LETTERS OF LADY COLQUHOUN TO HER CHILDREN.* (Found amongst her papers.) To her Sons. "MY DEAREST JAMES, AND JOHN, AND WILLIAM, "I CANNOT leave you in this vain world without one parting advice, and without once more assuring you how dear you have ever been to me. Now that my body is consigned to the grave, and my soul has returned to God who gave it, to you, my dear children, it will not signify whether you ever knew a mother's care or not, except in so far as you profit by her counsel. Let me, therefore, ask you, and let me beg that you would ask it of your own consciences,-Are you living to God? Are you trusting in Christ for salvation, and obeying his commands? "To promote this, my every thought with regard to you has been subservient. Were I assured of this, I should feel comparatively easy as to everything else. O my children, this is the one thing needful.' 6 "I feel a pleasing confidence that none of you are ignorant of the method by which sinners obtain reconciliation with God. I would, therefore, only urge your immediate acceptance of Christ as your Saviour; of God as your God. There is no impediment on God's part. Blessed be his name, all his offers are free; be willing, then, and you are his for evermore. "How many temptations you must pass through I tremble to think of; but I have an assurance, which I would not part with for worlds, that my prayers for you are heard, and will be answered, when I am sleeping in the dust. I feel a hope that you will be blessings to the circle in which you move, and that you will glorify God by your conduct through life. What higher honor can you aspire to? "You, my dearest will probably have many opportunities of usefulness. If you live, you will have much of this world's good things to dispose of; value them, I beseech you, only as giving you more of the power to do good. Oh! let all you are and all you have be devoted to God. Encourage every useful undertaking, and give liberally to the poor, as you have received liberally from God. Do all in your power to place * From A Memoir of Lady Colquhoun," by James Hamilton, just published Ꮓ 506 Letters of Lady Colquhoun to her Children. pious clergymen in any church in which you may have influence, for this is a most important method of doing good. "Should any of my dear boys think of entering the sacred profession of the ministry,-oh! consider the weight, the importance of the charge. Remember it is doubly incumbent upon you to be yourself what you exhort others to be. I charge you, my child, to preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Remember, if you do not use every means in your power to bring to the Saviour the souls of those committed to your charge, you are responsible for them. "With one other advice I will conclude. I exhort you, my dear children, if any of you should at any future time think of marriage, that you will not allow beauty, or any outward accomplishments, to be the only thing you look for. In the choice of a wife seek for one who fears and loves God, and I will venture to assure you of happiness with her. Such a one in your own rank it may be more difficult to find; but among the families of the pious it is far from impossible. Pray to God, and he will direct your choice. I trust you will ever love and assist one another, and be dutiful and affectionate to your dear father. "And now, O my God! shower down thy grace in abundance on my children. Remember all my prayers for them; be to them what thou hast been to me; I can ask no more. Save them from the evil that is in the world. Grant, oh! grant, that we may meet in glory, through the merits of thy well-beloved Son. Amen. "I remain, your most attached Mother, "J. COLQUHOUN. "Keep this letter by you, and occasionally read it over; when you are older you may understand it better." Extracts from a Letter addressed to her Daughters. "MY DEAREST SARAH AND HELEN, "When this shall be put into your hands, I hope, my darling children, you will be in some degree reconciled to the loss it has pleased God you should sustain in the death of your most affectionate mother. I am sensible that it is a great loss to be deprived of a parent whose anxious care it was to bring you up in the fear of the Lord; and nothing could reconcile me to the thought of parting with you, but that I commit you to him who has been my God in life and in death. "And now, my children, when deprived of an earthly parent, to whom should you go but to your Heavenly Father? Believe me, there is in him enough to make up for every loss, and much more than enough to satisfy every desire. Fall down on your knees before him. Entreat him to receive you. Entreat him to be to you what he has been to your mother. Entreat him to guide, and instruct, and sanctify you. And entreat him, through the merits and righteousness of Christ Jesus, which, if you ask, are yours. "Read the Bible carefully, and with a desire to be instructed by it. And pray for a blessing on it. Read, also, other good books, many of which I leave behind me. Never neglect fervent prayer. "My dearest Sarah, to you I leave my Diary. Let your brothers and sisters see it; and I would recommend you all to keep one yourselves. I have found much benefit in doing so. By it you will judge what were my views and desires. How far I fell short, God and myself only know. But will also see, that I have trusted alone for acceptance in the 'Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.' you "Dearest Sarah, take some charge of your sister. Endeavour to instruct her in those truths in which I have instructed you, and by which she was perhaps too young to get much benefit. Try all methods to win her to the love and practice of religion; and if they fail, try them again. Be a mother to her, and God will bless your weak attempts. 