Mr. P. was frequently visited in his sickness by his brethren in infidelity, who were actuated by very different motives from those, which governed the ministers of God? They came to strengthen him in his rejection of the truth; to encourage him manfully to contemn the glad tidings of salvation; to warn him of the disgrace of betraying the least symptom of compunction; and to fortify the dying man in his cheerless faith, if faith it can be called, by appeal. ing to his egregious vanity and to his swollen pride. Was not this an office worthy of demons in human shape? From a man thus situated ought we to expect any intimation of his belief in Jesus Christ? Should we not suppose, that, for the honor of the craft, his lips would be sealed in stubborn silence, whatever sensations there might be in his heart? Yet it is an unquestion. ed truth, and a truth which ought to be carried to the ears of every man, who has been corrupted by the "Age of Reason," that Mr. Paine in his paroxisms of distress repeatedly and constantly cried out, "O, Lord, help me! God, help me! Jesus Christ, help me!"

Is this the daring infidel, who blasphemed the Savior of the world? Does he in the extremity of his suffering call upon him for aid, and is the secret conviction of his existence and universal agency thus extorted from the expiring unbeliever? It is a poor triumph to boast over this wretched man for his reluctant, or rather involuntary, testimony to a truth, which in the days of his health he had ridiculed; for though he had

never uttered the above exclama. tion, yet the time is coming when both he and every created and intelligent being will "bow the knee at the name of Jesus, and confess Jesus to be the Lord." When the Son of God shall de. scend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the arch. angel, and when his countenance shall be seen like the sun shining in his strength, it will no longer be a question whether he is a prince and a Savior, or whether he is to be worshipped.

It would afford some relief to the benevolent mind, if Mr. P. had left unextinguished the faint glimmerings of contrition, or of regard to long rejected truth, which the exclamation above recited indicates. But the Christian is compelled to withhold the charitable hope, that the scorner became at length truly penitent. Dr. Manley, the physician of Mr. P. very solemnly asked him, a day or two before his death, whether, from his calling upon the Savior, it would be just to conclude that he was at length convinced of his divinity; and whether he had renounced his former sentiments, and at length assented to the truth of the gospel? To these or similar ques. tions, when first proposed, Mr. P. made no reply. When they were repeated, and he was again asked, whether he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God; he answered, "I have no wish to believe upon that subject."

These it is thought, were the last words relating to his relig ious views, that he uttered, and thus did he persevere in his rejection of the gospel. His conduct seems to justify the asser. tion, that it was owing to his

pride, that he did not, when thus called upon, explicitly make the acknowledgment, which was extorted from him by suffering. From his address to Jesus Christ, and from the circumstance, that his pious nurse read the Bible to him for hours, without seeing in him any symptoms of displeasure, it is confidently believed, that he at times felt some degree of compunction; but his compunction being generally less powerful than his pride, it was repressed and concealed; except when his extreme pains extinguished within him the thought of his reputation and character. At those moments his lips could not refuse to say, "Lord Jesus, help me!"

Who is there, that possesses a particle of reason, that would for hundreds of worlds die the death of Thomas Paine? Yet it is not necessary to reject the Scriptures and to become a deist, in order to die as hopelessly as he.

religious views and zealous for the orthodox faith, while yet his character is not moulded into the christian form; let him anticipate with confidence the felicity of heaven, while yet the love of God does not reign supreme in his breast; notwithstanding all this superiority to the wretched infidel, whose dying conduct has been surveyed, he may be plunged at last into the same abyss of ruin.

Let a man contend earnest. ly for the christian religion, and yet pay no regard to its laws and take no interest in its truths; let him be perfectly moral in his conduct, while yet the spirit of piety has never visited his heart; let him enrol himself among the followers of Christ, while yet he is destitute of the temper of their Master, and his life is but a scene of gay amusement and bu. sy worldliness; let him be serious and contemplative, and think much and habitually upon religion and eternity, while yet he has never been humbled into penitence, and has not renounced his own righteousness and attributed his hopes to the free grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be correct in his

A.

For the Panoplist.

COMMUNICATED IN A LETTER TO

ONE OF THE EDITORS.

Newark, 25th Jan. 1810.

REV. AND DEAR SIR, The following is taken, by permission of the worthy author, from a very handsome, appropriate, and consoling discourse, delivered by Rev. James Rich. ards, on the 14th of the present month, and occasioned by the much lamented death of that pious and hopeful student in divinity, Mr. Lewis L. Congar. It has been solicited, for a place in the Panoplist, because it is respectful to the memory of one, who was an ornament to the celebrated Seminary, of which he was an alumnus; because it will enrich the pages of that useful publication; and because it will gratify the numerous relatives and friends of the deceased. Yours, etc.

FROM the text, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, the preacher was led to discourse on the nature of resignation, and to offer various considerations, by which this christian virtue is recommended. He then closed his address in this manner :

"But what if the Lord has given us comfortable hopes, that our departed friends have exchanged the sins and sorrows of this miserable world for an eter

nal rest in heaven? Is there nothing here to reconcile us to their death? Embarked with us on a stormy and perilous sea, they have reached their destined port before us. And shall we mourn on this account? Could we wish to see them driven back in their course, and made to conflict with the rough winds and merciless waves again? Has the gracious Redeemer heard their prayers, and given them to overcome and to sit down with him upon his throne, even as he has overcome and is set down with his Father upon his throne; and can we desire to see them again subject. ed to the weakness, to the temptations, to the sins and sorrows of the present life? What are all our hopes and expectations at last, but to finish our wearisome pilgrimage and enter our selves into the mansions of eternal rest and glory? But, alas! we are afraid of being left alone by the way! Like the disciples, who were afflicted at the thought of being separated from their Master, though he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them, we are often troubled, when our beloved relatives advance a few steps before us and seize the crown of life sooner than we expected.

