Children, do you ask me why
Christ ascended up on high?
'Twas for such as you to plead ;
'Twas in love to intercede:

Love, that you can ne'er repay,
Though you serve him night and day.

No. 67.]

[Thursday.

WHY CHRIST DIED AND ROSE AGAIN (continued.)

YET he will not you despise,
You are precious in his eyes:
All who seek him in their youth,
Find he is a God of truth;

Christ will to their prayers attend,

And prove himself their heav'nly friend.

Seek him then without delay,

Now the Saviour's voice obey;

Lo," he says, "though young ye be, "Little children come to me;

"If on earth

ye
seek my grace,
"Ye in heaven shall see my face."

No. 68.]

READING THE SCRIPTURES.

[Friday.

"From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus."-2 Tim. iii. 15.

BEGIN every day with the Scriptures. Look

E

up with prayer, to their divine author, that you may read them to profit. Keep in mind that they are a Revelation from God to Man; of mercy and grace to a fallen creature, totally ruined, and by nature, "dead in trespasses and sins." They reveal Jesus the only Saviour The Holy Spirit, the only Sanctifier.

No. 69.]

BOOKS.

[Saturday.

NEVER take up a bad book, if you know it to be such shun it as you would a bad companion. If you do not know the author of a book, be sus picious of it; for there are a vast number of bad ones under very specious titles. Make the Bible your chief study: try every other by it; whatever will not bear coming to it must be wrong. It is "the Law and the Testimony."

No. 70.] THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. [Sunday.
BEFORE no graven image bow thy head,
Idolaters may heav'n's just vengeance dread,
If to dead objects your devotions tend,
To what less noble than yourself you bend,
For can you
find in stick, in stone, or clod,
The attributes of an Almighty God?

Think you in shrubs, supreme perfections shine,
Or that a trifling pebble is divine?

One mighty God's existing, and no more,

And him you're bound devoutly to adore.

No. 71.]

LINES FOR A CLOCK,

HERE my master bids me stand,

What is his will, is my delight,

And mark the time with faithful hand;

To serve him well by day and night:
Master be wise and learn of me,
To serve thy God, as I serve thee.

[Monday.

LINES FOR A WATCH PAPER.

MORTAL, be wise, improve the present hour;
The last is gone; the next beyond thy power:
Thy time, e'en while advancing, glides away:
Mortals be wise, nor risk an hour's delay.

No. 72.] THE LITTLE WANDERERS.

(Founded on Fact.)

Two little boys whose pallid looks,
Bespoke them worn with care;
Came to a house in Warrington,
And ask'd a lodging there.

The sad affecting tale they told,
A tear from many drew;
And its simplicity was such,
That all believed it true.

[Tuesday.

It seem'd, whilst they in London liv'd,
A fever's direful sway

Their parents took,--and made them both
Poor orphans, in one day.

And having neither friends nor home,
Or e'en the coarsest bread;
They sought a distant uncle's roof,
There to be clothed and fed.

No. 73.]

[Wednesday.

THE LITTLE WANDERERS (continued.)

THEIR earthly all two bundles held,
In one of which was found,
Belonging to the youngest boy,
A BIBLE-neatly bound.

The master to the child then said,

66

Money and meat you've none,
Sell me this bible-I will give
A crown; and here is one.

"Ah! no," said he, and while he spoke,
His cheeks were wet with tears;
"Rather than sell it, here I'll starve,
And realize my fears."

"But other books are to be bought,
This Bible you'll not miss :"
"Yes, but no other book has stood
My friend so much as this."

No. 74.]

[Thursday.

THE LITTLE WANDERERS (continued.) "IN London, at a Sunday-School,

A scholar there I became :
'Twas there my Bible I receiv'd,
And learnt to read the same.

In this I saw my sins were great,
Although my years were few;
It shew'd me then how Jesus died,
And died for Edwin too.

Oft through my tedious way, it cheers
My spirits when they sink:
Weary and faint I've sat me down,
And found it meat and drink.

The Psalmist's words my heart console,
And light and peace impart ;

The promises refresh

my soul,

And cheer my drooping heart."

No. 75.]

THE LITTLE WANDERERS (continued.)

To try the child, six shillings then
Were offered and were brought;
Which still as nobly he refused,

Nor listened to the thought.

[Friday