And is not this the history of many a human heart? The great enemy, ever on the watch to destroy, forms temptations of the very virtues of men, leading them, as it were, to make a raft of their own honesty, temperance, respectability, alms-giving, so that, trusting on that to stem the flood, they may not seek refuge in the only Ark that can bear them to a heavenly shore. The Almighty, on the other hand, making all things to work together for the good of His people, even their very failures and imperfections, shows them the hollowness and rottenness of all on which they rested, that they may not trust their soul’s safety to anything but the merits and mercies of Christ. Praise, even from the lips of his heavenly Master, seems to have led St. Peter into presumption, so that the Blessed art thou had soon to be followed by the Get thee behind me, Satan; while through the guilt of a three-fold denial the apostle was led, by God’s grace, to earnest repentance, distrust of himself, and more fervent love to his pardoning Lord. Thus God still enables a David to slay Goliath with his own sword. But for the visitation of the Midianites, grievous and evil as it was in itself, Gideon would perhaps never have been blessed with the visit of the angel of the Lord.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SISTER’S VISIT.
Isa did not fail to keep her promise. Finding that Mrs. Holdich was about to visit Wildwaste on the following morning, Isa availed herself of her escort; for the people of the hamlet were so rough, that the young lady disliked crossing the common alone. Rebekah Holdich carried with her a remedy for rheumatism, which she hoped might relieve the sufferings of Bolder. The steward’s wife was the general doctress of the neighbourhood; to her, as to their natural friend, came all who had sorrow or sickness in their homes, just as any labourer in difficulty or distress was sure to seek the advice and help of her husband.
Isa Gritton entered into conversation with Rebekah, who was a woman of education and refinement beyond what might be expected from one in her station of life.
“I find,” observed Isa, “that you were the first friend of my little maid Lottie, that it was you who taught her to read, and first led her to think of her soul, or rather to know that she had such a thing as a soul.”