in the wisdom and goodness of God, and with desires that it might be blest to the spiritual welfare of herself and of the family. It was the death of her beloved son, Thomas Sumner Winn, pastor of the Newport church, in Liberty county. This occurred in January, 1819. One year after, she thus notices this event, "I desire (if I know my own heart) to humble myself before God, when I call to mind that this day, twelve months, he was pleased to chastise me by removing from me my dear Sumner, I trust, to a far better world. Yes, this day, twelve months, my first-born son, the comfort of my declining years, lay struggling in the cold arms of death. Many dear friends were around his bed, offering every kind assistance in their power. But alas! what are earthly friends at that solemn hour? They cannot give relief, they cannot stay the grim tyrant, nor prevent for a moment his awful approach. But blessed be God, he was not clothed with terror, but came in angel form to remove my child from this vain world of sin and sorrow, to that bright world of glory, where there are pleasures forevermore. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for those that love and serve him. But, blessed be God, I trust he often gave him some foretaste of that heavenly bliss, which, I hope, he now enjoys. But, O my soul, how hast thou improved this afflictive dispensation of divine providence? Surely it is a loud call to thee to be also ready."

Thus did she endeavor to bear constantly in mind her accountability to God, the shortness of time, and the need and the happiness of preparation for eternity. Nor was she destitute of those comforts which religion is adapted to impart. In her experience religious joy did not indeed abound. Her emotions seem rather to have partaken of regret on account of sin, and of watchful jealousy over herself, and of desire that sanctifying grace might be imparted. But she did not always use the language of mourning, or merely of desire. She actually possessed at times the joy that results from the light of God's countenance. Speaking of a funeral sermon, preached by the Rev. Mr. Screven, on account of the death of one of his church members, she says, September 13, 1820, I felt my heart hard and not easily affected, though many around me were in tears, till he began to speak of Jesus and of the happiness of those who are with him in glory. Then was my heart melted, and I thought my desires and affections were drawn out after him, and my heart even burned within me, and I longed for more of his gracious presence. O how I longed that evening for a warm, spiritual, zealous friend to converse with. It seemed as though I wished to say with the psalmist, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul. Of late I seem to have stronger evidence of my love to him than usual. O that I could daily love him more and serve him better. May I not deceive myself. May Jesus appear to me, more than ever, the chiefest of thousands and altogether lovely. May I feel daily that he is more precious to my soul, that he is my all in all."

As she advanced in life, she appears to have thought more habitually of her latter end, and to have been habitually applying her heart to wisdom. In January, 1821, recording a notice of a serious sickness with which she had been visited, she observes, "I trust I felt in a measure resigned; but my constant petition was, to be prepared for the will of God, and to possess an overcoming faith in a dying hour, lest I should dishonor God by unbelief and slavish fears in my last moments. If I am restored to

health, I earnestly desire to live near to God, and more in conformity to his holy law. May I spend the remnant of my days more like one on the brink of eternity."

Among the many expressions indicative of the humility of her heart, the following occur: August 16, 1822. O this sinful heart. How hard and unprepared (I fear) for the solemn duties and privileges of the approaching Sabbath, when the Lord's people in Sunbury expect to surround his table, and commemorate his dying love. O may the Lord meet with all his dear people there, and make himself known to them in the breaking of bread. May he speak peace to their souls, even that peace which the world cannot give nor take away. And if I am permitted to be among them, may I receive a crumb, though so unworthy.

There

Her diary exhibits a varied experience of spiritual joy and sorrow, and particularly of submission to the divine will. occur, however, in the latter part of it, less frequently doubts of her acceptance with God; and there abound desires for holiness, for the salvation of her children and grandchildren, and for the prosperity of religion.

We are at length brought to another affecting event in her life. She thus notices it." February 27, 1824. Alas! alas! little did. I think last month, when I noticed the death of my dear Sumner five years ago, that I should so soon have to record the death of his dear father. Yes, my aged husband was removed from a world of trouble and sorrow, I trust, to a world of bliss, free from all sin and every imperfection." After noticing the christian manner of his death, she proceeds in a strain of supplication that this dispensation might be sanctified to her, that she might be prepared to follow her departed husband, and that she might be prepared for the trials of her widowed state. "Choose for me," she continues, "my changes, while it is thy will I should remain in this vale of tears. Show me the path of duty, and enable me to walk therein with fidelity and meekness: never let me stray from the ways of rectitude, or bring reproach on my christian profession. O may I glorify God through life, and in my last moments may I feel and give evidence of the power of religion and the faithfulness of Jesus to his people. Amen and amen. I pass over many pages of her records to introduce the last notice which she entered 66 them. among January 1, 1834. Well, have I been spared to see the beginning of another new year, when so many of the human family have passed from time to eternity! O what is eternity? No one comes back to tell us.

But

ah! we, too, soon shall know. Time is short, to me especially, an aged sinner. Alas! what has been my life! I cannot look back but with shame and deep regret on my sins and the unprofitableness of the days that are now past and gone, never to return. And should these things be brought against us in the day of judgment, who could stand? But blessed be God for the unspeakable gift of a Saviour-for the glorious gospel of salvation revealed in his word. Have I fled to this glorious refuge? Am I a child of grace? Do I depend entirely on the Saviour's work of redemption for the pardon of all my sins, and for acceptance with the Father? Do I find Jesus more and more precious, altogether such a Saviour as I need? Surely if I do know my heart, I desire to be like him. O to be holy, to be perfectly free from sin, to have that spirit and temper which was manifest in our adorable Redeemer. Even this world with all its various afflictions and sufferings would then be a heaven to what it now is. But, alas! inbred sin and the corruption of my depraved heart is my daily grief and burden. And yet I have reason to say,

O to grace how great a debtor!

gasping

And I think I can say, with a late dying friend when for breath, "All my trust is in Christ; no other, no other." may I in my last moments have an overcoming faith, and know assuredly in whom I have believed, and give up my departing spirit with joy, resting on Christ. And may my faltering tongue be able to lisp the words, "None but Christ, none but Christ," and thereby glorify God in death. Amen."

