"I have been brought up to think so," replied Henry," but your question startles me, and causes ideas to arise in my mind which are almost new to me.' "You have not reasoned on these subjects before," said Mr. Darfield; " may the thoughts now suggested be blessed to you. But permit me to ask another question: do you conceive that some have died in unbelief, after having believed themselves to have been true Christians ?" "I fear that this has been so," answered Henry; "I fear that people have been deceived as to their state, though I hardly know how a man can be a hypocrite without being conscious of it; yet the heart of the natural man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.' But this I must assert, that if a man ever has been made a child of God through regenerating grace, however he may be led astray after having experienced this change, he can never cease to be a child of God." "There we differ," said Darfield; "I believe that one who has experienced a change of heart, may yet perish through his own fault; and hence what need of watchfulness, of prayer, of separation from the world, and of self-denial, to keep under the flesh;-see you not all this, Milner ?" 66 "I hardly know what I see or what I feel," answered Henry, "but this I know, that I am most thoroughly perplexed. Was I in a dream when I first came into these fields, and saw, as I thought, the emblems of divine love shed all around me, when I felt as assured-yes, more assured of my Saviour's unchanging love, than I do of Mr. Dalben's; and felt also that this assurance was built up in my mind, not upon the consciousness of any strength, or inherent, or even possible good in myself, but on the merits of my Redeemer, who died for me whilst yet I was an enemy; was I in a dream, Darfield, when I had these sweet thoughts? and must I lose them as long as life lasts, by admitting a doubt in my mind, lest after all I should be lost ?" 66 Bright and pleasing frames of mind are natural and frequent in youth, but they are not to be depended upon," answered Darfield: "you probably may not always enjoy them; it may not be good that you should do so." "Oh!" thought Henry, "how I used to long for a young companion who was religious, and now that I have found one, I should be glad that I had never seen him." The two young men were now come close upon the paling of the enclosure which encircled the little church. "Here," said Darfield, “ I must take leave of you, Milner, but not till I entreat you to consider farther what I have said to you, though you will be compelled indeed to take up your cross, if you take up my opinions." "No farther cross would be needful for me," said Henry; " nay, indeed, I can think of none more dreadful than to be thoroughly convinced that my own salvation depended upon myself, at least so far as that I might forfeit the hope of it by misconduct; because I feel quite certain that in such a case I must be lost, and that in losing my hope I should lose my love, and without love how could I keep the divine commandments ?" "Milner, you deceive yourself," answered Darfield solemnly; "you are afraid of persecution, and hence you are making out to your own mind that your salvation is wholly independent of your own exertions. You say that you are not a Calvinist, nor an Arminian ; but I must tell you that you are in a way to be an Antinomian,- -one who asserts that a man may be saved, though living without reference to law or morality.' 66 Well," said Henry, "I suppose you must think what you will of me; perhaps you cannot think too little of my merits: but since you have been conversing with me, I have been led to think some new thoughts respecting the work of salvation; or rather I have been led to see the bearing of some obscure hints which have lately fallen from the lips of my uncle. But I will look again at the epistles of St. Paul, and perhaps see Mr. Dalben before I again enter on this subject with any one else.” "I hope you see," replied Mr. Darfield, "that you are not so secure, Milner, but that you may yet be lost through supineness and accommodation to the world; and if so, I ought to count it all joy that we have happened to meet this evening;" so saying, the young man turned into a house which was near at hand, and Henry, as he looked after him, felt that he could not by any means participate in the sentiment last expressed. "It may be joy to him to hope that he has succeeded in filling my mind with doubts, but had he succeeded (which I thank God he has not) it would be no joy to me." Henry then returned to his college, resolving not to say a word of what had passed to any one till he saw his uncle. CHAPTER XIII. Elderly Ladies in the wrong place. "WHO do you think is in Oxford, Milner ?" said Marten, when the two young men met again at breakfast. "How should I know ?" replied Henry. "Why, no one less," replied Marten, "than Bonville's silly mother, though by-the-by F— said that I am no longer to call her the stultissima, because he says it makes confusion, as she is come with a lady who is equally absurd with herself. This lady is an old dowager of quality, a fifteenth cousin of the Applebys, and if possible a worse bore than Mrs. Bonville herself. But there they both are at the inn." "And when," asked Henry, "did this calamity occur ?" 66 Yesterday afternoon," returned Marten, "whilst you were out, a servant from the Angel summoned me to two ladies; I thought |