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CHAP. XII.

THE SUICIDE MOTHER PRESERVED.
(An Authentic Narrative.)

And thou, sad sufferer under nameless ill,
That yields not to the touch of human skill,
Improve the kind occasion, understand
A Father's frown, and kiss his chastening hand.
To thee the day-spring, and the blaze of noon,
The purple evening, and resplendent moon-
The stars that, sprinkled o'er the vault of night,
Seem drops descending in a shower of light-
Shine not, or undesired and hated shine,
Seen through the medium of a cloud like thine.
Yet seek Him; in his favour life is found,
All bliss beside a shadow or a sound;

Then Heav'n, eclipsed so long, and this dull earth,
Shall seem to start into a second birth;

Nature, assuming a more lovely face,
Borrowing a beauty from the works of grace,
Shall be despis'd and overlook'd no more,
Shall fill thee with delights unfelt before;
Impart to things inanimate a voice,

And bid her mountains and her hills rejoice;
The sound shall run along the winding vales,
And thou enjoy an Eden, ere it fails.'

The Judgment and Mercy of God exhibited in his Dispensations-Mrs. D. -'s Letters to the Author-The Circumstances of her throwing herself into the New River detailed-Restoration by the Humane Society-Mental Agitation-Penitence-Instructive Lessons to those who decline from the Ways of Religion.

THERE cannot overtake us a sorer judgment than to be permitted to pursue the evil ways which our hearts have chosen without check or control. When men have long despised instruction and refused reproof, then God may be provoked to say to them, as to Ephraim of old, to idols; let him alone.' ous, and a merciful God.

Ephraim is joined

God is a just, a righte

'He willeth not the

death of a sinner;' but that the sinner turn from his evil way, and live. He, therefore, is pleased to give repeated warnings, to humble us with chastisements, to soften us with mercies, to entreat us by his Gospel; but, if all fail of effect, then 'he hides himself from us in wrath;' and the consequence is, that, without his restraining grace, 'we go on frowardly in the way of our heart.'* when God thus leaves any one to his own depraved will and his hasty passions, what may be apprehended but the worst excesses? All this has been true in the case of thousands in all ages; and the day of judgment will disclose the history of thou

Isa. lvii. 17, 18.

And,

sands who have thus insulted Omnipotence and outraged Divine patience, who will reap the wretched fruit of their own doings,' and 'lie down in sorrow.'

The following authentic narrative will exemplify these remarks, and exhibit the triumph of mercy over judgment, to the praise and glory of the grace of God; and I pray it may suggest a lesson of comfort to the troubled, and of admonition to the negligent.

The sermon preached on the providential deliverance of Mr. Furneaux from suicide, amongst other effects, produced the following letter:

'Rev. Sir,

'Nov. 23, 1821, Clerkenwell.

'Having been guilty of the dreadful crime of attempting to take away my own life, by throwing myself in the New River, and God having, in mercy, snatched me from the jaws of perdition, I desire to return my sincere thanks to Almighty God for his great and boundless mercy in sparing me to my husband and children. I wish, Reverend Sir, that you would preach a sermon in the parish church on this awful crime, to warn all to walk in the fear of the Lord, and to inform them of the goodness of God, who stretched out his Almighty arm, and snatched me from the deep. In a few hours, when I came to my senses, what were the horrors of my

conscience? All was hell within and horror without; but God granted me a penitent heart, and then I fled to the throne of grace. The Father of mercies heard my prayer, brought me up from the pit, restored ine to my numerous family, and made me a monument of his mercy. May all who hear of my crimes and horrors beware of provoking God to anger! and may all who are wives and mothers think of the bitter reproach I felt when I perceived my weeping husband and six beloved children standing around my apparently lifeless frame, lamenting that one who should have lived to comfort them had basely deserted them, and left them to the wide and pitiless world! May God keep and protect me, and give me a grateful heart for his unbounded mercy!

In consequence of this letter I made a personal call on Mrs. D. I found her in a neat habitation, of a respectable appearance, and surrounded with a family of six children, most of whom were grown up, and two of them upwards of twentyone. She was much affected at the occasion of

my visit, and her children sympathized with her in her feelings. She did not on this occasion relate all the particulars. She promised shortly to call on me, and give me a full account of the circumstances in a private interview. She made good her promise in a few days; and, after stating that her feelings would not allow her to enlarge upon particulars before her family, or to hurt their minds by the recital, she was ready, she said, now to relate the tale of sorrow circumstantially. 'Was it trouble or dejection of mind,' I said, which prompted you to the dreadful deed? No,' she said; 'let me not cloak my sin, and thereby add to my guilt,'

She then proceeded in nearly the following words, which I took down in short hand as she spoke :

'I had a brother, a sensible man, but not always master of himself when the temptation of liquor was before him. He prevailed upon me one afternoon to accompany him in a walk. I left at four, but, contrary to my intention, did not return till eight o'clock. In the mean while my husband returned, and, finding that my eldest daughter was absent, he remained to take care of my little family, and, upon my entering the house, upbraided me with my neglect. The severity of his expressions