Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/124

110 of Christ revealed in the gospel, as our Lord and Saviour."

She was a constant frequenter of the sacrament and prayers of the church; never missing, unless hindered by illness, to which, in the latter part of her life, she was very subject. She was fond of retirement, as it led her to think of death, which she regarded without dread, and loved to meditate upon. Her charity, which her circumstances bounded as to the sum, was always given with cheerfulness and alacrity. Whatever her allowance was, she laid aside a portion of it to charitable and pious uses. She had a love for the souls of her fellow creatures; and was heartily afflicted with the errors, follies, and vices of the age: to see that those who called themselves Christians, should, by bad principles and worse practice, dishonour their profession, and not only hazard their salvation, but that of their weak brother too, for whom Christ died. And this temper of mind made her not only importunate in her intercessions for the good of the world, but gave her courage and discretion above her years or sex, to benefit the souls of those she conversed with, by friendly reproof, good counsel, or some learned or pious discourse,"

Just before her death, she wished "that all young people might be exhorted to the practice of virtue, to increase their knowledge by the practice of philosophy, and, more especially, to read the great book of nature, wherein they might see the wisdom and power of the great Creator in the order of the universe, and in the production and preservation of all things. It would fix in their minds a love to so much perfection, frame a divine idea and an awful regard of God, which heightens