They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.—JER. viii, 11.

THE painful controversy between Selina Thornhill and her parents was not softened by the conduct of Laura, who, adopting the convenient liberality which regards all religions alike, so long as their professors are sincere, joined her sister in the demand for "liberty of conscience," each interpreting its meaning according to the peculiar features of her own case.

To Selina, "liberty of conscience" was permission to mix almost exclusively with the members of a Church opposed to the pure doctrines of the Reformation; to listen to teachers who regarded the traditions of men as equal with, if not superior in authority to, the Scriptures of God; and to repose her hope of salvation in the merciful mediation of one who was blessed among women, instead of in the finished work of the only Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Time did not alter her views, nor diminish the gentleness and patience of her anxious instructors at home. But as all means failed to win back the obedience and confidence which had been so effectually undermined, it became necessary, for the sake of the younger members of the family, on whom she endeavored to impress the duty of following her example, to yield to her desire for removal to a more congenial abode.

At her earnest request, she was permitted to enter a convent as a boarder, and to rejoice in the most favorable opportunity possible for indulging in all the rites and privileges of her new religion, not only uninterrupted by the loving hearts that deplored her mistake, but stimulated by the applause and commendation of spiritual superiors, and sentimental devotees like herself.

To Laura, "liberty of conscience" was permission to ally her earthly lot with that of the worldly-minded brother of her sister's friend, with whom she had long exchanged romantic vows of inextinguishable attachment. The wishes of each sister had been assisted by those of the other. And while Selina and Theresa met in distant walks and stolen visits to discuss the creed of Pope Pius, and the heavenly lives of individuals isolated from the common ties and natural affections of life, Laura and Roland were amusing themselves with their sisters' ideas of happiness, and planning a very different line of things for the attainment of their own.

Roland was a lively, agreeable person, devoid of bigotry or seriousness, and rather surprised to find a thoughtless flirtation subsiding into real regard; and his family, who had all seceded to Romanism, saw no particular objection to his union with a manageable Protestant like Laura.

The formal announcement of this unwelcome news was precipitated by certain fears which arose in Mrs. Thornhill's mind before the removal of Selina, on whom her thoughts and cares had been too exclusively concentrated. And when she endeavored to check, on the part of Laura, an intimacy with the chosen friends of her younger daughter, the disclosure of long acquaintance followed, and the decision of feelings whose existence she had never seriously contemplated.

And alas! who was chiefly to blame? Where had slumbered a mother's watchfulness, that so much could occur in the personal history of her children before she was aware? Why had two strangers superseded her in their affections, and established, in a comparatively short time, an influence opposed to that she should have exercised for life past, and still for years to come? Ought she to be surprised that neglect of means had received a pointed rebuke, and that having left her duty undone, the enemy of souls and domestic peace had availed himself of an open field wherein to try his deceits on a family of professedly evangelical Protestants? Surely not; and the double triumph to Romish zeal was far greater in alluring them from the threshold of truth, than if they had been won from the highway of infidelity, or the darkness of heathenism.

The world did not blame Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill. It was even sorry for parents who had been so "judicious and indulgent, who had not forced their own views upon their children, nor trammeled them on a subject which, after all, everybody will sooner or later decide for himself; who had done all that could be done to disown bigotry and self-righteousness, and conformed so generously to tastes and amusements in which they found no pleasure for themselves. Yes, it was annoying and vexatious in one sense, but after all, it was no very deep affliction. Selina might be very happy and good in a convent, and Laura would not be disgraced by connection with a family so respectable and prosperous as Mr. Belmont's; and no doubt her parents had too much good sense not to make the best of things as they had happened."

Thus argued many kind-hearted professors of the religion of Jesus, who were charitably disposed toward the inconsistencies of those whose practice had not condemned themselves, but whose censures fell heavily on any unhappy failure in the conduct or plans of a true possessor of high-toned Scriptural Christianity.

Very different was the view taken by the parents themselves of their own conduct and its consequences; but the same living principle which was restored to former activity within them, while it imposed a just estimate of their errors, also prevented them from being crushed under their trials. It is true that the bitterest drop in their cup was that of self-reproach; and Mrs. Thornhill was the more self-abased that no unkind or upbraiding word escaped her husband's lips. He took himself to task too solemnly to cast blame upon another; for ought not a Christian father to be the directing head of his own family, and ought he not to supply, as far as possible, any lack of discretion and wisdom he may see or apprehend in the more obvious influence of his companion?

Business has its obligations, and the associations it involves may be secularizing to the mind and wearisome to the body, rendering the idea of duty at home trying and unwelcome; but nothing can absolve a believer in God's superintending providence from the responsibilities of home, where he should go not only to rest from toil, but to bear consistently before God and man, in all his dealings with child, or friend, or servant, in converse at the domestic hearth, in observations and guidance concerning the pursuits, habits, and occupations of all belonging to him, the motto of a chosen servant:

"As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord."

