The correct imitator of human life must also alternately introduce
joys and sorrows. Is it the langour of unwarrantable depression, the
indulged caprice of fastidious sensibility, or a more intimate
acquaintance with the dark colourings of disappointment than with the
sunshine of prosperity, which induces the conclusion, that the likeness
to reality will be more faithfully preserved if a sombre tinge
predominates in the fictitious narrative that paints the trials of
highly honourable and susceptible minds? The refinement which inspires
liberal desires and generous motives exposes its possessor to a more
lively feeling of the injuries inflicted by envy, selfishness, and
duplicity. The golden dreams of ingenuous candour and conscious ability
are rarely realized, and acute perception and high-minded integrity,
though most propitious to the growth of every virtue, seem to be the
choice fruits of heaven which, in the austere climate of this lower
world, require shelter and protection.
It is not murmuring against the wisdom or justice of Providence to
admit, that in a probationary state the most perfect characters are they
who have been purified by "much tribulation, and through faith and
patience inherit the promises.
Pages:
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627