feet;

'Son of man,

sorrow he had endured, as to Ezekiel, xxiv. 16: behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep; neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead; bind the tire of thy head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.' In reply to this solemn word of dispensation and duty, my poor heart was permitted to take hold of the blessed word of the same Lord, Psalm lxxi. 16-18: 'I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to every one that is to come.' These two passages of Holy Scripture have been unceasingly in my mind in their connexion, the one to admonish, the other to encourage me, in all the succeeding hours from the arrival of the first intelligence. God be praised for the power and blessedness of His Holy Word. Thus have I been strengthened in the day of my trial.

Thus, briefly, we introduce this love-unfolding tale of life and death, so illustrative of the hymn which begins,

"God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform."

You will see this more fully next month.

"I AM YOUR FATHER! YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER!'"'

When such words as these are spoken by the Lord himself into the heart of a poor seeking sinner, then they are CHEERING WORDS' indeed. The mental, the spiritual, and the moral, effects produced by the living words of God as spoken into the mind by a Divine power, are beyond all description. An illustration of this fact is given by the Editor of the Gospel Magazine-the Rev. D. A. Doudney, in reviewing that weighty and most blessed book, written by James Grant Esq., entitled

'GOD IS LOVE! This work (published in London by Darton and Co.,) has proved a source of very great comfort to many of the Lord's people. The following is a most precious testimony indeed. The extract is from a letter, published in The Gospel Magazine, relating a deeply touching incident caused by the perusal of GOD IS LOVE. The writer (a lady) says

"Your review of the book, GOD IS LOVE; or, Glimpses of the Father's Infinite Affection for His People,' brings a circumstance to my mind that may prove useful to relate, as a word of encouragement to the author in his work and labour of love, and to your Christian readers, in furthering its circulation. I was cast into company last month with an aged lady, who, taking up a book that lay on her table, said, 'this is the third copy I have bought of this book, and I mean to recommend it to everybody. It is called, GOD IS LOVE.' On being asked why she liked it, she said, 'Because it explained to me why I love God. It opened up to me that God elected me, because he loved me, and that is the reason I love him. I never saw this so plainly till I read that book. Now,' continued the old lady, that may seem a great thing to get out of the book; but I have got something better still.' To know what was better than that, excited the question directly, 'What more did you get?' 'I was deeply interested in the book,' she said, 'but for all I am an old woman, eighty-four, and have been what the world calls decidedly pious for many years, and I really do hope honestly seeking Jesus, yet I could never look up to God and say, My Father! I often wondered would God let me die in this state; and many, many prayers have I put up to God about this very thing. But one day, while I was reading this book, I came to the words, My Heavenly Father;' and as I read them a light seemed to dart into my mind, and with it such a lovely, such a beautiful feeling it seemed to say. I am your Father-your heavenly Father.' I put down the book. I fell upon my knees; I felt as if I could weep my life away with joy and gladness, and all I could say, over and over again, was, My heavenly Father-my own dear Father."

[A companion volume to God is Love, by the same author, entitled THE COMFORTER,' is now just issued. We shall call attention to it soon.-ED.]

ANOTHER PRODIGAL BROUGHT HOME;

OR,

ALFRED ASHBY IN ONE OF THE DUNGEONS OF LONDON.

Ir was in the dark days of November last, that we gave Alfred Ashby's account of The Rescue' of a poor degraded husband, father, and fellow-mortal from one of the most miserable conditions into which sin, and ungodliness can guide us. We promised to follow Alfred up in his Missionary tour through the dens of our great metropolis: and shall notice one more, at least, of his singular exploits among the abandoned and profligate people-thousands of whom are swept away by the cold hand of death, without one ray of Gospel light; perhaps without one single heart breaking cry to God for mercy. We rejoice to know that a new and neat edition of The Two Lights-the volume from whence our extracts have been made, has been issued; we are equally pleased to be able to inform our readers that Alfred's perseverance in a good way and work has been crowned with success. He is now one of our most popular writers; and a minister as respectable as any of that section of which he forms a noble and most intelligent part.

