severe trial to which he was subjected, or our Lord himself prayed, with all the vehemence of desire, that the hour of his approaching sufferings might be averted.

your devout contemplation, and which makes you adopt the language of the Psalmist of old, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." And is it not after having insensibly adopted the arrangement of our Lord in this admirable prayer, and given vent to all the feelings of piety, and admiration, and trust, with which the contemplation of the divine character is fitted to inspire you, and prayed that the name of our Father in heaven may be hallowed, and sanctified, and adored in the world; that his kingdom may come, and his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven; that then, and not till then, you proceed to the enumeration of your private wants?

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
MARY M. ELLIS,

WIFE OF THE REV. WILLIAM ELLIS, MISSIONARY TO
THE SOUTH seas.

But it is no less true, that all these were the petitions of persons whose hearts were deeply pervaded by a devout admiration of, and unfaltering trust in, the divine character and purposes, as the immovable rock on which their petitions were based, and from which they ascended; and that all the people of God, when they address him in faith, and act in harmony with the character they profess, will prefer and exalt the honour of their Father in heaven above every interest of their own, whether temporal or spiritual. It is no less true, that just as a man will embrace every opportunity of dilating on the estimable qualities of a friend whom he loves, and deem no time unseasonable or labour irksome, by which he may inspire the same sentiments of friendship and love in the breasts of his hearers; just as a grateful man will recur to the deeds of some generous benefactor, MRS ELLIS was born in St. Mary's Hill, London, on whose name will be ever on his lips, and in whose the 16th of October 1793. Before she was three months praises he feels increasing delight to expatiate; old she was deprived of her father, and thus thrown just as a son will hail every occasion of testifying exclusively upon the care of her widowed mother, his respectful submission to an earthly parent; whose exertions for the promotion of her intellectual and as nothing will be more grateful to his feel- improvement, and above all of her spiritual welfare, ings, or win its way more effectually to his heart, were unremitting. As even in childhood, she exthan any testimony from the lips of another that hibited indications of a ready and retentive memory, may bring an accession of respectability and honour no pains were spared to store it with passages of Scripto the object of his reverential regard; so, in the ture, and a judicious selection of hymns. Scarcely, same spirit, but in a far more eminent degree, however, had the faculties of the child begun to exwith every mind, in which devotion is the pre-pand, when, in her eighth year, she was subjected to vailing character, and which is enlightened with the loss of her truly excellent and affectionate mother. the spiritual knowledge of the great object of Short, indeed, was the period during which she had worship-it will be the chief object of its endea- enjoyed the high advantage of maternal instruction, but, vours to exalt the honour of their Father in by the blessing of the Spirit of God, her mind had been heaven; to desire that his name may be glorified, early impressed with the importance of religion; and whatever be the issue of their present petitions, the last words her mother addressed to her were indeor whatever the complexion of their future condi-libly engraven on her memory; "Mary, don't weep for tion; to make a regard to him, and to the manifestation of his great perfections, take the precedence of every inferior and more private consideration; to harbour no wish either for temporal comfort, or for everlasting happiness, but what is strictly, and above all, accordant with the honour of his name, with the establishment of his kingdom, and with the entire fulfilment of his will. We may appeal to the experience of every Christian reader, whether in those sacred moments, when you enjoy the privilege of addressing yourselves to the Hearer of prayer, and feel yourselves raised to the height of devotional sentiment, when your hearts are most deeply penetrated with a sense of the presence in which you stand, and the holiness of Him to whom you approach, whether these are not the sentiments to which you first give utterance, and whether this is not the channel in which your heart is most ready to flow? Is it not God who is then most prominently present to your thoughts? Is it not the brightness of his glory, the perfection of his character, the rectitude of his government, the unvarying beneficence of his procedure, which then fills the sphere of

me,

I am going to glory; we shall not be long separated; we shall meet again soon."

