The Christian maiden

Front matter

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Chapter I

Object of the Work — Miss Hessel's Mental and Moral Features — Local and Domestic Influences — Melton-Mowhray — At a Boarding-school in Leeds — Reminiscences of her School-days by a Fellow-pupil — Death of her eldest Sister — Noble Purposes Page 11

CHAPTER IL

At Bnrton-on-Trent — Lichfield Cathedral — Illness — Visits Scarborough — Removal of the Family to Boston Spa — Death of her Father — Winters in the Isle of Wight — Scenery at Ventnor — Carisbrook Castle and its intellectual Donkey — The Church of St. Lawrence — The Grave of the Dairyman's Daughter — A Word to scrawling Correspondents — London — Works of Fiction — A consolatory Thought for those bereaved of pious Friends — Further Eeminiscences by a Friend. .... 25

Chapter III

Anxious for the Enjoyment of Eeligion — Experiences a clear Sense of God's pardoning Love — The Hinderances to the earlier Experience of this Blessing — Eemarks on the Importance to the Young of a Religious Training 54

CHAPTER IY.

Spiritual Experience — The Eight View of Trials — The Sadness caused by a Review of a Misspent Life — The Colosseum in London — Marriage of her Brother — Life of Mrs. Sherman —

\ , CONTENTS.

Visits Bristol — Chatterton — "The Ocean" — Young's Night Thoughts — Bazar at Boston Spa — Mrs. Stowe — Thoughts suggested by a Eainbow — Humiliating Acknowledgements — ■ Thankfulness — Intellectual Pride — The Seventh Vial — Moral Evil — The Importance of spending Life well Page 71

Chapter V

Doubts the Wisdom of recording her Eeligious Emotions — Samuel Taylor Coleridge — Communion with Nature — Thoughts in a Cemetery — Cheever's Voices of Nature — Goethe — The Battle of Life — John Poster — Thoughts on Heaven — Life of Mrs. Judson — Charlotte Elizabeth — A Sonnet — An Invocation. . . 112

Chapter VI

One of the remarkable Features of the Bible — J. B. Gough — Valuable Lessons learned from Annoyances — Longfellow — -Misinterpretations of Providence — Southey's Life of Cowper — Alexander Smith's Life Drama — John Howe's Eemark on Pantheism — Nature an Educational Agent— The Ministering Angel 144

Chapter VII

Life of Dr. Chalmers — Eev. Gervase Smith — Bazar at Eccleshill — Her Model of a Woman — How hidden Strength is brought out — An Incident turned to good Account — An interesting Italian — Phases of Inner Life — The Employments of Heaven

— War — Perils of her early Mental History — Female Authors

— A Spiritual Anodyne — Nearness to Christ— Talfourd's Me ■ morials of Charles Lamb — An affectionate Appeal to an unconverted Friend , . . 165

Chapter VIII

A social Piotnre — Coleridge's Aids to Eeflection — Martin's Last Judgment and other Paintings — Letter to a Friend on reaching his Majority — National Sins — Coleridge's Ancient Mariner —

CONTEXTS. . 9

Eeason, Faith, and Unbelief — Bigg's Night and the Soul — On the Condition of Disembodied Spirits — Death of her Uncle Campbell — Kev. B. Gregory — Joy amid Sorrow — Dr. Channing — Gay Parties — Vinet's Gospel Studies Page 194

Chapter IX

Thoughts on her Sainted Brother — Her Views of Duty not coincident with those of some of her Friends — Increasing Love for the Bible — Thomas Carlyle — The Duty of Christians in relation to the morally degraded — Counsels to a recent Convert — A valuable Sentiment from Coleridge — A Soliloquy — A Scrap of Mental History — The Eclipse of Faith — Spiritual Egotism — Happy Toil — Illness of her Cousin at Howden — Another Scrap of Mental History — Her Cousin's Death — Life under a New Phase — Visit to Congleton — Dr. Kitto — The Leper '. 228

Chapter X

Her Views on a Vital Christian Doctrine temporarily unsettled — The Benefit to be secured from the Little Things of Daily Life

— Christian Liberty — The triple Nobility of Nature, Culture, and Faith — Importance of an Habitual Eecognition of God —

