Revised Jun 22 2021
Mr.Nobbs had been between eighteen and nineteen years in the midst of the people, when the above letters were written; and he had maintained and advanced among them, according to the teaching of the Church of England, those good principles with which the very name of Pitcairn has been so long and so happily associated.
As their religion has been full of good fruits, so it has been of a quiet, sensible, and unostentatious kind. Inquiry having been made of Mr. Nobbs by some persons in the United States of America, a few years since, as to any instances of sudden and extraordinary conversion, which might have fallen under his notice, he replied that his experience did not furnish any such cases from Pitcairn, In answer to the questions put to him, he remarked, in reference to the last hours of Polly Adams, which will be found noticed in a subsequent page, as well as to some other instances of dying persons:—
"Had inquiry been made for examples of HAPPY DEATHS, I could have replied with unmitigated satisfaction; for I have seen many depart this life, not only happy, but triumphant. And herein is, I think, the test of the Christian character; for when we see a person, who for a number of years has not only in word, but in deed, adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, brought by sickness or casualty to the confines of the eternal world, about to enter the precincts of the silent grave, yet with unabated energy and fervour proclaim his hope of a glorious resurrection; when we see a person, suffering the most acute pain, exhorting and encouraging others to pursue the same path he has trod, telling the love of God to his soul, and of his desire to depart, that he may enter into the presence of his Redeemer; when we witness such unwavering confidence, amid such intense sufferings, and when the sanity of the patient is undoubted, can we hesitate to say at the demise of such an one, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!' It has been my felicity to witness several departures of this description within a few years; two from accidents, one from a cancer in the breast, one shortly after child-birth, and one from disease of the heart. All these died in the faith. Some of the diseases were lingering, others rapidly fatal; but in all cases the subjects were 'strong in faith, giving glory to God.'"