when the service was over, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson had pronounced the blessing, with outspread arms, over the waiting assembly. No one moved, such was the respectful reverence of the times, till the ministers and elders had descended the aisle. They came with dignified and courteous demeanour, dispensing smiles and kind inquiries to each of their flock. They paused at the seat of Naomi, and greeted her with paternal interest; she was a lamb added to the flock of which they were the shepherds. There was a certain indefinable manner, a something, even in this short greeting, that disclosed the stern relation which existed between them; the position which they, as their undoubted right, assumed towards her, and to which she, on her part, was to submit as to her unquestioning duty.

Even in this short interview she felt the sharp, but at this moment the light, pressure of that spiritual domination over conscience, that, like an iron chain placed around a vigorous tree, checks not its upward growth, but eats into its very heart, and mars its expanding and symmetrical beauty.

The congregation followed the steps of the teachers, and now again the narrow and winding streets of the little town were full of the

worshipping people, all, with silent steps and deeply meditative faces, seeking their wellordered homes. No joyous children gambolled

their satisfaction at the conclusion of the tedious service; their joy was silent, but, we may well believe, sincerer than at the present day, when the restraint is so light and short; no worldly footsteps were bent towards the post-office, or the news-rooms; no loving pairs sought the shaded retirement of the common, then, as now, attractive in verdant beauty. No, they went to their homes to read and pray; to meditate upon the sermon, and prepare to make it the discussion of the Monday morning, when the merchants met in the market-place, and of the Monday evening, when their wives met at that rare luxury, the tea-table, and mingled theology with the every-day affairs of life, as the only vital and ever-interesting subject.

At the close of the afternoon service a scene occurred, so characteristic of the time and of the community that it deserves a record. A case of church discipline had been announced the preceding Sunday, and the parties 'summoned to appear before the ministers and elders. This was a breach of a promise of marriage, brought against a young man, a member of the church, one distinguished for his exemplary walk and

conversation, his formal observance of the Sabbath, and preeminence in all pious exercises, and of course belonging to the fashionable circle. The complaint was made by the family of the young lady. Although they were reputed wealthy, neither the mother of the young lady nor the lady herself was a member of the church. It was an unusual and rare occurrence for a member of the church to seek an alliance with one out of its pale; but the father of the young lady was reputed wealthy, and she was an only child. He had lately met with misfortunes, and subsequently the match was broken off. The father, exasperated at what he considered an injury and insult to his daughter, brought the circumstances before the church to be tried, as it were, at the ecclesiastical court of the ministers and elders. Now it appeared in evidence that the engagement had been broken off, on the part of the gentleman, immediately after the misfortunes of the father of his bride, and without alleging any cause but the want of piety on the part of the young lady. She was not in a state of grace, he said. It was forbidden in Scripture for the believer to yoke with the unbeliever.

The young girl herself, overwhelmed with confusion and outraged modesty, had most re

luctantly consented to this public exposure. She stood with pale cheek and trembling, blanched lips, betraying, perhaps, a deep and heartfelt interest in her faithless lover, that she would fain have concealed, while he, with spiritual pride, affected to lament his conscientious scruples. "Had she, alas! had any convictions of sin, had she been only touched with repentance, with the hope of conversion, with any signs of grace," he said, "her person would have been as precious in his eyes as her soul; for God knew he had prayed day and night for her conversion."

This was a most delicate and difficult subject for the ministers to legislate upon. Neither Moses nor Paul had given any precise directions to guide their decision in such a case. It could, indeed, have been determined by every man of honor, and every woman of feeling, from the dictates of their own hearts. Cotton probably would have refused to legislate upon such a case, and Winthrop to record it in his annals; but, as we have said above, a rougher and sterner race of men had succeeded to the first chivalrous age. The ministers and elders were divided in opinion, and the shades of evening began to envelop the building, and the waving branches of the trees around the meeting-house began

to cast uncertain and mysterious shadows within it, before they could arrive at any unanimity of opinion. At length it was decided to adjourn the debate till the next Thursday, after the Lecture, and the young man and young woman were commended as subjects of prayer to every member of the church.

Arrived again at home, Naomi found that the Sabbath and its instructions were not yet ended. Mr. Aldersey was exemplary in all the duties that the strictness of the times demanded from every head of a family.

Before the slight repast of the evening was prepared or partaken of, every member of the family was summoned to catechizing and the evening worship, which, at the going down of the sun, closed the sacred observance of the Sabbath. No one was excused from this family service; neither the clerks of the store and counting-house, nor the oldest servants in the kitchen. Sambo, who could not read, was exempted from learning the catechism by heart; but he always stood behind his master's chair, with the open Bible in his hand, trying to spell the words as Mr. Aldersey read them aloud. He kept up, in an undertone, a sort of running commentary upon the instructions that were given. This evening the chapter that Mr. Al