'I

WISH I were going to church with you, papa.'

'I wish you had been able, Georgie dear,' said his kind father; 'but as you cannot go to-day, I think mamma and you must have a church in the house. I will give you a text, which mamma will explain to you, and perhaps you may learn as much at home as you would have done had you been able to go with me. When the Lord's people are unable to go to His house, often Jesus comes to them, and teaches them from His own word. Is not this a nice text for you to-day, "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. (Isa. xxxiii. 24.)

Little Georgie was now suffering from a severe cold, and he felt it very wearisome to be obliged to lie in bed all day. It was a great privation to him to be unable to go to church, for our little friend loved the house of God. When his papa left his room, tears filled his eyes, though he was a brave little boy, and strove manfully to keep them away.

Mamma,' he said sadly, 'I wonder when I shall get well; I am so wearied of lying in bed.'

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'You will soon get better I hope, Georgie dear,' replied his tender-hearted mother, and I am sure we shall be very happy to-day, though you are ill. What beautiful text that is which papa gave you to think about! It tells us of a country where no one ever says, "I am sick." Do you know what country that is?'

I think it must mean heaven, mamma.' 'Yes, dear, it means heaven, for there is no land on earth where sickness does not come. We often hear of persons going to distant countries in search of health, and some have benefited by change of climate; but no one ever found a land where there was no sickness. It is only of heaven that we can say, "sickness and death may not enter there." The text tells us too why no one in heaven shall ever say, "I am sick.' Can you tell me the reason?'

• It says, "the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." Does that mean that there is no sickness in heaven because there is no sin there?'

Yes, that is what it means. You know that it is sin which is the cause of all the sickness in this world. Had there been no sin there would have been no sickness. When we are sick, God designs us to remember that we have sinned against Him, and He bids us pray to Him when we are in trouble. There is a beautiful prayer for sick people which I used often to remember when I was ill a long time ago.'

'What praye! was it, mamma?

It was what David prayed when he was sick: "Look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.” (Psa. xxv. 18.) David does not say, take away mine affliction and my pain, only look upon it; but he says, take away all my sins. He knew that if his sins were forgiven all would be well, that God would remove his pain in His own good time.'

'But, mamma, is it wrong for me to wish to get strong and well again; I would like so much to be able to go to church and to school?

'No, dear, it is not wrong-we all wish you to get better-only, when we pray for health, or any other earthly blessing, we must always say, "if the Lord will." When we pray, "forgive us our sins," we know that it is God's will to pardon every one who comes to Him; but when we pray for health, we cannot be quite sure that it is God's will to give us that blessing. Jesus Himself prayed for freedom from suffering. You remember His earnest prayer in Gethsemane, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; and you know what more He added?'

never got better. Do you think he prayed to be made well, mamma?'

'Very likely he did; and I am quite sure that his good papa prayed earnestly for his little boy's recovery.'

'And yet, mamma, he got worse and died. It seems very strange, as if God had not heard his prayer.'

'We cannot now understand many of God's dealings with His people, but we may be quite sure that He always hears their prayers, and that He either gives them what they ask, or something which He knows to be far better. God loved your little cousin, and knew that it was far better for him to be with Himself. Cousin Willie now knows why God took him so early away from this world, and that it is far better to be with Christ in that blessed land, where "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick."

He would not like to come back to

this sinful world now.'

'You might tell me more about the happy ones in heaven, mamma. What do the white robes, and palms in their hands mean?

'The apostle John tells us that the fine linen, clean and white, in which they are arrayed, means the spotless righteousness of the saints, for all who are there have Iwashed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The palm is the emblem of victory, and the palms in their hands mean that they are conquerors over sin and death. And you know the song they sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, &c." But the joys which God has prepared for those that love Him, are so many and so great, that it has not entered into the heart of man to imagine them.

"This much, and this is all we know

They are supremely blest,
Have done with sin, and care, and woe,
And with their Saviour rest."

