by marriage, or as we should say "son-in-law." By a comparison of the two tables, we see that Joseph was descended from Solomon, but Mary, from Nathan. Now the promise was unconditional that the great King of Israel should come of David's line, "The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from him: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne," but as far as his successors on the throne were concerned, the promise was conditional upon their keeping God's covenant and testimony (Psalm cxxxiii. 11, 12), for of Solomon, God said, "Moreover, I will establish his kingdom, forever, if he will be constant to do my statutes and my judgements, as at this day." I. Chron. xxviii. 7. But we know that Solomon failed, and God rent the kingdom from him; giving only one tribe to his son Rehoboam (I. Chron. xi. 9-13) and completely removed the crown of Judah from the Solomonic line, in the person of Zedekiah, according to the prophecy of Ezekiel (xxi. 25-27) "Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it and it shall be no more, until he shall come whose right it is and I will give it him." The hitherto exalted line of Solomon was debased, and the hitherto obscure line of Nathan, exalted, to become the progenitor of the Lord of Glory. So that the Solomonic line being rejected and Joseph being of that line, according to the Scriptures, if the Messiah had been born of him, the prophecies would not have been fulfilled.

:

To those who are living the regenerate life, there is something repugnant in the thought of the body of our Lord being produced by carnal generation, and it seems much more in agreement with his own teaching in Matt. xix. 11, 12, and that of St. Paul in II. Cor. vii. 1, that Christ was emphatically the "Seed of the Woman" independent of the agency of man, and we conclude, therefore, that we ought not to withhold our belief in the

immaculate conception, either on scientific or on Scriptural grounds.

NOTE. The forgoing article was called out through an article in the January number of BIBLE REVIEW, entitled "The Christian Religion." Our learned friend has, of course, a full right to his opinions. We do not feel like criticising, but will leave our readers to decide for themselves. We will say this, however, that the quotation from Isaiah, namely, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive," is translated by Rabbi Leeser, a translator of the Hebrew Bible, as follows: "Behold, this young woman shall conceive," and he says in a foot note, that the Hebrew word translated virgin "does not necessarily signify virgin, but a young marriageable woman in general." In the Revised Version of the Bible the word virgin is translated maiden.

[Ed.

THE TWO ROOMS.

"Where does the clerk of the weather store
The days that are sunny and fair?”

"In your soul is a room with a shining door,
And all of those days are there."

"And where does the clerk of the weather keep

The days that are dreary and blue?"

"In a second room in your soul they sleep,

And you have the keys of the two."

"And why are my days so often, I pray,
Filled full of the clouds and gloom?"
"Because you forgot at the break of day
And opened the dreary room."

-From St. Nicholas.

THE WELSH LADY SEER.

HER CONVERSION AND MISSION.

VISIONS OF LIGHTS.

By Beriah G. Evans.

The lady revivalist of Merionethshire, Mrs. Jones, is the most original personality that has yet appeared in connection with the Welsh Revival. Within a fortnight she doubled the church membership in her district, and only three adults remained unenrolled. Her husband, after thirty-eight years of married life, was among her earliest converts.

The neighborhood of Mrs. Jones' home, midway between Barmouth and Harlech, had a bad reputation for drunkeness, blasphemy, and Sunday desecration. To-day these have disappeared as if by magic. How has it been done? Practically by the mission of a peasant woman, of ordinary attainments, with no special gift of oratory, who up to two months ago had never spoken in public. I paid a visit to the neighborhood, and think readers of THE CHRISTIAN WORLD will be glad to have firsthand information as to Mrs. Jones and her work. The most astounding phenomena-astounding is the only possible adjective-are said to have manifested themselves in connection with Mrs. Jones. The phenomena are attested not merely by her own statements, but by statements of people who are not of a kind to be easily deluded by a lively and excitable imagination.

