2oB IHE ilUIlAL ^OCIIATES. 



'^ Contcinplate death without terror.*'*** — If he 11 

 aflced whai he thinks of original fin, he anfv/ers; *^ Do 

 *' only what is right, and be tranquil about the reft." — 

 If any teli him^ that he leflens the merits of our Saviour 

 by fuppollng that he can deierve heaven by his good 

 works, he anfwers with afojt of difpleafure ; '^ I do not; 

 *•' pretend this ; for we mull owe this to oiir Saviour, 

 ^' which I confider as a point decided ;• but our Sa- 

 *' viour himfelf requires tn return^ that I fhould ad 

 *' well ; this is my duty, and he has known how to 

 '' provide for the reft. '^ — Such aie his ideas of religion; 

 of which he is more anxious to fulfil the precepts, than 

 to underlland the dodrines ; which yet he admits as 

 <:ert2in, never having conceived the ifmalleft doubt on 

 this head.' — The infernal tranquillity which religion pro- 

 cures hlm^ when he feels that he has done his duty, is to 

 him the ftrongeil demonftration of its truth. 



On the other hand, he defpifes .all religion which re- 

 fides only in profeinons arid is contradicted by actions. 

 When he hears much talk of religion and the ufes of 

 public worfhip, and of the necelFity and efficacy of pray- 

 er ; coming from men devoted to idlenefs, pleafureand 

 debauchery, and In which they permit alfo their chil- 

 dren to iiuiulge 5 or from men who feek to inrich 

 themfclvcs by tricks and cheating ; he calls the religion 

 the Ciiurch-going, and the prayers of fuch perfons, a 

 palpable lie^t}<j which they leek to abufe God and man. 

 This deceit he conceives as the worft of vices, becaufc 

 it feeds and multiplies all the others ; flnce the con- 

 fcience becomes deadened, when praying and going to 

 church is thought to repair every thing. Nothing 

 therefore fo much agitates him as thefe perfuafjons, fo 

 common in the country. — It happened one day, that he 

 was in company with two of the leading men in his par- 

 ifh. whom he had jiill alfifled in pacifying a warm dii- 

 pute between two neighbors ; when the converfation 

 turned upon the fertility of his fields. One of them 

 r^rjr/; rr;r? Vmc . ^^Q^.•^,Tv.^.n^ ^t- ^j^^ great amount of his 



wheat 



