|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 39
"I do rely on what she confides to me. Has she ever given you cause
to doubt her sincerity? Indeed, Florry, you do her injustice. I would
willingly--God only knows how willingly--doubt some portions of what I
have heard from her lips, but I dare not."
"Mary, can you not perceive that she is jealous of us, and hopes, by
operating on your fears, to drive us from this place? The Padre hinted
as much to me not long since."
"Florry, it is for you to say whether Inez speaks truth. From her lips
I had the words--Your Cousin Florence is a Papist, wears a crucifix
about her neck, and kneels in the confessional. Oh, Florry! will
you--can you--do you deny the charge?"
The cousins stood up, and each gazed full upon the other. Mary's face
was colorless as marble, and her hands were tightly clasped as she
bent forward with a longing, searching, eager look. A crimson glow
rushed to Florence's very temples; then receded, leaving an ashy
paleness.
"I am a member of the Church of Rome."
Mary groaned and sank back into her chair, at this confirmation of her
fears. Florence leaned against the chimney, and continued in a low,
but clear voice--"I have little to say in defense of what you may
consider a deception. I deny the right of any on earth to question my
motives of actions; yet I would not that you, Mary, who have loved me
so long and truly, should be alienated, without hearing the reasons
which I have to allege in favor of my conduct. Mary, think well when
I ask you what prospect of happiness there was for me a month since?
Alone in the wide world, with ruined hopes, and a long, long, joyless
future stretching gloomily before me. I was weary of life. I longed
for death, not as a passport to the joys of heaven (for I had never
sought or deserved them), but as bringing rest, peace, and oblivion
of the past I viewed it only as a long, last, dreamless sleep. Mary,
I was groping my way in what seemed endless night, when suddenly there
came a glimmer of light, faint as the first trembling rays of the
evening star, and just pierced the darkness in which I wandered. The
Padre came to me, and pointed to the long-forgotten God, and bade me
seek him who hath said, come unto me all ye who are weary, and I
will give you rest. Mary, do you wonder that I clasped the hand
outstretched to save me, and besought him to lead me to the outraged
and insulted God? My eyes were opened, and looking down the long, dark
vista of the past. I saw how, worshiping a creature, I built a great
barrier between myself and heaven. I saw my danger, and resolved, ere
it was too late, to dedicate the remainder of my life to him who gave
it. The door of the church was opened, and Father Mazzolin pointed
out the way by which I might be saved. The paths seem flowery, and
he tells me the ways are those of pleasantness and peace, and I have
resolved to try them. Once, and once only, I met him at confession,
hoping, by unveiling my sufferings to a man of God, to receive comfort
of a higher order than I might otherwise expect. He has granted
me absolution for the past, and I doubt not that in future the
intercession of the blessed saints in heaven will avail with my
offended Maker."
"Florry, my own dear Florry! hear me, for none on earth love you as I
do. Do you not believe the Bible--God's written word? Has he not said,
'there is _one mediator_ between God and man--the man Christ Jesus?'
Has not Christ made propitiation for our sin, and assured us there is
but one way whereby we may be saved, repentance for our past sins and
faith in the sufficiency of his atonement? Do you doubt the efficacy
of Christ's suffering and death? Tell me, Florry, by what authority
you invoke your saints? Surely you do so in opposition to the express
declaration of the Bible already quoted--'there is _one mediator_
between God and man.'"
"The holy Fathers of our church have been in the habit of praying for
the intercession of saints from the earliest periods, and none have
questioned their fervent piety, or doubted the orthodoxy of their
faith," replied Florence.
"In the first place," said Mary, "it would be ridiculous in the
extreme to advocate all the opinions and tenets advanced by those
same Fathers. St. Augustine doubted the existence of the antipodes;
Tertullian emphatically pronounced second marriages adultery; Origen
denied the sin of David in causing the death of Uriah, and has often
been accused of favoring Arianism, and the doctrine of transmigration
of soul; while it is a well-known fact, that Jerome, to vindicate
Peter from the charge of dissimulation, actually accused St. Paul of
lying, and thereby favoring deceit. In the second place, are you quite
sure that they were in the habit of invoking saints?"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|