sealed by the same blood. Wherever in his word I meet the
+character, the providence, the work of God, I read my own and my
+children's interest. I hope your experience shall be in Psalm 107:28.
+If not wholly, it shall terminate in Psalm 23:4. Though you walk
+through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil, for
+this God, who is your guide even unto death, shall be with you, his
+rod and staff shall comfort you; and our darling Jessy he shall carry
+as a lamb in his arms, and hide her from the horrors, in his bosom. I
+dwell much on these subjects, and I feel comforted, whatever be
+the event.
+
+ "If the Lord has carried you safe through, and you live to read
+this in the body, know that our God continues to bless us abundantly
+in health, peace, and plenty, as to temporals; we also experience the
+peace of his covenant, and have tastes of the bread and of the water
+of life. Thanks, all thanks to our new covenant Head for the stability
+of the covenant; we change, but he changeth not. He himself is the
+covenant given to the people, and because he lives, his people shall
+live also, in spite of Satan and his colleague sin in our hearts: sin
+may, and does bring his people into captivity, but it shall not keep
+them in bondage for ever. The time of deliverance shall come, when
+they shall revive as the corn. Oh, is it not a well-ordered covenant,
+and sure?"
+
+
+ Her next letter gives an illustration of fidelity in a difficult,
+and, it is to be feared, much-neglected duty.
+
+
+ "MAY 10, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Last evening was preparation sermon. Mr. Y----
+preached a very excellent sermon from the Song of Solomon, 'Who is
+this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?' First
+the wilderness of this world, next the church coming up, then the
+attitude leaning, and on whom; I thought the simile well supported,
+and practical, as he went on. His application was rich on the
+Christian's support, where he brought into view many of the names
+of Christ.
+
+ "After sermon we witnessed a most affecting scene; two female
+members rebuked and restored to the communion of the church. Never,
+never did our dear Mr. M---- shine so bright in my eyes; many tears
+were shed. I knew nothing of it, and wondered to what he was leading,
+when he addressed the congregation, after sermon, upon Christian walk,
+watchfulness, and temptation, and the distress occasioned in Christian
+society when any of the members were left to fall into open and
+aggravated sin. Such was the case in our own congregation: two, naming
+the offenders, had been so far left; but while deeply wounded by the
+sin and scandal, he was consoled by their penitence: he assured the
+congregation that they had given great evidence of deep contrition;
+and were now come forward to acknowledge their crime before their
+offended and grieved brethren, and to give all the satisfaction in
+their power, by submitting to the censure of the church in this public
+manner, which, although painful to him, he must pronounce according to
+God's appointment. 'Them who sin before all, rebuke before all.' He
+then asked them to rise; scarce an individual turned to look; many
+were weeping while he laid before them their guilt in strong, yet
+tender terms; and finished by expressing his approbation of their thus
+submitting to the rod, and exhorting them to humility and redoubled
+watchfulness. Then again he addressed the members, requesting them to
+receive into their Christian love and affection their repenting,
+returning sisters; that they would treat them with tenderness, and
+restore them in the spirit of meekness, considering themselves as also
+in the body and subject to temptation. 'Let no one put them in
+remembrance of the sin which the Father of mercies has blotted out,
+nor open those wounds which he has closed,' 'He doth not chide
+continually, nor retain his anger for ever.'
+
+ "May the Lord bless the discipline of his church; may he meet us
+to-morrow with multiplied pardons: may he melt our hearts to
+contrition, heal our backslidings, and manifest himself as married
+unto us; may he bring us into his banqueting house and his banner over
+us be love; may his grace be magnified and his name glorified; and may
+he send a portion to my dear children--yea, a Benjamin's portion; may
+he open wide the leaves of that new testament, and let them read their
+rich inheritance and rejoice in their portion.
+
+ "Farewell, my dear children. The Lord bless you, keep you, guide
+you, and cause his face to shine on you, prays your affectionate
+mother."
+
+
+ The following to the same, was written while on a visit to a
+worldly friend:
+
+
+ "MAY 21, 1801.
+
+ "I would fain begin to hope that my children are now on, or near
+the green fields of Albion. Many a severe gale has agitated them, and
+tried their faith and confidence before this day. But as He who
+sitteth on the clouds, commanding and governing the elements, is
+their own God in covenant, who loves them, careth for them, and
+perfects what concerns them, I hope they have had much of his
+presence: I hope they have found, even on the boisterous ocean,
+amidst the horrors of the swelling deep, agitated with winds and
+tempests, all things necessary to life and godliness in these great
+and precious promises, accompanied by divine power, by which they are
+made partakers of divine life, and escape the pollution that is in
+the world through lust. I hope they are enriched in experience, and
+advanced in the divine life, by all they have suffered, and all they
+have tasted of divine support in their sufferings; that Christ is
+still more precious, his word more tried, and their confidence in him
+more established: if so, great is their gain. And our darling J----,
+being a sharer in the suffering, shall, at her God's hand, be also a
+gainer, though it be not evident to our perception. O how rich is the
+Christian, how inexhaustible his portion! his table is ever
+furnished, his cup ever full; all is blessing, no curse mingled--that
+our Surety took to himself; prosperity and adversity, sickness and
+health, light and darkness, all, all shall bless us, work for our
+good, turn to our profit, and end in the glory of God and our
+unspeakable, inconceivable happiness.
+
+ "I have been here a week yesterday; all vegetable nature glows
+and shines in the perfection of beauty; flowers, shrubs, trees, grain,
+grass, falling waters turning the busy mill, the brook murmuring on
+its way to the ocean, fit emblem of eternity, all glorify their
+Creator; and although no such birds as in Britain charm the listening
+ear, we have some sweet chirpers of his praise; and what is wanting to
+the ear, is made up to the eye, for in beauty they excel.
+
+ "These I may enjoy; with these hold communion; for Oh, spiritual
+death holds all within these walls in dismal bondage; not one symptom
+of life appears, but death, as the dry bones in the valley of vision.
+Why do I not wrestle more for the Spirit to breathe on them? I do
+pray: but Oh, formal, formal."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "JUNE 17, 1801.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Difficult it is for me to exercise patience:
+the 23d, of this month will make three months since you waved the
+handkerchief on board the Mars, off the Battery. I had made up my mind
+not to give way to expectation short of three months; they are nearly
+past: how many events take place in that space of time; how many
+duties ought to be performed; how many sins are really committed; how
+guilty to wish to annihilate the time that a certain event may come
+round. For every moment of time we must account, and not one moment of
+it can we recall. Much you have seen; much you have suffered; much,
+perhaps, also enjoyed: for the Lord can give songs in the night, and
+in a dungeon. 'Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;' to
+them there is no want. The Lord is their shepherd, he feedeth them in
+green pastures beside the gently flowing waters; if they wander, he
+restoreth them, perhaps with the rod, but it is the rod of love; they
+need not be afraid to enter even the valley of the shadow of death;
+their Shepherd is with them, and his rod, rod of support, and staff
+shall comfort them.
+
+ "I hope this has been a profitable time to you both; that you
+have seen more of the evil of sin, and of your own hearts, their
+deceitful double turnings and windings to cover and conceal the enemy
+of God and your own souls; more of the extent and spirituality of the
+divine law, fulfilled indeed in every jot and tittle by your Surety;
+but still doubly binding on you as a rule of life in the hand of your
+Redeemer, who hath bought you to himself, and taken you into his own
+hands, that you might be a holy people to himself, delivered not
+merely from the penalty and curse, but from the power and indwelling
+of sin. I hope you have seen more of the unsearchable riches of
+Christ in all he has done and is now doing for your and his church's
+happiness, and of those exceeding great and precious promises by
+which you are made partakers of the-divine life, and privileged to
+escape the pollution that is in the world through lust; more of the
+faithfulness of God, as a God in Christ, pardoning sin and
+reconciling you to himself; and day by day, teaching you by his word,
+Spirit, and providences.
+
+ "I am but just beginning to see that I am blind; my own character
+opening upon me as a sinner, in heart and tongue and conduct, against
+my God, my neighbor, and my own soul: how comes it then that I am at
+ease in God's world; in health, in peace, in comfort, all in an
+extraordinary degree as to temporals; and as to spirituals, though
+grieved with self, my joy in Christ also abounds. Can I believe it?
+What can I say; what can I render to the Lord for all his gifts to me?
+Nothing can I do, but just take the cup of salvation, calling upon the
+name of the Lord, and remain an eternal debtor to his grace for
+spirituals and temporals."
+
+
+ "JUNE 26.
+
+ "By this time you are already in port, on earth or in heaven.
+Blessed alternative. Ought I to be sad, who can say, 'or in heaven?' O
+no, I trust grace will be given to acquiesce in his most blessed will;
+a most gracious will it has been to me and mine.
+
+ "I wrote you in my last, that our dear Mr. M---- leaves us next
+month for Britain; his errand is to state the situation of this
+country, as greatly in want of ministers and the means of educating
+ministers. Many of his people are dissatisfied, as he has two
+congregations to supply, and a large family of his own. Why should he
+be the man? For my own part, I think he is the very man; and I am
+thankful to feel a degree of disinterestedness. Though I love my
+minister, value his ministry and his person, I hope the general
+interest of Christ's body is more dear to me, and of infinitely more
+importance than my private comfort, which, after all, I do not believe
+can suffer by parting cheerfully with its apparent food to Christ, who
+himself is the sum and substance of all that any minister can be
+instrumental in conveying. All means are alike to him, or no means. I
+therefore rejoice in his will, and pray that the Lord may prosper him,
+give him a double portion of his Spirit, and favor in the eyes of all
+whose influence is necessary to advance the Redeemer's kingdom
+in America.
+
+ "Our friend Mrs. K---- is gone; she died suddenly: both Mr. and
+Mrs. T---- died at their country-seat; he first. She fancied she was
+getting better. The physician advised her not to ride, as she could
+not stand the fatigue; she had more faith in air and exercise: the
+last day she went out she fainted getting into the carriage, and again
+coming out; and died in the afternoon. She lived near us, yet I never
+saw her, nor offered one kind office towards the salvation of her
+soul, which, if lost, leaves me not innocent of her blood, and if
+saved, as I hope it may be, my sinful neglect is not the less. What a
+picture in them of the vanity of all under the sun; and in me of the
+evil of procrastination, for I meant to visit her. O my Saviour, is
+this the return I make for the millions of pardons which thou hast
+passed on my account; sparing even the rod, and blessing me with
+health, restored limbs, and mercy on mercy, comfort on comfort? I want
+words to paint my abominable ingratitude, indolence, and cruelty; and
+yet, Oh yet I am spared, and my mercies are spared, as far as I
+know--but trial may be at hand. Perhaps I write what my children may
+never read. Well, even then, mercy, mercy shall be my song; for I sing
+the song on earth which they sing in heaven. I am just going to town
+to attend preparation sermon. Our feast is on Sabbath."
+
+
+ "JULY 17, 1801.
+
+ "What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies--mercies
+temporal, mercies spiritual, mercies eternal, multiplied mercies? The
+one thing that I asked of the Lord has been answered in full, and Oh,
+how much added. God himself become my salvation, and the salvation of
+my house; how unspeakable the blessing. Although chastisement and
+affliction were the means of correction and sanctification, or even
+the vengeance taken on my inventions, yet, as a God, he at the same
+time pardoneth. For Oh, my character is ever the same with backsliding
+Judah and treacherous Israel. Glory to that name which is ever the
+same, and changeth not. 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin.' This was his name among a
+stiff-necked people, an idolatrous, ungrateful people; this is his
+name to me alike in character. O how he has magnified this name to me,
+a backslider in heart and life; multiplying pardons while I have
+multiplied transgressions: still he has been last with me, healing my
+backsliding; restoring my soul; leading me to the open fountain;
+giving faith to wash, and joy and peace in believing; not only so, but
+in this land of drought, this waste howling wilderness, this vale of
+tears, where 'man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards,' my
+cup with temporal comfort is full and running over; all his creatures
+minister to my comfort; and as days and nights roll on, his daily
+providence adds, and diminishes not.
+
+ "I had hardly hoped to see the faces of my children again; for he
+commanded, and raised the stormy winds and lifted up the waves of the
+sea; they mounted to heaven and sunk again to the deep; death with all
+its _natural_ horrors surrounded them; the deep yawned to devour
+them; but God, their own God, was at hand, their anchor of hope, their
+ark of safety, their hiding-place till the calamity was past: they
+cried to him, and he saved them out of their distresses; he made the
+storm a calm, and the waves thereof still, and brought them to the
+desired haven. This trouble was not unto death, but for the glory of
+God and the exercising of your faith, for the manifestation of his
+power and goodness, and the enriching of your experience.
+
+ "O then let us praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
+wonderful works to the children of men. Let us exalt him in the
+congregation of his people, and praise him in the assembly of
+the elders."
+
+
+ "OCTOBER 23, 1801.
+
+ "Surely, surely my heart feels grateful for the time, though
+this, like every other good motion, will, like the morning dew, soon
+pass away.
+
+ "My children not only preserved through the tempestuous storms
+that threatened death with circumstances shocking to nature, but my
+poor sick child preserved during a long and fatiguing journey; that
+journey made comfortable, yea, delightful, by the warm reception of
+many kind friends, dear to nature, and many doubly endeared by grace:
+among the last, the mother and sisters of the kindest and best of
+husbands; they receiving her as their own flesh and blood, as well as
+their fellow-member in Christ; blest with a measure of health to enjoy
+all, and a measure of grace to profit by all; eyeing by faith the dear
+invisible hand of a covenant God, preserving, leading, guiding through
+every step--his love the marrow of the whole, and their charter for
+safety, even amidst the dangers of prosperity.
+
+ "Is not godliness gain? profitable for this life as well as that
+which is to come? What is the portion of the worldling? even in this
+life 'shadowy joy or solid woe,' without a balance to the first, or
+consolation in the last; no sure footing in the one, nor support in
+the other; distanced from the fountain of happiness by nature,
+prosperity incrusts their hearts and increases their carnality;
+nestling in their worldly comforts, they forget they are the creatures
+of a day, that an endless eternity lies before them, and only the
+feeble uncertain thread of life between them and that curse under
+which they were born. Not so the child of God; all things work
+together for his good--_all things;_ his standing is not in
+himself; his footsteps are directed by infinite wisdom: he is kept by
+the power of God, through faith, unto salvation. Nothing can separate
+him from the love of God. His life is hid with Christ in God: there is
+cause to rejoice always; his privileges are boundless, infinite, for
+God himself is become his salvation.
+
+ "Have we then any cause for fear? Yes, my children, yes; though
+nothing can rob us of our charter, there is another side to be beheld.
+In Christ we have all things richly to enjoy, but we have not all in
+possession: what we have is by faith; all is secured by our Surety for
+eternity. We shall overcome by the blood of the Lamb; but by the
+constitution of the covenant we must enter into that rest, that
+perfect rest, through great tribulation. While our eternal salvation
+is secured by our Surety, it hath pleased infinite Wisdom to appoint
+another connection, which shall exist while we remain on earth: even
+the connection between our steadfastness, consequently our comfort,
+and the means of grace which he hath appointed, making the first to
+depend in a great measure on our diligent use of the last, insomuch
+that a great number of the promises are proposed conditionally. Many
+exhortations are given in this view, and also many threatenings. 'They
+that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,' etc. 'Seek, and ye
+shall find; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened
+unto you.' 'Abide in me; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no
+more can ye, except ye abide in me.'
+
+ "Close, intimate, near communion with God, is to be sought by
+means of prayer, meditation, and reading. If the Christian be careful
+to husband time, and set apart a portion for God, and set about these
+duties, he will not always miss communion; and this prepares him for
+other duties, and arms him against temptation; as the promise is
+concerned to keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.
+'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
+much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that
+ask him.' 'So shall ye know the Lord, if ye follow on to-know him.'
+'Delight thyself in God, he will give thee the desire of thy heart.'
+'Nevertheless, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel,' etc.
+'If his children forsake my laws, and go astray, I will visit their
+faults,' etc. 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'
+'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,' etc. 'Thy
+Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' All is laid
+before us in the Scriptures, in the view of comfort during our
+pilgrimage, as well as the certainty of our inheritance in the end;
+the ground whereon we stand, our danger, and the means of safety.
+See Eph. 6:11.
+
+ "There is provision made in the covenant for great comfort,
+consistent with human frailty and imperfection, but not with
+carelessness and negligence. While, therefore, we rejoice in the Lord,
+we have good reason to join trembling with our exultation; while
+standing high in comfort, to take heed lest we fall, through the
+deceitfulness of sin. We carry about with us 'a body of sin and
+death;' 'the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
+may devour.' We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with
+principalities and powers,' etc. We live in a world lying in
+wickedness; the captives of sin and Satan exerting every faculty to
+banish all thoughts of God, death, and eternity; contriving, with
+unwearied industry and amazing ingenuity, new gratifications for body
+and mind in endless variety, suited to all constitutions, all tempers
+and dispositions, and to those in all circumstances. Of these, the
+most rational are the most subtle, and, in the hand of the enemy, the
+most calculated to keep men ignorant of themselves, their misery, and
+of the great salvation; and alas, by these he often _spoils_
+unwary Christians, who, though heirs of heaven, heirs of God, and
+joint-heirs with Christ, are, during their minority, subject to like
+passions with themselves, and ever in danger of being spoiled of their
+comforts when off their guard.
+
+ "With the people of the world Christians have much to do: they
+are fellow-members of society with them; they have many duties to
+perform to them, with them, and by them; many of the things of the
+world are necessary to them, many of its pleasures lawful; for 'the
+earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and he gives them of it
+as his wisdom sees good for them. That which he gives them they gather
+in the same manner as and in society with the world, by industry and
+diligence in their lawful calling and business. Keeping near the
+Captain of salvation, and armed in his whole armor, they are safe.
+When off their guard, the vigilant enemy gains some advantage, and
+they get into trouble. O how many gracious names our dear Redeemer has
+assumed in his word, for our comfort, our meditation, our spiritual
+exercise; how pleasant and delightful in the light of his countenance
+to analyze them! Besides the names peculiar to himself as God-man, how
+many has he condescended to take from among men, and the natural
+comforts and safeguards of men--our Shepherd, our Rock, our Ark, all
+the relations in life--and ends with our All in all. But I must have
+done, that I may tell you that goodness and mercy follow us in this
+family also."
+
+
+ "July 28, 1801.
+
+ "My dear pastor, Mr. M----, sailed for Britain. I thank thee,
+good and kind Shepherd of Israel, for all those providences, which
+seemed small things at the time, that hedged me into that
+congregation; for all the benefits and comforts I enjoyed under the
+ministry of thy aged servant now before thy throne, and that thou
+preparedst thy young servant to fill his place when the time of his
+departure came.
+
+ "I thank thee for all the endowments of our young pastor, of
+nature and grace. I thank thee, that thou hast kept him faithful to
+Him who has called him, and for the precious treasure thou hast put in
+that earthen vessel.
+
+ "Now, Lord, that thou hast called him to leave his family and his
+flock, to travel to a foreign land in the service which thou
+requirest, go with him, prosper him, overrule all his concerns for thy
+glory, the good of his soul, of the church in general, and his own
+little flock in particular. Amen. Glorify thy name"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ JOURNAL AND LETTERS--LADIES' SCHOOL
+ FOR POOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 22, 1801.
+
+ "ISABELLA SMITH," a grandchild, "is very ill; she appears to be
+in a stupor. Two physicians are attending, but my eyes are to the
+Lord. She is his own, given to him by faith, as a covenant God in
+Christ for her in particular, for ourselves and our children. I desire
+not to draw back, but, the Lord strengthening me, to give up at his
+call. If it be his will to spare her, she is still his own, to be done
+by, with, and for, as his infinite wisdom may see fit, for his own
+glory and her eternal interest. If he is about to remove her out of
+the world, she is his own; out of the mouth of this babe will he
+perfect praise; with that company of whom is the kingdom of heaven,
+she shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb, 'to Him that loved
+us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory,
+honor, dominion, and power.'
+
+ "O Lord, one petition I prefer--if it be thy will to take her out
+of the world, take her in thine arms and carry her through the dark
+valley; grant to her a gentle and easy passage, and an abundant
+entrance into thy kingdom; and tune our hearts to sing, 'The Lord
+gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'
+Amen."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 23.
+
+ "This day the dear Isabella joined the church triumphant, and
+took her place among that company which Christ has pronounced blessed.
+I yesterday asked of the Lord that he would take her in his arms and
+carry her through the dark valley, that he would give her a gentle and
+easy passage, and an abundant entrance into his kingdom. He heard my
+prayer; it was indeed soft and gentle; not a struggle, not a groan;
+and the affliction which brought down the frame was moderate
+throughout. I was enabled to resign the Lord's own into his own hand,
+in the faith that he did receive, and would keep that which I
+committed to him.
+
+ "My soul is satisfied--more than satisfied; I rejoice, and
+congratulate the lovely babe on her early escape from a world of sin
+and sorrow, to the arms of her dear Redeemer, and to perfect
+blessedness with him."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER 24.
+
+ "It is done--finished--the soul with God, the body in the tomb.
+It is all well; yes, our covenant God, thou doest all things well. I
+firmly believe thy mercy is over all thy works. Goodness, mercy, yea,
+loving-kindness has marked thy every step. I believe it now. I shall
+see it soon.
+
+ "Now, our God, follow this bereavement with thy purifying,
+sanctifying grace. Enable us all to search and try our ways. Lead our
+souls into a knowledge of the secret corruptions of our hearts, that
+we may confess and mourn over them, wash in the blood of Christ, be
+pardoned, restored, and get a great victory. Enable us through life to
+abide in Christ; to keep close to thee, transacting all our affairs
+with thee, before they come into the view of the world. Let thy wisdom
+and thy Spirit, in connection with thy providences, be our
+counsellors. O keep us in a dependent frame of mind, humble and
+watchful. Strip us of all self-confidence. May we at the same time be
+strong in the Lord and in the power of thy might; rejoicing in thee,
+the God of our salvation, the strength of our heart, and our portion
+for ever. Glory, glory, glory, to Father, Son, and blessed Spirit.
+Amen, and Amen."
+
+
+ "DECEMBER, 1801.
+
+ "It is my earnest desire to 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge
+of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' It is my desire to love the
+Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength,
+and with all my mind; and to love my neighbor as myself, so as to do
+to Mm whatever I could expect from Christian principles in him, on an
+exchange of circumstances.
+
+ "It is my desire to give all diligence to add to my faith virtue,
+to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience,
+to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly
+kindness charity, that these things being in me and abounding, I may
+be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and
+Saviour Jesus Christ.
+
+ "I desire to grow in grace day by day, to profit by every
+ordinance of God's appointing, and by every providence; and I pray,
+Lord, I pray that thou wouldst grant me my desire, so as that I may
+become more spiritual, more discerning in the Scriptures, more
+fruitful in good works: that thou mayest increase also my humility.
+Open to my view more of the extent and spirituality of thy divine law;
+the majesty, purity, holiness, of thy nature; the exceeding sinfulness
+of sin; the hidden corruptions of my own heart, and my inability to
+search them out, and to crucify them: give me also more just views of
+my past life, that I may ever be convinced that I am, what I really
+am, the very chief of sinners, and the least of all saints; and that
+it is entirely of grace that I am what I am. O make out this promise
+to me; I will record it in thine own words: 'I will establish my
+covenant with thee: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,' Ezekiel
+16:62. I confess myself the character described in the two foregoing
+chapters; and though thou hast chastened me ten thousand times less
+than my iniquities deserve, even by the constitution of the new
+covenant, thou hast chastened me. Now, O Lord, most merciful and
+gracious, who 'pardonest iniquity, transgression, and sin,' for thy
+name's sake, do to and for me as thou hast said: 'I will establish my
+covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. That thou
+mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
+because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that
+thou hast done, saith the Lord God.' Amen."
+
+
+ To Mr. and Mrs. B----, in Britain.
+
+ "DECEMBER 7, 1801.
+
+ "I have received my dear J----'s three letters from Dingwall:
+fresh matter of praise to our covenant God. You have had your season
+of affliction; and now you have a season of refreshing, a
+resting-time. The cup of the Christian is always more or less mixed.
+Your afflictions have ever been mixed with much mercy, and now your
+season of rest is also mixed. I well know that no temporal comfort can
+compensate the absence of your justly beloved D----. He, however, who
+is the God of both, who goes with him, and stays with you, can not
+only support, but comfort. The omniscient, the omnipresent, the
+omnipotent God is our God, and the God of our house; all that he is is
+ours, to bless us. Behold, God is become our salvation. Every
+endearing name known among men he takes to himself, to inspire us with
+pleasing, confiding love--every name that connects the idea of
+protection, to keep our minds in quiet peace, in the assurance of
+safety: Father, Husband, Brother, Friend, Prophet, Priest, King,
+Physician, Help, Health, Light, Life, Counsellor, Guide, Sanctuary,
+Anchor--but I should fill my sheet. I said it all at first: God is
+ours, and ours with the knowledge of all our backslidings, which he
+heals; our wanderings, from which he restores us; and our sins, which
+he forgives: one of his names is the God of pardons. He delights in
+mercy. Are we not his witnesses? What has our whole life been, but
+sin, backslidings, and wanderings? What have his dealings with us
+been, but pardons, healings, restorations? Therefore we remain, as at
+this day, with our desires towards him, and our faces Zion-wards. What
+he hath begun he will perfect, and in a little while our eyes shall
+behold him, our hearts shall enjoy him, we shall be like him, and see
+him as he is."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "DECEMBER 26, 1801.
+
+ "I rejoice over my dear children, and bless our gracious God that
+he has led them a sweet and most delightful sojourning among his
+churches, animating their spirits by their mutual communion; blessing
+them, and, I hope, making them blessings. I pray the Lord may make our
+dear D---- an instrument among others of spreading his gospel,
+building up his church, and pulling down the strong-holds of Satan;
+and that you may be in your place a help-meet for him, in this as in
+every thing else. May the Lord choose his path and direct his steps,
+and yours with him. Women were helpers of the apostles and others in
+Paul's days: at the same time care must ever be taken not to obtrude
+in any respect. I pray that you may be kept spiritual and humble:
+eminence in God's service is truly desirable, if the heart be kept
+humble. If the Lord open the eyes to behold more of the extent and
+spirituality of his law, the holiness and purity of his nature, the
+evil of sin, and its contrariety to all that is in God; and if he turn
+the eyes inward to the hidden corruptions of the heart, when it is
+evident to the soul that all is of grace, then may eminent services
+be safe.
+
+ "'I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,' was the exercise
+of Job; and justly so. Job, who was eyes to the blind and feet to the
+lame, a father to the poor, and the cause which he knew not he
+searched it out: when the ear heard him, it blessed him; when the eye
+saw him, it gave witness to him; who withheld not the poor from his
+desire, nor caused the eye of the widow to fail; the stranger did not
+lodge in the street, but he opened his door unto the traveller: all
+this was true as far as the external act, and as he then thought, with
+a proper temper of heart, Job could justify himself before his
+fellow-sinners, Blind like himself; but when God comes to deal with
+him, how different his views. Then it was, 'Behold, I am vile; what
+shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand on my mouth:' even with the
+very best there is cause for this exercise, could we see in the
+same light.
+
+ "How deceitful is the human heart; how unfaithful the conscience;
+how little do we know of the sins of our daily walk. We are called to
+watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation; to walk with God in
+close, intimate communion: whether we eat or drink, to do all to his
+glory: to consult him in all the affairs of life, narrowly observing
+his providence in connection with our circumstances; weighing all in
+his presence, requesting him to determine our wills and direct our
+steps. We ought not to say, 'We will go into such a city,' and do this
+or that; but, 'If the Lord will.' How inconsistent our conduct with
+these rules. How often do rashness, precipitation, and self-will
+accompany our determinations and movements. And how often do His
+goodness and wisdom over rule our folly, save us from our own pits,
+and prevent the evil that might be expected. At no time does he deal
+with us as we sin, though sometimes he stands by and allows us a taste
+of our folly: then we are in trouble, we dig our pits and fall into
+them, but we cannot deliver ourselves. O what a God! who, even at such
+a time, says to us, 'Call on me in the time of trouble; I will deliver
+thee, and thou shalt glorify my name; thou hast destroyed thyself, but
+in me is Blessed help; mercy to pardon, goodness to wisdom to guide,
+faithfulness to carry through and perfect what concerns us, overruling
+our very follies, and causing them to teach us to profit. This is
+God's way, according to many declarations of himself in his word, and
+the experience of all his redeemed.
+
+ "Blessed then is the man that trusteth in the Lord; they truly
+are a blessed people whose God Jehovah is."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1802.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED CHILDREN--I trust the Lord is your support;
+I know you are in trouble; it cannot be that opportunities have been
+wanting all this time, nor can it be that my children have been
+negligent: no, no, I cannot suppose it. My children are in trouble;
+they could not write that they were otherwise, and therefore remain
+silent until they can write the issue. It is proper, and sure the Lord
+feeds me with comfort. O the comfort of knowing that the Almighty God
+is their own reconciled Father by an everlasting covenant; Christ, the
+Mediator and Surety, their Advocate, Brother, and Friend; the Holy
+Ghost their Teacher, Guide, and Comforter. It cannot be ill with my
+dear children, who are also God's dear children. My Father, I know it,
+thou chastenest for their profit. I know not where they are, nor how
+they fare. I know not what to ask for them; but thou art everywhere
+present, thine eye is upon them, thou knowest all their wants, all
+their burdens, all their bereavements, or whatever tries them. O let
+thy sensible presence be with them; open wide the leaves of that new
+testament in Christ's blood, and let them read their rich legacy,
+their unsearchable riches in Christ; give them confidence in thy
+wisdom and goodness, and sweet acquiescence in all thy dealings with
+them. Thou hast spared in mercy, perhaps now thou hast taken in mercy:
+yes, thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and a large ingredient
+in every cup thou puttest into the hand of thy children. It is well,
+it is well.
+
+ "Since writing the above, I have received my dear D----'s
+letter, second copy, by the way of London. The Lord is your God. and
+the God of your seed. John the Baptist leaped in the womb when the
+salutation of Mary sounded in his mother's ears; he was then a living
+soul, and an heir of salvation at that moment. If your babe was
+conceived in sin by the first covenant, he is an heir of grace by the
+second. Think it not hard; no, you do not think it hard that you have
+conceived him in sickness, carried him in sickness, and suffered the
+pangs of birth without the succeeding joy to make you forget your
+anguish. All this shall be for the glory of God, and that is what you
+seek; believe it now, you shall see it soon. I do sympathize; my fond
+heart had embraced a sweet babe added to the family for one taken.
+The Lord has taken this also; it is his due: I shall soon leave the
+mortal and join the immortal; five have joined the head, six remain;
+and one I know nothing of, more than that I cast him on the Lord, and
+look for mercy. I thank my God that he gave you the grace of
+resignation, and supported you in the solitary confinement. Alas, my
+child, did you listen for the voice of your babe? O, what a suspense;
+but let me stop--he had reached maturity ere that time; without the
+fight, obtained the victory; he is of the travail of the Redeemer's
+soul; children are God's heritage, the fruit of the womb his reward.
+Rest then in the Lord; this is to his glory, both without and within
+your soul."
+
+
+ "MAY 20, 1802.
+
+ "MY DEAR CHILDREN--Here am I in my little room, surrounded with
+every comfort, and as the provision of my God, I value all; but there
+lies the chief, _my Bible_, the testament of my dying, risen,
+ascended, reigning Saviour, bequeathing to me eternal life, executed
+in full, and made as sure as the promise and oath of God. The
+influences of the Holy Ghost on my mind, taking of the things of
+Christ, and showing them unto me; opening wide the leaves of that new
+testament, in which I read unsearchable riches, and my title to them
+sure: yes, sure, even to me, a base idolatrous gentile, a rebel
+against the eternal King, my Creator, Preserver, Provider; a
+backslider in heart and in life. What has such a one to do with a holy
+God? He hath said only return; and he himself hath turned to me,
+chastened, convinced, restored, comforted. His ways are not as our
+ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts; but as the heavens are above
+the earth, so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts high above
+our thoughts, and his plans above our conception. For although it is
+for ever true, that he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
+cannot look on iniquity; that his law has denounced a curse upon the
+transgressor who keepeth it not in every jot and tittle; it is for
+ever true, that this God is unchangeable in his nature and purposes.
+What he hath said, that will he do. It is for ever true, that I am all
+I have said, and worse, a sinner in heart, tongue, and practice; yet
+am I a beloved child, a justified one, an heir of God.
+
+ "Here is the testament, here is my charter with the seal of God
+upon it--JESUS, thou art the Secret of the Lord; thou art the Lion of
+the tribe of Judah, the root and offspring of David. Thou hast
+prevailed to open this book of secrets, to loose the seven seals, and
+lay open its mysteries. Thou Lamb of God, the appointed and anointed
+to the great work; in our room, and in our nature, thou hast sustained
+the curse. Thou hast obeyed the law; thou hast drunk the last drop of
+the last vial of that wrath which would have sunk my soul in the
+endless depths of misery; and I never could have expended one drop,
+but sunk deeper and deeper under it. O not unto me, not unto
+ministers, not unto any creature be the praise. As for me, I am, in a
+word, all that is vile in myself; ministers, providences, afflictions
+are just what God makes them; without his blessing they will not only
+pass without profiting, but Satan and corruption will make them
+ministers to themselves. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for he has
+redeemed me with his blood. Worthy is the Lamb to receive power, and
+riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and
+blessing--to him, to him alone, be the praise; who, of an heir of
+hell, hath made an heir of heaven, by a substitutional righteousness
+wrought out in his own person: mine by free gift, in which I am
+completely justified. To this work let nothing be added, with this
+work let nothing be mixed.
+
+ "There is another work going on by the same Spirit of truth; also
+his purchase and gift--sanctification. In this I am called to occupy,
+watch, strive, fight. Life is given; means of support and growth
+provided; weapons of warfare--all things necessary to life and
+godliness: these are promised to the diligent use of means; and
+poverty, stagnation, discomfort threatened to the indolent. O how
+sovereign and gracious has my God been in his dealings with me in this
+respect also. For a sluggard have I been in the days of youth and the
+prime of life; yet to me hath he given the comforts promised only to
+the diligent. Here I sit on the verge of threescore; my heart in some
+good measure loosened from the world, although in full possession of
+it. Health, ease, plenty, elegance, friendship, respectability; old
+age welcome, death unstung become a familiar friend, the messenger of
+my Father to fetch me home to those mansions which my Redeemer has
+taken possession of in my name. My hope is strong for my offspring.
+Stately have been his steps of mercy towards them already, and he
+saved them from their mother's snares; he heard and answered my
+prayers, for his name's sake, and overruled my practices; he is my
+God, and the God of my children; the God of my children's children to
+the latest generation; my cup is full of comfort, temporal and
+spiritual. O praise him, praise him, for he is your God, and the God
+of your offspring also."
+
+
+ "JUNE 4, 1802.
+
+ "Making allowances for the difference of time, and supposing my
+dear children in health, all about them is in a racket. This is his
+majesty's birthday; and you are at this moment, perhaps, set in some
+social company, by invitation, to honor the anniversary, to repeat
+the wish of long life, health, and comfort to the lawful sovereign
+of Britain.
+
+ "Here sit I in my dear little room, with a lovely landscape in
+view; B. M----'s park in velvet verdure; the full-grown trees
+scattered thin to display the carpet, and in full foliage; the clump
+of willows weeping to the very ground, with a gentle wave agitated by
+the zephyr; while the other trees keep their firm, majestic posture;
+the Hudson river covered with vessels crowded with sail to catch the
+scanty breeze; some sweet little chirpers regaling the ear with their
+share of pleasure. I think I never heard any little warbler in this
+land sing so sweet as those which now salute my ear.
+
+ "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good.'
+
+ "Can all the philosophic ingenuity of London, this evening,
+produce such a scene? The gardens no doubt will be glorious, but the
+groundwork is also God's; but why say I that in particular? All is
+his; the very notes that warble through so many guilty throats are his
+creation; all the art of man cannot add to their number. Sweet bird,
+thy notes are innocent, O how sweet. Lovely trees--ye who stand erect,
+and ye who weep and wave; I wish no brighter scene. The shadows
+lengthen fast, so do yours and mine, my sovereign;* a few, a very
+few anniversaries, and we must change the scene--change to where no
+courtiers flatter, no false meteors blaze--where shadows flee away,
+realities appear, and nothing but realities will stand in any stead.
+
+*Mrs. Graham received a pension as a British officer's widow until
+ her death.
+
+ "O may we meet; for me, I nothing have, I nothing am. But One
+there is, who was and is all that the mind of saint or angel can
+conceive of glory and of happiness; and he is mine, and I am most
+blessed. Lengthen on, ye shadows, until all is shadow on these orbs of
+flesh. Then, O then,
+
+ "'My captive soul set free
+ From cloggish earth which oft has made me sigh,
+ Ascends the eternal hills, as seen to see,
+ As known to know, and grasp the Deity.'"
+
+
+ "1802.
+
+ "Our friend B---- has now proved how far it is safe to leave the
+fate of eternity unsettled. He is gone to the state of the dead: with
+whom his soul is gathered, He only knows whose mercy none ought to
+limit; he is gone to his own place; if without a Surety-righteousness,
+which he sought not after in health, we know where that place is; but
+after reading of a thief on the cross, nothing with God is impossible.
+My mind is much impressed; that sentence rings in my ears, so often
+repeated, 'I am determined to do all the good I can, and leave the
+rest to God. I have no time to search.' Oh, oh, one thing is needful.
+
+ "'Life's a folly, age a dream
+ Borne along the common stream,
+ Earth's a bubble light as air,
+ If my rest be centered there.
+ How can that be solid joy
+ Which a moment may destroy?'
+
+ "Mr. B---- was seized with the fever in its most malignant form;
+for him every genius was exerted, and the medical store ransacked for
+the healing balsam, but in vain. The Judge calls for the soul, and the
+body must, at his command, dislodge its tenant; how awful, if no
+surety was at hand, if he must stand naked--we know the rest: did I
+say we know? O no. What can we know of that wrath which in the garden
+of Gethsemane, when no murderous hand was near, no high-priest, no
+council, or cross, wrung the blood through every pore of the pure, the
+innocent Lamb of God, supported by Godhead. If such things were done
+in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
+
+
+ Another of her grandchildren was shortly after removed by death;
+his illness is noticed in the following meditation:
+
+
+ "AUGUST, 1802.
+
+ "'And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that
+ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries,
+to serve wood and stone.' 'And I will bring you into the wilderness,
+and there will I plead with you face to face: like as I pleaded with
+your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead
+with you, saith the Lord God; and I will cause you to pass under the
+rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.' 'And ye
+shall remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been
+defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all
+your evils that ye have committed: and ye shall know that I am the
+Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according
+to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house
+of Israel, saith the Lord God.' Ezek. 20:32, 35, 36, 43, 44.
+
+ "It is good, yes, Lord, it is all good; too often have we said,
+'we will be as the heathen, to serve wood and stone.' Often hast thou
+chastened, often have we confessed, often resolved that we would walk
+more softly, more tenderly, more circumspectly before thee. But, alas,
+when thy hand is removed, when thou healest us, and restorest to us
+health, comfort, and our pleasant things, we wax fat and kick, nestle
+in our comfort, abuse thy gifts, and lose sight of the giver. Alas,
+Lord, thus it must ever be with us, when we keep not near to thee; we
+cannot walk one step alone without stumbling. Thou knowest these
+naturally wicked hearts, that they are deceitful above all things;
+they betray us before we are aware. Blessed, ever blessed be our God
+for his well-ordered covenant. Blessed for the discipline of it. O
+Lord, we are again in the wilderness, and under thy chastising rod:
+for weeks past, we have 'eaten no pleasant bread;' thy rod is still
+suspended over our pleasant, our dear child; the streams of life ebb,
+he sickens, he dies, if thou interfere not. But the issues of death
+are in thy hand, and our eyes are towards thee. In vain are all means,
+all medicines, if thou impart not the healing virtue. Thy weeping
+servants seek the healing virtue from thy waters, thy seas, thy pure
+air. All nature is in thy hand and ministers thy pleasure; to some
+conveying health, to some disease. An herb to be boiled in simple
+milk, as the figs for Hezekiah's boils, has been proposed, O let this
+prove the appointed means, or direct and point out that which thou
+wilt bless, and let our hearts and tongues give the glory to thee.
