'
We sometimes wonder at the mysterious Providence which often suddenly
removes the excellent from earth; while the wicked are allowed to
remain; but may it not be graciously ordered thus, to excite in us an
ardent desire for that preparation which shall enable us to greet our
friends on the shores of the better land. Oh, without such a hope what
would life be.
'It lifts the fainting spirit up,
It brings to life the dead.'
How often should I be ready to sink in despair," and Agnes's lips
quivered with emotion, "were it not that I am permitted to look forward
to that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and which
shall prove an abundant recompense for those 'light afflictions which
are but for a moment.'"
"But you," said Arthur, half inquiringly, "are, I trust, a stranger to
those afflictions.
'Rose-leaved from the cold,
And meant, verily, to hold
Life's pure pleasures manifold.'"
"My childhood and youth has, indeed, passed amid flowers and sunshine,"
was the reply; "and if the future appears now to point to a more gloomy
and thornier path, I will not repine to tread it, for
'Here little, and hereafter much,
Is true from age to age.
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