f
gratitude. The author of my being was likewise the dispenser of every
gift with which that being was embellished. The service to which a
benefactor like this was entitled, could not be circumscribed. My social
sentiments were indebted to their alliance with devotion for all their
value. All passions are base, all joys feeble, all energies malignant,
which are not drawn from this source.

"For a time, my contemplations soared above earth and its inhabitants.
I stretched forth my hands; I lifted my eyes, and exclaimed, O! that I
might be admitted to thy presence; that mine were the supreme delight of
knowing thy will, and of performing it! The blissful privilege of direct
communication with thee, and of listening to the audible enunciation of
thy pleasure!

"What task would I not undertake, what privation would I not cheerfully
endure, to testify my love of thee? Alas! thou hidest thyself from my
view: glimpses only of thy excellence and beauty are afforded me. Would
that a momentary emanation from thy glory would visit me! that some
unambiguous token of thy presence would salute my senses!

"In this mood, I entered the house of my sister. It was vacant. Scarcely
had I regained recollection of the purpose that brought me hither.
Thoughts of a different tendency had such absolute possession of my
mind, that the relations of time and space were almost obliterated from
my understanding. These wanderings, however, were restrained, and I
ascended to her chamber.

"I had no light, and might have known by external observation, that
the house was without any inhabitant. With this, however, I was
not satisfied. I entered the room, and the object of my search not
appearing, I prepared to return.

"The darkness required some caution in descending the stair. I stretched
my hand to seize the balustrade by which I might regulate my steps.
How shall I describe the lustre, which, at that moment, burst upon my
vision!

"I was dazzled. My organs were bereaved of their activity. My eye-lids
were half-closed, and my hands withdrawn from the balustrade. A nameless
fear chilled my veins, and I stood motionless. This irradiation did not
retire or lessen. It seemed as if some powerful effulgence covered me
like a mantle.

"I opened my eyes and found all about me luminous and glowing. It was
the element of heaven that flowed around. Nothing but a fiery stream was
at first visible; but, anon, a shrill voice from behind called upon me
t