THE HEARTHS-EASE. 131 



diaw closer the bond of union between the pastor 

 and his flock : and that was a blessed work. Woe 

 to the hand that wantonly severs them ! It is the 

 Lord's prerogative to visit a people by removing 

 their most gifted teachers into a corner, even as it 

 was also his to render the scattering of his church, 

 by means of fiery persecutions, available for the 

 spread of sound doctrine through Phenice, and 

 Cyprus, and Antioch ; but not the less sacrilegious 

 is the blow that snaps asunder a tie which the 

 Lord hath blessed ; and I was left to appreciate 

 the full beauty of that feature in D.'s spiritual cha- 

 racter, long after he was taken from mortal view : 

 as the balmy warmth of life-breathing Spring, is 

 doubly endeared to our remembrance when we 

 shiver before the rough blasts of a surly, devas- 

 tating November. 



Well ! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, and 

 man cannot dethrone him ! He worketh all things 

 after the counsel of his will, and man cannot thwart 

 his purposes. Nay, when most thoroughly set to 

 do mischief, man is but blindly forwarding the 

 work of eternal love and truth, even towards those 

 whose welfare is the farthest from his wish. My 

 little heart's-ease tells me this, in its own quiet lan- 

 guage, as it looks up from under the heap of un- 

 sightly leaves that, by falling thickly upon it, have 

 sheltered it from the evening frost, and left it 

 sparkling with salubrious moisture, when I take 



