The scholars.-Murder.

Teacher.-Yes, and such a murder. There's something peculiarly melancholy in that verse and the next. Read it.

Fifth scholar, ver. 22.-" Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which had done to him, but slew his son. he said, The Lord look upon it and

Jehoiada his father And when he died, require it."

Teacher.-You remember the fable of the man

and the frozen snake?

Fourth scholar.-Yes.

A man found a snake

in winter, all frozen and stiff, and took it home and gave it some milk, and warmed it, and then it bit one of his own children.

Teacher.-Yes; and here, too, Joash, like the snake, kills the son of that father who had cherished and protected him. He whom Jehoiada's wife saved from a cruel death in his infancy, and whom Jehoiada had counselled with a father's love and faithfulness, requites their kindness by murdering their son. And what became of the snake in the fable?

Fourth scholar.-The father caught up a hatchet and killed it.

Teacher. And we shall see what was done to Joash. I do not envy him his royal pillow that night. Ah,' said poor Wilberforce Richmond, the boy of whom we spoke this morning, 'sweet

is the rest that Christ gives.' And Joash might say, 'Ah, thorny, indeed, is the pillow that sin makes.' But it did not end with a sleepless and a troubled night. Read on.

Sixth scholar, ver. 23.-" And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus."

Seventh scholar, ver. 24.-" For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash."

Teacher.-How was it, do you think, that God did not execute judgment before?

First scholar.-Because he was kind.

Second scholar.—Because he willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live.

Teacher.-Yes; but the thunderbolt comes down at last the arrow is taken from its quiver, and is launched surely, though long delayed. Read the next verse-and you will see that the light, which once dazzled us with its brightness, has gone out, and all is darkness and gloom.

First scholar, ver. 25.-" And when they were dedeparted from him, (for they left him in great dis

eases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died; and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings."

Teacher. And now, let us mark the contrast between Joash in the morning of life, and Joash at the end of his days. Each of you give in one particular of his early history.

First scholar. He did that which was right. Second scholar. He repaired the house of God. Third scholar.-He made a companion of the good.

Teacher. And now, the particulars of his later years.

Fourth scholar. He is an idolater.

Fifth scholar. He keeps company with the ungodly.

Sixth scholar.-He murders the son of his old friend.

Seventh scholar. He is killed by his own

servants.

Teacher.-Right; just glance at the two pictures once more: here is the youth walking in his uprightness, zealous for the honour of the Lord, living in his favour and smile, and enjoying the society of righteous men. There is the man, a worshipper of idols, a companion of fools, a man of blood, withering under the frown and curse of

God, and, at last, in the loneliness of sorrow, dying by the hands of his own servants. Oh, where is the light that once shone so brightly,— and what think you was the first step to all this? Second scholar.-Hearkening.

Teacher.-Yes, and it will be well for us if the knowledge of the occasion of his fall should quicken us to watch and pray. I know that every boy here, at some time or other, will be tempted; even those who read their bible, who love the music of the sabbath bells, and who feel their hearts glow when the glory of Jesus is set forth, will be tempted; and, lest their light should go out in gloom, what must be done.

The scholars. We must pray, "lead us not into temptation."

Third scholar.-We must not hearken.

Fourth scholar.-We must cling to Jesus, as the ivy you told us about last Sunday morning clings to the oak.

Teacher.-Cling to him when Satan tempts to sin, do not make trifles even of little sins. If sins, they are not trifles; and, if you sin, who can say what the end shall be? You may think, 'But I shall never fall as Joash did.' If you

think so, I would whisper to you the 9th verse of the 17th chapter of Jeremiah. Read it.

First scholar.-" The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: Who can know it?"

Teacher. And the 11th chapter of Romans, and the latter part of the 18th verse.

Second scholar." But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."

Teacher. And lastly, the 13th chapter of Mark, and the 37th verse.

Third scholar.-"And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch."

Teacher.-Yes, we may very easily fall if not upheld by God. The first step may be lying, the next thieving; the first step may be hearkening, and the last murder. I remember hearing of three men who were hung some years ago at Norwich, for crime, and their sin began with sabbath-breaking. They, perhaps, little thought, the first sunshiny sabbath morning, when they left the assemblies of the faithful to ramble among the fields and lanes, and jested merrily as way, what the end would be.

they went their But so it was,—

the end was the gallows. Be warned by the sad example of king Joash, lest a worse thing come upon you. Evil companions assuredly will tempt, but God can deliver you from their snares. When the thought of sin arises-as it will arisewhen you feel the heart beginning to swell with pride against the warnings of the righteous, or when your footsteps are well nigh drawn into the haunts of the ungodly, let your soul mount in

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