The

to believe, that you will one day see them in the very light in which they have been seen by me. attachment to them, which you strongly feel, is unfounded, vain, full of danger, and fraught with ruin. You will one day view them from a dying bed. There, should you retain your reason, they will appear as they really are. They will then be seen to have two totally opposite faces. Of these you have hitherto seen but one. That gay, beautiful, and alluring as it now appears, will then be hidden from your sight; and another, which you have not seen, deformed, odious, and dreadful, will stare you in the face, and fill you with amazement, and bitterness. No longer pretended friends, and real flatterers; they will unmask themselves, and appear only as tempters, deceivers, and enemies, who stood between you and Heaven; persuaded you to forsake your God; and cheated you out of eternal life.

"But no acts of obedience will then appear to you to have merited, in any sense, acceptance with God. In this view, those acts of my life, concerning which I entertained the best hopes, which I was permitted to entertain, those, which to me appeared the least exceptionable, were nothing, and less than nothing. The mercy of God, as exercised towards our lost race, through the all-sufficient and glorious righteousness of the Redeemer, yielded me the only foundation of hope for good beyond the grave. During the long continuation of my disease, as I was always, except when in paroxysms of suffering, in circumstances entirely fitted for solemn contemplation: I had ample opportunity to survey this most interesting of all subjects on every side. As the result of all my investigations, let me me assure you, and that from the neighbourhood of the Eternal World, Confidence in the Righteousness of Christ is the only foundation

furnished by Earth, or Heaven, upon which, when you are about to leave this world, you can safely, or willingly, rest the everlasting life of your souls. To trust upon any thing else, will be to feed upon the wind, and sup up the East wind. You will then be at the door of eternity; will be hastening to the presence of your Judge; will be just ready to give up your account of the deeds done in the body; will be preparing to hear the final sentence of acquittal or condemnation; and will stand at the gate of Heaven or of Hell. In these amazing circumstances you will infinitely need; let me persuade you to believe, and to feel, that you will infinitely need, a firm foundation, on which you may stand, and from which you will never be removed. There is no other such foundation, but the Rock of Ages Then you will believe, then you will feel, that there is no other. The world, stable as it now seems, will then be sliding away from under your feet. All earthly things, on which you have so confidentially reposed, will recede and vanish. To what will you then betake yourselves for safety?"

It

On the 17th of June, the same year, the General Association of Connecticut met at New Haven. was a meeting of unusual interest; and he was able to be present during most of their deliberations. He rejoiced to see the actual establishment of the Domestic Missionary Society of that State for building up its waste churches; in forming the plan of which, he cheerfully lent his assistance. The year preceding was eminently distinguished for Revivals of Religion; and he listened with a heart overflowing with joy and gratitude to the account of this glorious Work of God. After the recital, the Eucharist was celebrated; and upwards of one thousand communicants, including about seventy clergymen, received the ele

ments. He was invited by the Association to break the Bread. Though pale and enfeebled by disease, and obviously exhausted by strong emotion, he consented. His Prayer, on that occasion, was eminently humble, spiritual, and heavenly. It annihilated the distance between the Church in Heaven and the Church around him; and, for the moment, they were together. The address, which blended the affecting considerations customarily growing out of the Sacrament, with others derived from the triumphs of the Cross to which they had just been listening, left an impression on the audience, which probably will not disappear but with life.

Although the disease with which President Dwight was afflicted, and by which his life had been so seriously threatened, was not removed; yet the severity of it was so far relaxed, that he was able, through the summer, to preach steadily in the chapel, to hear the recitations of the senior class, and to attend to a class of theological students, who were pursuing their studies under his direction. Still, he was not in a situation to pass a day, without resorting repeatedly to the surgical operation, by the aid of which he had in the first instance gained relief from his excruciating distress. But his mind was not idle during the intervals of his professional and official labours. In addition to the sermon which has been mentioned, he wrote, during this season, several Essays on the Evidences of Divine Revelation, derived from the writings of St. Paul, and on other subjects: the whole forming matter for a considerable volume. The last of these Essays was finished three days before his death. He also wrote the latter half of a Poem of about fifteen hundred lines: a work of the imagination, the subject which is, a contest between Genius and Common Sense, on their comparative merits:

the question referred to and decided by Truth. He has projected a series of Essays on moral and literary subjects, under the title of "The Friend," to be published, in the manner of the Spectator, once a week in a half sheet. Several numbers were written, as an exercise, for the purpose of satisfying himself, by the experiment, how many he could compose in a given space of time, without interfering with his other duties. He had also projected a periodical publication, to combine the common characteristics of a Review and Magazine, but upon a much more extensive plan than any single work of the kind that has appeared in this country, or even in Europe. A prospectus of this publication he had drawn up; and it was his determination, had his life been spared, and his health such as would admit of it, to have commenced it without delay; engaging himself to furnish one quarter of the original matter in every number. It was, however, apparent to his friends, and probably to himself, that, unless he should succeed in gaining relief from the disease which hung about him, his constitution, strong and vigorous as it was, must in the end give way to such uninterrupted pain and suffering. His patience and fortitude, and even his cheerfulness, did not forsake him; but fearful inroads were daily making upon his strength. His mind did not lose its activity or its vigour; but his flesh and strength daily wasted so rapidly away, that it was not to be expected that he could survive many renewed attacks of the distress which his disease occasioned. He presided at the Commencement, in September, and performed the ordinary duties on that occasion.

In the six weeks' vacation, his health appeared to amend; and he was able usually to attend church, and to walk out occasionally during the week. On

the 6th of October, he preached all day, and administered the Sacrament in one of the churches in the town; and in the other, in the afternoon of the 13th, before the Executive and the great part of the Legislature of the State, he bore his public solemn testimomy, in the delivery of the cxx1 Sermon of the following Series, against the unhallowed Law authorizing Divorces.

On the 3d of November, the second sabbath in the term, he preached in the morning, and administered the Sacrament. Those who heard him will long recollect that his text was Matt. v, 16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. It was his last Sermon; and the administration of the Lord's Supper, which followed it, his last public act as a minister of Christ.

"Although the paleness of his countenance filled every one with anxiety, it was observed," says Professor Silliman," that he uttered himself with his usual force and animation; and in performing the Communion-service he appeared much softened and affected nor was he sensible of uncommon fatigue in consequence of so long a service.

"He began as usual to hear the senior class, and persevered, although often with extreme inconvenience, in hearing them at intervals for three or four weeks. He often came into the recitation-room languid, and scarcely able to support himself, expressing his intention to ask only a few questions, and then retire; but insensibly kindling with his subject, his physical system seemed temporarily excited by the action of his mind, and he would discourse with his usual eloquence and interest, and even throw a charm of sprightliness and brilliancy over his communications. He met the senior class, for the last time, on