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fault, nor do I remember even a trivial one; certain it is I have never had any occasion to complain of his laziness. He studies by himself in his spare hours, and during the three years that the agents and catechists have had their halfyearly Scripture examinations he has always come out first, and this is the result of private study.

I must mention a dream which Baijnath described to me. "About two months ago," he said, "I dreamed one night that I saw a road leading to heaven with a

gentle slope; presently a

man came down from heaven

along that road clothed in

bright raiment. He stopped in front of me and said, 'Shout to all the passers-by that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, change your minds.' I said, 'I cannot; I am afraid they won't believe me if I do.' The shining person again said, 'Shout, and take this sword, wave it over your head and run up the hill.' So I took the sword and did as he told me. To my surprise I found the men rushing madly after me, and we went up the road in crowds. I was in ecstasy. The road was of a peculiar colour, yellowish red in appearance, and ran from east to west. It was not exactly straight, but up and down, as over hill and dale." About a month after this dream Baijnath and I were walking home irom preaching one day when I said to him, "Baijnath, suppose you were asked to go over the Ganges to look up the scattered Christians and to preach to the heathen there." He said, "Sahib, I will go any where I am sent except there." (I ought to say that it is a very jungly and thinly populated place, and that cholera rages violently there at times.) I said, "If God sent you would you not go? Perhaps if you did not you would be acting like Jonah." After a time he said, "Yes, I would go, but my wife would not consent; we were talking about it together some time ago when teachers were wanted for that place." We said no more at that time, but Baijnath told me afterwards that he had again spoken to his wife, and that at first she had steadily refused to go, saying, "You may go if you like, but I won't go with you, neither shall you take the children." We had a long talk about it, and at last she gave in, saying, " If God sends us we will go. We have to die, and to pass through troubles, and we had better bear them in the path of duty."

CHRIST CHURCH, LAGOS, BUILT BY THE LATE REV. J. A. LAMB.

Not long after that we had a conference, and Baijnath was proposed for ordination with another young man of the same class and age. I mentioned this to him afterwards, and then he told me of his dream and conversation he had with his wife. He knew nothing about it beforehand, so the idea of being ordained had never entered his mind. He is now to undergo a two years' course of training, and I trust he will indeed wave high above his head the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and that thousands may follow him up the hill of Zion with everlasting joy on their heads. Pray for him that he may be kept humble.

THE GOSPEL IN
CALCUTTA.

DEEPLY interesting Report on the evangelistic work carried on by the C.M.S. agents in Calcutta has been received from the Rev. Dr. C. Baumann. It is work among all classes of society. Many educated inquirers have appeared, Native lawyers, learned pundits, and rich landholders, several of whom are stated to be "not far from the Kingdom of God." There is "chapel, street, and river-side preaching; visiting respectable Natives at their houses; work among the Mohammedans, Kols, Santâls, Chamars, and Ooriyas, instruction of domestics; hospital ministrations, visiting the Lepers' Asylum." The Native evangelists are zealous and self-denying. One Bible colporteur gave up using umbrella and shoes, and put the money saved into the missionary fund. Our readers will remember a touching account of the death of a Christian Brahmin in a Calcutta hospital, in the GLEANER of February last. His meekness in suffering and joyful death-bed so touched the heart of another patient in the hospital, that the latter, a young Hindu, has since embraced the Gospel. His heathen name, Jagadbandhu (the world's friend), was changed at his baptism to Christabandhu (Christ's friend). Three other converts have also been gathered from that hospital.

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A YOUNG WORKER.

UST about two years ago a bright young life, full of sunshine and blessing for those around, was suddenly cut off, seemingly in its prime.

It is pleasant to gaze upon a broad river, flowing majestically and irresistibly onward to the sea. And scarcely less pleasure is there in tracing the course of one of the tiny brooks that has helped to feed it, bringing day by day its little supply of fresh running water to swell the volume and the power of the great whole. Such a river, fed by thousands and thousands of hidden brooks and fountains, is the Church Missionary Society, and such a tiny, but busily flowing stream was the life and work of Edith Bellingham Cheales, of Brockham, in Surrey, called home to be with the Lord on October 9th, 1881, at the age of twenty-two.

