THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY 1843.

JUDAH'S LION.

CHAPTER XXIII.

'Now, to examine this Arab,'-said the English consul; when Alick, his countenance shaded by the red shawl that the rude eagerness of the executioners had so shifted as almost to cover his face, was again led towards the divan.

No Arab!' exclaimed one of the English officers, as Alick pushed back the covering with his fettered arm and eagerly gazed on Gordon; who, clasping, or rather clapping his hands, in unspeakable agitation, cried out, 'It is himself! Mr. Cohen, my dear young Mr. Cohen!' and was proceeding, when silence was commanded, and the Aga, turning to the consul, bade him question the prisoner.

This was soon done; and a little cross-questioning of the accusers, proved that they had no shadow of evidence to oppose to Alick's assertions. He was unbound, and a formal demand made for Da Costa, FEBRUARY, 1943.

H

to which a communication was returned, that seemed to satisfy the consul. Some forms were gone through, happily expedited by the same press of business that had hurried Alick's condemnation, and he was, almost before he knew how the change took place, a free man, in the streets of Jerusalem, with the merry cheers of the young Englishmen testifying their triumph, in spite of the consul's admonitions. Gordon had no voice to cheer with; his joy at Alick's rescue had been increased to such overpowering delight by the youth's fervent ejaculatory thanksgiving, which he offered in the name of the Redeemer, adding, 'The very Paschal Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah!'-then clasping the old sailor's hand, he pointed to the Mount, saying, "There He will come with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; but I shall not wail; for he is my Lord and my God-the Rock of my salvation, and my sure Refuge." Then turning to the consul he repeated his thanks, for this unaccountable interposition, as he termed it; and anxiously enquired whether they should not proceed at once to Da Costa's prison.

'No,' replied the consul; some little delay must take place in his liberation, but you may be satisfied as to his safety.'

'How did you discover our situation? I am puzzled to account for it.'

'Why,' said one of the officers, we actually went as your accusers, heartily glad of your impending fate, and dreaming of anything rather than a rescue. Three days since, we were on an excursion, and passed through a party, who, I believe, had you under

arrest.'

'Yes, we were bound, and guarded: and my involuntary exclamation on recognizing Gordon procured me the blow that has so disfigured my mouth.'

The rascals! it is well for some of them, and perhaps for us, that we did not discover you then, We proceeded, and soon after arrived at a place where it was clear a combat of some kind had occurred, not without bloodshed. At a little distance from this, we halted to refresh ourselves; and Gordon straying along a beaten, but secluded track, suddenly shouted so loud, as to bring us presently to his side. He had found several small articles which seemed to have been shaken, or otherwise dislodged, from a camel's pack; and among them a Hebrew Bible, with your name in it. I never saw a man more moved-nothing would satisfy him but a hot pursuit in that direction, until it happily occurred to us that the Pasha's men and their Bedouin prisoners must necessarily have come straight from the scene of combat; having just passed by us. We carefully traced the camel's footsteps-for apparently there was but one-back to that spot; here we lost it in the confused tramp of horses, and other symptoms of a melée. We held a council of war, and decided on an immediate return to Jerusalem, where, with the consul's help, who at first was absent, but on his return bestirred himself most actively, we ascertained that two Bedouin robbers had been brought in, under the circumstances, and at the time we concluded you must have arrived. To-day we, by great and persevering importunity, saw the Aga; and it was to extort from you some tidings of yourself, whom we supposed to have been murdered or spirited away, that we pre

vailed on the worthy Governor to summon you back, though in the way to execution, until we should narrowly question you.'

And how am I to thank you, gentlemen, for all this noble, generous devotion, to the cause of an insignificant stranger !'

Nay, if you have any thanks to bestow, give them to Gordon. I believe the fellow would have blown our brains out, if we had even hesitated in the pursuit.'

'No, no, sir,' said the Gunner, 'you were both as earnest in the matter, as though Mr. Cohen had been you dearest friend. I crave your forgiveness for my many freedoms of speech and action during the time; and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for your condescension, in permitting me to follow you on this excursion, through a land that for many a year I had longed to see, little thinking that the very indulgence of my wish would have brought with it such a blessed privilege as this, of helping to rescue one of the royal race of Jacob on the very soil of his fathers!' He shrank again into the rear, to hide the emotion that overpowered him.

The poor fellow absolutely idolizes you,' whispered one of the officers to Alick; ' I never saw such devoted affection. He cried like a child over your Bible, and would fain have read it, from the wrong end, backwards like English, but none of us knew a letter of the character. We got leave for him from Beyrout, where his ship and our's are, to accompany us on this trip, for his enthusiasm is quite piquant; and indeed we have learned more of sacred history in a few days from him, than ever we learned in all our lives before. He spoke of you more than once,

before our adventure, in a way that partly accounted for his agitation on finding the Bible. I believe no earthly event could have delighted him like your rescue.'

' And to no earthly hand would I so gladly owe it,' exclaimed Alick, deeply moved: ' he has been mainly instrumental in effecting for me a far greater deliverance.'

'Indeed! he never told us of it. It must be singularly remarkable to be greater than this.'

Alick felt the difficulty of making the avowal to men who evidently had no feeling of spiritual things; but he would not keep silence. Raising his voice, to be heard by all the party, he said, 'What is the death of the body, to the death of the soul? I, a sinful son of Abraham, was living without hope and under a curse, because without any faith in that Seed of Abraham in whom only, we, and all the nations of the earth are blessed. Here, my fathers crucified their King, their Messiah, their Almighty Deliverer; and I, in equal unbelief, rejected Him-Him who alone can save! It was Gordon who induced me to study the Scriptures that testify of Him, and by the Scriptures I was led-not without human help, but still mainly by the Scriptures, to receive the testimony of God concerning His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, whom I acknowledge to be the King, the divine King of Israel.'

Then you have renounced Judaism?' said the younger officer, with an aspect of surprise and some pleasure.

'Renounced Judaism? Never! Jesus never disowned it, his Apostles never renounced it; why then should I? To be a Hebrew is my privilege, my glory,