Hence the inspired volume is not more a book of doctrines than a record of the piety of ancient believers. That Holy Spirit, under whose inspiration it was written, knew how to touch the springs of human conduct, and therefore incites us to the highest attainments of character by the influence of example. The names of the righteous are enrolled in its imperishable leaves, and their memory, after the lapse of ages, is still fragrant as the breath of the morning.
After the example of the sacred writers, every age of the church has preserved memorials of the wisdom and holiness of its own times. In some instances a service has thus been performed of inestimable value. Patterns of faith, of patience, of zeal, have been rescued from oblivion to be a stimulus to Christians in all succeeding periods of time. And in other instances benefits, though not equally extensive, yet substantial, have resulted from recording, in a brief memoir, the characters and actions of those who, not called to occupy prominent stations, have shed a sweet influence of piety upon the more retired walks of ordinary life.
The following pages are intended to preserve some short account of a Christian lady, who from youth to old age “walked in the truth;” and having become at length alike venerable in years and in piety, departed this present life with the glorious hope of a better.
Mrs. Peggy Waugh was born at Wallingford, A. D. 1747. At an early period of life her mind was brought under a divine influence; not, however, by the ordinary means of grace, nor by any solemn providence, but in a manner illustrating the force of scripture, and the sovereignty of that gracious Spirit by whom it was originally inspired, and is still savingly applied. Being present at a party where the evening was spent in festivity and worldly mirth, she was invited to join in the dance. This she had often done, for she was of a lively disposition, and her parents were gratified by her mixing in the gaieties of life; but in the present instance she felt herself unable to maintain the hilarity of her spirits. The cause of her dejection none imagined, and she was perhaps ashamed to acknowledge. While all was merriment around her, she became suddenly pensive. A passage of the word of God, pointedly in contrast with the spirit of the scene, had come with irresistible power to her recollection. It fastened upon her conscience:—it reached her heart. The music and dancing lost their charms; she sat in solitariness, though surrounded with company; the world’s fascinations appeared in a light in which she had never before seen them, and the salutary impressions of that evening remained unerased from her mind through all her subsequent life.
While she was yet young, her parents removed to Reading. Shortly after they had fixed their residence in that town, she was taken by a friend to the Baptist Meeting, where she heard the Rev. Mr. Davis. She was much interested in his discourse, and sought for opportunities to attend frequently on his ministry. Under the able instructions of that excellent man, her religious views became clearer and more definite, her principles more firm and decided, and it was evident that the spiritual change which had already commenced in her soul, was rapidly advancing to its completion.
It was now that her trials began. The determinate and consistent form which her renewed character had assumed, was far from exciting any complacent feelings in the minds of her parents; and it became the more obnoxious to them from the preference she manifested for the preaching of Mr. Davis. They had brought up their family to the established church, and it distressed them exceedingly to see their daughter becoming a dissenter. But she had counted the cost, and was prepared to make any sacrifice, and to endure any hardship, rather than forego the privileges she now enjoyed in the house of God. Hardships she had indeed to endure: such was the severity with which she was treated, that it was no uncommon thing, when she returned from the sanctuary, to find her father’s door locked against her; and often has she walked in the fields without food during the intervals of public worship, rather than incur the displeasure that awaited her at home. This was a season of trial, and she came forth from it like refined gold. Her filial attentions were not less respectful or affectionate than formerly; on the contrary, she watched both her temper and her conduct with more than wonted carefulness, and endeavoured to show them that she could bear with meekness the wrongs she suffered in so good a cause. Nor did she wholly withdraw herself from the established church. Reading was at that time favoured with the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Talbot, the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Cadogan, and the Rev. Mr. Eyre, his curate at St. Giles’s. The preaching of these faithful servants of the Lord was distinguished by its truly evangelical character, and she found much benefit in occasionally hearing them. At their Thursday evening lecture she was a constant attendant, both at this period and after she had joined the Baptist church. Her new principles had not contracted, but on the contrary enlarged, her mind. Her views with regard to the ordinance of baptism, and on some other subjects connected with those parts of divine truth on which a difference of sentiment prevails, were conscientiously embraced; but they were held in the spirit of Christian charity. As much as she could, without a sacrifice of conscience, she endeavoured to conciliate the prejudices of her parents; and at length her efforts were blessed beyond her most sanguine hope.
It will a little anticipate the order of the narrative, but it may properly be added here, that she had the satisfaction, at a subsequent period, to know that her pious conversation and deportment had, under God, been the principal means of producing a saving change in her father, in her mother, and in two of her brothers. Her parents, at an advanced age, departed in the faith, leaving no doubt on the minds of surviving friends that they had fallen asleep in Jesus.
It was the happiness of Mrs. Waugh to be united in marriage with a person of decided piety, whose sentiments on religious subjects were similar to her own. Shortly after their marriage, they were both baptized, and thus commenced together that public and good profession which they ever afterwards maintained by the integrity, and adorned with the graces, of the Christian life. On the morning of her baptism, a passage from the prophecies of Isaiah, evidently suggested by the difficulties which had environed her early religious course, forcibly impressed her mind, and afforded her much encouragement: “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.” “These words,” she writes, “came sweetly to me, and my soul was on the wing for heaven and heavenly things.”
The duties of domestic life began now to demand her attention. In the relations of a wife, a mother, and a mistress, the excellence of those principles on which her character was formed, was habitually exemplified. For her children, she was supremely anxious to bring them in early life under the influence of divine truth, and to lead them into the love of God. It is in their recollection still, with what maternal affection she would take them into her chamber, and converse with them on those subjects, and then present them, in the exercise of faith and devotion, to the care of that tender Shepherd who “gathers the lambs in his arms, and carries them in his bosom.” Indeed her deep interest in all young persons obliged her to press upon such as came within her reach a care for their everlasting happiness; with several, the result was most satisfactory, and they retain an affectionate remembrance of her solicitude on their behalf. With her servants also she would seize opportunities to speak of the value of their souls, and the improvement of their religious advantages; and sometimes she used to pray in secret with them. The afflictions which are inseparable from the lot of humanity, and those which parents only know, she endured with a meek and confiding resignation. Her cup had its bitter infusions, and some of her trials were more than commonly severe; but under every mysterious and painful dispensation, she stayed herself upon her God, and in patience possessed her soul.
By those who enjoyed her friendship, her pious conversation and correspondence were highly valued. She was no stranger in the habitation of the widow and the fatherless, or beside the dying bed. Her sympathy in such scenes was a mitigation of sorrow, and her offices of Christian love endeared her in the hour of distress. She gratified the benevolence of her heart by relieving the distresses of many; and some of her poor neighbours were pensioners on her bounty as long as they lived. Her attendance on public ordinances, it need scarcely be said, was regular and devout; and by her consistent and blameless life, combined with her affectionate and peaceful walk among her fellow-members, she was a comfort to her pastor, and an honour to the church. Thus for many years she moved in her orbit, as the celestial luminaries move in theirs; with a regular, uniform, and constant progression; deriving all their radiance from the sun, and reflecting his beams without noise or ostentation.