SECTION III.—MARY JANE GRAHAM.

GOOD WORKS.

A firm believer in the doctrine of a free salvation through the mercy of God and the merits of Christ the Duchess of Gordon ever echoed the exhortation of the apostle, “Be careful to maintain good works.” So far from holding good works cheap, she believed that by them God was glorified, and by them on the great day she would be judged. “The tree is known by its fruit.” “Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” At Gordon Castle a room was fitted up as a little chapel for morning and family prayers, and where, aided by the tones of an organ, the Sabbath evenings might be rendered profitable to the visitors. She had always some benevolent scheme on hand, but was frequently hampered as to the means. When anxious to build a chapel and infant school, she took a gold vase worth £1200 to London in the hope of getting it sold. But as she had difficulty in finding a purchaser, she writes, “The Duchess of Beaufort, hearing of my vase, thought of her diamond ear-rings, which she got me to dispose of for a chapel in Wales, and her diamonds made me think of my jewels; and as the Duke has always been most anxious for the chapel, he agreed with me that stones were much prettier in a chapel wall than round one’s neck; and so he allowed me to sell £600 worth, or rather, whatbrought that, for they cost more than double.” The Sabbath was pre-eminently honoured. No departures or arrivals took place on that day. To those who think that the gratuitous and instant forgiveness of the gospel must be fatal to future obedience, it might be sufficient to remark, that the noblest patterns of piety, and the most finished specimens of personal worth, are those who counted their own excellence the merest dross, and yet felt assured that for another’s sake they were precious in God’s sight. But the gospel itself assures us that the faith which receives the Saviour is the first step of new obedience—that it is only when God’s righteousness is accepted, that morality begins.

CHARACTER OF THE DUCHESS OF GORDON.

From the pages of her accomplished biographer, we learn that in her youth she had a robust physical frame; and H. P. Willis, Esq., the American traveller, tells us, that she was a tall and very handsome woman, with a smile of the most winning sweetness. Peculiarly attractive in her manner, her expression, which in old age was quite heavenly, so lighted up all her features as to convey the impression that she must have been very beautiful when young. But it was not her handsome features which called forth admiration so much, as her tall and graceful form, added to which was a countenance beautified by intelligence and life and winning gentleness.

Her intellect was as vigorous as her body was robust. She availed herself of the power of invigorating her mental faculties, of acquiring knowledgefrom experience, of pursuing knowledge for its own sake, of deriving knowledge from the past, and of rendering the possession of knowledge an enjoyment. Thus she wanted less than most girls a mother’s arm to lean upon; and needed less than most wives a husband’s intellect to guide. She seems to have arrived at her conclusions slowly; but having arrived at them, she held them firmly.

Kind words and good deeds will be legible, when sculptured inscriptions are illegible. These speak when the granite and the marble are silent. The benevolence of the Duchess was world-wide. Perhaps her lavish hospitality was sometimes taken advantage of; but the keenest cavillers must admit that her own eye and heart were single. Her aim seemed to be to convince her guests that the house and all that was in it was their own. The day after the funeral, an aged man, with moistened eyes made these remarks. “This is the greatest calamity that ever befel this district; of a’ the Dukes that ever reigned here, there was never one like her; there’s nane in this neighbourhood, high or low, but was under some obligation to her; for she made it her study to benefit her fellow-men; and what crowds o’ puir craturs she helped every day!” A soldier who had been in the Crimea, said: “You know that I have seen much to render my heart callous, but I never was unmanned till now; I never knew before how tenderly I loved that honoured lady.” She had a strong feeling of nationality, and a great love for everything Scotch, such as the Jacobite songs. But when she received new life, these were exchanged for the songs of Zion. Her spirit was most catholic, and she longed to see conflictingsentiments blended into brotherhood, and to hear the grand text repeated throughout all lands: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

“Her pursuits were only valuable in proportion as they were consecrated. In everything ‘to her to live was Christ.’ Nothing else seemed worthy of the name of Christ.”

Rev. Charles Bridges, M.A.

PIETY AND CIRCUMSTANCE.

