P. Yes, Willie; if our dear Father, who loves us all, should take you to be his child, then you will learn as much as Adam did-he was a "child of God." But, in heaven, dear Willie, there is more to be learned than the history of God's works. Yes; far more-when you have learned about every great and small thing He has made-in all the millions of stars, as well as this world—even then, you will only have made a beginning; for there is something to learn beyond that.

W. Oh, papa! What a long way off! But I suppose you don't know what that is?

P. Yes, I do.

Ion. Is it beyond the stars?

P. Yes; it is all round the universe.

L. Then how can you know anything about it?

P. Because it is all round us too-it is in every world. It is everywhere, just as God is everywhere.

L. What is it, papa?

P. It is Love-His boundless, endless love. Willie, Lucy, and Ion -dear children-think! What a pleasant thing it is to know that we may one day learn this love. It is something for us to look forward to. When, in heaven, we shall have spent a long long time in learning His power, and longer ages in learning His wisdom, it will take us all the rest of eternity to learn His love! Let us now go on with Adam's history; we read that God gave him something to do.

Ion. God brought him the animals to be named. He would not get tired whilst he was doing that; but it would not take him a very long time to name all the animals. I once saw a picture of Adam giving them their names. The great elephant and the lion were coming up for their titles. There were also the horse, the cow, the sheep, and thousands more besides, waiting in a great crowd; but when Adam had named them, they did not seem to know it! Those who were going away with their new names, did not look more pleased than those who were waiting.

t

W. Yes; I daresay they all went away without saying "thank you." Yet I should think that some of them were very fond of Adam, just as Fan, and Lucy's canary, are fond of us. Perhaps they followed him about when he walked in the garden.

Ada. Or sat by his side when he was gardening. I wonder whether

a lion ever watched him ;-it could not talk to him.

to.

P. It would have been almost silent work-he had no one to talk When you find out any good news, what do you like to do?

W. I like to go and tell somebody.

P. So, I dare say, Adam often thought-"Here is a beautiful flower -oh, that I had some one to show it to."

"How I should like to tell some other man about God's wonderful goodness. These poor beasts, they cannot understand."

us.

W. And then God heard him, I suppose.

P. Yes; God's love was round about him, just as it is round about God cared for him, and said these kind words:

"It is not good that man should be alone. I will make an help meet for

him."

So, perhaps, when he was tired of gardening, and sleepy-and perhaps had laid down with the beasts all round-the "deep sleep" came upon him, and when he awoke, he saw before him-EVE. Beautiful Eve, with an angel's smile, just come from the hand of GodEve, who, perhaps, had been watching him while he slept-Eve stood there before him, waiting to talk of the love of God.

Ada. Would he feel pleased? I think he would say, "How do you do?"

P. I cannot tell. But he would know at once what she came for; and would be very pleased. He would say, "Come with me over the mountains, and see God's wonderful world! Come, come and see the flowers and fruit-see my garden and all the trees. But-ah, listen! Look at this great tree in the middle of the garden. Hear what our Father once said to me

"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.""

L. I think she would not know what was meant by "die."

P. Perhaps Eve would not care much to know. She would say to Adam,-if God really gives us all these other trees, and these rich fruits -we will love Him with our whole heart, and delight to do His will. L. And I daresay she would teach Adam many things.

P. Yes. I have often made a picture in my mind of the first man and woman walking together. How many beautiful places he would show her-how he would tell her what God wished them to do.

L. And perhaps Eve would point out many things which Adam had not noticed. But what would they always find to do?

P. They would work. God delights to see men work-and we read that He put them in the garden of Eden, to dress it and keep it.

W. And they must have delighted to work. I'll tell you why work is pleasant because by working you make something. I once had a piece of wood, and cut it, and cut it again, and worked at it, making it look better every day, until at last it became a boat; then I thought, "There, I have done something,-that would have only been an old piece of wood if I had not cut it." When I work at my garden, and dig it and rake it over, and see it look so much nicer every minute, I think I have done some good.

Ion. And when a farmer sees a field of corn he thinks, "There would only have been weeds growing there if I had been idle; but, now that I have dug it, there is food for man."

P. Then that is what Adam and Eve felt when they dressed the garden and made it look better-when they made the trees more fruitful. Perhaps they even cultivated plants to grow food for the sheep and cattle. So they would think, "We have done some good."

Ion. Well, it was worth while to live to do that.

P. Indeed it was. But they had to live to do more than that. They had to live to grow.

L. But they were full grown, papa!

P. Yes. But I mean-for their minds to grow. They had work

for their minds, as well as their bodies-and I dare say they were always teaching each other new thoughts. They would "dress and keep" each other's minds. The trees brought forth fruit for them to delight inso, they themselves were God's trees,-to grow and bring forth fruit for God to delight in.

Ion. Are we God's trees too, papa?

P. You may be, Ion, and may grow in his knowledge, and bring forth fruit. We can only make very poor fruit-yet, we know that the Almighty will receive it, and delight in it. Think, dear Ion, of that.

Ion. Ah, that is very pleasant, and I think I see now why God has made us that we may work, and grow. Then we shall become better, like the angels, and get ready to live with Him.

L. And, secondly, that we may bring forth fruit, so that God may delight in us.

P. True. And, thirdly-not least-that you may work for others; may feed their bodies-feed their minds-and teach them good thoughts; but you cannot do that when you are alone, nor until you are made holy. Suppose that Adam had been an unholy man?

