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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution? In full confidence in the justice and mercy of God, not with his lips only, but from his heart, could Holdich repeat the triumphant declaration, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Its

Strange as it may appear, that week of sore trial closed not unhappily in the steward's cottage. There was in that little household peace with God, and peace with one another. The heat of the furnace was felt, but affliction was doing a blessed work. softening effect was seen on Holdich; while all the vigour and strength of his character remained, that which might have once appeared stern and hard was melting away. Suffering was teaching him tenderness and sympathy for natures weaker than his own : he too knew what it was to suffer. And that which softened the husband, gave consistency and firmness to the wife. Rebekah was roused from her indolence and apathy. Real affliction made her blush for the fretful repining which had clouded her prosperous days. She saw her duties in a new light, and was stirred up to perform them. She was resolved, by God's aid, to be a true helpmeet to her persecuted husband. Ned, in the same fiery trial, had learned to know himself, and the evil of the world around. him. The thoughtless had begun to think, the careLittle cause had the enemies

less had begun to pray.

of Holdich to triumph.

With their insidious malice, they had succeeded in drawing a family closer to one another, and nearer to God.

Thus when, from a distance, we look upon a thick forest, it appears one mass of dark shade, unbroken, impenetrable, gloomy. We enter it, and find it intersected by paths, rugged perhaps and narrow, yet safe.

We look up, and the light from above struggles through like a soft green twilight, while here and there brilliant sunbeams glance like diamond shafts through the foliage, and show us that what once appeared all gloom, is instinct with life and with beauty.

XXIII.

Raised Aloft.

ALMLY dawned the Sabbath morning, but scarcely had the level rays of the sun. glittered on the meadows heavy with dew,

when the noise of workmen, the sound of the saw and the hammer came from the mount of the Walhalla, like a discord to mar the hymn of nature ascending to God.

When Holdich and his son were about to start for their usual Sunday walk to the church in Axe, to their surprise Rebekah entered the parlour in bonnet and shawl.

"You mean to walk part of the way with us,

wife ?"

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"I mean to walk all the way," she replied. I cannot remain here alone with those hateful sounds in my ears. With your strong arm to lean on, and the peaceful holy service to refresh my spirit at the end, the effort will do me no harm."

Pleasant was the walk over the fields both to Holdich and Rebekah. The primroses clustering under the hedges, the joyous birds on the wing spoke

of the watchful care of Him who clotheth the lilies, and without whom not a sparrow can fall to the ground. Ned, who had shrunk exceedingly from the thought of facing a congregation in the town where he so lately had undergone an examination under the charge of theft, found the trial more endurable when his mother was at his side. The sermon was full of consolation, and Rebekah, while listening to it, almost forgot the sense of exhaustion occasioned by unwonted fatigue.

When the service was concluded, and the Holdiches, with the rest of the congregation, were slowly quitting the porch of the church, old farmer Sterne came up with the party, and addressed the disgraced steward with mingled kindliness and respect.

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My dog-cart waits yonder," said he, "if Mrs. Holdich would let me drive her home, I shall be proud to do so, 'tis not a mile out of my way." And looking kindly at Ned, he added, " And there's plenty of room for the lad behind, he don't look strong enough for the walk."

The offer frankly made was frankly accepted. Robert and Rebekah felt kindness to Ned far more sensitively than any personal to themselves. It was no small gratification to them both that a man so much respected as farmer Sterne, should seem thus to testify before the world his belief in the innocence of their son. As the farmer with a light crack of his whip drove off, and Holdich turned to pursue his

lonely walk towards his home, his heart felt lighter than it had done since the beginning of his heavy trials.

When Holdich had risen on the preceding Sunday, how little had he guessed what a steep, thorny road lay before him, or how much of sorrow would be crowded into the short space of seven days! He had then awoke, not without heavy cares, yet with the consciousness of being an independent and prosperous man. Had he known that within the opening week he would find his situation forfeited; his savings swept away; his son disgraced; his fair prospects blighted; poverty, debt, and shame hounding his steps, even Robert's firm soul might have recoiled from so precipitous a descent into the Vale of Humiliation. Now he had trodden the painful path, not indeed without stumbling, not without acute distress, not without a struggle with the enemy, yet grasping an unseen Hand that had borne him up, and guided him on, and that was leading him through much tribulation to peace, and honour, and glory. The Vale of Humiliation itself has its green pastures and its still waters.

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Nothing shall persuade me that there's a black sheep in that flock," was the mental decision of the kind old farmer as he put down Rebekah at her little garden gate; and Ned, after helping his mother to alight, turned to thank him with grateful feeling expressed in his honest blue eyes.

"The godless set

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