equally applicable to all disciples. They must remember the little ones, the young, the lambs of the flock, and seek their saving good always; and seek not earnestly only, but expectantly.

Perhaps no kind of Christian effort has been more richly and abundantly blessed than labours of love among the young. Faithful ministers and teachers in every land have found it so; and the countless jewels they have been privileged to gather in Bible classes and Sabbath schools have been a joy unspeakable to them. In a peculiar degree, however, the duty referred to is binding on parents; hence the impressive counsels given in Old Testament times: "These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

None can be too early in the discharge of this allimportant duty. It is related of Ben Syra that when a child he begged his preceptor to instruct him in the law of God; but he declined, saying that he was yet too young to be taught these sacred mysteries. "But, master," said the boy, "I have been in the burial-ground, and measured the graves, and find some of them shorter than myself. Now, if I should die before I have learned the Word of God, what will become of me then, master?" Ben Syra's question is one that all parents should earnestly ponder. They may be too late in teaching

their children the way of life, but they cannot be too early.

A few years ago, one earnestly said, "Father, where is your child to-night ?-Mother, where is your son? Are they on the way to glory? Have they been gathered into the fold of Christ? Are their names written in the Lamb's book of life. Depend upon it, so long as the Church is living so much like the world, we cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold. Come, O Lord, and wake us up to feel the worth of our children's souls! May they never bring our gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but may they become a blessing to the Church and to the world."

He appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God.-Ps. lxxviii. 5–7.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.-PROV. xxii. 6.

November 7.

TRUE GRATITUDE EVER PANTS FOR EXPRESSION.

HEN the Lord healed the ten lepers, possibly all of

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them felt for the moment a measure of thankfulness; but so feeble was it, that by nine of them no outward expression of it was ever given. The Samaritan, the one exception, not only turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, but, falling down at the feet of Jesus, poured out to him his warmest thanks. On seeing this, our Lord said, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where

are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."

Were it with us as it ought to be, the Lord's gracious dealings and generous bestowments, which none can number, instead of being allowed to drop from our memory, would be ceaselessly constraining us to say with the Psalmist, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Nay, we would be frequently striving to bring back to remembrance forgotten mercies, just that we might anew express our grateful emotions. “Let us read our diaries," one says, " and see if there be not choice favours recorded there, for which we have rendered no grateful return. Remember how the Persian king, when he could not sleep, read the chronicles of the empire, and discovered that one who had saved his life had never been rewarded. How quickly did he do him honour! The Lord has saved us with a great salvation; shall we render him no recompense, and yield him no praise, when so infinitely and eternally worthy of it?"

It is sometimes well, when special mercies are obtained, to give, not thanks only, but thank-offerings. A very singular and interesting example of this is mentioned by Dr. James Hamilton. "When coming downstairs on Monday morning, I met Miss Fector coming in. She had come with £50 for the schemes of the Church—a thankoffering from her mother. It seems that Mrs. Fector had a cataract in her eye, and was intending to undergo the usual operation for its removal; but she did not like the idea of the operation any more than the prospect of losing the eye, and she prayed very earnestly that, if it were the Lord's will, he would remove it himself. Three weeks ago, to her amazement the cataract was gone. She

sent for Alexander the oculist, who was to have extracted it; and he said it was a case almost unprecedented, but had been done by a very peculiar action of the muscles of the eye. So the good old lady, in the fulness of her heart, sent this acknowledgment."

O Lord...thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.-Ps. cxvi. 16, 17.

By him...let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.-HEB. xiii. 15.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.-COL. iii. 17.

November 8.

OBEDIENCE HAS BUT LITTLE VALUE IF UNLINKED
WITH THE NAME OF JESUS.

THEY

HEY utterly mistake Christianity who suppose that its aim is merely to make a man do certain specified things, at certain specified times and places, and then have done with him. It claims, on the contrary, to regulate and control his whole nature and practice, including thought and feeling, will and way; and not in the sanctuary only, but in all the affairs of everyday life. It requires him to be guided and governed in everything by the will of Christ. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

When the apostles were asked by the high priest, "By what power, or by what name, have ye done these things?" their reply was ready-" By the name of Jesus." must it be with us. We must strive to regulate our every

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action by his law, and conform our whole lives to his will. "Christ," says one, “has shown his love in trusting his cause to us, and lent us as volumes of his library for the perusal of the world." At times such obedience is simple and easy; at other times it is so hard and difficult, as to be like the cutting off of a right hand or the plucking out of a right eye. Yet we must cheerfully bear the very worst of evils, rather than wilfully and deliberately violate the very least of the Lord's commands. It may be terrible to suffer, but it is ever infinitely more terrible to sin. Besides, whatever we suffer for righteousness' sake and for Christ is never in the end a loss, but a gain— never a sorrow, but a joy; and therefore in early times believers rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

"As you see," said an old author, "that those servants of a prince who have been peculiarly favoured set up his arms through all their houses, and adorn their halls and chambers with his picture, and have his praises always in their mouth, and fill up their whole life with his name and glory; so should we do to Jesus, and with so much the more zeal, as he is infinitely more rich, more clement, more liberal, more beneficent, than any monarch of the earth."

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.-PHIL. i. 21.

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.-1 PETER iv. 11.

None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.-ROM. xiv. 7, 8.