Lady Colquhoun did not obtrude her religion on social meetings, but in a way more engaging-she introduced it quietly to such as she might isolate from others during a walk, or in the corner of a room. Thus occasionally she met with inquirers, and became their guide to Jesus. One young lady, resident for a season at the banks of Loch Lomond, was accustomed at church to study the countenance of a picturesque old woman who sat on the pulpit stairs, and during the week to paint her likeness from memory. For her the house of God had yet no other charms. Circumstances occurred which awakened her thoughtfulness, and having met Lady Colquhoun at a dinner-party, she was induced, by her ladyship's introduction of religious conversation as they walked together in the garden, to open her mind to her, and found an adviser who frequently met with her for spiritual converse, and proved the means of her illumination and second birth. Long afterwards, in foreign climes and amidst trials and widowhood, she thanked God for the friend who led her to the Saviour. Nor was this a solitary instance. Her simple piety and consistent life made her a living epistle known and read of all. Regard for spiritual progress created a love for the means of grace and Christian fellowship. Few Sabbaths found Lady Colquhoun at home, except when want of service or weakness prevented her. The Sabbath was to her "the best of all the seven." She loved its sanctity, and deprecated its profanation. She rejoiced when her brother, Sir George Sinclair, declined to dine with King William IV. on a Sabbath-day; and rather than encourage a railway that broke the Sabbath, she once posted from Edinburgh to Glasgow. The visit of a minister of Christ was hailed at Rossdhu, and when such men as Legh Richmond, Dr. Malan of Geneva, Mr. Simeon, Dr. Marshman, Dr. Buchanan, and the neighbouring ministers, came to her house, she felt their fellowship "a little heaven below." The remarks of these men of God, as they stood on the summit of the Island of Inchtavanach and beheld the view of Loch Lomond and surrounding scenery, were a feast of soul. Thus spoke Mr. Simeon to his host:-" Sir James, you turn on this side and you say, 'That is mine;' and you turn to the other side and say, 'That is mine;' but I look up and say, 'Heaven is mine!"" Dr. Chalmers said, "I wonder if there will be a Loch Lomond in heaven!" On the neighbourhood around her the Lady of Rossdhu looked with Christian concern. She organized a Bible Society, visited the cottagers, to some of whom, and especially to one almost in despair, she proved a savour of life unto life; instituted an industrial school, whose influence for good was soon apparent in the improved manners and domestic accomplishments of young women of the district; and kept a Sabbath class, for which she prepared with prayer and study, and from which she had her reward in souls whose dying testimonies ascribed their new birth to this spiritual mother. These were no constrained efforts, they were her delight. While visiting her relations, particularly her married daughter in England, she sought similar opportunities, and left a hallowed memorial by her labours of love. Reader! have you a profession of faith, and an opportunity of serving the Lord by doing good to others? Embody your gratitude for divine mercy in a walk of usefulness. Tell to some others the story of grace, and rest not until you lead a soul to Jesus. In another way did her ladyship endeavour to bless society. She employed her pen. In 1822, she published a tract called Despair and Hope; a most affecting record of God's blessing on her labours. Next year came forth a larger work, Thoughts on the Religious Profession and Defective Practice of the Higher Classes of Society in Scotland. By a Lady. In 1825, she issued Impressions of the Heart, relative to the Nature and Excellence of Genuine Religion. These were all anonymous; but she had reason to know that the Lord blessed them. In 1835-6, a winter in which she lost her father, and became a widow, she published The Kingdom of God; to which she attached her name, in compliance with the wishes of the dead. In 1838, her last work appeared, entitled The World's Religion as Contrasted with Genuine Christianity. These productions all give evidence of a cultivated mind and an earnest faith. Their views of divine truth are thoroughly evangelical. They are frank and decided, and, as Dr. James Hamilton has beautifully remarked of them, "like the conversation of the compiler, they are genuine and inartificial, spontaneous and heartfelt; but still the utterance of a mind whose every tendency is upward, and whose every association is with things pure, and good, and elevated. *** Calm, cheerful, Christ-loving, no book could be more rightly named than these Impressions of the Heart;' for, according to the Indian's definition of writing, she who penned them has 'pressed her soul on paper."" Lady Colquhoun took a great interest in the Church of Christ, aided evangelistic efforts in populous localities, and rejoiced in the revivals of religion which occurred in Scotland during 1839. The case of her ancestral Church lay near her heart, and she joined the noble band who, in 1843, seceded from the Establishment for conscience' sake. In the upbuilding of the Free Church she bore an active part, and contributed liberally of her means. It was ever a privilege to her to aid missions and young students at the uni versity; and long will she be remembered by those to whom her counsel and her purse were equally afforded. Her health now began to fail. In September 1846, she was obliged to retire to her bed of death. Feeble though she was, yet on the first Sabbath of her illness, when one of the servants, to whom she had often spoken on the concerns of her soul, came into the room, Lady Colquhoun, after saying a few kind words, offered to pray with her. That prayer will never be forgotten. She gave solemn injunctions to her sons and daughters, and all her servants, individually, to seek the Saviour; and said of herself, “I die at the foot of the cross;-I know that my Redeemer liveth; -'Christ is my hope,' should be my motto ;-I rely entirely on his finished work." Thus prepared, she fell asleep on the 21st October 1846, and left, as her most blessed legacy, the fragrant memory of a life in Jesus. Lady Colquhoun was no courtier. Though her father and brother were much at court, her biographer does not know that she was ever presented. Her highest desire was to adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour, and to benefit those with whom she came into contact by her labours of love. She sought for herself the faith and love of the gospel; and from these twin virtues flowed all works of usefulness. Reader! do you possess them? "Therefore love and believe; for works will follow spontaneous, Even as the day does the sun: the right from the good is an offspring, LONGFELLOW. CHAPTER VIII. THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. "This woman was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did."— ACTS ix. 36. "Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen That labour up the hill of heavenly truth, MILTON. FEW in any age of the Church have exhibited Christian usefulness in an exalted station so illustriously as the Countess of Huntingdon. Her position in society, the character of the times in which she lived, the views of her dearest relatives, were all antagonistic to spiritual religion; yet none in the whole eighteenth century was more decided in faith, orthodox in creed, evangelical in sentiment, untiringly active, and extensively useful, in the cause of Christ. Such a life cannot fail to be an interesting study and a great encouragement, especially to those in high life. The LADY SELINA SHIRLEY was born on the 24th August 1707, at Stanton Harold, the residence of the Earl Ferrars; which title her father inherited ten years after her birth. She was married on June 3, 1728, to Theophilus, the ninth Earl of Huntingdon. Though of a serious turn of mind from her youth, it was not until after her marriage that the |