THE longer we live, the more we are convinced that some of Christ’s brightest jewels are hid from the world, and to a large extent even from the most of the Lord’s people with whom they associate in church fellowship. This proceeds either from a desire, on the part of such, to eschew all appearance of ostentation in the great concerns of religion, or from real, genuine modesty. But, in most cases, towards the end of their earthly pilgrimage, such unfold their mind to some in whom they have confidence. This was true of Mrs. Graham.
Mrs. Graham was born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, more than eighty years ago. Her father was a Scotchman, and her mother an Englishwoman. Her father was a God-fearing man, and, although he died when she was about four years of age, she remembered to her dying day how he trained her to pray. Her grandmother was also a godly woman, who held in her possession, as a most valuable treasure, a plait of the hair of an ancestor who shed his blood, at the times of persecution, for Christ’s crown and covenant. Her mother married again, and endeavoured to bring her children to the Episcopal Church, but the subject of our narrative could not be prevailed upon to leave the Church of her father. It appears to us that she must have been converted even at the age of four years; for we cannot conceive how one so young could have decided as she did, had she had nothing in her but unchanged nature. The fact that she remembered her father’s efforts to train her in the fear of God at so early a period of her life, goes far to prove that the impression was deeper than the bare efforts even of a godly father could effect. She continued, through her long lifetime, at every step, to prove that she could not be made to depart from the truth of God and from worship agreeable thereto, by men. That she was a godly woman, none who knew what godliness means, could doubt. Of the time or manner of her conversion, we are not in a position to offer to our readers anything but the suggestions which we have made above.
Her love to the Word of God—the paramount value she perceived in it, and how trifling earthly things appeared to her when they came into competition with it—was one of her most striking characteristics.
She came out at the Disruption in 1843, and continued right through an ardent believer in Christ’s absolute right to rule in His Church by His own Word and Spirit. When the Free Church began to depart from the Word of God and the Confession of Faith, it grieved her exceedingly. The stand made in 1893 was hailed by her with much rejoicing and thankfulness, of which mind she continued steadfast unto the end. She always asked us, “How is that little body—our poor little Church—getting on? Do you meet on your travels any appearance of the Spirit’s work among the people?” The manner in which she spoke these words revealed how deep a place in her affections the Free Presbyterian Church had, and how much she yearned after the salvation of poor sinners within our borders. But she loved her because of the stand made by her for purity and peace in the truth. She often said to us, “What will the whole world do for us if we should lose the truth? O, the precious Word in which Christ is offered to us! What could we do without Christ?” She laid hold on the Word of promise by faith, and with the most childlike simplicity placed absolute trust in it.
She was a modest, humble, and simple woman; but in prayer, her daughters wrote, “We were always struck with the depth of her expressions and well-chosen language, being full of adoration for the Redeemer.” A few days before her end came, she lay in bed with her two hands clasped, and her eyes closed. One of her daughters, unwittingly, spoke to her. She opened her eyes and said gravely, “I am in the presence of the King.” These were the last words she was able to utter.
We desire to express our deep sympathy with all her family. They have lost a godly mother; we, a very true friend. N. C.
The Life of William Huntington, S.S.—We observe from the book list of Messrs. Farncombe & Son, Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, that a life of this remarkable and God-honoured preacher of the gospel, who flourished at the beginning of the 19th century, is shortly expected to appear from the pen of Mr. Thomas Wright, Olney. This is the first formal and exhaustive life of Mr. Huntington that has yet appeared, and will be attractively got up. It ought to secure many subscribers. The price is 5/- net.