sion, she asked gently, but with the same deference that she would have paid to an older person

"Does my young lady know anything of the Lord's mercies yet? It is a blessed thing to begin counting them with our earliest breath on our yet-growing fingers." Then, seeing that the little girl blushed and looked confused, she added, benevolently,

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Answer to the Lord, dear child, not to old Eunice; she can't help you, but He can, and, what is more, He will, if you ask Him." Then, turning to Mr. Lyne, she asked him to partake of some refreshment, which, fully expecting this visit, she had set out on a small table by the fire.

"Oh yes, indeed; it would never do to let Janie go without having tasted your cake. 'Eunice's cake' has all but received a prize medal in my family; and she expected something out of the common when I brought her here, did you not, Janie ? ”

"Yes;

but I didn't think it would be cake," stammered out the child, taking a slice as she spoke.

"What, does not little miss like cake?" asked old Eunice, bending graciously for the reply, which was too faintly uttered for her aged ears to catch quickly.

"Yes, thank you; but I thought "

"What did you think, Janie? Speak out: don't keep our friend bending forward like that," interposed Mr. Lyne.

"I thought she would give me something out of her casket; you said so, uncle."

Eunice glanced at Mr. Lyne for an explanation, when, perceiving a pleasant twinkle in his eye, she immediately replied,

"To be sure, and I would let you choose; but there is such a wonderful variety in my casket that you'd be lost in the choice. So, with your leave, young lady, old Eunice will select a New Year's gift for you."

"What, for my very own?" cried Janie. "That is for you to say, my pet one.

There it is in all its

beauty, a pearl of great price, waiting for you to take for your very, very own, if you will but do so."

Eunice was getting excited, and when Janie gazed at her in silent wonder, she added,

"Dere it is; de price of blood; de dear Lord got it for you, and you may just have it for de taking. Oh, little missie, just think of that. Think of it this New Year's Day, when we are naturally set to counting up our mercies."

With these words old Eunice went to a shelf, and reaching down a Bible, exclaimed, as she held it triumphantly aloft,

"This is Eunice's casket, and here she keeps the treasure. Here's the pearl."

She laid the Bible on the table, and turning over the leaves until she came to this text, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," she devoutly read it, and then exclaimed,

"There, missie, that is the pearl out of my casket. I have all kinds of precious gems here; but I have begun with this pearl, because as the gates of the golden city are made of one pearl, so old Eunice thinks the gates of salvation are made of this one pearl-text-the precious blood shed for sin, to give poor sinners a place in heaven when the Lord makes up His' jewels."

Janie bowed her face in her hands, too overcome to respond to the tender, appealing touch that she felt on her shoulder, as Eunice waited for her to speak; so once again her aged friend said,

"Never mind, my darling; speak out to the dear Lord all that is in your heart. You just give Him your soul to cleanse from all sin, and He will give it back to you without a spot, and then this will be a New Year's Day you will never forget, and a New Year's gift that will only grow stronger as it grows older, and better as it goes on."

Janie could only trust herself to throw her arms round Eunice's neck, and sob a loving farewell; then, hurrying away with her uncle, she forgot to take even so much as

a look at the frozen pond, from which she had expected to gain so much pleasure. She walked silently on, until Mr. Lyne asked her,

"Well, Janie, was I right? Have you taken anything away from Eunice's casket ?"

"Only that text, uncle."

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Only? what a glorious only! Why, my child, it is, as Eunice called it, the pearl-gate of salvation. If you carry it in your heart, you will be bearing a grander weight than Samson bore when he carried off the gates of Gaza.”

Mr. Lyne was right; Samson never bore so glorious a load as the pardoned sinner bears when he takes the gift of God, so freely offered, so costly in price, and makes it his very own by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord! May this gift become ours this New Year (if we are not already its happy possessors); then shall we know how to value the precious Gospel treasure that Janie drew from old Eunice's casket"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

Short Beading for the year.

NO. I.

'With both hands earnestly."-Micah vii. 3.

HERE are very few things we undertake which we could do properly with one hand. Men, while serving Satan, are busy enough with both hands

doing evil; earnest in sin and carelessness, and following the maxims of the world. But when the sinner is turned from "darkness to light," he is earnest "with both hands," and a full, undivided purpose, for the service of his God. "Old things have passed away, and all things have become new." Let us seek to be earnest in prayer. David said, "With my whole heart have I sought Thee;" and we are told to "Pray without ceasing." So let us "earnestly"

pray for our friends, our neighbours, our country; for God's work at home and abroad, and that the Holy Spirit may come down with power and might, and dispel the darkness of sin and error, and God alone reign in our hearts, and all for whom we pray. We must be "earnest" in trying to be more like Jesus, and take Him for our model and pattern. Paul shows us how, by his own experience: "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And we must, " with both hands earnestly," work for Jesus, and His cause in the world; for the greater our love the stronger will be our zeal for God. We have our Master's orders-"Go, and work to-day in My vineyard." There is a work for every Christian to do. Perishing souls are around us, and we are told to "Compel them to come in." "Time is short;" then what are we doing for Jesus? and how? See how earnest the disciples were, when they had found Jesus, to bring their brothers and relations to Him. Again, are we earnestly looking for our Master's coming? Then our Master's words, "Behold I come quickly," will spur us on to greater diligence in the Lord's work, whilst we look forward to the joyful welcome, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ;" and with the earnest eye of faith behold the "crown of glory which fadeth not away" reserved in heaven for us.

With earnest heart, my God and King,

I'd live alone to Thee;

And of Thy mercy I would sing,

And all Thy love to me,

With earnestness of heart and mind
I'll work, my God, for Thee;
And in Thy service I shall find
Thy grace abounds for me.

With longing eyes afar I see
My home in heaven of rest;
The crown of glory there for me,
My place on Jesus' breast.

With earnestness "I'd follow on,
To only know the Lord,"
And rule my daily life alone
By His most Holy Word.

A. L.

"As for Me."

E is a singular man," I heard said the other day, of one who had come out from the world as a decided Christian; "and you know," the speaker added, "it doesn't answer to be singular; one must do as other people do."

"It has been found in some instances to answer," some one present quietly remarked. "There was once a man who could say at the end of a long life that not one good thing had failed of all the Lord's promises. And he was a very singular man, for he stood up before a national assembly of his own countrymen, and declared, at the risk of being opposed or deserted by them all: 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'"

"Oh yes, but that was quite a different matter; Mr. Jones was not living among people given to worship false gods, as Joshua was.'

This was all I heard; but I happened to know Mr. Jones, and to be acquainted with some of the circumstances and consequences attending his recent conversion to God; and I knew that while he had in no way sought to be "singular," that he had yet been called as truly as Joshua of old to ring out, in the face of the world, his courageous "As for me." And the question now arose in my mind, "Do we not live in a world given to worship false gods? Can any man be a true follower of the true God, with a godliness which will bear the light of the judgment-day, who has not at some time or other in his life come to this point of personal separation and incurred the world's sneering epithet of 'singular ?" "

See how these three little but most important words, “As