What does the husbandman do when the harvest time has come, and the golden grain is awaiting the gathering? Does he thrust in the sickle and reap, or does he stand and rejoice in the harvest, till it perishes under his admiring eyes? Now is the spiritual harvest time; it is the time to gather souls into the garner of the Lord. Is there no danger that we shall localize this divine influence instead of diffusing it? Is there no danger that our uptown churches will fail to gather up their strength, and go forth to their labour of winning souls to Christ?

The Fulton Street Prayer Meetings. -The leader of one of the meetings, during the past week, gave the following testimony to direct answer prayer.

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A coloured woman, devoted to her Saviour, in her humble, earnest way, determined to select twenty of her acquaintances, and pray earnestly for their salvation. She was a member of the Broome-street Church, known intimately to Miss Maynard, since called to heaven, who was well known by many who attend this Fulton-street prayer meeting. This coloured woman kept her resolution, selected the twenty, prayed without ceasing for their conversion, and subsequently had the blessed satisfaction of believing that they all had embraced the Saviour.

A Montreal clergyman, whose son was in Yale College, and unconverted, prayed earnestly for God's saving grace to descend upon him, and quite recently had evidence that his prayers were heard and answered in the conversion of that son.

A friend, in rising, said it gave him great pleasure to inform the meeting that a brother called at his place of business on that very morning, and with an unusually happy face exclaimed, "My son, for whom I have prayed so long, is at last under conviction of sin."

An only son, unconverted, was prayed for in his presence. He became very angry, and so much incensed, that he resolved to sell his farm, and go West, away from his relatives, who were praying for his salvation. They continued to pray, and he finally sold his farm, and was going to start for Albany, on his way to the west. He passed the prayer meeting, on his way to the cars, and having some time to wait for the train, thought he would just go in to pass the time away, and see what was

going on. He went in, and was hopefully converted before he left the meeting.

Prayer Meeting at No. 13, Old Slip. -This meeting is of special interest. Perhaps no prayer meeting in the city is more prosperous than this. Outside friends and strangers, coming into the city, should by all means visit this prayer meeting. It is held at the noonday hour, from 12 A.M. to 1 P.M. It is made пр of all classes of our citizens. It is the place of prayer. No one mistakes the spirit which prevails here. It is union of prayer and effort.

Prayer Meetings in Boston.-On a visit last week to Boston, the writer found that the religious interest has advanced very much of late in all their meetings for prayer. The places for prayer were more densely filled. Requests for prayer come in from the city and the surrounding country,-many from congregations and churches praying for a refreshing from on high.

Prayer Meeting in North Street.This is held at the corner of North and Ferry streets, in a large room up two flights of stairs. It was established by what is termed the "Independent Mission," who employ "Father Mason," as he is called, to control it.

This quarter of the city has heretofore been the sink of iniquity of Boston, -the place of moral leprosy, filled with the most dangerous characters. Now stores and business houses are being erected, and a great material as well as moral change is going rapidly forward. When Rev. Mr. Mason began to hold his daily prayer meetings, the place was often assailed with showers of brickbats. His pulpit is on the side next to the street, having a window on the street back of it. As he sat with his back to the window, men gathered upon the opposite sidewalk and hurled stones and brickbats at his head and shoulders, through the window, demolishing the glass. But he never flinched, or moved his position, or turned aside a moment from the duties before him.

These assailants were invariably of the Bishop Hughes' people, carrying out the principles and practices of Holy Mother Church. But they have long since ceased to molest the meetings. This good minister went meekly and affectionately on in this good work, and now he has many to "stand up for Jesus," who were lately Roman Catholics, as ignorant and besotted and blasphemous as any; men and women who S S

gave most unquestionable evidence that they are new creatures in Christ. They speak and pray at every meeting. We heard four in rapid succession rise and tell what the Lord had done for their souls. They spoke with great earnestness and fervour.

Said one: I am to leave you to-day. I have been written to and begged and entreated to come home by my parents and family, who had cast me out, and who had told me that I should never more come inside of their doors. But by my letters home, and the Lord's blessing on them, my father and mother and one sister have been converted, and now they say they will welcome me home with exceeding joy. But my heart is grieved-my heart is grieved! he exclaimed, as the tears rolled down his cheeks,-at leaving this place so dear to me, where I learned to love Jesus. The very floor of this room, on which we have so often knelt to pray to Jesus, and on which we have stood to speak of Jesus, is dear to me.

