SAMUEL'S PARTING WORDS.

AND Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.

And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.

Behold, here I am witness against me before the Lord,

and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? and I will restore it you.

And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand.

And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is

witness.

And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers.

When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.

And when they forgat the Lord their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth king ti over you continue following the Lord your God:

But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.

Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes.

Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly

feared the Lord and Samuel.

And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart;

And turn ye not aside : for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are

vain.

For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.

Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way :

Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things he hath done for you.

But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.— 1 SAMUEL Xii.

THE GOLDEN TEXT.

"Fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you.”— 1 Sam. xii. 24.

And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king.

Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you.

If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his

I Sam. xii. OUTLINE LESSON.

In the Review Lesson three months ago we had Joshua's parting words. Now we have Samuel's. Very much alike: they both (a) recount God's mercies, (6) exhort to steadfastness in His service. See

both these divisions in the G. Text; only (6) is before (a).

If Samuel could come and speak to us, would he not say nearly the same things? So, having (in lesson for March 28th) studied God's mercies, let us now see the exhortations which Samuel might give us from the twelve lessons of the past quarter. The first

Very good precepts-yes; but who can keep them? Think-how is a train moved along? Can the wheels turn of themselves? There must be the steam, the motive power. What "steam" can we get to make us keep all these good precepts? See Rom. xii. 1: "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God." As Samuel says, "Consider how great things He hath done for you." Especially the great mercy of all, the gift of Jesus: then we can say like St. Paul, "The love of Christ constraineth us (2 Cor. v. 14).

"LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF.” THE Rev. John Howe, one of the chaplains to Cromwell, was applied to by men of all parties for protection, nor did he refuse his influence to any on account of difference in religious opinions. One day the Protector said. to him, "Mr. Howe, you have asked favours for everybody besides yourself; pray when does your turn come?" He replied: "My turn, my Lord Protector, is always come when I can serve another."

THE TRUE LIFE.

I WANT to be a Christian,
And be from sin set free-
To feel that Jesus' precious blood
Was shed indeed for me.

I'd rather be a Christian,

And bear the rude world's frown, Than dwell in courts of wickedness, And wear a regal crown.

I want to be a Christian,

And in my Saviour trust;

That when this body lies in death,
And turns again to dust,

My soul may be with Jesus,

In that bright world above,

Where grief comes not, nor care, nor pain,

But all is joy and love.

I want to be a Christian,

And as a Christian live;

And pray that God would unto me

His Holy Spirit give,

To lead me in the righteous path Which my Redeemer trod ; And so, by following Jesus, Prepare to meet my God.

I want to be a Christlan,

And die the Christian's death-To whisper Jesus' sacred name With my expiring breath; And then in realms of glory, To heaven's Eternal King, I would with powers immortal Loud hallelujahs sing.

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ELIJAH IN THE DESERT.

ELIJAH at proud Ahab's court

No longer may abide,
But refuge in the desert seeks,

At lonely Cherith's side.

But though we wander far from men, The mighty God is nigh,

And even there our prayers can hear,
And there our wants supply.

And so the faithful Prophet found
In his lone desert home,

For lo, with ample bread and flesh,
The ravens daily come.

"Give us this day our daily bread,"
Is no vain fruitless prayer,
And, if we trust, we shall be fed,

However poor we are.

God watches o'er our loneliest paths,
Though often dark or dim,

And never disappoints the hope
Of them who trust in Him.

Therefore, if we do not love Him with all our hearts. and obey Him perfectly, we become debtors to Him; and if we do not pay our debts, or get some one to pay them for us, He will have to send us into His dreadful prison, where all the "wicked shall be cast."

I want to tell you a nice little story, which I think will help you to understand how "Jesus has paid the debt." A nobleman in England so loved his Saviour that he felt that he must go from town to town and tell all he could of the way to be saved.

The first place he went to he had large bills printed. inviting all the people to his meetings. The house was crowded the first night, because it was quite a new thing to see a nobleman preaching the Gospel. But he was such a poor speaker that only a few came to hear him the next night. At last no one would come to hear him tell how "Jesus paid the debt." The good man felt quite discouraged.

But he thought of a way to lead careless people to think of what Christ had done for us. He had placards posted all over the city, with these words printed on them :

THE GOLDEN TEXT.

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”—John i. 14.

THE SAVIOUR.

JESUS from heaven came down to die,
For little children young as I ;
So great His love, His life He gave,
Our guilty souls from hell to save.

Oh, may I love and praise His name,
Who once for me a child became :
Help me, O Lord, Thy will to do;
My sins forgive, my heart renew.

JESUS PAYING THE DEBT.

Do you know, my dear little readers, that you are in debt to God, and that you owe Him more than you can ever pay?

Just as a father has the right to call upon his son to obey him, so our heavenly Father, who has given us all the good things we enjoy, has the right to the love and

I WILL PAY THE DEBTS OF ANY ONE WHO WILL CALL AT MY OFFICE TO-MORROW BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 8 AND 12 A.M.

(Signed.)

He went to his office, and not one came till after eleven o'clock. Then he saw a man coming in a very shy manner, and looking in as if he were afraid of being laughed at by his companions, who in the distance were watching him, and waiting to see how he would be received.

Finally he ventured in, and asked, "Is it true that you offered to pay the debts of any one that would call upon you?" "I did." "And will you?" "I will; how much do you owe?" He told him ; and the nobleman wrote a cheque and handed it to him, and then said, "Please sit down till twelve o'clock." Just before noon another came in the same shy way, as if he were afraid of being laughed at, and yet got all his debts paid. At twelve o'clock they both went out, and were met by their companions, who began to laugh and to say, "You found it all a hoax, didn't you?" "Look at these cheques! See, he has paid our debts in full!" they replied. Then all the rest hastened to the office. But the nobleman said it was "too late." "If," said he, "you had come before the hour of twelve I would have paid all your debts, but it is too late now."

He then told them that Jesus was calling them to come and get their debts paid; but that the time was fast com