MY SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS.

THE HISTORY OF JOASH.

2 CHRONICLES XXIV.

Teacher. We will begin this morning at the 24th chapter of the 2nd book of Chronicles. Have any of you read the

History of England?

First scholar.-Yes, I have.

Teacher. Do you remember any account of a plot which was once laid against the lives of two young princes?

First scholar. —Yes; against Edward the Fifth, and his brother, who were murdered in the Tower of London.

Teacher.-True. It is said that their uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, bribed two assassins to do the fearful act. By night they wound their way through the gloomy passages of the Tower; and, when they arrived at the cell where the two boys were sleeping, they suffocated them with the pillows. It was soon over.

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minute they were peacefully slumbering, and in a few minutes, by the glimmer of the lanterns, you might have seen their pale forms upon the couch, in the sleep of death. Now, something like this was once very near happening to the king about whom we are going to read.

Second scholar.-Teacher, was he very near being smothered?

Teacher.-Perhaps not; but if you read the last three verses of the 22nd chapter of this book, you will find that he had a very narrow escape from a violent end.

First scholar." But when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah; but Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bed chamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land."

Teacher. You see some of his brothers really were killed. He was stolen "from among the king's sons who were slain." Now what think you would be one of the earliest lessons that Jehoshabeath, the priest's wife, would teach Joash? First scholar.-To be thankful.

Second scholar.- That it was through God's providence he was saved.

Third scholar. To give up his life to God. Teacher. Suppose a fire had broken out last evening in the house where you reside, and that a few moments before the roof fell in you had been snatched in your night clothes from the burning pile, and carried through the falling timbers and the tottering walls to a place of safety; what do you think I should have said to you to-day? Fourth scholar.-What Jehoiada's wife most likely said to Joash.

Teacher. And that would have been,-'be thankful;' remember it was through God's providence that you were saved;' 'give up your life to God.' And now we shall see how far Joash followed this wise and seasonable counsel:read on.

First scholar, ver. 1.—“ Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name, also, was Zibiah, of Beer-sheba."

Second scholar, ver. 2.-" And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada, the priest."

Third scholar, ver. 3.-"And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters."

Teacher.-Have we any hint given us here of any other special mercy which Joash had?

First scholar.-Two wives.

Second scholar.-Sons and daughters. Teacher. Not exactly; look again at the second verse.

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Fourth scholar. A good counsellor; because says, he "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, all the days of Jehoiada, the priest." Jehoiada would teach him to fear God, and to keep his commandments.

Teacher.-True; it was a crowning mercy to have a grey-headed and God-fearing man to teach his young heart the way to fear God, and how to rule the kingdom in righteousness. People who are friendly with the good, sometimes become lovers of good themselves, as you will find in 13th chap. Prov., 20th ver.

Fifth scholar." He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

Teacher. Yes, it is just so. A young and inexperienced man clinging to an old and tried saint, reminds me of the ivy twining round the forest oak. You know what ivy is?

First Scholar.-Was that ivy that covered over the church steeple which we saw when we went to Rd?

Teacher.-Yes, and sometimes it winds its slender branches round the trunk of a mighty

oak, and then-you know what the oak does for it.

Fourth scholar.-It holds it up.

Teacher. Now, which was Jehoiada like, the oak or the ivy?

Fifth Scholar.-The ivy.

All the other boys.-No, the oak,

Teacher. Now, are there any persons in this world around whom you may cling, and whose advice and assistance you should strive to obtain ? First Scholar.-Yes, religious relations and friends.

Teacher. Few mercies greater than these. I remember reading of a christian boy, the son of a holy man named Richmond, who used to say, 'When I find my heart too cold to thank God for anything else, it can still thank him for giving me such a father.' Just so, many boys have godly fathers and mothers; and some that have unkind fathers and mothers who are careless about religion, have still kind friends to speak to them about the "ways of pleasantness," and the "paths of peace;" but I'll suppose that there is one boy here who has neither religious friends nor relations-what must become of that boy?

First scholar.-He will fall into sin.

Teacher.-Is there no prop for him to twine his feeble arms around?-none ?