FORMATION OF THE WIDOWS' SOCIETY--
CLOSE OF HER SCHOOL.
In November, 1797, the "Society for the Relief of Poor Widows
with small Children" was instituted at New York; a society which has
risen into great respectability, and has been productive of very
beneficent effects. The Lord, in his merciful providence, prepared
this institution, to grant relief to the many bereaved families who
were left widows and orphans by the ravages of the yellow-fever in the
years 1798 and 1799.
It took its rise from an apparently adventitious circumstance.
Mr. B----, in the year 1796, was one of the distributing managers of
the St. Andrew's Society. The distribution of this charity was of
course limited to a certain description of applicants. Mrs. B----,
interested for widows not entitled to share in the bounty of the St.
Andrew's Society, frequently collected small sums for their relief.
She consulted with a few friends on the propriety of establishing a
female society for the relief of poor widows with small children,
without limitation. Invitations in the form of circular letters were
sent to the ladies of New York, and a very respectable number
assembled at the house of Mrs. Graham. The proposed plan was approved,
and a society organized. Mrs. Graham was elected first directress,
which office she held for ten years.
At the semiannual meeting in March, 1798, Mrs. Graham made a very
pleasing report of the proceedings of the Managers, and of the amount
of relief afforded to the poor. The ladies of New York truly honored
themselves and religion by their zeal in this benevolent undertaking,
in reference to which Mrs. Graham says, in a letter to her friend
Mrs. Walker:
"I mentioned in my last that we had planned a society for the
relief of poor widows with small children: the success has been beyond
our most sanguine expectations. We have now a hundred and ninety
subscribers, at three dollars a year, and nearly a thousand dollars in
donations. We have spent three hundred dollars this winter, and nearly
all upon worthy objects. The poor increase fast: emigrants from all
quarters flock to us, and when they come they must not be allowed to
die for want. There are eight hundred in the almshouse, and our
society has helped along many, with their own industry, that must
otherwise have been there. The French, poor things, are also starving
among us; it would need a stout heart to lay up in these times."
In the same letter she informs her of the first monthly
missionary prayer-meeting known to have been held in the city of
New York.
"The second Wednesday in February we commenced our first monthly
meeting for prayer for the Lord's blessing on ours, and all the
missionary societies. It was far from full; but we must be thankful
for the day of small things, and pray, and wait, and hope. The Dutch
churches, the Baptist and Presbyterian have united so far as to
officiate in each other's churches; they have collected about
seventeen hundred dollars, and are looking out for two missionaries to
send among the Indians, or to the frontiers."
A few months later we find the following letter to a young man on
his joining the church:
"SEPTEMBER, 1798.
"MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND--You have now ratified in a public manner
that transaction which, no doubt, passed previously in private between
you and your God. You have declared your belief of the gospel, and
have taken hold of God's covenant of promise. You have fallen in with
his own plan, which he has appointed for the salvation of guilty
sinners; and rested your soul upon his word of promise that you shall
be saved. You have, at the same time, dedicated and devoted your soul,
your body, your time, your talents, your substance, your influence,
all that you are and have, to be disposed of at his pleasure, and for
his glory, in the world. You are no longer your own. You are bought
with a price, adopted into the family of God, numbered with and
entitled to all the privileges of his children. Your motives of
action, your views, your interests, are all different from those of
the worldling. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, your aim
must be, and will be, to do all to his glory. This must go with you,
and be your ruling principle in all the walks of life. By your
integrity, uprightness, diligence, and disinterested attention to the
interest of your employers, you will glorify God and have his presence
with you in business. By a due and marked observance of the Sabbath,
and attendance on the ordinances, you will glorify him. By regularity,
order, and temperance, crowned with an open acknowledgment of God
before all who may surround your board, you will glorify him in an
especial manner in these days of degeneracy, and, crowned with family
worship, you will glorify him, and his presence will be with you, and
great will be your comfort. God's interest in the world must also be
yours. The good of his church in general, and that of your own family
in particular; and O, my son, if you would be rich in comfort, follow
the Lord fully, and follow him openly; and if you would do it so as to
suffer the least from the sneer of the world, do it at once.