It was not of Sarah, but of Abraham that God said,—

"I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord."

It was to fathers the apostle addressed his command concerning children:

"Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Happy the father who finds in the maternal ministry the earliest and vigilant care that leaves him little to do at home, but advise, approve, and enjoy himself, and on which he can depend for the anticipation or application of wishes and plans he has not time to carry out himself. But surely he who shares his children's love, and looks forward to share the comfort of their society in their more matured characters, and honorable paths of after life, should share also the efforts and anxieties of the mother on whom avowedly so much preparatory to both depends. He should not be known only as the last resort in punishment, the tribunal before which complaints are laid, or the channel of supplies for bodily wants, but for what he really is in the sight of God—the head of a social system however small, and the responsible guardian of immortal souls.

Mr. Thornhill began to feel this as he had never felt it before. And while he mourned over the course, apparently irremediable, pursued by his two elder children, resolved that the rest should better understand the range of parental authority, and the landmarks of filial duty.

The younger children saw that something was very wrong, and that the departure of Selina, and subsequently that of Laura, though under circumstances so different, had caused almost equal grief. In Selina's wish to be shut up for life, they had no sympathy, and could only wonder at her choice. But they loved kind and playful sister Laura, and were sorry to part with her, when, having persuaded herself she had counted the cost, she exchanged her home and all its ties for one whose regard had no deeper basis than her agreeable manners, unexceptionable connections, and future fortune.

One's own way is very pleasant while it can be had, but it is like a flowery walk that ends in a rude precipice just when one is least prepared for a change. Laura had taken her own way, and for a time enjoyed it. But she had to learn that it was in reality resigned to another, whose authority would be felt whenever circumstances arose to provoke opposition. As she subsided into the thoughtful wife and anxious mother, and clasped her firstborn to her bosom with all a young mother's love, thoughts of her own parents, and her undutiful disregard of their wishes came painfully to mind. She knew now how they regretted the course they had pursued, and saw there was a change at home which she could not but judge advantageous to the best interests of her younger sisters. And she hoped, nay, almost prayed, that she might be able to train up "her" child in obedience and goodness. She had thought little of religion for herself, but now she instinctively turned with preference toward the faith of her fathers, and intended to seek in her own family the assistance she would need in teaching another.

But she miscalculated her position. The child must be baptized into the adopted Church of her husband. And the fact of a firm and peremptory decision upon this point roused the opposition of a hitherto indulged will, and a trying contention ensued. At last, she endeavored to persuade herself that it was nothing but a form. But future interferences would prove that, in the creed of the priest, it made her child, body and soul, for this world and the next, the property of the Church of Rome; to whose maternal tyranny he must submit, unless a higher Power, whose actings are uncontrollable, should free him by death in unconscious infancy, or disenthral his conscience in after years by the enlightening agency of the Holy Spirit.

Mr. Belmont was not an independent or strong-minded person; and as he settled down after the early gayeties of life into the absorbing affairs of business, he yielded to the advice and representations of his ecclesiastical guides in matters which he did not profess to understand, and to which he thought he had no time to attend. Laura's influence must be subordinated to the wisdom of spiritual fathers, to whom were intrusted the solemn interests of eternity. And when her wishes and their views clashed, there was soon no doubt how the matter must end.

Her position became each year more trying, for the recollections of her early childhood were blended with sweet themes of instruction long forgotten, which she would gladly have wrought into her daily intercourse with her own little ones, but she dared not. Inquisitorial eyes were upon her, and the liberty of conscience and action in which she had chosen her lot in life, was swept away by the necessary results of that independent step.

Oftentimes, in resentment and distress at some interference prompted, she knew, by her husband's jealous advisers, she would pour out her wounded feelings to her mother, and thus unconsciously add to the self-reproving sorrow with which Mrs. Thornhill traced to her own negligence this wreck of her daughter's happiness, and the consequences which were descending to another generation.

In the mean time Selina, enamored of the charms of seclusion, religious forms, and prospects of distinguished self-righteousness, intimated her wish to enter upon the course of discipline preparatory to the formal bonds of sisterhood, and renouncing forever her personal liberty and connection with the external world. She was taught to believe the sacrifice would be acceptable to God, and the means of exalting her to a holiness and purity unattainable by any act of less sublime self-devotion.