Nurtured amidst the happy home influences of a country vicarage, her life was a quiet and uneventful one, and, like many such lives, given to steady, unostentatious, earnest work. Sunday-school teaching, district visiting, and the many daily calls of parish work, were not suffered to exhaust her energies, and she set a happy example of the way in which home and foreign claims may, and should be, alike remembered. From her early years she was a missionary collector. But she was not satisfied without working with her own hands, and one of

IN MEMORIAM: JAMES ABNER LAMB.

Died at Lagos, July 1st, 1883.
HOU would'st obey thy blessed Lord,

Unfurl the banner of His love

On Afric's distant field;

Would'st kindle 'mid the shades of night
A shining beacon-fire,--

But ere thy work was well begun

HE whispered, "Come up higher."
Long years ago thou first didst leave
Thine all to serve thy Lord,
Raising a temple whence His Name
Should be proclaimed abroad.

Long years have passed, and once again
Thou traversed'st the deep,

And 'neath the shadow of its walls
They laid thee down to sleep.

Was it a lamp of light put out,

Extinguished in the tomb,

That might have led our doubting steps
But for untimely doom?

Nay, for a crown of glory wreathes

His honoured servant's head,

Another star is lit in heaven

To cheer the path we tread.

The sun of truth shall rise and shine
Amid the realms of night,

Till all the earth at last shall own

Her Lord, her life, her light.

We stand and watch with swelling hearts
The beams of morn increase;
But while the blessed day rolls on,

He bids thee sleep in peace.

Yea, thou hast borne His words of truth
Amid the weary fight,

her "

THE LATE REV. J. A. LAMB.

Upheld the honour of His name,

Proclaimed His grace and might; Finished thy course and kept the faith, Thy life, thy all laid down,Now thou shalt wear before His throne An everlasting crown. M. B. W.

gala days" was the C.M.S. annual fancy sale held at Brockham. On one of these occasions she remarked to her mother, "We must do more than ever next year, or the people (naming a rich parish in the neighbourhood) will beat us. Together with her sister she had commenced painting on china, and, although they had no instruction in the art, the sale of their combined work produced in four years the sum of £59 16s.

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And whence came this steady, persevering labour? moving spring was simple, fervent love to her Lord and Saviour. "If Jesus is to us the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely,' ,"" she writes, "if we can say, 'My Beloved is mine, and I am His,' then surely our first thought is to make Him known to others." And this was so truly her heart's desire that she was eager to seize opportunities for carrying it out. The last evangelistic meeting she ever attended was one planned specially by herself, before the regular time for the first of the autumn meetings had arrived. In her class and in her district she spoke of the Saviour whom she knew and loved. One of the boys of her class wrote, on hearing of her death, to his mother, expressing the earnest wish that he might always remember things she had told them at school, of the love of Jesus." Another said: "Mother, I shall keep my Bible Miss Edith gave me as long as I live." One who had been a servant in her home wrote: " I know how dear Miss Edith would like that verse she quoted (Cant. vi. 2, 3) inscribed on her tomb, because of her love for the Song of Solomon. . . . She has told me how she liked it; in fact, she was enraptured with it." Yet she was keenly alive to her own deficiencies in testifying for her Lord. "I feel," she said, "I have been so wicked, not like the woman of Samaria, who went about and told every one directly what Jesus had done for her," adding: "You know I can't talk as and can."

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But it was not her lips only; it was her life that spoke.

