Archive:The Whitney Family of Connecticut, page 258

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The Whitney Family of Connecticut

by S. Whitney Phoenix
(New York: 1878)

Transcribed by Robert L. Ward.

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258
Sixth Generation.
Him, and notwithstanding all his sins, he hoped they were pardoned. At another time he said, 'I may be deceived about my personal salvation, but not about my loving the kingdom of Christ. I am not so clear in my views of Christ as my Saviour, as I could desire; but as to His kingdom, I have no doubt. If I love anything, I love His kingdom. I love to see it advance and to hear of its prosperity.' He then repeated the lines,

'I love Thy kingdom, Lord,' &c.

In the course of the day, he sent for his domestics (a man and woman, who had lived with him nineteen years) and said to them in the Hawaiian tongue, 'The physicians have just told me that I am about to die. Here is my dying charge to you. Take care of her (pointing to his wife); she will act as my successor; obey her as you have obeyed me.' As they sat weeping, he continued, 'Jesus Christ is the Rock on which to build our hopes of everlasting life. He is the immovable foundation. His blood cleanses from all sin. I have been a great sinner, but I think I am forgiven. He told the man, who was not a professor of religion, that God required him to give Him his heart, and exhorted him to do it without delay. To the woman, who was a professor, he said, 'Follow me in the things in which I have followed Christ, but wherein I have departed from His example, do not follow me there.' He exhorted them both to seek religion as the great object of pursuit, and not to be eager after worldly gain, assuring them that nothing but an interest in Christ would sustain them in a dying hour. He said much to this effect, and sent a like message to the people of his charge on Kauai. 'I wish them all,' he said, 'men, women, and children, to meet me where Christ is.' At another time, he requested his dying, affectionate farewell to be given to all his flock, among whom he had labored and over whom he had been placed as a shepherd, to feed and guide them, naming with much tenderness various individuals.

"Being asked by his wife whether he had any message to send to his surviving brothers and sisters, and to his own dear children in America, he answered, 'Yes,' and lying for a few moments apparently in deep thought, he said, 'Those dear children of Mr. Chamberlain, remember me affectionately to them. I little thought, when I parted with them, that it would be the last time I should ever see them. Dear children !--how I love them!' He had lodged in Mr. Chamberlain's family, while at Honolulu, and had ever manifested a deep interest in his children. It would seem that the tender recollection of these dear little ones made him forget his own children, or perhaps he was exhausted by the effort he had made. On a subsequent occasion, however, he did send a message to his children in the United States, saying, 'Tell them to repent and serve the Lord, Jesus Christ, to give Him their hearts, and serve Him as long as they live. He is the sun and center of the universe. An interest in Him is worth infinitely more than all the wealth in the United States. I would not exchange my
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