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which was to this effect: The confideration, faid the good man, that my < Being is precarious, moved me many years ago to make a refolution, which I have diligently kept, and to which I owe the greatest fatisfaction that a mortal man can enjoy. Every night before I addrefs my felf in private to 6 my Creator, I lay my hand upon my heart, and ask my felf, Whether if God fhould require my Soul of me this night, I could hope for mercy from him? The bitter agonies I underwent, in this my firft acquaintance with my felf, were fo far from throwing me into defpair of that mercy which is over all God's works, that they rather proved motives to greater circumfpection in my future conduct. The oftner I exercifed my felf in meditations of this kind, the less was my anxiety; and by making the thoughts of death familiar, what was at firft fo terrible and fhocking is become the fweeteft of my enjoyments. Thefe contemplations have indeed made me fe rious, but not fullen; nay, they are fo far from having foured my temper,

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that as I have a mind perfectly com• pofed, and a secret fpring of joy in my heart, fo my converfation is pleafant, and my countenance ferene. I tafte all the innocent fatisfactions of life pure and fincere; I have no share in pleasures that leave a fting behind them, nor am I cheated with that kind • of mirth, in the midst of which there is • beaviness.

Quifque fuos patimur manes

Mr. IRONSIDE,

ΤΗ

Virg..

THE following letter was really written by a young Gentleman in a languifhing illness, which both himself, and those who attended him, thought it impoffible for him to outlive. If you think fuch an image of the ftate of a man's mind in that circumftance be worth publishing, it is at your fervice, and take it as follows.

Dear

Dear Sir.

"YOU formerly observed to me, that

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nothing made a more ridiculous figure in a man's life, than the difpari· ty we often find in him fick and well. Thus one of an unfortunate conftitution is perpetually exhibiting a miferable example of the weakness of his Mind, or of his Body, in their turns. I have had frequent opportunities of late to confider my felf in thefe different views, and hope I have received fome advantage by it. If what Mr. Waller fays be true, that

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The Soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
Lets in new light thro' chinks that time has made:

Then furely fickness, contributing no lefs than old-age to the fhaking down this fcaffolding of the body, may dif cover the inclofed ftructure more plainly. Sickness is a fort of early old< age; it teaches us à diffidence in our earthly ftate, and infpires us with the thoughts of a future, better than a ⚫ thousand volumes of Philofophers and

Divines.

age :

"Divines. It gives fo warning a con'cuffion to thofe props of our vanity, our strength and youth, that we think of fortifying our felves within, when there is fo little dependance on our out-works. Youth, at the very best, is but a betrayer of human life in a gentler and smoother manner than 'Tis like a ftream that nourishes a plant upon its bank, and causes it to flourish and bloffom to the fight, but at the fame time is undermining. it at the root in fecret. My youth has dealt more fairly and openly with me; it has afforded several prospects of my danger, and given me an advantage not very common to young men, that the attractions of the world have not dazzled me very much; and I began where most people end, with a full conviction of the emptiness of all forts of ambition, and the unfatisfactory nature of all human plea• fures.

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When a smart fit of fick nefs tells me this fcurvy tenement of my body will fall in a little time, I am e'en as • unconcerned as was that honeft Hiber

• nian,

nian, who (being in bed in the great ftorm fome years ago, and told the houfe would tumble over his head) 'made answer, What care I for the Houfe? I am only a ledger. I fancy 'tis the beft time to die when one is in the beft humour, and fo exceffively weak as I now am, I may fay with confcience, that I am not at all uneafy at the thought that many men, whom I never had any efteem for, are likely to enjoy this world after me.

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I reflect what an inconfiderable little atome every fingle man is, with refpect to the whole creation, methinks 'tis a fhame to be concerned at the removal of fuch a trivial animal as I am. The morning after my Exit, the Sun will arife as bright as ever, the flowers fmell as fweet, the plants fpring as green, the world will proceed in its old courfe, people will laugh as heartily, and marry as fast as they were ufed to do. The memory of man (as it is elegently expreft in the Wisdom of Solomon) paffeth away as the remembrance of a gueft that tarrieth but one day. There are reasons enough, in the fourth Chap

ter

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