sisting in the enjoyment of God. A little reflection will show you how strong is the proof derived from this source for the Divine origin of the Scriptures."

"But one of the places I have marked is a description of heaven, mother; just let me read that, will you?" said Fanny

"Very well, my dear; read it."

Fanny read part of the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, beginning at the tenth verse, and ending with the fifth verse of chapter twenty-second.

"We have now reached another division of our subject," said her mother," the adaptation of the Gospel to man's wants. And the first want we shall notice is, a clearer knowledge,—First, Of God,—Second, Of Duty, -and Third, Of himself and his destiny."

CHAPTER IX.

THE BIBLE IS ADAPTED TO MAN'S WANTS, INASMUCH AS

IT FURNISHES HIM WITH KNOWLEDGE CLEARER THAN THAT DERIVED FROM NATURE.

"MOTHER," said James," may I ask one q tion before we begin?"

Certainly, my dear, you may ask one, or

more; but I do not very well see how you will do it before we begin."

"I meant before we begin on our regular subject. I want to know how it is that all nations seem to have some sort of a god or other; if they do not know about the true God, I should think they would not have any deity."

"It is owing, I suppose, to the constitution of man. There seems to be implanted in him a desire to worship: he must have something to look up to, something to reverence; and if he has no knowledge of the true God, he will invent gods for himself."

"But is it true, mother," asked Fanny, "that all nations do worship some God?"

"It is true, I believe, my dear. Travellers bring us an account of no nation which has not some object of worship. And this fact, taken in connection with another, namely, that men always become like the objects of their worship, shows the extreme importance and desirableness to men of a knowledge of the true God. The effect of idol worship is always debasing and polluting in the highest degree; and the very first step could not have been taken towards the redemption of man from

the power of sin, without communicating to him a knowledge of Jehovah."

"But you say that men become like the object of their worship;—most of the people in this country do not seem to be like God at all, and yet they worship him.”

They acknowledge him in words, and worship him with the body; but how few worship him in reality, 'in spirit and in truth!' Among those who do thus worship God, there is a constant and growing likeness to him. This is one of the means by which sanctification is effected; and the Bible assures us that when we see our Saviour face to face, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. But even the nominal worship of Jehovah has a far better effect on the character than the worship of polluted deities, and probably there is no country where the true God is known in which the state of morals is anything like as low as it is in those parts of the world where idol-worship exists. Indeed it is hard for us even to form a conception of such a corrupt state of society as existed among the Greeks, for instance, according to the accounts of historians. Your question, James, has led us directly to the subject of our lesson to-day.

The first want of man, in his natural state evidently is, clearer knowledge. Without a revelation of some kind, he could not discover what he needs to know either of God, of the future, or of duty. We have already seen that this is one of the considerations which renders a revelation probable at all; and if it was probable at all, there was a probability that it would teach those things which man needed to be taught. Indeed the very idea of a revelation is the communication of knowledge -for what is a revelation which reveals nothing?"

"What did the men do, then, who lived before the Bible was written?" asked Fanny. "Adam for instance, he must have needed a knowledge of God, even though he was innocent. And he must have known about God in some way, of course ;-how do you suppose he did, mother?"

"It does not follow that a written revelation would have been needed, if man had not fallen," said her mother. "God undoubtedly, made himself known to Adam directly, and held frequent intercourse with him, before his fall. I believe I have remarked before, that an innocent creature would have needed the

knowledge of his Creator and communion with him, in order to the perfection and happiness of his nature. Indeeed, it is difficult to see how there could be any right or wrong, and consequently how there could be any true dignity or happiness, for a rational creature without the knowledge of God. He would resemble the brutes in his enjoyments, and would be distinguished from them only by the sense of an unappeasable want. But after man fell, the revelation of God to him became necessary on other grounds. Do you see what they are?”

"Why, I suppose," said James, "that if God meant to restore and pardon men, he could not do it without giving them a knowledge of himself."

"No, certainly not, and that for several reasons. If he designed to restore man to holiness, he must present him with a holy object to worship. He must give the knowledge of himself as a lawgiver, before he could impose a law. And he must give the knowledge of himself and of his law, before he could send a Redeemer in the person of his Son." "Yes, mother, I see that."

"Now, the Bible contains an account-an