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must be hoed, the weeds cleared away, and the earth drawn round the stems, but not so high as to cover any of the leaves. This operation will require to be repeated several times during their growth. Sticking must not be neglected after the peas are six inches high, for it not only supports them, but affords some shelter. A matting also, or any light covering can be much better placed to defend the young plants in very severe weather, when the sticking affords something for it to rest on without injury to the leaves. The best wood for pea-sticking is the brush or fan-shaped branches of the hazel, and if the ends are charred before they are thrust into the ground, they are less liable to decay; so that if stored away in a dry state they will last for three or four seasons.

Beans may also be regularly planted from the beginning of this month to the end of June, once every three weeks, weather permitting. A moderately rich and dry soil is best adapted for early crops, lest the seed should decay later in the spring a moist soil will be desirable. The early Mazagan bean is a prolific bearer, and may be planted, as may also the long pods, about the first and last weeks of this month. The situation should be tolerably open, but still it is desirable to get some protection from violent winds, as the plant is sure to suffer if its leaves are much injured. The seed may be sown in rows, from two to three feet asunder, either by the dibble or by drilling. In the early stage of its growth the crop will require dry litter, or some other covering, which may be prevented from touching the plants by small branches or hoops. But this is only desirable in very severe weather, and must be removed on the recurrence of a milder temperature; otherwise the plants will become weak and spindling.

In the last week of the month the hardier kinds of lettuce may be sown in a frame, or in a warm spot. A light rich soil is needed for lettuces, as they never thrive or attain their full size in a poor and tenacious one. The sowing is always performed broadcast, moderately thin, and raked in even and light, care being taken that the bed is trampled upon as little as possible.

In the second and fourth week of the month, depending as in other cases on the weather, the short top, and early dwarf radishes may also be sown. The soil best suited for them is a mouldy loam, which should be dug a full spade deep, and well broken. Manure should not be put on at the time of sowing, as it is apt to make the roots fibrous. Warm and sheltered situations must of course be chosen, unless the advantage of frames can be procured. The seed may be sown either broadcast, or in drills; if the former, the beds should be four or five feet wide, divided by alleys a foot in width, the earth from which may be thrown up to raise the beds.

Towards the close of the month also a small portion of the early York and sugar-loaf cabbage seed may be sown, either under a frame, or in a warm border. This will come first in succession after those which were sown

in the August of the preceding year. Repeated small sowings of the different varieties of cabbage may be made at intervals of a month, from this time all through the coming season. The seed is sown broadcast, and raked in evenly about a quarter of an inch deep, and the same precautions may be employed as a defence against the frost, as in the other cases mentioned. free and open situation is required for cabbage, but this applies to its after culture: the soil of the seed-beds should be moist, and not too rich.

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These are the main operations of the month; but not always practicable from the state of the weather. The earthing up the stems of brocoli, savoys, and celery may also be attended to.

A HUMAN being, in the age of innocence, is always worthy of respect.--SILVIO PELLICO.

CURIOUS CHESS PROBLEMS.

VI.

AMONG the curious conditions to which a skilful Chessplayer has sometimes submitted when opposed to a player of inferior strength, is the following: At the beginning of the game, a ring is put over a certain pawn, and the first player undertakes to preserve this pawn throughout the game, and finally to give checkmate with it. As this pawn is not allowed to queen, the player is cautious how he advances it towards the adversary's royal line. If it is captured, the first player of course loses the game; hence the efforts of the second player are generally directed to the capture of this pawn, and, regardless of his own game, and the preservation of his pieces, he rushes heedlessly to the attack, and thus often allows the first player to bring about a position in which the mate can be forced in a given number of moves. The following is such a position, in which White moving first is to give checkmate with the pawn at the fourth move.

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CONSIDER if that mind which is in your body does order and dispose it every way it pleases; why should not that wisdom which is in the universe, be able to order all things therein also, as seemeth best to it? And if your eye can discern things several miles distant from it, why should it be thought impossible for the eye of God to behold all things at once? Lastly, if your soul can mind things both here and in Egypt, and in Sicily; why may not the great mind or wisdom of God be able to take care of all things, in all places?-SOCRATES.

