Curiosities of Heat

icero: I count Nature the best guide, and follow

which had not been seen before in a twelvemonth. Mr. Hume did not shun the church from a dislike of the minister. He believed Mr. Wilton to be a good man, and he knew him to be kind and earnest, well instructed in every kind of knowledge and mighty in the Scriptures. He kept aloof because he hated the Bible. He had been instructed in the Scri

coming more interesting and solemn. The impenitent dropped in to these meetings more frequently than was their wont. Mr. Wilton himself felt the power of Christ coming upon him and girding him as if for some great spiritual conflict. His heart was filled with an unspeakable yearning to see sinners converted and Christ glorified. He seemed to himself to wo

knew nothing of it. Least of all did Mr. Hume suspect such an undercurrent of religiou

ion of the one infinite, personal, living, holy, just, and gracious Jehovah. This was the very theme which Mr. Hume wished most of all not to hear. That very name, Jehovah, of all the names applied to God, was most disagreeable; it suggested the idea of the living God who manifested himself in olden time and wrought wonders before the eyes of men. But the infide

reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine." Having taken Mr. Hume's orders for grocer

ed Mr. Hume; "I think him a

t I shall never lose the impression of God's existence and character which that

as much as the writers of that b

on that the Bible is the word of God, writt

ve. The book of Nature is my Bible. I agree with old Cicero: I count Natur

to show, as he might otherwise have done, that Cicero did not mean t

Does it not speak of an infinitely wise and good Creator and Governor? Do not the works of Nature te

ne that is good and righteous. Does Nature punish those whom you call the wicked? Does Nature reward the righteous? Do not the laws of Nature bring suffering to the good and the bad alike, and happiness also to all classes of men? Would you, if you had power, create a world like this-a world in which danger, pain, and death, in every shape, lie in ambush against its inhabitan

octrine,'" answered Deacon Gregory; and inviti

id for him more than belief in Nature and worship at the altar of Science could do for unbelievers. He felt also that he had spoken a little too freely, especially in revealing, at the last, his unrest of spirit from the

by Mr. Wilton. He had always shown a ready interest in all Bible studies and a quick understanding of Scripture doctrine, so that some thought him not far from the kingdom of God. But Deacon Arnold little thought what was in the heart of his son. He might have known, for to read his son's heart he had only to recall his own early manhood. For years he had hung trembling upon the brink of ruin, swept, at times, by his self-will and turbulent youthful passions, to the very verge of the precipice, and had been preserved only by singular grace from falling over. Now Ansel was following in his father's early footsteps-self-willed, and stubborn against the Spirit of God, and, at times, almost persuaded to cast off all re

were seed-thoughts in Ansel's mind. He had before thought of the only alternative to be set over against belief in the sacred Scriptures as simply unbelief-bare, blank denial of their truth. He had not dreamed of building up a set of proud, rationalistic notions, and denying the truths of religion in the character of a young philosopher. He kept his thoughts to himse

ebrews?" And he briefly stated the subject discussed in these Epistles of Paul. "Perhaps," he continued, "you would prefer to study one of the historic books of the Old Testame

not study something wh

commit himself by suggesting his own thoughts. He was respectful, but in the confu

h he did not fully understand

d; "do you think Genesis less trus

and must now make the best of his situ

lieve the Bible to be inspired, and they sa

g, Ansel, that has put suc

book that said anythi

o study the evidences of the truth an

ssons upon that subject, but that wa

nd which is true if t

s his Bible, and that we do not need any other, and that, whether the B

re and the Bible would perfectly agree. Did Mr. Hume say that what

lled his mind, not as his own, but as Mr. Hume'

hat we cannot prove that God created the universe, but that matter has existed from eternity uncreated, and that all the

of scientific infidelity, and saw that Ansel's statements were somewhat exaggerated, but he understood in a moment the drift of Ansel's thoughts, though he could not tell as yet

id, "you would like a course of le

ld allow us to have a course of lessons in

ons showing the footprints of the Creator, so to sp

like it

an please the other

y were influenced simply by the love of something new. They were of just that age when one hardly knows whether to call them lads or young men; they had been well instructed, and were just beginning to think independently. They were rapidly becoming conscious of thei

tendent's bell warned them

ce where he has walked; we must fix on some small part of the works of God, and direct our attention closely to that. We shall find this course more profitable than roaming carelessly over a much larger space. Our next lesson will have t

did not care to join his class. He was too much in earnest to please them. He made religion a reality, and his instruction compelled them to think, and of course those who did not like to think were not well pleased with him. But there were a few of the young men who were greatly interested in his instructions. They were earnest readers of instructive books; they liked conversation which called out thought; they were most o

zing he did not like. He was not pious, and gave no indication of serious impressions. The third was Samuel Ledyard, the son of a poor widow. By painful industry and economy his pious mother was giving him the best advantages for education which the village afforded, praying the Lord to give him a part in the blessed work of preaching the gospel and winning sinners to Christ and salvation. When but twelve years of age he gave himself to Chr

t the Lord was preparing her only son and only child for a place in the gospel ministry. If only she might train up a son to such a work, and when she should go to her rest leave in her place a man working for Christ in his harvest-field, gathering sheaves unto everlasting life, she felt that her cup would be full. She was ready to say with Simeon: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." How unlike she was to those mothers who lay

h it was small. As he saw them expanding in thought and taking shape under his hand, he felt that in them he was perpetuating his influence in comin

ted in following the course of study th