Memoir of Mary M. Ellis, wife of the Rev. William Ellis ... including notices of heathen society, of the details of missionary life, and the remarkable manifestations of divine goodness in severe and protracted affliction

Preface

In issuing the following brief memorial of the Divine goodness towards one whose career on earth, though scarcely extending beyond half the number given by the inspired writer as "the days of our years," was, in an unusual degree eventful and instructive, the author feels it due to the memory of the beloved subject of these memoirs to state, that there is every reason to believe that the records of her views and feelings, now made known, were never intended, by the writer, for an,y eye but her own; or, if in any instance her views extended iv

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beyond this, it was only to her own beloved children. That characteristic meekness and humility which was in her as general and uniform as it was sincere, led her to avoid most carefully the obtrusion of herself or her circumstances upon the notice of others, excepting when, under a sense of obligation, to testify of the Divine goodness, to aid those who were in difficulty, or endeavour to comfort those who were cast down, by the consolations wherewith she herself was comforted of God. She trembled at the thought of committing a single word to paper expressive of her religious prospects or feelings, with any reference to its being seen by others mingling with the motives under which she acted ; and there is reason to believe that she refrained, during the latter part of her illness, from preserving any account of the state of her own

PREFACE.

V mind, lest there should be even the appearance of being influenced by a consideration of which she entertained such constant fear. The only exception to the operation of this feeling, was in regard to her children; and for their instruction, encouragement, and benefit, a willingness was expressed that some testimony of the Lord's mercy should be preserved.

It was at first intended to prepare the following narrative with a view to its being confined to the members of the family bereaved by the departure of the endeared subject of its pages, but, it was afterwards considered that it embraced walks of life in which the most ample information is required, and the benefits of experience under varied circumstances, are of great importance, especially in connexion with the increasing interest now taken in u PREFACE.

the cause of Christian Missions, and that it might, with the Divine blessing, in some humble degree, promote the interests of missions abroad, and of piety at home, if more widely circulated. From these considerations it is now offered to the public, with earnest desires that the Lord may condescend to render it the means of spiritual benefit to his own people, and of encouragement in greater efforts to communicate his gospel to those who are without God and without hope in the world.

London, Sept. 18S5.

Chapter I

Introductory remarks.— Parentage and birth of Mrs. Ellis.— Death of her father.— Early religious impressions.— Her mother's death.— Benefit of early religious instructions— Conversion. — Removal from London. — Spiritual declension.— Means of its revival.— Union with the church at Silver-street.— Sabbath-school engagements.— Zeal in the cause of missions. — Means employed to ascertain the path of duty. — Self-consecration.— Importance of due consideration before engaging in the work. — Its influence on the mind in subsequent periods of life. — Marriage. — Preparations for departure v. 9

Chapter II

Peculiar encouragement to Missionaries on embarking for a foreign station. — Arrival off Madeira. — Employments at sea. — Providential mercies at Rio Janeiro. — Kindness of friends at New South Wales. — Visit to New Zealand. — Interposition of divine Providence on the island of Rapa. — Arrival at Tahiti. — Passage to Eimeo. — Reflections. — Advantage to Missionaries of the time spent at sea. — Favourable circumstance under which Mrs. Ellis entered the missionary field. — Interesting state of the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands 40

Chapter III

First voyage among the islands. — Accommodations in the new missionary station. — Privations at the commencement of her missionary life. — Difficulty in obtaining aid from the natives in domestic labours. — Arrival of missionaries from England. — Domestic afflictions. — Settlement at Huahine. — Perils in the sea. — Intercourse with the people. — Efforts for their improvement. — Superintendence of native schools.— Religious meetings with native females. — Visiting the sick. — Voyages to Raiatea. Exposure on returning to Huahine 57

