184 THE PURPLE CORCUS. 



controversy, that those who are lost perish by iheir 

 own wilful act; while such as are saved escape 

 the same fearful doom by an aci of unsoug'tii mer- 

 cy — free and as unsearchable as that which brings 

 the crocus from the frozen ground, and bids it 

 bloom, in vigorous life, amid the dark, cold world 

 of leafless trees, and the torpor of suspended vege- 

 tation. 



