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TliE DEATH OF THE BELIEVER.

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A SERMON,

PEEACHED IN THE CHAPEL OE BEOWN DNIVEESITY,

JUNE 30th, 1850,

THE SABBATH ATTER THE DECEASE OT

MES. ESTHER LOIS CASWELL,

PEOEESSOR ALEXIS CASWELL.

BY EEANCIS WAYLAND,
PKBSIDENT OP IHB tmiVEBSITT.

NOT PUBLISHED

C^'^^.ISO

THE DEATH OF THE BELIEVER.

A SERMON,

PEEACHED IN THE CHAPEL OF BEOWN UNIVERSITY,

JUJfE 30th, 1850,

THE SABBATH APTER THE DECEASE OP

MRS. ESTHER LOIS CASWELL,

WIPE OF

PROFESSOR ALEXIS CASWELL.

BY FRANCIS WAYLAND,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVEKSITY.

NOT PUBLISHED.

PKOVIDENCE:
PRINTED BY JOSEPH KNOWLES.
185 0.

CiZ8.,l?0

SERMON.

II. TIMOTHY, 1 : 10.

CUB SATTOmt JESUS CHEIST, WHO HATH ABOLISHED DEATH AND HATH BROUGHT
lUE AND IMMOKTAMTT TO LICHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL.

It is utterly impossible, my brethren, for us to form
any conception of the intensity of meaning which these
words conveyed, at the time when they were first uttered.
We are so familiar with the stupendous truth which they
reveal that it has, in a great measure, lost its signifi-
cancy. A disbeliever in a future state is now so rare
that he is looked upon as a phenomenon difficult of
explanation. His views are at variance with the almost
universal belief of mankind, and we are forced to sup
pose either, that a life of sin has indisposed him thought
fully to meditate on the idea of immortality, or, that the
structure of his intellect, having been somehow subvert
ed, he refuses to believe what to others seems so obvious
as scarcely to be any longer a proper subject for argu
ment. Very difierent however was the condition of mankind
when our Lord declared "Those that are in their graves
shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shaU come
forth ; those that have done good to the resurrection of
life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of
condemnation." At that time the idea of a future life
had taken firm hold of but here and there an individual
among the Jews. A large number of the chosen people
of God, were Sadducees, " denying that there is any res
urrection either angel or spirit." Of those who admit
ted these truths, the greater part held them almost as
matters of mere speculation. If it were granted that man

( i )
would exist after death, and they were asked what is the
nature of that existence and how shall we best prepare for
it, they could furnish to such questions only a vague
and unsatisfactory answer. A few holy men, from the
workiags of their own consciousness, aided by the divine
light of the Old Testament, were convinced that their love
of God and of all goodness must yet be satisfied by
awakening sometime or somewhere in his likeness ; but
they rather looked into their own hearts for confirmation
of their belief than to any acknowledged fact or any posi
tive declaration on which they could rely with certainty.
If this was the condition of the Jewish, what must
have been the condition of the Gentile world 1 On the
heathen no light whatever had yet dawned. Their unseen
world had been peopled by the poets with deities whom
all thinking men acknowledged to be fabulous. Virgil
had told them of a region of ghosts, where, for a while,
all men dwelt amid unsubstantial shadows, again in
other forms to revisit the earth, and pursue over again
the phantoms of a sublunary existence. But all men
knew that these were the creations of fancy, resting on
no basis of evidence. Yet abolish these poetical dreams,
and what was there left ] Nothing, absolutely nothing.
It was admitted that the vague idea of a futurity of
some kind had floated for ages through the imaginations
of men, but whence did it originate, and who was re
sponsible for its truth 1 Who had ever returned from the
other world to tell us of what was there transpiring 1
Where was the annointed messenger of the Most High,
who had been commissioned to unfold to us the facts
concerning the invisible state 1 The senses could not
penetrate so far. The facts, if known at all, must be
known by direct revelation ; but during the long ages
of heathenism who had been the revealer 1 All was in
volved in misty obscurity ; and shadows, clouds and dark
ness rested upon it.

