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voice of the angel which called unto Abraham

Stay now thine hand!" Instead of searching for my razor, I took the monitory volume in my hand, fell upon my knees, and thanked God for the greatest mercy that could ever be shown to a human being! I was overwhelmed with gratitude and astonishment; and admired it as a divine interposition, which no being could believe with such conviction as I myself, who experienced it.' God works the greatest events of our lives by means of apparently trivial causes.

A Lady with whom I became acquainted related the following tale: Amid many other wonderful circumstances of an eventful life, she gave her hand, contrary to her inclination, with a considerable fortune, to a professional gentleman. Disappointment and misery were the consequence. After years of ill usage, he at length crowned his baseness by taking her maid-servant for his mistress, and they both united under the same roof to harass and distress her and her daughter. Wearied out with the insults she met with in her own house, she resolved upon self-destruction, and for that horrid purpose procured a dose of arsenic. She at length poured it out in a glass, and, after many a mental struggle, resolved to take it. But she thought she would take one more look at her lovely little daugh

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ter, who was playing around her, before she perpetrated the deed which must deprive her of her only proper guardian. She took her little hand and kissed her innocent cheek, which she bedewed with the tears of a heart-broken mother. The prattling innocent rose in an agony, as if inspired by Providence, and wrung her little hands, exclaiming, 'Pray, mother, don't take that nasty physic!-throw it awaythrow it away-it will do you harm.' 'Do thyself no harm-do thyself no harm!' sounded in her ears as from the voice of the Apostle Paul calling to the gaoler, who had drawn his sword to kill himself. Yes,' said she, my heavenly Father, it is thy voice speaking through my child!' and, with these words, she threw the deadly potion into the fire. Then, clasping the little angel in her arms, she exclaimed, Thou hast been my preserver, and, if it please God, I will live to be thine! I'll live to guard thy innocency, to nurse thy opening virtues, to inspire thee with love to my God and my Saviour, and to guide thy steps in the ways of piety. Thou shalt not want a mother's love-a mother's care-a mother's instruction! Thou shalt be thy mother's comfort in her sorrow, and God preserve thee to be her stay in her tottering years, my friend and companion through this vale of tears; and may I hail thee at last coming to join

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me as my companion in the realms of bliss! My God shall be thy God. May no trials, no troubles, divide us on earth; may I be thy guardian angel when removed from this scene of conflict; and mayest thou open thine eyes upon me when thou closest them in death!" I have seen that prayer partly fulfilled; she has been her defender, her comforter, her companion through changing scenes of almost unprecedented ill usage, conspiracy, and distress, for nearly twenty years, in the desolate state of a widowed wife. I hope the latter part of the prayer will be fulfilled in the final experience of them both in this world and in that which is to come!

93

CHAP. IV.

PREDISPOSING CAUSES OF SUICIDE, AND ANTIDOTES SUGGESTED.

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To cure the mind's strong bias, spleen,
Some recommend the bowling-green;
Some hilly walks; all exercise;
Fling but a stone, the giant dies.'

Sin a Poison to the Soul, like the Upas Tree-Guilt paves the Way to the Crime-Suicide Cowardice, illustrated in the Case of an Officer preserved from Suicide by a poor Man in Hyde Park-Reason and Philosophy Antidotes, exemplified in Epictetus-Tobacco an Antidote-Dr. Johnson's Opinion-Vicious Indulgence a moral Suicide.-Mental Maladies-LunacyLunatic Asylums considered-Wise and tender Modes of Treatment recommended from the Experience and Advice of Dr. Reid-Imprisonments under the Plea of Lunacy-Two late touching and afflictive Instances-Nervous Affections removed by Exercise-Remarkable Example of a StudentDr. Johnson's Opinion of Woman-Paley's, of his ToilsGibbon's-Bishop Horne's-Ennui Parent of Melancholy— Use of Toil, Expectation, and Activity-A lucky Tailor fleeing from Ennui back to his Shopboard-Cowper-Zimmerman's Advice-Beattie's.

So fatal is the subject of suicide, and yet so prevalent is the crime, that it is of the highest import

ance to suggest arguments and motives, against this horrid atrocity, and to bring forward examples which may deter us from the commission of so foul a deed. I would, therefore, without further delay, advance a few especial considerations against this horrid crime, and illustrate and confirm them with great authorities and remarkable examples:

"Could mortal vision look within

The hidden heart of secret sin,

Each throe that bids the conscience bleed,

Each keen remorse for evil deed,
Would then its awful moral read-
Would, as a guardian angel, plead,
And, on perdition's brink, might save
From hopeless doom and timeless grave.
Such heart is like the tree of death,
Where nothing near has healthful breath;
Where nothing lives its branch beneath;
Whose deadly dew is scatter'd round
On ev'ry herb that strews the ground;
And e'en the 'venom'd soil receives
The poison of its weeping leaves.'
'Like that foul Upas' baleful shade
Is the dark soul to sin betray'd;
And, all undying, rankles there
The burning torment of despair.
Nor may the victim hope for rest
When earthly terrors fly:

Though honour's ermine bind his crest,
Where the fiend's signet hath impress'd
Its changeless features on the breast,
All piteous must he die!'

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