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Letters, and Other Remains, of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England,
by Eliza Southall
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Title: A Brief Memoir with Portions of the Diary, Letters, and Other Remains,
of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England
Author: Eliza Southall
Release Date: April 8, 2004 [EBook #11959]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BRIEF MEMOIR OF ELIZA SOUTHALL ***
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A BRIEF MEMOIR
WITH PORTIONS OF THE
DIARY,
LETTERS, AND OTHER REMAINS,
OF
ELIZA SOUTHALL,
LATE OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.
1869.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."--PHIL. 1. 21.
INTRODUCTION
The first edition of this volume appeared in England in 1855, where
it was printed for private circulation only. Many expressions of the
interest that has been felt in its perusal, and of the value that has
been attached to the record it contains, have reached the editor
and the family of the departed. Several applications to allow its
publication in America have also been received; and, after serious
consideration, the editor feels that he ought not to withhold his
consent.
In order that it may be more interesting and worthy of the
largely-extended circulation that it is now likely to obtain,
additions have been made, and particulars inserted, which a greater
lapse of time from the occurrence of the events narrated, seems now
to permit. A slight thread of biographical notice has also been
introduced.
But it is not to this part, which merely serves to render the volume
more complete, by enabling the reader to understand the circumstances
by which the writer of the Diary was surrounded, but to the Diary
itself, that the editor desires to commend attention, believing that
those who enjoy to trace the operations and effects of Divine grace on
the heart will find much that is interesting and valuable therein,
and that the young may reap instruction and encouragement from the
spiritual history of one who early and earnestly sought the Lord.
WILLIAM SOUTHALL, JR.
EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM, 2d mo. 12th, 1861.
BRIEF MEMOIR
OF
ELIZA SOUTHALL.
Eliza Southall, wife of William Southall, Jr., of Birmingham, England,
and daughter of John and Eliza Allen, was born at Liskeard, on the 9th
of 6th month, 1823.
As she felt a strong attachment to the scenes of her childhood, and
an interest in the people among whom she spent the greater part of her
short life,--an attachment which is evinced many times in the course
of her memoranda,--it may interest the American reader to know that
Liskeard is an ancient but small town in Cornwall. The country around
is broken up into hill and dale, sloping down to the sea a few miles
distant, the rocky shores of which are dotted with fishing-villages;
in an opposite direction it swells into granite hills, in which
are numerous mines of copper and lead. There is a good deal of
intelligence, and also of religious feeling, to be met with among both
the miners and fishermen, Cornwall having been the scene of a great
revival in religion in the time of John Wesley, the effects of which
have not been suffered to pass away. A meeting of Friends has been
held at Liskeard from an early period in the history of the Society;
but, as in many other country places in England, the numbers seem
gradually to diminish, various attractions drawing the members to the
larger towns. Launceston Castle, so well known in connection with the
sufferings of George Fox, is a few miles distant.
The family-circle, until broken a few years before her own marriage
by that of an elder sister, consisted, in addition to her parents, of
five daughters, two of whom were older and two younger than Eliza. Her
father was long known and deservedly esteemed by Friends in England,
and her mother is an approved minister. John Allen was a man of
sound judgment and of liberal and enlightened views, ever desirous
of upholding the truth, but at the same time ready to listen to the
arguments of those who might differ from him in opinion. Moderate and
cautious in counsel and conduct, firm, yet a peacemaker, he was truly
a father in the Church. For many years he took an active part in
the deliberations of the Yearly Meeting, and was often employed in
services connected with the Society. He was known to many Friends on
the American continent, from having visited that country in 1845 by
appointment of the London Yearly Meeting. He was the author of a work
entitled "State Churches and the Kingdom of Christ," and of several
pamphlets on religious subjects. He died in 1859.
John Allen retired from business at an early age; and a prominent
reason for his doing so was that he might devote himself more fully to
the education of his daughters, which was conducted almost entirely at
home. Having a decided taste for the ancient classics, he considered
that so good a foundation of a sound education ought not to be
neglected. The same might be said of the older history and literature
of his own country, including its poetry, in which he was well read;
but he fully encouraged his pupils to become acquainted also with
the better productions of the day, to the tone of which their younger
minds were more easily adapted. Nor was education confined to direct
instruction in the school-room. In a little memoir of John Allen,
published in the "Annual Monitor," we read, "In the domestic circle,
the tender, watchful care and sympathy of the parent were blended
with the constant stimulus to self-improvement of the teacher; and the
readiness to sacrifice personal ease and convenience, in order that
he might enter into the pursuits and amusements of his children, was
united with an unremitting endeavor to maintain a high standard of
moral and religious feeling. Thus by example as well as by precept did
he evince his deep concern for their best welfare. As years passed on,
his cordial sympathy with their interests, and his anxiety as far as
possible to share his own with them, gave an additional power to his
influence, not easily estimated." Such were the simple and natural
means of education employed. The aim was true enlargement of mind; and
the desire was carefully instilled that the knowledge acquired
should be valued for its own sake, not as a possession to be used for
display. At the same time, care was taken not to destroy the balance
between the intellect and the affections, so that, whilst the growth
of the mental powers was encouraged, domestic and social duties
should not suffer, and habits of self-reliance should be formed. From
earliest childhood the great principles of Christianity were instilled
into the opening minds of the children; and when the reflective powers
had come into operation, their reasonings were watched and guided into
safe paths. In this object, as in all the pursuits of her children,
was the loving influence of a watchful mother gently felt. Thus by
the united love and example of the parents were the affections of the
children directed to a risen Saviour; and it is the aim of this volume
to show, principally from records penned by her own hand, how one
beloved daughter grew in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, until
it pleased Him to take her to Himself.
Eliza Southall possessed a mind of no common order; and hers was
a character in which simplicity and strength, originality and
refinement, were beautifully blended: diffident and retiring, she was
best appreciated where she was known most intimately.
In very early life she manifested an unusual degree of mental power.
When quite a little child, her earnest pursuit of knowledge was
remarkable: she delighted in her lessons, and chose for her own
reading a class of books far beyond the common taste of children.
Her ardent, impulsive nature was, to a beautiful degree, tempered and
softened by a depth of tenderness and intensity of feeling, together
with a warmth of affection, which bound her very closely in sympathy,
even as a child, with those around her.
These sweet traits of natural character were so early blended with the
unmistakable evidences of the fruit of divine grace in her heart, that
it would be difficult to point to any time in her earliest childhood
when there was not an earnest strife against evil, some sweet proof of
the power of overcoming grace, and some manifestation of love to her
Saviour.
Her own words sweetly describe her feelings in recalling this
period:--"When I look back to the years of my early childhood, I
cannot remember the time when the Lord did not strive with me; neither
can I remember any precise time of my first covenant. It was the
gentle drawing of the cords of his love; it was the sweet impress of
his hand; it was the breathing in silence of a wind that bloweth where
it listeth."
The following instances of the serious thoughtfulness of her early
childhood are fresh in her mother's recollection. On one of her
sisters first going to meeting, Eliza, who was younger, much wished
to accompany her; saying, "I know, mamma, that R---- and I can have
meetings at home; but I do want to go." Being told that her going must
depend upon her sister's behavior, Eliza ran to her, and putting her
arms round her neck, said, most earnestly, "Do, dear R----, be a good
girl and behave well." The dear child's desire to attend meeting was
soon gratified; and that morning she selected, to commit to memory,
Jane Taylor's appropriate hymn on attending public worship, especially
noticing the stanza--
"The triflers, too, His eye can see,
Who only _seem_ to take a part;
They move the lip, and bend the knee,
But do not seek Him with the heart,"--
saying, earnestly, "Oh, I hope I shall not be like those!"
At another time, whilst amusing herself with her toys, she asked,
"Mamma, what is it that makes me feel _so sorry_ when I have done
wrong? _Directly_, mamma: what is it?" On her mother's explaining that
it was the Holy Spirit put into her heart by her heavenly Father, she
replied, "But how very whispering it is, mamma! Nobody else can hear
it." "Yes, my dear," said her mother; "and thou mayst sometimes hear
it compared to a 'still small voice, and then thou wilt know what
is meant." She answered, "Yes, mamma," and then continued to amuse
herself as before.
The first remembrance of Eliza retained by one of her younger sisters
is that of sitting opposite to her in the nursery-window while she
endeavored, in a simple manner, to explain to her the source and
object of her being. To the same sister she afterwards addressed
some affectionate lines of infantile poetry urging the same subject,
commencing,--
"Look, precious child, to Jesus Christ."
The missionary spirit which filled her young heart was also evinced
by her desire to possess a donkey, that she might distribute Bibles in
the country places round about; and this was afterwards spoken of as
the ambition of her childhood.
Together with the cheerful sweetness of her disposition, there was
an unusual pensiveness, a tender care for others, which was most
endearing, and often touching to witness. One day, perceiving her
mother much affected on receiving intelligence of the decease of a
valued friend and minister at a distance from home, Eliza evinced her
sympathy by laying on the table before her some beautiful lines on
the death of Howard. On her mother asking if she thought the cases
similar, she said, "Not quite, mamma: J---- T---- was not without
friends."
So earnest was her anxiety for the good of herself and her sisters,
that, when any thing wrong had been done, her feelings of distress
seemed equally excited, whether for their sakes or her own. After
any little trouble of this sort, her mother often observed her
retire alone, and, when she returned to the family-group, a beaming
expression on her countenance would show where she had laid her
sorrows. Sometimes in her play-hours she would endeavor to prepare
her two younger sisters for the lessons which they would receive from
their father, and, when the time came for her to join in giving them
regular instruction, she entered into it with zest and interest.
Many hours were spent during the summer in the little plots of ground
allotted to herself and sisters out of a small plantation skirting
a meadow near the house, and many others in reading under the old
elm-trees which cast their shade over the garden-walk.
The spare moments during her domestic occupations which she was
anxious not to neglect were often beguiled by learning pieces of
poetry, a book being generally open at her side while thus employed.
Earnestness of purpose and unwearied energy were characteristics
of her mind. Whatever she undertook was done thoroughly and with
an untiring industry, which often claimed the watchful care of her
parents from the fear lest she should overtax her strength. It was
evidently difficult to her to avoid an unsuitable strain on her
physical powers, whatever might be the nature of her pursuit,--whether
her own private reading or other intellectual occupation. At one
period her time and energies were closely occupied for some months
in the formation of very elaborate charts, by which she endeavored to
impress historical and scientific subjects on her mind. The collection
and examination of objects illustrating the different branches
of natural history was also a very favorite pursuit, in which she
delighted to join her sisters. But the reader will best understand how
completely any pursuit in which she became deeply interested took hold
upon her, from her own account of her experiences respecting poetry.
While deeply feeling her responsibility for the right use of all
the talents intrusted to her care, and earnestly engaged in their
cultivation, she was equally conscious of the claims of social duty,
and as solicitous to fulfil them, seeking in every way to contribute
to the happiness of those around her, whether among the poor or among
the friends and relatives of her own circle.
Her journal, while it exhibits an intense earnestness in analyzing the
state of her own mind, and perhaps rather too much proneness to dwell
morbidly upon it, also evinces the tender joy and peace with which she
was often blessed by the manifested presence of her Lord. It unfolds
an advancement in Christian experience to which her conduct bore
living testimony, and proves that in humble reliance on the hope set
before her in the gospel, with growing distrust of herself, her faith
increased in God her Saviour, and through his grace she was enabled
to maintain the struggle with her soul's enemies, following on to know
the Lord.
Thus it was, as she sought preparation for a more enlarged sphere of
usefulness on earth, her spirit ripened for the perfect service of
heaven; and six weeks after she left her father's house a bride, the
summons was received to join that countless multitude who "have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple."
DIARY.
The diary which was kept by the beloved object of this memoir, and
the extracts from which form the principal part of this volume, is
contained in several volumes of closely-written manuscript, and,
taken as a whole, is a most interesting record of mental and spiritual
growth. At times it was continued with almost daily regularity, but
at others, either from the pressure of occupations or from various
causes, considerable intervals occur in which nothing was written.
It has been the endeavor of the editor to make such selections as may
preserve a faithful picture of the whole. There is almost of necessity
a certain amount of repetition, as in seasons of depression, when
faith and hope seemed to be much obscured, or, on the other hand, when
cheerful thankfulness and joy of heart were her portion; and in such
places it did not seem right to curtail her words too much. Many
entries referred too closely to personal and family matters to be
suitable for publication, and the uneventful character of her life
does not leave room to supply in their stead much in the way of
narrative; but it will be remembered that it is the heavenward journey
that it is desired to trace, not simply _towards_ the land "very
far off," but that pilgrimage _during which_, though on earth, the
believer in Jesus is at times privileged to partake of the joys of
heaven.
The first volume of the series is entitled, by its author, "Mementos
of Mercy to the Chief of Sinners." Some lines written on her
fourteenth birthday--about the period, of its commencement--may
appropriately introduce the extracts.
_6th Mo. 9th_, 1837.--
Can it be true that one more link
In that mysterious chain,
Which joins the two eternities,
I shall not see again?
Eternity! that awful thing
Thought tries in vain to scan;
How far beyond the loftiest powers
Of little, finite man!
E'en daring fancy's fearless flight
In vain would grasp the whole,
And then, "How short man's mortal life!"
Exclaims the wondering soul.
A bubble on the ocean's breast,
A glow-worm's feeble ray,
That loses all its brilliancy
Beneath the orb of day.
Can it be joyful, then, to find
That life is hastening fast?
Can it be joyful to reflect,
This year may be our last?
Look on the firmament above,
From south to northern pole:
Can we find there a resting-place
For the immortal soul?
* * * * *
Where can we search to find its home?
The still small voice in thee
Answers, as from the eternal throne,
"My own shall dwell with me."
And I have one year less to seek
An interest on high;
Am one year nearer to the time
When I myself must die!
And when that awful time will come,
No human tongue can say;
But, oh! how startling is the thought
That it may be to-day!
How shall my guilty spirit meet
The great, all-searching eye?
Conscious of my deficiencies,
As in the dust I lie.
How shall I join the ransom'd throng
Around the throne that stand,
And cast their crowns before thy feet,
Lord of the saintly band?
_12th Mo. 6th_, 1836. There are seasons in which
I am favored to feel a quiet resignation, to spend
and be spent in the service of Him who, even in
my youthful days, has been pleased to visit me with
the overshadowing of His mercy and love, and to require
me to give up all my dearest secret idols, and
every thing which exalts self against the government
of the Prince of Peace.
_4th Mo. 3d_, 1837. Almost in despair of ever
being what I ought to be. I feel so poor in every
good thing, and so amazingly rich in every bad thing.
Still this little spark of love that remains, seems to
hope in Him "who will not quench the smoking flax."
_6th Mo. 4th_. I have cause to be very watchful.
Satan is at hand: temptations abound, and it is no
easy matter to keep in the right way. To have my
affections crucified to the world is my desire. The
way to the celestial city, is not only through the
valley of humiliation, but also through the valley
of the shadow of death.
_6th Mo. 11th_. Many things have lately occurred
which have flattered my vanity. I have received
compliments and commendations: old Adam likes
these things, and persuades me that I am somebody,
and may well feel complacency. How needful is
watchfulness! may the true light discover to me the
snares that are set on every side.
_7th Mo. 2d_. May I be enabled to give myself up
as clay into the Potter's hand, without mixing up
any thing of my own contriving; and in the silence
of all flesh, wait to have the true seed watered and
nourished by heavenly dew.
_8th Mo. 2d_. I feel humbled at the sight of my
many backslidings and deficiencies. Oh, may He,
"who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities," in
just judgment, remember mercy. If He does not,
there can be no hope for me; but oh! I trust He
will. "Let not Thy hand spare, nor Thine eye pity,
till Thou hast made me what thou wouldst have me
to be."
_8th Mo. 20th_. Utterly unworthy! Oh, my
Father! if there be any right beginning, if there
be the least spark of good within me, carry it on:
oh, increase it, that I may become as a plant of thy
right hand planting, that I may become a sheep of
thy fold. Assist me to present myself before thee
in true silence, that I may wait upon thee in truth,
and worship thee in the silence of all flesh, and
know "all my treasure, all my springs, in Thee."
_10th Mo. 13th_. We have just been favored with
a visit from J.P., which has been to me a great
comfort. At our Monthly Meeting he addressed
the young; and it seemed as though he spoke the
very thoughts of my heart; and the sweet supplication
offered on their behalf that they might be
preserved from the snares of the delusive world,
may it be answered.
_4th Mo. 15th_, 1838. I want to give up every
thing, every thought, every affection, in short, my
whole self, to my offered Saviour. Then would His
kingdom come, and His will be done. Instead of
the thorn would come up the fir-tree, and instead
of the brier the myrtle-tree. How precious, how
holy, how peaceful, that kingdom! Oh! if I may
yet hope; if mercy is left, I beseech Thee, hear and
behold me, and bring me "out of the miry clay, and
set my feet upon the rock."
_5th Mo. 26th_, 1839. A beautiful First-day.
Every thing sweet and lovely; fulfilling the purpose
of its creation as far as man is not concerned. Birds
and insects formed for happiness, are now completely
happy. But ah! they were formed to give glory to
God, by testifying to man His goodness. Ten thousand
voices call upon me to employ the nobler
talents intrusted for the same purpose. Nearly
sixteen years have I been warned, and sweetly
called upon to awake out of sleep: "What meanest
thou, O sleeper? arise, and call upon thy God!"
How shall I account, in the last day, for these
things? It is often startling to think how time is
advancing, and how ill the day's work keeps pace
with the day. For even now, poor drowsy creature
that I am, it is but occasional sensibility, with the
intervals buried in vain dreams; and even at such
times, my poor warped affections, and busy imaginations,
crowded with a multitude of images, refuse to
yield to the command, "Be still, and know that I
am God." I have, indeed, found that in whatever
circumstances I may he placed, I can never be really
happy without the religion of the heart; without
making the Lord my habitation; and oh, may it be
mine, through Christ's humbling and sanctifying
operations, to know every corner of my heart made
fit for the dwelling-place of Him who is with the
meek and contrite ones. Then shall the remaining
days of my pilgrimage be occupied in the energetic
employment of those talents which must otherwise
rise up for my condemnation in the last day.
_6th Mo. 2d_. It is not for me to say any more
"thus far will I go, but no farther," either in the
narrow or the broad way. In the former, we cannot
refuse to proceed without receding; in the latter, if
we will take any steps, it is impossible to restrain
ourselves. Besetting sins, though apparently opposite
ones, sad stumbling-blocks in the way of the
cross, are unrestrained activity of thought and
indolence: the former proceeds from earthly-mindedness;
and the latter as a sure consequence from
the want of heavenly-mindedness. Oh that by
keeping very close to Jesus, my wandering heart
may receive the impression of His hand, that the
new creation may indeed be witnessed, wherein
Jerusalem is a rejoicing and her people a joy;
then may I find that quiet habitation which nothing
ever gave me out of the fold of Christ.
_6th Mo. 9th_. Alas! how shall I account for the
sixteen years which have, this day, completed
their course upon my head? What shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits? Shall I not,
from this time, cry unto Him, "My Father, thou
art the guide of my youth"? But, for the year that
is passed, what can I say? I will lay my hand on
my mouth and acknowledge that it has been squandered.
Yes, so far as it has not been employed about
my Father's business. But, alas! it has been
crammed with selfishness; though now and then
He, whom I trust I yet desire to serve, has made me
sensibly feel how precious is every small dedication
to Himself.
_6th Mo. 16th_. The consideration of the peculiar
doctrines of Friends having been lately rather
forced on my attention, let me record my increased
conviction of the privilege of an education within
the borders of the Society; of the great value and
importance of its spiritual profession, and the awful
responsibility of its members to walk so as to adorn
its doctrines, and shine as lights in the world.
Warmly as she was attached to these principles, she ever rejoiced in
the conviction that all the followers of Christ are one in Him, and
that, by whatever name designated, those who have attained to the
closest communion with Him are the nearest to one another; and when
differences in sentiment were the topic of conversation, she would
sometimes rejoin in an earnest tone, the "commandment is exceeding
broad."
_2d Mo. 2d_, 1840. Time passes on, and what progress
do I make, either in usefulness in the earth,
or preparation for heaven? Self-indulgence is the
bane of godliness, and is, alas! mine.' This world's
goods are snares, and are, alas! snares to me.
Coward that my heart is, when pride is piqued, I
have not resolution to conquer my own spirit.
Pride, indolence, and worldly-mindedness are bringing
me into closer and closer bondage: the first
keeps me from true worship by preventing me from
seeking the help and teaching of the one Spirit;
the second, by making me yield without effort or
resistance to the uncontrolled imaginations which
the third presents. And now do these lines witness
that, having been called to an everlasting salvation,
God, the chief good, having manifested His name
unto the least of His little ones, my soul and body
are for Him, _belong_ to Him, to be moulded and
fashioned according to His will; and that if I
frustrate His purpose, His glorious holiness and
free grace are unsullied and everlastingly worthy.
_7th Mo. 12th_. If I acknowledge my own state,
it is one cumbered with "many things." Alas!
amid them how little space is there for the love of
God! I have remembered the days when untold
and inexpressible experiences were mine; when a
child's tears and prayers were seen and heard before
the throne! The stragglings of grace and nature
have been great since then. I can look back to
years of struggles and deliverances, years of revoltings
and of mercies. It is like "threshing mountains"
to meddle with the strongholds of sin; but
mountains, I sometimes hope, will be made to "skip
like rams."
_10th Mo. 5th_. How long have I been like the
"merchantman seeking goodly pearls"! Ever since
reason dawned I have longed for a goodly pearl;
though dazzled and deceived by many an empty
trifle, I cannot plead as an excuse that I could not
find the pearl. I have seen it at times, and felt how
untold was the price, and thought I was ready to
sell all and buy it, sometimes believed that all was
sold; but why, ah, why was my pledge so often
redeemed? I have been indeed like a simple one,
who, having found a "pearl of great price," cast it
from him for an empty, unsatisfying show.
_1st Mo. 17th_, 1841. Very precious as have been
the privileges vouchsafed the last two days, I can
this morning speak of nothing as my present condition,
but the extreme of weakness and poverty. On
6th day evening R.B. addressed us in such a way
as proved to me that the Divine word is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The
chief purport was the necessity of a willingness to
learn daily of the great Teacher meekness and
lowliness and faithfulness in the occupation of the
talents intrusted; "for where much is given, much
will be required." Yesterday his parting "salutation
of brotherly love" was such as cannot be effaced
from my memory; and oh, I pray that it may not
from my heart. And now my prayer, my desire,
must be for a renewed dedication. The separation,
as R.B. said, from the right hand and the right eye
must be made: the sacrifice which is acceptable will
always cost something.
_3d Mo. 8th_. Oh, may I become altogether a babe
and a fool before myself, and, if it must be, before
others! God has been very graciously dealing with
me.
_3d Mo. 19th_. Words must be much more
guarded, as well as thoughts. This morning I am
comforted with a precious feeling: "I will take care
of thee."
_3d Mo. 27th_. How does my heart long, this
evening, that the one Saviour may be made unto
me "wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and
redemption!" Teach me to keep silence, O God!
to mind my own business and be faithful to it; to
deny my own will and wisdom; give me the spirit
of true Christian love, that my whole life may be in
the atmosphere of love!
_3d Mo. 28th_. * * * To cease from my own
works, surely in a very small degree, I can experimentally
say, "this is the only true rest." This
blessed experience seems to me the height of enjoyment
to the truly redeemed. Oh, a little foretaste
of this sabbath has been granted, when I have
seemed to behold with my own eye, and to feel for
myself in moments too precious to be forgotten, the
waves of tumult hushed into a, more than earthly
calm by Him who alone can say, "Peace, be still."
My tossing spirit has never found such a calm in
any thing this world can give.
During her first attendance of the Yearly Meeting in London, in 1841,
she wrote the following affectionate lines in a letter to her sisters
at home:--
LONDON THOUGHTS.
The crowds that past me ceaseless rush
Stay not to glance at me,
As falling waters headlong gush
Into their native sea.
But hearts there are that brightly burn,
And light each kindling eye,
And home to them my thoughts return,
Swift as the sunbeams fly.
* * * * *
To home, to home my spirit hastes;
For why? my treasure's there;
'Tis there her native joys she tastes,
And breathes her native air.
Oh, sweetest of all precious things,
When this wide world we roam,
When meets us on its balmy wings
A messenger from home!
From home, where hearts are warm and true,
And love's lamp brightly burns,
And sparkles Hermon's pearly dew
On childhood's crystal urns.
Oh, sweet to mark the speaking lines
Traced by a sister's hand,
And feel the love that firmly twines
Around our household band!
To one of her sisters:--
LONDON, 6th Month, 1841.
* * * * I lay still half hour, and read over
thy tenderly interesting and affecting sheet, and poured
out my full heart; but what can I say? How I do long
to be with you, and see, if it might be, once more, our
beloved uncle! But perhaps before this the conflict may
be over, the victory won, the everlasting city gained,
none of whose inhabitants can say, "I am sick." And
if so, dare we murmur or wish to recall the loved one
from that home? Oh for that childlike and humble
submission which is befitting the children of a Father
of mercies, and the followers of Him who can and will
do all things well!
