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
"We are yet one in Christ our head--united in him; and though she
shall not return unto me, I shall go to her, and then our communion
will be more full, more delightful, as it will be perfectly free from
sin. Christ shall be our bond of union, and we shall be fully under
the influence of it.
"Let me then gird up the loins of my mind, and set forward to
serve my day and generation, to finish my course. The Lord will
perfect what concerns me; and when it shall please him, he will
unclothe me, break down these prison-walls, and admit me into the
happy society of his redeemed and glorified members: then 'shall he
wipe away all tears from my eyes,' and I shall taste the joys which
are at his right hand, and be satisfied for evermore."
Mrs. Graham made it a rule to appropriate _a tenth_ part of
her earnings to be expended for pious and charitable purposes. She had
taken a lease of two lots of ground on Greenwich-street from the
corporation of Trinity church, with a view of building a house on them
for her own accommodation; the building, however, she never commenced.
By a sale of the lease, which her son Mr. Bethune made for her in
1795, she got an advance of one thousand pounds. So large a profit was
new to her. "Quick, quick," said she, "let me appropriate the tenth
before my heart grows hard." What fidelity in duty; what distrust of
herself. Fifty pounds of this money she sent to Mr. Mason in aid of
the funds he was collecting for the establishment of a Theological
Seminary. Her own version of this matter we have in a letter to her
familiar friend Mrs. Walker, of Edinburgh:
"1795.
"MY DEAR MRS. WALKER--My last informed you that we had been
made to taste of the Lord's visitation--the yellow-fever--but in
great mercy had been spared in the midst of much apparent danger. I
have now in my house a girl who lost both father and mother, and
many whole families were cut off; my house was emptied; my school
broken up; we confined to town, and heavy duty laid upon us at the
same time. I trembled again for fear of debt; but 'the Lord brought
meat out of the eater.'
"Three years ago, when tried by having one house taken over my
head, another bought, and obliged to move three times in as many
years, some speculating genius brought me under the influence of the
madness of the times, and persuaded me I might build without money. It
is quite common here to build by contract. I could not purchase
ground, but I leased two lots of church land, got a plan made out, and
worried myself for six months, trying to hatch chickens without eggs.
I had asked the Lord to build me a house, to give success to the
means, still keeping in view covenant provision, 'what is good the
Lord will give.' After many disappointments I said, Well; I have
asked--I am refused--it is not good--the Lord will not give it: he
will provide, but in his own way, not mine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account