T li E
CONVERSION
AND
DEATH-BED EXPERIENCE
OF
MRS. JESSIE LITTLE,
OF GLASGOW,
WHO DIED IN JAN'ARTY, 18142, AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN
B Y JOHN LITTLE.
Flc'v.'   1 1E, I:lEA'II    LONDO) N  EflITI.S, fRVlVED.
PTBTrISIIElD BY TIlE,
AMEI   I a l  CA N TRACT SOCIETYE
150 NASSAU-STREET'', NEWV YORK.








PREFACE.
THE memoir of Mrs. Little being originally written for the private use of her surviving friends, its
appearance in public was the result of a repeatedly
expressed desire, on the part of a number of esteemed
Christian brethren, who were of opinion that its publication might, in the hands of the Spirit, prove useful as an instrument in bringing to peace with God
those who were laboring under anxiety regarding
their eternal welfare. And it is cheering to record
that these anticipations have, in a considerable number of instances, been pleasingly realized.
The edition now published presents the narrative
in a revised, and it is hoped a more useful form than
it has hitherto possessed.








CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Mrs. Little's first religious impressions-Her want of success as a
Sabbath-school teacher-Scripture tests of a true Christian at
variance with her experience-Consequent uneasiness about the
salvation of her soul-Has recourse to good works-Their failure
in bestowing peace-Increasing anxiety about her soul's welfare,.................................................    7
CHAPTER II.
Attends a prayer-meeting-Finds peace under an address by Mr.
Guthrie-New views and feelings-Former misapprehension of
the gospel —General difficulties of the unconverted-Review  of
her past errors in connection with the way of salvation,.  20
CHAPTER III.
Experience as a believer-Former difficulties-Erroneous ideas regarding "works "-Connection with North Albion-street churchLove to the brethren, to believers in general, and to the worldSacrifices for the spread of the gospel-Worldly pleasures-Scottish music and sacred poetry,...........................  45
CHAPTER IV.
Commencement of her illness -Resignation - Parting with her
child-Increasing happiness-The illness and death of her childCheerfulness under the trial-Prospect of parting with her husband-Message to her friends-Intense physical suffering-Peace
of mind-Consciousness of her safety in.Jesus,............ 65




6                      CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Prayer-Advantages derived from it-Increasing physical sufferings-Their abatement-State of her mind-Jesus the source of
her joy-Apparent approach of death-Her consciousness of itGod's promise fulfilled-The love of Christ and her own ingratitude-Message to her medical attendants-The text for her funeralsermon-Prayer answered-The work of Christ,...........-   85
CHAPTER VI.
The approach of death-Interview with Mrs. Campbell-The state
of her mind-Spiritual joy-Parting requests-Foretaste of heaven-Her death-Meeting of her acquaintances-Her funeral —Her
funeral-sermon-Manuscript written by Mrs. Little,........ 109




MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
CHAPTER I.
MRS. LITTLE'S FIRST RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS-HER WANT
OF SUCCESS AS A SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHER-SCRIPTURE TESTS OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN AT VARIANCE WITH
HER EXPERIENCE-CONSEQUENT UNEASINESS ABOUT
THE SALVATION OF HER SOUL-HAS RECOURSE TO
GOOD WORKS-THEIR FAILURE IN BESTOWING PEACEINCREASING ANXIETY ABOUT HER SOUL'S WELFARE
ALTHOUGH possessed of what might be considered, for her years, an extensive acquaintance with the divine word, it was not till the
year 1839 that any thing like serious impressions appeared on the mind of Mrs. Little,
regarding her prospects for eternity. She was
than in the fifteenth year of her age, and having-been early and suddenly deprived of her
father by death, was under the kind guardianship of her uncle, Mr. Cumming of Selkirk.
Here she enjoyed, in an eminent degree, advantages favorable to the religious culture of
the mind.  In her aunt, in whom were developed some of the loveliest features of the




8         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
Christian character, she found not only the
kindest affection of a mother, but a constant
pattern of every thing that was calculated to
impress her mind with the reality and value of
the religion of Jesus Christ.
About this period, nMrs. Little-then Miss
Jessie Cumming —began to be engaged in some
of the more active duties which devolve on
individual Christians: having for some time
been a pupil, she was now considered, from
her acquaintance with the Scriptures and her
general intelligence, qualified to take a class
under her own immediate charge; and consequently became a teacher in the Sabbathschool in connection with the Secession church
at Selkirk, under the pastoral charge of Mr.
George Lawson. With the Female Religious
Tract Society in Selkirk she was also connected, and was personally engaged in the distribution of their useful publications from
house to house. To this duty, as well as to
those connected with the class in the Sabbathschool, she devoted herself with much assiduity and attention. From the prayer and fellowship meetings, which were held weekly by
some of the pious people connected with Mr.




RELIGIOUS ANXIETIES.           9
Lawson's church, she was rarely ever found
absent; and in short, to appearance, was in
every respect diligent and industrious, at all
times and seasons, in the service of the Lord
and in promoting his cause by all the means
that lay within her power.  She continued to
discharge these and other Christian duties, for
a considerable length of time, with a zeal and
fidelity, and with a walk and conversation, becoming in every respect to a disciple of the
Lord Jesus; while her naturally sweet and
unobtrusive disposition, throwing a deeper
tinge of humility over all her efforts, tended
to strengthen the impression that she was in
reality one of those who were "born again;"
and thus, not only to an outward observer, but
even to her own mind, did she appear to correspond with such a character-at least, if
any doubts on the subject ever presented
themselves to her attention, they were speedily dispersed before the flow of satisfaction
which usually followed the exercise, on her
part, of various Christian duties,' such as a
strict observance of the Lord's day, regularity
in her private devotional exercises, and attendance at prayer-meetings.




10       IMRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
Under these common, but delusive and dangerous ideas as to what constitutes a child
of God, Mrs. Little labored for a considerable
period of time. Not very long, however, after
the class in the Sabbath-school had been committed to her charge, she felt a conviction
growing and deepening on her mind, that her
labors in that class were productive of no actual beneficial results, of not even the most
distant appearance of any thing like serious
impressions on the minds of the children; she
failed to make them sedate and serious, which
was probably all she was endeavoring to effect.
This state of matters in her class was to her
mind a source of much grief and pain, and
produced considerable reflection on the subject,
and on various means for securing to her efforts a larger degree of success. At length she
began to pray more frequently and more earnestly, that her labors might be more blessed,
and her dealings with young immortal souls
more successful, at the same time renewing
her exertions with increased vigor, lest the
Lord might call her an unprofitable servant.
Still, however, no satisfactory evidence was
given by any of the children, thathe great




RELIGIOUS ANXIETIES.         11
truths she was constantly endeavoring to bring,
before their minds were at all interesting them,
or producing more than ordinary attention: her
many prayers and increased exertions all appeared to be expended in vain, and the only considerations which induced her to continue her
labors, were the hope that the seed she was
now endeavoring to sow might be watered by
the Lord, and hereafter spring up to his praise
and glory;- and also the conviction that she
was discharging, to the utmost of her ability,
those duties for the due performance of which
she considered that the many privileges which
she, as a Christian, enjoyed, rendered her responsible; cherishing at the same time the
false and delusive idea, that if her labors were
not blessed here, the performance of them on
her part would at least meet with due reward
on the part of God hereafter. Such ideas yielded her —as, to nominal professors, they often
do-a false peace and satisfaction for the present, and presented a somewhat plausible appearance of encouragement for the futuremotives which possessed strength enough to
induce her still to persevere in her labors, although any thing like success or the realiza



12         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
tion of her wishes appeared to be as far distant as ever.
About this time, also, another source of pain
and perplexity, but of a far deeper and more
distressing character, made its appearance on
her mind. A careful perusal of the inspired
volume discovered to her the fact, that the
true people of God enjoy a peace of mind
which takes away the fear of death-a peace
which the world can neither give nor take
away-a peace which "passeth all understanding;" while at the same time she found
that her own conscience and experience by no
means corresponded with any such declarations: on the contrary, on instituting a calm
and faithful examination of her own heart, she
found that the sting of death was not taken
away, that the perishing things of this world
formed the source from which she derived her
chief enjoyments, and that her small measure
of spiritual peace was created by the performance of certain duties on her part, and not by
the conveyance to her mind of a certain truth
contained in the Bible,- r by the knowledge of
a work already finished and completed on the
part of Jesus, as revealed in the Scriptures.




RELIGIOUS ANXIETIES.         13
Under such a scrutiny, it may easily beconceived that MIrs. Little's mind derived any
thing but satisfaction from her past Christian
history, or encouragement from the solemn
contemplation of the future; and she now
proceeded to reason with herself in the following manner: " The word of God informs me
that the believer, even in this life, enjoys a
peace of mind which the world can neither
give nor take away.'Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give unto you. Not as the
world giveth, give I unto you.' On carefully
looking into my own heart, I find that I do not
possess any such state of mind; consequently
the word of God declares one thing, and my,
conscience declares another: both cannot be
consistent with truth; either the Bible must
declare what is not true, or I am not a child
of God.  But, in all it declares, I believe
the Bible to be true; therefore I am yet unsaved, and on the way to eternal woe. Again,
the Scriptures also declare that the unbeliever
has no peace with God, nor rest for his soul.'There is no peace, saith my God, to the
wicked.' Now I find that I have no real peace
of mind, and my soul can find no satisfac



14         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
tory resting-place; the unavoidable conclusion
therefore again is, that I am still an unbeliever,'without God and without hope in the
world."' And further, in breaking through
the merely external habiliments of her Christian profession, and going down to the secret
recesses of her own heart, dragging out her
whole motives, and laying them bare and naked
before the searching and analyzing eye of a
rigid and impartial conscience, she found that
the elements of which her religion was coinposed consisted of nothing more than a dread
of future punishment, a desire for her own
future safety and happiness, and lastly, of an
extensive round of Christian duties, as the
means for protecting her against eternal death
and for securing to her soul the possession of
eternal life.
Such was, at this period, the sum and substance of Mrs. Little's Christianity-such the
composition of the structure upon which her
immortal soul was resting its hopes for- eternity. Is this the Rock of ages, or is it niot?
was now the all-important question; and the
Bible being the only standard of truth, was
alone competent to present her with a satisfac



RELIGIOUS ANXIETI'ES.        15
tory reply. But a further examination of the
sacred volume conveyed to her mind no intimation that the religion of Jesus Christ con;
sisted either in a dread of future punishment,
or in a desire for future safety and happiness;
and nowhere could she find it mentioned, that
the mere observance of certain external Christian duties secured the eternal welfare of the
soul. The inevitable conclusion, therefore, at
which her mind arrived, was, that she was still
an unconverted sinner, unsaved, and in danger
every moment of dropping into eternity, to endure the wrath and curse of God for ever and
ever; and, so far as all her former good works
and exertions in the cause of Christ were concerned, she now saw that they were in themselves no way calculated to introduce her into
the everlasting fellowship of a perfectly holy
Being whose laws she had violated; but were,
on the contrary, an abomination in the sight of
the Lord, only fitting her for condemnation,
instead of qualifying her, as she had hitherto
imagined, for the reception of God's favor and
love.
These were new and most alarming-annuancements, but which the conclusion of




'16        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
every faithful and impartial debate with her
own conscience, of every examination into her
own heart, and of every appeal to the sacred
volume on the subject of hei soul's eternal
welfare, only served to confirm. From without, the word of God exclaimed, "Unsaved!
unsaved!" and from within, conscience echoed
back the dismal sound, " Unsaved! unsaved!"
evidence which was conclusive to her own
mind in establishing the melancholy fact, that
she was really and truly an unbeliever, and
consequently in momentary danger of eternally
losing her soul.
This truth being thus established on what
she considered the most indubitable evidence,
she proceeded to follow out its results in the
subsequent stages of her disagreeable and
humbling argument, in substance, as follows:
" Now the Bible further declares, that none
but believers can inherit the kingdom of God.'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved; believe not, and thou shalt be
damned.' I am not a believer; therefore I
cannot inherit that kingdom. The soul of an
unbeliever is in jeopardy every moment of
being lost for ever; my soul, therefore, is in




RELIGIOIUS ANXIETIES.        17
mnomentary  danger of eternal destruction.
Thousands and tens of thousands are hurried
into eternity without a moment's notice; and
why may not I be?  My dear father was
found, to our sad and rnelancholy surprise, one
morning stretched in his bed a cold and lifeless
corpse; and why may it not be thus with me
to-morrow morning?"
In this, and in other ways, she continued for
some time to reason with herself, and the result of every such argument only tended to
deepen the deplorable conviction that she was
a lost sinner, posting onward with fearfuA
rapidity to the depths of destruction, and lia,.
ble to be plunged into that awful pit of misery
where the wrath of God burneth for ever and
ever, to mingle her cries with the eternal wail
of the lost. Her only resource now lay in the
hope, that the Lord might still permit hereto
remain in the land of the living, till she attained possession of that peace which is the
result of genuine faith in the Son of God, and
a consciousness of pardon through the merits
of his atonement; and for this purpose, strange
to say, instead of going direct to the word of
Him who " cannot lie," and simply receiving
Mrs. Little,       <




18         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
the good news which the Holy Spirit had there
to communicate, namely, that the very thing
which alone could convey peace to her mind
here, and procure salvation to her soul hereafter, was already done-that Jesus had already died to "take away the sin of the
world," that he had finished the work of atonement-she now put into energetic practice the
cultivation of pious and holy thoughts and
feelings, great purity in life, and other similar
exercises, at the same time constantly looking
in to her own heart, and watching with anxiety every movement of her mind for the ap-:pearance of faith; or in other words, for that
peace, the consequence of genuine faith, which
she had so much desired-exercises which,
though mental and internal, the believing
reader will at once perceive, still resolved
themselves into a kind of meritorious works
or righteousness of her own, and consequently were just as worthless for effecting the end
she had in view as the more external observances in which she had formerly been in the
habit of engaging.
Under the employment of these vain and
futile efforts to obtain possession of faith, it is




R1ELIGIOUS ANXI  W.       19
needless to observe, she did not effect the object of her wishes. In this somewhat perplexed condition she continued for a considerable number of weeks, revealing to no one the
real state of her mind; but, on the contrary,
maintaining a careful concealment of the difficulties with which she felt herself to be surrounded; and, being considered by all her
friends and acquaintances as a most pious and
amiable girl, and much beloved on account of
her sweet and engaging disposition, no one
appeared to entertain the suspicion that she
was really that which her own conscience told
her she was-a poor, rebellious, unpardoned
sinner, virtually "without God and without
hope in the world;" in plain and solemn language, an infidel: for however high his or her
moral character may stand in the estimation
of man, an unbeliever stands in the eye of
God on exactly the same level as the man who
does not acknowledge a God; " For whosoever
denieth the Son, hath not the Father."  Such
were her convictions, notwithstanding all her
endeavors to love and to do the will of God.




