Children, will you think of that precept?
Conversing with two lads once, I asked one, Who wrote the Bible, good men, or bad men? "Good men, of course," was the response. "But how do you know they were good men?" I rejoined. And he said, "Because,"—a very common and very foolish answer,—and was silent. "I think," said the other lad, the younger of the two, "that good men wrote the Bible, because good men love the Bible, and wicked men don't."
Can you give another reason as good?
Now I have told you, briefly, of the four evangelists. They were good men, honest-minded and sincere. Wicked men, all men, act from motives. But they could have had no motive to deceive. They lost friends, and wealth, and honor, and ease, and gained contempt, persecution, and suffering, by preaching the gospel. Their conduct is full evidence that they were pure and good men. And, if they were good men, they wrote the truth; and, by their labors we have a correct and faithful account of the life of Jesus. Study these books, and by them be made wise. Above all, remember the precept of John, "Little children, love one another."
MAY-DAY.
BY MRS. NANCY T. MUNROE.
It is spring,—a backward spring, it is true, for now it is the first week in May, and not a flower to be seen except the yellow dandelion, not a blossom even on a cherry tree; nothing is green but the grass, and that—yes, that is very green, especially this piece before my window; it seems a relief to look upon it.