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towards the close of life, are as great as I can bear; though I doubt not that a wise and good Providence overrules all events, and I have daily a more habitual respect to it. Nothing else could support me. I have often said, and I see more reason for it continually, and in my own case, that many events are more to be lamented than the death of children and friends. In that case the mind is relieved from farther anxiety; and though we have reason to be satisfied when we have done what we think to be our duty, it is not such a satisfaction as leaves the mind fully at ease.

We are frail, imperfect beings, and our faith is at best but weak, and requires to be strengthened by reading and reflection. I never omit reading, and I do it with more satisfaction than ever, a considerable portion of Scripture every day, and by this means my mind is much relieved; and having good health, my spirits are naturally good. Besides, I often think how small a proportion my afflictions bear to those of many others, and to the great mass of distress that I cannot help thinking is coming on a great part of the world, in which many of the worthiest persons must be involved.

Notwithstanding all my troubles, I have much to be thankful for, especially the means of study, in a valuable library and apparatus, of both which I endeavour to make the best use that I can. I sometimes flatter myself that I could be of some use to the cause of Christianity in France; and with any reasonable prospect of that, I would cheerfully abandon every thing here, and devote myself wholly to it, whatever I might suffer in consequence of it; but I must wait the call of God, in the course of his providence. Here I hope I have done some good, and have laid the foundation for more; but it is not what we expected. We must not, however, despair of the cause. It is advancing, like the planets, when they seem to be stationary, or even retrograde."

The calm and happy state of mind in which this good man approached old age, is rendered evident from the passages how cited. He was in trouble, and in comparative solitude;

but his faith cheered him; his interest in high thoughts made him happy. His friends sometimes urged his return to Europe, but he preferred to retain his retirement and repose. "Another removal," he said, "would be the termination of all my labors and pursuits in this world; and these I will not give up, while I am capable of doing any thing. And I thank God, I never had better health; though I am not strong, or capable of bearing much bodily exercise, and cannot keep to one thing so long as I used to do. By great regularity in the distribution of my time, and having few avocations, I do almost as much business of one kind or another as I ever did, and I read very little for amusement."

His state of feeling is further depicted in a letter to Mrs. Lindsey, May 8, 1802, after hearing of the illness of her husband.

"I cannot express how much I was affected on reading your letter, though I was apprized of the situation of my best friend by the letters of Mr. Belsham, so that I had no reason to expect any different account. But the few lines he added, with his own hand, quite overcame me; and if I read them, as I shall do, a hundred times, I shall have the same emotions. Such friendship as his and yours has been to me, can never be exceeded on this side the grave, and, independent of the real emolument, has been a source of such satisfaction to me as I have not derived from any other quarter.

And yet what I feel is not properly grief, for, considering how near we both must be to the close of life, in which we could not promise ourselves much more enjoyment, or be of much more use, what remains cannot, according to the common course of nature, be of much value; and therefore the privation of it is no great loss; and considering how soon we may expect, and I hope without much presumption, to meet again in more favorable circumstances, the causes of joy may almost be allowed to balance those of grief.

If you saw me now, you would not flatter me with the

prospect of long surviving my excellent friend. Judging from my illnesses the last year, and my present feelings, I am far from expecting it myself, and, indeed, as it will be the will of God, whatever the event be, and, therefore, no doubt for the best, I cannot say that I greatly wish it. My labors, of whatever kind, and whatever be their value, must be nearly over." And in a letter to Mr. Lindsey a few weeks later.

"DEAR FRIEND, Northumberland, June 26, 1802. Whether it be you or Mrs. Lindsey that is my correspondent, I consider it as the same thing. You are alike my friends, and my best friends; and, whoever survives, this correspondence will not, I hope, cease, on this side the grave, while it is possible to continue it. This great change, to which we are making near approaches, I regard, I hope I may say, with more curiosity than anxiety. It is the wise order of Providence that death should intervene between the two different modes of existence; and what engages my thoughts is, the change itself, more than the mere manner of making it. I look at your portrait, and that of Dr. Price, and Mr. Lee, which are always before me, and think of my deceased friends, whose portraits I have not, with peculiar satisfaction, under the idea that I shall, at no great distance, see them again, and I hope with pleasure. But, how we shall meet again and how we shall be employed, we have little or no ground even for conjecture. It should satisfy us, however, that we shall be at the disposal, and under the government, of the same wise and good Being who has superintended us here, and who best knows what place and employment will best suit all of us.

