sed around him, and the balm which it bestows,
healing and soothing in proportion to the keenness of that agony
which the punishment of his vices has inflicted on him! May the
hope that the sincerity of my own efforts for the attainment of
holiness, and the approval of my own 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 innocent motive, these are but the
lesser streams which may serve to increase the current, but which,
deprived of the grand fountain of good, (a deep conviction of
inborn sin, and firm belief in the efficacy of Christ's death for
the salvation of those who trust in him, and really wish to serve
him,) would soon dry up, and leave us barren of every virtue as
before.

"'July 31. 1814--Hastings.'

"There is nothing, my 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 faith can awaken in the midst of
youth and prosperity. Here is nothing poetical and splendid, as in
the expostulatory homage of M. Delamartine; 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: and from a
charity which, in combination with faith, showed its power
unimpaired amidst the languors and pains of approaching
dissolution. I will hope that a prayer, which, I am sure, was
deeply sincere, may not be always unavailing.

"It would add _nothing_, my Lord, to the fame with which your
genius has surrounded you, for an unknown and obscure individual to
express his admiration of it. I had rather be numbered with those
who wish and pray, that 'wisdom from above,' and 'peace,' and 'joy,'
may enter such a mind.

"JOHN SHEPPARD."

[Footnote 70: See "Thoughts on Private Devotion," by Mr. Sheppard.]

* * * * *

However romantic, in the eyes of the cold and worldly, the piety of this
young person may appear, it were to be wished that the truly Chr