After the Yearly Meeting, she thus writes in her Journal:--
_6th Mo. 12th_. Many and great have been the
favors dispensed within the last five weeks. The
attendance of the Yearly Meeting has been the
occasion of many and solemn warnings and advices,
and, I trust, the reception of some real instruction.
But, truly, I have found that in every situation, the
great enemy can lay his snares; and if one more
than another has taken with me, it has been to lead
me to look outward for teaching, and to depend too
much upon it, neglecting that one inward adoration
for the want of which no outward ministry can atone.
But I hope the enemy has not gained more than
limited advantages of this kind, and perhaps even
the discovery of these has had the effect of making
me more distrustful of self. And, now, oh that the
everlasting covenant might be ordered in _all_ things
and sure, and He only, who is King of Kings and
Lord of Lords, be exalted over all, in my heart; and
the blessed experience thus described, be more fully
realized: "He that hath entered into his rest hath
ceased from his own works as God did from his."
_6th Mo. 21st_. Very early this morning the long
struggle with death terminated, and the spirit of our
beloved Uncle E. was released from its worn tenement.
The stony nature in my heart seems truly
wounded. May it not be as the wounded air, soon
to lose the trace. My heavenly Father's tender
regard I have, indeed, felt this evening; but I tremble
for the evil that remains in me. May I be blessed
with the continued care of the good Shepherd, that
I may be preserved as by the crook of His love.
And now, seeing that much is forgiven me, may I
love much. I feel that my Saviour's regard is of
far more value than any earthly thing; and oh
that my eye may be kept singly waiting for Him!
The decease of her uncle was soon followed by that of his youngest
son, Joseph E. In reference to his death, she remarks:--
_7th Mo. 22d_. He, in whose sight the death of
His saints is precious, has again visited with the
solemn call our family circle, and summoned away
the sweetest, purest, and most heavenly of the group.
Our dear cousin Joseph last night entered that
"rest which remains for the people of God;" rest
for which he had been panting the whole of the day,
and to which he was enabled to look forward as his
"happy home."
_7th Mo. 28th_. Yesterday was one long to be remembered.
The last sad offices were paid to him
whom we so much loved; and oh that the mantle
of the watchful, lowly disciple might descend abundantly
upon us! Yet it is only by keeping near to
the divine power, that I can receive any thing good;
and, though yet far away, oh, may I look towards His
holy habitation who is graciously offering me a home
where there is "bread enough and to spare."
_4th Mo. 3d_, 1842. He who has been for years
striving with me, has lately, I think I may say, manifested
to me the light of His countenance, and
enabled me at seasons to commit the toiling, roving
mind into His hand. This morning, however, I feel
as if I could find no safe centre. Oh that I were
gathered out of the false rest, and from all false
dependence, to God Himself, the only true helper,
and leader, and guide! How precious to recognize,
in the light that dawned yesterday and the day before,
the same glory, and power, and beauty, which
were once my chief joy! But oh, I desire not to be
satisfied with attaining again to former experience;
but to give all diligence in pressing forward to the
mark for the prize, even forgetting things that are
behind.
_10th Mo_. Mercies and favors of which I am totally
unworthy have been graciously bestowed this morning,
and, may I hope, a small capacity granted to
enter into the sanctuary and pray. This week I
have been unwatchful,--too much cumbered; yet,
oh, I hope and trust, at times, my chains are breaking,
and though I must believe the bitterness will
come in time, the gospel of salvation is beginning
to be tasted in its sweetness, completeness, and joy.
_1st Mo._ 1843. I desire that the privilege of this
day attending the Quarterly Meeting at Plymouth,
may be long held in grateful remembrance; that the
language, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of
the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," may
be my increasing experience. Conscious that the
state of my heart, long wavering between two opinions,
has of late been fearfully in danger of fixing
to the wrong one of these, I would ask of Him who
seeth in secret, and who is, I trust, at this very moment
renewing a measure of the contrition, which,
amid all my desires for it, did but gleam upon me
this morning, to do in me a thorough work, to remain
henceforth and ever.
_2d Mo. 12th_. About four weeks since, we had
a precious visit from B.S., and it has been a sacrifice
to me to make no record of his striking communications;
but I have been fearful, lest in any measure
the weight and freshness of these things should
vanish in words; and I have never felt at liberty to
do so.
In this year, she wrote but little in her Journal, and it appears
to have been a time of spiritual proving; yet one in which she
experienced that it was good for her "to trust in the name of the
Lord, and to stay herself upon her God."
_6th Mo. 16th_, 1844. One week ago was the
twenty-first anniversary of my birthday. In some
sense, I can say,--
"The past is bright, like those dear hills,
So far behind my bark;
The future, like the gathering night,
Is ominous and dark.
"One gaze again--one long, last gaze;
Childhood, adieu to thee;
The breeze hath hurried me away,
On a dark, stormy sea."
Deeply and more deeply, day by day, does my understanding
find the deceitfulness of my heart. Well
do I remember the feelings of determination, with
which I resolved, two years since, that this period
should not find me halting between two opinions,--that
ere _this_ day I would be a Christian indeed.
And looking back upon my alternating feelings, ever
since reason was mine, upon the innumerable resolutions
to do good, which have been as staves of reed,
I must want common perception not to assent to the
truth, that "the heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it?" But,
oh, it is not this only, which my intellectual conscience
is burdened with: when I look at the visitations
of divine grace which have been my unmerited,
unasked-for, privilege, through which I can but feel
that in days past, a standing was placed in my power
to attain, which, probably, now I shall never approach,
the question does present with an awful importance,
"How much owest thou unto thy Lord?"
Seeing we know not, nor can know, the value of an
offer of salvation, till salvation is finally lost or won;
seeing that such an offer is purchased only by the
shedding of a Saviour's blood, how incomprehensibly
heavy, yet how true, the charge, "Ye have crucified
to yourselves the son of God afresh." I know well
that of many now pardoned, for sins far deeper in
the eyes of men than any I have committed, it might
be said that _little_ is forgiven them in comparison of
the load of debt that hangs over my head; and I
have sometimes thought, that the comparison of
_debtors_ was selected by the Saviour, purposely to
show that guilt in the sight of God is chiefly incurred
by the neglect of His own spiritual gifts, not
in proportion merely to the abstract morality of man's
conduct. It is certainly what we have received
that will be required at our hands: and oh, in the
sight of the Judge of all the earth, how much do I
owe unto my Lord! This day, though I was not in
darkness about it, seems almost to have overtaken me
unawares. I was not ready for it, though I knew so
well when it would come; and, oh, for that day which
I know not how near it may be, when the account
is to be finally made up--how, how shall I prepare?
With all the blessings, and invitations, and helps,
which the good God has given me, I am _deeply,
deeply_ involved. How, then, can I dream of clearing
off these debts, when there can be no doubt that
I shall daily incur more? Alas, I am too much disposed
to keep a _meum_ and _tuum_ with heaven itself
in more senses than one. * * * As to setting out
anew on a _carte blanche_, I cannot. There lies the
deeply-stained record against me: "_I_ called," and,
oh, how deep the meaning, "Ye did not answer."
Yes, my heart did: but to answer, "I go, sir," does
but add to the condemnation that "I went not."
_6th Mo. 23d._ This morning, I believe, the spirit
was, in measure, willing, though the "flesh was
weak." I have thought of the lines--
"When first thou didst thy all commit
To Him upon the mercy-seat,
He gave thee warrant from that hour
To trust his wisdom, love, and power."
My desire is to know that _my_ all is committed, and
then, I do believe, He _will_ be known to be faithful
that hath promised. The care of our salvation is
not ours; our weak understandings cannot even
fathom the means whereby it is effected; but this
we do know, that it indispensably requires to be
"wrought out with fear and trembling." The Saviour
will be _ours_, only on condition of our being
_his_. Religion must not be an acquirement, but a
transformation; and surely that spirit, which could
not make itself, and which, when made by God, has
but degraded itself, is unable to "create itself anew
in Christ Jesus unto good works." No, fear and
trembling are the only part, and that but negative,
which the spirit of man can have in working out its
own salvation; but when led by the good spirit into
this true fear, when given to wait, and held waiting
at the feet of Jesus, it is made able, gradually, to _receive_
the essential gospel of salvation; and so long
only is it in the way of salvation as it is sensible
of its constant dependence on the one Saviour of
men.
May Friends, above all, while distinctly maintaining
the doctrine of the influence of the Spirit on
the heart, be deeply and _personally_ sensible that
there is but _one_ Saviour, even Jesus Christ, who
came into the world to save sinners, of whom, as we
are led to true repentance, I believe each one will be
ready to think "I am chief." The distinguishing
practices of Friends, as to dress, language, etc. are
in no manner valuable, but when they spring from
the _root_ of essential Christianity. This is certainly
the great thing. "Cleanse first the inside of the cup
and platter."
I have been grieved to fear that some would resolve
the vast meaning of "a religious life and conversation
consistent with our Christian profession" into
little more than "plainness of speech, behavior,
and apparel:" then I do think it becomes a mere idol.
The tithe of "mint, anise, and cummin" is preferred
to the weightier matters of the law. But I am going
from the point of my own condition in the warmth
of my feelings, which have been deeply troubled at
these things of late.
_11th Mo. 18th_. I believe it is one and the same
fallen nature which, at one time, is holding me captive
to the world; at another, filling me with impatience
and anxiety about my spiritual progress; at
another, with self-confidence, and at another, with
despondency. Oh, the enemy knows my many weak
sides; but I do hope and trust the Lord will take
care of me. "Past, present, future, calmly leave to
Him who will do all things well." If the root be
but kept living and growing, then I need not be
anxious about the branches; but, above all, the root
must be the husbandman's exclusive care.
_11th Mo. 30th_. I believe I sincerely desire that
no spurious self-satisfaction may be mistaken for the
peace of God, that no activity in works of self-righteousness
may be mistaken for doing the day's work
in the day. Oh, who can tell the snares that surround
me? Yet I have been comforted this morning,
in thinking of the declaration, "His mercies are over-all
his works;" which I believe may be very especially
applied to the work of His Spirit in the soul of man.
Over this He does watch, and to this He does dispense,
day by day, His merciful protection from surrounding
dangers; "I the Lord do keep it, I will
water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep
it night and day." Oh, the blessedness of a well-founded,
watchful, humble trust in this keeping!
_12th Mo. 27th_. The mean self-indulgence of sleeping
late has come over me again, though I found, a
week or two since, after a firm resolve, the difficulty
vanish. This morning I had no time for retirement
before breakfast; and, should circumstances ever become
less under my control, this habit may prevent
my having any morning oblation. The weakness and
sinfulness of my heart have been making me almost
tremble at the thought of another year: how shall I
meet its thousand dangers and not fall? In religious
communications in our house, I am apt to look for
any intimation that I could appropriate of a shortened
pilgrimage; but very little of the sort has occurred:
indeed, I expect my selfish wish will not be gratified,
of escaping early from this toilsome world; but how
rash and ungrateful are such thoughts! how much
better all these things are in my Father's hands! Oh,
if I may be there too in the form of passive clay,
and receive all His tutoring and refining, this will be
enough: and should my future way be full of sorrows,
heaven will bring me sweeter rest at last; when the
whole work is done, when the robes are quite washed,
when the fight is quite fought, and the death died;
when the eternal life, which shall blossom above, is
brought into actual health here, and real fellowship
is made with my last hour.
_1st Mo. 10th_, 1845. I am inclined to set down
the events of my little world for the past week; that
in days to come, should it prove that I have been
following "cunningly devised fables," I may beware
of such entanglements again; and that if they be
found a guidance from above, their contemptibleness
and seeming folly may be shown to be in wisdom. I
have, from my childhood, delighted in poetry: if
lonely, it was my companion; if sad, my comfort;
if glad, it gave a voice to my joy. Of late, I have
enjoyed writing pieces of a religious nature, though
I must confess the excitement, the possession which
the act of composition made of my mind, did not
always favor the experience of what I sought to express.
Two pieces of this kind I asked my father to
send to the _Friend_: he liked them, but proposed my
adding something to one. I had had a sweet little
season by myself just before: then, sliding from feeling
to composition, I thought of it all the rest of the
evening, and when I went to bed, stayed some time
writing four lines for the conclusion; after I was in
bed, my heart was full of it, and I composed four
lines more to precede them, with which I fell asleep.
In the morning I resolved not to think of them till
I had had my silent devotions; they came upon me
while I was dressing, and, having forgotten one line,
I stayed long making a substitute: then I retired to
read, and, if possible, to pray, but it was not possible
in that condition: I did but sit squaring and polishing
my lines; and having finished them to my heart's
content, I gave them to my father about the middle
of the day, conscious, I could not but be, that they
had "passed as a cloud between the mental eye of
faith and things unseen." Every time they passed
through my mind, they seemed to sound my condemnation.
My evening retirement was dark and
sad; I felt as if any thing but this I could give up
for my Saviour's love; "all things are lawful, but all
things are not expedient;" and yet the taste and the
power were given me, with all things else, by God.
I had used them too in a right cause, but then the
talent of grace is far better. Which should be sacrificed?
Why sacrifice either? I could not deny that
it seemed impossible to keep both. But it might be
made useful, if well employed. "To obey is better
than sacrifice." Now they _are_ written, they might
just as well be printed; but the printing will probably
be the most hazardous part. I shall be sure to write
more, and nourish vanity: or else the sight of them
will cause remorse rather than pleasure. If I should
lose my soul through poetry? For the life of self
seems bound up in it; and "whosoever loveth his
life shall lose it." But perhaps it would be a needless
piece of austerity; it would be a great struggle;
it would be like binding myself for the future, not
to enjoy my treasured pleasure. The sacrifice which
is acceptable will always cost something. So I prevailed
upon myself to write a note, and lay it before
my father, asking him not to send them, trembling
lest he should dislike my changeableness, or I should
change again and repent it. My father said nothing,
but gave me back the lines when we were all together,
which was a mountain got over. I thought to have
had more peace after; but till this First-day I have
been very desolate, though, I believe, daily desiring
to seek my God above all; and thinking, sometimes,
that that for which I had made a sacrifice became
thereby dearer.
After this striking and instructive account, which shows how zealously
she endeavored to guard against any too absorbing influence, however
good and allowable in itself the thing might be, it seems not amiss to
remark that Eliza's taste for poetry was keen and discriminating; and
that her love of external nature, and more especially her deeper and
holier feelings, found appropriate expression in verse. If some of
these effusions show a want of careful finish, it must be remembered
that they were not written for publication, but for the sake of
embodying the feeling of the occasion, in that form which naturally
presented itself.
The pieces alluded to in the foregoing extracts are the following:--
"WHAT I DO THOU KNOWEST NOT NOW."
Hast thou long thy Lord's abiding
Vainly sought 'mid shadows dim?
Lo! His purpose wisely hiding,
Thee He seeks to worship him.
Shades of night, thy strain'd eye scorning,
Have they; long enwrapp'd the skies?
He, whose word commands the morning,
Soon shall bid the day-spring rise!
Are ten thousand fears desiring
To engulf their helpless prey?
One faint hope, his grace inspiring,
Is a mightier thing than they.
Has the foe his dark dominion,
As upon thy Saviour, tried?--
As to Him with hastening pinion,
Lo! the angels at thy side.
Is thy spirit all unfeeling,
Save to sin that grieves thee there?
Thee He'll make, his face revealing,
Joyful in His house of prayer!
Hast thou seen thy building falter
Can thy God thy griefs despise?
'Mid the ruins dark, an altar
Fashion'd by His hands, shall rise.
Thee, to some lone mountain sending,
Only with the wood supplied;
He, thy God, thy worship tending,
Will Himself a lamb provide.
Has He made it vain thy toiling
Fine-spun raiment to prepare?
'Twas to give--thy labors spoiling--
Better robes than monarchs wear.
From thy barn and storehouse treasure
Did He take thy hoarded pelf?
Yes: to feed thee was His pleasure,
Like the winged fowls--_Himself_.
* * * * *
"WHAT PROFIT HATH A MAN OF ALL HIS LABOR
THAT HE TAKETH UNDER THE SUN?"
Must we forever train the vineyard sproutings,
And plough in hope of harvests yet to come,
Nor ever join the gladsome vintage shoutings,
And sing the happy song of harvest-home?
Must we forever the rough stones be heaping,
And building temple walls for evermore?
Comes there no blessed day for Sabbath-keeping,
No time within the temple to adore?
In faith's long contest have life's quenchless fountains
Bade calm defiance to the hostile sword?
But when, all beautiful upon the mountains,
Shall come the herald of our peace restored?
Must we forever urge the brain with learning,
And add to moral, intellectual woes?
Nor hold in peace the spoils we have been earning,
And find in wisdom's self the mind's repose?
Long have we watch'd, and risen late and early,
Rising to toil, and watching but to weep;
When will the blessing come like dewdrops pearly,
"On heaven's beloved ones even while they sleep?"
Since life began, our life has been beginning,
That ever-nascent future's treacherous vow;
When shall we find, the weary contest winning
A present treasure, an enduring _now_?
Ten thousand nameless earthly aims pursuing,
Hope we in vain the recompense to see,
And must our total life expire in _doing_,
And never find us leisure time _to be_?
Has not our life a germ of real perfection,
As holds the tiny seed the forest's pride?
And shall its ask'd and promised resurrection
In dreams of disappointed hope subside?
Yes, all is hopeless, man with vain endeavor,
May climb earth's rugged heights, but climb to fall;
Ever perfecting, yet imperfect ever,
Earth has no rest for man--if earth be all.
Yet oft there dwell, in temples frail and mortal,
Souls that partake immortal life the while;
Nor wait till death unbar heaven's pearly portal,
For heaven's own essence, their Redeemer's smile.
_--12th Month_, 1844.
* * * * *
From the Journal relating to daily affairs, at this time, kept
distinct from her spiritual diary, the following, and a few other
extracts, have been taken. Never suspecting that this would see the
light, she left it in an unfinished state. Had it been reconsidered,
portions of it would probably have been altered; but it sufficiently
shows her desire to understand the agencies of intellectual action,
and the philosophy of knowing and acquiring. She recognizes the
importance of systematic knowledge, questions the purpose and use
of every attainment, and manifests throughout a desire that all
the operations of the intelligence may subserve a nobler aim than
knowledge in itself possesses:--
_5th Mo. 16th_. That life is a real, earnest thing,
and to be employed for our own and others' real and
earnest good, is a fact which I desire may be more
deeply engraven on my heart. It is certainly a
matter of spiritual duty, to look well to the outward
state of our own house. There are already many
revolutions in my mental history, passed beyond the
reach of any thing but regrets. As a child, play
was not my chief pleasure, but a sort of mingled
play and constructiveness; then reading and learning;
I well remember the coming on of the desire
to _know_. In a tale, false or true, I had by no
means, the common share of pleasure--Smith's Key
to Reading was more to my taste. Poetry I have
ever loved. History I am very dull at; a chain of
events is far more difficult to follow, than a chain of
ideas--causality comes more to my aid than eventuality.
Well, the age of learning came: in it I
learned this, that, and the other; but, alas! order,
the faculty in which I am so deficient, was wanting,
I had not an appointed place for each fact or idea:
so they were lost as they fell into the confused mass.
I am full of dim apprehensions on almost all subjects,
but _know little_ of any. However, it may be
that this favors new combinations of things. I
would rather have all my ideas in a mass, than have
them in separate locked boxes, where they must each
remain isolated; but it were better they were on
open shelves, and that I had power to take them
down, and combine at will. The age of combining
has come; I feel sensibly the diminution of the
power of acquiring: I can do little in that, but
lament that I have acquired so little; but I seem
rebuked in myself at the incessant wish to gain--gain
for what? I must _do_ something with what, I
gain; for, as I said before, I have nowhere to put it
away. I love languages,--above all, the expressive
German; but I know too little to make it expressive
for myself. But my own mother-tongue, though
my tongue is so deficient to use thee, canst thou
afford no other outlet to the struggling ideas that are
within; may I not write? I did write poetry sometimes:
is it presumptuous to call it poetry? It was
certainly the poetry of my heart; the pieces entitled
"The Complaint," and "What profit hath a man,
etc." were certainly poetry to me. But the fate of
my poetry is written before. Perhaps it was a
groundless fear; but still it has given it the death-blow.
But may I write prose? I will tell that by-and-by.
This has brought down my history in this
respect till now:--
The constructive playing age,
The learning age,
The combining age,
So far the intellect.
* * * I am conscientious naturally, rather
than adhesive or benevolent. This natural conscientiousness,
independent of spirituals, has been like
a goad in my side all my life, and its demands, I
think, heighten. It is evidently independent of religion,
because it is independent of the love of God
and of man. For instance, I form to myself an
idea of my reasonable amount of service in visiting
the poor. Have I fallen short of this amount, I am
uneasy, and feel myself burdened; the thing is before
me, I must do it: why? Because I feel the
love of God constraining me? Sometimes far otherwise.
Because I feel benevolence towards the poor?
No; for the thing itself is a task; but because it is
my duty; because I would justify myself; because
I would lighten my conscience. I have called this
feeling independent of religion; but perhaps it is
most intense when religion is faintest. This latter
supplies, evidently, the only true motive for benevolent
actions. Then they are a pleasure: then the
divergence of the impulse of duty from the impulse
of inclination is done away; and I believe the love of
God is the only thing, which, thus redeeming those
that were under the law, can place them under the law
of Christ. Though it is little I can do for the poor,
I ought to feel it both a duty and a pleasure to devote
some time to them most days. To see the aged,
whose poverty we have witnessed, whose declining
days we have tried to soothe, safely gathered home,
is a comfort and pleasure I would not forego; and,
though the real benefit we render to them must depend
on our own spiritual state, their cottages have
often been to me places of deep instruction.
The useful desire to learn, may be carried too far;
we may sacrifice the duties we owe to each other, by
an eagerness of this kind; nor, I believe, can we,
without culpable negligence, adhere tenaciously to
any plan of study. The moral self-training which
is exercised by giving up a book, to converse with
or help another, is of more value than the knowledge
which could have been acquired from it. Indeed,
I am convinced we are often in error about
_interruptions_. We have been interrupted; in what?--in
the fulfilment of our duty? That cannot be;
but in the prosecution of our favorite plan. If the
interruption was beyond our control, it _altered_ our
duty, but could not interrupt it. Duty is the right
course at a given time, and under given circumstances.
A subject, which has of late been very interesting
to me, is that of the Jews. I am convinced that
much, very much, is to be done for them by Christians,
and for Christians by them; but I think the
interest excited in their behalf, in the world at large,
is, in many cases, not according to knowledge. An
historical view of their points of contact with the
professing Christian world, has long been on my
mind; and I think it needs to be drawn by an independent
hand,--in short, by a Friend. That "He
that scattered Israel will gather him, and feed him
as a shepherd doth his flock," is confessed now on
all sides. The when, the where, and the how, are
variously viewed. But what will He gather them
to? is a question not enough thought of. One
wishes them to be gathered to the Church of England,
another to the Church of Scotland; but I am
persuaded their gathering must be to the primitive
Christian faith. I say not to Friends; although I
hold the principles of Friends to be the principles
of primitive Christianity. For I do think a vast
distinction is to be made between the principles of
truth professed by Friends, and the particular line
of action, as a body, into which they have been led,
(I doubt not by the truth,) under the circumstances
in which they were placed. My belief is, that the
Jews are to be gathered to none but a Church built
"on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of
which Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner-stone;"
and that to such a Church they are to be
gathered immediately and instrumentally, by the
Spirit of God himself. A view of the manner in
which they have been regarded and treated by professing
Christians from the Christian era to the
present time, and of their own feelings towards
Christians and Christianity, if well drawn, would be
valuable and useful.
This interest in the Jews led Eliza to devote much, labor, during
several years, in collecting information relating to their history
since the Christian era. Had her life been spared, she would probably
have made some defined use of the large mass of material collected,
which, whilst valuable as an evidence of deep research, is not
sufficiently digested to be generally useful.
_7th Mo. 3d_. This evening I have finished copying
the foregoing scraps, previously on sheets, into this
book, that they may yet speak to me, in days to come,
of His manifold mercies, whose "candle has ofttimes
shone round about me," and "whose favor has made
me glad."
_7th Mo. 5th_. I desire gratefully to acknowledge
the privilege of which we have this week partaken,
in the occurrence of our Quarterly Meeting, and a
most sweet visit from ----; full of love is ---- to
his Master, and full of love to the brethren,
and even to the little sisters in Christ. Most
kindly and tenderly he and his wife advised us,
and myself, when we happened to be alone, to wait
and watch at the feet of Jesus, from whom the message
will come in due time, "The Master calleth for
thee." Manifold has been the expression of sympathy
for us all this week, in the prospect of parting with
our dear father on the Indiana committee, in about
five weeks, and the comforting expectation expressed
that his absence will be a time of sweet refreshing
from the presence of the Lord. Oh, we have much
to be thankful for in the grace that has been bestowed.
_7th Mo. 9th_. I have been much blessed the last
few days; not with high enjoyments, but with a calm
sense of dependence and trust on my Saviour, and
assistance in watching over my own heart. This
morning I have been tried with want of settlement
and power to get to the throne of grace; but faith
must learn to trust through all changes in the unchangeable
truth and love of Jesus. I am sensible
that this has been a time of much renewed mercy to
my soul; and oh that if, as ---- told me, the Lord
has many things to say unto me, but I cannot bear
them now, I may but be kept in the right preparation,
both for hearing and obeying!
