self-denying perseverance and unwavering resolution to struggle on in these attempts to do good. But Mrs. S. persevered and succeeded, so far as to collect and keep together a number of interesting Buriat girls, whom she taught to read in their own language, instructed them in some branches of useful industry, and attended particularly to their Christian education. It was with much regert she was compelled to break up her class, and allow them to return to the tents of their parents and friends in 1828, when, with her husband and family, she exchanged Selenginsk for Khodon. This was a station nearly 200 miles distant from Selenginsk, in a north-easterly direction, among the Chorin Buriats, which had been fixed upon as affording peculiar facilities for intercourse with the numerous tribes in that quarter. During the preceding year, the whole family had made a journey to that neighbourhood, and staid a month at the Ona, an out-station that had been occasionally occupied for several years. Mrs. S. sent home an interesting journal of their residence among the Buriats during that month, and of their journey to and from the place. That journal, as well as others previously transmitted, has been circulated in manuscript among some of her friends, but they are all worthy of being better known; for although the missionary details of these papers are not recent, there are incidents and facts contained in them, of permanent value and importance.

A few months after their arrival at Khodon, the house they occupied, and which formerly belonged to one of the chiefs, was burnt to the ground. This was on the 21st of December, 1828, in the depth of a Siberian winter, when they had but wretched accommodation in a small adjoining barn, that was providentially saved from the flames; and it was not till the fol

lowing spring that preparations could be made for erecting a new dwelling. Amid these, and all the other trials of a missionary life, Mrs. S. maintained unshaken faith; and displayed an energy and sublime devotedness of character, most edifying and encouraging to all who beheld it. The mission had been repeatedly threatened with utter extinction ; but in contemplating such an event, she shrunk from the idea of returning to England. With all the attractions her native land might possess, and all the delights, she might have anticipated from restoration to the beloved circle of her friends, she was fixed in her purpose and desire to live and die, if possible, on missionary ground.

Having spent a number of years under the same roof, and as a member of the same family, I may be considered qualified as a witness to testify what I have seen and heard of Mrs. Stallybrass; and much I could say of her mental excellence, her relative worth, and her spiritual elevation, in whatever may be regarded as illustrative of the faith and hope of the gospel. Her virtues were eminently Christian graces; they sprang from the influence of the cross of Christ, and God was glorified. Her faith in the doctrines of the gospel was stedfast and influential; and it was well that she had so long and unequivocally given a living testimony to the power of divine grace; for she was prevented from bearing a dying testimony to the truth. As that solace was not granted to herself, and to those who mourn her loss, so they rejoice to think it was not needed. Their assurance of her readiness to die, and of her "abundant entrance into the joy of her Lord," required no such confirmation. For her "to live was Christ, and to die was gain!" Under the influence of disease, her mind was

so affected, that for weeks before her death she was seldom sufficiently collected to give a calm and collected utterance to her feelings. But one of the last acts of her life, while she had the possession of her faculties, was to converse and pray in her own apartment with her second son, on his thirteenth birthday; and the impressions of that hour, as they are not yet effaced, will, it may be hoped, be happily connected in his history, with the promotion of his highest spiritual interests. Her death left an affectionate husband and five beloved children to mourn their irreparable loss, and deprived the mission of its last female member. But while we mourn that she was taken so soon, we ought to be thankful that she was spared so long. Sixteen years is not a short period, and is beyond the usual average of a missionary life. May they who remain, and they who may succeed her in the mission, follow her as she followed Christ, waiting and labouring till He shall call them to himself!

Such is the record, with some slight variations, prepared by the Rev. W. Swan, as a brief introduction to public notice of one with whom he had been connected in missionary labours, and who well deserves to be remembered. The writer of this postscript had not the happiness of a personal acquaintance with the late Mrs. Stallybrass; but it has been his privilege to know so much of her history and her worth from his Christian friends, that he is persuaded she must have possessed no ordinary excellence of character, to have left such indelible impressions of her mind and her heart on all the circle of her religious connexions. It was not from the position she

D

occupied, or the resources she possessed, that she obtained so much moral ascendancy over all around her; but it was the power of active goodness, combined with a meekness of wisdom, and a decision of character, that carried her in enterprise and effort far beyond her immediate associations, and imparted to her a spiritual beauty which still excites the admiration and love of all by whom she is remembered. Her letters and

journals bear the traces of a mind cultivated by reflection, and matured by piety; and the constancy of her faith, amidst trials of an extraordinary character, was truly heroic. Her's was not the joy of harvest, but the toils of seed-time; she had not to manifest the zeal which thrusts in the sickle to reap, but the work of faith, that required all the patience of hope, and was indeed the labour of love. These virtues had not the less scope for their exercise, because their sphere of operation exhibited in so small a degree the visible fruits of missionary enterprise. That energy which success alone inspires, is not to be compared with the confidence and perseverance which are sustained by simple dependence on God's word; when things, not seen as yet, are present to the eye of faith, and are realized in the anticipations of hope. Such was the elevated devotion of this truly Christian missionary, whose name is worthy of being enrolled on the list of illustrious women who have "hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus."

In the moral as well as in the natural economy of Providence, we often behold a system of compensation. The premature removal of early genius and piety aids the attraction of a lovely example, presents a powerful motive to diligence, and is adapted to awaken the sympathies and stimulate the energies of youthful minds. When matured excellence is suddenly snatched

from our view, while we are admiring its rich development and rejoicing in its beneficial influence, we feel, amidst the darkness that often surrounds such dispensations, an ineffable complacency in the assurance that they have finished their course, and kept the faith; that the hand of death has rendered the beautiful permanent; and that they are now safe for ever. The memorials of Christian worth are amongst the richest treasures of the church; such records inflame the ardour of devotion, increase the activity of benevolence, "diffuse a lustre over the path of life, and awaken in distant bosoms the sparks of kindred excellence." May we be "followers of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises !"

JOSEPH FLETCHER.

The life of Mrs. Stallybrass furnishes an instructive comment on those passages of Holy Writ, which assure us that the word of God shall ultimately prosper in the thing whereto he has sent it. Sixteen years had this eminently gifted woman toiled in Siberia, with a cheerfulness of spirit, a buoyancy of hope, and a steadiness of faith, that had mitigated the heaviest trials, and diffused light and gladness over the prospects of the darkest hour; yet at her death she knew not that one mind had been enlightened, or one heart changed: but the snow of a single winter did not fall on her grave, before the heart of her mourning survivor was gladdened by evidences of the conversion of several who had been their pupils; and the changes first manifest are ascribed, under the Divine blessing, to the influence of her example, instruction, and prayers.

D2