Thus, at a tender age, was this interesting child called to endure trials the most painful and heart-rending. She was now an orphan, cast upon the bounty of a gracious Providence, and she was soon enabled to adopt the language of the Psalmist as her own; "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." She was taken under the care of a Christian lady, who kept a boarding-school, and who, by her unwearied kindness, endeavoured, in every possible way, to supply the place of a parent.

She now attended divine service statedly at Silver Street Chapel, situated in the neighbourhood of her residence; and although she always considered throughout life that her first religious impressions were derived from the instructions of her mother, she was accustomed to date her first decided determination to be on the

Lord's side, from a sermon preached to the young, on Whit-Monday, in the year 1804, by her pastor Mr Jones, from these words, "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." From this period she was regular in her observance of secret prayer, to which she had hitherto been a stranger,

Anxious to acquire more knowledge of divine things | regard to the progress of the Gospel in heathen lands, she joined a Sabbath school connected with the chapel, she took a peculiar interest in diffusing it among her which proved of remarkable advantage to her. She friends and acquaintances. made rapid progress in her acquaintance with the Bible. It was her companion by day, and at night she slept with it under her pillow, ready whenever she awoke to apply herself anew to its sacred contents. It was also a favourite employment with her to commit hymns to memory, which she was often accustomed to repeat in her after years.

The kind Christian friend who had taken the charge of the orphan girl, removed to a pleasant village at a short distance from London, and she soon became a teacher in the school in which she had been a pupil. At this time, however, her piety began to decline in its warmth and vitality. In this state of mind, and in consequence of temporary illness, she left the house of her friend and became an inmate in the house of a re. lative, where she was denied the religious opportunities she had hitherto enjoyed. The consequences were very injurious to her spiritual interests. She became giddy, and thoughtless, and comparatively regardless of religion. This melancholy state of matters was not permitted to continue long. The Almighty mercifully interposed, and rescued her soul from apparent destruction. In the year 1812, her only brother, two years older than herself, commenced business on his own account in London, and requested her to become the companion of his home, and take charge of its domestic arrangements. She readily accepted the invitation, not, how-❘ ever, without some painful convictions of conscience in reflecting on her spiritual declension. On the evening of the day on which she entered her brother's dwelling, he reminded her of the Lord's kindness in ministering to their wants, and raising up friends to them when, as orphans, they had been thrown upon the world. He expressed to her, at the same time, his determination to sanctify the Lord in his dwelling, by rearing an altar to his worship, as the God of families as well as of individuals. He then read a chapter from the sacred Scriptures, and he and his sister knelt together at the divine footstool, pouring forth the language of fervent prayer and grateful praise. Affected by the striking

contrast between her brother's frame of mind and her own, she was seized with strong convictions of the sinfulness of ber conduct in yielding so readily to the fascinations of the world, and losing sight of her Christian profession. For a time she was gloomy and desponding, and was even tempted to suppose that she had committed the unpardonable sin. At length it pleased the Lord to dispel the cloud which obscured her prospects and her hopes. The light of the divine countenance again shone upon her soul, and she became a habitual partaker of that peace which passeth all understanding.

Thus revived and quickened by the blessed operations of the Spirit, she joined in fellowship with the Church assembling in Silver Street Chapel. About the same time she became a teacher in that Sabbath school where she had formerly distinguished herself as a diligent and successful scholar. She engaged, also, as much as her domestic avocations would allow, in works of benevolence. The missionary cause, in particular, attracted much of her attention, and besides eagerly perusing the intelligence received, from time to time, in

|

At this period of her life, it pleased the Almighty to visit her with an alarming illness, which brought her to the verge of the grave, but even in the utmost severity of her disease she felt entire confidence in the grace and goodness of her redeeming God. Her friends, to whom she had peculiarly endeared herself by the gentleness and kindness of her nature, were urgent in prayer for her recovery. Their prayers were heard, and she was mercifully raised up from the bed of sickness, and apparent death, with resolutions more ardent than ever, to follow in the footsteps of her divine Redeemer. The cause of missions now became the frequent theme of her meditations, and although she was dissuaded, by her friends, from dedicating herself to the work as a solitary female, an opportunity soon occurred, in the course of Providence, of testing the sincerity of her desires to engage in the self-denying employment. She became acquainted with Mr Ellis, who was then preparing to enter the missionary field, and consented to join him in the same benevolent enterprise. They were married accordingly, on the 9th November 1815.

