A mother's portrait: being a memorial of filial affection; with sketches of Wesleyan life and of religious services in letters to a younger sister, especially intended for the youth of Methodism

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MOTHER'S PORTRAIT:

BEING

UewMal 0f filial Jtffertian.

AN

J

PUBLIC LIBRAE

A6TOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATION*.

HER CHILDREN ARISE UP, AND CALL HER BLESSED ; HER HUS-
BAND ALSO, AND HE PRAISETH HER

FAVOR IS DECEITFUL, AND BEAUTY IS VAIN ; BUT A WOMAN
THAT FEARETH THE LORD, SHE SHALL BE PRAISED.

GIVE HER OF THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS ; AND LET HER OWN
WORKS PRAISE HER IN THE GATES.

SOLOMON.

MOTHER'S PORTRAIT:/

BEING

g, IleiMtfal af filial %Mum;

WITH

SKETCHES OF WESLEYAN LIFE AND OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES
IN LETTERS TO A YOUNGER SISTER.

ESPECIALLY INTENDED FOR

TJjE YOUTH OF METHODISM.

BY THE

REV. FREDERICK J. JOBSON.

ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY ENGRAVINGS, FROM ORIGINAL PICTURES
BY J. SMETIIAM AND F. J. JOBSON.

REVISED BY THOMAS 0. SUMMERS, D.D. .

-«♦*-

PUBLISHED BY E. STEVENSON & F. A. OWEN, AGENTS,

FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CIICRCH, SOUTH.

1857.

[THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARYI

150300

A8TOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

1899.

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT,
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN.

Cffithttts.

PAGE
INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR xi

TO THE GENERAL READER xiii

LETTER I.

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT 19

* LETTER II.

BIRTHPLACE — ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER 31

LETTER III.

MARRIAGE — WANDERINGS — SETTLEMENT 42

LETTER IV.

AN AGED FATHER — CONVERSION — ENTRANCE INTO METHODISM — A

PRIMITIVE CLASS-MEETING 52

LETTER V.

METHODISM IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF LINCOLN — EARLY PER-
SECUTION 72

LETTER VI.

VISITS TO THE POOR AND THE SICK — INSTANCES OF USEFULNESS. 96

LETTER VII.

FAMILY RELIGION — SABBATH-DAY SCENES 105

LETTER VIII.

BEREAVEMENTS — THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 121

(

viii CONTENTS.

LETTER IX.

U8BFU1 KISS K) KIM'K! ID AND TO STRANGERS — WATCH-NIGHT AND

mhiwm BBEVICE8 131

LETTER X.

II BLIO WORSHIP — VISITS OF MINISTERS — CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. 144

LETTER XI.

DEVOTIONAL READING — SPIRITUAL SONGS — FULL SALVATION 157

LETTER XII.

CLASS-LEADING — FEMALE AGENCY — MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARY

MR. WILLIAM DAWSON, DR. NEWTON — CATHOLICITY 174

LETTER XIII.

ADVANTAGES OF METHODISM, IN ITS SOCIAL MEANS 195

LETTER XIV.

TIMES OF REFRESHING — DAYS OF REV. JOHN SMITH — JOHN HUNT

— CHAPEL OPENED BY REV. DR. BUNTING 208

LETTER XV.

CHARACTER REVIEWED — ADDITIONAL INSTANCES OF USEFULNESS.. 229

LETTER XVI.

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT 242

LETTER XVII.

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS 255

LETTER XVIII.

JOYFUL DEATH — BURIAL-PLACE — FUNERAL SERMON — CONCLUSION.. 266

fllofratioHg,

DESIGNED BT PAGE

FRONTISPIECE J. SMETHAM 4

BEVERLEY F. J. JOBSON 31

SPURN POINT F. J. JOBSON 42

LINCOLN F. J. JOBSON 52

EARLY PERSECUTION .. J. SMETHAM 72

RELIEVING THE POOR J. SMETHAM 96

SABBATH-DAY SCENE J. SMETHAM 105

FATHER AND CHILDREN J. SMETHAM 121

NEWPORT GATE, LINCOLN F. J. JOBSON 131

PUBLIC WORSHIP J. SMETnAM 144

MEDITATIVE SERENITY (LAKE OF LUCERNE) F.J. JOBSON 157

HIGH BRIDGE, LINCOLN F. J. JOBSON . 174

METHODIST CLASS-MEETING J. SMETHAM 195

THE EARNEST PREACHER J. SMETHAM 208

PENITENTS J. SMETHAM 229

CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS (MONT BLANC) F. J. JOBSON 242

SICKNESS J. SMETHAM 255

ENTRANCE INTO THE RIVER J. SMETHAM 205

FLIGHT TO HEAVEN J. SMETHAM 260

THE END J. SMETHAM 270

1*

Jntrchttioit b i\t €bfot.

The author of this beautiful biography is favorably known
in the United States as a minister of the British Wesleyan
Conference, having visited this country as a representative of
that body, with Dr. Hannah, in the General Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at Indiauapolis, during
the present year. Mr. Jobson is a man of generous, benevo-
lent, and catholic spirit — of artistic tastes and capacities, as
well as scholarly acquirements and habits — a most excellent,
devoted, and successful minister of the Lord Jesus — just
what one might expect him to be, Jcnoioing his parentage.

The Son has drawn the Portrait of the Mother in a mas-
terly manner ; and well did she deserve this memento of filial
affection. Mrs. Jobson was a fine specimen of the women of
Wesleyan Methodism. Her character cannot be surveyed
without admiration — we would hopefully think, not without
imitation too.

By an ingenious method, without diverting attention from
his Mother's Portrait, the author has given us a truthful and
attractive picture of Methodism, with descriptions of persons
and places connected with its history. Some of the engrav-

■ i

xii INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR.

rags — all of which arc faithfully reproduced by our artist —
are from designs by Mr. Jobson, who has several times visited
the continent of Europe, particularly Switzerland, for the
purpose of sketching its peerless lake and mountain scenery.
This edition is an exact reprint of a copy of the original
work, bearing the autograph of Mr. Jobson, by whom it was
presented to our excellent friend, the Rev. Dr. Sargent, of
Baltimore, whose courtesy in favoring us with the volume,
and with interesting particulars concerning its author, is duly
appreciated by

Slje €Mtor.

Nashville, Tenn., August, 1856.

Co ijjt (Semral |l«ahr.

The Author respectfully claims attention for
one thought before the following Letters are pe-
rused. They do not portray the striking events
of enterprise in the life of an adventurous mis-
sionary to the heathen ; or the important changes
and deep trials which often characterize the work
of a Christian minister in his own country. Nor
do they record the workings of a religious mind
which has had all the advantages of high cultivation
and refined leisure. But they contain, although

r»

\i\ TO THE GENERAL READER.

the sketch is imperfect; the portraiture of a plain,
practical Christian, — of one who was surrounded
with the cares of family and business, — of one
who was every day in the world, and yet lived
as not of it, — of one who turned her very neces-
sity to be busy therein into an opportunity for
snatching trophies out of it for her Redeemer.

It is hoped that the homeliness of the Portrait
may render it the more readily imitable ; and,
therefore, the more extensively serviceable to the
hearts and minds of those who may contemplate
it. Every one cannot be a missionary, like
Brainerd, or Eliot, or Martyn, or Coke : all can-
not become preachers of Christ's gospel to thou-
sands, like Wesley, or Whitefield, or Benson, or
Robert Newton: few can attain the intellectual
refinement joined with high spirituality which
characterized Hannah More and Lady Maxwell;
but it is the privilege of all, however encircled

TO THE GENERAL READER. XV

with family cares, or involved in temporal busi-
ness, to be useful members of the Church of
God.

Perhaps the religious world had never greater
need than now to be reminded that it is personal
usefulness which should be cultivated and prac-
ticed. The many noble institutions an# asso-
ciations for spiritual and charitable objects which
distinguish our times, deserve all the support
which they receive; but there is danger that
the majority of professing Christians should rest
in mere subsidiary usefulness. It should be
remembered that individual exertion is necessary
in the cause of Christ ; and that it was never
intended that any of His followers should serve
only by proxy. It will be seen that the subject
of this Memoir, while ever ready to support
evangelical and benevolent institutions to the
extent of her ability, was herself a persevering

xvi TO THE GENERAL READER.

and successful laborer in the vineyard of her
Lord. And to those who desire to have before
them, every day and under all the varied circum-
stances of life, a practical and active example
of the power and excellence of religion, this
imperfect sketch is humbly but earnestly recom-
mended.

The reader will discern that these Letters
have been written with a free pen; and that
with a Mother's Portrait, Methodist scenes and
services have been outlined. This, to some
extent, was natural and unavoidable. But it
will be seen that these outlines are sometimes
extended beyond the simple necessities of the
biography. The writer's reasons for such en-
largements are twofold, and may be soon stated.

Though Wesleyan Methodism has been in
existence for more than a century, it is evidently

TO THE GENERAL READER. XY11

still much misunderstood ; for even good men,
who write and speak of it, strangely misrepresent
it ; more especially when they make reference
to its peculiar and social means of grace. An
endeavor is made in the following pages to
exhibit its true features. This is done in a
somewhat desultory and unconnected manner ;
yet so, it is believed, that the truth will be
satisfactorily gleaned by the reader who is not a
Methodist ; while to Wesleyans themselves these
few pen-and-ink sketches of what they are fami-
liar with may not be wholly unacceptable.

But more especially is this volume intended for
the youth of Methodist parentage and descent.
And it is humbly hoped, that imperfect as are
the references made in it to early religious asso-
ciations, yet they will be the means of reviving
and strengthening within youthful readers rever-
ential regard for the Church of their fathers.

b2

XV111 TO THE GENERAL READER.

For should the perusal of what is herein written
raise up but one thought of a religious home, that
thought may have linked to it a chain of sleeping
recollections, which, when revived, shall be found
to be most salutary in their influence.

F. J. J.

Lambeth, July, 1855.

A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

fettu i.

" Some we love well: the early presences
That were first round us, and the silvery tones
Of those most far away, and dreamy voices
That sounded all about us at the dawn
Of our young life, — these, as the world of things
Sets in upon our being like a tide,
Keep with us, and are ever uppermost.
And some there are, tall, beautiful, and wise,
Whose step is heavenward, and whose souls have passed
Out from the nether darkness, and been borne
Into a new and glorious universe,
Who speak of things to come : but there is that
In thy soft eye and long-accustomed voice,
Would win me from them all."

HENRY ALFORD.

I purpose, my dear Sister, to describe, in a
series of letters addressed to yourself, the life
and example of our clear departed Mother.

20 a mother's portrait.

You have heard more than you saw of her;
for she died when you were very young. Of
her earnest and affectionate character you can-
not fail to have some personal remembrances.
But these are, of necessity, imperfect. You
ought to know more from others ; and especi-
ally from a brother who had the greater advan-
tage of growing up to manhood under her
maternal care. My own love and gratitude
for her memory are summed up in Gray's
significant saying : "A man can have but one
Mother." And though you lost her early, you
feel that there is something inexpressibly dear
and tender in a Mother's name. I wish to
deepen this sentiment within you, knowing by
experience that it is truly salutary to cherish it.
But while addressing this record to you in
the fugitive form of letters, I humbly aim to
erect a public and more permanent memorial
of departed excellence. Our dear Mother's
character and conduct impressed themselves
beneficially on many while she lived; and I
judge that a memoir of her will be lastingly
useful now she is dead. I have long felt that

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT. 21

the writing of it was a filial duty I owed to
her memory, and a public duty I owed to the
Church of Christ. She was a living example
of practical Christianity; and, with all the
books of religious biography that have been
published, there are not too many records of
such examples in the world. '

It may be asked why I have chosen to fulfil
my task in the epistolary form. I answer, Be-
cause it is more easy, and less stately and
pretending than the set style of modern bio-
graphy, which, by its measured formality, re-
strains the writer from giving free expression
to his thoughts and recollections. It also
admits of the introduction of more familiar
incidents ; and one fireside incident related
with simplicity, not unfrequently affords more
real insight into character than a large volume
of mere general descriptions. And while this
easier form will allow me to use with freedom
the language of affection and gratitude, — which,
as a son, I must employ, if I write at all, — it
will enable me to point out, without the stiff-
ness which often deters rather than invites a

22 a mother's portrait.

reader, the lessons to be learned from a Chris-
tian example.

These letters are accompanied with engraved
illustrations, for the purpose, not only of pro-
ducing on your mind more distinct and pleas-
ing impressions of what you read; but also of
stimulating you, and all who may peruse them,
to cultivate any taste which the Almighty
Creator may have implanted within you for
the beautiful. It is a gracious design of God
that we should be educated and refined by
such means, as well as by the purifying les-
sons of his holy word. What beauty has he
not profusely scattered around us, in the forms
of the universe, his great handy work ! Can
we suppose that we are thus encircled with
beauty, and grace, and grandeur, without a
beneficent purpose ? Let me earnestly advise
you, especially while your younger faculties
are awake with wonder, to store the mind
with images of all that is most lovely in form
and color, and most marvellous in design.
You will reap the benefit afterwards, and to
the end of life.

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT. 23

It is not only of such materials that the
mind compiles its most pleasurable stores; but
they are most soothing and refreshing amidst
the corroding and anxious cares of our earthly
existence. The remembrance of these is always
fresh and green, however sterile and desolate
present and actual circumstances may become.
It is related of Alexander the Great, that in
all his wars he carried with him a copy of
the Iliad, on which, as his richest treasure,
he laid his active brain to rest at night ; and
it is said that our own great statesman, Wil-
liam Pitt, would retire from the stormiest de-
bate on war in the House of Commons, and
read in the stately and transcendent pages of
"Paradise Lost': until morning dawned. It
is thus that the busiest and most sagacious
minds devised a way to restore the health
and purity of the intellect, after it had been
dulled and worn with the grosser combat of
the common affairs of life.

I shall commence my task with endeavoring
to set before you in writing our dear Mother's
Portrait, I am prompted to do this by the -v

24 a mother's portrait.

remembrance of haying often experienced a
sense of want on reading biographies which
have contained no description of the person
whose life was related. In such works a feel-
ing of vagueness accompanies one all the way
through. For want of a substantial form which
the mind can keep before itself, the words
spoken and the acts performed by the person
whose life we are reading, make an unsatisfac-
tory impression. How different from the real-
ity which is embodied in BoswTell's " Life of
Johnson," where we seem to live with the
grand mental laborer, to see how he looked,
and to hear the sonorous tones in which he
uttered his weighty sayings ! How different
from the lifelike picture, almost unconsciously
drawn • of himself by Wesley in his " Journals,'*
which, after all that others have done so well,
are his best biography !

I shall endeavor, then, to place before you a
Mother's Portrait; but shall not attempt high-
coloring and finish. You may term it rather
a crayon sketch with a free pencil; but it shall
be, as far as I can render it so, true to the life.

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT. 25

Our beloved Mother was of middle stature, of
good proportionate form, and, in the latter part
of her life, somewhat broad and full in person;
yet she was remarkably quick and lively in her
step, and uniformly active in her movements.
Her countenance was fresh, healthy, and open.
It was delicately fair in complexion, and slightly
tinged on the cheeks with color that deepened
with the increasing strength of inward emotion.
There was a peach-like bloom of health and peace
almost constantly upon it. The face was more
round than oval, in its general outline ; somewhat
high at the cheek-bones ; and, as with all good
faces, the features were well-defined and harmoni-
ous. Her eyes were gray, and, as if specially
designed for extended observation, they were
widely set in their distance from each other, and
full towards the outer corners. The nose was
significant of decision and strength, and projected
in full proportion from the face. Her lips were
thin, but the mouth was very expressive of
natural cheerfulness. The chin was a little
pointed, and inclined to the double form when
it rested against the neck. Her hair was dark

26 a mother's portrait.

brown, which she wore plainly parted from the
middle of the forehead, and hanging low and
plentifully down at the sides of the face. The
countenance throughout was tenderly expressive
both of thought and feeling. At seasons of de-
liberation it was seriously placid and calm; but
immediately on entering into conversation with
her friends, it kindled up into cheerfulness, and
not ^infrequently appeared radiant with joy.
Religious reverence was its great characteristic ;
and on the whole, I should say that a face more
sweet, more spiritual, more withdrawn at times
from earthly objects, and more fully bathed in
genuine devotion, I do not remember to have
seen.

Filial attachment may influence my judgment ;
but to me, hers was a countenance not surpassed
for womanly purity either by picture or reality.
There were seasons of motherly association with
her family, when her entire nature seemed to be
suffused with holy feeling, and to tremble in a
delirium of love. How sweetly serene and rapt
with devotion was that countenance when lifted
up to heaven as she knelt in prayer with her

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT. 27

children! And how much of celestial radiance
seemed to linger upon it after she left her closet,
where, under the bright cloud that had over-
shadowed her, she had knelt and held communion
with God ! Religion literally made her face to
shine. All its lines, by the influence of her fre-
quent and prolonged visits to the secret place of
the Divine pavilion, seemed touched into child-
like simplicity and purity ; and her whole charac-
ter was redolent of the richly-perfumed incense
of spiritual devotion. How that image of piety
and worship abides with me through succeeding
years ! Her miniature portrait, painted some
years ago, now lies open in its locket before me ;
and at my father's hangs against the wall an
excellent three-quarters portrait of her by my
friend, Mr. Green, and for which she sat to him
in London a short time before she died. But her
true and full image is in my heart. There it has
been set and worn from early childhood ; nor will
all the passing joys and sorrows of human life
chase away its deep and indelible impression
there.

Her dress was neat; but it was as far removed

28 a mother's portrait.

from uniform plainness and preciseness on the one
hand, as it was from worldly fashion and adorn-
ment on the other. Indeed, with her, as with
most persons, the outward dress was character-
istic of the mind within. Her avowed principle
was to wear good clothing ; believing, as she said,
that it was most economical by its durability ;
but she was careful to obey the apostolic injunc-
tion, and to " adorn herself in modest apparel," as
"becometh a woman professing godliness."

Her voice and manners were gentle, but de-
cided. There was nothing of hurry in her words
and actions : nothing of outward bustle and ex-
citement, such as you often find in persons who
profess to have numerous engagements, and much
to do, but who in reality accomplish very little.
A serene atmosphere seemed ever to be around
her; but with this there was a powerful and
impressive influence attending all she said and
did. Mother was, in the true sense of the word,
a gentle-wom.a,n; but calm energy was her great
characteristic, — so much so, that introduce her
where you would, and associate her as you
pleased, she would soon make herself felt as a

DESCRIPTIVE PORTRAIT. 29

woman of influence and force of character. Her
family and friends instinctively looked up to her
for direction and counsel. Strangers soon felt
themselves under the spell of her character ; and
seat her where you might, she speedily made that
the chief seat in the room, or the head place at
the table. Sound common sense — that every-day
quality for life, and which, where not possessed,
is not to be obtained by any effort, or at any
price — she had in an eminent degree; and this,
combined with unaffected generosity and affability,
rendered her the chosen friend and counsellor of
many. With such a combination of qualities, you
will be prepared to understand, my dear Sister,
how it was that your Mother has obtained so
lasting a reputation in the city of her residence ;
and that, though several years have passed away
since her sun sank below the horizon of mortal
sight, yet the reflected light of her character still
lingers and shines among so many. Of her it
may be truly said, " The memory of the just is
blessed;" and how such a character was formed:
what were the circumstances surrounding and
attending it from early life ; and what were the

c2

30 a mother's portrait.

means by which it was matured in its excellence —
it will be both interesting and profitable for you
to know. These I shall endeavor to describe in
successive letters ; and as you will now have
before you, from the hand of filial affection, the
outline figure and countenance of a Mother whom
you but dimly remember, I shall proceed to
detail to you the particulars of her life and eon-
duct. Some of these may be deemed trivial by
others, but they will not be uninteresting to you.

ttttt XL

"Forgive the strain,

Enamoured ; for to man in every clime,

The sweetest, dearest, noblest spot below,

Is that which gives him birth ; and long it wears

A charm unbroken, and its honored name,

Hallowed by memory, is fondly breathed

With his last lingering sigh."

CAKRINGTON.

Your Mother was born at Beverley, in York-
shire, November the 20th, 1786. This place of
her birth is one of the most pleasing towns in the
kingdom. It is impossible to pass through its

32 a mother's portrait.

clean streets, to see its quiet mansions and gar-
dens, open spaces and market-place, without dis-
cerning the sources of the health and prosperity
of its inhabitants. It is a town of true English
comfort ; and the rich and well-cultivated land
around it, with the salubrious air, renders it pro-
motive of longevity. To see Beverley in full
advantage, however, it should be viewed from the
elevated ground on the west, at some half-mile
distant; whence its long line of buildings, with
the minster towers and parish church, embosomed
in rich sylvan scenery, cannot fail to produce in
the mind high gratification and delight. It might
be added, that Beverley is not only pleasant and
picturesque in situation, but interesting on account
of its great antiquity. It is one of those towns
which originated with the ancient Britons, by
whom it was named Beaverhc, from a lake on its
western side where the beaver was hunted ; and
still bears in its records and relics proofs of
having passed through all the changes of Boman,
Saxon, Danish, and Norman possession and exist-
ence. Above all, its minster, so beautifully
chaste and feminine in its proportions and orna-

BIRTHPLACE. 33

ments, its broad massive parish church, and its
numerous remains of monasteries and religious
houses, attest that it has been a town of ecclesi-
astical distinction.

The street of this pleasant and venerable town
in which your Mother was born is called Lairgate.
It is the most westerly of all the streets, and
extends from Keldgate, on the south, to North-bar
street — from which the accompanying view of
Beverley is taken. The house stood on the left-
hand side.

The name of our dear Mother's father was
Caborn, from, as it would seem, the village of
that name near to Caistor, in Lincolnshire, the
original place of his ancestors. Her mother's
name was Harrison, and she came from Louth, in
the same county ; as may be seen from a tablet,
erected to the memory of her brother, in the south
transept of Beverley minster. As soon after her
birth as convenient, your Mother was baptized,
out of the old octagonal and curiously carved
font, now standing at the west end of the parish
church of St. Mary's, and was there named
Elizabeth.

2*

34: a mother's portrait.

If I did not remember that I am not writing
for you only, my dear Sister, I should linger over
old Beverley. For of how great importance to
human character is the place of birth and of early
associations — the place in wThich the mind first
collects its materials for thought and reflection !
These give form and coloring to scenes framed by
the imagination, and therefore affect us throughout
life ; nay, may, for aught we know, extend their
influence into eternity. The place of childhood
is never forgotten, remove where we will or be
situated as we may. A cheerful sunlight rests
upon it, and renders it radiant in the remembrance.
It is the pivot centre of the mind, the warm and
unforgotten nest of the heart; yea, the very
Eden of our life, where, before we were driven
forth into the world, we plucked without restraint
the flowers and fruits of innocence and joy.
Even the emigrant, who adopts another country
as his home, never forgets the place of his birth.
He may be surrounded by more classic forms and
finer scenery; more cloudless skies may bend
over him ; but to him childhood's home surpasses
all he elsewhere beholds, as he shows by speaking

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER. 35

of it so frequently to his friends or his family,
and by relating events and incidents of his early
days again and again. And as " the captive hast-
eneth to be loosened/' so he seeks to return to
his native place. It was evident that our dear
Mother felt all this. She was fondly attached to
Beverley, often spoke of it to her children, and
related to them what she saw and heard there
when a child, until we all felt that town to be the
place of a second home.

Our Mother's childhood was spent in Beverley,
and was especially marked by what is usually
described in children as " innocent simplicity."
But even in her earliest years there were indica-
tions of the intelligence, guilelessness, and strong
affection, which were so distinguishable in her
character in after-life. Indeed, the characteristics
of our first dispositions and feelings usually remain
with us through life, as well as our resemblances
in feature and countenance. We have no essential
changes, naturally. Those we knew when chil-
dren are, for the most part, only more fully
developed, not altered in their personal character
and temperament. The dispositions of childhood

36 A mother's portrait.

may not unfrequently be traced even after con-
version.

Early indications of goodness are often fonnd
in those whom God condescends to employ honor-
ably in his Church, as we may learn from the
records of Holy Scripture, as well as from general
observation. So it was with our Mother. She
was a child of more than ordinary promise ; and
her sweetness of disposition made her a favorite
in the family and neighborhood. But more espe-
cially was she a favorite with her father ; for, in
addition to her winning qualities, she most resem-
bled him in disposition.

Soon after she could run, she learned the letters
of the alphabet, and began to learn to read. Her
young mind was quick and eager ; and she would
climb the knees of her father and others almost
as soon as she could speak, and entreat them to
teach her to read. And often have I heard her
relate to her own young family the struggle she
had, when a child, in her "pursuit of knowledge
under difficulties ;" and instance, in her own
cheerful manner, the humorous misdirection given
to her on one occasion by her father, who was

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER. 37

wearied by her frequent questions concerning the
true pronunciation of words. She had climbed
his knee after dinner, and was trying to spell out
the words on a newspaper-sheet, many of which
were too difficult for her. She spelt out one, and
another, and another, by the help of her father,
who was engaged in some other reading, when at
length she came to the word vouch, and having
spelt it, she interrupted him by asking for the
sound of the word. He told her; and directed
her in all her future difficulties with words to
read vouch in each case : a direction not the most
judicious to give an artless child, but pardonable
under the circumstances. Her vouches, however,
in newspaper reading became too numerous, and
extorted too many smiles, to be continued long;
and discovering the fraud, she refused to proceed
farther in that manner, requiring henceforth a
separate pronunciation for each new and difficult
word.

By perseverance these and other difficulties
were overcome ; and she imbibed betimes that
love and habit of reading, as well as of acquiring
information, which remained with her through

38 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

life. From the apparently trivial incident just
related, I may also remark, that she learned a
lesson for life — not to read either books or human
character and experience without endeavoring to
understand what was read. And thus it is that
from what appear to be at the time unimportant
circumstances in human life, a future settled
course is pursued : like many of England's well-
trodden roads, first formed by the wandering of
cattle ; or like many of her streams, turned in their
first course by, perhaps, the root of an oak, or the
small fragment of a rock.

Even at this early period the Holy Spirit gra-
ciously shed an enlightening and subduing influ-
ence upon her mind, so that she was led by a
power which she understood not, and when but
five or six years old, to go into secret and pray
that God would make her good and happy. It
was no small mercy to be thus soon the subject
of Divine guidance and blessing. This mercy, it
is to be feared, is not sufficiently estimated and
sought for " little children," though our Lord has
expressly declared that they are to come unto
him. There is restraining and preventing grace

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER. 39

for them before conversion; for if there be any
religious difference in the young, it is surely to be
attributed to God. Our Mother was not destitute
of moral and religious teaching by her friends ;
but, in addition to these, she was favored by the
drawings of the good Spirit.

When her childhood was passed, she became
exposed to great danger by being thrown into
scenes of gayety and dissipation in high and
fashionable life. The lady of a nobleman who
was colonel of the county militia, having observed
her engaging manners, would frequently invite
her to their house while they were in Beverley.
When the regiment removed from the town, the
lady begged that Bessy — our Mother, then a very
young girl — might accompany her in her travels
through the kingdom during the continuance of
the war, promising to treat her youthful charge
always as a friend, and to studiously promote her
comfort and advancement in life. With trembling
anxiety on the part of her parents, the daughter
was surrendered to the lady, and remained under
this new care for several years.

In this novel situation our Mother saw much

40 a mother's portrait.

of life, as the varieties of human manners and
character are termed. She travelled over most
parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in the
most stirring times ; and being an attentive ob-
server, had in her mind the remembrance of many
impressive and amusing facts and incidents, which
she used to relate in after-life to her family and
friends. Among these were tales of the war-time,
including sudden, unexpected, and immediate calls
upon the regiment to march to new stations :
strange, eccentric characters among the soldiers :
odd adventures on the road : seizures of baggage-
wagons from enraged farmers : overthrow of car-
riages : a stormy crossing of the Irish Channel,
when the passengers were fastened down under
the hatchway, while the ship plunged and creaked,
and they expected every moment to be drowned :
traits of Irish and Scotch character, — of Paddy's
brogue and wit, poverty and blunders, and of
Sawney's cool, self-protective words and conduct :
scenes of mountain and valley, of river, lake, and
cataract ; and reminiscences of gayety, disappoint-
ment, and chagrin, in the whirling circles of high
life. These stories, related with zest, beguiled

ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER. 41

many a long winter's evening in her family ; and
wrung from her own cheerful heart, as well as
from her listening children, unrestrained laughter,
as healthful as it was joyous. But in all these
recitals she was careful to set forth the moral
lesson to be learned : to condemn the evil and to
praise the good.

I may sum up the brief sketch of this period
of her life, by recording her own grateful testi-
mony, that amidst these changeful experiences
she was mercifully preserved. She never loved
the world, in the sense of that word as applied to
human attachment. She saw early through the
world's false appearances ; and desired not its
pleasures, honors, or wealth. Admitted by her
patroness to an intimacy that was highly flattering,
she might have been caught by worldly fascina-
tion. But she was enabled to employ reflection
as she looked behind the scenes of the glittering
drama. She discerned how restless, how wearied
and discontented, were even the higher perform-
ers : she conceived a strong and abiding distaste
for it ; and so turned from it to seek satisfaction
for her yearning heart in affection for her father,

d2

42 a mother's portrait.

and in friendship with a few select young persons
more suited to her than the high-born of her sex.
At the age of twenty, or nearly, she returned to
her father's home.

^=31

■

"-#

a - it '

f

prgB

%t\\n HL

4.

0 happy they ! the happiest of their kind !

Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate

Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.

'T is not the coarser tie of human laws,

Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind,

That binds their peace, but harmony itself,

Attuning all their passions into love :

Where Friendship full exerts her softest power,

Perfect esteem, enlivened by desire

Ineffable, and sympathy of soul :

Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will,

With boundless confidence ; for naught but love

Can answer love, and render bliss secure.''

THOMSON.

44 a mother's portrait.

Though now with her own family and friends,
our Mother was not free from danger ; for she
was at that critical period of life when prudence
is perhaps most needed, though often least exer-
cised. The painful and abiding consequences of a
false step when the girl is entering into womanhood,
thousands can testify by sorrowful experience.

Our dear Mother had several professed admirers
and suitors. Father, who was then a young man
of nearly the same age as herself, was among
them. He was descended on the paternal side
from the Jobsons, who were cattle-graziers near
Horncastle, in Lincolnshire ; and, on the maternal,
from a ship-owner named Foster, formerly of
Hull, and afterwards of Barrow, on the south side
of the Humber. This last-named ancestor of ours
was drowned at " Spurn Point," while there for
some business concerning a home-bound vessel,
and while seeking to save the crew of another
owner's ship, which in a storm had been driven
upon that rocky and dangerous angle of the south-
east coast of Holderness, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire : a vignette of which is given at the
head of this letter.

MARRIAGE. 45

It does not appear that either our grandfather
or grandmother Jobson was decidedly pious. Yet
they must have had some convictions in favor of
religion ; for I have heard my father say, that one
of the first incidents of his own life which he
could remember, was associated with a scene of
persecution against the Methodists assembled for
worship in his father's kitchen, near the market-
place at Horncastle. Grandfather Jobson united
himself for the war time to the North Lincoln
militia : lost his wife : married again ; and died at
Preston, in Lancashire, leaving some descendants
through a son William, since deceased.

Father also united himself to this county militia.
He uniformly kept apart from the dissipated and
immoral ; so that for his serious and prudent
demeanor he was in his youth called a " Method-
ist." This was felt by him at that time to be a
stigma; for he had then no personal association
with the followers of Wesley, or, indeed, with
evangelical Christians, to whom the opprobrious
term was in those days more generally applied.
Since then, he has happily learned to take the

46 a mother's portrait.

name which was flung at him as a reproach for a
mark of real honor.

It was not unreasonable to expect that two so
congenial in disposition and mind as our Mother
and father, when they became acquainted, should
desire the closest union. Their love was pure
and strong. In both it was what is usually termed
" first love ;" so the heart of neither had been
scathed or exhausted in affection ; and their
attachment was deep and abiding. At the outset
of their more private intercourse, there was one
imprudent circumstance which produced its painful
consequence. Their intimacy commenced without
our Mother having first sought counsel of her
parents. It may be deemed by some, that it
would have been premature at the time to seek
such counsel, inasmuch as no formal declaration
of affection had then been made. But there is an
instinctive knowledge in true love; and none of
us, my dear Sister, ought to allow our affections
to become entangled and engaged, without refer-
ring to the counsel of those whose natural duty it
is to direct us. A first step to that which must

MARRIAGE. 47

issue in most important consequences, assuredly
ought not to be taken without parental advice and
sanction.

In this instance, as it must ever be in all trans-
gressions of duty, the fruit was bitterness. One
summer's evening, our Mother was walking across
the fields with her suitor, when they unexpectedly
met her father, who, although not unobservant of
their attentions to each other in company, did not
expect to see them thus associated in a retired
walk. In his surprise, grandfather Caborn asked
suddenly, " Bessy, where are you going ?" Con-
fused by the discovery made, Mother replied
hastily, and in words that might be literally true,
but which always afterwards were remembered
by her as words of foolish and dishonorable con-
cealment, "Why, Mr. Jobson was so kind as to
see me home, and I am walking with him part of
the way back again." Such an answer was not
likely to relieve the case; and her father said,
somewhat sharply, " Come home with me !" She
replied, in disobedient words which she never for-
got, " I shall not !" This scene was followed by
tears of sorrow, and by forgiveness ; and led to

48 a mother's portrait.

explanations which had a pleasing and satisfactory
result to all the parties concerned.

On the 7th of September, 1809, our dear
Mother and father were united in marriage at
Dovercourt, in the county of Essex, where the
North Lincoln militia was then stationed. Our
Mother thus entered on a restless and trying life.
She had at that time no fixed home, but was
moving from place to place ; and though from
father's office — which was to provide for the regi-
ment— he was able to secure for his wife the most
available comforts, yet the inconveniences and
hardships of a soldier's life were such as it was
far more easy to relate afterwards, than to bear
at the time. But our dear Mother's cheerful and
buoyant spirit upheld her. I have often heard
her tell of those days of danger and difficulty —
of fears through Luddite malcontents in Lanca-
shire, and Irish insurrectionists across the Chan-
nel. Afterwards, she remembered that period of
trial with cheerful gratitude ; so that when in the
lapse of years father had, under her advice, re-
signed his place in the army, and returned from
the delivery at the post-office of his letter of

WANDERINGS. 49

resignation, saying, " Now my soldier's life is
ended !" she burst into tears ; and on being re-
minded that it was with her full consent the resig-
nation had been sent in, she replied, " Yes ; but I
cannot help the tears that flow from the memory
of the past ; for though trying in some of its por-
tions, yet it is to me full of grateful interest."

In these circumstances of a soldier's wandering
life her first two children, John and myself, were
born. When the peace of 1815 was proclaimed,
the militia returned to its own county of Lincoln,
and for the most part was broken up. At first,
father and Mother went to reside at Boston ; and
there sister Anne and brother David were born.
This town is now sunk clown to one of less than
second-rate importance ; but it was six hundred
years ago one of the most busy and prosperous
of the ports of England. It is also honorably
associated with the names of several of the " Pil-
grim Fathers," who were driven by persecution
to America in the seventeenth century ; and with
the name of Fox the martyrologist, who was born
there, and whose huge folio volume on the mur-
derous deeds of Popery, with its salutary engrav-
3 E

50 a mother's portrait.

ings, you will not fail to remember. This town,
however, will be principally known to you by its
stately church-tower, of three hundred feet high,
standing near to the line of the Great Northern
Railway, and finished at the top with its beautiful
octagonal lantern, which in former times was
lighted at night for the benefit of voyagers and
travellers in the Lincolnshire Fens, before those
parts were drained and enclosed. After the con-
clusion of the war, our dear parents resided at
Boston for a few years. Probably they were
drawn to it by family associations — father's uncles
having resided there and in the neighborhood.
But it did not long prove satisfactory to them as
a place of residence, though several impressive
providential circumstances, both to themselves
and their children, became indelibly associated
with it. And at length father finding it incon-
venient frequently to travel to Lincoln, where the
remaining staff of the militia was to which he still
belonged, they removed to that city, and made it
the place of their permanent abode.

Over the description of ancient Lincoln I could
fain linger fondly, as well as over Beverley, en-

SETTLEMENT. 51

cleared as it is to us by such deep aud varied
associations. But to yourself this is scarcely
needful. Its time-honored and grand remains —
the magnificent cathedral, enthroned so proudly
" on its sovereign hill/' the superb ruins of the
Episcopal palace, the stern old Castle Keep, the
imposing Roman North Gate, and its numerous
other mementoes of military, feudal, and ecclesi-
astical influence — must often seem to present
themselves almost to your sight; nor are you
unfamiliar with the names of historic fame con-
nected with old Lincoln. I need only observe,
in concluding this letter, that to us, as Christians,
the grand old city has still nobler attractions,
inasmuch as it was there the work of conversion
began in our family : it was the spiritual birth-
place of some who were near and dear to us and
have " passed into the skies," as well as of some
that remain upon earth.

Jfftttt ib.

"Open your gates, ye everlasting piles !
Types of the spiritual Church which God hath reared.
Not loth we quit the newly-hallowed sward
And humble altar, 'mid your sumptuous aisles
To kneel, — or thrid your intricate defiles ; —
Or down the nave to pace in motion slow,
Watching, with upward eye, the tall tower grow
And mount, at every step, with living wiles
Instinct, — to rouse the heart and lead the will
By a bright ladder to the world above.
Open your gates, ye monuments of love
Divine ! thou Lincoln, on thy sovereign hill !
Thou stately York ! and ye, whose splendors cheer
Isis and Cam, to patient science dear !"

WORDSWORTH.

AN AGED FATHER. 53

In the city of Lincoln, when our dear Mother
went to reside there, her own father had already
settled, with his unmarried daughter, Aunt Sarah.
He lived in a stone house on the right-hand side
of the road leading from the Castle Hill to the
'Chequer Gate of the Cathedral ; and had by this
time become the subject of the renewing and
saving grace of God.

Grandfather Caborn's conversion was somewhat
remarkable in its circumstances ; and considering
his relation to her, as well as the fact that he was
the chosen instrument of Mother's conversion, I
deem it well to describe his spiritual case, and
what led to his serious impressions. He had re-
tired from active life, and spent much of his time
in fishing and shooting. Of fishing he was pas-
sionately fond, as the family on that side seem to
have been. • I have heard Mother relate how, in
her young days, she used to accompany him to
angle in summer, and used to sit with him in a
boat, through successive hours, until late in the
evening, reading to him, or preparing his baits.
He was also fond of his gun. One day, he was
shooting on the ground south of the Bishops

e2

54 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

Palace ruins, when, in running to take up a fallen
bird, lie stumbled over the stump of a broken
tree, and hurt his leg. Being at an advanced
age, the hurt threatened to be serious in its con-
sequences, and confined him for a considerable
time to his chamber. Here he began to reflect on
his past life, and to think of an approaching eter-
nity, for which he knew himself to be unprepared.
He had in the room a book of devotions by
the Rev. Robert Russell, — a book well-known a
generation or two ago : he opened it on a form of
prayer just suited to his feelings, and began to
repeat the prayer with all his heart. He was
graciously heard in heaven ; and the act led to
true repentance. Afraid to be half-hearted, he
earnestly resolved to write down all his past sins,
so far as he could remember them, and to seek
forgiveness for them, one by one. The long,
dark catalogue, when he had drawn it out, as well
it might, almost drove him to despair. He spent
weeks of contrite bitterness, could scarcely eat,
drink, or sleep ; and his friends were afraid he
would lose his reason. They remonstrated; but
he persevered until he obtained deliverance.

AN AGED FATHER. 55

One day, while agonizing for mercy in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the long list of his
offences spread out before him, he was enabled by
the faith of the heart to appropriate the merits of
his Divine Saviour to his own case as a sinner,
when he immediately felt flow into his soul "the
peace of God which passeth all understanding,"
and became divinely assured that his sins which
were many were all forgiven.

He walked now for some time in the light of
God's countenance. But an hour came when
under special provocation he gave way to anger,
and was brought into the darkness of condemna-
tion. He lost the Comforter ; but mourned his
absence night and day until he returned. Having
no worldly cares, he devoted himself to a wholly
religious life ; and attended for Divine worship
at the cathedral twice a day, not only on the
Sabbath, but on each day of the week. In win-
ter-time, it must have been a cold, shivering ser-
vice for him, an aged man, in that immense hollow
pile, where his only companions would be — exclu-
sive of a few chirping robins — the dignitary in
residence, the priest-vicar for the day, the organ-

56 a mother's portrait.

ist, and the choristers, with now and then an
attendant from curiosity. But as regularly as
the cathedral bell began to sound its summons
for worshippers, he sought his hat and stick, and
pacing his way through " the long-drawn aisle" of
the nave of that venerable building, and entering
the choir by the door of the organ-screen, he took
his place in the pews.

He was considerably more than sixty years of
age when he experienced this inward and spiritual
change, and he lived to be eighty. He continued
his attendance at the cathedral to that advanced
age, as also the rigid practice of fasting from food
of any kind, until six o'clock in the evening, on
Wednesdays and Fridays. This latter practice,
to such extent, he used to say, he would not
recommend to others ; (for, no doubt, he felt its
severity at his great age, and with his rapid waste
of life;) but, having vowed unto the Lord con-
cerning it when he had yielded to anger, he was
faithful to perform that which he had vowed.
His attendance at the cathedral services, and at
the administration of the Lord's Supper, attracted
the attention of the minster clergy. His devout

AN AGED FATHER. 57

manner impressed them : they visited him, and
conversed with him. But they were perplexed
by what he related to them of his conversion, and
of his religious experience. They said he. must
be in error : such things as he spoke of only
belonged to the clay of Pentecost, and the times
of the apostles : there was no such thing as the
assurance of salvation now ! Yet he remained
unshaken, testified of what he knew, and sup-
ported what he said by passages from the Scrip-
tures and the Book of Common Pra}^er. He
used to express great regret that he turned to
God so late in life; yet he was a truly happy
saint. I well remember the upright, slender old
man speaking with thankfulness of the goodness
and mercy of God to him ; and how the swift
tears of joy flowed down his aged cheeks, as he
enclaimed in filial love, " Abba, Father ! Abba,
Father !"

There were, indeed, times when he was so
"filled with the Spirit" that his frame shook with
the Divine Presence. He spent all his spare time
and money among the sick and the poor. He had
for many years greatly enjoyed life, with all its
3*

58 a mother's portrait.

warm associations, and was naturally afraid of
death ; so that when first attacked by the sickness
which brought him to his end, he shivered and
shrank away from the cold river, being much har-
assed by the Evil One. But by prayer and faith
he obtained strength to go over Jordan : said he
knew that the Lord would not only save him, but
also his children's children; and died on the 3d
of July, 1819, triumphantly exclaiming, " The
room is full of light : angels are come for me ! —
4 0 grave, where is thy victory ? 0 death, where
is thy sting?'"

As soon as grandfather became himself a par-
taker of the saving grace of God, he began to
desire and seek the salvation of others, especially
of his own family. His strong affection for Mother
led him to visit her daily, — though living more
than a mile from our dwelling, which was below
the " Steep Hill," — and constrained him to speak
frequently to her on the necessity of seeking the
salvation of her soul. She readily listened to
him, and rejoiced in his peaceful and happy condi-
tion. But what he said concerning regeneration

CONVERSION. 59

as an essential preparation for heaven, was as
mysterious to her as that which was spoken by
the Saviour to Nicodemus of old. One day, how-
ever, when her father had been speaking earnestly
to her on this great work of the Holy Spirit, she
evinced considerable emotion ; and he invited her
to accompany him on Good-Friday — which was
near — to receive the Lord's Supper at the cathe-
dral. She promised him that she would do so ;
but perhaps as much under the influence of filial
obedience as of any other feeling. Then her father
observed, that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was a very solemn ordinance ; and, after explain-
ing to her its nature and object, he spoke to her
of the preparatory duties to be performed before
going to partake of it, and especially of repentance
and earnest prayer. She said, "I will pray to
God ; but what I have to repent of I do not
know, except it be the want of sufficient love and
obedience to you." " There is no necessity on
that account," said the father ; " but there is for
your want of love and obedience to God, your
Heavenly Father ; and that you may see this, let
us now take the Ten Commandments, and read

60 a mother's portrait.

them one by one. I will read, and you shall ex-
amine yourself and answer as I proceed."

The Bible or the Prayer-book was brought, and
the reading began. To the first commandment,
not knowing its spiritual meaning, and viewing it
only in a literal interpretation, Mother answered,
"I have not to repent in relation to that com-
mandment; for I always acknowledged the true
God." Neither could she perceive that she was
guilty of transgression in relation to the second
and third commandments. But when the fourth
was read, she said, " I must acknowledge that I
have not always obeyed that, and kept the Sab-
bath holy to the Lord." The commandment now
came home to her heart with all the power of the
law which convinces of sin : the Spirit's sword
pierced her : she was soon broken down into deep
and godly sorrow ; and not only before her father,
but alone in her chamber, she confessed her sins
and prayed for Divine forgiveness. Light now
began to shine on other commandments concern-
ing which she had previously declared herself to
be "Not guilty." She discerned how she had
committed the sin of idolatry with regard to her-

CONVERSION. 61

self, her family, and the world ; how she had used
the name of the Lord without reverence, and had
therefore taken it in vain. During the days that
elapsed before Good-Friday, she sought forgiveness
with strong cries and many tears. She mourned
over her sinfulness in the darkness of the night,
and in secret ; and, wherever she was, poured out
her complaint to God.

Good-Friday morning came : she joined her
aged father, and with much fear and trembling
entered the cathedral. She penitently engaged
in the public prayers ; and when she heard the
minister's sermon on the pitying love of Christ,
which led him to give himself a ransom for sin-
ners, she felt her whole nature suffused with godly
sorrow, so that it seemed as if it would dissolve
her very life within. The first service being con-
cluded, Mother remained, with her father and the
few communicants ; and when at the table of the
Lord, and while partaking of the emblems and
memorials of the body and blood of Christ, she
had such a vivid view of his atoning sacrifice as
at once inspired her whole soul witli love to him,
so that, as I have heard her say, she could then

r

62 a mother's portrait.

have shouted aloud her adoration of him. She
went home still more fully bowed down with
inward sacred grief, and entered her chamber.
There she prayed, meditated, recited passages
of Holy Scripture, and verses of hymns, alter-
nately. And while pacing the room, and speak-
ing to herself in the words of that solemn
hymn on the Crucifixion, by Samuel Wesley the
elder, —

" Behold the Saviour of mankind,
Nailed to the shameful tree !
How vast the love that him inclined
To bleed and die for me !

" Hark how he groans, — while nature shakes,
And earth's strong pillars bend: .

The temple's veil in sunder breaks,
The solid marbles rend !

" 'Tis done ! the precious ransom's paid :
'Receive my soul!' he cries:
See where he bows his sacred head !
He bows his head and dies !" —

she was enabled to apply by faith the efficacious
merit of Christ's sacrifice to her own case as a
sinner. And when she reached the remaining
verse —

CONVERSION. 63

"But soon he'll break death's envious chain,
And in full glory shine !
0 Lamb of God, was ever pain,
Was ever love like thine ?" —

and repeated it, her soul was liberated from its
sepulchre and grave-clothes of sin ; and she rose
exultantly into the full light and liberty of a
spiritual child of God. The Divine testimony of
her adoption was thus clear and decided. There
was nothing vague or uncertain in this part of her
experience. And of how great importance this
clear sense of her adoption was, the truly spiritual
believer only can comprehend. It was the strong
source of that powerful faith which she so fre-
quently afterwards exercised in prayer, as also of
her clear trust in Divine providence ; while it
mingled with and illumined all her thoughts and
prospects of death and eternity. Good-Friday
was always after her conversion observed by her as
a day of commemorating her " death unto sin, and
new birth unto righteousness ;" and as a solemn
feast-day to her soul. And nearly all the regen-
erate children of God must feel that such days
should be thus gratefully and devoutly marked in
the calendar of their lives.

64 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

For some time our dear Mother walked in the
unclouded brightness of the Divine favor. She
was in the land of Beulah. It seemed a new
world in which she now lived : creation appeared
more lovely ; her affections to her family were
felt to be more pure and strong ; she had no fear
or sorrow; wondered what temptation was, and
was ready to say, "My mountain standeth
strong : I shall never be moved." But, at length,
the adversary was permitted to approach. He
came down in great power and wrath : set all her
past sins in fearful array before her, and with
aggravating circumstances : tempted her to doubt
her forgiveness, and to believe that all her joyous
experience of the love of God was a delusion.
Satan also injected unbelieving and blasphemous
thoughts, until he had filled her soul with dark-
ness. This severe conflict continued for several
weeks. She loathed food, had but little sleep,
and the trial almost exhausted her life. But
amidst it all she struggled to keep hold of Christ,
— though, as Fletcher says, it was " naked faith
holding by a naked promise," — and finally gained
the victory.

ENTRANCE INTO METHODISM. 65

This was, perhaps, the greatest spiritual trial
she ever endured. It was her fight with Apol-
lyon, and was strong in her remembrance to the
end of her days. It was no doubt overruled for
her religious benefit, and taught her to distinguish
between sin and the powerful temptations of the
Evil One : a point of experience on which young
Christians especially are liable to detrimental and
discouraging error. She came out of the struggle
with increased graces : the victory was encourag-
ing to herself; and she often spoke of it for the
benefit of others.

Soon after her conversion, our dear Mother
began to attend occasionally the Sabbath and
week-evening services at the Methodist chapel
in St. Swithin's Lane ; there being at that time
no evening church service in the city of Lincoln,
except at St. Martin's, which was a mile distant
from her home, but whither she sometimes went.
Her aged father also began to attend the Wes-
leyan place of worship on Sabbath evenings with
her. They both found here, under the Good
Shepherd, green pastures and still waters for the

f2

66 a mother's portrait.

soul; and thus, though reckoning themselves
members of the Established Church, and attend-
ing its services when practicable, yet, hungering
and thirsting after righteousness, they persevered
in going to the Wesleyan chapel on the Sabbath
and week-day evenings.

Their attendance at the chapel soon attracted
the attention of the earnest and pious Methodists
of that day ; and more especially of a good old
saint, a class-leader of the name of Noble Sproule.
In those days, at least, it was rarely or ever the
case that a devout attendant on the means of
grace would be left long without personal inquiry
and invitations. Noble Sproule was a pensioner
from the army, and spent his whole time in doing
good. He had raised by his own exertions, under
the Divine blessing, several of the classes then in
existence ; and met the members under his care
principally in his own humble dwelling, up a pas-
sage on the south side of the river Witham, — left
of the High Bridge, which is shown, with its fish-
mongers' obelisk, at the head of Letter XII., —
and near to which stood the first Methodist
chapel in Lincoln. This venerable servant of the

ENTRANCE INTO METHODISM. 67

Lord, who was always on the watch for oppor-
tunities of usefulness, and always gathering into
his classes persons whom he observed to be
attentive and devout at the seasons of worship,
soon spied out Mother and her husband, — who
had begun to attend the chapel with her. He
offered to obtain for them a suitable pew, and
invited them to become weekly associates in his
house with them that feared the Lord, and spake
to each other of God's work within them. Father
and Mother hesitated for some time : not being
willing to separate themselves so fully from the
Established Church as this would seem to imply ;
not comprehending the real character of a Method-
ist class-meeting; and not deeming themselves
worthy of being so intimately joined in fellowship
with the saints of the Lord.

At length, after the real character and object
of meeting in class had been explained to them,
they went, and found what was truly helpful as
well as congenial to them. Father had by this
time become seriously impressed with the import-
ance of personal religion ; indeed, it was impossi-
ble for one so devoted to his wife as he was, to

68 a mother's portrait.

see such earnestness in her and remain uncon-
cerned. Family prayer had been established,
though they were not able to conduct it without
the help of the Book of Common Prayer. This
was their daily practice for some years ; and they
used also to read the Collect, Gospel, and Epistle
for the day. And though the Methodist chapel
became afterwards their stated place of worship,
yet they never wholly forsook the services of the
cathedral and the parish church. The Prayer-
book also was occasionally used after they ceased
to trust to it entirely, and after they had learned
to pour out their hearts before God in free spon-
taneous petitions. The grateful recollection that
the Church of England had been the spiritual
birthplace of Mother, her father, and her hus-
band, forbade that they should hold it in slight
estimation, or wholly forsake it.

But Methodism was our dear Mother's true
home. There was something in its social, joyous
character, peculiarly suited to her temperament.
Its hymns of fervor and true devotion, its unre-
stricted doctrines of grace and salvation, and its
varied means of usefulness, well suited her ardent,

A PRIMITIVE CLASS- MEETING. 69

generous, and active soul. The class-meeting was
especially delightful to her, whose whole spirit
seemed constantly to be crying out with the
Spouse in the Canticles, " Tell me, 0 thou whom
my soul loveth, where thou feedest, and where
thou makest thy flock to rest at noon." She had
much to relate of the loving-kindness of the Lord,
and therefore was glad to join in this more inti-
mate communion of God's children.

I remember well those seasons of Christian
fellowship in the good old man's house, when but
a little child I went with father and Mother, and
sat on a low wooden stool by the fireside. Against
the plain deal table, with the Bible and hymn-
book open before him, and in a high-backed chair,
sat the tall old man, Noble Sproule, the class-
leader, clothed in black, and with a dark brown
wig over his strongly-marked, weather-beaten,
soldier-like visage. Around the table, on forms
and chairs, were as many as the room would
hold, rich and poor together. A hymn was sung,
prayer was offered up, the leader related his
week's spiritual experience, and then in his primi-
tive style proposed a suitable question to each

70 a mother's portrait.

member, such as, "Mary, what is the state of
your soul ?" " John, has this been a good week
to you religiously ?" "William, has the Lord
been blessing you since you were last with us ?"

At the close of each brief reply, suitable coun-
sel was given by the leader ; and when the entire
class had been spoken to, the Bible was read or
referred to : another verse or two of a hymn was
sung : perhaps, —

"Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other's cross to bear:
Let each his friendly aid afford,
And feel his brother's care."

Or, it might be, —

"We all partake the joy of one,
The common peace we feel:
A peace to sensual minds unknown,
A joy unspeakable."

And sometimes the rapturous enjoyment in the
meeting was such as required for its expres-
sion,—

"And if our fellowship below
In Jesus be so sweet,
What heights of rapture shall we know,
When round his throne we meet!"

A PRIMITIVE CLASS- MEETING. 71

Then prayer was again offered, hearty responses
were heard ; and the members, after contributing
to the Church of God as they were able, and
after expressing kindly inquiries regarding each
other's welfare, shook hands and parted.

Scenes of more primitive Christian simplicity
than these at Noble Sproule's were never wit-
nessed. How that band of Christ's disciples wept,
rejoiced, and prayed together ! In that homely
room, where they " spake often one to another,"
they looked into each other's hearts and lives, and
found how similar were their temptations and their
sorrows. How artlessly they told each other
what God had done for their souls, until they re-
joiced exceedingly : the very bruised reed breathed
praise, and the smoking flax burst forth into a
flame ! And then how with united emphasis they
lifted the prayer aloud ! The heavens rent at
their cry, and God came down with saving power !
" Joy unspeakable and full of glory " swelled each
breast, and filled each eye. The lambent flame
seemed to leap from heart to heart, until the spirit-
ual rapture was only inferior to that of the tri-
umphant choir above.

%tUtx b.

" The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the wandering sons of men;
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save,
To snatch them from the gaping grave.

" For this let men revile my name :
No cross I shun, I fear no shame :
All hail, reproach ! and welcome, pain !
Only thy terrors, Lord, restrain."

TRANSLATED FROM PAUL GERHARD, BY WESLEY.

It should be remembered that it required some
degree of moral heroism to become a Methodist,
at the time father and Mother joined the Society.

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 73

I well recollect that when a child at school I was
taunted with the name on their account ; and that
when our parents were going to the class-meeting,
or to the chapel, ribald Sabbath-breakers would
scoff at them in the street. This, however, never
made them shrink from the performance of duty :
it was rather regarded as a token that Satan was
enraged because they had escaped from his evil
slavery ; and so they persevered and rejoiced.
Persecution sometimes took more offensive forms
than this, even at that period. Profane youths
would let sparrows loose in the meetings ; and
thus the lights were sometimes put out while the
worshippers were on their knees. It must be
confessed, that the more influential classes of
society too often heard of these doings with com-
placency; for it was deemed any thing but re-
spectable to be a Methodist, and the persecution
of Methodists by such means was, by some, only
reckoned " good pastime." Our dear parents clung
to their new profession in spite of the world's
judgment that it was disreputable ; and were not
backward in showing that, whatever the world
might say or do, they were determined to be on
4 g

74 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

the Lord's side. I remember when the square in
front of our house at St. Mark's Place was occu-
pied by Methodist ministers who came to preach
there in the open air, how father and Mother
welcomed them, took out chairs for them, and
risked both chairs and windows ; for stones would
sometimes be thrown on these occasions, and
something like a riot be attempted.

These, however, were but mild forms of perse-
cution, as compared with what was experienced
by those who had courage enough to take upon
them the opprobrious name of "Methodist" in
the beginning. A rapid glance at the manner in
which Methodism was introduced into Lincoln-
shire, and at its local history up to the time that
our dear Mother became connected with it, may
enable you to understand the position and influ-
ence of the Church she had now joined, and with
which she was actively and usefully associated to
the end of her life on earth ; as well as to become
acquainted with the character and labors of the
first instruments employed by God for its estab-
lishment in the land.

Of that lamentable state of depravity and spirit-

METHODISM IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 75

ual degradation into which England had too gen-
erally sunk before Wesley and Whitefield began
their evangelical labors, Lincolnshire largely par-
took. It seems, indeed, to have had in this
respect a bad preeminence, and to have been
morally worse than most other counties. Fearful
ignorance, love of cruel and brutal sports, vulgar
drunkenness, and other gross forms of wickedness,
mingled with pitiable superstition, marked its
population. For a considerable time after the
Wesleys had commenced their itinerant work,
though this was their native county, the benighted
people of Lincolnshire had shared little of their
labors, compared with the poor superstitious
Papists of Ireland, the miners of Wales, the keel-
men of the Tyne, the colliers of Yorkshire, Staf-
fordshire, and Kingswood, and the smugglers and
miners of Cornwall. This might be from the
comparative isolation of the shire ; for it was not,
at that time, in the great thoroughfare of the
kingdom, and was regarded principally as the land
of fens and the region of ague. Mr. Wesley's
personal visits to it were few ; and his itinerant
fellow-laborers were very thinly scattered over

76 a mother's portrait.

the county. And when the kingdom had been
divided into twenty circuits', Lincolnshire and part
of Nottinghamshire formed but one circuit, with
only two preachers, who were two months in going
their round, so that they could visit the chief
places but seldom, and had scarcely any time at
home.

