"I can't swear,' said the boy, 'it would be wicked.' 'You shall, or the dog shall tear you to pieces,' said the cruel men."-P. 172.

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No," answered the boy, "I won't swear, God forbids it."

At him, then," said one of the men to the dog. Now these men did not mean to let the dog bite the boy; they only meant to frighten him into the sin of swearing. But the dog being set on, sprung suddenly from the man who held him, and fastened his sharp teeth in the noble little fellow's arm, and before the men could get him off, that arm was badly mangled. Fainting with loss of blood, he was taken into the house, and put to bed; but a fever set in, and in a few days the boy died, forgiving his cruel murderers.

Was he not a noble boy? Although his body died, his spirit was a conqueror, and we believe he now wears a martyr's crown in heaven. He was smaller than David, but he fought against a greater giant than Goliath, and overcame him.

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But the great giant of all, with whom every man, woman, and child must fight, or else be destroyed for ever, is the one of whom the Bible says that he goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." That is Satan. He stalks through the world he comes to the Church, which is the army of God, as Goliath came to the Israelites; and he does not let the Sunday-school army alone. Everywhere he says, "I defy the armies of God. Give me a man or a child, that I may fight with

him." And all the time he is destroying the souls of the old and the young; and whether you think of it or not, he is trying his best to kill your souls, and drag them down to hell, that he may make you miserable for ever.

Can you fight him alone? Oh, no. Have you not found out very often, that although you try ever so hard to be good and to do right, Satan will make you think wrong thoughts and do wrong things? And it seems as if you could not help it. Ah, little soldiers, you may think you are very strong and brave, but Satan will always be stronger; and if you fight him alone, he will be sure to destroy you, as he has destroyed thousands of others.

And this is why I say that the only way for us to conquer these giants, and to conquer Satan, who is the king of them all, is by trusting in God.

Suppose that David had put on the armour that Saul wanted him to wear, and had gone to meet Goliath with big boasting words, and had said, "Come on; I am as strong as you are, and my sword will give your flesh to the birds and beasts;" do you think he would have killed him? No; one blow of the giant's heavy spear, and David would have fallen dead on the field. But David did not do this. He prayed to God, and trusted in God, and said, "I come to thee in the name of the Lord

God of hosts; and God made his arm strong, and God helped him to take such good aim, and God made the little stone go straight into the giant's forehead and kill him. So God will always help us if we trust in Him.

"He will give us grace to conquer,
And keep us to the end."

In a part of Sweden there are many fierce wolves, who carry off the sheep and lambs, and sometimes have taken even little children, and eaten them up. One evening a little girl was passing through some woods on her way home, when all at once she saw five great wolves coming around her. Think how frightful this must have been. But she knew that she had, through Christ, a Father in heaven who had promised to hear those who pray to Him; and so she fell down on her knees in the snow, and shut her eyes, and prayed in her heart that God would save her. The more she prayed, the more her fears were taken away from her, and when she opened her eyes the wolves had all gone away. They had run to the village close by, and seized a great dog and devoured him. Thus the merciful God heard her prayer, and saved her.

Now we in this world, that is so full of sins and temptations, are like that girl in the forest of wolves. But the Lord Jesus is strong, and is always ready to help those who love and trust Him.