; V^ "¦*

A MOTHER'S LEGACY ;
A. r> I s wa xj R s E

DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL

MRS. MBHITABLE P. IPiDREWS,

IN THE FIRST CHURCH OF EAST HAVEN,

SUNDAV, AUGUST t, 1859,

BY

D. WILLIAM HAVEN3, PASTOR.

Published by Request of the Family tor their own use mid for
Distrlliutloii amoue tUeIr Friends.

^ II » t-^-

FAIR HAVEN :
J. T. HATHAWAY, PRINTER,
^ " 1860.

A MOTHER'S LEGACY ;
^ DISCOURSE m
DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL

IRS. MEHITABIE P. ANDREWS
IN THE FIRST CHURCH OF BAST HAVEN,

SUNDAY, AUGUST t, 18S9,

Br

D. WILLIAM HAVENS, PASTOR.

Published by Request of the Family for their own use and for
Distribution among their Friends.

FAIR HAVEN :
J. T. HATHAWAT, PRINTER,

1860.

//

DISCOURSE.

Proverbs xxxi, 28. — Her children arise up, and call her blessed.
The book of Proverbs contains a fund of rich and exhaustless mor
al instruction. There is no relation of man, no phase of his charac
ter, scarcely a circumstance in human life which does not here find
its accurate description and appropriate precepts. In the last chap
ter, that in which the text occurs, from the ninth verse onward to
the end, there is a beautiful and graphic description of a virtuous
woman, wife and mother, which never fails to elicit the admiration of
all who are capable of appreciating her character and worth. After
portraying, in a seriesof life-like sketches, her Occupations, her provi
dence, her industry and her care, and their results in her family, Solo
mon appears to have paused for a pioment, for reflection, and to con
template her death. The places that once knew her, now know her
no more forever. The question forces itself upon his mind, ' Is this
then, the final result and end of such a life'? Do all the benefits
and influences flowing from her toils, her piety and her love, termi
nate here? He cannot answer otherwise than 'No!' And those
who, in the providence of God, have mourned tnelossof such a mother,
and wife, 'will unite heartily in this response. The most powerful
and beautiful influences of her life are rarely experienced and appre
ciated till she has passed away from their society and their love. And
kfter her departure, as year follows year, the beauty and power of
her piety, the value of her instructions, and the efficacy of her pray
ers are more vividly remembered and appreciated. And in their
recollection, in the felt experience of their beneficent influence, ' Her
children arise up and call her blessed.'
The preceding remarks may, indeed, have an equal application
to" both parents and never does there fall to the lot of a living man a
richer, or more enduring blessing, than when, in respect to him, they
can have this twofold application. But from the sad and solemn

circumstances in which we speak to-day, and from the especial referr
once of the text, it is to the mother alone our considef,ations will ner
cessarily be confined :on the present occasion. Many and most affect-
ipg instances areupop record, testifying to the undying recollection
,of a departed mother, in the hearts of her .children. It is fixed there
like the oriental custom of perpetuating an honored name by engrav
ing it ' with a pen of iron and with lead in the rook.' The child,
when its life is abandoned to vice and sin, may foully sully and
dim its Brightness, but it never can be wholly obliterated. Vice may
weaken and counteract its influence, but can never entirely 4estroy
it. It will inevitably arise at some point in the future history, like
a specter from the regions of the dead, to accuse the soul, and fill it
with a keen remorse for its neglect of her pious counsels, and its dis
regard of her pious example. But in the mind that cherishes the lofty
sentiments of virtue and piety, the consciousness of an intimate cour
nexion, as necessary and as powerful as that of cause and efiect, in the
material creation, between maternal instructions and influence, and
tbe cultivation of an unblemished moral character, makes the recol
lection of t!;,e idead mother, the all pervading, the most cherished, and
the dearest senjtipaent of the mind. The most eloquent language is
all too feeble to express the real strength of this feeling, as it is
experienced by the afi'ectionate and truly filial heart. The beloved
name and character are ever regarded by it, and enthroned in it, as
its more sacred and precious treasure, a talisman of defense in the
hour of temptation, and an effectual solace amid the trials of life. If
not infrequently proves a sourcp of consolation and hope in the hour
cf death. And as there is npfhing presented to our view in the hur
man character, clothed with a greater beauty, than the manifestation
of filial piety in others ; so, there is nothing that imparts a higher
satisfaction to our own hearts than to evince our estimation of, and
affection for parents, whils); living, by actspf devotion to their welfare,
and when dead, ' to arise up find call thcfn blessed.'
Wherever this sentiment e;^ists, it will ever tse regarded as one of
the richest of earthly privileges and blessings, when a beloved and
pious mother is permitted to continue with the family circle, long af
ter she has lost her ability for active usefplnpss, and to throw around
the younger life of the household the bpght halo of her piety and her
prayers. They who have been habituated to a life of constant care
and activity, are prone to regard tljefpselves as useless, and a burden
to their friends, when, in consequence of fhe inoreft^ing infirmities of