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THE LATE REV. J. A. LAMB. ANY friends will be glad to see in our pages a portrait of our much-lamented brother, the Rev. James A. Lamb; and though we cannot pretend that it does him justice, it will serve to recall his features to those who knew and loved him, both in England and in Africa. In the GLEANER of September we briefly noted the facts of his career, and they need not be repeated. But the remarkable outburst of feeling at Lagos when it pleased God to remove him was a significant evidence of the affection and respect with which he was regarded there, and also of the reality of our work on the coast. Think of Lagos as it was twenty-five years ago, a notorious slave mart, governed by a heathen usurper; and think of Lagos as it appeared four months ago at Mr. Lamb's funeral -an immense concourse of Native Christians, the representatives of several congregations, weeping at a missionary's grave, with the British Governor of their prosperous colony at their head. These Christians are not perfect-far from it; but we need a scene like that to bring home to us the wonderful change that by God's blessing has taken place.

We give also a picture (kindly lent by the publishers of Payne's Lagos Almanack) of the Society's principal church at Lagos, which was built by the personal efforts of Mr. Lamb himself.

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Affectionate, dutiful, humble, unselfish, her religion shone out in her daily walk. "What a beautiful example," writes a young friend, "her life will be to us all!" And another, "Her life was truly lovely. She was indeed in the world, but not of the world, and she is now reaping her reward."

And her life and her love rested on this foundation, the perfect, finished atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was (as she writes)

"The story of God's love,

Of Jesus coming from His home on high

To take the sinner's place; for mau to die,"

that had won her heart, inspired her work, and filled her with such solid peace, that she could thus express herself, while yet apparently in the bloom of health, "It does not matter what becomes of us here, so that we are safe in Jesus." She had had her difficulties and doubts as to whether she were really right in the sight of God, and she never rested until she had found "perfect peace and complete assurance of pardon through the blood of Jesus."

And so, when the summons came to leave her happy home, her beloved work, her family and friends, she was ready. Her illness lasted but a month, and she was quite unaware how it would end, until two days before her death. The thought of the "dark valley" caused her a momentary disquietude, though she said, "I am not the least afraid of the other side"; but it was quickly removed. Calmly she expressed her last wishes and bade farewell to those she loved. And then she breathed out her soul in perfect peace, like a weary child falling asleep in its Father's arms. The cause for which she had so long laboured had not been forgotten during those last hours. My money in the Bank give to the Church Missionary Society," was one of her last directions. S. G. S.

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[The above particulars are taken from a brief biographical sketch lately printed for private circulation, and are published here by permission.]

OWIN

THE MONTH.

WING to the illness of the Rev. A. W. Poole, his consecration to the English Bishopric in Japan could not take place on September 29th as announced. The ceremony was performed, however, on October 18th, St. Luke's Day, at Lambeth Palace Chapel, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The sermon was preached by the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth. The early date of our going to press prevents our giving further particulars in this number. It is a matter for much thankfulness that Mr. Poole's health, which had suffered under the heavy mental and physical strain of the last three or four months, has enabled him to be consecrated after so short a delay. The medical opinion is decidedly favourable as to the prospects of his health in Japan.

THE Valedictory Dismissal on October 1st was held in the spacious Vestry Hall at Kensington, which was crowded, numbers of friends barely getting standing room. Sir W. Hill presided; the Hon. Clerical Secretary delivered the Instructions of the Committee; the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth gave the address to the missionaries; and the Hon. and Rev. E. Carr Glyn, Vicar of Kensington, offered the special intercessory prayer on their behalf.

