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DOCTRINAL AND INSTRUCTIVE PREACHING.

Again: Irregularity in our attendance upor the means of grace, will go far to render them unprofitable. Unless hindered by Providence, be always found in your proper places on the Sabbath day. God may punish a neglect of his ordinances, by withholding the influences of his Spirit from you, even when attending outwardly upon them. Besides this, you will lose much instruction, and thereby be less profited by what you do receive. The word of God may prove a savour of death unto death, to those who hear it, in consequence of the manner in which they receive it.

But you should take heed what you hear. Tamper not with error. If you play with a serpent, you may expect to be bitten. Do not gratify an idle curiosity by listening to the preacher of heresy. It is making sport of God's holy ordinances. Seek the pure streams of Gospel truth, that your souls may be refreshed and strengthened.

Much depends upon the people, in elevating the standard of good preaching. They have great influence in creating a proper taste for pulpit services. Let them require doctrinal and instructive preaching, and discountenance an opposite style. Be not blinded to the real character of a discourse, by beauty of language, melody of voice, fervour and grace of manner, nor by any of the mere circumstances of preaching. Seek for the kernel, and if this cannot be found, cast away the shell, even though it be gilded and highly ornamented. The soul cannot thrive nor live upon chaff. When a preacher presumes that all his hearers are babes, and feeds them only with milk, and even that sometimes diluted, he is guilty of a sad mistake. But when he labours to keep them babes, by never strengthening the food he gives them, he is chargeable with what is more criminal than a mere mistake.

Be no longer babes, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ. Go on from one degree of attainment to another. Make advances in the divine life. Press onward in the path of wisdom; and desire the strong meat of the Gospel, that you may be strengthened and nourished, till you arrive at the full stature of men in Christ Jesus. Be diligent. Be sober, and watch unto the end. "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."

THE

MISSIONARY'S WIFE:

OR,

A BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF

MRS. LOVELESS,

OF MADRAS,

THE FIRST AMERICAN MISSIONARY TO FOREIGN LANDS.

BY RICHARD KNILL.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1839, by

A. W. MITCHELL, in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

THE

MISSIONARY'S WIFE.

As MRS. LOVELESS was about to join the spirits of the just made perfect, her husband was standing by her dying bed, endeavouring to catch the last words which fell from her lips; and he heard her say, "Precious Jesus!" When I first heard of this, it greatly affected me; and I prayed that when I came to die, my mind might be occupied about the same glorious Redeemer, and my last words be, "Precious Jesus!" Several persons to whom I have mentioned it, have expressed a wish that their last words might also be, "Precious Jesus!" And what a mercy it will be, if half the persons who may read this book, should rise from its perusal, exclaiming, "Precious Jesus!" This would be precious indeed.

In this brief memoir of an excellent female Missionary, I shall endeavour to interest the feelings, inform the judgment, and cheer the hearts of my readers, by presenting her under the various characters of a Pupil, a Wife, a Mistress, a Mother, a Promoter of Female Education, the Friend of Missionaries, and a Pattern to us all. We will begin with

THE PUPIL.

Mrs. Loveless was an American; she was born on Long Island, State of New York, 23rd of September, 1774. Her maiden name was Sarah Farquhar, and she was the first American who engaged in Foreign Missions.

At an early age she was placed at school with that eminently pious and gifted lady, Isabella Graham, of New York, and afterwards became an assistant in her school. Like her esteemed instructress she was a Presbyterian, and a member of the church under the pastoral care of the celebrated Dr. Mason.

In 1798, when Mrs. Graham retired from the arduous duties of her school, Miss Farquhar was solicited to become her successor; but this she declined, choosing rather to enjoy the society of her patroness and friend. The attachment between them was so great, that Mrs. Graham always addressed her as her child.

But instead of enjoying the society of her friend, she was removed far from her. The Lord by whom the bounds of our habitation are fixed, had designed her for another sphere, and to live and die in foreign lands.

An epidemic, which, in 1804, carried many persons to the grave, brought Miss Farquhar also to the gates of death; and, as she was recovering, her medical attendant said, the only means of saving her life would be a long voyage to a hot climate.

About this time, a son-in-law of Mrs. Graham, Andrew Smith, Esq. was trading to the East Indies, and was then preparing to sail with his family to London, and thence to Madras and Calcutta. With them she embarked in the ship Alleghany, and arrived safely in England. She sojourned several weeks in Birmingham, and here the circumstances commenced which eventually led Miss Farquhar to become a Missionary's wife. The London Missionary Society were preparing to establish a mission in the idolatrous city of Surat, but the East India Company would not allow Christian Missionaries to sail in their ships; therefore Dr. Carey and Mr. Loveless, and many others, were glad to sail to British India in the ships of foreigners! The London Missionary Society thankfully availed themselves of the privilege of sending Dr. Taylor and Mr. Loveless in the American ship Alleghany. They embarked on the 4th of December, 1804, and arrived in Madras, June, 1805.

During the voyage, that attachment was formed which death only could sever, and which, for more than thirty-two years, was a source of the purest earthly delight. It was a saying of Mrs. Graham's, that "Religion and conjugal love will sweeten almost any lot;" and, amidst all the trials of a Missionary life, this happy couple found it so.

On their arrival at Madras, the peculiar circumstances of the mission rendered it desirable for Miss Farquhar to proceed with Mrs. Smith to Calcutta, whence she returned the next year to Madras; and, on the 9th of May, 1806, she was married to Mr. Loveless, in the Fort Church, by the Rev. Dr. Kerr. Now let us mark her conduct in the sacred relation of

THE WIFE.

Four-and-thirty years have produced an amazing change in India, and the situation of Missionaries now, can scarcely be compared with the state of Missionaries then; but it may be truly said, that Mrs. Loveless took as active a part as a female could take in the work of the Mission; going hand and heart with her husband, in every object, to promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls; particularly in the education of the young, for which her former habits had eminently qualified her. Mrs. Graham was half a century before most other people,