repent. It may be very much unlike it. Let us be very careful, my dear children, how we speak of the great and holy God; and how we think of him too.

What can we, who are like the worms of the dust, know of that Being who has lived from all eternity, and will live for ever; who knows all things that have ever happened, or will ever happen; who made, and takes care of all beings and things; who governs all beings and things; who has infinite wisdom and power, and can do whatever he pleases, and whenever he pleases to do it?

What can we know of God, except what he has taught us about himself in the Bible? Men try to find out things about God in other ways-by the strength of their own minds, by their own thoughts and feelings; by making God such a being as man is. But they fall into great mistakes and errors. Let us not do so, my dear children. Let us go to the Bible to learn about God. Let us pray to God to enable us to understand it. Let us compare one Let us try to find

part of the Bible with another. out the meaning of the language which the Bible uses, when speaking of God. When we have found out this meaning, then let us stop. We cannot find out more, if we try. God has told us all that it was necessary, or best, for us to know. For this let us be thankful. With this let us be satisfied. Let us believe, love, and obey the plain, simple truths which God has taught us in his word, and not try to be wise above what is written.

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CHAPTER XIV.

If the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, how great will be the condemnation of those who repent not at the preaching of Jesus Christ. What this condemnation is. God is good, in punishing the impenitent.

THE preaching of Jonah had an immediate effect upon the people of Nineveh. It is very remarkable that it did. Wicked people are not often willing to listen to those who tell them of their wickedness, and of the punishment which it justly deserves. They more generally turn away from such reproof, and endeavor to forget it, and to think that their wickedness is not very great. They love to continue in it, and therefore find excuses for it. Or, if they begin to fear that it may draw down upon them the displeasure of God, and expose them to his judgments, they think that these judgments will not yet come upon them, and that they may put off repentance for some time longer.

But the people of Nineveh felt very differently. They believed all that Jonah said was true. They knew that their wickedness had been very great indeed. Their memory spread it all before them. Their conscience accused them, and filled their breasts with the deepest remorse. They saw that they could not excuse themselves, or make their guilt appear to be a small matter. They felt that it was so great, that it truly deserved not only the punish

ment which Jonah had threatened, but a great deal

more.

They had probably heard of the Hebrews, to which nation they understood Jonah belonged. They had probably heard of much that the God of the Hebrews had done for that people;-of the miracles that he had wrought in their behalf; of the victories that he had enabled them to gain over their enemies; of his driving out the heathen from Canaan; of his giving the Hebrews that delightful and fertile country; and of his continuing to protect and bless them.

It is very probable, also, that Jonah told them of his own wonderful deliverance, by the power of that God whom he worshipped, from the dreadful danger which threatened him when cast overboard by the mariners, and afterward, while inside of the fish.

The Ninevites could not but compare the God of the Hebrews, and of Jonah, with their own gods. They could not but see the immense difference between them; how the one was almighty, and the others utterly weak and powerless. They acknowledged that the God of the Hebrews was the only true and living God. They believed his threatenings. They feared before him, and trembled at the prospect of his terrible indignation against their sins.

You have been taught a great deal about the true God, my dear children. The smallest of you know much more of him than the wisest of the Ninevites did. You have not been left to worship idols as they did, and as many of the poor ignorant heathen do at the present day. You know, too, what God

has threatened against you, if you continue in sinif you do not repent of it, and forsake it, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love and obey God. He has not threatened, indeed, to destroy the place in which you live, as he did to destroy the city of the Ninevites. But you know the still more dreadful punishment which he threatens in the future world, against all who continue disobedient and impenitent!

Are you still disobedient to God, and impenitent -going on in sin, and not feeling at all sorry for it? Think of the people of Nineveh. They repented at the preaching of Jonah, but a greater person than Jonah has been sent to preach to you, and to warn you to repent of all your sins. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He has truly preached to you; for he has directed and taught his apostles to write down his sayings in the Bible, so that you might read and understand them. And you can do this just as well as if you had heard them from his own lips.

A father, if he was at a distance, could write a letter to his son, and reprove him if he had done wrong, and advise him to do better; and tell him, that if he did not feel sorry for what he had done, and ask for giveness, and love and obey his father in future, he must expect, and should certainly receive, a very severe punishment. The father could write all this, and when the son read the letter, he could understand and believe it; he could think and feel just exactly as if his father was present and speaking to him.

In the same way Jesus Christ speaks to you in the Bible. He is calling upon you to repent of all your sins, and to believe in him, and be forgiven; that you may avoid that terrible punishment, in the future world, which God denounces against those who continue in sin and impenitence.

Hear the very words of Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son, (that is, he that trusts in Christ as his only Savior, and feels the need of trusting in him, because he is a miserable, guilty sinner;)-He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; (he shall live for ever in heaven, and be eternally holy and happy there ;)—and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; (shall never enter into heaven ;) but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Always to have the wrath of God abiding on one! This is dreadful indeed. How unhappy a disobedient child feels when he sees that his father is displeased with him and is about to punish him severely. And when he sees that this displeasure continues, and that the punishment does not cease, and that it is even to become more severe, he feels more unhappy, and is wretched indeed.

But what is the displeasure of a father, compared with the displeasure of God! The child's sins. against a father are very small, compared with his sins against God. Indeed, all his sins are sins against God! How great and dreadful will be the punishment which God will inflict upon those who disobey him, and continue impenitent, compared with the punishment which a father inflicts upon his child.