out"? Even in church you laugh at the bare mention of such a thing. Why, when the postman brings these presents, you are neither to hold nor to bind-you dance with impatience till you get them into your own hands. A friend gives you a watch or a pair of skates as a New Year's gift. When they arrived at your house, did you ever say, "Oh, take them to the garret, and let them quietly gather dust and rust. It will do to look at them five minutes before I die"? When you were offered your Christmas holidays, did you cry and say, as if your heart were breaking, "Oh, don't speak to me of a holiday; for I am very young: wait till I am five-and-forty"? The fact is, that you won't put off anything from which you expect joy. In all such matters, the rule with you is the firstlings. Yet many boys in Christian homes are like Colonel Gardiner and Bishop Hannington, both of whom had a secret persuasion that religion was true, and that they must one day yield, though they quieted their consciences by vowing that they would be Christians when they grew older.

I was reading the lives of the Earl of Shaftesbury, and of Robert Hall, the famous preacher. The earl gave himself to Christ in his seventh year. When everybody was praising Robert Hall, his old nurse said, "I will answer for it that my dear Bobby knew the Lord before he was seven years of age." These two boys brought their firstlings to God's altar. Let the first ripe fruits of your harvest be for the Lord. Most bitterly do many Christian men and women regret that

they did not come to Christ till they had no firstlings to bring. "Oh that my spiritual birthday had been when I was a little child," sighed a dying mother; "my life might all have been for God." I have read that a wellknown nobleman, who was converted in old age, used to say to his friends, "My soul is saved, but my life is lost." The law is, "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits" (Exod. xxii. 29).

You should also bring to the altar

The firstlings of this New Year: its first hours and thoughts and feelings. The lives of Christians tell us that the New Year was a great time with many of them. One and another were converted then. As the old year was dying a gentle voice whispered in their souls some simple truth that roused and touched them. They thus had a New Year indeed, quite unlike any of the old years; for in it they began the new life. I have just received a letter from one of our girls, telling me in beautiful and touching words that at this New Year she has begun to follow Christ. Then, many who were good Christians before, at the New Year give themselves anew to Christ. Some, you know, hold special services for this purpose. Long ago many oldfashioned Christians used to make covenants with God at this season in as full and business-like a way as they made their wills. We should have at least the spirit of consecration and covenanting, and now bind ourselves with new and delightful bonds to the person and service of Jesus Christ. Be like our shipbuilders when they begin building a new ship: lay now, fair and square,

without a twist, the keel of a good life; and be ever building it up in its beauty on both sides-the side facing God, and the side facing man.

Of course, each day is a little life, one of the pennies that make the pounds; and you must try to give to God the firstlings of each day also. I have just come across an Icelandic child's morning prayer, which I think very beautiful:

"Now I am clothed, and stand upright,
Jesus, guard me in Thy might.

By God's grace, oh, grant to me

To pass this day as pleaseth Thee."

"A happy New Year to you" is now on many lips. You will have the reality itself-a life spent not in the frown but in the smile of God-if, like Abel, you bring to the Lord the firstlings of your heart and of the New Year. Why willingly miss the good of life when it is within your easy reach? God has made it our duty to be happy: He finds His glory in our happiness, so that we cannot please Him without being pleased ourselves. Christ's is a religion of peace, of brightness, of love and joy—it is the soul's jubilee. What an idea that Christ's service is a thing of sour severities. Why, the Bible bids us delight ourselves in God, as if delighting were the whole duty of man. The family motto of Dr. Doddridge was "Live while you live." By turning it into poetry he formed what Dr. Samuel Johnson calls "one of the finest epigrams in the English language: