“Hugh! Hugh! It is not for myself now so much as for you that I am ambitious. With the power this fortune would give, when joined to your talents, you could become so distinguished.” “Again, Garnet: When Satan tempted Christ it was not through any puerile idea, but through the grandest passion of the human soul—the passion by which the great archangel fell—Ambition. But, I tell you, Garnet, that if ambition be the most glorious of human passions, remorse is the most terrible. And, too often one follows the other as surely as night follows day.” She did not reply, and both remained silent for a few minutes, when, taking her hand, he said impressively: “Do not think me ungrateful, dearest Garnet. Very deeply do I feel the blessing of your sweet love; very highly do I estimate the honor of your ambition for me. But listen, dearest. In erecting your edifice of earthly happiness, it would be well to lay the basement sure. You might possess and inhabit a princely palace, luxuriously furnished, yet you would not glory in its splendor, or even enjoy a moment’s repose under its roof, if you knew its foundation to be insecure; that at any instant in the midst of enjoyment it might suddenly fall and crush you under its magnificent ruins. Garnet, such an insecure dwelling-place, such a transient phantasmagoria, is any plan of earthly happiness not based upon the principles of justice. Such, Garnet, is your edifice of enjoyment; for you will feel that death, which hangs over us all at all times, may at any moment summon you from its possession to place you at the bar of Eternal Justice, to answer for the sin of your soul. And your ill-gotten splendors here will be your condemnation hereafter. Oh, believe me, dear Garnet, to say nothing of the sublime beauty of faith displayed in the sacrifice of earthly interests to heavenly prospects—of temporal pleasures to eternal joys—there is great good sense in seeking ‘first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’; for, look you; I may gain wealth and renown, but if my fortune is ill-gotten I cannot fully enjoy it, for knowing that at any time my soul may be snatched from its possessions to the bar of God, and, stained with falsehood and injustice as it is, be hurled thence to perdition. But, on the other hand, if my fortune is founded upon righteousness, and built up with the blessing of God, then I may be as rich and as great as I please, and yet enjoy this world with a surer joy for knowing that it leads to a better and an eternal one. Life, dear Garnet, is a journey to the Judgment Seat. In all your plans, therefore, of life’s journey, look to its end. If you set out upon a road that you knew was leading you to misery—no matter how fine the carriage in which you traveled, how soft the cushions on which you sat, how beautiful the country through which you passed—you could not enjoy it; for every mile that should draw you nearer to its close would increase your uneasiness, for you would know its end to be