THE missionaries taken leave of on this occasion may be grouped under three heads :-(1) Those returning to the fields in which they had previously laboured, viz., the Rev. J. B. Wood, to Lagos; the Rev. J. W. and Mrs. Handford to Frere Town; Mr. C. Stokes, with Mrs. Stokes, to the Nyanza Mission; the Rev. F. T. and Mrs. Cole, to the Santâl Mission; the Rev. F. A. P. and Mrs. Shirreff, to the Lahore Divinity School; the Rev. M. G. Goldsmith, to the Mohammedan Mission, Madras; the Rev. W. J. and Mrs. Richards, to Travancore; the Rev. D. and Mrs. Wood, to Ceylon; and the Rev. J. D. and Mrs. Valentine to Shaouhing, Mid China. (2) Those returning to missionary work, but to different fields, viz., the Rev. C. T. Wilson, with Mrs. Wilson, to Jerusalem; the Rev. T. R. Hodgson, to Baghdad; the Rev. G. Litchfield, with Mrs. Litchfield, to the Bheel Mission; the Rev. A. R. and Mrs. Cavalier, to Tinnevelly. (3) Those going out for the first time, viz., the Rev. T. Harding, to Lagos; the Rev. G. E. A. and Mrs. Pargiter, to Agra; the Rev. T. Holden, to the Punjab; the Rev. A. W. Cotton, to Sindh; the Rev. E. W. Elliott, to the Noble High School, Masulipatam; the Rev. J. B. Panes, to the Telugu Mission; the Rev. M. N. S. Atkinson, to the Koi Mission; the Rev. J. H. and Mrs. Horsburgh, to Mid China; and Dr. E. G. Horder, to Hainan, South China.

ONE interesting feature of the Dismissal was the presence of no less than seven Nyanza missionaries. It was especially encouraging to see Mr. Wilson and Mr. Litchfield, forbidden to face again the climate and privations of Central Africa, buckling on their armour once more for new campaigns. The former is to engage in the important work of training Native agents for the Palestine Mission; the latter, to join the Rev. C. $. Thompson in the new Mission to the aboriginal Bheels in Rajputana, Central India-the Mission started at the expense of the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth. Then, besides Mr. Stokes (who has since sailed for Zanzibar), there were present Dr. E. J. Baxter, Mr. A. J. Copplestone, the Rev. J. Hannington, and the Rev. W. J. Edmonds. The two former will be returning to their posts shortly, and if the two latter are permitted also to work again in the mission field, none will rejoice more than themselves.

To make the foregoing list of men complete, we should add that the following had previously sailed, and had received their instructions at ordinary meetings of the Commit'ee :-belonging to the first group, the Rev. J. and Mrs. Hines, returning to Saskatchewan; the Rev. R. T. and Mrs. Dowbiggin, to Ceylon; and the Rev. J. P. and Mrs. Ellwood, to North India; in the second group, the Rev. J. Hamilton, for the Niger, and Dr. E. A. Praeger (formerly of East Africa), with Mrs. Praeger, for the North Pacific Mission; in the third group, Dr. Percy Brown, for the Niger; the Rev. J. W. Tims, for Saskatchewan; and Mr. and Mrs. J. B. McCullagh, for the North Pacific. With these last should also be reckoned the Rev. C. Blackburn, for Mauritius.

ON another page we have mentioned the fresh bereavement which, in the mysterious providence of God, has fallen upon our Missions in East

Central Africa, by the death of Mrs. Cole. The China Mission has also suffered a loss by the death of Mr. J. W. Strickson, Assistant Master in the C.M.S. School at Shanghai. At home we have lost the Very Rev. J. Mee, formerly Dean of Grahamstown, who was Secretary of the Society from 1866 to 1869; and the Rev. A. Matchett, Rector of Trimingham, formerly missionary in Sindh.

THE Secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord Derby) having requested the C.M.S. Committee to nominate a clergyman to be appointed to the Government chaplaincy at Sierra Leone, the Rev. E. P. Sparks, Curate of Boston, was selected, and he has accepted the post thus offered to him by Lord Derby. A Principal for Fourah Bay College is still urgently needed.

THE Travancore Provincial Native Church Council held its annual

meeting at Pallam on May 9-11, under the presidency of Bishop Speechly. The opening sermon was preached by the Rev. Koshi Koshi, from 1 Cor. xii. 22: "Much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary." Reports were presented by the various Native pastors, particularly of the work aided by the William Charles Jones Fund and the Henry Venn Fund.

