The
Bible is the dictionary, I believe?"
Poor Lady Emily, like her father, could not for the life of her suppose
for a moment that her brother was serious: a reflection that relieved
her from much anxiety of mind and embarrassment on his account.
"Papa," said, she, whilst her beautiful features were divided, if we may
so say, between smiles and tears, "papa, Dunroe is only jesting; I am
sure he is only jesting, and does not mean any serious disrespect to
religion."
"That may be, my dear Emily; but he will allow me to tell him that it
is the last subject upon which he, or any one else, should jest. Whether
you are in jest or earnest, my dear Dunroe, let me advise you to bring
the moral courage and energies of a man to the contemplation of your
life, in the first place; and in the next, to its improvement. It is not
reading the Bible, nor repeating prayers, that will, of themselves, make
you religious, unless the heart is in earnest; but a correct knowledge
of what is right and wrong--in other words, of human duty--will do much
good in the first place; with a firm resolution to avoid the evil and
adopt the good.
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