The last year of her life was a year of considerable bodily infirmity. She was attacked with her last sickness in October, 1834. And it was while laboring under this sickness, that divine providence gratified one of the earnest desires of her heart. For eight years her youngest child, Mrs. Ripley, had resided in New England without a favorable opportunity of visiting the South. In the fall of 1834, the long desired visit was made; and Mrs. Winn, near the close of her life, was permitted again to embrace her daughter, and to receive those attentions which are so grateful to a parent. By this sickness, her strength was much diminished; so that when her disorder had spent itself, she was still for the most part confined to her bed. She was able, however, for some days to be helped out of bed and to sit up an hour at a time. Her disposition to arise gradually abated, and she appeared to be slowly failing. The last week of her life she failed more rapidly and perceptibly. Her state of mind during this last sickness was to her friends very cheering. It was marked with the utmost composure in view of her departure, and with an unwavering confidence in the Redeemer. She expressed herself as feeling "safe in Jesus." On Friday morning, as I was standing by her bedside, she told me she did not expect to arise from that bed. On inquiry, I discovered that her mind was in a state of great calmness, steadily fixed upon the Saviour. On Saturday morning, as

I had occasion to be absent through the day, I had a few moments' conversation with her and found her in the same state of mind. She appeared more reduced, and it was with some difficulty that she spoke to me. On my return just after dark, she was evidently approaching her end. The power of speech had failed, and she lay quiet. Just before 12 o'clock that night, January 3, 1835, she gently fell asleep in Jesus, without a struggle or a groan, in the 77th year of her age.

She was not able in her last moments to say, according to the closing sentence in her diary, "None but Christ, none but Christ." She felt this, however, and the Saviour was honored in her death. It was one of her recorded petitions, the feeling of which was dear to her heart, and to which her last moments rather corresponded, "When the summons shall come, may I be enabled to say with sincerity, Lord, when thou wilt, where thou wilt, how thou wilt.'"

In the life and death of Mrs. Winn, we have evidence of the reality of religion. It could not have been the influence of imagination merely, a succession of mere vagaries, an entirely erroneous view of things, that gave a new direction to her life; that controlled her alike in prosperity and adversity; that excited within her a habitual submission to God; that gave her a longing for holiness; that enabled her to say, even when her heart was riven with grief, Not my will, but thine, O God, be done. It was a reality that produced these effects. It was not enthusiasm. There was no enthusiasm in her constitution. She was of too sober and careful a cast of mind, and had mingled too much with the realities of life, to be borne away, year after year, by an imaginative, enthusiastic impulse. The natural timidity, too, which made her so much shrink from danger, and which often made her dread the prospect of dying, required something different from an unsubstantial, unreal principle, to sustain her in protracted sickness and to enable her calmly to meet the king of terrors. Religion is a reality, the absence of which nothing can supply.

In her life, also, some of the leading doctrines of the gospel are confirmed. She deeply felt the depravity of her heart, and with much frequency bewailed it. Her expressions of acknowledgment as to her easily besetting sin are frequent and affecting. She felt the need of becoming "a new creature "by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and her entire dependence upon that divine agent for the progress of holiness in her heart. She renounced all hope of gaining the divine favor by any righteousness of her own; and placed her hope of pardon and acceptance with God wholly upon the obedience and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Guilty and lost, in herself considered, Jesus Christ was her only and her safe refuge. But though her reliance was simply upon Christ and the Holy Spirit, she felt the need of habitual and unremitted diligence in the christian life, and was anxious ever to be found in the path of duty. And it was by the combined influence of these

truths, that she became prepared for a quiet endurance of afflictions, and for her happy entrance upon final rest.

In her life we also discover encouragement to prayer and effort for the salvation of our children. On this point she felt very deeply, and repeatedly expressed herself in a very affecting manner. Nor were her prayers in vain. Of her six children who arrived to years of discretion, she had reason to believe that five were adopted into the family of God, one of whom became a zealous and useful minister of the gospel.

Let us learn from her own case, too, the value of early religious instruction. Amid all the unfavorable circumstances through which she passed in early life, and even in the absence of the ministrations of the sanctuary, she forgot not the lessons of piety which her parents enforced. Their instruction operated as salutary restraints, and were instrumental with the chastening providences of God in bringing her to the Saviour. Early religious instruction will not be in vain. If conversion to God be not one of its results, it will yet be efficacious in many respects. And where conversion is long delayed, we still have reason for hope that "the precious grain will not be lost."

Once more. We are here furnished with a worthy example of solicitude for the spread of the gospel among the heathen. Mrs. Winn fully entered into the plans that were formed for disseminating the light of revelation, and hailed with joy any indications of divine favor in the conversion of the unevangelized. In the monthly concert of prayer she delighted; in maintaining societies for contributing pecuniary aid she exerted herself; and whatever seemed to her the demand of duty on this subject, she was willing to perform. Her influence on this point was, doubtless, considerable; it strengthened the weak, and stimulated even the active. Would that the spirit she cherished in regard to the spread of the gospel pervaded every christian heart. Then there would be no lack of pecuniary means, or of human instruments; and the fervent prayers which would then ascend, accompanied with corresponding efforts, would return with rich blessings on the earth, until the wilderness and the solitary place should be made glad, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.

But I must stop. And in view of the life and the death which we have been contemplating, I would present the language of the apostle: We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.*

* Hebrews vi. 11, 12,