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therefore, that I would read the Bible regularly through, and compare the passages when I had done so, that I might give the Bible fair play. I accordingly set myself to the task, and as I advanced, I was struck with the majesty which spoke, the awfulness of the truths contained in it, and the strong evidence of its divine origin, which increased with every page, so that I finished my inquiry with the fullest satisfaction of the truths as it is in Jesus, and my heart was penetrated with a sense of obligation I had never felt before. I resolved henceforth to take the sacred word for my guide, and to be a faithful follower of the Son of God."

Be sure your Sin will find you out.

No doctrine is more clearly revealed in the Scriptures, than that of a future judgment. Whatever crimes, therefore, are not brought to light in the present world are sure to be disclosed on that solemn and final day. The omniscience of God will bring them to light. No matter in what age of the world they have been perpetrated, nor in what obscure retreat. No matter whether they have existed in the heart, or have been acted out in the lifeGod is perfectly able to disclose them; for, as the poet says:

"Midnight and noon in this agree,

Great God, they're both alike to thee;
Nor death can hide, what God will spy,
And hell lies naked to his eye."

But it is by no means certain that the crimes of mankind will not be disclosed even in the present world. God has so often in his providence brought to light the crimes of men, that we may well say, that no transgressor is safe against developement. How often has it happened, that when the actor has felt himself perfectly secure--when time has passed on, and years have rolled away, and no disclosures have been made-on a sudden. and apparently by accident, (not indeed by accident, but by the overruling hand of God, who has seen, and remembered the crime,) it has come to light. Some apparently trivial circumstance has excited suspicion-suspicion has led to inquiry-and

inquiry has ended in fastening the crime upon the perpe

trator.

While a ball is still unfired, it is within our power and at our disposal. No sooner, however, is the match applied to the gun which contains it, than it is out of our reach, and beyond our control. We can neither recall it, nor stay its ravages. So with sin; while uncommitted we are free to avoid and prevent it; but the act once done, and the guilt is upon us, and the consequences beyond our reach. God can prevent them; but so far as our power extends, those consequences may last, and spread wider and wider, till the judgment day. Nay, the evil antecedent to that day, may be, in comparison with the evil which shall roll up after it, only as the beginning of

sorrows.

To impress the solemn truth, the author subjoins several well authenticated instances, in which Divine Providence has brought to light most unexpectedly, and yet most strikingly, the perpetrators of crimes, when they were imagining themselves, secure against conviction. Ponder upon these disclosures, reader, and may they have the effect to prevent you from sinning against a God, who can fill you with shame here; or, if he suffers your crimes to go unnoticed in the present world, will disclose your sin at his final bar and there pour his indignation upon you.

A little more than fifty years ago, a man by the name of Henry Thomson called at the house of Mr. John Smith, a resident in a retired part of England, and requested a night's lodging. This request was readily granted, and the stranger having taken some refreshment, retired early to bed, requesting that he might be awakened at an early hour the following morning.

When the servant appointed to call him entered the room for that purpose, he was found in his bed, perfectly dead. On examining his body no marks of violence appeared, but his countenance looked extremely natural. The story of his death soon spread among the neighbors, and enquiries were made who he was, and by what means he came by his death.

Nothing certain, however, was known. He had arrived

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on horseback, and was seen passing through a neighboring village, about an hour before he reached the house where he came to his end. And then, as to the manner of his death, so little could be discovered, that the jury which was summoned to investigate the cause, returned a verdict that he died "by a visitation of God." When this was done, the stranger was buried.

Days and weeks passed on, and little further was known. The public mind, however, was not at rest. Suspicions existed that foul means had hastened the stranger's death. Whispers to that effect were expressed, and in the hearts of many, Smith was considered as the guilty man.

The former character of Smith had not been good. He had lived a loose and irregular life, involved himself in debt by his extravagances; and, at length, being suspected of having obtained money wrongfully, he suddenly fled from the town.

More than ten years, however, had now elapsed, since his return, during which he had lived at his present resi dence, apparetly in good circumstances, and with an improved character. His former life, however, was now remembered, and suspicion, after all, fastened upon him.

