ld be more angry with them for
their irregularity, were it not that Mr. Ranby obstinately persisted in
reading a printed form which she was persuaded could not do any body
much good." The poor man, who was really well disposed, very properly
defended himself by saying, that he hoped his own heart went along with
every word he read; and as to his family, he thought it much more
beneficial for them to join in an excellent composition of a judicious
divine, than to attend to any such crude rhapsody as he should be able
to produce, whose education had not qualified him to lead the devotions
of others. I had never heard him venture to make use of his
understanding before; and I continued to find it much better than I had
at first given him credit for. The lady observed, with some asperity,
that where there were _gifts_ and _graces_, it superseded the necessity
of learning.

In vindication of my own good breeding, I should observe that in my
little debates with Mrs. Ranby, to which I was always challenged by her,
I never lost sight of that becoming example of the son of Cato, who,
when about to deliver sentiments which might be thought too assuming in
so young a man, introduced his admonitions with the modest preface,

Remember what our _father_ oft has taught us.

I, without quoting the son of the sage of Utica, constantly adduced the
paternal authority for opinions which might savor too much of arrogance
without such a sanction.

I observed, in the course of my visit, that self-denial made part of
Mrs. Ranby's religious plan. She fancied, I believe that it savored of
works, and of works she was evidently afraid. She talked as if activity
were useless, and exertion unnecessary, and as if, like inanimate
matter, we had nothing to do but sit still and be shone upon.

I assured her that though I depended on the mercy of God, through the
merits of his Son, for salvation, as entirely as she could do, yet I
thought that Almighty grace, so far from setting aside diligent
exertion, was the principle which promoted it. That salvation is in no
part of Scripture represented as attainable by the indolent Christian,
if I might couple such contradictory terms. That I had been often
awfully struck with the plain declarations, "that the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence"--"strive to enter in at the strait
gate"--"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
might"--"give diligence to make your calling sure"--"work out y