The great subject of the soul's salvation, if presented at all, made slight
impression upon her mind and heart. The warnings and invitations of the
gospel were alike unheeded, and she lived until this period in sinful
thoughtlessness. In 1820 she found hope in the Savior, and on the 4th of
June made a public profession of religion, and in the presence of a great
congregation gave herself away to God and to his people. The solemn, awful
step she fully realized; and when she was led down into her baptismal
sepulchre, and buried there, her heart was fully given up to God. The
venerable and departed Dr. Bolles administered the ordinance, and received
her by the impressive rite of "fellowship" to the First Baptist Church in
Salem, of which he was then pastor.
At that time the missionary spirit was beginning to pervade the churches of
America and exert its holy influence upon the minds of the members. Young
Sarah Hall caught the holy enthusiasm. Just converted, fresh from the
public vows of consecration, the anxious question, "Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do?" upon her lips, she was in the exact frame of mind best
adapted to be moulded by holy zeal for a dying race.
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