uncatalogued
Mary Athill died July 1846
Born with twin Sr. Sarah in Antigua July 9 1814. Came to Britn in 1821 first to Edinbro’, then to Fuln. Sch with elder Sr. Esther; remained here till Octr. / 28, when went first to London, where confirmd in church of Engld. In 1829 went back to Antigua where remd till 1836; after residence of 5 yrs in Lond came to live in Srs house here in 1841. Admitted community members in summer 1843.
In the course of last year certain circumstances occurred, which convinced our late Sr., in a painful manner, but most affectually of the emptiness & deceitfulness of this world; & shewed her that, however secluded from worldly vanity & pleasure our settlements may be, they are at the same time screened from much evil, & unvisited by many & placing my bitter & heart rending cares & sorrows; & that true peace & lasting enjoyment are to be found only in the ways of genuine piety; in a word, that “godliness with contentment” is great gain. The consequence was that, after on returning, after an absence of about 8 mos. to our Srs’ house & to the church of the Brn. she evidently lived in much more comfort than before, set a higher value on her privileges, temporal & spiritual, seemed to enjoy the means of grace, & grew, we trust in the inner way, in knowledge & in grace.
Her health was always delicate, & in the course of last Winter, began to fail more & more, so that, in spring, fears began to be entertained of the result. In May June last month she went to Burlington to try the effect of the sea-air; but all was in vain, & she returned in abt. a fortnight for weaker than when she left us. About a week After her arrival here, however, she seemed to rally very much so that we began to cherish hopes of her eventual recovery; but she soon sank again, & very rapidly; & a physician being called in, at once declared that there was not a shadow of hope. It fell to my lot to inform our late sister of this, which I did in as gentle a manner as I could devise. From the commencement of her illness, she had expressed a very great anxiety to recover; & tho’ she seemed aware how well founded were the many hints were her of the danger of her case, & of the necessity of preparing to meet her God, & that she certainly did not neglect the one thing needful, yet she flattered herself with hopes of recovery getting better & clung to life, until the interview I had with her above alluded to & which took place in the evening of 8th, the day before her birthday. She
certainly seemed both alarmed & distressed when she at length learned there was no hope; but she listened most eagerly, & I believe, with childlike faith, to my earnest admonitions, to turn to Jesus, the Savr. from sin & death & also to the encouragements I endeavoured to give her, by pourtraying in scripture-phrase, the infinite compassion & tender mercy of that Savr., his readiness to pardon & receive every one that believeth.
X Before this period she had often been hard X
as well as to the fervent I offered up by her side praying very fervently in the night for acceptance in the Beloved for pardon, peace, santification & redepemtion. From the day just now mentioned, July 8th I found her, at each subsequent visit, more & more composed, her light & peace of mind continually increasing; she was evidently delighted to hear of Jesus, & to listen to the prayers
offered up on her behalf & was, no doubt, very grateful to her choir-labourer & other friends for all spiritual advice & encouragement given her as well as for other proofs of kindness & various attentions. I saw her last on Saturday 18th visit about noon; she then told me, that she felt quite happy & had no fear of death because she was persuaded that, tho’ she knew herself to be a poor miserable
sinner, her Savr. had pardoned her blotted out all her sins, & would receive her in mercy to himself.
In this peaceful frame she continued until 5 o’clock on Sunday morning, when after having suffered some violent convulsions, she fell asleep in Jesus, aged 32 years.
Our last Sister’s conduct was generally speaking regular, strictly moral, & marked generally speaking, by uprightness & conscientiousness. Yet we will not deny that there were not many decided manifestations in her character, of spiritual life, until her last illness. the good Providence of God led her last year thro’ heavy trials, which ever bless for her instruction in righteousness, & prepared her we believe, or those life-giving operations of His spirit, which finally issued contract & believe in her full salvation, & in her being needs meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. May the Lord be the consolation & support of her surviving twin sister & give her both her & all our young members yea of all us grace. to give diligence to make our calling & election sure, & to work while it is called to day seeing the night cometh, in which no man can work.
