Page:Widow's son raised from death (1).pdf/15

 it in its beſt eſtate, they only liken it to a common "flower of the field;" which, though it comes forth freſh and beautiful, ſo that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of them, yet continues but for a little; and, if ſuffered to reach the end of its ſhort duration, we ſee it fade, ſhed its leaves and wither away. But, as of flowers, ſo of mankind, very few drop into the grave like a ſhock of corn in its ſeaſon. For ſurely we need not be informed, that death ſpares no age. The experience of every one will furniſh him with inſtances of perſons cut off in all periods of life.—Some have ſcarcely croſſed the threſhold of life, when their eyes are ſhut by the chilling hand of death. How many too can we recollect, who begun with us the career of life, with proſpects as fair, and hopes as ſanguine as ours, whoſe ſtrength of conſtitution promiſed a length of healthy days, who are now numbered with the clods of the valley, and, like the widow's ſon, cut off by a premature death? In ſhort, the child of a ſpan long, the blooming youth, the man of middle age, with him of many years, are all mingled together, in ſad aſſemblage, amongſt the abodes of the