AFTER MRS. BONAR'S DEATH
GLASGOW, 17th Oct. 1864.
MY DEAR MR.
YOUNG,
—This has been an awfully sudden and solemn stroke. All
went well till the afternoon of Friday—nothing indeed to startle us till
about six o'clock, and in three hours all was over. . . . During the three
hours she was at last only half-conscious—no pain at all—but rapid
breathing and restlessness. Not long before she passed away I said, 'I know you
are leaning on Jesus.' She tried gently to speak, but in vain, and soon the
breathing became lower and lower, till she sank, we believe, into the arms of
Him who loved her more than any of us ever did, for He gave Himself for her. It
is bewildering still—so sudden. . . . O how stunning the thought from time
to time, 'Isabella gone!' What an awful blank! for there could not be a happier
home than she made mine to be. But the Lord has said, 'Them that sleep in Jesus
He will bring with Him.' O that the day were come! . . . I know how Mrs. Young
will feel. It is the quenching of a long and happy friendship till it be
relighted up in Glory. You will both pray for me and mine. We need it—for
it would be bitterer still were we to suffer all this in vain. Will you ask
that the children may know (and I also) what that means, 'When . . .
mother leaves me the Lord will take me up,' —becoming
Himself mother in every way, and Himself taking her place to do and to be
all.—Yours truly, my dear Mr. Young,
ANDREW A.
BONAR.
Transcribed from Reminiscences of Andrew A.Bonar D.D.
first published
LONDON, HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
27 Paternoster
Row
1895
HTML transcription files copyright © 2001-2006.
Jane Newble
10 July 2001