133 



them, the young men and maidens, who now with joyous 

 hearts and- unwearied steps, are pressing round the 

 boundaries ! 



Thus might have thought and felt the men and 

 women who first stood beside the gospel-tree when 

 the experience of a few short years gave them some 

 little insight into the changes of human life. When 

 not a trace of that company remained, others stood in 

 the same place, and many thought the same among 

 succeeding generations ; content to suffer, and to see 

 the breaking asunder of every earthly tie, of all that 

 renders life desirable, while yet the sacred volume 

 declares to those who read and understand, that the 

 present state of human wretchedness is not designed to 

 last for ever. 



