36 



has caused, and still causes, to some of the former; and the re- 

 morse which occurred at the closing scene of one of the most 

 learned, sensible, and best informed of those eastern philosophists. 

 This gentleman had, long before his last illness, seen the fallacy of 

 the creed he had adopted; the same interesting passage in the pro- 

 phecies of Isaiah, which engaged the attention of the minister of 

 the Ethiopian queen, and so happily effected the conversion of a 

 dissipated English nobleman, had, by the divine blessing, been 

 equally instrumental to the conviction of my deluded friend. On 

 his return to England, his brother, at that time one of our most 

 eminent and zealous prelates, employed every mean in his power 

 to convince him of his error, and providentially succeeded. 



Soon after my arrival in London I paid him a visit, without 

 knowing of this change in his sentiments. I found him studying 

 the Bible; then opened at the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, with 

 his own manuscript comment upon that affecting and wonderful 

 passage. This gentleman had been educated, in a more than ordi- 

 nary manner, a Christian; but alas! separated far from the o-uides 

 of his youth, he forgot the covenant of his God, and became 

 enamoured with the continental philosophy: he lost his anchor of 

 hope, sure and steadfast; and parted with the heavenly pilot 

 which would have conducted him through the rocks and quick- 

 sands of time, to the haven of peace, in a blissful eternity! He 

 avowed himself to have been a champion in the cause of infidelity 

 and was too successful in the combat. 



The breakfast party I have alluded to was principally composed 

 of my own select friends; young men of superior talents, amiable 

 dispositions, and elegant accomplishments: as such, I loved and 