+
+ "We deserve this bereavement; but, Lord, what do we not deserve?
+Even according to the constitution of the covenant of grace, and
+consistent with thy pardoning, saving mercy, and all thy
+long-suffering, wert thou to take vengeance on our inventions, by
+exercising all thy threatened chastisements, should we ever be out of
+the furnace? But even in this view, thou never hast dealt with us as
+our iniquities deserved. 'He will not always chide, neither will he
+keep his anger for ever.' Thou hast, in thousands of instances, 'cast
+our sins behind thy back, into the midst of the sea; blotted them out,
+to remember them no more for ever. Thy ways are not as our ways, nor
+thy thoughts as our thoughts,' We may plead, 'Deal not with us as we
+sin; but according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out our
+transgressions. Pardon our iniquity, for it is great.' Affliction is
+appointed, but it is 'in measure, when it shooteth forth.' O debate
+with it, and according to thy promise, 'stay thy rough wind in the day
+of thine east wind.' Lord, say it is enough, give the blessing, and by
+this measure shall iniquity be purged, and the fruit be to take away
+sin. All means are alike in thy hand, and any measure. In holy
+sovereignty and consummate wisdom thou afflictest, and in thy hand
+afflictions yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness: the hearts of
+thy people are melted, and they sing of mercy and of judgment, and
+glorify thy name. But, O Lord, a look, such as thou gavest to Peter,
+will melt our hearts and restore our backsliding souls. The announcing
+of our pardon by the same power, will make them overflow with love. If
+thou but call us by name, as thou didst her who sought thee at thy
+sepulchre, with the same power we shall recognize our Saviour and
+worship him.
+
+ "O Lord our God, ever faithful to thy promises, thou hast said,
+'Whatsoever ye ask in my name, believing that ye receive, I will do
+it.' O Lord, I ask not the life of this child on this ground. I have
+through life asked one thing of thee, and that will I seek to obtain
+while life and breath remain, and reason and grace; I will seek it,
+seek it with importunity, holding fast by thy promise to do it, and
+believing that it shall be according to my petition. Make good to me
+this thy promise, in a spiritual and eternal sense. Be my God, and the
+God of my children, and of my children's children, to the latest
+generation. Let my children according to the flesh, be thine by
+regeneration of the Holy Ghost: it is a great boon; but hast thou not
+said, 'Open thy mouth wide, I will fill it?' Father, do as thou hast
+said: this is my one petition, and I cannot be said nay. I ask for
+myself, my children, and my children's children, to the latest
+generation, the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives to
+bestow, that we may be made one with him, and our life hid with him in
+God. Amen, and Amen.
+
+ "But, O my Father, thou hast said, 'Be careful for nothing; but
+in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
+your requests be made known unto God.' I ask, with submission to thy
+holy will, if consistent with thy glory, his good, and the good of the
+parents, the life of this child; that thou mayest spare him for our
+comfort, but first for thine own glory; that thou mayest give the
+different branches of this family a joyful meeting, a full feast of
+grateful thanks to thee for all thy mercies; and our hearts may
+rejoice before thee for the abundance of comfort. Shouldst thou, in
+thy adorable wisdom, otherwise determine, thy blessed and thy holy
+will be done. Wash the soul of this child in the blood of Jesus,
+clothe him with thy righteousness, sanctify him by thy Spirit, and fit
+him in every respect for thy kingdom. And O, my divine Redeemer, I
+renew my petition which thou didst so evidently grant in the case of
+our dear Isabella: take him in thine arms of mercy; soften and shorten
+the parting pangs, and carry him gently through the dark valley, and
+give him an abundant entrance into thy heavenly kingdom, to join the
+hosannas of thy little children, of whom thy kingdom is partly made
+up: and O, sanctify the affliction to all concerned; direct our
+discipline according as thine all-seeing, heart-searching eye sees we
+need; that it may bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness,
+and 'the fruit of affliction be to take away sin,' and the glory of
+all redound to thee, Father, Son, and blessed Spirit. Amen, and Amen."
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "'What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
+conversation?'
+
+ "'O give thanks unto God, for he is good; his mercy endureth
+for ever.'
+
+ "'How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is
+the sum of them.'
+
+ "'If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
+When I awake I am still with thee.'
+
+ "'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and
+of great mercy.'
+
+ "'The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all
+his works.'
+
+ "'All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
+bless thee.'
+
+ "'He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
+according to our iniquities.'
+
+ "'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
+passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He
+retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.'
+
+ "'He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will
+subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths
+of the sea.'
+
+ "'Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
+and with him is plenteous redemption.'
+
+ "'And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.'
+
+ "'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.'
+The Lord hath turned our captivity, filled our mouth with laughter and
+our tongue with singing.
+
+ "Thomas," her grandchild, "is restored to perfect health. Thou
+hast heard our petitions, and continuest to us all our pleasant things.
+
+ "It is a time of prosperity; thou givest us the 'upper and the
+nether springs;' thou blessest my children 'in their basket and in
+their store;' and while the riches of many are making to themselves
+wings and flying away--while many are sinking from affluence to
+poverty, falling on the right hand and on the left, by thy most
+manifest providence thou hast preserved them from the wreck. O teach
+them to acknowledge thy hand in all this, and to say and feel, 'Not
+unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory.' It is God
+that giveth power to get riches. O, enable them to honor thee with
+their substance, and with the first-fruits of all their increase.
+
+ "In the day of prosperity let them rejoice, but let this joy be
+in the Lord. O let thy gifts ever, ever lead them to the giver, and
+fill their hearts with gratitude, their mouths with praise; and let
+their very actions be worship, while they acknowledge thee in all
+their ways, and thou directest their steps. May they be as 'a city set
+on a hill, which cannot be hid,' and their light so shine before men,
+that they seeing their good works, may glorify their Father in heaven.
+
+ "And now, O Lord, we wait for thy blessing in the restoration of
+our dear D---- and I. B---- and J----. 'Thou hast shown them great and
+sore adversities,' and thou hast manifested thy power to save. When
+they passed through the waters thou wast with them, and through the
+rivers they did not overflow them. When they walked through the fire
+they were not burnt, neither did the flames kindle upon them. For thou
+art the Lord their God, the Holy One of Israel, their Saviour.
+
+ "Thou didst stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind,
+and in the multitude of their thoughts within them did thy comforts
+delight their soul. Thou humbledst them under thy mighty hand, and
+thou hast in the multitude of thy mercy exalted them in due time.
+
+ "In all their sojourning thou hast been with them; and in
+fellowship with thy church greatly hast thou comforted them. Thou hast
+given them favor in the hearts of thy people, and made 'the stones of
+the field to be at peace with them.' And now, O Lord, restore them to
+their friends and Christian society, and to their place which thou
+hast in thy goodness given and preserved to them. Here may they be thy
+witnesses, that 'thou art the Lord, and besides thee there is
+no Saviour.'"
+
+
+ "SEPTEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "This day has the Lord our God answered our prayers, and enriched
+us beyond the ordinary lot of humanity. D---- and I. B---- and J----
+are restored to their preserved places, and to the bosom of their
+family. We are as men who dream; our mouths are filled with laughter,
+our tongues with singing; the Lord hath done great things for us,
+whereof we are glad. Thou hast turned our captivity as the streams in
+the south. We sowed in tears, we have reaped in joy. Bless the Lord, O
+our souls; ever true and faithful is his word: 'He that goeth forth
+and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
+rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'
+
+ "'O Lord, from thee is our fruit found;' may our sheaves be many
+and weighty, thou working all our works in us, to thine own glory and
+our blessedness. Amen."
+
+
+ "1802.
+
+ "Dear brother Pero,* happy brother Pero, thy Jesus, in whom thou
+trustedst, has loosed thy bonds, has brought thee to that rest which
+remains for the people of God; thou drinkest of the pure river that
+maketh glad the city of our God; of that blessed fountain from which
+issue all the streams which refresh and revive us weary pilgrims. But
+a little while ago, and thou wast weary, dark, and solitary; thy flesh
+fettering and clogging thy spirit; thy God trying thy faith, hope, and
+patience, which he had previously implanted, watered, and made
+vigorous, to stand that trial more precious than gold that perisheth,
+though it be tried by fire, and was made manifest to the glory of that
+Saviour who leaves not his people in any case. If need be, they are in
+heaviness, through manifold temptations; but he knows how to deliver
+them, having himself been tempted.
+
+*Pero was an elderly man of color whom Mr. Andrew Smith had
+ purchased, and made free.
+ Pero had previously been a freed man of Christ. He had been for some
+ time in ill health; Mrs. Graham kindly attended on him, and read the
+ Scriptures to him: he died by the bursting of a bloodvessel, at an
+ hour when none of the family were with him. Mrs. Graham, in humility
+ of spirit, reproaches herself in this exercise, for having been
+ absent from him, without inquiring into his situation for one hour.
+
+ "Thou hadst a taste of his cup: like him thou didst endure the
+contradiction of sinners; like him thou didst experience the desertion
+of friends, even thine old mistress, whom thou lately didst esteem as
+a sister in Christ, and to whom thou didst look for fresh
+communication from and through that written word, which she could
+read and thou couldst not. Oh, how did she prove as a broken reed
+unto thee; how did she neglect thy necessity, and her own opportunity
+of bringing forth fruit in its season. Thou hast been no loser. The
+Lord passed by the slothful servant, the unfaithful steward, who
+neglected to give thee thy meat in due season, and himself took her
+place; took thee from that household which was not worthy of thee,
+and led thee to those mansions of bliss which himself purchased and
+prepared; set thee at that table which shall never be drawn, where
+thou shalt feast on all the fulness of God, and drink of those
+pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore. No need of old
+mistress now; no need of any earthly vessel now, nor of that written
+word which thou didst so highly prize. The Word made flesh has
+removed the veil that shaded the glory of the God-man from thine
+eyes; flesh and blood could not behold it; of this he has unclothed
+thee--left it with us to look upon and mourn our sin. Thee he has
+introduced into the full vision of eternal day, where thou knowest as
+thou art known, and seest as thou art seen. O that full communion
+enjoyed between a holy soul and the perfection of holiness! O that
+light of life, that ocean of love, that inconceivable blessedness.
+How hast thou outrun us, brother Pero; how distanced us in a moment.
+Oh, could I not watch with thee one hour? Oh that I had received thy
+last blessing, instead of which, conscious offence, deserved rebuke,
+painful compunction wring my heart; and perhaps the rod of correction
+may be suspended, and now ready to fall on my guilty head.
+
+ "Father, O my Father, am I not still thy child--still thy
+adopted? Have not I an Advocate with thee, Jesus Christ the righteous,
+whom thou hearest always? does not the blood of Christ cleanse from
+all sin? yes, O yes. This is my universal remedy; thousands and ten
+thousands of times have I experienced its efficacy. Father, I again
+apply; blessed Spirit, do thine office. Wash me, and I shall be clean;
+purge me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I confess my sin, I
+acknowledge mine iniquity. Thou didst bring to me an old disciple,
+near and dear to his and my Saviour; thou didst require me to minister
+unto him all that he needed; the honor was great, the opportunity
+valuable. Thou didst empty thy servant for a time, thou didst hide his
+comfort, that I might, through thy written word, draw living waters
+for him, and give him to drink. O the honor; O the negligence. Thou
+didst send the call for thy disciple to come up to thee; in thy
+providence thou didst make it first known to me, that I might be
+instrumental in conveying to him, through the same channel, oil and
+trimming for his lamp. Great was the honor; dignified the service; but
+lost to me for ever. I passed by on the other side. Blessed, blessed
+Jesus; thou good Samaritan, who pouredst the oil and wine into his
+wounds, and tookest him, not to an inn, but to those mansions in the
+skies which thou, with thine own blood, purchasedst for him; sanctify,
+O sanctify to me this thy providence; pardon my neglect. Saviour, wash
+me in thy blood, and sanctify and bring good out of even my
+transgression. By thy grace, let it be a means of stirring me up to
+more watchfulness, that I may meet the opportunities afforded me in
+thy providence, to occupy till thou come."
+
+
+ "DECEMBER, 1802.
+
+ "The lovely plant which the Lord had blasted, which brought down
+our hearts with grief, which he had restored and clothed with smiling
+health and comfort, again sickened, declined, wasted; every means
+proved ineffectual; the Lord refused the healing virtue. He was
+brought to town to be near the physicians, but the Physician of Israel
+aided them not. Disease increased; with pain, sickness, convulsion,
+much he suffered, and long; he had a taste of the bitterness of sin,
+but no part of the curse: _that_ the Redeemer drank and expended;
+and having by his atoning blood purged this little one from his sins,
+and perfected all his redeeming work in his soul, he received him into
+his own heavenly abodes. It is well, all well. Amen."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham lived alternately with her children Mrs. Bethune and
+Mrs. Smith until 1803, when Mrs. Smith removed from New York. After
+that time she made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bethune until her
+departure to her heavenly home. They loved her not only from natural
+affection, but for her superior worth. They believed that her prayers
+brought a blessing on the family, as the ark of God did to the house
+of Obed-Edom.
+
+
+ "MARCH, 1803.
+
+ "I read this day the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, and pleaded God's
+promises from the 22d verse to the end, for myself, for my children,
+and for my children's children; for the church of God throughout the
+world, in particular for this country, for Britain and Ireland, France
+and Germany, where his name was once known, and his gospel flourished.
+That the Lord would 'build the waste places and repair the breaches;'
+that he would 'purify the sons of Levi,' fill all pulpits with able,
+faithful ministers of the new testament, who shall 'declare the whole
+counsel of God;' and that wherever his name is recorded, the Holy
+Ghost might fill the place, and convince the hearts of preachers and
+hearers, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; might take of the
+things of Christ and show unto them; and that the great Head of the
+church might regulate and overrule all these breaches, differences,
+and shakings in his churches.
+
+ "O Lord, I am ignorant; I know not the mind of the Spirit of
+promise as thou knowest it. The promise of the fruit of the tree, and
+the increase of the earth, of the corn, the wine, and the oil is
+thine, as are all others. I am ignorant how far this refers to
+spiritual prosperity, how far to temporal. I ask, O Lord, covenant
+provision, the fruit of the seed sown in the hearts of men by thine
+own Spirit; and that thou mayest build the ruined cities of thy
+churches, and fill them 'with men like a flock, as the flock of
+Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled
+with flocks of men, and they shall know that thou art the Lord.' Thy
+fair, thy rich, thy beautiful creation is also the fruit of grace. The
+wicked possess it, but they enjoy it not. Thy people are the heirs,
+but thou, as a wise and merciful Father, givest them to possess
+according as thy wisdom sees safe and good for them. When with the
+things of this world they imbibe the spirit of the men of the world;
+when they nestle in thy gifts and forget the Giver; when they enjoy
+with a carnal spirit, and not with thankfulness and a due sense of
+their dependence on thee as the God of providence as well as of grace;
+thou, in mercy as in sovereignty, blastest their pleasant things,
+mixest their cup of prosperity with wormwood and gall, or sweepest all
+away with a turn of thy hand, that thou mayest teach them that man
+doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
+the mouth of God; that thou mayest withdraw them from sinful purposes,
+and hide pride from them; that thou mayest open their ears to
+instruction, and seal it on their hearts: thou dashest to pieces their
+broken cisterns, that thou mayest lead them back to the fountain of
+living waters.
+
+ "It is good, O Lord, all good; I lay hold upon it: be thou the
+provider of me and mine; feed us with food convenient for us. Thine
+own word testifies that 'every creature of God is good, and nothing is
+to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is
+sanctified by the word of God and prayer.' I and the children for whom
+I pray, possess many, yea, and abundance of temporal good things. O
+Lord, give suitable grace, grace for grace. Spirit of grace, keep us
+thankful, humble, dependent, spiritual; enable us to receive all
+through a covenant channel, as the provision of our Father by the way,
+through this wilderness. O may all be sanctified by thy word and
+prayer, and we be enabled 'to eat and drink to thy glory.' Amen.
+
+ "Read the 138th Psalm: 'Though the Lord be high, yet hath he
+respect unto the lowly; though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou
+wilt revive me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me; thy
+mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine
+own hands.'
+
+ "Redeeming work is thy work; regenerating work is thy work;
+sanctifying work is also thine.
+
+ "The first is finished, the second begun, to be perfected in the
+third. O Lord, I hang on thy promises, which with Christ are all mine,
+though I have not at all times the savor of them; this is mine
+infirmity, and often my sin. O keep me looking unto Jesus."
+
+
+ "MARCH 25, 1803.
+
+ "Communion Sabbath, Dr. M---- preached from Romans 6:17: 'But God
+be thanked that ye were'--were in the past time, not now--'the
+servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
+doctrine which was delivered you.'
+
+ "O Lord, I believe the doctrines of thy gospel; I know that I am
+delivered from sin as a master; it hath not dominion over my will, nor
+entire dominion over my affections; I would be thine, thy servant, thy
+child, thine in all obedience. I feel this new principle in the
+desires of my soul. I would do all things to thee, in act and in
+principle. But O, Lord, the old man is still here, harassing and
+hindering my new will, which I have received from thee, from acting
+with freedom and energy. Unhallowed motives steal in, by-ends present
+themselves; and when outward duty is attained to, there is more of sin
+than of righteousness. Though entered upon with some measure of
+purity, yet before it is finished I am at a loss to discern the true
+principle by which I am actuated. Lord, help me; hast thou not
+promised to work in me both 'to will and to do of thy good pleasure?'
+Is it not the grand end of thy death, that thou mightest purify to
+thyself a glorious church, 'not having spot nor wrinkle, nor any such
+thing;' and shall not I be a partaker? Art thou not made of God unto
+thy people, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?
+
+ "O Lord, my heart pants for redemption from indwelling sin. This
+depravity of my nature, this opposition, this evil that is ever
+present with me when I would do good, this indolence, this
+listlessness, this want of zeal, or else self-will, keenness of
+temper, impatience, haste: O Lord, there is a host of enemies; gird
+me, arm me, shield me, lead me forth under thy banner; be my
+victorious King. 'I will go in thy name, trusting in thy promised
+strength and grace to help in every time of need.' Glory be to God,
+Father, Son, and blessed Spirit, for the grace in which I stand. But
+for grace I had been a willing slave to sin to this hour. By that same
+grace I shall one day attain to victory. I cast my burden on the Lord,
+he will sustain until he deliver; I will go up through the wilderness,
+trusting in the promises, and continue fighting in his strength. 'My
+soul waits for thy salvation.' Lord, enable me to keep 'looking unto
+Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.' O give faith in every part
+of his mediatorial character. May I feed upon him and be strong for
+this sore fight. Give courage, O Lord; press me forward: may I
+resolve, and keep the resolution, to resist unto blood, striving
+against sin.
+
+ "I have been a slothful servant in thy family, an idle laborer in
+thy vineyard, 'an unfruitful branch,' a poor dwarfish member in thy
+body. Grant, O grant a little fruit on the topmost bough. O, at the
+'eleventh hour' may I begin to work, to bear some fruit, to the glory
+of that grace by which my soul is saved from the wages of sin, death,
+and hell, and made heir, by free gift, of the wages of righteousness,
+eternal life, and glory. I wait for thy salvation."
+
+
+ There being no public, free, or Sabbath-schools in the city, Mrs.
+Graham used her endeavors to promote such as would at least furnish
+education to the children of the widows under her care; and several
+young ladies offered their services, which she thus notices:
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1804.
+
+ "A new thing is on the wheel in the city of New York. A society
+of ladies, organized for the purpose of relieving widows with small
+children, was new in this country. It is now, by the blessing of God,
+apparently established. It was entered upon with prayer; it has been
+conducted thus far with prayer. The blessing of God has rested upon
+it, and much good has been done by it. Some of us have looked long,
+and requested of God to open a way by which the children of these
+widows might be instructed and taught to read his word, and by his
+blessing on it, come to the knowledge of the way of salvation. One
+means has been attempted of an ordinary kind: twelve children were
+last week placed at school with Mrs. L----, to be taught to read, and
+some more are to be placed with another of our widows, for the same
+purpose. But this indeed is new. A society of young ladies, the first
+in rank in the city, in the very bloom of life, and full of its
+prospects, engaged in those pleasures and amusements which tend to
+engross the mind and shut out every idea unconnected with them, coming
+forward and offering--not to contribute towards a school, but their
+own personal attendance to instruct the ignorant, O Lord, prosper
+their work. If this be of thee, it shall prosper, and be productive of
+much good; but if thou bless not, it will come to nothing but shame.
+No good can be done but by thee, for there is none good but One;' and
+what are all thy creatures, but instruments in thy hand, by which thou
+bringest to pass the purposes of thy will? _Christians_,
+redeemed, enlightened, sanctified, are no more; thou workest all their
+works in them; they themselves are thy workmanship, created in Christ
+Jesus unto good works, which thou hast prepared, that they should walk
+in them. Worldlings also are thy instruments: by them thou workest and
+bringest to pass the counsels of thy will; thou puttest into their
+heart the good thing which thou workest, and girdest them for the
+purpose: though not the children of thy covenant, they are the
+instruments of thy providence.
+
+ "O Lord, take up this matter; gird these young women to this very
+purpose, and prosper them in the art of teaching these orphans of thy
+providence. And Oh, Lord, hear my more important petition. I am not
+worthy to be heard. O Lord, I am not worthy to be named in connection
+with any good done by thee. I am the chief of sinners, the chief of
+backsliders; every thing in me, of me, or by me, is vile as far as it
+is mine. All that is otherwise, all good implanted in me, or done by
+me, is thine own; it is grace, free grace, the purchase of thine own
+Anointed, my dear Redeemer, my dying, risen, ascended Saviour, and the
+fruit of the Holy Ghost, the sent of the Father and of the Son, to set
+up a kingdom of righteousness in the hearts of the redeemed. Let me,
+as a sinner saved by grace, to whom thou hast been pleased to give the
+exceeding great and precious promises--let me, under the sprinkling of
+the blood of the covenant, and in entire dependence on my
+surety-righteousness--let me draw near and present my petition, in the
+name and for the sake of Him whom thou hearest always. O Lord God
+Almighty, by this very thing, build up thy Zion. Lay hold of these
+young creatures, and while they are in the way of thy providence,
+bring them to the house of our master's brethren. O thou great
+Teacher, teach thou teacher and taught. Be found of them who seek thee
+not, and say with power, 'Behold me, behold me,' to a people not yet
+called by thy name, and out of this small thing in thy providence,
+bring revenues of praise to thy name as the God of grace. Amen.
+
+ "And now, O Lord, for myself, I pray for deep humility; I ask,
+for His sake who was meek and lowly, to be kept where my place really
+is, at the feet of all thy servants; and if it be thy pleasure to make
+me a useful instrument, in proportion make me a humble soul. Let me
+ever remember my ways and be ashamed, and never open my mouth any more
+because of my shame, when thou art pacified towards me for all that I
+have done. O keep me in this contrite frame of mind. In all that to
+which thou callest me, give me a willing heart, and furnish me with
+every necessary for thy glory. And now prepare me to speak to these
+young women good and acceptable words. Save me from sacrificing truth,
+or departing, in any respect, from Christian duty; give me such wisdom
+as maybe suited to the occasion: in all things mine eyes are to the
+Lord; from thee let my fruit be found."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 17, 1804.
+
+ "Saturday, the 11th, twenty-nine young ladies met with Mrs.
+Hoffman and myself, at Mr. O. Hoffman's, Wall-street, on purpose to
+receive instructions respecting the school; and having paired
+themselves according to their mind, I delivered what I had prepared
+for them: they all seemed hearty in their engagement; and on Monday,
+the 13th inst., Miss L----t and Miss L----n attended at the
+school-room and commenced teaching thirteen children; four have been
+added since.
+
+ "Again, O Lord, let me request thy blessing on this institution;
+put thy seal upon it, and mark it for thine own. Gird the teachers for
+their work, and open the minds of the scholars to instruction. And O,
+Lord, in thine own time, and by means of thine own devising, provide
+spiritual instruction for teachers and taught. Is it thy pleasure,
+Lord, that I attend the children on a day appointed for the purpose?
+Wilt thou accept of me as an instrument by which thou wilt do good to
+the souls of these children; and wilt thou keep me humble and contrite
+in my own soul? Bless also Mrs. L----'s school; there too let thy work
+appear; deal with her soul as 'thou dealest with thy chosen;' teach
+her the way of salvation, and make her a teacher by thine own Spirit.
+If it be my dear Master's pleasure to use me, I would also attend that
+school as his instrument. 'Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try
+me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me,
+and lead me in the way everlasting.'"
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham's address to the young ladies, above alluded to, is
+given as a specimen of the appropriateness of her addresses on similar
+occasions, and as an incentive to kindred exertions in every condition
+of life.
+
+
+ "MY DEAR YOUNG LADIES--Every thing new becomes matter of
+speculation and variety of opinion.
+
+ "An association of ladies for the relief of destitute widows and
+orphans, was a new thing in this country. It was feeble in its origin,
+the jest of most, the ridicule of many, and it met the opposition of
+not a few. The men could not allow our sex the steadiness and
+perseverance necessary to establish such an undertaking. But God put
+_his_ seal upon it; and under his fostering care it has prospered
+beyond the most sanguine expectations of its propagators. Its fame is
+spread over the United States, and celebrated in foreign countries. It
+has been a precedent to many cities, who have followed the laudable
+example. This fame is not more brilliant than just. The hungry are
+fed, the naked are clothed, shelter is provided for the outcasts,
+medicine and cordials for the sick, and the soothing voice of sympathy
+cheers the disconsolate. Who are the authors of all these blessings?
+Your mothers, ladies, the benevolent members of this so justly famed
+Society. But who are these children that idly ramble through the
+streets, a prey to growing depravity and vicious example? hark, they
+_quarrel_, they _swear_, and such no doubt will _lie_ and _steal_. And
+that group of dear little creatures, running about in the most
+imminent danger, apparently without protection, are they under the
+care of this so justly famed society? They are; they are fed, they are
+clothed, their mother's fireside is made warm for them; but no culture
+is provided for their minds, nor protection from baneful example.
+These will in time follow that of the older ones, and grow up the
+slaves of idleness and vice, the certain road to ruin.
+
+ "Alas, alas, and is there no help--no preventive? Yes, there is.
+Behold the angelic band; hail, ye virtuous daughters; worthy of your
+virtuous mothers, come forward and tread in their steps. Snatch these
+little ones from the whirling vortex; bring them to a place of safety;
+teach them to know their Father, God: tell them of their Saviour's
+love; lead them through the history of his life; mark to them the
+example he set, the precepts he recorded for their observance, and the
+promises for their comfort. And by teaching them to read, enable them
+to retrace all your instructions when their eyes see you no more.
+
+ "My dear young ladies, the sacrifice you have made shall most
+assuredly meet its reward: but like your mothers, you will experience
+much painful banter, you will be styled school-madams. Let it pass;
+suffer it quietly; when your scheme begins to ripen and the fruits
+appear, who shall be able to withhold their praise? Only be steadfast,
+draw not back and justify the prophecies of many.
+
+ "A great general, in ancient times, in search of glory, landed
+his troops on the hostile coast, and then burnt all his ships: they
+must conquer, or die. You have, ladies, already embarked in this
+design; there is no remaining neuter now; your name and undertaking
+are in every mouth; you must press forward and justify your cause: and
+justified it shall be, if you persevere; it cannot be otherwise. The
+benevolence you contemplate is as superior to that already in
+operation, as the interest of the soul is to that of the body; and it
+is your own--the very scheme originated in a young mind in this
+company. The society were contemplating mercenary agents, schools for
+pay, and one is already established.
+
+ "But this labor of love; who could have hoped for it? A society
+of _young ladies,_ in rank the first in the city, in the very bloom
+of life, and full of its prospects, engaged in those pleasures and
+amusements which generally engross the mind, and shut out every idea
+unconnected with self, coming forward and offering--what? not their
+purses, that were _trash;_ but their own personal services to
+instruct the ignorant, and become the saviors of many of their sex.
+It is indeed a new thing, and more strange in this age of dissipation
+than that institution from which it sprung. May this too become the
+darling of Providence. May God put his seal upon this also. May he
+bless and prosper you in this undertaking, bless you, and make you
+a blessing."
+
+
+ We next have her wrestling supplications for the revival of God's
+work in the church with which she was connected.
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 21, 1804.
+
+ "O Thou, who art Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, who
+holdest the seven stars in thy right hand, and walkest in the midst of
+the seven golden candle-sticks, who livest and was dead, and art alive
+for evermore. Amen. And hast the keys of hell and of death. Out of thy
+mouth goeth a sharp twoedged sword, by which thou reachest the hearts
+of the most hardened. O write with power, speak with power, in the
+heart of the angel of this church. Hast thou not in former days had
+thy dwelling among them? in days of trouble didst thou not work in
+them the fruits of labor and patience, so that for thy name's sake
+they labored and fainted not? Thou blessedst them and gave them peace,
+and they rejoiced in the light of thy countenance; thou multipliedst
+them also, so that from a handful they became _two bands_. Alas,
+Lord, we have, Jeshurun-like, 'waxed fat and kicked;' we have left our
+first love; we have not watched and prayed, as thou gavest
+commandment, and thou hast left us to enter into temptation; we have
+forsaken the counsel of our old men, and given heed to flatterers; we
+have forgotten our dependence on thee, and said, 'Ashur shall save us,
+we will ride upon horses.' We have set up our idols in our hearts, and
+put the stumbling-block of our iniquity before our eyes; we have taken
+counsel, but not of thee, and covered ourselves with a covering, but
+not of thy Spirit; we have gloried in our own wisdom, and strengthened
+ourselves in our own strength.
+
+ "We are poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked; rich in our
+fancied wisdom, seeing by our own light, and compassing ourselves
+about with our own sparks; we feed on ashes: a deceived heart has
+turned us aside.
+
+ "'O Lord, the hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof.' It is of
+the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. To us belong shame and
+confusion of face--O cover us with it--but to thee belongs mercy.
+Humble us, O Lord, and we shall be humbled; 'turn us, and we shall
+be turned.'
+
+ "It is in our nature to backslide for ever; thou, and thou only,
+knowest the deceitfulness of the heart; thou, and thou only, canst
+search it. O search us, and try us, and show us what wicked ways there
+are in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Deal not with us
+according to our sins, but according to the multitude of thine own
+mercies. We have no other plea; our sins call for judgment, and until
+thou, thine own blessed self, turn us, we are in no situation to
+receive mercy. Work with us for thy name's sake, establish with us
+thine own covenant of free, unmerited, undeserved mercy. Then shall we
+know that thou art the Lord.
+
+ "Make us thine by thine own covenant, established in Christ,
+thine own anointed; the blessed surety, by thine own appointment; our
+substitute, on whom it hath pleased thee to lay the iniquities of us
+all; in whose sacred person thou tookest vengeance for all our sins;
+by whom thy law is fulfilled, magnified, and made honorable; whose
+doing and suffering in our stead is accepted by Jehovah. 'The Lord is
+well pleased for his righteousness' sake.' No covenant short of one
+fulfilled in every jot and tittle could benefit us.
+
+ "Thy covenant is well-ordered in all things, and it is sure.
+
+ "Here, O Lord, I take my stand; here I lay my foundation, and on
+this thy covenant I build; or rather, here thou thyself hast laid my
+foundation, and on this rock hast thou set my soul and built my hopes,
+thou subduing my enmity. I acquiesce. I will now 'remember the years
+of thy hand,' look back to thy dealings with thine own nation, whom
+thou didst choose and set apart from all other nations, though of the
+same blood with all those that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
+
+ "They, like us, destroyed themselves, but in thee was their help.
+They also sinned, committed iniquity, and did wickedly; they
+remembered not thy mercy, but provoked thee at the Red sea, after the
+great deliverance thou hadst wrought for them, and the wonders thou
+madest to pass before them in the land of Egypt. Nevertheless thou
+savedst them for thy name's sake, that thou mightest make thy mighty
+power known; thou didst repeat thy wonders, and didst dry up the sea
+before them. He fed them with corn from heaven; they did eat angel's
+food. He clave the rock in the wilderness, and caused waters to run
+down like a river. After all, they forsook the God of their mercies;
+they believed not his promises, nor trusted in his salvation; they
+lusted, and they murmured, and desired to turn back to Egypt. Thou
+didst chasten them sore for their sin, and didst bring down their
+heart with grief.
+
+ "When thou didst slay them, they sought thee, and remembered
+that God was their rock, and the most high God their Redeemer.
+Nevertheless they did flatter with their mouth and lied unto thee with
+their tongue, for their heart was not right with thee, neither were
+they steadfast in thy covenant. But thou being full of compassion,
+forgavest their iniquity and destroyedst them not; yea, many a time
+turnedst thou away thine anger, and didst not stir up all thy wrath.
+
+ "O how many times did they turn back, tempted God, and limited
+the Holy One of Israel. Yet did he fulfil all his promises, and by
+wonders in the sea, wonders in the desert, wonders in Zoan's field,
+and in the camps of their enemies, he led them safely to the border of
+his sanctuary, to the mountain which his right hand had purchased. He
+cast out the heathen before them, and gave them rest in the land of
+promise. Even there they provoked the Most High, provoked him to
+jealousy with their graven images.
+
+ "Again thou didst chasten them sore, let loose the corruptions of
+men upon them, and suffer them to fall before their enemies. Thou
+deliveredst thy strength into captivity, and thy glory into the hands
+of their enemies.
+
+ "Yet, O Lord, again didst thou deliver them, and sentest
+provision for them by thine own covenant. Thou didst choose David thy
+servant, and take him from the sheep-folds. Thou broughtest him to
+feed Jacob thy people, and Israel thine inheritance. So he fed them
+according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the
+skilfulness of his hands.
+
+ "Such are the people with whom thou hast still to do. Such, O God
+of infinite mercy, such the God with whom we sinners have to do, even
+'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, keeping mercy for thou sands,
+forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and that will by no means
+clear the guilty.' O what could man or angel have done with this last
+character of thy name? Thy covenant makes provision. In Christ Jesus,
+our blessed substitute, all is reconciled. Thy name is one; the just
+God, and the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus; This God
+is our God; we will make mention of his righteousness, and his only.
+By his own covenant, in his own time, and by means of his own
+providing, he will revive us. Amen."
+
+
+ "APRIL, 1804
+
+ "All my desire is before thee, and it is all contained in thy
+well-ordered covenant. Many years of vanity, of idolatry, of
+backsliding, wandering, and folly have passed over my head since I
+first took hold of thy covenant. How fickle, false, and deceitful have
+I proved; yet thou knowest, thine own Spirit through all my wanderings
+testified in my heart, that out of the channel of this covenant there
+could be neither safety nor comfort; and never, so far as I can
+remember, have I deliberately chosen to be dealt with by any other.
+Its corrections and chastisements have reached the deepest
+sensibilities of my heart. Thine arrows stuck fast in me, thy hand
+pressed me sore; there was no soundness in my flesh, neither rest in
+my bones, because of my sin; mine iniquities went over my head, were a
+burden too heavy to bear. I was feeble and sore broken, and roared by
+reason of the disquiet of my heart. My lovers and friends stood aloof
+from my sore, and my kinsmen stood afar off. I was ready to halt, and
+my sorrow was continually before me; yet even in my darkest, deepest
+afflictions, when deep called to deep, and thy waves and billows were
+passing over me; when my soul seemed sinking in the mire where there
+was no standing, I groped in the dark; my heart panted, my strength
+failed, and the light of mine eyes seemed gone out. I was weak with my
+groaning; in the night I made my bed to swim with my tears; yet even
+then, by that same covenant by which I was suffering, light sprang out
+of darkness, glimmering hope in the midst of despair. I remembered the
+years of thy right hand; in the multitude of my thoughts within
+me--the provision made in this covenant--thy comforts delighted
+my soul.
+
+ "I was furnished with a plea which would condemn, by every
+covenant but thine: Pardon my iniquities, for they are great. Thou,
+even thou, art he who blottest out transgressions as a cloud, and
+iniquity as a thick cloud. Verily thou art a God that pardoneth,
+though thou takest vengeance on the inventions of thy rebellious
+children. 'Vengeance!' not the vengeance of the curse; no, that, O
+thou blessed Covenant, thou blessed Surety, that fell on thy devoted
+head. Thou by this covenant wast 'made a curse for us.' Thou didst
+tread the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none to help
+thee. Thou didst expend the last drop of that cup of vengeance. Every
+cup put into our hand, though a cup of trembling, is a cup of
+blessing. I this day take a fresh hold of thy covenant, for myself,
+for my children, and for my children's children, to the latest
+generation. For my brother and sister, for their children, and
+children's children; for the near concerns of our dear D. B----; and
+for all whom I carry on my mind to thy throne of grace. This is the
+sum and substance of my prayers. Bring them into the bond of this
+covenant, and deal with them according to the order of it, and the
+provision made for them in it, in all possible circumstances. Amen.
+
+ "O God, in the multitude of thy mercies hear me, in the truth of
+thy salvation. Truth of thy salvation! thou only knowest the truth of
+thy salvation. How little do we know of thy work. Many of those
+providences which appear to us dark and dismal, are wheels turning
+round 'the truth of thy salvation;' opening our blinded eyes to the
+issues of sin, and also delivering from the snares of the devil. Deal
+not, O Lord, with me, and mine, as our iniquities deserve; this has
+never been thy way with us; but according to thy former
+loving-kindness, and to all the long-suffering, patience, and
+pardoning mercy which thy aged servant has experienced through her
+sinful guilty pilgrimage. Thou hast forgiven me all the way from
+Egypt. Leave me not now, when I am old and grey-headed; but when
+strength and heart fail, be thou the strength of my heart and portion
+for ever. Amen."
+
+
+ The winter of 1804-5 was unusually severe: the river Hudson was
+shut by frost as early as November; fuel was consequently scarce and
+dear, and the poor suffered greatly. Mrs. Graham visited those parts
+of the city where the poorer class of sufferers dwelt;* in upwards of
+two hundred families she either found a Bible their property, or gave
+them one; praying with them in their affliction. She requested a
+friend to write, first one religious tract and then another, suited to
+the peculiar situation of those afflicted people. One was called, "A
+Donation to Poor Widows with Small Children;" the other, "A Second
+Visit to Poor Widows with Small Children." And lest it might be said
+it was cheap to give advice, she usually gave a small sum of money
+along with the tracts she distributed. There was at this time neither
+a Bible nor Tract Society in New York. Mrs. Hoffman accompanied her in
+many of her excursions. In the course of their visits, they discovered
+a French family from St. Domingo in such extremity of distress as made
+them judge it necessary to report their case to the Honorable Dewitt
+Clinton, then mayor of the city. The situation of this family being
+made public, three hundred dollars were voluntarily contributed for
+their relief. Roused by this incident, a public meeting was called at
+the Tontine Coffee-house, and committees from the different wards were
+appointed to aid the corporation in ascertaining and supplying the
+immediate wants of the suffering poor. The zeal of Mrs. Graham and
+Mrs. Hoffman paved the way for this public-spirited exertion, which
+probably was the means of saving the lives of some of the destitute
+and friendless.
+
+*The following notice of these scenes appeared in one
+ of the periodical publications of the day:
+
+ "When sorrow shrunk before the piercing wind,
+ And famine, shelterless, in suffering pined;
+ When sickness drooped in solitary pain,
+ Mid varying misery's relentless reign;
+ Oh, then tumultuous rose the plaints of grief,
+ And loud and strong the clamors for relief!
+ Then active charity, with boundless care,
+ From gloomy faces chased the fiend Despair,
+ Dispelled the horrors of the wintry day,
+ And none that asked went unrelieved away.
