SUNDAY LESSONS.

LESSON FIRST.

MY DEAR CHILDREN

I have made this little book for you, and have called it "SUNDAY LESSONS." The name may not have caught your notice; or you may understand by it only that the book contains something which you are to learn on Sundays. But I mean by the name more than this. You are learning "lessons" every day; but did you ever happen to consider what a "lesson" is, or should be? Let me try to tell you.

You all have affections. Perhaps this is not plain to you. But you must all of you know that you love some things-you wish to be with this person or that you desire to do this thing or that and these wishes and desires and all wishes and desires are affections. You are capable of

wishing and desiring, and of being happy when your wishes are indulged; and this is because you have a will. If you had no will, you could not wish or desire or love anything. And all your wishes and desires, and all your affections, belong to your will.

I hope you now understand what I mean when I say you have affections. But, beside these, you have also thoughts. You can think, sometimes of one thing and sometimes of another. You can think of each other. You can think of your books, of your play, of your homes. And whatever you have ever seen or heard of, you may think about. Now this is because you have an understanding. And all your thoughts belong to your understanding. If you had no understanding you could not possibly think at all.

If the meaning of what I have just been saying is not plain to you, you had better ask your teacher to make it plainer. If you will always try to tell what it is you do not understand, a little conversation with your teacher will often enable you to perceive the meaning of it.

I have told

you that you have a will and an understanding. Let me now tell you why you have them.

God gave them to you, when he created you. He gave a will to you, in order that you may love what is good. If you love what is good, you will be happy. And He wishes you to love what is good, because He wishes you to be happy. He loves you better than any body else loves you; and you never can possibly know how well He loves you. And He knows all things. And He wishes you to love what is good, because He knows that this is the only thing which can possibly make you happy; that is, truly happy, and happy always; happy, as the angels in heaven are happy.

Because God wishes you to love what is good, He has given you an understanding. If you had no will you could not love anything; but if you had no understanding, you could not tell what was good or what was bad, or whether you loved good things or bad things. If you had no understanding, you could not think anything; and if

you could not think anything you could not know anything, and therefore you could not know what was good and what was evil; you could not know whether you were loving good or loving evil; you could not learn how to change your will when you are loving evil, and make your will better and better, until you love what is good and nothing but what is good. And yet you must know and learn this, and do this, if you would go to heaven and be happy with the angels there.

Do not forget that I am saying all this in order that you may understand what I mean by a "lesson. God gave you a will, that, with this will, you should love what is good. And He gave you an understanding in order that you should make this use of your will; that is, in order that you may know what is good, and learn to love it. And your understanding can help you to do this, because by your understanding you may learn the truth,—and the truth will tell you what is good and what is evil. Now a "lesson" is that which gives truth to your understanding; a lesson gives you truth, in order that it should be useful to your

will, in the way it ought to be. Whether it is useful in this way or not must depend greatly on yourself.

You hear every day, in your schools, something To learn a lesson is to put it into the understanding, so that it may do its proper work. work. But you may tell me that you are all learning lessons every day, in the school, and you cannot tell what they have to do with loving what is good or what is evil.

said about learning your lessons.

You

may say, one of you learns a lesson in geography, another a lesson in grammar, another in spelling, another in French, or in music, or in drawing, or in dancing, and you cannot see what these lessons have to do with loving anything.

But you cannot see this, only because you do not know why you are at school, and why you are learning anything. You are quite too young to understand all the reasons for all the things you

are required to do.

But you may still have some knowledge of these reasons. I can tell you that the true use of every thing you are learning, is, to help you to love what is good and do what is good.

B