reason for keeping from church. What an example did he set to those, who, though in perfect health, instead of making the sabbath a day for obtaining instruction, and begging God's blessing on the week, profane it, by making it a day of pastime, and often a day of drinking, and other wickedness!-He was constant also at the sacrament; which he always esteemed a part of his duty.

His
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He was confined to his house about six weeks before he died. His illness was a mere decay of nature. legs swelled; and his constitution was broken up. now consented to have somebody live in his cottage with him, to wait upon him.

He kept his bed about three days; and was sensible to the last. He was in considerable pain: but he bore it with great resignation; and with that firmness, and manliness, with which he had supported all the hard duties of a persevering life of industry. He died on the fifteenth of May, 1791; and desired that the fifty-first psalm might be sung before his corpse, as he was carried through the church-yard to his grave.

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On his death, his property amounted to about four hundred pounds. That a man, in the lowest station, should, with a constant attention to money, in the course of a long life, raise that sum, or a greater, is not wonderful but that a man, in the lowest station, should leave such a sum behind him, after having discharged all the duties of life with uprightness, and propriety, is such an example of an independent spirit, and of the force of industry and frugality, as deserves to be recorded for the benefit of others.

The following inscription stands over his grave in Boldre church-yard.

Here

Rests from his labour
William Baker;

Whose industry, and frugality,
Whose honesty, and piety,
Were long an example
To this parish.

He was born in 1710;

And died in 1791.

The above account was written by the minister of the parish who, on the death of William Baker, preached a sermon, in which he strongly recommended to his parishioners, to imitate the excellent conduct and character of their deceased neighbour.

SECTION 6.

The pious shepherd.

DAVID SAUNDERS of West Lavington, in Wiltshire, was born in the year 1717. When he was young, he enjoyed the privilege (which was then not so common as it now is) of being taught to read; and particularly to read the Bible.

He was employed more than thirty years, as the shepherd on one farm; and was remarkable for his prudence, industry, and piety. His occupation afforded many materials for reflection; and gave him much leisure for it. Besides, he conversed daily with his Bible, and always found matter there for his meditation; while every object which he beheld, the fields, the sheep, the firmament, as well as his own employment, often brought to his recollection, a psalm, a prophecy, a parable, or some other portion of Scripture.

He was remarkably pious in his conversation. "This poor, honest shepherd," said Mr. Stedman, a neighbouring clergyman, who was well acquainted with him, "had acquired a surprising knowledge of the Scriptures. He used to keep his Bible in the thatch of his hut, on Salisbury plain; by the reading of which, and by prayer, he seemed to keep up a constant communion with God.The first person I met, as I was riding into the village of Cheverel, to settle in that curacy, was this shepherd. He told me, in a conversation which I had with him some time after, that taking the stranger whom he had met, to be the minister expected there, he could not help repeating to himself these words from St. Paul's epistle to the Romans; (x. 15;) 'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!""

David Saunders had an excellent wife, and a numerous offspring. He had sixteen children baptized at the parish church; and twelve of them, at one time, were "like olive branches round about his table." It is not to be supposed that a poor shepherd, with such a family, could be without his difficulties, especially as his wife suffered much from sickness: but she was a pious, notable woman; and all the children were brought up in early habits of industry. When trouble used to prey upon her spirits, her constant method was to repair to the Bible; and there, as her daughter has since informed the writer of this account, she always found something to comfort or support her. The good shepherd did the same in all his trials. His wages were but small; out of which he was sometimes obliged to pay a boy for assistance: but in times of particular distress, God always

raised him up friends. Sir James Stonhouse, rector of Great and Little Cheverel, frequently assisted him; and sometimes his good neighbours, though poor themselves, joined to supply his wants.

In a letter to a friend, written when he was grown old and infirm, he thus describes his situation: "I am but poorly in body, having very sore legs; and I cannot perform the business of my flock, without help. As to the things of this world, I have no great share; but having my little cottage to pray to God in, and a bed to rest upon, I have as much as I desire. My garment is worn out; but my Christian friends think they must put their mites together, and buy me one, or else I shall not be able to endure the cold in winter. So I can say, Good is the Lord! he is still fulfilling his promise, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'"-In another letter, written a short time before his death, he says: "I have given up my business as a shepherd. Though my eyesight is so dim that I cannot know any body by sight, yet I can say, with the psalmist: Bless the Lord, O my soul! and all that is within me, bless his holy name: who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness, and tender mercies.'

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This good man, whithersoever he went, was respected and beloved. When he visited distant parts with his master's sheep, for their wintering, the good people all around used to caress him; and delight to hear his pious and instructive conversation. About a year before his death, being, by the loss of his sight, quite unable to follow his business, the neighbouring farmers invited him to visit them, in turns, for a month together.

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He was very desirous that he might not lie long ill, to be troublesome to his friends: and he had his desire. Being on a visit to one of his friends at Wyke, he united, as usual, with the family in prayer; and was afterwards heard to pray with great fervency in his own room. After he went to bed, he spoke to his companion, the son of his kind host, of the mercy and goodness of God, through Christ: and then fell asleep, to wake no more till the resurrection of the just; for in the morning he was found dead!

At the joint expense of his friends, and as a mark of their particular respect, his remains were conveyed to his own parish: where they were interred with more than usual solemnity, about the middle of September, 1796, in the eightieth year of his age.

SECTION 7.

The Lancashire collier girl.

In a small village in Lancashire, there lived, some years ago, an industrious man and his wife, who had six children. The man himself used to work in a neighbouring colliery; while the wife took care of the family. She attended also to their little farm, and minded the dairy; and when all her other work was done, she used constantly to sit down to spin. It will naturally be supposed that the children of such a mother, even when very young, were not suffered to be idle. The eldest daughter worked with the mother at the spinning-wheel, which she learned to think a very pleasant employment and she sometimes accompanied her work with a cheerful hymn, or a good moral song, which her parents had taken care to teach her.