"Already you have received congratulations on your joining the
church, by those belonging to it; soon will it be known to those who
will scoff at it. But Christians and worldlings will look for
consistency; and if it be wanting, the last will be the first to mark
it. A decided character will soon deliver you from all solicitations
to what may be even unseemly, and dignified consistent conduct will
command respect. Not but the Lord may let loose upon you the
persecuting sneer and banter of the wise of this world, whose esteem
you wish to preserve; but, if he do, the trial will be particular, and
he will support you under it, and bring his glory and your good out
of it.
"And now, my son, suffer the word of exhortation. You have
entered the school of Christ, and have much to learn, far beyond what
men or books can of themselves teach, and you have much to receive on
divine credit, beyond what human reason can comprehend.
"I would recommend to you to read carefully, and pause as you
read, and pray as you read for the teaching of the Spirit, the epistle
of Paul to the Ephesians. Read it first without any commentary, and
read it as addressed to you, S---- A----. You will there find what may
in part stagger your reason; you will find what far surpasses your
comprehension; but yet read on, with conscious weakness, and
ignorance, and absolute dependence on divine teaching. When you have
read it through, then take Brown's or Henry's exposition of it.
"A degree of mystery, my son, runs through the whole of God's
revealed word; but it is _his_, and to be received with
reverence, and believed with confidence, because it is _his_. It
is to be searched with diligence, and compared; and, by God's teaching
and the assistance of his sent servants, the child of God becomes
mighty in the Scriptures. Let not mystery stagger you: we are
surrounded with mysteries; we ourselves are mysteries inexplicable:
nor let the doctrine of election stagger you; how small a part of
God's ways do we know, or can comprehend! rejoice that he has given
you the heritage of his people--leave the rest to him: 'Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?'
"Jesus took once a little child and set him in the midst of the
people, and said, 'Except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,' intimating with what
simplicity and docility men ought to receive the gospel; and the
following text also alludes to this: 'Suffer little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
There are many promises made to the diligent searchers after truth:
'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.' 'The secret of
the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his
covenant.' Yet the highly enlightened Paul calls the gospel a mystery,
and godliness a mystery; 'for now we see through a glass darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then,' in heaven, 'shall I
know even as also I am known.' Therefore, while you use all diligence,
accompanied with prayer and the expositions of God's faithful
ministers, to understand every part of divine revelation, be neither
surprised nor disheartened at the want of comprehension, far less
attempt to reduce it to human reason, as many have done to their ruin.
The Scripture says, 'Vain man would be wise, though born like the wild
ass's colt.' 'The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.'
"I. GRAHAM."
Again we have the following merited strictures by one taught from
above, on a passage in Pope's Essay on Man.
"1798.
"'Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees.'
"There the poet must stop: thus far the natural mind, richly
endowed with human powers, can go and trace a God of power, wisdom,
and beneficence: O that thou hadst had eyes to see, and discern what
flesh and blood could never reach; that all these glories dwindle into
tapers, when compared with Jehovah manifested in the face of Jesus
Christ. Every star, every tree, all vegetating, bursting, blooming
life, answer the end of their creation, manifesting his glory as thou
sayest; but can they tell thee how this God can be just, and yet
justify those who have rebelled against all his attributes; torturing
even his fair and beautiful creation, and bringing it into subjection
to their lusts, as thou hast well sung; murmuring at, and rebelling
against his dispensations in providence; hardening themselves against
his government; perverting every good to their own misery, and
imbibing wretchedness from means of blessedness? Can all that thou
hast sung bring into congeniality perfection of wickedness and
perfection of holiness, perfection of wretchedness and perfection of
happiness, perfect opposition in nature and principle? Here thy song
stops short. Thou seest the evils and the misery; thou hast a glimpse
of an opposite good, but all means proposed by thee ever have proved,
and ever will prove inadequate to the attainment of it: the very
attributes of a just and holy God oppose it: heaven and earth must
stand amazed at the declaration that God would justify the ungodly."
In the month of September, 1798, Mrs. Graham's daughter Isabella
was married to Mr. Andrew Smith, merchant, then of New York. Her
family being thus settled to her satisfaction, and her health not
good, she was prevailed upon to retire from her school, and to live
with her children.