W. God would have said, "It is good for him to be alone."

P. Then, Willie, Lucy, Ion, and Ada, pray to our Heavenly Father every day-ask Him to "dress and keep" your souls by His Holy Spirit, that He may say of you as He said of Adam, "It is not good that he should be alone."

Chird Sunday.

THE SIN.*

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."-Gen. iii. 1-6.

COME, dear children, sit and listen to a sad tale! Hear about the dark, dark day!

W. Was there a dark day in Paradise, papa?

P. Yes, a dreadful day. In this world there are always sunny days and cloudy days—and now there came a heavy cloud of darkness. It

• Lesson.

"Thou shalt not covet,"-" Hold fast that which is good."

came into the world and grew and grew, and darkened the earth until men learned to "love the darkness rather than light." We shall have to watch this darkness.

L. How curious, papa, to love the darkness best.

P. But I do not mean the darkness which you see with your eyes— but a darkness in the mind.

Ion. When have people dark minds, papa?

P. When they do evil. You can tell by looking on their faces. Then, they have a dull, dismal look, like the night. But when men have done right, they have a bright cheerful look, like the day. Adam and Eve had only done good actions yet, and they did not know what evil was. There was a spirit of evil in the world, but it could not harm them, for they could not know anything about it, unless they ate of the tree of knowledge.

L. And that was the tree which God had told them not to eat. It was very good of God to do that.

P. Yes, God is good. He is the spirit of goodness. Adam only knew the spirit of goodness, but in this dark day he learned of the evil spirit; so that then, he had good and evil within him, just as you have.

W. I often feel the good and bad spirit within me, sometimes both of them, working together. But tell me, papa, how did Adam learn to do evil?

P. We gather from the Bible that Eve was once alone. You learned in the last lesson that it was not good for man to be alone. Neither was it good for Eve to be alone. She had left Adam to walk by herself through the garden, when she happened to pass near the tree of knowledge. Then, perhaps, she stopped to look at the beautiful fruit. Ion. Well, there was no harm in that.

P. There was no harm, but there was danger. It is dangerous to go near to a forbidden place. After Eve had looked at the fruit, she would begin to think. The looking would make her think, and she would say, "How beautiful! what charming red and golden coloured fruit !"

Ion. And there would be no harm in saying that.

P. Perhaps not-but there was danger. I'll show you why. The thoughts of the beautiful fruit would fill her mind, and drive out the thoughts of the rich and plentiful fruits she had already from God,— she would thus forget them.

W. Ah!

P. And now with these thoughts came something else-from the sight of the fruit grew the thoughts-and from the thoughts grew desires. After thinking of the fruit she desired it. She was forgetting what she had, and only thinking of what she might have, when the spirit of evil, who had been watching her, and saw that her mind was in the wrong way, now came to help her on.

This spirit was near, in the form of a serpent, perhaps on the tree itself, when he said to her the wicked words you read in the text. Wicked words! even speaking ill of their kind Father. Listen to them.

"For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

L. But how could Eve bear to listen to such words about God? W. Do you not see how that was? she was full of thoughts about the fruit. The sight of God and his goodness was very far off, and the sight of the fruit was near. So the thoughts of his goodness were far off, when the thoughts of the fruit were near.

P. And so, alas! Willie, the desire (which you know comes after the thought), the desire to please Him was just then far off, because the desire for the fruit, or the desire to please herself, was near. Then, Willie, she did not feel strong enough to go back to God, but seeing that "the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise," Eve forgot God's command, forgot to be obedient; and stretching forth her hand to the fruit, she "took thereof and did eat." Ah, what sorrow came with that sad act! The whole face of things was changed. "Earth felt the wound, and nature gave signs of woe, that all was lost." Only Satan was glad: his evil spirit had found a dwelling-place in this world, he had taught Eve the first sin-the sin of disobedience.

L. And did he teach Adam too, papa ?

P. Eve taught him. Evil soon spreads; and Eve was now strong to teach evil as well as good. We read that Eve gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat. They both ate and enjoyed the pleasant fruit, but they were only enjoying the pleasures of sin.

The pleasures of sin are short pleasures. They were soon gone, and then came new and very strange thoughts, bringing shame and fear. You may read in the Bible that they knew that they were naked, and sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons. You may read, too, that now, when they heard the voice of the Lord God in the garden, they hid themselves from his presence amongst the trees.

Oh, how different were Adam and Eve now! No more bright thoughts of God's goodness and love; the feeling of sin had brought dark thoughts of His anger. They could only think "God is angry;" and with these thoughts came the new and dreadful feeling of FEAR.

Ion. Are we to make a lesson about them, papa?

P. Yes, Ion. How long do we always have bright and cheerful

day?

Ion. As long, papa, as we can see the sun. At last, the sun goes down and we only see a little of his light-then it is not day, it is evening. But, when we see none of his light, it is dark night.

P. It is exactly so, Ion, with your mind: God is the sun of righteousness. His Holy Spirit descends from him like the rays of the sun; it sheds light and happiness in the minds of boys and girls, and men and women; it changes their hearts.

You said, Ion, that you have bright day-light as long as you can look at the sun. So you may have bright and good thoughts, and a happy face, as long as you can look at God and think about him.

Ion. But, papa, the sun goes down, so that we cannot always have

day, unless we follow after it all round the world.

P. True, Ion. But God's light is a sun that never sets. Yet if you want His light you must follow after him earnestly all day long, remembering that His eye is always upon you.