Ripley103

Surely, no one’s sorrows are equal to mine; because myheart seems to share in the bitterness of everyone one whomI mix with. I am going to the Centre, six miles from this, and myfeeble fabric can scarcely support itself; but obedience isrequired if I faint by the way. This is consequenceof leaving some of my morning’s work to do at noon.Take warning, O reader! and do the work of thy life sea-sonably, then thou wilt be at liberty to rest in pain, andthy vigorous hours will honour Him, who finished Hiswork at noon, by thirty-three, being Obedient all His Days.Had I gone forth at the first call of my Heavenly Father,my flesh and bones would now have rested in hope, andmy spirit entered the pearly gate of the City of the NewJerusalem, which is free, and the Mother of us all, whoare sealed to the Day of Redemption, when our bodies shallbe raised from the dust and formed a celestial temple, forthe glorified soul and Spirit of the Living God to swell inforever. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spi-ritual body. There is a natural body, and there is aspiritiual body: and so it is written, The first a Adamwas made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quick-ending spirit. And as we have borne the image of theearthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly:For the trumpet shall sound; and the dead shall beraised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [14th 8thmo. 1805, Vernon, Oneida County.] Samuel Kirkland, a Presbyterian missionary to theOneida Indians, called upon me this day to give me aninvitation to his residence. I felt unwilling for the pre-sent to comply with his request; but my aged friend appeared determined to have me home with him. He said,Skanando, the Old Oneida Chief, had come thirteen milesafter him, to bring me again, for my last Interpreter hadnot done me justice, when I took my leave of them: be-sides, he could not trust any so well as his old friendKirkland, who administered the bread and wine unto him;being the only man, and Chief, who joined the Indians