Dupont," inquired the clergyman, when a little recovered, "what madman was that you sent up to my room?"

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Sir," was Mr. Dupont's answer, "he is no madman; but one of the most respectable ministers of Christ in the kingdom; and, if you will but go to Jewin-street Chapel this evening, and hear him preach, take my word, you will no more think him insane."

"Well," said the clergyman, "I will go, for I never saw or heard anything like his conversation and prayer in my life; but I am sure he is mad!"

He went to the chapel, and was much struck with Mr. Ryland's preaching; and on the following Sabbath heard him again at Spa Fields. God blessed the word; the clergyman wept like a child, conversed with Mr. Dupont, heard Mr. Ryland as often as he could, and left a sum of money for tracts; returned to his parish a different man, and became extremely useful to many of the two thousand souls for whom before he had cherished no concern.

This anecdote was related by Mr. Bound, of Cheshunt, who knew and loved both Mr. Ryland and Mr. Dupont, to a friend by whom it was lately told to a grandson of Mr. Ryland.

Another grandson, with sentiments

of deep and affectionate veneration for his ancestor, communicated this anecdote to a periodical, in the hope that such an example of Christian fidelity and zeal may "provoke to emulation" many others and thus produce fresh illustrations of the saying of the sacred volume, "A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" (Prov. xv. 23).

REAL GOOD FROM SEEMING EVIL.

I READ in a history of the Burmese mission, that about thirty years ago, in the town of Ava, a small congregation of native Christians was collected by the efforts of a devoted missionary, one of whom was a young Burmese of superior rank. His sister, a maid of honour to the queen of the country, was greatly distressed at his forsaking the faith of his fathers. She used every persuasion to induce him to change his views, and finding all her entreaties were vain, she supposed this must be owing to the missionary's influence, and that her best plan would be to get him removed from his dangerous associates. At a distance from them, she doubted not, he would soon forget these new fancies and doctrines. So she made application to the queen, and obtained for the young man an appointment as governor in the district of Bassein, five hundred miles from Ava. It was an honourable office, and I suppose he had no alternative but to accept it; yet his heart sunk at the prospect of leaving his Christian brethren, and going far away to a land of heathen strangers.

He sorrowfully went, and had hardly entered upon his official duties, when his officials brought before him some men of the Karen tribes whom they had caught in the jungles, and accused of worshipping a strange god. "What God?" he asked. They call him the eternal God," was the reply. After asking a few more questions, he commanded the prisoners to be dismissed unmolested, to the great surprise of all present. Very soon it became known that the governor was not only willing to tolerate the new religious sect, but was himself one of them. During the two years

A YOUTH'S ESSAY ON HEROSIM. THE great aim of every boy's life is, or ought to be, to be a hero. Who is there who has not felt his heart burn within him, as he has read the history of those noble patriots, who at different stages of the world's history, have stood forth as the saviours of their countries, or benefactors of mankind in general? To emulate these glorious deeds becomes the aim of many, while their hearts are still warm with the generous blood of youth, and before a closer contact with the world and its selfish maxims, has seared their souls, and rendered them callous to these ennobling impressions. But not everyone can be a patriot in this manner, nor can everyone be a soldier with the lasting fame of a Vicars or a Havelock; and so, many youthful aspirants to the honours of heroism feel discouraged and perhaps give up the chase altogether. It shall be our aim in the following essay to point out a few heroes who appear to be the greatest, and to direct one in his pursuit of like honour. Most of the heroes of ancient history are of such a bloodthirsty character, that it is with positive relief we turn away from the contemplation of Achilles or other warriors of his stamp, and pause to admire the spectacle presented to us, in that grand old Titan Prometheus -chained to a rock, in the midst of a lone howling wilderness, the vulture ever gnawing his vitals, the thunder of Zeus crashing around him, he was still fearless and undaunted. Re

solved to endure these torments for ever, rather than submit to the unjust tyrant who had caused him to be bound there, he consoled himself by thinking of the innumerable benefits he had bestowed upon mankind, and refused with scorn all offers of release brought him by Hermes on condition of submitting to Zeus.

That man, or demigod, as you may call him, was indeed a hero. Perfect fearlessness, combined with the highest sense of what was right; a perception of the innate beauty of truth and purity, and an abhorrence of all cowardly submitting to evil, were the chief characteristics of the Titan Prometheus, and it was the possession of these qualities that made him a hero.

