Part 4 (1/2)

Her withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church caused the most intense excitement in the community, and every effort was made to reclaim her

The Rev Mr McDowell, her pastor, visited her, and re her of his profound pity, as she was evidently under a delusion of the arch-adversary Me every argument they could think of to convince her she was deceived Some expressed a fear that her mind was a little unbalanced, and shook their heads over the possible result; others declared that she was coreat impropriety to shut herself up every Sunday with two old elina informed them, was a ate also Others of her friends assured her with tears in their eyes that they would pray to the Lord to bring her back to the path of duty she had forsaken

The superintendent of the Sunday-school came also to plead with her, in the na Some of the scholars themselves came and implored her not to leave thes turn me a hair's breadth, for I have the witness in myself that I have done as the Master coment on me for sin committed; and so away last su the prevalence of an epidemic the summer before, the Presbyterian pastor had beento the sea-shore until all danger was past)

By all this it will be seen that Angelina was regarded as too precious a jewel in the crown of the Church to be relinquished without a struggle

But satisfied as was her conscience, Angelina's natural feelings could not be ih not so sensitive or so affectionate as Sarah, she was quite as proud, and valued as greatly the good opinion of her family and friends She could not feel herself an outcast, an object of pity and derision, without being deeply affected by it Her health gave way under the pressure, and a change of scene and clied that she join her in Philadelphia; and, thisthe approbation of her mother, she sailed for the North in July (1828)

In Sarah's diary, about this ti entry:--

”13th My beloved Angelina arrived yesterday Peace has, I believe, been the covering of ourto feel whether I should advise her not to adopt ie presented itself, 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm' So I dared not htful one to Angelina She was the guest of Catherine Morris, and was treated like a daughter by all the kind Quaker circle The novelty of her surroundings, the fresh scenes and new ideas constantly presented before her, opened up a field of thought whose boundaries only she had until then touched, but which she soon began eagerly and conscientiously to explore Two extracts from letters written by her at that time will sho strict she was in her Quaker principles, and also that the persuasion that she was to be given sorounded

To Sarah, as absent from her for a short tiins to be much exercised I scarcely want to converse at all, and believe it best I should beme to myself She appears to feel much for me, but I do not feel at liberty to ask her what occasions the tears which at times flow as she throws her arms around me I sometimes think she sees more than I do about myself I often tremble when I think of the future, and fear that I aned to my Master's will Read the first chapter of Jereh I would wish to put far off the evil day, yet I aed continually to pray that the Lord would cut short the work of preparation”

Her sister Anna (Mrs Frost) was one of those who thought Angelina was under a terrible delusion, and ular that the chapter to which she refers, taken in connection with the hich she afterwards became identified, should have made the impression on her mind which it evidently did, as she repeatedly alludes to it This letter is the last in which she addresses Sarah as _mother_ Their Quaker friends all objected to the habit, and it was dropped

In another letter she describes a visit she made to a friend in the country, and says:--

”I have already had reason to feel reat need of watchfulness here

Yesterday the nurse gave me a cap to tuck and trim for the baby My hands actually treh to refuse to do it This text was repeatedly presented towhich he alloweth' While working, th to bear ainst such vanities; and when I put the cap into Clara's hands, I begged her not to give me any more such work to do, as I felt it a duty to bear ainst dress, and believed it sinful inwhat I was convinced was sinful, and assured her of hed at itated ht foolish for Christ's sake

Tho talk about Quakers yesterday

I tried to convince him that they do not reject the Bible, explained the reason of their not calling it the word of God, and got hie that in several texts I repeated the as the Spirit

We conversed on the ordinances He did not argue much for them, but was immovable in his opinions He thinks if all Quakers were like _ood of Presbyterianised of by me”

On the 11th of Noveelina this afternoon We have been one another's consolation and strength in the Lord,one another's burdens”

The first entry in Angelina's diary after her return to Charleston is as follows: ”Oncetogetherthe agitation which had been going on at the North for several years concerning slavery, we elina and Sarah Griht before theht than that in which they had previously viewed them In Sarah's mind, absorbed as it was at that time by her own sorrows and by the deeply-rooted conviction of her prospective and dreaded call to the ministry, there appears to have been no roo on in the Quaker Church, and which called forth all her sy denunciation of the Hicksites But upon Angelina every word she heard against the institution which she had always abhorred, but accepted as a necessary evil, ain face to face with its odious lineains to show itself soon after her return ho extract:--

”Since my arrival I have enjoyed a continuation of that rest froht My soul is sorrowful, and my heart bleeds I am ready to exclaim, When shall I be released fro for these poor creatures can at all a, and I can now bless the Lord that h much remains to be done yet”

The secluded and inactive life she now led confirmed the opinion of her Presbyterian friends that she was a backslider in the divine life

I elina's efforts to open the eyes of the members of her household to the unchristian life they were leading, and the sins they wereon their heads by their treate

CHAPTER VI

Many things about the ho before, now, since her visit a Friends, struck her as sinful, and inconsistent with a Christian profession Only a few days after her return, she thus writes in her diary:--