66 'In whatever relation or station you may be placed, try to act as God would have you. Be very cautious of your friendships. Shun, as the plague, those who have not the fear of God, whatever other attractive qualities they may possess. Meet with such you must, but do not, oh, do not, make them your friends. Whatever it may appear to you now, the time, be assured, is not far distant when death shall snatch you from every thing here. Surely, my dearest girls, all my care, all my prayers for you, shall not be in vain. Oh, then, dread the world; dread its follies, its gaieties, its company. Oh, then, place your happiness in religion. Oh, then, keep the commandments of God-oh, fly to Christ for redemption. Do the angels rejoice when one sinner repenteth, and shall not my joy be unbounded to see my children saved with an everlasting salvation. "With one more request I will conclude. My dears, do not mourn for me, as those who have no hope. Look up. I am safe, I am happy, unspeakably happy. You may follow. All things are ready; come to the wedding. Christ stretches forth his hand to save and support you; put forth yours and lean on the Beloved. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.' "Let your brothers, and, if you like, your father, see this letter; and get a reading of their's. Keep it by you, and let Helen have a copy. Be ever dutiful to your only remaining parent, and endeavour to prevent his feeling my loss. "Farewell, till we meet (oh! may I not hope?) never to part, when we shall be ever with the Lord, ever with one another. My God, my Jesus, let thine everlasting protection shield my children from all evil. Save them, and they shall be saved. Make them holy and heavenly. I have endeavoured to lead them to Thee; receive them graciously, love them freely, and even in glory put a new song into my mouth,-praise for the wonders of redeeming love to those dear as a right hand. "I die, as I have lived, "Your most anxiously attached Mother, "J. COLQUHOUN." HOW TO TAKE A WALK. "Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, THERE are few things in which young people differ much more than in this-how they take a walk. Some, long accustomed to the busy hum of a crowded city, or, to the activities of commercial life, scarcely ever think of traversing green fields and lanes, or if perchance they visit their friends in the country, are very soon tired, and long to return. The wide-spreading plain, the fertile valley, the thicklywooded hill, the rolling tide of the "living sea," rugged rocks, towering cloud-capped mountains, and all the grand panorama of nature above, around, and beneath, charm some as they catch a hasty glance from a railway train, or the mail coach. These love quickly-changing and dissolving views, but cannot endure a quiet solitary walk to contemplate in detail what they see. There are some who love to walk in the country for its sweet and wholesome air, and refreshing breezes, and health-giving influences, but their eye sees not the beauty and the grandeur, as their ear detects not the harmony, of God's works in nature. There are some again, who love to walk abroad, and who, with youthful joyousness will let the moving waters wash their feet; will climb the rocks and gaze upon the sea; will win the arduous summit of some lofty hill; wander the grassy fields at 66 morn or dewy eve;" or rove in peaceful thoughtlessness the silent and sequestered dell, and yet in all these things they find no valuable instruction; no lessons of moral wisdom; no stimulus to learning, to excellence, or to piety. Different from all these, there are some who, when they walk, find all the poet speaks of in the lines at the head of this paper. And is not this the preferable character? Is it not one which any young person with a moderate degree of ability, a few advantages, and some share of application, can make his or her own? How pleasant is it to look with an intelligent eye upon the erections of the Great Architect-the constructions of the Great Artificer! Yes, there is a pleasure accruing to such which cannot belong to others. Moreover it serves greatly to discipline the mental powers by inducing habits of observation and reflection, which will be of inestimable value in after-life. Those who have been content with vague generalities, and have not looked into, and reflected on little things, will find their loss when they embark upon the full responsibilities of life, which chiefly consist of little things. Now here is a pleasant and not difficult mode of cultivating such a habit of mind. Nor is it without reason said that such habits greatly aid in the acquisition of knowledge from books, while it is clear they are sure to add largely to knowledge from observation of facts. Then the moral influence of such a mode as these have adopted |