16. And he took them up in his arms, them.

and blessed

put his hands upon them, laying his hands upon

and blessed

this dependence. They not only fly to our arms when distressed or afraid, they yield themselves willingly to our guidance and control. . . . And this is the first and last and the deepest fact in our relations to God, the Father of all. He sees our unlimited dependence on him.

"The second fact about childhood is the simplicity of its motives. That, indeed, constitutes one of the great problems which parents and teachers meet in dealing with vigorous and happy young children. They have been caught in the net of complex moral standards, and the unselfish and selfish elements of life have begun to be mixed up in their cup of experience. It is evident that, ere they could fully and truly belong to the kingdom of heaven, their motives must be purified and simplified. "No wave of the hand, no sudden resolve, can secure it for us. The mighty power of God's Spirit will grant it, but only as we steadily, humbly, and sincerely submit ourselves to that power. And his divine instrument is love. For nothing in the world

is so wise as love, and nothing is so simple, direct, clear, and sure as the wisdom which it creates. 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'

"These are the childlike souls, these in whom faith, or the sense of dependence and love, with its purity of motive, are perfected.”—Pres. W. D. Mackenzie. CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN, v. 16.

that

To make them feel the loving warmth of his heart.
is for the child no language
more eloquent than
of touch." And blessed
them. "The blessing of
Jesus was not a magic
touch, nor was it a sermon
preached to the childish
hearers. It was the kindly
touch which spoke the in-
terest of One who saw
more in children than any
one else has ever seen."

No parent, without a feeling of dread, looks forward to the dangers, the pitfalls, the temptations, the fierce storms, the dragons and Apollyons, the deadly moral malaria, the enemies of every kind, which his child must meet, and they ask:

"Who shall preserve thee, beautiful child,

Keep thee as thou art now; Bring thee a spirit undefiled

At God's pure throne to bow?"

And so when our children

are taken away from us to

And he took them up in his arms.
Put his hands upon them. "There

Christ Blessing Little Children.

heaven, it is blessed, thrice-blessed, to know that they are safe in the "everlasting arms"; and Jesus now, as much as when on earth, takes them in his arms and blesses them.

New Year's Resolutions.

This being the first Sunday in the New Year, it is well for the teacher and his scholars to make some New Year's resolutions, which they will keep throughout the year.

TEACHERS. We will endeavor to bring every one of our scholars to Jesus.

PARENTS.

We will make our homes so perfect in the religious life that every one of our children will be attracted to Jesus.

SCHOLARS. We will go to Jesus now, and receive his blessing; we will love and obey him; we will learn all about him that we can this year, preparing our lessons, being attentive in the class, and seeking every week to do something for others in his name.

LESSON II. — January 1I.

THE MISSION OF THE SEVENTY.

PRINT Luke 10: 1-16: COMMIT vs. 1, 2.

GOLDEN TEXT.-It is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. - MATT. 10: 20.

The story of the Men and Religion Forward Movement, sweeping through the United States. Hon. Selah Merrill's East of the Jordan (Scribners).

THE LESSON IN LITERATURE.

Blue Sky is a most fascinating book for young and old, giving the experiences of Mrs. Harriet Caswell Broad among the Indians, who named her "Blue Sky" (Pilgrim Press).

S. M. Zwemer's Unoccupied Mission

AFTER I. Now after

Fields (Students' Volunteer Movement, N. Y.); Dr. James L. Barton's The Missionary and his Critics (Revell); Stevenson's Praying and Working. On "Nothing for Their Journey," see Land and Book, new edition, II., 404-407. Hymns, “I'll go where you want me to go," "Hark the voice of Jesus calling," "If you cannot on the ocean."

THE LESSON IN ART.
Peace be to this house. Dobson.*

other seventy also, and 1sent them

these things the Lord appointed seventy others,

two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself

would

was about to come.

1 Matt. Io: 1; Mark 6:7.

An Ancient Missionary Campaign: Its Object, Its Methods, and Results.

"Christian scholarship has not yet done justice to the fact that the New Testament is essentially a missionary book written out of the heart of missionary experience."

"The facts and problems of modern missions illuminate the pages of the New Testament, and there are in the latter rich stores of guidance and inspiration for missionary effort which have not yet been turned to full account."— - From Editorial in the International Review of Missions, London.

