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Very beauteous is the dawning
When the golden sun doth rise,
But more glorious than the morning
May shine evening skies.

Love's young dreams are sweet and plea

sant

Will they last when breakers swell?

Ah, but none can say at present

That long years must tell.

IF

GOD'S BENEFITS.

KATIE THOMSON,

'Forget not all His benefits.'-Psa. 103 2.

some kind friend made you a present of twenty pounds to buy all sorts of things with, would you not feel rather hurt if he thought it necessary to say to you, 'Do not forget that I gave you this'? Of course you would not forget, you could not possibly be so ungrateful. But what if, after all, you had forgotten, and had all your nice things around you without ever recollecting him, would it not touch your heart if he came again and said very gently, 'Do not forget'?

I need not tell you Who and what I mean. You know! Have you been forgetting all His benefits, forgetting to thank Him for them, just as if they had all come of themselves? Oh, ask Him now to forgive you this sin of forgetfulness, for Jesus Christ's sake! But now that He has reminded you and forgiven you, ask Him for the Holy Spirit to help you to recollect His benefits instead of forgetting them.

'His benefits' means all the good things He has done for you, and all the good things He has given you. Try to count up 'His benefits' of this one day; and then think of those of yesterday, and last week, and all the year, and all your life since you were a little baby! You will soon find that there are more than you can count, and you will begin to see how very much you have to thank Him for.

And then recollect His still greater benefits—the great gift of Jesus Christ Himself to be your Saviour and Redeemer, and the

great gift of salvation through Him, and all His promises of grace and glory!

David speaks of the multitude of His tender mercies,' and Isaiah tells of the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.' Are not these true and beautiful words? Will you not turn them into a song of thanksgiving, and say, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies!'

'Now my evening praise I give;
Thou didst die that I might live;
All my blessings come from Thee,
Oh how good Thou art to me!
"Thou my best and kindest Friend,
Thou wilt love me to the end;

Let me love Thee more and more,
Always better than before.'

(From 'Little Pillows.') FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

PRIZE BIBLE QUESTIONS.

IN the first, or Senior division, competitors not to be above eighteen years of age.

In the second, or Junior division, Competitors not to be above thirteen years of age; and in both divisions the answers must be honestly the work of the individuals competing.

All answers to be addressed, not later than the 18th of each month, to the Rev. JOHN KAY, Coatbridge.

The answers may be written on post cards. Be careful in all cases to give the name and address of the competitor.

SENIOR DIVISION.

7 What passage in the Old Testament leads us to the conclusion that the light of day was completely shut out from the Holy of Holies in the Hebrew temple?

8 In the midst of a list of barren genealogies stands one of the most interesting prayers in the Word of God-where is it?

9 Where does a reader suddenly break off his reading, when the next sentence would have led him to read of judgment rather than mercy?

JUNIOR DIVISION.

7 In which verse of a historical book are five questions put by the enemy to reproach the Lord's people?

8 What striking metaphor is employed by a prophet to describe how the Lord regards every injury done to His people?

9 Where do we find four consecutivo questions put by the sinner as to the way of acceptance with God?

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THE RAINBOW.

Address delivered at Children's Service, Milngavie. "THE BOW SHALL BE IN THE CLOUD; AND I WILL LOOK UPON IT, THAT I MAY REMEMBER THE EVERLASTING COVENANT.' GEN. ix. 16.*

THE world had been very wicked, and

God had destroyed all the people by a flood of water. But Noah and his family had been saved in the ark. Afterwards, when they saw the clouds darkening, and the rain falling, they trembled lest the flood should come again. But God made a covenant, or agreement, not to destroy the world by a flood any more. And He said, 'The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant.' When we look up to the rainbow and admire its beautiful colours, let us not forget that God is looking down upon it from heaven, and remembering His covenant.

How beautiful is the rainbow; it is like a shower of diamonds, and sapphires, and emeralds, and topazes, and rubies. People used to say that if you could get to the foot of the rainbow you would find a heap of precious stones and pearls. There was once a little boy who had heard this saying, and when he saw a rainbow, he ran after it to find the pearls and precious stones. He ran through bogs and ditches till he was all bespattered with mud; and through thorns and briars, till his clothes were all torn. Then he stumbled and fell; and when he got up again, the rainbow was gone. This is just like many people who are always running after worldly and sinful pleasures, and get nothing but disappointment in the end.

