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every other. On this hazardous ground, however, Martha stood as a conqueror, and without a conflict. There was no meanness, no selfishness in her love. She simply desired the object of it to possess the utmost possible degree of happiness, without making it a condition that she must be either its source or its medium. She knew that her brother would still have all the happiness which his sister could impart, and she looked at a more intimate connection as multiplying the means of securing to him a full and overflowing cup of gladness.

The greater part of this time her brother was the subject of indisposition, and Martha had an opportunity for showing those small and manifold attentions which contribute so powerfully to endear the members of relative life to each other. The many arrangements necessary on the settlement of a little household were made without disturbance. She did every thing to relieve me as much as possible from the burden of pastoral duty, and uniformly sought to report something that might gratify, while she withheld the trifles that might irritate. So much was this her practice, that her very presence seemed to be the herald of some good tidings, and Her sister, therefore, was received with expandto operate as a charm in dissipating the melancholy ed arms. She freely conferred with her on the rewhich too frequently attends a state of nervous ex-quisite arrangements, and made every possible precitation. No one ever studied another more than paration for her comfort on becoming a member of she studied her brother; no one, in doing this, ever the family. She gave her at once the place to more completely forgot herself. which she considered her entitled, in her thoughts and attentions. She facilitated her introduction to our connections; and she did every thing that presence of mind and delicacy of feeling could sugsudden entrance on untried relationships and novel society. Her sister retains the most grateful impressions of this early and disinterested kindness; and I should not do justice to the subject, did I not take occasion to couple her expression of them with my own. Such, indeed, is the temper in which a young person, content, for one she loves, to leave her beloved and familiar home, and to dwell with strangers, should ever be received.But, for the want of this, how often are those events which we denominate a union of families, the prolific root of corroding jealousies, bitter contentions, and chilling antipathies.

Her attentions, too, were as delicate as they were assiduous. She knew when to act, when to be still. She entered by the power of sympathy into the case of the sufferer; every want was commonly antici-gest, to remove the awkwardness arising from a pated, every desire generally known without the Intervention of speech. How often of an evening, in seeking rest from labor discharged under pain and weakness, on the sofa, have I traced the variations of my own feeling in her faithful and varying countenance; and how often, when she was conscious of it, have I seen them in a moment suppressed, and her features lighted up with a soft benevolence, which spoke only of the gentlest love! It is particularly touching, too, in going over her papers, to find, that while her sympathy was so quiet and silent in my society, it was enabled to be so by the frequent utterance of the most tender desires and prayers in her closet. Would that I could record her excellence and my gratitude in a less perishable form!

In the years sixteen and seventeen, Martha's duties and pleasures in town were several times interrupted by the state of her health. With two or three exceptions, she retired to Cheshunt, a place already pleasing to her by many remembrances. Her young friend had, indeed, left the neighborhood; but many persons were familiar to her, and especially a widow, with whom she took up her quiet residence. This worthy woman had seen better and worse days than those which were now passing over her. She had walked in the sunshine, and contended with the storm; and she now sought only an humble shelter from life's changes, that she might peacefully pass the remaining months of her pilgrimage in waiting for the consolation of Israel. With such a person Martha's spirit was completely at home. A most sincere friendship grew up between them; and her friend, in the very loneliness of her widowhood, learned to rejoice afresh in the Goodness which had directed to her an indi

Affliction is often as beneficial to social as to Christian life. It gives simplicity to the character, levels the differences of mind and situation, and facilitates the mutual flow of affection. This alone seemed to be necessary to make Martha's attachment to her brother as strong and perfect as human nature can be conceived to exercise. Accustomed as she was to think most lowly of herself, and to estimate her brother much too highly, affliction appeared needful to place us more on an equality in her partial opinion. Under such visitations she was constrained to perceive that she could really be of servics to one whom she was disposed to think of as only serving her. Affliction made him more sensibly dependant on her. Her hand could supply his wants, could lighten his burdens, could direct his affairs; and that arm on which she was habituated to lean could be well content in seeking sup-vidual who was even as a daughter. port from hers. How tenderly would she press it to her side, and give it more relief than it sought! In such circumstances, her love was invigorated by her pity; the currents of mutual sympathy were put more completely on a level, and they flowed into each other more readily and yet more peacefully. These occasional sufferings are brightened in the recollection that they brought us nearer together, and gave me a yet larger share in my sister's heart than I might otherwise have possessed.

