eruse the Sacred Book; one from pure love of,
and entire dependence on, the words and precepts contained therein; the
other from habit--"their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers
did so before them--always on a Sunday--and sometimes (when they had
time) during the week--and God forbid that they should ever be worse
than their ancestors!" The Reverend Jonas Fleetword belonged partly to
the one class, partly to the other: his progenitors, for upwards of a
century, had been foremost in forwarding the religion of the Gospel;
they had fought for it both with carnal and spiritual weapons, and he
had followed in their footsteps without swerving either to the right
hand or the left; but, to do him justice, he was stimulated to activity
in his vocation by a better motive than that which arises either from
custom or an estimate of hereditary right--he was at heart, as well as
in word, a Christian, and the promises contained in, together with the
prospects held out by, the book he perused so eagerly, had been, from
the moment when reason dawned, the ruling principle by which his life
was governed. We pause not to inquire whether he had duly weighed or
correctly interpreted all its precepts--whether the hastiness of his
nature was not at times opposed to the meek and unupbraiding example of
his Divine Master--whether he did not now and then mistake bitterness
for sincerity, and persecution for zeal; such errors were but too common
to the age in which he lived, and with the church of which he was a
member. Never did Gospel hope and Gospel consolation visit him with
greater welcome than at the moment of which we write. He entertained
little doubt but that his enemy meditated towards him some evil that
placed his life in danger: such, however, was not the case; Burrell had
agreed to defer the marriage until six of the clock that evening; and,
after the ceremony had been concluded, he entertained no doubt that the
preacher would retain the secret now in his possession for Constantia's
sake.

At Cecil Place all was confusion, for the mind of its afflicted mistress
was scarcely able to bear up against the weight of misery that pressed
upon it; and Lady Frances Cromwell felt happy and relieved when, about
eight in the morning, she fell into an apparently sound sleep. The
preparations for the wedding devolved entirely upon her; but, like most
persons of an exalted rank, although she knew when things were properly
done, she was ig