It happened that for the last three months Esther had been in the habit of frequently meeting, in her evening strolls, with a young man named Joseph Freethink. At first she was rather inclined to say as little to him as without incivility she possibly could, for his character in the neighbourhood was not good, and he was known to have said many things about the Bible, which led people to think that he was an infidel; and people thought right, for an infidel he was. At first, as I said, Esther did not much like to receive his attentions, thinking that her character would suffer, if it was known that she was in the habit of frequently conversing with him. Joseph, however, was a clever, pleasing, and handsome fellow, and not easily put off where he had made up his mind to make himself agreeable. Occasionally he brought her some religious publication, of which, being a small bookseller, he had a large stock, requesting her to read, and to give him an opinion thereupon; then, perhaps, he would come with a magazine or some popular work, and so it went on, until their intimacy had increased so far as to be the talk of the neighbourhood. Not a day passed but they were to be seen towards the evening walking out together into the country, and returning only after night had set in. (To be continued.) DAILY DUTIES. WE need not bid, for cloistered cell, The trivial round, the common task, The Christian Year. THE SENSITIVE PLANT. THERE is a plant-the Sensitive Plant- And so the heart-the sensitive heart- When touch'd by sin, from without or within, The buddings of faith, the blossoms of hope, And the promis'd fruit of life's young shoot Ah! what shall the youth or maiden do, Whose mark shall remain, a scar and a stain, Let them enter the porch of God's holy church, Let them strive and pray for that healing ray, Let them breathe that balmy air: Let them feed their souls with the holy bread, And drink the holy wine, That food on earth, of heavenly birth, Which Faith makes all divine. Let them watch and pray, by night and by day, That God would wipe out the stain; And then their souls-like the sensitive plantMay flourish and bloom again! Of headstrong will! can this be piety? No! Some fierce maniac hath usurped her name, And scourges England struggling to be free: WORDSWORTH. THE period in which our tale commences is about the middle of the seventeenth century; a period which is well known to every reader of English history as one which brought grievous disasters on Church and State; so grievous, indeed, that nothing but the good providence of GOD could have averted that utter ruin to which this country appeared for a time to be doomed. We have not space here to recapitulate the events which led to the appointment of the committee for sequestration of livings, a fragment of whose evil deeds are here laid before you. Suffice it to say, that such a committee was appointed by the Parliament in 1642, and that to the very utmost of their power they performed the will of their masters-the destruction, namely, of Church and State. Bishops and the other clergy were ejected from their sees and livings, in order that these sequestrators might erect stipends for schismatic preachers, or repair their own broken fortunes. The cathedrals and other parish churches were plundered and defaced. The daily service made to cease, and other atrocities committed, too numerous here to mention. Our tale will give you a picture of one of those instances of injustice and robbery, which at that period were so lamentably frequent. The bell of the parish church of Stillby, in the county of Derby, was tolling for morning service, in the month of November, 1645, when, in addition to the few true sons of the Church who were in the habit of attending the daily prayers, and who were now waiting in church for the commencement of the service, were observed three strangers walking up one of the aisles, apparently more occupied in scrutinizing and laughing at the ornamental parts of the edifice, than in preparing themselves for the service, which was now about to begin. After loitering about for some time, now pointing to one part of the building and now to another, as each in turn took their attention, they sat down on one of the open benches, which at that time were common in our churches. Shortly after, the service commenced, the priest and people taking their alternate parts as is appointed in the Book of Common Prayer. At that period there was a greater spirit of devotion among worshippers in church than there is in the present day; they responded in the proper places, and knelt, and stood up, as the rubric directed, and at the end of every prayer audibly uttered their Amen. It was therefore with some little surprise that the good old Ambrose Clayton, one of the oldest of the parishioners of Stillby, who was on the bench immediately behind the three strangers, observed them sitting down during the whole of the service, and conversing together in whispers on some subject apparently unconnected with that in which he and the others were engaged. There was something suspicious in this, at such a time, which caused him considerable uneasiness, independent of the sad feelings which it excited in his mind at such indevotion in the house of God. Nor was this at all lessened by observing them, as soon as the service was over, follow Mr. Peters, the rector, into the vestry. He was afraid that such a visitation from such men boded no good; and so, indeed, it turned out. Mr. Peters had entered the vestry, and was now taking off his surplice, when the three strangers entered. Are you Mr. Peters, the rector of Stillby?" enquired the eldest-looking man of the three. "I am," answered the rector; "have you any business with me? as, if so, perhaps you will come to my house, where we can discuss the matter in hand more properly than here." "Oh, as to that," replied the first speaker, "it matters not, this place will do as well as any other; we have come with a warrant for you to appear before the standing committee for sequestrations, to answer for yourself as a delinquent." Perhaps you will be kind enough to follow me," responded Mr. Peters, "and we will talk of this elsewhere." Having gained his house he requested to see the warrant which they had brought, which appeared to be drawn up and signed in a proper form. Under such circumstances he had no course to pursue but to beg the strangers to wait for a short time, until he had taken farewell of his wife and children, and to promise that he would then accompany them to the place where the committee were sitting, the neighbouring town of Weavham. The parting between the good man and his family was, as may be supposed, most distressing; for, although he had for some time endeavoured to prepare their minds for such an event, it being by no means an uncommon one, and had taught them that a Christian's duty is to bear all with resignation for CHRIST's sake, whether spoiling of goods, or loss of wife, or children, or life; yet, when the trial came, human feelings did in a measure enter in, and brought to them all much distress. Having knelt down and prayed together, for perhaps (as he said) the last time, |