MAMA. Ay, in the sense in which you understand it, Mary; but here it surely means something else. What had Naaman brought from his own country?

MARY. Oh! a great deal of gold and silver, and ten changes of raiment.

MAMA. And why so; did I tell you lately? MARY. Out of civility, Mama; not to ask a faYour empty-handed.

MAMA. Very well. Now this was the sort of blessing," or present, as we should call it, he wanted to force upon the prophet. Did he accept it?

MARY. Oh! no; he said, "As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none." I think he was quite right, Mama, not to take money for what was entirely God's goodness.

MAMA. A very proper view of the subject, Mary, and just what Elisha felt. Did Naaman any further boon from him?

ask

MARY. Yes; "two mules' burden of earth." What could that be for?

MAMA. Mary, on what were sacrifices usually offered ?

MARY. On an altar, Mama.

MAMA. And what is an altar, my dear?

MARY. I have seen pictures, of them, Mama;

they are a kind of solid tables. The one in the Tabernacle was all laid over with gold.

MAMA. True; but frequently in early times, and at a distance from all temples, they were made with rough stones or even earth. Do you remember any thus hastily and probably rudely built?

MARY. Mama, Balaam made Balak build seven at one time. I dare say they were just of earth.

MAMA. In all probability: and so would Jacob's be, on the spot where he had his beautiful dream. But did we not hear of a stone altar very lately?

MARY. Yes; the one made of the twelve stones out of the bottom of Jordan.

MAMA. Very well indeed! You are putting that one just to the use God intended, by thus remembering it. Well, Naaman, I suppose, thought earth from Israel would be more acceptable to Israel's God, because its rivers were more highly favoured than those of Syria. His conversion seems to have been a sincere one, and as such no doubt accepted; but like most earthly things, it had a great imperfection. Can you point it out?

MARY. Mama, he seemed afraid not to bow

down still to idols, because his master did it. This was surely sinful; was it not?

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MAMA. Undoubtedly, my dear; "the fear of man," says the Bible, bringeth a snare," and so must this cowardly attendance on idol worship have proved to Naaman. But we must not harshly blame him till we are sure that the same fear has never led us into compliance with customs or actions which our consciences condemn. What humbling instance of human frailty and abject covetousness, in one who should have known better, have we in the end of this chapter?

MARY. Mama, Elisha's servant, Gehazi, ran after Naaman, to get some of the rich presents his master had refused.

MAMA. Ay, Mary, if the " fear of men" slays its thousands, the "love of the world" destroys its tens of thousands." What does the apostle "Desay, on a similar occasion, of his servant? mas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world ;" and "The love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." What judgment overtook Gehazi for his greediness?

MARY. Oh! Mama, the leprosy of Naaman clave to him for ever.

MAMA. A very appropriate punishment, my

dear; which imprisoned a debased and polluted spirit in a body equally loathsome and corrupt ! But by what other sin was Gehazi's "love of filthy lucre" enhanced?

MARY. He told a string of dreadful lies, Mama; first to Naaman, when he asked the things, and then to Elisha, when he inquired where he had been? and he answered, “Nowhere.”—Mama, Gehazi must have been a fool as well as wicked, to think to deceive a prophet.

MAMA. My dear, what are those, then, who flatter themselves with hopes of deceiving God! Let us not be of the wretched number, nor of those, more common still, who fatally delude themselves!" Be not deceived," says the Apostle, "God is not mocked ;"- " he that soweth to his flesh" (like Gehazi) "shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting!"

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MORNING SEVENTEENTH.

LESSON.-2 Kings, Chapter vi.

MAMA. We have, in the beginning of this chapter, my dear Mary, one of those miracles,trifling in appearance as compared to the restoration of health or life, but flowing from the same spirit of universal benevolence, distinguishing a merciful God, of which several have lately come under our notice. We have had much occasion to read and talk about miracles; it is high time we should see if we can explain exactly what they What do you understand by a miracle, my,

are.

dear?

MARY. Mama, I am not so sure of being able to tell, as when you asked me about an idol. It is just as you said; the more one learns, the more one feels ignorant. I know what sort of a thing it is to raise dead people and to cure leprosy, and to make iron swim; but I don't know any right word for it except a miracle.

MAMA. As I formerly told you, my dear, I am always much more anxious you should have