BIRCH. 209 



fulfilling the duties of his allotted station,- although that 

 station was less than nothing in the eyes of his fellow-men. 

 And so distinctive were the mounds of earth that marked 

 the burying-places of the dead, that he who visited the 

 then cultivated parts of Britain, might readily distinguish, 

 in such as met his view, the different periods of interment. 

 But the mounds of earth in the neat churchyard be- 

 tokened that the days of Paganism had passed by ; for the 

 blessings attendant on the introduction of Christianity 

 were not confined solely to the living. Christianity broke 

 down the altars of false deities, and put a stop to human 

 sacrifices, and raised homes for men to dwell in, where the 

 names of husband and of wife, of parents and of children, 

 were recognized and held in honour. Such were its foun- 

 dation acts, and from these, as from a common centre, 

 emanated all those virtues and comforts which minister to 

 the well-being of society. The dead were respected as 

 having held communion with the living ; and hence ori- 

 ginated the solemn burial service, and the habit of interring 



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