During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in 1798, it was with
much difficulty Mrs. Graham was dissuaded from going into the city to
attend on the sick: the fear of involving her children in the same
calamity, in the event of her being attacked by the fever, was the
chief reason of her acquiescing in their wish to prevent so hazardous
an undertaking. During the subsequent winter she was indefatigable in
her attentions to the poor, she exerted herself to procure work for
her widows, and occupied much of her time in cutting it out and
preparing it for them. The managers of the Widows' Society had each a
separate district; and Mrs. Graham, as first Directress, had a general
superintendence of the whole. She was so happy in the execution of her
trust, as to acquire the respect and confidence of the ladies who
acted with her, as well as the affections of the poor.
Her whole time was now at her command, and she devoted it very
faithfully to promote the benevolent object of the institution over
which she presided. The extent of her exertions, however, became
known, not from the information given by herself, but from the
observations of her fellow-laborers, and especially from the testimony
of the poor themselves. When she had been absent for some weeks, on a
visit to her friends in Boston, in the summer of 1800, her daughter,
Mrs. B----, was surprised at the frequent inquiries made after her by
persons with whom she was unacquainted: at length she asked some of
those inquirers what they knew about Mrs. Graham. They replied, "We
live in the suburbs of the city, where she used to visit, relieve, and
comfort the poor. We had missed her so long, that we were afraid she
had been sick; when she walked in our streets, it was customary with
us to come to the door and receive her blessing as she passed."
We next find letters to her female friend near Boston, who was
still in much spiritual darkness and despondency.
To Mrs. C----, near Boston.
"MARCH, 1799.
"MY EVER DEAR FRIEND--I have just read your letter, painful to
you to write, but to me as the mother's anguish which precedes her
joy. The day will soon break, and the shadows flee away; and the dear
Saviour whom you seek, will again comfort his returning prodigal.
"I will do what you desire me, and though I have the highest
opinion of our young Timothy, J.M., I will pass by him in this case,
and lay it before one of the aged Christians, Dr. R----rs or Dr.
L----n; at the same time, my friend, I am as sure of their answer as
if I were already in possession of it. Who told my friend that she was
blind, and miserable, and wretched, and naked? Flesh and blood never
yet taught proud man or woman this lesson.
"My dear friend, there is nothing new nor strange in all you have
told me: there is scarce a heaven-taught soul, who has made any
advances in the spiritual warfare, but could sympathize with you from
experience. What have you experienced more than the Scriptures tell
us: that 'the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked?' Only the Lord can search it, only he can cleanse it. He takes
the prerogative to himself, and he calls it his covenant that he will
make with sinners in gospel times. You may strive and fight, and
resolve and vow--all will not do: you lie at his mercy for holiness as
well as pardon. He is exalted as a Prince to give repentance, and he
is the author and finisher of faith. He works all our works in us, and
without him we are not equal to one good thought. We are his
workmanship, 'created anew in Christ Jesus,' My dear friend, put the
work into his hand, and try to wait on him in hope--hope in every
situation; do more, trust.
"You entirely mistake the situation of others; none of us have
our heaven here: no, sin dwelleth in us; the very best have their ups
and downs. Do you think your friend is always on the mount? very far
from it. I am at times so cold, so dead, so stupid, that I can neither
pray, read, nor hear. I have begun the same chapter over and over,
still trying to fix my thoughts, and as often they wander on every
trifle; but my peace lies where you will soon learn to place yours, in
the merits of my almighty Saviour. My safety depends not on my frames,
but his promise and when tossed and tempted, dead and lifeless,
emptied of every good, perhaps buffeted like you with abominable
thoughts, the fiery darts of Satan, casting all on Him, I am safe as
when basking in the sunshine of his love, and tasting what you have
tasted: for you have tasted, and you shall yet taste the joys of his
salvation. I too have proved false to his covenant, have gone off with
the world, and been intoxicated with its vanities and empty delights,
and have laid up for myself seasons of deep remorse; my sins have
often separated between my God and me, especially in my younger days;
the Lord calls to watchfulness and diligence in the use of means, and
he generally honors these means, of his own appointing, with his
blessing. When we either trust to these means, and fancy merit in
them, or neglect to use them as his appointment, he generally makes us
feel our error, but he does not cast us out of his family; he chastens
us, and restores us.