Chapter IV

Visit to Borabora. — State of the people. — Unpleasant and disastrous voyage to Huahine. — Instance of conjugal affection in native society. — Merciful preservation from pirates. — Distress on account of the protracted absence of Mr. Ellis in the Sandwich Islands. — Kindness of the chiefs and people.— Return of Mr. Ellis from Hawaii. — Proposed removal to the Sandwich Islands. — Letters from the female Missionaries in the Sandwich Islands. — Advantages of union and harmony in missionary stations.— Departure from Huahine. — Welcome from the Missionaries in the Sandwich Islands. — Attention of the chief women. — Frequent illness. — Benefit of a voyage to Maui. — Departure of the king and queen of the island for England. — Refusal of a passage in L'Aigle. Kindness of the American Missionaries and the natives . . 88

Chapter V

Partial recovery.— Voyage to Maui.— Death of the king of Tauai.— Extracts from Mrs. Ellis's journal.— Feelings in the near prospect of death, of visiting England.— Native behaviour at public worship.— Reports of war. — Instance of treachery. — Last attendance at public worship in the

islands. — Increased illness. — Offer of a passage to America. A voyage

declared to afford the only hope of recovery, or alleviation of suffering. Kindness of the American Missionaries and the chiefs. — Embarkation in the Russell. — Departure from Kairua. — Beneficial effects of the voyage.— Arrival at Huahine.— Delightful intercourse with the people.— Their affection and kindness.— Departure for America . . 127

CONTENTS.

Chapter VI

Visit to Rurutu and Raivavai.— Beneficial effect of a cooler atmosphere. — Painful occurrence to one of her children. — Favourable passage round Cape Horn. — Meeting with homeward-bound ships. — Arrival in America. — Kindness of friends at New Bedford. — Removal to Boston.

Cordial and affectionate reception from christian friends. — Medical attention. — Alarming illness. — Removal to Dorchester. — Parting memorials. — Journeyto New York. — Voyage to England. — Arrival in London. — Partial recovery. — Painful return of her illness. — Its depressing effect. — Happy confidence in her Saviour. — Extracts from her diary. — Her prayers to be kept from repining. — Communications to her friends. — Anxiety on behalf of her children. — Manifestations 01 deep humility. — Constant endeavour to shew forth the goodness and mercy of the Saviour p. 148

Chapter VII

Enjoyment of visits from Christian friends. — Extracts from Mrs. Ellis's correspondence. — Feelings in the prospect of speedy dissolution. — Extreme and agonizing sufferings. — Anticipations of heaven. — Remarks on the wretchedness of those who defer attention to religion till a time of sickness. — Preciousness of the promises of scripture. — Peculiar spiritual enjoyments. — Sense of the presence and love of Christ. — Benefit of the sufferings of Christians to survivors. — Absorbing influence of the love of God. — Danger of neglecting to seek the blessing of salvation in health. — Gratitude for ability to read the Holy Scriptures. — The severest sufferings of" the Christian preferable to the joys of the irreligious. — Assurance of hope, 172

CHAFTER VIII.

Reviving hopes of Mrs. Ellis's recovery in the spring of 1827. — Visit from, beloved relatives. — Journeyto Lincoln. — Successful medical treatment.

Gratifying and progressive amendment of health. — Attendance on the

public ordinances of religion. — Journey to Sheffield. — Hopes of returning to the Missionary field. — Visit to Gloucestershire. — Painful and distressing illness. — Extracts from her correspondence. — Beneficial effect of a change of residence. — Recovery in the spring of 1829. — Pleasure in again beholding the beauties of nature in the rich and varied scenery of the country. — Departure of two of her daughters for Ireland. — Her tender and anxious solicitude for the spiritual welfare of her children.

Continued recovery. — Journey to London. — Enjoyment in attending

public religious services at the annual meetings in May. — Meeting with Christian friends 194

Chapter IX

A residence by the sea-side recommended to Mrs. Ellis. — Visit to Brighton.— Injurious and painful effects of the journey. Kindness of her medical attendant and friends. — Alarming and distressing illness. — Seeming near approach of death.— Views and feelings in relation to

eternity. Partial recovery. — Return to London. — Remarkable and

gracious support under circumstances of unusual suffering.— Strength of maternal solicitude for the spiritual welfare of her children.— Extracts of letters to her daughters.— Abounding gratitude for domestic enjoyments.— Extracts of letters from the South Sea Islands.— Last letters to her daughters.— Seeming amendment.— Sudden appearance of alarming symptoms.— Insensibility.— Death.— Interment . . 222

