Surely DOING that is a sign that he
IS more than he used to be.'
'If he were, it would not have been an effort at all,' said
Clarence, but with his rare sweet smile.
Just then Griff called him away, and Emily sat pondering and
impressed. 'It did seem so odd,' she said, 'that Clarry should be
so much the best, and yet so much the worst of us.'
I agreed. His insight into spiritual things, and his enjoyment of
them, always humiliated us both, yet he fell so much lower in
practice,--'But then we had not his temptations.'
'Yes,' said Emily; 'but look at Griff! He goes about like other
young men, and keeps all right, and yet he doesn't care about
religious things a bit more than he can help.'
It was quite true. Religion was life to the one and an insurance to
the other, and this had been a mystery to us all our young lives, as
far as we had ever reflected on the contrast between the practical
failure and success of each. Our mother, on the other hand, viewed
Clarence's tendencies as part of an unreal, self-deceptive nature,
and regretted his intimacy with Miss Newton, who, she said, had
fostered 'that kind of thing' in his childhood--made him fancy talk,
feeling, and preaching were more than truth and honour--and might
lead him to run after Irving, Rowland Hill, or Baptist Noel, about
whose tenets she was rather confused.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114