* From Lives of Pious Youths by John Brown, late Minister of the Gospel at Haddington.
CHRISTIAN KER laboured under a wasting bodily distemper from the sixth year of her age. She had a wise and acute natural judgment. Her religious education, by instruction, counsel and example, and her continued trouble, which made her apprehend the vanity of earthly things, and abandon the love of them, were blessed of God to render her remarkably pious. About fourteen months before her death, for five or six weeks she was under great fear and dread of the wrath of God. One night about eleven o’clock she called one that was in the room, and finding that there were none else present, she said, “This hath been a strange day to me. It hath been a day of many doubts and fears, but the Lord hath delivered me out of them all; and I know that He will make me happy.” Her friends hinted to her that she had need to be very wary, as frequently Satan strives to make people sit down on a false hope, where there is no ground of peace; and asked her what had comforted her. Was it that God was merciful, and she trusted to that? Or was it that Christ had died formerly, and she trusted to that? Or had she been enabled to lay hold upon any Scripture promise? The child cried out, “It is that! It is that! He hath said, That whosoever cometh to Him, He will in no wise cast out. And I am sure I have done that; and I will trust Him; I will ever trust Him.” After this she was never known to be under any inward terror.
Two of her near relations being present with her at Edinburgh in the end of January, 1702, she cried out to one of them, “Oh! were it not for the hope of heaven, I could not bear this trouble.” Her friend replying, that heaven would make her amends for all: to which she replied, “Yea; there are no sores there. It may be at death there will be pain, but that will soon be over. There are two places of Scripture very comfortable to me. The one is, ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven’ (Mark x. 14). The other is, ‘In the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God’ (Psalm xl. 8). After which words, she cried out, “O to think how willing Christ was to die for sinners!”
On the 31st January she was seized with sickness and perceived that her death approached near. The Lord in a more remarkable manner manifested Himself to her to the discernment of all that saw her. She appeared altogether ravished with the love of Christ. Ten thousand worlds seemed to her, in comparison of Him, as nothing. Her heart was lifted up in the contemplation of the heavenly mansions, where she would get a crown on her head and a new song in her mouth. How affectionate were her commendations of Christ, from her own sensible experience of His glory, power, and grace! Seeing her mother looking at her, she cried out, “Oh, mother, mother! I am going to get Christ. I now hope in Him. He will not leave me. I have given myself to Him. He will not forsake me now. I am going to embrace him. He will meet me. O rejoice and be glad with me. I am going to get a glorious crown—a crown of many pardons.” Her father coming to her, she entreated him also to rejoice, and said, “You would rejoice if I were healed of my bodily trouble, and would love that person who had healed me. But should not we love Christ more that will heal my soul and take me to Himself and make me for ever happy? I do not desire to live in this world. If you could give me the whole universe I would rather die than live. Christ hath died for me. Christ is better to me than all the world. I trust to the merits of Christ. Upon the cross He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, having said, ‘It is finished.’ At the repetition of which words she seemed to exult and triumph.
Mr. G. A., coming to visit her the next day, asked her how she was, she replied, “I am not well, but I will be well.” Being asked if she was content to die; she said, “Yes.” Being asked where her hope was, and what she had done that made her believe that Christ died for her, she replied that all her hope was in the merits of Christ, who had died for her, and that she knew she deserved damnation instead of salvation, but He is a good as well as a just God. “I have given myself away to Him, and He hath said whosoever cometh to Him He will in no wise cast out.” That same day, taking her brother R. by the hand, she said, “My dear R., seek the Lord; love Christ; give yourself away to Him, and He will keep you. Although you should have many enemies against you, the Lord will preserve you; and as sure as your hand is in mine, you will find Him if you seek Him. I am going to get a crown of glory to my head and a song of praises in my mouth.” To her sister M., she said, “My dear M., seek the Lord; give yourself away to Him, and He will be found of you. Give yourself away once, twice, thrice to Him, and you will surely get Him. It is true, if you try this way, Satan will be your enemy, as he hath been mine for some time, and taken the thought out of my heart when I had praying words in my mouth. But that is nothing; seek God and He will defeat Satan. See that you pray yourself, and cause K. pray; for she is so young that I need not speak to her. And what shall I say of J? I even leave him upon God. Read the Scriptures much. My long trouble hath hindered me from reading as much as I would, but I bless God that I have found much good of the Bible.”
