000036Church

                 History of the Church of God

                                                 Sylvester Hassell

                                BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. M. M. HASSELL

It has often been said that "behind every great man there is a great woman." In the life of the
two authors of this History this statement certainly is descriptive. Following is a pen picture of
the life of Mrs. M. M. Hassell written by Elder Sylvester Hassell and which is copied from the
Biographical History of Primitive or Old School Baptist Ministers of the United States
compiled and published by Elder R. H. Pitman in 1909. This book also included a section
entitled "Talented and Spiritually-minded Sisters and "Mothers in Israel'." In which this sketch
appeared. This account of a step-mothers by a step-son speaks most highly of both.

Hassell, Mrs. M. M.

This eminent woman whose full maiden name was Martha Maria Worcester, was a daughter
of Leonard and Rebecca Worcester and was born in Greenfield, New Hampshire, July 17,
1815, and died in Williamston, N.C., October 5, 1897. She was twice married, first to Elder
Daniel E. Jewett of New York, who died in 1845, and four years later to Elder C. B. Hassell
whose death occurred in 1880. Elder Sylvester Hassell, the well-known historian and
minister, was a step-son of the subject of this sketch and gives the following pen picture of
her: In her twelfth year, mother experienced conviction for sin and a hope of salvation
through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and she was baptized into the fellowship
of the Baptist Church, of which she was a member more than seventy years; and all the days
of her long pilgrimage she proved the reality of her conversion, and adorned her Christian
profession with a most godly walk and conversation. She was blessed of the Lord with a fine
intellect, and with the purest spirit. Her character was of the highest order-it was Christ-like.
She was richly endowed with the Spirit of Christ, and manifested, in a pre-eminent manner,
the graces of that Spirit. She loved the Lord and His holy law and precious gospel, His
blessed Word and house and ordinances, and His dear people. She had a special and
tender sympathy for ministers of the gospel in all their labors and trials, both of her husbands
having been ministers. She had a deep and growing desire for the gospel peace and union
and fellowship of all the people of God. She had an extensive religious correspondence and
many of her humble and lovely spiritual letters were published in our periodicals. She was a
true mother in Israel, beloved and revered all over the United States. She spoke evil of no
one, and did harm to none, but wished to benefit every one. She was the most
spiritual-minded person I ever knew. She lived in the presence of God and in the light of
eternity. She surpassed all other human beings of my acquaintance in the gift of prayer. My
dear father always had family prayer morning and night; and once every week he called on
mother to lead, which she did in the most solemn, reverent, and thrilling manner I ever
heard-it was to me a heaven below to listen to her humble, tender, and fervent voice
ascending to the throne of the Divine Majesty. And, after father's death, I have often heard
her in her lonely chamber, at the dead hours of night, pour forth her earnest supplications to
God for His mercies to herself and others. My own mother, who died when I was four years
old, could not have treated me more lovingly and tenderly. She was always a ministering
angel to me in affliction and bereavement. Her sympathy was active and profound; her
counsel was heavenly. Her words often seemed to me as the words of God-they were in
such harmony with the Scriptures and the teachings of the Divine Spirit. My intimate
acquaintance with her for forty-eight years has been one of the very dearest and richest
privileges of my life, for which I can never feel thankful enough to the Lord; and words seem
too poor to express the painfulness of my bereavement in her death. But it is the deepest
desire of my heart to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the Lord."