In dealing with many who avow themselves unbelievers in Christianity, we not unfrequently meet with an objection by the help of which they attempt to construct an argument against our religion. The tendencies of the mind we are told, are entirely dependent on the development of the brain, and the external influences operating upon these, make up together the sum of the influences concerned in the production of the faiths of the world. These sceptical reasoners tell us that it is just as irrational to expect Christianity to spring up in the universal mind, as to expect to paint the whole globe with one particular flower. The soil has laws which determine its products; and the mind has laws which determine its beliefs. How shall we meet this? We might deny that the faith that worketh by love, purifieth the heart,and overcometh the world, is the product of suggestion, which is multiform; and assert it to be the judgment of reason, which is one and the same over all the world, in every mind and age. But we prefer appealing to the practical refutation afforded us by experience. It is a fact that our Christian religion has already traversed the globe, rooting itself in every soil, and bearing fruit in every climate. When civilization has done her utmost, Christianity can out-dazzle her sublimest triumphs. In the clime where philosophy holds court with refinement—where poor vulgarity cannot breathe, we challenge the world to point out a single instance in which the gospel was unable to accommodate itself to the peculiar requirements of the people. What has been its effects in the land of terror, upon the savagest of human beings. It has lifted the cannibal from his pool of blood, and led him like a little child to the altar of consecration. The door of the world has been thrown open, and the Lord’s servants have been commanded to enter in. India has been made accessible to the missionaries of every Church. The gospel is advancing rapidly among the teeming millions of the celestial empire. In Africa, degraded Fingoes, stupid Hottentots, and warlike Kaffirs, have had their understandings enlightened, and their hearts softened, by Divine truth and grace.

“Sound the timbrel, strike the lyre,Wake the trumpet’s blast of fire!”

“Sound the timbrel, strike the lyre,

Wake the trumpet’s blast of fire!”

for piety is independent of circumstance.

BIOGRAPHY.

Mary Jane Graham, was born in London, on the 11th of April, 1803, where her father was engaged in a respectable business. She was the subject of early religious convictions. At the age of seven, her habits of secret prayer evidenced the influence of Divine grace upon her soul. During the greater part of her childhood, and the commencement of her riper years, she was enabled to walk with God in sincerity, and without any considerable declension.

Her school career began before she was eight years old. She was, however, shortly removed, because of ill health, and when about the age of ten was sent to a different kind of school. As far as it was lawful she always screened the faults of her companions, and was ever ready and willing to plead for them when in disgrace; and so powerful was her advocacy, that her preceptress was constrained to remove out of her way when her judgment compelled her to persevere in her discipline.

At the age of twelve her delicate health again occasioned her removal from school. Her illness lasted about two months, and during that time, when confined upon a sofa, she committed to memory the whole Book of Psalms. She was delighted with Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” and for many successive mornings repeated three hundred lines. After her recovery she spent several months by the seaside. About the age of sixteen she was brought to the ordinance of confirmation, and publicly joined herself to the Lord in a perpetual covenant never to be broken.

About the age of seventeen, Miss Graham fell, for afew months, from the heavenly atmosphere of communion with God, into the dark and dismal shades of infidelity. The metaphysical structure of her mind, combined with a defective apprehension of her sad state by nature, induced a spirit of self-dependence; which led to backsliding from God. In the frivolities of the world she sought in vain for that priceless boon, a quiet conscience. Wearied at length, she turned to religion for comfort, but found that she had no religion; she had refused to give glory to God, and now her feet were stumbling upon the dark mountains. The Divinity of Christ had often been to her an occasion of perplexity. Repeated examination had fully convinced her that it was a scriptural doctrine; yet so repulsive was it to her proud heart, that she was led from thence to doubt the truth of the Bible itself. After a few months’ conflict, she was brought, to the light and liberty of truth, and the once abhorred doctrine became exceedingly precious. “From that time,” to use her own words, “I have continued to sit at the feet of Jesus, and to hear His word, taking Him for my teacher and guide, in things temporal as well as spiritual.”

Miss Graham continued to reside in London, and to devote herself more unreservedly to various studies and active labours in the service of God her Saviour. During her residence in the metropolis, the ministry of the Rev. Watts Wilkinson, and a deep study of the sacred volume, were the means of advancing her knowledge and experience of scriptural truth. Adorned by God with high intellect, which she cultivated with care, and sanctified for her Master’s service, she thirsted for knowledge, and relished its acquisitionwith peculiar delight. She wrote a treatise on the intellectual, moral, and religious uses of mathematical science, which abounds with wise and judicious observations on the objects and motives of the worldly and Christian student.

But her studies were not confined to the severer branches of knowledge. In some of her more lively exercises of mind she took up the subject of chemistry. She wrote a short but accurate development of the principles of music. Botany also attracted her attention. She had prosecuted, as one of her chiefest studies, the noble literature and tongue of Britain. The best writers on the philosophy of mind were familiar to her. With the principles of Locke she was thoroughly acquainted. She had profited much by Stewart. “Butler’s Analogy” was also upon her first shelf. She had cultivated an acquaintance with the classics of ancient Greece and Rome, and was perfectly familiar with the French, Italian, and Spanish languages. In order to improve herself in the knowledge of the languages, she made considerable use of them in mutual correspondence with her young friends.

