Even among those who were her dependents, she "honoured those who feared the Lord."

66

Solicitude for the spiritual interests of her friends, was a striking feature in the history of the Countess. "When thou art converted," said our Lord to Peter, “ strengthen thy brethren," Luke xxii. 32. And this charge to the disciple she felt as conveying a lesson to all his professed followers. Many were the plans which zeal for the glory of God, and love to souls, led her to adopt, with a view to Christian usefulness. In company she would often introduce profitable conversation, by dropping some sentence-some moral or holy apothegm-. that was not very remote from the subject of conversation; and would thus turn the thoughts and converse into an useful channel, without offence, and even to the satisfaction of her friends. Friendship she regarded as a talent to be improved for God; and often she availed herself of it to plead, with those to whom she was attached, the cause of God and their own souls. In these attempts, it was hard to resist the touching eloquence of the affection with which she spoke. "I cannot be so unkind," she would say, 'nay, so unfaithful to the laws of friendship, as to let you persist, and perish in a way which you know, as well as I do, leads down to destruction." If they replied with excuses, she would stop them thus:-"Use no arguments that will not hold good at the day of judgment. Oh that you, who, I dare say, would take my word for anything else, would do me the honour to take my word for Him, who is ready, if you come to him, to reconcile you to himself in Christ, to heal your backslidings,-to receive you graciously, -to love you freely. Do not fear that you shall have cause to repent of sincere repentance. No man was ever yet a loser by God. You shall not lose your pleasures; but exchange those which are transient and defiled, for those which are permanent and pure." A judicious use of her own experience was sometimes made, to give strength to her pleadings. "Alas! I was once of your mind; but I assure you, I have really found more satisfaction in serving God, than ever I found in all the good things of this life; of which you know I have had my share. Try it, therefore,-dare to be holy,-resolve to be so thoroughly."

It is not a matter of surprise to find that, to one whose heart was so much set upon God, and all that concerned his glory, the Sabbath was a day of delight. Recognising the intimate connexion between its observance and the maintenance of the vitality of personal religion, she ever accounted it "holy unto the Lord, and honourable," Isa. lviii. 13. Divine grace preserved

her from the forgetfulness and unfruitfulness of the mere hearer; and she strove, by varied efforts, to make the sermons to which she listened her own, that she might turn them into practice in the week. The inconsistency of those who are mere church-goers, and who despise in the week that which they affect to treat on the Sabbath with decent respect, she grieved over. Another thing which she described as too hard for her, and above her comprehension, was, "how professing Christians, who would seem devout at church, could laugh at others for being serious out of it, and could burlesque the Bible, and turn religion into ridicule.”

The account of the last Sabbath which she spent in health, as contained in a note in her diary, written the day before she was taken ill, will best illustrate how fully her thoughts kept Sabbath too, and how completely they were centred upon high and holy themes. It is affecting, too, to observe, that the anticipations of her dissolution were deeply impressed upon her mind, though at the time there were no visible symptoms of it in her frame. But she could say with Paul, “I die daily." Death, so alarming an event to those who live without Christ, had no terrors for her; it was one of the most constant subjects of her thoughts; and she used to speak of those walks, in which she made it the matter for meditation, as "going to take a turn with death."

"March 24, 1678.-As soon as I awoke, I blessed God. I then meditated, and endeavoured, by thinking of some of the great mercies of my life, to stir up my heart to give glory to God. These thoughts had this effect upon me, to melt my heart much by the love of God, and to warm it with love to him.

"Next, I prayed, and was enabled, in that duty, to pour out my soul to God.

your

"After I had begged a blessing on earthly ordinances, I I went to hear Mr. His text was,Pass the time of sojourning here in fear," 1 Pet. i. 17. Two sermons were preached from the same text. After concisely and methodically recapitulating them, she says, "I was in a serious frame at both the sermons, and was by them convinced of the excellency of fearing God, and of employing the remainder of the term of my life in his service. Afterwards I retired, and meditated I had also, this

upon the discourses, and prayed them over. evening, large meditations of death and of eternity; which thoughts had this effect upon me, to beget in me an extraordinarily awakened frame, in which the things of another life were much realized to me, and made very deep impressions

upon me; and my soul followed hard after God, for grace to serve him better than ever yet I had done.

"O Lord, be pleased to hear my prayers, which come not out of feigned lips, and to hear the voice of my weeping for more holiness, and for being more weaned from the world and all in it."

