was about to pass over her mind, I pointed her to

the lines,

Who then can e'er divide us more

From Jesus and his love,

Or break the sacred chain that binds
The earth to heaven above?

Let troubles rise, and terrors frown,
And days of darkness fall;
Through him all dangers we'll defy
And more than conquer all.'

6

'I feel all this,' she said; but my anxiety is about showing it to the world.' It was her wish to die praising the Lord. I am afraid,' she said on another occasion. Are you afraid,' I asked, 'of death?" No,' was her reply, I am afraid of speaking nonsense, when the noise comes into my ears.' She felt quite resigned on this point, when I repeated to her the lines,

'To human weakness not severe

Is our High Priest above.'

'I am happy,' she said, all the glory is taken away from me-a poor erring creature.' On another occasion I heard her exclaim, I cannot look steadily-I cannot look steadily!' Thinking that she was complaining of her want of faith, I observed to her, 'Christ, though he may try you, my love, will never suffer your faith to fail.' 'You mistake me,' was her reply; it is the glory sparkling behind the cloud which overpowers But soon shall it all burst forth upon my soul, and I shall be enabled to bear it, and to drink up its beams.' Even the erroneous sensations of deliri under which, for a few hours towards the close o

me.

three days preceding her death, she laboured, and which are so frequent in the last moments of life, neither interfered with the fullest exercise of her spiritual affections, nor disturbed the accuracy of her judgment as to divine things. When, on one occasion, she betrayed into the commission

imagined she had been

of sin, she expressed the greatest loathing of it, protesting, at the same time, like the apostle, that she delighted in the law of God after the inner man, and that she was cheered by the constancy, the unchangeableness, of her Saviour's love. No human affection, she exclaimed, about thirty-six hours before her death, 6 can illustrate the affection which God bears to his children. He is angry with those who say that they do not love him.' When she thought herself surrounded by friends who were distant from her, she addressed them with a tenderness and kindness which strikingly showed the strength of her attachment. By turns, `n the languages of India and Europe, she would converse on the divine faithfulness and grace. On one occasion she said, in Hindustání, Dear little Johnny, do not cry because God is afflicting your dear mama. He does all this in love to her. You know that when you are naughty, your papa punishes you, and that he afterwards rejoices over your improvement. God deals in this manner with me. He wills my welfare, and will soon free me from all my troubles.' In Maráthí, she spoke as to the children of her schools; and the last words uttered by her in that language were, 'Amandi, Yeshu Christávar phár priti theva- O Amandi, I beseech you greatly to love Jesus Christ.'

"On the morning before her death she was quite

collected, but extremely weak. She recognised the kind friends who were around her bed, and mentioned their names, but was unable to converse with them. She traced along with them several passages in the Psalms, into the devotion of which she seemed fully to enter. As the day proceeded, I perceived that the happy spirit would soon put off its earthly tabernacle, that it might be clothed upon with its house which is from heaven. It did not need a human ministration to its comfort, its peace, or its joys; for the communications of the divine grace to it were very abundant. It appeared to animate the decaying and dissolving body with undiminished power. As the shades of evening were drawing on, when I presented to my dearest wife the last communication I made to her- The Lord Jesus is with thee'-her response was, And with thee, my beloved one.' I was recognised by her on several occasions during the night; but though she attempted to address me, she could not speak so as I could understand her. The last words I heard from her lips were, The kingdom of the Saviour;' but in what connection they were used I do not know. At eight o'clock on the morning of Sabbath, the 19th of April 1836, sacred to the commemoration of the Redeemer's triumph over the grave, she died without a struggle, and her soul winged its flight to that glorious abode where He lives and reigns."

The death of this amiable and devoted Christian produced a very deep impression on the native and European community of Bombay. It was a loss of no ordinary kind. She had displayed, during the few years of her residence in India, a character so consistent, a

216

MEMOIR OF MRS. MARGARET WILSON.

disposition so amiable, a zeal so unwearied, that she was beloved and admired as a noble example of the true influence of Christianity upon the heart. Her labours in the cause of missions had, by the divine blessing, been attended with remarkable success. The education more especially of native females engaged much of her attention; and the flourishing state of her schools, even at the present time, shows that her anticipations of success were well founded, and that the principles on which the schools were originally established were judicious and well matured.

MISS MARTHA REED.

THIS amiable and devoutly pious young lady was born in London on the 2d of June 1793. From her early childhood she was dedicated by her excellent parents to the Almighty. Before her infant lips could lisp the name of her Creator, she was committed, in many an earnest prayer, to his fatherly care and protection. " I can well remember," says her brother, in one of the most beautifully written biographies that has ever issued from the press, "I can well remember, on several occasions, seeing my father walk the room with his beloved daughter lying in his arms. I have marked his lifted eye, his moving lips, and his more measured tread. Child as I was, they told me that he was in prayer. I recollect nothing at this period that gave me such an elevated idea of my father's goodness as this act, performed, as he evidently thought it was, without a witness. Thus was he commending one child to the blessing of Heaven, and opening the passages of the heart of another for the blessing he had already so often