time. In a fit of passion, while under the influence of drink, he killed his wife, and now he lies under sentence of death.

He might have been saved, perhaps, at the beginning of his evil life. While he had only a little folly he might have been arrested, but there is no hope for him. He can neither have life nor liberty after his last crime. He must die. Little sins make great mischief.

The machinery was all at work in a cotton-mill. A morsel of flint in the cotton struck a spark in the machinery, and set the cotton on fire. A bucket of water would have put it out in a moment, but there was no water to be had. The fire spread like lightning from one machine to another. It burned up the cotton, and licked up the oil, and fed on the timbers. It drove the people out of the rooms. It leaped through the windows and burned through the floors, and brought down the roof with a thundering crash. The fire-engines did their utmost to save it, but all in vain. What might have been extinguished with a bucket an hour before could not be put out then by all the fire-engines in the town.

It is just so with little sins. Conquer them now, and you will have little difficulty. Let them alone, and they will ruin you.

You never know where evil therefore, the beginnings of evil.

will end, when once it has begun. Watch, Beware of little sins.

F

LESSON V.

WHAT THE SPIDER TEACHES.

Text:-"The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.”—PROVERBS xxx. 28.

We have considered the ants, conies, and flies in our previous lessons; and now we come to another of the "four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise." Our lesson this morning is about the spider. You have all seen it spinning its web in some dark corner of the house, or hanging its threads on the trees and hedges. Now let us catch one and put it under a microscope. We will magnify it till it appears as big as a dog. How wonderfully it is made!

Its eyes are bright and clear. Most kinds have eight eyes, but a few species have six, and a very small number have only two. Spiders have eight legs, and each leg consists of seven joints armed with two hooks, which are commonly toothed like a comb. The big lump on its back contains the materials from which it spins its threads. All spiders have the means of spinning these threads, but all do not use them in the same way. The housespider and the water-spider make nets or webs of their threads, and spread them out to catch flies and other insects. Other spiders make houses for themselves of these threads, but often leave them and go prowling round the neighbourhood in search of their prey. Others again use their threads for

travelling purposes, and let themselves down from a window to the ground without the danger of falling. Some have the power of throwing their sticky threads and leaping on their prey. But every kind of spider is provided with a

poisonous tooth, or has the power to kill insects and other small creatures by its venomous bite. The larger spiders that live in hot countries have been known to bite men and produce swelling, and pain, and fever, and sometimes death.

Now let us see what lessons the spider teaches. The first is:

I.-Industry.

The spider is a busy little creature. draws all the materials from her own body.

She builds herself a house, and

She can weave a web, and spin
She can knit, and darn, and

a net strong enough to catch the largest flies. patch, and mend, and keep her threads sticky and ready for use. I have watched her for hours when she has been building, and if any of you will watch her you may learn a lesson of industry. She toils hard, and she works cheerfully. She works all the week through and all the year round, as long as she has anything to do. She needs no schooling, and serves no apprenticeship to learn her trade. She comes into the world with her trade in her "hands." She works as long as she lives, and she only ceases working when she dies. Hers is a busy life. She is never afraid of work and never ashamed of work. She teaches us a lesson of Industry.

I have shown you in the lesson on the ant that industry will keep you out of mischief, for

Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.

And it is just as true of idle minds as it is of idle hands. I have shown you that industry will fit you for usefulness, and help you to be cheerful.

If you read the book of Proverbs you must be struck with the strong figures and stronger language that Solomon uses in condemning laziness. could fill pages with proverbs like these:

"As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him" (Prov. x. 26).

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to

sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man" (Prov. vi. 9--11).

"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich" (Prov. x. 4).

"The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets" (Prov. xxii. 13).

You may find a vast number of texts like these praising industry and condemning idleness. Indeed the wisdom of the world in all ages has put that lesson into its proverbs:

The idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless when it goes, as when it stands.

Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears."

"The used key is