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you know. When this sum of money is gone we will send her some more."" They kept their word, four other sums were sent to mother, at short intervals, through the same channel-my aunt; but a portion of the last sum was improperly detained by her, and never received by mother, as the fifth bird in her dream was minus a wing.

Another time, during the same period of trial, but before the event last named, mother went on one occasion to the house of a lady of property, but of a most miserly disposition, to see one of the domestic servants, whom she knew, to try and borrow a small sum of money (in which she was unsuccessful). She had not been in the house long when the lady rang the bell, and enquired of the servant who she had in the kitchen? On telling her it was a friend of hers, she said, "Here, take this half guinea." The servant, on giving it to her, said, "Well, I never knew her to give a penny to anyone before, and she doesn't know you, and I did'nt tell her that you were in distress." A few minutes elapsed, mother and the servant being still engaged in conversation, when the bell rang again the second time, and on the servant going up, "Here," said the lady, "take this other half guinea down to your friend, and tell her to leave the house directly, for I don't feel as if the money were my own; I can't keep it in my pocket."

A providential deliverance of a different kind, but equally remarkable, took place about a twelvemonth after this, after father had been restored to health. On the first Lord's-day in each month, they were in the habit of walking from Woolwich to Eynsford and back, to partake of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. A small part of the way lay through a thickish copse; returning home one dark winter's night, just as they got to this part of the journey, two men suddenly came out of the adjoining wood, behind them, and began to move briskly towards them. With palpitating hearts, my parents quickened their steps; presently they heard rather an angry debate going on between the two men; one said to the other, “You go up to them first," "No," rejoined the other, "you go first;" in a few moments, one said to the other, "Well, let us both go together," " Agreed,” said the other, saying which they quickened their steps, and had reached to within half a dozen yards of them when a large mastiff dog, came out of the wood, and placing himself between my parents and their assailants, turned and growled at the latter (who were evidently intimidated by it, for they soon after slunk away,) and followed father and mother right home; when they reached the door of their own house, they tried to coax him in, but in vain, he turned and went back the way he came, and they saw him

no more.

In all these things the godly reader will recognise the special providence of God ; a doctrine which is a strong consolation to the believer, who believes what the Saviour affirms, that the very hairs of his head are all numbered, but a doctrine which is pretty generally ignored in the fashionable religious circles of the present day. But be it ours to ask for, and not be ashamed of

the good old paths.

(To be continued).

Memorials of the life of Mr. Joseph Hamblin,

BY THOMAS JONES.

IT was well said by a Puritan divine, "Grace does not run in the blood, but it often runs in the line." Sovereignty reigns everywhere, and impresses its stamp upon all matters both in the world and in the church; in the latter especially we recognise the fact that "the Lord reigneth;" of its existence, its spiritual growth, its numerical increase, its gifts and its comforts we gratefully affirm "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. The unfeigned faith which dwelt in Lois, in her daughter Eunice, and her grandson Timothy, was in each a particular personal gift sovereignly bestowed, but the faith of the grandmother, working by love and godly wisdom, became a means of grace to her daughter, and the faith of both became instrumental of good to their beloved boy; yet was each made to know that salvation is wholly of God that sheweth mercy. Did like faith dwell in the father or grandfather? We are left to infer it did not, or the apostle would have referred to it. "Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight."

Joseph Hamblin was born of religious parents who did their best to preserve him from the pollutions of the world, and lead him into the paths of truth. He was early taught to read and reverence the Word of God; to keep, in outward proprieties, the Sabbath day, and to attend on the preaching of the Gospel. There was mercy in this relationship to Christian parents, and in this child-training in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Though left to prove that his nature was corrupt at the core, and that the leprosy of sin has infected the whole of our fabric; he was thankful in after years that from a child he had known the holy Scriptures, the teachings of which often rebuked him, and were as a bridle on his lusts. Under the eyes of his parents he was fain to be cautious in his behaviour, as their affection was not of the fond and blind sort which winks at sin, and withholds deserved chastisement; but he was dead to God, and blind to His mercies, and was obedient from fear, not from choice, and as opportunity served, he stole into the company of young transgressors who initiated him in vice, strengthened his wicked inclinations, and made him impatient of parental control, inasmuch as it forbade him the imagined luxury of fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So true is it we go astray from the womb. As he grew in years and in stature he grew in depravity, dislike to religious services, and attachment to ungodly companions, and thus for several years he carried on a course of feigning in the family, while elsewhere he indulged in as much transgression as he couldventure on without fear of detection. But though no creature eye saw him besides those of his associates, there was ONE saw him and marked his ways. In the creed of education he professed to believe that in this respect he was never out of sight, and that every secret thing will be brought into judgment, but his was a dead, inoperative faith, and he was to come to know the difference between that which is natural, and that which

