In the possession of wealth and all those temporal blessings, for which wiser and better men have to toil through a long life, and seldom obtain.

The world was before me, and death far distant, in my thoughts.

But now, the world is receding, and death is very near.

You start! Have not you discovered that truth before?
Soon, very soon, nothing will remain for me, but that blessed hope which I now prize as the only true riches.

I am happy in the prospect which I know awaits me, and consider those only miserable to whom God is a stranger, and the love of the Saviour unknown.' "His words affected me strangely, and yet I felt that they were distasteful.