planted by the water side,' &c. (Psalm i.) Even thus is the man blessed who lives daily by faith on the precious Lamb of God; he is a tree planted by the great husbandman (John xv.) on the banks of the sweet Jordan which flowed on yonder Calvary, whose streams irresistibly penetrate even to the very vitals of her soul, causing her to shoot and bud, and spread and blossom like the rose. 'Who can express the noble acts of the Lord, and show forth all his praise!'

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"Of all the places in the world, except Gethsemane and Calvary, the Jordan with its environs must ever be not only the most momentous, but the most endearing as well as the most cheering to the heart of the believer in Jesus. It was on this renowned plain that the Almighty Captain of the Lord's hosts appeared to Joshua (Josh. v. 13, 14); it was here that the mighty man of valour, Joshua, fought the battle of the Lord against the great sons of the Anakim and the kings of the Amorites; it was here that by the blow of a trumpet, the great walls of Jericho fell down; it is here that the blessed Spirit of the Lord manifested his presence in a most peculiar manner in his servants Elijah and Elisha; Elijah smote the rolling stream of the Jordan, and the waters were divided hither and thither.' (2 Kings ii. 8.) There is a spring hard by the ruins of Jericho (2 Kings ii. 19), called to this day Elisha's well,' which is remarkable, not only for the profusion of its waters, but for their peculiar sweetness and clearness. The spiritual conclusions which may be drawn from these and many other alike wonderful occurrences with which this country in particular abounds, and the happiness to be gathered therefrom, can, of course, only be substantially realized by (the pilgrim indeed) the spiritual mind. Here also it was that the great Captain of the Lord's hosts appeared as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Here it was also that the blessed Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, where those inestimable words were pronounced from the excellent glory, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' (Luke ii. 22.) O Lord, return, for thy (beloved) servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. The people

of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while.' (Isa. xiii. 17, 18.) It was here also that king Saul made his excellent beginning, and, alas! where he also began to do foolishly.' (1 Sam. xiii.)

"In some things there is, indeed, a similarity between this country and the holy Scriptures. In whatever part you travel, you find some spot from which a warning or lesson of some kind is to be gathered, or some real satisfaction to be derived from the consideration of events past, or things still future. Though all really is and must appear to the carnal mind most barren and gloomy, the believer in Jesus will sweetly realize the words of the poet :

'Come ye that love the Lord,

And let your joys be known...
Then let our songs ascend,

And every tear be dry;

Immanuel's arm our steps will tend
To fairer worlds on high."

(85th Hymn, Appendix-Hawtrey's Selection.) In passing he will inhale the sweet perfume of many a flower which to the eye of sense (speaking metaphorically) is left to bud, and bloom, and waste its sweetness on the desert air. This also is really true with reference to the Holy Scriptures."

These were the sentiments and feelings of a man whose services we have lost, which, if anywhere, are particularly felt in a country where we can scarcely hope to have them replaced. The Lord's ways are mysterious! It is remarkable, that during the four years he lived with us, he had scarcely a day's illness. He had an attack of bilious fever during the month of September, when several members of my family were suffering; he recovered, however, and was able to come to the Sacrament on the first Sunday in October. His face beamed on that occasion with holy joy and thankfulness, in being again permitted to join the Lord's table, not thinking it was the last time. The day after he again took to his bed, and on the following Lord's day his recovery was declared hopeless: on the Monday he died. His end was peace. For him "to live was Christ, and to die gain.'

A singular incident is worthy of being mentioned. During his illness he occasionally remarked, that he hoped yet to see the good of Jerusalem. Two days after the commencement of his relapse, we received the news of the firman having been granted for the building of our church; and when Mrs. Alexander mentioned the news to him, only two days before his death, he greatly rejoiced, and felt thankful. On Tuesday, after our evening service, he was followed to the grave by nearly all the members of the mission; and I could not refrain from addressing a few words to those assembled around his grave. There was but one feeling of sympathy and respect, and we could with confidence commit him to the dust in the sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection.

