This version (2015/12/02 09:55) was approved by Ingo Kleiber.
Anonymous: Rugged Path Made Smooth (1854)
Last Change: 02.12.2015
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-model href="../Schema/Schema.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?> <grammar_book> <grammar_header> <gr_id>4</gr_id> <gr_author_id>1</gr_author_id> <gr_last_edit by="Gather, Kirsten">02.12.2015</gr_last_edit> <gr_author>Anonymous</gr_author> <gr_author_gender>Female</gr_author_gender> <gr_education></gr_education> <gr_occupation></gr_occupation> <gr_title>The Rugged Path made Smooth; Or, Grammar Illustrated in Scriptural Truths. By a Lady.</gr_title> <gr_short_title>Rugged Path Made Smooth</gr_short_title> <gr_publisher>Wertheim and Macintosh, 24, Paternoster Row</gr_publisher> <gr_place_of_publication>London</gr_place_of_publication> <gr_year_publication>1854</gr_year_publication> <gr_year_edition>1854</gr_year_edition> <gr_no_edition>1</gr_no_edition> <gr_no_of_pages></gr_no_of_pages> <gr_no_of_words></gr_no_of_words> <gr_language>English</gr_language> <gr_variety>British English</gr_variety> <gr_type>Teaching Grammar, Entertainment Grammar</gr_type> <gr_form>Children's Story</gr_form> <gr_target_audience>Other</gr_target_audience> <gr_level>Beginner</gr_level> <gr_target_audience_author>Beginner</gr_target_audience_author> <gr_tags></gr_tags> </grammar_header> <grammar_text> <div0 description="front_matter"> <div1 name="Contents" description="table_of_contents"> <paragraph> <table cols="3" rows="11"> <row role="heading"> <cell><ed_note type="addition">Chapter</ed_note></cell> <cell><ed_note type="addition">Title</ed_note></cell> <cell>Page</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter I</cell> <cell>The Little Grammarian</cell> <cell>5</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter II</cell> <cell>The Great Noun</cell> <cell>17</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter III</cell> <cell>The Noun Continued</cell> <cell>29</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter IV</cell> <cell>Good and Bad</cell> <cell>44</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter V</cell> <cell>Capital I</cell> <cell>61</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter VI</cell> <cell>Body and Mind</cell> <cell>74</cell> </row> <pagebreak page_no=""/> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter VII</cell> <cell>The Way and the Will</cell> <cell>89</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter VIII</cell> <cell>The Censor</cell> <cell>106</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter IX</cell> <cell>Important Destinctions</cell> <cell>119</cell> </row> <row role="data"> <cell>Chapter X</cell> <cell>Contrast and Conclusion</cell> <cell>134</cell> </row> </table> </paragraph> </div1> </div0> <div0 description="main_body"> <pagebreak page_no="5"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chapter I. The Little Grammarian."> <heading level="1">CHAPTER I. THE LITTLE GRAMMARIAN.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>What</small_caps> makes my little boy so thoughtful this evening," said a kind parent, as she sat at her work, and observed her son turning over the leaves of a book with an expression of countenance anything rather than happy or pleasant.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am looking over Emily's Grammar-book, mamma," he replied, in a very sad, discontented tone of voice. "Miss Bowden says I am to begin to learn Grammar next week, and I am so sorry, for I am sure I shall never remember these hard, difficult rules. There's nothing interesting in Grammar!" <pagebreak page_no="6"/>and the little boy tossed away the book with a deep sigh.</paragraph> <paragraph>"How do you know that, Cecil, until you have tried?" asked his sister Emily, who was writing out an English exercise on the obnoxious subject.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh! I can see it very well. I don't know what the words mean. It is not like geography or history, which have nice stories about places and people, and maps and pictures to look at. You cannot make a story or a picture out of Grammar, you know. There is not even a text in it."</paragraph> <paragraph>Emily laughed at this description of what Grammar is not, and begged he would next describe what he supposed it to be.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, if I must tell you what I think, sister, it seems to be a quantity of the hardest words in the world, put together to get little boys plenty of black marks. I shall never earn a good mark for it, I know." Then, turning to his mother, he added a sort of beseeching inquiry, "<italic>Must</italic> I learn Grammar, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I remember," said his mother, "when I was living at home with my parents, a person <pagebreak page_no="7"/>one day brought to the house some articles my mother had ordered, and asked for the money to take back to her master. 'Have you brought any. bill or note authorising me to give you the money?' asked my mother, who did not quite like to trust the little dirty girl to carry the money. She had not; and my mother said, ‘ If you will go back and bring me either a bill with a receipt, from your master, or a note to shew that you are to receive the amount, I will give it to you.' The girl went away, but, though the distance was very trifling, a long time elapsed before she returned. At last, a large sheet of paper, folded like a letter, was brought in. At first sight it seemed quite blank, but my mother soon discovered, in one comer, three small letters, thus," and Mrs. C. wrote them on Emily's slate for Cecil to see, "ped."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ped, mamma!" exclaimed Cecil, "what could that mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It was all of note, bill, or receipt that the poor man could manage to write out. 'Ped' was intended to represent what we call 'paid,' but he did not know how to describe the articles he had sent, nor to ask for the <pagebreak page_no="8"/>money, in writing. I remember laughing very much when the paper was shewn to me; not supposing that I should one day have a little boy willing to be as ignorant as that man."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, dear mamma! indeed, I do not wish to be ignorant. I should like to know every thing."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Provided 'everything' required no trouble to learn, I suppose, Cecil. Probably the countryman I have been speaking of had not opportunity to learn as you have, or he might have been able to write what my mother required. However, he did not understand how to write his own language; he had not learned Grammar."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, mamma, would Grammar help me to make out a bill?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Not entirely; because the calculation and statement of prices require a knowledge of arithmetic; but the list of articles, and the receipt or acknowledgment for the money, and a written expression of his wish for the , little messenger to take it, would have been accomplished easily by a knowledge of Grammar, for he could write a little."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="9"/> <paragraph>"But, mamma, I do learn to spell and write, and put words together."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; but it is necessary to know Why they are placed in any particular order, that you may be able to use them correctly in expressing ideas, either in speaking or writing."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," said Emily, "do you remember the droll astonishment of the poor South Sea Islander, when Mr. Williams asked him to carry a piece of chip, on which he had written a line, to Mrs. Williams?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"What was it Emily? What Mr. Williams?" exclaimed Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have put his astonishment in the wrong place, Emily, I think," said Mrs. C.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, Miss Emily! and you are learning Grammar, too," said Cecil, laughing; "but do tell me the story."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mr. Williams, the Missionary to the South Sea Islands, I mean, Cecil. He had occasion, I think, to send for some tool which was wanted, and he desired one of the natives to run to the house, and shew a chip, on which he had written, to Mrs. Williams. She read the sentence, and gave the bearer the required tool. He ran back in the <pagebreak page_no="10"/>greatest astonishment and delight, exclaiming that Mr. Williams could do wonderful things, he had made a chip speak!"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Poor fellow!" said Cecil; "I suppose he had never seen writing before."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There, Cecil, was a great contrast between two of the children of Adam," said Mrs. C. "Can you tell in what it consisted?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, mamma, one was a Christian and the other a heathen."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True; and one was a talented, educated man, and the other a poor ignorant savage. But there might be an educated heathen, and an ignorant Christian, you know. Education makes a great difference between persons in this world; but only the grace of God, and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, can make the great difference for the world to come."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I suppose Missionaries should know everything useful for this world, as well as how to preach the Gospel, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"They have great advantages when they are able to instruct the heathen in the arts of civilization, as Mr. Williams was; and, if you will remind me of it some time, I will <pagebreak page_no="11"/>tell you how the building of a place of worship was made useful in teaching Christianity to some heathen observers."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh! can't you tell me now, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; I want you to tell me why you said just now, 'Must I learn Grammar?' rather than, 'Learn Cecil Grammar must.' Would it not have been equally suitable?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; it would sound very odd, I think."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It would be nonsense. The rules of Grammar teach the arrangement of language for the expression of ideas in an intelligible form. And, besides; education has refined our ear to such a quick sense of their propriety, that any gross violation of them is at once felt to be vulgar and disagreeable."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, mamma, I expressed my question correctly without knowing any rule for it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is because you are accustomed to associate with persons who speak correctly, and you have acquired their style in the short sentences you find it necessary to use; but you heard, that even Emily erred in the long sentence about the chip; and you would find yourself at a loss to compose grammatically, a paragraph on any subject without a <pagebreak page_no="12"/>knowledge of the rules. As you might play from ear a pretty air in music, but, if ignorant of the science, you could not write it out in the notes necessary to make it intelligible to others."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, then," said the little martyr, with another sigh, "I suppose I <italic>must</italic> learn Grammar."</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have been learning a little of it now."</paragraph> <paragraph>"How, mamma, learning Grammar? I thought Grammar was in those long, dull rules, that I know will get me many a bad mark."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But we may possess an idea, without acquiring it in any precise form of words; and you have been learning, by means of our conversation, what Grammar is."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, really! so I have," cried Cecil, with great delight. "It is to teach us how to speak and write our language without making vulgar and stupid mistakes; and I have had two stories that I can easily remember. It is not so very bad, after all, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>Emily laughed at her brother's discovery, <pagebreak page_no="13"/>and mischievously repeated, with rapidity, one of the longest of the rules; asking how he liked the idea of committing it to memory.</paragraph> <paragraph>"The first part of Grammar is not new to you either, Cecil," said his mother," though you may not know the name by which it is distinguished. It is the art of spelling, and is called Orthography."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is a terrible hard word," said Cecil, repeating it over several times, "but I think I shall remember it now; and so I shall call my spelling lesson, my Orthography."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is derived from two Greek words, and means the union of letters for the formation of words. There are two kinds of letters, called vowels and consonants. Vowels are distinct sounds, each being perfect without the assistance of any other letter, but consonants require the sound of a vowel in their pronunciation."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And which are the vowels, mamma, that can go alone?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"A, e, i, o, u, are vowels, and all the other letters in the alphabet require one or more of these to form a sound."</paragraph> <folio folio_no="C"/> <pagebreak page_no="14"/> <paragraph>"Ah, yes; b sounds like be, d like de," and Cecil got gradually through the alphabet, commenting on every letter, and finishing with a flourish of admiration at the superiority of e, as the most useful of all the letters, being the most frequently called to the assistance of its neighbours. "Now I quite understand this, mamma; the vowels are like me, for I can trot the pony without any one to hold me on now; and the consonants are like baby, who cannot even stand without some one to hold by, so nurse is her useful vowel E."</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have rightly chosen your own illustration, Cecil," said Emily, smiling, "for I is one of your independent letters."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And <italic>I</italic> like learning Grammar in this way, so pray tell me something more, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, then, by taking two, or three, or more of these letters, and setting them together in a row, we form a word. The proper letters, the necessary number of them in a word, and the union of several words forming a sentence, constitute the medium of communication between those beings whom <pagebreak page_no="15"/>God has endowed with the faculty of speech; and when written, are the signs, by means of which we convey our ideas to those who are too far distant to hear the sounds they represent. Can you tell me who is the first speaker we read of, and what were the first words recorded to have been spoken?"</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil looked puzzled, and his mamma added, "There are only four words in that sentence, and the effect was as if you came suddenly out of a dark room into — "</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, stop, dear mamma! I know, I know. 'Let there be light,' were the words; and God was the speaker. Now I will see what was the first speech ever made by man." And Cecil reached his Bible, and found, in the second chapter of Genesis, that "Adam gave names to all the living creatures."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I do not think those were the first words Adam ever spoke," said Mrs. C., "for you know Adam was created a perfect creature, and it is probable that the first use he made of language was to adore and praise his glorious creator. They are, however, the first recorded. But in a little while this valuable gift was abused, and Eve talked with a <pagebreak page_no="16"/>tempter and an enemy. Then, new words were heard upon earth; and out of the heart of fallen, sinful creatures, came lies, and blasphemy, and all wickedness. The Lord Jesus Christ said, that for every idle word that men speak they shall give account at the last day. Think of this, my dear boy, and, while you are learning to write and speak with ease and pleasure, let David's prayer be often made your own: 'Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.' Now, it is bedtime, and your first lesson in Grammar must end with a kiss; and before you lie down use the best and highest privilege of speech, say words to God, through Jesus Christ, of sorrow from your heart for all your faults to-day, of praise for all your blessings, and of prayer for a continuance of His love and care. Then will the great and blessed God be about your path by day, and guard your bed at night, and you will feel safe and happy as a lamb in the shepherd's arms."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="17"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. II. The Great Noun."> <heading level="1">CHAP. II. THE GREAT NOUN.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Now</small_caps>, mamma," said Cecil, on the next evening, when he saw his mamma taking up her work, "have you got a little time to tell me something more about Grammar? I remember the vowels, and all that you told me last night, and that the first part of Grammar is called Orthography. And do you know, mamma, that I have begged Miss Bowden not to let me begin to learn the words out of the book until you have talked to me about them a little more."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What I tell you, Cecil, can only give you a general idea of the parts of speech. You <folio folio_no="C2"/><pagebreak page_no="18"/>must learn carefully their differences and applications afterwards."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, indeed, I will, mamma; only if you will talk to me about them first, and tell me a story, you know I shall begin to think them not so very dull and difficult."</paragraph> <paragraph>"While you are a little child I am willing to indulge you in this; but by-and-by, you must not expect to find your studies dressed up in pleasant stories, you must come to real hard work."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma, and so I will; but the remembrance of what you have taught me in this way will help me very much, I'm sure."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, prepare to think before you answer any question I may ask, and let me see that you are exercising your mind upon the subject. We will go on to the second part of Grammar, which is called Etymology, and teaches the different sorts of words of which our language is composed, with their proper places in a sentence, their meanings and variations. There are nine sorts of words, or parts of speech, but I shall not trouble you with their names just now. We will <pagebreak page_no="19"/>choose one of the most important, which is a noun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"A noun," repeated Cecil; "a noun is one sort of word. And what does the word itself mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The word noun is derived from the Latin nomen, a name, and is the name of any thing."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah! I think I saw that in Emily's book; just let me find it, Emily." And, after busily turning the leaves of his sister's Grammar for a few moments, Cecil exclaimed, "Yes, here it is, 'A noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion;' but I said that over six or seven times yesterday, and I didn't know what it meant."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am afraid you were only repeating words like a parrot if you could not attach any meaning to them. But I have seen the same fact stated thus, 'A noun is the name of any thing we can see, or touch, or think of.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah! I understand that quite well. Then the first words written in the Bible, that Adam spoke, were just a list of nouns, for <pagebreak page_no="20"/>he could see the living creatures all round him."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True, Cecil; and now bring me nouns from the four elements."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The elements themselves must be nouns, I suppose: 'Fire, air, earth, water.' Let me see," and Cecil looked out through the window. Presently he drew in his head, exclaiming, "Look, look, mamma! there are two beautiful nouns just ready to touch each other. The sun, the sea. The sun is like a great round fire, and he gives light and heat; and the sea (water, you know, mamma), the sea is like a golden bed that he is just going to lie down upon: there he goes; going, going, nearly gone, quite gone! Well, there were many nouns; and there goes a ship, she is <italic>upon</italic> the sea, and perhaps she is frightening the fish that are <italic>in</italic> the sea. Then the air; I can't see that, but I can see the birds that are flying home to their nests, and I know they go through the air."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And you can see that it presses against the sails of the ship, Cecil, as she gently glides away, as if she were going to look after the sun," remarked Emily.</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="21"/> <paragraph>"I can see and touch the coal that is dug out of the earth; and there comes pussy, walking upon it; and here, just at the window, is a rose-tree growing out of it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Specimens of the mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms, Cecil. That will do very well for the present. You have mentioned names of things that you can see, and touch, and think of."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, mamma," said Cecil, leaving the window, and coming to his mamma, at the same time speaking more gently and seriously, "there is a noun that I cannot see or touch, and can only think of. Yes; I can only think of the greatest of all nouns."