With a strong affection, the poisonous plants of jealousy often grow up. But there was nothing cxclusive in Martha's attachments; had there been, it would have been detected at this period. I was now anticipating a relationship which would necessarily interfere with the situation she was so pleased to hold in my family, and which she might be tempted to conclude would greatly affect even her place in my heart. Such a trial as this has often been found too powerful for the mother, the sister, or the friend, whose devotedness could have overcome

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In the visits of this period Martha possessed a more equal and happy state of mind than formerly, and she determined to enter on more vigorous plans of doing good. Freed from the usual claims on her time, she gave a limited portion of it to her own edification, and the large remainder to continuous efforts for benefiting others. Parts of every day in each week, and frequently the whole day, were consecrated to these exertions; the objects of them may be best explained in the following memoranda, which I find written in the commencement of her pocket book for the year sixteen:

"Prayer-Distribution of tracts-ConversationInstruction of the young-Visitation of the poor.”

The efficacy of means of usefulness depends, not on their imposing and expensive character, but on their skilful and earnest application. These simple means were employed by Martha zealously and effectually. She knew not the restraints which she necessarily felt in the metropolis. The cottagers she visited were generally known in their neighbor

hood; and she could commonly learn enough to di- | rect her conduct. The father of the family was usually absent, and the mother and children were at home; to these she could easily win her way, by the most unassuming and sympathetic manners; and the impressions of her presence and lessons were, in most cases, so successful, as to induce them to beg a repetition of the kindness.

a

access to an individual or a cottage, she embraced the present opportunity without scruple. She could never think that cottage out of the way, or that time lost, in which she was endeavoring to do good. When she arrived more immediately in the scene of the day's exertions, if visiting the neighborhood for the first time, she generally made her way to some worthy person, of whom she had learned a few particulars, or to some one dwelling which appeared more inviting than the rest, and sought cup of cold water." For this she returned a trifling acknowledgment, and this disposed the individual to more kindly conversation. After regarding the claims of the inhabitants here, she sought some information of those in the vicinity, and thus procured a key to most of the surrounding dwellings. She now proceeded in her course, entering every cottage where she found a welcome, in the spirit of The following are courses for the entire day-the primitive disciples, breathing peace around her, 'Wormly West End-Over the Common-Easing- and bequeathing it as a sacred legacy behind her. ham-Bayfield, &c.-Home through Hertford."

The limits of these efforts were only bounded by strength and time, and scarcely by these. She laid the whole surrounding country under this moral cultivation, beginning nearer home, and so passing outward, to the utmost line of labor. I have found private minutes, in the same little pocket-book, of the division of her labors. They occur as follows: "Cheshunt-Waltham-The Common-Berkhamstead-Newgate-street-Wormley;" allowing one place to a day, or part of a day.

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Having passed through her work here, she turned her face homeward, making the same pauses on her road, seldom caring to reach her habitation till the day began to close. It was solely by these algos-ternations of repose and progress, that Martha, with little strength and slight refreshments, was enabled to travel over so large a portion of ground as must, without explanation, approach to the incredible.

To Enfield Over the Common." "Take the road through Nasing to Epping." "To Hatfield by Northaw-Hadley." When the apostle Paul says he preached the pel "from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum," it is impossible to judge of the extent of his labors without a reference to the map; nor can these Christian visits to the poor be appreciated without an allusion to the relative distances of the places. On one of these exploring excursions, following And when it is stated that the nearer ones embrace the current incidents of the morning, she arrived a circuit of from six to eight miles, and the farther at a place called Newgate-street. The name which ones a circuit of fourteen, eighteen, twenty, and describes it, however, is not likely to suggest a just even two-and-twenty miles from the point of resi-idea of it. It is a small hamlet, resting on the verdence, it will, undoubtedly, create a sentiment of astonishment. I confess I had never known that a female, in such circumstances, solitary, feeble, contending with a high degree of bodily suffering, and without any facilities to her exertions, could ever have ventured on them with perseverance, had they not been actually accomplished in the life of my

sister.

