The ground of attachment to the Episcopal church.

worship. But I think there are few modes of worship equally calculated to arrest the attention, and fix the wandering thoughts in deep solemnity on God. A man who was once very much devoted to a life of gayety, but is now an exemplary follower of Christ, told me, that he often used to come to church with his thoughts full of the world, but he never could proceed far in this service, without having such a view of divine things as to make the world and all its concerns appear as nothing and less than nothing. You see, therefore, the service not only excites devotion in the mind of the true worshipper, but leads even the thoughtless to remember the errand upon which they have come to the house of God.'

"Not to weary your patience," continued Miss Truman, as she proceeded in her narrative, omitting other particulars, I will briefly state that this conversation, in connexion with the previous impressions made in witnessing the celebration of divine service, ultimately brought our whole family into the Episcopal church. My father became a truly converted man. He sometimes used pleasantly to refer to the time when we first met in the Episcopal congregation. He has since joined the church triumphant. O, how solemn was that moment when I kneeled by the side of his dying bed, and received his last parental blessing! Through life, as well as in his last moments, he gave the most satisfactory evidence that he belonged to the fold of that Almighty Shepherd who has said, I know my sheep, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.

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My first attachment to the Episcopal church arose from the effect produced upon my mind by its sublime and holy worship. But when I came to study and understand the subject of the Christian ministry, and the constitution. of the primitive church, I then discovered a new cause for attachment. I was delighted to find a perfect harmony subsisting between the church of my attachment and that

The hope desired in death.

founded by the Saviour himself. And I hope at last to be gathered unto my fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience, in the communion of this catholic and apostolic church-in the confidence of a certain faith-in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope-in favour with God, and in perfect charity with the world."

20

HAD there been one of another communion present, to have listened to the animated and thrilling tones of this advocate of the Episcopal church, as she poured forth her glowing thoughts in the strain described in the last chapter, though he might perhaps have thought that she had too much sectarian feeling, and laid too much stress upon matters which are comparatively of minor importance, he still would have admired the warmth of her heart, the clearness of her views, and the manifest deep spirituality of her mind. These remarks of Miss Truman seemed to have imparted a brisk circulation to the ideas of all present; and the Episcopal church became the all-absorbing topic of conversation. Among other things, it was noticed that one of the popular objections against this church was, that many of its members were mere formalists, destitute of all spirituality, zeal, and fervour; that the religion of Episcopalians was a religion rather of the head than of the heart; a religion that condemned feeling, and contented itself with the cold speculations of morality. One of the causes of this was supposed to be their mode of worship, inasmuch as they

True piety a steady and uniform principle.

confined themselves, in all the public services of the sanctuary, to a prescript form.

Mrs. Janeway, who seemed to have caught a degree of the inspiration that animated Miss Truman, replied, with some warmth, “I think that we may deny both the fact asserted, and the validity of the reason assigned. In the first place, it is not a fact, that the religion of Episcopalians is a religion with which the heart has no concern; and, secondly, it is not true that a prescript form of prayer tends to deaden spirituality, and dwarf true piety. If there be not found within our Zion that bewildering glare of fitful light which flashes like the lightning's lurid blaze across the sky of some, I trust we have among us a steady flame of piety, which, like the fire on the Jewish altar, burns on, from day to day, and year to year, and intermits not its light and warmth.

"I might state certain facts connected with the circumstances which first brought me within the pale of the Episcopal church, that would not only show that the objections urged are utterly groundless, but that true piety nowhere finds so safe and firm anchorage as in this blessed haven of the Redeemer.

"I feel attached to the Episcopal church," continued Mrs. Janeway, "because it possesses, in an eminent degree, the very excellencies in which these objections suppose it deficient. I love the church for her liturgy, which is calculated to promote seriousness and sobriety-rational, dignified, and consistent views of religion, and tends to inspire an enduring and abiding zeal. They first struck my eye as a prominent excellence in this ancient and venerable bulwark of Christian faith. The piety of her members did not appear to me like the sudden and startling blaze of the comet, but like the mild and steady beams of the fixed stars. The river of their peace seemed to flow on in an equable and unfluctuating current.

"My lot, in early life, was cast in the midst of a community where the Episcopal church was unknown. My immediate ancestors belonged to the Methodist connexion,

The walnut grove.

and I was educated in the views peculiar to that denomination of Christians.

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My first religious impressions, which were of any continuance, were produced at a quarterly meeting. This is a season of deep interest to the Methodist church, it being the time when the sacrament of the Lord's supper is administered to the communicants of several congregations convened in one assembly. These assemblies are fre

quently so large, that no ordinary church edifice will contain them. Hence, when the weather is fine, and the place affords conveniences, the sermon is preached in the open air. This was the case at the time to which I allude. "In the immediate vicinity of the village in which we resided, there stood a young and beautiful walnut grove. The land had once been cleared and cultivated, and these trees, though they had now attained considerable height, had grown up within the memory of several of the villagers. This grove was bounded on the north by a lofty range of hills, and on the south by the remains of the ancient forest. The road which led to the village passed along on the eastern side, and on the west this umbrageous retreat, by a gentle declivity, sloped down to the margin of a lake, whose blue waters spread out in beautiful expanse before the delighted eye. The surface of the earth through the whole extent of this grove was carpeted with the richest green.

"This was the spot selected for the quarterly meeting. Temporary benches, and a rude pulpit or stage, had been fitted up for the occasion.

"No one could have stood in the midst of this rural scene as it ordinarily existed, and contemplated the thick foliage that hung around him, the hum of a thousand insects, and the ripple of the ever-returning wave, that fell upon his ear, without subdued and serious feeling-without a tinge of that pleasing melancholy, or a glow of that enthusiasm, which the still and quiet scenes of nature usually inspire. But when this entire grove became crowded with