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And the cause of the existence of all other nouns, my dear Cecil."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; the great God who made every thing must be the greatest of all nouns."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am glad you thought of Him, Cecil. Let us think a little more about this glorious Being, and it may bring us to some profitable discoveries of other nouns, equally demanding our thoughts and affections."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Equally, dear mamma?" said Emily, looking up in surprise.</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="22"/> <paragraph>"Equally, my love," replied Mrs. C., "as I think Cecil shall prove to us. How is God described in the Bible, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I remember those three little texts that I learned last week, mamma. 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' 'He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.' 'God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.' Light, Love, Spirit, are all nouns, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; but what idea do you gather from them concerning the great God?"</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil was silent for some time. "I don't know, mamma," at last he said, "except they mean that He is very wise, and holy, and kind, and a Spirit; I cannot tell what a Spirit is."</paragraph> <paragraph>"How do you know that God is kind, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh! I'm sure I can tell that directly, for I have just learned two or three texts about it. It says, in the first epistle of St. John, 'In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love; not that <pagebreak page_no="23"/>we loved God, but He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' That means the offering or sacrifice instead of us, who are all wicked, and deserve to be punished. Miss Bowden explained it to me."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Very well. Who is this gift, this proof of love, this only Son?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The Lord Jesus Christ, mamma. There, now, we have got another noun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Do you remember how the Gospel of St. John opens? If not, look for it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Here it is, mamma, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now read the 14th verse of the same chapter."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Just now you repeated that 'God is light,' now read at the 8th chapter, and 12th verse."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now, dear Cecil, think seriously, and tell <pagebreak page_no="24"/>me what these texts teach you to believe of Jesus Christ."</paragraph> <paragraph>"They teach that Jesus Christ is God, or that God came to be a man on earth, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"They do clearly teach what Paul expresses in other words, that 'God was manifest in the flesh,' that 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, and not imputing their trespasses unto them.' There are many other passages of Scripture to the same effect, but these are sufficient to convey to your mind the idea that God wishes us to have of Himself, a gracious loving Saviour, receiving and forgiving sinners; taking our nature that He might feel for us, and bear our punishment for us, to set us an example of a holy life, and bring us again into communion with Himself, without terrifying us, and making us love Him who first loved us. We are told that Jesus is 'the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person,' and whoever receiveth the Son receiveth the Father also."</paragraph> <paragraph>"One of His names, too, mamma, was ‘'Emmanuel, God with us,' said Emily."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True, Emily, and this is a great mystery; <pagebreak page_no="25"/>but we are not called upon to explain how it is. All we have to do is to assure ourselves that God's Word reveals it, and then to believe it. But, Cecil, I want you to look for some more texts, for I must tell you that nouns have two numbers, called singular and plural."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Singular and plural," repeated Cecil, "yes, mamma, but what do those words mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Singular, means one."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, yes, and you want me to remember the first commandment, I dare say. 'Thou shalt have no other God but me.' There is but one true God, mamma. Did you mean that?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have guessed part of my meaning; Plural signifies more than one. Any number of things you please. But I want you to remark that the great noun of whom we are speaking is both singular and plural. One, and more than one. You ought not to look surprised, Cecil, when you have just proved that God sent His Son, and that the Son, whom He sent, was God also. Look now at the 16th chapter of St. John, and read the 7th verse."</paragraph> <folio folio_no="D"/><pagebreak page_no="26"/> <paragraph>"'Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Also, the 17th verse."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And, again, look at the 14th chapter, 16th and 17th, and 26th verses."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.' 'But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then," exclaimed Cecil, "here are three more nouns, all names belonging to the great noun, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, and you may observe that Jesus <pagebreak page_no="27"/>says, 'I will send Him,' and 'the Father will send Him.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, and He was sent, mamma; as soon as Jesus was taken into heaven, you know the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And is it not written somewhere, that ' no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,'" asked Emily.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 12th chapter. But observe the sad history of Ananias and Sapphira. You find Peter says to them, 'Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?' 'Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.' 'How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"These are sufficient to inform us who the Holy Ghost is, I think."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma, they shew that the Holy Ghost is God."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True; the great and parting command of Jesus to His Disciples was this, 'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.' '<italic>The name</italic>' singular, 'Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;' plural, three in one, <pagebreak page_no="28"/>or three persons in one Almighty and glorious God."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," asked Cecil thoughtfully, "did the Jews know this?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Abraham knew it when he looked up from the door of his tent, and saw three persons standing by, and falling at their feet, addressed them as 'My Lord.' He knew it when 'he saw Christ's day, and was glad.' Moses knew it when he was taught to bless the people three times in the name of the Lord; and all who trusted in the promises of God knew it to their comfort and salvation. If the Lord Jesus had come the first time as a Royal Prince and a conquering warrior, the nation would not have insulted and rejected Him; it was because He came as the Prince of Peace, the conqueror of Satan, to save the believing penitent, that they ridiculed His instructions, and refused to obey His commands. They wanted a leader to make them great, they hated a Saviour who would make them good. But when Jesus comes again, the nation will see that the crucified one was, indeed, their expected Prince, and by the power of His Holy Spirit He wilt make them both good and great."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="29"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. III. The Noun Continued."> <heading level="1">CHAP. III. THE NOUN CONTINUED.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Come</small_caps>, Cecil," said Mrs. C., "let us talk a little more about nouns, if you remember what we have already said."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh yes, mamma, I remember that a noun is the name of anything we can see, or touch, or think of; and that one noun is called singular, and more than one, plural. Shall I say over again some of the things that we found out are nouns?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; I think there is no occasion. But I must tell you how to express the change of some nouns from singular to plural. Here is a book, but what are the contents of that shelf?"</paragraph> <folio folio_no="D2"/> <pagebreak page_no="30"/> <paragraph>"A row of books, mamma. Ah, I know; I have just added an s to book, and it may stand for two books, or a thousand books."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, the addition of the letter s changes many nouns from the singular to the plural number. Here is a leaf nearly out of this book, lay it carefully in between the other — how shall I express more than one leaf?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Between the other leaves, mamma. Leaves, leaves; why what have I done? I have taken away the f, and put v e s. So that is the plural of leaf; and shelf, I suppose, is the same; to make it plural I must turn it into shelves."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Quite right; but sometimes we have to change the middle letter. I see a man in the field yonder; is he alone?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, there are two other men with him. There, I have put e in the place of a, and made the noun plural! What a great many ways there are of doing it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Put this penny with those in the little box, and then count them."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There are five pennies, mamma, and if you will give me another there will be sixpence."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="31"/> <paragraph>"If you were writing the word pennies, you would have to remove the y, and put i e s instead; but pence is more frequently used, and cuts off n y, to make way for c e as the plural of penny."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I shall find other nouns, mamma, and then make them plural in every way that you have told me."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think we may now go on to something further that belongs to nouns: their genders. Nouns are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Man, papa, brother, are of the male or masculine gender. Woman, sister, Emily, are of the female or feminine gender; and things without life are of the neuter gender, such as table, garden, book."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, mamma, Emily and I are called your children, and one is masculine and the other feminine."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, and the word children stands for both together. So, also, the word servant stands for both male and female servants, and may be used to signify either, or both. When you learn Latin, you will find such words are called of the common gender, <pagebreak page_no="32"/>but still they must be either masculine or feminine."</paragraph> <paragraph>"You cannot think, mamma," said Emily, "what trouble it gives me, in my French lessons, to have no neuter."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What," asked Cecil, "do they speak of tables and chairs, and slates and pencils, and all such things, as living creatures?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, and every other word in the sentence must be made masculine or feminine also."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And now, I remember, we call some things that are not alive, he, and she. We say, 'Look at that ship, how fast she is sailing; ' and when I heard papa calling me this morning, he said, 'Cecil, the sun is shining into your room; he has been up these two or three hours.' Why is this, mamma, for I suppose it is right?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is a figure of speech, or a poetical fancy, which has given the masculine gender to the grandest object in nature, and the feminine to that which is peculiarly graceful or gentle. The moon, which shines with the soft light reflected from the sun, is usually called feminine; but, in reality, both are neuter."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="33"/> <paragraph>"Now, then, I know about number and gender. Is there anything else about nouns, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; nouns are also proper and common."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Proper nouns, common nouns," repeated Cecil; "how shall I know which are proper, and which are common nouns?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I sometimes say to nurse, 'Bring the children down,' and who does she bring?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"All of us, mamma. You know we said just now that 'children' may mean both boys and girls."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Children, then, is a common noun. It is a word common to all very young people. But what happens if I say, 'Send the boys to me?'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then I come and my two little brothers."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Boys is also a common noun, then. But when I say, 'Send Cecil to me,' Cecil comes alone, and the others are left in the nursery. Do you see any difference?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma; and so Cecil is a proper noun, I suppose, and Emily too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; because the names Cecil and Emily distinguish you from the other children. If I say, "Ships sail on rivers," I use two <pagebreak page_no="34"/>common nouns without meaning any particular ship or river; but when I say, 'We saw the Great Britain pass down the Mersey,' you know immediately by two proper nouns that I am speaking of one particular ship and one particular river."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And the ship is called by the proper name of the country we live in. I suppose there are proper names to many neuter nouns, besides ships and rivers, for when we were at the railway-station the other day, I saw on one engine the word 'Fire-king,' and on another 'Hecla.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; it was the fancy of the builder, I suppose, to distinguish those engines from all others."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Tree is a common noun; but rose, myrtle, currant, what are they, mamma? They distinguish one sort of tree from another."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True; but they are still common nouns, for rose-tree is a name common to all trees bearing that particular flower."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But your pretty Provence rose, mamma, is not that a proper name?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, I am afraid not, for it only distinguishes one particular kind of rose; and if I <pagebreak page_no="35"/>wished you to gather one on which I had fixed my mind, it would require other parts of speech to describe which Provence rose tree bore that one."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Look here, Cecil," said Emily, "this is the sentence you will have to learn about such nouns as those — 'Common names stand for kinds containing many sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals under them, as — animal, man, tree.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, I shall understand it now; but I should not have known the meaning of it, if mamma had not told me in an easier way first. But I want to ask you something more, mamma. You know we talked yesterday about the greatest of all nouns, and I cannot quite tell whether God is a proper or common noun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Which do you incline to think it is?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, I remember that all the ugly, frightful things that heathen people worship are called their gods, and I rather think it must be a common noun, only that it is the name of the true God also."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And your supposition is correct. Whatever is worshipped as divine, and whatever <pagebreak page_no="36"/>holds the dearest place in our hearts, is called our god, whether it be Juggernaut in India, or a bit of glass in a South Sea Island, or friends, riches, fame, power, in Christian England. You know the Lord said to Moses, ‘ against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment.' And in the 96th Psalm it is said, ‘ All the gods of the nations are idols.' But 'He that is our God is the God of Salvation.' He is 'a just God and a Saviour,' and there is none beside Him. Now the great home of our God is Jehovah, and this is His proper name. 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' The word translated 'Lord,' is 'Jehovah,' 'Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, that is the proper noun then. And Jesus Christ the Saviour, mamma, the true Saviour, is not His name a proper noun?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, some people fancy they can find saviours besides God, or without God. Some, for example, trust in their own amiable characters, or their good actions; some in their priests, or their offerings, or even in the mother of Jesus; but it is only God in Christ who receiveth and forgiveth sinners; and it is <pagebreak page_no="37"/>written that "there is but one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then there is one other word belonging to the One Jehovah, mamma — the Holy Spirit."</paragraph> <paragraph>"True, and that is the proper name for the third person, who is the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. All these are engaged in the salvation of every soul that is brought out of the service and power of Satan into the happy service and kingdom of God's dear Son."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," said Emily, "it is said in one of the Epistles that there is 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism;' but there are many different sorts of faith in the world, and some people are baptized who do not keep to the One Lord, nor believe all the Bible."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am sorry to say that such is, indeed, the case; but you know, Emily, God must be true, though His faithfulness prove all men liars. There is only one saving faith, and whoever does not possess that, cannot be saved at all. Jesus Christ is the rock, the foundation, and the object of that faith, and 'no man cometh unto the Father but by him.' The 'one baptism' is that of the Holy Ghost, <folio folio_no="E"/><pagebreak page_no="38"/>and no ceremony can convey it, no water can contain it. It is the gift of God, and every real believer has it. Water is used as a sign of it; because, wherever the thing signified is bestowed, there is the putting away of that sinful, unclean nature, that loves darkness rather than light; and the conduct is an evidence that the Spirit of God is within. But Cecil will not understand this; and I promised to tell him how the erection of a place of worship was made to preach the Gospel before a pulpit was set up in it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh yes, mamma; I was just going to remind you of that promise."</paragraph> <paragraph>"A Missionary settlement being decided on in a district in India, where the people seemed anxious to be instructed, it was thought advisable to build a little church, in which they could be brought together, and taught the distinction of the Sabbath day. The Missionary and his friends had many opposers, who, notwithstanding, liked to come and look on, curious to see what sort of a house the Christian's God lived in, I should tell you, that the heathen temples are many of them very difficult of access, and <pagebreak page_no="39"/>the rocky retreats containing them are held sacred, no Mahometan being permitted to approach them, and all pilgrims going barefoot within sight of them; others stand in the villages, and are gaudily decorated. All have a canopy, or recess, or niche, for the figure of the idol, whatever it may be; some have two or three idols in the same temple; and all have shrines or places to receive the offerings presented by the worshippers.</paragraph> <paragraph>"When the foundation was laid, some remarked that it was dug deep. The Missionary showed them that he had dug down to the rock; and then taught them from the parable of the wise and foolish builders, and explained how Jesus Christ is the rock and foundation on which the Christian's faith is built; that no hopes for eternity can stand fast on any other, and that his word is firmer and stronger than the world itself."Some of the heathen priests and principal persons of the neighbourhood used to come and watch the proceedings; and the missionary took care to be always ready to answer questions and encourage remarks.</paragraph> <paragraph>"When the building was roofed in, and <pagebreak page_no="40"/>almost ready for use, the Missionary one day observed a native looking eagerly round, as if in search of something. At last he said, 'I heard that your temple was finished, but that cannot be, for there is no place for your God to stand or sit on: where shall you place his throne? ' Then the Missionary told him that 'God is a Spirit,' having the heavens for His throne, and the earth for His footstool; that 'He dwelleth not in temples made with hands,' nor allows any likeness to be made to represent him.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Then you do not know what He is like, if you never saw Him?' said the heathen.