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THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE,

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

FOR AUGUST, 1838.

MEMOIR

OF

THE LATE MRS. LOCKWOOD,

OF BATAVIA.

SARAH SOPHIA LOCKWOOD, daughter of the Rev. W. H. Medhurst, was born on the 16th of November, 1819, at Malacca, in the East Indies. At the time of her birth the cholera prevailed in that settlement, and numbers were carried off daily by that destructive malady. Gloom and terror reigned all around, and God's judgments being abroad in the earth, the inhabitants of the world were called upon to learn righteousness. On the very day when the subject of this memoir was dedicated to the Lord in baptism, her dear father was attacked by that fell disease, and had to retire from the house of God to a sick bed; but the Lord in mercy blessed the means used, and heard the prayers offered up for his recovery, or his daughter would have been left, at that early period, to struggle with the ills of life, a helpless and friendless orphan. The following year, the family removed to the island of Pinang, and the year after to Batavia, where the subject of this memoir continued to the day of her death. It is unnecessary to trace the deeds and sayings of childhood and youth; suffice it to say, that the disposition constantly manifested by little Sarah, was mild and amiable, obedient to her parents, attentive to her instructors, and gentle to all. Being the oldest surviving child

VOL. XVI.

in the family, and brought up at a missionary station, with few companions of her own age, sex, and nation, she was compelled to associate, for the most part, with her elders and betters, and to mix with those more advanced in knowledge and religion, so that she attained a maturity of wisdom and experience above her years, and beyond what is usually gained by young persons mixing more freely with the elastic and buoyant spirits of our youthful circles at home. The deficiencies of her education, as it regards scholastic instruction, were thus made up by the advantages of association, while the frequent exhibitions of eminent piety, amiable sweetness, and devoted faithfulness of the missionary brethren and sisters, who lived and died at the station, tended not a little to show our young friend the value of religion, and both to point and lead the way to glory and to God. At the early age of thirteen, Miss Medhurst began to render herself useful by teaching a school of orphan children, the descendants of Europeans, left destitute in that part of India, but who had been gathered by a few friends into an asylum, close to the Mission Chapel at Parapattam, near Batavia. In that distant land it was found comparatively more easy to provide food and clothing for the bodies of these children of want and wretched

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ness, than to procure instruction for their minds; and every moral and benevolent agent being necessarily and fully employed in that destitute region, it was found difficult to attend to the claims of these children, without neglecting other more legitimate objects of a missionary's care. However, the willing and assiduous efforts of Miss Medhurst supplied this want, and though at a considerable disadvantage to herself, as it respected the improvement of her own mind, she patiently laboured the livelong day, for the period of two years, in instilling the first principles of knowledge and religion into the minds of these orphans. At the commencement of her labours, the number of scholars was ten, but they gradually increased to twenty-three. When the children first came to her, they were not only ignorant of letters, but totally unacquainted with the English language; their stubbornness and wilfulness were also proverbial, and the bad habits contracted from their Mohammedan or heathen mothers, constituted a formidable barrier in the way of the children's advancement. Miss Medhurst, however, persevered; and, at the annual examination, every one present was astonished at the progress which the children had made, and every eye was turned with wonder to the little girl who had been instrumental in effecting this pleasing change. At the second examination, the progress of the children was still more apparent, and the committee came to the resolution to thank her publicly for her kind, gratuitous, and successful efforts. She relinquished her post in favour of a salaried mistress, in order that she might have more time for mental improvement, and prepare for accompanying her parents in their contemplated voyage to England. That voyage, however, she was destined never to undertake, but was called upon to return to her heavenly Father's house, by a different route; and only four days after the arrival of her parents in England, she reached those mansions of bliss where all tears are wiped away from off all faces. But a few months previous to the intended embarkation of Mr. Medhurst and family for Europe, the Rev. H. Lockwood, an American Episcopalian Missionary, arrived at Batavia, and becoming acquainted with Miss Medhurst sought her hand. The anticipated departure of the family from India made it necessary to hasten the union of

the young people, or to put it off to a distant and indefinite period; and as their affections appeared to be engaged to each other, it seemed most suitable, notwithstanding the extreme youth of Miss Medhurst, to consent to the match. She had previously manifested some anxiety about her spiritual interests, and had joined the little band of believers in Batavia, in celebrating the Redeemer's sufferings and death, when her parents had the happiness of seeing her acknowledge the Lord to be her God.

