MISS D. BATGER. From childhood she attended the preaching of the word, but, as she since expressed herself, without feeling the power of the same, often resolving to go home and pray over what she had heard, frequently committing to writing heads of discourses, &c; but, to use her own words, "It all proved like the wind passing over." Yet, like Mary of old, she pondered those things in her heart. June 1, 1802, her elder sister and brother went purposely into the room to inform her of the danger of her state, it being the opinion of the physician that her recovery was impossible. She seemed at first surprized, and expressed a hope of getting better. When asked respecting her views, supposing it should prove otherwise, she said, I am afraid I am unprepared; I am a vile sinner, my heart is so exceedingly hard.” Her brother mentioned to her several promises: that "Christ came into the world to save sinners:"-" to seek and to save them that were lost:" and many others. She heard with great attention, and appeared much affected. Afterwards, she requested him to pray by her; which he did. His soul was led to wrestle hard that the Lord would, by his Spirit, convince her of sia, and lead her to Jesus Christ for pardon, peace, and for salvation. At night she said to him, "I bless the Lord for inclining you to speak to me; I wanted you to converse with me, but I was afraid of opening my mind: the promises you mentioned in the morning have much impressed me. I have been trying to pray, but I cannot, my heart is so hard." On the 2d, she addressed him as follows: "I am glad, my dear brother, you are come again. I have thought much upon what you said to me yesterday: I hope I have been enabled to pray a little: I feel my mind somewhat comfortable. Now talk to me again. I have desired my dear mother not to let any person up but those who can speak to me about Jesus." A little time afterwards, he told her Mr. Parker was below, and asked her if she would see him? She replied, "I am afraid I cannot speak to him." He endeavoured to encourage her; and she consented She complained to him of the hardness of her heart: "I am afraid," she said, "the Lord will not hear my prayers." He reasoned much with her upon the fulness and freeness of the gospel, and prayed with her. Not long afterwards, her rather and sisters heard her wrestling hard with the Lord for the pardon of sin, for a renewed heart, for love to Christ, &c. repeating, with great earnestness, that very expressive verse: "Mercy, good Lord, mercy I ask," &c. Shortly after, she said, "Now I am happy; the sweet promises you mentioned, my dear brother, have been much on my mind, but I could not lay hold on them. A little while ago, when I had the hiccups (which were attended with cold shivering fits) I was afraid I should sink into endless misery; but the promises have been brought home to my soul; they came upon my mind like the light that shone around Saul. Now I am better, I feel no pain; come and read to me." In the evening Mr. Bryan visited her; to whom she said, "I am very well, and very happy." He spoke to her on the parable of the Prodigal Son.. She replied, "It is very sweet; I found much comfort this afternoon, in hearing my dear brother read the 14th of John: if you please, read it to me." He then prayed with her. Το To Miss Radford she said, "I shall soon be at home; the Lord is very precious to me. I shall soon see Jesus, and know him. Shall I know my dear friends" Being answered in the affirmative, turning again to Miss Radford, she said, "What a joyful and unexpected pleasure will it be to your dear father, and my dear brother Octavius, to see me arrive safe in Heaven!" Pausing a little, she said, "When the bell tolls for me, some will be surprized, and say, Poor thing! I saw her in health the other day;' but I shall then be perfectly happy." After many pious observations to those around her, she said, turning to her brother, "Dear brother, pray with me once more before I depart;"-when, praying she might have an easy and happy dismission, she laid her hand upon his, saying, "Stop, dear brother, pray with submission to the Lord's will.” After expressing her dying love to all her friends, mentioning them nearly all by name, expressing her desires towards them, according as she thought was the state of their souls, she lay composed and comfortable, often saying, "I long to go." Wishing her to take something to wet her mouth, she at first refused, adding, "I shall soon be dry no more," A little after, she repeated the Lord's Prayer, making some sweet remark almost on every petition. “Oh how sweet," she observed, "was dear Mr. Bennet upon that part, Thy will be done!" and added, My dear sister there enjoyed it, though I did not think much of it at that time; but now I feel it." About five o'clock, on the 3d, it pleased the Lord to revive her a little. To Mrs. M. she said, "I rejoice to see you! - I am happy!