"I write hastily, just to say that you have my sympathy and my
love; for well I know, the almighty Lord alone can loose your bonds,
and give you 'joy and peace in believing.' All my advice may be summed
up in this--trust in the Lord with all your heart; at least aim at
this; I say, aim at it, for this too must be given you. Roll yourself,
your doubts, your fears, your sins, your duties, all on him: say,
'Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.' He is an almighty Saviour to
deliver sinners from sin as well as from punishment. I leave you on
the Father of mercies, and will, when the Lord enables, pray for you.
"Yours, etc."
To the same.
"At last, my dear friend, the Lord appears; appears the Bible
God--'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
transgression, and sin.'
"When was it that the Lord proclaimed this, and took unto
himself this name? After Israel, his chosen, had been guilty of that
awful sin in the wilderness, of making the golden calf, and
proclaiming, 'These be thy gods, O Israel:' David takes it up in the
103d Psalm, 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
plenteous in mercy.' Read on, my dear, then turn to the 130th. This
God is your God, and has long been your God; his work was upon your
heart, though you could not discern it. In bondage you have long
been, but not a willing captive; unbelief kept you in bondage, long,
long after your eyes were opened to see your bondage; and even to
discern, in some feeble measure, your remedy.
"The Lord has wise reasons for all you have suffered: if not now,
you shall in some after-time 'know and consider all the way by which
he has led you, to prove you, to try you, and show you what was in
your heart, that he might do you good in your latter end.' You did not
wait patiently for the Lord your God; you did not in general say,
'Though he slay me, I will trust in him:' no, my friend has been a
great unbeliever, yet hath the Lord, the sovereign Lord, 'whose ways
are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts,' brought you
out of 'a fearful pit, and out of the miry clay; set your feet upon a
rock, and established your goings; put a new song into your mouth,
even praise unto our God.' Now you sing the 34th Psalm. I do rejoice
with my friend; I bless the Lord with her; let us exalt his name
together. It is establishing to my own soul. I have long prayed, and
long looked for this: I lived in the faith of it, assured that He who
had begun the good work, would perfect it in his own time.
"I cannot but regret your want of pastoral food; yet ought I to
regret any thing? The Lord himself is your Shepherd. My Bible lies on
my lap, and I had turned to the 34th Psalm, to know if it contained
what I would point out to you: on finishing the last verse, I
unconsciously turned my eye on the Bible; the words that met it were,
'I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go: I
will guide thee with mine eye.' Psa. 32:8. And so it shall be. Amen,
my God, Amen. Do as thou hast said.
"Perhaps, my friend, by this time your notes are lowered. It has
pleased the Lord to give you a strange sight: Mary Magdalene, a great
sinner at the feet of Jesus, pardoned, comforted, and highly honored
in after-life.
"This history, accompanied by the Spirit of God, has consoled,
strengthened, and raised up many bowed down since that day, many now
around the throne, who sing of pardoning love.
"I now wish to say, hold fast the beginning of your confidence.
Your experience is that of God's people. To rejoice in the Lord at all
times is your privilege, but will not be always your attainment. The
Lord has done great things for you, whereof I am glad; but, my dear
friend, the warfare is not over: you must endure trials as others;
engage with 'principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in
high places,' and, worst of all, a treacherous heart within; which,
for all that it has seen and tasted, is yet corrupt and deceitful. The
new life which Christ gives to the soul, evidences itself in the
desires of the heart and affections. As certainly as the new-born babe
desires the breast, as certainly and as evidently does the new-born
soul desire union to God, communion with him, and conformity to him in
heart, life, and conversation. This principle is in its own nature
perfectly pure, but the old nature, the law in the spiritual members,
is as perfectly corrupt: 'in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.'
