what they had got. Some of the children had cut the collecting leaf out of the Record, and pasted it on a card, very neatly. Some brought twopence, others sixpence; a few had collected as much as two shillings, and one of the youngest girls in the school brought more than ten shillings-proving that she had not been spending all her holidays in playing."

Another in Stirlingshire says

"I am sorry at not having it in my power to send you more money than what is now sent. Indeed all our teachers had overlooked the collection cards in the little Magazine; and, had it not been noticed by some of the children themselves, it would have been quite neglected. Collecting for missionary purposes is quite a new thing in our school. I am told that, at one time, many years back, they did collect for religious purposes, but it came to be disliked, and was laid aside. After some little stirring up of the obstinates, we have, however, succeeded in starting them afresh, I hope, in the right way. The first Sabbath of May last began our first monthly collection, and on last Sabbath night we could count of gatherings upwards of £4; which I esteem a good beginning, and a practical refutation of the doctrine of impossibilities-a favourite doctrine with some.

I am

sure we have a good field here, if it were rightly cultivated. It is true, the village depends mainly on the cotton works-which business, we all know, has long been dull; still we have a constant circulation of money, less or more, and I am sanguine that, had we the will, we have more of the way than has yet been had recourse to."

Dear young friends, we cannot conceal, and we ought not to conceal, the gladness of heart which you have given to us; but we earnestly entreat you to guard against every approach to a proud and boastful spirit. You have no reason to be lifted up. You know that many of the young have done nothing, and given nothing at all, and that very many of those who gave, kept much more for themselves than they devoted to God. You know that some have given their money without their prayers, and that all are too far away from that spirit of tender anxiety for precious but perishing souls, which every one belonging to the fold of Christ should ever cherish. Instead of boasting, let there be abase

ment; instead of pride, humility. Praying the Lord to pity and to pardon past shortcoming and unprofitableness; resolve each of you to be more earnest, dutiful, generous, and, above all, prayerful, than you have ever been. The world still lieth in darkness -the children of men are still "enmity against God." The cry from many a land still is, "Come over and help us!" All the encouragements of God's Word and promises still remain unaltered, unchanging. Up, then, and be doing when the Lord calls. Rest not satisfied with this, or any previous effort. The New Year's Day's card has served its use-but your work is not done. The missionary box must be attended to all the year round. You should always be doing something, that Christ's kingdom may come; always husbanding your resources, that you may have something of your own to give; and always remembering that you will ere long have to give an account of your stewardship. We doubt not many of you are resolved to try to do more during the next collecting week. But, dear children, the Lord only knows who among you may be spared to see it. It is certain that many will, ere that time, be the tenants of the silent grave. Therefore, set about the work Now, and defer not till to

morrow.

In your missionary offerings, we counsel you to remember, that they are without value in the sight of God, if you have not first given yourselves to him; but if you have given your hearts to God, you will not grudge giving to his cause. Therefore

1. GIVE AFFECTIONATELY.
2. GIVE BELIEVINGLY,
3. GIVE HUMBLY.

4. GIVE CHEERFULLY.
5. GIVE GRATEFULLY,
6. GIVE GENEROUSLY

8. GIVE EVANGELICALLY. 9. GIVE CONSISTENTLY. 10. GIVE PROMPTLY. 11. GIVE REGULARLY. 12. GIVE PERSEVERINGLY. 13. GIVE UNITEDLY.

7. GIVE SELF-DENYINGLY. 14. GIVE PRAYERFULLY.

If you

These are fourteen good rules for giving. would like to see them beautifully explained and strikingly enforced, we ask you to get a little address, which every young person should read, just published by a respected minister of our Church, who has several times

delighted you in these pages. It is from it that we have taken these rules; and you will find every one of them illustrated in this valuable little work, which we cordially recommend to young and old, as well fitted to advance the cause of missions.*

We beg parents, ministers, teachers, and all who care for the young, to turn their serious consideration to this subject. The training of our young friends in this particular duty is most important, not only as regards the mission-field at present, but every interest of the Church and of the world for the future. We cannot begin too early our contest with the selfishness which is inherent in the corrupted heart even of children, nor too soon show that, if Christ's, they must live for duty, not for pleasure. We do not merely plead that no chilling, worldly influences be suffered to approach them, checking their enthusiasm, and marring their efforts: we ask that they may receive the cordial sympathy and constant aid of their seniors in their essays to do good. We claim for them not a cold, formal permission, but a hearty encouragement to labour. Let them be kept continually informed on the subject of the missions-let them never be at a loss for kind counsellors, in regard to all business details; for the young should not only be taught truth, but order and system in all our schools. Let the organization in every school be made as complete as if the revenues were ten times larger. Let treasurer, secretary, committee, collectors, in short, a full staff of working officials, be found in every church, and every Sabbath school; and let parents look well to their children in this important matter, and they will, by God's blessing, find, in the enlarged affections, augmented happiness, and increased usefulness of their children, a sweet reward even for the present- and for the future, the prospect of their places in the Church and in the nation being filled by those who, "by reason of use," have been schooled into views, methods, and habits of active benevolence, that will have an influence for good, when we and they have finished our earthly pilgrimage.

*Treasury Gifts; or, Rules for Giving: an Address to the Young. By the Rev. Adam Blyth of Girvan. 12mo, pp. 16.

THE END OF SABBATH-BREAKING. ALTHOUGH sentence against men's evil works is not always executed speedily, the Lord does frequently give a solemn warning that the daring transgressors of his holy law shall not pass unpunished. Doubtless many of our young readers have had their attention called to this truth, and a striking instance of it is given in the engraving on the former page, which represents an event that took place last summer near Leith.

Early one Sabbath morning last summer, a party, consisting of nine men and women, most of whom had been drinking all night in a public-house near Leith harbour, resolved to go out in a little boat as far as the end of the pier, which is nearly a mile long. They were heard from the wooden pier, singing, shouting, and swearing. Alas! how soon were those tongues that so fearfully broke the silence of that beautiful Sabbath morning to be for ever silent! They at first intended to confine their excursion to the end of the pier, but the water was smooth and on they went beyond it. Some commotion then, it is said, took place in the little boat. On its alleged character we do not wish to dwell. It was, in fact, upset. Of the nine who were thrown into the water, three were saved the other six were hurried into eternity.

A respected minister informs us, that this awful judgment had been instrumental, under God, in awakening the conscience of one who had been a Sabbathbreaker, and otherwise careless, and unimpressible by every argument by which he had sought to reach his heart. This man, in his usual course of Sabbath strolling, had found his way to the pier of Leith, and was just in time to be witness of the awful catastrophe.

Such was the impression which it made upon him, that he could neither resist nor conceal it. He came straightway to the minister whose remonstrances he had previously slighted, and, in a state of extraordinary excitement and agitation, related the circumstance, stated freely the impression which it had made upon him, and, humbling himself and confessing his sins as he had never done before, they both knelt down and prayed together.

From all that was witnessed on that occasion on the part of this humbled and convicted man, it seemed as if, for the first time, it could be truly said of him, "Behold, he prayeth."