five months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk
abroad. When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you
have known me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have
brought me.'

"My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times
since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought
her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been
downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended
her for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied:
'She is diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It
responds to nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help
for her in medicine.' Other physicians had tried their skill with the
same result. It was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family,
that nothing more could be done for her. While all saw only suffering
and an early death in store for her, yet she confidently expected to be
well, and her faith never waned.

"It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one
of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this
lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when
conversation turned upon this topic, she felt constrained to express her
fears. But Mary was hopeful. A proposition was made, and arrangements
were perfected to visit Doctor Cullis, to secure the benefit of his
prayers. But her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned.
'If,' said Mrs. F., 'faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or
to any one? Let us go to God ourselves; and, Mary, if you have faith
that God can and will cure you sometime, why not believe that He will
_cure you now?_'