Oh, wondrous Sufferer! almighty Saviour! None ever died as Jesus died, bearing sin and guilt away, and overcoming death, while He laid down His sacred life.

The cross of Christ has a mighty influence upon all who believe on His name. Paul said, with holy earnestness, "G.o.d forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. vi. 14). Once, as a Pharisee, he loved the world--the religious world--the esteem of men, the applause of his fellow-Pharisees; but now they hated and persecuted him, and he despised their favour. So, if we are led to behold by faith Jesus crucified for us, the sins, the pleasures, and the friendships of the world will lose their power and attractions, and the love of Christ will constrain us to live to Him who died and rose again for us.

We find that, when the Apostles were first beaten and threatened for preaching the Gospel, "they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake"

(Acts v. 40, 41). They knew that Jesus loved and gave Himself for them, and they, out of love to their Saviour, were willing to lay down their lives for His sake, or to live despised and hated by the world.

Before He died, Christ said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." He foresaw His own sufferings from the first, but the joy that was set before Him animated Him all the while, and, as His people's Leader, He says, "Follow Me, and enter at last into My joy." But Jesus never said, "Take up My cross."

Oh, no! His cross He alone could bear! His saving sufferings He only could endure! It is our own cross that we are called to bear as His followers, and His love will strengthen and support us.

Oh, that we may indeed know Him as our once crucified, but now exalted Saviour, and follow Him through all life's changes to the bright home whither He has gone, living henceforth to Him, and Him alone.

Our next subject will be, Psalm x.x.xii.

Your loving friend, H. S. L.

PRIZE ESSAY.

HOW TO LIVE WELL.

We cannot live well without we acknowledge G.o.d in all our ways. A Christian cannot exist without prayer. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians v. 17, it says, "Pray without ceasing," which shows us that we cannot live well without prayer. To live well also means that we should obey and honour our parents, as enjoined in Ephesians vi. 1, 2, and make ourselves useful to those that surround us. And, in 2 Thessalonians iii. 13, it says, "Brethren, be not weary in well doing." Jesus Christ has also set a pattern, for He was always doing good. He even came into this world to die for sinners. As Jane Taylor says--

"Jesus, who lived above the sky, Came down to be a Man, and die; And in the Bible we may see How very good He used to be.

"And so He died; and this is why He came to be a Man, and die: The Bible says He came from heaven That sinners' sins might be forgiven."

If we are taught to live a Christian life--to trust in, and fear G.o.d--He will be sure to provide for our every want.

To live well is to try and always do the things that are just, treating people with respect, and to love those who hate us, and those who despitefully use us, for Jesus Christ's sake. He says, in John xv. 20, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My sayings, they will keep yours also." If we wish to live well, we must seek G.o.d in little things as well as in larger things; for He takes account of the thoughts, words, and actions of men, which are to be revealed at the last day.

Living well also means that we should do those things that are pleasing in G.o.d's sight; for if we love and serve Him truly, we shall be happy here and in the life to come, for the righteous Christ will gather as His jewels at the great judgment day, and they will be happy for evermore in that beautiful heaven which Jesus has prepared for those who love Him, and do His will; for Jesus says, in John xiv. 3, "If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

To live well is to live as expecting every day to be our last, and to be looking for that time when the trump of the archangel shall sound, and all the dead arise from their graves. We do not know the day, nor the hour, when the Son of Man shall come to judge the quick and the dead, for it says, in Matthew xxiv. 36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but My Father only."

Newton expresses in the following verse some good thoughts upon the right way to learn how to live, and that is, by seeking G.o.d's direction--

"Show me what I have to do; Every hour my strength renew; Let me live a life of faith; Let me die Thy people's death."

LILLY RUSH (Aged 13 years).

_Red House, Thornham, near Eye, Suffolk._

[There have been several creditable Essays sent, but none that have reached the desired mark. We may mention those by Ernest Sawyer, Margaret Creasey, E. B. Knocker, Jane Bell, Maria Reeder, E. T. Mann, Edith Hirst, Ella Saunders, W. B. Beckwith (aged 11 years), A. Pease, Sarah Hicks, and Jesse Hammond. The age of the writer must always be given.]

