Anecdotes connected with the Embassy of Lord Whitworth, to France, during the Consulate of Napoleon Buonaparte. CHAPTER X. A Visit to Paris. CHAPTER XI. Journeying Mercies. CHAPTER XII. Painful Communications. CHAPTER XIII. Traits of Jewish Character. CHAPTER XIV. The Roman Catholic Priest. CHAPTER XV. The demoralizing effects of Deism, Practically Illustrated. CHAPTER XVI. Conclusion. Explanatory Notes. EMMA DE LISSAU, A NARRATIVE, &c. &c. CHAPTER I. AFFECTING SCENES. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in Righteousness." 2 TIM. III, 16. "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." "Behold at evening tide trouble." 2 TIM. IV, 3, 4. ISAIAH, XVII. 14. When it is the good pleasure of Him, "whose way is in the sanctuary," to instruct His weak and ignorant children, the simplest and most ordinary means are overruled to fulfil the destined end; and such was the experience of Emma, under the natural embarrassment which Catherine's late conversation and re-conversion, were so well adapted to produce. De Lissau expressed a wish that Emma would devote a portion of the leisure she now enjoyed, to the perusal of such books as would improve her mind, and add some useful information to her very limited stock of knowledge. An abridgment of geography, natural history, and the history of England, were among the volumes he presented to her for this purpose. The account of her native country first attracted her attention, and she soon became deeply interested in the contents of a volume, that gave her the first intelligence she had ever received, (with the exception of Catherine's information,) that there were divisions among Christians. From the details of English history, though brief, she at once perceived, that the faith professed by Mrs. Russel, and which was also the predominant one in happy England, differed widely from that to which Catherine had so hastily joined herself. Still, however, Emma felt great need of further instruction; though exceedingly thankful for the little knowledge thus unexpectedly gained, on a subject so important. She now read the scriptures with increasing diligence, and the Lord, who is ever the gracious instructor of his weak and ignorant children, opened her heart to receive more enlarged views of truth, than she had ever before enjoyed, and imparted strength to her, so that although she could not combat the arguments of Catherine, in favor of the Roman Catholic religion, whenever they met, she was graciously preserved from yielding to the insidious and seductive power displayed in them. Catherine was not daunted by the obstinacy of Emma, as she called it. On the contrary, her zeal seemed to gather strength, from the difficulty she met with. The merit attached to success, and the encouragement she received to persevere, from her spiritual guide, and the young friend who had first drawn away her mutable heart, from the pure doctrine taught her by Miss Hervey, powerfully stimulated her endeavours, to convert Emma from her present heretical opinions, to what she, at present, believed to be the true faith. The departure of Leopold for Vienna, at this period, much affected Emma. He had been to her a most affectionate friend, and his absence was severely felt, by one whose domestic enjoyments, at that time, lay in a compass so narrow, that the least diminution was an important event. Catherine was not without her share of trouble at this time. Her friend Agnes had quitted her, to enter a convent in Ireland, and for a time, she was inconsolable at the separation; though they had settled a correspondence through the medium of Catherine's confessor. At Catherine's request, Agnes left with her a letter addressed to Emma; it was long, and written in a style the most persuasive and affecting. After adducing every argument that could at once alarm, and win a mind anxious to devote its best energies to the cause of truth, Agnes requested Emma, not to reject the Roman Catholic faith, unexamined, and she should have no doubt of her ultimately embracing, what she assu |