Her peculiar singleness of aim stimulated her to apply her literary acquisitions to valuable practical purposes. The discovery of a strong tincture of infidelity among the Spanish refugees, combined with the recollection of her own fall, excited a compassionate, earnest, and sympathetic concern on their behalf. The following extract from a letter written in September, 1825, gives a touching view of her feelings towards these unhappy men. “I have read one part of ‘Las Ruinas,’ and in reading it I was struck with the reflection that the best answer would be acontinual reference to the word of God. I thought therefore of placing my observations on the blank pages, and of filling the margin of the printed paper with references. I beseech you to pray, that if I be not a fit instrument for the conversion of the souls of these poor Spanish exiles, the Holy Spirit would be pleased to raise up some other.”

Upon her removal from London to Stoke Fleming, near Dartmouth, Devon, which took place in consequence of protracted indisposition; her energies were still employed in the service of her Redeemer, and of His Church. During the first summer of her country residence, she regularly attended the parish workhouse at seven o’clock, to explain the Scriptures to the poor previous to the commencement of their daily labour. The children of the parish were the objects of her constant solicitude. She drew out questions upon the parables and miracles as helps for Sunday-school teachers; and, when prevented by illness from attending the school, she assembled the children at her own house for instruction. The young women also in the parish occupied a large share of her anxious thoughts, and she appropriated a separate evening for their instruction. She was a constant cottage visitor. The following passage from her mathematical manuscript is beautiful, and shows clearly the high and consecrated spirit with which she connected this humble ministration with her intellectual pleasures. “Do you ever experience this proud internal consciousness of superior genius or learning? God has placed a ready antidote within your reach. The abode of learned leisure is seldom far from the humble dwelling of some unletteredChristian. Thither let your steps be directed. ‘Take sweet counsel’ with your poor uneducated brother. There you will find the man, whom our ‘King delighteth to honour.’ His mean chamber, graced with one well-worn book, is as ‘the house of God, and the very gate of heaven.’ Observe how far the very simplicity of his faith, and the fervour of his love, exceed anything you can find in your own experience, cankered as it is with intellectual pride. God has taught him many lessons, of which all your learning has left you ignorant. Make him your instructor in spiritual things. He is a stranger to the names of your favourite poets and orators; but he is very familiar with the sweet psalmist of Israel. He can give you rich portions of the eloquence of one who ‘spake as never man spake.’ He can neither ‘tell you the number of the stars, nor call them by their names;’ but he will discourse excellently concerning the Star of Bethlehem. He is unable to attempt the solution of a difficult problem; but he can enter into some of those deep things of God’s law, which to an unhumbled heart are dark and mysterious. He will not talk to you ‘in words which man’s wisdom teacheth;’ but oh! what sweet and simple expressions of Divine love are those ‘which the Holy Ghost has taught him’! He ‘knows nothing but Christ crucified;’ but this is the excellent knowledge, to which all other knowledge is foolishness. He has ‘the fear of the Lord; that is wisdom. He departs from evil; that is understanding.’ When your soul is refreshed by this simple and lovely communion with one of the meanest of God’s saints, return to your learned retirement. Look over your intellectual possessions.Choose out the brightest jewel in your literary cabinet. Place it by the side of ‘the meek and quiet spirit’ of this obscure Christian. Determine which is the ornament of greater price. Compare the boasted treasures of your mind with the spiritual riches of your illiterate brother. Run over the whole catalogue. Let not one be omitted; the depth of your understanding and the strength of your reasonings, the brilliancy of your fancy, the fire of your eloquence. Be proud of them. Glory in them. You cannot. They dwindle into insignificance.”

About a year after her settlement in Devon, she became a decided invalid, and except in the year 1827, she never moved beyond the garden, and only two or three times ventured into the outward air. For the last two years she was entirely confined to her room, and unable to be dressed. During the whole of that period she was watched over by her mother, and surrounded by books. Her beloved Bible was always under her pillow, the first thing in her hand in the morning and the last at night. For a short time before her death, the enemy was permitted to harass her soul, and her lively apprehensions of the gospel were occasionally obscured. Her bodily sufferings were most severe, arising from a complication of diseases. Life terminated at last by a rapid mortification in one of her legs. The last words she was heard to utter, were: “I am come into deep waters; O God, my rock. Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” The next morning, Friday, December 10th, 1830, without a sign or struggle, she entered into her eternal rest. Her lungs, which had been supposed to be sound, were discovered after death to have beenfatally diseased. Her heart also was found to be enlarged.

