Charlotte French
Widow Of The Rev John French
A Memorial Service was held on Sunday evening in the Baptist Church for the late Mrs. French, whose death and funeral were reported last week. The service commenced with the anthem, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,” other hymns being “Come let us join our friends above, "For all Thy saints who from their ’”labours rest,*’ “How blest the righteous,” ”Friend after friend departs.” The Rev. G. J. Knight preached from the text:
“Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Peter i., 10,11.
Mr. Knight said he had known deceased 17 years during the time of his ministry in Newbury. The day before her death she told him she had been thinking of the words “ I will praise God while I have my being”, little thinking that the next day would be her last.
Although 80 years of age, Mrs. French was accustomed to rise early so as to have time alone with God in prayer. It was her diligence in prayer that had made her influence among them. He had heard her pray, and her prayers were like conversations with God, simple but intense in their earnestness. For years her name stood on the village plan, and she never failed to keep, an appointment even if she had a distance to walk. She was vice-president of the British Women’s Temperance Association, a sick visitor and diligent in other forms of Christian and social work. She had a dear and definite faith and, could tell people it. One might think of moving the earth as easily as moving the old lady when she had come to a spiritual conclusion. At the conclusion of the service the organist (Mr. Pocock) played the Dead March, the congregation remaining standing. |
