title-page, he, suddenly looking up, said, with a manly bluntness that had more than once struck the Gunner as characteristic of growing decision-' Mr. Gordon, I wish you would lend me this book.'

'Lend it you! Ay, that I will and I'll lend it you till you have read every word in it, and can say you have no more use for it: which will not come to pass till the Lion of the tribe of Judah take to him his great power and comes to reign. The book is yours, Mr. Cohen: read it, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are yours.'

'But now,' said Alick smiling, suppose Papa catches me at it, and says, " I forbid you to read it,” what shall I do?'

Obey God rather than man. You must obey your parents, because God has commanded it: but if they order you to do anything contrary to his command, they do away with their own authority which is founded on his command.'

'And does God command me to read this book?'

'He does, sir, as you will soon find if you examine it. The five first books, the Pentateuch, or books of the law, were written by Moses himself: and every king of Israel was required not only to read, but with his own hand to write out the law as there given. At this day it is read in your synagogues, and held in the deepest veneration.'

What! is this the law, the Thorah of our people? I had no idea of that. Will it tell me any more about the Lion of Judah ?'

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Everything, if you will but pray to have your eyes opened, and your understanding enlightened: and now farewell, Mr. Cohen; my dear young friend, I hope I may say. No farther conversation must we have; but I'll pray for you day and night, in the name of the King Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.' And he turned away, scarcely able to restrain his tears, but rejoicing in heart, while Alick, after warmly shaking his hand, pocketed the little Bible and walked off.

6

' How sinful I was,' thought the Gunner, ' to doubt that everything would be better ordered than I could have devised or dreamed of. There he has got hold of the great scripture principle of obedience; and his poor blind father, in depriving him of such a broken cistern as I should have been, has put him in the way of drawing direct from the fountain of living waters. I dared not hope I should persuade him to accept a Bible, and he has asked me for it!'

Sharpe, who expected a very different expression of countenance, was sorely perplexed to see Gordon look so contented, and even joyous. He narrowly watched to detect any clandestine doings, but in vain. Nothing of the sort took place; the only dissatisfied countenance that he saw was in his looking-glass: all against whose peace he had practised were pleased and happy.

Alick first found, and re-perused the prophecy of Balaam; and then resolved to read the book regularly through. This was not an easy task on board

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ship; and as his father overcame the first effects of the sea, he kept him much with him. We all know how many ways Satan has of hindering the study of God's word; and no marvel if poor Alick experienced many an interruption. Reading as opportunity served and inclination prompted, he had just finished the book of Genesis, when they neared the straits of Gibraltar; and thenceforward he had no eyes or thought, save for the look-out. They soon anchored in the noble harbour of Valetta, and disembarking, took up their temporary abode; the ship being detained for the next packet, which expected soon, with dispatches from Malta.

was

Here Alick was destined to encounter the grand stumbling-block of his people, against which Gordon had intended to warn him. Strolling about with one of the Middies, the day after their arrival, he descried at some little distance a long line of procession, persons robed and cowled, bearing banners, and what greatly surprised him, lighted tapers that glared with a strange sickly aspect under a brilliant sun. Before reaching them, the procession turned off into a cross street, and Alick asked his companion what it was. The host, I suppose, by the manner in which the people reverenced it. By the way, if ever you meet it, be sure to take off your hat, and stand still till it is past.'

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' With all my heart: but why?'

Why! because every-body does ; that is, all Chris

tians do, and I suppose all other people.'

'I have seen many processions in London,' observed Alick: 'but, except to cheer the Queen, or the Duke, or some big-wig, I never took off my hat.'

They don't carry the host about in London,' said the Middy.

'Well, but what is this host? What is it made of ?'

"Tis made of a wafer, but they think it is God.' Alick stared most wildly at his companion, who, feeling his deficiency in theological learning, changed the subject. However, the young Jew questioned his father about it in the evening, who carelessly said, Most of the people here are Catholics, and their religion is more openly professed than in England, where liberality holds a very slow march. We have nothing to do with it, Alick; but as a matter of good-breeding and policy, we must show the same respect to it that others do.'

Well, but, father, explain to me what this host, or wafer, is.'

'A thin cake, I believe, which the priest, by speaking some words, pretends to turn into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified with others, as a malefactor, nearly two thousand years ago, and whom the Christians call their God. Therefore they worship the wafer, or host.'

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Alick made no reply in reality he was enraged. The little he had read of the Scriptures had impressed him with high and reverential views of the Creator; and with a feeling approaching to filial appropriation

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of the God of his father Abraham. He had a vivid imagination, a conception of the beautiful, and still more of the sublime; and all that Gordon had said tended to enlarge his apprehension of the great power and majesty of the Most High. His father's statement seemed to imply a double profanation, that part which concerned the wafer being equally monstrous in its absurdity as blasphemous in its impiety and the whole absolutely irritated him against Christianity to a degree that surprised himself. He recollected having been arrested by a verse addressed to Israel, when turning over the leaves of the Bible, which he thought bore on this point: and locking himself up, he took out the book, and soon found it in Deuteronomy iv. He read the chapter with wonder and delight, until coming to the twentyseventh verse, he found," And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there shall ye serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell." Here he started up, and exclaimed aloud, 'Never! God of Abraham, I never will. Scattered we are, and few in number among these heathen, but never will I be guilty of such a vile sin! Call a wafer Jehovah, and bow down before it! Why the bare idea is enough to bring a judgment upon me. What fools these Christians are, to circulate a book that shows their wick

edness in such a strong light. Only for this book, I