BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN--
CORRESPONDENCE.
The "Society for the relief of Poor Widows with small Children,"
having received a charter of incorporation, and some pecuniary aid
from the Legislature of the state, the ladies who constituted the
board of direction were engaged in plans for extending their
usefulness: Mrs. Graham took an active part in executing these plans.
The Society purchased a small house, where they received work of
various kinds for the employment of their widows. They opened a school
for the instruction of their orphans, and many of Mrs. Graham's former
pupils volunteered their services, taking upon themselves, by
rotation, the part of instructors. Besides establishing this school,
Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows best qualified for the task,
and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day schools for
the instruction of the children of widows in distant parts of the
city: she also established two Sabbath-schools, one of which she
superintended herself, and the other she placed under the care of her
daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in poverty, she
visited and comforted them; and in some instances, opened small
subscription lists to provide for their support.
She attended occasionally for some years at the almshouse, for
the instruction of the children there in religious knowledge: in this
work she was much assisted by an humble and pious female friend, who
was seldom absent from it on the Lord's day. In short, her whole time
was occupied in searching out the distresses of the poor, and devising
measures to comfort and establish them to the extent of her influence
and means. At the same time, far from arrogating any merit to herself,
she seemed always to feel how much she was deficient in following
fully the precepts and the footsteps of her beloved Lord and Saviour,
who "went about doing good."
It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, taking
with her a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about eight
o'clock. Her only dinner on such days was her bread, and perhaps some
soup at the soup-house, established by the Humane Society for the
poor, over which one of her widows had been, at her recommendation,
appointed. She and her venerable companion, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman,
second directress of the Widows' Society, travelled many a day and
many a step together in the walks of charity. Mrs. Graham was a
Presbyterian, Mrs. Hoffman an Episcopalian. Those barriers, of which
such an unhappy use has been made by sectarians to separate the
children of God, fell down between these two friends at the cry of
affliction, and were consumed on the altar of Christian love. Arm in
arm, and heart to heart, they visited the abodes of distress,
dispensing temporal aid from the purse of charity, and spiritual
comfort from the word of life.
At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to
the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers through
the preceding year.
In April, 1800, she stated that "again the pestilence had emptied
the city; again every source of industry was dried up; even the
streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those storehouses,
from which relief was issued to thousands in former calamities, now
disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the pestilence were
ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had no friends in the
country, under whose roof they might for a time seek shelter, were
shut up to the only relief within their power, even to that society
which had formerly saved them in many a strait. They came, were
received with tenderness, assisted with, food, advice, and medicine.
"Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives,
remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One
hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children,
under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have,
from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved. Widow
is a word of sorrow in the best of circumstances; but a widow left
poor, destitute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small
children, shivering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face
with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any
probable prospect of procuring--her situation is neither to be
described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during the
last winter; and though none could restore the father and the husband,
the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers, while they
dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father and their
Husband, God."
In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in
Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B---- as follows:
"BOSTON, August, 1800.
"I yesterday received my dear J----'s letter, which gives fresh
cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less I
am able to support the want of intelligence. Let us all bless God
together for all his mercies: among those which are temporal, health
is the chief; and I believe to most mothers it is more valued in their
children than in their own persons. I rejoice with you over our
restored J----y. O that our covenant God may give the more important
blessing of divine life. You had need to be importunate for this,
after the importunity exercised for natural life. I thank God also for
the alleviation of your own distress, for our dear D----'s restoration
from complaints less alarming so far as they existed, but which might
have been the seeds of serious affliction.
"I could go on enumerating, for causes of thankfulness crowd into
my mind; but all are swallowed up in the grand mercy, the
distinguishing mercy of redeeming love to our souls. Salvation, not
only to me, but to my house. Oh, all words fail here. Read over with
me, sing with me, in your heart, the 103d Psalm. O my God, dare I even
sigh in thy presence, under any temporal pain, or hurt of body or
mind, with such a Father, such a Christ, such a Comforter, such a
richly-furnished well-ordered covenant, such a constitution of grace
and providence--O, such an all in all, even 'all the fulness of God.'
My God and the God of my seed, the God of my house; yea, and the God
of my prodigal, who shall in heaven, if never on earth, join the song,
'To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be
glory, honor, dominion, power, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.' O
shall a murmur ever pass these lips, shall this unthankful heart
indulge even a sigh over any object but sin; shall I shrink from any
cross with such a crown? Father, glorify thy name.
"I have been to church; the subject, 'be not weary in
well-doing.' Many arguments were adduced for exertion; but the gospel
was wanting. O that my friends could hear our shepherd; he would sound
his Master's voice more in unison with their own hearts' experience,
and views of new covenant provision and gospel motives: except in the
Baptist congregations, the gospel is much mutilated here, and kept out
of sight even by the few who are supposed to build upon it.
"Sabbath next brings round your--I will add, my gospel feast. I
will endeavor to meet you to-morrow evening, and to have you all on my
heart, then and on the Sabbath, in that one Lord, one faith, one
Spirit, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and
in all redeemed to himself by Jesus Christ, and sanctified by that one
Spirit uniting all. What subjects! I cannot attain to the
comprehension, but I experience the truth and enjoy the comfort
of them."
