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her body, but went in pursuit of that 'bread which endureth unto everlasting life.' This evening she said, 'Jesus Massa come closer and closer to me.'

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The next evening she appeared so faint and low as to be scarcely conscious of our coming in. After a while, however, she exerted herself to speak, and told us she was in pain from head to foot; nobody had beat her; nobody had whipped her; but 'Jesus Massa' had sent the pain, and she thanked him for it. Some day, when he saw good, he would come and take it away.

"After lingering thus for some time, still in pain, but prayer and praise ever flowing from her lips, she drew near her end. When in her greatest extremities, she said her Saviour would give her ease when he saw fit; and if he did not give it her now, he would give it her yonder-pointing upwards.

"Thus this aged Christian fell asleep in Jesus.

'Her external condition was by no means enviable. Little, however, as it presented to charm the eye of sense, a mind of spiritual discernment perceived in her humble cottage a heavenly Guest, whose presence shed a Divine splendour around, with which all the pomp of human greatness would vainly attempt to vie.”

24. ANNA MARIA SCHURMAN.

"Death's subtle seed within,

(Sly, treach'rous miner!) working in the dark,
Smiled at thy well-concerted scheme, and beckon'd
The worm to riot on that rose so red,

Unfaded ere it fell, one moment's prey."-YoUNG.

ANNA MARIA SCHURMAN, of a noble Protestant family in Germany, was born at Cologne, in the year 1607. The powers of her mind were very great, and she sm

ployed them in the acquisition of a large stock of literature. She was skilled in many languages; and the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, were so familiar to her that she not only wrote, but spoke them fluently, to the surprise of the most learned men. She had also a competent knowledge of the liberal arts and sciences; and was held in high reputation by several persons of the greatest learning in her time.

During her last illness she declared her full satisfaction in the religious choice she had made. After suffering much from the disorder, she expressed herself in the following manner :

"I have proceeded one step further towards eternity, and if the Lord shall please to increase my pains, it *will be no cause of sorrow: the will of my God is all to me; I follow him. How good is it to be in the hands of God! But it will be still better for me when I shall enjoy more full communion with him among the children of God, in the abodes of the blessed. I have nothing more to desire in this world."

In the last night of her life she said to one who watched with her, "I am almost continually impressed with a sentiment of this nature, 'A Christian must suffer.' This sentiment comforts me in my pains, and supports me that I faint not. O how good it is to remain in silence and patience before God! My most beneficent Father has not dealt with me as with his servant Job, whose friends were with him seven days in silence, and then addressed him with bitter words. But how sweet and comfortable are the impressions which I feel!"

25 A YOUNG WOMAN.

THE following interesting example of the power of religion on the mind of a person in humble life is extracted from a letter to a nobleman, by the late venerable Mr. Newton :

-:

She

"Permit me, my lord, to relate, upon this occasion, some things which exceedingly struck me in a conversation I had with a young woman whom I visited in her last illness about two years ago. She was a sober, prudent person, of plain sense; she could read the Bible, but had read little besides. Her knowledge of the world was nearly confined to the parish; for I suppose she was seldom, if ever, twelve miles from home. had known the Gospel about seven years before the Lord visited her with a lingering consumption, which, at length, removed her to a better world. A few days previous to her death, in prayer by her bed-side, I thanked the Lord that he gave her now to see that she had not followed cunningly devised fables. When I had finished, she repeated that expression: 'No,' said she, 'not cunningly devised fables; these are realities indeed; I feel their truth; I feel their comfort. Ọ tell my friends, tell my acquaintance, tell inquiring souls, tell poor sinners, tell all the daughters of Jerusalem,' (alluding to Solomon's Song,) 'what Jesus has done for my soul! Tell them, that now, in the time of need, I find Him my beloved, and my friend; and, as such, I commend him to them.'

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She then fixed her eyes steadfastly upon me, and proceeded, to the best of my recollection, as follows:'Sir, you are highly favoured in being called to preach the Gospel. I have often heard you with pleasure; but give me leave to tell you that I now see all you have

said, or that you can say, is comparatively but little. Nor till you come into my situation, and have death and eternity full in your view, will it be possible for you to conceive the vast weight and importance of the truths you declare. O, sir, it is a serious thing to die; no words can express what is needful to support the soul in the solemnity of a dying hour.'

"When I visited her again, she said, 'I feel that my hope is fixed upon the Rock of Ages; I know in whom I have believed. But the approach of death presents a prospect which is, till then, hidden from us, and which cannot be described.' She said much more to the same purpose; and in all she spoke there was dignity, weight, and evidence. We may well say, with Elihu, 'Who teacheth like the Lord?"

26. ISABELLA GRAHAM.

"Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears,
Where light and shade alternate dwell;
How bright the unchanging morn appears!
Farewell, inconstant world, farewell!"

WHEN the lethargy of death was creeping over this eminently pious woman, observing Mr. Bethune, her son-in-law, looking at her with agitation, she was roused from her heaviness, and, stretching her arms towards him, and embracing him, she said, "My dear, dear son, I am going to leave you; I am going to my Saviour."

.

"I know," he replied, "that when you do go from us, it will be to the Saviour; but, my dear mother, it may not be the Lord's time now to call you to himself."

"Yes," said she, "now is the time; and, O, I could weep for sin."

Her words were accompanied with her tears.

"Have you any doubts, then, my dear friend?" asked Mrs. Chrystie.

"O, no," replied Mrs. Graham; and looking at Mr. and Mrs. B as they wept. "My dear children, I have no more doubt of going to my Saviour than if I were already in his arms; my guilt is all transferred; he has cancelled all I owed. Yet I could weep for sins against so good a God: it seems to me as if there must be weeping even in heaven for sin."

She was now surrounded by many of her dear Christian friends, who watched her dying bed with affection and solicitude. On Tuesday afternoon she slept with little intermission. This, said Dr. Mason, may be truly called "falling asleep in Jesus." It was remarked by those who attended her, that all terror was taken away, and that death seemed here as an entrance into life. Her countenance was placid, and looked younger than before her illness.

At a quarter past twelve o'clock, being the morning of the 27th of July, 1814, her spirit gently winged its flight from a mansion of clay to the realms of glory, while around the precious remnant of earth her family and friends stood weeping, yet elevated by the scene they were witnessing. After a silence of many minutes they kneeled by her bed, adored the goodness and the grace of God toward his departed child, and implored the Divine blessing on both the branches of her family, as well as on all the Israel of God.

Thus she departed in peace, not trusting in her wisdom or virtue, like the philosophers of Greece and Rome; not even like Addison, calling on the profligate to see a good man die; but like Howard, afraid that her goodworks might have a wrong place in the estimate of her hope, her chief glory was that of "a sinner saved by grace."

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