20       W]q    ESSIE LITTLE.
CHAPTER II.
ATTENDS A PRAYER-MEETING-FINDS PEACE UNDER AN
ADDRESS BY MR. GUTHRIE-NEW VIEWS AND FEELINGS-FORMER MISAPPREHENSION OF THE GOSPELGENERAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE UNCONVERTED-REVIEW OF HER PAST ERRORS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
WAY OF SALVATION.
MRS. LITTLE was in this state of mind when,
in the providence of God, information reached
her one day that a small meeting for prayer
and other spiritual exercises was to be held in
the evening, at which Mr. John Guthrie, a
Christian brother from Jedburgh, was to be
present and to favor the meeting with a short
address. As was her custom on such occasions, Mrs. Little made it a point of duty to
attend, and was consequently among the number present at the meeting. The words which
formed the subject of Mr. Guthrie's address
were those in the fifteenth verse of the eightyninth Psalm: " Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound." In his remarks, Mr. Guthrie
pointed out in a clear and simple manner the
way of salvation through faith in the Son of
God; showing the intimate and natural con



THE WAY OF SALV_.          21'nection between the belief of the truth as it
is in Jesus, and the peace which the mind enjoys under that belief; proving that the one
was a necessary consequence of the other, and
stating in other respects how " blessed is the
people that know the joyful sound."
The address was illustrated in the most
homely and simple, but pointed manner; and
was entirely free from all that metaphysical
language, which, when employed in connection
with the statement of the simple saving truth
tends so much to bewilder the poor anxious
inquirer to Zion-trembling, perhaps, on the
brink of eternity —and to throw up mist between the eye of his mind and the short and
simple story of the cross, the reception of
which brings the soul into the possession of
peace and the enjoyment of salvation. In
short, so exactly did Mr. Guthrie's remarks
apply to her own peculiar state of mind at
the time, and so faithfully was her true character portrayed, that she felt almost inclined
to believe that the address had been composed
under the knowledge of, and with a view of
meeting her own individual case. The consequence was, that /. Guthrie's faithful and




22        "WM. JESSIE LITTLE.
simple remarks were the means, in the hands
of the Holy Spirit, of winning her soul into
delightful contact with the "joyful sound,"
that is, with the gospel, or in other words,
with the truth about Jesus; which gospel or
truth about Jesus exhibited to her mind the
fact, that God had " so loved" her that he had
given his only and beloved Son, "who bore
her sins in his own body on the tree;" and
consequently that Jesus, by thus suffering in
her room, had rendered a full and perfect reparation to that divine law which she had violated; and also that God, as the righteous
executor of that law, was now as completely
pleased with and reconciled to her, on account
of what Jesus had done, as if no sin and no
violation of his law whatever had on her part
been committed.
But while, through the medium of the gospel, the atonement of Jesus thus presented itself to her mind as a propitiation or satisfaction,
of the most perfect and complete character, to
God for every sin; at the same time, that very
perfection which that propitiation exhibited
produced, as a necessary consequence, the destruction of all those hop in herself, or in her




THE WAY OF SALVAtION.         23
own good works, which she had hitherto been,
to a greater or less extent, in the habit of cherishing; and thus, as the weary bird of passage,
after vainly attempting to seek repose on the
restless wave, reaches the land and rests with
conscious safety, so, after vainly endeavoring
to rest her soul on the unstable and perishing
works of her own creation, she laid her spirit
down, "weary and heavy laden," on the finished work of the Son of God, and immediately found rest and consciousness of safety; for
this is "the Rock of ages," "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." In more simple
terms, she was informed by the gospel, dictated
by the unerring Spirit, that the very object,
namely, a propitiation to God for her sins,
which she had hitherto been vainly endeavoring to create, was already fully and perfectly
accomplished by Jesus Christ more than eighteen hundred years before; and the consequence was, that she returned home from that
meeting with the eye of her soul turned away
from searching within her own sinful heart for
grounds of acceptance, and directed to the sinless sacrifice without-away from her own imperfect doings to tUh perfect work of Jesus,




24         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
and rejoicing as if her mind had been relieved
from the pressure of a heavy burden. In short,
she was a new creature; old things now began
to pass away, and all things became new.
Thus Mrs. Little's spiritual chains were broken-thus she entered into the liberty of the
gospel; and as she now stood calmly looking
around, and solemnly reviewing, under the sunshine of divine truth, the position which she
had hitherto occupied in the eyes of God, the
spectacle which her former religious profession
presented to her mind was of the most humbling description; while at the same time the
secret of all the doubts and fears and perplexities under which she had formerly labored,
and the rocks upon which she had so often
stumbled, lay stretched out before her in the
light of open day. To dethrone Jesus Christ,
to rob him of his glory, to conceal him from
her mind, and to attempt to procure salvation
independently of Him who is "the way, the
truth, and the life," and by a way of her ownthat is, by her doing some work without her,
or creating some good thing within her Mrs.
Little found was the dangerous principle upon
which she had been hitherto unconsciously




THE WAY OF SALVATION.        25
acting, and to the continued operation of which
may be ascribed her real difficulties, in entering into the rest and liberty of the children of
God by faith in Jesus.
For the benefit of the unconverted reader,
and the anxiou's inquirer who may be laboring
under the same state of mind, and harboring
his soul under the same false refuges, it may
not perhaps be out of place to dwell somewhat
minutely upon those principles on which she
acted previous to her knowing the truth-previous to her making the work of Jesus the
ground, and the only ground of her hopesand which will be found operating, to a greater
or less extent, in the case of the great majority of those who are laboring under anxiety
regarding the all-important subject of their
soul's eternal safety.
The great inquiry which has proceeded from
anxious sinners in all ages, has been, "What
shall I do to be saved?" to which the words of
God, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved," form the simple and everlasting reply. The practical application of this
simple requirement here laid down by God
appears, however, either to have been misun



26         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
derstood by Mrs. Little, or which amounts to
the same thing, to have been associated in her
mind with the employment on her part, of certain means which, in their operation, exhibited
both directly and indirectly the existence of
quite a different principle from the one contained in the word of God already quoted, and
which, instead of leading her soul to "believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved," encouraged the formation and nourishment of a
system under which many souls are kept in
bondage, and, it is feared, finally ruined. The
leading error here alluded to generally makes
its appearance under three slightly different
aspects:
1. In the employment, on the part of the unconverted sinner, of various Christian duties
as the ground of his hopes for eternity. This
form of the error is correctly illustrated in a
case which came under the observation of the
writer, of an aged woman who applied for fellowship with a Christian church in Glasgow.
After being informed that the purity and consequent usefulness of the church, as well as
duty to the applicants' own souls, required, on
the part of the church, the exercise of great




THE WAY OF SALVATION.       27
and affectionato fidelity in the admission of
its members, she was requested to furnish the
church, as was usual on such occasions, with
the grounds upon which she rested her qualifications of membership with a company of believers. Without any hesitation, she proceeded
to relate, that from her youth she had been considered very exemplary, had never been accustomed to mix with loose and indifferent company, never told a lie, was regular in all h[
devotional exercises, took great delight in reaing the word of God,.and besides, had for a considerable number of years been a member of a
Christian church. She was affectionately informed, that although what she had mentioned
were not only the duties but the privileges of
every child of God, yet the mere observance
of these duties did not constitute a Christianthat the ground of the believer's confidence was
composed of something very different from any
thing to which she had alluded, and that it was
eternal, "the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever;" whereas these observances commenced
with the sinner, and would end with his existence on earth. On further conversation with
this poor woman, who appeared to be upwards




28         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
of " threescore years and ten," it was found that
the Lamb of God had never been permitted to
take possession of her affections; that Christ
crucified had never formed the pillar of her
hopes for eternity; and that for more than
fifty years she had, in perfect self-complacency, been resting her precious soul on no other
foundation than her own perishing works. Of
course the church, under the circumstances,
qiuld do nothing more than endeavor affection~ely to lead her to Him, than by whom " there
is no other way" by which she could see the
kingdom of God.
Under the operation of the same dangerous
principles with the woman above alluded to,
Mrs. Little's practical profession of Christianity, in the first stage of its existence, appears
to have been conducted-principles which in
theory, it is true, recognize Jesus, but which in
reality produce a rejection of Him " who is the
way, the truth, and the life."  Thus her error
consisted in seeking salvation on the ground of
works executed by herself, instead of receiving
it as a gift through the work finished by Jesus.
As the tradesman points to the execution of the
work with which he is intrusted as his claim




TIlE WAY OF SAI, VATION.     29
for remuneration, so, as a ground of pardon,
she was directing God to the performance on
her part of certain duties which, as a ground of
justification, are an abomination in his sight,
instead of presenting him with the work of his
own Son as the only foundation of her hopea work with which God is ever well pleased,
with which alone divine justice is ever satisfied. In short, she found that she had been
virtually presenting to God with the one havl
her prayers, her tears, and her good works, as
a price for her redemption, and stretching out
the other to receive salvation in exchange;
while the patient, and long-suffering, but insulted Jehovah, who "takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked," was through his word
proclaiming in her ear, "To what purpose is
the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Bring
no more vain oblations, they are a trouble unto rme; I am weary to bear them."':Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not
bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth
not?" Only "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved." In plain human
language, it is not only of not the most remote
advantage, but, on the contrary, an actual




30         AIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
grieving and mocking of Him "who willeth all
men to be saved," for you, unconverted sinner,
to do any work, however good or great it may
be, for the purpose of laying a foundation for,
or meriting the salvation of your soul, and just
for the simple and palpable reason that the
work —on account of which alone the gates of
heaven are now open to the very chief of sinners-is already finished by Jesus, for " the sin
o the world," and therefore for yours; and
with which finished work God your judge exclaims, "I am  well pleased," and his law,
which you violated, I"I am satisfied." Be you
then also well pleased and satisfied with the
same finished work as a complete atonement
for your sins, and your name is " Believer."
Thus the first branch of the system of error
under which Mrs. Little labored, consisted in
virtually overlooking the only ground which is
capable of affording peace to the soul, namely, the merits of Jesus, and seeking salvation
through the medium of her own works.
2. The second description of mistaken views
of God's plan of salvation, which appears to
have surrounded Mrs. Little with not a few
difficulties, and to have formed a very power



THE WAY OF SALVATION.         31
ful barrier between her mind and the simple
truth about Jesus, or the "good news," was
the endeavoring on her part to obtain or produce faith by the same means, that is, by the
employment on her part of various exercises of
an operative nature-an error which is found
expressed in the question so frequently employed by the anxious inquirer, " But how am
I to believe?" or, as it is sometimes expressed,
"How am I to obtain peace, that is, the peae
of the gospel?"  That the gospel produces, in
the mind of the individual believing it, a peculiar peace and joy, the experience of every renewed soul can testify; but how or why it does
so, every believer can equally testify is just
simply because the gospel, the thing believed,
is "good news," is tidings of " great joy."
To bring this fact more clearly before the
mind of the unconverted but inquiring reader,
advantage may here be taken of a simple illustration. An affectionate wife is presented'witha letter, conveying to her the information that
her absent husband has safely arrived in port,
after a long and dangerous voyage, and that in
a few hours he will be in the midst of his little family circle. The bosom of that wife beats




32        MAIRS. JESSIEI IITTLE.
with joy, and the countenances of her little
ones beam with delight at the joyful news of
their father's return. Enter yon other dwelling. There too is a fond wife, but she is in
tears; there too is a sweet little family, but
their little hearts are ready to break, as they
stand sobbing around their weeping mother.
She too had been presented that morning with
a letter-she too had a loving spouse on the
stormy sea. But no happy meeting awaited
her. The object of her affections, and the father of her little ones, was never again to return; the form on which her eyes delighted to
dwell was a cold and lifeless corpse, tossing in
the watery deep. Thus are two states of mind
produced of entirely opposite character; the
one a state of great joy, the other of extreme
sorrow: but how are they produced? evidently
by the employment neither of external means
nor of internal or mental efforts; but simply
and solely by the nature of the respective
truths, or " news," or "tidings" presented before the minds of the two respective parties.
Thus, joy, is produced by joyful news, and sorrow by sorrowful tidings.
Again, suppose that on the morning of his




TIHE WAY OF SALVATION.       33
execution, the.cell of an unhappy man who
has been taken prisoner in the act of unjustly
invading a friendly territory, and condemned
to die, is entered by a messenger announcing
that a ransom has been paid and accepted by
the king of the invaded country, for his immediate pardon; the moment the intelligence
comes in contact with the mind of the criminal, that moment the flash of delight reddens
his pale countenance. In like manner, the gospel is the communication from God to manthrough the medium of the Bible, the Holy
Spirit's word-of one of the most extraordinary and soul-cheering truths that could be presented to the attention of an immortal mind:
namely, that God so loved the sinner, that to
prevent him from perishing for ever, and to
bring him into the possession of eternal felicity,
his sins, which formed the only barrier between
his soul and the enjoyment of that felicity, have
been atoned for and borne away; thereby leaving the eye of Jehovah looking down through
that atonement on the sinner as if he had never sinned. In other words, God looks on the
sinner through the medium of Christ's righteousness, and is well pleased, or reconciled, for
Mrs. Little.     3




34         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
that riglhteousness' sake.'The necessary and
natural effect, then, on the mind of that sinner
who simply receives the gospel announcement
as a truth, or, which amounts to the same
thing, is reconciled to God by the same work
which reconciles God to him, is at once the
possession of a sense of safety, and a peace
with God which "the world can neither give
nor take away."
But the very proposal of such a question as
the one referred to, by the inquirer, leaves behind it palpable evidence, that in solving it for
himself. he is calling inito operation a principle
directly opposed to every thing like reason, by
looking for a consequence without a cause;
that is, in endeavoring to obtain peace for his
soul, his attention is evidently directed not to
the truth about Jesus, which is the producer,
but to his own mind, which is simply the receiver of that peace. The peace of the gospel
being in the gospel, any attempt on the part of
the inquirer to extract peace either from the
performance of external works or from his own
bosom, where there is nothing but sin, will be
as unsuccessful as the search in the field for a
watch which was lost in the garden.