( 5 )
All the writings of classical antiquity with which I
am acquainted are overspread with this darkness. Cice
ro indulged the hope that he should after death renew
his acquaintance with the illustrious men whom he had
laiown in his youth, because he supposed that such gift
ed men could not whoUy have perished. But if this
were the only reason, what hope did it ofier for those
who were not thus gifted, for the trodden down
slave, or the despised barbarian. Plato has endeavored
to demonstrate the truth of the immortality of the soul ;
but it seems to me that no man who has ever doubted
could be convinced by his argument. And hence the
most thoughtful of the classical writers, rarely if ever,
use the future world as a motive to present action.
They spoke of immortality, it is true, and declared that
they should not wholly die: but the immortality to
which they referred was not the immortality of the soul
but only of their works and actions. They wrote that
the productions of their genius might be read by after
ages. They conquered that their names might be in
scribed on the pages of history. Their natural love of
existence was turned into this channel, while of what
became of the soul, if indeed any thing became of it,
they seem to have been profoundly unmindful. Such
was the case with the most eminent men, those whose
writings have come down to us. But, if such were their
ideas, what must have been those of the common people ¦?
At the present day, in the full light of the gospel, we
find that men exist deplorably ignorant both of God and
eternity. What must then have been the condition of
the ignorant when the minds of the most enlightened
were groping ui thick darkness ] It was aU one solid
mass of unmixed earthliness and sensuality : men were
destitute of any thought of futurity, intent on pleasure
like the brutes that perish, having no hope, living with
out God in the world.

(6 )
It was to a world thus brutalized and lying in wicked
ness that Jesus Christ announced the stupendous truth,
" I am the Resurrection and the Life." He first declared
from the presence of the living God, that man would
live after death, that he must live forever, that he must
live in infinite happiness or infinite woe, and more than
all, that it depends upon our moral character here,
whether the immortality of every soul be a blessing or
a curse. It is this truth that penetrated the ear of stu
pid, sensual and sinful humanity. It is this that a^roused
our race from the slumber of ages. It was a new truth
and it was filled with wonder. It added infinite dura
tion at once to the brief span of man's sublunary exist
ence. It rendered every human being an object of ines
timable importance. It teaches us that a single hu
man soul is of more value than the material universe.
It is of itself motive sufiicient to change the whole
course of human thought ; to instil into the bosom of
sensual man aspirations after infinite holiness ; to give
us victory over the world, and animate us to strive with
breathless earnestness after that glory to which we are
so strangely destined. It is no wonder that with the
announcement of this truth, a new era dawned upon
mankind. It is not strange that from this moment a
new form of character was originated among men. Jesus
Christ has taught us our destiny. He has ofiered to us
a way of escape from the doom that we merited ; he
has himself, both by precept and example, taught us the
manner of life by which we can alone be prepared for
eternity ; and he has gone to prepare for us mansions in
his Father's house, where he ever lives to intercede for
us. Therefore is it, that all our salvation is attributed
to Christ ; therefore is it, that the song of the redeemed
will ever be " Unto Hun that hath saved us, and washed
us in his own blood and made us kings and priests unto
God." But what is the truth that Christ so emphatically

-X 7 )
revealed to the world thus lost in sensual enjoyment,
hastening to the grave, the apparently eternal sleep
of the whole race of man ? He has abolished death, —
and brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel. 1st. He has abolished death. He has banished for
ever from the minds of men the ideas which they for
merly entertained on this momentous subject. Their
language was, let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die.
He has taught us that death, that is the destruction of
the soul, is forever impossible. Their question was
what win be the difference hereafter between the brute and
the man, since death lays his hand equaUy upon both.
The Redeemer has taught us that there is a spirit in man
which no change in his material frame can possibly af
fect. The duration of the spirit can be arrested by no
power of our own or of all things created. All live unto
God ; and until he reverse his decree, no one of us can
cease to live.
2d. He has brought life to Ught, that is, he has shed
upon our future life a flood of light ; He has given us all
the information concerning it necessary to our prepara
tion for its solemn realities. He has taught us the na
ture of that existence, the character of its enjoyments,
the events which are to transpire after death, and the
infinitely glorious realities of which we are then to come
into possession.
3d. He has brought not only life but immortality to
Hght. He has taught us that we shall live after death,
but more than this, that we shall live with powers of
happiness immeasurably increased. Death opens to us
no longer the door of annihilation, but the portals of a
glorious immortality. Such is the teaching which Christ
has revealed to a world lying in the darkness and
the shadow of death.