-I have a good hope! I thought I should have gone home last night, but it was the will of the Lord; and his will, his precious will be done." At nine o'clock, she requested a friend to be sent for, whom she so much wished to see in the night. Upon her coming, she thus addressed her :-"I am happy to see you! I am waiting to be gone. On her answering, I hope you will get better.' She re plied, "I do not desire it: I am better, because I am happy. I am going to Heaven, there to meet all my dear friends; I have no wish to stay: it is not my trouble, but my gain to die. I shall soon see Jesus face to face; I cannot distrust my God, I cannot, I cannot. What a happiness to know the Lord! if you once know him, you will never forget him; and he will never forget you. I only knew him, or was brought to the enjoyment of him yesterday. Oh for a thousand tongues, to tell the wonders of his love!" "A few more rolling suns, at most, Mr. Bryan saying, 'Do you think ministers ever speak enough about Christ ? She replied, “Oh no; that they do not !" She observed to him, "What an awful description Mr. Boston (in his Four-fold State) gives of Hell! but what a mercy I shall not be there!" She then asked for a Hymn - book, and selected suitable hymns, which she wished to be sung at the improvement of het death. Afterwards the physician coming in, endeavoured to per suade her she was better, and to take her medicine. She answered, "I want no more medicine; I am better; I shall soon be well. He replied, I don't understand you.' She answered, “I know you you do not, Sir. I mean, I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." When leaving the room, the apothecary turning round, observed, How serene her countenance was!' When gone, she said to her mother, "He knows not what it is makes me look so serene."-To Mr. Parker: "I am waiting, I hope with patience, the will of my Lord. I long to be gone!"→ Mr. Parker said, "The Lord hath done great things for you.' She replied, "A great work in a little time; he hath opened my blind eyes to see the beauties of Jesus: I am happy! happy! happy! I knew not these enjoyments till yesterday morning; the Lord taught my dear brother and sister how to speak to me, and blessed the word to my soul" &c. He observed to her, If the Lord were to say to you, Will you come to Heaven, and be with me? or live and enjoy the pleasures of this world? would you stay? She answered, "No; never, never, never!" At parting, "It will not be long before we meet again. What a happy meeting we shall have with all our dear friends that are gone before!" On the 4th, Friday morning, after she had experienced a temporary suspension of comfort, through the suggestions of the enemy, Mr. Parker went up to see her about four o'clock. She said to him, "The Lord hath strengthened me, though I am now rather dark; he is a covenant keeping God; I trust him; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."on after this, she cried out with great earnestness, "Why are thy chariot-wheels so long in coming?". At six o'clock, to M, Parker, "I am comfortable; the Lord hath appeared for me: Christian had many fears when he came to Jordan's streams; but yet he got safely through." In the course of the morning, among other things, she remarked, that Mr. Bennet often observed, "What precious book the Bible was; but I could see no beauty in : but now I see its beauty, and feel its preciousness." In the course of the afternoon and evening she rambled much; but we could easily perceive by her language that her thoughts were in Heaven. About nine, Mr. Bryan calling, spent a few minutes in prayer. She fixed her eyes on him just as he was concluding, and said, Sir, you have forgot something." He asked her, What? She replied; " To pray for the forgiveness of my sins. Now read to me a chapter." He read the rst epistle of John, chap. i. About ten o'clock she said, as if in language of challenge, Satan, Satan, I am going to my God," repeating it three times. About eleven, she was much engaged in prayer; but her voice failing her, her friends could only understand, "Dear Saviour, give me strength! my Jesus still, my Jesus still, my Jesus still, forget me not, forget me not, forget me not now! leave me not, but let me come to reign with thee! to sing thy praises and hallelujahs for ever and ever, amen, amen, amen, and amen!" These were the last words could be distinguished; but frequently, with a smile in her countenance, closing her hands, and lifting them upwards, expressive of the happy state of her mind, she appeared to be free from pain, excepting convulsions at intervals, till about four o'clock, on Saturday morning, June 5th, when, without a groan or sigh, or the least motion, she sweetly fell asleep in the arms of her precious Jesus, at the age of eighteen. St. George's, East. VOL. X. 3 Y RELIGIOUS RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. MISSIONARY SOCIETY. We are persuaded that it will give Pleasure to our Readers to pe. ruse the following Letter from the Danish Tract Society; by which it will appear, that the Spirit of God is exciting the same activity among Christians in different Parts of the World, to propagate his Truth by the same eligible Means. To the Directors of the Religious Tract Society. Haarslew, near Boguese, in Fuhnen, Sept. 30, 1802: Reverend and dearly beloved Brethren, YOUR Address to the Religious Public in Germany, has been transmitted to us by our dear brother Steinkopff; and we have been informed thereby of the plan of your Society, and the aim of your excitions, namely, the spreading of edifying publications among the common people; and you justly consider this as the easiest, cheapest, most efficacious, and most universally applicable means, to benefit mankind: you wish, therefore, not only to stimulate others by your example, in order to produce similar institutions in other countries, but you express also a desire to establish a corre spondence, by means of which you might receive intelligence concerning greater or smaller endeavours of a similar nature in foreign countries, which may have been produced by the Spirit of God. Now, although what