The Hopes of Hope Castle; Or, the Times of Knox and Queen Mary Stuart

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867. Excerpt: ... XXX. light at Evening fimc, 1' Through all life's troublous day Thou hast sustained me. Thou wilt keep me still; Though clouds and darkness gather round my way, And hopes are perished, yet I fear no ill; It matters little what the path may be, So that it leads to thee. Obmistotin, 1571. T NCE more, after an interval of more than two years, I have prepared myself to resume my pen, at least until I can tell my distant friend how naturally my thoughts turn to her with an impulse which I cannot control. Brought as I have been out of the depths of misery and despair by a grace nothing less than infinite, I love to speak of the mercy that has saved me, to those whose experience will enable them to understand it. The first emotion of joy I had felt since the dreadful event that withered all my earthly prospects, was caused by the intelligence contained in a letter from Lady Ellen Maxwell to Veronica, telling her that the writer had learned to know Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel, not as he appears through the colored and distorted lens of the Catholic church. When the letter was read in my presence, I said nothing, and they all thought the good news unheeded by me; but deep down in my icebound heart one little ray of light and warmth penetrated even then, and now my whole soul is flooded with it. How sweet it is to feel that this dear friend is now my soul's sister for eternity, that we are no longer separated by differing creeds, but heirs together of the grace of life. When Kobert went to Paris last fall, we hardly dared hope that he would gain access to Lady Ellen, guarded as she has always been by the jealous care of Father Francis from contact with heretics; but a kind Providence prepared the way by sending him away from France at that t...