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'He manifested Himself on earth in our nature; and, after living and dying for us, returned to heaven in a human form, where He ever lives to pray for us, and to bless us. But we need no likeness of Him here, while we are assured that He is able and willing to hear us there.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'But we cannot worship what we do not see: we must look at our God.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Yes, and you could upset him, and break him to pieces, if you like. You know you are much stronger and more clever than <pagebreak page_no="41"/>the things you call God. It is not so with us. Our God is able to do whatever pleases Him, and none can resist His will.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Then where are your offerings? I see no altar — no shrine. What does your God accept from you, when you have offended Him?'</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then the Missionary was glad to tell of the 'One offering once offered,' so great in value as to atone for all sin since Adam's time, until the last disobedient act or thought that shall ever be forgiven.</paragraph> <paragraph>"The heathen seemed greatly astonished; and the Missionary asked him if he loved his god.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'No,' he said, 'we are afraid of him; because, if we offend him, he may torment us, or kill us, and we bring him gifts to turn away his anger.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then the Missionary dwelt on the love of God, the proof of His love, and the fearless confidence with which those who believe it may come into His presence; and spoke of the loving service of heart and life rendered in return.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'But,' asked the heathen, 'how can you <folio folio_no="E2"/><pagebreak page_no="42"/>know that He will come into this temple, if you never see Him?'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Because we believe His promise, that wherever two or three are gathered together in His name, there is He in the midst of them to bless them; and our hearts will feel that He is present by His Spirit.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'I will come and see how you look when your God is present, if I may come in,' said the heathen.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Oh, yes, you may come in; you are invited in, that you may hear the invitation of our God to all the ends of the earth. Ho! every one that thirsteth, come to Jesus Christ, and be saved.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, mamma," cried Cecil, "thank you for the story. But what a curious speech! 'I will come and see how you look, when your God is present.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"If a heathen entered with such a purpose some of our places of public worship in England, I fear, my dear Cecil, he would conclude either that God cannot be present at all, or that His worshippers are quite uninfluenced by the solemn fact. Wandering eyes and restless limbs are not the accompaniments <pagebreak page_no="43"/>of loving, prayerful hearts. What do you think, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil's colour rose, as his mamma looked at him while she spoke.</paragraph> <paragraph>"At the same time," she continued, "it is quite possible to be calling upon God with the lips, while the heart is far from Him, though the body may bend in the attitude of devotion; but the Lord searcheth the heart, and He distinguishes between the true worshipper and the hypocrite. Remember this, dear Cecil, and ask for grace to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Then you need not mind who watches, to see how you look when your God is present."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="44"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. IV. Good and Bad."> <heading level="1">CHAP. IV. GOOD AND BAD.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Oh</small_caps>, mamma," cried Cecil, as he met Mrs. C. in her walking dress, "are you going out? May I come with you? and you can tell me something about the next part of speech in Grammar, you know."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes and no, Cecil. You ask questions so fast, without waiting for replies. I am going out, but I do not wish you to go with me. You will be asleep long before my return, for I am going to a meeting."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What meeting, mamma? What is it for? Will you tell me something about it tomorrow?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="45"/> <paragraph>"A meeting for the benefit of ragged schools; and I may, perhaps, hear some interesting particulars which you will like to know."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ragged schools, Emily!" said the little boy, as he joined his sister in the drawing room. "Do you remember the ragged jackets and bore feet, the day mamma allowed us to go into the ragged school in S — Street?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, very well," replied Emily; "and I thought how comfortable it was to have good shoes and a warm frock on."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, Emily, do you know, I thought some of the boys looked as good-tempered and happy as if they had shoes on. Perhaps they don't mind going without."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I dare say some of them never wore any," replied Emily, "and therefore they could not understand the difference as we should. It is very nice to think they like coming to school, where they are taught to be good and honest; and perhaps they will get shoes by-and-by."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Don't you think their mothers or sisters ought to mend their jackets for them, Emily? If I were a poor boy, you would not let me <pagebreak page_no="46"/>wear rags, or be dirty, if you could help it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"If I could help it! No, indeed. But perhaps some of those poor children have lost their mothers, and have no sisters; and then they are so very poor, but that is not so bad as being naughty. Do you know, I heard the teacher tell mamma that many of them had been thieves, and their parents were thieves too. How very dreadful that is, Cecil!"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, it is, indeed! I hope mamma will hear that they are getting honest boys, now they come to school. We don't feel tempted to steal, because we never want anything. We don't know what it is to be hungry, Emily, without having plenty brought for us to eat. There is no great merit in our honesty, I suppose."</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, of course not; but the teacher told mamma that many of them thought it was more pleasant to steal than to work; so, you see, idleness makes more thieves than hunger. It is better to be industrious, to keep ourselves from other mischief besides stealing; so I am going to write my exercise, and learn <pagebreak page_no="47"/>my lessons for to-morrow. Had you not better be doing something too?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; I will write my figures, and learn my text and hymn."</paragraph> <paragraph>The next day, Cecil did not forget the ragged school, and begged to hear something about the meeting.</paragraph> <paragraph>"When I was going out last evening," said Mrs. C., "you asked me to tell you something more about Grammar. Do you know what that part of speech is, which, though taught after the noun, usually stands before it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, I do, mamma; for I looked into Emily's book, and I found Adjective comes next."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then suppose we go to the ragged school, to learn what an adjective is?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Cecil does not like ragged jackets and dirty boys, mamma," said Emily, laughing. "I am afraid he would rather give up the adjective than go there to learn about it."</paragraph> <paragraph>I believe dirty faces are not admitted to the school-room," said Mrs. C. "There is a certain ceremony to be endured before the pupil can pass; he is introduced to soap and <pagebreak page_no="48"/>water before ABC. There is an amusing story about a little boy, called Tom Rogers, who one day made his appearance at home in a condition so different from that in which he had left it some hours before, that the neighbours scarcely knew him. 'Surely it cannot be Tom Rogers!' they said, looking at him very earnestly as he walked up the court. His mother looked at him too, and for a few moments was puzzled. 'Why, I declare, Tom's had his face washed!' she exclaimed; 'and that's what makes him look so smooth and nice!' Tom laughed, and told how he had been into a ragged school that morning."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," cried Cecil, between laughter and disgust, "did the dirty creature never get washed at home?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I conclude he did not; and his mother was so pleased at the extraordinary change in his appearance, that she thought she would try the experiment upon her own face; and if clean faces looked so pleasant, perhaps a clean floor and clean clothes might be equally agreeable, which in due time were actually attained, and all through the washing of one face in the bath-room of a ragged school."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="49"/> <paragraph>"Did you ever hear of such a thing, Emily?" cried Cecil; his indignation at such a dirty mother quite setting aside his amusement at the story.</paragraph> <paragraph>"What part of speech are the words face and school?" asked Mrs. C.</paragraph> <paragraph>"They are nouns, mamma; common nouns, I think."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and what sort of a face have we been speaking of?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"A dirty face, which was washed and made a clean face."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then <italic>dirty</italic> and <italic>clean</italic> describe the state of the noun face; and the word <italic>ragged</italic> describes the kind of school in which the wonderful change was accomplished. These words are adjectives."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, ha! now I know what you meant by going to a ragged school to learn about adjectives."</paragraph> <paragraph>"An adjective is a word added to a noun to describe some quality, or appearance, or condition of it. It never makes sense without a noun either before or after it; but most frequently it goes before the noun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, I understand. A clean face — the <folio folio_no="F"/><pagebreak page_no="50"/>face is clean — either way describes the face; and both mean the same thing."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is a good school: the teacher is wise and kind."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then good, and wise, and kind, must be adjectives, because they describe something about the nouns school and teacher."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Quite right. Now I think I must tell you about a visit paid by a gentleman to One of our ragged schools. When he walked up to the desk, there was sudden silence; all voices stopped short in the midst of the reading or spelling, and the quietest feet were those which wore no shoes; all heads were turned, all eyes were fixed upon the clergyman, who stood for some moments looking upon the ragged young assembly; at last he spoke in a slow and gentle tone: 'Boys,' he said, 'were any of you ever afraid of a policeman?' It was a question so unexpected, so remarkable, that it produced a startling effect upon the hearers. There was a general shuffling, and turning of heads, and twisting of the few buttons that dangled from the jackets; and many of the boys seemed ashamed to look up. Again the question was heard: "Boys, were any of you ever <pagebreak page_no="51"/>afraid of a policeman?' And then a low murmur of 'Y—e—s, Sir,' was heard from several parts of the room. Cecil, what word would describe the boys who have reason to fear a policeman?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Dishonest boys, mamma. Then dishonest is an adjective."</paragraph> <paragraph>"After the clergyman had allowed time for his first question to be considered, he proposed another. 'But, boys, are you afraid of a policeman now?' 'No, Sir; oh no, Sir; no, Sir,' was the instant reply from every bench. What could have made the difference, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah! they are honest boys now, mamma. They have been to school, and learned to be good, and to leave off stealing and doing wicked things."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then as their past wicked actions are not remembered against them, and they now wish to obey the laws, they do not fear the punishment due to theft. They could walk by the side of a policeman, without any dread of being seized and carried off to prison."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah! how much happier they are now, mamma. They must always have been in <pagebreak page_no="52"/>terror of punishment when they knew they were doing wrong."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Can you tell me, Cecil, what adjectives express the condition of all mankind before the holy eye of God?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Evil, mamma — Wicked, Bad. The Bible says, 'They are altogether abominable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And what describes the natural feeling of such persons towards God?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, they are afraid of Him, mamma. Yes, to be sure, I see what you mean. Just as the thief runs away from the policeman, wicked people run away from God — that is, they would, if they could; but, you know, they cannot, for it says, 'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"But suppose God, who is rich in mercy, puts His Holy Spirit into our wicked hearts, and makes us sorry for sin, and declares, that for the sake of His own dear Son, He forgives all that is past, and will remember our sins and iniquities no more — what, then, is the feeling of the forgiven creature?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, there is nothing to be afraid of, <pagebreak page_no="53"/>mamma; I should think love must come instead."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is right, my dear Cecil. We love Him who first loved us, because there is 'no condemnation to them that believe in Jesus;' and we love to keep God's laws, which before we continually preferred to break. This is a great and wonderful change: it is like being made a new creature; and it is as needful for you and me as for the poor little thieves in the ragged school."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Is it, mamma?" said Cecil, thoughtfully; "but we are not thieves."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I cannot think of anything I ever did, for which I dare tell God that I ought to go to Heaven, Cecil — can you?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Me! No, mamma; but you are better than I am, I'm sure."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I cannot do anything myself to hide the least fault or wrong thing that I ever did, or cause God to forget it — can you, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, indeed, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And whoever breaks one of God's commandments in thought, as well as in words and deeds, is as guilty before the Lawgiver as if he had broken them all. Sin is sin, <folio folio_no="F2"/><pagebreak page_no="54"/>you know, whether we think it great or small. Now, let us suppose one of those ragged boys taken up for stealing a pocket-handkerchief, and another for stealing a purse full of money: would it be any defence for the first to say, 'I did not steal any money, only a pocket-handkerchief?' or for the second to say, 'I did not kill the gentleman, I only stole his money?' Would one be less guilty of theft, or the other escape punishment because he had not committed murder?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, mamma; they would both be thieves, and both be punished."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then it would be equally useless for you or me to plead before God that we have not stolen, if we have ever ceased for a single hour to love and serve Him with all our heart, and soul, and strength."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, mamma, we are really no better before God than those poor boys in the school; yet I cannot help feeling that I am better than a thief too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And so you are, my dear boy, when compared with a thief; but we were comparing ourselves with God and His Holy Laws. I must now go on to tell you, that adjectives <pagebreak page_no="55"/>describe some nouns comparatively — that is, in regard to each other. There are three degrees of comparison. If some of those boys are compared together, we shall find that many are still bad boys; <italic>bad</italic> is the positive degree; but some are <italic>worse</italic> than others. Here is a second and comparative degree; and one particular boy is the <italic>worst</italic> in the school, this is the last or superlative degree, beyond which words cannot convey any stronger idea of his badness. Many are <italic>good</italic> boys, but some are <italic>better</italic> than others; and the boy who received a prize is the <italic>best</italic> boy in the school. Here, again, are three degrees of goodness; <italic>best</italic> being the highest or greatest degree."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then Great is an adjective of the positive degree, for I remember saying that Napoleon Buonaparte must have been a great man?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and Emily made some remark, did she not?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; she said Wellington was a greater man, for he conquered Buonaparte:' that is the comparative degree. And you said, 'The man who can conquer himself is the greatest of all:' there's the superlative, then."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Most of the adjectives of one syllable express these degrees by the addition of er and est."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, I see; great, greater, greatest — wise, wiser, wisest; but let me think. Good is a word of one syllable, and we do not say gooder, goodest. Oh! little Herbert said he was the goodest child, the other day, and we laughed at him."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The word is entirely changed in those degrees, but there is no rule for the change; and such are called irregular adjectives, and sometimes adverbs. Worse, Little, are of the same class."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And what do we do in comparing long adjectives, mamma? Can we say powerfuller, powerfullest — mercifuller, mercifullest?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; we bring another part of speech to the assistance of such unwieldly words; and we say, more powerful, most powerful — more merciful, most merciful. Their opposites are, less and least — less magnificent, least admirable."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma, all the adjectives that describe God must be used in the positive degree — must they not?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="57"/> <paragraph>"Why, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Because God is always the same, is He not?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, Cecil — 'the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' 'With Him is no variableness;' He is always wise, and just, and good, and always able and willing to hear us, to help us, and to bless us. It is a great thing to have such a Friend, whom no circumstances can change, and from whom no enemy can separate us."</paragraph> <paragraph>"My cousin is not a pleasant sort of friend at all, I think, for he is full of degrees of comparison: he is more kind one day than another; and sometimes he is the most generous boy possible, and another time he seems the most selfish. I think there are a great many bad adjectives belonging to — "</paragraph> <paragraph>"All of us, Cecil," said his mamma, interrupting him. "Can you tell me the one that began the list, in Eden?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Disobedient, mamma. Satan persuaded Eve to be disobedient. Do you mean that?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and what two nouns open a fresh page in our history, where a new list of adjectives begins to describe our conduct? Perhaps <pagebreak page_no="58"/>you cannot think of them just now: I mean the Blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth us from all sin; and Faith in Him, which begins our new character."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I want to ask you one thing, mamma," said Emily. "Why did the Lord Jesus say to the man who called Him 'Good master, ' 'Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God ?'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"He did not mean to reject the adjective, Emily; but to make the young man think whether he had any reason for using it. If Jesus had been only man, it would not have been true of Him, because only God is good; but if the young man believed that He was indeed the Holy One of God, God manifest in the flesh, he would not hesitate to obey His authority, and count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. You remember that he did not do this; 'he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.' Therefore, his address was a mere passing compliment; not the result of that belief which God the Spirit implants concerning God the Son, and which alone can save the soul, or insure real obedience <pagebreak page_no="59"/>to God's commandments. The young man thought he had done his duty to his neighbour; but Jesus shewed him, that when his love to God was tested, he was miserably deficient in the first principles of true religion. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;' or, in other words, 'Give up all you have, and come follow me.' Do you understand now?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma. He wanted to do something to go to heaven; but he did not love Jesus well enough to give up anything for His sake, nor to go in the way that He appointed. I think he wanted to serve God and mammon."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Which, you know, is impossible. Christ or the world must rule: God will not accept half a heart from any one, whether rich or poor. Now, Cecil, I think bed-time has arrived."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And I'll tell you a nice adjective which describes my noun, Day," cried Cecil, as he kissed his dear mamma. "I got good marks for all my lessons. I had a nice ride on the pony, and a beautiful dip in the sea, and a good dinner when I was hungry; and Emily <pagebreak page_no="60"/>has put sails to my boat, and given me a pretty blue streamer; and so I have had a happy day, mamma — haven't I?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I hope some day will be still happier, Cecil, when you will be able to tell me of some way in which you have contributed to the happiness of others; so that I may not be obliged to think of that disagreeable adjective, Selfish, in connection with my dear little noun, Boy."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="61"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. V. Capital I."> <heading level="1">CHAP. V. CAPITAL I.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Cecil</small_caps> wants mamma to talk to Cecil, mamma perceives," said Mrs. C.; "but first, mamma must get mamma's work. Mamma can employ mamma's fingers, while Cecil employs mamma's tongue. Come, Cecil, get Cecil's chair, and put away Cecil's toys, if the toys are not wanted. Mamma wonders whether Cecil has forgotten about nouns and adjectives, and whether Cecil is ready for some other part of speech."</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil's eyes were fixed on his mother's face with a look of inquiring astonishment, but she seemed perfectly serious, and continued:</paragraph> <folio folio_no="G"/><pagebreak page_no="62"/> <paragraph>"Emily, dear, here are Emily's scissors. Mamma found the scissors on the floor, and mamma wishes Emily would keep the scissors in the scissors' proper place. Well, Cecil, has Cecil anything to say? Cecil looks surprised."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Dear mamma," said the little boy, half inclined to laugh, "I never heard you talk in such a curious way before. You have said all our names over more than twenty times in five minutes. Are you not tired of saying mamma, and Emily, and Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"What part of speech are those words?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Nouns, mamma; we can see, and touch, and think of them all."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I was thinking of them, and addressing two of them; and why may I not call them by their names?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am sure I don't know, mamma, except that it sounds very funny and odd, and seems a very troublesome way too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"You think the same sense might be conveyed thus. You want me to talk to you, I perceive; but first let me get my work, for I can employ my fingers, while you employ my tongue. Get your chair, and put away <pagebreak page_no="63"/>your toys, if they are not wanted. Emily, here are your scissors; I wish you would keep them in their proper place."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; that sounds much better, I think. Instead of our names every time over and over again, you said I, and You, and Me, and My, and They."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And that is precisely the use of those little words. They are called pronouns; pro, for or instead of nouns, and prevent the necessity of repeating the nouns too frequently in one sentence."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, when you talked so, you were only intending to teach me a new part of speech?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I was preparing you to observe how very awkward and disagreeable our language would sound without it. Will you try to remember, that in English Grammar we have three kinds of pronouns, and their names are, Personal, Relative, and Adjective pronouns. When you have accomplished that, we will begin with the personal pronouns."</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil soon satisfied himself that he could remember these words, and Mrs. C. proceeded:</paragraph> <paragraph>"As the personal pronouns represent nouns, <pagebreak page_no="64"/>they must share in some of the distinctions of nouns. Try to think what those are."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Let me see. Nouns are proper and common: can that be one? No, I think not: then it must be number. Pronouns have singular and plural, mamma, I do think?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; I, thou, he, she, it, we, you, they, are the Personal pronouns. The five first are singular, and the other three are plural."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I, thou, he, she, it. Ah, they have gender too; for He stands for a masculine noun, She for a feminine one, and It for a neuter noun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Quite right, Cecil. I am glad you have remembered so well. They are <italic>personal</italic> pronouns. They stand for the person who speaks, the person spoken to, and the person spoken of, in the singular number; and the persons speaking, spoken to, and spoken of, in the plural. One of those pronouns is a great favourite of yours, Cecil; it is more frequently on your lips than any word you use. Can you guess which it is?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh yes, mamma, that I can; it is I."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And who do you mean by I?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="65"/> <paragraph>"I mean myself, Cecil, your eldest son," he replied, laughing.</paragraph> <paragraph>"And my eldest son is apt to think himself a very important person; he sometimes seems to stand first in his own thoughts, when we, or he, or she, would be more becoming."</paragraph> <paragraph>Just then Cecil's papa came into the room, and, hearing the subject of conversation, said, "I hope Cecil is not going to be Capital I."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What do you mean, Papa? What is Capital I?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Do you not know that tall, thin gentleman, that looks so important in a sentence amidst a number of little letters? but among his equals in height he looks a mere stick."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, but then he is wanted sometimes to lead the little ones in a sentence, you know, papa; for mamma made a speech just now without him, and you would have laughed at the odd sound it had."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, if he only appears when wanted, of course I have no objection to his company; but the 'Capital I' of whom I spoke was not so discreet. There was a young man of my acquaintance who was so fond of talking <folio folio_no="G2"/><pagebreak page_no="66"/>about himself, so conceited in his own opinions, and so determined to intrude them upon every one else, that at last he was called, 'Capital I, first person singular.' You observe, he thought more of himself than he ought to have thought, and that everything he did was well done, or capital, which is another word for excellent, or to good purpose."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then it was a capital name for him, I think, papa."</paragraph> <paragraph>"So you will not forget that <italic>I</italic>, the person speaking, is the first person in the singular number, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, indeed, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Thou is the second person singular, and stands for the person spoken to; but in modem English we have adopted the second person plural, in addressing only one person."</paragraph> <paragraph>"In the Bible, mamma, it is always thou, and thy, and thee, even now."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and perhaps that is the reason it is still used in all solemn addresses, especially in prayer, as, 'Hallowed be Thy name;' 'We praise Thee for all Thy mercies;' 'Do Thou hear our prayer.' Any other manner of addressing <pagebreak page_no="67"/>God would sound irreverent. He, or she, is the third person, and means the person spoken of. We, you, and they, are the first, second, and third persons plural, representing more than one speaking, spoken to, or spoken of. It is quite as necessary to be careful in the use of the third person as in that of the first, Cecil."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, mamma? Is there danger of conceit and pride in speaking of persons?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"There is danger of being unkind, of saying what is not strictly true about people who are not present, things which we should not like to say <italic>to</italic> persons, are very often said <italic>of</italic> them; and it is frequently a breach of the ninth commandment, 'bearing false witness;' besides being the cause of much mischief and evil report. Shall I give you a rule for speaking <italic>of</italic> people, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"If you please, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"If you cannot say something kind about them, or engage a good opinion for them, say nothing. If you can speak anything good about them, or do them service, say it. To do good is as much your duty as to do no harm, in conversation. A good man advises us, before speaking of other people, to put <pagebreak page_no="68"/>three questions to ourselves concerning the subject we are about to utter. Is it true? If we are not sure it is true, how dare we risk telling a lie! Is it kind? If not, how dare we injure any one! Is it needful? If not, why multiply idle words! But you have something more to learn about personal pronouns. They have three cases."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Cases, mamma, what are they?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"They give the circumstance, or state, of the noun or pronoun, the sense in which it is used; and I suppose no better word could be found. These three cases are nominative, which merely names the thing or person, I, we, thou, you, he, they, it. Possessive, which expresses the relation of anything possessed or belonging to, as, mine, thine, his, yours, its, theirs. And, objective, which expresses the object intended or alluded to- me, us, you, him, it, them. You will find a list of these pronouns, arranged with gender, number, person, and case, when you learn. Grammar from the book."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma; but will you put them into sentences for me, and then I shall understand them better?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="69"/> <paragraph>"Then, attend. 'We are conversing about Grammar, that your mind may become interested in it.' <italic>We</italic>, explains who are conversing, and stands for our names; it is therefore the nominative case. <italic>Your</italic>, explains whose mind, and is the possessive case, declaring to whom the mind that is to be interested belongs. <italic>It</italic> stands for the object that you are to be interested in, the subject of our conversation; and that is the objective case. Do you understand me? I am anxious that you should not be confused by too many words."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma; I begin to know what cases mean: but will you give me another sentence, that I may feel quite sure about them?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have just used two pronouns in two of the cases: ‘that I may feel sure about them.' About what?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"About the cases."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, 'cases' is the object about which you wish to be sure; therefore, <italic>them</italic> is in the objective case. ‘Emily has left her work on the table. Give it to me.' Emily is the nominative case, and if I had before mentioned <pagebreak page_no="70"/>her name, I might have said, 'she has left her work.' Whose work has she left?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Her own, mamma — Emily's work."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then the word <italic>her</italic> expresses the relationship of the work to Emily; it is her property, it is in her possession."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, then, of course, <italic>her</italic> is the personal pronoun in the possessive case; and <italic>it</italic>, mamma, and <italic>me</italic>?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>It</italic> is the work which Emily has left — the object of which we are speaking, therefore, the objective case; and <italic>me</italic> is also objective, the work and me being the objects of the action <italic>give</italic>."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Thank you, mamma. I understand now, and I am just thinking that a class in ragged schools to learn the different cases of pronouns would be a very good thing. Perhaps some of the children don't know about any possessive pronouns, except '<italic>mine</italic>'."</paragraph> <paragraph>"They certainly are taught to distinguish between mine and thine," said Mrs. C., smiling; "a circumstance related the other evening at the meeting proves it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, do tell us what it was, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"A little ragged fellow stole a handkerchief, <pagebreak page_no="71"/>one end of which he saw hanging very temptingly from a gentleman's pocket. The owner, who was quite unconscious of his loss, happened to turn so that the boy could see his face; when suddenly, losing every sensation of pleasure in the cleverness of his theft, the child walked up to him, offering the handkerchief, and saying, 'Indeed, I did not know it was you, or I wouldn't have done it.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why not, mamma? It was quite as naughty to steal from one person as from another."</paragraph> <paragraph>"This gentleman was the boy's teacher in the ragged school, and, though it must have been deeply painful to find that instruction had not been of more benefit, yet the feeling of gratitude that prompted the restoration of the handkerchief, proved that the mind recognised the wickedness of the act, and the heart had learned to shrink from injuring a benefactor. That was something gained, you know."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, mamma, you said there were other kinds of pronouns. Relative and adjective pronouns."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. Relative pronouns are so called <pagebreak page_no="72"/>because they relate, or refer to, some person or thing already mentioned in the sentence. They are, Who, which, what, and that."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Let me make a sentence of them, mamma. What shall it be? There was <italic>what!</italic> and I mean what sentence? 'The dog who lives in the great kennel.' Will that do for <italic>who</italic>, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; <italic>who</italic> is usually applied to persons. 'The boy who asks questions, 'The lady who called.' You perceive that <italic>who</italic> relates or refers to the nouns, boy, and lady, both of whom are mentioned first, and in Grammar are called antecedents."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, that is a very hard word, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I only tell you, that when you meet with it, you may not be at a loss. The antecedent is that which goes before."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, my dog, mamma — what relative pronoun may be given to him? He has the same personal pronouns as we have."</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>Which</italic> is applied to animals and things."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, 'The dog which lives in the great kennel.' What kennel? 'That which papa built in the yard.' There, mamma — is that right?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="73"/> <paragraph>"Quite right; and I will only add, that when used in asking questions, these pronouns are also called interrogatives, and at the end of the question we put a particular mark, which is called a note of interrogation, or sign of a question or inquiry."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I will find that funny-looking thing in a book. Ah, here is one. It is something like a sickle. So, you ask questions, do you? I wonder who invented such a mark?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I cannot tell you that; but if I had to invent one, I would make a little picture of Cecil, who would stand very suitably for a note of interrogation."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Very well, mamma," said he, laughing; "anything rather than Capital I. I could not bear to be Capital I, first person singular." "The adjective pronouns are divided into several kinds; but as I do not think you could understand them at present, and as your mind has already sufficient to exercise it with the personal and relative, I shall defer the others to some future opportunity."</paragraph> </div1> <folio folio_no="H"/><pagebreak page_no="74"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. VI. Body and Mind."> <heading level="1">CHAP. VI. BODY AND MIND.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Sit</small_caps> down, and rest a little, before you begin to talk, Cecil," said Mrs. C., as her son entered the room in great heat and excitement, and was beginning to relate the cause.</paragraph> <paragraph>He obeyed, and after puffing and panting, as he said, like a little steam-engine, and fanning himself with his straw-hat, until he was cooler and calmer, he begged to tell what had happened.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I was riding the pony down to the shore, mamma, where I saw some boys beating a poor dog. Was it not very naughty of them? I told them not to do it, but they only laughed <pagebreak page_no="75"/>at me, and went on with their wicked sport. I think they wanted to make the dog go into the water. So I was very angry, and said I would beat them, to see how they liked it, and one of them got angry at that — a great big boy he was, mamma — and he came and snatched my whip out of my hand, and gave the pony some sharp cuts with it, which made him start off at full gallop, and I had a great deal of trouble to keep on his back. Then all the boys burst into a loud laugh, which vexed me more; but as soon as I could stop him, I rode up to look for a policeman, and I found one, and he came to see what the boys were doing. As soon as they saw him, they galloped almost as fast as the pony; and the poor little dog went home; he belongs to some house on the shore; so that was all I wanted, you know, mamma, and I did not ride after the boys then."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Did they carry off your whip?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; they threw it down when they began to run, and I have got it quite safe. So that is what has happened, mamma. Did not I do right not to let the boys beat the dog?" And Cecil looked <italic>rather</italic> self-important, and rather <pagebreak page_no="76"/>disposed to think he had performed a great exploit.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Capital I!" said his mamma, softly. Cecil's colour rose, for he knew what his mother was thinking; but she continued, in her usual tone: "You did right, my love, not to allow any cruelty, if it were possible to prevent it; and the idea of going for the policeman was wiser than attacking the boys with your whip. However, you and the policeman, the boys and the dog, have invented a few verbs for our consideration."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Verbs, mamma! Oh, that is the next part of speech, then?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. A verb is a word of great consequence in a sentence, as you and the poor dog found just now. It means the fact of being or existing, of doing, and suffering. 'To be, to do, and to suffer,' is the explanation of it in the Grammar."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, the boys beat the dog. Then <italic>beat</italic> is a verb, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; it makes sense with the little word <italic>to</italic> before it, or with a personal pronoun."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'I rode the pony.' <italic>Rode</italic>, then, is a verb; it takes a pronoun, and it is something I can do."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="77"/> <paragraph>"Yes; and there are three kinds of verbs — active, passive, and neuter."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, I'm sure, 'to beat' must be an active verb, and so is 'to gallop.' Oh, if you had seen me going along at such a rate, you would have thought I must be thrown."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then I should, perhaps, have furnished you with a passive verb; for I should have been frightened."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then being frightened is a passive verb, and so, I suppose, is hurt: the dog was both frightened and hurt."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, <italic>hurt</italic> is passive in that sense, for it was what the dog suffered; but if you say, 'The boys hurt him,' you make it an active verb."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then can the same word be both active and passive?