Through a Needle's Eye

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Works of Fiction in one Volume, -with Frontispiece, down Svo, cloth, 6s. each. MALCOLM. By George MacDonald. With a Portrait of the Author. Fourth Edition. " Mr. MacDonald has not only put into his (Malcolm's) mouth much ofthe fine poetry of which the book is full, hut has also given to his part active and passive heroism of the most romantic kind." — Pall Mall Gazette. THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE. By George MacDonald, Author of " Malcolm," &.c. New and Cheaper Edition. ST. GEORGE AND ST. MICHAEL. By George MacDonald, Author of " Malcolm," ivc. New and Cheaper Edition. "The character of the great inventor is drawn with considerable skill, and we may point it out as achieving what Lord Lytton attempted -but did not accomplish — in his ' Last of the Barons.' "—Academy. GENTLE AND SIMPLE: a Story. By Margaret Agnes Paul, Author of " Dorothy," &c. New and Cheaper Edition.

" It is admirably written in a style that combines ease and carefulness, and it is as refined and elevated as it is clever.' —SPECTATOR. " One of the very few books which can be read through with unalloyed enjoyment."— G la kdian. THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL. A History of Father and Son. By George Meredith. New and Cheaper Edition. BLUE ROSES; or, Ellen Malinofska's Marriage. By the Author of "Vera." New and Cheaper Edition. "The author has made a very beautiful and touching book; a book written with true refinement of feeling and lustiness us purpose ; a book as far above the ordinary novel as the blue rose itself would be above the other (lowers of the garden." — Times. A PAIR OF BLUE EYES. By Thomas Hardy, Author of " Far from the Madding Crowd," " Return of the Native," &c. " One of the most artistically constructed among recent novels, and, from considerations affecting higher matters than mere construction, we would assign it a very high place. ' — SATURDAY REVIEW.

"A really powerful story, well proportioned in its parts, of varied and deep interest."— Spectator. London : C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., i, Paternoster Square. KV HESBA STRETTON author of " Jessica's first prayer," etc. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. LONDON C. Kegan Paul & Co., i, Paternoster Square i879 [The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.] CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter I. In Herford Church

"THOUGH the atmosphere of Herford was charged with electricity, and every one else was conscious of it, Mr. Cunliffe continued to breathe the calm air of devout abstraction. It had been settled that he should take a brief holiday after Justin's return from London, and he left home early the next week, sur prised and disappointed at his wife's steady refusal to accompany him. Mrs. Cunliffe could not think of quitting Herford whilst a storm was hanging over it, which might sweep away her own welfare in its swift career. From the time that Justin had given up the living, it had been his practice to take his friend's duty in his VOL. II. m B absence. As soon as the office ceased to be compulsory it became a pleasure to him. He had a sense of solemn enjoyment in standing up among his own people, and leading tbeir prayers, like tho princes of old, who were also the priests of their subjects.

The villagers on their part, liked to look up occasionally to Master Justin in the pulpit ; though on the whole they were inclined to be more critical of his sermons than of their vicar's. " Master CunlifTe's head has got only one thing inside it," they were wont to say, " but Master Justin's got fifty. We cannot look for as much from him." Justin knew quite well their estimate of his ministrations ; but he knew also they enjoyed them as much as he did. He could not be jealous of his friend's superiority on his own ground. There was a great concourse of curious people the Sunday of Mr. Cunliffe's absence. What brought some of them there, they could not tell themselves. Mr. Watson had driven over from Lowborough. Leah 1 )art had walked along the cliffs from Rillage ; and still more strange, Diana Lynn had come, and was seated beside Pansy in the Court pew.

The crowded congre gation filling every nook of the little church struck In Herford Church. 3 Justin with an unusual sense of awe. There was scarcely a strange face among them ; but he felt as if it would have been an easy task to face strangers in the stead of these neighbours and dependants, looking up at him with their keen and eager gaze. Their thoughts had been occupied on the same topic as his own. They had been trying him, and sitting in judg ment upon him ; though as yet their verdict was in suspense. It required a great effort to steady his voice and read the old familiar words. An ever-growing gloom and heaviness of spirit op pressed him. He feared that it must make itself heard in the tones of his voice, and visible in the ex pression of his face. He struggled to get the mastery over himself, and he partly succeeded.

