"fuffer; my life is forfeited, and let them "take it."

I tried to reftrain my paffions for a few minutes in filence; but I thought I should have died with the effort." O my boy, my heart 66 weeps to behold thee thus, and I cannot, can

not help it. In the moment that I thought "thee bleft, and prayed for thy fafety, to behold "thee thus again! Chained, wounded. And 66 yet the death of the youthful is happy. But I66 am old, a very old man, and have lived to fee "this day to fee my children, all untimely "falling about me, while I continue a wretched "furviver in the midft of ruin! May all the curfes "that ever funk a foul, fall heavy upon the mur"derer of my children. May he live, like me, "to fee

:

"Hold, Sir," replied my fon, "or I fhall "blush for thee. How, Sir, forgetful of your

age, your holy calling, thus to arrogate the "juftice of Heaven, and fling those curses up"ward, that must soon defcend to crush thy own

grey head with deftruction! No, Sir, let it "be your care now to fit me for that vile death "I must shortly fuffer, to arm me with hope "and refolution, to give me courage to drink of "that bitterness which muft fhortly be my por❝tion."

“My child, you must not die. I am fure no "offence of thine can deferve fo vile a punish❝ment: my George could never be guilty of any "crime to make his ancestors ashamed of him."

"Mine, Sir," returned my fon, "is, I fear, "an unpardonable one. When I received my "mother's letter from home, I immediately came "down, determined to punifh the betrayer of our "honour, and fent him an order to meet me, "which he answered, not in perfon, but by his difpatehing four of his domefticks to feize me. "I wounded one, who firft affaulted me, and, I "fear, defperately; but the rest made me their pri"foner. The coward is determined to put the "law in execution against me: the proofs are un"deniable. I have fent a challenge; and, as I "am the firft tranfgreffor upon the ftatute, I fee "no hopes of pardon. But you have often charm"ed me with your leffons of fortitude; let me "now, Sir, find them in your example."

"And, my fon, you fhall find them. I am now raised above this world, and all the plea"fures it can produce. From this moment, I "break from my heart all the ties that held it "down to earth, and will prepare to fit us both "for eternity. Yes, my fon, I will point out "the way, and my soul shall guide yours in the "afcent, for we will take our flight together. I "now fee, and am convinced you can expect no "pardon here; and I can only exhort you to feek "it at that greatest tribunal, where we both fhall 66 shortly answer. But let us not be niggardly "in our exhortation, but let all our fellow-pri"foners have a fhare. Good gaoler, let them be "permitted to ftand here, while I attempt to "improve them." Thus faying, I made an effort

to

to rife from my ftraw, but wanted ftrength, and was able only to recline against the wall. The prisoners affembled according to my directions, for they loved to hear my counfel; my fon and his mother supported me on either fide : I looked and faw that none were wanting, and then addreffed them with the following exhorta

tion.

CHA P. XXIX.

The equal dealings of Providence demonftrated with regard to the happy and the miferable here below. That, from the nature of pleasure and pain, the wretched must be repaid the balance of their fufferings in the life hereafter.

MY friends, my children, and fellow-fuffer

ers, when I reflect on the diftribution of good and evil here below, I find that much has been given man to enjoy, yet ftill more to fuffer. Though we should examine the whole world, we fhall not find one man fo happy as to have nothing left to wish for; but we daily fee thoufands, who, by suicide, show us they have nothing left to hope. In this life, then, it appears, that we cannot be entirely bleft; but yet we may be completely miferable!

Why man fhould thus feel pain-why our wretchedness should be requifite in the formaK 4

tion

tion of universal felicity-why, when all other fyftems are made perfect by the perfection of their fubordinate parts, the great fyftem fhould require, for its perfection, parts that are not only fubordinate to others, but imperfect in themfelves? These are questions that never can be explained, and might be useless, if known. On this fubject, Providence has thought fit to elude our curiofity, fatisfied with granting us motives to confolation.

In this fituation, man has called in the friendly affiftance of philofophy; and Heaven, seeing the incapacity of that to confole him, has given him the aid of religion. The confolations of philofophy are very amusing, but often fallacious. It tells us, that life is filled with comforts, if we will but enjoy them; and, on the other hand, that though we unavoidably have miseries here, life is fhort, and they will foon be over. Thus, do thefe confolations deftroy each other; for, if life is a place of comfort, its fhortnefs must be mifery; and if it be long, our griefs are protracted. Thus, philofophy is weak; but religion comforts in an higher ftrain. Man is here, it tells us, fitting up his mind, and preparing it for another abode. When the good man leaves the body, and is all a glorious mind, he will find he has been making himself a heaven of happiness here; while the wretch that has been maimed and contaminated by his vices, fhrinks from his body with terror, and finds that he has anticipated the vengeance of Heaven. To religion then we muft hold, in every circumstance

circumftance of life, for our trueft comfort; for, if already we are happy, it is a pleasure to think that we can make that happiness unending; and, if we are miserable, it is very confoling to think that there is a place of reft. Thus, to the fortunate, religion holds out a continuance of blifs; to the wretched, a change from pain.

But, though religion is very kind to all men, it has promised peculiar rewards to the unhappy; the fick, the naked, the houseless, the heavyladen, and the prifoner, have ever most frequent promises in our facred law. The Author of our religion every where profeffes himself the wretch's friend, and, unlike the falfe ones of this world, bestows all his careffes upon the forlorn. The unthinking have cenfured this as partiality, as a preference, without merit to deferve it. But they never reflect, that it is not in the power, even of Heaven itself, to make the offer of unceafing felicity as great a gift to the happy as to the miferable. To the first, eternity is but a fingle bleffing, fince, at moft, it but increafes what they already poffefs. To the latter, it is a double advantage; for it diminishes their pain here, and rewards them with heavenly blifs hereafter.

But Providence is, in another respect, kinder to the poor than the rich; for as it thus makes the life after death more defirable, so it smooths the paffage thither. The wretched have had a long familiarity with every face of terror. The man of forrows lays himself quietly down, without poffeffions to regret, and but few ties to ftop his departure:

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