inventions to insure safety had been introduced; and yet in a few hours after the apparently trifling spontaneous combustion of a little hemp in one of these warehouses, the fire gained such an appalling ascendency that if the providence of God had not kept the night calm, and turned the current of the light wind towards the river, the ruins of a large portion of London might have borne testimony to the irresistible power of the fiery element.

The spectacle and the ruin were alike without parallel in the metropolis since the Great Fire of 1666. Three acres of ground were gradually covered with a mass of fire, glowing and crackling at a white heat like a lake of molten iron. The saltpetre, the tallow, the tar, and the other combustibles stored in the warehouses ran blazing into the Thames, until the very river appeared to be covered with flames. Ships were burned as well as houses, and the danger to life was almost as great on the river as in the street. The glare of the conflagration was not only visible but strikingly conspicuous thirty miles off. The multitude of spectators was enormous. As they stood choking every avenue, and crowding the bridges and houses adjacent, they seemed so many helpless witnesses to the truth, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

We will not dwell upon the terrific details, but endeavour to glean a solemn lesson from one particular feature of this grand catastrophe.

Foremost in the perilous duty of endeavouring to subdue the fire was the Captain of the London Fire Brigade, who, after the fire had been raging a few hours, was in the act of giving some refreshment to his exhausted men, when, in consequence of a tremendous explosion, a large wall fell with a dreadful crash, and buried him beneath its ruins. His sudden death caused a perfect panic amongst the brigade, already distressed by the severity of their duties; and yet they rushed bravely to his rescuebut in vain. A second explosion drove them from the spot.

James Braidwood was in many interesting respects a distinguished man. He was born in the city of Edinburgh, at the beginning of the century. His father was a highly respectable tradesman, who, valuing the worth of a liberal education, as most Scotchmen do, sent his son to the High School of the great northern capital, where in due course he completed the usual academical curriculum. At the comparatively early age of twenty-three he was intrusted with the superintendence of the city fire-engines, and at once organized a regular and most efficient fire brigade. His capacity for the important post was soon. tested and commended. Scarcely had he matured his plans, when the great fire of 1824 occurred, the most memorable and extensive in the annals of the Scotch metropolis, when part of Edinburgh High Street, including the steeple of the Tron Church, was burnt down. On this occasion he displayed that complete self-possession in a scene of wild uproar and uncertainty,

with the graceful and athletic dexterity and personal courage, for which he afterwards became so remarkable.

But he gained more than local celebrity. In the year 1832, therefore, we find him accepting the appointment of chief of the London brigade, which, by indomitable perseverance, tact, and kindness in carrying out necessary discipline, he raised to a completely organized and efficient standard. His influence over the men he commanded was such that they not only confided in his judgment, and with alacrity bounded to execute his commissions, but truly loved him. Hence, to a considerable extent, the wonderful success of his hazardous efforts. For thirty years before his death his name was constantly before the public in connection with the ravaged buildings and reddened sky of the southern capital.

Various anecdotes are current respecting Mr. Braidwood's singular coolness and courage in perilous circumstances, and of the beneficial effect which his invariably calm demeanour produced upon the affrighted inmates of dwellings on fire, trembling women and terrified children, while directing them from the scene of danger. He has been known to descend into cellars containing gunpowder, the explosion of which would have made havoc with property, and perhaps have been fatal to life. Wrapping wet blankets around the barrels, he carried them in his arms through fire and smoke, one after another.

On one occasion he saved a little child from apparently inevitable destruction by walking across a plank to the room in which it lay unconscious of jeopardy, while the flames were raging madly beneath him. But though no one could exhibit more daring than himself, he was conspicuous for watching over the movements of his men, and would not allow them to take up a position or enter a building until he was satisfied that they were not exposing themselves to any unnecessary risk. He did not go through his experiences scathless, for in the year 1831, he narrowly escaped the fate which ultimately befell him, being struck down by some fragments of a falling roof, and so much injured that he had to be removed immediately to his home.

But the crowning feature of his character was his Christianity. The Rev. Dr. Cumming (of whose congregation Mr. Braidwood had been upwards of fifteen. years a consistent member) in two sermons preached in reference to his death thus speaks of him: "He who has gone was, I am sure, ripe to go. In our committees connected with our schools-ragged-schools, day-schools, Sunday-schools, his presence was welcomed by all his brethren; and his combination of good sense, of true piety, of thorough efficiency were such that I fear we shall not soon see his like again. But what is lost to the church below we rejoice to say has gone to the church above. Mr. Braidwood was of all men I have ever met the most practical, selfdenying, and disinterested." The activity and energy displayed in the important post he filled were equally apparent in his Christian character. Whilst active

beyond most in the service of his fellow-men, he remembered that his energies and powers were demanded for God. His Christianity was that which shone forth in daily duties. What were his inner feelings, the springs of energies so well directed, may be gathered from the following interesting statements concerning him :

It is said by those who knew him intimately that he never entered upon his arduous and dangerous duties without commending himself and his men to the protecting care of God. He has been heard to say that in the midst of the dangers to which he was continually exposed he felt he could not proceed without casting himself upon God. There were moments in which he could only cry, "Help, Lord, help! for vain is the help of man." Thus he was a man of prayer. The vigour and liveliness of his faith may be seen in the words he uttered to his family shortly before his death-those earnest words of the apostle, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." It is said that he looked for death in his labours; and, as tending to show the readiness of his soul for the event, he regarded sudden death as a mercy, often remarking that "sudden death is sudden glory." How moving the thought, that in what is commonly spoken of as his melancholy end he apparently realised the fulfilment of the desire of his heart!