To a mind so tenderly sensitive as that of Mrs Ellis, it must have been peculiarly painful to bid adieu, perhaps for ever, to her country and her friends. Supported, however, by a power greater than her own, she set sail on the 23d of January 1816, for the South Sea Islands, in company with her husband, and Mr and Mrs Threlkeld. The ship in which they embarked was employed in conveying convicts to New South Wales, and some apprehensions were entertained lest their passage should, on that account, be uncomfortable. But the liveliness of Mrs Ellis's faith, and her anxiety to be engaged in the work of the Redeemer, are finely exhibited in a letter which she wrote to her pastor, Mr Jones, before setting out on the voyage.

"Did we not believe that an over-ruling Providence orders all things for the best, we might be inclined to murmur at being sent out in a transport vessel, (for we find that the convicts are a desperately wicked company, they have made several disturbances already, and threaten mutiny on the voyage,) but we know that we are in the hands of God, and that he has the hearts of all at his disposal, and renders all things subservient to his own glory; therefore we cheerfully go forth, assured that if the Lord has any thing for us to do among the heathen, we are safe until our work is done. We rejoice that our minds are kept stayed on God; and we can say with our dear missionary sister, Onward, in the strength of the Lord, is our motto.' Indeed, the hope of being useful among the convicts animates us, and reconciles us to the prospect of danger; but why do I talk of being exposed to danger? if our Saviour be at the helm, we need fear no evil, rather let us say

Christ is our pilot wise,

Our compass is his Word;
Our soul each storm defies,
While we have such a Lord:
We trust his faithfulness and power,
To help in every trying hour.'

But we are aware that we need great grace, to enable
us to walk wisely, and as becometh the Gospel of
Christ; that we are only safe while kept by the mighty
power of God; and that if left but for one moment, we
fall into sin. I hope we shall be constantly looking to
Jesus: may we be found in him, when we shall meet
you again, not in this sinful world,—not in these mortal

bodies, which clog our devotions, and chain our spirits down to earth when they would fain soar to heaven, but at the right hand of our licavenly Father, in a world where sin and sorrow can never enter, clothed upon with immortality, in a body like our dear Saviour's, and shall join with all the ransomed to sing his praises for ever. Surely we can say, if we had a thousand souls and bodies, we would devote them all to the service of Him who hath done so much for us."

The cold was severe when the vessel sailed, but after crossing the Bay of Biscay, the weather became comparatively mild, and in three weeks from the date of their leaving England, they came in sight of the island of Madeira, at which the ship merely touched. In the course of a few weeks longer they reached Rio Janeiro | where the passengers were landed for a short time. While on shore Mrs Ellis was seized with a very severe illness which threatened to prove fatal, but by the blessing of God, she was so far restored, in a few days, as to embark with the other passengers, in the same ship in which she had sailed from England, and which proceeded, without farther delay, to New South Wales. After remaining a short time in that colony, the mission family secured a passage in a ship bound for Tahiti, and on the 10th of February 1817, little more than a year from the time when she had left her native land, Mrs Ellis saw the place which had been the subject of many prayers, and was about to become the scene of her future exertions. On their arrival in Eimeo they were cordially welcomed by the Missionaries resident there, as well as by a number of Christian natives.