MEMOIR,

Chapter I

Introductory remarks. — Parentage and birth of Mrs. Ellis. — Death of her father. — Early religious impressions. — Her mother's death. — Benefit of early religious instructions. — Conversion. — Removal from London. — Spiritual declension. — Means of its revival. — Union with the church at Silver-street. — Sabbath-school engagements. — Zeal in the cause of missions. — Means employed to ascertain the path of duty. — Self-consecration. — Importance of due consideration before engaging in the work. — Its influence on the mind in subsequent periods of life. — Marriage. — Preparations for departure.

The disciples of Christ on earth and the redeemed in heaven are all related to one another. They compose but one family, and have one common home, in which all will ultimately meet. Death only consummates the union of Christians with each other, as well as with their glorified Lord. This sacred union, which is commenced on earth, excites and perpetuates in believers here a deep and affectionate concern for each other ; so that " whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." The Christian's anticipations of felicity in heaven are also heightened

B by the endearing relation in which he stands to those who already participate its joys, and shall be his companions in its blessedness through eternity ; while the ties thus indissolubly binding believers on earth to those who have travelled before them the journey of life, impart to the annals of their pilgrimage an attractiveness and value which are only surpassed by the instructive biographies of the Bible.

The records of Divine goodness, as exemplified in the attainments, labours, consolations, and support of those who through faith and jmtience inherit the promises, will continue to interest believers of succeeding ages, as every individual who, even until the Lord come, shall be spiritually united to the Saviour, will be as truly a member of the Christian family as those who have been associated on earth, or are companions in heaven : all will make but one entire family, "the whole family in heaven and in earth." Besides the favourable attention winch affection and sympathy secure for memorials of the pious dead, regarded as kindred in Christ, faithful accounts of eminent Christians are on other grounds held in high and general esteem. They supply illustrations of the ceaseless care and abounding goodness of the Most High, which yield to the Christian a holy satisfaction, and often inspire the feeble and timid with vigour and hope, while they encourage those who are cast down by existing trials, or dismayed by prospective danger. The decisive evidence which these memorials often furnish of the maturity to which, even in the present ungenial clime, the fruits of the Spirit may be brought, stimulate many to cultivate with increasing care, and more ardently to desire high attainments in " whatsoever

MRS. ELLIS.

1 1 things are lovely and of good report." The object of the believer's constant pursuit, an eminent degree of Christian excellence, is thus exhibited, adorned with its strongest attractions ; and the choicest patterns of the workmanship of the Divine Spirit are thus set forth in all the distinctness and reality of actual life, while the plainest guides for their successfid imitation are furnished in the most instructive forms. The buddings of piety in many a youthful heart have been quickened to greater loveliness of blossom, and abounding in fruitfulness, by the charming records of juvenile devotedness to the Saviour, already in the possession of the church, and justly numbered with its choicest treasures.

Among the narratives to which the circumstances of the disciples of Christ in different ages of the world have given ample variety, the lives of the eminently pious and benevolent have invariably proved the most acceptable and useful ; and in modern times few biographies have exerted a more general and salutary influence than those of individuals whose lives have been consecrated to the service of Christ among the heathen. The full amount of benefit that has resulted to the church and to the world, from the delineations that have been given of pure and elevated feeling, and stern integrity of principle, in the trials and labours of Brainard, and Elliot, and Swartz, and Martyn, and Ward, and others, will never be fully known in the present world.

Nor have the subjects of female biography, in the same self-denying walk of usefulness, been less acceptable and valuable. The faith and benevolence of many have been increased by the perusal of such lives

B 2 as those of Mrs. Graham, Mrs. Huntingdon, and others; while He who is the hearer and answerer of prayer, alone knows how many yearnings of soul and aspirations of heart have been excited on behalf of the world lying in the wicked one ; and how many parents who loved their children as dearly as their own lives, have given them up to the cause of Christ; from the considerations which the memorials of faithful missionaries have produced. And to Him alone is known what cheerful consecrations of youth and talent, in all the exuberance of health and vigour, have been made, what bright scenes of earthly felicity have been relinquished, and what sacrifices of life itself in all its prime have been offered to his cause ; and in how many instances the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad in consequence of the perusal of the lives of Harriet Newell, Mrs. Judson, and others who have been honoured to be their companions or successors " in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ."

