was enjoyed in Hadley. Devoid of much of the excitement, the outward
exhibitions of feeling, which such occasions bring, the living heart of the
people was touched, and in all the homes of the inhabitants was felt and
realized the heavenly results. In this revival Miss Smith became a child of
God. Though amiable and outwardly virtuous, she became convinced that she
needed a radical change such as she had never experienced. Still she made
the sinner's excuse and fled to the sinner's refuge. One useless habit
after another was given up, one sin abandoned, and one new step in
virtue taken; but the wounded spirit found no rest. At length the cross
appeared--the Savior's cross. She saw it--realized that by it she must be
saved, if saved at all. With all a dying soul's deep earnestness she fled
for safety and laid hold on the everlasting hope. The great salvation
became her life, and in firm hope she embraced the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1816 she united with the Congregational church in Hadley, and during her
sojourn in this country maintained a consistent walk and conversation. She
was emphatically a growing Christian--one who advanced in holiness, as the
sun grows brighter when the day advances.
After her acquaintance with Mr. Hervey commenced, the question of a
missionary life was laid out before her. She had often pondered upon it and
prayed God to open the effectual door before her; and when the opportunity
was presented, her heart warmly responded to the call from Heaven. That
she had some trials and misgivings upon the subject cannot be doubted; but
these were swallowed up in the desire to do good to her fellow-creatures.
Though it required an effort to leave home and friends, she met the trial
with unshaken firmness and devotion. Not long before they sailed for Bombay
her husband preached a sermon, in which he gave expression to his own
desires to promote the glory of God. In these expressions his heroic
companion doubtless united; and though she could not publicly declare her
own determination, doubtless her heart was united with his, not only in the
social relations of life, but also in the firm and holy efforts for the
elevation of our race. In that sermon, which we believe to have been the
expression of the feelings of the fallen wife, Mr. Hervey says,--
"Besides the various objects in your own town and country which may have
a claim on your charity, there are many millions of your fellow-creatures
abroad who have a still stronger claim; stronger, because their woes are
deeper and their wants greater. I stand now to plead the cause of Christ,
not in behalf of the suffering bodies of a few poor saints at Jerusalem,
but in behalf of the undying souls of six hundred millions of poor,
benighted heathen. O for the eloquence of an angel, that I might exhibit to
you the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the inconceivable miseries of
men who are living and dying without a knowledge of him, in such a light
that every one of you should weep because you have not a thousand fold more
wealth to give, ten thousand hearts to pray, and twice ten thousand hands
to labor for their salvation! I have no doubt that such would be your
feelings, if you could now see things in the light in which you will see
them shortly. You would then see that the end of living in this world,
which was redeemed with the blood of the Son of God, and which is full of
sinners perishing for want of that gospel which you possess, was something
else than to heap together wealth to pamper 'the lusts of the flesh, the
lusts of the eye, and the pride of life.' But the riches of Christ eternity
will be too short to unfold; and I have neither time nor ability to present
to your minds any thing like an adequate conception of the miseries of the
heathen. That they are living and dying without the gospel, is enough to
give every believer in the Bible an affecting sense of their wretchedness.
"I have told you the story of the Lamb of God--pointed you to what he
left and what he submitted to in order to raise men to the riches of his
everlasting love. He has gone back to heaven and taken his throne again;
but he has left a cause on earth that is dear to him as the apple of
his eye, and all the attributes of his name stand pledged for its final
triumph. This cause he has intrusted, in a very important sense, to his
disciples--beings in whose nature he came and suffered; and without their
instrumentality it never did, and never will, go on.
