distinguished by her
continual dependence on God, and his unceasing faithfulness and mercy
towards her.

ISABELLA MARSHALL, afterwards Mrs. Graham, was born July 29,
1742, in the shire of Lanark, in Scotland. Her grandfather was one of
the elders who quitted the established church with the Rev. Messrs.
Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine. She was educated in the principles of the
church of Scotland. Her father and mother were both pious; indeed, her
mother, whose maiden name was Janet Hamilton, appears, from her
letters yet extant, to have possessed a mind of the same character as
her daughter afterwards exhibited.

Isabella was trained to an active life, as well as favored with a
superior education. Her grandfather, whose dying-bed she assiduously
attended, bequeathed her a legacy of some hundred pounds. In the use
to which she applied this money, the soundness of her judgment was
thus early manifested. She requested it might be appropriated to the
purpose of procuring a thorough _education_. When ten years of
age, she was sent to a boarding-school taught by a lady of
distinguished talents and piety. Often has Mrs. Graham repeated to her
children the maxims of Mrs. Betty Morehead. With ardent and unwearied
endeavors to attain mental endowments, and especially moral and
religious knowledge, she attended the instructions of Mrs. Morehead
for seven successive winters. How valuable is early instruction. With
the blessing of God, it is probable that this instructress laid the
foundation of the exertions and usefulness of her pupil in after-life.
How wise and how gracious are the ways of the Lord. Knowing the path
in which he was afterwards to lead Isabella Marshall, her God was
pleased to provide her an education of a much higher kind than was
usual in those days. Who would not trust that God, who alone can be
_the guide of our youth_?

Her father, John Marshall, farmed a paternal estate, called the
Heads, near Hamilton. This estate he sold, and rented the estate of
Elderslie, once the habitation of Sir William Wallace. There Isabella
passed her childhood and her youth.

She had no definite recollection of the period at which her heart
first _tasted that the Lord is gracious_. As far back as she
could remember, she took delight in pouring out her soul to God. In
the woods of Elderslie she selected a bush, to which she resorted in
seasons of devotion. Under this bush she believed she was enabled to
devote he