stantinople
exist? No, sir; it is by _external_ evidence, which is altogether in
favor of our church; and this is more valuable than all the internal
evidence that ever existed in the minds of fanatics, from Simon Magus to
John Wesley, or from the Gnostics to the spiritual rappers."

"Husband," said Mrs. Clarke, "I am afraid of your reputation in this
argument about religion."

"Madam, it is not _reputation_ I seek, but truth; and if I can find it
in the Catholic church, I shall embrace it myself, and all my family."

"You may bid adieu to most of your subscribers, then, after you become a
Roman Catholic," said madam.

"My dear wife," said he, impressively, "you ought to know me
sufficiently well to be convinced that not only the success of my
journal, but even the entire of my means, with my personal feelings,
would be willingly sacrificed by me, in order to secure for myself, and
for you all, what is infinitely beyond all earthly or temporal
considerations; namely, the salvation of our immortal souls."

"I did not want to insinuate, my dear, for a moment, that you could be
influenced by such a consideration as the success of your journal in a
matter of such everlasting importance. I only dropped the remark
casually and without reflection," said madam.

In order to explain more fully the seriousness of Mr. Clarke's desire to
learn more and more regarding the Catholic church, and to account for
his rather too easy concession to the arguments of Paul, we think it
right to state that he had lately become a member of a literary and
religious society established in his native city, under the
presidentship of a minister of an Episcopal church. The object of this
society, partly religious and partly literary, was to infuse a new
spirit into the thinning ranks of Episcopalianism, by searching for, and
bringing to light, in the popular form of lectures and dissertations,
the evidences in favor of Protestantism, which, they supposed, were to
be found in the writings of the primitive or ante-Nicene sages of the
church. We do not think it would be appropriate to class this society
under the appellative "Puseyite," for they had no direct connection or
communication with that now rather celebrated school of schismatics,
but undoubtedly the objects of both were analogous. Mr. Clarke's
occupation was so much confined to the business of his lawyer's office,
and his time so much engrossed by the attention required of him as an
ed