Too Late

How like the sound of the fresh earth upon the coffin-lid fell those words upon my ear and heart. The physician had been hastily summoned to the bedside of my dear and only son, upon whose fair forehead lay the dew of death. He had been suddenly stricken, and we knew not how to give him up; and, hoping against hope, we sought to save him. The physician turned to me, saying, "It is too late."

Ah, thoughtless youth, seeking for earthly happiness, death will one day come to thee. Thou mayst not be prepared for it. The stern messenger may come to thee as he did to little Charles, with no voice of warning, and summon thee before the Judge; and then, with the thought of misspent hours, and a vision of eternity before thee, thou mayst exclaim, "Would to God I had thought of this hour, and prepared for it; but now it is too late,—eternally too late!"--Anon