Nestleton Magna: A Story of Yorkshire Methodism

“The wise man, said the Bible, walks with God; Surveys, far on, the endless line of life; Values his soul; thinks of eternity; Both worlds considers, and provides for both; With...

“When one who holds communion with the skies, Has filled his urn where the pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, ’Tis even as if an angel shook his wing...

It was customary to hold missionary meetings in the various villages of the Kesterton Circuit during the months of winter; and these occasions were almost always characterised b...

“What is tact? ’tis worth revealing-- Tis delicacy’s finest feeling; It is to scan another’s breast, To know the thought ere half expressed; If word or tone should waken pain, T...

“List to the Saviour’s words: ‘Where two or three Meet in My name, there in the midst am I.’ Believe, and welcome to thy family The gracious Guest; and by His blessing try How m...

“Now all is done; bring home the bride again, Bring home the triumph of our victory; Bring home with you the glory of her gain, With joyaunce bring her and with jollitie. Never...

“The specious sermons of a learned man Are little else but flashes in the pan; The mere haranguing upon (what they call) Morality is powder without ball; But he who preaches wit...

“Who is it that will doubt The care of Heaven, or think immortal Powers are slow, ’cause they take privilege To choose their own time, when they will send Their blessings down?”

“O I have often seen the tear From Pity’s eye flow bright and clear, When Sympathy hath bid it stay, And tremble on its timid way; But there’s a tear more pure and bright, And m...

“Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind In men of low degree, all smooth pretence! I better like a blunt indifference And self-respecting slowness, disinclined To win me at first s...

“He says he loves my daughter; I think so too; for never gazed the moon Upon the water, as he’ll stand, and read, As ’twere, my daughter’s eyes; and, to be plain, I think there...

A few days after the evening when Lucy Blyth was rescued from the unpleasant attentions of Black Morris by her own true knight, the scapegrace in question once again met Lucy in...

“Scorn not the smallness of early endeavour, Let thy great purpose ennoble it ever; Droop not o’er efforts extended in vain; Work! work, with a will; thou shalt find it again. F...

“Mark, mark, Ulysses! how the gods preserve The men they love, even in their own despite! They guide us, and we travel in the dark! But when we most despair to hit the way And l...

“I saw one man, armed simply with God’s Word, Enter the souls of many fellow men, And pierce them sharply as a two-edged sword, While conscience echoed back his words again; Til...

“No; ’tis the tale that angry conscience tells, When she with more than tragic horror swells Each circumstance of guilt; when stern, but true, She brings bad actions forth into...

“The voice of parents is the voice of gods, For to their children they are Heaven’s lieutenants; To steer the freight of youth through storms and dangers, Which with full sails...

“Oh, how will crime engender crime! Throw guilt Upon the soul, and, like a stone cast on The troubled waters of a lake, ’Twill form in circles, round succeeding round, Each wide...

Amongst all the good people of Nestleton and its environs there was none who entertained a more grateful love to the fair young mistress of Waverdale Hall than Old Kasper Crabtr...

“A good man there was of religioun, And he was a poor parsoun of a toune; But rich he was of holy thought and werk. He was, also, a learned man, a clerk That Christe’s gospel gl...

“Behold the work of my unlawful hand, That by rude force the passions would command, That ruthless sought to root them from the breast; They may be ruled, but will not be oppres...

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin, Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, Till I came hither. What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here...

“All vice in which man yields in greed to do it, Or soon or late, be sure he’ll sorely rue it. Experience deep, howe’er false seemings blind him, Surcharged with retribution, ou...

“How hardly man this lesson learns, To smile, and bless the hand that spurns; To see the blow and feel the pain, And only render love again! ONE had it--but He came from heaven,...

“If bliss had lien in art and strength, None but the wise and strong had gained it; Where now, by faith, all arms are of a length; One size doth all conditions fit.

Nathan conducted his unexpected, and, in truth, unwelcome visitor into his neat and tastefully furnished parlour, and the observant squire was much surprised to see so many evid...

“Age, by long experience well informed, Well read, well tempered, with religion warmed, That fire abated which impels rash youth, Proud of his speed to overshoot the truth, As t...

The opening services were continued for three successive Sundays, and one noteworthy feature in the course was the holding of a love-feast; that peculiarly Methodistic instituti...

“She is coming, my own, my sweet! Were it ever so airy a tread, My heart would hear her and beat, Were it earth in an earthly bed: My dust would hear her and beat, Had I lain fo...

Although two of the burglars engaged in the nocturnal attack on Waverdale Hall had been safely lodged in gaol, the whole region round about seemed to be infested with desperadoe...

“What dreadful havoc in the human breast The passions make, when, unconfined and mad, They burst, unguided by the mental eye, The light of reason, which, in various ways, Points...

Adam Olliver, as our readers may remember, had a daughter, Hannah by name, who was a servantmaid at Waverdale Hall. She was a bright, good-looking lass, with no graver faults th...

Lucy Blyth retired from her brief interview with Philip Fuller, glad, as I have already said, to be relieved from an ordeal which taxed all her powers of self-command. Philip’s...

“Be thou clad in russet weed, Be thou decked in silken stole, Grave these counsels on thy soul; Say man’s true genuine estimate, The grand criterion of his fate, Is not, art tho...

As may be imagined, the next day or two was occupied by the Nestletonians in discussing matters pertaining to the startling event which had taken place in Thurston Wood. Thursto...

The stern and ungenial way in which Blithe Natty had repulsed the advances of Black Morris in the matter of his suit for Lucy had only served to make that young “wastrel” more t...

“Though old, he still retain’d His manly sense and energy of mind, Virtuous and wise he was, but not severe; He still remembered that he once was young; His easy presence checke...

“Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands.

upon my heart’s desire with favour. But, so long as you forbear to urge any other alliance on me, I promise to your love, that I will not grieve you by any further steps in this...

With him ther was his sone, a yong Squyer, A lovyer and a lusty bachelor, With lockkes crulle, as they were laid in press. Of twenty year he was of age, I guess.”

“Love is a plant of holier birth Than any that takes root on earth; A flower from heaven, which ’tis a crime To number with the things of time. Hope in the bud is often blasted,...

“The cottage homes of England By thousands on her plains, They are smiling o’er the silvery brooks, And round the hamlet fanes. Through glowing orchards forth they peep, Each fr...

“I ask not for his lineage, I ask not for his name-- If manliness be in his heart, He noble birth may claim. I care not though of world’s wealth But slender be his part, If _yes...