. John Sterling — Her Brother's Decision to embark for Australia

— Glimpses of the Grand Possibilities of our Being — Departure of her Brother — The Duty of cultivating a Thankful Spirit — The Privileges supplied by Trials — Emerson's English Traits

— The Jehovah- Angel — American Writers of Fiction — Scanty Aids for Self-Improvement 270

CHAPTER XL

A valuable Eemark of Perthes' — The Study of the Bible — The Intermediate State — Spiritual Experiences — Failing Health — Life of Hewitson — Will there be Error in Heaven — No Disgrace in Industry — The Preciousness of the Simple Truths of the Gospel in Sickness — The Duration of Future Punishment

— Eeligion a Priceless Treasure — Visits Bradford, Birkenshaw, and Scarborough — Application of a Precious Promise — A Eemarkable Manifestation — A Dreadful §torm — A Praver. . . 298

10 CONTENTS.

Chapter XII

Woman's Influence — Hints on the Ideal of a True Woman — Animadversions on the Prevalent Training of Young Women — Miss Hessel's increasing Debility — Last Letters to her Friends — Self-Reproach — Miss S. E.'s Interviews — Spiritual Experiences — Death Page S31

MEMORIALS OF ELIZA HESSEL.

Chapter I

Object of the Work — Miss Hessel's mental and moral Features — Local and domestic Influences — Melton-Mow bray — At a Boarding-school in Leeds — Keminiscences of her School-days by a Fellow-pupil — Death of her eldest Sister — Noble Purposes.

The writer first became acquainted with the subject of this memoir in November 1838. The occasion was one of mournful interest. Death had invaded her father's house, and smitten the first-born — her beloved and highly-gifted brother John. She was then but nine years old, having been born on April 10th, 1829. Circumstances prevented the renewal of acquaintance till the summer of 1855. The girl had now become a tall, well-proportioned woman. Her features identified her as the sister of his lamented friend, and it required little intercourse to satisfy him that there were other than physical resemblances. An elevation of sentiment, a refinement of taste, and a copiousness of choice language, distinguished her. To these were added a charming frankness. Rumor had pronounced her gifted, but personal acquaintance convinced him "the half had not been told."

The intercourse thus renewed was not likely speedily to terminate. In the following spring she resided for nearly four weeks under his roof, and thus opportunity was afforded for intimate acquaintance. His first impressions were amply confirmed. Amiability, disinterestedness, generosity, and artlessness were eminently conspicuous, and her aptitude for domestic duties indicated the just views she entertained of their relation to social comfort.

The design of this book, however, is not to erect a monument to the departed, much less to magnify her virtues, but to furnish such a record of her character, aspirations, and attainments, as may animate our daughters to aspire to excellences which will qualify them to adorn and bless the world. Miss Hessel's chief excellences were such as lie within the reach of all. She owed much, doubtless, to original endowment, but more to self-culture. Few educated persons were less indebted to preceptors. In common with most young people she was the subject of foolish notions and injudicious habits. Happily, as she approached womanhood, she discovered and endeavored to remedy them. Soliciting divine assistance, she resolutely determined to attain the nobility of a true woman, and she succeeded. It would have required a sagacity more than ordinary to discern the woman of five and twenty in the girl of fifteen.

The man of science can analyze the ingredients entering into the composition of a plant, but where is the moral chemist who shall tell us all that has contributed to the formation of any human character?

YOUTHFUL CHARACTEPaSTICS. 13

Facts are not wanting, however, to enable us to form a sufficiently accurate estimate of the influences operating upon Miss Hessel's youth, and the peculiarities of her mental and moral nature.

Her reflective powers were early developed. Often might she have been seen wandering in the neighboring lane wrapt in deep thought. What could those bright objects be above which we called stars'? How . could the Almighty always have existed ? Why was evil permitted, and why, in particular, were so many vexations allowed to cross her path? How could the permission of such facts accord with infinite benevolence? These were some of the questions which taxed and troubled that young brain. As a natural consequence she eagerly thirsted after knowledge. Unfortunately she had access to but few suitable books. Had she been supplied at this period with a literature adapted to her requirements, the growth of her powers would no doubt have been materially promoted. A large social as well as personal benefit would be conferred, if those who have interesting and instructive books lying useless on their shelves would send them on a temporary visit to young persons similarly circumstanced to Eliza Hessel.

