AND KEFOBMATTON. 109 
resolutions, much less into right practice, is 
frequently displayed in a manner, strong as 
reality, in those solemn hours, when the 
world is shut out, and deep sleep falleth upon 
man. An idea, which has been presented to 
the mind whilst we are awake, often assumes, 
by reflection, and during the hours of sleep, 
a solemnity and importance which it did not 
before possess. And perhaps there are no 
inward admonitions more affecting, or more 
fruitful of good, than those which relate to 
our children, and to the obligations under 
which we are laid to conduct the young in 
the right way. Happy are they who are 
wise enough to make a good use of that 
which appears to have been sent to them for 
a good end. Adams had begun to read his 
Bible ; and who can tell the power given by 
the grace of God to the study of the revealed 
Word, with prayer, and to a thoughtful and 
candid perusal of the injunctions of the 
Saviour, to whom the young were objects of 
the tenderest regard ? 
With his clearer view of the parental 
character, and of the condition of his own 
soul, Adams became a religious man. He 