Who would have believed that this man now speaking was a persecuting hater of the prayer-meeting a little time ago? but such he was.

Then another arose, who had been one of the most desperate and hopeless cases; a Roman Catholic and a bitter hater of the truth; one who had stood on the opposite sidewalk and hurled stones in at the window. He spoke rapidly, and told what the grace of God had done for him. He was a scoffer, miserable, ignorant, drunken and debased, and thought he was as good a Christian as anybody, because he sometimes went to confession and got his sins pardoned, and sometimes went to church, and hated Protestants with all his might. Now I don't hate anybody. I pray in my family. I have plenty of employment. I am always happy. All I want now is that my wife will come with me, and she will.

Another spoke in very broken English. He said we might not be able to understand him, but the Lord Jesus could understand him. (Father Mason leaned over, and whispering in the writer's ear, said: That is a very precious brother.) He went on to speak of his conversion. How bigoted he was when he was a Roman Catholic: how ignorant; how the Holy Spirit had enlightened him ; how his heart was all glad for joy. "I love to pray. I love to read my French Bible. I love this meeting. I love poor sinners. I love to tell them of

Christ." So he went on speaking, some of which we could not understand.

Prayer Meetings at the Old South.These were crowded. Many could not find seats, but stood.

One man spoke of the need of personal effort and faithfulness, as well as prayer. The times of the first Christians will be restored, when we have the fellowship of labour, as well as the fellowship of prayer. One of the things which the church has found out in this great revival is, that every Christian is an ambassador for Christ -to beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. It used to be thought that only ministers were ambassadors for Christ. But every one now is believed to be charged with the duty of winning souls to Christ.

A young man who had lately been converted, said that he was employed in a store where there were two professors of religion, and he often wondered why they would not speak to him. He longed to have them speak and advise him. He was disappointed and grieved when they did not. He judged that others felt as he did. There are hundreds of young men in Boston, who need only a word to turn their attention to that greatest of all questions-"What must I do to be saved?"

The same paper of October 21, further states:

The Fulton Street Prayer Meeting. -If our readers would know fully the actual state of the revival, they must themselves be in our prayer meetings. No description or report of these meetings, however faithful it may be, can convey to the mind of the distant isolated reader the impression that is made on the minds of those who attend upon them.

When we go and sit down in one of these meetings, we immediately become absorbed by that which appears to be felt by all around us: we feel awed by a sense of the Divine presence: we feel assured, in our own minds, that the Holy Spirit, by his quickening power, moves upon all hearts in these convocations for prayer. We feel convinced that this is prayer, and we wonder not that prayer is answered. God is a faithful, covenant-keeping God. This is all His own work, and to Him be all the glory.

An Affecting Coincidence.-At the Fulton-street prayer meeting on Thursday last, the following remarkable and

touching scene occurred in the lower

room:

The 91st Psalm had been read by the conductor of the meeting, and several prayers offered and remarks made, when a gentleman arose in the congregation and made some very affecting remarks on the subject of faith and trust in God under all circumstances, and by way of illustration made mention of a case on board the "Austria." He said that he had been informed by some one, for he had no personal knowledge of the parties, that a man whose wife and son were on board that unfortunate ship, had recently been making most diligent inquiry of the rescued passengers who had arrived in our city, trying to learn, if possible, something as to the fate of his wife and son. That on describing his wife to one of the passengers that he had sought out, that passenger thought from the husband's description that he had seen such a woman on board. The husband produced a daguerreotype of his wife, and the passenger immediately exclaimed, "That is the very woman, and God bless you, my dear sir, for it was she that organized a prayer meeting on board, in which my soul was blessed in my conversion." He then informed the afflicted husband that the last he saw of his wife and son, they were standing as far aft as they could get away from the flames, and when at last the devouring element rushed on to them with such force as to be no longer endurable, he saw the wife and mother, with a calm serene countenance, embrace the son, and then both committed themselves to a watery grave.