The two following letters, addressed to a young lady whose
acquaintance Mrs. Graham made while at Boston, show how tenderly she
sympathized with the feelings of the young, and how earnestly she
sought their good.
To Miss M----, Boston.
"There was, my dear Miss M----, something in your countenance and
manner, at our last interview, which has dwelt on my mind ever since.
Your former attentions, which I also marked, I attributed to the
natural benevolence of your heart; but your following a stranger, an
old woman, of whom you know so little, and whom you were likely never
to see again, to solicit her friendship and an interest in her
prayers, spoke a language beyond nature. Either my sweet friend has
already chosen God in Christ to be her portion, and his love in her
heart powerfully draws her to every one in whom she thinks she
discerns his image, or she conceives that this world cannot give her
happiness even in this life; and impressed with the importance of that
which is to come, she wishes to cast in her lot among God's people,
that she may know the good of his chosen and rejoice in their joy, and
become a partaker of that peace which the Saviour bequeathed to his
disciples when about to leave them: 'Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you; let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
"Let me congratulate my friend, which ever of these be the case.
If the first, you have, or will soon have, a peace which the world can
neither give nor take away; if the last, the Saviour stands at the
door of your heart and knocks, soliciting that heart which has too
long been hunting shadows and vanity. If your soul is dissatisfied
with the things of the world, and tired with disappointment, cast a
longing eye to the fountain of happiness. This is the claim of that
God whose name is love: 'My son, give me thy heart.' 'Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' 'In
the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.'
Be assured, my dear friend, if you could obtain all of this world that
your heart could wish for, you would find vanity written on the
possession. Nothing short of God himself can give happiness to the
soul; and exactly in proportion as man becomes weaned from the world,
and his affections centre in God, is he in possession of happiness.
"But how is this to be attained? By God's own plan, and no other.
As many weary themselves in vain, hunting the shadows of time; so,
many great philosophers, sensible of this great truth, that God alone
can satisfy the rational soul, also weary themselves in vain, because
they will not seek the blessing in God's own way. 'When the world by
wisdom knew not God, it pleased him by the foolishness of
preaching'--what was esteemed so--'to save them that believe.' 'I
thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.'
"The Saviour said, 'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have
life. No man can come to the Father but by me. I am the way, the
truth, and the life.' 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye
have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.' The
Scripture testifies what our own hearts must assent to, that human
nature is depraved and corrupt; broken off from God; at a distance
from him by sin; enmity against him in his true character; opposed to
his holy law, in its extent and spirituality: we are also helpless,
dead in trespasses and sins. 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself'--blessed be God for what follows--'but in me is thy help.'
"The same Scripture which testifies the misery of man, reveals
also his remedy--a remedy of God's own providing, by which man may be
restored to the image and favor of God, and to that communion with
him which is life and bliss. 'God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not
perish, but have everlasting life: for God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved. And this is life eternal, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent.' When man becomes convinced that he is lost, helpless,
wretched, lying at mercy, and submits to the method of God's own
providing; casts himself on the mercy of God in Christ, and coming to
him, rests on his free promise, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no
wise cast-out;' disclaiming all confidence in himself, or in his own
works, he accepts of God's offered grace, in God's own way, a _free_
and _finished_ salvation. This is the record of God, that he giveth
unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; who, of God, is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
complete redemption. Believing this, according to his faith it shall
be. Christ shall be in him, 'a well of water springing up to
everlasting life.' He will shed abroad his love in his heart, and
according to his promise, give him power to become a child of God.
The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shall be given unto him, to teach him
the knowledge of the Scriptures, and to become a principle of
holiness in his heart. Then shall he find that wisdom's ways are ways
of pleasantness, and all her paths peace; then shall he experience
the blessedness of that man whose God is the Lord; then is the way
open for communion and converse with God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost.
"If, my dear Miss M----, I have made myself understood, you have
my view of God's method of making his creatures happy; and I believe
he will make us to know that he is a sovereign God, and that there is
no other name, or method, by which men can be saved, but the name of
Christ Jesus. But, take nothing on my word, nor the word of any
creature; search the Scriptures; read the first eight chapters of the
Romans, the whole of the Ephesians: stumble not at mysteries--pass
them over, and take the milk for babes; pray for the teaching of the
Spirit; and let me recommend to you the advice of Mr. Newton, in his
Omicron's Letters, a book well worth your reading. 'Lay not too much
stress on detached texts, but seek for the sense which is most
agreeable to the general strain of Scripture.'
"My dear Miss M----, I am now old, and I hope have done with the
world; but I have been young and drunk deeply of youth's choicest
pleasures. I was blest with the best and most indulgent of parents; I
was the wife of a man of sense, sentiment, and sensibility, who was my
very first love and lover; and that love ripened and improved with
years. My children were good and healthy; love, health, peace, and
competency blessed our dwelling. I had also, in early life, taken hold
of God's covenant, and tasted his covenant love; and devoted myself to
his service, which was in my mind a principle of moderation, compared
with mere worldlings; but very far was I from that non-conformity to
the world which the precept of the gospel requires. Had I kept close
to my covenant God, enjoyed his bounty with thankfulness, occupied my
talents, devoted my time to usefulness and communion with him; had I
prayed against corruption within and temptation without, the Lord
would have directed my steps and held up my goings, and I should have
continued to inherit the earth, and should not have been diminished.
