Late in the autumn of this year she accompanied her grandmother, who resided in the family, on a visit to a maternal aunt in the county of Orange. For some months she remained apparently thoughtless respecting eternal things. Here, in May, 1829, she ruptured a small vessel in the lungs. In the winter of 1828 her parents removed to Lynchburg. In her ninth year her heavenly Father began that course of gracious discipline which has clothed her character with such interest, and rendered her history worthy of a place in the annals of redemption. Yet she gave no evidence of special seriousness or tenderness until she was more than eight years old. Yet after her conversion she confessed-* I was wicked enough to wish that my parents were not Christians, that I might partake of the gayeties in which others engage.”īy the blessing of God on a course of mild and firm training, her parents were pleased to find that her judgment and principles were to some extent on the side of duty, and that she had some correct general view of the truth of the Bible, and of the reality and importance of religion. These things seemed to satisfy her conscience, and retained it on the side of her parents.

We cannot, without sinning against God, permit you to go to the ball.” The parents of the little girls you have named do not profess to think much about another world, either for themselves or their children.

Her mother then took her in her arms and said, “My child, your father and I have both often and solemnly given you to God, and promised to train you up for him. When Ann Eliza was about seven years of age she was invited to a dancing party of little children, and was anxious to attend and her mother saying she was too young, she replied that some others were going who were younger than she.

Here her father first publicly professed religion. In the spring of 1821 her parents removed to Richmond, where at length Ann Eliza died in a house on the west side of the beautiful square in which stands the Capitol of Virginia. Yet, for one of her age, she always commanded respect. She was not naturally generous, or amiable, or confiding. Her cowardice would not permit her to face perils of any kind. It is also a remarkable fact, that she was never detected in an act of duplicity or falsehood. Yet though self-willed, there were a sort of independence which was capable of being turned to good account. In some respects elements of a more promising kind seldom enter into character. Her mind was sound and sprightly, though the incidents of her very life were not remarkable. Keep her in thy way without weariness or fainting, and enable me to fulfil my solemn obligations as a Christian parent.”Īt an early period Ann Eliza was found to have an irascible, obstinate, and ungovernable temper, combined with exquisite nervous sensibility. If by thy will she should long sojourn in this barren wilderness, guide her and lead her early to seek thy face. On this her birthday I desire, O Lord, to renew the offering and I beseech thee to cleanse her soul in the blood of Christ, and adopt her into thy family.

On the 16th January, 1821, her mother again wrote: “I gave my dear Ann Eliza to God before she was born. O wash her, and grant that as she ripens in years she may grow in grace.” And I implore the sanctifying influence of thy Spirit to enable me to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord-to rear her up as an immortal being, destined to eternal misery or eternal blessedness. To thee, O Lord! I desire in faith to dedicate her. “On the 16th of this month I was made the happy mother of a promising daughter. Her mother, who professed religion when she was Miss Hackley, four days after the birth of Ann Eliza, thus wrote: She had three sisters and one brother, besides a sister and brother who died in infancy. At that time her parents resided at Meadsville, Halifax county, Virginia. Especially may most glorious displays of divine grace be looked for, as the day draws nigh when “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the light of the seven days.” Then “the child shall die an hundred years old.”Īnn Eliza, the eldest child of Charles B. So long as the work of the Holy Spirit continues on earth we may expect wonders.

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