^%- S^r IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k A // ..V < <;' ^ ,V<^ V. #/. ^ 1.0 I.I ■fi|2£ 12.5 1-^^ 111112.0 11:25 i 1.4 6' 1^ 1.6 Hiptographic Sciences Coiporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 4\^ i\ ^ qv \\ ^9) .V €i <^.«t. o"-%''f>^^^ PSUCNTBD AND PIFBLISHBB AT TBB *• IBVANaBLIZBR " OCTIC B, PRBSOOTT, CW /■ ,¥ "DOES YOU LOVB OODP'* "Does you love God r The questioQ came from a sweet pair of lips. Opposite sat a young gentleman of strada^ exterior. He and the child were trav^ng in a stage coach. The latter sat. on her mother's Imee. Her little face, beauti- ful beyond description^ looked out from a, frame of delicate lace-work. For four houra . the coach had been toiling on over an unequal road; and the child had been very winning in her little ways,— lisping songs;: lifting her bright blue eyes often to her mothei-'a face; then falling back, in a little old-fashion- ed, contented way, into her mother's arms^ saying by the Kuito action^ '< I am happy here.'^ For more than an how, the dearbabe, scarce^ ViQt &ntm incr f.li a max: fhraalnrAA nfhavH fVk _ .j^_3^ *'r--aj!r'^r-. beoa answering^ the smjlos of the youngs »ia^ wko liad been pleased with her beaujty. * DOBS TOU lOVE GOD? Ho had nodded his head to her little tunes; he «W 5,^'' ^'! '•'" pearl-handled penknife to plar with; and, at last, his heart went ove? f^II ofT"-^ «'''°^- '*'''° "n'W blue eyes full of the innocence of a ho.ir love and a trusting faith made his pulses leap w?th a purerjoy; and, as the co«ci rattled on, he be^ srve?yTel.""* ""' '' «»« JO^^y -- "0 1 The child tad been sitting for the last fifteen minutesrega«liag the young man witha gS that seemed almost solemn! neither smilC ♦i.A*''°"°1"""'"T ^""^^ to spread over the young brow that had never yet been shadowed by care ; and as the coach^toppld at the mn-door, and the passengers mOTed ^ ieasUy preparatory to leaving," she bent ^hiWish voice, these words :-." Dc^s you love He did not understand at first, in the con- fasion and bent over nearer ; and the voice asked again, clearly, almost eagerlv — _ "Does you love «od ?" the thouWuI. in- H^iirmg eyes, uifimUme beaming into, hii- ? DOES YOU LOVE COD? 5 tuues;he Qkuife to ent over lue eyes, 'e and a p with a n, he be- vvere not st fifteen a glance ailing at at bent ad over 3t been stopped I moved e bent in her on love he con- e voice iful, ini' tto Jii»^ The young man drew back hastily blushing up to the very roots of his hair. He looked in a sort q( confused abrupt way at the child, who, frightened at his manner, had hidden her face in her mother's bosom ; turned to the coach-door ; gave another look back, as if he longed to see hei* face j and then left the coach. He hurried to his hotel ; but the little voice went with him. There seemed an echo in his heart, constantly repeating the question of the child, — " Does you love God ?" Several gay young men met him at his hotel. They appeared to have been waiting for him, and welcomed him with mirth that was almost boisterous. They had prepared an elegant supper ; and after he had been to his room, escorted him to the table. The full gleam of the gas fell upon the glittering fur- niture ; red wines threw'shadows of a lustrous crimson hue athwart the snowy linen. There were mirth, wit, faces lighted with pleasure, —everything to charm the eye and please the palate ; but the young man was conscious of a void never experienced before. His heart ^ver and u^sia aud B©pn he seemed to hear her wordfl^ -:*M)oes you love God ?" « DORS YOU LOVE GOD? His name was Gilbert. Onlv twenfr *»,«.« *o eron .mport of that simple queZrJ- ** Does yon love God ?" ' to liT! *-«''™ T'»*° ''« ''«W the Md wine IL K-f luV,'"'^®'"''^ "'nM the clatter of the billmrd-baUs, and the shnnZ ^e glance of thJb^e^y7&TeZ" ZT* voice singing, the lo,v^olc^ augW Se W voice asking thrillingly,— "©"""S' meiow " Does you love ifod ?" tried to"drw«^l"? *". l^^^dside. He had mea to drowa U m wme, in song, in earelwl The nest night, he met a fashionable friend Se^f *" ^"^l ^'' *" ^'»"' place oTl™ She was very beautifal in dlezling rSbW^ The gleam of pearls, and the Insies oS and ace vied with each other to enhance W inief^^'b-t^venas shecaielSS vuw iuuffl wim smiles upon her vonn^ v^ lips and a welcome to her^word^'Cla^ venty-three iiolar, and Already but he had rht, on the OD,— 3 red wine clatter of of merry erywhere. ie earnest d the low ?, the low He had t careless ut heard le friend, pleasure. )bing.— . I of silk mce her boflf into ^8 red ) oame DOBfS YOV LOVE GOD? .