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varying gentleness and fortitude , and a piety so retiring , as rarely to disclose itself in words / but so influential as to produce uniform benevolence of conduct * In the last hour of life .
after a farewell look on a lately born and only infant , for whom she had evinced inexpressible affection , her test whispers were *—Gods 'happiness ! God ' s happiness ! Since the second anniversary of her decease , I have read
some papers which no one had seen during her life , and which contain her most secret thoughts . I am induced to communicate to your Lordship a passage from these papers , tyhich , there is no doubt , refers to yourself , as I have more than once heard the writer mention your agility on the rocks at Hastings : —
" Prayer . € i € O my God ! I take encouragement from the assurance of thy word to pjnay to thee in behalf of one fpjr whom I have lately been much interested . May the person to whom J allude < wd who is now , we fear , a ? iimch distinguished for his neglect of thee as for the transcendant talents
thou hast bestowed upon him ) be awakened to a sense of his own danger , and led to seek tha $ peace of niind in a proper sense of religion which he has found this world ' s ejijoyr ments unable to procure I Do thou grant that his future example may be productive of far more extensive
benefit ehan fris past conduct and writings have been of evil ; apd may the sun pf righteousness , which we trust will at some future period arise on him , be bright in proportion to the . darkness of those clouds which guilt
Jam raised around , him , and the baiip which it bestows healing and soothing in proportion to the keenness of that agony which the punishment of his vices has inflicted upon him . May the hope that the sincerity of my own efforts for the attainment of holiness ,
and the approval of my owi ^ love to the great Author of religion , will render this prayer , and every other for the welfare of mankind , more efficacious , cheer me in the path of duty ; but let me not forget that while we are permitted to animate ourselves to
exertion by every inuQcent motive , these are but the lesser streams which may serve to increase the current , but
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Whfeh j dep * t * $# of the grand ^ Wtaia of good , ( a deep conviction of inborii sin , and firm belief in the efficacy of Christ ' s death for tjbe salvation of those who trust in him and really seek to serve him , ) would soon dry up , and leave us as barren of every virtue as
before . ** Hastings * * tuty 31 , 1814 / * ' Ttere is no # iiiigy noy Lord , in this extract which in a literary sense
can at all interest you ; but it may perhaps appear to you worthy of reflection , how deep and expansive a concern for the happiness of others the Christian fmth can awaken in the
midst of youth and prosperity . Here is nothing poetical and splendid , as in the expostulatory homage of M . Delannartine ; but here is the sublime , my Lord ; for this intercession was offered on your account to the Supreme Source of happiness . It sprang from a faith more confirmed than that
of the French poet , ^ nd from a charity which , in combination with faith , shewed jjs power unimpaired amidst the langour £ and pains of approaching dissolution ! I vpjljl hope that a prayer , which I $ m m ^ m * m& lp WM ^ re » may not be always » unavailing . It
would add nothing , spy Lord , to the fame with which your genius has surrounded you , for an unknown and obscure individual to express his admiration pjF i $ . I Iplad rather be nj ^ Abered with those who wish and ppay that wisdom frora above and p ^ acc an 4 joy i $ iay enter such ^ mind I "
The Answer . f ( Pisa , December 8 , 1821 . " 1 hav ^ received youj- jeltjer . —I need not say th&t the extract which it
cojtitaiijis h ^ s affe c ted me , beewse it would imply a want of all feekng to h ^ ve r . e ^ d it ^ vijfe ipdiffe ^ acel T ^ ou ^^ i I am npt quite sure t ^ al j ; it \ yas intended for me ,, yet the 4 ate , php ' pljjgp where it was w ^ rijt ^ n , with soo ^ e p ^ j ^ r circumstance ^ wjiich you ^ ic ^ tion ,
re ^ der tjie illusion proba ^ le ^ ^ ujt /^> r whomsoever it was mea / it , I have re $ & it with aU ihje pleasure which pan arise from so melancholy a tppje . I s $ y pleasure , because yojuir brief ja ^ d sjiwple picture of the life apd / Jqlucanor of the excellent person whom ,
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4 &t . B& 0 &mhGr 4 B # ? Qti& f ? $ Mi $ i . -fl
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1825, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2532/page/4/
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