_7th Mo. 27th_. I am sometimes astonished at the
condescending kindness of my Saviour, that he should
so gently and mercifully "heal my backslidings and
love me freely." I think my chief desire is to be
preserved _alive_ in the truth, and _growing_ in the
truth; but sometimes, through unwatchfulness, such
a withering comes upon me, I lose all sense of good
for days together, and this nether world is all I seek
pleasure in. Then there is but a cold, cheerless,
condemning feeling, when I look towards my Father's
house; but when all life seems gone, and I am ready
to conclude that I have suffered so many things in
vain, how often does the gentle stirring of life bring
my soul into contrition, into stillness! and He, who
upbraideth not the returning sinner, reveals himself
as "the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths
to dwell in."
The following lines describe her feelings at such a time as this:--
Then disconsolate I wander'd,
Where my path was lone and dim,
Till I thought that I was sunder'd
Evermore from heaven and Him.
Then it was my Shepherd found me,
Even as He had of old,
Threw His arms of mercy round me,
Placed me gently in His fold.
_7th Mo. 29th_. The expression, I think, of William
Penn, "Let the holy watch of Jesus be upon your
spirit," is a fitting watchword for me.
_7th Mo. 30th_. Oh, this must be the watchword still.
_8th Mo. 10th. First-day morning_. I was helped
to cast away some of the weight of worldly thoughts
last evening, and fervently to desire after the Lord.
It is a blessing to have his manifested presence and
love with us; but this is not at all times the needful
or the best thing for us. To have the heart right
with God, to commit my _all_ to him, to live in the
very spirit which breathes, "Thy will be done," in
and through me,--oh, this is to be alive in Christ;
this is indeed the work of the spirit; this is to lose
my life, that I may keep it unto life eternal.
At the Yearly Meeting of 1845 occurred the appointment previously
alluded to, under which John Allen became a member of the committee
which visited Indiana Yearly Meeting. As communication between Great
Britain and America was not so easy and frequent in those days as at
present, both he and his family very strongly felt the prospect of
separation. In allusion to the appointment, Eliza writes, "My father
allowed the business [of the Yearly Meeting] to proceed, but at length
said that he felt too much overwhelmed to speak sooner,--that the
subject touched his tenderest feelings, and that he felt very unfit
for such an engagement, but that the sense which had been and was,
while he was speaking, present with him, of that goodness and mercy
which had followed him all his life long and blessed him, was such
that he dared not refuse to do any little offices in his power for
those dear friends with whom he should be associated." She then gives
an account of the receipt at home of the unexpected intelligence of
this long journey, and of the calmness which eventually followed the
shock to the feelings which it occasioned. After he had set out, she
wrote an interesting account, too long to be given at full length,
of what had passed in the intervening time,--the hopes and fears, the
preparations, her father's parting with his friends and their words
of encouragement to him, with his own counsel and exhortations to his
children. A few words of his last address to them may not be out of
place:--"I earnestly desire for us all that when we shall meet again
we may all have made some progress in the heavenward journey and be
enabled to rejoice together in the sense of it. For you, my dear young
people, especially, I earnestly desire that you may be preferring
the best things, not setting your affections on trifling objects, but
valuing an inheritance in the truth above all those things that perish
with the using. * * * Be willing to be the Lord's on his own terms,
and prize above all things the sense that you are his; and you will
be his, if you are willing to walk in the narrow way--the way of
self-denial."
It does not pertain to this volume to give any further account of this
journey or of the mission in which he was engaged. The visit of the
deputation is probably fresh in the remembrance of many Friends in the
United States.
_8th Mo. 24th_. The great parting is over: the love
and mercy of our heavenly Father sustained my
dearest father and mother beyond expectation. On
this occasion, when I have been helped back from
a sad, lone wandering on barren mountains, I may
learn, more deeply than ever before, the safety, the
sweetness, of dwelling in the valley of humiliation.
Oh, let me dwell there long and low enough. I ask
not high enjoyments nor rapturous delights; but I
ask, I pray, when I can pray at all, for quiet, watchful,
trustful dependence upon my Saviour.
_8th Mo. 27th_. We have had a ride in the country
this afternoon, and during a solitary walk of a mile
and a half I had very sweet feelings. Jesus seemed
so near to me and so kind that I could hardly but
accept of him. But then there seemed some dark
misgivings at the same time; as if I had an account
to settle up first,--something I must do myself; the
free full grace seemed too easy and gratis to accept
of. But all this I found was a mistake. I thought
of the lines--
"He gives our sins a full discharge;
He crowns and saves us too,"
and of a remark I had seen somewhere, "Look at
Calvary, and wilt thou say that thy sins are _easily_
passed by?"
This evening in my _andachtzimmer_,[1] I wished to
pray in spirit; but not a petition arose that I could
offer. I felt so blind, and yet so peaceful, that all
merged into the confiding language, Father, _Thy will_
be done!
[Footnote 1: Devotional retirement.]
_9th Mo. 2d_. On First-day, the twenty-first, I had
a great struggle on the old poetry-writing question.
I had written none since the great fight last winter;
but now to my dearest father I ventured to write,
thinking I had got over the danger of it. But when
all was written, I was forced to submit to the mortification
of not sending it. The relief I felt was indescribable,
and I hope to get thus entoiled no more.
My scruple is not against poetry, but _I_ cannot write
it without getting over-possessed by it. Therefore
it is no more than a reasonable peace-offering to
deny myself of it. * * * "And now, Lord,
what wait I for?" Enable me to say, "My hope is
in thee." It seems as if the path would be a narrow
one; but, oh, "make thy way straight before my
face;" and, having enabled me, I trust, to _give some_
things to "the moles and to the bats," leave me not
till I have learned "to count _all_ things but loss, for
the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord."
The following is the unfinished piece just alluded to:--
TO HER FATHER IN AMERICA.
And thus it was, as drew the moments nearer
That stamp'd their record deep oil every heart;
As day by day thy presence grew yet dearer,
By how much sooner thou shouldst hence depart.
Love wept indeed, though she might seem a sleeper,
Long ere descending tears the signs betray'd;
And the heart's fountain was but so much deeper,
The longer was its overflow delay'd.
The page my unapt heart has learn'd so newly
In the dark lessons which afflictions teach--
Oh, it were vain to try to utter truly
In the cold language of unapter speech.
That hearts when thus their very depths are burning
Alone should know their bitterness, is well;
But, oh, my heart more joys than aches in learning
Another lesson, would that words could tell.
New depths of love in measure unsuspected,
Ties closer than I knew, were round my heart;
And half I thank the wrench that has detected
How thoroughly and deeply dear thou art.
And 'twas to tell thee this that I have taken
The tuneless lyre I thought to use no more,
Yet once at thy returning may it waken,
Then sleep forever, silent as before.
And not more narrow than the dome of ether
Beams heaven's unbounded, earth-embracing scroll;
Then be it thine and ours to read together
Of Him who loves not less than rules the whole.
And not more slow than was the bark that bore thee
To an untried and dimly-distant land--
Our hearts' affections thither flew before thee,
And now are ready waiting on the strand.
--_8th Month_, 1845.
_10th Mo. 1st_. Much struck with the suitability of
the expression, "under the yoke," truly _subjugated_.
not merely offering this or that, but _being offered_ "a
living sacrifice." Oh for a thorough work like this!
This is "when the yoke Is easy and the burden
light." I know almost nothing of it by experience,
but think it is "now nearer than when I first
believed." For a day or two I have been given to
desire it earnestly.
_10th Mo. 12th_. Evening. Many thoughts about
faith in Christ. But oh for the reality, the living
essence of it! We can be Christians, not because
we believe that the blood of Christ cleanses from
sin, but because we _know_ the blood of Christ to
cleanse us from sin.
About this date, in the diary of daily affairs, is the following:--
"A conviction has come upon me that, in all
respects, now is the time to reform, if ever, the
course I am now pursuing. Religion, the main
thing, may it ever more be the main object; and
then, as to moral, social, and other duty, oh, be my
whole course reformed. ... From this time
forth may I nightly ask myself these five questions.
1. Has my employment and economy of time been
right? 2. Has my aim been duty--not pleasure?
3. Have I been quiet and submissive? 4. Have
I looked on the things of others as my own? 5.
Have propensities or sentiments ruled? I wish to
give an answer, daily, to each; and now say for
yesterday. 1. Some wasted time before dinner.
2. Pretty clear, 3. No temptation. 4. Pretty well.
5. Pretty [well] except at meals."
In this concise and simple manner are these questions answered, almost
daily, throughout the year, until, "finding that daily records of
employment are of little use, and that the intellectual and spiritual
could not well be longer separated," she discontinued the practice,
and recorded in the same book "any thing in either line that seemed
fit to reserve from oblivion."
Alluding to a religious magazine, she writes:--
"It is always pulling down error--seldom building
up truth. Surely Antichrist comes to oppose Christ,
not Christ to oppose Antichrist. Is there, then, no
positive Christian duty? Are we never to rest in
principles and practices of actual faith and love? or
are we to be always on the offensive and negative
side, stigmatizing all who act contrary to our belief
of the truth as doers of the work of Antichrist?
Antichrist, I fear, cares little for orthodox doctrines,
but fights against the Christian spirit."
_9th Mo. 13th_. Conflicting thoughts again. I
long that there may be no building on any sandy
foundation. But oh, the fitness that appeared to me
this evening in the blessed Saviour to supply all my
need. The one sacrifice He has been, and the one
mediator and way to God He ever is,--His own
spirit the one leader, teacher, and sanctifier; whereby
He consummates in the heart the blessed work of
bringing all into subjection to the obedience of
Christ. Oh for a personal experience, a real participation
in all this, a knowledge that _He is my own
and that I am His_.
_16th_. Somewhat puzzled at myself. This has
not been a spiritually prosperous day--passed just to
my taste, much in reading, but not much, I fear, with
the Lord. Yet I have had very loving thoughts of
Christ this evening, and was ready to call Him _my
own dear Saviour_, though I trust on no other terms
than His terms, namely, that I should be wholly His.
Some misgivings are come up that I am tempted to
think Him mine when I am not in a state to be His;
some fears lest Satan has put on the winning smiles
of an angel of light; and yet where can I go but to
Thee, Saviour of sinners? Thou hast the words of
life and salvation; suffer me not to be deluded, but at
all hazards let me be Thine.
Thou who breakest not the bruised reed, oh, bring
forth in me judgment unto truth, and let me wait for
the _law of life and peace from Thee_.
_9th Mo. 18th_. Rode to Lodge to get ferns. Enjoyed
thoughts of the beauty of nature, imperfect
as it is, because one kind of beauty necessarily
excludes another. What, then, must be the essence
of that glory in which all perfection is beauty
united? Thus these things must be described to
mortal comprehension under contradictory images;
such as "pure gold, like unto transparent glass," &c.
_9th Mo. 19th_. I think harm is done by considering
a society such as "Friends," "a section of the
Christian Church," as societies are so often called.
It can be true only by considering the "Christian
Church" to mean _professing Christians_; but surely
its true meaning is the _children of God anywhere_.
Of this body, there are no _sections_ to be made by
man, or it would follow that to unite oneself to
either section, is to be united to the body, which
cannot be.
_10th Mo. 1st_. I fear I have so long been _childish_
and _thoughtless_, that I shall hardly ever be _childlike_
and _thoughtful_. Oh for a little more _care_ without
_carefulness!_
_10th Mo. 2d_. Much struck with Krummacher's
doctrine of "Once in grace, always in grace."
"After the covenant is made," he says, "I can do
nothing _condemnable_. I may do what is sinful or
weak, but my sins are all laid on my Surety." _True,_
if my will-spirit humbles itself to bear the reforming
judgment of the Lord--but I think his doctrine
utterly dangerous; his error is this, that "the
covenant cannot be broken." Now, suppose a
Christian, therefore, in the covenant; he sins, then
the Lord would put away his sin by cleansing him
from its pollution and power, by the blood of Christ,
who hath already borne the punishment thereof.
But he may refuse this cleansing, in other words,
this judgment, revealed within; not against _himself_,
as it must have been except for Christ's intercession,
but against the evil nature in him, and in love to
his soul. He may refuse this, because it cannot
but be painful, it cannot but include repentance for
his transgression, whereby he has admitted ground
to the enemy. And if he refuse it, persisting in
withdrawing his heart from that surrender, which
must have been made on his adoption into the covenant,
who shall say that the covenant is not at an
end? Who shall say that the way of the Lord is
not equal, in that, because he was once a righteous
man, made righteous by the righteousness of Christ,
"now, the righteousness that he hath had shall not
be mentioned unto him, but in his trespass he shall
die"? Far be it from me to say how long the Lord
shall bear with man; how long he may trespass ere
he dies forever; but I think it most presumptuous
to suppose that God _cannot in honor_ (for it does
come to this) disannul the covenant from which man
has already retracted all his share; though this,
truly, is but a passive one, a surrender of the will-spirit
to the faith of Jesus.
What good it does me to clear up my ideas on
prayer! but there is a limit beyond which intellect
cannot go. No one can fully explain the admission
of evil into the heart. We say "it is because I
listen to temptation;" but why do I listen, to temptation?
Because I did not watch unto prayer. The
Calvinist would say, perhaps, "Because I am without
the covenant;" but he allows that a person may sin
who is in it. Suppose I am one of these? The
origin of evil must ever be hidden, but not of evil
only; the _moral nature of man must ever be a mystery
to his intellectual nature, for it is above it._
There is a _natural testimony_ to the supremacy of the
_moral_ in man above the intellectual.
_10th Mo. 8th_. The charm of book and pen has
been beguiling me of my reward; but now my soul
craves to be offered a living sacrifice.
_10th Mo. 19th_. The world was fearfully my snare
yesterday,--I mean worldly objects, innocent, in
themselves. These things only show the depth of
unrenewed nature within. Though it slumbered, it
could not be dead. My "wilderness wanderings,"
oh, I fear they must be exceedingly protracted ere
the hosts that have come out of Egypt with me fall;
ere I can find _in myself_ that blessed possession of the
promised inheritance, which, I believe, _in this life_ is
the portion of the _thorough_ Christian: "they that
believe _do_ enter into rest." Why, then, do not I?
Oh, it is for want of believing; for want of faith; I
fear to trust the Lord to give me my inheritance and
conquer my foes, and will not "go up and possess
the land." Then, again, in self-confidence, I _will_ go
up, whether the Lord be with me or not; and so I
fall. But surely, surely it _need_ be so no longer. I
_might_ devote myself to Christ, and He would lead me
safely through all. The shining of the fire and the
shading of the cloud are yet in the ordering of the
Captain of Salvation.
_20th_. Exceeding poor; and yet I rejoice in what
I trust is somewhat of the poverty of spirit which is
blessed.
"Nothing in my hand I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
To the cleansing fount I fly:
Wash me, Saviour, or I die."
_21st_. I feel myself in much danger of falling,--manifold
temptations all round to love the world, and
how little _stay_ within!
_22d._ Yet the Lord was kind, most kind, to me in
the evening, constraining me to say within my heart,
"Surely I am united to Christ my Saviour." Oh,
the joy of feeling that we are in any measure _His!_
May I by no means withdraw myself from His
hands, that He may do for me all that His mercy
designs, and which I am well assured is but _begun._
This morning a crumb of bread was given me, in the
shape of a sense that Christ is yet mine, but that He
will be _waited on_ in simplicity of heart to do His _own
work._ Oh, the comfort of having a fountain to flee
to _set open_ for sin! hourly have I need of it.
_11th Mo. 2d_. I have felt deeply the necessity of
the thorough subjugation of the _will_ to the Divine
will: if it were effected, all must work for good to
me. Little cross-occurrences, instead of exciting
ill tempers, would serve as occasions for strengthening
my faith in God. When He giveth quietness,
what should make trouble? 'Tis wonderful to think
what long-suffering kindness the Lord has shown
me! I can compare myself only to the prodigal
son saying, "Give me my portion of goods"--goods
spiritual; as if I thought once furnished, never
again to have recourse to a father's compassion. Oh,
often have I wasted this substance in a very short
time; but the Lord has reckoned better than I
in my self-confidence. He saw how I should have to
come back utterly destitute, and again and again has
had mercy. Oh that I might no more ask for a portion
to carry away, but seek to dwell among the servants
and the children of His house, to be fed
hourly by Him, learning in what sense He does say
to those who are willing to have nothing of their
own, "All that I have is thine."
_12th Mo. 6th_. Nice journey to Falmouth. Here
we have been since Second-day learning our own
manifold deficiencies; but this, under a genial atmosphere,
is, to me, never disheartening,--always an
exciting, encouraging lesson. ----'s kind words
on intellectual presence of mind, and his animating
example of it, have determined me to make a vigorous
effort over my own sloth and inanity. I believe
the first thing is to be always conscious of what I am
thinking of, and never to let my mind run at loose
ends in senseless reveries.
_12th Mo. 25th_. Seventh-day. I trust, now we
are all together for the winter, there will be an effort
on my part to help to keep up a higher tone of feeling,
aim, and conversation: not mere gossip, but
really to speak to each other for some good purpose,
is what I do wish. What an engine, for good or
evil, we neglect and almost despise! and if it is not
employed properly, when at home, how can it be
naturally and intelligently exercised when abroad?
_Fourth-day, 31st_. Called on a poor sick man,--he
quietly waiting, I hope, for a participation in perfect
peace, and penetrated with the sense that man can do
nothing of himself. Surely this must be a step towards
knowing what God can do. I hope he will be
able to see and say something more yet; but I would
not ask him for any sort of confession. It is a fearful
thing to interfere with one who seems evidently
in hands Divine.
Thus ended 1845. Oh that it had been better
used, more valued, more improved in naturals, intellectuals,
and spirituals! Oh that I had cultivated
kindness and dutiful affection in the meekness of
wisdom; and as an impetus seems to have been lately
received to industry in study, etc., oh, may God
give me grace to spend another year, so far as I
live through it, in industrious Christianity too!
_1st Mo. 7th_, 1846. I should gratefully acknowledge
the loving-kindness and tender mercy which,
after all my wanderings, has again been shown: "I
will prepare their heart, I will cause their ear to hear,"
was sweet to me this morning. Though sometimes
lamenting that I hear so little of the voice of pardon
and peace, I have felt this morning that I have ever
heard as much as was safe for me in the degree of
preparation yet known.
_1st Mo. 19th_. Some earnest desires last evening,
this morning, and in the night, to be set right in
spirit. Struck with the text, "His countenance doth
behold the upright,"--not that the upright always
behold His countenance: that is not the thing their
safety consists in. "Thou most upright dost weigh
the path of the just," that is, of the truly sincere
and devoted. Ah! how blessed that such an unerring
balance should apportion the way of a finite and
blind being!
_3d Mo. 2d_. Little E.P. died last week, aged three
years,--a child whom God had taught. I ventured a
little poem for his mamma, I think without harm.
The poetry-contest, some time since, was doubtless
useful as a check, but I seem to have lost the prohibition,
and enjoy, I hope, innocently.
_Sixth-day_. School, more encouraged than sometimes:
got on well with geography-class; visited
various poor people,--feeling very useless, but some
satisfaction. Oh, it were a sweet thing to do good
from the right motive, as a _natural_ effect of love.
I fear I do my poor share more to satisfy conscientiousness;
and that is a dull thing.
_3d Mo. 17th_. Faith small, world strong; but this
evening something like grasping after "the childly
life beyond." A childly life I want. Oh for simplicity,
faith, quietness, self-renunciation!
Yesterday rode alone to Wheal, Sister's mine. Gave
W.B. tracts for the girls. Thence to Captain N.,
to get his daughters to collect for Bibles. His nice
wife seemed interested; said it was very needful.
Many families had not a Bible there; the place a
century behind the West. Rode home dripping, but
glad that I had not been turned back. Learned part
of the 42d Psalm in German.
_3d Mo. 27th_. What testimony of gratitude can I
record to that tender mercy which has drawn near to
me this evening? Oh that the "Anon with joy"
reception may not be united with the "no root in
myself"! I have thought of the Israelitish wanderings,
caused by faithless folly in refusing to "go up
and possess the land." Oh, that lack of living appropriating
faith may not thus protract the period
ere my own passage through the spiritual Jordan, the
river of self-renunciation, and death of the "old
man," into the Beulah of a thorough introduction to
the sheepfold! It is easy to say that it would be too
presumptuous to venture on the final, full, childlike
appropriation of Christ; but, oh, presumption, I do
deeply feel, is more concerned in the delay. It is
presumptuous to put off, till brighter evidences and
clearer offers of mercy, the acceptance of grace to-day.
_4th Mo. 14th._ The Lord has been kind to me
beyond expression. Not rapturous feeling, but calm
and peaceful confidence,--though sometimes almost
giving way to "the world, the flesh, and the devil,"
sometimes letting go faith; but, oh, He has been near
through all; then when His face has shone upon me,
how have I wondered that ever I loved the earth,
more than Himself!
_5th Mo. 3d. Bristol._ On the way to the Yearly
Meeting. _First-day._ Most interesting meeting. I
think the connection of evangelical doctrine with
Christian worship is often not enough considered.
The mere natural unsanctified dread or awe of the
Lord's presence is very different from that worship
of God which is through Christ our Lord, who has
made a way of access for us to the Father, who Himself
loveth us. If this be overlooked, there is little
essential distinction between Christian worship, and
Oriental gnosticism--the delusion of raising the soul
above the natural, by abstraction and contemplation
of the Divine. This is the distinguishing glory of
the gospel, that whereas the children of Israel said
to Moses, "Speak thou to us, but let not God speak
to us, lest we die," Christ, his antitype, hath broken
down for his people "the middle wall of partition,"
hath abolished the enmity, and speaketh to us Himself
as God, and yet as once in our flesh.
_5th Mo. 10th_. Letter from father, from _Niagara_.
Awful spectacle, and most edifying emblem of His
unchanging word of power whose voice is as the
sound of many waters.
This evening had a nice meeting; my soul longed
for light and life in the assembly.
Of our dear father's safe arrival in Liverpool we
heard on our way to the train in the morning, and
now we settled in to expect him we had so long lost!
And, after meeting him in London and alluding to conversation with
friends who called to see him, she says,--
"But with father the fact of presence, real
meeting, actual talk, seemed more engrossing than
the thing talked. Oh that I had a really grateful
heart to the Lord for these His mercies!"
_7th_. [Alluding to a meeting at Devonshire House.]
It is, indeed, "looking not at the things which are
seen," when we really accept with equal, nay, with
greater, joy, His will to speak by the little as by the
great, or by His Spirit only, when communion of
truth is preferred to communication of the true.
_5th Mo. 29th_. And now that my London experience
is over, as to meetings, preachings, prayers,
what, oh, what is the result on this immortal spirit
of mine, which has on this occasion been brought,
as it were, in _contact_ with some of the honorable
and anointed messengers, with that which is good?
And yet it is possible that contact may not produce
_penetration_, and that _penetration_ may not produce
_assimilation_. I can unhesitatingly say, the first and
second have been produced; but then these are but
transactions of the time, not abiding transformations;
and if these are all? But, surely, it cannot be;
surely, when my heart melted within me, especially
on Second-day morning, and I heard the word "and
anon with joy received it," some depth of central
stone was fused into softness; some actual change,
effected, that I might not have altogether "no root"
in myself. Sometimes predominated a fear that intellectual
interest interfered with spiritual simple
reception of good, that _this_ would vanish when _that_
was over; sometimes the responsibility of being thus
ministered to was truly a weighty thought; for never
more than on that morning did I so understand, "Go
preach, baptizing." Sometimes I thought that God
had indeed brought me to this Yearly Meeting to
make me then and there his own; and when I heard
of passing by transgressions as a cloud, I was ready
to think my own were indeed dissolving as one. I
felt strongly the superiority of religion to every
other thing, not merely for its external aim, God,
but for its internal power on self, how these masterpieces
of the human creation were not only made the
most of by religion, but that _it_ alone can make any
thing of the _whole man_. How strongly do we feel,
when with a clever, talented, irreligious man, that he
has a latent class of moral powers which have not
been called into action, that on this point he may be
inferior to the veriest child; but God, who has made
man for himself, has made in every man a royal
chamber, for himself spiritually to dwell in; and if
this be not reappropriated to him, (which is religion,)
his capacity for the Divine is not exercised, and he
is not only not made the most of, but his best nature
is not even made use of. What a privilege to have
intercourse with those in whom the very reverse is
the case! What a stimulus to the little mind, to
become not equal to the great, but proportionally
Christianized--_i.e._ equally devoted! and this is
Christian perfection; not to have arrived at the
highest attainment of intercourse with God ever
granted to man, but to have the will thoroughly willing
God's will. This is, indeed, better far than a
mere knowledge of what that will is. But in some
whom I have seen, there is a beautiful union of a
high degree of this knowing and willing; and these
are they to whom it is given to edify the Church.
