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since. She has, at times, improved by the medicines given her; but last night it came on with redoubled violence, and some of the symptoms are alarming. She has many apprehensions that it may end badly, but appears beautifully in it all."

About a week after, Mrs. Van Lennep herself commenced a letter, which she never finished:

"My dear Parents, I fear we distressed you too much by writing you, last week, concerning my illness; but it is my desire that you should know all about your children here, both in sickness and in health. I am better now, you see, and amuse myself in reading and writing; but I am not yet well. I know you are thinking much of us in these days. Oh, how vividly they pass before our minds! yet I have refrained from thinking much of them; for I am too weak. Dear mamma's letter, dated July 15, came on our wedding-day. Oh, what a comfort it was to me! . . .

And

"I have not known, till this sickness, how happy Christ can make us. He can satisfy the heart."

In the morning of Sept. 27, Mr. Van Lennep commenced a letter, which the dreaded and most desolating event prevented him from finishing. It was completed by Rev. Mr. Dwight:

"One o'clock. Thus far, your son-in-law had written. And now, at his request, I enter upon the painful duty of announcing to you that your beloved

daughter's race in this world is run. She has fought the good fight; she has finished her course; she has kept the faith.'

"I have just come from the bedside where her lifeless body still lies. Would that I could speak a word of comfort to your hearts! But God must comfort you; and I doubt not he will do it. Heaven is as near to the children of God in Constantinople as in Hartford; and it is as safe dying here as there."

Thus, in less than five months from their separation in the beautiful harbor of Beirût, this cherished missionary-daughter parted from father, mother, husband, and all earthly scenes, and entered the untroubled waters of heavenly purity and peace.

THE BEREAVED FATHER'S LETTER TO THE BEREAVED

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My dear Children, Henry and Mary, So I began a letter Oct. 3, and had just closed it when yours of the 28th of August came to hand, informing us of the sickness of the dear deceased one. I retained it till I should hear again; when, one week since, yours of the 18th of September, taken from the office last Monday, left very little hope to comfort us in our apprehensions. The next day, the one of the 27th was received, which took away that little hope, and filled our bosoms with inexpressible grief. So my dear child is gone! I looked upon her for the last time, as I felt I did, when she was rowed away from the steamer on the 10th of May, leaning upon

your bosom for support. It was a sorrowful parting; and, though I regarded it as final, I still hoped to enjoy her society through her sweet correspondence. But God has seen fit to order it otherwise and though the affliction sinks deep into my spirit, and my poor nature scarcely knows how to bear it, I say, 'The will of the Lord be done;' and, in the spirit of the text on which I preached last Sabbath morning, I hope I am enabled to add, 'The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.'

"I loved her much: no human being did I ever love more. I bless God for making her so lovely, and for fitting her so early for her removal to his presence in heaven. I never expected she would live long in the service to which her life was devoted. I often made the remark to my friends, that she would have a short chapter. It was shorter than I anticipated; and only in this particular am I disappointed. The desolation I feel is great. I try to bring the consolations attending the event to sustain my sinking heart, and I trust I in some measure feel them; but the father is weak, and often feels inconsolable under the loss. But I should not, my dear son, increase your sorrows by adding to them my own: I should rather strive to speak to you words of peace and comfort. But I have found-what, I doubt not, is your experience in this sad day-that words, even when spoken from the truest sympathy, have little power to soothe or to help us. It is only religion and time that can lift off the load from our crushed spirits, and enable us to resume our duties

in any measure of cheerfulness. I have thought much of you in this sore bereavement. May God be near to you, and comfort you with his good presence! Your discipline is peculiar: may it prepare you for greater usefulness, and a happier place in heaven!"

CHAPTER X.

Ministerial Fellowship with Dr. Bushnell suspended. Correspondence. Fellowship restored.

THE

HE period at which we have now arrived was marked by one of the only two great ministerial troubles in the life of Dr. Hawes. For fifteen years, the pastors of the Centre and North Churches in Hartford had lived and worked together in ministerial harmony and brotherly love. In 1848, Dr. Bushnell delivered three remarkable discourses on three equally noteworthy occasions, and all from the same text. These deliverances were also made on the three pinnacles of philosophic and theological learning in New England, - at Yale College, the Harvard Divinity School, and Andover Theological Seminary. The topics treated were, in the first, the Trinity, and the Divinity of Christ; in the second, the Atonement; in the third, Dogma and Spirit, or the Reviving of Religion.

The three discourses have the continuity and unity of a distinctly-marked plan. They sweep over the whole field of fundamental Christian theology, and with the originality, versatility, and rhetorical charm, for which the author is held in

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