"In the order of God's covenant it has not pleased him to deliver
even believers, all at once, from sinful inclinations and passions; he
has provided for their final complete deliverance, and sin shall not
have dominion over them even here; but it is still in them while in
the body, and a dying body; and the remains of sin in the soul make
the believer's life a warfare, and this world a wilderness; soul and
body are diseased; both are redeemed, and provision made for the
entire deliverance of both--for the soul at death, for the body at the
resurrection; but while in the body, 'if any man say he has no sin, he
deceiveth himself, and the truth is not in him.' I John, I:8. Look at
Paul's experience--what does he say of the believer's state? He calls
it a warfare, a fight, a captivity for a time: see 1 Tim. 6:12;
1 Cor. 9:26.
"I write not thus to dishearten you, but as a friend I warn you,
lest you fall again into unbelief. Look not within for comfort, for
consolation, for confidence. Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness, his blood the atonement, and you are complete in him,
his grace is sufficient for you, his strength shall be perfected in
your weakness, and you shall go on. Grieve for sin you will, grieve
you ought; but keep ever in your remembrance 1 John, 2:1, and 5:11.
"Yours, etc."
To the same.
"JANUARY 14, 1800.
"My dear friend says, 'O that I could have the society of some
aged pious clergyman or Christian, who had gone through his warfare.'
O that you could, in the Lord's hand. I hope it might do you good:
yet, after all, the Lord himself must loose your bonds; aye, and he
will, and also appoint the means.
"There are two kinds of rest awaiting you, the one in this life,
the other will not be attained till the mortal shall put on
immortality. When was it that Paul, the great apostle, could say he
had fought the good fight? Not till he could also say he had finished
his course, and was ready to be offered up; till then, he like others
had to continue the warfare between grace and corruption; like others,
found a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, so
that the thing that he would, he did not, and that which he would not,
that he did. Notwithstanding this, there is a blessed rest attainable
here, rest from the fear of wrath and hell--a rest in Christ as our
atonement, our surety, our complete righteousness, our title to
eternal life, and all the grace necessary to fit us for it. This is
the work of faith, or rather, this is faith itself. The soul
established in this can rest in all possible circumstances; it depends
not on its frames: in darkness, when it is tossed, tempted, wandering,
conscious of unhallowed tempers, perhaps of the actual commission of
sin, though at such times the warfare between grace and corruption is
so strong as to make the Christian exclaim, 'O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?' he can still
say, 'The Lord lives, blessed be my Rock;' see the 42d and 43d Psalms.
The Christian can still say, my Lord and my God; he is sure the
conflict will end, and that his God will bring good out of it; he
enjoys hope; he feels his state as safe as in the most enlarged frame
of mind, when he can pray, praise, love, rejoice. This is a riddle
which only Christians can understand, and even they require many
lessons to comprehend it, many more to practise.
"Have you Newton's letters? See his second letter in Cardiphonia.
O try to fix your anchor of hope on that sure foundation which God has
laid in Zion, Christ himself. Trust him to save you from every evil
without you and within you. When your own weakness sinks you, try to
be strong in his strength; when guilt disturbs, wash in the open
Fountain. But hold fast the beginning of your confidence unto the end.
"Be comforted, fight on, aim at trusting, and you shall, in the
Lord's time, also, cease from your own works, and rest, with more
advanced Christians, on the faithfulness of your own God in Christ.
See Hebrews 4:9, also chap. 12 throughout. I finish with chap.
13:20, 21, my earnest prayer and sure hope for you, my precious
friend.
Yours, etc."
Writing to her brother Dr. Marshall, she alludes to the prevalent
neglect of the voice of God in his judgments, and notices the death
of Washington.
"NEW YORK, March 3, 1800.
"Here comes a letter of woe from my dear brother, on a subject
almost already forgotten in New York, the yellow-fever. Strange as
it may seem, the disease, and all that it carried off, seem entirely
out of mind. No mention made of the past, no apprehensions for the
future. Country retreats are multiplying around, and people appear
as if they had made a covenant with death. Potter's Field is filled
with our principal citizens; the prison and prison limits with
many of the survivors. The rest are _feasting_, _dancing,_ and
_revelling_, or weeping over feigned woe in the theatre--a few
excepted, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them,
whose eyes have been opened to discern the danger and accept the
offered Saviour: among which number, I dare, through grace, reckon
your sister and her children. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
not all his benefits.'
