In the "Amulet," Hendrick Conscience has worked up an incident which
occurred at Antwerp, in the 16th century, into a story of great power
and deep interest. It was a dark and bloody deed committed, but swift
and terrible was the retribution, strikingly illustrating how God
laughs the sinner to scorn, and how the most cunningly devised schemes
are frustrated, when He permits the light of His avenging justice to
expose them in their enormity. On the contrary, it forcibly proves that
virtuous actions, sooner or later, bear abundant fruit even in this
world. If a man's sins bring upon his head a weight of woe, so do his
good deeds draw down the benedictions of heaven and serve as a shield to
protect him from his enemies.
S.J.F.
Baltimore