And now who is ready for this great and solemn event? Reader, are you ready? Death may come to you as suddenly, though under different circumstances from what it did to Mr. Braidwood. Are you prepared for sudden death? Or death may visit you by means of a lingering sickness, prostrating the powers of mind as well as body; or with sufferings so acute as to take away the power of collected thought. For such an end are you ready?

OUR ONLY HOPE.

Fa tree be sound at the root, there is hope that it will sprout forth, notwithstanding it should be lopped and shred ever so much. But now, if it be rotten at the root, then farewell to it. In like manner, if the soul be safe; if it live by faith in the Son of God; if it fight the good fight of faith, and win the field-all other losses are not to be reckoned of: we are more than gainers, more than conquerors. But if the soul perish, then all the world is gone with us; it had been better for us if we had never been born.

Our sins do threaten God's vengeance upon us; our consciences do accuse us; all the creatures of God which we have abused, all the callings of God which we have neglected, all the threatenings of God which we have despised, do witness against us. In a word, the Lord sitteth on His throne as Judge-hell openeth her mouth wide, being ready to swallow us up-the world forsaketh us-and even our dearest friends have no power to help us.

What is to be done in this case? what shift shall we make? what place of refuge shall we flee to? Only this is our comfort, that the Son of God became the Son of man to make us the sons of God; vile He became to exalt us; poor, to enrich us; a slave, to free us; dead, to quicken us; miserable, to bless us; lost in the eyes of the world, to save us; lastly, partaker of our nature, of our infirmity, of our habitation, to advance us to His kingdom and glory; that is, to be unto us, according to His name, Emmanuel, "God with us"; God to enlighten us; God to help us; God to deliver us; God to save us.

Miles Smith.

This happened many years ago.

She sent her two sons, Demetrius and Johannes, to school at Tobolsk and one of the teachers, Cornet Gustavus Horn, who was master of the Russian language, took them under his own especial charge, taught them German, and, so soon as they were able to understand it, read the German Bible with them after school-hours in the evening.

This made a deep impression, more especially on the eldest, who was often much affected during the reading; and the Word continued to work so powerfully on his heart that his whole being seemed transformed.

His family perceived his change of demeanour with much displeasure, and tried, at first by conciliatory measures, to wean him from his new course; but he was only the more confirmed and strengthened in his faith by the arguments they employed against it. On one occasion his friends urged him strongly to take part in an ecclesiastical procession. His relatives missed him in the procession, and when they took him to task for his absence, he replied that he could not do otherwise, for the thing was contrary to God's Word. Upon which his mother caught him by the hair, threw him down upon the ground, and trampled him under foot! But he afterwards assured his Christian friends that he had never felt greater love for his mother than while she was treating him thus cruelly. All imaginable means were now tried to induce him to cast off the Lutheran heresy, as they termed it: he replied, however, that he had never at school been referred to Luther, but solely to the Word of God, as the foundation and warrant of his faith, and that from that alone had he learned the truth. His mother at last kept him in close confinement for a whole year for what she called his obstinacy.

Demetrius told his teacher that he had, when quite

a boy, witnessed the burning at the stake of a faithful confessor of the truth, and that the remembrance of the joy with which that martyr died was now a source of strong consolation and encouragement to himself, so that he felt disposed to endure the most shameful and painful of deaths sooner than to swerve from what he knew and acknowledged as the truth.

The unconquerable patience and fervent love to his God and Saviour manifested through so long a trial by her youthful son, at length entirely melted his mother's heart; she released him from confinement, and embracing him tenderly, said, "God alone knows, my dear Demetrius, which of us is in the right, but be that as it may, I cannot bear to torment you any longer."

inform him that He who maintains the judgment of the poor, and suffereth not the needy to be crushed under shame and reproach, but upholds them by His right hand, hath also holpen me in my distress, and so sustained me under my long and weary persecution that the enemy could not snatch away the good seed out of my heart; and those who thought to entice me away from the truth could effect nothing, for my beloved Lord Jesus stood by me and baffled all their efforts. Finally, the power of God, which worked so mightily in poor wretched me as to supply all my need, has now triumphed, for the which to God be all the praise throughout all eternity. Amen. Dearly beloved father, I already sent you word, through our

The first use Demetrius made of his liberty was to visit the school, and his most earnest endeavour was to get his brother Johannes replaced in it. But new persecutions came upon poor Demetrius, and the young confessor was loaded with chains and dragged to a church, in order to force him to kneel before the pictures; but that all was in vain, for he would not deny the faith.

Heart-affecting is the letter which he wrote from Tobolsk, the 27th March, 1724, describing the sufferings which had been appointed him, as well as the full assurance of faith with which God had supported him under them.

"I write," says he, "with cheerful courage, though with a pained heart, to my beloved father in Christ, to

mutual friend, Mr. N., how I was carried through the public streets of N- to the church, and there beaten on the back to make me kneel down before the pictures; but I gave honour to the ever-living God my Creator, and not to the dumb idols of wood, silver, and gold. And now, having made known my state to you, beloved and revered father, I would entreat you to continue your love to me, and not to forget him in your prayers who ever remains, beloved friend and father in Christ Jesus, your, until death, devoted son and servant, DEMETRJ MIROWITZ."

In a postscript he sends greetings from his brother Johannes, and announces his return from exile; but adds: "what God designs further respecting us is known to Him alone."