what you mean ? Tell me, dear mother, did I make him die?

Moth. My dear, he died to save his people from their sins, and I hope thou art one of them.

Child. Why, mother, have I any sins? What are they, mother?

Moth. We are all sinners, child; sin is offending God 'n thought, word, and deed, at which he is angry.

Child. When I do a fault, is God angry for that? Is that a sin, mother?

Moth. Every fault you do, my dear, is not a sin against God.

Child. When did I make God angry then?

Moth. When you break any of God's commandments, then you sin against God; as when you take God's name in vain, when you disobey your father and mother, and the like these are sins against God, and these he is angry at. Child. 1 never take God's name in vain, mother, nor never disobey you, mother. I love you dearly, and do every thing you bid me; don't I, dear mother?

:

Moth. Well, my dear, and I hope God is not angry with thee: be a good boy then, I am not angry with thee, my dear.

[Hitherto the mother speaks coldly, and makes light of the thing; and having no other view at first than only quieting the child, was for going away, at which the child cries again.]

Moth. Why dost cry, my dear? I tell thee I am not angry with thee. Do not cry.

Child. God may be angry with me for all that, mother. Moth. No, no: God is not angry with thee. Do not cry, my dear,

[Still the mother is insensible of the work of God in the heart of the child, and takes all this for common talk; but she soon sees with other eyes.]

Child. Why, mother, will God never be angry with me but when you are angry? I am afraid God is angry with

me, though you kiss me, and be friends with me, and love

me.

Moth. Why so, my dear?

Child. Why, dear mother, my father told me yesterday that God has done a great many things for me, and given me a great many good things; and I never thanked him, nor loved him for it yet, nor served him, nor prayed to him yet: and is not God angry with me then?

[The child weeps.]

Moth. That is very true, my dear; but I hope God is not angry. Do not cry, my dear.

Child. But should not I have thanked God for all that? Is it not a fault, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear, you should have thanked him, prayed to him, and praised him.

Child. But how should I have done it, mother? I did not know, aud you never told me, and my father never told me, nor showed me how. Will God be angry that I did not thank him, when I could not tell how to do it?

[The mother was but cold and indifferent all this time; but now she found herself touched, and was confounded with the child's discourse; and taking the child in her arms, she kissed it, and wept, but could not speak to it a great while at last she said, with great tenderness-]

Moth. My dear child, it is not thy fault, it is our fault, it is my fault, and it is thy father's fault: we have not shown thee, nor taught thee, nor given any good example to thee how thou shouldst thank God, or serve or know God.

Child. Yes, my father did it last night.

Moth. Alas, poor child! thy father, and I too, should have done it many nights and years ago; more shame for us that we have neglected it till thou should reprove us for it thyself.

Child. But my father said it was not too late now, mother.

Moth. I pray God it may not: but that's no thanks to us,

my dear; thou mayest have cause to blame us to thy dying day.

Child. But is it too late for me then, mother?

[Here the mother finds the heart of the child is touched; and it immediately entered into her thoughts, that she might be made a temptation to the child to despair, and cast off convictions: this alarms the mother, on the other hand, and therefore she adds-]

Moth. No, my dear, God forbid! the sin has been our's, not thine; but it is never too late to pray to God.

Child. What must I do when I pray to God?

Moth. You must confess your sins to him, pray to him to forgive your sins, to bless you, and sanctify you, and preserve you: you must pray to him to give you your daily bread, and keep you from all evil, you must give thanks to him for all mercies, and all the good things he has done for

you.

Child. Must I thank God when I pray, mother? How can I do so? Is that praying?

Moth. Yes, my dear, praising God for mercies received, is part of the duty of prayer, as well as seeking to him for mercies we want; for so God has commanded, "in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, making our requests known unto God.

Child. But if I have made God angry, how can I ask him for forgiveness? Will God forgive me?

Moth. Yes, my dear, he will forgive thee: he is a merciful God; it is his nature and property ever to have mercy and to forgive.

Child. How do you know it? Are you sure, mother, that God will forgive me my fault, if I ask him forgiveness?

Moth. He has promised to do so, my dear.

Child. Promised, mother! How is that? I never heard him speak. Did he tell you so, mother?

Moth. My dear, he has promised in his word: it is in your. Bible, which is the word of God

Child. O! I am glad if it is there. My father told me that God speaks to me, aud I hear him speak when I read. book. Show it me there, mother.

my
Moth. There it is, my dear.

[Here the mother shows the child the several texts following:-Whoso confesses and forsakes, shall find mercy, If we confess and forsake our sins, he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all iniquity.]

Child. The blood of Christ, mother! what is that?

[Interrupting her.]

Moth. Why, my dear, this is that the minister made thee crv about God. Jesus Christ is that great Saviour, which the minister told thee shed his blood for our sins, died, and was crucified, to save a lost world.

Child. But, dear mother, my father told me Christ was God. Can God die?

Moth. My child, Christ was God eternal, one with the Father; but Christ, to fulfil the great purpose of man's redemption, according to the eternal counsel of God, before the world began, in the fulness of time became man, took upon him, not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham and this he did that he might be God-man, and therefore be a Mediator between God and man, partaking of the nature of both, and laying his hand upon both, to "make peace for us through the blood of his cross."

Child. I cannot understand this, it is all wonderful! a wonderful mystery!

Moth. It is so, my dear: "This is the great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh."

Child. And did this God-man die for me, mother? How is that?

Moth. He died for the sins of all that believe on him. Child. But what is it you mean by dying for sin, and dying for me, mother? I do not understand it.

Moth. Sin, my dear, is offending God, or making God angry: and this sin, or this anger of God, would end in

death; "for the wages of sin is death:" but God, in his own original love to us, sent his Son to die in our stead, "tha whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life."

Child. So, if I sin, I must die, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear.

Child. And must you die, if you sin, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear.

Child. But you never sinned, I hope then?

Moth. Alas, my dear, I am a great sinner.

Child. Why, you must not die, mother; you shall not die, mother. Shall you?

The child weeps.]

This

Moth. We must all die, my dear; but this is meant of cternal death,-going to hell, child,―dying for ever. is that which is the wages of sin.

Child. Must all that sin go to hell, mother?

Moth. No, my dear: this is what I was saying before, that God being thus angry with sinners, and the wages of their sin being death, this blessed Son of God, this Godman, the Mediator, came into the world, and taking on him our nature, died for us. There 'tis, my dear, in your Bible, Rom. v. 6-" That while we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly;" and there again, 1 Tim. i. 15-"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners:" and in abundance of other places.

Child. Let me see it, mother; for my father said God spoke in my Bible, and I shall be sure it is true, if it be there.

Moth. I'll turn the leaf down at it, my dear, that you may find it again.

[The child reads again-" died for the ungodly!" and looking up to its mother, asks this very affecting question.

Child. Dear mother, did Jesus Christ die for me? what, for me! I did not know him! I have done nothing to make him die! nor have I done any thing to please him! I never