George. No, mother, I suppose the sun and moon were made on the fourth day, just as Moses says they were.

Mrs. M. But you might just as well affirm that the sun and moon were not made until two thousand five hundred years after Moses declares they were made, as that God did not sanctify the Sabbath on the seventh day.

George. I think, mother, of another reason for believing that the Sabbath was sanctified at the close of creation. The Bible says in the fourth commandment: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Now, mother, the Bible does not say, here, "wherefore the Lord blesses the Sabbath day." Nor does it say, wherefore the Lord will bless the Sabbath day; it says, that God had already "blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it," before he spoke to the Israelites from Sinai-and when was this done, if not when he rested from his work on the seventh day?

Mrs. M. It is as you say, my son, and I am glad to see that you have thought so much on the subject.

George. I think it would be very strange if the Jews had not been commanded, until they came back from Babylon, to keep the passover, that they might remember how kind God was in passing by

their houses while he slew all the first-born of the Egyptians.

Mrs. M. It would have been very strange-but not more strange than that the Sabbath should not have been observed as a memorial of the creation, until the time of Moses, two thousand five hundred years after the world was made.

George. While Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, does not the Bible say, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh ?" Is this, too, said by anticipation? From the narrative, I should think it quite as likely that Moses got before his story, when he speaks of marriage, as when he speaks of the Sabbath. And from the language of Moses, uncle John, I think, might as well say that marriage was not commanded before the Israelites came out of Egypt, as that men were not commanded to keep the Sabbath before that time.

Mrs. M. We have now talked on the subject enough for one night. Think, my children, how kind God has been to give you the Sabbath. Today you have been permitted to rest, while a great many little boys and girls have been obliged to work until they were very tired. You have been to church, where good people offered up their prayers and praises to God. You have heard the invitations of mercy, and been told what you must do to

be saved. Accept these invitations-obey these words, do not forget them, for, one day, the Lord Jesus Christ will inquire what use you have made of them. And when, before you go to sleep, you thank God for the mercies of another holy day, remember to pray for the many, many children, that know nothing about the Sabbath, and never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ.

EVENING II.

SABBATH SET APART IN PARADISE.

A few minutes after tea, the next Sabbath evening, Mrs. M. went into the room where she had the former conversation with her children about the Sabbath. George, and Charles, and Susan were sitting around the table, waiting for their mother. Mrs. M. told them she was very happy to see so good a sign that they were interested in the subject. The children all said they loved, very much, to converse with their mother respecting the Sabbath, and they hoped that she would talk to them a good while that evening. She asked them if they

thought, during the week, of what she had told them in her former conversation.

George. I thought of it, mother, very often, and I want to ask you, now, what makes any body doubt whether God sanctified the Sabbath on the same seventh day on which he rested himself. I read over, last week, again and again, the account which Moses gives of the sanctification of the Sabbath, in Genesis, 2: 2, 3. I wonder how uncle John, or any body else, can think the seventh day was not sanctified for the Sabbath, at that time.

Mrs. M. The most natural meaning of the language is, that the Sabbath was sanctified at that time. And the reason why your uncle John, and others who agree with him on this point, do not think this is the meaning, is, that they suppose nothing further is said about the Sabbath until the Israelites left Egypt. They think that if Noah, and Abraham, and Jacob had kept the Sabbath, the Bible would have mentioned it.

George. I should think so, too, mother. Does not the Bible say any thing about the Sabbath, from the creation until the time of Moses?

Mrs. M. The Bible mentions only a few things that happened, for twenty-five hundred years after the world was made. Do you know, George, how many chapters there are in Genesis ?

George. Yes, mother, there are fifty.

Mrs. M. These fifty chapters contain the history

of two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years, and the first and second chapters of Exodus carry the history down to the time when Moses was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law in Midian. This was two thousand five hundred and thirteen years after the creation. Now, George, how large a book would these fifty chapters of Genesis, and two chapters of Exodus make, if printed just like Robertson's History of Charles V. in your father's library?

George. I do not know, mother-how many pages would they make ?

Mrs. M. I have not calculated very accurately. I think that if you leave out several chapters which are almost entirely names, and three or four chapters that give an account of the creation of the world, and the fall of man, the remainder would make only about fifty-five pages like those in the History of Charles V. Do you remember, George, how many pages there are in that history?

George. There are five hundred and eighty pages, mother.

Mrs. M. And how old was Charles V. when he died?

George. Fifty-eight years, mother.

Mrs. M. Now, my son, if it takes five hundred and eighty pages to give the history of one man's life, for only fifty-eight years, how very small a part of the history of the whole world, for two