HOW JARVIS GOT HIS HOUSE. answered, and put the Honourable's order into his hands that it might be duly served and carried out; finally, he must go to work, for he had made a considerable dip into his savings, and as he looked to a not distant day when he should have to provide a home for a wife, he could not afford idleness, even if it had not been his abhorrence. Mr. Grey saw his success written on his face, and hailed him with a cordial welcome; he happened to with him. Now the poor fellow was able to tell his story fully; and how gladly his good teacher listened to his simple hearty testimony to answered prayer may casily be believed. Again Joss knelt, while Mr. Grey solemnly and earnestly returned thanks for the mercies he had received; and prayed that what he had experienced might, by God's farther blessing, increase his faith and hope and love! Mr. Grey gladly took charge of the notice, which he saw was quite clear and positive, and promised that Mr. Robson should have it, adding that there was no fear but that Jarvis and his family would be comfortably housed on the Common immediately. Again Joss wrung the Scripture-reader's hand, and again he cried out to him to leave him some whole bones. the RABBI SULEIMAN. 21 be just leaving his house, but returned, taking JoA REMARKABLE history belongs to that section of the Hebrew race dwelling in the midst of nomadic tribes of Arabia. According to tradition, having fled to the mountainous regions of Arabia Felix, after the invasion of their own land by Nebuchadnezzar, they permanently established themselves there, and by degrees rose to wealth. Trade flourished; the pasture-lands were covered with flocks and herds; the fruitful soil yielded abundant crops of grapes, coffee and grain; the savage tribes, unable to cope with the superior power and intelligence of these foreign colonists, soon acknowledged their rule, and, for nearly six hundred years, the Hebrews were masters of their adopted country. But their dominion was destined to come to an end. The Jews fell before the sword of Mohammedanism. They were the first victims of that mighty power which was destined to carry desolation into the fairest abodes of Europe. Throughout Arabia the sword or the kelema was their only option. No capitation tax, no passive spoliation, no galling slavery, could procure immunity for the stubborn unbelievers in the holy land of Islam. Massacres which converted the towns and villages inhabited by the Jews into charnel-houses, and which since the time of Mohammed have not unfrequently been repeated, were powerless to uproot them, and their numbers in the course of years seem rather to have augmented. In Yemen, from Saad, the ancient Diklah, in the north, to the rock-bound shores of the Indian Ocean in the south, are to be found upwards of two hundred thousand of the descendants of the patriarchs. In later times, till 1854, they lived in comparative safety, but when, during that year, the last of the Imaums was murdered, the hatred and animosity of the Moslems towards them broke forth with redoubled fury. The Jewish quarter in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, was abandoned to the fanatical mob. The narrow streets streamed with blood, the houses were razed to the ground, and the whole quarter presented a scene of carnage, desolation and death. By the time Joss reached the Common, the men were at dinner; he found them precisely in the same circumstances, only a little lower down on the road in which we introduced the reader to them at first. “Heh! be'st back? Where'st bin?" cried Sonsie Bill, starting up when he saw him. "Bin to far end, an' come back!" said Joss, laughing. "Bin a seein' o' Liz?" was the next question. "Thought thee was gone to Jarvis, but er said er hadn't sin 'ee!" "How's tramway?" asked Joss, laying himself on the turf and looking to the road to divert the conversation. "Sick o't," cried Sonsie in disgust; "soon's pit's clear, I'll be back to the right work; an' thee?" he added with a questioning look. Joss agreed with him very decidedly on the superiority of pit-work over that they were now temporarily engaged innot that it mattered much to him what work he had to do, but he had conceived, very naturally, so strong a feeling for Mr. Cox, that he felt it was scarcely right in him to work for another. It was a very different thing to him now, that name; he had always held it in mysterious reverence when he had seen it on the coal-carts; but since the man himself, the name in person, had looked on him and spoken to him, so kindly and so graciously, it was a living love he had to him. At the next cottage-lecture held by Mr. Grey, he spoke much of the power of prayer, and of the folly of being careful and troubled about the things we are concerned with, since all our wants are well known to our Father, whose ear is ever ready to listen to the poorest and weakest of his children. and whose throne of grace is open to all comers; "and the way to it is direct, straight up," he said, pointing above: "Our Father, which art in heaven, hear us, through Jesus Christ our Lord! That's the way to pray!" Since this event the Jews, who are debarred by their enemies from cultivating the soil, eke out a precarious existence by following the various trades of goldsmiths, potters and weavers. They