think how many wretched people there are, whe have given way to sin, and, by degrees, gone further and further from God, and made their hearts so unlike Him, that they cannot look to Him for sympathy! I thank God, my own dear boy, that He gave you strength yesterday to drive the remnants of anger away. May it ever be so with you, my child! May it ever be a joy, and not a terror to you, to feel that God understands your thought afar off!-and when temptation comes, may you quickly rise above it, and be able to say, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts!'

Walter nestled closer to his mother, and thought within himself that he would try, always— whenever he felt selfishness and sin coming near his heart-he would try to drive them away before they got possession of it.

They were both of them silent for a minute or two, and then his mother added, "I have heard, Walter, of some poor people who have sinned, and who fancied, in their fear, that they could hide from God and from His frown; but you know we cannot do this,-no, not if we would go into deep darkness under the earth, for the Soul of all the world is everywhere. We cannot see without light, but God can. He who made

the sun, and gave it its light, can surely see without those beams which the sun has only borrowed from Him. He commanded the sun to shine for our use,-not for His own. The Maker of the sun is brighter than the sun; and the darkness is no darkness to Him.

Psalm cxxxix. 7-12.-Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in the grave, behold, Thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.

See Mrs. Barbauld's 8th Hymn, especially the last paragraph:

"Monarch, that rulest over a hundred states; whose frown is terrible as death, and whose armies cover the land; boast not thyself as though there were none above thee: God is above thee; His powerful arm is always over thee; and if thou doest ill, assuredly He will punish thee."

My child, you never are alone;
There is a watchful eye

To which your very thoughts are known:
'Tis God is ever nigh.

He made your little heart for joy,

He tunes your happy song;

Oh! then, my little timid boy,

Fear only doing wrong.

For He who makes your heart so glad,
Who bids the good be gay,

With the same love will make it sad
Whene'er you disobey.

He is our Father, and He hears
Your weakest, faintest prayer—
He wipes away an infant's tears,
And children are His care.

See Hymn 129, Sunday School Hymn Book, beginning "I'm not too young for God to see."

[See Hymn 171, Martineau's Hymn Book.]

LESSON XVI.

GOD'S LOVE OUR GREATEST HAPPINESS.

Mrs. Follen's "Selections from Fenelon ;"-(a book valuable to all teachers):-On "Simplicity."

A FEW days after that on which Walter went to see his mother, she really came home and oh how sweet it was for Walter when her gentle hands again undressed him, and got him ready for bed. The joy of feeling her again with him, seemed to make up for all the longings he had felt while she was away;-and it was just the same with her: she was so happy to have him on her knee, and to do things for him again, that she thought it was worth while having been away, for the sake of the joy of getting back again.

"It is because we love each other so dearly that we are so happy," she said; "oh, how kind it is of God to give us hearts to love each other