will be pleased to give you his Grace, to enable you to acquire the spirit of that which you read, and the will and resolution to do that which is commanded.

The whole of the Scriptures are contained in the Old and New Testaments; which are bound together, and called the Bible or Book; and upon diligent perusal you will discover that the truth of the New Testament is founded and established upon that of the Old; consequently both are to be studied.

In the Old Testament you will find an account of the beginning of time; the history of the creation of the world; the fall of man, which brought death into the world; (see the direful consequences of sin!) the promise made to him of pardon and redemption, through the Saviour, who was to be born of the "seed of the woman ;" which Saviour, "the Word" is represented as a Creator of the world; so that you see the very commencement of the Old Testament bears testimony to the

truth of the New; you will there read of the further destructive nature of sin, which occasioned God to destroy all mankind, excepting Noah and his family, by the flood; and this preservation of Noah and his family will prove to you the exceeding benefits which spring from righteousness. You will read that, when all mankind, (i. e. the race of Noah, and their children) turned from the worship of the true God, (Abram excepted) that God chose Abram as his peculiar care, as a reward for his faith-(behold the blessed consequences of faith!) sware to him that he should be a great nation, and that in him and his seed should "all nations be blessed," changing his name from Abram to! Abraham, which means, father of the faithful; and the way by which all mankind are blessed in his seed isthe Virgin Mary, of whom our Saviour was born, was a lineal descendant of Abraham; and here is (among many others) a most important reference indeed to our Saviour, and a further incontrovertible

proof of the truth of the New Testament. I should have observed to you that, previously to this, you will read that the ages of men extended to an extreme length, some living three, four, and five hundred years; some much more: Methusalem, the oldest, living to the amazing age of 969 years! and yet you read that they all died; which ought to make you reflect that the longest life must have an end; and how much sooner than of old do modern lives end? a life which reaches to one hundred years is now so rare an occurrence that it is written in the chronicle of wonders: the majority of mankind now die early, and the greater part of these when very young. Reflect then-if life be so short, death certain, and judgment after death as certain, what boots the life which is not well spent ; and what earthly power, wealth, possession, or pleasure is worth taking in exchange for our souls?

You will read how (progressively) God continued to fulfil his word, or oath, to

you

Abraham; you will read the beautiful, interesting, and profitable histories of the Patriarchs, and the happy or disastrous consequences of virtue and vice, in the fate of all those who attached themselves to the one or the other;-and as you proceed will find in almost every incident some type of, and in almost every prediction some prophecy concerning, Christ: discovering proof upon proof of the authenticity of the New Testament. You will learn how God's Israel, the Jewsthen called the children of Israel from Jacob, [the father of the heads of the twelve tribes] whose name God changed to Israel; i.e. a great prince or conqueror→→ were in bondage in Egypt 430 years; and the manner in which God delivered them, through the agency of Moses; which will prove to you that God never forgets his promises; and he has promised you, as well as all mankind, that if you will be good Christians, you shall be saved. You will learn from the dreadful plagues which

God inflicted upon Pharaoh, because he withstood God's commands, what a fearful thing it is to withstand God; and, from Pharaoh's dreadful death, you will learn the fate of God's adversaries; you will also perceive the sinful and rebellious nature of man, (the consequence of original sin) from accounts of the ingratitude of the children of Israel to God, who fed them forty years in the wilderness; which shews you the great forbearance of God, in that he did not destroy them; because, although they were Abraham's seed, and through Abraham's seed God had promised that all mankind should be blessed, had he destroyed them, the promise could not fail, because he could have raised up children to Abraham from the stones of the desart; yet God punished them severely. You will also learn, from this part of the history, the danger of offending God, the necessity you are under of forbearance towards your fellow-creatures, and how certain God's people are of receiving all