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HUMAN institutions are not like the palace of the architect, framed according to fixed rules, capable of erection in any situation, and certain in the effect to be produced. They resemble rather the trees of the forest, slow of growth, tardy of development, readily susceptible of destruction. produce, centuries must again elapse before, in the same An instant will destroy what it has taken centuries to situation, a similar production can be formed. plantation, difficult in the vegetable, is impossible in the moral, world; the seedling must be nourished in the soil, inured to the climate, hardened by the winds. Many examples are to be found of institutions being suddenly imposed upon a people; none of those so formed having any duration. To be adapted to their character and habits, they must have grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength.-ALISON's History of Europe.

JOHN W. PARKER PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, LONDON

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THE period in which "Merchant Taylors' School" was founded was a very remarkable one in English history. Amidst general and wide-spread ignorance, party-feeling was at its height. The religion of the State had been changed twice within three years, and amidst the distractions which such a state of things inevitably occasioned, many persons in private life disguised their real sentiments for the sake of the means of subsistence, while some of those who occupied public offices, either retired from them until they could ascertain the wisest course to be pursued, or suffered themselves to be ejected from them rather than make a sacrifice of their principles. The light which dawned on the country during the short reign of Edwar1 the Sixth was obscured

VOL. XXIV.

on the accession of his bigoted sister, Queen Mary, and only began steadily to diffuse its beams during the sway of Elizabeth. It is not to be wondered at that amidst these important changes, education should have been greatly neglected, and the pursuit of literature absorbed in more pressing studies. Indeed many of those best qualified to teach, had left the country to escape persecution.

Accordingly we find that in 1563 (two years after the organization of Merchant Taylors' School), there were only two divines of Oxford, capable of preaching before the university. And in 1570, Horne, Bishop of Winchester enjoined to his minor canons tasks which seem almost beneath the capacity of an ordinary school-boy.

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The low state of public education may also be inferred from the fact that when Archbishop Parker founded three scholarships at Cambridge, in 1567, provision was made that they were to be supplied by the most considerable schools in Kent and Norfolk, who were to be "the best and aptest scholars, well instructed in the grammar, and (if it may be) such as can make a verse."

The state of the lower orders at this period is well described by the historian of the school in the following terms:-"As for the bulk of the people, they were but just emerging from a state of barbarism, the dupes of astrologers and alchemists. While the former pretended to foretell future events from the situation and various aspects of the heavenly bodies, and succeeded in deceiving numbers by their fallacious art, the latter affected to change the substance of metals, or extract medicines from them that should not only ease the most inveterate disorders, but prolong the life of man to the age of Methuselah. And therefore under these circumstances, it is no wonder that the ignorant paid attention to every superstitious tale or fabulous story, and led an uneasy life, always disturbed in mind, and dreading what might happen, firmly believing that there existed a philosophical tincture that could arm them against disease and death, but at the same time constrained to own and lament that it had not yet been discovered, or applied to any useful purpose. Chiromancy and every cabalistic delusion had its votaries. Though the populace would, in a body, attack those who lay under the odium of dealing with the devil, and commit the greatest outrages on their persons and property, they would individually have recourse to them for advice in difficulties-for information as to things lost or stolen-for the choice of fit days on which to commence any journey or undertaking,-and for an insight into those contingencies which a benevolent Providence has thought fit to wrap in obscurity."

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learned, in good and cleane Latin literature, and also in Greeke, if such may be gotten."

This master was not to consider his office perpetual, but was to submit to an examination, as to the manner in which his duties were performed, and failing in these, he was to depart, after reasonable warning. He was also not to absent himself from the school more than twenty working days in the year, without urgent cause. With respect to the number of his pupils we find the following statutes.

"He shall nor have, nor teach, at one tyme within the foresaid schoole, nor ells where, above the number of two hundred and fyfty schollers. And he shall not refuse to take, receave, and teach in the said schoole freely, one hundreth schollers, parcel of the said number of two hnndred and fyfty schollers, being poore men's sonnes, and comyng thether to be taught, (yf such be meete and apt to learne,) without anything to be paid by the parints of the said one hundreth poore children for their instruction and learnyng.

