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evangelistic efforts upwards of 100,000l.; and yet her income during a large part of her later life did not amount to more than 1,2007., and never much exceeded 2,0007. No jewels did she retain for herself, but sold them all, devoting the proceeds to the service of her Lord. Sometimes she was in great straits when money for her chapels became due; but relief came with the morning post, friends known and unknown sending her cheques for considerable sums to aid her in the work she set herself to do. Thus she lived and laboured by faith.

The efforts of the Countess extended all over the land. She mapped out England into districts, and sent preachers to canvass them and see what could be done for the extension of religion in them. Such devoted clergymen as Romaine, Venn, Shirley, Fletcher, Toplady, and Benson, devoted all the time they could spare from regular duty to the promotion of the Countess's plans. But she herself was the soul and centre of the movement. This one thing she did. Wherever she was became for the time head-quarters, whether it were London, Bristol, or Wales. Yet she never appeared in her work, but directed it, as it were, behind the scenes. Never forgetting that she was a woman, and never losing the consciousness of being a lady of rank, she never obtruded herself by any public act in the public assemblies of her societies. No formal conferences were held for the regulation of them. Few, if any, were the representative consultations that were held with her on the part of her helpers. Yet her preachers and evangelists naturally resorted to her house for counsel and guidance. "Severely practical, and never whimsical in her judgments, she added to her other sources of power a moral authority to which all reverently deferred." When, by the multiplication of her chapels preachers could not be found for them all, she resolved in her mind the feasibility of establishing a college for training young men for the ministry.

She submitted her plan to Whitfield, Wesley, Venn, and others of her principal friends and helpers, and it met with their approval. Hence the opening of her college in a romantic and dilapidated castle of the twelfth century at Trevecca, in Wales. The preparation of the place for the purpose designed was a serious drain upon her resources, but Ladies Chesterfield and Glenorchy, with other generous and devoted friends, came to her help, and contributed largely. The college was opened on the 24th August, 1768, Whitfield preaching in the courtyard from the words, "In all places where I record my name I will come to them, and I will bless them." The saintly Fletcher of Madeley became the first president, and "James Glazebrook, collier, and getter-out of iron-stone in the woods of Madeley," the first student. Others soon followed, and ere long there was a goodly band of young preachers in training at Trevecca. Her object, as stated in the trust deed of the college, was the spread of the Gospel "at home and abroad," the eye of the Countess being turned principally toward America in carrying on the labours of Whitfield there, he having died at Georgia in 1770. A "free course was opened to the preachers who were sent thither, and more were required. "The invitations which I had for our ministry,” she wrote, "in various parts of America, are so kind and affectionate that it looks as if we were to have our way free through the whole continent."

The college was established none too soon to meet the needs of her chapels at home: for in 1779 she was compelled to avail herself of the "Toleration Act," in order to prevent the clergy that were hostile to her exercising control in her chapels within their parishes. Forced to take refuge under this Act, the chapels were henceforth regarded as belonging not to the Church but to Dissent, consequently the clergy who had officiated in them before were no longer at liberty to

Soon after the Countess's death, the college was removed for convenience to the neighbourhood of London, where it has since been known as Cheshunt College. The young men trained there are left free to choose among what body of Christians they will exercise their ministry. Thus the work of the sainted Countess survives, and is felt as a spiritual force in the British churches to this day.

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do so. Happily the college was by this God he ever knew." "She is," said time sending out a goodly number of Whitfield, "all in a flame for Jesus." preachers, and these supplied Lady" The strength of her soul," said DoddLady Huntingdon's chapels. ridge, "is amazing. I think I never saw so much of the image of God in a woman on earth. Were I to write what I know of her, it would fill your heart with wonder, joy, and praise." Lady Charlotte," said the Prince of Wales to a lady of the Court, "when I am dying, I think I shall be happy to seize the skirt of Lady Huntingdon's mantle to lift me up with her to heaven." Her zeal was a passion; her devotion to the cause she had espoused was complete. She lived In the year 1791, the same year as for it, sacrificing all save the barest Wesley died, Lady Huntingdon passed pittance for her subsistence. That she away, having attained the ripe age of ruled affairs with absolute will, and eighty-four years. Her illness was long carried out her plans with decision, is and trying, but her resignation was com- but saying that she possessed those plete, and her joy sometimes rose to natural qualifications which make a leader. rapture. The breaking of a blood-vessel Had she been a man she would have came to her as the sign that her end rivalled Wesley, and probably formed a drew near, and in view of it she ex-"connexion" as enduring as his; but claimed "I am well; all is well-well none of her coadjutors possessed her The coming of the Lord innate force of character, and she left no draweth nigh! The thought fills my successor to carry on her work. soul with joy unspeakable, my soul is filled with glory-I am as in the element of heaven itself-I am encircled in the arms of love and mercy-I long to be at home-Oh I long to be at home!" So did she pass down to the river, almost her last words being, "My work is done; I have nothing to do but to go to my

