I thank Thee, my Father, for Thy bounty; that Thou didst not ask a less sacrifice than this; that Thou placedst me in a condition to testify my submission to Thy will!  What have I withheld which it was Thy pleasure to exact?  Now may I, with dauntless and erect eye, claim my reward, since I have given Thee the treasure of my soul.

I was at my own house; it was late in the evening; my sister had gone to the city, but proposed to return.  It was in expectation of her return that my wife and I delayed going to bed beyond the usual hour; the rest of the family, however, were retired.  My mind was contemplative and calm—­not wholly devoid of apprehension on account of my sister’s safety.  Recent events, not easily explained, had suggested the existence of some danger; but this danger was without a distinct form in our imagination, and scarcely ruffled our tranquillity.

Time passed, and my sister did not arrive.  Her house is at some distance from mine, and though her arrangements had been made with a view of residing with us, it was possible that through forgetfulness, or the occurrence of unforeseen emergencies, she had returned to her own dwelling.

Hence it was conceived proper that I should ascertain the truth by going thither.  I went.  On my way my mind was full of those ideas which related to my intellectual condition.  In the torrent of fervid conceptions I lost sight of my purpose.  Sometimes I stood still; sometimes I wandered from my path, and experienced some difficulty, on recovering from my fit of musing, to regain it.

The series of my thoughts is easily traced.  At first every vein beat with raptures known only to the man whose parental and conjugal love is without limits, and the cup of whose desires, immense as it is, overflows with gratification.  I know not why emotions that were perpetual visitants should now have recurred with unusual energy.  The transition was not new from sensations of joy to a consciousness of 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, “Oh, 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!”