The felicity of pure and happy spirits before the throne is complete, and though there may be degrees in their happiness varying with their faculties, or meetness for the enjoyments of the celestial world, " as one star differeth from another star in glory," the happiness of every one rises immeasurably above the loftiest imaginings of the human mind in its present imperfect state. In kind, as well as in degree, it may, by Him who is the foundation of all blessings, be also varied in the medium through which it flows in upon the soul, and the means by which advancing knowledge of the Divine perfections will produce accumulating blessedness; and when that which is perfect is come, and when "that which is in part shall be done away,

MRS. ELLIS.

it will be known, and not till then, how much of the fulness of heavenly joy, which all the redeemed shall share, is derived from a knowledge of the instances in which, instrumentally, saving mercy has been exercised, and heirs of glory have been benefited, by the records preserved in the church, of Divine mercy towards those who were specially honoured in serving their Redeemer in their day and generation.

In the hope of promoting the interests of piety among the young, and of contributing, in some feeble degree, to the edification of the people of God, adding to the stores of information already possessed by the church on the practical details of missionary life in a remote but interesting field, and of preserving a humble memorial of the Divine goodness towards one who was honoured to labour and suffer in the Saviour's cause, the following pages are offered to the public. They contain an outline of the chief events in the life of one who, though " her sun is gone down while it was yet day," it departed not under a cloud, but amidst splendours as mild yet as radiant as those which attend the closing of the brightest day. The course they describe was comparatively short, but marked by varied and impressive incidents, while the great end of life, a meetness for another and a better state of being, was attained in an eminent degree. The pleasing instances which this narrative affords of the happy and decisive effects of maternal instruction on the infant mind, even in its tenderest age, and the results by which it continued to be followed long after the mother's voice had been . silent in the grave, will encourage Christian parents in their affectionate endeavours and their prayers for the spiritual benefit of their dearest earthly treasures. The growth of piety in subsequent life, amidst the scenes of novelty which distant lands, and the varying aspects which society in an unformed state, present, the tender solicitudes of domestic life, and the urgent and often conflicting claims of domestic and public duties, exhibit with great distinctness the worth of correct principles in the formation of character, and the conduct of life. The test to which these principles were afterwards brought during a season of affliction unusually protracted and severe, manifests also their importance and influence in those arrangements of Divine mercy, whereby trials, otherwise overwhelming, are to the Christian only light afflictions, that issue in "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Though the decisive benefits of piety are not hereditary, yet it is an unspeakable advantage to be descended from pious ancestors. More than ordinary resistance must be made to the voice of conscience before the descendants of such can forsake paths of rectitude ; the fragrance of their memory augments the incitements to piety, and the convictions of their blessedness adds to the attractions of heaven. These advantages it was the privilege of the subject of these memoirs to enjoy, and seldom have they been productive of happier effects. Her father, Mr. Alexander Moor, was bora near Perth in Scotland, and was the child of pious parents. The Rev. Joseph Hart, (who, according to the narrative he has published, was " bom of believing parents,") the minister of Jewin-street Chapel, and author of a volume of excellent devotional hymns, was her maternal grandfather; her mother, Mary Mercy, being his youngest daughter. Her parents

MRS. ELLIS.

had not only descended from Christian ancestors, but were themselves eminently pious.

Mrs. Ellis was bom in St. Mary's Hill, London, on the 16th of October, 1793;* and at her baptism, which was administered by the esteemed minister of the church assembling in the King's Weigh House, where her parents attended, she received her mother's name, Mary Mercy. She was early cast in a peculiar manner on the care of Divine providence, being, by the death of her affectionate parent, left a fatherless infant before she was three months old.