+ "Yet there are some who sorrow's vigils keep,
+ Unknown that languish, undistinguished weep;
+ Behold yon ruined building's shattered walls,
+ Where drifting snow through many a crevice falls;
+ Whose smokeless vent no blazing fuel knows,
+ But drear and cold the widow's mansion shows;
+ Her fragile form, by sickness deeply riven,
+ Too weak to face the driving blasts of heaven,
+ Her voice too faint to reach some pitying ear,
+ Her shivering babes command her anguished tear:
+ Their feeble cries in vain assistance crave,
+ And expectation 'points but to the grave.'
+ "But lo, with hasty step a female form
+ Glides through the wind and braves the chilling storm,
+ With eager hand now shakes the tottering door,
+ Now rushes breathless o'er the snow-clad floor.
+ Her tongue soft comfort to the mourner speaks,
+ Her silver voice with soft emotion breaks;
+ Round the drear hovel roves her moistened eye,
+ Her graceful bosom heaves the lengthened sigh.
+ "I know thee now--I know that angel frame--
+ O that the muse might dare to breathe thy name:
+ Nor thine alone, but all that sister-band
+ Who scatter gladness o'er a weeping land;
+ Who comfort to the infant sufferer bring,
+ And 'teach with joy the widow's heart to sing.'
+ "For this, no noisy honors fame shall give,
+ In your own breasts your gentle virtues live;
+ No sounding numbers shall your names reveal,
+ But your own hearts the rich reward shall feel.
+ "ALBERT."
+
+
+ In the month of August, 1805, Mrs. Graham paid another visit to
+her friends in Boston, of whom she spoke with much affection and
+esteem. She used to mention, with peculiar approbation, a society of
+pious ladies there, who met once in every week for prayer and mutual
+edification.
+
+ On returning to New York, she again wrote to her friend Mrs.
+C----, renewing her endeavors for her consolation and establishment in
+the faith of Christ; and soon after informed her of the dangerous
+illness of two of her grandchildren, one of whom, in the righteous
+dispensations of an unerring Providence, was taken, and the
+other left.
+
+
+ To Mrs. C----, Boston.
+
+ "GREENWICH, N.Y., Sept. 26, 1805.
+
+ "MY DEAR FRIEND--I arrived here on Monday. I found my children in
+health, but much affected with the death of the amiable youth M----,
+and the melancholy situation of his bereaved parents.
+
+ "The epidemic spreads over the city in every direction among the
+few remaining in it. All the public offices are here; crowds of the
+citizens, and houses and stores spring up in a day; all is bustle and
+confusion, and all seem mad on business.
+
+ "Parting with my dear friend was most painful, so painful that
+nothing could alleviate it but the presence of my own children, who,
+could there have been room from deeper sorrows, would have shared it
+with me. O that I could put my God in my place in your heart. What are
+earthly friends? How few are steady against all change of
+circumstances; of these, fewer still have it in their power to supply
+every link of friendship's chain; a thousand unforeseen incidents
+disappoint their wishes and frustrate their hopes, rendering abortive
+their greatest exertions. But there is a Friend, everywhere present,
+thoroughly acquainted with every circumstance of the heart and of the
+life; all-powerful to relieve; whose love is invariable, and ever the
+most tender when every other friend stands aloof; a friend in
+adversity, 'a friend who sticketh closer than a brother,' whose love
+surpasseth the love of women. This Friend receiveth sinners--casts out
+none who come to him. He was never known to disappoint the hopes of
+any poor sinner. He receives them into his heart; he takes all their
+burdens and cares on himself, pays all their debts, answers all
+demands against them, and is every way surety for them; they become
+his own, no one has any thing to say to them but himself. He knows
+them--how apt to err, to wander, yea, to forget him, and prove
+ungrateful; all this he knows, but he has made provision for all. He
+has a rod, and he will subdue their iniquities. He will heal their
+backslidings, he will bring back and restore his wanderers. He will in
+due time perfect what concerns them, and present them to his Father
+purified, without spot or wrinkle.
+
+ "In the meantime he requires them to confide in him; to go up
+through this wilderness leaning upon him; to tell him all their
+complaints and griefs, and to comfort themselves: and he will impress
+the comfort by means of his great and precious promises, scattered
+like so many pearls through his sacred Bible, tabled there on purpose
+for us to ground our prayers upon, and delight ourselves in. This is
+your friend's Friend, and of ten thousand besides. This was the wicked
+Magdalene's Friend; this, the persecuting Paul's Friend, wicked
+Manasseh's Friend; the adulterous, murdering David's Friend. And he is
+your Friend, though your eyes are holden that you see him not. He is
+leading you by a way that you know not. This is one of his characters,
+'I will bring the blind by a way that they know not.'
+
+ "I was happy to find your niece was to return with Mr. C----;
+but, my dear, a painful dread has assaulted my peace, lest Satan get
+the advantage by means of a stranger in the family, and undo what has
+been begun. The world may have peace without God; but you shall not.
+You have, however feebly, taken hold of his covenant, and he will keep
+you to your choice. 'If his children forsake his laws and go astray,'
+etc. Psalm 79:30."
+
+
+ "NOVEMBER, 1805.
+
+ "MY DEAR FRIEND--This is not our rest; through much tribulation
+all Christ's disciples must follow him. There is a rest prepared for
+the people of God: as far as tasted in this world--and in this world
+it is tasted--it consists in a mind resigned to the will of God in
+proportion as it can say, 'Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in
+heaven.' Christ himself was made perfect through suffering, and all
+his followers shall be so in their appointed measure. What is our cup
+to his? O my dear friend, we are ransomed, we are redeemed, and we are
+fitting and preparing for the purchased inheritance, that perfect rest
+prepared for the people of God when their warfare is finished. Let him
+do all his pleasure with us here; let him subdue our iniquities in his
+own way; let him glorify his name by our sufferings--his glory is ever
+connected with his people's best interests. We shall one day
+acknowledge that he has done all things well, and that not one word of
+all that he has promised has failed.
+
+ "It has pleased the Lord to take from us our dear sweet Rebecca;
+young as she was, through much tribulation she entered in: I have
+scarcely seen severer suffering, nor a harder dismission. It is well;
+the Lord will answer his own ends by it for the good of all concerned,
+as well as for his own glory. Our dear G---- was ill at the same time,
+and all hope was lost as to him also; for a whole week we looked upon
+him as dying, A bold measure was taken with him, which succeeded; the
+Lord had commanded life; it was not thought of for her. God had
+appointed to her entrance into life eternal. It is all well. Blessed,
+blessed be his name; for her he has taken and him he has restored,
+both equally. I.G. S---- was confined at the same time with a broken
+arm; N. B---- with the fever and pleurisy. Deep have been the wounds in
+this aged heart, not yet weaned from earth, but tremblingly alive to
+every thing that concerns my children. Yet I do give up. I have asked
+but one thing with importunity, and by that I abide. I did not ask for
+temporal life, but the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives
+to bestow; let him answer my petition by means of his own appointing:
+by health or by sickness, by riches or by poverty, by long life or
+early deaths--only let all mine by the ties of nature, be his by
+regeneration of his Spirit."
+
+
+ Having felt the trials and the responsibilities of widowhood, she
+wrote to her brother's widow, Mrs. Marshall, in 1805:
+
+
+ "You are now, my dear sister, the only head of your family. Will
+you take Joshua's determination? 'As for me and my house, we will
+serve the Lord.' Take hold of God's covenant for your orphan children
+as for yourself, and consider them as his, to be brought up for him.
+Be a priestess in your own house, and keep up the worship of God daily
+in your family, and confess your Lord and Master before angels, men,
+and devils. Those who thus honor God, he will honor.
+
+ "You are indeed, my dear, arrived at an important stage of your
+journey through this great wilderness. You are now the head of the
+family, and are to God immediately answerable. No earthly
+consideration must make you give up the government of it, nor the
+prerogative which he hath given you, to counsel, and even beseech your
+household to serve the Lord. You cannot give grace; you cannot give
+life; and where there is no life there can be no spiritual exercise:
+but you may use means, although there is much prudence to be observed
+to avoid disgust.
+
+ "Be faithful, then, my dear sister, to your important trust. See
+that your household remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; your
+children, of course, will accompany you to the house of God, but let
+not your servants absent themselves from his ordinances, and endeavor,
+on your return home, to explain and bring home the word that may have
+been spoken to their consciences. Above all, let it be your constant
+aim to set before them a godly, consistent example, and be much
+engaged in prayer for them--I mean for your servants as well as for
+your children, and God will, in all probability, make you a mother in
+Israel, the mother of many spiritual children, and turn your captivity
+into rejoicing, and fill your mouth with songs of praise; or should
+you not have this comfort, should the night of adversity last to the
+very valley of the shadow of death, the morning of eternal rest shall
+then beam forth upon your own soul, and your prayers may be answered
+for others, when the eyes that wept and the breast that heaved are at
+rest in the dust. O, then, my sister, possess your soul in patience,
+and seek to make daily advances in holiness."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY--FOREIGN
+ MISSIONARIES--LETTERS.
+
+
+ On the 15th of March, 1806, the female subscribers to proposals
+for providing an asylum for orphan children met at the City Hotel;
+Mrs. Graham was called to the chair, a society organized, and a board
+of direction chosen, Mrs. Hoffman was elected the first directress of
+the Orphan Asylum Society. Mrs. Graham continued in the office of
+first directress of the Widows' Society, but took a deep interest in
+the success of the Orphan Asylum also; she, or one of her family,
+taught the orphans daily, until the funds of the institution were
+sufficient to provide a teacher and superintendent. She was a trustee
+at the time of her decease. The wish to establish this new society was
+occasioned by the pain which it gave the ladies of the Widows' Society
+to behold a family of orphans driven, on the decease of a widow, to
+seek refuge in the almshouse; no melting heart to feel, no redeeming
+hand to rescue them from a situation so unpromising for mental and
+moral improvement.
+
+ "Among the afflicted of our suffering race," thus speaks the
+constitution of the society, "none makes a stronger or more impressive
+appeal to humanity than the _destitute orphan_. Crime has not
+been the cause of its misery, and future usefulness may yet be the
+result of its protection; the reverse is often the case of more aged
+objects. God himself has marked the fatherless as the peculiar
+subjects of his divine compassion. 'A Father of the fatherless is God
+in his holy habitation,' 'When my father and my mother forsake me,
+then the Lord will take me up.' To be the blessed instrument of,
+divine Providence in making good the promise of God, is a privilege
+equally desirable and honorable to the benevolent heart.'"
+
+
+ And truly God has made good his promise towards this benevolent
+institution. He has crowned the undertaking with his remarkable
+blessing. It was begun by his disciples in faith, and he has
+acknowledged them in it. Having for fourteen months occupied a hired
+house for an asylum, the ladies entertained the bold idea of building
+an asylum on account of the society. They had then about three hundred
+and fifty dollars as the commencement of a fund for the building; they
+purchased four lots of ground in the village of Greenwich, on a
+healthful, elevated site, possessing a fine prospect. The corner-stone
+was laid on the 7th of July, 1807. They erected a building fifty feet
+square; from time to time they proceeded to finish the interior of the
+building, and to purchase additional ground as their funds would
+permit; and such was the liberality of the legislature and of the
+public, that the society soon possessed a handsome building and nearly
+an acre of ground, all of which must have cost them little short of
+twenty-five thousand dollars. In that house Mrs. Graham and Mrs.
+Hoffman spent much of their time; there they trained for eternity the
+children of those whose widowed dying mothers they had cheered with
+the hope that when they should be taken away, God would fulfil his
+gracious promise and preserve their fatherless children alive.
+
+ Mrs. Hoffman survived Mrs. Graham seven years. Her end, like that
+of her friend, was peace. But though God removed those mothers in
+Israel, their prayers are still before him, and the institution
+continues to prosper. In 1836, the city having extended to where the
+asylum was situated, and the property at the same time increased in
+value, the society became desirous to remove where the children would
+enjoy purer air, and have greater convenience for a garden and pasture
+for cows. With the advice of their patrons, they sold the property for
+about thirty-nine thousand dollars; purchased nearly ten acres of
+ground at Bloomingdale, and on the 9th of June the same year laid the
+foundation-stone of their present beautiful building.
+
+ In the Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the society for 1840, we
+find the following record of God's goodness:
+
+ "On no former occasion has the board of direction been privileged
+to make to the friends and patrons of this institution a more
+favorable report than the present. The orphan's home is completed, and
+the beautiful building on the banks of the Hudson is alike an ornament
+to the city and a memorial of the liberality of its inhabitants.
+Within it are found, not only ample accommodations for a numerous
+family, but a place for the Lord, a habitation for the orphans' God.
+On the 19th of November last the chapel was opened for religious
+worship; the services were performed by reverend clergy of different
+denominations; and a highly respectable and apparently gratified
+audience attended. All the children, one hundred and sixty-five in
+number, were present, from the infant in arms to the youth who will
+this day pronounce the valedictory.
+
+ "To those who have witnessed the progress of this institution
+from the _small frame-house_ of 1806 to the noble edifice of
+1840, accompanied by the recollection that the door has never been
+closed against the destitute orphan, how deep must be the conviction
+of an overruling Providence--the truth of the declaration, that God is
+the father of the fatherless in his holy habitation, and the
+fulfilment of his gracious promise, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I
+will preserve them alive.' Nor is the orphan family merely furnished
+with sufficient accommodation for dwelling and moral and religious
+education: the grounds afford ample room for exercise and recreation;
+the garden supplies them with fruit and vegetables; and there being
+pasture for several cows, wholesome milk is added to their simple
+breakfast, while the abounding river invigorates the frame by a saline
+bath, and by casting a net into it, furnishes an occasional dinner of
+fresh fish."
+
+ The society, ever grateful to the founders, have erected a tablet
+on the wall of the beautiful chapel, which bears the following
+inscription:
+
+
+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+
+ OF
+
+ ISABELLA GRAHAM,
+ WHO DIED 27TH JULY, 1814;
+
+ AND OF
+
+ MRS. SARAH HOFFMAN,
+ WHO DIED 29TH JULY, 1821.
+
+ THEY WERE BOTH FOUNDERS OF THIS INSTITUTION.
+
+ TO THEIR PRAYER OF FAITH,
+ AND WISDOM IN DIRECTING ITS COUNSELS,
+ THE SOCIETY IS INDEBTED FOR MUCH OF THE SUCCESS THAT HAS
+ ATTENDED IT.
+
+ THEY WERE LOVELY IN THEIR LIVES,
+ AND DURING MANY YEARS THEY TRAVELLED TOGETHER THE WALKS
+ OF CHARITY.
+
+ WHEN THE EAR HEARD THEM IT BLESSED THEM, AND THEY CAUSED THE
+ WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR JOY.
+
+ THEY NOW REST FROM THEIR LABORS,
+
+ PARTAKERS OF THE BLESSEDNESS OF THOSE
+ WHO DIE IN THE LORD:
+
+ THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.
+
+ The success which has attended the Orphan Asylum Society,
+furnishes strong encouragement to attempt great and good objects even
+with slender means. God in his providence will command a blessing on
+exertions of this character. It is too common a mistake, and one fatal
+to the progress of improvement, that great means should be in actual
+possession before great objects should be attempted. Ah, were our
+dependence simply on apparent instruments, how small must be our hopes
+of success. There is a mystery, yet a certainty, in the manner by
+which God is pleased in his providence to conduct feeble means to a
+happy conclusion. Has he not preserved, cherished, and blessed his
+church through many ages, amidst overwhelming persecutions, and that
+often by means apparently inadequate to this end? We must work for, as
+well as pray for the blessing which God has promised to bestow on our
+sinful race. We must put our shoulder to the wheel, while we look up
+to heaven for assistance, and God will bless those who are found in
+the path of duty.
+
+ In this asylum, the ladies have set no limits to the number to be
+received; and it has pleased God also not to set limits to the means
+necessary for their support. The institution is a great favorite with
+the public, and is frequently visited by strangers, who are delighted
+with the cleanliness, health, and cheerful countenances of the
+orphans.
+
+ The Society have received a charter of incorporation from the
+legislature; they have a handsome seal, with this inscription:
+"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have
+done it unto me."
+
+ For several years it was customary with Mrs. Graham to visit the
+New York hospital; and before the admirable provision since made for
+the separate care of those mentally deranged, she paid a particular
+attention to patients of this description.
+
+ To the apartments appropriated to sick female convicts in the
+state prison, she also made many visits; she met with some affecting
+circumstances among this class.
+
+ In the winter of 1807-8, when the suspension of commerce by the
+embargo rendered the situation of the poor more destitute than ever,
+Mrs. Graham adopted a plan best calculated in her view to detect the
+idle applicant for charity, and at the same time to furnish employment
+for the more worthy among the female poor. She purchased flax, and
+lent wheels where applicants had none. Such as were industrious, took
+the work with thankfulness and were paid for it; those who were
+beggars by profession never kept their word by returning for the flax
+or the wheel. The flax thus spun was afterwards wove, bleached, and
+made into table-cloths and towels for family use.
+
+ Mrs. Graham used to remark, that until some institution should be
+formed to furnish employment for industrious poor women, the work of
+charity would be incomplete. It was about this time that, deeming the
+duties too laborious for her health, she resigned the office of first
+directress of the Widows' Society, and took the place of a manager.
+She afterwards declined this also, and became a trustee of the Orphan
+Asylum Society, as more suited to her advanced period of life.
+
+ The lady to whom the following letter was addressed was Miss
+FARQUHARSON, a person of genuine piety and worth, whom Mrs. Graham had
+educated and prepared to become her assistant in teaching. When Mrs.
+Graham retired from her school, Miss Farquharson declined to succeed
+her, preferring to accompany and enjoy the society of her patroness
+and friend. Until 1804 she proved as efficient an assistant to Mrs.
+Graham in her charitable labors in the Widows' Society and
+Sabbath-school, as she had been in her boarding-school.
+
+ During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1804, she was called
+to attend her own dying mother, and underwent so much fatigue, that on
+her return to Mrs. Graham she broke a bloodvessel, and for four months
+was confined to her room, during all which time Mrs. Graham attended
+her night and day. Her medical attendants prescribed a long voyage and
+residence in a hot climate as the only means of saving her life. About
+that time Mr. Andrew Smith was preparing to sail for the East Indies
+with his family, by the way of England. With them she embarked. She
+sojourned several weeks in Birmingham, and there the circumstances
+commenced which eventually led Miss Farquharson to become a
+missionary's wife, and the first American missionary to foreign lands.
+Her history has been published by Rev. Mr. Knill, in a tract entitled,
+"The Missionary's Wife."
+
+ The London Missionary Society were preparing to establish a
+mission in the idolatrous city of Surat, but the East India Company
+would not allow Christian missionaries to sail in their ships. The
+Society thankfully availed themselves of the privilege of sending Mr.
+Loveless and Dr. Taylor in the American ship Alleghany. They arrived
+in Madras, June, 1805.
+
+ During the voyage an attachment was formed between Mr. Loveless
+and Miss Farquharson which death only could sever, and introduced her
+to scenes of usefulness for more than thirty years, for which she was
+eminently qualified by early training. As soon as Mrs. Graham heard
+how her friend was going to be employed, she wrote to her as follows:
+
+
+ "MY DEAR SALLY--Many tears have I shed over your letter. What a
+changing lot has been that of my family! The Lord's providences to me
+and mine have not been of the ordinary kind, and you, as one in it,
+seem to be a partaker with us. Surely, of all others, we have most
+reason to say, We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Oh that we
+may drink into the true spirit of that phrase, and enjoy the genuine,
+firm faith of an everlasting habitation, of living at home with God.
+
+ "My dear Sally, take the comfort of this, that it is the Lord who
+hath led you all the way by which you have gone. Of all persons whom I
+know, you were, from your temper and disposition, the least likely to
+travel, still less to continue a traveller. No ordinary means would
+have led you to leave your friends and religious privileges. And many
+a pang it has cost me, on reflection, to think how positive I was that
+you should take the voyage. But it was of the Lord. The physicians
+urged it as the only chance you had for life, and they had reason; for
+of all those who were attacked in the same manner, there is not one
+alive, within my knowledge, at this day.
+
+ "The Lord, by wonderful means, called you from your native land,
+and led you to the very spot where you met Mr. Loveless. The same God,
+being also his God, led him, by means perhaps equally unforeseen and
+uncommon, to the same spot, united your hearts to each other, and made
+you one in his hand, and I trust to his glory. You ask my blessing: I
+have carried both of you to my God and Saviour, and have prayed, and
+continue to pray, that the Lord will bless you individually and
+unitedly, give you much sweet communion with himself, and much social
+enjoyment with him and with one another. May he bless Mr. Loveless as
+a missionary, and give him the spirit of his office, and much fruit
+among the heathen, as seals to his ministry; and may you be a helper
+with him, and both be blessed and made a blessing.
+
+ "I feel my loss. You were a comfort and a help to us all,
+especially to me: but I do not mourn; I heartily acquiesce. This is
+not only agreeable to me, as it is one of God's wise arrangements to
+you and us all, but I think it will be more to your comfort. Religion
+and conjugal love will sweeten almost any lot. It is the Lord's
+appointment and his richest earthly blessing.
+
+ "My dear Sally, I have ever considered you as my child. You are
+very dear to my heart. Tell Mr. Loveless he must ever consider me as
+his mother.
+
+ "Your affectionate mother,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ In the month of January, 1807, the London Missionary Society, of
+which Mr. Bethune was a foreign director, sent to this country the
+Rev. Messrs. Gordon, Lee, and Morrison; the two first to sail in an
+American ship for the East Indies, and Mr. Morrison for China. These
+devoted missionaries shared largely in the hospitalities of Christians
+in New York, and spent much of their time with Mr. Bethune's family.
+Mrs. Graham took great delight in conversing and advising with them,
+and though none of her letters addressed to them have come to hand, it
+is believed she corresponded with them. The following extract of a
+letter from Dr. Morrison, indicates the respect and Christian
+affection with which he regarded her.
+
+
+ "ON BOARD THE TRIDENT, May 24, 1807.
+
+ "MY EVER DEAR MOTHER GRAHAM--I think you were led by the special
+interference of our gracious Lord, to put into my hands the work which
+you did, accompanied by the edifying and comforting letter which you
+wrote me.
+
+ "I thank you for telling me what God did for your soul, and join
+with you in ascribing to the Lord salvation and honor. I had, my
+mother, from the time of leaving my dear relations and friends, passed
+through waters deep as the fathomless ocean which I crossed; but with
+the Lord there is mercy; with him is 'plenteous redemption.' He is
+ready to forgive. He has restored to me, in some measure, 'the joy of
+his salvation,' and will not, I trust, take his Holy Spirit from me.
+This is my prayer. To-day he enabled me, on board of this vessel, to
+open my lips to teach transgressors his way. O, that sinners may be
+converted unto him."
+
+
+ To Mr. and Mrs. B----, at Ballston Springs.
+
+ "NEW YORK, August, 1807.
+
+ "MY BELOVED CHILDREN--A husband, wife, and child, make a family,
+and God ought to be acknowledged by them as such. I am anxious that
+you should meet in your room for that purpose some time every morning.
+
+ "If it cannot be accomplished at an early hour, redeem that time
+in a later, and also before going to rest in the evening. The Lord has
+honored your family worship with genuine fruits, follow it up in all
+places. Like Abraham of old, wherever you pitch your tent, for a
+longer or shorter period, there raise an altar to the Lord, to that
+God who has fed you all your life, carried you as on eagle's wings,
+and will carry you to old age and gray hairs."
+
+
+ To Mrs. Juliet S----, New York, one of her former pupils.
+
+ "BELLEVILLE, September 16, 1808.
+
+ "MY DEAR JULIET--Since the hour I received your letter, you have
+been little out of my mind. You call upon me as mother, friend,
+counsellor. Shall conscious unworthiness, or weakness, or ignorance,
+prevent my answering? No; for God often chooses weak instruments to
+bring to pass great ends, I have been once and again to a throne of
+grace, for wisdom to direct me, and grace to be faithful. If your
+desire after spiritual knowledge be sincere, and from the Spirit of
+God operating on your heart, you will bear searching.
+
+ "You are a communicant, my Juliet; this presupposes that a very
+great and important change has taken place in your mind--that you have
+been made deeply sensible of what the word of God testifies of every
+son and daughter of Adam's race. 'As it is written, There is none
+righteous, no, not one.' Rom. 3:10. Man is born as the wild ass's
+colt, going astray from the womb. Job. The heart is deceitful above
+all things, and desperately wicked; I the Lord search it. Having the
+understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God, through the
+ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our hearts. Dead
+in trespasses and sins. Eph. 4:18; 2:1.
+
+ "Your profession presupposes that this chapter may be addressed
+to you, Juliet, by name: 'You hath he quickened, who were dead in
+trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the
+course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
+the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among
+whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of
+our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
+were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is
+rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
+were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace
+are ye saved, through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.'
+Works there are, my Juliet, most assuredly; every quickened soul will
+live, and bring forth fruits of righteousness; but these works are not
+attainable but in God's way and order. It follows, 'For we are his
+workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
+before ordained that we should walk in them.'
+
+ "My Juliet says, 'To you then I look up to teach me.' Let me then
+bring you to the great Teacher and Prophet of the church, without
+whose teaching all human instruction will be ineffectual. We read of
+two amiable characters coming to Christ professedly for instruction.
+The first you will find in Matthew 19:16. The young man asks him,
+'What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?' Jesus
+answers him by referring him to the moral law: the young man, not made
+acquainted by the Spirit of God, either with the extent or
+spirituality of that law, or of the depravity of his own nature,
+answers, as many in like circumstances still do,' All these things
+have I kept from my youth up.' I do not suppose any one could
+contradict him. It is added that Jesus loved him, and he was a person
+of attractive character; but Jesus knew that the true principle was
+not there--supreme love to God, 'with all the heart, with all the
+soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind:' therefore he gave
+him a test which proved that the world was uppermost in his heart. He
+went away sorrowful, and we hear no more of him.
+
+ "Of the other person we read in that remarkable chapter, the
+third of John's gospel--Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and also a
+teacher. Well knew he the law, as to the letter of it, both moral and
+ceremonial; he must also have been acquainted with all the Old
+Testament scripture types and prophecies, it being his office to
+expound; and no doubt, among others, was looking for the promised
+Messiah. Jesus does not send him to either the law or the prophets.
+This ruler comes with a conviction and an acknowledgment that Jesus
+himself was a teacher immediately from God; and Jesus immediately
+takes upon himself his great office, and begins with urging that which
+is a sinner's first business--'to know himself,' what he is by nature,
+and the necessity of the new birth. Nicodemus, with all his learning,
+was a stranger to this doctrine: 'How can a man be born when he is
+old?' Jesus repeats his doctrine, 'He must be born of water and the
+Spirit;' baptized with water and the Holy Ghost. 'That which is born
+of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
+Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again.' Humble that
+proud reason that will believe nothing but what it can understand.
+'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
+thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so
+is every one that is born of the Spirit.' A mystery it is;
+nevertheless it is true.
+
+ "Follow out the chapter, my dear: Jesus preaches his own gospel,
+and brings in that beautiful type, the serpent, which he had commanded
+to be raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery
+serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed.
+Read it, my dear, in the 21st of Numbers; and in reference to this, he
+himself says, 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
+earth.' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
+Quickened, renewed in the spirit, of his mind, old things pass away
+and all things become new--new principles, new desires, new pleasures,
+new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan of redemption is his from
+first to last. It is clearly revealed in Scripture, and there is no
+dispute among Christians concerning it. The fall of man, his
+corruption and depravity; his state under the curse of a broken
+covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his helplessness and
+total inability to gain acceptance with God; his ignorance of
+himself--'dead in trespasses and sins,' 'without God and without hope
+in the world:' this is his situation by nature. But there is good news
+proclaimed: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
+Son,' to become the surety of lost sinners. He took our nature upon
+him, our sins upon him, our duties upon him: he was placed in our
+stead; sustained the penalty of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost
+demands; redeemed us; gave us a new covenant, of which himself
+is the surety: and there is 'no condemnation to them that are in
+Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, are the
+sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as the
+atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one sacrifice for sin;
+Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; all is made ours by
+free gift. 1 John, 5:11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God
+reconciled, peace proclaimed. But what is all this to a thoughtless
+world, insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful
+saying, but it is of the Holy Ghost, If our gospel be hid, it is hid
+to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded
+their minds, and darkened their understandings, and hardened their
+hearts, etc. Therefore the application of this grace is also of God;
+it is all within his plan; he has appointed means, and commanded our
+diligence in the use of them. We have his Bible in our hands, his
+ministers in our churches, who are also pastors and teachers if we
+apply for their aid in private; we have a throne of grace to go to,
+and many great and precious promises held up in God's word for us to
+embrace and plead for Christ's sake: we have many prayers in the
+Scriptures which we may adopt.
+
+ "I acknowledge we are all still dependent for the effect; that
+must be from God himself. But he does honor his own ordinances. He
+puts forth his power, and convinces of sin; this is his first work.
+The soul is awakened, aroused, convinced of sin and misery; sins of
+the heart, sins of the tongue, sins of the life, press upon the
+conscience which never disturbed us before; misspent time, wasted
+talents, lost opportunities, neglect of God's word and ordinances, so
+that the soul cannot rest. O, my Juliet, this is a hopeful case. I
+hope you have experienced something of this. It is one of the surest
+marks of the operation of the Spirit of God, and a prelude to the new
+birth. It never takes place without it, for the whole need not a
+physician, but they that are sick. Only the weary and heavy laden will
+prize rest, and Christ is the rest they need; only a convinced sinner
+will or can prize the Saviour, and now the Lord opens his mind to
+understand the Scriptures. He sees the provision which God has made
+for ruined sinners, by providing a substitute to stand in his room; he
+perceives how God can be just and justify the sinner who takes shelter
+in Jesus; he falls in with God's gracious plan: receives the Lord
+Jesus as God's gift to sinners; trusts entirely in his merits for
+pardon, peace, reconciliation, and eternal life; resigns his soul into
+the hands of his Saviour, in the faith that he will save it, and
+devotes himself unreservedly to his service, in the faith that he will
+give him grace to live to him in all holy obedience. Now, and not till
+now, according to God's promise, he receives power to become his
+child; this is God's order, John 1:12. Now he receives life and begins
+to live; but there is yet a great work before him. It hath pleased God
+in his plan to finish at once a justifying righteousness; it is his
+own work, and was finished in that awful hour when he announced it in
+his last words on the cross. John 19:30. To this nothing of ours is to
+be added, with this nothing of ours mixed; it is for ever perfect, it
+is God's gift made ours in the hour when we first believe, receive it,
+rest our souls upon it.
+
+ "But it hath not pleased God in this plan to deliver the believer
+at once from indwelling sin. This is the subject of the Christian
+warfare, the race, the good fight. Now the believer receives life, and
+is called to work. 'Work out your own salvation with fear and
+trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.'
+All the promises in this blessed Bible are his, they are yea and amen
+in Christ; Christ himself is his; his Spirit dwells in him. The
+believer is united to Jesus by as real a union as the branch to the
+vine, the members to the head, the building with the foundation. Yet
+sin dwelleth in him, and is to be expunged by constant applications to
+Christ in prayer; by means of watching, striving, fighting--fighting
+under his banner. In his blessed word we are informed where our
+strength lies, what our weapons, what our armor. But what can I say on
+those subjects? the whole word of God is on the subject of redemption;
+to this refer the whole labors of Christ's ministers, and the whole
+dispensation of God's providence.
+
+ "Are these things so? My Juliet, this is not the doctrine of any
+one church. About these subjects there is no dispute. Presbyterians,
+Episcopalians, Baptists, Independents, all agree in these great
+things. And are these things so indeed? O, my Juliet, where is the
+time to be spared for plays, assemblies, and such numerous idle
+parties of various descriptions? I must stop; the subject is great,
+and we have many excellent treatises on the various parts of it, by
+able, pious men. It would be improper to crowd it thus into a letter,
+unless to instigate to further investigation.
+
+ "Farewell; I ever am, my dear Juliet,
+
+ "Yours affectionately,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The delicate state of health to which one of her granddaughters
+was reduced in 1808, made it necessary for her to spend the summer
+season for five successive years at Rockaway, Long Island, for the
+advantage of sea-bathing. Mrs. Graham went with her, it being
+beneficial to her own health also. In this place she met with many
+strangers; the company residing there treated her with much affection
+and respect. She always attended to the worship of God morning and
+evening in her room, and was usually accompanied by some of the ladies
+who boarded in the house. Her fund of information, vivacity of manner,
+and the interest which she felt in the happiness of all around her,
+made her society highly valued and pleasing. Few of those ladies who
+stayed with her at Rockaway for any length of time, failed to express,
+at parting, their esteem for her, and they generally added a pressing
+invitation for a visit from her, if ever she should travel near where
+they dwelt.
+
+
+ The following is one of her sweet meditations while at Rockaway:
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, August, 1809.
+
+ "Sweet health again returns, which, considering the agitation of
+my mind, surprises me; but it is the Lord's pleasure. I did not wish
+to recover. I was in hopes the Lord was about to deliver me from 'this
+body of sin and death.' Lord, reconcile me to thy most holy will.
+Health is certainly a great blessing. I feel its sweetness. O make me
+thankful. Great and numerous are my mercies. Every thing pleasant and
+every thing necessary to life, to godliness, is mine: food and raiment
+to the utmost desires of nature; the beauties of thy fair creation
+surround my ordinary dwelling; my dear little room, my Bible, and
+books of every virtuous kind--by grace, thy chief mercy, I desire no
+other--and by the kindness of my children, I possess all as if they
+were my own personal property. By thy wonderful loving-kindness, thou
+hast given me, instead of the contempt which I have merited, the love
+and esteem of thy people, and thou hast made the very stones of
+the field to be at peace with me, so that wherever I go I meet
+with kindness."
+
+
+ To Mrs. Marshall.
+
+ "NEW YORK, October, 1809.
+
+ "I find your letter dated 'Elderslie'--the very name gives a
+thrill to my old heart; in a moment the various scenes of my youthful
+days rise before me--the old mansion itself, and all its beloved
+inmates, every one of whom have now crossed the Jordan of death,
+leaving me a solitary wanderer in this weary wilderness. Ah, I can at
+this moment think of spots, by the burnside and the braeside, endeared
+to my heart by a thousand tender associations. There have I wandered
+with my beloved, idolized husband, and there has he delighted my heart
+with professions of love. These were indeed moments of ecstasy; but
+hush, there are you a widow with very, very different sensations, and
+here am I a widow with sensations equally different. The Lord has
+showed us many and sore adversities, but he will bring us up from the
+deeps below; we are much nearer our Father's house, and I hope
+proportionably riper for those joys which are at his right hand; and
+although your letter has brought some pleasing recollections to my
+mind--days of love and courtship, days, some of solitude, some of
+disappointment, some of ecstasy--yet I find they were all days of
+idolatry, therefore to be mourned over, not retasted, reenjoyed with
+delight. No, no; Father, forgive me."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ NEW YORK BIBLE SOCIETY--ASSOCIATIONS FOR
+ PRAYER--HAPPY OLD AGE--LETTERS.
+
+ "In December, 1809, a Bible Society was organized in New York,
+and about the same time twenty respectable persons united in a
+society, to wait on the Lord, to know what their hands could find to
+do to promote his glory, to advance his kingdom, to spread the savor
+of the Redeemer's name, or in any way to benefit the souls of their
+fellow-sinners.
+
+ "On Monday a meeting for prayer was instituted in Hetty-street,
+and another in Mulberry-street, with which the Presbyterian ministers
+have agreed to meet in rotation. It is the Lord. We have heard of
+revivals all around, but feared lest the aggravated sins of New York
+might provoke the Lord to pass by, leaving our fleece dry, while the
+dew wet all around. Great have been our privileges; the gospel trumpet
+has sounded in every corner of our city. The Lord's servants have set
+before us life and death, assuring us, from God's word, that 'though
+hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished;' beseeching us
+to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on the hope set before
+us. God in his providence has visited us with mercies and with
+judgments: stricken us, and healed us; scattered us, and gathered us:
+but alas, alas, we were 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
+marriage.' Many, very many, wasting their time, health, and substance,
+in all manner of immorality, and our rulers caring for none of these
+things; yea, many of them practising the same things; and Oh, God's
+own saved people sitting still, restraining testimony before men and
+prayer before God. What were we to expect but that God should say, Why
+should they be stricken any more? they will revolt more and more: they
+are joined to idols; let them alone. Such, O Lord, would be the case
+didst thou not deliver us out of our own self-destroying snares. If
+thou turn us not, we shall never turn; it is in our nature to
+backslide for ever.
+
+ "But is not the time come to pass when before thy people call
+thou answerest, and while they are yet speaking, thou hearest? Art
+thou not calling with power, 'Return, ye backsliding children, and I
+will heal your backslidings?' and hast thou not prepared their hearts
+to answer, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God?
+truly, in vain is salvation looked for from the hills, and from the
+multitude of mountains; truly, from the Lord our God is the salvation
+of Israel. Hast thou not, O God, prepared the hearts of thy people to
+pray, and thine ear to hear? Is not this Bible Society, and are not
+these associations for prayer, tokens from thee for good? More and
+more, Lord, may thy people give thee no rest, until thou make Zion a
+praise in the earth. O the Hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof, be
+not as a wayfaring man, that turneth aside for a night. May thy people
+constrain thee to abide with us for ever, to form us a people for
+thyself, to show forth thy praise.
+
+ "I have just conveyed dear Mrs. A----le to the confines of the
+eternal world. I trust the dear Redeemer received her spirit. I have a
+good hope that she is now in possession of the mansion purchased and
+prepared for her by that dear Saviour whose name she professed, and I
+think, in an humble, steady, quiet way, faithfully followed. She loved
+the word of God, the house of God, the people of God. She spoke
+little, but said she had a good hope: asked me to read the Bible
+different times, and also to pray; said the invitations of the gospel
+were sweet to her: observed that the Lord had been very merciful to
+her in her affliction.
+
+ "A few hours before her death she desired me to read that hymn,
+
+ "'To him that loved the souls of men,' etc,
+
+Also,
+
+ "'Come, let us join our cheerful songs,' etc.
+
+She asked if I thought she would continue long. I said, No, my
+dear, you will very soon be with Jesus; and encouraged her as the Lord
+enabled me. She repeated the question some time after, and I gave her
+the same answer. She then said, 'This night?' I answered, Yes, my
+love, this night. She bowed her head with a sweet smile, laid it in a
+reclining posture, and set herself to wait with patience the Lord's
+time. She was very much oppressed, and breathed with much difficulty.
+Some time after she asked me to pray, which I did, and begged that the
+Lord would increase her faith and patience, and, if according to his
+will, give her a gentle passage and an abundant entrance. In a short
+time her breathing became short and low; she shut her eyes and gently
+breathed weaker and weaker, till her God delivered her without motion
+or groan. I was on my knees praying. I then thanked God for his
+goodness in this sweet dismission; prayed for the husband, the
+children, the two young men present, and us all, gave glory to God,
+and rose to watch to future duty.
+
+ "O my God, is not my own death at hand? It is a hard battle. My
+Jesus, thou knowest the struggle. I too must drink of this cup; mix it
+for me, my Redeemer. O let a full sense of free pardon, the
+recollection of the great and precious promises, a bright view of the
+joys at God's right hand, as the fruit of thy death, be applied to my
+soul in that awful hour. Holy Spirit, pour in the oil and wine of thy
+consolations in that trying hour. O let me not be straitened. Open
+wide to my soul the leaves of that well-ordered covenant, of which
+Christ himself is the sum and substance. Redeeming God, may I
+experience proof in that solemn hour, that 'thy flesh is meat indeed,
+and thy blood is drink indeed.' O feed me with this living food; may I
+feel life spring up in my soul, and be assured that I shall 'never
+die.' O my God, grant one more request. Open my lips, and let them, as
+well as my heart, be filled with the high praises of my redeeming God.
+
+ "I know I am unworthy; the vilest of the vile; but magnify thy
+grace. I have much forgiven; O let my heart burn with love and
+gratitude in that hour, and my lips utter its effusions in songs of
+praise. Amen.