"And he shall also receave and teach in the said schoole fyfty schollers more, being an other parcell of the said number of two hundreth and fyfty schollers comyng thether to be taught, and being found apte and meete to learne, as aforesaid, and being poore men's children, so that their poore parents, or other their friends, will pay, and give to the High Maister for their instruction and learninge, after two shillings and two-pence by the quarter, for a peece of them*.

"And he shall also receave and teach in the said schoole, the said number of two hundreth and fyfty schollers one other hundreth more of schollers, being the residue of com yng thether to be taught, &c., as aforesaid, being riche or meane men's children, so that their parents, or other friends will give for every of these hundreth schollers five shillings by the quarter for their instruction and learning"

Such was the condition of society at the period when the Merchant Taylors' Company conceived the laudable Then follow rules relative to the chief usher or second design of founding a grammar school for "the better master, who is required to be "some sober, discreete education and bringing up of children in good manners man, verteous in lyving and well-learned," and if he be and literature." Before we speak of the school, it in "literature, discretion and honest lief," such as is be necessary to say a few words respecting the Worship-required of him, then on the vacancy of the situation of ful Company by which it was founded. This ancient high maister this chief usher is to be chosen. guild or fraternity was undoubtedly in former times composed principally of persons engaged in manufacturing pavilions for our kings, (hence their arms, a pavilion between two royal mantles), robes of state for the nobles, and tents, &c., for the soldiers. But it must not be supposed that they were mere makers of ordinary garments, or that the company at present consists of persons who make clothes. On the contrary, the names of kings, princes, nobles, and prelates stand enrolled as members of the fraternity, and in the court of the company, according to Mr. Wilson, not one tailor by trade is to be found, while in the livery, composed of three hundred persons, and open to all trades and professions, only ten tailors are to be found. The Merchant Taylors' Company have been from age to age the almoners of the benevolent, and in so doing have acted with uprightness and honour.

The school founded by this company was organized on the 24th September, 1561, on which day the statutes were framed, and a school-master chosen. chosen for the erection of the school-house was part of The site the manor of "The Rose," in the parish of St. Laurence Pountney, a mansion which had successively belonged to the Duke of Buckingham, the Marquis of Exeter, and the Earls of Sussex. Mr. Richard Hills, a leading member of the fraternity, generously contriouted the sum of five hundred pounds towards the purchase of this site.

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The statutes provide for the due governance of the school, and ordain that there shall be first a Maester" to direct, in doctrine, learning, and teaching, High all the school. This master is to be chosen by "the Right Worshipful the Maister, Wardens, and Assistants, of the said Company of Marchaunt Taylors, with such advice and counsell of welle learned men as they can gett; a man in body whole, sober, discreete, honest, verteous, and

If either the high maister or the chief or underushers fell sick "of any curable disease or axes (agues),” the sick person was to be "tollerated," and have his full wages, and if both master and ushers were sick at the same time the school was to be closed for a season. There were to be two under-ushers, "good, honest, and verteous learned young men." They were to be strictly under control of the chief master, teaching “as to him might seem convenient, and none otherwise." Lodgings were provided in the establishment, for all the teachers engaged in the school, but the under-ushers were "not to have their roomes by writing or by seale, only so long as the High Maister shall like their demeanour in noe wise, but at liberty according to their deserving, and and teaching."

Neither the chief master nor the subordinates were to hold any benefice with cure, occupation, office, or with their duties at the school. service, nor any other faculty which might interfere

The statute relating to the admission of children to said schoole children of all nations and countreyes indifthe school is as follows:-" There shalbe taught in the ferentlyt, comyng thither to be taught, to the number afore devised and appointed. But first see that they can of two hundredth and fyfty, in manner and forme as is the catechisme in English or Latyn, and that every of the said Schollers can read perfectly, and write competently, or scholler at his first admyssion, once for ever, shall pay else lett them not be admytted in no wise.-And that every twelve pence for writing in of his name, and the same shal be given to such one, as shal be appointed by the said High the Court of the Schoole cleane, and see the Street nigh to Maister and the Surveyors to sweepe the schoole, and keepe

Report of the Committee it was agreed that, owing to the alteration in the *This and the following statute were altered in 1805, when on the value of money since the institution of the school, it was expedient that the Quarterage (exclusive of the breaking-up-money) should be raised to ten shillings.