Returning from one of them, night overtook ut many miles before we reached our home; we travelled part of the way in a single canoe, but for several miles, where there was no passage between the reef and the shore, and the fragile bark was exposed without shelter to the long heavy billows of the Pacific, we proceeded along the beach, while the natives rowed the canoe upon the open sea. Two native female attendants alternately carried the child, while Mrs Ellis and I walked on the shore, occasionally climbing over the rocks, or sinking up to our ankles in fragments of coral or sand; wearied with our walk, we were obliged to rest before we reached the place where we expected to embark again. Mrs Ellis, unable to walk any further, sat down upon a rock of coral and gave our infant the breast, while I hailed the natives, and directed them to bring the canoe over the reef, and take us on board. Happily for us, the evening was fair, the moon shore brightly, and her mild beams silvering the foliage of the rippled and undulating wave of the ocean, added a shrubs that grew near the shore, and playing on the charm to the singularity of the prospect, and enlivened the loneliness of our situation. The scene was unusually impressive. I remember distinctly my feelings, as I stood wearied with my walk, leaning on a light staff by the side of a rock, on which Mrs Ellis, with our infant, was sitting, and behind which our female attenhaving their outline edged, as it were, with silver, from the rays of the moon, rose in lofty magnificence, while the indistinct form and diversified verdure of the shrubs and trees, increased the effect of the whole. On the other hand, was the illimitable sea, rolling in solemn majesty its waves over the rocks which defended the The circumstances in which Mr and Mrs Ellis entered spot on which we stood. The most profound silence on their missionary work were in the highest degree that we were the only beings in existence, for no sound pervaded the whole scene, and we might have fancied encouraging. Idolatry had been extirpated scarcely was heard, excepting the gentle rustling of the leaves of more than twelve months before, and the Christian the cocoa-nut tree, as the light breeze from the mountain religion was now universally prevalent in the islands. swept through them; or the loud hollow roar of the surf, The people were eagerly desirous of being instructed, and the rolling of the foaming wave, as it broke over and the arrival of a fresh reinforcement of Christian the distant reef, and the splashing of the paddles of teachers, therefore, was hailed as an event of the deep-sible, at such a season, to behold this scene, exhibiting our canoe as it approached the shore. It was imposest interest. In such circumstances Mrs Ellis felt it to impressively the grandeur of creation and the insignitibe the highest honour to be called to impart that knowcance of man, without experiencing emotions of adoring ledge which maketh wise unto salvation. wonder and elevated devotion, and exclaiming with the Psalmist, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him,

In the course of a few weeks after their arrival, it was arranged that, along with two other Missionaries and their families, Mr and Mrs Ellis should occupy a new station at Afareaitu. Thither, accordingly, they

removed, and though subjected to difficulties of no ordinary kind, Mrs Ellis endured them with the utmost readiness; such was her singleness of heart in her Master's cause. Overlooking the mere temporary inconveniences to which she was exposed from the rude habits of the natives, she engaged in the work of a Missionary with the utmost ardour and enthusiasm. She began to study the language with the view of instructing the natives, and, in the meantime, she spent a considerable part of her time in teaching some of the native females to sew. During the spring and early part of the summer of 1818, both she and her affectionate partner suffered much from the severe and dangerous illness of their infant son. As medical assistance could not be procured nearer than at Papetoai, on the opposite side of the island, often did they travel to that station with great fatigue and danger. As a description of one of these journeys we may make the following beautiful and touching quotation from the Polynesian Researches, by Mr Ellis :

dants stood.

6

On one side, the mountains of the interior,

and the son of man that thou visitest him?""

The chief object for which the station at Afareaitu was temporarily occupied having been accomplished, Mr and Mrs Ellis set out with several other mission families, in June 1818, for the Society or Leeward Islands, where it was expected their settlement would be more permanent. On arriving at Huahine, the most easterly island of the cluster, they were received by the natives with the warmest demonstrations of joy. The residence which was set apart for them was sufficiently large, but unfortunately damp, and their child who had been so ill at Eimeo, had scarcely recovered from his sickness, when, through the carelessness of the native nurse, he fractured his arm. The other child also was an object of great solicitude; and on one occasion, Mrs Ellis herself, with her infant at the breast, very narrowly escaped a watery grave, the canoe in which she was sitting having been upset, and all on board plunged into the sea.

In the course of the summer of 1819, a more comfortable residence was provided for Mrs Ellis and her