" To be a Methodist preacher," said Mr. Wes-
ley to one of them who was going forth on his
itinerant labors, " is not the way to ease, honor,
pleasure, or profit. It is a life of much labor and
reproach. They often fare hard : often are in
want. They are liable to be beaten, stoned, and
abused in various manners. Consider this, before
you engage in so uncomfortable a way of life."
And thus the preachers first appointed to Lincoln-
shire found it ; for they went to privation, suffer-
ing, and hardship, amidst a rude, ignorant, and
immoral people ; and into a country only partially
drained and abounding with fens, — where the
waters often were out, and the bad roads often
hidden in unenclosed parts with snow. Imagine
one of the early preachers sent forth into such a
circuit. He perhaps received his appointment

SCENES OF PERSECUTION. 77

unexpectedly ; for though Mr. Wesley never sent
out unknown and untried men, yet there was not
the formal process of the quarterly and district
meetings in those infant days. One of the preach-
ers would, perhaps, recommend the new man as
having evinced grace, gifts, and fruit, in preaching
the gospel locally; and Mr. Wesley would take
note of him for himself, place his name on a special
list, and send him forth into the wider field when
necessity required. The preacher thus appointed
had to provide himself with a horse ; with saddle-
bags to hold his wardrobe, books, and not unfre-
quently his meals ; and to go forth a complete
" stranger in a strange land." The home provided
for him was perhaps a small room in the house of
some poor person, where he had his " bed, table,
stool, and candlestick," like the Prophet Elisha, in
the house of the Shunammite. In this room he
would not spend more than one or two nights
within a month. His fare was always homely,
and not always certain.

What kind of reception these first missionaries
of Methodism met with in Lincolnshire, you may
find from some of their autobiographies, written

g2

78 A mother's portrait.

at Mr. Wesley's request, and inserted by him in
the early volumes of the "Arminian Magazine."
Thus Thomas Mitchell relates : " In the year
1751, I was stationed in Lincolnshire. I found a
serious people and an open door ; but there were
many adversaries. This was by far the most try-
ing year which I had ever known." And then
follows a description of the barbarous treatment
he received at Wrangle, where, after preaching at
five o'clock in the morning, two constables seized
him, kept him till four in the afternoon, and then
delivered him to the mob, who threw him into a
pool of standing water, made him pass seven times
through it, — though it reached up to his neck, —
and then painted his wet clothes all over with
white paint. They now took him to a public-
house, and kept him there till they had put five
of his friends into the water. Then they carried
him out, and threw him into a great pond, which
was ten or twelve feet deep, where he became
senseless ; but they dragged him out and put him
to bed. Very soon they pulled him violently out
of bed, carried him into the street, and threatened
to take away one of his limbs, unless he would

SCENES OF PERSECUTION. 79

promise to come there no more. He would give
no such promise ; and now they consulted one by
whose counsel they seem to have been all along
guided — " the minister !" We have thus a proof
of the fact, then too well apparent, that at that
period some of the clergy were as awfully degraded
as the people. "The minister" told them they
must take the preachers out of the parish. Mr.
Mitchell's own clothes were unfit to put on; so
they put an old coat about him, took him a mile,
and set him upon a hill, and there left him,
"penniless and friendless," after shouting three
times, " God save the king, and the devil take the
preacher !" Weak and ill as he was, he succeeded
with extreme difficulty in reaching the house of a
friend who resided three or four miles off; and
here he was kindly cared for, but had to rest four
days before he recovered so far as to be able to
resume his itinerant labors.

" Then," says he, " I went into the circuit,
where I met with more persecution. As I was
preaching in a certain village in the Fen, the mob
came into the house, and broke through the con-
gregation, in order to pull me clown ; but the good

80 a mother's portrait.

woman of the house took me into the parlor, and
stood in the door with a great kitchen-poker in
her hand, and told the mob, the first man that
came near the door she would knock him down."
The woman's threat was effectual ; and the mob
"left the house without doing much harm." How
vain were these wild endeavors of the servants of
Satan, either in injuring the soul of this persecuted
man of God, or in checking God's work, may be
seen by a few striking sentences hi this account
of Thomas Mitchell. " From the beginning to the
end," says he, "my mind was in perfect peace.
I found no anger or resentment, but could heartily
pray for my persecutors." " In the midst of this
persecution, many were brought to the saving
knowledge of God ; and as the sufferings of Christ
abounded, so our consolations by Christ abounded
also."

The work of these Christian pioneers was, how-
ever, hazardous and trying for many succeeding
years. In another volume of the "Arminian
Magazine" we have an account of the treatment
met with in Lincolnshire in the year 1757, by
Alexander Mather, a man of early education and

SCENES OF PERSECUTION. 81

of well-disciplined mind, as well as of earnest and
persevering labor. He relates how, while standing
up to preach in the market-place of 'Boston, a large
mob appeared, with a drum beating before them,
and threw squibs among the people. Finding it
impossible to be heard, the preacher proposed re-
moving with his friends to another place, when
they were assailed with dirt and stones that "flew
like hail on every side." One of the mob struck
up Mr. Mather's heels, and others gave him blows.
Another collared him, with the intent to throw
him into a horse-pond ; but this was prevented by
a gentleman. Returning into the town to get his
horse, dirt was hurled upon him from the street-
gutters. Before he reached his inn, again they
attempted to strike up his heels, but failed. "At
the same time," he continues, " one threw a stone,
which struck me on the temple. I then concluded
I must die in their hands ; but, by the mercy of
God, I was strangely brought through all the mul-
titude to the inn where I had alighted. Being
sat down, my first thought was, l Father, forgive
them ; for they know not what they do.' Indeed,

my mind (glory be to God!) was kept through
4*

82 a mother's portrait.

the whole in perfect peace. By this time some
of my friends, who had followed at a distance,
were come in, and were washing my wound, when
the mob came to the door, threatening what they
would do to the house, if the landlord did not

turn me out After a while I mounted

my horse in the yard, and then, the gates being
opened, rode through a shower of stones, and came
safe to our friend's house. But I was so bruised,
almost from head to foot, that when I was cold,
I could hardly stir. And it was a full year
before I quite recovered the hurts which I then
received."

A year later, another of these Methodist mis-
sionaries, Thomas Lee, gives us a brief memo-
randum, which shows us that though the sowing
of the spiritual seed had been hard work for the
sowers, it had fallen into good ground. u In the
year 1758," says he, "I was stationed in Lincoln-
shire. The whole county, now divided into three,"
(he writes in 1779,) "was then only in one cir-
cuit. So I spent two months in the eastern part,
and then two months in the western. I was in
this circuit about sixteen months in all. And I

SCENES OF PERSECUTION. 83

did not labor in vain. There was a very consider-
able increase in the societies, and many souls were
brought to the saving knowledge of God. And
though the rides were long, and the work was
hard, yet all was made easy and comfortable.
The Lord was greatly with us, and the people in
general were loving and teachable ; and I know
not if I shall ever love a people better on this side
eternity."

Methodism obtained a footing in several places
within the county, before it was received in the
city of Lincoln itself. The village of Newton
seems to have been the first of the places now in
the Lincoln circuit at which a society was formed.
But here, again, its infancy was one of persecu-
tion. Thus, the Rev. Abraham Watmough, in his
" History of Methodism in the Neighborhood and
City of Lincoln," relates that "the society at
Newton was in existence before the vear 1750.
about which period they held their meetings in the
house of a person of the name of Skelton, a re-
spectable resident of the place, whom the mob
treated severely for harboring the Methodists
under his roof. They broke all the windows in

84 A MOTHERS PORTRAIT.

his house to shivers. Next, they went to the
stable, and, cutting the mane and tail off the
preacher's horse, proceeded to tar and cover it
with feathers." At North Scarle, also within the
present Lincoln Circuit, and on the same side of it
as Newton, Mr. Wesley (as we find from his
"Journal") preached in 1759; and thither multi-
tudes flocked to hear him from the neighboring
places. Yet his account of this visit reveals the
mournful fact, that the people were then in a sad
state of spiritual darkness. He tells us that
though he spoke on the first principles of religion,
and as plainly as he could, they understood him
as little as though he had spoken Greek. Mr.
Wesley visited Newton in 1770, and thus highly
commends the society, which had now twenty
years of religious growth upon it : "A people more
loving, more artless, or more athirst for Gocl, I
have seldom seen." At least as early as this, the
societies at Besthorpe and Girton, contiguous to
Newton and Scarle, are believed to have been
formed.

At Scothorn, on the other side of Lincoln,
Methodism was introduced in 1779, by Mary

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 85

Daubney, a poor widow who had several children.
She had been led to hear the word at Lincoln,
where Methodism is said to have made unavailing
efforts about that time. She invited the preachers
to Scothorn, and a society was formed in her
house. Here, also, arose the first local preacher
whom God raised up within the limits of what
now forms the Lincoln Circuit — Mr. Thomas Wat-
son. Mary Daubney removed to Nettleham,
three miles from Lincoln, and also introduced
Methodism there. She was for more than half a
century a member of the society, and died in
peace in the ninety-fifth year of her age. Prior
to the year 1780, the villages of Newton, Scarle,
Besthorpe, Girton, and Scothorn, were the only
places within the present Lincoln Circuit where
Methodism had obtained a permanent footing; but
there were societies at Broxholme and Sturton,
two villages within nine miles of Lincoln, and now
in the Gainsborough Circuit. Here already three
local preachers had been raised up — Messrs. Wil-
liam Mawer, Joseph Frith, and Mr. William
Flintham.

Mr. Wesley records that in June, 1780, he

86 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

preached on the Castle-Hill at Lincoln, to a large
and attentive congregation, called together by the
city crier ; having come over to do so, after fifty
years' absence from the place, at the request of a
gentleman. He also preached again on the Castle-
Hill next morning, until a heavy shower prevented
his proceeding; when the county court-house was
opened to him, and he preached from the magis-
trates' bench, to as many persons as could crowd
into the building. He also preached in Lincoln in
the year following ; but though the people seem
to have treated Mr. Wesley himself respectfully,
Methodism had as yet no deep hold upon the
city. Lincoln, with all its numerous churches,
was at that period exceedingly dark and, we
might say, barbarous. Even up to a time within
my own memory, crowds used eagerly to bait a
bull — after driving the poor animal with frantic
shouts through the streets until it became infuri-
ated— at an open space which has given a name to
the locality, of " Bull-ring Terrace." The clergy
were then almost entirely without evangelical
light. Some were public gamesters and sports-
men, and some were flagrantly intemperate. The

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 87

cathedral dignitaries appeared at balls, on the race-
course, in the theatre, and in taverns, and even in
the news-room on the Sabbath. Happily, a most
beneficial change has since occurred, and devoted
clergymen may now be found within the city ; but
such was the state of Lincoln not only in Mr.
Wesley's time, but also many years following;
and it may account for the fact, that seven years
after he preached on the Castle-Hill, though
Methodism was already established in some vil-
lages near, there was not a single Methodist in
Lincoln itself.

The humble rank and character of the instru-
ment selected by Divine Providence for securing
the establishment of Methodism in Lincoln, re-
minds us of apostolic times, when the poor and
despised of mankind were chosen to prepare the
way for the permanent triumphs of Christianity ;
and when, as in the case of Lydia, the first Chris-
tian convert in Europe, a female, saved through
the truth herself, cherished and maintained it to
the benefit of others. Sarah Parrott, a poor
woman living at Bracebridge, two miles from Lin-
coln, was a Methodist, and went weekly to Stur-

88 a mother's portrait.

ton, six or seven miles distant from her home, to
meet in class. There, while expressing her pious
wishes for the conversion of the people of Lincoln,
she heard of Mrs. Fisher, of Gunnerby, a person
of property, and distinguished for her attachment
to Methodism. Sarah Parrott forthwith set out
on foot for a journey of twenty-seven miles to
Mrs. Fisher, and earnestly besought her to come
and live in Lincoln, take the Methodist preachers
into her house, and thus lay a foundation for a
society in the city. The sincere, simple character
of Sarah Parrott seems to have made a great im-
pression on- the mind of Mrs. Fisher; and though
she did not instantly comply with the entreaty, it
was not long before she concluded that this was
really a call from God to usefulness ; for she soon
afterwards removed to Lincoln, and invited the
preachers to visit the city regularly in their
rounds.

This was at the close of 1787, "as appears,"
says Mr. Watmough, " from a letter in Mr. Wes-
ley's own handwriting, now lying before me.
This letter, which is dated the 18th of January,
1788, was written to Mr. Lancelot Harrison, a

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 89

preacher of Mr. Wesley's, then on the circuit."
An old lumber-room, near the Gowts' Bridge, was
the only place that could at first be procured ; and
this they fitted up for religious worship. Here
the first Methodist class-meeting was held in Lin-
coln, and consisted of four females — Mrs. Fisher,
Sarah Parrott, Hannah Calder, (mother of the
Rev. Frederick Calder, lately an itinerant minister
in our Connection,) and Elizabeth Keyley. On
the 4th of August, 1788, Mr. Wesley visited
Lincoln again; and tells us in his " Journal" that
he preached at noon in Mrs. Fisher's yard to a
large assembly of rich and poor. The new society
prospered, and the labors of the preachers were
owned of God ; for about two years after Mrs.
Fisher came to reside in Lincoln, a new chapel
was built. It would hold five or six hundred per-
sons, and was situate on the south side of the
river Witham, between the High Bridge and the
Swing Bridge. Mr. Wesley visited Lincoln for
the last time on the 1st of July, 1790. "He
preached in the new chapel," it is recorded, "in
the evening to a crowded audience, from, l One
thing is needful.' When the congregation were

n2

90 A MOTHERS PORTRAIT.

retiring from the chapel, a lady exclaimed, in a
tone of great surprise, 6 Is this the great Mr. Wes-
ley, of whom we hear so much in the present
day ? Why, the poorest person in the chapel might
understand him !' The gentleman to whom the
remark was made, replied, 'In this, Madam, he
displays his greatness, that while the poorest can
understand him, the most learned are edified, and
cannot be offended.'1

Mrs. Fisher not only possessed a share of
worldly wealth, but was a person of superior edu-
cation and manners. She was to the infant cause
of Methodism in Lincoln, and to its ministers,
"the elect lady;" who was not only "given to
hospitality," but devoted her life and property to
the spread of the gospel. She lived by the water-
side, near the chapel, and entertained the ministers
in her house. After her death, one of them had
his residence there. In this house the class and
quarterly meetings were held ; and thither awak-
ened and penitent sinners used to repair, at the
close of religious service in the chapel, to seek the
counsel and prayers of the minister.

At that time, Methodism had no public services

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 91

in church hours; and its members attended the
services of the Established Church, until driven
from it by their knowledge of the immorality of
the clergy, and by persecution. They then went
to the Old Presbyterian Chapel, until Arian doc-
trines— afterwards changed for Unitarianism —
began to be preached there ; and then they had
to resort to Sabbath forenoon services of their
own. Help was soon afforded by the coming to
Lincoln of two devoted men, who as local preachers
did much towards the strengthening and exten-
sion of the society. These were Mr. John Han-
nah, a solicitor's clerk; and Mr. Joseph Mawer,
from Broxholme. The former labored for seven
years as a local preacher in Lincoln and the neigh-
borhood, won many souls to God, and then passed
to his eternal reward : the latter was spared for
many years of useful labor. Methodism soon
won its way in the neighborhood : societies were
formed at Navenby, Boothby, Ingham, Thorpe,
Harby, and other villages ; and new laborers were
raised up.

In 1801, Lincoln, which had been a part of the
Gainsborough Circuit, was separated, and made

92 A mother's portrait.

the head of a circuit, having fifteen preaching-
places and three hundred and seventy-six mem-
bers. The circuit thus separated included what
now also forms the Sleaford Circuit. About this
time the number of local preachers in Lincoln was
considerably increased. Among them the names
of Daniel Isaac, Richard Watson, W. Goy, J.
Bedford, Thomas Padman, John Hannah, W.
Bacon, and Frederick Calder, now or soon after
appear. All these names were afterwards found
in our itinerant ministry ; and some of them in its
foremost ranks. Among the local preachers raised
up in the villages, perhaps none was more useful
than Mr. Dixon, of Bassingham. He was a man
of superior intelligence and of some wealth. He
built a chapel in Bassingham at his own expense ;
was of inestimable service to those who sought
God in his own village ; and zealously carried the
gospel into new villages, such as Aubourn, where
Mr. Lambe became the leader of a class, anS soon
after also built a chapel.

In 1806, a Methodist Sunday-school was raised
on ground belonging to the Rev. Dr. Hannah's
father: a branch of the "Benevolent Society"

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 93

had already been formed : a third itinerant min-
ister had been sent to the circuit the year
before ; and the cause prospered, while all who
loved it were earnest in every good auxiliary
work.

The year 1815 was trebly remarkable for the
Lincoln Wesleyans. Sleaford, with a list of popu-
lous villages, was separated from it, and formed
into a distinct circuit. In Lincoln a new chapel
was built. It stood in the central parish of St.
Peter-at-Arches, and would hold, it is said, nearly
a thousand persons. The Revs. Richard Watson
and Robert Newton opened it; and the joy of
the former may be easily conceived, when he wit-
nessed the prosperity of Methodism in the ancient
city, where he well remembered how lowly was
its condition when he first became one of its
members. In this year, also, a branch of the
Wesleyan Missionary Society was formed at Lin-
coln ; and thenceforward the city held a position
in Methodism which it had never held before.
The visits of eminent ministers, such as the Revs.
Dr. Coke, Dr. Adam Clarke, Dr. Townley, and
Theophilus Lessey, as well as Richard Watson

94 a mother's portrait.

and Robert Newton, — some to speak at the mis-
sionary meetings, and others to preach at Sunday-
school or chapel anniversaries, — now compelled
attention to Methodism from many citizens who
had formerly regarded it disrespectfully. There
was also the successive appointment to the cir-
cuit of several powerful and attractive ministers,
such as the Revs. Daniel Isaac, John Hannah,
and Thomas Galland, whom citizens of all classes
thronged to hear. These were assisted by judi-
cious and devoted laymen, such as Mr. William
Mawer, Mr. Brown, Mr. Carrington, and Mr.
Bainbridge ; together with plain and earnest work-
ers, such as Noble Sproule; and a number of
pious and active females, such as Mary Poole,
Mrs. Bavin, Mary Proudlove, and Mrs. Raven,
all of whom have left names still remembered with
love and gratitude.

Such was the improved condition of Methodism
in Lincoln, and the progress it had made in influ-
ence, when father and Mother became united to
it. Persecution, as I have before observed, had
not ceased ; but our parents lived to see it pass
away, often looked back upon the times when it

METHODISM IN LINCOLN. 95

prevailed, and gratefully rejoiced that they cast
in their lot with the people of God when to be
a Methodist was to be a mark for the world's
opprobrium.

Zttttt Ui.

Man is God's image ; but a poor man is
Christ's stamp to boot : both images regard.

God reckons for him, counts the favor his :

Write, so much given to God : thou shalt be heard.

Let thy alms go before, and keep heaven's gate

Open for thee ; or both may come too late."

HERBERT.

Having received the spirit of Christ, our dear
Mother began to manifest its fruits in active
benevolence and good-will to her fellow-creatures.
Her family increased quickly; and the business

VISITS TO THE POOR. 97

in which our parents had settled required from

her much attention and care; hut with a large

family of young children, and with many persons

under her direction, she found almost daily time

for personal visitation of the sick and the poor.

She was hlessed with the inestimahle quality of

compassion for the needy ; for it is a blessing to

those who possess it, notwithstanding the degree

of suffering there is in sympathy for the distressed.

To feel "the luxury of doing good" is something

more than a well-turned expression ; and so our

dear Mother felt it to he, although incurring the

necessary penalty of hearing new burthens of

anxiety, and sometimes of sorrow, on account of

others.

In addition to the use of her own means — of

which she was ever ready to distribute — she be-%

came a visitor for the Benevolent or Stranger's

Friend Society ; and many were the pounds she

gave away out of its funds within a year, though

each gift of relief required a personal visit, and

was not allowed to exceed eighteen pence at a

time. Almsgiving to the poor she regarded as a

Christian duty not superseded by parish or
5 i

98 A MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.

national provisions. The poor of her own neigh-
borhood were cared for. The cases of widows
and orphans, and of sick and distressed persons,
were named to her acquaintances, as well as made
the subjects of family attention, and the sufferers
were visited and relieved. Hers was not the
charity which is solely devoted to public acts,
and in which there is often too much of osten-
tation.

I need not say that her charity was sometimes
abused. Who that exercises philanthropy has
not some experience of that unwelcome nature?
Beggars came to her door in numbers, which
showed that they knew where they would be
likely to obtain relief; but she had at all times
an ear open for their tales of sorrow and distress,
a word of sympathy for them ; and I cannot re-
member seeing any sent away without help. At
many an affecting account given on the threshold
she has shed tears ; and all around her were thus
taught not to despise the poor. Our dear father
would not unfrequently venture on counsel and
remonstrance against such undistinguishing distri-
bution of alms, as being open to abuse, and as

VISITS TO THE POOR. 99

giving encouragement to vagrancy, — letting alone
the annoyance occasioned by the almost continu-
ous rapping at the door. But she had always a
charitable answer ready. Perhaps some youth
had been the beggar ; and then she would remark,
"It may be he is some poor broken-hearted
mother's son." Or the petitioner had pitifully
pleaded that he had been entirely destitute of
food through the day ; and she would say, —
" Though he is a beggar, he may be a child of
God : Lazarus was." And often she would an-
swer, "I would rather be deceived sometimes
than not give to him that needeth."

Now and then, the more prudent distributor of
alms had his charity abused ; and then she would
not fail, in her own good-humored way, to im-
prove it. I remember one case which served her
well for a pleasant reminder. It was that of a
colored man, who, by a long story of his hard-
ships while a slave, of his perilous escape from
bondage, of his Christian experience, and of his
temporal necessity, had so wrought on father's
compassion, that he brought the negro home with
him, fed him, and gave him half a crown. The

100 a mother's port h a it.

news of a black man being in the kitchen soon
brought down all the children ; and then followed
Mother, to whom father said, " Here is one of
another color, but he is of the same spiritual
family ; and being in need, I have brought him
home with me, to feed and to relieve him." This
was so far satisfactory to Mother. But, with
that instinct which she possessed of almost imme-
diately fastening on the true character of any
person before her, she felt uneasy in the man's
presence, and sooner than expected returned to
the sitting-room up-stairs. In the evening of the
same day, the professed Christian negro was seen
reeling about in the streets intoxicated. This
fact, when reported, was of course mortifying in
its revelation of the man's hypocritical wicked-
ness, as wTcll as in his abuse of charity. Mother
did not fail to turn it to account, when afterwards
she might be advised to be more prudent in the
distribution of alms. " Remember," she would
say to her adviser, with a smile that prevented
any ill effect, "the good black man, the dinner,
and the half-crown." Yet she did not despise
caution j but reflected that it could not always

VISITS TO THE POOR. 101

insure the almsgiver against imposition. She
therefore fell back on the conviction of duty :
made that her rule of action ; and valued money
chiefly as a means of doing good. And that same
conviction of duty made her also careful to pro-
vide for her own household.

Relief of temporal want was often with her a
medium of access to the soul; for the spiritual
welfare of her fellow-creatures was her great and
paramount concern. Many a word in season did
she speak to the beggar at the door : many an
exhortation and prayer accompanied her gifts in
the lonely cottage, the sick-room, the naked
garret, and the cold, comfortless cellar. Indeed,
it might be said, that numerous as were her visits
of charity, she never left the habitation of the
distressed without offering religious counsel, and
seldom without prayer. Dangerous diseases did
not deter our dear Mother from entering the
houses of the dying. Neither fever nor the
frightful cholera could daunt her firm spirit, or
make her halt in the errand of mercy. She was,
to many of the poor and the sick of Lincoln, a
true " Sister of Charity ;" and bright were the

i2

102 a mother's portrait.

trophies she won from among them to the cross
of her Redeemer.

Bufc her visits were not confined to the poor.
Her consistent character made an extensive im-
pression, so that, in not a few instances, persons
of wealth, who had lived without religion, when
seized by sickness, or cast down into great trou-
ble, sent for her, and found through her instruc-
tions the way of life. This was the case with a
large coach-manufacturer, then our landlord, who
had suddenly lost his son, — a young military
officer of great promise in India. News of the
young man's death rendered the parents very
disconsolate ; and struck such deep affliction into
the heart of the father, that he soon afterwards
sank on the bed of death. Mother was sent for :
she improved the opportunity for Christ ; and at
future visits to the dying parent, found good
reason to hope concerning him.

But she did not alwavs wait to be sent for,
even when the sick or troubled were of the
wealthier classes. She was not obtrusive, but
confident in her work. She went, like her Di-
vine Exemplar, to seek and save them that were

INSTANCES OP USEFULNESS. 103

lost. At some distance from her house, on the
same side, down the High street, lived an alder-
man, who, even in those days of pride among the
wearers of civic honors, was somewhat more lofty
in his bearing than the rest of his " worshipful"
brethren. He was a retired, wealthy gentleman ;
and having no child of his own, had adopted as
his heir a young relative. The youth was taken
seriously ill. He was known to Mother by his
having gone with our eldest brother to a clergy-
man's for education. Hearing of his sickness,
Mother went to the house, and asked if she could
be permitted to see him. She was introduced to
the family ; but her application was thought to
be somewhat strange. The young man, they
remarked, was ill in bed. She persevered, how-
ever, and they were soon interested with her
manners. At length, the alderman's lady con-
sented to lead her into the sick-room. She spoke
to the youth of the evil and guilt of sin, and dis-
played the willingness of Christ to save, till he
and all around wept. Then she i:>rayed ; and
when she had risen and left them, they talked

104 a mother's portrait.

of her with wonder, and said she had spoken like
an angel from God.

I might record other instances of the good that
was wrought by her judicious courage in venturing
into families whither she had not been invited.
But it is to be remarked, that judiciousness should
be combined with such courage. Visits of this
kind should not depend only on the boldness of
the visitor; for it is most likely they will then
offend by what will be termed their intrusiveness.
Yet we ought to reflect that it is not really Chris-
tian to wait till we are sent for, when we know
that immortal beings are ready to perish. Our
rules of etiquette are undoubtedly false in this
respect. It will be a poor excuse for our neglect
of a perishing neighbor, to say in the great day
of account, " We were not sent for."

■'ikm^.\ -^_ N

mm

: ISSUES '

— -

%ii\n Hi.

"She did her numerous family command
With such a tender care, so wise a hand,
She seemed no otherwise a mistress there,
Than godlike souls in human bodies are.
But when to all she had example showed,
How to be great and humble, chaste and good,
Her soul, for earth too excellent, too high,
Flew to its peers, the Princes of the sky."

POMFRET.

It might be supposed, from our clear Mother's
activity and diligence in the discharge of philan-
thropic duties, that all her zeal and care was
expended abroad, to the neglect of her own family

5*

106 a mother's portrait.

and household. But it was not so. She had,
most emphatically, her house in order. Her
business was one that required watchful govern-
ment. Those who assisted in it were considerable
in number. Yet there was no waiting for her, no
insubordination, no confusion. It was surprising
how all things seemed to submit to her, and to
serve her purposes. It is said that " the winds
and waves are always on the side of the ablest
navigators ;" and she seemed to possess the power
of making all things her servants. I have often
heard it said to her, when the shop was full, the
rooms behind full, and when at the same time her
children and the persons employed were looking
tip to her for direction, — and yet she would be
calm, collected, and full of energy, — "I wonder
how you can get on at all in the midst of so many
cares, and with so much depending on you." To
which she would almost invariably reply, " The
Lord is very good to me : he assists me very
graciously. He has promised, 'As thy days, so
shall thy strength be;' and he mercifully fulfils
his word."

And this reliance on the Almighty was, in reality,

FAMILY RELIGION. 107

the secret of her strength. She consciously
lived, and moved, and had her being in God.
And though there was great force and tact in her
natural character, — for she seemed made to gov-
ern,— yet she habitually cast all her care on the
Lord, and never failed to trust in him. Above
all, she constantly cherished the spirit of prayer,
and lived in the element of devotion. It was her
habit to spend some considerable time in prayer
before she left her room in the morning. At the
noontide hour, and on retiring at night, she also
poured forth her soul in direct and private inter-
cession with her Maker. But there were other
times when she would escape away from friends
and business to enjoy communion with God. She
was a woman of might, as well as constancy, in
prayer. She knew what it was to wrestle and
plead with the Lord till assuredly blessed, and
then to trust him with all. Her faith was child-
like in its simplicity ; but, like one of the simple
elements of nature, it was of mighty power. And
this deep trust and fervid devotion she brought to
bear on her daily business : she did not reserve
the exercise of spiritual principles for the closet

108 a mother's portrait.

and the sanctuary only. If the philosopher
"brought wisdom from the clouds, and made it
walk among men/' then she brought religion from
heaven to act in daily life. She was an every-day
Christian; and showed herself, amidst multiplied
cares and engagements, to be strong " in the Lord
and in the power of his might." She openly illus-
trated the words of Christ : "All things are pos-
sible to him that believeth."

Her spiritual concern for her own family and
household was also very great. They were the
subjects of her daily solicitude and instruction;
and she walked before them with a perfect heart.
I have already stated that family worship had
been established as soon as father and Mother
became earnest in religion. And this was per-
severingiy continued. Every clay as it opened saw
the entire household, consisting usually of many
persons, assembled for the reading of the word of
God and for prayer. At the dinner-hour, most
frequently a chapter of the Bible was read. In
the evening all the members of the family were
again assembled, when a hymn was sung, the
Scriptures were again read, and prayer offered.

