pear to people about me to be tolerably good, even then I am sinning. So great is the power of sin over me, that even when I am praying, or reading the Bible, or hearing other people read the Bible, even then I sin. When I speak I sin: when I am silent I sin. I find, O Lord, that I cannot cease from sin, not even for one moment. Even my dreams upon my bed often show the vileness of my heart. O Lord, what shall I do? where shall I fly? how can I be saved from my sins? In me there is no help! I can do nothing for myself! I must depend entirely on Thee for mercy, O heavenly Father! Oh, pardon me for my Saviour's sake; and for his sake may God the Spirit renew and sanctify my vile heart, and prepare me for that glory which has been procured for the saints by the death and merits of my blessed Redeemer. For that dear Redeemer's sake, O Lord, hear my prayer! and grant that I may be washed from my sins by the blood of Christ, and clothed in garments made white with the same.

"Our Father," &c.

HYMN XI.

THERE is a fountain fill'd with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ;
And sinners plung'd beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;

And there may I, as vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

Bless'd dying Lamb! thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransom'd church of God

Be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a sweeter, nobler song,

I'll sing thy pow'r to save,

When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe thou hast prepar'd
Unworthy though I be,

For me a blood-bought free reward,
A golden harp for me:

'Tis strung and tun'd for endless years,
And form'd by pow'r divine,

To sound in God the Father's ears
No other name but Thine.

STORY OF AMBITION, OR THE WISH TO BE GREAT.

TWICE every year, Sir Charles and Lady Noble used to invite Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild and their children, to spend a day with them at their house. Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild did not much like to go, because Sir Charles and his lady were very proud, and their children were not brought up in the fear of God; yet, as the visit only happened twice a year, Mr. Fairchild thought it better to go than to have a quarrel with his neighbour. Mrs. Fairchild always had two plain muslin frocks, with white mittens, and neat black shoes, for Lucy and Emily to wear when they went to see Lady Noble. As Mr. Fairchild's house was as much as two miles' distance from Sir Charles Noble's, Sir Charles always used to send his carriage for them, and to bring them back again at night.

One morning, just at breakfast time, Mr. Fair

child came into the parlour, saying to Mrs. Fairchild, Here, my dear, is a note from Sir Charles Noble, inviting us to spend the day to-morrow, and the children."

"Well, my dear," said Mrs. Fairchild," as Sir Charles Noble has been so kind as to ask us, we must not offend him by refusing to go."

The next morning Mr. Fairchild desired his wife and children to be ready at twelve o'clock, which was the time fixed for the coach to be at Mr. Fairchild's door. Accordingly, soon after eleven, Mrs. Fairchild dressed Lucy and Emily, and made them sit quietly down till the carriage came. As Lucy and Emily sat in the corner of the room, Lucy looked at Emily, and said, "Sister, how pretty you look!" "And how neat you look, Lucy!" said Emily: "these frocks are very pretty, and make us look very well."

"My dear little girls," said Mrs. Fairchild, who overheard what they said to each other, "do not be conceited because you have got your best frocks on. You now think well of yourselves, because you fancy you are well dressed; by-and-by, when you get to Lady Noble's, you will find Miss Augusta much finer dressed than yourselves: then you will be out of humour with yourselves for as little reason as you now are pleased. Do you remember the verses I made you learn, Lucy, concerning one who cometh into the assembly of Christians in fine clothes?"

Lucy. Mamma, I remember; they are these: 'My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here, in a good place; and say

to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"" (James ii. 1-4.)

By the time Lucy had repeated these verses, Henry came in his Sunday coat to tell his mamma that Sir Charles Noble's carriage was come. Mrs. Fairchild was quite ready; and Lucy and Emily were in such a hurry that Emily had nearly tumbled down stairs over her sister, and Lucy was upon the point of slipping down on the step of the hall door : however, they all got into the coach without any accident, and the coachman drove away; and that so rapidly, that they soon came in sight of Sir Charles Noble's house.

As it is not likely that you ever saw Sir Charles Noble's house, I will give you some account of it. It is a very large house, built of smooth white stone : it stands in a fine park, or green lawn, scattered over with tall trees and shrubs; but there were no leaves on the trees at the time I am speaking of, because it was winter.

When the carriage drove up to the hall door, a smart footman came out, opened the carriage door, and showed Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild through a great many rooms into a grand parlour, where Lady Noble was sitting upon a sofa, by a large fire, with several other ladies, all of whom were handsomely dressed. Now, as I told you before, Lady Noble was a proud woman: so she did not take much notice of Mrs. Fairchild when she came in, although she ordered the servant to set a chair for her. Miss Augusta Noble was seated on the sofa by her mamma, playing with a very beautiful wax doll; and her two brothers, William and Edward, were standing by her; but they never came forward to Mrs. Fairchild's children, to say that they were glad to see them, or to show them any kind of

civility. If children knew how disagreeable they make themselves when they are rude and ill-behaved, surely they would never be so, but would strive to be civil and courteous to every one, according to the words of the Bible, "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another." (Rom. xii. 10.)

:

Soon after Mrs. Fairchild was seated, a servant came to say that Miss Noble's and Master William's and Master Edward's dinners were ready, "Go, Augusta," said Lady Noble, "to your dinner, and take Master and Misses Fairchild with you; and after you have dined, show them your playthings, and your baby-house."

Miss Augusta got up; and as she passed by Emily and Lucy, she said in a very haughty way, "Mamma says you must come with me." So Emily and Lucy followed Miss Augusta, and the little boys came after them. She went up a pair of grand stairs, and along a very long gallery full of pictures, till they came to a large room, where Miss Augusta's governess was sitting at work, and the children's dinner set out in great order. In one corner of the room was a baby-house. Do you know what a babyhouse is? If you have not seen such a thing, I will endeavour to describe it to you. It is a small house, fit for dolls, with doors and windows, and chimney outside; and inside there is generally a parlour and a kitchen, and a bed-room, with chairs, tables, couches, beds, carpets, and everything small, just as there is in a real house for people to live in. Besides the baby-house, there was a number of other toys; a large rocking-horse; a cradle, with a big wooden doll lying in it; and tops, and carts, and coaches, and whips, and trumpets in abundance.

"Here are Mrs. Fairchild's children come to dine with me, ma'am," said Miss Augusta, as she opened