saying, and it seemed to me that your words and ways were strangely erroneous. I confess that I had no part nor lot with you. But God has moved me to feel very differently."

"In answer to the prayer of faith," ejaculated the leader; "but go on, dear brother."

"I think of a truth that the Spirit of the Lord is here," he continued.

"Amen! Glory to God!" cried voices on all sides, while the tears fell from many eyes.

"And, although I have had a hope of a Christian before, I never realized my state as here, around this altar, to-night. I came in to wonder, I fear to despise ; but what do I not owe to the grace of God, who opened my eyes, softened my heart, and filled it with love for you all."

"Bless the Lord! Bless God!" cried voices.

"For a long time I have sought for the people whose God was truly the Lord, for the church from among the varied churches of the land, of which it might well be said, as of the city described in Ezekiel, whose name was 'The Lord is there? I believe that I now have glimpses of this holy place with the holiest of names. My soul is filled with rejoicing that it sees, though in the dim distance, the spires and turrets of its home- its Christian home!

"My friends! I have no earthly home which is blessed, centred, and filled with the presence of kindred according to the flesh. My parents both died before I well remember. I have been well cared for, but it has been by strangers and hirelings; by good friends, it is true, but not by the blessed ones of home!"

"The Lord bless the dear young brother," was now heard in strong tones of tenderness.

"It seems to me, as I have said," Israel went on, amid tears, "that I am nearing the home of my soul, among true Christian brethren who love the souls of others."

No sooner had he concluded, than they commenced and sang the following beautiful words:

"In the Christian's home in glory
There remains a land of rest;

There my Saviour's gone before me,
To fulfil my soul's request.

Chorus:

"There is rest for the weary,
There is rest for the weary,
On the other side of Jordan,
In the sweet fields of Eden.
There is rest for the weary,

There is rest for you

Where the tree of life is blooming,
There is rest for you.

"He is fitting up my mansion

Which eternally shall stand:

For my stay shall not be transient

In that holy, happy land.

Chorus: "There is rest for the weary, etc.

"Sing, O sing, ye heirs of glory;

Shout your triumph as you go;

Zion's gates will open for you,

You shall find an entrance through.

Chorus: "There is rest for the weary," etc.

Sung, as were these words, by voices which welled up from hearts overflowing with emotion, Israel thought he had a foretaste of heaven.

No sooner was the meeting closed, than numbers of the "brethren" gathered around Israel to offer him their hands, with hearty words of welcome.

The leader took his address, and promised to call on him at an early opportunity.

"Things have taken a different turn to-night from what I expected," said Israel's companion, on the way to their boarding-place.

"Yes," he replied, "it is all very providential.”

CHAPTER II.

CYPRIAN CUTTING'S CALL.

THE next morning, before Israel had breakfasted, there was a knock on his door, and the servant told him that a gentleman waited to see him.

"Where is his card?" asked Israel in some surprise at such an unwonted summons.

"O! he told me he did not carry cards to play with, when I asked him, sir; but he said, 'Tell him I have a message from the Lord of Hosts, and it must be delivered without any delay.'

Israel was about to offer some excuse at this singular request, when a footstep was heard upon the stair. He turned and saw the face of the leader of last night's meeting.

"Halloo there! said the man; "don't you know your own brother in the Lord? I am a servant of the Almighty; my name is Cyprian Cutting; rightly named, too, for my business is to cut the hearts of sinners with the sword of Gideon, and I cut church members as well, if they lie asleep by the king's highway like snakes a-sunning."

"It seems to me that you are a very strange man for a minister," said Israel, who now showed him into his parlor, and opened a blind to admit the morning light. At this proceeding, the visitor began to

sing in a low, sweet voice, "The morning light is breaking," stopping suddenly at the end of the first verse, and saying "I am not a minister yet, brother, though I am a making all the time, these glorious days. I shall soon stand on the heights of Zion, and proclaim a free salvation, in louder tones even than I now do." "I supposed you were, from the fact of your position last evening," said Israel.

"I only led the meeting in the absence of our preacher. Religion is in a very low state in our church now."

"I thought quite the contrary," said Israel; "it seemed to me there was a remarkable fervor prevailing there.”

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"O! you ought to have seen us last winter," said Cutting, smiling with an ecstatic joy, "when every single night of the week, scores fell down, cut to the heart; and on Sunday nights we calculated we had done nothing, unless we could count seventy or eighty slain around our altar. O dear! our church members," he sighed, “are such stupid, blind guides! fools of heart and slow to believe! I have to speak to them just as the Spirit gives me utterance, every once in a little while."

"Do they receive it peaceably?" asked Israel. "Sometimes; but when I pour it on them the hottest from the fiery furnace of God's love, they squirm, I tell you; and they would turn Brother Cutting out of the church if they could—that's a fact. But they can't

fight against the Lord to any good purpose."

"Then you think the Lord speaks through you,"

continued Israel.