THE WAY OF SALVATION.         35
Under this very common but radical error,
Mrs. Little, as has been mentioned, labored
for some time, making " How shall I believe?"
instead of " What shall I believe?" her inquiry, and faith, instead of the truth about Christ,
the object of her investigations, tormenting herself about the act of believing, and at the same
time shutting her eyes on the object to be believed; and consequently, she had been constantly directing her attention inward to the
movements of her own mind, instead of outward to a crucified Saviour-endeavoring rather to produce peace with God from t4e materials within her own bosom, than to receive it
by a simple knowledge from the Holy Spirit's
testimony of what had been done by Jesus for
her. Her efforts to obtain faith through the
practice of works of a more formal and external nature, were of course equally unsuccessful, for the same reason, that these in themselves did not compose the object of faith.
To the instructions contained in the Holy
Spirit's word, and to the ingress to the mind of
the truth which "saves and sets the sinner
free," two forms of opposition, it will be observed, have already been mentioned as mak



6         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
ing their appearance in the mind and practice of Mrs. Little: first, in seeking salvation
through the exercise of various external and internal duties; second, in seeking faith through
the operation of similar means.
3. Intimately connected with these erroneous
views of divine truth, which inquirers are apt
to cherish, was another, from which Mrs. Little did not entirely escape; and which, for the
sake of the unconverted reader, it may not perhaps be considered superfluous briefly to notice,
as it tends to draw the attention away from
saving truth to the employment of self-righteous means in endeavoring to obtain possession
of that truth.  I allude to the impression frequently found lodged in the mind of an awakened sinner, that although God is willing to receive him through Christ, he-the sinner-has
still something to do, some little work to perform, some preparatorypurifyingprocess of the
heart to go through, before trusting to Christ;
employing such reasoning as the following, in
support of his position: "I am so sinful, my
heart is so cold and wicked, and I have lived
such a careless, prayerless life, that it would
be presumption in me to expect pardon in my




THE WAY OF SALVATION.         37
present state. I shall first endeavor to get quit
of my coldness and sinfulness of heart, and
otherwise become better, and then I shall be
able to look up to God for pardon with these
feelings of presumption somewhat abated."
Such language has all the appearance of humility, and is sometimes called by that name:
under a very slight glance, however, it will be
found to be only a plausible method of deceiving the sinner's own soul —of dishonoring God
and the finished work of his Son: in plain and
honest terms, it means, " I am not satisfied with
the work of Christ; it is not sufficient in itself
to meet divine justice; it is not true that God
is'well pleased' with the work of Christ for
my sins; it is not true that' the blood of Jesus
cleanseth from all sin;' I must, therefore, myself make up for what is deficient in the atonement of the Son of God-I must first reach a
standard of righteousness at which my sins will
appear so trifling, that the work of Christ will
then, perhaps, be able to atone for them."
Now, it is quite true that the sinner is unworthy, and that, too, to an extent inconceivably
beyond that to which he is now confessing.
N:ay, could he get a view ef his own heart as




38         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
God sees it, the awful spectacle would probably deprive him of his reason. He can acquire
a knowledge of the heinous character of sin
in the eyes of a holy God, only from the fact,
that to atone or make reparation to God's laws
for that sin, the sacrifice of a man, or of an angel, or even of an archangel, was not enoughthat nothing less than the crucifying of the
divine Redeemer was sufficient; and he may
also be provided with a perfect security of the
completeness and (;God-satisfying character of
Christ's atonement, by the same wonderful
fact, that it was not a man, nor an angel, nor
even an archangel, who was the atoner, or who
formed the atoning sacrifice, but the second
person in the Trinity united with man. In
short, it was God himself who required the satisfaction or atonement, and it was God himnself who made the satisfaction or atonement.
God himself, as a just Being, demanded the
performance of a work, and God himself executed that work; and if that work, as an atonement for sin, be insufficient to satisfy God, then
God's own work is insufficient to satify himself.
But God's works-are all perfect; and the atonement made for sin is God's work; therefore thW



THE WAY OF SALVATION.          39
atonement made for sin is in itself perfect and
complete.
Thus neither, on the one hand, does the
great number of the sinner's past transgressions militate against the perfect sufficiency of
Christ's atonement to meet his peculiar and
aggravated case, or their magnitude overtop
the burning love of Jehovah to his soul; nor,
on the other hand, does the numerous array of
good actions, or the small number of bad ones,
on the part of the sinner, constitute, in the
very least degree, any of the ground upon
which he can rest his hopes for eternity. No;
the ground of safety exhibits itself to the
mlind of the sinner from a point outside of
himself, outside of his works, outside of his
feelings, outside of his prayers, outside of even
his faith: it makes its appearance only in
Jesus. Eternal life is a gift, something given
on the part of God, and that gift is entirely
concentrated and encased in his own Son.
Hopes, therefore, which have their foundation
out of Jesus, are false hopes —and the sinner's
works, and feelings, and prayers, and faith,
are all things which are out of Jesus; therefore, hopes of salvation springing out of or




40         AIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
resting on works, or feelings, or prayers, or
faith, on lhe part of the sinner, are false and
delusive; and hence, in the same proportion
as the sinner, in his anxiety for the possession
of peace with God, presses his own works,
however excellent these in themselves may be,
into the notice of the divine Being, as forming
either by themselves or in conjunction with the
work of Christ, the foundation of his hopes for
eternity, does he dishonor and distrust the perfect atonement of the Son of God, and consequently to the same extent rears barriers
between his own soul and the enjoyment of
eternal life.
Of the practical influence of these principles, Mrs. Little, as has already been mentioned, was to a certain extent a subject. She
found that her hopes of the future well-being
of her soul rested on two foundations: first,
the work performed by Jesus, and secondly,
the works performed by herself. The latter
were intended to counterbalance any want of
confidence which her mind might manifest in
the former. Ulnder such circumstances, her
soul did not and could not enter into posses



TItE WAY OF SALVATION.        41
sion-of that " peace which passeth understanding," whose whole being is derived from and
exists on the finished atonement of Jesus, and
that alone.
Illustrative of this principle of amalgamating the work of Christ with that of the sinner,
as conjointly forming the ground of salvation,
a case in point may be mentioned, which fell
under my own observation.  Some time ago,
in Ireland, I met with an interesting and intelligent Catholic lady. It was on a Friday, a
day on which, the reader will be aware, the
church of Rome enjoins her members to abstain from the use of meat; and at dinner,
true to her principles, she did not partake of
this kind of food, a circumstance which led us
into a friendly and interesting conversation on
what constituted the true ground of a sinner's
hope for eternity. With a view of discovering
exactly the genuine character of the elements
which composed the foundation on which she,
as a Catholic, rested her hopes of salvation, I
kindly requested her to permit her mind to
arrange before it all her bygone fasts, mass
observances, penances, and all the other rites
and ceremonies of the church with which she




4-2        MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
was connected, together with all her pious
feelings, and every good word and deed which
she had ever said or done; and then to suppose the whole, in one sweep, borne away out
of her view and annihilated for ever. Would
she, it was then asked, under such circumstances, feel the ground of her hopes for eternity any way shaken or destroyed?  "'  ost
decidedly I would,'; the lady with the utmost
candor replied: an answer which does not
require the employment of any argument to
establish the. fact, that she was not only calling in question the work of Christ, as a sufficient and complete atonement for all the sins
with which she was chargeable, suspecting the
truthfulness of God's own statement that he
was " well pleased," for Christ's righteousness'
sake, and the verity of his own comforting
declaration, that "the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin;" but that she was
clinging to a position, the continued and determined occupation of which necessarily issues
in the eternal ruin of the soul. For as no
progress can be made by the traveller to the
top of the tall and towering dome, while only
one foot is placed on the steps which lead to




THE WAY OF SALVATION.         43
its lofty summit, the other still resting on the
ground; so the sinner cap never make one step
of heavenward advancement, while only one
foot is placed on Jesus, who is " the ladder to
glory," and the other still rests on the earth,
which is his own works. And as the mariner
can never reach his destination on the far and
foreign shore, without first stepping off the
beach of his native land and committing his
whole body to the vessel which is to bear him
across the billowy deep; so the sinner can
never traverse the ocean of sin, and land on the
happy shores of the heavenly country, unless
he first step off, completely off the sand-bank
of his own works, and commit his soul fully
and wholly to the work of Christ, which is the
secure and danger-proof ark that will carry
him calmly and safely to the haven of eternal
rest: and further, as every stone of the building must fall to the earth, when the swelling
waves shall wash away the heap of sand which
formed its frail foundation; so every hope resting on works executed out of Jesus, and by
the sinner, must perish when death shall sweep
away for ever these works themselves. Perhaps the reader may at present be in a some



44         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
what similar position; for it is one which is
by no means confinedL to that portion of our
fellow-men who compose the Rtomish church;
and if so, he may rest assured that, like the
subject of this memoir at this stage of her experience, he is "spending his money for that
which is not bread, and his labor for that which
satisfieth not:" the work which forms the sole
and only ground of salvation being, as already
mentioned, entirely out of and separate from
his works, and entirely in Jesus, that is, in
the work executed by Jesus for the sinner.




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.         45
CHAPTER III.
EXPERIENCE AS A BELIEVER-FORMER DIFFICULTIESERRONEOUS IDEAS REGARDING ha WORKS;'-CONNECTION
WVITH NORTH-ALBION-STREET CHURCH-LOVE TO THE
BRETHREN, TO BELIEVERS IN GENERAL, AND TO THE
WORLD-SACRIFICES FOR THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL-WORLDLY PLEASURES-SCOTTISH MUSIC AND SACRED POETRY.
SUCH were some of the more prominent features which characterized the latter part of the
period of MSrs. Little's* nominal profession of
the religion of Jesus Christ. Her experience
as a genuine professor, as a true believer, may
now be briefly considered. Not very long ago
the writer of these pages heard from the lips
of a young man, a converted Roman Catholic,
in the north of Ireland, the statement, that
when in connection with the church of Rome,
he was, with the view of atoning for his sins,
in the habit of proceeding in the cold and
stormy nights of winter to the fields, of there
embedding his naked knees in the freezing
mounds of snow, and in that position remaining for several hours together; also, that for
three months successively, in every year, he




46         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
would not permit himself to partake of more
than one meal in twenty-four hours; and further, that he would annually make a pilgrimage
to the grave of St. Patrick, more than forty
miles distant, walking a portion of the way on
his uncovered knees, bleeding and lacerated as
they were; and that in a great variety of ways
he would inflict upon himself severe physical
punishment, for the purpose of atoning to God
for his violation of divine laws. At length he
was, with great difficulty, prevailed upon oneevening to accompany a Protestant gentleman
to the place of worship with which the latter
was connected, for the purpose of hearing a sermon which was there to be preached by a worthy and devoted ministerin connection with the
Irish Presbyterian church.  The words which
formed the subject of the minister's address
were, "' The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." After sitting for some time
under a feeling of considerable uneasiness at the
idea of his being located in the midst of Protestant people, and in a Protestant place of worship, the hitherto zealous and devoted Catholic
began to be somewhat interested. The doctrine
that the blood of Jesus of itself could atone




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.         47
to God for all sin, was one with which his
mind had not previously formed an acquaintance; for although he was somewhat advanced
in classical attainments and general literature,
and intended by his friends for the priesthood
in connection with the IRomish church, yet
the Bible had, up to this period, been to him
as a book that was sealed. The consequence
was, that the words sounded like " good news "
in his ear, the expression had a "joyful sound "
in it; "for if," said he to himself, "if the
blood of Jesus of itself is capable of cleansing
from all sin, and rendering a full satisfaction
to the violated laws of God, for what purpose
are all those harassing and physically distressing observances which I force myself to undergo, and under which my very body groans,
in order to unburden my soul of its guilt?
Truly this is a simple method of salvation indeed." Before the worthy-servant of God had
concluded his address, the sincere but workbound Catholic saw, to his amazement and
delight, that the whole work needful for the
sinner's salvation was already done, already
finished by Jesus: he believed it, because it
was the word of Himun who " cannot lie;" and




48         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
believing it, he was saved, for "he that believeth hath eternal life;" and being saved, an
entirely new principle took possession of his
soul-a principle which conducted him more
energetically than ever to the performance of
Christian works and duties: but, instead of
betaking himself to the fields, to expose his
body to the inclemency of the weather —instead of maltreating himself, and refusing the
demands of nature by dcepriving his body of
its nourishment, as acts of atonement for his
sins-b he now went about from house to house
proclaiming to his unconverted friends and acquaintances, that " the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin;" that the work of atonement
was not the sinner's, but the Saviour's work;
and that the sinner was saved, not by doing
something himself, but simply by trusting in
something already done by Jesus.
Thus it was with Mrs. Little. As soon as her
mind perceived that salvation was to be found
solely in the work of Christ, and that that
work itself had satisfied God, itself continued to satisfy God, and would itself for ever
continue to satisfy God for all her sins, she
found peace, and the establishment in her




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.        49
mind of a principle which completely reversed
her whole former practice.  The work of salvation had been hitherto always connected in
her mind with the idea of something being
done by herself; now she saw that the whole
meritorious work was already done, and done
by another. Formerly, she strove to make
works produce faith; now, her faith produced
works. Before, she looked inward to her own
heart for peace, but found it not; now, she
looked outward, anUd away to "the Lamb of
God who taketh away the sins of the world,"
and peace and joy were the immediate consequence. Hitherto she had been laboring for
the production of good feelings, to make herself a fit subject to receive the truth about
Jesus; she now saw that the only qualification necessary for that purpose was to be a
sinner-" Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners," and that qualification she
had of course always possessed.  Formerly,
her heart was cold and selfish, and anxious
only for her own salvation; now, it burned
with love, and panted for nothing less than
the salvation of the world.  Formerly, she
was unhappy and afraid to die; now, she was
Mrs. Little.       4




50         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
full of joy, and the sting of death was taken
away.
Allusion has already been made to the small
degree of success, and of benefit to the children, which attended the labors of Mrs. Little
in connection with the Sabbath-school. What
she considered to be the main secret of her
failure in this respect, now likewise became
evident to her mind: she found that she had
been attempting to guide the children under
her charge to God by a way to which she herself was a stranger; and that she had been
endeavoring to impress on their minds truths
which had never been practically admitted by
her own. She felt deeply her own inconsistency and sin, in that, while she was taking
upon herself the solemn responsibility of a
teacher of young immortal souls, candidates
for heaven, she was at the same time in the
service of Satan and sin herself; and while
recommending the acceptance of Jesus to others with her lips, all the while refusing him
admission to her own bosom.
Some time after our matrimonial connection, which took place at the close of 1S40,
we were led, in the providence of God, to con



CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.         51
nect ourselves with the Congregational church
assembling in North-Albion-street, under the
pastoral care of Rev. Thomas Pullar. There
her knowledge of divine truth was greatly
enlarged, and, as she termed it, her heart was
always kept warm; " for," said she, "' there is
always so much of Christ and the cross in his
[MIr. Pullar's] sermons."  She always contemplated her connection with that church with
feelings of peculiar delight; and to the Sabbath-day when she was to meet with her fellow-believers in the chapel, she looked forward
with great pleasure and interest, and gre'at was
the privation, if circumstances prevented her
from attending even a single meeting of the
solemn assembly. Her love to the brethren
was of a peculiarly fervent character: when
one sorrowed she sorrowed, and when one rejoiced she rejoiced, knowing that all were one
in Christ Jesus; and even when stretched on
the thorny bed of affliction, with the curtains
of death closing around her, when she was no
more able to mingle among them, to join her
voice of praise with theirs, and to sit down
with them to commemorate the death of her
Lord, she would often make the most affec




52          MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
tionate inquiries regarding all whom she could
remember of her " dear brothers and sisters in
Jesus;" and of Mr. Pullar she would say,
" Oh, I love him for his work's sake."  Knowing that in a few short years at most, their
various pilgrimages would cease, that the grave
would soon close around them, and that the
dark valley of the shadow of death would
ere long be left behind, she contemplated with
great delight the time when they would all
again meet in the land of glory, never, never
again to part; where sighing and sorrow have
for ever fled away; and when they would
see Jesus face to face, and be with him for
ever,
"Together to their Father's house,
With joyful hearts they go,
And dwell for ever with the Lord;
Beyond the reach of woe.
A few short years of evil past,
We reach the happy shore;
There death-divided friends at last
Shall meet to part no more."
Nor was her love to the brethren confined within mere denominational limits; it was far too
extensive, far too pure and exalted to be so




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.        53
circumscribed; and the question with her was
not, to what sect of Christians do you belong;
what are your views on this point, and on
that-this doctrine, or that doctrine-this form
of church government, or that; but, "Do you
belong to Jesus? What are your views of Himn?
Have you found a Saviour in him? Has your
soul found peace in his blood? Has your heart
been melted by his love? Has it been changed
by his truth? Has it been renewed by his
Spirit? If so, we are one —one in Jesus; and,
if one in him, then are we one in heart, one in
spirit, of one family, of one Father, redeemed
by the same blood, journeying to the same happy land, there to sit down at the same table
with the Lord, to mingle among the same holy
company of the redeemed in heaven, and, in
one sweet and hallowed fellowship, to sing the
praises of God and the Lamb for ever' and
ever." And while she thus breathed this warn
and affectionate spirit to all whose hearts had
been changed by a simple belief of the truth
as it is in Jesus, to whatever denomination of
Christians they might belong, her love at the
same time to the world, to those who were perishing for lack of knowledge, to those who had




