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his papa; "you seem greatly perplexed; can I help you?" "I was thinking," said Freddy, "about my babybrother now an angel in heaven-and wondering how I could get my sins forgiven, and be made fit to be an angel too. Can you tell me, dear papa?"

"Most certainly I will, my boy, and will be delighted to do so. You want to know how to get your sins forgiven? The way is very simple; and a few sentences will explain it all. It is just by coming to God, believing in Jesus as your Saviour."

Little Freddy looked puzzled. "Just by coming to God," he repeated, "believing in Jesus as your Saviour. Papa, I do not understand it."

"Then I will try to make it plain to you. You have heard of the way the Jews used to come to God in the olden time. God, by His servant Moses, told them that when they sinned, and desired to return to Him and seek His pardon, they must take a lamb and kill it, bind it upon the altar, pour out its blood before Him, and then, while it was burning, and the smoke was going up towards heaven, they must approach, and lifting up their hearts to Him in prayer-believing God's own promise, that if they thus came they should be pardoned-ask for and obtain at once forgiveness. The Jew, in killing the lamb, owned in that act that he deserved to die like it ; but he placed it before God as his substitute, and looked to Him to accept it as his substitute, dying instead of him; and so, for its sake, forgive, and pass by his sin. Now, this is something like the way you have to come. You have no lamb to bring. Jesus Christ is already provided as your lamb. Eighteen hundred years ago He was sacrificed on Calvary, in behalf of sinners. God accepted Him as their Great Substitute, and now declares that whoever will come to Him, simply looking to what Christ has done, and resting on it for acceptance, shall at once be received and pardoned. What, then, have you to do? Simply to come to God, resting on the death of Jesus, believing that God will receive and pardon you, because He says He will, if you thus approach Him. Just, in fact, as the Jew did; only that you come through a better sacrifice. Coming so, God must and will forgive you; for He sweetly says, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'"

Freddy felt this was the way-the only way to come. He saw at once that in Jesus was all he wanted as a sacrifice, and that night he felt he could rejoice, because he could believe that God did just what He said He would do-accept and pardon all who came to Him through Christ.

Have any of my young readers ever felt Freddy's perplexity? Then the way is for them just as it was for him; and not more willing was God to pardon Freddy, than He is to pardon every little boy and girl who will come to Him through Christ.

C.

"SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN."

WE have learnt, dear mother,

What to you we read-
What our Lord's disciples

To the mothers said;

How they did rebuke them

As they round Him press'd,
When they brought unto Him
Children to be bless'd.

How those children's mothers Must have sighed and wept, When with cold denials

They were backward kept ; Yet they still would linger Watching, waiting nigh, Till their looks beseeching Caught the Saviour's eye.

Then how kind the welcome All around Him heard! We remember, mother,

Every gentle word :"Let the little children

Now to Me be given; Chide not nor forbid them, For of such is heaven."

G. BENNETT.

HOW A GREAT MAN DIED. WHEN Archbishop Whately lay on his death-bed, friends, as they visited him, said with unbecoming praise, "You are dying as you lived-great to the last." He replied, "I am dying as I have lived, in the faith of Jesus." Another remarked, "What a blessing that your glorious intellect is unimpaired!" Said the archbishop, "Do not call intellect glorious; there is nothing glorious out of Christ." At another time it was said, "The great fortitude of your character supports you." "No," he answered, "it is not my fortitude that supports me, but my FAITH IN CHRIST."

HUMILITY.

MUCH may be got by humility: he that looked downward, saw the stars in the water; but he that looked upward, could not see the water in the stars.

The Juvenile Library. Packets A, B, C, D, E, and F, of this attractive series may now be had. Well illustrated, with glazed paper cover. Twelve assorted books in each packet. Price sixpence per packet. Sunday-school teachers will find these little books of special service to them as gifts to their scholars.

Jessie Dyson. A Christmas Tale for the Young. By John A. Walker. Price 18.

S. W. PARTRIDGE & Co., 9, Paternoster Row, E.C.

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THE GOLDEN TEXT.

HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT.

AND when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them. that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.-MATT. viii. 5-13.

WAY TO BE HUMBLE..

MEDITATE much on the example of Christ, who humbled Himself even to the cross. Endeavour to gain deep impressions of your guilt, and of the punishment which your sins have merited. Dwell upon the precious promises of God to the humble and contrite. And remember that one employment of the redeemed in glory is to cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet. One of the Fathers once said, "If I were asked what is the first grace of a Christian, I would say humility. If I were asked what is the second, I would say humility. If I were asked what is the third, I would say humility for ever."

"He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad."-Matt. xii. 30.

SEND ME.

HARK, the voice of Jesus crying,
"Who will go and work to-day?
Fields are white and harvest waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?"
Loud and long the Master calleth,
Rich reward He offers free :
Who will answer, gladly saying,
"Here am I, send me, send me!"

