Sweet the hour of tribulation, When the heart can freely sigh; And the tear of resignation Twinkles in the mournful eye. Have you felt a spouse expiring In your arms before your view? Watch'd the lovely soul retiring From her eyes that broke on you? Did not grief then grow romantic, Raving on remember'd bliss ? Did you not with fervour frantic, Kiss the lips that felt no kiss? Yes! but when you had resign'd her, Life and you were reconcil'd; ANNA left---she left behind her One, one dear, one only child. His But before the green moss peeping Horror then your heart congealing, From that gloomy trance of sorrow, When you woke to pangs unknown, How unwelcome was the morrow, For it rose on YOU ALONE. Sunk in self consuming anguish, Can the poor heart always ache? No, the tortur'd nerve will languish, Or the strings of life must break. O'er the yielding brow of sadness While the wounds of woe are healing, 'Tis a solemn feast of feeling, Pensive memory then retraces Lives in former times and places, Dreams of love your grief beguiling Trembling pale and agonizing, Thither all your wishes bending Thither all your hopes ascending, Thus afflicted, bruised, broken, You have felt "THE JOY OF GRIEF." Whether it may please God, that you and your beloved partner shall be exercised, with the cares and sorrows of bringing up a family, still remains to be proved. Should you be denied the pleasures of an offspring, you will at least have this consolation, that you will escape many of the most poignant of sorrows human nature is called to endure. How ever, this may be, it becomes you to be resigned to the will of God. What he appoints for us is best. Reconciliation to his will, and acquiescence in whatever he pleases to send us, produce the highest felicity that we can possibly enjoy in this world. That you and your beloved may completely realize such an inestimable blessing, is the best wish of, Your sincere and affectionate friend. I have now arrived at that part of the subject, which will speedily bring my remarks to a conclusion. Our sorrows here must ere long have an end. But it delights my mind, it fills me with inexpressible pleasure, to think that the season is fast approaching, when all our sorrows will be turned into joy. Sorrows are the medicine of the mind, -They make us acquainted with ourselves. They show us what spirit we are of. They wean us from the world.They lead us to the throne of grace.They teach us to pray.---They bring us to a more intimate acquaintance with him who has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.---They increase our faith:-- enliven and encourage our hope: ---and most effectually draw our hearts from earth to heaven. The most sorrowful circumstances, and the most distressing seasons we pass through, are frequently our greatest blessings.---They work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.--They are the seed time of the soul:-the harvest is in heaven.---We sow in tears;--but we shall reap in joy. I have had my hour, and I am thankful. I have known and enjoyed in a considerable degree, the pleasures of the marriage state; I have also known something of its sorrows: but I can truly say, that I remember them without regret ;--or rather, with adoring gratitude, under a deep sense of my obligations to God, who has led me, and who has supplied me, all my life long unto this day. I have found it good to be afflicted; and I am thankful for it. My cup has been mixed by a kind, gracious, fatherly hand. He hath done all things well. In reflecting on the number of persons I have seen enter into the marriage state, who have been separated by death; and in very many instances where both parties are removed into the eternal world, thought grows more intense. It is impossible not to look homeward. Do I believe? I shall see the glory of God. Jesus has said: Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am there ye may be also.' If L believe this, I must be happy: Oh what delightful employment for faith Faith overlooks the things that |