Let me state some of the facts, to the reality of which any public man in the neighborhood will testify, before bearing my personal witness. Signs in the heavens and portents on the earth have startled observers. It is "said" that Mrs Jones has her special star, never seen before she commenced her mission. Dazzling flashes from the evening sky direct her to the places in which she is to minister. As she journeys-on foot, in a car or by train-she is accompanied by a mysterious protecting light. She will not leave her house to fulfil an engagement till "the lights" appear. I have seen an unbeliever in these portents shivering as with ague when they approached him. I have conversed with a minister, physically and intellect

ually robust, who has been confined to his bed for several days after seeing for himself these strange sights. Mrs. Jones' child, a bright girl of twelve, speaks of them familiarly and without fear. A popular minister, however, one of the best known public men in Wales, though possessing the opportunity to see these phenomena, intentionally avoids doing so. "I know they appear," he told me, "no man can doubt that. But I would rather not see them."

Mrs. Jones herself emphatically disclaims the possession of any supernatural powers. All she clains is that she has been born into the new life, that her convictions are honest, her intentions are pure, that she has received her mission direct from heaven, and that she acts under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all that she does. All that she has said and done so far harmonizes with her claim to direct leading by the Spirit. As she prays her upturned face is literally transfigured. If you know Mrs. Jones' history, as I have learnt it, you will not for a moment doubt the complete effacement of her self-will. Some of the parts of her life in the last two years are too sacred to be set out in cold print, but take the following:

Having lost by death her nearest and dearest she was inclined to "curse God and die." Her faith grew cold. Then a chance reading of Sheldon's "In His Steps" brought about a complete revulsion.

"I determined," she told me, "that, so far as in me lay, I would walk evermore "in His steps." I longed to be the means of bringing my husband to Christ. For seventeen years my example had shown him the hollowness of a mere profession of religion; and my heart yearned to be permitted to undo the wrong I had thus done him. I prayed that I might convert all around me in my daily life, my relatives, friends, and neighbors. I did not then ask for more than that."

On my arising to leave on the occasion of my visit she said: "You had better wait that you may see the Light for yourself. It would be a pity for you to go back without seeing it.'

And the manner of her saying it impressed one with the fact that the presence of this mysterious light has now become so essential a part of her life as to be to her and to the members of her family a mere matter of commonplace, like any domestic habit.

Besides myself there were present Rev. Roger Williams, Congregational minister, Dyffryn; Rev. Llewelyn Morgan, Congregational minister, Harlech; Mr. Jones, of Tal arnau; and Mrs. Jones herself.

Shortly after six o'clock, it being now dark, Mrs Jones, ready dressed for the meeting, went outside, returning promptly with the remark:

"We cannot start yet. The light has not come."

Five minutes later she again went out, returning immediately

to say:

"Now we can go. The light has come !"

Having passed the railway level crossing without seeing anything, we were told to wait, and watch the southern sky-and even as she spoke, there, apparently a couple of miles away, between us and the hills, flashed a brilliant white light in the form of an enormous star, but emitting from its surface dazzling sparklets like flashing rays from a diamond. Though the sight was what we had longed for, and traveled far to see, it sent an eerie feeling creeping down the spine. A solitary doubter suggested it was the headlight of a train, but when a train actually rushed by the difference was immediately seen. The light disappeared and reappeared, circling the valley in the direction to which we were bound.

"Come!" said Mrs. Jones, "Let us go. It is all right. We shall have a good meeting." And we did.

Later I saw three brilliant rays of dazzling white light strike across the road from the mountain to the sea, and afterwards a blood-red light, apparently within a foot of the ground, seemed to be in the centre of the village street. I discovered that none of my companions but Mrs. Jones herself had seen either the white or the red light, and she had kept silence till I mentioned what I had seen.

She this week goes much further afield than before, Bala, Festiniog and other large centres calling for her and she has consented against her wish, but in obedience to what she deems to be the guiding spirit of her life.

[Believing our correspondent to be a competent observer, we give his sketch as above, in order that our readers may have first-hand information as to the various phases of the Welsh Revival. Such phenomena as he describes have, of course, been heard of before in connection with similar movements, but no adequate explanation has been forthcoming.-Editor of Christian World.]

We publish this clipping from THE CHRISTIAN WORLD, sent to us from England by a friend, as there are several points in it that are very suggestive. We read in Isaiah these words: "Lord, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not; but they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be ashamed." Many of the