Having secured the good
things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the next.
He thought with regret on the bargain he had made with his black
friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions.
He
became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent church-goer. He prayed
loudly and strenuously as if heaven were to be taken by force of lungs.
Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during the week,
by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians who had been
modestly and steadfastly travelling Zion-ward, were struck with
self-reproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in their
career by this new-made convert. Tom was as rigid in religious, as in
money matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his neighbors,
and seemed to think every sin entered up to their account became a
credit on his own side of the page. He even talked of the expediency of
reviving the persecution of quakers and anabaptists. In a word, Tom's
zeal became as notorious as his riches.
Still, in spite of all this strenuous attention to forms, Tom had a
Lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due. That he
might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a
small Bible in his coat pocket. He had also a great folio Bible on his
counting-house desk, and would frequently be found reading it when
people called on business; on such occasions he would lay his green
spectacles on the book, to mark the place, while he turned round to
drive some usurious bargain.
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