same day, when the minister founded his discourse on these words: "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" He clearly pointed out the plan of salvation by Christ, and described the nature of true religion, in a manner so much above her former conceptions of it, and so demonstrative, that, being already roused from the torpor of unconcern, her convictions were confirmed and established. She went home, despairing of salvation, and, though anxious to conceal her distress from her friends, it was at once perceived, and excited much uneasiness. She continued in this state till the following Tuesday, when she heard another sermon, but found no consolation; believing all the threatenings, but none of the promises, to be her own. She remained under this persuasion, still continuing to attend the same ministry, till one evening it was announced, that any serious persons would be gladly received at the class-meetings. It appears she had some idea of what was meant, and hence, at the conclusion of the service, she took an opportunity of speaking to a person with whom she had some slight acquaintance, and whom she knew to be a member of the society: she requested her to explain the matter, which she did, and immediately invited her to the class of which she was a member, when it was immediately agreed that they should accompany each other the next class-night. In the interval, she had a remarkable dream. She thought herself standing at the gate of one of the churches in this town, and, on attempting to enter, found it was fast; she then went to the next, and found it was fast also; on which she proceeded to the third, and was admitted by a person, who directed her to the vestry door, when she entered. a room where there were several persons seated, and one man stood, apparently, exhorting the rest. The person was to have called on her for the purpose of conducting her to the class, but disappointed her. However, when the time was come, she hastened to that person's house, and had the mortification to find her. gone. Notwithstanding this was a discouragement, on recollecting where the meeting was said to be held, she immediately proceeded thither. When she came to the house, she was informed that the class did not meet there then, being removed; but a woman proposing to accompany her to a person, who was a classleader, and whose class met that night, she gladly accepted the proposal; but when they arrived at his house, he was gone. However, the man's wife escorted her to the place of meeting; and no sooner had she entered the room, than she recognised the very same persons, and the same room she had seen in her dream. This precise coincidence of the particulars of her dream, with the subsequent circumstances of her disappointments, and ulti-. mate success, led her to receive it as from God; and she immediately entered into the resolution, "This people shall be my

people, and their God my God." It would not be proper here to recite her mode of interpreting this; besides it is so very obvious, that it will at once be perceived by the discerning.

She now met with considerable opposition from her friends, who said she was "beside herself," and particularly from her husband, who frequently insisted that she should withdraw from the class. Methodism was, then, in its infancy in this town, and was, indeed, "every where spoken against;" this accounts for the warm opposition she experienced from her friends. She, nevertheless, persisted in attending the means of grace, but received no comfort, still giving way to the belief that she was too great a sinner to find mercy at the hands of God. For some

months she continued in the utmost distress; and she has since affirmed that, had it not been for occasional glimpses of hope, she believed she would have sunk into utter and remediless despair.

At last, as she one day stood at the side of a grave, during the interment of an infant, the following words were suddenly applied to her mind: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, ye hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." At these words, her doubts and fears were dissipated: the oppressive load of guilt was gone: her despondence was transformed into a sure and certain hope; and her weeping gave place to rejoicing. For some time she remained in a state of rapture; but the father of lies" soon after assaulted her with a temptation, that she was deceiving herself, and she was reduced to a state of painful diffidence concerning the inward evidence she had of pardon and acceptance with God. In consequence of this, she prayed to the Lord that he would give her some further testimony of his divine favour and forgiveness-something that should be beyond the possibility of a doubt; and the Lord, in answer to her carnest prayer, and in compassion to her weakness, gave her another dream so extraordinary, that she was perfectly satisfied and established in the assurance of his favour; and from this time, to the day of her death, she never lost this "precious pearl." I am well aware that this will excite the sneer of the sceptic; but as I write only for those who are firmly persuaded of the existence of a particular Providence, or rather, of the truth of divine revelation, it is unnecessary here to vindicate these dreams which were, to her, the source of so much comfort.

She now, as is natural to suppose, evinced the utmost solicide for the spiritual welfare of her kindred; and, she at length, succeeded in gaining over her husband, who joined the same class which she met. But, a few years after this, it pleased the Lord to remove her partner, who died a most triumphant death. Though this was a trial of the first magnitude, she was resigned; for she had learned to say, "The will of the Lord be den."

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She was now engaged in business, and, by the special blessing of God, enabled to provide comfortably for her family. It was her frequent practice, on having served a customer, to fall on her knees before God, and pour out her soul in gratitude to him for his kindness and bounty to her. It would be easy to adduce instances of the strict integrity that marked her character, and of her utter abhorrence of all dishonesty and dissimulation, and it may not be improper here to observe what a reproof her conduct is to many of our modern men of business, who squander away in idleness, luxury, and profusion, not only their own property, but that of injured creditors; while she, with the means in her hands, was content to live in the obscurity of apparent poverty.

It is generally allowed, that the real opinion of the world may be received as a just criterion of the piety of an individual; and on this ground, I shall mention a circumstance which places her character in a very pleasing point of view. When any of her neighbours were confined to a sick-bed, and were apprehensive that they should die, though they had, perhaps, when in health, pointed at her the finger of scorn, and displayed all the decisive malice of bigotry and persecution, they expressed the greatest solicitude for an interest in her prayers, and that she should visit them. It is evident from this, that their opinion of her piety was very high.

