14 THE SNOW-DROP. 



stated, while Frederick perceptibly drooped more 

 and more, under the struggle that divine grace 

 enabled him to maintain against temptations, too 

 frequently successful, to compromise his Christian 

 simplicity of walk and conversation, he appeared 

 one day to his anxious wife, radiant with joy and 

 holy exultation. ' Oh, Theresa,' he said, ' what 

 can I render unto the the Lord for his great bene- 

 fits V I have long been a wretched, prayerless 

 outcast, unable to pour out my soul to him. J 

 have pined under the sense of banishment — of 

 deserved exile from his presence. I have been 

 forsaking him : and he almost forsook me. • But 

 on this happy morning, I have been once more 

 admitted to my Father's throne : I have had such 

 enlargement of spirit, such freedom in prayer, 

 such a blessed assurance of his unchangeable love, 

 that surely, surely he will not let me wander any 

 more !' She told me that his look and manner 

 quite overpowered her selfish feelings : she was 

 conscious of the deep cruelty of her conduct, in 

 depriving him of such peace, such joy : she even 

 prayed to be kept from a repetition of offence. 

 Her impressions were, however, then too weak 

 and transient to have endured a trial — the Lord 

 wrought, in a way that neither of them had antici- 

 pated : and on the very next day she saw her 

 Frederick laid on the bed of dangerous sickness. 

 He recovered speedily, so far as to appear out 



