ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

was worth much or little, it did not seem to be her special business to inquire; and perhaps in her own hearty manner she would have pledged her allegiance to Miss Laura, had not Mrs. Walkinshaw at that moment made the enquiry

"I suppose, Mr. Enderby, you have seen our new clergyman at Springclose?"

Emma colored, and looked towards me.

This movement was

seat, and taking her

not lost upon Caroline, who rose from her by the hand, said “You are not well, dear, will you take a turn in the garden." The offer was at once accepted, and in a few seconds they had swept out of the room, followed by Miss Walkinshaw.

"I have seen him, and have heard a good deal about him," I replied bluntly; "but have never been formally introduced."

“No? Then I'm sure I may say you've a pleasure to come— he's a most delightful man-so easy—so gentlemanly—so sincere; and I hear he is so kind to the poor-they say, indeed, that he is indefatigable in his work."

spurious religion springs up

[ocr errors]

because they have no deep"The simple," thought I,

How true is it that a hasty and forthwith in the soil of some minds, ness of earth!" I looked aghast. "believeth every word, but the prudent looketh well to his going." Our hostess had evidently taken Mr. Glosenfane at his own valuation. To a mind out of tune and out of use, as her's was, anything was true; and whether it came recommended by the ipse dixit only of an interested party, or the highest form of evidence, was a matter of comparative indifference.

"But," said I, stimulated to the attack by a recollection of past mischiefs, -"he's a rank Puseyite-a man who has done and is still doing, a vast deal of harm."

"In what way do you mean?" enquired Mrs. Walkinshaw, with evident surprise.

"By introducing all the forms, and fooleries, and soul-destroying rites and doctrines of Puseyism."

"Well! so I have heard; but do you know, Mr. Enderby, I have never seen anything of this Puseyism, that folks talk about— What is it? Miss Gascoyne, they say, is a Puseyite; but I hear she is a very excellent young woman."

"You may have heard so," I remarked, "and knowing nothing

of Miss Gascoyne, I am not prepared to deny it; but something must depend on the position, character, or capabilities of your informant. Men never gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles and whatever the exceptions may be with regard to Puseyism, its general tendency is to transform Christianity, the highest style of enlightened, and heaven-descended wisdom, into a refined form of instinct to substitute a system of shewy forms and rites pleasing to the animal senses, for that enlargement of soul which belongs peculiarly to the gospel."

[ocr errors]

There

Growing warm upon the subject, I endeavored at considerable length to argue Mrs. Walkinshaw out of the dangerous position she had taken up. My wife, too, joined in the attack, as I thought with considerable cleverness, but we found little reason to congratulate ourselves on any prospect of success. seemed nothing to lay hold of in the mental constitution of our opponent, and we fought much as one that beateth the air." If victory smiled on us at one moment, the tables would be turned against us the next, and we at last solaced ourselves with the conviction that the wise man spake worthy of his Teacher and himself, when he said, "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit."

It was now time that we should take our leave. Our young friends were recalled from the garden, and Emma having joined our party, we proceeded homewards. During the way we noticed in her a moodiness of bearing and of manner quite unusual. Again, and again, we tried to draw her into conversation, but she was evidently deep in her own thoughts, and indisposed to join in our remarks. At length my wife, when we had fallen back a little, so as to be out of hearing, said to me" I am afraid those silly girls have done Emma no good. Won over themselves at the moment, by a few attentions and courtesies from Mr. Glosenfane, I dare say they have laid close siege to our young friend, and have done their best to persuade her again to think favorably of him.”

There seemed some reason in this conjecture; and so it subse quently proved. The mind is so constituted as to be moulded by the most trivial circumstances-by indirect and often unconscious influences. It needed but a few injudicious epithets, backed as

they were by such warm but empty attentions and professions as Emma had received from her new acquaintances, to turn again the current of her affections in the direction of Springclose and its unhallowed associations; and she now felt that it was bearing her back thither in spite of her better judgment. And let not any be disposed to charge her with unwonted weakness in thus permitting a few words spoken in the garden at the Lindens, by those in whose judgment she could have no confidence whatever, to unsettle her conviction or bear down her spirits. Words will tell from whatever quarter they emanate. Acts will tell. Impressions will tell; and feelings, often supposed to be unknown to all but those in whose minds they first arise, will tell powerfully on the conduct and the creed of others. To see is often to assimilate ; for "beholding as in a glass," we grow into the image we behold.

