d a thing for old people to
do, not for little girls. But Miss Eunice had thrown a new light upon
the subject, and it looked differently from what it had ever looked
before.

"But if we are not Christians, Miss Eunice, you wouldn't like us to act
a lie."

"God forbid, Mary; did you ever think that you _ought_ to be a
Christian?--ought to be in that state which will make it possible for
you to obey the simple command of Christ to confess him before men?"

"A command, Miss Eunice?"

"Yes, a command accompanied by both a promise and a threat. 'Whosoever
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven, but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I
also deny before my Father which is in heaven.'"

"But still," persisted the first speaker, "if one isn't converted."

"And what is to prevent one's being converted. Don't you think God is
willing to give you grace sufficient to enable you to do and be all that
he commands you? The greatest mistake young people can make is to
suppose that they must wait, and not take the first step toward a
religious life till something mysterious comes to them and lifts them
into it almost against their own will."

"Not _against_ our own wills; I am sure everybody wants to be saved."

"Yes, dear, against their own will, for if any one wills to be a
Christian, she can be one at once. I must insist upon it, because it is
our Saviour's own teachings. He says: 'Ye will not come unto me that ye
might have life'; and so I am sure that if any one does not have life,
spiritual life, it is because she _will_ not come unto him."

"I'd like to come," said one girl, timidly, "but I don't see exactly
how."

"I dare say most of you would. Mr. Morven and I have been talking it
over. He feels that the time for a spiritual harvest among our people,
especially among our carefully taught Sunday scholars, has about come,
and he thinks that, with a little more definite help and teaching, many
of you would be glad to come to Jesus, and be enrolled as his followers
now, instead of waiting for that indefinite sometime which may never
come. I have a book here which, in words so simple that the youngest
girl here can understand, explains how we may come to Christ by
repentance and faith in his sacrifice upon the cross, etc. It is
pleasantly written and illustrated with anecdotes. I think you will all
like it, and I propose to read a little of it aloud every Wednesd