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    ranch indifference , which was manifestly confirmed and increased by the influence of her afflictions , and remained to the end of life ; though she never censured others for indulging , with moderation , in p leasures which , passed not the limits of virtue , and was , in particular , friendly

    and aiding in the innocent recreations of the young . But she perceived , and sometimes intimated , that her spirit , wounded by tender grief , demanded an antidote of quicker healing efficacy than the slow hand of time ; and superior to the common expedients . She therefore

    had recourse to the remedies provided by religion . She applied them more strenuously than ever to her heart , and the result was an enlarged experience both of the composing and exhilarating influence of pious reliance and believing hope . Nor was her keen sensibility permitted to take her off from her active

    duties as a Christian , and the mistress of a family . On the contrary , she sought and found in them a useful corrective of it ; and enjoyed a pleasing consciousness and experimental proof of having

    adopted the measures that were deserving of her preference , and most conducive to solid peace Her subjection to the perceptive and providential will of the Most High was exemplary . Accustomed to associate the idea of him

    with all occurrences and circumstances , she lived under the practical and consoling impression of his presence , and referred her dearest concerns to his disposal , and her purposes and actions to his glory . It was with her a favorite view of

    Christian righteousness , that it consisted in the imitation of the holiness and goodness of the God and Father of all , and in transcribing into the temper and life , that fairest copy of the divine rectitude , the character of Christ ; whom , though she differed even from those Unitarians ,

    who believed in his pre-existence and miraculous birth , she reverenced and followed as her authoritative instructor and leader , and rejoiced in as her divinely appointed deliverer from the prison of the grave , and as the author of eternal salvation to those who obey him .

    Iii conformity with the pattern of the divine goodness , her benevolence embr / aced all the creatures and offspring of God , while she felt , and by her feeling was impelled to manifest a superior reard to the wise and good . She shone conspicuously in the dis-

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    charge of relative duties . To' her parents , though herself a mother , and engaged in various domestic concerns , she was , as hath been already intimated , uniformly dutiful and affectionate to the last . And here the brother of her

    conjugal partner hopes to be excused for not resisting prising impulse to record , that their parents ^ the Rev . Ebenezer Johnston and Mrs . Johnston , formerly of L . ewjs , rejoiced in the relation to her which Providence had brought about , and received from her the most respectful attentions and kindest office * , which

    their situation near her , in the latter part of their lives , afforded her ' an opportunity of rendering . They possessed indeed that just claim to them , which was founded on Jie most substantial worth , and on an affection for her bear *

    ing a striking resemblance of the parental . Their virtues live in the grateful remembrance of their surviving sons . May they be displayed in their characters , and adorn the line of descent , till it shall end !

    Justly may be applied to her that beautiful eulogy of an exemplary wife in the book of Proverbs , " the heart of her husband safely trusted in her " Her prudence and affection demanded , and were rewarded by his unreserved confidence . His joys were increased and hia troubles softened hy her participation and sympathy . Their hearts were one . Her children have lost a wise and

    faithful consellor . Her instructions , in their tender age ., were enforced by maternal authority , mixed with the most engaging kindness , and in theh \ farther advanced years , by the genuine manifestation * of a deep and affectionate solicitude for their virtue and happiness . To her

    servants she was considerate and gentle , and accustomed to deliver necessary directions in the language of requests , rather than of commands . She was ever ready to countenance institutions , whose object was the melioration of the bodily condition , and of the religious and moral state of her fellow creatures . She

    was the compassionate friend of needy sufferers , "who were obliged not more by the benefits she conferred , than by her humility and tenderness in the manner of conferring- them . A conquest over pride , and the irregularities of selflove , and an abstraction from separate personal gratifications of the inferior kind , were prominent traits in her character Her chief pleasures were sup-

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    Obituary , — . Mrs .. M . Johnston . 415

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1810, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2407/page/39/