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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8579-8.txt b/8579-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fd9427 --- /dev/null +++ b/8579-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5748 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's Mission +by Daniel C. Eddy + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's Mission + +Author: Daniel C. Eddy + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8579] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 25, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAUGHTERS OF THE CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +gutcheck and spellechecked. + +DAUGHTERS OF THE CROSS + +OR, + +WOMAN'S MISSION. + +BY DANIEL C. EDDY. + + "There are deeds which should not pass away, + And names that must not wither." + + + + + +PREFACE. + + + + +We have in this volume brought together the names of several of our most +distinguished female heroines, who have toiled and suffered on heathen +soil. They have been gathered from different denominations and sects, and +form a galaxy of names as dear to the heart of Christianity as can be drawn +from the records of earth. + +The object is, to give a series of brief memoirs, in which the lives of +faithful Christians shall be unfolded; impart instruction in reference to +the cause of missions; inspire the heart of the reader with Christian zeal; +and do justice to the memory of those who deserve more honor than the +fallen warrior and the titled senator. + +Most of the subjects of these sketches are well known and well +beloved--women whose deeds have been recorded in high places in +denominational history; and we deem it no impropriety to take them down, +unwind the peculiarity of sect, and weave these honored names in one sacred +wreath, that we may dedicate it to all who love the cause of missions. + +The wreath may wither and fall apart, but the flowers which compose it will +not die; these sacred names shall live with immortal freshness while in the +world is found a _missionary church_. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + +HARRIET NEWELL. + +The Crusade.--Martin II.--Peter the Hermit.--Missionary Enterprise. +--Andover.--The young Men.--Congregational Association.--American +Board.--Harriet Atwood.--Bradford Academy.--Conversion.--Church in +Haverhill.--Death of her Father.--Samuel Newell.--Marriage.--Sailing.--The +Caravan.--Salem Harbor.--Calcutta,--Birth of the Babe,--Its Death.--Mrs. +Newell dies + +ANN H. JUDSON. + +Bradford.--Ann Hasseltine.--Harriet Atwood.--Conversion.-- +Communion.--Marries Mr. Judson.--Sails for Calcutta.--Serampore.--Change +of Views.--Baptism.--First Child.--First Conversion.--Trials and +Suffering.--Judson's Imprisonment.--English Government.--Mrs. Judson +dies.--Amherst.--The Hopia Tree + +ELIZABETH HERVEY. + +Park Street Church.--Ordination.--Charge.--The Corvo.--Church in +Hadley.--Sermon.--Labor.--Death + +HARRIET B. STEWART. + +Sandwich Islands.--Opakakia.--Sabbath Scene.--Stamford, Connecticut. +--Marriage.--Laihaina.--Death of Mrs. Stewart.--Church building at Waiakea + +SARAH L. SMITH. + +Syria.--Norwich, Connecticut.--John Robinson.--New Heart.--Mohegan +Indians.--Brig George.--Malta.--Beyroot.--The Mediterranean.-- +Jerusalem.--Sickness.--Death.--Burial Service + +ELEANOR MACOMBER. + +Lake Pleasant.--Ojibwas.--Dong-Yahn.--Mr. Osgood.--Zuagaben +Mountains.--Karens.--Rev. Mr. Stephens.--Church planted.--The Close + +SARAH D. COMSTOCK. + +The Burman Empire.--Brookline.--Baldwin Place Church.--Mr. Wade.--Dr. +Wayland's Address.--Mrs. Sigourney.--The Cashmere.--Kyouk Phyoo.--Mr. +Kincaid.--Six Men for Arracan.--"O Jesus, I do this for thee."--Last +Illness.--Lowly Sepulchres + +HENRIETTA SHUCK. + +China.--Rev. Addison Hall.--Kilmarnock.--Virginia Revivals.-- +Baptism.--Death of her Mother.--Marriage to Mr. Shuck.--Sea Voyage.--Ah +Loo.--Henrietta Layton.--Premonitions.--The End of Earth + +SARAH B. JUDSON. + +Alstead.--Dr. Bolles.--George D. Boardman.--Poem.--Discovery and subsequent +union.--Calcutta.--Sarah Ann.--Robbery.--George.--Death of +Sarah.--Ko Thah-byu.--Rebellion.--Boardman's Death.--Marriage to Mr. +Judson.--Poems.--Death.--Ex Governor Briggs's Speech + +MARY E. VAN LENNEP. + +Rev. Dr. Hawes.--Childhood's happy Home.--Familiarity with the +Bible.--Missionary Interest.--Sabbath Schools.--Seminary.--Dr. +Fitch.--Longfellow.--Nature.--Mr. Van Lennep.--The union.--The +Stamboul.--Smyrna.--The Dardanelles.--Constantinople.--Last Sickness.--Mr. +Goodell.--Protestant Graveyard.--The American Ambassador.--The Watch of the +Bosphorus. + + + + + +I. + +HARRIET NEWELL, THE PROTO-MARTYR. + + + + +Several centuries ago, the idea of driving out of Jerusalem its infidel +inhabitants was suggested to a mad ecclesiastic. A shorn and dehumanized +monk of Picardy, who had performed many a journey to that fallen city, who +had been mocked and derided there as a follower of the Nazarene, whose +heart burned beneath the wrongs and indignities which had been so freely +heaped upon the head of himself and his countrymen, determined to arouse a +storm which should send its lightnings to gleam along the streets, and +roll its deep thunder to shake the hills which in speechless majesty stand +around the city of God. + +Pope Martin II. entered into his daring scheme, convened a council of +bishops and priests, and gave the sanction of the church to the wild +enterprise. This council Peter addressed, and, with all the eloquence of +a man inspired by a mighty project, depicted the wrongs and grievances +of those who yearly sought, for holy purposes, the sepulchre wherein the +Savior of man reposed after his crucifixion. He was successful in inspiring +the people with his own wild enthusiasm. All Europe flew to arms; all ranks +and conditions in life united in the pious work; youthful vigor and hoary +weakness stood side by side; the cross was worn upon the shoulder and +carried on banners; the watchword, "_Deus Vult_," burst from ten thousand +lips; and the armies of Christendom precipitated themselves upon the holy +land with the awful war cry, "God wills it," echoing from rank to rank. + +In later times a mightier, nobler enterprise was originated, and the great +system of American missions commenced. The object was a grand one, and +awfully important. It contemplated, not the subjection of a narrow kingdom +alone, but the complete overthrow of the dark empire of sin; not the +elevation of a human king, an earthly monarch, but the enthronement of an +insulted God, as the supreme object of human worship; not the possession of +the damp, cold sepulchre in which Jesus reposed after his melancholy death, +but the erection of his cross on every hillside, by every sea shore, in +vale and glen, in city and in solitude. It was a noble design, one full of +grandeur and glory, as far surpassing the crusade of Peter the Hermit as +the noonday sun surpasses the dim star of evening. Its purpose was to +obliterate the awful record of human sin, flash the rays of a divine +illumination across a world of darkness, and send the electric thrill of a +holy life throughout a universe of death. + +At first, the missionary enterprise was looked upon as foolish and Utopian. +Good men regarded it as utterly impracticable, and bad men condemned +and denounced it as selfish and mercenary. The Christian church had not +listened to the wail of a dying world as it echoed over land and ocean and +sounded along our shores; she had not realized the great fact that every +darkened tribe constitutes a part of the universal brotherhood of man; her +heart had not been touched by the spirit of the great commission, "Go ye +into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." + +But the sun which ushered in the present century dawned upon a missionary +age and a missionary church. The tide of time has floated man down to a +region of light, and the high and holy obligations which rest upon the +ransomed of God are being recognized. The question is now asked, with deep +and serious earnestness,-- + + "Shall we, whose souls are lighted + By wisdom from on high, + Shall we to man benighted + The lamp of life deny?" + +And the answer has been given. The church has felt, realized, and entered +into her obligation. By the cross she has stood, her heart beating with +kindly sympathy, her cheeks bathed in tears, and her lips vocal with +prayer. The Macedonian cry has been heard, and from every nave, and alcove, +and aisle, and altar of the great temple of Christianity has come the +response,-- + + "Waft, waft, ye winds, the story, + And you, ye waters, roll, + Till, like a sea of glory, + Light spreads from pole to pole." + +In the early part of the year 1808 several young men, members of the +Divinity School at Andover, became impressed with the importance of a +mission to the heathen world. They first looked on the subject at a +distance, saw its dim and shadowy outlines, prayed that their visions of a +converted world might be realized, and wondered who would go forth the +first heralds of salvation. Ere long the impression came that _they_ +were the men; and in two years the impression had deepened into a solemn +conviction, and they had determined on a life of labor, tears, and +sacrifice. + +In 1810 they made known their plans to an association of Congregational +ministers assembled in Bradford. Although that body of holy men had many +fears and some doubts concerning the success of the enterprise, no attempt +was made to dampen the ardor of the young brethren who were resolved to +undertake the vast work. Many of the aged men composing that association +thought they could discern in the fervor and zeal of these young apostles +of missions the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. However many were their +fears and doubts, they dared not, as they loved the cross, place a single +obstacle in the way of the accomplishment of such a lofty purpose; and +when the question was asked by the sceptic, "Who is sufficient for these +things?" the awful response, "The sufficiency is of God," came up from many +hearts. + +This movement on the part of Messrs. Judson, Newell, Nott, and their +associates, originated the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign +Missions--an organization which has its mission stations in almost every +part of the world, and which is expending, annually, the sum of two hundred +thousand dollars for the conversion of the heathen. The first missionaries +sent out were those above named, who, with two others, were ordained to the +work in the Tabernacle Church, in Salem, on the 6th of February, 1812. +The ordination scene is said to have been one of peculiar solemnity. The +spectacle was an unusual one, and a vast crowd collected together. The +spacious church, though filled to overflowing with excited and interested +people, was as silent as the chamber of death as instructions were given +to the young men who were to bid adieu to home and country. On the 19th of +February, a cold, severe day, the brig Caravan moved down the harbor of +Salem on an outward-bound voyage, bearing on her decks Messrs. Judson and +Newell, with their wives, the others having sailed from Philadelphia for +Calcutta the day previous. They went, not as the conqueror goes, with +fire and sword, flowing banners and waving plumes, but as the heralds of +salvation, having the gospel of life and peace to proclaim in the ears of +men who were strangers to its glory. To portray the character of one of +these devoted female missionaries, the wife of Samuel Newell, this sketch +will be devoted. + +Harriet Atwood was born in the town of Haverhill, on the sloping banks of +the winding Merrimack, on the 10th of October, 1793. She was the daughter +of Moses Atwood, a merchant of that village, who was universally respected +and beloved. Though not rich, he was generous and benevolent; he was pious +without affectation, and in his heart cherished a longing desire to do +good. Her mother, who yet lives, was a woman of strong religious principle, +and well calculated to give right direction to the opening mind of her +child. Her piety, it is said, was of that kind which makes its impression +upon the heart and conscience, and leads the beholder to admire and love. +She was a fit mother to train such a daughter for her holy mission to a +world in ruins, and, by her judicious advice and counsel, lead on her child +to that high point of mental and moral advancement from whence she could +look abroad upon a fallen race and pity human woe. + +Throughout life Harriet Newell bore the marks, and carried the impressions, +of childhood and youth, and her short but brilliant career was moulded and +fashioned by her missionary-hearted mother. + +In 1805 she entered upon a course of study at the Bradford Academy, and +soon distinguished herself as a quick and ready scholar. One of her fellow +pupils remarks that "she seldom entered the recitation room unprepared. She +seemed to take peculiar pains in doing things _well_; and though much of +her time was spent in reading, her standing in her class was always more +than respectable." Though but a child at this time, she kept a diary which +would have done no discredit to a person of mature years, in which she +recorded the exercises of her own mind and the progress which she made in +mental discipline. The entries made in that diary give us an idea of the +superiority of her mind and the excellency of her heart. + +While at Bradford, her heart was renewed by the grace of God. During a +revival which performed its holy work among the members of the school, she +was led to view herself as a sinner against the Almighty. The awful fact +that she must be born again uttered its solemn admonition. Though not so +deeply convicted as are some persons, she felt the terrible necessity of +regeneration. Reason, conscience, and Scripture proclaimed the same truth; +and after struggling against her better feelings for a while, she yielded +herself in sweet submission to the will of God. The account which she gives +of her own exercises of mind, while in this condition, furnishes us with a +view of her real character. Her religious experience was full of feelings +and acts characteristic of herself; and we may form our opinion of her +disposition and cast of mind from the peculiarity of her religious +emotions. In extreme youth she was fond of gayety and mirth, and spent much +time in dancing. According to her own account, she had but little remorse +of conscience for her thoughtless course. The fact that such amusements +were sinful, as well as dangerous, had never been impressed upon her mind. +She deemed them consistent with the highest state of moral and religious +enjoyment, and pursued the miserable phantom of human, earthly pleasure, +until aroused by the Spirit and made sensible of sin. + +From early youth she had been accustomed to revere and study the word of +God and pray to her Father in heaven for the things which she needed. Her +pious parents had impressed the lessons of virtue on her young heart, and +she was accustomed, as she arose in the morning and rested her head at +night, to commend the keeping of her body and soul to the care of an +overruling, superintending Providence; but after commencing the practice +of dancing, and beginning to attend schools where this vain practice was +learned, she neglected the Bible, and thought but little of the place of +prayer. She found, after retiring at evening from the gay and fascinating +scenes of the dancing room, that prayer and meditation were dull and +tedious exercises, and concluded to give them up. Closing the Bible, she +laid it aside, and let it gather dust upon the shelf, while vain and +trifling volumes engaged her attention. The door of her closet was closed, +and she entered it not; and all thoughts of God were banished from her +mind, while the world employed all her time. But God, who orders all +things, was about to perform on her heart a work of mercy and grace. She +was a chosen vessel to bear the name of Jesus to a land of darkness and +despair. + +When about thirteen years of age, she was sent by her parents to the +Academy at Bradford, to receive a systematic course of instruction. Shortly +after this a revival of religion commenced, and spread through the school, +and many were converted. The attention of Miss Atwood was arrested and +turned from vanity. "Must I be born again?" was the searching question +which she put to her own heart. The answer came to her, and she began to +seek the Savior. She seems not to have had deep conviction; her mind, +though agitated, was not overwhelmed, and the subject was contemplated +calmly. At length, with the melancholy fact that she was a sinner, and +endless condemnation before her, she was pointed to the cross of Christ. +The view was effectual. Jesus appeared the Savior of sinners, of whom she +was one, and faith gladly laid hold on him as the way of escape from an +awful death. A wonderful change took place: she lost her love of folly and +sin; prayer was sweet again; the Bible was drawn from its resting-place and +perused with new pleasure; from both Bible and closet she derived pleasure +such as she had never before experienced; and she passed from a state of +nature to a state of grace. + +Writing to her friends while in this mood of mind, she is willing to admit +that she has not had such an overwhelming view of the nature of sin as some +have, nor of the ecstatic joy which some experience on conversion; but she +had what was as good--a calm hope in the merits of a crucified Savior, a +high estimate of religion and religious privileges, and an utter contempt +for the pleasures and vanities of the world. She had a holy love for all +things good, and was able to + + "Read her title clear + To mansions in the sky." + +At the time when Miss Atwood found this sweet and precious hope, the church +in Haverhill was in a low and languishing condition, disturbed by internal +divisions, and to a great extent destitute of the influences of the Holy +Spirit. In consequence of this state of the church she did not unite +herself with it, and at that time made no open profession of religion. This +neglect of a plain and obvious duty brought darkness upon her mind, and +shrouded her soul in gloom. God withdrew his presence from his wayward and +disobedient child, and left her in sadness: she had refused to confess her +Master openly and publicly in the midst of trials and discouragements; and, +grieved and wounded by her conduct, he turned from her, and hid his face. +Then was she in the condition of the man who took into his own house seven +spirits more wicked than himself. There was no rest for her soul, no relief +for her anguished spirit. She realized how bitter a thing it is to depart +from the counsel of her Maker, and found momentary comfort only in the +forgetfulness of what she had enjoyed. At this period conscience was awake, +and to drown its voice she plunged into sin, sought pleasure in all the +departments of worldly intercourse, and thought as little as possible of +God and sacred things. In this attempt to drive away serious inquiries she +succeeded, and became as thoughtless as before her conversion. Again was +the Bible laid aside, and the sickly novel and the wild romance substituted +in its place. The closet was neglected, and she loved not to retire and +commune with God. The flame of piety in her soul went out, and her +heart was dark and sad; she fearfully realized the truth of the divine +declaration, "The way of the transgressor is hard." In her diary she tells +of sleepless nights and anxious days; of the Savior wounded by her whom he +died to save; of the Spirit grieved, and almost quenched, yet lingering +around her, now reproving, now commanding, now pleading; at one time +holding up the terrors of a broken law, and then whispering in tones as +sweet and gentle as Calvary; of conscience holding up a mirror in which +she might discern the likeness of herself and contemplate her real moral +character. Thoughts of God and holiness, of Christ and Calvary, made her +gloomy and unhappy; and she entered the winding path of sin, that the +celestial light might not burst upon her. Like other sinners, she sought +happiness by forgetting what she was doing, and by an entire withdrawal +from all scenes which could awaken in her soul emotions of contrition and +repentance. + +On the 28th of June, 1809, Miss Atwood listened to a discourse, which was +the instrument, in the hands of God, of again prostrating her at the foot +of the cross. Her carnal security gave way; her sins, her broken vows and +pledges, rose up before her in startling numbers; her guilt hung over her +like a dark mantle; she felt the awful pangs of remorse, and was induced to +return to that kind and compassionate Savior who had at first forgiven all +her faults. Peace was restored; the smile of God returned; and the bleeding +heart, torn and wounded by sin, had rest. + +While in her fifteenth year, the subject of this sketch was called upon to +part with her father. What influence this sad event had upon her mind is +hardly known; but that it was an occasion of deep and thrilling anguish +cannot be doubted. Smarting under the hand of Providence, she writes +letters to several of her friends, which abound in words of holy and pious +resignation. The manner in which her sire departed, his calm exit from the +sorrows of the flesh, served to give her a more lofty idea of the power of +faith to sustain its subject in the hour of death. Though he had left nine +fatherless children and a broken-hearted widow, there was to Harriet a +melancholy pleasure in the idea that he had burst off the fetters of clay +and ascended to the skies. Though on earth deprived of his companionship, +his counsels, and his guidance, she looked forward to a meeting where +parting scenes will not be found, and where the farewell word will never be +spoken. + + "There is a world above, + Where parting is unknown, + A long eternity of love, + Formed for the good alone; + And faith beholds the dying here + Translated to that glorious sphere." + +Nor had she a single doubt that her father had reached that world. She knew +the sincerity, piety, and devotion of his life, and the sweet calmness of +his death. His coffin, his shroud, his grave, his pale form were reposing +in lonely silence beneath the bosom of the earth; but the spirit had +departed on its journey of ages, and she doubted not its perfect felicity. +As often as she repaired to the spot where he was interred, and kneeled by +his tomb and breathed forth her humble supplications, she found the sweet +assurance that beyond the grave she would see her earthly parent, and live +with him forever. Though divided by the realms of space, faith carried her +onward to the scenes of eternity and upward to the joys of heaven; and +though she roamed on earth, shedding many a tear of sorrow, her spirit held +communion with the spirit of her departed sire. + + "While her silent steps were straying + Lonely through night's deepening shade, + Glory's brightest beams were playing + Bound the happy Christian's head." + +In October, 1810, an event occurred which gave direction to the whole life +of Harriet Atwood. She became acquainted with Samuel Newell, one of the +enthusiastic apostles of missions. He made her familiar with his plans and +purposes, and asked her to accompany him as his colaborer and companion. +Long had she prayed that she might be a source of good to her +fellow-creatures; long had she labored to accomplish something for God +and his holy cause; but the idea of leaving mother and friends, home and +kindred, and going forth to preach salvation and tell of Jesus in wild +and barbarous climes, was new and strange. To the whole matter she gave a +careful and prayerful consideration. She divested the great subject as +far as possible from all romantic drapery, and looked upon it in its true +light. For a while her mind was in a state of perplexing doubt and fear, +and the thought of leaving her own land was terrible. While considering the +conflict in her mind, we should remember that the cause of missions was +in its infancy; that no one had ever gone forth from our shores to preach +salvation by grace in heathen countries; that those who were agitating +the subject were branded as fanatics, and the cause itself was subject to +unjust suspicions and contempt; consequently the subject had an importance +and awfulness which it does not now possess. The way has been broken, and +all good men acknowledge that the heroism of the missionary woman is grand +and sublime. The decision made by Harriet Atwood was different from that +made by others in after years, inasmuch as she had no example, no pattern. +She realized that the advice of friends, biased as it was by prejudice and +affection, could not be relied upon; and, driven to the throne of God, she +wrestled there until her course of action was decided and her mind fixed +intently upon the great work before her. Her resolution to go to India was +assailed on every side. Those to whom she had been accustomed to look for +advice and counsel, friends on whose judgment she had relied, shook their +heads and gave decided tokens of disapprobation. But the question was +finally settled. On one side were the gay world, her young associates, +her kind relatives, her own care and comfort. On the other side stood a +bleeding Savior and a dying world. To the question, "Lord, what wilt thou +have me to do?" she heard the response, "Go work to-day in my vineyard;" +and when she looked forth upon the harvest, white for the reaper's hand, +she hesitated not to consecrate on the altar of her God her services, her +time, her life. + +When this decision was once made, she conferred not with flesh and blood. +Her reply was given to Mr. Newell in firm, decided language; and up to +the hour when her spirit took its flight from earth to heaven, we have +no evidence that she had one single regret that she had chosen a life of +self-sacrifice. Her language was,-- + + "Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, + I'll follow where he goes." + +Through duties and trials, through floods and flames, she passed, shrinking +from no danger and shunning no sacrifice. Conscious of right, she quailed +not before the tears of friends and the scorn of foes; but alike in duty +and in danger followed the footsteps of her Savior, until her wasting body +was decomposed and her spirit taken up to dwell with the just men made +perfect. + +To a friend in Beverly she writes as follows: "How can I go and leave those +who have done so much for me, and who will be so sorry for my loss? How can +I leave my mother here while oceans roll between us? How can I go with +but little prospect of return? And how can I stay? We are under solemn +obligation to labor for God; and I must go to India at any sacrifice. I owe +something to my perishing fellow-men; I owe something to my Savior. He wept +for men--he shed tears over Jerusalem. + + 'Did Christ o'er sinners weep? + And shall our cheeks be dry?'" + +At this time her letters to Mr. Newell breathe forth the most devoted +missionary spirit, and exhibit her firm determination to do her highest +duty and discharge her great mission at any sacrifice--at the cost of +separation, tears, and death. And required it, think you, no effort to +bring her mind into this godlike state? Cost it no toil to discipline the +heart to such sore trials? Most certainly it demanded toil and effort; and +many a visit to the cross was made, and many a view of the bleeding Savior +obtained, ere she could turn her back on home and all that the young heart +holds dear in this life, to labor and die far away over the rolling sea. + +And we doubt if any other motive can be found so powerful as this to move +the Christian heart to obedience. There is an inexpressible efficacy in +the cross to bring all the various opposing elements into subjection, and +produce order in the place of discord and opposition. With the cross the +early disciples went forth, not as the crusaders went, with the sacred +symbol on banners, and badges, and weapons, but wearing the _spirit_ of +the cross like a garment, having its doctrines engraven on the heart, and +inspired and quickened into life by its mysterious energy. It was the cross +that induced the early disciples to brave danger and death to spread abroad +the new faith. The martyr at the stake, amid the curling flames, was +supported by it; the exile from home, banished to rude and savage wilds, +loved it; the prisoner in his chains, confined and scourged, tortured and +bleeding, turned to it, and found satisfaction for all his wrongs; the +laborer for God, amid wild men who had no sympathy for his vocation, +carried the cross, and fainted not in his anxious toil. + +And such was the effect of the cross on the mind of Mrs. Newell. It sent +her forth in all the love of womanhood, and sustained her until the close +of life, It produced on her the impression that it made upon the dreamer +Bunyan, who saw it as he was escaping from the city of destruction. He came +to it with a heavy heart and a burdened soul; but as he saw it the burden +fell and rolled into the sepulchre, and his load was gone. He gazed with +rapture and delight; and the tears burst forth and flowed down his cheeks, +and joy and holy satisfaction filled his soul. + +Here is the great moving motive, one which is above all others, one that is +more effective than all others; and by this our heroine was animated and +cheered in her missionary work. + +Up to the time of her departure for India, the mind of Miss Atwood +continued to be exercised with contending feelings. At one time the +sacrifice, the toil, the labor, and self-denial of a missionary life would +rise up before her. She would feel how great the trial must be to leave +all the endeared scenes of youth and childhood, and go forth to toil, and +perhaps die, among strangers in a strange land. Dark visions would often +flit before her; and she felt how terrible it must be to sicken and expire +on shores where no mother's kind hand could lift her anguished head nor +smooth her fevered pillow. But at other times her spirit soared above the +toil and sorrow, and dwelt with rapture upon the bliss, of seeing some of +the poor, degraded heathen females converted to Christ. The glory of the +great enterprise presented itself; and she realized the blessedness of +those who leave father and mother, brother and sister, houses and land, for +the promotion of the kingdom of Christ. From these various struggles +she came forth purified, dead to the world, and alive unto Christ. Any +sacrifice she was willing to make, any toil endure. It was her meat +and drink to do the will of God and accomplish his work. After a full +investigation of all the privations and sacrifices of a missionary life, +after a solemn and prayerful estimate of all that was to be left behind and +all that would be gained, she formed her opinion and decided to go forth. A +feeble woman, just out of childhood, she linked her fate with an unpopular +and scorned enterprise, and cast in her lot with the dark-browed daughters +of India. + +We have seen grand enterprises commenced and carried on; we have seen our +fellow-men gathering imperishable laurels; but never before did the world +witness so grand a spectacle, with so high an object to be accomplished +by mortals, as was given in the departure of Harriet Newell to teach the +lessons of Jesus in distant lands. We consider the career of Napoleon a +glorious one. We cannot look upon his successful marches and battles, +however much we disapprove his course, without something of admiration +mingled with our abhorrence. There was a gorgeous glory which gathered +around the character of that emperor of blood which hides his errors and +dazzles the eyes of the beholder. But the true glory which gathered over +that little band of missionaries, as they left the snow-covered, icebound +coast of America, to find homes and graves in distant India, far outshines +all the glitter of pomp and imperial splendor which ever shed its rays upon +the brilliant successes of the monarch of France, the conqueror of Europe. + +True, they went forth alone. No weeping church followed them to the water +side; no crowded shore sent up its wail, or echoed forth the fervent +prayer; but in the homes of the people, in the heart of God, these holy men +and women were remembered. Had that beautiful hymn been composed for them, +it could not have been more appropriate; and as they stood upon the deck +of the wave-washed Caravan, it must have been the sentiments of all their +hearts. + + "Scenes of sacred grace and pleasure, + Holy days and Sabbath bell, + Richest, brightest, sweetest treasure, + Can I say a last farewell? + Can I leave you, + Far in distant lands to dwell? + + Yes, I hasten from you gladly-- + From the scenes I loved so well; + Far away, ye billows, bear me; + Lovely, native land, farewell! + Pleased I leave thee, + Far in heathen lands to dwell. + + In the desert let me labor; + On the mountain let me tell + How he died--the blessed Savior-- + To redeem a world from hell; + Let me hasten + Far in heathen lands to dwell." + +Miss Atwood was united in marriage to Mr. Newell on the 9th of February, +1812; and on the 19th the Caravan set sail, as before stated. The voyage +to Calcutta, though attended with many things to render it unpleasant to a +feeble American woman, was not a severe one. The weather most of the time +was pleasant; and only occasionally did the waves sweep across the decks of +the vessel, or flow through the windows into the cabin. Mrs. Newell spent +her time in writing letters to her American friends and preparing herself +for her missionary work. She now had leisure to examine her own heart and +descend into the hidden mysteries of her soul; she had ample space to view +the past and form plans for the future; she could try her motives by the +unerring word of God, and, by humble prayer and careful meditation, be +enabled to acquire strength which should prove equal to her trials. The +cabin of a wave-tossed vessel, the loneliness of a voyage across the +deep-green ocean, a separation from earth's homes and earth's hearts, +were all calculated to lift up the pious mind, and centre the soul's best +affections upon pure and worthy objects. Whatever of care and sorrow she +might have had, however much or however little of anxiety might have filled +her bosom, such circumstances were sufficient to bring her faith to the +most severe test. + +The voyage must have been severe but healthy discipline, and doubtless from +it was learned many a lesson of grace and duty. As the snow-covered hills +of her own dear home disappeared; as the tall chimney at the entrance of +the harbor, from which the nightly flame burned forth a beacon to the +mariner to guide him amid the storm, was lost in the distance; as the first +night came on and darkness gathered over the wide waste of waters; as deep +shadows fell upon the form of the plunging ship,--the missionary cause +must have presented itself in a new light, and, to some extent, have been +clothed with sombre hues. And as time rolled on and the distance from home +increased, that sacred call of God, that holy mission on which she was +employed, must have appealed more strongly to the Christ-like heart of our +missionary sister. The vessel encountered storm and tempest, the usual +inconveniences of a sea voyage were endured, and danger in a thousand +threatening forms appeared; but the hand which formed the channels of the +sea preserved his servants, and amid storm and darkness guided the vessel +which bore them to homes and graves in the dark places of the earth. + +On her passage, Mrs. Newell kept an interesting journal, not only of her +own feelings, but also of the incidents that rendered the voyage pleasant +or painful and checkered it with evil or good. And such incidents there are +always. When on the ocean, far from land, for the first time, the dullest +and most stupid mind cannot fail of being aroused to new and awful +emotions. Man learns of God at such an hour, and finds new proof of his +grandeur and glory in every dashing wave and every whistling blast. With +but a single inch between him and a watery death, he gazes from his narrow +deck upon the boundless expanse of tossing, foam-crested billows; while, as +far as his eye can stretch, not a foot of land appears. His vessel may be +on fire, she may fill with water, she may be riven by lightning; but there +is no friendly sail to which wrecked man may fly and be safe. His ship will +founder in mid ocean, while not a single form appears to lend the helping +hand, and not an eye is seen flowing with tears of pity; nothing is heard +but the moan of ocean; nothing is seen but the sweeping surge, as it passes +on, leaving no track of the submerged vessel. + +Confined in towns and cities, enclosed in walls of stone and brick, chained +to the wheel of custom, the soul of man becomes contracted and dwarfed. All +around are monuments of human skill, and every thing as little as the human +mind. But when he steps beyond the crowds of life and embarks on the +bosom of the ocean, he begins to see Divinity in its most awful forms. He +realizes the insignificance of the creature and the majesty of the almighty +Maker. + +So felt Mrs. Newell, as she stood upon the deck of her vessel and gazed +upon the wonders of the deep. Each wave, as it dashed against the sides of +the brig or rolled across her decks, seemed impressed by the hand of God; +and in these scenes she realized, more than ever before, the grandeur and +glory of Jehovah. She saw him mirrored out in the starry canopy above her +head, and in the liquid mountains which lifted up their forms, and anon +sunk into peaceful rest beneath her feet. + +On the 17th of June the Caravan reached Calcutta and anchored in the +harbor. During the passage along the river the vessel was hailed by +boatloads of naked natives, who brought on board cocoa nuts, bananas, and +dates in great profusion; while others were seen on the banks reposing in +the sun, or bathing in the waters of the Ganges, or diving beneath the +surface for the shellfish which are found there; while beyond, the country +was seen in all the beauty of verdure and delight, as ever and anon the +Hindoo cottage and the white pagoda reared themselves amid the trees which +grew upon the shoreside. + +On the arrival of the missionaries at Calcutta, they repaired to the +residence of Dr. Carey, where they found Mr. Marshman and Mr. Ward, all of +whom were connected with the English Baptist mission station at Serampore. +By invitation of Dr. Carey they visited the station, and were treated with +the greatest kindness. But their hopes of usefulness were destined to be +blasted. The East India Company was opposed to all attempts to Christianize +the natives, and threw all their influence against the divine cause of +missions. As soon as the government became apprised of the object of Mr. +Newell and his associates, orders were issued for them to leave the +country immediately. After a vast deal of parleying with the civil powers, +permission was obtained to reside at the Isle of France; and on the 4th of +August, 1812, Mr. and Mrs. Newell took passage on board the Gillespie +for that place. Sorrow and distress now began to roll upon them in deep, +sweeping waves. The crew of the vessel were profane and irreligious, the +weather boisterous and unpleasant; while the spirits of the missionaries +themselves were at a low ebb. For some time no progress was made, and the +frown of Providence seemed to rest upon them. What purpose God had in view +in surrounding them with such trials, they knew not; but with humble faith +in all his allotments they bore submissively, but sadly, this new trial of +their devotion. The delicate state of Mrs. Newell's health rendered their +sorrows doubly annoying to her sensitive and refined mind. She shrunk +from a contact with the rude beings around her, and in the society of +her husband alone found enjoyment; and even this was not free from +interruption. The morning and evening prayer was disturbed by the profane +jest or the blasphemous ribaldry of God-hating men, who viewed our +missionaries as deluded fanatics, justly deserving the contempt of