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244  THE HAPPY NEGRO.

Christian affection, that made me more than ever believe, what I have often too thoughtlessly professed to believe, the communion of saints.
9. "I shall never forget how the poor creature seemed to hang upon my lips, and to eat my very words, when I enlarged upon the love of Christ to poor sinners, the free bounty and tender mercy of God, the frequent and delightful sense he gives of his presence, the faith he bestows in his promises, the victories this faith is enabled to get over trials and temptations, the joy and peace in believing, the hope in life and death, and the glorious expectation of immortality. To have seen his eager, delighted, animated air and manner, would have cheered and armed any Christian's heart, and have been a masterpiece for any painter.
10. "He had never heard such discourse, nor found the opportunity of hearing it before. He seemed like a man who had been thrown into a new world, and at length had found company. Though the conversation lasted, at least, two or three hours, I scarcely ever enjoyed the happy swiftness of time so sweetly in all my life. We knew not how to part. He would accompany me as far as he might; and I felt, on my side, such a delight in the artless solid, unaffected experience of his pious soul, that I would have been glad to have seen him oftener then, or to see his like at any time now; but my situation rendered it impossible.


THE HAPPY NEGRO.  245

11. "I therefore took an affectionate leave, with feelings equal to those of the warmest and most ancient friendship; telling him, that neither the color of his body, nor the condition of his present life, could prevent him from being my dear brother in our dear Saviour; and that though we must part now, never to see each other again in this world, I had no doubt of our having another joyful meeting in our Father's home, where we should live together, and love each other, throughout a long and happy eternity. 'Amen, amen, dear massa; God bless you and poor me too, for ever and ever.'
12. "If I had been an angel from heaven, he could not have received me with more evident delight than he did; nor could I have considered him with more sympathetic regard, if he had been a long-known Christian of the good old sort, grown up into my affections in the course of many years."

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-20 18:41:17