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see, Edward Morris, I did keep the secret, though you said I couldn't."

"Yes," said Edward, laughing, "I give in; I believe now there are two or three girls who can keep a secret: but I'll tell you what, Jane, there's never one to my thinking that can help telling, when the secret is out, that they knew all about it afore."

When supper was over and Jane gone, Wilson took the Bible from its place and said, "Children, before we part to-night let us thank God for his great mercy to us all." Susan felt as if in a dream, as she knelt by Edward's side, joining in words of prayer spoken in the voice which once she had heard only in oaths and profanity. It was a happy dream, and one from which she did not need to wake.

In time it changed somewhat. There was a quiet wedding, and Jane was bridesmaid. There was a little cottage home, where Edward and Susan lived, and a room close by which she always kept neat and pleasant for her father; but very often he sat by their fire and rejoiced in their happiness, and by and by played with his little namesake and grandson. Susan and Edward were very happy; the blessing of their stedfast adherence to duty was granted them in full measure; and love, tried by suffering, was strong to cheer and sustain them in the life before them. Best of all, they knew that, through the grace of God, their happy home on earth was as a nursery in which they were being trained and prepared for a happier home in heaven. In this hope Wilson, too, was a joyful partaker. Never, spite of all it had cost them, did they for one moment regret that they had tried to obey a higher will then their own, and not snatched a happiness which seemed withheld from them. And the heart's desire for which they had waited was doubly precious, that it came so directly from the hand of God.

AN ENIGMA FOR THE NEW YEAR.

I AM just born. New Year's day is a favourite birthday in my family, which is a very large one. I feel vigorous and healthy. I am fair and comely, but, unlike most other kind of offspring, we are often strongest and fairest at birth. The helplessness of infancy is either unknown or scorned among us; and hence, perhaps, in our pride and

self-sufficiency is one reason of the early decease of so many of my race.

Some of the noblest of my brothers, the loveliest of my sisters, lived but a few months, or a few weeks, or a few days-some, alas! only a few hours. Some born of sunbeams and smiles have withered ere sunset; some born in the pews of churches and chapels have not lived to reach the door; many have faded before the first look of unkindness, and many have expired with the first contradiction.

Time alone can prove the nature of my constitution, for the experience of my family is not encouraging. Of the many relatives who entered upon existence with the dawn of eighteen hundred and sixty-six, how many are dead and buried and forgotten! Or if remembered, their memory is unsavoury, and there is ever reluctance to encounter the ignominy of their decay. I believe in ghosts: there are times when many of my murdered relatives stalk through the chambers in which they were born, and trouble the peace of convicted culprits; and a low wail for their cruel doom often struggles through the loudest and merriest festivities of New Year's eve.

May the close of the present year tell a different tale of me!

There are enough of us born to-day to effect a mighty change in the world if we can but be kept alive; and really we cannot help feeling great hope for ourselves. We surely deserve a little care, for we intend nothing but blessing and prosperity wherever our lot is cast.

One of us has gladdened a mother's anxious heart, and lighted with renewed affection the face of the son who tells her of the welcome arrival. One has sprung up in the poverty-stricken home of the drunkard, and given promise of better things. Perhaps nowhere have more of my race been killed than in homes cursed by drink, and yet here is one more come on a trembling venture, born of sad experience and bitter self-reproach.

For my own particular self I may say (since no power of evil is unmatched for strength and numbers by co-existing good) my name is Legion. I came forth this morning with the wife who longs better to fulfil her ministry in the hallowed relationship typical of heavenly things; with the mother who knows the influence of example on the susceptible mimics around her. I am strong just now in the daughter's heart who would fain repair past shortcomings

by tenderer love, and more diligent duty at home. I stirred up servants betimes, and made men even grudge a holiday on New Year's day, in their zeal to prove my presence.

I sprang up with the bite wherewith the speculator greeted his thumb-nail when he saw the balance on the wrong side of his yearly accounts. I mingled with the merchant's sigh when he declared that his health was breaking with toiling too hard for the "meat that perisheth," and thinking too little of that which "endureth unto everlasting life."

Only let me and my contemporaries live and flourish this year, and the sun shall soon rise on a happier, holier world. But, alas! we are dependent; we are impotent with all our youthful energy, and have no inherent power to prolong our own existence.

Divine inspiration has compared us to the morning cloud and the early dew. I hasten to point out the dangers that threaten us, and the treatment that saves our lives.