( 8 )
But let us now inquire a little more particularly what
are some of the most important facts which the gospel
reveals to us concerning the future state of the believer.
The scriptures teach us that at death the soul,
the immortal part of man, leaves the body and enters at
once upon a state of inconceivable blessedness. " This
day," said the Saviour, " shalt thou be with me in Para
dise." "Absent from the body, present with the Lord,"
said the Apostle Paul. The soul, as it enters upon this
state, leaves behind it all the infirmities and imperfections
which cleave to its present state. Its probation is
closed. Its trials are ended. Its battle is fought. The
victory is won. It can sin no more. It can no longer
be in danger of perdition. It is made^ through Him that
has loved it, perfect in holiness. It enjoys in a manner
and in a degree of which we can form no conception, the
immediate presence of Christ, being confirmed forever
in his love, and made meet to be an inheritor with the
saints in light.
There is reason to believe moreover that the souls of
the Saints Cherish a deep interest in the moral events
which transpire on earth. It is said that the angels are
ministering spirits, Sent forth to minister to those who
shall be heirs of salvation. We are repeatedly assured
that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one Sinner that repehteth. If these beings of
another rank watch over us with such earnestness, it is
reasonable, at least, to suppose that their interest in us
is shared by those who are heirs of the same salvation,
who have passed through the same trials, and who are
with us waiting for the same consiimmation of Glory.
Besides, whenever we hear the blessed dead spoken of in
the New Testament, we find that it is in connexion with
something done on earth. Moses and Elias appeared on
the mount, and conversed with the Saviour concerning
his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

(9 )
So, when the apostle John in the Isle of Patmos was
permitted to witness the mystery of the reveaUng, he be
held the samts praising God for his judgments on earth.
And when he fell at the feet of him that shewed him these
these things, he was told, " See thou do it not, for I am
thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book." It
was a glorified spirit of our own race that had been com
missioned to unveil to him the wonder-working provi
dence of God, preparing the way for the ultimate
triumph of the church of Christ.
From these scattered hints we are, I think, justified in
the belief that the soul made perfect in holiness will
exist in the full consciousness of the love of God ; that
there wiU be about it nothing on which the eye of God
does not look with approbation ; that it will enjoy in full
measui-e its likeness to the blessed Saviour ; that it wUl
observe the present condition of the work of redemption
on earth, wiU haU with rapture every indication of its
success, and at every step of its progress, see new and
overwhelming reasons for adoring the wisdom of Him
whose way is in the sea, and whose path is in the great
waters, and whose footsteps are unknown.
In this manner wUl all the powers of the soul be pu
rified, exalted, ennobled and enlarged. Some of the
forms of holiness which it cultivated here, wiU there be
carried to their highest perfection. Those which were
pecuUar to the present state, such as patience, resignation,
forgiveness and faith wUl be transformed into spiritual
gxaces for which the language of earth has as yet no
names. Our conceptions, our desires, our moral im
provement here, are aU conditioned by the body which
we inhabit. Then aU such hindrances wUl be laid aside
for ever, and who can teU how rapid wUl be the unfold
ing of every spiritual excellence, and how vast wiU be
the progress of the soul as it is changed from glory to

( 10 )
glory by the unmeasured bestowment of the Spuit of the
living God.
But at last, the time wUl come when the mystery of
redemption wUl have been completed. The probation
of earth wUl have been closed. At the last trump, for
the trumpet shaU sound, the dead shaU be raised incor
ruptible. At that solemn moment, aU the souls of the
chUdren of men wUl be re-united to the bodies which
they formerly inhabited. This corruptible shaU put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.
Then wUl the race of Adam be called to judgment, those
that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those
that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.
As they come forth from their graves they wUl be found,
some on the right hand, and some on the left hand of the
Son of Man. Every one wUl there be judged accordiAg
to his works. Then shall the Judge say to those on the
right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world ; and then shaU he say to them on the left hand,
Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the
devU and his angels. And these shaU go into everlast
ing punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
Then will the soul, purified and exalted to the perfec
tion of holiness, united to a body made like unto the
glorious body of Christ, enter in full into that state of
supreme felicity prepared for it by God. I think that
the scriptures distinctly teach us, that the race of man
for which Christ interposed, and whose nature he as
sumed, will be raised in rank above its natural condition,
that is, the rank which we inherited as the children of
Adam. A special and wonderful glory was bestowed on
Christ as the reward of his deep humUiation, his perfect
obedience, and his bitter and ignominious death. This
special glory, will be shared by all those who are one
with him. Where the Forerunner entered there shall

( 11 )
Ms foUowers enter. We shall sit down with him on his
throne, as he has overcome and sat down with his Fa
ther on his throne. So shall we be ever with the Lord.
Here we are left by the scriptures. It doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear we
shall be like him, for we shaU see him as he is. The
conceptions of men could not comprehend the ultimate
glory of the blessed in Christ. We have however the
means for forming some estimate of theu: blessedness.
Think, in the first place how God has loved us. Ob
serve at what expense he has removed every obstacle to
our most perfect happiness. There were moral obsta
cles in the way of the bestowment of his favor. He
gave his only begotten Son for our redemption, and
these were removed by the work of Christ. There were
physical obstacles. Our soiUs, united with these bodies,
could not rise to the perfection of which they are capa
ble. They are advanced in glory during the period be
tween death and the resurrection. Again, mortal bodies
could not be the tabernacle for a spirit raised to such
perfection. This corruptible is therefore made incor
ruptible. Each adapted to the other, they are re-united
to enter together the kingdom prepared for them from
the foundation of the world. Now if the love of God
made all this preparation for our lUtimate state, is it pos
sible for finite mind to conceive of the glory to
which we are then to be exalted ] Love infinite as his
wisdom and power and holiness wUl then expend upon
us its inexhaustible munificence. Eye hath not seen, nor*
ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
" And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying unto
me the tabernacle of God is with men, and he wUl dweU
with them ; and God himself shall be with them and be
their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sor-

( 12 )
row, nor crying, neither shaU there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away."
Now compare for a moment the knowledge of man
kind before the advent of the Messiah, with the revela
tion which he made of the invisible world, if you would
comprehend the ftULness of meaning contained in the
Words, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
aboUshed death and brought life and immortaUty to Ught
through the gospel. He has created for us a new and
inconceivably glorious destiny. He has taught us how
we may attain to the possession of that immortaUty
which he has purchased for us. He bestows that Holy
Spuit by which we are made meet to be partakers with
the saints in Ught. He is the way and the truth and
the Ufe. No man can come unto the Father but through
him. He that beUeveth on him shaU never come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
1st. If aU this be true we see at once that the gTeat
business of this mortal life is to prepare for the immor
taUty revealed to us by Christ. That we are unprepared
for it, without renewing and sanctifying grace, is evident.
Our most important concern on earth, then, is to make
our calUng and election sure. Compared with this how
useless is the labor for wealth, the struggle for power,
the thUst for reputation or the pursuit after knowledge.
These aU terminate here, they have no bearing upon
those approaching stages of existence at which we may
arrive by faith in Christ. -And if these comparatively-
serious pursuits become, in view of eternity, so vain and
contemptible, what language can describe the indecency
of a life of sensual pleasure and conventional trifling,
which even an earnest man of the world despises as too
frivolous to be endured. What a shame is it for those
to whom such a destiny has been revealed, to Uve Uke
the heathen who know of nothing beyond the grave ;
nay, so to Uve that even the most thoughtful of the

( 13 )
heathen would have looked upon them with contempt.
This appears shameful enough now, but how wUl it ap
pear at the hour of death, at the day of judgment, nay,
through a long, long eternity 1
Say, sages, say,
Wits, oracles, say, dreamers of gay dreams.
How win ye weather an eternal night
When such expedients fail t
2d. This subject Ulustrates to us the nature of that
preparation which our condition demands. If such
stages of existence are before us, if every thing earthly
is to be laid aside at the grave, then the preparation
that we need is the cultivation of our spiritual nature.
If moreover, our happiness in the other state, depends
upon our moral Ukeness to God, then it is to the culti
vation of our religious nature that aU our care should
be directed. The reading of the scriptures, communion
with God in prayer, and the improvement of our souls
by the practice of charity are the means which he has
prescribed for our preparation for heaven. With this is
always to be combined the forsaking of the world with
its affections and lusts. It is certainly strange to behold
a soul aspiring after communion with Christ, yet eager in
the pursuit of worldly amusement, and, in everything
but the mere name, conformed to the world, and, yield
ing itself up bUndly to its sensual and alluring vanities.
It is only by coming out from the world, and bearing
the cross of Christ and reaUy Uving a holy and devout
life, that we can become prepared for the blessedness of
the righteous.
3d. How fuU is the consolation which this subject
oflfers to those who mourn the loss of Christian friends.
It is the wUl of God that we and all that we love shall
return to dust. But how blessed beyond concep
tion is the grave of the believer 1 We bid an adieu to
the saint at death, but we sorrow not as those that have
no hope. While we bury all that is mortal in the grave,