* * * How shall I enough praise and thank the
Lord, who has so condescended to my weak and
sinful condition, that though my head perhaps knew
all before, and my heart was disobedient, He has so
brought me under the mighty ministry of His Word
of life, that for a while _all_ seemed melted and subjected,
and my heart longed to accept Him and his
reconciliation to me on the blessed terms, _not_ the
harsh terms, but the privileged terms, of my being
reconciled to Him. Oh, what an error to think any
thing harsh or hard in the requirements of the gospel!
It is a mercy beyond man's conception, that we
are commanded, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
_6th Mo. 12th_. Yesterday my twenty-third birthday.
In the evening a song of praise seemed to fill
my heart for the vast mercy shown me of late. God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He
loved me when I was dead in sins, has truly begun
to quicken my heart.
_6th Mo. 12th_. Had a note from ---- of kind
spiritual interest; but I think she mistakes my want,
which is more of practical than of theoretical faith.
Have ventured to tell her, in a note, what I feel and
have felt. I think many who have left Friends, and
become more decidedly serious since, remembering
that when Friends, the gospel was not precious to
them, fancy it is undervalued by the Society. My
note is as follows:--
My dear --- will, I hope, believe that I was not disposed
to receive her affectionate lines in any other than
that spirit of love in which they were written, and in
which, I am persuaded, it is the will of our blessed
Saviour for His disciples "that they all may be one."
Yes, my dear ----, I believe there is not a sentence in
thine in which I do not heartily join; and while we are
both seeking to believe, as thou says, "with the heart"
in Christ our Saviour, "in whom we have redemption,
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," let us
say not only, "Here is a point on which we can unite,"
but here is the one bond of fellowship, which unites the
whole ransomed Church, throughout the world, and
especially those who love each other, as I trust we do.
If we were more willing to let Christ be our all in all,
surely we should more realize this blessed truth. Disputations
on theoretical differences seem to me like disputes
on the principles of a fire-escape among those
whose sole rescue depends on at once committing themselves
to it, since the most perfect understanding of its
principles is utterly in vain if they continue mere
_lookers-on;_ while others, with perhaps far less _head-_knowledge,
are safely landed. This, it seems to me, is
the distinction between head-knowledge and heart-knowledge,
between dead creed and living faith; and every
day, I think, more convinces me that it is "with the
_heart_ that man believeth unto righteousness." As thou
hast so kindly spoken of myself, and thy kind interest
for me, may I add that what I have known, small though
it be, of this faith, has been all of grace; nor do I hope
or wish but that it may be, from first to last, of grace
alone. If I love Christ, it is because He first loved me:
because God, who is rich in mercy, has shown me the
great love wherewith He loved me, when I was dead in
sins; nor should I have had one glimpse "of the knowledge
of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ,"
had not God, who "commanded the light to shine out of
darkness," shined into my heart. And dark and sad
has ever been the view of myself bestowed by that grace
which brings salvation, long shining as it were to make
my darkness visible; but this do I esteem one of His rich
mercies, who will have no rival in His children's hearts,
and teaches us our own utter depravity and sinfulness;
that we may, without any reserve, fly to Him, "who has
borne our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might
be saved from wrath through Him." And if it is of
grace, that while we were yet sinners, "we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son," it is by grace also,
that "being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
It is "not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saveth us, by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost." And here I find abundant need to take heed
that I "receive not the grace of God in vain;" for truly
Christ cannot be ours, if we will not be his. But though
I have to lament many a revolt, and many a backsliding,
and many a denial in heart of Christ my Saviour, yet
the Lord, who turned and looked on Peter, has not forsaken
me; the fountain set open for sin has been, I
believe, set open for me; and still does He continue to
"heal my backslidings, and to love me _freely_." For
the future I have sometimes many a fear, because of
this deceitful heart of mine; and at others I can trust
it in His hands, whose grace will be sufficient for me to
the end,--that end, when I may realize, what I now
assuredly believe, that the "_gift_ of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord." And now, my dear
----, are we not one, essentially one, both one in Christ?
I know that, uniting in the acknowledgment, and, above
all, I trust, in the experience, of the great truths of the
gospel, we differ in their applications and influences on
subordinate points, and I believe this must be expected
to be often the case while "we see through a glass
darkly;" but we shall, I trust, "see eye to eye, when
the Lord shall bring again Zion;" and He will keep that
which we have committed unto Him against that day.
The Lord's "commandment is _exceeding broad_," and it
is no wonder that our narrow minds cannot adequately
appreciate the whole, or that, while we believe the same
things, we sometimes view them in different order and
proportion, often being nearer each other than we are
aware. I fear much good is not done by discussing differences;
at least, _I_ find it calls up feelings which are
not good, and I lose more practically than I get or give
theoretically. May the Lord bless us both in our pilgrimage,
and guide us in a plain path to a city of final
habitation, where we shall not want sun, or moon, or any
other thing than the glory of God and the Lamb, to be
our everlasting light.
I could not be satisfied without replying to thy kind
remarks and inquiries about myself and my hopes; but
now, having said so much, I hope thou wilt not think it
strange that I cannot _argue_ on things about which we
differ. I have not adopted opinions without reflection,
and it has fully satisfied myself; but I have nothing to
spend in controversy, which I always find does me a
great deal of harm. I hope we now know enough of
each other to rejoice in each other's joy.
_6th Mo. 16th_. Last evening alone in the plantation.
Sought the Lord. It was beautiful. Was not
nature meant by Him to work in concert with His
spirit on our hearts? Or is the calming and soothing
power a thing confined to sense and sensibility? I
suppose the latter, but that religion appropriates these
as well as all other faculties and parts of man's nature,
and, where he would have praised nature, bids him
praise God, his own God in Christ.
_6th Mo. 18th_. I have thought this summer a time
of critical importance for my soul, for eternity. I
have felt, and sometimes spoken, strongly, but always,
I believe, honestly, unless I have imposed upon myself.
Thought I had accepted Christ. I thought He
was my salvation and my all. "Yet once more" will
the Lord shake not my earthly heart, but also my
heaven, my hopes, my expectations, in Him. Will
He convict me still of holding the truth in unrighteousness?
How else can I explain to myself the
pride which revolts from censure, the touchy disposition,
the self-justifying spirit, the jealousy of my reputation,
the anxiety to keep up my character? How
else can I explain the inaptitude for the divine, the
unwillingness to have the veil quite lifted from my
heart, to display it even to my own eyes? Ah! is it
not that there is still a double mind and instability in
all my ways, still a want of that simplicity of faith,
that humility, and poverty, and meekness of spirit,
that can accept the gospel, still the self-righteousness
(worse than "I am of Paul") which assumes to itself
"_I_ of Christ"? Ah! if I may yet lift my eyes
through Him who hath borne even the iniquity of
our holy things, keep me, O Lord, from a wider
wandering, till Thou bring me fully into the fold,
the "little flock," to whom it is Thy good pleasure to
give thy kingdom.
_7th Mo. 5th_. * * * It is useless to conceal from
myself that I have felt grieved at some, whom we
might suppose grounded in the faith long since, appearing
to keep the expression of sole reliance on the
mercy of God in Jesus Christ, as a sort of death-bed
confession. I know full well that religion must be an
actual transformation of soul; but then the ground
of our hope that this will be _perfectly_ effected ere
we depart, is the mercy of God in Christ, quite as
much as our hope of forgiveness of actual sin, and
final salvation. Oh, some do separate things too much,
as if it were possible to err by too full a reliance
on Christ; as if there was a danger that He or
we should, by _that_ means, forget the work of grace.
Grace is grace throughout, not of works, but of Him
that calleth. Still, I believe there must and will be
variations in our modes of viewing the great gospel,
the "exceeding broad" commandment. May we, as
S. Tuke so beautifully said, "know one another in
the one bond of brotherhood, 'One Lord, one faith,
one baptism;'" without entering into nice distinctions
and metaphysical subtleties. And may I, to
whom temptations of this kind are naturally so accessible,
be preserved in my own spirit from the snares
of death, cleansed "from secret faults," kept from
"presumptuous sins," and hidden in the Lord's
pavilion from the strife of tongues.
_7th Mo. 9th_. I have been thinking much of the
young women at the Union, and yesterday went to
see them. A sad spectacle; but they seemed willing
and glad to be visited, and I hope to go once a week
to read to them, and to teach a few of them to read.
Oh that my life were more useful than it is!
_7th Mo. 18th_. Oh, why was I induced to allow
thoughts and reasonings to supplant worship! How
they plead their own utility, and how like good is the
thought about good! but then the dry, barren, unsatisfied
unrest of soul that followed! Strange, that
thought employed to so little purpose at other times
should pretend to be so edifying in meetings. Reveries
on probability, as being a mere relation between a
cause and a spectator, or bystander; not between cause
and effect. Thought it important touching free will
and foreknowledge. God is certain of futurity--we
are uncertain. Futurity is certain in relation to God,
uncertain in relation to us--probable or improbable in
relation to us, neither in relation to God; but neither
the certainty nor the probability exists in future non-existent
fact, therefore I take it they do not influence
the fact. This, perhaps, is profitless; but I am glad
to find that thought on this point always tends to confirm
what I believe is the true scriptural doctrine in
opposition to Calvinism. This was a natural reaction
on the minds of reformers from the Romish doctrine
of justification by works. They no sooner found that
man cannot make his own salvation, than they fancied
he could not reject it. They learned that it was freely
given to some, and fancied that it could not have been
freely offered to all.
_7th Mo. 20th_. Mere carnal conscientiousness is a
poor substitute for love of God. The constant inquiry,
"What must I do to keep an easy conscience?"
is no proof of high Christian attainment; rather
says the Christian, "What can I render for all His
benefits?"
_7th Mo. 30th_. A visit to J. Harvey's corpse. [A
poor man whom she had frequently visited.] I have
been much concerned about him in days past, and
now can a little rejoice in his exceeding joy. An
emaciated, sallow countenance, but speaking perfect
rest. He spoke scarcely at all for some days. I saw
him three days before his death, and could but commend
him to one of the "many mansions;" but he
could scarcely answer.
A few passages about this period, record Eliza's desire for a
friendship with some sympathizing mind out of her own family,--some
one whose views, whilst tending to the same point as her own, would
yet have the freshness of an altogether different experience. Not
that she undervalued home affections, for that would have been quite
contrary to her nature, but, after alluding to them warmly, she says,
"At the same time, we want a friendship for the rest of our faculties
and minds; and it cannot be, I believe, that _one_ family should
supply to any one of its members all that it is capable of
appreciating and experiencing in the way of friendship." Another entry
states, "I have a new friendship with M.B., which promises substantial
comfort. Just the thing I have wished for all my life. We have
exchanged two letters on each side." This acquaintance ripened into
a connection which was afterwards steadily maintained,--although
the intercourse of the two friends was principally by letter. That
circumstance, however, has caused the preservation of thoughts and
sentiments which otherwise would have been unrecorded; and, as the
letters offer much of an interesting character, copious extracts from
them are hereafter given:
_8th Mo. 2d_. Letter to M.B.
* * * Surely, whoever is not a true friend to himself
and to his own best interests cannot be such to
another. Here, indeed, if I may hope to have part or
lot in the matter, the thing aimed at is high; but this
does not insure its attainment, and there is great cause
for care that the humiliating discovery of the discrepancy
between the two, does not lead us to lower the one rather
than seek to elevate the other. I have a strong belief
of the importance of self-scrutiny and honesty with one's
own heart, of real willingness to know and feel the
worst of one's self, and sincerity of application to the
true means of remedy. Perhaps the very sense of deficiency
in this particular, makes me believe the more its
value; but I dislike what I think to be the false humility
of some persons, who, while seeming to claim the
_blessings_ of religion, would think it presumption to profess,
or even expect, conformity to its standard. The
presumption always seems to me on the other side; and
yet who is free from it altogether? Very long it takes
some persons--of whom I am one--to get through the
seventh chapter of Romans. Many a time they get to
the twenty-fourth verse, and stick in the twenty-fifth,
looking wishfully over the barrier which divides them
from the eighth chapter; and yet, if thoroughly willing
to know the worst of themselves, they would perhaps
find that it is because a _part_ of a man's nature may go
so far, while it requires the _whole_ spirit to make this
last transition. I think I long for true humiliation in
the evidence of my own deficiency here.
* * * * *
I did, indeed, enjoy the Yearly Meeting's Epistle: it
is a wholesome one in these days. How refreshing is
it in thought, to abstract ourselves from the words and
doings of men, and think of that _one_ eternal unchanging
truth, which can never be inconsistent with itself and
which, though hid from the wise and prudent, is revealed
to babes! Here I think the belief of the identity
of our own character hereafter, comes in well, and
should lead us to consider whether we love truth absolutely,
and not only relatively to the circumstances
which will not exist then; and whether we can be happy
in a land where righteousness and peace forever kiss
each other. And may I, without vanity and just in
illustration, quote from a rhyme of my own?--
While thus we long, in bonds of clay,
For freedom's advent bright,
Upbraid the tardy wheels of day,
And call the slumbering light,
Do we no willing fetters wear
Which our own hands have made,
No self-imposed distresses bear,
And court no needless shade?
While our departed friends to meet
We often vainly sigh,
To hold in heaven communion sweet,
Communion large and high,
Do we, while here on earth we dwell,
Those pure affections show
For which we long to bid farewell
To all we love below?
For no unhallow'd footstep falls
Upon that floor of gold;
Those pearly gates, those crystal walls,
No earthly hearts enfold.
And if our voice on earth be strange
To notes of praise and prayer,
That voice it is not death's to change,
Would make but discord there.
_8th Mo. 10th_. Strange vacillations of feeling; at
one time on the point of trusting the Lord for
eternity, at another, cannot trust him even for time.
At one time would cast my whole soul on him; at
another, will bear the weight of every straw myself,
till I become quite overloaded with them. Oh,
what a spectacle of folly, and weakness, and sin!
A soul immortal spending all her powers, wasting
her strength in strenuous idleness!
_8th Mo. 16th_. Very busy making things tidy,
and resolved, almost religiously, to keep them so.
I think I would not, for any consideration, die with
all my things in disorder. Disorder must be the
result of a disordered mind, and not only so, it
reacts on the mind and makes it worse in turn.
_8th Mo. 18th_. People do not say enough of the
need of _consistency_, when they speak of trusting in
Providence instead of arms. It was consistent in
William Penn, but it would not have been consistent
in his contemporaries, who took the Indians'
land for nought. Providence is not to be made a
protector of injustice, of which arms are the fitting
shield. Oh that consistency, earnestness of character,
were more valued!
_8th Mo. 23d_. Some true wish, may I say prayer,
that Christ may now, _now_, blot out as a cloud my
sins, even on his own terms, which, I am more convinced,
do not consist of things required of us to
give in exchange for his mercy, but are a part of
that mercy, a part of that redemption. Yes, when
sin becomes thoroughly a burden, as sin, then we see
that grace would be indeed imperfect, if it was not
to be a deliverance from the _power_, as well as the
punishment, of sin; and if we ask for grace, and yet
cherish sin, truly we know not what spirit we are
of, we wish not for complete salvation while we are
asking for it. Mercy is a broader thing than our
most earnest prayers suppose; yea, it is "above all
that we can ask or think."
_8th Mo_. Letter to M.B.
* * * How little it avails to know the theory of
wisdom and folly, right and wrong, etc., just so as to
occupy only the perceptive and reasoning faculties!
What we want, what the world wants, I think, is the
_Christian_ version of the present so fashionable idea of
_earnestness_, or, as I have thought it may imply, _consistency_
of character. We get ideas and opinions in a _dead_
way, and then they do not _pervade_ our characters; we
have but half learned them; they have influenced not
our feeling, but only our knowing faculties, and then
perhaps it had been better not to have known the way
of truth. A full response is in my heart to the difficulty
of keeping things in their right places, neither can I at
all agree to the idea "that where the love of the world
perverts one, the fear of it perverts ten;" at least, understanding
the world to mean "whatever passes as I
cloud between the mental eye of faith and things unseen."
Many a time has the book-shelf and the writing-desk
been made a substitute for the oratory. As to
friendship taking this place, surely the whole idea of a
_Church_ is based on that of Christian fellowship in its
strict sense. Be it ours to know what _that_ means, and
then, if our love to Christ is the main bond of union,
while that continues, we shall love him the more rather
than the less on that account. But I know that friendship
includes various other elements, and may we be
sensible that if these are made the main things in our
esteem, not only our faith, but our friendship too, becomes
debased.
Respecting the seventh and eighth chapter of Romans,
a believe I agree with thee; but lately I have had
stronger feelings than I used to have about the distinction
between _defective_ religion and _infant_ religion.
The full feeling of our corruption must certainly precede
the full reception of the Christian's joy; and I believe
we ought not to be too anxious to reduce to regular
theory what is so much above our finite understandings
as the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Still, I
think there is, when it goes on as it ought to do, unobstructed,
a completeness in all its stages. There may
and ought to be a perfect infant, then a perfect youth,
then a perfect man, and I don't know how to apply to
the advanced stage only; that blessed declaration which I
sometimes think expresses the sum of Christian liberty,
"There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus." Still, it will be quite time enough
to reason about this when we have attained such an entirely
childlike state; nor, I suppose, shall we be long
in discovering the privilege of which we shall then be in
possession--"Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Then,
doubtless, we shall be furthest from reasoning at all.
We have been much interested with the last volume
of D'Aubigné. The imperfection of all the instruments
is strikingly shown. Luther's obstinate transubstantiation
or consubstantiation doctrines, Melancthon's timid
concessions to the Papists, and Zwingle's carnal warfare,
ending in the tragedy of Cappel, and, as it seems, in the
long delay of the establishment of the Reformation in
Switzerland. D'Aubigné appears very sensible of this
inconsistency: even the loss of Ecolampadius by a peaceful
death he represents as a happy encouragement to
the Church after the blow it had received; but I don't
think D'Aubigné a thorough peace advocate. He makes
so much distinction between the Churchman and Statesman,
that I fear he would allow of _mere_ rulers and
magistrates taking up arms on _merely_ secular affairs,
though he does not wish the Church to be defended by
such. I should like to know thy impression of the early
Christians' opinion on war. Neander allows that a _party_
objected to it, as in the case of Maximilian, A.D. 229;
but says that very sincere Christians were soldiers in
the Roman army, till Galerius required all soldiers to
take part in the heathen ceremonies.
_8th Mo. 26th_. Oh, how shall I set forth His
tender compassion, who has blessed me this evening
with, I was going to say, the abundance of peace
and truth? Oh, how near He has been, helping me
to cast my all on Him, helping me to leave the
things that are behind, yes, and the things that are
before too, as far as self is concerned, and commit
my future way and safety to Him! When His love
has been made known, how have I been grieved by
fears of future folly, fears, too, that have been grievously
fulfilled. What a pretest this for harassing
myself with fears that it will be so again! But, oh,
these fears are very far from that fear which the
Lord will put into His children's hearts, that they
shall not depart from Him. They have no preserving
power over me; they are "of the earth, earthy," and
solely come from distrust of that grace which is ever-sufficient;
from a desire to have a share myself in
that victory which is Christ's alone. Oh, if my incessant
regards were to Him alone, He would take
all care on Himself. "He is the same yesterday, to-day,
and forever," and His faith _is_ "the victory
which overcomes the world." Humility, true watchfulness,
and self-distrust are diametrically opposed
to this careful spirit: their language ever is, "I am
nothing, Christ is all."
_8th Mo. 27th_. Changed indeed; not any light to
be seen in my dark heart. Yet I look up, I trust
singly, to Him from whom it came yesterday; and
thither may I look till again the day break. Can I
say, in full sincerity, "_more_ than they that watch
for the morning"? Alas that I am so versatile!
Christian and worldling within a day. Oh for a
deeper sense that I am not my own,--that I have no
right to disturb the sanctuary of my own spirit
when God has made it such,--that there is no other
way than whole-hearted and honest-hearted Christianity
to attain the heavenly kingdom!
_9th Mo. 9th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * Our wily foe finds every thing which produces
strong emotion and commotion of mind a good
opportunity for trying new temptations, and, at any
rate, tries hard to keep us from committing all to a
better hand than ours. I feel quite ashamed of the
measure of his success with me; but surely we want a
new sanctification every day,--a new recurrence to the
grace that will _set_ "all dislocated bones," as J. Fletcher
calls unsanctified feelings and affections. I was much
pleased with this comparison, which I found in his life
the other day. I think it is an admirable exemplification
of the uneasiness and pain of mind they cause.
But how very uncertain our frames of feeling are;
sometimes thinking there is but _one_ thing which we have
not _quite_ given up to God, and sometimes, with perhaps
correcter judgment, lamenting, "_all my bones_ are out
of joint." May we, my dear M., encourage each other
in seeking help of Him who received and healed all
that had need of healing.
_9th Mo. 20th_. Finished most interesting review
of John Foster's life. * * * Foster was a very
deep thinker. He thought the boundary of the
knowable wider than the generality do. This may
be; but I fancy he does not always admit sufficient
weight in his arguments to the manifest relations
and actings of the unknown upon the known. He
was Calvinistic; this, joined to a strong view of the
moral perfection and benevolence of God, led him
to the natural result of denying _eternal_ punishments.
Could he have seen more of the essence of a human
spirit, as he doubtless now sees it, I venture to think
that that mysterious personality, by virtue of which
man may be said to choose his destiny, _i.e._ to embrace
destruction, or to submit to be saved by the Saviour
in his own way, that the perception of this personal
image of God in man might vindicate the Divine
perfection and benevolence, and make it evident that
our "salvation is of God, and our destruction is of
ourselves."
_10th Mo. 2d_. Oh to be permitted any taste of
that grace which is free--ever free; which brings a
serene reliance on eternal love; which imprints its
own reflection on the soul! Oh, be that reflection
unbroken by restless disquiets of mind; be that
image watchfully prized, and waited for, and waited in.
_10th Mo. 5th_. Some sweetness in thinking how
much akin is "having nothing" to "possessing all
things."
_10th Mo. 14th_. Talk with James Teare on the
immorality of drinking. Query:--Is it _per se_ a _sin_
to drink a little? He does not affirm it in pure
abstract, but says that no _action_ can be purely
abstract; and that as to uphold an immoral system
is immoral, as the drinking system is immoral, as
moderate draughts uphold the drinking system, and,
in fact, cannot be drunk by the community without
giving birth to drunkenness--_ergo_, moderate drinking
is an immoral practice. He does not at all judge
those who do not see it; only says they ought to
accept light and knowledge, and he cannot doubt
what would then be the result.
_10th Mo. 17th_. The above talk with J. Teare was
a great satisfaction to me; we went that evening to
his meeting, and after two hours of deep interest in
a crowded meeting I signed the pledge, with a hand
trembling with emotion. I could not trust myself to
tell S. that the pleasure he expressed was but a faint
reflection of mine. I have been expending two days
in a letter to the _Friend_ on "Distillation," which I
ardently hope to get inserted.
_11th Mo. 3d_. Last evening sweetly realized in
some degree being in the Lord's own hands; and
this morning again enabled to cease from my own
vain attempts and trust the Lord. Oh, the folly of
the long trials I have made to _do_ something, when I
come before Him! It is all in vain. If I am ever
saved it will be His doing, His _free grace_; and this
moment can I call Jesus _my_ Saviour. On Fifth-day
I read Barclay's fifth Proposition--pleased and
satisfied almost entirely with it.
_12th Mo. 5th_. I have got my letter inserted in
the _Friend_; the editor says my zeal has carried me
too far as to _means_; he agrees as to the evil of the
system. Oh that it were seen as it deserves! But
how talk of abolition by _law_, and keep spirit-merchants
in the Church? [See _Friend_, vol. iv. page
232.]
_12th Mo. 11th_.--Letter to M.B.
* * * _Nothing_, I think, loses by its foundation
being tried. We see that in yet higher things it is needful
and right often to try whether principle is firm; and,
though sometimes we may tremble lest faith should fall
in the trial, perhaps it would be more just to fear lest
the trial should merely show it already to have fallen.
What thou sayest about laying aside reasoning is very
true; but how hard to do so! Saul's armor doubtless it
is, as says the little tract. How easy, comparatively, to
let any want go unsatisfied, rather than that imperious
reason which urges its claim with so many good pretences,
which tells us truth will always bear investigation,
and that if we cannot explain by our small faculties
experiences in which the highest mysteries are involved,
the experiences must have been fallacious! How different
is _this sort_ of voluntary and almost presumptuous self-investigation
from submitting all to the unerring touchstone!
It is, indeed, very instructive to observe that our
Saviour's rejoicing in spirit was not over the subjects of
some wondrous apocalypse, or over those endowed with
miraculous power, but over "babes;" and that in the
same way His lamentation was not that the Jews had
refused His offers of any thing of this kind, but that
they "would not" be "gathered" by Him as "chickens
under their mother's wing."
It was the fault of my obscure expression, that when
I spoke of my "painful reason" I did not make it apparent
that I meant it of the _faculty_ of reason, which
has been a very unquiet occupant of my mind for some
years past, and which has led me to the conclusion that
our mental atmosphere, the whole system of feelings,
affections, hopes, doubts, fears, perplexities, etc., is one
which it is dangerous _needlessly_ and wilfully to disturb.
