an occasion, I feel it peculiarly desirable to review the path in which I have been led, and to take a glance at the continued and astonishing kindness by which I have been supported, until the present moment. Oh Lord, how great is thy goodness, and how great is thy mercy.2 My soul would fain prostrate itself before Thee with adoring gratitude for all thine unmerited and free favour, but my weak and treacherous memory cannot recount half the instances of thine infinite, unbounded goodness. Thy mercies, O Lord, have been new every morning, and continued every evening.

"While every review of the divine conduct towards me should excite the most lively gratitude, yet the manner in which these mercies have been received, calls aloud for humiliation before God. Alas! I have not rendered unto the Almighty according to the good done unto me: I cannot repeat to you the wickedness and treachery of my own heart. The manner in which the Prophet describes it, I feel to be just; It is deceitful above all things, and desperately

2 Psalm xxxi. 19.

3 Lam. iii. 23.

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wicked and my prayer is, Enter not into judgment with thy sinful creature, O Lord! for in thy sight no flesh living can be justified. Look upon Jesus, thy dear Son, who has fulfilled the whole law, satisfied divine justice, and wrought out a perfect righteousness, wherein to clothe all who seek pardon and reconciliation through him. Oh, my dear friend, do you, who have an interest at the throne of grace, present afresh, and, with increased fervour, before the Father of mercies, the case of the self-condemned Eliza; and intreat not only that pardon may be granted for those innumerable transgressions that have presented themselves before me, even in a superficial retrospect, but also that strength from heaven may be communicated, that, with increasing vigour and alacrity, I may pursue the path of wisdom, holiness, and peace.

"I have wished frequently for some regular plan on which to act, when attending to the important duty of self-examination, and will thank you to furnish me with some useful hints

+ Jer xvii. 9,

5 Psalm clxiii. 22.

on this subject, with the method you yourself adopt, and the frequency of its repetition."

Dec. 16, 1815.

In a letter, stating an increase of bodily indisposition, and expressing her apprehensions that it might ultimately end in death, she speaks thus:

"I desire to feel perfectly resigned to the divine will. I cannot say I enjoy that complete and happy composure of mind, with which I earnestly long to be indulged. Dr. Watts sweetly expresses the feelings and desires of my soul. "Assure my conscience of her part

In the Redeemer's blood,

And bear thy witness with my heart
That I am born of God."

"The assurance of these great and unspeakable blessings is most desirable. This will support the raind amidst the changing scenes of life, and in the views of eternity."

All the letters with which I have been favoured, written by the late Miss Gilbert, are in the style

of the above quotations, and contain scarcely any thing beside the subject of religion. No pious person will peruse these extracts, without feeling in some measure interested in the individual who composed them, and who discovered in them so much concern to advance the spiritual welfare of her correspondents, and to derive instruction and comfort from friendship, strengthened by a mutual participation of holy principles formed under the influence of the Spirit of God.

As it will be necessary again to remark upon the attainments of Miss Gilbert, after some sketch has been given of the character of her sister, only one more circumstance shall be hinted, and which, in the minds of many, may tend to increase their sympathy. The time of her death was considered as very little distant from the proposed time of her marriage with a young minister, whose academical studies will terminate at the approaching Christmas, and whose prospects are thus suddenly disappointed by an unexpected and awful Providence,-whose feelings have been put to the severest torture, by the removal of a dear friend, who, for three years, had received and manifested the kindest

G

proofs of pure affection; and whom he considered, by piety and intellect, qualified to sustain one of the most important stations which a female can occupy.

MRS. MARIA MILLS was born May 17, 1789, and continued by choice, from the time she left her parents house, to pursue, with persevering diligence, her various studies at the Seminary at Hertford, until she reached her twentieth year, when she left her school to undertake the care and instruction of children in Clover-street. Her primary object in remaining so long at school, after Eliza had left, was to qualify herself for the situation of governess in a private family: but she was diverted from her original design, by the offer of a boarding-school at Chatham, which promised her much happiness and success, amidst the friends of her youth, in the place of her nativity.

Her father, after paying a proper acknowledgment to the former incumbent for the scholars that were collected, purchased the house, rendered it more commodious for the purpose, and