my grief natural, and not to be blamed: therefore, leaving me to myself, they allowed this awful event to have its full influence upon my mind. And, with God's blessing, I believe that it was rendered really useful to me; since, from that time, my views of the importance of religion became gradually more solid and operative.

"At length, the day arrived when the remains of poor Lady Caroline were to enter the village. The funeral was to take place at the family-seat; and the morning was ushered in by the tolling of the muffled bell. About noonday, the deep rumbling of wheels announced the approach of the hearse and mourning-coaches. I was at my window, on the very spot from whence I had seen Lady Caroline for the last time. In this place I stood, as it were unable to move, till the sound of wheels became louder, and I could distinguish through the trees, which were then leafless, the -deep black of the hearse, and the white plumes with which it was surrounded. That hearse contained the remains of what I had considered the perfection of elegance, beauty, and felicity; and now I felt how utterly inadequate beauty, rank, and fashion are, to ensure the happiness of an immortal being! 'Oh, Lady Caroline,' I cried, in the bitterness of my feelings, ' had you been the poorest, the most deformed, most despised creature upon earth, and had yet given evidence of a change of heart, your friends would have had at this moment a consolation, which nothing on earth can now give them.' And, on this occasion, the cheerless words of the poet recurred to my mind

"How lov'd, how valued once, avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
A heap of dust alone remains of thee,

"Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.'

"The hearse approached, and the white plumes again waved in the same place where those had flourished on the head of Lady Caroline, exciting in my foolish mind such strange ideas of prosperity, elegance, and happiness. I watched the mournful train till it entered the gates of the mansion-house, and, winding around to the chief front, passed out of my view. I then fell on my knees, and thanked God for all those particular circumstances in my situation, which I had hitherto deplored as misfortunes:

-viz. my humble birth, my retired situation, my homely dress, the necessity I was under of working hard and living plainly; and, above all, for that greatest of all blessings, a pious education: all which circumstances I was now led to consider as affording such an earnest of the divine favour as I never could be sufficiently thankful for."

Here the lady of the manor paused a moment, and then said, "My dear young friends, may the history of this young lady, who was cut off in the midst of the highest prospects of earthly grandeur, afford a seasonable lesson to you, and lead you to remember your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when you will say, I have no pleasure in them." (Eccl. xii. 1.)

The lady of the manor then expatiated somewhat largely upon the misery of those who die without having been previously brought to the knowledge of God in Christ, and experienced a real change of heart." My dear young friends," she said, "did you ever consider what your loss would be, should you be so miserable as to lose heaven? I remember," added she, "being formerly much struck with some passages on this subject in my favourite book, Baxter's Saint's Everlasting Rest; and, if you have no objection, I will read those passages to you, sincerely hoping that, with God's blessing, they may be rendered as profitable to you as they were to me.

"The glorious personal perfection which the saints enjoy in heaven, forms one distinguishing privilege of which the ungodly will be for ever deprived. They lose that shining lustre of the body, surpassing the brightness of the sun at noon-day. Though the bodies of the wicked will be raised more spiritual than they were upon earth, yet that will only make them capable of the more exquisite torments. They would be glad, at that time, if every member were a dead member, that it might not feel the punishment inflicted on it; or if the whole body as a rotten carcass, might lie undisturbed in the dust. As a still more degrading privation, the ungodly will want that moral perfection which the blessed enjoy, viz. that holy frame of mind, that cheerful readiness to do the will of God, and that perfect rectitude of soul, which do especially characterize their

high and holy state. Instead of these, the unregenerate will manifest that perverseness of will, that loathing of good, that love to evil, and that violence of passion, which possessed and actuated them upon earth. It is true, their understandings will be much cleared, by the absence of former temptations, and their experience of the vanity of former delusions: but they will still exhibit the very same dispositions, which once hurried them on to work all iniquity with greediness. In a word, there will be a greater difference between these miserable wretches and a glorified saint, than there is between a loathsome mass of corruption upon earth and the sun shining in the firmament Moreover, the impenitent will have no comfortable relation to God, nor any communion with him. As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, but said unto him, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways; so God will abhor to retain them in his household. Little does the world know what a loss that soul hath, who loses God. What a dungeon would the earth be, if deprived of the sun! Or what a loathsome carrion would the body become, if separated from the soul! Yet, all these are nothing to the loss of God! As the enjoyment of God is the heaven of the saints, so the loss of God is the hell of the ungodly.'

