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vain and foolish to the last, his whole care seemed to be

how he could avoid having it said of him “ a woman slew him." That this might not be said, he told his armourbearer to draw his sword and kill him, which the young man did.

Marianne. But that would not prevent people saying that a woman had killed him?

Grandfather. No. It only made the manner of his death better known; and this teaches us never to do wrong to avoid disgrace, for it is a sure way of making the disgrace more notorious. Abimelech slew his seventy brethren upon one stone, and one stone came to him carrying his death warrant; so remarkably did his sin resemble his punishment. It is sad, my children, to think of the death of a hardened sinner like Abimelech. We shall close this subject for to-night with a prayer that we may not delay repentance till it be too late.

Gideon was thrashing his corn when the angel appeared to him,-What does this teach us?

Gideon did not think that could be a blessing to him which did not also bring a blessing to all his people,What do we learn from this?

When the Lord promised to be with him, Gideon did not shrink from the task that was before him,-Of what does he set us an example here?

What do we learn from the answer Gideon gave to the men of Ephraim's accusation?

Gideon took the power that was given him by God;

he refused it when offered by the people,-What do we learn from his example?

Gideon made an ephod which became a snare to the people,-What does this teach us?

By attempting in a sinful manner to conceal the instrument of his death, Abimelech made it better known, -What are we taught by this?

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS.

"I can do all things, or can bear

All sufferings, if my Lord be there;
Sweet pleasures mingle with the pains,
While his own hand my head sustains.

"But if the Lord be once withdrawn,
And we attempt the work alone;
When new temptations spring and rise,
We find how great our weakness is.

"So Samson, when his hair was lost,
Met the Philistines to his cost;-
Shook his vain limbs with sad surprise,-
Made feeble fight, and lost his eyes."

WATTS

As

The next evening found George, Johnnie, and I seated in our usual places waiting for our story. soon as grandfather had taken his seat he began as follows:

Grandfather. The people to whom next was given power to scourge the Israelites were the children of Ammon. For eighteen years they vexed and oppressed the chosen people. Then the sons of Jacob cried to the Lord; they humbly confessed that they had sinned;

they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord. The Ammonites assembled an army and marched into Gilead, that part of the country of the Israelites which lay nearest to them. The Israelites too assembled an army, and asked Jephthah the Gileadite to be their captain. Jephthah, after spreading the whole matter before God in prayer, beseeching from Him direction how to act, and a blessing upon his undertakings, after doing this, the Gileadite entered upon his duties as leader of the armies of Israel. Let us imitate the example of Jephthah in commencing all our undertakings with prayer.

George. Was Jephthah a brave man, grandfather? Grandfather. We are told that he was a mighty man of valour. Yet, though fearless in war, Jephthah did. not love war for its own sake; he desired peace when it could be innocently obtained. It is no mark of a cowardly spirit to use every lawful means of keeping out of strife. Jephthah sent messengers to ask the king of the Ammonites why he had come to fight against the children of Israel. The king of Ammon probably never before thought of a reason why he fought against the Israelites; it was enough for him that he enriched himself with their spoil; whether it was just to do so he did not consider, but it is easy to find an excuse for what we wish to do; so when Jephthah sent to ask a reason for his conduct, the king of the children of Ammon managed to find one which at first sight appeared reasonable enough. He said that the Israelites

had taken away his lands, and he wished them peaceably restored. To this Jephthah replied that Israel had taken away no land from the children of Ammon. Sihon, the Amorite, had dispossessed the Ammonites of their country, that part of it at least that lay between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok. This was no concern of the Israelites; they were not to be expected to reconquer the land that they might bestow it on the children of Ammon.

Marianne. But had they not the land that the Ammonites asked for?

George. Yes. They took it from Sihon and made it their own.

Grandfather. They did. But you will remember that it was Sihon who began the war. The children of Israel sent to ask him to allow them to pass through his land; he not only refused, but marched with an army out into the wilderness to attack them. The Lord gave Sihon, king of Heshbon, with his army, into the hands of the children of Israel, and commanded them to take possession of his land. God can give nothing that is not his own, for to him all things belong. What he bestows, it is good that we thankfully receive. Thus Jephthah pleaded; and, besides, he had this to say against the Ammonites' claim, that the children of Israel had now been in possession of the land for three hundred years; and the sons of Ammon had not hitherto attempted to dispossess them of it, and had made no pretension of having a right to it. It shewed that the Israelites

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