The Power of Faith: Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.Graham, Isabella
Religion
The Power of Faith: Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.
Graham, Isabella
Christian biography; Graham, Isabella, 1742-1814
Not satisfied with the custom of the island, in burying so soon
after life is extinct, her uneasiness became so great that her friends
judged it prudent to have her husband's grave opened, to convince her
that no symptoms of returning life had been exhibited there. The
fidelity of her heart was now as strongly marked as her tenderness.
She dressed herself in the habiliments of a widow, and determined
never to lay them aside. This she strictly adhered to, and rejected
every overture afterwards made to her of again entering into the
married state. She breathed the feelings of her heart in a little
poem, in which she dedicated herself to her God as a widow indeed.
On examining into the state of her husband's affairs, she
discovered that there remained not quite two hundred pounds sterling
in his agent's hands.
These circumstances afforded an opportunity for the display of
the purity of Mrs. Graham's principles, and her rigid adherence to the
commandments of her God in every situation.
It was proposed to her, and urged with much argument, to sell the
two Indian girls, her late husband's property; but no considerations
of interest or necessity could prevail upon her thus to dispose of
immortal beings, the work of her heavenly Father's hand. One of these
girls accompanied her to Scotland, where she was married; and the
other died in Antigua, leaving an affectionate testimony to the
kindness of her dear master and mistress.
The surgeon's mate of the regiment was a young man whom Dr.
Graham had early taken under his patronage. The kindness of his patron
had so far favored him with a medical education, that he was enabled
to succeed him as surgeon to the regiment.
Notwithstanding the slender finances of Mrs. Graham, feeling for
the situation of Dr. H----, she presented to him her husband's medical
library and his sword: a rare instance of disinterested regard for the
welfare of another.
This was an effort towards observing the second table of the law,
in doing which she was actuated likewise by that principle which flows
from keeping the first table also. Nor was the friendship of Dr. and
Mrs. Graham misplaced. The seeds of gratitude were sown in an upright
heart. Dr. H----, from year to year, manifested his sense of
obligation, by remitting to the widow such sums of money as he could
afford. This was a reciprocity of kind offices, equally honorable to
the benefactors and to them who received the benefit: an instance,
alas, too rarely met with in a selfish world.
It may here be remarked, in order to show how much temporal
supplies are under the direction of a special providence, that Dr.
H----'s remittances and friendly letters were occasionally received by
Mrs. Graham until the year 1795; after this period her circumstances
were so favorably altered as to render such aid unnecessary; and from
that time she heard no more from Dr. H----, neither could she learn
what was his subsequent history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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