The lady then turned to another part of the book, and read these words:

ces.

"The principal author of hell-torments is God himself. As it was no less than God whom the sinner had offended, so it is no less than God who will punish him for his offenHe hath prepared those torments for his enemies. His continued anger will still be there devouring them. His breath of indignation will kindle the flames. His wrath will be an intolerable burden to their souls. If it were but a creature they had to do with, they might better bear it. Wo to him that falls under the strokes of the Almighty! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.''

The lady of the manor having read these extracts from the Saint's Rest, closed the book, and asked the young ladies if they were willing to join with her in prayer-a proposal with which they all most cheerfully complied. Her prayer was very simple; but, as it was particuVOL. I.

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larly adapted to young persons who are brought by divine grace to see the necessity of renouncing the present world, and entering upon a new course of life, I shall insert it in this place.

The prayer of the Lady of the Manor in Behalf of her Young Companions, that it would please God to give them serious thoughts of Religion.

"O THOU High and Mighty One, who inhabitest eternity, I do not presume to approach thy presence, trusting in my own merits, or believing myself to be other than one of the most vile and miserable of sinners. But I come unto thee in the name, and through the merits, of that blessed Saviour who gave up his life for the redemption of mankind. Trusting in him, as a Mediator at once willing and able to interfere in my behalf, and ever ready to offer up my petitions before the throne of the Almighty, I beseech thee, O my God, to have mercy upon these young persons here assembled before thee. As Job interceded for his children, lest they should have sinned, (Job i. 5.) so now do I presume to supplicate for these, my young friends, that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and that true repentance which is unto life. Bring before them, O Lord, I earnestly pray thee, a deep sense of the importance of eternal things, and the emptiness of all earthly concerns. Make them to know, that thy day will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a greal noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; when the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up; and influence them to that holy conversation and godliness, which may prepare them for being found of thee in peace at that awful period. (2 Pet. iii. 10, 11, 14.)

"These are no longer in that state of infancy, wherein, it could be justly said of them, By reason of their tender age they cannot perform the promises made for them in their baptism. Should they now be surprised by death, they must stand accountable to thee, O Lord, for the things done in the flesh; and, if they have not been chosen out of the world, if they have remained strangers to the holy nature and life of thy people, if they have not

received that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, (Heb. xii. 14.) if they have not been born again -we know that they can not enter the kingdom of God. Hearken, therefore, O Lord, unto my prayer, and listen to my humble supplications. Have mercy on this little company, for whom thy Son died: take from them that sinful levity and sensuality of heart, by which all unregenerate persons are separated from thee: give them strong and lasting impressions of the danger of offending thee. May the work which they are now about to undertake, even the renewal of their baptismal vow, be executed, not only in form, but in spirit and in truth: for thou art not a God dwelling in temples made with hands; neither art thou to be worshipped with men's hands, as if thou needest any thing; (Acts xvii. 24, 25,) but thou requirest the service of the heart. Assist, therefore, O Lord, and constrain these young persons to give thee their hearts. Draw them, and they will run after thee. Bring them into thy courts, and they will be glad and rejoice in thee. (Canticles i. 4.) But, Lord, we know that of themselves they can not come; nay, they can not so much as wish to come. They are by nature as the dry bones of those who are slain with the sword. O send thy holy spirit to breathe upon these slain, and they will live. (Ezek. xxxvii. 9.) Let thy mercy, O Lord, be magnified upon them, and make them partakers of thy great salvation. Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

"Our Father," &c.

The lady of the manor having finished her address to the Almighty, informed the young people, that she now judged it time for them to depart to their respective homes... She also exhorted them to be earnest in studying their Bibles, seeking God in prayer, and avoiding worldly pleasures; adding, that she hoped they should meet again, with the Lord's permission, on the next appointed day: after which, they took their leave, all of them being much pleased with the manner in which they had spent their evening, and some of them, by the divine help, considerably impressed by certain parts of the conversation which had taken place.