“In a word, like Enoch, she walked with God; like Abraham, she staggered not at his promise through unbelief; like Jacob, she wrestled with the angel and prevailed; like Moses, endured as seeing Him who is invisible; like Paul, finished her course with joy.  Blessed were the eyes of the preacher, for they saw the victory of her faith; and his ears, for they heard her song of salvation.  ’You can say with the apostle, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him?’ ’O yes, but I cannot say the other, I have fought a good fight; I must say, I have fought a poor fight, I have run a poor race; but Christ fought for me.  Christ ran with me, and through Christ I hope to win,’ ’But you have no fear, no doubts, about your going to be with Christ?’ ’O no, not a doubt; I am as sure of that as if I were already in my Saviour’s arms.’  It was her final conversation with children of the dust.  The next day, when her flesh and her heart had so far failed that she was incapable of uttering a sentence, she still proved her God to be the strength of her heart, and knew him to be her portion for ever.  I said to her, ‘It is peace,’ She opened her eyes, smiled, closed them again, bowed her dying head, and breathed out, ‘Peace,’ It was her last word on this side heaven.  The attending spirits caught it from her lips, and brought to her the next day permission to sleep in Jesus.

“From this review allow me to urge the value of private exertions in promoting general good.

“In pursuing his gratifications, man is apt to look upon himself as a being of great importance; in fulfilling his duties, to account himself as nothing.  Both are extravagances which it will be his wisdom and happiness to correct.  He is neither supreme in worth nor useless in action.  Let him not say, ’I am but one; my voice will be drowned in the universal din; my weight is lighter than a feather in the public scale.  It is better for me to mind my own affairs, and leave these higher attempts to more competent hands.’  This is the language, not of reason and modesty, but of sloth, of selfishness, and of pride.  The amount of it is, ’I cannot do every thing, therefore I will do nothing,’ But you can do much.  Act well your part according to your faculties, your station, and your means.  The result will be honorable to yourself, delightful to your friends, and beneficial to the world.  I advise not to gigantic aims, to enormous enterprise.  The world has seen but one Newton, and one Howard.  Nothing is required of you but to make the most of the opportunities within your reach.

“Recall the example of Mrs. Graham.  Here was a woman, a widow, a stranger in a strange land, without fortune, with no friends but such as her letters of introduction and her worth should acquire, and with a family of daughters dependent upon her for their subsistence.  Surely if any one has a clear title of immunity from the obligation to carry her cares beyond the domestic circle, it is this widow, it is this stranger.  Yet within a few years this stranger, this widow, with no means but her excellent sense, her benevolent heart, and her persevering will to do good, awakens the charities of a populous city, and gives to them an impulse, a direction, and an efficacy unknown before.