my dearest M. was to be his victim, and nothing could avert the fatal stroke. She continued to fail for about two hours, and then resigned her spirit into the hands of her Redeemer. She had her reason to the last, and was sensible of the approach of death. She expressed her firm confidence and her unshaken hope in Jesus. She left a dying message for the children in the female schools under her care-bid me farewell, and closed her eyes in death. "As some circumstances seemed to render it expedient that the funeral should take place the same day, it was appointed at the chapel at 5 o'clock. Besides the persons belonging to the mission, many of our dear Christian friends united with us as mourners in expressing their sympathy with us in our affliction, and their regard for the deceased. At no time, I think, have I seen more people assembled in the mission chapel. The 15th chapter of 1st Cor. was read, the 3d hymn 2d book Why do we mourn departed friends, was then sung, and Mr. Stone prayed. The native part of the assembly was then addressed in Mahratta, (the native language,) by the Rev. J. Wilson. The number of people who assembled at the burying ground was nearly as large as at the chapel. All the members of the mission now in Bombay, with the Rev. Messrs. Davies, Clow, and Wilson, with their families, and many other dear Christian friends standing around the grave, united in singing the 231st select hymn, 'Unveil thy bosom faithful tomb, Take this new treasure to thy trust,' &c. And just as the. beams of the setting sun were disappearing from the objects around us, the remains of my beloved M. were deposited in their lowly bed, there to rest in peaceful slumber, till she shall rise glorious in her Saviour's image on the resurrection morn. "On Sabbath (yesterday) evening the Rev. Mr. Wilson preached a sermon on the occasion of her death, in the chapel, from Heb. 11:13. The people present were much as at the funeral. In requesting Mr. Wilson to do this, I expressed the wish that nothing further might be said respecting her character, than that she had been for many years a professed follower of Christthat her trust was fixed solely on his atonement and mediation, and that her hope in his mercy remained unshaken in the hour of death. Towards the close of his sermon, however, he was led to speak in the follow ing manner, which he has kindly permitted me to insert here. 6 My brethren, I commend these statements to your Christian consideration, and I exhort you to weigh them with solemnity and humility. They are at all times suitable and important as subjects of meditation; but in our present circumstances, they are fraught with a peculiar interest. God not only addresses us by his word, but by his providence he beseeches us to confess that we are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.' He instructs us in the most emphatic manner. He shows to us the brevity of time; he reminds us that here we have no continued place of abode; he strives to deaden our affections to all that is of the world; he teaches us to work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work; he exhibits to us the triumphs of the gospel; and he unfolds the value of that hope which is full of immortality, and that faith which can penetrate the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death, and which can behold in distant, but exulting prospect, the regions of the blessed. 'The circumstances and character of the beloved friend, whom God, in his adorable providence, has so lately removed from us, and whose loss we so deeply lament, were in many respects similar to those of the witnesses mentioned in the chapter from which our text is taken. She possessed that 'faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Like Enoch, she walked with God, enjoying his favor, and delighting in his service. Like Abraham, she looked to this land of spiritual promise, and with the fervent and holy desire of being a coadjutor in the great work of making known to its benighted inhabitants the glad tidings of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, she left her kindred and her father's house, the scenes of tender association and holy impression, and sojourned in a land whose attractions are not those of ease and worldly enjoyment; but to which she was attached by deep compassion for the lost children of the family of man, and by zeal for the divine glory. In the situation in which she was placed, and in the labor she was called to perform, she found something more than contentment and resignation: she found occasions of gratitude, and sources of the highest joy. Her work was congenial to her mind, and dear to her soul. She hallowed it with her prayers; and devoted to it, without reservation, her time, her strength, and her talents. With the most commendable diligence, she made her self acquainted, in a degree seldom exhibited by her sex, with the customs and language of a large portion of the natives, who at first appeared to her as a people of a strange countenance, and of a strange tongue. The degraded females around us, both old and young, heard from her lips the doctrine of salvation; observed her holy anxieties and witnessed the operation of that principle by which she condemned the world. Those who were acquainted with her, knew her excellence, and appreciated her worth. They witnessed her deadness to the world; and her desire for an entrance into that city which hath foundations, and whose builder and maker is God. They knew the meekness of her spirit; and her unwearied benevolence. They saw the peace of the gospel which passeth all understanding, sustain her in the hour of affliction and trial. They heard her, in the view of her dissolution and her solemn entrance into eternity, express her humble reliance on the divine Redeemer. And in the exercise of trust, they traced her ascent to that great cloud of witnesses, who urge us to 'Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race that is set before us.' "God, my dear hearers, has addressed us; |