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WESLEYAN METHODIST ASSOCIATION

MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1846.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE MRS. MARY BAMBER,

OF BARTON-ON-IRWELL.

By her Daughter, Miss M. A. Bamber.

My dear mother was born at Blue-stone, near Portadown, in Ire-
land, on the first day of August, 1767, at the house of her grand-
father Malcomson, a well-known and highly-respectable name in that
neighbourhood. Shortly after her birth, her paternal grandfather,
Parr, died, and left his land to his four sons; devising a double por-
tion to the eldest. Her parents then went to reside at Parr's-hill,
which derived its name from the family. Great harmony subsisted
between the families; the children associated together, and very
seldom admitted other playmates into their circle. A school-master
was engaged to instruct them; a room being set apart for the pur-
pose, which would be tolerably well filled, there being nineteen
cousins, of the name of Parr, who attended. Of these, my mother
was the last survivor; few of them, 'very few, slept with their fathers!
America and England furnished graves for many of them; and as an
instance of the mutation of things, a cousin some years older than
herself possessed, at the time of his death, in 1844, by inheritance
and purchase, the whole of the land and dwellings formerly occupied
by his father and uncles.

My mother's parents were strictly moral, but strangers to that
change of heart which is necessary to salvation. They, however,
brought up their children with great care, and in regular attendance
at the parish church. They were taught to keep holy the Sabbath-
day, to read and reverence the Word of God. Her mother took pains
to instruct her children in Scripture history, the hymns and psalms of
Dr. Watts, many of which my mother committed to memory, as
well as many of the Wesleyan hymns, when they afterwards became
known to her; and these she repeated with great pleasure to the latest
period of her life. To her father, she was indebted for some know-
ledge of, and a love for, astronomy and history. Notwithstanding
the care her parents took to instil good principles into the minds of
their children, and in some degree to restrain them from evil, they
were, with strange inconsistency, permitted to read books of a con-

B

trary tendency, and were also allowed to play at cards. This mingling of evil with good, can scarcely be wondered at, when we consider, that "darkness had overspread the land, and gross darkness the minds of the people;" but, even then, the Spirit of the Lord worked on my mother's mind, and I have heard her relate the painful feelings which oppressed her the last time she engaged in that vain and sinful amusement. She then formed a resolution never to play at cards again; and such was her abhorrence of all games of chance, that she never would allow her own children to engage, even in those which some Christian parents consider harmless.

She was early led to seek the kingdom of heaven. On one occasion, when she was a little girl, standing beside her father's knee, the minister of the parish, who was intimate with the family, being present, her father asked him what was his opinion concerning the new doctrine, that was gaining ground in the country, called the "New Birth," and if he thought that a man might know his sins forgiven? Truly, Mr. Parr," he replied, "it may be so, but if it is, I think it must be in the article of death!" This conversation made a deep impression upon her mind, and she determined, at that time, that if there was such a thing to be enjoyed, she would have it; and the desire never left her until she obtained the pardon of her sins by faith in Christ.

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I am not aware how, or when, she first became acquainted with the Methodists, but several of her mother's relations were members of Mr. Wesley's Society; and, in their company, she had frequent opportunities of hearing that eminent servant of the Most High, when he occasionally visited that country; and she esteemed it a great privilege to have had his hand laid upon her head, accompanied with his blessing. She entertained a vivid recollection of these early occurrences, and used to relate, with much pleasure, the incidents of her various journeys to hear him preach. At one place, where she was present, he was preaching to a goodly company on the side of a hill, some heavy drops of rain fell, and he prayed that the Lord would stay the bottles of heaven; the cloud parted, and there was no more rain until he had finished his discourse. As she grew up, she was very much noticed for her steady and uniform conduct, by some of the members of the Society of Friends, at Moyallen; who used frequently to send a man and horse, that she might attend when any event of importance occurred at the meeting-house. It was expected at one time, that she would become a member, of their communion : her friends did not oppose her attendance there, but the balance preponderated in favor of Methodism. She could not have been more than thirteen years old when she joined the Methodist society; and she was induced to take this step from a sincere desire to save her soul, and by her admiration of the consistent behaviour of two sisters, who lived in the neighbourhood, with whom she became acquainted. Their father was, if I recollect right, the leader of the class, a venerable old man, who used to give the young people affectionate and suitable advice; and when the preacher objected to give my mother her first ticket, on account of her youthful appearance, the old man

engaged to answer for her fitness and stability, saying, he had known her from her infancy. The Methodists were, at that time, a people much persecuted and spoken against; and, as she was the first of her father's family who joined them, she suffered her share of obloquy and reproach, as well as constraint, being forced to refrain from attending the means of grace. It was also reported, that she was losing her senses; she was also frequently beaten, but would never tell who were her persecutors. Once, while enduring a severe beating, on account of her attachment to the people of God, the following words were applied to her mind, and proved a source of great comfort, — "Ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin." It is worthy of remark, that whatever ill-treatment she suffered in the cause of truth she never replied again, nor returned railing for railing.

