Ours is a sweet fireside,
Merry and warm :

Here we know chill nor pain,

Fear nor alarm.

Let the November gales

Fleet soon or stay,
Ours is a sheltered home
Calm as the May.

Dear to each other's heart,
Child lives with child;
Strangers as yet to grief
Or passions wild.

Let the November sky
Mass its huge cloud;
Clear be our voice of praise,

Joyous and loud.

Prompt be our deeds of cheer

For the distrest;

Where no glooms storm or scowl,
There is our rest.

Let the November day

Wear to its close,

Ours is a home whose sun
No darkness knows.
Ours is the God of Love,

The children's Friend;
Peaceful our life, and death

Peace at its end.

W.

Eliezer, the Rabbi; or, Suffering for Christ.

LIEZER, the subject of this history, was born in Russia of Jewish parents, who took a delight in bringing up their children in the religion of their forefathers. He was their youngest child, and, much to their delight, at an early age he developed a great love for the study of Hebrew literature, and dedicated his life to the service of the God of Israel.

So earnestly did he prosecute his studies, and so much

progress did he make, that he soon attracted the notice of prominent members of the faith, one of whom, a rich landowner, bestowed on him the hand of his daughter, with a worthy marriage portion.

Soon after his marriage Eliezer was nominated to the sacred office of rabbi, a position which he seemed well calculated to hold with credit to himself and with benefit to his religion.

Placed in a high position in the synagogue, being possessed of an affectionate wife and a home abounding in comfort and luxury, it would have been supposed that the young Jew would have been a happy man; this, however, was not the case. He was not satisfied; there was a longing in his breast for something more than he had hitherto attained. The Holy Spirit was working in him, although he knew it not.

In vain he practised the most rigid pharisaical rites, and lived in an outward air of sanctity and piety; he was not satisfied, his mind was troubled, he knew not why.

At length he determined on making a pilgrimage to the holy city, Jerusalem; surely this meritorious act could not fail to bring him what he so much desired, peace of conscience and rest of mind.

The tidings of his intentions soon spread abroad, and his Hebrew brethren in Constantinople urgently invited Eliezer to make that city the chief halting-place on his journey. To this he gladly agreed, and ere long found himself in the capital of the Turkish empire.

The first care of his friends in Constantinople was to warn Eliezer against the missionaries who dwelt in Stamboul, and to put him on his guard against their insidious arts to entrap the unwary into Protestantism.

This advice had anything but the desired effect; instead of making the young Jew anxious to avoid the Protestant missionaries, it roused his curiosity, and he determined to see for himself what manner of men they were.

In vain his co-religionists expostulated with him. Puffed

up with vanity, he determined to seek out and argue with one of the hated Christians. Little did he imagine what the result would be.

The missionary whom Eliezer sought out was one well able to meet him in argument. Eliezer had not counted on such an opponent, and he was baffled in his attempt to prove that the Nazarene, Jesus, was but an impostor, and that the true Messiah had not yet appeared. The twoedged sword of the Gospel cut him to the heart, and, unwillingly, he was obliged to acknowledge that his reasoning utterly failed.

For several weeks after this interview the young Hebrew found no peace. He could see that all his fancied holiness could avail him nothing; that he was yet in his sins. To his Jewish friends he dared not unbosom himself; and, after much struggling against his convictions, he called again upon the missionary and asked to be instructed in the doctrines of Christianity.

It is impossible to describe the different steps by which he was led to see Christ as the Saviour of mankind; but eventually, after weeks of uncertainty and mental anguish, he came, a humble suppliant, to the throne of grace, and found the relief he had so long desired. A childlike faith now animated him, and casting aside all earthly considerations, he made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It may well be imagined how bitterly his late friends were incensed when he took the final step, and was baptized in the name of Christ. His father-in-law, in particular, felt himself disgraced, and determined to make Eliezer return to Judaism or agree to a divorce from his wife. For this purpose he came to Constantinople, and used his every endeavour to induce the young convert to renounce Christianity; but without success.

Baffled in his endeavours, he determined to have recourse to stratagem to obtain possession of his son-in-law's person; and he carried out his purpose by proposing to Eliezer, one evening, to accompany him for a walk, in order, as he said,

to give the young man an opportunity of explaining to him the principles of the Christian religion.

Delighted with the thought, Eliezer readily agreed, little thinking how he was to be betrayed.

When in a lonely thoroughfare he was suddenly seized and told that he must appear before the Russian Consul to account for having quitted his native land without a passport permitting him to cross the frontier.

The result of the interview with the Consul was that Eliezer was placed under arrest, and conveyed a prisoner on board a Russian vessel just starting for Odessa, there to be treated with scorn and indignities by the men who had thus meanly betrayed him.

So keenly did Eliezer feel his position that he was wellnigh driven to despair; and the tempter, taking advantage of his despondency, suggested to him that the best thing he could do was to end his troubles and his life together by self-destruction. Happily, he combatted the temptation, and, though not without a struggle, overcame it.

On arriving at Odessa a fresh trial awaited Eliezer. Each passenger was required to show his passport, but having been coerced on board the vessel he was not provided with the required forms; consequently he was marched off to a court of justice to answer for this breach of the laws.

After an examination by the minister of police, to whom he related his story, and before whom he was, by God's help, enabled to witness for Christ, Eliezer was taken to the common prison, where he had for companions two murderers, a Jewish deserter, and several soldiers. Depressing as the circumstances were, the young convert found an opportunity of speaking for Christ, and the two poor degraded murderers listened to the message of redeeming love; yes, not only listened, but were so touched by it that the rest of the day was spent in praying to God for pardon of past sins and acceptance through the merits of the Redeemer. Who can say but that at the eleventh hour they found pardon through Christ.