NOTICES OF THE PRESS, OP CHAPTERS ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM. From the Edinburgh C our ant. ec The object of the volume before us is to render the Shorter Catechism intelligible and attractive to children, and to impress upon their minds the important truths which it contains. The authoress, in a very modest preface, states that Mrs. Sherwood’s € Stories on the Church Catechism ’ suggested to her the idea of the work, and we can say that she has accomplished it with much success. The story which forms the connecting link throughout is an account of a minister’s family during a year. Each chapter is headed by one or more questions of the Catechism, and is devoted to the particular subject to which the questions relate. Besides the general story, which is made in a very natural way to accommodate itself to the various subjects, there are frequent conversations, in which the question is fully explained, and short anecdotes are introduced to impress it on the mind of a child. The whole is written in a very plain and simple style, and is per- vaded by a spirit of deep earnestness and piety : it cannot fail to win the attention of those for whom it is designed. There is one passage, towards the end of the volume, in which the death of a little boy is described in as touching a strain as anything we have met with for a long time back. We cordially recommend the book to parents and other instructors of youth, who desire to have their children trained up according to the principles of the Shorter Catechism. They will find it a very valuable assistant, and will have cause to thank the authoress for creating a pleasure and an interest in a task which at present is too often very wearisome.” From the Caledonian Mercury. “ A tale admirably adapted to attract the youthful mind, and illustrates the commands and doctrines set forth in the Shorter Catechism.” From the Scottish Press. ct In several passages of her simple tale the authoress gives evi- dence of an accomplished mind, and an amiable character; and we consider it very appropriate as a gift book for young persons, at once of an interesting and instructive kind,” ANOTICES OE From the Glasgow Constitutional. cc The writer has made what we consider a successful attempt to render attractive that deservedly popular manual, the Assem- bly’s Shorter Catechism. The plan is simple; the children of a clergyman serve as dramatis persona, and the 6 questions,5 in a moral and religious sense, are brought out, sometimes in the course of regular training, and sometimes accidentally—objects or events in the diurnal walks of the family furnishing ground- work of instruction. No young person can peruse the work with- out amusement and instruction $ indeed, it is calculated to please and edify at any age.*9 From the Aberdeen Journal. ee The publication before us refers to the practical bearing, on every-day life, of the doctrines contained and unfolded in the Catechism j making each chapter a practical illustration of the passages by which it is headed. It is written in a very simple style, suitable to its object—the explaining and impressing more fully on the minds of children the meaning, spirit, and bearing of their early lessons. It is a most useful publication, and we sincerely wish it all the success that the design deserves.59 From the Montrose Review. “ The title of this work bears that it is c A Tale for the Instruc- tion of Youth,9 suggested by a similar publication by Mrs. Sher- wood. The truths of the Gospel being illustrated in a very cap- tivating manner, we think the authoress has succeeded admirably in her proposed object. The Tales, in various instances, present passages which may be pronounced both c sublime and beautiful,9 winning and pathetic. The morale of the whole is excellent—the sentiments being strictly in accordance with evangelical doc- trine.99 From the Montrose Standard. ee The volume only requires to be known to become a favourite in every family. Parents, Sunday-school teachers, and every one interested in the young—and who is not 1—will receive hints which will be of great service to them—they will at least see how the most trifling circumstances may be made subservient to the high and holy purpose of pointing the way to heaven." From the Greenock Advertiser. €C The very valid objections to what are callede religious novels,9 cannot be urged against this work, as it can lay no claim to the character of belonging to imaginative literature. These ChaptersTHE PRESS. on the Catechism ought to prove exceedingly useful in inducing the young, not only without effort or repugnance, but with feel- ings of interest, to acquire a competent knowledge of the great doctrinal points discussed and enforced. The work would form excellent reading in the family on Sabbath evenings, as its pages* would not only interest young people, but impress on their mem- ories the important truths taught in the Shorter Catechism—-a work whose influence in spreading among Scotsmen a thorough know- ledge of divine truth can never be over-estimated.’5 From the Fifeshire Journal. e The Clergyman’s Daughter5 has given the world a very beautiful book. The tale, or rather the many tales and conversa- tions, which are made the commentary on the Shorter Catechism, are related with infinite and uniform grace and ease, and they are such as must be highly interesting to young people, for whom the work is intended. The fair author excels, where excellence is rare, in the art of simple narrative. Her language is a beautiful specimen of chaste and noble diction, without affectation and without ambition. Dip into the work where you like, and you unfailingly dip into a ( well of English undefiled,5 indicative of the finely regulated mind of the writer. She will stand a comparison with Swift or Cobbet, but she resembles neither of them. She is more like to Southey, but she has imitated nobody, and her own style, like all fine styles, is inimitable and indescribable—its Sax- on richness being, of course, its chief ornament.55 From the Scottish Sabbath-School Teachers' Magazine. et This is an illustrated explanation of the Shorter Catechism on the principle of Mrs. Sherwood’s ( Stories on the Church Cate- chism.5 It is a tale, the incidents of which are arranged in such a manner as to illustrate in succession the various doctrines of the Shorter Catechism. This was not an easy task, and yet the Au- thoress has been upon the whole very successful. She has dis- played much good taste and ingenuity, and at the same time brought out in story the various points with much fulness and correctness. The book is fitted to be very useful to teachers, but more particularly, we should think, to parents in the instruc- tion of their children. We gladly recommend this volume to the attention of our readers.55CHAPTERS ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM % n associated with, having i156 CHAPTERS ON THE ascertained tliat this was a boy likely to improve him, asked him to spend some days at the manse. There was a good deal of discussion about whether the day was likely to keep fair, and what they were to do. It was at last agreed that the weather was suffi- ciently favourable for taking a walk, although not to such a distance as Hen Harghnell. Alick proposed the Kirk-knowe; every one agreed. Jessie, who was list- ening attentively, requested that she might go too. u Yes,” said Mrs. Gray, c< you may go, as it is not far. I suppose we shall return to dinner, as the dis- tance is so short.” “ But it would be much nicer to take our dinner there, mother,” Maggie said. “Ho you give us leave choose, mother?” Alick asked. “ Yes,” Mrs. Gray repli* ., “I wish to do what you all like best.” “ Then, I think,” Alick aid, athat we would all like best to dine there.” And as all did seem to like it best, Mrs. Gray went immediately to get something prepared to take with them. When it was ready, they departed, the two boys carrying the baskets. They were all in great spirits, and there was a great deal of laughing and merriment on the way. The Kirk-knowe was an eminence, not a very high one, but of a very regular, almost artificial form. It was covered with short smooth grass, and there were a few trees on it. On the top was a ruin, which tradition said had been a church, bjut it was so entirely a ruin, that it could not have been told from its appearance what it had been. Robert' soon fixed on a place where the pulpit had been. Alick fixed on another that he thought would do better, and the others chose seats. Maggie thought it such anj excellent church, that sheSHOKTEB, CATECHISM. 157 wished their own church were needing repairs, and that their father would come there to preach. “I do not think/' Mrs. G-ray said, “ that there would he preaching here in that case, for it would he quite out of the way for the most of the people, and we would he as well in the open air as here." “The people wouldn't like it,"* said Alick; “they would he afraid of catching cold, like Jem Taylor's mother. She never goes to church for fear of being ill after it; in summer it is too warm, and in winter it is too cold for her." “She must he very delicate," said Mrs. Gray: “it is not a thing to laugh at, Alick." “ But she is constantly going out to large parties, at least Jem is always telling us about her being at them, and how late she is of coming home at night. She comes to the school sometimes on quarter days, and she does not look delicate, she makes such a show." “Is that the lady who walks about in silk stockings" and a crape shawl when snow is on the ground?" Mag- gie asked. “The same," said Alick. “Jem told us that, and he seemed to think it was something to boast of." “We have had enough of this, Alick," said Mrs. G-ray; “we have nothing to do with Mrs. Taylor, nor the dress that she may choose to wear." “ But, mother," said Maggie, “ is it not very wrong to stay away from church ?" “ It is very wrong to absent ourselves from church without good cause. It would be wrong in me, and it would be wrong in you; and although I would like every one to think the same with regard to themselves, yet we ought not to judge others. We may hope that Mrs. Taylor employs her time well at home." “No, mother," said Alick, “Jem told us"— “ Hush, my dear boy, I do not wish to hear anything 14158 CHAPTERS ON THE more against her, for it can- do no good, and it is not pleasant.” “■Is- it breaking any of the commandments, mother,” said Maggie, “not to go to church?” “ It is breaking the second,” said Mrs. Gray. “The second, mother?” “ Yes, it requires us to receive and observe all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.” “ And what does that mean ?” asked Matilda. “ It means that we are to take the directions in the Bible regarding religious worship as addressed to our- selves, and to obey them.” “ And are there any directions about going to church?” Maggie asked. Mrs. Gray replied, “There is the example of our Lord, and of his apostles. It was his custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day} and when the dis- ciples were together on the first day of the week, Paul preached unto them. Then, prayer is a commanded duty, and peculiar promises are annexed to social prayer. ‘ If two of you shall agree on earthy as touch- ing anything ye shall ask, it shall be given them of my Father f and i Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them/ These verses plainly show to us that it is the will of bur God that his people worship him publicly along with each other.” “There are many people,” Robert said, “who do not think it matters much whether they go to church or not.” Jc It is to be feared there are,” said Mrs. Gray, “ many who do not value the privileges we enjoy, in being per- mitted to worship God according to our consciences, without any to make us afraid.” “ If we had the times of the Covenanters back,”SHORTER CATECHISM. 159 said Robert, “people would think more of their churches.” “Yes,” said Mrs. Cray, “we are such ungrateful beings that we never value a blessing as we ought until we are deprived of it.” “Who were the Covenanters?” asked Matilda. “ Oh, you know,” said Alick, “ the king wished all his subjects to worship in exactly the same form as he worshipped himself, and the people of Scotland did not like his form, so they resisted, although it was at the risk of their lives. They were not allowed to worship in churches, so they met in caves and glens to hear sermons.” “I don’t see the use of that,” said Maggie; “was it anything wrong the king wanted them to do ?” “He didn’t think it wrong,” Robert said, “but they did; and we are told in the Bible that every man should be fully persuaded in his own mind.” “ But we arc told in the Bible to c honour the king/ ” Maggie said. “But we are also told in the Bible to ‘fear God/ ” was Robert’s reply. “ Were they good people, then?” asked Maggie. “They were not all good,” said Robert; “bad men mix themselves up everywhere, but many of them were very devoted and conscientious.” “ Bid they think it would be breaking any of the commandments to obey the king?” asked Maggie. “ They thought it would be breaking the second,” said Robert, “because it requires us to keep pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.” “ What is the meaning of pure and entire ?” asked Matilda. “ Entire means without taking anything away,” said Alick, “and pure, means without adding anything to,160 CHAPTERS ON THE and they thought that they were commanded to mix up things with religion which have no concern with it/* Robert and Alick then tried to repeat lines on “The Covenanter's Sabbath/' and they succeeded in recollect- ing some of them between them. “No gladsome bell announc’d the Sabbath day, The solemn temples moulder’d with decay; God’s people met amidst the lonely wild, Like wretched outcasts from a world exiled; In a lone cave, the eagle’s drear abode, They met to worship, and to praise their God; The fretted rocks around their temple hung, And echoed back the praises as they sung; Though half suppress’d, the thrilling accents rise To God who hears, and answers in the skies; The preacher rose, andev’ry voice grew still, Save echoing breezes round the lonely hill; With solemn awe he opes the blessed book, Earnest in voice, and heavenly in his look; While from his lips the soothing accents flow, To cheer his flock, and mitigate their woe. Eor who could tell how soon the sentinel’s breath Might give the signal of approaching death; Eor every moment seem’d to them the last, And days to come more gloomy than the past.” * Mrs. Gray had in the meantime been laying the cloth outside, and she sent Jessie to tell that dinner was ready; news which they were not sorry to hear. They all took their seats on the grass, and the meal proceeded pleasantly. “Well/' said Alick, “it is a great pity that every body can't agree." “ So it is," said Robert, “ and that's just what Mr. Dewar thinks, who came some weeks ago to preach in our town. Great crowds go to hear him, and no won- der, for he makes them believe that they are sure of being lost if they belong to any other church, and sure of being saved if they belong to his." “Are you sure," said Mrs. Gray, “that he really said so ? for I can scarcely believe that any professedly Christian minister could make such an unchristian speech." * Weir. $SHORTER CATECHISM. 161 “ I never heard him myself,” said Robert, “but I have heard a great many people say the same thing of him.” “ I am very sorry to hear,” said Mrs. Gray, “ that any person professing to preach the gospel would say either that or anything like it.” “But he would say it,” said Alick, “to make the people go to his church, and he would think that would be for their good.” “ However desirous he might be, Alick,” Mrs. Gray remarked, “ for what he thought the good of his people, nothing could excuse his telling them an untruth. He ought to know that our being members of any one church, however pure, does not in itself make us mem- bers of Christ, and that we may be true Christians and yet be members of even a very corrupt church. Who- ever attempts to limit the invisible church to any visible form is not keeping the Scripture appointments pure and entire. “Breaking the second commandment, mother,” said Maggie; “ I think there are a great many ways of break- ing it.” “ And I think,” Robert said, “ that there were a great many people breaking the second commandment in our church last Sunday afternoon. There was a most dread- ful to-do; a great many of the people stood up, some of them went out of their seats, and almost the whole of them turned round their heads to see what was the mat- ter, and it was only some person who had fainted; it was enough for the people beside to notice it and help her out. My mother said, ‘ If the people had been more interested in what they professed to go to church for, they would have been less easily alarmed/ ” “It is a strange thing,” said Mrs. Gray, “indeed it is a melancholy thing, that the attention of people in church is so much more easily drawn away than it is anywhere else.” 14*162 CHAPTERS ON THE u I always thought before/' Matilda said, u that the second commandment meant only that we should not worship images." “ The words of the commandment/' said Mrs. Gray, a particularize images, because that was the mode of false worship that the Jews were particularly tempted to, living in an idolatrous age, and surrounded by idol- atrous nations, and we see many instances in their his- tory of how ready they were to give way to it." “ The golden calf," said Alick. u And Nebuchadnezzar's golden image," said Jessie. u The Jews did not put it up though/' said her sister. u I know that," the little girl replied, u but it was an idol." u And a very grand looking idol it must have been," said Robert. “ I saw a picture of it once; the musicians were ranged along, playing on all kinds of instruments. There was a great multitude of people with their faces to the ground, and the stupid looking image standing up, looking so immense that the people seemed just about the length of one of its fingers. There was the fiery furnace in the distance; and in the very front of the picture, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, looking more like angels than men. To see the reality must have been a grand sight." <( The part of it I would have liked best to see," said Alick, u would have been the fiery furnace at the time the Son of God was walking in it with the three J ews." “ Why was it, aunt, that they were not burnt ?" “ It was the Almighty's will by this means to show to Nebuchadnezzar that he alone was the living and the true God." “And did Nebuchadnezzar see that, aunt?" u Yes; he made a decree ‘that every people, nation, and language which spake anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cutSHORTER CATECHISE 163 In pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort/ ” “ How very foolish it was,” said Maggie, u to worship a golden image: nobody in this country would be so sffly.” “ It certainly was very foolish, hut we do not require to go farther than our own country to see many things that are as foolish and as wrong. We do not set up an image of gold to worship, for we can worship gold with- out making an image of it. We strive for riches as if riches were everything, or, if it is not gold itself that we seek, we aim at what gold could procure, the power of gaining the esteem or exciting the envy of others; or we may worship ourselves, seeking our own pleasure or hap- piness, as if that was what we came into the world for, forgetting that he to whom we all belong is our Sove- reign Ruler, and our Creator and Preserver, and that he is very zealous for his own worship; and that although we keep our idol in our hearts, hid from every one else, yet he sees it there, and will either tear it forth or visit our sin with a heavy punishment. We have all cause to humble ourselves before the Almighty God, and en- treat him, for the sake of his blessed Son, to look on us in mercy.” For some time there was silence among the party. Mrs. Gray thought it necessary to rouse them, so she told them if they would get up to dance she would act musician. They got up and danced for a little, then they went to play at hide-and-seek, then to try races down the hill, and then to make a pulpit in the ruined church. Before they had completed this operation to their satisfaction, Mrs. Gray said that it was time to go home; so they set off, and returned home quite as happy as when they left it, which is not always the case in pleasure excursions.164 CHAPTERS ON THE CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. Q. Which is the third commandment ? A. The third commandment is, 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. Q. What is required in the third commandment ? A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works. Q. What is forbidden in the third command- ment? A. The third commandment forbiddeth all pro- faning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known. Q. What is the reason annexed to the third com- mandment ? A. The reason annexed to the third command- ment is, That however the breakers of this com- mandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape Mb righteous judgment. No one could have desired to see a clearer sky or a brighter sun than gladdened the hearts of the inhabi- tants of the manse on the morning after the excursion to Kirk-knowe. There was romping and there was racing on the green that morning, although Mrs. Gray told the girls that they would have been wiser to sit still until it was time to set off for Den Darghnell, for it wasSHOETEE CATECHISM. 