5,905 55

357 00

31-802 52

36.00

IN FOREIGN LANDS, &c.

500 Aintab, Turkey, Rev. A. Smith,
Dwight, Cher na. m. c.
Island of St. Thomas, R. D. ch. for
Amoy chapel,

93 00 Malta, Rev. R. Bryan,

316 41

535 07 5 00 856 48 284 44

1,140 92

LETTER FROM DOCT. SCUDDER, NOVEM- for Calcutta, in company with Messrs. Winslow,

BER 22, 1849.

Death of Mrs. Scudder.

THE following letter will be read with painful interest, not only by the numerous friends of the deceased, but by the patrons of the Board and of missions generally throughout the United States. For more than thirty years the name of Mrs. Scudder has been associated with the efforts which have been put forth by American Christians in behalf of India. Having enjoyed almost uninterrupted health, she has exerted an influence, which few females from this country have been able to exert, upon the people for whose spiritual welfare she has labored. All the missions of the Board among the Tamil people can bear testimony to her high qualifications for the missionary work; for she has shared in the toils and responsibilities of each.

Spaulding and Woodward, and their wives. Arriving at Ceylon in December following, Mrs. Scudder entered upon her appropriate duties with alacrity and pleasure. When the Madras mission was commenced, her husband and herself were designated, in connection with Mr. and Mrs. Winslow, for that important post. They arrived at Madras on the 21st of September, 1836. The health of Doct. Scudder having become much impaired by his long residence in India, it was found necessary for himself and his wife to return to the United States; and they landed at New York in August, 1841. Having remained in this country till the end of their visit had been attained, they sailed on their return to Madras, November 18, 1846, and arrived on the 17th of March. In consequence of the inability of the Prudential Committee to send out a physician to Madura, where one was very much needed, Doct. Scudder kindly consented to labor temporarily in connection with the brethren in that field. Here he remained, with Mrs. Scudder, till Doct. Shelton relieved him, when he and his wife returned again to Madras. In that city it was the purpose of her heavenly Father that she should soon finish her course. Her decease oc

Mrs. Scudder was born in the city of New York, on the 14th of August, 1795. Her maiden name was Harriet Waterbury. She made a profession of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in 1816, having first indulged a hope of her acceptance as a pardoned sinner in the summer of 1815. Her marriage took place in January,curred on the 19th of November, four days after 1816. It was not till 1819, however, that Doct. Scudder and herself decided to engage personally in efforts for the salvation of the heathen. But having deliberately and fully consecrated themselves to this service, they did not delay | death, is as follows:

the death of her son, Samuel D. Scudder, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he was pursuing his theological studies.

The letter of Doct. Scudder, announcing her

My dear wife has entered into her my dying request; I have done all that I rest! On Thursday last she was taken can for you." She also told her to read seriously ill; and on Friday she was the twenty-seventh Psalm. Again she attacked with severe cramps, which said, "I hope my being taken away will were followed by extreme exhaustion of stir you all up to greater activity in the the whole system. All the means that Lord's service." were used to cause her to rally, failed; and on Monday evening last, she left this world, for that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." It was not till after mid-day on Monday that I became much alarmed about her. I called in Doct. Shaw, one of our most able surgeons, who very kindly rendered all the assistance in his power; but her death was at hand.

After we found that her disease was about to terminate fatally, we assembled around her dying couch, and heard her last words. The righteousness of Jehovah Jesus, which had been her joy and support in life, was her only trust in death. She retained her senses nearly or quite to the last; and, although very weak, conversed with us until within a few minutes of her departure. same ardent love for Christ and for dying souls which she exemplified in her life, shone forth brightly in her last hours.

The

When asked what message she had to send to her son Silas, she replied, "Tell him that I have written to him all that I would wish to say in my last letter. I spent half of his last birth-day in prayer for him." This birth-day occurred about two weeks before.

When I asked her whether she wished all her sons to become missionaries, she said, "Yes, it has been my constant prayer that they might all come to this land to preach the gospel. I do not desire that they should come unless they are prepared; but I wish them to be fitted for this work."

In respect to herself she remarked, “I am a poor, miserable sinner, full of imperfections. Heaven will be glorious, because there will be neither sin nor imperfection there." Twice, with great emphasis, she said, "What a wretched place is a death-bed to prepare for eternity! What a miserable being should I now be, if I had not Jesus to rest upon;" and then added, "Precious Savior!" Again she said, "I have had seasons when I felt that I knew I loved the Savior, and that he was very precious to me." Again and again she exclaimed, "Blessed Savior!" On one occasion she said, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I have desired to love thee." By a repetition of the following lines, she showed where the place of her refuge was:

"Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly;
While the billows near me roll,

While the tempest still is high." She_repeated also the following verse of Scripture, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me!" And she added, "Surely, goodness and mercy have followed me, all the days of my life."

Just before she died, she opened her eyes and exclaimed, with peculiar energy, "Glorious heaven! glorious salvation!" Soon after this, she voluntarily closed her eyes, and sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.

