to preach a Sermon on this occasion. How ably he executed this trust, is well known to the public. The hymn she quoted to him was sung after the sermon. *

At the weekly Prayer Meeting which she usually attended, the circumstances of her death were made subjects of improvement. On the 16th of July she was a worshipper with her brethren and sisters there, and on the evening of the 30th, they were called to consider her by faith as in the immediate presence of her God, among the spirits of the Just made perfect.

The services of that evening were closed with a hymn from Dobell's collection, which being descriptive of her happy change, shall be given here at length, as a proper conclusion of this imperfect sketch of her life.

'Tis finish'd! the conflict is past,

The heav'n-born spirit is fled;
Her wish is accomplish'd at last,

And now she's entomb'd with the dead.

The months of affliction are o'er,

The days and the nights of distress;

We see her in anguish no more-
She's gained her happy release.

No sickness, or sorrow, or pain,
Shall ever disquiet her now;

For death to her spirit was gain,

Since Christ was her life when below.

Her soul has now taken its flight

To mansions of glory above,

To mingle with angels of light,
And dwell in the kingdom of love.

The victory now is obtain'd;

She's gone her dear Saviour to see;
Her wishes she fully has gain'd—

She's now where she longed to be.

The coffin, the shroud, and the grave,
To her were no objects of dread;

On Him who is mighty to save,
Her soul was with confidence stay'd.

*The perusal of this sermon has already led to the establishment of two respectable

Orphan Societies, and of one Adult School in the United States.

DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES.

Edinburgh, March, 1789.

JEREMIAH xlix. 11.

THE Lord's promise, which he made to me in the days of my widowhood, and which I have made the subject of my prayers from day to day, taking the words in a spiritual sense: the Lord has done wonders for me and mine, since the day I was left a widow with three orphans, and the fourth not born, in a strange land, without money, at a distance from friends; or rather, without friends. Hitherto, he has supplied all my wants, and laid to hand every necessary, and many comforts; supporting character and credit; making way for me through the wilderness, pointing out my path, and settling the bounds of my habita

tion.

For all these blessings, I desire to be thankful and grateful to the God of providence, whose is the earth, and the fulness thereof: but these I cannot take as the substance of the promise; neither have they been the matter of my prayers. The salvation and the life I have wrestled for, is that which Christ died to purchase, and lives to bestow; even spiritual life, and salvation from sin. My God knows I have held fast this view of the words, seeking first the kingdom of God for my children, leaving temporals to be given or withheld, as may best suit with the conversion and sanctification of their souls. I have not asked for them health, beauty, riches, honours, nor temporal life: God knows what share of these consists with their better

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interests let him give or withhold accordingly. One thing I have asked of the Lord, one thing only, and will persist in asking, and will hang upon him for, trust in him for, and for which I think I have his promise, even the life of their and my soul. 1 Thes. v. 23. is my petition for me and mine, 24th my anchor of hope, preceded by Jeremiah xlix. 11.

Edinburgh, March 17, 1789.

THIS day, from the head of his own table, did the Lord by his sent servant, Mr. R-, proclaim his name the I AM, and called on me to write under what I would, for time and eternity. My soul rejoices that God is, and that he is what he is; nothing less than himself can content me, nothing more do I desire.

This great I AM is my portion-what can I ask beside? He hath opened my eyes to see his excellency, he hath determined my will, to choose him for my portion. He hath arranged, and set in order, a rich testament scaled by the blood of his own on, containing every blessing for time and for eternity. All my heart's desire is there promised, and faith given to believe there shall be a full performance. What have I to say then, but Amen, do as thou hast said? Father, glorify thy name. Thou hast said, then will I sprinkle

clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh; and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and

ye shall be my people and I will be your God. Amen. Lord, do as thou hast said. Behold, I take hold of thy covenant for myself and for my children. It is well ordered in all things, and it is sure. My heart accords to every part of it. Wilt thou guide us by thy counsel while we live, and afterwards receive us to thy glory. Amen, and amen-do as thou hast said.

If we forsake thy laws, and go astray; if we depart from thee, and break thy commandments, wilt thou visit our faults with rods, and our sins with chastisements? Blessed promise, Amen, Lord, do as thou hast said: seeing thy loving kindness is secured to us, and thou wilt not cast us off from being thy people, nor alter that which thou hast spoken; wilt thou keep us as the apple of thine eye? wilt thou cover us with the shadow of thy wing? Art thou my husband? art thou the father of my fatherless children? wilt thou be the stay of these orphans, and their and my shield in a strange land? wilt thou perfect what concerns us? wilt thou care for us? wilt thou never leave us, never forsake us? in the valley of the shadow of death, shall thy rod and staff support us? what can thy servant say, but Amen, do as thou hast said!

New-York, August 26, 1790.

READING over my former experience, has a little revived this cold heart. Strange things hast thou done for me and mine. Thou hast said again and again, trust not in man: yet, O my idolatrous heart will hug my friends to my hurt! Thou hast seen it necessary to let me see, how easy it is with thee to blast the brightest hopes and fairest prospects : thou hast showed me that father and mother may forsake; and

even friends in Christ stand aloof. Glory to thy name, thou hast also confirmed a consequent hope; the Lord has taken me up. Thou knowest my castings down, and liftings up. The world would not believe me, were I to tell them the stately steps thou hast taken for my relief.

New-York, May 20, 1791.

THIS day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he is again launched on the ocean: God's ocean. The Lord saved him from shipwreck, bade the waves spare he brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to indulge my yearning of bowels over him. Short has been the time he has been with me, and ill have I improved it: he is gone from my sight, and my heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord have mercy on the widow's son-the only son of his mother, and she a widow.

I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my petition; save his soul alive give him salvation from sin. It is not the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships he must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in this world: it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the promise in him. I cannot discern the new birth nor its fruits, but every symptom of captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will. This, O this, is what distresses me; and in connexion with this, his being shut out from ordinances, at a distance from Christians; shut up with those who forget God, profane his name, and break his Sabbaths, and has chosen his lot among a class of men, who often live and die like beasts; yet are accountable creatures, who must answer for every