Chapter XIX: In "the Shadow of a Great Rock."

"I CAN see how it is very well," thought Miss Lydia Brooks. "I know that old woman thinks her nephew admires me, as I know he does too; and so she wants to make a Methodist of me for his sake, that when he makes me the offer, I may be ready to say, 'Yes, if you please,' without any conditions of my own. But I've got a spirit, and a will, and I'll do as I like in spite of her. Dear me, how comfortable it will be to get out of the way of that tiresome Dick, and mother always dinning at me about being tidy, and keeping hours, and so on, and to have nothing to do but amuse myself all the day long. I don't think I shall even make my own things when I'm married. I know what wages he gets, for I got it out of his little brother, and he can afford to keep me like a lady, and he shall; and if he minds me, I'll have him to hold his head as high as any of the best of them."

And the vision went on until Miss Lydia saw herself riding in her own carriage, and her husband, at the very least, master of the Dixons' works; unless, indeed, the young gardener, who was going to be another Sir Joseph Paxton, should make her an offer first. But somehow he was always looking at that Emily Taylor when he had the chance, though what he could see in her was a mystery. She would be just like her old aunt, Mrs. Hayes, and never likely to raise herself in the world.

With these and similar preparations for the charge and management of a working man's home, Miss Lydia tossed her pretty head a good many times in contempt of Milly Taylor and Aunt Hayes. But therewith came the recollection that she was engaged to finish the silk dress that day, and so it came to pass that she was one of the party who met around Mrs. Taylor's tea-table in the parlour that afternoon.

Susan was busy with some cakes of a favourite kind, and Mrs. Hayes was directing some operation of the oven, which the younger Susan had taken in hand, when three young ladies tapped at the door, and were instantly admitted.

"Oh, Mrs. Hayes!" exclaimed one, flying up to the old lady and giving her a hearty kiss. "You're busy, and we must not stay. We only brought Mrs. Taylor some flowers, and mamma says if you like, Milly is to come and have tea with you to-day. Papa told us that Robert is giving Mr. Matthew a drive out for the first time, and that they are coming to take tea here, so we knew you would like to have them all round you: don't you now?"

"Indeed I do like it, and more than like it; I thank my God for it, dear young lady," said Mrs. Hayes. "You know the old woman cannot expect to be here again, at least it isn't very likely."

"Now, don't say that," cried another of the bright girls, saucily patting the firm, rosy old cheek; "I don't want to cry, and I shall if I'm never to see you any more."

"Ah, let us make sure, dear child, that we shall and must meet again, by being friends in the Lord Jesus. You know He is my dear Saviour and Lord: is He yours?"

"Well, I hope so; I don't know. I'm so giddy, they say."

"The more need of such a Friend to lean on and be ruled by," said Mrs. Hayes. "Be sure the Lord is looking for you; for they who told you that you are giddy, maybe told Him too."

"There, Mrs. Hayes, I've set out those flowers prettily, haven't I?" said a third. "And now for mamma's message to you. She says she must have you for a day or two all to herself, and she won't let us in to plague you until after tea; and you are to fix your own day, and we will come for you."

And then, with a kiss from each, and a kind message to Mrs. Taylor, the gay girls departed.

"Bless them, Lord bless them!" said Mrs. Hayes, reverently, as if she meant it. "And let us tell the dear young things who love to show kindness and sympathy to those who are a step or two below them in the ranks of society, that the fervent blessing of an old Christian is no light matter. It may be the prayer that availeth much, and on some future in the stream of time may hover over them with a bounteous answer from Him who never forgets."

"Bless me!" thought Miss Lydia, who had been a listening observer, and used the same word as a senseless expression of wonder. "How much they make of her! And she nothing but an old farm woman!"

"May I see your home, Robert?" Mr. Hill had said to his new friend: "I fancy it is a happy one."

"It is a happy home. God has been very gracious to us all," said the young man, "and I am only waiting the doctor's leave to take you there."

A pleasant little plan was arranged between them, and so it came also to pass that Mr. Hill was a welcome guest that day.