Inquisitiveness was associated with intense susceptibility. The sigh of the storm she regarded as celestial music. As her slender form staggered under its violence, she would exultingly repeat:

" ! I love the winds when they spurn control, For they suit my own bond-hating soul ; I like to hear them sweeping past, Like the eagle's pinions, free and fast;

But a pang will rise with sad alloy, To soften my spring and sink my joy, When I think how dismal their voices must be To a mother who hath a child at sea 1"

It cannot surprise us that her broodings often stirred the profoundest depths of her soul. Judge of a girl of sixteen pacing the long garden walks in the cold moonlight, sitting down on the ground, and clasping her hands, uttering in a voice of such passionate earnestness as even startled herself: "I would gladly die this moment to solve that problem." That girl could be no cipher in the world. She could be no mere unit. For good or evil, she was destined to exert considerable influence.

Her love for poetry, for flowers, for everything beautiful in nature or in art, amounted to a passion.

Of course the books she read left deep traces on her mind. With a retentive memory, and a vivid imagination, she became almost a reflection of the writers she loved. It was easy, at that period, to discover her literary companionships.

One illustration of her high spirit is well remembered. She was a pupil, and not beyond her eighth year. In the master's temporary absence one day some occurrence had transpired which kindled his displeasure. He deemed Eliza's younger sister to be chief culprit, and ordered her into the " naughty corner." Eliza, knowing her sister's innocence, rose from her seat, marched boldly forth, brought away the victim, and with defiant majesty exclaimed: "My sister shall not be put into the corner." Acquiescence, however unmagisterial, was deemed prudent.

YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES. 15

Her sensitive nature could not fail, under ordinary circumstances, to secure exquisite enjoyment; neither could it fail to induce occasional despondency. She was no exception to the doctrine set forth in Burns's well-known lines:

" Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure, Thrill with deepest notes of woe."

A glance at that pale countenance was enough to satisfy any intelligent observer that the activity of the brain was morbid. For many nights in succession sleep refused its visit for hours after her retirement. Instead of acting as a check to the pernicious practice of late study, this unhappily promoted it. Eapid growth contributed to physical debility, and caused her to suffer much from tiodouloureux at one period, while the remedy employed was almost as mischievous as the disease, from the nervous irritability which it caused. As a natural consequence many occurrences, domestic and providential, wore a chilling and gloomy aspect. Mentioning, later in life, some unwelcome experiences of which she was then the subject, she says to Mrs. W. :

"All this may seem very strange to you, but it would not if you could read my mental history ; if you knew what formed and educated my childhood — the utter want of companionship I experienced — the delicate and sickly form, which for many years was the tabernacle of a shrinking, sensitive spirit, whose aliment was the sublime but mysterious images of revelation, the allegories of Bunyan, and such poetry and fiction as came in its path. I spoke of want of companionship ; but mine was with the deep woods, or beside a lonely pond under a large ash tree, whose music, as the wind swept it, I can now recall ; shunned by and shunning those of my own age, whose kindness was almost as offensive to me as their ridicule or contempt. At an age when most children are reveling in the sunshine of their own joyous natures, I was revolving in my unnaturally excited and fevered mind such themes as the existence of God, the strange enigma of my own being and destiny, and sometimes, I could weep to remember it, whispering in the depths of my dark heart, ' There is no God.' And when the fearful lie was returned to me I added, * But he cannot be just and good, or he would not see me suffering and oppressed without avenging me.' "

It must be confessed that her parents had an onerous charge. And yet it was a highly interesting one. One of the most interesting spectacles on earth is that of a mind in a state like hers — full of deep questionings and lofty aspirations — eager after truth, but unwilling to accept it without scrutiny. Should not such minds excite our deep sympathy ? Should not their inquiries be judiciously excited, rather than frowningly repressed ? Should not we, who are parents, encourage our children to confide to us the strange perplexing thoughts which often haunt them, but which they shrink from disclosing? Who can estimate the number of melancholy moral wrecks occasioned by the chilling repulses with which sincere, though adventurous, inquirers have been met] I do not wonder that immediately after the paragraph

LOCAL INFLUENCES. ■ 17

just quoted, Miss Hessel should have added : " Since I have grown up I had always an interne sympathy with Byron's childhood." It makes one almost tremble to think what might have been the issue had she been similarly treated. It is not without solicitude one asks : What will the issue be 1 Shall those mental and moral materials be one day formed into a noble structure, or shall they become a misshapen and repulsive mass 1 Hope pronounces favorably, and faith indorses the reply.

