Excerpt from The Parent's Monitor, and Teacher's Assistant, Vol. 1: Consisting of Biographical Sketches, and Observations on Religious Education and Personal Piety When I look back upon my past life, I see nothing in it but what is sinful; and it seems almost incredible to me, that a dying man should ever speak of himself as a harmless and innocent creature though I have heard that this is some times the case. If such a case is really possible, it must surely be one of the most discouraging that can fall under the notice of a pious minis ter. I know myself to be a sinner: and I have not been, even to you, what you had reason to expect. Till this moment, be preserved his characteristic serenity but now his tears flowed apace; his bursting sobs could be no longer suppressed; and his feeble frame was shaken with the tenderest emotions. This part of the scene was too distressing to be either endured or described; and it was happy that his mother could so far prevail, by her affectionate entrea ties, as to assuage the anguish of our hearts. In a short time, he wiped away the last tears he was ever to shed and, assuming his former composure, he thus resumed his discourse. My complaint has been of long continuance, but I have reason to be thankful that it has not subjected me to acute pain; for, under a state of bodily torture, it must be difficult to preserve the mind from distraction. I owe it to the goodness of God, that I have been permitted the free use of my thoughts through the whole of my sickness; and I rejoice especially in this, that they have been directed to subjects of ines timable worth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.