Now it is curious how young people possess themselves of intelligence that does not concern them, but so it is; and Mr. Lewis, the young gardener at Lord Crewe's, found out that Emily Taylor was spending the evening at home. He could not very gracefully invite himself to tea, but as soon as possible afterwards, he made his appearance—dressed, as Miss Lydia remarked to her intimate friend, "for all the world like a real gentleman"—with a new plan he had concocted for warming his greenhouses, and on which he wished to consult Mr. Taylor.

The conversation was easy and pleasant to those who had met for friendly intercourse, and religion did not sit up with a starched frill, like a stranger of olden times invited for duty's sake, and formal enough to scare anybody from wishing its acquaintance, but with its sweet ever-present influence shed peace and cheerfulness over heart and lip.

At last, however, it struck Miss Lydia Brooks that she was playing too insignificant a part in the conversation, and having a combination of clever purposes to answer by a display of her sentiments—a proof of her power over the young engineer, a silencer for presumptuous Mrs. Hayes, and an eclipse of the modest Emily—she took the first opportunity to start a new subject.

"Oh, Mrs. Taylor," she began, in an insinuating tone, "I want to mention to you a little scheme of ours, and which my father and mother hope you will join. There's a cheap excursion train to the old castle at Holme next Sunday afternoon, and it would be so nice to make up a large party to go. We should have tea at the inn, ramble about and see the ruins, and get home by the late train, which is to bring back the excursionists."

"On Sunday, did you say, my dear?" said Susan, thinking it possible she might have been mistaken.

"Yes, on Sunday; 'we' don't think it any harm to take a little country air and a little pleasure on a Sunday; after morning service, of course, I mean. Our duty to God I know should come first." And the young speaker looked round with complacency. What could anybody say after that pious conclusion?

"It is the Lord's day, my dear, and we never require more pleasure than its observance gives us," said Mrs. Taylor, quietly.

"I suppose you like fair play, Miss Brooks," said Mr. Taylor; "but if you grant it, what would become of your excursion and your tea? The clerks at the stations, the engine-driver, the stoker, the guard, the innkeeper, and sundry others employed, may like a little change of air and a little pleasure as much as you do. And if they were to insist upon having it, Sunday excursionists must forego their selfish enjoyments."

"Oh, but father says they would rather have the money than the rest. And if so, we may as well take the benefit such their choice," said Lydia, quite a match, she thought, for narrow-minded arguments.

"Well, then, let us take the right ground at once," said Mr. Taylor, "and admire the wisdom and kindness of Almighty God, who fixed a portion of man's time for resting from the business and things of this world both to recruit his bodily powers and to consider the future state to which all of us are bound, and to worship Him who alone can fit us for the enjoyment of it. If you were to be called to the throne of England, Miss Lydia, and didn't know the hour when the summons would come, would you not like a little time to keep yourself ready for it?"

"Very likely I should," said Lydia, laughing.

"The children of God," continued Mr. Taylor, "have an inheritance laid up for them, 'a crown of life' that nothing can deprive them of; they don't know the minute when they may be called to take possession, and they feel the need, the joy, and the wisdom of having a portion of time separated from the business or pleasures, if you think them such, of this present world, and calmly give up their hearts and minds to things which shall last for ever. In this view of the Lord's day, it is wrong for me to help to deprive others of the same opportunity. If they do not think of their immortal souls, I ought at least to do my part towards reminding them."

"But what if some don't take your view of the day, Mr. Taylor?" said Mr. Lewis. "What if some think that there is now no such command?"

"I might ask you in return," said Mr. Taylor, "how you prove that a law made before man sinned, renewed when God entered into a covenant with a chosen people, and still thankfully regarded by all who are now put into the place of that people, was ever annulled by divine authority."

"Your great example Jesus Christ did not observe it so rigidly," said Lewis; "He was continually in trouble for disregarding it."

"For disregarding the formal observance which Pharisees had substituted for heart-service to the Lord of the Sabbath," said Mr. Taylor; "but because He distinctly taught that 'it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day,' would you presume to imply that he meant it was unnecessary to do good on other days?"

"Can anybody lend me a Bible?" asked Mr. Lewis. "I know there's a passage that says just what I mean."

Mr. Taylor and Robert each quietly drew a small, well-thumbed Bible from their pockets, while the younger children who were sitting by sprang up and quickly rushed round Mr. Lewis with three more, giving him a choice of size.