54         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
never experienced that peace and joy which
is bestowed only through a believing look to
Calvary, and who were exposing their precious
never-dying souls to eternal ruin and misery
every moment, by rejecting the salvation fully
and freely offered to them, in the gospel, was
no less striking. Frequently, in the dusk of
evening, she would lay aside her needle or her
book, and proceed to the parlor window, from
which she could obtain a view of the more
crowded parts of the city, and after remaining
there for some time, contemplating in silence
the interesting picture of human life which
stretched out on either side of her, on the vast
multitude of immortal beings hurrying to and
fro on the bustling stage of life, pursuing the
affairs and commerce of the world, she would
ask such questions as the following: "How
many of these precious and deathless souls
shall have passed into eternity before the expiration of another week; and who shall be first?
How many in the course of another twelvemonth; and who shall they be? And of that
vast multitude, how many in thirty years shall
be in the land of the living? And to what
place are they hurrying?  Are they crowding




CIR.ISTIAN EXPERIENCE.        55
to endless life, or endless death; to eternal happiness, or eternal woe?"
Growing daily in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, Mrs. Little's love for perishing souls and her desire for their salvation exhibited themselves correspondingly through the
medium of increasing active operations on her
part. The cultivation of principles of method.
and order in the performance of all her actions,
whether these were trifling or otherwise, being
a propensity to which her mind was constitutionally much addicted, she was in the habit of
using a memorandum-book, for the purpose of
marking down all her weekly household expenses; and she made it a rule with herself,
that whenever these expenses were less than a
given sum per week, she would appropriate the
difference —in addition to the usual weekly
sum which she devoted to religious purposesto the spread of the truth as it is in Jesus.
The result of this resolution was, that I soon
observed her denying herself many of her usual
comforts, and would remark to her in a jocular manner, that she was becoming very penurious. " Ah," she would reply, turning the
joke aside,  ah, whllo can estimate the value of




56         SIRS. JESSIE LIT'1TLE.
even one immortal soul; what is it not worth?
If God gave his Son, and Jesus gave himself to
die, for the salvation of souls, is it too much
for those for whom he died to deny their poor
perishing bodies a few of these passing comforts for the same blessed purpose?"  Any
intelligence, consequently, of the progress of
Christ's kingdom, either at home or abroad,
afforded her peculiar delight. She watched
especially, with deep interest, the growing disposition on the part of many Scottish Christians, for a more practical exhibition to perishing sinners of the saving truth as it is in Jesus;
being convinced that the great object for which
the church on earth exists is to preach the gospel, to make known the "good news" to the
unconverted throughout the world.  The intelligence of a sinner having found peace by a
view of the simple truth as it is in Jesus, conveyed to her mind an amount of enjoyment
that the mere things of this world cannot bestow. The letters we received from time to
time from brother Simon, at Selkirk, regarding
the work of conversion in the south of Scotland, were quite a feast to her soul. An esteemed friend, lMr. William  Bathgate, who




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.        57
sometimes happened to be present when these
letters were received, informed me, shortly after the death of Mrs. Little, that when those
portions of them were read which immediately
alluded to some anxious inquirer having found
peace in the all-atoning blood of the Lamb, he
would observe her eye kindle and sparkle with
delight. Regarding the work of the Lord here
alluded to, Mrs. Little thus writes in a letter
to her aunt, Mrs. Cumming, dated November
12, 1841: "I am happy to hear you have had
such nice meetings, and that Mr. Wilson of
Denholm was staying with you, and that you
have been much refreshed. I hear that Mr.
M'Dougal, from Edinburgh, is at present among
you; is he doing much good? When you write,
let me know about these matters, and if there
are many conversions."
With regard to the pleasures and amusements of the world, it is needless to say that
these did not in her estimation possess any
features of attraction: on the contrary, she considered all such sources of enjoyment as only
vain and momentary resorts of the unhappy
and restless soul in a state of estrangement
from God; and to the Christian, as trifles quite




58        MMIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
unworthy the attention of an immortal being,
destined to occupy throughout all eternity such
a noble and dignified position with angels and
archangels in the courts of heaven; and yet a
greater amount of cheerfulness and of solid
happiness could scarcely be found in the possession of one mind, than reigned in her bosom.
Looking continually through the cross of Christ
to a "well-pleased " God, she daily and hourly
enjoyed the refreshings of the waters of salvation on her soul; conscious, however, of the
evil tendencies of her own heart to pursue the
fleeting an(l perishing vanities of time, and to
draw her mind away from the great realities of
eternity; and conscious also, that she was unable, for a sinale moment, to stand in her own
strenath, she devoted a considerable time daily
to secret prayer.  Jesus on Calvary, taking
away the sin of the world, was the last object
that left her mental vision at night, and the
first that met the eye of her soul in the morning. Every forenoon, also, she was in the
habit of unobservedly withdrawing herself for
a considerable time to her closet, to hold secret
communion with the God and Saviour of her
soul, to confess her sins to Him who was faith



CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.         59
ful to forgive them, and to ask the guidance
and direction of the HIoly Spirit in all her affairs; and thus, living closely to God, placing
all her confidence in him as in a father, filled
with his Spirit, and, through Jesus, loolking
forward to the glorious hope set before her in
the gospel, did she enjoy that cheerfulness of
heart, that calm  and peace of mind already
referred to, which nothing, of a worldly nature
ever seemed able in the least degree to disturb,
and -which, joined to a naturally amiable disposition, threw a soft and hallowed sweetness
into all her actions, and at once-though unconsciously to herself-endeared her to all
around.
Mrs. Little's own experience thus testified
that the peace and joy of the gospel, the calm
of a pardoned soul through the merits of Jesus,
were far beyond the world's purchase, and that,
whatever might be one's riches and earthly possessions, he was after all but a poor, poor man,
and in the prospect of death a wretched and
miserable man, to whose bosom the "glad tidings of great joy" had never been admitted:
and in alluding to the various methods vainly
resorted to by the world for the purpose of pro



60          MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
ducing happiness, and of filling up that vacuu m
in the mind which nothing but the gospel of
Jesus can fill, that craving of the soul after
happiness which nothing but the waters of salvation can satisfy, she would kindly and affectionately remark, "Oh, if they just knew that'xwithout money and without price' they might
obtain happiness to their souls, and that, too,
in the most plentiful abundance and of the
richest and most exalted kind, if they would
but accept of it at the hands of Jesus, in whom
alone it is to be found!"
The following hymn, expressive-of her views
and feelings in this respect, being at all times
a favorite in her estimation, scarcely an evening was allowed to pass in which she did not
sing, in her own sweet and melodious way, the
verses which follow in connection with the
delightful and pathetic Scotch air, entitled
"Auld Lang, Syne;" thus blending with the
finest music the sweetest specimens of sacred
poetry.' Ho, ye that thirst, approach the spring
AW'here living waters flowFree to that sacred fountain all
Without a price may go,




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.              61
Without a price may go,
Without a price may go;
Free to the sacred fountain all
Without a price may go.
"1How longr to streams.of false delight
Will ye in crowds repair?
How long your strength and substance waste
On trifles light as air?:' On trifles light as air, etc.
" My stores afford those rich supplies
That health and pleasure give;
Incline your ear and come to me,
The soul that hears shall live,
Vhie soul that hears shall live, etc.
" Seek ye the Lord while yet his ear
Is open to your call;
While offered mercy still is near,
Before his footstool fall,
Before his footstool fall, etc.
She experienced much enjoyment from the application of various favorite pieces of Scottish
music to a number of hymns which appear in
Dr. Wardlaw's collection, but especially of the
foregoing she was passionately fond; and even
in the dead hour of the night, when the din of
the busy city had died away amid the silence




62         MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE
of midnight, did Jesus become the subject of
her contemplations. She would talk about
Him who had nowhere to lay his head, and
sing a verse of this her favorite " Song of Zion"
in her sweetest and softest strain, before again
committing herself to sleep, and to the care and
protection of Him whose eye "neither slumbers nor sleeps." Frequently have I heard the
silence of midnight broken in this way; and.
afterwards, on her death-bed, when physical
strength would permit, she would employ short
intervals of relief in singing the same verses in
connection with the music already referred to.
To this peculiar habit which Mirs. Little
cherished, of connecting sacred poetry with
what is called "profane" music, not a few excellent Christians may be found to object. The
practice was simply the result of a conscientious conviction on her part, that music in
itself was, properly speaking, neither sacred
nor profane, and that its recognition under one
or the other of these denominations depended
entirely on the character of the words or poetry with which it was associated; and also the
conviction that our finest national music might
be made subservient to the promotion of God's




CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.         63
glory, and to the spiritual and social enjoyment
of his people. It was strictly on this principle
that she indulged in the habit alluded to.
MalIing the Bible her daily study, Mrs. Little possessed a clear and extensive acquaintance with the word of God; and when there
was occasion for a reference to any particular
passage of Scripture, she would quietly turn
to the chapter and verse required, without the
least appearance of difficulty; and with regard
to the grand truth of the Bible, the way of salvation through the atonement of Jesus Christ,
her clear and simple views of it enabled her to
be useful in directing inquirers to "the Lamb
of lod, who taketh away the sin of the world."
_ short while previous to her being laid on
her death-bed, she took a deep interest in the
eternal welfare of an individual, for whom she
had the highest esteem and respect, but with
the ground of whose hopes for eternity she was
by no means satisfied; on the contrary, she
was convinced that, although a member of a
Christian church, she had yet to lnow what it
was to be " born again," and to rejoice in the
liberty of the gospel. Tile individual referred
to, however, being considerably more than threo




64         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
times the age of Mrs. Little; the latter, fearing apparently that her youth might act unfavorably on the judgment of her aged friend in
any attempt to deal faithfully with her, and to
direct her attention to the state of her soul before God, made an arrangement with a Christian brother of greater experience, and more
advanced in years, to enter on the duty and
privilege of bringing the gospel to bear upon
her soul; while she, Mrs. Little, would, in her
closet, supplicate God to direct the conversation by his Holy Spirit, and make it result in
the conversion to Jesus of the soul about whose
eternal welfare she had manifested such a deep
interest.  This was done, and her prayers w:e
answered: in the course of a day or two,  e
individual referred to, who had been a member
of a Christian church for upwards of forty
years, but who confessed she had never before
known the joyful sound, became a new creature in Christ Jesus.




HER LAST ILLNESS.           65
CHAPTER IV.
COMMENCEMIENT OF HER ILLNESS-RESIGNATION-PARTING WITH ItER CHILD-INCREASING HAPPINESS-THE
ILLNESS AND DEATH OF HER CHILD-CHEERFULNESS
UNDER THE TRIAL-PROSPECT OF PARTING WITH HER
HUSBAND —SESSAGE TO HER FRIENDS-INTENSE PHYSICAL SUFFERING-PEACE OF MIND-CONSCIOUSNESS OF
HER SAFETY IN JESUS.
SuCH is a brief outline of Mrs. Little's experience, from a short period before the time
when the first ray of divine truth dawned upon
her mind at Selkirk, on the occasion formerly
alluded to, down to the latter end of 1841.
She is now to be viewed under totally differcumstances-circumstances, alas, of the
sad and melancholy nature. On the evening of the Sabbath, the nineteenth of December, 1841, she became a joyful mother; and to
all appearance was under the progress of recovery, till the following Tuesday, when she
was seized with an inflammatory disease, generally known by the name of " puerperal fever."
To the mind of her judicious medical attendant,
the symptoms of the disease were decidedly of
an unfavorable character, which naturally created anxiety on the part of her friends. With
Mrs. Little.




66         AIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
a view, therefore, of making provision against
the threatened approach of danger, so far as
the employment of human means was concerned, it was thought advisable both by Dr.
Maxwell and myself, that advantage should be
taken of additional medical advice. The assistance of Dr. King, apother medical gentleman of great respectability and talent, and possessing a high character in his profession, was
consequently immediately procured, and both
of these gentlemen attended her, down to the
period of her death, with an attention and an
interest which the surviving friends of Mrs.
Little cannot remember but with feelings of
lively gratitude. Dr. King's first view
case coinciding with the matured opinion   -
viously expressed by Dr. Maxwell, was not calculated to mitigate the anxiety thus created.
Notwithstanding, however, the appearance of
these unfavorable symptoms, the youth of Mrs.
Little, and the formerly healthy character of
her constitution, presented to the minds of her
medical attendants grounds upon which they
thought they were entitled to build considerably strong hopes of ultimate recovery. On my
expressing these hopes to her, she replied, " I




HER LAST ILLNESS.            67
rather think I am  seriously ill, and I cannot
say whether I shall ever get better; but I am
in good hands, and whatever is the will of the
Lord, let him do it: I am quite willing either
to live or die, whatever is his will; he doeth
all things well; blessed be his holy name."
On another occasion, with the view of ascertaining the state of her own mind regarding
her prospects of recovery, I inquired if she herself entertained hopes of her own restoration
to health, or if she was anticipating consequences of an unfavorable character. "Well," said
she, in her usual composed and deliberate manner, "well, I am not quite sure, scarcely ever
having had any illness of any kind before; I
really do not know, with any thing like certainty, whether I am dangerously ill or not; perhiaps'I am not so very ill, after all.  But this at
least I know, that I am perfectly willing either
to live or to die, whatever is the Lord's will."
In the course of a few days, our anxiety was
considerably deepened: her mind began to
wander; and the symptoms of the fever manifested, in every respect, a more alarming appearance. Under this distressing state of mind
she continued to labor, more or less, for nearly




68         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
the space of a week; after which she again
recovered entire possession of the use of all
her faculties, and they never after, for a single
moment, forsook her. In other respects, however, the alarming symptoms in no degree
abated; on the contrary she became more and
more fevered; her pulse was still moving upwards, and her sufferings were more severe.
Under these circumstances, as was to be expected, I was deeply distressed about her, and
being but seldom absent from her bedside, enjoyed many opportunities of conversing with
her on subjects of the highest importance to a
human being. Her conversation on these occasions was always of the most cheering and
refreshing character; and whenever the name
of Jesus was mentioned, a sweet and grateful
smile would gently pass over her countenance;
and frequently, when talking about the love of
Christ, about his leaving heaven, and for upwards of thirty years dwelling in the likeness
of and among men, suffering meekly their reproaches and at last dying for their sins, she
would, notwithstanding her severe sufferings,
become so animated and happy, that, to all
appearance, the fact of her lying helpless on a




HER LAST ILLNESS.          69
bed of affliction, for the time entirely disappeared from her mind.
Expectations had been entertained by her
medical attendants that the expiration of about
three weeks from the commencement of the
fever would, in all probability, bring with it a
change, either confirming our fears or strengthening our hopes of her ultimate recovery. To
that period, which was now approaching, we
looked forward with the deepest solicitude.
To any such feeling of anxiety the mind of
Mrs. Little, however, was an entire stranger;
confidently believing that God, who had given
such amazing proofs of his infinite love to a
guilty world, would not afflict any of his children, unless that affliction was intended to be
productive of ultimate benefit to the subject
of it, she lay entirely passive under his rod,
patiently and meekly awaiting his divine pleasure, either to restore her to health, or to make
her pass through the " dark valley of the shadow of death;" and although, with her knowledge, I was in the habit of daily retiring into
another room with the doctors, for the purpose
of receiving the report regarding their patient,
she was almost never heard to make the least




