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the viol, nor revels any longer at the banquet of wine. Inſtead of ſumptuous tables, and delicious treats, the poor voluptuary is himſelf a feaſt for fattened inſects; the reptile riots in his fleſh; "the worm feeds ſweetly on him".—Here alſo beauty fails: bright beauty drops her luſtre here. O! how there roſes fade, and her lilies languiſh, in this bleak ſoil! How does the grand leveller pour contempt upon the charmer of our hearts! How turn to deformity, what captivated the world before!
Should one of theſe ghaſtly figures burſt from his confinement, and ſtart up in frightful deformity, before me;—ſhould the haggard ſkeleton lift a clattering hand, and point it full in my view;—ſhould it open the ſtiffened jaws, and, with a hoarſe tremendous murmur, break this profound ſilence;—ſhould it accoſt me, as Samuel's apparition addreſſed the trembling king,—"The Lord ſhall deliver thee alſo into the hands of death; yet a little while, and thou ſhalt be with me"—The ſolemn warning, delivered in ſo ſtriking a manner; muſt ſtrongly impreſs my imagination; a meſſage in thunder would ſcarce ſink deeper.—Yet there is abundantly greater reaſon to be alarmed, by that expreſs declaration of the Lord God Almighty, "Thou ſhalt ſurely die"—Well then, ſince ſentence is paſſed, ſince I am a condemned