The same noble disregard of danger when doing right, and the same scorn of doing wrong, each may have; and if all his acts are done under the influence of these principles, he who thus acts is a hero in the highest sense of the word. We may not fancy either that this moral courage is incompatible with the highest degree of bravery in the field of battle, as the instances of General Havelock and

Hedley Vicars sufficiently prove. And if, as it was in their cases, this moral and physical courage be joined to a real and manly Christianity, a degree of heroism is reached before which, even that of Prometheus pales.

And it is a certain fact that heroism of this kind is far more difficult to attain, than that species of reckless daring, which when displayed in

WHAT A BOY CAN DO.

"EVEN a child is known by his doings," says Solomon, "whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." An instance of the right-doing of a boy came to my knowledge lately, which I thought it would be well for other young people to hear of; that, according to their influence and opportunity, they might go and do likewise.

Little Jack was the son of the captain of an English merchant ship. I never heard of his mother, but I feel sure she trained her dear boy up in the way he should go. For if a sailor's child has not a good mother, he is placed at a great disadvantage. His father is necessarily so often, and so long absent, that he cannot do much for him. I take it for granted that Jack's mother taught him early to read his Bible, and pray to God for a new heart, and that her example was a holy and useful one; the following history will tell you why.

Sailors are often very tender, loving fellows. Jack's father was so; and, in his short visits home with his family, his little son so won upon his heart, that, when he was old enough to leave his mother with safety, he took him a voyage for the sake of his company, as well as to give him an early insight into his future calling. Jack, accustomed to a quiet, godly home, was often shocked by the manners and language of his father's crew; and he thought again and again what could be done to improve them. He felt that a little boy could not say much that would influence rough men, and then he wished he had something

to give them to read in their spare moments; so that on the Sabbath they might remember their Creator, and recognise His power, love, and care over them on the mighty deep. At last Jack came to the conclusion that the only thing he could do, likely to be useful, was to save up carefully the pocket-money his father allowed him on the voyage, and, instead of spending it when in port, on fruit, or other things, to keep it till he returned to England. He would thus have a little stock to lay out on good books for the crew in the next voyage. This good thought did not originate in Jack's natural heart. Who put it there, and enabled him to carry it out, and act upon it? One who if we ask Him, "will cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit," and fill us with desires to glorify His holy name.

Jack arrived in England, and the store of money was expended in the purchase of religious periodicals for the next voyage. Amongst them was a volume published by the Tract Society of London. It so fell out, in the providence of God, that one of the passengers on the next voyage was an officer in the navy, who was on his way to the Island of Ascension, to take command of one of her Majesty's vessels in vessels in the Chinese Archipelago. Though he was a man of rank, refinement, and amiability, he knew not God, except by the hearing of the ear. He was, perhaps, first impressed by the boy missionary's lending out his little library to the crew. However this might be, in a vacant hour, to wile away the tediousness of the voyage, he took up the volume just mentioned, and began to read it. I do not know what it was, but something arrested his attention, and brought him almost at once to the foot of the Cross. He felt he had hitherto lived in vain, and determined, the Lord being his helper, to do something for Him who had given His dear Son to die for his sins. He asked the captain of the vessel (Jack's father) to allow him to have a daily reading with the men. This was readily granted. Prayer and praise, and the reading of God's Holy Word,

The Complete Works of George Swinnock, M.A. Vol. I. Containing: The Christian Man's Calling. Part I., and a portion of Part II. Imperial 8vo. Pp. 528. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: James Nisbet and Co. Dublin: G. Herbert. THIS is the first volume of the third year's issue of the second section of Nichol's Series of Standard Divines. The third year's issue will consist of George Swinnock's complete works, in five superbly got up volumes, the last appearing on the the 1st. October. The Subscription price for these five volumes is only One Guinea, prepaid, or rather more than 4s. 2d. per volume. How they are produced for the money we cannot tell. When we consider the intrinsic worth of the contents, the splendid style of the paper, printing, and binding, and the careful manner of the editing, we have no hesitation in pronouncing Mr. Nichol's enter

prise the greatest publishing marvel of the age. Then, too, when Ritualism is drifting in the direction of Popery, and Broad Churchism is moving in the direction of infidelity, it is an invaluable counteractive to both forms of error to have the writings of such men as George Swinnock reproduced in an attractive form. Mr. Nichol is subordinating his high position as a publisher to the advancement of the best interests of his race, of God's truth, and of the kingdom of Christ in the world.

A Memoir of Swinnock is to appear in a subsequent volume. The treatise before us is founded upon 1 Tim. iv. 7. It is dedicated first to Richard Hampden, of Hampden, Bucks., and to Lætitia Hampden, his virtuous consort; and, secondly, to the people of the Parish of Great-Kimbal, Bucks., to the incumbency of which living Swinnock appears to have been presen