THE late Rev. J. A. Lamb, being invited to preach the Annual Sermon of the Native Pastorate Auxiliary Association at Lagos, wrote his sermon, but was on his dying bed when it should have been preached. It is printed in the C.M. Intelligencer, and gives most striking testimony to the blessing vouchsafed to missionary work in Lagos. Mr. Lamb writes:When I arrived here in January, 1862, the work was, as it were, in a nutshell. Faji was the mother church. Breadfuit was what we might call a chapel-ofease in connection with it. Ebute Ero was in charge of its present pastor, then a deacon. There was only one day-school, which was at Faji, and the whole of the Church's staff consisted of one European missionary, two Native deacons, two Native Scripture-readers, and two Native schoolmasters. Badagry, supplied with a catechist and schoolmaster, was the only out-station. This was the "little one." Now, as we see, it has become "a thousand." There are seven churches on Lagos Island supplied with regular means of grace. There are seven Native clergy working on the island, three of them being in charge of churches under the Native Pastorate Establishment. There are at least six day-schools supplied with eleven masters, and over 1,000 children are taught in the schools. Ebute Meta and Badagry are each supplied with a Native clergyA church has been erected on, and an agent supplied for, Iddo Island, and missionary work has been begun at Ondo with an ordained Native missionary in charge, and at Leke and other places.

man.

THE Frances Ridley Havergal Fund now maintains seven Native Biblewomen in India, viz., one near Calcutta, one at Lucknow, one at Amritsar, one at Jhandiala (under Miss Clay), one at Bombay, one at Jabalpur, and one at Masulipatam. Of "Jane," at Jabalpur, the Rev. T. R. Hodgson writes that "she has carried the message of God's love to many a toiling and weary, maybe hopeless sister, in many a dark home." The Fund has also made grants for the translation of one or more of F. R. Havergal's books into the Hindustani, Bengali, Telugu, and Malayalam languages.

ONE of the most useful of auxiliary missionary societies is the Christian Vernacular Education Society for India. Founded just twenty-five years missionary societies and interfered with neither. During that time, three ago, after the great Mutiny, it justly claims that it has helped all the

Training Colleges have been founded; 750 Native teachers have been trained in them; and about 100,000 pupils have been under instruction. Ten millions of publications, in eighteen languages, have been issued. The Society has just issued a tiny book about its work, called The Star in the Eust, which we hope will come into the hands of many of our readers.

THE C.M.S. Lay Workers' Union for London held its first annual meeting at the C.M. House on October 15th. The report showed that 152 members had already been enrolled, most of whom are actively at work in behalf of the Society in their respective districts, chiefly in organising Juvenile and Sunday-school Associations, giving missionary addresses to children, &c. A pleasant evening was spent, in the course of which a service of song was given, consisting of selections from Mendelssohn's St. Paul, with missionary readings by the Rev. Gordon Calthrop.

RECEIVED:-"Thanksgiving, D. g. O. a.," £10; from "A small birch basket," "towards the spread of the Gospel in heathen lands," £1 1s.; "Please use this for the Lord's work abroad," 28.; L. D., 58.

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

MISSIONARY ALMANACK.

F. Q. 7th.... 11.46 a.m.

F. M. 14th.... 3.23 a.m.

December.

DECEMBER,

L. Q. 21st 8.8 a.m. N. M. 29th.... 1.0 p.m. THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD. 1S I am the Lord, I change not, Mal. 3. 6.

[fulfilled unto us their children, Acts 13. 32, 33. 2 S Advent Sun. The promise made unto the fathers ... God hath M. Is. 1. 1 Pet. 4. 7. E. Is. 2, or 4. 2. John 12. 20.

3 M Hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Num. 23. 19. 4 T The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, 1 Sam. 15. 29.

5 W He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? Job 23. 13.

6 T Imad-ud-din ord., 1868. He cannot deny Himself, 2 Ti. 2. 13. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lam. 3. 23. [Ja. 1. 17. [word is settled in heaven, Ps. 119. 89. 2nd in Advent. Bp. Stuart consec., 1877. For ever, O Lord, Thy M. Is. 5. 1 John 2. 15. E. Is. 11. 1-11, or 24. John 17.