( li )
we know that the spirit has gained the victory for eter
nity. It shall sin no more, it shall stumble no more
from human infirmity. Strong in immortal youth it has
entered already upon that upward path which conducts
it directly to the right hand of God. We deposit the
precious dust in the earth, in fuU confidence that those
who sleep in Jesus wiU God bring with him. That cor
ruptible flesh was redeemed by Christ, and he vsiU raise it
incorruptible. It shaU ere long be re-united with the
spirit that has just left it, both having become incon
ceivably glorious, and thus it shaU be forever with the
Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
4th. These same truths should fill our own soiUs
with joyful confidence whUe we look forward to our own
decease. The last sickness, the agonies of death, the
final adieu to every thing on earth, await each one of us.
But if we be the faithful and simple hearted foUowers of
Christ, how glorious a piivUege it is to die. It is to
cease from sin, and to be perfectly holy henceforward
forever; to escape the last, the very last danger; to
bid adieu forever to infirmity, to sorrow, and the very
Uability of being lost ; it is to enter at once upon that
state in which, vdthout hindrance or weakness, all our
powers wUl be fully developed, and we shall be growing
forever in likeness to Christ. It involves, it is true, the
parting for a short season from all that we love on earth ;
but it gives us in exchange the company of those whom
we have loved before, who have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Nor shall
these alone be our associates. There are the martyrs,
confessors and holy men whose works we have read, and
whose example we have labored to imitate. There are
the Apostles and Prophets whose words have so often
fiUed us with humble penitence and spiritual joy.
There is Christ himself who has loved us, and given him
self for us, manifesting to the redeemed the fullness of

( 15 )
his love. And this shall go on increasing and becoming
more and more joyful forever. Let us strive to bear
these truths habitually in mind. It is not enough that
we yield them a cold and speculative belief We must
have our hearts penetrated and imbued with such con
ceptions, if we would enjoy the fuU benefit of them at
the hour of death. Nor this alone. Such thoughts as
these wUl moderate our love of the world, place
every thing in its true position, and give it its just pro
portion ; and thus we shall become daUy more and more
meet for the rest that remaineth for the people of God.
You are aU too deeply aware of the significancy that
has been given to these remarks by the events of the
past week. A member of our little congregation, who
has for many years united with us in the service of God
on earth, has, since our last meeting here, been caUed to
serve him in the temple not made with hands. It is
seemly that I refer to this event, for the purpose
of strengthening the faith and animating the hopes of
those who are left behind. This is not the presence, nor
this the occasion on which to speak of those personal
sraces with which she was embeUished, or those social
endowments with which she was enriched. I speak of
her simply as a foUower of Christ, for it is as such alone
that she is esteemed in the society which she has now
entered. Mrs. Caswell was blessed with a disposition peculiar
ly amiable, and with affections uncommonly genial and
benignant. These sanctified by divine grace rendered
her the ornament of the circle in which she moved, and
almost the idol of those who were so fortunate as to
be numbered among her intimate friends. She ¦ was an
exemplary disciple of Christ, from the day on which she
first relied on him for salvation. Constitutionally hap
py herself, her presence was the unfailing source of hap
piness to others. Fulfilling with admirable propriety