"The city, indeed the United States, have been swallowed up in
the loss of Washington. The utmost stretch of human eloquence has been
called forth in panegyric. His eulogium has been sounded in every
possible mode--not excepting our pulpits. The 22d of February, his
birthday, was set apart to his memory. Two of our ministers were
appointed to pronounce an eulogium on his character: one of whom was
Dr. Mason, the other Dr. Linn. The last I admired; it had its due
influence over me; but of my own minister I could form no judgment:
the church, the pulpit, the man, the words, seemed so connected with
the 'Lord Jesus Christ,' his favorite theme, I could not realize the
_mere_ orator.
"Great things were said of Washington, and they were due.
"The Lord himself called him by name, girded him, subdued great
armies before him, with handfuls, like Gideon. He gave him wisdom in
counsel, and prudence in executing justice. A nation blessed him
while he lived, and with all the power of language lamented his
death. Ah, human depravity, how striking. Bursting with gratitude to
a creature--with enmity to a Saviour God; to God, who 'so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; and to as many
as receive him gives power to become the sons of God,' by putting
his Spirit within them, and causing them to love and walk in his
statutes. But alas, the carnal unrenewed mind is enmity against God
and his Christ. O that men were wise, and could see their disease,
and the remedy.
"What misery is in the world at this day. It is only equalled by
the wickedness. How does potsherd dash against potsherd, mutually
destroying each other. How consoling to the Christian 'that the Lord
reigns. The Lord sits King among the nations,' even our own Jesus,
'Head over all principalities and powers, and dominions, and every
name that is named in heaven and in earth;' all these shakings,
turnings, and overturnings, shall prove subservient to the real
prosperity of his church."
"1800.
"I have entered into my closet; I have shut my door; I would pray
to my Father who is in secret; I would be shut up with my indwelling
God; but see the crowds that follow; see my treacherous heart that
gives them admission; see my unsanctified imagination going off with
them, leaving nothing before thee but a lifeless lump of clay. Help,
Lord. Hast thou not redeemed me from vain imaginations? Lord, fill all
thy temple; cast out the buyers and sellers; thyself prepare room for
close, undisturbed, holy conference. Grant that, according to the
riches of thy glory, I may be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in
the inner man: dwell in my heart by faith, that 'rooted and grounded
in love, I may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the
breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of
God.' Give unto thy redeemed servant the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation. Reveal thyself more and more in my soul; enlighten the
eyes of my understanding. Lord, improve, enlarge the powers of the new
man. Spirit of the Father and of the Son, do thine office; take of the
things of Christ and show them unto me; that I may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the 'riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at the Father's right hand, in the heavenly places, far
above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and given
him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,
the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' Filled with all the
fulness of God; 'the fulness of him who filleth all in all!' O what
things are these. My soul stretches to comprehend; but, weak and
feeble, cannot climb those glorious heights, nor dig into these, to
me, unsearchable depths. I can only spell after the language of the
Holy Ghost, lisp out his own words. I dare not trust my powers of
comprehension to vary even the mode of expression.
"Well, it may be best for me; the valley of humility may be
safest for me. 'Father, glorify thy name.' Thou hast quickened me; I
am not what I was. Thou hast wrought in me a measure of faith and
love; thou hast sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise; thou hast
given me the earnest of my inheritance; the full possession shall come
in thy appointed time. Wherefore I will sing unto Him that is able,
and will do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask, think, or
comprehend, according to that same mighty power that worketh in us.
Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.
"My covenant God, and the God of my house. Thy Spirit saith, 'If
any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.' Thou knowest the difficulty
and danger of the present case. We are ignorant of hidden motions and
principles, of Satan's suggestions, of corresponding or discordant
circumstances, of future providences and events. Lord, give counsel.
"If information and advice be duty on the part of thy servant,
determine on the side of duty, be the danger what it may; and Oh,
search, try, and deliver from every selfish or hidden impure motive.
Give prudence in the choice of words, in the time and manner as well
as purity in the matter. Save from injuring any of the individuals
concerned. And Oh, prepare the heart of thy other servant to receive
this office of friendship with a proper degree of confidence. Save
from unjust suspicions, that it may be taken as meant in love, in
Christian love and friendship.
"O thou who knowest all hearts, all motives, all circumstances
past, present, and future, overrule for the manifestation of truth,
for the safety and good of thy servant, and for the closer union of
all concerned in the bands of Christian love, confidence, and
affection; and as our covenant God, in whom we trust for guidance in
every path of duty, glorify thy name.
