"Having now," says Huntington, "had my horse for some time, and riding
a great deal every week, I soon wore my breeches out, as they were
not fit to ride in. I hope the reader will excuse my mentioning the
word breeches, which I should have avoided, had not this passage of
Scripture obtruded into my mind, just as I had revolved in my own
thoughts not to mention this kind providence of God. 'And thou shalt
make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even
unto the thighs shall they reach. And they shall be upon Aaron and
upon his sons when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation,
or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place;
that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute for ever
unto him and his seed after him.' Exod. xxviii. 42, 43. By which, and
three others, namely, Ezek. xliv. 18; Lev. vi. 10; and Lev. xiv. 4, I
saw that it was no crime to mention the word breeches, nor the way in
which God sent them to me; Aaron and his sons being clothed entirely by
Providence; and as God himself condescended to give orders what they
should be made of, and how they should be cut. And I believe the same
God, ordered mine, as I trust will appear in the following history.
"The Scripture tells us to call no man master; for one is our master,
even Christ. I therefore told my most bountiful and ever-adored Master
what I wanted; and he, who stripped Adam and Eve of their fig-leaved
aprons, and made coats of skin, and clothed them; and who clothes the
grass of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, must clothe us, or we shall go naked; and so Israel found it,
when God took away his wool and his flax, which he gave to cover their
nakedness, and which they prepared for Baal: for which iniquity was
their skirts discovered and their heels made bare. Jer. xiii. 22.
"I often made very free in my prayers with my invaluable Master for
this favour; but he still kept me so amazingly poor that I could not
get them at any rate. At last I determined to go to a friend of mine
at Kingston, who is of that branch of business, to bespeak a pair; and
to get him to trust me until my Master sent me the money to pay him.
I was that day going to London, fully determined to bespeak them as I
rode through the town. However, when I passed the shop, I forgot it;
but when I came to London, I called on Mr. Croucher, a shoe-maker in
Shepherd's Market, who told me a parcel was left there for me, but what
it was he knew not. I opened it, and behold there was a pair of leather
breeches, with a note in them! the substance of which was, to the best
of my remembrance, as follows:--
"'Sir,--I have sent you a pair of breeches, and hope they will fit. I
beg your acceptance of them; and if they want any alteration, leave in
a note what the alteration is, and I will call in a few days and alter
them.
I. S.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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