I assure you, that whatever your answer is, I will not conceal it." Mr. Hume, with a smile, and not without some hesitation, replied-" No; I believe scepticism may be too sturdy a virtue for a woman." The answer is one which beautifully displays, even from the mouth of an enemy, the superior excellence of Christianity, as leading to every amiable and honourable feeling. Even the most obdurate and abandoned man of the world may be heard frequently to betray the wish that his children may be actuated by very different principles, and may exhibit a very different conduct from his own. Thus does Vice pay homage to Virtue-Infidelity to Christianity. There seems to be a charm in holiness which commands the reverence, and gains the esteem, of all within the range of its exhibition; for when the Christian graces are habitually and consistently exercised in the daily intercourse of life, not only is the world constrained to admire them, but to admit that there is a reality in that transforming influence which Christianity is alleged to operate. Thus it is that, by a view of the Christian character, presented under various aspects, some of the most determined enemies of our most holy faith have become its warmest and most decided friends.

But while such is the beneficial effect of a consistent Christian deportment, even upon the unregenerate and ungodly, it is felt with still more intensity when exhibited in the character and general actings of the female portion of the community. In such a case, it carries along with it the additional power arising from the high place which is assigned to woman in the social scale. She gives a tone to the society in which she moves; and if she is in reality a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus,

she has it in her power to do more for the cause of the Redeemer in the ordinary intercourse of social life, than lies in the power of the other sex. Her opinions will be listened to with deference; her feelings will be treated with respect; and if she fails in securing the co-operation of her associates in her plans of benevolence, she at least disarms the resistance which her schemes might have met with, had they been urged by any other individual. Her position, her character, her high Christian attainments, gain for her the attention of many who, had she been less consistent, might have lent a deaf ear to all her counsels, warnings, and reproofs. This is no imaginary picture. It is the delineation of a character which, to the honour of females, is not unfrequently to be found in all ranks of the community. And what advantages may accrue from such a display of pious feeling in a state of society by no means favourable to vital religion, let the life of Hannah More attest. She stood boldly out, a living witness for the truth and reality of the Christian faith, and her testimony met with respect, even where it failed to convince.

It is not only in the common walks of social intercourse that the beauty of female piety is felt and recognised. When we follow the Christian woman into the privacy of the closet, and mark the ardour of her secret devotion, we cannot fail to admire the strength of that heart-religion which brings her into close and endearing communion with her heavenly Father. Shut out from the world, unseen by any eye save that of the all-seeing, all-knowing Jehovah, she unbosoms her inmost thoughts and desires to Him with whom alone she has to do. Her fervent energetic prayers enter into the ears of the

Lord of Sabaoth, and she descends from the mount of communion, reflecting from her countenance and her wnole deportment that heavenly radiance which the great Source of light and of love has caused to shine upon her soul. And in the hour of trial and of sore perplexity, when visited with bodily sufferings or mental anguish, or poverty or reproach, the pious female learns to exhibit a heroism to which her timid and shrinking nature is far from predisposing her. She knows, for the Bible has taught her, that," through much tribulation, we must enter into the kingdom of God," and acknowledging this to be the necessary and immutable law of the Divine government, she endeavours and prays to be enabled to yield a quiet and calm resignation to the Divine will. Whether the sufferings be of a personal nature, as in the case of Mrs. More, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Ellis, and Miss Reed; or in the form of painful bereavements, as in the case of Mrs. Huntington and Mrs. Graham; or in the form of persecution, as in the case of Mrs. Judson-all alike display the power of Divine grace in supporting the weak and sensitive female in the midst of the fiery furnace of trial and affliction, teaching her to "glory even in tribulations," and to "count it all joy when she falls into divers temptations."

In selecting the individuals who form the subjects of the present volume of Memoirs, the author has been. desirous of presenting to the reader a series of bright and beautiful instances of the power of experimental religion. That Christianity may be fully understood and appreciated, it must be seen in actual operation, not amid. one combination of circumstances only, but in all the varied circumstances and diversified situations of human

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ON THE INFLUENCES OF FEMALE PIETY.

life. It seems, in one sense, to level all distinctions among men-exalting the poor, and rendering the rich lowly in their own esteem, strengthening the weak, raising the bowed down, comforting those that mourn, and causing the widow's heart to sing for joy. The Christian in the cottage and the Christian in the palace, the Christian in health and the Christian in sickness, the Christian in the fulness of prosperity and the Christian in the depths of adversity, are all one in Christ Jesus. They all eat the same spiritual meat, they all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drink of that rock which follows them in all their journeyings through this world, and that Rock is Christ. Hence it is that their experience may, to the eyes of a mere casual observer, wear an appearance of uniformity. This, however, disappears on a closer inspection, and the phases of Christian experience, exhibited in the lives of different believers, may be perceived, on a minute investigation, to be at once. varied and attractive.

CHRISTIAN FEMALES.

MRS. SUSAN HUNTINGTON.

It is impossible for the religion of Christ to take possession of the heart without producing a salutary change in the whole deportment; and the more completely any one is brought under the power of the truth, all. the more obviously will it appear to others that Christianity is exerting its sanctifying efficacy upon the soul, leading to the exercise of those graces which beautify and adorn the life. Thus it is that every true believer is as a light shining in a dark place, shedding a refreshing and illuminating brightness all around. Such was the benign effect, throughout her whole life, of Mrs. Huntington's holy walk and conversation. She not merely professed Christianity, but she lived as a Christian; and it is impossible to peruse the brief but touching tale of her history and experience, without imbibing, for a time at least, somewhat of that calm, serene, and submissive spirit by which she was habitually actuated. > The subject of the following sketch was a daughter

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