age, they are prevented froiii' pursuing their a'deustomed labors ; and
that it matters very little, ho* soon they are laid to rest in the grave.
Bdt such arc not the feelings of those who regard them with true rev
erence and affection. It is not till we have become parents ourselves
that a real appreciation of the depth and intensity of parental affec-
tibn' lis reached, and that we can understand something of the depth
and worth of maternal care and solicitude. Then, and not till then,
do we feel the debt of gratitude which presses upon .the heart, in
something of its real magnitude. And if we are not entirely desti
tute of one of the loveliest sensibilities of human nature ; if not
thoroughly vitiated, and in a manner unmanned by an inveterate
selfishness, we shall bless Grod for affording to us an opportunity for
repaying to them, in the years of their age and infirmities, their care
of our infancy, and their instruction of our childhood. That house
hold which embraces among its members an aged mother in Israd,
enjoys a blessing ordinarily denied to the families of the earth. If
the positive and palpable advantages derived from her experience, her
advice and her prayer's, are left entirely out of thn view, there is a
blessing in her very presence, furnishing as it does, a connecting link
between the past and the present, and a living memento of our own
coming future. A bSaiitiful object is old age, when divested of all
petulence and moroseiiess, adorned with cheerfulness and peace, and
sympathizing with all that is fresh and young. We travel far to'visit old
I'uins, and beautiful they are, with green vines clinging to their sides,
flowers springing out of their crevices, and the voices of history
echoing in their arches, and the soft light of the sunset falling aU
over their broken walls. But this is only an illustration of the higher
beauties of old age, when found in the way of righteousness, wherd
peaceful memories and fragrant' affections are breaking through the'
Chinks of the falling tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord shineth
down upon the white and honored head.
We therefore repeat the remark, that it is one of the highest favors
an indulgent Providence can bestow, when honored parents are spared
t'o our adult 'years, and we can appreciate and return their affectioK.
Contrary to the prevailing impression, filial affection is a plant of
slow growth. There are fo many weeds of passion and waywardness
about it in childhood that it never reaches its full strength till the
soberness and experience of maturer years. When those years have
come, when from experience we have learned something of the depth
of parental love, then perhaps, our own parents have gone where they

can never be reachedby our contrition, orsoothed by our filial and grate
ful attentions. Happy are those to whom Providence has reserved
the privilege, in mature life, to minister to aged parents, and of walk
ing before them in a spirit of obedience, veneration and' love, more
tender, more beautiful than in childhood, because more considerate,
and voluntary, being wholly removed from all ideas of authority, and
compulsion. And although we may havethe experience of them, it
is now impossible to tell and even to know, nor will it be known be
fore the final judgment, how much of present prosperity and happiness
and safety, in all the circumstances and scenes oflife, on the land and
on the sea, in the sunshine and in the storm, are owing to the fervent
and effectual prayers of an aged and godly mother, who, in feeble
ness and infirmity, when her love can find no other mode of expres
sion, continues to supplicate the blessing of a covenant God upon her
children. The more the mind becomes blunted to the perception of
other objects, the more clearly and constantly does it dwell upon
those around whicfi the dearest and strongest of the affections are
entwined. When the outward senses fall into decay and the mind
seems to retire within itself, the very laist consoiousnes it loses is that
which grasps and clings to the deare.st and life-long objects of its
love. And in the very moment of mortal dissolution, when the soul
apparently unconscious of all other earthly things, has caught a view
of the brightness and glory of that heaven within whose golden por
tals it is so soon to pass, then the undying afTections of the heart
will flash out with unwonted brilliancy and power, in the tender, but
irrepressible yearning for the final salvation of children.
And when such a mother has passed away, — when the memory "
alone retains the picture of her venerated fonu, and of the counte
nance beaming with the tenderness of maternal love, then the magni
tude of the blessing G-od has vouchsafed in giving such a parent, will
be vividly realized and appreciated. Do we not touch the esperi-
enoe, and strike a chord of deep and ineradicable feeling in the heart.s
of many, when we say that a thousand little incidents and circum
stances which had been buried in forgotfuluessfor years, will rush up
on the mind, imparting a newer and more lasting impression of the
character of the departed, and arousing to a warmer and more
copious eflauence the grateful emotions of the soul ? But of all the
circumstances of the life, which are associated in the memory of
children with the departed mother, her instructions in religious
knowledge, her ceaseless care and anxiety for their usefulness in life,