Thus upheld by the good hope of the gospel, this blessed sufferer, ransomed sinner, and victorious believer, fell asleep in the arms of her Saviour and her God. With hearts clad in the habiliments of sorrow, relatives and friends followed all that could die of Miss Graham to the lonely graveyard. The Christian has always a garden around the sepulchre. To such death is not the penalty of sin, but the gracious summons of the Saviour—the introduction to that world where the pure earth, unsmitten by a curse, shall never be broken for a grave.

THE GREAT CHANGE.

From her own history we learn that Miss Graham was converted to God when only seven years old. Yet it must be admitted that instability marked her early course in the ways of religion. The general tone, however, of her spiritual feeling manifested the habitual operation of a high measure of Divine influence; while her occasional depressions seem not to have sunk her below the ordinary level, and were doubtless connected with those exercises of humiliation described in her correspondence which will find an echo in the hearts of all generous Christians. A deep sense of her own unworthiness was a prominent feature of her life. In all her natural loveliness, with all her gentle and amiable attractions, she lay down before God profoundly in the dust, and poured out from the very bottom of her heart the often repeated cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” The Holy Spirit hadtaught her, that the Searcher of hearts sees guilt in the fairest characters; and that to be saved she must be Divinely renewed, and to see the kingdom of God she must be born again. While Miss Graham was, in the estimation of her parents and of all the members of the household, all that their hearts could wish, she felt her need of an entire and implicit dependence on Jesus Christ for salvation. She was also deeply anxious to bring others to the Saviour, that His Cross might be covered with trophies, and His crown blaze with jewels. If she heard of any that were awakened to a sense of their state and condition in the sight of God, it was always with great delight. Often has she been known on such occasions to shed tears of joy. While her love for the ministers and ordinances of God are worthy of special remark, we must not forget to mention her love to the brethren—these are conscious and unequivocal marks of vital Christianity.

THEOLOGICAL ATTAINMENTS.

The fine, powerful, and spiritual mind of Miss Graham, is abundantly illustrated in her writings and correspondence. For sound divinity, clear reasoning, and fervent piety, there is probably no book in the English language superior to her “Test of Truth.” Scott’s “Force of Truth,” though a valuable work, will bear no comparison with it. In a posthumous work, “The Freeness and Sovereignty of God’s Justifying and Electing Grace,” she furnishes us with a full, clear, and scriptural statement on the humbling doctrine of original sin. “It is the very first lesson in the school of Christ: and it is only by being well rooted and grounded in these first principles that wecan hope to go on to perfection. The doctrine is written in Scripture as with a sunbeam. If we do not feel some conviction of it in our own hearts, it affords a sad proof that we still belong to that ‘generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.’” After adducing most convincing Scriptural evidence, she forcibly illustrates the subject by the case of infants, and appeals to the sacred records of Christian experience. To the doctrine of the total depravity of man, she thus applies thereductio ad absurdummethod of proof: “If man be not utterly depraved, he must be in one of these two states—either perfectly good, without any mixture of sin; or good, with some mixture of evil and imperfection. The first of these suppositions carries its own absurdity upon the face of it. The second is plausible, and more generally received. Yet it is not difficult to prove, that if man had any remaining good in him, that is—towards God—he could not be the creature he now is. There could not be that carelessness about his eternal welfare, that deadness to spiritual things, which we perceive in every individual whose heart has not been renewed by Divine grace.” Thus she finds that the doctrine of man’s partial depravity involves absurd consequences—conclusions wholly at variance with fact. The utter helplessness of man she adduced with great clearness and power, to prove that the work of grace is all of God. Then having proven her statement by Scripture, she proceeds to exhibit in connection with it, the perfect freeness of Divine grace. Miss Graham must not be confounded with those exclusive writers who address the free invitations of the gospel to the elect only. The freenessof Divine mercy—not the secret decree of the Divine will—was the ground and rule of her procedure.

On subjects of theological discussion she is as much at home as on the great doctrines of the gospel. She thus concludes a discussion on the consistency of conditional promises with free salvation: “The great question then about the promises seems to be, not so much whether they are conditional, as whether God looks to Christ, or us, for the performance of those conditions. If to Christ, the burden is laid upon one that is mighty: if to us, then we are undone: ‘for the condition of man after the fall is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works.’” This is strong and uncompromising; yet it is neither unguarded, unscriptural, nor discouraging. Her views of the personality of the Holy Spirit were remarkably clear. She was accustomed, as her “Prayer before Study,” plainly proves, to address Him in direct, and probably frequent supplication. In reference to the deceitful and superficial arguments of infidelity, she observes, “Let us disentangle the artful confusion of words and ideas. Let us set apart each argument for separate and minute scrutiny. Let us analyse the boasted reasonings of the infidel philosophy. We shall find that they may be classed under two heads: assertions which are true, but no way to the purpose; and assertions which are to the purpose, but they are not true.” Her remarks upon the millennium are interesting, but to attempt an analysis of these views, is foreign to our purpose.

