n not subdue it, at least the consciousness that I am
doing my duty will enable me to support it. When we feel,' added she,
'that we are _doing_ wrong, the opening our heart may strengthen our
virtue; but when we are _suffering_ wrong, the mind demands another sort
of strength; it wants higher support than friendship has to impart. It
pours out its sorrows in prayer with fuller confidence, knowing that he
who sees can sustain; that he who hears will recompense; that he will
judge, not our weakness, but our efforts to conquer it; not our success,
but our endeavors; with him endeavor is victory.

"'The grace I most want,' added she, 'is humility. A partial friend, in
order to support my spirits, would flatter my conduct: gratified with
her soothing, I should, perhaps, not so entirely cast myself for comfort
on God. Contented with human praise, I might rest in it. Besides, having
endured the smart, I would not willingly endure it in vain. We know who
has said, 'If you suffer with me, you shall also reign with me.' It is
not, however, to mere suffering that the promise is addressed, but to
suffering for his sake, and in his spirit.' Then turning to the Bible
which lay before her, and pointing to the sublime passage of St Paul,
which she had just been reading, 'Our light affliction which is but for
a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory.' 'Pray,' said she, 'read this in connection with the next verse,
which is not always done. _When_ is it that it works for us this weight
of glory? _Only_ 'while we are looking at the things which are not
seen.' Do admire the beauty of this position, and how the good is
weighed against the evil, like two scales differently filled; the
affliction is light, and but for a moment; the glory is a _weight_, and
it is _forever_. 'Tis a feather against lead, a grain of sand against
the universe, a moment against eternity. Oh, how the scale which
contains this world's light trouble kicks the beam, when weighed against
the glory which shall be revealed.'

"At the end of two years she had a little girl; this opened to her a new
scene of duties, and a fresh source of consolation. Her religion proved
itself to be of the right stamp, by making her temper still more sweet,
and diffusing the happiest effects through her whole character and
conversation. When her husband had staid out late, or even all night,
she never reproached him. When he was at home, she received his fri