INTRODUCTION. THE word Advent means 66 coming." It is the season when the Church bids us watch and pray, that we may be prepared for the great Day of Judgment. We are warned. to awake; to be ever on the alert, like good soldiers, having our armour girded on, our weapons bright-ready to fight against our spiritual enemies, and to meet them on the way before they have time to assail us. As Christmas carries our thoughts back to the time when Jesus Christ was born, a little Child, on earth, so Advent bids us look forward to His second coming, as a Great King, to judge His soldiers, whether they have fought bravely for Him. In this tale, which is founded on real history, I have tried to bring before you the chief lessons of these four Sundays in Advent, and I will call them "The Soldier's Motto"-"Watch and pray." "The Soldier's Weapon "-The Bible. "The Faithful Steward "The Clergy. "The Glorious Return "Peace. May the Great General of the great army lead his soldiers to fight for Him bravely to the death, to be ever watchful, ever prayerful, lest, when they least think of it, the enemy may assail and overpower them. When the warfare is over, and the day of reward and punishment is come, He will give to each victor in the strife an honour greater far than any earthly one—that crown which He has promised to those who have been "faithful unto death," the bright golden crown of life. SOLDIERS OF A GREAT KING. CHAPTER I. THE SOLDIER'S MOTTO. Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which Thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when He shall come again in His glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through Him Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen." -Collect for the First Sunday in Advent. "Christian! seek not yet repose," 'Watch and pray."" WAY in the sunny south, on the border of the bright land of Italy, lie nestled amongst the snow-capped Cottian Alps, some of the loveliest valleys the eye of man has ever seen. Peaceful they are now, lying as they do far away from the noise of trains and the bustle of great towns; and the hard-working inhabitants till the ground in security and tend the sheep on the mountains. Lovely they have always been, but the peace is only of later years. For centuries the dreadful sounds of war were heard continually in the wooded shades and round these mighty rocks, and terrible sights were seensights which to imagine makes one's blood freeze. Women wailing for their little ones, who had been torn from their arms, and dashed down the precipice; husbands seeking their wives among the slain; old men dying of cold and hunger, hidden amongst the caves. you were to go and see these valleys now, you would find indeed a small troop of soldiers quartered at the entrance of the chief of them; and you might hear their voices very early in the morning, as they come quickly down the If |