were quite willing to follow the suggestion of their
parents, and after I had passed, the door opened, and the children
stepped upon the pavement, and kept near me, till I entered my
church, when they followed me, and seats were given them.

"When they returned home, they sought their parents and eagerly
exclaimed: 'He is a minister, and we have found his church, and he
preached a beautiful sermon this morning. You must go and hear him
next Sunday.'

"It was not difficult to persuade the parents to go, and guided by
their children they found their way to the church. They, too, were
pleased, and other members of the family were induced to come to the
house of God. God blessed what they heard to the good of their souls,
and seven members of this family have been led to become Christians,
and join the church, and, I repeat what I said before: 'they were all
brought in by a smile.'"

What a little thing a smile is! And yet, here we see how God made use
of so small a thing as this, to make seven persons Christians, and to
save their souls forever! Of the God who can work in this way, it
may well be said that he loves to work by little things. It is the
way in which he is working continually.

How eagerly, then, we may try to learn and to practise what has been
very sweetly expressed in

THE MITE SONG.

"Only a drop in the bucket,
But every drop will tell,
The bucket would soon be empty,
Without the drops in the well.

"Only a poor little penny,
It was all I had to give;
But as pennies make the dollars,
It may help some cause to live.

"A few little bits of ribbon,
And some toys--they were not new,
But they made the sick child happy,
And that made me happy, too.

"Only some out-grown garments;
They were all I had to spare;
But they'll help to clothe the needy,
And the poor are everywhere.

"A word now and then of comfort,
That cost me nothing to say;
But the poor old man died happy,
And it helped him on the way.

"God loveth the cheerful giver,
Though the gifts be poor and small;
But what must he think of his children
Who never give at all?"

God loves to work by little means. We see this when we think of the
men whom Jesus chose to be his apostles. The first thing about this
subject is--_the men_.

_The second thing to speak of, in connection with this subject,
is_--THE WORK--_they had to do_.

What this work was we find full