I. The Missionaries, v. 1. After these things, recorded in John, chs. 7, 8; Luke 9:51-62; Matt. 19: 1. "So far as we can tell the seventy were sent out about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles" (Int. Crit. Com.), the last of October. The story of Jesus at this feast is given in John 7 and 8, where he discoursed in Jerusalem of the water of life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and of himself as the light of the world. Here he was so bitterly opposed by the Pharisees that it was wise to return to Galilee. But his work in Galilee was done, and he made his final departure from that district, and went across the Jordan into the district of Perea on his way to Judea (Matt. 19: 1). In Perea he had not hitherto spent much time, as he had in the other three districts of Palestine, — Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.

The Lord appointed other seventy besides the twelve. Of these seventy we do not know a single name. Not one is again referred to as belonging to this company. They belonged to that great multitude of workers who do their part of the work of redemption "to fortune and to fame unknown," like "some mute, inglorious

Milton."

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear,
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

Only no earnest soul, no good word or work, is "wasted on the desert air."

RUSKIN'S ILLUSTRATION FROM THE LEAVES expresses the real truth. The trees are builded by the leaves. Each leaf sends a thread down through twig and branch and trunk. The leaves perish, but their work remains in the larger growth of the tree. When you cut a tree down you can see the annual growth which is the work of each season's leaves, and,the tree itself is the sum of the threads those leaves have made. "Behold how fair, how far prolonged, in arch and aisle, the avenues of the valleys; the fringes of the hills! So stately, so eternal; the joy of man, the comfort of all living creatures, the glory of the earth, they are but monuments of those poor leaves that flit faintly past us to die. Let them not pass without our understanding their last counsel and example: that we also, careless of a monument by the grave, should build it in the world. -a monument which men may be taught to remember, not where we died, but where we lived.”—Modern Painters, vol. V, The Leaf Monuments.

2.

And he

plenteous,

Therefore said he unto them, 1The harvest test, but the labourers are few: 2pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

1 Matt. 9:37; John 4:35.

2 2 Thes. 3: I.

II. They were Appointed. They were set to work by Christ for some special reason of fitness. They had been with him, seen his works, listened to his teaching, imbibed his spirit. They had been faithful in the least, and were now given larger opportunity. It did not require great talents, great learning, or high position of any kind. But they must be full of his message, in dead earnest, willing to learn. We ordinary people, filled with Christ, can often do most for children, and for the people around us.

"Hath the water Christ bestowed

Made thy heart a well o'erflowed?
Thirsty souls thou must supply,
Else thy well will soon be dry.

"Doth the bread He gave to thee

Stay thy spirit steadfastly?
If thyself thou still wouldst feed,
Share the bread with those in need."
-Sarah Avery Faunce.

To every Christian the greatest privilege that can come is to be chosen by Christ for some service in his kingdom, but most of all for work among the children.

So it is for every child in the Sunday school to be given some work to do. The most disorderly and trying boys have been transformed by giving them something definite to do, for which they are fitted.

III. Sent before the Face of Jesus, v. 2. Sent them two and two, making thirtyfive delegations. The time was short. The country was comparatively new to the work of Jesus. Jesus himself alone could not personally reach so many, unless the way was prepared for him, interest awakened, enthusiasm aroused, ground prepared for the Gospel seed. Much of the work to be done depends on the creation of an atmosphere of interest in the subject. Even the best seed will not spring up in frozen ground.

They were sent Two By Two, because this was the most effective way in all such work. Two joined together are far more than twice one separately. Two churches in a town federated together are a much greater power than the two working independently. It is the same with the Sunday schools in a town or city. We have hardly begun to use the power of union, according to Jesus' wise plan. Unity of churches, not merged into one, but doing their evangelizing work together, federation of denominations, churches of different faiths uniting so far as there is common ground, all these are the way to victory. Hence the power of the International system of Sunday school lessons, of young people's societies. Only one old enough to have experienced the old and the new can understand the marvellous gain.

"So when two work together, each for each
Is quick to plan, and can the other teach;
But when alone one seeks the best to know,
His skill is weaker and his thoughts are slow."

"The Men and Religion Movement," going on at the time of this writing, is a splendid illustration of the truth embodied in this verse.

