Be thankful, youthful reader, for instruction and for discipline, for a mother's teachings and a father's rod. You may live to know that both are for your good. Many a child, when he has grown up to be a man, has looked back upon his early days, and has seen reason to rejoice that he was not allowed to break the laws of God without restraint. The plans of correction adopted by his parents which he then considered unnecessarily severe, he has been convinced were requisite, and highly beneficial. "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth;" for then he becomes accustomed to the yoke, and obedience to the laws of earthly parents leads to obedience to the laws of God.

London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row.

PUBLISHED BY J. MASON, 14, CITY-ROAD; SOLD AT 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

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SAUL.

"If thou be one whose heart the holy form
Of young imagination hath kept pure,
Stranger, henceforth be warn'd, and know that pride,
Howe'er disguised in its own majesty,

Is littleness; that he who feels contempt

For any living thing, hath faculties

Which he hath never used;-that thought with him Is in its infancy."

WORDSWORTH.

I. A KING DEMANDED.

ISRAEL had hitherto been ruled by Judges, such as Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, God Himself being their invisible and only King.

But the people demanded a change of government. Samuel was their Judge for many years, and under his administration they were content and happy; but, when he became an old man, he appointed to the office of Judge his two sons, Joel and Abiah, of whom it is said, that they "walked not in his ways, but

turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment." *

It is a grievous thing when the children of a pious man do not imitate his example; for it not only causes distress to their father, but, in some instances, is attended with injury to great numbers of their fellow-men. Yet we often see this. Many an individual, eminent for his learning, his patriotism, and his piety, has had sons who, instead of treading in his steps, have become wild and dissolute; and, instead of being worthy to occupy his place in the state or in the church, have done dishonour to his name, and have brought upon themselves disgrace.

Such was the case with the sons of Samuel; and what was the result? The Elders of Israel made their conduct a pretext for demanding a King, and thus altering the form of government which had so long been established in the land. But for the conduct of Joel and Abiah they could have had no ground on which to urge their demand; and, though we

* 1 Samuel viii. 3.