Pride and His Prisoners

“He who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee also from obedience; that with him, Bereaved of happiness, thou mayst partake His punishment,—eternal mi...

“The sacred pages of God’s own book Shall be the spring, the eternal brook, In whose holy mirror, night and day, Thou’lt study heaven’s reflected ray. And should the foes of vir...

“But what are sun and moon, and this revolving ball Compared with _Him_ who thus supports them all; Whose attributes, all-infinite, transcend Whate’er the mind can reach, or mor...

The “small grey speck” just visible from the summit of Nettleby Tower, on nearer approach expands into a stone cottage, which, excepting that it has two storeys instead of one,...

“Now the doctor’s happy! he has got rid of his gratitude! I knew how it would be!” laughed Mabel, as soon as the girls had walked beyond reach of hearing.

The visit of the sisters Aumerle, or rather the message which they had brought, had caused great excitement in the mind of Cecilia Bardon. One thought was now uppermost there, t...

“Where pride and passion frame the nuptial chain, Time must the gilding from the fetter wear; Love’s golden links alone unchanged remain, Hallowed by faith, to be renewed in hea...

“Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid, Leave them to God above; him serve and fear. ... Heaven is for thee too high To know what passes there. Be lowly wise.”

The Countess of Dashleigh sat in her boudoir, surrounded by all the luxuries which art can devise or wealth procure. But she paid little attention to anything around her, for he...

Helpless all—a Power above Saving strength alone can give, Sinners all,—a God of love Only bids the guilty live! From polluted works we flee, Lord, to hide ourselves in Thee!”

“A something light as air,—a look, A word unkind, or wrongly taken, Oh! love that tempests never shook A breath, a touch like this hath shaken! And ruder words will soon rush in...

On that evening, a small but cheerful party were assembled in the sitting-room of the vicarage. Dr. Bardon and his daughter Cecilia, oft-invited guests, had joined the circle of...

“Don’t talk to me,” cried Mrs. Aumerle, in the tone of decision which to her was habitual; “I say that a young wife does wrong, exceedingly wrong, in leaving the home of her nat...

“Do not suppose,” said Annabella, resuming her seat, and motioning to him to take a chair beside her,—“do not suppose that I see you in order to ask for your medical advice. You...

The Earl of Dashleigh had suffered more acutely from the departure of his wife, than Annabella or the world believed. He missed her presence in his home more painfully than even...

“Then be the question asked, the answer given, As in the presence of the God of heaven; All prejudice subdued, all pride laid low,— ‘Whence have I come, and whither will I go?’...

“Those, however, who having no such plea to urge, are envious, sour, discontented, irritable, uncharitable, have good ground to suspect the genuineness of their Christianity. Gr...

At the corner of the street a baker’s boy and a gentleman’s page were standing together, laughing at something which the latter held in his hand, and which his companion was per...

The announcement that our sovereign Lady herself had resolved to take a bird’s-eye view of her dominions from the clouds, could hardly have created a greater sensation in the co...

“Ay, those were days when life had wings, And flew—ah! flew so wild a height, That like the lark that sunward springs, I was giddy with too much light!”

“The brave man is not he who feels no fear For that were stupid and unnatural; But he whose spirit triumphs o’er his fear, And boldly dares the danger Nature shrinks from.”

“Oh, how delightful!” was the first exclamation of Mabel, as the _Eaglet_ shot upwards, swiftly, but with a motion so smooth that its speed was only made known by the earth and...

There is no wretchedness where guilt is not; Religion can relieve the sharpest woes, All—save remorse, be softened or forgot! But where can she—the hopeless, find repose Whose a...

“By grace divine my heart towards Thee draw, By due afflictions check presumptuous pride, With hope and love turn fell despair aside, And make my chief delight Thy holy law!”

In the world’s battle-field, Though the strife may be glorious, The Tempter may yield, And our Faith be victorious; In the deep soul alone Can the last stroke be given, To God o...

“Henceforth I learn that to obey is best, And love with fear the only God; to walk As in His presence; ever to observe His providence, and on Him sole depend, Merciful over all...

“But rise, let us on more contend, nor blame Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive In offices of love, how we may lighten Each other’s burden, in our share of woe.”

When the Countess of Dashleigh, with bitter words of reproach, had departed from the cottage of Bardon, she left her late entertainers in a state of mind little to be envied. Th...

“To lose thee! oh! to lose thee,—to live on And see the sun, not thee! will the sun shine— Will the birds sing—flowers bloom, when thou art gone? Desolate! desolate!”

Gloriously poured down the fervid rays of a July sun, colouring the peach on the wall, swelling the rich fig under its clustering leaves, ripening the purple grape, and over the...