But the singular coincidence in connection with this, we have yet to relate. When the meeting had concluded, a man who sat in the same seat with the one who addressed the meeting, and the very next man to the speaker, clasped his hands, and stood for a moment, unable to utter a word, such was his emotion, but at last said, "That woman was my wife, and I, a stranger to every one here, have come in to seek consolation, and to ask an interest in your supplications, that God would assuage my grief, and bind up my broken heart!"

The scene was deeply affecting, and never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

This rescued passenger said, in the meeting, that when in the water, swim

ing, a pious friend inquired of him how he felt in view of death? I replied,

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Perfectly happy; I can now rely on Jesus and I am safe." And looking up on the ship, I added, "There stands the noble woman, with her son's hand in her's, to whom I owe all my hopes of salvation, for she it was that got up the prayer meetings."

What a consolation to the bereaved husband, to know that the last hours of his devoted, Christian wife were spent in such acts of love to souls!

Prayers for the Prayer Meeting.-We have letters from every quarter, showing that from all over the land a cloud of prayer goes up to heaven for a continued blessing on the Fulton-street prayer meeting. Perhaps this meeting is as much blessed by reason of prayer offered up abroad, as those offered in our city gatherings-who can tell?

We hope this meeting will continue to be remembered in the prayers of all Christians throughout the land. We hope, also, they will pray for all meetings for daily prayer, and that all others will be remembered as well as this. These meetings are now multiplying, and will be multiplied in answer to prayer. The harvest time is come; the time to put in the sickle to reap. One of the objects of daily prayer is that God would pour out on all the land a spirit of grace and supplication. "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear." "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness."

Conversions in Public Schools.-A gentleman from Columbus, Ohio, made some very interesting and impressive statements in regard to the work in that city. The churches had shared in the great revival which is going on in various portions of the country. They have received large accessions by reason of the number of conver

sions.

One of the most remarkable features of this work has been manifested in the

public schools. In the public High School of Columbus, all the boys of the school had been converted with two exceptions. The number could not be less than one hundred. The duties of the school had been carried on as usual-the scholars were from families of different denominations, and of no denomination, and yet the work had been carried on in such a

way as to excite no animosity or jealousy, or opposition. It was a noiseless, but a solemn, thorough work -and all hearts rejoiced in it. There were no extraordinary means used. The teachers were pious, and God blessed their prayers and counsels to the salvation of these dear youths.

The public schools of Toledo had been blessed in a similar manner, and large numbers have been hopefully converted. This encourages us to pray for the young and for our public schools as well as our Sunday schools. A fervent prayer followed these statements for the conversion of all in our schools.

We regret that our limited space compels us greatly to abridge these reports of God's marvellous work, and to omit many instances of powerful interest. Surely the consideration of the great facts before us will quicken our flagging zeal, and evoke in our churches the spirit of prayer and holy activity.

Canada has caught the spirit of the Revival; and our mission on which there was last year so gracious an increase, is during the present year, graciously favoured with a continuance of prosperity. In the Evangelical Witness, so ably conducted by the beloved superintendent, the Rev. J. H. Robinson, it is stated, in October 18:-"In our own denomination God is pouring out his Spirit on many of our churches. We learn that on the St. Thomas, Blanshard, London City, London North, Nelson, and Crosby Circuits, a good work is going on, with every prospect of a still wider extension. It is to be hoped that all our circuits, and that all churches of other denominations, will be visited with the rich unction of the Holy Ghost. The churches exist for no other purpose than to save souls. They are God's witnesses and instruments in this blessed work, and only in proportion as they devote themselves to it, are they fulfilling the mission of their divine Lord.

Scripture and philosophy are both on the side of revivals. Scripture is because it teaches us both to pray and work for this end. Philosophy is, because every plan

and thought of man anticipates revival in its season. It is not thought unphilosophical to hope for a revival of nature, after the death-like slumber of winter. Reviving health, after the wasting of sickness, is courted by every one who has been called upon to bear the anguish of pain, or the weariness of lassitude. A revival of commerce is earnestly desired by the whole mass of our countrymen in this time of general stagnation. Where, then, is impropriety of desiring a revival of religion? The greatest enemy of excitement in religion, does not object to excitement in other things. Freshness and variety throw a charm over every object they touch, and the churches are invigorated by the copious raining down of the Spirit's influences, which are now vouchsafed to many churches.