When once we have carelessly wrought up a storm it is
not in our own power so quickly to lay it, and the poor
mind is almost compelled to endure passively the disturbance
till these unruly elements spontaneously subside,
or something better interferes for its help. Surely,
if there has been any resting-place given us, if our eyes
have ever seen the "quiet habitation," we ought to fear
the excitement of any thing which, naturally breaks the
equilibrium. I believe some people think _imagination_
the unruly member among the mental parts; but with
me it is the aforesaid offender decidedly. I hope I do
not tease thee about teetotalism: it lies near my heart,
and has done so for a long time; and though I too find
it an effort sometimes to give up an evening to a meeting
of that sort, it is such a comfort to be able to do any thing
to show on which side I am, that I think I ought not to
mind that.
_1st Mo. 4th_, 1847. Yesterday, and the day before,
gently blest in spirit with having things placed more
in their right position in my heart than for some
time before. One evening I had toiled long in vain,
could not overcome a sad sense of spiritual deficiency.
It occurred to me that this might be the very best
thing for me: then I opened my heart and welcomed
it; and, oh, how did a smile of compassion beam
upon me, and the grace that would not be purchased
came in full and free! But it is infinitely important
to watch for more.
Thus experiencing both "how to be abased" and "how to abound," she
learned to be satisfied with poverty, and recognized in barrenness,
as well as in richness of joy and love, a guiding and purifying grace,
leading on to the perfect life in Christ.
_1st Mo. 10th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * Oh for that simple faith which thou speaks
of as mastering mountains of difficulty, and that not by
might or power, but by its intrinsically victorious
nature! I have sometimes been struck by the way in
which this is asserted in the text, "This is the victory
which overcometh the world, even our faith." It is
taken for granted that there will be a contest and a
victory; but if there is true faith the world will certainly
be overcome: I mean provided the faith is held fast. It
may be abandoned, or foes within may betray the
citadel; but it will not otherwise yield to pressure from
without. May we, if possible, encourage one another
not to let go that small, and, it may be, famishing and
almost expiring confidence, which _hath_, not only is promised,
great recompense of reward. I little thought to
come to any thing so encouraging when beginning a sort
of lamentation over myself. But really there is so
much that is deceptive in the deceptive heart; so many
things, even our humility, that we once thought of the
right kind, turn out to have been some refined manifestation
of spiritual pride, that we may daily find, at least
I do, that the question "Who can cure it?" follows its
judgment as "desperately wicked," with emphasis full
as great as that of "Who can know it?" is prompted by
the discovery that it is "deceitful above all things."
* * * Job Thomas's death-bed has long been an
interesting one to me; and I think his parting address,
especially seeing it is a translation from Welsh, conveys
remarkably the impression of a mind beginning to be
shone upon from the other world. On the other hand,
death-beds of opposite characters, such as "Altamont"
in Murray's Power of Religion, carry a no less convincing
evidence of the dark realities to come. When
my father was in America he was much interested with
hearing from a friend, a female connection of whom had
lived in the house with Tom Payne, some account of the
last hours of that wretched man, who appears to have
become so fully sensible of his fatal errors as to have
written a recantation, which some of his infidel friends
destroyed. The account they gave to Cobbett was entirely
false; as the friend related that he expressed to
her the greatest sorrow for the harm that he had done,
and, on hearing that she had burned some of his books,
he expressed a wish that all had done the same.[2]
[Footnote 2: For a farther account see Life of Stephen Grellet,
vol. i. p. 163, Amer. edit.]
* * * Total abstinence, as well as many other good
Causes, and _the_ good cause, have lost a noble advocate in
our honored and lamented friend J.J. Ghirney. It is
hard to reconcile one's mind to so sudden a summons;
so little time for his sorrowing friends to receive those
ever valuable and precious legacies, "dying sayings."
We have heard of nothing of that kind; and perhaps he
was not conscious of the approach of death at all. So
much the brighter, doubtless, the glad surprise of the
transition. Oh, how one longs for permission to look
in at heaven's opened door-way after the entrance of
such souls!
_1st Mo. 23d_. To-day, writing rhyming Irish,
appeal. It got the upper hand and made me sin--so
unhappy about it. When I believe sincerely
desiring to offer it up to the Lord's, will, I grew
easy to continue it. Perhaps it was a selfish and
self-pleasing influence, but I think not so. I felt
very glad afterwards to be able to ask to have all
my heart consecrated by the Lord's spirit; and I do
believe that to rectify, not extinguish, the beat of
oar facilities, is religion's work.
This appeal on behalf of the poor Irish was
never made public. It had occupied her
thoughts very deeply, and, had she seen fit to
publish it, might have been an auxiliary to the
material efforts on behalf of the sufferers in
which she, in common with many others at that
period, was warmly engaged.
Many visits to poor people. In some I felt able
to talk to them of heavenly things. I believe it is
right to speak in love and interest, but never to out-strip
our feelings. "I was sick, and ye visited me,"
refers to a duty; and surely, when we are blessed
with a knowledge of the way of salvation, and feel
anxious for the salvation of others, it is right to do
our endeavors; at the same time well knowing that
God only can touch the heart. I believe that indifference
and indolence do much shelter themselves
under pretence of leaving God's work to Himself.
I have often learned salutary lessons in doing my
little.
_2d Mo. 19th_. I have been musing upon "_my
sorrow was stirred_." Can it be that every heart is a
treasury of sadness which has but to be stirred up
to set us in mourning? Is it proportionate to the
amount of evil? Does a certain amount of evil
necessarily bring a certain amount of sorrow soon or
late? Do we suffer only by our own fault, unless
a grief is actually inflicted upon us? I think not.
There may be mental storms, over-castings of cloud
in the mind's hemisphere, independent of the exhalations
from the soil.
_2d Mo. 23d_. Letter to M.B.
* * * The truth is, that I was once fonder of reading
than of almost any thing else. * * * I don't
know how to tell thee about the strangely sad impression
that has followed, that "this also is vanity." I
know it is our duty to improve our minds, and I wish
much that mine had been better cultivated than it has
been, and yet some utilitarian infirmity of mind has so
often suggested, "What use is it?" while I have been
reading, that my zest for the book has been almost destroyed,
and the very thought of the volume has been
saddened by remembering what I felt while reading it.
So that what E. Barrett says of light reading is true to
me of Schiller and some others:--
"Merry books once read for pastime,
If we dared to read again,
Only memories of the last time,
Would swim darkly up the brain."
I hope these feelings are not infectious, or I certainly
would not inflict on thee the description. But do not
take this as a _general_ picture of me. It is a morbid
occasional state of things; consequent, by reaction, on
the exclusiveness of aim with which those things were
followed. I learned sooner than I suppose many do,
the earnestness, coldness, reality of life; and there has
come an impression of its being _too late_ to prepare for
life, and quite time to live. However imperfectly, I have
learned that to live _ought_ to be to prepare to die; but,
without stopping to describe how that idea has acted, a
secondary purpose of being of some use to others has. I
might almost say, tormented my faculty of conscientiousness.
Don't suppose that this is any evidence of religion
or love. I believe it rather argues the contrary. Every
attempt to do good ought to spring naturally from love
to God and man; not from a wish merely to attain our
_beau-ideal_ of duty. Now, though I so much like reading,
I did not seem able to make any use of it; for
strangely confused were long my ideas of usefulness,
and there has followed many a conflict between these
two unsanctified tendencies. Perhaps they have done
some good in chastening each other and chastening their
owner. Do not think I prospered in either, for I have,
as I said, a poor memory; and then I wanted to see
fruits of my labors, and spent a great deal of time in
making charts; one of the history of empires, one of
the history of inventions and discoveries; the latter,
especially, was not worth the labor. I have had a taste
of many things, and yet, to speak honestly, excel in
hardly any thing: the reason of this is partly a great
want of order. I never attempted any thing like a
"course of reading:" but, when I began a book, _the_
_book_ was the object more than my own real improvement.
I read often D.E.F., before I had read A.B.C.,
and so grew confused, and then, if it is to be confessed,
the childish pride of having read a book was not without
its influence. Poetry in modern times has certainly
become diluted in strength and value; but,
though I have not at all a large acquaintance, I think
there are many good modern poets. I much admire
Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality," as well as
many of his shorter and simpler pieces--"The Longest
Day," for instance. There is a great deal of good
instruction, as well as deep thought, in his poetry; but
there is not, I think, very clearly an evangelical spirit;
indeed, the "Excursion," which is beautiful, is unsatisfactory
to me in this respect. Longfellow I think not
_clearly_ influenced by religious principle, but I do not
see any thing contrary to it. Some of his short pieces
are like little _gems_,--so beautifully _cut_, too. Elizabeth
Barrett's [Browning] deep thoughts, rich poetical ideas,
and thoroughly satisfactory principles, when they appear,
[1846] make her a great favorite with me and with us
all. Even her fictions, though so well told, are not
wrought up, or full of romantic incident; but the tale
is plainly used merely as a thread on which to string
rich thoughts and lessons. How much this is the case
with the "Lay of the Brown Rosary!" Even the sad
pieces, such as the "Lost Bower," end generally with a
gleam of light, not from a mere meteor of passion or
sentiment, but from a day-spring of Christian hope.
Perhaps I am too partial, for I know that taste, which in
me is particularly gratified with E. Barrett, will influence
our judgment. Some of Trench's poems, too, I think,
are worth learning; his "Walk in the Churchyard" I
particularly like.
_3d Mo. 25th._ Letter to M.B.
* * * But, oh, I do believe that if people did but
accustom themselves to view small things as parts of
large, moments as parts of life, intellects as parts of men,
lives as parts of eternity, religion would cease to be the
mere adjunct which it now is to many. * * * I am
convinced that till it be made _the one_ object of our
earnest love and endeavors, till we have an _upright_
heart, till the leader of the fir-tree points direct to
heaven, and all lateral shoots not merely refrain from
interfering, but mainly grow in order to support, nourish,
and minister to it, we shall never have that perfect
peace, that rest of spirit, that power to "breathe
freely,"--conscious that we are _as_ if not _all_ that we
ought to be,--which constitute the happiness of a
Christian. But enough of this: don't think I pretend
to any such attainment, though I can sometimes say, "I
follow after."
I much admired that part of Jane Taylor's "Remains"
which describes her cheerful and unmurmuring
acceptance of a humble quiet life, and her dislike of
mere show and machinery in benevolence. I do not
think the best public characters are those who accept
formally, and for its own sake, a prominent station, but
those who, following their individual duty, and occupying
their peculiar gifts, are _thereby_ made honorable in the
earth. To them, I fancy, _publicity_ is often an accident
of small moment; and they who walk in the light of
heaven mind little whether earthly eyes regard or disregard
them. I do not, however, _covet_ for any one whom
I love a conspicuous path. There must be many thorns
and snares.
_4th Mo. 4th_. Much interested with Hester
Rogers's life. The Methodist standard of holiness is
full as high as Friends'--_viz_. the gospel standard.
Struck with the accordance with G. Fox's experience.
He was asked if he had no sin, and answered, "Jesus
Christ had put away his sin, and in Him (Jesus) is
no sin." This was a young man. He grew much
afterwards, doubtless, in faith and knowledge. What
would be thought of a person, especially young, who
should profess so much now? Is the gospel changed?
It is, or we lack faith in its principle. We do not
_perseveringly_ seek, _determinately_ seek, to know for
ourselves what this high attainment is.
Nice visit at the Union on First-day. Congregation
enlarged, notwithstanding substitution of Bible
for Tract, and very quiet. Cornelius, a helpless sick
man, seeming near death, melted my heart with his
talk. I felt quite unfit to be called a "sister" by
such a saint.
_4th Mo. 10th_. "To have had much forgiven" is,
I can joyfully yet reverently record this evening, my
blessed portion; and in the sense, which as a cloud
of warmth and light now dwells in my heart, of the
loving-kindness and tender mercy of God in Christ
Jesus, I have been ready to say, in effect, "Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his
holy name," "who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life
from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving-kindness
and tender mercies." How is all given me
gratis, without money and without price! Nothing
is mine but confusion of face for my oft-repeated
rebellions.
Oh, it is not that we can get salvation for ourselves;
it is that we hinder not, refuse not, turn not
from, but accept, wait for, pant for the free gift of
our Saviour's grace. "To Him who is able to do
exceeding abundantly," the work belongs. He can
cause that even as sin hath reigned, so shall grace
reign; and that as death hath triumphed, so shall
spiritual and eternal life triumph also. Amen and
amen.
_4th Mo. 17th_. How short-lived were the feelings
I recorded at the close of last week! I believe an
earnest talk with a chatty caller on minor matters,
recalled my heart that same evening from its happy
abiding-place. I have thought of the words, "Jesus
Christ _the end_ of your conversation," and fear he is
but a _by-end_ of mine. It is hard to analyze our
feelings: perhaps when discomfort from excitement
and discontent is greatest, my sin is no greater than
when in listless apathy and earthly-mindedness my
thoughts are bounded by the seen and the temporal.
_5th Mo. 24th_. A solemn warning from Uncle R.
on Fifth-day did me good. I was blessed with some
degree of ability to use the words, "Into Thy hands
I commit my spirit," and though I feared to add,
"Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord of truth," in its
full sense, yet I have felt how precious were the
words, "as unto a _faithful_ Creator." Oh, does He
not say in _these_ days, "Open thy mouth wide, and I
will fill it"? Is His hand shortened at all? Can
we not have faith in our principles?
The following lines were written about this, time, in allusion to the
marriage of her eldest, sister, and the funeral of John Wadge, an old
and valued friend of the family. It was hoped that the cactus which
had belonged to J.W. would have blossomed in time for the wedding; but
the first flower only opened a fortnight afterwards, on the morning of
his own funeral: and when, in a few years, the marriage of the beloved
writer of the lines was so speedily followed by her own decease, the
striking appropriateness of these touching verses could not fail to be
remembered.
TO A CACTUS FLOWER.
Firstling blossom! gayly spreading
On a long-nursed household tree,
What unwonted spell is shedding
Thought of grief on bloom of thee?
For a morning bright and tender
They had nursed thee glad and fond;
Nay, the bud reserved its splendor
For a funeral scene beyond.
Who shall tell us which were meeter,--
Marriage morn, or funeral day?
What if nature chose the sweeter,
Where her blooming gift to lay?
Set in thorns that flower so tender!
Marriage days have poignant hours;
Thorny stem, thou hast thy splendor!
Funeral days have also flowers.
And the loftiest hopes man nurses,
Never deem them idly born;
Never think that deathly curses
Blight them on a funeral morn.
Buds of their perennial nature
Need a region where to blow,
Where the stalk has loftier stature
Than it reaches here below.
Not like us they dread the bosom
Of chill earth's sepulchral gloom;
They will find them where to blossom,
And perhaps select a _tomb_.
Yes, a _tomb_; so thou mayst deem it,
With regretful feelings fond;
_Not_ a _tomb_, however, seems it,
If thou know'st to look _beyond_.
10th of 7th Month, 1847.
_8th Mo. 8th_. We alone. Pleasant and quiet
schemes have arisen (partly from reading Pyecroft,
partly from having felt so much my own deficiencies)
for thoroughly industrious study, and for keeping, if
possible, externals and mentals in more order. Order,
I believe, would enable me to do much more than I
do in this way, without lessening those little "good
works" which my natural, unsanctified conscience
requires as a sedative; (alas that this is so nearly
all!) but I have got such an impression of selfishness
in sitting down to read to myself, that this, added to
unsettlement from company, etc., almost puts study
out of sight.
_8th Mo. 16th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * Though not only inability for, but even
natural repugnance to good thoughts is often a prominent
feeling, let us not think this a "discouraging
experience." What will be discouraged by it, except
that self-confidence and self-reliance which are the bane,
the very opposite, to the idea of faith? Surely it is for
_want_ of such a feeling, and not _because_ of it, that faith
is feeble. It is because we try to make those good
thoughts and holy feelings of which Thomas Charles
says so truly, "we are no more capable than we are of
creating worlds." I hope I do not presume too much in
writing thus. How little can I say of the blessings of a
contrary state! But how much would my heart's history
tell of the exceeding vanity and folly, and may I not add
_presumption_, of attempting to do what Divine grace alone
can do! How many a painful and gloomy hour might
have been cheered by the Sun of Righteousness, but for
my obstinacy in trying to light farthing candles! But
I believe there are generally _other_ obstacles at the same
time. We _will_ have some beloved indulgence, some
pleasures, of which perhaps the _will_ is the chief sin,
and which, if but willingly resigned, might be
reconsecrated for our use and enjoyment; and then darkness
and gloominess of mind follow, and we light matches
and farthing candles to comfort us, while these very
resources keep us back from seeking the radical remedy.
How easy it is to write or tell the diagnosis of such a
case! but to be reconciled to the true mode of treatment,
the prognosis, as doctors say, _there_ is the difficulty, while
I doubt not Cowper speaks the truth:--
"Were half the breath thus vainly spent
To heaven in supplication sent,
Your cheerful song would oftener be,
Hear what the Lord hath done for me."
I have been much interested with Thomas Charles's
life; such an example of spiritual-mindedness, faith, and
love. Dr. Payson's death-bed is indeed a deeply interesting
history. How we should all like to choose such
an one! and yet, if but prepared to go, whether we depart
as he did, or as poor Cowper, how true are the words
of the latter, "What can it signify?" I have often thought
these words very significant.
Of phrenology I have heard such conflicting opinions
that only my own small experience would satisfy me of
its general truth. I think only very weak minds need
be led by it to fatalism. The very fact of so many propensities
and sentiments balancing each other seems to
show that the result is to be contingent on some other
thing than themselves, as the best-rigged vessel on an
uncertain sea, in varying winds, is under the control of
the helmsman and captain, and may be steered right or
wrong; and surely no vessel is built by an all-wise Hand
which cannot be steered aright with grace at the helm.
_8th Mo. 19th_. Solemn thoughts yesterday in
reading that solemn tract, "The Inconvenient Season."
In visiting I met with another affecting
illustration of the unfitness of old age for beginning
religion, in the senseless self-righteousness of poor
old Mary N. She says every night and morning the
prayers she learned when a child, which she evidently
thinks an abundant supply of religion,--saying, "if
people only do the best they have been brought up
to, that is all they can need; and she never did any
harm to any one." Then there was poor Alice, who,
notwithstanding her rank Calvinism, seemed refreshing
in comparison. She knew she could not do any
thing for herself; it was all grace; but then,
"whatever I am, or whatever I do," she said, "I am safe,
unless I have committed gross sin, which I never
shall." Then poor M.L., whose only fault, she seems
to think, is not having learned to read, though she
knows she is a great sinner, but then as good as says
she never did any thing wrong. It was a sweet
change to E.S., with her thankful and trustful
spirit, and poor S., with his deep experience in the
things of God. "It is a long time to suffer," he
said, "but the end must come, the time must wear
away. I hope I shall have patience to the end, and
I have great need to ask that the Lord will have
patience with me. I hope I shall be fully purified
before He calls me away." He spoke solemnly on
the tares and the wheat, as showing the mixture of
good and evil growing _together_; that our being
outwardly among the righteous will not secure our not
being tares.
_9th Mo. 2d_. Went to see a poor woman at the
Workhouse; she is full of joy in the hope of heaven,
and possession of the present mind of Jesus. I said,
"Many wish for it who have it not;" she said,
"Perhaps they are not enough in earnest: it costs a
few groans, and struggles, and tears, but it is sweet
to enjoy it now." Could the stony heart in me help
melting, seeing her exceeding great joy?
Pleased with the sweet spirit that was in poor
Alice, her trust, I think, in Christ alone, amid all her
(as I think) mistaken thoughts of the church, sacrament,
certain perseverance, &c. &c. I did not argue,
but wished for us both the one foundation.
Of a peculiarly sensitive disposition herself, Eliza's heart abounded
with sympathy for the trials and sufferings of the poor. She was a
welcome visitor at their cottages, where her kind and gentle though
timid manner generally found access to their hearts; and whilst
herself receiving lessons of instruction at the bedside of the sick
and the dying, she was often the means of imparting sweet consolation
to them.
In her desire to promote the spiritual welfare of others, she wrote
two tracts, which were printed by the York Friends' Tract Association.
The first is entitled Richard Nancarrow, or the Cornish Miner, and
traces the Christian course of a poor man whom she had frequently
visited, and who had claimed her anxious solicitude as she watched his
slow decline in consumption. In the second, entitled "Plain Words,"
she endeavored to convey the simplest gospel truths in words adapted
to the comprehension of even the least educated. She was warmly
interested in the Bible Society, in connection with which, for some
years, she regularly visited a neighboring village, besides attending
to other objects of a similar character nearer home.
_9th Mo. 10th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * Setting our affection above is indeed the
first thing of importance; and yet how utterly beyond
our own power! We are so enslaved to sense and sight
till He, who alone is able, sets us "free indeed," that
things around us can take that disproportionate hold on
our hearts which makes work for the light of heaven to
reduce things to their proper proportion in our view. I
have thought often of the text, "Thy will be done on
earth as _it is in heaven_." Oh, how much that implies,
both of love and joyfulness to be aimed at in our service
of our heavenly Father _on earth_. How high a standard!
Can we hope ever to attain it? Surely we are to ask it,
not as a millennial glory for the world only, (if at all,)
but also as our own individual portion. It is more to be
lamented that we do not realize this than that we do not
realize Foster's idea of the world to come, in which we,
yes, we, our very selves, will be actually concerned.
But I believe the two deficiencies are more connected
than we are sometimes aware of; and perhaps the joys
of a happy death-bed, the foretaste of heaven, of which
we sometimes hear, are as much connected with the
completeness of religious devotedness, often not till then
attained, as with the nearness in point of _time_ to a world
of purity and joy. How striking is the earnestness
shown in John Fletcher's "Early Christian Experience,"
in seeking mastery over sin, not as "uncertainly," or as
"beating the air," but as one resolved to conquer in the
might of that faith which "_is_ the victory;" and how
wonderfully was his after-life an example of "doing the
Divine will as it is in heaven"!
_9th Mo. 17th_. Distress in the country great.
What will all issue in? Surely in this, "the Lord
sitteth on the flood; yea, He sitteth King forever."
Oh! if He be King in our hearts we shall not be
greatly moved. There is comfort to the Christian,
immovable comfort, in having his affections, his
_patriotism_, in heaven. My own heart, I ardently
hope, is not a totally devastated land. There is a
rudiment still there which God looketh upon, and
perhaps, though I know it not, his eyes and his
heart are there perpetually. It is not meant to
remain a rudiment: oh, no; as "sin hath reigned,
even unto death, _so_ grace should yet reign, even to
eternal life."
_9th Mo. 27th_. Perplexed about Irish knitting,
because it is slave-grown cotton. It does not seem
consistent to buy it; and yet I don't know what to
recommend.
_9th Mo. 30th_. Another month is at an end. Oh
that I knew whereabouts I stand in the race! "'Tis
a point I long to know." Sometimes I have joy of
heart, and then I tremble lest it be not rightly
founded; sometimes tenderness of heart, and then
I fear it is only natural feeling; sometimes fervent
desires after good, and then I fear lest they are only
the result of fear of punishment; sometimes trust in
the merits of Jesus, and can look to Him as a sacrifice
for sin; then I fear lest it is only as an escape
from danger, not deliverance from present corruption;
sometimes wish to fulfil actively my duties, then
these same duties have stolen away my heart. Oh,
how do I get cumbered with cares and many things,
entangled with perplexity, or elated with cheer! I
think I have honestly wished to be fed with convenient
food. Oh to be at the end of the race, or so
near it as dear E. Stephens, by whose bed of pain
and joy I could not but mingle tears. But why
thus? Surely, O Lord, Thou hast heard the desire
of thy poor creature. Thy help must have been
with me when I knew it not, or life had been quite
extinct ere now. Extinct it _is_ not; and for this will
I bless Thee, even that I am not yet cast out as an
abominable branch, though so unfruitful. I fear it
can be only by much tribulation that the enemy of
my own house will ever be quelled; and perhaps salutary
pains are sent, in the very perplexities of things
which might be more ensnaring if all went on smoothly.
I have declined more cotton goods from Ireland, and
asked for woollen, which is one burden gone.
_10th Mo. 7th_. I believe study and taste must be
kept very subordinate to duty. Enough, yea, heaven
is this, to do my Father's will, if it were but as it is
done in heaven--all willing, loving, joyful service! Oh
to be more like my Saviour! Surely I love Him!
_10th Mo. 20th_. If Martha should not have been
cumbered with the outward attention to Christ Himself,
cares for others on plea of duty can never be
enough excuse for a peaceless mind. "They which
believe _do enter_ into rest." Oh for rest this hour
in Jesus' bosom!
_10th Mo. 21st_. This book will present no fair
account of my state if I write only in hours of comfort.
I have passed through dark and sinful days--no
hope, no love. I thought I must have wearied
out the Saviour--that He had given me up for lost.
Perhaps some self was in the feelings described in
my last, and so this faithless sorrow came to teach me
what I am. Oh that nothing impure might mix in
the consolation which has visited me last evening
and this morning, when the gracious regard of my
all-merciful Saviour has been witnessed, some blessed
sight of "the water to cleanse and the blood to
atone." Oh, how fervently I wish to be _kept_ by faith
in Him, in still deepening humility!
