Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/316

 J.—They would indeed, Sir; and I thank that you have shown me the meaning of this text before I had completely separated myself from the Church to which my  has commanded me to belong. knows, I meant to do no such thing when first my curiosity led me to the meeting.

Dr.—I know it, John; but let this show you the danger of making the first step, of yielding to the first temptation. Curiosity led you to a place, to which, if you understood your duty, you had no business to go; you were pleased, and tempted to repeat your visit, and might soon have been led to unite yourself entirely to that unauthorized congregation; in defiance, as I have now shown you, of the solemnly declared will of the.

J.—Well, Sir; I will, by blessing, keep myself from such temptations for the future. I trust that on each succeeding Sunday, while life and health are spared me, I shall be found in my old accustomed seat at Church, and kneel in the sacred spot where my forefathers knelt before me; and grant that no temptation may ever again lead me astray, or induce me to separate from the holy Church of my.

Dr.—It gives me, John, the sincerest pleasure to hear you express such sentiments as these. One good effect will, through grace, result even from this your temporary wandering from the fold. You will now know better than you did what we mean when in the words of our Liturgy we pray for "the good estate of the Catholic Church;" and you will be enabled, I trust, to join more fully than heretofore in the beautiful prayer, "that it may be so guided and governed by good, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life."

J.—I hope, Sir, that I shall; I hope that I shall ever feel duly thankful for the blessing of being called into Church, thus happily established among us; and I trust that when in the name of the congregation you put up the prayer for protection against "false doctrine, heresy, and schism," my heart and soul may accompany my lips in the response,—"Good, deliver us!"