The circumstances amid which she was placed were on the whole highly favorable. Retirement was essential to the right formation of her character. Catterton, her birthplace, furnished it. It is a small hamlet, lying at the distance of three miles north of Tadcaster, consisting of ten or tw r elve houses, four of which were occupied by laborers. The society of such a place presented nothing of peril to her nature. Additional stimulus to her social powers would undoubtedly have been beneficial, physically and mentally. Many an hour of gloom would have been exchanged for sunshine. But the evil of town-residence to most young persons is, that the social faculties are stimulated to excess. Hence, the dissipation and frivolity which so generally prevail, and which cannot be sufficiently lamented. Would she not, however, in the event of such a residence, have been spared those perplexing doubts, that long mental disquietude 1 Probably she would, but the benefit of that may be justly doubted. The discipline through which she passed every person must more or less experience who would have a faith alike intelligent and firm. Truly is it said by the biographer of the late Rev. John Smith : " No one was ever distinguished, except by successful engagement with difficulty." Anything that would have prevented her from prosecuting those inquiries would have been a calamity rather than a benefit. The doubts and perplexities of a truth-seeker are the stimulants wisely provided to increase mental vigor as well as secure joyous and abiding satisfaction. Had Miss Hess el resided in a town she would have been the life of many a gay circle, but would not have been the well-informed and useful woman she became.

Powerful as are the influences of society in moulding youthful character, those operating silently and unconsciously in the domestic circle are still more so. What, then, was the moral atmosphere she breathed at home? One fact will be a sufficient answer. The whole five children, two sons and three daughters, became truly pious. Both the sons were called to the Christian ministry. The elder went down to his grave at twenty-four, lamented by many, to some of whom he had been a blesssing ; and the survivor, the Rev. William Hessel, is at present occupying one of the most important positions in the Wesley an Church in Australia.

Her father, Benjamin Hessel, was a man of strong mind and sterling moral excellence, a worthy descendant of ancestors who had occupied a farm at Althorp, in the neighborhood of Howden, for about five hundred years. Her mother, Hannah Hessel, was a genuine Christian, born of parents who bravely shared the reproach which assailed the early Meth

DOMESTIC INFLUENCES. 19

odists. To her pious example and fervent prayers all her children feel an incalculable obligation. Their youthful hearts were drawn to seek the Lord in a voluntary gathering for prayer on a Sunday afternoon. From her infancy Miss Hessel was the subject of the strivings of the Spirit. " Happy parents," some mother may be prompted to exclaim, " to possess such children." " Happy children," with no less appropriateness it may be said, " to possess such a mother."

In August, ] 842, an interesting domestic occurrence transpired, which exercised a potent influence on Miss Hessel. Her eldest sister, Mary Ann, became the wife of the Eev. Thomas Brum well, a Wesley an minister. To her great joy it was arranged that she should spend a few months with the wedded pair at Melton-Mowbray. She now fairly entered upon social life, and her open-heartedness, and rapidly unfolding mental powers, won for her warm attachments. Besides the books in the possession of her friends, many of which w 7 ere new to her, of course she had access to her brother's library, and the famishing man does not devour his food with greater eagerness than that with which many of them were devoured. Neither the quantity nor the quality of her reading, however, was judicious. She had soon great reason to regret having spurned the good counsel she was offered.

The following extract is inserted in the hope that some juvenile readers may profit by her experience. On reviewing this period, only three years subsequently, she says : " I have sat poring over works of history, and more frequently of fiction, till my aching 2 eyeballs have refused their office; the solemn tones of the midnight bell, and occasionally the light chimes of the third hour of morning have warned me to my little couch, while strange visions of enchanted castles, rocking images, ominous sounds, and wild apparitions, have disturbed my feverish repose, and unfitted me for the active duties of life. 0! these are painful reminiscences"

She remained at Melton-Mowbray about ten months, and after having benefited by the educational advantages Tadcaster afforded, entered a boarding-school at Leeds in January 1845. This constituted an interesting and important era in her history.