7F

8 S

9 S

10 M S. Crowther bapt., 1825. My covenant shall stand fast with him, 11 T The immutability of His counsel, Heb. 6. 17. [Ps. 89. 28. 12 W Confirmed it by an oath-two immutable things, Heb. 6. 18. 13 T Supposed day Smith & O'Neill d., 1877. My counsel shall stand, 14 FI have purposed it, I will also do it, Is. 46. 11. [Is. 46. 10. 15 S Bps. Russell, Horden, and Royston consec., 1872. The gifts and [calling of God are without repentance, Ro. 11. 29. 16 S 3rd in Advent. Ember Wk. This Man...hath an unchangeable M. Is. 25. Jude. E. Is. 26, or 28. 5-19. Jo 21. [priesthood, Heb. 7.24. 17 M I will make an everlasting covenant with you, Is. 55. 3. 18 T Townsend vis. Abeokuta, 1843. Who shall disannul it? Is. 14. 27. 19 W Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed, Jer. 51. 29. 20 T He is faithful that promised, Heb. 10. 23.

[2. 13. 21 F St. Thomas. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful, 2 Tim. 22 S 1st Miss, landed N. Z., 1814. His hand is stretched out who shall turn it back? Is. 14. 27.] [Ez. 24. 14. 23 S 4th in Advent. I the Lord have spoken it, I will not go back, M. Is. 30. 1-27. Rev. 11. E. Is. 32, or 33. 2-23. Rev. 12. 24 MI AM THAT AM, Ex. 3. 14. [for ever, Heb. 13. 8. 25 T Christmas Day. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and

M. Is. 9. 1-S. Lu. 2. 1-15. E. Is. 7. 10-17. Tit 3.4-9.

26 W St. Stephen. In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised, Tit. 1. 2.] [faithful, Rev. 21. 5. 27 T St. John. He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and 28 F Innocents' Day. Can a woman forget her sucking child? Is. 49. 15. 29 S Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, Is. 49. 15. [and in Him Amen, 2 Co. 1. 20. 30 S Sun. aft. Christmas. All the promises of God in Him are yea,

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M. Is. 35. Rev. 20. E. Is. 38 or 40. Rev. 21. 1-15.

31 M I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, Mat. 28. 20.

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"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; 1. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; 2. "They shall run, and not be weary;

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3. They shall walk, and not faint."--Isa. xl. 31.

AVE we already reached the farewell month of what was so recently the glad New Year? It is even so. Swiftly, silently, have we glided through the times and the seasons. Sunset and sunrise, light and shadow, have pervaded, by turns, both our inner and our outer world; and if we have sighed, now and again, over Earth's continual change, we have also often felt refreshed by Life's ceaseless variety. For Earnestness knows nought of Monotony. To us, each day is a new day. Forgetting those things which are behind, we seek the way to Zion, with our eager faces thitherward, beguiling the journey with Songs of Deliverance. Have we not cause to be joyful? Our own God has proved to us all He promised to be, when we laid our trembling hand within His, amid the mists of the dawning year. thing hath failed of all the good things wherewith He delights to bless His trusting ones, and as our hearts burn within us, while we think over His goodness and our shortcomings, we sing with cheerful voice the grand old song: "Thou art my God and I will praise Thee; Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee." And

Not one

1883.

such sweet music cannot fall "as vinegar upon nitre," even on the ear of Sorrow and Bereavement. Its soothing power is soft as the tones of an Æolian harp, and its wondrous melodies exactly adapt themselves to the various moods of unsatisfied Humanity. Tears jar not with its heavenly harmony, and the ripples of happy laughter make no discord among its vibrations.