165 a long walk. But they were at that time so merry and so buoyant that they felt as if it was not possible they could ever be tired—and for some time after they did set off, they were not inclined to walk at a regular pace, but leaped and ran along the road. By degrees they became a little tamer, and were inclined for conversation. As they passed two men at work in a field, they heard that one of them swore very much. Mrs. Gray quick- ened her pace, for she did not like to hear it. “ What a senseless thing it is for people to swear,” said Maggie; “ I can’t think what makes them do it.” “ They think it sounds great,” said Eobert; “ they do it just to make a show-off, and after they have got into the habit of it, they do not think how wrong it is.” “Well, I think,” said Maggie, “that it would be very easy to keep from breaking the third command- ment.” “Margaret,” said her mother, “you surely are not thinking what you are saying.” “ I do not mean, mother, that it would be very easily kept, but that it would be easier to keep than some of the others. I mean that people might keep it.” “ If you mean that imperfect beings like ourselves might keep it, a little consideration of what the com- mandment requires will show you that that could not be. It requires that when we mention the name of G-od the Father, G-od the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; when we mention any of his titles, as Jehovah, King of kings, Lord of lords; or any of his attributes^ as omni- potent, omniscient, omnipresent, we should do it in a holy and reverent manner, remembering that God is eternal, and that we are formed of the dust, and that he is a G-odr perfect in holiness, while we are of the seed of evil doers; keeping in mind why we are permitted to approach him—that it is not for any good he saw in166 CHAPTEBS ON THE us, but only through his sovereign mercy, that accepted <. of the perfect atonement offered by his blessed Son. “ This commandment also requires khat we keep his ordinances by being conformed to his will in all things, whether in doing it or in submitting to it, by taking his word as the rule of our faith and the guide of our life. And it_requires us also to magnify his work which men behold, to see in all that he has done for us, in all that he is every day doing around us, that his handi- work declares him to be as benevolent and wise as he is good and just. It requires all who name the name ,of Jesus to depart from all iniquity, and all who pro- fess the Christian faith to live for the glory of God and the good of their fellow creatures/7 “How much more there is in the commandments when one thinks about them than we would see in them from going over them carelessly/7 Bobert remarked. It was then observed by Matilda that the third com- mandment required a great many things, and she asked what it forbade. Alick answered, “ It forbids the profaning or abusing of any thing whereby God maketh himself known. To profane them, means to profess to be Christians without loving God and trying to keep his commandments; to abuse means to use them for a bad end. I have not explained it at all well j would you explain it, mother ?77 “God maketh himself known,77 said Mrs. Gray, “by his names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works. We are forbidden to speak or think of these in an irreverent manner, to use them for an improper pur- pose, or without due thankfulness and humility. “We break this commandment by living in the world which God has made, and partaking of the bounties which he has provided, and yet refusing to acknowledge him as our God, or acknowledging him in words, while in works we deny him. We break it by being ashamedSHORTER CATECHISM. 167 of religion, or a shame to it. The words of orer Lord tell us what punishment will follow:—(Whosoever shall he ashamed of me and of my words, of him also shall the Son of Man he ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels/ We break this commandment when wej confess that the Lord is our Lord, and yet are not endeavouring to do what he requires of us. The breaking of this commandment may often seem wisdom in the eyes of men; it may he praised by them instead of blamed, but Grod sees not as men see: He judges not as men judge. Hear what he says by his prophet Malachi: 6 If ye will not hear, and" if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yea, I have cursed them alr~"dy, because ye do not lay it to heart/ ” They had now reached a stile which it was necessary to get over; then there was a path across a field sloping down to a burn, which there was some difficulty in get- ting across. Mrs. Gray said it was larger than she had before seen it, which" rather surprised her, for there had been little rain of late; but some of them, who had seen it in win- ter, said that it was very much larger then. Robert and Alexander were very useful in placing stones, and assisting the girls to step upon them. After they had crossed the burn they had a high steep bank to climb) and this they found more difficult than crossing the water, for it was covered with whins and broom. There was a great deal of scrambling, and a great deal of laughing; however they managed to reach the top in safety, baskets and all. The whole of their way after that was by a narrow path, along which they required to walk single file, so that there was little general con- versation. When they reached the Den the first thing they did168 CHAPTERS ON THE was to fix on a spot for their encampment, and they chose a sweet green shady spot at the foot of a noble beech tree, not far from the little old stone bridge across the clear little stream, which there for a short space smiles in the sunlight, unlike the rest of its course through the Den, where it is darkened by the shadow of the trees on its banks. The children began to look for flowers to root up for taking home to plant, and they had stones to collect too. Mrs. G-ray said it would be as well to defer these things, particularly the taking up of the flowers, until it was nearly time to go home. In the meantime they occupied themselves in looking about them, to see what they would take, until Mrs. Gray called them to din- ner. Reclining on the mossy grass was very pleasant after their fatigue. They did not seem in a hurry to move after dinner was over, so Mrs. Gray said she would tell them a story which had some connection with the subject on which they had been speaking. ((In the far east there reigned a wise monarch, who was valiant in war and prudent in peace. He had three sons, whose names were Bahoran, Yosef, and Aruelun. He trained them in all that he thought necessary in order to make them wise rulers and skilful generals. He had shown them an example of what a just governor ought to be, and he had taught them to obey, that they might be disposed to govern with moderation. u When they were grown to be men, he made each of them ruler of a province, distant considerably from the seat of government of his extensive dominions. The three provinces lay adjoining to each other. Bahoran’s was the farthest north, the second son’s in the centre, and that of the youngest son was in the south. As soon as Bahoran felt himself secure in his government, he threw off allegiance to his father, and caused himself to be proclaimed king of the province. The peopleSHORTER CATECHISM. 169 rejoiced, for a change was pleasant to them, although they knew not whether it were for the better or for the worse; they were eager to kneel before him, and to salute him as ‘King Bahoran.' “But the new king felt his position a very insecure one, for he doubted not that, as soon as tidings of his usurpation reached the king, he would come against him with an army; and all the soldiers in the province, even if he could depend on them, of which he was not sure, were very few indeed compared to the forces the king could raise. So, without delay, he sent an ambas- sador to advise his brother Yosef to follow his example, by declaring himself king, and to unite with him against their father, promising as a bribe to divide the kingdom with him when it came into their possession, and threat- ening, in case of refusal, to enter his province with an army, and lay waste the border adjoining to his. “Yosef was too timid to refuse to make a league with his brother, but fearing his father's vengeance, he was too cautious to declare himself king. In the mean- time tidings had reached Aruelun of what his eldest brother had done, and he too sent an ambassador to Yosef, requesting him to unite with him in reducing Bahoran to submission. Yosef, who always liked to be safe, caring little for truth, agreed to Aruelun's propo- sal, and engaged that when the forces of his youngest brother appeared in his province he would join them with his troops. “ When this answer reached him, Aruelun, zealous for his king, and eager to subdue the rebellion without bringing his father so great a distance at that inclement season, for it was winter, at once made preparations for a march against his eldest brother. “But, to prevent bloodshed, if it were possible, he sent an ambassador to warn Bahoran of the coming invasion, hoping he would be induced to submit to ’ * ' 15170 CHAPTERS ON THE terms. His ambassador had scarce departed, when one arrived from Bahoran requesting him to make a league with him, making the same promises he had done to Yosef, and in case of a refusal, threatening him with an attack from the united forces of his two elder bro- thers. Indignant was the reply sent by Aruelun, to what he considered so humiliating a proposal. He knew the boldness of Bahoran, and his talents for war. He also knew the art of Yosef, and saw that in this he must have deceived him; yet not *an instant did he hesitate as to what he ought' to do. There were those about him who advised him to put off time in negotia- tions until his father could have time to come to his assistance, but Aruelun would not even for an instant consent to say what he did not think. He arranged his affairs, quickened his preparations for departure, and marched fearlessly towards the territories of his two brothers, the one an open, the other a secret foe, and both ruling provinces larger than his own. Perhaps had he forseen the consequences he might not have been so daring, but he only did what he thought right. Bahoran, as soon as Aruelun’s messenger arrived, knew what answer he had to expect by his own, so his plan was soon laid and speedily followed. His plan was, not to march against his youngest brother, but to march into his province, and take possession of it. He sent a messenger to acquaint Yosef with the part he was expected to act. Yosef had gone too far now to begin by making any pretence of acting from just or _ honourable motives, so he consented even to do the base service that was required of him. It was to pre- tend friendship to Aruelun, invite him to his palace, and consult with him as to what was best to be done, and when he had got him there, to confine him in a dungeon. If this plan did not succeed, Yosef was to fall upon Aruelun’s army by night, and either kill theSHOBTEB CATECHISM. 171 leader or make him prisoner. But it did succeed, for Yosef was very artful, and Aruelun was utterly regard- less of personal danger: not until too late did he see his error in putting himself into the power of his treacherous brother. The deepest and darkest dungeon was provided by the cautious Yosef. Now Bahoran, with his band of hardy northern warriors, arrived in the pro- vince of Aruelun. The governor absent, and most of the fighting men with him, but feeble resistance was made, and all who sought to oppose the invader were soon subdued, or put to flight, and Bahoran ruled in the province. “ As soon as the king heard of the rebellion of his eldest son, he assembled an army, and marched against him. When he came near the provinces he was met by a messenger from Bahoran to tell him that he had Aruelun in his keeping, and that he would instantly put him to death if his father refused to consent that he should be made king over the three provinces. While the king was considering this, a messenger came from Yosef to tell that he had Aruelun in his keeping, as his elder brother sought to kill him, and engaging to put him under the king’s protection as soon as he him- self should, in reward for his services, be made king over his own province and that of the rebel Bahoran.' Before returning an answer to these propositions the king first desired to ascertain exactly where Aruelun was, and to form a plan for his liberation, without endangering his life. To agree to both these requests would be impossible—to agree to either of them was very far from the king’s intention. “ Bahoran cared little whether his demand was con- ceded or not; he merely made it to prevent his father from expecting to be attacked by him j and he took an opportunity, when his army was passing through a nar- row valley, to make a sudden descent upon them. The172 CHAPTERS ON THE plan favoured him, and lie himself fought like a lion ; he was always foremost, and in the thickest of the fight; hut the king’s army had the advantage in numbers and discipline. They were veteran troops; they knew their leader well, and had often conquered under him; and, although with considerable loss on both sides, the assail ants were at length beaten off. “ That night the king sought repose in his tent, but sleep fled from him—anxiety about all his sons occupied his mind. At the dead of night a bright weapon gleamed before his eyes; another moment, and it would have been sheathed in his breast; but he started up and seized the arm which wielded it, and struggled for his life. The struggle could not have lasted long—already blood flowed from the king; but he had received no vital wound, when, in answer to his call, his guards rushed in and seized the assassin. It was not without some difficulty that he was overpowered even then. When lights were brought, the monarch, to his grief, recognized his eldest son. ‘ Bind him/ he exclaimed, wn in the dining-room to her work. There was science for a little, then Maggie said, “ Mother, Clemen- tina Anderson was telling us all about the theatre, and twhat the actors did, and I thought it would be nice to 4ee it.” | “ I observed that you were thinking so,” said Mrs. (Gray, “ and you would' like to know why I have for- foidden you to go.” I “Yes, mother, I would,” said Maggie, “for you often said that we should be kind to the poor, and they aiie very poor. Clementina says that they often lie in bep all day because they have nothing to eat.” “ I shall ask you a question,” said Mrs. Gray. “ Sup- pose a baker were to come in this neighbourhood, and suppose he were to bake bread so unwholesome that no onte could eat it, without feeling bad effects, would it be right to employ him?” 19218 CHAPTERS ON THE “ Surely not, mother.” “Well, but suppose he were very poor, and Mrs, Anderson came to ask me to take my bread from him, because if he did not get employment his children must go without clothes, and his wife would not have a bed to sleep on.” “You could not help that, mother; you could not take his bread if it were so bad.” “No, Maggie, it would not be right to do so, and no; one would think it was; yet I would far rather know ■ you were eating what would injure your health, than; know you were listening to what would corrupt your, minds. I would not think it right to send you need-;, lessly into a house where pestilence was; and as the,' soul is of far more importance than the body, I woul(|t be much more inexcusable if I were willingly to permit you to hear what might make wrong seem right, nnjd impure seem pure.” f “And would we hear anything bad at the theatre Bp Maggie asked. r “ Oh, you know,” said Matilda, “ what Clementiid, told us about them swearing so much when they werqi fighting, and about some of the words they said; andj then she told us too that the manager's wife is not hiA own wife, although she goes about with him. She Tsf his brother's wife.” “Is not that breaking the seventh commandment,/ mother?” said Maggie. “ It is,” said Mrs. G-ray, “ but we break the seventfi commandment too when we take pleasure in heariiig such things, or find amusement in seeing the perfor/n- ances of people whom we know live such wicked lives!.'' “Mother, I don't very well understand that: seventh commandment requires (the preservation our own and our neighbour's chastity.' ” “Yes, Maggie,” said her mother, “chastity mednsSHORTER CATECHISM. 219 purity; and how can we preserve onr own purity but by associating with those who are pure—avoiding any place, or any people, or the reading of any book that may tend to lessen our abhorrence of sin, and accustom- ing ourselves to look beyond a world lying in wicked- ness to a world of holiness and purity where we hope to dwell for ever? And how can we preserve purity in .. others but by setting a good example before them, and endeavouring, as far as our influence extends, to pro- mote what is good, and to check what is evil ? The \ seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts; i not a desire should be in pur mind that we would be (ashamed to have known.” ; “That would be impossible, mother.” ,* “It is difficult,” said Mrs. Gray, “but we should .-strive to attain to it, and pray that the Holy Spirit may ^strengthen us to ‘keep the heart with all diligence, for put of it are the issues of life/ The seventh command- ment forbids all unchaste words—‘It is a shame even to speak of those things that are done of them in secret/ .Among unchaste actions we may reckon all immodesty in behaviour or dress. The open and notorious breaches Spf this commandment deservedly meet with ignominy .from the world in general; but we should guard against ^the first appearance of sin in our hearts—have no pleasure in speaking of anything that is evil—and take care that we never accustom ourselves to think of what is impure without abhorrence. It is from the heart that danger arises—it is from its proneness to evil that we are so apt to go astray. Shun impurity; it is spirit- ual death. No mortal eye may see this sin, for ‘ man look- etth on the outward appearance/ but we must not forget that ‘ God looketh on the heart/ The way of holiness is) narrow and difficult to walk in. Am I not right, then, my dears, in removing out of your way every ihiing which might make you slip; not only what I220 CHAPTERS ON THE know wonld make you slip, but what I think it possible might do it?” “I am sure I do not wish to go now/' Maggie said. “Nor I/'said Matilda. “Then, I think/' said Mrs. Gray, “we had better go down to the burn, and see what Alick and the two lit- tle ones are doing, for they went to play there.” Cheerfully the girls agreed; so they all went together down to the burn, where Alick and the juveniles had made a dam, and a bridge, and many wonderful things, which were objects of great interest to the visitors. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. Q. Which is the eighth commandment ? A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt noli steal. Q. What is required in the eighth command-] ment ? A. The eighth commandment requireth the law-] ful procuring and furthering the wealth and out-1 ward estate of ourselves and others. Q. What is forbidden in the eighth command- ment ? A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth what- soever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or oiar neighbour’s wealth or outward estate. It was now the time when Matilda was to leavie. Her father had written to say that a gentleman of KisSHORTER CATECHISM. 221 acquaintance would on a certain day be travelling in the direction she was to go, and that he would take charge of her, if her aunt would see her to the coach. It was at eleven that the coach passed, so immedi- ately after breakfast Matilda went to make her final preparations, and she found that one of the new pocket- handkerchiefs which she had brought with her was still nhemmed. She asked Maggie if she would be so good is hem it, for her mamma would be very angry if she ere taking it home that way. Maggie took it down to he dining-room, put on her thimble, and opened her needle-book. “ How provoking !” she exclaimed, “that tiresome monkey Jessie has taken away my needle, the bnly one that would do for this work. She is always sjure to do it when I am in a hurry, to provoke me the hiore. I must go and ask what she has done with it.” I “I think, Margaret,” said Mrs. G-ray, “that you had pefcter not go, you will leave yourself too little time for the work; you will find a needle in my needle-book ihat will suit you, and you can inquire about your own afterwards.” I “Ah, but Jessie will be sure to have forgotten all About it if I don’t ask her at once, and she should not always get off that way.” \ So off Maggie ran, and after some time appeared Again with Jessie. \ “Now where is it;” said the elder sister; “you said was here, show it to me?” \ “ I don’t remember right where I put it,” the little girl replied. !“ And what were you doing with it, Jessie ?” said Mrs. Gray. “ I was sewing two little bits of paper together, a pink bit and a white bit.” “You had no business,” said Maggie, “to go into my needle-book and steal my needle. What has become J < 19*232 CHAPTERS ON THE of your own needle-book, with tbe needles in it that you pilfered from Matilda and me ?" “I lost them/' said Jessie. “ And you deserved it too/' said her sister, “ little cheating thing, trying to persuade us that the needles had no points. You thought yourself very clever, and that we were nicely taken in; but we knew quite well all the time; only Matilda said we should let you tak the needles if you wanted them; and I thought it woul be better to give you them at once than have you con- stantly poking into our needle-books, and taking awa; our best needles. What do you think she did one day-j mother? She came to Matilda and me and told us s1k| had found in each of our needle-books two needlej without points, if we would let her have them, for thei could be of no use to us. We knew quite well it wasn' true, but we let her have them; and yet the ungrateful thing has gone and lost them, and come thieving int< my needle-book again." “I am very sorry, Jessie, to hear this of you," sai< Mrs. G-ray. “If you wished for a needle you couh have asked me for it, and not have attempted to deceiv< your cousin and sister. It was very bad conduct; I a: quite ashamed that a daughter of mine could behave s< ill." _ _ " Poor Jessie could do nothing but cry; she did noA know what to say. “ Margaret," said Mrs. Gray, “you had better takeja needle of mine and go on with your work, for there no time to be lost." “Yes, mother," said Maggie, “I will; but where my thimble; I suppose you have taken it too, Mfiss Jessie—really this is too bad, you wicked thing—Wh
 md dissipation, sunk into poverty and disgrace; while,
tb all human appearance, had it not been for their
wWlth, had they never possessed more than they
laboured for, they would have lived and died useful and
respected members of society.”