Her widowed mother was spared to her for a longer period; and as the opening faculties of her infant mind quickened all a mother's solicitudes on her behalf, it was the uniform endeavour of this estimable parent to direct her thoughts to Christ, and the blessings of his love. From infancy almost she was habituated to the service of the Christian sanctuaiy ; and on one occasion, before she had completed her fifth year, she accompanied her beloved mother to the place of worship, when the minister, who had been ill, was unexpectedly enabled to dispense instruction to his flock. On returning, she observed to her mother, Mr. T. has preached himself, mamma, to-day. No, Mary, was the reply, Mr. T. did not preach himself, he preached Christ. This led the daughter to inquire what preaching Christ was ; and the affectionate, plain, and instructive declaration of the way of salvation by Christ, which her mother made in reply, produced an impression on the mind of the youthful inquirer that was never forgotten. Many other endeavours of this

* On a comparison of dates, it appears that Mrs. Ellis was only six days younger than Mrs. Harriet Newell.

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excellent woman to implant and cherish the seeds of piety in the heart of her affectionate child were gratefully remembered by the latter, who ever regarded the tender solicitude of her mother for her spiritual benefit, as one of her richest earthly blessings.

Mrs. Ellis gave early indications of unusual powers of memory, which it was the aim of her judicious parent to improve and exercise, and store with portions of the holy Scriptures and hymns. When six years old, she received a book as a present from her mother, with a request that as many hymns as possible should be committed to memory; and 150 of those in her grandfather's volume, besides an entire collection amounting to nearly sixty in number, entitled the Walworth Hymns, were soon after learned.

But she was not favoured long to enjoy her mother's attention and example. After sustaining for some weeks the violence of a fever, which at times produced frantic delirium, this truly excellent woman died in the 1'aith, leaving to the care of a gracious Providence two dear children, a beloved daughter, who had not completed her eighth year, and an only son two years older. Short, however, as had been the period during which Mrs. Ellis shared a mother's love and care, she was deeply sensible of the strength of that love, and the value of that attention ; and the sentiments expressed, the prayers offered, and the encouragement given, even on the bed of death, were productive of the happiest results. The last time her mother saw her while reason held its seat, and which was but a few days before her death, addressing her child, she said, " Mary, don't weep for me, I am going to glory ; we shall not long be separated; we shall meet again soon."

MRS. ELLIS.

These and similar declarations made an impression on the daughter's affectionate and susceptible heart, that was never obliterated amidst all the strange and varied scenes of her future life ; and, tender as was her age, there is reason to believe that the Spirit of God was even then gradually operating on her mind, as she ever considered herself indebted to the Divine blessing on her mother's instructions for her first decisive religious impressions.

These impressions were in Divine mercy deepened by the prayers of ministers and other pious friends, who visited her mother during her illness ; by the funeral sermon that was preached on the occasion of her death, and by the kind attention of the minister and friends who met in the house on the evening after the funeral, to condole^with the survivors in their loss, and to unite in supplication at the footstool of mercy, that the death of the parent might be made the means of spiritual life to the children and friends.

Thus early in life had Mrs. Ellis been called to suffer losses that could never be repaired in the present world ; but she was rich in the guardianship of Him who is the Father of the fatherless, and the orphan's stay, and she had been taken, before her mother's removal, by a valuable Christian friend, a lady, who still survives. This friend kept a boarding-school, and by affectionate solicitude and attention generously endeavoured to supply the loss her ward had sustained.

Mrs. Ellis now attended the means of religious improvement at Silver-street Chapel ; and although, before the death of her mother, she had not been a stranger to strong convictions on the subject of her personal salvation, it was not until the evening of Whit- Monday, in the year 1804, while the Rev. E.J. Jones, minister of the place, was preaching a sermon to young people, from the words, " I love them that love me," &c, that the Holy Spirit enforced on her mind the necessity of deciding for eternity, and constrained her to make an entire surrender of herself to the Saviour. The whole service appears to have been peculiarly impressive. The reading of the first hymn,

" Sinners, the voice of God regard, His. mercy speaks to-day,"

produced unusual seriousness of mind, as did also the second ; and during the sermon she felt the attractions of divine love so powerfully, as to excite a desire to abandon every consideration that had liitherto induced her to put off an application to Christ till a more convenient season. She had never prayed in secret, but, urged by strong desire, and encouraged by an account which had been given in the sennon, of a youth who, when he first attempted, could only say, " Lord, teach me to pray," but who afterwards became an eminent minister of the gospel, Mrs. Ellis, before she retired to rest that night, bowed before her heavenly Father in prayer, and found a liberty and a pleasure in the same, that rendered her afterwards unwilling to allow it to be interrupted or prevented.

