danger, and urge his
leaving foreign employ. The servant made the matter known to his master,
and thus the little community became aware of their peril. Realising the
gravity of the situation, they determined to meet together at the house
of one of their number to seek the protection of the Most High, and to
hide under the shadow of His wings. Nor did they thus meet in vain.

At the very time we were praying the LORD was working. He led an
inferior mandarin, the Superintendent of Customs, to call upon the
Tao-t'ai, and remonstrate with him upon the folly of permitting such an
attempt, which he assured him would rouse the foreigners in other places
to come with armed forces to avenge the death of their countrymen and
raze the city to the ground. The Tao-t'ai replied that, when the
foreigners came for that purpose, he should deny all knowledge of or
complicity in the plot, and so direct their vengeance against the
Cantonese, who would in their turn be destroyed; "and thus," said he,
"we shall get rid of both Cantonese and foreigners by one stroke of
policy." The Superintendent of Customs assured him that all such
attempts at evasion would be useless; and, finally, the Tao-t'ai sent to
the Cantonese, withdrawing his permission, and prohibiting the attack.
This took place at the very time when we were asking protection of the
LORD, though we did not become acquainted with the facts until some
weeks later. Thus again we were led to prove that--

"Sufficient is His arm alone,
And our defence is sure."

I cannot attempt to give any historical record of the events of this
period, but ere 1857 terminated Mr. Jones and I were cheered by tokens
of blessing. It is interesting to recall the circumstances connected
with the first profession of faith in Christ, which encouraged us.

On one occasion I was preaching the glad tidings of salvation through
the finished work of CHRIST, when a middle-aged man stood up, and
testified before his assembled countrymen to his faith in the power of
the Gospel.

"I have long sought for the Truth," said he earnestly, "as my fathers
did before me; but I have never found it. I have travelled far and near,
but without obtaining it. I have found no rest in Confucianism,
Buddhism, or Taoism; but I do find rest in what I have heard here
to-night. Henceforth I am a believer in JESUS."

This man was one of the leading officers of a sect of reformed Buddhists
in Ningpo. A shor