FAMILY RELIGION. 109

Family worship was not hurried and formal, as if
it were an unwelcome work, to be performed as
quickly as possible, and cleared out of the way.
It was fervent and impressive, and was as far
removed from negligent haste on the one hand, as
from protracted and wearisome dulness on the
other. Mother usually prayed in the evening ;
and there was in her petitions so much spiritual
breathing and earnest pleading with Gocl, as made
all feel that she was no outer-court worshipper,
but within the veil and immediately before the
mercy-seat. Her prayers were full and compre-
hensive. None of the members of the household
could feel themselves excluded. Husband, child-
ren, sister, servant, work-women, and visitors, —
all were cared for, and therefore presented in her
petitions. She also comprised in her prayers
parish, city, nation, the sovereign, the Church,
and the world ; and these, not in stereotyped
phrases, but in words expressive of thoughts that
welled up from a full and overflowing soul of
devotion. This practice enlarged the views and
sympathies of those with whom she prayed,
taught them to feel an interest in persons beyond

110 a mother's portrait.

the household circle, and to seek the good of
others as well as their own. There was much of
adoration and praise mingled with all her prayers,
arising from her ardent and thankful disposition.
Seraphic ardor marked all her acts of worship ;
but there was no lightness : religious rejoicing was
with her, as it is with all matured Christians, a
serious employ. A man, when he rejoices, does
not rejoice with noisy laughter like a child.

Neither were her family instructions and prayers
confined to formal morning and evening services.
There were gentle promptings to thought and
worship, such as parental love alone can dic-
tate. It was her custom frequently to speak to
her children apart, and to pray with them in her
own room. At such seasons the lambs were fed
after their own manner, as Isaiah tenderly ex-
presses it. The duties and pleasures of religion
were set forth to them ; and if there had been
any impropriety of behavior, or act of disobedi-
ence, it was pointed out. So that the young
offender had not only to meet father's reproof
and correction, but, what was felt still more,
Mother's private remonstrance ; and this usually

FAMILY RELIGION. Ill

followed by prayer for the erring one's repent-
ance and for Divine forgiveness, as well as by
heart-breaking looks of grief, and by tears. It
was also, as you will remember, my dear Sister,
our Mother's frequent practice to accompany her
younger children to their beds, and commit them
by prayer to the protection and care of their
Heavenly Father. The lovely scene of a mother's
evening worship with her infant children, so viv-
idly portrayed by Henry Alford, in his beautiful
poem entitled "A Doubt," was fully realized in
her abode : —

" I know not how the right may be,
But I have shed strange tears to see,
Passing an unknown town at night,
In some warm chamber full of light,
A mother and two children fair,
Kneeling, with lifted hands, in prayer."

Indeed, she seemed to be always praying with or
for her offspring, and seeking their salvation.
Her large maternal heart was a fountain of
prayer, constantly sending forth its streams of
earnest desire and supplication. I have often
heard her, as I passed by the door of her room,
pleading most earnestly with God on behalf of

112 a mother's portrait.

her children. There could be no question as to
what it was that she desired most for them.

On the Lord's day, in winter-time, Mother
would not unfrequently remain at home with the
younger members of her family in the evening,
when she would read and speak to them of God,
of his angels, and of heaven; and would pray
and sing with them. I remember some of these
seasons which were overpowering in their tender-
ness and unearthliness. The Sabbath with her
was truly a " holy day" and a " delight ;" and
was most distinctly separated from other days
of the week in its employment. After twelve
o'clock on Saturday night, no secular business
was allowed to be done. What was not accom-
plished by that time must be left undone till
Monday morning. In a few things, perhaps,
some would regard her as too rigid : as, for in-
stance, in her not allowing any one to sweep up
the ashes on the hearth upon the day of rest.
Her fixed principle was, that nothing unnecessary
should be done on that day. And she extended
this principle to all in the house : servants and
children as well. We were not permitted, when

SABBATH-DAY SCENES. 113

young, to seek amusement on the Lord's clay in
picture-books or toys : these must be put away
on the Saturday evening. There was no visiting
allowed or encouraged in it, further than the re-
ception into the family circle for the afternoon of
a young Christian apprentice, distant from his
own home. There was no conversation on
worldly subjects indulged. But yet the Sabbath
was not made a gloomy day : it was cheerful and
joyous in its exercises, and the delight of all. It
was, as it is designed to be, a Christian festival.
The day was usually opened with the family
singing an appropriate hymn : such as, —

" The Lord of Sabbath let us praise,
In concert with the blest :
Who, joyful, in harmonious lays
Employ an endless rest."

" Sweet is the day of sacred rest:
No mortal cares disturb my breast.
0 may my heart in tune be found,
Like David's harp of solemn sound!"

We were all taken to the house of God on Sab-
bath mornings, except when extreme infancy,
sickness, or very inclement weather prevented.

k2

114 a mother's portrait.

And 0 ! how truly " sweet " is the day of the
Lord, as thus spent, in its remembrances ! There
was the house of God, filled with serious, devout
worshippers, and earnest inquirers ; or, at least,
the prevalence of these was so great in number,
that the comparatively careless felt it almost im-
possible to be careless altogether, while in such
serious, devout, and earnest company. The pre-
sence of the venerable minister in the pulpit :
the communion-table, with its surrounding foot-
stool and rail, where so many had repeatedly felt
and realized the presence of God, while there
kneeling to consecrate themselves to him, and to
commemorate their Saviour's death : the cheer-
ful faces of the choir in the singing-seat below :
the laboring poor crowding the benches, and
listening to the preacher with fixed attention :
the Sunday-school children under the gallery on
the right and left, the tender soil of their young
hearts thus brought within reach of the seed cast
from the hand of the spiritual sower : all this
forms an indelible picture in the memory, free
from mournful regrets, and never reviewed without
pleasurable and purifying effect.

SABBATH-DAY SCENES. 115

There was no disorder ; and nothing, that I can
remember, unbecoming the public services of re-
ligion. There was not, as in some of our princi-
pal Methodist chapels, the use of the liturgy,
which, by its inspiring and solemn forms of ad-
dress before the Divine Being, secures, on all
occasions, to those who employ it with " sincerity
and truth," most profitable devotional exercise.
But there were hymns of praise, prayers, and
heartfelt confessions, reverent reading of the
Holy Scriptures ; and there were sermons, plain
in their style, forcible in appeal, comprehensive
in invitation, and accompanied by the Spirit's
unction and power. The singing in those days
was not left to the choir ; but all sang earnestly,
and with that real devotion which is the safest
guardian of both time and harmony in public
worship. The sacraments were administered
with solemn order, — not as mere rites and cere-
monies, but as sacraments which Christ hath
appointed to be received by his people. In those
times, how eager was the curiosity of the young
in the congregation, when the sacrament of bap-
tism was administered to some tender infant

116 a mother's portrait.

presented by its believing parents for public
recognition by the Church of Christ! and how
often tears flowed from the eyes of the matured,
during the affecting address of the minister on
the obligation of Christian parents to "bring up
their children in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord !" And to myself, as doubtless to
others, how solemn were the impressions relative
to the separation of the Church from the general
congregation, prior to the celebration of the
Lord's Supper ! when, after the departure of
the multitude, the society-stewards went from
pew to pew, to see that each person remaining
had the accrediting ticket or note, and was duly
authorized to approach the table of the Lord.
There was little or no uncertainty then, in the
line of distinction between the Church and the
world ; nor was there any question whether the
Sabbath, in its services, should be hallowed and
made honorable.

I do not write thus because I think that the
people of God have in such observances seriously
degenerated. Wesleyans are far more numerous
now at Lincoln, in their attendance at the more

SABBATH-DAY SCENES. 117

solemn means of grace, than they were thirty
years ago ; as, indeed, they are in almost every
other city or town in the kingdom. They have
now in Lincoln more than twice as many " hearers "
and members of Society; and I have no reason to
believe that the Methodists there, or elsewhere,
are less orderly, attentive, or devout, in their
worship. But some persons have supposed — in
ignorance of facts that they would have become
acquainted with, had they inquired — that in earlier
times Methodists were a disorderly and irreverent
people. Nay, I fear there are some prejudiced
persons who deem them deserving of no better
description now. It is not so at the present day,
as you know; and, though not forgetful of the
sunlight which ever gilds our memory of the
scenes of our youth, I can testify that in former
days also, the services of Methodism would bear
comparison with those of any section of the
general Church of Christ, for reverent and devout
performance.

My mind, however, reverts again to the Sab-
bath evenings spent at home with our dear Mother.
I well remember the family Bible open on the

118 a mother's portrait.

table, the psalms, and hymns, and prayers, and
her conversation with us on heaven. It seemed
sometimes as if the pearl-gates of the New Jeru-
salem were opened before us, and as if we could
see the nations of the saved rejoicing in its golden
streets. The room in which we were, not unfre-
quently seemed to be full of angels, who had
descended as on Jacob's bright ladder, and with
viewless forms and noiseless wings were hovering
around, and associating with us. If religious
parents would often hold such conferences with
their children, what beneficial impressions might
be made on young and tender minds ! How much
more commendable such a practice, than reciting
foolish tales and showing ludicrous pictures to
children ! Surely, believers should more con-
stantly remember the duty and advantage of pre-
occupying the young mind for Christ. They
should beware of waiting till the enemy has sown
tares in the heart, which will have to be rooted
up ; and should rather hasten to plant the seed of
the kingdom in the virgin soil. Nor is it neces-
sary to wait so long as some persons suppose,
before the mind shall be able to receive religious

SABBATH-DAY SCENES. 119

teaching. In several respects, a little child is
better prepared to receive it than an adult. Great
mysteries are not understood by either : they are
simply matters of reverential faith ; and the Chris-
tian father, as well as his child, has to worship
before the greatest truths with the religion of
wonder and adoration. A little child has not been
rendered suspicious and unbelieving by experience
of a deceitful world ; but is guileless and confid-
ing. So much so, that the Saviour sets it forth
as the very type of undoubting trust, and of im-
plicit obedience : " Verily I say unto you, whoso-
ever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, shall in nowise enter therein." We
learn, too, that Hannah of old dedicated Samuel
in his childhood to the Lord ; and Timothy was
from his infancy instructed by his believing mother
and grandmother, "so that from a child" (a little
child) he had " known the Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make wise unto salvation."

Proofs of the efficacy of early religious care and
instruction were to be found in our Mother's young-
family. Some, as in the Patriarch Jacob's house,
were wayward and rebellious, and caused her much

120 a mother's portrait.

sorrow ; but others were goodly fruits of her pious
endeavors. The greater number of her many
children died in infancy and childhood. And
while young, the deaths in our family were so
numerous, and the circumstances in connection
with some so remarkable, that the living among
us could not but be deeply impressed by them.
They seemed to bring the spiritual world near, to
open and reopen it before us. Some of these cir-
cumstances were strange and inexplicable. In
another letter I will give them simply as they
were often related by our parents.

: : \

g

.

ftttn HiL

" Now a thing was secretly brought to me,
And mine ear received a little thereof.
In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth upon men,
Fear came upon me, and trembling,
Which made all my bones to shake.
Then a spirit passed before my face :
The hair of my flesh stood up :

It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof:
An image was before mine eyes."

ELIPHAZ. JOB IV. 12-1G.

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep."

MILTOX.

6

122 a mother's portrait.

I would not, my dear Sister, assist to render
you superstitious : I only recommend to you that
degree of hesitancy on some mysterious subjects,
which I hold to be more truly philosophical than
disbelief. We ought not, I conclude, to desire to
account for all things which come under the cog-
nizance of our senses, or which are in any way
apprehended by the mind. Even with those who
attempt all this, many things remain, and must
remain, mysterious. Existence itself is a mys-
tery, even to ourselves who exist ; and of the
modes of spiritual existence we know nothing.
And undoubtedly it is a wise and good arrange-
ment on the part of our Maker, that he has left us
in ignorance of them. I cannot explain what I
am about to relate. I do not undertake to say
whether it belongs to the sensuous or the ideal.
I merely narrate it.

I have already said that the greater number of
our brothers and sisters died when very young.
With the exception of one little brother, Abraham,
who sleej)s behind the conduit in St. Mary's
Churchyard, they were all buried beside grand-
father Caborn, at St. Mark's. The first who sought

FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS. 123

the Lord in childhood was your sister Anne, who
died when six years old. She was a most intelli-
gent and engaging child, such as would be readily
pronounced by the more " knowing ones " as " not
long for earth ;" and such as the poet Stanyan
Bigg must have had in view when he penned those
sweet verses of his poem " On Childhood," —

"All the little children loved her —

None so joyous in their play ;
And yet ever was there something

Which seemed — ah ! so far away
From the joyance and the laughter,

And the streamlet's crisping foam —
'Twas as if some little song-bird

Had dropped down from yon blue dome,
Warbling still among the others,

Wandering with them where they roam,
And yet hallowing remembrance

With low gushes about home !"

Our young sister early imbibed the spirit of
benevolence, and would frequently ask her Mother
to be allowed to accompany her in visits to the
poor and the sick. On one of these occasions,
when ascending the " Steep Hill," by the ancient
Jew's house, on the way to the upper part of the
city, after having been spoken to on the necessity

124 a mother's portrait.

of personal salvation, and on the approaching sol-
emnities of death and eternity, she suddenly began
to weep. Mother said to her, "Anne, what are
you crying for ?" The child replied, " Because I
have been so very wicked." "Very wicked!"
exclaimed her Mother, as she had hold of her
hand, and not perceiving the child's full meaning
at first : " I have thought you a good and obedient
girl to me ; and God will forgive your sins against
him, if you pray to him." " Before you I have
seemed good," replied Anne ; " but God has seen
my heart, and known that I have been very
wicked." Mother now began to converse with her
more at length on the mercy of God to sinners,
and on the way of salvation by Jesus Christ.
After she returned home, she was heard praying
in her chamber for the forgiveness of her sins ;
and in a few days her young heart was lightened
of its load of condemnation and sorrow, and she
rejoiced in the assurance of being a child of God.
Soon after this she died.

On the Sabbath before her death, she was by
the fireside in her grandfather's kitchen, when she
suddenly exclaimed, looking and pointing towards

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 125

the window, " See ! there is my brother William,
like an angel with bright wings. He is smiling
upon me, and beckoning me to go to him !" She
was told that it was a mere childish fancy ; and
that she could not know her brother William if
she saw him, for he was dead before she was
born. But the child persisted in saying that it
was her brother William she saw ; and that he
waved his hand for her to go to him. Though
apparently well, and promising for life, that Sab-
bath, on the next she died; and her death was
not only peaceful but triumphant. Her father
and Mother were standing over her weeping while
she was dying, when she looked up to them, and
said, " Father ! Mother ! do not weep for me. I
am going to heaven, and shall be happy there with
Jesus Christ. And when you die, I and my
brothers in heaven will come to meet you; and
then wTe shall live together for ever."

When reminded that it was the Lord's day,
a day on which she had been accustomed to go
for worship to the house of God, she repeated,
from Dr. Watts's incomparable hymns for child-
ren, and with a sweetness of look and manner

l2

126 a mother's portrait.

that belong only to "little ones" meetened for
heaven, —

"Lord, how delightful 'tis to see
A whole assembly worship thee !
At once they sing, at once they pray :
They hear of heaven, and learn the way.

" I have been there, and still would go " —

Here her voice failed, and her worshipping spirit
instantly passed to the joyful multitude before the
throne.

Soon after this, her brother David, her constant
companion, who was a year younger than herself,
and a fine, light-haired, cheerful boy, also died.
His death was startling and impressive. He was
suddenly killed by the rolling upon him of the
trunk of a large tree, which had been carelessly
left without any fastening-chain or cord, near a
coachmaker's yard, and which merely rested on
another round piece of timber. It was in the
summer-time, when Mother was accustomed to
keep fruit in the cupboard for her children, to give
it to them at intervals during the day. In the
afternoon of the day, Mother said to him, " David,
come to me, and I will give you some fruit." He

FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS. 127

came, looked hastily into the cupboard, but not
being high enough to see the farther side of the
shelf on which the fruit-dish was placed, he ran
aAvay, saying, " There is none." He went out of
the open door of the house ; and, as was quite
unusual with him, ran down the street towards the
coachmaker's yard • when, just as he reached the
spot where the tree-trunks were lying, the upper
one rolled down upon him, and crushed him
instantly to death.

All who were then at home will remember well
that day : the solemn stillness of the house : the
heart-rending sorrow of our parents : the drops of
blood upon the sheet that covered poor David's
mangled body, which had been placed on a table
hi the chamber. Nor have I forgotten my own
fear to go up stairs, or to sleep in the house : my
going out to a neighbor's to sleep : the terrific
dream I had of the judgment-day, and the glare
of a world on fire, which burned as an oven around
me : the funeral ; and then the mill-stone sorrow,
unrelieved by tears, which bore our father down
until he could not stay up any longer from his bed,
but went silently to it, apparently to die heart-

128 A MOTHER S PORTRAIT.

broken by this his awful bereavement, following
so soon after your sister Anne's death. Upon
that bed he lay for nearly two days, without food
or speech, until, as he says, a scene most spiritual
and heavenly opened before him, in which ap-
peared his two departed children, Anne and David,
hand in hand, shining as angels, and smiling upon
him. By that scene, whether real or imaginary,
he wTas unspeakably relieved ; and rising from his
bed, then ministered to the consolation of others.
The grave opened that year again, more than once
or twice.

Other scenes of the spiritual world are related
in the family concerning departed relatives ; but,
as I can attempt no explanation that would be
certain, I forbear to narrate them. Whether they
were mental illusions caused by exciting circum-
stances, such as Abercrombie, in his instructive
book on the " Intellectual Powers " makes mention
of, and explains, or whether they were realities, I
cannot say. I would only observe, and have you
remember, dear Sister, that we learn from Divine
Revelation that there is a spiritual world. And
for aught we know, it may be near to us ; yea, in

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 129

the very midst of us. Matter may be no more in
the way of spirits than spirits are in the way of
matter. The light of education and science has
of late much increased, and with its increase many
of the darker superstitions and ghostly fears of
mankind have fled away ; but after the removal
of these "vulgar errors/' there still remains a
world of spirits as certain as it was before. We
ought not to discredit either the Scripture evi-
dence for spiritual appearances, or what has been
said by the saints of God in later times, concern-
ing what they have seen in life and health, or in
the dying-hour, of ministering angels and departed
friends. Is all that so many Christians have
spoken in their most solemn moments, on the
appearance of waiting angels and spirits, — when
the earthly house of their tabernacle was rending,
and admitting glimpses of what was around, — to
be disbelieved ? Is heaven now farther off than
before the modern systems of education wTere de-
vised, or before Sir Isaac Newton made his great
discoveries of the solar svstem? The celestial
gates are not now more closed than they were of
old. It may be that when we die, we shall find
6*

130 a mother's portrait.

the open door of our Father's house of many man-
sions not so distant from us as we had supposed.

Let me here add to what I have before related
of our dear Mother's efforts for the salvation of
her children, that when she perceived any religious
concern had been awakened within them, she was
more than ever tenderly and constantly attentive
to them, both in words and prayers. She would
caution them against relaxing into indifference, and
encourage them, by the most gentle yet effective
promptings, to seek the mercy of God by faith in
Jesus Christ. But in doing this, she would not
obtrude their case of godly sorrow openly before
the family, by being too minute and personal in
references to it. Yet the mourners for sin knew
well that they were included in her subjects of
prayer and conversation; and when in any in-
stance deliverance from condemnation was ob-
tained, she rejoiced greatly. If called away from
home, folio sheets of counsel followed them in her
large free handwriting : so that she literally ceased
not to labor and to pray for their salvation.

%t\\tx I*.

"Who now sows precious seed, though it may be
Too oft with weeping,
Shall, if he patiently await, see
A joyous reaping.

" Fruit shall be gathered, whose abundant store
Shall never perish ;
But blissful love, where weeping shall be o'er,
For ever cherish.

;' Then scatter freely, nor withhold thy hand
Till close of even :
Earth is the place of toil — the better land
Of rest is heaven."

THOMAS DAVIS.

132 a mother's portrait.

I must not omit to say, that our dear Mother's
endeavors for the conversion of her relatives were
not confined to her own children. All her kin-
dred were remembered : those living at a distance
were daily prayed for ; and they were affection-
ately written to, and personally visited, for their
religious benefit. Perhaps this duty, of personal
and direct endeavor for the salvation of relatives,
is one which really pious persons are not unfre-
(juently found more diffident to discharge than
almost any other. Some Christians can speak of
the things of God to strangers with comparative
confidence; but feel it exceedingly difficult, and
even irksome, to be faithful with those who are
immediately related to them. And yet, if this
diffidence were once broken through and over-
come, from whom is pious advice or warning more
likely to have a saving effect than from one's own
kindred? Sincerity of affection can scarcely be
doubted when the faithful words come from such
a quarter. And if the exhortation or warning
were coldly received at first, reflection would,
most probably, give force to it, sooner or later.

Several instances might be named of our dear

USEFULNESS TO KINDRED. 133

Mother's success in this direction. I will record
one instance : that of your uncle, Mr. James
Caborn, of Beverley, now my father-in-law. He
was, up to an advanced period of life, a man of
the world, and indulged freely in its pleasures.
He was greatly attached to our dear Mother ; but
for years perseveringly withstood her earnest en-
treaties, as also the tearful solicitations of his
aged father, to abandon the unsatisfactory and
dangerous way of sin, and turn to God. His state
for some time had pressed very heavily upon her
mind, led her to think of him often, and to pray
much for him ; as well as frequently to write him
long and affectionate letters.

Towards the end of the year 1820, she had
become more than ever concerned for him, and
had frequently spoken of him to her family. The
close of the year, as well as the beginning, you
know, is, by its special religious services, a season
of very solemn interest to Wesleyan Methodists.
There was then the early Christmas morning ser-
vice at five o'clock, when the stars, as silent
preachers of light and beauty, would be seen
shining brightly overhead, to remind the worship-

M

134 a mother's portrait.

per, on his way to the Christian sanctuary, of the
angel " watchers and holy ones/' who sang in the
hearing of the shepherds of Bethlehem the
Saviour's incarnation-hymn. There is the Watch-
night service, when, at the departure of the old
year, — after the example of primitive Christians,
— the saints " a holy vigil keep" in the house of
God, until, amidst the reflective and prayerful
silence of a crowded congregation bowed before
the Lord, the clock proclaims the entrance of
another year; and suddenly "the solemn mid-
night song" is raised —

" Come, let us anew our journey pursue,
Roll round with the year ;
And never stand still till the Master appear !"

There is the Renewal of the Covenant, on the
afternoon of the first Sabbath in the new year,
when the members of the Methodist Society
assemble in their principal chapels, and formally
enter into covenant with God that they will in
that year, and all their lives through, devote
themselves to him ; and when they publicly seal
their covenant at the table of the Lord. Such
services at this season of family association natu-

USEFULNESS TO KINDRED. 135

i

rally lead to serious thoughts of duties to be per-
formed to absent friends and relatives; and on
returning from the watch-night service, Mother,
after reading a passage from the Acts of the
Apostles relating to evangelistic journeying, said,
it was deeply impressed upon her mind that she
must go to Beverley this year, to personally urge
her brother to seek the salvation of his soul ; and
that if the Lord spared her till the summer, she
would go. She accordingly went — -journeying by
coach on the old Roman road, which leads through
" Newport Gate," represented at the head of this
letter, and which has stood there not less than
eighteen hundred years — as far as Barton-on-
Humber, and then crossing the water to Hull,
proceeded to her native town. Her brother re-
joiced to see her, though her presence was felt at
first to be a partial restraint upon him. He spent
much time with her, heard what she had to say,
and went with her to the house of God on the
Sabbath; but still he seemed unmoved, The
time drew near for her return home; and she
spoke of leaving on the following day; but said
that before she left, there was one request which

136 a mother's portrait.

she had specially to prefer. Her brother said he
would accede to it, if he could. She said it was,
that he would not only attend public worship
in the chapel, but also the early Sabbath morning
prayer-meeting. He pleaded that he could not
do that ; for the persons attending would be so
much surprised to see him there, that he should
feel uneasy and ashamed among them. But she
repeated the request, and urged it on the ground
of her own personal affection. He at length con-
sented ; and from that time entered upon a decid-
edly religious course of life. His inward and
spiritual change was soon manifest ; and from that
period he has been a devoted and exemplary
servant of the Lord, spending much of his time
in visiting the sick and the poor, after the exam-
ple of his father and sister.

But, as I have already observed, our dear
Mother's devout concern was not only for her own
family and relatives, for the needy and the afflicted,
but also for all others who came in any way under
her influence. She was earnestly anxious for the
salvation of servants, and of persons whom she
employed in her business. They were not only

USEFULNESS TO SERVANTS. 137

present at our daily worship, but she spoke to
them on their spiritual need, privately, and at con-
venient times. She showed her interest in their
temporal welfare, — not professing good-will to
their souls while " oppressing the hireling in his
wages," — and thus was the more trustfully listened
to when she approached religious topics. With
happy ease — for her devout habit rendered it easy
to her — she inquired into their thoughts and pur-
poses concerning religion, and presented to them
the most impressive and encouraging motives for
decision : such as the shortness and uncertainty
of life, and the Divine assurances of guidance and
blessing for those who devote themselves to the
service of the Lord. There were invitations given
to attend the public ministration of God's word :
the offer of a seat in the chapel : arrangements
made for their attendance at religious festivals and
on week-night services ; and afterwards there was
conversation with them on what they had seen
and heard. Exhortations and appeals that drew
tears would follow ; and they were not in vain ;
for she was instrumental in bringing into the way
of life several who were employed by her, and

31 2

138 a mother's portrait.

also in extending the influence of religion to their
families and friends. 0 that Christian professors,
universally, would follow her blessed example in
this respect ; and where they have servants, and
persons under their daily direction, remember that
such are not to be viewed as mere instruments for
temporal gain ; but, in a large degree, as so many
trusts committed to them by Divine Providence ;
and that for their salvation the persons employing
them are, in a great measure, responsible !

But beyond her own household, our Mother
exercised an influence which extended farther into
the world than its giddy devotees suspected. Her
blended cheerfulness and good sense rendered her
the chosen guide and counsellor of many, of all
ages and of all classes. Her house was as open
as her heart. The young freely came to her for
sympathy and counsel ; and not less so those in
mature life. The rich, with whom she had much
to do in her business, she attracted and won to
her by consistency of Christian deportment. She
was instant in season and out of season for doing
good; so that whatever might be the nature or
pressure of her engagement, she had still some

USEFULNESS IN BUSINESS. 139

words and time for Christ. Not a few contrived
reasons for visiting her, so that they might have
the opportunity of hearing her speak on the peace-
ful and pleasant way of godliness. Sometimes,
after serious conversation, she would lead such
visitors into her chamber to pray with them.
Now and then, her inquiries into personal conduct
would be too searching, especially if former counsel
had been neglected ; and any repetition of the
pious lesson would be evaded, if possible. But
she usually succeeded in her object.

There was one case, I remember hearing her
name, of a lady who drove up to the door, put on
an appearance of great haste, and said she must
have what she wanted immediately, for she had
not a moment to spare. The lady was quickly
attended to ; but when she was about to depart,
Mother gently, yet impressively, asked, " May I
hope that since you were here you have been
making good speed for the kingdom of heaven ?"
"Ah !" replied the lady, " that was what I really
was afraid of, and which made me be in haste. I
expected you would say something to me again
concerning religion ; and since I was with you, I

140 a mother's portrait.

have been so foolish and trifling in my conduct,
that I am truly ashamed. I thought I should not
know how to answer you, if you spoke to me as
you did before." Mother pressed upon her the
necessity of seriousness ; the lady stayed for a
considerable time, conversed on the vanity of the
world, and the value of religion ; and, as it after-
wards appeared, not without spiritual profit.
Another instance recurs to my memory. A

lady from Hall drove up to our door in her

carriage. It was her first visit ; and while naming
her business, she manifested a degree of urbane
frankness which won greatly upon our Mother's
heart. " I must speak to her respecting another
world," said Mother, when the lady was gone,
" and I must pray for her." The lady soon came
again ; entered herself on more general conversa-
tion, and said, " I am surprised, Mrs. Jobson, at
your being able to bear so many cares, apparently
with so much ease, and with so large a family."
As usual, this was ascribed to the gracious help
of God, and occasion was taken to enlarge on his
unfailing goodness in aiding all who trust in him.
The lady soon opened her own case, and acknow-

USEFULNESS IN BUSINESS. 141

ledged how much she was troubled with the charge
of her station and family. Mother showed her
the great responsibility of her situation : the
necessity of personal religion for discharging its
duties aright; and how that religion was to be
obtained. The lady was much impressed by what
she heard, and returned to her carriage bathed in
tears. Afterwards the lady called again to say
what she had done. She had sought the Lord :
had put away Sabbath-breaking from her family
and household : established family prayer ; and
herself began to read sermons and prayers with
her children and servants. The lady lived for
some years to be a blessing to the poor of the
village and neighborhood, and then died in the
peace of God.

Other instances might be given, proving how
our Mother was fully awake to the duty of abid-
ing with God in her calling. And it should be
observed, that it is in dairy life where religion is
seen by persons of the world, and where it is
most likely to win their attention. They cannot
witness the believer's pleadings in the closet, and
in the family ; while the house of God has little

142 a mother's portrait.

or no attraction for them. The power of Chris-
tianity would indeed be mighty for the conversion
of mankind, if all its professors were earnest to
let it be seen in their common business, and were
faithful to speak words in season for their Divine
Master, while transacting its daily concerns.
Then "Holiness to the Lord" being "written
upon the bells of the horses," would sanctify
trade and commerce, and render them subservient
to the glory of Christ.

