THE JESSAMINE. 249 



that could awe the most reckless into submission 

 to her calm and mild rebuke : and her sympathi- 

 zing pastors came to her less to impart than to receive 

 consolation, encouragement, and spiritual profit: 

 while she, in the spirit of a little child, desired but 

 to sit at their feet and learn. Now, I would sooner 

 take the feelings of such a person for a rule where- 

 by to judge, than the laboured conclusions of pro- 

 found thinkers, on a point which, after all, they 

 could but think upon : and I am sure that Mrs. C. 

 regarded pain as a positive evil, the bitter and hu- 

 miliating fruit of sin, judicially inflicted, to rebuke 

 and chasten ; and by no means to be glorified in, 

 as an especial privilege, even by God's children. 

 T have seen the tears stand in her eyes, while her 

 look expressed somewhat of Job's mournful re- 

 proof, to the injudicious friends, who undertook to 

 prove that her bodily torments were so many calls 

 for exultation and delight: but, when left to draw 

 her own deductions from the Lord's dealings with 

 her, as explained by his word, and applied by the 

 Spirit, she would sweetly acknowledge, as in the 

 instance of that sleepless night, how much of mer- 

 cy her severest trials were made the means of 

 conveying to her soul. Had recovery been possible, 

 I make no doubt that she would gladly have used 

 every means to throw off her dreadful malady ; 

 and most touching was the fervency of her thank- 

 fulness to the Father of mercies, when a few 



