degree of capacity for reflection to make it appear to the sufferer a subject of any importance what is the fate of either body or soul. Thus the mind is said to have been tranquillized, when, in fact, it was only benumbed, and rendered incapable of summoning its natural energies even to a contemplation so important and pressing as that of an eternal world.

Whether this gradual insensibility, so often attendant upon sickness, is to be viewed as a merciful provision of the Almighty in order to divest the physical circumstance of dying of a part of its terrors;—or whether it was intended as a warning to early and deep repentance before the approach of so precarious a season, it is not at present necessary to inquire. The only inference intended to be deduced is this, that if all the terrors of futurity, all the moral pains of dissolution, all the hopes and fears of an unknown world, are so often found incapable of arousing a dying man from the natural lassitude and indifference attendant upon the slowly-approaching hour of mortality, the mere circumstance of dying in calmness is by no means a sufficient evidence of a well-grounded hope of the felicities of Heaven. The inference is still more forcible, if surrounding friends, as too often happens, have anxiously guarded every avenue, to prevent the intrusion of that religious instruction and advice which were necessary to open the eyes of the unconscious sufferer.

Moral causes may likewise combine with physical as a sedative in death. Ignorance, or unbelief, or "hardness of heart, and contempt of God's word and commandment," may spread a deceitful calm which will but end in a sad reverse of eternal bitterness and disappointment. Allowing, however, for every limitation and exception, it may still be laid down as a universal proposition, that where there visibly exists a firm belief in a future state of retribution, with a due sense of human sinfulness and guilt, nothing but the means of salvation revealed in the Gospel can give peace and

satisfaction to the soul. If the powers of mind are worn down by disease, this vivid perception may not exist; but where it really does exist, there is assuredly but one means of obtaining repose.

If this proposition be correct, it follows that wherever a death-bed has been really calm without any specific dependance upon the Redeemer, the effect has been produced either by ignorance or unbelief; either by not knowing and believing in a future state of retribution, or by not duly considering that guilt and sinfulness of man which ought to render the idea of retribution alarming to the fallen mind.*

These two primary causes, may, however branch out into various subordinate ones; but all these may be again traced back to their original sources of ignorance or skepticism. The various causes of falselyhappy deaths have been so well pointed out by a revered author of the present age that no apology is necessary for the quotation.

"The blind are bold; they do not see the precipice they despise. Or, perhaps, there is less unwillingness to quit a world which has so often disappointed them, or which they have sucked to the last dregs. They leave life with less reluctance, feeling that they have exhausted all its gratifications.-Or it is a disbelief of the reality of the state on which they are about to enter.—Or it is a desire to be released from excessive pain, a desire naturally felt by those who calculate their gain rather by what they are escaping from, than by what they are to receive. Or it is equability of temper, or firmness of nerve, or hardness of mind.Or it is the arrogant wish to make the last act of life confirm its preceding professions.-Or it is the vanity of perpetuating their philosophic character.-Or, if

* It will be seen that in this and the following remarks, it is taken for granted that the mind is capable of due reflection, and not become languid or indifferent by disease, or kept from serious thought by any external artifice.

some faint ray of light break in, it is the pride of not retracting the sentiments which from pride they have maintained-the desire of posthumous renown among their own party; the hope to make their disciples stand firm by their example; ambition to give their last possible blow to Revelation-or, perhaps, the fear of expressing doubts which might beget a suspicion that their disbelief was not so sturdy as they would have it thought. Above all, may they not, as a punishment for their long neglect of the warning voice of truth, be given up to a strong delusion to believe the lie they have so often propagated, and really expect to find in death that eternal sleep with which they have affected to quiet their own consciences, and have really weakened the faith of others."*

Among the various particulars included in this statement there are several which do not exactly apply to the question at present under consideration. The greater number of these cases are evidently those of apparent, and not real tranquillity; cases in which a mask is worn to deceive the spectator while the mind is fully conscious of its own suppressed agitations. There are but three modes in which a real calm in death can be produced;-by ignorance respecting human guilt and a future state;-by skepticism concerning them; or by a knowledge that guilt has been expiated and punishment sustained on our behalf. It may not be improper to illustrate and confirm this remark by a few distinct references and observations.

If we look back to the heathen world, we shall, it is true, discover almost innumerable instances of tranquil and even triumphant dissolution; but in the majority of these cases ignorance was evidently the parent of this false peace. A human being wholly unconscious of spiritual subjects, unacquainted with his own immortality, with the nature of God and of him

* Practical Piety, by Miss H. More.

self, with his aggravated offences against his Creator, and with the awful retribution which his offences merit, may die at ease because he "dieth as the fool dieth." Amongst persons of this class the best and most enlightened individuals of the heathen world must be included.

Ignorance sometimes assumes a different form, so that persons conscious of part at least of the truths just mentioned may still die in false peace through their ignorance of the remainder. One single incorrect idea, whether it be respecting the supposed indiscriminate mercy of God, or the innocence of man, or any other subject intimately connected with repose in death, may by its lethargic influence prevent the salutary effect of every other article of belief. A person may fearlessly plunge into an overwhelming stream, either from not knowing its rapidity and depth, or from a false opinion that he can stem its torrent, but in neither case is his rash security to be envied.

The example, therefore, of a heathen, however enlightened, ought not to be cited as a sufficient proof that a person ignorant of Christ, yet conscious of a future retribution, may nevertheless die in unaffected peace; for though the person in question might know much, he could not possibly know all that was necessary to render the experiment complete. Allowing, for the sake of example, that he fully believed in the immortality of his soul, and in a judgment to come, still he could not be duly sensible of his own corrupt nature and personal demerits without being first acquainted with the original condition of man, his subsequent fall, the strictness of the divine law, his own personal transgressions of it, and in short, with all those circumstances which rendered an atonement necessary for human redemption. It is only therefore in cases in which these points are fully understood and believed, that we can correctly ascertain whether any consolation short of a genuine faith and dependance

upon Jesus Christ can give satisfaction to a truly enlightened mind.

Let us then turn from the heroes and philosophers of the classical world to that large class of persons who, educated within the limits of Christendom, are seen to pass into eternity without manifesting fear or perturbation, though evidently destitute of any realizing views of that salvation, a knowledge of which is maintained to be so necessary for the repose of every well-informed and tender conscience. Instances of this kind, which are, alas! sufficiently numerous, may be urged as irreconcilable with the doctrine laid down in the preceding remarks; and in point of fact are so urged every day with a view to prove that after all our speculations there is in reality no great need for those religious feelings and sentiments to which persons of seriously-disposed mind usually attach the highest importance. If men, we are told, can die thus happily by means of their present general views of Christianity, there can be no particular necessity for entering more deeply into its peculiar disquisitions.

In this objection it will be seen, that the knowledge and belief of the individual in Christianity are taken for granted from the mere circumstance of his having been born of Christian parentage and educated in a Christian country. Should it however appear, as will be hereafter shown, that notwithstanding these advantages he may very possibly be still ignorant or unbelieving respecting some important points revealed in the Gospel, it will follow, that amidst all his presumed light and information he is but a heathen with the name of a Christian, and may therefore be but too justly included in the remarks already made respecting the nations who know not, or believe not, those truths which made an atonement indispensable.

In the mean time it should be observed, that that objection may be carried much further than the objector himself might be disposed to allow. For if the