s quite right to take pleasure in the well-earned approbation of
your teachers," continued Mr. Lewis, "and I was glad to hear that you
obtained a premium at the last examination also."

"Yes, uncle, but not the prize I wished for. There was a Roman History
that I should have liked better, and it was just of equal value with
the Bible that I got."

"How of equal value, Edward?"

"I mean that it was not reckoned a higher prize, and it would have
been a nicer book for me."

"Then you had a Bible already?"

"Why, no, uncle, not of my own, but it is easy to borrow one on the
Sabbath; and I had gone through all my Scripture proofs, and do not
want it on other days."

"Read these four verses for me," said Mr. Lewis, pointing to the sixth
chapter of Deuteronomy "commencing with the sixth verse."

Edward read: "And these words which I command thee this day, shall be
in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up; and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write
them upon the posts of thine house, and on thy gates."

"To whom was this command given, Edward?"

"To the Jews, uncle."

"Yes; and the word of God, which cannot pass away, is as much binding
on us as on them, in everything excepting the sacrifices and
ceremonies, which foreshowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
which were done away with, by his death's fulfilling all those types
and shadows."

"Then," said Edward, "we are commanded to write the Bible on our hands
and on our door-posts."

"No, my dear boy, not literally, but in a figure of speech; as the
Lord, when declaring he never will forget Zion, says, 'I have graven
thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.'
The meaning of the passage you first read is that we must have the
word of God as continually present to our minds as anything written on
our hands, and on every object around us, would be to our bodily
sight. And how are we to get our thoughts so occupied by it, Edward?"

"By continually reading it, I suppose," replied Edward, rather
sullenly.

"By reading it often, and meditating on it much," said his uncle; "and
that we can do without interfering with our other business. Without
prayer you cannot obtain any spiritual