THE 
 
 OAK-GROVE. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. C p5^^ 
 
 " A little one shall become a thousand, and a 
 Small one a strong nation : I the Lord will has= 
 ten it in his time." — Isaiah lx. 22. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 Published by the Religions Tract &Book Socicty 
 for Ireland, Sold at No. 22, Upper Saekville" 
 street, Dublin; at the Society's Depositors 
 32, SackviUe-street, Piccadilly, J. Nisbet, 
 Houston & Son, and Simpkin & Marshall, 
 London ; and G. Gallie, Glasgow. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIII. 
 
PORTKOUS, PRINTER. 
 
THE OAK-GROVE. 
 
 I was walking in my favourite 
 grove, where the oaks, whose lofty 
 branches had lately afforded a plea- 
 sant shade from the heat of summer, 
 were fast losing their rich leaves. 
 Yellow, shrivelled, and dry, they lay 
 in heaps upon the grass, mingled 
 with a large quantity of acorns, which 
 two or three children were busily 
 collecting in their small baskets, as a 
 feast for some favourite pig. So they 
 told my little companion, who, on 
 his part, was filling his handkerchief 
 with the same treasures, for the pur- 
 pose of raising such another grove of 
 oaks in his garden — apiece of ground 
 six feet long, by one foot wide — so 
 mightily does man's ambition, even 
 at six years old, overstep his means ' 
 
4 
 
 Having neither a pig to provide 
 for, nor room in my garden for oaks 
 to grow, I picked up a single acorn, 
 and walked slowly on ; considering 
 it as an object always interesting, but 
 far more so now, that the light is 
 surely dawning which shall shine 
 throughout the earth — now, when 
 the kingdoms of this world are agi- 
 tated on every side, by the beginnings 
 of those tumults which are to pre- 
 vail before they become the king- 
 doms of the Lord and of his Christ. 
 I fancied the acorn planted, and 
 springing forth ; and rising into a 
 mighty tree : and then pictured to 
 myself of what awful, terrible, and 
 glorious scenes it might one day be 
 the witness. I considered the pre- 
 sent and past ages of the world, and 
 while the scattered leaves flew round 
 me, on the blast of autumn, they sent 
 home to my heart the affecting la- 
 mentation of the prophet, (t Wc all 
 
5 
 
 do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities 
 like the wind, have carried us awav." 
 
 There is something very striking 
 to my mind in the lofty unconcern 
 with which the tree seems to stretch 
 forth its branches, above the wither- 
 ing leaves, that so lately were its 
 beauty and its boast. Even so does 
 the proud world overlook its chil- 
 dren, who have been laid low by the 
 hand of death. While they lived, 
 men spoke well of them, but now, 
 their pomp is brought down to the 
 grave, and the noise of their viols : 
 the worm is spread under them, and 
 the worms cover them. The rem- 
 
 I nant, instead of being affrighed at 
 their removal, and giving glory to 
 the God of heaven, scarcely cast a 
 
 \ passing glance upon their graves ; 
 
 I but continue unmoved, in pride, im- 
 penitence, and rebellion against the 
 Most High. Man that is in honour 
 
8 
 
 them— Papa unexpectedly put a stop 
 to the whole affair, by declaring that 
 she must also have a ring* through 
 her nose, unless she could prove to 
 him that one in the ear was either 
 more necessary or more useful. 
 
 This, of course, could not be prov- 
 ed ; and the trinkets were exchanged 
 by the friend who brought them, for 
 something better suited to the child. 
 But such an effect had the conversa- 
 tion upon her young mind, that it 
 led to a habit of valuing things ac- 
 cording- to their real usefulness ; and 
 when twenty years afterwards, she 
 was brought to feel the true worth 
 of her soul, and to understand how 
 many things that are highly esteem- 
 ed among* men, are abomination un- 
 to the Lord, she found cause to be 
 thankful for this little incident of 
 the ear-rings, as having been made 
 the means of keeping her from many 
 snares. 
 
