Memoirs of Mrs. Hawkes, late of Islington. By Catharine Cecil [pp. 239-271]

Memoirs of AIrs. ftawkes.
you in every way that you take, public or private; for He knoweth the way
that you take.
"With unfeigned respect and esteem,
"I remain, Rev. and dear Sir,
"Your ever obliged,
" SARAH HA.WKES."
It will be unnecessary to enter into any further details
respecting the various sufferings, and frequent removals of
this excellent woman. It is wonderful that she should have
lasted more than thirty years, after manifest symptoms of an
incurable disorder had appeared.
The last effort of her pen, is a letter dated Aug. 3, 1832.
It may be considered the (iying note of this eminent Chris tian: except that with a tremulous hand, very shortly before
her death, she wrote two short prayers. At the close of the
first she says, "Let an afflicted, defenceless one, who ever in
trouble flies to thee, abide beneath thy spreading wings."
Yea, " under the shadow of thy wings, will I make my
refuge, until all my calamities be overpast." In the close of
the second, we have almost her latest breath, "Come, 0
blessed Spirit of promise, bring, and seal some word of Scrip ture on my heart, and memory, and it shall be sweeter than
if an angel spake." Her prayer was answered. "There
was not much said in that chamber of death. All was
solemn-all was silent-save when the dying child of Adam
uttered a groan-save, wlhen the living child of the SECOND
ADA_PT uttered a prayer. But there was no one, in that sacred
chamber, who was not sensible that the Lord *%as there.
The High an(l Holy One who inhabiteth eternity, was with
this lowly, contrite one, to revive her heart, and her spirit.
His everlasting arms were underneath the sufferer. All was
peace; and the beams of the Sun of righteousness were
shining through this chamber of death; for all wvas lovelove to God, and all the saints. Heaven was (Irawing nigh,
and hope was going forth to meet it; and faith had laid her
soul, like a passive infant, in the arms of her Saviour."
When life appeared to be nearly extinct, Mrs. Hawkes was
informed that a letter had arrived from her valued friend,
l\r. Sibthorp, containing a kind and generous assistance to
her bodily comforts; she called on one who was watching by
her bed to write, while she dictated. This last effort of the
dying Christrian, though broken and interrupted by the
pangs of dissolution, breathes the same spirit of faith and devotion to God, and the same lively gratitude and love to her
Christian friends, which she had long manifested. After
1839.].