{ Matilda now came down to say that everything was
r^ady. They all walked together into the town to get
the coach. There was not much said by the children,
they were sorry to part, and when it was time to say
good-bye, Matilda and Maggie cried outright. They
looked after the coach until it was out of sight, then
^Mrs. Gray and Maggie made some purchases, and
w/alked homewards, leaving Mr. Gray and Alick to
fallow.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH.

Which is the ninth commandment ?

The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not
bekr false witness against thy neighbour.

fe. What is required in the ninth command-
meint ?

Jl. The ninth commandment requireth the main-
taming mid promoting of truth between man and228

CHAPTERS ON THE

man, and of our own and our neighbour’s good
name, especially in witness-bearing.

Q. What is forbidden in the ninth command-,
ment ?

A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth what-';
soever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our.
own or our neighbour’s good name.	j

I

The holidays ended, Alick returned to school, and tljie
lessons of his sisters went on as before. Now autum[n
had worn away, the fields were bare, and the trees wei*e
leafless; it was the month of November. The walks were
only taken in the middle of the day, and some days there
could be no walks at all. It was one of those days)
Maggie and Jessie went to the window when their les-*
sons were over, to see if there was any prospect of gefc
ting out. But no, the sky was hopelessly dark andL
gloomy, and the rain descended in that calm, steady,
determined manner, which seemed as if it were to des-
cend for a considerable time longer. Seeing they coum
not get out, Maggie asked her mother if they might plaW
in the garret. Mrs. Gray gave leave, so off they ran. j

They had not been long away when Mrs. Gray, whp
was seated at work in the dining-room, heard a crashing
sound. Soon there were quick steps descending tMe
stairs, and Maggie rushed in, exclaiming—“ Mother,
Jessie has thrown down the two new china flower-pots that
you got to put flowers in, and she has knocked down the
three flower-pots that stand at the top of the garret stairs,
and broken them too, and the earth is all spilled, an/d I
am sure the plants must be quite destroyed, but I (did
not stay to look at them. I came down to tell you, (for
she has tied a string round her feet to hinder her/self
from getting away; she is afraid you would whip her,
for every one of the flower pots is broken to pieces.’fSHORTER CATECHISM.

229

“ How did it happen ?” said Mrs. Gray.

“ Oh, she was trying if the china pots would break,
and they knocked down the others when they fell.”

Mrs. Gray rose to go up stairs to ascertain the rights
of the case. Jessie was sitting at the top of the garret
stairs, gathering some mould which was scattered there,
jmd putting it into a flower-pot.

“ What have you been doing?” said Mrs. Gray.

“I have let fall this flower-pot, mother,” Jessie re-
plied • “ it is not broken though, but the earth is spilled.”

1 “ But there are pieces of a flower-pot lying on the
glairs ?”

l “ Yes, the little one is broken, but there was a piece
ojut of the side of it before.”

; “ Why were you lifting them at all?” said Mrs. Gray.

I “I wanted to put them farther out of Tommie's
veaeh,” Jessie replied.

“But you said to me,” said Maggie, “thatyou lifted
the china ones to see if they would break.”

/“That was not it,” said Jessie; “you said I would
bf sure to break them if I meddled with them, and I
sdid I wouldn't, and I didn't, for I took good care of
them; but the pots with the earth in them were so
hbavy that I could not help letting them fall, for I
co|ild not get a right hold of them.”

On farther inquiry, Mrs. Gray found that there had
betbn a quarrel between the two girls. They were play-
ing at houses, and each of them wished to have Tommie
to \live with them. He had chosen to go to Jessie,
which highly displeased his elder sister; so when the
accident happened to the flower pots, Margaret, although
she; did not intend to tell a falsehood, certainly did so,
for she gave a very untrue account of it, because she
was; prejudiced against her sister at the time.

When Mrs. Gray heard this, she was displeased with

20230

CHAPTERS ON THE

Margaret, and told the two girls to come down to the
dining-room.

When they were seated the mother began by asking
Maggie, “Which is the ninth commandment?”	;

Margaret repeated it.

“What is required in the ninth commandment?^
Mrs. G-ray asked.	-

Margaret gave the answer of the Catechism.

“What is meant,” said Mrs. Gray, “by maintaining
and promoting truth ?”

“Telling what is true,” Maggie said.

Mrs. Gray. It is telling the truth, the whole trut1
and nothing but the truth at all times ourselves, a:
assisting and encouraging others to tell it. What
meant by maintaining and promoting our own and O'
neighbour's good name ?

Margaret. I suppose it means, mother, not to tell
bad thing that is not true of any one, or of ourselves. !

Mrs. Gray. To maintain and promote the good narhe

-	of others is ever to put the best construction upon th^ir

doubtful words and actions, freely to acknowledge what
is good in them, even when they are endeavouring to
injure us—to defend them when innocent, and not be
eager to blame them even when they are guilty—4o
believe willingly what is good of them, and hesitate (to
believe what is evil. To maintain and promote bur
own good name is expressed in the words of the apostle
when he says, “ Prove all things) hold fast that whjLch
is good; abstain from all appearance of evil.” TV/iiat
is forbidden in the ninth commandment ?	(

Margaret answered it. .	J

-	Mrs. Gray. Some of the things which are prejudicial
to truth are these:—Keeping silence when by iovly
speaking we might benefit the cause of truth, or speak-
ing when we know too little of the case to be of use ;
concealing the truth, or saying it with an ill intention

)SHOETEE CATECHISM.

231

The things that are injurious to our own or our neigh-
bour’s good name are, speaking too highly or too meanly
of ourselves or others; denying our own faults, or
unnecessarily disclosing those of others; breaking our
promises if they are lawful, or making and keeping
them if they are unlawful; not avoiding ourselves, or
not hindering what we can in others, such things as
procure an ill name.

. Margaret. Mother, people might pretend to be very
good, and keep from doing anything that might make
anybody think any harm of them—hypocrites, I mean,
do they keep this commandment?

. Mrs. Gray. Not at all; they are a living lie—an
acting falsehood; to cherish evil principles in the heart
is prejudicial to the cause of truth. “ He that covereth
his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Now, my dear
girls, I have said a great deal to you to-day, because I
wish you to feel that want of truthfulness is a very
great sin, even in what we may think trifles; careless-
ness about truth is sinful. And I wish you to feel too..
how wrong it is to have unkindly feelings against any
one. If you feel them rising in your heart, pray to
Cod to take them away, and put in their stead that
charity which u thinketh no evil”—which beareth, be-
lieveth, hopeth, and enclureth all things. I shall tell
you a story which will show what dreadful effects may
ensue from concealing the truth.

iL One day a little girl, whom I shall call Emma Mel-
ville, was sent by her mother with a letter to put in the
post-office. On the way she met some of her compan-
ions, who enticed her to come to have a game with
them at ball. There was no hurry, for it was some
hours before post time. She enjoyed the game much;
but when it was ended she could nowhere see the letter.
In vain Emma traversed backwards and forwards the282

CHAPTEBS ON THE

place where she had been playing*—in vain she ashed
all her playfellows-—none of them knew anything about
it.

“{What shall I do ¥ she cried, bursting into tears,
c mamma will be so angry/

“ ‘ She need never know anything about it/ said one
of her companions; ‘you need not tell her/

“‘But I must/ said Emma, ‘for she would find if
out, and then be so angry with me for not telling her
before/	j

“6 But she need not find it out; it is not at all likely
that she would. You know, if any one picked it up,
they would be sure to put it in the post-office; and
some one must have picked it up, or else you would
have seen it, so that you may be sure it is in the post-
office already/	I

“ ‘ But perhaps not/ Emma said—(perhaps it ig
quite lost, and then mamma will be sure to find it
out/

Well, suppose she does/ said Emma’s evil-advising
friend, ‘ she never need know you lost it, unless you
like to tell her yourself, for letters often miscarry
going through the post-office/

“It was not very difficult to persuade Emma Melville
that the plan was best which she liked best herself; so
she determined to say nothing to her mother about the
loss.

“ Mrs. Melville was sitting at work when her daugh-
ter entered the room. She looked up and said, ‘ Where
have you been, Emma?’

“ I met some girls going to the park to play at ball/
Emma replied, ‘ and they would have me to go with
them/

“ ‘ I hope you were at the post-office first, Emma/

“ ‘ Oh, yes/ she replied.

“ Emma had never before told a direct falsehood,SHORTER CATECHISM.

233

and she felt her face glow with shame as she turned
away her head to hide her confusion. All that after-
noon the letter was constantly in her mind, and when
her mother spoke pleasantly to her, she thought how
different it would be if that parent knew all. Emma
had been early taught that truth was a duty and false-
hood a sin, so she knew that she was acting wickedly.
T>av" passed on, and as they wore away Emma felt less
keenly; yet when the postman brought letters to the
door she felt like a guilty thing, and she would watch
her mother's face as she read them, dreading lest some
one would come and let her know that the letter had
not been received.

u When many weeks—when months had passed away,
and Emma heard nothing of it, she thought she might
be satisfied that it had reached its destination.

“Now, I must tell you what was in the letter, that
you may see how important it was.

“ ‘Mrs. Melville had a brother in the army; he was
stationed on the west coast of Africa. A lady, of her
acquaintance, whose husband was there also, had written
to ask Mrs. Melville if her brother ever mentioned him
in his letters, as she believed he had been ill? Mrs.
Melville replied that he had not done so, but that if he
did, she would not fail to acquaint the lady with it.
Soon after she received a letter from her brother, in
which he mentioned that Lieutenant Arnot (that was
the name of the lady's husband) had been very ill, that
he was obliged to leave on account of his health, and
that he would sail in a certain ship which he named.
Of all this he requested his sister to inform Mrs. Arnot,
as he knew they had some acquaintance with each
other. Immediately Mrs. Melville wrote to Mrs.
Arnot, and that was the letter that Emma had lost.

“ Mrs. Arnot passed many anxious weeks, hearing no
tidings. She had resolved to set off to her husband if
20*234

CHAPTEBS ON THE

she heard no tidings of him by a certain time. The
time passed; and Mrs. Arnot set off on her long voyage.
On the way she passed the vessel in which her husband
was, ignorant that he was there. On landing, before
she had time to ascertain that her husband had left, she
was seized with the fever of the coast, and after a few
days’ illness she expired—a solitary stranger in a
strange land; yet she was spared one thing, she died
without knowing that her journey was useless. She
expired in the belief that she was in the same country
with her husband.

“Mrs. Melville received a letter from her brother,
giving a full account of this melancholy death. By
the time this letter arrived, Emma had entirely got over
her fear of being discovered. So it was without any
terror that she saw the postman go to the door while
she was working in the garden. On going into the
house some time after she was surprised to find her
mother weeping.

“ (What is the matter, mamma V she asked.

I have got a letter which distresses me very much/
was the answer.

“ Emma fancied that her mamma spoke with some-
what of a reproachful tone; she shrunk away, afraid to
say more.

“ But Mrs. Melville did not suspect her little girl;
she did not yet know that the letter had never been re-
ceived. She wrote to poor Mrs. Arnot’s sister, ex-
pressing her sympathy on this melancholy occasion, and
mentioning the letter she had written, and how much
she regretted that it had arrived too late. She received
an answer saying that the letter had never arrived at
all, and Mrs. Arnot did not leave until some days after
it was written. Mrs. Melville thought over the cir-
cumstances, and recollected perfectly having given the
letter to Emma, which she was not often in the habit ofSHORTER CATECHISM.

285

doing; she also remembered that Emma had been very
long away. Immediately the lady called her daughter
before her. Emma appeared: her mother brought the
day to her recollection, and asked if she had put the
letter in with her own hand.

“No answer.

“Mrs. Melville raised her head and looked in her
daughter’s face. She was struck by the confusion ex-
pressed in it.