If any are anxious clearly to mark the springs of action, where the act itself is so sustained and powerful, I am happy in being able to assist the inquiry. I find in the same pocket-book, and at the foot of these circuits, as if to keep them under the eye whenever the effort was to be made, the following minutes:

66

A soul is of infinitely more value than a world! Think not, then, that any effort for its salvation is too difficult to be attempted!"

"The glory of Jehovah should be your CONSTANT, your ONLY aim!"

Thus it may be seen, that her motives were as simple as her means, and it was their simplicity which constituted their power and their glory.

After this elucidation of motive, it may yet be desirable to ascertain how Martha economized so small a portion of bodily strength as she possessed, to endure such lengthened and apparently severe exercises.

dant bosom of a gentle eminence, which springs from the surrounding pastures. The cottages fringe the edges of this somewhat circular elevation, without assuming any thing of a set and artificial appearance. They are detached and diversified in form and position; yet all are simple and chaste. Their base is relieved by the aspiring flowers, and their soft brown hoofs half hidden in the overhanging and nodding foliage. The eye is carried to them by "the merry green," which, animated with rustic figures, forms a beautiful foreground; while pretty vistas are often breaking on the sight between the cottages, revealing the descending glade, softened by shadows, and bounded by swelling hills crowned with wood, and basking in the warm and blessed light of heaven. There is a completeness about this humble spot which satisfies the eye; there is a freshness which invigorates the taste; there is a quietude which soothes the soul. It speaks of separation from the world; of ignorance of the hackneyed ways of life; and exemption from its vices and its snares. And of how many spots in our picturesque and happy land may all this, and more than this, be said!

Martha, coming unexpectedly on this scene, fed on it with a relish which ever afterward made it sweet to her memory; but no illusions of taste er uld induce her to conclude that the inhabitants were as Whenever she was about to visit a more distant pure and as happy as their situation suggested. neighborhood, she devoted the whole day to the She knew that man, in his best estate, is still ignoobject. After taking an early breakfast, and parti- rant, vain, and sinful; and here she dreamed of no cularly imploring a divine blessing on the engage- exception. She made her visits; distributed her ments of the day, she quitted her dwelling, usually counsels and her tracts; and acquainted herself with a reticule in her hand, in which were com- with their moral condition. She found that these monly deposited a hard boiled egg, a pencil and people were five miles from their parish church, paper, her Testament, and a good assortment of and that they had no means of instruction within tracts. She started in a slow pace, and, in reaching their reach. That the fathers, from having no emthe farthest point of destination, she relieved her-ployment for their time, acquired the habit of passself by many rests and calls. She considered that the moment she entered on her walk her work began; and her eye was eagerly in search of some object which she might assist to make wiser and happier. If any little incident gave her favorable

ing most of the Sabbath at the village pot-house; and that this wretched habit had opened the entrance to others, injurious to their character and the comfort of their families. The mothers, indeed, remained true to their domestic duties; but neither

462

MARTHA.
father nor mother nor child had the attention di-
rected, from year to year, to any thing beyond life's
transitory concerns.
cern to observe the worship of the Sabbath, if the
Yet many expressed a con-
means were within their power; and were desirous
that their children should receive a better educa-
tion than had been granted to themselves.

