But, whatever
may have been the cause of her forebodings, they were acted upon as facts:
and had she known of her death with absolute certainty, she could not have
made more temporal and spiritual preparation for it.
At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th of November, 1844, she died.
The evening previous to her death was spent in prayer with her husband and
children. Early on the night of the 26th, the long-expected and dreaded
event announced itself by the premonitory symptoms. The physician was
summoned, and the dear friends anxiously awaited the result. But nature was
unable to sustain the fearful burden imposed upon it, and gradually gave
way until the hour mentioned, when the spirit was released and all was
over.
"Vital spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, O, quit this mortal frame;
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
O, the pain, the bliss, of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life."
It was hard for the husband to give up his companion under such trying
circumstances, and harder still to have her die without the utterance of a
single expression; but who that knew her life would doubt the character of
the thoughts which crowded thick and fast upon her mind as the time of
her departure was at hand? Religion was her life; and the last words she
uttered were of high and holy import.
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