Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/40

 now have the power to show our love and gratitude, and that the pardon he has accorded to us, was more, perhaps, an act of piety than the result of filial affection."

"We must not be too nice (answered he) in our search after the motives of our best actions, but be content to judge of them by their effects: If he condescended, in his own good time, to reconcile us to ourselves, and to forgive us in his last moments, it is our duty to be thankful, and to examine no farther."—Claudina, who saw his mind was disturbed, and knew how to allow for it, made no reply; but after she had indulged those tears she found it impossible to repress, held up her sweet infant to his view, and exulted in the resemblance she traced between its unformed features and himself. Melted by her tenderness, and gazing on the lovely child, he embraced both with ardour, and, in grateful acknowledgments for the blessings before him, forgot, for a short time, both recent afflictions, and puzzling conjectures.