9. "I wait for the Lord."-Psa. cxxx. 5.

10. "Blessed are all they that wait for llim."-Isa. xxx. 18.

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II. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him."-Isa. xxv. 9. "We look for the Saviour."-Phil. iii. 20.

12.

13.

"That . . . we may be accepted of Him."-2 Cor. v. 9. 14. "And be found in Him."-Phil. iii. 9.

15. "Now is the accepted time.”—2 Cor. vi. 2.

16. "To-day if ye will hear His voice."-Psa. xcv. 7.

17. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.”—Isa. lv. 6.

18. "The night cometh, when no man can work.”—John ix. 4.

19. "Occupy till I come."—Luke xix. 13.

20. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory."-Matt. xxv. 31. 21. Every eye shall see Him."-Rev. i. 7.

22. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand."-Rom. xiii. 12.

23.

"Now is our salvation nearer.' 99 -Rom. xiii. II.

24. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." -John iii. 16.

25. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."—2 Cor. ix. 15. 26. "We spend our years as a tale that is told.”—Psa. xc. 9.

27. "One generation passeth away."-Eccles. i. 4.

28. "The fashion of this world passeth away."-1 Cor. vii. 31. 29. "Consider your ways."-Hag. i. 5.

30. "How great is His goodness."-Zech. ix. 17.

31.

"Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness."—Psa. lxv. 11.

H! praise to Christ our Saviour,

O"

Who came for us to die;

And left His throne of glory

And glorious majesty.

And now He reigns in heaven,
But soon He'll come again,

In power and great glory,
With an angelic train.

Oh! may we all be ready

To meet Him in the air:
If owned His precious jewels
We shall His glory share.

The day is hastening onwards,
The night is passing by;

Oh! Christians, watch with patience;
Christ's coming draweth nigh.

Auntie's Christmas Story.

ow old are you, auntie ?" said round, rosy little

Minna on Christmas Eve.

old ?"

"Are you ten years

"More than that," said auntie.

"Are you as old as papa?"

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Yes, older than papa.”

"Are you a thousand years old, auntie?"

"No, not quite so old as that, Minna darling. If I were a thousand years old, I should be older than the old churchspire, and I could tell you all about its being built, and how it came to be crooked. And I could tell you all about the great hollow oak-tree papa went to see, which will hold thirteen people inside its trunk; how it looked when it was young and fresh, and in the midst of a thick forest of trees, perhaps as big as it then was itself. And I could tell you how little girls like you used to spend Christmas when there were no pretty picture-books and story-books like yours to be had; no bouncing balls, or dolls or dolls'-houses, or horses and carts, or puzzles, or Noah's arks to amuse them; no toys like your nice Christmas presents for them to play with. Oh! I should be able to tell you some strange stories indeed, if I were a thousand years old!”

"I wish you were a thousand years old then, my dear old auntie," said Harry, thoughtfully. (Harry is about two years older than Minna.)

"If you begin to wish that, I suppose I must try to find a story to tell you, though I am not a thousand years old."

"Oh yes; please do," echoed both the happy little voices. So dear little Willie, who should have been the baby, by right of being youngest, having been settled with sufficient amusements in the high chair close to me, big little Minna crept into my lap, and Harry snuggled behind in the corner of my arm-chair, and so, 'my story begun.' "A Christmas story, I suppose it must be to-night, so I will tell you about my Christmas once when I was a little girl

about as old as Harry-no, rather older, for I think I must have been six and a half years old, instead of five and a half.

"We lived in London then, and we used to go every Christmas Day, as many of us as were old enough, to dine at my uncle's. We had little cousins, of whom we were very fond, so it was always a great delight, and above all on Christmas Day, to go there.

"When Christmas morning came that year it was very cold indeed, and snowing very fast, and I was afraid I should not be allowed to go out in such weather. It left off snowing before it was time for us to go; but still the snow lay so deep in the streets that the great hackney-coaches could hardly get along, and my dear mamma looked as if she was afraid she must disappoint me by saying that I had better stay at home with your mamma, who was then quite too little to be taken out so late and in such weather." "Was mamma as little as me then ?" said Minna. "Not quite so little, but not much bigger."

