I was indebted to the prayers of my dear parents, which, I had reason to know, were offered for me very earnestly every day.

"Yet, in spite of all these safeguards, I was once in great peril. It was about two years after I had gone to Newcastle; and this is how it happened. I had rendered some service to the captain of a French vessel, and it brought me a good deal into contact with him. He showed me great civility, and invited me, along with the clerk next above me, to visit him on board his vessel. I complied, partly because I was flattered by his attentions, and partly because I thought it would help me to improve my French. The matter, however, did not end there. He asked me to go with him to the theatre; and once or twice I yielded -I need scarcely say, with a very unquiet conscience. He was a man of polished manners, but of very loose principles. That, however, I found out only by degrees. If I had known as much about him at first as I learned afterwards, I should have been afraid to have anything to do with him. I verily believe that if I had associated with him much longer I should have been ruined. One evening, however, just as I was going out to keep an appointment with him, I received a letter from home. A sad letter it was! fever had broken out in the village; my dear and only sister had taken it, and she was dead; and my father was very ill. They hoped he would recover; but he was in great danger. The letter had been several days on the road; so that when I received it, my sister would be buried, and it was possible my father might be dead. I cannot describe my feelings. It stung me to the quick to think that whilst they had been in such trouble, I had been doing what, had they known of it, would have increased their trouble most grievously. After the first gush of grief was over, I wrote a hurried note to my fellow-clerk who was to have accompanied me to meet the captain, telling him what had happened, and that they must not expect me. I then put on my hat and went to the house of my employer, and begged him to let me go home. I had never had a holiday from the time of my going to business, and I pleaded that as they were in such trouble I might be spared. He consented, provided the accounts given in the next letter were not more favourable. The next letter told me that my father was dead, and that before I could possibly arrive at H- he must be buried.

"I set off immediately. It was a sorrowful visit, the house looked very desolate; but my mother was calm and resigned. She told me about the illnesses of my sister and my father; how they had both been sustained by the hopes and comforts of the gospel; and how my father had offered many fervent prayers for me, his absent boy, even amidst the wildness of delirium; and how almost the last words he spoke were a message which they were to convey to me. Tell him,' said he, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be a good lad, and to commit all his ways in faith and prayer to God; tell him to be kind to his mother; and tell him I hope we shall all meet in heaven.'

"I went to the graves of my father and my sister. There, with many tears, I prayed to God to forgive my sins; and now that my earthly father was gone, to be the friend and the guide of my youth. That I have every reason to believe was the time of my conversion.

"At the end of a fortnight-oh, how short it seemed!I returned to my work. My intercourse with dangerous or doubtful associates was for ever at an end. I sought for companions who feared God; and I am thankful to say I found some who became true friends, and whose friendship proved an incalculable blessing. They are all gone; and I shall soon follow them to the world of light.

“I call my coming up to London the third stage of my journey; and so far as my worldly fortunes were concerned, it was the most eventful of all. I was then fiveand-twenty. My employer seeking a wider scope for his energies, and having at his command a large capital, resolved to transfer his business to London. He asked me to go with him, and offered me a very liberal salary. London was not so accessible from the north then as it is in these days of swift railroad travelling, and I felt much the thought of being so far separated from my widowed mother. But it seemed a providential opening, and I thought it my duty to go. Besides, I considered that my increased salary would enable me to render help to my mother, and I should have the opportunity also of putting forward my younger brother. The result proved that I acted wisely, and that the thing was of God. At first, I was chief clerk; but at the end of five years I was taken into the business as junior partner.

"That brings me to the fourth and the longest stage of my journey. It was donbly an era in my life; for about

She was

the same time I married. I had resolved that whenever I married I would marry only in the Lord;' and that I would ask God's guidance about it. I have no doubt whatever that God did guide me. Never surely had any man a gentler, wiser, more true-hearted wife. portionless-the orphan of the good minister who had shown me such kindness in Newcastle, and I met her, seemingly, by accident, but really, I am certain, in God's good providence, at the house of a friend in London. Her Christian worth was of more value to me than the largest fortune. She soothed my cares, and at one period especially they were very heavy; she trained up her children for God; and she joined me most heartily in giving free welcome to numbers of good men whom it was our happiness to receive in our dwelling, whom we honoured for the Master's sake. We found in entertaining many of them that we had entertained angels unawares. I thank God that he spared her to me so long; for there were times when I did not expect it. Still her death was the great sorrow of my life.

