My heart was touched with joy and gratitude. 'Look, madam,' said I, 'at
the bountiful provision which a beneficent Father makes, not only for
the necessities, but for the pleasures of his children;

----not content
With every food of life to nourish man,
He makes all nature beauty to his eye,
And music to his ear.

"'These flowers are of so little apparent use, that it might be thought
profuseness in any economy short of that which is divine, to gratify us
at once with such forms, and such hues, and such fragrance. It is a
gratification not necessary, yet exquisite, which lies somewhere between
the pleasure of sense and intellect, and in a measure partakes of both.
It elevates while it exhilarates, and lifts the soul from the gift to
the Giver. God has not left his goodness to be _inferred_ from abstract
speculation, from the conclusions of reason, from deduction and
argument: we not only collect it from observation, but have palpable
evidences of his bounty, we feel it with our senses. Were God a hard
master, might he not withhold these superfluities of goodness? Do you
think he makes such rich provision for us, that we should shut our eyes
and close our ears to them? Does he present such gifts with one hand,
and hold in the other a stern interdict of 'touch not, taste not, handle
not?' And can you believe he is less munificent in the economy of grace,
than in that of nature? Do you imagine that he provides such abundant
supplies for our appetites and senses here, without providing more
substantial pleasures for our future enjoyment? Is not what we see a
prelude to what we hope for, a pledge of what we may expect? A specimen
of larger, higher, richer bounty, an encouraging cluster from the land
of promise? If from his works we turn to his word, we shall find the
same inexhaustible goodness exercised to still nobler purposes. Must we
not hope then, even by analogy, that he has in store blessings exalted
in their nature, and eternal in their duration, for all those who love
and serve him in the gospel of his Son?'

"We now got on fast. She was delighted with my wife, and grew less and
less afraid of my girls. I believe, however, that we should have made a
quicker progress in gaining her confidence if we had looked less happy.
I suggested to her to endeavor to raise the tone of her daughters'
piety, to make their habits less monastic, their tempers more cheerful,
their virtues