She was not able to read a word till her sixty-sixth year, but she was
in the practice of getting persons to read the Holy Scriptures to her,
much of which she retained in her memory with remarkable accuracy. By
dint of application, she was at length able to read them herself; and
those who visited her in advanced life, found her knowledge of the
Scriptures, as well as her growth in grace, very surprising.
When she was one hundred years old, and very feeble, she would, if able
to get out of bed, on the Sabbath morning, discharge what she thought
to be her duty, by conversing with and exhorting both the white and
colored people who came to her house, often standing for half an hour
at a time. Her zeal was indeed great, and her faith steadfast.
She said she often wished she could write, that she might in this way
also express her anxiety for the good of souls. Then she would have
described more of the exercises of her mind upon the depravity of man
by nature and by practice, with the unbounded and redeeming love and
mercy of God through Jesus Christ.
The person who gives the account of Clarinda's death, says, "I was
prevented from seeing her often in her last moments; when I did see
her she was always the same--her one theme the love of God to poor
sinners, which was always her style of speaking. One day, as I sat by
her bedside, she said to me, 'Do you think I am a Christian?' 'Yes,'
I answered, 'I do believe you are a Christian.' 'I have tried to be,'
she replied, 'but now that I suffer in my body, when I think what an
unprofitable servant I have been, I am distressed.' She then wept.
'You know,' I said, 'it is not how _much_ we can do, but what we do
_sincerely_ for the love of Christ, that is acceptable.' She seemed
comforted, and talked as usual.
"She showed me much affection when I left her, saying, 'I shall not
live long, my dear ----,' and, adding a few other words, blessed me,
and bid me pray for her. She had frequently expressed her fears of the
bodily sufferings of death, but not accompanied with a dread of eternal
death. I asked her, when she was ill, if she _now_ feared to die. She
said 'No; this fear was taken away some time previous to my illness.'"
She requested that her people, as she called them, might continue to
meet at her house, but this was not allowed. I am told they sometimes
meet elsewhere, and are called "Clarinda's People." When dying, she
told those near her to follow her _only_ as she had followed Christ.
Her death occurred in 1832. "Those that be planted in the house of the
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth
fruit in old age."
While perusing this remarkable account of "a brand plucked from the
burning," let those who from their earliest years have enjoyed the
inestimable privilege of access to the sacred volume, and various other
religious means, seriously consider the blessed Saviour's words: "Unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required."
NAIMBANNA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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