made, should meet together to praise and worship Him; and next, that we are not only the work of His hand, His creatures, but the children adopted by Him" the sheep of His pasture," the sheep who have been taken into His fold the Church. And therefore we should hear His voice to-day-that is, at once, directly. And we should be most careful to learn His ways, and not to err from them in our hearts. Now, it is time for church; get your bonnets, and go quietly. And try to remember all this when Mr. Stanley asks you about it. The Snowdrop. (SEE CHRISTIAN YEAR"-TUESDAY IN EASTER-WEEK.) THE Snowdrop is the earliest flower of all the year. Long before the cold weather is gone, we see its narrow leaves shooting above the ground. It does not wait for the heat of the sun, or the warm air of the spring. Its delicate pure white blossoms seem not to mind the chilly frosty nights, or the rude stormy winds; they hang each upon a slender stalk, their pretty heads drooping towards the ground. The least bit of dirt would soil their leaves, and the least tread of your foot would crush them to the earth. We love to see these flowers growing in bunches under the trees, and looking so gay whilst every thing else is brown and dull. But it is not for this alone that we love to see them. We watch for their coming, because they tell us spring will soon be here; they make us think of the pleasant flowery fields and hedges, and then of the warm summer-days. We know that in a few months these things will come. We do not know whether we shall live to see them; but still we feel quite sure that spring will come after winter, and summer after spring. We should be surprised if any one should think of asking the reason of this belief of ours. We should say, "We cannot doubt it; for we have sure proof that it is always so." If they should ask, "Did you always see it?" "No; but our parents, and those who lived before us, did; and we should surely have heard if the winter or summer had ever come at a quite different time in the year." Besides, we have the promise of God which He made to Noah, that "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease." And when God spoke of the Jer. xxxiii. 20, certainty of His promises to Israel, He said they were as sure as the covenant of day and night, and the ordinances of heaven and earth. Gen. viii. 22. 25. Ps. lxxxix. 37. Matt. xxiv. 32. Now, these are good reasons, and for these which may well be called sure proofall men believe that the course of the seasons, till the end of the world, will not Heb. xi. 6. change. All of us have faith in this. why have they not as much faith in other things, of which they might have sure proof too, if they would but consider about them. Mal. iii. 14. But They hear often of the happiness and blessing of serving God; but they doubt it, because God's service is no happiness to them; they do not think that it ever would be. But have they tried it? They are thoughtless and giddy-they seek their own pleasure, and follow their own fancies; and therefore they do not wish to believe. But if they would turn to God with all their hearts-if they would seek the one thing needful-they would no longer doubt. The Psalmist says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." And Christ said, "Seek ye not what ye Luke xvi. 14. Job xxi. 13-21. John vi. 27. 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. 28. lii. 7; xxxvii. 4; xxv. 14. 1 Cor. ii. 9. shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither Luke xii. 29. be of doubtful mind: your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." These promises can only be understood by those who truly trust in God. Those who seek their happiness from this world only, are sure to be disappointed; and then they complain that they are unhappy; but if they would "delight themselves in the Lord, He would give them their hearts' desire." They would know what those good things are which He has "prepared for them that love Him." If those who are easily overcome by temptations, and continually falling into the same sins, would try to shun that which tempts them, and seek God's help, they would, by His grace be delivered from the power of their sins; they would find the truth of the promise: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you; draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." God never turns away from those who earnestly seek Him. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead unto sins, should live unto righteousness." Matt. vi. 24. Rom. vi. 16. 1 Cor. x. 13. 2 Pet. ii. 9. James iv. 7, 8, 2 Chron. xv. 2. Luke xix. 10. Rom. v. 6-8. Was the Bible 1 Cor. iv. 11-13. Phil. iii. 8. 1 Cor. x. 33; ix. 23. Would all this have been done in vain? written in vain? And the apostles and followers of Christ, would they have endured cruel mockings, and scourgings, and persecutions, if they had doubted the word of that Lord for whom they suffered? Why do the ministers of Christ, and His true servants, labour so much to turn others to the Lord? Why is so much pains taken by your teachers to instruct you in His ways? Because they know that His ways are the only sure ways to happiness. 2 Cor. vi. 1. Gal. i. 10. 1 Tim. iv. 10. When Christ rose from the dead, the women who saw the angels at the sepulchre, and were the Luke xxiv. 1-12. witnesses of His resurrection, were not believed by the apostles, when they brought them the joyful tidings;-" their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not." Luke xxiv. 11. John xx. 3. John xvi. 22; But when the apostles ran themselves to see, and found that the Lord was risen indeed, they no longer doubted. They might have remembered the Lord's words which He spake to them while He was yet alive-they might have considered that the women who had before been weeping for the death of their Lord, would not have come back in such haste, with fear and great joy, if all had not been true. So should men now believe the witness of those who speak to them of Christ. If these had sought the Lord in vain-if they had not found Him true to His word-would they be If they were not serious in what they said, would they speak of Him so reverently? Besides this, the lives of real Christians shew how true the Gospel is. We read of many-and we may see some whom it is a blessing to meet with-who, though they suffer pain and affliction, yet seem happier than others, because they submit to God's will in all things, and are 2 Cor. i. 7. Col. i. 11. supported by Him. They have tried for themselves, and have found "that it was even as they had been told." The ways of religion are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." so earnest ? Luke xxiv. 24. Prov. iii. 17. 66 Let us take a lesson from those who are better than Heb. ii. 1. ourselves, though they seem to know less ; let us remember that those who refuse to be religious, and think it could never be pleasant to them, because their hearts are now cold, are as foolish as if they would not believe that spring and summer will come after winter. We have sure proof from the word of Godfrom the knowledge of those who have lived before us, Deut. vii. 9. He not do it? and from many now living-that "the Lord our God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him." "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise; but is long-suffering to us-ward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." "Hath He said, and shall or hath He spoken, and shall He not make Time. THE DAY. Ar the beginning of a new year it is a good opportunity for thinking about time. How many years have passed since the creation? More than five thousand and eight hundred. All those years make up what we call time; and more years will pass to make up more time, till at last the day of judgment comes. All that was before the creation, and all that will be after the day of judgment, we speak of as eternity; we cannot measure that, as we can measure time, by years, and months, and days, and hours. We know that God is eternal. He has no beginning, and no ending. Our souls are eternal as to what is yet to come, but not as to what is passed; for they had a beginning, but they will have no ending. God created our souls, and He created them to last for ever. God created the sun, moon, and stars; and by means of them we divide our time as long as we are in this world. When people die, they go out from time into eternity. "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good" (Gen. i. 16-18). You may remember that it is said in one of the Psalms used in the burial-service, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Ps. xc.). Let us think about the divisions of time; and, first of all, about that which we call a day. We read in the book of Genesis how God completed all the work of the creation in six days; and of each it is said, "And the evening and the morning were the first (or second, or third) day." So the days have gone on ever since. Every morning the sun rises, and every evening it sets. There is first the dawn-a faint beginning of light in the east. |