III.


The Modern Dorcas


"The night cometh when no man can work."--JOHN, ix.

Oh! my sister! my sister! What a lesson may we learn from the death
of our dear Amelia! She was but sixteen years old like myself, and
only two years older than you are, but how much had she done for the
Lord. I saw and heard her, when Jesus came to call her to himself; I
was in the churchyard when they placed her body in the grave! Oh!
what a solemn warning! and now I feel humbled before God, and I pray
Him to pour into my heart the same Spirit which He bestowed so
abundantly upon our friend, as well as that lively faith, which
although Amelia 'is dead, yet speaketh,' as it is said of Abel, and
which shall speak through her for many years to come!

I wrote to you less than a fortnight ago, that Amelia was unwell;
but how little I then thought it was her last illness! Oh! how
uncertain our life is, dear Esther, and how much wiser we should be
if we would only believe so!

On the seventh day of her illness, her mother said to me, "Anna,
your friend is going to leave us; the danger of her disorder
increases every hour, and we must give her up to God!"

I wept much and bitterly, and could not at first believe it; but