Page:The Black Prince (John Naimbanna).djvu/7

( 7 ) occasions, to know what line of conduct was most agreeable to the word of God: when he could determine that point, he would not hesitate about resolving to pursue it.

The reader will have a better view of the character of this Black Prince from the following stories of him, the truth of which is well established.

His father had seen so much drunkenness among the English slave traders on the coast of Africa, that he concluded drunkenness was very common in England, and in order to prevent his son's falling into this abominable practice, he laid a command on him, (stating at the same time the ground of his fears) that when he came to England, he should not be prevailed upon to drink spirits of any kind, nor to drink more than a glass or two of wine at a meal.

When young Naimbanna found how strongly obedience to parents is enjoined in the Bible, he regarded this command of his father as sacred, nor was he ever known to violate it.

Soon after he came to London, he was taken to see St. Paul's, the grandeur of which it was thought would astonish him, but to the surprise of the gentlemen who went with him, on getting to the upper part of the building, terror seemed to swallow him up every other feeling; he made the utmost haste to descend nor did he stop till he found himself landed in the church-yard, when in a very earnest manner he thanked God for having spared him. When asked for the reason of this strange conduct he said, that on looking down from the top of St. Paul's he was so struck with the nearness of death and judgment, that he lost sight of every