was published by Mackenzie, author of the "Man of Feeling," with a life. There is also an edition of his poems, with life, by Professor Spence (Lond. 1756, 4to, 2d ed.).— Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 196.
Blackman, Learner, an eminent pioneer of American Methodism, was horn in New Jersey, and entered the ministry in 1800 at about 19 years of age. After a few j'ears spent in itinerant labors in the East- ern States, he was sent in 1805 on a mission to Missis- sippi, then a wild countrj', inhabited by Indians and frontiersmen. His labors laid the foundations of Methodism through a large region of country. He was drowned in the Ohio River in 1815. — Minutes of Conferences, i, 274 ; Sprague, Annals, vii, 324.
Blackmore, Sir Richard, was horn in 1650, and died in 1729. He was active in the revolution which elevated William III, whose physician he was, to the throne. Besides several medical and poetical works, he wrote Just Prejudices against the A rian Hypothesis (1725), Natural Theology (1728), Creation, a philosoph- ical poem (1712, 4th ed. 1718), which Addison pro- nounced one of the noblest productions in English verse ; and poetical paraphrases on Job, the songs of Moses, Deborah, and David, on four select psalms, on chapters of Isaiah, and the third chapter of Habakkuk.
Blackwall, Anthony, an industrious author, was born in Derbyshire, 1674, educated at Cambridge, and was appointed minister of All -Saints, Derby, about 1698. In 1722 he was made master of the Grammar- school of Market-Bosworth, which he left to take the parish of Clapham, in Surrey ; but in 1729 he returned to Market-Bosworth, where he died in 1731. His chief work is The Sacred Classics Defended and Illustrated (Lond. 1727-31, 2 vols. 8vo), in which he defends cer- tain passages in the N. T. usually held to be barbarisms. —Allibone, Diet, of A uth. i, 199 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet. s. v.
Blade stands in the Auth. Vers, for the following words: ~<lb, la' hah, a, flume, applied to the glittering point of a spear (Job xxxix, 23) or sword (Nah. iii, 3), and hence to the "blade" of a dagger, Judg. iii, 22; iTMEJ, shikmah' , the " shoulder-blade," Job xxxi, 22; Xoproc, grass as growing for provender, hence the ten- der " blade" of cereals, Matt, xiii, 26 ; Mark iv, 28.
Blain, George W., A.M., a Methodist Episcopal minister, and professor in Randolph Macon College, Va., was born in Albemarle county, Va., 1815, convert- ed at a camp-meeting in 1832, graduated at Randolph Macon College in 1837, entered the ministry in the Virginia Conference 1838, was elected professor of mathematics in Randolph Macon College in 1840, superannuated on account of pulmonary disease in 1842, and died in great peace in 1843. In college his talents, industry, and piety won him golden opinions, while as a minister his zeal and devotion were con- spicuous.— Minutes of Conferences, iii, 460.
Blains (ri'2"2X, abahvMh' ; Sept. <p\vKriSic, ; Vulg. vesica?) occurs only in the account of the sixth plague of Egypt (Exod. ix, 9, 10), where it is described as "a boil breaking forth into blains," i. e. violent ulcerous inflammations (from 5*13, to boil up). The ashes from the furnaces or brick-kilns were taken by Moses, a handful at a time, and scattered to the winds ; and wherever a particle fell, on man or beast, it caused this troublesome and painful disease to appear. It is called in Deut. xxviii, 27, 35, "the botch of Egypt" (comp. Job ii, 7). It seems to have been the -ipwpd dypia, or black leprosy, a fearful kind of elephantiasis (comp. Plin. xxvi, 5). It must have come with dread- ful intensity on the magicians whose art it baffled, and whose scrupulous cleanliness (Herod, ii, 36) it render- ed nugatory, so that they were unable to stand in the presence of Moses because of the boils. See Boil.
Other names for purulent and leprous eruptions are TXU r"?!na {Morphea alba'), r.H2D {Morphea nigra),
BLAIR
829
BLANDRATA
and the more harmless scab, FrlBb^O, Lev. xiii, passim ! (Jahn, Bibl. Arch. § 189). See Leprosy.
Blair, Hugh, D.D., was born at Edinburgh April 7, 1718. After highly distinguishing himself at the University of Edinburgh, he was in 1742 made minis- ter of Collesy in Eifeshire, and soon after of Canon- gate in Edinburgh. In 1758 he was appointed chief minister of the High Church in that city. In 1777 he published the first volume of his Sermons, which, while ' in M.S., mot with the approval of Dr. Johnson, and when published acquired an extraordinary popularity. Soon afterward the three following volumes appeared, though at different times. The success of these ser- : mons was prodigious, and, except that their moral tone was felt to be an improvement upon the metaphysical disquisitions which in the wa)' of sermons had pre- ceded them, inexplicable. For the later volumes he was paid at the rate of £600 per vol. Numerous edi- \ tions have been printed at London, in 5 vols. 8vo and 1 12mo. They have been translated into French (Lau- | sanne, 1791, and Paris, another translation, 1807, 5 ■ vols. 8vo), Dutch, German (by Sack and Schleier- macher, Leipz. 1781-1802, 5 vols.), Sclavonic, and Italian. Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and the Belles- Lettres, first published in 1783, attained the like unde- served celebrity. The Sermons appeared at a time when the elegant and polished style, which is their chief characteristic, was less common than at present ; ■ and to this merit, such as it is, they chiefly owed their success. They are still read by many people with pleasure, on account of their clear and easy style, and the vein of sensible though not very profound obser- vation which runs through them ; but they have no i claim to be ranked among the best specimens of ser- I mon-writing, while they are lamentably deficient in evangelical thought and feeling. The Lectures' have not been less popular than the Sermons, and were long considered as a text-book for the student. They are, however, like the Sermons, feeble productions, and show neither depth of thought nor intimate acquaint- ance with the best writers, ancient and modern, nor do they develop and illustrate, as a general rule, any sound practical principles. Dr. Blair died Dec. 27, 1800.— Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 200.