"Thus he gives you all the privilege of being co-workers with him in saving
the heathen. If you are not permitted to go in person to carry them the
gospel, yet you may be perhaps equally useful by your prayers, and by
furnishing the means for sending those who shall preach to them the
unsearchable riches of Christ. If, then, you would elevate the degraded
heathen to the purity of Christians, send them the gospel. If you would
rescue them, not only from their present wretchedness, but from their
darker prospects in the world to come, and inspire them with the high hopes
of eternal salvation, send them the gospel. If you would see them at the
last day on the right hand of the Son of man, and hear their bursting
praises to God for your liberality and prayers, which helped to bring them
there, now show how high you value their souls by contributing to send them
the gospel, and by your fervent prayers that the blessing of the Lord may
accompany your bounty and make it the means of their salvation.
"If other motives than those which have been presented were necessary to
encourage you in this good work, I might prove to you that you will be the
richer for every sacrifice you make to promote the cause of Christ; if not
richer in temporal, yet certainly in spiritual blessings. I might say to
you, in the language of Him who cannot lie, who holds the elements in his
hand and can command them to spare or destroy your wealth, to bless or
blast the work of your hands, 'The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he
that watereth shall be watered also himself.' 'There is that scattereth,
and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it
tendeth to poverty.' Or, in the words of Him who gave up all his wealth and
his life for us, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
"I have chosen to rest the cause which the Lord has now permitted me to
plead in his name mainly on the one great argument in the text; for in the
whole compass of the universe there is not a motive to benevolent action so
commanding as that. And I am persuaded it has not been presented to your
minds in vain. No, I have been addressing those who know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ; who feel thankful for that grace; and whose hearts burn
within them to spread it abroad through the whole world.
"Is there one here who wishes to be excused from this work? Why, my
brother, would you be excused? Look again. Is it no _privilege_ to be
allowed to do something to promote that cause for which patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, and martyrs have prayed, and toiled, and died? Is it
no _privilege_ to help forward that cause which has engaged the hearts and
hands of all the wise and good of every age? Is it no _privilege_ to
be associated with the choicest spirits now on earth in promoting the
sublimest, the most benevolent, the most godlike cause that ever did or can
employ the hearts and hands of men? Is it no privilege to labor, and pray,
and give for the advancement of that cause which awakens the deepest
interest in the bosoms of all the heavenly host, and which is the occasion
of their loudest and loftiest songs of praise? Is it no privilege to do
something for Him 'who left the highest throne in glory for the cross of
deepest woe,' in order to give men a place in the mansions of his love? Is
it no privilege to be a coworker with the blessed God in rescuing souls
from a course of eternal sinning and suffering, and raising them to
everlasting holiness and happiness and glory? Is it no privilege to aid in
forwarding the only cause for which the world was made and for which all
nature stands? The man who does not esteem it a high privilege that he may
do something to promote such a cause may have the name, but cannot have the
heart, of a Christian. If, then, any one desires it, let him be excused.
The cause will go on. It has many friends, and is rapidly gaining more.
It has Omnipotence for its support. Jesus 'shall have the heathen for his
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.' He
did not 'humble himself and become obedient unto death' for nought. 'He
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.' 'All the ends of
the earth shall see the salvation of our God.' 'The mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.'
"There is a mighty stir among the nations. The melting appeals from among
the heathen have reached us from the four winds--'Come over and help us.'
The person who addresses you expects, in a short time, if the Lord will, to
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to some of these distant heathen.
He feels for the destitute in his own beloved land; but while he knows
there are so many millions of immortal beings more destitute,--while he
is to act under the commission, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature,' and while so few who are better qualified can
think it their duty to these unhappy beings,--he feels that 'woe will be
unto him if he preaches not the gospel unto them!'"
Inspired with such feelings, and cherishing such views, our sister went out
to declare the love of God on heathen soil. Like those who before her had
devoted themselves to the service of the Savior, she went forth not knowing
whither she went or through what scenes she would be called to pass.
But God in his divine providence was soon to call her home to glory; her
work was to be short, and her course quickly run. A few months only was she
permitted to do good as she desired ere death called her away to the rest
beyond the grave. She fell an early victim to her own self-sacrificing
disposition. Shortly after her arrival at Bombay she was prostrated by the
dysentery, which terminated her labors and her sorrows on the 3d of May,
1831.