Although you were to run ever so fast, you could never get to the foot of the rainbow, for it is only the light of the sun shining from the drops of rain in the sky, and when you change your position, it, of course, changes its position too. But why does the pure white light of the sun, when it falls on the raindrops, shine back in so many beautiful colours? Just because it From 'Children's Church Text Book.'

is the mixture of all these colours that makes up the beautiful pure white light of the sun. Most of you have seen an old window with a knot of glass in it. When the light shines through the knot of glass, its colours get all separated, and you see them painting the wall or the floor just like a rainbow.

When you look at the dew-drops in the grass on a bright sunny morning, you see them all sparkling with different colours, red, blue, green, yellow, &c. If you could fix your eye on one single drop, and move backwards and forwards, you would see it changing to all the different colours as you moved. Just so the drops of rain, up in the sky, shine with different colours, changing as they fall, and the multitude of drops falling, shew you all the different colours at once.

You see it takes a great many drops to make a rainbow, but every single drop must do its part. If one drop were to say, 'Oh! I am so little, I need not try to shine;' and another drop were to say, 'Oh! I am so little, I need not try to shine;' and all the drops were to say the same, then there would be no rainbow. So when Jesus bids us go and work for Him, if one says, 'Oh! I am so little, I cannot work for Jesus,' and another, and another, says the same, what will become of Jesus Christ's work of love in the world?

'Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light,
Like a little candle burning in the night:
In the world is darkness; so we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.'

Sometimes you see a shower of rain falling when the sun is not shining upon it. When you view it from a distance, how dark it looks; just like great bunches of long black hair hanging out of the sky. But when the sun shines brightly on it, then it bursts out into a beautiful rainbow. Our hearts are just like the falling rain drops, dark and black with ignorance and sin, till Jesus, our Sun of Righteousness, shines upon them. Then they burst forth with all the beautiful colours of holiness and love. The rain drops shine with red,

and orange, and yellow, and green, and blue, and purple; but the heart shines with love, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and meekness, and temperance, when Jesus shines upon it with His healing beams. Oh! let us open our hearts to the love of Jesus, and then we will be His jewels, far more beautiful than all the pearls and precious stones in the world.

"Little children, little children,

Who loved their Redeemer,
Are the jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.
Like the stars of the morning,
His bright crown adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown.'

The rainbow is the token of God's mercy on earth, and it will be the token of His mercy in heaven too. The apostle John once beheld the throne of God in heaven; and he tells us there was round about the throne a rainbow like an emerald—a beautiful soft green, the emblem of mercy and love. One day the world will pass away, and there will be new heavens and new earth. How blessed will it then be to stand before the throne of God, washed in the Saviour's blood, and dressed in the white robe of His righteousness, and, while striking the harps of gold, to look on the beautiful rainbow, the token of God's everlasting mercy and love.

- our heaven to come how clear
Clouds of wrath are unknown;
But the rainbow shall appear

In the cloud round Thy throne!'

J. M.

HOME LESSONS ON THE OLD PATHS.

REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE.

"MAMMA, why does repentance come

after faith, in the Catechism? I thought we should repent first, and then believe in Jesus.'

'That is a very common idea, but it is a great mistake; for it is faith in the Lord

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Jesus which produces true repentance. The answer itself tells you this. Repeat it, Nelly.'

Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sir, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.

That answer states very clearly what the Bible teaches concerning true repentance. The very words employed are taken from Scripture. If you read the verse where the expression, repentance unto life, occurs, you will see that it is the result of faith in Jesus Christ, and therefore a saving grace. There can be no life, no salvation, apart from faith in Jesus. Read Acts xi. 18.'

"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

"What things had Peter been telling the apostles and brethren?'

'He had been telling them all about Cornelius sending men to Joppa for him, and how he had gone with them to Cæsarea, and preached Jesus to them.'

'Yes; and it was because these Gentiles had believed on Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, that the apostles knew that God had granted to them repentance unt life. The word repent, means to turn; and every one who believes in Jesus, turns from sin.' Apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, you know, is faith in Jesus. A true sense of sin, without faith, will not turn sinners to God. Read the 21st verse of the same chapter, Charlie.'

"And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord."'

•These Grecians showed the sincerity of their faith, by turning from sin unto God; and when Barnabas came, he "exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." Repentance is the life work of the believer. Can you tell me why this question is, What is