the Prince of Wales offered him pardon if he would recant, and three pence a day for life, but as he refused he was cast back into the flames. On the site of the burning of the martyrs at Smithfield has been erected a pillar-post at five hundred years' interval. There used to be seen before this post was put up certain small paving-stones darker than the rest of the market flags, which some knew were tombstones, though ninety-nine out of a hundred trod them without a thought. When in 1866 they were taken up a discovery was made, such as those expected who knew the meaning of that little patch of black paving. A short way below the surface were found ashes of burnt wood, bones charred and whitened with flame, a staple or two of a chain which had borne the fire, burnt earth, and all the signs of a conflagration. Had London's great fire reached hither, or was the place an old smithery, bakehouse, or furnace? No; hard as it is to believe it, men, women and little children of our blood were here given to the torturing fires because they chose to worship God after their consciences, and not after the forms of papal Rome. We do not know whether our young friends have ever felt it a task to commit to memory portions of Scripture; if so, we should like them to think a little about the times when Holy Scripture was taught to the young as the most valuable thing that could be inlaid in their memories; and when to learn it by heart was the one and only way to secure that its light and blessing should not pass away, if perchance the young learners were torn from their Christian guardians by those who would bring them up in the ways of superstition, or of evil. Many such children and youths were worthy of their elders, and even took rank in the noble army of martyrs, and loved the Book enough to be ready to die for its truth's sake. Many such are found in the annals of the Vaudois; and there is a curious link existing between Rome itself and the parish of St. Pancras, in WestCentral London, and which dates from the Diocletian persecution, A.D. 303, of which even the British Christians came in for a share. The common seal of St. Pancras' parish represents a youthiul saint trampling upon Roman superstition; and an intelligent resident and lecturer in that district seeking in the British Museum library for some history of that saint, came upon a Latin treatise written by a Dr. Jenichen of Hesse-Darmstadt, which, though dry as dust in itself, he has illuminated into a story of the martyrdom of a most heroic child.* * Pancratius was born of Greek parents in the year 293 A.D., in the district of Phrygia, visited by the Apostle Paul at the same time with Galatia,when he confirmed the Churches. In that sunny and beautiful mountain land, since a wilderness under the Turkish rule, the child of parents of wealth and rank, Pancratius was brought up to worship Jupiter, but seems early to have lost his parents, and to have been placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Dionisius. They removed to Rome in 305 A.D. that the orphan heir to a vast fortune might enjoy the advantages of being near the court. This happened in the second year of Diocletian's rage against the Christians. Not long afterwards, driven for shelter to the Catacombs, the aged and holy Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome, was brought into secret communication with uncle and nephew in their suburban villa, and showed to both the way of salvation, and through Divine grace they were both given to his prayers. The boy was then fourteen, and just at the time he most needed a protector his uncle fell ill and died, and he was left alone with his wealth and his new religion, in a world without a Christian friend. But the voice of the solitary lamb reached the ear of the Good Shepherd, and His holy Spirit filled the soul of the boy with heavenly grace. Diocletian himself was at Rome directing the persecution; and it was soon reported to him that Pancratius was left alone with his fortune, and that he had become a Christian. He therefore sent for him immediately to the palace. The emperor's visage was so red, that he seemed ever full of fury. He gazed, it is said, in wonder at the beautiful countenance of the child, and told him he had known his father, who had reverenced the gods to his dying day, and threatened him with instant death unless he sacrificed to Jupiter. Pancratius at once replied that he was a Christian, and asked Diocletian, in a spirit of child-like righteousness, how he dared to commit such wicked and frightful deeds. He added, that as a Christian he was ready to die. "For Christ," said he, 66 our master, inspires the souls of his servants, even young as I, with courage to suffer for his sake." Diocletian made him no reply, but ordered him to be led out of the city, and put to death by the sword on the Aurelian Way. He was at once borne to execution, and at the place appointed kneeling down and com "Life and Times of St. Pancras," by Edie and White. Nisbet & Co. 1856. mending his soul to his Saviour, he sealed his testimony with his blood-and not unwept he fell; for, by the light of early dawn, a Christian Roman lady wrapped the body in fine linen, and bore it to a catacomb hard by, covered with fresh hyacinths, embalming it with her tears. course; first, he cared for the kingdom of England, and attacked the Papacy; then he occupied himself more about the kingdom of Christ, and preached the gospel to the poor to carry the glad tidings of the gospel into the remotest hamlets was now his great idea. "If those begging friars," said he, "stroll over the country, we, too, must have a vast itineracy to bring poor souls to Jesus Christ. Go preach," he added, to the most pious of his disciples, "and after your sermon is ended do you visit the sick, the aged, the poor, the blind, the lame, and help them according to your ability." This new theo When the Roman Christians who survived the persecution once more obtained repose, the name of Pancratius, and his brief, sad, noble story, were never forgotten by them. There is still a church of St. Pancras at Rome, in which mass is said for the souls of those persons who are buried in other churches of that name. The old St. Pan-logy was that of Christ Himself. cras church was long a favourite burying place with Roman Catholics from its venerable antiquity. The parish was called Saint Pancras in Doomsday Book. It is said of Saint John Lateran at Rome, "This is the head and mother of all Christian Churches, if you except that of Saint Pancras, under Highgate, near London." There are seven churches of Saint Pancras in England, three in France, one in Hesse-Darmstadt, and many in Italy. Thus is that boy-martyr's name remembered. Our youths and maidens will not now be asked to worship Jupiter; but in this very day, and in this very England, they are being seduced by thousands into the very practices from which Wickliffe strove that the Bible should set them free. His war was with that priestly power of which the confessional is the sign and seal. There has been held during the third week of March, 1878, a commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of the rescue of John Wickliffe by London citizens and the queen mother from his persecutors on the 22nd of March, 1378, signalised by sermons, conferences, and a meeting at the Mansion House, at which it was said that, "in sending out his army of poor preachers, who went into all the country spreading gospel truths, Wickliffe was to the thirteenth century what the Bible Society has been to the nineteenth." The Recorder of London, Sir Thomas Chambers, alluded to the Ritualism now prevailing among us, and remarked :-"The conflict which Wickliffe began must be renewed; our people, he thought, were as yet sound in principle, but they were also sound asleep. They thought perhaps there was now no danger from Rome, but there was great danger; and unless they awoke to it, they would not hand down to their posterity the freedom they had inherited." Wickliffe's ministry followed a progressive Mis The "poor priests" of Wickliffe preached the "great mystery of Godliness," and God gave them favour in the eyes of the workingfolk. In the fields, in the churchyards, or at the cottage-hearths, men listened. sions of this kind have constantly been revived in England at the great epochs of the Church. Then the last step was to put the people in possession of the Holy Word itself. Their reception of it surpassed Wickliffe's own expectations. The voice of God was heard anew in the world. The good queen of Richard II. welcomed it, some of those in high places owned its power and suffered for its sake, as Lord Cobham, in Saint Giles's-in-the-Fields. Many of the poor and lowly died for it. The Reformation in England had begun. The age of Wickliffe was that of preparation for the great changes of the sixteenth century in England and elsewhere. Wickliffe himself was the prophet of the dawn, "the morning star of the Reformation." He gave new announcement to the fact that in the sacred Scriptures "all truth is either expressed or implied;" that other writings can only have worth or authority so far as their sentiment is derived from the Scriptures; also, that if we had a hundred popes, and if all the friars were cardinals, we should bow more to the law of the gospel than to all this multitude; and that it was nothing less than blasphemy for any ecclesiastic or ecclesiastical body to attempt to invest their interpretation with the same authority as the Divine record itself. Alas! that man has not yet ceased to put his word in the place of God's; and that although the Scriptures have been since printed by the million for the million, the same enduring heresy of Rome seems of late again invading England, and laying hold of our young people in a way that will need another Wickliffe, and a fresh study of the Word of God, and of its half-forgotten Story. SUNDAY EVENINGS WITH THE CHILDREN. FIRST EVENING. Opening Hymn: "Gracious Saviour, Holy