aft well as for their spiritual welfare and eternal salvation,- will ever
make the strongest and most lasting impression. The precious seed
of God's word, which with faith and prayer she has sown in the ten
der minds of her offspring, in the days of their childhood, can never
be lost. It is destined to spring up, and sooner or later, bear glorious
fruit for immortality. Whatever may • be the character at the time
of her departure, and however great may have been the dislike and
neglect of her instructions, at the time they were imparted, if the con
ditions of faith and prayer have been fulfilled, the hour will surely
come when the recollection of them shall awaken the grateful emo
tions, and the most wayward and unpromising of her children shall
' arise up and call hot blessed.'
As an illustration of this beautiful and encouraging fact in the
history of Christian influence, I beg leave to introduce here, deem
ing no apology necessary for their length, some extracts from a let
ter of the Rev. William Goodell; the veteran and beloved mission
ary at Constantinople, respecting the 'character and instructions of
his godly parents. Many of my hearers will remember him as having
addressed them from this sacred desk,^ whilst on a visit to his native
land, in 1851, after having performed thirty years service in the
missionary field, whither he returned shortly afterwards, to continue
his labors,, till the Great Master shall call him to his eternal home
and reward. This letter, was written to his brother on receiving in
telligence of the death of his father in 1843. Not to speak of its re
ligious odor, or of its admirable adaptation to illustrate the subject of
the text, there is nothing in the writings of Addison or Lamb, or in
deed in our whol^ literature, which can equal its chaste and beau
tiful simplicity, and quiet pathos. Constantinople, August 18, 1843.
My Dear Brother : — The intelligence contained in your letter
was not unexpected. Our father had attained to a greatage, lacking
only five days of being eighty-six years old. He was full of days,
but more full of faith and the Holy Ghost. How long he had ' borne
the image of the earthly,' before he was renewed in the spirit of bis
mind, I know not ; • but I know he had long borne ' the image of the
heavenly.' , Though I can look back some, forty years or more I can not look
back to a year when he was not living a life of faith, and prayer and
self denial, of deadness to the world, and of close walk with God. —
This was the more remarkable, as in the Church, of which in those
days he was a member, there was scarcely one individual who could
, fully sympathize with him in his religious views. Those great evan-

gelieal doctrines of the gospel, which his own minister never preached,
and his own church never adopted into her creed, were his meat andi
drink. ' The raven, though an unclean bird, brought food to Elijah,!
was a common expression of his on returning fromChurch, where ho
had been able to pick out of much chaff, a few crumbs of the bread of
life. His privileges were few ; prayer meetings were unknown ; the
sum total, or about tbe sum total of his library was the Family Bible,
one copy of Watts' Psalms and Hymns, Doddridge's Rise and Pro
gress, Pike's Cases of Conscience, the second volume of Fox's Book of
Martyrs, and the Assembly's Catechism,
But though his means of grace were thus limited, yet meditating.
day and night on God's law, his roots struck deep; and he was like
a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf is always green, and
whose fruit is always abundant. Whoever saw him riding on horse
back, would, if he kept himself concealed, be almost sure to see him
engaged in prayer. Whoever should work with him in seedtime or
harvest, would find his thoughts as actively employed above as his
hands were below. Whoever of the Lord's people met him by day or
by night, at home or abroad, alone or in company, would find him.
ready to sit down with them in heavenly places, in order to compre
hend ' what is the length and breadth, and depth and heighth of the-
love of Christ.'
Being the youngest of the family, you can have but an indistinct^
recollection of the small house on the side of the hill, containing two-
small rooms, and a garret, floored with loose and rough boards where
twelve of us were born ; and of the small clump of apple trees before
the door, where your elder brothers, and sisters, played in the days of
their thoughtless childhood. There, with no lock to any door, and
no key to any trunk, or drawer, or cupboard; there, where as I am;
told, nothing now remains but an old cellar, which may even itself, long
before this, have been filled up ; there our godly father prayed for us
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit ; there on every Sab
bath eve he asked us those solemn, important, and all-comprehensive
questions from the Catechism, and there, with eyes and hearts raised
to heaven, we used to sing to the tune of old Rochester :
' Q-od my supporter and my hope,
>Iy help forever near,
Thine arm of mercy held me up
When sinking in despair.'
And there, too; our mother of precious memory, though, as she
died when you were but six months old, you remember her not, —
there she lived a life of poverty, patience, meekness and faith. —
There she used to sit and card her wool by the light of a pine knot, .
and sing to us those sweet words —
' Hov'ring among the leaves there stands
The sweet celestial dove;
And Jesus on the branches hangs
The.banner of his love.'