But who was he, that he should seem thus to stand between God and man ? Why should his voice, rather than any other, be lifted up in the solemn accents of prayer ? All the week he had been in conflict on the battle-field of the world ; walking by the world's light, and reasoning by the world's wisdom. There was many a man there better fitted to lift up his unfettered hands, in quiet trust, to God. b Then there rushed through his mind the recollection that he had once filled this place, and quitted it, to go up, as he thought, to one higher. He had ceased to be the vicar of Herford in order to become its master. The broad acres, with their promising outlets into worldly prosperity, had seemed better to him, more worthy of his powers, than the charge of these poor peasant souls. It was true he had given to them a better pastor than he had been himself.

Yet all the same, his own choice had been the owning of lands, and the possession of influence and reputation, and the good things of this life. He had deluded himself with the fancy that he was serving God. He had in fact been serving Mammon. How he got through the service, and the sermon that followed it, he could not tell. All the faces below him blended into a confused mass, as he repeated mechan ically the words that his eye fell upon. He felt glad when it was over to take refuge in the vestry, and sit there in a blank stupor. The old sexton came in, when the congregation had dispersed, but he bade him go, and leave the key in the church door. Pansy tapped at the window, and his eyes were lifted to her sweet face, Ln Herford Church. 5 looking in upon him through the dim panes ; but he only shook his head at her invitation to walk up the cliff with her and Diana.

How quickly would he cut the knot he could not untie, but for Diana and Pansy! How joyfully would he go back to his old despised post of Vicar of Herford, could he but blot out these last few years ! The bells did not ring for afternoon service ; and the news ran from lip to lip that Master Justin was not well enough to do the vicar's duty again. Such a cir cumstance had never occurred before, and it seemed as astonishing and portentous as an eclipse of the sun. Moreover, he was remaining alone in the vestry, with the door locked inside. Mr. Cunliffe was known to indulge in long spells of meditation and prayer inside the church, with the key turned to prevent intrusion. But Master Justin was altogether a different personage. There must be something amiss. A large number of strangers had come again for the afternoon prayers ; and there was a good deal of visit ing of neighbours in consequence.

The early tea tables of the village were crowded. There was much guessing going on, and a fine thrill almost of terror. Tli rough a Needle's Eye. 6 Could it be true, as Leah Dart had said, thut Master Dick was going to law to turn out his elder brother ? And did Master Justin feel somehow that he was in the wrong? Why could they not share and share alike? If they went to law they would lose all their money no doubt ; and what would become of Herford then ? It was quite clear, in any case, that something most be going to happen. The day was still warm and bright at seven o'clock, the hour for old Fosse's meeting. There were more people than usual wending their way along the rocky pathway on the Lantern-hill, for they eagerly needed a centre for meeting, and old Fosse was sure of having some very clear opinions of his own.

Leah Dart had been spending the day with her mother, who made her appearance with her, feeling that once a year it was in cumbent upon her to pay her duty to the Almighty, by listening to a few good words ; and she preferred old Fosse's good words to Mr. Cunliffe's more regular and more cultivated ministrations. Mrs. Fosse locked up her straying poultry, and went with her husband to the lio-hthouse. The ancient chapel was as full as it had been in the days when the most popular preaching In Herford Church. 7 friar had called his congregation together, by the tink ling of the bell in the low square belfry. Jeremy took up his post on the threshold, as being the most convenient spot from which to address his hearers, and from which he commanded a view of the rocky path leading up to the lighthouse.

It was a little after seven in the evening when Justin left the church, and was seen by many inquisitive eyes to saunter down to the beach slowly and languidly. He turned mechanically to the path up the Lantern hill. It had been a favourite haunt of his since his early boyhood. The little tongue of rock stretching out into the water was ordinal ily quiet and deserted, and from the far end all view ofthe village was cut off, and there was nothing to be seen except cliff and sea. Justin had forgotten it was Sunday evening. He was so absorbed in the conflict still raging within him that he could not give a thought either to the time or place. He was going on, like a man deaf and blind, who is led by some friendly hand which has grown so familiar that he hardly feels its clasp. It was here he had come the night old Herford died, and he was coming again, half-unconsciously, to knit up the ravelled memories of the past.

But as he came, below the lighthouse, he was startled out of his reverie by the sound of voices. Old Fosse's sunburnt face and silvery head stood out clearly against the grey and weather-stained stones of the ancient porch. There was an expression of placid happiness upon his face. He saw Justin at the foot of the steep rocky staircase, and he beckoned to him to come up with a gesture of welcome, though he did not pause in giving out the hymn that was about to be sung by the congregation within. Justin could distinguish a crowd of men and women in comparative darkness within the lighthouse, swaying to and fro with the energy in which they* put their whole strength of voice into the singing. It was the custom still in that re mote country place for two lines, or half a verse, to be read out aloud by the preacher, and sung by the people, producing a quaint alternation of full-toned singing and quiet speech.