Even while travelling, and among strangers,
our dear Mother did not forget the cause of her
Redeemer. Her easy and affable manner enabled
her to speak of religion pleasantly, and to win
the attention and sympathy of those with whom
she was thus casually brought into companion-
ship. Even thoughtless and profane persons were
won over to serious thoughts by her mode of
introducing the subject to them. Coming one
time in the coach to London, she had with her, as
fellow-passengers, two gay, dissipated youths,
who spoke of their exploits and adventures with
such libertine emphasis, that their language grew
unbecoming for modest ears. She began to re-

USEFULNESS TO STRANGERS. 143

monstrate with them, but mildly, so as to prevent
their rejection of her interference. They apolo-
gized ; and then she advanced to greater serious-
ness, which awed and impressed them. And now
she spoke of the great superiority of a holy life to
their course of gayety and dissipation, and showed
them what true enjoyment there is in the peace
and friendship of God, till they were moved with
inward feeling, and their eyes rilled with tears.
At the end of their journey, they testified their
esteem for her; and she separated from them,
hoping that in a future clay it might appear, that
conversation with her in the stage-coach had been
for their everlasting benefit.

f din *.

"So shall we still resort

To Sion's hallowed court,
And lift the heart to Him who reigns above :

Then, home returning, muse

On sweet and solemn views,
Or fill the void with acts of holy love :
Then lay us down in peace, to think we've given
Another precious day to fit our souls for heaven !"

BISHOP MANT.

From what I have already related, you will be
prepared to learn that our dear Mother had great

PUBLIC WORSHIP. 145

delight in the public services of the sanctuary.
Her place there was seldom empty, whether on
the Sabbath or the week-day, when the gates
were open. She was a true lover of Zion, and
could say with David, "Lord, I have loved the
habitation of thy house, and the place where thy
honor dwelleth." Like that distinguished saint,
she felt the deprivation of the house of God more
than earthly calamity, if sickness, or any other
circumstance, prevented her attendance. When
detained at home, she still showed that in spirit
she was there ; and at such times it was her prac-
tice to have, as far as possible, a similar service
in her own house : to sing, pray, read the Scrip-
tures, sing again, read a sermon, and again sing
and pray at the time they were likely to do so
who were at the house of the Lord.

When present at public worship, it was very
seldom an unprofitable season for herself. Of
course, some ministers w7ere more suited to her
than others, in their modes of exhibiting and en-
forcing the truth. But if the gospel were veri-
tably preached, she was satisfied, and made no
complaint on account of the preacher's manner or
7 n

146 a mother's portrait.

style. She was not driven to religion by terrors
at the beginning. Then, and ever afterwards, she
was drawn by the love of Christ, This was the
golden cord with which the Lord drew her to
himself at the first ; and throughout her course,
she was attached to the Redeemer by it. A ser-
mon without Christ, however logical or eloquent,
would have been to her, as it must be to every
Christian hungering and thirsting after righteous-
ness, a splendid mockery, a gilded deception
Christ was to her all and in all ; and if not found
in a sermon, her soul would indeed have been dis-
appointed and sorrowful. Happily, in Methodism,
there is little reason for disappointment in this
respect ; and of each minister, as he came in his
itinerant course, she felt and spoke as though he
were to be preferred before all others.

Of one thing she seemed especially careful : not
at any time to speak of a minister before her
family in such a strain as to lessen their esteem
towards him. As the messenger of God to them.
as well as to herself, he was always spoken of
with reverence and affection. It is not to be
supposed that ministers, as fallible men, are free

CONDUCT TOW A EDS MINISTERS. 147

from imperfections. Yet these, where seen, she
never dwelt upon or magnified; but would uni-
formly deprecate the evil of unreserved remarks
and criticisms, by parents before their children,
on the character, style, or manner of Christian
ministers. She was accustomed to say that the
evils of such a practice were incalculable : that it
prevented reception of the truth, suppressed de-
vout thoughts, turned many aside from the Church
of their fathers, and prepared them to tread the
broad path of an ungodly, censorious world, that
leads to destruction. And I am constrained to
testify, that I have personally known some sor-
rowful proofs of the truth of these remarks, — of
parents discovering, when too late, the evil they
have inflicted on their offspring ; and though not
without hope in the mercy of God for themselves,
yet being pierced with sharp thorns in their
dying moments, on their children's account.

There were no such painful reflections for our
dear departed parent. She was a real help, and
not a hindrance to these servants of God. She
was their avowed friend ; and her house was easy
of access to them, so that the visits both of the

148 a mother's portrait.

aged and of the youthful ministers were frequent.
She was a companion to the one, and a sort of
foster-mother to the other. Always ready to
sympathize with them in their cares, and to aid
them in their endeavors, few were stationed in
Lincoln by whom she was not deeply regarded
and highly valued.

As you may suppose, many happy hours were
passed within the family circle, in friendly and
reverential association with the ministers who
came and went successively in their itinerant
course. The elder ministers related their experi-
ence of early Methodism, and described the work
of God as it was carried on under Wesley and his
helpers in the gospel. And many an instructive
or amusing anecdote would be told by them,
as you may suppose, of Mather or Pawson, of
Bardsley or Bradburn, of Coke or Benson. The
younger ministers spoke of discussions at the Con-
ference, by the men of their clay, and of their own
strong yearnings for the growth and prosperity of
the cause of Christ in the circuit to which they
had come. And with all, whether young or old,
there would be the worship of God around the

VISITS OF MINISTERS. 149

•

domestic hearth. It is true, that mingled with
these enjoyments there were sorrowful thoughts
of losing such friends, when their two or three
years of itinerant labor in the Lincoln Circuit
should expire. But though it was felt then, as it
is often felt now, that this law of periodical change
in the stations of Methodist ministers is a stern
and painful law, as affecting individual friendships,
yet the general advantage resulting from it to the
Church at large cannot be doubted. It not only
supplies to each circuit the greatest variety of
gifts for edification ; but prevents any of the
societies from sinking down into dead formality.
The sending forth of fresh ministers into the cir-
cuits, by the yearly Conference, is like infusing
new and vigorous blood into all the veins of the
system. They who speak dubiously of this part of
the working of Methodism, and ask if it be not
time to alter it, do not consider how this very
arrangement binds the Connection together in the
bonds of sympathy and affection. Nor are they,
perhaps, aware what strong wishes are often
expressed, by both ministers and people of other
Christian communities, to secure a variety of gifts

n2

150 a mother's portrait.

for edification, by some such regulation as that of
the Methodist itinerancy.

I may also add here, that the supposed improve-
ments of Church government, or the inconsistent
conduct of Christian professors, were not unguard-
edly spoken of before the younger members of the
family. She was careful not to say any thing
against the Church to which she desired her child-
ren to belong, or against its members with whom
she hoped to see them associated. Her discretion
and good sense were as evident here as in other
parts of her exemplary conduct. She was not so
unreasonable as to expect that her children would
readily unite themselves to a Church censured by
their parents, or seek fellowship with its members
often blamed for inconsistency. Perhaps the want
of similar discretion on the part of some Methodist
parents may, to no inconsiderable extent, account
for the lack of greater increase to the respective
societies, from the families of Methodism.

Our Mother's exemplary diligence in the use
of the services and ordinances of religion, was
the true secret of her excellence and usefulness.

DILIGENCE IN RELIGION. 151

Many profess a desire to be good and useful, but
do not employ the appointed means for becoming
so. They complain of their spiritual "leanness,"
their want of Divine consolation, and that they do
nothing for Christ ; but they do little more than
complain. How unreasonable is this ! Spiritual
ends are no more to be attained without appro-
priate means than those which are temporal. The
laws regulating them are as certain and fixed in
the one case as in the other. If we would be
" strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might," we must wTait upon him for that strength,
and for its daily renewal. The Bible promises
neither strength nor comfort to slothful servants.
All eminent saints have been diligent in religion ;
and not only diligent, but methodical. No name
ever given by the world to a company of the pious
was more fitting and truthful than that given to
the first " Methodists." And our Mother was one
who in her conduct illustrated the name.

I do not mean that she was a slave to method.
It is possible to become so : to attach ourselves to
stated and particular observances, until all real
worth of character is lost in minuteness and form-

152 a mother's portrait.

alism. Our Mother saw the importance of method
without overvaluing it. She had her rules for the
service of God. She enlisted on its behalf the
great power of habit, knowing that it would surely
tend to strengthen her love for the ways of wis-
dom, and make them easy and delightful.

Thus it was that, with all her multiplied engage-
ments of family and business, the regularity of
her attendance at the house of God was unbroken.
Love is an ingenious principle, and in most cases
will find the way for obtaining its object. So her
love for God, and her desire to appear before him,
overcame difficulties. To attend the public ser-
vices of religion was a part of her plan of life.
She made preparation for it in the arrangements
of the week and of the day ; and that not only for
herself, but also for others. Entertainment of
friends, and attention to business, might be pleas-
ant or profitable ; but with her, serving God was
" the one thing needful ;" and she would not allow
that to be set aside by any friendly or temporal
occupation.

Our dear Mother also highly valued the meet-
ings of the Church for social and united prayer.

FELLOWSHIP IN PEAYER. 153

During many years she was strict in her attend-
ance on the early Sabbath-morning prayer-meet-
ings, though seldom or never able to retire to rest
until after midnight of Saturday. This she did
both winter and summer. On the week-day
prayer-meetings she was likewise a diligent at-
tendant ; for she had faith in the Divine promises
relating to the united and consentient supplications
of the Church.

The Holy Scriptures give evident importance
to the associated prayers of God's people. They
speak of " fellowship" and of " striving together"
in prayer. It is declared, that the gathering to-
gether of two or three in the name of Christ
secures his presence ; and he has expressly said,
" If two of you shall agree on earth as touching
any thing that they shall ask, it shall be clone for
them of my Father which is in heaven." Such
united and agreed prayers, in which your Mother
joined, are stimulative of earnest desire and en-
treaty. By them, heart speaks to heart, and
voice to voice, until, instead of isolated and fee-
ble cries, there is the besieging supplication of a

great multitude, which is as the sound of many

7*

154 a mother's portrait.

waters, and of mighty thimderings before the
throne. And He who has ordained that " the
poor" are to " use entreaties," and has written in
his holy word, " The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force," will
undoubtedly bless and prosper them who thus
associate themselves before him for prayer and
supplication.

Indeed, in all the social means of grace so pro-
minent in Methodism, our Mother had great de-
light, as I have already stated. I have before
alluded to her love for the weekly class-meeting ;
and that was a proof of the spirituality of her re-
ligion. She experienced none of that occasional
lukewarmness which renders some professors un-
willing to bear inquiry into their spiritual state.
Her religious life was of such a tenor that she had
always something to say which redounded to
God's glory, increased her own grateful sense of
his goodness, and which was edifying to others.
Of the more restricted social meeting, termed
among Wesleyans the " Band," she discerned the
special value, as one whose aim it was to walk
closely with God. Some finer parts of the be-

FELLOWSHIP IN BAND. 155

liever's experience will not bear to be exposed in
a class of fifteen or twenty persons ; but require
a more select, as well as a more intimate and con-
fidential fellowship. Even of the twelve compan-
ions chosen by Christ, there were three only —
Peter, James, and John — whom he took with him
to the more retired scenes of Tabor and Gethse-
mane, and to whom he revealed the interior joys
and sorrows of his soul;, while, of these three,
there was one who bore emphatically the title of
" that disciple whom Jesus loved." So our
Mother, whose social and friendlv tendencies
were most decided, had her one chosen and inti-
mate Christian friend, with whom she met weekly,
to converse on 'the deep things of God. Some
of these select meetings seem to have been sea-
sons of extraordinary spiritual power and enjoy-
ment. There were times when she and her com-
panion in band were overpowered by the Divine
Presence, so that they ceased to speak to one
another, gazed with awe and wonder, and bowed in
silent adoration before the Lord. They realized

" The speechless awe which dares not move,
And all the silent heaven of love."

156 a mother's portrait.

At the monthly fellowship-meeting s, and at the
quarterly lovefeasts, she not unfrequently gave
her testimony concerning the saving grace of God.
But at these more general gatherings of the mem-
bers of Society, she was far from being forward
or obtrusive. There was marked calmness and
modesty in her demeanor, though she was never
ashamed of Christ. She evidently spoke to glo-
rify her Father in heaven, and to magnify his
saving mercy. There was great simplicity and
transparency in these testimonies which she gave
before the assembled Church. Yet her thoughts
were often clothed in fervid words which kindled
the glow of holy feeling in others. And from the
piercing views of the spiritual w'orld which she
expressed, and from what she had to relate of
Divine visitations, all felt that she lived near to
heaven, and, in spirit at least, would not have far
to go at death.

fetter n.

" When quiet in my house I sit,

Thy book be my companion still ;
My joy thy sayings to repeat,

Talk o'er the records of thy will,
And search the oracles Divine,
Till every heartfelt word be mine."

WESLEY.

To seek daily counsel and spiritual food from
the word of God, and, at times, from the writings
of holy men and women, is most closely inter-
woven with all our conceptions of the portraiture
of a true Christian. I have already said that our
dear Mother very early acquired a love for read-
ing ; and this continued with her through life.

158 a mother's portrait.

Seldom a clay passed without some addition being
made to her mental store from a religious book ;
and never without a devout perusal of some por-
tion of Holy Scripture. Sometimes, perhaps, she
read too long in the evening, considering her
active and multifarious exercises during the day.

She had great delight in religious biographies ;
and next to the Bible, perhaps there is no descrip-
tion of reading more directly profitable to the
soul than this. Indeed, the Bible itself, by its
large amount of biographical representations of
truth, would support this statement. While we
trace the work of God in the lives of his servants,
we are learning by example, which is, proverbi-
ally, more powerful than precept. We are also
stimulated to effort by observing how the heights
of excellence have been attained ; for the natural
argument in the mind is, that if we use the like
diligent means, and display the like earnestness,
we may be as good and holy as those of whom
we read. On this account, our Mother highly
prized the Wesleyan Magazine. And it deserves
to be esteemed as one of the richest libraries of
Christian biography, containing, as it does, through

DEVOTIONAL READING. 159

the series of its monthly numbers for three-quar-
ters of a century, accounts of the lives and deaths
of Christians distinguished by their excellence.
Among separate memoirs, those of Wesley, Dod-
dridge, De Renty, Fletcher, Longden, Stoner,
Lady Maxwell, Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Rowe, and Mrs.
Rogers, were her favorites. There was much in
such memoirs to suit her ardent spirit. Some of
them were her closet books; and others which
were conveniently portable, such as Mrs. Rowe's
" Devout Exercises of the Heart," and the " Life
of Hester Ann Rogers," she used to carry in her
pocket, to read in snatches of time. I have them
now, among my most precious relics ; and they
bear marks of having been well used : they do not
look like books left to repose on shelves, or to be
shown on drawing-room tables.

I need scarcely state that Wesley's writings
were eagerly and thoughtfully read by our dear
Mother. Their compact, energetic style; their
substantial and cogent reasonings ; their unaffected
pathos ; their expositions of Christian doctrine, so
full and clear, and yet so utterly free and unen-
cumbered of a waste of words, had charms for

160 a mother's portrait.

her, which drew her to them most frequently.
His " Sermons" and his " Journals" were not read
once, and then dismissed ; but perused again and
again, until their substance was transfused into
her mind, and she comprehended the genius of
Wesley, and of Wesley an Methodism.

In noting some of the closet-books of your de-
parted Mother, the Wesleyan Hymn-book must
not be forgotten. It was an especial favorite with
her, as it must be with all who have been accus-
tomed to employ it in their devotions. Express
ing, as it does, every variety of religious expe
rience, — from that of the " half-awakened child of
man," who suddenly, under spiritual conviction
feels that he is standing all unprepared on the
brink of an awful eternity, to that of the matured
Christian, exulting with the thought of taking his

"last triumphant flight

From Calvary to Zion's height;"

and this with the truest poetic power and fervor,
— there can be no wonder that it should be a
favorite with Wesleyans, or the fertile source
from which numerous " spiritual songs" are taken

SPIRITUAL SONGS. 161

by other sects of Christians in the composition of
their several hymn-books. Dr. Johnson asserts
that sacred poetry must of necessity be inferior.
That the colossal critic was mistaken, this incom-
parable hymn-book proves ; as do also the writ-
ings of Milton and Young, of Cowper and Watts.
If poetry be the appropriate language of feeling
and passion, then it must be remembered that
religion exercises the strongest feelings and pas-
sions of human nature. And if love be the great
inspiring theme of the poet, as it has been in all
ages, under one form or other, then religion pre-
sents the theme purified and exalted above all
that is merely earthly, and admits of the very
highest intensity of treatment, inasmuch as the
Object of the Christian's love is himself emphati-
cally " the Holy and the High."

But the beauty and value of the book are not
to be doubted. How many hearts has it subdued
by its penitential strains ! for others besides the
gentle Herbert have been first brought to repent-
ance under devotional songs. How many it has
led to the cross to " behold the Saviour of man-
kind !" as it did the subject of this memoir. How

02

162 a mother's portrait.

many has it inspired, in new filial confidence, to
exclaim, —

" My God is reconciled,

His pardoning voice I hear :
He owns me for his child,

I can no longer fear :
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And, 'Father, Abba, Father,' cry!"

In almost every Methodist lovefeast that verse
may be heard repeated more than once ; and next
to the words of Holy Scripture, none are so often
found upon the lips of dying Wesleyans as words
from their hymn-book. In this joyful exercise, it
may be observed, they maintain the primitive
spirit of Christianity which descended from
heaven in song ; and they pattern after the first
Christians, who were noted by Pliny and others
for singing hymns to Christ ; yea, they imitate
their great Exemplar, the Saviour himself, who,
before he went out to be betrayed, sang a hymn
with his disciples ; and who, in giving up his
spirit, breathed it forth in the language of the
twenty-second psalm. Unnumbered thousands
sing these hymns every week, throughout the
world; and by their tuneful employ here, are

DEVOTIONAL PIETY. 163

preparing to join in the song of Moses and the
Lamb. Well then may Methodists love their
hymn-book, and, next to the Bible, prize it as
their greatest treasure. Mother so prized it, and
not only sang its contents fervently in public and
in domestic worship, but by "speaking to her-
self" through its spiritual songs in the closet, she
fed the flame of her devotion.

Indeed, all books strongly stimulating to devo-
tional thought and feeling which came in her way,
she readily seized to aid her in the service of
God. She knew well that the inward life of re-
ligion must be daily fed and nourished by such
means ; and that if the mind Avere left to supply
from itself its own spiritual food, it would soon
relapse into formalism, and there would remain
only the dead statue in place of the living and
active Christian. Experience taught her that
religion, in its highest form of communion with
God, is devotional, — not consisting of hard intel-
lectual exercises, but in reverential wonder, grati-
tude, and love; and that her numerous engage-
ments in her family, and in business, if not coun-
teracted in their influence by devout thought and

164 a mother's portrait.

meditation, would remove from her all tender sus-
ceptibility of spiritual impression, and leave her
carnal and worldly. She, therefore, gladly availed
herself of any manual, or book of devotion, that
would aid in the "lifting up of her heart unto
the Lord." And no doubt it was this daily expe-
rience of holy contemplation which gave to her
countenance that calm and spiritual serenity which
ever seemed to beam upon it from above.

For " the human face divine " is a far more cer-
tain index of the mind within, than the contra-
dictory "developments" which phrenologists so
minutely map out upon the head. A child — yea,
an irrational animal which is much in the company
of man — can understand the expressions of the
human countenance; and hers could not be mis-
taken even by the most casual observer. She was
not a recluse, as you must have learned ; and yet
her mind, in its memory and imagination, was hal-
lowed and sanctified by holy employ, as shown by
her spiritual references and allusions, when relat-
ing the past, or when speaking of creation or pro-
vidence. Indeed, her mind seemed to have ever
reflected upon it "the patterns of things in the

CHOICE OF BOOKS. 165

heavens/' just as may be seen in some clear,
beautiful lake, — say that of Lucerne, (faintly
represented at the head of this letter,) when
reposing amidst the giant mountains which sur-
round it, and "glassing" in its calm, unruffled
surface the bright clouds that are above it at
mid-day.

I may here remark, in passing, that our Mother
was careful in the selection of books not only for
herself, but also for her family. She had a quick
and lively perception of the value of useful inform-
ation, and was ever ready to encourage the read-
ing of books that would strengthen the intellect
and refine the taste ; but no book of a dubious or
questionable character, however amusing or attract-
ive, would be allowed to her children. She was
not only of cheerful, but also of buoyant and sport-
ive nature. She had a keen sense of the ludi-
crous ; and when words, persons, or things, became
oddly or incongruously associated, she had both
relish and laughter for them. But this playful-
ness of disposition was not indulged by revelry in
books of fiction, and in light and trifling literature,
which would have interfered with religious seri-

166 a mother's portrait.

ousness, and destroyed spiritual earnestness. Nor
would she allow her family, under the plea of
knowing what was passing in the world, to have
for their use books that were doubtful as to their
moral and religious principles and tendencies, how-
ever brilliant and enchanting they might be in their
dress and style.

In this respect, as in others, she exercised the
authority committed to her in the government of
her family ; and " commanded her household after
her." She knew well how to separate the chaff
from the wheat; and securing what was strong
and nourishing, she cast away the weak and
worthless from her.

This is a subject which ought in these times,
when there is so much light and trashy reading to
enfeeble the understanding, and so much semi-
infidelity put forth under the guise of periodical
literature, to engage the earnest attention of Chris-
tian parents, who would preserve the mental and
religious health of their children. The former
generations of God's people were not so well read
in the newspapers and periodicals of their clay;
but they fed their minds with stronger and more

HOLY SCRIPTURES. 167

substantial food; and in consequence they were
more robust and less pliable Christians.

The Bible, however, was the book with our
dear Mother. She loved it for the sake of Him to
whom she had given her heart, and whose will it
unfolds and declares. She read it regularly in
daily portions ; and though not always from begin-
ning to end, yet so as to learn for herself, and
make known to her household, all the words which
God has commanded. She usually selected the
reading from it according to her experience and
spiritual wants. The practice was wise; though
perhaps it is too little observed among believers in
general. Whether for family reading, or for the
closet, every portion of Scripture is not alike
edifying ; while there are seasons of experience to
which some portions are very specially adapted.
The diligent and habitual Christian ought to have
such a complete acquaintance with the word of
God, as to be able to turn to these portions at
once. It surely is not the " more excellent way,"
in trouble and bereavement, to be reading through
long genealogical lists, or bare historical records,
when we can turn to the profound wisdom of the

168 a mother's portrait.

Book of Job, the sweet consolations of the Psalms,
the thrilling farewell address of Christ to his dis-
ciples, and the tender narrative of the sorrowing
family at Bethany.

From the pages of Mother's Bible which are
most worn, it is clear that she was very strongly
attracted by the Epistles of St. Paul. His fervid
expressions of love to Christ, his large-souled,
glowing language, when seeking to embody in
forms of speech his wonder as well as his gratitude
for the scheme of redemption, were sure to touch
a responsive chord in her adoring mind. In the
Old Testament, the Psalms were evidently her
most frequent resort ; and there her devout heart
would readily find the expressions most fitly
denoting her grateful feelings for the Divine good-
ness and mercy.

She loved the law of the Lord ; and in its own
beautiful words, might be said to feed upon it, as
upon " the finest of the wheat, and honey out of
the rock." This scriptural food, daily received,
proved richly nutritious to her ; for she grew up
a strong and healthy Christian. By observing its
holy precepts, and realizing its cheering promises,

HOLY SCRIPTURES. 169

she walked in unshaken confidence with the great
Keeper of Israel. Her loving value for the blessed
Book might be seen even in the outward care she
took of it. The family Bible was not left on any
table or desk indifferently, as if it were an ordi-
nary book. It was carefully put into its place,
after being read ; and she would not allow any
thing, except the hymn-book, to be placed upon
it. She opened and closed it reverently; and,
though worn by frequent use, it was always kept
in good repair. She was also an advocate for a
superior copy of the Bible, such as by its size and
clearness of type, as well as by its appearance in
other respects, gave it outward preeminence over
uninspired books, and rendered it surpassingly
attractive to the reader. The sneerer may term
all this " Bibliolatry ;" but she would not have
heeded the sneerer. She taught her family, even
bv these outward circumstances, to honor the
Book of the Lord ; knowing that they who hon-
ored it would be most likely to honor its Divine
Author.

There can be no doubt that by her close study

of the Holy Scriptures she was perpetually led to

8 p

1T0 a mother's portrait.

strive for deeper religion ; while her perusal of
such biographies and devotional books as I have
mentioned, helped to bring home to her mind the
conviction that the entire holiness which the Bible
inculcates is not, as some think, a blessing out of
date, and scarcely to be realized in modern times.
She saw that the Book of Divine Revelation sets
forth clearly three progressive states of Christian
experience, — pardon, cleansing from sin, and being
filled with the Spirit. She discerned that those
who have been most devoted to God in modern
times have attained these blessings ; and she could
not rest without realizing them, and thus becom-
ing a scriptural and an eminent Christian. I have
already spoken of her clear experience of the for-
giveness of sin ; and she gave proof that she was
not only justified, but washed and sanctified ; for
she testified by a spotless life that " the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." The doc-
trine of "Entire Sanctification" is undoubtedly
found in the word of God; and the Wesleyan
Methodists profess to believe and teach it. What
is more especially needed is to spread the convic-
tion of its truth, by showing its influence in prac-

FULL SALVATION. 171

tical life, and that they should be in this, as in
other respects, "living epistles, known and read
of all men." This our Mother did. Her graces
were not fitful and uncertain in their lustre. She
did not dissipate by any sudden gust of temper all
she had previously obtained by months of prayer
and watchfulness, but showed in her daily course
the beauty of holiness. I can truly say, that
neither in the twenty-two years I was closely in
her care, nor at any after time, did I once see her
in a state of mind which could lead me to doubt
her immediate preparedness for eternity. Stran-
gers who shall read these Letters, may attribute
what I have just said to the over-partiality of a
sons affection; but friends who knew her well,
will be ready to sustain me in what I have here
stated.

Nor was hers a merely negative state of salva-
tion. She experienced, not only cleansing from
sin and its pollution, but also the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. She had a constant fellowship with
God ; and in her conversation and experience there
was that realizing intercourse and communion with
the Triune Godhead, which we read and hear of

172 a mother's portrait.

from the most eminent Christians. She spoke of,
and prayed distinctly to, " Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost." Examples of this may be found in the
lives of the saints I have already named, and with
which she was familiar. Together with such holy
experience, she had a fulness of spiritual posses-
sion. She was not only preserved "unspotted
from the world" and "blameless," but was "the
temple of God," and had " the Spirit of God
dwelling in her." She dwelt in God, and God in
her. The words of Christ were fulfilled to her :
" If any man love me, he will keep my words ;
and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him." She
was "filled with the Spirit," and proved person-
ally the meaning of the apostle's inspired and com-
prehensive prayer for being, not only " strength-
ened with the Spirit's might in the inner man,"
and having " Christ dwelling in the heart by
faith," but for being " filled with all the fulness of
God."

Holiness produced in her so much joy that none
can understand it, unless they possess similar
spirituality. Understand it many did not; and

FULL SALVATION. 173

yet the world saw that she was a completely
"happy woman." That was the impression she
made on all who knew her. It was the phrase by
which she was usually characterized; and when
she died, the public notice of her death by an un-
known hand in the county newspaper recorded,
" This diligent and happy Christian departed this
life," etc. It would be well indeed if newspapers
were constrained by the force of truth to record
the same of every professing disciple of Christ who
departs this life.

p2

f tUtx six.

" Life is real, Life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal :

'Dust thou art, to dust returnest,'
Was not spoken of the soul.

*

*

CLASS-LEADING. 175

" Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate :
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

LONGFELLOW.

Some years after her union with Methodism,
and when her spiritual character and zeal for
Christian labor were seen and marked by the
Church, our Mother was urged to become a class-
leader. She hesitated to be thus employed for
some time. The great responsibility of having
the care of souls formally committed to her for
religious instruction and counsel, and the multi-
tude and weight of her engagements at home,
caused this hesitation. She was also deeply
attached to the class in which she had met from
the commencement of her Wesleyan life ; for after
the death of her first leader, Mr. Sproule, and
when the class was intrusted to Mr. Bainbriclge,
she still continued to meet in it, and that with
great profit both to herself and her religious asso-
ciates.

At length, by the earnest persuasions of minis-
ters, in their successive appointments to the cir-
cuit, she was induced to surrender her own will

176 a mother's portrait.

to what she believed to be the will of God,
expressed by his servants, and became a class-
leader.

And, as might be supposed, she filled the office
intelligently and faithfully. She could not fail to
be fitted for it, from her own clear Christian expe-
rience, her varied knowledge of the world, her
stores of Scripture lessons, her extensive acquaint-
ance with the memoirs of the most devoted saints
of God, and from her aptness to teach. Yet our
Mother did not rely on what she was already ;
but on taking the office endeavored to qualify her-
self more fully for it. While reading books, and
observing character and human life, she now more
particularly considered what edifying lessons could
be deduced from them, and be turned to the spirit-
ual benefit of the members of her class. We have
found notes and memoranda on slips of paper,
showing that this was her practice.

