er
the mighty hand of God; resist high thoughts; let every imagination
be brought into obedience to the Son of God. If you set a value on
finery look into that grave; behold the moldering body of my Betsy,
who now says to _Corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm,
thou art my mother, and my sister_. Look to the bloody and brainless
head of her husband. O, Mr. Worthy, how does Providence mock at
human foresight! I have been greedy of gain, that the son of Mr.
Squeeze might be a great man; he is dead; while the child of Timothy
Incle, whom I had doomed to beggary, will be my heir. Mr. Worthy, to
you I commit this boy's education; teach him to value his immortal
soul more, and the good things of this life less than I have done.
Bring him up in the fear of God, and in the government of his
passions. Teach him that unbelief and pride are at the root of all
sin. I have found this to my cost. I trusted in my riches; I said,
'To-morrow shall be as this day and more abundant.' I did not
remember that _for all these things God would bring me to judgment_.
I am not sure that I believe in a judgment: I am not sure that I
believe in a God."

Bragwell at length grew better, but he never recovered his spirits.
The conduct of Mrs. Incle through life was that of an humble
Christian. She sold all her sister's finery which her father had
given her, and gave the money to the poor; saying, "It did not
become one who professed penitence to return to the gayeties of
life." Mr. Bragwell did not oppose this; not that he had fully
acquired a just notion of the self-denying spirit of religion, but
having a head not very clear at making distinctions, he was never
able after the sight of Squeeze's mangled body, to think of gayety
and grandeur, without thinking at the same time of a pistol and
bloody brains; for, as his first introduction into gay life had
presented him with all these objects at one view, he never afterward
could separate them in his mind. He even kept his fine beaufet of
plate always shut; because it brought to his mind the grand
unpaid-for sideboard that he had seen laid out for Mr. Squeeze's
supper, to the remembrance of which he could not help tacking the
idea of debts, prisons, executions, and self-murder.

Mr. Bragwell's heart had been so buried in the love of the world,
and evil habits had become so rooted in him, that the progress he
made in religion was very slow; yet he earnestly prayed and
struggled against sin