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Our faith and our prayers are now invited to take hold upon God. He draws unusually near to us. Pentecostal showers are ready to refresh the thirsty land. The promises possess a richness and certainty which are not apprehended in ordinary times, but which now invite to more earnest, devoted, and better rewarded toil than heretofore. "All things are ready." A glorious work is before us, and a future of triumph for Christ and his truth, grander than ever the church has seen. Let us put on our armour. Let us lay our plans for the winter campaign, and let us especially "give ourselves to prayer" for the unction of the Holy Spirit, and the future shall be as the past, and much more abundant."

REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN SWEDEN. -We learn from the Rev. Dr. Steane, who has recently visited Sweden, that a gracious work is now going on in that country. Churches are become inspired with new life, and prompted to vigorous activity, and many sinners have been converted to God. "I am assured," he says, "that there is not a parish in Sweden where the religious awakening is not taking place, and persons

of every grade of life are coming under its influence. Instances of sudden conversion, as sudden and remarkable as some of those in the New Testament, attended with circumstances of which we have no experience in our country, and there is a freshness and simplicity in the new religious life here which contrasts strongly with the old fixed and conventional forms in which we are accustomed to see it. It charms and wins upon your affection like the smile of an infant." Among the direct manifestations of this work, the selfdenying labours of churches, once lost in dead formality, present most satisfactory and gratifying evidence of its reality and power." Dr. Steane, speaking as an eye witness, says :"In Stockholm, and, I believe, in other places as well, the religious awakening has called forth new and enlarged efforts of Christian usefulness. I cannot dwell on these, or even enumerate them. Let me only mention that Sunday-schools and tract distribution are extending. Bibles are distributed and sold almost faster than they are supplied. Prison visitation has been undertaken by a committee of ladies, whose Christian labours are modelled upon those of the late Mrs. Fry and her coadjutors; and, following the precedent of Kaiserworth, a Deaconesses' Institution has been established, which is conducted with admirable efficiency, under the superintendence of one of the most excellent and deservedly-respected ladies in Stock

holm."

Dr. Steane, with honourable candour, ascribes a great amount of the spiritual good now seen, to the former labours of the Rev. George Scott, once a Wesleyan missionary in Stockholm, and the eloquent preaching of Mr. Roscinus, a lay minister, whose pulpit labours attract crowds to hear the Gospel in the city. Whatever ministers and whatever Christian denominations may be honoured as the agents in reviving a slumbering church, and saving a perishing world, we shall rejoice. Oh that the sacred impulse which is spreading around us may penetrate

and permeate the churches in this country!

ENCOURAGING SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA. It seems but as yesterday since the Primitive Methodist Conference began their missions in Australia. They have now fourteen stations there, and three in New Zealand, and one just commencing in Tasmania-the whole including 1,602 members. What is remarkable, these stations are all self-sustaining. They have expended from twelve to thirteen thousand pounds in building chapels and ministers' houses; they have already paid off about ten thousand pounds of this amount, and intend soon to remove the remaining fragment of the debt, and have their chapels and ministers' houses free from all incumbrance. They can erect a minister's house, and, at a tea meeting, raise almost as much money as will meet the expenditure. Just lately the stations have sent to this country for seven additional missionaries, and what redounds much to their honour they have sent beforehand to the missionary committee the money to pay for their outfit and passage, with an undertaking to maintain them on their arrival. As another instance showing both the strength of connexional attachment and the desire of pious emigrants to extend the blessings of Christianity around them, twelve members-yes, just twelve members, recently settled in Tasmania-have sent over the sum of £60 to pay the passage of a missionary, with an engagement also to find the whole of his salary. These facts your editor had a few days ago from the Rev. W. Harland, who is editor of the Primitive Methodist Magazine, and a member of the missionary committee.

Loss Is GAIN." An oak tree for two hundred years grows solitary. It is bitterly handled by frosts; it is wrestled with by ambitious winds, determined to give it a downfall. It holds fast and grows alone. 'What avails all this sturdiness ?' it saith to itself. Why am I to stand here