This information affected Martha most deeply.
Here were a people surrounded with the light of
truth, and yet sitting in darkness; in the midst of a
Christian land, and yet without a school, without a
sanctuary, without any one to care for their soul;
living like the brute in their pastures, alive only to
sensitive enjoyment, and dying also like the brute,
as ignorantly, though not as safe. The external
signs of their happiness only rendered their spiritual
wretchedness the more deplorable. Martha looked
on the lovely spot as her Saviour looked on the out-
ward magnificence of Jerusalem, and wept; and
her sympathy settled down into a resolution often
to visit this place, particularly to notice it in her
prayers, and to use her best efforts to put its inhabi-
tants nearer the means of religious improvement.
The days spent in these benevolent exercises
were, in the review, some of the most pleasant and
important of her life. It is little to say that she
never met with insult or molestation of any kind;
she seldom met with neglect; and, in most cases,
she was received with undissembled gratitude and
kindness. As she became known in some of her
favorite eircuits, she would be welcomed on her
way by smiling faces and simple courtesies; groups
of happy children would often be gathered round
her resting-place, reposing on her knee, and hanging
on her lips, attracted by her winsome manners and
tempting rewards; and, though far from seeking
such offerings, the thankful tear would sometimes
fall in her presence, and the blessing that would not
be refused an utterance, would sometimes descend
on her head. The benevolence of her errand called
into play the kindliest parts of human character;
she communed with her kindred on the best of
terms; she walked in the warm glow of human
sympathy; and she frequently saw some fine illus-
trations of what is most lovely and generous in our

nature.

Her intercourse with others, on these occasions, was necessarily varied by intervals of solitude; and these variations increased the sentiment of gratification. In society she sought to serve God; in solitude to worship him; in both to enjoy him. If, in her rural and retired paths, rest became needful, she sought it in some imbowered nook, where no eye could obtrude upon her, and where nature spread before her some picture of living beauty. The eye affected the heart, and both arose from nature and from man, to claim a relation to the skies. In these scenes Martha drank deeply of those perennial springs, which the hand of God has opened for us on the fair bosom of creation; and deeper still of those waters of life, which flow fast by the throne of God, and of which, if a man drink, he shall live for ever.

Indeed, Martha had never possessed so much Christian enjoyment as at this period, and particularly in these exercises. Her mind had recovered its tranquillity. Soothed by the quiet of nature, the strings of life, which affliction had shattered, were restored to order and melody. Surrounded by the works of God, they were readily dwelt upon as the dear symbols of a present Deity. And fresh from considerable labors of love and self-denial, they became, unconsciously, the witnesses of the principles from which they came. Doubt and darkness fled away, and the spirit rose nearer to its Maker in filial confidence, and breathed forth desires of love and hope unutterable!

CHAPTER XVII. eighteen Martha spent in town, and principally VICISSITUDES. 1818 THE winter of one thousand eight hundred and with me. She maintained, through this period, her average state of health, but was subject to a great found in our family an infant relative; and the indeal of local uneasiness and acute pain. She now terest she took in him contributed, as much as any thing could, to make her forget her suffering. She do enough for it; indeed, the difficulty was to prewas particularly fond of this child, and could never vent her using such exertions for its amusement as might have done her real injury. I have frequently seen, in her attempts to divert and please it, the expressions of deep anguish and winning kindness, pass in quick succession over her features-the at fecting representatives of bodily distress, and of an affection which was far above its control.

parents, we were, at this time, beginning a course Recently introduced into the relationship of of reading on education, and we made it the Martha took as earnest a share as we could possubject of conversation and remark. In this study sibly do. Education of the young was one of her favorite subjects. She had derived many just views on it from experience, and many from desultory reading; but she felt it had not received that attention which its merits and her attachment claimed for it. She was now delighted with the opportunity, and we entered on it with the more vigor, because we had a beloved companion, who would take so animated a part in it. Discussion often arose in our progress, and it was always welcomed, for it frequently elicited truth, and never ended in a serious difference of opinion. These exercises were among our pleasant recollections. There was a freshness of feeling about them; the study itself was a most inviting one to us all; and the dear babe, which was usually seated on our knee, or reposing in his bassinett, was a living and common motive to its pursuit.

