Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-06-07

with melody and with all fantasies in Volutions
Of tune to suit that ecstatic worship p,-hymnS
full Of the beauty of holiness, steadfast, rely
ing, sanctifed by the salvation they had lent
to those in worse extremity than hers;-for
they had found themselves in the grasp of hell,
while she was but in the jaws of death. Out
of this strange music, peculiar to one charac-
| ter of faith, and than which there is none
more beautiful in its degree nor owning amore
potent sway of sound, her voice scared into
the glori6ed chants of churches. What to
her was death by cold or famine or wild beasts
! Though He slay me- yet will l trust in Him, :"
she sang High and clear through the irore
! fair night, the level moonbeamS splintering in
| the wood the scarce glints of stars in the
shadowy roof of branches, these sacred an
thems rose,-rose as hope from despair, as
some snowy spray of aower-bels from bIackeSt
mould. Was she not in Gods hands Did
not the world swing at His will? If this
were in His great plan of providence, was it
not best, and should she not accept it
He is the Lord our God His judgments
are IN all the earth"
Oh, sublime faith of our fathers where ut
! ter self sacrifice alone was true love, the fra
GRANGE of whose unrequired subjection was
| pitdSduG dS lidt vi SOIueu CSuSerS swung III
purple-vapored chancels
Never ccas;ng in the rhythm of her thoughts
articulated in music as they thronged, the
memory Of her first communion flashed over
| her. Again she was IN that distant place on
that sweet spring morning Again the con-
gregation rustled out and the few remained,
and she trembed to find herself among them
! How we'll she remembered the devout, quiet
| faces too accustomed to the sacred feast to
glow with their inner JOY how well the snowy
| linen at the altar, the silver vessels slowly and
silently shifting and as the cup approached
and passed, how the sense of delicious perfume
stole iu and heightened the transport of her
prayer, and she had seemed, looking up through
| the windows where the sky scared blue in con-
stant freshness, to feel ali heavens bams drip
ping from the portals, and to scent the lilies
| of eternal peace ! Perhaps another would
not have felt so much ecstasy as satisfaction
on that occasion but it is true, if later
disciple, who has said, The Lord bestoweth
his blessings there, where he fadeth the YES
sells empty" And does it need the walls Of
a church to renew my communion ?' she ask
cd. Does not every moment stand temple
| four-square to God? And in that morning,
with its buoyant sunlight, was any dearer to
the Heart of the World than now p Ny be-
loved is mine, and | am his" she sang over
and over again, with all varied infection and
profuse tune. How gently all the winter
| wrapt things bent toward her then ! into what
relation with her had they grown how this
common dependence was the spell of their in
timacy how at one with Nature had she be-
come how all the night and the silence and
the forest seemed to hold its breath, and to
send its soul up to God in her singing 1t
was no longer dependency, that singing 1t
was neither prayer nor petition. She had left
imploring How long wilt thou forget me, o
Lord ?" Tighten mine eyes, lest | sleep the
sleep Of death p For in death there is no
remembrance of thee with countless other
such fragments of suppcation. She cried
rather, Yea, though | walk through the val
ley of the shadow of DEATH 1 will fear no
evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort ne and fingered, and
repeated, and sang again, =" | shall be salts
fed, when | awake, with thy likeness"
Then she thought of the Great Deliverance,
when he drew her up out of many waters, and
the flashing old psalm pealed forth triumphant
y -
" The Lord descended from above.
and how'd the heavens hie
And underneath his feet he cast
the darknesse OF the skie.
On cherubs and cherubns
fully royalty he road
And on the wings of all the winds
came flying all Abroad
She forgot how recently, and with what
strange pity for her own shapeless form that
was to be- she had quaihty sung
oh lovely appearance of death!
What sight upon earth is so fair
Not all the gag pageans that Breathe
Can with dead body compare.'
She remembered instead, -" In thy presence
is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are
pleasures forevermore and, God will re-
deem my soul from the power of the grave
for he shall receive me -; He will swallow
up death in victory" Net once now did she
say, Lord, how long wilt thou look on res
cue my soul from their distinctions, my darl-
ing from the lions, for she knew that '' the
young lions roar after their prey and seek their
meat from God" 90 Lord, thou preservest
man and beast !" she said.
She had no comfort or consolation in this
season, such as sustained the Christian mar
tyrs in the amphitheatre. She was not dying
for her faith there were no palms in heaven
for her to wave but how many time had
she declared, -" had rather be a doorkeeper
in the hodse of my God, than to dwell ia the
tents of wickedneSs !" And as the broad
rays here and there broke through the dense
covert of shade and lay in rivers of lustre on
crystal sheathing and frozen frettng Of trunk
and limb and On the great spaces of refracton
they builded up visibly that house, the shining
city on t he hill, and singing, Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount
Zion, on the sides of the North. the city of
the Great King" her vision climbed to that
higher picture where the angel shows the daz-
zling thing, the holy Jerusalem descending out