“ c Have you been deceiving me, Emma V

“ ‘ Oh, mamma/ said the guilty girl, putting her
hands before her face, and bursting into tears, ‘ I lost it/

“ That you lost it is of little consequence. If you
had told me at once it might have been remedied, but
now it is too late—a valuable life has been sacrified to
your untruthfulness/ She then related all the circum-
stances, and added, < I need say nothing more to you,
Emma. Reproaches from me are needless. Your own
conscience must be your most powerful accuser. Let
this terrible lesson be a warning to you never to deceive.
If at any time you feel tempted to do so, think of Mrs.
Arnot, her melancholy journey, and still more melan-
choly death/

“ Emma never forgot that lesson, and I have told it
to you, my girls, hoping that you may benefit by it
without the same sad experience/’

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH.

Q. Which is the tenth commandment ?

A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet286

CHAPTEBS ON THE

thy neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his
maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing
that is thy neighbour’s.

Q. What is required in the tenth command-
ment ?

A. The tenth commandment requireth full con-
tentment with our own condition, with a right and
charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and
all that is his.

Q. What is forbidden -in the tenth command-
ment ?

A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all dis-
contentment with our own estate, envying or griev-
ing at the good of our neighbour, and all inordi-
nate motions and affections to any thing that is
his.

Mr. Ogilvy, a gentleman who lived about three miles
from the manse of Kramlen, had a young family of sons
and daughters. The boys were at school in Edinburgh,
and when they came home for the Christmas holidays
there was generally a party of young people. This year
the party was on Christmas eve, and Alick and Maggie
were invited.

“What shall I put on, mother?” Maggie asked.

u Your white frock,” said Mrs. Gray.

“ Oh but, mother, I had it on last year.”

“ But it is good enough still,” her mother replied,
“ although it is more than a year old.”

“ But, mother, would it do to wear it two years at
the same place ? all the other girls have different frocks
on every year.”

“I should not think it very likely,” Mrs. Gray said,SHORTEB CATECHISM.	287

“ that any one would remember the frock you wore last
year.”

“ Ah, mother, you do not know how much they notice
clothes, and they think it so shabby to be wearing al-
ways the same frock, when they get so many.”

“Now, you know very well, Maggie, that your father
is not able to afford so many frocks to you as the fathers
of the other girls whom you meet there, and you know
too of how little importance it is what we wear, if our
clothes are clean and decent.”

Maggie was silent, but looked dissatisfied. Her mo-
ther continued, “You need not go, if you do not wish,
but if you do go, you must wear~the dress I have said.”

“ Oh, mother,” was her reply, “ I do not dislike it so
much as all that.”

The evening for the party came, and the children went
to it. They were too late of returning home to give any
account of their visit that night. The next day, being
Christmas, was a holiday. Maggie indulged in a longer
allowance of sleep than usual. Alick, who kept regular
hours, was seated in the dining-room when his mother
entered.

“Well, Alick,” she said, “did you enjoy the party
very much.”

“Yery much, mother,” he replied, “there were so
many nice boys there, and we had so many games. There
was a beautiful thing; I never saw anything like it be-
fore; it was an artificial tree, fastened- to something in
the floor, and when it was set agoing, it spun round like
a top, and on the branches were a great many things.
Some were for eating, but some that looked grand on
the tree were nothing when you got them in your hand;
and the fun was to see who would catch the things best
when the tree was going round, and it was not very easy
when there were so many trying. Then you might
think you had got something, and find only a bit of238

CHAPTEKS ON THE

coloured paper, or a red stick in your hand. After the
tree was stripped we played at blind-man's buff."

Alick told much more about the amusements, and all
tended to the same purpose, to show how happily the
evening had been spent. He had gone out to make a
slide for Jessie and Tommie before the elder sister
appeared. Mrs. Gray was seated at her work when her
eldest daughter walked in.

“Well, Maggie you have been very late in rising this
morning."

“You said, mother, that I might stay in bed past the
usual time, if I chose, because I was so late of getting
to bed."

“ Have you had breakfast ?"

“ Yes, I took some."

“ I hope you enjoyed th£ party," said Mrs. Gray.

“No, I did not enjoy it at all," Maggie replied.

“ I am surprised to hear that," her mother said, “ for
Alick seems to have been much pleased."

“ It is easy for Alick; people never pay any attention
to boys' clothes."

“ It was your frock, then, that prevented you from
enjoying the party. I did not think, Margaret, that you
had been so much taken up about dress."

“Iam not taken up about it, mother. I never would
have thought about my frock after I put it on, if it had
not been for the girls who were there speaking about it.
One of them asked me how long I had had it; another
said was it six years; and a third said she supposed it
had been my christening frock. I could scarcely keep
from crying. Then they whispered to each other; and
one of them came up and said, if I would only tell her,
that she would not tell any of the rest what was the
price of it. She whispered it, but it was so loud that
all the other girls might hear. They laughed, and said
they were sure I did not know, for it was your marriageSHORTER CATECHISM.

289

dress. I could not speak at all, for I was so dreadfully
vexed. I can't bear that Julia Brown. It was all her
fault. She always dresses beautifully, yet she is a very
vulgar girl; and all the other girls who tormented me
are vulgar too."

“ Margaret/' said Mrs. Gray, “ I do not like to hear
you make severe remarks on your companions."

“ You have told me, mother, that it was vulgar to
make impertinent remarks on people's dress, or to say
anything with the intention of annoying them."

“ I told you so, Margaret, but these girls may not
have been told that; they may not think there is any
harm in it."

“ They must know it is not right, mother, for they
saw how it vexed me, and they did it all the more."

“ They are much to be pitied, poor girls," said Mrs.
Gray, “ if they can find pleasure in inflicting pain, but
surely they would tire of teasing you. Did you not
enjoy the blind-man's buff, and the other games ?"

“ Oh, no, those girls spoiled it all. When we went
to play at the tree, Julia Brown and Helen Blake would
not let me get near it until nearly all the things were
away, and I got nothing but a piece of coloured paper.
When we were playing at blind-man's buff, one of them
came behind me, and tramped willingly on my frock
and tore a great hole in it. I might have pinned it up
without anybody seeing, for it was under the tuck, but
they made such an outcry about it; and Jane Ogilvy
came to me and took me away to the maid to get it
mended."

“ It was very kind," said Mrs. Gray.

“Yes, but it made me lose a great deal of thefun,*for
when I came back they were done with blind-man's-buff,
and I met J ulia Brown and Helen Blake, and they told
me they were to play at hide-and-seek, and they knew a
nice place where we could hide. So we went into a dark240

CHAPTERS ON THE

room, and they told me to go under the bed. I went in
and lay for a long time, and I heard no noise, nobody
came to seek me; at last I thought I would go out to see
if the rest were found. I saw nobody in the lobby or
on the stairs, and when I went into the room everybody
was up dancing. They asked me where I had been, and
when I told them, they said they had not been playing
at hide-and-seek at all. I was so provoked; and when
the girls laughed at me I was like to cry. I was glad
when it was time to come away, for I never had such a
tiresome evening.”

“It is not right to speak in that way, Margaret, when
Mrs. Ogilvy was so kind as to ask you there, and I am
sure she would have been very sorry had she known that
any one was dissatisfied.”

“It was not Mrs. Ogilvy’s fault; she was very kind,
but I can’t bear those girls. I hope I shall never meet)
them again. If I had worn Julia Brown’s frock, and
she mine, we should then have seen what it was they
were laughing at.”

“What is the tenth commandment, Margaret?” said
Mrs. G-ray.

Margaret repeated it, and added, “ But, mother, I am
not coveting. I don’t care for Julia Brown’s silk frock,
but I would just like her to see that it is only for her
fine clothes that people care about her, for she is a very
silly girl. She is always boasting about her fine clothes,
and nobody likes her; but they don’t like to displease
her, for she makes them believe that her papa and
mamma are such grand people.”

“I think, Margaret, enough has now been said against
Julia Brown; I would like you now to consider in what
you yourself are defective. You tell me you have not
been coveting—that you have no desire to possess Julia
Brown’s frock, but people may covet other things than
frocks.”SHORTER CATECHISM.

241

“Yes, mother, I know, but I was not coveting any-
thing, for Jane Ogilvy has a great many pretty things,
some pretty boxes, and so many beautiful books that
she got in presents;—I would have liked very well if
anybody had given them to me, but yet I did not wish
much for them, and I did not like her any the less be-
cause she had got them and not me.”

“You would have been very wicked if you had,” said
Mrs. G-ray.

“Yes, mother, I know. When we were looking at
the fine furniture and fine pictures, and when Catharine
Monro said she wished she were Jane Ogilvy, I thought
it very silly, and never once wished it, and if it were
offered me to turn into Jane Ogilvy I would not do it.”

“ And yet, Maggie,” said her mother, “ I think you
have been breaking the tenth commandment.”

“How, mother?”

“ You know that the tenth commandment requires
full contentment with our own condition;—when the
girls were examining your frock and laughing at it, were
you quite contented, or did anything they said or did
make you feel dissatisfied—did the tearing of your frock
annoy you—and when you found that you had been de-
luded by a pretended game at hide-and-seek, had you
any discontented feelings?”

“Yes, mother, I was not at all satisfied; the whole
evening I was discontented.”

“ Then you were breaking the commandment, which
requires full contentment with our own condition.”

“ But, mother, I would have been contented—I would
have been quite happy, if the girls would only have let
me alone.”

“ It would be easy to be contented, Maggie, if we had
everything our own way. The most discontented per-
sons in existence will tell you that they would be con*
tented if they had everything as they would like it. Our
21242

CHAPTERS ON THE

duty is to be contented in all circumstances, and in all
situations. Whatever others do to annoy us we should
never be discontented.”

“ But, mother,” said Maggie, “ that would be very
difficult; nobody could do it.”

“ No one does it as they ought,” replied Mrs. Gray;
“ yet it is the duty of every one to strive after this right
frame of spirit; besides being right in itself, it adds
more than anything can do to our own happiness. (A
contented mind is a continual feast/ ”

“ Well, mother, I wish I had been contented last
night, but I thought at the time that I could not, for
the girls behaved so ill it made me angry.”

“Instead of being angry, you ought to have been sorry
for the girls who behaved so foolishly; and instead of
wishing for finer dresses, you should feel that they were
nothing, and that if you could not be esteemed for some-
thing more valuable than your clothes, you need not
wish to be esteemed at all. The want of fine clothes is
only an evil to those who feel it to be so; nothing of
that kind is necessary to happiness, and to those who are
contented with their lot, the want of anything the world
can give is not felt to be an evil. Do you understand
me, Maggie?”

“ Quite, mother, and I think now I would not care
although they were to laugh at my frock; though I can-
not like that Julia Brown, yet I am sure it is not because
I wish for her fine clothes, but I cannot bear to see people
think so much of her.”

“That is not right, Margaret. We should not only
have a right and charitable frame of spirit toward what
our neighbour has, but toward himself also. We should
not wish for anything that others have, nor should we be
dissatisfied with any praise they may get, even although
we may think they do not deserve it.”

Maggie was silent; her mother went on: “ The tenthSHORTER CATECHISM.

243

commandment forbids all discontentment with our own
estate. Now, the esteem which others have of us is part
of our own condition, and if we are dissatisfied because
they do not think so highly of us as we would like, we
break the tenth commandment. What else does it for-
bid?”

Maggie replied,u It forbids all envying or grieving at
the good of our neighbour. Mother, I read a story once
called, Envy. It was about a little girl who wished for
everything she saw, and when she could not get it she
cried. Her mother was very indulgent to her, and gave
her everything she could, until she became a plague to
everybody else. Nobody could put up with her except
her mother. Once, when she went to a party, she cried
and was sulky all the time she was there, because another
girl had on satin shoes, and her's were only prunella;
and she took a dislike to a girl, and would not speak to
her at all, because she had once said that another girl
had a prettier frock than she herself had. She grew so
bad that everybody knew her better by the name of
* Envy/ than by her own name.”

u Poor girl,” said Mrs. Gray, u I hope, Maggie, that
you will endeavour to act more wisely than she did.”

“ Yes, mother, I was very silly last night. I will try
to be better another time. I think just now I would—
that I would not care what anybody said, and yet”—

Maggie hesitated, and her mother said, u I am glad
that you see the difficulty of doing what is right, and
feel your own inability to do it, for it is only when we
feel our own weakness that we look to God for strength;
and it is only from him that strength to do what is right
can come; let it be your daily prayer that he may make
you humble, cheerful, and contented.”

Alick, Jessie, and Tommie now came into the room
to ask Maggie to go out to play with them; they had
got nice slides they said.244

CHAPTERS ON THE

Mrs. G-ray told Maggie that she should go with them,
and added that she herself was coming out in a little.
So the children went all out together and spent their
Christmas forenoon very merrily, and in the evening
they gathered round the fire, and played at fireside
games, and at telling stories; and Maggie thought it
was not very difficult to he contented at home.

When Jessie said she wished the winter were full of
Christmas days, Maggie said it was not right to wish
that, for we should not wish anything different from
what it was.

Mrs. Gray saw that Maggie had remembered what
she had been saying to her. Alick made the short and
satisfactory comment, that u whatever is, is right.”

“ Yes,” said his father, 
jerking her bonnet-strings, and pinning her tippet to
his jacket. Then he would pretend to be looking down
for something, and make a face at her from under the
book board. Poor fellow, he certainly did his best to
amuse her; and his efforts would have been very laud-
able in another place, and on any other day. But
Maggie was not free from blame. She felt very angry
when he jerked her bonnet all on one side. She turned
round hastily; violently tore out the pin fastening her
tippet to his jacket. When he hurt her foot she was276

CHAPTERS ON THE

strongly inclined to retaliate, and once made a feeble
attempt. Then at some of the queer faces he made she
did laugh, although it was in the church. Dick's tricks
were more cruel; he extended his arm behind his bro-
ther, and pinched her shoulder; or what was still more
unpleasant, thrust a pin into it; but he did not very
often annoy her; for he had no desire to attract his
father's notice. Jack's attentions were unceasing; he
could carry them on with less risk of being observed.

When they were at home again Miss Colvin gave
Maggie a severe lecture upon her behaviour in church.
Maggie felt angry that she should have been blamed, and
not the boys, who, she thought, were more to blame than
herself, and she was sulky during dinner. When they
were in church in the afternoon, the same scene was
reacted; for although Maggie wished to change seats
with Matilda, Miss Colvin would not allow it.

When they returned home, Miss Colvin told Maggie
that, as a punishment for her bad behaviour, she would
not be allowed to go to the drawingroom in the evening.
Matilda was distressed at this, and besought Miss Col-
vin to allow Maggie to go down stairs. She said she
was sure that it must have been Dick's and Jack's fault,
for that Maggie always behaved well at home.

“ Under the eyes of her parents perhaps she may,"
said the governess. u She takes liberties here because
she thinks she may do so with impunity; she must find
that she shall not escape."

When the boys heard of Maggie's punishment they
laughed, and agreed that it was grand fun that this par-
ticularly good girl that Mat spoke so much about should
have misbehaved the first day she came, and on Sunday
too. Miss Colvin said it was more like something to
cry at, so they whined and affected to weep, which made
them laugh the more. Matilda, who was very easily
made laugh, joined in their merriment, but Margaret
could not.SHORTER CATECHISM.

2TT

When the other children went to the drawingroom/
Maggie sat in the schoolroom with Miss Colvin, learning
some tasks that were set to her. In a little Matilda
came with a message from her father to say that he
hoped Maggie would not he punished so severely at the
beginning of her stay, but would be allowed to come
down to the drawingroom. Miss Colvin said that if
Margaret learned and repeated correctly all that she
had given to her to prepare, she would be allowed to go
down stairs.

Maggie redoubled her diligence, and soon got to the
drawingroom. “ Come away, Maggie,” said her uncle,
u we are trying to remember the sermons here, but there
are very bad memories in Edinburghj I know that there
are excellent ones at Kramlen; come and help us. Mat
is the only one who remembers anything, and she does
not remember much to-day.”

