that God, in his loving
kindness, will not permit that man to go out of the world without
religion; who knows but some powerful minister of the Church, full of
zeal for the glory of God, will illume that man's dark mind; perhaps some
clergyman will come to the parish who will visit him and teach him his
duty to his God. Yes, it is very probable that such a man, before he
dies, will have been made to love his God; whether he will ever learn to
know what's o'clock, is another matter. It is probable that he will go
out of the world without knowing what's o'clock. It is not so necessary
to be able to tell the time of day by the clock as to know one's God
through his inspired word; a man cannot get to heaven without religion,
but a man can get there very comfortably without knowing what's o'clock.

But, above all, the care and providence of God are manifested in the case
of Lavengro himself, by the manner in which he is enabled to make his way
in the world up to a certain period, without falling a prey either to
vice or poverty. In his history there is a wonderful illustration of
part of the text quoted by his mother, "I have been young, and now am
old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread."
He is the son of good and honourable parents, but at the critical period
of life, that of entering into the world, he finds himself without any
earthly friend to help him, yet he manages to make his way; he does not
become a Captain in the Life Guards, it is true, nor does he get into
Parliament, nor does the last chapter conclude in the most satisfactory
and unobjectionable manner, by his marrying a dowager countess, as that
wise man Addison did, or by his settling down as a great country
gentleman, perfectly happy and contented, like the very moral Roderick
Random, or the equally estimable Peregrine Pickle; he is hack author,
gypsy, tinker, and postillion, yet, upon the whole, he seems to be quite
as happy as the younger sons of most earls, to have as high feelings of
honour; and when the reader loses sight of him, he has money in his
pocket honestly acquired, to enable him to commence a journey quite as
laudable as those which the younger sons of earls generally undertake.
Surely all this is a manifestation of the kindness and providence of God:
and yet he is not a religious person; up to the time when the reader
loses sight of him, he is decidedly not a religious person; he has
glimpses, it is true, o