+
+ "When the short thick breathing comes, and the slow fetches,
+sealing up speech and expelling the spirit from its abode, O let me
+hear or understand thee saying unto me, 'It is I, be not afraid.'"
+
+
+ "JANUARY, 1810.
+
+ "'Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he
+will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days
+will he revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall
+live in his sight.'
+
+ "O Lord, turn us and we shall be turned, draw us and we will run
+after thee. Revive us, and we shall live in thy sight. Thou must ever
+be first. It is in our nature to backslide for ever: and whenever we
+see a backslider restored, or a rebel lay down the weapons of
+rebellion, _there_ we may trace thy footsteps, O God of grace.
+
+ "No external providence will touch our hard, our deceitful
+hearts. All that goes under the name of misfortune will but drive us
+_from_ thee, never _to_ thee, till thou teach us to profit,
+and lead us by the way that we should go. Thou callest, 'Return, ye
+backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings;' but we have
+been foolish, sottish children, without understanding, wise to do
+evil, but to do good having no knowledge.
+
+ "Let the days come when the children of America--the earth is the
+Lord's--shall 'come with weeping, and seek the Lord their God;' when
+'they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward;' when
+they shall come, saying, 'Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a
+perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten.' O the Hope of Israel and
+Saviour thereof, is not that day and that time come? Hast thou not
+been working on the right hand and on the left? Thou hast given us
+pastors according to thine own heart, who feed us with knowledge and
+understanding: and thou art here and there proving thy gospel thy
+power and thy wisdom, to the salvation of sinners; casting down the
+imaginations of pride, and bringing all into subjection to thy Son
+Jesus.
+
+ "O pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, upon thy living
+members, that they may wrestle with thee, and not let thee go until
+thou bless us, until thou make this 'cloud like a man's hand' cover
+our heavens with blackness, and issue in a plentiful rain. O pour
+water upon him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; thy
+Spirit upon our seed, and thy blessing upon our offspring. O Lord,
+hast thou not said that thou wilt do it, and that they shall spring up
+as among the grass, and as willows by the water-courses. One shall
+say, I am the Lord's, another shall call himself by the name of Jacob,
+and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname
+himself by the name of Israel. Amen, O our God, Amen.
+
+ "Last week the Lord's young servant, Mr. R----, received to the
+communion of the church seven adults, Mrs. B---- and her two
+daughters, Dr. H---- and sister, Mr. C----, and a black woman, servant
+to Mr. H----. It was a glorious sight, and revived the hearts of God's
+people who witnessed it. O God of grace, grant that the fruits of
+righteousness may prove that they are broken off from the wild
+olive-tree, and grafted into thee, thou living and life-giving
+olive-tree; from thee must their fruit be found. O cause them to bring
+forth much fruit. Herein is the Father glorified, that they bear much
+fruit; so shall they be Christ's disciples, and attain to the
+assurance of that happy state. Father, glorify thy name. Amen."
+
+
+ In the year 1810, while bathing at Rockaway, she was carried by
+the surf beyond her depth, and for some time there was scarcely a hope
+of her regaining the shore. Her grandchildren were weeping on the
+beach, and the company assembled there were afflicted but hopeless
+spectators of her danger. At that moment of peril she prayed to the
+Lord for deliverance, but acquiesced in his will, if he should see fit
+to take her to himself in this manner. Able to swim a little, she kept
+herself afloat for some time: she became at length very faint; and
+when her friends on the beach apprehended her lost, they perceived
+that the waves had impelled her somewhat nearer to them. A gentleman
+present, and her female attendant, stepped into the surf and extending
+their arms for mutual support, one of them was enabled to lay hold on
+Mrs. Graham's bathing-gown and to pull her towards them. When they
+brought her ashore she was much exhausted, and had swallowed a
+considerable quantity of water. It was some hours before she revived,
+when she addressed the company in a very serious and impressive manner
+that affected them to tears. Her health during the following winter
+was much impaired by the shock it had received.
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, June 15, 1810.
+
+ "Came here the first of the month, with the children in the
+whooping-cough. No 'church-going bell' here, but the Lord is
+everywhere; and I have found him here, warming my heart with gratitude
+and contrition, and drawing it out in prayer for his people met to
+worship in his sanctuary.
+
+ "When at a distance from my own people, it has been my practice
+to join with whatever class of professing Christians might be near me.
+Here it has been with the Methodists, who, I believe, enjoy communion
+with God. Yesterday I went to a meeting of ----, who lay great stress
+on good morals; but, O my God, what could I do, shut up with them?
+Without the finished work of my Saviour, I could have no hope; without
+his law-fulfilling righteousness, I must stand a law-condemned sinner.
+
+ "The preacher yesterday took no text; in the course of his sermon
+he said the Scriptures were only secondary guides. He began with the
+importance of thinking of death, and said it could not be possible for
+a rational being to live carelessly, with thoughts of death and
+eternity in view. Is it so? No; we see sinners die, under the full
+conviction that they are dying, as thoughtless as they have lived.
+
+ "He said, that by constantly attending to the motions of the
+Spirit and complying with them, Christians arrived at a state of
+perfection even here; and brought in that text, 'He that is born of
+God cannot sin,' etc. Spoke highly of watchfulness, and avoiding
+connection with the world; said a real Christian could not hold any
+office of power among men. Paul held one, but he gave it up when he
+became an apostle. Christ's kingdom was not of this world. Laws and
+officers were necessary among the men of the world, but not among
+Christians. Spoke of the cross of Christ as consisting in suffering
+and self-denial. His blood was the Spirit which cleansed from all sin,
+by delivering all who obeyed him from its power. He named not my
+blessed Saviour, except when he had occasion to mention some of his
+moral sayings. He said, indeed, that he was the Light that lightened
+every man that came into the world, and the condemnation was that men
+would not receive it; but one word of his blessed priesthood he spoke
+not, but said we were in a state of probation, and every one would be
+judged according to his works, taking into view the advantages he had
+enjoyed; recommended the reading of the Scriptures, especially the
+inspired books, the New Testament and the prophets; for it needed no
+inspiration to write the national history of the Jews more than that
+of any other nation. Said the Scriptures were good secondary guides,
+and contained excellent lessons and truths.
+
+ "When I was coming away he offered me his hand, saying that I was
+not a resident there. I answered no, I was separated from my own
+people, but wished to unite with any class of Christians who met
+professedly to worship God; but confessed I could not live upon what
+he had this day delivered. He asked what was wrong. I answered, he had
+given some good exhortations; I agreed with him in many things
+respecting conduct; but I missed the foundation. He repeated the
+scriptures, 'Other foundation can no man lay,' etc. I said, Exactly:
+off this foundation there is no salvation; on this foundation there
+may be loss, but no condemnation. We have a great and merciful
+High-priest, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and them who are
+out of the way; and there may be straw, hay, stubble, which will be
+burnt up, but the soul itself, being on the foundation, is safe. He
+said with firmness, That will be burnt up in this world; without
+holiness no man shall see the Lord. I said, True; but why avoid the
+tenor of Scripture? read all the epistles; the Lord Jesus Christ, the
+gift of God, the propitiatory sacrifice, the meritorious
+law-fulfilling righteousness, is set forth, in every one of them, as
+that which saves from wrath and entitles to eternal life. He said they
+were all emblems of our being made holy in heart and life; Christians
+were baptized unto the death of Christ, and rise with him to newness
+of life, buried with him, etc. I granted that as one reading of these
+words. He said every other view was shadow. I said, No--the blood of
+bulls and goats is shadow; Christ himself, his person, his offices,
+his life, his sufferings, his death, his burial, resurrection,
+ascension, and intercession within the veil, are all substance--the
+sole foundation of my hope, and my only plea at a throne of grace.
+
+ "Dear Name, the rock on which I build,
+ My shield and hiding-place,
+ My never-failing treasury, filled
+ With boundless stores of grace.
+
+ Jesus, my Husband, Shepherd, Friend,
+ My Prophet, Priest, and King,
+ My Lord, my life, my way, my end,
+ Accept the praise I bring."
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, August, 1810.
+
+ "Hebrews is my ordinary, when no other passage of Scripture
+attracts my particular attention. This is the third morning I have
+opened the New Testament on the 14th chapter of John, and have fed
+delightfully on the first three verses. There is at all times a thorn
+in my heart, keeping me in continual remembrance of my vile,
+ungrateful backslidings, so that I eat my sweetest morsels with bitter
+herbs. It was particularly painful to me this morning; nevertheless;
+the Lord God, merciful and gracious, repeated on my heart, 'Let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' I was arrested at
+the fourth verse, 'Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.' I have
+had many comfortable exercises on the eighth verse, the Redeemer's
+answer to Philip's inquiry. But this morning my mind was led to a
+different view of that saying, and which I think was literally
+included. The Redeemer was going to his Father, and his way lay
+through death, the death of the cross. The hour was at hand when he
+was to make his holy and righteous soul an offering for sin, that he
+might become the author of salvation to all who obey him. All the sins
+confessed and pardoned by the sacrifices under the law were laid on
+this blessed Surety--they were only the shadows, he was the
+substance--the real Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the
+world, was now to be offered up. This was he who said, 'Sacrifice and
+offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in
+burnt-offerings and offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure; then
+said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God:' by which will we are
+sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
+for all.
+
+ "He was going to the garden--Oh that garden! Peter had said he
+was able to drink of that cup and to be baptized with that baptism. Ah
+no, Peter; that exceeding sorrow in the garden, when no visible hand
+was upon him, was a cup the least drop of which would have overwhelmed
+the strongest angel. No strength short of omnipotent could have
+sustained that hour and power of darkness. It was not the scourge, the
+thorns, the nails, nor the last pangs of dissolution; through all
+these he was as a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
+shearers, dumb. It was a mysterious horror, of which no created being
+can have any conception. It was this that wrung the great drops of
+blood through every pore of his sacred body--this that extorted the
+agonizing prayer, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
+me;' and again, in his last moments on the cross, 'My God, my God, why
+hast thou forsaken me?' Blessed, for ever blessed be our Jehovah
+Jesus, who said, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' The will of God was
+done, and he said, 'It is finished,' and gave up the ghost.
+
+ "All his people must follow him by the way of death; nearly all
+his disciples followed by the death of the cross, and many others
+after them, supported by his almighty grace, rejoiced that they were
+counted worthy to suffer for his sake; but they drank not of that cup.
+
+ "Some of his people, for holy and wise purposes, have had a taste
+in the hiding of God's face, but no curse; that he himself drank to
+the last drop: He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there
+was none with him. By his own death he destroyed him that had the
+power of death, and secured victory to all his followers: he changed
+its aspect from that of the king of terrors to that of a welcome
+messenger from their redeeming God, to conduct them to those blessed
+mansions which he has purchased and prepared for them; neither will he
+leave them alone with that messenger: 'And if I go, I will come again
+and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. I
+will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. The world seeth me
+no more, but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also. Let not
+your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' Amen. 'Come, Lord
+Jesus.'
+
+ "'Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast
+thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
+Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of
+me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is in my heart.'
+Psalm 40:6. 'Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and
+burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst
+pleasure therein--which are offered by the law--then said he, Lo, I
+come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may
+establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the
+offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This man, after he
+had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
+hand of God. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
+are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for
+after that he had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make
+with them after those days,' in consequence of Christ's doing the will
+of God, fulfilling all righteousness: 'I will put my laws into their
+hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and
+iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is,
+there is no more offering for sin. Having, therefore, boldness to
+enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,
+which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
+his flesh; and having a High-priest over the house of God; let us draw
+near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
+sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
+water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
+for he is faithful that promised.' Hebrews 10:8-23; 8:10. Again, 'The
+Lord sware, and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever after the
+order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better
+testament; because he continueth ever, and hath an unchangeable
+priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that
+come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
+them,' Heb. 7:21-25. 'Christ glorified not himself to be made a
+high-priest, but He that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I
+begotten thee; as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest
+for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' Heb. 5:5, 6. 'For the law
+maketh men high-priests which have infirmity; but the word of the
+oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for
+evermore.' Heb. 7:28. 'The word which God sent unto the children of
+Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all. How God
+anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who
+went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
+devil; for God was with him. To him give all the prophets witness,
+that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
+remission of sins.'" Acts 10:36-38, 43.
+
+
+ How well she was qualified to give instruction to young
+disciples, will appear in the following letters to two, who died
+shortly after of consumption.
+
+
+ To Miss Van Wyck, New York.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, 1810.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA--Mr. and Mrs. B---- are here on a
+visit for one night. I did not expect to see them so soon, or I would
+have had a letter ready. I expect another opportunity in the course of
+a few days, when I will send you a long letter, from my heart, and, I
+hope, dictated by your and my Teacher.
+
+ "I learn by my children that you continue much in the same way in
+which I left you. It is your own God who mixes your cup, and it is to
+you a cup of blessing; there is no curse in it. Your Jesus drank that
+cup to the very dregs, that bitter as well as sweet might be to you a
+cup of blessing. O then, my darling, hold fast by your Redeemer: he is
+the Lord your righteousness, and the Lord your strength; he connects
+your profit with his own glory. You shall in this protracted
+affliction manifest it, and hold out the word of life to those around
+you.* You shall witness for him that he is the Lord, and besides him
+there is no Saviour--that he gathers the lambs in his arms, and
+carries them in his bosom--that he is to them a hiding-place from the
+wind, and a covert from the tempest--as rivers of water in a dry
+place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. That it is
+he that teacheth them to profit, and leadeth them by the way that they
+should go, and that in due time he will perfect all that concerns
+them. Farewell.
+
+*This prediction was remarkably fulfilled in the experience of
+ this dear young saint; an interesting account of whose illness
+ and death was published in the Christian's Magazine, and
+ afterwards as a Tract.
+
+ "Yours with affection,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To the same.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, Sabbath, 1810.
+
+ "MY DEAR, MY BELOVED ELIZA--I wrote you a few lines yesterday by
+Mr. B----. I now propose to fulfil my promise. I expect an opportunity
+to-morrow or next day, for I saw a great many carriages pass this way
+to the tavern, as I suppose, from New York. It is a common thing with
+some to come here on Saturday and return on Monday, to spend this
+blessed day in pastime. You would not, I know, exchange situation's
+with them; you would rather be suffering than sinning.
+
+ "It is your own observation that God does all in wisdom; in this
+wisdom he is pleased to lengthen your day of affliction. Sin, my
+darling, is the cause of all suffering; but is not always the
+_immediate_ cause. Besides particular chastisement for particular
+sins, there are afflictions to be filled up in the body of Christ--his
+church--a measure of which, in kind and degree, is appointed by
+unerring wisdom to each individual member. Col. 1:24. These sufferings
+bear no part in atoning for sin, nor in redeeming our forfeited
+inheritance. Christ trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there
+was none to help him. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in him; who when he had by
+himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
+high. Heb. 1:3. Again, 'And every priest,' in the Levitical law,
+'standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
+sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had
+offered _one sacrifice_ for sins for ever, sat down on the right
+hand of God. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
+are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also a witness to us; for
+after he had said before'--see from verse 5--'This is the covenant
+which I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will
+put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
+and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where
+remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.' Heb.
+10:11-18. Paul says the Holy Ghost is a witness, because he copies
+from the ancient Scriptures the prophecies of Jer. 31:31, and Ezek.
+36:25, and from Psalm 60:7. Your mother will read to you also the
+eighth chapter of Hebrews, containing the same things, the new
+covenant, in consequence of Christ, as the surety of sinners, having
+made full atonement, magnified the law, and made it honorable;
+therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in
+Christ Jesus.
+
+ "It has pleased God, my darling, in the adorable plan of
+reconciling sinners to himself by Jesus Christ, to perfect at once a
+justifying righteousness for them, and to bestow it upon them as a
+free gift. 'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal
+life; and this life is in his Son.' 1 John, 5:11. But it has not
+pleased him to deliver us at once from depravity; provision is made
+for final deliverance by the same covenant, and is effected by the
+same power: but in this believers are called to work. It is evident
+from Scripture, and the experience of Christians answers to it, that
+in the hour of believing they pass from death to life, considered as a
+state. This is the hour of the new birth: they then receive life for
+the time, and it is their privilege, by the constitution of the new
+covenant, to ask and receive, from day to day, grace to help in every
+time of need. To them, and not to the unregenerate, the exhortation is
+addressed, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for
+it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good
+pleasure,' The means are of God's appointing, in the diligent use of
+which they go from strength to strength. The grand means is faith in
+God's promises, of which there are very many in the Scriptures.
+Believers are to put forth their own exertions, as the children of
+Israel were called to go out against their enemies, in the faith that
+God would give them victory and lead them to their promised rest. The
+battle was the Lord's, and he fought for them; but the means were
+their exertions. Believers are God's workmanship; but this work he
+carries on by exercising their natural powers, which he sanctifies to
+a different end from that to which they were formerly by their own
+spirit directed. Still, the Scripture testifies that if any man say he
+has no sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him; and
+while sin remains, its consequence, suffering, must. The judgments of
+God, as the moral Governor of the world, are denounced against, and
+executed upon the workers of iniquity. The children of God experience
+personal chastisements for personal sins, as a provision of the
+covenant. Psalm 89:30. And, if I mistake not, there are afflictions
+experienced by individuals, as members of Christ's body, in which God
+does not bring into view the personal sins of the sufferer. In this
+sense I read Paul's epistle to the Colossians, 1:24: 'Who now rejoice
+in my sufferings, and fill up that which is behind of the sufferings
+of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church.' 'I
+sent Timotheus to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your
+faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions; for
+yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.' 1 Thes. 3:3. 'Yea,
+if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy
+and rejoice with you all; for the same cause do ye joy and rejoice
+with me.' Phil. 2:17. 'And whether we be afflicted, it is for your
+consolation and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your
+salvation and consolation.' 2 Cor. 1:6. There is no conscious personal
+sin expressed in these sufferings; on the contrary, Paul says, 'For
+our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in
+simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the
+grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more
+abundantly to you-ward.' 2 Cor. 1:12.
+
+ "Most of the prophets and apostles suffered martyrdom. They
+indeed sustained public characters, but the beggar Lazarus, who, in
+addition to poverty, was full of sores, was carried by the angels from
+the rich man's gate to Abraham's bosom. And thousands and tens of
+thousands of redeemed highly sanctified ones have suffered lengthened
+martyrdom, and perished with hunger, in holes and caves of the earth,
+unknown in history, except in groups--unseen at the time, except by
+the eye of the omniscient Jehovah, by whom the hairs of their head are
+numbered; their tears are in his bottle; nor shall one sigh nor one
+groan perish without its result.
+
+ "O my Eliza, what delightful wonders shall open to our view when
+delivered from these prison-holds of earth.
+
+ "I have finished one sheet, my dear Eliza; I fear it is too much,
+and may prove too fatiguing, especially as there are many references
+requiring a stretch of attention. I have been reading the epistle to
+the Hebrews, and you have naturally got my thoughts on part of it.
+
+ "I remember once of your complaining that you had made small
+progress in knowledge, in comparison of a young person that had just
+left you; but you checked yourself, and said, 'The Lord has given me
+faith, let me be thankful.' I at that time considered your departure
+as very near, and advised you to keep your eye fixed on Christ, as
+your Redeemer and Saviour, who had performed all things for you, and
+would perfect all that concerned you; and added, one hour in heaven
+will make you wiser than the most enlightened saint on earth. Since
+that it has pleased your Lord to add many days to your life. He has
+mitigated your pain, and given you some intervals of ease and
+composure, and our dear Eliza has grown in that time. Should it please
+God to spare you for a yet longer season, and continue your intervals
+of ease, no subject can be so profitable; and I hope your Lord will
+make it pleasant as that of the contents of the New Testament, which
+your Saviour bequeathed to you, sealed and ratified in his blood.
+There is a vast variety of precious promises contained in the
+Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are all yours with
+Christ; for, as a member of his body, 'you are built upon the
+foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
+the chief corner-stone.' And now I commend you to your own covenant
+God, who does and will support you, through life and through death, to
+that happy land where we shall all meet; and Oh then, eye hath not
+seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the
+things he hath prepared for them that love him.
+
+ "I am, with much love and affection, yours,
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ To Mr. James Todd, New York.
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, Long Island.
+
+ "MY DEAR JAMES--This will probably be handed you by our mutual
+friend Mrs. C----. The thought of her being with you, makes me part
+with her with less reluctance. You have not been forgotten by either;
+we have talked much of you, and have united in prayer to your and our
+God, that he may manifest himself unto you as your reconciled Father
+in Christ Jesus; and give you 'joy and peace in believing'--that he
+may give you patience in suffering, and entire resignation to his most
+holy will.
+
+ "It has, my dear young friend, been my earnest inquiry,
+especially of late years, standing on the brink of eternity, 'What is
+there within us, or without us, on which a sinner can rest in a dying
+hour?' If it be a holy life, there is no peace for me. Taking the law
+of God for my rule, backslider is my name; yet peace I have found, and
+on the best Security; this blessed Bible is my charter. I have
+searched it with diligence and prayer, and my mind is confirmed in the
+following truths: That the whole world is become guilty before God,
+and is under his wrath and curse on that account. This is our state: a
+miserable state it is, and as hopeless as miserable, for any thing we
+can do merely of ourselves. But I read in this Bible to the full
+amount of the following conclusions--that in the counsel of the
+mysterious Triune Jehovah, Jesus Christ, the second person of the
+incomprehensible Trinity, was sanctified, or set apart to become the
+Saviour of law-condemned sinners, to take their nature upon him,
+comply with the requisitions of the eternal immutable law of God, and
+become their surety. Man is a rebel, it is put to his account: a
+penalty is incurred--He, as their surety, is made liable. Are they
+again to be made heirs of eternal life? Perfect obedience is the
+condition--and of Him, as their surety, it is demanded. All this being
+fulfilled, sinners are become his property: he has paid their debt,
+and merited for them eternal life, all in their own nature, as their
+Head and representative; so that believers are complete in him. This
+is the righteousness of God, wrought out by Jesus Christ, in his own
+person, God-man, as their surety. To this nothing of the believer's is
+to be added--with this nothing of his mixed; it is for ever perfect;
+entirely distinct from that holiness of heart and life which is
+wrought in him in consequence of this. God has declared himself well
+pleased with this righteousness, and that being himself reconciled, he
+is in Christ Jesus reconciling sinners to him.
+
+ "Hence all the invitations scattered thick in the Old and New
+Testament, not only to the penitent, weary, and heavy laden, but to
+the stout-hearted, the backslider, to them that are wearying
+themselves in their own way. 'Ho, every one that thirsteth'--'Whosoever
+will, let him take the water of life freely,' Hence all the promises
+annexed to believing, accepting, receiving, trusting, resting: Christ
+the Saviour is the object--the gift of God to sinners for all the
+above purposes. The Lord has convinced me that I have nothing in
+myself on which I can rest; my conscience echoes to his word in all
+that it asserts of my nature and my state; but this Saviour is
+provided for sinners exactly of this description. I am invited to put
+in my claim, I believe the record, I rest my salvation on his word;
+God giveth to me eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Jesus
+calls me to look unto him, and be saved; I do look unto him, and I am
+saved. He assures me that those who come unto him shall never be cast
+out. I do go to him and commit my sinful soul to his keeping; I shall
+not be cast out. As many as receive the gift of his Son, receive at
+the same time power to become the children of God. I do receive his
+gift, and lay claim to his promise. He is my reconciled Father, and I
+am his adopted child, and he hath sent his Spirit into my heart, by
+which I can say, Abba, Father.
+
+ "I have, my dear James, taken this method of laying before you
+the grounds of my own hope, because I think it the most simple method,
+and containing at the same time my counsel to you to lay hold on the
+same hope. The warrant is given us in God's own word, as sinners,
+without respect to fruit or any works of ours. I can, if necessary,
+give you chapter and verse, to the full amount; but you have those
+about you who can give it to you by little and little, as your weak
+state can bear it. This gift is held out to the sinner's acceptance in
+many places of the word of God, and becomes the sinner's in the moment
+of believing. Provision is made by the same covenant for his
+sanctification; but that makes no part of justifying righteousness.
+Christ is made of God unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
+and redemption. Try, my precious young friend, to lay hold on this
+hope, and enter into the rest provided for the believer here. Stretch
+forth 'the withered hand,' the Lord himself will give you strength.
+Commit your precious soul into his hands, and rest assured that he
+will perfect all that concerns you--work all his work in you--carry
+you safely through the Jordan of death, and put you in possession of
+the inheritance he has purchased for you. That all this shall be,
+is the prayer and firm hope of
+
+ "Your affectionate friend,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ The two following extracts, addressed to Mrs. C----, near Boston,
+present a very gratifying view of Mrs. Graham in her advanced years,
+and may well awaken the desire not only to die the death, but to enjoy
+the "fruitful old age" of "the righteous."
+
+
+ "I have, as you know, enjoyed much in life, enjoyed its dearest,
+sweetest comforts, love and friendship, with a heart tremblingly alive
+to both. Lover and friends of youth are long since gone, other
+friendships I have formed, and have been happy even in these; now I am
+shut up with ails and aches. The world, properly so called, is a dead
+blank to me; yet I do think I never enjoyed life more. I would not
+exchange my present happiness for the most transporting moments of my
+life--of which I have had a large share--though thousands of years
+were added to enjoy them. I do not mean barely that happiness which
+consists in the anticipation of pleasure beyond the grave; that is
+indeed delightful; but I enjoy life now. Books of taste are mine no
+more: still less those of science and history; but my dear Bible;
+precious subjects; my dear Saviour. The height, the depth, the
+breadth, the length of the glorious plan of redemption open to my
+delightful perception more and more, and the Spirit witnesseth with my
+spirit, that I have my part in it by the gift of _faith_. I
+believe the record, that God giveth to us eternal life, and I put in
+my claim as a sinner. I account it a 'faithful saying, and worthy of
+all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
+sinners, of whom I am the chief,' I still enjoy the ordinances of the
+gospel: my memory, as you know, is much impaired: I recollect very
+little of the sermons I hear; but I think I never heard with so much
+attention. I am delighted, instructed, and fed at the time, and the
+subjects open to me without my being able to recollect the order or
+the words of the speaker. O let me recommend this dear Lord to your
+heart and confidence; commit all your concerns to him; mistrust no
+part of his providential dealings with you; his wisdom shall manage
+for you, and you shall one day say, 'He hath done all things well.'"
+
+
+ "MARCH, 1811.
+
+ "I am daily on the lookout; one year and three months will
+complete my threescore and ten. I do not know one individual alive
+whom I know in my school-days; it has been the case for many years. I
+do not long for my dismission, neither am I tired of life; but nothing
+in this world, unless closely connected with another, interests me;
+and Oh, I am tired of sin; still it cleaves to me; in all things I
+come short, and many duties neglect altogether; for I still have a
+considerable, share of health, and might do some good, had I will
+equal to my opportunities; as to the power, it is not in me, but I
+know I have it in my blessed Head, and for the asking. I cannot but
+long to be delivered from sin, and sinful apathy in particular; for
+really my heart must be wickedly fertile, to find out opportunities of
+moral transgression. Food and raiment are mine without care; my
+children, under God, care for me. I have my dear little room, my
+Bible, and books founded on it. I have a dear pastor and Christian
+friends, lively ordinances, and also much of the Lord's presence at
+times; my cup runs over with blessings, but my gratitude bears no
+proportion; my zeal for the glory of God and the good of my
+fellow-sinners seems buried under self-indulgence and apathy. O that
+the goodness of the Lord may lead me to repentance.
+
+ "And now, my dear friend, let me know how it is with you and your
+dear family. The severe winter is past; how have you got along? with
+what temporal comfort, and how has the Lord dealt with your soul? Has
+the barrel of meal or the cruse of oil failed? Does the opening spring
+cheer your spirits, and furnish a song of praise? Does it find you in
+a situation to dig your garden, sow your seeds, and make provision for
+future comfort? Has the Lord turned your captivity, and dried up the
+bitter waters that flowed against you? How are your eyes, after all
+the briny tears that have steeped them? How are your poor nerves,
+after all the shocks that have agitated them? All these things have
+been on my mind; but from my long silence, you cannot believe it. What
+are we all, but broken reeds, which pierce the hand when laid hold of
+for support? There is but one Friend to poor, fallen, miserable man,
+in the universe. He is mercy; he is goodness; he is truth; he is
+wisdom; he is unchangeable, and never will fail you: take him to your
+heart; give it all to him; he only is worthy, no other is."
+
+
+ Her friend Mrs. C---- had now experienced new trials, by which
+she was again plunged into the depth of despondency. In the following
+we have a noble effort of Mrs. Graham's mind and heart to raise her up
+to "sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
+
+
+ "JUNE 27, 1811.
+
+ "I received my dear friend's letter this day week, and have been
+answering it ever since. Never was I in such a strait. It contains the
+effusions of disappointed hopes and anticipations of sore evils;
+indicates a soul deeply wounded, and taking in Christian principles
+under temptation. Where shall I begin? I have laid it before our
+compassionate High-priest, I have requested direction. Assist me, O
+thou blessed Comforter, whose office it is to convince of sin, as well
+as to minister consolation. Do both, from the heart and by the pen of
+thy handmaid.
+
+ "It appears to me salutary to call your attention first to the
+sovereignty of God. The silver and the gold are his, and the cattle on
+a thousand hills; he gives them to whomsoever he pleases; he setteth
+up one and putteth down another, doing whatsoever pleaseth him in the
+armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this earth; none can
+stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? He attributes to
+himself all events; men and other creatures are but instruments. Men's
+wicked hearts impel them to commit evil, but the events are of the
+Lord, which he overrules for his own glory, and for the good of his
+people. 'Him being delivered by the determinate counsel' of God, ye
+have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified him. Joseph said, 'Ye
+thought evil against me; but God meant it for good,' 'to save much
+people alive.' The Lord does not often, at the time, give his people
+reasons for afflicting them, though they can often read them at an
+after-period.
+
+ "Job was a holy man; his afflictions from God's own hand were
+very deep; the teasing unkindness and injustice of his friends made
+great part of the temptation, and he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
+When God did appear, he did not answer his cavils, nor give him one
+reason why he had dealt with him thus; but silenced him with views of
+his majesty, power, and wisdom--of his own meanness and vileness,
+though correct in his conduct beyond most others. I believe he spoke
+truth when he said, 'I delivered the poor that cried, and the
+fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him
+that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart
+to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
+I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched
+out.' God allowed the weight of the trial to be upon his spirit, with
+the conviction of his presumption, till he brought him to his feet.
+'Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee?' 'I will lay my hand
+upon my mouth.' 'I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' These
+things were written for our example and profit.
+
+ "This afflictive providence is now finished, at least so far.
+What you now possess is the allotment of your God. Set all instruments
+aside and listen to the Holy Ghost: 'Humble yourselves under the
+mighty hand of God, and he shall exalt you in due time.' In order to
+this, I would recommend to you to take a close, retrospective view of
+your past life, with earnest prayer that God would search you and try
+you, and show you what wicked ways have been or now are in you. Go
+back to the days of your youth; take a close view of the use you made
+of affluence and influence; not comparing yourself with others, but
+judging yourself by the law of God, the only standard of right and
+wrong, truth and error. Seek for humbling views of yourself in
+yourself. If the Holy Ghost enlighten, you will find sufficient
+grounds. Seek for consolation in the free promises of God, through
+Jesus Christ, of which there are also abundance, even to the chief of
+sinners. What I recommend to you has been my own practice, especially
+in times of trial; and if health will admit of it, add fasting,
+because I think it is the Lord's ordinance. 'The days shall come when
+the bridegroom shall be taken from them, then shall they fast in
+those days.'
+
+ "Read the third chapter of Jeremiah's lamentations; endeavor to
+come under the feelings of contrition on account of your sins, and
+derive consolation from faith in God's great mercy; ever keeping in
+view the only channel through which mercy can flow to sinners of
+Adam's race. Take also a view of God's dealings with his elect nation,
+in the wilderness: they had nothing but manna, and were punished for
+murmuring; while at that very time the nations in Canaan, the
+Egyptians, and Assyrians, were living in all manner of luxury. What
+was their whole history but backsliding, threatening upon threatening?
+then chastisement, turning, repenting, pardon, reconciliation, and the
+same round again, every chastisement severer than the last, while
+worldlings in general have their day to the end; then 'are they
+brought into desolation as in a moment.' I wish you to take a
+particular view of God's dealings with them, before Nebuchadnezzar
+sacked the city of Jerusalem. The decree was passed after many
+warnings, and much long-suffering. How many pauses, as it were, did
+the merciful Lord God make before he gave them finally up to their
+enemies; and when the decree was irrevocable, and the chastisement to
+take place, still he followed them with mercy. See Jeremiah 27:12; and
+chapter 29, the letter which God commanded Jeremiah to write to those
+who had been carried away captive with Jehoiakim, advising them to
+build houses and plant vineyards, and to make the most of their
+situation. Those at Jerusalem were commanded to submit to the king of
+Babylon, as in that case he would not destroy the city; but no, they
+stood it out, and the threatened vengeance overtook them.
+
+ "The poor were left to take care of the vineyards. Jeremiah
+remained with them in preference to going with the king of Babylon to
+be promoted to honor. God offered to take them under his protection
+and be their God: but no, they would go to Egypt, and put themselves
+under the king of Egypt's protection. Jeremiah told them from the
+Lord, that Egypt itself should soon go into captivity. But to Egypt
+they went and carried Jeremiah with them. See Isaiah's prophecy on
+this occasion, chapter 30:1-4. Now look at chapter 42:24; there you
+see God's judgment and chastening; follow him in the beginning of
+chapter 43, and view his mercy; in the end of the same chapter, again,
+see his charge against them, but it is followed, with mercy,
+not judgment.
+
+ "Thus we learn the character of God. Thus we learn his dealings
+with his people. They are not called to earthly comfort and
+prosperity. They ever have been, and still are a suffering people;
+they are all sinners--sin brings suffering, and God overrules
+suffering, so as to make it profitable to them. Though redeemed by the
+life and death of Christ, being justified by faith, they have peace
+with God; yet the Lord has not pleased all at once to qualify them for
+the purchased possession. They receive a new birth, new life, and are
+called to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, with
+this consolation, that God worketh in them both to will and to do of
+his good pleasure. This is not their home, here they have no
+continuing city; they are travelling through the wilderness, to the
+city and mansions purchased and prepared for them by their Saviour,
+and must be made holy before they can enter in. They have many
+corruptions to be mortified, and many errors in their estimation of
+men and things to be corrected. Their hearts require to be made
+spiritual, humble, tender, resigned, and loving. 'Who fed thee in the
+wilderness with manna--that he might humble thee, and that he might
+prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.'
+
+ "Besides, all suffering is not the immediate punishment of sin in
+the individual sufferer, nor for his exclusive profit; it is evident
+from Scripture, there is suffering for the benefit of the body of
+Christ, _his church_, of which, I think, all have some share. God
+has wise ends to answer by all the suffering of his creatures, and
+especially of the members of his body. The apostles rejoiced in this,
+and so ought we. 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with
+him.' Paul says, 'I fill up in my flesh that which is behind of the
+sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which is the church.'
+
+ "Now, my dear friend, look at your real situation, as a suffering
+member of a suffering body. Take a view of the saints of God in
+history, sacred or profane, and compare your own individual suffering
+with theirs: I am apt to think that, great as it is, it will not rise
+to mediocrity. I could expatiate on this subject, from what comes
+every day within my own knowledge. The Lord is working in this way all
+around me; but of that another time. In your own case, try for a
+moment to shut out of view every thing without your own family, what
+you once were, what you once possessed and enjoyed; also what your
+friends possess and enjoy at this present time; detach yourself from
+all. What was yours is gone; what you calculated upon is also gone;
+set all aside, and consider yourself a sinner saved from destruction
+by grace; in a state of purgation and preparation for happiness; on a
+pilgrimage with thousands of others your fellow-saved sinners, through
+the wilderness, to that inheritance which was purchased for you at
+_such a price_. Your Saviour is your leader, protector, provider;
+also your physician, and the physician of the whole body, perfectly
+acquainted with the constitution, disposition, and temper of every
+individual. He has made provision for each, all the journey through,
+and given security that none shall suffer _real_ want.
+
+ "Bread and water are promised; nothing beyond these, though in
+general he gives more; to each he gives a portion in hand, to some for
+a day, some for a week, some for a year, which they calculate upon
+with more or less probability: none with certainty. Your portion
+is--for a year; take a view of those whom you know; one with another,
+I am inclined to think the Lord has still given you your full share of
+privilege. Look at the ordinary provision he makes for the ministers
+of his gospel, most of them with large families; many of those in the
+country have five hundred dollars, some four hundred, some three
+hundred, generally ill paid. The Lord puts a blessing in it, he makes
+it go far; they do what their hands find to do, and get along: so will
+he do with you, my dear. He will put you upon methods of industry and
+economy: your one chicken divided into six parts, with a little bit of
+pork, with the fruit of God's blessing on your industry in the garden,
+shall both taste sweet and satisfy for the time. Try to be thankful;
+Moses said of the manna, 'This is the bread which the Lord your God
+giveth you.' Pray and watch against dwelling on the plentiful tables
+of others; and when bidden to a feast take your portion, and say, this
+is from the Lord for the time. Do not let a thought of misery or
+wretchedness dwell upon your mind. O no, God is good; you shall not
+want. O, what sweet meals have I and my children made on hot potatoes,
+nicely boiled and cracked, with salt--not merely content, but they
+tasted good and savory. There are peculiar pleasures in a life of that
+kind. You shall yet sing of it.
+
+ "Now, my dear friend, I have done with what I had to say on this
+head. I have had great fears of wounding, lest you should reckon me
+among Job's friends; but you call me mother, and it is required of a
+mother to be faithful. I now leave it with the Lord. We are delighted
+to find you girding up the loins of your mind and setting about active
+duty. Let us meet at a throne of grace, and look to the course the
+Lord marks out for us."
+
+
+ To Mrs. G---- Y----.
+
+ "MY DEAR MADAM--I have just parted with my dear afflicted friend
+Mrs. C----; she left it in charge to me, that I should write to you in
+the time of your affliction. Surely I would do any thing whatever that
+I thought might alleviate either her or your distress. But there are
+cases to which God alone can speak; afflictions which he alone can
+console. Such are those under which the sufferer is commanded to be
+'still and know that he is God.' He never leaves his people in any
+case, but sometimes shuts them up from human aid. Their grief is too
+great to be consoled by human tongue or pen.
+
+ "Such I have experienced. I lost my only son; I neither know when
+nor where; and for any thing I know, in a state of rebellion against
+God. Here at my heart it lies still; who can speak to me of it?
+neither can I reason upon it. Aaron held his peace. Old Eli said, 'It
+is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.' Samuel in his turn had
+his heart wrung by his ungodly son. David lamented over his beloved
+Absalom; but it availed him nothing. Job's sons and daughters were all
+cut off in one day; he himself lay in deep, sore bodily affliction;
+his friends sat seven days and seven nights without opening their
+mouths, because they saw his affliction was very great; and if they
+spoke, it was to aggregate it; and when God himself spoke, he gave him
+no reason for his dealings, but charged him with folly and madness.
+'Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that
+reproveth God, let him answer it.' Then he laid his hand on his mouth,
+confessed himself vile, and became dumb before God; abhorring himself,
+and repenting in dust and ashes, instead of the splendid catalogue of
+virtues enumerated in chapter 29, and complaints in chapter 10, which
+I make not the least doubt were true, as far as human virtue can
+reach; but if God charge even his angels with folly, shall man,
+corrupt, self-destroyed man, plead merit before God?
+
+ "But, my dear friend, I do not find in all God's Bible any thing
+requiring us to acquiesce in the final destruction of any, for whom we
+have prayed, pleaded, and committed to him; least of all, our
+offspring whom he has commanded us to train up for him. Children are
+God's heritage. I do not say he has given us any promise for the
+obstinately wicked; but when cut off, he only requires us to be still,
+to hold our peace. I do not think he takes hope from us. God has set
+limits to our faith for others; our faith must not rest in opposition
+to his threatenings. We must believe that the wicked shall be turned
+into hell, and all that forget God; but he hath set no bounds to his
+own mercy; in that glorious plan of redemption, by which he
+substitutes his own Son in the stead of sinners, he has made provision
+for the chief of sinners, and can now be just and consistent while he
+justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus. Short was the time between
+the thief's petition and the promise of salvation; nay, the petition
+was the earnest of it. The same was the case with the jailer; I think,
+too, the publican had the earnest in his petition. Now, instead of
+laboring to bring my mind to acquiesce in the condemnation of my
+child, on the supposition of its being for God's glory, I try to be
+still, as he has commanded: not to follow my child to the yet
+invisible world; but turning my eyes to that character which God has
+revealed of himself--to the plan of redemption--to the sovereignty of
+God in the execution of that plan--to his names of grace, 'The Lord,
+the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
+goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,'
+while he adds, 'and that will by no means clear the guilty;' I meet it
+with his own declaration, 'He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew
+no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' I read
+also that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment,' and many other like
+scriptures, which, although I dare not ground a belief of his
+salvation on them, afford one ray of hope after another, that God may
+have made him a monument of mercy to the glory of his grace.
+
+ "Thus God himself consoles his own praying people, while man
+ought to be very cautious, if not silent, where the Scriptures are
+silent, as it respects the final state of another, whose heart we
+cannot know, nor what God may have wrought in it. God hath set bounds
+to our faith, which can nowhere find solid ground to fix upon but in
+his own written promise. Yet, as I said above, he has set no bounds to
+his own mercy, and he has made provision for its boundless flow, as
+far as he shall please to extend it, through the atonement and merits
+of his own Son, 'who is able to save to the uttermost all who come
+unto God by him,' Now, my dear friend, you have my ideas of our
+situation; if they be correct, I pray that our compassionate Father
+may comfort you by them; if otherwise, may he pardon what is amiss,
+and lead you, my dear friend C----, and myself, to such consolation as
+he himself will own as the work of his Spirit, and save us from the
+enemy and our own spirit.
+
+ "Since writing the foregoing, I feel afraid of what I have said;
+it is dangerous seeking comfort where the Scriptures are silent; yet
+while we plead with God to be preserved from error, and try to be
+still before him, he will save us from the subtlety of the serpent, as
+well as from the rage of the lion. I am, with love,
+
+ "Your sympathizing friend,
+
+ "ISABELLA GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "ROCKAWAY, September 10, 1811.
+
+ "I have been here four Sabbaths. The first I spent at home, the
+weather not permitting our going abroad; the second I spent at a
+prayer-meeting with the Methodist brethren; the third we rode to
+Hempstead, where I heard two plain gospel sermons from Mr. C----,
+Presbyterian minister; and the last I attended at the Episcopal
+church, same place; heard a good plain gospel sermon from Mr. H----,
+and witnessed the dispensation of the Lord's supper.
+
+ "To sing the praises of our redeeming God, and to lift up my
+heart in prayer with my fellow-sinners, in the comfortable hope that
+there are other living souls praising and praying with me, refreshes
+me: to hear the word of God read, and to be led to meditate upon it,
+however simple and common the exposition, also refreshes me. I am
+generally led to pray much for minister and people; to consider myself
+as one with them in Christ. However weak his natural powers, however
+few or small his talents, if I have reason to think that he is taught
+of God that which flesh and blood cannot teach, I desire to esteem him
+highly for his work's sake. I thank God for the meanest and weakest
+of such: I believe they never labor in vain. 'Out of the mouths of
+babes and sucklings,' in talents as well as in years, God will
+perfect praise.
+
+ "In this new world, thickly settled in many places with natural
+men 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,' while the
+flood of wrath is hastening to overwhelm them, and none to warn them
+of their danger, nor point out the ark of safety; shall such men be
+reckoned of none account, and their labors of no value? No, the wealth
+of both Indies cannot balance their work; nor all the talents ever
+possessed by fallen man, with all the orthodoxy which mere talents are
+capable of acquiring, without that divine teaching which many of
+those, thus contemned, possess. That same small discourse, those few
+plain points, these same things repeated in the same way, contain
+truths by which sinners may be saved, by which sinners shall be saved.
+
+ "Suppose, for it is but a supposition, that these men have made a
+mistake. They are the Lord's, and in their place by his providence. He
+will be forth-coming for them, and without miracle. From him shall
+their fruit be found, and his power be manifested by their weakness.
+Exert your energies, ye gifted doctors of divinity; and may the Lord
+prosper the means used to produce a ministry which shall render
+attendance upon their ministrations the interest of both the
+understanding and the heart. Persuade men who are adding field to
+field, house to house, thousand to thousand, to provide a competent
+maintenance for them. If these last remain obstinate, and it be idle
+to hope that youths of talents without fortune, whatever be their
+piety, will serve the church of God at the expense of devoting
+themselves to infallible penury, and all the wretchedness which
+belongs to it--is it wise to weaken the hands and discourage the
+hearts of those ministers already settled pastors, or to furnish their
+people with arguments in their own vindication for leaving them in
+want and penury?"
+
+
+ In the year 1811, some gentlemen of New York established a
+Magdalen Society: they elected a board of ladies, requesting their aid
+to superintend the internal management of the Magdalen House. This
+board chose Mrs. Graham their presiding lady, which office she held
+until her decease; the duties attendant on it she discharged with
+fidelity and zeal. In 1812 the trustees of the Lancasterian school
+solicited the attendance of several pious ladies, to give catechetical
+instruction to their scholars one afternoon in every week: and Mrs.
+Graham was one of those who attended regularly to this duty.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 8, 1812.
+
+ "'By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
+the son of Pharaoh's daughter; esteeming the reproach of Christ
+greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto
+the recompense of the reward: choosing rather to suffer affliction
+with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
+season.' Heb. 11:24.
+
+ "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
+persecution; the natural heart is enmity against God, and hates his
+image wherever found. If individual Christians have the favor of
+individual worldlings, it never is for their piety, that is rather
+borne with than loved; and too often Christians save themselves from
+reproach by unfaithfulness; that, alas, has been my sin and shame. In
+all my friendships with worldlings, some of which have been tender,
+how unfaithful have I been to friendship's highest office. How seldom
+have I endeavored to rescue my friend from sin and Satan, by leading
+her to the Friend of sinners, the source of happiness. Contenting my
+vile, selfish heart, with things pertaining to this life unconnected
+with that to come, leaving her under the influence of 'the lust of the
+eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life;' without eyes to
+see her danger, or friend to warn her of it; and while she
+communicated with me in things common to both, in all the good she
+knew, keeping back nothing from me of all she possessed; how often
+have I concealed my richest treasure, without inviting her to the
+participation. O, faithless friend! O, ungrateful, unfaithful--first
+to that gracious God who opened mine own eyes, arrested ray attention,
+stopped up my path, and turned me to the way of life; and next to
+my friend, whom I have left to pursue that same way of death,
+without attempting to lead her to this same sovereign, merciful,
+gracious Deliverer.
+
+ "And what withheld! Shame belongs to the heart governed by such
+motives; fear of contempt, reproach, or, at most, the loss of a carnal
+friendship. Of three such friends, now gone to their place, two
+continued their worldly course to the last, so far as I know; for the
+third the Lord provided a more faithful friend, who became worker
+together with the Spirit of God, led her to the Friend of sinners, who
+has compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, By
+Him she was received, and in Him she found life, light, and peace.
+
+ "She soon outran faithless me in the heavenly race; gently chid
+me for my remissness, but continued my friend and helper. Ever
+foremost in the race, humble and steady in faith, she looked not back,
+nor halted. She has long since finished her course, received her crown
+and reward of grace, and become fruit to the account of that friend
+who supplied what was wanting in me. I rejoice with them both, give
+glory to God, from whom their fruit was found, and take shame and
+confusion for my part.
+
+ "How many opportunities have I lost, and from the same sinful,
+shameful cause. O my Redeemer, what can I say to thee? Words are
+wanting to express my loathing of that vile, selfish cowardice.
+
+ "Didst Thou, who art the Creator of heaven and earth, the
+brightness of the glory of God, the express image of his person, and
+upholder of all things, suffer shame, contempt, anguish, death for my
+sake, that thou mightest redeem me from the second death, and purchase
+for me eternal life; and do I shrink and turn away from the least
+taste of thy cup, though the curse is extracted and a blessing
+infused!
+
+ "And after all this, art thou pacified towards me? I search in
+vain for words to express the amazing grace. 'As the heaven is high
+above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him, and
+towards vile me, who can lay small claim to that character; yet, as
+far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed my
+transgressions from him. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, who excel in
+strength, that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his
+word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do
+his pleasure; ye ministering spirits, sent forth to watch over and
+minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY, 1812.
+
+ "Dr. M----. 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
+the world,' John 1:29.
+
+ "He dwelt chiefly on the substitution of the victim in the room
+of the transgressor. When a victim was offered for an individual, he
+was to lay his hand on the head of the animal, by the appointment of
+God, as a token of his faith that his sins should be transferred to
+the victim which suffered death in his stead, and that his sins were
+forgiven and his person accepted. If the victim was for the whole
+congregation, then the elders, as their representatives, were to lay
+their hands upon the head of the victim, signifying the same faith.
+Great was the subject of the plan of redemption: The Son of God
+clothed with our nature, given and set apart as a propitiatory
+sacrifice, the victim upon whom the sins of his elect were laid, and
+he sacrificed in their stead.
+
+ "The Lamb of God, which took away the sins not only of the Jewish
+transgressors, but the sins of the elect out of every nation, kindred,
+and tongue throughout the world--on this Lamb of God rests my own
+individual hope for pardon and for acceptance. I lay my own individual
+hand of faith on his dear head, confess my sin, and rely upon his
+sacrifice for pardon and acceptance, through the atonement made by
+himself, God's anointed Priest."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, April, 1812.
+
+ "Dr. Romeyn. 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
+shall suffer persecution.' 2 Timothy 3:12. Gone as usual; but it came
+home to my heart. I have not suffered persecution; and why? because my
+life has not testified sufficiently against a sinful world. Alas,
+alas! the world loves its own, and I have been so accommodating, to
+say the least, as not to disturb it. 'The carnal mind is enmity
+against God; is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be;'
+but the world saw little in me of that image which they hate, and
+enough of assimilation to balance that little. O my God, my
+long-suffering, sin-pardoning God, thou knowest my vile cowardice;
+with professors a professor of thy name, with worldlings a seeming
+worldling. And now the season is past, the opportunity lost; the time
+of life is arrived when the world itself expects to be abandoned. No
+line of conduct in me will now reprove them; they account it wise to
+look out for a better portion, when the world can no longer be
+enjoyed; and through the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and the
+suggestions of the ever-vigilant enemy of souls, may be hardened in
+sin, by hoping to become religious in old age. O, let thy grace
+prevent it.
+
+ "The sinfulness, and O, the ingratitude of my past life rise in
+magnitude every review I take of it. And what can I say? Father,
+forgive. Yes, I dare say, Father, forgive. I dare say more, Thou hast
+forgiven. This grief of heart proves that thou hast not sealed me up
+in impenitence. Thou rememberest thy covenant with me in the days of
+my youth, when thou didst draw me with the cords of love and the bands
+of a man; and though no language can express my baseness and my
+ingratitude, through all my backsliding life, thy covenant stands
+fast.
+
+ "'I remember, and am confounded, and will never open my mouth any
+more because of my shame, now that thou art pacified towards me for
+all that I have done. And I know that thou art the Lord.
+
+ Contrition dwell within this breast,
+ That God within this heart may rest:
+ Shame and confusion flush this face,
+ And magnify this glorious grace.
+ Grace be my theme while I have breath,
+ And on my quivering lips in death.
+ Angels and fellow-sinners, say,
+ Will you not join me in this lay,
+ Now, and through heaven's eternal day?
+
+ "Blessed Comforter, thou seest old age upon me, loss of memory,
+and a desultory mind; I cannot retain even the substance of my dear
+pastor's sermons. I thank thee for the food and refreshment at the
+time, and often after for refreshing meditations on the same subjects.
+I commit all to thee; keep them for me, and feed me with these truths
+as thou seest I need. O be to me memory, judgment, presence of mind,
+for order, regularity, and natural powers are gone. I rejoice in my
+dear Saviour, who of God is made unto me wisdom, righteousness,
+sanctification, and redemption. He shall perfect that which concerneth
+me, and finish the work he has begun. Therefore I say, All is well."
+
+
+ "COMMUNION SABBATH, May 17, 1812.
+
+ "Was much melted under a sense of indwelling sin, and the
+deceitfulness of the human heart, and of my own heart in particular. I
+have been. I think, much in the exercise of contrition for the sins of
+my past life, and exercised in watching over my words, thoughts, and
+actions; now that the Lord has delivered me from all necessity to
+care, having every thing provided for me _necessary to life and
+godliness:_ pleasant food and clothing both for body and mind; my
+dear room, retirement, fire, candle, attendance; my precious Bible,
+and precious, lively, spiritual ordinances; a faithful and beloved
+pastor, who feeds me with truth: I taste it, and I am fed. I am, as
+the Lord God merciful and gracious has awarded, under the constant
+influence of shame and confusion for my highly aggravated
+transgressions: but I also enjoy the full sense of pardon; being
+justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
+Christ; and knowing that I have a 'great high-priest that is passed
+into, the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,' I am enabled to hold fast my
+profession, comforted by this, that I have not a high-priest who
+cannot be touched with the feeling of my infirmities, but was in all
+points tempted as we are, yet without sin. I dare come, not very
+boldly, for I am under much depression, to the throne of grace, that I
+may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Every time is
+a time of need with me, for sin still dwelleth in me. I have peace
+with God through my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but am at
+constant war with myself. I plead thy promise, that thou wilt subdue
+my iniquities, that sin shall not have dominion over me. And now,
+Captain of salvation, I renew the fight, but it is depending upon thee
+to fight for me, with me, and in me. I will set myself to watch, but I
+shall watch in vain, if thou keep not the avenues of my heart, and the
+door of my lips. O, clothe me with thy meek and lowly spirit."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, July 26, 1812.
+
+ "Tired of the bustle of Rockaway, and having some subordinate
+motives for returning home for a time, I embraced this season in
+particular; having, in the compass of one week, Sabbath, Wednesday my
+birthday, and the day set apart both by the General Assembly of our
+church and the Governor of our state, for fasting, prayer, and
+humiliation, besides lectures on the same evening. I returned
+therefore on Friday, the 24th.
+
+ "Dr. R---- preached from Psalm 27:1,'The Lord is my light and my
+salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of
+whom shall I be afraid?'
+
+ "O my God, my merciful and gracious God, what can I say of thy
+amazing, distinguishing mercy to me? Delivered from all these fears,
+and able to adopt the text fully, I know of none who have more or
+greater cause of fear as sinners. My transgressions have been of
+_crimson_ and _scarlet_ hue. O my God, thou knowest them,
+words cannot paint them. My Saviour, thou knowest them, for thou
+baredst them; every jot and tittle was put to thy account, and thou
+didst cancel all. O that garden, that cry on the cross! the effects
+were seen on thy sacred body, but who can conceive the mysterious
+horror which agonized thy sacred soul? But thou saidst, _It is
+finished,_ and finished it is. Lamb of God, which takest away the
+sins of the world, on thy consecrated head I lay the hand of faith,
+confess my sins, pray for forgiveness, and believe that I am forgiven.
+
+ "July 29th, my birthday, and the last day of the threescore years
+and ten of my sinful life. What an, exhibition will that day produce,
+when the secrets of all hearts will be laid open, all my actions and
+all the springs of them. In all the myriads which shall appear at the
+bar of God, will there be such a sinner--taking into view the early
+grace manifested?
+
+ "Born, I think, about the seventeenth year of my natural life;
+previously instructed in the doctrines and precepts of the Scriptures,
+as far as the natural mind can conceive, by pious parents and a
+faithful pastor; with milk provided for my spiritual infancy, and
+richer food set before me for my growth; the leaves of the new
+covenant were opened to my view, and the fulness treasured in Christ
+for my supply, to be asked, to be delighted in; and delighted I was,
+and satisfied. But Oh, I forsook the fountain of living waters, and
+hewed out broken cisterns, that could hold no water. Where can
+language be found to depict my ingratitude, my madness, my folly; and
+where to describe the long-suffering, the compassionate remonstrances,
+the kindly, fatherly chastisements, the repeated pardons and
+restorations of my gracious God in days of youth--aggravating my
+renewed backslidings, bringing upon my sinful soul vengeance for my
+inventions? What were the sins of Israel and Judah to mine? Mine were
+committed after the great atonement was made; the adorable
+High-priest, Jesus, had with his own blood entered within the veil,
+and was set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty of the
+heavens: the minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle,
+which the Lord pitched, and not man. The new covenant was exhibited,
+established on better promises, himself the Mediator. The new and
+living way was consecrated to the holiest of all by the blood of
+Jesus; a throne of grace was established, Jesus himself our Advocate
+and Intercessor. We are now privileged to come boldly to a throne of
+grace, that we may find grace to help in the time of need. O how
+aggravated my sin above theirs, having such great and precious
+privileges and promises, and a High-priest who can be touched with the
+feeling of our infirmities, who was in all points tempted as we are;
+who owns us as his brethren and sisters, yea, the very _members of
+his body_, and his Spirit dwelleth in us.
+
+ "I set apart the day for fasting and deep humiliation; took
+another survey of my past sinful life; confessed particulars on my
+knees, and made a fresh application to the blood of sprinkling which
+cleanseth from all sin; took a fresh hold of his new covenant of
+promise. 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those
+days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their
+minds will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities will I
+remember no more.' Lord, do as thou hast said. I rest my immortal soul
+on thy promise."
+
+
+ "JULY 30, 1812.
+
+ "The day set apart by the General Assembly and State Legislature
+for fasting and humiliation, confession of sin and prayer.
+
+ "Our pastor read the second chapter of Jeremiah, a great portion
+of which belongs to my own character as an individual; and is laid up
+as part of that provision which is to support me through the last
+stage in the wilderness, and through Jordan, over which I must shortly
+pass; laid in as a proof of the amazing long-suffering of God, and his
+readiness to forgive even the vile backslider in heart and life, as
+proclaimed in chapter three."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, NOV. 22."
+
+ "'Turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope.' Zech. 9:12.
+My Jesus--my hope, my stronghold, my safety, my Saviour, my portion,
+my life, my happiness--yes, my happiness, for safe I am and happy,
+though sometimes in heaviness, for yet sin dwelleth in me, and in
+others dear as my own soul; and though I know it is pardoned, and
+provision made for pardon to the end, yet, O it is bitter, and bitter
+let it be. I would not have it otherwise. Heal my depravity, O God;
+take sin out of this heart; O fill it with love to thee, and to all my
+fellow-sinners. My dear High-priest, it can be but a little further to
+Jordan. My seventy years are run. Does not the ark of the covenant
+appear, going before me? am I not called to decamp and follow after? O
+my blessed, blessed High-priest, keep my eye fixed on thy person, and
+let me the little further follow thee step by step, foot after foot,
+without losing one mark all the way to Jordan; and there let me see
+thee. Blessed ark of the covenant, roll back the waters of terror,
+stand firm in Jordan, and bid me come unto thee, and set up the stones
+of memorial in a song of praise in the midst of Jordan.
+
+ "O then thy glory let me see,
+ Then cause thy face to shine on me,
+ And tune my heart, and tune my voice,
+ And language furnish to rejoice,
+ That all around may lend their tongue,
+ And sweetly join my dying song."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, December 8, 1812.
+
+ "'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me:
+thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against mine enemies, and thy right
+hand shall save me.' 'The Lord will perfect that which concerns me:
+thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine
+own hands.' Psalm 138:7, 8.
+
+ "I will no longer mourn over loss of memory; I think the Lord has
+more than made it up to me by his sensible presence while hearing and
+applying the sermon to my heart at the time; not only so, he
+enlightens my understanding; it opens more to the elucidations of my
+pastor; and though I forget the words and the order of his discourses,
+I am instructed in the knowledge of the subject and the Scriptures in
+general. Shall I deny the grace of God through fear or pride? I see it
+not to be my duty. Can I attribute any thing to myself? No; shame and
+confusion of face belong to me, for my carelessness and idleness in
+the use of means during health and strength of body and mind. Never
+has God dealt with me as I sinned, but according to his own mercy, and
+in a way of great sovereignty. Let me record his great goodness, his
+tender mercies, and bless his name.
+
+ "Old age is upon me, and some of its infirmities; my memory is
+much impaired, and my mind in temporal things and subjects becomes
+very desultory. Not so in spirituals: I think I not only hear and read
+with more intense attention and prompt application, but my mind is
+more disposed to meditation; and though I cannot remember much of the
+sermons I hear, yet my mind is often furnished with happy and
+profitable thoughts on the same subjects; and I find myself instructed
+without remembering the instructions. This is evidently from the Lord.
+It appears to me also that I have not lost the sensibility of youth. I
+often shed tears, not only of compunction, but of gratitude. I seldom
+commune without tears. I think much of death; am solemnized, but
+not afraid.
+
+ "As far as I know, my confidence rests upon a
+surety-righteousness, exclusive of every thing in myself. I am not
+conscious of self-righteousness; I have no complacency in any thing
+ever done by me. I not only believe that in all things I come short,
+and that sin is mixed in all I do, because God hath said so, but am
+sensible of the particular depravity. It is my sincere desire to be
+stript of every thing that is mine--sins and duties laid in one
+heap--and to be clothed in the surety-righteousness of my Redeemer;
+all that is mine put to his account, and all that he did and suffered,
+as the Mediator and surety of the covenant, to mine.
+
+ "I am afflicted with rheumatism, but God gives me patience,
+disposes me to enumerate my many remaining mercies--eyes to read his
+word and ears to hear it preached; hitherto such moderation of pain as
+very often to be able to attend with fixedness. I have my room at my
+own command, candle, fire, and attendance; and O, bless the Lord, my
+soul, much of his sensible presence. In the night when my aches
+prevent me from sleeping, he gives me some sweet hymn; I sing, my pain
+is diverted, while my heart is melted and warmed under the
+expressions, and I often drop asleep with the words on my tongue.
+
+ "I am convinced that the provision I have laid in for my last
+journey in the wilderness and through Jordan, is selected by the
+influence of the Holy Ghost. He takes of the things of Christ and
+shows them unto me; and while he keeps upon my mind my meanness, my
+vileness, wrings my heart with the retrospect of my backslidings and
+highly aggravated transgressions, he opens at the same time the leaves
+of the New Testament and shows me my deliverance from punishment, the
+redemption of my soul, and my translation into the kingdom of God's
+dear Son: I weep and rejoice; I loathe myself, and clasping my Saviour
+to my heart, am at a loss for words to express how precious he is to
+my saved soul.
+
+ "Jesus, I love thy charming name,
+ 'Tis music to my ear;
+ Fain would I sound it out so loud
+ That heaven and earth should hear.
+
+ Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
+ My transport and my trust,
+ My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ No other good I boast.
+
+ All my capacious powers can wish,
+ In thee doth richly meet;
+ Not to mine eyes is light so dear.
+ Nor friendship's self so sweet.
+
+ Thy grace shall dwell upon my heart
+ And shed its fragrance there,
+ The noblest balm of all my wounds,
+ And cordial of my care.
+
+ I'll speak the honors of thy name
+ While I have life and breath;
+ Then, speechless, clasp thee in my arms,
+ The antidote of death.'
+
+ "Dr. M---- preached in the evening from Eph. 3:30: 'For we are
+members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.' It was a rich
+sermon; I enjoyed it at the time, but cannot recall it. Blessed
+Spirit, keep it for me, and feed me with the substance of it, as I
+stand in need.
+
+ "Accept of my thanks, blessed Jesus; that through thy meritorious
+life and death, I have an interest in the great whole. Accept of my
+thanks, blessed Spirit, for thus taking the things of Christ and
+showing them unto me. And accept of my thanks, Father of mercies, for
+the gift of thy Son, and all these blessings in him.
+
+ "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in
+Christ Jesus.' Amen."
+
+
+ "GREENWICH, Sabbath.
+
+ "Heard Dr. Milledoler preach in the state prison to the convicts,
+from Luke 19:10: 'For the Son of man is come to seek and save that
+which was lost.' He addressed them as fellow-sinners, all being by
+nature lost and dependent on the same means for recovery.
+
+ "True, my heart accords. O Lord, thou knowest I stand in my own
+estimation a sinner, the chief of sinners. These have added to their
+sin against thee, breach against men, and are suffering the penalty.
+
+ "My sins have been chiefly, though far from exclusively, against
+God, and with many aggravations. That I was born in a Christian land,
+of pious parents, who gave me religious instructions; brought up under
+faithful, lively ministers, and in religious society; exposed to few
+temptations but what arose from the corruptions of my own heart, are
+aggravations, which, perhaps, many are mourning over, as heightening
+the sin of unbelief in their unregenerated state. But the
+aggravations--the painful remembrance of which mars my comfort and
+covers me with shame and confusion even now, though I know that God is
+pacified with me--are as far above these as the heavens are above the
+earth. For in that Christian land, under those Christian parents and
+faithful pastors, while yet young and tender, I was enlightened,
+tasted of the heavenly gift, was made a partaker of the Holy Ghost,
+tasted of the good word of God and the power of the world to come. I
+was taken from the fearful pit and miry clay; my feet set upon the
+rock, and a new song put into my mouth, even to the amount of, O
+death, where is thy sting?--of redeeming love, pardoning grace, new
+covenant mercy, I had 'joy and peace in believing,' But forgetting my
+natural character, the extreme volatility of my spirits, my taste for
+gayety; forgetting the danger of smothering the heavenly spark by
+indulging to the utmost bound of lawful pleasure; forgetting my
+continual need of fresh supplies of grace to preserve and feed that
+new life which could not live on earthly food; forgetting the
+deceitfulness of my heart, the injunctions of my Bible, I became cold,
+negligent in the use of means, distant in prayer, lost enjoyment, and
+my heart, naturally carnal and madly fond of pleasure, got entangled.
+'The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life'
+regained their power; other loves usurped the place of that Beloved
+who had bought me with his blood, and betrothed me to himself; 'that
+which came into my mind was, that I would be as the families of the
+countries, to serve wood and stone.' Blessed be his name, he said, 'It
+shall not be.' He brought me into the wilderness and pleaded with me,
+caused me to pass under the rod, brought me again into the bond of
+the covenant.
+
+ "O how often hast thou wrought with me, for thy name's sake. One
+self-willed step brought with it a train of consequences dangerous to
+spiritual life, filling even the path of duty with pits and snares,
+cutting me off from ordinances, pastor, parents, church, country, and
+Christian society; placing me at the same time in the midst of carnal
+delights; and every thing in my natural temper and dispositions was
+congenial to them. What saved me? What in heaven or earth could save
+me, but thy covenant? Truly thy covenant standeth fast; therefore I
+was not lost in the vortex. But 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin,' kept his eye upon me; many a time
+did he stop up my path. O from how many delusions of my own seeking;
+how many snares and nets of my own weaving; how many pits of my own
+digging, hast thou delivered me, when wandering, bewildered, on
+temptation's ground, in the cloudy dark day. How often hast thou
+sought me out; how often bound me up when broken, strengthened me when
+sick, and fed me with judgment, and very, very often, thou madest
+thyself known to me. I knew thy hand when it shook the rod, when it
+arrested me on some mad career. I knew thy hedge, thy bar; saw not
+only escapes, but my Deliverer: often paused, turned, and took fast
+hold of thy covenant. I had no afflictions in those days, but every
+pleasure lawful to be enjoyed, and natural to the heart of woman; but
+no pastor, no church, no Christian society; yet God was there, my
+Bible, my Doddridge, and other good books. And to my shame and
+confusion this day, he was not, in the midst of all my idolatry, a
+barren wilderness, nor a land of drought to me. I had many Sabbaths;
+literally the Sabbath was a sign between my covenant God and me: ill
+spent it often was, but not with company; it was spent in retirement.
+The Lord did not leave me so far as to give up the Sabbath to the
+world. Though my heart was incrusted, and spiritual life scarcely
+discernible, sometimes the Lord met me, and strange to tell, not with
+threatenings causing terror, but with compunction, melting, turning,
+and ere the day was over, manifestations of pardon, though not joy;
+for I was grieved at my ingratitude.
+
+ "I did expect affliction long before it came, and my presumptuous
+heart calculated upon the fruit being the peaceable fruit of
+righteousness, and to take away sin; but still I held my way, gadding
+about, drinking the waters of Sihor and the rivers of Syria, and
+eating the worldling's dainties. Oh, Oh, at last it came; yes, it
+came. Thou didst cut off the desire of my eyes with a stroke, and with
+that made the world a blank to me. But O the stately steps of thy
+providential mercy previous to that trying hour. O my God, I must ever
+wonder and stand amazed at thy exuberant grace. In consistence with
+thy covenant, thou mightest have struck me among these worldlings, in
+that dry and barren land, where not one tongue could speak the
+language of Canaan, nor bring forth from thy precious Bible the words
+of consolation to my wounded and bereaved spirit; richly had I merited
+this; but never, no, never hast thou dealt with me as I sinned.
+Through the whole of my life, from the time that the Lord called me
+out of darkness into his marvellous light--from the time that he first
+led me to the Saviour, and enabled me to take hold of his covenant,
+wanderer, backslider, transgressor, rebel, idolater, ingrate, and if
+there be any name more expressively _vile_ and _abominable_,
+that is mine. And from the hour of my birth, through the whole of this
+refractory perverse life, 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
+gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin,' has been, and now is, thy
+name to me.
+
+ "No, ye strong-built walls, ye grated windows, ye gloomy cells,
+ye confine no such sinner as I. And did the Lord take vengeance on my
+inventions? O no, _mercy_ preceded, _mercy_ accompanied
+judgment; yea, it was all mercy, not vengeance. He brought me and my
+idol out of that barren land, placed us under the breath of prayer,
+among a dear little society of Methodists; he laid us upon their
+spirits, and when the messenger Death was sent for my beloved, the
+breath of prayer ascended from his bedside, from their little meeting,
+and I believe from their families and closets. The God of mercy
+prepared their hearts to pray, and his ear to hear, and the answer did
+not tarry. Behold, my husband prayeth; confesses sin; applies to the
+Saviour; pleads for forgiveness for his sake; receives comfort;
+blesses God for Jesus Christ, and dies with these words on his tongue,
+'I hold fast by the Saviour,' Behold another wonder; the idolatress in
+an ecstasy of joy. She who never could realize a separation for one
+single minute during his life, now resigns her heart's treasure with
+praise and thanksgiving.
+
+ "O the joy of that hour; its savor remains on my heart to this
+moment. For five days and nights I had been little off my knees: it
+was my ordinary posture at his bedside, and in all that time I had but
+_once_ requested life. Surely the spirit of prayer and supplication
+was poured out. The Spirit helped mine infirmities with groanings
+which could not be uttered, leading me to pray for that which God had
+determined to bestow; making intercession for my husband, according
+to the will of God.
+
+ "O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous
+things. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
+The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness hath he
+openly shown in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
+and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth
+have seen the salvation of our God." Psalm 98.
+
+
+ "FRIDAY, December.
+
+ "Sermon from John 4:10: 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and who
+it is that saith, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him,
+and he would have given thee living water,'
+
+ "This is part of my provision laid in for my passage through
+Jordan. Christ is the gift of God. Christ is the water of life; he is
+this living water, and the bread of life _given_; given by God,
+received by the sinner. Life and comfort are experienced, and fruit
+produced is the evidence; but first of all, this gift must be known,
+and the soul's need must be known; Christ, the anointed prophet,
+taught this woman both, and no other could. 'Search me, O Lord, and
+try me.' Hast thou not taught my soul its miserable and ruined state
+by nature; its helplessness as well as misery? Hast thou not also
+brought me to this living, life-giving water? Oh, hast thou not given
+me faith to come, faith to drink; and have I not experienced its
+solacing quality? Has it not satisfied my soul, and in some degree
+allayed my thirst for carnal delights? Blessed Spirit, the gift of the
+Father and of the Son, pour into my soul repeated draughts of this
+living water; yea, be in me, according to my Redeemer's promise, a
+well of water springing up to eternal life, and cause me to bring
+forth fruit to the glory of the Father.
+
+ "'Other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid,
+Christ Jesus.'
+
+ "Do I, O my God, seek for or desire any other foundation? Are not
+all my hopes for time and eternity built on this foundation? Is not
+Christ all my salvation and all my desire? Do I not embrace thy
+covenant just as it is, believing that thou givest unto me eternal
+life, and that this life is in thy Son, whom thou hast given 'to be a
+covenant of the people.' Iniquities prevail against me; but thou wilt
+not only purge them away, but wilt subdue them. Sin shall not have
+dominion over me, for I am not tinder the law, but under grace."
+
+
+ To Miss Walker, Edinburgh.
+
+ "NEW YORK, 1812.
+
+ "My dear Miss Walker, I think, is in my debt; but that is no
+reason why I may not inquire after her health and welfare, and through
+her, of that of her brother, sister, and other dear friends yet in
+their pilgrimage. My dear, dear Mrs. Walker lives in my affections,
+and surely what concerns her children can never be to me a matter of
+indifference. Your dear brother's persevering kindness and tried
+friendship have written gratitude in indelible characters on my heart.
+'A friend in need is a friend indeed;' and such was he. I trust the
+Lord has rewarded and will reward him. I have still in my possession
+many dear remembrances of your worthy mother; her sensible, pious
+letters, some of which have proved prophetic, are among my treasures.
+What a lovely group presses upon my memory at this moment, united to
+Jesus and to one another on earth, and the union is now perfected in
+heaven. Your dear mother, Mrs. Brown, dear Mrs. Randall, and Lady
+Glenorchy, all zealous for the welfare of the widow and orphans, whose
+way lay peculiarly through Vanity Fair, and whose spirits were too
+much assimilated to the wares there exhibited, and most unworthy of
+all the care and pains they bestowed upon her. Tell my then dear
+pastor the pilgrim is not lost; he will find her in the 18th chapter
+of Ezekiel: he may remember that he and dear Doctor Erskine gave me
+over to the Lord when leaving Edinburgh. Well has he kept the charge,
+though I have not my part, after all the chastisements and charges
+received. But he is 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.'
+
+ "I am now a happy Mary, enjoying the full sense of pardon and the
+light of his countenance in the meantime, and the full prospect of
+being soon with him, made like him, and capacitated to praise him.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "SABBATH, January 18.
+
+ "Dr. R----. 'By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of
+yourselves: it is the gift of God.'
+
+ "All is of grace, all is free gift, or we wicked, wretched
+sinners, could have no interest in it. Thanks be unto God for his
+unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ, given for a covenant of the people.
+Thanks be unto God for the gift of faith, by which we apprehend this
+covenant, and become interested in him, as the salvation of our souls.
+Thanks be unto God for life to work; for new principles and new
+motives, new desires, new hopes, new fears, and, in some measure, new
+conduct. All of grace, and to the God of grace be all the glory.
+
+ "Afternoon. 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
+let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in
+his riches: but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he
+understandeth and knoweth me; that I am the Lord which exercise
+righteousness, loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth: for in
+these things I delight, saith the Lord.' Jer. 9:23.
+
+ "O Lord, hast thou not taught me by thy word, by observation, and
+by experience, that 'all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as
+the flower of grass?' Alas, how much have I gloried in even more
+worthless and transient things; but thou hast put a worm in them,
+which I hope has cut the roots, and they are in a dying state. O let
+grace supplant them; let me now glory only in thee and thy blessed,
+gracious, and well-ordered covenant. Do I understand and know thee,
+that thou art the Lord which exerciseth righteousness,
+loving-kindness, and judgment in the earth? Dare I say that I, worm
+as I am, and a sinful worm, am the subject of this loving-kindness,
+through the righteousness of Christ? Yes, I dare, by the constitution
+of thine own covenant--the Covenant of the people, the Mediator, the
+guarantee of the covenant of grace, which is all summed up in him.
+
+ "When thou givest Christ, thou givest freely all the blessings of
+the new covenant.
+
+ "'And this is the record, That God hath given to us eternal life,
+and this life is in his Son.'
+
+ "I believe the record, and do understand and know that thou art
+the Lord, etc."
+
+
+ "FEBRUARY 4, 1813.
+
+ "My dear grandchildren J. and I. B---- waited on their beloved
+pastor Dr. Romeyn, and professed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
+as the Saviour of sinners and their Saviour, their desire to give
+themselves to the Lord and to his church, and to be in all things
+governed by it; to receive the seal of the covenant of grace,
+commemorate the dying love of their Redeemer the next opportunity, and
+swear allegiance to him over the symbols of his body and blood.
+
+ "Glory to God for this fresh manifestation of his mercy and grace
+to sinners. Not unto us, O Lord God, but to thy name be the glory.
+Thou hast made a covenant with thy chosen, and with believers in him;
+and thou hast, by thy Holy Spirit, drawn them to take hold of this thy
+own covenant, and to give themselves to thee to be made the subjects
+of it. And now, O Lord, remember thy own covenant, and do as thou hast
+said: Put thy laws in their minds, and write them in their hearts, and
+be unto them a God, and they shall be unto thee a people; be merciful
+to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities remember
+no more. Give them understanding to know and believe thy laws,
+memories to retain them, hearts to love them, consciences to recognize
+them, courage to profess and power to put in practice. O, grant that
+the whole habit and frame of their souls may be a table and transcript
+of thy law. Blessed Redeemer, gather these lambs in thy arms and carry
+them in thy bosom. O, seal them with the Holy Spirit of promise. They
+look forward to that feast of love which thou didst institute in that
+same night in which thou wast betrayed into the hands of sinners. If
+it may please thee, manifest thyself to them as thou dost not unto the
+world. Blessed Shepherd, call these lambs by name; may they know thy
+voice, rejoice to hear it, and follow thee. In all the preparatory
+exercises speak to their hearts and commune with them in secret. O
+give them some love-tokens, which they may never forget; and make
+thyself known to them in the breaking of bread. Exercise their parents
+with thankfulness and gratitude, and thine aged servant, to whom, in
+an especial manner, belong 'shame and confusion of face,' while she
+stands amazed at the stately steps of thy free, sovereign mercy and
+grace to her, and to her children according to the flesh. Husband of
+the widow, Father of the fatherless, Shield of the stranger, glorify
+thy name, magnify thy grace: all these thou hast been to me; give
+these parents deep humility, if they have received grace to be more
+faithful than I; yet thy holy eye has seen much shortcoming in them
+also. Glory to thy name for the grace in which they stand, and that
+thou hast enabled them to train up these children for thee. Oh, let
+this be a heart-searching time with us all; humble us, and exalt thy
+name, and magnify thy grace.
+
+ "O Lord, my covenant God, all my desire is before thee; is it not
+that thou magnify thy grace in me and in my family? There are others,
+Lord, and the residue of the Spirit is with thee. Put forth thy power
+in the heart of I.G. S----, and compel him to come in. And Oh, my dear
+I. S---- and her family; thou biddest me open my mouth wide. Lord, see,
+there is much for thee to do. I praise thy name for what thou hast
+done, and lay me at thy feet waiting for further manifestations of thy
+mercy, thy sovereign mercy: I have no other plea.
+
+ "Work with us, for thy name's sake, and with J. M----, for whom
+my worthless prayers have been presented to thee, as also a member of
+this family. O Lord, he is now gone out into the world; he is no
+longer under the control of man; bring him under thy gracious control;
+call him into thy kingdom of grace, and make him a willing subject in
+the day of thy power. Father, glorify thy name."
+
+
+ "APRIL, Sabbath, 1813.
+
+ "'Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
+hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speaking, as new-born babes
+desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.' 2
+Peter, 2:1, 2.
+
+ "Blessed Spirit, thou hast convinced me of the indwelling of
+every one of these, and also of my helplessness of myself to make
+successful war against them. But Oh, hast thou not led me to the
+Captain of salvation for armor, for strength, for wisdom, for power;
+and is not my dependence for success on thy promise that sin shall not
+have dominion over me; that thy grace is sufficient for me; that as my
+day, so shall my strength be?"