her religious connections, resumed, as she was able, It is natural to conclude that Martha, restored to all her benevolent engagements; but, it is needful to remark, that they were resumed with more vivid anxiety of feeling, and more earnestness. Indeed, perceptions of their importance. There was less there was an intentness of mind to one great object that was truly impressive. In her intercourse with her scholars, her young companions, the sick and the aged, and the congregation generally, there was something in her manner which seemed to say, "I have but one thing to do, and I must do it with all my might." I could not feel so much at liberty as I had been, in restraining her from too free a use of a life so precious to us, though a look was sufficient for it. She commonly acquiesced either with a word, or with an affectionate salute; but there was a quiet expression of surprise and distress on her countenance, which was wonderfully affecting; it often called to my mind the Saviour's reply to his relatives, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

the longest. Those who anticipate many years to The shortest life on virtue's scale, is frequently come, live accordingly; and those who, by inward warnings, are made to feel that they are the "poor pensioners on an hour," are anxious to improve the present hour, and to "die daily." I do not know that Martha was, at this period, acting under any peculiar monitions of her mortality, by which many profess to have been influenced; but I do know that her habitual frailties had established an abiding sense of life's uncertainty, and that her thoughts had been so familiarized to eternity, as to make the longest life, and the most devoted exertion, nothing in the comparison-sentiments of infinitely more

importance, as they cannot deceive us, and are of universal application.

It is not our actions, so much as the spirit of them, which influences others. Martha's present temper of mind did not fail to communicate itself, more or less, to those around her. It was a season in which her labors, though discharged in weakness, and sometimes in tears, were highly beneficial. Meanwhile, the good seed she had been previously sowing, was here and there springing up in answer to her manifold prayers. Many of her children, who had gone into the world, were supporting their situations with credit, and fondly acknowledging their obligations to her. Some of them had risen up to become teachers in the school, and took their places at her side, around the table of Christian fellowship. Some of her young companions, who, in the novelty and ardor of their first emotions, had showed a little unsteadiness, had sobered down into the consistency of the Christian walk; and all of them were concerned to seize opportunities, the more precious because occasional and precarious, of returning her esteem and kindness for all her love. It is impossible to say how these rewards of hopeful exertion rejoiced her heart; and it would be needless to show that they gave a stronger determination to her chosen course of beneficence.

As the summer advanced, Martha received renewed invitations from her Gloucestershire friends to give a portion of it to them. Her relations seconded their cordial solicitations; but as some domestic circumstances seemed to call for her attendance in town, she was disposed to postpone them. Her reluctance, however, was finally overcome; and that she might separate from her connections with as little of painful feeling as possible, I engaged, on my way from Herefordshire, which I was about to visit, to spend some days with her at Frampton.

This promise gave her great pleasure, but it was never to be fulfilled. While I was in Herefordshire, I received tidings of the death of our second child, an infant of a few weeks old; and, of course, my remaining engagements were set aside, and I sought to return by the most direct line to London. Martha's affectionate heart could not allow her brother in affliction to pass within twenty miles of her without an effort to see him. She knew that I must go through Gloucester, and that I must change carriages, and that probably the exchange could not be effected without some short detention. She therefore induced a friend to drive her over, that she might take the chance of a meeting. Amid the bustle and excitement of hasty travelling, I arrived at the expected inn, and was anxiously inquiring for my next conveyance. A friend's hand seized me. I followed its leading into an adjoining little parlor, and my sister was instantly in my arms.My wants had been thought of, and refreshments were nicely prepared ready to my hand; we exchanged a few words, but spoke not of the event which was nearest our thoughts; she covered my hand with her kisses and her tears; and again I was a solitary stranger in the corner of a stagecoach. Few things that are traced on my imagination, have so much the air of a vision as this; it came and it went so suddenly!

Martha returned to her friends, and continued, at my earnest request, the proposed time. The visit was one of mutual enjoyment. Every the kindest attention was shown to her, from the esteem and love cherished towards her character. Her health derived advantage from taking considerable exercise on horseback. Her mornings were commonly spent in visiting some of her favorite points of view, and calling on some Christian friends; and

her evenings, if not spent in the house of God, were as often given to a select few, who were delighted to meet with a kindred spirit, with whom they might take sweet counsel on the way they had already trodden, and on the delectable prospects of a "better country," which occasionally rose to their sight, on the utmost boundary of their mortal pilgrimage.

