Imatges de pàgina
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"Not all alone before Thee

Would I, a saved one, stand:
The children Thou has given me,
That loved and loving band,—
May these all blend their praises
With mine before the Throne :
Then, good and gracious Father,
The glory be Thine own."

Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.

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THE

MOTHERS' TREASURY.

JEHOVAH-JIREH.

(Gen. xxii. 14.)

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HE LORD WILL PROVIDE." Take this as a motto for the New Year. Go forward in pious trust that daily bread shall be given you, and daily comforts granted. Difficulties, cares, and trials may await you, but support will be given. The year may bring wants, but it will also bring supplies. It will bring duties and responsibilities, but it will bring strength and grace to perform them. All times are in the hands of God; all circumstances are under His control. Consider what He has done for you already, what He is now doing, and what He has engaged to do. He who helped yesterday is no less able and willing to help you to-day. He who hath comforted you will continue to comfort. He sees as clearly the future as the past; what you have to meet, as well as what you have surmounted. "Commit, then, thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Have faith in God."

To Thee, O gracious Father, my New Year's hymn I raise :
A song of exultation, a psalm of soul-felt praise !

For Thou hast been my Keeper, my every want supplied;
The Lord Jehovah-Jireh, He ever doth provide.

To Thee, O blessed Saviour, who died that I might live,

A heart's best adoration of gratitude I give :

In Thy sweet grace confiding, I rest this bright New Year;
Beneath Thy wings confiding, oh, what have I to fear?

To Thee, O Holy Spirit, O gentle heavenly Dove,

I raise my Ebenezer, and sing of all Thy love :

Thy strength in perfect weakness, Thy strivings with my soul :
Till, in my Lord's completeness, Thy help hath made me whole.

I bring my countless treasures, Thy New Year's gifts to me,
To hide in Thy pavilion, O Triune Deity!

And o'er Thy feet, dear Master, while tears of gladness fall,
I break my alabaster, for Thou hast purchased all.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT.

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T was Christmas eve, and the widow Dale sat alone in her poor and scantily-furnished apartment, and as the daylight faded away, she let the work fall from her ever-busy fingers, and sat gazing into the decaying embers with a heart full of sad, sad memories, and very few hopes in the future this side the grave.

A few years since-a happy home, a kind husband, little children, many cares, but oh, so many joys and hopes! and now a lonely home, a grass-grown grave in a far-off land, and little graves upon the hill-side, and one only of the merry band of children now living, and he-God help the mother of such a son! -he was a careless, drinking young man, who was bringing his mother's grey hairs in sorrow to the grave.

"Christmas eve," she said to herself, "a night on which we all should rejoice; kind wishes are everywhere uttered, and Christmas gifts are distributed by bountiful hands. Oh that I had a Christmas gift for my poor boy! but, alas!" and she looked around the cheerless apartment, "I have nothing to give him-nothing but my prayers."

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'Why not give him your prayers on this Christmas eve voice seemed to whisper in her ear; "give your prayers, give him your prayers."

And there, by that desolate hearthstone, she knelt and gave her prayers-long, earnest, pitiful. She wrestled like Jacob in his vision; she felt she could not let the Divine presence depart without a blessing.

The hours sped on, the church-clock struck midnight, and Christmas chimes pealed forth upon the wintry air, and still she knelt, still she cried unto the Lord.

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At length she rose from her knees; all anguish had passed away from her face; she had been with God. His blessing rested upon her, and in low, sweet tones she began to sing the song of the angels: Peace on earth, good-will to men.' She lighted a candle, and as its faint rays dispelled the darkness in the little room, she found she was not alone. Her son was there, sitting with his head bowed upon the table, while sobs shook his manly frame. The mother approached him gently, and laid her hand upon his shoulder; he looked up, and through his tear-dimmed eye he gazed into her face-changed, changed indeed—he too had been with his Maker!

"Mother," said he in very gentle tones, "I have brought you a Christmas gift, the best I could find," and he put a slip of paper in her hand. It was a solemn pledge, a temperance pledge, that he would abstain from all intoxicating drinks from that day. "And God helping me, mother, I'll do it. Mr. Graves has been,

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