But this was very far from being my conduct; the bent of the natural,
unrenewed heart, is still opposed to God; and the best are sanctified
only in part, while in this life; the law in the members still wars
against the law of the Spirit of life in the mind. The goodness of
God, which ought to have been a powerful motive to gratitude, love,
and diligence, was misimproved; I enjoyed the gifts, and forgot the
giver; 'hugged my comforts to death.' Many, many light chastisements,
my dear, my kind, my indulgent heavenly Father exercised me with; I
had many repenting seasons under his strokes, many manifestations of
pardon I received, and many fresh and solemn dedications of my heart,
life, and substance did I make; but no sooner was ease and comfort
restored, than my heart turned aside like a deceitful bow: my whole
life, from fifteen till the thirtieth year of my age, was one
continued succession of departure and backsliding on my part--of
chastening, forgiving, restoring, and comforting on the part of
my God.
"He did not cast me off, but dealt with me according to the
constitution of his well-ordered covenant: 'If his children,'
Christ's, 'forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break
my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their
transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' Psalm 89:30. This is the
covenant--made with Christ as the head of all who believe--of which I
took hold in early life; my God kept me to my choice, and manifested
his own faithfulness and the stability of his covenant. When lighter
afflictions proved ineffectual, he at last, at one blow, took from me
all that made life dear, the very kernel of all my earthly joys, my
idol, my beloved husband. Then I no longer halted between two
opinions; my God became my all. I leave it as my testimony, that he
has been a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, the
stranger's shield and orphan's stay. Even to hoar hairs and to old age
he has carried me, and not one good word has failed of all that he has
promised. 'He has done all things well,' and at this day I am richer
and happier than ever I was in my life. Not that I am yet made free
from sin, that is still my burden--want of love and gratitude,
indolence in commanded duty, self-will, and nestling in the creature.
But my heart's wish and earnest desire is conformity to the divine
will. The bent of my will is for God; and if my heart deceive me not,
my God is the centre of my best affections. It is by grace that I am
what I am, and the same grace engages to perfect the work begun.
"This God is my God; he will guide me even unto death, through
death, and be my portion to eternity. This God I recommend to my
friend; and this well-ordered covenant, this all-sufficient Saviour,
for your acceptance: the Bible for your guide, pray to God for his
Holy Spirit to lead you to the knowledge of the very truth as it is in
Jesus. Accept this as a testimony of friendship, and believe me
"Yours, in love,
"I. GRAHAM."
To the same.
"NOVEMBER 2, 1800.
"You have, I find, been the child of affliction: she is a stern,
rugged nurse; but blessed often are the lessons she teaches. I have,
says God, chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. It is God's
ordinary way of drawing sinners to himself, either to dry up or
imbitter the streams of worldly comfort, that he may shut them up to
seek that comfort that depends not on any transitory source.
"I have no doubt but you shall yet sing with the royal Psalmist,
'It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was
afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Blessed is the
man thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' Many
are the texts to the same purport; take them for your consolation as a
part of God's well-ordered covenant.
"You have met with a late bereavement, which has entered deep
into your soul. We are not called to stoicism, but to tenderness of
heart and spirit. Jesus wept with the two sisters over a brother's
grave. But still, the Christian's spirit must be resigned, and say,
and try to say with cheerfulness, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
And Oh, my friend, great will be the wisdom and happy the
acquisition, if every new bereavement enlarge the room for divine
love in the heart, and be filled up with that most noble, most
blessed of principles. Seek not, my friend, to replace friendship
with any mere worldling; beg of God to fill up the vacuum, then will
you be a great gainer.
"Why hesitate to join the church? Let not a sense of unworthiness
keep you back--a deep sense of unworthiness is one grand part of due
preparation; and no worthiness of yours can give you any title to that
new testament in Christ's blood, which was shed for the remission of
sins. Worthless, vile, empty, helpless is every son and daughter of
Adam's race: but it was for the ungodly that Christ died; it was while
we were without strength; his name was called Jesus, because he should
save his people from their sins. In that day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood among a mixed multitude, and cried, 'If any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink--whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely.'
"If conscious at the time it is the supreme desire of your soul
to be washed in his blood, clothed with his righteousness, sanctified
by his Spirit, go and take this water of life freely; go as a
_sinner_ to a _Saviour_; go at his command, put honor on his
appointment, and repeat the dedication of all that you _are_,
_have_, or _can_ have, over the symbols of his body broken
for you, his blood shed for you; go, trusting in his mercy, and leave
all to his management, believing that _he will_ shed abroad his
love in your heart, order your footsteps in his ways, and in due time
perfect his image in your soul. Keep close to him in the use of means,
but look beyond the means for life and power. I commit you to our God
and Saviour, and pray that he may be to you 'wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification,' and complete 'redemption.'