all. +Even the respect due to the weaker sex was not wholly observed; and the +pious woman was often compelled to listen to expressions which would have +brought a blush to the cheek of the strong man. Sickness and sorrow found +but little sympathy; and the days seemed long and tedious, even to one who +had not learned to complain of the wise discipline of a Father's hand. + +While on this voyage, about three weeks before their arrival at the place +of destination, she gave birth to a daughter, and became a mother. The +sweet infant lived but five days; "blushed into life and died." The day +before its death, the rite of the church, by which the little stranger into +this cold world was given to God, was performed. They called her by the +mother's name, and watched over her until she breathed her last breath upon +her mother's bosom, and then sunk the form into the cold waters of the +deep. As the corpse was lowered down over the side of the vessel, holy +voices sung the sweet and tender hymn,-- + + "So fades the lovely, blooming flower, + Frail, smiling solace of an hour; + So soon our transient comforts fly, + And pleasures only bloom to die." + +Soon after the death of her babe, Mrs. Newell discovered symptoms of the +malady which soon carried her to an untimely grave. From the first, she had +no hope of recovery. Several of her friends had died of the same disease; +and when it fastened itself upon her system, she knew that her time had +come. The slow, wasting consumption was on her frame, and her days +were nearly run out. But the approach of death she viewed with perfect +composure. Though far from home, far from all the endeared scenes of youth, +from the roof which sheltered her in infancy, from the mother whose gentle +hand guided her up to womanhood, she was tranquil. Death was only a dark +shadow, which retreated before her as she advanced, and left her standing +in the light of a cloudless day. + +While on her dying pillow she read through the book of Job, and derived +from its hallowed counsels much divine support and comfort. While +contemplating the sufferings of that godly man, her own trials dwindled +away, and she lost sight of her own anguish in the deeper woes, of another. +Often did she ask, as she remembered what others had endured and thought +what trials some had experienced,-- + + "Shall I be carried to the skies + On flowery beds of ease, + While others fought to win the prize, + And sailed through bloody seas?" + +Sometimes she wondered why she should be thus early taken away. She had +left home and friends to labor for God in a heathen land; and why at the +very onset he should call her to the grave, she could not understand. The +great desire of her heart was to be the humble instrument in the conversion +of sinners. She wished to win souls to Christ--to turn the attention of the +dying heathen to the saving cross. Hence, when she found that, ere her work +had fairly commenced, she was to be summoned away to her reward, torn from +the arms of her husband, and removed beyond the province of toil, she +failed to read the purpose of her Maker. All was gloom, and in calm +submission she bowed her head to the coming storm. What was dark now she +hoped to understand when the secrets of all hearts are known, and trusted +that God was able to glorify himself as much in her death as in her life. + +During her sickness she gave expression to the feelings of her heart, and +proved to all around her that death had lost dominion over her; that the +grave had secured no victory; and when she met the terrors of one and the +silence of the other, it was as the conqueror meets his smitten foe. Her +last words were, "How long, O Lord, how long?" and with this sentence on +her lips she passed away. + +Mrs. Newell died on Monday, the 30th of November, 1812, at the Isle of +France, leaving her husband to labor alone for the conversion of the +heathen. After the death of his wife Mr. Newell removed to Ceylon, and from +thence to Bombay, where, after laboring a few years and doing his Master's +work in tears and sorrow, he went down to his grave on the 17th of May, +1821. + +The scene now closes. We have followed a devoted servant of Christ from +youth to womanhood--from early childhood to an early grave. It is pleasant +to contemplate such an example, to shed tears of gratitude over such a +tomb. The name we pronounce deserves to be recorded in a more conspicuous +place in the book of fame than any name which has gathered gory laurels on +the wet field of carnage; she deserves a higher monument than rises over +the resting-place of earth's proudest conqueror--a monument not of marble, +nor of brass, nor of gold, but one which shall lift its summit until a halo +of eternal light shall gather about it and gild it with the beams of +glory. And such a monument she has. When the clouds and mists of earth are +dissipated we shall see it, sinking its base deep as the darkness of a +world of heathenism, and lifting its summit high as the throne of God. + +Harriet Newell was the great proto-martyr of American missions. She fell +wounded by death in the very vestibule of the sacred cause. Her memory +belongs not to the body of men who sent her forth, not to the denomination +to whose creed she had subscribed, but to the church--to the cause of +missions. With the torch of Truth in her hand she led the way down into a +valley of darkness, through which many have followed. Her work was short, +her toil soon ended; but she fell, cheering, by her dying words and her +high example, the missionaries of all coming time. She was the first, but +not the only martyr. Heathen lands are dotted over with the graves of +fallen Christians; missionary women sleep on almost every shore; and the +bones of some are whitening in the fathomless depths of the ocean. + +Never will the influence of the devoted woman whose life and death are here +portrayed be estimated properly until the light of an eternal day shall +shine on all the actions of men. We are to measure her glory, not by what +she suffered, for others have suffered more than she did. But we must +remember that she went out when the missionary enterprise was in its +infancy--when even the best of men looked upon it with suspicion. The tide +of opposition she dared to stem; and with no example, no predecessor from +American shores, she went out to rend the veil of darkness which gathered +over all the nations of the East. + +Things have changed since then. Our missionaries go forth with the approval +of all the good; and the odium which once attended such a life is swept +away. It is to some extent a popular thing to be a missionary, although the +work is still one of hardship and suffering. It is this fact which gathers +such a splendor around the name of Harriet Newell, and invests her short, +eventful life with such a charm. She went when no foot had trodden out +the path, and was the first American missionary ever called to an eternal +reward. While she slumbers in her grave, her name is mentioned with +affection by a missionary church. And thus it should be. She has set us a +glorious example; she has set an example to the church in every land and +age; and her name will be mingled with the loved ones who are falling year +by year; and if, when the glad millennium comes and the earth is converted +to God, some crowns brighter than others shall be seen amid the throng of +the ransomed, one of those crowns will be found upon the head of HARRIET +NEWELL. + + + + + +II. + +ANN H. JUDSON, OF BURMAH. + + + + +Notoriety is one thing, and true glory is quite another thing. Many persons +have become notorious around whose lives no true glory or dignity has +appeared; and many men have been honorable in the highest sense who have +lived unknown to fame, and unheard of beyond a narrow boundary. + +The world's estimate of glory is a false one. It attaches too much +importance to physical force, to noisy pomp, to the glitter and show of +conquest, and gives too little honor to the silent but majestic movements +of moral heroes. + +Had any body of men labored long and suffered much to save poor human life +and draw from burning dwelling or sinking wreck some fellow-man, their +deeds would be mentioned in every circle; humane societies would award them +tokens of distinction and approbation; and they would be deemed worthy of +exalted honor. Nor would it be wrong thus to give them praise. The man who +risks his life to save another deserves a higher, prouder monument than +ever lifted itself above the tombs of fallen warriors who on the gory field +have slaughtered their thousands. + +Nor will the deserved approbation of the great and good of earth long be +withheld from the heralds of salvation on heathen shores. The majesty +of the missionary enterprise is beginning to develop itself; success is +crowning the toil of years; and heathendom is assuming a new aspect. Under +the faithful labors of self-denying men, the wilderness is beginning to +blossom as the rose. Here and there, amid the sands of the wide desert once +parched by sin and consumed by the fiery blaze of heathenish cruelty, +the plants of grace are beginning to appear, and Christian churches are +springing up to spread themselves like green vines upon the broken ruins of +demolished idols. + +It is too late now in the world's history, too late in the progress +of thought, to vindicate the course pursued by the two pioneer female +missionaries. When the Caravan sailed down the harbor of the "City of +Peace," there were enough to curl the lip and point the finger of scorn. +The devoted messengers of Jesus were charged with indelicacy, with a false +ambition, with a spirit of romance and adventure, with a desire for +ease and gain. As time rolled on, all these charges were withdrawn; the +characters, views, and feelings of these heroic women were raised above +suspicion, and now they are enveloped in a flood of glory. + + "They left not home to cross the briny sea + With the proud conqueror's ambitious aim, + To wrong the guiltless, to enslave the free, + And win a bloodstained wreath of dreadful fame + By deeds unworthy of the Christian name." + +Their errand was to carry mercy to the perishing and hope to the +despairing; and in the name of their great Master they executed their high +commission. Depending alone on God, and inspired by his grace, they labored +on, amid all the doubts and sneers of others, until their holy lives and +correct deportment challenged the approbation of the most sceptical,--until +God honored their work by great success,--until men, hardened men, began to +yield. + + "And by degrees the blesséd fruits were seen + In many a contrite and converted heart, + Fruits which might cause unbidden tears to start + From eyes unused to weep; because they told + Faith was their polar star, and God's word their guide." + +And future ages will honor them. When the names of Mary and Elizabeth, +of Joan of Arc with her wild enthusiasm, of De Staël and her literary +contemporaries, have all been lost, these will live as fresh as ever. + +Ann H. Judson was born at Bradford, December 22, 1789. She was the daughter +of John and Rebecca Hasseltine, worthy inhabitants of that pleasant +village. Her childhood was passed within sight of the home which contained +the friends, and around which clustered the employments and pursuits, of +Harriet Newell. With only a narrow river rolling between them, these two +devoted servants of God passed through the period of youth, little thinking +how their names and fortunes were to be linked together in the holy cause +of human good. Like her beloved associate, Miss Hasseltine was early in +life a pupil at Bradford Academy, and made commendable progress in her +studies. There she was beloved by all. The teachers regarded her as an +industrious, dutiful, and talented scholar; her associates looked upon her +as a sincere, openhearted, cheerful companion. Unlike Mrs. Newell, who was +sedate and grave, exhibiting a seriousness almost beyond her years, Miss +Hasseltine was ardent, gay, and active. She loved amusement and pleasure, +and was found seeking enjoyment in all the avenues of virtuous life. One of +her schoolmates, speaking of her, says, "Where Ann is, no one can be +gloomy or unhappy. Her cheerful countenance, her sweet smile, her happy +disposition, her keen wit, her lively conduct, never rude nor boisterous, +will dispel the shades of care and hang the smiles of summer upon the +sorrows of the coldest heart." Her animation gave life to all around her, +and made her, at school, an unusual favorite; at home, the joy of her +father's dwelling. It was probably this cheerfulness of her natural +disposition which in after years enabled her to endure such protracted +sufferings, and, by the side of her missionary husband, smile amid clanking +fetters and gloomy dungeons. She loved to look upon the bright side of +every picture, and seldom spent an hour in tears over any imaginary sorrow. +On the front of evils she generally discerned signs of good; and often, +while others were in sorrow, her heart was glad. Her sedate parents looked +upon these exhibitions of cheerful disposition with some feelings of +regret, and often chided their child for what they deemed an uneasy and +restless spirit, little thinking that this very cheerfulness was to sustain +her under many a trial which would have bowed others to the earth with +crushed and broken spirits. God seemed to have adapted her to the very +position in which he designed to place her; and her whole after career gave +evidence of the wisdom of the divine arrangement. Had she been of different +mould, she would have sunk ere half her work was done, ere half her toils +were over. + +While at Bradford Academy, Miss Hasseltine became a subject of renewing +grace. Her own account of her conversion, found in her published memoir and +elsewhere, is of the deepest and most thrilling interest to every pious +heart. During the first sixteen years of her life, she, according to her +own statement, had few convictions. She had been taught that she must be +moral and virtuous, and in this way avoid suffering and secure peace of +conscience. The awful necessity of being "born again" did not press itself +upon her attention. Light and vain amusements engrossed much of her time, +and employed many hours which should have been given to God and the +practice of holiness. The prayers which she learned in youth were now +forgotten, her Bible neglected, and her mind given up to vain and sinful +pleasure. She did not realize that she was immortal; that she was a +traveller to a long and unknown eternity; but the present hour, the present +moment, received all her care and engrossed all her attention. From this +state she was aroused by seeing in a little volume which she took up to +read on Sabbath morning, just before going to the house of God, this solemn +sentence: "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." The words +sunk deep into her thoughtless heart. In vain she strove to banish them; +but they would return upon her memory, and linger there with tormenting +obstinacy. Vain was it that she mingled in scenes of gayety and mirth; +vainly did she become "the gayest of the gay." The conviction became +stronger, as each week rolled away, that she was _a lost sinner_. Under the +influence of divine truth she continued to become more deeply impressed +with the importance of giving her heart to God and being a new creature. +She herself says, "I lost all relish for amusements; felt melancholy and +dejected; and the solemn truth that I must obtain a new heart, or perish +forever, lay with weight upon my mind." At length her feelings-became so +overpowering that she could not confine them within her own bosom. God had +rolled such a weight of conviction on her mind that she was almost crushed +to the earth. How God could forgive _her_ sins, she could not see. How one +so guilty, so rebellious, so hardened, could obtain mercy, she did not +know. Instead, at this time, of giving her heart to God, she resorted to +other means to find relief from sin. She gave up many of the comforts +of life, locked herself into her room, and spent many weary hours in +self-imposed penance. Against the holy claims of God her heart soon +rebelled, and she longed to be taken out of her misery. + +At length she attained a more scriptural view of the way of salvation; she +saw Christ as a vicarious sacrifice, and felt that, if saved at all, it +must be by his blood, and not by her own imperfect righteousness. This +view of Jesus was sweet and precious. He had become, not the Savior of the +world, but _her_ own Savior; he had died, not merely for the sins of the +race, but for _her_ sins; and in this sacred contemplation her soul found +sweet relief. The torturing load of fears was gone; one sight of Christ had +changed the heart and taken away its grief and sin. Like a liberated slave +she rejoiced in perfect freedom, and her happy soul went out in joyful +thanks to Him who had wrought the work. + +With a heart changed by God, she seemed to pass from rapture to rapture, +from bliss to bliss. Beneath the operations of grace her mind and her heart +seemed to be enlarged, and to a wonderful extent she drank in the truth +of the inspired word. Doctrines which until now had been all shrouded in +darkness were readily comprehended. The great plan of salvation by the +cross excited her wonder and admiration, and she loved to dwell upon it as +the way in which she herself had been saved. All the energy of her soul +seemed to be aroused to action. She was in a new world, inspired by new +hopes, living a new life, a new creature. + +The character of Miss Hasseltine's mind may be inferred from the nature +of the books which, at this period of her experience, she read with the +greatest eagerness. Instead of resorting to works of a superficial cast for +instruction, she selected the profound dissertations of our most learned +theologians, and read with much interest, as we are informed by her +biographer, "the works of Edwards, Hopkins, Bellamy, and Doddridge." In the +investigation of the deep and awful things of God she spent much of her +time, and, with a humble desire to know the truth and obey it, sought +wisdom from on high. + +On the 14th of September, 1806, Miss Hasseltine made a public profession of +religion, and connected herself with the Congregational church in Bradford, +and for the first time partook with the company of believers of the broken +emblems of a Savior's infinite compassion. The observance of this ordinance +was full of blessing; at the table, according to her own testimony, she +renewed her covenant with her Maker, and more solemnly than ever gave +herself to the holy work of God. She felt how needful the assistance of a +higher power was to keep her from the snares into which young Christians +are so liable to fall. + +After leaving the academy, Miss H. engaged as a teacher, and with +considerable success employed herself in her vocation, in Haverhill, +Salem, and Newbury. Teaching with her was not an ordinary employment; she +remembered that her pupils had souls as well as bodies; and while she was +striving to expand the youthful mind, she also endeavored to improve the +youthful heart, and impress upon the conscience those lessons of truth +which time could never efface. It was at the same conference in which the +acquaintance between Mr. and Mrs. Newell commenced that Mr. Judson was +introduced to the subject of this sketch. He was then in need of a +companion who would share his anxieties, his labors, and his sorrows; and +he fixed upon Miss Hasseltine as the one whose tastes and feelings most +accorded with his own. He was probably attracted by her ardent piety, her +brilliant intellect, and her joyous spirit. Having duly considered the +subject, he gave her an invitation to go out with him to distant India, and +be his companion in the brightest hour of his prosperity and in the darkest +moment of his adversity. To decide the question was not an easy matter. It +was connected with obligations which she did not hastily assume, and hence +it was several months ere she had resolved to go. She was at times fearful +that her disposition for what was in itself romantic and strange would bias +her judgment and lead her to pursue a course which she should regret when +too late to turn back. Hence she brought all her feelings and motives to a +severe test, and looked down deeply into the hidden mystery of her heart. +Before God she laid herself completely open, and sought, by humble +supplication, his divine direction. With no example but that of Harriet +Newell, who had just consecrated herself to the work, she decided to make +India her home, and suffering and privation her lot. Her letters upon this +subject, about this time, abound with passages of thrilling interest, and +give evidence that the subject of missions absorbed her whole attention and +pervaded her whole nature. + +On the 5th of February, 1812, Mr. and Mrs. Judson were married at Bradford; +on the 16th Mr. Judson and his associates were ordained in Salem, and on +the 19th they sailed for Calcutta. While on the passage, a change occurred +in the feelings and views of Mr. Judson which materially changed his whole +course. He was aware that at Serampore the Baptists had established a +mission station which was in successful operation. He knew that he should +come in contact with the peculiar views of that denomination, and be under +the necessity of replying to the objections which would be urged against +his own sentiments. His own mind was at rest upon the subject; but he +wished to be fully armed against all the arguments which he should meet on +his arrival. To prepare himself for an encounter with Dr. Carey and his +associates, he commenced the diligent study of the word of God and such +works as he had in his possession. As he advanced in his investigation, +doubts began to thicken around him; his mind, instead of being more fully +convinced, began to waver; the arguments of Baptists he did not know how to +overcome. Thus it continued for a while, until, a short time after their +arrival, Mr. and Mrs. Judson threw aside their former views of baptism, and +adopted the sentiments of another denomination. The particulars of this +change are given by Mrs. Judson in a letter to her friends. By her we are +informed that for a long time her husband's new notions did not correspond +with her own. With woman's ingenuity and skill, she sought to dissuade him +from any public statement, and even from an investigation of the subject. +She well knew to what such a step would lead. The friends who had been +so kind to her, who were then supporting her, who were willing still to +support her, would be obliged to withdraw their aid. They could not, in +conscience, support a missionary who was promulgating what they deemed an +error, and consequently would recall her husband to America. Nor was this +the worst. She had many personal friends who would be unable to appreciate +her motives and understand her true position. They would be surprised, +grieved, and perhaps offended. And to be encountered, was the odium of +changing one's religious opinions, the charge of fickleness, and the +consequent loss of reputation. Besides, the change, if made, would be a +small one--simply a question of difference between the application to the +body of a few drops of water and an entire immersion. This, to her mind, +was a small change, which to her companion involved great consequences. +Hence she endeavored to have him give up the subject and quiet his mind +upon his previous opinions. Laughing, she told him, "if he became a +Baptist, she would not." But the examination had been commenced, and could +not be given up; and ere it was completed, she herself was a convert, That +she was sincere, we have no room to doubt; by the change she had every +thing to lose and nothing to gain. And it was made willingly, at last; when +her judgment was convinced, she hesitated not. + +The brethren at Serampore knew nothing of the change of views until they +received a letter from Mr. Judson, asking baptism at their hands. That it +was to them an occasion of gladness, we need not state. Weary with toil, +they received this addition to their number as a gift of God, sent at this +time to stay up their hands and encourage their hearts. It gave them new +strength to meet the tide of opposition and bear up under the heavy load of +missionary care and anxiety. + +They were baptized on the 6th day of September, in the Baptist chapel at +Calcutta, and shortly after Mr. Judson gave his reasons for the change in +a sermon which has already passed through several editions, and which is +regarded by his friends as a conclusive argument. + +Whatever may be the opinion in regard to the correctness of Mr. J.'s new +views,--whatever may be the views entertained of the denomination to which +he united himself,--no godly man will regret the result to which it has +led. His change aroused to action the slumbering energies of the whole +Baptist section of our Zion, inspired that sect throughout the land with a +new and holy impulse, and originated the convention, which now, under the +name of the Missionary Union, is doing so much for a dying world. But +for the change of Judson's sentiments upon the question of baptism, a +denomination which is now contributing nearly two hundred thousand dollars +annually for missionary purposes might have, stood aloof from the holy work +for many years. The hand of God in this event is plainly seen--the hand of +God, touching the heart of a mighty party, and animating it with a true, +godlike missionary enthusiasm. + +About the time of this change Mr. J. wrote a letter to Dr. Bolles, in which +he threw himself upon the Baptists of America for support and sympathy. +Previous to receiving a reply, he sailed with his companion for the Isle +of France, at which place Mrs. Newell had been buried previous to their +arrival. The desolate man met them on the shore, and with tearful eyes +described to them the dying scene and the solitude of his own heart, Mr. +Judson preached a while to the people and the soldiers who were stationed +at the Isle of France, where he was the instrument of much good. + +Providence did not favor his remaining at that place, and he left it +for another field of labor, and at length, after many difficulties and +hardships, arrived at Rangoon, in Burmah, in July, 1813. At this place +several attempts had been made to establish a mission station, but all had +failed; and the last missionary, a son of Dr. Carey, had departed a short +time previous to the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Judson. + +Our missionaries repaired to the house which Mr. C. had formerly occupied, +about half a mile from the town. Mrs. Judson, being feeble, was borne upon +the shoulders of the natives; and as she passed along, or as the bearers +stopped to rest, a crowd of people gathered around her. Some came to her +side and looked under her bonnet, and retired with boisterous merriment. +But all their little annoyances she suffered with patience, knowing that +here she was to find a home, and to these very people declare the word of +God. + +The manner in which they acquired a knowledge of the language is somewhat +novel. They were unable to find any one who was acquainted with the English +language, and were obliged to select an agreeable and pleasant Burman, +who, to the best of his ability, instructed them in the principles of the +language of his country. They would point to houses, and trees, and the +various objects around them, and he would give their names in Burman. Thus +after a while they were able to make themselves understood, and, being +willing learners, they very soon made rapid progress--rapid, considering +the discouragements under which they labored--being without both grammar +and dictionary, or any other book which could materially assist them. Slow +and discouraging indeed, compared with the labor of learning some other +languages under different circumstances, was their advancement; but when +the circumstances under which they commenced and prosecuted the task of +learning the language of the Barman nation are considered, we should +imagine that almost any progress was rapid. + +On the 11th of September, 1815, their first child was born. They gave him +the name of Roger Williams, in honor of one of the greatest advocates of +human liberty which the world has ever raised. Eight months they loved him +and watched over him, at the expiration of which he sickened and died. He +was buried in the garden of the mission house; and the tears of the weeping +parents, and a small company of kind-hearted but ignorant Burmans, watered +the little grave, in the silence of which the infant had found repose. + +For a few years after the arrival of Mr. Judson at Rangoon, the officers +of government manifested towards the mission a friendly spirit. The +missionaries were invited to visit the viceroy and vicereine at their +royal residence, and received their visits in return. The mission was +accomplishing the object of its establishment, and from time to time was +reënforced. Even the bands of hostile robbers respected the property and +persons of the men of God; and they fondly dreamed that it would thus +continue. + +In April, 1819, Mr. Judson commenced preaching the gospel in a building +erected for the purpose, called a zayat. Until this time he had not +attempted publicly to discourse after the manner of preaching in America. +His audience consisted of twelve or fifteen adults, besides a large number +of children. On the 27th of June, the first Burman convert was "buried with +Christ by baptism." It was to the devoted Judson and his companions a day +of pure and holy joy. The first fruits of their labors began to appear; and +when Moung Nau went down into the water, a burst of gratitude went up from +the deepest places of their hearts. The day was beautiful, the audience +quiet and attentive, as there, beneath the very shadow of Gaudama, in the +waters of a lake consecrated to the rites of heathenism, the new-born soul +gave outward signs of the inward change. With what feelings of interest the +missionary must have looked upon the first convert, we can only imagine. +For that day he had waited and toiled for years; and as he pronounced the +impressive formula, and in the name of the true God laid the dark son of +India beneath the yielding waves, the feelings which rushed upon him must +have been almost overpowering. + +On the next Sabbath they sat down together at the communion table to +celebrate the death of Christ--to commemorate the scene of Calvary. What a +picture! The first offering of Burmah to the Lord; the first convert from +that great empire, with his pale teacher, kneeling at the same altar, +drinking of the same consecrated cup, and believing in "one Lord, one +faith, one baptism." The second baptism was ministered on the same spot to +two other converts. Amidst profound and holy stillness they descended into +the water, where, a short time previous, Moung Nau had witnessed a good +profession. The low and solemn tones of prayer were heard, the voice +suppressed, in fear of arousing the ferocious enemy. There was no sermon, +no address, no song; the record was on high, and angels looked down as +spectators of the thrilling event. Around them, in earth's homes and in +earth's hearts, there was no sympathy; but in heaven a chord was touched +which will vibrate forever. + +Shortly after the baptism of the two converts, opposition to the mission +began to be manifested. Those who came to the mission house had evil in +their hearts. To shield themselves from all harm, and secure the protection +of the government, Mr. Judson and Mr. Coleman, who had been sent out in +company with Mr. Wheelock a short time previous, determined to visit Ava +and see the king. They did so, and with some difficulty obtained a hearing. +They took with them the Bible, which was in six large volumes, decorated +with gold, and well calculated to attract the attention of a heathen +monarch. They were introduced into the palace and seated among the nobles. +When the king appeared, the whole heathen throng prostrated themselves with +their faces to the earth; the missionaries alone remained erect. After some +conversation they presented their petition, and a tract on the being of +God. The proud monarch read the petition through, and coldly handed it +back to his minister. His eye then glanced over the little book; he read a +single sentence, and then dashed it to the ground. Without ceremony they +were hurried away from the palace, and, after various annoyances, were +allowed to return to the friendly shelter of their boat. Sadly did they go +back to the field of their labors to relate the story of their failure, and +to toil on again until some new interruption. + +Under the labors and sufferings incident to such a station, the health of +Mrs. Judson began to fail rapidly, and it soon became evident that nothing +but a visit to America would restore it. Consequently, in August, 1821, she +started from Rangoon, and arrived in New York in September of the following +year, spending some time in Calcutta and in England on her way. While in +this country she accomplished a vast amount of good by her letters and +conversation, and succeeded in inspiring the friends of missions with a +deeper solicitude to see the heathen world converted to God. + +In 1823, having regained her health, she returned to Burmah in company with +Mr. and Mrs. Wade, who were sent out by the board to reënforce the mission. +She arrived on the 5th of December, and found her husband in the midst of +his toils and surrounded with disappointments and difficulties. + +It soon become evident that Mrs. Judson had returned only to pass through +scenes of unparalleled sufferings. On her arrival she found her husband +about to leave for Ava, and immediately started with him. On the passage +they encountered storms and dangers, and were, emphatically, in perils by +sea and perils by land. While stopping at the town of Tsen-pyoo-kyon, about +one hundred miles from the capital, they learned that the declaration +of war had been made, and that the Burmans and English were at open +hostilities. They reached Ava, and, without manifesting any fear or any +interest in the hostile movements of the people, proceeded to build there a +house and commence their operations. Soon the dreadful news came that the +British had taken Rangoon. This catastrophe incensed the court at Ava, and +Mr. Judson and Dr. Price were arrested as spies in the employ of England. + +On the 8th of June, 1824, Mr. Judson was arrested at his own dinner table +by a party of officers, led by an executioner whose power was absolute, and +who held in his hand a black book, in which the names of his victims were +recorded. With scarcely a moment's notice they threw him on the floor, and +bound him with strong cords, and hurried him away. Mrs. Judson offered them +money to release her husband; but they repulsed her with rudeness, and +carried him, heedless of her tears and prayers, into the _death_ prison, +where he was loaded with three pairs of chains, and fastened to a long +pole, to prevent the moving of his body. + +In this trying situation Mrs. Judson returned, a lone, desolate woman, to +her dwelling, and destroyed all her papers, journals, and writings of every +description, lest they should be examined and found to contain something +which would increase the sorrow of her husband. Her servants were taken +from her and confined in stocks, and a guard placed about the house, who +did their utmost to annoy and insult her. After some delay she procured +permission to go abroad, and daily, at the prison gate, prayed that she +might see the prisoners. Permission was at length given, and the fond wife +sought her husband. She found his condition more deplorable than she had +supposed. He was scarcely able to crawl to the door of his rude tenement; +and while he stood in conference with the highminded and noble woman +who had followed him beyond the seas, he was constantly annoyed by the +suspicious and watchful keepers, who listened to their conversation and +scrutinized every movement. So jealous were they, that, ere any arrangement +could be made by which Mr. Judson's release might be effected, they were +commanded to separate. In vain the wife urged her affection for her +husband--in vain she appealed to manly feelings and love of home--in vain +she exhibited the order of government by which she had been admitted--in +vain she clung to the neck of her chained and suffering companion. No +motive was strong enough to move the hard hearts of the cruel wretches, who +seemed to take exquisite pleasure in the miseries of others. So completely +does heathenism deaden the heart to all generous and elevated feelings +that those strong men could witness unmoved, ay, with delight, the intense +anguish of a feeble, weeping, broken-hearted woman. To every prayer she +offered and every plea she made, they gave back words of cruelty and scorn; +and when she entreated them, for the love of humanity, to allow her to +converse with Mr. J. a few minutes longer, they refused; and as she +hesitated, they cried, in angry tones, "_Depart, or we will drag you out_." + +The admirable conduct of this heroic woman, under such trying +circumstances, we cannot too much applaud. Ceaselessly she labored for the +release of her husband. From one member of the royal family to another +she went, with prayers that they would intercede in her behalf. +Repulsed everywhere, she fainted not, but toiled night and day for the +accomplishment of her purpose. + +After about a month's confinement, Mr. J. was violently beset with +fever, and the governor gave orders that he should be removed to a more +comfortable situation. He was accordingly placed in a little bamboo hut, +and his wife permitted to attend him. Here he remained three days, when the +English advancing upon the capital, the order was given for the removal of +the prisoners. They were hurried away without warning, and Mrs. Judson was +left in a state bordering on distraction. She soon found, on inquiry, the +direction which the prisoners had taken. With a single servant and two +Burman children, she started, with her babe, three months old, in her arms, +to find her companions in suffering. She overtook them at Oung-pen-la, and +found their condition to be wretched beyond description. Their journey was +over a rough, burning road, and, chained two by two, they were whipped +along like cattle bound to the place of slaughter. Their backs were +blistered by the sun, and their feet scorched by the ground, until every +step they took drew forth a groan of anguish, which their drivers answered +with yells of delight. One poor creature fell in the pathway, and was +dragged along until he expired. + +To add to Mrs. Judson's distress, her assistant was taken with the small +pox the morning after she arrived at Oung-pen-la; and soon her daughter +Maria was reduced to the point of death by the same disease, and she +herself was afflicted with the malady in a modified form. + +The prisoners had been sent to this place that they might be burned in the +old prison, in which, from the time of their arrival, they were confined, +being chained together in pairs. But God had otherwise ordained: Judson +was to live on. Soon an order for his release and return to Ava came; the +government hoping he might be of service to them in their difficulties with +the British. He was employed as interpreter and translator, and, as such, +treated with some degree of kindness. + +Wearied with continued anxiety, Mrs. Judson was prostrated by sickness soon +after her return to Ava. Reason fled away; insanity took the place of calm +and deliberate action; and for seventeen days she was a raving maniac. +Absent from her husband, and dependent on the cold mercy of heathen women, +she was indeed an object of pity. But from the borders of the grave she was +raised up when all around thought her beyond the reach of hope. The hand of +God reached down to the borders of the grave and rescued her from death, +and placed her upon earth again, a fruitful laborer in the vineyard of her +Master. + +Time and space will not permit us to follow these devoted missionaries +through all the