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SACRED POETRY.

ON MUNGO PARK'S FINDING A TUFT OF GREEN MOSS IN THE AFRICAN DESERT.

"WHATEVER way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss in fructification irresistibly caught my eye. I mention this to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation, for though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves and capsule, without admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image? Surely not. I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward assured that relief was at hand, and I was not disappointed."

THE sun had reached his mid-day height,
And poured down floods of burning light
On Afric's barren land;

No cloudy veil obscured the sky,
And the hot breeze that struggled by
Was filled with glowing sand.

No mighty rock upreared its head
To bless the wanderer with its shade
In all the weary plain;
No palm-trees with refreshing green
To glad the dazzled eye were seen,
But one wide sandy main.
Dauntless and daring was the mind
That left all home-born joys behind

These deserts to explore-
To trace the mighty Niger's course,
And find it bubbling from its source

In wilds untrod before.

And ah! shall we less daring shew,
Who nobler ends and motives know
Than ever heroes dream-
Who seek to lead the savage mind,
The precious fountain-head to find

Whence flows salvation's stream?
Let peril, nakedness and sword,
Hot barren lands, and despot's word
Our burning zeal oppose-
Yet, Martyn-like, we'll lift the voice,
Bidding the wilderness rejoice

And blossom as the rose.

Sad, faint and weary on the sand
Our traveller sat him down; his hand
Covered his burning head,
Above, beneath, behind, around-
No resting for the eye he found;
All nature seemed as dead.

One tiny tuft of raoss alone,
Mantling with t'eshest green a stone,
Fixed his delighted gaze-
Through bursting tears of joy he smiled,
Anc while he raised the tendril wild

His lips o'erflowed with praise.

Oh, shall not He who keeps thee green
Here in the waste, unknown, unseen-
Thy fellow exile save?

He who commands the dew to feed
Thy gentle flower, can surely lead
Me from a scorching grave!"

The heaven-sent plant new hope inspired-
New courage all his bosom fired,

And bore him safe along;

Till with the evening's cooling shade
He slept within the verdant glade,
Lulled by the negro's song.

Thus, we in this world's wilderness,
Where sin and sorrow-guilt-distress
Seem undisturbed to reign-

May faint because we feel alone,
With none to strike our favourite tone
And join our homeward strain.

Yet, often in the bleakest wild,

Of this dark world, some heaven-born child,
Expectant of the skies,

Amid the low and vicious crowd,
Or in the dwellings of the proud
Meets our admiring eyes.

From gazing on the tender flower,
We lift our eye to him whose power
Hath all its beauty given;

Who, in this atmosphere of death,
Hath given it life, and form, and breath,
And brilliant hues of heaven.
Our drooping faith, revived by sight,
Anew her pinion plumes for flight,

New hope distends the breast,
With joy we mount on eagle wing,
With bolder tone our anthem sing,
And seek the pilgrim's rest.

Larbert.

R. M'CH

Love of the Bible.-During the time that Dr Kennicott was employed in preparing his Polyglot Bible, he was accustomed to hear his wife read to him in their daily airings, those different portions to which his immediate attention was called. When preparing for their ride, the day after this great work was completed, upon her asking him what book she should now take, "Oh," exclaimed he, "let us begin the Bible."

Clear views of a Greenlander.-The following is from a discourse of a Greenland convert :-" How deep our fall must have been, we may learn from the sufferings of Jesus! When God created the visible world, he used only one word,'' Let it be,' and it was; but our redemption could not be accomplished by a word; to restore us poor creatures He had to descend from heaven-live and suffer as man-tremble, and groan, and sweat bloody sweat; and at last expire in torments,-that He might redeem us by His blood. Can any one therefore, refrain from loving our Saviour, and devoting soul and body to His service?"

Wilberforce, the son of the late Rev. Legh Richmond, two hours and a-half before his death, went to bed and laid his head upon the pillow. His father said, "So he giveth his beloved rest." Wilberforce replied, "Yes, and sweet indeed is the rest which Christ gives." He never awoke from this sleep.

