THE JUVENILE REPORTER. 187 damp days and thick fogs have come again, and young and old, rich and poor, are all another year older, and so much nearer the end of life. The Reporter feels that for old people like him, who have to toil and cough their way through the fogs of winter as well as they can, there is a double call to be up and doing. But the close of a year speaks also to the young. Some of those who read these lines may never live to be as old as the hand that writes them, and therefore the message to them is, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Shorter graves than yours have been opened in almost every churchyard since the year began, and it was not owing to your good management that one was not made for you. While, with ceaseless course, the sun Never more to meet us here; Fix'd in an eternal state, They have done with all below; We a little longer wait, But how little none can know. As the winged arrow flies, As the light'ning from the skies Swiftly thus our fleeting days Bear us down life's rapid stream; Thanks for mercies past receive, This has been a wondrous year for some people. Many have been "born again"-have had their sins taken away and their hearts filled with love to Jesus. They are now happy-glorying in the Saviour's love. Is it so with 188 SABBATH LESSONS. you? If not, whose fault is it? No one's, surely, but your own. We have lately had some very interesting accounts from China, but they must all be mentioned in a few lines. One day the Good News Boat was overtaken by a storm, and would probably have been lost but for the kind help of some natives close at hand, who hastened out at great risk to themselves. These men were not Christians, but they respected the missionaries. One of the missionaries lately found an old cloth dealer, who was a Christian, in darkness and melancholy. Said he, “ I have lost the precious jewel of faith; I cannot get it back." In answer to the inquiry as to when he lost it, he replied, "Ever since I was tempted to sell a piece of cloth to a man on the Sabbath day." Reader, have you peace with God? then, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." One of the men who takes charge of the Good News Boat was converted four years ago, and although he is sixty years of age, he always declares he is an aged man not passing four years old. In this true, spiritual sense, friend, how old are you? Till next year, Good bye. SABBATH LESSONS. SUBJECT. TO LEARN. TO READ. Question. Dec. 11 Parable of the LXXII. & LXXIII.-Psalm Matt. xiii, 1—23. Sower. ixxvii. 5-8. 18 Zacharias's Vi- LXXIV. & LXXV.-Luke i Luke i. 8-20. 25 Value of Time. LXXVI. & LXXVII.-Psalm Pslam xc. 1-17. Jan. 1 Christ Con- xc. 11-13. LXXVIII.-Isa. 1. 5, 6. Matt. xxvii. 26-34. THE JUVENILE MESSENGER OF THE Presbyterian Church in England. VOL. VI. "Shall we, whose souls are lighted With wisdom from high- The joyful sound proclaim, Waft, waft, ye winds, His story; Till, like a sea of glory, It spreads from pole to pole." LONDON: MARLBOROUGH & CO., AVE MARIA LANE. |