OBITUARY.
Died in Boston, March 13th 1828, Mrs. Rebecca Phillips, wife of Hon. Jonathan Phillips, and daughter of the late Samuel Salisbury, Esq.
The character we delight to remember, as that which was sustained by Mrs. Phillips, was formed and nurtured by the discipline of the heart in holy retirement. She was often shut up from the world by personal sufferings. But she was blessed without the world's aid, in that sphere which allowed most exercise to the private virtues.— Serene, simple, unpretending, she required for her peace and joy, only her faith in God, and to see those over whom nature and duty gave her influence, rendered happy by her care. Her tastes were purely christian. Wealth was in her hand, but she was too humble in heart to regard it as valuable for its own sake. Her bounty was ever passing through some hidden channel, to such as she knew to be poor, and believed to be deserving. She loved to do good, but she did not love to be seen to do it. Her manner of dispensing benefits was such as to lift up the spirit of the sufferer, and forbid all painful sense of obligation. It was God who gave, by her hand.
A sensibility which was almost excessive, was in this lamented woman, so fortified by religious principle that she could comfort those for whose distress she bled. Her friends can never cease to recall her winning gentleness, her assiduous zeal to serve, her tender and disinterested kindness in every relation she bore to them. And she has bequeathed to society an example of what Christianity could do in imparting to an affluent condition the grace of humility, and the virtue of usefulness; and in training a soul in purity and peace for heaven, within reach of all which the world could offer to detain it beneath the skies. The name of Jesus was honored by her, with a fervor which betokened inward veneration. She was not ashamed to confess him in every way which her faith and his gospel demanded. But it seemed to be impossible for her to place her piety in a more conspicuous light than the simple acts of duty, themselves occasioned. Not to shine, nor to be called holy, but to please God, and be found of her Redeemer in peace, was the study of her life. There are undying memorials of her in many hearts below, and we humbly hope a far better and an eternal record in the heavens.
Source: The Unitarian Advocate, edited by Rev. Edmond Quincy Seawall, Volume I, Boston, 1828; Pg. 260