"I am, my dear Miss M----,
"Your ever affectionate,
"I.G."
In March, 1801, the health of her daughter Mrs. B----, requiring
a sea-voyage and absence from care, Mr. and Mrs. B---- sailed for
Britain, and the following letters were addressed to them during
their absence:
"MARCH 23, 1801.
"MY DEAR CHILDREN--This is mortifying to us all that you should
be anchored half a mile from us, and there lie for hours; but even
this, trifling as it may appear, has its end to answer in _His_
scheme, without whom 'not a sparrow falls.' I have retired with my
Bible, to commit you, and all my cares and concerns, afresh to that
God whose goodness and mercy have followed us through life; who is my
God, your God, and the God of our children; who answered my prayers in
opposition to my inconsistent conduct; took you out of my idolatrous
management into his own more merciful guidance. He has done all things
well, and he will perfect his own work.
"Now, may the Angel that redeemed you, be with you, keep you in
the hollow of his hand, and as the apple of his eye; be with you on
his own ocean, and command the billows not to touch you; carry you to
the bosom of your dear native country, where a large proportion of his
body live in him and by him; bless you, and make you a blessing
wherever his providence shall carry you, and restore you with
blessings to us, in his own time. Amen."
"SABBATH, after morning service, March 29.
"This, my dear children, is a day of storm, wind, and rain. O
that the prayer of our dear pastor, and I hope of many present, may be
with you, and be answered to and for you: Lord, be with that family,
who now, on the mighty ocean, desire an interest in our prayers. May
he whom winds and waves obey, preserve them in this tempestuous
season; may they see and improve his wonders in the great deep; may
the blessings of the everlasting gospel preserve their souls in peace,
conduct them in safety to their destined port, and restore them to us,
enriched with the blessings of thy well-ordered covenant.
"I sent two notes for the Dutch churches, enclosed to Mr. B----;
one for Wall-street, to Mr. A----, and one for the Brick church, to
Mr. M----. I watered all with my tears.
"FIVE O'CLOCK."
"O, how it blows and rains. O my children, how my poor heart
aches for you; if not in danger, yet sick, and in much discomfort. I
gave a note in the old church in the afternoon, supposing the
congregation on this dreadful day to be different. Mr. M---- prayed:
"The Angel of thy presence be with them; give them much of the
consolations of thy Spirit. Conduct them in safety to the place of
their destination, and restore them, enriched with thy blessing, to
worship with us again in this thy house of prayer.' I write on this
day merely to record, for your perusal, the prayers of your church. I
think you ought, if the Lord conduct you safe, to propose public
thanks to that God who heard and answered, if agreeable to Mr. M----.
Write me how it was with you on this day. Now I will go to a throne of
grace for you and all of us. O keep close to the Lord; may he save you
from a dissipated, trifling, carnal spirit; may he sanctify all your
comforts, and give you a just estimation of all you see and hear: may
the Christian's portion rise more and more; and the world and its
vanities sink in your view."
"APRIL 10.
"What the Lord is going to do with his and my children I know
not; but the Samuel Elam has returned to port with a leak, after being
out nineteen days. On the day of storm, she had seven feet of water in
her hold. I hope the Lord, in mercy to you, to his church, and to me
his unworthy servant, has guided you in safety, and that the prayers
of his church were answered in your behalf. O, my children, what would
be the situation of my heart had I not confidence of your being within
the ark. I desire to rejoice over all my fears, for this unspeakable
consolation, that nothing can hurt you. I experience for you what I
did in my own case, when darkness and tempest added to the horrors of
many, while our vessel kept dashing on the rock: I, too, expected her
to go to pieces every moment; but the idea was ever with me, 'in the
bosom of God's ocean, I shall find the bosom of my Saviour.' On the
night of the 29th of March I dreamt my dear J----y fell overboard, and
I saw her floating on the billows, supporting herself by her little
chair: this is the state of my mind; yet I am thankful, and enjoy much
peace. The Lord has given me what I have asked--the salvation of your
souls. In a little time we shall all be gathered around his throne.
Well may I leave to him all intervening circumstances, as well as who
goes first, and how. O how he blesses my latter end, how he soothes
and comforts my old age; far other things have I merited, that my soul
knows; but he has not only pardoned, but comforts, and draws a veil
over my transgressions, covering them from the world's observation.
What can I say? He is God, a God of mercy."
"APRIL 17.
"I have brought the reality near me, that mine eyes may never
behold you again on earth. I can say, even of that, it is well; but
the idea of the horrors of tempest, a leaky vessel racked by the
storm, and sinking by inches; sickness, nervous timidity, and the
sufferings to be undergone before the entrance to the haven of rest be
attained, is my chief disquietude, I will not even say distress,
because when these horrors--horrors they are to mere nature--dart
across my mind, filling my soul with momentary anguish, Satan too
seeking to distract my mind, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a
standard against him, and comforts me with his own word, the
everlasting promises suited to every possible circumstance in the
believer's lot. Thousands of times have I grasped that promise, 'Leave
thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' I pleaded it for
the life of their souls; He answered my prayers; he has given them
life, and they live to him. Yes, I see the fruit, and though
iniquities still prevail against them, he still purges away their
transgressions; kindles their repentance; humbles their souls; lays
them prostrate in penitential confession; washes them afresh in the
open fountain; restores to them the joys of his salvation; seals their
pardon by shedding abroad his love in their hearts, and making them
walk in the path of righteousness for his own name's sake.
