On Monday the 23d, she called her father, and said, “I am going.” He asked _where_? She answered “to heaven: adding, I am glad I do not leave _you_, in your sins, but that you are brought into the right way. Only endure, and you will shortly follow me! Do not grieve for me; O resign me.” He cried, “I am a wretch, I cannot resign you;” to which she answered, “_that_ is nature, I was a wretch too, but God has set me at liberty; do you pray to him, and he will give you more grace.” He complained “I cannot pray, do you pray for me.” She said, “my bowels yearn for you;” and then lay quiet a little interceding for him and the family; after which she broke out, “Lord hasten thy work; do more now in my soul in a day, than thou wast wont to do in many days.” She then repeated Revelation xxii. 1. and said, “well may they be called rivers, for I see fountains upon fountains: O what rivers of pleasure are there! How shall I swim in those _oceans_ of _love_ to all eternity! I am overcome with love! Oh if I were loose from this affliction how would I sing!” And calling on those who were present to sing, she gave out
“No need of the sun in that day, Which never is followed by night, Where Jesus’s beauties display, A pure, and a permanent light: The Lamb is their light and their sun, And lo! By reflection ♦they shine, With Jesus ineffably one, And bright in effulgence divine.”
♦ “thy” replaced with “they” per Errata
To her father she said, “You have many difficulties in the world, and I will tell you what you must do; give your hands to the world, and your heart to God, and he will make a way for you.”
*She seemed to enjoy a happy foresight of the prosperity of the work of God, when she said, “You may look for glorious times to come; for the Lord has a great work to do on earth, before the church militant can join the church triumphant.” To some of the society who were present, she said, “God has given you the _means_ of _grace_, in order to bring you safe to glory; see that you do not slight or neglect any of them; use them constantly, and look through them all to Jesus.”
Afterwards one asked, how she was? She answered, “Weak in body, but happy in soul: I long to be gone to heaven.” Being told, you must be resigned, she answered, “I am resigned, but would rather be with Jesus.”
Some who desired to serve the Lord, but were not heartily in earnest, came to see her. One of these, she had invited some time before to the class-meeting; and he had almost promised to come, but neglected. She said to him, “I thought you would have been at the meeting as you proposed; O how was my soul grieved that you did not come! Will you come the next time? The _Methodist_ way is the _right_ way. It was a happy turn that I was ever brought into it. O how good have I found it to _remember my Creator in the days of my youth_. Now I can say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for the Lord is with me, his rod and staff shall comfort me.” She then encouraged them heartily to join with the people of God, and not to fear any reproach they might suffer on that account.
When the disorder was at the height, she said, “Some may think that I have a _heavy_ affliction. _No_: I have none that I can spare. Oh! it’s a _happy_ affliction!”
*“Others, said she, may say of me, she was once _blooming_; how is she _altered_ now? But I was never so _beautiful_ in all my life; I am as the King’s daughter, all-glorious within: and my raiment is of wrought gold.”
A little before her departure, being visited by the wife of one of the leaders, she asked how her husband did? Adding, “He has had many struggles to help me forward in the ways of the Lord; but now he may rejoice in all his labours, for I am going safe to glory, and hope to meet him there. O little children! Love one another.” She also advised her, as she had many children, to take care what example she set before them.
Afterwards one asked whether she thought her present sickness would end in death, she answered, “I cannot tell; but the will of the Lord be done. Only this I know, that neither life nor death shall separate me from the love of Jesus, who has redeemed me from the foundation of the world. If I die, as soon as you see me depart, sing _Happy soul, thy days are ended_: and when you carry me to the grave, sing the same hymn. When you return let not your hearts be filled with grief, but praise God, as I shall be rejoicing with him in glory.”
An HYMN,
_Sung at the time of her departure_.
1. HAPPY soul, thy days are ended, All thy mourning days below: Go by angel-guards attended, To the sight of Jesus go. Hallelujah, Amen.
2. Waiting to receive thy Spirit, Lo the Saviour stands above, Shews the purchase of his merit, Reaches out the crown of love.
3. Struggle through thy latest passion, To thy dear Redeemer’s breast, To his uttermost salvation, To thine everlasting rest.