Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/244

  What God, our Father, to his own hath given,
  With warring words oh, seek not to define ;
  Question not that which hath its root in heaven ;
  It claims thy childlike faith by right divine.
 
  Mander and Oswald wished to receive the Lord's
Supper as a seal of their new covenant with him, while
still with the congregation to which they had become so
much attached. To her father's question, whether she
would unite with them in the sacred ceremony, Idalia
replied, that her thoughts were too much occupied with
the prospect of their return home, to permit her to take
part in the celebration with proper devotion.
  It is certainly most agreeable to us, when we can
clothe our "I pray thee have me excused" in the ef-
fective dress of a timid reverence for the Holy One ;
and there are persons who, if we are to believe them,
avoid the church their lives long, solely from the con-
scientious fear of giving only a divided attention to the
Divine service, and neglect family worship as well, wait-
ing to the end of their days, in the hope of being some-
time in a truly devotional frame of mind.
  Mander inquired of Hold, when he announced to him