Indeed, the strong sense she had of the import-
ance and advantage of suitable preparation for their
great work, by Wesleyan class-leaders, was one of
the reasons which deterred her from entering into
that office sooner. And her views on this subject

CLASS-LEADING. 177

were undoubtedly correct. The discharge of such
duty ought not to be left to merely impulsive
thought, or to a happy presence of mind. That
is a gift possessed by some favored persons ; but
the readiest thinker is not always the soundest.
Diligent and careful preparation should be made
for giving suitable advice. Sometimes this should
be guided by what the leader knows of the physi-
cal constitution of those under his or her care, or
of their mental idiosyncrasy. Whether caution
or encouragement be needed, the peculiar charac-
ter and circumstances of the person addressed
should be weighed before it is given. The very
manner, as well as the words in which advice is
given, should be adapted to the timid or to the
strong. The wisdom of such an institution as
that of the weekly class is shown by the fact, that
it enables a leader to become well acquainted with
the state of those who compose it. This immense
advantage should not be lost to Christ's Church
by the doling out of a few worn generalities alike
to the lambs and sheep of the flock : the leader
should perform his or her task with diligence, with
vigor, and with tenderness; and for this service
8*

178 a mother's portrait.

the intelligence naturally possessed should be
ripened by meditation.

Our dear Mother was held to be a very efficient
class-leader; and soon was surrounded by fully
as many as could meet together with profit. She
made all feel that they were really cared for.
Absentees were speedily visited ; and if they were
in trouble or sick, they readily found sympathy
and relief. She was careful also to train her
members to usefulness, taking such of them with
her to visit the sick and the poor as she judged
most fit ; and then giving them cases to visit by
themselves. Among her members were several
intelligent young persons who are now the wives
of missionaries or ministers in the Connection,
while others became distinguished for usefulness
in Lincoln.

Addressing these letters to a Sister, and writ-
ing of a Mother, it will not be out of jjlace for me
to express a thought or two, as I pass along, on
the importance of right views concerning female
agency in the Christian Church. I hold it to be
a great error to maintain that your sex, my dear
Sister, has no veritable mission in that Church,

FEMALE AGENCY. 179

and ought to be viewed merely as man's associate,
her own family's nurse, and the administratrix,
simply, of domestic concerns.

It is true that offices of rule and government
are not open to her in the Church of Christ, any
more than they are in the State. Except in par-
ticular cases, it does not seem that woman is
intended to be a public teacher therein : her con-
stitution and sympathies usually unfit her for
that 3 but she has nevertheless a sphere of her
own. She cannot speak in loud clarion tones :
her voice is rather that of the soft lute, soothing
and alluring ; but it is not the less powerful for
its gentleness. No class of persons has contri-
buted more largely to the Christian ministry, and
to the Christian Church, than Christian females.
Not only Timothy, the Wesleys, Cecil, and John
Newton, but thousands more, who have been emi-
nent by their usefulness, have acknowledged this.
As the Rev. Angell James, of Birmingham, has
written, " Millions have blessed Gocl on earth, and
will prolong the praise in heaven and through
eternity, for pious mothers. Mothers, next to

180 a mother's portrait.

ministers, have been the chief instruments of God
in building up the Church."

Woman has no inconsiderable place among
Scripture examples. Not to speak of the women
of the older dispensation, — some of them the
noblest female portraits on record, — we need only
observe how women were chosen for his friends
by the Saviour, and how truly they proved theii
devout attachment at the foot of the cross and at
the door of the sepulchre. Women were also
associated with the apostles in the first scenes of
Christianity at Jerusalem ; and we learn from St.
Paul's tender salutations and greetings at the end
of his epistles, how they continued to be valued
for their labors among the saints.

Methodism is, as before stated, professedly a
revival of apostolic Christianity; and it is shown
to be so by its large adoption of female agency,
as well as by other proofs. Holy women were
helpers to Wesley : he associated with them, and
even took counsel of them. In modern Method-
ism they are true deaconesses, and real " Sisters
of Mercy." As class-leaders for their own sex,

FEMALE AGENCY. 181

visitors of the sick and poor, or Sunday-school
teachers ; as tract distributors, or collectors for
missionary and other philanthropic undertakings,
devoted and earnest females are sure to Unci
opportunities of useful exertion; for Methodism
gives all its members something to perform for
Christ. This, no doubt, is one great secret of its
large and rapid growth, not only in our own land,
but in America and throughout the world. While
pure in its doctrines, strict in its moral require-
ments, and searching in the weekly examinations
of its members, it is, more than any other, a
popular and expansive system. And this is the
reason why Wesleyan Methodists so often speak
of their system, and of its founder and great pro-
moters— a habit which is not understood by
other religious communities. It seems to them
to savor of man-worship, or of giving honor to the
human instruments instead of to the Almighty
Worker. But it is not so. They gratefully
praise and glorify Gocl, rejoicing in the opportun-
ities and means of usefulness which their Church
affords them.

Our dear Mother did so. Its free and unre-

Q

182 a mother's portrait.

stricted doctrines of universal redemption, and its
loud and earnest calls to sinners to come to Christ
without delay and live, suited her affectionate and
compassionate nature; and its system of agency
furnished her with a sphere of usefulness such as
she could not possibly find elsewhere, and in which
she worked heartily and successfully to the end
of her life.

She especially exulted in the great missionary
undertakings of Methodism; and supported and
promoted them to the extent which her means
would admit. She read eagerly the monthly
" Missionary Notices :" remembered the mission-
aries in her daily prayers : attended the monthly
missionary prayer-meetings ; and seemed often as
near to heaven as she could be on earth, when
hearing at public meetings of the triumphant pro-
gress of her Redeemer's kingdom in heathen lands.
She always estimated, as well she might, the mis-
sionary who " hazards his life for the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ," as the most exalted and hon-
orable of all Christian laborers.

Indeed, the Missionary Anniversary at Lincohi,
as in other places, was the great Methodist festival

MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARY. 183

of the year. On the morning of that clay, vehicles
of various descriptions would be seen arriving from
all the surrounding villages, and even from some
of the neighboring market-towns. The- gigs and
carts would be placed in long rows, within the inn
yards ; while their owners would repair for refresh-
ment to the houses of their friends in the city. At
two o'clock, and before, the pavement on both
sides of the street would be thronged with persons
of all ages and conditions of life, citizens and rus-
tics, pressing their way towards the chapel. The
house of God would soon be filled, — the aisles,
the gallery, the very stairs. The meeting would
be opened by devotional exercises ; and the chair
occupied by some honorable citizen, or by some
gentleman of the county well known by the agri-
culturists. The chairman would briefly explain
the object to be promoted, and express his satis-
faction and good-will towards it : the yearly report
would then be read ; and the successive speakers
would afterwards address the assembly.

At length, the chief speaker would be called
upon, immediately before the collection was made.
Perhaps it would be William Dawson, not the less

184 a mother's portrait.

loved in Lincolnshire because lie was introduced
as "the Yorkshire farmer." And a farmer he
was, in look and appearance. That hardy and
homely face, with the bushy brow, and the gray
eyes twinkling beneath with such a store of latent
humor and shrewdness, — the broad shoulders and
burly port, — the brown coat, of no modern cut, —
down to the well-worn, old-fashioned top-boots, —
all marked him out as one of England's real yeo-
men, the genuine " sons of the plough." With a
felicitous ingenuity that raised wonder in the minds
of the hearers, he would liken the progress of
gospel missions to the career of a victorious war-
rior; or to the mighty triumphs of the steam-
engine, as beheld in the rapid flight of the railway-
carriage, or in the steam-ship pursuing its course
amidst raging winds and mountain billows. His
mastery of allegory made you think that if John
Bunyan could have risen from the dead and
become a missionary speaker, your enjoyment
could scarcely have been greater. And, ever and
anon, amidst flashes of mother- wit, and imaginative
illustrations bordering on the grotesque, there
would be some weighty and profound saying, or

DR. NEWTON. 185

some climax to an appeal that reached the true
sublime. You felt it was native genius that' stood
before you, — genius consecrated to the grandest
and holiest of causes. Your fancy . might be
amused ; but, above all, your judgment was enlight-
ened and your heart improved by what you heard.
The effect was not only seen by the cheerful zeal
with which the audience poured their contribu-
tions into the missionary treasury; but you heard
of those sayings, and of their practical and bene-
ficial effects on men's lives, for months and years
afterwards, both in the city and in the circuit.

Or it might be, that late in the meeting came
the unequalled missionary pleader, Robert New-
ton. If he were long in coming, yet you knew
that since he had engaged to come, he would be
sure, if alive and well, to be present. So no real
discouragement was felt, although the prior half
of the meeting might not be so interesting as had
been expected. Every one knew that when he
should come, the feeling of the meeting would
certainly be raised ; for what missionary meeting
ever failed with Robert Newton's presence ? At
length, he would be seen striding manfully up the

Q2

186 a mother's portrait.

aisle, and on to the platform, while all eyes were
fixed, upon him. He had been long " on the
wheels/' as he would be sure to inform you before
the meeting came to a close ; but his appearance
was fresh and healthy. Smiles all around, and
many a fraternal grasp of the hand by his brethren
on the platform, would greet him; and when he
rose to speak, his grand form, that seemed a model
for a Grecian sculptor : his manly, energetic vis-
age : the fire and feeling of his fine dark eye :
above all, the rich fulness, the majestic music, and
thrilling power of his voice, (which reminded you
of Keats's line, —

" That large utterance of the early gods," —

so much did it dwarf the power of the voices of
other men,) all combined to assure you that he
had already triumphed and succeeded with his
audience, although his appeal was only just
begun.

But how different was the feast of oratory now,
to that which you enjoyed when, on some former
anniversary, Mr. Dawson had been the principal
speaker. There was not the versatility, the won-
drous power of passing " from grave to gay," and

DR. NEWTON. 187

still conveying the impressive lesson, — the play of
imagery and allegory, which distinguished " the
Yorkshire farmer :" all was now stately and digni-
fied ; or there was an occasional strain of feeling
and tenderness, that shook the heart, thrilled the
nerves, and made the tears flow from every eye ;
or there was an exultant burst of pious triumph,
that sounded as if you had caught one note struck
from Gabriel's harp in heaven, and that raised the
instant, load, and irrepressible response of " Glory
to God !" from the crowd of the speaker's earnest
listeners. Rapidly, and yet fully, the pleader
descanted on the sinful and perishing condition of
the heathen, — on the inestimable benefits con-
ferred through the labors of the missionaries sent
forth to spread the gospel of Christ, — on the future
triumphs of the Redeemer's kingdom, — or on the
blessedness of those who cooperate ; and then
exhibiting human nature, by relating in his own
felicitous manner what he had known or heard of
the covetous or the liberal man, he appealed so
potently and irresistibly to his hearers, that, though
they wished the magnificent music of that voice
still to be prolonged, they became impatient to

188 A mother's portrait.

prove their eagerness to contribute, and to have
the collection made.

A verse of a hymn ; usually —

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," —

sung to the incomparable air of the Old Hun-
dredth— for that verse and tune seemed the only
fitting medium by which the full hearts of the
audience could be disburdened — then prayer and
the benediction followed ; and the people dispersed
to Methodist homes in the city, to express to each
other their delight with what they had heard, and,
after refreshing themselves with tea, to sing and
pray together, until it was time to proceed to the
evening service, again to hear Robert Newton.

If you had two hours before conceived that he
was created to plead on the missionary platform,
you saw, now that he took his place in the pulpit,
that he himself gratefully gloried far more in
being privileged to preach the gospel of the
Saviour. His rapt look, as he uttered in the
richest tones and skilfullest cadences those un-
surpassed hymns, so as to give the full meaning
to their thoughts, and to make you feel the beauty

DR. NEWTON. 189

of their rhythm : his solemn awe and power in
prayer, and the humble reliance on God which he
expressed for aid in his great work — all prepared
your heart and mind to receive, as out of his own
heart and mind he was evidently prepared to
deliver, the paramount truths of Christianity.
His text might be, " God so loved the world,"
etc. ; or, " The glorious gospel of the blessed
God ;" or, " The weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty," etc. ; or, " God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ ;" but whatever it might be, " the whole
counsel of God," as revealed in the plan of human
redemption : the willingness of God to save : a
free, full, and present salvation for all men; in
short, gospel Methodism, was sure to be preached;
while the voice, look, action, manner, and earnest-
ness of the preacher, carried home conviction to
the soul, and made the hearing of the sermon
rememberable to your life's end. Well might this
prince of preachers say in death, " The preaching
that flows from the heart does good every day.
Methodism is the work of God. I am a Method-
ist, a Methodist preacher, — glory be to God ! an

190 a mother's portrait.

old Methodist preacher ;" for such had been his
daily exercises for half a century.

He has gone to his eternal reward; and his
place has now to be rilled by others ; for it cannot
be filled by any one man. As Charles Wesley
used to say, " While God buries his workmen, he
carries on his work." The great evangelical cause
of Christian missions still proceeds. And if there
are not now such great central gatherings at mis-
sionary anniversaries in some places as there were
formerly, yet the great cause itself has more sup-
porters than ever; and annual meetings on its
behalf are held now in almost every village.

Our Mother's warm heart and expansive soul
could not fail to embrace this cause, and delight in
it, as well as prompt her to be active in its promo-
tion. But while rejoicing in Methodism, and in
all the blessed and extending effects wrought by
it, our dear parent was not sectarian and narrow
in spirit. She did not suppose that all spiritual
religion was enclosed within her own religious
community, and that beyond its circle there was
but an almost Christianity. She was too large-
hearted and well-instructed for this. She loved

CATHOLICITY. 191

all, of whatever name, who loved the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. Seeing in them the image of
her Heavenly Father whom she loved, that satis-
fied her ; and she was ready to commune and hold
fellowship with them.

I have already remarked that she never forgot
her obligations to the Church of England. On
particular occasions she continued to attend its
services; and for benevolent objects visited at
times some chapel of the Dissenters on a week-
day evening. Her means were not large ; but as
far as they enabled her, she subscribed to the
varied institutions of the universal Church. In
her book of private accounts are entries of yearly
subscriptions to the British and Foreign Bible
Society, the Church Missionary Society, the Lon-
don and the Baptist Missionary Societies, and to
the Society for Promoting Christianity among the
Jews, as well as to the institutions of Methodism
and to local charities. Hers was a liberal heart,
which devised liberal things. She was a true
disciple of Wesley, — "the friend of all, and the
enemy of none." In her day of activity, the
Evangelical Alliance had not spread itself beyond

i

192 a mother's portrait.

the great centres of the kingdom, or her mind
would have highly exulted in its truly catholic
objects and services ; for nothing seemed to re-
joice her more than to behold an assembly of
evangelical Christians, from different denomina-
tions, uniting for one common object in the cause
of her Redeemer.

Her charity did not, however, run into loose-
ness, or latitudinarianism. She did not so merge
all creeds and religious opinions that essential
principle was lost and swallowed up through an
unbounded generalization. She knew how, for
instance, to make a due distinction between Pro-
testantism and Popery. My youth was chiefly
spent among Roman Catholics, I having been
articled for the study of architecture to a gentle-
man in Lincoln, who, for pure benevolence of
spirit, largeness of mind, extent of accurate infor-
mation, and scholarly accomplishments, has rarely
been surpassed ; but who was a most devoted and
zealous Roman Catholic. At his table not unfre-
quently were to be met the bishops and priests
of Iris Church, who were not only captivating by
their literary attainments, and extensive know-

DISCRIMINATING CATHOLICITY. 193

ledge of the world, but also ready to converse on
the differences between Protestantism and Roman-
ism. In these circumstances, it will easily be
understood that a Protestant youth's newly-found
religion was a delicate plant in somewhat perilous
ground.

This was seen and constantly remembered by
our deceased parent, who used most carefully to
point out the vital difference between faith in
Christ alone, through which a contrite sinner is
saved, and the merit of good works and of de-
parted saints, as taught for salvation among the
Roman Catholics. She was also earnest in setting
forth the seriously presumptuous intrusion of the
Papacy and its priesthood into the place and office
of the Redeemer, as well as in describing the evil
fruits it had produced in persecution, and in claim-
ing to rule over nations with unrestrained power.

But while thus firmly set against the system of
Rome, our dear Mother was ready to acknowledge
and to improve the good found in individuals who,
like Thomas a Kempis, De Renty, Fenelon, Pas-
cal, and others, were real saints under a false and
corrupt system, with which from early life they
9 R

194 a mother's portrait.

had been associated. And in some instances
which could be named, she might seem to carry
her catholicity too far, by her intercourse and
prayers with such as were not orthodox by pro-
fession. But she had learned that some persons
were better than their creeds ; that they were
good in spite of their systems, rather than because
of them. She admired sincerity wherever she
found it, and knew well how to pick out the
wheat from the chaff of human character. It
was not that she undervalued forms and profes-
sions : she knew their importance, and was ready
to uphold them; but she sought the substance of
goodness rather than the mere name.

tiitx nit.

''And sometimes even beneath the moon
The Saviour gives a gracious boon,

When reconciled Christians meet,
And face to face, and heart to heart,
High thoughts of holy love impart,

In silence meek, or converse sweet."

KEBLE.

In my last letter I set before you our Mother's
catholicity of spirit; and I would not, my dear
Sister, have you bigoted or exclusive in your

196 a mother's portrait.

views of Christian Churches ; but being anxiously
desirous that you should have what is most help-
ful to piety, in your association with the people
of God, I would, in passing, point out to you some
of the advantages preeminently supplied in the
Church with which from your baptism you have
been more immediately connected. We see how
some young persons, whose parents rose from
obscurity, and repeatedly acknowledged before the
Lord and his people that they owed their position,
and all that they possessed, to Methodism, have
been foolishly seduced from it by the idol of
"respectability." Professing themselves unable
longer to submit to companionship with the poor,
and to be compelled to hear homely language on
spiritual things, they have ungratefully forsaken
the Church in which their fathers found peace
and salvation, and have associated themselves
with persons of higher station and culture, and
with public services more imposing, than are to be
found in the simple practices of Wesleyans. Such
conduct is unwise as well as ungrateful. It seldom
leads to an attainment of the object sought, — for
such transitions do not elevate the changelings in

CHARACTERISTICS OF METHODISM. 197

the respect and esteem of the thoughtful and the
good, — while in most instances it is detrimental,
religiously. Indeed, it proves not only the depart-
ure of the mind from Christian simplicity, but also
its false and worldly views of the kingdom of the
Saviour. The presence of the poor was emphati-
cally the sign given of his kingdom by Christ, to
the inquiring messengers of the Baptist : " The
poor have the gospel preached unto them." His
design was to mingle the rich and poor together
in his service ; and Methodism does this as fully
as any Church that can be named.

Its distinctive characteristics — or rather those
which expressly mark its separation as a Church
from the world — lie in the association of its mem-
bers for mutual oversight, counsel, and encourage-
ment. The term of admission to membership
consists in no theological test, but simply in "a
desire to flee from the wrath to come;" so that
any person sincerely desirous of salvation may
enter the pale of Methodism. But when that
step has been taken, strict vigilance is then exer-
cised in the oversight of the new convert, lest
while professing to be not of the world his life

r2

198 a mother's portrait.

should prove the contrary. This is reasonable
and consistent; for it never could be intended
that professors of religion should be so mingled
with the world as to have no distinction ; and if
the distinction were only nominal and not vital, it
would only be a mere profession and a fraud. If
admission to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
be regarded as the test of Church membership,
then the Church ought to have such a knowledge
of the life and conduct of its communicants as to
be able to judge of their fitness. That Church
which has not this, and which is without the
means for excluding from the Lord's table those
who walk disorderly, is seriously defective. Now
Methodism provides these through its class-meet-
ings, which, if not formally and by name of scrip-
tural authority, yet in their object and use are
essentially so.

A Methodist Class-Meeting is a weekly meet-
ing of from twelve to twenty members of the
society or church, who are associated with one
called "the leader," — a member of enlightened
and advanced piety, — for mutual oversight, exhort-
ation, and counsel. In these meetings the mem-

SOCIAL MEANS OF METHODISM. 199

bers pray with and for each other, speak to one
another of their religious experience, and the
leader gives them such spiritual advice as he
thinks most suitable to their cases respectively.
By thus " striving together in prayers," and
" speaking often one to another," acquaintance
with each other is formed, the "fellowship of
saints" is promoted, and the wants of the poor
and sick are discovered. Once in each quarter of
a year the class is visited by the minister, who
ascertains by personal inquiry the spiritual condi-
tion of the leader and of his members ; and who,
by the delivery of a ticket, in connection with
ministerial instruction, renews to the approved the
token of membership with the Church of God;
and then, as well as at each weekly meeting, the
leader and the members contribute to the work of
God out of their substance, " as God hath pros-
pered them." Thus you will perceive Wesleyan
class-meetings are not the Popish confessionals
which some have falsely represented them as
being. They are not resorts for disclosing family
secrets, or for uneclifying and disorderly conversa-
tion and gossip, as others have ignorantly sup-

200 A mother's portrait.

posed. But they are scriptural, edifying, and
orderly means of grace, such as all who have
attended them value, when their souls are alive to
God. If Christian professors are not living to the
honor of Christ, they would rather shun the ques-
tion, " What is now the state of your soul ?" If
a member of the Church be conscious of remissness
in the habit of private prayer, of worldliness and
unwatchfulness, or of half-heartedness, he will
shrink from the place where his spiritual condition
is brought to the test. But if living in close and
daily communion with the Divine Being, if enjoy-
ing the continued sense of God's favor and bless-
ing, he will fervidly desire to communicate and to
consummate his spiritual joy, by declaring it to
others. The steadiest and best, that is to say,
the most truly spiritual-minded Wesleyans highly
prize this weekly means of grace ; and though
some differences may be looked for in the charac-
ter of human minds, and some allowances be made
for the naturally timorous and retiring, yet Chris-
tian fellowship will be sought and valued by every
true follower of the Saviour. Hence we find that
almost every Church alive with spiritual impulses,

SOCIAL MEANS OF METHODISM. 201

imitates (without taking the express name of
" Class-Meeting") this example set by Methodism,
in its social means of grace : imitates, I would
rather say, in this respect, apostolic Christianity.
It is, in fact, in these more private conferences
that the richest fruits of religious experience are
not unfrequently found. When they who take
sweet counsel together go up to the house of God
in company ; — when one converted and saved says
to his Christian brethren, " Come, ye that fear the
Lord, and I wTill tell you what he hath done for
my soul !" — when, like the disciples going to Em-
maus, they commune together, — then Jesus him-
self draws near, and makes their hearts burn
within them as he talks with them by the way,
and as he opens to them the Scriptures.

The wisdom of the founder of Methodism was
never more fully showrn than in the establishment
of this social means of grace. Its beneficial influ-
ence in recalling members each wTeek to a sense of
their spiritual obligations and privileges, the cir-
cumspection it induces, the healthy emulation it
excites, and its continuous promotion of brotherly

sympathy and love, are among its most obvious
9*

202 a mother's portrait.

advantages. Some who feel the bonds of Chris-
tian discipline too strait for them, or who would
have the kingdom of God " come with observa-
tion," knowing how the numbers in Methodism
might instantly be multiplied if this condition
were withdrawn, are already asking, If class-meet-
ings be really necessary ? If they be quite suited
to the age in which we live ? If, in deference to
the spirit of the times, they may not now be dis-
pensed with ? But all vigilant pastors and faith-
ful Methodists will keep their eye upon this
humble yet essential means of grace. It were
better that the Church should be smaller, if pure,
than larger and worldly, as it would undoubtedly
be if class-meetings were dispensed with.

Should these fences of our vineyard ever be
loosened, then shall it be laid waste. The apostles
carefully separated believers in Christ from the
world, placed them within the Christian fold, shep-
herded them with care, and instructed them in the
doctrines and duties of religion. Thus Mr. Wes-
ley remarks on the institution of class-meetings,
which, like other parts of the system of Method-
ism, arose fi "~" ~" ^fW+inl circumstances, and

SOCIAL MEANS OF METHODISM. 203

not of set plan, like the system of Ignatius
Loyola, —

" Upon reflection, I could not but observe, This
is the very thing which was from the beginning
of Christianity. In the earliest times, those whom
God had sent forth ' preached the gospel to every
creature.' And the ol dKpoa-al, c the body of hear-
ers,' were mostly either Jews or heathens. But
as soon as any of these were so convinced of the
truth as to forsake sin and seek the gospel salva-
tion, they immediately joined them together, took
an account of their names, advised them to watch
over each other, and met these Karrjxovfievoi, c cate-
chumens,' (as they were then called,) apart from
the great congregation, that they might instruct,
rebuke, exhort, and pray with them, and for them,
according to their several necessities."

Other edifying means of grace, though now
peculiar to Methodism, are not additions or im-
provements from the eighteenth century, as some
would have it believed : they are simply restora-
tions of Christian services, as old as Christianity
itself, and which through abuse, or neglect, had
fallen into desuetude. The love-feasts of Method-

204 A mother's portrait.

ism, in which the classes meeting separately in
each week are assembled together in the house of
God at the end of each quarter, voluntarily to
testify before the minister and each other of Di-
vine grace to them, have scriptural precedent and
example in the agapjs of the early Christians,
who ate and drank together before the Lord, ex-
pressing freely their love to the Saviour and to
one another. These are more simple now in their
provision of bread and water only, because wine
was abused in such meetings, even in the days of
the apostles, as St. Paul has recorded in his First
Epistle to the Corinthians. And what sight can
be more impressive and edifying, than that of
the members of a church meeting together, and,
after eating and drinking together in one commu-
nion with thanksgiving, wraiting to hear from the
minister what he personally experiences of the
salvation of Christ, and then rising in succession
to testify before him and their fellow-Christians
what Divine grace is doing for their souls ? It
would be too much to suppose that in the artless
narratives of some humble but sincere members,
no grammatical faults or other inaccuracies of Ian-

SOCIAL MEANS OF METHODISM. 205

guage are ever found. But these are not such as
to interfere with and prevent the edification of
earnest souls; as all can testify who have been
present at such services. On the other hand, it
may be said, many remember them as seasons of
overwhelming power and grace. There was the
relation of Christian experience, perhaps, by a
poor unlettered man, who, nevertheless, spoke in
language richly inlaid with the words of the Book
which he daily reads, and which are to him " spirit
and life." Others of more cultured minds, but of
inferior piety, were stimulated by what they heard.
Some hung down their heads, ashamed, and in
tears before God. Others rejoiced aloud : heart
was drawn to heart, and spirit to spirit : their
sympathies were chorded and entwined; and all
partook of the feeling that they were "one in
Christ Jesus." Like the disciples on the mount
with Christ, they said, " It is good to be here ;"
and loth to part, they wished to remain where
they were, and prolong the rapturous delight of
extolling their common Saviour. In such meet-
ings they anticipated the enjoyment of heaven;
and asked, " If the joy of God's redeemed people

206 a mother's portrait.

be so great on earth, what will it be when they
meet before the throne of the Lamb ?"

In these meetings, too, qualities for usefulness
are not unfrequently discovered. That modest
youth, whose voice is tremulous with diffidence,
but whose speech belies the power that is in him,
relates his experience of the saving grace and
energy of God. Then inquiry arises among his
brethren who hear him, if such gifts should not
have a larger sphere afforded to them : if he may
not be employed as "an instructor of the igno-
rant, a teacher of babes ;" if he may not be " pro-
fitable for the ministry," and be ordained an
ambassador for Christ? Such is the humble
beginning of many who become eminent for use-
fulness in the Church. Their heartfelt devotion
to the cause of Christ is first in such meetings
timorously expressed : the speakers become known,
and are approved by both ministers and members :
they are sent forth, and the promise of Holy
Scripture is fulfilled, "And I raised up your sons
for prophets."

Such are some of the important advantages

SOCIAL MEANS OP METHODISM. 207

preeminently supplied in Methodism to its mem-
bers ; for in its means for promoting Christian
fellowship and mutual edification, it confessedly
holds no secondary rank among the Churches of
our Lord.

fcitu nb.

"Not clothed in purple or fine linen — stood
The Wilderness Apostle ! He was found
O'er-canopied by wild rocks fringed with wood,
Where nature's sternest scenery darkly frowned.

TIMES OF REFRESHING. 209

There stood the Seer, his loins begirt around,
With outstretched hand, bare brow, and vocal eye :

His voice, with sad solemnity of sound,

More thrilling than the eagle's startling cry,
'Repent! repent!' exclaimed, 'Christ's kingdom draweth nigh !'"

BARTON.

In noticing for you the spiritual life and reli-
gious services of Methodism, I must not omit to
name one truly memorable season of grace and
salvation to many in the city of Lincoln; espe-
cially as our dear Mother was energetically
engaged in it, and always afterwards rejoiced in
the remembrance of it. This was the time of the
Rev. John Smith's ministerial labors in the Lin-
coln Circuit, during the years 1829, 1830, and
1831. He was known in Methodism by the title
of " the Revivalist ;" a name which when employed
to designate a minister of a certain class is not to
be fully approved ; for all true ministers of Christ
are revivalists, whatever may be the diversity of
their gifts. And we shall all do well to imitate
the magnanimous example of the Apostle Peter,
who neither envied nor despised the style and
manner of his brethren, however much they might
differ from himself; and who, in referring to St.

s2

210 a mother's portrait.

Paul, speaks of him as his " beloved brother," who
had written to those addressed, " according to the
wisdom given unto him." But the term " Revi-
valist/' when employed to represent John Smith,
was most just and appropriate ; for he was such
in the best sense of the word. Go where he would
to labor, — whether to a fashionable watering-place,
like Brighton, — to the seat of dissipated royalty,
as was Windsor in the time of George IV., — to a
quiet, undisturbable kind of place, such as Frome,
— or to a large, populous, manufacturing town,
like Nottingham, — he was the means, under God,
of breaking up the dull monotony into which the
Church might have subsided, of awakening its
energies, and of extending its borders.