is spiritual. He was not to grow up a Pharisee, brimful of conceit, and assuming that, "touching the law, he was blameless," nor was he to be led captive by the devil at his will and to the extent of his will, or his terminus would have been hell. He should know by the motions of sins working in his members to bring forth fruit unto death (Romans vii. 5), the desperate wickedness of the heart, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and be deeply convinced that it is by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. He must learn this, though, by terrible things in righteousness, that he might be thoroughly qualified to declare the same through years of earnest labour in the service of Christ.

At about the age of fourteen, the dry bones sustained a shock, and for the first time he was conscious that he had a soul; that his soul was of infinite value, and in fearful danger. His relish for sin was greatly weakened, and his admiration of the world's vanities lessened through an aroused conscience. He felt there was a reality in the religion of his parents, and a force in truth of which he had been hitherto ignorant. He took to read God's holy word with care and attention, to listen to the preaching of the Gospel with earnest heed, and examine his own heart and character by the tests of truth. Christ's sermon on the mount was to him for a time a Bible of itself. He read it and re-read it with solemnity of feeling and prayer. It shewed him the holiness and breadth of the divine law, how inexorable is divine justice, and the guilt and curse under which he lay without ability to make amends for his trespasses, or deliver his soul from trouble. It was a repetition of what Paul passed through; "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died and the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death."-Rom. vii. 9, 10.

He was wont to speak of himself as the child of many prayers, and here at the "strait gate" pressed by a sense of wrath, and deserved condemnation, and not knowing what to do, he found the benefit of a praying father who had travelled this path, and knew its difficulties. To him he often put hard questions on the experience of a sinner under the thunders of Sinai, and the means whereby guilty man can become just with God. Doubtless the father saw in the anxious inquisitiveness of the boy looming answers to his own prayers, and was ever ready to remove stumbling-blocks and encourage hope. Blessed employment this for a godly parent whose dearest wish had been that his offspring might be found in "the adoption of sons." But “fathers of our flesh" cannot reach the heart, cannot set the captive free, nor give the guilty peace. The elder Hamblin could not do this for the younger, but he could and did preach to him of a Saviour's grace and love, of the Holy Spirit's power and work and direct him in respect of the means, asking, seeking, hearing. To these counsels he had regard; read the word diligently, meditated on it closely, and prayed over it, even with cries and tears. Still, his burden increased, and his escape all but hopeless. Truly, it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth. Young Joseph was willing, ardently desirous to be saved, would have given worlds had he owned any, to have seen Jesus, and called him his. If he sang it would be in these words,

"O that I could believe,

Then all would easy be;

I would but cannot, Lord, relieve,

My help must come from Thee.