"I record this prayer in faith, and wait an answer of peace from
thy inward teaching and manifestation in the course of thy providence.
Amen."
"1800.
"'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as
long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall
call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
alone doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for
ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and
Amen.' Psalm 72:17.
"Again have I and my children been fed with Christ's flesh and
his blood at his own table. Glorious things are said of thee, thou
city of our God; and rich the provision of the house of our God;
wonderful the scheme that hath made sinful, guilty, rebel sinners the
citizens of this holy city, inhabitants of this holy house. Mysterious
truth. The city itself the house of God; the temple of the Lord, in
which he delighteth to dwell. Closer yet, more mysterious, yet equally
true, 'his body, his flesh, and his bones;' closer still, one Spirit
with him. As Mediator Emmanuel, he is the bond of union, whereby the
guilty sons and daughters of Adam are made one with the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost.
"Wonderfully and fearfully are we made as creatures: as a
rational creature, who can understand and comprehend himself; how
these members were fashioned; how this spark of vital flame was
breathed into the lifeless lump or atom? Wonder-working Lord, thou
only knowest. Wonderful are all the works of creation; but Oh, what
are they to thy work of redemption? To bring worlds out of nothing, to
bring light out of darkness, was thy easy work; but to bring good out
of evil, this, this was the wonder. Thousands and ten thousands of
worlds were, and may yet be created without cost. God says, Let it
_be_, and it is; but redemption! O, who can tell the cost?
Blessed Jesus, God manifested in the flesh; Christ, babe of
Bethlehem--man of sorrows--victim on the cross; thou only canst tell.
'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things,
and blessed be his glorious name for ever!' Whatever the cost, _it
is finished_. He bowed his head and said, 'It is finished!' This
finished work is the new testament which he bequeathed to his
disciples 'the same night in which he was betrayed,' when he took
bread, blessed it, brake it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take,
eat, this is my body broken for you; and took the cup, and gave
thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is
the new testament in my blood, which is shed for many, for the
remission of sins.
"The new testament! O, who can tell the blessings and benefits
contained in this testament, this dying legacy of our dear Emmanuel,
purchased and sealed with his blood! What is the amount of it? What
the sum of blessings contained in it? Behold, God is become our
salvation. This is the amount. God himself, God in Christ reconciling
us unto himself: by his mighty power subduing the enmity that is in
us; melting our flinty hearts; drawing us with the cords of love;
creating us anew after his own image, which we had totally lost;
uniting us to himself, even _us_, who were enmity itself, but now
are become one with God, who is love. This is the work we have this
day been celebrating: a given, a born, a living, a suffering, dying,
risen, ascended, glorified, reigning Saviour. The Lord of hosts, the
King of kings, the Almighty God dwelling with men, dwelling in men,
and feeding them with his own body and blood. 'Behold, God is become
our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah
is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation,
therefore with joy will we draw water out of the wells of salvation.'
His attributes are the never-failing source; his ordinances the wells
of salvation. God himself is ours, all that he is is ours, to bless
and to make us happy. Ten thousand springs issue from this blessed
source, specified and particularized in his Bible, experienced and
celebrated by his saints. Let us drink and be refreshed, rejoice and
praise: for Oh, who can tell the amount of our riches, in having God
for our portion? All things are ours, we are Christ's, and Christ
is God's."
The Widows' Society met monthly, when the money in the treasury
was divided among the managers, for the relief of the widows under
their care. Mrs. Graham, as directress, thus acknowledges God and asks
his counsel:
"1800.
"O my God, I account it an honorable office thou hast given me. I
have received it from thee. Enable me to execute it to thee.
"Father of the fatherless, husband of the widow, make me a fit
instrument in thy hand of distributing thy bounty. Give discernment
and judgment, tenderness, gentleness, humility, and love; let love to
thee be the principle of my every action; lead me in the straight path
of duty; on the matter, the manner, the time, let 'holiness to the
Lord' be written. I thank thee for this sum towards the relief of thy
creatures; be with us this evening, and direct our determination as to
the division of it. Amen."