416 FEAR OF DEATH. it will remind him that he walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain ; it will remind him of laying up treasures where thieves cannot enter, nor rust corrode. The habit of praying against the fear of death would check the pride ofyouth- ful beauty, by reminding her how soon it must say to the worm, Thou art my father, and to corruption, Thou art my mother and my sister. The man of genius, he who thought that of making many books there would be no end ; who, in his zeal to write, had neglected to pray; who had thought little of any immortality but that which was to be conferred by the applause of dying creatures like himself; who, in the 'vanity of possessing talents, had for- gotten that he must one day account for the application of them : if happily he should be brought to see the evil of his own heart, to feel the wants of his own soul, how intense will be his re- pentance, that he had loved the praise of
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