Conviction seized the youth, and alarmed and terrified, he instantly left the dissipated throng, and retired to his closet. The result was a saving change, and he is now a Christian indeed, in whom is no guile. Reader,art thou an admirer of the fashionable follies of the age? Remember they lead to the chambers of eternal death. Leave then, oh leave these deluding phantoms of an hour, and employ the uncertain moments left thee, in seeking for those realities, unfading pleasures and eternal joys. AWFUL DEATH OF A PROFANE SWEARER.* SOME years ago T. G. who lived in the parish of Sedgley, near Wolverhampton, having lost a considerable sum by a match at cock fighting, to which practice he was notoriously addicted, swore, in the most horrid manner, that he would never fight another cock as long as he lived; frequently calling upon God to damn his soul to all eternity if he did; and, with dreadful imprecations, wishing the devil might fetch him if ever he made another bet. It is not to be wondered at, if resolutions so impiously formed should be broken; for a while, however, they were observed; but he continued to indulge himself in every other abomination to which his depraved heart inclined him. But, about two years afterwards, satan, whose willing servant he was, inspired him with a violent desire to attend a cocking at Wolverhampton, and he complied with * Communicated to me by a pious person, who wrote it from the mouth of her father, a late minister of the gospel, near Wolverhamp ton, and who well knew, and often repeated, this terrible mot. G.B. the temptation. When he came to the place he stood up, as in defiance of heaven, and cried, "I hold four to three on such a cock." "Four what?” said one of his compan ions in iniquity. "Four shillings," replied he. "I'll lay," said the other. Upon which they confirmed the wager, and as his custom was, he threw down his hat, and put his hand in his pocket for the money, when, awful to relate, he instantly fell a ghastly corpse to the ground. Terrified at his sudden death, some who were present for ever after desisted from this infamous sport; but others, har. dened in iniquity proceeded in the barbarous diversion, as soon as the dead body was removed from the spot. This melancholy circumstance happened on a Thursday. On the Sabbath following, when a number of his relations and neighbors were conveying his body to the grave, a dog that belonged to one of the company happened to run under the coffin, which was carried I suppose underhand by napkins, or on a bier; the dog was struck, to all appearance, dead; but, being again recovered and let loose, ran a second time under the coffin, and was taken up actually dead, to the great astonishment of the company. Those who conveyed the corpse were so terrified that they durst not for the present proceed to the church yard, but proposed to leave the body on the spot; at length, however, resuming their courage, they conveyed him to the grave. "The fear of the wicked shall come upon him;' and, 'Who ever hardened himself against God, and prospered?' By such signal interpositions of divine providence the Lord shows he hath not forsaken the earth. May, "many," who read or "hear" these lines, "fear; and turn to the Lord." THE SWEARER REPROVED. A FEW days ago two gentlemen having called at a coffee house in the city, and drank a bottle together; when about to part, both insisted on paying. One put a seven shilling piece on the table, and swore dreadfully that his friend should be at no expense; the other jocularly said "That seven shilling piece is a bad one;" on which he swore still faster. The master of the house hearing what passed, came forward and said, if they would allow him to examine the money, he would tell them whether or not it was good. Returning soon after, he, in the most polite manner, laid the piece before them on a card printed as follows: A FRIENDLY HINT. It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise; You would not swear upon a bed of death: Reflect! Your Maker now could stop your breath. The gentlemen read it, and he who had sworn owned "he was justly and properly reproved, and would, in future, be more guarded in his expressions." A SKETCH OF MODERN PREACHERS. THERE are a sort of preachers in the present day, I am loath to call them ministers, who appear more solicitous to make their expressions good than their hearers, and had much rather hear their praises than their sighs, and that their auditors should admire their fine language, than follow their best counsel. In such sermons there is little spoken either from the heart or to the heart, the orator and auditory agreeing together to deceive themselves. As the conversion of sinners is neither the effect nor the aim of such florid, unedifying discourses, the business is trans. acted on both sides, as if the preacher had done his part when he had shewn his wit; and as if the hearers 'thought they had done theirs when they had commended it. ANECDOTE OF THE CELEBRATED VOLNEY. THE late Samuel Forrester Bancroft, Esq. accompanied Mr. Isaac Weld, jun. in his travels through North America, and the two Canadas, a very interesting narrative of which is published. As they were traversing one of the extensive lakes of the northern states in a vessel, on board of which was Volney, celebrated, or rather notorious, for his atheistical principles, which he has so often avowed, a very heavy storm came on, insomuch that the vessel, which had struck repeatedly with great force, was expected to go down every instant, the mast having gone by the board, the helm quite ungovernable, and consequently the whole scene exhibiting confusion and horror. There were many females, as well as male passengers on board, but no one exhibited such strong marks of fearful despair as Volney, throwing himself on the deck, now imploring, now imprecating the captain, and reminding him, that he had engaged to carry him safe to his destination, vainly threatening, in case any thing should happen. At last, however, as the probability of their being lost increased, this great mirror of nature, human or inhuman, began loading all the pockets of his coat, waistcoat, breeches, and every place he could think of, with dollars to the amount of some hundreds; and thus, as he thought, was preparing to swim for his life, should the expected wreck take place. Mr. Bancroft remonstrated with him on the folly of such acts, saying, that he would sink like a piece of lead, with so great a weight on him; and at length, as he became so very noisy and unsteady as to impede the management of the ship, Mr. Bancroft pushed him down the hatchways. Volney soon came up again, having lightened himself of the dollars, and in the agony of his mind, threw himself upon the deck,exclaiming, with uplifted hands and streaming cyes, "Oh! mon Dieu, mon Dieu; qu'est-ce que je ferai, qu'est-ce que je ferai?" "Oh! my God, my God; what shall I do? What shall I do?" This so surprised Bancroft, that, notwithstanding the moment did not very well accord with flashes of humor, yet he could not refrain from addressing him, "Eh bien! Mons. Volney, vous avez donc un Dieu à present." "Well; Mr. Volney, what; you have a God now." To which Volney replied, with the most trembling anxiety, "Oh! oui! oui!" “0, yes! Oyes!" The ship, however, got safe, and Mr. Bancroft made every company which he went into echo with this anecdote of Volney's acknowledgment of God. Volney for a considerable time was so hurt at his weakness, as he calls it, that he was ashamed of shewing himself in com pany at Philadelphia, &c. but afterwards, like a modern French philosopher, said, that those words escaped him in the instant of alarm, but had no meaning, and he again atterly renounced them. |