French revolution allured him to France. Habits of intoxication made him a disagreeable inmate in the house of the American minister, where out of compassion he had been received as a guest.

During all accordingly. The success at Trenton gave things a new aspect, and new courage to Paine.

"On the present occasion, his zeal for his employers carried him too far. The official papers had brought him acquainted with the state of American affairs at Versailles, and in his paper of the 2d of January he very imprudently inserted the following paragraph: 'If Mr. Deane, or any other gentleman will procure an order from Congress to inspect an account in my office, or any of Mr. Deane's friends in Congress will take the trouble of coming themselves, I will give him or them my attendance, and show them in a handwriting which Mr. Deane is well acquainted with, that the supplies he so pompously plumes himself upon, were promised and engaged, and that as a present, before he even arrived in France,' etc.

"The minister of France, Mr. Gerard, being aware of the consequences which would result from these assertions, and feeling very sensibly how much the honor of France was wounded by a supposition of her having given gratuitous aid to America, contrary to her assurances to Britain, did on the 5th of January, 1779, present a memorial to Congress referring to this publication, denying the assertions they contained, and representing the propriety of their being disowned by Congress. The day following, the memorial was considered, and various debates not proper to be specified here, ensued. Paine and the printer were ordered to attend at the bar of the House. The former confessed himself the author, and the latter the publisher, of the paper in question. Many motions were made, debated, and rejected, before the House adopted the resolutions which finally took place. The subject was interesting to the public. to the House, and particularly to the friends of the parties in difference, as well as Mr. Paine's patrons, and, as is always the case on such occasions, more warmth than prudence took place. The majority, however, were of opinion that Paine had prostituted his office to party purposes, and therefore ought to be

this time, his life was a compound of ingratitude and perfidy, of hypocrisy and avarice, of lewdness and adultery. In June, 1809, the poor creature died in this country. The lady in whose house he lived relates that "he was daily drunk, and in his few moments of soberness was always quarrelling with her, and disturbing the peace of the family." At that time "he was deliberately and disgustingly filthy." He had an old black woman for his servant, as drunken as her master. He accused her of stealing his rum; she retaliated by accusing him of being an old drunkard. They would lie on the same floor, sprawling and swearing and threatening to fight, but too intoxicated to engage in battle. He removed afterwards to various families, continuing his habits, and paying for his board only when compelled. In his drunken fits, he was accustomed to talk about the immortality of the soul.* Probably much of his book against the inspiration of the Scriptures was inspired by his cups. Such was the author of "the Age of Reason;" such the apostle of mob-infidelity. Unhappy man! Neither he, nor Rousseau, nor Voltaire is dead, except in the flesh. Their immortal souls are thinking as actively at least as ever. We and they will stand, on the same great day, before the bar of God. awful, in reference to such despisers and scoffers, is that description, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; discharged. This did not long remain a secret to him, and to avoid that disgrace he resigned.”

How

P. S. Mr. Jay was a member of Congress at the time of the above occurrences.

* Cheetham's Life of Paine.

and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him."

3. We proceed to speak, in the last place, of the fruits of Christianity, as displayed in the deaths of its genuine disciples, in contrast with those connected with infidelity.

There is no question to which the testimony of the death-bed is so legitimately applicable, as that between Infidelity and Christianity; not only because the hour of death is specially to be relied on, as an hour of dispassionate and conscientious judgment, but particularly because it is one of the precious promises of the gospel, that true believers shall find the sting of death taken away, and experience rich consolation and support when heart and flesh are failing. Infidelity, also, has published her promises in relation to the trial of death, and her disciples are not a little disposed to boast how confidently and fearlessly they could meet the king of terrors. Let us consult experience on this head.

Have Christians experienced the fulfilment of the promises on which they trusted? Have infidels made good their boasts? With regard to Christians, it is a most impressive fact that such a thing has never been known as any one being sorry, in the hour of death, that he had embraced the gospel of Christ. We have often seen and heard of persons who had spent their days in the careless neglect of religion, most bitterly lamenting, when they found themselves near to eternity, that they had not been devoted Christians. It is invariably the case that genuine

Christians, when they look back on their lives from the verge of the grave, are sorry that all their days had not been spent in a much more zealous consecration to the service of Christ. Professors of religion are not unfrequently unhappy, when they come to die, not because they are or have been Christians, but only because they see reason to fear that they have not been real Christians. This unhappiness arises from the consciousness of being too much like those who reject the gospel-too little under the influence of its Spirit-too much under the influence of a practical unbelief. And they seek consolation, not by endeavoring to banish the gospel from their minds, but by pressing to the feet of Jesus and seeking to have their hearts filled by his Spirit. But among all that ever named the name of Jesus, from the death of the martyred Stephen to the present hour, the millions upon millions of Christians who have died under all manner of tortures, and in all manner of circumstances calculated to try the strength of their faith, not a philosopher or peasant, not a noble or a beggar, not a man, woman, or child, was ever known to repent that his preparation to die was that of the faith of Christ.

On the contrary, it has been the invariable effect of the religion of Christ, that those who in the days of health were evidently devoted to its spirit and duties, when death approached have been enabled to await the event with an humble, submissive, and cheerful mind, keeping a confident eye "unto Jesus," as the finisher as well as author of their faith. They

The

have felt it to be their most precious, their unspeakable consolation that they had been persuaded to be Christians. Nothing did they look back to with such thankfulness as, that instead of having lived in indifference or infidelity, they had lived a life of faith upon the Son of God. They have felt that however solemn, and to the flesh painful was death, to them it was not gloomy nor appalling, nor any thing to be lamented, but only a short valley in the way to their everlasting and blissful rest with God on high. most timid by nature have stepped down without fear or doubt, believing in Jesus, and walking by faith. The affectionate parent has found such an accession of strength in the moment of separation from a beloved and helpless family, as to be enabled cheerfully to take the last look and leave his fatherless children with God. The young man in the prime and promise of his years, with every thing that earth could give to make life desirable, has had the prospect of a better inheritance presented to his mind with such assurance, that he had a strong desire "to depart, and be with Christ." The nearer Christians have come to eternity, and the sharper the trial of their faith, the nearer have they drawn to Christ, the more closely have they embraced his cross, the more necessary has seemed his death for their sins, the more precious and full of glory the whole plan of redemption. Such is an average testimony in point of consolation furnished by the death-beds of the disciples of Christ, when disease or the suddenness of departure has not prevented them from all testimony whatever.