Mrs. Abigail Waters; WHO DIED IN BOSTON, TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, PREACHED ON OCCASION OF HER DEATH. BY JOSHUA HUNTINGTON, Pastor of the Old South Church. "The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heav'n. Young's Night Thoughts BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, EZRA LINCOLN, PRINTER. DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit: District Clerk's Office. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the eighteenth day of February, A. D. 1817, and in the forty first year of the independence of the United States of America, Samuel T. Armstrong, of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Abigail Waters; who died in Boston, November 22d, 1816, in the 96th year of her age. To which is prefixed, the Sermon preached on occasion of her Death. By Joshua Huntington, Pastor of the Old South Church. "The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heav'n. Young's Night Thoughts." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts PREFACE. IN preparing this little volume for the press, the writer has labored under a serious inconvenience; which he doubts not the reader, will regret, as sincerely as himself; resulting from the poverty, and scantiness, of his materials. Most Biographical Sketches, arè principally composed, of the letters, and private reflections of those, whose history they record. And to this, they are chiefly indebted for their currency, and effect. Epistolary correspondence, now so general, was little practised when Mrs. Waters was young. Her letters therefore, it is presumed, werè comparatively few; and those few, have gone with the companions of her youth, to whom they were addressed, beyond recovery. Her. private reflections, which would have been far more valuable, and which were considerably copious, she committed to the flames several years since, in a sea son of spiritual darkness and melancholy. From that time to her death, her eye sight was such, as to render difficult, if not impossible, the use of the pen. This loss, it is hoped, will be found in some measure supplied, by the record of her long confinement :-the observations made, and the feelings expressed by her, during the course of which, having been committed to paper immediately after they were uttered; and in some instances, as they fell from her lips. The naturally incredulous, and the "slow of heart to believe," what their own observation, or experience has not sanctioned; especially in regard to religion; may perhaps, call in question the accuracy of the statement; or make very liberal allowance, for unintentional departures from the simplicity of truth. The writer has only to lament, that persons of this description, could not themselves have witnessed, what he has attempted to relate. Could they have enjoyed that privilege; for such he certainly considered it; they would be constrained to acknowledge, that in the fol |