do not care to amass riches, knowing that wealth would only entail severer sufferings upon them and excite the rapacity of their oppressors. Poverty and want are their sad lot, and they are content if they can, by dint of incessant toil, earn enough to procure a scanty subsistence for themselves and their families. In the year 1856 a missionary journey to the Jews residing in Arabia Felix was undertaken by the Rev. H. A. Stern. Dressed as a native and accompanied by a single Yemenee, who acted as his guide and companion, he started on his perilous enterprise, and, after several weeks of toil, hardship and suffering, reached Sanaa. Here he spent twelve days in preaching to the despised members of the house of Israel the "good tidings of salvation." Morning, noon, and night his room was thronged, and, had not the dread of their Mahommedan taskmasters held them back, many Jews would, in all probability, have openly avowed their faith in Christ crucified. As it was, however, New Testaments and tracts were largely distributed and circulated. On one occasion, when the crowded audience had dispersed to their various homes, two Israelites lingered behind, anxious to confess their faith in the Messiah. With tears flowing down their wan, sallow cheeks, they pressed the New Testament to their quivering lips, and in accents of intense earnestness exclaimed: "Jesus, Thou gracious Redeemer of souls, pity our ignorance and forgive us our sins." Besides these two there were several others, who desired to be baptized, but their peculiar position forbade Mr. Stern to comply with their request. In fact, the new doctrines he had promulgated had already raised a storm, and more than one amongst both Jews and Mahommedans who were suspected of favouring them, had been beaten and otherwise maltreated. Public clamour against the missionary himself was also growing too loud and vehement to be resisted, and fearful lest, in his own fate, he should involve many others, he determined rather to quit the town. The Jews were deeply affected when they heard of this decision, and group after group flocked into his room his ministry, organizing his army and appointing generals, a report reached him that Sultan Abdul Aziz had sent troops to depose him. The new Messiah suddenly disbanded his followers, whom he dismissed till he should receive further instructions from heaven, fled to a secure hiding-place, and there remained concealed till the storm had blown over. For some time nothing more was heard of him, and the troops sent to capture him had well-nigh forgotten his existence, when he again emerged from his retreat, sounded the battle-note, collected his partisans around him, and boldly declared his intention of marching on Jerusalem and placing the crown of Israel on his own brow. Abdul Aziz did not altogether approve of this competitor for the possession of Palestine, and accordingly anew unsheathed his sword against him. Ibn Daood was unable to cope with his powerful rival; he was seized, made prisoner, and, for aught that is known to the contrary, may even now be languishing, a solitary captive, in one of the mountain fortresses which crown the i proud summits of the highland ranges of Arabia. to give him the parting blessing and to hear from his WE lips for the last time the message of Divine love. Although no immediate results accrued from this effort, a good deal of inquiry was excited and the Bible was largely read. Undoubtedly in some hearts the word had sunk deep, but to numbers the announcement that their Messiah had already appeared seemed an incredible fiction. Still the story of Divine love so narrated in the Gospels, several copies of which they now had in their own possession, tallied strangely with the predictions contained in Moses and the Prophets concerning the coming of the Anointed One. Also the Messiah of the Old Dispensation and the Christ of the New were both characters perfectly reconcilable, and the types, shadows and figures of the Old Testament all seemed to take their accomplishment in the person of the despised Nazarene. The tidings spread. No longer was the Messiah talked of alone in Sanaa and the adjacent villages, but throughout the whole of Yemen and Hadramaut, the two provinces comprised in Arabia Felix. A Jewish rabbi in the latter province, who was deeply versed in rabbinical and cabalistic lore, heard the rumour. He was ambitious and courted fame. The favourable moment had presented itself. Assembling around him a body of attached followers, he placed himself at their head and publicly proclaimed to his expectant Jewish brethren that he was their Messiah, and had been ordained by God to lead them back to El Kuds, the Holy City. The multitudes listened cagerly; numbers flocked to his standard, and soon Ibn Daood (Son of David), as Rabbi Suleiman called himself, had mustered a considerable force. He took up his station in a mountain south of the town of Mariba, and thither Jews from all parts of Arabia repaired with costly presents. His numerous adherents declared themselves ready to march under his banner against their foes, the Arabs; and in many places the rabbis even altered the synagogue prayers. But whilst Ibn Daood was engaged in constituting A SHORT BUT NOBLE LIFE. WE are going to tell the brief history of a life, obscure in the