Our regrets are proportioned to our enjoyments. The time of separation arrived; and the pleasures Martha had found in visiting the cottages of the poor, rambling among the beauties of nature, and mixing with congenial society, caused her to meet it with considerable emotion. She took her farewell of the endeared objects of the place and its vicinity under the impression that probably she might see them no more, and her mind was softened into affectionate tenderness. Similar sentiments were awakened in the bosom of her friends; and the parting scene became mutually, and therefore, deeply, affecting. Few events have received so much notice from her pen as this; and what she has written, powerfully testifies to the overflowings of a heart, beneficially influenced by communion with nature, grateful for the least expression of human friendship, and springing from the touch of earthly sorrow, to pour out the incense of piety at the gate of heaven. I regret that, in justice to her memory, these pieces cannot be introduced, as, though so illustrative of her state of mind, they are but fragments, and are written in measure without the slightest correction.

When Martha reached her home, we congratulated her and ourselves on her appearance. But how often are appearances deceitful? While her general health had been decidedly improved, her insidious disease was establishing its possession; and in the close of the autumn it broke out with alarming force, and baffled resistance by the most complicated symptoms. The best advice was again procured; strong means were immediately applied; and once more she was ordered from town.

Once more, therefore, Martha prepared to leave her family, and to retire to Cheshunt. The step had often been taken before, but never with so much sadness of heart. On the day of her depar ture, we all assembled to dine; it was an anxious and unwelcome meal. We spoke comforts to each other; but they were comforts on which we ourselves were not feeding. Our silence and sympathy indicated a state of serious apprehension; and when we parted, it was in tears, extorted by the fear that the place which then knew us might know us no more. The fear was too truly foundedMartha was quitting London never to return.

I cannot now record an occurrence which to me, perhaps, was one of the most serious in my sister's life, without giving expression to the feeling it excites. It was this event that virtually broke all the ties, which held her to my religious connection and pastoral charge; and never pastor suffered the loss of a more admirable and devoted member. In this capacity she never gave me a moment's uneasiness, but contributed essentially to my joy and usefulness. She was considerate of her minister's peace of mind, in the least as well as the most important things, and was concerned habitually that, as the member of a religious body, the whole of her conduct might be exemplary. How far she assisted to promote the peace and prosperity of my charge, must be revealed by the light of a brighter day; enough, for the present, it is to know, that to me she was raised up by the hand of Providence, as a most opportune and valuable blessing. She was the companion of my way when otherwise it would have been solitary; and she contributed greatly in the outset of public life, to moderate the weight of

those cares and duties, which pressed the more heavily on a breast as yet unaccustomed to the yoke. However, her work was now done! I was no more to be cheered by her presence, or relieved by her exertions; and I beheld her go forth as a sufferer, quiet and patient indeed, but still as a sufferer, and an exile from her dearest scenes of usefulness, and from the society of her friends and kindred.

in the regrets which she had indulged. The succeeding extracts from her diary, connected with the close of this year and the opening of another, will reveal something of those subsiding agitations which these trying changes had produced; and still more of that steady ascent of the spirit to its Maker which no earthly trouble could repress.

"November 27, 1818. This is the first time I have been absent from my family on this memorable day. O that I may be with them and with the church in spirit, though not in body! What mercies have I received in connection with them !— Would that they constrained me to live only to the Author of them! This evening Maria and I spend together in prayer. May we be inclined to ask for all those blessings which are requisite for our beloved pastor, the church under his care, and our own souls."

If this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha. Her bodily spirits were reduced by exhausting medicines and constant pain; and her imagination would dwell upon it as a final removal from the habitation of those she loved. And when she was actually seated by the lone fireside of the kind widow, and her mind was at liberty for reflection, she had difficulty in sustaining its exercises with fortitude. She thought of her parents, whom she wished to comfort; of her brother, whose protection she needed; of her "How profitable and how necessary is self-exacompanions, whom she desired to enjoy; of her mination, and yet how often do I neglect this duty, children, whom she was accustomed to edify; of or, at least, perform it in a very superficial manthe house of God and the people of God, familiar ner. This morning I have been asking the questo her by a thousand prayers, and endeared by a tion, What lack I yet ?-In the closet I have to thousand enjoyments; all distant from her, and if lament much formality; the absence of the wrestnot far distant, yet so distant as to interrupt a com-ling spirit, which ought to characterize every devomunion which might never be restored;-her heart filled with sorrow, and her eyes frequently overflowed with involuntary tears.