On being asked what message she had When gazing upon her, as she lay a for her son William, (a missionary in corpse before me, I exclaimed, “How Ceylon,) she answered, "Tell him, I shall many prayers have come out of those soon meet his beloved Kate. Tell him lips! She literally prayed her children to be faithful, and to live to win souls. into the kingdom. And now what shall Tell him not to seek comfort from any I say about my own loss? I must sum thing in this world, but to look to Jesus." it all up in one sentence, It is irreparable! In addition to the messages of love In the prayer which was made at her which she sent to her own relatives, and funeral by Mr. Spaulding, after Mr. to her connections on her husband's side, Winslow's address, he used the expresshe added a message to such of them as sion, that she had been to me emphatiare still out of Christ, exhorting them to cally a helpmeet. Thirty years have we seek him. She said, "My only burden been permitted to travel together, and to in dying is the thought that three of my labor for the salvation of souls. Now I children [out of ten] are in an impeni-am left to travel and labor alone, so far tent state;" and she besought her as this beloved helpmeet is concerned. daughter Louisa, in the most affection- But all is well. Christ lives. I told her, ate and impressive manner, to yield her when dying, that we should not be long heart to the Savior, adding, This is separated.

LETTER FROM MR. WINSLOW, NOVEMBER | Some efforts to revive her; and, while he

24, 1849.

Additional Notice of Mrs. Scudder's
Death.

THE following extract from a letter of Mr.
Winslow, describing the closing scenes in Mrs.
Scudder's life, forms an appropriate supplement
to the foregoing communication.

It was truly a privilege to witness the last moments of Mrs. Scudder. She had her reason perfectly to the end. As, on entering the room where she lay, I took her hand and spoke to her, she smiled. I said, "I trust you find Jesus near you at this time." She answered emphatically, "Yes; I trust I do." Mrs. Winslow, who spoke with her immediately afterward, asked, "Does the prospect of being so soon with your Savior make you happy?" The reply was, "Yes, it does. Precious Savior!" When I repeated the promise of Scripture, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee," she assented, as realizing its fulfillment; and on my repeating, when her soul seemed almost ready to depart,

Hark, they whisper; angels say,
Sister spirit, come away;

she lifted up one of her hands, and her
countenance expressed sweet emotions.
She said many other things to her dear
husband and children, which I need not
repeat, as they will be mentioned by
Doct. Scudder.

was doing this, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Dulles and myself retired to another room, and all prayed in turn for the presence of the Savior with her departing spirit, if it could not be consistent with his will to spare her valued life.

Soon after we returned, it was evident that all was nearly over. Our dear sister's eyes became fixed; her struggles and restlessness ceased; she only breathed gently; and then, one hand being under her head, she closed her eyes, and fell apparently into a sweet sleep. It was the sleep of death; but of that death which is only a sleep in Jesus.

I have witnessed the death-bed of

many Christians, who have died in hope, but never one where all was more truly evangelical peace. Nor could I have expected less, from all that I have known of the dear departed, during the thirty years of our travel near each other, and often together, in this wilderness. Never did I see any thing in her, little or great, inconsistent with the Christian character. As a wife, a mother, an assistant missionary, she truly excelled. To her now emphatically bereaved husband, she was a help-meet, indeed; and as he himself said concerning her faithfulness as a mother, it seemed as though she literally prayed her children into the kingdom. Our mission, as well as the stricken family, are greatly afflicted.

The funeral services were attended on Wednesday afternoon, November 21. A very large assemblage of all classes, from the Chief Secretary of the Government, the Military Secretary and Civil Auditor, to the children of our schools, testified by their attendance their respect for the deceased. The interment was in the small burying ground of the mission, adjoining the Royapoorum church. There the remains of one so dear to us all were deposited, in the joyful hope of a glorious resurrection, when the trumpet shall sound and the dead awake.

As her youngest daughter, who does not indulge a hope in Christ, was weeping violently and saying, “What shall I do?" the dying mother said to her, affectionately and earnestly, "Read the twenty-seventh Psalm, and do accordingly." When, afterwards, the songs of heaven were mentioned by some one, she remarked, "There I too shall sing." This she said, probably, in reference to her not being able to sing in this world. She spoke of sin as her burden; but when it was said, "This makes Christ the more precious," she added, "Yes. Precious, precious Savior." Her mind was thus entirely calm, and emphatically peaceful. LETTER FROM MR. SMITH, October 8, She continued to speak almost to the last.

By request of Doct. Scudder, I led in prayer, in which she seemed to join with feeling.

We thought our dear sister ready to leave us; but a physician coming in, who had seen her in the afternoon, and who could hardly persuade himself that she was dying, thought it best to make

Ceylon.

1849.

IN submitting another semi-annual report of missionary labor performed at Panditerripo, Mr. Smith says that the attendance in the schools has varied but little from what has been mentioned in previous communications. The average number present on the Sabbath is more than two hundred; and on Wednesdays it is two