His sister died with such serene delight,
He once again began to think her right;
Poor like himself, the happy spinster lay,
And sweet assurance bless'd her dying-day :
Poor like the spinster, he, when death was nigh,
Assured of nothing, felt afraid to die.

The cheerful clerks who sometimes pass'd the door,
Just mention'd "Abel!" and then thought no more.
So Abel, pondering on his state forlorn,

Look'd round for comfort, and was chased by scorn.
And now we saw him on the beach reclined,
Or causeless walking in the wintery wind;
And when it raised a loud and angry sea,
He stood and gazed, in wretched reverie :
He heeded not the frost, the rain, the snow,
Close by the sea he walk'd alone and slow:
Sometimes his frame through many an hour he
spread

Upon a tombstone, moveless as the dead;
And was there found a sad and silent place,
There would he creep with slow and measured
Then would he wander by the river's side,
And fix his eyes upon the falling tide e;
The deep dry ditch, the rushes in the fen,
And mossy crag-pits were his lodgings then:
There, to his discontented thought a prey,
The melancholy mortal pined away.

pace :

The neighb'ring poor at length began to speak. Of Abel's ramblings- he'd been gone a week; They knew not where, and little care they took For one so friendless and so poor to look,

At last a stranger, in a pedlar's shed,

Beheld him hanging-he had long been dead.
He left a paper, penn'd at sundry times,

Entitled thus-"My Groanings and my Crimes!"

"I was a christian man, and none could lay

Aught to my charge; I walk'd the narrow way: "All then was simple faith, serene and pure,

"My hope was steadfast and my prospects sure; "Then was I tried by want and sickness sore, "But these I clapp'd my shield of faith before, "And cares and wants and man's rebukes I bore: "Alas! new foes assail'd me; I was vain,

They stung my pride and they confused my brain : "Oh! these deluders! with what glee they saw "Their simple dupe transgress the righteous law; "'Twas joy to them to view that dreadful strife, "When faith and frailty warr'd for more than life; "So with their pleasures they beguiled the heart, "Then with their logic they allay'd the smart; "They proved (so thought I then) with reasons strong,

"That no man's feelings ever lead him wrong:

"And thus I went, as on the varnish'd ice,

"The smooth career of unbelief and vice.

"Oft would the youths, with sprightly speech and

bold,

"Their witty tales of naughty priests unfold; ""Twas all a craft,' they said, a cunning trade,

"Not she the priests, but priests Religion made;' "So I believed:"-No, Abel! to thy grief: So thou relinquish'dst all that was belief:

" I grew as very flint, and when the rest "Laugh'd at devotion, I enjoy'd the jest ; "But this all vanish'd like the morning-dew, "When unemploy'd, and poor again I grew; "Yea! I was doubly poor, for I was wicked too.

"The mouse that trespass'd and the treasure stole, "Found his lean body fitted to the hole;

"Till, having fatted, he was forced to stay, "And, fasting, starve his stolen bulk away: "Ah! worse for me.

grown poor, I yet remain "In sinful bonds, and pray and fast in vain.

"At length I thought, although these friends of sin "Have spread their net, and caught their prey

therein;

"Though my hard heart could not for mercy call, "Because, though great my grief, my faith was "Yet, as the sick on skilful men rely, "The soul diseased may to a doctor fly.

[small;

"A famous one there was, whose skill had wrought "Cures past belief, and him the sinners sought; "Numbers there were defiled by mire and filth, "Whom he recover'd by his goodly tilth:

"Come then,' I said, let me the man behold, "And tell my case' I saw him and I told.

"With trembling voice, 'Oh! reverend sir,' I said, "I once believed, and I was then misled; "And now such doubts my sinful soul beset,

"I dare not say that I'm a Christian yet;

6

"Canst thou, good sir, by thy superior skill, "Inform my judgment and direct my will? "Ah! give thy cordial; let my soul have rest, "And be the outward man alone distress'd; "For at my state I tremble.'- Tremble more,' "Said the good man, and then rejoice therefore ; "'Tis good to tremble; prospects then are fair, "When the lost soul is plunged in deep despair : "Once thou wert simply honest, just, and pure, "Whole, as thou thought'st, and never wish'd a

cure:

"Now thou hast plunged in folly, shame, disgrace; "Now thou'rt an object meet for healing grace ; "No merit thine, no virtue, hope, belief, "Nothing hast thou, but misery, sin, and grief, "The best, the only titles to relief.'

"What must I do,' I said, ' my soul to free?'. "Do nothing, man: it will be done for thee.'. “But must I not, my reverend guide, believe? '— "If thou art call'd, thou wilt the faith receive:'"But I repent not.'- Angry he replied, "If thou art call'd, thou needest nought beside : "Attend on us, and if 't is Heaven's decree, "The call will come, - if not, ah! wo for thee.'

"There then I waited, ever on the watch, "A spark of hope, a ray of light to catch; "His words fell softly like the flakes of snow, "But I could never find my heart o'erflow:

"He cried aloud, till in the flock began

“The sigh, the tear, as caught from man to man ;

"They wept and they rejoiced, and there was I "Hard as a flint, and as the desert dry : "To me no tokens of the call would come, "I felt my sentence, and received my doom; "But I complain'd→ Let thy repinings cease, "Oh! man of sin, for they thy guilt increase; "It bloweth where it listeth; die in peace.' "In peace, and perish?' I replied; impart "Some better comfort to a burthen'd heart.' "Alas!' the priest return'd, 6 can I direct "The heavenly call? -Do I proclaim th' elect? "Raise not thy voice against th' Eternal will, "But take thy part with sinners, and be still. (1)

-

(1) In a periodical work [the Eclectic Review for June, 1810,] the preceding dialogue is pronounced to be a most abominable caricature, if meant to be applied to Calvinists in general, and greatly distorted, if designed for an individual: now the author, in his preface, has declared, that he takes not upon him the censure of any sect or society for their opinions; and the lines themselves evidently point to an individual, whose sentiments they very fairly represent, without any distortion whatsoever. In a pamphlet entitled "A Cordial for a Sin-despairing Soul," originally written by a teacher of religion, and lately republished by another teacher of greater notoriety, the reader is informed that after he had full assurance of his salvation, the Spirit entered particularly into the subject with him; and, among many other matters of like nature, assured him that "his sins were fully and freely forgiven, as if they had never been committed; not for any act done by him, whether believing in Christ, or repenting of sin; nor yet for the sorrows and miseries he endured, nor for any service he should be called upon in his militant state, but for his own name and for his glory's sake," &c. And the whole drift and tenour of the book is to the same purpose, viz. the uselessness of all religious duties, such as prayer, contrition, fasting, and good works: he shows the evil done by reading such books as the Whole Duty of Man, and the Practice of Piety; and complains heavily of his relation, an Irish bishop, who wanted him to join with the household in family prayer; in fact, the whole work inculcates that sort of quietism which this dialogue alludes to, and that without any recommendation of attendance on the teachers of the Gospel, but rather holding forth encouragement to the supineness of man's nature; by the information that he in vain looks for acceptance by the employment of his talents, and that his hopes of glory are rather extinguished than raised by any application to the means of grace.