Part 1 — REMINISCENCE OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF Mrs. Rebecca Steward,

BY BISHOP JABEZ P. CAMPBELL, D. D.

Mrs. Rebecca Steward, wife of James Steward, was the daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe Gould, of Bridgeton, Cumberland County, N. J. She was born May 2d, 1820. Her father, Benjamin Gould, was the son of Abijah Gould, whose father's name was Benjamin, who was either the son or grandson of Elizabeth, a granddaughter of Sir John Fenwick, one of the proprietors of New Jersey in its early colonial times.

Rebecca, the subject of this sketch, was married to James Steward in 1838, by the Rev. Vansant, of the M. E. Church.

The fruit of this marriage were six children; a boy and a girl alternately, all of whom are now living.

The early educational advantages of Mrs. Steward were those afforded by the township school. Here she became a good English scholar, and supplemented the instruction, thus received, by extensive reading; so that she became proficient, both as a writer and a conversationalist.

She was converted and joined the A. M. E. Church, at Gouldtown, in 1846.

In 1869 commenced her physical suffering, which, at times was so acute, as to carry her to the very portal of the grave. What she said upon religious subjects was of the most earnest character. When her children were even very young, it was her usual custom to read to them from the Bible such portions as would impress upon their minds the divine lessons of this Holy Book; and instil into their plastic hearts, "line upon line, and precept upon precept;" and, after thus reading and explaining, she would kneel with them and plead with God to guide them by His heavenly Light!

One evening, in the midst of these devout exercises, and while asking God for His guidance, her husband entered the room, and then and there, for the first time, bowed in prayer with his family.

But a short time after this occurrence, her husband and Mr. Abel Lee, the father of President Lee, of Wilberforce University, were both converted and united with the Church.

Lamartine relates in his opening chapter of his "Voyage to the Holy Land," that the desire, to make the journey, was awakened in his mind by his mother's Bible lessons. He stated that his reward for a good lesson, was to be permitted to see the pictures of an illustrated Bible, and hear from his good mother's lips the history and explanations of these pictures. Is it necessary to be said, that we can see the effect of Rebecca Steward's Bible lessons upon the minds of her children, in giving them an impulse to seek for things divine?

From 1869 to 1872, two of her sons were in the South, one in Georgia and the other in Florida, viz.: William and Theophilus (Rev. T. G. Steward). They visited the paternal roof once a year. When their visit had terminated, and they were about to depart, she would bid them adieu with cheerful words, and an invocation to heaven to bless them; she would urge them back to their posts of duty, beseeching them to be pious men, and in all things labor for the honor and glory of God, and be not dismayed if a messenger should come to them, saying: "Mother is done suffering." She would say: "The Good Man" would keep her safely and take her home in His own good time.

The premonition of a sudden death was constantly before her; but this was no evidence that it created fear; for she was on a Rock. A few evenings previous to her death, she said, with a tender smile: "Children, you will look for me in the morning, but mother will not be here." She was fully prepared to meet Death, but he came not then. A few days after this she was seized with such violent spasms as to destroy consciousness; but, when the spasms had passed, and her consciousness had returned, and observing that her husband and the children, who were at her bedside, were sore distressed, and that her husband had telegraphed to New York for Theophilus, and to Philadelphia for William, the latter a clerk in the A. M. E. Book Room, and the former had just closed his Pastorate of the Bridge St. A. M. E. Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., she chided her husband, by saying, that it was not worth while to worry and distress them. Then, after telling her husband to meet her in heaven, she expired in the arms of her oldest daughter.

Taine, whose illustrations of individual or natural characteristics have been unequalled, has said, with much force, that behind the fossil there was an animal, and that behind the old, faded manuscript there was a man; and we know the man and his peculiarities from the manuscript. For such axiomatic expressions as these, Taine has been applauded by the most learned of every land. Yet, to a Bible reader, axioms as forcible as Taine's, stand conspicuous throughout the sacred pages.

A man is known by his works. "Do we gather figs from thistles?" "Can an impure fountain send forth sweet water?" are Bible axioms.

We have been led to the above digression from the facts related to us; because, behind these facts, we shall show there existed no ordinary woman. Though descended from what might be claimed as the aristocracy of one of the original thirteen States, a State as proud of its ancestry as the most pretentious, she assumed no aristocratic prerogatives; but, among the humblest, still showed herself to be a Christian woman, in the full significance of these words; and, if she claimed homage, it was conceded to her spontaneously by the right of her mental adornments and the graces of an unsullied Christian life. Here mankind are beginning, though late, to concede all the distinctive traits of preeminence.

Rebecca Steward was a woman of extraordinary ability, and possessed some of the most excellent qualities of both heart and mind. Eulogy will not appear to be exaggeration, when pronounced in the presence of those who knew her; and they will unanimously declare, that she feared God and loved her race. None were her superiors, and few were her equals. She was not influenced by the arbitrary rules conceived in prejudice of caste or race; her sympathies were as wide as humanity, and as uncontaminated as a child's; her sympathies were guided by her judgements, and her judgements were made clear by the teachings of the hand of God, and not warped by the infections of exclusiveness. Gifted with a mind of ceaseless activity, comprehensive observation, and the most placid reflection, she yet possessed a head whose capacious breadth could feel the pulsations of an humble heart. In whatever class, or position, or society she was cast, she was equally at home; with the refined and intellectual, she ranked their peer; to the ignorant, poor, and lowly, she was a helping hand, and a guiding voice to a higher life. Her conversations were distinguished by freedom of language and the appropriate words in which she clothed her thoughts. She shunned the stilted words of the pedant as she conversed to communicate thoughts and principles. She did not read to treasure ideas and sentiments for her own selfish, personal or mental amusements, but she read and thought, that she might communicate to others that which she read; and thus, here and there, plant a seed, whose unending product could be estimated alone before the throne of God. She was generous with her thoughts as with her means; and they who needed either, received freely and liberally, as she herself had received most liberally from the bounteous Giver.

Charlotte Brunte is often cited as an example of how much can be accomplished by the mind, even when the body is afflicted.

Rebecca Steward inherited a delicate constitution; but, notwithstanding, the superiority of her intellect so husbanded the physical strength, as to enable her in her mental achievements to compensate for a weak body. Her mind seized upon thoughts with marvelous facility; and religious thoughts were the permeating influence that flowed continually through her life. Her influence has been left upon all who came in contact with her; and her influences were constantly on the side of her divine Master, from whose inspired Book she drew the web and woof of her most remarkable and impressive conversations; and she seemed to have relied implicitly upon the words: "Open thy mouth and I will fill it." Unassuming in all she did; free to give expression to her thoughts; steadfast in faith; with such an abundance of those qualities that adorn humanity, that we cannot enumerate them; she was one of those of whom the world is not worthy; and therefore, God took her from the evil to come.

Dear reader, in the life and character of this beloved Christian woman, we have a most happy illustration of Christian faith and practice.

In it all the Christian graces are seen to shine most conspicuously. I repeat, in her life the Christian graces of faith, hope and charity, or the love of God and humanity, had a most happy illustration.

Go thou and do likewise, and God shall reward thee as He rewarded her.

May the grace of God enable thee so to do, is the prayer of thy friend and brother,

JABEZ P. CAMPBELL.

Philadelphia, Pa., August 20th, 1877.