"Revolving the mysterious lot,

We mourn him; yet we praise him not-
To God the praise be given;

Who sent him like a radiant bow
His covenant of life to show,
Athwart the passing storm to glow,
Then vanish into heaven."

ENSIGN MARCUS CHEEK,

THE YOUNG CONFESSOR.

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . . Thou therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.-2 TIM. ii, 1, 3.

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord,

Or to defend his cause,

Maintain the glory of his cross,

And honor all his laws.

Jesus, my Lord! I know his name,
His name is all my boast;

Nor will he put my soul to shame,
Nor let my hope be lost."

SOME fruits yield their richest nutriment only by being bruised. The sweetest fragrance of odorous leaves is obtained by pressure. It was after the alabaster box was broken that it filled the house with odor. In like manner, tribulation sometimes develops Christian virtue in the strongest light. Among the young, seasons of sickness and of death have occasionally revealed piety of whose existence the most anxious parents were altogether ignorant. A very interesting illustration of this was manifested in a youthful soldier at Allahabad, India, during the murderous attack of the mutinous sepoys upon their officers and the European residents. Suddenly called to suffering and to martyrdom, the

ensign of seventeen years of age evinced a strength of faith and boldness of confession equal to any recorded in the annals of the Church of Christ, and which have made his memory blessed.

ARTHUR MARCUS HILL CHEEK was born on the thirty-first of July, 1840, at Evesham,, where his father occupied the position of town-clerk. He was named after Lord Arthur Marcus Cecil Hill, late Member of Parliament for Evesham. In his early days he was affectionate and dutiful to his parents, truth-loving and well-doing in conduct, and fond of the house of God and the Sabbath day. Rightly trained at home, his character was formed for rectitude. Family piety was his earliest instruction, and, as is almost always the case, it became the seed of his spiritual life. While at school in Birmingham, Cheltenham, and Brussels, he was studious and exemplary, and secured the esteem of his instructors. Ere he left the last place he expressed a wish to profess his faith according to the form of the Church of England, to which he belonged, and was accordingly confirmed. On the first Sabbath after his return home, he requested permission to partake of the Lord's supper along with his mother, and with apparent intelligence and devotion remembered Jesus.

He was then about fifteen, but he had decided to be the Lord's. Subsequent events showed how real had been his faith, and how sincere his profession. His choice had been spontaneous, and his religion was his own by the grace of God. Young

reader, this must be your experience ere you can be Christian. Your religion must be the result of personal inquiry and of individual faith. Be thankful for religious parents; but like this youth of Evesham, and like all real converts to Jesus, give yourself to the Lord.

Marcus Cheek gave also of his own to the Lord's cause. Some who ought to know better are satisfied with another's liberality; but when on one occasion an aunt offered him part of her collection, he replied:

“O no, aunt, you know that would not be my gift but yours. I intend to give my own, and have something to give."

These were two excellent preparatives to liberality-the good resolution to give his own, and to have something to give. They are worth remembering and practicing. It is no virtue to give the coin of another to the missionary cause. Save something of your own for it, and give it cheerfully; for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Marcus Cheek entered the British army as ensign to the Sixth Native Infantry in Bengal, and joined his regiment at Allahabad in May, 1857. He was then in his seventeenth year, and seemed to have a long career of usefulness and honor before him. But his sand was nearly all run out. His course was brief, but more renowned than that of many who are laden with stars and hoary with years. They might become generals, but he was soon to be a king. Faithful unto death, he obtained a

crown of life, and from a scene of carnage on earth was promoted to the noble "army of martyrs" around the throne of God.

His lot was cast in troublous times. Bengal was then the theater of a conspiracy which, in an unexpected hour, led the native soldiery to murder their officers, and attempt to extirpate Europeans from India. After the outbreak at Meerut, Delhi, and other places, Allahabad was still quiet. The Sixth Regiment of Native Infantry professed great loyalty, volunteered to go to Delhi against the insurgents, and received the thanks of the GovernorGeneral for their fidelity. But on the fifth of June, three hours after they had cheered their officers, and at the time of mess, they mutinied. Nine young ensigns were bayoneted to death, five officers killed, and in all about fifty Europeans murdered. Cruelties of the most revolting kind were perpetrated. Children were slaugthered before their mother's eyes, and then the mothers were put to death. The property of missionaries, as well as of civilians, was destroyed. Places of worship and valuable libraries belonging to ministers were burnt, and a loss of £30,000 ($150,000) inflicted on the American Presbyterian Mission there. Few could escape the carnage, but some did so by swimming the Ganges.

Marcus Cheek, on that memorable evening, had retired early from the messroom to his own lodging; but nothing was heard of him for five or six days, and he was supposed to be dead. On the