The Dayspring

THE DARK BEFORE THE DAWN.

this are recorded the following names: Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Harvey Loomis, Francis Le Barron Robbins, and Byram Green.

Why was that monument erected there and why are these five names graven upon it? The monument was placed there in the year 1867 by the Honourable Harvey Rice, of Cleveland, Ohio, to commemorate a prayer meeting. That prayer meeting was held on this very spot, seventy years ago, by these five young men; and you shall hear what grand results flowed from their meeting.

These five were students at William's College in the year 1806, and met together for prayer in that maple grove on a sultry day in the month of June. A severe thunder-storm came on, and they took shelter behind a hay stack. They talked about the dark places of the earth, where the glorious light of the Gospel had never shone. Mills proposed to send the Gospel to Asia, and said, 'we could do it if we would.' After some further talk, Mills said, 'Come, let us make it a subject of prayer under this hay stack, while the dark clouds are going, and the clear sky is coming.'

They did pray earnestly and believingly, and in a short time the Missionary Society, called The American Board of Foreign Missions,' was started. This Society has now above five hundred mission stations. The churches connected with these stations have more than ten thousand members, and the schools between eighteen and nineteen thousand pupils.

But although there are so many missionaries, there are still many millions of people who have never heard of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinners. So we must pray more earnestly, and work more diligently, that the whole earth may be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Every year, in the month of June, the professors and students of William's College have a missionary prayer meeting in the very field where these five young men met and prayed in the year 1806.

They have all left this world, but the

precious seed that they sowed is still bringing forth abundant fruit, both in the earnest missionary spirit of American Christians at home, and in the devoted labours of those who go to heathen lands to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.' Believing prayer and earnest work can bring about great things.

THE DARK BEFORE THE DAWN.

THR

HROUGH the shade of oak,
Dusky oaken shade,

Where the moonlight broke
Faintly and afraid.

(O the little flowers!

Can they bloom so free, Through the darksome hours Of such revelry?)

They have brought him nigh, Brought their victim bound, Through the oak's long sigh,Through that world-old sound! And their deathly rite

Fills the forest lone; Well the gloomy night

Calls this rite its own. They have never heard, From the heaven above, This most tender word Spoken, God is Love.' As their own hearts fierce, They have made a God; Can there ever pierce Sunlight to the sod? Not so long agone

Died the Bethlehem hymn; Happy sunlight shone,-

O the oaks are dim! From the far sweet East

Must it come so slow?— Druid Bard and priest;

And the sun is low! Trails are in the sky,

Trails are on the sea; Trails of daylight lie Wearily.

And the tired land,
And the forest far,
Weary for a hand,
Weary for a star.

Sometime, O sweet shade!
When the light hath shone,
We shall, unafraid,

Greet the early dawn.

Sometime-it is sweet;
Even now the breeze
Heralds other feet

Coming through the trees.

"TWICE RESCUED.'

H. W. H. W.

KATIE is just gone to sing among the

angels. Your welcome flowers are now in my hand. She said, "The next song will be in heaven!"'

Such was the message that told me of the flight of one of our dear little Homebirds to the happy land.

Will you go back in thought a few weeks, and try to picture to yourself an upper room at the Refuge? There, on a little bed, lies a small child, ten years old she looks in size, but with an old, old face, for Katie has known sorrow early, and that, you know, brings wrinkles on the forehead, and hunger and cold pinch the cheeks, so that they lose their roundness, as well as their roses. She is but thirteen; and only five weeks before the time we write of, was brought to the Home, very, very ill. Now she is in bed, propped up with pillows, and a little flannel jacket round her shoulders, her hair done up in two funny little plaits.

Katie can no longer run about like other children, for Jesus has taken her aside to teach her some sweet lessons she would not otherwise have learnt.

When you are sick, mother lets you nestle your tired little head upon such soft cosy pillows; but dear Katie cannot do this, for she has a terrible cough, which prevents her ever lying down night or day, though her head throbs with pain, and

she is too ill to eat anything but a few grapes.