_11th Mo. 27th_. What would be my present
condition but for the unchangeable faithfulness of my
God and Saviour? Ah! how well may He say,
"Thou hast destroyed thyself," and yet how constantly
add, "but in me is thine help." Yes, though
we ofttimes believe not, yet "He abideth faithful, He
cannot deny Himself;" and so, where there is any
thing of His own left in a wandering heart, again
and again returns, "upbraiding not," or else only
in accents of the tenderest love: "O thou of little
faith!" Often have I admired not only His great
love as shown in the main features of redemption,
but, if such a word is allowable, His _minute_ loving
kindness. Kindness--such a tender regard for the
comfort and peace of the soul. Oh, the spiritual
sorrows are far more from ourselves, our own wilful
work, than from Him whose language is, "I the Lord
do keep it, lest any hurt it."
_12th Mo. 4th_. Yesterday, in going to Plymouth
with father and mother, read in my Testament of
the Prodigal Son. Had no time to read before setting
out, and was dull. Thought it no use to take out
the book; but, oh, such a sweet contrition came over
me, such a sense of being invited to return to my
Father's house, such a soft and gentle peace!
_1st Mo. 15th,_ 1848. On the First-day before N.
and F. left us, we had a sweet address (in meeting)
from Uncle Rundell, on the grace which had been
his "morning light, and which he trusted would be
his evening song;" ending with his hope that all
would be willing to "bear the cross," that finally
they might "wear the crown," for it is the end that
crowns the action. We thought it a farewell-sermon;
and the joyful assurance in which it was uttered is
precious to think of. On Third-day he walked with
me in the meadow, but on Fourth-day sickness confined
him to bed, and on Fifth-day he had lost all
power of standing. Since then, he has been a patient
helpless invalid, and constant and most interesting
has been our occupation by turns, in waiting on him,
gathering up his really precious words, and witnessing
the yet more precious example and evidence of
all-sufficient grace. Never may this season be forgotten
by me, though not privileged to witness its close.
To visit F., I left home in the First month, after
a farewell to our precious uncle, which is not to be
forgotten. He asked me if I was going the next
day. I said yes, and that I was very sorry to leave
him. He said, "Well, as thou art enabled, pray for
me." I said, "And I hope thou won't forget me."
He replied, "It is not likely." In the evening, as
he sat by the fire, and spoke of my going to N. and
F., he said, "Desire them, as they are enabled, to
pray that I may be favored with patience and resignation
to the end." When I said I must try to bid
him farewell, hard as it was, he said, "May the Lord
go with thee. Keep to the cross; despise not the
day of small things. The Lord may see meet to
employ thee in His service, and I wish that every gift
that He dispenses to thee may be faithfully occupied
with." A loving farewell followed, and I left--doubtless
for the last time--our honored patriarch.
At Neath I spent more than three weeks, enjoying
the great kindness of my brother and sister, and
the beauty of the country, then dressed in its winter
garb, and the feeling of being in some measure useful.
I was also blessed, at the beginning of my visit,
with more than a common portion of spiritual blessing;
and I think the first meeting I was at there
was a time never to be forgotten--silent; but my
poor soul seemed swallowed up of joy and peace such
as I had never before known, at least so abidingly.
The calmness and peace, and the daily bread, with
which I was blessed in my little daily works and
daily retirements for some days, make the time sweet
to look back on, but grievous that I kept not my
portion, and again wandered from mountain to hill,
forgetting my resting-place.
She afterwards accompanied her brother and sister to their new home at
Ipswich.
From a letter to one of her sisters.
Ipswich, 3d Month.
My mind has been so full of you to-day that, though
it is First-day evening, I must spend a few minutes in
this way before I go to bed. The thought of father's
going homewards to-morrow and seeing you all, seems a
stirring up and drawing tight of the interests and connecting
bonds of our scattered race. Oh, I do dearly
love you in my inmost heart,--though some of my letters
may seem as if I had lost some home affections to root
amongst strangers; but surely the new scenes of life
which I have witnessed, since that cold frosty morning
when I left you, have tended to make me value more
than ever that precious treasure of household love. Oh,
what were life without it? a wilderness indeed! and
well is it worth all the pangs which it may cost us in
this cold world. It is cheering to think of them as
caused by contact of something warm within, as with
the cold without; and far better it is to bear, than to be
cooled down to the temperature of earth's raw air. Thou
wilt wonder perhaps at my writing in this way; but with
me, though I may seem cold and dull in the common
way, there comes a day, every now and then, when I find
"New depths of love, in measure unsuspected,
Ties closer than I knew were round my heart."--
And though they are saddened by many a regret for
neglects and omissions and commissions toward you all,
and that old petrifying selfishness which only grace can
cure, I would not be without such days, and almost
thank "each wrench which has detected how thoroughly
and deeply dear you are." I can hardly tell you what
the thought of leaving N. and F. is to me, but this dark
day begins to shadow itself.
* * * Poor dear old A.G.! What a change from
her dark corner to everlasting day!--but not less from a
kingly palace, if we knew the truth; and her shadowy
abode had more light than many a palace, if we knew
the truth of that too.
She remarks in her Journal, after her return home:--
I stayed at Ipswich three weeks after the birth
of my precious little niece, Frances Elizabeth; rejoicing
in her daily growth, and calm trustful fearlessness--a
lesson which nothing ever preached to
me so loudly before. Respecting my spiritual state
at Ipswich, I would say that great blessings, and I
would fear great ingratitude, must be acknowledged.
Some evening hours in my chamber were exceeding
sweet, and some meetings solemn indeed. * * *
I returned in rich and flowing peace. Many a lesson
I had through my four months' absence, but none
like that which awaited my return. My father met
me at Plymouth; we reached home about eleven
o'clock at night, and went at once to the chamber,
where four months previously I last heard the voice
of my uncle, and, though he still breathed, I was
not to hear it again. He had sunk gradually for
weeks, and now, though his lips moved a little, a
word could not be heard. His face was sunk and
pallid, his breathing uneasy, and his eyes were closed.
After a short time we left, and at four o'clock in the
morning, without a struggle, his spirit passed quietly
away to his "eternal inheritance." "They that turn
many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever." I never, I believe, shall forget how
forcibly came to my mind, as I sat beside his lifeless
form, the words, "To this end Christ both died, and
rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of
the dead and the living," and my thoughts turned
on many a solemn and blessed trust implied in them.
Her uncle, Samuel Rundell, died on the 4th of 5th Month, 1848, at the
age of eighty-five. In the _Annual Monitor_ for the following year is
a short Memoir of his life.
It had been for some years a frequent occupation with Eliza, together
with her sisters and cousins, to spend the long winter evenings with
her aged uncle and aunt, and after the decease of the former these
attentions were more constantly needed by the survivor. It was
striking to notice Eliza's cheerful alacrity to relinquish, when her
turn came round, her favorite pursuits, often for some weeks together,
in order to comfort and enliven the declining days of this aged
relative.
_7th Mo. --th_. My mental condition a quiet but
not painless one. I had been much favored, though
in pain and trouble, amidst which I had a kind note
from J.T., who says, "When at Liskeard, and since,
I have believed that it might be said unto thee, 'The
Master is come, and calleth for thee;' and I wish, if
thou hast been made sensible of this, it may be thy
very earnest concern to sit at His feet in great humility
of mind, that thou mayst hear from season to
season the gracious words that may proceed as out
of His mouth. It may be that in the ordering of
His gracious designs, He may see fit, as He has done
with many others, to allure thee and bring thee into
the wilderness; but I have no doubt that He will
also give thee vineyards from thence, and thou wilt
be made sensible that indeed it is His own right
arm that has and will bring salvation unto thee"
Though at present incapable of feeling as I have
done, yet, being desirous of finishing up my Journal,
I must acknowledge that great and gracious have
been the dealings of my heavenly Father with me,
causing me to rejoice in Him who has done for me
"exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask
or think," chiefly in the way, which I have found a
very blessed way, of enabling me to give up my own
will to His, and to be subject in things little and
great to Himself. As far as I have known the yoke
of Christ, it is indeed a sweet and easy yoke; and
the chiefest sorrow which I have found during my
endeavor to bear it has been from my aptness to
throw it off. The worst of snares are the most
secret.
We are now quietly and unexcitedly at home; and
I wish industriously to do my little duties, and follow
my little callings: of these the Workhouse women supply
one of the most satisfactory to myself. They are a
sad sight; but I feel that my small labors with them
are not rejected, but desired, and I hope to a few at
least they may be of some use. On First-days I now
first read a short tract, then read in the Testament
two or three chapters, verse by verse, with the women,
then hear them say hymns,--which three or four learn
gladly: this fills the hour. And once in a week I like
to go in and try to teach those who cannot read. I
have much felt, lately, that it is vain to try as a mere
satisfaction to conscience to do these things, because
we _ought_: it must be from a better motive--true
keeping of the "first and great commandment," and
the second, which "is like unto it." No busy doings
at home or abroad will ever do instead.
_8th Mo. 5th. 7th-Day_. I must in thankfulness record
free and great mercies this week. First-day was
a happy one. In the morning rain and a cough kept
me at home. I read the crucifixion and resurrection
in different Evangelists, and cannot tell how meltingly
sweet it was. Surely I did love Jesus then because
He had first loved me. Sundry sweet refreshing
brooks have flowed by my wayside, and some dry lonely
paths I have trodden, (since,) but think He who is
alone the foundation and corner-stone, immovable
and undeceiving, has become more precious. Oh, how
shall I be enough careful to trust him alone? I have
got on a little with Gibbon's Rise and Fall, and have
begun Neander on the Emperors, finished one volume
of Goethe with L., and begun Milton with M., and
English history with R.
_9th Mo. 2d_. The week tolerably satisfactory; but
how truly may we say, "A day in thy courts is better
than a thousand"! This evening's unexpected, unsought,
unasked, free, gratuitous mercy has made the
last two hours worth more than some whole days of
this week. Oh, how kind is He who knows how to
win back and attract to Himself by imparting ineffable
desires after what is good, even to a heart that has
grown dry and dead and worldly! I have thought
that some measure of our growth in grace may be found
in the degree in which our carnal natural reluctance
to receive Christ back into our vessel, come how He
may, is diminished. How full of significance is the
inquiry, "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
Blessed revelation; and well is it for those who feel
ready to adopt the prayer, "Awake, awake, O arm of
the Lord," if they know the way of its coming. Oh,
how does its acceptance presuppose an experience of
something of the kind, so awfully set forth as from
Omnipotence Himself!--"I looked, and there was no
man, therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto
me." Yes, it is when He sees that we have no human
expectance or confidence left, and are, as it were,
at our wits' end; it is then that His own arm brings
salvation, that He says, "Stand still, and see the salvation
of God; for the Lord shall fight for you, and ye
shall hold your peace." Oh, how great the condescension
which has given me a glimpse of "so great
salvation"! But I have remarked that it never has
been in answer to any questionings or searchings of
my own. Some great perplexities I have had lately,
being so unable to satisfy myself how far religion or
its duties should be the act of ourselves--so confused
about prayer, etc. Difficulties, hardly capable to be put
into words, put me in real distress; but the good seems
to be _revealed_, if I may use such a word, to another
part of me; or, as I. Pennington would say, "to
_another eye_ and _ear_ than those which are so curious
to learn." The Lord grant that I may at last become
an obedient and truly teachable child; for that faculty,
whatsoever it be, that asks vociferously, seems not to
be the one which, as I.P. says, "_graspingly receives,"_
but is rather a hinderance to its reception.
_10th Mo. 14th_. Outwardly, the chief variety in my
experience has been an interesting visit with my
mother at Kingsbridge and Totness. A solitary walk
in the garden at Totness, on First-day afternoon, I
think I can never forget. No sunshine--though not
mere darkness--was upon me during nearly all the
week: yet I wondered to find that at Kingsbridge,
though visiting was a constant self-denial, in withdrawing
me from the earnest search in which I was
engaged, I got on more easily than common, and felt
much more love than usual to my friends. The first
gleam of sunshine did not come through any man's
help, but in my lone matin the day after our return.
I tried to cast my care on God, and on Seventh-day
morning was favored with a blessed evidence that He
did care for me. Since then it has not been repeated;
but earnest have been my cries in secret to my heavenly
Father, whose mercies indeed are great; and
my lonely hours have been employed mostly in seeking
Him, having little taste for reading of any general
kind. One morning in particular, at Trevelmond, in
the plantation, waiting for my father, was my heart
poured out to God. Calmness has often succeeded;
and then I dread the coming of indifference and coolness.
Oh, this is surely the worst of states! I had
rather endure almost any amount of anguish.
Yesterday, the probability that my course on earth
may be short occurred forcibly. I recurred to the
words quoted by J.T., "The sting of death is sin,"
with encouragement to hope for "the victory." However,
the future is not my care. May I be the care
of Him whose care the future is, and then----
_10th Mo. 22d_. At home with a cold, and may
just record my poor spirit's lowness and poverty
amid, as I trust, its honest desires to become wholly
the Lord's. "Ye ask, and have not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts," is
surely true of spiritual food. We should desire it
that we "may grow thereby," not from mere spiritual
voluptuousness; and, oh, in my own desires for the
will of God to be done, how often have I not known
what spirit I was of! How often have I been tenaciously
standing on the very ground that I was asking
to have broken up and destroyed! A short lone
meeting in the parlor, blest chiefly with humiliation,
and this I would regard as a blessing.
Letter to ----.
I am tempted to spend a few lonely minutes in thanking
thee for thy truly kind salutation, advice, and encouragement;
though I fear to say much in reply. I hope
and trust thou art not altogether mistaken in me: in one
respect I know thou art not,--that I have seen of the
mercy and love of a long-suffering Saviour, whom I do
at times desire to love and serve with all my heart; and
not the least of His blessings I esteem it that any of His
children should care for me for His sake. I dread depending
on any, even of these, which, as well as the fear
of man, I have found does bring a snare; and as far as
experience goes, I seem to have tasted more of the "tree
of the knowledge of good and evil" than of the "tree
of life;" which, however, I would fain hope, "yielding
its fruit every month," has some for the wintry season
of darkness and of frost. Yes, my dear friend, thou hast
rightly judged in this also, that the winter is sometimes
very cold, and the night very dark. May thy desires
for me be accomplished, that these may indeed work for
my good; much as the utter absence of feeling would
sometimes tempt me to think it the result of that worst
of all sentences, "Let her alone;" to which the added
memories of many a "mercy cast away" are very ready
to contribute. Am I in this repining? I hope not; for
every day brings fresh cause to acknowledge that because
my enemies, though lively and strong, "do not
quite triumph over me," therefore I may still trust that
He favoreth me. It is seldom that I write or speak in this
way of myself. May we learn more and more of the
utter insufficiency of any earthly thing, or of any power
of our own to do what is essential for our salvation, and
then, when we hang solely and entirely on the Lord
Jesus, we shall be safe. Of this I feel no doubt or fear:--the
fear is of having confidence in any thing besides, of
spiritual pride, of self-sufficiency. Yes, I find self
has many lives, and the very sorrows and humiliations
of one day, if we do not beware, may become the idols
of the next. "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence:"
can such a language ever be used in vain-glory,
while we remember "the wormwood and the gall," which
we now see to have been administered in fulfilment of
His own words, "Ye shall indeed drink of my cup"?
Indeed, it seems to me that nothing is too high, too good,
or too pure for Satan to make use of, if he can but get
us and it into his hands. May the Lord be pleased to
rebuke this devourer for our sakes, and give at length to
the often-desponding heart to know that Himself hath
promised, "when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see
it," and that the "God of peace shall bruise Satan under
our feet."
_12th Mo. 4th_ To the same.
* * * I am sorry for thy physical state, yet doubtless
it is but the inverted image of a counterbalancing
mental good, which is, or is about to be, perhaps to signify
that
"God doth not need
Either man's works or His own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
It is surely not for the value of the service itself, that
He calls for it so long and so repeatedly, till at last the
iron sinew gives way: no, but for the sake of bending
the iron sinew itself, and when it _is_ bent in one direction,
I conclude He does not mean to stiffen it there, but
would have it bend perhaps back to the very same position
as at first it was so hard to bend it _from_, with this
one wide difference, that in the first case it was so in its
own will, but now in His will. Perhaps thou thinkest I
am darkening counsel: I do not wish to do so, but write
just how things have happened to me in my small way.
Ought we not to be willing to be bent or unbent any
way? and if a bow is to "abide in strength," it must be
unbent when it is not wanted. But as we have all different
places to fill, and different dispositions and snares,
and besetments, we must not measure ourselves among
ourselves.
It is indeed very good, as thou sayest, to be sometimes
alone, and at times I trust I have found it so; but it has
its dangers also, especially to me, who am perhaps more
apt to make self of too much importance than to shrink
from "due responsibility and authority." Indeed, this
latter word belongs not to me at all, and if I may but
keep life in me, (or have it kept,) well indeed will it be.
Oh, till we have grace enough willingly to do the smallest
matters, thankfully to "sit in the lowest room," meekly
and patiently to be put out of our own way, and see our
plans and intentions frustrated, and find ourselves of
small account or value in the Church or in the world,
yes, till we have grace enough to forget self altogether,
"content to fill a little space, so thou art glorified," I
know not where is our claim to be followers of Him
"who made Himself of no reputation." I am very far
from this. Couldst thou have seen how much hold the
many small duties of my lonely week have taken on my
mind, how little time I have found for the purpose for
which we both value solitude, and how much my "lightly
stirred" spirit has been hurried about from one object to
another, I fear thou wouldst scarcely think even this
note other than presumptuous. Oh, how should I be rebuked
by the thought,
"One thing is needful, and but one:
Why do thy thoughts on many run?"
_12th Mo. 30th_. To-day ends the week, and to-morrow
the year. Very unfit am I to speak of it as I
would. I have felt very happy on some occasions,
yet I have feared lest what should be on a good
foundation is yet but built of "hay and stubble."
If so, who can tell the fierceness of the fire that
burns between me and my wished-for rest? There
is no way to true safety but through it; and, oh, to
part with all combustibles is very hard; but why
waste a thought on the hardness, could it but be
speedily and simply done? My old difficulty--what
is duty when the sensible help of grace is out of
sight--renews its strength. Doubtless to wait for it,
and perhaps ask for it also; but how? Oh that I
had crossed the great gulf from myself to my
Saviour! Oh that I were in His hands and out of
my own!
_2d Mo. 3d_, 1849. I have been sorely tried with
apparent desertion and darkness; "yet not deserted"
is my still struggling faith; and some consoling
thoughts have visited me of days still I trust in
store, when, "as one whom his mother comforteth,"
the Lord will comfort me. Dear J.T.'s counsel has
seldom been absent from my thoughts; but, manifold
as have been my heavenly Father's instrumental
mercies, I never was more impressed with the absolute
need of His immediate preserving care.
"Can I trust a fellow-being?
Can I trust an angel's care?
O thou merciful All-Seeing,
Beam around my spirit there."
And not less _here_, in this shady vale of life, than in
the deep of death. Oh, how desirable, how infinitely
sweet, to sleep in His arms, on His bosom! An early
translation, if it were His will, would indeed be a
blessed portion; but I do not expect such indulgence,
and desire not to wish it. It is enough if I may
know that "to live is Christ," and that to die will
at length be "great gain."
_2d Mo. 13th_. Seldom does any appeal to my heavenly
Father seem more fitting than this, "Thou
knowest my foolishness;" and, oh, may His arm of
mercy and compassion be one day revealed.
_3d Mo.--th_. Letter to ----.
* * * Oh, how desirable it is to be willing to be
made of much or of little use!
"And careful less to serve thee much,
Than to please thee perfectly:"
and, very far back as I feel in the race, and insensible of
advance, I think we may be encouraged to believe that
we make some approaches to the "mark for the prize,"
if we have a clearer and more desirous view of the yet
far-distant goal. "Thine eyes shall see the King in his
beauty, they shall behold the land that is very far off,"
must have been addressed to one still "very far" from
the promised land. Thus I scribble to thee the musings
with which, in my now shady allotment, I try to encourage
myself to hope; and which perhaps are as incorrect
as the lament which the beautiful spring will sometimes
prompt, "With the year seasons return, but not to me."
It would, however, be most ungrateful to complain. To
live at all is a _great_ favor--an undeserved and unspeakable
favor; and though it be a life of pain and weariness,
and even grief, may it never become a life of
thankless ingratitude! We who have tried our heavenly
Father's patience so long, dare we complain of waiting
for Him?
_4th Mo. 13th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * However high be the capacity of the mind,
it is humiliating to find what small things can distract
it, if its anchor-hold be not truly what and where it
ought to be; and who does not find the need of this
being often renewed and made fast? The little experience
I have had, that even a life comparatively free
from trial, except as regards its highest significance, "is
but vanity," and the belief that it is so infinitely surpassed
by another, has much modified to me the feeling
of witnessing (might I venture to say of _anticipating?)_
the transition for others or for myself. I nevertheless
cannot say much from experience; for it has not yet
been my lot to lose one of my own intimate or nearly
attached friends, except where the course of time had
made it a natural and inevitable thing; and I know
there must be depths of sorrow in such events only
fathomed by descending to them.
_4th Mo.--th_. Letter to M.B.
What a privilege it is to be permitted to
expect and look for a better guidance than our own
judgment or inclination, even in the small things of our
small lives; small though they are, compared with the
great events which are ruled by our heavenly Father's
will, how much is involved in them as far as _we_ are concerned!
and we need not measure the controlling care
of Providence by the abstract greatness or littleness of
any event. Compared with His infinity, the fate of an
empire would be not more worthy of His care than the
least event of our lives; but it is _love_--the same wonderful
love that can comfort and bless the dying-pillow of
a little one, in which we want more practical faith for
our safe conduct through this uncertain life. Did we _live_
in such a faith, it would be sweet and easy to _die_ in it.
_4th Mo. 30th. Bristol_. Yesterday was a memorable
day to me; the evening meeting found me very
sad and burdened; when I thought I was made sensible
of something like an offer from One who is infinite
in power and love, to take this burden away,
to bear it Himself, and to do in me His own will.
There seemed something like a covenant set before
me, that all this should be done for me on condition
of my acquiescence with and subjection to that
supreme will, that I should refuse neither to suffer
His own work within me nor to do His manifested
will. It may be that I stamp too highly what was
most gently and calmly spread before my heart. It
may be that the relief, the peaceful calm, which
followed my endeavor to unite with this precious proposal,
was a mistaken thing; but I believe not.
Strikingly in unison with all this was the evangelical
and practical sermon of S. Treffry which followed,
and my feelings in returning home and sitting down
alone for a few minutes to seek a confirmation, were
like a seal to all that I had heard in meeting. This
morning I am far from rich or lively, but seem
bound neither to doubt nor to complain; but only
and constantly to endeavor to submit every thought
of my heart to my dear Saviour's will; and thus,
after many a tossing, I have been enabled to say,
"I rest my soul on Jesus,--
This weary soul of mine."
There may I ever be, O Lord.
_5th Mo. 13th. First-day evening_. Oh that here
I might once more set up my Ebenezer, and say,
"Hitherto Thou hast helped me, O Lord." "My
Father's arms, and not my own, were those that held
me fast." Ah! my own hold in the last fortnight
has often relaxed, though many a heart-tendering
evidence have I had that "He is faithful that hath
promised." Yesterday morning when I awoke, dead
as ever in myself, some sweet whisper of goodness at
hand saluted my ear, and, oh, it was but a sound of
the abundance of heavenly rain that soon made my
heart overflow.
_8th Mo. 4th_. Letter to ----
* * * At our Monthly Meeting, only a few words
from ----, advising young ones to be patient and submissive.
And surely we may well be thankful to learn
so wholesome a lesson, seeing how many sorrows we
have often brought upon ourselves by the contrary disposition,
and how faithful is the promise that "the
meek He will guide in judgment and teach His way."
How contemptible, as well as sinful, that rebellious spirit
sometimes appears (when we honestly weigh it) that
wants to make in its own special favor exceptions to
the wise management of our kind and gracious heavenly
Father! Oh, why should we prolong our woes by such
perversity, when we feel at times as if it would be our
highest joy to be what He would have us to be, and our
very meat and drink to do His will?
_8th Mo. 13th_. This evening we had a precious
meeting indeed. A solemn silence, in which much
had been felt, was followed by a fervent prayer from
----. Truly my heart's response was, "Let thine
own work praise thee." Do I write too much if I
record the blessing of ability to crave for myself this
evening an increased knowledge of and obedience to
the Shepherd's voice, and that no disguise of Satan
may ever impose on me for this?
_9th Mo. 7th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * I often wonder at the attractions so many
find in merely following the multitude in their recreations.
* * * Do we not sometimes find, if our
honest wish is to refresh ourselves for duty, and not to
escape from it, that even our rest and recreation is
owned by a blessing to which one would not for all
the world be strangers? How kind was He who had
welcomed back his faithful twelve from their labors for
others, when He said, "Come ye _yourselves_ apart into a
desert place, and rest a while; for there were many coming
and going, and they had no leisure so much as to
eat." But even then they were to learn no selfish indolence,
and rest was quickly laid aside to share their
morsels with thousands. If we were always His companions,
did "all our hopes of happiness stay calmly
at His side," how would our sitting down to rest and
rising up to toil be alike blessed! And then, when the
scene is changed, and sorrow and care become our portion,
the same who was our joy in prosperity will be
our refuge in adversity; and "because thou hast made
the Lord thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee."