And there, too,- almost thirty-four years ago, -we assembled early one
morning, in her little bedroom, to see her die. Her peace was like a
river ; she was full of triumph ; and she was able to address to us
words of heavenly consolation, till she had actually crossed over into
shallow water, within one minute of the opposite banks of the Jordan,
— heaven and all Us glories full in view. Precious woman ! —
' Were my children hut pious,' thou didst often say in thy last, loDg
sickness, 'how cheerfully could I leave ihem and go away.' But
what thine eyes were not permitted to behold, have not the angels
long since told thee ; that the eight children thou didst leave behind,
with all, or all but one of their partners, were partakers of that blessed
Gospel ' which was all thy salvation and all thy desire,' and that
three of thy sons were engaged in proclaiming it toothers? Yes,-
God hath heard thy prayers, and ' hath remembered his holy cove
nant,'' as we all are witnesses this day. « * *

This is a life-like portraiture, a daguerreotype upon the soul in
the sunlight of Christain piety, of a childhood's home, where the very
air inhaled by its inmates was as the breath of heaven. —
From the confines of distant Asia, impelled by fragrant memories,
comes the voice of grateful filial affection pronouncing blessed the
sainted mother, after the lapse of nearly forty years since she died.
He who was then a boy, is now a gray headed and care-worn old
man. But his love for her is as green and fresh as when the new
earth was heaped upon her coffin. It has grown with his growth,
and strengthened with his strength. In him, as indeed in all who
cherish as a sacred thing, the remembrance of a mother's piety and
faithfulness, it is a living sentiment, as imperishable and immortal as
the soul itself "And can it be conceived as possible that the man who
carries in his heart memories so precious and beautiful as these, en
twined as it were with its very life-strings, will ever continue in a
career of impiety and vice ? Would not the image of departed worth
rise up before him, in the hour of his loudest and most reckless rev
elry, to reprove him of his neglect of its instructions ? Would not the
countenance of the sainted dead, shrouded in sorrow, yet beaming
with love, gaze upon him in the very haunts of sin, meet him in the
midst of his career of ruin, and win back his footsteps to the paths
of virtue, and peace? Nay, does not the blessed truth commend it
self in all its magnitude and importance, that the heart wherein is
treasured up such precious memories, will itself be subjected to the
power of the same spirit, and piety, which prompted the instructions,
the prayers, and the example of godl;^ parents ? Must not the seed'