On the following Tuesday she was taken ill, and suffered from four or five fits, until the 12th of April. On this day she rose, in a moderate degree of strength, and after sitting up for some time, was again laid upon her couch; but still continued in cheerful conversation, on subjects relating to God and heaven, with those around her. One of the last sentences which she uttered was, as she turned back the curtain with her hand, "Well, ladies, if I were one hour in heaven, I should not wish to be again with you, much as I love you." Again rising from her couch, she requested that a minister who was in the house would pray with her. Her Ladyship, almost at the beginning of his prayer, was heard to fetch a sigh, which was regarded by those present as arising from her deep feeling of devotion; but a lady who kneeled beside her, looking up, saw her face turn pale, and her hand hang down. She started up!-all applied themselves to restore the sufferer,-but her hand had lost its pulse, her spirit had fled! She died in the actual exercise of prayer; and in this God gave her the desire of her heart, for she had often been heard to say, "that if she might choose the manner and circumstances of her death, she would die praying." She died, therefore, as she lived,―a woman who gave herself to prayer,-who knew its value, and loved its exercise. She used to call it heart's-ease, for she often experienced it to be so. On the very day before she died, she shut herself up in her chamber for more than an hour, notwithstanding indisposition; that she might pour out her soul in that exercise, which was the vital breath to her soul, the very element in which she lived, and in which she was wafted to heaven.

To those who peruse this brief narrative of one whose highest honour, notwithstanding her exalted rank and good estate, was to be a follower of Christ, she "being dead, yet speaketh." The desirableness of such an end as was hers, none can doubt; but there is a close connexion between that life which is characterised by a humble, self-distrusting, careful, yet cheerful walk with God, and that death which is, indeed, falling asleep in Jesus. The word of God assigns it as a positive duty, to "follow those who through faith and patience now inherit the promises."-If we would follow them to heaven, we must tread

in their footsteps on earth. The commencement of such a course consists in one specific act, to which God's grace induces, and for which that grace must be sought: a thorough and determined yielding up of the heart to Jesus, sinful as it is, that it may be forgiven; polluted as it is, that it may be sanctified by his Spirit; and deceitful as it is, that it may be constrained to his love and service. "This," said Jesus, "is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent." This is the foundation of all genuine religion :. Jesus Christ embraced with the whole heart by faith-faith working by love-love inciting to obedience to his commandments and imitation of his example. Christ must "dwell in the heart by faith." This was the secret of that history which these pages record. In this originated that devotedness to God, which prompted this noble lady to take delight in the more private exercises of religion; that consistent walk before men, that earnest anxiety for the spiritual welfare of her dependents, — that longing to set a crucified Redeemer before the hearts of her friends, as "the only way, the truth, the life." Dear reader,— all that she was, you may be. Like the apostle, she would say, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." The perusal of this narrative has, perhaps, caused you to be disquieted at the dissimilarity between its varied points and your daily course. Conscience will suggest, that if she were right, you must be in the wrong; that if her rank and station, with all its temptations, prevented not her intercourse with God, neither ought your circumstances to be allowed to be an impediment. Turn, then, from these pages, and ask of Him, who will give liberally, that grace which changed her heart,-which brought her to the cross, which supplied her principles of conduct,—which enabled her to decide between God and the world, and gave her so much joy in his service, as that she never repented her choice. Yield yourself to the Lord. Do not keep back any part of your heart from Him, who gave himself for you.

It

was her wont to observe, that the almost Christian is the unhappiest of men; having religion enough to incur the dislike of the world, but not enough to enjoy the favour of God: and among her recorded thoughts were these weighty words

"O Lord, what I give thee doth not please thee, unless I give thee myself; so, what thou givest me shall not satisfy me, unless thou givest me thyself."

J. F. SHAW, BOOKSELLER, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, LONDON.

J. & W. Rider, Printers, Bartholomew Close, London.

THE REASONABLENESS OF A DECIDED

ATTACHMENT TO CHRIST.

Ir appears from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, that on a certain occasion, when our Lord taught in the synagogue of Capernaum, and delivered some most invaluable instructions respecting his own character and work, his doctrine was highly offensive to his audience. He was often interrupted by their loud murmurs and sceptical questions. The replies which he made to their inquiries, proving too spiritual for their carnal apprehensions and taste, served only to strengthen their prejudices and inflame their resentment. So extremely unpopular was his discourse, that it not only hardened many in their unbelief, but determined also a considerable number, who, from questionable motives, had appeared among his followers, now entirely to desert him. "From that time," says the Evangelist, "many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him," John vi. 66. Under these circumstances, our Lord put this rousing and affecting question to the twelve: "Will ye also go away?" Though he was perfectly acquainted with the real character of each of them, and foresaw the part which they would severally act, yet he wisely proposed this interesting question, with a view to excite them to self-diffidence and selfexamination; to confirm them in the faith and profession of his name, and to draw forth a seasonable expression of their inviolable attachment-encouraging to him, honourable to themselves, and calculated, in some degree, to stem the torrent of apostasy among the rest of his followers. The question at once found its way to the hearts of the disciples, and all the ardour of holy affection was kindled within them. With a glowing countenance and an animated tone, Peter, speaking in the name of the twelve, addressed himself to Jesus, saying, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and