+ Without partiality

the Schoole-gate cleansed of all manner of fylth and uncleane things, out of good order, or extraordynarily there thrown."

The children were to go to school at seven in the morning both winter and summer, and tarry till eleven, and return at one in the afternoon and depart at five. Thrice in the day, morning, noon, and evening, they were to repeat the prayers set up in a tablet in the school-room. They were never to use tallow-candles in the school, but wax only; nor were they to eat and drink in the school, nor to indulge in cock-fighting, tennis-play, nor "riding about of victoring," nor disputing. They were to have no leave to play, except once in the week, and that only on a holiday.

If a child, after admission into this school, went to any other to learn there, or was absent from the school for the space of three weeks at one time, without any reasonable cause, he was refused re-admission.

The master, warden, and assistants were required with the advice of learned men to examine every year whether the master and ushers had done their duties in the school, and how the children had profited under them, as well as what reformations and amendments might be required.

Alterations have been from time to time introduced into these statutes, but they are not considerable.

The boys do not now go to school until eight in the morning, from the first of November to the first of March. The morning business still concludes at eleven; but in the afternoon the school does not open till two, and closes for the day at four. The appointment of under-teachers, at first the business of the chief master, is now held by the company. An order of the court dated 16th December, 1731, excludes the children of Jews from the privileges of the school. The entrancemoney, stated above to be twelve pence, has been raised from time to time, until in 1805 it was fixed at twenty shillings. The statute restricting the pupils from leave to play, except once in the week, was superseded by order of the court, and that which related to absence from school, was modified thus. "No scholar who has been absent from school more than three months, shall, unless in case of sickness, be received into the same without consent of the master and wardens for the time being." The statutes being thus ordained by the company their next step was to choose proper officers for the establishment, and to arrange the scholastic duties of the several classes. These we shall notice in another article.

Br a peculiar prerogative, not only each individual is making daily advances in the sciences, and may make advances in morality (which is the science, by way of eminence, of living well and being happy), but all mankind together, are making a continual progress, in proportion as the universe grows older; so that the whole human race, during the course of so many ages, may be considered as one man, who never ceases to live and learn.-PASCAL.

In entering upon any scientific pursuit, one of the student's first endeavours ought to be to prepare his mind for the reception of truth, by dismissing, or at least loosening his hold on, all such crude and hastily adopted notions respecting the objects and relations he is about to examine, as may tend to embarrass or mislead him; and to strengthen himself by something of an effort and a resolve, for the nprejudiced admission of any conclusion, which shall ppear to be supported by careful observation and logical rgument, even should it prove of a nature adverse to otions he may have previously formed for himself, or taken up, without examination, on the credit of others. Such an effort is, in fact, a commencement of that intellectual discipline, which forms one of the most important ends of all science. It is the first movement of approach towards that state of mental purity, which alone can fit us for a full and steady perception of moral beauty, as well as physical adaptation. It is the "euphrasy and rue" with which we must purge our sight, before we can receive and Contemplate, as they are, the lineaments of truth.--SIR JOHN HERSCHEL.

ON HOSPITALS. I.

THE word HOSPITAL, or Spital, had formerly a more extended signification than we usually attach to it at the present day. It is derived from the Latin word hospes, or host, which signified both a person lodged and entertained by another, and he who afforded the accommodation. In ancient times, when houses for the entertainment of travellers did not exist, services of this kind conferred most important obligations, which were often invested with something of an almost sacred character. The earliest hospitals then were established, not only for administering hospitality to the needy sick, for the education of poor children, and affording asylums for the aged and decayed, but also for the reception of the traveller. Thus, the hospital, at Spital, in Yorkshire, was founded by one Acehorne, in the reign of Athelstan, for the protection of travellers from the wolves and other wild animals, then abounding in those parts. Even in the present day, we do not confine the term to institutions for lodging and treating the sick; for we say Christ's Hospital*, when speaking of that establishment for education, St. Catherine's Hospitalt, when alluding to the asylum for the aged, in the Regent's Park, (although institutions of this latter description are usually termed Alms-houses,) and Chelseat and Greenwichs Hospitals for aged soldiers and seamen.

