"On Saturday, the 11th instant, she, with the greatest composure, attended to the settlement of her temporal affairs, and then seemed to feel that her work was done. Her mind was perfectly clear and calm to the last; and during her whole illness she was a lovely example of Christian fortitude, patience, and resignation. Her faith was unwavering; and consequently she was enabled to look forward to the period of her dissolution with evident pleasure, and with the fullest conviction that death was but the door to endless bliss. I asked her if she felt any reluctance to die; and she replied, 'I have not the least. It is a pleasure to think of dying. I shall see much of what I have recently thought a little of—the glory of God and the love of Christ. When I think of the dear Karen disciples I feel for them, and would be willing to stay with them a little longer; but if it is the Lord's will that I should leave them, I have nothing to say. Tell my friends I am not sorry that I came to this country or that I came alone. I have suffered for nothing which they could have supplied me with. I have found kind friends to take care of me.' She appeared upon the whole rather anxious to die, and to die soon. The morning before her death, although none of us thought she was so near her end, she was heard to pray, 'O my Master, take me to thyself this day.' While in the agony of death she said, 'Why cannot I be released?' But when one remarked, 'The Lord's time is the best time,' she replied, 'Yes;' and after a few minutes more she quietly fell asleep in Jesus.
"The dear Karen Christian disciples have suffered a great loss, which they most deeply feel. Brother Stevens and I visited them a few days subsequent to her death and found them overwhelmed with grief, but at the same time resolved to trust in the Lord and go forward. They are a lovely band, and apparently as well grounded in the principles of religion as could be expected of any so recently converted from heathenism."
Thus parted with earth one of the most devoted servants of God. She has gone up on high to receive her reward. By her death the heathen lost a most faithful friend, the Missionary Union lost a most devoted laborer, and the cause of Christ parted with a most zealous advocate.
And shall we weep? No; death has gained no victory. God and the Christian have triumphed over death and the grave.
"Well we know her living faith
Had the power to conquer death;
As a living rose may bloom
By the borders of the tomb."
Her life was short, and her sun went down while it was yet day. But short as her stay on earth was, she was enabled to do much good; and in eternity many will rise up to call her blessed.
VII.
SARAH D. COMSTOCK, OF BURMAH.
The Burman empire has witnessed the death scene of some of the most illustrious women who have ever lived. It is the graveyard in which their bodies have been laid to rest after the spirits have departed. It will continue to be a spot of melancholy interest as long as the ashes of departed saints are deemed of value by the Christian world; and those graves will remain the silent pledges that Burmah will never be abandoned, as a field of missionary exertion, until missionary exertion shall be no longer necessary. The soil in which such choice spirits find rest, the groves in which they seek shelter, the flower which blossoms, and the tree which waves its branches over them, are all sacred in the estimation of those who love God and delight in the glory of his kingdom. Senseless as they are, they assist in forming a shelter for honored dust, over which monuments of marble, with letters of gold and silver, are not worthy to rise. When Mrs. Comstock died another name was added to the glorious catalogue of the fallen—not fallen, but ascended. Another grave was made, from which, on the morning of the resurrection, will come forth a glorified one, to shine in the crown of the Savior forever.
Sarah Davis Comstock was a native of Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Robert S. Davis, of the Baptist church in that place. In the house of her father her youthful days were passed, and there she received the mental and moral education which fitted her to labor for the souls of the heathen. In early life she found the Savior, and during her residence in America gave full evidence of a pious, self-denying spirit.