suffering caused by this distressing war. Mr. Judson acted +as mediator between the English and the Burmans, and by his ingenuity and +skill, his eloquence and experience, saved a vast amount of bloodshed and +crime. He was the instrument in securing the release of all the English and +American prisoners who were confined in the dungeons of Ava, and restoring +some from hopeless servitude to the friends and companions of youth. He +conferred immense advantage on England, while he saved the capital of the +vast Burman empire from fire and sword. To him, more than to any other man, +is to be traced the amicable adjustment of the existing difficulties, +and the settlement of the trouble on terms so favorable to the English +residents of Ava. + +One of the articles of the treaty then entered into provided that all the +foreigners at Ava should have permission to leave unmolested. Mr. and Mrs. +Judson availed themselves of this permission, and, on a beautiful evening +in March, left with their fellow-workers and fellow-sufferers, and sailed +down the Irrawaddy, bidding farewell to the golden city within whose walls +they had suffered so much and been sustained by God so long. + +Nor was Mr. Judson the only one who won praise and glory during that awful +period. The companion of his toils was not idle. Her kindness to the +prisoners--her arduous labors to do them good--her appeals to the +government--her visits to the nobles--her ceaseless efforts--won for her +undissembled gratitude and immortal renown. Nor are the acts of Mrs. Judson +recorded alone on the records of Christian missions. The secular press of +our own and other lands ascribed to her the honor of materially assisting +in the adjustment of the existing difficulties, and, by her appeals and +persuasions, doing much to prevent bloodshed and crime. + +She went where no person of the other sex would have dared to go, and +where, to any woman of less devotion and tireless perseverance, all +entrance would have been denied. Though her husband, at this trying time, +was the object of her peculiar care, yet she found time to do good to all +the other prisoners. Like a ministering angel she moved among them, giving +drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, and clothing to the destitute. + +A statement was drawn up by an English prisoner, and published in Calcutta +and in England, in which the thanks of the prisoners are given to this +estimable woman. The writer dwells upon the theme with the interest of one +who has experienced acts of kindness and is himself under obligation. He +ascribes to _her_, a feeble woman, the honor of having, under God, prepared +the Burman empire to seek terms of reconciliation and peace. From a full +heart he utters the tribute of his gratitude to the frail child of humanity +who forgot her own weariness, forgot her own sufferings, forgot her own +privations, sickness, and want, and sought out the wants of the victims of +imperial despotism. + +Her daily walk was from the prison to the palace. To one place she went to +whisper words of kindness, to wipe away the tears of sorrow, to wet the +parched lips of the dying with cool water, to bathe the limbs bruised and +chafed by heavy irons, and to apply healing balm to both body and spirit; +the other place she visited to plead and argue with a proud court, and a +haughty, tyrannical, and overbearing monarch. She risked her own life at +every trial, but ceased not her perilous work until God crowned her labors +with success--until the stubborn court of Ava relented--until she saw the +fetters fall, and the prisoners again at liberty. The English nation owes +her a debt of gratitude; for she has done more for it than many of its most +illustrious warriors. Humanity is a debtor to her memory; for she was kind +to man, and, in his want and suffering, surpassed humanity to do him good. +Religion is her debtor; for she was one of its most devoted advocates, and +presented in her life a sublime illustration of the power of faith. From +Ava Mr. and Mrs. Judson removed to Amherst, a town which was founded at the +close of the war in that territory, and which, by the treaty, was ceded to +the English. It was at Amherst that Mrs. Judson was visited with the fatal +fever which terminated her existence on the 24th of October, 1826. + +At the time of her death Mr. Judson was absent from home, in company with +Mr. Crawford, the British commissioner. Her sickness was short and painful. +During most of the time her reason was dethroned; but in her moments of +calmness she gave evidence that all was peace. Without the hand of her kind +companion to lift her aching head, or bathe her throbbing temples, she +died. + +Mr. Judson returned, not to hear her voice, not to gaze upon her form, but +to weep over her grave, and with his motherless child to sit in sorrow on +the spot where she breathed her last. Such was the violence of her fever +that she said but little, and left her husband without many of those tokens +of kindness which surviving friends esteem of so much value. + +They buried her at Amherst, under the shadow of a lofty hopia tree; and in +that lonely grave her form now reposes, heedless of what is passing on the +earth. Her child, which died shortly after she was buried, is laid by her +side; and on the sacred spot the traveller often pauses to think of one of +the most devoted and self-sacrificing women whose names have been mentioned +with gratitude by the virtuous and the good. A marble slab, presented +by the ladies of America, marks the grave, and points it out to every +stranger. On that slab is an inscription, a copy of which is on the +opposite page. + +Here we pause. Such labors, such self-sacrifice, such sufferings need no +tongue to speak their merits. The worth of Mrs. Judson is engraved upon the +hearts of all who claim the Christian character. For her works' sake she is +beloved; and as long as the church endures, she will be remembered by all +its members. Like Mrs. Newell, her fame belongs + +[Illustration: + + ERECTED TO THE MEMORY + + of + + ANN H. JUDSON, + + MISSIONARY + + _of the + + Baptist General Convention in the United States + + to the_ + + BURMAN EMPIRE. + + She was born at Bradford, + + In the State of Massachusetts, North America, + + December 22, 1789. + + She arrived with her husband at Rangoon + + In July, 1813, + + And there commenced those + + MISSIONARY TOILS + + Which she sustained with such + + _Christian fortitude, decision, and perseverance_, + + Amid scenes of + + Civil commotion and personal affliction, + + As won for her + + Universal respect and affection. + + She died at + + Amherst, October 24, 1826.] + +not to one sect or party, but to all who love our Lord and Savior Jesus +Christ. Like her she went out when but few were ready to bid her "God +speed" or bestow their money for her support. + +On the record of American missions we find the name of no female who +endured so much, who sacrificed so much, who accomplished so much. She fell +not when the first notes of the great enterprise were ringing on her ears; +but she made her grave amid the strife and confusion of the battle. She +lived long enough to see the fruits of missions--to gaze upon the converts +as they descended, one by one, into the baptismal wave--to see a door +opened wide enough to admit laborers from every department of the Christian +church. She mourned not, as did her sister martyr, that she was cut down +ere she had labored for God and seen the happy result. They were born +within sight of each other, in pleasant valleys, on the borders of the +silvery stream. They met the companions of their missionary toils at the +same time, and within a few days of each other decided to become the first +heroines of the missionary church. Together they sailed--as precious a +cargo as ever was tossed on the billowy sea. Together they landed on +heathen soil, with high hopes of doing good. But, though united in their +lives, they were divided in their deaths. Mrs. Judson lived on more than +a half score of useful years beyond her companion; and if life is to be +measured, not by the number of days and years, but by what is accomplished +in it, or what is suffered during its lapse, then she lived ages--ay, ages +of suffering, ages of labor, ages of virtue and piety--after Mrs. Newell +had descended to her grave. + +And where are they now? Go ask the angel throng, as they tune their harps +to melodious songs on high, and they will point to two sister spirits, who +day and night in company present themselves before God; and as one rank +after another comes up from heathen lands to swell the chorus of the +redeemed and ascribe their conversion to the efforts of the early +missionary laborers who, under God, were made the humble instruments in the +great work, meekly will be heard from the spirit lips of Harriet Newell and +Ann H. Judson the reply, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto the Lamb who +was slain, but who liveth forever." + + + + + +III. + +ELIZABETH HERVEY, OF BOMBAY. + + + + +In the year 1812 a little company of missionaries sailed from the port of +Boston for Bombay. They were sent out by the American Board to spread the +knowledge of Jesus in the dark places of the earth. They founded their +mission station--they labored long and cheerfully--they endured toil and +self-denial--and saw the blessed results in the tokens of enlightened mind +and regenerated heart. + +On the evening of the first Sabbath in August, 1830, the windows of Park +Street Church gave out a cheerful light; and he who entered saw congregated +there an immense multitude of men and women. The pews, the aisles, the +choir, were all filled, and deep interest was on all countenances and in +all hearts. The occasion which drew this vast congregation was the setting +apart of three young men, with their wives, to the solemn work of missions. +William Ramsey, William Hervey, and Hollis Read were about to depart to +"the land and shadow of death;" and the Christian community had come +together to hear their voices, to see their countenances, for the last +time. Soon broke over that crowd of human beings the well-known hymn, sung +by a full choir and echoed by a responding people,-- + + "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun + Does his successive journeys run; + His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, + Till moons shall wax and wane no more." + +Then was heard the solemn prayer of consecration, in which the missionaries +were commended to God and to the word of his power; the blessing of Heaven +was implored in their behalf; and to the care of Him who holds the winds, +and who guides the dashing waves, the servants of God, the messengers of +the church, were committed. + +From the instructions given those beloved missionaries on that occasion we +give the following extract:-- + +"The time has arrived to which you have looked with expectation and desire, +when, with the partners of your lives, you are to bid farewell to your +native land, and to enter upon a course of evangelical labors for the +benefit of distant heathens. + +"On such an occasion, it is obviously proper in itself, as well +as conformable to general usage, to address to you in public some +considerations, in the form of advice and instructions, from those who have +the superintendence of the mission with which you are to be connected. This +is to you a solemn and eventful hour; and if, as we hope and believe, you +have approached it with an earnest and truly benevolent desire to become +heralds of divine mercy to your perishing fellow-men, it will be an hour +always remembered with joy and gratitude in the future stages of your +existence. If you partake of that holy, self-denying spirit which brought +down the Son of God from heaven,--if you have any true sympathy with the +apostles, who considered it as a great calamity to themselves if they were +hindered in the work of preaching the gospel,--you will hereafter be able +to say, with pure and indescribable delight, There was a period in our +history when we publicly, in the house of God and in the presence of many +Christian friends, devoted our lives to the service of Christ among the +heathen. There was a time when the attachments to friends and country were +dissolved, under the influence of that love which seeketh not its own, +and which embraces, in its comprehensive regards, the suffering and the +destitute of every clime. + +"Congratulating you, therefore, on the possession of a temper which, if +actually possessed, is of more value to you than all which this country or +this world can furnish, we proceed to offer the following directions and +remarks:-- + +"The vessel in which your passage is taken will, with the favor of +Providence, convey you to Calcutta, where you will probably have the +opportunity of conferring with some of those venerable men who led the way +in the missionary enterprises of the last forty years. They are known and +honored throughout the world; and honors will thicken and brighten around +their memory long after the mere politician, statesman, and warrior shall +have passed into oblivion. + +"Without unnecessary loss of time, you will proceed to Bombay. Here a large +and most interesting field invites your labor--interesting, not so much +from any harvest which has been already gathered, nor because the precise +period of ingathering can now be foreseen by human vision, as from the +consideration that here the first mission of the Board was established; +that here a noble and successful effort was made by our missionaries in +pleading before governors the claims of the gospel; that here the first +messengers of our churches cheerfully labored, till most of them have +fallen asleep, their lives having been worn out by incessant exposure and +toil; and, finally, that here preparations have been made for future labor, +with a view to the wants of many millions, in whose language the message of +salvation is delivered and the Scriptures are printed and circulated, while +multitudes of children are trained up to read, reflect, and reason. + +"The Christian community sends you forth, dear brethren, as messengers from +our churches to the heathen. In the name of our churches we bid you _God +speed_. The very act of our sending you forth in the name of the church +implies that we hold ourselves bound to the same cause. By these public +services we are solemnly pledged to regard you as a part of ourselves, +not the less dear certainly because distant, your very distance being +occasioned by your attachment to the common interests of the church. +You have a just claim upon your Christian brethren in America for their +prayers, their sympathies, and such a supply of your temporal necessities +as will enable you to prosecute your great work. We are confident that, +if all the members of our churches were convened in one place, they would +unanimously sustain us in expressing these reciprocal obligations. + +"Still, brethren, you must be sensible that the manner in which these +pledges shall be redeemed will depend much upon the grace which is +vouchsafed from above. If the spirit of piety should become low in our +churches; if jealousy should divide their efforts; if professed Christians +should generally become more entangled with this world,--the missionary +enterprise of the country will be enfeebled. We would not distress you with +apprehensions of this kind further than is requisite to call forth your +earnest, constant, and importunate prayers that God would not leave our +churches to a retrograde movement, which, in the present circumstances of +the world, would be a most deplorable event. + +"Confiding in that Savior who gave himself for the church and who loves it +with an everlasting love, we affectionately commend you to his protection +and blessing. When he, as the great Shepherd, shall gather his sheep +into one fold, may you, and we, and multitudes of heathens saved by your +instrumentality, be numbered among his chosen; and to him shall be glory +everlasting." + +The next morning the missionaries, with their wives, embarked on board the +ship Corvo, for Calcutta. On the wharf the hymn was sung and the prayer +offered; and the vessel swung off from the wharf amid the prayers and tears +of the spectators. The vessel had a safe passage, and all the attention of +Captain Spaulding was given to render the voyage pleasant and cheerful. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Hervey, the wife of Rev. William Hervey, was born in Hadley, +Massachusetts, and was the daughter of Deacon Jacob Smith, a beloved +Christian and an estimable citizen. + +During her early years she was remarkable for a prevailing desire to do +good to others. Her young heart seemed set upon the work of benefiting her +fellow-creatures; and she would make any sacrifice to confer happiness upon +those around her. Though her heart had not been renewed and her mind made +acquainted with the high and holy motives of the gospel, yet she recognized +her obligations to others, and, while quite a child, endeavored faithfully +to discharge them. + +When she became a Christian, this desire to do good assumed a new and +more divine form, and she exerted herself to lift up the race and adorn +humanity. Her pastor, under whose ministry she was converted, says, "Doing +good was her delight and her life. The subject of missions, years before +she saw Mr. Hervey, was the great theme of her soul. She was alive to it at +every point, and her memory will long be cherished here." + +In the years 1815 and 1816 a sweet and gentle revival of religion +was enjoyed in Hadley. Devoid of much of the excitement, the outward +exhibitions of feeling, which such occasions bring, the living heart of the +people was touched, and in all the homes of the inhabitants was felt and +realized the heavenly results. In this revival Miss Smith became a child of +God. Though amiable and outwardly virtuous, she became convinced that she +needed a radical change such as she had never experienced. Still she made +the sinner's excuse and fled to the sinner's refuge. One useless habit +after another was given up, one sin abandoned, and one new step in +virtue taken; but the wounded spirit found no rest. At length the cross +appeared--the Savior's cross. She saw it--realized that by it she must be +saved, if saved at all. With all a dying soul's deep earnestness she fled +for safety and laid hold on the everlasting hope. The great salvation +became her life, and in firm hope she embraced the Lord Jesus Christ. + +In 1816 she united with the Congregational church in Hadley, and during her +sojourn in this country maintained a consistent walk and conversation. She +was emphatically a growing Christian--one who advanced in holiness, as the +sun grows brighter when the day advances. + +After her acquaintance with Mr. Hervey commenced, the question of a +missionary life was laid out before her. She had often pondered upon it and +prayed God to open the effectual door before her; and when the opportunity +was presented, her heart warmly responded to the call from Heaven. That +she had some trials and misgivings upon the subject cannot be doubted; but +these were swallowed up in the desire to do good to her fellow-creatures. +Though it required an effort to leave home and friends, she met the trial +with unshaken firmness and devotion. Not long before they sailed for Bombay +her husband preached a sermon, in which he gave expression to his own +desires to promote the glory of God. In these expressions his heroic +companion doubtless united; and though she could not publicly declare her +own determination, doubtless her heart was united with his, not only in the +social relations of life, but also in the firm and holy efforts for the +elevation of our race. In that sermon, which we believe to have been the +expression of the feelings of the fallen wife, Mr. Hervey says,-- + +"Besides the various objects in your own town and country which may have +a claim on your charity, there are many millions of your fellow-creatures +abroad who have a still stronger claim; stronger, because their woes are +deeper and their wants greater. I stand now to plead the cause of Christ, +not in behalf of the suffering bodies of a few poor saints at Jerusalem, +but in behalf of the undying souls of six hundred millions of poor, +benighted heathen. O for the eloquence of an angel, that I might exhibit to +you the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the inconceivable miseries of +men who are living and dying without a knowledge of him, in such a light +that every one of you should weep because you have not a thousand fold more +wealth to give, ten thousand hearts to pray, and twice ten thousand hands +to labor for their salvation! I have no doubt that such would be your +feelings, if you could now see things in the light in which you will see +them shortly. You would then see that the end of living in this world, +which was redeemed with the blood of the Son of God, and which is full of +sinners perishing for want of that gospel which you possess, was something +else than to heap together wealth to pamper 'the lusts of the flesh, the +lusts of the eye, and the pride of life.' But the riches of Christ eternity +will be too short to unfold; and I have neither time nor ability to present +to your minds any thing like an adequate conception of the miseries of the +heathen. That they are living and dying without the gospel, is enough to +give every believer in the Bible an affecting sense of their wretchedness. + +"I have told you the story of the Lamb of God--pointed you to what he +left and what he submitted to in order to raise men to the riches of his +everlasting love. He has gone back to heaven and taken his throne again; +but he has left a cause on earth that is dear to him as the apple of +his eye, and all the attributes of his name stand pledged for its final +triumph. This cause he has intrusted, in a very important sense, to his +disciples--beings in whose nature he came and suffered; and without their +instrumentality it never did, and never will, go on. + +"Thus he gives you all the privilege of being co-workers with him in saving +the heathen. If you are not permitted to go in person to carry them the +gospel, yet you may be perhaps equally useful by your prayers, and by +furnishing the means for sending those who shall preach to them the +unsearchable riches of Christ. If, then, you would elevate the degraded +heathen to the purity of Christians, send them the gospel. If you would +rescue them, not only from their present wretchedness, but from their +darker prospects in the world to come, and inspire them with the high hopes +of eternal salvation, send them the gospel. If you would see them at the +last day on the right hand of the Son of man, and hear their bursting +praises to God for your liberality and prayers, which helped to bring them +there, now show how high you value their souls by contributing to send them +the gospel, and by your fervent prayers that the blessing of the Lord may +accompany your bounty and make it the means of their salvation. + +"If other motives than those which have been presented were necessary to +encourage you in this good work, I might prove to you that you will be the +richer for every sacrifice you make to promote the cause of Christ; if not +richer in temporal, yet certainly in spiritual blessings. I might say to +you, in the language of Him who cannot lie, who holds the elements in his +hand and can command them to spare or destroy your wealth, to bless or +blast the work of your hands, 'The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he +that watereth shall be watered also himself.' 'There is that scattereth, +and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it +tendeth to poverty.' Or, in the words of Him who gave up all his wealth and +his life for us, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' + +"I have chosen to rest the cause which the Lord has now permitted me to +plead in his name mainly on the one great argument in the text; for in the +whole compass of the universe there is not a motive to benevolent action so +commanding as that. And I am persuaded it has not been presented to your +minds in vain. No, I have been addressing those who know the grace of our +Lord Jesus Christ; who feel thankful for that grace; and whose hearts burn +within them to spread it abroad through the whole world. + +"Is there one here who wishes to be excused from this work? Why, my +brother, would you be excused? Look again. Is it no _privilege_ to be +allowed to do something to promote that cause for which patriarchs, +prophets, apostles, and martyrs have prayed, and toiled, and died? Is it +no _privilege_ to help forward that cause which has engaged the hearts and +hands of all the wise and good of every age? Is it no _privilege_ to +be associated with the choicest spirits now on earth in promoting the +sublimest, the most benevolent, the most godlike cause that ever did or can +employ the hearts and hands of men? Is it no privilege to labor, and pray, +and give for the advancement of that cause which awakens the deepest +interest in the bosoms of all the heavenly host, and which is the occasion +of their loudest and loftiest songs of praise? Is it no privilege to do +something for Him 'who left the highest throne in glory for the cross of +deepest woe,' in order to give men a place in the mansions of his love? Is +it no privilege to be a coworker with the blessed God in rescuing souls +from a course of eternal sinning and suffering, and raising them to +everlasting holiness and happiness and glory? Is it no privilege to aid in +forwarding the only cause for which the world was made and for which all +nature stands? The man who does not esteem it a high privilege that he may +do something to promote such a cause may have the name, but cannot have the +heart, of a Christian. If, then, any one desires it, let him be excused. +The cause will go on. It has many friends, and is rapidly gaining more. +It has Omnipotence for its support. Jesus 'shall have the heathen for his +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.' He +did not 'humble himself and become obedient unto death' for nought. 'He +shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.' 'All the ends of +the earth shall see the salvation of our God.' 'The mouth of the Lord hath +spoken it.' + +"There is a mighty stir among the nations. The melting appeals from among +the heathen have reached us from the four winds--'Come over and help us.' +The person who addresses you expects, in a short time, if the Lord will, to +preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to some of these distant heathen. +He feels for the destitute in his own beloved land; but while he knows +there are so many millions of immortal beings more destitute,--while he +is to act under the commission, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the +gospel to every creature,' and while so few who are better qualified can +think it their duty to these unhappy beings,--he feels that 'woe will be +unto him if he preaches not the gospel unto them!'" + +Inspired with such feelings, and cherishing such views, our sister went out +to declare the love of God on heathen soil. Like those who before her had +devoted themselves to the service of the Savior, she went forth not knowing +whither she went or through what scenes she would be called to pass. + +But God in his divine providence was soon to call her home to glory; her +work was to be short, and her course quickly run. A few months only was she +permitted to do good as she desired ere death called her away to the rest +beyond the grave. She fell an early victim to her own self-sacrificing +disposition. Shortly after her arrival at Bombay she was prostrated by the +dysentery, which terminated her labors and her sorrows on the 3d of May, +1831. + +Her lonely husband, writing to the father of his deceased companion, gives +the following account of her dying hours:-- + +"Before this reaches you I trust, you will have heard of the goodness of +the Lord in bearing us safely over all the dangers of the Atlantic and +Indian Seas, in providing us friends in Calcutta who spared no pains to +make our stay in that city agreeable and happy, and in bringing us in +safety to this, the destined field of our labors, our disappointments, our +difficulties, and, as we expected when we left the shores of our native +land, of our deaths. And although, since our arrival here, his afflicting +hand has been laid heavily upon me, still I would speak only of his +goodness. For when he afflicts and chastens his children, it is in loving +kindness and tender mercy. It is not for his pleasure, but for their +profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness. But if he has been good +to me, he has been doubly so to your and my dear Elizabeth. Yes, God has +made all his goodness to pass before her; for he has released her from all +her sins and sufferings, and taken her to himself. 'O,' said she, 'how +will the intelligence rend the hearts of my dear parents and sisters!' She +paused a moment, and then added, 'But they will be supported. They know +where to look for consolation.' Weep with me, my dear, dear parents, a +little moment, and then we will together review the painful but merciful +scene of her last sufferings. + +"All that I have said above shows only the afflicting hand of God in this +dispensation, which has snatched from me thus early the dear companion of +my wanderings and toils, the tender partner of my joys and sorrows, the +beloved wife of my heart; but in what remains to be said, will be seen his +hand of _goodness_ and _mercy_. In all her sufferings she was never heard +to utter a single murmur or complaint, but was continually magnifying the +goodness of the Lord. 'I did hope,' said she, 'that I should be permitted +to do something towards elevating the miserable and degraded females +of India to a state of refinement and happiness; but since God decides +otherwise, his will be done. In this great conflict, some must fall as soon +as they enter the field.' She repeated more than once a sentence which Dr. +Woodbridge dropped in his address to her on the evening of our marriage, +in substance as follows: 'If we hear that, like Harriet Newell, you have +fallen a victim to the climate of India even before you have commenced your +labors there, still we say to you, Go.' 'Now,' said she, 'tell my friends, +tell my beloved pastor, tell the dear church in Hadley, that I do not, and +never have for a moment regretted that I came here. No; had I foreseen this +hour, and all I have endured since I left America, I should have decided +just as I did, if the path of duty had been as plain as it appeared to be.' +During her sickness she often spoke of the love she felt towards the people +of God. She was affected to tears at the kindness of her physicians and +others who attended her. She addressed the members of the mission who +called to see her on the importance of living to God and of being faithful +in his service. She expressed an earnest desire that God would make her +death the means of a revival of religion in all the members of the mission; +and said, if such should be the case, she should consider her early removal +a greater blessing to the mission and to India than many years of her poor +service could be. The day before she died she requested me to read to her +the twelfth chapter of Isaiah. 'Yes,' said she with emphasis, 'God is +my salvation.' As I read along she repeated after me the third verse, +emphasizing the word 'wells'--'with joy shall ye draw water out of the +_wells_ of salvation.' Some time afterward she wished me to read the +fourteenth chapter of John, which she said afforded her much comfort. She +repeated from time to time many striking texts of Scripture and parts of +hymns, which, as I could leave her only for a moment, I did not write down. +Twice she repeated, and seemed to feel the full force of, that beautiful +and sublime stanza of Watts,-- + + 'Jesus can make a dying bed + Feel soft as downy pillows are; + While on his breast I lean my head, + And breathe my life out sweetly there.' + +"One who stood near her said, 'O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where +is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the +law.' With animation she exclaimed, in addition, 'But thanks be to God, +which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Mr. Allen said +he hoped the Savior would be with her as she walked through the dark valley +of the shadow of death. 'If this,' she said, 'is the dark valley, it has +not a dark spot in it--all is _light_, LIGHT.' + +"I said to her, 'My dear, your sufferings are great.' 'Don't,' said she, +'don't mention them; they have been nothing--nothing.' After a severe +spasm, that seemed to convulse her whole frame, she exclaimed, 'O the +pains, the groans, the dying strife! The spirit seems to be struggling and +fluttering to get free from this cumbersome body.' She had, during most of +her sickness, bright views of the perfections of God. 'His awful holiness,' +she said, 'appeared the most lovely of all his attributes.' At one time +she said she wanted words to express her views of the majesty and glory of +Christ. 'It seems,' she said, 'that if all other glory were annihilated, +and nothing left but his lone self, it would be enough--it would be a +universe of glory.' + +"The day before her death she was asked if she wished to see her child. +'Not now,' said she; 'I am too much exhausted. I fear it would overcome me. +I will see him by and by.' After she had rested a while, she said now she +would see the babe. It was brought into the room. 'Let my husband,' she +said, 'bring him to me.' I carried the child to her. She took it in one +arm, and with the other embraced my neck. After a moment she looked up to +the spectators with a smile, and said, 'Here is my family--my treasure--my +earthly all. I cheerfully resign them into the hands of God.' On the +morning of the day she expired I asked if she wished to send any particular +message to any of her friends. She replied she did, and asked me to write +what she dictated. + +"Thus, my dear parents, I have finished the account of our beloved +Elizabeth's last pains and joys in the flesh. Who can wish her back to +earth? If any other one has reason to cherish such a wish, I have more. But +severe as the stroke is upon me, I rejoice that her conflict with sin and +suffering is over, and she is with her Redeemer. To know that she departed +thus, triumphing in God her Savior, must afford you, as it does me, great +consolation in the midst of the affliction which the news of her death will +produce. But you, who knew her amiable disposition, her humble, prayerful, +self-denying, holy life, have a better testimony that it is well with her +now, than her dying deportment, whatever it might be, could give. She lived +unto the Lord, she died unto the Lord; and there can be no doubt that she +is now the Lord's. + +"Last Sabbath evening Rev. Mr. Allen preached a sermon in the chapel, on +the occasion of her death, from Romans xiv. 8. Since then I have learned +that one careless man appears to have been awakened by the account that was +given of her peaceful and triumphant death. Perhaps her prayers are about +to be answered in a revival of religion here. The Lord grant that it may be +so!" + +When a beloved fellow-laborer dies at home; when the place of some dear one +is vacated by death; when the hand of labor ceases to move and the heart +of sympathy ceases to beat,--all around are saddened by the event: gloom +covers the weeping church, and all who knew the fallen one bend in tearful +silence over the grave. But when a missionary dies we can form no opinion +of the feelings of those who are left in sorrow. Away from home and all +the endeared scenes of early life, they become more strongly and firmly +attached to each other. Between the members of the little band are formed +the most tender ties, the most hallowed relations; and when _one_ only +departs, all hearts grieve and bleed as if the dearest earthly object had +been removed. + +Mrs. Hervey was buried near the scene of her labors--on heathen soil. The +solemn funeral service and the pang of death were calculated to deepen the +impression upon the minds of the converted and unconverted people; and the +hymn, as it sent its mournful echo along the borders of the field of graves +and sounded like the song of an angel amid the homes of the living, turned +many a thought forward to that haven where the saint shall break from the +repose of death, and come forth to the resurrection of the just, a new and +glorified form. + + "Why do we mourn departing friends, + Or shake at death's alarms? + Us but the voice that Jesus sends + To call them to his arms." + +Did we not have implicit confidence in the ways of God and in his special +providence,--did we not feel that he is too wise to err, too good to +be unkind,--our hearts would often faint as we hear of our devoted +missionaries falling into the grave ere they have been permitted to labor +to any considerable degree for the conversion of the heathen. Did we not +feel perfectly satisfied in relation to the wisdom and mercy of the great +Head of the church, we might well fold our hands and ask, "Will God be +angry forever?" But who does not know that Jehovah is able to accomplish +more by our deaths than _we_ are able to accomplish by our lives? Who does +not know that, from the very ashes of the tomb, he can send up a voice +which will echo amid the shades of night and thrill the cold hearts of +degraded men? + +They who despond, as the tidings of woe come borne to us on almost every +breeze which sweeps across the ocean, have lost sight of Him who holds in +his hand the issues of life and the awful realities of death. These have +drawn their eyes from the immutable promises and the ever-present Helper, +and fixed them on the tomb, and the corpse, and the pale mementoes of +mortality. They have ceased to reason like Christian men, and look at God's +providence through the misty vision of scepticism and doubt. + +Men admit that certain laws control the world of planets, the world of +animal life, the world of intellect and reason; but seem not to have the +idea that the providences are all under God's control, and regulated by +fixed and certain laws. The sparrow that flits from bush to tree, and the +mighty angel that wheels in everlasting circles around God's throne, are +alike under divine protection. The feeblest insect which creeps upon the +earth, and the highest archangel which ministers to God above, are equally +safe beneath the divine protection. The Being who holds the universe, who +keeps worlds in their places, is also employed to count the feathers of the +young raven's wing, and number the hairs which cluster upon the human head. + +Nor will God allow the places of the dead to remain long vacant. The +conversion of the world is in accordance with his unalterable will and +purpose; it was an article in the grand treaty of Calvary; and by all +that God is has he pledged himself to give "the heathen to his Son for an +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession." Hence +when, in the accomplishment of his grand design, one after another who went +forth with high hope and joyful expectation is cut down, we may expect to +see others raised up ready to accomplish greater good than their fallen +predecessors. + +The hearts of men are in Jehovah's hand. He moves upon the mind as he will, +and takes those whom we least expect to lead on his hosts to the victory +over sin. + +Years ago the question was, "Who will go?" but now the question is being +asked, "Who will stay at home and let _me_ go?" "Who will resign his place +in the missionary ranks, and let us go forth to do battle for the truth?" +And we may expect this spirit to increase, until it shall be deemed the +highest glory of the Christian minister to be a missionary of the cross of +Christ. + +Thanks be to God, the Church is arousing herself to her high duty, and +already many have gone forth. The places of Harriet Newell, of Ann H. +Judson, of Sarah D. Comstock, of Harriet B. Stewart, of Sarah L. Smith, of +Elizabeth Hervey, of Henrietta Shuck, of Sarah B. Judson, and of others who +are now quietly sleeping