Her lonely husband, writing to the father of his deceased companion, gives
the following account of her dying hours:--
"Before this reaches you I trust, you will have heard of the goodness of
the Lord in bearing us safely over all the dangers of the Atlantic and
Indian Seas, in providing us friends in Calcutta who spared no pains to
make our stay in that city agreeable and happy, and in bringing us in
safety to this, the destined field of our labors, our disappointments, our
difficulties, and, as we expected when we left the shores of our native
land, of our deaths. And although, since our arrival here, his afflicting
hand has been laid heavily upon me, still I would speak only of his
goodness. For when he afflicts and chastens his children, it is in loving
kindness and tender mercy. It is not for his pleasure, but for their
profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness. But if he has been good
to me, he has been doubly so to your and my dear Elizabeth. Yes, God has
made all his goodness to pass before her; for he has released her from all
her sins and sufferings, and taken her to himself. 'O,' said she, 'how
will the intelligence rend the hearts of my dear parents and sisters!' She
paused a moment, and then added, 'But they will be supported. They know
where to look for consolation.' Weep with me, my dear, dear parents, a
little moment, and then we will together review the painful but merciful
scene of her last sufferings.
"All that I have said above shows only the afflicting hand of God in this
dispensation, which has snatched from me thus early the dear companion of
my wanderings and toils, the tender partner of my joys and sorrows, the
beloved wife of my heart; but in what remains to be said, will be seen his
hand of _goodness_ and _mercy_. In all her sufferings she was never heard
to utter a single murmur or complaint, but was continually magnifying the
goodness of the Lord. 'I did hope,' said she, 'that I should be permitted
to do something towards elevating the miserable and degraded females
of India to a state of refinement and happiness; but since God decides
otherwise, his will be done. In this great conflict, some must fall as soon
as they enter the field.' She repeated more than once a sentence which Dr.
Woodbridge dropped in his address to her on the evening of our marriage,
in substance as follows: 'If we hear that, like Harriet Newell, you have
fallen a victim to the climate of India even before you have commenced your
labors there, still we say to you, Go.' 'Now,' said she, 'tell my friends,
tell my beloved pastor, tell the dear church in Hadley, that I do not, and
never have for a moment regretted that I came here. No; had I foreseen this
hour, and all I have endured since I left America, I should have decided
just as I did, if the path of duty had been as plain as it appeared to be.'
During her sickness she often spoke of the love she felt towards the people
of God. She was affected to tears at the kindness of her physicians and
others who attended her. She addressed the members of the mission who
called to see her on the importance of living to God and of being faithful
in his service. She expressed an earnest desire that God would make her
death the means of a revival of religion in all the members of the mission;
and said, if such should be the case, she should consider her early removal
a greater blessing to the mission and to India than many years of her poor
service could be. The day before she died she requested me to read to her
the twelfth chapter of Isaiah. 'Yes,' said she with emphasis, 'God is
my salvation.' As I read along she repeated after me the third verse,
emphasizing the word 'wells'--'with joy shall ye draw water out of the
_wells_ of salvation.' Some time afterward she wished me to read the
fourteenth chapter of John, which she said afforded her much comfort. She
repeated from time to time many striking texts of Scripture and parts of
hymns, which, as I could leave her only for a moment, I did not write down.
Twice she repeated, and seemed to feel the full force of, that beautiful
and sublime stanza of Watts,--
'Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are;
While on his breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there.'
"One who stood near her said, 'O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where
is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law.' With animation she exclaimed, in addition, 'But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Mr. Allen said
he hoped the Savior would be with her as she walked through the dark valley
of the shadow of death. 'If this,' she said, 'is the dark valley, it has
not a dark spot in it--all is _light_, LIGHT.'
