faults; even as every wise father punisheth the child in whom he delighteth. How unhappy are those children, who are under foolish parents, who keep them in ignorance, and ruin them with indulgence! God's children are not so left to themselves. Let me then be thankful when I am corrected in mercy; as a token of my adoption, and election to be a child of God. If the church is my mother, who hath brought me forth to be an heir of glory; it is my duty to conform to her rules, that I may have the benefit of her ordinances. If christian people are my brethren, it must be my duty to love them and to bear in mind that wise advice of the good Joseph to his brethren, see that ye fall not out by the way. In our journey through life, we are under so many trials and afflictions, that it is both foolish and wicked for christian brethren to add to one another's troubles by strife and envying, by quarrellings and disputings. Proud people are ashamed of their poor relations; but I must not be ashamed to own the poorest child in the family of God; who perhaps, after a laborious life of faith and patience, will be my superiour in the kingdom of heaven, I am to remember that Jesus Christ, Christ, the head of this great and holy family, was made poor for my sake, and doth now hear the prayers and attend to the wants of the poorest christian. Who then am I, that I should dare to despise or neglect those of whom Jesus Christ is mindful? When I do them good, I must do it because they belong to Him; not to shew my own superiority, or to obtain the praises of men: and then all I do will be accepted, and I shall have treasure in heaven. THE QUESTIONS, Q. Who is your spiritual father? Q. Who is your spiritual mother? Q. Who are your brethren? A. All christian people. Q. How do they become such? A. In Jesus Christ, who is the true Son of God, and the first-born of many brethren. Q. When was you taken into this family? A. When I was baptised. Q. How far doth this great family extend? A. It takes in the angels of heaven, and all saints departed. Q. What Q. What must you do, if God is your father? A. I must make my wants known to him in prayer, as children do. Q. And what will God do as a father? A. He will correct me in love and mercy, that my own will may not ruin me. Q. What duty is required of you to the church? A. To conform myself to her rules, that I may have the benefit of her sacraments. Q. What duty is required toward your brethren ? A. To love and be at peace with them. Q. Are you to be ashamed of poor christians? A. No; we are all equal in the house of God. Q. Why are you to do good to the poor? A. Because they belong to Christ. THE TEXTS. Luke xi. 2. Our father, which art in heaven. Gal. iv. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Col. Col. i. 2. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. Eph. iii. 14. The Father of our Lord Jefus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Eph. i. 22. And gave him to be head over all things to the church. Matth. vi. 6. Pray to thy father. Rev. iii. 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Deut. viii. 5. As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord chasteneth thee. Matth. xviii. 17. Hear the church. 1 Pet. iii. 8. Love as brethren. 1 Cor. xii. 13. We are all baptised into one body, whether we be bond or free. Mark ix. 41. Whosoever shall give you d cup of water to drink, in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, shall not lose his reward. he LESSON XIV. THE SOUL AND THE BODY. I HAVE a soul within me, which I cannot see: but I know that it lives, because it acts and I am taught to understand its actions actions from the senses of my body. As the eyes of the body see things, so doth the soul know and understand: as the body hears, so doth the soul attend and obey. As the body feels, so is the mind affected in the passions. As the body smelleth and tasteth, so doth the soul relish some things, and dislike others, and is able to distinguish between good and evil. As the body hungers and thirsts, so hath the soul its appetites, and must be nourished by such food as is proper for it. A perfect soul, is like a body in its full health and strength; but since Adam fell into sin, and became subject to death, there is no such perfect soul now in the nature of man. The soul is sick, and must be cured: It must even be born again to a new life, before it can serve God, and understand his word. Jesus Christ came into the world as the physician of mankind; but if we had been whole, we should have had no need of him. All the evils and distempers of the soul, are shewn by the various diseases of the body; and if there had been no sin in the soul, there would have been no sickness in the body. The miserable effects of sin are as wounds and bruises and putrifying sores. The foul ness |