"Thus he carries them on from strength to strength by various
means of his own appointing, and some terrible things in
righteousness, in the course of his providence; in all which he is
sovereign, but ever consistent with his new covenant name, as
proclaimed to Moses on the mount, as manifested in the character of
God dwelling with us in our own nature, in whom mercy shone prominent;
by which mercy they shall appear in Zion, before God, in due time.
"Is it so? Is this God my God, and the God of my seed? Is he
himself become our salvation? Are we heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Christ? Is our life hid with Christ in God? When he appears, shall we,
I and the children which he hath given me, in very deed appear with
him in glory? Is all this so, and shall I tremble at the approach of
any of his providences? Shall I not say when it has taken place, 'The
will of the Lord be done,' especially when clothed with love? I trust
that as my day, so shall my strength be, and in the interim I have the
same confidence for you; for 'he giveth power to the faint, and to
them that have no might he increaseth strength.'"
"APRIL 25.
"The wind roars and howls in my windows, though not facing the
storm, and the white waves in the river picture in my mind the foaming
billows of the ocean. The name of our God is my consolation: 'though
the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof, there is a river the streams whereof shall make glad
the city of God. God shall help her, and that right early.' When I
walk about Zion, and go round about her, when I tell the towers
thereof, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, my heart
rejoices that 'this God is our God; he will be our guide even unto
death; and O the joy that my children are the citizens of this Zion,
and the heirs of all the promises by virtue of the new testament in
Christ's blood. A covenant of works it was to our Surety, and his
heart's blood finished the requisites of it. It is now a testament to
you, sealed by the same blood. Wherever in his word I meet the
character, the providence, the work of God, I read my own and my
children's interest. I hope your experience shall be in Psalm 107:28.
If not wholly, it shall terminate in Psalm 23:4. Though you walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil, for
this God, who is your guide even unto death, shall be with you, his
rod and staff shall comfort you; and our darling Jessy he shall carry
as a lamb in his arms, and hide her from the horrors, in his bosom. I
dwell much on these subjects, and I feel comforted, whatever be
the event.
"If the Lord has carried you safe through, and you live to read
this in the body, know that our God continues to bless us abundantly
in health, peace, and plenty, as to temporals; we also experience the
peace of his covenant, and have tastes of the bread and of the water
of life. Thanks, all thanks to our new covenant Head for the stability
of the covenant; we change, but he changeth not. He himself is the
covenant given to the people, and because he lives, his people shall
live also, in spite of Satan and his colleague sin in our hearts: sin
may, and does bring his people into captivity, but it shall not keep
them in bondage for ever. The time of deliverance shall come, when
they shall revive as the corn. Oh, is it not a well-ordered covenant,
and sure?"
Her next letter gives an illustration of fidelity in a difficult,
and, it is to be feared, much-neglected duty.
"MAY 10, 1801.
"MY DEAR CHILDREN--Last evening was preparation sermon. Mr. Y----
preached a very excellent sermon from the Song of Solomon, 'Who is
this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?' First
the wilderness of this world, next the church coming up, then the
attitude leaning, and on whom; I thought the simile well supported,
and practical, as he went on. His application was rich on the
Christian's support, where he brought into view many of the names
of Christ.
"After sermon we witnessed a most affecting scene; two female
members rebuked and restored to the communion of the church. Never,
never did our dear Mr. M---- shine so bright in my eyes; many tears
were shed. I knew nothing of it, and wondered to what he was leading,
when he addressed the congregation, after sermon, upon Christian walk,
watchfulness, and temptation, and the distress occasioned in Christian
society when any of the members were left to fall into open and
aggravated sin. Such was the case in our own congregation: two, naming
the offenders, had been so far left; but while deeply wounded by the
sin and scandal, he was consoled by their penitence: he assured the
congregation that they had given great evidence of deep contrition;
and were now come forward to acknowledge their crime before their
offended and grieved brethren, and to give all the satisfaction in
their power, by submitting to the censure of the church in this public
manner, which, although painful to him, he must pronounce according to
God's appointment. 'Them who sin before all, rebuke before all.' He
then asked them to rise; scarce an individual turned to look; many
were weeping while he laid before them their guilt in strong, yet
tender terms; and finished by expressing his approbation of their thus
submitting to the rod, and exhorting them to humility and redoubled
watchfulness. Then again he addressed the members, requesting them to
receive into their Christian love and affection their repenting,
returning sisters; that they would treat them with tenderness, and
restore them in the spirit of meekness, considering themselves as also
in the body and subject to temptation. 'Let no one put them in
remembrance of the sin which the Father of mercies has blotted out,
nor open those wounds which he has closed,' 'He doth not chide
continually, nor retain his anger for ever.'