the long sleep of death, are filled. Others as +faithful have come on to do the work which they left unfinished, and to +stand around the moral plants which they began to cultivate, + +And thus it will continue. When the faithful, laborious, successful +missionary women who are now the admiration of the church and the world +fall beneath the pressure of disease, toil, and time, a missionary Church +will send out her daughters, who are reposing at home, to take the places +of those who depart; and never will Burmah, Syria, Ceylon, Turkey, and +other dark places be deserted, until over all the earth shall echo the song +of the ransomed and the jubilee of the redeemed. + + + + + +IV. + +HARRIET B. STEWART, OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. + + + + +Harriet Bradford Stewart labored as a missionary at the Sandwich Islands. +Amid this beautiful cluster of green spots in the bosom of the sea her +efforts for human good were put forth; and here was the scene of her +success, though not of her death. + +The origin of the mission to the Sandwich Islands is somewhat peculiar. +In 1809 two little boys shipped themselves on board of an American vessel +bound for New York. They arrived at the great city, and, after residing +there awhile, were taken to New Haven, Connecticut. They were fatherless, +motherless children, with none to care for them; and their destitute, +helpless condition soon drew the attention and won the sympathy of the +Christian public. In a short time one of these youths was converted to God. +Opukakia became a believer in the religion of Christ, and to the believers +of our own land gave evidence of having passed from death unto life. +Interest in these boys soon led to solemn inquiry into the condition of +their country. This inquiry resulted in the establishment of a school for +the instruction of heathen youth who were found in our land; and of the +privileges of this school these two boys gladly availed themselves. + +Shortly after they were taken to Andover and made acquainted with a +class of young men who were about to graduate and go forth as heralds of +salvation. Two members of that class soon determined on a missionary life, +and selected these islands as the field of their labors. These young men +were Hiram Bingham, and his classmate, Mr. Thurston. Their services were +offered to the Board, and in 1819 were accepted. They were ordained at +Goshen, Connecticut, and, under very solemn and impressive services, set +apart to the work of the ministry. + +On the 15th of October, 1819, in the vestry of Park Street Church, in +Boston, they, with others, were organized into a church of the Lord +Jesus. On the 23d of October this church set sail for the place of its +destination--to the field of labor in which it was to thrive and flourish. +Solemn was the scene, as on the wharf stood a company of beloved ones, who +were leaving home and all the dear associations of youth for a barbarous +nation. There, beneath the cool breath of autumn, they united in singing,-- + + "When shall we all meet again? + When shall we all meet again? + Oft shall wearied love retire, + Oft shall glowing hope expire, + Oft shall death and sorrow reign, + Ere we all shall meet again." + +The voyagers were commended to the "God of ocean and storm" by Rev. Dr. +Worcester; the apostolic benediction was pronounced; and the vessel gayly +pursued her way down the harbor, and was soon lost from sight. + +After the usual pleasures and annoyances of "a life on the ocean wave," the +company were made glad by beholding in the distance the green hills of the +islands on the soil of which they were to labor and pray. They found the +people, not as Judson and Newell found those to whom they were sent with +the torch of truth, but ready to believe and embrace the gospel. The +messengers they sent ashore were greeted with shouts of joy, and their +wondering eyes turned to consuming idols and demolished temples. They found +a nation without a religion, a government without a church, a court without +an ecclesiastic. The people seemed sunk in barbarism. They had no schools, +no books, no pens, no means of information. Gross darkness was over all the +people, and the land was enveloped in appalling gloom. + +Undismayed by the gross ignorance and encouraged by the abolition of +idolatry, the servants of God went to work. They distributed themselves +through the islands, and every where preached Jesus and the cross. The +effects of their labors were so apparent that the American Board were +encouraged to send out repeated reinforcements; and in the progress of +time Mr. Stewart and his accomplished companion arrived at Hawaii on their +sacred mission. Perhaps there is no mission station on the globe, no scene +of missionary toil, where such glorious results have been accomplished, and +such wonderful changes wrought, as at the Sandwich Islands. Mr. Bingham, +speaking of the condition of the people at the time of his arrival among +them, says, "The nation had, on our arrival, neither books, pen, nor +pencil, for amusement or business, or for acquiring information or +communicating thought. They sat, like Turks or tailors, on mats spread on +the ground; dipped their fingers in the dish to eat their fish, poi, and +dog flesh, without knife, fork, or spoon. They stretched themselves at full +length on the mats to play cards or otherwise kill time. Their water they +drank from a gourd shell; and _awa_, the juice of a narcotic root, chewed +by others and mixed with water in the chewers' mouths, they drank, as their +fathers had done, from a cocoa-nut shell, for the same purpose that other +intoxicating drinks and liquors are taken." + +That the nobles as well as the common people were thus degraded and +uncivilized, we are referred to a description, given by the same writer, of +the king, who, with the royal family, was invited on board the vessel which +conveyed out the missionaries, "They came off in their double canoes, with +waving _kahalis_ and a retinue of attendants. His majesty, according to the +taste of the times, having a _maio_, or narrow girdle, around his waist, a +green silken scarf over his shoulders, instead of coat, vest, and linen, +a string of beads on his otherwise naked neck, and a feather wreath, or +corona, on his head,--to say nothing of his being destitute of hat, gloves, +shoes, stockings, and pants,--was introduced to the first company of white +women whom he ever saw." + +But the speedy change from drunkenness to sobriety, from ignorance to +comparative intelligence, from theft and falsehood to honesty and truth, +from shameless indecency to purity and chastity, from the violation of +the whole ten commandments to the sacred observance of these ten, from +barbarism to civilization and refinement, from brutish idolatry to the holy +service of God, was astonishing even to those through whose instrumentality +it was brought about. + +Thirty years ago there was no church, no school house, no seminary of +learning, no regard for the Sabbath, no thought of the great Jehovah: now +all of these are found. The church tower lifts itself to heaven; the school +and the seminary are sending abroad their instructions; the Sabbath is +regarded by the mass of the people; and Jehovah is worshipped in spirit and +in truth by thousands. During the year 1840 there were four thousand one +hundred and seventy-nine additions to the church in the five islands; and +since then conversions have been multiplied and converts have increased. +The Bible has been printed, and edition after edition given to the +perishing inhabitants, until thousands of them are rejoicing in the hope +which it inspires. The whole temporal and spiritual condition of the people +has changed. Christianity has made men of beasts, and lifted up the whole +government in the scale of being. + +Perhaps we can convey no better idea of the change which a few years' labor +produced in the Sandwich Islands than by giving an extract of a letter, +written by Rev. C. S. Stewart about the time of the death of his wife. It +is a beautiful and thrilling description of a Sabbath in an island where, +a few years before, was nothing but idol worship, heathen rites and +ceremonies, and ignorant superstitions. + +"At an early hour of the morning, even before we had taken our breakfast on +board ship, a single person here and there, or a group of three or four, +enveloped in their large mantles of various hues, might be seen wending +their way among the groves fringing the bay on the east, or descending from +the hills and ravines on the north towards the chapel; and by degrees their +numbers increased, till in a short time every path along the beach and over +the uplands presented an almost unbroken procession of both sexes and of +every age, all pressing to the house of God. + +"Even to myself it was a sight of surprise; not at the magnitude of the +population, but that the object for which they were evidently assembling +should bring together so great a multitude, when at this very place, only +four years ago, the known wishes and example of chiefs of high authority, +the daily persuasions of the teachers, added to motives of curiosity and +novelty, could scarce induce a hundred of the inhabitants to give an +irregular attendance on the services of the sanctuary. But now,-- + + 'Like mountain torrents pouring to the main, + From every glen a living stream came forth: + Prom every hill in crowds they hasten down + To worship Him who deigns in humblest fane, + On wildest shore, to meet the uprightin heart,' + +"The scene, as looked on from our ship, in the stillness of a +brightly-gleaming Sabbath morning, was well calculated, with its +associations, to prepare the mind for strong impressions on a nearer view, +when the conclusion of our own public worship should allow us to go on +shore. Mr. Goodrich had apprised us that he found it expedient to hold the +services of the Sabbath, usually attended at all the other stations at nine +o'clock in the morning and at four in the afternoon, both in the fore part +of the day, that all might have the benefit of two sermons and yet reach +home before nightfall; for + + 'Numbers dwelt remote, + And first must traverse many a weary mile + To reach the altar of the God they love.' + +"It was near twelve o'clock when we went on shore. Though the services +had commenced when we landed, large numbers were seen circling the doors +without; but, as we afterward found, from the impossibility of obtaining +places within. The house is an immense structure, capable of containing +many thousands, every part of which was filled except a small area in front +of the pulpit, where seats were reserved for us, and to which we made our +way in slow and tedious procession, from the difficulty of finding a spot +even to place our footsteps without treading on the limbs of the people, +seated on their feet as closely almost as they could be stowed. + +"As we entered, Mr. G. paused in his sermon till we could be seated. +I ascended the pulpit beside him, from which I had a full view of the +congregation. The suspense of attention in the people was only of momentary +duration, notwithstanding the entire novelty of the laced coats, cocked +hats, and other appendages of naval uniform. I can scarce describe the +emotions experienced in glancing an eye over the immense number, seated +so thickly on the matted floor as to seem literally one mass of heads, +covering an area of more than nine thousand square feet. The sight was +most striking, and soon became, not only to myself, but to some of my +fellow-officers, deeply affecting. + +"With the exception of the inferior chiefs having charge of the district +and their dependants, of two or three native members of the church and of +the mission family, scarce one of the whole multitude was in any other than +the native dress--the _maro_, the _kihee_, and the simple _tapa_, of their +primitive state. In this respect, and in the attitude of sitting, the +assembly was purely pagan; totally unlike those of the Society Islands; as +unlike as to one at home. But the breathless silence, the eager attention, +the half-suppressed sigh, the tear, the various feeling--sad, peaceful, +joyous--discoverable in the faces of many, all spoke the presence of an +invisible but omnipotent Power--the Power that can alone melt and renew the +heart of man, even as it alone brought it first into existence." + +Turning from the changes which have been wrought in these islands,--on +which we have, perhaps, lingered too long already,--we turn to one through +whose efforts a part of this work has been accomplished. + +Harriet B. Tiffany was a native of Stamford, Connecticut. She was born on +the 24th day of June, 1798. Her parents were honorably descended from an +illustrious line, and Harriet inherited many of the noble qualities of +her ancestors. Her youth was passed mostly in Stamford, Albany, and +Cooperstown, in which places she endeared herself by many acts of kindness +to all who knew her, and grew up to womanhood cherished and loved by all +who came within the circle of her influence. In 1819 she passed through +that mysterious change which is denominated regeneration. Repeated +afflictions, the death of friends, and her own sickness led her to feel the +need of a strong arm and a firm hope. Feeling the emptiness of earth, the +vanity of human life, even in its best estate, she turned to Him who can +give support to the soul in the hours of its dark night and guide it amid +the gloom. By faith she saw the crucified One, and rested her sorrows and +griefs on Him who was able to bear them. She was changed from darkness to +light, from sin to holiness, from death to life. + +The great subject of a missionary life was presented to her view, connected +with a proposal to accompany Rev. C.S. Stewart to the Sandwich Islands as +his assistant and companion. With trembling anxiety she submitted the case +to the wise discretion of her Father in heaven: on earth she had none. +As may be supposed, it was no easy thing for a young lady of high and +honorable connections, who had always been surrounded with friends and +educated in the circle of refinement and luxury, to leave all these. There +were tender ties to be riven, fond associations to be broken up, dear +friends to part with, and a loved home to leave behind; and when the +momentous question was brought distinctly before her mind, it required a +strong faith, a firm dependence on God, an entire submission to his will to +induce her to take the solemn and important step; but, believing herself +called upon by God, she decided in his favor, and lost sight of the +sacrifice and self-denial of the undertaking. + +She resolved to go--to go, though home was to be abandoned, friends to be +left, loved scenes deserted, and a life of toil to be endured. She resolved +to go--to go, though she might pass through a sea of tears, and at last +leave her enfeebled body upon a couch that would have no kind friends to +surround it when she died. She resolved to go, though she should find in +savage lands a lowly grave. + +She was married to Mr. Stewart. in the city of Albany, on the 3d of June, +1822. Mr. Stewart had already been appointed as a missionary, and was to +go out to the Sandwich Islands under the care of the American Board. They +sailed in company with a large number of others who were destined for the +same laborious but delightful service. The sun of the 19th of November went +down on many homes from which glad spirits had departed on their errand of +mercy to a dying world; and on that day the eye of many a parent gazed +upon the form of the child for the last time. Nor could a vessel leave +our shores, having on her decks nearly thirty missionaries, without being +followed by the prayers of more than the relatives of those who had +departed. There was mingled joy and sorrow throughout the churches of New +England, as the gales of winter wafted the gospel-freighted vessel to her +distant destination. + +They arrived, in April of the following year, at Honolulu; and, after a +residence of a few days, located themselves at Lahaina, a town containing +about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, who were mostly in a degraded +condition. Here they found but few of the conveniences of life, and were +obliged to live in little huts, which afforded but slight shelter from the +scorching heat or the pelting rain. In these miserable tenements did the +child of luxury and wealth reside, and in perfect contentment perform the +duties of her station. She suffered, but did not complain; she labored +hard, but was not weary; and, cheerful in her lot, smiled even at her +privations and sorrows. + +In 1825 her health began to fail. Unable longer to labor for her perishing +heathen sisters, she sailed for England in order to enjoy medical advice +and care; but instead of improving by the voyage, she continued to decline, +until the hopelessness of her case became apparent. She embarked for +America in July, 1826, her residence of a few months in England having +rendered her no permanent benefit. In her low state the voyage was any +thing but agreeable; and she arrived among her friends the mere shadow of +what she was when, a few years before, she had gone forth in the flush of +youth and the vigor of health. + +For a time after her arrival strong hopes were cherished that she +might recover. The balmy breezes of her own native valley, the kind +congratulations of friends, the interest and excitement of a return to the +scenes of youth gave color to her cheek and life to her step. But in the +early part of 1830 the prospect of returning health was dashed, and Death +appeared in all his terror. Long was her last sickness--so long that she +groaned to depart and be with Christ. For many months she suffered and +struggled on a weary bed, until the spirit call was heard, and golden gates +were opened, and the ransomed one entered in. During this sickness she was +sustained by the grace of God. Death found her ready, and led a _willing_ +victim down into the sepulchre, who exclaimed, as she entered it, "O Death, +where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?" + +Racked with pain and tortured by disease she murmured not, but, as each new +cup of sorrow was put to her lips, meekly replied, "The cup which my Father +hath mingled, shall I not drink it?" She was a remarkable instance of +Christian submission and resignation under sufferings, and left behind her, +to surviving friends, the joyful evidence that she had passed away to rest. + + "Spirit, leave thy house of clay; + Lingering dust, resign thy breath; + Spirit, cast thy cares away; + Dust, be thou dissolved in death. + Thus the mighty Savior speaks + While the faithful Christian dies; + Thus the bonds of life he breaks, + And the ransomed captive flies." + +Since the death of Mrs. Stewart at Cooperstown, the work of civilization +and reformation in the Sandwich Islands has been rapidly progressing. The +faith of the Church has been strong and confident, and she has exerted +herself to save those islands from barbarism and ignorance. In her holy +strength, and with her high commission, she has sent out her servants armed +with the whole Christian armor. These men and women have preached Jesus and +the cross with wonderful success. Struggling against the tide of obstacles +and the barriers which sin raised in their pathway, they have advanced +until they have caused an entire change in the customs and the religion of +the people. + +Nor have the natives been unwilling to render their assistance. They have +cooperated with the missionaries, and nobly exerted themselves to bring the +islands under Christian influences. Their efforts to erect temples in which +they and their children may worship the only living and true God illustrate +the zeal with which they toiled to accomplish good. Speaking of the large +stone church at Honolulu,--a church which cost twenty thousand dollars, +and required the labor of many men for six long years to finish it,--Mr. +Bingham says, "In the erection of this stately edifice, the active men, +among about one thousand communicants of that church, having divided into +five companies, labored by rotation many days and weeks with patience and +zeal." + +Of the labor given to the erection of a house of worship at Kealakekua, the +same work furnishes us with the following particulars:-- + +"The stones were carried upon the shoulders of men forty or fifty rods. The +coral for making the lime they procured by diving in two or three fathom +water and detaching blocks, or fragments. If these were too heavy for the +diver to bring up to his canoe with his hands, he ascended to the surface +to take breath, then descended with a rope, attached it to his prize, and, +mounting to his canoe, heaved up the mass from the bottom, and, when the +canoe was thus laden, rowed it ashore and discharged his freight. By this +process they procured about thirty cubic fathoms, or seven thousand seven +hundred and seventy-six cubic feet. To burn this mass, the church members +brought from the mountain side, upon their shoulders, forty cords of wood. +The lime being burned, the women took it in calabashes, or large gourd +shells, and bore it on their shoulders to the place of building; also sand +and water for making the mortar. Thus about seven hundred barrels each of +lime, sand, and water, making about two thousand barrels, equal to three +hundred and fifty wagon loads, were carried by women a quarter of a mile, +to assist the men in building the temple of the Lord, which they desired to +see erected for themselves and for their children--a heavy service, which +they, their husbands, fathers, sons, had not the means of hiring nor teams +to accomplish. The latter had other work far more laborious to perform for +the house. The sills, posts, beams, rafters, &c., which they cut in the +mountains, six to ten miles distant, they drew down by hand. The posts and +beams required the strength of forty to sixty men each. Such a company, +starting at break of day, with ropes in hand, and walking two or three +hours through the fern and underbrush loaded with the cold dew, made fast +to their timber, and, addressing themselves to their sober toil for the +rest of the day, dragged it over beds of lava, rocks, ravines, and rubbish, +reaching the place of building about sunset." + +Mr. Conn gives the following amusing account of the industry and +willingness of the people in church building at Waiakea, Hilo: "I have +often gone with them to the forest, laid hold of the rope, and dragged +timber with them from morning to night. On such occasions we usually, on +our arrival at the timber to be drawn, unite in prayer, and then, fastening +to the stick, proceed to work. Dragging timber in this way is exceedingly +wearisome, especially if there be not, as is often the case, a full +complement of hands. But what is wanting in numbers is often supplied +in the tact and management of the natives, some of whom are expert in +rallying, stimulating, and cheering their comrades, by sallies of wit, +irony, and, if the expression is allowable, of good-natured sarcasm. The +manner of drawing is quite orderly and systematic. They choose one of their +number for a leader. This done, the leader proceeds to use his vocal powers +by commanding all others to put theirs to rest. He then arranges his men +on each side of the rope, like artillerists at the drag rope. Every man +is commanded to grasp the rope firmly with both hands, straighten it, and +squat down, inclined a little forward. The leader then passes from rear to +front, and from front to rear, reviewing the line to see that every man +grasps the rope. All is now still as the grave for a moment, when the +commander, or marshal of the day, roars out in a stentorian voice, '_Kauo_, +draw!' Every one then rises, and away dashes the timber, through thicket +and mud, over lava and streamlet, under a burning sun or amidst drenching +rain. No conversation is allowed except by the marshal, who seems to feel +it his privilege, during his incumbency, to make noise enough for all." + +In this toilsome way most if not all the houses for the public worship of +God have been erected; and most of them being of enduring materials, they +will stand for many years as monuments of the devotion, self-sacrificing +industry, and sincere piety of the Sandwich Island Christians. A people +having this spirit, and animated with such a love for Christ and his +worship, could not fail in being successful while armed with gospel truth. +Before such noble workmen all obstacles will vanish, all barriers will +be broken down, all opposition will be overcome. Were the members of the +church in Christian lands willing to make such sacrifices and perform such +labors, a half century would not roll away ere the voice of the missionary +would be heard in every valley and on every hill top of the globe. Were the +Christians of one single denomination willing to lay hold upon the "drag +rope" of Christian missions, and emulate the conduct of the poor, degraded +Sandwich Islanders, in their efforts to build temples of worship, they +would see the car of salvation moving on gloriously, and, ere long, would +listen to the shout of a redeemed world. + +The Christians of these islands seem to resemble the early disciples of +our dear Savior. Their simple and unostentatious piety, their firm, manly +devotion to truth, and steady resistance to error, their willingness to +leave all for Christ, reminds us of the disciples of Antioch and Rome, who +perilled life and happiness to prove their devotion to the cross. Perhaps +nowhere in our times have converts from heathenism to Christianity +displayed more of the primitive spirit, and developed more of the primitive +virtues, than the once despised, idolatrous, blinded inhabitants of the +Sandwich Islands. The language of each heart seems to be,-- + + "Jesus, I my cross have taken, + All to leave and follow thee; + Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, + Only thou my leader be." + +In the language with which Mr. Bingham closes his full and valuable +history, we close this sketch of the Sandwich Islands and of one of the +most intelligent and gifted females ever sent to them:-- + +"A nation has been raised from blank heathenism to a rank among enlightened +nations, to the enjoyment of letters and laws, of Christianity and the hope +of heavenly glory. Whatever troubles may yet assail them, there is ground +to rejoice that the foundation of the spiritual temple of Jehovah has there +been firmly laid, and its superstructure commenced, which is to rise in +future generations. The builders there and elsewhere have many adversaries; +but the benignant Lamb shall overcome them. His servants must be +multiplied, and many a heart, constrained by the love of Christ, will be +found to say,-- + + 'The voice of my departed Lord, "Go teach all nations," + Comes on the night air, and awakes my ear.' + +"If the American Board and its friends and laborers have not done too much +for that nation in a generation past,--and who will say they have toiled or +expended too much?--those who are on the Lord's side, grateful for what the +Lord has _wrought_ there, will be encouraged to attempt and expect the same +or 'greater things than these' for other nations, till in every tongue they +shall harmoniously hymn the Messiah's praise, and earth's ransomed millions +shall swell the strain which these converted islanders have recently +learned and gratefully adopted:-- + + 'E ke Ola, Lua ole! + E ukuia kou make e: + Lanakila kou aloha; + Nau 'na mamo, e maha 'i: + Make oe i mau ohua-- + Nou ko makou mau naau; + Nou ka ikiaka;--Nou na uhane;-- + Nou ka nani oia mau.' + + 'O Redeemer, matchless, glorious, + Let thy anguish be repaid; + Reigning, make thy love victorious; + In thy seed be satisfied: + Thou wast slain, blessed Lamb, to win us; + Let us live and die for thee; + Worthy thou of all within us; + Thine shall endless glory be.'" + + + + + +V. + +SARAH L. SMITH, OF SYRIA. + + + + +There are some spots on earth more hallowed than others. There are +consecrated cities and towns, from which, as we approach them, we seem +to hear a voice, saying, "Put off thy shoes; for the spot whereon thou +treadest is holy ground." + +Such are the places in which Christ our Savior lived, and preached, +and suffered while incarnate. Such are the places where his immediate +successors, the apostles and martyrs, contended so earnestly for the faith +delivered to the saints. Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethlehem, Corinth, Ephesus, +Antioch, and Rome will be associated forever, in the minds of Christians, +with the early progress and triumphs of our holy religion; and the pious +traveller will never visit those places without feeling his bosom thrill +with tender and intense emotions. + +On this account the mission in Syria is one of peculiar interest. Founded +almost within sight of Calvary, it is surrounded with many scenes of dear +and hallowed interest; and it requires but little effort of the imagination +to recall the song of the infant church, as it arose from vale and glen, +vibrating on the air and echoing back from hoary Lebanon. It was with the +mission in this place that the amiable, talented, and beloved subject of +this article was connected. + +Sarah Lanman Huntington was the daughter of Jabez Huntington, Esq. She +was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on the 18th of June, 1802, and in that +beautiful town passed through the period of childhood. She was educated +with missionary sympathies and feelings. All the circumstances under which +she was placed were calculated to invest the holy enterprise with sacred +pleasantness. In her father's house she never heard a word of reproach +breathed forth against the cause itself or the devoted men and women +engaged in it. She traced her descent from the famous John Robinson, of +Leyden, whose blood came flowing down through a long missionary line until +it coursed in her veins. Her grandfather was a member of the American Board +of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; and all her relatives on the side of +father and mother were active promoters of the work of God. + +Under such influences Sarah grew up, believing that it was far more +honorable to do good to man, to be the means of reclaiming the wanderer +from the path of duty, or to bring a sinner back to God, than to found an +empire, or establish a throne, or conquer an army of steel-clad warriors, +or lead in triumph captive kings and princes. Before her conversion, she +was aware of the divine character of the work which had just commenced; and +doubtless her young heart responded to the appeals made by the death of +Harriet Newell and the life of Ann H. Judson. + +During the first twelve years of her life there appears to be nothing +unusual in her history. She was like other thoughtful and pleasant girls +of her age, and spent her time in the amusements and pursuits of youth. +At school she was industrious, studious, but not remarkably rapid in her +progress; at home she was fondly loved and cherished; but in the minds of +her parents she never appeared to be a _prodigy_ or a _genius_. + +At the age of twelve she became the subject of the Spirit's influence. Her +mind was drawn to divine things and her heart touched by the finger of +God. On the 10th of August, 1820, she realized for the first time the +blessedness of full and free forgiveness. The Savior was precious to her +soul, and holy duties were pleasant and delightful. She had passed from the +deep waters of conviction, and gladly placed her feet on the Rock of Ages, +where she stood immovable. Her joy knew no bounds. Liberated from sin, free +from the dreadful weight of guilt and condemnation, pardoned by God and +loved by Christ, she deemed no praises too exalted, no trials too severe to +endure in return. She immediately recognized the great principle that "we +are not our own," and acted upon it; and life became from that hour devoted +to holy employments and useful pursuits. + +Writing to one of her friends about this time, she says, "All is changed. +I am in a new world of thought and feeling. I begin to live anew. Even our +beautiful Norwich has new charms, and, in sympathy with my joyousness, +wears a new, a lovelier, aspect." + +The vows which she made, as she passed through the "strait gate" and +entered the kingdom of heaven, did not consist of words alone. They were +engraven on her heart and carried out in her life as well as recorded on +high. Ceaselessly she sought out ways in which she might do good to the +bodies and the souls of her fellow-creatures; and what her hands found +to do, she did with her might. In 1827 she formed a plan to benefit the +Mohegan Indians, who lived a few miles from Norwich. These Indians were the +remnant of a once mighty tribe; and the proud blood of some of their rude +chieftains of former times coursed through the veins of these tattered +and ragged descendants. From hut to hut she visited among these degraded +children of the forest; started a Sabbath school, of which she and another +young lady were the sole teachers; provided books for those who could read; +and in many ways conferred benefits upon them. Not satisfied with this, she +determined to build a church and secure the services of a missionary; and +for this purpose wrote to several of her influential friends, to secure +their coöperation and sympathy. For aid in her work of benevolence she also +applied to the legislature of Connecticut and to the general government. +To a considerable extent she was successful, and obtained the esteem and +gratitude of that forlorn and oppressed people. + +The manner in which she visited among the people gives us an insight into +the character of the woman, and furnishes us with a clew to her future +success. She usually rode from Norwich on horseback, and, taking a little +girl with her into the saddle, passed from house to house, using the child +as guide, interpreter, and adviser. When she met in the road a few ragged +natives or a knot of men and women she would stop her horse and converse a +while with them, and slip a tract into the hand of each, and with a smile +pass on. In this way she gained the confidence and love of the poor people +who lived in ignorance and degradation within sight of the towers and +temples of New England towns and cities. + +At times the mind of Miss H. was much exercised in relation to a mission +in the western part of our own country. The gathering thousands who were +pouring in from every quarter of the world, the future influence of the +west upon the nation, the wide field of usefulness there presented, were +all inducements for her to go forth and labor amid the mountains and on the +broad prairies which extend towards the shores of the Pacific Ocean. + +The idea of laboring in the west was abandoned in 1833, during which year +she resolved to accompany Rev. Eli Smith to his field of toil in Syria. +The opportunity presented by the offer of Mr. Smith was what Miss H. most +earnestly desired. Her heart was set on doing good; and no spot on earth +could have been selected more in accordance with her tastes and feelings. +The long-cherished purpose could now be accomplished; and, after due +consultation with her friends, she was married on the 21st of July, in the +midst of her associates, at Norwich. + +On the 29th of August the parting between child and parents took place, and +Mrs. Smith left the home of her infancy forever, and, after visiting the +friends of her husband in Boston, embarked from that place for Malta, on +the 21st of September, in the brig George, commanded by Captain Hallet. + +The scene on board the vessel was peculiarly solemn. After the missionaries +had arrived and the people had assembled on the deck and on the wharf, all +united in singing that grand hymn,-- + + "Roll on, thou mighty ocean; + And, as thy billows flow, + Bear messengers of mercy + To every land below." + +Rev. Dr. Jenks then led in prayer, commending the servants of God to the +gracious care of Him who sitteth on high; after which the brig was loosened +from her moorings and floated down the harbor, while the little cluster of +missionaries on board sung sweetly the beautiful hymn of Heber,-- + + "From Greenland's icy mountains, + From India's coral strand." + +The sorrowful friends remained standing upon the wharf until the vessel +which contained the loved ones had faded from sight, and with its precious +freight was far out upon the deceptive ocean. + +After a fine voyage of fifty-four days the missionaries landed at Malta, +and proceeded to Beyroot, via Alexandria. They arrived at Beyroot on the +28th of January, 1834. The sketch of their voyage, given by Mrs. Smith +herself and found in her published memoir, is of intense interest. The +objects of interest were so numerous, the mind of the voyager so well +prepared to appreciate them, that a journey on land could scarcely have +been more delightful. The heaving Atlantic; the calm, bright Mediterranean; +the Azore Islands; the long coast of Africa; the Straits of Gibraltar; the +stay at Malta; the visits to convents, temples, and other places of resort; +the city of Alexandria; the Mahometan Sabbath; the grave of Parsons; the +passage to Beyroot, and the safe arrival,--were all calculated to enlist +the feelings of such a woman, with such a mind, as Mrs. Smith, She arrived +at her new residence at Beyroot on the 28th of January, 1834. The town lies +at the foot of the "goodly mountain," Lebanon, and, to the approaching +traveller, presents a scene of beauty seldom equalled. Descending gently +from the south, the whole town seems like one vast garden, with houses half +covered by the thick foliage, and cottages of Oriental style, of brown or +yellow appearance, peeping through the overhanging trees, or standing in +the centre of a well-cultivated spot, like a temple in the heart of a city. +Away beyond is Lebanon, stretching its sunny ridges from north to south, +and lifting its peaks until they bathe their foreheads in the clouds. On +its sides are seen the cottage, and here and there a cluster of human +habitations, forming little villages, which delight the eye and give beauty +to the prospect. Every thing, to a native of Europe or America, is unique +and strange, and has an air of richness and productiveness which surprises +while it charms. The birds, the beasts, the insects are, to a lover of +natural beauty, sources of study and profit; and the refined mind could +scarcely find a more delightful spot as a field of missionary exertion. + +The inhabitants did not correspond with the outward scenery. Though the +people kindly welcomed them, the missionaries found a wide difference in +the habits and customs of the European and the Arab; and brought into +connection with the latter, as they were every hour of the day, the +contrast was continually before the mind. + +Besides this, the missionary cannot live on the same equality with the +people as can other classes of European or American residents. The _trader_ +can close his doors and have his family circles sacred from the intrusion +of officious, meddlesome natives; but this course would defeat the very +object which the _missionary_ has in view. It would shut him out from the +confidence and sympathy of those whose hearts he wished to reach. It would +place between him and the heathen a barrier which would be insurmountable. +So our sister found it at Beyroot. She had no house which she could +properly call her own; for at times, while she was least prepared and while +visits were least desirable, her house would be invaded by a company of +five or six women, who would remain a long time, asking questions and +prying into a hundred things which did not concern them. + +And yet Mrs. Smith felt that these annoyances must be endured with +cheerfulness; and when patience was almost wearied out, and time which +belonged to herself and her family was taken up by such persons, she +would console herself that such privations and trials were parts of the +missionary work, which must be endured cheerfully for the sake of Jesus. + +The manners, customs, and dresses of the people at Beyroot served to remind +the Christian of the times of Christ, and led back the imagination +through the lapse of eighteen