somehow or other, was the cause of his being taken in the middle of the night out of his bed, where he was lying with his wife and two small children, and carried directly to the Inquisition, where, God help him, continued _Trim_, fetching a sigh from the bottom of his heart, --the poor honest lad lies confined at this hour; he was as honest a soul, added _Trim_, (pulling out his handkerchief) as ever blood warmed.---- --The tears trickled down _Trim’s_ cheeks faster than he could well wipe them away. --And dead silence in the room ensued for some minutes. --Certain proof of pity! Come, _Trim_, quoth my father, after he saw the poor fellow’s grief had got a little vent, --read on, --and put this melancholy story out of thy head: --I grieve that I interrupted thee; but prithee begin the sermon again; --for if the first sentence in it is matter of abuse, as thou sayest, I have a great desire to know what kind of provocation the apostle has given. Corporal _Trim_ wiped his face, and returned his handkerchief into his pocket, and, making a bow as he did it, --he began again.] The SERMON HEBREWS xiii. 18 _----For we _trust_ we have a good Conscience. --_ “Trust! trust we have a good conscience! Surely if there is any thing in this life which a man may depend upon, and to the knowledge of which he is capable of arriving upon the most indisputable evidence, it must be this very thing, --whether he has a good conscience or no.” [I am positive I am right, quoth Dr. _Slop_.] “If a man thinks at all, he cannot well be a stranger to the true state of this account; ----he must be privy to his own thoughts and desires; --he must remember his past pursuits, and know certainly the true springs and motives, which, in general, have governed the actions of his life.” [I defy him, without an assistant, quoth Dr. _Slop_.] “In other matters we may be deceived by false appearances; and, as the wise man complains, _hardly do we guess aright at the things that are upon the earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us_. But here the mind has all the evidence and facts within herself; ----is conscious of the web she has wove; ----knows its texture and fineness, and the exact share which every passion has had in working upon the several designs which virtue or vice has planned before her.” [The language is good, and I declare _Trim_ reads very well, quoth my father.]