10
and the harvest be the same, in the spiritual, as in the natural hus
bandry ?
In the review of the sentiments already expressed, it will be clear
ly perceived that the most effectual, and indeed, the only appropriat
ed and consistent mode of evincing gratitude and affection for a de
parted mother, is to imitate her example, in so far as she has imita
ted' Christ. ' This,' says Matthew Henry, 'is a part of the debt owing
to a pious mother,' and this may be the very meaning of Solomon in
the proverb of the text ; the rising up and calling her blessed being
the reproduction of her p'iety, and the most beautiful, as well as ef
fectual mode of pronouncing her benediction. 'Many, many thanks
to my dear mother,' were the last words of a dying missionary away
off in India, 'who, in my childhood taught me to prize the bible, and
to learn many passages from its holy pages, which now cheer my faint
ing spirits.' The mournfulintermentofourfriends, the consignment
of their remains to the grave with solemn and appropriate rites, is some
times denominated the last earthly ofiioe we can render to them. This is
indeed true of those who have sustained other -relations to, the living,
but it is not true in regard to the death of pious parents. There is
still another and more important office, a higher, more sacred, and
lasting duty, which we owe to them, namely : that of perpetuating
their piety, by the practice of the religious principles they have in
culcated, and by the imitation of the godly ^:amples they have set
before.others in their, lives, i This is the highest honor it is in our
power to confer on their memory. It will prove a monument to de
parted worth, more glorious in, its nature, more beautiful in its exhi
bition, and more lasting in its influence, than though at an immense
expense there had been reared over their mouldering remains, the
lite-like statue of bronze, the elaborately wrought mausoleum of mar
ble, or tbe massive obelisk of granite, towering to the skies. For
these, however solid or magnificent, must perish. The names in
scribed upon them will he obliterated by the corroding touch of time,
.and the very materials of which they are constructed will gradually
crumble into dust. But the remembrance of a Christian mother,
,^vho has carefully and prayerfully implanted the seeds of God's
own truth in the hearts of her children, and in whom her own exalted
piety is reproduced and perpetuated, will live forever ! Tell me not
of the 'trump of fame,' or of the historic muse 'proud of her treasures,
marching down to latest time.' Compared with the dying influence
ef the former, the proudest recprd of earth's.history is an event whigh

11
has transpired and been forgotten in a day. -This thought has a beauti
ful illustration in the case of that missionary, to whom reference has
already been made, when in the hour of death, she gave such noble
testimony to a mother's piety and faithfulness. Called to her final
rest and reward, after more than twenty years service among the lost
millionsof: India, she was instrumental in the conversion and sal
vation of hundreds of souls who were brought under her care and in
struction. • But though dead, her labors have not lost their influence.
In the day of resurrection, her humble minded but godly parents,
shall rise from the grassy mounds beneath which they'* were laid to
rest, in the shadow of that rural Church in my own native place,
where they were baptised in infancy. Their missionary child will
rise from the spicy groves of India, where she rested from her labors,
and her children's children, whether snatchedaway in early bloom,
or in the harvest ripeness of piety, shall rise with them ; and lo, there
comes a long and endless procession of ransomed souls : — the Hindoo
mother and her child, and a multitude whom no man can number,
who, in the roll of ages have been converted to God, in consequence
of those lessons of practical religion which they instilled into the
hearts of their children. And all this will be the result of parental
fidelity ! Well may it be called 'the glory to be revealed.' Not only
their own, and their children's children, but -an endless retinue of
souls, converted and saved by their instrumentality, shall in that day
'arise up and call them blessed.'
The truth here announced has an application to all who endeavor
to perform their duty faithfully in that sphere, however humble, or
circumscribed, where they have been placed by the Providence of
God. Thus certain is the divine declaration, ' The righteous shall
be in everlasting remembrance,' and they who promote the name, and
cause of Jesus Christ, secure for themselves the highest and most en
during honors and blessings. Goodness and faithfulness perpetuate
themselves in an immortality as enduring as that of Christ ; for ' He
will be glorified in all his saints, and admired in all them which be
lieve.' *Deacou Charles Lathrop and his wife ilrs. .Joanna Lathrop, of Norwich,
Conn. Four of their daughters, Mrs Harriet L. Winslow, Mrs. Charlotte H.
Cherry, Mrs. Elisabeth C, Hutelaiiis, and Mrs. Harriet Joanna Perry, went as
missionaries to India. 'With the exception of Mrs. Hutchiiis, who in conse
quence of the impaired health of her husband, returned with him to their
native land, after eleven years service in the missionary field, these all died
in India. The daughter whose dying expression is referred to above, was Mrs.
Winslow, who died in Ceylon, in 1833.