On the 17th of February, 1836, Mr. Lockwood and Miss Medhurst were united in marriage, and about six weeks afterwards their parents embarked for Europe, leaving the young couple dwelling in their residence, and occupied with their engagements, bidding as fair for usefulness and happiness as could be anticipated in this fallen world. Again, and again, the fond parents rejoiced in spirit, that though compelled for a season to quit the field of missions, for the re-establishment of their health, they had left behind them their representatives and substitutes, who would labour in their stead for the benefit of the heathen world. But, alas! how vain and futile are all our expectations of earthly bliss, and how short-sighted are our calculations, even as it respects the instruments to be employed in extending the Saviour's kingdom! Mrs. Lockwood being already acquainted with the Malayan language, taught it to her husband, and commenced with him the study of the Chinese, which was the more easy to her, from the circumstance of having partly studied it before. A Chinese school of boys and girls was placed under their superintendence, and Mrs. Lockwood commenced teaching a class of Mohammedan girls herself, in which work she spent the morning of each day. The great Head of the Church, however, designed her for higher and holier employment; and though her friends, and the friends of Missions, could have desired her longer stay, yet God knew best what was for his glory and for her gain. Respecting the immediate cause of her removal, our benevolent physician writes-" A few months after her marriage, Mrs. Lockwood became indisposed, and was obliged to give up teaching the native school; her nights began to be restless, and her sleep unrefreshing and disturbed; nervous excitement, great exhaustion,

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and low creeping fever, reduced her so much that her friends could hardly recognise her, and were shocked at the change. A removal to a more salubrious region was recommended, and Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood repaired to the village of Buitenzorg, for change of air. For the first few days Mrs. Lockwood found herself greatly relieved, and so much better, that they did not think it necessary to call in the doctor who resided there. Having, however, taken cold, she relapsed, fever came on more violently, accompanied with all her former ailments, and from that moment she went on declining so very rapidly that very soon all hopes of her recovery disappeared. The utmost care was taken of her, both by the doctor, and by the ladies of the settlement, but in vain; neither her youth, her mild and gentle submission under her sufferings, nor the fervent and unremitting exertions of all who surrounded her, could avert the fatal blow."

Her afflicted husband writes—“ For myself, I have found such support as I did not expect under this the severest trial by far of my life; and my great, unspeakably great comfort is, the perfect assurance of her present happiness. Every thing in her death was calculated to resign me to it. Her entire willingness to depart-her efforts to reconcile me to it, telling me that I should still be happy, and that I should find in the Saviour a friend that sticketh closer than a brother; that we should soon meet again, and that I must not despond, for if it was the Lord's will that we must now separate, it must be best; all showed her preparation for the great change. The manner in which her mind had already begun to develop itself, during the short time that we were permitted to be together, had led me to expect much from the advantages of time and experience; but, I trust, her powers are now maturing in a far more congenial region. If her life has been short, she has experienced less of the sorrows and sufferings which all must feel who remain here, and the end of existence, the attainment of an immortal life, having been gained, what more is there to desire ? when she was too weak and sick to sit up, if she saw me looking dejected, or if I seemed impatient at her long-continued illness, she would endeavour to cheer and encourage me. From the first to the last, I heard not a word of complaint or murmuring from her lips.

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When I observed to her, that it was strange she should be so much more afflicted than other ladies, she replied, 'It is a good thing for your wife to be afflicted; for, when you prayed formerly, I sometimes arose from my knees without knowing what you said; but it is not so now!' Whilst at Buitenzorg, a Dutch lady, (Mrs. Parve,) who had known the parents of Mrs. Lockwood, at Malacca, called; her kind and affectionate manner soon gained the entire confidence and attachment of the patient, and seemed to increase till the last. Mrs. Parve attended her every day, with all the gentleness and assiduity of a mother, and every thing which her house and influence could supply were promptly obtained. Mrs. Lockwood would sometimes say to her, 'Mrs. Parve, your children will think that you love me more than you do them.' But Mrs. Parve would assure her in return, that they all loved the dear patient very much, and would talk of the pleasure they should enjoy in having her come there, when she got a little better. Indeed, it seemed to be a pleasure to the whole family to administer as much as possible to her comfort. On Wednesday morning she seemed to be growing weaker, complained of giddiness in her head, and dimness of sight, and afterwards became subject to rather violent hysterical convulsions. On Saturday afternoon, I thought she would not live, but afterwards she revived very much, Before this time, we had talked together of the possibility of our separation, and she always expressed the most entire resignation to the will of God. One morning she said to me, 'What a delightful place heaven must be!' I asked her if she would like to be there? She replied in the affirmative, and then said, she would tell me a dream she had had in the night. She thought that some one had given her a promise that she should go to heaven. And, oh! such a transport of joy,' said she, I never had before! I then asked,' she continued, 'where you would be? and they told me, that you would be there too!" Whenever I seemed to manifest a sense of my future destitution, if she should be taken away, she would ask me, if I did not think I could find consolation in the Bible; that if I sought for it, I should find it. Once she said, 'You would not wish me back again, if I should go now?' and at another time, You have often

