How John Rowell tried to Undo his
Evil Work.

OHN ROWELL'S life, up to the time when he was five-and-twenty, had been anything but what it ought to have been. It would have been sad enough if he had been simply careless and pleasure-loving; but he had been far worse than that; indeed

he had gone so far astray that very few people ever expected to see him come right. There was one, however, who was always hopeful, and who never once gave him up, and that was his mother. He caused her many a sleepless night, and many tears; but she never ceased to pray for him, and at length her prayers were heard. A time came when John was arrested in his downward course, and from that time he has been an earnest, useful Christian. Few people are more respected in the society with which he is connected than John Rowell.

"Ah, then," somebody will perhaps say, "this is just what I have always said. A young man may sow his wild oats, and then reform,, and neither he nor anybody else will be a bit the worse."

Stop a little, till we have told you something more about John Rowell. You will soon find that he did not think so.

A short time after he forsook his old ways he left Langton, and was absent three or four years. He wanted to improve himself in his business; but he felt too that it would be a good thing to be separated from his old companions. There is every reason to believe that he would have stood firm had he remained at home; for he had a strong will of his own; and besides he knew where strength was to be found, and he sought it. Still it was wise of him to go away, and certainly it turned out for the best. He found in the place to which he went some kind Christian friends, who did him much good; and what was even better still, he found one of the best wives any man ever had.

When he returned to Langton he began business in a small way on his own account. It was uphill work at first, for he had very little capital-only what he had saved; but he worked hard, and by-and-by he made his way.

One day he heard that Jacob Trotter, an old companion of his, had met with a serious accident. It had occurred, as such accidents so often do, through the influence of drink; and it was such a bad one that for a little time it was

doubtful whether Jacob would recover. John had met Jacob now and then after his return to Langton, and the sight of him had awakened in his mind some very sad feelings. It needed only a single glance to be quite sure that he had fallen very low. His countenance told it; his dress, his manner-everything. It would have made John feel sad to see all this in any case; but he could not help thinking that the wreck was in no small measure his own work, wrought in the days of his youthful sinfulness and folly. When he first met with Jacob he was fresh from a country, village, where he had been exposed. to comparatively few temptations. He had gone to work in the same shop as John, and John had invited him to go with him to the publichouse, and on Sunday excursions, and to the theatre, and other places of amusement which, to say the least of them, were questionable.. It was not without some difficulty that he overcame Jacob's scruples; but partly by persuasion and partly by ridicule he did overcome them, and he soon became as bad as himself. After John's conversion,, and before he left Langton, he had talked kindly and seriously to Jacob; but Jacob had only laughed at him, and ever since then he had gone from bad to worse. They had spoken kindly to one another; but John had as yet found no opportunity for anything like serious talk.

As soon as John heard what had happened he went to see Jacob. Just then he could ill spare any very liberal help, but he found Jacob and his family in such destitution that he could not but assist them largely; and, what was more, he pleaded with others who were better able to give than himself. Jacob was very thankful for all this: indeed he many a time said there could have been nothing for them but the parish if it had not been for John's kindness.

For some time John said nothing to Jacob directly about the life he had lived, although nearly every time he went to see him he read a portion of Scripture, now and then making a few remarks on what he read, and offering a short prayer. He waited till Jacob was a little stronger. He thought it

not unlikely that Jacob would open the subject himself; and he was right.

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Ah, John," said Jacob, one evening, as John sat by his bedside, "if I had only done as you wanted me four years since this would not have happened. It was the drink that did it; and I should have been a steady man like you if I had only minded what you said."

"It was a pity, Jacob," replied John. "I would have given a great deal to lead you right, as soon as I knew what was right myself, and felt what a blessing it was. I wanted

to do it all the more because I had done so much to lead you wrong. It has many a time been a great trouble to me to think that but for me you might never have gone so far out of the way."

"There's no denying," said Jacob, slowly, "that you did a good deal to lead me off when I first came to Langton; but then I am not going to let you take all the blame. I ought to have known better, and I did know better. I felt all the time I was doing wrong."

"Well, well,” replied John, "it is not of so much matter for us to settle exactly where the blame lies as it is to get right and to do right now. Let us thank God it is not too late to do that."

Yet whilst John talked thus he felt how much he had to answer for in regard to poor Jacob, and in regard, too, to a good many more to whom he had little chance of speaking about the right way. It is a solemn thing to reflect how little a man can do to repair the harm he has once done by leading others astray. Some of them go beyond his reach; and those to whom he can speak are too often unwilling to listen to him when he has come to a better mind. Thoughts like these made John yearn all the more to lead his poor friend Jacob to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Do you think it is not too late?" said Jacob, in reply to his friend. "Do you know, I sometimes think it is. I have tried to do better many a time; but, somehow or other, I always fell into the old ways again."

"I don't wonder at that," said John, "for it is just what I did myself. Don't think that I went on as I did without many a time having a sorely troubled conscience, and without many a vain resolve and endeavour to live a better life. But this was my mistake, and I dare say it has been yours too. I did not begin at the right beginning."

"The right beginning!" said Jacob. "Well, how did you begin? and what do you call the right beginning?"

"I tried to break off all my old habits," said John, "and to live a new life in my own strength; and I was not strong enough. But, if you have no objection, I will tell you how it was I came to think and to do differently."

"Do," replied Jacob.

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"It seemed by the merest chance," said John; "but then know there is no such thing as chance. One Sunday night I was passing a church, and I thought I would just drop in for a minute or two to see and hear what was going on. It was just a bit of curiosity-neither more nor less. I had not been in either a church or chapel for above a twelvemonth, but the singing was nice, and it attracted me. This was soon over, however, and then the minister stood up and gave out his text. I'll tell you what it was-it was this: If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' I might have gone out when the singing was done; but a gentleman who saw me standing in the aisle invited me to a seat and gave me a hymn-book. Then I liked the appearance of the minister, and the text rather struck me; so I sat still. Many a time, as the minister went on, I thought to myself, 'Why, he might have made this sermon for me!' He described a sinner in bondage to his bad passions and sins, and very miserable because of his bondage. That's me, anyhow,' I said to myself. Then he spoke of his struggles to get free, and how useless they were. 'That's me again,' I said. But then he told us how the Lord Jesus Christ makes men free, cleansing away all their sins by His precious blood, and sending His Holy Spirit into their hearts to make them entirely new. 'That's