Maggie felt her cheeks glow with shame, for she knew
that she would make a very poor appearance. She re-
peated the text of the sermon in the forenoon, but of the
one in the afternoon she did not even know the text.
She made an attempt to stammer out something by way
of a sentence, and her uncle kindly tried to assist her,
but she utterly failed, and the peals of laughter from
Dick and Jack showed how much they enjoyed her
confusion. Their father told them to behave, and said
to Maggie that he had no doubt she would remember
more next Sunday, for it was not so easy to attend in a
strange church. Maggie felt how kind it was in him to
say so, and she resolved to try to do better.

Mr. Somerville then brought a book, of which they
were to read aloud every one in their turn, and when
they had read a certain portion, he was to question them
on it, and see who would answer best. Maggie thought,
“Well, surely I will be able to answer this, for I will
attend closely.” She did so, but had no opportunity to
24278

CHAPTERS ON THE

redeem lier character, for the first question every one
could answer, and Mr. Somerville had no sooner asked
the second than Mrs. Somerville proclaimed that it was
time for the girls to go to bed. Maggie looked round
astonished, for she was not aware that the lady was in
the room. She had been lying on a sofa, and taking no
part in the proceedings of the evening. So the girls bade
good night, and Maggie, alone in her room, thought over
the day, the first day she had spent in her uncle's house:
how much ashamed of it she felt! What a very ill-spent
Sabbath it has been—playing with the boys before break-
fast—guilty of great misbehaviour in church—cross be-
cause she was found fault with for it, and disgracing the
teaching she had got by remembering nothing she had
heard in church. She looked back on the day with no
pleasure—she felt that she had been of no use to any
one, neither had she improved herself. The thought
arose in her mind—“It was Dick and Jack's fault that
I began the day ill, and if Jack had not tormented me
in church, I would have behaved better; and if Miss
Colvin had not blamed me more than I thought I deser-
ved, I would not have been so cross."

But no sooner did this thought enter her mind than
she felt how wrong it was. She had often been told
that no one had it in their power to make us do wrong.
They may tempt us to it, and they may prevent us doing
the good we wish to do, but our mind and our heart
are beyond their controul. These had been the words
of her mother when she was speaking about a verse in
the Proverbs, which now came into Maggie's mind,
“ My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."

Then she remembered how carelessly her prayers had
been said that morning; she was afraid of being late,
and she hurried them over without thinking of their
meaning. “ I did think I had little time, but it would
have taken no longer to say them, thinking of them,SHORTER CATECHISM.

279

than to say them without it. Then I had time after-
wards if I liked. No wonder the day was ill spent
when it began so ill.”

She thought of her crossness when found fault with.
It was very provoking to be blamed, and Jack, who was
more in fault than she, got off without a word. Then she
remembered that her mother had told her that a person
who was doing wrong, and had no one to tell him of it,
was like one who was sick, and had no one to give him
medicine. It is not pleasant to be told of our faults at
the time, and medicine is not pleasant to take, but they are
both for our good. So she thought that she was better
off than Jack that day, “ and I ought to have known
better than he, for I always was told of my faults, and
told of them so kindly. Oh, what a difference that makes!
How strange it is that I am not better than I am.”

Then she opened her Bible and read the first chapter
of James. She read two hymns from her hymn-book,
and a little prayer for Sabbath evening. She next took
her Catechism and studied the answer to “What is
repentance unto life?” Then she knelt and prayed
that the sorrow she felt for her sins might be true
repentance, that she might have a due sense of her sin,
feel that she could do nothing aright of herself, and
come humbly to the cross, trusting in the merits of
Jesus alone for acceptance, and that the assistance of
the Holy Spirit might be granted to her, that she might
be enabled to turn from sin with full purpose of new
obedience, and resolute endeavour after it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND.

Q. What are the outward and ordinary means
whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits
of redemption ?280

CHAPTERS ON THE

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby
Christ communicateth to us the benefits of re-
demption, are his ordinances, especially the word,
sacraments, and prayer; all which are made ef-
fectual to the elect for salvation.

Maggie performed the morning exercises of Monday in
a different manner from that in which they had been
done the day before. She resolved that she would not
be idle, that she would be as pleasant as she could to
everybody, and that she would not be angry at any-
thing that happened. She had felt the evil of trusting
to herself, and how incapable she was of doing what was
right, therefore she prayed for strength to keep the
resolution she had formed.

She was ready to leave her room when Matilda came
into it. “ Oh, Maggie,” she said, “ Miss Colvin is so
cross this morning—it is dreadful, there is no getting
on with her.”

“Perhaps she is not well,” Maggie said.

“Oh, she often takes those fits when she is quite
well,” said her cousin.

“But,” said Maggie, “she may have something to
vex her that you do not know of.”

“ That should not make her cross at everything else,”
Matilda remarked.

At that moment the voice of Miss Colvin was heard,
calling the girls into the schoolroom. They went in
and lessons commenced. Matilda was told to bring her
French verb. She did so, but made sad work of saying
it. Miss Colvin then called on Maggie to repeat it.
She attempted it, but failed. “What do you mean by
learning it so imperfectly ?” said Miss Colvin to Mar-
garet.

“ I did not learn it at all, ma'am, was the reply.

“Why then did you pretend to say it?”SHOBTEB CATECHISM.

281

“I learned it once/’ Maggie said, “but it is a long
while ago, and I have forgotten it.”

“You ought never to forget anything you have
learned, and when you know your own memory is so
bad, you ought to have learned it again.”

“Please, ma’am, may I do so now?”

“Yes, take the book,” said Miss Colvin, in rather a
softer manner.

Maggie took the book, and bent her head over it, to
conceal the tears on her cheeks, for she had felt it a
great trial of temper to be so sharply blamed for not
being able to say what she had never been told to learn,
while Matilda, who got it out to prepare, said it cer-
tainly not much better than she did, and got not a word
said to her. , She had several more trials that day of
the same kind, and although her temper was naturally
hasty, it was seldom that she felt angry on account of
them; sorry she was, and she had a good hearty cry
once because of this.

The two girls had tasks given to them of spelling
and meanings, which they were told to sit down to pre-
pare. They were not allowed to sit together. Maggie
was very soon ready, when she went up with her book.
Miss Colvin told her to sit down and look at it again,
for she was sure it would not be perfect. Maggie sat
down, and looked at the book, until the gentle voice of
Ally by her side asked her if she would hear him his
spelling, and help him with his meanings ? “Surely,”
she said, and taking his book, began in a low voice, not
to interrupt Miss Colvin, who was hearing Aggy repeat
a verse of a hymn, which he had been at for three days,
and had not got perfectly yet. Pie learned only what
he pleased; it was his mamma’s command that her dar-
ling should not be annoyed about his lessons; he was
delicate, and it was not good for his health. No such
command was given regarding Ally; with him his282

CHAPTERS ON THE

governess did as she pleased, and she did not please that
Margaret should assist him, so she called out, “What
are you doing there, miss ? give the child his hook, and
attend to your own lesson.”

This was said very sharply. Maggie felt the tears
starting to her eyes as she looked at the disappointed
face of poor Ally. In a little the girls were called up
with their lessons; then Miss Colvin found fault with
every meaning Maggie gave, and at last she threw the
hook at her, saying, “ Get off to your seat, you dolt,
and make use of the dictionary.”

Maggie hurst into tears, and for a long time she
sobbed and cried, so that she could not see the words of
the hook as it lay in her lap. Some of the meanings
Matilda gave she was sure were worse than any of her’s,
yet they were passed over without a word. She found
many of the meanings Miss Colvin objected to in the
dictionary. When she showed them to her, and said
she could not find others, the lady said, “ Can you not
learn your lessons without so much fuss ?”

But once Maggie’s anger did get the better of her,
and she was more sorry afterwards for that than for all
the injustice of Miss Colvin.

The two girls were set down at the piano to practise
a duet, while Miss Colvin heard the hoys read. “ You
are not keeping time, girls, count.”

Matilda made a face (her hack was towards the gov-
erness), hut did not count, so Maggie began to do it.
In a little Miss Colvin called out, “ Your counting is
worse than useless; it is putting Matilda all wrong.
Matilda, count you, for your cousin has no ear.”

Matilda counted for a little, then stopped, saying in
a whisper, “ I’m tired of it, we can do perfectly well
without it.”

So there was no counting for a little, while Miss Col-
vin was hearing Master Augustus stammer through hisSHORTER CATECHISM.

283

lesson. Suddenly Maggie received a smart blow on the
side of her head, and the voice of Miss Colvin was heard
in its sharpest tones. “ Did not I tell you to count,
miss; what do you mean by disobeying me?”

“ You said I could not count,” was Maggie's reply.

“ Of course I said so, because you cannot, but you
have the more need to learn. When do you expect to
be able to do it ? I suppose you expect to be gifted
with the faculty of counting in a dream; you would
have your cousin counting to you, lazy creature.”

“If I had known you wished me to count again,
ma'am, I would have done it.”

In answer to this Maggie received another blow on
the side of her head, and a “ Don't answer back to me,
miss, attend to your practising.”

Maggie began to play, but did not count.

“ Count, miss.”

Maggie made no answer.

“ Do you hear, miss, are you to count ?”

“No,” said Margaret.

“Do you say ‘no' to me,” said the governess, stamp-
ing her foot; “ bring the taws to me, Matilda.”

“ I will not be punished for what was not my fault,”
said Maggie.

“ And whose fault was it, I should like to know;
was it Aggy's or Ally's ? which of them shall I punish,
madam ?”

“You told me I must not count, for I put Matilda
wrong, so I did not do it, and I will not as long as you
say that.”

“ Did not I tell you not to answer back to me, miss,”
the governess said; then she seized Maggie by the
shoulder, and dragged her into the closet opening from
the schoolroom, where she whipped her, and left her
locked in until they returned from their walk.

Such is a specimen of the trials Maggie had to bear,284

CHAPTERS ON THE

and severe they were to her. She was not accustomed
to he treated with injustice, and she felt it keenly; yet
it was not often that her temper was shown as it had
been at the piano. Naturally hot-tempered and resent-
ful, she was aware of this defect in her character, and
of her own inability to conquer it, and she prayed that
she might be enabled to be patient and calm under
every provocation; and generally she was so, although
often at night, when she thought over these trials, she
shed many tears in her bed.

After some time, when Miss Colvin saw that Maggie
learned her lessons carefully, that she was quiet and
anxious to improve, she treated her more kindly, so that
when the first week or two had passed, except an occa-
sional outbreak, Maggie could not complain of injustice
from the governess.

By that time she began to see that the governess had
so much to annoy her, that she could not wonder at her
displays of anger. Dick and Jack would come into the
schoolroom when Miss Colvin was out, open her needle
papers, and scatter her needles about the drawers—they
would spill her ink upon her work, or upon her writing-
paper—they would mix the writing copies with the pat-
terns for work, disarrange the music, and change the
marks of the books into the wrong places. When Miss
Colvin found fault with them they laughed at her open-
ly, for they thought it, as they said, “ grand fun to get
a raging from the governess.” Maggie thought it
Strange that big boys like them could behave in such a
silly way; they were both older than Matilda.

Then Aggy would sometimes take a fit of learning
nothing. All that Miss Colvin could do she could not
get him to say a word. Then he would go and report
to his mamma that he had no lesson that day. She
would send for Miss Colvin, or else come to the school-
room; and accuse Miss Colvin of partiality—of takingSHORTER CATECHISM.

285

more pains with the other children, and neglecting
Augustus. It was needless for Miss Colvin to say that
he would not learn. Mrs. Somerville said that he was
a very good-tempered child, and so clever that he was
easily taught. Then when Miss Colvin ventured to
inflict the slightest punishment on him to alarm him
into learning, it was quite as had; he went to his mamma
with a pitiful story, and she came and accused the
governess of excessive and needless severity.

These scenes at first surprised Maggie greatly, and
Matilda told her that they used to surprise her too, for
whenever she had attempted to carry any complaints
against the governess, her mamma would not listen to
them, hut told her that she kept a governess to save
herself trouble, and therefore she would take none.

All the children's quarrels were referred to their
papa, except when Aggy was concerned, when his
mamma always took his part.

Quarrels often happened when Dick and Jack were
in the way. Miss Colvin allowed the girls to go into
the nursery to play in the afternoon when their lessons
were over. Then Dick and Jack, when they came home
from school, would enjoy very much going into the nur-
sery, and taking away everything the others were play-
ing with, and, for their own amusement, they would
pinch the little ones to make them scream. If Aggy
informed on them, they were punished, hut they gene-
rally managed to bribe him to he quiet with a piece of
barley-sugar, or something he liked.

Mr. Somerville was so much occupied that they saw
him seldom. They never went to the drawingroom
except in the evening, and it was not at all pleasant
going when he was not there; for Mrs. Somerville found
fault with the girls if they moved about, or spoke, or
touched any of the things.

There was a lady living in Edinburgh of the name of286

CHAPTERS ON THE

Miss Knox, a very old acquaintance of Mr. Gray's.
He wrote to her when his daughter went to Edinburgh,
telling her of it. The very day she got the letter she
went to Mr. Somerville’s house to see her, but was dis-
appointed in that, for it was the walking hour, and
Maggie was out with the others. Miss Knox saw Mrs.
Somerville, and asked her if she would allow Margaret
to spend a day with her. The lady excused her by say-
ing that she did not like her to go away from her les-
sons. Miss Knox then said on Sunday perhaps she
might come. There was nothing to prevent that, Mrs.
Somerville said. Might she come then on Saturday
afternoon and stay all night, and her cousin with her ?
No, Mrs. Somerville said, Matilda could not go, but
Margaret she thought might go on Saturday afternoon.

Miss Knox, although she had enough to keep her
comfortably, was not rich. She lived in a small house^
and Mrs. Somerville was not much acquainted with her,
so she did not choose Matilda to visit her. Miss Knox
said that she would come for Margaret, as she would
not know the way, and with this arrangement took her
leave.

When Maggie was told of this, although she had not
seen Miss Knox before, she had heard so much of her
from her father, that she was glad at the prospect of
visiting her. She was quite ready when Miss Knox
came for her, and they set off immediately. They had
a good distance to walk, but Maggie thought it much
more pleasant than their ordinary daily walks with Miss
Colvin, of which she was already quite tired, although
she had not had many of them, for Miss Colvin did not
approve of the girls speaking much as they walked.
She said it was more dignified to walk silently; a word
or two occasionally was allowable, but constant talking
was decidedly improper.

“I daresay you are glad we are here at last/' saidSHORTER. CATECHISM.

287

Miss Knox, “ but there are two stairs to climb still.
Yon are not accustomed to climb so many stairs before
yon get into the house.77

Maggie thought it was worth while climbing two
stairs to get into such a neat comfortable looking house;
the kitchen, parlour, bed-room, all were so neat, so
pleasant, and cheerful looking. Then there was a nice
old pleasant looking servant-maid. She and Miss Knox
were the only inmates. “ Get tea ready for us Betty/7
said Miss Knox when they went in. Betty obeyed;
and when Maggie entered the parlour after taking off
her things, tea was set out on the little round table;
the kettle was singing on the top of the fire, and the
teapot on a heater in front of it.

Miss Knox and Maggie sat down to tea, and after
they had commenced, Miss Knox asked her young com-
panion how she liked Edinburgh.

Maggie hesitated for a reply.

Miss Knox said, “ I see you do not like it so well as
Kramlen, but I would not expect that, my dear.77

“It is so difficult to be good here,77 Maggie said; “I
always feel as if I were to get angry, although I try all
I can not to do it. I was very bad last Sabbath. I
never used to behave so ill on Sabbath at home, even
when I was a little girl.77

“It is necessary for us my dear,77 said Miss Knox,
“ that we be sometimes tempted to do wrong. If we
were not we would be apt to get too well satisfied with
ourselves; and you know we are put into this world as
a state of trial, for the purpose of improvement.77

“ I think it would be easy to be good in this house/7
Maggie said.

