Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

mouth of the catechised person can only be properly used by a true disciple of Christ, by one who has been chosen, regenerated, sanctified, and actually received among the people of God. But inasmuch as no human teacher is able to separate the wheat from the tares, the rulers of the Church are compelled to let them all grow together until the harvest, allowing the latter to enjoy all the privileges of cultivation and protection in common with the former. And since such is the ignorance, blindness, and incapacity of the spiritual husbandman, that he is incapable, in many instances, of distinguishing between the sincere Christian and the hypocritical professor, the compilers of our Liturgy, taking the side of charity, have determined that all who partake of the public ordinances of the visible Church, shall be supposed to form a part of the invisible Church."

Here the lady of the manor, presuming that she had already said as much or more than would be accurately understood by her young people, closed her discourse for the evening by calling upon them to join her in solemn prayer to God.

A Prayer for Light and Illumination on all Doctrinal Subjects.

"O THOU BLESSED LORD GOD, who hast given all Scripture for our instruction, grant us so to read, thy Holy Word, that we may be enabled rightly to receive and comprehend those sacred truths, the knowledge of which is especially necessary to our salvation. We are well assured that thy Holy Word is a dead letter to such as are not endued with the gifts and graces of thy Holy Spirit, while it binds together the servants of the Lord with bands that cannot be broken. Be thou pleased therefore to send thy Spirit into our hearts, that He may be unto us a remembrancer of all holy things, enriching our understandings with all that is excellent, and enabling us to cast out all that is evil from our hearts and imaginations.

"O Almighty God, too long have we lived in the indulgence of impure thoughts and unholy desires: assist us now, O Lord, to forsake and abhor them. Grant that

the holy words which we have heard this day may sink deep into our hearts, and be as good seed received into good ground, bearing fruit a hundred fold. May our hearts become as the garden of the Lord, which being refreshed with the continual influences of the Holy Spirit, may become fragrant with all manner of spices, and well pleasing in his sight.

"We lament and bewail, O heavenly Father, that ignorance and spiritual darkness in which we have hitherto continued though from infancy accustomed to repeat the articles of our holy faith, we have closed our eyes and shut our hearts against the reception of their influence: in the midst of light, we have dwelt in darkness; and though daily hearing the words of life, we have continued to abide in a state of death.

"O blessed Father, have pity upon us: draw us, and we will run after thee. Prosper thy word unto our souls: let it be unto us a well of water springing up unto everlasting life, softening our hard and stubborn hearts, and enabling us to produce the fruits of a holy and godly life. And as we have received thy Holy Word, grant that we may make it our study all the day long, until all its glorious mysteries are revealed, until all its consoling promises are fulfilled, and until faith and hope are lost in glory.

"Now to God the Father," &c.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

“WHEN we last met, my dear young people," said the lady of the manor, on finding herself again surrounded by her amiable little circle, "I promised you a short narrative, in which the subject of the divine communion is brought forward in a manner which I think will please you."

On hearing this, the young ladies smiled, and drew their chairs closer round the table, previous to the commencement of the story.

"I have already, my dear young people," said the lady of the manor, "brought you acquainted with my beloved father, and his dwelling in the same parish with the Earl of N- whose beautiful parks and venerable woods overran the whole neighbourhood, supplying a variety of exquisite natural scenes, such as the finest landscape painter would have found it difficult to represent with any degree of truth.

"In the deepest recesses of these woods, near the spot where a pure stream of water rushed abruptly from the higher grounds into a deep dingle, stood an old timberbuilt cottage, near which was a wooden bridge thrown from one side to the other of the narrow dell, in order to facilitate the passage of the traveller over the stream. On the opposite side the wood thickened so much that another cottage, which was situated among the trees, was only discernible by those who looked up the dingle, from its chimney and a small portion of its thatched roof. which peeped from beneath the shade.

"In the first of these cottages lived one Henry Hart, a

very old man, when I was a little child, whose business was that of a wood-cutter. This man had in his youth been remarkably handsome; and when I first beheld him he exhibited the finest specimen I think I ever remember to have seen of comely and venerable old age. As he had from his youth been constantly exposed to the open air, every part of his face was ruddy, excepting that which had always been covered with his hat, which still retained the clear white of his natural complexion. His eyes, which were peculiarly fine, were so expressive, that my father often confessed his astonishment at their being set in the head of a poor working-man; and his regular features were set off by his milk-white locks, which hung in curls from his head. The old man was, however, so reserved in his manner, that my father had resided in the parish many years without ever being able to draw him out in conversation, although he had often tried to do so when meeting him by chance in the woods. Neither could any person in the parish boast of being better acquainted with him, for he lived in great solitude, his house being kept by a deaf old woman, with whom he seldom, as he said, entered into discourse, though he read the Holy Scriptures to her every night, and sometimes commented on them in her hearing. With other persons he never mixed excepting on occasions of public service at the church, from which he seldom absented himself.

66 My father, who much admired the appearance of this old man, and who could not but greatly regret his reserve, feeling, as he said, a strong persuasion that if the old man could but be induced to speak, he would be found more intelligent than persons in his situation commonly are, used to call him the Hermit of the Dale, and not seldom applied to him the words of the poet

'Far in a wild, unknown to public view,
From youth to age a reverend hermit grew.'

But while we thought that my father was unreasonably ennobling a poor peasant by comparing him to the poet's hermit, we, in fact, by such comparison, fell far short of the real worth and dignity of this old man's character.

"I do not exactly recollect my age at the time, but at any rate I know that I was old enough to reason on many things that passed, when Sunday-schools began to be first talked of. These were originally projected by a Mr. Raikes of Gloucester; and my father no sooner heard of them than he resolved to establish one in his

parish. Lord N- very kindly supplied a room for the purpose; but we were at a loss for some time about procuring a teacher. I recollect that my father, with my little assistance, supplied the place for some Sundays; but soon found the labour too much for him in addition to his other Sunday duties: and I was altogether too young for such an undertaking.

"While we were in this dilemma, and could meet with no one whom we thought fit to place in this responsible situation, Henry Hart, to our great surprise, the reserved old man whom we had called a hermit, came into the school-room, and with great humility offered his poor services, as he called them.

"I shall never forget his appearance on presenting himself before us. He wore a russet suit of clothes, his linen, though coarse, being clean and white: he had taken off his hat, and his grey hair was parted on his brow. He smiled while addressing my father, and said, he never should have presumed to offer himself for such a service, had any other person come forward.

"I think then,' said my father, 'if I am not much mistaken, we shall have reason to rejoice, Henry Hart, that no one else has come forward.'

"The old man bowed in reply, and lifted up his eyes as if in prayer, but said nothing.

66 Henry Hart was immediately installed in his office as master of the little school. He was then sixty-five years of age, and he retained his situation ten years. My father was really astonished to find in this poor and retired old man such a depth of Christian knowledge and experience as he had scarcely ever met with through the whole course of his life.

"In consequence of his situation as master of the Sunday-school, my father had an opportunity of frequent conversation with him; and the old man, as is commonly the case with persons of very silent and retired habits,

« AnteriorContinuar »