y you part of the way." "Do,"
said Peter. "I have many people to see to-day, and so has Winifred; but
we will both endeavour to have some serious discourse with thee, which,
perhaps, will turn to thy profit in the end."

In the course of the day the good Peter came to me, as I was seated
beneath the oak, and, placing himself by me, commenced addressing me in
the following manner:--

"I have no doubt, my young friend, that you are willing to admit, that
the most important thing which a human being possesses is his soul; it is
of infinite more importance than the body, which is a frail substance,
and cannot last for many years; but not so the soul, which, by its
nature, is imperishable. To one of two mansions the soul is destined to
depart, after its separation from the body, to heaven or hell: to the
halls of eternal bliss, where God and His holy angels dwell, or to the
place of endless misery, inhabited by Satan and his grisly companions.
My friend, if the joys of heaven are great, unutterably great, so are the
torments of hell unutterably so. I wish not to speak of them, I wish not
to terrify your imagination with the torments of hell; indeed, I like not
to think of them; but it is necessary to speak of them sometimes, and to
think of them sometimes, lest you should sink into a state of carnal
security. Authors, friend, and learned men, are not altogether agreed as
to the particulars of hell. They all agree, however, in considering it a
place of exceeding horror. Master Ellis Wyn, who by-the-bye was a
churchman, calls it, amongst other things, a place of strong sighs, and
of flaming sparks. Master Rees Pritchard, who was not only a churchman,
but Vicar of Llandovery, and flourished about two hundred years ago--I
wish many like him flourished now--speaking of hell, in his collection of
sweet hymns, called the 'Welshman's Candle,' observes,

"'The pool is continually blazing; it is very deep, without any known
bottom, and the walls are so high, that there is neither hope nor
possibility of escaping over them.'

"But, I told you just now, I have no great pleasure in talking of hell.
No, friend, no; I would sooner talk of the other place, and of the
goodness and hospitality of God amongst His saints above."

And then the excellent man began to dilate upon the joys of heaven, and
the goodness and hospitality of God in the mansions above; explaining to
me, in the clearest way, how I might get there.

And when h