we have hitherto done in this matter is of very little consideration, compared with what you have effected; yet we feel ourselves stirred up anew by your zeal and activity, not to remain entirely behind hand in whatever we, on our part, are able to effect, through the grace of our Lord, for his honour and for the salvation of our fellow-men. It is well known to the Directors of the London Missionary Society, with whom we hold an agreeable correspondence, that our small society arose about three years ago, and since that time has continually increased, so that now the number of the members is about forty, who are dispersed throughout Denmark and Norway. The design of our union from the beginning was, to promote the spreading of the Gospel and true Christianity. The most successful means for promoting this end, has hitherto been likewise with us the dispersing of edifying tracts. We are the more persuaded that we thereby render an essential service to the public, since, for a long time past, scarcely any writings for edification, on truly evangelical principles, have made their appearance; on the contrary, a variety of neological and anti-christian principles have been spread abroad, by various books and pamphlets. We must confess, that we have found more approbation, and a larger sale for these our small tracts, than we could expect; and this encourages us to proceed in the same way. Besides our Evangelical Magazine, a periodical publica tion which appears once a quarter, we have printed six or seven small pieces; and we are about to publish more. In the beginning, we printed only 500 copies; but since, by the increase of our society, incre ways having been found for dispersing such writings, we have enlarged the editions to 2000, and even 5000 copies; and yet some of them have been reprinted. These small tracts are partly originals, partly t 2 partly translations. For instance, we have lately translated into the Danish an excellent small tract, entitled, "A Collection of Scrip ture Texts, with short Annotations, for attentive Children;" of which we printed 5000 copies, which are so eagerly sought after, that, in a few months time, none will be left. Such tracts are now dispersed in many, and even distant parts of the country, through the members of our society and their acquaintances; and there are do deur, in various parts, especially in the country, many who esteem → word of God, and like to read something for edification, if they knew how to obtain it. As we believe that we can be ot the Pot service to the common people, we take particular pains, in all our pui licanons, to declare the truths of salvation with as much simphe.ty, cleanses, and affection, as possible, and to represent these truths in a variety of ways; sometimes in narrations, sometimes in dialogues, and so on. We likewise endeavour to accommodate our selves as much as possible to the taste of the people and of the times, as far as that taste is harmless :-Thus, as it is the fashion to publish a variety of tracts under the title of New Year's Gifts, we published, last year, a small pamphlet, with the title, "A New Year' Gift for Christians." We have likewise observed, that publications, containing short meditations and prayers for every day in the week, or in the year, suit the taste of the people; and as, in the resent day, the Spirit of God seems to aim at bringing the true lovers of Christ among all parties nearer together, to unite their hearts by the bonds of brotherly love, and to pull down the wall of partition, which was raised by particular opinions and modes of expression in matters of inferior moment, we therefore endeavour to avoid, in our writings, all those opinions and modes of expression which are peculiar to this or the other party of Christians, and to speak plain Bible language; seeking to gain followers, not for inen, but for our Saviour, and des.ring to be one spirit and one soul with all true followers of Christ in all denominations For the rest, we study brevity in all our writings, and make a point of it, that no publication intended for the common people, exceed two or, atmost, three sheets; and that it be given to thein either gratis or at a very small price. On these principles our writings are conducted; and all of them are first examined by some brethren, appointed for that purpose, previously to their being printed. You may learn, from a letter of our Brother F. C. Boessen, to the English Missionary Society, the particulars of our labours; he will send, at the same time, a copy of each tract to this Society. We had already transJated an historical account of the English Tract Society, out of a recent publication, and were going to insert it into our Magazine before we received your letter. This translation is similar, in its contents, to what you have written to us. We have no doubt but this narrative will excite attention, and stir up many a friend of evangelical truth to support such institutions. But, in regard to a public invitation to join our society, some of our members are of the opinion, that it is, as yet, premature. However, the members of our society both contribute themselves and make collections among their friends; and, since the design of our society has been made known in our Evangelical Magazine, the contributions from strangers have so increased, that we have thereby been enabled to afford a large number of tracts either gratis, or at a very low price. If, as we trust, our sphere of action should be enlarged, and the general 3 X 2 opinion |