At the expiration of two months, a gentleman one day stopped in the place for the purpose of making inquiry respecting the stranger, who had been found dead in his bed. He supposed himself to be a brother of the man. The horse and clothes of the unfortunate man still remained, and were immediately known as having belonged to his brother. The body also, itself was taken up, and though considerably changed, bore a strong resemblance to him.

At

He now felt authorized to ascertain, if possible, the manner of his death. He proceeded, therefore, to investigate the circumstances, as well as he was able. length he made known to the magistrate of the district, the information he had collected, and upon the strength of this, Smith was taken to jail to be tried for the wilful murder of Henry Thomson.

The celebrated Lord Mansfield was then on the bench. He charged the grand Jury to be cautious as to finding a bill against the prisoner. The evidence of his guilt, if

guilty, might be small. At a future time it might be greater; more information might be obtained. Should the jury now find a bill against him, and should he be acquitted, he could not be molested again, whatever testimony should rise up against him. The grand jury, however, did find a bill, but it was by a majority of only

one.

At length, the time of trial arrived. Smith was brought into court, and placed at the bar. A great crowd thronged the room, eager and anxious to see the prisoner and to hear the trial. He himself, appeared firm and collected. Nothing in his manner or appearance indicated guilt; and, when the question was put to him by the clerk, "Are you guilty, or not guilty?" he answered with an unfaltering tongue, and with a countenance perfectly unchanged, "Not guilty."

The counsel for the prosecution now opened the case. But it was apparent that he had little expectation of being able to prove the prisoner guilty. He stated to the jury, that the case was involved in great mystery. The prisoner was a man of respectability and of property. The deceased was supposed to have had about him, gold and jewels to a large amount; but the prisoner was not so much in want of funds, as to be under a strong temptation to commit murder. And, besides, if the prisoner had obtained the property he had effectually concealed it. Not a trace of it could be found.

Why, then, was the prisoner suspected? He would state the grounds of suspicion. The deceased, Henry Thomson, was a jeweller, residing in London, and a man of wealth. He had left London for the purpose of meeting a trader at Hull, of whom he expected to make a large purchase. That trader he did meet; and after the departure of the latter, Mr. Thomson was known to have had in his possession jewels and gold to a large amount.

With these in his possession, he left Hull on his return to London. It was not known that he stopped until he reached Smiths, and the next morning was discovered dead in his bed. He died, then, in Smith's house, and if it could be shown that he came to his death in an unnatural way, it would increase the suspicion, that the prisoner was in some way connected with the murder.

Now, then, continued the counsel, it will be proved be yond the possibility of a doubt, that the deceased died by poison. But what was that poison? It was a recent discovery of some German chemsits, said to be produced from distilling the seed of the wild cherry tree. It was a poison more powerful than any other known, and deprived of life so immediately, as to leave no marks of suffering, and no contortions of the features.

But, then, the question was, by whom was it adminis

One circumstance, a small one indeed, and ye upon it might hang a horrid tale, was that the stopper of a small bottle of a very singular description had been found in the prisoner's house. That stopper had been examined, and said by medical men to have belonged to a German vial, containing the kind of poison, which he had described. But, then, was that poison administered by Smith, or at his instigation? Who were the prisoner's family? It consisted only of himself, a housekeeper, and one man servant. The man servant slept in an out-house adjoining the stable, and did so on the night of Thomson's death. The prisoner slept at one end of the house, the housekeeper at the other, and the deceased had been put in a room adjoining the housekeeper's.

It would be proved, that about three hours after midnight, on the night of Thomson's death, a light had been seen, moving about the house, and that a figure holding the light was seen to go from the room, in which the prisoner slept to the housekeeper's room; the light now disappeared for a minute, when two persons were seen, but whether they went into Thomson's room, the witness could not swear; but shortly after they were observed passing quite through the entry to Smith's room, into which they entered, and in about five minutes the ligh was extinguished.

The witness would further state; that, after the person had returned with the light into Smith's room, and before it was extinguished, he had twice perceived some dark object to intervene between the light and the window, almost as large as the surface of the window itself, and which he described by saying, it appeared as if a door had been placed before the light. Now, in Smith's room, there was nothing which could account for this appear

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