"Yes, Willie, and a very important one it is. Many persons who have been long acquainted with the Scriptures have never learned the one thing which they principally teach.'

"What is principally teach, mamma?' said Katie.

'You know, dear, the Bible teaches us a great many things. It contains history and biography, poetry and prophecy, proverbs and precepts, miracles and parables, and much instruction on a great variety of subjects. But there is one thing which the Bible tells us that is of far more importance to a sinner than all the rest. You know what that is, Katie?

It is that Jesus died for our sins, mamma.'

'Yes, dear; the knowledge of the way of salvation by Christ Jesus is what the Scriptures principally teach. Little Maggie knows what is the best story in all the Bible.'

'The old, old story, of Jesus and His love; that is the best story, mamma,' little Maggie replied.

'And little Harry knows what the Bible tells us.'

And mamma's little pet gave his answer in the words of a hymn he had just learned:

'Jesus loves me, this I know,

For the Bible tells me so.'

'Yes, that is the good news which the Bible brings to us from heaven, the good tidings of great joy for all people.'

'But, mamma,' said Willie, the answer in the Catechism does not name Jesus at all. It is, The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.'

'That answer tells us two things contained in Scripture which the Catechism teaches, viz., TRUTH and DUTY. Every question on to the thirty-ninth, points out some truth which we are to believe, and all the questions after that point out the duties we are to practise. As we get farther on you will see that every Scripture truth points to Jesus, and that He is the example of every duty God requires of man.'

'I think I understand it better now,

51

mamma. What we are to believe concerning God is, that He sent Jesus to be our Saviour; and the duty God requires of man is, to follow Jesus, and grow like Him.'

"Yes, Willie, Jesus is Himself THE TRUTH in whom we are to believe, and the example we are to imitate. He is the

centre of all Scripture TRUTH and DUTY. Do you remember that papa once showed you the solar system with a magic lantern?

O yes, mamma, it was most beautiful. The sun was in the middle, and all the planets moved round it.'

And papa told us,' added Katie, 'that all the planets get their light from the sun, and it is the sun's attraction which keeps every one of them in its right place.'

'And you know who is the Sun of Righteousness."

'It is Jesus, mamma, He is the Sun of Righteousness.'

Jesus is the Sun, the centre of the Christian system. Every Scripture truth, and every duty revolves around Him, gets its light and beauty from Him, and is kept in its proper place by Him.'

'Do you know, Willie, why truth is placed first in the Catechism, and duty afterwards?'

No, mamma; I thought that to do what is right is the most important thing.'

And so it is, but we will never do what is right, unless we believe what is true. Truth is the root, duty is the fruit. It is truth entering into the heart which makes the tree good, and duty is the fruit it yields. Falsehood in the heart makes the tree evil, and sin is the fruit it yields. Matt. xii. 3335. What was it, Katie, that made Eve disobey God?'

'Satan told Eve a lie, mamma, and she believed Satan rather than God.'

'Yes, it was Satan's lie entering into her soul which made the good tree corrupt, and brought sin into the world. Falsehood is the root of sin. I will show you something which will help you to understand this better,' and mamma unfolded a missionary map of the world to the wondering gaze of the children.

'O, mamma, what a strange map that is!'

Why is there so much

The black parts are heathen countries; the dark places of the earth, which are full of the habitations of cruelty. It would make you shudder to think of the horrible cruelties which are done in these dark places. Mothers strangle their own babes, and children leave their aged parents to starve in the woods, or be devoured by the wild beasts. They are always fighting with one another, and any one who tries to make peace between them is in danger of being murdered. Do you know why they do all these wicked things, Willie ? '

'It is because they do not know the gospel, and think that these horrid deeds will please their gods.'

Yes, Willie, it is because Satan has bound them fast in the chains of falsehood. These poor heathen

"Call us to deliver,

Their land from error's chain."

'I thought that a great many missionaries had gone to tell the heathen about Jesus, mamma. Where are the places to which they have gone?'

'Look on the map, and you will see little white spots here and there. These are the missionary stations-the little centres of light amid the darkness. But they would need to be multiplied a thousand fold, for not one tenth of the world's inhabitants have yet had the Word of God sent to them. It has been computed that in China alone a million die every month without ever having heard of a Saviour's love. Do you not think we should all try to do more to send the Truth to these benighted lands?'

'Is that what the hymn means when it says,

"Shall we, whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high,-
Shall we to men benighted

The lamp of life deny?""

Yes, Katie, that is what it means. That beautiful hymn was written by Bishop Heber, a good missionary in India, whose spirit, like Paul's, was stirred in him when he saw the people wholly given to idolatry.'

