“Miss M——­ is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania.  When a young girl her spine was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has been a great sufferer for many years.  For eleven years she has not been able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was unable to leave her chamber or her bed.  Two years ago she was so ill that hopes of her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be seriously, even hopelessly impaired.  Her physician acknowledged that her disease baffled his skill.

“A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health was better, I called on her, and to my surprise, found her able to sew, walk about, and even go down stairs.  She informed me that she suffered so intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew worse, that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fighting against God; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He pleased.  Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said, ‘M——­, what aileth thee?’ She told Him all her case, and He soothed and comforted her.  From that time she began to improve; the paroxysms of pain grew less, and disappeared; her nervousness was relieved, she could sleep, her mind was full of peace.  She said, ’I am not cured, and do not expect to be well, but I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing to depart whenever it is the Lord’s will to take me away to himself.’”

PRAYER FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS.

In the Fall of 1858, H——­, a student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots.  His toes were sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones.  All the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his home, where be had promised a dear friend to be present on the approaching communion Sabbath.

H——­ was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his wants to God in prayer.  To God he carried the present emergency, and earnestly importuned Him, that He would send him a pair of boots, and that He would do it before the approaching Sabbath.  He was persuaded that God heard, and would answer his petition, yet his faith was sorely tried.  Saturday morning came and still there was no answer; he resolved, however, to go to his home, fully persuaded that God would in good time grant his request.  He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and reached home about eleven o’clock.  It was a hard trial for him to go to “Preparatory Lecture” with his boots in the condition they were in; yet at two o’clock he went, still praying that God would send him a new pair of boots.  During the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the same pew with him, and at the close of the service, without a word being spoken on the subject, the merchant,