I write my wishes for us both; may it be thus with
thee and me, and when it is well with thee, think of
one who longs sometimes to know these things for herself.
But how well it is that our safety is in other
hands than ours! how often, had it depended even on
our continued desire for that which is good, had all been
over with us!
"Thy parents' arms, and not thy own,
Were those that held thee fast."
_11th Mo. 4th_. "Hunted with thoughts," as J.
Crook so truly describes it, "up and down like a
partridge on the mountains," often feeling in meeting
as if nothing could be compared with the joy
of _resting_ in Jesus, a rest to which I am still much
a stranger; no more able to command the mob of
unquiet thoughts than to hush the winds. At other
times, as this evening in my chamber, a sort of
strained anguish of soul, wherein my desire has been
that my eyes might he ever toward the Lord, that
He, in His own time, may pluck my feet out of the
net. The mental pain I have passed through makes
_some_ escape seem most desirable. If to lay down
the body were all I needed to escape, and I were fit
for it, how willingly would I accept such an invitation!
But I dare not ask it, nor any other thing,
but only that He who alone can, may make me in
His own time what He would have me to be; and
this evening I have been thinking that the painful
feelings I suffered might be the means appointed for
freeing me from the bondage of the worldly mind,
and from those tormenting, hurrying thoughts. Oh,
be it so; whether by means utterly incomprehensible
to me, or not, be the needful work done. I trust the
comprehension is not needed; and that the simplicity
and submission which _are_ needed may be granted
me; and that still [if] my enemies be expelled, as I
hope they will be by "His own arm," (as dear J.T.
said,) their presence will not be laid to my charge.
Alas, that I am so often guilty of dallying with
them! What wonder that the wilderness is so long
and tortuous, when I reckon the molten calves, the
murmurings, the fleshly desires?
_1st Mo. 17th_, 1850. Letter to M.B.
* * * Canst thou feel any sympathy or compassion
for one who pleads guilty to the folly of a flurried
mind, "wasting its strength in strenuous idleness," and
that, too, with open eyes, seeing its own weakness and
despising it? One of the worst things such a folly includes
is that it allows no leisure to the mind; whereas,
I believe well-ordered minds, however much care may
be placed upon them, can throw this aside, when not
necessarily engaged, and repose in the true dignity of
self-command. This is, I believe, some people's natural
gift; but it surely ought, by supernatural means, to be
within every one's reach if only the government were
on the shoulders of the "Prince of Peace." Oh, how
much that means! What "delectable mountains!"
What "green pastures!" What "still waters!" What
"gardens enclosed!" What "south lands," and "springs
of water," are pictured in that _beau-ideal_ "on earth as
it is in heaven"! Well my second page has spoken of a
land very far off from the haunted region described in
the first; but to "turn over a new leaf" is easier in a
letter than in a life. Thy idea of the next ten years
altering us less than the last will perhaps prove true;
but, oh, the painful doubts that force themselves on me,
whether the present channel is such that we can peacefully
anticipate it only as deepening, and not as having
an utter change of direction! How much harder to live
in the world and not be of it than to forsake it altogether!
So lazy self says; and, in turning from present duty,
tries to justify itself by the excuse that it would willingly
leave this world for another.
_2d Mo. 4th. First-day evening_. Little as I have
felt inclined to put pen to paper of late, I thought
this evening that some small memento might be left,
as it were, at this point of the valley, just to say,
Here were the footsteps of a weary halting pilgrim at
such a time--one that brought no store of food or
raiment, no supply of wisdom or subtlety, no provision
for the way, nothing but wounds and weaknesses,
household images, secret sins; but by favor
of unspeakable long-suffering, continuing unto this
day--and, as she would fain hope, not deserted. A.
troop of thoughts doth grievously overcome her, and
faint is her hope that she shall overcome at the last;
yet does she desire to set up the Ebenezer, if not of
rejoicing, which as yet cannot be, yet of humble hope,
in a cloudy and dark day, that He who has said,
"Light and gladness are sown for the upright in:
heart," will yet verify His promise in the day-spring
of the light of His countenance, if any measure of
integrity remain within. Oh, that He may keep, as
the apple of His eye, that which a troop of robbers
are watching to spoil, and may provide it with a
hiding-place in His pavilion of love! And for one
thing is my earnest wish directed to Him, that, unable
as I am to direct my own steps aright, He would
provide a leader for me, and a willing heart within
me, and grant me _enough_ of His guidance to keep
me in the way, and enough of a willingness to walk
therein and not stumble.
_3d Mo. 7th_, Letter to M.B.
* * * I know well that impatience will sometimes
put on the pretence of something much better, and that
we shall never run to good purpose unless we "run with
patience." Unhappily, a slow gradual progress is sadly
opposed to my inconstant nature, and after one of the
many interruptions it meets with, how prone am I to
wish for some flying leap to make up for the past! It
seems so hard a thing to get transformed, and therefore--strange
inconsistency indeed--one would be translated.
But truly it might be said, "Ye know not what ye ask."
* * * I have been interested with reading the early
part of "No Cross, no Crown," and especially the chapter
on lawful self, where the receiving back again, as
Abraham did Isaac, the lawful pleasures which had been
resigned to the Divine will, is so nicely spoken of; and I
do believe it explains the cause of half the gloom of
would-be Christians. They do not quite refuse, nor
quite resign their hearts, and so they are kept, not only
without true peace, but without the enjoyment of those
earthly goods which have been called for, not to deprive
their owners of them, but to be restored in _this life_ "an
hundredfold." How is it to be wished that these half
measures were abandoned, and that if we have put our
hand to the plough, we might not look back, as we so
often have done, to the unfitting ourselves for that kingdom
which is not only righteousness, but peace and joy.
"That your joy may be full," is plainly the purpose of
our Saviour towards His children; and yet how many,
as Macaulay says, "have just enough religion to make
them unhappy when they do wrong, and yet not enough
to induce them to do right."
_5th Mo. 28th_. It is an unspeakable blessing to be
permitted and enabled to pray. How can I be sufficiently
thankful that it has been mine? Last night
my heart was fervently engaged towards my God;
and this evening, though the sense of my utter destitution
and weakness was very painful, was it not a
blessing if it led me to Him? I have thought of the
test, "In quietness and confidence shall be your
strength." There is danger in fleshly confidence;
yet there is no strength, but a new danger in fleshly
fear. Oh, I would be stripped of _all_ fleshly dispositions
of whatever kind, or however specious: they
war against the soul; but because mine enemy has
not quite triumphed over me, may I not believe that
_He_ favoreth me in whose favor is life, and whose is
a faithful love? Oh for its perfect dominion in me!
His will is my sanctification, my perfection. It is
His "good pleasure to give me the kingdom"--even
to me. Amazing grace! What in me but my greatest
foe could hinder the full adoption of the prayer,
"Thy will be done"?
_6th Mo. 3d_. The little measure of faith I have is
not worn out, but rather purified and strengthened;
but, oh, when I think of the reality, the momentous
import, of the change of nature from sin to holiness,
which has to be effected, what a baptism may I not
have yet to be baptized with, and what perils to pass
through! Oh, if it might please my heavenly Father
to shorten and hasten the process, and deliver me
from earth and its dangers into a changeless state of
safety and peace in His dear presence! But I do
believe He would rather be glorified by living Christians
than by only dying penitents. A watchful,
holy life is His delight. Oh that this high calling
may not be slighted or cast away! The near approach
of my birthday has led me to look back over
the brief notes of twelve months. The interesting
details we have received of the Yearly Meeting
remind me of what I felt at the conclusion of the
last. The Lord has again been with the Church's
gathering, faithful as of old, and, where seats were
vacant, hath filled His people with joy.
_6th Mo. 5th_. I wish simply to record how last
night, when in bed, I was favored with a calm, watchful
frame, and lay enjoying the mental repose till
long after my usual hour of sleep. This morning at
breakfast-time it was renewed, with a sweet sense of
the willingness of our heavenly Father to enable His
children to serve Him. He made them for that end:
it is His will that they should do so. It cannot be
that He will refuse them the indispensable assistance.
How sweet was this feeling! but hurry, and too much
care about little things, sadly dissipated me in the
day. This evening I have had a gracious gift of
some of those _Sabbath_ feelings again, after reading
the seventeenth chapter of Jeremiah. The verses
referring to the Sabbath-day, and bearing no burden
therein, were solemnly instructive. The utter inability
of my natural heart to attain or retain such a
state shows me the necessity of all being done for
me through faith in Divine power, "His name,
through faith in His name." Oh for watchfulness
unto prayer continually, and that the cumber of
earth may be cast away! "Take heed that your
flight be not in the winter," has been my watchword,
though how imperfectly obeyed! and if, through
infinite mercy, the season be changing, if He who
has faithfully kept me from utter death there-through
is beginning to give me more of rest, oh,
let me never forget the solemn addition, "neither on
the Sabbath day."
_6th Mo. 13th_. * * * I wish now to record
the very solemn and encouraging visit of James
Jones from America to our meeting this day. How
wondrously did he speak of trials and afflictions, and
the necessity of entire resignation through all!
Though oceans of discouragement and mountains of
difficulty loom up before thee, thou wilt be brought
through the depths dry-shod, and be enabled to
adopt the language, "What ailed thee, O thou sea,
that thou fleddest, and ye mountains, that ye skipped
like rams?" Thou wilt be "led through green pastures,
and beside still waters," speaking of the call
to service in the Church, which he believed was to
some in an especial manner in the early stages of
life. I heard all; but such was my dejection that I
seemed to _receive_ little, though I could not but feel
the power. I seemed incapable of taking either
hope or instruction to myself. J.J. left us after
dinner, and, on taking leave, took my hand in a very
solemn manner, and, after a few minutes silence,
said, tenderly, but authoritatively, "If the mantle
falls on thee, wear;" words which will long live
in my heart. Would that the power which sent
them may fulfil them! None other can.
_7th Mo. 1st_. Last week at Plymouth Quarterly
Meeting. An interesting time. I trust that which
silenced and solemnized my spirit was something
better than myself. What could I do but endeavor
to lie down in passiveness under it, and crave that
nothing might interfere to mar the work of the
Lord? Much was said to encourage the hope that
those who truly love the Lord will at length be
brought into more peace and liberty in Him; that
He will qualify them to fill just that place He designs
for them in His house. Oh, how I long to
become that, and that only, which pleases Him, that
neither height nor depth might separate me from
His love! And when I think of the deceitfulness of
my heart, the danger of being lifted up seems so
appalling that the former deliverance seems yet
greater than the latter.
_7th Mo. 23d_. I have been glad to be released
from some of my charges and cares, as well as to
share the loving interests of home with all my dear
sisters, and trust it is not all laziness which makes
me shrink from engaging in new though useful
objects. I seem to have much need of quiet, and
have enjoyed many hours with dear F.'s precious
children. Often, as now, I am very destitute, and
sometimes very sad; but sometimes, though rarely,
"all is peace." Long shall I remember a moonlight
half-hour, on Sixth-day, in the fields and garden,
where I sat down to enjoy the cool of the day, and
for a time all sorrow was far away, and the very
"Prince of Peace" did seem to reign. Then did I
feel I had not followed "a cunningly-devised fable,"
and the precious words did comfort me, "If children,
then heirs." But, oh, how otherwise I often am!
how utterly destitute! This day we have had a
sweet little visit from ----. His encouragement to
the tribulated children saluted my best life, overborne
as it felt with the burden of unregenerate
nature--ready to say, "Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" and, amid many a giving
way to the worryings of earthly thoughts, struggling
to say, "Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief."
Often have I remembered dear Sarah Tuckett's
encouraging words, "But through all, and underneath
all, will be the everlasting Arms." Amen, and
amen.
_8th Mo. 4th._ Still, still amen, says my poor weak
spirit, in the remembrance of "goodness tried so
long," of the faithful love of my heavenly Father,
which melted my spirit on the morning of Fifth-day
week, with the blessed hope that I had not followed
"a cunningly-devised fable" in seeking a nearer
union with my Saviour. I little thought what was
awaiting me that day--a very important proposal
from ----, put into my hands by my father. After
glancing at the contents, I laid it aside, to seek for
a little calmness before reading it, and needed all
that morning's manna to strengthen my conviction,
"Thou art my Father." Into _His_ hands I have
sought to commit myself and my all, trusting that a
covenant with everlasting love will not be marred by
aught beneath the skies. Some precious feelings
have I since enjoyed; "And one of them shall not
fall to the ground without your Father," "Ye are of
more value than many sparrows," have been almost
daily in my heart. On Sixth-day, after spending
the afternoon in the country with a cheerful party,
before going to bed, such a blessed sense of my
heavenly Father's presence and love was vouchsafed
me, that every uneasy thought was swallowed up
in-the precious conviction, "I know in whom I
have believed." This love did indeed appear the
"pearl of great price," and all else as "dust in the
balance."
_8th Mo. 20th_. Last week I was once or twice
favored with a precious feeling of Divine love. At
one time my earnest sense of need and desire to seek
Him to whom I could appeal amid many a recollection
of past transgressions, in the words, "Thou
knowest that I love thee," was most sweetly followed
by the remembrance of the words, "I remember
thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine
espousals; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown." At another
time the precious promise, "Because thou hast made
the Lord thy habitation, there shall no evil befall
thee," came livingly before me, and then I felt how
far short of the terms I had fallen. Oh, how preciously
did I feel the worth of an atonement! how
my Saviour's pardon did not only remove the burden
of guilt, but really reinstate me in the privileges
which my backslidings had forfeited, so that the
promise of safety was still mine! * * *
_9th. Mo. 20th_. [Alluding to a visit from some
friends.] How precious are these marks of our Father's
love! His eye is surely on us, and His hand
too, for good. May we never, may _I_ never, do any
thing to frustrate His merciful designs! Very various
has been my state--so dead and earthly, sometimes,
that I may indeed feel that in me "dwelleth no
good thing," but now and then so filled with desires
after God, that I feel assured that they come from
Himself.
_9th Mo. 26th_. This afternoon, in a lonely walk,
my sorrow was stirred, and I hope I prayed for
mercy; but it has been hard to keep any hold of
the anchor. But what! shall I leave my only Helper
because of my evil case--my only Physician because
of my desperate disease? I can take comfort in the
thought that He knows the worst, and that He has
sworn eternal enmity to sin. Then, if He loves me,
a sinner, He must be willing and able to save me;
and Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and
man, that He may be the perfect divider between
the sinner and his sin. Oh, what a work is this--which
none but Omnipotent grace can do! Oh, be
it done for me.
_11th Mo. 20th_. Letter to M.B. [Alluding to
her prospect of marriage.]
* * * How does such an occasion teach one the
weakness of human nature, and our utter dependence
on our heavenly Father's preserving care, who "knows
our frame and remembers that we are but dust." And
if we can in truth say, "If Thy presence go not with
me, carry me not up hence," and endeavor to decide in
His fear. I hope we may trust, that if it be not of Him,
something will be provided for our rescue, and that if
it be, He will remember His ancient promise, "My presence
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."
_1st Mo. 4th_, 1851. So very much has happened
since I made my record here, that I scarcely know
where to begin. Never did a year end thus with
me. I had almost called it the most important of
my life; and certainly it is so as regards time, and
also a very important one as regards eternity. Now
I find my hopes, my interests, my anticipations, my
every feeling and affection, have a strong reference to
another than myself--one whom I believe the
Providence of a merciful, heavenly Father has led
me to regard with esteem and love, as a sharer in the
future portion of the path, of life.
Surely it has been a serious thing, much as I have
fallen short in the duties of my present favored and
sheltered lot, to consent to undertake responsibilities
so weighty and untried; and yet I have cause to
hope in the mercy of Him who has helped me
hitherto, whose covenant is an everlasting covenant,
even a covenant of peace, that shall never be removed
by any earthly change. Oh that it may never
be forsaken by me! Oh that every breach may be
forgiven me! Oh that the wisdom that is from
above may be my safeguard and director! How has
it comforted me, in thinking of leaving such dearly-loved
ones behind, to feel that one Friend above
all others, whose love has been the most precious
joy of my life, will go with me, and be with me
forever, and, I trust, bind in that bond of heavenly
love, even more and more closely, the spirits He, I
trust, has brought together, and make us one another's
joy in Him!
Now that we are at home in the quiet round of
duties and employments which have filled so many
(outwardly at least) peaceful years, and that perhaps
my continuance among them reckons but by months,
oh for a truly obedient, affectionate, filial spirit,
both to my heavenly Father and the precious guardians
of my childhood! I have strongly felt that my
highest duty towards him with whom my future lot
may be linked, as well as my own highest interest,
is to live in the love and fear of God. Many deficiencies
I shall doubtless be conscious of! but if I
may live, and we may be united in the love and fear
of God, all, all will be well. Oh, then, to be watchful
and prayerful!
_1st Mo. 25th_. Letter to M.B.
* * * There is much, very much, connected with
any experience in these matters calculated to teach us
that this is not our rest; and often have I thought, when
pondering the uncertain future, that but for the small
degree in which the hope of things beyond, steadfast
and eternal, keeps its hold, I should be ready to sink;
and then I think of kind rich promises on which I try
to lay hold, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass," and
"As thy day, so shall thy strength be." And so, dear
M., I trust it will be with us all, if our trust be but
rightly placed; and in this I fear I have sometimes, perhaps
often, been mistaken. I am sure it is well to have
this sifted and searched into, and none of the pains
which must attend such a process are in vain. When
we have learned more fully what and how frail we are,
then we can better appreciate the help that is offered,
and the abundant blessing of peace when it does come.
The depth of our own capacity for suffering is known to
few of us; and when we have made a little discovery of
it, some short acquaintance with the dark cold caverns
of hopeless woe into which it is possible to fall, even
when all externally is bright and apparently prosperous,
how thankful then should we feel for the daylight of
hope!
Perhaps I am using strong language. I would not use
it to every one, but I think thou knowest that words are
feeble rather than strong to express what may be the
real portion of one whom spectators look on as very
happy; and I do feel sure that not a grief that can befall
us even in this hidden world of ours, but _may_ be the
stepping-stone to a joy with which also a stranger doth
not intermeddle; and how shall we sooner find it than
by "casting all our care on Him who careth for us"?
"He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are
dust, and is touched with a feeling of our infirmities."
_3d Mo. 14th_.--Letter to M.B.
* * * I am abundantly convinced that if we can
find the right place and keep it, and endeavor to fulfil
its duties, whatever they may be, _there_ is our safety, and
_there_ is our greatest peace; and what a blessing to know
in any degree where the knowledge and the power are
both to be obtained! * * *
_6th Mo. 21st_. After a fortnight's visit to my dear
aunts, I followed Louisa to Tottenham. Many an
occasion of deep instruction was offered to us at the
Yearly Meeting; and yet from all this what remains?
A solemn inquiry for all; and how much so for me,
now that every principle of the heart and mind
must prepare to encounter unwonted exercise and
trial, now that I daily need all that I can have in
a peculiar manner, and now that the future, amid
the hopeful calm which it sometimes assumes, will
sometimes almost frown upon me with lowerings of
fear? Fear it is, not of others, but of myself, and
fear of the ignorance or precipitancy of my yet but
very partially regulated mind. Oh for that other
fear which only "is a fountain of life, preserving
from the snares of death!" Oh for that love which
casteth out the slavish fear, and maketh one with
what it loves--first with that God from whom it
comes, and then with those in whom it dwells!
Dwell, oh, that it may, in our two hearts, their best,
their first, their strongest, dearest bond, and dwell,
too, in the hearts of those I leave behind, and cause
that still and henceforth we may be "together though
apart"!
The responsibility of having so important an office
to fulfil towards any fellow-being as that of sharing
in, influencing, and being influenced by all his wishes,
actions, and tendencies, has felt very serious. * *
* * Never before had I so strong a sense of the
identity of our highest duty towards ourselves and
towards each other; and that _to live_, and _to be as_ and
_what_ we ought, in the best sense, is the chief requisite
for influencing one another for good.
_6th Mo. 24th_. Though I have this morning been
helped and comforted, I must confess much unsubdued
evil has manifested itself even within these few
days. The bitter waters within, the tendency to what
is evil, the corrupt root, have sadly appeared.--Oh,
there is the one cause, not minding enough the good
part which shall not be taken away, and so disquieted
at the loss or disturbance of lower things. "How
shall we escape if we _neglect_ (not only _reject_) such
great salvation?" I was made mercifully sensible,
last night and this morning, that such is our Father's
love, that His aim is chiefly to bestow, our duty to
receive, that He calls and invites; but it is not that
we may work a performance of our own, but receive
His own good things. Oh, the folly, the ingratitude,
of being inattentive to such a blessing! Oh, the rebellious
pride of choosing our own self-will, and our
own way, when the privilege may be ours of becoming
the obedient and loving children of God--of receiving
from Him the willing and the obedient heart
which we may offer up to Him again, and which He
will accept!
_6th Mo. 30th_. Letter to M.B. [Alluding to
various engagements.]
* * * These "fill the past, present, and future"
of these last months at home with many and various
occupations and meditations. It is a blessing not to be
more disturbed within, if it be but a safe calmness. Oh,
that is a large condition; but how unsafe is all calmness
resulting from shutting our eyes from the truth of our
worst side! Yet I think when we can really be glad at
the thought that our worst side is seen and known, there
is some hope of remedy and of peace, and (may I not
say?) _alliance_ with the Physician who has all power and
skill. Then only can we welcome any thing, however
trying, which we can believe comes from His hand, or
may tend to make us any nearer the pattern we strive
for, or any more likely to fulfil rightly the serious part
we have to take in life.
_7th Mo. 16th_. I hope I do sincerely desire to seek
for strength to cast my many burdens on Him who
careth for me; and, oh, if I did but live in the spirit,
and walk in the spirit, more faithfully, surely I should
know more of what it is to "be careful for nothing,"
but in every thing to make known my requests unto
God. Quiet is most congenial. Oh that the few
weeks remaining to me here, may all be given to Him
who alone can bless! But this desperate heart--might
it not well be despaired of? I trust I have
got to this point, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
"Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for
His mercies are great," and not into-human hands,
nay, _not my own_. I thought I saw some sweetness
in the words, "By His stripes ye are healed."
_7th Mo. 17th_. Why do I not feel that nothing I
can _do_ is so important as what I _am_, and that things
without had better be ever so much neglected, than
things within set wrong for their sake?
_7th Mo. 21st_. Had very comfortable feelings
yesterday in meeting. Oh, it was joyful to believe
that God was near to bless and to forgive. This
evening, I have longed to commit my soul and its
keeping into my Father's hands. Oh for a little
more faith in His infinite, everlasting mercy! To
come even boldly to the throne of grace, is the high
calling even of those most in need of mercy.
_7th Mo 26th_. Letter to C.B.C.
* * * I hope that so far I have been favored with
a measure of real help and good hope, though often
sensible of multiplied difficulties and dangers, amid the
desire to maintain such a state of mind and feeling as I
ought. Perhaps the strong light in which I have often
perceived how the best earthly hope may be blighted or
blasted, even when all seems outwardly favorable, is a
true blessing; and would that it might lead me oftener
where all our wants can be best and only supplied! I
know that _self_ is the foe to be dreaded most, and that is
so ever near, sticks so close, that there can be no remedy
effectual that is not applied with the penetrating power
and all-wise discretion which are no attributes of ours.
And yet how often do we vainly try to help ourselves!
Two days after this, she wrote to her friend M.B. and alluded
very feelingly to the prospect of leaving her old home and its
associations. Ever taking a humble view of herself and of her fitness
for the duties she was expecting to assume, she writes of
"feeling increasingly my deep unfitness and lack
of qualification for so very responsible an undertaking
as sharing in and influencing and being influenced
by all that concerns another. May I be permitted
the privilege of which thou hast spoken, that the
Lord's presence may go with us, and give us rest, and
be to us a little sanctuary wheresoever we may come.
_Then_ all will be right. * * * So thou seest
just where I am,--in need of faith and hope, and
sometimes wanting all things, even amid circumstances
which I can find no fault with. Farewell,
dear M.; and if thou nearest that I get on well, or
am in any way made happy or useful, one conclusion
will be very safe, respecting thy unworthy friend,--that
it is not in _me_."
This closes a correspondence which appears to have been attended with
much comfort and profit to the two friends.
_8th Mo. 11th_. The time flies, and then the place
that has known me will know me no more, except
as a sojourner and pilgrim to my father's hearth;
and yet I cannot realize it: could I, how should I
bear it? This day, much as before, weak in body,
death-like in mind; but this evening had such a desire
for retirement--so undesired before--and such
precious feelings then. Oh, I could go through much
with _this_ to sustain me, but I cannot command it for
one instant; and, oh, how I felt that He alone can
keep my soul alive, whose is every breath, natural and
spiritual! Oh, what a joy to feel His Spirit near,
the thick, heavy wall of separation melted away.
Would that the way could, be kept thus clear to God--my
life, my strength, my joy, my all!
Much that is very interesting has passed,--chiefly
a visit from T.E. and his wife, of Philadelphia. The
day they left us, we sat in silence round the dinner-table,
till he said that words seemed hardly needful
to express the precious feeling of union that prevailed.