Is'nt this a very doleful picture, darling? No wonder it makes the big tears come into your eyes as you think of it; and does'nt it make great hot tears burst from our hearts when we know that this is only what happens to hundreds of little perishing children who, while you are tucked up so snug and warm in your little beds, are every day, and all night long, exposed to the cold and rain, and the hunger and nakedness, which sap away all their strength of body, and never let them know the joys of childhood.

But now come and look at a brighter side. Kissing the fevered little cheek, we remark

'How hot your face is, darling, and your little hands are so cold!'

'Yes,' she answers, I am often like that. Sometimes my feet are dead cold, and then I gets into such heats! It was just cold after cold I took, tramping about with father, and now they say its consumption, my hands and all are wasting away.'

And sure enough the tiny hand is a mere skeleton.

'Well, dearie, your pains are nothing to what the dear Lord Jesus bore for you, are they?'

'Oh, no,' she replies quickly, with such a sunny smile.

'What message shall we give the school children from you, Katie?'

'I don't hardly know, unless you tell them that Jesus loved me, and died for me, to forgive me my sins.'

'How long have you known this, dear? and who taught it you?'

'Only since I came here, five weeks ago; Mrs Merry told, and I just believed it. And it made me so happy; I don't know now what it is to be down-hearted. The girls come in sometimes and say, "Why, Katie, you are always laughing!" And so I am, for I don't know what it is to be downhearted. How could I bear all this pain without Him always near me?'

A few weeks longer the little one

FAMILY WORSHIP.

lingered, often suffering intense agony, but bearing it so sweetly and patiently, and her little face shining with such perfect peace and joy and rest in Jesus, that to every one in the Refuge she was a wonderful testimony of God's great love to a little child, showing how even such a young life could bring great glory to His name, by bearing pain unmurmuringly for Him, and living to the last in simplest faith in Jesus.

Was it any wonder, that three nights before her death, she said to Mrs Merry, 'I have been twice rescued?'

She sent word to Miss Macpherson, 'Tell her I will ask Jesus to fill her full of Himself.'

For another friend who had sent her some sweet violets, she left a message,'I shall thank her at home.'

'One night, just before the last, when very ill, she said often to the lady who was tenderly watching her,

'Two o'clock, dear.

come by cock-crow.'

Maybe He will

'When asked when that was, she opened her large eyes and said,—

'It is four o'clock in the country; but it will be just when He likes, in His time.'

The following days were spent so, completely resting in Jesus; then the last morning came; and after the hymn, 'Safe in the arms of Jesus' had been sung to her, she lay quiet a little; then looked up and sang

'My Father calls me; I must go

To meet Him in the promised land.'

Her agony was so inexpressible, she begged them to pray for her release, but said, 'I will not grumble; I will wait till He comes. He said He would, so He will; but I want Him to come now. Come, do, dear Jesus!'

These were her last words on earth. The loving Shepherd gathered his tired little lamb to rest in His own bosom.

Dear little child, do you know the won

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The aim of this Series is to encourage the practice of Family Worship, and make its introduction easy in every household. The whole Series will contain services for a week. The service for each day includes praise, Scripture portion, and prayer. (See 'Dayspring' for May.)

IV.-For WEDNESDAY.
The Psalm.

FATHER of peace, and God of love!
We own Thy pow'r to save,

That pow'r by which our Shepherd rose
Victorious o'er the grave.

Him from the dead Thou brought'st again,
When, by His sacred blood,
Confirm'd and seal'd for evermore,

Th' eternal cov'nant stood.

(Par. Ix. 1, 2.)

The Scripture Portion.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Psa. xl. 6, 8, 11, 30, 31.)

The Prayer.

We thank Thee, O God, for Thy great love to us. Help us to love Thee in return, and to do Thy will, and to trust Thee even where we cannot see. Be Thou our guide, O Father, and then, whether in the light or in the dark, we shall be always in the right way. Be Thou our strength, and then we shall be always strong; we shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

And to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, shall be the praise for ever. Amen. [SUITABLE CLOSING HYMN-Hymns Old and New, 41, 46, or 79.]