effect it. O what a comfortable view of things is this, when we feel ourselves poor and weak as helpless infancy, and can do nothing. The Lord give you to experience it fully.

How willingly would I endeavour to render you every kind attention, could a wish convey me to your bedside. Indeed, Lady G. has been so kind as to beg I would go up with her, supposing, also, my health might be bettered by it; but I fear it would not answer. The season is now far advanced, and set in very cold; and I do not see how I could return alone, and I could not tarry all winter. You may believe what comfort it would give me to see you once more in the land of the living.

Lady G. is wonderfully well; and how kind has the Lord been to her, in delivering her so quickly from that load of difficult business that B. has caused her so long, and at such a critical time. Truly, our God is good to the soul that trusts in him. She proposes to leave this soon; it is a comfort to me that she is to be with you. I received £10 from her, for the school and poor; your attention is great. But I am afraid I ain making this too long, forgetting your weakness.

To the ever watchful care of the Shepherd of Israel, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, I commit my dearest daughter, and remain her truly affectionate parent in the Lord,

TO LADY H. HOPE.

D. M.

Coates, Nov. 7, 1785.

I sent my dear Lady H. a few lines by post some days ago, and hope the fatigue of reading them has not hurt her. Trusting that this is the case, I take the opportunity of our dear friend's going to you to write again. I am happy to think she goes so soon; if it be the Lord's will, I hope you will have a comfortable winter together, so far as weakness and many complaints of body on both sides will permit.

I hope the Lord keeps you as in the hollow of his hand, and covers your defenceless head from the fierce attacks of the enemy, in your weak state. He in mercy often stays his rough wind in the day of his east wind, knowing what poor, weak, helpless creatures we are, and how little we can bear. He is a God who delighteth in mercy, and has no pleasure in the distress of his people. When he afflicts them at any time, it is to answer some great purpose; and while he chastises with the one hand, he supports with the other; and in general, on these occasions, his consolations are neither few nor small. I trust my dear daughter finds the best wine has been kept to the last. O that the heavenly attraction may be strong, so as to raise her superior to painful feelings, and to deliver her from that anxiety which brings weakness upon the soul. Believing views of Jesus and of the infinite merit of his sufferings are a ground of much solid comfort to the distressed Christian. With what holy boldness

may these be plead at a throne of grace, and with much acceptance, even when the soul, to its own apprehension, is all darkness, confusion, and fear; pressed down with manifold temptations. This is a foundation that cannot be sapped, that standeth ever strong, immovably fixed in God. On this Rock of ages my dear daughter is built; therefore, praises at all times, and in every situation, should her glad tongue employ. Behold your God, and be strong. He lays the foundation of your hope and trust in oaths, in promises, in blood. Surely, then, you should stand firm as the beaten anvil to the stroke. What should discourage you? Or why, with vexing thoughts at any time, should your soul be disquieted? With a holy fortitude you may look forward to death, judgment, and eternity. Though weak and poor in yourself, yet, in virtue of your union with the Lord Jesus, you may grasp omnipotence, and call it your own. "Who can

lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" Jesus, your surety, hath answered all the demands that law and justice had against you; fly, then, to your strong hold in the day of trouble, and you may defy all the powers of earth and hell..

The sacrament was given in Edinburgh last Sunday, in our church. Mr. Randal preached a most delightful sermon upon the love of Jesus to his church, "Who loved his church, and gave himself for it." I was very poorly in body, but tasted his love in my soul. On Monday I was not so well as to be able to go abroad; but my Jesus, on the last day of the feast, gave me my portion at home. How tenderly does he deal with his people!

Miss N. is just come from B., and tells me Lady C. E. is a good deal better; her pulse come down to seventy-six, and her pain much abated; and suffers with a sweet spirit. May Jesus make himself fully known to her, and comfort her in the time of trouble. Mrs. H. and family are pretty well. But Lady G. will give you all particulars; therefore I need not take up your time and strength. Many thanks for your kind attention in sending Mrs. Fletcher's letters, &c., &c. She has indeed suffered a great loss in the death of such a husband; but he was highly favoured in his last conflict. Happy those who are safely landed. Lady G. insisted upon paying for the small books, though I told her you had desired I should. So that I have £1 5s. of your money say to what use it should be put.

I fear the length of this; do read but a little of it at once. May goodness and mercy follow my dear daughter all her days; a large portion of divine love be mixed in every cup, so as to conquer every fear; and at last may she enter the harbour of peace and endless bliss in the full triumph of faith. So prays her very affectionate friend in Jesus,

D. M.

The affliction and death of friends appear to have excited the following seasonable and solemn reflections:

"November 17. O time, swift of wing, how rapid is thy flight! Blessed be God, who has taught me to pierce beyond an hour. Yet what cause have I to mourn that I have not more fully improved that important talent. Where, Lord, lies the defect? I can appeal to thee, O thou Searcher of hearts, that it is my constant desire to fill up every moment with something valuable. I fear I too much overlook the present, in expectation of something more favourable in future. The awful blanks of time are many. How many are numbered with the dead during last week! even among those I knew, either by character or personal acquaintance. But for the joyful prospect of a happy eternity, the mutability of all created good would spread around our world a black and impenetrable cloud. Blessed be God, though all here are shadows, all beyond the grave is ever during substance.”

One extract more shall close this year.

