THE CHRISTMAS ROSE. 163 



Stance — or worldly shadows — that we have barter- 

 ed ; while the pearl of great price, though perhaps 

 acknowledged to be our own, may lie before us 

 almost unheeded — certainly undervalued — as the 

 regretful sigh escapes. 



This, at least, is my case : knowing and closing 

 with the announcement, that we must through 

 much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven ; 

 and being well assured, that He who spake the 

 word, " In the world ye shall have tribulation," 

 hath in him no variableness, neither shadow of 

 turning; how wonderful it is that every light afflic- 

 tion, sent to wean me from earth, should be re- 

 garded as a strange thing; and a sort of careful 

 account-book kept from year to year, of what has 

 been done against my will, though in answer to 

 my prayers : as I number successive bereave- 

 ments, and secretly ask, " was there ever any sor- 

 row like my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath af- 

 flicted me ?" I meet a funeral party, perhaps in 

 my daily walk, and compassionate thoughts may 

 follow the weeping mourners, as they hold their 

 sad, slow progress towards the grave : but the 

 emotion is very transient, and the scene soon fades 

 into forgetfulness ; but when I betake myself to 

 the numbering of iny past funerals, when I con- 

 template some dreary blank left in my bosom by 

 the removal of a cherished object, it will almost 

 seem that all other griefs are common and poor — 