To go with "CHEERING WORDS" into the abodes of sin and sorrow-and to be able to speak kindly, and charitably to the poor, the halt, and the maimed which we meet in our way, is, certainly, a species of benevolence as pure and as praiseworthy as anything that one man can exercise toward another. With this conviction, and believing that very few of the best of our race ever charitably consider the condition of their poor despised neighbours we willingly exhibit every instance of practical and effectual benevolence which comes under our notice.

GO

Look well at Alfred's manner of procedure: then " AND DO LIKEWISE. The writer of "The Two Lights"—

says

وو

We cannot enter into the details of Alfred's four years' experience in his benevolent work-for during that time he remained in it-but one or two additional facts will, doubtless, prove interesting. On one occasion, when he had been about six mouths exploring the dark regions to which he wished to carry the light of revelation, he entered a lew lodging-house-one of those dens of impurity, and meeting-places of thieves, already alluded to. Between thirty and forty persons, of both sexes were present, all comparatively young, with the exception of a hoary-headed transgressor, whose oaths and blasphemy was awful to hear. Some were lying on the cold, damp floor, asleep; some were drinking and smoking; one or two youngsters were fighting in a dark corner, and several were pinching, hitting, and provoking the old man, that they might enjoy the pleasure of hearing his awful curses. One or two of them knew Alfred, and remembered two or three little acts of kindness which he had done for them. They recognised him, and in their peculiar language—a slang which he really had to learn, as the missionary has to learn the language of the country he desires to benefit-told who he was, and the object of his visit. When they heard that he had come to read the Bible, there was a shout of uproarious merriment.

All sorts of indescribable noises were made. Braying, cockcrowing, the cackling of geese, and the sounds of other animals, would have convinced a blind man that one had led him into a farm yard. Accustomed to such scenes, Alfred stood quietly, waiting an opportunity of saying something which might arrest their attention. When the first act of mimicry had closed, he said,

'You seem very merry, my lads! I like to see people happy. But come now, is it real?'

"'Tis cried two or three voices.

'Taint!' shouted the great majority-'taint, 'taint!'

"Tis! 'tis violently responded the first speakers.

Here there was some danger of a battle between them to decide the question, whether their seeming happiness was real or counterfeit.

'Hark, my lads!' cried Alfred, "if you fight you'll spoil your fun. I would rather hear another concert of donkeys, cocks, and geese, than see a fight between brothers. Now let me dicide this.' 'No parson here!' shouted the old man, with a terrific imprecation. 'I'm not a parson,' said Ashby; but I want to decide this'— 'Toss for it?' suggested one.

"No, not that way, my young friend. Let us 'divide the house.' Those who say its real, go to the right, and those who say it isn't, take the left.' By this manoeuvre Ashby hoped to keep them quiet for a minute or two, and to gain their attention to the great object of his visit. No sooner had he proposed the thing than, with a tumultuous shout, the house divided.' Five only went to the right; the rest-excepting two poor girls, who managed to sleep side by side all the time, and the old man-who would not stir from his position, but kept staring at the strange visitor, and muttering to himself-took the left.

'Now,' said Alfred, it appears, by the great majority, that your mirth was not very sincere. I thought as much; but then, of course, as I might be mistaken, I wanted you to speak for yourselves. There are five of you, I see, really happy. You five don't want to change your present way of life, don't want to better yourselves.' There was a whisper among the five. Hold master, please!' cried one of them. If you come it so, we alter our verdict. The jury are agreed. Guilty!" As he uttered the last word the poor fellows all crossed the room to the left side. The old man moved not from his place, but his mutterings increased in rapidity, and a halfsuppressed oath occasionally escaped his lips.

In our April number we shall see the Prodigal brought home.

"THE OBEDIENCE OF LOVE!"

OR,

THEODOSIA ERNEST FOLLOWING CHRIST.

On page 28, last month, we saw The Heroine of Faith in her retirement with her God; and we heard her pleading at the Mercy Seat, before she went forth in a loving obedience to put on Christ, in the Ordinance of Baptism. We have told our readers, of the