"May the Lord bless the discipline of his church; may he meet us
to-morrow with multiplied pardons: may he melt our hearts to
contrition, heal our backslidings, and manifest himself as married
unto us; may he bring us into his banqueting house and his banner over
us be love; may his grace be magnified and his name glorified; and may
he send a portion to my dear children--yea, a Benjamin's portion; may
he open wide the leaves of that new testament, and let them read their
rich inheritance and rejoice in their portion.
"Farewell, my dear children. The Lord bless you, keep you, guide
you, and cause his face to shine on you, prays your affectionate
mother."
The following to the same, was written while on a visit to a
worldly friend:
"MAY 21, 1801.
"I would fain begin to hope that my children are now on, or near
the green fields of Albion. Many a severe gale has agitated them, and
tried their faith and confidence before this day. But as He who
sitteth on the clouds, commanding and governing the elements, is
their own God in covenant, who loves them, careth for them, and
perfects what concerns them, I hope they have had much of his
presence: I hope they have found, even on the boisterous ocean,
amidst the horrors of the swelling deep, agitated with winds and
tempests, all things necessary to life and godliness in these great
and precious promises, accompanied by divine power, by which they are
made partakers of divine life, and escape the pollution that is in
the world through lust. I hope they are enriched in experience, and
advanced in the divine life, by all they have suffered, and all they
have tasted of divine support in their sufferings; that Christ is
still more precious, his word more tried, and their confidence in him
more established: if so, great is their gain. And our darling J----,
being a sharer in the suffering, shall, at her God's hand, be also a
gainer, though it be not evident to our perception. O how rich is the
Christian, how inexhaustible his portion! his table is ever
furnished, his cup ever full; all is blessing, no curse mingled--that
our Surety took to himself; prosperity and adversity, sickness and
health, light and darkness, all, all shall bless us, work for our
good, turn to our profit, and end in the glory of God and our
unspeakable, inconceivable happiness.
"I have been here a week yesterday; all vegetable nature glows
and shines in the perfection of beauty; flowers, shrubs, trees, grain,
grass, falling waters turning the busy mill, the brook murmuring on
its way to the ocean, fit emblem of eternity, all glorify their
Creator; and although no such birds as in Britain charm the listening
ear, we have some sweet chirpers of his praise; and what is wanting to
the ear, is made up to the eye, for in beauty they excel.
"These I may enjoy; with these hold communion; for Oh, spiritual
death holds all within these walls in dismal bondage; not one symptom
of life appears, but death, as the dry bones in the valley of vision.
Why do I not wrestle more for the Spirit to breathe on them? I do
pray: but Oh, formal, formal."
To the same.
"JUNE 17, 1801.
"MY DEAR CHILDREN--Difficult it is for me to exercise patience:
the 23d, of this month will make three months since you waved the
handkerchief on board the Mars, off the Battery. I had made up my mind
not to give way to expectation short of three months; they are nearly
past: how many events take place in that space of time; how many
duties ought to be performed; how many sins are really committed; how
guilty to wish to annihilate the time that a certain event may come
round. For every moment of time we must account, and not one moment of
it can we recall. Much you have seen; much you have suffered; much,
perhaps, also enjoyed: for the Lord can give songs in the night, and
in a dungeon. 'Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;' to
them there is no want. The Lord is their shepherd, he feedeth them in
green pastures beside the gently flowing waters; if they wander, he
restoreth them, perhaps with the rod, but it is the rod of love; they
need not be afraid to enter even the valley of the shadow of death;
their Shepherd is with them, and his rod, rod of support, and staff
shall comfort them.
"I hope this has been a profitable time to you both; that you
have seen more of the evil of sin, and of your own hearts, their
deceitful double turnings and windings to cover and conceal the enemy
of God and your own souls; more of the extent and spirituality of the
divine law, fulfilled indeed in every jot and tittle by your Surety;
but still doubly binding on you as a rule of life in the hand of your
Redeemer, who hath bought you to himself, and taken you into his own
hands, that you might be a holy people to himself, delivered not
merely from the penalty and curse, but from the power and indwelling
of sin. I hope you have seen more of the unsearchable riches of
Christ in all he has done and is now doing for your and his church's
happiness, and of those exceeding great and precious promises by
which you are made partakers of the-divine life, and privileged to
escape the pollution that is in the world through lust; more of the
faithfulness of God, as a God in Christ, pardoning sin and
reconciling you to himself; and day by day, teaching you by his word,
Spirit, and providences.
"I am but just beginning to see that I am blind; my own character
opening upon me as a sinner, in heart and tongue and conduct, against
my God, my neighbor, and my own soul: how comes it then that I am at
ease in God's world; in health, in peace, in comfort, all in an
extraordinary degree as to temporals; and as to spirituals, though
grieved with self, my joy in Christ also abounds. Can I believe it?
What can I say; what can I render to the Lord for all his gifts to me?
Nothing can I do, but just take the cup of salvation, calling upon the
name of the Lord, and remain an eternal debtor to his grace for
spirituals and temporals."
"JUNE 26.
"By this time you are already in port, on earth or in heaven.
Blessed alternative. Ought I to be sad, who can say, 'or in heaven?' O
no, I trust grace will be given to acquiesce in his most blessed will;
a most gracious will it has been to me and mine.
