NOTE TO MISS E. S. OF BEVERLY.

April 23, 1814.

Well, my dear

Betsy, one more week is gone, and gone beyond recal. How has it been spent? O what are we doing? Friends drop,-gone to present their accounts,―to appear before their Judge,--to enter their eternal habitations. We are following, fast as we can draw our heaving breaths,-fast as the flying moments whirl away. A very little while, and all the great and magnificent objects that now occupy this globe, will no more interest us, than the clouds that fly unnoticed above our heads. A very little while, and the world will be to us as if it had never been;-only the effects of what we have been and done in it will remain. A very little while, and these eyes shall see the Son of man riding triumphant in the clouds, these ears shall hear the shrill sound of the trump of God, and the awakening sentence, "Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment!" Behold the judgment seat in view! The books are brought forth. Angels and saints rejoice; devils and damned spirits mourn and despair. To those on the right hand are a◄ warded riches, honour, and glory, imperishable and eternal; to those on the left, the blackness of darkness forever, unmitigated by one gleam of hope. Shall we witness, shall we have an interest in these scenes? Do we believe these things? What! and stupid, lukewarm, cold, and indifferent? O for a mite of Whitefield's zeal, to warm our frozen souls. Yours in love,

FANNY

X

JOURNAL, 1814.

April 23. I have just formed this large book* for sérious soliloquy, and have this moment given it the first touch of my pen. Perhaps it is reserved for some abler hand to fill it, while mine is motionless beneath the earth, and mixes with its native dust. Possibly I may cover but a few pages, and then drop my pen forever. This may contain the last expression of my feelings, the last written breathings of my soul, over which the affectionate eye of some dear surviving friend may rove, dropping one tear of fond remembrance and tender love. Yes, I must die; I must die soon. To the chamber which has witnessed oft my bended knee, my solitary meditations, my grateful songs of praise, and my searching the sacred page-to this dear place I must bid. the long farewell. To my books and to my pen, and to all the avocations relating to earth, I breathe a final and everlasting adieu. My friends, the loved associates of my pilgrimage, the kind soothers of my cares and sorrows, and the participants of my joys and pleasures, to you-O how can I pronounce the parting word? Well, the separation will be short. If united in Calvary's bleeding Lord, and sprinkled with sacred blood, our friendship shall not expire with the lamp of life, nor be buried with ●ur bodies in the dust. No; as it was purchased by the dying agonies of Immanuel, and is the rich fruit of a fairer clime, so shall it outlive this passing world, survive the conflagration of nature, the awful scenes of the last great day, and continue long as eternity shall roll its ages. It shall flourish in all the purity and vigour of the New

Consisting of 112 pages, of which she lived to fill only 17.

Jerusalem.

In yonder world of light may we meet ere long, no more to take the parting hand, nor sigh a last adieu. There may we greet each other's happy spirit ; and filled with raptures of flaming love, together talk of all the way the Lord has led us, and congratulate cach other's escape from all the hazards and perils of this state of trial, and our safe landing on the peaceful shores of a blissful immortality. There may we fall at the feet of heaven's adored King, and unite our songs of joy with the harmonious throng of angels and archangels, and all the numerous company of saved sinners around the throne; while glory immortal shines in every countenance, and eternity is written on every joy.

But who bought this amazing bliss, and confers it on mortal worms?" I, even I,” says the adorable Immanuel, "with my agonizing sweat, my bursting sighs, my expiring groans, my vital blood." Ah! this is the voice of my Beloved, and mournfully ears. Let me praise him with all the energies of my soul; for all lovely and glorious, he is infinitely worthy.

pleasant it sounds in my

This afternoon I have been employed in looking over my first writings of this kind, and, imperfect as they are, I have reason to rejoice I have saved so much from the flames; for they have been a mean of confirming my hope, and enlivening my feelings. It has often been a distressing fear with me, that my language has been that of others, not my own, taught me by the Spirit of God. But on a view of what I yet retain, penned when I was little acquainted with authors, young and ignorant, I humbly hope those exercises are agreeable to the word of God, the production of the eternal Spirit.

Now I long for fixedness of soul in duty, enlargement of heart in prayer, and holy preparation for all the many

and interesting duties of the coming day. Sweet Jesus! shine on my soul in all thy matchless beauty, and make me to repose myself in the green pastures of thy love, and walk by the side of the still waters of thy wondrous grace.

April 24. The day of the Lord has dawned, grateful to the stranger's heart, while he wanders in this strange land-sweetly refreshing to all, who love the blessed service of God, and have raised their eyes to a region, where one eternal Sabbath for ever reigns. Welcome morn! my soul greets thee with fond delight; and as thou art hastening away, O wilt thou bear on thy wing a tribute of gratitude to Him, who is mindful of his humble followers in this world of sin, and drops on their waiting souls some heavenly joys. I hail thee, happy day, as propitious to the suffering, languishing interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, and reviving to this afflicted, solitary daughter of Zion. For thee, many ardent wishes, many fervent prayers have ascended to the great head of the church; and now thou hast arrived, God shall be glorified with praise,

This day the city of our God here shall be gladdened by the accession of eight new members to this church; a sight which the oldest of our professors have not witnessed for many dark and cloudy years.

It is now above six years since I publicly joined myself to the Lord in an everlasting covenant; and as I entered the church the youngest member, so I have ever continued. And I have esteemed it a high honour, that in the morning of my life I should sit with older saints around the table of our common Lord, and be so highly distinguished as to be their youngest sister. But this day I resign forever this station to others. I rejoice,

that it is to those who will fill it with so much more usefulness than I have done. This day, dear Lucy, takes my place, and bears the honour of a young disciple of Jesus, in the midst of a wicked and gainsaying world. O may she be prepared for all its duties and trials, and be enabled to endure and perform, looking unto Jesus for grace and strength !*

Noon. It is done. Eight souls have stood forth in the view of God, angels, and men, and professed their faith in the Lord Jesus, their attachment to his bleeding cross, and their determination to consecrate all their future days to his blessed service. Solemn and awfully momentous transaction! one, in which they never were engaged before, and never can be again; one, which extends its interesting influence through the revolving ages of an interminable career, and instamps its impress on their future undying existence; one, which Jehovah and all the heavenly hosts bended to behold, and which the recording angel has enrolled in the annals of eternity. My soul felt for them, and realized the awful vows they were sealing, and the weighty duties they were binding themselves to perform. O that this solemn event may never be produced at the last great day against one of their souls, to cover them with confusion, consternation, and wo! O may they never falsify their promises, nor bring scandal on that holy religion, for which the blood of Heaven flowed. May they never be traitors in the camp, betraying the interests of Christ to his foes, and

Miss Lucy Edward's lived within a few yards of Miss Woodbury, and died within a few days of the same time, aged 19; leaving the most comforting evidence of living and dying in the Lord. 66 They were lovely and pleasant in their lives; and in their death they were scarcely divided."