The Power of Faith | Page 7

York to complete a negotiation he had entered into for
disposing of his commission, to enable him to settle, as he originally
intended, on a tract of land which it was in his power to purchase on the
banks of the river they had just descended. The gentleman proposing to
purchase his commission, not being able to perfect the arrangement in
time, Dr. Graham found himself under the necessity of proceeding to
Antigua with the regiment. Mrs. Graham on learning this, hurried down
with her family to accompany him, although he had left it optional with
her to remain till he should have ascertained the nature of the climate,

and the probability of his continuing in the West Indies.
At New York they were treated with much kindness by the late Rev. Dr.
John Rodgers and others, especially by the family of Mr. Vanbrugh
Livingston. With Mr. Livingston's daughter, the wife of Major Brown,
of the sixtieth regiment, Mrs. Graham formed a very intimate
friendship, which continued during the life of Mrs. Brown.
They embarked with the regiment, November 5, 1772, for Antigua.
CHAPTER II.
RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
Within three weeks after their arrival at Antigua, six companies were
ordered to the island of St. Vincents to quell an insurrection of the
Caribs. The doctor accompanied them, and Mrs. Graham was called to
the pain of separation under circumstances more trying than she had as
yet experienced, as the war with savages might expose him to the most
cruel death. In these circumstances she wrote him as follows:
"ANTIGUA, January 16, 1773.
"MY DEAREST DOCTOR--This goes by Mr. W----, who sails
to-morrow; also a letter to Captain G----. Mr. M---- begs to be
remembered to you; he has been foot and hand to me since you left. My
dearest doctor, suffer me to put you in remembrance of what you put in
the end of your trunk the morning you left me,* and let it not lie idle.
Read it as the voice of God to your soul. My dearest love, I have been
greatly distressed for fear of your dear life; but the love I bear to your
soul is as superior to that of your body, as the value of one surpasses
the other; consequently my anxiety for its interest is proportioned. May
heaven preserve my dearest love--lead you, guide you, direct you, so
can you never go wrong--protect and defend you, so shall you ever be
safe, is the daily prayer of your affectionate wife,
*Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.

"I. GRAHAM.
"P.S. I am told that you have taken a number of prisoners. I know not if
you have any right to entail slavery on these poor creatures. If any fall
to your share, do set them at liberty."
On the 8th of June, Mrs. Graham wrote to her mother, expressing her
gratitude for her husband's safe return, and noticing some gratifying
indications of the calm and peaceful state of his mind:
"You would be surprised to hear the doctor preach. He says we ought to
be thankful; we have hitherto been richly and bountifully provided for;
we ought not to repine, nor doubt, seeing we have the same Providence
to depend upon; that we ought not to set our hearts upon any thing in
this world; being very short-sighted, we cannot know what is proper for
us. Having done for the best, when we are disappointed, we ought to
rest satisfied that either what we wish is not for our good, or it will in
some future dispensation of Providence be brought about another way
and in a fitter time. Indeed, my dear mamma, in some things he is a
better Christian than I am. _May God make him so in every thing._"
Thus was the Lord preparing his servant for what was so soon to
follow--not his dismission from the regiment, which he so ardently
desired, but from this world and its temptations and snares. Mrs.
Graham's prayers were answered, but "by terrible things in
righteousness."
She added a request that her mother would receive her eldest daughter,
who, though at the early age of five years, she feared would receive
injurious influences from the corrupt state of society around her, and
accordingly, not long after, sent her to Scotland; but before her arrival,
her grandmother had been called to a better world. In reference to this
event Mrs. Graham wrote to her bereaved father as follows:
"ANTIGUA, August 21, 1773.
"MY DEAREST PAPA--The heart-rending tidings of my dear, my
tender, my affectionate mother's death reached me yesterday. I am so

distressed that I can scarcely write, and no wonder, for never was there
such a mother. My loss is indeed great; but O, my dear, my afflicted
father, how my