The religious services which had thus by the Divine blessing been the means of spiritual benefit to her own mind, and in which the Saviour, as she had reason to hope, by the constraining influence of his love, had drawn her to himself, were designed to prepare for the formation of a Sunday-school in connexion with Silver-street Chapel ; and in that school, which cum-

MRS. ELLIS.

menced on the 14th of September 1804, Mrs. Ellis, then in the eleventh year of her age, being a pupil in a boarding-school very near, became one of the earliest scholars. Others of those who entered at the opening of the school, and during its first years, became in subsequent life useful servants in the church of Christ, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. J. J. Freeman, formerly pastor of the church and congregation at Kidderminster, and now an able and devoted missionary in Madagascar: Mr. Freeman entered the boy's school on the same day that Mrs. Ellis entered that of her own sex.

Besides the ordinary advantages of the school, the subject of this memoir derived much benefit from the Bible class to which she belonged, and in which her intelligent and estimable teacher explained, in the most familiar manner, portions of the Holy Scripture, and endeavoured to enforce the truth on the minds and consciences of her pupils.

While her heart was by these and other means brought gradually under the influence of the truth, her thirst after knowledge, (not that which puffeth up, but that which maketh wise unto salvation,) and the hallowed enjoyment by which at this early age its acquisition was attended, stimulated to the tasking of her memory, naturally retentive, to an extent far beyond what many would have considered the utmost limit of its ability. She spared no effort to enrich it with ample stores of that word, the entrance of which giveth light and giveth understanding, while it furnishes aids to devotion, and excitements to holy love.

Many are the evidences which were given of industry at this period of her history. Among these may be mentioned a public examination in 1 806 of the Sunday-school in which she was a pupil. On that occasion, so correct and satisfactory was the account which ( though unexpectedly called upon) Mrs. Ellis gave of the sermon preached in the forenoon of the day, that she was offered her choice of the most valuable rewards, a number of handsomely bound Bibles. She chose the smallest, regarded it as her most valuable earthly treasure, studied it with assiduity and delight during the leisure of the day, and slept with it under her pillow at night.

The leisure of the day was insufficient to satisfy her ardent desire for accpiaintance with the contents of this precious book ; and at this early age she was accustomed to rise before her companions in the school, for the purpose of reading and meditating on its sacred truths ; seeking mental and spiritual refreshment by drawing her morning draught from this fountain of health and vigour, and storing her mind with those excellent hymns which set forth the glories of the Saviour, or aid the aspirations of devotion.

Twelve months afterwards, 1807, at another public examination of the school, such was the account which she gave of the sermon which had been preached in the forenoon, that a lady, a stranger, who was a spectator, sent her the next day a pocket-book containing a portrait of the preacher, and the following beautiful evening hymn : —

The morn is past, the noontide hour,

And the declining sun, Obedient to creative power,

His steady course has run.

MRS. ELLIS.

Perhaps no more on earth to rise,

At least to shine on me, This closing night may close my eyes

To all eternity.

Reflect, my soul, the days and years,

The hours of dark account, Trifling pursuits and fruitless cares,

To what do they amount.

Lord, I have erred, teach me to mourn,

To drop the contrite tear; To Thee, sweet source of peace return,

And find forgiveness there.

Thy mercies still thou dost impart,

With every added day, Above the rest, 0 give a heart

Its tribute still to pay.

Jesus, whose favour more I prize

Than all beneath the sky, Say I am thine — it shall suffice,

And I can smile and die.