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heat; consider what anxiety I have lately suffered on your account, and do not again thus needlessly expose yourself."

“Have you been ill, Miss Cleves?" inquired Hubert, "I ought to reproach myself for having inquired so little after the welfare of my friends, but my own illness and near approach to death have made me selfish." Frances coldly replied she had caught a slight fever in attending on a poor woman, but did not feel justified in neglecting further duties on that account, observing that her cousin, who had exposed his life from private feeling, could not blame her for doing the same from a higher motive.

"Assuredly not," returned he, “but some respect is due to a mother's feelings."

"Did you consult a father's, when your friend was ill ?" said Frances reproachfully.

Hubert replied not; he could not yet think or speak of Ernest with composure. Clarice hastily observed, "You must forgive my sister if she has roughly touched a tender chord, it is a part of her religion, though not of mine, to do violence to every natural feeling, both of her own and of others, if they stand in the way of duty." "She is right," said Hubert, sadly, "whatever stands in the way of duty must be sacrificed."

"Thank you, my cousin," said Frances, more cheerfully than she had yet spoken, "dear mamma, would you wish me to pass a sleepless night? which I shall do if I remain at home."

"No, my love, but why need you do that?"

"It is useless to argue on that point, we view things so differently, so farewell, and believe I do not wish to pain where conscience does not command."

The moon had risen long, and the little party had strained their eyes in vain, watching for the return of the young enthusiast; at last all had forgotten her in the interest of the conversation which was passing; lights had been placed in the room, when Frances entered, unseen by all but Hubert, and seated herself in a vacant chair which chanced to be opposite him; an air of sadness pervaded the circle, the momentary silence of which was broken by Mrs. Cleves, exclaiming with much feeling, "Poor Mrs. Willoughby, we received many kind attentions from her, though she was a Protestant, and Laura, too, how would she bear the sad news that her only brother was dead?"

"Dead!" exclaimed Frances, while every trace of colour fled from her cheek, and the cold self-possession on which she prided herself, entirely vanished; "Tell me," added she, turning to Hubert, "did he die a heretic ?" Silence reigned throughout the room, till Frances, almost in a tone of agony, repeated the words "Did he die a heretic? Answer but that question, and if it be sinful to feel pity for lost souls, severer duties shall atone."

"He died," replied Clara, anxious to spare her brother's feelings, "trusting for mercy through the same Saviour in whom we trust.” "You evade my question-did he die a member of our Church ?" "No, Frances," replied Hubert, "neither my arguments nor

persuasion altered those views which made him happy in life, and supported him in death."

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'Enough, I wish to hear no more; there is a false peace, which, like an opiate, lulls the soul till it awakes in the torturing flame of perdition; there is now no hope, the portals of eternity are closed, he is lost for ever."

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'Nay, Frances," continued Clara, "if closed, why attempt to lift those portals? leave the decision with his Maker, and be not yourself the judge."

"I am not attempting to judge; the Church has already decided there is no salvation out of her pale; such false liberality as yours cannot benefit those who are gone, and is cruel to those who live."

"Cruel to those who live! would you snatch from my brother the only ray of hope that remains? O Frances, had you loved a friend as Hubert loved Ernest Willoughby, you could not talk thus."

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Nay," replied Frances, "had I a friend, dearer than the very breath I draw, bound so closely round my soul that every fibre bled as I rent the tie asunder, never would I assert, at the expense of truth and faithfulness, there was hope for a heretic."

"I blame you not, my cousin," said Hubert, "philosophers say your sex is weaker than ours, but I yield to you that strength of mind, which here I greatly need. I have not learnt calmly to say, the soul of my friend is lost for ever."

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"I asked you not to say it calmly, but is it not the highest victory over human nature to acquiesce in the justice of the punishment of those (however dear they may have been to us), who live and die despising the authority of the Church?"

"In theory it may be easy, but in practice when every gentle tie is rent asunder, how difficult; oh, may none of you suffer what I have done from loving too well one from whom I must believe I am parted for ever!"

Mrs. Cleves, now anxious to interrupt a conversation which was become painful, and observing Frances' excitement, insisted on retiring with her to take some refreshment, after the fatigue and coolness of the evening hour.

For some time after they left, Hubert paced the room rapidly, apparently indifferent to the anxious looks of his sister and Clarice. At last turning to the latter, he observed, with a melancholy smile, "Your sister is better suited for a hero and martyr than I am; my heart will ache, my temples throb, and my tongue falter as I utter the words-There is no hope for a heretic.'