On the way of salvation, Miss Graham’s correspondence is highly interesting and instructive. It isdelightful to observe in all her letters, not only extensive and accurate views of science and sound theological opinions, but unostentatious piety, glowing love to the Saviour, and a tender, earnest longing for the salvation of souls. No service is more valuable to the sincere but intelligent inquirer, than to enter into his case with tenderness and forbearance. In these letters there are no vague and ill-defined directions—no deficiency of spiritual understanding. They are rich in evangelical sentiment. Pardoning grace is proclaimed to the guilty; melting and subduing grace to the hard-hearted; and sanctifying grace to the unholy; grace to live and grace to die.

PRACTICAL RELIGION.

It is a truth endorsed by universal Christendom, that the more we are disentangled from speculative inquiries, and occupied in the pursuit of practical realities, the more settled will be our conviction of the genuineness of the testimony, and our consequent enjoyment of its privileges. Miss Graham was naturally open to the temptation of a cavilling spirit. She was prone to begin with the speculative instead of the practical truths of revelation, and to insist upon a solution of its difficulties as a prerequisite to the acknowledgment of its authority, and personal application of its truths. To this we trace her painful, though temporary apostasy. The following passage, written about two months before her death, gives an interesting view of her own search after truth, and indicates a practical apprehension of the gospel: “I am grieved that you should for a moment imaginethat I think our dear —— must be lost, because she does not subscribe to the doctrines of Calvin. I do not so much as know what all Calvin’s doctrines are, or whether I should subscribe to them myself. I have read one book of Calvin’s, many parts of which pleased me much: I mean his ‘Institutes,’ which Bishop Horsley says ought to be in every clergyman’s library. Further than this I know nothing of Calvin or his opinions. I certainly did not form one single opinion from his book, for I had formed all my opinions long before from the Bible. You may remember my telling you some years ago I declined greatly, almost entirely (inwardly) from the ways of God, and in my breast was an infidel, a disbeliever in the truths of the Bible. When the Lord brought me out of that dreadful state, and established my faith in His word, I determined to take that wordalonefor my guide. I read nothing else for between three and four months, and the Lord helped me to pray over every word that I read. At that time, and from that reading, all my religious opinions were formed, and I have not changed one of them since. I knew nothing then of Calvin. I have said so much, dear ——, because I think it a very wicked thing to do, as you seem to think I do, to call Calvin or any man ‘master on earth,’ or to make any human writer our guide in spiritual things.” Miss Graham’s religion consisted in receiving the whole Bible without partiality or gainsaying, loving God, and doing good to man.

PROGRESS AND POWER.

The source of all progress and power to the child of God is union, an abiding union with Jesus. Miss Graham felt this for years, and longed for it as the one thing needful to satisfy the cravings of her own soul, and increase her usefulness to others. The abiding graces of the Christian life, faith,—hope, and charity—are also its abiding forces. Christians should learn to live, as well as learn to die. The twofold significance of the text, “The just shall live by faith,” struck deep into the generous soil of her ardent heart and active mind. The just shall bemade alivefirst, andafterwards learn to liveby faith. The just shall bejustified before God first, and afterwards learn the wayto become just also in heart and lifeby faith. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love: even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Simply to abide in Jesus is the whole philosophy of progress and power.

CHARACTER OF MISS GRAHAM.

The biographer of Miss Graham, has been constrained to compensate for the paucity of incident—furnished by her life, to introduce large extracts fromher writings and correspondence. From these extracts, and a portrait taken four years before her death, we learn that her physical constitution was rather too finely strung. Bred delicately in a great city, shut up in a nursery in childhood, and in a school through youth—never accustomed to air or exercise, her beauty faded quickly, and she was cut off in the midst of life. To preserve health it is not necessary to visit some distant clime, nor to do some great thing, but simply to obey her laws.

A striking feature of her intellectual character, was a total concentration of every power of thought and feeling in the object of pursuit immediately before her. In youthful games she engaged with the same ardour which she afterwards applied to languages and sciences. Indeed, she followed Solomon’s advice in everything she undertook: “Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!” It was impossible to divert her mind from the object that was engaging her attention to any other employment or recreation. To subjects of taste, she brought a glow of feeling and imagination; matters of a graver cast, are drawn out with the sober accuracy of a reflecting and discriminating judgment.

One of our poets glowingly exclaims,—

“O Thou bleeding Lamb!The true morality is love of Thee.”

“O Thou bleeding Lamb!

The true morality is love of Thee.”