7~0        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
inquiry of me, on my return to her bedroom,
whether their statements were of a favorable
or of an adverse character. Our hopes were
now doomed to disappointment; the time referred to arrived, and she was evidently getting worse; her pulse was in no way abated,
but rather more rapid than otherwise, and her
physical sufferings were more intense than
they had been hitherto.
Up to this time, the child, at the recommendation of the doctors, had been occasionally
nursed by Mrs. Little; it was now deemed
expedient to remove the babe altogether to the
house of the nurse; and it was on this occasion that the existence in Mrs. Little's own
mind, of convictions that hier ecase was of a
hopeless character, were for the first time indicated. Just as the nurse was about to leave
with the child, Mrs. Little requested her to
bring it to her bedside; which being done, she
fondly embraced her unconscious infant, kissed
it, and on handing it back to the nurse, said,
" Good by, my dear Jane; I shall never see you
again."  Mrs. Little had now been upwards of
three weeks in a most distressed condition, and
every day was apparently adding to her severe




HER LAST ILLNESS.          71
sufferings. Her mind, however, was still enjoying the most perfect tranquillity; in prQportion as the sufferings of her body increased,
her soul appeared to rise in the scale of happiness, and to a loftier and purer state of sanctification and enjoyment; and she would allude
to her approaching dissolution with the utmost
composure. One day she was referring to that
solemn crisis in her history as being in her own
opinion not far distant, when the servant-girl
happened to come into the bedroom on some
errand. On observing the young woman, Mrs.
Little abruptly broke off the conversation, and
requesting her to come near her bedside, she
gave her all her ordinary directions, in her
usually exact and orderly way, entering with
the utmost minuteness into every little particular, just as if nothing whatever was the
matter. On the girl leaving the room, she immediately resumed the conversation regarding
her own death, as if no interruption had taken
place, with the most perfect cheerfulness, and
with as much coolness and composure as when
talking to the girl a few minutes before about
the most ordinary domestic affairs.
After a few days more of bodily suffering,




72          MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
but spiritual enjoyment on the part of Mrs.
Little, it pleased the Lord to visit us with anothex severe and unlooked-for affliction, which
might have:'been expected to disturb in some
measure that extraordinarily peaceful and
happy state of mind which she had hitherto
possessed. Information having been received
from the nurse that the child was taken suddenly ill, and with every appearance of danger, another medical gentleman, residing in
the locality, was immediately called upon to
attend the young sufferer, and his report of
the child was of such a character as to leave
us but slender encouragement to indulge hopes
of her recovery. The doctor also, having learned from the nurse the very precarious circumstances in which Mrs. Little was placed, was
of opinion that to keep her ignorant of the
dangerous state of her child would, under the
circumstances, be advisable; lest the communication of the painful intelligence might be
productive of agitation, and otherwise be attended with undesirable results. Calculating,
however, on her resignation to the will of
God hitherto, and fearing that, if our worst
apprehensions regarding the child were con



HER LAST ILLNESS.          73
firmeed, the shock which the intelligence of
its death would give to her feelings might be
more severe than if her mind were prepared
by a previous knowledge of its illness, it was
deemed more prudent to acquaint Mrs. Little
with the real facts; and accordingly I did so,
in a way as gentle as truth would admit of,
when, in the most calm and submissive inanner, she merely replied, " The Lord's will be
done; let hint do with her whatever to his
wisdom seemeth fit."
Next day the little sufferer, after only twenty
hours' illness, breathed her last. And now the
painful duty devolved upon me to acquaint
her with the mournful tidings; and Oh, how
painful to a fond husband, to intimate to the
dying and beloved wife of his bosom the death
of their lovely and only child!  Considering
the strong attachment Mrs. Little had manifested for her child, I was deeply distressed in
being obliged to give her the melancholy information. The performance of the painful
duty, however, could not be avoided; and after
a little delay I entered the room, and sitting
down by her bedside, took her by the hand as
usual and quietly acquainted her with the




74         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE:
mournful news. Anticipating the effects which
might naturally be expected to follow the communication of intelligence of such a nature, I
was prepared to direct her mind to such an aspect of her bereavement as I believed was best
calculated to reconcile her to this new and
sudden affliction. From the performance of
this task, however, I was happily relieved.
The moment the information escaped from my
lips, she looked up in my face, and with a
sweet and heavenlike smile on her countenance, exclaimed, " Aye, aye, and has my dear
Jane got to glory before me?" She then entered into a long and interesting conversation
with me about the mysterious ways of God,
and the infinite wisdom displayed in all his
doings; spoke of her own afflictions only as
manifestations of his love;-and, in alluding to
the death of her child, cheerfully acknowledged,
that if we could be permitted to get a prospective view of the plans and purposes of Jehovah, this would just be the very time when
we should not only not regret, but should even
desire her removal from the world: perhaps
God foresaw that a thousand trials and dangers would beset her path through life; that,




HER LAST ILLNESS.           75
when we least expected, death might snatch
her away without a moment's notice; that
she might, if spared to riper years, refuse the
glorious offer in the gospel, and die an unbeliever; and consequently, her never-dying soul
be consigned to that awful pit of misery and despair, where a ray of hope never enters, where
the worm dieth not, and where the flame of Jehovah's wrath burneth for ever and ever.
Now, what was the real state of the case?
It was true she had lost the little darling of
her heart, so far as time was concerned; but
then her child had been relieved from all the
sorrows, the trials, and temptations of a wicked
world: and to what land had she gone?  Let
the Son of God himself reply: " Suffer little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of God;" a glorious
and soul-cheering statement, calculated not
only. to cause the heart of the bereaved mother to leap for joy, and calm the heavings of
her troubled bosom, but even to make her rejoice over the empty cradle of her darling
child. And again, "All things work together
for good to them that love God;" a declaration
which to the believer is altogether precious,




76          MRS JESSIE LITTLE.
and a balm to every wound.  During this conversation she was uncommonly cheerful and
animated, and frequently exclaimed, " 0, yes0, yes, He doeth all things well; blessed be
his holy name. I shall not, I cannot murmur
for the loss of my dear child; it is God who
has done it all, and he cannot err."
Two days after this the child was committed
to the silence of the tomb, in the new cemetery at Sight-hill.  During these two days Mrs.
Little's conversation, when physical suffering
would permit, manifested the same cheerfulness which had hitherto characterized it, and
no one, unacquainte.d with the circumstances,
could have discovered from  her manner and
countenance that she was the subject of such
a trying bereavement.  Jesus was the object
of her joy and hope, and she felt that he would
never leave her; and truly could she sing,
In all my troubles sharp and strong,
My soul to Jesus flies;
My anchor-hold is firm in him
When swelling billows rise:
His comforts bear my spirits up,
I trust a faithful God;
The sure foundation of my hope
Is in my Saviour's blood."




HER LAST ILLNESS           77
On my return from the funeral of the child,
she inquired particularly about the exact place
where the body of her " dear Jane" was laid;
anticipating, probably, that in a few days she
would be called to lie by the side of her child.
She knew the spot; we had walked together
among the tombs, and talked about the dead,
in the same place. On this, as on former occasions, she conversed in her usual happy manner; indeed, so cheerful was her resignation to
the will of God, that she was never afterwards
heard to allude to the death of her child. When
her aunt, Mrs. Cumming, from Selkirk, arrived, she merely observed, " Oh, aunt, if you
had only seen the sweet little creature!" And
down to her death, ten days after, she never
again alluded to the subject.
The very painful circumstances in which
IMrs. Little was now placed were calculated to
put to the strictest test her confidence in God:
for five weeks she had been the subject of very
severe sufferings; on every.side the storm of
affliction was still raging even more furiously
than ever; her body was now feeble and emaciated, and she lay as helpless as an infant,
almost unable to effect the slightest movement




78        MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
of any part of her frame. The earth had al.
ready closed over her lovely child, and every
thing around was betokening that she herself
would in a few days be lowered down to the
same dark and lonely resting-place: her mind,
nevertheless, was still unmoved; all within was
calm and still, all peaceful -and serene; and
while afflictions were darkening on either side,
and her body writhing with pain, her soul was
resting with divine tranquillity on the finished
work of her Saviour. On one occasion, when
suffering under the most excruciating tortures,
she smiled and exclaimed, "Well, well, it is
all one; as my body sinks my soul riseth."
This progress in her mind to a more perfect
and exalted state of happiness and holiness,
had always been observable from the very
commencement of her illness; it was now,
however, more strikingly manifest.  Every
hour, as her body became more. feeble and
drew nearer to the grave, her soul became
more And more like the divine image of her
Saviour, and her joy and peace more like the
joy and peace of heaven. To this delightful
and heavenward progress of her mind, only
one slight interruption bccurred during her




HER LAST ILLNESS.         79
whole illness; and considering all the circumstances, this could scarcely be wondered at.
Our union had been of the most happy and
endearing character; it had existed little more
than a twelvemonth, and we had looked forward with delightful anticipations to many
years of sweet companionship with each other:
all these were to be blasted, and we were now
to be parted never again to meet in time. Such
thoughts had been crossinsg her mind one day
as I was sitting alone by her bedside, when,
taking me by the hand with an affectionate
grasp, and the tears rushing over her pale
cheek, she exclaimed, in a tone of painful anguish, " Oh, my dear John, how shall I leave
you? how shall we part?  Oh, I cannot, I
cannot, I cannot;" and, weeping and sobbing,
she continued to exclaim, "Oh, I cannot, I.
cannot." I immediately endeavored, so far as
I was able, to lead her mind to Him who alone
could enable us to bear and to do all his will;
and to show her, that since she had found such
a sweet Saviour, such a faithful and loving
friend as Jesus, no other was worth weeping
for. On hearing the name of Jesus pronounced,
she immediately became quite calm and com



80          MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
posed; and having occasion, in the course of a
few minutes, to go into another room, I overheard her in my absence singing, in a sweet
and mellow tone, the following verse:
"'I leave the world without a tear,
Save for the friends I hold most dear;
To heal their sorrows; Lord, descend,
And to the friendless prove a friend."
On my return to ker bedroom she said," Oh,
I see I have just beeltloolking away from Jesus;
I know there is no variableness nor shadow of
turning with him. Oh, yes, I have just been
looking away from him, and I much fear we
have too often done so; making idols of and
loving each other more than Him who first
loved us and gave himself for us: perhaps that
is the reason why God is going to separate us
so early; he will not permit his creatures to
worship idols, and no doubt we have been
doing so. Whatever he does, however, I know
it will be the best for us in the end; let his
will therefore be done." She had now resumed
all her former equanimity, and entered into
conversation with her usual cheerfulness; and
whenever I cast imy eye upon her, either in
going in or coming out of the room, she would




HE R LAST'1 III, INESS.   81
smile and give a gentle bow with her head,
just as if she had been saluting a friend passing in the street and nothing whatever was
the matter.
About seven o'clock on the Wednesday morning previous to her death, Mrs. Little being
asleep, and being myself much fatigued, having remained up with her during the night, I
intended to embrace the opportunity thus afforded to indulge in a little repose. I had only
been in bed for a few minutes, when to my
surprise, Mrs. Little began to sing in a strain
the most beautiful and melodious I thought I
had ever heard. Starting up and leaning on
my arm, I looked towards her for a few minutes; her eyes were shut, and a gentle smile
played on her countenance. I was unable,
however, to distinguish the words whose heavenly sounds were flowing so sweetly from her
lips. In a few minutes, and all in tn instant,
she paused, and burst out into ejaculations ex.
pressive sometimes of the most extraordinary
wonder and amazement, at others of the most
rapturous delight, and exclaiming, "Oh, what
is yonder-what is yonder? what glory! it is
not only the happiness, but the glory that is
Mrs. Little.       6




82         MIRS. JlESSltE LITTLE.
yonder! What a scene-what a place!"  At
length she seemed to be so overwhelmed with
delight and amazement, that she was unable
to articulate. It turned out that she had been
dreaming, and that in her dream she thought
she had obtained the privilege of a view of the
celestial country. Just as she awoke, brother
Robert happened to come in from the adjoining
room, when she said to him, "Robert, I have
just been in heaven, and Oh, what have I seen;
what a blessed place! And whom do you think
I saw? I saw my dear little Jane there. Oh,
if you had just seen the sweet little darling,
how happy she was:" thus showing that, whether awake or asleep, her thoughts were but little engaged with the concerns of the world.
Next day brother Robert being obliged to leave
for Selkirk, asked, on taking leave of her, if
she wished to send any communication to her
friends there. In a solemn and emphatic tone
of voice, she replied, "Yes, I have one message to send to them, and only one, and it is
this: just tell them all to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they shall be saved." In
the course of the evening she became to all
appearance considerably worse, and expressed




HER LAST ILLNESS.          83
her conviction that death was now near-.at
hand. After a night of severesuffering, she,
enjoyed a little repose in the morning, but no
change for the better made its appearance; or
the contrary, she was evidently fast sinki-ng:
of this fact no one appeared to be more convinced than herself. In the course of the following day, she lifted up her hand before her
face, and, as a proof how near she was to glory,
asked me to observe how very small and slender it was become. She also requested me to
take from her finger her marriage-ring, as, in
consequence of her hands being so much wasted, it would no longer remain in its place. As I
reluctantly proceeded to comply with her painful request, the happy event which had placed
the ring on her finger only a short twelvemonth
before, and the melancholy circumstances under which it was now to be for ever removed,
were subjects over which her mind appeared
for the time to be musing; and as I silently
stood by her bedside, wrapping in a piece of
paper the now unheeded token of a past event,
a tinge of melancholy slightly veiled her countenance, and the deep contemplative cast of
her eye betrayed that mournful emotions were




84         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
flitting across her soul. She said nothing, however, and after engaging in prayer she fell into
a slight repose.  Towards the evening, and
on Saturday, the following day, her sufferings
were very intense, more so indeed than they
had ever yet been; and, with the exception of
her head and one of her hands, she was unable to move any part of her body: her soul
however was rising higher and higher in the
scale of happiness; and on conversing with her
I found her in possession of a peace and joy of
mind beyond any thing I had ever before witnessed. On one occasion, when the sufferings
of her body were more than usually severe and
heart-rending, I was so much struck with the
dignified serenity of her mind, that I was led
to inquire why, under such severe bodily distress, she was experiencing what I thought was
even more than her usual joy; looking up in
my face, with an air of surprise at such a question, she replied emphatically, and in a joyful
tone of voice, " John, I know in whom I have
believed."