How different things seem when viewed from the experience of a closing year, instead of from the oft-times futile anticipations which mark its beginning. Let us pause, and turn, and look back. How many who started with us are lying at rest; how many are scattered, to meet only yonder; how many, then in health and hope, are now on beds of sickness, or passing through times of anxious care. Inasmuch as we are still here, the Lord must still have need of us, to carry on His work in this world. Let us stir each other up; let us "provoke" one another to love and to good works; let us mutually cheer each other, and help, and strengthen. Ah, strengthen. That is the practical word for the erring and the weak. How are we to "renew our strength? Simply by waiting on the Lord. It is good that a man should both hope and " quietly wait." Dear precious words; full of patience, meekness, the deep repose of trustful activity. And for those who are enabled thus to wait there is a lovely promise, meeting their need at each successive stage of Life's Pilgrimage.

We can never be too young, too old nor too busy, to join the goodly company who feel that they must work for the Master while it is called To-day. But, as work is exhausting, so workers need renewed strength. To buoyant Youth, all impatience to set forth, and seeing no difficulties, in its sublime enthusiasm, the promise rings down, with hearty responsive sympathy, "They shall mount up with wings as eagles." Onward and upward then, ye, on whose bright heads is the fresh dew of the morning; in joy and sorrow, in prosperity and adversity, wait on the Lord. "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart wait, I say, on the Lord."

Too soon Youth is fled, and the soaring is over. Life's discipline has done its work, and we are tied and bound by the chain of circumstances. Gray hairs are here and there upon us, and we like to remember that they are "Death's blossoms." But while the outward man decayeth, our hearts are leal and true, and our life-purpose tried and purified; to us, then, belongs the next sure promise. Strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, it is we who shall "run and not be weary." We can thankfully feed on this for many days.

At length, with stealthy step, Old Age steals over us. The soaring and the running are both long past, and yet we cannot let all our loved duties pass into younger hands, while we try to learn that our strength is now to "sit still." Nor need we. For the aged, there is a special place in the Lord's vineyard; it is full of peace and pleasantness. Good words spoken amid its green shadows do not fall to the ground, and balmy breezes linger lovingly about its rich ripe clusters. The time of the singing of birds is come. It is the glad festival of the Ingathering. No room there for the blank forebodings of waning strength. The voice of the charmer has peculiar comfort for that restful period of the pilgrimage, which is so leavened with prayerful influence. Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you. I will strengthen thee, weary one, yea, I will help thee; and for thee is the promise: Thou shalt "walk, and not faint." Let us cherish these beautiful words, according to our need. And in Youth, Maturity, and Age may the Lord bless us, and be gracious unto us, and give us peace. For Jesus' sake. Amen. A. M. V.

THE RED SEA A MISSIONARY HIGHWAY. ROM our earliest childhood the Red Sea has been a familiar name to us-the sea whose waters were a wall unto Israel on their right hand and on the left, and which, returning in its strength when the morning appeared, overwhelmed the hosts of Pharaoh. And we cannot but be glad to find that the modern theories which transfer that memorable scene to an arm of the Mediterranean appear to be set at rest by the recent wonderful discovery of the "treasure city" of Pithom.

But the Red Sea has an interest also for its connection with missionary enterprise. Nor is this only a recent connection. Which way the Apostle Thomas went, or Bartholomew, or whoever it was that first carried the Gospel to India, we cannot say; but we may safely assume that Pantænus of Alexandria, the missionary of the 2nd century who visited the Indian Churches, sailed down the Red Sea; perhaps also the embassy sent by King Alfred of England on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas, if they ever got so far. Modern missionaries, however, from the Jesuits downwards, have sailed round the Cape, until some thirty years ago; and the first C.M.S. men to use the Red Sea were the early missionaries to Abyssinia-Gobat, Isenberg, Krapf, and others. Krapf made ten or twelve voyages on it, most, if not all, of them in Arab vessels, the great steampacket lines being still in the future. But latterly, almost all our brethren going to or returning from East Africa, Mauritius, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, and New Zealand, have steamed up or down the Red Sea in the splendid "P. & O."

or "British India "

letters gave a vivid account of the tremendous heat he and his crew had to endure. The member of the party that suffered most was the Newfoundland dog!-which had to have its hair cut close, and to be frequently tossed overboard, to keep it cool. The great heat of the Red Sea is one reason why missionaries are usually sent out not before October.

