Part 11 (2/2)
”1800.
”'His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord G.o.d, the G.o.d of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.' Psalm 72:17.
”Again have I and my children been fed with Christ's flesh and his blood at his own table. Glorious things are said of thee, thou city of our G.o.d; and rich the provision of the house of our G.o.d; wonderful the scheme that hath made sinful, guilty, rebel sinners the citizens of this holy city, inhabitants of this holy house. Mysterious truth. The city itself the house of G.o.d; the temple of the Lord, in which he delighteth to dwell. Closer yet, more mysterious, yet equally true, 'his body, his flesh, and his bones;' closer still, one Spirit with him. As Mediator Emmanuel, he is the bond of union, whereby the guilty sons and daughters of Adam are made one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
”Wonderfully and fearfully are we made as creatures: as a rational creature, who can understand and comprehend himself; how these members were fas.h.i.+oned; how this spark of vital flame was breathed into the lifeless lump or atom? Wonder-working Lord, thou only knowest. Wonderful are all the works of creation; but Oh, what are they to thy work of redemption? To bring worlds out of nothing, to bring light out of darkness, was thy easy work; but to bring good out of evil, this, this was the wonder. Thousands and ten thousands of worlds were, and may yet be created without cost. G.o.d says, Let it _be_, and it is; but redemption! O, who can tell the cost?
Blessed Jesus, G.o.d manifested in the flesh; Christ, babe of Bethlehem--man of sorrows--victim on the cross; thou only canst tell.
'Blessed be the Lord G.o.d of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name for ever!' Whatever the cost, _it is finished_. He bowed his head and said, 'It is finished!' This finished work is the new testament which he bequeathed to his disciples 'the same night in which he was betrayed,' when he took bread, blessed it, brake it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body broken for you; and took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.
”The new testament! O, who can tell the blessings and benefits contained in this testament, this dying legacy of our dear Emmanuel, purchased and sealed with his blood! What is the amount of it? What the sum of blessings contained in it? Behold, G.o.d is become our salvation. This is the amount. G.o.d himself, G.o.d in Christ reconciling us unto himself: by his mighty power subduing the enmity that is in us; melting our flinty hearts; drawing us with the cords of love; creating us anew after his own image, which we had totally lost; uniting us to himself, even _us_, who were enmity itself, but now are become one with G.o.d, who is love. This is the work we have this day been celebrating: a given, a born, a living, a suffering, dying, risen, ascended, glorified, reigning Saviour. The Lord of hosts, the King of kings, the Almighty G.o.d dwelling with men, dwelling in men, and feeding them with his own body and blood. 'Behold, G.o.d is become our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song; he also is become our salvation, therefore with joy will we draw water out of the wells of salvation.'
His attributes are the never-failing source; his ordinances the wells of salvation. G.o.d himself is ours, all that he is is ours, to bless and to make us happy. Ten thousand springs issue from this blessed source, specified and particularized in his Bible, experienced and celebrated by his saints. Let us drink and be refreshed, rejoice and praise: for Oh, who can tell the amount of our riches, in having G.o.d for our portion? All things are ours, we are Christ's, and Christ is G.o.d's.”
The Widows' Society met monthly, when the money in the treasury was divided among the managers, for the relief of the widows under their care. Mrs. Graham, as directress, thus acknowledges G.o.d and asks his counsel:
”1800.
”O my G.o.d, I account it an honorable office thou hast given me. I have received it from thee. Enable me to execute it to thee.
”Father of the fatherless, husband of the widow, make me a fit instrument in thy hand of distributing thy bounty. Give discernment and judgment, tenderness, gentleness, humility, and love; let love to thee be the principle of my every action; lead me in the straight path of duty; on the matter, the manner, the time, let 'holiness to the Lord' be written. I thank thee for this sum towards the relief of thy creatures; be with us this evening, and direct our determination as to the division of it. Amen.”
CHAPTER VII.
BENEVOLENT LABORS--MRS. HOFFMAN-- CORRESPONDENCE.
The ”Society for the relief of Poor Widows with small Children,”
having received a charter of incorporation, and some pecuniary aid from the Legislature of the state, the ladies who const.i.tuted the board of direction were engaged in plans for extending their usefulness: Mrs. Graham took an active part in executing these plans.
The Society purchased a small house, where they received work of various kinds for the employment of their widows. They opened a school for the instruction of their orphans, and many of Mrs. Graham's former pupils volunteered their services, taking upon themselves, by rotation, the part of instructors. Besides establis.h.i.+ng this school, Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows best qualified for the task, and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day schools for the instruction of the children of widows in distant parts of the city: she also established two Sabbath-schools, one of which she superintended herself, and the other she placed under the care of her daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in poverty, she visited and comforted them; and in some instances, opened small subscription lists to provide for their support.
She attended occasionally for some years at the almshouse, for the instruction of the children there in religious knowledge: in this work she was much a.s.sisted by an humble and pious female friend, who was seldom absent from it on the Lord's day. In short, her whole time was occupied in searching out the distresses of the poor, and devising measures to comfort and establish them to the extent of her influence and means. At the same time, far from arrogating any merit to herself, she seemed always to feel how much she was deficient in following fully the precepts and the footsteps of her beloved Lord and Saviour, who ”went about doing good.”
It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, taking with her a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about eight o'clock. Her only dinner on such days was her bread, and perhaps some soup at the soup-house, established by the Humane Society for the poor, over which one of her widows had been, at her recommendation, appointed. She and her venerable companion, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman, second directress of the Widows' Society, travelled many a day and many a step together in the walks of charity. Mrs. Graham was a Presbyterian, Mrs. Hoffman an Episcopalian. Those barriers, of which such an unhappy use has been made by sectarians to separate the children of G.o.d, fell down between these two friends at the cry of affliction, and were consumed on the altar of Christian love. Arm in arm, and heart to heart, they visited the abodes of distress, dispensing temporal aid from the purse of charity, and spiritual comfort from the word of life.
At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers through the preceding year.
In April, 1800, she stated that ”again the pestilence had emptied the city; again every source of industry was dried up; even the streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those storehouses, from which relief was issued to thousands in former calamities, now disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the pestilence were ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had no friends in the country, under whose roof they might for a time seek shelter, were shut up to the only relief within their power, even to that society which had formerly saved them in many a strait. They came, were received with tenderness, a.s.sisted with, food, advice, and medicine.
”Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives, remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children, under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have, from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved. Widow is a word of sorrow in the best of circ.u.mstances; but a widow left poor, dest.i.tute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small children, s.h.i.+vering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any probable prospect of procuring--her situation is neither to be described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during the last winter; and though none could restore the father and the husband, the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers, while they dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father and their Husband, G.o.d.”
In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B---- as follows:
”BOSTON, August, 1800.
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