all will be well in time and in eternity. Take him for your friend, and all your wants will be richly supplied. "Though distresses now attend thee, Praise the great Redeemer's name," In the evening she said to sister D—, and sister C―, who had not seen her since she had been sick, "I had a very comfortable morning, but a very distressed afternoon. You see I am very sick. The mud-walls of this cottage are greatly shaken. It will take but a little more to level them with the dust. I feel that I am drawing near the confines of eternity. If he please, the Lord can raise me up to health. But in all probability he is about to take me to that better rest, that is the heavenly. Be faithful my dear sisters. Live near to God. Enjoy much of his spirit, and walk in the footsteps of the Saviour. Have your lamps trimmed and burning, and be prepared to meet your Lord. You know not at what hour of the night he may come. O be faithful to the dear children God has given you.. Care for their souls. Teach them to love the Saviour, that when you come to a scene like this, you may be able to give them up into the hands of Jesus, and leave them in the blessed hope of meeting them at the right hand of God. O my sisters, I have long delighted in the hope, that when your toils and sufferings, and sorrows on earth are over, I shall meet you on the other side of Jordan, to unite with you in the glorious society and blissful employments of heaven.' Thursday, 9. Br. and sister W., in whose family our little Henry was kept during her sickness, called to see her. After conversing with them awhile on those topics in which her heart was most interested, she thanked them for their kindness to her dear child, and prayed that her Heavenly Father would not suf fer them to lose their reward. As Br. W. gave her his hand to bid her a last adieu, she said, "If I go now, the conflict will soon be over. Pray for me if you can. I hope to meet you with many of our friends in heaven." He observed "There will be no sickness nor distress there." "Nor sin," she added with an emphasis which intimated that she was more desirous to be freed from that, than any other evil. To another friend she said, "If it be the Lord's will that I should suffer a few days longer before he takes me home, I hope I shall be assisted to wait with patience all the days of my appointed time."-In the course of the day she had her little boys sit by her on the bed, and with many tears prayed for them, and talked to them a long time in the most affecting manner. "Dear Josiah,' "said she, "you see how sick your 'Ma is, and how pale and deathly her countenance looks. Probably in a few days more the Lord will take her to his own happy home in heaven, to dwell with the Saviour and holy angels. She hopes, when she is dead and gone, you and little brother will love your dear father more than ever, and always obey him and love each other, and be good children. Above all, I want you to love the Saviour and serve the Lord, that when you come to die, you may come to that blessed home where your mother will be, and where with her and the shining angels, you can sing sweeter hymns than those you have so often sung with me when I was well. Dear little Samuel, you will love the Saviour, will you not? Mother likes you dearly to kiss her so sweet on her pale cheek, but To sister E. C. she would like you still better to love the Saviour, and be always a good boy. O may you both, and dear lit. tle Henry, meet me in heaven." she said, "My dear sister, be faithful in all your duties as a Christian, a wife, and a mother. Live near to God. O love him with all your heart, and serve him all the days of your life, and then you will reign with him in glory. Yes, be faithful, for you know not how soon you will be called in the providence of God, to part with your dear husband and child. There. fore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." She inquired of our physician, Dr. Skinner, what he candidly thought of her case, assuring him that so far from producing any alarm, it would be a satisfaction to know the worst of it. He replied, "Mrs. Mallery, I think you are very sick, very sick indeed. I am aware, as well as yourself, that you cannot be much worse and live. I have felt a deep interest in your case, and have tried every means in my power to alleviate your sufferings, and to restore you to health. But they have thus far proved ineffectual. Your symptoms are still very bad, and there is but little hope that you will be any better." With perfect composure, and as if thinking more about his welfare than her own, she replied, "Well, Dr. S., whether I recover or not, I shall cherish a grateful remembrance of your faithful and unwearied efforts. I hope you will have your reward for so much kindness. When you come to a scene like this, may you have the consolations of religion, and the presence of the Saviour to comfort and support you. I have thought much of your situation, and opportunities of usefulness. have often prayed that you might enjoy religion, and thereby be prepared to do much good to the souls of I your fellow men, when called to attend them in the season of sickness, or the hour of death. You possess to a very great extent the confidence and affections of the people. Your influence over their minds is very great. Oh may you enjoy the consolations of religion in your own soul, and be able to impart them to others." Friday, 10. Among many other things, she said to sister G., "As you value your own soul, and the souls of your children, and of your neighbors, live near to God. Honor him more and serve him better. I should be glad to see our praying sisters together again, and talk to them. But that is hardly to be expected. O, we have had many blessed seasons, and much sweet enjoyment together. What consolation there is in submitting to the will of God! Nothing can give such consolation as the consciousness of having been about our Master's business. I hope you will not think, if I am taken away, and your number is less, that you cannot sustain your meeting. Oh no, keep it up, and try to get others to unite with you. The Lord is able to increase your number. I hope to enjoy a little more intercourse with you if I should live, but if not, we will bless God for all that is past, and trust him for all that is to come." The voice of prayer and praise was now more delightful to her than ever. So refreshing to her spirit was the exercise of social prayer, that whenever her paroxysms of distress did not prevent, she invited all the brethren who called to see her, to pray with her. In conversation with Rev. Mr. Wood, Pastor of the Congregational Church, she said, "Nothing gives me so much comfort in reviewing the past, as the consciousness that for the last two or three years, I have been enabled, through grace, to be about my Mas ter's business. There is nothing like living to Christ. 0, what sweet comfort to have done something for his cause! I want you to pray for my husband and children, that they may be supported and comforted. God is able if he see fit, to raise me up to health. If not, when the hour comes, I feel that I can joyfully leave all, and go to be with Christ, which is far better. Saturday, 11. Her breathing had now become so laborious, and her symptoms so alarming, that it was thought she would live but a very few days. Little Henry was brought home, that she might take her leave of him, as she had done of her other children. Enfolding him in her arms, she kissed him again and again, saying "Dear child-dear little darling, how I love you-but I give you up to the Lord." As she gave him back to his weeping and disconsolate father, she said, "I am thankful that I have lived so long, and done so much for our children. Dear children, how I love them. How my soul longs for their salvation. I feel a most intense desire to meet them in heaven. How delightful it will be for parents and children to meet there, where parting scenes will be unknown. O be faithful to them. Watch over them. Pray for them and with them. Give them much instruction, and above all other books, teach them to love the Bible. Be kind and tender towards them, and when they have no longer a mother to pray with them, and guide them, act the part of a mother toward them as far as you can. Much as I love you, and as happily as we have always lived together, when the time comes, 1 can leave you and them in the hands of Christ, and joyfully go to meet him in his kingdom. I once wondered how mothers could give up their children so willingly. I thought if they loved them as I did mine, they could not. But I now think different |