It

The day following happened to be the birth-day of the king of Prussia, and it was also our regular Wednesday evening service, at which we have a sermon. being the Rev. W. D. Veitch's turn to preach, he very effectively improved both the subject of death and of birth, the one of a servant, the other of a monarch; and taking for his text Galatians i. 24, "and they glorified God in me," he had an interesting subject to treat, showing how, from the highest to the lowest, we may glorify God; exemplifying it briefly in the history of the departed servant, and dwelling more at length on that of the living monarch, especially in reference to his munificent intentions with respect to Jerusalem. Some distinguished Prussian travellers happened to be present, and from their personal acquaintance with the Christian charcter of their king, expressed their conviction that his majesty would have been delighted to have heard a discourse in which he was referred to together with an humble individual who had finished his course to the glory of God. The occasion has been a solemn one to us all, and I trust not without profit.

I have sent these few particulars, in the hope they may prove useful to your readers, and with earnest prayer that we may all in our several spheres glorify God in life and in death.

WILLIAM JACOBS-A TRUE STORY.

WHEN I first went, a few months ago, to take up my abode in the little town of Ivinghoe, my attention was soon attracted by the cleanly and respectable appearance of our baker's boy. In his daily calls at our house for orders, or to bring the bread, his respectful manner, and quiet civil address, and even his nice white round frock and well brushed hair, raised him much in my estimation above those dirty indolent shop-boys and men one sometimes sees, and whose outward slovenliness too generally indicates an ill-regulated vacant mind, and a negligent attention to their masters' and customers' business. I said our baker's boy; but in truth, William Jacobs, though very young-looking, was in his twentieth year. I enquired into his history, and brief though it was, it interested me, as affording a most favourable instance of kindheartedness and humanity; and such instances of a good disposition are always delightful to me. However it may be the pleasure of some persons to decry all their fellow creatures, and to say that selfishness is common, and disinterested kindness very rare, I will always hope and try to believe the reverse.

I heard, then, that William Jacobs had been left an orphan at a very early age, and that he had no relatives save one brother, older than himself, and just able to earn his own livelihood. William was directly received as errand boy into Grey's family; and great were the pains that the old mother of the family, and head of the house, took to teach the poor orphan to read and write; and above all, to do his duty, to walk honestly before his fellow-men, and humbly in the sight of his God; and constantly did she instruct him daily to seek in prayer and stedfast faith, the grace of God to assist and guide him, as advancing years should place him more openly in the world, and many temptations would surround him.

The kindness of this good woman and her worthy son. continued to watch over William, and I learnt that for eight years he had continued in their service, had been led on both by precept and example in all that was good,

and had won the respect of all his neighbours and his master's customers. During half of that time, the last four years, William had no longer lived in the house, for Mr. Grey's business had increased (as business always will where its head is honest and upright), so that he now employed three youths instead of one to carry out his bread, and besides, a young wife of his own had come to gladden his hearth and home. He had secured for William a respectable lodging, close by, in a snug cottage with a very aged couple, who took kind interest in him, and let him feel their quiet happy fireside his home. They used all to go to church together, to walk in the house of God as friends, and no evening closed in without the old man taking the Bible from its shelf, and reading aloud to his wife and William a chapter or psalm from that sacred volume, that light of our feet and lamp unto our path, from which we may all draw comfort, direction, and consolation in every trouble.

Shortly after I had heard this account, and before I had made acquaintance with old master White and his wife, I left Ivinghoe for a few weeks, and very soon after my return, observing that another youth instead of William Jacobs brought the bread, I enquired the reason, and was told that poor William was in a deep decline. Yes, he who six or eight weeks before had seemed in perfect health, and with the promise of a long life before him, was now given over by the doctors, watched with anxious care by his friends, and rapidly approaching the cold and silent grave! I was much affected by this intelligence; it was one of the thousand daily proofs that in "the midst of life we are in death," and another warning to consider the truth of those awful words, "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor knowledge, nor device in the grave whither thou goest." Prepare to meet thy God!" I heard that many persons in our parish were kind to poor William; I mean in sending him little niceties to tempt his failing appetite, and in going to see him. Our good curate, too, visited and read to him; indeed his good conduct and steady

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