"I said to her, 'My dear, your sufferings are great.' 'Don't,' said she,
'don't mention them; they have been nothing--nothing.' After a severe
spasm, that seemed to convulse her whole frame, she exclaimed, 'O the
pains, the groans, the dying strife! The spirit seems to be struggling and
fluttering to get free from this cumbersome body.' She had, during most of
her sickness, bright views of the perfections of God. 'His awful holiness,'
she said, 'appeared the most lovely of all his attributes.' At one time
she said she wanted words to express her views of the majesty and glory of
Christ. 'It seems,' she said, 'that if all other glory were annihilated,
and nothing left but his lone self, it would be enough--it would be a
universe of glory.'
"The day before her death she was asked if she wished to see her child.
'Not now,' said she; 'I am too much exhausted. I fear it would overcome me.
I will see him by and by.' After she had rested a while, she said now she
would see the babe. It was brought into the room. 'Let my husband,' she
said, 'bring him to me.' I carried the child to her. She took it in one
arm, and with the other embraced my neck. After a moment she looked up to
the spectators with a smile, and said, 'Here is my family--my treasure--my
earthly all. I cheerfully resign them into the hands of God.' On the
morning of the day she expired I asked if she wished to send any particular
message to any of her friends. She replied she did, and asked me to write
what she dictated.
"Thus, my dear parents, I have finished the account of our beloved
Elizabeth's last pains and joys in the flesh. Who can wish her back to
earth? If any other one has reason to cherish such a wish, I have more. But
severe as the stroke is upon me, I rejoice that her conflict with sin and
suffering is over, and she is with her Redeemer. To know that she departed
thus, triumphing in God her Savior, must afford you, as it does me, great
consolation in the midst of the affliction which the news of her death will
produce. But you, who knew her amiable disposition, her humble, prayerful,
self-denying, holy life, have a better testimony that it is well with her
now, than her dying deportment, whatever it might be, could give. She lived
unto the Lord, she died unto the Lord; and there can be no doubt that she
is now the Lord's.
"Last Sabbath evening Rev. Mr. Allen preached a sermon in the chapel, on
the occasion of her death, from Romans xiv. 8. Since then I have learned
that one careless man appears to have been awakened by the account that was
given of her peaceful and triumphant death. Perhaps her prayers are about
to be answered in a revival of religion here. The Lord grant that it may be
so!"
When a beloved fellow-laborer dies at home; when the place of some dear one
is vacated by death; when the hand of labor ceases to move and the heart
of sympathy ceases to beat,--all around are saddened by the event: gloom
covers the weeping church, and all who knew the fallen one bend in tearful
silence over the grave. But when a missionary dies we can form no opinion
of the feelings of those who are left in sorrow. Away from home and all
the endeared scenes of early life, they become more strongly and firmly
attached to each other. Between the members of the little band are formed
the most tender ties, the most hallowed relations; and when _one_ only
departs, all hearts grieve and bleed as if the dearest earthly object had
been removed.
Mrs. Hervey was buried near the scene of her labors--on heathen soil. The
solemn funeral service and the pang of death were calculated to deepen the
impression upon the minds of the converted and unconverted people; and the
hymn, as it sent its mournful echo along the borders of the field of graves
and sounded like the song of an angel amid the homes of the living, turned
many a thought forward to that haven where the saint shall break from the
repose of death, and come forth to the resurrection of the just, a new and
glorified form.
"Why do we mourn departing friends,
Or shake at death's alarms?
Us but the voice that Jesus sends
To call them to his arms."
Did we not have implicit confidence in the ways of God and in his special
providence,--did we not feel that he is too wise to err, too good to
be unkind,--our hearts would often faint as we hear of our devoted
missionaries falling into the grave ere they have been permitted to labor
to any considerable degree for the conversion of the heathen. Did we not
feel perfectly satisfied in relation to the wisdom and mercy of the great
Head of the church, we might well fold our hands and ask, "Will God be
angry forever?" But who does not know that Jehovah is able to accomplish
more by our deaths than _we_ are able to accomplish by our lives? Who does
not know that, from the very ashes of the tomb, he can send up a voice
which will echo amid the shades of night and thrill the cold hearts of
degraded men?