( 16 )
every duty to which in the providence of God she was
caUed ; shedding around her the haUowed influences of
consistent piety and universal charity, in the midst of
her usefulness, after a brief iUness, on the morning of Tues
day last, she was summoned to enter upon the rest that
remaineth for the people of God. In some respects her
Christian example was pecuUar. A dUigent student of
the scriptures, she received their instructions with that
chUdUke simpUcity, which is one of the rarest and rich
est of Christian attainments. Encumbering herself with
neither inferential doctrines, nor speculative generaliza
tions, she meekly received the word of God as a message
from her Father in Heaven to his chUd on earth, and
she labored habituaUy to conform her Ufe to the plain
announcement of his wUl. She did not so frequently as
many others unite in meetings for associated devotion ;
but she was speciaUy devout in private and at home.
It was her habit with chUdlike confidence, to present
before the throne of heavenly grace her joys and her
sorrows, her wants and her fears ; and she did it in the
fuU assurance that her prayers would be answered. She
received the promises of the Gospel as the words of her
dearest friend, in the sure belief that it was pleasing to
God to bestow on her every thing that she needed both for
time and eternity. Enjoying this confidence, she was care
ful to keep herself unspotted from the world. One of
her latest conversations was directed to this subject, and
she then expressed her alarm at the spirit of worldUness
which is so rapidly overspreading the professed church
of Christ. I pray God that her warning may be heeded
by us aU, and may teach us that the thoughtless pleasures
of those who know not God are unseemly for those who
are preparing to dweU forever with a crucified and risen
Redeemer. It is also proper to remark that her chari
ty was exemplary and in some respects unusual. In
many associations of benevolence and in objects of

( n )
charity not specified m the gospel she had, perhaps, less
interest than many other christians. Her heart how
ever turned instinctively towards every form of -misery in
her own immediate vicinity. To visit the sick, to relieve
the widow and orphan, to carry the message of salvation
to those that are perishing around us, these were the
objects that particularly interested her. To them she
was ever ready to contribute not only her pecuniary
means but her personal effort. Her last visit was a visit
of Christian consolation to a friend in apparently her
last iUness. Her deeds of mercy may be easUy known to
any one who wUl follow her example and comfort the
afflicted whom her death has deprived of one of their
most sympathizing and liberal benefactors. In choos
ing this course, she however, in no manner, wished to
undervalue the modes of benevolence which others might
choose to adopt. She thought that this was the path of
duty which Christ had pointed out for her, and she
chose it because he had first chosen it for her. Thus
nourishing her soul by commimion with God, and puri
fying her affections by deeds of charity to man, she was
daUy preparing for Heaven, when unexpectedly to her
friends, though probably not so to herself, her proba
tion was ended, and she fell asleep in Jesus. Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and
their works do foUow them.
My brethren, what is the lesson which we are to learn
from this bereavement 1 Plainly this, that we must aU,
each one for himself, pass through this great change.
Soon the seat of one and another of us wUl be vacated
in the house of prayer. The sickness unto death wUl
fasten itself upon each one of us. The last agony must
be borne, and the last fareweU to earth must be uttered.
The mourners will bear us to the home appointed for
all the living, and our home, henceforth, will be in Eter-

( 18 )
nity. Are we living in preparation for this our great
change 1 O let us give aU dUigence to make our caU-
ing and election sure; If we do these things we shaU
never be moved, for so an entrance shaU be abundantly
administered to us into the. everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

NOTE.

The following brief obituary notice, as a further memorial of the
•deceased, will, it is hoped, be acceptable to her friends and the friends
of her family.
Mrs. Esther Lois GasweU was the fourth daughter and youngest
ohild of the late Edward K. Thompson, Esq. and Sarah Kuhn his
wife. She was born in Providence, September 1, 1802.
Her childhood and youth were surrounded by the happy influences
of an affectionate and well-ordered family. B'ew children have re
ceived a larger share of parental care and tenderness, and fewer still,
perhaps, have returned to their benefactors an equal measure of filial
affection and reverence.
She early gave promise of those excellencies of character which so
much endeared her to her friends in after life. She is remembered
"by many as the amiable school girl whose diligence and propriety of
behaviour secured the esteem of her instructors, and whose kind and
courteous manners rendered her a favorite with her companions. Her
disposition was frank, cheerful, generous and confiding. She prac
tised no insincerity herself and suspected none in others. She ac
quired in youth a fondness for reading and was early conversant with
some of the best productions of English Literature. Her predilec
tions were for Poetry. The writings of Cowper, -Rogers, Campbell,
Montgomery, Mrs. Hemans, and Scott, to say nothing of others, were
to her sources of inexhaustible pleasure. And so retentive was her
memory for Poetry that many a beautiful passage from her favorite
authors learned in youth, was by a little effort recalled and repeated
after the lapse of many years.
But the bright scenes of her early life were not unvisited by sor
row. At the age of twelve years she lost an only brother,* — a most
promising youth of seventeen, — ^by drowning ; a few years later a
much beloved sisterf was removed by the hand of death ; later still
her father,! to whom she was attached by every sentiment of filial af
fection, was taken from her in the short space of a ffew hours, by dis
ease of the heart.
These sad events were long the subjects of daily and mournful
reminiscence in the family. The second particularly, had a most salu-