Shepherd." Lesson 1 Sam. iii. 1-10. Concluding Hymn: "Glory to Thee, my God, this night." ONE NE day when Jesus was on earth there was in the court-yard of a house at which He was staying, a little boy, and this little boy had ventured to come to the entrance of the room where Jesus was, and there he stood timidly looking in. The little boy's best friend was Jesus, but he did not know it; so, after a peep at the Great Visitor who sat in that room, he would have crept away again; but Jesus looked round with a smile and said, "Come to me." Then, in he went to Jesus and Jesus took him up in His arms, and with Infinite love, looked into his delighted, trustful eyes. Jesus was very glad the boy had come to see Him, and had so promptly come to His side when he was called. And now the boy was there, and Jesus was the more pleased because His disciples had just made Jesus sorry by thinking it was better to be great than it was to be good. So now, turning to the disciples, and then to the smiling boy by His side, He said, "Unless ye become like this little child, ye cannot enter into my kingdom." Perhaps it was the very last time the boy saw Jesus on earth, for Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, and there He was taken by wicked men and crucified and killed. Not long after this the news came to Galilee that people had killed Jesus, and many wept to hear it, and especially the children; for it seemed to those who loved Him that all the Light of the World was gone, now that Jesus was dead. him to pieces. Poor old man! but his face was calm and bright as heaven, for he was glad to think that so soon he would be "absent from the body," and would again be "present with the Lord." The beginning of this brave old man's life was seen when "Jesus called a little child unto Him," and to-day He calls you. Yes, and you can go to Him. You are quite right when you sing "But still to His footstool in prayer I may go, You need to come to Jesus because you are sinful, and only Jesus can forgive and help you in your battles with yourself and with sin. Though Jesus saw all that was good in the child, He knew all about his faults too, and so, instead of saying, "Little boy, you can do without me," He said, "Little boy, come to me." He knew that those who keep near to Him will be most free from sin; because no one can love Jesus and yet love what Jesus hates. Our wicked thoughts go away when Jesus is near. When a light is let into a dark old ruined tower where owls and bats are, the owls and bats all wake up and fly away, and the creeping creatures that cannot fly away hide in the darkest corners they can find; for these cannot live in the light. And naughty thoughts and sinful actions all go if only our hearts are filled with bright thoughts of Jesus. Sorrow and sadness too, and all kinds of trouble go away from us if we are near to Jesus. Sometimes you feel neglected and desolate, and your heart is sore for want of love. You fancy people don't care so much for you as for your brothers and sisters. You say, We never read about that little boy again" I am always the one to be blamed if anyin the Bible; but many people believe that thing is wrong; and if any one is to stay at his name was Ignatius, the man who grew home from some delightful trip, it is always up to be so wise and great that he was my turn." Or you are at school: the holidays chosen to be the Bishop of Antioch. When are over, and you are home-sick, and you cana wicked man called Trajan was emperor, not for a long while go home. Well, at such trouble came upon the disciples of Jesus-times, Jesus, the dearest friend you have, calls many of them were put to death, and Ignatius was one of the brave martyrs who would not give up their faith. One day the people of Antioch were assembled in a great building called the Amphitheatre. It had many rows of seats all round, and there was a circle of empty ground in the middle, and this good. old man was brought out into the empty ground in the middle of the people, and then savage lions were let loose on him to tear you to Himself; and as you kneel down to repeat the familiar prayer, if your heart goes out to Jesus and you are glad that He, at least, loves you, you will have sweet fresh pleasure in your heart and feel quite contented and happy. Coming to Jesus does not make happy people sad and dull, but dull people bright and happy. As a little disciple of Jesus, you will enjoy fun as much as you ever did, and in all the children's games you will be one of the first. You will not be a Christian when you are disagreeable, but when you are most lovely; when you give up a pleasure for some one else to have it; when you so rule your temper that you may not return an angry word or a blow; when you are pained to hear an impure or untrue word. Then boys and girls will be right if they say to themselves, "Oh, that boy or that girl is a Christian." The child we have been thinking about did not hesitate to come when Jesus called him. He did not say, "I can't