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, when used in those different senses. An active verb requires an actor, and an object to act upon. The boys are the actors in this case, and the dog is the object acted upon. <italic>Hurt</italic>, in this sense, is an active verb; but if you say, 'The dog was hurt,' it expresses, not the act of the boys, but the suffering of the dog, and becomes a passive verb."</paragraph> <folio folio_no="H2"/><pagebreak page_no="78"/> <paragraph>"And neuter verbs, mamma—what sort are they?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"They express merely a state of being, or an action which does not pass over to any object: 'I am, I sleep;' or, 'To be, to sleep.' 'To gallop' is correctly a neuter verb, because the effect is confined to yourself, and does not pass on to any object."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Capital I seems a great friend to the verbs, I think," said Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"You know pronouns stand for nouns, and represent the person who acts or feels. Verbs have, therefore, number and person; in both of which they must agree with the pronouns which stand before them. 'I rode, thou art, he ran,' are first, second, and third persons singular: 'We spoke, you suffered, they beat,' are the three persons plural. There are many things to remember concerning verbs, Cecil; one of which is, that they all require help to express their many variations, and there is a little company of words ready to assist them to make a right impression in a sentence: these are called auxiliary or helping verbs. If you say, when you wish to read to me, 'I read, mamma,' does that express your meaning?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, I say, 'May I read, mamma?'"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="79"/> <paragraph>"When you want my knife, how do you ask for it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I say, 'Will you be so kind as to lend me your knife?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>May</italic> and <italic>will</italic> are two of the helping verbs; the others are, <italic>do</italic>, <italic>be</italic>, <italic>have</italic>, <italic>shall</italic>, <italic>can</italic>, <italic>let</italic>, and <italic>must</italic>. With these words to help us, we can pass all the other verbs through a great many changes, which is called conjugation."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Conjugation — what does that mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Joining these auxiliaries or helpers to other verbs, as you continually do in almost all your sentences. 'Will you talk to me?' 'I shall ride;' 'We may read;' 'Do not beat the dog;' 'I must go for a policeman.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now I see how useful they are. The words would mean something quite different, without those little helpers."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Do you observe, Cecil, how the verbs seem to declare our position and our duty as God's intelligent creatures? Think of the verb 'To be.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is a neuter verb. It is nothing to do: it is just nothing but what we cannot help."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'To be, to exist.' Here we are, Cecil; and, as you say, we cannot help it, we can never cease to be."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="80"/> <paragraph>"I shall cease to be a little boy though, mamma, sometime soon."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And what then?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I shall be a man then."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And after that, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I do not know, mamma. I suppose I must die."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Part of you: your body will die, but that will not prevent another part of you from being; it will only bring the immediate perfection of that state of character which we have been cultivating, while living in the body on earth. What change did Judas bring upon himself, when he tried by death to escape from the remorse of his own conscience?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"He only made things worse, mamma, because he could not kill his soul."</paragraph> <paragraph>"He passed at once into the perfection of everlasting misery and despair, and rebellion against God. It is a solemn thing to think that we can never cease to be, however we may wish it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh but, mamma, let us think of the other sort of perfection; 'the happy land,' you know, mamma, 'far, far away,'<linebreak/> <pagebreak page_no="81"/> <l>"'Where saints in glory stand,</l> <l>Bright, bright as day;</l> <l>There we shall happy be,</l> <l>When from sin and sorrow free;</l> <l>Lord, we shall dwell with Thee,</l> <l>Blest, blest for aye.'</l></paragraph> <paragraph>"I like the last verse so much, mamma; it is like soldiers going to battle, when they are sure to win:<linebreak/> <l>"'Bright in that happy land</l> <l>Beams every eye;</l> <l>Kept by a Father's hand,</l> <l>Love cannot die:</l> <l>On, then, to glory run;</l> <l>Be a crown and kingdom won,</l> <l>And bright above the sun</l> <l>We reign for aye.'"</l></paragraph> <paragraph>"May the hope of that crown and kingdom help to make you 'a good soldier of Jesus Christ,' my dear boy," said his mother, gazing prayerfully on the animated face of her son. "But the active verb, Cecil, 'To do.' If it is God's good pleasure that we should <italic>be</italic>, it is because He has appointed duties for us to perform. And are they done so as to make existence a joy and blessing — a foretaste of the happy land? God gave laws, and <pagebreak page_no="82"/>He said, 'Do this, and thon shalt live.' Do we obey Him, so that we dare claim eternal life?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; we proved that, when we were talking about adjectives, I remember."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then what is the consequence? You know, 'the wages of sin is death.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, but that is not all the text, mamma. I learned that very verse for papa last Sunday, and it goes on in this way: 'but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."</paragraph> <paragraph>"We thank God for the 'but' in that verse, Cecil; for without it, 'to be' would be a curse; for 'there is none that doeth good, no, not one,' excepting that dear Saviour, who came to do all that we have left undone, and to bear the dreadful consequences of all that we have done. It would take all the active verbs you can think of, that are good and right, to describe the life of Jesus Christ; and more than all the passive ones in language to express His sorrow and suffering for us, until He died. Perhaps you can tell me what verb expresses our interest in what He did, or what we must do to be saved by it?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="83"/> <paragraph>"We must believe it, mamma. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And what kind of verb is that?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Let me think about that. Can it be active? It is no act that we perform. Is it passive? No; there is no suffering in it: it just saves us from suffering. I don't know indeed, unless it is really an active verb, after all, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is active. The text you quoted is a reply to the question ‘What shall I do?' But it is an action of the mind, and not of the body. There was a man whose body was placed in a certain position, when he was a blaspheming unbeliever; and who, some hours after, was a real thankful, adoring believer, though he had never moved, nor done a single act that the most careful observer could see."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That was a wonderful thing, mamma. Who was the man? How came he to believe so soon?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The executioners who nailed his body upon a cross, and placed it near the Cross of the Son of God, little thought, when they <pagebreak page_no="84"/>came to break his legs, and kill him quite, that his spirit was following that of his Saviour to Paradise."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, it <italic>was</italic> stupid of me not to know who you meant, mamma. Then the thief had done a great act, though he had never moved?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; the most important act of his life, and only just in time; but it was an act of the mind — a change of mind, as complete as if he were created again. When he came up to Calvary, he hated God, and goodness, and heavenly things; and in a few hours his soul was at home, and happy in them all."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But, mamma," said Emily, "did you not say that the soul was to pass, in death, into the perfection of the state it had preferred on earth. That thief had lived a very wicked life."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; but he was a proof that Jesus can 'save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him:' and the change I spoke of was so complete, that a long life could not have made him more worthy of eternal glory than the grace of God made him in a few moments."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="85"/> <paragraph>"How wonderful it must have seemed to him to witness the very sufferings that were needful to save him, mamma!"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Let us not forget that this act of the mind, which snatched the thief from destruction, was one which required the Holy Spirit of God to work within him. When Peter was able to declare, that he believed Jesus to be 'the Christ,' our Lord said, 'Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.' The same God impressed the thief with the same faith, and made the change within, which saved him."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, <italic>saved</italic> is a passive verb, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"As applied to us, it is. We 'are saved by faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God:' but if we say Jesus saved us, it becomes active, because it is what Jesus did for us, and an act which only He could accomplish. But, Cecil, there are many people who think they can be saved by acts of the body, besides, or instead of, the act of believing in the mind and heart. They say a great many prayers over and over again, and go through ceremonies, or what they call the rites of the Church; and make confessions, <folio folio_no="I"/><pagebreak page_no="86"/>and go on pilgrimages, and make salvation a hard thing, which they are not sure about, even when they die; but this is because they do not know, or will not believe, what God says about it in the Bible, and think that their priests know best. Other people are proud and conceited enough to think they do so many good things, that God will never notice their faults, but allow them to go to heaven, without the necessity of thinking about the work of his dear Son."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, mamma! when He did so much to save us! Do they think He would have done it, if it had been right to make any other way to save people?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"They do not like to think about it, Cecil. They do not wish to be humble, and admit that God knows best. You felt a little pride just now, because you saved the poor dog from the naughty boys. Would you not feel very proud, if you could save your own soul from hell and Satan?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think I should, mamma. It would be worth boasting of, even among the angels."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Exactly so; and therefore it is by grace, and not by our own works, 'lest any man <pagebreak page_no="87"/>boast.' As we can do nothing at all in the matter, we give all praise and glory to Him who so loved us as to do it for us. This is Religion, dear Cecil."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But you said the active verb 'To do' is still our duty, dear mamma?" said Emily.</paragraph> <paragraph>"And it is so, my love; but not for salvation. When love springs up within us because we are saved, then the right place for our active verbs is found, and God's believing children are, or ought to be, the most active, useful people in the world. Love, like a good leader, finds plenty of work for us all to do, and rules so powerfully as to secure its being done; and moreover so sweetly, that it is our happiness to do it. While it is <italic>possible</italic> to be saved at last, like the thief, because 'all things are possible with God,' it is so very rare a case that no person should dare to presume, such may be his. It is not God's usual plan: He desires us to remember Him in the days of our youth, and to accept His blessing, while we have life, and strength, and opportunity to serve Him, and to glorify Him in the midst of temptations and trials."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="88"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. VII. The Way and the Will."> <heading level="1">CHAP. VII. THE WAY AND THE WILL.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Did</small_caps> we finish talking about verbs, mamma?" asked Cecil. "There are a great many pages in Emily's book about them."</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, we have much yet to say about them; but I am more anxious to give you clear ideas, than many of them at once."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I quite understand what a verb is, mamma, and that there are three kinds — active, passive, and neuter; and I remember what you said about acts of the mind, for if the mind could not act, the poor thief could not have been saved, when he could not move his body."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="89"/> <paragraph>"My dear child," said Mrs. C., "if you obtain clear ideas of God's Holy Truth, and ask for His Spirit to fix them in your heart, I shall bless Him for the day you asked me to talk to you about Grammar. Do you think it is a dull subject now?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, indeed, mamma, not when you tell it to me; but it will not be so interesting in the book, I know; only the book will remind me of many things you have said. I did not think there was any religion in Grammar."</paragraph> <paragraph>"When we put the great noun after a certain verb, Cecil, it is easy to find profitable thoughts in everything we study; and even Grammar may help us to glorify God."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What verb is that? Shall I guess, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"If you please; and as you are, as usual, in the indicative mood — "</paragraph> <paragraph>"The indicative mood, mamma! what is that?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mood is one of the things that belong to verbs, and of which we must now speak. Verbs have both moods and tenses, which are sometimes rather puzzling to little people. Mood is that form of the verb, or manner of <folio folio_no="I2"/><pagebreak page_no="90"/>using it, which shows what the mind means by it. There are five different states of mind, or being, or mood. Perhaps it may help you, if I say that the word <italic>mood</italic> is the English of the Latin word <italic>modus</italic>, which means manner. These moods are, the Indicative, the Imperative, the Potential, the Subjunctive, and the Infinitive. Repeat these, and then write them on your slate, with their meanings, as I proceed to explain them."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There, I have written their names, mamma. You said I was in the Indicative mood — what does that mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Indicative is from the Latin verb <italic>indico</italic>, to indicate, to declare, to announce; and it is that manner of using a verb, which either declares something, or asks a question, by reversing the declaration, as, 'I love,' 'Do I love?'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Dear me! I am learning Latin, too!" cried Cecil, with great delight.</paragraph> <paragraph>His mother smiled, and said:</paragraph> <paragraph>"I used to find the derivations of words assisted me to remember their meanings. You spoke in the indicative mood just now, Cecil, when you said, 'I am learning Latin.' You intended to declare a thing."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="91"/> <paragraph>"Yes; and if I say, 'Shall I learn Latin?' I speak again in the indicative, because I ask you to declare something; and you will say, you shall learn Latin. But, mamma, you did not let me guess the verb you meant just now, which should have the great noun after it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is a nice verb with which to illustrate the moods; so I must tell you that it is the verb 'To love.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And the great noun, mamma, is God, you know: 'I love God.' And that text, 'God so loved the world;' that is indicative too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; if you love God, it is because He first loved you. But I think we may pass on to the next mood — the Imperative."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And do tell me what Latin word it belongs to, if you please, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is from <italic>impero</italic>, to command. <italic>Imperator</italic> is a commander, an emperor; and so the imperative mood commands. Can you think of any sentence with a verb in the imperative mood?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I should think, 'Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,' and 'Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,' are in <pagebreak page_no="92"/>the imperative, because they are God's commands."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Quite right: but this mood has other meanings, and expresses other feelings; it exhorts or advises; as, 'Love one another;' 'Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you,' are exhortations. 'Let us love, not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth.' And it also entreats, asks earnestly — what example can you give for that?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I suppose, when I wish very much for anything, and beg you to let me have it, I speak in the imperative then. 'Do let me go with you, mamma.' Is that it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and prayer, entreaty before God, is frequently in the same mood."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah yes, to be sure; the Lord's Prayer is all in the imperative mood. It is curious that the same mood does for an emperor and a beggar, mamma — is it not?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The sense greatly depends upon the tone and manner of the speaker, as the same sentence may mean either command or entreaty, according to the intention of the speaker, and the manner in which it is uttered."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="93"/> <paragraph>"I can't put a pronoun before it, mamma, as I can the indicative."</paragraph> <paragraph>"No. It has no first person singular either, but takes some of the personal pronouns after the verb; as 'Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness;' 'Fear ye not, therefore; ye are more value than many sparrows.' The Potential mood comes next: the Latin word, Cecil, is <italic>potentia</italic>; and signifies power, or possibility, or liberty to do anything."</paragraph> <paragraph>"How shall I make a sentence with our verb in the potential mood? 'We may love;' 'You can love:' is that right?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; you may love God, and serve Him from your youth up, as Samuel did, or the reverse. Our Lord said to the Pharisees, ‘ Ye will not come to me,' (that is, 'Ye will not to come; ye do not choose to come to me,') 'that ye might have life.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think I understand this, mamma. What is the next?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The Subjunctive represents an action as uncertain, or under a motive or condition. It requires a little word, called a conjunction, to go before it, and is attended by another verb."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="94"/> <paragraph>"Why, this is a helpless part of speech; it cannot go without a friend on each side. And the Latin, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Is <italic>subjunctivus</italic>, from <italic>subjungo</italic>, to join. To make sense, another verb must be joined to it. Careful observation is requisite to distinguish this mood from the Indicative, because conjunctions (concerning which you will learn by-and-by) are used in both. But where a doubt is implied, or an uncertainty, or anything that depends upon a motive, the verb is in the subjunctive mood. <italic>If</italic>, <italic>though</italic>, <italic>unless</italic>, <italic>except</italic>, <italic>whether</italic>, and some other conjunctions, generally precede the subjunctive mood."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I have thought of an <italic>if</italic>, mamma, with two verbs after it. 'If ye love me, keep my commandments.' Is that in the subjunctive mood?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; it implies an uncertainty about the love, and proposes a motive to obedience. Let us try another conjunction: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' There is a supposition, not a fact, implied in the first portion of the sentence, and the subjunctive <italic>keep</italic> retains the form of the first person, though it is in reality the <pagebreak page_no="95"/>third person. 'The Lord keeps,' would be a simple statement of a fact, in the indicative mood; but the subjunctive allows no change in the termination of the verb."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I have thought of an illustration, mamma, with the conjunction <italic>though</italic>. 'Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"You do not perceive the error in the grammar of that sentence, Emily. Was it doubtful or uncertain that Jesus was the Son of God?