The institution of hospitals is one of the great practi cal results of Christianity. We find no account of any such establishments in the writings of the Greeks, the Romans, or the Jews. In Athens, those who suffered in the public service were fed in the Prytaneum; the sick were also sometimes carried to the temples of Esculapius; but in no instance were there any institutions analogous to hospitals. Nay, in those countries where the metempsychosis is an article of belief, hospitals for the lower animals have been founded, although none have been devoted to the relief of human creatures. The difference of the treatment of the suffering poor in modern and ancient times is a necessary result of the doctrines of Christianity. The great bulk of the lowest orders were in the ancient states in a state of slavery, and considered as beings of an almost inferior nature, whose treatment in sickness was abandoned to the caprice or interests of their proprietors, and, therefore, often cruelly neglected; Christianity taught an universal love for all mankind, and insisted upon the individual importance of each of its followers, and thus inculcated the relief of his miseries, while it elevated him in his social position, and cheered and comforted him by its promises.

Long before any building was expressly erected for the reception of the suffering, portions of the churches, or of the bishop's residences, were set apart for this purpose, and the houses of the early Fathers of the Church often had, especially during severe visitations, all the appearances of hospitals. Mezerai states that during an epidemic of St. Anthony's fire, the house of the bishop of Metz was filled with the sick. The earliest hospitals were always placed close to the cathedrals, or bishops' residences that of Strasburg was contiguous to the bishop's kitchens. St. Chrysostom exhorted his hearers to establish domestic hospitals, by devoting a room in each house to the reception of the necessitous.

It is to the fourth century that the erection of hospitals, properly so called, must be referred. Fabiola, a pious lady of Rome, founded one there at that period, and a large one was built by St. Basil at Cæsarea. Shortly after St. Chrysostom erected several in Constantinople, and various others soon made their appearance in the different countries of Christendom. During the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, these institutions were very numerous in Italy, Spain, and France.

See Saturday Magazine, Vol. XVII., p. 193, 201, 225, 241. + Vol. II., p. 131. Vol. XXI., p. 11. Vol. XXI., p. 65.

In the eighth century there were five at Rome. Pope |
Stephen II. much enlarged that of the Holy Ghost,
founded by Pope Sixtus III., which acquired a great
reputation for its size and excellent management.
These hospitals were designated, in the barbarous Latin
and Greek of the period, differently, according to their
destinations, as the Brephotrophium, for suckling chil-
dren; Nosocomium, for the sick; Xenodochium, for
strangers, &c They were considered as appertaining
to the religious edifices to which they were usually
attached, and hence were called in France Hôtels-Dieu,
or Maisons-Dieu, Houses of God.

We must not imagine that the accommodation they afforded resembled that bestowed by the hospitals of the present day: it was, however, proportionate to the degree of civilization then existing; and, thus it was considered as no hardship by the poor, that while they were sheltered from the cold, and supplied with food, they should be kept in close unventilated rooms, and that many should be obliged to occupy the same bed, however dissimilar their diseases-not always enjoying the luxury even of being separated from each other by a wooden plank.

Sometimes churches, used also as places of sepulture, were converted upon an emergency into receptacles for the sick. All the monasteries relieved the sick and poor, daily, and were used as houses of entertainment by many, even of the nobility and gentry, who, on their travels, dined at one, slept at another, and so on. Those hospitals especially destined for the reception of the weary pilgrim, were usually built upon the roadside.

The management of these charitable institutions was placed entirely in the hands of the clergy. Indeed, in those times the priests were the only persons sufficiently instructed to undertake the duties of attending to the sick; and thus William the Conqueror, during an illness he suffered under, was treated by a bishop and an abbot. The superintendence of the hospitals was one of the functions of the bishops and chapters of cathedrals, and a fourth part of the revenues of the church, together with the donations and bequests of the humane, furnished the fund whence the expenses were defrayed. The immediate services were performed by priests (generally of the order of St. Augustine), who devoted themselves especially to this task, and who were frequently united into religious orders, under the name of Hospitallers, of whom many congregations under different denominations existed, and a remnant of which still exists on the Continent. Many of such societies were founded at Marseilles, in order to be in readiness to receive the pilgrims returning from the Holy Land. These associations were very numerous and active, and form redeeming points in the features of the Middle Ages. After the eleventh century, many women de voted themselves to like offices, under the name of the Grey Sisters, or Sisters of Charity, and whose active assistance is still so beneficially rendered in the French Hospitals. Some of the Hospitallers were military orders, as the Knights of St. Lazarus, and the wellknown Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

