Bless your heart, my little man, He will; when the heart speaks right, the lips cant say more.' Yes,

'Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexprest,

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.'

3. Abraham regarded it as speaking to God; for when pleading on behalf of Sodom, he said, Behold, now, 6 I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.'

And what is it that we have to speak

to God about in prayer?

1. About our sins-to confess them. We have all sinned. We sin many times every day, and there can be no forgiveness without confession. When a boy disobeys his father and wishes to be forgiven, he goes and acknowledges his fault, and until he does that, he cannot expect his father to be otherwise than angry. It is the same with God; He is angry with us when we commit sin, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.'

2. About the blessings that we need-to plead for them. We are needy creatures, we need many things, we are always needing, but God is able to supply all our need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,' only, we must ask Him for what we want. His command is, 'Ask and ye shall receive.'

3. About the blessings which He has given us to thank Him for them. Ah! what a long prayer we would need to make if we were to thank God each evening for every blessing which He has given us during the day-the air we breathe, the food we eat, the home that shelters us, the friends who love us, the Bible which tells us about Himself, the Saviour who died for

us,

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and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us. Why, His blessings are more than can be numbered, and it well becomes us to say with the psalmist, Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.'

6

Prayer, then, is to seek from the heart what you need-to speak with God; and it consists of confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.

M

HELP IN NEED.

ORE than a hundred years ago, a young man was trudging along the road to Aberdeen, where he intended to spend the winter session at college. Railways and steamers had not yet been invented, and as he could not afford to ride, he made the journey from his home on foot. Suddenly, he was met by an armed highwayman, who demanded his purse or his life.

As resistance was vain, he gave up his purse with a heavy heart, for in it were twenty guineas, with which he meant to pay the expenses of his college session; and when these were gone, he had nothing left. The robber made off with his prize, and the poor student, in his grief and perplexity, retired into a wood, where he poured out his heart in prayer to God. It was a comfort to him to tell his trouble to Jesus; and he also asked counsel as to what he must do; whether to go on to Aberdeen and try to earn a livelihood while attending college, or to go home and lose a year of his studies.

As he rose from his knees, the robber appeared again, and, throwing down the purse, said, 'There is your money; I cannot keep it.' So away he went, and the student saw him no more.

This is a true story.

When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.'

The student afterwards became an able minister of the New Testament,' and his name is still fragrant in the parish where he lived and laboured.

Loving friends have heaped upon her,
Pleasure sparkles in her eye;
Oh!' she sings for very gladness,
'What a happy girl am I!'
Happy Alice! books of stories,

Too, are hers amongst the rest:

How her friends have guessed, she knows not,

Just the ones she loves the best.

There, surrounded by her treasures,

Books and bouquets, large and small, Alice murmurs, half-bewildered,

'What shall I do with them all?' With this thought swift comes another— 'Oh!' she says, 'what have I done To be loaded thus with presents When so many girls have none?'

She remembers Fanny Stewart,
Who so patiently and long
Has endured sore pain and weakness,
And who never will be strong.

Of these flowers,' she says, 'a bouquet
To poor Fanny I will take;
And if dear mama will help me,

Such a handsome one we 'll make.

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For all things which wake gentle thoughts of tenderness and trust, what are they but bright angels-the messengers of God?

We have always God's own Word—the old beloved Bible, with its healing and its hope and its calm. We have other revelations too, new continually.

Of these are the flowers, come yesterday from God's hand. The world is old, old. The everlasting hills-ages it seems since creative touch was on their scarred gray.

But every spring and summer gladly from the still earth rise the delicate fearless flowers into lovely joyful life. Never gather the flowers without a thought of God. Think; they are His forget-me-nots; they mean God is Love.

He would have us glad in the loveliness which is His life. He would have us fear nothing, and so He sends the flowers.

Are they not symbols too of our own resurrection life? The daisies grow over our dearest. They must sleep a little longer than the flowers.

'It is sown a natural body;

It is raised a spiritual body.' 'Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.'

The flowers of every summer are an Amen to these words.

Love them, therefore, little ones; make sweet friends and angels of the flowers. 'Our hearts be pure from evil, That we may see aright The Lord in rays eternal Of resurrection-light.'

H. W. H.

PRIZE BIBLE QUESTIONS.

THREE Prizes are offered for the largest number of correct answers to the Questions during 1882. The Competition is limited to those under 14 years of age. The answers to be sent to the Rev. Dr. KAY, 7 Argyll Place, Edinburgh, by the 25th of each month.

19 Which verse of the words of Jesus describes the work of a medical missionary?

20 In which chapter are the tears shed by Paul, in his affectionate solicitude to win souls, mentioned twice?

21 On which of his journeys was Paul accompanied by a medical missionary?