?Edward K. Thompson, Jr. aied Ang. 13ai, 1814. JMrs. EUzabeth K. Nightingale, wife of
Samid Nightingale, Esq. died Sept. 10th, 1819. tDxed March 8th, 1825.

( ^0 )
tary religious influence upon the character of her whom we now
deplore, in turning her away from the pursuit of light and fugi
tive pleasures to meditate upon the solemn realities of life, upon
her own accountability to God, and upon the way of salvation through
the mediation of Christ. The impressions of an early religious edu
cation were rendered deep and effectual by the corrective discipline
of affliction. Soon after the death of her sister she became a conscien
tious and prayerful communicant in the Episcopal Church. The
teachings of the Holy scriptures, the duties and offices of religion, she
regarded with peculiar sacredness. As a teacher in the Sabbath
School, then just beginning to attract the attention of the Christian
public, she found an employment congenial at once to her own desire
of moral improvement and her benevolent interest in the culture of
others. Years of social and domestic happiness passed, one after an
other, marked by no incidents of special moment till at length new
duties claimed her care.
She was married on the 17th of May, 1830. The new relations of
wife and mother she adorned with every virtue and every grace which
frail humanity can boast. Of her little family circle she was the cen
tre and ornament, alike loving and loved of all Cheerful and happy
herself she possessed more than most others the precious gift of diffu
sing happiness about her. In her friendships she was warm and faith
ful. Enmities she had not. Her keen sensibilities were quickly
wounded by rudeness or neglect, but the tablet of her generous heart
contained no record of resentment. If she was ever ambitious it was
in the reciprocities of kindness. It would have done violence to her
nature to receive and not give.
In the management and culture of her children one of the chief
sources of her influence was the art of making their home happy.
For this purpose she was almost always with them. She sought out
for their vacant hours the moSt inviting games, sports and recreations,
combining innocence and pleasure, and embarked in them with an
earnestness which might seem to suppose that they were intended
for her own special amusement. In respect to the moral and relig
ious education of her children she had great faith in the Scripture pre
cept, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he
will not depart from it." Accordingly she labored with ceaseless care
to imbue the minds of her own with the fear and the love of God ; to
lead them with maternal love beside the still waters of Christian
faith and hope and charity. But more instructive than all precepts
to them, was her own beautiful example. They listened to her
reading of the Scriptures, to her familiar explanations of them, and
joined in the touching devotions of her private chamber, and could
not but feel that happiness and religion were one and inseparable.

