read with eagerness all stories about natives being converted, and looked upon such boys as something more than common. For at home, where Christianity is professed, how few young or old do we see doing any act of self-denial for the Gospel's sake! Yet not many weeks after I arrived in this country, I was privileged to be somewhat an assistant in the transaction I am going to describe, as showing remarkable firmness in self-denial for Christ's sake, in a young native convert.

"On the morning of the ninth of last month, while Mr. Hand I were sitting in the verandah, inhaling the cool air, previous to the sun getting high in the heavens, (it was between six and seven in the morning,) I saw two natives coming up the compound. They soon reached us, and the elder one presented a note to Mr. H-, from a missionary of the London Missionary Society, asking Mr. H to give a place of refuge to the younger native. He had resolved to be a Christian, and to leave father and mother to be baptised. And as his parents were wealthy, fears were indulged that they would use force to get the boy back again. So it was considered safe to send him into town. This precaution was very necessary, as the sequel will shew."

The letter then goes on to describe how the parents took alarm at their son's absence, and finding out where he was, got the magistrate to come and examine the boy.

"At last the magistrate came, and with him were admitted the boy's father and eldest brother, the latter, by the low cunning depicted in his countenance, seemed equal to any mischief. The first question the magistrate put to the boy was, 'Are you kept here against your will?' He answered 'No.' He asked him again, Do you wish to go back to your father's house?' He answered, 'No; I wish to stay here.' At this point the brother told the magistrate not to heed his answers, as he had been tutored to say so, he was under age, and could not decide for himself. The magistrate, however, told the brother that the boy seemed as sensible as he was; and that since he alleged that the boy was so easily persuaded to turn Christian, he, (the brother,) should try and persuade him to return home; but that, as a magistrate, he could not farther interfere, for the boy seemed aware of what he was doing, and the case was out of his jurisdiction, the boy being now in Calcutta.

"They, hearing this, went at once to the court-house,

and laid their case before the magistrate, who said he would come too, and examine the boy. You will wonder why the parents took all this trouble; but the fact is, they were afraid of being looked down upon, and jeered at, for the conduct of their son, for they belonged to the second highest class of the Brahmin caste. You will wonder, too, why the boy and the missionaries were so much against his going back; but you will be satisfied when I tell you that cases have occurred of parents giving their sons poisonous drugs, which destroy their intellect, preferring to see their sons idiots, rather than followers of the living God."

After detailing how the second magistrate came, and put the boy through an examination similar to the former one, and with the same result, and how the magistrate resolved to give the parents till next day to prove whether the boy was under age or not, the letter proceeds :—

"You may be sure I had entered into the case with all my heart, and was rather disheartened when I saw a possible outlet by which the boy might be taken away. However, he said he was of age, and said so from information his mother had given him. But it was an anxious night. There was a possibility of the friends coming through the night and taking him away by force. As a precaution against this, we asked the magistrate to grant a chookeedar or policeman, to stand at the gate all night. But morning came, and we were not disturbed."

The final hearing of the case came on before the magistrate, who decided against the parents of the boy; and they, after some show of carrying the case by appeal to another court, at last relinquished the prosecution. The letter of the old Sabbath scholar thus concludes :

"It was decided that the youth should be baptised on the first Sunday, so only another day had to be passed over before there would be ease in our minds, since up to the baptism there was still the chance of force being used to recover him. The chookeedar was therefore retained till Sunday. And in the afternoon of that day, the boy was driven, in Mr. H's carriage, accompanied by the missionary, Mr. H—, and myself, as his body-guard, to the Union chapel, where he was baptised. I have

not words to describe the scene, but my thoughts were on my native country. I pondered over in my mind how few boys would be found there to do what this native

youth had done for Christ's sake. Christ told His followers that they must forsake father and mother for Him. This youth had done so. He acted in a way superior to the rich young man, whom our Saviour told to go and sell all that he had, and follow Him. This boy has forsaken wealth and comfort, for poverty and absence from home! A part of his trials came to our ears after his baptism. It is worth narrating. A companion of his, belonging to the same place, had found out the boy's leanings to Christianity, and threatened him that he would tell his father. To prevent this, the boy bribed him with money to remain silent. But his companion kept renewing threats from time to time till the bribes amounted to a goodly sum. This conduct coming to the ears of the missionaries they have determined to expel the naughty one. But the young native convert's conduct, in sacrificing everything for the love of Christ, is a lesson to us all.

