against
your name?"

4. "O no, mother! I should be so anxious that I should want to hide
myself, for fear something should be read that I should be ashamed
of,--something very bad. But, mother, no king ever did this, that you
know of. If he did, pray tell me more about him; and if his subjects
were not all good and obedient."

5. "I have heard of a king, my son, who has done more than this; but not
an earthly king. Earthly kings are limited in their power; for they are
but men. But the king of whom I speak is the Lord of the whole earth."

6. "Do you mean God, mother?"--"I do, my son. You have told me how you
should behave in the presence of an earthly king on the day he should
appoint to meet his people; and would you treat with less reverence and
respect him who is the King of kings and Lord of lords?

7. "Can you, on entering his house, say, 'The Lord is in his holy
temple,' and feel no desire to meet him there; but allow any trifle that
meets your eye to carry your thoughts away? Do you, when his holy book
is read, feel no desire to hear the directions he has given to lead you
to your heavenly home?

8. "And when the petitions are sent up imploring his blessings, and
asking his forgiveness, have you none to offer? Are you so blest as to
have nothing to ask, and so good as to need no forgiveness?

9. "O my son, be careful how you neglect these gracious privileges! And
when his ministers, whom he has appointed to declare his will,--to
instruct you out of his word,--preach to you from the sacred pulpit,
will you turn a deaf ear, and lose their instructions, and at the same
time displease your heavenly Father?

10. "This great and powerful king is also your father and friend. He
loves you more than any earthly friend. He is willing to hear all your
petitions, and is even more ready to give than we are to ask. He has
appointed one day in seven in which to meet us, and this is the Sabbath,
about the keeping of which we are now talking.

11. "And he has also appointed a day in which he will judge the world,
from the book which he has kept of our accounts.

12. "On that day there will be assembled a great multitude, which no man
can number, out of every kindred and tongue; great and small, good and
bad. You and I will be there, my son.

13. "There will be the minister and his people, the Sunday-school
teacher and his scholars, all to receive either the sentence, 'Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingd