Such was the case with the Church of England. What is the picture now?

The education of the people, once opposed by all the great, is now the universal demand, and the contest of the two grand political divisions in the State is, not who shall best stave off the disagreeable necessity of general education, but who shall have the glory of advancing it—who shall have the power to influence and direct its course. This is not the place even to touch on the opposed and opposing views of political sections; it is enough to feel and acknowledge the directing hand of Almighty Providence in this conversion of the heart, in thus rendering the contention of princes subservient to the advancement of his glory and the good of humanity. "To the poor the Gospel is preached," and "the poor read the Gospel," are terms almost identical. The grand principle of the Reformation, the great prerogative of Protestantism, is that every man shall interpret for himself the Scriptures of the inspired of God. That neither councils, nor conclaves, nor traditions, nor authority, shall bind his conscience, nor come between him and his Creator and Judge. His communion of saints is direct converse with the apostles and prophets in the Sacred Volume. His creed is founded on knowledge, "what we have seen and known that we confess and declare;" what we have read and deeply considered with the aid and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that do we believe unto salvation. Now, means are the agents and instruments of Divine Providence committed to the hands of men to work the will of Heaven, and among these means, in modern times, none is more potent than the discovery by which the Scriptures may be renewed for ever, and diffused to the uttermost realms of the earth, in number and quantity equal to the necessities of man. What the early Christian Church sought, by making a universal language-and commanding that in that "common tongue" all its ritual should be performed, is now accomplished, and to incomparably better purpose by the translation of the Scriptures into every language. This is the accomplishment of another day of Pentecost; the Holy Ghost again descends upon the messengers of Christ in the form of cloven tongues of fire, and they speak with tongues, and the multitudes of the whole earth are confounded, because every man hears them speak in his own language. "Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, all

hear or read in their own tongues the wonderful works of God." Nay, shores then unreached, seas yet uncrossed, people unknown, continents and islands unimagined, have received the Scriptures; the Old and New Testament have crossed oceans, of which the existence was unsuspected by them whose hands recorded the undying truths they contain. Regions of the earth, literally a new and greater world, have hailed the advent of the Messiah's kingdom, and wished good luck in the name of the Lord to those who came to them with knowledge and with power to reveal the secrets of Heaven, and to win souls, predestined by the foreknowledge of God, to an immortality of glory. The Educational and Missionary zeal of this day may well inspire faith, may well excite the imagination, and encourage the expectation of an immeasurable extent of unimaginable good. But to whom is chiefly due the present energy? To the Wesleys and the Whitefields, and in an extraordinary degree to the venerable subject of this memoir, whose zeal and piety were not content with wishing and praying, but prompted her to unappreciated sacrifices and incalculable exertion, crowned with a success which she never lived to know, which her highest ambition had not reached, which the utmost stretch of her imagination could barely have conceived. Could she look upon us now and hear of the millions educated, being, and to be educated, at least to the knowledge of the Scripture, or the power to attain that knowledge. Could she have seen Bishops glory in the attribute of Evangelical preaching. Could she have known an Archbishop foremost in the Reform of the Church, a Clergy eager and zealous, and tending every day, more and more, to the doctrines she most loved and valued, what would have been her joy? Had she seen Dissenters growing daily more liberal without being less pious, more forbearing without being less independent; churches rising on all sides; pastors founding and endowing churches at their own cost; laymen subscribing thousands to the erection of new churches, chapels, and schools; and societies formed for the advancement of missionary exertion, the diffusion of religious knowledge, the promotion of religion and the education of the universal poor; and could she have added to this crown of rejoicing, the conviction that her example had done much towards producing these effects, how would her pious heart have poured itself out in praise and thanksgiving. She and her associates were the pioneers to make the way smooth and the path straight for that army of which the main body is but now coming into the field. The advanced guard had difficulties to encounter which have long since been overcome, obstacles to

surmount which have been removed for years; but to them were due, and to them chiefly, under Divine Providence, the blessings we now enjoy. The vast numbers marshalled under the banner of enlightened Dissent, and the vast host arrayed beneath the ensign of the Church, owe equally a portion of their strength and spirit to the sounding of the Gospel trumpet in the last century.

She

To Lady Huntingdon's interference in the affairs of the Grammar School at Repton, which, by her influence was restored to its original use, and its endowments properly applied, may be traced those extensive inquiries and consequent reforms which have exalted the name of a noble and learned Lord, and redeemed his many eccentricities. To the efforts made at Kingswood are due the civilisation of the colliers of the west, the miners of the south, and the pitmen and keelmen of the Tyne and Wear. To her missions in Yorkshire and those of her associates, may be referred the revival of religion and education in the manufacturing districts. The very names, "connexion," "society," &c., suggest that combination of effort and union of means which have wrought all the great improvements, civil and religious, as well as artistical and economic, of these latter years, and to her and her associates were these names, and the suggestion of these exertions due. She founded a College, and it continues; since then two Universities have been erected London and Durham; and institutions like her own have been founded by emulous Dissenters of various denominations. endowed schools and chapels, end supplied pastors to unfed flocks, and now a Church-Assistant Society, a Church-Endowment Society, and a Commission under Government for both purposes flourish, unmindful, perhaps of her who led the way. But her example, if unacknowledged, cannot fail to be felt, and that deeply. Nearly a hundred years was she sowing the seeds of that harvest that is now but ripening for the sickle. Still, her cry may be repeated-" the labourers are few." Much yet remains to do. In these pages, if they do not supply the plan, the spirit of the work may be discovered. The queen on her throne, the peeress in her castle, the lady in her mansion, the matron in her house, and the peasant in her cottage, have each and all their own circle of power to do good. Oh! may they all feel the necessity of exerting themselves for their own good, and for the good of others. Let them all behold in these pages, as in a mirror, the perfect picture of a Christian woman! The dutiful daughter, the exemplary wife, the affectionate mother, the constant friend, the benevolent mistress, the good neighbour, the loyal subject, the devoted Christian. All

this she was, with a depth of humility and self-accusation, that exalted her excellence. The christian virtue of humility was peculiarly hers-high birth made her not proud-great wealth made her not idle or luxurious-great beauty made her not vain-accomplishments and graces made her not affectedproperty bound her not to the earth. Her self-denial was equal to that of the early saints, without their idea of atoning by selfinflicted torture, for committed trespass. Her industry could not have been greater had she been doomed to earn her bread by the sweat of her brow. Courts and princes, and all distinctions she threw away without a sigh,-jewels and rich apparel she turned to means of charity without regret,-family alliances, and even the opinion of society she set at nought! Her honours, her wealth, her health, her time, her name, her all, she devoted to the great cause she had embraced, and she is now reaping her reward. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest these records of her actions on earth; weigh them and consider her loss and gain; which now preponderates in the balance? and if thou, reader, wouldst share her crown, thou must be content to run her race. Admire her firmness, wonder at her constancy, be warmed with her love, and fired with her zeal. If her example be honourable, if her reward be great, it is in thy power to attain it. Every one within his own circle can do much, no more is required. Go thou and do likewise; and when thy efforts require a stimulus, revert to this record of the acts and thoughts of SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

THE END.

WILLIAM EDWARD PAINTER STRAND, LONDON, PRINTER.