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lion, fertile in his devices, and persevering in his ends, well may St. Peter warn us to resist him, stedfast in the faith. Well for us that, strong as he is, there is One mightier than he, through whom we can overcome our cruel enemy.

The lioness can be at once distinguished from the male by her being so much smaller, and also by the absence of a mane.

But we have lingered long enough in the African plain, and had best hasten away ere the sun is up. And now I would ask all my young friends to take their Bibles, and turn up the passages in which lions are mentioned. They are numerous, and describe very minutely some of their characteristics and habits. You will find them in Genesis, Numbers, 1st Samuel, 2d Kings, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, Amos, and also in the New Testament. 'The young lions shall lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.'

M. H.

A CHILD'S PRAYER.

SAVIOUR, may a little child

Through Thy grace be reconciled,
Who can feel indeed within

Much of evil, much of sin?

Yes, Thou saidst, and that's my plea,

'Suffer such to come to me;

Turn no little child away,

Heaven is filled with such as they.'

Saviour! to Thine arms I fly,
Ere my childhood passes by:
In Thy fear my years be past,
Whether first, or midst, or last.

-Presbyterian.

The Stolen Boy.

THE STOLEN BOY.

BY THE REV. EDWARD PAYSON HAMMOND, AUTHOR OF
'LITTLE ONES IN THE FOLD,' ETC.

15

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HILDREN.never tire of hearing stories, and so I am going to tell you one about a little boy who was stolen away from his mother.

I first saw him in a Sabbath school, about seven miles from Williams College, in Massachusetts. This little fellow was always in his place, and listened very attentively to what the teacher had to say about the lesson. Some of the little ones in the school had learned to love the dear Saviour, and I cannot but think that he

was among the number.

One cold day in November, as I was walking across the college grounds, little Joseph came running up to me, and with a sad look he said, 'I have started to walk home to find my dear mother, who lives away in the State of Maine.'

"Why,' said I, 'you will never get there.'

'But I must,' said he; 'I have no place to stay here.' 'Why can't you stay where you have been all summer?' I asked.

'Because,' said he,

'For what reason?'

they have turned me away.'

'Because times are hard, and winter is coming on, and they don't need me any longer.'

'How came you so far away from your mother?'

He quickly answered, 'I was STOLEN away by a wicked man. He brought me all the way here, and has kept me at work for him all summer. He hasn't paid me anything; and now, when winter is coming on, he

tells me that I must find another place; and I don't know of any other place. I don't know anybody that will take me but my mother, and so I am going to find her. How long will it take me to walk to Maine?'

'Why,' said I, 'the deep snows are coming on, and you can never walk there; you will get lost a hundred times, and perhaps be frozen to death besides, before you get there.'

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Oh dear!' said he; 'what shall I do? I shall starve to death here, and I must find my mother; for I know she will take care of me.'

'Well, although you cannot walk to Maine, perhaps we can contrive some other way of getting there.'

His face brightened up; and he asked: 'Won't you, please, write a letter for me, to show to conductors on the railroads; and tell them I was in the Sabbath school where you are superintendent, and that I have been stolen from my mother, and that I have no money to get home with, and ask them to let me go for nothing?'

'That will be useless,' said I. 'Not more than one or two of them know me. You might soon be thrown out into some snow-bank, with no one to care for you. You can never get home in that way.'

'Oh dear! oh dear! what shall I do? I am so many hundreds of miles away from mother, and can't get to see her again! Oh dear!-oh dear me !'

'But crying won't do any good,' said I, as I took hold of his little hand. Come into my study, and I will see if I can't contrive another way.'

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'DEAR CLASSMATES,-Joseph B- is a member of the Sabbath school in Pownal. He has been stolen from his mother in Maine, and he has no money to take him home. He is a good boy, and worthy of assistance.— Yours, E. P. H.'

After slipping a little money into his hand, I told him to go to all my classmates and show them the note.

In an hour he came back. Oh! I wish you could have seen how different he looked from what he did when he left the room a little before. His hands were full of money. How his black eyes sparkled! Sometimes he laughed, sometimes he cried for joy.

'Oh,' said he, 'they have given me more than enough to get home with. When the young gentlemen first saw me coming into their rooms, I looked so ragged, they almost drove me away; but as soon as I showed them your letter, they treated me so kindly, and gave me money. Oh! I can't thank you enough for that letter. Now I can see my dear mother!'

You don't wonder, my little friends, that he felt so glad, do you? Well, I want to tell you what we did next. Over to the clothing store he went with me, and soon he had a nice new suit of clothes. His old shoes were thrown away, and a nice warm pair covered his feet. At the station he found he had more than money enough left to buy his ticket all the way to his home. He took his seat in the carriage; the whistle blew; away he went as happy as a lark.

In a week or two I received two nice letters, one from Joseph and one from his mother. Oh, how happy they were! The lost boy was found. Yes; he had found some one to love him and take care of him. The reading of these letters paid me a hundred times for my trouble; and not only that, but they made me think of other things, which interested me even more than the story about Joseph. They made me think about other little children who are lost, and the different roads they take to find their way to their Father's house. And they made me think of little ones who do not know that they have been stolen from their Father's house. I wonder if you, my little friend, have ever found that out about yourself? Do you know that a wicked being, whom the Bible calls Satan, has stolen you away from God? You may not know it, but it is true; and he will treat you a great deal worse than that wicked man did

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little Joseph. He will try to keep you at work for him, and never pay you anything; but, by and by, he will cast you off. And then, when you begin to think about how you can get home to heaven, you will feel a thousand times worse than this boy did, you will feel yourself clothed in filthy rags,' and a long, long way from heaven, your home.

Now, my dear little friends, this is just your condition, though you may not know it. We read in 2 Cor. iv. 4, 'The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not.' Did you know that Satan is the god of this world? He is, and he has been trying to keep you from being anxious to know how you can get away from his service and start for heaven.

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Have you not done many wrong things? Did you never tell a lie? Did you never get angry with any your little friends? Have you never disobeyed your father and mother? Have you not broken many of God's laws? One of them, you know, is, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' Now, if you have not kept every one of God's holy commands, you are a lost sinner. Your sins, like rags, are all about your soul. Oh, I wish you could see them as God sees them! I know you would feel more troubled about them than that little boy did when he found himself in his ragged clothes, trying to start for his home, hundreds of miles away. Perhaps you do feel so now, and have been trying to get to heaven yourself, without any one to help you. Perhaps you have thought that if you tried to be a good little child, and to walk in the way of God's commands, by and by you would be fit for heaven. I can tell you that you will not do it. That little boy could far more easily have walked hundreds of miles to his home in Maine, than you can get to heaven without the help of the dear loving Jesus. You will surely be lost in trying to get to heaven, if you do not first come to Jesus.' Can you not hear Him saying, 'I AM THE WAY?'

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