Spirit of God moved over the waters which covered the earth. And then God created the light; which, however, was not exactly the sun as we see it, but became framed into sun, moon, and stars, which were created on the fourth day.

The earth and the light were created on the first day; for God said, "Be light made; and light was made: and God saw the light that it was good, and He divided the light from the darkness, and He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night: and there was evening and morning one day." These days must not be supposed to mean twenty-four hours; they mean periods of time the extent of which we do not know. And then God divided the earth from the waters which covered it, and which were over the heavens too; and He made the sky; and He called this firmament of blue sky Heaven and the evening and the morning were the second day.

Then, on the third day, God divided the earth and the seas; the dry land He called Earth, and the waters gathered together He called Seas. And the same day He made the trees, the grass, the shrubs, and all the plants which we see in the woods and fields and gardens, and all the fruits which are found on the earth, and all the many beautiful flowers which grow in the fields, woods, and valleys.

And on the fourth day God created the sun and the moon and stars, and He said, "Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years;" so that on this fourth day too we may say that spring and summer, autumn and winter,-the seasons, as we call them, were created too.

And on the fifth day God made the fish which swim in the seas, the great whales and sharks and all such creatures; also all the birds which fly in

the air, eagles, hawks, and robins, and all little birds as well as great.

Then, on the sixth day, God made all the beasts, lions, tigers, elephants, and all other beasts of every sort you have ever heard of and which are.

And then, the Scripture goes on to say, God created Man. He said, "Let Us make man in our own image.' And man was made in God's image; that is, he had many of the same qualities which God Himself had, such as understanding, free-will, and immortality.

So you see that the seventh day, or Saturday, was the first Sabbath, or the day on which God ordered mankind to rest from all work, and worship Him, just as He rested on this day from the work of the creation. And this seventh day always continued to be the Sabbath, or day of rest, the holiest day of the week, until the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and then, as He arose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday, that became the holiest day of the seven.

Thus the first man was made; and as he fell from God by sin, and brought the death of the soul into the world, so we shall see our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead to begin a new creation unto holiness and goodness and love of God.

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ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE.

AND Scripture says, the first man was made by God out of the slime of the earth, the dust and clay and you know when we die, our bodies too will all return to the dust of which they are made, though our souls will live for ever; and our bodies will rise again at the last day, joined to our souls,

and either filled with glory, if we have been good and loved God, or else tormented in hell, if we have been wicked and hated God, or forgotten Him.

And the man thus made out of the dust God called Adam. And He placed Adam in a beautiful garden, called Eden, or Paradise, where there were beautiful trees and rivers, and fruits and flowers. There were two trees in particular, one called the Tree of Knowledge, and the other the Tree of Life, of which you shall hear more presently.

But Adam was very lonely in this lovely garden all by himself; so God said, "It is not good for man to be alone: so let Us make him a help like unto himself."

Then, the Scripture says, the Lord God cast a deep sleep over Adam; and when he was in this fast sleep, God took one of his ribs out of his side and filled up flesh for it, and made this rib into a woman; and He brought her to Adam, who named her Eve, because she was the mother of all the people who would be born in the world.

Now Adam and Eve lived at first very happily in this garden. They loved God with all their hearts and minds, and they loved each other in God and for God's sake; and God conversed with them in a special and peculiar manner, the Scriptures saying that He walked with them, and they heard His voice.

But there was a dreadful and wicked spirit called Lucifer, who had for a brief moment lived in Heaven, and loved God, and been happy as the other angels then were; but instead of being satisfied with so blessed a state, and the promise of seeing the face of God for ever, this wicked angel had become proud, and began to envy God, and to wish to be greater than He. So we see that that sin which caused the angels to sin and become wicked

was pride; which shows us what a very dreadful sin pride is, and how it is in one way the worst of all sins, because it hardens the heart and makes it fit for any crime. Lucifer, and some other angels whom he tempted to become as wicked as himself, had rebelled against God, who sent Michael, his Archangel, and a host of good angels, who fought with Satan or Lucifer, and threw him out of Heaven, and cast him into a deep burning pit of fire called Hell, with all his wicked spirits, which dreadful place was created by God as the only fit abode for him. And yet even in this God showed His mercy, as the holy Fathers tell us that Satan deserved something even more terrible, if this were possible. And this wicked angel Satan, or, as we now often call him, the Devil, saw how good and happy Adam and Eve were, and how they loved God, and he envied them, and resolved to ruin them; he resolved to make them hate God, and live with him in misery in his burning pit for ever; and he was the more moved to this dreadful thought because he knew that God had created man to fill those places in Heaven which he and his wicked companions had forfeited.

THE FALL OF MAN.

So the devil began to think what would be the best way to make Adam and Eve disobey God, because he knew that if he could once do that, he could make them commit all sorts of sin.

In the garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived, there was a river which ran through it, and every thing to make it pleasant. God had also planted two trees; one was called the Tree of Know

ledge, and the other the Tree of Life; and God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of these trees, though of all the other fruits which grew in the garden they might eat as they pleased. And Satan, who was very clever, and had much knowledge, with all his dreadful wickedness, knew very well that if he could first put pride into the hearts of Adam and Eve, disobedience to God would follow, and every other sin; and then he would soon be able to make them as wicked as himself, and, of course, as miserable as he was, and thus he would be able to drag them down to hell, to live with him in that dreadful place in torments and hating God for ever. So he put on the form of the serpent, and from out of the Tree of Knowledge he spoke to Eve, and said to her, "Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?" And Eve answered, "Of the fruit of the trees that are in Paradise we do eat; it is only that tree that is in the midst of Paradise that God has commanded us not to eat-no, nor even to touch it, lest, perhaps, we die." Then the serpent replied, "No; you shall not die the death! For God doth know that whenever you eat of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil; and this is why He has forbidden you to eat it." Then Eve looked at the tree, and saw that the tree and the fruit on it looked very beautiful and nice, and she thought of what the serpent said, that it would give great knowledge to herself and her husband, and make them like gods; and she took of the fruit and ate it, and gave it to Adam, and he ate it also.

But as soon as they had thus sinned and disobeyed Almighty God, their eyes were opened. They were opened indeed, not to be as gods, as the devil had said, but to see that they had lost their inno