12
The scene amid which, My Hearers, we are iloW acting is clothed
¦with greater solemnity and impressiveness, than ordinarily attends
the funeral services of the aged, in consequence of the suddenness of
the Providence which has removed from the community, as in a mo
ment, one of the most venerated and beloved of its members. Mrs.
Mehitable P. Andrews, although she had reached that period of
life when death must be and is expected in the ordinary course of na
ture ; yet, a peculiar interest gathers around this solemn event, be
cause it severs one of the few links that still bind' the present genera
tion to the memories of the past.
Within these walls, where for so many yearS" she has been a
constant and sincere worshipper; near that table frOtn which she has
so often and prayerfully received the mystic symbols of the body and
blood of her crucified Savior,— robed for the grave, the coffined re
mains of this aged mother in Israel, are now reposing, calm, rigid,
passionless, under the palsying hand of death. Her departure is
deeply mourned, not only by the wide circle of her kindred, but by
all who knew her worth, and appreciated her character.- Therefore
before conveying her honored remains to their last earthly resting
place, we have endeavored to improve the opportunity afforded by
her death, by illustrating the influence and power of one of the most
lovely and tender of all earthly relations, that of a faithful and pious
mother to her children. The long, laborious and useful life of Mrs.
Andrews has closed on Earth, and as we trust, her career of eternal
rest and happiness and glory has commenced in heaven.
It will be quite unnecessary for me to dwell upon the details of
her life, respecting which the majority of my hearers are far better
acquainfed' than myself. 'Being dead, she yet speaketh.' She
speaks- by that' character which has been known and read of all
throughout nearly four score years, a character in which was devel
oped an unusual degree of energy and capacity, demanded by the cir
cumstances of her long widowhood, and by the responsibility of rear-"
mg to maturity a family of nine children. These elements of her
c'ha'racter age could not subdue, united as they were with a buoyant
cheerfulness of heart, -which its grov?ing infirmities did not destroyi
Her mind possessed that happy construction, which, notwithstanding -
the advance of years, enabled her to preserve her interest in the young,
and especially did she interest herself in, and sympathize with, the
youthful portion of her own large family circle. And in these respects"

13
she presented a beautiful example of piety without moroseness, and of
age without a particle of envy or petulance.
Mrs. Andrews made a prcfession of religion and united with this
Church, at the communion in March, 1809, and consequently has
(been connected with it t^orcithan half a century. She loved the
church, of which she was a member, with a deep and ardent affection,
,«nd for this reason always endeavored to adorn the profession she
•liad made. It was always interesting and pleasant to her, to con
verse about its affairs, and to plan and pray for its welfare and in
crease. Nor can I permit this occasion to pass witihout the melan-
iCholy pleasure of bearing my testimony to the uniform kindness, and
interest, and appreciation, which were manifested by this aged mother
,in Israel, towards her pastor. Her ever cheerful and hearty spiyit
;always threw a ray of sunlight upon his path, the memory of which
¦will never fade from his heart till it ceases to beat with the pu'sations
,of life. In one respect especially, her example is worthy of being
held up for general imitation, for nothing but physical inability ever
kept her from her accustomed place in the sanctuary on the Sabbath.
One week ago at this very hour, she was here, engaged with all her
wonted devotion in the worship of Him ' whom, not having seen, she
loved.' Littje did she think, still less did it occur to any of us, that
jt was the last time ; and th»t epe another Sabbath sun should rise
,«pon the world, she would have passed from its scenes forever, to en
gage in that higher and holier worship of the 'temple not made with
(hands, eternal in the heavens.' God often mingles signal mercies
with the severest iiifilictions. This is emphatically true of that be
reavement under which we mourn to-day. It is an evidence of his
love for his aged servant that he spared her the experience of
(thbse greater infirmities to which extreme age is usually subjected ;
Bj)ared her the sufferings of a long and wasting disease ; spared her the
slow and painful severing of the ties that bound her to the loved ones
of earth, and almost in a moment, without the experience of a pang,
translated her from earth to heaven. It is oftentimes thus, ' He
giveth his beloved sleep.'
Our circumstances at the present moment forbid the repression of
the reflection, of how solemn to her would have been the thought, at
ithe time, had she have known the nearness of death ; that almost in
¦the very spot where on the last Sabbath, and in the enjoyment of
her wonted health, she engaged in the worship of the sanctuary, to-
dag her coffined remains would rest for a few moments on their 'Way