At the Miss Binders' establishment Eliza was brought into contact with several kindred spirits. With one of them a correspondence was afterward commenced, which was sustained to the close of life. More than a hundred and fifty letters were exchanged, and to some of these this volume will owe a large portion of whatever interest or value it may possess.

At the biographers request that lady has kindly recorded her recollections of her friend. The portion which relates to Eliza's school-days at Leeds shall be here supplied: "My acquaintance with my beloved friend commenced when she was about fifteen. I remember distinctly the morning she ' was introduced into the school-room. Little did I then think what an influence the new comer would acquire over my own mind and heart. She was shy and reserved at first, but susceptible of any advance toward friendliness, and eager to reciprocate the least kindness. It

REMINISCENCES BY A FRIEND. 21

was not long before her position among us became clearly defined. Being one of the tallest girls, a degree of freedom was at once awarded her, but her mind soon asserted a superior claim. She was a most earnest and successful student, and it became a privilege to be admitted into her little coterie of inquirers after knowledge. At her suggestion, three or four of us rose at five o'clock every morning, and met in the library to read. The books chosen were generally such as aided in our after studies. Sometimes they yielded more pleasure than profit, but the recollection of those morning meetings is very pleasant. During our walks,- too, we read together; or, when books were forbidden, Eliza was never at a loss for some topic of discussion. A flower, or an insect, often supplied us with a theme. Anything in nature called forth her deepest sympathies, and made her eloquent. She has told me what a wild delight she used to feel, when a mere child, amid the scenes of nature, rambling at her own sweet will for hours together, with no companions but the bee and butterfly. This love of the beautiful became more intense as she grew older, and you will not wonder that she had also a decided tinge of the romantic at this time. Her young muse sung of deeds of daring and the achievements of fame. She bowed at the shrine of genius, and made it almost her god. But afterward, when she had consecrated her tastes and talents to her Saviour, they took a higher mould. Wherever beauty was, she saw the loving impress of her heavenly Father. Genius seemed to her but an emanation from the Eternal mind; and, instead of exhausting her sympathies on imaginary woes, she began right earnestly to search out, and try to alleviate, the actual sufferings around her.

"But to return to her school-days. Her studies were a great pleasure to her. She had a right ambition to excel, not outshine; and all agreed that the commendation given her was her due. As her mind developed, and the field of knowledge opened before her, she has often told me of undefined longings to grasp all — a feeling of impatience with the slow process of acquisition — a feeling that the inlets to the mind were inadequate to satisfy her mental thirst. Her compositions were both easy and graceful, unlike the usually crabbed style of a school-girl. When our monthly budget w T as opened, and our anonymous maiden efforts read, you might see a smile of recognition pass around the school-room, as Eliza's pieces betrayed their authorship at once.

None were more gay and frolicsome. She entered w r ith zest into our merriest fun, indeed, was often the promoter of it. She had an under current of genial humor, and a quickness of repartee that never failed her.

"As to her religious thoughts and feelings at this time I know little. I was not then admitted into her confidence. Her seniority caused a distance between us as school-girls which was entirely forgotten in our after friendship. But from her own confession she was then a formalist, attending to the ritual of worship, but lacking the Shekinah in the inner temple. Her religious training had familiarized the Scriptures to her, and she unwittingly acquired a habit, which

AN IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNED. 23

she often afterward deplored, of quoting Scripture in common parlance, almost, if not quite, irreverently — a pernicious habit, alas ! too common."