Her situation at Cheshunt, too, which had so often administered to her comfort, increased her distress. Many a time she had come hither as an invalid, but never such an invalid as now. Her present state of health confined her to the dwelling; and her day of suffering knew few changes beyond a passage from the chair to the bed, and the bed to the chair. Her former and her existing indisposition were put in comparison, and she now felt her self to be sensibly worse. She was in the centre of a delightful field of labor, and yet could not lift a hand for its cultivation. Her eye glanced on many familiar walks where her feelings had often been soothed and her thoughts exalted, and which were still inviting her abroad; but she had no strength to obey their bidding. They gave to her situation the sense of imprisonment, and to her life the air of uselessness. These were some of the first calls Martha received from a state of active to a state of passive devotedness; and, in this hour of trial, it is not strange if they were not duly estimated, even while they were meekly obeyed.

The east wind is stayed in the day of the south wind. After a few days, Martha's sense of separation and sorrow was mitigated by the arrival of Miss Maria This young friend had been associated from the first with her in her benevolent exertions; and now that Martha was obliged to quit them, she generously determined on becoming the companion of her solitude and confinement; a determination which she had ascertained to be most acceptable to her and to her relatives.

tional exercise. In the sanctuary I am in danger
of becoming lukewarm and indifferent, partly be-
cause bodily infirmity often prevents me rightly at-
tending its sacred duties, and partly from
In the family, I lack benevolence of feeling; and I
much fear, through the depravity of my nature,
growing more selfish, instead of benevolent, by af-
fliction. O that this may not be the case! but may
self in every form be entirely and for ever forgotten.
Be pleased, Lord, to make all thy providences and
ordinances the means of exterminating selfish dis-
positions, and of strengthening and increasing ex-
ceedingly all the graces of thy Spirit; that so thy
servant may no more live to herself but be altoge-
ther devoted unto Thee. Amen."

January, 1819. My motto for this year is, 'Fear not, neither be discouraged; for I, the Lord thy God, am with thee in all places whither thou goest.' May this encouraging portion of Scripture strengthen my faith, and enable me everywhere and always to trust and rejoice in the Lord! Remember me, O Lord, for good. Teach thy servant cheerfully to acquiesce in all thy will, and live entirely to thy glory.

"Here would I erect another Ebenezer; for though I was brought low, the Lord helped me. I have been quite confined for some weeks with a violent attack of illness, but am now able to walk a little. During the severe pain I suffered, my spirit was not permitted to sink; but according to my day so was my strength. O that I could be grateful for all the mercy manifested to me! But, alas! my mind is often clouded by dark and distressing views of the Divine conduct; yet I know they shall not remain for ever. When I am humbled, the

Redeemer's dying love. May I do it under the peculiar influences of his Spirit. May he vouchsafe to take away the heart of stone, and give the heart of flesh. Áfresh would I devote myself to the Most High. May the offering be accepted, and may he employ me in his service evermore!"

Martha received her friend as a gift from a supe-light shall arise. To-morrow I hope to celebrate the rior Hand, mercifully bestowed in the time of need; and her presence had the most favorable influence on her spirits. She had now an individual by her side of her own sex, of similar age and sentiments, who watched over her by night and day, who conversed with her of the persons and scenes from which she was separated, and who, in the ardor of attachment, was cheerfully submitting to those separations and that confinement which Martha's tender spirit had so much lamented. Such an exercise of unassuming and disinterested kindness could not be lost on her; it touched every chord in her heart. She admired these proofs of character in her friend; she gratefully admired the Providence that had thus unexpectedly appeared for her; and she was disposed to charge herself with selfishness and unbelief

CHAPTER XVIII.

BENEVOLENT EXERTIONS. 1819. WITH such serious purposes of self-devotement, it will hardly be expected that Martha, even in her

*The anniversary of her brother's birth and ordi nation, the evening of which is observed by special prayer in the congregation.

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