world's annals, but truly noble and exemplary, because devoted to God's service, and abundant in Christian usefulness. The Rev. Albert Whiting, an American missionary in China, fell a victim to disease contracted in the terrible famine of last year. His name was unknown to us, as it will be probably to most readers of the "Sunday at Home," but we have been deeply touched in reading the tribute to his memory sent to the "New York Observer," by his friend the Rev. E. C. Lawrence. There are such men connected with all our missionary societies, and indeed with all Christian work at home and abroad. When tempted to think that "the times are evil," and that "faith is waxing cold," the spirit is refreshed by hearing of devotedness and zeal worthy of the apostolic age. men are "the salt of the earth," and the life of the Church. Such Albert Whiting was born in Milton, near Ballston Spa, N. Y., May 27, 1847. He was the eldest son of the late Jonathan Whiting, a wealthy farmer and lumber merchant. Though designed and desired to succeed to his father's business, the son set his face towards the Christian ministry with a steadfast resolution to become a foreign missionary. Having completed his preparatory studies, he entered Union College in the class of 1869, where he soon won the friendship of the Faculty and the students. One of the tallest and strongest men in the college at that time, he never aimed to lead in feats of skill or strength, but none enjoyed better than he a quiet walk and talk with a congenial companion. Life was earnest to him, and time was precious. In Princeton Theological Seminary his zeal and devotion and application were wonderful. Months of hard study were followed by vacations of preaching in the back settlements of Canada, where many a family will be moved to tears when they hear of the death of the young minister whom they loved so much. By the death of his father he was obliged to leave his studies for a year and settle the estate, WINTER. The year 1875 was an eventful one in his short history, as in it he graduated from the seminary, was ordained to the ministry, married to Miss Louise S. Parsons, the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary of Constantinople (who was educated at Elmira Female College with Mr. Whiting's sister), and with her sailed away to China. At both Soo Chow and Nanking, where he was successively stationed, his efforts to do good were crowned with success, as having studied medicine he was able to open a way for the gospel by healing the sick. Thus he was engaged in a boundless field, with increasing cares and ever widening influence, till last winter, when the terrible famine broke out in Northern China. Immediately his warm heart was enlisted to relieve the suffering. Supplies being gathered, and his wife sent to Shanghai, he set out to succour and save the perishing. After a rough journey overland of more than four hundred miles, worn out with fatigue, he was seized with a fever, which in sixteen days proved fatal. There, on the 25th of last April, in the thirty 23 first year of his age, far from his native land, no friends nor kindred near, away from his beloved wife, with none but a brother missionary present to receive his last messages, this brave young herald of the gospel finished his course. He left in his own country a good home and ample fortune, and went to preach the word to the Chinese. The early loss of such men is among the mysteries of Providence. Yet it is no mystery, rightly considered. Acquiescence in the will of God brings relief to those who mourn the lost. They mourn not as others, knowing that the loved ones are with the Lord. But revelation has taught truths that satisfy reason as well as relieve sorrow. This world is but a small stage, and life but a short period, for the children of God and the heirs of immortality. In this world character is formed. In the world to come there may be much to be done by those who, like Albert Whiting, have had opportunity here of being faithful only in little, and have entered early into the joy of the Lord. Now Winter. WOW Winter, like a stern but kindly nurse, Wraps the tired earth all in a robe of white, And bids her sleep till vernal beams disperse The clouds that curtain heaven's blue dome from sight. So shall new might May note them traced against the leaden sky, Yet service yield to us. Beneath his load Thinks gaily how the logs his labour won Round his small homestead; safely housed and warm, Content their dower, And thankful hearts that own God's gracious power And folds his charge ere evening bells have pealed. LA A SUNDAY AT NÎMES. AST spring I spent a few days at Nîmes, a city famous for the number, importance, and preservation of its Roman remains. It was not, however, these antiquities, grand and wonderfully interesting as they are, that attracted me to Nîmes, but its character as the religious centre of Protestantism in the south of France. At least threefourths of the Protestants of France are to be found in the south, and of all the departments of the south, the most Protestant is Le Gard, of which Nîmes is the chief town. Out of its population of 60,000, the Protestants claim nearly 16,000. If the Reformed Church had had fair play, it would long ago have been the predominant religion in these regions. As it