A while ago, in Scotland, there was an old Covenanter, William Guthrie by name, who had a disposition very much like Brother Powell’s, full of joyousness and fun—­let us call things by their right names—­and on one occasion a large number of brethren gathered together in his manse, among whom was James Durham, better known as the author of a book on Revelation, who was a popular minister in Glasgow at the time.  He was a very serious man, like the dog that John Brown tells about, with a life so full of seriousness that there wasn’t anything of the joyous in his disposition, but on that day Guthrie was bubbling over with fun, and while they were worshiping he was called upon by a brother to pray, and he went just straight up to the Hearer of prayer, and they were all moved to tears by his devotion; and Durham said after they arose from their knees:  “William, I can’t understand.  If I had been as merry as you were a little while ago, I could not have prayed for four and twenty hours;” and Guthrie replied:  “If I hadn’t laughed so much I couldn’t pray.”

My model is Paul.  Hear what he says:  “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice.  Let your moderation be know unto all men.  The Lord is at hand.  Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made know unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

You see how near the joy follows the serious.

The Lord knew that the Christian lives in the ray of sunshine of Jesus, and we do dishonor to our Master, because we do not let our joyousness speak for him.  And I bless God that wherever James Powell went he went with joy, the man he was.  He did not keep it within.  The joy of his Lord was with him even on the day when men shall depart because he is with them.

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THE AMERICAN FREEDMEN AS FACTORS IN AFRICAN EVANGELIZATION.

BY REV.  M.E.  STRIEBY, D.D.

The presence of the Freedmen in America is an anomaly in the world’s history.  European nations have gradually abolished serfdom, and the master and the slave being of the same race, the line of separation has soon broken down.  In America, slavery is abolished, but the master and ex-slave are as far apart as ever.  America is a nation of immigrants, mostly from Europe and Africa.  The Europeans soon assimilate, and only the tradition of the individual family tells of the particular nation from which it came.  But the African immigrants are still, after nearly 300 years’ residence in America, separated from the white race by visible marks of color and features, and are thus, at the same time, identified with the land of their fathers.

Are not these facts suggestive?  Does not the persistent race-identity of these people, linking them still with Africa, suggest a duty they may owe to it; and do not their vigorous intellects and warm religious characteristics indicate that duty to be a high and sacred one?