after reviving, as the pain subsided, she remarked to a friend who expressed sympathy in her suffering, It is not the wormwood and the gall.' On its being observed by Mrs. Townley, who was with her at the time, that she had many friends who sympathized with, and prayed for her, she replied, I desire to be perfectly resigned,-I hope they do not keep me out of heaven.' She spoke much of her anticipations of heaven; and when asked, if, in the near approach of the eternal world, she had more distinct views or impressions of the heavenly state than in former life; she answered,' It has occupied many of my thoughts, and, though I have no doubt of its perfection and blessedness, I have no distinct view of the nature of existence after death; but I am not anxious about it; I am waiting for the coming of my Lord. In one half hour in heaven, more will be known than by years of conjecture here. One present remarked, There will be no half hours in heaven ;' to which she answered with animation, 'No, all will be one eternal Now.' I am happy, she continued, that God has condescended to employ me on earth: I do not regret having engaged in communicating the Gospel to the heathen; had I to spend again the early periods of life, I would make the same choice. I do not regret having lost my health in it, and have never thought that, had I remained in England, I should have lived longer. I dare say Mr. Smith of Demerara, did not regret dying in prison for the cause of Christ.' "On the 2d of December, Mrs. Ellis, having somewhat less pain than during the preceding day, though faint and weak, appeared to find relief and satisfaction 6 in efforts, though they were exceedingly feeble, to speak of the goodness and mercy of God. My mind,' she remarked, is tranquil;—I have no wish either to live or to die, but to continue confiding in my Father, and to know no will but his. I never before felt so much under the influence of the love of God absorbing every faculty of thought. Well might the Apostle Paul speak so frequently of it.' On the language of the Apostle Paul, in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, (where he speaks of the breadth and length, and depth and height, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,) being repeated, she remarked, My views of the love of God have been vastly enlarged during my affliction. How amazing that we should be the objects of such love! I have learned much of its heights and depths, and lengths and breadths; but one half hour out of the body will unfold more than can be learned in this world. There I shall know all I desired, shall see Jesus,-shall be like him,-and shall be for ever with my Lord.' She then spoke of the goodness of God in giving her such patience and peace, and exclaimed, Well might the apostle call it 'the peace of God.' She then spoke of the future, and repeated some verses of the fifty-second hymn, second part of Dr. Watts' collection. "There is a green and flow'ry mount. "Fatigued and exhausted, she asked for a little water, and on its being given her, remarked that she would soon, perhaps, drink of the river of the foun tain of life; she exclaimed, 'Yes, it will be a sea of love' "Without a bottom or a shore;" and repeated part of the hymn in which the words occur, but observed, in reference to the influence of the subject, these prospects are not suited to my present feelings; they make me desire to be gone. I need something to reconcile me to stay till God's time comes. My pains of body continue much the same; but I am as happy in mind as I think it is possible to be in this world; indeed, it would be sinful to wish to be happier than I am.' Part of the hymn beginning 'Jesus, the vision of thy face 66 Hath overpowering charms," being recited, she repeated the whole, observing, she had always felt delight in the sentiments expressed, and thought she could adopt the language as her own, repeating again, 66.6 "Death cannot make my soul afraid, If God be with me there: Soft is the passage through the shade, I feel,' she continued, more like an inhabitant of the celestial world, than of earth.' Afterwards she observed, I feel that I am sinking: I desire rather to be kept tranquil and resigned, than to have rapturous joys. I cannot think much, but am happy in the thoughts of the love of God. I sometimes fear terrors when the symptoms of death appear present, but I am happy.' She then repeated part of the hymn beginning, "Jesus is all my hope, His name is all my trust." During the month of April 1827, her disease, contrary to all expectation, began to assume a favourable appearance, and before the beginning of June she was able to set out on a visit to some of her friends in Lincolnshire. This journey was productive of great advantage to her health, which, in a short time, was so far restored that she was able to take occasional exercise in the open air, and even to attend public worship, a privilege which she had not enjoyed for four years. She now began to entertain the hope of yet being able to resume her labours in the missionary field, and it was arranged that if she continued to improve she might be enabled to leave England in the ensuing summer. In the mean time she took leave of her friends in Lincoln and proceeded to Sheffield, where she spent six weeks very pleasantly in the society of some Christian friends. In the middle of December she proceeded to Nailsworth, in Gloucestershire, for the purpose of passing the winter under the mild climate of that part of the country. Here her health seemed daily to improve, but towards the end of January 1828, some unfavourable symptoms again appeared. Recourse was had to the same treatment which had proved so beneficial at Lincoln. On this occasion, however, it proved unavailing, the disease rapidly gained ground, and the poor sufferer was again reduced to a state of extreme weakness, in which she continued till the month of June, when she recovered so far as to enable her to be removed to a pleasantly situated cottage in the neighbourhood. In this residence her health underwent some improvement, interrupted, however, by occasional relapses, which became more frequent as the winter advanced, when she again returned to the village of Nailsworth. Early in the spring of 1829 Mrs. Ellis was seized with a severe attack of her disease, which assailed her shattered frame with apparently greater violence than before. But in the following summer she once more revived, and having been removed to a more eligible residence, she became every day perceptibly better. Under the emotions of hallowed joy, which her progressive recovery now excited, she thus wrote to a beloved friend in London, in a letter, dated, Newmarket, August 19, 1829: You will see from the date of this, that we have removed from Nailsworth. From what I suffered nearly the whole time that I resided in the town, which, you know, is situated in a valley, and the great improvement in my health since my removal, I am induced to think that Nailsworth was not suited to my constitution, and that it was a wise arrangement in Providence that obliged me to remove thence. O that I may be duly grateful to Him who numbereth the very hairs on our head, and without whose knowledge even a sparrow falleth not to the ground. Behind our house we have a beautiful grove, in a shady and elevated part of which I have had a seat made, on which I am able to recline most days, when the weather is fine, beholding, with a pleasure which those only know whose views have been for many months circumscribed by the walls of a sick-chamber, the delightful scenery of our little sequestered valley, and enjoying the benign influence of the pure and refresh |