Miss Graham’s love to her Saviour was one of her most prominent characteristics. Those parts of Scripture that brought her into closer contact with the subject nearest her heart. Every evening she devoted an hour to intercessory prayer. She also set apartspecial times for secret dedication and communion with God. The sacred book was her constant food and study. Her love for the ordinances of God deserves special remark. Messengers of the gospel she loved for their work’s sake, and for their Master’s sake. “Pray before, as well as after your visit” was her solemn entreaty to her own beloved minister.

“Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;Do noble things, not dream them, all day long,And so make life, death, and that vast For-ever,One grand, sweet song.”

“Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long,

And so make life, death, and that vast For-ever,

One grand, sweet song.”

“In the structure and working of her whole nature, she seemed to me the nearest approach I ever saw, in man or woman, to my ideal of our blessed Saviour as He appeared on the earth.”

Dr. Anderson.

CHRISTIANITY AND HUMAN NATURE.

The peculiarities of Christianity form a most important and powerful argument in favour at once of its truth and of its Divine origin. A comparison of Christianity with other religions not only proclaims it to be the only religion worthy of God and suitable for human nature; but proclaims at the same time, and with equal power and effect, the utter futility of the infidel maxim,—that all religions are alike. A false religion, whether recorded in the pages of the Koran or the Shaster, may contain many important truths; but the fact that it is ahumaninstead ofaDivine, afalseinstead of atruereligion, indelibly stamps it as unacceptable in the sight of Him who is “Holy in all in His works;” and unadapted to meet the wants of sinful creatures. There is only one religion in entire accord with all the phases, aspects, and transitions of the human mind; and that is the religion of the Bible. Christianity is adapted to you as an intellectual being—it records a history—it reveals a theology—it unfolds a philosophy—it affords scope for reasoning—it appeals to the imagination. Christianity is in harmony with your moral nature. Truly and beautifully has Sir Thomas Browne said, “There is no felicity in what the world adores—that wherein God Himself is happy, the holy angels are happy, and in whose defect the devils are unhappy—that dare I call happiness.” Your character is entirely sinful and depraved. Christianity presents to you the ideal of your original rectitude, and would win you to the love of holiness, as a thing of beauty and majesty. Christianity is adapted to you as an emotional being. The facility in shedding tears at the remembrance of sin, or at the cross, is no evidence of repentance; joy in the belief that sins are forgiven is no proof of conversion. Yet weeping is a mighty thing. Our Saviour never fell into sentimentalism or affectation, but His great soul ran over His eyes when on earth; and it would do the same if He dwelt with us now. Christianity excites the deepest emotion, and wakes up all the tumultuous feelings of the soul. Christianity is in harmony with your social nature. It takes your state under its auspices; and its tendency is, by its laws and influences, directly or indirectly, to etherealize the affections of the family, toennoble the love of country, and to inflame all the enthusiasms which point to the good and glory of the race. Christianity is adapted to you as a suffering being. Trials are ill to bear. They are not “joyous, but grievous.” Yet he who believes that all things work together for good, will thank God for medicine as well as for food; and for the winter that kills the weeds, as well as for the summer that ripens the fields. Christianity is in harmony with your immortal nature. You are full of “thoughts that wander through eternity;” and Christianity establishes the truth of a future state—secures its glory—prepares for its enjoyment. It makes the hope of heaven a guiding principle in life, adapting its disclosures and descriptions of the future inheritance to the varied circumstances of the present. What a religion this!—it is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?”

BIOGRAPHY.

Fidelia Fiske was born on the 1st May, 1816, at Shelburne; a decayed town in Nova Scotia. Her father, a man of noble form, benignant face, and saintly character, who lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-two; was descended of ancestors who had emigrated from England to America. Her mother was a woman of great activity and equability; a native of Taunton, Massachusetts. This colony took its name from the circumstance that it was founded by a number of Christian men and women, who went forth from St. Mary Magdalene church, Taunton, Somerset, in the days of Archbishop Laud. The home of her childhood was aplain one-storey farmhouse, the large family room of which served as kitchen, nursery, dining and sitting room. In that mountain-home life was quiet and simple, yet by no means dull and monotonous. Around the blazing fire the little circle gathered every evening, while sewing, knitting, reading, and story-telling filled up the swift hours; till at length the great Bible was brought forth, a chapter read, and a fervent prayer offered. At early dawn they renewed their peaceful pursuits, amid the ceaseless and ever-varying voices of nature. As a child, Fidelia was unusually thoughtful and observing. She always weighed consequences, and nothing could escape her notice.