hundred years to the thrilling events which +transpired throughout the Holy Land. + +So few are the improvements made in art and agriculture that one can easily +fancy himself in the middle of the first century, gazing upon the people +who from apostolic lips listened to the words of life and salvation; and +under this almost irresistible impression the solemnity of Gethsemane and +Calvary gathers over the soul, and throws a divine enchantment over the +life and labors of the men of God. So our sister felt, as the Oriental +costumes passed before her, as she looked out from her window upon the +sides of the snow-covered Lebanon. + +The situation of Mrs. Smith was not at all like that of many other devoted +servants of God. She was not compelled to break up the fallow ground, or be +the first to drop the Seed into the soil. Others had preceded her--they had +prepared the way--they had erected the kindly shelter--they had opened the +heathen mind to receive light and truth. Hence, on her arrival, she found +all the comforts and conveniences of a civilized community--she found a +most beautiful and romantic residence, a land teeming with all the hallowed +associations of sacred history. + +Called by God, not to the dungeons of Ava, not to the damp and +monster-covered banks of the Irrawaddy, but to a more congenial field of +labor, she toiled on in it with pleasure. + +Mrs. Smith spent most of the time in her school, which was commenced soon +after her arrival, and for a while was "the only schoolmistress in all +Syria." The school house, which was erected upon a plan of her own, was +filled by a large number of children of Egyptian, Arabian, and Turkish +parents, who, under the care of their faithful teacher, made considerable +progress. To instruct the little, ignorant children, explain to them the +mysteries of science, and lead them upward to the God who made them, was a +task for which she was well adapted. Being an ardent lover of the beautiful +and grand in nature, she made the green fields, the blooming vineyards, the +high, towering mountain all subservient to the purposes of instruction. Her +residence among the Mohegans prepared her for her duties in Syria, and gave +her the advantage of an experience which she could have acquired nowhere +else. In the Sabbath school she was also most happily employed in +instructing the fifteen or twenty children who attended in the path of +holiness. Under her labors the school gradually and constantly increased, +and a visible change for good was observed among the pupils. Her kindness +and affection won the hearts even of the Moslem parents, who, in repeated +instances, disobeyed the direction of their priests, and kept their +children under her care after the school had been condemned. + +One of the most pleasant circumstances connected with the missionary life +of Mrs. Smith was her visit to the Holy Land in 1835. From early childhood +she had regarded with a feeling of veneration the city of Jerusalem. That +was the city in which many of the Savior's miracles were done; there he had +healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead, and performed many other +wonderful works; there was the temple; there the scene of trial, and the +streets along which the cross was borne; there, near at hand, was the +Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and on the other side of +the city the Hill of Calvary on which the Savior was crucified. When, +therefore, she found herself on her journey to the most noted spot in the +wide world, emotions of solemn and pleasing interest crowded upon her mind. +As she passed along, one object of interest after another presented itself. +Tyre and Sidon were seen; and the spot whereon Sarepta once stood was +crossed. Her feet traversed the mountains of Galilee, and stood upon the +summit of Carmel, Gerizim, Tabor, Hermon, Lebanon, Olivet, and Calvary. She +visited the spots where tradition tells us the Savior perished and where +his sufferings were endured; and doubtless her imagination brought back +the scenes of the past, and she might have heard the low, silvery tones of +mercy and grace as they flowed from the lips of "Him who spake as never man +spake." + +After visiting the prominent places of the Holy Land, our missionary +returned again to her station at Beyroot, where she labored with untiring +diligence until June, 1836, when, her health failing, she set sail with her +husband for Smyrna, with the delusive hope of regaining it. At this point +her sufferings commenced. The vessel in which they sailed was old and +uncomfortable; the crew and some of the passengers were any thing but +agreeable; and horrid profanity was heard instead of prayer and praise. The +fifth night after leaving Beyroot the vessel was wrecked on the north side +of the Island of Cyprus, and the voyagers escaped with their lives. After +many hardships and much danger they landed on a sandy shore in an almost +destitute condition, and, after continuing on the island some days, +obtained passage towards the place of their destination. The vessel on +board which they sailed was a Turkish lumberman, and in no way adapted to +the conveyance of passengers. But, submitting to stern necessity, they made +the best improvement of the circumstances under which they were placed. Of +the voyage Mr. Smith says, "The wind was high, and, being contrary to the +current, raised a cross and troublous sea. The vessel was terribly tossed, +and, being slightly put together, threatened to founder at almost every +plunge. Mrs. Smith, besides rolling to and fro for want of something to +support her against the motion, was writhing under violent seasickness, +which, instead of allaying, served only to increase her cough. She had some +fears that she should not survive the night; and for a time I did not know +what would be the end of her sufferings." + +They arrived at Smyrna in thirty-three days after they left Beyroot. Here +her strength gradually failed. The consumption which was wasting her body +and drawing her down to the grave made visible advances; and on the 30th +of September, 1836, she died in the triumphs of faith, at Boojah, a quiet +little village about five miles from Smyrna. + +In her sickness she gave the most cheering illustrations of the power of +the Christian faith to subdue fear and disarm death. Her mind was lifted up +above the sufferings of her lot, and she held constant intercourse with the +Savior of her soul. To a great extent she was free from pain, and enabled +to converse with her husband upon the prospect before her. She waited for +death with pleasure, and was ready at any hour to depart and be with Jesus. +To die was gain, unspeakable gain; and she knew it well. Hence, when her +physician and friends would whisper words of hope, she would plainly tell +them that her work was done, her mission fulfilled, and the sand of her +glass almost run out. It gave her more pleasure to look forward to a +meeting with the loved men and women who had departed than to contemplate +an existence on the earth, where storms will disturb the fairest prospect, +and clouds will shut out the rays of the noonday sun. + +On the Sabbath before her death she sung, in company with her husband, the +hymn,-- + + "Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love; + But there's a nobler rest above; + To that our longing souls aspire + With cheerful hope and strong desire." + +At twenty minutes before eight o'clock she died, with a countenance all +illuminated with smiles, which, after she ceased to speak, played upon +her features, and by their silent eloquence whispered to every beholder, +"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no +evil." + +On the following day, as the tidings spread through Smyrna that the sainted +woman was at rest, the flags of the American vessels in the harbor were +seen lowering to half mast, and that upon the dwelling of the consul was +shrouded with the drapery of death. + +On the 1st of October she was carried to the grave. The service of the +English church was read beside the corpse, and in one common grief the +people stood bending over it, while the beautiful hymn of Dr. Watts was +sung:-- + + "Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb; + Take this new treasure to thy trust; + And give these sacred relics room + To slumber in the silent dust." + +The tidings came echoing across the deep, and in our homes the story of +death was told; and sadness filled the pious heart as the thought that +another servant of God, another heroine of the church, had fallen at her +post, a martyr in the cause of truth. The American Board of Commissioners +for Foreign Missions felt deeply the loss which had been sustained, and +mourned for one whose piety, intellect, and labors were abundant. + +Here endeth the missionary toils of two years and four months; and, +uttering words of peace to the fallen, we bid farewell to her memory until +death shall call us to join the blessed throng of the ransomed whose names +are recorded on high. + + "Who would not wish to die like those + Whom God's own Spirit deigns to bless? + To sink into that soft repose, + Then wake to perfect happiness." + + + + + +VI. + +ELEANOR MACOMBER, OF BURMAH. + + + + +Almost all the heroines who have gone forth from the churches of America +to dot heathen soil with their lowly graves have been attended by some +stronger arm than that of weak, defenceless woman. Many of them have had +husbands on whom they relied for support and protection, and to whom they +could turn with the assurance of sympathy in hours of anguish and gloom. + +But Miss Macomber went out attended by no such kind companion. She resolved +on a missionary life, without the offer of marriage being connected with +it. No husband helped her decide the momentous question; and when she +resolved, it was to go _alone_. Impelled by the Christian's high and holy +motives, she determined on a course which would involve her in a thousand +perplexities and load her with a thousand cares. With none to share these +cares and perplexities, with no heart to keep time with the wild beatings +of her own, she crossed, a friendless woman, the deep, dark ocean, and on +soil never trodden by the feet of Christian men erected the banner of the +cross. + +Eleanor Macomber was born at Lake Pleasant, Hamilton county, New York. Here +her childhood and youth were passed, and here was her mind prepared for +that career of usefulness which in after years made her an ornament to her +sex, to the church, and to the world. + +From Lake Pleasant she removed to Albany, where her heart was brought into +subjection to the divine will and her mind impressed with the great truths +of revelation. She became a convert to the religion of the cross. She +became a convert to tears, to prayers, to self-denying labors, to a life +of sacrifice and devotion. Her piety was from henceforth of the highest +character, and all her daily deportment gave evidence of her love to the +Savior. + +In 1830 she was sent out by the Missionary Board, of the Baptist +denomination, as a teacher among the Ojibwas, at Sault de Ste. Marie, in +Michigan. This was her first missionary work, and she continued engaged in +it nearly four years, when, in the mysterious providence of God, her health +failed, and she was obliged to return to her friends. But the great Head of +the church, in removing her from one field of labor, was only preparing her +for another. In 1836 she became connected with the Karen mission, and a +more extended field of usefulness was thrown open before her. She sailed +from this country in the ship Louvre, and arrived in Maulmain in the autumn +of the same year. + +After her arrival she was stationed at Dong-Yahn, about thirty-five miles +from Maulmain. Here she lived and labored almost alone, doing the great +work which was assigned her. In the midst of discouragements she fainted +not, but performed labors and endured afflictions almost incredible. When +she arrived at the scene of her future labors her heart was affected at +what she saw. Vice and sin reigned triumphant. The most odious, disgusting, +and blasphemous crimes were committed. On every hand intemperance and +sensuality were observable. She immediately commenced in their midst the +worship of God. On the Sabbath the people were drawn together to hear +about the blessed Jesus; and the story of the cross was told with all the +sweetness of woman's piety. During the week her house was thrown open +for morning and evening prayers. A school was soon gathered under her +persevering labors: ten or twelve pupils gathered into it. + +Mr. Osgood, who accompanied Miss Macomber from Maulmain to her field of +labor, and whose duty required him to leave her there, an unprotected +stranger, in the midst of a brutal, drunken community of heathen +barbarians, writes as follows of her place of toil and her feelings on her +arrival:-- + +"We ascended the Salwen River about twenty-five miles, and slept in our +boats the first night. On the morning of the next day, December 20, we +procured a guide and proceeded overland, following the line of the Zuagaben +Mountains, to the house of one of the chiefs, about ten miles. The chief +and most of the inhabitants were absent, attending the burning of a Burman +priest. I immediately despatched a messenger for him, and in the mean time +took up lodgings in his house, to wait his return. Two or three men and +several females and children spent the greater part of the afternoon and +evening with us, hearing sister M. read from the books which have already +been written in their language. We, however, soon found that we had arrived +in a most unpropitious time; for almost every man in the vicinity was in a +state of beastly intoxication. + +"On the morning of the 21st, as the chief did not arrive, we concluded to +return about half way to the river, with a view to exploring the country, +and in hopes of meeting the chief on his return, and holding a conference +with him and several other principal men relative to the objects of the +mission. Having proceeded as far as we intended, and waited some time in +vain for his arrival, I concluded to go in person and endeavor to prevail +upon him to return, as my business would not allow of protracted absence +from home. On arriving at the place of the feast we found a large concourse +of people, consisting of Burmans, Peguans, Karens, and Toung-thoos, who +were assembled upon an extensive plain to pay the last tribute of respect +to a Burman priest that had been some months dead and was now to be burned. +The body was mounted upon an immensely large car, decorated according to +Burman custom, to which were attached ropes, made of grass, three or four +hundred feet long. With these the car was drawn about the plain, levelling, +in its course, every obstacle. + +"After some little search we found the chief men, the objects of our +pursuit, but so completely drunk that all attempts to induce them to return +with us were entirely fruitless. We immediately returned to the house of +the chief where we had lodged the previous night. In the evening the chief +returned, but so intoxicated as to be entirely unfit for business. + +"We rose early on the morning of the 22d to take advantage of the effect +of the night's rest upon our host, and obtained the privilege of a few +minutes' conversation. He gave us permission to build in any place we saw +fit to select; but before I had fixed upon a place he was again missing. +After selecting a place and making the necessary preparations for building, +I prepared to return to Maulmain. Until this time our dear sister Macomber +had borne the trials of the journey and the prospect of being left +alone without the least appearance of shrinking; but when the moment of +separation came, the thought of being left, without a friend in the midst +of a drunken people, and even in the house of a man completely besotted +with ardent spirits, and at a distance of thirty miles or more from any +civilized society, with scarcely a sufficient knowledge of the language to +make known her wants, was too much for the delicate feelings of a female +to endure; and she could only give vent to the emotions of her heart by +a flood of tears. She soon, however, recovered her self-possession, and +resolved to cast herself upon the merciful protection of her heavenly +Father, and to pursue what seemed to her to be the path of duty." + +But the laborer did not long toil in vain. In less than one year, a church +of natives, converted through her instrumentality, was formed and placed +under the care of Rev. Mr. Stephens. The people changed beneath the +influence of divine grace. Intemperance, sensuality, and other vices +gradually disappeared; and morality, solemnity, virtue, and religion took +their places. The Sabbath day was respected; and in the jungle and thicket +the voice of prayer was often heard. Jesus and the cross received thought; +and the great idea of salvation by grace was pondered and believed. + +In a few months the little church planted through her instrumentality +numbered more than twenty persons, who continued faithful in the duties +and practices of the disciples. Her feelings towards the little band of +Christians gathered by her in the very wilderness of sin are represented as +having been very strong and earnest. Her language was, when speaking of the +church,-- + + "For her my tears shall fall, + For her my prayers ascend, + To her my toils and cares be given, + Till toils and cares shall end." + +She was an _intelligent_ missionary. Her mind was of superior order, and +reason held even balance. Her zeal for the truth was not a blind, headlong +enthusiasm, which sparkles, and glitters, and comes to an end, but a zeal +founded on the wants and woes of a perishing world. She measured the depths +of heathen degradation and estimated the worth of souls, and went to work +calmly, philosophically, and earnestly. + +The faith which she carried forth was well studied and fully understood. +She had a reason to give for the hope which was in her and which she so +fondly cherished. She was able to defend it--to develop its glories--to +show its superiority to any and all the forms of heathenism. The kindness +of her own heart led her not only to appreciate the superior excellence of +the gospel, but also to feel most deeply for the degraded Karens. Towering +far above them in the majesty of intellect and the grandeur of thought, she +sought to inspire them with feelings kindred to her own. Her high ambition +was, to lift the race from its fallen position, save the people from +their prevalent vices, enlighten the minds of the young, and improve and +regenerate the hearts of all. + +She thought it not inconsistent with her true dignity, as a woman +possessing a high order of intellect, to bring her mind into contact with +the most degraded of the human family, if by so doing she could be the +means of saving some and improving others. Hence she _studied_ to do +good. The energies of her mind were placed under contribution to furnish +arguments by which the heathen mind might be convinced and the heathen +heart subdued. She met the strongest objections to the new faith; she +answered the questions of the cavilling priest; she reasoned with the +common people from the law and the gospel, until enough were converted to +form a church of our Lord Jesus. + +She was a _laborious_ missionary. All our missionaries are laborers. The +work itself compels toil; and it cannot be avoided. But few go into it with +an idea of ease and personal aggrandizement; and that few are disappointed. +The great enterprise is in itself a hardship; and however cheerfully it +may be borne for Jesus and a dying world, it cannot be carried on without +immense labor and sacrifice on the part of the missionaries. + +But the noble woman of whom we write was in labors more abundant. She +even went beyond what was expected of a most faithful servant of God: she +exerted herself to an extent which but few others have done, and gathered +a reward in proportion to her labors. Others have suffered more and had +a more checkered life; but none have put forth greater exertions to +accomplish a given result. + +Indeed, the spectacle of a weak, friendless, lone woman removing from +Maulmain to Dong-Yahn, and there, with no husband, no father, no brother, +establishing public worship, opening her house for prayer and praise, and +gathering schools in the midst of wild and unlettered natives, is one full +of moral grandeur. The idea of performing such a work alone, the idea of a +defenceless woman going into a besotted nation, among a drunken, sensual +people, and lifting them up to the privileges of a refined faith, a pure +religion, is an idea worthy of an angel. This idea entered the mind of our +subject, became a part of herself, and was carried out in her life. + +Not content with sitting down and teaching all who came to her, she went +out to the surrounding tribes, and, for miles around, preached salvation +to the dying. In these excursions she was generally attended by one or two +converts, who formed her escort and guard, and performed that part of the +labor which could not be brought within the province of woman. In this +heroic and romantic manner she travelled from place to place, fording +rivers, crossing deep ravines, climbing high hills and mountains, entering +the dwellings of the poor, sitting beside the bed of the dying, rebuking +the sinful, and every where preaching the doctrines of salvation. + +The spectacle was one which affected even the heathen heart; and this +estimable woman was respected and loved even by those who scorned the +gospel and hated Christ. She had "a more excellent way;" and that +excellence was exhibited in every step of her progress. As she approached +the towns and villages, on her excursions of mercy, she was often met by +enthusiastic crowds, who welcomed her with joy, and led her to the homes of +the dying, and besought her aid. Most females would have fainted under her +toils and turned back from the amount of work to be performed; but gifted +with wisdom and strength from on high, endowed with powers not her own, +she continued until a church was gathered and the foundation laid for a +prosperous mission. + +She was a _pious_ missionary. Doubtless much of the success which crowned +the efforts of Miss Macomber must be attributed, not to the brilliancy +of her intellect, not to the vigor of her mind, not to the vast labor +performed, but to the _piety_ of her heart. It was this which induced her +to go out; she had no other motive in leaving home and all the joys of +kindred and native land. It was this that induced her to plant the cross +where the name of Jesus had not been preached; to go alone, a friendless +woman, in the midst of savages; to brave sickness, disease, and death +itself, in order to utter notes of salvation which should fall on dying +ears like strains from heaven. It was this which sent her, like an angel of +mercy, to the homes of the weary, to the abodes of sickness, to the hovels +of want, to dens of crime, to whisper rebuke in one place and consolation +in another. + +She gave ample evidence that her heart had been baptized in the Holy +Spirit; that her mind had come into contact with the great truths of +revelation; that she had been to the cross and received an impulse from the +spectacle of death there witnessed; that her heart had bled at scenes of +woe which every where abound on heathen soil; that, in the majesty of +humble faith and trust in the Divinity, she had resolved to die in the holy +work to which God and the church had assigned her. + +We not unfrequently behold the most lovely exhibitions of piety in +Christian communities. We see religion doing its holy work in the lives of +its professors; we contemplate instances of piety and devotion which seem +to be more of heaven than earth; but never can be witnessed in Christian +lands those sublime trophies of godliness which we find on shores which are +covered with heathen abomination. We must leave home, we must cross the +ocean, we must follow Harriet Newell through all her sufferings, until she +finds an early grave. We must follow Ann H. Judson to the dungeons of Ava, +to the damp, cold prisons of the East, to her home of suffering and +death. We must trace the course of Miss Macomber from Maulmain to her +new residence at Dong-Yahn; we must see her on her excursions into the +surrounding province, and listen to her teachings as around her a rude +group gather to hear of Jesus. + +Here is piety in its most lovely form. Here is godliness in its most divine +attire. Here is pure religion, which is undefiled before God. In these +cases we see what cannot be witnessed at home, and what thousands of pious +women would shrink from as impracticable and impossible. + +Amid such scenes as these Miss Macomber seems to rise above the measure of +a human being, and gain a likeness to Him who went about doing good. She +appears superior to the infirmities of humanity, because she was engaged in +an employment so nearly resembling that of her divine Master, and performed +it with so much of the excellence and beauty of his spirit and grace. + +Perhaps no better description of Miss Macomber as a laborer in the vineyard +of her Lord can be given than she herself furnishes in her printed +letters, which are found scattered through the missionary magazines of the +denomination to which she belonged. + +"DONG-YAHN, April 15, 1837. + +"A line to you the last of December left me at this place, in the house +of a Karen chief, waiting the building of my own, and giving what little +religious instruction my knowledge of the language would admit. I have now +the happiness to inform you that the excitement, which I then attributed +wholly to novelty, proved to be a gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. A +number of these poor, dark heathen, who were then bound in Satan's double +chain, (idolatry and drunkenness,) have been liberated and brought into the +glorious liberty of the gospel of Christ, and are now rejoicing in hope of +the glory of God. Ten have been baptized, four men and six women; and a +number of others, I trust, will ere long seek the blessed privilege. Many +are still inquiring, and some, I trust, earnestly seeking. But many +are opposing, reviling, and persecuting; and a few are indifferent and +unconcerned. + +"The progress of the work has been deeply interesting to all who have been +acquainted with it, and particularly so to myself. Never were the power +and mercy of God more manifestly displayed, and never did his saving grace +shine through a more feeble instrumentality. But God can work according to +his will; and, blessed be his name, the heathen shall be given to his Son. + +"Our first baptism was on the 12th of January. Chung-pau, a man rather +advanced in years, but of a sound, good mind, and who has thus far +manifested a most devoted spirit, had from the first listened with uncommon +interest; and I think I shall never forget the sensations it gave me when +he would come and sit down by me, and, with a countenance which bespoke a +soul awakened to the interest of eternal realities, would ask, 'What is it +to believe? What can _I_ do to believe? I want to escape hell and obtain +heaven. I wish to trust in Jesus Christ. What shall I do?' O, what would I +have given in that moment for an easy use of the language! But I said what +I could; and the Spirit taught him as man could not. + +"On the 21st of January brother Osgood came up again, and had the happiness +to baptize six more; viz., Ah-wah and wife, Bah-mee and wife, and Ko-pee +and wife; and Mr. Judson baptized three of the chief's daughters on the +16th of March, one only about twelve years old. All gave good evidence of a +gracious change, and have since manifested a growing devotion to the +cause. A number of others of the chief's children, I trust, have been made +partakers of divine grace, and will ere long enter the visible church. One +of those baptized was married; and although her husband made no objections +to her baptism, yet he immediately left her. She has two young children, +whom her father has added to his eleven; and it is truly interesting to see +the care he personally takes of them. Bah-mee has also been turned off by +his widowed mother without a spoonful of rice for his family, (wife and two +children;) and yet I hear not a hard or murmuring word. They seem to take +it as a thing of course, that, if they _will_ be disciples, they must +suffer persecution. + +"When I consider these and many other things which these dear Christians +meet with, I cannot but admire the power of divine grace, and find new +cause to bless God for light and civilization. + +"The men baptized all expressed a great desire to devote their future lives +to the service of God in making known his great salvation to those who were +ignorant of it. They have uniformly manifested the same spirit ever since, +and have been very useful so far as they knew. I have spared no pains in +giving them every opportunity in my power for religious instruction; and +their progress has been truly pleasing. The chief and Bah-mee both read +Peguan well, and Burman some; and have now learned to read and write +their own language. The former is about forty, of respectable talents and +considerable influence. Bah-mee, who I think is an uncommonly able man, is +about thirty; was in the priest's office three years, but left them some +years ago; and when I came here was fast pursuing the drunkard's road with +all the others. Ko-pee is but little over twenty, but has a wife and two +children. He knows nothing of letters, but possesses a quick, discerning +mind, and a lovely disposition. He is learning to read; and I am making +great efforts to have the old man (Chung-pau) learn to read. I hope to get +them all to Maulmain during the rains, that they may have better advantages +for religious instruction, and that those who can may get a good knowledge +of Burman books. They all understand considerable of the language; and it +will be long before there will be books to any extent in their own. It has +all the time seemed to me an indication of designs of great mercy towards +this people that men of such qualifications should be called just at the +commencement of labors amongst them; and I trust that God will so direct +that they may accomplish much for the salvation of their countrymen and the +glory of his name. + +"I have had two or three Burman assistants constantly, who not only go out +in the vicinity, accompanied by some of the Karens, and preach daily, +but make excursions of four or five days in the villages, amongst the +mountains, preaching the gospel to Toung-thoos, Peguans, or Burmans, as +they happen to meet with them. I have made it my personal business to go +with some of them; so that I have visited all the families within six or +seven miles once or twice. I trust that these labors, though feeble, have +not been in vain. I can speak but little of the language; but keeping a +Karen with me, who is accustomed to my broken speeches, I give him ideas +which he explains; and have been comforted and happy in the work, though +attended with much fatigue and exposure. + +"These things have not gone forward without opposition, as you will readily +suppose. Besides all that would be expected from a numerous and deeply +interested priesthood, we have had the fierce and violent opposition of a +young prophet, who started up just before my arrival, and is located about +a mile from me. He renounces a little of Boodhism and adds some other +things; is unlettered and of no marked character; and yet he has many very +devoted adherents. It is believed, however, by the best judges that he will +be of short continuance. He effectually evades every effort to make him +hear the gospel. His followers do not permit us to ascend the ladder into +his house; and I have been out sometimes two or three days in succession, +and have not been permitted to enter more than ten or twelve houses. It was +fatiguing and painful to be exposed to the sun or hot air so long, and +to find a seat as I could on the ground; but I was never comfortless or +unhappy, assured that I was going at the bidding of Him who exposed his +life unto death for a guilty world. + +"We have had morning and evening worship from the first, and four or five +exercises on the Sabbath, usually in Peguan, interpreted into Karen. +I often ask questions at the close. A school has been sustained by my +teacher, who, though very incompetent, has done very well. We have about a +dozen scholars, as none will come who are opposed to us." + +The following letter was written at Dong-Yahn February 5, 1838, and +published shortly afterwards in this country:-- + +"The work of God is still going on here. Three men requested baptism +last Sabbath, and a number more will soon come forward. This is the more +encouraging, as, just now, there is an unusual effort of the adversary to +put the cause down. It is the season for funeral festivals; and for fifteen +or twenty days they have been in constant celebration, which of course +attracts much attention. But the priests, not finding their coffers so well +filled as usual, have seemed to make an effort as for life; and there is no +end to the fog of worthless stuff which comes from them. It would seem that +there was very little else said or done than what their violence called +forth. No one of the Christians can go abroad but they hear from every +quarter '_Jesus Christ_,' by way of contempt; and all who attend our +meetings receive the same treatment unless they join the rabble. So that +when any of them decide to come out and face the whole, which to a heathen +is mountainous, there is strong evidence that divine grace has taken +possession of their hearts. + +"One woman had made up her mind to come forward, but said she feared she +could not endure to be cast off, not only by her parents and relatives, but +by the whole village, as they had told her they would do. So she concluded +to wait and see how her mind was when the others were baptized. + +"Have been absent considerably of late, wishing to visit all the villages +just about the mountain. Found ten or twelve places of some importance: +this, however, is the largest and most important, except Tun-pah-tine, +where we have one convert, and where I spent four days last week. There are +some encouraging indications there; but the chiefs will not yet consent +to my building a zayat. I am trying to get some of the converts to go and +build there; but they are so timid and deficient in energy that, if left to +themselves, I do not know that they would ever go out of their own village; +though they never hesitate to go wherever I direct them. But in this case I +wish them to take some responsibility. + +"We have now an applicant for baptism from Puh-ong, a young man who has +some excellent qualifications for usefulness. There are also two or three +encouraging cases in Tun-loh, five or six miles distant, as also in some +other directions; but the future is unknown. + +"Our meeting is beginning to attract more attention, so that our room is +often crowded; consequently I have engaged the chief to put on an addition +of a few feet, which will be done this week. + +"All the Christians seem to be getting on well, Bah-mee is my principal +preacher. He certainly does admirably, considering what he was a year ago; +but I find it necessary to see him, look over every subject, and give him +all the ideas I wish to have advanced. + +"There are constant rumors of robberies on the river, which of course +prevent our doing any thing here." + +Under date of July 30, 1838, we find the following article:-- + +"I still find much comfort and encouragement in trying to lead Karens in +the path of knowledge and salvation. At the same time, I have constant +cause to mourn over their defects and errors, which require not a little +watchfulness and anxiety; but even in this I find a pleasure, having the +assurance that I am not _alone_. + +"In regard to the state of things at Dong-Yahn, Ko My-at-yaw, whom I left +in charge, informs me that about all remain as when I left. The three or +four who were rather hopeful still seem to be inquiring; opposition is +about the same. There has been another attempt to burn the house, but +unsuccessful. I have very little expectation that it will stand till +my return; but this is but a secondary cause of anxiety. Their seeming +determination to go down to eternal death causes me, at times, exquisite +pain. O, when will they turn and live? + +"The native Christians have generally, from the first, appeared remarkably +firm and steadfast; and although some cases have required discipline, yet +not one has had the appearance of contemplated or wilful sin. One poor +old man alone, twelve or fifteen miles off, was overcome, by the long +solicitation of a numerous family and under peculiar circumstances, so as +to eat in a feast made to appease evil spirits; but he immediately came +down here, confessed, and appeared truly humbled; said he did not forget +God any moment, or cease to love him; but to be at peace with friends, he +ate. I directed him to return and prove his sincerity by a future upright +walk, and when we all returned, at the close of the rains, we would consult +together on his case. There have been some other similar cases in regard to +drinking--an evil which I fear more than all others. + +"Agreeably to our earnest prayer, there seems to be an opening amongst the +Pgwos at Bassein. I have prepared an assistant (Telaw) and family to go +over to Rangoon two or three times; but they have been providentially +prevented. We now wait with anxiety to hear from that quarter in regard to +political affairs." + +In November of the same year she writes as follows: "I may have mentioned +that there had been attempts to burn the house and zayat at Dong-Yahn when +we were in it. Since the rains ceased the attempt has been again repeated +and considerable damage done; but I understand the chief thinks he can +repair it for the dry season with but little expense; and I expect to build +before another season, as the house was of the kind which usually lasts but +two years. I thought it probable that the first attempt was in consequence +of the increase of our number--brother and sister Brayton being then there; +but now believe it was owing to a settled enmity to the gospel of Christ. + +"Should not the power of God be displayed in changing the hearts of the +perpetrators, or they be found out, I expect to be annoyed all the coming +season, and have but little hope of keeping a house standing. Still, the +cause is God's; the hearts of men are in his hands. He can subdue them; and +I believe he will, and that the gospel will yet triumph at Dong-Yahn. It +has already done wonders; and the time cannot be far distant when the enemy +will be put to silence. Two or three of the assistants have just returned +from there, and give the most cheering accounts of the attention of numbers +to the word. They say that the three or four inquirers appear well, and +talk of being baptized. The chief, who remains there constantly, is very +much encouraged, and appears truly devoted to the cause of Christ. Ko +My-at-yan is also there; rather old and feeble, but a faithful laborer. + +"I am not a little comforted in seeing the zeal and increased efficiency +with which the natives go to their work since leaving school, (about six +weeks ago.) Ko Chung-paw, Telaw, and Bah-mee have been out in different +directions, and bring pleasing accounts. They spent three weeks in one town +on a branch of the Dah Gyieng. They say they every where met with Karens; +but they are very much scattered and very poor, having lately emigrated +from the Shyán country, three or four days over the mountains. The Karens, +to an individual, listened well, though Boodhists; and many expressed a +desire to receive further instruction, so as to become Christians. An aged +priest, highly esteemed among them, and who does not conform to all the +customs of the Burman priests, would not release them short of two days, so +anxious was he to hear. They left the Testament and other Burman books, and +Ko Chung-paw gave him his eyeglasses. The old priest sent me presents and +a request to visit them. I attempted to visit that region last