band forty years, and honored his memory by con tinuing in a state of widowhood. She died in 1723, To the last she re had been the staff of in the 87th year of her age. tained her faith "in HIм who her life, and her support in affliction ;" and the fruits of this holy faith were exhibited in her last moments:-"God," said she, "has not denied me the support of His Holy Spirit in this my long day of calamity; but enabled me, in some measure, to rejoice in him as my portion for ever. He has provided a remedy for all our griefs, by his sure promises of another life, where there is no death, nor any pain nor trouble, but fulness of joy in the presence of HIM who made us, and who will love us for ever." Thus lived and died, Lady RUSSELL, the pride of her country, the ornament of her own sex, and the veneration as well as admiration of ours: And now let us turn to MARY WOLStonecraft. That Miss Wolstonecraft, as a mere woman, was an interesting and lovely being, we shall not attempt to deny; for it is neither in the beauty of her person, nor the brilliancy of her intellect, that we have to compare her with Lady Russell. Her advantages, in these respects, were great. But with beauty and genius in her favor, she had the misfortune, not only to fall upon evil times; but, what was still more deplorable on her own account, to imbibe no small portion of the worst spirit of those times. She drank in, at an early period of her life, the poison of that seductive but ruinous creed, by which the principal Authors of the French Revolution were actuated-a creed fraught with eternal ruin to all who ever lived and died in it, or who shall hereafter live and die in it; for the eternal perdition of all, who have to encounter vincible ignorance only, and still die out of the pale of the Christian faith, is, we believe, placed beyond a doubt by the DIVINE ORACLES. It was a feature of this horrible and soul-destroying creed, to discard the ties of Matrimony, and adopt in their stead the vicious principle suggested by Pope "How oft when press'd to marriage have I said, And again— "Should at my feet, the world's great master fall, It was this infamous principle of French Revolutionists, though originating, if no further back, in the licentious imagination of a British Poet-a Poet, too, who was capable of exclaiming "Nor fame I slight, nor for her favors call, As soothing folly, or exalting VICE: Then teach me Heaven! to scorn the guilty bays, O! grant an honest fame, or grant me none!" It was, we say, the infamous principle which Pope puts into the Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard-a principle so inconsistent with all virtue, and all "honest fame" and which long afterwards was só extensively embraced by the French philosophers and guillotiners-that Mary Wolstonecraft imbibed in early life; and Miss Wright, and her deluded followers, have lately been disseminating in this country, a little disguised, perhaps, though essentially the same. But what was the effect of it on the unfortunate MARY? The answer is, that it led her to form an unlawful connection with one IMLAY, an American Speculator, then in Paris-that he abused the trust she reposed in him, and abandoned her to a fate, the necessary consequence of her weak and wicked principles, and the delusive confidence with which they inspired her in the promises of a heartless profligate. But what next? Do we behold this lovely, but infatuated woman, supported, like Lady Russell, under the pressure of that adversity in which ImLAY's treachery had involved her, by the consolatory promises of the gospel to the faithful and pure in heart? O no! To her the gospel was not only unknown, both in theory and practice; but she had cherished principles and affections which it forbids and condemns. She had not only neglected the Sacred Volume; but she had studied volumes which deride its Divine Origin, and mock its holy inspirations. She could not, therefore, heal or mitigate her anguish, by the hopes that prayer and supplication to the Throne of Divine Grace give birth to. She could not rest upon the RocK OF AGES; for on that she had no foothold. Society discarded her; for although not intentionally criminal, she had forfeited her claim to its respect, by setting at defiance one of its essential and most salutary laws. Thus abandoned by the world, and perhaps despairing of the mercy of God, she attempted suicide, from which she was saved by the interposition of the man who was the chief cause of her misery: But given up to despondency, if not to despair, she made a second attempt, by throwing herself from Westminster bridge intothe Thames. She was again providentially rescued, and resuscitated, consciousness having forsaken her. This second deliverance she owed to the buoyancy of her costume, which prevented her from sinking, till a boatman, who had seen her plunge into the stream, came to her relief and snatched her from a watery grave! This happened in 1795. Her mind afterwards became so far tranquillised, as to reconcile her to life. In 1796 she was married-having previously given up her platonic principles-to William Godwin, who had at one time propagated the same vicious and ruinous theory. She died in London, in September, 1797. I now invite you, my fair readers, seriously to reflect on the contrast exhibited in the two distinguished female characters, which are here presented for your examination. You must, in so doing, perceive clearly, in the erring and ill-fated career of Mary Wolstonecraft, lovely as she was in person, and brilliant as she was in intellect, the horrible con→ sequences of Infidelity, and that disregard of the wise, virtuous and salutary regulations of society, which it begets in the minds of its deluded votaries; whilst, on the other hand, in the sublime moral courage, the heroic firmness and fortitude, the Joblike patience, and the unshaken faith in Christ and his promises, which distinguished Lady RUSSELL, through all her awful and heart-rending trials and afflictions, you behold the benign influence of the gospel, the soul-saving power of Christianity : And thus will it ever be: The Sceptic and the Infidel fly from calamity to the sword, the dagger or the bowl, or plunge into a watery grave to get rid of it: But the faithful believer, to whom the gospel has imparted its Holy Spirit of Divine Grace, not only soars above the ills of life, but is enabled in the last and most awful extremity to exclaim—0! grave, where is thy victory! O! death, where is thy sting! Cherish, then, I beseech you, this precious, this pure and holy emanation of the justice, love and mercy-the wisdom, grace and goodness-of your Heavenly Father and Eternal Benefactor and Friend. Make it, in spite of every obstacle, your morning and your evening study. Fail not, I conjure you, to impress its high and unspeakable value on the minds and hearts of your offspring. So soon as they can articulate a word, let that word be the name of Jesus; and so soon as they can imbibe a principle or a precept, begin to unfold to their ten |