In this past October the principal steamers have carried large parties of missionaries. The Rewa, of the "British India" line, sailed on Oct. 17 with a C.M.S. party of fourteen, and several ladies of the Zenana societies. The Ethiopia, of the same line, sailed on Oct. 24, with a C.M.S. party of twelve, and several more Zenana ladies. The Peshawar, of the "P. & O." line, sailed the same day, with four from the C.M.S. and one Zenana lady, for China. Before these lines appear, we trust most will have reached their destination safely. How many readers of the GLEANER thought of them when joining in the prayer for those "that travel by land or by water"? Let us also not forget the dear ones whom they leave behind. The touching lines at the foot of this page, written by a missionary's wife, will remind us of one of the sorest trials that have to be undergone by those who go forth as our substitutes in obeying the Lord's command.

SUEZ, THE NORTHERN PORT OF THE RED SEA.

ships. Before the Suez Canal was open this route took them to Alexandria, and across Egypt by rail to Suez, where they reembarked; but now the same vessel conveys them-those, at least, for India-all the way. Those for East Africa change at Aden.

In contrast with the almost crowded state of the Red Sea now, it is curious to see what the Sultan's orders regarding it were just a century ago (1781):

"The Sultan absolutely forbids that any Franks' ships be permitted, on any pretence whatever, to come to Suez, openly or secretly. The Suez Sea is reserved for the holy pilgrimage of Mecca, and all such as are content to admit Franks' ships to a passage and do not exert themselves in preventing it, are guilty of infidelity to the religion, to their sovereign, and to all Mohammedans. Such as do not attend to this express command, so important to our state and religion, will most certainly meet with severe punishment in this world and in the world to come. Do for ever, with all zeal and ardour as we command. Our Royal orders are gone forth, and this is our will." (The Times, Oct. 30, 1883.)

One memorable voyage down the Red Sea was that of the Highland Lassie, the little steam-yacht given by Mr. Wright's family to the East Africa Mission (now superseded by the Henry Wright). That was in April and May, 1876. The little vessel was navigated by the late Lieut. G. Shergold Smith, the leader of the first Nyanza party (see GLEANER of June, 1876); and his

C.M.S. Mosses;
C.M.S. Jam.

MISS L. E. JUKES, 14, St. Paul's Street, Tiverton, writes, "You will be glad to hear that we have realised £2 for the C.M.S. through the notice of the dried mosses you kindly inserted in the April number of the GLEANER. We have added to their number during our summer holiday, and perhaps some C.M.S. friends might like to procure them for Christmas presents."

MISS LONGLEY, Claverdon, Warwick, writes, "What can be done with Blackberries? I have had a very large sale of Blackberry Jam this year, and have sold it for the benefit of the C.M.S. at 10d. a pot, and have realised £6 at present for the Society, and I have still three dozen pounds more to dispose of."

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LEFT AT HOME.

A Missionary's Prayer for an Only Child.

EEP him, dear Father, keep our little Percy,

Close in Thine arms, from all there is to fear; Dear unto us our treasure is, Thou knowest, But unto Thee, dear Lord, he is more dear. Call'd for awhile to leave our little darling,

Not in strange hands, dear Lord, nor yet alone,
But 'neath the care of those who love him dearly,
Thou wilt provide for him a happy home.
Keep him, dear Lord, in all his little footsteps,
E'en as he grows, Lord, let him turn to Thee;
May his young heart be ever in Thy keeping,
As was the Master may our Percy be.
Let him, then, ever waking, Lord, or sleeping,
Be close beside Thee, ever 'neath Thy care;
As thou dost mark each sparrow when it falleth,
So number on his head each curly hair.

O keep our darling baby, Father, for us,
This holy treasure, may we hold it loose,
Loved, blessed, and tended by the Master,
Kept by the Master, for the Master's use.

A. G.

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