"But, my dear father, you will permit to say that I am not deceived. I have carefully examined the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, and I am as thoroughly convinced that I have been living in a state of total ignorance of the nature and design of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as I am opposed to the absurd rites of Papal superstition."
"Well, my Sophia, I perceive that you are too much enamoured with your opinions to enter on a logical investigation of them at present; but when the freshness of novelty is worn off, and your mind reverts to its accustomed accuracy of perception and sobriety of feeling, we may then do so with mutual satisfaction."
"I hope, my dear father, we shall; for I assure you that, as my happiness is inseparably connected with yours, it is my daily prayer that we may be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."
"Sophia quite alarms me," said Mrs. Roscoe. "I fear her disorder is taking a more fatal turn. It certainly has impaired her reason."
"She perplexes and puzzles me," said Mr. Roscoe; "no, her reason is not impaired; it is acute and vigorous, and she is moving in a new pathway of religious inquiry, but I cannot follow her. Some new chapter is opening in her mental history. She talks both rationally and incoherently. We must wait the issue, and hope for the best."
The day at length arrived when the Roscoes came to dine at the villa. I had previously seen Mr. Roscoe, and had become somewhat acquainted with his character; but there was such a peculiarity in his manner, that I could not approach him with ease. He was affable, yet reserved; high, yet condescending; polite, yet spoke and acted as though conscious that he was about to engage in a disputatious combat. The cloth was no sooner removed, than Mr. Lewellin, who had recently attended the anniversary of the Shaftesbury Bible Society, informed us that a medical gentleman moved one of the resolutions, who confessed that he had been for many years an avowed infidel; but, on application, he became a subscriber to the Bible Society: and then he thought it proper to read the Bible, to see if it was a proper book for circulation. After alluding to the instruction and pleasure he had derived from its histories and its parables; from its unique doctrines, and its pure morality; from its development of the character of Christ, and its delineation of the human heart and character, he concluded his speech by saying, "I am satisfied, from what I have read, that the Bible contains a revelation of grace and mercy from heaven. I deeply regret that I ever despised it, or spoke against it; and I think it a duty which I owe to the Redeemer, and to this society, thus publicly to say, that I renounce my infidelity as the bane of human felicity, and take my Bible as my guide to everlasting life!"