Emma Leslie

“ Maud dropped into her seat as though she had been shot. "The King is false and untrue, then," she gasped, "and Harry is right after all."
"Hush, prithee, hush!" said Master Drury. "You know not what you say, Maud;" but he did not speak as though he were angry that Harry's name had been uttered.
"Marry, but I cannot hold my peace when true and noble men are risking their lives to fight for this false king," said Maud.
"I will not fight," quietly spoke Master Drury. "I will go back with you to Hayslope."
"Prithee, but you will see Harry before you leave Oxford?" ”

“ I, a Sunday scholar, in prison," she repeated with a shudder. "I have been a shame and disgrace to my class and teacher as well as you, mother, but I've sinned against God worst of all. Oh, mother, will He ever forgive me do you think?"
"Yes, Kate; He will forgive anything you have done or can do, for the sake of His dear Son, and if you are spared—as I hope and trust you may be—you must live a very different life in future. You thought you were strong enough and good enough before and did not need His grace. ”

“ I dare say I shall have to take that dear little Master Eustace," said Eliza. "He looks such a darling, sitting in the Vicarage pew, that I shall like to have him sitting next to me at church."
"All right, my girl; there is nothing like being in love with your work, whatever it is," said her father. "But you need not expect the little chap is always going to behave like an angel; there will be squalls sometimes, I dare say, and you will have to be patient and gentle when you would like to scold and be angry. ”

“ That is the secret, Sister Martin, of success in everything, I don't care what it is; if the man or boy is master of himself, instead of allowing his appetites and passions to master him, he may be trusted to choose for himself in most things. And so I have made up my mind to let this lad take his choice as to whether he joins our society or not. If he don't choose to call himself by the name of Methodist, why, I shall be sorry, I confess, but there it will end, for he is a God-fearing lad, I can see, and what I have told you about being master of himself settles it, so far as I am concerned. ”

“ I daresay you'll do it every Sunday in future," said Lizzie with a short mocking laugh, "your mistress will take care of that, never fear. If you stop at home one Sunday, she'll think you can stay every Sunday."
"No, she won't," replied Emma. "And if she did, I'd rather put up with it than have the poor children crying for me as soon as my back was turned."
"Pack of rubbish! Let them cry, and let their mother quiet them," said Lizzie. "I tell you what it is, Emma,—it is girls like you who spoil places, and make mistresses expect so much of girls. ”

“ Why, we sell more candles for the dead than we do to give light to the living," said the young fellow, and he felt half-offended that Miles could not take precisely the same view of the matter that he did. "It is no better than robbery for a priest to stand up and tell people that they ought not to buy candles for the funerals and Masses. This new learning is like to prove a great curse to the world if it is suffered to get into the hands of the poor and unlearned," he added.
"But why should the Gospel be kept from the poor? Surely they need it even more than the rich," answered Miles. ”

“ Elfie shuddered. "Does God know everything?" she said.
"Yes; everything we say and do," answered Susie. "He knows how many times you stole things, although you may forget."
"Well, I don't care," said Elfie defiantly. "He don't love me."
"O Elfie, he does; and it makes him sorry, and angry too, when we do anything that is wrong;" and Susie burst into tears.
"Don't cry, don't cry, Susie, and I'll never do it any more. I'll try and get some honest work, though it is so hard," said Elfie, and her tears broke out afresh. ”

“ With your help to manage the house and the children, I think I could keep home, and all of us can live together; but without your help, I cannot do it. Baby would not be happy with a stranger; and I could not expect another girl to be so careful of things, so that there is no waste, as my own little daughter."
"And, oh mother! You want me to give up the scholarship, and not go to school any more!" exclaimed poor Elsie, bursting into tears, and throwing herself into her mother's arms, as if her heart would break. ”

“ So every woman did her best to bear uncomplainingly the hardship of her lot, and when father, brother, or husband came home, to make the place as bright and cheery as they could. In this way, women like Mrs. Chaplin and weak girls like Winny, saved London from riot and bloodshed, and gained for themselves a name of imperishable honour, setting the whole world an example of patient endurance and the divine might of doing the duty that lay nearest to them. ”