for ever.

Father."

Thus closed what has been well termed the most remarkable career which is recorded of her sex in the history of the modern Church. A German historian of her times, who personally knew her, declared that "conversing with her you forgot the earldom in her exhibition of humble, loving piety." Toplady pronounced her "the most precious saint of

Perhaps a successor was impossible. The Countess's work was unique, and none other could be to it what she had been. That nearly a hundred years after her decease there should be some thirty or forty chapels still belonging to her connexion, several of them being occupied by vigorous Christian congregations, and that her college should be one of the most flourishing educational institutions for the rising Nonconformist ministry of the present day, shows the living, lasting power there was in the community she left. A true mother in Israel, the name of the excellent Countess of Huntingdon will hold a place in the Church's records to the end of time.

J. BRANWHITE FRENCH.

M

THE SAILOR'S RETURN.

ARY ELDER had but one thing to complain of, and that was that her husband was a sailor. In her pretty little cottagehome in the country, just within sight of the sea, she felt at first very lonely when her husband was away. It was not so bad when little Kitty came, and Jack, and she might have become in a measure reconciled to his often being absent for months at a time; but she never could get over her feeling of anxiety for his safety when he was away on the deep. On stormy nights she could not sleep, but would lie awake wondering where his ship might be, and imagining him exposed to all kinds of dangers and hardships. Indeed, it is safe to say that she suffered much more from her anxiety than he did from all the danger and hardships he had to encounter. Ned, her husband, would on his part, very gladly have given up a seafaring life, for it had quite lost its charms for him since he had a home of his own, but it was not easy to find any other means of livelihood. At last, however, he made up his mind that after another voyage he would give up a sailor's life altogether, and endeavour to find his living on the land, a decision which filled his wife's heart with delight.

gladness of their meeting, and Mary's satisfaction when Ned declared that, come what might, he had made his last voyage, and never would leave his home to tempt the sea again. His story was quickly told, and the long delay easily accounted for. His ship had foundered at sea, but the passengers and crew had been picked up by a passing vessel. She was bound, however, for a distant port, and it had been impossible to send home word either of the wreck of Ned's ship or the safety of the crew and passengers.

Ned no longer ploughs the deep, but can, on spring days, be seen ploughing the fields of a little farm not far from the cottage where Mary spent so many an anxious hour. He is never a night from home now, and, let the wind blow as it may upon the deep, he is safe on the land.

We can all sympathise deeply with Mary in her sorrow, and rejoice with her in her gladness; some of us, perhaps, more than others, for some of us have a boy at sea, and some a brother, and some a husband, and some a father. And we, too, would rejoice if they could come home and never go away to sea again. Let us remember that they are in God's keeping. He is as near them on the sea as He is to us on the land. If, in His proviHe had not been long gone upon what was to dence, it is not possible for them to find fitting be his last voyage when the weather became un-occupation on shore, we may safely leave them settled and stormy, and many a weary night Mary in the hands of our Father, who doeth all things lay sleepless in her anxiety: an anxiety which by well. no means abated as the time went by, for no word came of the ship having reached her destination. She was long overdue, and the owners had come to give her up for lost, for one of the boats, and a bucket with her name on it, had been picked up at sea by a passing vessel.

