ch she attended
to the effusions and perturbations of grief, seemed the earnest
of safety from one who had passed through the storm. The deep and
tender expression of her noble countenance suggested that feeling
with which a superior being might be supposed to look down from
heaven on the anguish of those who are still in the toils, but
know not the reward that awaits them.

"Every thing petty seemed to drop off from her mind, but she
imbibed the spirit of essentials so perfectly, she followed it
throughout with such singleness of heart, that its influence
affected her minutest actions, not by an effort of studied
attention, but with the steadiness of a natural law. Nature and
revelation she regarded as the two parts of one great connected
system; she always contemplated the one with reference to the
other; her views were therefore all practical and free from
confusion, and nothing that promoted the welfare of this world
could cease to be a part of her duty to God. It was her maxim
that the motive dignified the action, however trivial in itself;
and all the actions of her life were ennobled by the motive of
obedience to an all-powerful Being, because he is the pure
essence of wisdom and goodness. In the virtue of those who had
not the consoling belief of the Christian, she still saw the
handwriting of God, that cannot be effaced from a generous mind;
and she used to dwell with delight on the idea that the good man,
from whose eyes the light of faith was withheld in this life,
would arise with rapture in the next, to the knowledge that a
happiness was in store for him which he had not dared to believe.

"It was not the extent of her intellectual endowments that made
her the object of veneration to all who knew her; it was her
extraordinary moral energy. The clear and vigorous view she took
of every subject arose chiefly from her habit of looking directly
for its bearing on virtue or happiness; she saw the essential at
a glance, or could not be diverted from the truth by a passion or
a prejudice. Hence, also, her lofty undeviating justice; her
regard to the rights of others was so scrupulous, that every one
within reach of her influence reposed on her decisions with
unhesitating trust; nor would the certainty that the interests of
those she loved best were involved, have cas