What a delightful thought this is! What a pleasant picture!-to see a father calling together his little flock,-setting before them the example of reading the Bible-himself hearing them read it-bowing with them in prayer to God-commending them to divine mercy-seeking for them the protection of God, amidst the temptations and trials of life-and asking that he and his may meet in that brighter and better world,

O'er all whose wide extended plains,

Shines one eternal day.

Is there not something delightful, in such a scene? I hope the parent, whose eye shall meet these pages, will at once adopt a practice, so full of blessing as this. It will furnish him with the purest joy. It will strengthen the affection of his children. It will increase their knowledge of sacred things. It will give power to the Bible, when they read it. It will tend to make them useful, and happy in the world. It will cheer him, on the pillow of death; and, when he is gone to a holier world, it will tend to lead his children thither also.

I hope, too, that the child, whose eye meets these pages, will go to his father, and dutifully, and yet urgently, ask him to adopt this practice, in his family. Say to him, "Father, will you pray with me?—will you teach me?-will you instruct me out of the Bible? Will you ask God, that I may go to heaven with you?" Go, my child,-nake this request of your fathermake it in the manner I have told you-perhaps your father will listen to you-I trust he will-and, may be, in consequence of this, you and he, your brothers and your sisters, may all, through the goodness of God, in answer to prayer, meet in heaven-in "that happy, happy, HAPPY world," as I heard a dying youth not long since say;

No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath,

Can reach that healthful shore;

Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,

Are felt and feared no more.

THE CREATION.

"The chapter, which we read this morning," observed Mr. M., as he and his family were seated around their comfortable fire-side, in the evening, "will lead us to dwell upon the creation."

"In the first verse, we read, 'In the beginning, God created the heaven, and the earth.' Sophia, do know what it is to create ?"

you

"I believe it means to bring something into being, which did not exist before," replied Sophia.

"To bring into being from nothing-is that your meaning?"

"Yes, sir."

"We

"You are correct, my child," said Mr. M. are here taught, that God called all worlds into existence from nothing."

"From nothing, Father?" asked Thomas-" Do you mean that before the creation, there was not any thing?"

"No matter, my son-no worlds-God only then existed he is eternal-he has always been, and will

always be ;-but, before he called the worlds, which are found in the universe, into being, there was nothing besides himself."

"But, father" said Thomas, "how could God produce worlds out of nothing?-1 cannot imagine."

"Nor can I," answered Mr. M.-"no one can tell, but God himself, how he could do it."

"But ought we to believe, what we cannot explain?" enquired James.

"A very proper question, Master James," said Mr. M. "let us try it. Here is an apple. You know it was once only a blossom, on an apple-tree, do you not?"

"I believe it was."

"By and by, it was a very small apple?"

"Yes, sir."

"It continued to grow through the season, when it became what you now see it?"

"I believe it did."

"Well, then, my son explain how it grew." "I cannot explain how, father."

"Yet, you are convinced, that it did grow." "I am, sir."

"You believe something to be a fact, then, which you cannot explain. Let us apply this. We are told that God produced all things out of nothing. This is matter of fact-we cannot tell how-but, we can believe it, just as firmly, as we belive that an apple grows, although we cannot tell how it grows. We may believe then-and ought to believe some things, which we cannot explain."

"Father, may I enquire," said Harriet, "what is meant by the words 'In the beginning'—what I mean is, how long is it since God began to create ?"

"I do not know how long it is," replied Mr. M. "the most we know is that, in the beginning of time, God began to create. As he has always existed, he may have begun to create millions of millions of years ago. Probably he did."

"But," said Harriet, "is it not supposed, that this world is only about six thousand years old ?"

"I will tell you, my child," said Mr. M. "what some learned ministers think about it. They think, that many millions of years ago, (they do not know how many,) God created, at once, in a single moment,