Fosse was reading in rapturous tones, as Justin mounted the steps — ' ' No foot of land do I possess ; No dwelling in the wilderness A poor way'arin^ man ! In Herford Church. 9 Y\ liilst these lines were being sung, with many an old fashioned quaver, he offered half his book to Justin, as he had often done, when the master of Herford had been a boy, before he had gone to college and taken orders. The memory of those days brought a smile to his worn face, as he took his place beside old Fosse. The heart of the old fisherman glowed with delight. Master Justin was as dear to him as his own son could have been, and he felt no embarrassment at the idea of preaching before him. When Fosse was preaching, no thought of himself could intrude. He spoke to his little congregation as he would have talked to each man singly, if he had been sitting beside him on the rude bench under the lighthouse wall.

Now, as Justin sat just within the porch, old Fosse stood on the threshold, and with his white head thrown back, and his every feature bright with inward gladness, he prepared to address his uneducated audience. There had been a slight stir and commotion amongst the people at sight of Justin, but it quickly subsided into decorous tranquillity, and the pleasant, cheery tones of old Fosse broke the silence.

Chapter II. Old Fosse's Sermon

IND when Jesus saw that He was very sorrowful, and said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God ! " " Jesus was very sorrowful when he saw that ! What do you s'pose he saw ? The poor widow that had only a mite, all the livin' she had, and she put that into the treasury box ? Or the blind beggars, poor men ! sittin' by the roadside beggin' ? Or that sick woman, which had suffered many things of many physicians, and spent all she had, and was nothin' bettered, but rather grew worse ? Or did he look into that bag Judas took care of, which was so often empty ? Or was he thinkin' of his own disciples, that had neither silver nor brass in their purses ? P'rhaps, if we'd been set to guess, we should have guessed any of these.

Or we might have guessed He was thinkin' how lonesome He was, and how far from His Father and His Father's house. Jesus was very sorrowful, but it was for none of these things. He had just seen a rich man ! " Ah the dear Lord was thinkin' about rich men ! A minute before he felt so sorrowful, one o' them had come to Him, very eager to learn how to win eternal life. He was a young man, a ruler, with plenty of power, and I dare say he ruled over his folks quite well and justly, better than most men, p'raps. There's not a word said against him by anybody. We know he wasn't too much set up by bein' a ruler ; for he comes runnin' to Jesus, and kneelin' down to him in the way. Ay ! kneelin' in the sight of all th' crowd, and on the dusty road, just like the poor leper that once came to Jesus, beseechin' Him, and kneelin' down to Him, and sayin' unto Him, ' If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.' No, no ; he didn't give himself airs, though he was a ruler, and a rich man.

He knew Jesus could tell him how to win eternal life ; and he was not too grand to kneel down for such a blessin' as that. " Ay ! and Jesus beholdin' him, loved him. Loved Needle s Lye. 12 him; think of that! Jesus loves us, every one, thank God ! But maybe there was somethin' very special about this young man, that made him very pleasant in the Lord's eyes. We all know what it is to seo some kind sweet face, like our Miss Pansy's, God bless her ! and we love it all in a moment, without stoppin' to think why. We know Jesus loved His disciple John, and chose him to sit beside Him at supper, and let him rest his head upon His bosom. And he loved this young ruler. Poor rich young man ! He might have had the Lord Jesus Christ for bosom friend ; he might have lived with Him, hearkenin' every day to His blessed words, and lookin' upon His blessed face, and feelin' the clasp of His hand.

But he missed it all ; poor fellow ! poor fellow ! " ' What lack I yet ? ' he asked. He felt he wanted somethin', though he was so rich he had everythin' — save eternal life. That was what he lacked — eternal life. An awful thing to miss that is, either in this world or the world to come. What is eternal life ? Why ! the Bible tells us plain. ' This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.' The poor young man had kept all the commandments, but he did not know God yet, nor Jesus, who had come to make God known. But he felt he was lackin' somethin'. ' Come, know me ! ' said Jesus. ' Take up thy cross and follow me, for that is the only way to eternal life. You shall hve with me, like these poor men, my disciples ; and I will teach you about my Father, till you know Him and me.

