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tardiness of a great increase in a short space of time. As it is in nature so in grace: it is not the torrent of rain, as it comes pouring from the clouds, deluging the earth with its rushing waters, that invigorates, revives, strengthens, and vivifies vegetation, but rather the gentle shower or the soft falling dew that accomplishes this end, and to these agents in nature we more hopefully look for blooming fields, in their freshness and beauty so cheering to the eye and grateful to the heart. We are more than ever confirmed in this view of the subject, when we contemplate the ability, the zeal, the deep piety of the men engaged in preaching the Gospel to this people—their names alone convey the idea that each one was a host in himself—eminent for learning, remarkable for piety, and "not slothful" in Christian labors, is an attestation of the fact that the work, though slow at first, was still gradual and sure in its progress, as we shall see hereafter.
I must here remind the reader of what I asserted in the commencement of this history, that this African Church was the first and only Presbyterian one in Philadelphia, and in the United States. There were other African Churches, as I have stated, but not of this denomination. Being a new enterprise or effort in the face of older and established organizations, our wonder if any should cease, when I say that the people took considerable time to weigh well its claims before they gave in their adhesion to it: they could not be blamed for this caution, when we reflect that it is wise and commendable to weigh well in every point of view every proposition made as a matter of faith and practice, and in the light of reason and revelation pass judgment upon it before we decide to make it the object of our faith—the rule of our life. When this is done, then,