What we need, says Dr. Jowett, is Light AND Heat, knowledge and inspiration, enthusiasm, earnestness, feeling, devotion, to lead us and others to act according to knowledge.

IV. The Greatness of the Work, v. 2. The harvest truly is great. There was a great unrest religiously all over the world at this time, a moral and spiritual awakening. The promises of the Messiah and prophecies of better days were culminating upon this period. What Jesus had done and taught was known with more or less accuracy throughout the whole region. It was time to "strike when the iron was hot."

It is now a time of awakening, of interest, of new plans and methods, of discussion, and earnest seeking, all around us, and all over the world. Never since the days of the apostles has the ripening harvest been so great, so universal, so ready to be gathered in, as to-day. And now, as then, the labourers are few compared with the greatness of the harvest.

V. The Way to Obtain Laborers, v. 2. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest. Pray YE, who are now laboring. Because you see the need more than others can. Because you are more interested, for you have been working for the harvest; it is part

3. Go your ways: 1behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.

1 Matt. 10: 16.

of your life. Because your own power may be increased, so that you are equal in value to two laborers such as you were before.

PRAY ye. Why should we pray for what God desires far more than we can? (1) Prayer for an object God desires is putting ourself on God's side, joining our interests and sympathies with His. It is not for His sake, but for ours, that we must pray.

(2) "We are so constituted that conviction, resolution, effort are necessary to perfect our natures. Prayer is deeper and wider than mere begging. It is a condition of spiritual communion. God needs our prayers to enable. his spirit to work upon us and with us, and the prayer God most needs is the passionate yearning of every believer's soul." London S. S. Chronicle. Fervent prayer is the surest way of spiritual growth, and thus increases our power of service.

Send forth labourers. There are two ways in which laborers may be increased : (1) by increasing their numbers; (2) by increasing the power, energy, skill, and devotion of those already laboring. The Sunday superintendent can increase his teaching force in the same two ways.

VI. Go your Ways, v. 3. "When Temple Hall, London, was built, the Masters of the Bench ordered a handsome clock to be placed there, and on the face of it an appropriate motto. For many days the skilful mechanic waited for the motto, until, becoming impatient, he made his way to the Benchers' Chambers, and pressed them for the needed words. One of the Masters, becoming angry, rose up and said to the mechanic, 'Go about your business.' The latter, thinking this was the order, placed the words on the face of the clock, and there they were allowed to remain. If Christian workers would only have for their motto 'Go about your Father's business,' what mighty wonders would be accomplished!". The Rev. W. T. Dorward, Stelton, N. J., in S. S. Times.

Sir Walter Scott, in The Lady of the Lake, refers to the beautiful custom of ancient Scotland of assembling the clans by means of the fiery cross. A light cross of wood was charred at its point, and the flames quenched in the blood of a goat. This was sent around to the villages and homes of the clan, each one sending it on to his next neighbor, with only the name of the meeting place. And every one was bound under fearful anathemas to obey the sign.

"When flits this cross from man to man, Vich Alpine's summons to his clan, SEND ME.

Burst be the ear that fails to heed!
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed!"

"Not mine to mount the courts where seraphs sing,
Or glad archangels soar on outstretched wing;
Not mine in union with celestial choirs

To sound heaven's trump, or strike the gentle wires;
Not mine to stand enrolled at crystal gates,

Where Michael thunders or where Uriel waits.

But lesser worlds a father's kindness know;

Be mine some simple service here below

To weep with those who weep, their joys to share,
Their pain to solace, or their burdens bear;

Some widow in her agony to meet;

Some exile in his new-found home to greet;
To serve some child of thine, and so serve thee,-
Lo, here am I! To such a work send me!"

- Edward Everett Hale.

VII. Methods of Work, vs. 3-8. Behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Not merely the innocent and undefended among fierce, ravening beasts; but those whose method of overcoming is by love and peace and goodness and truth, against those whose weapons are war and injustice and cruelty and hate: sunshine against tornadoes.

One of the greatest hindrances to the progress of Christianity has been the breaking of this law of Christ, not by missionaries, but by their countrymen, who go under the name and flag of Christian nations. The peoples have nothing within their experience to enable them to recognize the difference between Christians and the inhabitants of a Christian country. When the Spaniards began to conquer the New World, they made it one of their chief objects to convert the Indians. In this they were sincere. But