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within our individual notice , and exhibiting them as patterns worthy of public regard and imitation . And such'to . preeminently the case with the name here introduced * The leading and conspicuous features of her character , were gentleness and goodwill to all , affection for
her friends and relatives , and gratitude to that Being to whom she owed her existence and h-er powers of enjoyment . These qualities , which she possessed in no ordinary degree , might , with a less cultivated mind , have easily glided into the delusive
mazes of superstition and credulity . Her imagination warm , ardent , and always impressed with the most lively sensibility , was , nevertheless , tempered and corrected by a soundness of judgment , which well fitted lier for the duties of life she
was called upon to perform , and thus she was doubly endeared to her connexions , and highly respected by the whole of her acquaintance . A feeble and delicate constitution , throughout the course
of her life , had made it requisite that she should frequently leave her relatives , and be placed under the care of strangers ; and this improved her native propensities to the most indelible gratitude for the kind attentions she received from their
hands . No kindness was ever unobserved or forgotten ; and if the common maxim has any foundation in the weakness of human nature , that " we write our wrongs upon marble and our benefits on saud , " never was there a breast in which the opposites were more decidedly concentrated than in hers .
With such sentiments and feelings , it might be safely anticipated that the conclusion of her life should be in exact accordance with its progress . The * heart long ; , accustomed to cultivate and exalt these best endowments of humanity , can never reHijquish them , nor suffer any alienation . About a month before her
dissolution , hel * , physician ^ pronounced her continuance a § hopeless ; she knew his opinion , and contemplated the consequences with indescribable serenity . It was not fortitude that supported her mind , for this implies a conflict to
sustain , and a degree of heroism to overcome the difficulty ; nor was it exactly the feeling of resignation , for this signifies a subdued and voluntary acquiescence in an event more or less painful ; but it was the tranquil composure of an infant reclining its head for repose on the breast of maternal love . ** I have no wish for
choice , * ' said she , ** I have suffered not a . little from long-continued imperfect health ; and I know that whether I live or die , I am in the hands of my Almighty Father , who will surround me with his protection and loviug-kinduesa . "
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Though warmly attached to llie ministers of the church to jvhich . she h&i given the most uniform attendance , she expressed no desire for their attentions . She felt no need of human passports to ensure her admission through the portals of heaven ; nor of any viaticum to operate as a charm or talisman on her future
destiny . Totally incapable of affecting to appear to others what she did not feel . in . strict reality , there was no display for the purpose of exciting any admiration of her energies and self-possession ; but every
word , look and action bespoke the genuine integrity which cheered her in the trying scene . Not a word of alarm or uneasiness escaped her ; nor of regret , excepting for the trouble she occasioned to those kind friends who felt how much
she deserved their most assiduous cares . She bid the last farewell to her friends as they individually came before her , with eyes beaming animation , intelligence and affection to the last , and with a placidity of expression , as though she were saying , " Good night , I shall see you again
tomorrow ; " and when too much exhausted to continue her attentions to objects without , her countenance and moving lips declared most unequivocally what was passing within .
What , then , was her religious creed ? —Reader—it was that which has been so Tauntingly and falsely denounced as a cold and cheerless system in the appalling hour of trial and need—as affording no consolation when the throbbing hear !; seeks it in vain from any other source *
and as presenting but a broken reed for support , when the torrent is sweeping all before it to inevitable and everlasting destruction . Away with this rant of bigotry and superstition ! A single authenticated fact like the foregoing , is of more importance to prove their futility , than thousands of unauthorized and fanatic
assertions— -unworthy of utterance , and of the God iu whose injured name they are promulgated . If her creed may be assumed by one who knew her well , and who had the
best meanfc of ascertaining its import and extent , he would comprise it in one short sentence , and confirm the whole of his assertions by his signature— " * God is love , ' and his revealed will is all-sufficient ground for my boundless confidence . "
Admitting , then , the propriety and advantage of a faithful delineation of such a character , what vehicle so proper foi the purpose as that of her favourite Monthly Repository ? JAMES LUCKCOCK . Birmingham , F $ b . 20 , 1824 .
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Obituary *—Miss , Anne Richards . lip
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 115, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/51/
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