deep regret for having, at any period, treated them with indifference. When our pursuits in life, our companions, or our taste for a particular species of reading, occasion us to contemn or neglect the Holy Scriptures, and the simplicity of the Gospel, it is a sad proof that the mind has begun to be perverted, and that the way is prepared for great depravity of heart. Whatever, therefore, tends to lessen our esteem for those venerable and highly interesting communications of the Divine Will; or disinclines us to the perusal and study of them; should be regarded with early apprehension, and avoided with the utmost solicitude.

"The Scriptures," says Bishop Horne, "are wonderful, with respect to the matter which they contain, the manner in which they are written, and the effects which they produce. They contain the sublimest truths, many of which are veiled under external ceremonies and figurative descriptions. When they are properly opened and enforced, they terrify and humble, they convert and transform, they console and strengthen. Who but must delight to study, and to observe these testimonies of the will and the wisdom, the love and the power of God most high! While we have these holy writ ings, let us not waste our time, misemploy our thoughts, and prostitute our admiration, by doating on human follies, and wondering at human trifles."

LADY RACHEL RUSSEL-JANE RATCLIFFE-SIR ISAAC NEWTON-BISHOP BURNET-JOHN, EARL OF ROCHESTER.

SECTION I.

LADY RACHEL RUSSEL.

LADY RACHEL RUSSEL, daughter of the earl of Southampton, was born about the year 1636. She appears to have possessed a truly noble mind, a solid understanding, an amiable and a benevolent temper. Her pious resignation, and religious de- portment, under the pressure of very deep distress, afford a highly instructive example, and an eminent instance of the Power of Religion to sustain the mind, in the greatest storms and dangers, when the waves of affliction threaten to overwhelm it.

It is well known, that the husband of this lady, William, Lord Russel, was beheaded in the reign of Charles the Second; that he was a man of great merit; and that he sustained the execution of his severe sentence, with Christian and invincible for

titude. During the period of her illustrious husband's troubles, she conducted herself with a mixture of the most tender affection, and the most surprising magnanimity. She appeared in court at his trial; and when the attorney-general told him, "He might employ the hand of one of his servants in waiting, to take notes of the evidence for his use," Lord Russel answered, "that he asked none, but that of the lady who sat by him." The spectators, at these words, turned their eyes, and beheld the daughter of the virtuous Southampton rising up to assist her lord in this his utmost distress: a thrill of anguish ran through the assembly. After his condemnation she threw herself at the king's feet; and pleaded, but alas! in vain, the merits and loyalty of her father, in order to save her husband.

When the time of separation came, her conduct appears to be worthy of the highest admiration: for without a sigh or tear, she took her last farewell of her husband, though it might have been expected, as they were so happy in each other, and no wife could possibly surpass her in affection, that the torrent of her distress would have overflowed its banks, and been too mighty for restraint.

Lord Russel parted from his lady with a composed silence and observing how greatly she was supported, said after she was gone: "The bitterness of death is now past :" for he loved and esteemed her beyond expression. He declared, that "she had been a great blessing to him; and

observed, that he should have been miserable, if she had not possessed so great magnanimity of spirit joined to her tenderness, as never to have desired him to do a base thing to save his life." He said, "there was a signal providence of God, in giving him such a wife, in whom were united noble birth and fortune, great understanding, great religion, and great kindness to himself; but that her behavior in his extremity, exceeded all.”

After the death of her lord upon the scaffold, this excellent woman, encompassed with the darkest clouds of affliction, seemed to be absorbed in a religious concern, to behave properly under the afflicting hand of God; and to fulfill the duties now devolved upon herself alone, in the care, education, disposal, and happiness of her children; those living remains of her lord, which had been so dear to him, and which were, for his sake, as well as their own, so dear to herself.

The following short extracts from a few of her letters, evince the humble and pious frame of her mind; the great benefits she derived from her afflictions; and the comfortable hope she entertained of her future rest and felicity :

"You, my friend, who knew us both, and how we lived, must allow I have just cause to bewail my loss. I know it is common with others to lose a friend but few can glory in the happiness of having lived with such a one; and few, consequently, can lament the like loss. Who, but must shrink at

such a blow, till, by the mighty aid of the Holy Spirit, they let the gift of God, which he has put into their hearts, interpose? O! if I did steadfastly believe, I could not be dejected: for I will not injure myself to say, I offer my mind any inferior consolation to supply this loss. No; I most willingly forsake this world, this vexatious, troublesome world; in which I have no other business, than to rid my soul from sin, and secure my eternal interests; to bear with patience and courage my eminent misfortunes, and ever hereafter to be above the smiles and frowns of it: and, having finished the remnant of the work appointed me on earth, joyfully to wait for the heavenly perfection in God's good time; when, by his infinite mercy, I may be counted worthy to enter into the same place of rest and repose, where he is gone for whom I grieve."

"The future part of my life will not, I expect, pass as perhaps I would choose. Sense has long enough been satisfied; indeed so long, that I know not how to live by faith; yet the pleasant stream, that fed it near fourteen years together, being gone, I have no sort of refreshment, but when I can repair to that living Fountain, whence all flows; while I look not at the things which are seen, but at those which are not seen, expecting that day which will settle and compose all my tumultuous thoughts, in perpetual peace and quiet."