When papa returned from church he was soon by the bedside of his little son, telling him that the sermon he had heard had been on the name of Jesus, Jehovah Rophi, The Lord the Healer. (Exodus xv. 26.) He told him too, that the good pastor had prayed very earnestly that Jesus might be

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with the sick ones who were unable to come to His house; and then he said, 'I hope, Georgie dear, Jesus has been with you to-day.'

'I think He has, papa,' Georgie replied, 'for I have been so happy talking with mamma about Jesus, and about heaven. I can repeat the verse you gave me to think of. It is, "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." And mamma sang to me

WE

HERE are these words to be found? Somewhere in the Bible, no doubt. You must search till you get them, and then you will find that they form part of an advice given by an aged Christian to one much younger than himself, whom he loved and spoke of as his own son.

The Sabbath school may be looked upon as a church for the training of the young. You have your hymns, your prayers, your sermon (though we call it an address) from the superintendent, and over and above all, you have the instructions of your teachers. Now, you should know how to behave yourselves not only in, but also in reference to, your church, and as the 'Dayspring' has a deep and lively interest in Sabbath schools, and is in the hands of many thousand scholars in England and Scotland, we must have something to say to a class which looks so anxiously each month for the arrival of their magazine.

BE IN TIME AT THE SABBATH SCHOOL. Boys and girls are not the only people who require this advice. For, in the church for older people, it is sad to find how often the

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advice is forgotten. Let it be yours to set an example to these older folks. It is said somewhere that 'punctuality is the politeness of princes.' Now, this saying applies to you whom God is taking instead of the fathers,' and whom, in fulfilment of His promise, He is making noble princes in all the land.' To put it on the lowest ground, to be late for the Sabbath school is to be uncourteous and impolite to your teachers who have striven to be forward in time to meet you. But I shall take higher ground, and say, it is not courteous towards Him whose praises you are to sing at the opening of the school. If an earthly prince were to say, 'I wish to see all the children attending a certain Sabbath school present in their classes at a certain hour, for I shall have a reward to give every one of them,' there would be many a look at the house-clock on the part of those who could read the hours, and many an enquiry on the part of those who could not, to discover if the time were not up for leaving home; and, when the prince entered, every one would be in his place, eagerly expectant. But when the greatest and highest Prince in the universe promises to meet you, and to speak with you, and to give you what is better than gold, yea than much fine gold, it does seem rather uncourteous in you to be five, ten, twenty minutes behind time.

BE REGULAR IN YOUR ATTENDANCE. Irregularity, like every other bad habit, grows by its continuance. The first day of absence is never a very comfortable one; a still small voice keeps whispering to you, whether you are at home, or in the fields, that you are doing wrong; but the next day is less uncomfortable, and the next again even less so, till at last utter carelessness and indifference take the place of anxiety and love for the work of the school.

PREPARE YOUR LESSONS CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY. If things were as they should be, there would not require to be any reading over of the lesson in the class. The teacher could afford to take up the lesson at once, to question you upon it, and to enforce the truths which it contains. it a fact, I wonder, that the teachers in

Is

some classes need to tell their scholars where the lesson is, and to do in the school the work which should be done at home? Then, as to the portion of the lesson to be committed to memory, it is painful to mark the imperfect preparations often made. Eight lines of a psalm, one verse of the bible, a question in the catechism—surely that is no great strain upon the memory, yet in many cases these are hurriedly prepared half an hour before the school meets, only to be forgotten half an hour after the school is dismissed. I recollect on one occasion offering a prize to every scholar who would repeat without a mistake the memory lesson for the day. In a school of 150 pupils I had only one prize to give, and that was to a little girl of not more than nine years of age, who had had the good principle to make conscience as in God's sight of carefully preparing her lessons.

Carefully ponder what you have now read, and do your best to improve in punctuality, in regularity, in attendance, and in careful preparation of your lessons.

THE BANNER OF LOVE.

Song of Solomon ii. 3, 4.
The desert is lone and dreary!

But the journey must be made,
And One for me has preparéd

A cool and grateful shade:
'Tis the hand of my Beloved!
I rest with great delight
Beneath the gracious shelter

At noon and dead of night.
The desert is lone and dreary!
But One my feet hath led
Unto a royal banquet

Where the saints of God are fed:
While half in awe I wonder
Such things should be for me,
My eye beholds the banner,
And all explained I see:

I read upon that banner

My right in this to share,-
In characters all golden

LOVE is imprinted there:
While still this heart o'erwhelméd
Can scarce believe all mine,
His arm encircles round me,
He whispers, 'I am thine.'

M.C.

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the starting of the Mecca caravan he has seen twenty thousand together. Our young readers may remember that Job had three thousand camels at first, and afterwards six thousand. On one occasion the Reubenites took five thousand camels among the spoil; and when the Midianites came against Israel, they and their camels are recorded as without number, even as the sand of the

sea.

The camel has been called the ship of the desert; for though it is very different from any ship that sails the sea, it is truly a ship which bears the traveller and his treasures across a sea of perils to his desired haven. And just as ocean waves cast up the wrecks of gallant craft upon the shore, so the borders of the great caravan routes are strewed with the bones of these ships of the desert. Most admirable is the adaptation of these patient creatures to the nature of the countries in which they are found. The flat sole of the foot serves the same purpose of support in yielding sand as the Indian's snow shoes more clumsily subserve in snow. The awkward looking kneepads, or callosities, enable it to rest on the hot sand for a long time when it is being loaded or halting. Its hump is a very storehouse of food, on which it feeds in a long journey when other food is scant. It

has cells in its stomach, which are cisterns of water, from which its thirst is slaked even when it is four days without seeing water. Its teeth are of strength to masticate the hardest and most prickly herbage, while its cloven lips enable it to browse easily on the tenderest blade of grass. In addition to all this, it has the power to protect its nostrils, by a delicate covering, when exposed to the searching blast of the desert. Thus beautifully has the camel been adapted by the Almighty hand of God to the countries where its lot has been cast.

Camels are of two kinds-the Arabian or African camel with one hump, and the Bactrian camel, which inhabits Thibet and central Asia, with two humps. The dromedary is a species of the former, and holds the same place among camels as the hunter or race horse among horses-they are a

selected race of camels. Swift camels and dromedaries are said to have journeyed a hundred miles in one day, but their usual speed is forty miles in one day. The camels of burden, which carry a load of six hundred pounds, travel easily twenty miles a day. They need no spur or whip, but willingly move forward, and when tired their drivers often encourage them with snatches of song.

It is the Arabian camel that is referred to always in Scriptures. King Ahasuerus sent out his decree in favour of the Jews by messengers on camels, and on young dromedaries. You will also remember that the Ishmaelites, to whom Joseph was sold, came upon camels bearing spices, &c. The camels of Zebah and Zalmunnah, whom Gideon slew, had their necks adorned with chains, which he took possession of.

It would be a good thing for young and old if they could go through their work with the same patient ardour and willingness as the camel goes on its journey. Doubtless the camel likes the tender grass and young leaves, on which, when it comes to a green oasis, it browses with evident relish; but there is a lesson of contentment for us all in the camel feeding, at other times, on the prickly plants of the desert. So hard and spiny are some of these that they pierce through the thickest leather, and travellers have sometimes wondered for what purpose such forbidding plants could have been created, until they chanced to see the camel feed on them. The harder the plant the longer does it retain moisture, and the wise providence of God thus provides for the camel and the wild ass of the desert a means by which their thirst is slaked. There is nothing in all God's universe which is without its use; and it is by patient study that man may hope to learn the secrets of God's kingdom. May we hope that not a few of our young readers will learn the happy art of extracting from the prickles and thorns which they meet in the path of life, nourishment which will strengthen them to go forward steadily and stoutly to the journey's end.