WHAT Pharaoh's daughter said to the Mother of Moses, may be held to be said by God to every Christian parent;-" Bring up this child for Me, and I will give thee thy wages." As each child is placed by God in the parental arms the charge is given-I constitute you My trustees for the rearing of this young life, this seedling of immortality which I might have placed under My angels in heaven, but which I have chosen to entrust to you, that your hands may work for him, your heart may cherish him, [No. 23.]

your head may think for him, your eye may watch him, and your faith may bear him on its wings to heaven! "Bring up this child for me, and I will pay thee thy wages." Suppose you had a king's child in your hands to be brought up for him, what a responsible yet honourable duty you would feel it! How eager you would be to please the royal parent, to bring the child up as he would wish; to have him taught and clothed and fed as a royal child should be, so that he should not disgrace his origin, but even in your humble hands resemble the son of a king. Is it not still more responsible and honourable to bring up children for the King of kings? How eager should every parent be to please Him who gives them to his charge; to consider all His wishes, follow all His rules, use all His medicines, and try to train them to the feelings, the habits, and the beauties in which the children of such a King ought to excel.

66

PREPARATION FOR ADVENT.

By T. J. PRICE.

Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him."-REV. i. 7.

THE Season of Advent is now close upon us. The Church's year begins with Advent; and it is the season when she calls upon all her members to arouse and prepare their hearts to keep fitly the festival at Christmas, in commemoration of the first Advent or coming of Christ in the flesh, when He came to visit us in great humility; and also to make themselves ready for His second Advent, when He shall come again in His glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead.

In His first Advent He appeared clothed in the garb of meanness and poverty: "He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed; He did indeed His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.' "He, who was rich in all the glories of God, became poor for our sakes; that we through His poverty might become rich in heavenly blessings," 2 Cor. viii. 9. He, who was exempted from all sufferings, suffered every thing terrible in life and death for our good. Surely these are strong motives to do, endure, and give up, whatever we are called to, for His sake. But how will He appear in the second Advent ? "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the

heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: but all that offends, and them that do iniquity, shall be cast into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Does this description of Christ's second coming (which is rapidly approaching) fill us with joy or with dread? He will indeed so come as is here described. Oh, what confusion will there be amongst all unbelievers and impenitent sinners; amongst all who have preferred the service of Satan, and fleeting, insatiable pleasures of this world, to that of their Creator and Redeemer, and the pure sweet joys of a holy life! what confusion, alas, will there be among them, when they shall see that very Person, of whom they thought so meanly, and whose offers of salvation they despised, appearing in the clouds with ten thousand glorious angels about Him, and coming with all power and majesty to call them to account for their lives past, and to execute judgment upon all ungodly men. Where will then be the scoffers, that St. Peter tells us, "shall come in the 'last days walking after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming' ?" Will they not say, 'Yonder He is, whom we slighted; whose body we have pierced afresh by our sins! Yonder He is but no longer humble and poor; no longer "a carpenter's son"; no longer "despised and rejected"; no longer "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" but the Omnipotent God; the King of kings, and Lord of lords; the Judge of the quick and the dead."

As the Church now commences a new year, let us commence a new life. The promises of God still hold good: the day of grace is not yet passed. Let us do as St. Paul did, and "now that we are become men, put away childish things." "The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." Oh, let us ever remember, that whatsoever we gain, if we lose the favour of our Creator, all is lost; and whatsoever we lose, if we gain that, all is gained! Oh, let us not incur the charge of base unthankfulness, by our tardiness to remember the God who made us! yes, made us; for no other reason than that we might share in His own infinite majesty! Oh, how can we contemn such love! Can it be possible, that any of us require dragging in the strait way? We should in truth assiduously press forward with heart-felt thankfulness for a share in the inestimable benefits of the Gospel. Let us "Seek the Lord while He may be found, let us call upon

Him while He is near. but if we forsake Him, xxviii. 9.

If we seek Him, He will be found of us;
He will cast us off for ever." 1 Chron.

