PREFACE.

WE complete our twelve visits for 1876 with this number. Month after month we have come with a message to our young readers. Now, at the close of the year, we both, readers and Editor, may ask, With what result?

Our message is a double one. First, and above all, it is a message of love and mercy from our God and Saviour. The little sermons, stories, and paragraphs are for yourself. They tell of the greatest blessings which you can have. They tell of the wondrous work of Jesus -your Sin-bearer on Calvary, your Friend and Advocate in heaven. They tell of the way back to the Father's home, and of the blessings of the Father's family. They tell of the present help of the Holy Spirit. And they tell of the joy of loving service, and the delight of leading others to the peace and love and joy that God gives to all who believe in His Son.

Are these blessings and this work yours? or are you still in your sins ?

Our second message can only be rightly welcomed by the reader who loves the Lord, for it tells of His work throughout the earth. His parting command to preach the Gospel to every creature is being more actively obeyed in our day than at any time since the days of the Apostles. The work of our missionaries in China occupies a large amount of our space, and it is of special interest to us, for are we not fellow-workers with them?

Readers and Editor are alike grateful to the friends who have written so many interesting articles for our pages. Looking to their further help, to the growing interest of our readers, and the continued increase in their numbers, we go forward hopefully in our labour of love.

W. C.

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK.

BY THE REV. ADOLPH SAPHIR, TRINITY CHURCH, LONDON.

VERY New Year's day is like a milestone on our journey towards eternity. On one side of the milestone we can read the number of the miles we have already passed. But can we read, on the other side, how many miles are still before us? No, we do not know whether many years, or only a few days, will bring us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage. But, if we love God, we may read this inscription on the other side: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

On looking over the past, resting at this new milestone of 1876, I have beside me one good and faithful companion, who has been with me since my early childhood. He has been a wise counsellor, an unerring guide, a patient and wonderful teacher of things earthly and heavenly, a loving comforter-in short, everything that you could desire in a friend. His voice was sometimes very solemn and grave, but so earnest and affectionate that I could not forget his words; and, because they were truth and love, I had to return to him, and acknowledge my sin and folly, and ask him to continue to guide me, though it was by

He

rebuke. This friend understood all
my thoughts, and, what is more
wonderful, he understands that mys-
terious and hidden thing, the heart,
out of which the thoughts come.
led me to the Fountain of life, of
peace, and of love; he showed me
how God forgives sin and renews
the sinner's heart; he spoke to me
of God's wonderful works and acts
in the past, and of His great pur-
poses in the future. And in all this
he always spoke of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Saviour and
Shepherd, who died for the flock,
and lives now to bless them.

Now, when I was a child, he spoke to me as a child. He told me beautiful, wonderful, and touching stories, which I can never forget. I fancy even now that I hear his voice, as I heard it then, when he told me of the creation of heaven and earth; of man, made in the image of God; of the Garden of Eden; of righteous Abel, the first shepherd and martyr; of Noah, how he feared and trusted God, and built the ark. I think I still see the rainbow as I saw it in my mind when he first told me that God set it in the clouds, to assure us of His mercy; and that I still see the stars, as he told me God showed them to Abraham, and promised him to be the father of many nations.