"December 31. I was much disposed this day to spend my time with God, to consider my ways, and meditate on the time that is past; met with interruptions, but, being for the profit of others, I endeavoured to be satisfied. I asked a token for good in the end of this year, as in the former one, and my gracious God condescended to give it. How many are my mercies! this last year they have been great. My communion with the Father and the Son has been uncommonly sweet and near; and, since the 4th of September, almost uninterrupted. In temporal things, also, the hand of my God has been very visible. He has also given me much bodily health; and, when deprived of the means of grace through indisposition, he kept my soul as a watered garden; and gave me, in prayer and meditation, delightful enjoyment of himself. Lately, also, my God has opened an unexpected door for usefulness. Surely I bend under a load of mercies, spiritual and temporal: O for a more grateful heart. How shall I sufficiently praise' my God and Saviour. Come, Lord, and assist me to praise thee in higher strains than ever. O come, and accomplish in me thy promises, and all my powers shall be greatly enlarged."

Death of the Ladies Hope and Glenorchy-Lady Maxwell appointed executrix of the latter-Visits England-Meets with the Rev. Alexander Mather-Character of-Correspondence with him, and the Rev. C.

Atmore.

THIS was an eventful and memorable year in the life of Lady Maxwell. That sacred bond of union, which nothing in life had

been able to dissever, was at once broken up by the irresistible and unrelenting arm of death. On the first of January, Lady Henrietta Hope bade adieu to all the pains and disquietudes of mortality, and entered into life. She had long languished under an enfeebled body, and had been called to endure a complication of afflictions. While these, sanctified as they were by grace, naturally induced her to trim her lamp, and to wait, in an expectant attitude, the coming of her Lord; they also tended to prepare her friends for the painful bereavement. Lady Glenorchy was with her at Bath; a close and unwearied attendant. It was her honourable employment to watch over the last lingering moments of the dying saint, to soothe the bed of death, and to witness the flight of her redeemed and triumphant spirit.

"But after every medical exertion had proved ineffectual, and the medicinal virtue of the wells yielding no relief, she meekly rendered up her ransomed soul into the hands of her Redeemer. Thus died Lady Henrietta Hope, more full of honour than of days, leaving behind her a fair copy of every thing praiseworthy and of good report. A considerable part of her property she left for pious and charitable purposes. ""*

Though Lady Maxwell could not but rejoice to hear that the object of her affectionate solicitude had conquered her last enemy, and entered into the joy of her Lord, the pang at parting appears to have been acute. This is inferred from her expressive silence. During this season of suffering she did not venture to record her emotions. There is a chasm in her diary of three weeks; a rare case; and when she resumed her pen, she did not even notice the painful occurrence. On some occasions, probably, she found that the only way to avoid excessive and inordinate sorrow was, by laying a powerful restraint upon herself, to keep the cause of her distress, as much as possible, absent from her mind. It has been a matter of surprise to her most intimate friends, that she should so carefully shun all conversation relative to the premature loss of her husband and child; but she appears to have been influenced by the above reason. Το her friend, Miss Ritchie, who had requested from her an account of the means by which the Lord brought her to himself, she replied, "You ask me to give you the particulars of my awakening and conversion; and how, since, the work of sanctification has been carried on. To give you a minute detail of this, would carry me beyond the limits of a letter, and lead me to do violence to my temper and feelings; the former by nature shy, and in this respect not entirely conquered by grace; the latter keen and tender; easily wounded by recalling past scenes of wo, when indeed they were tried to the uttermost." To the request of her friend she could not, however, remain entirely silent; and therefore proceeded in her usual laconic way on this subject :—

* Gibbon's Memoirs of Eminently Pious Women. vol. ii, p. 260.

"Suffice it to say, I was chosen in the furnace of affliction. The Lord gave me all I desired in this world, then took all from me; but immediately afterward sweetly drew me to himself." That Lady Maxwell's feelings were exquisite on the present occasion will be no cause of surprise. While religion moderates and refines the sensibilities of our nature, it, at the same time, imparts a susceptibility which can only be felt by those who are the subjects of its influence. She was deprived of her nearest and dearest earthly friend; one for whom she had entertained the most cordial and unmixed esteem; for whose spiritual and eternal welfare she had exerted her utmost energies; and one who had ever been most ready to enter with her into every measure caleulated to meliorate the moral condition of man. They had for years walked to the house of God in company; one in sentiment, and one in heart:

Now they were separated for a season; the one to enjoy her full reward; while the other remained a few years longer, to witness the power of divine grace; and to prosecute with undeviating fidelity that important work which the great Head of the church had in reserve for her. On resuming her pen she wrote as follows:

66

January 21. For these last three weeks I have expected greater things than it has pleased my God to bestow. He is good; supremely good when he gives, nor less so when he withholds. But I dare not say that he has withheld altogether. He has, in mercy, favoured me with several sweet, though short visits, since the first of the month. I have, indeed, had some exquisitely painful moments, and felt ready to sink beneath the pressure; but, by trusting in a faithful God, he soon raised me up, and has restored an intense thirst for all the mind that was in Christ. He has given me a desire equally ardent for power to bring forth much fruit, even a hundred fold; and in tender mercy has granted me to see, where I least expected any, some good effects of my labour. He does, indeed, enable me to strengthen and comfort his own children: to him be all the glory. Lord, let a little one become as a thousand nothing is too hard for thee. But what I now principally desire to see, is the conversion of sinners. O, my God! give me many clear, decided proofs of this; many witnesses for thee, brought out of darkness into thy marvellous light. O put energy into the words I speak, the letters I write, the prayers I offer, for and with others! and do not suffer me to remain in the world comparatively useless : while, at the same time, my heart burns with desire to glorify thee in every possible way; and while I am encouraged to