ep."

Then again the softness of a mother's fondness came upon my heart, and I
grasped the wondering stripling's hands in mine, and shook them, saying,
"But it must be so. It is the Lord's will; thrice has he commanded, and
I dare not rebel thrice."

"What has He commanded, father?" said the boy, "what is His will? for ye
ken it maun be done."

"Read," said I, "the twenty-second chapter of Genesis."

"I ken't, father; it's about Abraham and wee Isaac; but though ye tak me
into the land of Moriah, and up to the top of the hill, maybe a ram will
be catched by the horns in a whin-bush for the burnt-offering, and ye'll
no hae ony need to kill me."

At that moment Mr Cargill came again into the room to bid me farewell;
but seeing my son standing with a tear of simplicity in his eye, and me
in the weakness of my infirm estate weeping upon his hands, he stopped
and inquired what then had so moved us; whereupon I looked towards him
and said,--

"When I was taken with the malady that has thus changed the man in me to
more than the gentleness of woman, ye ken, as I have already told you,
we were bowne to seek your folk out and to fight on your side. But when
I beheld your dejected and much-persecuted host, a doubt came to me,
that surely it could not be that the Lord intended through them to bring
about the deliverance of the land; and under this doubt as to what I
should now do, and my limbs being moreover still in the fetters of
sickness, I consulted the oracle of God."

"And what has been the answer?"

"It has instructed me to send my son with you. But O, it is a terrible
probation."

"You have done well, my friend," replied the godly man, "to seek advice
from THE WORD; but apply again, and maybe--maybe, Ringan, ye'll no be
put to so great a trial."

To this I could only say, "Alas! sir, twice have I again consulted the
oracle, and twice has the answer been an exhortation and a reproach that
I should be so loath to obey."

"But what for, father," interposed my son, "need ye be sae fashed about
it. I would ne'er refuse;--I'm ready to gang if ye were na sae
weakly;--and though the folk afore the house are but a wee waff-like, ye
ken it is written in the Book that the race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong."

Mr Cargill looked with admiration at the confidence of this young piety,
and, laying his hand on the boy's head, said, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel. The Lord is in this,