You can only know the Father through me ! ' What ! was there no other way for him to win eternal life ? Must he give up his rulership and his possessions? — great possessions they were. Could he have no treasure except treasure in heaven ? Then the rich man went away, grieved, and very sorrowful. " I don't wonder at the Lord bein' very sorrowful too. Poor folks came, and could get all they wanted from Him. Sick folks were healed, and blind folks received their sight. Sad folks were comforted. Even lepers, and folks possessed with devils were set free. But when rich folks came the Lord could do nothin' for them. They had got all they wanted, except eternal life. Except eternal life, mark you ! and they were too rich to win that, in the only way it can be won. He may well be very sorrowful, when He looks at rich men.

Eye. 14 " ' It's easier,' said Jesus, very sorrowfully, ' for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' ' Well ! that's impossible ! ' say the disciples ; and they were astonished out of measure. They* were never so astonished as at that. They were exceedingly amazed. Even when Jesus told them beforehand of the manner of His death, they were not so amazed and astonished out o' measure. ' Who can be saved if a rich man cannot ? ' they asked ; ' a rich man has every thin' his own way. He's a ruler, and everybody gives way to him. He's plenty of time, there's nothin' to hinder him from keepin' the com mandments from his youth up. He can give loads o' money away, and nobody blames him. Who, then, can be saved ? ' Ah ! they never thought the kingdom o' heaven is as men runnin' a race ; and who can run well that is laden with thick clay ?

If a man is passin' over clayey ground, and he clogs his own feet with it, how is ho to win a race ? He was a young man, and nimble enough to run along the high-road to meet with Jesus, but his soul was heavy laden with the pleasures and the cares o' riches, and could not run up the shinin' road to God. " Through a needle's eye ! Isn't that much the same as enterin' iu at the strait gate ? The gate's just wide enough to let our souls in, but it can't be stretched to let in one rag of our possessions. If we poor folk love our bits of cottages, or our gardens, or our boats, so as to make us forget God, why, we are trying to drive our camel through the needle's eye ; and it can't be done. We're what the world calls poor, almost all of us, but we can make Jesus very sorrowful. If we were out in a great storm, with darkness comin' on, and rocks, strange rocks ahead, and us driftin' on them, and we saw a quiet haven close by, only with a channel so narrow and so low an archway to go under that we must lower our masts and see that our tacklin' was all taut and tight, would we go on to the rocks and be lost, rather than run into that safe harbour ?

Nay, wouldn't we quit nets, and boats, and all, and escape with our bare lives ? You would, you would. Well, then, for your soul's sake, get rid of all that keeps you back from God ; enter in at the strait gate ; go through the needle's eye. Peter said, ' We have forsaken all, and followed thee ; what shall we have, therefore ? ' Ah ! Peter, are you goin' to make a bargain with the Lord ? Lye. 16 But the Lord was not grieved with him. The disciples had done their part first ; they had done what the rich man could not do. They had forsaken all they had and followed Him. They had gone through the needle's eye. And what did Jesus promise them? Everlasting Life ! The only thing the poor rich young man lacked. Well done, disciples ! Good and faithful servants ! Ye shall lack nothin' ; enter ye into the joy of our Lord.

" The kingdom of God ! There are no rich folks or poor folks there ; no great men or small men. ' The rich and the poor meet together ; the Lord is the maker of them all.' He makes men rich or poor as he sees fit, knowin' what is best for every one of us. ' We brought nothin' into this world,' says Paul to Timothy, ' and it is certain we can carry nothin' out.' ' The love of money is the root of all evil,' he says again, ' which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.' Jesus might well be very sorrowful over the rich young man. He went away to pierce himself through with many sorrows. Pierce himself through. with many sorrows! " But I was wishful to say a word or two about the kingdom of God. Paul was caught up into the third heaven, and heard unspeakable things, which it is not lawful for man to utter.

That is the grand palace and throne of the kingdom ; but the kingdom of God is here in this life. Paul says, and he knew better than most men, that it's righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It's mostly an unspeakable thing, but I'll tell you all I can about it. There's righteousness. You and me, we can hve in this world in a way to please the righteous God. I know I've my faults and failin's ; all of us have ; but there's many a thing I do that I can look up to God about, and know He is pleased with it. ' I do always those things that please Him,' says Jesus. Ah, Lord ! Thou wert His only begotten Son, in whom He is ever well pleased. But we do not always do things that please Him ; only sometimes ; when we are most like little children playin' at work, and thinkin' they are pushin' father's boat down into the sea with their little hands, whilst he's pullin' with might and main, and smiles at them for helpin' him.