season; but +reports of robberies on the rivers prevented. It is not more than four +or five tides from here. The assistants have just been sent to make them +another visit, and to tell them that, if they wish for instruction, they +must build a zayat." + +At the close of the same year our laborious missionary gives to her +supporters and patrons the following summary view of the Dong-Yahn station, +with which she was connected, and in the prosperity of which she was so +much interested:-- + +"I shall ever rejoice in what I have witnessed of the power of divine grace +amongst the heathen. A number of precious souls have been rescued from +Satan's power; and one, I trust, has gone home to heaven, though not +permitted to join the church below. + +"The native Christians here now number twenty-three, twelve of whom +have been baptized the present year. A few are still inquiring; but the +multitude are going on the broad way to eternal death. + +"During the dry season the assistants visited, more than once, all the +villages about these mountains; and I think, from what I could judge by +spending most of the time with them, the truth was faithfully declared +and the way of life made plain. At Tunpuhtine and Puhaung some have been +gathered in; at Tunlopun are some hopeful cases, as well as at Pahleen and +Pompeah. + +"Evening and morning worship has been kept up all the time, and worship on +the Sabbath, with Sabbath schools, &c. + +"Bah-mee, whom I selected for the purpose from amongst the first converts, +and who has thus far justified my expectations, has been my principal means +of communication with the people. I have taken unwearied pains with +him, giving him every means in my power for instruction; and I am daily +comforted in seeing that it has not been in vain. He is much engaged about +the vicinity we lately visited, on a branch of the Dah Gyieng, and I trust +his labors there have been blessed. But experience has often shown that +natives, however efficient with teachers, are but children if left alone. + +"Ko Chung-paw, two years ago, was fast going down the declivity of life in +all the darkness of heathenism; but a ray of heavenly light darted across +his path, arrested his attention, and soon kindled to a flame. Now, I may +say, he is a 'burning and a shining light;' one to whom we often point as a +witness of the power and purity of the religion of Jesus Christ." + +Miss Macomber died in April, 1840. The closing scenes of her life were full +of sadness and full of glory. Her death was deeply lamented by those who +knew her worth; and many of the Dong-Yahn women came to her funeral, +crying, "The mamma is dead! the mamma is dead!" and with wails of sorrow +surrounded her grave. They had listened to her counsels, they had +experienced her kindness, they had partaken of her hospitality; and, though +many of them did not love the Savior, they mourned the fall of his servant. +Their nation had sustained an irreparable loss; and they came to pay their +last tribute of respect to the ashes of the departed. The last hours of +Miss Macomber are thus described by Rev. S. M. Osgood, who was at Maulmain +at the time of her death. The account, from the pen of one who witnessed +the whole scene, will be read with deep interest. Mr. Osgood says,-- + +"It becomes my painful duty to announce to you the death of our dear sister +E. Macomber, who died with jungle fever on the evening of the 16th instant, +after an illness of nine days aged thirty-nine years. + +"On the 9th of March Miss Macomber came down from Dong-Yahn with brother +Stevens, and on the morning of the 10th left us again, with a view to visit +a body of Pgwo Karens, residing high up one of the rivers. She had also +a particular reference to spending the hottest part of the season on the +river, having suffered much from the extreme heat at Dong-Yahn during the +hot season last year. On the 4th instant she returned from this excursion, +having enjoyed excellent health and a peculiarly pleasant season in labor +for the good of the souls of the Karens, many of whom listened with much +interest, and were 'almost persuaded to be Christians.' + +"She arrived here late in the evening, and appeared quite well, with the +exception of a slight cold, which she said she had taken that evening. +On Sunday, the 5th, she complained of headache, but not so severe as to +prevent her attendance upon the usual religious exercises of the day; and +on Monday, after spending some hours with me in the bazaar, she left, +and started on her return to Dong-Yahn. Before she arrived, however, her +illness grew more violent, and, though it subsequently abated for a time, +became again so decided that on the following Wednesday she was removed to +this place by Christian Karens for the purpose of obtaining medical aid. +Nothing remarkable or alarming was then discovered in her symptoms; and +Doctor Charlton, the medical gentleman who was called in, expressed the +fullest confidence that her disease would yield to the ordinary course of +treatment, and that she would soon be able to resume her labors. But she +thought otherwise; and although she did not express any conviction during +two or three of the first days that the disease would prove fatal, she +afterwards told me repeatedly that she had not from the first had the least +expectation of recovery. + +"On Saturday, the 11th instant, she, with the greatest composure, attended +to the settlement of her temporal affairs, and then seemed to feel that +her work was done. Her mind was perfectly clear and calm to the last; and +during her whole illness she was a lovely example of Christian fortitude, +patience, and resignation. Her faith was unwavering; and consequently she +was enabled to look forward to the period of her dissolution with evident +pleasure, and with the fullest conviction that death was but the door to +endless bliss. I asked her if she felt any reluctance to die; and she +replied, 'I have not the least. It is a pleasure to think of dying. I shall +see much of what I have recently thought a little of--the glory of God and +the love of Christ. When I think of the dear Karen disciples I feel for +them, and would be willing to stay with them a little longer; but if it is +the Lord's will that I should leave them, I have nothing to say. Tell my +friends I am not sorry that I came to this country or that I came alone. I +have suffered for nothing which they could have supplied me with. I have +found kind friends to take care of me.' She appeared upon the whole rather +anxious to die, and to die soon. The morning before her death, although +none of us thought she was so near her end, she was heard to pray, 'O my +Master, take me to thyself this day.' While in the agony of death she said, +'Why cannot I be released?' But when one remarked, 'The Lord's time is the +best time,' she replied, 'Yes;' and after a few minutes more she quietly +fell asleep in Jesus. + +"The dear Karen Christian disciples have suffered a great loss, which they +most deeply feel. Brother Stevens and I visited them a few days subsequent +to her death and found them overwhelmed with grief, but at the same time +resolved to trust in the Lord and go forward. They are a lovely band, and +apparently as well grounded in the principles of religion as could be +expected of any so recently converted from heathenism." + +Thus parted with earth one of the most devoted servants of God. She has +gone up on high to receive her reward. By her death the heathen lost a most +faithful friend, the Missionary Union lost a most devoted laborer, and the +cause of Christ parted with a most zealous advocate. + +And shall we weep? No; death has gained no victory. God and the Christian +have triumphed over death and the grave. + + "Well we know her living faith + Had the power to conquer death; + As a living rose may bloom + By the borders of the tomb." + +Her life was short, and her sun went down while it was yet day. But short +as her stay on earth was, she was enabled to do much good; and in eternity +many will rise up to call her blessed. + + + + + +VII. + +SARAH D. COMSTOCK, OF BURMAH. + + + + +The Burman empire has witnessed the death scene of some of the most +illustrious women who have ever lived. It is the graveyard in which their +bodies have been laid to rest after the spirits have departed. It will +continue to be a spot of melancholy interest as long as the ashes of +departed saints are deemed of value by the Christian world; and those +graves will remain the silent pledges that Burmah will never be abandoned, +as a field of missionary exertion, until missionary exertion shall be no +longer necessary. The soil in which such choice spirits find rest, the +groves in which they seek shelter, the flower which blossoms, and the tree +which waves its branches over them, are all sacred in the estimation of +those who love God and delight in the glory of his kingdom. Senseless as +they are, they assist in forming a shelter for honored dust, over which +monuments of marble, with letters of gold and silver, are not worthy to +rise. When Mrs. Comstock died another name was added to the glorious +catalogue of the fallen--not fallen, but ascended. Another grave was made, +from which, on the morning of the resurrection, will come forth a glorified +one, to shine in the crown of the Savior forever. + +Sarah Davis Comstock was a native of Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the +daughter of Robert S. Davis, of the Baptist church in that place. In the +house of her father her youthful days were passed, and there she received +the mental and moral education which fitted her to labor for the souls of +the heathen. In early life she found the Savior, and during her residence +in America gave full evidence of a pious, self-denying spirit. + +Previous to his sailing for the East, Mr. Comstock selected her for his +companion, and with a martyr spirit she determined to bear the sacrifice +and endure the toil. She was married to Mr. C., and in the act gave herself +not only to him, but to the cause of Christ--to all the sufferings incident +to a life in Burmah. + +They, in company with several other elected missionaries, were publicly +consecrated to the work in June, 1834, and sailed immediately for their +field of labor. The services of consecration, on the 28th of June, occurred +in the Baldwin Place Church, in Boston, and were of thrilling interest. +Meetings had been held during the day in another church, at which Rev. Mr. +Wade and the converts from heathenism, Ko Chet-thing and Moung Sway-moung, +had spoken. Indeed, the whole of the previous week had been given to +missionary exercises and missionary sympathy; and when the evening of the +Sabbath came, the spacious church was densely crowded with an eager and +holy throng. Rev. Dr. Wayland delivered an eloquent address of more than an +hour's length; after which the missionaries were instructed by Dr. Bolles, +secretary of the American Baptist Board, under whose patronage they were to +be sent out. When their instructions had been given, Mr. Wade replied in +behalf of his brethren and sisters who were so soon to leave our shores. +The whole scene was one of deep interest; and many were the prayers offered +to God in behalf of that company of devoted Christians. In these delightful +services Dr. Comstock, father of Rev. Grover S. Comstock, one of the +missionaries, and Rev. Dr. Wisner, secretary of the American Board, +participated; and in the crowded house there were several missionaries +connected with other denominations, who looked on with thrilling interest +and satisfaction. One who witnessed the scene and heard the addresses which +were given speaks of the occasion as follows:-- + +"At seven o'clock, notwithstanding the weather, that spacious building was +crowded to excess, above and below; hundreds were _standing_ through the +whole service and hundreds retiring from the house because there was not +even a place to stand. To be present among those thousands on such an +occasion, once in a life, were to stamp that life with an impression to +which language is not equal. What, then, must have been felt by each of +these missionaries, by their relatives and friends, by those angels who +rejoice over one sinner that repenteth, and whose prophetic thoughts would +connect this preparatory hour with the repentance of myriads in a distant +clime, and age after age? + +"We did not wonder, therefore, to hear Dr. Wayland's address open with a +confession of the inadequacy of speech to do justice to the thoughts and +feelings that fill the soul to overflowing at such an hour. And while +listening to his lofty, bold, beautiful, and we may add emphatically +_scriptural_ delineation of the objects, qualifications, and duties of +a Christian missionary,--a delineation that made every other object and +character than that of the Christian dwindle into utter insignificance in +the comparison,--we felt as did Peter on the mount of glorious vision: 'It +is good to be here.' And the thought more than once occurred to us, How +would the late venerable Baldwin have enjoyed this scene! + +"We were struck by the remark of Mr. Wade, that, while he regarded the +prayers of Christians in this country as indispensable to the success of +the mission, he could not but fear that prayers _such as he had sometimes +heard_ would avail them or their offerers little. The fervor of love, +the expectancy of hope, and the persevering constancy of faith were the +spiritual qualities wanted. Could they not be obtained? + +"In the farewell of Ko Chet-thing and Moung Sway-moung there was a +simplicity and pious warmth that went to the heart. They were grateful for +the unspeakable blessings of the gospel sent to them when in darkness, and +happy alike that they had been permitted of God to see the land where the +seed grew; that they were now about to return to plant and rear the tree +of the gospel in Burmah; and that they could hope hereafter to meet their +Christian friends of America in heaven." + +The closing hymn, which was sung by the choir and congregation with fine +effect, was written for the occasion by one of the sweetest writers among +American poets. + + Native land!--in summer smiling,-- + Hill and valley, grove and stream; + Home! whose nameless charms beguiling, + Peaceful nursed our infant dream; + Haunts! to which our childhood hasted, + Where the earliest wild flowers grew; + Church! where Christ's free grace we tasted, + Graved on memory's page,--_Adieu_! + + Mother! who hast watched our pillow + In thy tender, sleepless love, + Lo, we dare the crosted billow; + Mother, put thy trust above. + Father! from thy guidance turning, + O'er the deep our way we take; + Keep the prayerful incense burning + On thine altar, for our sake. + + Brothers! sisters! more than ever + Are our fond affections twined, + As that hallowed bond we sever + Which the hand of Nature joined. + But the cry of Burmah's anguish + Through our inmost hearts doth sound; + Countless souls in misery languish; + We would fly to heal their wound. + + Burmah! we would soothe thy weeping; + Take us to thy sultry breast; + Where thy sainted dust is sleeping + Let us share a kindred rest. + Friends! this span of life is fleeting; + Hark! the harps of angels swell; + Think of that eternal meeting, + Where no voice shall say, _Farewell_! +Mrs. L. H. Sigourney. + +On the morning of Wednesday, July 2, the good ship Cashmere, Captain +Hallet, bore them from our shores, some of them to return no more. There +were on board Mr. and Mrs. Comstock, Mr. and Mrs. Dean, Mr. and Mrs. +Vinton, Mr. and Mrs. Howard, Mr. and Mrs. Wade, Mr. and Mrs. Osgood, +Miss Gardener and the Eastern converts, all belonging to the Baptist +denomination; together with Dr. Bradley and wife and Miss White, belonging +to the stations of the A.B.C.F.M. + +The morning dawned in beauty and loveliness; and, as the sun rolled up the +sky, a crowd of people were seen assembling on the wharf. Soon from the +deck of the vessel was heard the melodious but firm voice of Rev. Dr. +Sharp, in prayer to God, pleading for those who were now to commit +themselves to the perils of the deep. Hymns were sung, kind words were +spoken, Christian greetings were exchanged, and farewell embraces given; +and, amid sobs, and tears, and prayers, the vessel swung off from her +moorings. As she floated out gently into the harbor the vast crowd on shore +commenced singing the hymn of Bishop Heber,-- + + "From Greenland's icy mountains, + From India's coral strand." + +This hymn was scarcely finished, and the last echo was yet upon the air, +when from the ship was heard another song. Voices which seemed divine +united in another hymn, and, as holy stillness gathered over the people, +they heard repeated by the departing missionaries the lines of Rev. S.F. +Smith:-- + + "Yes, my native land, I love thee; + All thy scenes, I love them well." + +_Such_ hymns, sung under _such_ circumstances, by _such_ men and women, +must have produced joy and rapture among the ransomed spirits on high; and +doubtless Jesus, man's ascended Savior, looked down upon his followers with +divine approval. + +The Cashmere anchored before Amherst on the 5th of December, and the +missionaries were warmly greeted by Dr. Judson and his associates. After +remaining awhile at Amherst and Maulmain, Mr. Comstock and wife proceeded +to the province of Arracan, which was to be the field of their labors; and +on the 26th of February, 1835, it being the Sabbath, they performed their +first missionary duty in Arracan. On the 4th of March they arrived at Kyouk +Phyoo, from which place Mr. Comstock writes an interesting letter, giving a +description of the field of labor in which he and his companion were to be +engaged. The interest of this sketch will be increased by a perusal of that +description in the language of the author himself:-- + +"As this province is a new field of labor, perhaps a short account of it +will not be uninteresting. It is situated on the eastern shore of the Bay +of Bengal, and extends from 15 deg. 54' to 20 deg. 51' north latitude. Its +width is very variable. At the northern part of the province it is about +ninety miles wide, while the width at the extreme southern point is but two +or three miles. Probably the average width is something less than fifty +miles. It is bounded on the north by the Province of Chittagong, on the +east by the Burman empire, and on the south and west by the Bay of Bengal. +An extensive range of mountains is the boundary between Arracan and Burmah, +over which are several passes--one to Ava, one to Prome, another to +Bassein, &c. Only the _first_ is very much travelled. By this we are only +six or eight days' journey from Ava. A good deal of this province is +mountainous, and much of the rest is jungle or uncultivated land. The +people live in small villages, which are scattered over the whole province. +The population, according to the government census, I do not exactly know; +but it must be something less than two hundred and fifty thousand. It is +very difficult, however, to ascertain the population, as the people will +deceive all they can, to avoid taxes, which were very oppressive under the +Burman government, and are not very light now. A great deal of itinerant +labor must be performed here, as the inhabitants are so scattered; and much +must be done by tracts. Two or three laborers besides brother Simons +and myself should enter this field as soon as may be. The province is +subdivided into four subordinate jurisdictions, called districts. The +northern one, Akyab, is the largest. Here is brother Fink, with his native +church; and here, I believe, brother Simons intends to settle. The Ramree +district is the next in size. It consists of Ramree Island, about forty +miles long, and on an average about fifteen wide, extending from 18 deg. +51' to 19 deg. 24' north latitude of Cheduba Island, lying a short distance +to the south-west of Ramree, which is eighteen miles long and fourteen +wide, and of several smaller islands. There are in the district three +hundred and seventy-four villages and about seventy thousand inhabitants. +This is the field of labor I occupy. Kyouk Phyoo is on the northern point +of Ramree Island; and, though not as central or as large as some other +places, is, on some accounts, a very desirable station." + +In his labors Mr. C. found a valuable help in Mrs. C., who with unreserved +diligence devoted herself to the duties of her station in different parts +of Arracan. Though not exposed to the trials and dangers which attended +the efforts of the first missionaries, yet in labors abundant and faith +unwavering she certainly was. + +There is mentioned of her a most beautiful incident which occurred when +about to part with her children, who were to visit America to commence a +course of instruction not to be obtained in Burmah. When the vessel was +about to sail, and Mr. Kincaid, who was to conduct them to this country, +was ready to go on board, Mrs. Comstock took her two children and led them +forth towards the ocean which would soon part her from them forever, and, +kissing the cheek of each, committed them to the care of Him who holds the +storms in his hand and controls the tempests as he will. It cost a struggle +such only as a mother's heart can feel and realize; and, as she kissed them +for the last time and gave them to her husband, she turned her streaming +eyes to heaven and exclaimed, _"O Jesus, I do this for thee!"_ + +It was the last time. The vessel spread her canvas to the gales of heaven, +and the children of the devoted woman were wafted from her, to see her face +no more; and when next they meet, it will be before the great white throne, +where the secrets of all hearts will be revealed, and where the Savior will +place upon the head of his servant a crown of glory, and declare, in the +hearing of an assembled world, _"This, beloved disciple, I do for thee!"_ + +It will be a delightful recompense for all the trials, inflictions, and +sufferings of a missionary life, and will more than compensate the most +self-sacrificing of all earth's children for the most toilsome labors, the +most severe trials. Far happier will be he whose brow is encircled with +such a crown than he who in this life is hailed as a royal emperor and led +in chains of gold from throne to throne, from kingdom to kingdom. + +One of our poets has thrown this beautiful incident into rhyme. One verse +of his poem we repeat:-- + + "One burning kiss, one wild good by; + Put off, put off from shore! + In mercy to the mother fly, + And swiftly waft them from her eye, + For she can bear no more! + She knelt and cried, as o'er the sea + Faded their forms like sunset ray, + '_O Savior, I do this for thee!_' + And, sobbing, turned away." + +The faith of Mrs. Comstock was strong. She believed that the efforts of +Christian philanthropy would be attended by the desired blessing, and that +Arracan would lift up its hands to God and implore the love of Jesus upon +her prostrate sons. In a letter from Ramree, written only a few months +before her death, she wrote as follows: "I believe these hills and vales +of Arraean will yet leap at the 'sound of the church-going bell,' and the +hundreds and thousands of her children will be seen coming up from every +city, village, and hamlet, with united heart and voice, to the worship of +the great Jehovah. It may not be in my day; but my children _may_ see it. +God grant that they may be privileged in hastening it on. We see but little +fruit of our labors, i.e., so far as converts are concerned, but see the +seed germinating. It is not dead--it will yet spring up; yes, this very +seed we are now sowing will spring up and yield a glorious harvest." + +With this confident expectation she labored on until the hand of death came +to close her labors and lead her away to her infinite reward. In whatever +part of Arracan she was, she was zealous to do the will of her Master, and +seemed governed by a firm determination to glory in nothing but the cross +of Jesus. Whether at Kyouk Phyoo, at Akyab, or at Ramree, or any of the +other spots of toil and denial, she was _faithful_ to the great work +assigned her. She never lost sight of the object to accomplish which she +had been sent out to a heathen land. + +She departed this life on the 28th of April, 1843. Her disease was the +malignant dysentery, which is peculiar to the climate. Her two children, +lovely little boys, followed her to the grave; and in three months they +were laid to rest by her side. About two hundred inhabitants of the Ramree +district attended her funeral; and when the disconsolate husband had gone +to his deserted home they remained and poured forth their sorrow over the +new-made grave. Her death exerted a deep and powerful influence on the +minds of the natives; and some were led to prepare to meet God by seeking +the mercy of his Son. + +The touching account of the death of his companion we give in Mr. C.'s +own words: "For several months past Mrs. Comstock had been blessed with +unusually good health; and we had repeatedly spoken with gratitude of the +goodness of God in granting us so long an exemption from sickness. We +hoped, too, that we should be permitted to labor more vigorously and +uninterruptedly for the good of the heathen than we had been able to do. +She had just completed a Book for Mothers, which, I think, was greatly +needed, and will, I trust, prove very useful. She was contemplating a work +for children, and had begun to inquire for scholars to attend during the +rains, just at hand. We had, too, already decided to spend a month or two +early in the cold season at Cheduba, and then take a tour of a month to Ava +and the villages on the way thither. Our prospects for the future appeared +to be unusually encouraging; and we fondly hoped that we should be +permitted to see many turning unto the Lord in Arracan. We did not, +however, forget that death might destroy all our plans, and often conversed +together freely on the probability that one of us might be called speedily +into eternity. She had no fear of death nor any anxiety as to the time +or manner of her departure, but only spoke of it as affecting our future +course. + +"She was taken ill on Saturday, April 22. Our English doctor was then +absent from Ramree; but, had he been here, we should not, probably, have +thought it necessary to call him, as Mrs. C. had prescribed for many +similar cases with entire success. On Monday I saw that her disease was +very severe and obstinate, and asked her if I had not better call the +Mussulman doctor who is left in charge here when the English one is absent. +He came Tuesday morning. He prescribed for her, but wished the English +doctor sent for; and I despatched a messenger for him. He arrived early on +Wednesday morning, and faithfully and assiduously tried every remedy to +arrest the disease, but in vain. On Friday evening, the 28th, at eight +o'clock, she very suddenly expired. Occasionally there were slight symptoms +of amendment; and I fondly hoped, to the very last, that she might recover. +A minute or two before her death she took some nourishment, and remarked +that she thought she should soon regain her strength. I trusted that it +might be so, and stepped on to the veranda to say to the native Christians +that there was still a little reason to hope. I heard her speak, and +hastened to her just in time to see her sink back upon her pillow, and. +without a struggle or even a gasp, breathe her last. + +"The body was immediately surrounded by weeping and wailing heathen women, +who felt that they had lost a friend. Such indeed was the case; for Mrs. +C. truly pitied and loved the women of Arracan, and was never happier than +when telling them of the Savior. On the day after her death, as the news +spread in the town, men, women, and children (more of the last two) began +to crowd to my house; and it was estimated that about two thousand were +here during the day. Their expressions of attachment to my dear wife and of +sorrow for her loss were deeply affecting. 'How kindly she always spoke to +me when she met me!' 'She always gave us medicine when we were sick.' 'She +was truly a good woman.' 'She came here to die, far from her native land, +with no mother or sister near her, because she pitied us.' Expressions +similar to these were made and listened to with many tears. I remarked +once, 'What crowds are pressing to the house! Are _all_ from the town?' A +bystander replied, 'Yes; as the news spreads all will be here, for she +was greatly beloved.' Another added, 'Many tears will be shed in Ramree +to-day.' + +"I was surprised and deeply affected to witness such manifestations of +feeling among the heathen towards a Christian missionary. They more firmly +convinced me that she had not lived in vain, but had exerted an extensive +and salutary influence, which, I doubt not, will be powerfully felt in +preparing the way of the Lord here. Her labors, too, I trust, will prove +the means of salvation to many souls. She was a most conscientious and +laborious missionary. The rains before last she had a school, to which +she devoted a good deal of time; translated the Scripture Catechism, +administered medicine to the sick, conversed with the women who were daily +calling at the house, and taught her own children, besides attending to +household duties. She was from daylight till nine o'clock at evening +constantly engrossed with labors and cares. As far as her own feelings were +concerned, she would have delighted uniformly to be as active and busy as +she then was. + +"She was not, however, always called to such constant and severe labor, but +uniformly did what she could. Whenever women came to the house she felt it +her duty to leave all and go and tell them of the Savior; and I recollect +that in a few instances, when she was so engaged that she could not at once +go to them, and they left without hearing of Christ, she was very much +grieved on account of it. If I was not at hand, she conversed with the +men, too. Towards evening, when she could be out, she might often be +found seated on a rice mortar, with half a dozen women around her, in the +adjoining villages. Attention to the sick, also, demanded a good deal +of her time and thought. I have known her to give medicine to twenty +applicants in a day. She was always anxious to accompany me in my tours to +the villages during the cold season; but circumstances usually prevented +it. She would have prepared more works for the press but for a feeling +of extreme self-depreciation, which led her to think that she was not +competent to prepare a book fit to be printed. The Scripture Catechism and +Mother's Book are both, I think, calculated to do much good. She not only +labored faithfully, but prayed fervently, and with tears, for the salvation +of the heathen. She has, however, entered into her rest; her labors and +prayers have ceased; and I am left alone to train my children up for God +and to do what I can to win the heathen to Christ. The Lord has thus +decided; and he does all things well. I am enabled to say, in sincerity +I trust, 'Thy will be done.' I have lost a most affectionate and amiable +wife, my children have lost a kind and faithful mother, and a prayerful and +diligent laborer is lost to the cause of missions; but I will not repine or +murmur. The Lord is as rich in mercy as he is infinite in wisdom; and let +him do what seemeth good in his sight. I need not ask the sympathy and +prayers for the members of the Board and other friends, for I feel assured +that I shall have them. Pray, not only that my affliction may be greatly +sanctified to my spiritual good and to the good of other friends and other +missionaries, but also that the death of my dear wife may be made the means +of life to many souls in Arracan. Several appear tender, and seem to recall +the instructions she has given them." + +Mr. Comstock did not long survive her. In about one year from the time his +wife was taken from her toils his earthly joys and sorrows closed, and he +went up on high. Borne down by anxiety, care, and affliction, he died April +24, 1844. He was the third son of Rev. Oliver C. Comstock, of Michigan. +He graduated at Hamilton Institution in 1827. For a while he studied +and practised law in the city of Rochester, where he was becoming very +successful as a counsellor. But God had another station for him to +occupy--a wide field of usefulness for him to fill. In the winter of 1831 +he was led to view himself as a sinner and embrace Jesus as his Savior. +He became a member of the First Baptist Church, and was baptized by his +venerated father. Soon he became convinced that the Christian ministry +demanded his exertions and powers. He soon removed to Hamilton and entered +the theological class, and at once commenced preparing himself for +labors in Burmah, and soon went forth to do the will of God in wild and +uncultivated regions. But his afflictions were many--his toils great--his +years few. He died ere the desire of his heart had been realized. He +ascended to heaven ere the field given him to cultivate was seen blossoming +as the rose. + +Called by God, he left the path to earthly honor and distinction and +entered the scorned and despised service of the crucified One, and in that +service found an early grave. He saw his beloved companion go down to the +tomb; he saw two darling babes laid beside her; and, panting for the loved +ones, he himself went down into the sepulchre. + +Here ends the record of a family sacrificed on the altar of Christian +benevolence; a record written with tears of sorrow and anguish, yet +gleaming with signs of glory; a record which even the cold cynic might +respect, and the stoic read with emotions of wonder and admiration. + + "Patriots have toiled, and in their country's cause + Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve, + Receive proud recompense. We give in charge + Their names to the sweet lyre. The Historic Muse, + Proud of the treasure, marches with it down + To latest times; and Sculpture, in her turn, + Gives bond in stone and ever-during brass + To guard them and immortalize her trust. + But fairer wreaths are due, though never paid, + To those who, posted at the shrine of Truth, + Have fallen in her defence." + + + + + +VIII. + +HENRIETTA SHUCK, OF CHINA. + + + + +The Celestial empire has become an object of great interest. Its vast +extent, its swarming inhabitants, its peculiar customs, its steady +resistance of modern inventions, and its obstinate defiance of +Christianity, all draw upon it the gaze of the Christian world. The time +was when China was barred and bolted against the truth; when on her soil +could be found no teacher of the true faith; when a high wall separated +the ignorant inhabitants from the rest of the world. But the wall has been +thrown down; the obstacles in the way of Christianity have in many cases +been removed; and China is open to the footsteps of the man of God. + +Following the leadings of divine Providence, good men of various +denominations have planted mission stations within the hallowed enclosures +of the proud monarch of that great empire, and in the midst of superstition +and abomination planted the saving cross. + +The station to which Mrs. Shuck belonged was under the control of the +Baptist Missionary Convention. It was at Macao, a beautiful peninsula, four +miles in length, peopled with about forty thousand Chinese and Portuguese. +Mrs. Shuck describes the climate as delightful and the situation of +the place beautifully romantic. Though destitute of many of the dear +associations connected with stations in and about Palestine, yet to a mind +like that of Mrs. S. there was much in the wild beauty of the scenery and +the strange customs of the people to interest and please; and all her +letters give evidence that in that spot she found a home where she could +labor with pleasure to herself and profit to others around her. + +But she was not destined to spend all her days at Macao. The providence of +God soon suggested a removal to Hong Kong, forty miles east of Macao. Her +own health seemed to require such a step, as the unprotected state of the +peninsula was fast wearing her into the grave. Certain advantageous offers +were also made, and a prospect of increased usefulness presented to her +husband; and in 1842 Mr. Shuck bade farewell to his old field of labor, and +entered upon one where the prospect of success was much more abundant. + +The maiden name of Mrs. Shuck was Henrietta Hall. Her father was Rev. +Addison Hall, a faithful, devoted minister of the gospel. Her mother was +daughter of Colonel Elias Edmonds, of Virginia. They were both remarkable +for intelligence and piety, and were universally esteemed. They were +members of the Moratico Baptist Church, having been received by Rev. S. L. +Straughan. + +On the 28th of October, 1817, Henrietta was born in the beautiful little +village of Kilmarnock, but a few miles from the rolling waves of Chesapeake +Bay. Her early days were spent near this beautiful spot, where she was +known as a frank, amiable, kind-hearted girl. Her youth was passed with her +parents, who exerted themselves to expand her mind and improve her heart. +To the fond hearts of the parents she was an object of tender solicitude +and care, and they longed to see her brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus. + +In 1831 extensive revivals were enjoyed throughout the country, and in +these revivals Virginia largely shared. It was during this year that Miss +Hall was converted. A camp meeting was being held near her birthplace, in +which her father was much interested; and feeling that moral and religious +training was much more important than intellectual culture, he sent for his +daughter, who was attending school at Fredericksburg, to return home and +enjoy the privileges of the work of grace. She came, not thinking of the +change which was soon to take place in her moral character. Young and +happy, she put far off the evil day; and the awful conviction that she was +a sinner had not produced any serious impression upon her mind. But God's +hand was in her timely return, and his grace had marked her as one of its +choicest subjects. She no sooner commenced attending the meeting than she +began to feel the force of truth and hear the voice of the Spirit and the +monitions of the Holy Ghost. Under the solemn presentation of the sinner's +lost condition, young Henrietta began to realize that she was lost without +a Savior. The fact was before her mind day and night, and she found no +rest. True, she had lived on earth but a short time, and, when compared +with others, had committed but few sins; but these few were aggravated and +overwhelming. God she had not loved; Christ she had not embraced. She had +violated the wise and holy law of the universe, and, to complete the work +of woe, had rejected the blood of the Son of God. She had a view of sin as +God presents, it in his word; and when she saw _herself_ as a sinner, the +contemplation was crushing and terrible. But these feelings of deep anguish +did not long continue. God heard her cries of penitence, and for the sake +of Christ forgave all the past, and caused joy, like a deep, strong tide, +to flow into her soul. Her rapture was as ecstatic as her sorrow had been +oppressive; and on the listening ear of her sister penitents she poured the +story of her change from death to life. + +She was baptized on the 2nd of September, 1831, by Rev. J. B. Jeter. It was +a holy spectacle. The youthful candidate for the sublime ordinance was not +yet fourteen years of age; and, as she descended the bank and entered the +flood, a deep and awful silence gathered over the crowded shores. The voice +of mirth and profanity was hushed; and to many a heart came the spirit +tone, "This is the way; walk ye in it." As she came up out of the water a +cheerful smile was seen playing upon her countenance, which told of sweet +and precious peace and delightful communion with her Maker. The pastor +who administered the ordinance, the church which received her to its +fellowship, the anxious parents, have had no reason to regret the important +step then taken; and though they must have seen her baptized with fear and +trembling lest she should in her youth be deceived and eventually return to +the cold and heartless service of the world, yet they commended