told me to put all my trust in the Saviour; to cast all my care upon him; and why do you not now do the same yourself? He will cast out none that come to him!' I often asked her, if she did not think she would soon get better? to which she invariably replied, 'Perhaps so; if it be the Lord's will.' And once, when I wished she might be delivered from her pain; 'In the Lord's good time,' replied she. He will relieve me in the best time; neither too soon nor too late.' To my frequent inquiry, whether she felt happy, her answer always was, Yes!' And when I asked her, if she would like to stay a little longer, she said, If it be the Lord's will, I should like to remain, and share your sorrows a little longer; but if it be his will that we separate, it must be best.' Her gratitude to all around her for every little attention was affecting; and she seemed peculiarly alive to their comfort and wants. All her powers, indeed, seemed wonderfully quickened; her natural timidity and shyness were in a great measure gone, and she was more open and free than I had ever known her before. Miss Thornton was particularly struck with this change in her mind. She seemed to her, she said, to have come all at once to a mature and experienced mind. She frequently requested me to pray with her, and to read to her from the Bible and hymns. The twenty-third Psalm appeared peculiarly beautiful to her. Once she said, she wished some one was there who could sing, and that if she had strength she would sing herself.

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asked her what she would sing? She answered, Vital spark of heavenly flame!' On Monday morning, the day previous to her death, I sent a note to Miss Thornton, telling her that Mrs. Lockwood had expressed a wish to see her, and also Mrs. Young. In the evening, about ten o'clock, they arrived: when the meeting was almost too much for Mrs. L., and her satisfaction seemed greater than she could express. She appeared now to have no earthly desire ; all whom she loved most on earth, with the exception of those who could not possibly be there, were with her. She experienced considerable pain during the morning of Tuesday, and it became almost impossible to move her, from the suffering it occasioned. Afterwards, she became much more easy; and as her end drew nigh, she appeared to enjoy a

beautiful serenity and peace, with an entire exemption from pain. At length, without a sigh, without a gasp, without even the slightest motion in any part of the body, she imperceptibly ceased to breathe, (on the 9th of August, at halfpast two, p. m.,) and her gentle spirit departed in peace, to be with her Saviour, whom she had trusted, and who conducted her so gently through the dark valley of the shadow of death."

Miss Thornton, who resides in Batavia, as agent to the Society for Promoting Female Education in China and the East, writes to the parents of the deceased in the following strain-“ Oh, could you have witnessed her peaceful, peaceful end, you would rejoice far more than you could were she still in possession of health and strength, and all that earth can give. But I must give you a few particulars. The Saturday before her death, I received a letter from Mr. Lockwood, saying, that there was scarcely a ray of hope that Mrs. Lockwood would survive. I cannot tell you what I suffered on hearing this. The idea of her dying without my seeing her was almost unbearable. I knew nothing of the state of her mind, and thousands of times did I reproach myself for having neglected to talk with her during her illness. On Monday, as soon as horses could be procured, Mr. Young and myself, with two more intimate friends, set off for Buitenzorg, and reached that place about ten o'clock in the evening. Mrs. Lockwood still lived, and was quite sensible. Being apprised of our arrival, she begged me to go in. When I entered, she put out her arms, and expressed a degree of joy at seeing me, that was too much for us both, and after telling me of her many, many mercies, she became hysterical. When more composed, she put her arms round my neck, and called me her dear Miss T., saying, that she had something to tell me, when she could find strength to do it. At length, when all were retired to rest except a female friend, and her husband, she said, 'Where's Miss Thornton? I want to speak to her; let every one else go away.' She then put her arms round my neck, and I knelt down by her bedside, saying, 'What does dear Sarah wish to tell me?' 'Are they all

gone?' she asked. I replied in the affirmative. She then began, 'You know when you first came, I was very glad; and you made me first feel my sins;

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