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

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

A Supplication that we may be enabled rightly to compre hend, and duly to attend to, the Spirit of the Second Commandment.

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER XV.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The History of Anna.

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

an old-fashioned farm-house, which, from some remains of ancient splendour, might be known to have been formerly the habitation of some greater man than its present occupant. To those who approach on the Welsh side, where a thymy down or sheep-walk arises abruptly above the house, its loftiest summit being crowned with a group of venerable oaks, a porch presents itself of very ancient construction, through which, by folding doors of oak, strengthened with knobs of iron, there is admittance into a very large low hall.

This hall was formerly wainscotted with some kind of wood, which time had made quite black, and which was set forth with grim and faded portraits of the ancint lords and dames of the mansion. On one side of this great hall was a large parlour, to which there was an ascent by several steps. This parlour was hung with faded tapestry, and its brown, highly polished floor, exhibited the housewifery of her who, at the time of which I am speaking, presided within the venerable walls. The heavy chairs and settees, covered with old-fashioned needlework, were in perfect keeping with every visible part of the mansion, while they afforded curious specimens of the laborious notability of the ladies of the seventeenth century. On the opposite side of the hall was a large kitchen, smelling of wood smoke, and well stored with flitches of bacon and other appearances of plenty; while, in one corner of this kitchen, a little parlour, which had been redeemed from some old pantry or store room, afforded a refuge to the farmer and his wife, at so convenient a distance from the servants' apartment, that the good people found it no difficult matter to issue their domestic decrees, and to chide and commend, without stirring from their usual elbow chairs, on each side the fire.

About thirty years ago, this antique mansion, with the lands appertaining to it, was rented by an elderly man, of respectable family, and of a character more upright than is commonly met with among persons unacquainted with true religion. He had married, rather late in life, a woman in most respects very suitable to him, but wholly deficient, among other desirable qualities, in that sprightliness which makes home agreeable to a man when returning to his nouse after a hard day's work. The farmer, however,