A MOTHER'S DYING CHARGE.
By S. Osborn
[The dying charge of the wife of Alexander Campbell to her family contains so many good admonitions to the young, and breathes such a noble spirit of reform, I send it to the Review for publication. S. Osborn.] “I say to you, then, with all the affection of a mother, and now about to leave you, I entreat you as you love me and your own lives, study and meditate upon the words and actions of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how kindly he has spoken to and of little children, and that there is no good thing which he will withhold from them who love him and walk uprightly.” “With regard to your father, I need only I trust tell you that in obeying him you obey God; for God has commanded you to honor him, and in honoring your father you honor Him who bade you do so. As to your conversation with one another, when it is not upon the ordinary duties of life, let it be on subjects of importance, improving to your minds. I beseech you to avoid that light, foolish, and vain conversation about dress and fashion so common among females. Neither let the subject of apparel fill your hearts nor dwell upon your tongues. You never heard me do so. Let your apparel be sober, clean, and modest, but everything vain and fantastic avoid. . . . I have often told you and instanced to you when in health the vain pursuits and unprofitable vanities of some females who have spent the prime of life in the servile pursuits of fashion. . . . And what and where are they now? Let these be as beacons to you. I therefore entreat you neither to think of, nor talk of, nor pursue, these subjects. Strive only to approve yourselves to God and to commend yourselves to the discerning, the intelligent, the pious. Seek their society; consult their taste, and make yourselves worthy of their esteem.” “But there is one thing which is necessary to all goodness, which is essential to all virtue, godliness, and happiness—I mean necessary to the daily and constant exhibition of every Christian accomplishment, and that is to keep in mind the words that Hagar uttered in her solitude, ‘Thou God seest me.’ You must know and feel, my dear children, that my affection for you and my desires for your present and future happiness cannot be surpassed by any human being. The God that made me your mother has with his own finger planted it in my breast, and his Holy Spirit has written it upon my heart. Love you, I must; feel for you, I must; and I once more say unto you, Remember these words and not the words only but the truth contained in them, ‘Thou God seest me.’ This will be a guard against a thousand follies and against every temptation. . . . I have already, and upon various occasions, suggested to you other instructions which I need not, as indeed I cannot, now repeat. . . . That we may all meet together in the heavenly kingdom is my last prayer for you, and as you desire it, remember the words of Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.”