Poor Mary! It seemed as if the thing which she had greatly feared had come upon her, for week after week went by and no news came of her husband. It was a hard struggle to give him up for lost, but there seemed nothing else that she could do, and at last she came to the conclusion that he must have perished, and she made up her mind to ask her nearest neighbour to look after the children, while she went to the little town, four miles distant, to purchase a few yards of black stuff to go into mourning.

It was a fine morning in autumn, and little Katey was playing outside in the garden, when her mother heard her shout, "Oh, there's father! Father! Father!" Catching up Jack in her arms, she rushed to the door, and there, sure enough, was her husband coming up the little garden path, strong and well as when he had gone away. It is easier to conceive than describe the

The

Perhaps some one who reads this is a wanderer far away on life's sea, far from God, blown hither and thither with the winds of temptation, and drifting onwards to the dark reefs of eternal ruin. Oh, friend, there is One who longs for you to come home, with earnestness more tender than ever the wife longed for her husband's return. The Saviour, who shed His blood for sinners on Calvary, waits and longs for your return. lighthouse of His word stands on the cliff, and shines out into the night to guide you, and all such wanderers of the sea, safe into the harbour of peace. The life-boat has gone forth; the Saviour steers her course. His voice is calling to you as you cling to that drifting wreck over which the seas of ruin are breaking. He bids you come He is waiting now for you, to carry you to safety. Will he wait always? No, not always. His Spirit will not always strive with men. The time will come when even He, who is willing and longing to save unto the uttermost, must depart. He has not departed yet; He is calling still. His voice is speaking to you in these lines you are reading. "Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."

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THE REVISED OLD TESTAMENT.

THE interest aroused in Bible translation | serve to prove this, and will also indicate a few years since by the issue of the the wonderful light thrown upon many Revised New Testament has been re- passages that are obscure, imperfectly awakened by the publication of the Revised Old Testament. More than two hundred and fifty years have gone by since what is known as the authorized version was given to the English people. During that interval the world has learned much on many subjects, and it would have been strange if, on matters relating to the Bible, nothing new had come to light.

SO

The authorized version of the English Bible is a marvellous book. It has conferred benefits upon the world that cannot adequately be measured by any power we possess. It has become much a part of the nation's best life, and has acquired such a sacredness of association, that many are disposed to think it incapable of improvement, and to look upon any attempts in that direction as little short of sacrilege.

expressed, or mistaken in the old version. It is a great gain, moreover, to have the Bible not broken up into verses, but given in paragraphs. It is also most helpful to have the poetical parts made clear to the eye. Take, for instance, the song of Deborah and Barak. The very opening words become much clearer in their new form,

"For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly,

Bless ye the Lord "1

66

replaces the old "Praise ye the Lord
for the avenging of Israel, when the
people willingly offered themselves." In
verse 14, "they that handle the pen of
that handle the marshal's staff," and in
the writer," is replaced by
verse 16 the unintelligible "For the
divisions of Reuben there were great
searchings of heart," gives way to, "At

they

the watercourses of Rueben there were

But in the last 250 years scholars have studied more deeply the niceties of the Hebrew language; they have become better acquainted with the natural great searchings of heart." A close comhistory and physical features of Palestine, show that the new gives a bold, vigorous, parison of the new and old renderings and they have come to know more about lifelike version of the ancient song of the political, social, and religious life of the Jews and their neighbours. Hence triumph, thoroughly intelligible from words and inferences that the old trans- of a similar kind are Jacob's blessing, trans-beginning to end. Excellent examples lators misunderstood can now be rightly Moses' song, and Balaam's prophecies. rendered, and matters that were dark to them are light to the best and most devout students of our day.

The book of Job will now become full

of new meanings to the attentive reader. Careful reading of the revised Old give wondrous vividness to the language. The alterations are slight in extent, but Testament shows how closely the prin- For instance, in the 28th chapter, "a ciples laid down for the guidance of the vein for " becomes "a mine for the silver." work have been followed, the chief of which were "to introduce as few altera-The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant" becomes, "He breaketh open tions as possible consistently with faithfulness," and "to limit, as far as possible, "a path which no fowl knoweth, and a shaft away from where men sojourn the expression of such alterations to the which the vulture's eye hath not seen," language of the authorized and earlier English versions." A few examples will

1 1 Judges v. 2.

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