FOR MARCH, 1835.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF MRS. MARIA GORDON,
Of Dudley:

BY THE REV. JACOB STANLEY.

PERHAPS there is nothing which excites a more hallowed and pensive feeling than the remembrance of the pious dead. The recollection of a deceased friend connects with it a multitude of interesting and affecting reminiscences. Persons, places, conversations, and a variety of circumstances, are instantly revived, and for a moment we seem to live life over again; but soon follows the painful conviction, that all have vanished: these circumstances exist no more; these places are distant; and many of the individuals thus called to walk over the stage of memory have also terminated the period of their probation. No more shall we join them in the social circle, and be instructed and delighted with their cheerful and intelligent conversation; no more shall we see them in their walks of usefulness, seeking out the abodes of the destitute and friendless poor; no more shall we meet them in the sanctuary of God, to unite in his solemn worship; nor at his altar, to partake together of the memorials of the dying love of the Redeemer. No! we shall see them no more, till mortality is swallowed up of life.

Among the pious dead we now register Mrs. Maria Gordon, who for many years, through the grace of ber Lord, on whom she habitually depended, adorned his Gospel, and maintained an uninterrupted union with that section of the church to which she was first joined in Christian fellowship.

Mrs. Gordon, whose maiden name was Loxton, was born at Wolverhampton, December 26th, 1781. Her parents were members of the established Church; and though at that time unacquainted with the Gospel plan of salvation, and strangers to experimental godliness, failed not to inculcate a strict observance of the duties of morality, and a regular and punctual attendance on the services of the Church. The vigilance with which, according to their light, they watched over their family, indicated a measure of the fear of God, and a desire to promote their eternal interests,—a vigilance which loudly reproves the conduct of many who profess a more enlightened faith, but whose laxity of parental discipline, or whose utter regardlessness of their children's salvation, permits their introduction to parties of irreligious young people, and their initiation into the various amusements and frivolities of the age, often terminating in infidelity, profligacy, and woe.

Their ignorance of the plan of salvation arose from their want of an VOL. XIV. Third Series. MARCH, 1835.

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enlightened ministry; for where there is no such ministry, such ignorance almost universally prevails. The doctrine of the cross must be preached, or the people will remain in darkness; for this is the divinely appointed instrument of spiritual illumination and salvation. As it was in the days of the Apostles, so it is now: "it pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

It was not till Mrs. Gordon had attained her fifteenth year, that she became seriously concerned about her salvation. This concern was produced under a sermon delivered by a Clergyman in a neighbouring church, in which he spoke strong things against plays, dancing, cards, and other innocent amusements, as they are generally called, of some of which she was passionately fond. She was at once convinced that they were not innocent, but at the very best were merely the

"Sad effects of human wit,

That mortals may their God forget; "

and she felt that she was verily guilty before God. The true light shone ;
and she discovered what she had never before suspected, that she was,
to use her own language, "a hell-deserving sinner." See then resolved
to flee from the wrath to come;" but she knew not the way. The
ministry under which she sat furnished little instruction; and the people
of her acquaintance were as ignorant as their teacher. But she was sin-
cere, and sought by works of righteousness to save herself. "I thought,"
she says,
"if from that time I laid aside those sins, my good works and
good heart would recommend me to God." She knew not, at that time,
that God justifies the ungodly; that the criminal does not merit his par-
don, but receives it as an act of royal clemency; and that it is the Phy-
sician that heals the patient, and not the patient that heals himself.

She, however, was not permitted to remain long in this state of pharisaical ignorance; for about this time it pleased God to begin a good work in the soul of her brother Samuel, who has for very many years been`a highly respectable and useful Class-Leader in Birmingham. Under the ministry of the Methodists he was savingly converted to God. Having tasted that the Lord is gracious, he most earnestly desired that all, and especially the members of his own family, should enjoy the same blessing.

Maria was greatly attached to this brother; and she was the first of the family to whom he spoke on the subject of salvation. But though a subject of religious awakenings and pious purposes, because he was a Methodist, a name which her soul abhorred, she appears to have rejected his efforts to do her good, and to have treated those efforts with ridicule. Her affection for him, however, led her occasionally to accompany him to the chapel, where her mind became more enlightened, and her heart more deeply impressed with eternal things.

At this time persecution arose against her in her own family. Her parents were Church-people, who appear to have regarded the Methodists as the filth and offscouring of all things. We are, therefore, not to won

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der, that her mother positively insisted on her going to the church, and declining all thoughts of going to a Methodist chapel. This was to her a severe trial, and a source of powerful temptation. Not to attend the ministry of the Methodists, she believed, would be to deprive herself of most important spiritual advantages; whilst attendance on that ministry seemed a violation of the fifth commandment, and rebellion against parental authority. Such was the perplexing dilemma in which she was placed.

Unwilling, however, to be deprived of the spiritual privileges which, as she became more acquainted with them, she more highly esteemed; and thinking these might be more peaceably enjoyed among strangers than in her own family, where she met with continual hostility, she availed herself of what she considered a providential opening, which then presented itself, for her leaving home. Here for a few months all went on well; but when it was ascertained that she was in the habit of attending the Methodist chapel,-a place despised and execrated,—and that, in addition to this, she had induced another member of the family to ac company her; then the winds began to blow, and the rains to descend here also. This new opposition had well nigh proved fatal to her. For a season, that she might recover the favour of those with whom she sojourned, she very seldom attended the chapel. Sometimes, however, she did; where she always had the happiness of meeting her brother, whose counsel and sympathy were of the most essential service to her. But the cross was great. To be called a Methodist, seemed more than she knew how to endure. "I halted," she says, "between two opinions; and got into a fearful lukewarm state; having light enough to light me to hell, where I should have gone, had not the Saviour again interfered, by showing me, as I could bear, what I was, and what I must be. I then was enabled to get out afresh, and attend the means of grace more constantly; which raised up fresh opposition. My companions sneered; and those who had some authority over me told me I was sure to be driven mad." Such predictions have been uttered a thousand times, and a thousand times have they been falsified; yet the false prophets go on prophesying as before. After all the bad things which they have said of Methodism, it is a fact, established by innumerable proofs, that it improves the mind, and the heart, and the circumstances of its subjects, whose moral and religious influence are diffused through the various grades of society, and thus it becomes a great national blessing.

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About this time the Lord graciously introduced her to the acquaintance of a pious female, from whose religious experience, prayers, advice, and epistolary correspondence she derived much benefit. This friend particularly urged her to join the Methodist society; and so earnest was she on this subject, from a conviction of the advantage she would derive from this union, that in one of her letters she said, “You must not write to me till you have joined a people whom I believe to be the people ofGod." With fear and trembling she resolved to take the advice