It does not often happen that a 
 poor family can afford such things 
 as these : but the richer sort of peo- 
 ple sometims do great harm by giv- 
 ing to them the cast off dresses of 
 their own children, with, perhaps, 
 such trimmings and flounces upon 
 them, as make them quite grand in 
 the sight of a cottager. I would ne- 
 ver grudge an hour's work to the task 
 of stripping these off* before I part 
 with articles that my friends are so 
 good as to give me for the poor. As 
 to my own wardrobe, I hope that is 
 always arranged according to the 
 counsel of the Apostle, or rather the 
 command of the Most High : for it 
 is He, who, by the mouth of St. 
 Paul and St. Peter, thus speaks, " I 
 will, that women adorn themselves 
 in modest apparel, with shamefaced- 
 ness and sobriety ; not with broider- 
 ed hair, or gold, or pearls, or cost- 
 ly array." I Tim. ii. 9. " Whose 
 
6 
 
 not only to the leaves that fade, but 
 to the beasts that perish. 
 
 In the midst ol" these solemn re- 
 flections, my eye was caught by the 
 glittering' of a pair of small, but 
 showy ear-rings, adorning one of 
 those little girls who were gleaning 
 lor the pig. It was easy to see that 
 she had not long worn the useless 
 ornaments ; and was very vain of 
 the consequence which they were 
 supposed to add to her appearance. 
 At any time, and in any place, finery 
 displeases me : especially when dis- 
 played by the poor. How much 
 more then, when every object around 
 us seemed made to teach humility, 
 and " to hide pride from man !" 
 
 Perhaps it was but yesterday that 
 the little girl suffered the painful 
 operation of having her ears bored, 
 that these foolish trinkets might be 
 made to dangle from them : and per- . 
 baps in that deed her character vm 
 
7 
 
 fixed for time — and for eternity ! — 
 Oh that parents would be wise, and 
 consider the end of all that they do, 
 and say, in regard to their children ! 
 The world, the flesh, and the devil, 
 are so closely bound together, that it 
 is hard to serve either of the two first 
 without doing the work of the last, 
 and we all know how difficult it is 
 to straighten the tree which has 
 been allowed, as a sapling, to grow 
 crooked. 
 
 I once knew a little girl, in a far 
 higher rank of life than that of the 
 child whom I was observing, but 
 whose father had the judgment to 
 disapprove of all needless ornament 
 When she was about seven vears old. 
 a relation coming to the house on a 
 visit, brought her a very fine pair of 
 ear-rings ; and as the party were 
 settling that littleMiss should on the 
 next day have her ears bored — for 
 they were still just as God made 
 
10 
 
 adorning, let it not be that outward 
 adorning of plaiting the hair, and of 
 wearing of gold, or of putting on of 
 apparel." 1 Pet. iii. 3. And Isaiah 
 spake as moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 when he sternly reprovdthe daugh- 
 ters ofZion for their haughtiness and 
 pride ; and declared that the Lord 
 should take away " the bravery of 
 their tinkling ornaments/' I would 
 not dare to glory in my shame — and 
 the clothing which we are compelled 
 to wear is the consequence and the 
 memorial of man's transgression. — 
 Shall I make a boast of Adam's sin ? 
 Shall I trim my dress with what would 
 buy a blanket for some shivering, 
 bed-ridden fellow creature, chilled 
 with age and poverty; or defend the 
 tender limbs of some weak infant 
 from the cold ; or satisfy the hunger 
 of both ? I hope not. 
 
 I was thus thinking, as I trod over 
 the brown leaves, while a slight driz- 
 
11 
 
 zling rain that began to fall, made 
 me thankful for a warm cloak, and 
 encreased my pity for those who had 
 no such protection even from a storm, 
 while obliged to work in the open air. 
 
 My little companion cared not for 
 the change in the weather, so busy 
 was he with the acorns : nor did the 
 other children leave their employ- 
 ment. They gleaned from necessity, 
 he for amusement; but to observe 
 the little fellow's eagerness any one 
 might have supposed that his dinner 
 depended upon his work. Seeing 
 him quite loaded with acorns, I called 
 him tome, and proposed his putting 
 them into the basket of the little girls. 
 
 " No : I cannot spare them. I 
 am going to take them home." 
 
 " Why, what can you possibly do 
 With so many ?" 
 