understand such a great Teacher, and I am sure I'm not old enough to do what so holy a Saviour expects me to do." No; he knew that Jesus did not expect children to do more than they could do that He only wanted them to love Him, and to try-yes, that is the word, to try to please Him. So he went to Him. Other boys might laugh at the boy for coming; the disciples even might tell him to go away; still he was not afraid of any of them; so he went to Jesus and set us all a good example. And was it not a good thing that it was so-that he obeyed Jesus at once? for thus he became a little Christian at once, and his whole future was happier and better for it. The little fellow might have said No. He had to choose which he would do, say No to Jesus or say Yes to Him. Such a time comes to you whenever sin and Jesus are near. Which do you obey? Perhaps it has come to-night, when your heart is tender, and holy thoughts are in you. How will you use it? On the summit of a hill in Wiltshire I have seen a grotto where there is a basin that always brims over with crystal water, which flows away in two distinct streams. Some of the water goes away in one stream, some goes away in another, and on they go flowing away to the sea. But they go to different seas-seas very far from one another. I could take a little water in a cup and pour it into which of the two streams I liked; so that just one turn in my wrist would alter all the course and change the final home of the water in that cup. So is it with a child's life and its future: what it will be and where it will end depends on your choice, whether you will try earnestly to please Jesus, or whether you will try to keep free from Jesus and all serious thought about Him, and only please yourself. Jesus is near, calling you to Himself. He wants you to be His dear children, as He wanted that boy; and He can make your hearts good and happy, as He made that little boy's. HIS even ing we will take a flower to be our teacher. Many flowers can teach, but now it shall be the rose that speaks, and it shall speak of Him who was called "the Rose of Sharon." I think we shall find several things which are true of a rose that are also true of Jesus, for it is Jesus who is called the Rose of Sharon. Now, what shall we say first? Let us think first of Jesus being a child. When we plant a young rose-bush, we do not expect that it will remain always the same size; but, because it lives, we feel sure that it will grow. It seems a strange thing, and yet it is true, that though Jesus was the Son of God, He was once a child, and "grew in wisdom and in stature." There are some very fine pictures which represent Jesus as a child. Some of them have rather foolish things in them, such as rings of light round His head and round the heads of His mother and Joseph and His friends, which none of them ever had. One of these pictures is by one of the greatest painters of the world, and though it has these faults in it, yet it is a pleasant picture, because it reminds us that Jesus was once a child-a real, fine, healthy child (you may see it on page 561). And so it is a children's picture, teaching a children's truth which children should never forget. For as Jesus was once a child, He had the thoughts of a child. He played games and learned lessons just as you do, and because He you. never forgets anything, He always under- thank Him for all your enjoyments, you may believe yourself to be one of God's dear children -for God has dear children as well as dear up grown never used. One day I went down into the cellar, and on reaching the bottom of the steps, I trod on something round and soft, like a ball. Stooping down and feeling in the dark, I picked it up and brought it out into the light. Then I found it was a large onion. It had been in the cellar a long time, and had begun to grow. It had long shoots to it, but they were not green, they were pale and sickly yellow, and the bulb itself was SO soft that it was good for nothing. It had grown, but because it had grown in the dark it was spoilt, for it required, as all living things require, air and sunshine. Now, the Bible says that if we have not God in our hearts they are in the dark; so, if we forget God and live as though common soil If by yourself. Thoughts about God, and wishes | Some people have conservatories, which are to please Him, will be your sunshine. That very warm, in which many rare and deliis, just as the sunshine is necessary to make cate plants grow. But in such places as the rose in the garden grow stronger and those you do not find ordinary roses. stronger, so thoughts of God and love of I wanted to show you roses in perfection, I Him will make you better. Jesus, when a should take you to a certain village that I child, grew by the light of God's love, and know of, where only poor people live, where this you want. Once I lived in an old house, are only small thatched cottages, with perunderneath which was a dark cellar that was haps two rooms in them, in which is hardly |