"When my partners died, the business was so left that I could, if I pleased, take the whole of it into my own hands. That afforded me the opportunity of taking my younger brother into partnership. As I think of the success with which God blessed our endeavours, raising us to a position of eminence amongst the merchants of our great city, and enabling us to give-as, according to our ability, I trust we did that God's cause might be extended around us as in the world; and as I contrast it all with our lowly origin in that distant Northumbrian village, I am often reminded of what Jacob said, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.'

"I had often resolved that if I should be spared to see my seventieth birthday, I would give up business. I always thought it a pity that men whom God had prospered, and who could retire with every comfort, should continue to toil in extreme old age. I had always made a point of having a quiet Saturday evening to spend partly with my family, but still more with God, in calm preparation for the sabbath; and I resolved that, if possible, I would secure the Saturday evening of my life to prepare for the blessed sabbath of the skies. I think I should

have retired earlier, but for the sake of my brother, who was eight years my junior, and who wished me to continue a little longer than I had intended, that we might retire together. We did so. I never thought God would have spared me so long. This long stage of my journey was extended over fourteen years. A happy time it has been. I never found such sweetness in my Bible; I have had many cheering sights from "the Delectable Mountains" of the heavenly city; and I thank God that I have been able to devote my leisure and my failing energies to the service of my Redeemer. I am only waiting now till he shall call me to my rest.

"And now, dear grandchildren, take an old man's last counsels. I have served Jesus nearly seventy years, and I have found his service the source of my highest joy. There are no wages like those he gives his true servants. Give him your hearts; believe him; love him; serve him. He will give you, as I can assure you he has given me, a peace which passeth all understanding;' and he will receive you, when this earthly life is over, to his own right hand in heaven: may your dear parents and you and I all meet there!"

Long before the next new-year's day, the journey was ended. Just as the sun was about to set one glorious summer evening, a sorrowful group stood round his deathbed, consisting of his two daughters and their husbands, his grandchildren and his brother, who still survived. Though very feeble, he was perfectly collected. He spoke a word of counsel and farewell to each; and then told them-what, indeed, he had declared frequently in his brief illness-how near the Saviour was, and how precious, and how completely the terrors of death were gone. His pastor, who was present, said afterwards, that nothing he had ever seen reminded him so forcibly of John Bunyan's description of the end of one of his finest characters. "When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the river-side, into which, as he went, he said, Death, where is thy sting?' And as he went down deeper he said, 'Grave, where is thy victory?' So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side."

6

THE WHITE FLOSS.

"WELL, Fanny dear, you have been away a long time. I hope your work was approved," said a delicate looking woman as her daughter entered their humble sitting-room, and, with a very discontented face, threw on the table a large roll of worsted embroidery.

"No, indeed, mother, it is not approved," replied Fanny, “and I have been sent to look at a piece worked by a friend of Mrs. B-'s, that I may make it the same; that is the reason I have been so long away."

"Did not Mrs. B, think yours nicely worked, my love?"

"Oh yes, she found no fault with the work; she even condescended to say that the colours were well blended, and the stitches as regular as could be."

"That is pleasant; then what is the matter with it?"

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Why, the lady to whom she sent me, has worked in throughout the wreath, a little white floss silk, which gives it a soft bright look; and certainly it is an improvement, only why wasn't I told about it before?"

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Perhaps Mrs. B― had not thought about it. But you will not object to improve your work, dear. Did you bring in any of the proper silk?"

Mother, I had no money with me, and Mrs. B- did not offer to pay me until the piece is finished, so

"Never mind, dear," interrupted the mother, with a little sigh, "I dare say we can find enough to pay for some, and you can get it done as soon as possible, and then I am sure Mrs. B- will pay you. She is just, and knows our troubles."

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She might have remembered them now," replied Fanny: "but, mother dear, somebody else did. Look here," and she held up a little packet containing many skeins of the finest and purest white floss silk.

"Somebody indeed, darling!" said the mother, her eyes filling with grateful tears, for the purchase of the delicate article would have taken her last shilling.

"It was that lady, Mrs. B-'s friend. She was so kind, mother; she spoke so nicely, and asked about you, and after we had talked over the work, she said she had some white floss left, so she gave me all this."

"Our Father guided her to this thoughtful kindness," said the widow. "He knows all, and he will bless her for it."