ed, by the help of God,
to show more clearly that, in whatever rank of life she was, she was
striving to be a faithful servant of her Heavenly Master. She felt that
she must confess Christ more boldly, that she must be more decided for
Him, however much this profession might appear singular in her
recently-acquired rank.

A short time before leaving Huntly for Gordon Castle, she explored the
old Huntly Castle with a party of friends. The duchess was at the time
greatly bowed down by a sense of the responsibility of her changed life.
There were certain inscriptions round the ceiling of a great hall in the
old castle. No one could make them out. But whilst the duchess was
standing alone in deep thought, her companions having gone off to
examine other curiosities, the sun burst out from a cloud through one of
the broken window mullions and shone brightly on the opposite wall, and
in the light of his rays she read:--

TO. THAES. THAT. LOVE. GOD. AL. THINGIS. VIRKIS. TO THE. BEST.

"It was," she used to say, "a message from the Lord to my soul, and came
to me with such power that I went on my way rejoicing." Ever after this
text was a favourite one. She always looked upon it as peculiarly her
own. Very practical was her reading of God's Word. She, indeed, expected
to find in it a word from Him. Just at the time of her setting out for
her new home she read as usual her daily portion in Bogatsky's _Golden
Treasury_. Through two leaves of the book being stuck together, she had
missed the portion appointed for the day before. But now it presented
itself to her eye--and no less surely to her heart: "Have not I
commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither
be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou
goest." Her comment was, "That was another message from the Lord, that
put strength into me."

Many years afterwards she wrote: "It was this day sixteen years that the
text in Bogatsky was given to me from Joshua 1. 9, and truly I have
found the goodness of the Lord with me, and everything temporal that I
committed to Him He has indeed kept. It is really most wonderful when I
see trials and trouble all around me, to see how everything I prayed for
regarding my own home has been accomplished; and shall I not trust Him
for my soul, and for all that guidance I so greatly need in all that He
would have me to do? Surely He will guide me in spiritual as well as in
temporal things;