It is the wounded who need healing, the lost who want a Saviour, and Joseph was wounded, lost, poor, and wretched; just the sort of subject on whom grace displays its riches, and in whose healing, and cheering, and saving mercy shines in brightest splendour. It is the Spirit that quickeneth and convinceth of sin, who having begun a good work in the soul is pledged to carry it on to the day of Jesus Christ. To the penitent sinner the process appears protracted and tedious, and he doubts whether it is a God-work at all; but when the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, wisdom is justified of her children, and the glad confession is made, "Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life." The day of salvation arrived, the time of love, when the tempest should cease and the small still voice should speak, and these were the words, "COME UNTO ME ALL YE THAT LABOUR, AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST." He had heard and read the text scores, hundreds of times, but it was words only, now it was attended with power and much assurance. His own account of the manner is that "the words came not in the form of a command enjoining any condition to be performed, but clothed with sovereign majesty, and to manifest and impart divine love and mercy; like the term let in Gen. i. 3, and the word live Ezek xvi. 6; so here "Come unto me. "" It was the voice of my beloved, not standing at a distance to wait for my approach unto him, but by which his presence entered my soul as one mighty to save; for no sooner had he spoken to my heart, than I felt myself in his embrace; my burden fled, and I enjoyed sweet rest and peace in my soul. I found also his yoke to be easy and his burden light. I cheerfully forsook my former ways and companions in sin, and could say, the time past of my life may suffice to have wrought the will of the flesh. Indeed, a new life was begun in my soul, a life of prayer and devotedness to God wherein I was indulged with frequent access to the throne of grace, and sweet communion with my Lord, and enjoyed some precious tokens of his love.

(To be continued).

THY WILL BE DONE,

By WILLIAM STOKES of Manchester. Author of the Olive Branch," &c. &c.

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The Late Mr. George Abrahams,

A REMINISCENCE AND A REVIEW.

ONE fine Sabbath morning in the autumn of 1841, I recollect, when at the breakfast table, asking my father, "Where are you going this morning?

The covers of the Gospel Standard and the Herald were consulted without any satisfactory result apparently to my parent. Presently, however, he said, "There's a Mr. Abrahams, a converted Jew, a minister of great repute, who preaches somewhere in the City road; we will go and hear him.”

We started early (I used to go out earlier in those days), and, after reaching the City road, we crossed the bridge which spans the canal, and in doing so stopped to listen to the blind man who sat there reading the Word of God. Soon we found ourselves in Regent street chapel, which in those days was crowded, and we had to wait no little time ere we could get a seat. I recollect that he took for his text "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" Those who knew George Abrahams can well imagine what a sermon he would preach from such a text. I never again heard Mr. Abrahams in Regent street chapel; but several times in other places, especially at Jewry street, Aldgate, where he used to preach one evening in the week.

The

I had one interview with Mr. Abrahams at Jewry street. Lord had been pleased to make his ministry there instrumental to one near and dear to me in bringing him out of bondage, and he had written to request that he might be permitted to hold some conversation with him on the subject. I was the bearer of a letter, and waited some long time after the service for Mr. Abrahams' reply. I saw at last that he was leaving, and stepping up to him in as suitable a style as my awkward manner would command, I ventured to remind the good man that I had received no reply to the letter of which I was the bearer. He answered

me somewhat impetuously, "Tell your father I have nothing to give away." I told him that my father sought no pecuniary aid. He then read again the letter, apologized for his quick answer, and, with a smile, made the desired appointment.

"Do you know that Mr. Abrahams is dead?" asked a kind friend the other day.

"No!" I said, "I have long been promising myself the pleasure of hearing him once more;" but procrastination, that thief of time, and I might almost say bane of my life, had driven it off until it was "too late." No more shall any of us hear the musical though peculiar voice of George Abrahams. He roams more in Achor's vale. He has gone for ever to be with the Lord.

no

I read with some interest the brief notice of his death in THE EARTHEN VESSEL for December; and subsequently resolved, if possible, to visit Regent street chapel once more, to hear the funeral sermon which was announced to be preached by the Rev. Richard Luckin, of Woodbridge chapel, Clerkenwell. It was the first Sunday morning in December, very cold and very wet. There sat, as I believe, the same blind man upon the canal bridge; but the pulpit in Regent street chapel, draped in black, was empty. The chapel was soon filled, and nearly all wore sombre attire. Solemn but subdued grief seemed to sit upon many a face, and some seemed hardly able to recognise the fact that the man who had ministered unto them for years in holy things was no more.

The service was commenced by Mr. Bayfield, of Brighton, giving out the hymn commencing

"Believer, lift thy drooping head,” which was sung to the good old tune of "Truro." Two portions of Scripture were then read, and earnest prayer offered by a promising young member of the church (Mr. Robert

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