^ too, floating noiselessly at her side the pres- ence of that angel-child. The better feelings her innocent presence had awakened were yet wann j and, before he knew it, the young man ^d, quickly and earnestly, "Does you bve " What do you mean f ' exclaimed the younc girl, with a start of surprise. ^ "I was thinking, as you came in, of alovely child I saw yesterday," he replied. "As I was m the act of leaving the coach, she suddenly looked up, and asked me that ques. tion." ^ "And what, pray, put it into the child's head? What did you answer ?" "I am ashamed to say, I ^ a» not prepared with an answer," replied the x ^ung man, capt. mg down his eyes. That night pleasure had no gratification for him. His feet trod languidly the mazes of tho tiance ; his smiles were forced : and more than once, it was said of him, « He does not seem himself.", ,. . „ .. Kg ; he was not like the gay thoughtless self nf fnrmor xroava TKaw% , ..9. - l^ngin his bopom, the waters mver before been 4ibtiirbed, «-"- - BIJH PU04 ^ 8 D0JS8 rou LOVB qodI .i\ * ♦ Jt «M^h Startled and nnnfnJ^u y^^eeemecTso '-aae or simiiar faestioniB." "^ '"'*^'* heart, tiOD. tempt not sa; which questi remeni thoug] should circum Is she her IE voice t Him." Stra notice mother against not ma] little g had be< Sudd came i He saw the wii sombre within. id the vibra- « a thoughtful il street of a Qi opparent- ons, his eyo oking down louse. His »Dffed. He 'fly at the t his hand t3 ushered lady of the a/' he said, ■ eeiog you ' never for- five years the artless ^0 you r^ smih'nffly, leemed so ^earcUld DOES TOU LOVE OOD? 9 « WV^iM^ Kori^?" jnnocent face is engraven on my ♦;?^ « xT^ ^^® ?^°°^ ^"° ^ith much emo. tion. "Never, since that day, have I been tempted to do that which my conscience wouW not sanction, but the earnest, serious gaze with which she regarded me before she 4ed ihttt question, has come to my mind. Would she t^hmZt^nr' ^^^u^^ ^^^^^^ Absurd thought ? of course she would not But I should remember her anywhere, under any circumstances. Can I not see her, madam ? Is she at home with you ? I long totake lier in my arms, and hear once more the ^oice that God has used to draw my heart to Strange that, in his eagerness, he did not l^nl^ '^-^ P?i^^°« ?^^^' ^^^ q°^er of ?he mothers hps the sudden pla^jing'of her hand agamst her heart ! Strange alS) that he did not mark the absence of pattering feet; of httle gentle indications that a child'e fiaiers had been busy m the room about him. Suddenly, as he ceased speaking, there HrawZ.^^™*^'*?'^^^ conscionsnese. He saw the tear^tained cheek turned towards the window; he noticed the ffarmente of ^^•S^^ ^"^J f^e^earithe «7ence reigning A # 10 IM5ES TOTT LOVE GOD.? 3^ "Madam— is^the child r from the trembling lips. ^ tated dS^ '"''° '^°^ ^^^ <>° h''« seat, affi- the grave " ^ ' speaking to me from - "There" said t^e mother, nawauitehrnt«n inat 18 left on earth of precious Kettie." o J'i^'^^' madam ? that is not all that is left- T and conflictmg errors I had dared to n„^ UaHeFS'?),"'^"^ Almight/ Ci^to;: * ^^^ <*e*^ingl7 throwa my taunts, at Him^ who,] My in menh leader jjropir anddi this tj libertii nnlooli u t "01 Infinite her, gl tears b than pi Utte like ac the hea was om all that ing the Jesus C Oh I Bead of heav( Pfiking,- "Poe ioa? ind brokenly^ lis seat, agi- td so radely md in that ifter a long d. " Pear to me from bim to fol- an: ber she books tha il rewards, ite brokeu here is all tie." i is left: I ', made so she asked clay, my w^ildering to OQAfh. Creator, at Him^ »0M rou tOTg oODf 11 J^O, in great forbearance, has fowrivenniA My influence for evil was unlimitedf b^* £:i^o^k«<^«P to me. and chose iS; foMhS leader. I wag going the downward plS!^ |?ropmg bhndly in a great labyrin™o? enST ^tu^fj^^^r^^'^ m Madi^''g tois time I might hare been a debauchee, a hbertme a God-defying wretch. buTfo^er unlooked-for question-- "'Does you love God?' , « Oh I that voice I that look I that aimost infimte sorrow 1 that divine pity, thTtKh her, glanced into my soul! WMn/ffi tears bear witness that your child left m^ than precious dust and perishing torn" °'*''^ Utterly broken down, the strong man went like a child All he said was truef forTe hefd the hearts of men in his hands. In geniL ho wa. one of the strong ones of the e^Kd aU that powerful mind wa^ engaged in ^reT ^ ^.e^gngs of man. slLrTS^ piiio **-^ 1^^'^'' ^^ ^ "^^^^ work. Reader, m the sweet accents Sf that babe of heaven. iafliAronnf „ „^...r _."'"**'' """^^ asking,—' =---" «»y4wm jrott^U^ft,,^ " Poes you Ipve Qo^ p»