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THE

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found where so much division and disorder manifestly reigned. When we hear the uncharitable and narrow-minded severely pronouncing that a true Christian is one of the rarest things in the world, we lay no stress on a judgment tinged with malevolence, and dictated by a morbid propensity to detraction. None but a Christian can judge fairly of other men's Christianity, and none will judge more leniently than he.

A YOUNG child of a reflecting turn of mind, in
which the seeds of piety had been early sown,
when first taught to read the doctrines and pre-
cepts of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, be-
sought her parents, with constant importunity, to
tell her where Christians lived-saying, she long-be
ed to go to their country and dwell there, to see
their divine religion, and live like them. And when
her parents smiled at her simplicity, and told her
she saw Christians every day, and had always liv-
ed among them, it seemed to her a mockery; for
those she had hitherto known, appeared, she
thought, to have nothing in their manner of liv-
ing that resembled the disciples of Jesus, and
therefore could not be the people she desired to
see. This might seem a childish fancy, which a
wider range of observation, with a ripened under-
standing and an experienced eye, would in a little
while chase away. It were well, however, if a
want of conformity to Christ among nominal
Christians were but the fancy of inexperienced
youth, and not a fact of such frequent occurrence
that sober reason is compelled to own it; and
struck with the palpable incongruity, and unable
to reconcile ordinary practice with the holy prin-
ciples of the Christian faith-reason demands other
examples, and asks, like the untutored child, Where
shall Christians be found?

We are aware that many things, besides the pure love of Christianity, may induce men to complain that Christians are rare. There is a faultfinding generation, who spy nothing but spots and wrinkles in the fairest features of Christian character; to whom censure is a mental repast, and who take as much pleasure in the discovery and publication of some new fault or inconsistency in men eminent for piety, as is felt by those who explore the starry firmament, on bringing to light some new celestial phenomenon. Had such censorious observers beheld the church at Corinth, as described by its apostolic founder, instead of owning that the Lord" had much people there," they would have rather denied that any such could be

Others complain that few true Christians are to met with, because they entertain a mistaken and preposterous idea of what Christianity actually is. In certain minds of an imaginative texture, there floats a vague and indefinite conception of the religion of Christ, to which are assigned qualities the most romantic and superhuman. It is something too exalted to walk on earth,-too angelical to tenant a corporeal frame,-too mystic and refined to mingle with life's ordinary conditions, or associate with the homeliness of common sense. It deals in abstractions which it seldom sees even partially embodied in human character, and admits nothing to be Christian, but what is shiningly and superlatively so. Initial steps, gradual progress, imperfect holiness, it disclaims, and calls for absolute attainments, and full conformity to its own arbitrary model. It will not own grace in the stalk nor in the blade; shew it the full ear, otherwise your plant is fit only to be cast into the fire. These persons look down from their transcendent altitude upon the Christian world beneath, and men of highest Christian stature appear in their eyes scarcely distinguishable, while the ordinary sort are not recognised at all.

There are more Christians, however, in the world than the uncharitable either wish or know, and far more than the advocates of an ideal Christianity will ever allow. Is the baptised world then full of Christians? To ascertain this matter, let us lay aside the report both of the romantic and the uncharitable, and go forth for information with an unerring standard in our hands. What standard is more authentic than that exhibited by our Lord in his Sermon on the Mount? With it, therefore, we repair to yonder bright and brilliant assembly, gaily disporting themselves in all moods of mirth that youthful fancy, devising pastime, can suggest. They were all baptised, and, no doubt,

formally in the temple-let us follow them into their dwellings apart, and learn from their spontaneous and habitual order of life what evidence of Christianity they afford. And, first of all, it is reasonable to inquire what they themselves think of their state. And here, to our surprise, we find scarce one among twenty that freely and frankly recognises his own Christianity, without reserves and hesitations, that indicate a mind unsatisfied, and most unassured as to its own belief. It would seem as if an "almost Christianity" were to many an ultimate attainment-and nothing is more rare among the generality of modern Christians, than a full, sincere, and hearty recognition of the truth, as personally accepted, and consciously held, and ingenuously professed. How is it that the most careless stand to the profession of Christianity, and cry, we are Christians"-while men of much apparent

call themselves Christians. Let us apply our Lord's Beatitudes to this gamesome throng, and see which of these flitting figures abides the test? which of them on its application stands confest a serious Christian? They will be serious on Sabbath we are told. Of that we are not sure; but we know they are not serious now. We turn away grieved at the result; reflecting on the vanity of seeking Christians under a mask of folly. But yonder is a congregated populace, whose shouts and vehemence indicate some vast tumult of anger or transport of joy. These, too, were baptised Christians. Shall we apply our Beatitudes here? Shall we begin to say," Blessed are the poor in spirit-blessed are the meek-blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness?"no man hears us our blessings are drowned in the wild uproar-our test is disregarded-and we ourselves hardly escape the trial of some Shibbo-worth, of much profession in other respects, and leth, with which we are fiercely menaced. We hasten from an arena of strife, clamour, and agitation, well befitting the ancient worshippers of "the image that fell down from Jupiter," but most unsuitable to the character of those we seek. We are bid tarry, and look more narrowly at the scene, and we may chance to discover even ministers there. It may be so, we answer; but it is Christians we seek; and if Christians, compelled by a sense of duty, should shew themselves there; their duty fulfilled-they will not swell the public passion, but retire in peace.

goodly practice, when we come to ask them if they are altogether Christians—if they are believers, and have faith-seldom own a settled persuasion as to their state? No doubt, it is sin and deep ignorance that prompts the careless class so boldly to aver their Christianity; but we cannot discern the virtue of disavowal, or of a partial qualified recognition, on the part of others, from whose manner of life a direct acknowledgment of interest in Christ might have been fairly anticipated. In fine, were we to estimate Christians by the rule of recognising their own Christianity, we should be led to think that true Christians are less numerous among us than we had fondly believed. Not that we unchristianise all who decline to recognise their own faith-for many upright souls belong to this number, who clearly shew to others what themselves profess they but doubtfully see. But we think a greater decision in this respect would obviate many anxieties that disquiet the mind, and impede the practice of duties, as well as hinder the expansion of grace.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE REV. THOMAS BOSTON. Author of the " Fourfold State," &c. Or all the names that adorn the annals of piety in our land, there is not, perhaps, one which is more uniformly associated in the minds of our countrymen with the religion of the heart, than is that of Thomas Boston. In his life written by himself, he tells us, that he was born in the town of Dunse, on the 17th of March 1676, that he was the youngest of seven children, and having been born in his mother's old age, he was, there

Some one now chides us for seeking Christians at scenes and seasons such as we have hitherto described. "Go to the Sabbath concourse, and number, if you can, the followers of Christ." Thither, accordingly, we repair, and at first sight conclude, that now the Christian world is found. This conclusion is somewhat shaken on a nearer view, sometimes by the fewness of the worshippers in the midst of a teeming population, and sometimes by a lamentable want of attention, reverence, and devotion, conspicuous in the greater part of the Sabbath auditory. Notwithstanding these occasional abatements, however, we freely admit, that were the estimate to be taken in churches onlyone would easily infer that our land is full of Christians. But, in our judgment, he is not a Christian in church who is not one out of it; and on this principle we reckon pulpit-Christians, and pew-Christians, of little account, unless every dayconduct bear the application of Christian rule, and unless the stream of life that runs through the six other days of the week, be traceable to the sanc-fore, sometimes called "God's-send." Trifling as this tuary as its source, and plainly taste of its origin. We do not reckon God's husbandry fruitless, nor suppose that the field of the world is unproductive of better things, because tares grow rankly, and first attract the passer by to notice them. True Christians, taken collectively, are doubtless a numerous host; only we seldom find them hitherto in masses of imposing magnitude-and therefore, leaving the myriads of church-going Christians with no attempt to measure the length and breadth of their Christianity while assembled

last circumstance may appear, we have no doubt that it of his life. A parent's views with respect to his chilhad considerable effect in regulating the future current dren are often influenced by very trivial matters; and there is little doubt that Boston at a future period of his life, often in casting himself upon the care of Providence, reflected that he was in a manner the child of Providence.

We know but little of the character of his parents, His father, indeed, suffered imprisonment as a nonconboth of them appear however to have served the Lord formist, which shews this much at least, that he looked upon religion as a matter of vital importance.

Thomas Boston was very early sent to school, and before the age of eight he could read the Bible and understand the historical parts of it, in which, even at that period of his life, he found the greatest pleasure. But though even then he might have called the Word of God his delight, and though in his conduct man, who looks only upon the outward appearance, could not find much to blame, it was not however till the twelfth year of his age, that by means of the preaching of Henry Erskine, the father of Ralph and Ebenezer, he became savingly alive to his lost state by nature, and to the glorious provision made for fallen man in the Gospel. We thus see that while his heart was yet tender, having sought the Lord, according to the promise he found him; and as the natural fruit of early piety, he experienced much of the pleasure of religion, while his youthful breast glowed with love to God, as his Father and his Friend.

From this period to the time of his death, it may almost be said literally, that religion was the business of his life. In the every day history even of the vast majority of the people of God, their worldly concerns occupy a prominent place, while their religion is too often comparatively lost sight of. But the life of Thomas Boston shews him to have been a man who sought "first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and who made all other objects completely subordinate to this his great, his supreme desire. Not that it is to be supposed he became a recluse, one who was constantly shut up in his closet, and shunned converse with men, that he might hold uninterrupted fellowship with God. No. It is from this that the contemplation of his character is of use to men in general,—whilst he lived by the faith of an unseen God, he diligently exerted himself in the discharge of the duties which God had assigned him in the world. Having attended the grammar school of Dunse between four and five years, and obtained a good knowledge of Latin and a slight acquaintance with Greek, it was his desire to enter the University, but the want of funds prevented his doing so during two years. This circumstance almost made him lose heart, and he would have given up his views of the ministry and chosen a trade, had not his father encouraged him. "Meanwhile," says he, "the difficulties I had to grapple with in the way of my purpose, put me to cry to the Lord in prayer on that head, that he himself would find means to bring it about. And I well remember the place where I was wont to address the throne of grace for it, having several times thereafter had occasion to mind it, in giving thanks for that he had heard the prayers there put up for that effect."

increasing his acquaintance with human nature. And though that period was not without its troubles, it seems to have been peculiarly endeared to his recollection by the comforts wherewith God visited his soul. "There," says he, "I had some Bethels where I met with God, the remembrance whereof hath many times been useful and refreshful to me, particularly a place under a tree in Kennet Orchard, where, January 21, 1697, I vowed the vow and anointed the pillar ;" and immediately after he adds, "I did there solemnly covenant with God under a tree, with two great boughs coming from the root, a little north-west from a kind of ditch in the eastern part of the Orchard." This particular description of his Bethel, strongly reminds us of the deep impression which their place of worship had made upon the hearts of the captive Israelites when they exclaimed, -"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'

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After he was licensed to preach the Gospel, he continued during two years and three months to do duty in various places as a probationer. Being well aware of the deadness of mankind at large to any right sense of divine things, he tells us that he commenced " rousing strain; and would fain have set fire to the devil's nest." But Jesus Christ soon became his favourite theme. He did not, however, at this period, fully understand the Gospel, especially the doctrine of the perfect freeness of the grace of God, so that he often found himself much perplexed in studying his sermons upon this subject, and would almost have given it up entirely had he not been convinced, that whatever other topics may be entered upon by a minister of Christ, the thought of giving up this main topic whilst addressing condemned sinners could only be from the devil. And it must not be imagined, that he found this subject to be less rousing than others, for setting it forward as he did in opposition to all self-sufficiency, there could certainly be no more rousing theme. As a proof that this was indeed the effect of his preaching, it may be mentioned, that one evening after he had thus been endeavouring to drive men out of themselves to Christ, he was told, that "he had put not only those that never knew anything of God, in the mist, but even terrified such as had known him." At no time of his life had he any one subject on which he perpetually insisted to the exclusion of every other. He was an experimental Christian, so that even at the commencement of his ministry his own experience often led him to the choice of such subjects as would be most useful, and some of his discourses were written with a more special reference to his own besetting sins. Dealing thus faithfully with himself, it need not be said that notwithstanding the hardness of the human heart, his labour was not without effect; insomuch that he tells us there was a report

His father being enabled, after two years, to pay the expenses of his education, he entered the University of Edinburgh in the year 1691, and continued there three sessions. Having thus obtained a complete knowledge of the various branches of literature then taught, he commenced the study of Theology under" he had more wit than his own;"-the hearing of Professor George Campbell, in the beginning of the year 1695.

At the close of the session he made application for the office of parish schoolmaster at Penpont, but being unsuccessful he accepted the same office in the neighbouring parish of Glencairn. Not long after he had entered upon his duties, however, becoming disgusted with the conduct of the minister, in whose house he resided, he soon resigned the charge. The next situation he obtained, was in the family of Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce of Kennet, as tutor to Andrew Fletcher of Aberlady, a son of his lady by a former marriage. Having remained a twelvemonth in this situation, he returned to his native place, and obtained license from the Presbytery of Chirnside on the 15th of June 1697. His residence in the family of Bruce of Kennet, he speaks of as highly useful to him, especially in wearing off his natural bashfulness, and in

which greatly encouraged him, as shewing that the character of the Word of God, as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, was discovered in his preaching.

While he was a probationer, he resided for some time within the bounds of the Presbytery of Stirling, in the house of Thomas Brown of Barhill, to whose sister-in-law, Catherine Brown, he was afterwards married. When there, he officiated in the neighbouring parishes, but the principal scene of his ministerial labours was the Merse, his native district, where he was settled in the parish of Simprin, 21st September 1699.

The parish of Simprin, which is now united to that of Swinton, was one of the smallest in the country. The population amounted to about ninety individuals, all of them inhabiting the same village The stipend was small in proportion, amounting to five chalders of

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Mr Boston removed to Etterick on the 17th of June 1707. "It was an extremely disunited parish, and one where there was much profession of religion, and many Bibles, but very little religious knowledge, and still less of the power of godliness." There were many things to trouble him here, but the two principal he states to have been, their great attention to public affairs, compared with their attention to personal religion; and their desertion of his ministry. As examples of the former, he says, "The sabbath sermons were coldly enough received, but remarkable was the pricking up of ears when any thing relative to the public came on, which was a wounding observe to me." And as for the forsaking of his ministry, he complains that many would, on his entrance, leave the houses which he came to visit ministerially, and even those who occasionally attended his ministrations, thought nothing of staying away several sabbaths successively. Besides, there existed much strife and wickedness, and even profanity amongst the people. All these things led him to feel that “he had just come from home, and was, in a manner, beginning his ministry." But, by dealing faithfully with offenders, and insisting in the pulpit on the need men have of Christ, these latter transgressions were much restrained. The tendency to forsake his ministry was greatly lessened about nine years after his coming to Etterick, on his refusing the parish of Closeburn, and thereby making manifest to his people his sincere desire for their welfare. And as for their overweening attention to public matters, in preference to their own eternal welfare, this of course decreased, as their sense of higher interests increased.

grain and 80 merks Scots money. The circumstances | ions were decidedly in favour of the Marrow," he reof the parish would have been to most men an occasion published the work, appending to it a copious collection of indoience, but Boston drew from them an argument of valuable Notes, explanatory of the text. for being more diligent than his brethren. The difficulties attendant on collecting a scattered flock are many, and the condition in which they come together in bad weather, is a sufficient reason for abridging the services; but the people of Simprin stayed close at hand, and could be collected without exposure to the elements, in the worst of weather, and this was accounted by Mr Boston a sufficient reason for being more abundant in his public labours than the neighbouring clergy. And as for his private labours, the same circumstance which enabled his people so readily to come to him, cut off all excuses for not going to them. During the time he remained at Simprin, he preached twice on the Sabbath; and in the evening, at his first coming, he had a catechetical discourse; but afterwards becoming more completely aware of the ignorance of his people, instead of lecturing on the catechism, he catechised his flock. The morning of Monday, he usually devoted to extraordinary devotions in private; afterwards he visited the sick, that is to say, those who were not dangerously ill, for he confined his visitation of them to no particular times. As an instance of the assiduous attention which he paid to the sick, we may adduce the following brief extract in his own words:" Being with E. P. the night before her death, I had no satisfaction in converse with her; which affected me exceedingly. Thereupon I came in to my closet and set myself to wrestle with God on her account, and then went to her again, and was much comforted in her; so that my spirit was more then ordinarily elevated." On the evening of Tuesday, there was a meeting for prayer and Christian fellowship. Wednesday appears to have been the day particularly set apart for the visitation of his parish, The different conditions of the parishes of Etterick though he sometimes devoted part of Tuesday and and of Simprin, gave rise to a different routine of duFriday, and even Saturday, to a similar purpose. On ties. We have already seen the plan he pursued at the evening of Thursday, he had a week-day sermon, Simprin. Whilst at Etterick, he had but one diet on and Friday and Saturday were more especially allotted the Sabbath, and so long as his health permitted, he by him to Sabbath preparation. So that it would catechised his people once in the year, and visited them appear he found little time for idleness, although his ministerially twice besides, and on these occasions he parish was so remarkably small both in extent and in used to impress upon them the practical use of what population. Indeed his labour, or rather the confine- they heard from the pulpit, and pray with them for a ment and want of exercise which attended it, was more blessing upon themselves and their families. than his constitution could endure, and had he not, when his health began to give way, been removed to Etterick, a parish requiring more bodily labour, there is little doubt he would have sunk under his work.

It was while at Simprin that he married Catherine Brown, a woman of a kindred spirit with himself, who, he tells us, was a "" crown to him in his public station and appearances, but whose weak state of health often pierced his heart, and kept him much on his knees before the Disposer of health and sickness."

It was here also, in the year 1702, whilst treating of the ordinary method of the Spirit with sinners in conversion, that, sensible of the delicacy of the subject, and desiring to say nothing which was not well digested, he commenced writing out his sermons at full length, a custom which was then uncommon, though now nearly universal; and although he felt this afterwards, in his own language, "to be a yoke, he never could throw it off." It may be remembered also, that it was whilst at Simprin he first met with the celebrated work entitled the " Marrow of Modern Divinity." It is generally known, that upon the printing of a new edition of this work, with a preface by Mr Hog of Carnock, it was, at the instigation of Mr James Haddow, Principal of the College of St. Andrews, taken into consideration by the General Assembly, and, after having been examined in committee, was condemned in the year 1720, chiefly on account of its Antinomian tendency. In the controversy to which this book gave risc, Boston took a lively interest; and as his own opin

Whilst at Simprin he was in the habit of having the sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered twice in the year; but for the first two years after he came to Etterick, it was not administered at all. From that period it was administered annually, except during the years 1717, 1726, and 1729, when family affliction prevented its celebration. Perhaps no better idea of the effect of his labours could be given, than is afforded by his own statements respecting the first and the last dispensations of that ordinance whilst he was minister of Etterick. "At the first," he says, "there were 57 communicants of our own parish ;" and as the statement respecting the last not only affords a striking contrast to this, but presents an interesting view of the manners of the people, we may transcribe it at length. "The tokens distributed to communicants were 777; the collection on the three days £77: 13: 4d. Scots. There were about nine score strangers in Midgehop; four score of them, William Blaik, husband of Isabel Biggar, entertained, having before baken for them half a boll of meal for bread-bought 4s. 10d. Sterling worth of wheat bread, and killed three lambs, &c.-made 30 beds. And I believe their neighbour, Robert Biggar, Isabel's brother, would be much the same. This I record once for all, for a swatch of the hospitality of the parish; for God hath given this people a largeness of heart, to communicate of their substance on these, and other occasions also. And my heart has long been on that occasion particularly concerned for a blessing on their substance, with such a natural emotion as if they

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