There is every reason to believe that the revenue devoted to the sick and needy was faithfully administered in the early ages of the Church; but, as the bequests made by the pious and generous became more frequent, and the manners and morals of the priesthood more relaxed, abuse after abuse crept into the management, and were often most severely commented on by the superiors and the well-disposed of the Church. The priests, in many cases, converted the greater part of the funds into benefices for their own emolument, regardless of the original objects of the charities. These abuses, commencing about the eleventh century, *See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 126; Vol. XVII., pp. 82, 250; Vol. XXI., pp. 33, 73, 97, 113, 137.

reached so great an height, that, at the Council of Vienne, 1311, it was determined that the adminis tration of these charities should be taken out of the hands of the clergy, and confided to responsible laymen, acting under the sanction of an oath. Although this decree was effectual in some instances, in others it remained almost a dead letter, until the Council of Trent, at its seventh sitting, 1563, determined that it should be carried completely into effect. The ordonnance of Blois, decreed by Henry the Third of France, in 1576, commanded that the officers of the hospitals should be changed every three years, and that they should be chosen from citizens of a respectable standing, and of good business habits. In our own country, the Reformation destroyed the system of mysterious and often abused management adopted by the ecclesiastics, and, after an interval of distress and confusion incident upon the great changes caused by that event, the hospitals were chiefly confided, as on the Continent, to the citizens of their localities, and have since been conducted upon a much more satisfactory footing.

ROSES IN THE EAST.

THE greatest luxury I enjoyed during this sultry season, was a visit to the English factory at Cambay, in Guzerat, where the Resident had one room, dark and cool, and set apart for the porous earthen vessels containing the water for drinking; which were disposed with as much care and regularity as the milk-pans in an English dairy. On the surface of each water-jar were scattered a few leaves of the Damascus rose; not enough to communicate the flavour of the flower, but to convey an idea of fragrant coolness when entering this delightful receptacle: to me a draught of this water was far more grateful than the choicest wines of Schiraz, and the delicious sensations from the sudden transition of heat, altogether indescribable,

Chardin mentions that the Persians use rose-water for

cleansing the leathern bottles which contain the water for drinking; they cause them to imbibe the rose-water, to Orientals upon all occasions. The nosegays of roses and take off the taste of the skin: roses are the delight of the other flowers, gathered on the cool of the morning, and brought in with a basket of fruit and vegetables to the English breakfast-table in India, are very pleasing and refreshing: so are the Japan roses, oleanders, and other richly-coloured flowers, which ornament the ewer presented to each guest for ablution after dinner.-FORBES Oriental Memoirs.

DR. LINDSAY, an American physician, remarks that the European woman has a much more florid and healthful complexion, a much more vigorous person, and is capable of enduring more fatigue and exposure, and of performing much harder labour, than the American female. The The causes of this deterioration are to be found in their latter is not only less robust, but more liable to ill health. personal and domestic habits. They rarely walk abroad for fresh air or exercise. In general they live and sleep in ill-aired apartments. Their household duties press constantly on their minds, and they do not give sufficient effect to the maxim, that cheerful amusement and variety of occupation are greatly conducive to health. Add to these a diet of pies, pastry, and animal food consumed in quantities too abundant for a sedentary life, and a neglect of baths and ablutions, and their slender forms, and pale, sallow, waxen complexions, as well as their liability to premature decay, are shown to arise from existing and precentible

causes.

LET us take heed we do not sometimes call that, zeal for God and his Gospel, which is nothing else but our own tempestuous and stormy passion. True zeal is a sweet, heavenly, and gentle flame, which maketh us active for God, but always within the sphere of love. It never calls for fire from heaven to consume those that differ a little lightning (which the philosophers speak of) that melts the from us in their apprehensions. It is like that kind of sword within, but singeth not the scabbard: it strives to save the soul, but hurteth not the body,-CUDWORTH.

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