“I do not know/7 said Miss Knox. “You would
meet temptations and trials here as well as in any other
house; but I daresay, my dear, you must miss your
father and mother very much, for they always would
assist you in knowing and doing what was right.77288

CHAPTERS ON THE

“ Yes,” said Maggie, u I need somebody to tell me.”

“ But, my dear, you have your Bible, wbieb I hope
you regularly and carefully read, and if at any time you
are at a loss, ask of God to direct you. We may be
sure that if we use the means appointed, and look to him
for a blessing on them, that blessing will be given.

“ Bo you understand me, my dear?” seeing that Mag-
gie looked at her inquiringly.

“ I am not sure,” said Maggie, u that I know the
meaning of the ‘ means appointed/ ”

“You know, my dear, that Jesus died to save our
souls from sin—not from punishment only—but from
sin, and that the most ardent desire of all who truly
believe in him is, that they may be made holy, not
merely that their sins may not be reckoned against them,
but that they may be kept from committing them.”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Maggie, “I understand that.”

“ Then, Margaret, what I meant by the means ap-
pointed, you may learn from this answer in the Cate-
chism—‘The outward and ordinary means whereby
Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption,
are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and
prayer.' The benefits of redemption are acceptance in
the sight of G-od, and strength to live more holily for
the time that is to come; and it is by the blessing of
God upon these ordinances or appointments—upon the
word, sacraments, and prayer, that we are led out of the
world and brought to Christ. But I daresay, my dear,
that I am not speaking very intelligibly, for I am get-
ting out of the way of explaining these things to young
people; I have not so much of it to do as I once had. I
took the words of the Catechism to explain my meaning,
because I thought they would be familiar to you, and
would bring to your mind the explanation you have
heard of them from your father.”

“ Yes,” said Maggie, “I remember of father explain-SHORTER CATECHISM.

289

ing that question, and he said that outward and ordinary
meant what we see, and what we see every day; that it
is different from inner and extraordinary.”

“ Yes, my dear, these means—the word, sacraments,
and prayer—are the means put in our power for our
own improvement and the improvement of others.
They are outward, because they are something we can
see and hear; they are ordinary, because they have
been blessed to Christians in all ages. It is by the in-
fluence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart that we must
be led to God. It pleases him in general to work by
these means; but when these means are wanting, the
soul is sometimes brought to the knowledge of the truth
without them, as in the case of Paul's conversion.”

“ Yes, I remember,” said Maggie; “ father mentioned
that, and said it was inner and extraordinary; and he
said something too about the place where it says,i made
effectual to the elect for salvation.' It is said to show
that we could not do good of ourselves; that we should”
-----Maggie hesitated.

“ Yes,” said Miss Knox, “that we ought not to trust
in anything outward, but only in the blessing of God
and the influence of the Holy Spirit. Was that what
you meant to say, my dear ?”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Maggie; “and father said too
that the words 6 the elect' should teach us humility, but
I do not remember why.”

“Would it be this?” said Miss Knox: “it shows us
that we cannot of ourselves choose what is good, but
that we are elected by God: ‘Ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you.' ”

“Oh, yes,” said Maggie, “I remember now.”

“You have remembered very well,” Miss Knox said :
“a good memory is a great blessing, but it is a still
greater blessing to have it stored with what is good.
25290

CHAPTERS ON THE

Now I think we shall get the tea things taken away and
have some reading.”

Miss Knox rose to get a book that would interest
Maggie, who read it aloud for a while; then Miss Knox,
supposing she would be tired, told her to put away the
book and they would talk a while. Then she told
Maggie about her father when he was a boy, for Miss
Knox had been very intimate with Maggie’s grand-
mother, and had known the minister of Kramlen since
he was a child. “ When he was in Edinburg attending
college he used often to come here to read to me on
Saturday evenings, and it was a very great treat. There
are not many young men like him who would have
been so attentive; and I could be of no use to him, it
was only because I was an old friend of his mother’s.
He was a good son, so he deserves that his own children
be good.”

Maggie liked to hear her father spoken of, so she did
not weary that evening. At night she slept soundly in
a neat little bed, and awoke the next morning cheerful
and happy.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD.

Q. How is the word made effectual to salvation ?

A. The Spirit of Grod maketh the reading, but
especially the preaching of the word, an effectual
means of convincing and converting sinners, and
of building them up in holiness and comfort,
through faith unto salvation.

Q. How is the word to be read and heard, that
it may become effectual to salvation ?SHOKTEB CATECHISM.

291

A. That the word may become effectual to sal-
vation, we must attend thereunto with diligence,
preparation, and prayer, receive it with faith and
love, lay it up in our hearts, and practise it in our
lives.

When Maggie came into the parlour next morning
there was a bright fire blazing, for the weather was still
cold. The teapot and kettle were again there, and
breakfast was set upon the little round table. Miss
Knox was sitting in the arm-chair by the side of the
fire with her Bible in her hand. After talking to Mag-
gie for a little about Sabbath days at home, she called
in Betty, and there were prayers; then breakfast; and
after breakfast Miss Knox and Maggie both sat down
with their Bibles in their hands.

“We shall read,” said Miss Knox, “in the thirty-
fourth chapter of second Chronicles;” and they read
the account of the young Josiah, that pious king in the
midst of an evil generation—that bright star in the dark
days of Judah's wickedness. When they had con-
cluded—“ There is one thing I wish you particularly to
observe,” said Miss Knox—“the effect that the reading
of the law had upon Josiah—‘he rent his clothes.'
Why did he do that ?”

“ Because,” Maggie replied, “ the people had not kept
the things commanded in the law.”

“Yes, my dear, it convinced of sin—it showed that
they had done evil. Such is the effect of the word of
God still, if we examine what his holy law requires.
Then, and not till then, do we see how far short of it we
come, and how much cause we have for humbling our-
selves in the sight of God.”

“ But”— said Maggie, and hesitated.

“ But what, my dear ?” said Miss Knox.

“ I was thinking that people might read the Bible292

CHAPTERS ON THE

often, and know the commandments very well, without
seeing themselves to be sinners."

“ Yes, my dear, we require the assistance of the Spirit
of God to convince us of our own sinfulness; as the
Catechism says, it is the Spirit who maketh the word
effectual unto salvation. King Josiah could cause the
law to be made known to his people, but he could not
cause them to feel humbled on account of their having
broken it. Ho you remember what we were speaking
about last night ? that the word, sacraments, and prayer,
are made effectual to salvation; and it is the blessing of
God, and the working of his Spirit, that makes them so.
Ho you recollect anything that your father said to you
about this question, ‘How is the word made effectual
to salvation V 99

“ Yes," Maggie said, “he said that to convince meant
to make us see that we are sinners; and to convert
meant to turn us from our sins."

“Yes, my dear, that is the distinction between them;
but, although separate in themselves, they always go
together in the work of the Spirit, as you will see in the
second chapter of Acts. You may read from the twenty-
second verse. It is the speech of Peter to the Jews on
the day of Pentecost."

When Maggie had read to the forty-second verse—

“ Now," said Miss Knox, “ do you understand what
Peter wished in making the speech he did to the Je ws ?"

“ He wished them to believe that Jesus was the Son
of God," Maggie replied.

“ And after he had shown them that, what is it said
they were?"

“ They were pricked in their hearts."

“ That is to say, they were convinced of their sinful-
ness in crucifying their Lord and Saviour; and what
did they say ?"

Maggie answered, “ They said unto Peter, and to theSHORTER CATECHISM.	293

rest of the apostles, ‘ Men and brethren, what shall we

dor ”

“Yes,” Miss Knox said, “no sooner did they see
their own sinfulness than they desired to turn from it;
they were convinced and converted by the Spirit's carry-
ing home to their hearts the words of Peter, and a
thorough change was effected in them, for it is said that
‘ after they were baptized, they continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship.' The Spirit of
G-od makes the reading and preaching of the word effec-
tual to the convincing and converting of sinners; but
it does more, it makes it an effectual means of building
them up in holiness and comfort through faith. We
have seen the powerful effect which the knowledge of
the law had upon the good king Josiah, how it made
him weep and rend his clothes; we shall see the power-
ful but very different effect which the knowledge of the
gospel had upon one long after him. Turn to the
eighth chapter of Acts, and read from the twenty-sixth
verse."

When Maggie had read to the end of the chapter,
Miss Knox said, “We may learn a great deal from these
verses; we see the providence of God in the means by
which he led Philip to give instruction in the Christian
faith to this man from a heathen land. We see the
goodness of God in his providing instruction for one,
who, aware of his own ignorance, desired to be taught
the truth. But what I wished you to read it for is, the
effect that the gospel had upon the Ethiopian, ‘He
went on his way rejoicing/ The Spirit made the words
spoken by Philip an effectual means of building him up
in holiness and comfort, through faith in a crucified Re-
deemer. And yet his joy might occasion-surprise. He
was going home with a new and strange religion among
ignorant idolaters, a solitary Christian in a heathen
land; but that disturbed him not—he had found his
25*294

CHAPTEBS ON THE

Saviour, and ‘ he went on his way rejoicing/ Now, my
dear, as this is Sabbath morning, and we expect in a
little to go to the house of G-od, a very suitable exercise
would be to ask ourselves, (How is the word to be read
and heard that it may become effectual to salvation V
The first thing, as you know, is, that we must attend
thereunto with diligence. If you turn to the seven-
teenth chapter of the Acts, at the eleventh verse, you
will see what is meant by this.”

Maggie read the verse; it is this—■“ These were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received
the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.”

Then Miss Knox said, u The Bereans were praised for
their diligence; they were called noble for searching the
Scriptures daily. This shows us that it is not enough
to attend regularly to the public preaching of the word,
and occasionally hear the Bible read, but that we should
read it daily ourselves, and not only read it, but search
it, and examine into the meaning of it. The next thing
mentioned in the Catechism as required that the word
may be made effectual to salvation is, that we attend
thereto with preparation. In the second chapter of first
Peter, the first and second verses, you will see what is
meant by this.”

Maggie read the verses. They are these : u Where-
fore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypo-
crisies, and envies, and evil-speakings, as new-born babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby.”

Miss Knox said, “ It is needed to prepare us for the
hearing of the word that we put away wickedness from
our hearts. If we go up to the house of G-od, or if we
sit down to read the Bible, with an unkind thought of
any one in our mind, or cherishing one evil desire in
our heart, we cannot expect to be benefited. And if,SHORTER CATECHISM.

295

from a pure motive, we engage in sacred exercises, we
shall not neglect the next thing required, which is
prayer. If you turn to the sixth chapter of Paul's
Epistle to the Ephesians, you will see what the apostle
says about it."

Maggie read the eighteenth and nineteenth verses;
they are these—a Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with
all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for
me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may
open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of
the gospel."

“ The apostle here reminds us," said Miss Knox,
“ that in praying for ourselves we should pray for others
too, and more particularly for those whose office it is to
preach the gospel. Before going to church we should
not forget to pray that the minister may be strength-
ened for his duty, that utterance may be given unto
him from on high. What is next required ?"

“To receive it with faith," Maggie replied.

u We must receive it with faith; the apostle says,(The
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in them that heard it.' This shows us the neces-
sity of prayer in order to profit, for faith is the gift of
God. What is next required ?"

“ Love," Maggie said.

“Yes, in the words of the apostle, (Receive it not as
the word of man, but as it is in truth the word of God.'
If we love it, we shall most certainly do the next thing
required, which is to lay it up in our hearts. We shall
give earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at
any time we let them slip. It is next required that we
practise it in our lives—that we take the word as a lamp
to our feet, and a light to our path."

Miss Knox then looked at her watch, and she said,
“ It is time, my dear, that we go to prepare for church.296

CHAPTERS ON THE

I hope neither of us will forget what of the word we
have already heard.”

While Miss Knox and Maggie were walking along the
street to the church, a lady, who had two girls with her,
came up to them. “ How do you do, Miss Knox?” the
lady said; “I am glad to see you, for I know that we
shall he in time. I was much afraid we were too late.
Really we have so much to do on Sunday morning that
it is a wonder I manage to get to church in the forenoon.
I have not had a moment's rest since I rose.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” said Miss Knox; “The
Sabbath is not a day in which we should be toiled about
our worldly occupations.”

“ I assure you, Miss Knox, I often envy you, who
have so much time, and can do as you please. It is a
different thing from me: there have been four separate
breakfastings this morning in our house, and of course
for each of them there must be eggs boiled, and hot toast
got ready, for we can't get rolls on Sunday morning.”

“But could you not, Mrs. Jackson,” said Miss Knox,
“ by fixing a regular hour for breakfast, get your family
to keep to it?”

“ Oh! you see, Miss Knox,” the lady replied, “ we
cannot fix a regular hour on Sabbath morning. Mr.
Jackson and I must have our breakfast just when we get
up, and we have always been accustomed to be a little
longer of rising on Sunday morning than on any other.”

“ And your family naturally follow your example,”
said Miss Knox.

“ It is a different thing with young people,” said Mrs.
Jackson, “they ought not to be indolent; when they
have houses of their own they may do as they please.”

Miss Knox made no reply; but the thought passed
through her mind, that as Mrs. Jackson was irregular
herself, she need not be surprised if her family were the
same.SHORTER CATECHISM.

297

Mrs. Jackson went on:—“Then there is the dressing
on Sunday morning, that is a dreadful business; I do not
know how long it took me this morning to dress these
two girls. The nurserymaid began them; but there was
such a screaming and fighting in the nursery, for all the
rest were wanting to be dressed too, that I was afraid
their good clothes would be destroyed, and I was obliged
to order them out of it; the cook was busy with so many
breakfasts; the housemaid had the bedrooms to do out,
and when they were all so late of rising, she had little
enough time to get them done before she went to church;
for it was her turn to go out; so I had the girls to dress
myself, and it is such a business.”

“It is a pity that you should have so much to do,
particularly on a Sabbath morning,” said Miss Knox;
“might not the young ladies dress their little sisters?”

“ They!” said Mrs. Jackson, “ they take such a time
to dress themselves, they were not nearly ready when
we came away.”

Mrs. Jackson's two girls were showily and fashionably
dressed. They looked with great contempt on Maggie's
merino frock and tippet; her simple straw bonnet, with
plain trimming. Maggie, on her part, was much aston-
ished at all that Mrs. Jackson had said. She thought,
surely when the lady was a little girl, nobody ever told
her that it needed any preparation to hear the word.
She thought of her own home too, and of the example
that was set before her there on the Sabbath; and she
felt that she was much better off than these girls, al-
though they had satin pelisses and cased silk bonnets.
Maggie was much more attentive in church than she had
been the Sabbath before, and she remembered a good
deal of what was said.

As they were coming out of church, a lady accosted
Miss Knox with, “Well, Miss Knox, you will surely
allow that the sermon to-day was by far too long; I'm298

CHAPTERS ON THE

quite sick and senseless with the length of it. I can
only get out once a-day, and I am sure it is no loss, for
I would not be able to listen to another word after this.”

“If you can only get out once a-day,” said Miss
Knox, “ I would not think you would object to the
length of the sermon. It was rather longer than we
are accustomed to; but it was so excellent that I would
have blamed myself much if I had not liked it.”

The lady saw that Miss Knox was not disposed to
agree with her, so she said, “Good morning,” and
joined another acquaintance.

They were soon after accosted by another lady, who
inquired after Miss Knox's health very kindly; and
observing Maggie, said, “What a nice little girl you
have got with you; what is your name, my dear ?”

When Maggie had answered, the lady told her to
walk with her boy and girl, while she walked behind
with Miss Knox. Maggie walked on with the chil-
dren; the girl seemed about her own age, the boy some
years younger. The little girl seemed rather inquisi-
tive ; she asked Maggie a great many questions, which
Maggie answered quite frankly, and found that her new
acquaintance was not backward in supplying informa-
tion in return, although she was not so much given to
asking questions as the Edinburgh young lady seemed
to be. They came to the corner of a street, from which
their roads were in different directions; they stopped,
and the girl and boy whispered to their mother.
“Don't whisper,” she said; yet she listened, and re-
plied in the same tone; then said aloud, “My young
people, Miss Knox, are so much delighted with your
young friend that they wish me to get her to walk with
us; we generally walk between sermons in Prince's
Street gardens, will you allbw her to go ? we shall take
great care of her.”

