590 THE YOUNG CLERGYMAN. 



a power and a pre-eminence, such as man but seldom or never can 

 experience. His avocations lead him abroad into the bustle and 

 excitement of the world ; and the attrition to which his feelings and 

 his affections are subjected, soon blunts their finer and more sensible 

 portions. 



It was thus with Mary Jennings. She had so long and so com- 

 pletely given way before her love for James Edwards, that the idea 

 of it continually occupied her mind, and slowly but certainly un- 

 dermined her health. Had James been fully aware that the canker- 

 worm was destroying all that he held dear, nothing could have 

 restrained him from making her his own ; but judging of her by 

 himself, and believing that no love, not even that of woman, could 

 surpass his own, he knew nothing of the ravages which were going 

 on in Mary. Her letters to him were at once frank and affec- 

 tionate, but never contained a single allusion to her own decaying 

 health. 



She was, however, fully sensible of it; and sometimes the very 

 knowledge gave her a feeling of exquisite happiness, as to her 

 excited imagination it seemed that she was sacrificing her life, for 

 the sake of him who was so unutterably dear to her. Of his truth, 

 of his unspotted honour, she never for a moment had a doubt ; and 

 knowing as she did the circumstances that formed the barrier to the 

 fulfilment of their plighted vows, not a single murmur or repining 

 thought disturbed the conviction that James was performing his 

 duty. Mrs. Jennings, with a mind as finely endowed as that of her 

 daughter, aided her resolution ; and, though she grieved for her 

 daughter's failing health, she did not permit a syllable to escape 

 her lips. 



Meantime, James was striving to make such additions to his 

 means, as would enable him to marry with some prospect of sup- 

 porting a wife. He opened a school, and sought far and near for 

 pupils ; but the district in which he was placed was a remote one, 

 and peopled scantily, and he made little progress. Early and late 

 he was at work, and nobly did he strive to earn his happiness. The 

 simple and unostentatious duties of his cure, he performed with 

 exemplary fidelity, and with a sincerity and earnestness that soon 

 secured him the love and respect of his flock : sustained by the 

 approbation of his own mind, by the contemplation of his aged 

 mother and sister, by the soothing knowledge that he was labouring 

 not in vain, in the vineyard of his sacred calling, and by letters 

 filled with devotion and untiring affection from Mary, a holy calm 

 came over his mind, and he tasted the fruits of righteous and 

 Christian living. * Hope," indeed, " springs eternal in the human 

 breast; " and it is rare in the early part of life, that misfortune or 

 disappointment so far depresses the spirit, as to shut out this com- 

 forter ; and when this is encouraged and supported by a firm reliance 

 upon Providence, it calls into action " whatsoever things are honest, 

 whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, and what- 

 soever things are lovely." 



