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"Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of these, that lawless and incertain thoughts

Imagine howling! "Tis too horrible !"—SHAKSPEARE.

WILLIAM EMMERSON was, in his day, an eminent mathematician and scholar; but being an infidel, the fruits of it were profaneness, vice, and drunkenness. In his last days he exhibited a painful spectacle. In his paroxysms of the stone, he would crawl on his hands and knees, uttering at times broken sentences of prayer, intermingled with blasphemies and profane swearing. What a contrast between his death and that of Sir Isaac Newton, who died of the same painful disease. In the severest paroxysms, which even forced large drops of sweat that ran down his face, Sir Isaac never uttered a complaint, or showed the least impatience.

15. DYING WITHOUT HOPE.

"E'en at the parting hour, the soul will wake,

Nor like a senseless brute its unknown journey take.”—PERCIVAL. THE unhappy subject of this sketch, by her ill temper rendered the life of her first husband so wretched that he became intemperate and finally drowned himself. She then married a second husband, with whom she also

lived very unhappily. Her second husband died suddenly, and she was charged with having given him poison in a bowl of coffee. Of that, however, there was no positive testimony, and the subject was never legally investigated.

"Not long after the death of her last husband," says the narrator, "her own health began to decline; and then it was that I became personally acquainted with her. She was very unpopular in her own neighbourhood, andher health had been sinking some time before she received much attention from those around her. Her mother-in-law, who took care of her, represented her case as being very distressing; stating, that she was extremely sick, and without the necessaries of life.

"Hearing that, I ventured to call at her house to ascertain what was her real situation. That was the first time I recollect having seen her. She was propped up in bed, suffering severe pain, attended by cough and emaciation. Her abode was truly cheerless. She had but few comforts, and was without the means of procuring them. Her situation was made known to an influential gentleman, who was the means of procuring a pension for her, in consideration of her husband's having been a soldier in the American revolution. Before I left her I made some inquiries into her state of mind with regard to the subject of death, and whether she thought she would be happy or miserable after death She frankly told me she was sinking rapidly, and that she had no right to believe her heart had ever been changed, that she was without hope of happiness beyond the grave, and also stated that her bodily afflictions were light compared with the uneasiness of mind she suffered about her soul. I advised her to seek earnestly for the renewing and sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit, and to cast herself entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, assuring her he never casts away any who sincerely flec

to him for refuge. She asked me to entreat the Lord for her-a request which she made of several other persons. "When her state of mind was made known, many pious persons visited her, and conversed with her upon the subject of religion. Some read the Scriptures to ner, and prayed with her; others selected tracts suited to her case, and sent them to be read during her intervals from pain. Gentlemen, as well as ladies, called to see her, and prayed with her. She wept much and prayed herself, and appeared earnestly engaged. I saw her frequently while in that distress, and thought her deeply exercised. The promises of the Gospel were repeated to her, but she constantly insisted that they could not reach her case;' that her sins were too great to be forgiven.' She had probably been guilty of some aggravated sin, which she never confessed.

"The sympathies of the community were all now exercised in her favour, and those who had once avoided her took pleasure in contributing to her comfort. She had been in that state of distress for many weeks, perhaps two months, when she ceased praying, and became a blasphemer. This was about three weeks before her death. She had been using profane language several days before I ventured to see her. I had read of Altamont' and Newport,' but had never seen such a case, and I now determined to go, and see what human nature is when left to itself. Now, instead of expressing satisfaction at seeing me, she began to use the most profane language, calling for curses, not only upon me, but upon the Almighty himself! While I was there her mother offered her some coffee, but she threw it from her, and cried out, 'Give me some cold water, for I am going to hell, and I shall get none there!' Then she exclaimed, 'I feel hell within me-I am suffering the torments of hell!' She then stretched out her arm, which was nothing but skin and bone, and asked if that was not a poor

The

arm to burn in hell-fire! She appeared entirely sensible of the sovereignty and justice of God, fully sensible of a future state of rewards and punishments, and that she was sinking down to endless woe. When reminded that God was willing to save all who came to him, siņcerely desiring to be forgiven, she cursed God in the most profane manner, saying, 'he might have saved her if he would;' and wished that her Maker was suffering the torments which were awaiting her! Some persons wished to pray with her, but she would not allow them. A lady attempted to read the Bible to her, but she cursed the Bible, and ordered her to desist! lady asked her if she was angry with her. She said, 'No, not with her in particular; but she was angry with everybody, and angry with the Almighty! She told the lady she not only hated everybody, but everybody hated her, and she expected when she died to be thrown out into the street, no one caring enough for her to have her interred. The lady told her such a circumstance should not occur where she had power to prevent it, and promised her that she would see her decently interred. She then requested that she might be buried in the Episcopal church-yard. After her death the lady complied with her promise, and attended the funeral. The man who made the coffin, our black man, the mother-inlaw, and a little daughter of the deceased, and the lady alluded to, composed the funeral procession. I called to see the corpse; it was the most dreadfully distorted object I ever witnessed. The countenance had the same haggard expression it had before the soul left the body. I never made her but one visit after she began to use profane language, excepting the visit paid to her lifeless remains. My feelings were too much agitated to bear a repetition of the scene. But there were at least one hundred persons who visited her, and they can testify to the truth of this statement."

X

16. DYING REGRETS.

"Bliss! sublunary bliss!-proud words, and vain!
Implicit treason to Divine decree !

A bold invasion of the rights of Heaven!

I clasp'd the phantoms, and I found them air.

O had I weigh'd it ere my fond embrace,

What darts of agony had miss'd my heart !"-YOUNG.

1 WAS called upon one morning, now many years ago, says a minister of the Gospel, to visit a gentleman, one of my congregation, who was apparently in a dying state. Not having heard of his illness before, but knowing his previous history, I felt startled and greatly distressed; for he was one who had trifled with religious convictions, and had so far stifled them as greatly to abandon his religious connexions, satisfying his conscience by attending one service on the Sabbath, frequently absenting himself altogether, and seeking, in worldly associations and amusements, to silence the voice within, and bury in oblivion the remembrance of past religious impressions. On entering his dying chamber, with a look of unutterable anguish he exclaimed, "O, sir! I am lost! Your very presence condemns me!. The sermons you have preached, your faithful warnings from the pulpit, your private expostulations, all condemn me! O, sir! what is to become of my soul-my poor neglected soul? I have just been told that I cannot live! My hours are numbered! I have no pain now, but that is the precursor of death," (he was dying of inflammation in the bowels,) "and I shall soon be in eternity! O, stifled convictions-neglected Bible-misimproved Sabbathshow will you rise up in judgment to condemn me! O, sir, what will become of me!" I endeavoured to calm his mind, and told him he must not add unbelief to the catalogue of his sins; that the Gospel was a revelation

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