THE HISTORY OF SUSAN GRAY In the parish over which it has pleased God to appoint me pastor, not far from the fair town of Ludlow, on the bank of the beautiful river Teme, are the garden, the little orchard, and the ruins of the cottage, which, many years ago, were rented by James Gray. A little coppice on the hill-side shelters this pleasant spot from the north wind, and a row of large willows grows at the foot of the garden by the river-side. I became acquainted with James Gray when I first came to my living. He was a pious young man, and was so happy as to have a wife who feared God: the character still given in this country by those who remember Mary Gray is, that she was a pious, sober-minded young woman a keeper at home, Tit. ii. 5, as the apostle exhorts women to be, and a most kind and dutiful wife. James gained a comfortable livelihood by working in his garden. He cultivated his land with so much care, that he had the earliest and best pease and beans, gooseberries and currants, salads and greens, in the country: these he always sold at a moderate price, never attempting to deceive or cheat the purchaser; for it was one of his most favourite sayings, that "honesty is the glory of a poor man." For some years these worthy young people lived happily in their cottage. It is true, that they were obliged to work very hard; and, now and then, in a severe winter, to live rather hardly also: but they loved each other, and, next to serving their God, they thought it their duty to please each other; and as the holy Scripture says, a dinner of herbs, where love is, is better than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith." Prov. XV. 17. 66 After his daily work, James never omitted reading 66 a chapter in the Bible, and praying with his wife before they went to bed. For," as he often used to say, "when we lay ourselves down in our beds, we know not whether we shall be ever suffered to rise from them again; many have died in their sleep: every night, therefore, we ought to renew our covenant with our Saviour, confessing to God the evil we have committed during the past day, and seeking anew to be made partakers of the benefits of the death of Christ; so, should death visit us in the hour of night, we shall not go into another world unprepared." These excellent, though humble persons, had one little girl, to whom they gave the name of Susan; a child so exceedingly lovely in outward appearance, that strangers passing by would stop to admire her as she stood at the cottage-door, and the more so as, by the blessing of God on the instructions of her Christian parents, she was remarkably modest and courteous in her deportment. Moreover, the very great neatness and plainness of her rustic dress were much to be commended, and proved that her mother was one of those women who are observant of these words of the apostle : "I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. I often went to visit these pious persons, and was greatly delighted with their holy discourse; for a foolish or profligate word never proceeded from their lips, and their child was so clean, so well ordered, so dutiful, and so gentle, that, young as she was, I formed the greatest hopes of her, and believed she would become a good Christian. It pleased heaven, however, to deprive this poor child of her good parents. She was just turned six years of age, when a fever, which raged in the neighbourhood at that time, seized first upon Mary Gray, and then upon her husband; and, notwithstanding all the care that could be taken, they both died. But death to them was no evil, for they had always trusted in their Saviour, and endeavoured to fulfil his will; and it pleased him to take them from this world of sorrow and labour, to that happy place where men are made "equal unto the angels, and are the children of God." Luke xx. 36. |