but attributed it to the effects of his disappointment at not being able to go to Mr. Conway's on Friday." Dr. Turner was called in, and in a few hours afterwards, poor Middleton was pronounced to be dangerously ill, of scarlet fever of the most malignant kind.

All that night the unhappy boy raved wildly. "And I prayed to God for this," he moaned; "oh, mamma! mamma! will He ever forgive me, say, will He?" The sun rose in all its glorious splendour, but it streamed in on the lifeless corpse of poor Middleton.

Is not this true story a warning to us, when we kneel before cur Father in heaven, to ask for the guidance of His most Holy Spirit to teach us in all things to pray aright?

"Renew my will from day to day,
Blend it with Thine, and take away
All that now makes it hard to say,
THY WILL BE DONE."

"THOU GOD SEEST ME."

AMONG the deepest shades of night

Can there be one who sees my way?

Yes; God is like a shining light,

That turns the darkness into day.

When every eye around me sleeps,

May I not sin without control? No; for a constant watch He keeps On every thought of every soul.

If I could find a cave unknown, Where human feet had never trod, Yet there I could not be alone

On every side there would be God.

D. M. S.

He smiles in heaven, He frowns in hell;
He fills the air, the earth, and sea ;
I must within His presence dwell,
I cannot from His anger flee.

Yet, I may flee-He shows me where-
To Jesus Christ He bids me fly;
And while I seek for pardon there,
There's only mercy in His eye.

THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. WILL you read the parable of the Prodigal Son, my young readers, in the 15th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel? The father in the parable represents God. The treatment which this father gives his son is intended to show us how God will treat sinners such as we are, when they repent of their sins, and return to Him through Jesus Christ.

He receives them kindly; He has a robe for them to put on. It is not a robe for the body, but for the soul. It is called a "garment of salvation," a "robe of righteousness." It is made up of all Jesus did and suffered for us when on earth. This robe Jesus puts upon all His people who truly repent of their sins, and believe in Him as their Saviour. He puts this robe on them, to make them fit to enter heaven when they die. If we were going to attend the coronation of a king or queen in England, it would be necessary for us to have a particular kind of dress. dress. Everybody who expects to enter the palace to see the king crowned, must have on the court dress. And just so it is with the robe of which I am speaking. God is a great king; heaven is His palace—the place where He holds His court. He has appointed a particular dress for everybody from our world to have on who expect to enter that palace. This dress is the "righteousness of Jesus Christ." This is the court dress of heaven. Without having this on, we are told nobody will be allowed to enter heaven. We read in the New Testament that the Apostle St. John once had a vision. It seemed as if a door was opened before him, and he was allowed to look right into heaven. He saw many wonderful things there. Multitudes of people from this world were there but he noticed they were all dressed alike. They all wore robes which had been "washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb." The youngest infant needs this robe as much as the oldest man. The value of this robe no one can calculate. All the gold and silver and jewels in the world never could have purchased it. It was not to be bought with money. Jesus had to come from heaven to make it. It took Him all His lifetime here on earth to finish it. It cost labour and toil, sighs, groans, tears and blood. All the holy obedience of His life and all His dreadful sufferings and death were the price He paid for it. A good old writer says—

"Kind Jesus spent His life to weave

This robe of perfect righteousness.”

One drop of His precious blood is worth more than all the wealth of the world. But Jesus poured forth freely all His heart's blood to procure this glorious robe for our souls. All the men in the world, and all the angels in heaven, never could have procured it for us. Jesus only was able to do this. We hope that many of our readers are now wearing this spotless robe. No other dress, however beautiful, can make you half so lovely as this. Say from your hearts

"Be living faith my costly dress, And my best robe Thy righteousness.”

S. E.

Illustrated Songs and Hymns. Compiled by T. B. S. Numerous Engravings. Price 2s. 6d.

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

THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS.

BUT what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.

And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.

Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.-MATTHEW xxi. 28-32.

THE INFIDEL AND HIS CHILD.

A CLEVER mechanic, who was once an infidel, expressed on a public occasion his desire to bless God for Sundayschools. "They have been," said he, "the means, under God's blessing, of my conversion. My brother-in-law and sister persuaded me to send my little boy to the Sunday-school. The child often heard the superintendents enforce the duty and importance of prayer. One Sunday morning, while his mother was dressing his little brother, this boy was missing, and on inquiring of him where he had been, he replied he had been saying his prayers, and then he asked, 'Mother, does my father ever pray?' She informed me what the child had said. I had lived in the habitual neglect of prayer, but now I felt condemned; conviction seized my mind, I sought the Lord, and found Him to the joy of my soul."

"DID HE GET IN?"

CHARLIE R. had listened very attentively while his father read at family worship the third chapter of Revelation. But when he repeated that beautiful verse, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me," he could not wait until his father had finished, but ran up to him with the anxious inquiry, "Father, did He get in ? ”

I would ask the same question of every child, “Has the Saviour got into your heart?" He has knocked again and again-is knocking now. Open your heart, my dear child, at once, and bid Him welcome, and this

She was

THE CHILD AND THE SCEPTIC. ONE day, some years ago, a little girl about eight years old was sitting on the grass in front of her father's cottage in Prussia. Her father was a common labourer. They were very poor, and the little girl was very meanly dressed, but she was a little Christian. She loved Jesus, and it made her very happy to think about Him and sing sweet hymns in His praise. This was just what she was doing at the time of which I am speaking. singing about Jesus, and her eyes were filled with tears. While she was singing a nobleman, who lived in that neighbourhood, passed by. He was very rich, and indulged in all kinds of wicked pleasures. He was an infidel too, and was very fond of making a mock of religion and religious persons. He heard the little girl's sweet voice as she was singing. He saw her happylooking face, and yet her eyes filled with tears, and he stopped a moment to talk with her.

"Why do you weep, my little girl?" asked the count. "Are you sick?"

"No, sir," she replied; "but I am so happy!" "How can you weep if you are happy?"