ner talk of the other place, and of the
goodness and hospitality of God amongst His saints above."
And then the excellent man began to dilate upon the joys of heaven, and
the goodness and hospitality of God in the mansions above; explaining to
me, in the clearest way, how I might get there.
And when he had finished what he had to say, he left me, whereupon
Winifred drew nigh, and sitting down by me, began to address me. "I do
not think," said she, "from what I have observed of thee, that thou
wouldst wish to be ungrateful, and yet, is not thy whole life a series of
ingratitude, and to whom?--to thy Maker. Has He not endowed thee with a
goodly and healthy form; and senses which enable thee to enjoy the
delights of His beautiful universe--the work of His hands? Canst thou
not enjoy, even to rapture, the brightness of the sun, the perfume of the
meads, and the song of the dear birds, which inhabit among the trees?
Yes, thou canst; for I have seen thee, and observed thee doing so. Yet,
during the whole time that I have known thee, I have not heard proceed
from thy lips one single word of praise or thanksgiving to . . ."
And in this manner the admirable woman proceeded for a considerable time,
and to all her discourse I listened with attention; and when she had
concluded, I took her hand and said, "I thank you," and that was all.
On the next day everything was ready for our departure. The good family
of the house came to bid us farewell. There were shaking of hands, and
kisses, as on the night of our arrival.
And as I stood somewhat apart, the young girl of whom I have spoken so
often, came up to me, and holding out her hand, said, "Farewell, young
man, wherever thou goest." Then, after looking around her, she said, "It
was all true you told me. Yesterday I received a letter from him thou
wottest of, he is coming soon. God bless you, young man; who would have
thought thou knewest so much!"
So, after we had taken our farewell of the good family, we departed,
proceeding in the direction of Wales. Peter was very cheerful, and
enlivened the way with godly discourse and spiritual hymns, some of which
were in the Welsh language. At length I said, "It is a pity that you did
not continue in the Church; you have a turn for psalmody, and I have
heard of a man becoming a bishop by means of a less qualification."
"Very probably," said Peter; "more the pity. But I have told you the
reason of my forsaking it. Fre
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