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It is this feries of thought that I • have endeavoured to express in the following hymn, which I have compofed during this my fickness.

W

I.

HEN rifing from the bed of death,
O'erwhelm'd with guilt and fear,

I fee my Maker face to face,

O bow fhall I appear!

II.

If yet, while pardon may be found,
And mercy may be fought,

My heart with inward horror fhrinks,
And trembles at the thought;

III.

When thou, O Lord, fhalt ftand difclos'd

In Majefty fevere,
And fit in judgment on my Soul,

O bow fhall I appear!

IV.

But thou haft told the troubled mind,
Who does her fins lament,

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The

The timely tribute of her tears
Shall endless woe prevent.

V..

Then fee the forrows of my heart,
Ere yet it be too late,

And bear my Saviour's dying groans,
To give thofe forrows weight.

VI.

For never fball my Soul despair,
Her pardon to procure,
Who knows thy only Son has dy'd
To make her pardon fure.

•Animæque capaces

Mortis

Lucan.

THE

HE profpect of death is fo gloomy and difmal, that if it were conftantly before our eyes, it would imbitter all the fweets of life. The gracious Author of our Being hath therefore fo formed us, that we are capable of many pleafing fenfations and reflexions,

and

and meet with fo many amusements and folicitudes, as divert our thoughts from dwelling upon an evil, which by reafon of its seeming distance, makes but languid impreffions upon the mind. But how distant foever the time of our death may be, fince it is certain that we must die, it is neceffary to allot fome portion of our life to confider the end of it; and it is highly convenient to fix fome ftated times to meditate upon the final period of our Existence here. The principle of felf-love, as we are men, will make us inquire, what is like to become of us after our diffolution; and our conscience, as we are Chriftians, will inform us, that according to the good or evil of our actions here, we shall be tranflated to the manfions of eternal blifs or mifery. When this is seriously weighed, we must think it madness to be unprepared against the black Moment; but when we reflect that perhaps that black moment may be to night, how watchful ought we to be!

I was wonderfully affected with a dif courfe I had lately with a Clergyman of my acquaintance upon this head,

which

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 myself in private to my Creator, I lay my hand upon my heart, and ask myfelf, 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 myself, 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 myself in meditations of this kind, the lefs was my anxiety; and by making the thoughts of death familiar, what was at firft fo terrible and fhocking is become the • sweetest of my enjoyments. Thefe contemplations have indeed made me ferious, but not fullen; nay, they are fo far from having foured my temper,

• that

that as I have a mind perfectly compofed, and a fecret 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 fhare 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.

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Quifque fuos patimur manes.

Mr. IRONSIDE,

Virg.

HE 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 state of a man's mind in that circumftance be worth publifhing, it is at your fervice, and take it as follows.

Dear