"But let us comfort ourselves with the recollection, that they are gone before us only to make our way to heaven the more easy, our progress towards it the more rapid, and our entrance into it the more joyful. It is but a little while, and we shall follow them. Our dust will soon mingle with their dust, and our spirits join with their spirits. We shall meet them on a deathless shoremeet them, refined from the dross

of this world; and, O, enrapturing thought, we shall tread the fields of light and glory together! We shall stand with them on Zion's everlasting hills, to look back on the course we have held across this wilderness; to converse of all the events, which have befallen us in our pilgrimage state; and to shout together, in one eternal song, the praises of him, that loved us, and washed us in his own blood. Whose heart does not burn with. in him at the prospect? Who, that has a particle of faith in another world, but must look forward with joy to the moment, when he shall meet the departed souls of his pious friends, with all the spirits of just men made perfect?

"But what shall be said, my dear brethren, of the distressing event, which has led us to these reflections? Shall we say, it hath fallen out according to the pur pose and will of heaven? Shall we say that an infinitely wise God hath, in this case, acted wisely; and an infinitely kind and gracious God fulfilled the purposes of his love and mercy? What else can we say? God in deed does not reveal to us the particular reasons of this dispen. sation; but our duty is not the less plain. It becomes us to bow with holy resignation to his will, and to say, The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

"To us, the life of our dear young friend appeared exceed. ingly important. Not to say what a treasure he was to his parents and sisters, to whom he was endeared by every circumstance, which could make him lovely in this relation, he was a

object of great hope to the church of God. Few young men of higher promise have appeared in these days.

"To a sound and vigorous understanding, to a soft and obliging temper, he added, as far as human eyes can discover, all the reality and all the lustre of the christian virtues. His at tainments in science, and, especially, in that best of all sciences, religion, were remarkable for his years. He bid fair to be a distinguished luminary in the church of Christ, to whose service he had publicly and solemn ly devoted himself. We had flattered ourselves that this rising star would long continue to gladden us with its beams. But, ah, how suddenly has it disappeared!-disappeared to us only. It is gone to shine in other systems and to burn in brighter worlds.

"God has affectingly taught us, in this instance, that his ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. He has called this amiable youth away, in the morning of his days, and just at the very moment, when the highest expectations were entertained of his immediate and extensive usefulness. He was licensed to preach the gospel, a few days before the commencement of that illness, which terminated his life.

"But the Lord's will is done, and why should we mourn? He did not mourn for himself. He was willing to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. To one of his friends, who watched his dying pillow, he said, "What a mercy will it be if the Lord thus early shall call me home to himself." Not that

he was impatient, or wished to dictate concerning his own fate. He chose, that the will of the Lord should be done.

"What greater consolation can we have in his death? Fallen asleep in it, his spirit, as we have every reason to believe, has al. ready joined the general assembly of the church of the first born in heaven. And can his dearest friends on earth wish him back again? No, I hear them say, stay there happy spirit. The Lord hath called thee, and the Lord hath need of thee. Who knows but he may be employed as a ministering spirit, or a guardian angel to those, whom he loved? Who can tell but he may be present in this assembly, or be looking from the battlements above, to witness the man. ner in which his departure affects the church and congregation, once so dear to him? Could he speak to us, what would be his language? What would he say to these bereaved relatives? Would it not be, "Dry up your tears. For me to live was Christ, but to die is gain. I am safely landed on the immortal shores, have reached the bosom of Abraham and the Paradise of God. Now I see, as I am seen ; now I know, as I am known. Í have exchanged the earthly for the heavenly sanctuary; songs of my fellow saints on earth for the songs of the redeemed in heaven. Sin is gone, temptation is gone, fear is gone, sorrow is gone, and all the for. mer things are passed away. Why mourn ye, that my warfare is accomplished, my toils and dan. gers at an end? Why these tears that I have reached that better world, where all tears are for

the

ever wiped away!"-But, this is not his voice. His lips are sealed up in the silent grave. You will hear him no more. You will see him no more, till you have passed these borders of mortality, and are yourselves ushered into the invisible and eternal world.

"Call to mind, my dear breth. ren, what you can recollect of his virtues. Imitate the meekness and the gentleness of his spirit; and, especially, the simplicity and the fervor of his prayers. God speaks loudly to us all in this providence, and bids us hasten in our preparation for death and eternity; seeing no degree of worth can save us, when once the voice of the eternal Judge shall call.

"But to you, my dear young friends, this is an unusually

solemn, speaking, providence ; and to you, above all others, who have recently made profes. sion of religion. One of the most precious and distinguished of your number is gone, gone to that world from whose sad bourne no traveller returos, His dust lies mouldering in a land of strangers. His spirit is returned to the God, who gave it. Are you prepared to follow him? Shall you meet him on the heavenly plains, when your spirits, like his, shall be unclothed of their earthly taber. nacles? He often wished it. He often prayed for it. May God of his infinite mercy hear his prayers and prepare your souls to meet him, and to rejoice with him in the regions of eternal bliss and glory. Amen."

ble work.

"Having never received any instruction, her opinions were not affected by the customs and prejudices of the times; she judged of every thing by her reason only she was therefore astonished at all she saw, and was utterly unable to comprehend the conduct of most of the

persons about her. She had hardly been four months in the house, when I understood her signs so well, that I could carry on a conversation with her more intelligibly, and with greater facility, than I could in any other language but my own in the same time; and having made this progress, I took singular pleasure in conversing with her. To me it was a sort of a study of the book of nature; and she, who had never before met with any one possessed of sufficient patience and complaisance to converse with her, evinced inex pressible satisfaction. She had many inquiries to make; and