end is answered. For this purpose he has made a simple story, in many of its parts founded on truth, the medium through which high and momentous points of doctrine are brought under familiar discussion, with a view of gaining, more particularly, the attention of those who would fly from works of a professedly serious and theological nature; and he indulges a hope, that such an attempt to beguile his readers into a consideration of matters intimately connected both with their present temporal, and future eternal, welfare, may be the means of leading them on to the prosecution of a deeper and more enlarged enquiry into these most important subjects. 3 THE SOLDIER. Ir fell to my lot to sustain the misfortune of losing my parents at an early stage of my life, and though at that period I was little sensible. of the calamity, every succeeding year brought with it a poignancy which increased until I arrived at maturity, when, as I began to feel my independence, it forsook me, and finally left upon my mind a sensation of indifference towards myself, and a disinclination to sympathize with the feelings of others. In comparing my situation and circumstances with those around me, I found a void that I could not fill. There was a chasm caused by the breaking up of filial and parental affection that nothing, now connected with me, could close; and the happiness in which I saw others placed with regard to their relatives, and the strong interest which each of these seemed to feel in the concerns of the others, created a disappointment that rankled in my heart, and at length produced the evil passion of envy, ultimately terminating in misanthropy. At school, I believe, though not looked upon as a good-natured boy, I was never considered a dull one; indeed, I took delight in acquiring a mental superiority over those, who, in other respects appeared to be more happy than myself, and I had the satisfaction of frequently hearing my talents envied, though not so often as my unsocial and gloomy spirit contemned. In this manner I passed my boyhood, neither loving, nor beloved, for I had nothing in my disposition to excite affection, and there were none whose kindness to me prompted even a feeling of regard. A promise had been long given by an old friend of my father, who was a man in power, that if my inclination led me to the church, I should be provided with a living. This induced my easy guardians to grant an allowance from my small patrimony for the purpose, and I was placed in the University, where my unsocial habits induced me to become diligent, that I might have a pretence for avoiding society, and that I might better inspire those with respect who were inclined to treat my manners with contempt; and many were the instances in which I made myself dreaded by the scorner, and to be courted even by the wise. Here, however, after a residence of two years, |