(21 )
It has been remarked that Mrs. Caswell at the age of about eigh
teen years became a communicant in the Episcopal churoh. Acci
dental circumstances alone prevented her from receiving Confirmation.
Her views of the ordinances, however, as she was then led to examine
the subject, were not entirely in harmony with the practise of the
church in which she was educated. She doubted the propriety of
Infant Baptism, because it did not seem to her to be authorized by
any command or example of the New Testament. To the mere mode
of Baptism she attached little comparative importance, but gave the
preference to immersion as being in her judgment most consonant
to the scriptures. With her, however, religion was a personal thing
and realized its true development in bringing all the powers of the
mind into subjection to the will of Christ. With her, above all tem
ples and all ordinances was the soul penetrated with a sense of its
own guilt and of the infinite mercy revealed in Christ, and humbly
seeking by the aid of divine grace to do the will of God.
But whom the Lord loveth, he ohasteneth. The hand of affliction,
which recalled her youthful steps from the paths of sin, was stiU over
her in more mature life. The loss of a beloved child* in the autumn
of 1837, seemed to have its perfect work in the sanotification of her
own heart. It was then in the hour of most touching bereavement
that she came to know, to use her own words, as she had never known
before, what was meant by, " the peace of God which passeth under
standing." Eeeling it to be a duty and a privilege to confess Christ
before men, and holding the sentiments before stated respecting the
ordinance of Christian Baptism, she deemed it most suitable to con
nect hetself with the church of which her husband had long been a
member and in whose worship she had devoutly participated for sev
eral years. She was accordingly baptized July 1st, 1838, and became
a member of the Eirst Baptist Church in Providence, then under the
pastoral care of the Rev. WiUiam Hague. In taking this step she
was anxious to express no disrespect for the church in which she was
early nurtured. It is but justice to her memory to say, that to the
end of her life she retained a predilection for much of its service, a
hearty approval of its Evangelical doctrines, and a warm personal at-
taehment to many of its members. Her change of membership, and
her difference of views respecting one of the ordinances, was attended
by no alienation of Christian regards and no separation of Christian
friendships. Sectarian rivalries and bitter controversies professedly
for the good of religion she held in very low esteem. They were repug
nant to her tastes and feelings, and in her judgment alike foreign to the
snirit of the Gospel and often subversive of its great end. It is hardly
necessary to say that in her vie*, any form or profession of religion
•Alexis Caswell died Oct. 13«i, 1837, aged 2 years and 2 months.

( 22 )
which did not end in personal piety, in a sense of unworthiness and
deep humility before God and in looking to the atoning sacrifice of
Christ as the sinner's only refuge, came far short of meeting the real
wants of a sinful human being.
For the poor and the suffering the subject of this notice had the
warmest and most active sympathy. Her heart and her hands so far
as her ability permitted, were always open for their relief With her
it was a practical and every day maxim, which Christian benevolence
will know how to interpret, " we shall never be the poorer for helping
the needy." The suffering and necessitous who came under her
own notice were the first to claim her charity. Others more remote,
however, were not overlooked. The hopes and promises of the Gos
pel were so precious to her own soul that she earnestly coveted for all
others a participation in the same blessings. The great enterprise of
Christian Missions enlisted her prayers and her support. To be ab"
sent from the monthly concert of prayer for the spread of the Gospel
she always felt to be a personal privation. She loved to hear of the
triumphs of the Cross; she loved to contemplate the prophetic period
when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of his Christ.
It may not be improper to add, as pertaining to the true delineation
of her character, that she highly appreciated in others, and possessed
in a good degree herself, what is properly termed a cultivated taste.
This was indicated in her conversation, in her choice of books, and in
her preferences of character. The beauties of Art and of Nature were
to her sources of real and sometimes of almost unbounded pleasure.
Pictures, plants, flowers, fields, woods and mountains, she never ceased
to admire. An excursion in the country when the foliage of Au
tumn had assumed its varied and glorious hues was more instructive
to her moral sentiments, more inspiring to her devotion than many a
formal lecture on Christian duties.
It is not intended in any thing here said to leave the impression that
the character of the deceased was faultless. Such a suggestion would
have been offensive to her own quick sense of truth and propriety.
To err is human. No one was more conscious of imperfections than
herself But in the view of those who knew her best, her faults were
so inconsiderable, were so encompassed and overshadowed by qualities
of the most sterling worth, that they made but a transient appear
ance ; and in the retrospect seem scarce to deserve a passing thought,
much less a record.
Of the closing scenes of her earthly existence little n«ed be said-
After a brief illness of five days she departed this life a little before
the rising of sun on the 25th of June, 1850, in the forty-eighth year
of her age Her disease in the opinion of her physicians was Erysipe-

( 23)
las of the lungs. It was attended with comparatively little pain. Her
powers of perception and reason were unclouded to the end ; and when
the final moment came, she expired in a manner so gentle, and re
tained an expression of countenance so placid and benignant, that
death seemed but the friendly messenger of rest to her weary limbs,
and of peace to her emancipated spirit.
Mrs. Caswell was the mother of six children, three only of whom
survive to mourn her loss and cherish the memory of her virtues ; the
mortal remains of three repose by the side of her own in the North
Buryial Ground of this city, there to remain till the dead shall be
raised incorruptible and death shall be swallowed up in victory.
A. C.
A'ugust 15, 1850.