and intended to go to
church with her in the future; so Clara dried her eyes and listened to
a little gem of poetry he had selected to read to her that morning.

Little by little the rock of her faith was worn away, and she was fast
learning to look on happiness as the true end of existence instead of
_holiness_, "without which no man shall see the Lord." And, alas! many
whose associations are far less worldly make this mistake, and look
mainly for a great deal of joy and exalted happiness in their
religious life. Because they do not attain it they go mourning all
their days, looking with weeping eyes on those whom they regard as
more favored of God, because the light of gladness shines upon their
pathway. Desponding heart! there is no true happiness in religion
where that alone is the end you seek. Holiness must be the end and aim
of your whole course, or your joy will be like the "hope of the
hypocrite, but for a moment." "Be ye holy, for I am holy," is the
divine command.

How strange that a truly loving heart could enter upon such a task as
that which Mr. Allen now commenced--the work of loosing a trusting
nature from its only safe moorings, leaving it to drift without a
compass or a guiding star upon a sea abounding with fearful rocks and
angry breakers. But such is the hatred of the natural heart to the
humbling doctrine of the cross and salvation alone through Him who was
crucified upon it.

Clara was fond of reading, and her husband took care to place in her
way certain fascinating writers, then quite popular, whose frequent
merry flashes and sarcastic allusions to the "orthodoxy" tended more
surely than serious reasoning would have done to make her think
lightly of the faith in which she had been trained. The old-fashioned
Bible was skilfully tortured out of its plainest meaning by these
so-called reformers, or utterly ignored where it could not be
distorted to suit their views. What their opinions of its inspiration
were could never be clearly seen by others, if, indeed, they had ever
given such a trifling matter any consideration whatever. Instead of
the sure foundation which has Jesus Christ for its corner-stone, and a
religion which teaches faith, humility, self-denial, earnest labor for
souls, and all lowly virtues, they profess to throw wide open the
doors of a "broad church," which should gather in all mankind as
brothers, which should teach them the dignity and excellence of
humanity, and give every