GRACE IN SUFFERING.          85
CHAPTER V.
PRAYER-ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM IT-INCREASING
PHYSICAL SUFFERINGS-THEIR ABATEMENT-STATE
OF HER MIND-JESUS THE SOURCE OF HER JOY-AP
PARENT APPROACH OF DEATH-HER CONSCIOUSNES3,
OF IT-GOD'S PROMISES FULFILLED-THE LOVE O;'
CHRIST AND HER OWN INGRATITUDE-MESSAGE Tou
HER MEDICAL ATTENDANTS-THE TEXT FOR IIE).
FUNERAL SERMON-PRAYER ANSWERED-THE WORb
OF CHRIST.
EVER since, by the grace of God, Mrs. Littli
knew the truth as it is in Jesus, prayer was
the most delightful exercise in which she en
gaged; from the period of her conversion down
to the last moments of her life, her faith in the
finished atonement of Jesus had never been alloyed by the presence of doubt in her mind: a
cloud had never dimmed that clear and simple
view of the work of Christ which first brough'
peace to her soul, and the consequent calm ant
joy which she experienced had never been dis
turbed. To her habits of frequent commun.
ion with God, and to her childlike confidence
in all his promises, may be attributed in a great
measure that delightful and cheerful state &
mind which she possessed. With her eye con



86         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
stantly turned to " the Lamb of God, who talketh away the sin of the world," her soul revolved as it were continually round and round
the cross of Calvary; and the more she beheld
the sinless victim bleeding and dying there,
"not only" for her sins —and for your sins,
reader-but also "for the sins of the whole
world," the more did she delight to come into
the presence of that Almighty Being; because,
through the sacrifice of his Son and equal, she
saw divine justice completely satisfied for all
her sins; through Calvary she could see a
" well-pleased" God —through Calvary she
could behold a smiling Father, a God of love,
willing to protect her, rejoicing to watch over
her, and waiting to receive her at last to himself. When Mr. Pullar, her esteemed pastor,
or any of her brothers or sisters in the church,
called at the house to make inquiries regarding her, she generally requested that the few
minutes she was able to see them should be
solely occupied in prayer; and during some of
the last nights of her existence, I have known
her to be at the throne of grace eight or ten
tlimes in as many hours. After every short
interval of sleep, for some nights preceding




GRACE IN SUFFERING.         87
her death, "Let us engage in prayer," were
generally the first words which fell from her
lips. In alluding to this exercise a day or two
before she expired, she said, "It brings me always so near to God, and I feel just so very
close to Jesus, I don't know how it is, and so
happy, that I really cannot describe it." A
considerable portion of her time appeared to be
also occupied in silent meditation: her aunt,
MIrs. Cumming, would sometimes, when sitting in the room alone with her, observe her
shut her eyes for a few moments, then open
them and with a sweet serenity and holy joy
on her countenance calmly and steadily look
towards heaven for perhaps the space of a
minute, and then again shut and open them
alternately for a few times in the same way,
while her thoughts appeared to be engaged
in sweet communion'with the God and Saviour of her soul. While thus in attendance
with her one night, her aunt inquired if there
was any portion of Scripture which she would
wish to be read. "Yes," she replied, "you may
read the first chapter of John's gospel: it is
there I think where so much is said of Christ;
an(l the words,'Behold the Lamb of God who




88          MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
taketh away the sin of the world,' are repeated." She requested her aunt to read also the
first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews;
saying, "In that chapter you will see how
much glory is given to the Son."
For forty wearisome days and nights she had
now lain prostrate on a bed of affliction, under
the severity of which it surprised even the doctors themselves that her earthly existence had
been prolonged for such a length of time; and
during all that long period a murmur was never
heard to escape her lips. She frequently, however, gave expression to the extreme agony to
which the daily shifting of her position subjected her; this cannot be wondered at, when
it is considered that latterly a single touch of
the finger on many parts of her body produced
pain. One day, after the doctors had been
changing her position, which they desired frequently to be done, I observed her weeping;
and on making inquiry for the cause of her
tears, she replied that she feared she was not
patient enough under the hands of the doctors:
the agony, she said, was very, very great; but
to complain was unlike her divine Master. On
Saturday evening she became very restless; a




GItACE IN SUFFERING.         89
deep hectic flush rested on her cheek; her respiration was fast and difficult; the copious
streams of perspiration oozing from her fevered
forehead required the constant application of
the sponge; and altogether she presented a
heart-rending spectacle of suffering. And, what
rendered the picture even more painful, she exclaimed two or three times in a tone of agony,
"Oh, could you not lift me up? Could you not
lift me up? Oh, do lift me up-do lift me up!"
In this distressing condition Mrs. Little continued till nearly eleven o'clock, when she became less restless, and the fever began apparently to subside. She now requested that the
doctor's orders to alter the position of her body,
which were formerly attended to about the
same hour in the evening, might be dispensed
with, and that she might be permitted to lie
as she was now doing on her back, till death
should put an end to her sufferings; " for," said
she, "the sorting is so painful, and besides it
can do mne no good, for I know I shall soon be
away."  We now saw that all human effort to
mitigate her sufferings or prolong her life was
unavailing, and that we could do nothing more
than wipe the perspiration from her forehead




90         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
and passively await the closing of her eye by
the hand of death. By this time the intense
bodily suffering under which she had been previously laboring was very considerably abated,
and, much exhausted, she sunk into a state of
light repose, in which she continued till about
one in the morning. When she awoke at that
time, she appeared to be considerably refreshed,
and to my great joy and contrary to expectation asked for a small piece of biscuit and a little wine, which she received and appeared to
relish. On our presenting her with the biscuit
and wine, she said, "Oh, how very easy I feel
to-day; I am as comfortable this morrfing as I
was restless last night: and then how happy;
Oh, I really cannot describe it!" And on talking about Jesus, her usual theme, such a sense
of the love of God in having condescended,
"without money and without price," to provide a Saviour for her, unworthy as she felt
herself to be —such a sense of the sufficiency
of Christ's death to wash all her sins away, of
God as completely satisfied with that death for
all her transgressions, of entire confidence and
safety for her soul in the finished work of the
cross, appeared to occupy her mind-that, in




GRACE IN SUFFERING.        91
the words of the Psalmist, literally her " mouth
was filled with laughter;" for as she spoke of
"the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins
of the world," she could not desist from smiling under the feeling of joy and gratitude
which she experienced. MArs. Little now became so cheerful, and conversed in such a firm
and healthy tone of voice, while pain and sickness to a great extent appeared to have left
her, that a hope even yet arose in my mind
that a change for the better had actually taken
place; and under this impression I went to
Mrs. Cumming, who was sleeping in the adjoining room, and informed her of the favorable symptoms which had made their appearance. Shortly after, Mrs. Cumming rose, quite
delighted with the information which had just
been conveyed to her, and I now intended taking a short repose, which Mrs. Cumming's
presence and the apparently favorable turn of.circumstances now offered; but I had just lain
down with revived hopes, and begun to picture
in my mind her who was so near and dear to
me again restored to her wonted health, when
MIrs. Cumming approached my bedside and informed me that she feared I had been mistaken,




92         AIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
and that immediate danger was to all appearance approaching. Startled at such painful
intelligence, I rose hurriedly, unwilling to part
with my former hopes; but, alas, Mrs. Cumming's apprehensions turned out to be too true:
the favorable change had only been in appearance-had only been the hushing of the storm
after the wreck was completed. The abatement two hours before of the severe suffering
above mentioned, it appeared had been the
commencement of mortification, and the still
rapid decrease of that suffering only served to
mark its onward progress, and to inform us
that death was closely following in the rear;
and the now icy hand, the pale lip, and the
cold sweat that bedewed her calm and youthful countenance, but too truly echoed the sad
and melancholy tale.
It was now two o'clock, and never did such
a morning dawn upon her existence; never before did she awake to the possession of a joy so.
deep, so pure, so heavenly; her wanderings
through the wilderness of sin and suffering
were now closing behind her, and not far hence
she could descry with the eye of faith the promised land, the heavenly country; she could see,




GRACE IN SUFFERING.         93
through the vista of a few short hours, the turrets of the golden, the eternal city, to which
the finished work of Emmanuel was bearing
her in triumph away. As the sound of " past
three" was heard from the city watchmen
away in the distance, Canaan's land was nearer
and brighter in her view, and the joyful shout
of the jubilee trumpet swelling more loudly
upon her ear. Onward as the morning advanced, she still appeared to be rising into a
higher and happier state of being.  From one
o'clock, the time at which she awoke, up to
eight o'clock in the morning, she was frequently engaged in prayer; at times she would converse with us in her usual happy manner about
the delightful theme, Jesus Christ and him
crucified, every succeeding conversation developing more and more the peace which passeth
all understanding, the joy of dying in the Lord,
which her mind possessed. The sun rose about
eight o'clock, and every thing indicated that,
before he descended in the west, the sun of
Mrs. Little's earthly career would be set for
ever, and her soul disembodied and in the world
of spirits. Of this nMrs. Little appeared also
to have not the smallest doubt: the doctors'




94         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
medicines were now set aside, as being of no
more use; the wine and biscuit, which had
been her only nourishment for some days previous, were also laid away; she could drink no
more wine until she would drink it new in her
Father's kingdom.  She felt as if she had
nothing more to do with her mortal body, or
with any thing in this world; and all that now
remained for us to do was to wipe away the
cold perspiration that oozed from her forehead,
to converse with her when she desired, to engage in prayer with her at intervals, as she
requested, and to wait till she could say,
" The hour of my departure Is come,
I hear the voice that calls me home."
In these circumstances, the doctors, on making their morning call about nine o'clock, found
us, when -they merely informed us that their
attendance, they were sorry to say, was now
no more necessary, and that we must make up
our minds for the worst ere very long.
The day was now evidently arrived when
the truth of that religion which was her joy
in health, her support in affliction, her happiness in time, and her hope for eternity, was to
receive another glorious confirmation; when




GRACE IN SUFFERING.         95
the blessed promises of the Almighty to his
people, "I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee;" " when thou passest through the waters,
I will be with thee;" " the sting of death shall
be taken away;" "fear thou not, for I am with
thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God,"
were to be fulfilled to the very letter. Death,
the last enemy, was now gradually but steadily moving forward to take possession of his
victim: calmly and unmovedly she viewed its
approach; she already felt its cold touch, but
she heeded it not. Considering it merely as
the separation of her soul and body, its sting
was entirely taken away, and instead of waiting its arrival with fear and terror, she did so
with joy and pleasure-instead of anticipating
it as the most appalling and critical hour in
her history, she contemplated it as the happiest moment in her worldly existence; she looked upon death only as the messenger that was
to announce to her friends who were left behind, her entrance into the land of eternal
felicity-as the signal that was to open for her
admittance the gates of the new Jerusalem,
and to usher her into the company of God and
of the Lamb, of angels and archangels, and of




96         MRs. JESSIE LITTLE.
the mighty host of the redeemed who sing
around the throne for ever and ever-as the
voice that was to proclaim, "All things are
ready;" "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world;" " enter ye into the
joy of your Lord."
Every vestige of bodily suffering having now
disappeared, and lying, as she had done for some
time, on a hydrostatic or floating bed, she expressed herself with the utmost thankfulness
and gratitude, that she was suffering no pain
whatever, and that she was enjoying as much
bodily ease and comfort as it was possible for
any person to do, even in the possession of the
most perfect health. This entire freedom from
physical suffering might be accounted for by
the extent to which mortification had now advanced; her whole body, with the exception of
her head and chest and one arm, was now become cold as lead-lifeless and almost insensible to the touch. Her body, her affliction, and
her approaching dissolution, did not now appear to occupy any portion of her attention:
her whole theme was again about the Saviour;
she spoke as if it baffled her utmost stretch of




IrLACE IN SUFFERING.        97
conception to comprehend the depth of that
love which induced the Son of God to leave,
his throne in the heavens, to hide his glory in
human form, to be born in a manger, to be
despised and reviled, and even to die as a degraded criminal on Calvary, for the very beings
who had violated his laws, rebelled against
him, and were his enemies in every form. The
more she beheld the Saviour in his true character, the more base, the more ungrateful, the
more sinful and unworthy she saw herself to
be. On contemplating that marvellous love,
and comparing it with her own ingratitude,
with how little she had done for the cause of
Christ compared with what she might have
done; and on considering how few perishing
souls she had entreated to stop and listen to
the'" good news," that they might believe them,
and live and die rejoicing, and go to glory as
she was now doing, she would look upon herself as the chief of sinners, as a poolr worthless being; and, amazed that God could deign to
love such a rebel, she would exclaim, " Wretch
that I amn!"
On another occasion she observed Mrs. Campbell, a lady of her acquaintance who had taken
Mrs. Little.      7




98         MiRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
a deep interest in her, and had been most kind
and unremitting in her attention to her during
the whole period of her illness, to be in tears;
when she said, " Weep not for me, Mrs. Campbell, I am not worth weeping for." She now
mentioned the names of many of her friends,
and alluded to their spiritual welfare with the
most affectionate solicitude. At this time her
whole mind appeared to be engrossed about
the welfare of souls, whoever and wherever
they were, and to manifest a deep and yearning anxiety to tell them about that Saviour,
to accept of whom, as a,gift, was life eternalthat Saviour who was willing and able to save
them, and who had come for that very purpose; who had spilt that blood which " cleanseth friom all sin," for their transgressions; and
who was still following them with deep compassion, proclaiming through his word in accents of tenderest affection, to every sinnerand to you, unconverted reader-" God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him  should not
perish, but have everlasting life:" " Incline
your ear and come unto me; hear, and your
soul shall live:" "As I live, saith the Lord, I




GRACE IN SUFFER1NG           99
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked:"
" Turn ye, turn ye; for -why will ye die?"
Mrs. Little had had no opportunities of knowing any thing about the doctors, farther than the
great kindness, care, and attention, with which
they had treated her during her long illness;
but, said she, " Tell Dr. Maxwell and Dr. King
that I have felt very grateful for their kindness and unwearied attention to me during my
illness; and tell them, from me, to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ and they shall be saved."
This was the message which she had already
sent to her friends'in the south of Scotland,
because it was the message which God had
proclaimed to the whole world; and they were
words which, from first to last, conveyed peace
and joy to her own soul; and it was her burning and impatient desire, in her dying moments,
to post the gladsome sound through every
channel within her reach, to perishing souls,
to one and all of the unconverted of the human
family, if she had had it in her power, to the
guiltiest sinner in existence, to the young and
old, to the rich and poor, to the prince and the
beggar, as the words were addressed to all.
Shortly after she had requested me to convey




100        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
this message to the doctors, she added, " But,
of course, it is after I am dead when I wish
you to deliver this message to the doctors: I
shall be dead in a very little, and as soon as I
am away you will do so, if they should happen
then to come in, or on the first opportunity
which may afterwards present itself." I said
that I would do as she requested, when she
sweetly remarked, "Very well," at the same
time making a gentle bow of approbation with
her head.
It may be here mentioned, in passing, that
the latter amiable and highly respected gentleman here alluded to, little more than six months
after he received this interesting communication from his young and dying patient, with
which he was deeply affected, was himself
summoned to the eternal world. He died in
the following August, in the prime of life; and
although his death was sudden and somewhat
unexpected, he met its approach with great
composure and resignation. A short while before he expired he placed his finger on his own
pulse, and coolly informed his friends, by whom
he was surrounded, when it ceased to beat.
He was the brother of Dr. King, of Grey



GRACE IN SUFFERING.        101
friars' church, Glasgow; and was not only
universally esteemed and respected by all
who knew him, but was endeared to all with
whom his official capacity brought him into
contact.
MIrs. Little now mentioned that the Bible
contained so many rich texts, that she felt
some little difficulty in deciding which would
prove most suitable and useful as a subject for
her funeral-sermon. At length she thought
that if Mr. Pullar should, for the benefit of the
unconverted, improve the circumstance of her
death on the following Sabbath, the words
forming her message to her friends and the
doctors, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved," would probably be
the most useful she could fix upon; and she
accordingly decided that these words should
form the text of her funeral-sermon. All this
conversation took place with as much coolness
and deliberation, on her part, as if she had
been sitting as usual in her chair in the enjoyment of her wonted health, and talking about
the most ordinary matters of every-day occurrence.
It was now eleven o'clock-it was the Sab



102        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
bath-' the church bells were chiming, and the
people of God were wending their way to the
house of prayer: circumstances which recalled
to my mind the delight with which Mrs. Little was formerly accustomed to repair to the
chapel on Sabbath morning, to meet and worship with her "dear brethren and sisters in
Jesus," in the house of God. Many of her
brethren and sisters in the church called at the
door, inquiring with tears after their afflicted
sister; while others waited in the street to receive the intelligence from those who called
personally at the door; and the prayers of the
assembled church were that day, as they had
been frequently before, employed in her behalf.
She was destined, however, never again to assemble with the church below: she was going
to join for ever the church above; and, probably, while her brethren were that very day surrounding the table of the Lord on earth, and
remembering " Jesus crucified," she would be
sitting with the Saviour himself, at his own
table in heaven, and gazing on " Jesus glorified."  The kindness of her Christian friends
with whom she was connected in church-fellowship, and who had manifested deep anxiety




