Introduction - Birth - Maternal Influence-School-days- Love of Study-Partiality for Poetry-Works of Fiction-Later Judgment.
THE works of the Lord furnish an inexhaustible source of delight and instruction. The treasured secrets of the material universe, the mysteries of over-ruling Providence, the manifold arrangements that render earth so beautiful and convenient a dwelling-place for man, amply reward the researches of the patient inquirer. But redemption presents a fairer and more glorious page to our study than creation grace has richer stores and purer gems than nature. No wisdom is more wondrous than that which builds up the temple of the Lord with living stones, and erects therewith a meet, acceptable shrine for his eternal indwelling. No loving-kindness is more admirable than that which translates undying souls from the kingdom of darkness into that of God's dear Son. No earthly charms, however attractive and exquisite, can compare with the beauty of holiness. In the language of one whose character the following pages will attempt to delineate, "It is delightful to watch the expanding foliage and budding flower; still more interesting is the