"But I shall not stay at home to-morrow if Harry goes, even if it does snow; shall I, auntie ?"

"Well, Harry is your eldest brother, is he not? and if he is like my eldest brother-and I hope he will learn to be as loving and good and gentle as he was-he would say as my eldest brother did, 'Do, please, mamma, let her go.' And so it was settled that I should go, and come home early. The coach had to go very slowly through the white streets, and could hardly get on for the snow. Men were shovelling it off the pavements into great heaps along the side of the roads; and others on the tops of the houses were trying to clear the roofs, and throwing down the snow into the streets; so that the few people who ventured to walk had to take care that they did not get too big a snowball on their heads.

"Well, at last our coach-ful, which was merry enough in spite of all, got safely to our uncle's house, and we soon got warm in the bright rooms, gay with holly, and had a good dinner of roast-beef and plum-pudding. I enjoyed

myself so much that I should have been sorry when the time soon came for me to go home with the servant and the brother next older than me, only I began to be a wee bit sleepy, and so I found the dark corner of the coach very cosy, and I was soon asleep and dreaming I was at play with a number of little boys and girls as happily as when I was awake.

"But at last surely it was a real voice, and I was not dreaming-Joseph, are we at home?' I began; and then a little boy's voice close by me answered, 'I am not Joseph; I am Fred: but who are you? and how did you get into this corner?' Then I opened my eyes; but I could not see anything in the dark coach; but I heard two little girls talking and laughing, and asking their elder sister how soon they should get to their grandpapa's, and whether she thought there would really be a Christmas-tree. I was half frightened, and could not think where I was, or how it was that I was not with my own brothers and sisters. The truth was-can you guess?—I had been fast asleep when the coach stopped at my home, and the servant helped my brother out, and thought nurse had taken me; and nurse thought the other servant had carried me in; and so the coach drove off again with me still in the corner, and went to another house where it was to pick up some more little people, who were going to spend the evening at their grandpapa's.

"Before I could come to myself, or think what to do or say, the coach stopped at a large house with bright lights shining through the windows, and the children began to jump out, crying out with joy as they spied their grandpapa and one or two aunties and cousins. Oh, what am I to do? Where am I? How shall I get home?' I began then to call out in good earnest ; and I caught hold of the little boy's hand who sat by me. 'Never mind, don't cry,' he said; we will ask Clara; she can always tell what we had better do.' He called to his sister Clara; but she had just got into the hall, and could not come back through the snow;

so he said to the servant who was just going to carry him in, 'Take her first, this little girl, and then come back for me.' I let them carry me into the house, and then little Fred led me upstairs to his sister Clara; but he could not tell her where I came from, only that I was the little girl that he found in the coach, and that he liked me very much, and wanted me to stay with him; and I could only say that I was not at home, and 'Please, take me home.' Clara kissed me and comforted me, and taking off my warm wraps took us both into the drawing-room, and told Fred to show me all he could to amuse me, while she consulted how to get me safe home.

"I could not help being a little delighted at what I saw, though I was so anxious about getting home. For there, in the midst of a crowd of little boys and girls, all full of wonder and joy, stood a beautiful Christmas-tree, quite dazzling with lights, and hung with all sorts of pretty things. I had never seen such a thing before; for people did not often have Christmas-trees in those days in England, but they did in Germany, and this was a German gentleman's house. The little boy led me all round the tree, and showed me all the pretty things, and was soon more delighted than I could be ; so that it was only when he felt my tears fall on his hand that he saw that I was no longer thinking about the tree. Then he tried to find Clara again, and at last we got through a number of big people to where she was talking to the kind-looking grandpapa; and I heard her say, 'The coachman says he will not go backwards and forwards any more such a night as this for love or money. He will take us home as he agreed, and the little lady must wait for us, and then he will take her on to her home, which is not far beyond ours.' Then I heard the kind Clara say, in a low voice, something about her papa and mamma-how troubled they would be if they got home first and found their dear little girl was not there. Presently she turned to Fred and asked him whether he would give up his pleasure, and go away from all the games and the fun he expected,