[The writer of the above Essay receives a copy of THE LITTLE GLEANER (cloth).

The subject for March will be, "Self-Help," and a kind friend has promised a copy of "From the Loom to a Lawyer's Gown; or, Self-Help that was not all for Self," for the best Essay. We hope we shall have some good Essays on the subject. All compet.i.tors must give a guarantee that they are under fifteen years of age, and that the Essay is their own composition, or the papers will be pa.s.sed over, as the Editor cannot undertake to write for this necessary information. Papers must be sent direct to the Editor, Mr. T. Hull, 117, High Street, Hastings, by the first of February.]

A CHILD'S PRAYER.

SUITABLE FOR THE NEW YEAR.

Oh, blessed Jesus, care for me, And wash me in Thy blood; Teach me to ever look to Thee, And help me to be good.

Give me Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, And teach me how to pray; Oh, let me understand Thy Word, And take my sins away.

Whene'er I'm tempted to do wrong, Oh, let me think of Thee; Help me to always guard my tongue, When naughty I would be.

Teach me to tread the narrow way, Which all Thy saints have trod; And guard and guide me every day; Be Thou my Lord and G.o.d.

Help me to trust in Thee alone, And not have fear of men; To seek Thy will before my own, For Jesus' sake. Amen.

JANE BELL (Aged 14 years).

_Sleaford._

Interesting Items.

A RARELY-BLOOMING FLOWER.--In one of the conservatories at Hamilton Palace gardens there is a fine specimen of the _Angeavia variegata_ in full bloom. The tradition is, that the plant only flowers once in a hundred years.

STEAM heating and electric lighting of trains is receiving very close attention from a number of the leading railway managers in the United States. On some roads the change has been decided upon, and cars are being reconstructed on the new plans as rapidly as possible.

PILOTS' PAY.--From London to Gravesend the pilot's fee may range from 18s. to 7 18s., and from Gravesend to the Nore from 1 12s. to 7 8s.; and while a vessel drawing less than seven feet of water is piloted from the Downs to the Isle of Wight for 3 4s., one that draws twenty-five feet will cost for the same distance, either way, as much as 14 6s.

ROMANISM in America is throwing off its sheep's clothing, and revealing its wolfish nature. The following is an extract from one of its journals, the _Western Watchman_--"Protestantism! We would draw and quarter it. We would impale it and hang it up for crows' nests. We would tear it with pincers, and fire it with hot irons. We would fill it with molten lead, and sink it in h.e.l.l fire a hundred fathoms deep." Only the genius that invented the multiform cruelties of the Inquisition could express itself in such an infernally varied vocabulary of torture.

THE WARRANT FOR BUNYAN'S LAST IMPRISONMENT.--Among the Chauncy collection of autographs recently dispersed by Messrs. Sotheby, there lay, hidden and unnoticed, the original warrant under which Bunyan was apprehended for that third and final imprisonment of some six months'

duration, during which, according to his latest biographer, he wrote the first part of "The Pilgrim's Progress." It fills a half-sheet of foolscap, and is dated March 4th, 1674-5, under the hands and seals of twelve justices, six of them, either then or in the Parliament of 1678, members for county or borough, and three of whom had originally committed him for the previous twelve years' imprisonment.

COMPOSITION DURING SLEEP.--Lord Thurlow told his nephew that, when young, he read much at night, and that once, while at college, having been unable to complete a particular line in a Latin poem he was composing, it rested so on his mind that he dreamed of it, completed it in his sleep, wrote it out next morning, and received many compliments on its cla.s.sical and felicitous turn. In my own experience, I have imagined myself, during sleep, to be listening to instrumental music quite new to me, and have been able to reproduce the melody next day; and I have now in my possession a MS. copy of a Dead March composed by the author, from whom I had it, in a dream.--_Correspondent of "Notes and Queries._"