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Q. But what do you expect, when you cons sider the beautiful colours with which the flower is clothed?

A. That God, who clothed the flower finer than king Solomon, will also clothe me. Q. What is the best robe that God puttetli upon us?

A. Righteousness.

1 Pet. i. 24. All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

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Matt. vi. 30. If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you Psal. cxxxii. 9. Let thy priests be clothed

with righteousness.

LESSON VI.

GOD AND THE HEAVENS.

LOOK how high the heavens are! how much higher must he be who made them so; and whose kingdom ruleth over all.

The heavens and the elements, the sun, the moon, and the stars, the winds, and the seasons, rule over man's body; and without them, we can neither act, nor breathe, nor live. But the soul of man lives under the kingdom.

of

of God. He is the father of spirits, and his grace ruleth over them all. Without his light I must walk in darkness; and without his spirit I have no life in me.

Oh! the poor blind, who wander about without seeing the sun! But more miserably blind is he, whose mind is without the light of God's word. When our spirit departeth from us, then we die, and return again to the dust and our soul must die in like manner, if the spirit of God departeth from it.

Without the light of the holy scripture we sit in darkness, and the shadow of death. Ignorance is the darkness of the mind; and it is worse than the darkness of Egypt, when God plagued those wicked people. As God is the author and giver of light, so is the devil the prince of darkness. God willeth that all men should see, and be saved; but the God of this world blindeth mens eyes, that the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ may be hidden from them.

Lord grant, that as I live and breathe under the elements and powers of this world in my mortal life; so my soul may live under thee, and be a member of thy kingdom, inheriting thy grace here, and thy glory hereafter. Let me love the true light, and put

YOL. XI.

C

away

away from me the works of darkness. Then shall I wish that thy kingdom may come; and that the heavens and the earth may pass away, that we may see all things new: when thou thyself shalt be our sun, thy spirit our comforter, and the angels and saints shall be seen around thy throne, as the stars of heaven are seen by us shining in the firmament.

THE QUESTIONS.

Q. Who is the true sun that rules over the spirits of men?

A. God.

Q. Who is the true light, and the sun of righteousness?

A. Jesus Christ.

Q. Who gives life to the soul, as the air gives breath to our bodies?

A. The Holy Ghost.

Q. What gives light to the mind?

A. The word of God.

Q. What then are we, without the word of God?

A. We walk in darkness,

Q. What are we when we do not love the word of God, or do not use it to direct us? A. Our souls are blind.

Q. Who

Q. Who is the prince of darkness?

A. The devil.

1

Q. Who are like the stars of the firmament?

A. The angels are such now, and the saints will be such hereafter.

THE TEXTS.

Psal. lxxxiv. 11. The Lord God is a sun and a shield.

John viii. 12. I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John xx. 22. He breathed upon them, and said, receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Ezek. xxxvii. 9. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.

Psal. cxix. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.

Luke i. 79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

2 Cor. iv. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not.

Dan. xii. 3. They that be wise shall shine as the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. c 2

1 Cor.

1 Cor. xv. 41. One star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

LESSON VII.

THE BEE.

HERE is a piece of a pure white honey-comb. How exactly it is formed into cells,. all of a size, and all of the same curious and convenient figure, with six sides or walls, and the bottom so contrived as to answer to the cells on either side. Yet, exact and wonderful as this honeycomb is, the bee made it and measured it in the dark! No man could have made it in the light; because no man hath the fingers or the wisdom of the bee.

The bee, to look upon, is a poor little brown fly, with no beauty to make us admire it; yet it is the wisest of all insects. So is the nightingale, with all its musical notes, which fill the woods, and charm the ear in the spring-time, a little brown bird, not so handsome as a sparrow. The excellence of these creatures is in their art and wisdom, not in their outward form and beauty. The

painted

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