GRACE IN SUFFERING.         103
for her recovery, she appreciated much, although she felt herself unworthy of it.
A circumstance now occurred, which at first
produced on the minds of those who were surrounding the death-bed of MIrs. Little, the
greatest distress and alarm; but which was
afterwards made the instrument of leading us
to feel more and more our total dependence on
God for every blessing; and of impressing us
more deeply than ever with his wonderful
character, and with the value and privilege of
prayer.  The following are the facts of the
case, as nearly as the writer can remember:
Mrs. Little's tongue began somewhat suddenly
to swell, and in a short time the swelling had
increased to such an extent that she was almost unable to articulate. The doctors, having, considered their attendance no longer necessary, were not within our reach: we ourselves could do nothing to allay the swelling.
To all appearance it was still increasing, and
we were in the utmost dread, lest we should
be called upon to suffer the terrible pain of
seeing her literally choked, without being able
to render her any assistance in averting such
a calamity.  In these circumstances we were




104       AM RS. JESSIE IITTLE.
led to apply to the heavenly Physician; we
all united in earnestly supplicating God to remove the cause of our alarm, and to permit
his handmaid to die under the absence of physical suffering.  Our request was graciously
granted; the swelling began to subside, and
in a short tinme her tongue was reduced to its
ordinary dimensions. The latter part of our
petition, it will be afterwards observed, was
also literally complied with, by the prayerhearing and prayer-answering Jehovah.
Thus relieved, and with deep gratitude, she
could now hear and talk of nothing but Jesus
Christ and him crucified, through whom all
blessings flow: he was all her delight and all
her desire, and her whole soul appeared to be
filled with the light of his countenance, and
the presence of his Holy Spirit: "The Lamb
of God, who taketh away the sins of the
world," stood before her mind's eye in all his
glory; he was the great sun and centre of the
system of salvation, raised up in the view of a
lost and fallen world, to whom, as the serpentbitten Israelites looked to the brazen serpent
and were healed, every sin-bitten soul is called
upon to look an(l be saved. Any expressions




GRACE IN SUFFERING;.       1.05
falling from any of us, which seemed in the
least degree to indicate that either the unconverted were looking for safety, or the believer
for peace, to any other source than Jesus and
him alone, she instantly detected. For example, she called her mother-in-law to her bedside,
and said, "Mother, the young may die, but
the old must: how do you feel now?" alluding to the peace of her soul with God through
Jesus. Her mother-in-law, in replying to her
interrogation, happened to make a remark to
the effect that she had received much benefit
from the many prayers she had heard present.
ed to the throne of grace, on Mrs. Little's be.
half, since the commencement of her illness.
" From  what?" the latter replied; " from
what?" and appearing quite dissatisfied, gave
us to understand that it was not from prayer,
nor from any other work performed by us sinners, that peace and comfort flowed, but from
the work of. Jesus alone, which was already
finished and completed, to the entire satisfaction of God's broken law; this was the "good
news," the fountain of living water, and prayer
was only the instrument by which that water
was drawn up from the wells of salvation



106        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
was only the channel through w-hich nourishment Was conveyed to the believer's soul: but
prayer was not the nourishment itself; Jesus
was the food and drink of the soul.  These
were not Mlrs. Little's words, but convey the
sentiments which her remarks expressed. It
may perhaps be remembered that Mrs. Little;
during the period she continued in an anxious
and inquiring state of mind, had often placed
the exercise of prayer in the room of Jesus,
and was thereby led into a false and unscriptural position; which may account for the
jealousy she always afterwards manifested,
when the way of salvation was the subject of
conversation, if any thing was mentioned indicating that the believer's hope rested on any
thing more or less than the work of Christ
alone. Sin coming wholly by man, and salvation wholly by Jesus Christ, were the two
great separate truths which appeared ever to
stand prominently before her mind; to her
clear and simple views of which may be attributed much of that entire freedom  from
wavering and doubt, which, from the period
when she first knew the truth, she had always
enjoyed, and which now, in the face of death,




GRACE IN SUFFERING.         107
appeared so prominently. In a short time, and
at the close of another prayer, she said, " This
is the Sabbath;" and remarking that there had
been no allusion made to the Lord's day in
the prayer which had just been concluded, requested that we should again engage in devotional exercise, and that the omission should be
supplied. After this had been done, she again
said, in a deep contemplative tone of voice,
" This is the Sabbath."  "Yes, my dear," replied her aunt, "you would hear that mentioned in the last prayer."  "Yes, but that is
not what I mean," Mrs. Little replied, in the
same thoughtful manner; when Mrs. Cumming observed, that this was the day on which
the Lord arose from the dead.  "Yes, that's
it, that's it," was MlIrs. Little's response.
On another occasion, immediately after prayer had been presented to the throne of grace
on her behalf, in which was employed a supplicatory expression, to the effect that if it was
the Lord's pleasure now to remove her from
the world, he would, if consistent with his
will, take her to himself, she remarlked with
her usual candor and coolness of manner, to
the individual who had led the devotion, that




108        MRS. JESSIE IITTLE.
there was something decidedly wrong in his
prayer. She mentioned that if she was about
to die, and Jesus being the rock on which she
was resting, there could be no ifs or doubts
about God's willingness to take her to glory;
and that it was impossible and contrary to his
whole revealed character, to suppose that he
could be unwilling to receive to himself each
and all whose souls were reposing with perfect
confidence on the atonement of his Son; and
she knew in whom she was trusting.  None of
us having observed the expression referred to,
we were rather surprised at such a quick discernrnent on her part of its erroneous and
God-dishonoring character, and feelings of no
ordinary solemnity and self-reproach were experienced by some of us, at least, from her unexpected remarks.




HlE.R PEACEFULI DEATH.       109
CHAPTER VI.
THE APPROACH OF DEATH —INTERVIEW WITH MRS. CAMPBELL-THE STATE OF TER MIIIND-SPIRITUAL JOYPARTING REQUESTS-FORETASTE OF tIEAVEN —HER
DEATH —IMEETING OF HER ACQUAINTANCES —HER FUNERAL-HER FUNERAL-SERMION —SIANUSCRIPT WRITTEN BY MIRS. LITTLE.
IT was now half-past eleven o'clock, and the
great and solemn crisis was evidently near at
hand; her bosom heaved heavily, and the cold
and clammy sweat bedewed her calm and
peaceful countenance. For a few minutes she
ceased to speak, the pale shadow of death was
noiselessly stealing over her, and all was deep
and solemn silence. Under the impression that
the sound of her voice would never again fall
on my ear, and that the painful separation
which I had hitherto so much dreaded, was
now about to take place, I involuntarily turned
my face away from her, when her quick eye
immediately observed me; and correctly apprehending the cause of my distress, she said
in a sweet and gentle manner, "Do not be ill,
my dear John, I am not going away junst yet;
do not be ill, do not be ill." As I turned again,




110         IR-S. JESSIE LITTLE.
and gazed on the face of her who had thus
spoken, there was, in the very sweetness of her
countenance, in the heavenliness of her eye, a
something which seemed to forbid the heaving
of a sigh or the shedding of a tear for her;
something which seemed to say,'Let not your hearts swith anxious thoughts
Be troubled or dismayed."
"The Lord is my refuge and my fortress;"
"the Lord is my light -and my salvation;"
and therefore, "though a host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear." After
the lapse of a minute or two, she requested
_Mrs. Campbell to come near to her bedside,
and thus addressed her: "iMrs. Campbell, your
great kindness and unwearied attention to me
during my illness, I am unable to repay; but
my wish and prayer is, that when you come
to die, the Lord may bless you as he has
blessed me on a dying bed; that you may
then have that peace and joy which, by grace,
I now possess; and that in heaven you may
meet all your dear children who have gone before you."  Mrs. Campbell, out of a family of
ten beloved children, had already laid nine of
them in the grave; and the tenth and last, a




HIER PEACEFUL DEATH.           111
fine and intelligent boy three years of age, has
also since been borne to the silent tonib.  Mrs.
Campbell, on taking this last farewell of her,
was in tears; and on this coming under the
observation of Mrs. Little, the latter said,
"Weep not for me, lMrs. Campbell, for I am
happy, happy, happy!" with a sweet expression of countenance, indicating in words,
"Take comfort, Christians, when your friends
In Jesus fall asleep;
Their better beingC never ends,
Why then dejected weep?
Why inconsolable, as those
To whom no hope is given?
Death is the messenger of peace,
And calls the soul to heaven.'
She concluded her interview with this lady by
making some affectionate inquiries regarding
the spiritual welfare of Mr. Campbell, her husband.
Mrs. Little now presented a spectacle of the
most intense interest; she spoke calmly and
firmly, as usual, and every word which fell
from her lips was laden with a dignity of
meaning which the pen is unable correctly to
describe. In alluding to the Saviour, and the
glorious eternity which through his merits was




112        tIRS. JESSIE ITTLErI.
awaiting her, the language she employed was
so lofty and sublime, that I felt as if I were
no longer in the presence of my earthly companion, or of a mere human being, but under
the celestial voice of a glorified spirit, already
within the portals of heaven and conversing
in heaven's loftiest language, looking down on
this our lower world with all its riches and
honors as a vain and empty possession, and,
compared with the glorious eternity that was
now stretching out before her, as unworthy of
a moment's notice, save for the myriads of
deathless souls that were hurrying along its
path on their way to endless life or endless
misery; and while she thus discoursed in such
sublime language, the profound and hallowed
joy which filled her soul -became deeper and
deeper as death approached nearer and nearer.
"Oh," she would exclaim, "Oh, I really cannot describe how happy I feel;" and when
prayer was made at her bedside, she would
turn up her eyes, beaming with deep and holy
joy, towards heaven, and triumphantly wave
her hand backward and forward before her face,
while the calm and hallowed serenity of her
countenance, and the steady gaze of her up



HER PEACEFUL DEATH.         113
turned eye, proclaimed that her thoughts were
away in heaven, and that her soul was joyfully shouting, "0 death, where is thy sting? 0
grave, where is thy victory?"
Up to this hour I had never been able to
obtain from my mind a cordial and willing
consent to give her up to God, or to say, with
entire and unqualified sincerity, " Thy will be
done;" but now, every shadow of reluctance
was removed, and not only did I now feel perfectly reconciled to her, the nearest and dearest
friend on earth, being taken from me; but,
even had I been in possession of the power to
restore her again to the world, the scene before us would have been sufficient to erase the
very wish. to keep her an hour longer from the
possession of that happy and exalted state of
existence into which she was just about to enter, and of which she already enjoyed such a
sweet and delightful foretaste.  6" The house
of mourning" was now literally turned into
" the house of joy;" every tear was now wiped
away, and only one feeling of joy and gratitude filled every bosom present; and as we
gazed on the happy spectacle before us, on the
eye which beamed with such hallowed delight,
Mrs. Little.      8




114        MIRS. JESSIE LI'rT'LE.
and calmly awaited the arrival of the solemn
moment, the emotions of our hearts were more
like those which pervade the breasts of the
guests of a marriage-supper, than of those who
were surrounding the death-bed, and taking
the last farewell of a dearly-beloved friend:
indeed it was impossible, with such a picture
before us, to be otherwise. The only regret
which seemed to exist was, that the number
who were thus to witness a practical testimony
to the truth of God's word was not greater:
that the doubtful was not there, that he might
be confirmed; the man of pleasure, that he
might know where true happiness was to be
found; the careless, that he might be aroused;
the scoffer, that he might tremble; and the
infidel, that he might be confounded.
After another brief pause, she requested me
to come forward, and, before our final separation, to kiss her. This was the last sad signal
that our short and happy union here was now
for ever to be dissolved: to human nature it
was a trying moment; and as I complied with
this last request, she warmly and affectionately
repeated, "Again," and " Ore-, more, again,"
and clasped my hand, while,'through the lov



tIER PEACEFUL DEATH.        115
ing, lingering look, she whispered, Farewell,
farewell! But although she was now parting
with 6ne who fondly loved her, she was going
away to meet with Him who "so loved" her
that he gave up his life as a ransom for her,
and from whom she would never, never be separated.
"' A hope so great and so divine,
May trials well endure."
She also requested the others who were present, slowly naming each of them, one by one
to come forward, as she mentioned their names
respectively, and to kiss her now cold and icy
lips. After this request had been complied
with, she desired us, naming  each of us again,
and in the same order, to come near and take
hold of her hand, apparently intending her
hand to continue to be joined with ours until
death should unloose them.  She looked calmly and silently on, until we were all placed in
such a position as to be able conveniently to
comply with the particulars of her request.
After arranging ourselves on each side of the
couch on which she lay, and taxkina hold of her
hand in the way she desired, she kept silence
for a moment or two, and then said, slowly




116        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
ind sweetly, but in a firm tone of voice, and
laying an emphasis on the. word "now," "I
think I am now going to die; but do not weep
for me, for I am happy, happy, happy!" And
now, perhaps one of the most solemn and
sublime spectacles that could pass before the
vision of a human being, was witnessed by
those who stood around her dying pillow, and
one which was calculated not only to establish
in the mind of the most sceptical the blessed
reality of the religion of Jesus Christ, but to
convince the most rigid materialist of the immortal nature of the human soul, for whose
present and eternal welfare that religion has
been revealed to man. On the one hand, death
sat in awful stillness on her pale and marbled
countenance, as if unwilling to disturb the
sweetness and serenity that were reposing
there; and on the other, immortality beamed
through the peace, the joy, and the bright intelligence of her eye: here a body, mortal,
corrupt, and sinking down to earth; there a
soul, deathless, sanctified, and rising up to
heaven; the grave opening for the one, the
gates of glory for the other: the one unbosomling its immortality, and putting on the dark




HER PEACEFUL DEATH.        117
and dreary mantle of death, purchased by sin;
the other flinging aside its earthly habilirnents,
and gathering around it the white and shining
robes of immortal glory, provided by Jesus
Christ.
She looked and appeared to feel as if the
rising majesty of her immortal nature was
calmly smiling at death and the grave, and
unwilling to permit her longer to recognize
even her own body as part and portion of herself, or to be associated with any thing short
of heaven and immortality. Thus waiting in
the most perfect consciousness the joyful blast
of the jubilee trumpet, the note of ransom to
her yet earth-bound spirit, and standing-in the
very gateway between time and eternity-between earth and heaven-she gently raised her
eyes, with a holy and hallowed gaze, towards
heaven, when the new Jerusalem appeared to
burst on her view, and with a joyful voice she
calmly and slowly exclaimed, " Oh, yonder he
is, yonder he is! Oh, do you not see him, do
you not see him? yonder he is, waiting with
open arms to receive me! Oh, could you see
what I now see —cherubim and seraphim surrounding the throne, crying and singing Halle



118        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
lujah, hallelujah, hallelujah to the Lamb who.was slain. Oh, yonder he is, yonder he is! Do
you not see him, do you not see him?" and
again raising her sinking voice, she named
me, and directing my attention upward with
the finger of her unoccupied hand, again said,
"Do you not see him? look, yonder he is, yonder he is!"
After giving utterance to these extraordinary expressions, which she did with a coolness
and apparently under a consciousness of the
reality of what she referred to, that, without
venturing to express any opinion, I may say
produced at least an impression upon our minds
which will probably never be effaced, she now
appeared to feel as if her sinking strength
would not permit her again to open her lips;
and, still having hold of her hand in the way
she had previously desired, we now stood in
deep silence, waiting in breathless suspense
the arrival of the solemn moment. Observing
us in this state of suspense, Mrs. Little broke
the general silence, and in that cool and collected manner which she had always hitherto
manifested, quietly remarked, "Perhaps it is
not going to be just so ver.! qulik;" the peon