When about four years of age, she began to attend the district school near her father’s house. Here for some ten or twelve years she pursued the studies usually taught in country schools. Though by no means a prodigy, she had next to no labour in acquiring the art of reading; and easily outstripped others of the same age, and won the place of honour in her class. On the 12th of July, 1831, Fidelia made a public profession of her faith in Christ, and became a member of the Congregational church at Shelburne. In 1839, Miss Fiske entered the middle class in Mount Holyoke seminary. This institution enjoyed a high reputation for its educational and religious tone. Miss Lyon, who presided over it, was a most gifted, fascinating, and holy woman. Early impressed by religious truth, Fidelia here found herself in a thoroughly congenial element. The diligence and thoroughness of study required suited her mental habits; while the prominence given to religious instruction and religious duties met the wants of her rapidly-developingreligious life. As might have been expected, she soon formed an attachment for Miss Lyon, which was reciprocated, and which time only intensified. At the close of her first year, a malignant form of typhoid fever appeared in the academy. Miss Fiske returned home to her parents. Two days after, she was seized with the disorder, and for many days lay at the gate of death. During that season of sickness she learned, for the first time, the real feelings of the sick and dying, and how to care for them. Nor were these the only lessons she learnt. The malady passed from her to her father, who went through the gate that seemed to have opened for his daughter. Her younger sister also, who had been converted in answer to her prayers, followed her father into the land of the immortals. The autumn of the following year found her again at Mount Holyoke, a member of the senior class. After graduating, she became a teacher. Although high culture marked in a distinguishing degree this seminary, it was unlike many of the schools in England for ladies, where the tinsel of accomplishments is preferred to the ennobling influence of piety.

We have now reached the great crisis in her history. At the meeting of the American Board at Norwich, Connecticut, in the autumn of 1842, Miss Lyon was very anxious that her seminary should be more thoroughly pervaded with the missionary spirit. Calling a meeting of such as were present, she told them that the institution had been founded to advance the missionary cause, and that she “sometimes felt that its walls had been built from the funds of missionary boards.” Miss Fiske little knew how much that meetingwould cost her. While she and others were earnestly pleading for the heathen, the Lord’s messenger was approaching her with a call to become a missionary herself. Dr. Perkins came to Mount Holyoke, and made a request for a young lady to go with him to Persia. Miss Fiske sent a note to him with these brief words, “If counted worthy, I should be willing to go.” On her decision becoming known at the seminary, Miss Lyon said, “If such are your feelings, we will go and see your mother and sisters;” and in an hour they were on their way. A thirty miles’ ride, on a cold wintry Saturday, through snow-drifts in which they were several times upset, brought them to the Shelburne hills. The family were aroused from their slumbers to receive unexpected guests, and to hold an unexpected consultation. Prayers and tears mingled with the solemn and tender discussions of the hour. Before the Sabbath closed, her mother was enabled cheerfully to say, “Go, my child, go.” Other friends could not withhold their consent, and the great question was definitely decided.

On Wednesday, March 1st, 1843, Miss Fiske, with others destined for the same general field, embarked on board theEmma Isadora. At half-past four o’clock p.m. the barque left her wharf, and moving down the harbour was soon out of sight. The voyage was pleasant. A storm overtook them, but no fear disturbed Miss Fiske; despite the anxious countenance of the captain, and the need for vigilance on the part of the crew, she writes: “I look out from my cabin window to trace a Father’s hand in this wild commotion.” She did not wait until she arrived in Persia, but began her ministry of love by taking under herspecial care the young daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Perkins, guiding her studies and leading her to the Saviour. On the 8th of April, the ship anchored before Smyrna. After a week’s rest the Austrian steamer left, and in thirty-eight hours reached Constantinople. The perils and hardships of the sea were past, but seven or eight hundred miles still lay between our missionary friends and their Persian home. However, under the skilful guidance of Dr. Perkins, they passed safely to Urumiyah, their destined field of labour.