God smiles down upon us when we think we're helpin' Him. "Then after righteousness comes peace; the peace VOL. II. c that Jesus left to His disciples. He was goin' into glory; and He left His peace with us, a peace passin' all understanding. I'll try to tell you what it is like, though it is unspeakable. Sometimes I've been far away from land on the open sea, and there's been nought but blue sky above me, and the blue water all around me. The sky seemed like the sea, and the sea shone like the sky ; all calm, quietness, peace. No land there with its work and worry. And I've let myself float on it, like a babe lyin' on its mother's lap looking up to the blue smilin* sky above me. That's how my soul is with God. I am rcstin' upon Him in a great calm and peace. There's nought but God above, and beneath, and all about my soul.

When it lifts up its eyes and looks around there's nought but God to be seen ; there's no fears, no cares, no steerin' or rowin' for itself. Above it there is only the smilin' face of God. This is peace ; what joy unspeakable and full of glory is I don't know yet, but my joy shall be full, and no man shall take it away from me. This is the Kingdom of God. " Rich men that love their riches, and poor men that hate their poverty cannot enter in, except through the needle's eye. Which of you will pass through the needle's eye?" Old Fosse had been standing with his face turned towards the dusky group of listeners, sitting silently in the dimly-lighted interior, while Justin had remained in the corner of the porch, from which he could see the sunlit cliffs. As the old man's voice, growing tremu lous as it came near the close, altogether ceased, he moved quietly away, and taking an unfrequented track, was soon beyond the sound of the singing, which rose and fell at measured intervals.

It was a lovely summer evening, and Justin sought a quiet, solitary spot on the cliffs, where no eye could see him, and no foot pass by. He wished to be alone. All day his soul had been dwelling in darkness ; and a new light was dawning upon it, solemn and mysterious as the daybreak after a tempestuous night. In his dread of poverty, and his desire to be rich, he had fallen into temptation and the snare spread for him, and had erred from the faith. He had shut himself out of the kingdom of God. Then there came to him one of those strange and mysterious crises in the history of the soul, which none c know save those who are called to pass through them. A deep awe overwhelmed him, and he hid his face even from the dying light of the day. The earthy husk of life was stripped off, and shrivelled up in the presence of the mighty influence that swept over him.

His soul was wrestling for a greater blessing than he had ever dreamed of before. Not a word came to his lips, or was fashioned in his brain. He was not conscious of the flight of the solemn hours. The quiet sounds of night did not penetrate his ear, and the soft summer breeze touched his head without arousing him. So motionless was he, he might have been dead. But when he raised his head and lifted up his pallid, awe-stricken face, there was no more irresolution in his heart. Herford lay below him in the dusk of the summer's night, with its sleeping cottages and strip of silver-sand, where the white-fringed waves were rip pling quietly. Above it rose his home, with one light burning still in Pansy's window. The church stood out clearly on its little slope of rising ground. All this was his own no longer.

He must go out into the world recognized no more as the prosperous landowner and popular magistrate. There would be conflicting and false rumours about him, and for a few days he would be the wonder and talk of the county. Then he would be forgotten, and Richard would be Herford of Herford. He had suffered the bitterest pang for his daughter's sake. As yet, indeed, he did not know what the conflict had cost him, but it was over. There was a great calm in his inmost soul, as of one whose feet feel the steadfast rock beneath them after long buffeting with the mighty waves of the sea. He knew that he had only one master, and that the yoke of all other servitudes was broken from off his neck. The love of the world had been cast into the consuming fire of the love of God, and had been destroyed for ever. He had entered into the kingdom of God. Lye. 22

Chapter III. Restitution

TT was more than ten years since Justin had turned aside into that way which had seemed good in his eyes, but he had held the estates against the silent protest of his conscience no longer than eight days. He had been fully persuaded, possibly because he wished it, that his step-brother was dead, and that Herford was fairly and justly his own. Even during these eight days the conflict had been more on behalf of his daughter than for himself. But now he was resolved to face the reality, to be true. What he could do to shield Pansy from suffering he would do, for himself he was almost ready to welcome it. But the path was no easy one to pursue, though the inward barriers were cast down. It was a solemn night for Justin, as he deliberated over his immediate action. Bichard must be reinstated in the house of his Restitution. 23 ancestors, whilst he must turn out into the world with a shadow attending him which would cling to his name, and dim the fair reputation he had won.