The following extract shows the anguish of Mrs. Graham's mind in
parting with her son, and how she cast him upon the covenant mercy of
her God, placing a blank, as to temporal things, in her Lord's hand,
but holding on with a fervent faith and hope to the promise of
spiritual life.


"NEW YORK, May 20, 1791.

"This day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he is
again launched on the ocean, God's ocean. The Lord saved him from
shipwreck, brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to indulge
the yearning of my heart over him. Short has been the time he has been
with me, and ill have I improved it: he is gone from my sight, and my
heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord, have mercy on the widow's
son--'the only son of his mother, and she a widow,'

"I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my
petition--save his soul alive; give him salvation from sin. It is not
the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships he
must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in this
world: it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the promise in
him. I discern not the new birth nor its fruits, but every symptom of
captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will. This, O this is what
distresses me: and in connection with this, his being shut out from
ordinances, at a distance from Christians; and shut up with those who
forget God, profane his name, and break his Sabbaths.

"O Lord, many wonders hast thou shown me; thy ways of dealing