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"There is hope, dear Hubert," said Clara involuntarily, "a hope that shall never make ashamed for all who love the Lord Jesus. The Bible speaks more glorious words, it declares there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; oh, my brother, might not your friend be right, and we perhaps in error?"

"Is it thus you would console me, Clara, by doubting the truth of our faith? No, let not our rebellious feelings mislead us, let us rather acquiesce in the will of God."

"I would acquiesce were it the will of God, but it is not his will

that we should thus subdue the noblest, kindest feelings of our nature. It was not thus the Saviour taught us. He prayed for his very murderers-does he require his followers, with gloomy triumph and tearless eyes, to pronounce the doom of eternal misery on a fellowcreature? No, he wept over the city he had vainly implored to accept his mercy; will he then chide the tears you shed over the early death of your Protestant friend ?"

"There is a strange mixture of truth and error in all you say, Clara, but I am not now fit to argue or point it out; how often must I warn you to distrust yourself and rely on the guidance of those who are more competent to judge?"

"Ah, Hubert, and I have obeyed you; may God forgive me if I erred in obeying !"

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Hubert," said Clarice, "hear me speak, you have thought me a careless, scoffing girl, and you have had, I fear, reason to think me so, but I have feelings, and strong ones, on the subject of religion; Clara has rejoiced my heart by the sentiments she has uttered. Can I believe the Being whom I am not only to obey but to love, requires of his reasonable creatures penances and mortifications, only inferior in degree to the tortures the poor heathen inflict to please their false idols? No, I cannot believe this to be a part of that religion, pure, gentle, heavenly, which cometh from above; it is some false light, some gloomy phantom, some work of the arch-enemy to disturb man's peace, and change the disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus into the stern and stoical follower of the heathen Cato."

"Does the Saviour say nothing about mortification and self-denial?" "Yes, but we are only to mortify those desires which are sinful, which contradict his moral laws and just commands. He commands us not, as my sister Frances so fondly thinks, to be constantly inflicting on ourselves a series of petty crosses and meritorious self-denial in lawful things, to subdue each kind and tender feeling, the indulgence of which would adorn, not disgrace his doctrine; He commands us not to exclude those from heaven, whose lives were past in efforts to please him; those who, like your lamented friend, lived and died the Christian's death."

"Where did you learn these sentiments, Clarice?" asked Hubert in astonishment.

“Ah, you are too good a son of the Church," said she, archly, "for me to tell you, perhaps I have said too much already, but Clara is most to blame, she first threw the brand of heresy, I only fanned it to a gentle flame. But, silence, silence, the bell rings. The Father comes. I am no longer Clarice the scoffer, but the dutiful, obedient daughter of the Church. Dear cousin," added she, looking imploringly at Hubert, "do not betray me; but indeed the Church we so blindly obey teaches for doctrines the commandments of men."

It was in those happy, thoughtless days, when childhood first gives place to youth, that Frances and Clarice set foot on Protestant ground, and first became acquainted with the Willoughby family. The severe illness of Clarice had induced Mrs. Cleves to try, for her recovery, the waters of Bristol; there, strangers in a foreign land, they

received much kind attention from Mrs. Willoughby, whose religion forbade her not "to do good unto all," and as Mrs. Cleves was then comparatively indifferent on religious subjects, she feared no danger from her new acquaintance; the young people were allowed to be constantly together, and occasionally accompanied the Willoughbys to a Protestant chapel. Months thus spent in kindly intercourse, increased their intimacy into a friendship, the strength of which Frances was not aware of, till on her return to Ardennes, she found each pursuit uninteresting, which had so much pleased at Bristol. Frances had not then embraced those views of religion, which formed now the main spring of her existence; two years past, when Mrs. Cleves and her daughters unexpectedly met Ernest Willoughby at Paris, they renewed their acquaintance, but now fully alive to their difference on points essentially important, Ernest seized every opportunity of conversing on these subjects; at last he ventured to send Frances a copy of the Holy Scriptures, which when Mrs. Cleves heard of, she forbade her daughter to read it, and treated Ernest so coolly, he ceased to visit them. The Bible which Frances had delivered to a servant to return to Willoughby, had, however, been detained by her sister, more from curiosity to read an interdicted book, than from conviction of its value. Clarice had read it much, and kept it carefully concealed; her head was enlightened by its perusal, but her heart remained unchanged.

(To be continued.)

ADDRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN importance of the electors forming a

INFLUENCE COMMITTEE

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND.

