FALLEN ASLEEP by I. G. Camp

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 7, 1868

FALLEN ASLEEP.

By I. G. Camp

ANOTHER of the readers of the Instructor has fallen asleep. Our dear Ellen died the third day of November. She had been out of health for more than a year, but as we did not feel able to send her to the Health Institute, we tried many remedies, but to no avail; she continued to run down till, as the last resort, we sent her to the Health Institute at Battle Creek, little expecting that she could be helped. But I am very thankful for an Institute where the spiritual, as well as the bodily wants of the patients are looked after, and cared and labored for. Our dear Ellen, I think, had for some time felt that she wanted an evidence of sins forgiven, and of her acceptance with the Lord, but did not see her way clear till she went to the Institute. There, through the influence and labors of kind friends whom I shall ever hold in very grateful remembrance, she was led to feel that her sins were forgiven, and that Jesus was her Saviour. She was baptized by Bro. Loughborough. She came home with her heart filled with love. In about two weeks after she came home she was confined to the bed, after which she lived and suffered about six weeks. She was very patient through all her suffering. Almost every night she would kiss her dear cousin, who took the tenderest care of her, and thank her for taking such good care of her through the day. And as the neighbors were very kind and attentive to all of our wants, she wished us to thank them all for her. She talked freely about dying, and gave directions about her things. One day as I sat by her, she looked up at me, and looked for some time, and I asked her what she was thinking about. She replied, I was thinking I could not see you but a little longer. But I hope to meet you in the kingdom. Said she, “I do n't want you to cry, mother, when I am gone.” I said, You know, Ellen, we have lived together a long time very pleasantly, and I shall miss you very much. “I know it,” she said, “but you wont cry any more than you can help, will you?” I told her I would try to look to the Lord for comfort, and get ready to meet her in the kingdom. She talked with all her brothers and sisters, asked them to forgive all that she had said or done that was wrong, and to prepare to meet her in Heaven. She frequently said she thought time to be very short. I asked her if she thought she should come up in the first resurrection; she said, “Yes I do. Do you think I shall?” I said, Yes, I think you will. Said I, You love the Lord, you love his people, and you love his truth. She said, “I do.” She said to her little brother that she wanted him to read the Instructor; said she, “I have read them all through ever since I was a little girl.”

About three o'clock the day that she died, there was an evident change came over her, and I asked her if she thought she was dying; she said, “I don't know; do you think I am?” I said, We think you may be. Immediately her countenance lighted up, and she said, “I do rejoice; I wish I could express what I feel.” She said to the children, “Don't cry.” She thought they had more reason to rejoice. She felt it would be so sweet to rest. She wanted them to prepare to die as happy as she was dying. The hymn selected by her elder sister, and sung at her funeral, was a very appropriate one:

“Sister thou wast mild and lovely, Gentle as the summer breeze; Pleasant as the air of evening, When it floats among the trees.”

I. G. CAMP.

An apology is due to the writer of the above. It came too late for the number of the Instructor for which it was designed, and was laid aside to be published in the Review, but was lost sight of till very recently. Ed.