It was useless for her friends to oppose her wishes, for they only thus added to the supposed merit of her perseverance. But they obtained the favor of an interview, in which, with solemn and affectionate earnestness, they set before her the Scriptural view of devotedness to God, the true source of peace to the conscience, and the only effectual means of resisting and overcoming sin. And finally, as their last remonstrance with the resolution she had formed, they left upon her ear the sacred words of the Saviour of sinners, as he breathed the desire of his soul before his death for all who should believe on his name:

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

Only once more, perhaps, might they see their child before a public profession would add the barriers of physical restraint to those by which superstition had already separated her from them. Still, though the voice of paternal tenderness might not penetrate a convent's walls, the breath of God's Spirit could enter unseen, and imprint a message on the heart, which no power of all the assembled councils and authorities on earth could erase or annul. Who shall tell how the believer's privilege of access to the throne of grace has availed to convey such a message, while all human chapels of light and truth have been barred out with jealous care?

Time passed on, and the young convert delayed her novitiate, declaring herself not yet advanced enough for the contemplated step. Penances and formalities to any amount she voluntarily underwent, in the expectation of subduing the refractory feelings which had interfered; but the whole routine failed, and the distressing conflict affected her health so seriously, that, to the surprise and consternation of her cloistered friends, she begged to be removed to the old home she had so long forsaken, in hope that the change might revive her energies for a future struggle.

The father with whitened head, and the mother with lines of sorrow deeply traced on her once blooming countenance, thankfully opened their arms to receive the mere shadow of their child. She said her spirit was exhausted, but it was evident that the body was still more so. And she laid her head on her mother's bosom, and touchingly prayed for "peace."

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you . . . Ye believe in God, believe also in me . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me—"

—were the sweet words which responded to that appeal.

And something like a smile lighted up the pale features of the weary sufferer. They brought to mind the good seed sown long, long ago in nursery days, and which now in the depth of her conscious need was found to be imperishable truth, able, when heard with the willing ear, and the heart, through grace, yielded to the operation of the Holy Spirit, to disperse the miserable superstitions which in later years had stifled and overgrown it.

Their sound was not rejected now, for the young inquirer was in new earnest. She declined for the present, under the plea of illness, the attendance of spiritual superiors who would have brought their best consolations to her assistance, and turning to her father, she said, "I have tried them all; salvation is not in them. Others may try harder, and do better, but I can do no more; I want all done for me. O that it could be so!"

And it was so. Poor and pitiable the soul that never learns the emancipating secret; and happy the freeborn spirit that takes sanctuary in Jesus from the pursuit of conscience, the slavery of fear, and the power of temptation. And wondering, grateful thanksgiving filled the father's heart when his suffering child asked him for the long-banished Bible that she might again hear those truths which had partly upheaved the superstructure of error, and in which she might yet find peace before the lamp of life went out forever.

The more she now learned of the word of God, the deeper grew her conviction of utter helplessness except through the one Mediator between God and man. And as may usually be observed in consciences touched with genuine penitence, one of the first proofs of a revolution in the estimate of duty, was the feeling with which she deplored her neglect of filial obedience. If it be "sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless child," it is the keenest sting in the heart of the child awakened to a sense of sin, that it has been "thankless" and disobedient where its first love and duty were due.

But parents on earth, and a Father in heaven, had freely forgiven all; and the poor troubled heart that had confessed in vain to man, confessed to God in Christ, and received effectual absolution. He was made unto her all she wanted, "Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption;" and to believe and to fall asleep were all that remained for her to do.

She told with touching self-condemnation how she had struggled to keep out sin; how she had confessed day by day, said prayers by hundreds, performed every duty recommended, until all around her said she was worthy to be the bride of Christ, and nothing was wanting but the solemn ceremony which would seal the heavenly union. But still holiness came not, peace came not; she was yet where she began, only more hopeless, and she dared not complete the terrible self-deception.

Such details only convinced Mrs. Thornhill more painfully of her own mistake. Hers should have been the precious privilege of leading that devotional mind, of guiding that spiritual longing to the foot of the cross, instead of conforming to the follies of the world, and frittering away the period of her influence. And though, at last, her dearest wish was granted, and her child was saved, yet through what disobedience and sin, what clouds and darkness, what pain and sorrow, had the poor sufferer passed, ere the mischief of her negligence was thus more than repaired by heavenly grace.

It has pleased the Lord God, in his providential dealings with man, to connect duties performed and rewards bestowed, means and results, diligent efforts and reasonable success; and if so in temporal things, and among those who are merely aiming at the benefits of this life, how much more in spiritual things, and among his own beloved people! Surely no believer would desire to dissever the harmonious union. It has nothing to do with the equally clear truth of the sovereignty of God, and does not dispute that,—

"Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will."

But it should never be forgotten, that "if his children forsake his way, and do not act according to his commandments," he "will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes," not in judicial anger, but in paternal chastisement; "nevertheless his loving-kindness will he not utterly take from him, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail."