Richly was that mother's fidelity
rewarded by the virtues and graces which she had assisted to form.
Though she recognized them all as the fruits of the Spirit, she could
not but know that in a humble, and yet very important sense, they were
connected with her own instrumentality.
Such has been the career of two of the playmates of my childhood. They
are both living, but they have been traveling in opposite directions,--I
may say ever since they left the cradle. And so far as we can judge, the
main reason is, that the one had a mother whose influence was only for
evil, the other, a mother who was intent upon doing good. Both their
mothers now dwell in the unseen world; while the one is represented on
earth by a most loathsome specimen of humanity, the other by a pure and
elevated spirit, that needs only to pass the gate of death to become a
seraph.
Mothers, I need not say a word to impress the lessons suggested by this
contrast. They lie upon the surface, and your own hearts will readily
take them up. May God save you from looking upon ruined children, and
being obliged to feel that you have been their destroyers! May God
permit you to look upon children, whom your faithfulness has, through
grace, nurtured not only into useful members of human society, but into
heirs of an endless glorious life!
* * * * *
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