As the day advanced her disease
gained ground, but, beyond the difficulty she experienced in
breathing, there was no evidence of suffering. She expressed a fear
she was impatient, but it was far otherwise. Not a murmur, nor
a breath of complaint passed her lips; she possessed her soul in
patience, and her language was praise and prayer. Once, while gasping
for breath, she repeated at intervals, the verse
"O may I thus be found,
Obedient to His word;
Attentive to the trumpet's sound,
And looking for my Lord."
In the afternoon her son Richard arrived from Torquay, providentially
in time to witness the last solemn and mournful scene, and to
administer words of comfort and encouragement. The valley was fall of
light, and a momentary cloud which skirted the horizon, occasioned by
the deep sense she felt of her own unprofitableness, melted away at
the presence of Him whom, having not seen, she loved, and whose name
was last upon her lips. My brother says, "I found her very ill, but
most delighted and thankful for my arrival. 'Praise the Lord, I am
glad to see you,' was her characteristic salutation. "Well, Mother, I
find you resting on Jesus?" "Yes," was the reply, "but I have been so
unfaithful." "You have nothing to do with that now; you must look only
to Jesus. You believe His atonement is sufficient to cover all your
unfaithfulness?" "Oh! yes, I do." "You know that Paul, and Mr. Wesley
had nothing else to plead but this,--
'I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.
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