46 OUR HYMNS :
tional," the fourth being slightly altered. The original piece is entitled, " The Covenant and Confidence of Faith," and there is the following note at the end : " This covenant, my dear wife, in her former sickness, subscribed with a cheerful will."
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.
" Then I shall end my sad complaints,
And weary, sinful days ; And join with the triumphant saints, Who sing Jehovah s praise."
And the last words of the hymn declare his strength and his
hope
"But tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall .be with Him."
Baxter s " Poetical Fragments" consist of poetical accounts of his religious experiences, and are entitled, "The Complaint," " The Resolution," &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, " London, at the door of eternity, Richard Baxter, August 7, 1081." The second edition appeared in 1G89, and there was a new edition in 1822. The work bears the quaint title, " Poetical Fragments. Heart Imployment with God and itself. The concordant discord of a broken-healed heart." Baxter had a plan of making certain words in his lines "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 " John Mason" is best known as that of the author of "A Treatise on Self Knowledge," and of other popular works.
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