her to that +Being who is able and faithful to keep all who are committed to his care. +Nor did the world with its curling lip and contemptuous tone ever tell how +the youthful disciple witnessed a good profession and afterwards denied it. + +A few months after her baptism Henrietta was called to part with her +beloved mother, who died in December of the same year. To the young +Christian this bereavement was full of sorrow and full of blessing. While +it deprived her of a mother's counsels and prayers, while it took from her +one to whom she had looked for maternal sympathy and encouragement, it +taught her the uncertainty of life, threw her more upon herself and on her +Savior, placed a greater weight of care upon her, and thus fitted her for +the duties which she afterwards performed so faithfully as a missionary of +the cross. + +In the early part of 1835, or the latter part of the year preceding, Miss +Hall became acquainted with her future husband, who had recently decided to +become a missionary in the East. He made, with an offer of marriage, the +proposal of a missionary life. She had not then reached her eighteenth +year, and was a young, freehearted girl, who knew but little of toil or +anxiety. Her extreme youth caused her to hesitate; and she accepted the +proposal only when it appeared to be a solemn and imperious duty. Her +mind wandered forward to the parting with her dear parent and other fond +friends; to the tender farewell at sailing; to long years of labor, perhaps +of suffering, in China; to a rude home there, and perhaps a grave. Then +followed the prospect of usefulness; the hope of saving souls from death +and doing a work of benevolence on soil not before cultivated by the +Christian laborer. And perhaps with these were some vague and romantic +notions about a missionary life and a missionary home. Youth is fond of +new and strange objects; and our heroine doubtless became attracted by the +novelty and romance of the life she was to live. Strange were it not so in +the ardor and inexperience of youthful piety; and the fact that romance +casts its sombre shadow over the pious missionary female, as she leaves +home and native land, detracts but little from the admiration with which we +gaze upon her lofty career. The oldest, most prudent, man seldom fails of +being interested in such enterprises by their novelty; and should we cast +away all around whom it gathers its strange witchery, few would be left to +toil for human good. He who moves above all such motives must have a mind +perfectly trained and a heart perfectly alive to the glory of God. After a +due consideration of the subject, Miss Hall decided to go forth a servant +of her Master. She was married to Rev. J. Lewis Shuck on the 8th of +September, 1835. The service was performed by Rev. H. Keeling, in the city +of Richmond. On the 10th Mr. S. and Rev. R. D. Davenport were consecrated +to the work of God in one of the Baptist churches in the same city, and +soon after embarked for Boston, one to sail for China and the other for +Siam. The vessel in which passage had been engaged for Mr. and Mrs. Shuck +was the Louvre, which was to carry out a large delegation of missionaries. +They sailed on the 22d of September, a beautiful day, on which Nature +seemed to have bestowed her charms in profusion. On board were eleven +ordained ministers, who were leaving, home to do good in distant lands. +Among these was Rev. Howard Malcom, D. D., who went out at the request of +the Baptist Triennial Convention to visit the stations of that denomination +and advise and encourage the toilers in the East. The large number of +ministers on board, one of them having long been an esteemed pastor of a +flourishing church, drew together an immense crowd of pious people, who +came to exchange parting tokens and give the parting hand to the faithful +brethren and sisters who were about to fulfil the command of our ascended +Savior--"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." +The wharf was crowded with people; and the rigging of vessels in the harbor +was filled with strong men, who looked with strange feelings upon a sight +the like of which is seldom witnessed. The hour arrived. The ship swung off +from her moorings and floated down the harbor. One sail after another was +thrown out to the breath of heaven; and in beautiful style the vessel was +borne onward and soon lost from sight. The spectators slowly and sadly +returned to their homes, praying the God of ocean and storm to keep the +precious cargo safe from danger. + +To Mrs. S. the voyage was not a pleasant one. A violent seasickness +commenced as soon as she left the Harbor of Boston and continued a long +time. This was succeeded by sickness of other kinds, and the whole voyage +was spent in suffering. In her published letters to her friends she gives +thrilling descriptions of her sorrow, and declares that while she did not +dream of half the suffering which she had experienced, yet the same voyage +would she take again, were there no other way to reach her field of labor. +Admirable woman! Worn down with sickness and scarcely able to hold the +pen, she writes the sentence at a time when we would suppose she would be +shrinking back and ready to faint. + +On the 4th of February, 1836, anchor was cast at Kedgeree, nearly a hundred +miles below Calcutta. At night they all disembarked and for the first time +slept on heathen soil. From Kedgeree they sailed along to Amherst, where +sleep the forms of Mrs. Judson and her babe in the silence of the grave. +What were the feelings of Mrs. Shuck as she stood there over the spot so +dear to every pious heart, or plucked a small branch of the "hopia tree" to +send home to her sire, we do not know; but doubtless her mind was filled +with sad forebodings and awful thoughts. "Am I to sleep in such a grave? be +buried away from home, with such a tree as this to wave over me?" "Am I to +fall in China, and see my friends no more? Have I looked upon the shores of +America for the last time?" Questions like these must have been suggested +to her as she stood with her husband beside the grave of Burmah's +proto-martyr. + +After stopping a while at Maulmain and Singapore, the missionaries arrived +at Macao in November, 1836, and here commenced immediate preparation to +engage in the gospel work. Their first son was born shortly before their +arrival at Macao. They called him Lewis, for his father. On the 29th of +October the second son was born, who was named Ryland Keeling. With these +two babes around her, the labor of the mother was materially increased and +essentially changed. Her own family required more of her care, and gave her +less time and opportunity to do good abroad. Yet, with her family as +it was, she is said to have found much time for the usual purposes of +missionary life, and was zealously engaged in plans for the spiritual +improvement of those around her. + +While at Macao her heart was cheered by hearing that God was pouring out +his Spirit in her own dear land; that he was converting sinners, and among +them some who had been her intimate friends. Her own sisters were led to +give their hearts to God; and when the intelligence crossed the deep, +and was told in the hearing of the sad and perhaps almost discouraged +missionary, her joy knew no bounds. It was as a cup of cold water to one +dying with thirst; and the letter which brought the tidings was read over +and over again, and frequently bathed in tears of joy. Her letters to her +sisters express her deep interest in their spiritual welfare. She pleads +with them by the love of Jesus that they be faithful to the Savior of their +souls and walk worthy of Him who has bought them with his own blood. To +do this, she urges them to study the word of God, and be constant in the +closet, and meditate much upon spiritual things, and watch and guard +the heart from temptation and sin. Nor does she forget to recommend the +cultivation of a missionary spirit, but, with all the eloquence of a +sister's love, urges them to do good as they have opportunity. + +In January, 1837, Mr. Shuck baptized the first man who had been converted +through his agency. His name was Ah Loo. [+] For about a year previous +[Footnote +: The baptism of Ah Loo is thus described by Mr. Shuck: "At +seven o'clock this evening we repaired to the water; and although the +natural sun was not permitted to attest this first baptismal scene in +China, yet the effulgence of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon us; and if +ever we felt his genial rays, it was then. Contrary to our expectations, we +did not go half so far as we anticipated, but stopped upon the beach at a +suitable place, within a few rods-of a large Portuguese fort with mounted +ramparts. Here, in broken sentences, we united our hearts in prayer to God +that he would forgive--our weakness and many imperfections, and grant us +his smile and heavenly grace now and during our whole lives. Then handing +my cap and cane to Mrs. Shuck, who stood on the bank, the only earthly +witness of the joyful event, I had the privilege of burying with Christ in +baptism this willing convert from heathenism, being the first Chinese that +was ever baptized within the confines of this vast and idolatrous empire."] +to his baptism he lived as cook in the mission family. During the year +he became greatly attached to those whom he served, and would let no +opportunity pass without showing his gratitude. They, of course, instructed +him in the principles of the Christian religion. He was a willing learner, +and soon gave evidence of being a changed, regenerated man. Yet the +missionary was cautious, and for a long time held back his disciple; but at +length, convinced of the genuineness of his conversion, led him down into +the flowing tide and baptized him. This event was an occasion of great joy +to our sister, who, with her husband, had done so much to enlighten the +poor idolatrous Chinaman. Ah Loo maintained a constant walk for a long +time; but at length, temptation proving too powerful for him, he was +overcome, and sinned against God. This fall was full of sorrow to the +missionaries, as his conversion had been full of joy and hope; and when the +news came that he had disgraced his high profession and wronged his blessed +Savior, they bowed their hearts in sadness, and prayed to Heaven that the +wanderer might yet be restored and the straying child brought back to the +Father's arms. + +In 1841 Mrs. Shuck gave birth to a beautiful little daughter, who was +called Henrietta Layton, for her mother, and a family by the latter name +who had been exceeding kind to them during all their residence at Macao. To +justify her course in conferring this name instead of one selected from her +numerous friends in America, she relates numberless instances of kindness +on the part of the family alluded to; instances of kindness without which +the missionary family would have been put to considerable inconvenience +and perhaps acute suffering. In 1842 Mr. Shuck removed to Hong Kong. The +providence of God clearly indicated this as the path of duty; and though +the separation with pleasant acquaintances at Macao was trying, the step +was cheerfully taken. A beautiful spot was selected for a chapel, and money +raised with which to erect it; and the divine blessing manifestly attended +every step. To complete the work, Mr. Shuck made great sacrifices and +practised great self-denial. He employed his own funds, expended his own +means, to complete the work; and deemed it no sacrifice, though he was +often deprived of the comforts of life. He was well aware that God would +prosper him; and though he knew not how, he rested in the confident hope +that he would ultimately receive at the hand of God far more than he had +expended in his service, + +The health of Mrs. S., instead of improving, seemed to fail at Hong Kong, +and no means which were taken could restore it. Physicians were consulted +and journeys made, but all to no purpose. The hand of disease was laid +heavily upon her sinking system; and day by day her eye became more dim and +her cheek more bloodless. Still she labored on, and counted it her meat and +drink to do the will of her divine Master. Her language was,-- + + "Shall I be carried to the skies + On flowery beds of ease, + While others fought to win the prize + And sailed through bloody seas?" + +Mrs. S., according to her biographer, seemed to have premonitions of +her death. For a whole year previous to the occurrence of the event the +conviction was deepening in her mind that her race was well nigh run and +her days nearly finished. The idea that _something_ was soon to arrive, and +that something to be of importance to her, weighed upon her mind. Filled +with emotions which such a presentiment was calculated to produce, she made +preparation for the grave. She endeavored to have her family arrangements +made so that she could depart at a moment's notice. She was also led +to prayer and self-consecration; and her heart, as well as her family +arrangements, was in order. The premonitions which many persons suppose +they have are generally the results of an excited fancy, and as often prove +false as true. Every person may find in his or her daily life many events +which appear mysterious; and should importance be attached to them, we +should be rendered miserable. Many are alarmed at the breaking of a mirror +the crowing of a bird at midnight, the sudden extinguishing of a lamp by +the wind, and other things equally as simple. These common occurrences are +to them omens of approaching evil, and they allow them to have all the +influence of reality. Whether they prove true or false, they are sources +to the superstitious of unhappiness. With Mrs. S. there appeared to be an +indefinable impression, which might have arisen from the precarious state +of her health and from the fact that the period of her fifth confinement +was rapidly hastening, and it was doubtful if she could endure the trials +of such an occurrence in her weak and debilitated condition. But, whatever +may have been the cause of her forebodings, they were acted upon as facts: +and had she known of her death with absolute certainty, she could not have +made more temporal and spiritual preparation for it. + +At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th of November, 1844, she died. +The evening previous to her death was spent in prayer with her husband and +children. Early on the night of the 26th, the long-expected and dreaded +event announced itself by the premonitory symptoms. The physician was +summoned, and the dear friends anxiously awaited the result. But nature was +unable to sustain the fearful burden imposed upon it, and gradually gave +way until the hour mentioned, when the spirit was released and all was +over. + + "Vital spark of heavenly flame, + Quit, O, quit this mortal frame; + Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, + O, the pain, the bliss, of dying! + Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, + And let me languish into life." + +It was hard for the husband to give up his companion under such trying +circumstances, and harder still to have her die without the utterance of a +single expression; but who that knew her life would doubt the character of +the thoughts which crowded thick and fast upon her mind as the time of +her departure was at hand? Religion was her life; and the last words she +uttered were of high and holy import. A few hours before she died she +called her husband to her couch and asked him to kneel in prayer. He did +so, and to every expression of love to Jesus she responded by the warm +pressure of his hand. We cannot doubt the evidence which such a saint +gives; and though the last hour may be spent in a silence which nothing +disturbs but the sobs of friends, we can leave the cold clay in the tomb, +with the sweet consolation of _knowing_ that the ransomed spirit has fled +to a land of holy rest. We can say,-- + + "How blest the righteous when she dies, + When sinks a weary soul to rest! + How mildly beam the closing eyes! + How gently heaves th' expiring breast!" + +The funeral of Mrs. Shuck was attended from her late home, and she was +borne to the grave by the European police corps, who volunteered their +services for the occasion. There have been cases in which missionary women +have died and had only _one_ to follow them to the grave. On some occasions +the husband has prepared the shroud, made the coffin, dug the grave, and +followed the corpse to the tomb, accompanied only by a weeping, motherless +child, or by the unseen One, who said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto +the end." But on this occasion there were many mourners. A large company +followed to the grave in which her remains were placed. The religious +service on the occasion was performed by Rev. Mr. Devan. At the grave Rev. +Mr. Brown offered prayer and made appropriate remarks to the crowd who +assembled. + +Thus mysteriously departed on the passage of death a most worthy and +beloved wife, a fond mother, and a faithful Christian. There were many +circumstances connected with her death to make it a sad one. Her husband +was not the only sufferer by the dreadful bereavement. Five motherless +children were left among strangers in a strange land; and from many who +had experienced her kindness went up a wail of lamentation over her early +grave. + +One who knew her well, and who labored for Jesus and the dying heathen +in the same land, [Footnote: Rev. William Dean.] writes of her as +follows: "She was married to Rev. Mr. Shuck in 1835, and in September of +the same year sailed with her husband, in company with a large number of +missionaries, for the East. They remained in Singapore four months, +where their eldest son was born, and in September, 1836, arrived in +China. They remained in Macao till March, 1842, when they removed to +Hong Kong. While at Macao they were allowed to prosecute the study of +language, the instruction of youth, and teaching the people. On their +arrival at Hong Kong they were prepared to renew their labors on an +enlarged scale and without restraint. Chapels were erected, assemblies +collected, and schools gathered from the Chinese; and while her husband +labored among the former, Mrs. Shuck instructed the latter. She +possessed considerable knowledge of the written language, and still +greater familiarity with the colloquial of the Chinese, and devoted +joyfully and successfully her acquirements, time, and talents to the +interests of the mission. During the last year of her life a new school +house had been erected and a school gathered under her care of twenty +Chinese boys and six girls, besides her own four children; making, in +all, thirty under her supervision. In this work she took the greatest +interest, and all the time and strength which could be spared from the +care of her family and the culture of her own children were joyfully +devoted to the instruction of the children of the heathen. Her prospects +of usefulness had never been greater, and her heart had never been more +encouraged, than during the last year of her life. But in the midst of +her highest hopes, while children were seeking instruction, the heathen +were inquiring the way to Christ, and the general prospects of the +mission were brightening, and herself in comfortable health and active +life, she was cut down in a single night, and her family overwhelmed +with grief and the mission again overshadowed with gloom. + +"Under the influence of a secret conviction that her end was near, she had +'set her house in order,' and was prepared for the event; while, at +the same time, she prosecuted her daily duties with her accustomed +cheerfulness, and laid out plans for labor which would have required a long +life to perform. + +"It is a matter of devout gratitude to the wise Disposer of all events, +that, just before the death of Mrs. Shuck, her particular friends, Dr. +and Mrs. Devan, should become members of her family; and now the five +motherless children may find in Mrs. Devan one so well qualified and +so sincerely desirous of supplying, to the extent of her power, their +irreparable loss. Mrs. D. will also act as the superintendent of the school +for Chinese children. The friends of the mission will unite their prayers +that life may be preserved and health and grace may be adequate to the +responsibilities and duties of the station she is by such a mysterious and +painful providence so unexpectedly called to occupy. + +"Mrs. Shuck left her father's house and native land in her eighteenth year, +and, by thus giving the freshness of her youth to the cause of Christ and +the good of the heathen, has left us the best proof of the purity of her +faith and the sincerity of her piety. During her eight years' residence +in China she has done much for the happiness of her family and to aid her +husband in his work, besides giving much direct instruction to those +around her. Her house was ever open to the stranger, and her heart ever +sympathized with the needy and afflicted, and her hands were diligently +employed in acts of kindness and charity." + +Let us now draw the veil over the scene, and bow our hearts to the superior +wisdom of Him who cannot err; and, while we lament for the early fallen, +may we pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth new laborers into his +vineyard. The heathen are not yet converted, the world is not yet redeemed, +the throne of Satan is not yet overturned. + + "O'er the realms of pagan darkness + Let the eye of pity gaze; + See the kindreds of the people + Lost in sin's bewildering maze! + Darkness brooding + O'er the face of all the earth." + +Impressed by the terrible aspect of the world, let the contemplation of +missionary biography urge us on to missionary labors and missionary piety, +until the voice of joy and praise shall resound from pole to pole. + + + + + +IX. + +SARAH B. JUDSON, OF BURMAH. + + + + +Ralph and Abiah Hall lived in quiet Alstead, New Hampshire. On the morning +of November 4, 1803, their first child was born. They named her Sarah, in +memory of a deceased relative. While in her youth the parents removed from +New Hampshire to Massachusetts, and established themselves in Salem, where +the younger days of our subject were spent. Of her childhood but little +can be said. She was like other children, and spent her time in a childish +manner; and connected with her early years were but few circumstances of +any special interest. + +Up to her sixteenth year she seems to have had but few convictions of sin. +The great subject of the soul's salvation, if presented at all, made slight +impression upon her mind and heart. The warnings and invitations of the +gospel were alike unheeded, and she lived until this period in sinful +thoughtlessness. In 1820 she found hope in the Savior, and on the 4th of +June made a public profession of religion, and in the presence of a great +congregation gave herself away to God and to his people. The solemn, awful +step she fully realized; and when she was led down into her baptismal +sepulchre, and buried there, her heart was fully given up to God. The +venerable and departed Dr. Bolles administered the ordinance, and received +her by the impressive rite of "fellowship" to the First Baptist Church in +Salem, of which he was then pastor. + +At that time the missionary spirit was beginning to pervade the churches of +America and exert its holy influence upon the minds of the members. Young +Sarah Hall caught the holy enthusiasm. Just converted, fresh from the +public vows of consecration, the anxious question, "Lord, what wilt thou +have me to do?" upon her lips, she was in the exact frame of mind best +adapted to be moulded by holy zeal for a dying race. + +The feelings which struggled in her soul found utterance through the +columns of the Christian Watchman in various prose and poetic effusions. +These articles do not exhibit any extraordinary poetic merit. They hardly +do credit to her real abilities. Bearing the marks of haste, these early +productions never gave any peculiar pleasure to the authoress; but for deep +feeling and pathos they are remarkable. They seem to be the outgushings of +a soul stirred up with holy enthusiasm and flowing out in channels of its +own formation. She evidently wrote, not for the severity of the critic, but +for the warm heart of the Christian; not to awaken feelings of admiration, +but to kindle up the flame of divine animation; not to win fame for +herself, but to inspire others with love for the perishing. + +One of these poems was the instrument in bringing her into an acquaintance +with George D. Boardman, her future husband. The poem was upon the death +of Coleman, whose fall in a distant land, ere he had buckled the armor on, +produced feelings of sadness in the hearts of all American Christians. +Boardman saw it, and his soul was moved by it. Who the writer was he did +not know, but determined to discover, if possible, what heart kept time +with the wild beatings of his own. The first verse of that poem runs as +follows:-- + + "'Tis the voice of deep sorrow from India's shore; + The flower of our churches is withered, is dead! + The gem that shone brightly will sparkle no more, + And the tears of the Christian profusely are shed. + Two youths of Columbia, with hearts glowing warm, + Embarked on the billows far distant to rove, + To bear to the nations all wrapped in thick gloom + The lamp of the gospel--the message of love. + But Wheelook now slumbers beneath the cold wave; + And Coleman lies low in the dank, cheerless grave: + + Mourn, daughters of Arracan, mourn! + The rays of that star, clear and bright, + That so sweetly on Chittagong shone, + Are shrouded in black clouds of night; + For Coleman is gone!" + +Mr. Boardman at once determined to discover the writer of these thrilling +lines, and in a short time was enabled to trace them to the pen of Miss +Hall. Ere he had seen her who was to be the companion of his arduous +labors, the sharer of his success, and the attendant of his dying bed, he +seems to have sought for the youthful authoress with a kind of intuition +that God had fitted her to be his companion. Nor was he disappointed on an +acquaintance with his young friend. He found her in possession of an active +mind, a warm heart, and an agreeable person. He made proposals to her +immediately, and requested her company to the heathen world. To such +an enterprise all her friends were averse. To Mr. Boardman they had no +objection; but the idea of sending out the flower of their family to wither +and die on heathen soil they could not endure. The parents were oppressed +with sorrow at what they considered the wild and romantic notions of their +child, and for a long time withheld all consent, and steadfastly resisted +every movement towards a missionary life. And when the daughter did gain +their permission, it came like water wrung from the solid rock. These pious +people did not understand the claim which God has upon the services of all +his children; they did not understand the honor and glory of having a child +in heathen lands laboring for the salvation of the dying; they did not know +what a halo of light would in after years be thrown around the name of her +who was about to embark on the perilous voyage; and when she left them they +looked upon her as buried out of their sight. + +Probably much of Miss Hall's enthusiasm in the missionary work was caught +from Mrs. Judson, who visited this country in 1823. They became acquainted +shortly after the arrival of Mrs. J., and continued correspondence as long +as she remained in America; and when she sailed forth again, to return no +more, no prayer of greater fervency was offered for her safety and success +than was breathed forth by young Sarah Hall, who was so soon to follow her +illustrious example in scenes of trial and self-devotion. + +George D. Boardman and Sarah Hall were married in Salem, by Rev. Lucius +Bolles, D.D., on the 3d day of July, 1825. Her personal appearance was +good. Though not positively handsome, her countenance was agreeable and +prepossessing. She usually wore a pleasant smile; and an air of frankness +and ingenuous openness was a peculiar characteristic. She was affable and +courteous, with sufficient dignity and grace. We may, however, suppose her +husband to have been more attracted by her intellect and heart than by the +outward ornament of person. + +The vessel which conveyed Mr. and Mrs. Boardman to the "shades of moral +death" sailed from Boston in 1825; and in due time the missionaries arrived +in Calcutta. Here they remained nearly two years, employed in missionary +work and doing good as they had opportunity. On the 17th of April, 1827, +they entered Amherst, and found there the grave of Ann H. Judson and the +bending form of her bereaved husband. That good man's trials were not at an +end. His dear daughter Maria was dying; and Boardman's own hand formed her +little coffin, and dug her grave, and supported the trembling form of the +father, when his child, the daughter of the sainted mother and wife, was +laid to rest. + +While at Calcutta, the union of husband and wife was cemented by the birth +of the first child--a daughter, whom they called Sarah Ann. The occurrence +of this event, while it withdrew the devoted mother from the labors and +toils of her missionary life, awakened in her bosom feelings which had +never been stirred there before. A new world of thought and action was +before her mind; and, to use her own language, she "was another creature." +On his arrival at Amherst Boardman conferred with the other missionaries, +who, after mature deliberation, advised him to commence labors at Maulmain, +about twenty-five miles from Amherst, to which place he proceeded with his +little family. Soon a bamboo house was erected for him, and his work of +self-denial and suffering commenced. They were annoyed in various ways by +the natives, and several times were plundered by the hordes of robbers that +descended from the mountains at night and assaulted every dwelling which +promised considerable booty. Their house was pillaged in this manner but a +short time after they arrived at Maulmain. One night they went to sleep as +usual, after committing themselves to the care of Him whose eyes are never +closed to sleep. Awaking at midnight, Mrs. B. found the lamp, which had +been left burning, extinguished, and in the dim moonlight the furniture of +the room appeared to be in confusion. To light the lamp was but the work of +a moment, on which a fearful scene was presented. Every thing of value had +been taken away, and all that remained was in terrible confusion. During +this robbery Mr. Boardman was painfully awake to every thing which +transpired; while his wife, wearied with toil, slept as sweetly as if the +villains who had caused such havoc had been kind attendants on errands of +mercy. And providential was it that she did not awake. While some were +carrying away the property, others stood over the prostrate forms of the +sleeping family, ready to murder them if they awoke. Boardman knew it +all--he knew that fierce eyes were watching him--that the uplifted weapon +was ready to drink his blood. A single movement on the part of the sleepers +would have brought down that weapon and hurried them from the scene of +their labors to the bar of Him who had sent them forth to do his work, +declaring, "Lo, I am with you alway." + +In the early part of 1828 it was deemed advisable for Mr. Boardman to +remove to Tavoy, about one hundred and fifty miles south of Maulmain; and, +in accordance with certain instructions from the Board, he took up his +residence there in April. On his arrival he found the "whole city given to +idolatry." On every hand were the melancholy evidences of heathen worship, +heathen superstition, and heathen cruelty. Gaudama was worshipped by all +the people, and upwards of two hundred priests ministered at the various +temples. The faithful missionary commenced his labors immediately on his +arrival: his zayat went up within sight of the great pagoda, and daily he +sat at the door to instruct the passing population. While at Tavoy, Mrs. +Boardman was employed with her domestic duties, and with the instruction of +the children who could be gathered into the school, which was commenced on +their arrival. We deem the cares of one's own family enough to employ all +the time of a female in this country; but the labors of Mrs. B., in her +feeble state of health, were augmented, not merely by the children of the +boarding school, but also by the care and instruction of the school itself. +Uncomplainingly she performed her arduous labors, while day after day her +health grew poorer and her cheek paler. It was at Tavoy that Ko Thah-byu +was "buried with Christ by baptism." In his early days he had been a very +wicked man. His path was stained with blood, and to all around he gave +evidence of his ferocious, bloodthirsty nature. He was converted at +Maulmain, and removed with Mr. B. to Tavoy. After his baptism he was a most +faithful and devoted laborer. His nature seemed to be entirely changed. +From being one of the most ferocious and dreadful tyrants, he became +gentle, humble, forgiving, and merciful. His case presents us with a +wonderful instance of what the gospel can do to soften the savage nature +and bring even the most stubborn heart into sweet and willing subjection to +our dear Redeemer. He was made a preacher of the gospel which had performed +such wonders on his heart, and to the day of his death continued a faithful +and devoted minister of the Lord Jesus. + +While at Tavoy, a second child was born to this missionary family. They +called him George, for his father. He yet lives--perhaps to bear the gospel +forth to those who swarm around his father's grave. + +At Tavoy, too, little Sarah died, when nearly three years old. This child, +the first born, seems to have twined its affections sweetly and tenderly +around the mother's heart. She was indeed a lovely child. "Her bright-blue +eyes and rosy cheeks," her amiable disposition and obedient deportment, +won the kindness of all around her. She inherited the warm heart of her +missionary mother, and fond hopes were cherished that she might live to +fill her mother's place on heathen ground. But God's ways are not as our +ways. He removed the lovely flower, and blasted in an hour all the fond +expectations of her parents. In his infinite wisdom he saw the hinderance +the little one would be to his laboring servant, and in kindness took her +to his own arms. + +When children die in this loved land they depart in the midst of tears and +sighs; kind friends sympathize and pray; the voice of sorrow is heard along +the line of many dwellings; and in many families is uttered the voice of +grief. At such times and under such circumstances the hand of friendship +and benevolence will be stretched out to assist and perform the little acts +of charity which at such an hour come with sweet fragrance to the parting +and weary spirit. But when little Sarah closed her eyes in death but few +tears were seen, but few hands of sympathy held out. The broken-hearted +mother herself washed the cold form of the dead child and arrayed the pale +body in its little shroud. + +On the mind of Mrs. Boardman this affliction exerted a most salutary +influence. She had admired and adored her child. She loved the precious +gift more than the gracious Being who had bestowed it, and, wrapped up in +its possession, imagined it could not be taken from her arms. But when +God removed the loved and lovely one she began to feel how deeply she had +erred, and forthwith restored her supreme affection to the great Creator. +Her attention was called from the vain and transitory things of earth; she +saw the narrow limit of human life more plainly than ever; she learned the +lessons of mortality; and her sad bereavement became to her torn heart an +inestimable blessing. Besides this, the idea that their little family had a +representative in heaven was unutterably precious; and she feared less that +hour when her own labors would be done and that reward entered upon which +is prepared for all who obey God and love his Son Jesus Christ. + +To Mrs. Boardman another child was also given, which was called Judson +Wade Boardman--a trio of as illustrious names as ever were engraved on the +records of the church militant. He lived but a short time, descending to +the grave leaving another vacant place in the mother's heart. + +In 1828 Mr. Boardman determined to leave Tavoy for a while and visit the +Karen villages in the interior. He was accompanied by Ko Thah-byu and some +other converted Karens. They had heard of him by means of persons who had +visited Tavoy for business and pleasure, and religious books and tracts had +been distributed among the people who had never heard a sermon or seen the +pale face of the missionary. As he passed through their villages he was +every where met with kindness. Food was brought and many valuable presents +given him. At one village they found a zayat which the people had put up +for them; and here they tarried and preached and explained the gospel +several days. Many were converted; God's Spirit was poured out; and ere Mr. +B. left the place several came and requested the ordinance of baptism. This +matter, however, was prudently deferred, that the converts might "learn the +way of the Lord more perfectly." He found the people in gross darkness: he +left them with beams of light from the cross strong upon them. He found +them without the word of God--without the Sabbath--without the way of +salvation: he left them in the possession of all these good gifts, and at +the end of nine days returned to his family at Tavoy, again to labor and +suffer in the cause of his Master. + +One of the most exciting incidents which occurred at Tavoy during the stay +of Mr. B. was a rebellion, which commenced on the 9th of August, 1829. The +English had withdrawn most of their soldiers from Tavoy and quartered them +at Maulmain. Almost the whole force at the former place consisted of a +hundred Sepoys, commanded by a man who, at the moment of the revolt, was, +believed to be in the agonies of death. On the 9th, at midnight, the +missionary family were aroused by horrid cries around their rude dwelling. +Boardman sprang from his bed, and, bending his ear to the open window, +heard the cry, "Teacher, Tavoy is in arms! Tavoy is in arms!" In an instant +the ready mind of the missionary comprehended the difficulty and the +danger. He at once aroused his family, and began to prepare for resistance +or flight as the case might require. After a time the insurgents were +repulsed, and, retiring to a distance, took refuge in rear of the mission +buildings; consequently the station was placed between the two contending +parties; and over the heads of the little band the balls whistled, carrying +death to hated foes. In the morning the Sepoys were driven from the city +and took refuge in the Government House, to which place the missionary +family repaired, seizing for this a momentary quiet. Their situation here +was terrible. The house was crowded with women and children: soon it became +unsafe, and the whole party retired to a vacant building, having six rooms, +on the margin of the river. Into this house, containing more than a hundred +barrels of powder, were three hundred persons crowded together; while +without were heard the wild and frantic yells of the savages, thirsting for +blood. On the morning of the 13th Mr. Burney, the civil superintendent, who +was away at the time of the outbreak, returned. To him the whole people +were indebted for their safety and their lives. Under his management the +Sepoys rallied and advanced upon the city, and, after several desperate +conflicts, succeeded in driving the insurgents from it and capturing +several of the leaders in the revolt. The overwhelming number of the foe +was not proof against the superior skill of the English; and when the +vessel which had been sent to Maulmain for help returned, Major Burney was +in quiet possession of the town. + +Mrs. Boardman immediately embarked for Maulmain; to which place her husband +soon followed her, taking with him all the scholars in the school who were +willing to go. They remained at M. until the mission house was repaired and +quiet restored. + +From