Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 4.djvu/448

444 and applied himself seriously to the great question. His studies being honest, ended in conviction. He found that religion was true, and what he had learned, he endeavoured to teach (1747), by "Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul;" a treatise to which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer. This book his father had the happiness of seeing, and expressed his pleasure in a letter which deserves to be inserted.

"I have read your religious treatise with infinite pleasure and satisfaction. The style is fine and clear, the arguments close, cogent, and irresistible. May the King of kings, whose glorious cause you have so well defended, reward your pious labours, and grant that I may be found worthy, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to be an eye witness of that happiness which, I don't doubt he will bountifully bestow upon you. In the mean time I shall never cease glorifying God, for having endowed you with such useful talents, and giving me so good a son. "Your affectionate father, "." Rh