"How many young people at home only think the Sabbath school a task, and the least excuse sufficient to keep them from it. But let them ponder over the words of our Saviour, when He said,— —TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, FROM HIM MUCH WILL BE REQUIRED. Excuse me, if I have been tiresome in the relation of this the first scene I have witnessed in missionary labours. I am, &c.

CONSOLATION IN CHRIST AT DEATH.

A MISSIONARY of the Church Missionary Society in Western India writes:

"Conducted Marathi service in Old Wadah. Went to see Gunga Bai, a poor sick old woman in the asylum. She is suffering from asthma, and can with difficulty speak; but she is peculiarly peaceful and happy. I asked her whether she was in pain. She replied that all her body was in pain. I reminded her how Jesus had suffered for her, at which her face brightened up, and she began to enumerate His various sufferings. 'On Him,' she said, 'I firmly trust.' I asked, 'Do you wish to be restored, or would you like to die, and go to God?' 'Oh,' she said, 'to go to God; that is what I long for; but what He wills, that is best.' I added, 'What right have you to expect that when you die you will go to God?' She replied, 'None, none; I am a poor sinner; but I hope to go through the merits of Christ; I lay hold on His foot.""

THE GOOD WORK IN IRELAND.

A WELCOME DEATH.

It was my painful duty to accompany to the grave the remains of a most interesting child, the daughter of a convert at EConnemara. She was under five years old and, having been left in Dr. W's kitchen, when all the servants were out, she approached the fire too closely, and her clothes took fire. She ran from one room to another, crying for assistance. At length Miss W- came in, and succeeded in extinguishing the fire, but she was dreadfully burnt. She was placed in bed, and the poor little sufferer bore her pain with the greatest patience; when her father came, he cast himself on his knees, and gave her willingly, and from his heart, to God,-though he loved her, he said, more than all his other children. "Father," she said, "do not cry, I am going to my Saviour; I will be with Him tonight,-I shall be praising Him for ever. "Hallelujah to the Lamb who hath bought us a pardon,"-the children will be singing that in heaven,-oh! won't I be happy! My own dear Saviour! How I love Him! He suffered more than this for me. Mother, give the clothes Mrs. W- promised me, to my sister and brother; now I don't want them, my Saviour will give me clothes, as white as snow, in heaven." Her own family, and the members of Dr. W -'s, stood around her bed, shedding tears,-she desired her babybrother to be brought to her, she looked fully into his face, and smiled, and tried to make it smile, then kissed it and, bidding all present farewell, told them not to cry, for she would soon be with her Saviour. She repeated :

"There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins."

She stopped there, and the little Christian took her flight to that Saviour whom she loved, and of whom she had so often heard from the Bible.

Who will send any contributions for the school where this little one learned to know and love her Saviour?

CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE WORLD.

Father, I know that all my life

Is portioned out for me;

And the changes that will surely come,

I do not fear to see.

But I ask Thee for a quiet mind,

Intent on pleasing Thee.

2 COR. vi. 18.

PSALM XXXi 15.

JOB XIV. 1.

Prov. xiv. 26.

DEUT. V. 29.

PSALM CXIX. 38.

I ask Thee for a thankful love,
Through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with cheerful smiles,
And to wipe the tearful eyes;
And a heart at leisure from itself
To soothe and sympathize.

I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,

Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know;

I would be dealt with as a child,
And guided where to go.
Wherever in the world I am,
In whatsoe'er estate,

I have a fellowship with hearts
To keep and cultivate;

And a work of holy love to do
For the Lord on whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for the daily strength
To none that ask denied,

And a mind to blend with outward life
While keeping at Thy side;
Content to fill a little space,

So Thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask

In my cup of blessing be,

I would have my spirit filled the more
With grateful love to Thee.

More careful than to serve Thee much-
To serve Thee perfectly.

There are briars besetting every path
Which call for patient care;
There is a crook in every lot,
And an earnest need for prayer;

But a lowly heart that leans on thee
Is happy everywhere.

For a service which Thy love appoints

There are no bonds for me;

For my secret soul is taught "the truth"

That makes Thy children "free;"

And a life of self-renouncing love

Is a life of liberty.

We wonder how many of our young readers could repeat the texts quoted in illustration of this hymn. It would be a delightful exercise for a fireside gathering, on a Sabbath evening, to try how many of these texts our children have upon their memories, and to turn up and learn those not already acquired.