Scriptures in their most literal sense, with regard to the "Bread of Life?" How kind and thoughtful, too, to point to my dear mother in this way! So that the heavy burden she was bearing should be removed! Truly, God is Love! After this, of course, I could not hesitate; and ever since I wrote my mother, aunt, and dear brother-in-law, and more especially since I have received letters from the latter, all has been joy, sometimes almost more than I can bear. I received a letter from a brother in Bristol, introducing me to another here; and with him I attended a little gathering for prayer last evening, I am now going to his house to consult him principally on temporal matters, for I must be careful to do nothing except to the honour and glory of my heavenly Father. I could write you much more, but must defer it for the present. Commend me with kindest regard to all who know me. Ask the prayers of those who are in the faith on my behalf, and accept, my dear sister, the Christian affection of Yours ever in Jesus, G. G.

Rom. xv. 30.

Exmouth, February 15, 1869.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."-PHIL. iv. 19.

MY EVER-DEAR SON,-I thank you very much for your letter, dated February 6, and assure you its contents gave me great joy. For some length of time, dear G- I have found it very sweet to put my trust in the "living God," and whilst, through grace, I have rolled all my care on Him, have also sought that my dear children may be made partakers of like precious blessings with myself. When therefore your letter announced to me the resolve, by divine grace, that henceforth the life you now live in the flesh shall be a life of faith in the Son of God, who hath loved you, and hath given Himself for you, my heart leaped within me, and I was enabled to exclaim with renewed vigour, "I will hope continually, and will yet praise Thee more and more" (Psalm lxxi. 14). My heart does indeed respond to your statement, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." "Trust in the Lord for ever, for with the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men utterly fail; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."

May, dear G——, the sweet ejaculation be constantly going from you, Lord, increase my faith." May you be "strengthened with all might by His Spirit in the inner man ; " and "be strong in the grace that is in

Christ Jesus," and continually "abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." Let me entreat you to feed daily, yea, hourly, in the green pastures of the written word; for there only, under the Holy Spirit's teaching, will you find real nourishment. Ever bear in mind the words of Jesus, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What a mine of treasure we have in the 119th psalm. I sometimes think whilst reading its different parts that it is indeed very precious. It commences so nicely, leading us at once to our great Exemplar, the God-Man Christ Jesus; for He alone delighted in the law of the Lord. He alone was undefiled and separate from sinners. He alone did the will of His Father; and we have professed to follow Him, and He has set us an example, that we should follow His steps. May we seek continually strength to do so at the "Mercy-seat," for the sure word is "There will I meet thee."

"Oh, may we ever walk in Him,

And nothing know beside;
Nothing desire, nothing esteem,
But Jesus crucified,'

I have had much comfort given me, whilst alone in the "little room" at the top of the house, musing on this Psalm; and whilst gathering as it were its many flowers, the perfume of them has drawn my soul insensibly to Him who is gone to the "mountains of myrrh" and the "hill of frankincense," whilst the things that are seen and temporal " have appeared worthless indeed. In the 89th verse of this Psalm we read, "For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." O sweet soul-sustaining truth! The eternal "Word," the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. Yes, blessed Jesus, Thou art then, and for us, our "Risen Life," our Surety, our Power with the Father, our Advocate, our glorious High Priest, and Intercessor; and Thy word assures us because Thou livest we shall live also." Dear G"" ought not these truths to cheer us amidst all? How do the fleeting things of earth sink into nothing, when contemplating these glorious realities; and what sinful worms do we appear. May we each cry with the Psalmist, "My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken Thou me." I am rejoiced, my son, that your heavenly and loving Father has seen fit in His tender mercy to use you as an instrument of "good" to your fellow-creatures. "Be not weary in well doing; for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not."