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, mamma; certainly not."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then the subjunctive <italic>were</italic> is improperly used: it ought to be, ‘Though he was a son,' because such is the positive fact; and <italic>was</italic> must be, as you know, the indicative mood."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is strange that there should be such a mistake in the Bible, mamma — is it not?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Not at all; the grammatical construction of our language might not be understood thoroughly by the translators; but the misuse of a mood does not affect the truth of a doctrine. Cecil will understand this troublesome mood better by-and-by; but I should like to <pagebreak page_no="96"/>know what idea of it he has gathered from our conversation?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is not so easy as the others, mamma; but I think it should be used when I mean something I am not quite sure about, like this: 'If mamma accept an invitation that is coming for us, we shall go to grand mamma's this week.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is right, Cecil; you have illustrated it very ingeniously; and as a reward, I will inform you that the invitation shall be accepted," said his mother, smiling.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Thank you, dear mamma. Now for the Infinitive mood."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is from <italic>infinito</italic>, without limit or measure; and has a little friend, called a preposition, the word to, before it: 'To love, to be, to do, to be loved, to be feared:' 'To do good, and to communicate, forget not.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is very easy. I shall never have to consider long which is the Infinitive."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Tenses, or times, of verbs come next under consideration. How do we divide time? or rather, what are the divisions of time? for we have, in reality, only to submit to them."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="97"/> <paragraph>"Do you mean years and weeks, and hours and minutes, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; I mean time which we cannot recal, time which we may call our own, and time that we dare not calculate upon with certainty."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, you mean the past, which we cannot have back again — don't you, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and <italic>now</italic>, the present, is the only time of which we are sure: and what is written about the future, in the Bible, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, I know. 'Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And therefore we are taught to say, when we propose doing anything, not 'I will,' independent of a higher and wiser power, which may prevent us; but, 'If the Lord will, I shall do this or that.' The tenses of verbs are ruled by these great divisions of time, the Present, the Past, and the Future; excepting the auxiliary verbs, which of themselves have no future."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Is not 'To will' allowed a future?" asked Emily.</paragraph> <folio folio_no="K"/><pagebreak page_no="98"/> <paragraph>"'We will go out in the afternoon.' It helps the verb 'To go,' to intend something future. 'We will go,' is its future tense; but 'We will,' standing alone, is the present of the auxiliary 'To will.' 'I will,' is the present state of your mind concerning going out in the afternoon."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There then, it has no future; because it is of no use for us to will that anything shall happen, because we cannot be sure of it," exclaimed Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"The first person of that verb, Cecil, has caused all the misery and sin in hell, and on earth. Satan said, 'I will,' in opposition to God's will; and he lost heaven. Our first parents said it practically, in the same manner, when they ate of the forbidden tree; and they lost Eden. I will tell you presently how even a child was unhappy, until she learned to give up 'I will,' and to submit to what God wills; but we must first finish the tenses. The Present tense, I need not tell you, represents an action or feeling as taking place at the time in which it is spoken of. Are we careful that our present acts, and thoughts, and feelings, are such as <pagebreak page_no="99"/>we may remember without regret when they are past?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Are we careful?' 'We are careful.' 'We think, we speak, we learn,' now at the present time. Yes, I understand you, mamma; that is present too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The Past has several tenses, on which I do not mean to dwell; but they are, the Imperfect, the Perfect, and the Pluperfect; all relating to events past, in connection with certain circumstances attending them. The Future has two tenses, called first future and second future. The first merely represents the action as yet to happen; the second connects it with some other action. I shall only remark further, that verbs must agree with their nominative case, or the pronoun representing the noun for which it stands: ‘I love, thou lovest, he loves.' It would be incorrect to say, 'I loves,' or 'He love.' You perceive that the difference is in the termination of the verb, and it occurs only in the singular number. In the plural, the same termination suits all the persons; as, 'We love, you love, they love.' The Subjunctive mood is the only exception."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="100"/> <paragraph>"Well, mamma, will you tell us of the child you spoke of just now?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. It is only a circumstance that taught a little girl, whom I knew very well, the folly, and uselessness, and misery of indulging self-will, and opposing God's will. She was the oldest of four sisters, and it was sometimes their father's pleasure to make them stand in a row, and march before him, that he might observe how they grew, and also to teach them to walk well. For several years, they seemed all to grow equally; the difference being like a set of steps from one little head to another. They were always dressed alike, and kind friends often took a great deal of notice of these four little sisters. But when the oldest, whom we will call Lucy, was about twelve or thirteen years of age, it became apparent that the younger ones were growing more rapidly than she was; and the first announcement of the fact gave her great annoyance. She thought, that being the oldest, she ought to be the tallest; and she foolishly fancied that superior height would secure her superiority over her sisters. The frequent remark that they were outgrowing <pagebreak page_no="101"/>her, became so vexatious, that she began to dislike being near them, and to think of every possible means of promoting her growth. "I <italic>will</italic> grow faster,' she said to herself. 'I ought to grow for several years to come, and I <italic>will</italic> be the tallest yet.' But she did not allow any one to know the state of her mind: it would have wounded her pride deeply to be suspected of jealousy. She practised all kinds of exercises; she stretched her form on the floor, and on her bed; and ran, skipped, and bathed; not for the pleasure of such pastimes, but as a means towards this desired end; but all in vain. Two of her sisters were now as tall as herself, and bade fair to be considerably taller. She looked cross and unhappy, and I fear was likely to grow up an envious, disagreeable young woman.</paragraph> <paragraph>"It happened, that one Sunday morning in church, her attention was suddenly arrested by a passage read from the Bible. She did not hear its connection; she had not been attending to what preceded it; but this one verse completely startled her. I see Emily guesses what it was. 'Which of you with taking thought can add to his stature <folio folio_no="K2"/><pagebreak page_no="102"/>one cubit?' She was greatly astonished: it seemed addressed to herself, and she could not rest until she had found and read it in the Bible at home, with the whole of that beautiful chapter, the 12th of Luke. 'Oh, how foolish and wicked I have been!' she thought. 'I have made myself miserable, and been unkind to my sisters for what neither they nor I can help. It is God who has fixed how tall we are to be; and I must be satisfied to have His will, and give up my own.' Then she thought of the meaning of words she had said every day for years, 'Thy will be done;' and she knew that she had never really prayed them. She began to read the Bible, and to pray in earnest; and soon she gave up wishing to be of consequence in the sight of other people, and desired only to be of consequence to Jesus, that she might be saved. Her young heart was now relieved of a great load; the struggle to maintain her self-importance was over, and smiles of cheerfulness and happiness were again on her face. She was able to hear, without any envious or unkind feelings, that her sisters' dresses required to be longer than <pagebreak page_no="103"/>hers and stood meekly, while friends measured their respective heights, and told her that she must make haste and grow faster, or she would be quite left behind."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It was very stupid and foolish for people to say so," exclaimed Cecil, bluntly. "Why did she not tell them her text?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I agree with you that it was very foolish, and perhaps something of the kind first caused her to think that it was meritorious and important to be tall; but she felt no anger, and wondered they did not remember what Jesus had said about it. She thought within herself, 'It is God who makes the grass, and flowers, and children, grow as long as He pleases; but all flesh is grass, and as the flower of the field; grass withers and flowers fade, but the word of my God abides for ever; and when I am with Jesus in Heaven, it will not matter whether my body was tall or short: I shall not have it again, until it is made as glorious as His body.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The dear little girl! I like her now," said Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"The remembrance of God's love, and power, and care, gave her great patience under <pagebreak page_no="104"/>suffering; and she did suffer much from toothache, and was obliged to have several teeth extracted."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, that is enough to make anybody scream, I'm sure! I tried to help it when my tooth was taken out, but could not," said Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"My young friend, Lucy, did not scream; and once, when her papa, who was a surgeon, was taking one out for her, he became nervous from the consciousness that he was inflicting great pain upon the patient little girl, and drew out the wrong one."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, mamma, mamma!" exclaimed Emily and Cecil together.</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is quite true: and thus she lost a large sound tooth, while the old tormenter was still as painful as before, and she was obliged to undergo the operation again. Her father was very much distressed, but she tried to smile, and said, 'Do not mind about it, dear papa; you know I have plenty more.' And she remembered what Jesus said about 'taking thought;' and that, though her papa had made a mistake, God never makes any, and would not have allowed this to happen, <pagebreak page_no="105"/>except to do her good in some way. And then she was conscious that she had felt pleasure some time before, when it had been remarked that her teeth were whiter and better than her sisters'. 'Oh, I have a proud, wicked spirit yet,' she thought, 'and everything that happens to me, is in God's love to subdue it.' Once she was very ill, and was told that she must bear some pain. 'Yes, I know I must, for God sends it; I do not make pain; and His will is best.' And once, on a Sabbath-day, a young visitor said, 'You must come and play with me a little while, and then we must have a ride in the carriage in the afternoon.' 'No, I must not,' she replied. 'It is God 's will that we should not play and ride on Sunday; and we must not make sin.' You see she was learning not only to suffer, but to do, the will of God."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="106"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. VIII. The Censor."> <heading level="1">CHAP. VIII. THE CENSOR.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>Mamma</small_caps>, mamma!" cried Cecil, tapping gently at the window, 'do please to come here, and look at my ship."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Where, Cecil?" replied his mamma, rising to go.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Here, in the yard, mamma; in the great trough;" and he led the way, talking as he went. "She sails beautifully, and the blue streamer flutters proudly in the air: you never saw such a pretty thing. We are going to take her down to the shore, now we are sure she can sail."</paragraph> <paragraph>Mrs. C. found the whole nursery party <pagebreak page_no="107"/>standing in high glee and admiration, beside the great water-trough, where the little ship had been launched in due style.</paragraph> <paragraph>"There, mamma, does she not look well? This is more like a real ship than the one I made before. That was only a very little one, and not so nicely rigged. Emily has rigged this, and she thinks we must call her 'the Swan,' because the swan sits so gracefully on the water."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think you have succeeded very nicely this time," said Mrs. C., as she wrote a few words on her tablets. "You are now glad that you tried again. 'The Swan' is a very pretty name, too."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It would not have been so nice, if papa and Emily had not helped me, you know, mamma. That is the reason I let Emily fix the name."</paragraph> <paragraph>Between the influence of the wind and a delicate piece of string, the ship swept up and down the trough, to the entire satisfaction of the builders; but after a few voyages, the wind subsided, and some rain began to fall.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, you must go into dock again," said <pagebreak page_no="108"/>Cecil, seizing his ship, and running into the house; while 'the crowd' as hastily dispersed. "Oh, dear, I am afraid we cannot go down to the shore to-day," said he, as the large drops came rapidly down the window-panes; "and to-morrow, if it is fine, we shall go to grandmamma's: so I shall not see my ship on the sea yet. What were you doing with your tablets, mamma? Were you taking a sketch of 'the Swan?'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; I was only taking a sketch of your speech," replied his mother, smiling, "that I might show you in connection with a subject so interesting to you — the use of another part of speech, to which you must be introduced."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What is that, mamma? And how did I use it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"If you had not made use of any adverbs, your description of the ship would only have consisted of the statement of certain facts that had occurred, or were occurring, and I should have known nothing of the manner in which your little Swan was behaving."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What can you mean, mamma? Were there no adjectives in what I said? I think my ship is beautiful."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="109"/> <paragraph>"That is an adjective descriptive of the ship; but you also told me how she sails."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, yes; I said she sails beautifully."</paragraph> <paragraph>"By the addition of <italic>ly</italic> to the adjective, you are able to describe the manner in which the verb <italic>sails</italic> is performed; and the word which expresses that, is an adverb."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Adverb means added to a verb, I suppose?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; but it is sometimes added to an adjective also, and sometimes two adverbs are put together."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma, Emily said, 'The swan sits <italic>gracefully</italic> on the water:' is gracefully an adverb? because it tells how the swan sits, and <italic>sits</italic> is a verb."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. It is, like <italic>beautifully</italic>, an adverb of manner or quality; that is, descriptive of the manner or quality of an action. But there are many kinds of adverbs: they also describe the time and place of an action; they affirm and deny; they ask questions, and make comparisons."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I remember you said <italic>more</italic> and <italic>most</italic> were used to compare long adjectives. But time, mamma? I thought verbs explain their own time; their tenses do, you know."</paragraph> <folio folio_no="L"/><pagebreak page_no="110"/> <paragraph>"Yes; but an adverb is a short method of expressing time, and tells in one word what it would be perplexing and awkward to describe by the variations of the verb. When do you expect to go to grandmamma's?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"To-morrow."</paragraph> <paragraph>"When did you finish your ship?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yesterday."</paragraph> <paragraph>"When was she launched?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"To-day; just now."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There are four adverbs of time — future, past, and present — in your answers."</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>To-morrow</italic>, <italic>yesterday</italic>, <italic>to-day</italic>, <italic>now</italic>. Very useful little words they are, indeed."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Still more so than you are yet aware of. Adverbs were useful when you called me to look at your ship. You said, 'Do come here, mamma.' <italic>Here</italic> is an adverb of place."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And you said, 'Where?' Is that an adverb, too?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I reply with an adverb — <italic>yes</italic>."</paragraph> <paragraph>"How very funny this is! And <italic>no</italic> — is that an adverb?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, of negation. But I cannot give you a list of them all; I shall only tell you the various uses of them. They express number, <pagebreak page_no="111"/>order, place, time, quantity, quality, doubt, affirmation, negation, interrogation, and comparison."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, may I find a sentence, or a text, with one of each kind in it, mamma? You tell me the kind, and I will write it down, and see the meaning of it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"With much pleasure. First, then, an adverb of number."</paragraph> <paragraph>"One, two, three, mamma?" asked Cecil. "That sort of number?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; the number of times an action may be performed — once, twice, thrice."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now, then, for a nice text. Ah, it will be more difficult than I expected."</paragraph> <paragraph>Emily whispered in her brother's ear; and after a few moments, he produced his Bible, opened at the Epistle to the Hebrews, and read at the tenth verse of the tenth chapter, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ <italic>once</italic> for all."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is the most important use to which that little word was ever applied," said Mrs. C. "It declares plainly a solemn truth, on which the Protestant Church rests the doctrine of <pagebreak page_no="112"/>full and complete salvation, and rejects the Popish error of the Mass. Christ's sacrifice was made once and for ever: it is always available; it can never be repeated. 'There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.' Now, an adverb of order — the arrangement of things: <italic>first</italic> or <italic>firstly</italic>, <italic>secondly</italic>, <italic>finally</italic>.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I have one ready for that, mamma; it is in Revelations: 'I am the first and the last.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, my dear Cecil, that is not an example of adverbs. <italic>The first</italic> and <italic>the last</italic> are nouns, as you may observe at the eighth verse of the same chapter, where the same truth is declared in other words; all being names chosen by the Lord to designate Himself. He is the beginning and source of all things, and the chief and most important of all persons. You will find an adverb to the point in Matthew vi. 33: 'Seek ye <italic>first</italic> the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Thank you, mamma. I am glad I found that one, though it was wrong; because now I understand the difference. What comes next?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="113"/> <paragraph>"Adverbs of place. <italic>Here</italic>, <italic>there</italic>, <italic>whither</italic>, <italic>thither</italic>, and many others."</paragraph> <paragraph>Emily again whispered, and a text was soon found.</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is what Buth said to Noami, mamma: 'Whither thou goest I will go.' But, stop; I know one: let me see if it is not a nicer one. Yes, here it is, in the fourteenth chapter of St John: 'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' <italic>Where</italic> and <italic>there</italic>, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; that is a very beautiful promise, Cecil; a glorious hope for the children of God; a good reason why their 'hearts' should not 'be troubled.