only doctrines which become the power of God to salvation; and make a king's daughter, or a beggar's, all-glorious within! Where such rare instances of singular devotedness to God occur, they necessarily stand on an eminence, and engage more particular attention. Let the glory be given to whom it is due, the God of all grace! -The following account was translated from the German, by the late Rev. John Hartley, minister of the Moravian Settlement, at Grace Hill, in the county of Antrim, who left this vale of tears June 17, 1811. Mr. Hartley had the privilege to be personally acquainted with this most excellent character. The Rev. John Swertner, minister of the chapel of the United Brethren in Dublin, told me he also had the happiness of being intimately acquainted with this singular woman. ‹ I might add,' said he, much, very much to her praise; but the strain of panegyric would, after such a narrative as she has left behind, be mis ́applied indeed!'-That we may see, among the Noble and Great of our country, similar instances of the power of Divine Grace, is the earnest prayer of, Yours sincerely, in the gospel of Jesus, Dublin. ADOLESCENS. THOU holdest thy hand over me*! This, I the poorest among all the worthless of the poor of the Saviour's flock, must confess, to the praise of his grace. For whither should I have been cast, or what would still become of me, if he did not continue to hold his hand over me! On this account my daily sighing to my beloved Lord and Saviour is, O may thy hand, whereon engraven My poor and worthless name doth stand, Of endless bliss shall safely land! I was born Feb. 17, 1753, at Weissenfels, in the county of Lippe, in Westphalia, an estate belonging at that time to my father, Ferdinand, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld. My mother, Countess of Solms-Baruth, dedicated me to our blessed Saviour at my baptism, in a prayer, which she noted down as follows: Lord Jesus! preserve this child, safe-sheltered in thee! Let her soul be bound in the bundle of life with thee! Preserve her from the present evil world, and, according to the will of thy Heavenly Father, let no power prevail to draw her aside from thee. Let the mark of thy blood be ever found upon her, that the enemy may see that he has lost his right to her for ever: and thus present her, on thy great day, in the robe of thy righteousness, with joy before the glorious presence of thy Father in Heaven! Hear me, Jesus, in mercy. Amen! It was the principal concern of my parents that their eight children, of whom I was the youngest, might prosper in the Lord; and they often, in our presence, interceded with him for us with tears. We enjoyed a private and retired educa Psalm exciii. 5. (German translation.) tion, in the fear of God. My mother, a faithful disciple of Jesus, took the care of my instructions into her own hands, till I arrived at my eighth year. In the year 1762 we removed into Saxony, to Castle Neuhof. About this time the depravity of my nature began to be discernible to me; and I perceived, to my sorrow, an evil consent in my mind to the law of sin in my members, which caused me great uneasiness; and though I might have found in my mother a faithful ear, open to all my complaints, and a tender guide and instructress, I could not resolve to disclose to her my anxiety; but continued under great distress for a considerable time, calling, however, frequently upon God to have mercy on me; and my chief prayer was, Create in me a clean heart, O God! At that time I was an utter stranger to our Saviour. I knew of him indeed by hearsay; but was altogether unacquainted with the virtue of his blood to cleanse from sin. Hence I remained in my natural state, and spent, alas! that precious time of my life, my youthful years, wretchedly indeed. My vivacity hurried me on in a round of trifling amusements; I seldom remembered God my Creator; and utterly neglected prayer. The kind admonitions of my good mother were indeed often blest, and improved by the Holy Spirit to lead me to a state of recollection; but before I was aware, the good impressions were again obliterated from my mind. - In 1768, when, according to the practice of the Lutheran Church, I was instructed by a pious clergyman in the doctrines of Christianity, preparatory to my receiving the holy sacrament, I had a transient period of very serious thoughts, and formed many well-meant and sincere resolutions; but as they were made in my own strength, they had no root. I was not yet freed from the dominion of sin, which, with its baneful influence, still had greater power with me than the admonitions of the Spirit of God. In 1769 our whole family removed into Westphalia; and my mother was well satisfied with the change, and said, on her departure out of Saxony, Israel entered into his rest.' This, indeed, with regard to her, came to pass very soon; for immediately on our arrival at Lemgo, she fell sick; and the Lord, who had mercy on her, called her to himself, by means of an apoplexy. In her last illness she frequently entered with me into most blessed conversations, which have been of great use to me. Among other things, she once said, 'My daughter, I have a presentiment of your being one day deeply engaged in the world. This is in the womb of futurity. But, I entreat you, pray to the Lord Jesus, that you may not run on with the world, so that I should miss you in heaven!'-This, at the time, made a deep impression upon me; for I was often desirous to enjoy more of the gaieties and pleasures of the world. My mother's foreboding was verified in the sequel; and I shall never cease, to all eternity, thanking my faithful Saviour for holding his hand over me,' so that I was not altogether plucked thence. In 1770 my cousin, the reigning Countess of BentheimRheda, having obtained my father's leave, took me to herself, to the town of Rheda. Here I was much caressed and admired by high and low; but this stirred up and nourished my self-complacency, especially as now my understanding began to expand. Whatever was beautiful, virtuous, and excellent, struck my fancy above measure, and I strove with all my might to acquire it. I wrote a number of small essays, of a moral and theological nature, some of which were printed without my knowledge; which gratified my vanity and selflove not a little. But, through the whole of this period, my Saviour pursued me with his warnings and admonitions, inviting and alluring me back to him from whom I was straying. The sermons delivered by one of the ministers in the town, proved frequently a real benefit to my soul. I was often deeply affected and overpowered when hearing of the Redeemer's sufferings and death for sinners. But that Imight apply this particularly to myself, and that He was truly my Saviour, was not yet clear to me; for at that time I still came short of a real deliverance from the power of sin, not having yet obtained pardon of my sins; yea, not even knowing that it could and ought to be