light of eternity kindled a splen. dor, which has brightened and brightened till the curtain of death has been spread over it? Thomas Paine, the author of the " Age of Reason," died at New York, June 8, 1809, at the age of seventy two years; and as his name has acquired some distinction by the virulence, with which he has attacked the christian religion, it may not be unprofitable to survey his conduct in the last moments of his life. From a man of the most abject meanness of spirit, whose pcnuriousness in the midst of comparative wealth made him dishonest and unjust, no one will expect any elevation of mind. Nor will it be thought, that a man, who daily reduced himself by his habits of intemperance to a condition inferior to that of the brutes, would exhibit much of his boasted attribute of reason" All that could be expect ed from such a man, if he was true to his principles, is the sullen quietness of presumption and fearlessness, or the dead calm of stupidity.

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What then was the conduct of Mr. Paine, as the king of terrors approached? Was he fearless and undisturbed, or insensible? An account of his life, written by Mr. Cheetham of New York, has lately been pub. lished, and in that work the undisputed testimony of the physician and of the nurse, who attended him in his last sickness, is brought forward. It appears that Mr. Paine, like Mr. Gib. bon, was unwilling to be left alone, as he drew near to the confines of another world. Although in conversation he professed to be perfectly willing to

VOL. II. New Series.

die; yet if his curtains were at any time closed, he would literally scream till they were opened, and till he could perceive that some fellow-man was nigh him. Was this courageous in a dying man? Did it appal a bold infidel to have living beings withdrawn for a moment from his eye, and to be, as it were, in the sole presence of God? Did a sense of desertion come over him, when his earthly friends were not by his side? Was he unable to repose himself upon the great Creator, in whom he professed to believe? Did this firm Unitarian, who boasted that be "believed in God and God alone," and who had no faith in the atonement of the Son, and and no regard to the proffered grace of the Holy Spirit, find himself the victim of terrific fears, when he no longer heard the sound of human footsteps, and when the thought of appearing before God was forced upon him?

Two of the ministers of New York called upon Mr. Paine with the benevolent desire of imparting to him some religious instruction. One of them repeated the words "he that be lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Mr. P. immediately pronounced such representations to be "Popish stuff;" and direct. ed the ministers to leave the room. He afterwards gave or. ders not to have them again ad. mitted, as their discourse disturbed him. Would the truths of scripture have interrupted his peace, if, in his conscience and from the bottom of his heart, he disbelieved them ?

3C

Mr. P. was frequently visited in his sickness by his brethren in infidelity, who were actuated by very different motives from those, which governed the ministers of God? They came to strengthen him in his rejection of the truth; to encourage him manfully to contemn the glad tidings of salvation; to warn him of the disgrace of betraying the least symptom of compunction; and to fortify the dying man in his cheerless faith, if faith it can be called, by appeal. ing to his egregious vanity and to his swollen pride. Was not this an office worthy of demons in human shape? From a man thus situated ought we to expect any intimation of his belief in Jesus Christ? Should we not suppose, that, for the honor of the craft, his lips would be sealed in stubborn silence, whatever sensations there might be in his heart? Yet it is an unquestion. ed truth, and a truth which ought to be carried to the ears of every man, who has been corrupted by the "Age of Reason," that Mr. Paine in his paroxisms of distress repeatedly and constantly cried out, O, Lord, help me! God, help me! Jesus Christ, help me!"

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Is this the daring infidel, who blasphemed the Savior of the world? Does he in the extremity of his suffering call upon him for aid, and is the secret conviction of his existence and uni. versal agency thus extorted from the expiring unbeliever ? It is a poor triumph to boast over this wretched man for his reluctant, or rather involuntary, testimony to a truth, which in the days of his health he had ridiculed; for though he had

never uttered the above exclama. tion, yet the time is coming when both he and every created and intelligent being will "bow the knee at the name of Jesus, and confess Jesus to be the Lord." When the Son of God shall de. scend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the arch. angel, and when his countenance shall be seen like the sun shining in his strength, it will no longer be a question whether he is a prince and a Savior, or whether he is to be worshipped.

It would afford some relief to the benevolent mind, if Mr. P. had left unextinguished the faint glimmerings of contrition, or of regard to long rejected truth, which the exclamation above recited indicates. But the Chris tian is compelled to withhold the charitable hope, that the scorner became at length truly penitent. Dr. Manley, the physician of Mr. P. very solemnly asked him, a day or two before his death, whether, from his calling upon the Savior, it would be just to conclude that he was at length convinced of his divinity; and whether he had renounced his former sentiments, and at length assented to the truth of the gospel? To these or similar questions, when first proposed, Mr. P. made no reply. When they were repeated, and he was again asked, whether he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God; he answered, "I have no wish to believe upon that subject." These it is thought, were the last words relating to his relig ious views, that he uttered, and thus did he persevere in his rejection of the gospel. His conduct seems to justify the asser tion, that it was owing to his

pride, that he did not, when thus called upon, explicitly make the acknowledgment, which was extorted from him by suffering. From his address to Jesus Christ, and from the circumstance, that his pious nurse read the Bible to him for hours, without seeing in him any symptoms of displeasure, it is confidently believed, that he at times felt some degree of compunction; but his compunction being generally less powerful than his pride, it was repressed and concealed; except when his extreme pains extinguished within him the thought of his reputation and character. At those moments his lips could not refuse to say, "Lord Jesus, help me!"

Who is there, that possesses a particle of reason, that would for hundreds of worlds die the death of Thomas Paine? Yet it is not necessary to reject the Scriptures and to become a deist, in order to die as hopelessly as he.

Let a man contend earnestly for the christian religion, and yet pay no regard to its laws and take no interest in its truths; let him be perfectly moral in his conduct, while yet the spirit of piety has never visited his heart; let him enrol himself among the followers of Christ, while yet he is destitute of the temper of their Master, and his life is but a scene of gay amusement and busy worldliness; let him be seriand and contemplative, and think much and habitually upon religion and eternity, while yet he has never been humbled into penitence, and has not renounced his own righteousness and attributed his hopes to the free grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be correct in his

ous

religious views and zealous for the orthodox faith, while yet his character is not moulded into the christian form; let him an. ticipate with confidence the felicity of heaven, while yet the love of God does not reign supreme in his breast; notwithstanding all this superiority to the wretched infidel, whose dying conduct has been surveyed, he may be plunged at last into the same abyss of ruin. A.

For the Panoplist.

COMMUNICATED IN A LETTER TO

ONE OF THE EDITORS.

Newark, 25th Jan. 1810.

REV. AND DEAR SIR, The following is taken, by permission of the worthy author, from a very handsome, appropriate, and consoling discourse, delivered by Rev. James Rich. ards, on the 14th of the present month, and occasioned by the much lamented death of that pious and hopeful student in divinity, Mr. Lewis L. Congar. It has been solicited, for a place in the Panoplist, because it is respectful to the memory of one, who was an ornament to the celebrated Seminary, of which he was an alumnus; because it will enrich the pages of that useful publication; and because it will gratify the numerous relatives and friends of the deceased. Yours, etc.

BEN O******.

FROM the text, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, the preacher was led to discourse on the nature of resignation, and to offer various considerations, by which this christian virtue is He then closed recommended. his address in this manner :

،، But what if the Lord has given us comfortable hopes, that our departed friends have exchanged the sins and sorrows of this miserable world for an eter

nal rest in heaven? Is there nothing here to reconcile us to their death? Embarked with us on a stormy and perilous sea, they have reached their destined port before us. And shall we mourn on this account? Could we wish to see them driven back in their course, and made to conflict with the rough winds and merciless waves again? Has the gracious Redeemer heard their prayers, and given them to overcome and to sit down with him upon his throne, even as he has overcome and is set down with his Father upon his throne; and can we desire to see them again subjected to the weakness, to the temp. tations, to the sins and sorrows of the present life? What are all our hopes and expectations at last, but to finish our wearisome pilgrimage and enter ourselves into the mansions of eternal rest and glory? But, alas! we are afraid of being left alone by the way! Like the disciples, who were afflicted at the thought of being separated from their Master, though he was going to heaven to prepare a place for them, we are often troubled, when our beloved relatives advance a few steps before us and seize the crown of life sooner then we expected.

"But let us comfort ourselves with the recollection, that they are gone before us only to make our way to heaven the more easy, our progress towards it the more rapid, and our entrance into it the more joyful. It is but a little while, and we shall follow them. Our dust will soon mingle with their dust, and our spirits join with their spirits. We shall meet them on a deathless shore meet them, refined from the dross

of this world; and, O, enrapturing thought, we shall tread the fields of light and glory together! We shall stand with them on Zion's everlasting hills, to look back on the course we have held across this wilderness; to converse of all the events, which have befallen us in our pilgrimage state; and to shout together, in one eternal song, the praises of him, that loved us, and washed us in his own blood. Whose heart does not burn within him at the prospect? Who, that has a particle of faith in another world, but must look forward with joy to the moment, when he shall meet the departed souls of his pious friends, with all the spirits of just men made perfect?

"But what shall be said, my dear brethren, of the distressing event, which has led us to these reflections? Shall we say, it hath fallen out according to the purpose and will of heaven? Shall we say that an infinitely wise God hath, in this case, acted wisely; and an infinitely kind and gracious God fulfilled the purposes of his love and mercy? What else can we say? God in. deed does not reveal to us the particular reasons of this dispen sation; but our duty is not the less plain. It becomes us to bow with holy resignation to his will, and to say, The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away, bless ed be the name of the Lord.

and

"To us, the life of our dear young friend appeared exceedingly important. Not to say what a treasure he was to his parents and sisters, to whom he was endeared by every circum. stance, which could make him lovely in this relation, he was an

object of great hope to the church of God. Few young men of higher promise have appeared in these days.

"To a sound and vigorous understanding, to a soft and obliging temper, he added, as far as human eyes can discover, all the reality and all the lustre of the christian virtues. His at tainments in science, and, especially, in that best of all sciences, religion, were remarkable for his years.

He bid fair to be a distinguished luminary in the church of Christ, to whose service he had publicly and solemn ly devoted himself. We had flattered ourselves that this rising star would long continue to gladden us with its beams. But, ah, how suddenly has it disap. peared!-disappeared to us only. It is gone to shine in other systems and to burn in brighter worlds.

us,

"God has affectingly taught in this instance, that his ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. He has called this amiable youth away, in the morning of his days, and just at the very moment, when the highest expectations were entertained of his immediate and extensive usefulness. He was licensed to preach the gospel, a few days before the commencement of that illness, which terminated his life.

"But the Lord's will is done, and why should we mourn? He did not mourn for himself. He was willing to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. To one of his friends, who watched his dying pillow, he said, "What a mercy will it be if the Lord thus early shall call me home to himself." Not that

he was impatient, or wished to dictate concerning his own fate. He chose, that the will of the Lord should be done.

"What greater consolation can we have in his death? Fallen asleep in it, his spirit, as we have every reason to believe, has al ready joined the general assembly of the church of the first born in heaven. And can his dearest friends on earth wish him back again? No, I hear them say, stay there happy spirit. The Lord hath called thee, and the Lord hath need of thee. Who knows but he may be employed as a ministering spirit, or a guardian angel to those, whom he loved? Who can tell but he may be present in this assembly, or be looking from the battle ments above, to witness the man. ner in which his departure affects the church and congregation, once so dear to him? Could he speak to us, what would be his language? What would he say to these bereaved relatives? Would it not be, "Dry up your tears. For me to live was Christ, but to die is gain. I am safely landed on the immortal shores, have reached the bosom of Abraham and the Paradise of God. Now I see, as I am seen; now I know, as I am known. I have exchanged the earthly for the heavenly sanctuary; songs of my fellow saints on earth for the songs of the redeemed in heaven. Sin is gone, temptation is gone, fear is gone, sorrow is gone, and all the for mer things are passed away. Why mourn ye, that my warfare is accomplished, my toils and dan. gers at an end? Why these tears that I have reached that better world, where all tears are for

the