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.'"
Arthur, as he was about making a reply, was interrupted by his sister, who came to request Agnes to play for her a favorite tune, and their conversation, with the exception of an occasional word now and then, was ended for that evening.