“ Maud looked surprised. "What can you mean?" she exclaimed.
"Marry, nothing but what is true. You are teaching Bertram to think Harry right in rebelling against the King, and his father, too," retorted Mary.
"I do not think Harry is wrong in following the guidance of his conscience," said Maud, slowly; "but I have not sought to teach Bertram that Harry's way is right for him. I have only told him to keep the fear of God before his eyes, and follow the teaching of His Holy Spirit, as I believe Harry has done." ”

“ For the world is slow to forget such a slip as Tom had made at the outset of his life—a slip that is the ruin of many a promising lad, and might have been for Tom, if he had not bravely set himself to work to overcome all difficulties and all dislikes for the sake of his brother Dick—and by this means made his three months in London, and the acquaintance of his dangerous friend, a means of ultimate good by seeking the help and blessing of God in conquering himself for the sake of another. ”

“ And are we not taught to obey it in all things?" asked Audrey.
"Yea, verily, dear child; but it is a truth that hath been well-nigh forgotten, until Fox began to preach and teach that the inner voice within the soul of man was the voice of God, which the soul is bound to obey if it will live and grow. It is meat and drink, the very bread of heaven by which alone we can live truly in this naughty world."
"But when my father speaks of obeying the voice of conscience he means the same thing, aunt," said Audrey. ”

“ She was too wretched to cry and sob, or indulge in any outward manifestation of sorrow, but her heart ached with a sense of desolation that well-nigh overwhelmed her.
The voices ceased outside, and her companions snored, and groaned sometimes as the clumsy vehicle lurched on one side as they passed over an extra rough piece of the road; but smooth or rough, it made no difference to Lizzie. The blessed relief of sleep came not to her that night. ”

“ Sister Martin had dispelled some of the dread they had naturally felt about it. She had given them hope that life might at least be no worse than the one they had left behind, and for some of them at least, the future held possibilities hitherto undreamed of. That God the Father in heaven cared for them, and would provide for them, was a thought that lay warm in more than one heart now, who until they met this Methodist sister, never used the name but to take it in vain. ”

“ I cannot understand it," said Sir Miles Paton.
"Aye, I trow many are puzzled by Thomas Cromwell's doings. He has been everything by turns,—from a mercenary in the army of Italy to the man next in power to the King of England, whom he has made equal to the Pope in all matters of faith and belief, and absolute ruler in Church and State. No other king in this realm has ever dared to assume such power as our present lord; and with this growing power he grows more evil, and arrogant, and selfish every day." ”

“ Chaplin took off her bonnet and shawl as though she had come to a day's washing, and followed Lizzie into the kitchen, where the widow sat rocking herself backwards and forwards in her grief.
At the sight of her old neighbour, she got up and threw herself into her arms sobbing out, "I wish I'd never come here; I have had nothing but trouble ever since I left the old house. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?" ”

“ Kate shuddered, but checked her sobs. "Oh, mother, I was so afraid I should, and I'm not—I'm not fit to die. I have been such a wicked girl, mother. I did not steal the watches, but I have done things quite as bad—I've deceived everybody, mother."
"And yourself too," said Mrs. Haydon.
"How could I do that, mother? I knew all the time that I was doing wrong."
"Of course you did, my dear, but you had begun to deceive yourself long before you came to London, and that was when the mischief began. ”

“ Miles stared at him as though he did not understand. "Do you wish your daughter to languish out her days in this convent that is but little better than a prison? I believe that women as well as men, can serve God better in doing the work of the world, be it ever so humble, than in being shut away from their fellows to brood and pine for the sunlight of God's love, and human love, which is as sunlight in this dark world. No! no! Sir Harry, I must fight for the sunlight now—fight for it for my Cicely as well as for myself. ”

“ Dear Audrey, I am very happy, for since I learned this truth from George Fox, there hath come to me a peace that passeth all understanding; for, following the guidance of this voice, the distractions of the world cannot mar the quiet resting upon God, as my Father, my Guide, my Friend, who will never fail nor forsake me. It matters not whether thou art one who worships in a church or in a meeting-house,—which is but a plain room fitted for a plain people who meet together,—if haply the Spirit hath a word to speak by one of them for the edification of all ”