this period up to the time of her husband's last sickness we find but +little in the history of Mrs. Boardman of a marked character. She labored +on under discouragements and difficulties and amid sickness and sorrow. +Often did her own system give way; and more often did her child utter the +wail of sickness and distress, and plead for rest and quiet which could not +be granted. During this interval Mr. B. made repeated journeys from Tavoy +to Maulmain, and was busily engaged in the great object of his life. He saw +to some extent the fruits of his toil; and on his abundant labors Heaven +placed the broad seal of divine approbation. One after another yielded to +the force of truth and bowed in homage to the cross of Christ. He did not +die, like Coleman and Wheelock, ere he had seen the heathen eye overflow +with tears, the heathen heart burst with rapture into life, and the heathen +knees bowing, not before Gaudama, but before Jehovah. + +During the year 1830 it became evident to all that Mr. Boardman must die. +The disease contracted in consequence of sleeping on the cold ground and +being exposed to the damp fogs of night came on slowly but surely, and +all hope of recovery took its flight. Feeling himself that he should soon +depart, he called the converts around him and instructed them in the way of +life. Others who had not been baptized he prepared for the ordinance. +Three days were devoted to the examination, and eighteen were accepted as +candidates for the holy service. The missionary was unable to rise from his +bed; and many of the questions which he desired to put to these persons +were first given to his wife, who, sitting on the bed beside him, put her +ear to his lips and caught the sound as it struggled for utterance. On the +20th of December the baptism took place under circumstances of thrilling +interest. The candidates, with the administrator, and the sick teacher, +borne on a little cot upon the shoulders of the Karens, passed along to a +fine lake, into which Moung Ing descended and immersed the young disciples. +It was a sight of interest to God and angels; and doubtless they bent over +the scene with holy satisfaction. As they went to the place and as they +returned the wicked idolaters jeered and scoffed, and heaped their +maledictions upon the head of the dying Boardman, who in a short time was +to be far beyond the reach of injury and insult. + +The administration of the Lord's supper followed the baptismal service, to +which the little church of twenty-seven members sat down, eighteen of them +for the first time. The bread was broken by the trembling, dying hand of +Mr. Boardman, who was performing the deed for _the last_ time. + +In January, 1831, Mr. and Mrs. Mason arrived at Tavoy, having been sent out +to reënforce the mission, and were immediately conducted to the residence +of their dying fellow-laborer. The meeting of the two devoted men and their +wives must have been of deep and solemn interest. One was fresh from the +land of his birth, ready to engage with zeal in the Master's work; the +other had fought the fight, had kept the faith, had finished the course, +and was about to receive the robe of victory and the crown of glory. + +Wishing to make one more effort in the cause of his Savior, Mr. Boardman +determined to visit the village where a short time before he had preached +several days and where several persons had been converted. These he wished +to gather into the fold, and, ere his departure, see them buried in the +liquid grave. He went forth with his newly-arrived associates and his own +family. A company of Karens carried Mr. Boardman on a bed and Mrs. B. in a +chair. After a journey of three days they arrived at the place and found +the villagers in anxious expectation. They had erected a church on the +banks of a lovely stream and prepared accommodations for the missionaries. +After the converts had been properly instructed, they were baptized by Mr. +Mason. Thirty-four submitted to the ordinance and were added to the little +band of believers. The journey and the effort made to commune with the +people were too much for the exhausted frame, and the good man began to +sink rapidly. Carefully they took him up to remove him to the boat which +was to convey him to the river; but as they passed along, the anxious wife, +who watched the countenance of her husband, saw a change. Death had stamped +his signet on those pale features; and, when they arrived at the water +side, all that remained of Boardman was a cold, inanimate corpse. The +voyage down the river was a sorrowful one. Every cheek was flowing down +with tears and every heart was bleeding with anguish. + +At Tavoy they were met by the sad disciples, headed by Moung Ing, the +converted Burman. Slowly they bore forward the dead body of the man of God, +and laid it down in the mission house in which he had so often discoursed +of Jesus. Around him in that hallowed spot gathered a company more precious +to God than ever assembled around the bier of a fallen emperor; there went +up to heaven a wail of sorrow as heartfelt as ever was uttered over the +grave of son or sire; and the death was as full of sadness and importance +as could have been the demise of a laurelled chieftain or a titled senator. +True, the throng who came out to see that pale form and marble brow were +not gathered from the proud and great of earth. No king came weeping to the +house of death; no noble _cortége_ came in sackcloth and stood as mourners +there; but the elect of God, the fruits of missionary labor on heathen +soil, the converted sons and daughters of darkness, were the sincere, +humble, faithful mourners. + +They buried him in lowly pomp--_the pomp of death_. All the European +residents of the place and crowds of natives to whom he had endeared +himself followed him to his burial. They laid him down on the right side of +his first born, and returned home to weep, and many to _forget_. But there +was one who could never forget--no, never. The object of her early love +had been stricken down, and in lonely widowhood she was left to bewail +his loss. But, though cast down, she was not forsaken. The Savior was her +portion; and in this hour of trial she leaned on him. In her terrible +visitation she saw the traces of Jehovah's care; and, committing herself +and her fatherless child to him, her soul rested in hope. + +During the time which elapsed between the death of Mr. Boardman and her +marriage with Dr. Judson the afflicted widow labored with all her might to +do the will of her Master. Not content with instructing the lisping child +and tender youth, she travelled from village to village with her little +boy and a few attendants. Wherever she went she was met with kindness. The +death of the white teacher had unsealed even the wild heart of heathenism; +and the widow was an object of universal interest. It is doubtful if at +any period of her life she exhibited more lovely traits of character, or +accomplished a greater amount of good in an equal space of time, than while +moving along her tearful way from the grave of one husband to the marriage +chamber of another. + +After having remained a widow four years, Mrs. B. was, in April, 1834, +united in marriage to Dr. Judson. The parties were well acquainted with +each other, and both understood the wants and privations of a missionary +life. This new marriage was a new proof of devotion to Christ and his +cause; and when Mrs. B. a second time gave herself to a missionary husband, +it was a new and sublime token of her determination to live a missionary +life. Had she been so disposed, she might have returned to the home and +friends of her youth; but, with a full conception of all that would await +her, she again gave herself, for life, to Jesus and the perishing heathen. + +Her little George, who had been to her torn and lacerated heart such a +source of comfort, began to fail; and his mother determined to send him to +America. But how could she part with her darling one? How could she behold +him borne away to a distant land, to see her face no more? But with the +same submission which she had ever manifested she bowed to this new +bereavement, and kissed the cheek of her child and sent him away. It was a +trial for which she had prepared herself; and it proved almost equal to +any which had preceded it. But, knowing the importance of the step, she +cheerfully acquiesced with the fortitude of a Christian. + +It was not alone on heathen minds that Mrs. Judson produced a pleasant +influence. The English residents at Tavoy, Maulmain, and Calcutta remember +her with affectionate interest. Many of them have in their houses or about +their persons the tokens of her kindness; and not a few can look back to +hours of sickness and affliction when a gentle hand smoothed the pillow and +a kind voice whispered in the ear words of hope and heaven. Often did she +meet in the praying circle with those who, like her, were far from home, +and exhort them to love and serve God; and in obedience to her kind +instructions many sought and found the Savior. For a prayer meeting of +mothers she wrote a beautiful hymn, which appeared in a journal in our +country, which is truly touching and beautiful. It is as follows:-- + + "Lamb of God, enthroned on high, + Look on us with pitying eye + While we raise our earnest cry + For our babes to thee. + + Once thy followers infants spurned; + But thy bosom o'er them yearned, + Nor from Canaan's daughters turned + Thy all-pitying eye. + + Thou didst give our spirits rest, + "When with sin and grief oppressed, + In thy gentle, loving breast: + Shelter, then, our babes. + + Breath divine they breathe, and wear + God's own image; yet they bear + Sin and guilt a fearful share: + Pity them, we pray. + + Guide and guard them here below, + As through dangerous paths they go; + Be their joy'mid earthly woe-- + Thou, their heavenly Friend. + + When, to call thy children home, + Robed in glory thou shalt come, + For these little ones make room, + Lamb of God, we pray." + +Her union with Dr. Judson was a happy one. Four little babes were born unto +them ere the mother was called to try the realities of that world where +there are no separations. In the care and culture of these much of her time +was necessarily spent; and so excessive and fatiguing were her labors that +she soon began to sink under them. After the birth of her last child, which +was born in December, 1844, it became evident to her husband that he was +soon to be left alone. The wasting disease made its appearance, and the +pale form bowed beneath it. Her kind and experienced physicians, as a last +resort, recommended a voyage to America; and, after much consideration and +prayer, she determined to turn her back on Burmah and once more visit the +land of her nativity. A passage to this country was immediately secured; +and, in company with her husband, she set sail in the early part of 1845. +They had no sooner embarked than her health began to amend; and when they +reached the Isle of France Dr. Judson determined to return to his +labors, and leave his companion to visit America alone. They made their +arrangements to part--the one to labor and faint, the other to greet kind +friends in an often-remembered land. On the Isle of France the beautiful +poem, commencing,-- + + "We part on this green islet, love,"-- + +was written--a poem as affecting and heart-touching, when the circumstances +are recounted, as any one ever written. + +But, on putting out to sea again, the disease returned with new symptoms +of alarm, and continued to increase until September 1, 1845, when she died +within sight of the rocky Island of St. Helena. + +Thus a second time was the venerable Judson bereaved of his dear companion, +and in the midst of strangers called upon to surrender up the remains of +the loved one to corruption and decay. They buried her where the hero of +Lodi and Austerlitz slept, and a long train of mourners followed her to the +tomb. The flags of the vessels in the harbor were seen waving at half mast, +and signs of woe were observed in all directions. + +She died in holy triumph, feeling that her labors were done, her toils +finished, her race ended, and her warfare accomplished. To the husband who +sat beside her when her last breath was drawn she said, just before she +expired, "I ever love the Lord Jesus;" and with her hand in his, her soul +leaning for support on the almighty arm, she sunk to rest. The sight which +St. Helena saw that day was a sad one--more sad than when the leader of the +defeated armies of France was laid to rest beneath its soil. + +Perhaps this sketch of Mrs. J. cannot be brought to a close more +appropriately than by the introduction of a beautiful extract from an +address made by a distinguished statesman of New England at a missionary +convention in Philadelphia--an address which contains a beautiful reference +to the fallen missionary, to the labors of those who are now on heathen +soil, and to the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ while on earth +performing his labor of love and fulfilling his mission of grace to fallen +man:-- + +"It is undoubtedly true that you are sometimes called upon to make +sacrifices in your work of love. You sometimes feel that you are making +sacrifices. It may be comparatively so; but really, if you look at it as +it is, you will find it no very great sacrifice. Here are our brethren +who have left their homes and friends, who have gone among strangers and +heathens. We have heard the story of their deprivations, of their labors, +of their sorrows, of their chains, and of their imprisonment. Many of them +mourn over departed happiness; many of them have fallen in the great work, +and now sleep in heathen lands; many of them have gone down to the bottom +of the great deep, where the seaweed is their winding sheet, the coral +their only tombstone. One sleeps in Helena till the sound of the last +trumpet arouse her; and when she comes up she will be attended by a retinue +ten thousand times more pompous and more splendid than ever surrounded the +maddened emperor who had his grave in that island. His tomb was there, +and after a few years, when it was opened, his military dress was wrapped +around him as when he was laid there; but the star upon his bosom, the +emblem of his glory, the pride of his life,--it was corroded and black, +a true representation of human glory, of the glory of a conqueror and an +imperial murderer. But when the grave shall open, and that loved sister +Judson shall come forth, there will be no corroded stars over that heart. +But those who are there, as I said before, have certainly made sacrifices +compared with us, with the brethren and friends they left behind; but when +they look in another direction, when they turn their eyes to the great +field, they feel fully compensated. They may live upon rice and milk, and +often not have enough of that. Their frail tenements are broken down by the +storms; and they are exposed to the roaming tigers, who may spring upon and +rush through the thin walls of their habitations. They may be imprisoned +for a while and racked by the chains of tyranny. Yet never have they been +compelled to exclaim, as did that Savior who came to his own and his own +received him not, when a Pharisee proposed to be his follower, 'The birds +of the air have nests and the foxes have holes; but the Son of man hath not +where to lay his head.' Think of that, ye heralds of the cross,--think of +that, brethren in foreign lands,--the Being who made the world, while here +in the flesh, declaring that the birds which he had made had nests, and +the foxes he had created had holes, where they could rest and sleep in +security, but no place on this earth he had made where he could quietly lay +that majestic, godlike head! Sometimes you feel as though your friends had +forsaken you. Go to Gethsemane; see there that Master who but a short +time before, with the twelve surrounding the table, had told them of the +approaching trials and dangers: urged to rashness, the unthinking Peter had +declared that, although all others might forsake him, he would not. He goes +into that lonely garden, separating himself from his disciples; but he +takes Peter, with two others, and asks them to watch here a while, while +he goes yonder and prays. And then that traitor Judas had gone to make his +bargain; and the Savior knew the bands were hunting him. O, think of that +hour and that garden! Think of the agony of that Savior's heart, which made +him say, 'My heart is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death'! Think of +the agony, when the blood from the pores of his skin dropped down on +Gethsemane's garden, and when he came up to the judgment hall the noisy +rabble insulting him; his followers abandoning him; the man who two short +hours before had said to him, 'that though all others forsake thee, I will +not,' uttering curses in his hearing and denying that he ever knew him; +then the scarlet robe and that crown of thorns! O, has earth ever witnessed +such a spectacle as that? And then that cowardly Roman governor, though he +knew he was innocent, yielded him up to the hands of a vociferous, noisy, +and infuriated mob; and he was by him condemned to an ignominious death. In +the service of such a Master, who of his followers would talk of sacrifice? +And then the consummation upon the cross, when all the powers of darkness +on earth and hell were defeated! Three days, and on the morning of the +first day of the week that buffeted, that down-trodden, and crucified +Savior burst the shackles of the tomb, laid the monster Death at his feet, +and rose a triumphant conqueror over the grave." + + + + + +X. + +MARY E. VAN LENNEP, OF TURKEY. + + + + +The maiden name of Mrs. Van Lennep was Mary Elizabeth Hawes. She was born +in the beautiful city of Hartford, Connecticut, April 16, 1821. She was the +daughter of Rev. Dr. Hawes, who has so long and so honorably filled one of +the pulpits of that place, and who, with all his contributions for human +good, has given no richer treasure to a fallen world than the one he +resigned in the person of his lovely and accomplished child. + +Born of gifted parents, Mary Elizabeth inherited much of her father's +penetration and judgment, and much of the virtue and excellence of her +mother, under whose training hand she grew up to womanhood. + +In the memoir prepared by that mother something like justice is done the +virtues and labors of her child; while the part she performed in the early +culture of the mind and heart is modestly omitted. While the fair portrait +of female excellence, as seen in the life of her daughter, is drawn with +great distinctness, we are not told who laid the basis of that excellence, +and who with ceaseless vigilance guarded the young mind from error and sin. +We are hardly reminded, in the whole volume, of a mother's solicitude, +tears, prayers, warnings, and counsels. It shall be ours to say, that all +the daughter was reflects back with mild and gentle light upon the mother's +memory. + +The childhood of Mary E. was spent mostly in Hartford, where her advantages +were great. Her parents were qualified, mentally and morally, to give her +suitable instruction. Favored by God with literary and pecuniary ability, +they lavished both upon their child, and brought her under all those +wholesome influences which were so well adapted to cultivate her abilities +and expand her mind. Besides this, the company with which she mingled in +her father's house was of the highest order. Her home was the centre of +delightful associations. She met there the minister of God, the missionary +from heathen shores, the gifted and the good, and from all these obtained +many lessons of wisdom. Perhaps she could not have been placed under more +favorable circumstances for the development of an amiable and lovely +character than those which clustered around her early years. Unlike some +young people who are obliged to struggle against adverse and unpropitious +circumstances, and who urge their way to usefulness and happiness under the +heavy pressure of want and embarrassment, Miss Hawes had every current in +her favor, and the whole tide of circumstances conspired to make her what +she afterwards became. + +In early youth she was distinguished for numerous traits of character which +adorn and elevate the young man or woman and render them deserving of +esteem. While yet a child she was remarkable for her veracity and honesty. +Her mind seemed to dread a wicked or deceitful thing; and in all her +intercourse with her parents and her young associates there was a noble +frankness which opened to her the hearts of all. The earliest lessons of +her childhood were calculated to impress her mind with the enormity of all +falsehood and the value of truth; and as she grew up to womanhood she was +distinguished for this endearing virtue. + +Gentleness of disposition was another characteristic of Miss Hawes. She +seemed formed to weep with those who weep, to sympathize with those who +were distressed, to administer consolation to the torn heart of affliction. +When by the bedside of the dying, or in the homes of bereavement and +sorrow, her hand was gentle and her voice mild and musical. There was a +sweet and unobtrusive kindness of manner, a mild and touching sympathy, +which won the heart of the sufferer and introduced her at once to the inner +temple of the wounded spirit. + +She early became familiar with the Holy Bible. Time which many young +persons give to foolish and vain reading was spent over the book of God; +and, when young in life, she was more familiar with the history and poetry +of the Old Testament than are many persons at an advanced age. Her young +mind seemed to enter with intense interest and delight into the scenes +described by patriarchs and prophets and so beautifully discoursed upon by +the sweet singers of Israel. + +While in her tenth year Mary E. was called to part with a brother younger +than herself. Notwithstanding her extreme youth, she received this +affliction with all the philosophic calmness of mature life. While her +father and mother were weeping around the bedside of the dying boy, while +their hearts were almost broken by this new stroke of divine Providence, +the little daughter clung around them, and in their ears whispered words of +peace and hope. The hymns of consolation which they had taught her to sing +she now rehearsed to them; and many a word of confidence in God which they +had uttered in bar hearing she now called up from the depths of memory, to +comfort their hearts and mitigate their sorrows. Her conduct at such an +hour was a restoring cordial to the wounded hearts of the parents, who +found in the heavenly mindedness of one child consolation for the loss of +another. + +Shortly after the death of this brother Mary became in heart and life a +Christian. She passed through that mysterious change which some denominate +"regeneration;" which she described by the expression, "I have found God." +The cautious father waited long ere he advised his child to make a public +profession of the religion of Christ. She was very young, and liable to be +deceived; and he wished her to examine well the foundation of her hope, +and see whereon it was built. He could not endure the idea that she should +enter the church without a saving, evangelical change, and substitute the +sprinkling of water for the baptism of blood. Hence from time to time he +deferred the subject until his doubts all vanished; until the correct, +consistent deportment of his child subdued the fears of parental fondness; +until the world became impressed with the religious character of the young +disciple. Then he led her to the altar, broke to her the bread of life, and +welcomed her to the tribes of God. + +From this time her life was one of true, consistent piety. That cautious +father never to the day of her death had occasion to regret the union +formed between her and the people of God. To her young Christian associates +she was a pattern of excellence, and to her many an eye was turned for a +good and faithful example. Nor were the expectations formed of her at all +disappointed. She lived no dubious life; hers was not a strange, erratic +piety. Brighter and brighter grew her sun, until it set, _at noon_, in a +flood of light and glory. + +No sooner Was she a member of the church than she began to feel the +importance of being a faithful laborer in the vineyard of God. The false +views which so many have of the church relation she did not cherish. She +did not regard the church as a place of rest and repose--a spot where she +would be free from temptation, trials, and toils. On the contrary, she +clearly saw the obligations which are laid upon a servant of God, and +determined to discharge them to the best of her ability. To her young +friends she stated her own feelings, and urged them to love the same Savior +and embrace the same religion. With all the ardor of a young convert, and +all the enthusiasm of a soul inspired by the hopes of heaven, she presented +to their minds the value of faith in Christ and the necessity of a new +heart, and, by all the arguments and motives within her reach, besought +them to love and serve God. + +Nor was she satisfied with this alone. She labored with her hands and +contributed of her money to advance the glory of God. Impressed with the +importance of missions, she formed a society among her young associates to +sew and knit for the purpose of providing clothing for the families who +were abroad. For this circle of children, which convened from time to time, +she prepared work and furnished employment until a box was ready, and, +under the direction of older friends, sent to a missionary who was laboring +for God in distant China. + +As she grew older, her missionary interest increased. The claims of a dying +world were spread out before her, and her heart burned to be on heathen +soil where the gospel had never been preached and where the story of Christ +had never been told. She felt for dying men as she saw them, in all the +degradation of heathenism, bowing down to wood and stone and worshipping +the lifeless images which can neither see nor speak. The sunken condition +of heathen females, denied their legal and moral rights, deprived of the +advantages which elevate the other sex, drew her attention and claimed her +sympathy. The missionary concert was regularly attended; the Missionary +Herald was regularly read; the missionary contribution was regularly paid. + +In the Sabbath school she was a devoted and successful laborer. Her place +in the class was occupied except in cases of necessity; and for the +children committed to her trust she felt deep and anxious solicitude. Often +in her closet and in the place of social prayer did she commend them to the +gracious care of God and pray that they might all be members of the fold of +Christ. + +There were two circumstances which had powerful influence upon her +religious life and character, and which, to some extent, seem to have given +a direction to after years. + +The _first_ was a season of sickness by which Miss H. was brought to the +borders of the grave. This occurred in the summer of 1841. The season of +sickness became an inestimable blessing. It gave her time for reflection +such as she seldom obtained, and led her to feel the vanity of human life +and the emptiness of earthly pleasures and joys. She saw in her own wasting +form and pallid cheek the evidences of mortality, and, realized the +necessity of securing treasure in the heavens, where sickness and death +will never disturb the visions of peace. + +The _second_ circumstance was the revival which occurred in the +congregation with which she was connected in the same year of her illness. +That revival was deep, powerful, all-pervading. The Church fell upon her +bended knees before the throne of God; the wayward disciple came, with +tears and penitence, and besought forgiveness of God and the Church. The +old man, with his white locks and streaming eyes, asked, "What shall I do +to be saved?" The, young and gay were turned from sin and vanity and led +to seek an interest in the world's only Savior. The whole city felt the +influence of the work of grace; and the sceptic, in amazement, asked, "What +do these things mean?" + +On one communion occasion about one hundred united with that one church, +most of whom were young in years and strong in heart. The prayers of God's +people were answered; the labors of the church were crowned with the divine +blessing; and a season such as causes joy in heaven among the angelic hosts +was enjoyed. + +This revival was like a purifying fire to our subject. As a matter of +course, she became deeply interested in its progress and results. Led to +prayer and effort, she realized the worth of souls, the value of religion, +the bliss of heaven, and the horror of despair; and, as one young associate +after another gave her heart to God, the young disciple was full of joy. + +In 1843 Miss Hawes was called seriously to decide upon a missionary life. +She well knew the trials of such a life. In her father's house she had +often met with those who had tried "the life of danger and death," and +had returned broken down with disease and sorrow. She had listened to the +narration of their labors, their sufferings, and their success, and was +better prepared to judge of the privations and pain to be experienced than +most who depart on such errands of mercy. + +But the decision was soon made. When it became evident to her mind that she +could be more useful in Turkey than in America, when it was settled that +duty to God and a dying world required her to leave home and native land, +when Jesus seemed to beckon her away, the question was soon settled, and +settled in such a manner as to involve a separation from loved friends and +a removal from all the enjoyments of a civilized country. + +On the 4th of September, 1843, Miss Hawes was married to Rev. Henry J. Van +Lennep: and, amid familiar scenes and countenances, the father gave his +daughter to her missionary husband, to the toils and sacrifices of a +missionary life. The pious and happy couple immediately started on a short +pleasure tour previous to sailing for the East, where they were to labor +and die. The time which intervened between the joyful marriage service and +the sad departure was crowded with incidents of a thrilling character; and +the month was one of excitement, anxiety, and care. + +Mr. Van Lennep was a missionary under the patronage of the American Board +of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was destined for Turkey, to which +Oriental clime he was about to take his fair companion. In him Miss Hawes +found a tender and devoted husband, who, when her sickness came and weary +hours were appointed unto her, watched over her with the most considerate +attention, and deprived himself of rest and sleep that he might cheer his +sick and dying companion, whom he had taken from a home of plenty, ease, +refinement, and luxury, and removed to a cheerless and lonely spot, to +labor with him for the perishing. + +It required no slight effort for Mrs. Van Lennep to part with so many +familiar scenes and go forth to return no more. There was her mother, whom +she tenderly loved, and whose declining years she had hoped to comfort and +cheer. How could she leave that parent? How could she say "Farewell," +and do it with the consciousness that she should gaze upon that mild +countenance and that loved form no more? How could she take that hand which +had led her up to womanhood,--a hand which wiped her brow when sick and +suffering, and wet her throbbing temples when pained with fever,--how +could she grasp it for the last time? + +Then there was her Sabbath school class, over which she had prayed and +wept, and to the members of which she had imparted instruction so often and +so tenderly. + +There was also the house of God, in which she had so often heard the music +of a father's voice; the Sabbath bell, which had so often called her to the +temple and the place of prayer; the organ, whose tones had often thrilled +her soul as she sat with the worshipping assembly, chanting the praise of +God. How could she leave all these? The separation cost an effort such as +those only know who have made the trial. + +She sailed from Boston, in company with her husband and father, in the bark +Stamboul, on the 11th of October, 1843. The Stamboul was a fine vessel; and +our missionaries were well accommodated on board. The gentlemanly officers +and crew omitted nothing which could render the situation of the female +voyager pleasant and comfortable as a "life on the ocean wave" would allow. +Besides this, the kindness of friends had provided every little comfort and +convenience which could be needed; and the trunks and boxes of Mrs. Van +Lennep were stored with articles which her Hartford and Boston friends had +gathered for her use. She went out, not as Mrs. Newell went, on a cold, +severe day, with but few comforts, with but few conveniences, with but few +friends to: bid her farewell, with no sermon, no song, no prayer on the +deck; but every thing which money could purchase or the ingenuity of +friends devise was brought forward to add to her comfort. Before the +Stamboul sailed a service was held on board, which was attended by +deeply-interested friends. The missionaries, the passengers, the crew were +committed to the care of God. The parting hymn rose on the breeze, echoed +over the waves, and its sad strains died away on the hearts of the +listeners. The parting hand was given; and as kind friends left the deck +the ropes were loosed, and in noble style the vessel swept out into the +harbor, and the mother and child gazed upon each other for the last time. + + "Ye who, forsaking all, + At your loved Master's call, + Comforts resign, + Soon will your work be done; + Soon will the prize be won; + Brighter than yonder sun + Ye soon shall shine." + +Most of the voyage was spent by Mrs. Van Lennep in preparing herself for +future usefulness and in the study of those languages which she would most +need. She enjoyed the passage more than any other lady on board, and was on +deck in some scenes of peril which made even the hearts of strong men to +tremble. + +More than any thing else did our subject miss the privileges of the +Sabbath. The daughter of a clergyman, she had been reared beneath the +shadow of the Christian temple, and taught from infancy to love and revere +the day of rest. And though upon shipboard she heard the song of praise, +the solemn prayer, and the interesting discourse from the same lips which +led the devotions at home, yet the church-going bell, the pealing organ, +and the countenances of early associates were not found on the ocean. All +was strange and wild as the tempest itself. + +On the Sabbath day, November 5th, the eyes of the voyagers were greeted +with a view of that noble monument which rises from the blue waters of the +Mediterranean-the Rock of Gibraltar. They looked upon it as the rising sun +glanced lines of light all around it and painted it with gorgeous beauty, +making even its very barrenness appear, attractive. + +Whoever has sailed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea will remember +the many objects of interest which present themselves on every side. There +are seen convents which have stood for ages, braving change and time, from +whose turrets the vesper bell has sounded forth over the waters, calling +the ghostly father and the young recluse from the cell and the cloister to +mingle in the devotions imposed by the Holy Mother Church; castles frowning +from bare and beaten rocks, reminding one of other days, when feudal strife +and knightly warfare demanded such monuments of barbarism to prove that +"might makes right;" beautiful gondolas, with richly-dressed Orientals, +manned with slaves, and propelled by the broad, flat paddle, reminding one +of the songs which cast their witchery around the knights of yore, and from +the blue bosom of the sea gave back the melodious echo; the highlands, +clad in beauty and arrayed in all the verdure of perpetual summer; villas +standing amid groves of trees in full blossom, and cultivated slopes +which extend to the very billows of the sea; ruined temples, monasteries, +convents, cathedrals, standing like some relics of the past, fit emblems of +the decaying faith once taught within them. + +About the 1st of December, the Stamboul, with its precious freight, arrived +at Smyrna; and when the new year with all its hallowed emotions came, +they were comfortably located in their new home, surrounded with every +circumstance to make them happy. Their home stood near the sea shore, and +from its verandas they could look far out upon the waters and behold the +passing vessels as on the busy voyage they sped to and fro. In the garden +sweet roses bloomed, and the orange and lemon gave delicious fragrance and +more delicious fruit. + +They here found the former associates of Mr. Van Lennep, who received them +with the greatest kindness; and their residence in Smyrna soon became +delightfully pleasant. One who loved the wonders of Nature, and could +appreciate the goodness of God in the works of his hands, the scenes of +natural beauty every where spread out, could not fail to be attracted by +so many displays of divine wisdom and power. To go from our cold, austere +climate, our bare fields and rock-ribbed mountains, to dwell amid the +luxurious vineyards and gardens of the south of Europe, seems like being +transported from a cheerless desert to a blooming paradise. Our beautiful +things are not connected with our climate or our unproductive fields, but +with our free institutions, our systems of education, our public morality, +our well-regulated government, our well-administered laws, and the +industry, intelligence, and religious habits of the people. Our fields and +vineyards, our rich groves and beautiful scenes, are our churches, our +schools, our colleges, our asylums for the poor, for the blind, for the +insane. These constitute the pride and glory of the land of the Pilgrims. +The glory of the East arises from the natural beauty of the country; from +the adornments of Nature; from the skill and care of God. + +Early in August, 1844, she was afflicted with dysentery, which increased +upon, her gradually until all hope of life was taken away. Finding that she +could not live, she gave her time to meditation and prayer. The idea of +leaving earth and parting with her husband, and being buried in a strange +land, though terrible in some respects, did not alarm her. She wished to +live for her husband, for Jesus, for the souls of sinners; but if it was +the will of God she was ready--ready to die at anytime and be buried in any +place. During her sickness, her husband, alarmed at the prospect of his +loss, used all means to restore her wasting health; he remained by her +bedside, and with the most tender care endeavored to mitigate her sorrows +and lift her soul above the pains of sickness. He could not endure the idea +of a separation at the moment when she seemed most useful and best prepared +to labor with success. He had taken her from home, from loved scenes, to +die amid strangers; and the responsibility of his position made him, in +that period of anguish, a most tender nurse and a most faithful watcher. + +Her last hours were spent in a manner which gave the brightest evidence of +her future bliss to all who saw her. With a firm hope in the merits of the +crucified One, she descended into the waters of the dark, deep Jordan, +whose billows broke upon the shores of human life with such melancholy +moanings. There was no fear; her soul was stayed on God; and a divine hand +lifted her heart in the last conflict. + +About one o'clock, September 27, she breathed her last, and the spirit took +its everlasting flight from the abodes of flesh and the tenements of men. +Her last words were, "O, how happy!" and earth was exchanged for heaven. +She felt the tender and confiding spirit of that beautiful and touching +hymn of Wesley, and repeated it with dying voice and a countenance all +radiant with smiles:-- + + "Jesus, lover of my soul, + Let me to thy bosom fly." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's +Mission, by Daniel C. 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