Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/119

 talk. It was very melancholy to hear a woman, in whom the greatest of all possible trusts had been reposed, acknowledge herself thus ignorant of all the doctrines of Christianity. What wonder that her moral conduct should have been so bad; for on what foundation can the moral conduct of one in her station, or indeed in any station, rest, when you take away the fear of God?

Hoping that I might by my instructions make some impression upon her mind, I spared no pains with this unfortunate creature; and might, I really believe, have succeeded in confirming her good resolutions, had she not been laid hold of by some enthusiasts, who laboured at what they called her conversion. Before any good habit had been formed, and while her mind was yet in a state of profound ignorance, her imagination was so warmed by their discourses, as to make her boast of being in a state of grace; and before I left London, her divine raptures