 " Oh ! I can play with them/' 
 
 "But the pig would make a meal 
 upon them ; and God certainly gives 
 
12 
 
 them for the animals' food. He 
 makes nothing in vain, though we 
 often put His gilts to very wiong 
 and foolish uses. I cannot think 
 that we have a right to destroy even 
 a handful of acorns ; but you may 
 amuse yourself a while with them, 
 and afterwards give them to a poor 
 neighbour, who will be glad of them 
 to put into his pig's trough. And 
 now I will tell you how to be in- 
 structed, as w ell as amused, by thes. 
 pretty shining things. 
 
 " When reading the Bible, you 
 will sometimes meet with what you 
 cannot as yet understand ; and even 
 when you are much older, you may 
 still find some difficult passages, 
 Now, it is certain that our hearts are 
 full of unbelief, by nature, and satan 
 is always glad of an opportunity to 
 make the most of our bad, proud 
 disposition. We do not like to be- 
 lieve what we cannot understand 
 
13 
 
 and this one thing would shut us 
 out of heaven entirely, however wise 
 and good we may fancy ourselves. 
 We must, therefore, always pray for 
 faith : 'Without faith it is impossible 
 to please God.' " 
 
 u But what is faith ?" 
 I am going to tell you, in the 
 language of a poor old woman, who, 
 on being asked the same question, 
 answered, ' If* taking God at His 
 word.' Suppose I was to say to you, 
 plant this acorn ; and if it live it 
 will become an oak/ would you be- 
 ieve me ?" 
 
 " Yes, to be sure I would. Don't 
 I know that oaks grow from acorns ?" 
 
 " You do. You have been told 
 so ; and you have seen the acorn fall 
 from the oak, and have pulled up a 
 young plant, with the shell of the 
 acorn still hanging to the root. But 
 •oppose I met a person who had ne- 
 ver seen any thing of the sort, nor 
 
14 
 
 knew any thing about the growth of 
 vegetables, and were to show him a 
 handful of acorns, and say, 4 Sec 
 here ; if you put these small round 
 things in the earth, they may one 
 day be made into great ships ; or 
 yield food enough every year to fat- 
 ten hundreds of swine; or provide 
 beams and floors, tables and chairs, 
 for a whole village/ would he not 
 think that I wanted to deceive him ? " 
 
 "I dare say he would, indeed." 
 
 " The change is so wonderful that 
 nobody would believe it ; and even 
 as it is, nobody can explain it, though 
 it is not possible to deny what we 
 see with our own eyes every day, 
 God requires us to believe some 
 things which as yet we cannot fully 
 perceive : because, as the Apostle 
 says, we now see ' through a glass, 
 darkly/ yet the Lord can enable us 
 to believe, though we see not. Thus 
 you are told that by the sin of one, 
 
16 
 
 the whole world is become sinful ; 
 and that, by the death of another 
 One, sin is forgiven, and man made 
 holy and happy again ; and our be- 
 lieving this is necessary to our salva- 
 tion. In ' the man, Christ Jesus/ 
 4 dwelt all the fulness of the God- 
 head bodily,' That is more amaz- 
 ing than that the oak should dwell in 
 the acorn ; but God tells you that it 
 is so ; and faith assures you that, 
 what God says, is, and must be true. 
 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
 from all sin you know not how ; 
 but your sin will never be cleansed 
 unless you believe it. Satan knows 
 all this very well : and will do all in 
 his power to keep you from believ- 
 ing. But look on the acorn, and be 
 humbled. Acknowledge how igno- 
 rant, blind, and weak you are: and 
 from the least of Gods visible works 
 learn how necessary it is to pray for 
 faith, that you may believe the words 
 
If) 
 
 by which you shall he made wise 
 
 unto salvation. " 
 
 Look to the heavens above, 
 To earth that smiles beneath, 
 
 And read Jehovah's power and love 
 On all that move and breathe. 
 
 The ocean, land, and sky, 
 
 Are leaves in one vast book ; 
 
 His glorious hand is ever nigh, 
 'Tis seen where'er we look. 
 
 The acorn at my feet, 
 
 Hid in its dusty bed, 
 Shall burst from forth its low retreat, 
 
 And shade the path I tread. 
 
 Thus, by thy grace, O Lord, 
 True wisdom would I learn, 
 
 In ev'ry page throughout thy word 
 Its fulness to discern. 
 
 Each promise there bestow'd 
 
 Is in rich bounty giv'n, 
 To bloom above the narrow road* 
 
 And shade my path to heav'n, 
 
 THE END