+
+
+ "MAY 5.
+
+ "'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
+through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Rom. 5:1.
+
+ "Blessed, blessed, blessed doctrine; by no other doctrine can I
+be justified and saved. Christ the gift of God, and faith the gift of
+God. All, all is of grace.
+
+ "I have shut my door, desiring to commune with God, but feeling
+dull and lifeless, ask what shall I read? My Bible lies just at hand;
+where shall I read? every part is good. I open and find it marked: 'My
+prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time; O God, in the
+multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.' Psalm
+69:13. In an acceptable time--when? 'To-day if ye will hear his
+voice.' Nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou holdest me by
+my right hand, and ever upholdest me, in the time of need especially.
+
+ "'In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy
+salvation.' What is the truth of God's salvation? To be the property
+of Christ by purchase, to have Christ made our property by the
+Father's gift; to have the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts, to
+enlighten our understandings, to govern our wills, to regulate our
+affections and tempers, and to be in us 'a well of water springing up
+into everlasting life.' Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ours by gift and
+by power; this. Oh, this contains all my asking for myself, for my
+children and children's children, for nay friends and all dear to me.
+Take us, O Lord, and in 'the truth of thy salvation' give thyself to
+us; do all the needful for us, and glorify thy name."
+
+
+ "SABBATH.
+
+ "'A certain man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his
+servants at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
+things are ready. And they all, with one consent, began to make
+excuse.' Luke 14:16.
+
+ "Alas, such are our hearts, that we make idols even of the
+blessings and bounties of providence; no room is left for Christ,
+though without him every temporal good is under a curse, and our own
+persons also.
+
+ "O Lord, bless the gracious invitations given to perishing
+sinners this day; the pathetic and tender remonstrances of thy
+faithful servant. O, may many of the poor, the maimed, the halt, the
+blind, from the streets and lanes of the city, and may many from the
+highways and hedges, be compelled to come, that thy house may be
+filled. And Oh, my gracious Father, let these careless ones, who are
+my flesh and blood, be among the number. Hear, O hear the prayers
+offered this day for poor, self-deluded, self-destroying sinners;
+awaken them, O Lord, and sweep away all lying refuges, and, gracious
+God, settle and establish these halters. O bring to the birth, and
+give life and love and zeal to make a full profession to the glory of
+thy powerful grace, and to the joy and comfort of fellow-members. Let
+thy kingdom come."
+
+
+ "GREENWICH, June 11, 1813.
+
+ "In my large light closet, within my airy, comfortable room; the
+prospect from my windows such as I have ever delighted in, woods and
+water, flower-garden and fruit-trees, and beautiful shrubs of various
+kinds, all as much mine as if my own individual property by the laws
+of the land in which I live; surrounded with books, and my children's
+rich library at my command; enjoying rich gospel ordinances, under a
+godly, gifted pastor, with pious, loving, sensible church-members; a
+carriage to convey me, Sabbath and week-days, to places of worship;
+children whose desire is that I may enjoy all these to the full
+without care or trouble, they caring for me; with all these a large
+measure of health, my eyes see my teachers, my ears hear their voice.
+Why then these tears? Are they all for sin? Lord, search and see. Does
+no wounded pride, no selfish hurt mix? Ah, Lord, thou knowest. I have
+detected much, and mourn and weep on that account; but I fear there is
+yet much lurking and working that I know not.
+
+ "I have set apart the remainder of this day for fasting and
+humiliation on account of past sins which I already know, and for yet
+further search into what I know not of at present. Lord, give me
+heart-searching exercises. Glory, glory, glory to Father, Son, and
+blessed Comforter, that I am forgiven; thy Spirit witnesseth with my
+spirit that I am forgiven. Thou hast given me faith in the truth of
+thy testimony, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin--that
+this is thy own provision for sinners--that Christ died for the
+ungodly--that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us--that
+Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us--that 'God so loved the
+world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
+him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' These last words
+came from thy own lips of flesh. Thou gift of God to a perishing
+world, and to me, one of the most guilty in it, thou also saidst, 'He
+that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' Thy Spirit
+witnesseth with my spirit, that to me it is given on the behalf of
+Christ to believe in him. Phil. 1:29. Therefore I have everlasting
+life. Him who was slain and hanged on a tree, 'Him hath God exalted to
+be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and remission of
+sins.' From this exalted Prince I have repentance and forgiveness of
+sin, and therefore I dare look at my sins: I look with grief, but not
+with terror. Though forgiven, and though provision is made for
+forgiveness, sin is still an evil and a bitter thing.
+
+ "This day is set apart for mourning. I desire to search, to know
+more of my vileness, that I may mourn yet more; that while my heart is
+wrung for my ingratitude, the Lord may make it the means of crucifying
+my sins, especially that which so easily besets me, that he will give
+me the prayer of faith that they may be forgiven, and that I may be
+delivered from their power in my heart; that I may be clothed with
+humility, so humble that nothing can hurt me, wearing my Redeemer's
+yoke, leaning upon him who was 'meek and lowly,' that I may find rest
+to my soul. Now, Lord, assist me for the rest of the day" and let
+to-morrow be the beginning of days."
+
+
+ "Ten o'clock at night.
+
+ "The day is spent, and I look for the blessing. It has not been
+spent so much in my usual way of retracing, confessing, and bewailing,
+but with Owen on the subject of indwelling sin, of purification and
+the, means appointed by God. The blood of Christ is the only effectual
+means not only as atonement for sin, setting us free from
+condemnation, but also for cleansing, as sprinkled on the conscience
+by the Holy Ghost, and purging it from dead works. There are means in
+which we are to exercise ourselves, depending on the Spirit for
+benefit. We are to work in the faith that God works in us.
+Mortification is one means, and though the mortification of the body
+is perhaps one of the lowest, I think it is of divine appointment,
+therefore not to be neglected. I have been also studying the death of
+Christ, and his previous sufferings; the unbelief, the opposition,
+contradiction, contempt, and cruel mocking which he endured; and his
+meekness, patience, and submission under them; healing Malchus' ear,
+praying for his murderers; that, as the children of Israel were healed
+by looking to the brazen serpent, I may be healed by looking unto the
+uplifted Jesus; the Spirit producing the effect. And as the woman with
+the bloody issue was healed by a touch, exercising faith in the power
+of Christ, so I may be healed by a look, exercising the same faith,
+the Spirit producing the effect of conformity to his example, working
+in me that meek and lowly spirit for which I have been praying. And
+now, by grace communicated, I hope to watch over my spirit with more
+success than formerly. I wait for thy salvation."
+
+
+ The following letter shows how Mrs. Graham persevered in her
+endeavors to guide and benefit immortal souls as long as God gave her
+powers to be employed.
+
+ To Mrs. J. W----.
+
+ "GREENWICH, 1814.
+
+ "Did not the dove, my dear J----, get into the ark? Yes, Noah put
+out his hand and pulled her in; both are types of Christ. He is the
+Ark of safety from the flood of wrath that must overwhelm unbelievers.
+
+ "I know not, my dear, the amount of that over which you mourn
+with so much agony; I know not even if it be sinful, except in the
+circumstances; you are conscious of sincerity, and you do not now wish
+to draw back. We can, my dear, do nothing in our own strength; no, not
+so much as think a good thought. To make any resolution without
+dependence on God for strength to perform, is sinful; to make any vow
+without a consciousness of our weakness and dependence on God for
+strength to perform, is an aggravation of the evil.
+
+ "I suppose my J---- has sinned; what then? If any man say he has
+no sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. And if you
+suppose that your sin in this is greater than many other sins with
+their aggravations, you judge wrong. I think that any one
+_deliberate_ sin, wilfully committed with a knowledge that it is
+sin, is greater than yours in such circumstances. You are bound by
+your vow, and God will enable you to perform it. Turn, my dear, to the
+second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter preaches to
+the very murderers of our blessed Saviour, and charges the guilt upon
+them, verse twenty-second; and again in verse thirty-sixth, 'Therefore
+let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that this same Jesus whom
+ye crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ; and when they heard
+this, they were pricked in their hearts.' Read on, my dear; Peter
+exhorts even them to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ, for
+the remission of sins. I make no doubt but many have made vows in a
+rash manner; but, so far as I know, you have vowed only to serve the
+Lord; this you are bound to do with or without a vow; and if the Lord
+makes this vow the means of keeping you watchful and humble, and firm
+in avoiding what you have vowed against, it will, by his overruling
+Spirit, prove a blessing.
+
+ "You 'do not know where to look for comfort!' To, Jesus, my dear;
+not to yourself, nor to any creature. 'Look unto me and be ye saved,
+all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.' Isa.
+45:22. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.'
+Hosea 13:9; chap. 14. Take a view, my dear, of the character of God in
+his dealings with his perverse Israel, after they had made the molten
+calf, and sinned otherwise grievously against God. He, at the
+intercession of Moses, forgave their sin, and proclaimed that
+wonderful name, which to this day is the encouragement of convicted
+sinners, and mine in particular. And the Lord passed by him (Moses)
+and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' And how can
+God do this, whose law is, as himself, immutable; and who adds 'that
+he will by no means clear the guilty?' Exodus 34:6. Look now to the
+fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where you will find your Redeemer
+standing in your stead. In the thirtieth chapter is another amazing
+display of God's forgiveness. The prophet begins the chapter with,
+'Woe to the rebellious children!' and lays grievous things to their
+charge till you come to the eighteenth verse, where he says,
+'Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious to you;
+therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you; for the
+Lord is a God of judgment, blessed are all they that wait for him.'
+Once more look at the proclamation, Jeremiah 3:12. God has provided a
+sacrifice of sufficient value to atone for our most aggravated
+transgressions, and a righteousness answerable to the uttermost extent
+of his holy law. Both are made over to the sinner by free gift. 'He
+hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
+the righteousness of God in him.' 2 Cor. 5:21. _In Him_--He, our
+surety, having fulfilled all righteousness for us, _as_ our
+surety and representative.
+
+ "You fear that it is not the hand of the Lord that is upon you. I
+do think that it is, my J----. It is the peculiar office of the Spirit
+to convince of sin, and I do think that he is at this time dealing
+with your soul. But why look so much at your vow? you have sinned, my
+J----, in heart, lip, and life. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
+all thy heart.' O my J----, what prostituted affections, what misspent
+time. While God says, 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do,
+do all to the glory of God,' what self-indulgence and self-will,
+instead of self-denial. Listen to the voice of convictions, listen to
+it as the voice of mercy, leading you to Christ the great propitiatory
+sacrifice, 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'
+
+ "Go to Christ, my dear, as a sinner; tell him you commit your
+sinful soul into his hands; say, Thou hast bid me look unto thee and
+be saved. Saviour, I do look unto thee for salvation. Wash me in thy
+blood, clothe me in thy righteousness, sanctify me by thy grace,
+accept of me as thy pardoned, saved child; and be a surety for me for
+good, that having vowed to thee that I would be thy servant, I may
+perform my vow; furnish me with both will and power to devote myself
+to thee every day of my life.
+
+ "Try, my dear, to rest on Christ; put your trust in him; if you
+do he will not disappoint you; as your faith, so shall it be unto you.
+Now faith is a saving grace; thereby we receive and rest upon Christ
+for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. Do as you have
+said: wait his appointed time, in the use of means, till he manifest
+himself to you. I am hurried for time to get this to town. Farewell. I
+will pray for you.
+
+ "I. GRAHAM."
+
+
+ "1814.
+
+ "'A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
+darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.' Joel 2:2.
+
+ "Not in temporals, nor in the means of grace; every thing that
+earth can afford is gathered into my present cup; it is full and runs
+over with earthly good, and a large measure of health to enjoy it.
+Moral temporals are also mine in no common degree, friendship, society
+at my choice, and respectability in it. Rich means of grace within my
+reach, my Bible, and books of every kind and great variety at my hand,
+of instruction and of devotion. Mine eyes see my teachers, and my
+judgment approves their doctrine as corresponding with that sure word
+of testimony given me as the test of all human writings. Yet it is a
+day of darkness and of gloom.
+
+ "'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
+of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him
+trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.' Isa. 50:10.
+
+ "To trust in the name of the Lord and to stay myself upon my God
+is still my privilege, and though with little life and little comfort,
+my experience. My mind is so desultory! My Bible, and helps derived
+from men's deductions and experiences, seem useless; they are not
+blessed as means to fix my heart; trifles of every sort pass and
+repass often; while my eyes read the words, my mind is gone in a dream
+on some other subject; my heart remains unimpressed, my mind
+uninformed; the same in prayer, especially in secret and in the
+family; less so in the sanctuary.
+
+ "I seem, as to apprehension, left to my own dark, dismal, carnal
+self; naked faith on the finished work of my Redeemer is all that
+supports me; and that as a bare preventive of fear and source of a
+hope that 'I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance
+and my God.' I know his covenant stands fast, I have taken hold of it;
+I do at this cold and stupid moment place my confidence in it. Christ
+is God's covenant, God's gift to sinners; I believe it; he is the Lamb
+of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; I believe it; I
+believe on the Son for all the purposes for which God has sent him
+into the world; therefore I have everlasting life; I believe the
+record that God gave of his Son; that God hath given to me eternal
+life, and this life is in his Son, not in me, but in union with him.
+'He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son, hath
+not life.' John 5.
+
+ "I thank thee, my God, that thou hast not left me to cast away my
+confidence in Christ. I have life in him, and no life but as I have it
+from him. Thou seest how it is with me. Thou art my reconciled Father
+in Christ, but thou hast shut me out from thy presence. I do not enjoy
+thee; my poor heart is tossed from trifle to trifle. It has been my
+way through life to destroy myself, and thy way to deliver me. Thou
+hast been very gracious to me in my old age. I have enjoyed much of
+thy presence in thy sanctuary and in my private hours; and although
+sin has dwelt and does dwell in me, I have enjoyed thy forgiving
+grace, and have tasted thy love, far beyond what I have for weeks
+past. 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my
+thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
+way everlasting.' Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. Am I
+living in the indulgence of any known wilful sin; or in the habitual
+neglect of any known duty? Lord, 'it is not in man that walketh to
+direct his steps.' I know I have been unthankful, unwatchful, idle;
+alas, this is my ordinary course; but it is not the ordinary course of
+my Lord God, merciful and gracious, to mark iniquity against me, but
+to forgive me daily, to lead me to the blood of sprinkling, to give me
+contrition, and to restore me to his favor by giving me 'joy and peace
+in believing.' Help, Lord; give me heart-searching exercises. I read
+thy word, I set about that to which thou callest me. I set apart this
+day for fasting, but the gracious exercises are not in me. Come, O
+come, and be with me. Exalted Prince, give repentance and remission;
+in thy light let me see light.
+
+ "'Therefore now turn ye unto me with all your heart, with
+fasting, with weeping and mourning; rend your heart and not your
+garments, turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and
+merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of
+the evil.' Joel 2:12. O, do I not know thee by this name; has it not
+been thy name to me throughout this wide wilderness, 'pardoning
+iniquity, transgression, and sin?' Thou hast prepared a prayer for me,
+'Turn me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God.' Jer.
+31:18. I look to thy new covenant in the same chapter; it is all
+promise, I can do nothing in it. Christ by thine own appointment
+answers for my part; or rather, I have no part. I can render nothing
+to the Lord for all his benefits to me. I will put forth the withered
+hand to 'take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.'
+
+ "Ten o'clock. The day is spent; I have confessed, and endeavored
+to turn to the Lord with mourning, but with little sensibility.
+
+ "I attended meeting in the evening, heard two excellent
+discourses on the priesthood of Christ, and joined in two prayers and
+three hymns with more fixed attention than has been my attainment
+lately; for this I thank thee, my God. Many have been the beginnings
+of days and of months which thou hast afforded after backsliding. O
+add this to the number. 'Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my
+supplications; in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy
+righteousness. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy
+sight shall no man living be justified.' Psalm 143.
+
+ "My spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is
+desolate. I stretch out my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after
+thee in a thirsty land. Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth;
+hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto those that go down into
+the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in
+thee do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I
+lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies; I
+flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my
+God. Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken
+me, O Lord, for thy name's sake; for thy righteousness' sake bring my
+soul out of trouble. I wait for thy salvation.
+
+ This heart my Jesus bought with blood,
+ It is his honest claim;
+ O seize it, fix it, Saviour God,
+ To give it is my aim.
+
+ Take full possession of this heart,
+ And here set up thy throne;
+ Command each idol to depart,
+ And make it all thine own.
+
+ O dare I not to thee appeal,
+ That 'tis my first desire,
+ That on this heart thou stamp thy seal
+ And grave it with love's fire?
+
+ To fix this heart to stray no more
+ I e'en would quit the clay;
+ Would hasten on to Jordan's shore,
+ And plough the watery way.
+
+ Nor fear nor dread my soul should move,
+ With Jesus in my heart;
+ Each passion swallowed up in love,
+ I'd court the friendly dart.
+
+ The resurrection and the life
+ In death itself he'll prove,
+ And while he closes mortal strife,
+ Breathe his own life of love.
+
+ Then boast not, monster, of thy sting,
+ Nor of thy victory, grave;
+ In th' arms of God's anointed King
+ I dare thy fiercest brave.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ CLOSING LABORS FOR THE POOR--
+ SICKNESS AND DEATH.
+
+ During the last two years of her life, Mrs. Graham found her
+strength inadequate to so extensive a course of visiting the poor as
+formerly; there were some distressed families, however, that
+experienced her kind attentions to the last. She would occasionally
+accompany the Rev. Mr. Stanford on his visits to the state-prison,
+hospital, and to the Magdalen house. This gentleman was the stated
+preacher employed by "the Society for the Support of the Gospel among
+the Poor," and devoted his time to preaching in the almshouse,
+hospital, state-prison, debtors'-prison, etc., with great assiduity
+and acceptance.
+
+ Mrs. Graham now spent much of her time in her room, devoted to
+meditation, prayer, and reading the Scriptures; she seemed to be
+weaning from earth and preparing for heaven. Prayer was that sweet
+breath of her soul which brought stability to her life. Genuine
+humility was obvious in all her sentiments and deportment. Religious
+friends prized her conversation, counsel, and friendship; sometimes
+they would venture on a compliment to her superior attainments, but
+always experienced a decided rebuke. To her friend Colonel L----, who
+expressed a wish to be such a character as she was, she quickly
+replied with an air of mingled pleasantry and censure, "Get thee
+behind me, Satan." To a female friend who said, "If I were only sure
+at last of being admitted to a place at your feet I should feel
+happy." "Hush, hush," replied Mrs. Graham, "There is ONE SAVIOUR."
+Thus she was always careful to give her divine Redeemer the whole
+glory of her salvation.
+
+ This example of humility, self-denial, and sensibility to the
+imperfection of her conduct, is the more to be valued, as it is so
+difficult to be followed. Flattery is too commonly practised; and
+there is no sufficient guard against its dangerous consequences,
+except a constant and humbling recognition of the spirituality of the
+law of God, and our lamentable deficiency in fulfilling it. Pride was
+not made for man: "I have seen an end of all perfection," said the
+Psalmist, "but thy commandment is exceeding broad." It was by
+cherishing this sentiment, by studying her Bible, by searching her
+heart and its motives, and above all, by grace accorded of heaven in
+answer to her prayers, that Mrs. Graham was enabled to maintain such
+meekness of spirit, such an uniformity of Christian character
+throughout her life. May all who read her history be directed to the
+same sources of true peace and genuine happiness.
+
+ In the spring of 1814 she was requested to unite with some ladies
+in forming a society for the promotion of industry among the poor.
+This was the last act in which she appeared before the public. A
+petition, signed by about thirty ladies, was presented to the
+corporation of New York, praying that they would assign them a
+building in which work might be prepared and given out to the
+industrious poor, who being paid for their labor, might be saved the
+necessity of begging, and at the same time cherish habits of industry
+and self-respect. The corporation having returned a favorable answer,
+and provided a house, a meeting of the Society was held, and Mrs.
+Graham once more was called to the chair. It was the last time she was
+to preside at the formation of a new society. Her articulation, once
+strong and clear, was now observed to have become more feeble. The
+ladies present listened to her with affectionate attention; her voice
+broke upon the ear as a pleasant sound that was passing away. She
+consented to have her name inserted on the list of managers, and to
+give what assistance her age would permit in forwarding so beneficent
+a work. Although it pleased God that she should cease from her labors
+before the House of Industry was opened, yet the work was carried on
+by others and prospered. Between four and five hundred women were
+employed and paid during the following winter. The corporation
+declared in strong terms their approbation of the result, and enlarged
+their donation, with a view to promote the same undertaking for the
+succeeding winter.
+
+ In the month of May, 1814, a report was received from Mr. Stephen
+Prust of Bristol, in England, of the Society for establishing
+Adult-schools. Mrs. Graham was so delighted with a perusal of it, as
+immediately to undertake the formation of such a school in the village
+of Greenwich. She called on the young people who were at work in some
+neighboring manufactories, and requested them to attend her for this
+purpose every Sabbath morning at eight o'clock. This was kept up after
+her decease as a Sunday-school, and consisted of nearly eighty
+scholars. She was translated from this work of faith on earth, to
+engage in the sublimer work of praise in heaven.
+
+ For some weeks previous to her last illness she was favored with
+unusual health and much enjoyment of religion; she appeared to have
+sweet exercises and communion in attending on all God's ordinances and
+appointed means of grace. She was also greatly refreshed in spirit by
+the success of Missionary and Bible Societies, and used to speak with
+much affection of Mr. Gordon, Mr. Lee, Mr. May, and Dr. Morrison, with
+whom she had been acquainted when in New York, on their way to
+missionary stations in India and China.
+
+ Mrs. Graham was very partial to the works of Dr. John Owen, Rev.
+William Romaine, and Rev. John Newton, and read them with pleasure and
+profit. One day she remarked to Mr. B----, that she preferred the
+ancient writers on theology to the modern, because they dealt more in
+italics. "Dear mother," he replied, "what religion can there be in
+italics?" "You know," said she, "that old writers expected credit for
+the doctrines they taught, by proving them from the word of God to be
+correct: they inserted the scripture passages in italics, and their
+works have been sometimes one-half in italics. Modern writers on
+theology, on the contrary, give us a long train of reasoning to
+persuade us to their opinions, but very little in italics." This
+remark of hers has great force, and deserves the serious attention of
+those who write and those who read on theological subjects.
+
+ On the two Sabbaths preceding her last illness she joined in
+communion at the Lord's table. On the 10th of July, 1814, at
+Greenwich, and on the 17th at her own church in Cedar-street. On each
+week preceding these seasons she attended three evenings on religious
+exercises; on Thursdays at the Orphan Asylum, on Friday evenings the
+preparation sermons, and on Saturday evenings at the prayer-meetings.
+She appeared lively, and expressed comfort in those religious seasons,
+and continued actively useful until the very day on which her
+illness commenced.
+
+ On the morning of the 17th she attended the Sabbath-school with
+her daughter and grandchildren. Thus the Lord was pleased to direct
+that she should lead her children's children into the walks of
+usefulness before she took her flight to heaven, and impose a pleasing
+obligation on them that they should follow her steps. Of the same date
+is the last meditation in her diary.
+
+
+ "COMMUNION SABBATH, July 17, 1814.
+
+ "'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
+not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
+receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls,' 1
+Peter, 1:8, 9.
+
+ "I had requested to be brought to my Lord's banqueting-house, and
+to be feasted with love this day. I ate the bread and drank the wine,
+in the faith that I ate the flesh and drank the blood of the Son of
+man, and dwelt in him and he in me. Took a close view of my familiar
+friend Death, accompanied with the presence of my Saviour, _his
+sensible presence_. I cannot look at it without this; it is my only
+petition concerning it. I have had desires relative to certain
+circumstances, but they are nearly gone. It is my sincere desire that
+God may be glorified, and he knows best how and by what circumstances.
+I retain my one petition,
+
+ "Only to me thy countenance show,
+ I ask no more the Jordan through."
+
+ Thus she arose from her Master's table, was called to gird on her
+armor for a combat with the king of terrors, and came off more than
+conqueror, through Him who loved her.
+
+ On Monday she appeared in perfect health, and visited and gave
+religious instruction to the orphans in the asylum.
+
+ On Tuesday, the 19th of July, she complained of not feeling well,
+and kept her room; on Thursday her disorder proved to be a
+cholera-morbus, and her children sent for a physician. She thought
+this attack was slighter than in former seasons. On Saturday, however,
+she requested that Mrs. Chrystie might be sent for; this alarmed Mrs.
+B----, knowing there existed an understanding between those two
+friends, that one should attend the dying-bed of the other, Mrs.
+Chrystie was a very dear friend of Mrs. Graham. For upwards of
+twenty-four years they had loved each other, feeling reciprocal
+sympathy in their joys and their sorrows; the hope of faith was the
+consolation of both, and oftentimes it had been their delightful
+employment to interchange their expressions of affection towards Him
+whom having not seen, they loved, and in whom, though they saw him
+not, yet believing on him, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full
+of glory. On Mrs. Chrystie's entering the chamber of her friend, Mrs.
+Graham welcomed her with a sweet expressive smile, seeming to say, "I
+am going to get the start of you, I am called home before you; it will
+be your office to fulfil our engagement." When she sat by her bedside,
+Mrs. Graham said, "Your face is very pleasant to me, my friend."
+
+ During Saturday night, a lethargy appeared to be overpowering her
+frame. On Sabbath morning she was disposed to constant slumber;
+observing Mr. B---- looking at her with agitation, she was roused from
+her heaviness, and stretching her arms towards him and embracing him,
+she said, "My dear, dear son, I am going to leave you; I am going to
+my Saviour." "I know," he replied, "that when you do go from us, it
+will be to the Saviour; but, my dear mother, it may not be the Lord's
+time now to call you to himself." "Yes," said she, "now is the time;
+and Oh, I could weep for sin." Her words were accompanied with her
+tears. "Have you any doubts, then, my dear friend?" asked Mrs.
+Chrystie. "Oh no," replied Mrs. Graham; and looking at Mr. and Mrs.
+B---- as they wept, "My dear children, I have no more doubt of going
+to my Saviour, than if I were already in his arms; my guilt is all
+transferred; he has cancelled all I owed. Yet I could weep for sins
+against so good a God: it seems to me as if there must be weeping even
+in heaven for sin."
+
+ After this she entered into conversation with her friends,
+mentioning portions of scripture and favorite hymns which had been
+subjects of much comfort and joy to her. Some of these she had
+transcribed into a little book, calling them her "victuals" prepared
+for crossing over Jordan; she committed them to memory, and often
+called them to remembrance as her songs in the night when sleep had
+deserted her. She then got Mr. B---- to read to her some of these
+portions, especially the eighty-second hymn of Newton's third book:
+
+ "Let us love, and sing, and wonder;
+ Let us praise the Saviour's name:
+ He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
+ He has quenched mount Sinai's flame:
+ He has washed us with his blood,
+ He has brought us nigh to God," etc.
+
+ Mrs. Graham then fell asleep, nor did she awaken until the voice
+of the Rev. Dr. Mason roused her. They had a very affectionate
+interview, which he has partly described in the excellent sermon he
+delivered after her decease. She expressed to him her hope as founded
+altogether on the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: were she left to
+depend on the merit of the best action she had ever performed, that
+would be only a source of despair. She repeated to him, as her view of
+salvation, the fourth verse of the same hymn:
+
+ "Let us wonder: grace and justice
+ Join, and point at mercy's store;
+ When, through grace, in Christ our trust is,
+ Justice smiles and asks no more;
+ He who washed us with his blood,
+ Has secured our way to God."
+
+Having asked Dr. Mason to pray with her, he inquired
+if there was any particular request she had to
+make of God by him; she replied, that God would
+direct: then as he kneeled, she put up her hands, and
+raising her eyes towards heaven, breathed this short
+but expressive petition, "Lord, lead thy servant in
+prayer."
+
+ After Dr. Mason had taken his leave, she again fell into a deep
+sleep. Her physicians still expressed a hope of her recovery, as her
+pulse was regular and the violence of her disease had abated. One of
+them, however, declared his opinion that his poor drugs would prove of
+little avail against her own ardent prayers to depart and be with
+Christ, which was far better for her than a return to a dying world.
+
+ On Monday the Rev. Mr. Rowan prayed with her, and to him she
+expressed also the tranquillity of her mind, and the steadfastness of
+her hope, through Christ, of eternal felicity.
+
+ Her lethargy increased; at intervals from sleep she would
+occasionally assure her daughter, Mrs. B----, that all was well; and
+when she could rouse herself only to say one word at a time, that one
+word, accompanied with a smile, was, "Peace." From her there was a
+peculiar emphasis in this expression of the state of her mind: "Peace
+I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," had been a favorite
+portion of scripture with her, and a promise, the fulfilment of which
+was her earnest prayer to the God who made it. She also occasionally
+asked Mr. B---- to pray with her, even when she could only articulate,
+as she looked at him, "Pray." She was now surrounded by many of her
+dear Christian friends, who watched her dying-bed with affection and
+solicitude. On Tuesday afternoon she slept with little intermission.
+This, said Dr. Mason, may be truly called "falling asleep in Jesus."
+It was remarked by those who attended her, that all terror was taken
+away, and that death seemed here as an entrance into life. Her
+countenance was placid, and looked younger than before her illness.
+
+ At a quarter past twelve o'clock, being the morning of the 27th
+of July, 1814, her spirit gently winged its flight from a mansion of
+clay to the realms of glory, while around the precious remnant of
+earth her family and friends stood weeping, yet elevated by the scene
+they were witnessing. After a silence of many minutes, they kneeled by
+her bed, adored the goodness and the grace of God towards his departed
+child, and implored the divine blessing on both the branches of her
+family, as well as on all the Israel of God.
+
+ Thus she departed in peace, not trusting in her wisdom or virtue,
+like the philosophers of Greece and Rome; not even like Addison,
+calling on the profligate to see a good man die; but like Howard,
+afraid that her good works might have a wrong place in the estimate of
+her hope, her chief glory was that of "a sinner saved by grace."*
+
+*This was Howard's epitaph, dictated by himself.
+
+ After such examples, who will dare to charge the doctrines of the
+cross of Christ with licentiousness? Here are two instances of
+persons, to whose good works the world have cheerfully borne
+testimony, who lived and died in the profession of these doctrines. It
+was faith that first purified their hearts, and so the stream of
+action from these fountains became pure also. Had not Christ died and
+risen again, all the powers of man could never have produced such
+lives of benevolence, nor a death so full of contrition, yet so
+embalmed with hope. Hallelujah, "unto Him who loved us, and washed us
+from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
+unto God and his Father: to him be glory and dominion, for ever and
+ever. Amen."
+
+ At the next weekly prayer-meeting which she had usually attended,
+the circumstances of her death were made subjects of improvement. On
+the 16th of July she was a worshipper with her brethren and sisters
+there, and on the evening of the 30th they were called to consider her
+by faith as in the immediate presence of her God, among "the spirits
+of the just made perfect." The services of that evening were closed
+with the following hymn from Dobell's collection, which is beautifully
+descriptive of her happy change:
+
+ "'Tis finished! the conflict is past,
+ The heaven-born spirit is fled;
+ Her wish is accomplished at last,
+ And now she's entombed with the dead.
+
+ The months of affliction are o'er,
+ The days and the nights of distress,
+ We see her in anguish no more--
+ She's gained her happy release.
+
+ No sickness, or sorrow, or pain,
+ Shall ever disquiet her now;
+ For death to her spirit was gain,
+ Since Christ was her life when below.
+
+ Her soul has now taken its flight
+ To mansions of glory above,
+ To mingle with angels of light,
+ And dwell in the kingdom of love.
+
+ The victory now is obtained;
+ She's gone her dear Saviour to see;
+ Her wishes she fully has gained--
+ She's now where she longed to be.
+
+ The coffin, the shroud, and the grave
+ To her were no objects of dread;
+ On Him who is mighty to save,
+ Her soul was with confidence stayed.
+
+ Then let us forbear to complain,
+ That she is now gone from our sight;
+ We soon shall behold her again,
+ With new and redoubled delight."
+
+ Mrs. Graham's death created a strong sensation in the public
+mind. Magistrates of the city were careful to express their sense of
+the public loss sustained, and many charitable institutions paid
+affectionate tributes to her memory. Several clergymen also made her
+death the subject of their discourses, among whom was her beloved
+pastor, Dr. JOHN M. MASON, who, on Sabbath evening, Aug. 14, delivered
+the well-known powerful sermon, "CHRISTIAN MOURNING," from 1 Thess.
+4:13, 14: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
+them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
+no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
+them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
+
+ Contrasting the consolations afforded to the Christian with the
+darkness and doubt of the pagan or infidel; dwelling on the
+Christian's death as "sleeping in Jesus;" his immediate entrance into
+bliss, and his glorious resurrection and reigning with Christ in the
+judgment, he thus proceeds:
+
+ "In this faith the apostles labored and the martyrs bled. Ages
+have elapsed and it is still the same. It is not a distant wonder; not
+a brilliant vision; but a solid and present reality, under the power
+of which at this moment, while the words are on my lips, Christians,
+in various parts of the world, are closing their eyes to sleep in
+Jesus. It has come home to our own business and bosoms. It has chosen
+our houses to be the scene of its miracles. But rarely does it fall to
+the lot of human eyes to witness so high a display of its value and
+virtue, as was witnessed in that blessed woman whose entrance into the
+joy of her Lord has occasioned our assembling this evening.
+
+ "As we are commanded to be followers of them who through faith
+and patience inherit the promises, we should have their example before
+us, that we may learn to imbibe their spirit, to imitate their graces,
+and be ready for their reward. With this view, permit me to lay before
+you some brief recollections of our deceased friend.
+
+ "It is not my intention to relate the history of her life. That
+will be a proper task for biography. I design merely to state a few
+leading facts, and to sketch such outlines of character as may show to
+those who knew her not, what manner of person she was in all holy
+conversation and godliness. Those who knew her best require no such
+remembrancer, and will be able, from their own observation, to supply
+its defects.
+
+ "ISABELLA MARSHALL, known to us as Mrs. GRAHAM, received from
+nature qualities which, in circumstances favorable to their
+development, do not allow their possessor to pass through life
+unnoticed and inefficient.
+
+ "An intellect strong, prompt, and inquisitive--a temper open,
+generous, cheerful, ardent--a heart replete with tenderness, and alive
+to every social affection and every benevolent impulse--a spirit at
+once enterprising and persevering--the whole crowned with that rare
+and inestimable endowment, good sense--were materials which required
+only skilful management to fit her for adorning and dignifying any
+female station. With that sort of cultivation which the world most
+admires, and those opportunities which attend upon rank and fortune,
+she might have shone in the circles of the great without forfeiting
+the esteem of the good. Or had her lot fallen among the literary
+unbelievers of the continent, she might have figured in the sphere of
+the Voltaires, the Duffauds, and the other _esprits forts_ of
+Paris. She might have been as gay in public, as dismal in private, and
+as wretched in her end, as any of the most distinguished among them
+for their wit and their woe. But God had destined her for other scenes
+and services--scenes from which greatness turns away appalled, and
+services which all the cohorts of infidel wit are unable to perform.
+She was to be prepared by poverty, bereavement, and grief, to pity and
+to succor the poor, the bereaved, and the grieving. The sorrows of
+widowhood were to teach her the heart of the widow--her babes,
+deprived of their father, to open the springs of her compassion to the
+fatherless and orphan--and the consolations of God, her refuge and
+strength, her very present help in trouble, to make her a daughter
+of consolation to them who were walking in the valley of the shadow
+of death.
+
+ "To train her betimes for the future dispensations of his
+providence, the Lord touched the heart of this chosen vessel in her
+early youth. The spirit of prayer sanctified her infant lips, and
+taught her, as far back as her memory could go, to pour out her heart
+before God. She had not reached her eleventh year when she selected a
+bush in the retirement of the field, and there devoted herself to her
+God by faith in the Redeemer. The incidents of her education,
+thoughtless companions, the love of dress, and the dancing-school, as
+she has herself recorded, chilled for a while the warmth of her piety,
+and robbed her bosom of its peace. But her gracious Lord revisited her
+with his mercy, and bound her to himself in an everlasting covenant,
+which she sealed at his own table about the seventeenth year of
+her age.
+
+ "Having married, a few years after, Dr. John Graham, surgeon to
+the 60th British regiment, she accompanied him first to Montreal, and
+shortly after to Fort Niagara. Here, during four years of temporal
+prosperity, she had no opportunity, even for once, of entering the
+habitation of God's house, or hearing the sound of his gospel.
+Secluded from the waters of the sanctuary and all the public means of
+growth in grace, her religion began to languish and its leaf to droop.
+But the root was perennial--it was of the seed of God, which liveth
+and abideth for ever. The Sabbath was still to her the sign of his
+covenant. On that day of rest, with her Bible in her hand, she used to
+wander through the woods, renew her self-dedication, and pour out her
+prayer for the salvation of her husband and her children. He who
+'dwelleth not in temples made with hands,' heard her cry from the
+wilds of Niagara, and strengthened her with strength in her soul.
+
+ "By one of those vicissitudes which checker military life, the
+regiment was ordered to the island of Antigua in the West Indies. Here
+she met with that exquisite enjoyment to which she had been long a
+stranger--the communion of kindred spirits in the love of Christ: and
+soon did she need all the soothing and support which it is fitted to
+administer; for in a very short time the husband of her youth, the
+object of her most devoted affection, her sole earthly stay, was taken
+from her by death. The stroke was, indeed, mitigated by the sweet
+assurance that he slept in Jesus. But a heart like hers, convulsed by
+a review of the past and anticipation of the future, would have burst
+with agony, had she not known how to pour its sorrows into the bosom
+of her heavenly Father. Trials which beat sense and reason to the
+ground, raise up the faith of the Christian, and draw her closer to
+her God. O, how divine to have him as the rock of our rest when every
+earthly reliance is a broken reed.
+
+ "Bowing to his mysterious dispensation, and committing herself to
+his protection as the Father of the fatherless and the Husband of the
+widow, she returns with her charge to her native land, to contract
+alliance with penury, and to live by faith for her daily bread. That
+same grace under whose teaching she knew how to abound, taught her
+also how to suffer need. With a dignity which belongs only to them who
+have treasure in heaven, she descended to her humble cot, employment,
+and fare. But her humility, according to the Scripture, was the
+forerunner of her advancement. The light of her virtues shone
+brightest in her obscurity, and pointed her way to the confidential
+trust of forming the minds and manners of young females of different
+ranks in the metropolis of Scotland. Here, respected by the great and
+beloved by the good; in sacred intimacy with 'devout and honorable
+women,' and the friendship of men who were in truth servants of the
+most high God, she continued in the successful discharge of her duties
+till Providence conducted her to our shores.
+
+ "She long had a predilection for America, as a land in which,
+according to her favorite opinion, the church of Christ is signally to
+flourish. Here she wished to end her days and leave her children. And
+we shall remember with gratitude, that in granting her wish, God cast
+her lot with ourselves. Twenty-five years ago she opened in this city
+a school for the education of young ladies, the benefits of which have
+been strongly felt, and will be long felt hereafter, in different and
+distant parts of our country. Evidently devoted to the welfare of her
+pupils--attentive to their peculiarities of character--happy in
+discovering the best avenue of approach to their minds--possessing in
+a high degree the talent of simplifying her instruction and varying
+its form, she succeeded in that most difficult part of a teacher's
+work, the inducing youth to take an interest in their own improvement,
+and to educate themselves by exerting their own faculties.
+
+ "In governing her little empire, she acted upon those principles
+which are the basis of all good government, on every scale and under
+every modification--to be reasonable, to be firm, and to be uniform.
