I am not alone; my heavenly Father is with me." Mr. B. said: "May the Lord remain with you, Miss Bacon." She replied: "And with you also; for you cannot do at all without him; you would be sadly off without him. I bless him that I find him with me now: I am in the furnace, and yet I am supported." Mr. B. added: "You are going where there will be no pain, nor sorrow, nor sin, to enjoy the best of company forever." She replied: I shall be with my dear Redeemer. I bless God for all his mercies; but especially for my sickness." "Poor thing!" said Mr. B. "Don't say poor thing," she rejoined; "I am rich in him who has all riches in himself." Mr. B. said: "When flesh and heart fail, God will be the strength of your heart, and your portion forever." She answered: "A good portion! Yes, he is my portion." Two days afterwards, Mr. Blair again called. It was Christmas eve, and finding her sinking very rapidly, he said, "You will spend a happier Christmas to-morrow than you ever did. You will celebrate the day with Christ and his angels." She replied with a degree of animation more than common, "Do you think so? Blessed be his name! Yes, I shall surely be with him. I have told you the state of my mind already, and what I have felt; I cannot now speak; but all is well." Shortly after which she breathed her last. Her remains were interred at Epsom, in Surrey, agreeably to her desire. On a small monurent placed over her grave, is the following inscription, which she had requested me to write, and which was adopted by herself in her last illness: ANN BACON, Daughter of JOHN BACON, Esq., R. A. While Flesh and Heart fail, I desire the Marble which may cover my Remains But of the Free Grace and Mercy of my Have been preserved from the Evils of the World; And can now say 'Not anything hath failed of all that the Lord hath promised!' If thou, Reader, Art a Seeker of the Kingdom of Heaven, From thy Sister in the same Redeemer. Having been able, by a relation of facts, to give so happy, and, I trust, so interesting a conclusion to this little memorial of my late invaluable sister, I shall be excused from lessening its effect by intruding reflections of my own by way of improvement. I therefore merely add: Let each one encourage in his own mind, such improvements as unprejudiced reason may suggest, while it listens to the voice of conscience, which ever faithfully whispers the true state of things between the soul and that God who, after he hath "required the soul," "hath power to cast it into hell," or to translate it to a state of endless felicity. I have the pleasure to be, Dear madam, Your indebted friend and servant, PADDINGTON, October, 1812. Mrs. Abigail Morris. THE victories of faith in the experience of suffering and conquering saints should be recorded for the encouragement of God's children. Few examples could be adduced to our readers, in which the succours of grace have been more encouragingly exhibited than in the cheerful patience of Mrs. Morris, under her almost unprecedented and long protracted sufferings. We therefore present a brief notice of some passages in her life, with a more particular account of her last sickness, and death. Mrs. Abigail, late consort of Bishop Morris, was the daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Scales, and a native of Patrick county, Virginia. She was born, January 18, 1793. Her childhood was mostly spent at Sandy Ridge in Stokes county, North Carolina; and her youth at Sugar Grove, on the bank of the Ohio, in the northwest part of Virginia. Her early associates were not religious. They placed a higher estimate on the world and its gayeties than on a life of piety. She was a stranger to renewing grace, until she reached the twentieth year of her age. In the early part of the year 1812, her attention was drawn to the subject of religion, and she became sensible of her lost state as a sinner. She joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and obtained an evidence of pardoning mercy and renewing grace. At that time only one other member of her father's numerous family was inclined to a life of devotion; and some of them were dissatisfied at her communing with the Methodists; but she lived to see them all religious, and all, except one, who are now living, are members of the same Church. Let this fact in the life of the deceased encourage others similarly situated to be faithful to the grace of God. In how many instances do aged parents and a large circle of relatives owe their first convictions and their salvation to the instrumentality of a young cross-bearing disciple of the family! It often happens that a child brought into the kingdom of Christ, by displaying in life great meekness, and patience, and perseverance, under severe opposition from friends, is honoured of the Lord to bear the blessings of salvation to a whole family. Mrs. Rogers did not suffer in vain. She not only saved her own soul, but brought the blessings of the gospel to her relatives, one of whom became a successful minister of Christ. |