“ I am much obliged to you, Mrs. Clark,” repliedSHORTER CATECHISM.	299

Miss Knox, “ but as it is Sabbath, I had rather that
Margaret would not walk in the gardens.”

“Indeed!” said Mrs. Clark, “and do you think it
necessary to keep children cooped up in the house be-
cause it is Sunday? I think a walk is necessary for
health, and I cannot see that there is any sin in walk-
ing on the Sabbath-day.

“Neither do I see it to be a sin,” said Miss Knox,
“but we require a little quiet after haying been at
church, to think over what we have heard, and apply it
to ourselves. I like this for myself, and I would like
it for any one under my charge, as I would anything
else I thought for their good. If we straightway divert
our minds from what we have heard, we lose the bene-
fit we ought to have from it.

And what did Maggie think of it ? When first Mrs.
Clark proposed the walk in the gardens, she thought it
would be nice to go, and when Miss Knox objected she
was much disappointed, but as she listened to what
Miss Knox said, she felt ashamed of herself for having
wished to go; and when Mrs. Clark and her children
left, Maggie was very glad to take Miss Knox’s hand,
and walk homewards by her side; she felt somehow
when with her as if she were far less likely to do any-
thing for which she might be sorry afterwards.

When they got home they had dinner—a cold din-
ner, as Miss Knox said she always had on Sabbath;
then they read all the psalms that had been sung; they
read over the passage from which the subject of the
sermon had been taken; they talked about it, and then
it was time to leave for the afternoon service. After it
was over they came home again, and there was tea
soon; but while it was getting ready they read over the
psalms and chapter as they had done in the middle of
the day. After the tea things were removed, Miss
Knox took some books out of the book-case and laid300

CHAPTERS ON THE

them on the table. One was a large Bible, with maps
in it; another was a book with plates, and descriptions
of the places mentioned in the New Testament; another
contained lives of the chief characters in the Bible.
They chose the life of Paul, and read a good part of it
that night, tracing the travels of the Apostle in the
map, and looking up the picture of every town that was
named, and reading what was said about it. The
evening passed very pleasantly, and so quickly, that
Maggie was surprised when Betty, who had been at
church in the evening, came to ask if anything was to
be got ready for supper. Miss Knox told her to make
porridge, but before it was brought in they had prayers,
and whenever supper was over Maggie went to bed.

The next morning Maggie returned home to her
uncle's house. She was sorry to part from Miss Knox;
but she was not dissatisfied, for she felt somehow bet-
ter pleased with everything than she had been at the
time she left.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH.

Q. How do the sacraments become effectual
means of salvation ?

A. The sacraments become effectual means of
salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him
that doth administer them; but only by the bless-
ing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in
them that by faith receive them.

Q. What is a sacrament ?

A. A sacrament is a holy ordinance institutedSHORTER CATECHISM.

801

by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and
the benefits of the new covenant are represented,
sealed, and applied to believers.

Q. Which are the sacraments of the New Tes-
tament ?

A. The sacraments of the New Testament are
baptism and the Lord’s supper.

When Maggie went into the schoolroom Miss Colvin
looked up with not a very pleasant countenance from
the correcting of Matilda’s French version; but there
were a great many mistakes in it, so no wonder that she
did not look pleased. She said nothing to Maggie, but
Matilda came forward so eagerly to welcome her, and
Ally pressed close to her side, and put his little hand
in hers, and looked up in her face with such an affec-
tionate look, that Maggie felt that it was a great deal
more than enough to make up for Miss Colvin’s cold
reception. Yet, cold as her reception was, Maggie liked
the governess too, for she felt so happy that she could
not dislike anybody; and she thought how wrong it was
in her to be discontented there, when she had so many
people to like.

Rut she looked forward to Sunday as not a very
pleasant day; Sundays there were so different from
Sundays at home. However, when it came, she found
that it was a happy day, as all do find who are sincerely
endeavouring to do their duty, and humbly looking to
God for strength to enable them to do it.

Rick and Jack did not repeat their early rising, and
Miss Colvin was not in the habit of coming into the
schoolrQom on Sunday so early as on other mornings;
so, after Maggie was dressed, and her usual morning
exercises over, she found that she had still an hour to
do as she liked. “How shall I spend it?” she asked302

CHAPTERS ON THE

herself. Then the thought of Ally eame into her mind,
and she determined to go to see if he were up, and bring
him to her room if she could get him. When she
entered the nursery she saw Ally standing half washed
and wet, waiting till Aggy was done. The nurserymaid
had told them to rise. Aggy refused, but Ally obeyed.
As soon as Aggy saw his brother in the bath, he insisted
on being up, and threatened to scream if he were not
dressed at once. The nurserymaid was obliged, from
fear of his violence and of his mother’s displeasure, to
put away the gentle Ally, who stood patiently waiting,
wet and shivering, until his tyrannical brother’s toilet
was completed. However, he had not long to wait this
morning, for Maggie gave him the assistance that he
required, and he was dressed before his more trouble-
some brother. Then Maggie took him away to her own
little room, and heard him repeat his verses and cate-
chism; and as they sat together at the window she told
him stories from the Bible, as she had been accustomed
to hear her father and mother tell to Jessie. Then she
spoke to him of Jesus, who loved little children, who
came down into this world to suffer pain and death, that
all who loved him might be happy. Ally listened with
glistening eyes, and the hour passed swiftly away. The
remainder of the morning was spent in preparing the
Sabbath lessons.

When it was nearly time to leave for church, Maggie
took an opportunity of telling Jack that if he tormented
her in church, either in the forenoon or afternoon, she
would not help him with his grammar all the week.
J ack, who had got many a beating for his grammar les-
sons formerly, had experienced the value of Maggie’s
assistance too well to be willing to lose it, and he tor-
mented her no more than his restlessness and inattention
would have annoyed any one who sat next to him. So
Maggie attended and remembered so much that herSHORTER CATECHISM.

303

uncle was well pleased with her when he questioned the
children in the evening. She was attentive to Miss
Colvin, and desirous to please her, and found that
trying to please is a pleasure, even although it may be
attended with only partial success.

On that Sabbath it was announced by the clergymen
that the sacrament of the Lord’s supper was to be cele-
brated on that day four weeks. When the girls came
home from church Matilda asked Maggie what was the
use of a sacrament. Maggie tried to explain, but could
not do it at all satisfactorily. They asked Miss Colvin
about it, but she said that they were too young to under-
stand these things. When she left the room, “ How I
wish said Maggie, “ that we could see Miss Knox to ask
her about it; she would explain it all.”

“ But we can easily see her,” said Matilda; “ papa
promised, because I did not get with you, that I could
go some time when we were out walking, and we will
go to-morrow; I will ask him to let us.”

She did so; and it was arranged that they should
call on Miss Knox when they went out, as they some-
times did, after school hours. Of course, they would
not get leave to go without Miss Colvin; but she was,
after taking them there, to leave them for half an hour,
as she had some things that she wished to do at that
time.

Miss Knox was very glad to see the girls. They
told her what they wanted, and said that they had
looked in the Catechism to find what explanation it
gave, but it did not tell the use of a sacrament.

“ Does it not say in the Catechism,” said Miss Knox,
“ that by the signs used in the sacrament Christ and
the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed,
and applied to believers?”

“But we do not understand how that is done,”
Matilda said.804

CHAPTERS ON THE

“ I shall try to explain," said Miss Knox. “ Can you
tell me what is meant by sensible signs V'

Matilda looked at Margaret, who replied, “ Things we
can see and touch."

“ Yes," said Miss Knox, “what may be perceived by
our bodily senses. We hear of a new covenant, and we
may speak of its benefits, but we never saw it. We
read of a Saviour, and we may think of him, and of his
sufferings, and of the blessings he has purchased for us
by them, but never did our eyes behold him ; but we
can see and touch the water used in baptism; we can
taste and handle the bread and wine used in the sacra-
ment of the Lord's supper."

“ I know the meaning of sensible signs now," said
Matilda.

“ But," said Margaret, “ I do not know how sensible
signs make the things any plainer to us than they were
before."

“You know, my dear, that what you see is much
more strongly impressed on your mind than what you
only hear of. You have heard of the wars on the con-
tinent in Napoleon's time; and you have heard that
they, as well as all wars, have been the cause of great
misery; but if you had seen, as I have, the regiments
setting out from this country full of health and spirits,
and coming back diminished in numbers, and sickly in
appearance, that was a sensible sign which showed in
part the evils of war; and if you had seen it, a horror
of war would have been more distinctly impressed on
your mind. Did you ever hear the story of the little
girl who used to boast to her companions at school about
her uncle in London, his fine house, and all his great-
ness ; and when they asked her if she had ever seen
him or his house, she was obliged to say that she had
not; so they told her they would not believe that there
was such a person. One time this uncle sent her aSHORTER CATECHISM.

805

present of a beautiful book, with her name written in
the inside, and his name, to tell from whom it had come.
c I will show it/ she said, ‘ to all the girls in the school,
for they will not believe that I have an uncle in Lon-
don, unless they see something to make them know it/
This book then was a sensible sign.”

<( Oh yes,” said Maggie, u I think I know better the
use of sensible signs now.”

“ This subject reminds me,” said Miss Knox, u of a
circumstance that happened when I was at school. As
it is to the purpose I shall tell it Our schoolmistress
used to be much annoyed by the girls going to the fire.
She made a line which they were strictly forbidden to
pass; yet often, when they thought she was not obser-
ving them, they transgressed. There were some of the
girls who lived a good way off, and in bad weather they
used to bring their dinner with them, and eat it in the
school-room in the middle of the day, when the others
were away. One wet day there were two girls who had
brought bread and milk with them. They were left
alone in the school-room, which was a building standing
by itself; our mistress lived at a little distance; the last
thing she said to them was to be careful of the fire; yet
she feared some accident; so she returned before the
usual time, and quickened her steps when she heard
screams from the school-room. How much was she
shocked on entering to see the eldest of the two running
about, screaming with all her might, her clothes blazing
about her ! The other stood apparently petrified with
horror, and unable to move. The schoolmistress suc-
ceeded in quenching the flames, but not until the girl
was very much burnt. I was one of those who were at
the school in time to see our poor companion before she
was taken home, and none of us who saw her ever forgot
it, and we always, after that, thought that our teacher
was right when she bade us be careful of the fire.”

26*806

CHAPTEKS ON THE

u How did her clothes take fire ?” asked Maggie.
u She thought that her bread would be better if it
were toasted; and as she had neither heater nor fork,
she fell upon some contrivance of putting a thread
through it, and fastening it to the mantlepiece by a pin.
Two or three times the pin gave way, and once, as she
was standing inside the fender fastening it, her skirts
caught fire, and she was only made aware of it by the
heat coming up in her face.”

u Did she get better ?” Matilda asked.
u She never was able to come to school again; yet
she did get better of the burning; but before she was
quite well, she took a fever, of which she died. For a
time this sad accident made a great impression on the
scholars; but the impression with some of them seemed
to be wearing off, and our teacher was again in great
fear. Once, in the holidays, she went to a sale, and
there bought a picture of a little child with its clothes
on fire. It was done in water-colours, framed, and
with glass over it. It was a fearful looking picture;
none saw it for the first time without shuddering. Our
mistress did not hang it up in the schoolroom, lest
seeing it every day, the girls might get accustomed to
it. She kept it in a closet, and when any girl ventured
to transgress the rules regarding the fire, the mistress
took her into the closet, and said, c I will show you the
consequences of a careless approach to the fire/ Besides
showing to the culprits the picture, she also whipped
them, so that they both saw the evil effects of the fault,
and felt them to a certain extent.”

u I understand now,” said Matilda, cc the picture and
the taws were sensible signs.”

“ And what did they show?” Miss Knox asked.
Maggie answered, u The advantages of obeying, and
the evil of disobeying.”

Miss Knox then said, I cannot give you, my dears, aSHORTER CATECHISM.

307

stronger instance that what we see has a much greater
power over ns than what we do not see, than this—that
it is natural for all of ns to strive after what cannot
make ns happy, even when it is ours, and what we know
we must soon lose, and we strive after it because it is
seen—while we utterly neglect the everlasting treasure
which would cause us perfect felicity, merely because it
is unseen by us. We go to broken cisterns which hold
no water, and refuse to taste from the pure fountain of
bliss.”

“ Please, ma’am,” Matilda asked, “ what is meant
by the new covenant?”

“The covenant of grace,” Miss Knox replied, “so
called because it was entered into by God out of his
mere good pleasure. It is called the new covenant to
distinguish it from the first covenant, the covenant of
works. By the sensible signs used in the sacraments,
Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are repre-
sented, or shown forth; they are sealed or made firm
or sure, and they are applied to believers; or, in other
words, the sacraments are made effectual means of sal-
vation. The question is naturally asked, ‘How do
they become so?’ Can you answer this, Margaret?”

“ Yes,” Maggie said, and repeated the answer from
the Catechism.

Miss Knox then went on to say, “You see that it is
not from the sacraments themselves, nor from the man-
ner in which they are administered, but it is by the
blessing of God, and by the working of his Spirit in
them that by faith receive them; but mark, my dears,
it is only when we receive them in faith—that is, when
we do not think of the signs themselves as if they were
all, but when we look beyond them to what they signify;
and, when we look upward for a blessing from on high,
and humbly use the means granted to us, we may be
sure that a blessing will not be withheld. Have I
made the subject any plainer to you?”308

CHAPTERS ON THE

“Yes,” said both the girls, “we understand it much
better now.”

“ Very well, then, always remember that we owe
great thankfulness to Almighty God for condescending
to make these subjects plainer to us, by bringing signs
of them before us; and, knowing our forgetfulness of
what is good, to ordain so that they might be repeatedly
brought before us. The Bible tells us of a Saviour
who died for us. The bread broken in the sacrament
of the eucharist reminds us of his body, which was bro-
ken for us, and the wine poured out, to the eye of faith,
shows the blood shed for us. The Bible tells us also
of a Holy Spirit, without whose purifying influence we
can never be made holy. How clearly is this shown to
us in the water used in baptism. What are the sacra-
ments of the New Testament, Matilda?”

“Baptism and the Lord’s supper,” Matilda replied.

“ Who was the first of whom we are told in the Bible
that he baptized ?” Miss Knox asked.

Matilda. John the Baptist.

Miss Knox. By whom was the Lord’s supper first in-
stituted ?

Matilda. By the Lord Jesus Christ, the night before
he was crucified. Does eucharist mean the same as the
Lord’s supper?

Miss Knox. It is another name for it. The word
eucharist means thanksgiving. What are the sacra-
ments of the Old Testament, Margaret ?

> Margaret. Circumcision and the passover.

Miss Knox. Who was first commanded to circumcise ?

Margaret. God commanded Abraham to circumcise
himself and all his household.

Miss Knox. The Almighty appointed it as a mark to
distinguish those who worshipped him from the heathen
nations around them. When was the passover instituted ?

Margaret. When the children of Israel came out of
Egypt.SHORTER CATECHISM.

809

.Mss Knox. Why was it called the passover?

Margaret. Because the children of Israel were told to
sprinkle the blood of the lamb they killed upon their
doors, and when the destroying angel smote all the first-
born in the land of Egypt in one night, he passed over
the doors that had blood on them—he did not smite the
first-born in them.

Miss Knox. Very well, my dear, can you tell now
what the paschal lamb is a type of?

Margaret. Of Christ.

Miss Knox. Why?

Margaret. Because by its blood sprinkled they were
saved, so by his blood shed for us we are saved from
the anger of God.

