divide those who are united together by ties more sacred and durable than those of nature, or common friendship. The ardour of my passions may impel me to become zealous in the cause of vital godliness, but I feel such an utter abhorrence, such an irreconcileable aversion to bigotry, that I do not think that I shall ever become a bigot.".

Mrs. Roscoe now entered the parlour; and, after taking her seat, she expressed the pleasure which she had felt on reading the letter; and said, she hoped, that, though they differed on religious subjeots, that, in future, they should live together in perfect peace. She assured Miss Roscoe, that the trifling opposition they had raised against her was not intended to wound her feelings; and, as they were now satisfied of the goodness of her motives, though they still felt a little regret at the eccentricity of her habits, they should leave her to pursue that course which her own good sense was competent to mark out. "We hope," said Mrs. Roscoe, " you will not object to accompany us when we visit our friends?" "6 Certainly not, mamma, unless it be to a concert, &c. My religious principles have not alienated me from the pleasures of social life, though they have given me a distaste for the amusements of fashionable life." "Your secession from the fashionable circle," said Mrs. Roscoe," has excited both astonishment and regret, and many of your best friends very much pity you." "Their astonishment," Miss Roscoe replied," does not excite my surprise; and, though I accept of the expressions of their regret as a proof of their friendship, yet, if they knew the cause, they would be more disposed to offer me their congratulations. I have exchanged one source of gratification for another; and can attest from experience, as I have tried both, that my present is more pure and more satisfactory than the former." 66 Really, my dear," said Mrs. Roscoe, "I often wonder what you can see in religion to be so: captivated by it?" "If, mamma, my mind had not been illumined by a supernatural light, I should have seen no attractions in it. I once saw none; and, if I had been informed, a few years since, that I should have lived to renounce the gaieties of the world, and embrace the calumniated doctrines of th cross, I should have trembled in prospect of the

issue." "And I assure you," said Mrs. Roscoe, "that I even now tremble for the issue. I fear that you will have your mind so bewildered with your religious notions, that its energy will be destroyed, and its peace entirely broken up." "You need not, my dear mamma, give yourself any uneasiness on that subject. I am happy. I am more happy than at any former period of my life. I have a prospect of future happiness before me. What more can I desire? I have gained the prize for which all are contending; and though it has been found within the sacred inclosures of religion, where I never expected to find it, ought I to throw it away?" "Well, my dear Sophia, if you are happy, I will not attempt to disturb your happiness." No;" said Mr. Roscoe; "nor shall others. If it has pleased God to give you a portion of heavenly light, which he hath withheld from us, we will not try to extinguish it. I deeply regret that I should ever have reproached you for your religion, or opposed you, for I am convinced on cool reflection, that the spirit which originates such measures must be evil. A remark which I met with in a discourse recently published by a clergyman, has made a deep impres sion on my mind. He says, when illustrating the following sentence; Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried;'— it might often serve to stay the hand of persecution in religion, to consider who, in fact, sharpens the axe of the executioner, lights the fires of cruelty, or kindles the still fiercer flames of bigotry and theological hatred in the soul. It is his work, who is the father of lies;' and therefore the natural enemy of the truth is the author of every plot for its destruction. Consider, therefore, if you discover even a spark of intolerance and harshness in your own heart, in what flame that spark is kindled, and make haste to extinguish it in the waters of love.' When opposing you, my dear Sophia, I thought I was merely opposing a modern fanaticism; but, it is possible, that I have, through ignorance, been opposing the progress of true religion. Ignorance may palliate, but cannot excuse crime; and I now resolve to let you enjoy, unmolested, the liberty of thinking and deciding for yourself on the great question of religion."

Miss Roscoe replied, after she had recovered herself from that overflow of feeling which such noble sentiments had excited, "I thank you, my dear father, for your kindness. You have given me many, very many proofs of your parental attachment, but this last I receive as the strongest, because I value it as the most sacred. It is to the influence of others that I always attributed the opposition which I have met with; and, as I felt conscious that it would die away under the cool reflections of your mind, I endured it as a temporary evil which would become productive of a permanent good. Had I met with no opposition, I should not have enjoyed so much my present liberty; and, I trust, that the vail of oblivion will now fall on the past, while a brighter vision rises on our fancy as we look forward to future days."

How many have pined away in the dungeon; how many have expired at the stake, under the relentless. cruelty of the spirit of persecution; and, though the shield of the civil law now protects Britons from these inflictions of punishment, yet the spirit still exists, and too often displays, even in this land of freedom, its unsubdued enmity against the pure religion of Jesus Christ. This spirit objects not to the forms and ceremonies of the national faith; but as soon as that faith produces the fruits of righteousness, by the transformation of the living character, it begins to exude its venom. It cannot imprison, but it can reproach; it cannot consume, by an instantaneous death, but it can break down and destroy the vivacity of the mind by the lingering process of daily sarcasm and misrepresentation. But let not the sufferer compromise his principles, but remain faithful, even unto death. The Angel of the Apocalypse, when assigning the reason why some of the brethren of Smyrna should be cast into prison, left on record the design which God has in view by permitting you to be afflicted." He shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried.". Here, then," to quote the language of an elegant writer, "if you are the children of God, is the real end and object of your trials. They are permitted, not in anger, but in love; not to destroy, but to sanctify; to prove your sincerity, to try your patience, to ascertain your deficiencies, quicken your zeal, and

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stimulate you to confidence, and trust, and prayer, and love to Him, who is " able to save to the uttermost all that come to him." It is thus that our Heavenly Father frustrates the devices of the Devil. The very fires, lighted by the enemy of saints, serve only to cherish the graces of the true Christian; to melt down the irregularities of temper; to burn in, and fix all those qualities which were, perhaps, hitherto sketched but in light and fading colours on the character. The spirit of persecution may rage against you, but its duration is fixed. Ye shall have tribulation ten days:' and as He, whose you are, and whom you serve, has limited its duration, so he can abate its violence; and, when his gracious designs are accomplished, he will deliver yon from its power. The religion of Jesus Christ has often been despised and rejected, even by those who have ministered at her hallowed altars; and sometimes bound in chains by the kings of the earth, as though she were the destroyer of human happiness; but she has, in this country, broken asunder the bands of her captivity, and is enjoying unrestricted liberty.

"May her sceptre

Sway th' enlighten'd world around."

"Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." Psalm lxvii. 6, 7.

J. S. Hughes, Printer, 66, Paternoster Row, London.

[No. 22.

"The Rev. Mr. Ingleby was expected; but as we were anxiously waiting his arrival, the melancholy tidings of his illness reached us. Mr. Stevens immediately dispatched a messenger to ascertain the real state of the case; who, on his return, informed us, that the venerable rector, on paying a pastoral visit to a poor cottager who lived in an adjacent village, fell from his horse, and dislocated his shoulder." Page 2.

London:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONER'SCOURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE.