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 214 OUR HYMNS:

or receive the approbation of the Christian world, they are such as my heart indited, and they speak the things which I have believed concerning my God and King. They all point to one object, and lead to one end to a crucified Jesus ! &quot;

��ROBERT ROBINSON. 17351790.

IT may excite surprise to find the eccentric and talented Robinson, of Cambridge, among the hymn-writers, because he is so little known as a poet, but it will be found that he wrote at least two hymns that bear marks of his genius and power, and that have become favourites.

He was born at Swaffham, in Norfolk, but in his eighth year his parents removed to Seaming, in the same county. A few years after, Robinson s mother was left a widow, to struggle with poverty. Young Robinson was very promising as a boy, and there was an intention of training him for the Established Church, but the requisite means could not be obtained. At the age of fourteen, ho was apprenticed to a hair-dresser in London, who often had to find fault with him for giving more attention to his books than to his business.

At the age of seventeen, he went on one occasion on Sunday with some companions to spend a day as a holiday. Their first sport was to render a fortune-telling old woman intoxicated, that they might amuse themselves with her predictions. While in this state, she predicted that Robinson would see his children and grandchildren. This prospect struck his active mind, and he de termined to store his memory with what might interest his family in future years. To make a beginning, he determined to hear the celebrated George Whitefield that night. In a letter written to Whitefield six years after, he says, &quot;I confess, it was to spy the nnki dness of the land I came to pity the folly of the preacher, the infatuation of the hearers, and to abhor the doctrine.&quot; He

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