Miss Knox. Would it have done the Israelites any
good to have had a lamb killed without putting its blood
on their doors?

Margaret. No.

Miss Knox. Nor will it do us any good merely to
know that Christ has died for sinners, if we do not ap-
ply for purification by his cleansing blood.

Then Miss Knox, thinking that the girls had heard
enough for once, gave each of them an orange and a
biscuit, and while they were eating them the governess
arrived, so they soon took their departure.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIFTH.

Q. What is baptism ?

A. Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the wash-
ing with water, in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and
seal our engrafting into Christ, and partaking of810

CHAPTERS ON THE

the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our en-
gagement to be the Lord’s.

Q. To whom is baptism to be administered ?

A. Baptism is not to be administered to any
that are out of the visible church, till they profess
their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but
the infants of such as are members of the visible
church are to be baptized.

Some weeks passed on, in the course of which nothing
particular happened. Ally became every day fonder
of being with Margaret. He would watch her until she
had learned her lessons, then he would bring his little
stool and sit beside her, and ask her to tell him about
Jesus, who loved little children, and about good little
boys and girls who died loving Jesus; and when she
said she had no more stories to tell him, he would ask
her to tell him these ones over again. He never wearied,
nor seemed to care for play, if Maggie had time to talk
to him. They often repeated over to each other all the
prettiest verses they could remember. Always on the
Sabbath they spent much time together in this way.

When it came near the time of the communion, the
two elder boys and Matilda talked a great deal about
the fun they would have in the country, where they
were to go on the Wednesday afternoon, and remain
until the Monday afternoon. “ How nice it would be
if you were going too, Maggie,” Matilda said, but Mag-
gie thought she would like as well to stay with Ally.
But it was not to be, that she was to remain at home
with Ally; for on the Tuesday evening before, when the
girls went into the drawingroom, Mr. Somerville told
Maggie that he had seen Miss Knox that day; she had
asked him to let Margaret go back again to spend some
days with her, and it had been agreed that she was to
go the next day and remain until Monday.SHOKTEB CATECHISM.

311

Maggie was surprised at herself for not being more
glad; but when the time came, and she was ready to go
away, Ally was so much distressed, that she did not
wonder at herself for being sorry to leave him. She
comforted him as well as she could; told him the days
would soon pass away, and pointed out some pretty
verses for him to learn and say to her when she came
back again.

Again, then, Maggie entered Miss Knox's little par-
lour, and again they sat down to tea together at the
little round table. After Miss Knox had asked all
about Mr. and Mrs. G-ray, and when Maggie heard
from them, she told her that there was to be a baptism
there that night. When Betty came in to clear away
the tea things she said something to Miss Knox. “Tell
her to come in here," was Miss Knox's reply. As
Betty left the room Miss Knox said to Maggie, “It is
a young woman who has come to be baptized; the min-
ister will be here in a short time."

She had no time to say more, for the young woman
came in. Miss Knox told her to sit down, and spoke to
her until the clergyman came. Betty followed him
into the room, and these were all who were present
during the performance of the ceremony. When it was
over, and the clergyman and the young woman both
gone, Miss Knox and Maggie sat down at the fire-side
to speak about it.

Maggie asked Miss Knox if she knew why Mary had
not been baptized before. Miss Knox said that neither
of her parents were members of any church, so that she
could not be baptized when an infant. “Her mother
has long been dead, and her father married again very
soon after. The stepmother got all his first family put
to some employment, which took them out of the house,
and although this girl was then a mere child, she got
her into service. It was well for her, for her mistress812

CHAPTERS ON THE

took great pains in instructing her. She had not had a
good example set before her at home, and she had not
been taught much that was good; but she was aware of
her deficiencies, and desirous to improve, and she has
turned out so well that I often am surprised when I
think how great were the early disadvantages under
which she laboured.”

u Where does she live now ?” asked Maggie.

u She is in service as a nurserymaid, and is giving
much satisfaction, as her mistress told me when I went
to inquire about her. She has long been wishing to be
baptized. I have had several conversations with her on
the subject, and she has of late been attending the cler-
gyman who was here to night, at a class that he keeps
preparatory to the communion.

“ Now, my dear, we will consider a little the sacra-
ment we have just witnessed. What is the sensible sign
used in baptism ?”

Margaret. Water.

Miss Knox. And what does the washing with water
in baptism signify?

Margaret. That our souls are impure, and require to
be made clean.

Miss Knox. They must be cleansed from guilt by the
blood of Jesus, and purified from sin by the influence of
the Holy Spirit, and both of these are shown forth by
the sign of water in baptism. In whose name is the
water applied?

Margaret. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy G-host.

Miss Knox. Who commanded it to be administered
in their name ?

Margaret. Jesus said to his disciples, u Go ye there-
fore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Miss Knox. Can the sacrament of baptism of itself
make us really the children of God ?SHORTER CATECHISM.

313

Maggie looked earnestly at Miss Knox as she said
this, and she answered “No/* hesitatingly, uncertain
whether she understood the question aright, so strange
did it seem to her.

Miss Knox. You are right, my dear; no outward cere-
mony can make us the children of God; that must be
the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. Baptism
is merely the outward and visible sign of an inward and
spiritual grace. If partaken in faith, it seals our union
with Christ—our being joined to him as the branch is to
the vine. This ordinance marks and confirms our engage-
ment to be the Lord's; to worship and serve him with all
our heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and to keep
his commandments all the days of our life. We also
engage in it to take the Lord Jesus for our Redeemer,
and to trust in him alone for salvation; we engage, too,
to desire and to seek after the blessed influence of the
Holy Spirit which sanctifies. Can you tell, Maggie,
what this means, “the visible church?"

Margaret. It means all those who profess Christianity.

Miss Knox. Yes, my dear, to whatever denomination
they may belong. All the members of all sects professing
Christianity compose the visible church. What is meant
by the invisible church ?

Margaret. It means all the good people in the world.

Miss Knox. All who name the name of Christ in sin-
cerity and truth, whatever may be their form of worship.
They are well called the invisible church; no man could
number them, or tell where they are to be found, but “ the
Lord knoweth them that are his." Our Catechism tells us
that baptism is not to be administered to any that are out
of the visible church till they profess their faith in Christ,
as the young woman did lately, but the infants of such
as are members of the visible church are to be baptized.
Do you know, my dear, why infants are baptized ?

27814

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Margaret. I suppose it is because circumcision was
commanded for children.

Miss Knox. Yes, my dear, and the words of our Sa-
viour when he said,66 Suffer little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven,” seem to import that under the Christian dispen-
sation the rite that admitted into the visible church was to
be administered to children, as it had been under the Jew-
ish. u The promise is unto you and to your children, and
to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our
God shall call.” And surely the Lord called little children,
when he said, “ of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”

Margaret. Do not the Baptists think people should
not be baptized until they are grown up ?

Miss Knox. Yes, Margaret, such is their belief. We
think that we have a warrant for infant baptism in Scrip-
ture. They think that we have not. “ Let every man
be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Act conscien-
tiously, and believe that others do so too. We are sure
that in whatever we may differ now, all who truly love
the Lord shall be together at the last. An advantage
of infant baptism is, that it ought to have the effect of
impressing upon parents more deeply their great respon-
sibility. It should teach them to strive not only for the
temporal interest of their children, but also for their
souls’ welfare. Remember, my dear, that although
your parents took the vows for you at baptism, a heavy
responsibility rests upon yourself. As soon as you are
able to know right from wrong, you stand or fall by
your own acts. Luther tells of a pious virgin who,
when tempted to sin, used to say, “I am baptized,” as
if to keep away the thought of evil from her mind.
And it is told that one of the African martyrs, when he
was going to die, was encouraged by his mother in these
words—“ Son, remember that thou wast baptized in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the HolySHORTER CATECHISM,

315

Ghost.” Yet we should not rest in baptism as if the
outward sign were salvation; we must trust in Jesus
alone, and not in anything that man can do. But I dare
say you are tired, my dear; I am afraid I say too much
to you at once. Have you sometimes baptisms in your
church at home?

Margaret. Yes, father says that the people should all
bring their children to the church to be baptized, unless
when they live at a great distance, or if the child be ill.

Miss Knox. I agree with your father, because it is
more solemn and impressive for the engaging parent to
take his vows in the church, it is good for the congre-
gation to see the ceremony, and it is a blessing both to
child and parent, to have the prayers of the pious among
the congregation. It is strange how little respect is
paid to this interesting ordinance. A good many years
ago I was living with a lady, a friend of mine, in coun-
try lodgings. On Sabbath we went to the parish church.
When the service was concluded, the clergyman an-
nounced that there was to be a baptism; those who
chose might stay, and those who chose might go away.
To our astonishment the people rose and walked out of
the church, every one of them, until none were left save
my friend and myself, and the baptism party, consisting
of, as I supposed, the two parents, and a woman with
them. When the simple and interesting service was
ended, my companion and I were both prepared to make
the remark to each other, how strange it was that a
whole congregation of professing Christians should refuse
to join in prayer for a new member of it. Their duty
could not surely have been told them, or they would not
so have neglected it.

Miss Knox then brought an interesting book to read
aloud, and thus the evening was spent. The next day,
being a fast-day, was passed like a Sunday. They went
twice to church, and they had Scripture reading in the
evening.316

CHAPTERS ON THE

On Friday morning the snn shone brightly. Miss
Knox said, “We might go a few miles into the country
to-day; would you like that, Maggie ?"

u Oh, yes, Maggie said, u it would he very nice/'

So they got on their things, and went to a railway
station, where they took tickets and seated themselves
in a carriage. It was the first time that Maggie travelled
on a railway, and she thought it particularly pleasant.
It was much too quick though, for she did not wish it
to he so soon done. When they left the train they
rambled into the fields. The country looked beautiful,
the grass so fresh and green, the leaves coming out on
the hedges, and on the early trees, and the birds sing-
ing sweetly, the melody of the blackbird, and the lark's
clear note; then the sky above all was so clear and
cloudless, the air so fresh, pure, and country-like, it was
quite delightful. Maggie danced with joy at being in
the country again.

They sat down for a while on the low stone wall of a
bridge, and looked into the little stream, then they wan-
dered by the side of the stream, and then they went into
a cottage where they got some bread and milk. After
some hours spent in the country they returned to town
by rail. As they were walking homewards from the
railway station, Miss Knox bought some paper of many
different colours, and when they got home she taught
Maggie how to make it into flowers. So Maggie did not
want for amusement that evening, nor the next fore-
noon either; although it happened to be wet, she did
not at all weary.

In the afternoon they went to church, and in the even-
ing Miss Knox told Maggie that she would leave her
alone for two hours. Did she think that she would be
able to find amusement ?

“ Surely," Maggie .said, and added, “I think I should
write a letter home."SHORTER CATECHISM.

317

So Miss Knox gave her paper, pen, and ink, and left
her alone in the parlour. Maggie wrote the longest letter
that she had yet written home, and when it was finished
she asked Miss Knox to read it and see if it was right.
The lady said it was a very good letter; she sealed it,
and put a stamp on it, and gave it to Betty to put in the
post-office.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIXTH.

Q. What is the Lord’s supper?

A. The Lord’s supper is a sacrament, wherein
by giving and receiving bread and wine, according
to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth;
and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal
and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers
of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their
spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.

Q. What is required to the worthy receiving of
the Lord’s supper ?

A. It is required of them that would worthily
partake of the Lord’s supper, that they examine
themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s
body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their re-
pentance, love, and new obedience, lest, coming
unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to them-
selves.

On Sabbath morning Miss Knox said, “We shall
have some conversation on the sacrament of the Lord’s
supper, but it is better to defer it until after we come
out of church; in the meantime we shall read together
the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth318

CHAPTERS ON THE

chapters of St. Matthew's gospel." They did so. Then
Miss Knox went to church alone; Maggie went with
Hetty. They all came home in the middle of the day to
dinner, and after dinner Maggie went with Miss Knox
to church. At the conclusion of the services they came
home to tea, and then returned to the evening sermon.
When they came home at night Miss Knox was to have
spoken to her visitor about the service of the day, but
observing that poor Maggie was so overcome with drow-
siness that she could scarcely keep her eyes open, she
made her go to bed at once, and said that they would
speak about it the next day.

The next morning there were prayers and breakfast
as usual, and when the breakfast things were cleared
away, Miss Knox said to Maggie, “We shall have our
conversation now on the sacrament of the Lord's supper.
Can you tell why it is called ‘The Lord's supper?'"

Margaret. Because our Lord was at supper with his
disciples when he instituted it.

Miss Knox. He sat at meat with them, and it was
evening; supper was then the principal meal. I have
somewhere seen it observed that the Lord's supper is a
suitable name for it, because, as we should take our
supper where we mean to stay all night, so the Lord's
supper ought only to be partaken by those who have
taken up their abode with Christ, and mean to be with
him by night and by day. It is called the Communion,
because whosoever will may enter, and there we have
fellowship with the Father, and with his Son our Lord,
and with one another.

Margaret. I do not understand very well the mean-
ing of communion.

Miss Knox. I do not know, my dear, whether I can
explain it very well. Ho you know what is meant by
a community of goods ?

Margaret. Yes, that was what the Christians had inSHORTER CATECHISM.

819

the time of the apostles, when there was one stock of
money, and everybody got out of it.

Miss Knox. Then, my dear, you see that communion
is an appropriate name for a feast that is free to all, and
a table where all the guests are equal, however varied
may be their conditions in the world. Do you know
the meaning of eucharist?

Margaret. You told us that it meant thanksgiving.

Miss Knox. It is an appropriate name, because the
great design of the feast is to keep up a thankful
remembrance of Christ’s death and redeeming love.
What are the sensible signs used in this sacrament ?

Margaret. Bread and wine.

Miss Knox. What is the bread a type of?

Margaret. Christ’s body.

Miss Knox. And the wine?

Margaret. His blood.

Miss Knox. There are two signs made use of to show
the certainty of the promises given to believers. They
are the sure mercies of David. You remember that
Pharaoh’s dream was shown to him twice, and the reason
given was “ that the thing was established of God, and
that he would shortly bring it to pass.” Bread and
wine are the signs used. What is done with them?
What does the minister do with them ?

Margaret. He gives them to the people ?

Miss Knox. Does he do anything before that?

Maggie could not remember.

“He blesses them,” said Miss Knox.

“ Oh yes,” Maggie said, colouring at her own forget-
fulness.

Miss Knox. He consecrates them, or sets them apart
to a sacred use, by solemn prayer for a blessing from
on high. Then the bread is broken, as the body of the
Redeemer was broken, and the wine is poured out, as
his blood was shed. They are given, as he offered up320

*

CHAPTERS ON THE

of himself a sacrifice, and they are received by each per-
son for themselves, as we must by an act of faith in our
own minds receive Christ as our Saviour. Ho the com-
municants really partake of our Lord's body at his table ?

Margaret. No, but the Papists think so; do they not?

Miss Knox. They do. They interpret the words
“This is my body" literally, as if the bread the Saviour
held in his hand at the time really were changed into a
part of his body. But this manner of speaking is com-
mon among eastern nations. Jesus only meant us to
understand the bread as a type of his body; as he broke
it, so his body was to be broken. He uses the same
style of speech also in calling himself a door, and a
vine. To believe that the bread is really changed into
the body of Christ is injurious, because it causes a
piece of bread to be worshipped.

Margaret. And do the Papists kneel when they
receive the bread, because they worship it ?

Miss Knox. There are others who kneel during the
ceremony, and yet do not worship the bread.

Margaret. Whether is it better to kneel or to sit ?

Miss Knox. Our Lord when he instituted this ordi-
nance was, with all those who received it, in the posture
in which they generally took their food. The same was
the practice of the early Christians. We, like them,
follow the example of our Saviour in this, and surely
those who do that cannot be wrong. It is said that
kneeling is a more reverent posture; but it is pre-
sumption an