"Just as the calyx begins to divide and a faint streak of color
becomes visible,--lo! in one night the owner of the greenhouse sends
and takes it away. He does not consult me, he gives me no warning; he
silently takes it and I look, but it is no more. What, then? Do I
suppose he has destroyed the flower? Far from it; I know that he has
taken it to his own garden. What Henry might have been I could guess
better than any one. What Henry is, is known to Jesus only."
Shortly after this time Mrs. Stowe wrote to her sister Catherine:--
If ever I was conscious of an attack of the Devil trying to separate
me from the love of Christ, it was for some days after the terrible
news came. I was in a state of great physical weakness, most
agonizing, and unable to control my thoughts. Distressing doubts as to
Henry's spiritual state were rudely thrust upon my soul. It was as if
a voice had said to me: "You trusted in God, did you? You believed
that He loved you! You had perfect confidence that he would never take
your child till the work of grace was mature! Now He has hurried him
into eternity without a moment's warning, without preparation, and
where is he?"
I saw at last that these thoughts were irrational, and contradicted
the calm, settled belief of my better moments, and that they were
dishonorable to God, and that it was my duty to resist them, and to
assume and steadily maintain that Jesus in love had taken my dear one
to his bosom.
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