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FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN, You will shortly be called upon to exercise the political power vested in you by the constitution of this free country-the elective franchise.

This paper is not intended to advocate or advance the interests of any party, whether Whig, Tory, Conservative, or Radical, but to bring under your serious consideration matters connected with the wellbeing of our country, upon which the use you make of this franchise may have a most important influence.

In this land of freedom, the feelings and prevailing sentiments of the people, duly expressed by their representatives in Parliament, will never fail, for any long period, to act with a degree of power quite irresistible upon those into whose hands our beloved Sovereign may place the reins of Executive Government. Hence the

correct judgment upon those momentous subjects which are likely to Occupy the future attention of the Legislature, and upon which the prosperity of the nation may greatly depend.

It becomes, then, a sacred duty, in the present crisis of our national condition, that you should seriously consider the rapid increase and threatening aspect of the Roman Catholic Church, both at home and in our colonial possessions. The growth of any system of religious opinions, however erroneous, or the zeal of those who may advocate them, are not in themselves matters to create political alarm; they should rather stimulate the friends of truth to greater exertions, and call forth larger efforts of a counteractive character: but the growth of Popery, being in reality the advance of a great political Corporation (the Romish Hierarchy) into power and influence, cannot be thus viewed. The Church of Rome is essentially intolerant; she has ever warred against the liberties of the

world; and her triumphs can only be secured by enslaving the consciences of men, and overthrowing the right of private judgment.

You are aware, that by the passing of what is generally termed the Emancipation Act, in 1829, the constitution of this country, as settled at the period of the Revolution of 1688, was, to use the words of an eminent, but by no means consistent statesman of our day, "broken in upon;" and by that Act persons bearing spiritual, if not temporal allegiance to a foreign prince and prelate, are admitted to the unrestrained exercise of political power within these realms; succession to the throne, and one or two high offices of State, only excepted. The principle upon which this admission was founded was scarcely vindicated even by the authors and supporters of that measure; they deemed it to have become expedient, and with them expediency justified its enactment, without even an appeal having been made to the constituency of the country.

Under this so far altered constitution, our Legislature no longer takes cognisance of truth or error in matters of religion--all are equal in the eyes of the law. But as regards the aspiring Church of Rome, the evil does not stop here. Popery first tolerated, then enfranchised, has now become Popery favoured; endowments have been granted for its support from the national funds; more extensive concessions and measures of an alarming character are in contemplation, and that Church will soon become a dominant Establishment, unless God in his mercy awaken the people of these realms to a sense of their danger and their duty.

As, then, you value the great principles of civil and religious liberty, the only real safeguard of your freedom; as you value the blessings and privileges of the Reformed religion; and as you value the free circulation of the Word of God, you are called upon to take an immediate and determined stand of resistance against the further progress of these evils; and to refuse your vote for any man, be his party, his influence, or his pretensions what they may, who will not

distinctly pledge himself to oppose any further measure of endowment or encouragement to the Church of Rome.

But this paper has another and a higher object.

You are entreated to consider, secondly, the unspeakable importance of upholding the authority of God and his honour in the land. Let it be remembered, that the Divine authority is not one whit the less because men dare to disregard it. God will get honour to his great name, whether it be by the overthrow of his enemies, or by the preservation of those who bow to the sceptre of his grace and power; and yet none can venture to affirm, with any semblance of truth, that God is duly honoured in the Legislature, by our rulers, or amongst all ranks of people in this country. It is lamentably true, that His holy name is profaned, His Sabbath desecrated, His Word despised, and His providence derided, with a degree of daring effrontery and impiety of which, even as an enlightened, not to say Protestant and Christian nation, we have cause to be deeply ashamed. Should such things continue? May it not well be asked, in the words of Holy Scripture, "What will ye do in the end thereof?" A despised God will assuredly prove himself a sin-avenging God; and an apostate nation cannot fail to become a fallen and a desolated nation. And is not the frown of the Almighty already upon the land? Measures have been taken to cheapen the food and increase the comforts of the middle and lower classes; but has God favoured or given success to these measures? Has he not rather said, by the unerring voice of his providence, "Your transgressions have withheld these good things from you?" His arm is lifted up-his hand hath smitten, and yet men will not regard. Those who plead for the honour of God in the land-the few men who will dare to lift up their voice in the Legislature, to stem the tide of national sins, are held up as the very marks at which every shaft of calumny and ridicule may be aimed; and almost the entire power of the public press is directed to prevent any

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