HER PE.A CEE DU TV, ATH.    119
liar emphasis she laid on the word " very" intimating that she perceived by our silence and
looks that we were in momentary expectation
of the approaching change.  After another
short pause, she calmly said, " Aunt, what time
of the day is it just now?" when Mrs. Cumming
informed her that it was just twelve o'clock.
From  her very significant look and manner
when putting this question, her aunt was under
the impression that she intended to follow it
up with some remarks, but was prevented doing
so by the want of physical strength to enable
her to give utterance to her sentiments.
At this moment the sun of nature shone out
from behind a cloud, illuming with his cheering beams the chamber of death, and revealing more vividly to our gaze the calm and happy features of a redeemed sinner, stepping
into eternity. under the noontide blaze of the
Sun of righteousness. Another brief pause
having occurred, she asked for a little cold
water. Her articulation was now somewhat
difficult, but she still retained full possession
of all her mental faculties; and as Mrs. Cumming placed the water to her mouth, she opened her lips and composedly sipped it firom the




120         MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
spoon, appearing as conscious and calm as any
one present.  The spoon, however, was just
withdrawn from her lips, and the last sip of
water passed down, when, lifting her eyes upward and casting a holy gaze to heaven, she
calmly and sweetly looked for a moment-and
now her eye is fixed, her heaving bosom gently
sinks to rest, the soft breath ceases to fan the
half-formed smile still lingering on her lip: no
struggle, no pain; a babe-like sweetness sits
on her pale features; all is tranquil, all is still:
she sleeps-it is the sleep of death! Thus
she died-thus she sped away, far beyond the
reach of woe, to the realms of eternal gloryaway to receive her immortal crown, and to
swell the songs of the redeemed around the
throne, with God for her father, Christ for her
brother, angels for her companions, heaven
for her dwelling-place, and eternity for her lifetime.
We were thus left alone, gazing on each
other, in silent wonder, at the triumphant
scene just witnessed; and, before a word was
exchanged, we all united in thanksgiving to
God for the extraordinary manifestation of his
love which he had just made to pass before us.




HER PEACEFUL DEATH.        121
We required no longer to pray for her who was
formerly so often the subject of our petitions.
Happy woman! she was now already robed in
spotless white, with a crown of glory on her
brow, and triumphantly waving her palm o?
victory, amid the joyful hallelujahs of the
redeemed in heaven, where death and suffering, where sorrow and sighing, have for ever
fled away. Having followed her with the eye
of our mind away to the upper sanctuary, and(
left her disappearing amid the shining throng,
within the golden gates of the new Jerusalem,
the beautiful but lifeless form which she had
left behind, now shrouded in the deep tranquillity of death and stretched before us, led
us to feel anew the solemn warning, "Prepare
to meet thy God:" "Be thou also ready;"
"for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou
goest;" and to see, in all its truthfulness, that
" all flesh is grass."  The beloved one whose
lifeless body lay before us, was the youngest
of the company; but eighteen years she had
sojourned on earth, and only thirteen short but
happy months had winged their flight since
the same two hands which death had just for




122         XIMRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
ever separated, were joined by the most endearing tie on earth: thirteen short months
before, she stood by the side of him from whom
she had just taken the last farewell, a lovely
and blooming bride of seventeen, arrayed in
her wedding garments; now she lay before
him  a pale, cold, and lifeless corpse, robed in
the dreary grave sheet: the dark and cheerful
eye, which beamed so brightly only a few weeks
before, was now for ever shut in death.  And
now he listens for the sound of that voice
which was wont to fall so sweetly on his
ear; but all is silent as the grave: he gazes
round, and there her empty chair meets his
eye; here lies her needle, threaded with her
own hand, and stuck in her unfinished seam;
there the sacred spot where, in secret, she was
wont to pour out her soul to her Father in
heaven, lonely and deserted; and here lies her
Bible, with the careful mark at the verse which
last she read. Truly we realized " the vanity
of all things here below," and felt that: Whate'er we fondly call our own
Belongs to heaven's great Lord;
The blessings lent us for a day,
Are soon to be restored.




HER PEACEFUL DEATIT.         123;Tis God that lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them in the grave;
He gives-and when he takes away,
He takes but what he gave."
In the evening, a meeting for thanksgiving to
God for his gracious dealings to the departedfor having led her by his Holy Spirit to " the
Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the
world," supported her under her long and severe affliction, and enabled her to die a blessed
testimony to "the truth as it is in Jesus," was
held by a few of our Christian friends in the
room adjoining "the chamber of death." It
was a happy and delightful meeting, and truly
the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, was in the
midst of us; the house of mourning was in
reality felt to be "the house of joy."  Some
of Mrs. Little's favorite hymns were sung;
and as our hearts and voices were blending in
praise' To Him who loved the souls of men,
And washed us in his blood,;)
we thouglht of her who was no longer with us,
as being engaged at the same time in singing
some sweet " song of Zion," with the company
of the redeemed in heaven.  Some of those




124        MIRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
present had many a time before met in sweet
fellowship with Mrs. Little in the same apartment in which we were now assembled, to sing
praises to God and the Lamb who was slain,
to talk to each other about their eternal peace,
to pray with and for each other, for believers
of every name, for the unconverted, and for the
speedy arrival of that time when " the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea."
These meetings, intended for promoting the
growth in grace and personal sanctification of
the children of God who there assembled, had
always afforded Mrs. Little great spiritual enjoyment. Next to her secret fellowship with
God, fellowship with God's redeemed children
on earth yielded her the most delight. Now,
however, she was absent; her chair was empty; her voice was missing in th/song of praise;
and, as the cold, unbreathing, unconscious
form, sleeping in death in the adjoining room,
intimated in solemn accents that she would be
absent still, that her chair would'be vacant
still, and that her voice would be silent still,
we only realized more sweetly that she had
then begun the happier and never-ending fel



HER PEACEFUL DEATH.            125
lowship with the saints in glory; that her absence from us was her presence with Jesus, and
that her silence in our weak song of praise,
was the sound of hervoice in the lofty hallelujahs of the ransomed above.
On the following Wednesday, Mrs. Little's
mortal remains were conveyed to Sight-hill
Cemetery, in the northern suburbs of Glasgow,
and there deposited in the dark and silent
tomb, by the side of her " dear Jane," who
had ten days " gone to glory before her," there
to slumber till the morning of the resurrection.
C WThen the last trumpet's awful voice
This rending earth shall shake;
YWhen opening graves shall yield their charge,
And dust to life awake;
Those bodies that corrupted fell,
Shall incorrupted rise;
And mortal forms shall spring to life,
Irnmc. tal, in the skies."
Thus, at the age of eighteen, Mrs. Little's
earthly pilgrimage for ever terminated; and
as we left the dreary habitations of the dead,
and looked back amid the tombstones on the
silent, new-made mound of earth which appeared in the distance, our minds involuntarily
exclaimed within us,




126        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
"Few are thy days, and full of woe,
0 man; of woman born;
Thy doom is written:'Dust thou art,
And shalt to dust return!" 
And yet, though frail human nature and human affections will thus sometimes wander
back and gaze into her. silent resting-place,
our.contemplations cannot linger long around
her tomb: she is not there; upward, on the
finished work of Jesus, she was borne away to
heaven; and the mind, looking through the
revealed truth of the God " who cannot lie,"
can discover her nowhere but among the blessed company of the redeemed, who are " clothed
in robes made white in the blood of the Lamb,"
singing hallelujah, hallelujah to him who was
slain; for.:" these things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of
God, that ye may know that ye have eternal
life.". "Blessed are thel dead who die in the
Lord," for henceforth they are "'heirs of God
and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ." Such glorious truths, standing in the view of the bereaved and forlorn soul, make such a parting
with a dear friend only sweet and delightful,
and leave no room for one breathing of regret:




HER PEACEFUL DEATH.         127
Oh no, complain we cannot, murmur we cannot; weep, we may, but only tears of joy.
On the succeeding Sabbath, Mrs. Little's
funeral-sermonv was preached by Mr. Pullar,
her pastor, in North-Albion-street chapel, to a
crowded and deeply-affected audience, from
the words which had been chosen by herself
for the occasion, namely, " Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" and it
will be interesting and pleasing to the converted reader to be informed, that the sermon was,
in the hands of the Spirit, made the instrumnent of leading at least one unconverted sinner to " believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and
to rejoice in the liberty of the gospel.
A short time after Mrs. Little's death, Mrs.
Cumming of Selkirk, who has been frequently
alluded to in these pages, forwarded to the
writer a manuscript written by Mrs. Little,
and entitled " A Friend," which was discovered
in a drawer used by her when residing with
her uncle's family in Selkirk; a copy of which
is annexed, on account of the remarkable confirmation in Mrs. Little's own after-experience,
of the important truths it contains and so
clearly illustrates; but more especially for the




128        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
benefit of the unconverted reader, for whom
chiefly these pages are written.  The manuscript is written on two sheets of letter-paper,
and appears to have been intended either to be
sent to some friend or acquaintance of Mrs.
Little, or to be retained by her as a faithful
representation of the opinion of her own mind,
regarding the " Friend" it alludes to; the latter was most probably the case.
"A FRIEND.
" Do you want a friend, powerful to protect
you, rich to supply your wants, kind to sympathize with you, affectionate to feel for you,
wise to guide you-a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother; one to whom you can go at all
times, at all seasons, under all circumstances;
one to whom you can open all your heart; one
who is able to satisfy your craving desire for
happiness, who can assist you when all other
friends fail, who ca'n support you in your last
agonies, and walk with you through the dark
valley of the shadow of death; one whose influence and power extends beyond the grave,
who is able to save you and give you a place
among the sons of God?




HER PEACEFUL D.EATH.        129
"Reader, as you are a lost and perishing
sinner, if you desire such a friend, let me tell
you to your joy that I know of one who is not
only all this, but who is far more valuablefar more excellent-far more desirable, than
all that this description implies; his name is
"Jesus." He is powerful to protect you, for
he is the Son of the living God: he is rich to
supply you, for he is God the all-sufficiitt;
in him are all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. Are you, in a spiritual sense, poor,
and wretched, and miserable, and blind, and
naked? he will give you his Holy Spirit; and
when you are oppressed under a sense of your
sinfulness, the Comforter will give you such
confidence in the declaration, that' the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all'sin,'
as shall bring peace to your soul.
"Whatever temporal things you may want,
this kind friend is no less able than willing to
supply, if they are suitable for you. Do you
want one to sympathize with you? Seek Jesus for your friend, and trust in what he has
done and suffered for you, believe in the efficacy of his atoning blood, and you will find
that there can be no friend more sympathetic
Mlrs. Little.     9




130        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
than he. He is also affectionate to feel for
you-that love which brought him from the
skies he still retains, nor is its warmth diminished; he is wise to guide you, he knows all
your circumstances, your difficulties, and your
dangers; he is the friend that sticketh closer
than a brother; he will bear with your weak.
ness with more than a brother's forbearance;
he is not confined to any place, so that wherever you are you may have access to him-no
change of circumstances alters his affection;
he will befriend you in sickness as well as in
health, in old age as well as in youth, in adversity as well as in prosperity; he is one to
whom you can give all your heart, for he has
given you such amazing proofs of his love that
you cannot doubt his affection.  Think of God
as God incarnate-God in human flesh-dying
for your sins, that you might not perish, but
have everlasting life, and you cannot but be
willing to pour out your heart before him, and
to confide in his love. 0 take him for your
friend, and then you will perceive how worthy
he is of your tenderest affections.
"Reader, you thirst for happiness: in vain
do you seek for it in earthly enjoyments; your




HER PEACEFUL DEATH.        131
desires after happiness are so extensive, that
nothing can satisfy them but the enjoyment of
God. Take Jesus for your friend, and he will
make you completely happy. A time is fast
approaching when earthly friends cannot aid
you; they cannot save you from the hour of
death-they cannot support you in your last
moments, nor accompany you through the
dark valley of the shadow of death; but the
friend now pointed out, the blessed Jesus, can
comfort and support when all other friends can
render you no assistance; he can receive your
parting spirit, convey you safely through the
dark shades of death, and bring you to ever.
lasting happiness. He died for your sins: believe in him, trust in what he has done and
suffered, and you shall be delivered from the
blackness of darkness for ever and ever; for' God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life."'
Such is a brief and simple history of Mrs.
Little's Christian experience here below, and
of its cheering and triumphant termination.
The narrative is not intended to represent the




132        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
history of the individual, but only of the Christian; it is an account, not of human merit,
but of divine grace: and the desired results of
its perusal are not to occupy the remembrance
of the reader with the humble subject of its
pages, who was only a poor sinful worm of the
dust-not to detain his mental vision with circumstances which may only excite his interest
and confer upon him no real practical benefit;
but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to
establish in his bosom " peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ," and to leave his soul
gazing upward- to a God "well pleased," and
to a broken law "satisfied" with the work of
Jesus for his sins. The task of furnishing such
a narrative has, to the writer, been productive
of not a few painful reminiscences; and to
these its publication will add a feeling of deep
regret, if its perusal should contribute to any
other result than the one referred to. To seek,
through the narrative, the bestowal of any thing
like merit or praise on the subject of its pages,
would only be to insult her memory, and the
God and Saviour of her soul. There is no
merit in being a Christian; Christianity, from
first to last, is a system of total dependence on




HER PEACE1PtL bEATH.      133
the merits of another. For all that she was,
therefore, for all that she now is, and will continue throughout eternity to be, the honor and
the merit are due to Him alone; and could
her voice be now heard from her high and holy
habitation, it would be exclaiming, " Not unto
me, not unto me, but to God be all the glory."
As the exhibition of a consequence, in corinection with practical chemistry or natural
philosophy, is intended by the lecturer to direct
back the mind of his pupil to the cause which
produced it, so the great object of these pages
is to lead the mind of the unconverted reader
into a practical contact with only one great
and inconceivably important truth, the knowledge of which will leave in his possession a
treasure, whose. value is so great that the
power of the human mind cannot sum it up;
the cost of which was so immense, that to estimate its amount baffles all calculation. And
what is that which is so valuable, so costly?
Is it some vast mine of the finest gold? No;
the Peruvian treasures would only dim its lustre. Is it the possession of a crown and kingdom? No; these would only sully its beauty
and glory. Is it the inheritance of the world




134        MRS. JESSIE LITTLE.
itself?  Oh, no; ten thousand worlds cannot
purchase it. God calls it "eternal life."  And
what did it cost?  Calvary replies, " The life
of Jesus Christ his Son and equal."  But although advantage has been taken of those openings and avenues which occasionally presented
themselves by the way, of directing the attention of the inquiring reader to a view of that
great truth, perhaps the eye of his mind has
been so occupied by its fruits and its foliage,
as he travelled along, that he may not yet have
seen, or seen but dimly and sideways, the
source from which alltheir sweetness proceeded. - If such be the case, he is still unsaved,
unhappy-a cloud of fear still envelopes his
weary and sin-laden soul; and he is therefore
invited now to turn his mind! away from all
the circumstances which may have occupied
his attention in the foregoing narrative, and to
fix his gaze on that truth, the perception of
Which, on his part, will bring salvation to his
soul, fill his mind with hallowed joy, and sweep
away all his fears.