THE HAWTHORN. 75 



not by sight, and this we readily admit ; but let the 

 lesson be brought home to our bosoms, and what 

 wretched learners are we ! We sow the grain, and 

 fully expect to reap our fields in the appointed 

 weeks of harvest : ask the natural man whence his 

 confident anticipation of such an issue to his hus 

 bandry — he will tell you that he trusts to nature, 

 because her operations are uniform, and have never, 

 in the ordinary course of events, been known to 

 fail. Are those two immutable things, the promise 

 and the oath of Him who is the Author of nature, 

 less trust-worthy than April showers, and* summer 

 beams ? Alas ! we must answer in the affirmative, 

 if we square our words to our thoughts and actions ; 

 for notwithstanding the unutterably rich profusion 

 of promises studding the whole book of God, as 

 thickly as the stars bestud the evening sky, we 

 bring our unbelief in desperate resistance to the 

 fulfilment of our prayer, mentally crying, Let 

 Him hasten his work that we may see it. Except 

 I see, I will not believe. Had I been left, to this 

 day, in the ignorance of the spiritual state of that 

 dear brother — as I was, until long after his depar- 

 ture,— -I could not sorrow as one without hope, 

 remembering the many encouragements given to 

 persevere even unto the end, after the example of 

 the Canaanitish woman ; but the trial, though se- 

 vere, was not long ; and solid grounds were afford 

 <»d of a delightful assurance, that even in the sight 