14
to the grave, in order that we might perform the solemn services of
her funeral ! May the lesson of the uncertainty oflife, so impressively
taught by this event, not be lost upon us who are now living !
Not alone in the circumstances that attended the death ot Mrs. An
drews, but also in the events which preceded it, the hand of Divine
Providence is visibly evident. Now that it has occurred, it can bo
remarked that to her own mind there seemed to be the foreshadow^
ing of her approaching dissolution ; intimations by the Holy Spirit,
ofthe nearness of eternity. The last sermon to wliieh she listened
from the lips of her Pastor just a fortnight ago thii afternoon, appears*
tobave made an unusually deep impression on her tnind This cira-
cumstance has been learned from the testimony of her friends, as she
had subsequently frequently referred to it, in conversation with themJ
The subject of that discourse was ' Heaven,' the'ieunion and recogni
tion of the friends on earth, amid its blessed' scenes. It gave dif'eo-^
tion to her subsequent thoughts, and caused her to dwell with a more
earnest and delighted contemplation upon the realities and blessedness
of that world, through whose radiant portals it was'the will'flf God
that she should pass, within the brief space of less than two weeks.
It was also a kind arrangement in the providence of her Heavenly
Father, that, after a long absence, she was brought back to die in that
old and cherished homo, where for so many j-ears she had lived and
labored ; where long since she had followed the lifeless remains of
her husband and his aged parents to their last resting place, the
grave; where she had reared her numerous family of children and"
sent them forth to form new ties and found new homes for themselves 7
and whence we have now brought her inanimate form to tarry for a
few moments in the sacred place, where for so long she has been si
worshipper, ere we bear it onward'to the grave.
In some of its circumstances' tbe death of Mrs. Andrews is es
pecially happy, and full of consolation. God had permitted her to
see all of her children prosperously settled in life, and to .share h\
their happiness. And what carries a higher joy to the Christian
mother's heart, she bad seen all, or nearly all of them gathered in
to the fold of Christ's flock on earth, and all' of whom, with their nu
merous children, with the single exception of a beloved daughter*
who preceded her, only by a few years, to the eternal world, are pres-

*Mrs Betsie Woodward, wife Of Mr. Roswell 'Woodward, 'who died May
23d', 1-850, aged 47 years.

15
ent to-day, to testify their profound veneration and affection for their
Mother, by following her remains to the grave, and by cherishing the
grateful remembrance of her piety and maternal love and care. She
has bequeathed to them the most precious and enduring of all lega
cies, the memory of her virtues, and her testimony to the value and»
power of religion, t
It was tbe saying of an ancient sage, ' Count no man happy till
you see how he dies.' We would amend the proverb by giving to it a
Christian significaiice, ' Count no man happy till you wit'ness the rev
elations of the last great day.' Then will be exhibited the continued
influence of human conduct, as it extends and expands through time
til! the final consummation of all things. To- the Christian -mind this
thought gives a deeper and more impressive solemnity to the revela
tions and transactions of the day of judgment. Most wise, as,well as
most happy are those parents who feel their respousibil'ties in respect
to these revelations, and endeavor to live up to their magnitude and
importance. There is a natural and commendable pride which pa
rents take in their children, but woe to them both, if this pride takes
an exclusively earthward directiou. There is a higher beauty than
that of feature and form ; even that which springs from the practice
of Christian piety. There is a nobler grace than that acquired by
art, and which qualifies one to appear to advantage in the whirl of
social excitements ; even that which spriiigs from the imitation of
Christ. The richest legacy that can be bequeathed to children, —
and many of us, we believe now rejoice in its possession, — is the re
membrance of piety in our parents, the' application of their instruc
tions, and as the result of their instructions, their examples and their
prayers, the glorious hope of meeting thern again amid the purities
and blessedness of heaven. It 'is only when religion has become a
thing of personal experience that children can realize how strong and
deep in the mother's heart is the solicitude for their salvation ; and
after her departure," thatj^d'a the highest sense, they can ' arise upand
call her blessed. '
And on the other hand, no greater joy can fill her heart, in death's

f At the funeral of Mrs. Andrews, there were present representatives from
eighteen, out of ihe nineteen families of her descendants. And it may not be
inappropriate to mention, that of these nineteen families, twelve are regular
attendants and worshippers in the same ehurch, where she had worshipped
during her whole eapthly life. -

16
'mysterious and solemn hour, 'than the assurance that her children are
walking in the pleasant paths of piety. It imparts to her heart the ¦
sweet and blessed confidence, that in the last great day, she shall
stand before the throne of God, whilst they are gathered in a glorious
and glorified company ;eround her, and beisble to say, with deep and
(ecstatic joy, 'Behold, here am I, and the children thou hast given me.l'

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