men; a man not less distinguished by his elegant manners and intellectual endowments than by his superior piety.

In England we were rendered peculiarly happy by falling into such society as confirmed all those desires which, under the blessing of God, had been first excited in our minds by the conversation of Mr. Gisborne. My beloved mother died before the termination of the war upon the Continent. And as we were enabled, after the peace, to dispose of our possessions in Baden on advantageous terms, we no longer consider ourselves as allied to foreigners, excepting by those ties of affection which ought ever to unite those who partake of one common nature; but considering England as our home, we desire to live and die in this country, and to devote the remainder of our lives to the dissemination of that truth which has formed the happiness of our lives for some years past, and gives us the assurance of still greater happiness in the life to come.

Mr. Gisborne still lives, and still pursues his calm and uninterrupted course, though bent down with years, and sometimes reminded, by his increasing infirmities, that ere long he may look for a removal to a happier home. My father, who is younger than Mr. Gisborne by many years, clings to him with the most tender regard and unmingled esteem; and Alfred, who is now as fine a youth as England can boast, (and if England, surely all the world beside,) is the fairest and most faithful prop of the declining years of that excellent man, who first introduced him to the way of holiness.

And now, my dear Madam, I close this long epistle, or rather this little volume, hoping that what I have said may confirm you in the opinions which you have professed, and induce you, as much as in you lies, to substitute the word of God in the school-room of your sons in the place of those heathen authors, the study of which I scarcely think can be admitted, in the way it is, without the breach, if not of the letter, at least of the spirit, of that commandment which saith-" Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth

generation of them that hate me; and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my commandments."

The lady of the manor having concluded the history of Ellen Temple, and finding that the evening was further advanced than she had expected, dismissed her young people, after having engaged with them a short time in prayer.

A Supplication that we may be enabled rightly to comprehend, and duly to attend to, the Spirit of the Second Command

ment.

"BLESSED and glorious Lord Jehovah Almighty, the Omnipotent God, thou only adequate object of love and adoration, thou who alone hast any title to our reverence, submission, confidence, and obedience; impress our minds, we humbly entreat thee, with such a sense of thine excellence and glory, that we may never suffer any creature to be thy rival in our affections. Set us free, we earnestly supplicate thee, from that spirit of idolatry which insinuates itself into the heart of every unregenerate man. Grant us power to set our foot upon the neck of every idol, and enable us henceforward to worship Thee alone. Thou hast represented thyself in thy blessed word as a jealous God; thou hast spoken of the idols of the heathen as abominable and detestable things, threatening destruction to all those who shall yield them reverence or respect; thou hast set forth the state of the heathen as utterly corrupt, and hast forbidden all intimate intercourse with such. Almighty Father, preserve thy redeemed ones from all the evil effects which yet may threaten them from the heathenism of former ages. Grant that we may be wholly kept from all the influence which Satan may still endeavour to exercise over our minds through the medium of infidel writings, and the prevalence of ancient infidel customs. May we no longer be induced, by the idolatrous productions of former ages, to call evil good and good evil, to seek earthly honours and human praise, to delight in violence and bloodshed, and to forsake those rules of life which are laid down in thy holy word.

O

"Preserve us also, O blessed Father, from all human

idols. Grant, that it may ever be present to our minds that thou art the source of all created excellence, that at thy word it is brought into existence, and that at thy word it perishes. There is nothing desirable on earth but what is made by thee, nothing glorious in heaven but what is the produce of thy power. The finest efforts of human genius are only admirable when devoted to thy service; and when otherwise employed, the wisdom of man is turned into folly. Pardon, O blessed Lord, our former blindness to thy excellencies; forgive us for having overlooked the glories of thy word, and forsaken the living fountains of water to hew unto ourselves broken cisterns, and for perversely shutting our eyes against the light of heaven, in order to walk by those sparks which the unhallowed imaginations of the besotted heathen were employed in kindling, during the darkest ages of a benighted world.

"Increase the light of truth unto the glory of a perfect day. Dispel the mists of heathenism throughout the world. Reveal the truths of thy blessed word, and the glories of thy adorable name, to all the surrounding nations. And in the mean time, assist us, who have already renounced the profession of heathenism, effectually and for ever to renounce its fascinating influence, that henceforth we may acknowledge no other Lord but Him whose name is incommunicable, even the Lord Jehovah, the glorious and only true God and Father of all created things; to whom be all honour and praise, now and for evermore. Amen."

CHAPTER XV.

Third Commandment.-Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain.

THE discourse this evening at the manor-house was com menced by the lady of the manor, who, having repeated the third commandment, addressed her young people with this question: Having heard this commandment, my dear young friends, shall we confess that we are guilty here also? or shall we presume to say that we are innocent?"

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I can

"A few weeks ago,” replied Miss Emmeline, “I think I should have ventured to answer, that of this offence, at least, I am free; and I should have made this assertion upon the childish supposition that this commandment applies only to common swearers, and such profane persons as use the name of God in ordinary conversation. not however now entertain a doubt, but that, when the spiritual nature of this commandment is explained, I shall find myself to have been as grievous an offender here as in all those other points of the divine law which have come under our consideration."

"I rejoice to find, my dear Miss Emmeline," replied the lady of the manor, "that your mind is opening upon these subjects. The wise man says-The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility." (Prov. xv. 31-33.) The lady of the manor then, addressing herself to the company in general, said, "The commandment which is to supply the subject of our consideration this day, appears

to have lost much of its influence on well-meaning persons by having been constantly applied to common swearers, and men of a profane conversation. Such, indeed, are the persons whose transgressions of this commandment are open to every eye: but there are others, (and the reflection is an awful one,) who, in the all-seeing eye of Almighty God, are more continually, and perhaps in many cases with equal deliberation, committing this offence, than the profanest persons we meet with in the street.

"The characters to which I allude, are such as affect religious feelings which they have never experienced, and assume a high tone in religious societies, while their hearts are far from God, and wholly devoted to the world. It is to be feared, that the most sincere Christians are too often convicted by their own hearts of hypocrisy and formality in their sacred duties: and though we are not capable of forming any judgment of the degree of hypocrisy which may exist in our own hearts, (much less in that of any individual among our acquaintance,) yet of this we may be assured, that hypocrisy dwells more or less in every breast; and that the human creature lives not, whose affections are ever flowing in their right channel, or whose wandering thoughts, and mixed and worldly motives of action, do not very fre quently lead him to offend against this solemn injunction, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.'

"It is certain, that we cannot call ourselves too strictly to account for the imperfection of our spiritual duties, as well as for the deadness and coldness of our religious feelings. But, since our blessed Saviour has adopted the use of parables as the medium of divine instruction, and as this mode of communicating knowledge is particularly attractive to young people, instead of entering into a further serious discussion of this subject, I shall read to you a short story, which is particularly to our present purpose."

The lady of the manor then took a manuscript from a drawer, and read as follows.

The History of Anna.

On the western acclivity of one of those ridges of hills which in part separate England from Wales, there stands