MISCELLANEOUS. 401 



is the sole source of all human welfare and peace, so ha- 

 bits of religious reflection, in the spring of life, are the 

 onlj means of arriving at a due sense of the importance 

 of divine concerns in age, except bj the bitter and hazard- 

 ous roads of repentance and remorse. There is not a more 

 awful spectacle in nature than the death-bed of a late re- 

 pentance. The groans of agony which attend the separa- 

 tion of the soul from the body, heightened bj the heart- 

 piercing exclamation of mental distress, the -dreadful 

 ebullitions of horror and remorse, intermingled with the 

 half-fearful, but fervent deprecations of the divine wrath, 

 and prayers for the divine mercy, joined to the pathetic 

 implorings to the friends who stand weeping around the 

 bed of the sinner to pray for him, and to take warning 

 from his awful end, contribute to render this scene such 

 an impressive and terrible memento of the state of those 

 who have neglected theiv souls, as must bring to a due 

 sense of his duty the meat hardened of infidels. 



It is to ensure you, my young friends, as far as precept 

 can ensure you, from horrors like these in your last 

 moments, that I write this little book, in the hopes, that 

 through the blessing of the Divine Being, it may be 

 useful in inducing you to reflect on the importance of 

 early piety, and lead you into the cheerful performance 

 of your duties to God and to your own souls. In the 

 pursuit of this plan, I shall, first, consider the bliss which 

 results from a pious disposition, and the horrors of a 

 wicked one. Secondly, the necessity of an early attention 

 to the concerns of the soul towards the establishment of 

 permanent religion, and its consequent happiness ; and, 

 thirdly, I shall point out, and contrast, the last moments 

 of those who have acted in conformity, or in contradic- 

 tion, to the rules here laid down. 



The contrast between the lives of the good and the 

 wicked man aflbrds such convincing arguments in support 

 of the excellence of religion, that even those infidels who 

 havedaredto asserttheir misbelief of the doctrine of reve- 

 lation, have confessed, that in a political point of view, if 

 in no other, it ought to be maintained. Compare the 

 peaceful and collected course of the virtuous and pious 



