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CHAPTER III.

HE RELINQUISHES HIS VAIN PHILOSOPHY.

MR. BUCHANAN continued firm in his infidel principles for many months, and no argument could shake the resolute determination of his mind. Mr. S. remembers one visit in particular, when a long discussion took place on the existence of a superintending Providence, which on the part of his friend was denied; and he attributed his present illness to circumstances purely accidental. But the question to be answered, in respect to the consequences of his fall, is this:How happened it that, in this instance only, he should have received an injury which led to such serious results? He had met with falls before, apparently of a more dangerous kind; why did not these produce equal, if not greater mischief than this one? It could not have been for want of care on his part, for he used the greatest care;

nor was he accidentally brought to this spot, for he intentionally went thither: then, why all these unforeseen results on this occasion? What mind was at work in this affair? The only one perceptible was his own; but he, instead of facilitating this event, would, had he foreknown it, and been able effectually to oppose it, have altogether prevented it: there must have been the all-wise providence of God exercised in it,— the hand of Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being."

During the summer of 1822, he gradually got worse from being unable to walk, he took to the sofa, and from the sofa to his bed; where he was confined in a painful position on his back, and was hardly allowed a pillow for his head; but at length he became unable to move hand or foot; nor had he strength to raise himself upon his bed of suffering. In this helpless situation he continued for three years, until the summons came for him to exchange time for eternity.

View him now in the midst of his afflictions, his mind preying on his misfortunes, unsupported by the consolations of religion. View

him shut out from all the diversions of the world, from all intellectual pursuits and recreations; see him debarred not only of all the enjoyments of life, but made to possess months of vanity; see him harassed equally with the day and with the night, and suffering pain in member, and we shall be unable to refrain from the deepest sympathy in his sufferings, while we feel how "fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God."

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This was the proper season for his philosophy to manifest its power over the soul in adversity, to cheer it in the hour of sorrow; but it failed to do this; yea, it forsook him before he could be humbled to acknowledge its impotence. But at length, aware of its deceit, and suffering from its disappointments, he exclaimed, "I am weary of it; it is nothing better than vanity; it affords no stay; it gives no comfort to my mind!"

Thus, from its own impotence, fell the idol he had so long worshipped; but even now he had much to learn, and the truth as it is in Jesus was to him a mystery which he could not comprehend, and against which he still had much to object; yea, he probably, even at this time,

thought his arguments unanswerable, because his friend generally declined entering on a refutation of them: for, though he saw the fallacy of the propositions advanced, and could enter into his friend's feelings, having once had the same difficulties in his own mind, yet he now avoided any regular attempt at disproving them, for the two following reasons:-First, in many instances, the error of a proposition cannot be shown without the admission of several previous truths; these truths the writer of this memoir knew his friend was either unacquainted with, or did not understand; he therefore was aware that the recurring to them would lead to fruitless discussion, and fail, probably, in producing the desired conviction. The other reason was this -Observation had convinced him that, generally speaking, disputants only strengthen themselves in their own views, more frequently than carry conviction to the minds of their opponents. This may arise partly from the excitement occasioned in arguing a question, and from the prejudice we are too apt to entertain, not only in favour of our own views, but of our ability to maintain them.

The writer of this memoir preferred, therefore, laying before his friend a plain statement of scriptural truth, to an elaborate refutation of objections, except in such cases where a contrary course was required, as in the following instance, which occurred after Mr. B. had embraced the truth in the love of it:-"I have been much perplexed," he said, "since you were last here. I desired my sister to read to me the account of Christ's ascension, as narrated by each of the evangelists, and none of them seem to agree in their mention of the place whence he ascended. Matthew speaks of his disciples being appointed to meet him at a mountain in Galilee, whence, also, Mark seems to imply he went up into heaven; Luke says, he led them out as far as Bethany, and thence ascended; in the narrative of John, the last mention made of Jesus is at the sea of Tiberias; and, in the Acts of the Apostles, it is said, that he ascended from the Mount of Olives. Now it appears to me, that none of these accounts agree with each other: the places mentioned cannot be all one and the same; and if there be any evident inaccuracy in the Bible, how can we receive it as

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