rection from the dead? So the body dies, and is laid in the cold ground; and the winds blow over it, and the storms beat upon it, and the snows of many winters cover the grave with their soft, white mantles; but by and by the Lord Jesus shall come and say, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust," and lo, like the flowers of spring, we shall all come forth to new life.

It matters not how many years roll over us; it will be all the same in the end. About thirty years ago a traveller found some old tombs, where persons had been buried more than a thousand years. Under the head of each of the dead bodies was a small square, hollow stone, and in the stone a few seeds that had been put there by their heathen friends. These seeds were taken out and planted carefully, and what do you think came up from them? Beautiful sunflowers, blue corn-flowers, and cloverblossoms as bright and sweet as any that little children now gather and weave into wreaths. another tomb in Egypt was found, a few years since, a dark, dry root. It had no doubt been there for three thousand years. It was planted in the ground, and soon a beautiful flowering plant sprang forth.

In

Now the apostle Paul says that when we die and our bodies are put into the ground, they are like seed that shall grow again. And if we die Christians,

the new body shall be a very glorious one, like that of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So a good child need not be afraid to die and have its body put into the ground. Though it lie there hundreds or thousands of years, God will not forget the seed that is sown in His great garden; but when the time comes, it shall rise in beauty and in glory, never to die any more, never to fade like the flowers of this world, but to bloom and shine for ever in heaven.

When the Christian dies, it is like going to sleep. As a dying child once said, when the golden sunset streamed through the window upon him, while the sun of his life was setting, "Good-bye, papa, good-bye; mamma has come for me to-night; don't cry, papa, we'll all meet again in the morning." Oh, how blessed to sleep in the arms of Jesus, where nothing can harm us, and then awake "in the morning" to the everlasting day, clothed in His likeness.

In the Song of Solomon, the Church sings of the Lord Jesus, "My Beloved is gone down into His garden.... to gather lilies." All the time He is gathering them and bearing them away to adorn and beautify that land where

"Everlasting spring abides,

And never-withering flowers.”

Let us be Christ's lilies, humble, pure in heart,

clothed in the beauty of holiness, and made white from all our sins in the blood of the Lamb;

"That so when angel reapers come

To gather flowers for their blest home,
Our spirits may be borne on high
To God's safe garden in the sky."

IV.

The Child's Best Offering.

"HERE is my heart! my God, I give it Thee; I heard Thee call and say,

'Not to the world, my child, but unto Me.' I heard, and will obey.

"Here is my heart! oh, Holy Spirit, come,
Its nature to renew ;

And consecrate it wholly as Thy home,
A temple fair and true.

"Here is my heart! it trembles to draw near

The glory of Thy throne;

Give it the shining robes Thy servants wear,
Of righteousness Thine own.

"Here is my heart! O Friend of friends, be near, To make each tempter fly;

And when my latest foe I wait with fear,
Give me the victory."