'I never thought there were so many heathen in the world before, mamma,' said Willie.

'I hope you will all remember the heathen inore than you have ever done; and especially, that you will value the truth more yourselves, and never forget the one thing which the Scriptures principally teach. And now we shall read about Paul preaching at Athens, and you will see how he showed the heathen in that city the truth concerning God, and their duty to Him.'

When they had finished reading, mamma told them of a poor Hindoo who was lying dying by the roadside. A missionary found him there, and asked him where he hoped to go after death. To his surprise and joy the dying man told the missionary that he was going to be with Jesus. He held in his hand a torn scrap of a leaf from a New Testament, on which were the words, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son. cleanseth us from all sin.' This was the only portion of Scripture the Hindoo had ever possessed, but it contained the one central truth which is able to make wise unto salvation. From this one text, that poor Hindoo had learned the truth which the Scriptures principally teach, and he died. rejoicing.

THY KINGDOM COME.

GOD of Heaven! hear our singing;
Only little ones are we,
Yet a great petition bringing,

Father, now we come to Thee.
Let Thy kingdom come, we pray Thee,
Let the world in Thee find rest;
Let all know Thee and obey Thee,
Loving, praising, blessing, blessed!
Let the sweet and joyful story

Of the Saviour's wondrous love,
Wake on earth a song of glory

Like the angels' song above
Father, send the glorious hour,

Every heart be Thine alone!
For the kingdom and the power
And the glory are Thine own.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERĢAL.

years ago, but to whom the home memories, which the lark's sweet song awoke, were still dear. They would willingly have purchased the bird, but the widow could not part with her friend. So it became their habit in that land where they had no other preacher, to come long distances on Sundays just to sit about the widow's cabin, and listen to the sweet songster. Who can tell the power which that little lark had to elevate these men; how many happy memories it brought back, and what a safeguard from vice and sin the cherishing of these by means of its song may have been! This was the mission of that little lark.

The spell the lark exerted over these men was in its song, and it is the song of the lark its full-voiced melody, and thrilling notes-that makes this bird so dear to us all. In the bright spring mornings, or in summer, as we walk afield, how we love to hear the lark spring upward with its song, and how gladly we pause in our walk to watch its airy flight as it bears us heavenwards with its melody. Shakespeare says,

'Hark! hark the lark at heaven's gate sings,' expressing in this short line in his own happy way the grand features of the lark's singing. It is ever upwards. It is as it expands its wings, and floats upward out of sight, that the inspiring breeze and the bright sunshine seem to find expression in the notes of liquid melody which centre in the little heart so quickly carried beyond our ken.

And even when it has become quite a little speck in the horizon we can still hear the delightful sound. By and by, when its song of praise is ended, the lark will descend in graceful curves to the little nest hid in the clover or stubble, where its own little ones are; for whose delight it has perhaps all the while been speaking that sweet story which has kept us spellbound. For the lark has a home

A spot of earth supremely blest,

A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest-' with home treasures which it loves. It has tender affections, and has been known to

make great exertions to preserve its little ones. The lark has been known, when danger threatened, to carry its eggs and in some instances even the young birds, a considerable distance to a new place of safety. In order to conceal the nest from observation the lark is said never to spring upwards from the nest, nor to alight near it, but always at some distance. So wonderfully does the instinct which God has endowed it with teach the bird to protect its home. I am sorry to say that there are some cruel people called epicures who consider the lark as a dainty for their palate. They have no soul for its delightful music, they care only for it as a momentary gratification to their pampered taste. Thousands of larks are annually sacrificed for their pleasure. Let no little boy or girl that reads the 'Dayspring' be so cruel.

It is a delightful impulse which makes the lark mount heavenwards with its song. On earth it has but a very lowly dwelling

its nest is on the very ground-yet how it soars on high! What a heaven-taught joy it hath!-how it fills creation with its praise! Little ones, let the lark in this be your model. Your home on earth may be but lowly, let your desires be heavenwards; let your song of praise be a gladsome service. With full-voiced, heartfelt joy let your native instinct bear you aloft. And oh seek grace from God that your every movement be like the lark's-a service of happy, holy song. So shall you rise with thankful heart in songs of praise above all that seems dark and sad in your earthly lot; for there is One who does set your feet upon a rock, and who does put a new song into your mouth. The home of the lark may be in the desert, but with a heart to sing a note so full and clear, the wilderness shall become a garden, and the solitary place an Eden of joy.

'Bird of the wilderness,
Blythesome and cumberless,

Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea;
Emblem of happiness!

Blest is thy dwelling-place

O to abide in the desert with thee!