mercy, compassion and love, and declares that for them only he was come, that it was the sick who needed the physician; and tho' the Saviour of Israel, he only came to save the lost Sheep of the House of Israel.

O THOU Source of Love! thou dost indeed seem so jealous of the salvation thou hast purchased, that thou dost prefer the sinner to the righteous! the poor sinner beholds himself vile and wretched, is in a manner constrained to detest himself; and finding his state so horrible, casts himself in his desperation into the arms of his Saviour, and plunges with faith into the sacred bath of his Blood, and comes forth "white as wool:" Then confounded at the review of his disordered state, and overflowing with love for him, who having alone the power, had also the compassion to save him-the excess of his love is proportioned to the enormity of his crimes; and the fulness of gratitude, to the extent of the debt remitted. Whilst the self-righteous relying on the many good works he imagines to have performed, seems to hold salvation in his own hand, and considers Heaven as a just reward of his merits. In the bitterness of zeal he exclaims against all sinners, and represents the gates of mercy as barred to them, and heaven as a place to which they have no pretensions. What need have such self-righteous of a Saviour? they are already burdened with the load of their own merits. Oh how long will they bear the flattering load, whilst sinners divested of every thing, fly rapidly on the wings of faith and love into their Saviour's arms, who freely bestows on them that which he has infinitely merited.

How full of self-love are the former, and how void of the love of God? they esteem and admire themselves in their works of righteousness, which

they

they suppose the cause of their happiness. These works are no sooner exposed to the Sun of Righteousness, than it discovers all to be so full of impurity and baseness, that it frets them to the heart; mean while the poors inner, Magdalene is pardoned, because she loves much, and her faith and love are accepted as righteousness. The divine Paul who so well understood these great truths, and so fully investigated them, assures us that the faith of Abraham was imputed to him for righteousness! This is truly beautiful: for it is certain all that holy Patriarch's actions were strictly righteous; yet not seeing them as such and being void of the love of them, and divested of selfishness, his faith was founded on the salvation to come by Christ. He hoped in him even against hope itself, and this was imputed to him for righteousness, (Rom. iv. 18, and 22.) a pure, simple and genuine righteousness, merited by Christ, and not a righteousness wrought by himself, and regarded as of himself.

You may imagine this a digression wide of the subject I at first proposed; but it leads insensibly to it, and shews, that God accomplishes his work either in converted sinners, whose past iniquities serve as a counterpoise to their elevation; or in persons whose self-righteousness he destroys, by totally overthrowing the proud building they had reared on a sandy foundation, instead of the Rock, CHRIST.

THE establishment of all these ends, which he proposed in coming into the world, is effected by the apparent overthrow of that very structure which in reality he would erect: for by means which seem to destroy his church, he establishes it. How strangely does he found the new law and give it a sanction! the very legislator himself is condemned by the learned and great, as a malefactor, and at

length

length dies an ignominious death. Oh that we fully understood how very opposite our self-righteousness is to the designs of God-it would be a subject for endless humiliation, and we should have an utter distrust in that which at present constitutes the whole of our dependance.

THIS being premised, it will be less difficult for you to conceive the designs of God, in the favours he has conferred on the most miserable of creatures. From a just love of his supreme power, and a righteous jealousy over mankind, who attribute to each other the gifts he himself bestows upon them, it pleased him to take one of the most unworthy of the Creation, to make known that his graces are the effects of his will, not the fruits of our merits; that it is the property of his wisdom, to destroy what is proudly built, and to build what is destroyed, to make use of weak things to confound the mighty, and to employ in his service such as appear vile and contemptible.

THIS he does in a manner so astonishing, as to render them the objects of the scorn and contempt of the world. It is not to draw the public approbation upon them, that he makes them instrumental in the salvation of others; but to render them the objects of their dislike, and the subjects of their insults; as you will see in the narrative of the life, you have ordered me to write,

CHAP.

I

CHAP. II.

WAS born the 18th of April 1648, my parents, particularly my father, was extremely pious, but to him it was in a manner hereditary, as many of his fore-fathers were Saints.

My mother, in the 8th month was accidentally frighted, which caused an abortion, and it is generally imagined that a child born in that month cannot survive; indeed I was so excessively ill, immediately after my birth, that all about me despaired of mylife, and were apprehensive I should die without baptism; but perceiving some signs of recovery they ran to acquaint my father, who immediately brought a priest; but on entering the chamber they were told, those symptoms which had raised their hopes were only expiring struggles, and that all was now over.

* IF I had then died, I should perhaps have never either known or loved my God, and this heart created only for thyself, without ever having had the blessedness of a single moment's union with thee, had been eternally banished thy sacred presence.O thou who art the Supreme Felicity! if I now deserve thy hatred, and am hereafter a vessel prepared for perdition, yet still the consolation remains, of my having once known and loved thee: of having once sought and followed thee; and I am also consoled

* Our author here adverts to the opinion commonly received in the Romish church; that children dying without baptism are not saved; from this error however, she takes occasion to break forth, into those refinements of sentiment, which tho' foolishness to the mere natural man, all real christians cannot but admire.

soled in my willingness, to embrace, thro' my attachment to thy Divine Justice, the eternal decree it may pronounce against me; for I love thy justice when it deals more rigorously with me than any other. Yea! I am so enamoured with thy Justice, and pure glory, that regardless of myself or my proper interests, I take part with thee against myself, and where thou strikest there will I strike also. And tho' I should have enjoyed the advantage of never having actually offended thee, had I died at that tender age, yet the pleasure which arises on being sacrificed to thee, thro' love; together with the blessedness of having once loved thee, far transcends the pain I feel in having since so often displeased thee.

I HAD no sooner shewn signs of life again, than I again relapsed, and remained so long in an uncertain state, that it was some time before they could find a proper opportunity to baptize me, and I continued very unhealthy until I was two years and a half old, when they sent me to the *convent of the Ursulines, where I remained a few months.

ON

On my return, my mother neglected to pay due attention to my education. She was not fond of daughters, and abandoned me wholly to the care of servants; and indeed I should have suffered severely from their inattention to me, had not thine all-watchful Providence been my protector; for thro' the liveliness of my disposition, I met with various accidents, and frequently fell into a deep vault that held our fire-wood; however, I always escaped unhurt.

* Children are educated in many of the French Convents as at our boarding-schools.

THE