As this account is dictated merely from casual memory, not one incident having been retained with a view to publication, some of the friends of the deceased will perceive that several extraordinary circumstances in her religious experience at this period of her life, which they would naturally expect to find recorded here, are omitted; it may, therefore, be proper to observe, that the writer's recollection of the circumstances omitted, is too imperfect to enable him to relate them, without apprehensions of deviating from truth.

After remaining in a state of widowhood about three or four years, during which time she experienced many instances of the interposition of Providence in her favour, and many proofs of the fatherly indulgence of her divine Parent, she was espoused to him who now bewails her loss.

Several years after this, as she was one day engaged in the performance of some domestic duty, the following words were suggested to her mind: "I will know thy soul in adversity." Very soon afterwards, some very afflictive circumstances of a private nature occurred; and about this time too, she was seized with a pulmonary disorder, from which she never recovered; and it was now, that the enemy of her soul marked her out for the object of his most violent assaults: many a barbed arrow did he aim at her soul, and many a severe struggle she sustained.

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appears that all her afflictions came, as it were, upon her at ence; and she was sometimes ready to exclaim, all these things are against me;" but she trusted in the Lord, and was not confounded; she proved that "he is faithful that hath promised," he did know her soul in adversity.

In the midst of all her temptations, which were now very severe, she found, that the only effectual mean of defeating her malignant foe, was fervent and unremitting prayer; and in this she was remarkably diligent. Sometimes, when alone, her temptations were so violent, that she has been obliged to cry aloud, as it were, to drown the voice of her tempter; and such was the hideous complexion of some of these suggestions, as the pen refuses to record. However, she was not without intervals of rest and tranquillity; and, during such intervals, having a good voice, she sometimes employed herself in the pleasing and profitable exercise of singing hymns of praise.

About the autumnal equinox of 1810, she perceived a material alteration in her health for the wor-e. Her cough, which had been very severe for several years, as the winter approached, became more violent; and in the spring of 1811, she removed into the country, but, alas! her disorder still increased. For the first two or three days, indeed, she seemed a little better; but it was only the last effort of exhausted nature.

The following is put into my hand by Mr. L., whose frequent and very kind visits during her last confinement, are remembered by her friends with gratitude. It may be considered as a compend of her experience, during the last few weeks of her life.

"I had the pleasure of occasionally seeing her during about two months prior to her decease. When I first visited her, I could learn that her hope was in the Lord; but she expressed an eager desire that her confidence might be increased, and her evidence become still brighter. On repeating my visits, and speaking respecting the ground of her hope, she burst into tears, and said, I cannot doubt of my Saviour's love to me.' She seemed to upbraid herself with unfaithfulness; and was much exercised by the enemy. In continuing to visit her, and encourage her in the Lord, I constantly perceived her evidence grow brighter, till she could say, without a doubt, that the Lord Jesus was her's."

Thus we see, that notwithstanding her exemplary, and, I most add, useful life, she had to charge herself with unfaithfulress; she could only exclaim, "I the chief of sinners am, but Jesus died for me.'

As her dissolution approached, her confidence in the Lord increased; and though, through her bodily affliction, and the VOL. XXXVI. JANUARY, 1813.

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severe exercises of her mind, she was often in a state of gloom and depression, it does not appear that she was, at any time, destitute of a sense of her acceptance with God. One day, being nearly alone, she repeated, with an energy altogether surprising, considering her debilitated state, the following verse: "What hath the world to equal this, The solid joy, the heav'nly bliss; The love immortal, all divine! The love of Jesus, ever mine! Greater joys I'm born to know; From terrestrial, to celestial, When I up to glory go."

One morning, as she sat with a few friends, she suddenly burst into tears: this gave her friends a momentary uneasiness, but she soon relieved them, by saying, "These are not tears of sorrow;" and afterwards, the same day, she said, "This morning I had a glimpse of joy-how sweet it was!" On the following Sunday, she had a fit of coughing, and parted with a considerable quantity of blood; having a momentary respite, she cast her eyes towards a friend who sat near her, and said, "This is hard work, pray for me."

Her disorder still increasing, she at length became so weak as to be unable to support herself in a chair. She was, at intervals, seized with excruciating pain in various parts of her body. But, in all this, she "sinned not with her lips," but exhibited a bright example of patience.

A short time before her death, one of her band-sisters observed to her, that after having served the Lord so faithfully for so many years, he would not leave her in her last moments; when she replied, "My services have been of little worth, but they have been sincere." On the evening before her death, her pain was very great, and, during a considerable part of the night, her mind was in a state of extreme perturbation. About nine o'clock the following morning, symptoms of her speedy dissolution were apparent. In the course of the forenoon, a friend came in, and, stepping up to the bed-side, asked her if she found Jesus precious; when she immediately rejoined"O yes!" This was the last word she articulated.

About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th of August, 1811, her blissful spirit struggled from its afflicted tenement, and winged its way to the mansions of everlasting blessedness, where faith is lost in sight; where hope expires in fruition; and where sorrow and sighing shall for ever flee away! Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast fought the good fight of faith, and finished thy course, thou hast run the race and gained the prize; servant of God, well done!