When Mr. Smith came to Lincoln, there was a
great diversity of opinion concerning him, among
the members of Society. Some, who had heard
of the extraordinary things which had marked his
ministry in a neighboring circuit, and who at that
time were almost ready to prefer the stillness of
death to the startling occurrences of a religious
revival, even went so far as to say, on the eve of
his coming, " He will not serve for Lincoln." He

TIMES OF REFRESHING. 211

came ; and the societies in the city and throughout
the circuit were soon moved. Spiritual and saving
effects were produced on the very first Sabbath
of his ministry in Lincoln. Kindred spirits in the
Church were immediately stirred and drawn forth
to aid in the work of God ; and many in the con-
gregation were awakened to see their need of per-
sonal religion, and to feel the danger of resting
content with a bare attendance on the ordinances
of worship. The remarkable man whose preaching
had produced this quickening change was spoken
of in various companies ; and many who came to
hear him through curiosity were impressed and
convinced. Notorious sinners were converted;
and this led their former companions to inquire
for them, and to go to the Methodist chapel to
see what had become of them, and who this John
Smith was that had broken their ranks. Many
of these new inquirers were in their turn seized
with religious conviction, and were saved ; and
this continued until very soon a great part of the
city appeared to be under religious influence.

Meanwhile, as may be supposed, many words of
ridicule and condemnation were uttered by parties

212 a mother's portrait.

without the Church, and some of caution and
counsel within. • But the new minister was a man
of one business, who understood and confided in
the correctness of his own tried principles of
action : he unswervingly pursued his own course ;
and the effects continued to be felt and seen, both
by the Church and the world.

Although my purpose, in these letters, is chiefly
to present you, my dear Sister, with a Portrait of
our Mother, I cannot forbear to, attempt a sketch
of this honored servant of God, with whose de-
voted efforts for his Divine Master's cause she
sympathized so deeply, and whom she endeavored
so zealously to help. He was a man of the utmost
firmness and vigor in his own character ; and of
singular quickness in penetrating the character of
others. To a fine, manly, firmly knit bodily
frame, he united a countenance of transparent
openness, which was also wonderfully indicative
of the transition of his thoughts from joy to
tenderness, from rapt adoration of the holiness
and majesty of God to stern and faithful denun-
ciation of sin. His voice was a tenor of indescrib-
able sweetness and flexibility; but possessed,

DAYS OF REV. JOHN SMITH. 213

when lie wielded the terrors of the Lord, the
thrilling and startling power of a -trumpet, — for
there Avere times when he was distinctly heard at
the distance of a mile, while preaching to crowded
village audiences on week-day evenings. His pas-
sion for poetry, art, and music, often broke forth
in his conversations with persons of taste, and
proved how much there was that was refined
in his tendencies ; but he quickly reverted to
the strong, solid, and useful occupation of the
mind.

As a preacher, this mingled tenderness and
strength often made him almost irresistible. But
the great cause of his success, under God, seemed
to be the instant conviction he produced in the
minds of all who listened to him of his own pro-
found earnestness. You saw that the awful views
of man's sinfulness and danger, the glowing faith
in the Atonement, and confidence in the power
and willingness of Christ to save from sin, on
which he dwelt with so much fervor, were really
the outpouring of his inmost soul. And while
listening, it seemed next to impossible that you
should not yield to him. His appeals against sin,

214 a mother's portrait.

its offensiveness in the sight of the Lord, its in-
gratitude and folly, and the peril to which it
exposes the sinner, were often terrific. And then
the awe-struck sinner was followed by the most
pathetic entreaties, uttered often with floods of
tears ; until the rebel became a mourner, and did
not cease to cry for salvation until he found it.

But there was a secret in his success which
those who pronounced upon it with mere human
judgment did not penetrate. This was his inti-
mate communion with God. He did not confide
in his knowledge of human nature, which was
deep : in his correct and forceful Saxon style of
language, for which he was distinguished; or in
his rare power of awakening and touching the
heart by sympathy or alarm. He knew that all
these gifts must be Divinely directed and aided,
or the spiritual quickening would not come. This
conviction made him simple as a child in his de-
pendence on the Divine Father, led him to clays
and nights of prayer, to groanings in secret and
strong cries in public, and to the peculiar manner
and style of his preaching. This made him a
minister of the Spirit; and beyond many, a man

DAYS OF REV. JOHN SMITH. 215

" full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." He was
not a mere enthusiast, as some would suppose ;
for he ever connected the end he had in view with
the use of appointed means. He sought spiritual
effects from the Spirit's power; and having re-
ceived the word and promise of God, he fully
relied thereon. This was as scriptural as it was
rational.

A minister of the gospel is to give himself not
only to the word of God, but also to prayer.
And whatever may be his gifts and attainments,
whatever may be his attractions by eloquence
and manner, unless by prayer he bathe his sword
in the lightnings of heaven, he will be spiritually
ineffective, and the great ends of Christian preach-
ing will fail of their gracious accomplishment.
Hardened sinners will not be pricked in the heart,
and cry out, " What must we do to be saved ?"
nor will believers be edified, and the real spiritual
Church of Christ increased. Assuredly, of all
the pitiable scenes in this world, there is none
more pitiable than that of a feeble mortal seeking
to carry on what is confessedly God's own work,
without God. John Smith did not attempt this.

216 a mother's portrait.

He sought, by fervent and unceasing prayer, the
presence and aid of the Holy Ghost ; and if proof
were needed that he was right, it was to be found
in the signal manner in which his ministry was
honored. Hundreds were converted; and the
societies were quickened and enlarged. Many
saw what might be done by entire devotedness
to the service of the Lord. The effects of his
preaching spread, not only through his own cir-
cuit, but to the circuits adjoining ; nay, there was
scarcely a circuit in Lincolnshire, or on its bor-
ders, but felt, more or less, the happy effects of
his labors. And if some who were then awak-
ened and brought to partake of new life have since
fallen away, the number that remained steadfast
— some of whom have become missionaries and
ministers — entitles us to say, that the ministry of
such a man was indeed a great gain to the Church
of God.

Love for his memory, and a strong conviction
that ministers like him, who shall have a passion
for saving souls, are the great want of the Church
at the present time, impel me to defend him from
a doubtful censure expressed by some. His labor

DAYS OF REV. JOHN SMITH. 217

ended at thirty-seven years of age. And it lias
been said, " He surely should not thus have sacri-
ficed himself. With his fine constitution and
strength of frame, he might have given double the
number of years of labor to the Church ; and he
ought not to have shortened his valuable life by
excessive efforts." But let it be remembered that,
though short, his was a great and honorable life.
He did much in a few years : more, far more, than
many who live out their full term of three-score
years and ten. I am not saying that a wanton
waste of life and strength is ever to be approved.
But this devoted man was not guilty of that.
And prudent men, who do every thing in mea-
sured forms, accordant with their colder natures,
do not, and cannot, comprehend, how one with
the realizing views and powerful feelings of John
Smith was incapable of restraining himself amidst
the scenes and sounds which surrounded him.
With awakened sinners, wailing penitents, and
rejoicing believers around him, such a man could
not spare himself, even for the lengthening of his
life. His was a whole burnt-offering ; and was,

no doubt, an acceptable sacrifice.
10 T

218 a mother's portrait.

In his " plans of labor," as he was accustomed
to call them, he used to associate himself closely
with the prayerful. He sought them in the
several societies, conversed with them, and en-
listed their sympathies and help. An eminent
and devoted servant of the Lord, of either sex,
was sure to be found by him when he came into
a circuit. Soon after his coming to Lincoln he
found our dear Mother. She had rejoiced in his
appointment to the circuit, felt the power of his
preaching, and became a ready cooperator in his
exertions.

He was much at our father's house ; and
would make it a point to come when wearied
and worn by his labors. He was, while free
from all frivolity, delightfully social and com-
panionable. I have already hinted at his pas-
sion for music ; and during these visits he would
not unfrecjuently join in a duet with father on
the flute. But his chief employment was speak-
ing on the work of God. His heart was set on
this ; and he could not have spent an afternoon or
an evening without descanting upon it. In our
Mother he found a kindred spirit. She was at

DAYS OF REV. JOHN SMITH. 219

all times ready to converse with him on this
welcome theme.

She took care, too, that he should have every
means for turning his visits to that highest and
holiest account which he preferred. Friends were
associated for tea, and for the evening ; and thus
seasons of spiritual interest and benefit were real-
ized. There were his own relations of instances
of conversion : there was singing of hymns, in
which he greatly delighted ; and there were fer-
vent intercessory prayers for the enlargement of
the Redeemer's kingdom. Meetings these of
priceless value to the truly pious ; and much more
seemly than social parties of professing Christians,
in which the conversation is all vain and profit-
less and the evening prayerless.

In these homely fireside meetings, Mr. Smith's
presence impressed all around him as irresistibly
as it did in his public ministrations. In the pulpit
he seemed like a prophet fresh from the visions
of God : in the house of a friend he seemed still
to be fully awake to the realities of the spiritual
and eternal world. He was always about his
Heavenly Father's business ; and many were the

220 a mother's portrait.

seals of Divine approval affixed to his efforts for
the salvation of his fellow-creatures, in the social
circle as well as in the public assembly.

I deem it an unspeakable advantage to have
seen and known such an examplar of devotedness
to the cause of Christ as John Smith. The re-
vivals attendant on his labors were real revivals.
They were not, like some imitations, spasmodic
efforts which continue for a brief time, and then
cease, and their effects with them. Their effects
were abiding. They remained week after week,
month after month, and year after year.

In the city of Lincoln, and throughout the
societies of the circuit, generally, the number of
members was about doubled during the period of
Mr. Smith's three years' labors. Many new
laborers also sprang up, marked for their devotion
and zeal. Some of these remain to cultivate the
circuit-field, while others have gone forth as itiner-
ant ministers and missionaries. Among the latter
was John Hunt, who may be also named as an
example of the instruments for usefulness which
Wesleyan Methodism not unfrequently provides
from among the poor and illiterate, as well as of

CONVERSION OF JOHN HUNT. 221

the surpassing power of heartfelt religion to
quicken and expand the dormant powers of the
human mind. He was found in the benighted and
profligate Tillage of Swinderby, — a farmer's ser-
vant of the very lowest class, almost destitute of
the first elements of learning; and was notable
among youths, chiefly, for rehearsing village tales
and singing country songs. Awakened under the
powerful ministry of the Rev. John Smith, and
converted, he grew eager for the cultivation of his
mind, and used to spend his evenings under the
open chimney of his master's kitchen, exercising
himself in reading. He soon placed himself in
the village night-school, speedily acquired such
instruction as was there attainable, and it was not
long before he began to exhort and call sinners to
repentance. Religion developed powers unlooked
for by his most familiar acquaintances. He went
forth to the adjoining villages in his country dress,
— in his long brown coat with brass buttons, his
coarse stockings and thick shoes, — but his homely
garb was forgotten under the winning charm of
his simple, affectionate, and earnest style of ad-
dress ; and so profitable were his evangelistic

t2

222 A MOTHER S PORTRAIT.

teachings to all who heard him, as to create a
general impression that God designed him for ser-
vice in a wider sphere. After a brief course of
educational preparation under Mr. Bainbridge, of
Lincoln, he was recommended by the circuit for
the ministerial life, and was accepted by the Con-
ference. At that time the Theological Institution
had been recently opened for the reception of can-
didates for the Wesleyan ministry. John Hunt
was admitted, and was trained under Dr. Hannah,
who soon discovered the jewel there lay concealed
under so plain a covering, devoted himself to the
young candidate's improvement, and became his
attached friend and counsellor. The ardent pupil be-
came a proficient, not only in the study of theology
and biblical knowledge, but also in the acquirement
of the elements of the Latin and Greek languages.
As a preacher, he was most acceptable in his
simplicity to London congregations ; and at length
went forth as a missionary to the Feejee Islands.
There, among ferocious cannibals, he "endured
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ ;" was
exposed to suffering, and threatened with death ;
but, trusting in God, he persevered in his labors :

SPIRITUAL RESULTS. 223

translated parts of the Scriptures into the Feejee
tongue : wrote other books of permanent useful-
ness ; and died, comparatively young, exclaim-
ing in death, with hands stretched out towards
heaven, "Lord, bless Feejee! Lord, save Fee-
jee !"

Other devoted and useful converts of this period
might be named. Suffice it to say, that there was
spiritual fruit and prosperity everywhere, through-
out the circuit. In Lincoln, a small additional
chapel was obtained above the Hill, near to the
ancient Roman arch, or Newport Gate. This was
well attended, and much good was done in that
extreme quarter of the city. An additional place
for week-night preaching was also found in Mr.
Scott's house, below the Gowts' Bridge, at the
other or southern end of the city; and seasons of
rich spiritual influence were experienced there.
Such genuine visitations from the Lord as this,
with its attendant results, are undoubtedly to be
looked for and sought by the Church of Christ.
God is willing to dispense his Holy Spirit at all
times, to them that ask for it, as he has declared.
It cannot be his will that the Church should at

224 a mother's portrait.

any time relapse into deadness and inactivity ; and
had believers been faithful from the beginning, the
scenes of Pentecostal days would have continued.
The Spirit's blessings were not then exhausted,
They were but pledges and earnests of still more
abundant blessings ; and the Scriptures teach us
to look for larger and mightier outpourings of
saving grace than were witnessed under Mr.
Smith's ministry.

Our dear Mother regarded herself as an honored
assistant in the spiritual work which I have de-
scribed. She was not a noisy or ostentatiously
prominent helper. But she could not stand aloof
from the work of God wherever she saw it. In
the prayer-meetings she was found beside female
penitents, encouraging and directing them in their
search for spiritual deliverance. Not only so, but
she went after them to their homes, took them
with her to the weekly class-meeting, and con-
tinued to give them suitable counsel. Mr. Smith
had the greatest confidence in her discernment, as
well as in her zeal. He would request her per-
sonal visitation of any difficult or delicate case,
such as that of one of her own sex whose family,

CHAPEL OPENED BY DR. BUNTING. 225

perhaps, were averse to their relative becoming
religious. There are several now in the Church
who gratefully remember such visits. Indeed,
hers was a truly congenial spirit with that of this
devoted man, and with others who were all earnest-
ness for the coming of Messiah's kingdom.

This Divine visitation having given a new im-
pulse to the work of God in the city, a larger
place of worship had to be provided for the crowds
disposed to attend. A convenient site was found
on an open space in the upper part of the popu-
lous parish of St. S within, near to the New Road;
and a large, imposing-looking chapel was there
erected, with school and class-rooms, and houses
for the ministers adjoining. Seasons of memora-
ble influence marked the opening, in which Mother,
with others, rejoiced exceedingly. The Rev. Dr.
Bunting preached on the morning and evening of
the Sabbath ; and the strength and cogency of his
appeals to conscience were felt by many to be
almost irresistible. This was acknowledged even
by some on whom a sermon from a Methodist
pulpit had never before made any impression : I

mean, men of a skeptical tendency. One of these,
10*

226 a mother's portrait.

a person of great popular influence as a political
speaker, and of great business energy, said to a
company of his "rational" friends, "I never felt
my own ingratitude to the Divine Being so deeply
as while I was hearing that preacher. He actu-
ally pinned me to the seat, as a convicted sinner.
If I had listened to another such sermon, I must
have become a Methodist." And not only was
the convincing power of those discourses felt and
acknowledged by men of the world, but believers
wTere strengthened in their faith and love by the
clear and potent manner in which the venerable
minister set forth Christian privileges. Mother
experienced this, and wTas devoutly grateful to
God for it.

Efforts for chapel extension and enlargement
rapidly succeeded the erection of this spacious
building in the city. Louth, Grimsby, Boston,
Sleaforcl, Horncastle, Market-Raisen, Brigg, and
nearly every other town of importance in the
county, soon had new and much enlarged chapels.
The poet-laureate, Southey, in his "Life of Wes-
ley," (a book which does justice to the founder of
Methodism as a scholar and a gentleman, but

SPREAD OF METHODISM. 227

which; while attractive in its style, misrepresents
the spiritual life and power of Wesley and of
Methodism,) speaks of the agricultural population
of England as being least susceptible of religious
feeling, inasmuch as they lack the excitability of
the people thickly crowded together in our manu-
facturing towns. But the prosperity of Methodism
in Lincolnshire, as well as in the agricultural parts
of Yorkshire and other counties, proves that
Southey was in error, and spoke without a real
knowledge of the facts. Nowhere is Methodism
more healthy than in Lincolnshire. It may be
emphatically pronounced the prevailing religion
of the yeomanry, farmers, and their laborers ; as
well as of the trading classes and working people
in the towns. Thousands who clo not decide on
membership prefer attendance at Wesleyan cha-
pels ; and throng them eagerly in the villages, as
well as in the city and towns. Methodism, it is
true, has had its fluctuations here as elsewhere ;
but it is deeply rooted and widely spread through-
out the county. In the Lincoln Circuit, at the
present time, — though only comprising, as we have
seen, one third of the circuit originally formed, —

228 a mother's portrait.

there are not fewer than thirty-seven chapels and
preaching places ; and a printed list which I have
hefore me shows that its itinerant ministers are
assisted by fifty local preachers. Its various
auxiliary agencies of Sabbath-schools, missions,
benevolent and tract societies, are also actively
carried on by the members and friends.

■ ^T5

f itttX X\5.

1 An ardent spirit dwells with Christian love,
The eagle's vigor in the pitying dove.
'Tis not enough that we with Sorrow sigh,
That we the wants of pleading man supply,
That we in sympathy with sufferers feel,
Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal :
Not these suffice — to sickness, pain, and woe,
The Christian spirit loves with aid to go ;
Will not be sought, waits not for Want to plead,
But seeks the duty, — nay, prevents the need ;
Her utmost aid to every ill applies,
And plants relief for coming miseries."

CRABBE.
U

230 a mother's portrait.

I stated in the outset that I chose the form of
letters for writing this memoir of affection, because
it was freer and easier than the set style of gen-
eral biography. In adopting an easier vehicle,
however, I may, with strict judges, subject my-
self to the charge of repeating thoughts, or of
returning to a topic already treated. I will avoid
this as carefully as possible ; but it seems to me
impossible to avoid it altogether, with any bio-
graphical record, — unless the writer commences it
with a purpose wholly formal and systematic, such
as that pursued, for instance, by Job Orton, in his
life of the pious Doddridge.

The example I have just named suggests to me
the propriety of endeavoring to present to you,
my dear Sister, a brief summary of our excellent
Mother's character as a Christian ; though I can-
not bind myself to treat it with the measured
preciseness of logical form; but must be free to
weave into it such facts and elucidations as may
present themselves to memory.

The first principle influencing all who have been
extensively useful as the benefactors of their race,
is undoubtedly compassion. From what I have

CHARACTER REVIEWED. 231

already related, you will have learned that Mother
possessed a truly compassionate nature. This was
manifest from her conduct to all creatures, even
to the lowest. She could not bear to see any
living thing suffer ; and expressed personal anguish
when she saw any one treat dumb animals un-
kindly. Her own feeling towards them was so
gentle and tender, that it was affecting to witness
it. She did not feel her piety lessened by culti-
vating attachment to the creatures which God had
made, such as a bird or a dog ; and would express
instant admiration of a fine horse. This is an
amiable trait, and where seen is not to be frowned
upon or ridiculed. The devotional Cowper found
his nature bettered by fond attention to his domes-
ticated hares ; and many a solitary and suffering
spirit, like that of the gentle and meditative
Montgomery, has expressed gratitude for the
cheerful companionship of a bird. The intelligent
and noble-minded Dr. Arnold always encouraged
a humane attachment to animals among his pupils
at Rugby ; and this kind treatment of such crea-
tures will doubtless be regarded with increasing
interest in the education of youth, as Christ's re-

232 a mother's portrait.

ligion of goodness extends its universal reign. A
millennium for animals, so far as their physical
condition under mankind is concerned, may as-
suredly be looked for. Animals share in the
curse, not only as beasts of burden to fallen man
doomed through sin to labor, but also in ill-usage,
and in their association with corrupted nature;
so that, as St. Paul says, "the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain."

But true compassion is most manifest in its
sympathy with suffering humanity. This our
dear Mother showed in her earnest and persever-
ing endeavors to lessen the sorrows of her fellow-
creatures, and to rescue them from spiritual danger
and error. While ready to relieve their bodily
wants, and to give pitying counsel to those who
were in temporal sorrow and straitness, the awful
spiritual state of mankind still more deeply affected
her, and almost unceasingly engaged her efforts.
For she was not of the number of those who pro-
fess pity, but remain at a distance from the pitiable.
She had none of the false refinement which shelters
itself from the necessitous and the fallen behind
forms and ceremonies ; but felt that she must

CHARACTER REVIEWED. 233

hasten among them, and stretch out to them the
hand of help. Hers was not the desire to appear
benevolent so much as to be really so. Her edu-
cation had not been like that of too many, in mere
external behavior, but in true-heartedness ; and
therefore she was not restrained from pursuit of
her object by customs and difficulties. And
that, surely, is the only true compassion which
impels us to effort, in spite of all conventional
barriers ; and which still impels us onward, even
if at times unsuccessful in rescuing the fallen from
ruin.

Our Mother was not discouraged by occasional
failure, though she sometimes encountered it. An
awfully distressing instance recurs now to my
memory. It is that of a professed skeptic and
infidel, whom she faithfully warned for a succes-
sion of months and years, but who refused to take
the warning. He was a man of considerable
natural intelligence and of musical taste. Being
a near neighbor, and coming to practice with father
in music, Mother was accustomed to see him, more
or less, every week, and seldom without saying
something to him on religion. He steadily resisted

u2

234 a mother's portrait.

whatever was spoken, and sometimes returned
answers that were scarcely civil ; but still she
persevered. It was discovered, however, that,
with all his resistance, he was not fully at ease
in his infidelity. He had a little blind grand-
daughter that he brought up : an engaging child,
whose nature was highly musical ; for I remember
with what interest I used to mark the rapture in
her face, and in her rolling sightless eye-balls, as
she sang sweetly to the music. One Sabbath
morning, with neighborly freedom, father sud-
denly opened the door of the man's house, went
in, and saw him teaching the blind girl to pray, as
she knelt upon his knees. Father expressed sur-
prise, having heard from him repeated professions
of atheism. Confounded, the man replied, " Well,
it is of no use denying it : a person may profess
to believe that there is no God, but he cannot help
believing that there is ; for proofs of his existence
are everywhere around us." Mother now made
greater and more pointed efforts for the man's sal-
vation. But he resisted to the end, and died,
miserably illustrating the awful scriptural warn-
ing, " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his

INSTANCES OF USEFULNESS. 235

neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that with-
out remedy."

In other cases she was happily successful. It
was her custom to buv tracts for distribution, and
to improve the opportunity of calling on her poorer
neighbors with them. This means she employed
when no other seemed available ; or when tem-
poral necessity could not be made the reason for a
call. And several thoughtless persons by it were
led to serious consideration of their state, and to a
godly change. I can remember now her relations
of the scenes she sometimes beheld, and of the
replies made to her by poor Sabbath-breakers,
ashamed to be found as they were when visited
by her in their dwellings. Some at first tried to
offend her, and so to prevent her coming again.
But she was really too compassionate towards
them to be offended ; and too earnest in her pur-
pose to benefit them, to content herself with one
visit, or with a few.

There was one such case of a poor drunken
shoemaker, near to our house at St. Mark's.
Usually at the beginning of each week he had fits
of drunkenness, and while in them was most

236 a mother's portrait.

desperate. He was a terror to his "family and to
all the neighbors ; for at such times he would not
only destroy the windows and furniture of his own
dwelling, but would go and vent his rage against
any neighbor who had offended him, so that
scarcely any one dared to say any thing to him.
Mother saw him reel past the house, heard his
oaths in the street, and was told from time to time
of the injuries he inflicted on his wife and family.
She said she must go and speak to him. We
endeavored to dissuade her from doing so, repre-
senting the danger that might arise to herself;
and saying that he might, in his next drunken fit,
break our house-windows in revenge. She replied
that she must go ; for that not only would the
man's family be ruined, but his own body and soul
would soon be lost.

The next Sabbath morning she went. The man
looked greatly surprised ; but he was sober. She
said, "I understand that you are an intelligent
person, and I hope you will read one of the tracts
which I am accustomed to give or lend to my
•Neighbors." He was flattered, and replied courte-
ously that he was obliged by her call, and would

INSTANCES OF USEFULNESS. 237

read whatever she chose to leave for him. Mother
immediately gave him the tract entitled, " A Word
to a Drunkard." He had, however, no sooner
glanced at it than he exclaimed, " This is too per-
sonal. You have selected this purposely for me."
He then showed great exasperation, and raged so
furiously that Mother's frame trembled. But her
spirit was firm ; and mildly expostulating with
him, she said, "I have felt much for you and
your family ; have been led to pray for you ; and
am not come to vex or torment you, but to try to
rescue you from your degraded condition." Such
is the power of meekness and affection, that he
was immediately softened and subdued. She
then reminded him that he had promised to read
whatever she gave him, expressed a hope that he
would do so, and took her leave, telling him that
she would pray to God for him during the week,
and call again.

On the Sabbath morning following, — no doubt
after much intercession with God on the poor
sinner's behalf, — she called again ; and found him
greatly humbled, and truly thoughtful concerning
the reformation of his life. She talked and

238 a mother's portrait.

prayed with him and his family, left him another
suitable tract, and invited him to attend the
chapel. The visit was repeated : the man went
again and again to the house of God, was tho-
roughly convinced of sin, converted, and he with
his family became regular in attendance on public
worship. He gave evidence of a real inward change
by his after life, and died in the hope of a joyful
resurrection. What a blessed proof of the good
service that believers might individually perform,
if their Christian compassion impelled them, in
spite of all apparent discouragements, to reach the
sinner's ears, and to be perseveringly faithful on
their Master's errand !

It was not only in her own neighborhood, but
wherever she went, this deep Christian compassion
was felt, and constrained her to speak and act for
her Lord. If on a visit to a friend at a distance,
she was sure to find some persons there to warn
or exhort, and seldom were such visits made with-
out beneficial results. After I became an itine-
rant preacher of Christ's gospel, she visited me in
different parts of the country; and it was her
practice to go with me to the several parts of

WEEPING COMPASSION. 239

a circuit, in each part trying to do good. And
there is scarcely a place where she was with me
but in it her memory is still fragrant. To aid in
bringing sinners to God was her great object, and
a blessing almost invariably attended her endea-
vors.

When she came to me in London, she was
almost overwhelmed with sorrowful feeling, through
the scenes of flagrant Sabbath-breaking and open
dissipation which any one must here witness, un-
less perpetually immured in a room. "I could
not live in such a place," she said, again and
again. The sights and sounds of wickedness so
deeply affected her, that she often wept as we
went along the streets. While at our home she
poured out her full-burdened soul in prayer for
sinners, and expressed adoring wonder that the
Divine Being was so merciful as to spare the guilty
city, and not consume it in wrath, as he did Sodom
and Gomorrah. On one occasion, when returning
from the worship of God at Islington, and while
we were surveying London from an elevated situ-
ation, with its numberless streets and buildings
stretched out before us, she said, " I have realized

240 a mother's portrait.

while in this city more of the compassionate mind
of Christ than I ever did before. The very heart
of Jesus has seemed to be beating within me ; and
the words written of him on his view of Jerusalem
are almost constantly in my remembrance : 'And
when he was come near, he beheld the city, and
wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even
thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid
from thine eyes.' "

Christian compassion was truly and largely her
inheritance. And where possessed, the inherit-
ance is valuable, though, as before remarked, the
possessor may have to bear heavily the burden of
others, and frequently to weep on their account.
Hard, stoical, and selfish natures cannot under-
stand this ; and think it desirable not to feel so
much for our suffering fellow-creatures. But I
would earnestly exhort you, my dear Sister, to
cherish feelings of deep commiseration for the
poor and the perishing, and that at the risk of all
the attendant consequences of sorrow and labor.
It is to be remembered that only they who have
learned to weep with them that weep, can really

WEEPING COMPASSION. 241

rejoice with them that rejoice. Unless one knows
what it is to plunge into the depths of compas-
sionate feeling for the perishing and the distressed,
one cannot know what it is to rejoice over the
saved and the happy with "exceeding joy." God
has ordained this great sequence of our sympa-
thies ; and such experience is infinitely preferable
to the unmoved state of the stoic.

11

f ettu *Jji.

" Strong is the lion : like a coal
His eye-ball ; like a bastion's mole

His chest against the foes :
Strong the gier-eagle on his sail ;
Strong against tide th' enormous whale

Emerges as he goes.

"But stronger still in earth and air,
And in the sea, the man of prayer,

And far beneath the tide,
And in the seat to faith assigned,
Where ask is have, where seek is find,
Where knock is open wide."

CHRISTOPHER SMART.