She was in her fifteenth year when her father died. During his illness, which was of short duration, she was so unhappy about his eternal state, that she talked to him on the subject, and requested that she might be permitted to pray with him; he consented, and she prayed with him. Afterwards, she retired into the barn, and earnestly pleaded with the Lord, that he would manifest himself to her parent, and pardon his sins before he departed. She then returned, .and again prayed with him, and afterwards spoke to her mother, who told her, that he had been a good husband and father, and she hoped all would be right.

After the death of her father, she went to reside for a time, with a maternal aunt, the late Mrs. Dodson, of Tandragee. Here she enjoyed many favourable opportunities of making progress in the Divine life, and became acquainted with several pious persons, and some of the earlier preachers; one of whom was the late Rev. Walter Griffith, who frequently came to see her many years after, when he was stationed in the Manchester circuit. He joined the society about the same time as my mother; the friendship thus formed in the year 1784-5, was only broken off by death, and is, I trust, again renewed in a happier state of being. During Mr. Wesley's life, the Methodists had no preaching at Tandragee in church hours. Mr. Leslie the rector was a firm friend of Mr. Wesley; when the latter came and preached, the crowd was so great that he had to preach out of doors. I can well imagine the happy feeling my dear mother would enjoy at this period, the contrast would be so great, between the unrestrained privileges she then enjoyed, and the privation endured when formerly she had to creep out of the window to go to the class, which met at the distance of two miles from her home, at an early hour on a Sabbath morning.

It is evident that her conduct, in trials of no common kind, had won the esteem of her near relatives. They had witnessed her patient perseverance in well-doing, her deep humility and submission-neither persecution, frowns, allurements, nor any other thing could induce her to withdraw her confidence and trust in her heavenly Father, or to swerve from the path of duty and obedience.

When some of her relatives urged her mother to use harsher methods, she refused, saying, Mary was the best child she had; thus,

as she, invariably, endeavored to return good for evil, the effect was seen in due time. A change took place in her mother's views and feelings, she became a Methodist, was truly converted, and, after adorning the doctrine of God her Saviour above forty years, died in the faith, at the advanced age of eighty-four. Her two sisters also, as they grew up, joined the society, proved ornaments to their Christian profession, and died much respected and lamented. My dear mother, was the eldest sister. Her second sister was married to her cousin the late Mr. Joseph Malcomson, of Blue-stone; a man who was, with justice, styled a peace-maker! and whose whole life was spent in doing good; he died in 1841, and his widow only survived him two years. The youngest was the late Mrs. Feriss, of Tandragee, who died in 1839. Three such sisters are seldom met with; judicious, sensible, and pious, they were never weary of performing kind actions; but their record is on high, they now rest from their labors, and are in the presence of Him who on earth so highly gifted them,--happy meeting! where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are for ever at rest. There

"No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath,

Can reach that healthy shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,

Are felt and feared no more."

No swelling sea can now separate them from each other, nor from Him who hath washed and made them white in his blood!

Some time after my mother's return home, she was married to my father; and he, having relatives residing in Liverpool, proposed to her that they should settle there. They accordingly obtained, from the circuit preacher, a note of removal, which I have now in my possession, and as it bears the mark of the primitive simplicity of the early days of Methodism, I copy it,

"The bearers hereof, Richard and Mary Bamber, have been members of our society for some time past. I believe they both fear and love God, and may be admitted as members of any of Mr. Wesley's societies in Ireland, England, or Great Britain. I believe they have just cause to remove.

"Dated at Mullyhead, this 22nd day of May, 1787, Newry circuit, by me"JOHN KERR.

"To all that this may concern."

She had now entered upon a new sphere of action. Separated from all her former friends and associates, she experienced the exquisitely painful feeling of being a stranger in a strange land; but He in whom she still continued to trust, did not forsake her; and she often reverted to the few years spent in Liverpool with a grateful sense of the goodness of the Lord in raising her up friends; for the Christian communion she enjoyed there, and for temporal mercies also. They removed to Manchester some time previous to the death of Mr. Wesley, and she again enjoyed the pleasure of hearing him preach, in Oldham-street chapel. Of the events of this period we know little; she has remarked to me, that if she had written the history of her

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