They who despond, as the tidings of woe come borne to us on almost every
breeze which sweeps across the ocean, have lost sight of Him who holds in
his hand the issues of life and the awful realities of death. These have
drawn their eyes from the immutable promises and the ever-present Helper,
and fixed them on the tomb, and the corpse, and the pale mementoes of
mortality. They have ceased to reason like Christian men, and look at God's
providence through the misty vision of scepticism and doubt.
Men admit that certain laws control the world of planets, the world of
animal life, the world of intellect and reason; but seem not to have the
idea that the providences are all under God's control, and regulated by
fixed and certain laws. The sparrow that flits from bush to tree, and the
mighty angel that wheels in everlasting circles around God's throne, are
alike under divine protection. The feeblest insect which creeps upon the
earth, and the highest archangel which ministers to God above, are equally
safe beneath the divine protection. The Being who holds the universe, who
keeps worlds in their places, is also employed to count the feathers of the
young raven's wing, and number the hairs which cluster upon the human head.
Nor will God allow the places of the dead to remain long vacant. The
conversion of the world is in accordance with his unalterable will and
purpose; it was an article in the grand treaty of Calvary; and by all
that God is has he pledged himself to give "the heathen to his Son for an
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession." Hence
when, in the accomplishment of his grand design, one after another who went
forth with high hope and joyful expectation is cut down, we may expect to
see others raised up ready to accomplish greater good than their fallen
predecessors.
The hearts of men are in Jehovah's hand. He moves upon the mind as he will,
and takes those whom we least expect to lead on his hosts to the victory
over sin.
Years ago the question was, "Who will go?" but now the question is being
asked, "Who will stay at home and let _me_ go?" "Who will resign his place
in the missionary ranks, and let us go forth to do battle for the truth?"
And we may expect this spirit to increase, until it shall be deemed the
highest glory of the Christian minister to be a missionary of the cross of
Christ.
Thanks be to God, the Church is arousing herself to her high duty, and
already many have gone forth. The places of Harriet Newell, of Ann H.
Judson, of Sarah D. Comstock, of Harriet B. Stewart, of Sarah L. Smith, of
Elizabeth Hervey, of Henrietta Shuck, of Sarah B. Judson, and of others who
are now quietly sleeping the long sleep of death, are filled. Others as
faithful have come on to do the work which they left unfinished, and to
stand around the moral plants which they began to cultivate,
And thus it will continue. When the faithful, laborious, successful
missionary women who are now the admiration of the church and the world
fall beneath the pressure of disease, toil, and time, a missionary Church
will send out her daughters, who are reposing at home, to take the places
of those who depart; and never will Burmah, Syria, Ceylon, Turkey, and
other dark places be deserted, until over all the earth shall echo the song
of the ransomed and the jubilee of the redeemed.
IV.
HARRIET B. STEWART, OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Harriet Bradford Stewart labored as a missionary at the Sandwich Islands.
Amid this beautiful cluster of green spots in the bosom of the sea her
efforts for human good were put forth; and here was the scene of her
success, though not of her death.
The origin of the mission to the Sandwich Islands is somewhat peculiar.
In 1809 two little boys shipped themselves on board of an American vessel
bound for New York. They arrived at the great city, and, after residing
there awhile, were taken to New Haven, Connecticut. They were fatherless,
motherless children, with none to care for them; and their destitute,
helpless condition soon drew the attention and won the sympathy of the
Christian public. In a short time one of these youths was converted to God.
Opukakia became a believer in the religion of Christ, and to the believers
of our own land gave evidence of having passed from death unto life.
Interest in these boys soon led to solemn inquiry into the condition of
their country. This inquiry resulted in the establishment of a school for
the instruction of heathen youth who were found in our land; and of the
privileges of this school these two boys gladly availed themselves.