THE

ENGLISH WOMAN'S MAGAZINE

AND

Christian Mother's Miscellany.

JANUARY, 1848.

A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE LATE SARAH MARTIN,

(1)

OF GREAT YARMOUTH.

N the first appearance of a little volume entitled "A Brief Sketch of the Life of the late Sarah Martin, of Great Yarmouth; with extracts from her Writings and Prison Journals,"* we introduced it to the notice of our readers, as exhibiting the soundness of the religious views entertained by the remarkable woman of whom we now write, and the fervour of her Christian charity-that best evidence and richest fruit of Scriptural faith.† Since that time, the name of SARAH MARTIN has taken its place in the annals of Christian philanthropy, by the side of that of ELIZABETH FRY; and deserves, as an eminent writer has observed, " to be chronicled in the high-places of history, and associated with those of the most benevolent of mankind."

We now purpose to lay before our readers, a brief memoir of this heroine of humble life. Of Mrs. Fry's adventitious advantages, she had indeed none. She was no practised speaker; and possessed nothing of that dignified bearing which her more exalted sister, from her position in society, had acquired; but she had deeply studied the Book, which, to

A new edition of this work has been recently published by the Religious Tract Society.

† See the early Series of this Magazine; May, 1845.

NEW SERIES.-NO. XXV.

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use her own words, ever tells of mercy ;" and hence, without supporter or assistant, she was enabled to carry out her benevolent purposes; to bind up many a broken heart, and to lead back many a wanderer into the way of peace.

SARAH MARTIN was the only child of a village-tradesman. She was born in the year 1791, and being early left an orphan by the death of both her parents, she was brought up under the care of a widowed grandmother; to whom, in her most interesting sketch of her own life, she thus touchingly alludes: "She had been from her youth a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ," and was "a meek and lowly Christian, bending to the grave after a long life of much affliction; desiring to depart, yet, as it were, lingering for my sake."

To the instructions of this grandmother, Sarah, when a child, listened with interest, and "heard her speak of the Saviour with pleasure;" but these impressions soon wore away; and at twelve years old, she discovered, as she has related, an indescribable aversion to the Bible, and a bitter prejudice against the Gospel of Christ, and against spiritual truth in every form.

About this period of Sarah Martin's life, a school-companion put her into the way of obtaining, at a cheap rate, novels and romances from an old circulating library; and for about two years, she read "much trash of this sort" with uncommon avidity. As she grew older, however, her taste improved, and without any care or thought about the injurious tendency of such books, she gave them up from mere distaste for their folly and insipidity.

Her appetite for reading remained, however, undiminished; and she now devoured with eagerness, Shakespeare's Plays, and other dramatic works; she read also the Spectator and Guardian; and the works of Johuson ; and made herself acquainted with several of the British poets. Her mind of course was cultivated by this course of reading; but her enmity against religious truth continued in all its force; "when, in any way," she writes, "a ray of gospel light came across my mind, I turned from it as from a reptile."

When the subject of this memoir was between fourteen and fifteen years of age, her" dearest grandmother" sent her to learn the business of a dressmaker, on which business, during the following year, she entered on her own account, and diligently followed it; devoting however, all her leisure-hours to “books for self-gratification alone;" at this time," she observes, "I was in my sin; dead to God; and even my active industry in earning my living, right as it was, and my bounden

"for

duty before him, was polluted in its motive, because in all my thoughts, He was out, and the idol, self, reigned."

It is needless to say that during this period of her life, Sarah was far from being happy. The daily sight of the Bible in the hands of her beloved grandmother, conveyed to her a reproof which she keenly felt. On one occasion, when the grandmother was reading aloud, she left the room, unable to endure her own feelings of self-condemnation. Afterwards, during a happier period, she asked her aged relative, whether she had ever despaired of her salvation? No, the grandmother said; she had not; she had always been enabled to hope in God, and pray. Those prayers were in due season to be graciously answered; but the time had not yet come. A slight circumstance, related by herself, strikingly illustrates the wretched state of Sarah's mind during this part of her life. She had in her possession two Bibles which had been her mother's; these Bibles she removed from their place, and hid; lest at any time they should accidentally meet her view. This she did from an idea, that should the Bible, after all, prove to be true, the less she knew of it, the better it would be for herself in eternity.

Her enmity against Divine truth, was at this period strengthened by her intercourse with a professed unbeliever, whose wife had shown her much kindness; and who, perceiving the superiority of her mind, took pleasure, though much above her in station, in conversing with her. From this gentleman she learned much concerning the "contradictions" to be found in the Bible, and something of the opinions of "Voltaire, Shaftesbury, and Bolingbroke.”

It pleased God, however, that during her nineteenth year, her mind should be powerfully affected by a sermon on 1 Cor. v. 2. "We persuade men." The effect produced upon her mind by this discourse, must be related in her own words.

"It was then," she writes, "that the Spirit of God sent a ray of light upon my guilty soul, fast bound in misery and iron.' Stranger as I was to my Divine Teacher, this first lesson was distinctly impressed, that the religion of the Bible was A GRAND REALITY, and that I had been wrong. It was a fine summer-Sunday; and I had walked to the next town, Great Yarmouth, for mere pleasure; and had entered the place of worship where I had heard the sermon, from common curiosity. In my walk home, reflecting on what I had heard, my mind was expanded with a sense of the Divine Majesty; and I spoke to my poor friend," (the gentleman already mentioned,) " as well as to others, with astonishment and admiration of what I had heard. He said, 'the novelty

I

pleased me, and would wear off;' while the answer of my heart was, hope not; be it novelty or delusion, it is so precious that I cannot part with it. However, for as long as six months after, I did not go to hear the preacher again, nor seek the Lord, nor give up the world in any way whatever; for with my judgment convinced in a measure, my heart was untouched. In the autumn of 1810, I was led by my most merciful God to examine the great subject in earnest; and I became convinced not only of the truth of Divine Revelation, but also, that my own crime in having rejected it, embodied guilt capable of every possible manifestation, when not held back by God himself. By the light of the Divine Majesty and by his law, I saw myself condemned, and I felt the justice of my condemnation; for not only had I violated that righteous and holy law, but I had added to it contempt of the blessed gospel, and rejection of the Son of God. And yet such was the pity of my God, and such his tenderness to me, that in the immediate disclosure of these my circumstances, he showed to me, as in the same glance, the Mediator, Jesus Christ, my Saviour, and forgiveness through him."

We must carry forward this quotation; for no other words than her own, can properly describe the state of Sarah Martin's mind at this period.

"For twelve months after this," she writes, "my happiness was held back; not knowing the extent of the promise, 'If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, therefore, with strong confidence in my own imaginary power, and supposing all the while, that God required it of me, I sought to advance, less by receiving from the fulness of Jesus, than by providing something to bring. To this end, I sought to satisfy my thirst for religious knowledge, by reading theological works. The Bible was indeed read formally; a few chapters daily; but not honoured as the supreme source of Divine knowledge; while my first expectation of advance was from religious books, to the reading of which, late and early hours were devoted; and of every sermon I heard, I wrote an outline afterwards.

"About the close of this year, I became increasingly bowed down in spirit, with heavy disappointment; toiling hard, and reaping no fruit; for, in fu'l acknowledgment and wonder at God's power, in the change which He had wrought in my thoughts, principles, and habits, I had yet believed, that it was required of me to take a distinct part in carrying forward the work of religion in my own life: nor was I made happy, until, in Divine compassion, the Almighty removed my error, by