LADY COLQUHOUN. DAUGHTER OF THE HON. SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. *Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might Gal. i. 3, 4. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1851. "They praise and they admire they know not what And know not whom, but as one leads the other, And what delight to be by such extoll'd! To live upon their tongues, and be their talk, Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise!" MILTON. 614 Cn22wo PREFACE. THAT the things of time should so frequently be held in higher estimation than those of eternity, is a fact that appears strangely inconsistent; and to account for it with any thing like reason is impossible. Several circumstances, however, concur to produce this anomaly. And first, our short-sightedness. Our eyes seem strained when we look beyond present objects and enjoyments; we are unable to fix them for any lengthened period upon futurity; we see what is around us in the world, but we see not, or very obscurely, even with the light the Scriptures afford, distant realities, however glorious. And then our depravity confines our thoughts and desires to the vanities of time. As fallen creatures, we have no taste for the sublime pleasures which infinitely transcend those of earth, and, therefore, worldly concerns alone interest, and upon them the dependence and the hope are solely placed for gratification and comfort. To forget that there is another state of being is frequently the aim of mankind, and if it be kept in view at all, a reversionary interest in the heavenly felicity, when every thing here fails, is that which induces a thought concerning it, and not delight in the joys that surround the throne of the Eternal. Thus men are contented to play with earth's baubles; and when disappointment succeeds to hope, some other toy supplies the place of the former, till its fallaciousness also is proved. And so man's earthly career is spent in grasping at shadows, and grieving to find them unsubstantial, unsatisfying, and evanescent. This life cannot yield sufficient happiness for an immortal soul, inasmuch as its utmost bound is but as nothing in comparison with the infinitely lengthened term of an eternal existence. The world's good is but a pittance when enjoyment must be found for endless years, or these years spent in the lack of it. It is mockery to desire a man to live eternally upon the sustenance of a day! If we secure not something more lasting than earth's best |