do?

on this subject, what will you do?

Will you

remain careless, and do nothing? Certainly not. You will seek to enter the strait and narrow way that leadeth unto life. You will be in earnest in trying to secure the salvation of your soul. Not daring to remain in a state of impenitence and danger, you will repent, and come to the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and help. Depending on the Saviour, you will perform all those duties which God has commanded. You will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, trusting in the promise that all things necessary shall be added unto you. Thus will you do, and do immediately, if you truly believe what God has said in his holy word.

But if you do none of these things-if you remain careless and unconcerned about your present character and future state—if you are not moved by what God tells you in the Bible, can it be that you truly believe what he has said? No, certainly not. You see plainly that your belief is not of the right kind. It does not move you. It does not govern your actions. It is only a dead faith.

such as the Apostle James speaks of when he says "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

One thing very important to a true idea of faith, is trust in God. To show you what this means, I will bring another example. The Rev. Richard Cecil, an English clergyman, says he took the following method to give his daughter an idea of faith, when she was very young. He wished to teach her what it is to trust in God, which is the very essence of true faith. He says-"My little daughter was playing one day with a few beads, which seemed to delight her wonderfully. Her whole soul seemed to be absorbed in her beads. I said "My dear, you have some pretty beads there.”—“Yes, Papa."—" And you seem to be vastly pleased with them."-" Yes, Papa.”—“ Well now, throw them into the fire." The tears started into her eyes. She looked earnestly at me, as though she ought to have a reason for such a cruel sacrifice. "Well, my dear, do as

you please but you know I never told you to do any thing which I did not think would be good for you." She looked at me a few inoments longer, and then-summoning up all her fortitude, her breast heaving with the effort-she dashed them into the fire."Well," said I, "there let them lie; you shall hear more about them at another time, but say no more about them now." Some days after, I bought her a box full of larger beads, and toys of the same kind. When I returned home, I opened the treasure, and set it before her; she burst into tears with joy. "Those, my child," said I, "are yours, because you believed me, when I told you it would be better for you to throw those two or three paltry beads into the fire. Now, that has brought you this treasure. But now, my dear, remember, as long as you live, what faith is. I did all this to teach you the meaning of FAITH. You threw your beads away when I bid you, because you had faith in me, that I never advised you but for your good. Put the same trust in God. Believe every thing that he says in his word. Whether

you understand it or not, have faith in him that he means your good."

This example, my young reader, shows you, in a very striking manner, the nature of true faith. You will, I think, always remember it. By looking at it, you can, at all times, see what it is to trust in God. When God commands you to throw away your vain trifles, which draw away your heart from him, you know that he intends your own good; and that if you obey him, you will have something better than what you give up. When God commands you, as he does in the Bible, to "love not the world, nor the things of the world," he will, if you obey him, give you the better things of heaven. When He urges you to give up every improper pleasure, and to forsake the vanities of a wicked world, if you cheerfully comply, though it may cost you some present struggles and pain, you shall, in the end, know that what God required was for your own good. In the Bible, God commands you to forsake the ways of sinful pleasure, to avoid the company and example of the wicked, to give up your own

will, and to deny yourself, and take up the cross, and follow Christ. Perhaps you may sometimes think that to do so would make you unhappy. But remember, that God never calls upon you to do any thing but what will be for your own good. Trust in him— throw your beads into the fire-give up your worldly desires, and obey the voice of the Lord. You will find, at last, that this is the best way—that it is the only way to true happiness, and that the Lord will ever take care of those who put their trust in him. Long ago the Psalmist said, and he said it, too, from his own experience-" O Lord; Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."

Mr. Cecil's little daughter thought at first, that if she should obey her father, and throw her play-things into the fire, she should have nothing to amuse herself with, and that she should be very unhappy. And though she knew that her father never told her to do any thing except it was best that she should do it, yet it cost her a painful struggle to give up present pleasure, and trust in him for a future and unknown good. But she did it,