will find, by happy experience, that his yoke is easy; that it tends to make us both useful and happy. What a contrast it is to Satan's yoke, which enslaves us in sin and misery, to be followed by everlasting punishment hereafter! All who break the Sabbath, take God's name in vain, lie, steal, get drunk, are all under Satan's yoke; and oh! how fearful is their condition if they die in that slavery! They can have no hope. My dear little reader, "Cease to do evil, learn to do well." Remember, "he that walketh with the wise shall become wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

"LITTLE SERMONS FOR LITTLE
PEOPLE."

THE BEST OF BOOKS.

THE year 1853 is the Jubilee Year of the Bible Society. That is, the 50th year since that Society was begun.

You may have read in the Bible about the year of jubilee. If you have not done so before, do so now, see Leviticus 25th chapter. You will see what a happy year the jubilee year was, especially for the poor. Well, this year is the Jubilee of the Bible Society, and we are called upon to rejoice and to praise God for all the good it has done and may yet do.

The tear of a little Welsh girl, who wept

because she had no Bible, first put it into the mind of a good man to begin a Society that would print Bibles at a cheap rate in all languages, so that the whole world might read God's Word, and thereby know the way for a sinner to be saved.

Since it began, millions of copies of the Holy Scriptures have been sent forth to the world in above one hundred different languages. Thousands upon thousands of people have read, and rejoiced in reading the glad tidings of salvation, and millions yet unborn will rise to bless the Bible Society.

It is by means of this Society that Ragged Schools are supplied with Bibles so cheap, and the scholars enabled to buy a beautiful Bible for the trifling sum of sixpence.

Let us for a few moments consider what the Bible really is. It is like a long letter from God in heaven to his children on earth-a letter of love and sympathy, of tender affection and friendly advice a letter, warning us of the dangers that beset our path through this world, and giving us directions how to avoid those dangers.

Just suppose any of you setting out on a journey, and you did not know a step of the way. Some kind friend puts into your hand a map, with all the places marked on it in plain letters that you had to go to, and all the roads to those places plainly drawn out. Suppose you had no guide-book but this, and you would be sure to get into mischief if you did

not follow it, how frequently and how anxiously you would turn to it and study it, looking to see if you were going right or wrong!

Now, it is just in this way that we should use our Bible, the guide-book that God has kindly given us for our safe conduct through this dangerous world.

We never have a letter from a friend who is far off from us in some distant land, lying by us neglected or not read. Oh no! we read it as soon as we get it, and often look at it again and show it to others; and so we should do with God's letter to us.

My dear young friends, the book you now have so cheap, was once so dear that only the very rich could buy it, and very few copies of it existed in the whole world.

Be sure and not think lightly of it because it is so cheap. The things most valuable to us in this world are generally the cheapest. The light of the sun that costs us nothing is more valuable to us than all the gold of Australia or California; for without it we could not live, and every plant, every tree, everything that grows would die.

Regard your Bible as a treasure, worth to you more than thousands of gold and silver, though it may only cost you sixpence; for in it are God's words, intended expressly for your blessing and benefit. I hope you can all say from your hearts,—

"Holy Bible, book divine,

Precious treasure, thou art mine;
Mine to tell me whence I came,

Mine to teach me what I am."

I shall say more about it in my next. Meantime, I remain as before,

Yours truly, H. S.

FOURPENCE THROWN AWAY.

A few days ago, a boy came running into school, with a pretty-looking image in his hand, which attracted the attention of his school-fellows, who were all clothed in rags, excepting a few who had learned to save their money. "Oh! what's that?" said one; "Let me see," said another; "Give me some," said a third. The teacher, attracted by the bustle, asked what it was he had brought. "The Duke of Wellington," replied the boy. And so it was; but he was made of sweet-stuff. "What are you going to do with it?" inquired the teacher. "Eat him," said the boy. "How much did you give for it ?" "Fourpence," was the reply. From further inquiries it turned out that some of his aunts and uncles had been to see his father and mother, and they had given him some half-pence, altogether about sixpence. This gave the teacher a good opportunity to speak to the boy and his school-fellows about spending their money so

foolishly. What a pity for a boy who has no shoes to his feet, and nothing but rags to wear, to spend fourpence in sweet-stuff! How much wiser and better would he have been if he had put the money into the PENNY BANK, and when he had put more to it, been able to draw it out, and purchase some clothes to make him tidy, and keep him warm and dry.

A few of the scholars, instead of spending every halfpenny in sweetmeats, had brought them to their teacher, who had taken care of them, and had bought clothing with them, and which now made them tidy, while the others remained ragged. It does not require much wisdom to tell who will get on best, when those boys get places.

The fourpenny-worth of sweet-stuff was soon eaten, and it only tended to make him sick and ill. Was not his fourpence thrown away? It would have been better for his health if he had thrown it away.

In many of our schools, Penny Banks are opened, into which children, or their parents for them, may pay a halfpenny or penny a week, and at the end of six or twelve months, draw it out and buy a bonnet, or a frock, or cap, or jacket, or trousers, or shoes, or anything else they want most. In this way, last year above £500 was saved, and spent in clothing, by the children who attended the London Ragged Schools, which otherwise they might have thrown away. This seems a large sum, but when divided amongst the scholars,