EXPLANATIONS.

To covet, is to wish to take away what another possesses, and to have it for our own.

Covetousness. The desire of another's pro

perty.

"THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF."

THOU shalt love thy neighbour, as well as thou lovest thyself; thou shalt do to thy neighbour exactly as thou wouldst wish him to do to thee, if thou wast in thy neighbour's place.

A man asked Christ what he should do to be good, and to be happy. Christ told the man, he must love God; and that he must love his neighbour as himself.

We call those persons who live near us, our neighbours. Christ meant by neighbours, every body in this world. He meant that every man, woman, or child, whether we know them, or do not know them; whether we love them, or do not love them, is our neighbour.

The man asked Christ,

bour ?"

"who is my neigh

Christ related a parable, to show him who was meant by his neighbour.

There was a city in Asia, called Jerusalem; it was the largest city of the people called Jews. Jesus Christ was killed by the Jews at Jerusalem.

Near the city of Jerusalem was another city,

called Samaria. The people who lived in Samaria hated the people of Jerusalem; and the people of Jerusalem hated the people of Samaria. The people of these cities hated one another so much, that they would not talk together if they could help it, nor do one another any good; indeed they tried to hurt one another as much as they could. This was very wicked and foolish. Once, when Christ, and many men with him, were going to Jerusalem, they were obliged to pass by a small village of the Samaritans. Before they came to the village, Christ sent a messenger to desire that the Samaritans would prepare some food for him and his company. But the Samaritans would not give them any food, only because they were going to Jerusalem.

The men who were with Christ, were very angry; two of them, James and John, requested him to call down fire from Heaven to burn up the Samaritans; but Christ was not angry; he forgave the Samaritans; and he told James and John, that they ought to forgive them also.

This happened a short time before the man asked Christ who was his neighbour.

Christ did not tell the man how badly he had been treated by the Samaritans; but he thought of one good Samaritan, and he told the man how good he was. Before you read the story of the good Samaritan, I must recommend to you to think of your Saviour's conduct upon this occasion. Most people think if they tell no lies of their fellow creatures, that they do not injure them by speaking the truth about them. Most people think it an act of justice to describe the faults of others; they think

that to expose these faults, is to punish them; they think faults deserve punishment, and that they ought to punish them. Christ did not think thus, nor did he act thus. One of his apostles has told us in the New Testament, that God punished wicked people himself, in his own way; and Christ shows us by his example, that we should repeat the good, and not the evil, that we know of others; though it is sometimes our duty to speak of the bad qualities of others, that we may prevent people from being injured by their bad examples, or bad intentions.

Our Saviour's parable may be found in the New Testament, in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

The story is nearly as follows: A man was taking a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, (a city at some distance from Jerusalem.) On his way, the man was overtaken by some thieves, who stripped off his clothes, and hurt him very much; so that when they went away, he was almost dead. Soon after the thieves were gone, a man who was a priest, (that is, a minister, as we call them,) came by; he saw the poor man, but he went on the other side of the way, and did not offer to help him.

Soon after the priest went by, another priest, called a Levite, came that way; but he also passed along, and did not relieve the wounded man. The next person who came along, was a Samaritan; he stopped, for he felt pity for the man, and bound up his wounds, and gave him wine, to make him feel better, and put oil on his bruises, and set him on his horse, and carried him to an inn, where he took care of him.

The next day, the Samaritan went away; but he told the man who kept the inn, that he would pay him for his care of the sick man, besides paying him money then, for what he had done.

When Jesus had shown this Jew, how kind and good the Samaritan was, he asked him, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?"

The man answered, "I think he that showed mercy to the man, was his neighbour."

Then Jesus said to the man who had asked him what he should do, "Go thou, and do likewise." Go, and do like this Samaritan; do all thou canst to relieve people in distress, and to make others happy.

THE BIBLE.

The Bible is divided into the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Testament means will. These Testaments contain God's will-What God chooses his creatures should do. The first part of the Bible is called the Old Testament, because it was written first. The New Testament is called new, because it was written last. The Bible was written by different people, at different times.

The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language. It is the history of the people once called Hebrews; they have since been called Jews.

The New Testament was mostly written in the Greek language. The first four books of

the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books are sometimes called Gospels. They are four histories of Jesus Christ; they were written by four good men, who loved Christ. The names of the books are taken from the names of the men who wrote them. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are sometimes called Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, &c. Saint means a holy, or pious person. Besides these Gospels, the New Testament contains the Epistles and the Revelations.

Children see Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, written over the top of the pages of the New Testament. They see Jude, Peter, James, &c.-Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians, mean the letters of Saint Paul to the people who lived at Rome, at Corinth, and at Ephesus. Jude, Peter, James, mean letters written by Jude, Peter, and James.

Children cannot understand any thing about the Revelations.

We read in the New Testament, of the Temple, the Synagogue, Scribes and Pharisees; young children do not know what these words

mean.

The Temple was a very great and beautiful church; the first Temple of the Jews was built by King Solomon.

Synagogues were smaller churches, where the ministers taught the people.

There are at this time different sorts of sects of Christians; there are Quakers, Roman Catholics, Baptists, &c. There were different sects of Jews. The Pharisees were one sect of Jews. The Pharisees pretended to be bet