+Her authority was both tempered and strengthened by condescension. It
+commanded respect while it conciliated affection. Her word was law,
+but it was the law of kindness. It spoke to the conscience, but it
+spoke to the heart; and obedience bowed with the knee of love. She did
+not, however, imagine her work to be perfected in fitting her eleves
+for duties and elegance of life. Never did she forget their immortal
+nature. Utterly devoid of sectarian narrowness, she labored to infuse
+into their minds those vital principles of evangelical piety which
+form the common distinction of the disciples of Christ, the peculiar
+glory of the female name, and the surest pledge of domestic bliss. Her
+voice, her example, her prayers concurred in recommending that pure
+and undefiled religion without which no human being shall see the
+Lord. Shall we wonder that her scholars should be tenderly attached to
+such a preceptress; that they should leave her with their tears and
+their blessing; that they should carry an indelible remembrance of her
+into the bosom of their families; that the reverence of pupils should
+ripen with their years into the affection of friends; and that there
+should be among them, at this day, many a wife who is a crown to her
+husband, and many a mother who is a blessing to her children, and who
+owes, in a great degree, the felicity of her character to the
+impressions, the principles, and the habits which she received while
+under the maternal tuition of Mrs. GRAHAM?
+
+ "Admonished at length by the infirmities of age, and importuned
+by her friends, this venerable matron retired to private life. But it
+was impossible for her to be idle. Her leisure only gave a new
+direction to her activity. With no less alacrity than she had
+displayed in the education of youth, did she now embark in the relief
+of misery. Her benevolence was unbounded, but it was discreet. There
+are charities which increase the wretchedness they are designed to
+diminish; which, from some fatal defect in their application, bribe to
+iniquity while they are relieving want, and make food and raiment and
+clothing to warm into life the most poisonous seeds of vice. But the
+charities of our departed friend were of another order. They selected
+the fittest objects--the widow, the fatherless, the orphan, the
+untaught child, and the ignorant adult. They combined intellectual and
+moral benefit with the communication of physical comfort.
+
+ "In her house originated the Society for the Relief of Poor
+Widows with Small Children. Large, indeed, is this branch of the
+family of affliction, and largely did it share in her sympathy and
+succor. When at the head of this noble association, she made it her
+business to see with her own eyes the objects of their care; and to
+give, by her personal presence and efforts, the strongest impulse to
+their humane system. From morning till night has she gone from abode
+to abode of these destitute, who are too commonly unpitied by the
+great, despised by the proud, and forgotten by the gay. She has gone
+to sit beside them on their humble seat, hearing their simple and
+sorrowful story, sharing their homely meal--ascertaining the condition
+of their children--stirring them up to diligence, to economy, to
+neatness, to order--putting them into the way of obtaining suitable
+employment for themselves and suitable places for their
+children--distributing among them the word of God, and tracts
+calculated to familiarize its first principles to their
+understanding--cherishing them in sickness, admonishing them in
+health--instructing, reproving, exhorting, consoling--sanctifying the
+whole with fervent prayer. Many a sobbing heart and streaming eye is
+this evening embalming her memory in the house of the widow.
+
+ "Little if any less is the debt due to her from that invaluable
+charity, the Orphan Asylum. It speaks its own praise, and that praise
+is hers. Scores of orphans redeemed from filth, from ignorance, from
+wretchedness, from crime--clothed, fed, instructed--trained in
+cleanliness to habits of industry--early imbued with the knowledge and
+fear of God--gradually preparing for respectability, usefulness, and
+happiness, is a spectacle for angels. Their infantine gayety, their
+healthful sport, their cherub faces, mark the contrast between their
+present and former condition; and recall very tenderly the scenes in
+which they used to cluster round their patron-mother, hang on her
+gracious words, and receive her benediction.
+
+ "Brethren, I am not dealing in romance, but in sober fact. The
+night would be too short for a full enumeration of her worthy deeds.
+Suffice it to say that they ended but with her life. The Sabbath
+previous to her last sickness occupied her with a recent
+institution--a Sunday-school for ignorant adults; and the evening
+preceding the touch of death, found her at the side of a faithful
+domestic, administering consolation to his wounded spirit.
+
+ "Such active benevolence could hardly be detected in company with
+a niggardly temper. Wishes which cost nothing; pity which expires on
+the lips; be ye warmed and be ye clothed, from a cold heart and an
+unyielding gripe, never imprinted their disgraceful brand upon
+Isabella Graham. What she urged upon others she exemplified in
+herself. She kept a purse for God. Here, in obedience to his command,
+she deposited the first-fruits of all her increase; and they were
+sacred to his service, as in his providence he should call for them.
+No shuffling pretences, no pitiful evasions, when a fair demand was
+made upon the hallowed store; and no frigid affectation in determining
+the quality of the demand. A sense of duty was the prompter, candor
+the interpreter, and good sense the judge. Her disbursements were
+proportioned to the value of the object, and were ready at a moment's
+warning, to the very last farthing.* How pungent a reproof to those
+ladies of opulence and fashion who sacrifice so largely to their
+dissipation or their vanity, that they have nothing left for mouths
+without food, and limbs without raiment! How far does it throw back
+into the shade those men of prosperous enterprise and gilded state
+who, in the hope of some additional lucre, have thousands and ten
+thousands at their beck; but who, when asked for decent contributions
+to what they themselves acknowledge to be all-important, turn away
+with this hollow excuse, 'I cannot afford it.' Above all, how should
+her example redden the faces of many who profess to belong to Christ;
+to have received gratuitously from him what he procured for them at
+the expense of his own blood, 'an inheritance incorruptible and
+undefiled, and that fadeth not away;' and yet, in the midst of
+abundance which he has lavished upon them, when the question is about
+relieving his suffering members, or promoting the glory of his
+kingdom, are sour, reluctant, mean. Are these the Christians? Can it
+be that they have committed their bodies, their souls, their eternal
+hope, to a Saviour whose thousand promises on this very point of
+honoring him with their substance, have less influence upon their
+hearts and their hands than the word of any honest man? Remember the
+deceased, and hang your heads--remember her, and tremble; remember
+her, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
+
+*The author knew her, when in moderate circumstances, to give,
+ unsolicited, _fifty pounds at once_ out of that sacred purse to
+ a single most worthy purpose.
+
+ "In that charity, also, which far surpasses mere almsgiving,
+however liberal, the charity of the gospel, our friend was
+conspicuous. The love of God shed abroad in her own heart by the Holy
+Ghost, drew forth her love to his people wherever she found them.
+Assuredly she had in herself this witness of her having 'passed from
+death unto life,' that she loved the brethren. The epistle, written
+not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
+stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart; yet read and known of all
+men: that is, the Christian temper manifested by a Christian
+conversation, was to her the best letter of recommendation. Unwavering
+in her own faith as to the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, she could
+nevertheless extend love without dissimulation, and the very bowels of
+Christian fellowship, to others who, whatever might be their mistakes,
+their infirmities, or their differences in smaller matters, agreed in
+the great Christian essential of acceptance in the Beloved. Deeply did
+she deplore the conceit, the bigotry, and the bitterness of sect. O
+that her spirit were more prevalent in the churches; that we could
+labor to abase our crown of pride; to offer up with one consent upon
+the altar of evangelical charity, those petty jealousies, animosities,
+and strifes which are our common reproach; and walk together as
+children of the same Father, brethren of the same Redeemer, and heirs
+of the same salvation.
+
+ "To these admirable traits of character were added great
+tenderness of conscience and a spirit of prayer. Her religion, not
+contented to justify her before men, habitually aimed at pleasing God,
+who looketh upon the heart. It was not enough for her to persuade
+herself that a thing might be right. Before venturing upon it, she
+studied to reduce the question of right to a clear certainty. How
+cautious and scrupulous and jealous of herself she was in this matter,
+they best can tell who saw her in the shade of retirement as well as
+in the sunshine of public observation. Perhaps it is not going too far
+to say, that her least guarded moments would, in others, have been
+marked for circumspection. At the same time her vigilance had nothing
+austere, gloomy, constrained, or censorious--nothing to repress the
+cheerfulness of social intercourse, or to excite in others, even the
+thoughtless, a dread of merciless criticism after they should retire.
+It was sanctified nature moving gracefully in its own element. And
+with respect to the character and feelings of her neighbors, she was
+too full of Christian kindness not to keep her tongue from evil and
+her lips from speaking guile.
+
+ "These virtues and graces were maintained and invigorated by her
+habit of prayer. With the 'new and living way into the holiest by the
+blood of Jesus,' she was intimately familiar. Thither the Spirit of
+grace and supplication daily conducted her; there taught her to pray,
+and in praying to believe, and in believing to have 'fellowship with
+the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.' She knew her God as the God
+that heareth prayer; and could attest that 'blessed is she that
+believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things which were
+told her from the Lord.'
+
+ "Under such influence her course could not but be correct, and
+her steps well ordered. The 'secret of the Lord is with them that fear
+him; and he will show them his covenant, he will guide them in
+judgment.' Thus he did with his handmaid whom he hath called home.
+Wherever she was, and in whatever circumstances, she remembered the
+guide of her youth, who, according to His promise, never left her, nor
+forsook her; but continued His gracious presence with her when she was
+old and gray-headed.
+
+ "You may perhaps imagine, that with such direction and support it
+was impossible she should see trouble. Nay, but waters of a full cup
+were wrung out to her. She often ate the bread of sorrow steeped in
+wormwood and gall. Her heavenly Father showed her great and sore
+adversities; that he might try her as silver is tried, and bring her
+forth from the furnace purified seven times. It was during these
+refining processes that she found the worth of being a Christian.
+Though her way was planted with thorns and watered with her tears, yet
+the candle of the Lord shone upon her head; and from step to step she
+had reason to cry, Hitherto hath Jehovah helped.
+
+ "In a word, like Enoch, she walked with God; like Abraham, she
+staggered not at his promise through unbelief; like Jacob, she
+wrestled with the angel and prevailed; like Moses, endured as seeing
+Him who is invisible; like Paul, finished her course with joy. Blessed
+were the eyes of the preacher, for they saw the victory of her faith;
+and his ears, for they heard her song of salvation. 'You can say with
+the apostle, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is
+able to keep that which I have committed unto him?' 'O yes, but I
+cannot say the other, I have fought a good fight; I must say, I have
+fought a poor fight, I have run a poor race; but Christ fought for me.
+Christ ran with me, and through Christ I hope to win,' 'But you have
+no fear, no doubts, about your going to be with Christ?' 'O no, not a
+doubt; I am as sure of that as if I were already in my Saviour's
+arms.' It was her final conversation with children of the dust. The
+next day, when her flesh and her heart had so far failed that she was
+incapable of uttering a sentence, she still proved her God to be the
+strength of her heart, and knew him to be her portion for ever. I said
+to her, 'It is peace,' She opened her eyes, smiled, closed them again,
+bowed her dying head, and breathed out, 'Peace,' It was her last word
+on this side heaven. The attending spirits caught it from her lips,
+and brought to her the next day permission to sleep in Jesus.
+
+ "From this review allow me to urge the value of private exertions
+in promoting general good.
+
+ "In pursuing his gratifications, man is apt to look upon himself
+as a being of great importance; in fulfilling his duties, to account
+himself as nothing. Both are extravagances which it will be his wisdom
+and happiness to correct. He is neither supreme in worth nor useless
+in action. Let him not say, 'I am but one; my voice will be drowned in
+the universal din; my weight is lighter than a feather in the public
+scale. It is better for me to mind my own affairs, and leave these
+higher attempts to more competent hands.' This is the language, not of
+reason and modesty, but of sloth, of selfishness, and of pride. The
+amount of it is, 'I cannot do every thing, therefore I will do
+nothing,' But you can do much. Act well your part according to your
+faculties, your station, and your means. The result will be honorable
+to yourself, delightful to your friends, and beneficial to the world.
+I advise not to gigantic aims, to enormous enterprise. The world has
+seen but one Newton, and one Howard. Nothing is required of you but to
+make the most of the opportunities within your reach.
+
+ "Recall the example of Mrs. Graham. Here was a woman, a widow, a
+stranger in a strange land, without fortune, with no friends but such
+as her letters of introduction and her worth should acquire, and with
+a family of daughters dependent upon her for their subsistence. Surely
+if any one has a clear title of immunity from the obligation to carry
+her cares beyond the domestic circle, it is this widow, it is this
+stranger. Yet within a few years this stranger, this widow, with no
+means but her excellent sense, her benevolent heart, and her
+persevering will to do good, awakens the charities of a populous city,
+and gives to them an impulse, a direction, and an efficacy unknown
+before.
+
+ "What might not be done by men--by men of talent, of standing, of
+wealth, of leisure? How speedily, under their well-directed
+beneficence, might a whole country change its physical, intellectual,
+and moral aspect; and assume, comparatively speaking, the face of
+another Eden, a second garden of God. Why then do they not diffuse
+thus extensively the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and of bliss? I
+ask not for their pretences; they are as old as the lust of lucre, and
+are refuted by the example which we have been contemplating: I ask for
+the true reason, for the inspiring principle of their conduct. It is
+this--let them look to it when God shall call them to account for the
+abuse of their time, their talents, their station, their 'unrighteous
+mammon'--it is this: they believe not 'the words of the Lord Jesus,
+how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' They labor
+under no want but one, they want _the heart_. The bountiful God
+add this to the other gifts which he has bestowed upon them. I turn to
+the other sex.
+
+ "That venerable mother in Israel who has exchanged the service of
+God on earth for his service in heaven, has left a legacy to her
+sisters: she has left the example of her faith and patience; she has
+left her prayers; she has left the monument of her Christian deeds;
+and by these she being dead, yet speaketh. Matrons, has she left her
+mantle also? Are there none among you to hear her voice from the tomb,
+Go and do thou likewise? None whom affluence permits, endowments
+qualify, and piety prompts, to aim at her distinction by treading in
+her steps? Maidens, are there none among you who would wish to array
+yourselves hereafter in the honors of this virtuous woman? Your hearts
+have dismissed their wonted warmth and generosity, if they do not
+throb as the revered vision rises before you. Then prepare yourselves
+now, by seeking and serving the God of her youth. You cannot be too
+early adorned with the robes of righteousness and the garments of
+salvation in which she was wedded, in her morning of life, to Jesus
+the King of glory. That same grace which threw its radiance around
+her, shall make you also to shine in the beauty of holiness; and the
+fragrance of those virtues which it shall create, develope, and
+ennoble, will be 'as the smell of a field which the Lord hath
+blessed.'
+
+ "Yea, let me press upon all the transcendent excellence of
+Christian character, and the victorious power of Christian hope. The
+former bears the image of God; the latter is as imperishable as his
+throne. We fasten our eyes with more real respect and more heart-felt
+approbation upon the moral majesty displayed in walking as Christ also
+walked, than upon all the pomps of the monarch or decorations of the
+military hero. More touching to the sense and more grateful to high
+heaven is the soft melancholy with which we look after our departed
+friend, and the tear which embalms her memory, than the thundering
+plaudits which rend the air with the name of a conqueror. She has
+obtained a triumph over that foe who shall break the arm of valor, and
+strike off the crown of kings. 'The fashion of this world passeth
+away.' Old Time approaches towards his last hour. The proudest
+memorials of human grandeur shall be food for the conflagration to be
+kindled when 'the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming
+fire. Then shall he be glorified in his saints, and admired in all
+them that believe.'
+
+ "There are those perhaps, in the present assembly, who repute
+godliness fanaticism, and the sobriety of Christian peace the gloom of
+a joyless spirit; but who cannot forbear sighing out, with the prophet
+of mammon, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end
+be like his.' If they proceed no further, their wish will not be
+granted. None shall die the death of the righteous, unless by a rare
+dispensation of mercy, who do not live his life. They only are fit to
+be with God who love God and keep his commandments. In that day of
+transport and of terror which we shall all witness, how many of the
+thoughtless fair who now 'sport themselves with their own deceivings,'
+would give all the treasures of the east and thrones of the west to
+sit with Isabella Graham on the right hand of Jesus Christ. If ye be
+wise betimes, ye may. Now is the accepted time; to-day is the day of
+salvation. The gospel of the Son of God offers you at this very
+moment, the forgiveness of your sins, and an inheritance among them
+that are sanctified. The blessing comes to you as a free gift: accept
+it, and live; accept it, and be safe; accept it, and put away the
+shudderings of guilt and the fear of death. Then shall you too, like
+our friend, go in due season to be with Christ. Your happy spirit
+shall rejoin hers in the mansions of the saved. God shall bring you in
+soul and body with her when he makes up his jewels. Then shall he
+gather his elect from the four winds of heaven, shall perfect that
+which concerneth them, and make them fully and for ever blessed. Be
+our place among them in that day.'
+
+
+ EXTRACT FROM MRS. GRAHAM'S
+ LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.
+
+ "My children and my grandchildren I leave to my covenant God--the
+God who hath fed me all my life with the bread that perisheth, and the
+bread that never perisheth; who has been a Father to my fatherless
+children, and a Husband to their widowed mother thus far. And now,
+receiving my Redeemer's testimony, John 3:33, I set to my seal that
+God is true; and believing the record in John's epistle, that God hath
+given to me eternal life, and this life is in his Son, who, through
+the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God, and being
+consecrated a priest for ever, hath with his own blood, entered into
+the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for me. I also
+believe that he will perfect what concerns me, support and carry me
+safely through death, and present me to his Father, complete in
+his own righteousness, without spot or wrinkle. Into the hands
+of this redeeming God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I commit my
+redeemed spirit."
+
+
+ Mrs. Graham's epitaph on a tablet in the Pearl-street church, is
+associated with that of her son-in-law Mr. Bethune, to whom before his
+connection with the family she was a spiritual mother; who prepared
+her memoir, wrote and printed tracts for her widows, imported Bibles
+for her to distribute, replenished her charity purse when exhausted;
+with whom she took sweet counsel and walked to the house of God in
+company; and for whom she was pleased to leave the written and
+honorable testimony: "He stands in my mind, in temper, conduct, and
+conversation, the nearest to the gospel standard of any man or woman I
+ever knew as intimately. Devoted to his God, to his church, to his
+family, to all to whom he may have opportunity of doing good, duty is
+his governing principle; cast upon his care, under God he nourishes me
+with kindness," etc. They have entered into rest. One sepulchre
+contains their sleeping dust, and one monument bears the following
+tribute to their memory:
+
+
+ SACRED TO THE MEMORY
+ OF
+ DIVIE BETHUNE,
+ MERCHANT OF THIS CITY,
+ WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 18, 1824, AGED 53 YEARS;
+
+ AND OF
+
+ ISABELLA GRAHAM,
+ HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW,
+ WHO DIED JULY 27, 1814, AGED 72 YEARS.
+
+ THEY WERE BOTH NATIVES OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+ THIS MONUMENT
+ IS REARED BY HIS BEREAVED WIDOW AND HER ORPHAN DAUGHTER,
+ AS A TESTIMONIAL OF TWO SERVANTS OF JESUS CHRIST:
+ THE ONE A RULING ELDER IN HIS CHURCH, THE OTHER A MOTHER IN ISRAEL;
+ WHO, LIKE ENOCH, WALKED WITH GOD,
+ LIKE ABRAHAM, OBTAINED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH,
+ AND, LIKE PAUL, FINISHED THEIR COURSE WITH JOY.
+ THEY WERE LOVELY AND PLEASANT IN THEIR LIVES,
+ AND THEY REST HERE TOGETHER IN THEIR GRAVES.
+
+"THE BLESSING OF HIM THAT WAS READY TO PERISH CAME UPON THEM; AND
+THEY CAUSED THE WIDOW'S HEART TO SING FOR JOY." JOB 29:13.
+
+"OH HOW GREAT IS THY GOODNESS, WHICH THOU HAST LAID UP FOR THEM
+THAT FEAR THEE; WHICH THOU HAST WROUGHT FOR THEM THAT TRUST IN THEE
+BEFORE THE SONS OF MEN!" PSA. 31:19.
+
+
+
+
+ PROVISION
+
+ FOR
+
+ MY LAST JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS
+
+ AND
+
+ PASSAGE OVER JORDAN.*
+
+*Found in Mrs. Graham's pocket after her decease.
+
+ "'Prepare you victuals, for within three days ye shall pass over
+this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God
+giveth you to possess it. When ye see the ark of the covenant of the
+Lord your God, and the priests bearing it, then ye shall remove and go
+after it: that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have
+not passed this way heretofore.'
+
+ "'Sanctify yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders
+among you.'
+
+ "'Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
+passeth over before you into Jordan: and it shall come to pass, that
+as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of
+the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters, that
+the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down
+from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.'
+
+ "'And it came to pass, that when the people removed from their
+tents to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the
+covenant before the people, that as they that bare the ark were come
+into Jordan, and the feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of
+the water, that the waters that came down from above stood and rose up
+upon a heap; and the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the
+Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the
+Israelites passed over on dry ground.'
+
+ "'And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the
+place where the feet of the priests that bare the ark of the covenant
+of the Lord stood; and they are there unto this day.'
+
+ "'When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come,
+saying, What mean these stones? ye shall let your children know,
+saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land; for the Lord your
+God dried up the waters from before you until ye were passed over, as
+the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up, until we were
+passed over; that all people of the earth might know the hand of the
+Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for
+ever,' Amen. Josh. 1:11; chap. 3, 4.
+
+ "Oh, thou Jehovah; Israel's God, and by thy new covenant, my God;
+thus far hast thou brought me through the wilderness: bearing,
+chastising, forgiving, restoring. Well hast thou made out thy
+wilderness name to me: 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
+long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
+thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Great have
+been my provocations, but greater still thy covenant mercy. I have not
+perished with them that believed not; sore bitten I am, but thou hast
+fixed mine eyes on the lifted-up Healer, and I am in his hand for
+further cure. My journey has been long, and my way devious; but my
+blessed Joshua is still in view. I must be near to Jordan's flood; I
+have been preparing victuals from thine own repository of truth. And
+now, my blessed High-priest and Ark of the covenant, lead on my
+staggering steps the little further. I have not gone this way
+heretofore, but thou hast measured these waters while they overflowed
+all their banks. Thou hast passed through, and made the passage safe
+for thy people. At thy command the waters stand up upon a heap, and
+they pass through in thy presence on faith's firm ground. Keep then
+mine eye upon thee, and I shall fear no evil. And Oh, my, blessed
+Leader, if it might please thee, I would ask a boon, yet with
+submission, that thy sensible presence might be with me all the way
+through; and that thou wouldst bring from my quivering lips a
+testimony to the glory of thy grace, that my children may know that
+thou hast pardoned, restored, perfected, dried up the waters of
+terror, carried me triumphantly through, and put me in possession of
+the purchased inheritance. Amen.
+
+ "'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
+Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.'
+1 Tim. 1:15.
+
+ "I have often inquired, What is there within us, or without us,
+on which a sinner can rest in peace in a dying hour? If it be a holy
+life, there can be no peace for me--taking the law of God for my
+standard; backslider is my name; yet I think in this sacred volume I
+find a hope even for me, the chief of sinners.
+
+ "'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
+the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
+not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he
+gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not
+perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son into the world
+to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.'
+'He that cometh from heaven is above all, and what he hath seen and
+heard, that he testifieth.' 'He that receiveth his testimony has set
+to his seal that God is true.' 'The Father loveth the Son, and hath
+given all things into his hand; he that believeth on the Son hath
+everlasting life.' John 3:14-36. Here is a hope for me; the world is
+made up of sinners, I am one of them, and though the chief, am not
+excluded. The Son of man came to save that which was lost, Matt.
+18:11; I am of that description. 'The Pharisees said, Why eateth your
+master with publicans and sinners? Jesus said, The whole need not a
+physician, but they that are sick.' Matt. 9:11. I am a sinner, and
+sick. 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call
+the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' I am a sinner, and need
+repentance. 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince
+and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.'
+Acts 5:31. 'The Lord is long-suffering, not willing that any should
+perish, but that all should come to repentance.' 2 Pet. 3:9.
+
+ "Christ said to the woman of Samaria, a notorious sinner, 'If
+thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give
+me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
+thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
+again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,
+shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
+him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' John 4:10,
+14. Yes, my Redeemer, a draught of this water, received in faith from
+the hand of the Spirit, will give life in death. O pour it into my
+thirsty soul in that searching hour.
+
+ "Jesus said to a mixed multitude of sinners like me, 'Labor not
+for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
+everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him
+hath God the Father sealed,' John 6:27. These sinners said unto him,
+'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' 'That ye
+believe on Him whom he hath sent. My Father giveth you the true bread
+from heaven, for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
+and giveth life unto the world: I am the bread of life; he that cometh
+unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never
+thirst. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man
+eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. And the bread which I shall
+give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Jesus
+said unto them, Except ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the
+Son of man, ye have no life in you: whoso eateth my flesh, and
+drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
+hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he
+shall live by me.' The Father giveth this bread, the Son giveth this
+bread; whosoever will, may take of this bread, and the promise with
+it. Father, I take this bread, I take and believe that I have in thee
+eternal life, according to thy word. O holy and blessed Comforter,
+Spirit of the Father and of the Son, whose office it is to take of the
+things of Christ and show them unto his redeemed, when the bread and
+the water that perish can no longer refresh this dying body, apply
+this living bread and living water to my soul, that life may spring up
+in the midst of death; and in that trying hour, bear witness with my
+spirit that I dwell in Christ, and Christ in me, and that I shall
+never die.
+
+ "'In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
+cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that
+believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
+flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit, that they
+who believe on him should receive.' John 7:37. This he proclaimed to a
+mixed multitude of sinners like myself. Lord, I believe, and am sure
+that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Be it unto me
+according to thy word: 'I am the resurrection and the life: he that
+believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever
+liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?'
+John 11:25. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
+God, which should come into the world; the promised Messiah; the gift
+of the Father, the covenant given to the people; the anointed Prophet
+and King, and consecrated High-priest; who through the eternal Spirit
+offeredst thyself without spot unto God; who came to do that most
+perfect will of God, by which we are sanctified through the offering
+of the body of Christ once for all. Lamb of God, which takest away the
+sins of the world, on thee I lay my precious never-dying soul; wash me
+in thy blood, clothe me in thy righteousness; sanctify me, soul,
+spirit, and body, to thy service. I have no other foundation of hope,
+nothing within me, nothing without me; my entire dependence is on thy
+finished work; into thy hands I commit my spirit.
+
+ "Let me hear thy consoling voice, compassionate Saviour. 'Let not
+your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
+Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told
+you. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive
+you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also,' John 14:1-3.
+O seal this upon my heart, and it is enough. To be where thou art, is
+heaven enough to me. To be where thou art, to see thee as thou art,
+and to be made like thee, the last sinful motion for ever past--no
+more opposition, no more weariness, listlessness, dryness, deadness;
+but conformed to my blessed Head, every way capacitated to serve him,
+and to enjoy him--this is heaven.
+
+ "'Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man
+cometh to the Father, but by me.' Blessed Comforter, do thine office;
+take these things of Christ and show them unto me; lead me in this
+way, feed me with this truth, and animate me with this life:
+'Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, that will I do,
+that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask any thing in my
+name, I will do it.' Blessed Comforter, here also do thine office: I
+know not what to ask for as I ought; help mine infirmities as thou
+hast said; suggest the prayer, be in me the spirit of prayer and
+supplication, and especially in that hour of need, when sickness saps
+the clay tabernacle, discomposing the spirit, and confusing perhaps
+the ideas: still, still let my thoughts rise to my God. Oh, let no
+unhallowed subject get hold of me in that hour, but keep my Saviour's
+name in my heart, and on my lips. Is not this according to thy will?
+watch over it then, and keep the avenues of my soul from every
+vain idea.
+
+ "'If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the
+Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
+with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
+receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know
+him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. He that hath my
+commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that
+loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
+manifest myself unto him; and we will come and make our abode with
+him. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
+in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
+your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with
+you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto
+you: let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' In
+that last warfare, when nothing on earth can give peace; when the
+world recedes, and disappears; when friends must stand aloof and leave
+me to the combat alone; Oh, blessed and promised Comforter, bring to
+my remembrance, and impress on my weary spirit these sweet words of my
+Saviour. But it has often occurred to me, and may in that hour, that
+though Jesus received sinners, they were ignorant sinners. The Jews
+understood not the gospel contained in their types and sacrifices;
+they were unenlightened and unconverted; the Gentiles were totally
+blind, serving dumb idols; neither had known the gospel, neither had
+tasted the grace of God, neither were backsliders, like me. I have
+known the truth, been enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, been
+made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the good word of God, and
+of the power of the world to come.
+
+ "Fifty years ago the Lord convinced me of my sin, my misery, and
+my total helplessness. I was also, I think, enabled to lay hold on the
+hope set before me.
+
+ "I have, in numerous exercises and acts, accepted of God's gift
+of Jesus Christ to me a condemned sinner; taking hold of the Scripture
+words of invitation and promise held out for my acceptance. I have
+pleaded his own covenant provision, in the substitution of his own Son
+in my stead, making him to be sin, who knew no sin, that sinners might
+be made the righteousness of God in him. I put in my claim as a
+sinner, among the ungodly for whom Christ died. I believed his
+testimony, and set to my seal that God is true. I rested on this
+foundation--I yet have no other; I know there is no other. The
+foundation standeth sure. But Oh, what am I to think of the fruits? I
+have again and again turned back into the world, grieved the Spirit,
+crucified the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. No wonder
+I stand alarmed at the apostle's assertion: my conscience testifies
+that my character is nearly, if not altogether, such as the apostle,
+by the Holy Spirit, says it is impossible to renew to repentance.
+Hebrews 6:4, 5. But thou hast renewed to repentance! Thy name is 'the
+Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
+abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
+iniquity, transgression, and sin.' Thou wilt by no means clear the
+guilty; but thou hast provided a substitute, and laid my guilt and
+guilty person on thine own Son.
+
+ "By this gracious name thou wast known to thy backsliding Israel
+in the wilderness; whose heart, like mine, was not right with God;
+neither were they steadfast in his covenant; but he, 'being full of
+compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not.' Many a
+time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. They
+forgot God their Saviour, who had done great things for them; they
+transgressed his commandment, and in their heart turned back again to
+Egypt; they brought upon themselves many afflictions, and many times
+did he deliver them; they provoked him with their counsel, and were
+brought low for their iniquity; nevertheless, he heard their cry, and
+repented according to the multitude of his mercies; while the blood of
+bulls and of goats typified the great propitiatory sacrifice, by which
+'God can be just and justify the ungodly.' By this name was the Lord
+God, merciful and gracious, known in the pleasant land; and by the
+same sacrifice, the blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, was
+typified. Psalms 103, 51.
+
+ "The prophets prophesied in his name. 'All we, like sheep, have
+gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He
+was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities;
+the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, and by his stripes we
+are healed.' 'Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a
+ransom.' Even backsliders, among whom I stand chief, have been
+recalled. 'My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me
+the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to themselves
+cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Is Israel a
+servant; is he a home-born slave; wherefore is he spoiled? Hast thou
+not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy
+God, when he led thee by the way? And now what hast thou to do in the
+way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in
+the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own
+wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove
+thee. Know therefore, and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
+that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in
+thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old I have broken thy yoke,
+and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon
+every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the
+harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how
+art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
+Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be
+ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Have I been a
+barren wilderness, or a land of darkness unto thee? Wherefore say my
+people, We are lords, and will come no more to thee? Can a maid forget
+her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me,
+days without number.' Jeremiah 2. 'They say, If a man put away his
+wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return
+to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast
+played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again unto me, saith
+the Lord. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me. My Father, thou
+art the guide of my youth?' What can I say to such grace? Thou art
+infinite in thy mercy to pardon, and in thy power to save. Such has
+been my character, and such the amazing mercy of my offended God.
+Often, often has he pardoned, restored, blessed, and made me happy.
+But Oh, just is the renewed charge against me. 'For the house of
+Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with me,
+saith the Lord. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he,
+neither shall evil come upon us.' 'Go and proclaim these words, and
+say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not
+cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord,
+I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that
+thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God; and ye have not
+obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, for I
+am married unto you.' Jer. 3. What, O what can I say to such grace?
+Truly, thy ways are not as our ways, nor thy thoughts as our thoughts.
+For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are thy ways higher
+than our ways, and thy thoughts than our thoughts. Oh, how is my guilt
+aggravated by all this grace; and yet thou callest, _Return;_ and
+thou thyself turnest me. I do, O Lord God, merciful and gracious, I do
+acknowledge my iniquity; every time I turn back my eyes upon my past
+life my sins rise in magnitude, heightened by more enlarged views of
+thy goodness. It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed,
+because his compassions fail not.
+
+ "A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplication
+of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their ways, and
+they have forgotten the Lord their God. Yes, thou hast, my gracious
+God, granted repentance. Thine eye has seen the tears I have shed;
+thou hast given me a contrite heart. I have looked upon him whom I
+have pierced, and been in bitterness as for a first-born. I feel it
+now, and must feel it while the body of sin exists. But Oh, Lord God,
+merciful and gracious, the cause is in thyself, that I hear thy voice,
+and that I answer. 'Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal
+your backslidings. Behold, I come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our
+God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and the
+multitude of mountains. Truly, in the Lord God is the salvation of
+Israel. We lie down in our shame, our confusion covereth us: for we
+have sinned against the Lord our God; we and our fathers, even from
+our youth; and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord God. Thus saith
+the Lord God, I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast
+despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will
+remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth; and I will
+establish unto thee an everlasting covenant, and thou shalt know that
+I am the Lord. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never
+open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified
+towards thee, saith the Lord God.' Amen, Lord God, merciful and
+gracious. Be it so. It is so _now_--it _must_, it will be
+so, until death shall open mine eyes on that mystery: The glory of God
+arising out of the abounding of sin, through the superabounding of
+grace, and grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, by
+Jesus Christ our Lord!
+
+ "Till then, while sin dwelleth in me, let me enjoy the
+blessedness of a contrite heart; yea, even shame and confusion, since
+it is the sign that thou art pacified with me. Thou hast dealt with
+me, thou hast chastened, and in some instances taken vengeance on my
+inventions. But thou art pacified with me, and I dare look again to
+thy holy temple, to the temple not made with hands, to the minister of
+the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not
+man; to the blessed High-priest, who through the eternal Spirit
+offered himself a sacrifice without spot unto God, and by his own
+blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
+redemption for us, and when he had purged our sins, sat down on the
+right hand of the Majesty on high; to the blessed Mediator of the new
+and better covenant, established on better promises; to the Surety of
+the new testament, and sealed with his own blood. Oh, I will look unto
+Jesus, the object, the author, and the finisher of that faith which
+interests us in himself and the whole of his purchase. He bids me look
+unto him, and be saved. I do look unto him, and I am saved. Who dares
+condemn the sinner whom Christ acquits? Who shall lay any thing to his
+charge? 'It is Christ that died; yea, rather, who is risen again;
+who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession
+for us.'"
+
+
+ ISAIAH 44:22. "RETURN UNTO ME.
+
+ A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B----
+
+ "Return to thee, my God? dost thou
+ The invitation yet renew?
+ Return to thee! my chiefest joy,
+ Till sin did all my peace destroy.
+
+ "And yet, to hear thy pardoning voice
+ Must make my trembling heart rejoice;
+ Though sin is there, thou well dost know
+ It is my burden and my foe.
+
+ "O let me hear those gracious words:
+ Be still, my soul, they are the Lord's;
+ That God, who once on thee did shine,
+ And filled thee with a hope divine.
+
+ "'Thy black transgressions, trembling soul--
+ Thy sins so heinous and so foul,
+ Which like a cloud obscure thy day,
+ I've blotted out, I've washed away.
+
+ "'Return to me, thou 'rt mine; I own
+ Thee for my servant, and my son;
+ I have redeemed thy precious soul,
+ And none my purchase shall control.'
+
+ "I hear, I come, my covenant God:
+ Thy love's my life, my raiment, food;
+ Thy favor, through my Jesus given,
+ Is to my soul the bliss of heaven.
+
+ "I come, my Jesus; hold me fast,
+ Till, life and Jordan's journey past,
+ My faith to vision yield her place,
+ And I shall see thy unveiled face.
+
+ "Then, with the loudest of the throng,
+ Of sins forgiven I'll raise the song--
+ Of pardon bought with Jesus' blood,
+ Sinners made kings and priests to God."
+
+
+ PSALM 103. FIFTY YEARS AGO.
+
+ "Oh thou, my soul, bless God the Lord,
+ And all that in me is
+ Be stirred up, his holy name
+ To magnify and bless," etc.
+
+ "'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a
+little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I
+live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
+Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Believest thou not that I am in
+the Father, and the Father in me? He that hath seen me, hath seen the
+Father. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you
+into all truth. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and
+shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine;
+therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
+you.' John 14; 16:14. 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
+also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may
+be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be one
+in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
+glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one,
+even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
+perfect in one; that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and
+hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also,
+whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold
+my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the
+foundation of the world.' John 17:20, etc. 'All are yours; and ye are
+Christ's; and Christ is God's.' 1 Cor. 3:22. 'Ye are dead, and your
+life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
+appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' Col. 3:3. 'For
+in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
+complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.'
+Col. 2:9. 'There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
+one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
+and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
+But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of
+the gift of Christ.' Eph. 4:4.
+
+ "'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
+Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I
+live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
+for me,' Gal. 2: 20.
+
+ "'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!
+And looking upon Jesus as he walked, John saith, Behold the Lamb of
+God!' John 1:29, 36.
+
+ "'Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours;
+whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
+or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are
+Christ's; and Christ is God's,' 1 Cor. 3:21.
+
+ "'It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He
+sitteth alone and keepeth silence; he putteth his mouth in the dust,
+if so be there may be hope; he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth
+him: he is filled full with reproach.' Lam. 3:27.
+
+ "'That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open
+thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward
+thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.' Ezek. 16:63.
+_Amen._
+
+ "'A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
+thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains. Therefore,
+also now, saith the Lord, turn ye unto me with all your heart, with
+fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Rend your heart, and not
+your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and
+merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of
+the evil,' Joel 2:2, 12.
+
+ "'I will visit upon her the days of Baalim: she went after her
+lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. I will allure her, and bring
+her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will
+betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in
+righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
+mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
+shalt know the Lord.' Hosea 2:13.
+
+ "'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help.'
+'Return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
+Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away all
+iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of
+our lips. Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses:
+neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our
+gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' Hosea 13:14.
+
+ "'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for
+mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel;
+he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
+Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard
+him, and observed him. I am like a green fir-tree; from me is thy
+fruit found.' Hosea 14.
+
+ "'O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, because we have
+sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and
+forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.' Daniel 9.
+
+ "'He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the
+lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom; and shall gently lead
+those that are with young. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O
+Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over
+from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the
+everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching
+of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that
+have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and
+be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait
+upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
+wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk,
+and not faint.' Isa. 40:11, etc.
+
+ "'Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not
+the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in
+his ways, neither were they obedient to his law. Therefore he hath
+poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and
+it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned
+him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now thus saith the Lord that
+created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not;
+for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art
+mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
+through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
+through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame
+kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
+thy Saviour. Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been
+honorable, and I have loved thee.' Isa. 42:24, etc.
+
+ "Yes, my God, I remember and am confounded; amazed at my
+ingratitude, amazed at thy grace. I am thy witness, just so has been
+thy way with me. What can I say? Thou hast wrought with me for thy
+name's sake. I am dumb before thee; Oh, I am vile--and yet I am thine!
+Thou hast redeemed me; it is thy good pleasure to save me. Glorify thy
+name. 'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and
+as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing,
+O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the
+earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every
+green tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified
+himself in Israel.'
+
+ "'For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more
+they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
+righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus. Where sin
+abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto
+death, so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life,
+by Jesus Christ our Lord.'
+
+ "'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I
+am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is
+gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
+me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one
+say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall
+men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In
+the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.'
+'Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house
+of Israel. Even to your old age, I am he; and even to hoar hairs will
+I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will
+deliver you.' Isa. 45:22; 46:3.
+
+ "'Thus saith the Lord; I, even I, will both search my sheep, and
+seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he
+is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep,
+and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
+in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people,
+and gather them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of
+Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
+And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
+Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and
+in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will
+feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.
+I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven
+away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that
+which was sick.' Ezek. 34:11. He hath done it, I am his witness: I,
+the poor wanderer, the happy subject of this grace. 'And I will raise
+up for them a plant of renown,' my Jesus, 'and they shall be no 'more
+consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the
+heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am
+with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people,
+saith the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men,
+and I am your God, saith the Lord God.' Ezek. 34:29. 'As the mountains
+are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from
+henceforth, even for ever.' Psa. 125:2.