After a good deal of turning over leaves, while everybody waited, Robert generously came to the rescue. "Is this it?" said he, handing his Bible opened at the fourteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Mr. Lewis took it, and read to himself.

"Ah, yes, thank you, this is exactly what I wanted, and is quite conclusive to my mind."

And he read in a clear, satisfied tone at the fourth verse, picking out the sentences that seemed to suit him.

"'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.'

"Now, what can be more satisfactory than that? I beg to ask. So you see, Miss Brooks, you have the same authority for your way of enjoying your Sunday as our friends here have for theirs."

Miss Lydia smiled graciously, and thought Mr. Lewis an exceedingly nice, polite young man.

"There is such a thing as handling the Word of God deceitfully, but allow me to say another word before you consider the argument ended," said William Taylor. "You must not treat that book like a dictionary, which gives you the meaning of a word, without any connection with what stands before or after it. The Word of God interprets itself. Let me ask you to observe to whom that chapter is written. It treats of the mutual forbearance of brethren, strong and weak. What brethren? 'To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints,' whose 'faith was spoken of throughout the whole world;' who were 'justified by faith,' and had 'peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;' who were to 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.'

"Now, of such it might safely be said, 'He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it;' 'for whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.'

"Such are safely free from the judgment of the formalist, who would make religion to consist in 'meat and drink, and observance of holy days, or keeping of Sabbaths,' making everything of the shadow, and losing the substance it pointed to. But none others are addressed here, and to none others does this apostolic argument apply."

"I should say, sir," said Mr. Lewis, coldly, "that the Bible is as much for me as for you."

"A part of it, certainly," said Mr. Taylor, gently. "It only recognises two classes, believers and unbelievers; it has different words for each, and your share of it is according to your place with one or the other. If you ask me, I can truly say before God and my own conscience, that I do keep and highly regard the Lord's day, that I thank Him for it as one of the best blessings of my country and one of the workman's dearest boons. On it by lawful right I claim rest from my daily toil, and opportunity to worship Him among the people 'gathered together in His name;' on it I can instruct my children, arm myself afresh for the duties of life, and enjoy my earthly, while looking forward to my heavenly, home."

"It's all very well for you, sir, I dare say," said Mr. Lewis, somewhat chafed at having no answer ready.

"Well, then, suffer me to ask, Is it equally well with you? Can you say before God and your own conscience, 'I do not care to keep the Lord's day, I disregard it "unto the Lord;" I neither avail myself, and for my pleasure I hinder others from availing themselves, of opportunities for worship and hearing His Word; I like to do my "pleasure on His holy day," not considering it "a delight," or "the holy of the Lord," or "honourable," and all this "unto the Lord;" I speak my own words, and visit my own companions, "unto the Lord;" I disagree with all the Bible says about faith, and love, and service, about glorifying Him, and doing good to the souls of my fellow-creatures, "unto the Lord;" and this negative way of being a Christian man is my offering "unto the Lord," and my way of being ready for the eternal Sabbath in glory with Him?' Say, dear young friend, is this a safe, wise way?"

"You think you have the best of it, I see, Mr. Taylor," said Lewis; "and I don't profess to have the Bible so glib on my tongue; but I have books at home that I could quote to you if I had time, which put matters in a very different light."

"You mean 'darkness,' young man," said Mrs. Hayes, firmly. "To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

"Now that old woman is down upon him too," thought Miss Lydia; "it's quite too bad."—"Perhaps, Mr. Taylor," she immediately interposed, "you will let the young people judge for themselves."

"Those who are old enough to have judgment," said William; "the others will submit without question to mine."

"Then, Mr. Robert and Miss Milly," she cried, "will you think about my father's plan, and join us?"

"We have been too happy in the way my father has explained to you to wish for any change," said Robert; "and if you fairly represent it at home, Miss Brooks, I think your influence would induce your parents to consider and try it for themselves."

"I am not converted to it yet," said Lydia, flippantly.

The presence of the young gardener and Miss Lydia had marred some of the pleasure of this visit to Mr. Hill, but he was not sorry to have heard such a view of religion from the words and experience of his host. And he resolved with God's blessing to rule his own house in future after such a pattern. This was the happiest home he had ever seen, and the reason he justly ascribed to the fact that it was a Christian home.

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