He began to write — uncertainly at first, reading and care-
fully revising as lie wrote, from day to day ; and then, as
he became more interested in his work, he devoted himself
with entire ardor to the fulfilment of the mission he had
assigned himself. For weeks and months the work pro-
gressed. During the day he wrote, and dm-ing the night
he studied the Scriptures and prayed ; and when at last the
huge mass of manuscript lay before him, he found that he
had written a book on theology. Little did he dream, as
he turned over its leaves, interlining a sentence here, and
correcting a word there, that his own fate and that of the
plantation were involved in its pages !

The changes that began in Mr. Moxon, when he first be-
came unsettled in his religious belief, went on during ten
years with great rapidity. Even his occasional fits of
strength and independence became, at first, widely inter-
mittent, and then ceased altogether, until at last he had
degenerated into a weak-minded, melancholy, fearfiil, and
humble man. He moved about the streets quietly, looking
hurriedly around at the slightest noise, as if he anticipated
the appearance of some danger. His little ones had become
ten years older, but they were puny and stunted children,
and still the sources of severe trials. They still had their
strange fits ; and their pitiable case had been commended
to God, at the public request of their father, by all the
members of the church. They were talked about, and at
every new attack fi-om which they suffered, the probabili-
ties touching the authorship of their torments were tho-
roughly canvassed, until half the people in the plantation
had been mentioned as objects of suspicion.
