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 46 OUR HYMNS :

tional,&quot; the fourth being slightly altered. The original piece is entitled, &quot; The Covenant and Confidence of Faith,&quot; and there is the following note at the end : &quot; This covenant, my dear wife, in her former sickness, subscribed with a cheerful will.&quot;

The piece is evidently the composition of an afflicted, per secuted man, uncertain of life, yet leaning on God, and hoping for heaven. This is seen especially in verse v.

&quot; Then I shall end my sad complaints,

And weary, sinful days ; And join with the triumphant saints, Who sing Jehovah s praise.&quot;

And the last words of the hymn declare his strength and his

hope

&quot;But tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall .be with Him.&quot;

Baxter s &quot; Poetical Fragments&quot; consist of poetical accounts of his religious experiences, and are entitled, &quot;The Complaint,&quot; &quot; The Resolution,&quot; &c. They were sent forth on the death of his wife, after nineteen years marriage, and contain some refer ences to her. They are dated, &quot; London, at the door of eternity, Richard Baxter, August 7, 1081.&quot; The second edition appeared in 1G89, and there was a new edition in 1822. The work bears the quaint title, &quot; Poetical Fragments. Heart Imployment with God and itself. The concordant discord of a broken-healed heart.&quot; Baxter had a plan of making certain words in his lines &quot;capable of being omitted or retained, so that the hymn might be sung as long or common metre, and he claimed to be the inventor of that plan.

��JOHN MASON, M.A. DIED 1G94.

THE name &quot; John Mason&quot; is best known as that of the author of &quot;A Treatise on Self Knowledge,&quot; and of other popular works.

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