* * * It was very sad to lose them; and yet I
never felt before so strongly how the individual
blessing to each soul is not a merely being present,
and recognizing, and rejoicing in such times as these.
How the words of one that hath a heavenly spirit
and a pleasant voice may be heard in vain!
_8th Mo. 20th_. How can I describe these eventful
days? One lesson may they teach me, that God is
love, and that whatever good thing I am blessed with
is not in me. He has been so kind, so gracious, and
I so very perverse, frequently so distrustful, so easily
wounded; but He, as if He will not take offence,
again and again has pity on me. How was I met
and saluted with the words, "_By Myself have I
sworn_," as part of some promise! Then I felt and
rejoiced in His faithfulness to all in me and in all
the universe that is His. _By Himself_, then _He_ will
never fail; and I hope I shall be preserved by Him.
_8th Mo. 21st_. I was so grievously stupid last
week, so unable to realize any thing--feared when
I should come to myself that it would be terrible;
but no, it is not so: I have love for all, and I hope
it will grow for all and take in all. It is not that
one love swallows up another, as one sorrow does:
yet I am very weak, and need daily help. Oh that
it may not be withheld!
With this record her Journal concludes; and, in reflecting upon it as
a whole, the reader can scarcely fail to observe the evidence it gives
of progress in the Divine life, of growth, as it were, from the
blade to the full corn in the ear, now early ripened for the heavenly
garner; and perhaps in nothing is this progress more discernible than
in the manner in which through many fluctuations she was enabled
to look away from the suggestions of unresting self, which were so
painful to her sensitive and conscientious spirit, and to stay her
mind on her Saviour, entering into that rest which the apostle says
is the portion of those who believe,--"a rest which remaineth for the
people of God," and which they only realize in its fulness who have
accepted Christ as all sufficient for every need of the soul, not only
pardon of past sins, but also of daily recurring transgressions, and
whose trials and provings of spirit have led to the blessed result of
increased oneness with their heavenly Father.
_8th Mo. 21th_. To her sister F.T. she writes, the day before her
marriage,--
"I am still a wonder to myself,--so thankful for dear
mother's cheerfulness, and for the kindness and love of
all around. I have taken leave of nearly all. Last
evening we had a nice walk. Then for the first time I
felt as if the claims of past, present, and future were
perfectly and peacefully adjusted, to my great comfort."
The walk to which this allusion refers is very fresh in the
remembrance of her sister and of her (intended) husband, who
accompanied her. Her manner was strikingly calm and affectionate; and
as they returned home, after a pause in the conversation, she said,
taking a hand of each,--
"I have heard of some people when they are
dying feeling no struggle on going from one world to
the other; and I was thinking that I felt the same
between you. I don't know how it may be at last."
Strangely impressive were these words at the time; and when we
remember that she never saw that sister again after the morrow, can we
doubt that this preparation was permitted to soften the bitterness
of the time, so near at hand, when this should have proved to be the
final parting on earth?
In looking back to this time, there is a sweet conviction of the peace
which was then granted her, which did seem something like a foretaste
of the joys of the better home which was even then opening before her
and upon which her pure spirit had so loved to dwell.
She was married, at Liskeard, to William Southall, Jr., on the 28th
of 8th month, 1851. She was anxious that the wedding-day should be
cheerful; and her own countenance wore a sweet expression of quiet
satisfaction and seriousness; and the depth of feeling which prevailed
in the whole party during that day was afterwards remembered with
satisfaction, as being in harmony with what followed.
In a tenderly affectionate note, written from Teignmouth the same
evening, she says, "I can look back without any other pang than the
necessary one of having stretched, I must not say broken, our family
bond;" and then she adds the sincere desire for herself and her
husband, "Oh that we may be more humble and watchful than ever before,
and that my daily care may be to remember those sweet lines which
helped me so this morning,--
"When thou art nothing in thyself,
Then thou art close to me."
A fortnight spent among the lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland was
a time of much happiness. It was her first introduction to mountain
scenery; and her letters to the home circle she had just left, contain
animated descriptions of the beauties around her. A few extracts from
these, showing the healthy enjoyment she experienced, and the cheerful
and comfortable state of her mind, particulars which acquire an
interest from the solemn circumstances so soon to follow, may not be
unsuitably inserted:--
BOWNESS, 9th Month, 1st, 1851.
MY DEAR L.:--
* * * We had a lovely ride and ferrying over Windermere
to Colthouse meeting on First-day. * * *
I am almost well, and able to enter into these beauties.
Will you be satisfied with seven sketches, such as they
are, for this day?
I thought, as we passed Doves' Nest, and read in the
guide-book F. Hemans's description of her dwelling
there for twelve months, and how many sad hearts,
beside hers, had come thither for a refuge from sorrow,
what cause we had to be thankful for (so far) another
lot; and yet, dear L., with all I see around me, my
heart is very often with you, and turns
From glassy lakes, and mountains grand,
And green reposeful isles,
To that one corner of the land
Beyond the rest that smiles.
Beyond the rest it smiles for me,
Thither my thoughts will roam--
The home beloved of infancy,
My childhood's precious home!
And yet somehow it is not with a reproachful smile that
it looks on me, nor with a regretful heart that I think
upon it. It is delightful to think of dear father and
mother's coming to Birmingham so soon, and of meeting
R. this day fortnight.
To her Mother.
GRASMERE, 3d of 9th Month, 1851.
MY DEAR MOTHER:--
We have had a lovely day, and I scarcely
know where or how to begin the tale of beauty. If
there be any shadow of truth in the notion that "a
thing of beauty is a joy forever," we must have been
laying in a store of delight which may cheer many a
busy and many a lonely hour. Truly, as we have gazed
upon the glorious mountains; looked down from the
summit of Silver How, on the green vale of Grasmere,
and the far-off Windermere; looked with almost awful
feelings on the black shadowy rocks that encompass Easdale
Tarn, (all that yesterday,) and to-day, passed from
waterfall to waterfall, through the solemn and desolate
Langdales, under the twin mountain _Pikes_, "throned
among the hills," dived into the awful recess of Dungeon
Ghyll, where the rock, with scarcely a crack to
part it, stands high on each side of the foaming torrent,
which dashes perpendicularly down the gorge, then out
upon the sunny vale, and home through the brotherhood
of mountains to our quiet dwelling of Grasmere; surely
all this, and much, much more, has made the days very
precious for present enjoyment and for future recollections.
The moon is bright as ever I saw it, and we have
lately returned from the smooth, still Grasmere, where
there was hardly ripple enough to multiply its image;
and where we could have sat for hours, nourishing the
calm and solemn thoughts we had just brought from the
quiet corner of the churchyard where we had sat by
Wordsworth's grave. It was growing dark, but we
could just read on the plain slate head-stone the sole
inscription, "William Wordsworth."
* * * But I cannot make you fully imagine these
scenes, so varied, so picturesque. How little pleasure I
had in anticipating this journey, while those formidable
things lay between! The thought of the mountains
seemed not worth a straw, and now looking back to only
this day week is wonderful. Home still smiles upon
me like a lake that catches a sunbeam; and sometimes
I feel truly thankful that the way that I knew not has
led me here. * * *
The thought of seeing you is bright indeed.
Thy loving daughter,
ELIZA.
To her Sister.
LODORE INN, 5th of 9th Month, 1851.
MY BELOVED M.:--
* * * I am glad to say that we still have very fine
weather. At Keswick we were planning how we could
see Frederick Myers, but that evening his widow was
returning to the parsonage with her three fatherless
children, and we could only look on the family vault in
the lovely churchyard, the school-room, library, etc.,
and think of his anticipations, now no doubt so happily
realized, of the "'well done,' which it will be heaven to
hear." A fine black storm hung over Skiddaw and
Saddleback, and _such_ a rainbow spanned it. The western
sky was full of the sunset, and the lake lay in lovely
repose beneath. Of the clouds we really cannot say
more than that they are often very beautiful, and sometimes
dress up the mountains in grandeur not their own;
but I have seen none that might not be Cornish clouds.
I am quite well. * * * For my sake be cheerful
and happy.
Thy very loving sister,
E.S.
To her Father.
SCALE HILL HOTEL, 8th of 9th Month, 1851.
MY BELOVED FATHER:--
On Seventh-day, after breakfast at Lodore,
we set off for a treat indeed--a canter up Borrowdale.
The morning splendid. Keswick Lake sparkling behind
us. The crags of Borrowdale in the blue misty sunshine
of morning overhung by not less beautiful shades.
We were quite glad to get to this sort of mountain
scenery again, which we had so enjoyed at Grasmere,
and leave smooth, bare, pyramidal Skiddaw and its
"ancient" fellows behind. We at last ascended the
steep zigzag which begins Sty Head Pass, confirming
our resolution now and then by admiring the plodding
industry of our mountain horses. It was indeed pleasant
when the last gate was opened and we were safe
within the wall of rough stones which headed the steep
ascent, and we could wind more at leisure beside the
foaming "beck" which runs out of Sty Head Tarn.
This desolate mountain lake was soon reached, and the
noble dark Scawfell Pikes--the highest mountain in
England, (3166 feet)--were its majestic background.
But that we had been gradually inured to such scenes,
this would indeed have been the most impressive we
have beheld. On we rode till deep shady Wastdale
opened below us, and we found ourselves at the head
of the Pass.
I have enjoyed this journey very much more than I
expected, and the weather, on the whole, has been favorable.
I think of you all with double affection,
which accept very warmly from
Thy affectionate daughter,
E.S.
To her Sister.
PATTERDALE, 11th of 9th Month, 1851.
MY BELOVED L.:--
* * * This delightful morning, Ulleswater, which
we admired as much, if not more than any lake which
we have seen, was of the brightest blue, and the valley
behind as rich in loveliness, when we set off for Helvellyn.
The top is just five miles from the Inn. At
last the pony was tied to a stake, and we wound up the
Swirrel Edge. The rocks are almost perpendicular, and
strangely shivered, and we looked down on the Red
Tarn sparkling in the sun with, as it were, thousands
of stars. At last we reached the top, a bare smooth
summit, whence the wide misty landscape stretched all
around us. Six lakes should have been visible; but we
were obliged to be content with the whole stretch of
Ulleswater, eight miles behind us, Bassenthwaite to the
north, and perhaps a bit of Keswick; but I would not
have missed the scene for any reasonable consideration.
Scott, of course, stood on the top of the hill looking
down on the Tarn, with Striding Edge on his right.
Alas! no "eagles" are ever "yelling" on the mountain,
nor "brown mountain heather" is in sight--only common
mountain grass.
On the top of Helvellyn she wrote the following lines in a
sketch-book:--
How softly the winds of the mountains are saying,
"No chamber of death is Helvellyn's dark brow;"
On the "rough rocky edge" are the fleecy flocks straying,
And "Red Tarn" gleams bright with a thousand stars now.
The "huge nameless rook" has no gloom in its shadow;
It catches the sun, it has found it a name;
And the mountain grass covers like the turf of the meadow
The arms of Helvellyn and Catchedecan.
There is not on earth a dark city's enclosure,
Or vast mountain waste, where the traveller may roam,
That peace may not soothe with its balmy composure,
And love may not bless with the joy of a home!
To her sister.
ULVERSTON, 15th of 9th Month, 1851.
MY BELOVED M.:--
Thy very welcome letter yesterday met me
soon, after returning from Swarthmore, where, of course,
we had a very different assembly from yours.
It was very interesting, having been at Pardsey Crags
last week, where the thousands had listened to George
Fox's preaching, now to see Swarthmore and remember
how things used to be when he "left the north fresh
and green;" but G. Fox never saw the meeting-house.
It was built, I believe, after his death, though the inscription
"_Ex dono G.F._" is over the porch. His black-oak
chairs stand in the meeting-room, and his two bed-posts
are at each side of the foot of the stairs. Swarthmore
Hall is an ancient-looking, high farm-house, with
stone window-frames, as we have seen it drawn. The
Hall, where the meetings used to be held, looks very
antique: black-oak panels remain in parts. Judge
Fell's study is just inside, and his desk in the window,
whence he could hear what passed, though he never went
to the meetings. The house is in sad repair. It seems
strange to lay aside our daily companions, the map and
the guide-book, and tarn our backs wholly on the mountain
land, for the level and busy plains of England, with
their "daily round and common task." But I know that
the bright and beautiful mountain-scenes will often come
again before the mental eye--"long-vanished" beauty
that "refines and paints in brighter hues;" and I hope
the pleasure will long be gratefully remembered.
The new home was reached on the 16th, from whence she writes,--
To her sister.
EDGBASTON, 20th of 9th Month, 1851.
MY BELOVED L.:--
* * * I do not like to end this eventful week
without trying to send you a few lines. * * * Please
tell mother, with my dear, dear love, how very acceptable
her note was, and how much I hope that her kind good
wishes may be realized, and how frequent a thought of
pleasure it has been while we have been setting things
in order, that before long I may enjoy to show our little
territory to her and father,--to have her kind advice and
opinion about my little household. * * * I yet feel
as strongly as ever a daughter's love to the home of my
childhood. When I think of you, I can fully share in
the illusion thou spoke of, fancying that before long I
shall be among you just as before. * * *
To her sister, P. Tregolles.
YEW-TREE ROAD, 9th Month, 1851.
* * * I could not have thought I should have felt
so easy amongst so many, lately, such strangers; but
every day I feel more strongly that on one nail "fastened
in a sure place" many things may hang easily;
and truly all treat us with such kindness, that I should
be ungrateful not to value highly my connection for its
own sake, whilst that on which it hangs grows firmer
too. * * *
The remembrance of the cheerfulness with which Eliza Southall entered
into the duties and cares of her new position in her adopted home has
afforded cause for much gratitude on the part of those dear relatives
who welcomed her there. Newly made acquainted with some of them,
she won their love and esteem by her unaffected simplicity and the
geniality of her sympathies; but, whilst she showed true conjugal
solicitude in her plans for domestic comfort and social enjoyment, it
was evidently her first desire to have her heart and her treasure in
heaven. It was designed in the ordering of Divine providence that a
cloud should very soon overshadow the bright promises of her arrival;
and the following account of the illness which so speedily terminated
her life will, it is hoped, convey a correct impression of the
peacefulness of its close. It is compiled from memoranda made very
soon after her decease, but is of necessity imperfect; the attention
of those who contributed from memory portions of her conversation
being so much absorbed by their interest in the conflict between life
and death, and by the overwhelming feelings of an hour of such moment
to some of them. Whilst it is hoped that nothing inserted may appear
to go beyond the simplicity of the truth, it may be added that it
seems impossible to convey in words a full and faithful idea of
the holy serenity of her last hours, which showed that the work of
religion had not been in vain in her heart.
With the exception of a slight cold, which soon left her, she appeared
to be in her usual health and spirits. But it was so for only two
weeks, and on Third-day, the 30th of 9th Month, on returning from a
visit at Woodfield, she complained of not feeling well. The next day
she was more poorly, and medical advice was obtained. The following
morning she suffered much pain, but the remedies used soon relieved
her; and, though she was not able to leave her bed, the symptoms did
not continue such as to excite much uneasiness. She enjoyed hearing
another read, and not unfrequently Isaac Pennington's letters, or
some other book, was in her own hand, and during occasional pain and
uneasiness she would request to have some chapter in the Bible read,
or a hymn of comfort. There was always an air of cheerfulness in her
chamber, and the affectionate greeting with which each relative who
visited her was welcomed was very precious. Few words passed of a
religious nature, or such as to induce the supposition that in four
more days earth would be exchanged for heaven, except one short remark
to her husband in the evening: "I have been thinking of the text,
'Then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?' they may
not be mine much longer." This was touching to his feelings, but was
viewed as her wonted cautious manner of speaking of temporal things.
There was nothing further in her remarks which showed that she
regarded her case as a critical one.
On Sixth and Seventh days she seemed decidedly better--entering into
the varied interests around her. The evening of the latter day was
particularly bright and cheering, when she conversed cheerfully with
her husband and sister and spoke of her plans for the future. She also
listened with pleasure to some pieces of poetry which were read, and
amongst them appeared to derive comfort from the hymn beginning,--
"Nearer, my God, to Thee--
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song would be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee--
Nearer to Thee!"
Early on First-day morning she seemed rather depressed, and requested
her sister to repeat the hymn, "'Tis a point I long to know," [Olney
Hymns.] In the course of the morning she wrote a touching note to her
beloved mother: it was her last effort of the kind:--
5th of 10th Month, 1851.
My beloved Mother:--
I have got permission to use a pencil in thanking thee
for thy kind sweet lines which this morning's post
brought me. I am thankful for being so remembered
by my own precious mother now so far away. * * *
It is a new experience to me to lie here so long; but,
now that I am much better, and what pain I have is
transient and easy to be borne for the most part, it is my
own fault if the days are profitless. I quite hope, by the
time father comes, to be able to enjoy his visit--and so
I could now; but then it could only be in this chamber,
already become quite familiar. * * *
We are so thankful to hear of thy amendment to this
hopeful stage! I trust nothing will prevent thy being
able to leave home with father; and then how soon we
shall rejoice to see thee here!
Thy ever loving, and trying to be submissive,
ELIZA.
Her medical attendant still took an encouraging view of her case, and
she was so nicely in the afternoon that her husband left her to go to
meeting. The evening was passed pleasantly, and the family retired to
rest as usual. She continued very comfortable till about mid-night,
when a very sudden attack of violent pain came on, which continued
without intermission for about three hours.
Very affecting, during this time, were her earnest cries for patience
and strength. "Oh that I had been more faithful! It is because I have
been so unfaithful!" She was reminded that these sufferings ought not
to be regarded in the light of punishment, but that "whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth." Some texts were read at her request. "They are
very nice," she said, "but I cannot receive them all now." Truly this
was a time when all human help was felt to be unavailing, and when
none but the Ruler of the waves Himself could speak a calm; and, if we
may judge from the subsequent altered and tranquil expression of her
countenance, her petitions were mercifully granted. "Do not cry, my
dear," she said; and then, "Oh, how kind to speak cheerfully!" adding,
"I hope this illness may be made a blessing to us all in time to
come." When the doctor, who was hastily called, arrived, she said, "I
hope I shall be able to bear the pain: I will try to bear it." Whilst
in much suffering, she requested to have the forty-sixth Psalm read,
which had always been a peculiar favorite with her. On her mother
S. entering the room, she greeted her with the words, "Dear mother!"
saying, "What a comfort it is to have some one to call mother!"
The remedies resorted to, afforded temporary relief; and great was
her thankfulness for the alleviation from what she described as
anguish--anguish--anguish! But her strength was greatly prostrated,
and for some hours she dozed--being only occasionally conscious.
About nine or ten o'clock on the morning of Second-day, the pale and
exhausted expression of her countenance convinced us that the time
for letting go our hold of this very precious treasure was not far
distant. Overwhelming as was this feeling, the belief that she
was unconscious of her state added to our anxiety. We longed to be
permitted an evidence from her own lips that she felt accepted through
Christ her Saviour; though her humble walk with God through life would
have assured us, had there been no such expression. Our desires were,
however, mercifully granted, to our humbling admiration of that grace
which had made her what she was.
About noon she roused a little, and, one of the medical men having
stated that a few hours would probably produce a great change for
better or for worse, her beloved husband concluded it best to inform
her that she was not likely to continue long amongst us. She replied,
with striking earnestness, "What! will it be heaven?" He asked if she
could feel comfortable in the prospect, and she replied, "I must wait
a while." A few minutes of solemn silence followed, in which it is
impossible to convey in words the earnest prayerful expression of her
countenance and uplifted eyes, when it seemed as if, regardless of any
thing around her, she held immediate communion with her God. She then
said, "I feel a hope, but not assurance." Her husband said, "Trust in
thy Saviour, my dear." "Yes," she replied.
Soon after this, being asked if she would like her medical attendants
to come into the room, she answered, "Oh, any one who wishes. I could
speak to the queen." After acknowledging their kindness to her, she
addressed them in an earnest manner on the importance of devoting all
their talents to the glory of God, so that their chief aim in their
profession might be to serve Him. She alluded to the insufficiency of
human skill and the emptiness of earthly attainments at such a time as
this; adding, "But above all things serve the Lord." They were deeply
impressed with her great calmness and resignation.
She spoke to those around her in a striking manner on the unsatisfying
nature of all things here. "Oh, they are nothing--less than nothing
and vanity--nothing to me now;" earnestly encouraging all to prepare
for heaven--to serve the Lord; quoting very fervently and beautifully
our Saviour's words, "'I ascend unto my Father and your Father, unto
my God and your God.' * * Upwards! upwards! upwards!--I hope we may
all meet in glory."
A short time afterwards, appearing a little discouraged, she asked,
"Do you feel assured for me? can you trust for me?" And on being told
that we felt no doubt, her diffident mind seemed comforted; "but," she
added, "I want assurance: I hope; but I don't feel sure--I do _hope_
in Christ." The text was repeated, "'Lord, I believe: help thou mine
unbelief.'" She was reminded that He died for all. She rejoined, "Then
for me; but I have nothing of my own--not a thing to trust in, only in
the mercy of God. I don't feel any burden of sin--only of neglect. I
hope it is not a false peace. Do you think it is?" Her aunt repeated,
"'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil.'" "Oh, precious!" she exclaimed: "though He hideth His face,
yet will I trust in the Lord; I will trust in the Lord, for He is
faithful--faithful--faithful! I have a humble trust, but _no rapture_.
But I don't feel sure that I shall die now; I cannot see how it may
be." Again and again were her eyes turned to heaven in earnest prayer,
"If I die, oh, receive me to Thyself."
Throughout her illness a holy feeling of serenity and love pervaded
the sick-chamber: she affectionately acknowledged every little
attention, and frequently expressed a fear of giving trouble, saying,
one night, "What won't any one do for love?"
No expression of regret escaped her lips at leaving her earthly
prospects. Her possessions in this world were loosely held, and
therefore easily relinquished for those enduring treasures which had
long had the highest place in her heart.
Her heart overflowed with love to all around her, saying, "All is
love;" and many were the messages she sent to her absent relatives and
friends. "Give my dear love to father and mother: tell them how glad
I should have been to have seen them; but how glad I am mother was not
here! I know she could not have borne it. Tell them how thankful I
am they brought me up for heaven. Tell them, not raptures, but peace.
Tell them not to grieve, not to grieve, not to grieve! Tell them how
happy I have been here; that I wanted for nothing." To her sisters,
"All love--nothing but love;" adding that she might have had much more
to say, had she been able, "but I must not; I must be quiet."
As the different members of her husband's family surrounded her bed,
she addressed each with a few appropriate words. Taking her mother
S.'s hand, she said, "Thou hast been a kind mother to me: I can never
repay thee. * * *" To her father S., who was absent, she sent her
love. He, however, returned in time to see her. From his having left
her so much better on Seventh-day, she feared he might be alarmed
at the change, anxiously inquiring whether he was aware of it, and
affectionately greeted him when he came, saying, "I am _so glad_ to
see thee!" To one she said, "Dear ----, seek the Lord; seek Him and
serve Him with a perfect heart.
'Why should we fear youth's draught of joy.'[3]
Tell her that verse from me. * * * " She inquired for J.H.; and, on
his coming into the room, being rather overcome with her exertions,
she said, "I am too weak to speak now;" but, waving her hand, she
pointed her finger towards heaven with an almost angelic smile.
After a short pause, she renewed her leave-taking, adding, at its
close, "Farewell--my best farewell! now I have nothing more to say.
Farewell!" And a little after, turning to her sister, "Now, my dear
R., there seems nothing to say--nothing but love--all love!"
She then asked for a few minutes alone with her dear husband, and took
a calm and tender leave of him also.
Difficulty of breathing now became very trying to her; but again
and again she tried to cheer us by the assurance that she had no
pain--"only oppression: don't think it pain." The lines being repeated
"Though painful at present,
'Twill cease before long;
And then, oh, how pleasant
The conqueror's song!"
she responded with a sweet smile, and exclaimed, "Oh, glorious!" She
dwelt with comfort on the text, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,"
and once, commencing to repeat it herself, asked her sister to finish
it.
No cloud now appeared to remain before her. "I don't see any thing in
the way," she said. Her sister reminded her that the everlasting arms
were underneath and above her, waiting to receive her. "Dear R.," she
replied, "she can trust for me." * * She spoke at intervals until a
few minutes before her departure, but not always intelligibly. On her
dear husband's asking her if she felt peaceful, she assented with
a beaming smile, and soon after, resting in his arms, she ceased to
breathe.
She died on Second-day evening, the 6th of 10th month, 1851. Thus, at
the age of about twenty-eight years, and within six weeks after
the happy consummation of a marriage union which promised much true
enjoyment, was this precious plant suddenly removed, to bloom forever,
as we humbly trust, through redeeming love and mercy, in a celestial
paradise. The funeral took place at Friends' burial-ground at
Birmingham, on the following First-day; being only three weeks from
the time she had first attended that Meeting as a bride. It was
a deeply solemn time; but, amidst their grief, the hearts of many
responded to the words expressed at the grave-side: "Now, unto Him who
hath loved her, and washed her from her sins in His own blood, unto
Him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever, Amen."
[Footnote 3:
"Why should we fear youth's draught of joy,
If pure, would sparkle less?
Why should the cup the sooner cloy
Which God hath deign'd to bless?"]
THE END.
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