It

We must be active at once. It is fatal to our existence to put us in swaddling clothes and lay us to sleep. We do not want sleep; we must be up and doing the work we were born for, or it were better we had never been born at all. We must be kept out of a certain atmosphere that is charged with vapours injurious to our constitution. affects us almost immediately; we get uneasy, we struggle a little, then we feel faint and sick, and, unless borne into purer air, we die. We have one friend who stands up for us and urges our claim upon care and caution, but that friend is susceptible to the same peril with ourselves, and cannot long speak in a voice loud enough to be heard by those who do not wish to hear amidst the din of opposition or the suffocating gases that produce insensibility.

So our short career is soon over, and we are forgotten, until our avenging hour is come, and we stand as spectres of the past haunting the avenues of faithful memory.

But in happy contrast there is a pure, calm, healthful atmosphere in which we cannot fail to thrive. Let us be carried there continually, and the effect is beautiful. We grow stronger, and brighter, and more than fulfil the fair promise of our birth; we live no life of idle indulgence, for our very breath is in practice and exercise day by day. The only substantial reason of my hopeful spirits this morning is, that I was taken as soon as I came into existence into this region of health and promise; and as I felt

the soft breathing of my parents' heart commending me to protection and help and victory, pleading for my long and successful life, I could not but realize a power and a presence that augured well for my untried future. One seemed to bend from the very heavens in tender love, and a light shone upon the page of an ancient book as my parent laid me in its beams, and wrapped the illumined truth as a celestial panoply around me, and He said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing."

Then I understood the secret of my life. Strengthened thus I shall not die. Protected thus I shall be spared the epitaph that frowns over the graves of so many of my race. When the sinner and the Saviour have thus met in love, salvation and blessing on the one part, adoring gratitude and self-devotion on the other, I take my proper place, I assume my lawful form, and fear not to accept the salute of “A happy new year."

Dear reader, you know me, you feel me, you wish me prosperity. Oh, do your part to ensure it. Take me not into the poisonous atmosphere of temptation, listen when conscience reminds of me, cherish me in the presence of God, before the throne of his grace, in the voice of prayer; and I shall live to bless you, for in pleading for myself I plead for you and your happiness. A solemn word it was that described the road which lost feet tread, as "paved with good resolutions." Let me be the ascending steps to new hopes, new joys, new acts of faith and love, the friend you may never blush to meet all through the year, and who now, in hope to spend it with you, humbly unveils the mystery as your new year's

GOOD RESOLUTION.

THE BIBLE AND THE THIEVES.

YEARS ago, there lived in a Leicestershire village a certain clergyman. He was a good man, beloved by all classes and by all sects. His house was a lonely one, and the night of which I speak was dark and stormy. Not long had the family retired to rest when they were suddenly

awakened by an unusual noise. The sound of footsteps on the stairs soon aroused their fears. Hoping to find money, the burglars made their way to the clergyman's bedroom. Forcing the door, they gained admission, and presented themselves before him and his terrified wife. Gazing at him through black masks, and armed with loaded fire-arms, they threatened him with instant death if he attempted to raise the least alarm. Inwardly commending himself and his to the care of that Providence whom he preached so often to others, he remained silent while they ransacked his house. Room after room was searched, drawer after drawer was burst open, chest after chest was emptied of its contents, but in vain. Beyond a few shillings no money Icould be found. In the midst of their search, the Bible lay upon the desk, containing the hunted wealth, concealing it from their gaze. Being alarmed, they were compelled at length to leave, frustrated by a cause they little suspected the unmoved, unopened Bible.

What a significant occurrence! Treasures of wisdom and knowledge, of grace and glory, lie concealed within the pages of that precious book. It contains exceeding great and precious promises. The pearl of great price is there, which can make all who find it rich and happy for ever.

"This is the field where hidden lies

The pearl of price unknown;
That merchant is divinely wise
Who makes the pearl his own.

Here consecrated water flows
To quench my thirst of sin;
Here the fair tree of knowledge grows,
Nor danger dwells therein.

This is the judge that ends the strife
Where wit and reason fail;

My guide to everlasting life

Through all this gloomy vale."

But to find these blessings in the Bible we must search it. The Bible does not act as a charm, but only yields up its treasures to a diligent and devout seeker. It will leave us poor, and ignorant, and unblessed, to have it simply in our hands, unless we likewise seek out its hidden treasures.

Even in a worldly point of view the inspired volume is an invaluable protection from manifold ills. Temporal prosperity flourishes under its influence. The lands in which it is best known and most revered are pre-eminently lands of liberty. Take away its light from a people, and

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