of a young and impressible child. Mr. Clareton could always leave his little Persis with her, for he knew that in his absence, she would never lose sight of the child; and that she would only learn that which was right and true from the precepts and example of her nurse. If there was one point above others which Mr. Clareton had insisted on in the training of his child, it was truth. The only occasion on which he had inflicted severe punishment on his darling child, was when she had told a lie, and after he had punished her and taken pains to express his gravest displeasure, he set before her in the most awful point of view, the vileness and the wickedness of falsehood and deceit of every kind. He shewed her in the Word of God that all lies are of the devil, and his especial attribute; and that all truth is of God, and the peculiar attribute of Him, of His Christ, His Spirit, His Word, and His people. The impression made on the mind of the child was never effaced. From that time Persis was remarkable for the transparency of her character, and whatever she might have to suffer, she spoke and she did that which was true. There was nothing light or trifling about the character of Mabel; and while she made religion pleasant by her own cheerful ways, she never spoke on the subject, or read to her youthful charge from the Holy Bible, without a grave reverence, which impressed the child with a sense of its reality, and of the deep importance which she attached to God's word. She would often speak to her of the preciousness of divine truth, and of the privilege which the possessors of the holy scriptures enjoyed and she would relate to the thoughtful child many an affecting story of the trials and sufferings of the martyrs of the Marian persecution; of their unflinching courage, of their strong faith and enduring patience, of the marvellous providences of God, in protecting : some of them on various occasions; and of the still more marvellous grace of God, with which He had enabled others to stand calmly and cheerfully in the midst of the assembled crowds, some blessing and encouraging them, while they looked upon them through their tears; others kindling the piled-up faggots, and taunting and insulting them in the midst of their agonies. Her own grandmother, as she told Persis, when a little helpless infant, had been given to the charge of a godly woman from her mother's arms, as that brave and pious mother went on her way to the stake, but could not bear to part with her infant till the last. And the faithful friend, folding the poor motherless child to her breast, had stood at a distance and seen the mother lifting her hands to heaven, with a smile of joy upon her face, till the flames mounted and curled round her head, and the smoke rose up like a cloud and shut her out from her sight for a while; and when she saw her again, all her pain and suffering were over, for her spirit had gone up to the throne of God, and her poor blackened and shapeless body fell motionless into the blazing fire. And there was another godly woman of whom she told, one of her father's kinswomen, who had gone with the idle and curious crowd to see two martyrs burnt in the Lollard's pit, just without the city of Norwich, under Kit's Castle; and when she saw their glorious faith, and the strength that was given them from on high, she turned to those who stood beside her, and said, she should be right willing to pledge them in the same cup. And her words were brought in accusation against her; and not long after, her wicked persecutors led her also to the Lollard's pit: and when she came there, she went up to the stake and laid her hand upon it, and said calmly, "welcome the cross of Christ." It was the same stake at which the two martyrs, whom she had seen suffer, had been burnt, and it was still black with the smoke of their burning, and soiled her hand: and when she saw this, she quietly wiped it with her shroud; then again she drew near, and laid her hand upon the stake, and kissed it: saying, as she did so, "welcome the sweet cross of Christ." They bound her to it, and as the flames rose up, her voice rose with them, with those beautiful words: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour." Then placing her hands on her breast, she cast her eyes upwards, and there she stood as motionless and calm, as if she had been all the while in a gentle slumber; only that her eyes were open, and she steadfastly gazed up in heaven. And it was with records like these, records of those distant times, when many of all ranks, from the delicate lady of the court, to the poor wife of the worsted weaver and the labourer, counted not their lives dear unto themselves, but were valiant for the truth, and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer, even unto death, for the sake of Christ, and for the testimony of the truth:-it was with such true and heart-moving stories that the godly nurse instilled into the heart of the grave and lovely girl, the unspeakable importance of the word of truth, when in the long winter evenings they sate together in the warm chimney corner of the old vicarage hall; when the tasks and the work of the day were ended, all but Mabel's knitting, and Persis had drawn her stool closer to her nurse's side, and resting her arm upon her nurse's knee, as she listened, and looked up into her dear familiar face. The door between the study and the hall stood open at those times, and there Persis could see her father, bending down his face over his books, or turning his eyes towards her. For sometimes books and papers were forgotten, the pen was laid down, the volume was unheeded, and unread, as he looked with a long and steadfast gaze upon the beautiful contrast of age and childhood; the pale expressive features, marked with the lines of age in the one, and the delicately chiselled lips and brow, and fair rounded cheek of the other: it was a picture of soft glowing light, shining out from the shadowy gloom, and set in the frame of the old carved chimney piece. Over the chimney piece of the study, there was a portrait of Hooper, the martyr, holding his Bible in his hand, with his own words printed in golden letters on the black frame:-"SEE! BY THE WORD OF GOD, WHAT TRUTH IS; AND IN THESE WOEFUL AND WRETCHED DAYS, WHATSOEVER YOU HEAR TAUGHT, TRY IT BY THIS BOOK, WHETHER IT BE TRUE OR FALSE. There also was the martyr's coat of arms, under his bishop's mitre, carved upon the top of the frame, three crosses, with the rays of glory shining from heaven upon them; and for the crest, a lamb in a fiery bush; and while Mabel was telling these stories of the confessors and martyrs in Queen Mary's days, Persis would sometimes turn her eyes from gazing up into the face of her nurse, to look, not only towards her father, but higher up, to the fine old portrait above his head, where the light shone upon the broad forehead, and the white beard, and the still whiter ruff and surplice of the holy martyr ; and upon his own golden words, at the foot of the frame; and then the story which her father had told her about the coat of arms above the picture, would glance across her mind, how that when Dr. Hooper was appointed to the see of Gloucester, and his coat of arms, which the herald had emblazoned for him, was shown him for the first time; he had said, as he looked upon them, that he knew he should die for the truth. It was not a dark and gloomy view which Mabel took of the sufferings of the martyrs, and her stories had not a saddening, but a bracing effect upon the mind of her youthful hearer. Mabel was a calm, cheerful, sensible woman; and Persis was not melancholy or moody, even when she was most grave. "These accounts," said Mabel, "should teach us to raise our thoughts above this troubled earth, and to consider the precious worth of God's truth; and when we think upon them, we should remember what the great apostle has said, that our 'light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; and, as Paul also declares in another place, 'that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' Yes, and if we are true to Him who suffered unspeakable anguish both in body and soul for us, if we follow Him, my sweet Persis, we shall cheerfully take up our cross, and quietly count the cost beforehand. We must look all these afflictions steadily in the face, and we may be sure of this, that He who gives the burden, will always fit the back to bear it; He, who in his gracious love is pleased to send the trial, will give also the grace to endure it. We may well thank God that those dreadful days are long gone by; but we must never forget the cloud of witnesses, the band of brave and faithful men and women who endured the fiery trial. If, however, such days should ever come again, why should we fear the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is all-sufficient; and I have often felt assured, that we can scarcely understand with what wondrous power from on high, given in the measure it was needed, those witnesses for the truth were supplied. I know it was said of Master Bradford, that he endured the flame as a fresh gale of wind on a hot summer's day. We never need fear, however, anything that comes from God, but only that which comes from ourselves, or from that wicked one who would E |