It does not surprise us that Eliza should have been thus regarded by her schoolmates, nor that she should have rapidly improved, when we learn with what views she entered^ upon her duties — privileges, they ought rather to be designated. In an early letter to the friend whose reminiscences have just been furnished, she says : " I w T ill tell you, dear Sarah, what were my reflections the first day I was at school. In the evening I sat down and asked myself, 'What have I learned to-day]' The answer my heart gave somewhat startled me. It was this: 'I have to-day learned the most important lesson I ever did learn, that is, that I know nothing at all.' It was not the impulse of the moment; it was the result of calm, deliberate thought. I really felt as though I had been living for nothing. There appeared such a wide field of knowledge before me, that, as it opened on my view, I started and exclaimed: 'Why did I never know this before? I have long enough thought I possessed as much knowledge as most people of my age and station, but now I find that everything I have learned is like nothing compared with what I yet have to learn.' "

While Miss Hessel was basking under sunny influences at Leeds, a dark cloud was gathering on the domestic horizon. Consumption had seized her sister, Mrs. Brumwell, and she came to Catterton for the benefit of native air. Fatal symptoms, alas ! were rapidly developed, and of course the pupil was summoned to the dying bed. In the composure and joy experienced by her sister, she saw the wondrous power and blessedness of religion. "Victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb," were the words with which that much-loved relative winged her way to a happier clime on May ^24. She had appealed powerfully to Eliza to follow her to heaven, and obtained a promise to that effect. A stronger element of seriousness henceforth imbued her character.

Such were the mental and moral features Eliza Hessel exhibited in youth, and such were the general influences that moulded those features into the form it is the object of this volume to portray.

This brief half-year completed her scholastic privileges. She was now sixteen, and it was deemed needful she should enter upon the practical duties of life. She had no notion, however, of her education terminating with her attendance at the school. In the letter just quoted from she says: "I am endeavoring, in this rural retreat, to gain something every day. Though it be a little only, it is better than nothing, or, what is still worse, retrograding. l Onward ' is my watchword, and ' Nothing is denied to well-directed diligence' is my motto." Noble girl ! with such views and purposes, could she do otherwise than succeed?

AT BURTOX-ON-TRENT. 25

Chapter II

At Burton-on-Trent — Lichfield Cathedral — Illness — Visits Scarborough — Eemoval of the Family to Boston Spa — Death of her Father — Winters in the Isle of Wight — Scenery at Ventnor — Carisbrook Castle and its intellectual Donkey — The Church of St. Lawrence — The Grave ,of the Dairyman's Daughter — A Word to scrawling Correspondents — London — Works of Fiction — A consolatory Thought for those bereaved of pious Friends — Further Reminiscences by a Friend.

Her brother-in-law was left in charge of an interesting legacy. Two motherless boys, one only seven months old, and the other but two years, required no small care. Young as Miss Hessel was, however, it was deemed desirable to commit them to her trust. He now resided at Burton-on-Trent, and thither, therefore, early in 1846, she repaired. With commendable assiduity, and an efficiency surpassing expectation, she entered on her new engagements. Though she had made no secret of her repugnance to domestic duties, the dawnings of " a horror of undomesticated literary women" were already felt. A desire to excel in this as in other departments was soon manifested, and, as in most previously untried things, she had an almost intuitive perception of the right course to be pursued.

Shortly after entering her new sphere she wisely yielded to the promptings of her nature, and gave a " form and substance " to her thoughts by commencing a journal, which she continued for some time,

Fully concurring, however, in the opinion of the late venerated Dawson of Barnbow, that " diaries in general are of little worth except for personal use in private, and will only admit of brief extracts for publication," and that " a man is best seen in his unstudied letters to his friends," the writer will thus chiefly exhibit her. The first entry is worth extracting as an interesting mental exhibition of a girl under seventeen.

"March 24, 1846. This evening I had a delightful walk with Mr. B. to Stapenhill, and returning along by the fields, we crossed the Trent in a boat. I shall not easily forget the impression made on my mind by that lovely scene. There was the boatman's cottage almost buried among trees. Along the bank of the Trent on one side were trees and bushes overhanging the water, and you might fancy they were forever contemplating their own image in the stream. Behind them was a sort of precipice, the top being many, many feet high. From its almost perpendicular sides jutted forth large masses of craggy rock and stones, giving to the scene a peculiarly wild and striking appearance. Higher up the stream was a beautiful little island, round which the waters wind gracefully. Still higher might be seen the antiquelooking bridge, furnishing a curious and interesting specimen of architecture in the year 1621. Beneath its arches were a few swans bathing their snowlike plumage, and forming a striking contrast to the dark dirty-looking arches which served as their canopy. Behind me were two hills crowned with tall poplars. Every object seemed just bursting into life, All na-