"I wrote you in my last, that our dear Mr. M---- leaves us next
month for Britain; his errand is to state the situation of this
country, as greatly in want of ministers and the means of educating
ministers. Many of his people are dissatisfied, as he has two
congregations to supply, and a large family of his own. Why should he
be the man? For my own part, I think he is the very man; and I am
thankful to feel a degree of disinterestedness. Though I love my
minister, value his ministry and his person, I hope the general
interest of Christ's body is more dear to me, and of infinitely more
importance than my private comfort, which, after all, I do not believe
can suffer by parting cheerfully with its apparent food to Christ, who
himself is the sum and substance of all that any minister can be
instrumental in conveying. All means are alike to him, or no means. I
therefore rejoice in his will, and pray that the Lord may prosper him,
give him a double portion of his Spirit, and favor in the eyes of all
whose influence is necessary to advance the Redeemer's kingdom
in America.
"Our friend Mrs. K---- is gone; she died suddenly: both Mr. and
Mrs. T---- died at their country-seat; he first. She fancied she was
getting better. The physician advised her not to ride, as she could
not stand the fatigue; she had more faith in air and exercise: the
last day she went out she fainted getting into the carriage, and again
coming out; and died in the afternoon. She lived near us, yet I never
saw her, nor offered one kind office towards the salvation of her
soul, which, if lost, leaves me not innocent of her blood, and if
saved, as I hope it may be, my sinful neglect is not the less. What a
picture in them of the vanity of all under the sun; and in me of the
evil of procrastination, for I meant to visit her. O my Saviour, is
this the return I make for the millions of pardons which thou hast
passed on my account; sparing even the rod, and blessing me with
health, restored limbs, and mercy on mercy, comfort on comfort? I want
words to paint my abominable ingratitude, indolence, and cruelty; and
yet, Oh yet I am spared, and my mercies are spared, as far as I
know--but trial may be at hand. Perhaps I write what my children may
never read. Well, even then, mercy, mercy shall be my song; for I sing
the song on earth which they sing in heaven. I am just going to town
to attend preparation sermon. Our feast is on Sabbath."
"JULY 17, 1801.
"What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies--mercies
temporal, mercies spiritual, mercies eternal, multiplied mercies? The
one thing that I asked of the Lord has been answered in full, and Oh,
how much added. God himself become my salvation, and the salvation of
my house; how unspeakable the blessing. Although chastisement and
affliction were the means of correction and sanctification, or even
the vengeance taken on my inventions, yet, as a God, he at the same
time pardoneth. For Oh, my character is ever the same with backsliding
Judah and treacherous Israel. Glory to that name which is ever the
same, and changeth not. 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin.' This was his name among a
stiff-necked people, an idolatrous, ungrateful people; this is his
name to me alike in character. O how he has magnified this name to me,
a backslider in heart and life; multiplying pardons while I have
multiplied transgressions: still he has been last with me, healing my
backsliding; restoring my soul; leading me to the open fountain;
giving faith to wash, and joy and peace in believing; not only so, but
in this land of drought, this waste howling wilderness, this vale of
tears, where 'man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards,' my
cup with temporal comfort is full and running over; all his creatures
minister to my comfort; and as days and nights roll on, his daily
providence adds, and diminishes not.
"I had hardly hoped to see the faces of my children again; for he
commanded, and raised the stormy winds and lifted up the waves of the
sea; they mounted to heaven and sunk again to the deep; death with all
its _natural_ horrors surrounded them; the deep yawned to devour
them; but God, their own God, was at hand, their anchor of hope, their
ark of safety, their hiding-place till the calamity was past: they
cried to him, and he saved them out of their distresses; he made the
storm a calm, and the waves thereof still, and brought them to the
desired haven. This trouble was not unto death, but for the glory of
God and the exercising of your faith, for the manifestation of his
power and goodness, and the enriching of your experience.
"O then let us praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men. Let us exalt him in the
congregation of his people, and praise him in the assembly of
the elders."
"OCTOBER 23, 1801.
"Surely, surely my heart feels grateful for the time, though
this, like every other good motion, will, like the morning dew, soon
pass away.
"My children not only preserved through the tempestuous storms
that threatened death with circumstances shocking to nature, but my
poor sick child preserved during a long and fatiguing journey; that
journey made comfortable, yea, delightful, by the warm reception of
many kind friends, dear to nature, and many doubly endeared by grace:
among the last, the mother and sisters of the kindest and best of
husbands; they receiving her as their own flesh and blood, as well as
their fellow-member in Christ; blest with a measure of health to enjoy
all, and a measure of grace to profit by all; eyeing by faith the dear
invisible hand of a covenant God, preserving, leading, guiding through
every step--his love the marrow of the whole, and their charter for
safety, even amidst the dangers of prosperity.
