loved him! how should he love me! and love me so as to die for me! why for me, mother?

Moth. This, my dear, is the great thing for which we should praise, and love, and adore God and Jesus Christ, that all this should be done for us, before we had either done good or evil; as thou hast said, my dear, thou hast done nothing to please him, nor hast loved him, it is all his own love to us, not our love to him.

Child. Why, would God love me, whether I loved him or no, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear, see in your Bible, John iii. 16— "For God so loved the word, that he gave his only begot ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." And again, 1 John iv. 10, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

me,

Child. But may not I love God now, for all his love to mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear; his love to us moves us to love him: 1 John iv. 19, "We love him, because he first loved us."

Child. Indeed I will love God. Sure I must love him, if he will not be angry, though I sin against him? Don't you love him, mother?

Moth. I desire to love, and fear, and serve him, as long as I live, my dear.

Child. And may I not do so too, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear.

Child. And did you so before, mother?

Moth. I hope I did, my dear.

Child. But I have not done it before, mother; was not that a fault in me, mother? and is not God angry at

that?

Moth. Well, child, but you have heard that Jesus Christ died to turn away God's anger for that and all other

sins.

Child. Indeed, dear mother, I did not know I must love

God, and fear God before. I never heard any thing of it in my life.

[Here the mother is stung again, and reproaches herself with having neglected the instruction of her child, and weeping, says to the child-]

Moth. My dear, that is my sin, and thy father's sin, and not thine; we ought to have taught thee long ago; and we have reason to mourn for it, and repent of it as long as we live.

Child. But may I not love God now, mother?

Moth. You must love God, and love Jesus Christ, and serve and fear him; this is the end of

your creation. Child. How can I love Jesus Christ now, mother? you say he is dead, can I love him now he is dead?

Moth. He is risen again, child, from the dead

Child. Risen again, mother! How is that?

Moth. My dear, as I told thee before, it was necessary for him to be man as well as God, that he might in our na ture satisfy divine justice; so likewise it was necessary, that he that was to be Mediator should be God as well as man, that he might justify us before God, and intercede with God for us for ever.

Child. How is this? I wonder at it, but do not understand it. How is it, mother? Dead! and live again! and risen! and intercede! What is it all? I do not understand it.

Moth. As man, he could die, child; but, as God, he could not remain dead.

Child. Is this in my Bible too, mother: Does God say this there too?

Moth. Yes, my dear, look here, Acts ii. 24-" Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible he could be holden of it."

Child. But is he risen again for me too?

Moth. Yes, my dear, he hath both died for thee, and iş risen again for thee too.

Child. Show me that in my book, mother?

Moth. Here it is child, Rom. iv. 25–“ Who was de livered for our offences, and is risen again for our justification."

[Here the child, in a little ecstasy of soul, moved by the blessed Spirit of God, grasps the book, and kisses the leaf eagerly, and clapping it to its breast: at which the mother, surprised, says-]

Moth. Why dost thou do that, my dear?

Child. I love him, dear mother, I love him.

Moth. Dost thou know why thou lovest him, my dear? Child. I love God, dear mother, that has loved me so much before I knew him; and I love Jesus Christ, because he has died for me, and is risen again for me. love him, dear mother? But though I love afraid; for my father told me he is God.

May not I

him, I am

Moth. It is true, he is a consuming fire to sin, and the workers of it; but to those who love and fear him, he is a faithful Creator, and a merciful Redeemer.

Child. Then I may love him for that.

Moth. May! my dear, you not only may, but must, Matt. xxii. 37, 38-" Jesus Christ said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great command."

Child. Will he not be angry, mother, if I don't love him?

Moth. Yes, my dear; for he has commanded you to love him, John xv. 9-" Continue ye in my love;" and Gal. v. 22, he saith-" The fruit of the Spirit is love." And he has promised a blessed return to those that love him, John xiv. 22--" He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him."

Child. I wish I could love him more, dear mother.
Moth. You will, my dear, as you grow up.

Child. How, mother?

Moth. Why, the longer you live, the more you will know

him; and the knowledge of God, and the experience of his goodness, will increase your love.

Child. How shall I know him more?

Moth. I hope he will fill your heart with knowledge, according to the promise of the covenant of grace.

Child. What is that, mother?

Moth. It is the blessed declaration of God in his word, wherein he has engaged himself, and his faithfulness, to his believing people, both to be their God, and to preserve them in his fear.

Child. And has he promised me that I shall know him, mother?

Moth. Yes, my dear.

Child. Is that in my book too, mother?

Moth. Yes my dear; here it is, Jer. xxxi. 34-" And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Child. And what shall I do when I know him?

Moth. Knowing him, you will believe on him; and, believing, you will have life through his name, John xx. 31. Child. When shall I do this, mother?

Moth. As thou growest up, my dear.

Here some family occasions calling off the mother, the second dialogue ends.

Notes on the Second Dialogue.

First, observe of the child's being carried to church. That by the word church, or going to church, in all these dialogues, is to be understood the place, and going to the place, of public worship, whether by the church of England people to their parish churches, or Dissenters to their several meeting-houses, particular distinctions one way or another being studiously avoided here; the subject, as the

author humbly conceives, being not at all concerned in our diversity of opinions, sects, or separate assemblies, but equally instructing to all who call themselves Christians, and especially Protestant Christians. He believes it would be very wrong to lay a stumbling-block at the threshold, and to put any prejudice in the minds of the serious readers, which also might prevent, by partiality to opinions, the benefit which may otherwise be universal to Christians of all opinions whatsoever: and this latitude in his charity, and in his design of doing good to all, he hopes none will be offended at.

The father and mother of this little child appear here to be no ignorant persons in the principles or duties of Christianity. But as to the rest, it may be observed, (1) what a wretched irreligious life some of those who have the greatest share of knowledge in matters of religion do lead, especially in their families; (2) what regret it brings upon their minds, when they are convinced of their wickedness in the neglect of their families, and when, as in this case, much of it may be too late to be retrieved; (3) what bitter reproaches such children oftentimes cast back upon their parents, when they (the children) come to find what they have lost, for want of a godly, religious education, and early instruction.

If the children prove sober and religious without the helps of instruction, for the Spirit of God is not confined to, or constrained by, these outward helps, how are they ashamed of, and a shame to, their parents! And how must the parents blush, when they may upon any occasion be told, that the knowledge, the piety, the fear of God, which is found in their children, is no product of their planting, no fruit of what they had sown! Religious children, of profane or negligent parents, are a double testimony to powerful invincible grace, but a dreadful reproach to their parents.

This may be a thought worthy the consideration of any Christian parents that have neglected the instruction of