Page:Reflections among the monuments.pdf/3

 Highly favoured probationer I accepted without being exerciſed! It was thy peculiar privilege, not to feel the ſlighteſt of thoſe evils which oppreſs thy ſurviving kindred; which frequently fetch groans from the moſt manly fortitude, or moſt elevated faith; the arrows of calamity, barbed with anguiſh, are often fixed deep in our choiceſt comforts. The fiery darts of temptation, ſhot from the hand of hell, are always flying in ſhowers around our integrity. To thee, ſweet babe, both theſe diſtreſſes and dangers were alike unknown.

Conſider this, ye mourning parents, and dry up your tears. Why ſhould you lament, that your little ones are crowned with victory, before the ſword was drawn, or the conflict begun?—Perhaps, the ſupreme diſpoſer of events foreſaw ſome inevitable ſnare of temptation forming, or ſome dreadful ſtorm of adverſity impending. And why ſhould you be ſo diſſatisfied with that kind precaution, which houſed your pleaſant plant, and removed into ſhelter a tender flower, before the thunders roared; before the lightnings flew; before the tempeſt poured its rage?——O remember! they are not loſt, but taken away from the evil to come.

At the ſame time, let ſurvivors, doomed to bear the heat and burden of the day, for their encouragement, reflect,—that it is