Ingleside; $b or, Without Christ and with HimLeslie, Madeline
Religion
Ingleside; $b or, Without Christ and with Him
Leslie, Madeline
Christian fiction, American; Christian life -- Fiction; Country life -- Fiction; Invalids -- Fiction; Rural churches -- Fiction
"People's likes and dislikes are as wide apart as their countenances.
Because one man has blue eyes, he needn't decry a man who has black.
All that is required of him is that he shall use aright the eyes God
has given him. One man is so constituted that in his worship of God
he prefers liturgy and certain prescribed forms. This mode, which we
call Episcopalian, helps his fervor, and the very forms assist him to
keep his mind from wandering.
"Others find these written prayers, etc., irksome and monotonous:
they like more stir and bustle; such become Methodists. God never
expected or intended that we should all be patterned in the same
mould. Social intercourse would be very tame if we were. Mr. Regy,
for instance, has his own method of relieving the poor, and I have
mine," she added, smiling.
"Mr. Regy is an old humbug," growled Mr. Lambert. "I'm always ashamed
when I've been in his society. He's the most provoking man
I'm acquainted with."
"And yet he is in a fair way to attain a high position: 'He that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.'"
Mr. Lambert's face crimsoned, and he muttered some unintelligible
words. He caught up his hat and cane in a hurry, when she said,
tenderly,—
"May I say something to you, my dear friend?"
"Humph! That's cool! Here you've been driving into me with hammer and
tongs, and now you ask very meekly, may I say something to you?'
Well, say on; a few hits more or less won't kill me."
"It is only this, dear sir. When we accept Jesus Christ as our own
personal Saviour, He will flood our souls with such peace and joy
as we never before conceived. His love helps us to bear trials,
to meet disappointment with true fortitude, to look forward without
fear to the time when we shall walk through the dark valley. I shall
pray daily that such love as this may fill your soul."
His face became so convulsed while she made this personal appeal
that she was really alarmed. Putting a violent restraint on himself,
he rallied and exclaimed in a light tone,—
"You were cut out for a theological professor I was not aware of this
accomplishment." He would not notice the hand she held out to him,
but with a gruff "Good day," left the room.
After his departure, Marion found herself so shaken that she could
scarcely collect her thoughts. She went to her chamber, and with
tears plead for her friend. "O God, show Thy self to him in the face
of thy Son, Jesus Christ." This was the burden of her petitions.
Fortunately for her, this was the day of the week when the foreign
mail came in. A letter from her dearest friend would restore
her spirits. While she was waiting for it, thoughts of Mr Lambert
would intrude, and she was surprised that, knowing him so intimately
as she had for some years, she was so little acquainted with his
early life. "I wish I could comfort him as daughter would. Did he
really disbelieve every thing, as he pretended?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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