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now, of time present."</paragraph> <paragraph>"You said that <italic>now</italic> is an adverb. Then my text for to-morrow will just do: 'Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Quite right. Perhaps Emily can tell you one which includes adverbs expressive of time, past, present, and future."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma; 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.'"</paragraph> <folio folio_no="L2"/><pagebreak page_no="114"/> <paragraph>"These are great and blessed truths, dear children; and it is no light thing to have them in the memory. Adverbs of quantity next; as, <italic>enough</italic>, <italic>how much</italic>, <italic>abundantly</italic>."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The prodigal son said his father's servants had 'enough and to spare.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And there is a sweet promise in Malachi, which you may find."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room <italic>enough</italic> to receive it.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Of manner or quality, you already know how they are chiefly formed from adjectives." Yes; and I know a text with one, without looking: 'Behold, I come quickly.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Do you like to think of that, Cecil? When the Lord Jesus comes, you know, it will be to make the great separation between the good and the bad, the righteous and the wicked. All are, like the tares and the wheat, growing together now; but then, the one must be cast away for ever, the other received into the joy of the Lord. There is a verse in the vi. of Micah, Emily, which you may read; it <pagebreak page_no="115"/>is full of instruction, and contains two adverbs."</paragraph> <paragraph>"'He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do <italic>justly</italic>, to love mercy, and to walk <italic>humbly</italic> with thy God.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Of doubt, Cecil; as, <italic>perhaps</italic>, <italic>per adventure</italic>."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, I know where that long, curious word is put many times over: it is in Abraham's prayer for the cities of the plain."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is; and I am glad you remember what you read. Three more examples, and we shall complete the list, (for you know the adverbs of comparison): these are, affirmation; as, <italic>verily</italic>, <italic>truly</italic>, <italic>yea</italic>, <italic>indeed</italic>, and many others." "The Lord Jesus often began with, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; it was a solemn and commanding style of speech. Do you remember the exclamation of the Roman soldier at the Cross of Christ?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"He said, 'Truly, this was the Son of God.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and that was the testimony of an enemy, wrung from him by the terrors of the earthquake, and darkness, and crash of surrounding rocks. It was not like the effect <pagebreak page_no="116"/>of the still small voice in the heart of the dying thief, enabling him to cry, 'Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.' Now, an adverb of negation; as, <italic>no</italic>, <italic>not</italic>, <italic>in no wise</italic>."</paragraph> <paragraph>After some delay, Emily and Cecil each produced an example.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mine is for the word <italic>not</italic>," said Emily. "'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And mine is something like it, mamma," said Cecil; "it belongs to the description of the beautiful city, in Revelations: 'And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Those are solemn words, dear Cecil. The character denied a place in that city is that of every human being by nature, Only the grace of God can effect the mighty change which must prepare every one found in the Lamb's book of life. May you ask and seek for that change."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="117"/> <paragraph>"Dear mamma," said Emily, "there is a text with three adverbs together, which encourages us to ask for what you are speaking of. It is this: 'If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, <italic>how much more</italic> shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"You have chosen a most rich and encouraging promise, dear Emily. Will you not prove the faithfulness of Him who made it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I trust that I shall, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"There is no reason why you should not, my dear child, except in your own heart. I will remind you of the free invitation of Almighty love, in words that shall contain an interrogative adverb for Cecil. '<italic>Wherefore</italic> do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.' 'Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I have one, mamma, with wherefore in it," <pagebreak page_no="118"/>said Cecil. "'O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"We have now reached the end of the list, and must dismiss the adverb for the present. If it please God that no hindrance occur, you are to pay your visit to grandmamma tomorrow; and I hope, Cecil, that you will supply Emily with many pleasant adverbs for me. You will make active verbs all day, I know."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, that we shall; and Emily shall put ly to all the pretty adjectives we can find, to tell you how I have behaved, mamma."</paragraph> </div1> <pagebreak page_no="119"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. IX. Important Distinctions."> <heading level="1">CHAP. IX. IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS.</heading> <paragraph>"<small_caps>You</small_caps> are ready for some Prepositions, Cecil, I suppose?" said Mrs. C., as Cecil took his usual place near his mamma's work-table, but with a countenance and manner less animated then usual.</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil seemed greatly relieved by the introduction of a different subject from that which occupied his own thoughts, and quickly answered:</paragraph> <paragraph>"If you please, mamma; and I should like to know what the word Preposition means."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The Latin is præpositio, from præpono, which means 'to set or place before, to prefix.'</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="120"/> <paragraph>It is a word used to connect words with one another, and to show how one relates to another. If we were to say, 'You went yesterday home grandmamma's,' we should fail to give the fact intelligibly; but if we say, 'You went <italic>from</italic> home <italic>to</italic> grandmamma's,' the simple truth is easily expressed, with the assistance of <italic>from</italic> and <italic>to</italic>, which are prepositions. 'You are sitting near me.' The words <italic>sitting</italic> and <italic>me</italic> are united by the preposition <italic>near</italic>, and the relationship of our positions is declared. 'Emily is looking at us.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I see it, mamma. It would be nonsense to say, 'Emily is looking us.' The preposition <italic>at</italic> unites the <italic>looking</italic> and <italic>us</italic>, and shows the relation between what Emily is doing and us."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Exactly so. There are many useful little words belonging to this part of speech; such <italic>as, of, to, for, by, with, without, in, into, up, down, among, against, off, over, under</italic>, and many others. They usually go before nouns and pronouns, which are then in the objective case: 'of her,' 'from him,' 'to them,' 'with Emily,' 'to grandmamma,' 'near London.' There are few sentences which are not indebted <pagebreak page_no="121"/>to one or more of the prepositions, but some owe almost all their meaning to the peculiar use of them. We mentioned just now, in our list, the word <italic>without</italic>, which means destitute of, not possessing. You will find a very awful condition described by that preposition, in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians."</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil found the passage, and read: "At that time ye were <italic>without</italic> Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and <italic>without</italic> God in the world."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Emily," said he, as soon as he had concluded, "I can tell you who, I am sure, must be 'without God in the world.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Your first care should be, to think whether the description suits yourself," said his mamma, "and then to pray that the next verse may become applicable to you also, and to any of whom you may be thinking besides. Read on, and you will find several more prepositions of deep importance to the meaning of the verse: 'But now <italic>in</italic> Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh, <italic>by</italic> the blood <italic>of</italic> Christ.' The Lord Jesus Christ said, 'He <folio folio_no="M"/><pagebreak page_no="122"/>that is not <italic>with</italic> me, is <italic>against</italic> me.' There are two prepositions used in the great contrast of the righteous and the wicked."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The Apostle John, mamma," said Emily, "uses some prepositions very curiously in his first Epistle."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Let me find it for you, Emily," cried Cecil. "Is it about the people who would not stay with the Christians?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, in the second chapter of the first Epistle."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I have it: it is about Antichrists: 'They went out <italic>from</italic> us, but they were not <italic>of</italic> us; for if they had been <italic>of</italic> us, they would no doubt have continued <italic>with</italic> us; but they went out that they might be manifest that they were not all <italic>of</italic> us."</paragraph> <paragraph>"They were like the seed on the rock, Emily, They seemed, for a time, Christ's followers — of or belonging to Him; but in time of temptation they fell away. The true soldier of Christ must be 'faithful unto death,' if he would 'A crown and kingdom' win. 'Of God,' and 'of the world,' in the fourth chapter of the same Epistle, convey a very decided and important distinction between <pagebreak page_no="123"/>two classes of persons. 'Of,' or belonging to, 'the world;' enjoying its ways, its pleasures, its favours, and content to be without God: 'of God;' belonging to Him, preferring His word and ways, enjoying His favour, and trusting His promises; and content to be without the favour of a world, the fashion of which is passing away. Which is preferable, do you think, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"To be 'of God,' mamma, of course. But, mamma, will you please to tell me, are we rich?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No, my dear boy, we are not rich; but we have, through the mercy of God, sufficient for all our reasonable wants."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then we are not poor either, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; we are in that happy condition prayed for in the Book of Proverbs, 'Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Lazarus must have been very poor, but he did not steal," said Cecil, thoughtfully.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I know what Cecil is thinking about, <pagebreak page_no="124"/>mamma," said Emily; "but he does not like to begin to talk about our visit yesterday, lest you should ask for some adverbs. He read to grandmamma, when she wished to hear whether he had improved, and the subject was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus; and as we were coming home, Cecil asked me if we ought to wish to be as miserable as Lazarus, that we might go to heaven? So we determined to ask you about it, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Cecil," said Mrs. C., "do you remember an old man who sits near the gate of the cemetery?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma, very well; he is a miserable-looking old man, and I have thought of Lazarus when I have been passing him."</paragraph> <paragraph>"He is allowed to sit there because he is really maimed, and cannot do anything to earn a livelihood, and he gets a great deal of money given to him; but he is fond of drinking, and taking God's name in vain: he is 'without God in the world,' notwithstanding his afflictions; and though in such wretched circumstances, he is 'of the world' still."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Tell me also, if you remember, that when you were in London, papa bade you notice, <pagebreak page_no="125"/>particularly, a gentleman who was just getting into a carriage, attended by servants, and apparently a person of great consequence."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, I remember very well; and papa said it was the Earl of — ."</paragraph> <paragraph>"A nobleman, Cecil; I cannot tell whether he fares sumptuously every day, but he might, if he pleased; and yet it is true of him, that the blessings of those who were ready to perish are upon him, and he causes the widow's heart to sing for joy. He is as eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, a father to the poor; and the cause of sorrow and sin which he knows not, he searches out. Many hundreds of your young ragged friends, Cecil, will one day rise up and call him blessed. Now, if he, and the poor man of whom we spoke just now, die as they have lived, the rich man will be with Abraham, and the poor one in torment."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, being rich or poor has nothing to do with going to heaven, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," said Emily, "Jesus said it was 'easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.'"</paragraph> <folio folio_no="M2"/><pagebreak page_no="126"/> <paragraph>"It is true that the riches, and luxuries, and enjoyments of the world, often successfully tempt to forgetfulness of God; but no power or influence can withstand the Holy Spirit, when He chooses to make a rich or great man a monument of His mercy, and a blessing to the world. The rich and poor may enter at the same door, and be safe together in the same fold. There is no sin in being rich; the sin is, to abuse and misuse riches. There is no merit in being poor; the merit is, in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma, a camel could not go through the eye of a needle, you know."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I believe, the allusion is to a little gate in the wall of Jerusalem, called 'the needle's eye.' Some interpreters of Scripture explain those words as an allusion to the fact, that no laden camel could enter the city by that little gate, but must be unloaded of its treasures, whatever they might be, and compelled to kneel down, and bend its lofty head, to accomplish the difficult task. It was a long and troublesome business to unload a camel; but though not an easy task to get one through <pagebreak page_no="127"/>the gate; you see it was not an impossible one. Now, if the rich man consent to cast aside all that he has by nature, or inheritance, or industry, and acknowledge himself (as he really is, until he comes to Christ) poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked, with respect to eternal things; and bend at the foot of the Cross, and kneel in humble faith, a beggar, before the throne of God; why may he not enter the celestial city, Emily?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Indeed, there can be no reason, mamma; and the words of the Lord Jesus are full of beautiful meaning."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The parable Cecil is thinking of describes two states of character of far more importance than condition in life; and I hope he sees now that the difference consists in the example we found of our little friend, the preposition <italic>of</italic> — 'of God,' and 'of the world.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma, I understand it now quite well."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, may I venture to ask something more concerning your visit, Cecil? I forbore last night, because I observed that you were tired, and out of spirits."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It was not a very happy day, mamma. <pagebreak page_no="128"/>I should have enjoyed it more, if grandmamma had not had company."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That sounds selfish. Either you want grandmamma's attention all to yourself, or you cannot contribute to the enjoyment of others."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The truth is, mamma," said Emily, "that grandmamma thought a companion would be agreeable to Cecil, and she invited a young gentleman — "</paragraph> <paragraph>"I don't think he is much of a gentleman," interrupted Cecil, indignantly; "he wanted you to play at all-fours."</paragraph> <paragraph>Mrs. C. looked surprised, and Emily could not forbear a merry laugh.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Well, mamma, he was not a nice boy at all; and made Cecil rude, and noisy, and disobedient; and grandmamma was displeased."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am sure I don't know how it was," said Cecil; "but he liked to do everything naughty, I think."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And you helped him, I suppose?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, mamma, he got tired of all our plays and amusements directly, and then he told me to go and ask if grandmamma and <pagebreak page_no="129"/>Emily would play at all-fours; and he said I must bring the cards. I thought he meant to run round the table, as little Herbert does, and I would not go, because I knew they wouldn't do it; and then we quarrelled. At last, I did go to ask for some cards; and grandmamma said she had not such things in the house, and I should not play at such nonsense. Then he said it would kill time, till tea was ready."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mamma," said Emily, "Cecil insists that Master Barnard meant us to run round the room on our hands and knees. He cannot understand that there is some other game - called all-fours, for four people to play at."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then Master Barnard said — "</paragraph> <paragraph>"I do not wish to hear, or you to repeat, what he said, Cecil. My duty is, to train you in the way you should go; and as I cannot prevent you from meeting sometimes with children who have not the same care bestowed upon them, you must turn such circumstances to advantage, by making them a test of your own character, and the amount of benefit you have derived from your different education. As you joined in doing wrong, I fear you are, <pagebreak page_no="130"/>in reality, more blameable than Master Barnard, who, I believe, has no mother to watch over him, and who evidently has not been under much restraint or discipline."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think grandmamma was sorry she asked him to come," said Emily. "She said he made Cecil naughty, and set him a bad example."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Cecil's virtues are something like Mrs. M—'s flower-garden, I fear, if he so immdiately forgets to do right, and is so easily led to do wrong."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What sort of a garden is that, mamma?" said Cecil, very meekly.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I will tell you some other time, if you will try to think of what we have said," replied Mrs. C.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Will you tell us what cards are, mamma? And what sort of a game is that, if it is not running after each other, as we do in the nursery? Master Barnard said he would win my silver penny with it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Your game is quite as sensible as his, my dear Cecil. But he meant by cards, a number of pieces of cardboard, painted with spots and ugly figures of kings and queens. They were <pagebreak page_no="131"/>invented to amuse a poor, unhappy King of France, who was not in his right mind. Time hung heavily with him, and anything to pass it away was welcomed both by himself and his attendants."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But do people in their senses ever play with such things? And how could Master Barnard win my silver penny with them?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"He would have won the game, and have made you pay it to him for losing."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, that is not fair. If I lost the game, he ought to give me something to make up for it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That would be a very good plan, I think, if people choose to use their money in playing at games; but it is true, that some people, who seem to be in their senses, play with these painted cards; and you will be surprised to hear that my young friend, Lucy, once played with them."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Did she really? And how did she like it?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"She played against her will, because a kind young lady desired her to do so; thinking it would give her pleasure. She did not like it, nor understand it, and was very unhappy afterwards."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="132"/> <paragraph>"I dare say she knew why cards were invented," said Emily; "and she thought that sensible people, whom God has blessed with mind and reason, ought not to waste their time with mad people's toys."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I think she was quite right; but why was she so unhappy about it?" asked Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"At the end of the game, the young lady, who had played for her, emptied a little paper box before her, containing fifteen silver sixpences, and told her they were all her own. She was greatly astonished, and shrunk back from the money, saying, 'Oh no, it is not mine; indeed, I cannot take it.' 