THE CHRISTMAS ROSE. 173 



but alas for those, to whose sight a vacancy ever 

 appears, which they cannot but feel may yet again 

 be filled by the loved object to whom it was ap- 

 propriated ! There is balm, indeed, for the Chris- 

 tian thus circumstanced : his faith is put into a 

 more trying furnace : and a higher exercise of it 

 demanded : but as his day, so shall his strength 

 be. God doth not willingly afflict ; this cross, and 

 none other, was prepared for the individual, with a 

 purpose of mercy for which he shall here glorify 

 God in the fires of tribulation, and hereafter in the 

 felicity of his eternal kingdom. Living or dead, 

 the eye of the Father is upon all : and the sorrow- 

 ful, the conditional prayer, with its heart-breaking 

 clauses, ' if yet he liveth,' may be receiving an 

 answer little understood by the tearful supplicant ; 

 or, should the subject of it have indeed passed be- 

 yond this mortal scene, and thus be moved out of 

 the reach of our intercession, such prayer may 

 return to the bosom that breathes it, with a bles- 

 sing beyond his hopes. 



Over his providential dealings, the Lord some- 

 times draws a thick veil ; and upon its surface we 

 discern only these words. " Trust in Him at all 

 times." May He enable the afflicted soul to res- 

 pond, " Though He slay me, yet will I trust in 

 Him." 



15 # 