+
+ "'When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
+it by their own way and by their doings. And I scattered them among
+the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries; according
+to their ways and according to their doings I judged them. And when
+they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my
+holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord,
+and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for my holy name,
+which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they
+went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God:
+I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy
+name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
+went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the
+heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen
+shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be
+sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among
+the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you
+into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
+shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols,
+will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
+will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
+your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
+Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
+keep my judgments, and do them. I will also save you from all your
+uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and
+lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and
+the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of
+famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways,
+and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in
+your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Not for
+your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be
+ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.'
+Ezek. 36:17, etc."
+
+
+ EZEKIEL 16:63; 36:32.
+
+ A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B----.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for, born unclean,
+ The slaves of Satan and of sin.
+ I saw no comeliness in you,
+ To bid my grace such wonders do.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for when my love
+ And grace should your affections move,
+ The working of an evil heart
+ Still makes you from my truth depart.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for, bold and blind,
+ To lust and avarice inclined,
+ Each shadowy idol you obey,
+ Disowning my paternal sway.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; with heaven in view,
+ For sin you sell your souls anew;
+ You barter, for a gilded bait,
+ The joys of an eternal state.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; for though you eyed
+ The cross of Christ on which he died,
+ You scorn his love for worldly ends,
+ And wound him in the house of friends.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; with Jesus' name,
+ You put him to an open shame;
+ And by your sins, consent again
+ To have the dear Redeemer slain.
+
+ "Not for your sakes; 'tis my free grace
+ That grants you pardon, life, and peace;
+ And works a change on all your frame,
+ And binds you to adore my name.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--I hail the sound;
+ Let power of grace my pride confound:
+ Salvation is a work divine;
+ Confusion and the shame be mine.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--did I but trust
+ To weakness, vanity, and dust,
+ I ne'er could reach the heavenly prize,
+ Nor hope a mansion in the skies.
+
+ "Not for my sake!--yet save and call;
+ Let Jesus be my all in all:
+ When glory comes I'll self disown,
+ And grace, free grace shall wear the crown."
+
+ "'Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is
+good: for his mercy endureth for ever.' Psalm 106:1.
+
+ "'Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy
+people: O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy
+chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may
+glory with thine inheritance.' Psalm 106:4, 5.
+
+ "'At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
+commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
+having no hope, and without God in the world; but now, in Christ
+Jesus, ye who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
+Christ.' Eph. 2:12, 13.
+
+ "'Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt
+prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: to judge the
+fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more
+oppress.' Psalm 10:17.
+
+ "'Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee
+these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee, to
+know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
+commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
+and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy
+fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by
+bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
+Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did
+thy foot swell, these forty years.'
+
+ "'Thou shalt also consider in thy heart, that as a man chasteneth
+his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt
+keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to
+fear him.' Deut. 8:2-6.
+
+ "'Thou, God, seest me.' Gen. 16:13.
+
+ "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
+hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
+Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
+the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
+love: having predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ
+to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise
+of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
+Beloved; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
+of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath
+abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto
+us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
+hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of
+times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
+are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him, in whom also we
+have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
+purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
+will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
+in Christ.' Eph. 1:3-12.
+
+ "'God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
+loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
+with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together,
+and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in
+the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in
+his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye
+saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
+God: not of works, lest any man should boast; for we are his
+workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
+before ordained that we should walk in them. Now therefore ye,'
+Gentiles, 'are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
+with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the
+foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being
+the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together
+groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded
+together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.' Eph. 2:4, etc.
+'I,' Paul, 'bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
+whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
+grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
+with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in
+your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may
+be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and
+length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which
+passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of
+God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
+that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
+unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
+world without end. Amen.' Eph. 3:14-21.
+
+ "'I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
+worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and
+meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love;
+endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
+There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
+of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
+of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto
+every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
+Christ. That we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head,
+even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
+compacted by that which every joint supplieth'--ministers and people
+in the use of all appointed means--'according to the effectual working
+in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the
+edifying of itself in love.' Eph. 4:1, etc.
+
+ "'I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I
+in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do
+nothing.' John 15:5, 7.
+
+ "'And Moses said, The Lord heareth your murmurings that ye murmur
+against him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but
+against the Lord. And Moses said, This is the bread which the Lord
+hath given you to eat. And the children of Israel did eat manna until
+they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.' Exodus 16.
+
+ "'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man
+eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will
+give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. He that
+eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
+The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.'
+John 6:51, etc.
+
+ "'For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
+wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' 1 Cor.
+1:30.
+
+ "'Seeing then that we have a great High-priest, who is passed
+into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
+profession. For we have not a High-priest who cannot be touched with
+the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
+we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne
+of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
+need.' Heb. 4:14. 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the
+house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws
+into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them
+a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach
+every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
+Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I
+will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
+iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant,
+he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
+ready to vanish away.' Heb. 8:10-13.
+
+ "'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and
+this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that
+hath not the Son of God, hath not life.' 1 John 5:11, 12. Thanks be to
+God for his unspeakable gift.' 2 Cor. 9:15.
+
+ "'Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation.
+He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. My soul, wait thou
+only upon God, for my expectation is from him: he only is my rock and
+my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my
+salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in
+God.' Psa. 62:1-7."
+
+ _______________
+
+ REST.
+
+ "'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished: and on the
+seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested the
+seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the
+seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from
+all his work that he had created and made.' Genesis 2:1-3.
+
+ "'And Moses said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto
+the Lord. So the people rested on the seventh day.' Exodus 16:23, 30.
+
+ "'And the women followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how
+his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and
+ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.'
+Luke 23:55, 56.
+
+ "Christ rested in the tomb of Joseph the last Sabbath under the
+law; but the evening and the morning were the first day. On that
+morning he closed his work of humiliation, manifested his victory over
+death--the curse denounced--by rising from the tomb, and rested on the
+first day of the week from all his humiliation work; his death,
+burial, and rest in the grave on the seventh day being the last part
+of that work."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, thy service well demands
+ The remnant of my days:
+ Why is this feeble life preserved,
+ But to repeat thy praise?
+
+ "Thine arms of everlasting love
+ Do this weak frame sustain,
+ While life is hovering o'er the grave,
+ And nature sinks with pain.
+
+ "Thou, when the pains of death assail,
+ Wilt chase the fears of hell,
+ And teach my pale and quivering lips
+ Thy matchless grace to tell.
+
+ "Calmly I'll lay my fainting head
+ On thy dear faithful breast:
+ Pleased to obey my Father's call
+ To his eternal rest.
+
+ "Into thy hands, my Saviour God,
+ Do I my soul resign,
+ In firm dependence on that truth
+ That made salvation mine."
+
+
+ THE INWARD WARFARE.
+
+ "Strange and mysterious is my life;
+ What opposites I feel within:
+ A stable peace, a constant strife,
+ The rule of grace, the power of sin.
+ Too often I am captive led,
+ Yet daily triumph in my Head.
+
+ "I prize the privilege of prayer;
+ But O, what backwardness to pray:
+ Though on the Lord I cast my care,
+ I feel its burden every day.
+ I seek his will in all I do,
+ Yet find my own is working too.
+
+ "I call the promises mine own,
+ And prize them more than mines of gold;
+ Yet, though their sweetness I have known,
+ They leave me unimpressed and cold.
+ One hour upon the truth I feed;
+ The next, I know not what I read.
+
+ "I love the holy day of rest,
+ When Jesus meets his gathered saints:
+ Sweet day, of all the week the best,
+ For its return my spirit pants;
+ Yet often, through my unbelief,
+ It proves a day of guilt and grief.
+
+ "While on my Saviour I rely,
+ I know my foes shall lose their aim;
+ And therefore dare their power defy,
+ Assured of conquest through his name;
+ But soon my confidence is slain,
+ And all my fears return again.
+
+ "Thus different powers within me strive,
+ And death and sin by turns prevail.
+ I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
+ And victory hangs in doubtful scale;
+ But Jesus has his promise passed,
+ That grace shall overcome at last."
+
+ _______________
+
+ FLESH AND SPIRIT.
+
+ "What different powers of grace and sin
+ Attend our mortal state:
+ I hate the thoughts that work within,
+ Yet do the works I hate.
+
+ "Now I complain, and groan, and die,
+ While sin and Satan reign;
+ Now raise my songs of triumph high,
+ For grace prevails again.
+
+ "So darkness struggles with the light,
+ Till perfect day arise;
+ Water and fire maintain the fight,
+ Until the weaker dies.
+
+ "Thus will the flesh and spirit strive,
+ And vex and break my peace;
+ But I shall quit this mortal life,
+ And sin for ever cease."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Join all the names of love and power
+ That ever men or angels bore;
+ All are too mean to speak his worth,
+ Or set Emmanuel's glory forth.
+
+ "But O, what condescending ways
+ He takes to teach his heavenly grace:
+ Mine eyes, with joy and wonder, see
+ What forms of love he bears for me.
+
+ "The Angel of the covenant stands,
+ With his commission in his hands;
+ Sent from his Father's milder throne,
+ To make his great salvation known.
+
+ "Great Prophet, let me bless thy name;
+ By thee the joyful tidings came,
+ Of wrath appeased and sins forgiven,
+ Of hell subdued, and peace with heaven.
+
+ "My bright Example, and my Guide,
+ I would be walking by thy side;
+ Oh, let me never run astray,
+ Nor follow the forbidden way.
+
+ "I love my Shepherd, he shall keep
+ My wandering soul among his sheep;
+ He feeds his flock, he tells their names,
+ And in his bosom bears the lambs.
+
+ "My Surety undertakes my cause,
+ Answering his Father's broken laws:
+ Behold my soul at freedom set,
+ My Surety paid the dreadful debt.
+
+ "Jesus, my great High-priest, has died,
+ I seek no sacrifice beside;
+ His blood did once for all atone,
+ And now it pleads before the throne.
+
+ "My Advocate appears on high,
+ The Father lays his thunders by;
+ Not all that earth or hell can say,
+ Shall turn my Father's heart away.
+
+ "My Lord, my Conqueror, and my King,
+ Thy sceptre and thy sword I sing;
+ Thine is the victory, and I sit
+ A joyful subject at thy feet.
+
+ "Aspire, my soul, to glorious deeds,
+ The Captain of salvation leads;
+ March on, nor fear to win the day,
+ Though death and hell obstruct thy way.
+
+ "Though death and hell, and powers unknown,
+ Put all their forms of mischief on,
+ I shall be safe, for Christ displays
+ Salvation in more sovereign ways."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Be this my one great business here,
+ With holy trembling, holy fear,
+ To make my calling sure;
+ Thine utmost counsel to fulfil,
+ And suffer all thy righteous will,
+ And to the end endure.
+
+ "Then, Saviour, then my soul receive,
+ Transported from this vale, to live,
+ And reign with thee above:
+ Where faith is sweetly lost in sight,
+ And hope in full supreme delight,
+ And everlasting love."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Hush, my distrustful heart,
+ And cease to flow, my tears;
+ For greater, Lord, thou art
+ Than all my doubts and fears.
+ Did Jesus once upon me shine?
+ Then Jesus is for ever mine.
+
+ "Unchangeable his will,
+ Whatever be my frame:
+ My Saviour's heart is still
+ Eternally the same.
+ My soul through many changes goes,
+ His love no variation knows.
+
+ "Thou, Lord, wilt carry on,
+ And perfectly perform,
+ The work thou hast begun
+ In me, vile sinful worm.
+ Mine own self-will brings grief and woe,
+ But Jesus will not let me go.
+
+ "The bowels of thy grace,
+ At first did freely move;
+ And still I see thy face,
+ And feel that God is love.
+ Into thine arms my soul I cast;
+ By sovereign mercy saved at last.
+
+ "The Priest and Ark now move
+ To Jordan's gulfy strand;
+ Come now in covenant love,
+ Take firm thy promised stand:
+ Only to me thy countenance show,
+ I ask no more the Jordan through."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Come, let us join our cheerful songs
+ With angels round the throne;
+ Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
+ But all their joys are one.
+
+ "Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry,
+ To be exalted thus;
+ Worthy the Lamb, our souls reply,
+ For he was slain for us.
+
+ "Jesus is worthy to receive
+ Honor and power divine;
+ And blessings, more than we can give,
+ Be, Lord, for ever thine.
+
+ "The whole creation join in one,
+ To bless the sacred name
+ Of Him that sits upon the throne,
+ And to adore the Lamb."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Give me the wings of faith, to rise
+ Within the veil, and see
+ The saints above, how great their joys,
+ How bright their glories be.
+
+ "Once they were mourners here below,
+ And wet their couch with tears;
+ They wrestled hard, as we do now,
+ With sins, and doubts, and fears.
+
+ "I ask them whence their victory came:
+ They, with united breath,
+ Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
+ Their triumph to his death.
+
+ "They marked the footsteps that he trod;
+ His zeal inspired their breast;
+ And following their incarnate God,
+ Possessed the promised rest.
+
+ "Our glorious Leader claims our praise,
+ For his own pattern given;
+ While the long cloud of witnesses
+ Show the same path to heaven."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "With heart and hands, and lifted eyes,
+ I'll praise thee while I've life and breath;
+ And, while my loosened spirit flies,
+ I'll gasp thy praise in very death.
+
+ "Faith fain would say, in cheerful mood,
+ Thy name be glorified,
+ By leading through the swelling flood,
+ Or through the channel dried.
+
+ "If grace in time of need I have,
+ And strength as is my day,
+ I'll triumph through the foaming wave,
+ As through the side-walled way."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath;
+ And when my voice is lost in death,
+ Praise shall employ my noblest powers;
+ My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
+ "While life and thought and being last.
+ And immortality endures."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, indulge my humble claim;
+ Thou art my hope, my joy, my rest;
+ The glories that compose thy name
+ Stand all engaged to make me blest.
+
+ "Thou great and good, thou just and wise,
+ Thou art my Father and my God;
+ And I am thine by sacred ties,
+ Thy child, thy servant, bought with blood.
+
+ "With heart, and eyes, and lifted hands,
+ For thee I long, to thee I look;
+ As travellers in thirsty lands
+ Pant for the cooling water-brook."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, the weary wanderer's rest,
+ Give grace thy sovereign will to bear;
+ With steadfast patience arm my breast,
+ With holy love and lowly fear.
+
+ "Thankful, I take the cup from thee,
+ Prepared and mingled by thy skill;
+ Though bitter to the taste it be,
+ It has a sovereign power to heal.
+
+ "Be thou a Rock of ages nigh;
+ My saved soul on thee alone
+ Shall safely rest, and fears shall fly,
+ As clouds before the mid-day sun.
+
+ "Speak to my troubled conscience peace;
+ Say to my trembling heart, Be still;
+ My power thy strength and fortress is.
+ Amen, to all thy sovereign will.
+
+ "O Death, where is thy sting? where now
+ Thy boasted victory, O grave?
+ Who shall contend with God, or who
+ Condemn whom he delights to save."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
+ In a believer's ear:
+ It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
+ And drives away his fear.
+
+ "It makes the wounded spirit whole,
+ And calms the troubled breast;
+ 'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
+ And to the weary, rest.
+
+ "Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
+ My Shield and Hiding-place;
+ My never failing Treasury, filled
+ With boundless stores of grace:
+
+ "Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ My Prophet, Priest, and King,
+ My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
+ Accept the praise I bring.
+
+ "Weak is the effort of my heart,
+ And cold my warmest thought;
+ But when I see thee as thou art,
+ I'll praise thee as I ought.
+
+ "Till then I would thy love proclaim
+ With every fleeting breath;
+ And may the music of thy name
+ Refresh my soul in death."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
+ That saved a wretch like me:
+ I once was lost, but now am found;
+ Was blind, but now I see.
+
+ "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
+ And grace my fears relieved:
+ How precious did that grace appear
+ The hour I first believed.
+
+ "Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
+ Already I have come:
+ 'Twas grace that brought me safe thus far,
+ And grace will lead me home.
+
+ "Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail,
+ And mortal life shall cease,
+ I shall possess, within the veil,
+ A life of joy and peace."
+
+ A swelling Jordan rolls between--
+ A timid pilgrim, I;
+ But grace shall order all the scene,
+ And Christ himself be nigh.
+
+ He shall roll back the foaming wave,
+ Command the channel dry;
+ No sting has death, no victory grave?
+ With Jesus in my eye.
+
+ "Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
+ Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
+ Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
+ Call for songs of endless praise.
+
+ "Teach me some melodious sonnet,
+ Sung by flaming tongues above;
+ Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it--
+ Mount of God's unchanging love.
+
+ "Here I raise my Ebenezer,
+ Hither by thy help I'm come,
+ And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
+ Safely to arrive at home.
+
+ "Jesus sought me when a stranger,
+ Wandering from the fold of God;
+ He, to save my soul from danger,
+ Interposed with precious blood.
+
+ "Oh, to grace how great a debtor
+ Daily I'm constrained to be:
+ Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
+ Bind my wandering heart to thee.
+
+ "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
+ Prone to leave the God I love;
+ Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
+ Seal it from thy courts above."
+
+ _______________
+
+ Eternal God, I bless thy name,
+ The same thy power, thy grace the same;
+ The tokens of thy friendly care
+ Open and crown and close the year.
+
+ I mid ten thousand dangers stand,
+ Supported by thy gracious hand;
+ And see, when I survey thy ways,
+ Ten thousand monuments of grace.
+
+ Thus far thine arm has led me on;
+ Thus far I make thy mercy known;
+ And while I tread this desert land,
+ New mercies shall new songs demand.
+
+ My grateful soul on Jordan's shore
+ Shall raise one sacred pillar more;
+ Then bear, in thy bright courts above,
+ Inscriptions of immortal love.
+
+ _______________
+
+ No works to rest upon have I,
+ No boast of moral dignity;
+ If e'er I lisp a song of praise,
+ Grace is the note my soul shall raise.
+
+ 'Twas grace that quickened me when dead;
+ 'Twas grace my soul to Jesus led,
+ Grace brings me pardon for my sin,
+ And grace subdues my lusts within.
+
+ 'Tis grace that sweetens every cross,
+ 'Tis grace supports in every loss;
+ In Jesus' grace my soul is strong,
+ Grace is my hope, and Christ my song.
+
+ Thus, 'tis alone of grace I boast,
+ And 'tis alone in grace I trust:
+ For all that's past, grace is my theme,
+ For what's to come 'tis still the same.
+
+ And when I come to Jordan's shore,
+ I'll raise one Ebenezer more;
+ Th' ark of the covenant in my view,
+ I'll sing of grace the Jordan through.
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Is this the kind return,
+ Are these the thanks we owe--
+ Thus to abuse eternal love,
+ Whence all our blessings flow?
+
+ "To what a stubborn frame
+ Has sin reduced our mind!
+ What strange rebellious wretches we,
+ And God as strangely kind!
+
+ "Turn, turn us, mighty God!
+ And mould our souls afresh;
+ Break, sovereign grace, these hearts of stone,
+ And give us hearts of flesh.
+
+ "Let past ingratitude
+ Provoke our weeping eyes;
+ And hourly, as new mercies fall,
+ Let hourly thanks arise."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O the sweet wonders of that cross,
+ Where Christ my Saviour loved and died;
+ Her noblest life my spirit draws,
+ From his dear wounds and bleeding side.
+
+ "I would for ever speak his name,
+ In sounds to mortal ears unknown;
+ With angels join to praise the Lamb,
+ And worship at his Father's throne."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, the vision of thy face
+ Hath overpowering charms;
+ Scarce shall I feel death's cold embrace,
+ If Christ be in my arms."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O glorious hour! O blest abode!
+ I shall be near and like my God;
+ And flesh and sin no more control
+ The sacred pleasures of my soul."
+
+ "When in death's gloomy vale I tread,
+ With joy e'en there I'll lift my head;
+ From fear and dread he'll keep me free,
+ His rod and staff shall comfort me."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, to thy dear faithful hand
+ My naked soul I trust;
+ My flesh but waits for thy command,
+ To drop into the dust."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Before we quite forsake our clay,
+ Or leave this dark abode,
+ The wings of love bear us away
+ To see our smiling God."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O make it true, my Saviour God;
+ Raise me all fears above;
+ And when I think on Jesus' blood,
+ Let my last pulse beat love."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "O for an overcoming faith,
+ To cheer my dying hours;
+ To triumph o'er the monster Death,
+ And all his frightful powers.
+
+ "Joyful, with all the strength I have,
+ My quivering lips should sing,
+ 'Where is thy boasted victory, Grave,
+ And where the monster's sting?'
+
+ "If sin be pardoned, I'm secure;
+ Death has no sting beside;
+ The law gives sin its damning power,
+ But Christ, my Ransom, died.
+
+ "Now to the God of victory,
+ Immortal thanks be paid;
+ Who makes us conquerors while we die,
+ Through Christ, our living Head."
+
+ _______________
+
+ All mortal vanities be gone,
+ Nor tempt mine eyes, nor tire mine ears;
+ Behold, amidst the eternal throne,
+ A vision of the Lamb appears.
+
+ All the assembling saints around,
+ Fall worshipping before the Lamb;
+ And in new songs of gospel sound,
+ Address their honors to his name.
+
+ Our voices join the heavenly strain,
+ And with transporting pleasure sing,
+ Worthy the Lamb that once was slain,
+ Our blessed Prophet, Priest, and King.
+
+ Thou hast redeemed our souls from hell,
+ With thine invaluable blood;
+ And wretches, that did once rebel,
+ Are now made fav'rites of their God.
+
+ Worthy for ever is the Lord,
+ That died for treasons not his own,
+ By every tongue to be adored,
+ And dwell upon his Father's throne.
+
+ _______________
+
+ THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.
+
+ "The promise of my Father's love,
+ Shall stand for ever good;
+ He said, and gave his soul to death,
+ And sealed it with his blood.
+
+ "To this dear covenant of thy word,
+ I set my worthless name;
+ I seal the engagement of the Lord,
+ And make my humble claim.
+
+ "The light, and strength, and pardoning grace,
+ And glory shall be mine;
+ My life and soul, my heart and flesh,
+ And all my powers are thine.
+
+ "I call that legacy mine own,
+ Which Jesus did bequeath;
+ 'Twas purchased with a dying groan,
+ And ratified in death.
+
+ "Sweet is the memory of His name,
+ Who blessed us in his will:
+ And to his testament of love
+ Made his own life the seal.
+
+ "To him that washed me in his blood,
+ Be everlasting praise;
+ Salvation, honor, glory, power,
+ Eternal as his days."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Blest be the Father, and his love,
+ To which celestial source we owe
+ Rivers of endless joys above,
+ And rills of comfort here below.
+
+ "Glory to the great Son of God;
+ From his dear wounded body rolls
+ A precious stream of vital blood,
+ Pardon and life for dying souls.
+
+ "We give thee, sacred Spirit, praise,
+ Who in our hearts of sin and woe
+ Mak'st living springs of grace arise,
+ And into boundless glory flow.
+
+ "Thus God the Father, God the Son,
+ And God the Spirit, we adore;
+ The sea of life and love unknown,
+ Without a bottom or a shore."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Let me but hear my Saviour say,
+ Strength shall be equal to thy day;
+ Then I rejoice in deep distress,
+ Leaning on all-sufficient grace.
+
+ "I glory in infirmity,
+ That Christ's own power may rest on me:
+ When I am weak, then am I strong;
+ Grace is my shield, and Christ my song.
+
+ "I can do all things, or can bear
+ All sufferings, if my Lord be there;
+ Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains,
+ While his strong hand my head sustains.
+
+ "Faith has an overcoming power,
+ It triumphs in the dying hour;
+ Christ is our life, our joy, our hope,
+ Nor can we sink with such a prop."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Jesus, I love thy charming name,
+ 'Tis music to mine ear;
+ Fain would I sound it out so loud
+ That heaven and earth should hear.
+
+ "Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
+ My transport and my trust;
+ My Saviour, Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
+ No other good I boast.
+
+ "All my capacious powers can wish,
+ In thee doth richly meet;
+ Not to mine eye is light so dear,
+ Nor friendship half so sweet.
+
+ "Thy grace still dwells upon my heart,
+ And sheds its fragrance there:
+ The noblest balm of all my wounds,
+ The cordial of my care.
+
+ "I'll speak the honors of thy name
+ With my last faltering breath;
+ Then speechless clasp thee in my arms,
+ The antidote of death."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Grace, 'tis a charming sound,
+ Harmonious to my ear;
+ Heaven with the echo shall resound,
+ And all the earth shall hear.
+
+ "Grace first contrived the way
+ To save rebellious man;
+ And all the steps _that_ grace display,
+ Which drew the wondrous plan.
+
+ "Grace taught my wandering feet
+ To tread the heavenly road;
+ And new supplies each hour I meet,
+ While pressing on to God.
+
+ "Grace all the work shall crown,
+ Through everlasting days;
+ It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
+ And well deserves the praise."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "My God, the spring of all my joys,
+ The life of my delights,
+ The glory of my brightest days,
+ And comfort of my nights:
+
+ "In darkest shades, if thou appear,
+ My dawning is begun;
+ Thou art my soul's sweet Morning-star,
+ And thou my rising Sun.
+
+ "The opening heavens around me shine
+ With beams of sacred bliss,
+ While Jesus shows his heart is mine,
+ And whispers I am his.
+
+ "My soul would leave this heavy clay,
+ At that transporting word;
+ Run up with joy the shining way,
+ T' embrace my dearest Lord.
+
+ "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."
+
+ _______________
+
+ "Backward with humble shame I look,
+ On my original;
+ How is my nature dashed and broke,
+ In our first father's fall.
+
+ "To all that's good averse and blind,
+ But prone to all that's ill;
+ What dreadful darkness veils my mind,
+ How obstinate my will.
+
+ "Conceived in sin: O wretched state;
+ Before I drew my breath,
+ My first young pulse began to beat
+ Iniquity and death.
+
+ "How strong in my degenerate blood
+ The old corruption reigns;
+ And mingling with the crooked flood,
+ Wanders through all my veins.
+
+ "Yet, mighty God, thy wondrous love
+ Can make my nature clean;
+ While Christ and grace prevail above
+ The tempter, death, and sin.
+
+ "The second Adam shall restore
+ The ruins of the first;
+ Hosanna to that sovereign power,
+ That new-creates our dust."
+
+ _______________
+
+ JORDAN.*
+
+ Joshua 1:11, chapter 3; Psalm 23:4; 73:24.
+
+*The three following effusions by Mrs. Graham, constituting a
+ part of her "Provision," were found in a separate paper after her
+ funeral sermon was preached. The hymn of Newton which she had annexed
+ to the first, was selected by Dr. Mason and sung on that occasion; and
+ the circumstances described at the beginning of the third, page 434,
+ occurred at her death, as narrated in the memoir, though the existence
+ of this paper was then unknown.
+
+ The solemn hour, my soul, draws near,
+ The holy ark and priests appear;
+ They forward move to Jordan's flood,
+ The type, thou knowest, thy covenant God.
+
+ The signal too to thee is known;
+ Obey, remove, and follow on;
+ The ark appears, thy hallowed guide;
+ Shrink not, but face the rolling tide.
+
+ The waves toss high their foaming heads,
+ But can'st thou perish? Jesus leads.
+ This way before I ne'er did pass,
+ But Jesus thy forerunner has.
+
+ When all its banks it overflowed,
+ All nature wrapt in midnight cloud;
+ While darkness held its awful power,
+ And all God's billows passed him o'er.
+
+ The waves for him must not divide,
+ Deep calls to deep on every side;
+ Around his head the surges roll,
+ And rush into his inmost soul.
+
+ He was the sufferer in my stead,
+ The curse for sin lay on his head;
+ The law's demands came like a flood,
+ My Surety met them with his blood.
+
+ Till every tittle had been paid,
+ Till due atonement had been made,
+ No beam appeared of heavenly grace,
+ A cloud concealed his Father's face.
+
+ From brim to bottom he drank up
+ Of wrath the deep mysterious cup;
+ This Jordan passed, he rose on high,
+ And captive led captivity.
+
+ Justice now fully satisfied,
+ The law now honored, magnified,
+ At God's right hand he takes his place,
+ Executor of covenant grace.
+
+ Crowned by Jehovah's firm decree
+ With universal sovereignty,
+ All nature owns his powerful sway--
+ He speaks, the elements obey.
+
+ The emblem then thou may'st pursue,
+ And safely pass this Jordan through;
+ The priests but touch the watery space,
+ When, lo, the floods desert their place.
+
+ They gather up upon a heap,
+ Leave dry the channel of the deep;
+ The ark and priests there take their stand,
+ And beckon thee to leave the land.
+
+ I come, my best Beloved, I come;
+ Now lead me to our Father's home;
+ On thy dear person fix mine eye,
+ And faith firm footing shall supply.
+
+ I fear no ill while thou art near;
+ But let thy voice salute my ear,
+ Should spirits faint and 'scape the sigh,
+ With these sweet words, "Fear not; 'tis I."
+
+ With courage fresh my soul shall tread
+ On faith's firm ground where thou dost lead;
+ While still upon thy gracious face
+ My steady eye maintains its place.
+
+ And now, my Joshua, choose, and lay
+ The stones in Jordan's middle way;
+ Let them o'ertop the flowing wave,
+ Memorial of thy power to save.
+
+ For, once a suit I did prefer,
+ With feeble hope and trembling fear,
+ That I might have a Pisgah view,
+ In Jordan's swells, of Canaan new.
+
+ Thy softened glory let me see,
+ Then cause thy face to shine on me;
+ And tune my heart, and tune my voice,
+ And language furnish to rejoice.
+
+ That all around may lend their tongue,
+ And sweetly join my dying song;
+ Then, Newton, saved by grace like me,
+ We'll sing of sovereign grace with thee.
+
+ _______________
+
+ *"Let us love, and sing, and wonder,
+ Let us praise the Saviour's name;
+ He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
+ He has quenched mount Sinai's flame;
+ He has washed us in his blood,
+ He has brought us nigh to God.
+
+*Olney Hymns, 82, book 3.
+
+ "Let us love the Lord who bought us,
+ Pitied us when enemies;
+ Called us by his grace, and taught us;
+ Gave us ears, and gave us eyes:
+ He has wafted us in his blood,
+ He presents our souls to God.
+
+ "Let us sing, though strong temptation
+ Threaten hard to bear us down:
+ For the Lord, our strong salvation,
+ Holds in view the conqueror's crown,
+ He who washed us in his blood,
+ Soon shall bring us home to God.
+
+ "Let us wonder, grace and justice
+ Join and point to mercy's store;
+ When through grace, in Christ our trust is,
+ Justice smiles, and asks no more.
+ He who washed us in his blood,
+ Has secured our way to God.
+
+ "Let us praise, and join the chorus
+ Of the saints enthroned on high;
+ Here they trusted him before us,
+ Now their praises fill the sky.
+ Thou hast washed us in thy blood,
+ Thou art worthy, Lamb of God.
+
+ "Hark, the name of Jesus sounded
+ Loud from golden harps above;
+ On that rock our hopes are founded;
+ Sovereign grace, and sovereign love.
+ We shall conquer through his blood,
+ Kings and priests be made to God."
+ NEWTON
+
+
+ HEAVEN.
+
+ To be where thou my Saviour art,
+ To see, and be conformed to thee,
+ Perfect in holiness this heart;
+ _This; this_ is heaven itself to me.
+
+ To see thee in thy glory, Lord,
+ Thy Father's glory and thy own;
+ The eternal, the incarnate Word,
+ Adored upon his Father's throne.
+
+ To see as seen, to know as known,
+ My Saviour in my flesh and blood;
+ To be made like him, with him one,
+ I in him, and he in God.
+
+ The holy, holy, holy One,
+ Who was, and is, and is to come,
+ The earth his footstool, heaven his throne,
+ The church his bride, he her Bridegroom.
+
+ Angels and elders, earth and heaven,
+ Are summoned to unseal the book;
+ But silent all, no answer given,
+ None worthy found therein to look.
+
+ But Judah's Lion, David's Son,
+ And David's Root, the great I AM,
+ Appears upon his Father's throne,
+ As slain for sacrifice, the Lamb.
+
+ He takes the book he can unseal;
+ He worthy is, and he has power
+ God's secret counsels to reveal,
+ And to fulfil each in its hour.
+
+ The heavenly host united fall
+ In humble worship at his feet;
+ One glorious theme inspires them all,
+ The joy is full, the concert sweet.
+
+ New odors to the throne ascend,
+ In accents new their praises soar;
+ Each finds in each a glowing friend,
+ And all the God of all adore.
+
+ And shall I join that prostrate throng,
+ In love's ecstatic heaven-taught lays,
+ With powers expanded, that new song
+ Hymn to the Lamb's exalted praise?
+
+ "Worthy art thou to take the book,
+ And loose the seals, and read therein,
+ God's holy mysteries to unlock;
+ Worthy art thou, for thou wast slain.
+
+ "Thou hast redeemed us with thy blood,
+ From every nation of the earth;
+ And made us kings and priests to God,
+ And sharers of a heavenly birth."
+
+ Myriads of angels stand around,
+ Uniting in the loud acclaim;
+ And fill the temple with the sound
+ Of our Redeemer's gentle name.
+
+ "Worthy the Lamb that once was slain,
+ A sacrifice for every sin,
+ All power and glory to obtain,
+ And universal empire win."
+
+ Heaven, earth, and sea shall swell the tone
+ Of fervent universal praise;
+ And grateful joy around the throne,
+ Its voice from age to age shall raise.
+
+ In all these myriads, is there one
+ Who had on earth so much forgiven?
+ And shall I reach their highest tone
+ Of love to Jesus? THIS IS HEAVEN.
+
+ And when this breast to heave shall cease,
+ And heart and lungs are hushed to peace,
+ Some friendly hand the eyelids close,
+ And leave the clay to short repose.
+
+ Still on your knees be thanks expressed,
+ According as the Lord has blessed;
+ This tongue, then mute, can now foretell
+ Jesus shall have done all things well.
+
+ Should the great Sovereign will it so,
+ That I in secret with him go,
+ 'T will be enough that He stands by,
+ He all my wants will well supply.
+
+ Upon his dear, his faithful breast,
+ My heart and head shall safely rest;
+ The fluttering pulse and bursting sigh,
+ He'll soothe with, "Fear not; it is I."
+
+ Into his hands my spirit I'll breathe,
+ Inhaling life from him in death;
+ Though none should see, faith can foretell
+ My Jesus shall do all things well.
+
+ Though he deny my half-formed prayer,
+ Well may I cast on Him my care;
+ All things are mine, or life or death;
+ In praise of Him I'll spend my breath.
+
+ Be this my only wish beside,
+ That God's great name be glorified,
+ What me concerns faith can foretell,
+ My Jesus shall do all things well.
+
+
+ WIDOWHOOD.
+
+ WRITTEN IN THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA
+ SHORTLY AFTER DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
+
+ PART I.
+
+ Hail; thou state of widowhood,
+ State of those that mourn to God;
+ Who, from earthly comforts torn,
+ Only live to pray and mourn.
+
+ Meanest of the number, I
+ For my dear companion sigh;
+ Patiently my loss deplore,
+ Mourn for one that mourns no more.
+
+ Me my consort hath outrun,
+ Out of sight he quite has gone;
+ He his course has finished here,
+ First come to the sepulchre.
+
+ Following on with earnest haste,
+ Till my mourning days are past,
+ I my partner's steps pursue,
+ I shall soon be happy too;
+
+ Find the ease for which I pant,
+ Gain the only good I want;
+ Quietly lay down my head,
+ Sink into my earthy bed.
+
+ There my flesh shall rest in hope,
+ Till the quickened dust mount up,
+ When to glorious life I'll rise,
+ To meet my husband in the skies.
+
+
+ PART II.
+
+ Happy they who trust in Jesus,
+ Jesus turns our loss to gain;
+ Still his balmy mercies ease us,
+ Sweeten all our grief and pain.
+
+ When he calls our friends t' inherit
+ All the glories of the blest,
+ He assures the widowed spirit,
+ "Thou shalt quickly be at rest."
+
+ Though my flesh and spirit languish,
+ Let me not too much complain;
+ Sure at last t' outlive my anguish,
+ Sure to find my friend again.
+
+ Ransomed from a world of sorrow,
+ He to-day is taken home;
+ I shall be released to-morrow--
+ Come, my dear Redeemer, come.
+
+ From my sanctified distresses,
+ Now, or when thou wilt, receive;
+ Grant with him in thine embraces,
+ After all my deaths, to live.
+
+
+ PART III.
+
+ Hail, holy, holy, holy Lord,
+ Mysterious Three in One!
+ For ever be thy name adored,
+ Thy will for ever done.
+
+ For this alone on earth I wait,
+ To glorify my God;
+ And suffer, since thou will'st, the state
+ Of sacred widowhood.
+
+ And may I, in thy strength, fulfil
+ My awful character;
+ And prove thine acceptable will,
+ And do thy pleasure here;
+
+ The children to thyself restore,
+ Whom thou to me hast given;
+ And rule my house with all my power,
+ And train them up for heaven.
+
+ Be this my hospitable care:
+ The stranger to receive,
+ The burden of thy church to bear,
+ And all their wants relieve;
+
+ My labor of unwearied love
+ With pleasure to repeat,
+ My faith unto thy saints to prove,
+ And gladly wash their feet.
+
+ The servant of thy servants bless
+ With active earnest zeal;
+ And every work of righteousness
+ I shall with joy fulfil.
+
+
+ LINES,
+
+Occasioned by viewing the portrait of Mrs. Graham, prefixed to the
+ first edition of her memoir. By the late Mrs. Margaret Brown,
+ daughter of Rev. Dr. John Mason.
+
+ While in this faded form I trace
+ The features which I loved so well,
+ Remembrance brings each mental grace
+ Within its hallowed shrine to dwell.
+
+ For I have seen that darkened eye
+ In all the fire of genius roll,
+ With eagle-gaze explore the sky,
+ Or with a keener glance descry
+ The secret workings of the soul.
+
+ And I have seen this pallid cheek
+ Suffused with feeling's richest glow;
+ And virtue's brightest halo deck
+ With sacred charms these locks of snow.
+
+ And on these lips in silence closed,
+ With rapt attention oft I hung,
+ And heard those wondrous truths disclosed
+ Which sages taught or seraphs sung.
+
+ And I have known this withered hand
+ Extended wide the poor to bless;
+ And this contracted breast expand
+ With generous schemes to aid distress.
+
+ And now, though far removed from earth
+ And every scene of mortal pain,
+ This dear memorial of her worth
+ Shall many a drooping heart sustain.
+
+ Still shall it dry the widow's tear,
+ The hapless orphan's want supply,
+ Guide to a blessed asylum here,
+ And point to happier realms on high.
+
+ My father's friend--how poor the praise,
+ By his unworthy offspring given,
+ Who thus records, in humble lays,
+ What angels registered in heaven.
+
+FRANKFORT, Kentucky, August, 1816.
+
+
+
+
+ One hundred dollars was paid by John W. Hamersley, Esq. of New
+York, towards perpetuating this volume.
+
+
+
+
+ The American Tract Society,
+
+ PUBLISH
+
+ THE RELIGIOUS (OR PASTOR'S) LIBRARY,
+
+Comprising 25 standard volumes 12mo, at $10. Including some of
+the best practical works of the 17th century; THE EVIDENCES OF
+CHRISTIANITY; CHRISTIAN MEMOIRS; and D'AUBIGNES HISTORY OF THE
+REFORMATION.
+
+ THE EVANGELICAL FAMILY LIBRARY,
+
+Of 15 volumes, 18mo, price $5 50; with 21 additional volumes,
+bound to match this library. Price of the 36 volumes, $13 00.
+
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+
+Of 70 volumes, at $10, comprising Hannah More's CHEAP REPOSITORY,
+8 volumes, and an invaluable collection of reading for the young; with
+255 highly finished engravings.
+
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+ D'AUBIGNES HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION, 5 vols.
+ BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.
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+ LADY HUNTINGTON AND HER FRIENDS.
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+ BACKUS ON REGENERATION.
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