The more I think of the wonderful system of which we are a part, the less I think of any difficulties about the reality or the circumstance of a future state. The resurrection is, really, nothing, compared to the wonders of every day in the regular course of nature; and the only reason why we do not wonder is, because the appearances are common. Whether it be, because I converse less with men, in this remote situa

tion, I contemplate the scenes of nature, as the production of its great Author, more, and with more satisfaction, than I ever did before; and the new discoveries that are now making in every branch of science, interest me more than ever in this connexion. I see before us a boundless field of the noblest investigation; and all that we yet know appears to me as nothing, compared to what we are wholly ignorant of, and do not, as yet, perceive any means of access to it."

Also, in a letter dated Northumberland, July 3, 1802. "How rejoiced I was to receive your letter, written wholly with your own hand, after your late alarming attack! I now hope I shall have more of them; and nothing on this side the grave gives me more satisfaction; and yet, considering how soon we may hope to meet again, the separation by death should not give us much concern. While we live, we ought to value life, and friendship, especially Christian friendship, as the balm of it. But we have a better life in prospect, and therefore should not regret the parting with the worse, provided we have enjoyed it properly, and improved it so as to have ensured the better. Absolute confidence does not become any man, conscious, as we all must be, of many imperfections, of omissions, if not of commissions; but surely a general sincere endeavour to do what we apprehend to be our duty, will authorize so much hope as may be the reasonable foundation of joy, with respect to a future state, without being chargeable with arrogance or presumption.

You could not have made choice of a more pleasing or interesting subject than that of the work which you have happily completed, which, as I believe it is in Philadelphia, I expect soon to receive. It occupies my own thoughts, I may say, almost constantly, and is the greatest source of satisfaction that in my present situation, and under my late trials, I enjoy. Indeed, the reflection that we are under the government of the wisest and best of Beings, and that nothing can befal us without his permission, is sufficient to banish the very idea of evil, and to make us regard every thing as a

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good for which we ought to be thankful. At the moment, none who have the hearts and feelings of men, but must grieve for many things that he sees and feels; but Christian principles soon bring relief, and are capable of converting all sorrow into joy. But this will be in proportion to the strength of our faith, in consequence of the exercise of it, when, according to Hartley, speculative faith is converted into prac tical."

"The more I contemplate the great system, the more satisfaction I find in it; and the structure being so perfect, there cannot be a doubt but that the end and use of it, in promoting happiness, will correspond to it. These views, as I take more pleasure than ever in natural history, contribute much to brighten the evening of my days. But my great resource is the Scripture, which I have not, of a long time, passed a single day without reading a portion of, and I am more interested in it continually. I seem now to see it with other eyes, and all other reading is comparatively insipid."

Thus serenely and happily, with a cheerful confidence in divine Providence and a bright hope of heaven, did the life of this Christian philosopher gently draw to its close. Constantly occupied with important studies and strongly interested in great truths, he hardly allowed himself to remember the trials and privations of his lot, while he acknowledged its blessings with strong expressions of admiration and gratitude.

During a visit to Philadelphia, in 1801, he had a severe and dangerous fever, from the effects of which on his constitution he never perfectly recovered. He again visited that city in the spring of 1803, but from that time his health was sensibly declining. His digestive powers were impaired, and he had a difficulty in swallowing food, which increased to such a degree that he finally came to live exclusively on liquids. In June he was much injured by a fall which lamed him. He had become quite deaf, but his eyes were good, and he continued busily engaged with his studies, and said

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