the life which Christ died to purchase, and lives
to bestow; let him answer my petition by means of his own appointing:
by health or by sickness, by riches or by poverty, by long life or
early deaths--only let all mine by the ties of nature, be his by
regeneration of his Spirit."

Having felt the trials and the responsibilities of widowhood, she
wrote to her brother's widow, Mrs. Marshall, in 1805:

"You are now, my dear sister, the only head of your family. Will
you take Joshua's determination? 'As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord.' Take hold of God's covenant for your orphan children
as for yourself, and consider them as his, to be brought up for him.
Be a priestess in your own house, and keep up the worship of God daily
in your family, and confess your Lord and Master before angels, men,
and devils. Those who thus honor God, he will honor.

"You are indeed, my dear, arrived at an important stage of your
journey through this great wilderness. You are now the head of the
family, and are to God immediately answerable. No earthly
consideration must make you give up the government of it, nor the
prerogative which he hath given you, to counsel, and even beseech your
household to serve the Lord. You cannot give grace; you cannot give
life; and where there is no life there can be no spiritual exercise:
but you may use means, although there is much prudence to be observed
to avoid disgust.

"Be faithful, then, my dear sister, to your important trust. See
that your household remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; your
children, of course, will accompany you to the house of God, but let
not your servants absent themselves from his ordinances, and endeavor,
on your return home, to explain and bring home the word that may have
been spoken to their consciences. Above all, let it be your constant
aim to set before them a godly, consistent example, and be much
engaged in prayer for them--I mean for your servants as well as for
your children, and God will, in all probability, make you a mother in
Israel, the mother of many spiritual children, and turn your captivity
into rejoicing, and fill your mouth with songs of praise; or should
you not have this comfort, should the night of adversity last to the
very valley of the shadow of death, the morning of eternal rest shall
then beam forth upon your own soul, and your prayers may be answered
for others, when the eyes that wept and the breast that