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 243

Pursuing the course I commenced in the last
letter, I may say that, with her strong and ear-
nestly compassionate views of human nature, our
dear Mother had great and abiding faith. This
enabled her to realize the presence of God at all
times, and under all circumstances. Her faith
was steadfast and immovable, and might be appro-
priately likened to some giant mountain, — such as
Mont Blanc in Switzerland, the monarch of Euro-
pean mountains, faintly represented at the head
of this letter, — when seen by the traveller repos-
ing securely on his rocky throne, and raising his
glistening and irradiated head far above the pollu-
tion and turmoil of earth. For her believing soul
reposed firmly upon the " Rock of eternal ages,"
rose to sublime heights of spiritual purity, and
rejoiced in the all-illumining light of the Divine
favor. Her life was a life of faith ; and whatever
might be its attendant circumstances, she "en-
dured as seeing Him that is invisible." This in-
sured to her victory over the world, and gave to
her mind a just estimation of the infinite superior-
ity of things eternal over things temporal. This
led her to trust in God amidst all difficulties that

244 a mother's portrait.

might arise, and, as Martin Luther says, to "lie
becalmed in his bosom," amidst the floods and
storms of sorrow and danger ; while it gave also
strength to her love, and hope, and joy.

I have already noted how free she was from
painful anxiety concerning the things of earth,
though so diligent and active in discharging the
temporal duties of her station. The strong, direct,
and simple manner in which she laid hold of God's
promises as they relate to the necessities of this
life, was remarkable. Yet she was not without
repeated trials of her faith. One instance may
be named which need not take many words to
relate, but which will serve to show how steadfast
was her reliance upon the word of God. It was
connected with her business, in which she experi-
enced considerable difficulty for a time, through
the unprincipled opposition and under-selling of
an envious person in her neighborhood, who had
avowedly set himself to wrest a prosperous trade
from father and Mother. This he carried to so
great an extent, that they hardly knew where it
would end. Mother expressed generally her con-
fidence in God : said he had never forsaken them

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 245

and never would; but, through the fearful and
persevering sacrifices made by their opponent, the
cloud of trouble seemed to gather and increas-
ingly threaten them. The consideration of a
large and rising family pressed much upon her
affectionate mind, and her soul became at length
very heavily burdened, so that one Sabbath morn-
ing she found herself unable to worship God in
his house without distraction.

Immediately after the service at the chapel, she
bent her steps up the " Steep Hill," to visit, near
St. Michael's Church, a poor woman whose hus-
band in the preceding week had been thrown from
the stage-coach of which he was the driver, and
had been killed on the spot. After talking with
the distressed widow, and praying with her for
support and consolation, the words of the thirty-
seventh psalm were suddenly brought to Mother's
mind : " Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall
give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy
way unto the Lord : trust also in him, and he
shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait

v2

246 a mother's portrait.

patiently for him : fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man
who bringeth wicked devices to pass." Her soul
became instantly disburdened of its load, having
seized the promise with simple, strong, and im-
plicit faith. She returned home, praising and
blessing God, her countenance bespeaking the
relief she had obtained, so that father asked how
it was she appeared so changed since the morning.
Mother immediately quoted the promise and said,
" I dare no longer doubt or fear." It need only
be added, that the promise in its fulness of mean-
ing was soon realized, and the temp-oral trouble
swept away.

So also in spiritual things, whether for herself
or others, she relied confidently upon the Divine
word for their bestowment. While presenting
unawakened sinners or penitents at the throne of
Mercy, she believed in God's power, love, and
grace ; and her faith was duly honored. It was
evident that she had fully received into her mind
the words of Christ : " When ye pray, believe
that ye receive" the things ye ask, " and ye shall
have them;" and she found it to be as he had

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 247

declared. Indeed, to believe in God for any thing
promised in the Scriptures seemed to require from
her no inward struggle whatever; and Wesley's
bold experimental lines found in her a living illus-
tration : —

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,
And looks to that alone ;
Laughs at impossibilities,
And cries, < It shall be done !' "

Our devoted Mother's spiritual life also devel-
oped the fruits of faith,— love and joy. Her love
was pure and fervent. She was accustomed to
dwell much upon the love of God ; and this daily
nourished and strengthened her love to him, and
made his service easy and joyous to her. Among
the lines which she was wont to sing were, —

" 'Tis love that makes our willin"; feet

In swift obedience move.

?>

And these words expressed her real inward feel-
ings. St. John's Epistles, which set forth reli-
gion so largely as an exercise of the affections,
were often read and meditated upon by her. The
Divine sentence, " God is Love," seemed to be set
and encased in her heart as a priceless jewel, for

248 a mother's portrait.

she often expressed it. And to her the chief
attraction of heaven was that it was the abode of
perfect love. Her truly social and affectionate
nature, spiritualized and made pure, was disposed
to this ; for, no doubt, our views of heaven are
formed and colored, to a great extent, by our dif-
ferent temperaments. The great but afflicted and
restless Robert Hall said to Wilberforce, when
they were conversing upon the nature of the hap-
piness for saints in the world to come, " My chief
conception of heaven is rest." "And mine," said
the cheerful and affectionate Wilberforce, " is, that
it is love." So it was with our Mother. All re-
ligion, in its objects, service, and rewards, was
viewed by her through the medium of love. God
was to her the Father of love : Christ the Incar-
nation of love : the Holy Ghost the Spirit of love :
angels the messengers of love. And heaven she
viewed as the everlasting home of love for re-
deemed and saved sinners, and for reunited friends
and families.

The cold, abstract views of heaven which some
take, who, in support of purely intellectual exer-
cises, refine and sublimate it till they leave no

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 249

place in the universe for departing saints to enter,
and no home in heaven for a social nature, were
not hers. Love led her to contemplate it as it is
represented in Scripture, — a gathering-place for
the servants of the Lord assembled for social
enjoyment and worship : an eternally happy abode
for the family of the redeemed, met after temporal
separation in their " Father's house," in which
" there are many mansions" prepared for them by
Christ; and where they will feel themselves no
longer "strangers and foreigners," but "fellow-
citizens with the saints and of the household of
God." With this view of heaven, she loved the
saints more than she would otherwise have done :
it caused her to feel spiritual kindred with patri-
archs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all believ-
ers. With this view of the happy world to which
she was journeying, she loved her friends and
family the more, feeling her ties with them to be
not of short duration, but lasting and eternal.
And thus good Richard Baxter must have felt
when he wrote, " It would damp my love to the
saints, if I were to believe that the friendships I

form in this life are to be broken at death, not to
11*

250 a mother's portrait.

be reunited ; but it heightens my love to them
when I think that the links then broken will be
re-formed in heaven, and last throughout eternity."

There may be regions of space, and worlds filled
with wondrous evidence of the Divine wisdom and
goodness, for the blessed to explore : problems for
them to solve, and mental occupation as enraptur-
ing as it will be elevating ; yet the chief attraction
of heaven to a loving spirit will be, that it is the
home of love. This our Mother felt, and often
expressed.

So also was her love to the Saviour strong and
unceasing. She had nothing of that sensuous re-
gard to Christ which expresses itself in the fami-
liar terms of gross earthly passion. Her exalted
and spiritual views of the Son of God, and of his
atoning death for sinners, must ever have forbid-
den the use of such unwarrantable words. But
she felt the truth of St. Peter's statement, " Unto
you, therefore, which believe, he is precious." To
her, as to the Apostle Paul, " Christ was all, and
in all." Like St. John, she beheld him as the
source of all light and glory, " the Angel standing
in the midst of the sun." Her inmost soul

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 251

adored him as " the fairest among ten thousand,
and altogether lovely ;" and it exulted greatly in
his salvation.

Indeed, her religious joy was unmistakable and
abundant. Naturally, as I have said, she was of
a cheerful and buoyant temper, and never disposed
to seek and make troubles, as some are, who,
instead of extracting where they can the sweet
and the pleasant, find in every thing the worm-
wood and the gall. Neither was she depressed
and beclouded by physical disease and infirmity,
as was poor Cowper, and other hypochondriac
children of God. She was of sound and healthful
bodily constitution ; so that, apart from the pains
of maternity, (being the mother of sixteen living
children,) she scarcely knew what serious afflic-
tion was until more than fifty years of age. These
advantages of health were natural, and they were
helpful and promotive of her joy; but they were
not the causes of it. Hers was joy in the Lord
the joy of knowing that she was a child of God
of intimate communion and fellowship with him
of believing that heaven would be her eternal
abode. I have seen her burdened with grief, and

252 a mother's portrait.

suffused with sorrow; but never did I see her
sunk down into despondency, or hear her com-
plain of her condition. "With anxieties and suffer-
ings such as would have broken many a heart of
less strength than hers, she was still rejoicing in
the God of her salvation, recounting his blessings,
and enumerating her reasons for gratitude. In
her spiritual day-book and ledger she was wont to
record her mercies as well as her sufferings ; and
in the balance-sheet of her account before the Lord,
she always found more reasons for thankfulness
and rejoicing than for dissatisfaction and sorrow.
With memoranda of severe losses and bereave-
ments, there was ever found a grateful register of
what was left ; and, after the pattern of righteous
Job, ready acknowledgment of the right of the
Divine Being to reclaim what he had given.

Few enjoyed the present life more than our
clear Mother. She had a deep feeling for the
beautiful in creation ; and within the recesses of
her heart there were thoughts and associations
with the works of God, such as grosser natures
know nothing of. " What a lovely world this is !"
she would frequently exclaim, as she walked

MATURED FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 253

abroad with her family under the open sky:
" How sad that it should be marred by sin !" A
flower from the garden or the field seemed to
awaken within her instant devotional feeling ; and
she would derive moral and Divine lessons for her
children from the daisy, the cowslip, the lily, or
the rose. Her spirit at home was usually placid
and serene ; and with the exception of rare
seasons, when she was undergoing deep trial,
"peace and happiness" seemed ever to be writ-
ten upon her countenance, as with a sunbeam
from heaven.

But her chief joy, as I have said, was " in the
Lord :" in breathing forth her love to him, and in
receiving the tokens of his favor. And surely
there is no joy on earth like unto this. The
charms of music, the ecstasies of poetry, the pleas-
ures of art, the more solid enjoyments of learning
and science, are all infinitely inferior to the spirit-
ual, refined joy of communion with Gocl, such
as good Thomas Walsh was accustomed to ex-
press, in the first verse of John and Charles
Wesley's rendering of a German hymn by Dr.
Breithaupt :

w

254 a mother's portrait.

" Thee will I love, nay strength, my tower:
Thee will I love, my joy, my crown :
Thee will I love, with all my power,
In all thy works, and thee alone :
Thee will I love, till the pure fire
Fills my whole soul with chaste desire."

This pure fire of chaste desire and holy joy
burned brightly in all our dear Mother said and
did ; and there were times I have in remembrance,
when she was so happy that, as she expressed it,
how to continue to live on earth she scarcely
knew : times in her family, when she spoke of
God, of heaven, and of her heavenly desires, until
husband and children also were afraid she would
leave them too soon for the place more suited to
her happy condition ; and when something was
purposely said or done to break the spell under
which she seemed placed, and to bring her back
in thought and feeling to the associations of earth.

fttttx *lm.

"And 0 ! when I have safely passed
Through every conflict but the last,
Still, still, unchanging, -watch beside
My dying-bed — for Thou hast died :
Then point to realms of cloudless day,
And wipe the latest tears away."

ROBERT GRANT.

256 a mother's portrait.

Up to the month of June, 1839, our dear Mother
had enjoyed almost uninterrupted health ; but now
she was visited by a serious and alarming illness.
Powerful remedies were applied ; but her medical
attendants thought her case hopeless. Indeed,
her constitution was thoroughly shaken. Much
sympathy and concern were expressed for her by
the societies in Lincoln and elsewhere : earnest
prayer was offered by her family and friends ; and
she was at length restored.

On her first seizure, and throughout this illness,
she was seriously calm and trustful. She had no
painful doubts or fears, but was devoutly thought-
ful. It seemed to be her especial care to improve
her condition, both for herself and friends. Her
looks, as well as her words, proclaimed that she
felt it to be a solemn thing to be afflicted, to ter-
minate a life of probation, and to approach the
gates of death and eternity. On temporal mat-
ters she said little, though not careless concerning
them in relation to her family. She frequently
spoke of affliction as a consequence of sin, and as
showing how the work of God's hands had been
disturbed and disordered by disobedience. But

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS. 257

she was careful to separate her view of bodily
suffering from mere punishment. She maintained
that it was a proof of love in her Heavenly Father
thus to chasten her ; and that her affliction was
beneficial, both in its design and tendency.

She expressed no anxiety for recovery; but
would say, when others expressed it, " Let God's
will be done ! He alone can determine for me as
shall be best." When any mentioned their sym-
pathy with her in bodily pain, she said the Di-
vine Being saw reasons for it, though others might
not ; that he did not willingly afflict the children
of men ; and that the result would be good, though
the process might be painful ; for it would yield
the peaceable fruits of righteousness. She seemed
to enter fully into the Apostle James's counsel,
where he exhorts Christians to give to their
graces full time and means for growth and matur-
ity, by continued endurance of trial, saying, "Let
patience have its perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, lacking nothing." She was
cheerfully willing to lie in the furnace as long as
the Divine Refiner appointed her to do so ; and
while there, it was plain that her Christian graces

w2

258 a mother's portrait.

were not only purified, but adjusted themselves
in due and full proportions ; so that she reflected
more clearly than ever the image of God. Mean-
while, she was earnest in religious exhortations
and counsels to all who came near to her, and
especially to her children.

After some time of continued supplication on
her behalf, she began to think and speak of re-
covery. Her case, she said, was like King Heze-
kiah's : her days were lengthened in answer to
prayer ; but she solemnly added, it would not be
for long. As yet, neither physicians nor friends
saw reason for hope, and they still expressed fear;
but her faith in God for a temporary recovery
was firm and unwavering. One night, her hus-
band could not refrain from tears, when, watching
by her side, he observed her altered looks. "My
dear, what are you weeping for ?" she inquired.
" I fear }rou are about to be taken from me," he
answered. " No," she said, emphatically, u I shall
not die, but live, and declare the works of God."
And it was done to her according to her faith :
she was raised from her bed of suffering, and
bore grateful testimony to the power and goodness

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS. 259

of God to sustain, comfort, and benefit his child-
ren in affliction.

But though thus graciously restored, she gave
continued proof of being fully weaned from earthly
things ; and appeared like one increasingly with-
drawing from the activities of life. Illness had
also left traces upon her countenance and com-
plexion, so that her friends rejoiced over her with
trembling. She never recovered her former vigor,
so as to be able to endure again what she did be-
fore. But she spent as much time and strength
as could be given, in visiting the sick and the
poor; and was especially urgent with others to
begin and labor diligently in this way for Christ.

In the latter part of 1839, she accompanied me
in a gig from Lincoln to the neighboring village
of Langworth, where I had to open a new chapel.
This she persisted in doing against earnest remon-
strances, made on the ground that the journey of
six miles, in an open vehicle, at that season of the
year, would be too much for her enfeebled strength.
But her mind had its purpose for usefulness on
that day, and she was not to be dissuaded from
going. The urgent theme of her conversation, on

260 a mother's portrait.

the road, was the work of God in the salvation of
sinners. At the village, she was known to many
residing there ; and the solemn and edifying
influence which attended her intercourse with
them in the interval of public worship is not for-
gotten.

In the spring of 1840, she came up to me, in
the First London Circuit ; and so far as her re-
duced strength would allow, she was active and
useful among the members of the Church. We
had been favored with a gracious work in several
of the societies ; and I have no doubt that the
news of this strengthened her determination to
make the visit. Of her deep interest in the cause
of Christ, and of her strong desires for God and
for heaven, she bore most delightful testimony in
a Sabbath evening lovefeast, held in the chapel at
Stoke-Newington. In her conversations with me
at this time, she spoke much of eternity. On
previous visits she had gone, with evident inter-
est, to view the treasures of art, and the scenes
of active life in the great metropolis. But now
she was more of the pilgrim and stranger; and
sought frequent retired walks, that she might

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS. 261

speak without interruption on religious subjects.
She went more than once to the graveyard of
City Road Chapel, where many of the mighty
dead in Methodism sleep in solemn sepulture
around the founder. Here she gazed on the
tombs, read the inscriptions, spoke of the charac-
ters and worth of those great examples, of their
rising again at the coming of Christ, and expressed
a joyful hope of eternal association with them in
heaven. Indeed, her thoughts dwelt so much
on another world, that it was impossible to be
with her and not be increasingly apprehensive of
her short stay in this ; and with such apprehen-
sion she was prevailed upon to sit to a friend for
a larger likeness than had been previously taken
of her. It is of full size ; and though it repre-
sents her loved face when it was worn and shaded
by sickness, yet it is a precious memorial.

" Blest be the art that can immortalize —
The art that baffles Time's tyrannic claim
To quench the meek intelligence of those
Dear eyes!" —

sang Cowper, when looking on his mother's por-
trait ; and surely art is precious, if it only served

262 a mother's portrait.

to continue for us, faithfully, the lineaments of
those we reverence and love !

On the clay of her departure, she prayed most
earnestly in the family, spoke of spiritual things
on the way to the coach, and when on the point
of starting, said, " I am fully satisfied with life :
God has answered my prayers ; and my language
is that of aged Simeon, ' Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation !'

It was soon found that the apprehensions felt
concerning her were too likely to be realized. In
May she had a second serious illness. Father had
increased anxiety, from the fact that the medical
gentleman who had known her through life, and
ministered successfully to her before, was away
from Lincoln. She took pains, however, to allay
the uneasiness of all around her, by insisting that
there could be no " accidents" or " chances" as to
death, any more than as to life. She had no
anxiety or fear : expressed strong faith in the
special providence of God, which allows not a
sparrow to fall to the ground without notice ; and
calmly said she believed that the time of her de-
parture was at hand. It was still apparent, how-

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS. 2G3

ever, that she felt it was a solemn thing to die ;
yet, if shrinking from death as a physical evil, she
took care to let it be known that there was no
dread of its spiritual consequences.

I think, dear Sister, that a little reflection will
clear up any difficulty you or any one else may
at first have in comprehending this mingled state
of feeling in the dying believer. Human nature
must shiver when about to plunge naked into the
cold and bitter waters, though the soul is sure of
emerging from them with renewed life and vigor.
No thoughtful Christian can feel lightly or vaunt-
ingly of death. It is an undoubted evil : a part
of the curse and punishment of sin : a penalty
that must be paid on account of transgression.
All animated nature shrinks from it : the very
worm in our path, the smallest insect that flies,
seeks to escape from death ; and how should not
the reflecting human creature shrink from it, with
all the awful dependent results ? What pangs
may accompany the separation of the vital spark
from the clay tenement, — the rending asunder of
the soul and body heretofore so intimately asso-
ciated,— we cannot tell; and we naturally dread
to think. Then there is the parting from earthly

264 a mother's portrait.

friends, and the leaving of them, we know not to
how much error or suffering in the remainder of
their mortal lives. Death is also the close of
probation, and the commencement of retribution :
it is for each of us the great connective link of
existence, being the end of time and the begin-
ning of eternity. With these views and convic-
tions, the considerate Christian cannot be ex-
pected to make the last descent into the valley
with vaunting. He will not rush hastily down
into it, but " walk" through it, as the Psalmist
David said he would do. Perhaps at first he
treads with trembling steps, though he knows he
shall pass through it safely and need fear no evil.
This was our dear Mother's state of mind when
she felt herself approaching the confines of the
eternal world, and knew that the summons had
come for mortal conflict with her last enemy. As
she came forth from the thorns and sand of the
wilderness in which she had sojourned for fifty-
two years, and heard the last hiss of the old ser-
pent as she drew near the swelling waters, she
trod calmly and safely ; but not boastfully. She
spoke confidently of the joys awaiting her in the
goodly land beyond, but said more than once, " It

SUPPORT IN SICKNESS.

265

is a solemn thing to die !" And this solemnity of
feeling which she had was not irreconcilable with
her Christian cheerfulness, — her joy in the Lord.
This never forsook her ; for with all her thought-
ful seriousness concerning death itself, she ear-
nestly desired to " depart and to be with Christ,"
which she knew would be "far better" than to
remain longer on earth. But, as one has said, "A
man may desire to be with his family, and yet
fear crossing the sea ; so we may desire to be with
Christ, but shrink when we remember we must
die to be with him."

\

\

\

■\ ":

\

%t\itx *kni.

The dead are like the stars by day :

Withdrawn from mortal eye,
But not extinct, they hold their way

In glory through the sky.
Spirits from bondage thus set free
Vanish amidst immensity ;
Where human thought, like human sight,
Fails to pursue their trackless flight."

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

JOYFUL DEATH. 267

It is a true saying, that " persons die as they
live." Our Mother's life had been one of faith,
and of joyful confidence in God. And it was
increasingly such the nearer she drew to its close.
During her last illness, not the shadow of a doubt
seemed to cross her mind as to her acceptance
with God, or final admission into heaven. Yet
her confidence was not based on any service which
she had performed, but on the infinite merit of
her Divine Redeemer. She gave proof while there, t
that on her death-bed she carefully reviewed her
life, and examined well the foundation of her faith
and hope. The examination yielded her no rea-
son for self-complacency. She never seemed so
profoundly humble as now; and spake much of
the mercy of God to her as a sinner, through a
crucified Saviour. " The precious blood of Christ,"
was a saying frequently on her lips. And this,
my dear Sister, is the case of all who in death
have proper views of themselves, and of Christ's
salvation ; so that as they approach the termina-
tion of their probationary course, they speak only
of his atoning and cleansing blood. Thus, Wesley,
after lus laborious and useful life, said in death, —

268 a mother's portrait.

" I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me !"

In Jesus, our dear parent could steadfastly
trust, and she knew that she was saved by him.
To two of her female friends who called to see
her some days before her end, she said, " It may
be that at the last I shall not have power to
speak ; and I wish you distinctly to understand
what I am going to say. I now declare to you,
that I have not the least doubt on my mind
respecting my acceptance with God and title to
heaven, through the infinite merit of our Lord
Jesus Christ."

Her faith in the providence of God was also
unshaken. Her long silence on all temporal
things, and the circumstances of her family, in-
duced surprise, and at length inquiry, on the part
of father. Her answer was, that she had given
all up into the hands of the Lord, and could con-
fidently intrust all to his providential care and
covenant engagement. All would be in better
keeping than hers, she affirmed, quoting suitable
promises, and pointing upwards — all would be in
Divine keeping. God had never failed her in

JOYFUL DEATH. 269

any thing lie had promised ; and she exhorted all
to serve him and trust in him.

On her death-bed she seemed exceedingly jeal-
ous for the honor and glory of the Saviour ; and
besought all who visited her to beware of taking
any praise to themselves for what they did pro-
fessedly for him. Of her own conduct she said,
it was full of imperfections ; but that she had
been sincere in what she had professed and at-
tempted. She had been but like a child in God's
service, yet she had also been childlike in purpose
and aim.

For several days before her death she lay calm
and serene, waiting the coming of the last messen-
ger; but as the end drew near, her happy mind
seemed to rise superior to all natural restraints
from bodily weakness and pain. Her spirit, in
anticipation of being freed from the last incrusta-
tions of mortality, beamed out in her countenance,
and burst forth into rapturous exaltations and
praises, that turned the house of mourning into a
house of joy. She bade others bless the Lord
with her ; and would have her family assembled
around her bed, and the hymn-book brought, so

x2

270 a mother's portrait.

that they might together praise God as they had
been wont to do in the days of her strength. She
literally fulfilled the words of the Psalmist, —
"Rejoiced in glory, and sang upon her bed for
joy." Feeling that faith's great battle was won,
the last enemy conquered, and that heaven was
opening around, she said to some friends who
visited her, " I have fought a good fight : I have
finished my course ; and I feel already upon me
such a weight of glory, that I know not how to
bear it in my weak and enfeebled state ; but still
I know that there is more to come !" Repeatedly
she spoke of her cup of blessing as overflowing,
and of her bright and joyful hope of speedy union
with Christ and the redeemed in heaven. To one
of the esteemed ministers who had called to see
her, she said with emphasis, after making inqui-
ries concerning the word of God in the circuit, and
having learned that he was going to preach that
day, at the opening of a new chapel, in an adjoin-
ing circuit, — "Preach Christ; preach Christ cru-
cified; preach Christ crucified for all men ! Preach
sl free, present, and full salvation for every one that
believe th !" adding, that while lying on that bed

JOYFUL DEATH. 271

her views of the efficacy of the Saviour's atone-
ment had been such, that she had been constrained
to sing, —

"Lord, I believe, were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid ;
For all a full atonement made !"

Our dear Mother's last day on earth, though
she was in extreme weakness and suffering, found
her still happy and rejoicing. She said to her
husband, when he entered her chamber in the
morning, after family devotion below stairs, " My
dear, draw up the window-blind, will you? and
let the blessed sunshine from heaven flow freely
in and fill the room." When he had done so, she
said, " That will do : the place is now bright, as it
ought to be on this glad day. Many complain of
this world as dark and bad. I do not. It has
been a good and happy world to me ; and all
whom I have known seem to have been my friends.
Come, let us sing together once more our Sabbath
hymn."

When reminded that it was not the Sabbath
day, she answered, " I know ; but it is a blessed
day, and a Sabbath to me ; for it will be the day

272 a mother's portrait.

when I shall enter into eternal rest !" She con-
tinued thus rejoicing till evening, when her speech
failed. But then her countenance shone more
brightly than ever. It seemed as if her spirit was
already beaming in light through the frail taber-
nacle ; and the holy rapture in her eyes seemed
to indicate that she was able to behold the hea-
venly visitants who had come to welcome her to
the everlasting home. Thus she continued, until
two o'clock on Friday morning, October 2d, 1840,
when her soul was " unclothed" from the outward
garment of the flesh, and escaped from earth's
bondage for ever.

The loss of such a parent as I have faintly por-
trayed could not but be deeply felt by her family.
It was a loss that could not possibly be repaired,
though you, my clear Sister, with some others
around you, were then too young to perceive all
that was involved in it. The words, " She is
gone !" and the desolate reflection, springing up in
the mind for the first time, " I have no Mother in
this world now !" could not but produce in the
hearts of those who were old enough to feel their
bereavement, that heavy-weighted sorrow which

FUNERAL. 273

the Psalmist expresses when he says, " I bowed
down heavily, as one that mourneth for his
mother." Her appearance when dead was still
lovely. There she lay, pure as stainless statuary
marble, with the last smile lingering upon her
face, that still seemed devout, spiritual, and radi-
ant ; so that when bending over her form, and
looking upon her countenance, the words of Christ
seemed most appropriate to the thought within, —
" She is not dead, but sleepeth." It was, how-
ever, her last sleep, from which in the body she
will not awake until the morning of the last day.

In the interval before her burial, we spoke of
her character and conduct with friends who came
to sympathize with us, as did the bereaved family
of Dorcas ; but there was a deep and mysterious
feeling of joy and consolation mingled with all our
mourning. We could not sorrow as they who are
without hope. God, our Maker, gave us " songs
in the night." The funeral was intended to be as
quiet and private as possible, for true sorrow at
such a season shrinks from public gaze and obser-
vation; but a large number of persons who had

known Mother in life were assembled at her
12*

274 a mother's portrait.

burial, many of whom had voluntarily put on
mourning habits. Several shops were closed on
the way to the graveyard, and many stood at their
doors to pay the last homage to religious worth,
— a homage not to be bought by wealth, or
secured by authority. Thus was she borne to her
long home amidst the tokens of sorrowful and
grateful affection ; for such is the effect of consist-
ent goodness, and such its final triumph !

She was buried in the south-west part of St.
Mark's retired churchyard, where her beloved
father and eight of her own children had been
previously interred. With them she sleeps quietly
in the dust, where no rude, unmeasured steps of
busy traffic, or echoes of rumbling vehicles, seem
as though they would startle the dead in their
last resting-chambers ; but where the guardian
trees around, as they yearly renew their glossy
foliage, gently whisper among their young leaves
of a coming resurrection. Her desire was strong
to be buried there : she often thought of it, and
often spoke of it. Some may consider this trivial,
and be ready to say, " It is of no consequence to
the saint where the body lies at death ;" but her

BURIAL-PLACE. 275

desire as to a burial-place was both natural and
commendable. As possessing social natures, we
desire association with those we love, not only in
life, but also in death and the grave. How many
have said, with Thomas, when contemplating the
approaching loss of a friend, " Let us also go, that
we may die with him !" What Uuth said to
Naomi is the true language of nature and affec-
tion,— " Where thou diest, will I die, and there
will I be buried." Jacob and Joseph were not
content to be left in a cold sarcophagus of some
rock-hewn tomb in Egypt, but desired to be asso-
ciated with their friends and relatives, giving com-
mandment in death concerning their bones. Jacob
is singularly earnest in this. He makes his son
promise with the utmost solemnity that his body
shall not be buried in Egypt ; and his inmost
nature speaks out when naming the reason for
being entombed in that place : " There," he says,
" they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife : there
they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there
I buried Zcah" It is also recorded, almost inva-
riably, of those who were buried with honor in
Israel, that they " were laid with their fathers."

276 a mother's portrait.

Some, who profess utter carelessness as to the
place of their burial, may be ready to say that all
this is mere sentiinentalism, and has no reason
whatever in it ; for there can be no mental inter-
course in death, and no communion in the dust.
But this desire for companionship in the grave
springs from the true instinct of nature ; and it
is no slight violation of its dictates when necessary
sanitary measures prevent the burial of relatives
together. Mother had her long-cherished desire
fulfilled ; and she and her father and children rest
in that quiet graveyard together, u in sure and
certain hope of a joyful resurrection."

Her death was improved in a funeral sermon,
preached in the Wesleyan chapel at Lincoln, by
the Rev. George Roebuck, from the latter part of
Proverbs xiv. 32 : " The righteous hath hope in
his death." A deep and solemn impression was
made by the service ; and there was a manifest
sensation produced wThen the minister quoted, at
the close of his discourse, the following verses from
Mrs. Buhner's poems, as applicable to the cha-
racter of the departed, and to the feelings of the
audience : — ^