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Memoirs of William Miller - Sylvester Bliss

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ecoming deportment <strong>of</strong> their representative under<br />

such a serious scandal, and by the doubtful course<br />

he had taken in reference to them.<br />

There are but two particulars on which the<br />

writer has ever heard a hint that the subject <strong>of</strong> this<br />

memoir became in the least corrupted in his habits,<br />

during his connection with the army. On one <strong>of</strong><br />

these particulars, he has written as follows:<br />

“One day in May, 1816, I detected myself in<br />

the act <strong>of</strong> taking the name <strong>of</strong> God in vain -- a habit<br />

I had acquired in the service; and I was instantly<br />

convicted <strong>of</strong> its sinfulness.”<br />

The other vice <strong>of</strong> his army life was that <strong>of</strong><br />

gambling, particularly, if not exclusively, in the use<br />

<strong>of</strong> cards. To what extent he indulged the habit,<br />

cannot be stated; but, on returning home, at the<br />

close <strong>of</strong> the war, he abandoned the practice totally<br />

and forever. Facts might be presented to show that<br />

Mr. <strong>Miller</strong>’s stern regard for the principles <strong>of</strong><br />

personal virtue, and especially his abhorrence <strong>of</strong><br />

the slightest violation <strong>of</strong> the laws <strong>of</strong> chastity,<br />

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