"But what to those who find! Ah! this

Nor tongue nor pen can show :

The love of Jesus what it is

None but His loved ones know."

Let us not allow this opportunity to pass away without an effort to draw near to God, it may perhaps be the last we shall have!—and when the day of our death shall come we shall depart with the joyful hope that, as we have endeavoured to honour God in this life, He will honour us in the next.

DAILY PRAYER FOR ADVENT.

O blessed Jesus, who, in Thy first Advent, didst visit us in great humility, to be the Saviour of the world; grant us grace to prepare our hearts to meet Thee when Thou shalt come again to be our Judge. May we be found watching! Make us to

remember, Good Lord, that whatsoever we gain, if we lose Thee all is lost. Help us to learn to value Thy love and mercy to us. Oh, give us grace to seek Thee while Thou mayest be found; and to call upon Thee while Thou art near: and give us grace to seek Thee henceforth and for ever. Amen.

LERRIE; OR, LINKS IN A GIRL'S LIFE.

BY BIRDIE E. S.,

Author of "Birdie's Mission," &c.

THE post one morning brought a letter from Helen; it came to Janet, and contained the dire intelligence that Philip was in disgrace. He had been gambling for some time, it had been a habit of his through the influence of his associates, but he had been unusually fortunate, so had succeeded in concealing it from his friends, but at last the "tide of luck" had turned, and he lost.

"That was just before he came to fetch me," wrote Helen, "and the 'affairs' he had got to wind up, was the paying off of a debt of honour. They prevailed on him to play again, and he felt so sure of success, he says, but he lost once more, and was in a worse plight than before. Notwithstanding his promise to Lerrie, he went for three nights in succession, and on the third night he had with him some of his master's money, a large sum. You may guess the rest. It was the first time he had ever done such a thing, the very first, and on that account and the high position he held in the office, and so on, he was let off from

public disgrace. Of course mother paid the money, but it was a hard strain on our income.'

Much more there was, words of anguish from the almost heartbroken sister, and what gloom and consternation they threw over the Rings' household. Philip wrote no word to Lerrie at first, but just before Christmas she received a note:

"Dear Cousin,-I dare not write much to you-I cannot. I only write to spare you the pain of cancelling our engagement; I do it now, once and for ever. You cannot despise me more thoroughly than I despise myself; but remember, I was mad when I did that last thing, driven out of my mind by the haunting thought of the debts I owed.

"I have merited, I know, the scorn and anger of all my friends, and I am impatient now to be gone. I hope before very long I shall be landed safely once more on the other side of the Atlantic, where only one person will know of my disgrace, and I shall, I trust, recover my self-respect. Lerrie, I never thought it would come to this! My only comfort when I think of you is the hope that you will, ere long, find consolation in the love of a better man. I crave your forgiveness, but do not ask a reply. Good-bye, for the last time; perhaps, farewell.

"Your disgraced and ruined cousin,

"PHILIP DENNORTH."

"What a strange letter!" was Janet's comment to herself; but Lerrie wept many tears over it, hot, passionate tears, that relieved her bursting heart. It seemed such a cold, cruel ending to all their love and happiness! Her only consolation was a sentence in one of Helen's letters: "My brother Albert, where Phil is to live, and his wife too, are Christians, Lerrie, (as Mr. Trueman understands the term); with them he will have a good chance of reformation, but I don't think he will come back to England, at least, not for years."

CHAPTER XII.

CHRISTMAS had passed, but the holiday time of the young people was not yet ended. The weather was cold, and the continued frost which had been at work on ponds and lakes and rivers, brought great enjoyment to the well-to-do and healthy inhabitants of towns and villages, who turned out at every opportunity to their healthy, invigorating pastime; and bitter suffering and dire complaining to the poor and sick ones, who tossed wearily on couch or mattress, or looked out gloomily from their almost fireless hearths and empty cupboards, wondering how they would get through the winter, and uttering, perchance, bitter invectives against the fate which consigned to them so dreary a lot, while it gave to their fellow beings a pleasanter