Next evening she took her mother by the hand and said, “Dear mother, do not grieve for me, but rejoice with me in my joy. Though I have great trouble on my body, it is not so great as you think. It is from the Lord, and I will bear it. He will support me; His everlasting arms will bear me up. You perhaps sometimes see a tear in my eye, but do not think that it is either pain or fear that occasions it. No; it is rather joy. Dear mother, remember that I was but lent to you. I know that when you borrow any thing you are as willing to give it back again as you were to borrow it. And will you be unwilling to give me back to God, who lent me to you? If the Lord should take all the rest of your children from you would you grudge if he made as good account of them as He is now making of me? Do not therefore grieve or weep. As for me, I will not weep one tear. I can leave father and mother and all the world for Christ.” She then desired her mother not to look much upon her when dying lest she should be troubled at it. “The Lord,” said she, “will be with me; His rod and staff will comfort me.” Overhearing her mother say to some in the room, “O such a child and comrade she hath been!” she replied, “Oh! mother, God will make up the want of me to you; take Him for your comrade. Oftentimes I have diverted you by speaking of worldly things, but God will converse with you of things concerning your soul. I hope to meet with you and with my father in heaven, for I hope He is your God and my father’s God; and that He will be my brethren and sister’s God. Be not grieved for our parting a little now, for I hope we will all meet again; and O what a glorious meeting it will be when we shall all meet in heaven!” Her mother begged her to be still a while and rest herself as she had exhausted her spirits by speaking so much, when her body was so very weak. She replied, “It doth me no hurt. It is not my weak body that is speaking: it is the Spirit of God that supports my weak spirit to speak.” She often, under ravishments of joy and love, cried out, “I see Him coming, leaping over the mountains and skipping over the hills of my sins! He is breaking down the partition walls that I have raised!”
Mr. J. L. coming to visit her, asked her how she was. She answered, “I hope I am going to Christ. He will not leave me. I trust in Him: He is coming now.” Being asked if she was willing to die, “Yes,” said she, “I am willing that in life or in death the Lord do with me what He pleaseth if He but make me His, which I hope He will do, for He is a good God. He will bear me up. I hope Christ is pleading with me for my Father. He will be with me when I go through the dark valley of the shadow of death, and His rod and staff will comfort me. And I will get a glorious crown of many pardons.” Mr. L. said, “You must have many sins since you need so many pardons.” “Yes,” said she, “I have had many sins, many black scores of them; but there is a pardon at every score. And I will hope in Him that He will not leave me.” Being asked if she used to pray, she replied, “Yes, and I bless God have had many sweet returns of prayer.” Being asked what she called returns of prayer, she answered, “That which I prayed for to myself, and that which others prayed for to me, is now all returned me.” Being afterwards asked by one of her intimates, “What were some of those returns of prayer?” she replied, “I prayed that God would give me the saving knowledge of Himself, and I hope He hath done it. I know that others prayed for me, that whatever He did with me He would work a saving change upon me, and that, if it were His will, I might be made to declare the great things which He had done for my soul. And hath He not done it?”
That same day Mr. J. W., another minister of Edinburgh, coming to visit her, asked how she was and what she was doing, she answered, “I am going to Christ. I will meet, I will embrace Him. He hath died for me. I will get a crown of glory on my head and a song of praise in my mouth. This is but a troublesome world. I have had little or nothing but trouble in it. Christ is better than a thousand worlds.” He asked her what she thought of sin. She replied that she thought it an ill thing and that she deserved damnation on account of it; and acknowledged that her neglect of prayer sometimes and her playing on the Sabbath Day had been matters of great grief to her, and that the terrors of God had sometimes lain very heavy upon her when she wanted Him. After she had lain an hour, as if she had been fast asleep, she cried out in a transport that she thought she saw the glories of heaven, and began to represent them, but stopped when an unknown person entered the room. Her discourse with Mr. G. H. and W. C., ministers of Edinburgh, was also very savoury, which made Mr. H. say that he thought God had called him thither to be edified by the child and to wish that an Atheist were present to behold this proof of God’s existence and power; and Mr. C. to say that he saw nothing they could do but thank God on her behalf, who had perfected praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.
After she had given her brother R. some further advices to seek the Lord, she said to her father, “Oh! shall I not love Christ? Shall I not love Him who hath taken away my hard heart and given me an heart of flesh to tremble at His word?” To her mother she said, “Oh, mother, I will get Christ; I will get Him! I will get Him!” Her mother desired the servant to lift her softly to bed. “Yes,” said she; “lift me, and within a little Christ shall lift me to glory.” On the morrow forenoon, February 4th, she died in the eleventh year of her age.