my joy. I am sealed in my flesh with the seal of God's precious promises to Israel concerning this land, which is our's by His gift, and to which He will yet restore us openly: I hope to be sealed also with the seal of His spiritual promises in Christ Jesus, which is baptism, but not to do away with the privileges of circumcision, which are also mine by a covenant that shall never be broken.'

Gordon's countenance glowed with delight; the others looked rather bewildered, but much interested; and the elder officer said, 'I doubt whether the clergy will allow you to hold these things together: they will say you put new wine in an old bottle- a new piece on an old garment.'

' Then they will say wrong,' answered Alick. 'If Israel, as a nation, was to be lost among the nations of the earth, if this our holy and beloved city was to continue in the hands of Gentile people, infidels or believers, then, I admit, a Jew embracing the faith of the Gospel might cease, in outward distinctions, to be a Jew. But we know the contrary; we know that the land is our's by a covenant for ever; and we are bound not to despise the gift of God, nor to cast from us the distinctions that he has been pleased to establish between us and other people.'

But it is far from being an admitted fact, that such distinction is to continue in your converted state. You have been kept distinct, as a sort of living testimony to the truth of God's threatenings, while for seventeen hundred years your people have been-pardon me-outcast and despised, a monument of divine indignation.'

'Ay, most true,' said Alick, with great animation; ' and we shall be kept distinct as a living testimony

to the truth of God's promises, restored, and in the sight of all people made a monument of divine mercy and love.'

Gordon, trembling with emotion, put into his hand a small Bible, pointing out something, that Alick immediately and exultingly read:-"Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them."

Hitherto the group had remained, alone and unnoticed, in one of the desolate streets of Jerusalem: strangers, however, approached, and the Consul recommended their adjourning to some place where Alick might lay aside his strange disguise; offering everything in his own power towards his comfortable domestication, until Da Costa should be liberated. Alick thanked him, but named the Ryans as friends to whom he must repair and after arranging to meet his naval deliverers in the evening, he left them, with oft-repeated acknowledgments, to seek out Captain Ryan's abode, to which they were very near. His heart throbbed with anxiety, as he entered the door, which was partly open, but no one was within. All, however, bespoke the continued

residence of his friends. He tried the door of Charley's apartment, it was fast; he called, and knocked, but none answered. In a corner, however, he saw a bag that contained some old apparel of his own, to which he helped himself, made a hasty toilet, and again sallied forth, towards the Jews' quarter.

He found old Wilhelm in deep grief, weeping over his prayer-book; and on seeing him, the tears of the afflicted Israelite flowed in greater abundance. Anxiously Alick inquired whether he had tidings of his son. 'The worst, the worst of tidings,' answered the old man, wringing his hands; 'better he had died! better I had died ere I heard it!'

'Where is he?'

'In London, reaping the wages of his base apostacy.'

Several other Hebrews entered, and their lamentations, intermixed with many heavy curses on the seduced and his seducers, shewed Alick what he might himself expect to encounter, when his own change became known. He remained silent till the storm abated, then spoke of Da Costa, and related the wonderful tale of his own deliverance, imparting also his anxiety concerning his friend.

'We can do nothing-we can do nothing!' exclaimed the Jews, in renewed grief-'Israel is smitten wheresoever he be; and chiefly, here he is smote with the stroke of a cruel one.'

6

Better,' said old Wilhelm, to be smote with any stroke than that of the evil conscience of him who has forsaken the Lord his God to follow Baal.' Again were the anathemas renewed; and Alick whispered

to Wilhelm, How can you bear to hear such curses on your child?'

'God hath cursed him,' answered the unhappy father, and man but assents. His crime is greatly aggravated he has joined the Christians, and nearly prevailed to lead a young maiden of Israel into an evil path.'

'Impossible!' cried Alick, as the image of Esther in all her strictness, rose before him.

'My son,' said an aged Rabbi, 'thou art happy in conceiving that to be impossible which daily experience among the wicked proves to be not only possible, but frequent. The subtilty of the Nazarene doctrine is great, and the hold which it takes on the youthful mind is marvellous. It is a whirlpool-come but within the outermost circle, and thou art presently sucked down.'

Alick replied not; he would have freely exposed himself to their wrath, and not flinched from their curses in the cause of truth, but their sorrow moved him so much that he could not just then add to the dismay which overwhelmed them. Never had he felt so tenderly towards his people as then, when had they known all that had passed, they would have spurned him with indignation. He waited a space, then renewed his questions, until, with some hesitation, young Wilhelm's letter was handed to him. Alick eagerly ran over the contents, relating to his escape from the Maronite fathers, and his involuntary voyage to England, in the capacity of a common seaman; his meeting with a pious messmate, whose comments on the word of God, which he had long studied, opened to his view truths till then unseen; and several adventures that befel him, and at length came to

the part which he longed to read. Wilhelm, descanting on the providential course of circumstances, mentioned, as confirming his view, that fact that his betrothed, who had been a most bitter opposer of the Gospel, had come almost to the same point with himself, through the happy, rejoicing death of an old Christian servant-woman, long attached to the family, so that when he expected to encounter the most relentless opposition, and probably to be dismissed for ever from the regard of that beloved object, he found her, if possible, more anxious to inquire into the doctrines of Christianity, than he was to set them before her. As Alick read, his joy became too great for concealment, and one of the Rabbins abruptly snatched the paper from his hand, sharply inquiring what made him smile.

'Pardon me,' said Alick, but that lady is my own cousin, and I had not heard of her since I left England.'

He was rebuked for disregard of the glory of the law; and the lamentations being resumed, he took his departure, promising to bring them on the morn some tidings of Da Costa. Alick then bent his way to the public place of wailing, where, standing a little apart, with sympathy impressed on every rough line of his honest face, stood the Gunner, who, when Alick placed himself beside him, whispered, 'The officers are coming directly; they are wonderfully moved, Sir, by this meeting with you and full of interest for your dear people. May it be increased a hundred fold!'

Before Alick could reply, the two Englishmen appeared, and he watched them for some time unobserved, for their whole attention was absorbed by the