is, it has always been strong enough to provoke the jealousy of the Roman Church, and in times of excitement this jealousy has shown itself in vindictive acts of resentment. The last manifestation of importance was in 1815, immediately after the battle of Waterloo. Organised bands of royalists ravaged the country in various parts of the south, levying black-mail, sacking houses, outraging homes, and murdering men to the hypocritical cry of "Vive la croix! Vive le roi!" On the 17th of July the "White Terror" broke out in Nîmes, when the truculent friends of the Throne and the Altar basely massacred the garrison while marching out unarmed, notwithstanding their convention to give them a safe exit from the city. Then Nimes itself was given up to anarchy, Protestants who dared to arm themselves in order to protect their families, were dragged before judges, who punished them instead of their tyrants. The reactionists would have had it all their own way had not questions been asked in the English House of Commons. Louis XVIII., aroused by the expostulations of the British cabinet, sent the Duc d'Angoulême to the south, who, amongst other acts of justice, immediately ordered the opening of the Protestant temples. This, however, was not done without bloodshed, for on the Sunday upon which the first was opened at Nîmes, a mob rushed in, crying, "Death to the Protestants! Let them give us back our churches! Let them go back to the desert!" The officer in command, General Lagarde, did his best to stem the popular fury, but was murdered by the insurgents. This outrage staggered the royalists themselves, and brought "the terror to a close, not, however, without deepening still more the religious separation of ages. No doubt it is this long disharmony among its citizens that has helped to render Nîmes such a place of singular contrasts. A wide boulevard, forming a triangle in the middle of the city, encloses the old town, into which enterprising visitors venture only to find it a mere congeries of alleys. In a mean little square, with loathsome-looking butchers' sheds on one side, and mean shops of the "bon marché" order on the other, with old stalls in the centre, stands the Cathedral. Its heavy exterior suggests no comparison with the Gothic glories of England and Northern France, the only point of interest being a singular series of sculptures illustrating the book of Genesis. Inside it is dark and dusty, an aspect of depression and decay seems to have settled over the place. From a pastoral published by the present Bishop, Mgr. Besson, it would seem that the condition of his cathedral is typical of the state of clericalism in his diocese. He has churches: there are two new ones in Nîmes, one of which, St. Baudile's, is larger than the cathedral, the other, St. Paul's, is decorated with a series of fine frescoes by H. and P. Flandrin; but, strange to say, there is a dearth of priests. What is still more ominous, the sources themselves are drying up. Formerly the grand seminary in Nîmes had more than eighty pupils, in 1876 it had only thirty-four. At one corner of the triangle which contains the old town, is a statue of Antoninus Pius, who was a native of Nîmes, and the originator of much of its ancient glory. The outskirts of the city, in the immediate neighbourhood of the statue, are in striking contrast to the old town; wide rectangular streets, ending in a public park in which the remains of the ancient Roman baths, the ruins of the Temple of Diana and the eminence crowned by the Tourmagne, are utilised in a most artistic manner. In the vicinity of this select quarter, near the statue of Antoninus, in a kind of large bath hollowed out in the road and flanked on both sides by a low wall, is the public laundry of the city. Although Nîmes, from its position, had a claim to be regarded as the religious capital of French Protestantism, the primacy has now passed over to Paris. In the struggles which have agitated the reformed churches of France for many years past, the consistory of Nîmes has led the liberal, while that of Paris has always represented the orthodox party. Not only throughout the south but in Nîmes itself, there is a powerful orthodox element. As far back as 1863, a virtual separation took place between the two parties, and the orthodox pastors and laymen formed the Conférence Nationale Evangélique du Midi. Out of this conference sprang the Mission Intérieure Evangélique. Moved by the terrible judgments which befell France in 1870-71, the conference felt it their chief duty to devote themselves to the evangelisation of their country. Their great idea was individual effort, working in its own immediate circle, but supported and encouraged by an organisation spread all over the country. To create innumerable centres of evangelisation, by gathering into small groups persons associated by social ties, to affiliate these centres, and to cause them to act and react on each other by means of a monthly bulletin, containing reports from various quarters and by meetings large and small, such was the plan of its founders. If they have not altogether realised their ideal, they have no reason to be discouraged. Tho unity of the true church in France has been strengthened, and a standard set up. Meanwhile they have borne a large share in the work of the |