If you cannot cross the ocean, And the heathen lands explore, You can find the heathen nearer,

You can help them at your door; If you cannot give your thousands, You can give the widow's mite, And the least you give for Jesus

Will be precious in His sight.

If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,

You can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked
With the Judgment's dread alarms,
You can lead the little children
To the Saviour's waiting arms.

Let none hear you idly saying,

"There is nothing I can do," While the souls of men are dying, And the Master calls for you. Take the task He gives you gladly; Let His work your pleasure be; Answer quickly, when He calleth, "Here am I, send me, send me !" DR. MARCH.

BEGIN ARIGHT.

IF you are about to do a piece of work, you will be careful to begin it right; otherwise you will have to take it in pieces and do it over again. If you are going on a journey, you will be careful at first to get into the right road. The way to begin life aright, my child, is first of all to seek God, for "The fear of the Lord is the

FAITH.

A LITTLE girl, named Lucy, whose mother had always told her the truth, and in whom she trusted, went with her one day to a large town. The child had been used to live in the quiet country, and the bustle and the noise were alarming to her, for she was not strong; and her head ached, and her limbs grew weary, as they entered

some show in the street, and Lucy pressed her mother's hand, for her heart beat, and she was frightened. "Do not be afraid, Lucy," said her mamma, "I will not take you into danger; you are quite safe: keep my hand, nothing shall hurt you." And the child believed her mother, and was happy. Well, this is faith in a mother whom she could see. It would be harder to trust in one she could not see.

Clouds had been gathering for some time, and soon the rain fell. The mother looked at her little delicate girl, and said, "Lucy dear, I dare not take you any further; I must go, for I have business to do elsewhere. I must leave you in this shop: don't you go away from it, and I will be back as soon as I can; but my errands will take me some time."

The child looked into her mother's eyes; and said, "You won't forget me, I know."

And, after a kiss and a blessing, the mother left her child under the care of the master of the shop.

At first she was amused by seeing the gay ribbons measured, and the ladies coming to do their shopping; but, after a while, she began to long to see her mamma, and to hope that she would come before dark, for it was winter time. She had a bun to eat, and was not hungry; but she was tired. A little girl, older than herself, now came into the shop, and they began to talk. Lucy told her how she was to wait there for her mamma, and how glad she should be when she came.

"Perhaps she will forget you," said the little girl. "I am sure she will not do that," replied Lucy. "How can you be sure? She may, you know." "She promised," was the child's reply; "she never broke her promise yet."

Another hour passed away. It seemed like a day to the weary little one. The gay customers had gone home, and the shopmen were putting away the goods; the gas lamps were lighted, and still the mother had not returned. A woman came into the shop at this moment whom Lucy knew. She lived near her father's house, and, seeing the little girl, offered to take her back in her pony gig. "No, thank you," replied the child; "mamma will come for me; I must wait."

At length the mother came; and, oh, what love was there in her kiss to the trusting, patient child! The confidence of faith she had shown pleased her and when they were once more by their fireside at home, and Lucy was nestling in her bosom, her mamma told her that this was the very kind of trust which God required of His children-to try no means to save themselves but according to His word; to believe alone on the Lord Jesus for salvation, and to trust His promise, which says, that "Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life." Without such faith it is impossible to please God.

"PULL IT UP BY THE ROOT." "FATHER, here is a dock," said Thomas, as he was at work with his father in his garden; "shall I cut it off close to the roots ?"

"No," replied his father, "that will not do; I have cut it up myself many times, but it grows again stronger than ever. Pull it up by the root, for nothing else will kill it."

Thomas pulled again and again at the dock, but the root was very deep in the ground, and he could not stir it from its place; so he asked his father to come and help him, and his father went and soon pulled it up.

"This dock root, Thomas," said his father, "which is an evil and fast-growing weed in a garden, puts me in mind of the evil things that grow so fast in the hearts of children.

"If a boy is ill-tempered, we must not expect to find in him good humour, cheerfulness, thankfulness, and a desire to make others happy. And a little girl who is idle we need not expect to be industrious, neat, or cheerful. If a child is undutiful to his parents, and despises the commandments of God, we might as well look for a rose or a tulip in a bed of nettles, as hope to find in his heart those graces and good desires that we love to see growing there.

"Every bad habit, every evil passion which troubles you, you should try with all your heart and mind to overcome; you should, if possible, tear it up. But as you will find your own strength but weakness, go straightway to that Almighty Friend who alone is able to strengthen and assist you. He can take from your hearts the love of sin, and this is the only way of destroying it, as we have destroyed the dock by pulling it up by the root."

A CHILD'S HYMN.
IT is the God who reigns above,
That made the earth and sea,
And yet He condescends to love
A sinful child like me.

I know He formed each pretty flower,
And made the sky so blue;
How very great must be His power,
His love and wisdom too!

How must I grieve Him when I sin,
And say a naughty word;
For every word is known to Him,

And every thought is heard.

Then let me try, day after day,
A Christ-like child to be;
And serve God in some humble way,
Who is so good to me.

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