Let us never forget this when disposed to think lightly of the mere idle talk of others. Those who are without the strength of mind that may be necessary to corroborate and confirm ours by contact, may yet exercise sufficient control over us to weaken it. It is easier to pull down a palace than to build a hovel. How many does a thoughtless world place in the catalogue of those who "do no harm?" The Bible knows of none. Oh! for the holy circumspection of that good man who said, "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."

But to return to Emma. Her mind had beyond question, received a bias for evil. It required, however, but increased vigilance on our parts to remedy the mischief, and we returned home wiser by that morning's experience, however painful might have been the process of tuition.

As we caught sight of the little hamlet, where our dwelling stood, stretching away towards the gentle undulations that backed the picture, we thought there were few prettier landscapes in the country. Cottages, farms, corn-ricks, trees, whose delicate anatomy was still traceable through the "gauzy gold" of their spring leaves, and a variety of ordinary elements, colored by an April sun, and steeped in the atmospheric influences of the season, contributed to make up a very lovely scene; and the thought that our own home stood there, added new pleasures to the contemplation.

46

'I was about to tell you, Charlotte," said I, turning to my

wife, "when you checked me by the intimation that we had reached the Lindens, what I thought of your Three Words-for one of them I felt certain I had hit upon."

"And pray what was it?"

"Nay: if you try my curiosity, I must try yours."

[ocr errors]

Well," said she, with affected indifference, "you are the party to be gratified."

"Am I?" I replied laughing-" then I can wait."

"So can I;" said she.

We hope the reader can do the same.

(To be continued)

H. R. E.

MORE ABOUT GEOGRAPHY.

"WE left St. Paul at Tarsus," said Mrs. Walters* the next morning, as we all took our places again in the school-room; "and there he remained till Barnabas came to fetch him away to Antioch. Antioch, once the pride of the East, is now very desolate, you see it lies on the Orontes, about twelve miles from the Mediterranean. Here it was that the disciples first received the name of Christians. If you turn to Isaiah lxv. 15., you will see it predicted that the Lord would leave the name of Jews for a curse upon his chosen, and would call his servants by another How melancholy it is to trace the history of the places where Christianity was originally planted-first corruption, then decay, then extinction! Religion is not an hereditary possession; and it would be a curious thing could we trace the descendants of the first Christians, whether at Antioch or elsewhere, to ascertain whether there be any one family of those now professing christianity in any part of the world, who derive their descent directly from them."

name.

"Now, Jane, can you tell me where St. Paul went after leaving Antioch-I mean after finally leaving it? He first went to Jerusalem to carry the fund with which he and Barnabas had been entrusted, for the wants of those who were suffering in Jerusalem from famine; and then returned to Antioch; but I mean after that?" Jane. "He went to Seleucia: but there is nothing about it in my Geography book."

* See ante, page 266.

Mrs. Walters. "Here is an ancient map, where you will find it—see, on the Mediterranean, north-west of Antioch. There were no fewer than nine cities of the same name; they were called after Seleucus their founder. He must have had a great passion for building, and a determination to immortalize himself and his family in this way, for he is said to have named sixteen others after his father Antiochus, six after his mother Laodice, and three after his wife! Besides building all these, he beautified many others."

Julia. "It reminds me, mamma, of that verse in the Psalms, where it speaks of people calling their lands after their own names.' I do not remember ever to have heard of him before."

Mrs. Walters. “His story may be soon told. He succeeded his father in the kingdom of Syria: his uncle, however, who reigned in another part of Syria, succeeded in driving him out of Antioch his metropolis, and after being driven from place to place he took refuge in Cilicia, but he so harassed the people among whom he lived by his exactions, that they conspired against him, set fire to the house in which he was, and thus he perished by perhaps the most painful of all deaths. Now, Mary, what place do we next come to?"

Mary. “To Cyprus— what a large island it seems!”

Mrs. Walters. "Yes, it is one hundred and forty miles long from east to west, —that is, just half the length of Ireland, and sixty broad. It is one of the largest of the numerous islands in the Mediterranean. It is supposed to have been colonized by Kittim, brother to Tarshish. Its name is derived from the cypress tree with which it abounds. It was formerly a fertile island, but it has been reduced to great desolation. The soil is most luxuriant, and the climate delightful, but in the Greek insurrection it was completely wasted. Venus was worshipped in this island: you must often have heard her called 'the Paphian Venus.' The missionary to this island in the present day has to contend with superstition as well as the Apostle. The names only are changed. The Greek church, as you know, differs from the Roman in this, that they do not worship images, but their idolatry is transferred to pictures, and every house contains at least one holy picture, as they esteem them, to which their devotions are regularly paid. Why are you smiling, Fanny?"

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »