“It has often occurred to me whilst lying on the bed of sickness, that the reflections necessarily suggested by such a state, if accurately recorded, would not only be of the greatest value to the sufferer, should he be permitted to recover, but also of inestimable benefit to many who might have escaped such experience; and it most forcibly struck me, as a most appropriate subject for this journal, in which I hope, my dear children, you will continue to derive religious instructions from your affectionate parents, long after the period in which they will have been called away from you. Here under the influence of the most tender associations and recollections, you will find yourselves assured that the hour of affliction is rarely, if ever, without its sources of alleviation; to the sincere Christian, I may add with confidence, never. “My illness was occasioned by cold, and violent inflammation in my wound, which had been closed for upwards of four years. This led to the formation of an extensive abscess, which for some days kept me in a very dangerous state; it confined me to my bed for several weeks, and for six months has reduced me to the state of a cripple, in which I must expect to remain for some time longer. I do not remember during any period of my illness to have considered the danger imminent, but I feel a comfort in the recollection that I had no considerable anxiety, or any afflicting thoughts, even in the most alarming moments. But I had many serious and salutary reflections, for which I hope to be the better during the remainder of my days. The retrospect of the last years of my life did not afford me the consolation and confidence which I had so often and so presumptuously flattered myself it would have done. On the contrary, it brought the most unanswerable evidence that I had been living in error and vanity, in a system of Christianity very different from that laid down by our blessed Saviour. This was the light in which I began to view the last, and what I had arrogantly considered the meritorious part of my conduct; but how innumerable were the instances, or rather how constant was the practice of my ‘living without God in the world.’ How entirely did I find that I had devoted myself to this life, and how faint were the impressions of the life to come. And yet I had been in the habit of considering myself so certain of salvation, as to look forward to death as the only source of consolation for the affliction I had experienced in the loss of your sainted parent and brother. Such a confidence is indeed a delightful one if it be properly and rightly sustained; and if it can be rationally indulged, is certain of being efficacious under the heaviest pressure of worldly misery. But it is not to be attained so easily as we are frequently induced to imagine, by dividing our affections between this world and the world to come; or rather by paying a formal heartless worship to God, whilst all our