'Yes, child, it is yours; you have won it. Children are sure to win,' said one of the ladies, who had been playing. Poor Lucy looked for some help in this painful case, but no one seemed to pity her. She felt as if it were robbery, thus to take the money of her mother's visitors: at lost, she rushed up to her mamma, with blushes on her cheeks, and tears in her eyes, saying, 'Oh, mamma, please to make the ladies take back their money: I cannot bear that they should think it is mine.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"I should have felt just the same," said Emily.</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="133"/> <paragraph>"And so should I," said Cecil. "I shall try to earn my money, when I am a man, and not sit still and take other people's."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Your resolution is a good one, Cecil. Do not be tempted to join in anything which risks, for idle pleasure, either gain or loss. God's blessing is on industry and uprightness; but shame and ruin, sooner or later, ever attend the schemes of what men call chance. Time and money are precious talents, of which we shall have to render an account; and neither may be wasted, without displeasing God."</paragraph> </div1> <folio folio_no="N"/><pagebreak page_no="134"/> <div1 description="main_text" name="Chap. X. Contast and Conclusion."> <heading level="1">CHAP. X. CONTRAST AND CONCLUSION.</heading> <paragraph>"Conjunctions, mamma! Conjunctions and Interjections; and then we shall have finished the parts of speech. I think I am sorry for that. What does conjunction mean?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is from <italic>conjungo</italic>, which signifies to join together."</paragraph> <paragraph>"To join together! But prepositions join words together, and that is the easiest part of speech we have had yet. It has no long train of persons, numbers, and comparisons, and moods, and tenses, after it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The conjunction has a more confidential position than the preposition: it connects not <pagebreak page_no="135"/>only words, but also, and chiefly, sentences. It is privileged, not only to connect and continue a sentence, but to give reasons, and introduce contrasts. It marks the connection of ideas in the mind, and unites the parts of a subject which depend upon, or flow from, one another."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It has a great deal to do, I think. And it attends upon the subjunctive mood of verbs, as the preposition does upon the infinitive."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am glad you remember that we have had occasion to mention it before. There are two kinds of conjunctions, called copulative and disjunctive. The copulative are — <italic>and</italic>, <italic>if</italic>, <italic>that</italic>, <italic>both</italic>, <italic>since</italic>, <italic>because</italic>, <italic>therefore</italic>, and a few others."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Ah, <italic>because</italic> is one that gives a reason, I suppose?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. Shall I make a sentence, to shew you how useful it is? 'You were not happy at grandmamma's, because you were not good.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is not a pleasant example at all, mamma; but it reminds me to ask you about Mrs. M—'s flower-garden."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="136"/> <paragraph>"You have just connected two parts of a sentence with a disjunctive conjunction. <italic>But</italic>, <italic>or</italic>, <italic>nor</italic>, <italic>as</italic>, <italic>though</italic>, <italic>unless</italic>, <italic>yet</italic>, are some of the disjunctives. There is a beautiful account of the condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ, which contains two disjunctives, expressive of contrast; and a copulative, continuing the sentence, with the reason for it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I cannot think of it yet, mamma. Can you help me, Emily?"</paragraph> <paragraph>Emily knew it, and repeated, "<italic>Though</italic> he was rich, <italic>yet</italic> for our sakes he became poor, <italic>that</italic> we through his poverty might become rich."</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>Though</italic>, and <italic>yet</italic>, and <italic>that</italic>," repeated Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"They stand in wonderful connection in that sentence, my dear children. It is one that appeals to our most tender feelings of gratitude and love. None can fully appreciate such love in Jesus, without loving Him in return."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then 'we love him because he first loved us.' That is true, and it gives a nicer <italic>because</italic> than yours, mamma," said Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I only desire that it may be equally true concerning you, Cecil; for you know, that <pagebreak page_no="137"/>'<italic>If</italic> we confess our sins, God is faithful <italic>and</italic> just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"And the <italic>if</italic> and the <italic>and</italic> are conjunctions — are they not?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes. If you take a passage in a book, and read it without conjunctions, you will find that, even if you can make sense of it, it will sound abrupt and harsh. Conjunctions, besides connecting sentences that would be short, disjointed statements without them, soften and refine their sound, and form a graceful combination in either speaking or writing. Composition without them has been compared to sand without lime. You know, grains of sand will not unite of themselves, but run about in detached particles: you must add lime, if you desire to make a compact and solid mass."</paragraph> <paragraph>"That is a funny thought. Then conjunctions act as the lime and the trowel; for they stick the words together, and then smooth them over."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Then, if you think you understand their use, you can find some more examples, and write them on your slate for me, by-and-by; <folio folio_no="N2"/><pagebreak page_no="138"/>and I will now tell you about Mrs. M—'s garden."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Thank you, mamma. I want very much to know how it can be like me."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Mrs. M— lived in a pleasant house, situated in a street where the ground was too much occupied with buildings to allow the inhabitants more than a small slip, at the back of each house, for gardens. Mrs. M— was fond of trees and flowers, but she could not cultivate many, because not only was the space too small, but the smoky atmosphere of a town was not favourable to their growth. However, she kept her little plot of ground neat and trim, and had a few dwarf shrubs and plants, which occasionally treated her to a flower. One day, when visiting some friends a few miles from town, she was admiring their large and beautiful garden, gay and fragrant with all the loveliest flowers of the season, when the gentleman to whom they belonged, remarked, playfully, that it must do her good to see real flowers, after the smoky little sticks that are exhibited in pots, under that name, in town.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'How dare you despise my garden?' she <pagebreak page_no="139"/>said, laughing. 'I assure you, it boasts some real flowers.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Oh, yes — a box of mignonette and a China rose, outside the window, I suppose,' returned her friend, still in joke.</paragraph> <paragraph>"'Promise that you will call and look at it to-morrow,' said Mrs. M— , 'and I am sure you will never speak disrespectfully of it again.'</paragraph> <paragraph>"The promise was given and kept. The gentleman was at her house, on his way from town, at the appointed time; declaring himself prepared to be overcome with admiration at the sight of her wonderful garden.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Great, indeed, was his surprise, when Mrs. M— led him to the window which commanded a view of the little garden. There were roses of every kind — pink, white, and damask; graceful fuschias, brilliant geraniums, and other fragrant and beautiful flowers, tastefully distributed over the ground. The visitor declared himself fairly disarmed of his ridicule, and playfully apologised for bis disrespect; requesting only to know how she managed to keep her plants so bright and luxuriant in so small a compass, and so unfavourable an atmosphere."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="140"/> <paragraph>"I think I can guess what she had done," said Emily. "Were not the flowers all in pots, mamma, and set into the ground?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"No; but if Mrs. M—'s friend had called the next morning, he would have discovered the secret. The whole scene was changed: never did a night effect such ruin among flowers. The roses had faded, the fuschias had withered; the garden looked miserable, far worse than if it had never been adorned with such transient beauty."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I dare say there were no roots to the flowers, and they were only stuck on to look pretty for a little while," cried Cecil.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Exactly so," said his mamma, looking earnestly at him. "There was no root. Mrs. M— had procured the flowers, and fastened them on to the little trees or shrubs that grew in the garden; and some were stuck into the ground. All, of course, withered and died; but her friend's visit being necessarily short, he had not time to examine very closely into the deception, and was much amused when she afterwards confessed the trick she had played. Do yon know what brought this to my recollection, Cecil?"</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="141"/> <paragraph>Cecil seemed to have some idea of his mother's meaning, and looked conscious of the application. She continued:</paragraph> <paragraph>"Finding beautiful and appropriate texts about every thing in God's Holy Word, and professing right feelings, and motives, and desires, is like tying beautiful flowers on to barren sticks. They make a show; they may even deceive ourselves and others into an idea that they are the produce of the tree, but a time to try them comes; temptation reveals the real nature of the character, and proves that they were only stuck there for a little while, just to look pretty, while it cost no trouble to keep them; but useless and worthless, without root in the heart. Happiness is not promised to the knowledge of what is right, but to the practice of it. 'If ye <italic>know</italic> these things, happy are ye if ye <italic>do</italic> them.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Indeed, mamma, I am very sorry for being rude and passionate, the other day; but really you do not know how hard it was to help it."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Nor you either, Cecil; for you did not help it. If you had, I might have hoped <pagebreak page_no="142"/>that your better tempers and conduct are not flowers without roots, and that they prove the change which the Holy Spirit alone can make in the nature of the tree. As it is, I think you may be profited by this unhappy day, by being convinced you are only like a bramble yet, and need the change that may be had for asking. You seldom allow yourself to be long without anything desirable that I can give you, if you may obtain it by asking; and God is much more ready to bestow His Holy Spirit upon them that ask Him. Until you obtain this precious guardian of conduct, I can feel no confidence in trusting you out of my sight."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, mamma!" said Cecil, very sorrowfully.</paragraph> <paragraph>"We shall say no more about it now, Cecil, as I do think you regret what happened; and I will inform you, that you just then uttered the last part of speech — the easiest to remember— an interjection."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, did I? — what can it be?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"You are quite familiar with it. You repeated it again."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Why, mamma, I did not say anything. 'Oh' means nothing at all."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="143"/> <paragraph>"And most of the interjections mean nothing at all in themselves, but derive all their meaning from the tone of voice in which they are uttered. They are, as their name implies, little exclamations thrown into conversation to express the sudden feeling of the speaker. You said, 'Oh, mamma!' just now, in a tone expressive of sorrow and regret; then in one of surprise. When you called me to look at the sun setting the other evening, you used the same word, or sound, in admiration. I need not tell you what feeling it expressed, when your tooth was extracted." "Ah, that was along Oh! oh! oh! of pain." "And you uttered it in anger this morning, when Herbert upset your tool-chest."</paragraph> <paragraph>"What a curious thing that the same word can stand for so many different feelings! Are there any others, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"<italic>Hark! hush! behold!</italic> are interjections, commanding sudden silence or attention. The last once suddenly turned the attention of a crowd from the speaker to a person who was approaching, and who presented the most interesting and marvellous sight that was ever gazed on."</paragraph> <pagebreak page_no="144"/> <paragraph>"Mamma, I know what you mean. 'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Can we do that now, Cecil?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, mamma, by faith; seeing with our minds, believing about Jesus as much as if we saw Him and heard Him with our eyes and ears, on earth, now."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; and you know the Lord said, 'Blessed are they who see not, yet believe.' I have nothing particular to say about interjections, excepting a caution in the use of them; for it is said, that when people use many of them in writing or speaking, it is because they have nothing better to say."</paragraph> <paragraph>"And now, have we really got through all the parts of speech, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"We have taken a flying peep at all but one; and I hope you are ready for further acquaintance with them in the pages of the book you seemed to dislike so much."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I am ready to begin it, whenever you like, mamma: but what is that one?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is the particular friend and companion of nouns, and is usually considered before them; but I took the noun first, as the more <pagebreak page_no="145"/>important — I mean the article. <italic>A</italic> and <italic>the</italic> are called articles, and are placed before nouns to point them out, and to show what particular nouns are spoken of."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, yes: '<italic>a</italic> house, <italic>the</italic> sun.' That is a very easy little fellow to remember."</paragraph> <paragraph>"I once heard a little boy say that he could 'heat a hegg,'" said Mrs. C.</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, dear mamma! you make me say interjections of astonishment."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It is quite true; and after quarrelling with some companion, be ran to tell us that the naughty boy had pulled 'an 'air off his 'ead.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>Cecil laughed merrily at the ridiculous sound.</paragraph> <paragraph>"You laugh, Sir; but can you tell what he ought to have said?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes, I can, mamma. He should have said, 'eat an egg,' and 'a hair off my head.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"The poor letter <italic>h</italic>, mamma!" said Emily: "it is very ill-used, to be set up in the wrong place, and pushed out of the right one."</paragraph> <paragraph>"The sound of the <italic>h</italic> at the beginning of words is usually an aspiration or effort of the breath, and the letter <italic>n</italic> is felt to be in the <folio folio_no="O"/><pagebreak page_no="146"/>way, before it; but 'an air' in music sounds quite correct, while 'a air' would be as disagreeable as 'an hair.' Before words beginning with vowels, or with <italic>h</italic> not sounded, <italic>a</italic> must be changed into <italic>an</italic>; but before consonants, a only must be used: 'an apple, an egg,' rather than 'a apple, a egg;' and 'a heart, a garden, a flower,' rather than 'an heart, an garden, an flower.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Oh, mamma, surely no one would think of saying 'an garden, an flower,' however ignorant they may be," said Emily.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I suppose not, because it would be troublesome. <italic>F</italic> and <italic>g</italic> are not so easily slipped over as the <italic>h</italic>; and yet, 'an book, an garden,' would not be more incorrect than 'an 'ouse, an 'eart, an 'ope.'"</paragraph> <paragraph>"How vulgar and ridiculous!" exclaimed Emily.</paragraph> <paragraph>"I just remember," said Mrs. C., "an amusing incident, caused by the omission of the ill-used <italic>h</italic>. A little girl had laid aside her garden hat, which, when wanted again, could not be found. An hour or two afterwards, a member of the household, who was looking behind a small table which stood turned up in <pagebreak page_no="147"/>one comer of the room, suddenly exclaimed, 'Oh, here's 'er 'at!' She had found the lost hat, but so pronounced the discovery, that it had the sound of 'Oh, here's a rat!'</paragraph> <paragraph>"Now, rats are not pleasant intruders into sitting rooms; and it happened that some members of the family held them in great disgust and terror. The confusion and alarm were instantly extreme. Some jumped on the chairs, and thence to the table, screaming, 'A rat! a rat!' while the innocent cause of the mischief stood gazing in astonishment at the fright which had seized her companions; and it was some time before a quiet explanation could be understood."</paragraph> <paragraph>"It was certainly enough to make them remember the consequence of dethroning the lawful head of the lost hat," said Emily, who, with Cecil, soon realised a graphic idea of the scene, to their own infinite amusement.</paragraph> <paragraph>"When the vowel <italic>u</italic> takes the sound of <italic>you</italic>, at the beginning of a word, it is now considered correct to prefix <italic>a</italic>, instead of <italic>an</italic>; as, 'a useful person,' 'an universal opinion.' <italic>A</italic> or <italic>an</italic> is called an indefinite article, because it does not determine what particular thing is <pagebreak page_no="148"/>meant; and it is used only in the singular number: 'a person, a house, a boy,' — any person, or house, or boy. But the definitive article <italic>the</italic> is more precise; it is used to mean some particular noun — 'the boy, the house;' some boy or house, in particular, is defined by it. It may also be used both in the singular and plural numbers. You may perceive a remarkable difference in the use of the definite and indefinite article, in one clear illustration. If one man addresses another, saying, 'Thou art a man,' the remark does not excite much attention; but when the Prophet Nathan addresses the king, saying, 'Thou art <italic>the</italic> man,' a volume of terrible meaning is at once revealed to the conscience of David."</paragraph> <paragraph>"So it is, indeed. I see the difference, mamma."</paragraph> <paragraph>"But," added Cecil, "are there not two more parts in Grammar?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Yes; Syntax and Prosody. <italic>Syntax</italic> is from a Greek word, signifying the ordering and arrangement of soldiers in an army; and means, in Grammar, the order and arrangement of words in a sentence. It contains the rules for their place and agreement, so as <pagebreak page_no="149"/>to secure propriety and elegance in speaking and writing. <italic>Prosody</italic> is also from the Greek, and signifies composition. It teaches true pronunciation — accent, pause, and tone, and the composition of verse."</paragraph> <paragraph>"Poetry, do you mean, mamma?"</paragraph> <paragraph>"Versification is not necessarily poetry. There may be a correct number of words in lines or rhyme, and yet no pure or beautiful idea may be conveyed by them. Beal poetry requires refinement and beauty of idea, as well as grace and harmony of sound. When these are combined with verse, the effect of measured language is striking and agreeable. Now, if you please, you may, in compliment to the derivation of Syntax, consider Grammar as the preparation of troops for the battlefield. First, we want recruits, and Orthography enlists for the ranks a set of tractable soldiers, to be classed according to their various capabilities. Etymology is the drillserjeant, instructing in the exercises and operations of the service for which they are designed. Syntax arranges them in companies, regiments, and battalions, and prepares a well-ordered and fully-equipped force <pagebreak page_no="150"/>for all the manoeuvres of skilful generalship. Prosody, as commander-in-chief, plans the action, and gives the word of command; directs the artillery of argument, the sweeping fire of eloquence; dictates terms of peace, and ensures the song of victory. But never forget, that, whatever may be the triumphs of language in subduing opposition, kindling animation, persuading the reluctant, instructing the ignorant, and enchanting the hearer, the best weapon in its armoury is, 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.'"</paragraph> </div1> <paragraph>THE END.</paragraph> </div0> </grammar_text> </grammar_book>