MEMOIRS OF MRS. BETHUNE.

CHAPTER I.

PARENTAGE.

Reasons for Writing.-Death of Contemporaries.-Memories of Isabella Graham.-Entail of Grace.-Pious Parentage.-Dr. Graham, of the British Army.—Fort Niagara.—The “Doctor's Garden."-Birth of Joanna Graham in the Fort.

THE eminent and wide-spread usefulness which God granted to the subject of this memoir has caused a general desire that the history of her life should be written, for the honor of Christ, whom she followed, and the encouragement of His disciples, whom she loved. The duty of complying with this wish of many Christian friends devolves on her only son; and he, asking God's help, gladly undertakes it, though not without fear lest the biographer may be suspected of being biased by his affectionate veneration, and so be less trustworthy in his portraiture of his mother's character and services to God and man. But it is true, on the other hand, that none had better opportunities than he of knowing her daily life in private and public, or of hearing from her own lips the reasons and motives from which she acted. There is also less danger of exaggerated praise, so commonly

the fault in modern religious biography, because, as will be seen in the following pages, her life was so full of activity that there will be little room for any thing besides a detail of facts. The copious extracts from her own writings, which are given in the Appendix, will show that, for herself, she depended on the free sovereign grace of Christ alone, and gave Him the praise of the good works He had wrought in her to will and to do of His good pleasure. It would be most inconsistent with the spirit of so humble and devoted a Christian, for one who cherishes her memory, so beautiful with the graces of the Spirit, to overcharge with personal eulogy a life which derived all its beauty and strength from the love of Christ shed abroad in her heart; but it would also be unjust to that divinest principle of Christianity if the genuine effects of evangelical faith, as manifested in the lifelong, devoted charities of Mrs. Joanna Bethune, were allowed to be forgotten, or set forth with less than actual truth.

The author has occasion for regret that the material and authorities for an accurate and full history of a life covering a period of nearly a century are not so abundant as is desirable and was expected. Mrs. Bethune, though not unwilling that the light of God, shining in her experience and devotion to His service, should be made to reflect His glory, was too busy with her duties for any anxiety respecting her own credit. She adopted as an axiom the counsel she learned from the lips of the seraphic Summerfield,

that "a Christian should never bring his good name home to nurse," and left hers to the care of His providence in whom she believed, solicitous rather for her record on high than the opinions even of Christians here. At the time of her death, all of those with whom she had been associated in the most active and fruitful years of her benevolent enterprise had gone to their rest; and there is not a single living memory which can be found to corroborate the testimony which has been gathered into these pages, from records too scanty, but undoubtedly genuine. For some years before her entrance of heaven, her long and overtasked brain yielded to the infirmity of extreme age, and she was not capable of answering inquiries which would otherwise be made of her respecting facts, incidents, and persons connected with the most important passages of her life. Much, therefore, which her biographer would have delighted to rescue from oblivion is now known only in heaven; and, desirous of recording nothing of which he is not sure, he will resolutely check himself in conjecture, and record what he knows to be true.

It is also well known to the readers of the Life of Mrs. Isabella Graham, and they constitute a large majority of the Christian public, that the instrumentality of Mrs. Bethune was closely connected with that of her eminent mother and her equally devoted husband, Divie Bethune, whose biography, full of praise to God, it is the purpose of the author, by God's leave, to prepare for publication when his present work is

completed. Much, therefore, that properly belongs to a life of Mrs. Bethune is now before the public in the Life of Mrs. Graham, or will be when Mr. Bethune's memoir is given to the press. But care will be taken to avoid repetition, as far as is possible, consistently with a due regard to historical truth.

The blessing of the Holy Ghost, which rested on the mind and heart of Mrs. Joanna Bethune from her earliest childhood, out of which sprang her ardent desires, her indefatigable efforts and successful plans for evangelical usefulness, are striking proofs of God's faithfulness in His covenant to bestow His grace upon the children of His faithful servants unto the third and fourth generations. She received the entail of religion through a line of pious ancestors even longer than that specified in the promise.

The parents of her mother, Mrs. Graham, Mr. John and Mrs. Janet Marshall, were both pious, Mrs. Marshall's father having been an approved elder of the Scottish Secession Church, which he joined with the Erskines (Ralph and Ebenezer); and the traditions of the family carry the strain of sanctified blood farther back than records or memory of names enable us to reach. The same care of God, preparatory to the life designed for her, will be seen throughout her early history and peculiar training, as described in the following pages.

Joanna was the second daughter of Dr. John and Isabella Graham. Dr. Graham was a widower, with two sons, at the time of his marriage to Isabella, both