Page:The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets.djvu/55

 we know not where or how; and that even now we can see how some are made wise by the folly of others; how some become gentle through the fierceness which afflicts them, and pure from beholding the foulness of guilt.

Even, replied Havilah, as the son of Tagu prayed the more fervently for his father, because his father prayed not for himself; and as the wife of Tagu looked with a tender love upon her children, because her husband loved her not.

Even so, replied Eber. Yet unhappy are they who thus bring sorrow into their houses, and darken with the shadows of their guilt the sunshine of innocent hearts. Jesus said, 'It is necessary that offences come, but alas for him through whom they come!' We know not how the offender's lot may be changed hereafter, by the woes that his guilt shall surely bring upon him; but it is better to be afflicted in body, than diseased in soul; to find all dark in the light of noon, and all silent amidst the gushing of waters and the music of the forests, — than to be blind to the signs which God holds forth in the heavens, and deaf to his voice when he calls to us from on high.

All this is true, said Havilah. Yet would I