Froude, but could repeat little from St. Paul or St. James, except when their words had been turned into a proverb wherewith to attack the "evangelicals." He acknowledged that he could not at once turn to the passage; Ridley therefore opened his Bible, and turning to the fourth chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy, read the first four verses-"I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers; having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto tables.' O that the evangelical clergy of London," added Ridley, "would read over this, the apostle's charge again: they have long sought to obey it, and have preached the word' not only on the sabbath day, but through the week-out of season' their enemies say—but I wish they would now throw open their churches every morning, and 'in season' reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering, those ears that are itching after the fables that issue from the Tractarian press and pulpit. They would not, perhaps, chant the beautiful language of our church, but they would pray in it: they would not, I think, for fifty-eight days in the year, consent to read to their flock Apocrypha instead of the truth; but they would read the scripture lessons in such a way, that the unlearned and those who cannot read, will remember what they hear." "You are sketching out a plan of hard labour for your friends," said Sir George Percy with a smile, "I fear they will not thank you for your pains. Why an evangelical clergyman, if he is obliged to have prayers on any of the week days, leaves them commonly to his curate.”* "I am almost a stranger in London," said Ridley, "and therefore cannot speak from my own knowledge; but I am inclined to think you are misinformed. Evangelical ministers do not commonly shrink from labour in their Lord's service; and what they do not approve themselves, they would not suffer their curates to do. But I do not know how widely the term evangelical may have been applied. Gospel preaching has been received with an unusual degree of favour for some years past : this may have encouraged many attempts to imitate it, even when there was no spirit of the gospel to direct their conduct; but if Tractarian teaching should now rise in public estimation, those in the Puseyism in London, * evangelical ranks who have only sought popularity, will seek it among the Anglo-Catholics, and will find it much easier to repeat the prayers, or chant the Te Deum every morning, than to preach one truly evangelical sermon.” "There will be less room for self-exaltation," said Sir George: "less fuel for vanity, where there can be no display of eloquence." "Both will find enough to nourish them," returned Ridley Seldon," in the assumption of sacerdotal authority. Both should be humbled at the foot of the cross. But tell me frankly, Percy, did you ever attend the ministry of a devoted evangelical clergyman, or do you know anything of the labours of such men? I remember at Cambridge you used to be a staunch advocate for keeping close to the parish church wherever our lot might be cast, or whoever might occupy the pulpit." "I am so still,” replied Sir George; "and must own I never heard any of the leading evangelical men, except in Exeter Hall, where I thought them very much out of place. My parish church, both in London and the country, has generally been supplied by very sound churchmen, whose sermons were certainly not the principal part of the service." "Will you accompany me to morrow?" asked Ridley. Chapel to Sir George Percy hesitated for a moment. He had a particular aversion to the minister of that chapel, of whom he knew little more than his name. " I will go anywhere with you, Seldon," he said, "and so I consent, but I should have been glad had you mentioned any other place of worship." 184 CHAPTER XVI. "And say, blot out my sin, confessed, deplored, Cowper. SELF-DENIAL was the constant habit of Ridley Seldon's mind; otherwise he would not have solicited the company of Sir George Percy on that day when most he sought opportunity for meditation and prayer, and at a time when his feelings sustained a real trial by the presence of any but intimate christian friends. But Sir George Percy had a never-dying soul, and he hated the way of salvation and those who made it known; therefore Ridley Seldon rejoiced as he walked arm-in-arm with him towards Chapel. The conversation turned again upon evangelical |