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not triumph over earth and hell "—" Lord Jesus, into thy hands I commit my spirit; I do it with confidence; I do it with full assurance. I know

that thou wilt keep that which I have committed unto thee?" We appeal to all the world, whether any thing like this, any thing that deserves so much as to be named in comparison, ever fell from the lips of an infidel. How poor, how mean, how miserable, does he look, when brought to the contrast! Let the reader review again the situation of Dr. Finley, ponder his words, and mark their spirit; and then let him go back to Mr. Hume's " diversion "-to his correcting his atheistical writings for a new edition-to his "books of amusement "—to his "game of whist" -to his insipid raillery about Charon and his boat! Truly the infidels have cause to look big, and despise the followers of Jesus Christ! 'Pray, sir," said a young man to the late Dr. Black, in the presence of a juvenile company, at the Dr.'s own table, "Pray, sir, how did Mr. Hume die?". "Mr. Hume," answered the sceptical chemist, with an air of great significance, “Mr. Hume died as he lived, a philosopher." Dr. Black himself has aided Dr. Smith in telling us what the death of a philosopher is. It has taught us, if nothing before did, that the pathetic exclamation, "Let my soul be with the philosophers," belongs to one who is a stranger to truth and happiness. If they resemble Mr.

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Hume, we will most devoutly exclaim, "Furthest from them is best." Let our souls be with the Christians! with the humble believers in that Jesus who is "the resurrection and the life." Let them be with Samuel Finley; let them not be with David Hume!

We cannot close these strictures without again reminding the reader, that no instance of composure in death is to be found more favorable to the infidel boast than the instance of Mr. Hume. And yet, how jejune and forlorn does he appear in comparison of Dr. Finley. The latter longs for his departure, "as the hireling pants for the evening shade;" and when it comes, he pours around him his kindly benedictions; his eye beams with celestial brilliancy; he shouts, Salvation! and is away to "the bosom of his Father and his God."

But in the other all is blank. No joy sparkles in his eye; no hope swells his bosom; an unmeaning smile is on his countenance, and frigid ridicule dishonors his lips. Be it never forgotten, that no infidels die in triumph! The utmost to which they pretend is dying with calmness. Even this rarely happens; and, the scripture being judge, it is a part of their accursedness. It imparts the deepest horror to the surprise of the eternal world. But, if you reverse the picture, and ask how many infidels close their career in anguish, in distraction, in a

fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the ADVERSARIES? how endless is the train of wretches, how piercing their cry! That arch blasphemer, Voltaire, left the world with hell anticipated; and we hear so frequently of his disciples "going to their own place" in a similar manner, that the dreadful narratives lose their effect by repetition. It was quite recently that a youth in the state of New York, who had been debauched by the ribaldrous impiety of Paine, yielded up the ghost with dire imprecations on the hour when he first saw an infidel book, and on the murderer who first put it into his hand. But who ever heard of a dying man's cursing the day in which he believed in Jesus? While such an instance, we are bold to assert, never occurred, nothing is more common than the peaceful death of them who have "tasted that the Lord is gracious." They who see practical Christianity in those retreats which the eye of a profane philosopher seldom penetrates, could easily fill a long record of dying beds softened with that bland submission, and cheered with that victorious hope, which threw so heavenly a lustre round the bed of Dr. Finley.

These things carry with them their own recommendation to the conscience, which is not yet "seared as with a hot iron." If our pages fall into the hands of the young, we affectionately VOL. III.

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entreat them to "remember their Creator in the days of their youth," "to make their calling and their election sure," before they be "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Rich are the tints of that beauty, and sweet the fragrance of those blossoms, on which, in the morning of life, the Lord our God sheds down the dews of his blessing. You would not wish to be associated with infidels in their death; shun the contagion of their principles while you are in spirits and in health. Your hearts cannot but sigh, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." Cast in, then, your lot with him; choose for your own God the God of Samuel Finley; and like him, you shall have "hope in your death;" like him, you shall "be had in everlasting remembrance," when "the memory of the wicked shall rot."

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