I am now going to relate to you, my son, what I have never yet made known to mortal. Early in the spring, 1841, I left Bathpool, where your Sister A― was born, and went to Bristol . . . We had been in fellowship with the "brethren" at Taunton for some time, and I looked forward to "happy meetings" with those in Bristol to whom I was committed after much prayer, they at Taunton requesting I may be received with tenderness on account of my then affliction. I was in an advanced state of pregnancy, and therefore seldom went out. I received many calls on my arrival in Bristol, and great attention from the sisters. On the 26th of June the Lord was pleased to make me the happy mother of a male child, and on the subsequent Lord's-day thanksgiving was returned at Bethesda, and both mother and child committed to the care of our heavenly Father, with much prayer, by our dear brother Müller. I got over my weakness, through much mercy, and early in September was sitting in my little snug parlour at needlework with you in your cradle asleep by my side. A

knock at the front-door announced visitors, and the servant brought into the room two ladies. They were strangers to me, but I found one was dear Mrs. Müller, and the other a Miss Bullock, then a visitor at the residence of Mrs. M

After they were seated the subject of my affliction* was spoken of, and dear Mrs. M- was very sweet on different parts of the "word of God." Her soft and loving manner soon drew from me confidence to tell her how much I at times regretted being, as it were, cut off from active service for the Lord, in which I had taken such delight before my affliction. She turned, and said to me, "Dear sister, the Lord may see fit that your service to Him, instead of active, shall be passive; and, though you cannot go out, He is able to bring them to you. Even the dear child in the cradle may become an active and useful servant for the Lord." Miss Bullock then knelt down by your cradle, and we offered our united petitions to that effect.

Yes, dear Gthis hope has many times been my stay; for I felt sure the Lord would, in His own time, answer prayer on your behalf. Many times, through the long dark vista, when everything seemed to crush the fulfilment of such a hope, I have been sustained and comforted from the word of God, particularly the last verse of the 27th Psalm.

Well do I remember your coming from London to Southampton with Mr. S- You arrived on the Friday evening, purposing to remain with me until the following Tuesday. You came, and oh, with what anxiety did I watch every action, and listen that I may discover, if possible, any trace that the spark of " inner life was kindled; but I was disappointed, and it made me very sad.

Tuesday Evening.-The time of your departure came, and after your tea you rose to go. My heart was full, and the tears began to flow. When you saw them you said, "Mother, remember if you cry when I come to see you, I shall never come again." This made me worse. When you were gone, and the front door closed on you, I thought, "Gone! gone again into a heartless world, without any trace of his heart being renewed by divine grace.'

I was alone, and, taking up my Bible, that had been my companion for many years, I opened it, and my eyes fell on the words, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God." Here again was the hope, and during the days and weeks and months and years that have intervened, that hope has never left me; and I have been sustained much by the sure word of promise, and the faithfulness of Him who never disappoints the expectations of those who put their trust in Him. You will see now, dear, why I so much wish you to be active in the Lord's vineyard. May He strengthen and uphold you continually, and make you a "burning and a shining light" in the midst of a "crooked and perverse generation." It was not until November, 1868, my heavenly Father saw best to grant me an answer to prayer and to give me the realization of my hope. When yours reached me with the glad tidings," I felt as if I could grasp the whole universe to give one *Paralytic stroke.

loud shout of praise to our faithful and covenant-keeping God and
Father in Christ Jesus, for His unspeakable mercy. May He use you in
His own way for His glory, and His shall be the praise for ever!
Your affectionate Mother,

Passing Events.-3 Monthly Note.

Of that

MR. GLADSTONE's Bill for the Disestablishment and Disendowment of the Irish Protestant Church has at length been brought before the House of Commons. We cannot regard it in any other light than that of sheer confiscation and wholesale robbery. It proposes, in the first place, that the union between the English and the Irish churches should be abolished, that the Irish Church should cease to be connected with the State, and that her bishops should discontinue to sit in the House of Lords. And, in the second place, that the whole of the church's property should be placed in the hands of a commission, which is to manage it for ten years. property, something above one-third is to be handed back to the Church, to pay the net income of the incumbents and curates for the remainder of their lives (which may, or may not, leave anything afterwards for the permanent support of the Church), and the remainder of the property, or nearly two-thirds of it, is to be given to the permanent endowment of Maynooth, to the Presbyterians, to laymen, and to the support of lunatic asylums, deaf and dumb asylums, trained nurses, reformatories, and infirmaries. A more jesuitical bill was probably never laid upon the table of the House of Commons, for, whilst it ostensibly provides for the present interests of the Church, it in reality proposes to deprive her of the whole of her property; and, whilst it gratifies the Roman Catholics and the Presbyterians by carefully considering their interests, and giving them a large share of the spoil, it also reconciles many a would-be opponent by the secularization of the Church's revenues, and their application to the relief of Ireland's heavy taxes. In its details, too, the same astuteness is observable; e.g., private endowments, it says, are to be respected, but back to what date? Only to the year 1660. Why make that year the limit? Because, Mr. Gladstone says, "in that period the Church of Ireland assumed its present legislative shape and character." Is this the real reason? By no means. The real reason is, that the endowments given prior to that period are the most valuable part of the Church's property. The good and generous men who lived shortly after the Reformation nobly came forward in their zeal for true religion, and endowed the Protestant Church largely out of their own private means, so that it might remain as a bulwark for ever against the errors they were determined to oppose. By the year 1660 this good work was wellnigh completed; and so Mr. Gladstone fixes that date, in order that he may be able to lay violent hands upon the whole of those noble gifts. How unfairly also is the Protestant Church treated, as compared with the Popish College of Maynooth! Mr. Gladstone reckons the life interests of the Church at less than nine years' purchase of that which he declares to be her actual income, and this sum he proposes to bestow not on the Church itself, but on the individual clergy, and saddles it with the obligation to pay them their whole present income. The life-interests of Maynooth are arbi

trarily reckoned at fourteen years' purchase; and this sum is handed over to Maynooth without any condition whatever! Again, there is a repairing charge of £20,000 on Maynooth, and of this Mr. Gladstone makes a free present to that Popish college. On the Protestant parsonages there is a similar charge of £250,000 for building, &c.; and this sum Mr. Gladstone rigorously exacts from the coffers of the disestablished Church! So much for equality! Then, again, as regards Maynooth, this Bill commits a double breach of faith. It was promised that the Maynooth grant should be abolished, always saving life-interests. No direct provision is made for life-interests; but, instead of abolishing the grant, Mr. Gladstone commutes it for a gift so large that it would at any time have been cheerfully accepted as the equivalent of the Parliamentary grant. It was understood that no part of the confiscated funds of the Church should be handed over to the Roman Catholics; Mr. Gladstone directly transfers to them, out of these funds, a sum of £380,000! Surely such a Bill can never become law! If it did, it would be a disgrace to the English name for ever. Supposing that the State had bestowed these funds, then perchance it might attempt to reclaim them; but inasmuch as it never gave them, it has no more right to touch them than it has a right to confiscate the property of a private individual. Some persons may, perhaps, not approve of the principle of religious endowments, and may not consider that our forefathers left their property in the wisest and best way; but, when that property has been left, and devoted by our forefathers to the furtherance of sacred objects which were very dear to their hearts, it is sheer robbery and sacrilege to snatch it away and devote it to objects which the donors never contemplated. In short, as a nobleman observed the other day in the House of Lords, "The whole proceeding is a sacrilegious one; the policy has been dictated by reckless party motives, and it is alike disgraceful to the Government, and insulting to Parliament and the country."

a

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The Irish Protestants are highly incensed at this measure. A strong protest against it has just been signed by forty-five Irish noblemen and by upwards of a thousand baronets, magistrates, and other influential gentlemen. Several large meetings have also been held, at which the strongest indignation was expressed. At Dublin, in a meeting of about three thousand persons, it was unanimously resolved that the Bill should be "met with determined and uncompromising resistance," as being measure contrary to good faith and subversive of the rights of property.' And the meeting expressed very decidedly its opinion that "the Bill would involve an abandonment of the principles of the Reformation; that it would be a repudiation by the State of pure Christianity based on the word of God; that it would deprive thousands of families of the blessings of a parochial ministry and the ordinances of true religion; and that, taking into consideration the solemn compacts entered into by England with Ireland, it was a measure fraught with injustice and wrong." Such is the opinion of Irish Protestants, expressed in no hesitating or qualified terms. "The feelings of the Protestants of Ireland," says a leading Irish paper (the Daily Express), "may be clearly read by our legislators from meetings such as that assembled last night at the Metropolitan Hall. The genuine enthusiasm, the heartfelt indignation at the policy of the Government, the stern determination and undaunted resolution of which the vast assemblage gave unmistakable evidence, prove beyond a doubt that if the enemies of the Church base their calculations on the apathy or inaction