According to English gazetteers, Urumiyah is a walled town, and contains upwards of 20,000 inhabitants, of whom about 10,000 are Nestorians, 2000 Jews, and the rest Mohammedans. It claims to be the birthplace of Zoroaster, and in the vicinity are several mounds supposed to be the hills of the ancient fire-worshippers. The Nestorians derive their name from Nestorius, a heretic of the fifth century, who taught that Christ was divided into two persons. Nestorius acquired so much distinction by his learning, pulpit eloquence, and purity of life, that, in 428, he was elevated to the patriarchate of Constantinople. But fourteen centuries had wrought terrible degradation in Persia. There was little of Christianity, except the name, when the American Board of Commissioners established a mission and educational agency in 1834. The language of the Nestorians contained no words corresponding to home and wife, the nearest approach to them being house and woman. To a person of refinement and delicacy, like Miss Fiske, it must have been shocking to see women treated by men as drudges and slaves: wives beaten often and severelyby their husband; yea, a whole village of these coarse and passionate creatures engaged in a quarrel among themselves, their hair all loose and flying in the wind. Miss Fiske’s chief solicitudes were given to the educational agency. By great tact she effected considerable reformation in the schools, and corrected the prevalent habits of lying and stealing among her pupils. She also found time to visit the Nestorian women, to pray with them, and read the Scriptures. In 1844, her labours and plans were suddenly interrupted by a storm of persecution which burst upon the mission. When the missionaries had most reason to fear expulsion, Miss Fiske thus wrote:—“I knew not before that my affections had become so closely entwined around this poor people, nor how severely I should feel a removal from them.” In the providence of God their enemies were thwarted; and they were permitted to remain and go on with their work, though not without great opposition. Towards the end of the year, Miss Fiske resumed her duties. How hard she laboured; with what holy fire her bosom burned; how earnestly she longed for a brighter day to dawn on the wretched Persian women; with what success she enforced upon mothers as well as pupils their relative duties; how brilliantly she illustrated the text, “Dying, and behold we live; unknown, and yet well known; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things”! In 1849, the first public examination of the school was held, and about two hundred guests listened with unabated interest to the exercises till the sun went down. The pupils were examined in ancient and modern Syriac, Bible history, geography,and natural philosophy. The following year opened upon them in a new, large, and convenient building. In the autumn of 1856, the Persian government again tried to break up the educational agency. Askar Khan visited the seminary, and explored every part of it. He questioned one of the girls who could speak Turkish, but was baffled by the discreet replies of the pupil; yet in a decided manner he condemned female education, and told the girls that their former condition was the only proper one for them.

When we think of the physical labour, the mental effort, the practical wisdom, the ready discernment of character, the unconquerable perseverance, and the devoted piety necessary for discharging the functions of a female missionary; we do not wonder that sixteen years produced a wearing and exhausting effect upon Miss Fiske’s health. The time had come when change was imperatively demanded; and as Dr. Perkins and Mrs. Stoddard were expecting to leave for America the following summer, it was decided that she should accompany them. During the intervening months she received ample evidence of the permanency of the work of grace that had been wrought in the land of her adoption. On the morning of her departure, about seventy former pupils gathered about her, and asked the privilege of one more prayer—meeting with her in her room, “the little Bethel,” as they called it. Six prayers were offered, all tender and comforting—one particularly so; and this one she had frequent occasion to remember in the course of her long journey, and always felt comforted and encouraged by it.

The population of Nova Scotia is now chiefly composedof a native race, sprung directly or indirectly from the three great families of the United Kingdom. They are situated on the confines of a frozen ocean, but their hearts are not chilled, nor their friendships blunted by its influence. Miss Fiske soon recognised many in the group which surrounded her at the old sanctuary on the first Sunday after her return. During 1860, she visited Boston, to say farewell to a band of missionaries destined for the Nestorian field. Although glad that labourers were being sent forth, she could not repress a pang of regret that she could not go with them. Most extensive and blessed was the work she carried on during her sojourn in America; but amid it all the noble woman turned her face to the East and longed to be among the daughters of Persia. Feebler and fainter, however, became that hope; and soon it was certain that no journey but that to the “beautiful land” lay before Miss Fiske.

For six weeks she was confined almost entirely to her bed. She was able, however, to write many letters of counsel and comfort. One written May 26th, 1864, and addressed to Dr. Wright, on his leaving America for Persia, indicated her never-failing interest in the work to which she had consecrated the best years of her life. The disease, which at first was supposed to be cancerous, proved to be a general inflammation of the lymphatic vessels. For two or three nights she was obliged to remain in a sitting posture. Her last loving message to the teachers and pupils of Mount Holyoke, closed with the words, “Live for Christ; in so doing we shall be blessed in time and in eternity.” On the Sabbath morning sheasked to have a number of the tracts entitled “Immanuel’s Land” laid upon her table, so that every person visiting her might carry away one. The Rev. E. Y. Swift called to see her on Tuesday, July 26th. She held out her hand to welcome him, and feebly said, “Will you pray.” These were her last words. As the prayer ascended, her spirit was caught up to learn the strains of the everlasting song of praise.

Not in the land of the Persian, but in her native country—the soil from which spring the children of freedom, the hearts of honesty, and the arms of bravery—was the body let down to the grave, in the full assurance that the soul was in heaven. At the funeral, one who knew her well, said: “God sent her to benighted Persia, that those poor people might have there an image of Jesus, and learn what He was like; not by cold theories, but by a living example. He brought her back to us, that we might see what sanctified human nature can become, and might gain a new view of the power of His grace.” Some old grey heads, more becoming grey, and many bright in manhood and womanhood, breathed the prayer:—

Back to Index Next