that
you cannot shake off your vows and promises made to God. He will sorely
require it of thee. Therefore pay thy vows unto the Lord. God will reward
you for so doing. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee:" Isaiah liv.,
10.

[Illustration: Rural Landscape.]

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE BEREAVEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.[A]

[Footnote A: In this chapter we have made free use of poetical quotations
for the benefit of the afflicted.]

"On, long ago
Those blessed days departed, we are reft,
And scattered like the leaves of some fair rose,
That fall off one by one upon the breeze,
Which bears them where it listeth. Never more
Can they be gathered and become a rose.
And we can be united never more
A family on earth!"

Bereavement involves the providential discipline of home. In almost every
household there have been sorrows and tears as well as joys and hopes. As
the Christian home is the depository of the highest interests and the
purest pleasures, so it is the scene of sad bereavements and of the darkest
trials. It may become as desolate as the home of Job. The Christian may,
like the aged tree, be stripped of his clusters, his branches, all his
summer glory, and sink down into a lonely and dreary existence. His home,
which once rang with glad voices, may become silent and sad and hopeless.
Those hearts which once beat with life and love, may become still and cold;
and all the earthly interests which clustered around his fireside may pass
away like the dream of an hour!

The members of home must separate. Theirs is but a probationary state.
Their household is but a tent,--a tabernacle in the flesh, and all that it
contains will pass away. The fondest ties will be broken; the brightest
hopes will fade; all its joys are transient; its interests meteoric, and
the fireside of cheerfulness will ere long become the scene of despondency.
Every swing of the pendulum of the clock tells that the time of its
probation is becoming shorter and shorter, and that its members are
approaching nearer and nearer the period of their separation.

"There is no union here of hearts,
That finds not here an end."

Alas! how soon this takes place! The joy of home would be perfect did not
the thought of a speedy separation intrude. No sooner than the voice of
child