obtained in this life. Every wrong step, therefore, every sinful indulgence, every mis-spent day, made me tremble before God my Judge. I tormented myself exceedingly with anguish of mind, till I could believe that the transgression I had first been guilty of was pardoned. In the mouth of March, 1774, a proposal was unexpectedly made me to marry Prince Albert of Anhalt - Dessau. I resigned this important matter to the decision of my father, who, though not without some anxiety, gave his consent, seeing was not averse to it; and in October, the same year, we were joined in holy matrimony. I cannot express the feelings of my mind when finding myself, al! at once, torn from my quiet country life, and placed in the midst of the. great world, and in the splendors of a court. Still all my endeavours were, how I might please my husband, the Prince, and obey the divine injunction, Let the wife be subject to her husband in every thing.' But, alas! here I must be silent. My merciful Saviour, who knoweth all things, has surely gathered all my bitter tears, shed during that part of my life, and put them into his bottle. In the year 1776, an entirely new period in my views of Christianity commenced. I became acquainted with a newlyformed society, which was to consist of none but sentimental, virtuous, noble souls. They talked much of the Father of All, and of Jesus Christ, who was held forth as the great Pattern of Virtue. We strenuously endeavoured to attain to the height of moral excellence. We had a certain sign by which we knew one another, assumed the name of brothers and sisters, and, as much as possible, observed a uniformity of dress. We also affected an independence on the rest of mankind, whom we did not consider as noble, excellent, and of superior worth; and had conceived a very exalted idea of the dignity of man when his powers are in proper exercise. We fancied to have attained to an uncommon degree of sanctity and purity of morals; but, in the very heart, we were exactly what our Saviour pronounces the Pharisees to be, like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead mens' bones, and of all uncleanliness. But this depth of wickedness we were utterly averse to dive into. Mere pride lorded it over us, though we conceived quite otherwise; considering ourselves as valiant champions for the truth, on account of which we had indeed to suffer much reproach; but we sustained it courageously, persuaded this was the very stamp we were to bear. O God!, what a wretched society were we! But, as to myself, this disposition of my mind might have proved my entire ruin, had not my good Lord continued to hold his hand over me,' even during this awful period of my life. In the month of April, 1777, my youngest brother, the Count of Lippe, lying, as it was supposed, sick unto death' in a consumption, desired me to come and stay with him at Sassleben, in Lusatia, that I might close his eyes at his departure. I found him full of faith in Jesus, and desirons to depart and to be with Christ; which desire was granted him very soon. Immediately after his decease, when I beheld his lifeless body lying before me, an intolerable load fell upon my distressed soul. I sunk into the deepest perplexity, and began to doubt the existence of God, of the Redeemer, the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body. The anguish of my heart was excessive; and it seemed to me as though one was crying out, Thou sceptic, what will by thy lot?' I would now gladly have believed; but could not take my reason captive. This was a scene of inexpressible torment, of which, however, I said nothing to any one; partly, lest my pious relations might take me for a Free-thinker; and, partly, lest I should lead others into the same labyrinth. I was, as to my soul, like a chaced roe: went frequently to mourn and cry aloud unto God, under the canopy of Heaven; and prayed by day and night, that if He truly existed, and was the Maker of heaven and earth, and of every creature, he would shew mercy to me, and grant me faith in him. I was indeed heard in a measure, so that I returned home somewhat composed; and with a renewed comfortable sense of his benign influence upon me, a poor individuum of the creation; but the enemy of my soul, who meditated my final ruin, spared no pains to effect it by all means. That unhappy period of my life, which commenced last year, as mentioned above, has not yet come to a close; and by means of that society, with which I was connected, I was gradually more deeply entangled and ensnared in the mazes of sentimentality. This was encreased by my reading many hurtful books. In the article of divinity I was quite conversant with the works of such authors as were distinguished by the fashionable way of thinking of modern times. At the same time I was truly an enthusiast, constantly flying, in my fancied heights, through the regions of the air. I had but one real friend who sought my welfare, and to whom all my proceedings were extremely displeasing; but though I valued him very highly in all other respects, yet herein I not only disregarded him, but pitied him in my very heart, that he would continue wedded to exploded opinions, and think on religion according to the old fashion. About this time I fell sick, so that my end was seriously expected. I thought at that time that I could not fail of heaven; and if occasionally some anxious thoughts on the certainty of my salvation arose, I trusted in the broad mercy of God, who, I hoped, would receive me into favour; for I believed it impossible to obtain a certainty of it in this life. But my faithful Saviour, who had mercy on me, and who knew the thoughts that he had towards me, thoughts of peace and not of evil, but could not possibly receive me, with my pride and self-righteousness, into the kingdom of little children, his pardoned poor sinners, held his hand over me,' and determined to let me recover my health this time. Now the circumstances of my connection with the Prince, my husband, became more critical and precarious; and in 1778, he took his leave, went on a journey, and I saw him no more. My brother-in-law, the reigning Prince of Dessau, and his consort, the Princess, with the latter of whom I was so closely connected in cordial friendship, that we both thought ourselves inseparable, invited me to reside with them; but here again God proved the truth of his words, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways; for I was led by his providence to Sassleben, to my dear father, who insisted on it, that he had now the nearest : claim to me. It was long before I could bring my mind to consent to his request; for though I loved my father, and others of my family there sincerely, yet I found no satis faction in their company, considering them as melancholy fanatics in religion; and, in short, all that which, not they but I myself happened to be, as I afterwards discovered by the light of grace. However, it being the concern of my |