"Is not godliness gain? profitable for this life as well as that
which is to come? What is the portion of the worldling? even in this
life 'shadowy joy or solid woe,' without a balance to the first, or
consolation in the last; no sure footing in the one, nor support in
the other; distanced from the fountain of happiness by nature,
prosperity incrusts their hearts and increases their carnality;
nestling in their worldly comforts, they forget they are the creatures
of a day, that an endless eternity lies before them, and only the
feeble uncertain thread of life between them and that curse under
which they were born. Not so the child of God; all things work
together for his good--_all things;_ his standing is not in
himself; his footsteps are directed by infinite wisdom: he is kept by
the power of God, through faith, unto salvation. Nothing can separate
him from the love of God. His life is hid with Christ in God: there is
cause to rejoice always; his privileges are boundless, infinite, for
God himself is become his salvation.
"Have we then any cause for fear? Yes, my children, yes; though
nothing can rob us of our charter, there is another side to be beheld.
In Christ we have all things richly to enjoy, but we have not all in
possession: what we have is by faith; all is secured by our Surety for
eternity. We shall overcome by the blood of the Lamb; but by the
constitution of the covenant we must enter into that rest, that
perfect rest, through great tribulation. While our eternal salvation
is secured by our Surety, it hath pleased infinite Wisdom to appoint
another connection, which shall exist while we remain on earth: even
the connection between our steadfastness, consequently our comfort,
and the means of grace which he hath appointed, making the first to
depend in a great measure on our diligent use of the last, insomuch
that a great number of the promises are proposed conditionally. Many
exhortations are given in this view, and also many threatenings. 'They
that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,' etc. 'Seek, and ye
shall find; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you.' 'Abide in me; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no
more can ye, except ye abide in me.'
"Close, intimate, near communion with God, is to be sought by
means of prayer, meditation, and reading. If the Christian be careful
to husband time, and set apart a portion for God, and set about these
duties, he will not always miss communion; and this prepares him for
other duties, and arms him against temptation; as the promise is
concerned to keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.
'If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that
ask him.' 'So shall ye know the Lord, if ye follow on to-know him.'
'Delight thyself in God, he will give thee the desire of thy heart.'
'Nevertheless, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel,' etc.
'If his children forsake my laws, and go astray, I will visit their
faults,' etc. 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'
'But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,' etc. 'Thy
Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' All is laid
before us in the Scriptures, in the view of comfort during our
pilgrimage, as well as the certainty of our inheritance in the end;
the ground whereon we stand, our danger, and the means of safety.
See Eph. 6:11.
"There is provision made in the covenant for great comfort,
consistent with human frailty and imperfection, but not with
carelessness and negligence. While, therefore, we rejoice in the Lord,
we have good reason to join trembling with our exultation; while
standing high in comfort, to take heed lest we fall, through the
deceitfulness of sin. We carry about with us 'a body of sin and
death;' 'the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour.' We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with
principalities and powers,' etc. We live in a world lying in
wickedness; the captives of sin and Satan exerting every faculty to
banish all thoughts of God, death, and eternity; contriving, with
unwearied industry and amazing ingenuity, new gratifications for body
and mind in endless variety, suited to all constitutions, all tempers
and dispositions, and to those in all circumstances. Of these, the
most rational are the most subtle, and, in the hand of the enemy, the
most calculated to keep men ignorant of themselves, their misery, and
of the great salvation; and alas, by these he often _spoils_
unwary Christians, who, though heirs of heaven, heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ, are, during their minority, subject to like
passions with themselves, and ever in danger of being spoiled of their
comforts when off their guard.
"With the people of the world Christians have much to do: they
are fellow-members of society with them; they have many duties to
perform to them, with them, and by them; many of the things of the
world are necessary to them, many of its pleasures lawful; for 'the
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and he gives them of it
as his wisdom sees good for them. That which he gives them they gather
in the same manner as and in society with the world, by industry and
diligence in their lawful calling and business. Keeping near the
Captain of salvation, and armed in his whole armor, they are safe.
When off their guard, the vigilant enemy gains some advantage, and
they get into trouble. O how many gracious names our dear Redeemer has
assumed in his word, for our comfort, our meditation, our spiritual
exercise; how pleasant and delightful in the light of his countenance
to analyze them! Besides the names peculiar to himself as God-man, how
many has he condescended to take from among men, and the natural
comforts and safeguards of men--our Shepherd, our Rock, our Ark, all
the relations in life--and ends with our All in all. But I must have
done, that I may tell you that goodness and mercy follow us in this
family also."
"July 28, 1801.
"My dear pastor, Mr. M----, sailed for Britain. I thank thee,
good and kind Shepherd of Israel, for all those providences, which
seemed small things at the time, that hedged me into that
congregation; for all the benefits and comforts I enjoyed under the
ministry of thy aged servant now before thy throne, and that thou
preparedst thy young servant to fill his place when the time of his
departure came.
"I thank thee for all the endowments of our young pastor, of
nature and grace. I thank thee, that thou hast kept him faithful to
Him who has called him, and for the precious treasure thou hast put in
that earthen vessel.
"Now, Lord, that thou hast called him to leave his family and his
flock, to travel to a foreign land in the service which thou
requirest, go with him, prosper him, overrule all his concerns for thy
glory, the good of his soul, of the church in general, and his own
little flock in particular. Amen. Glorify thy name"