in the clouds. Next GOD made the earth and the seas, hills, valleys, and plains; and brooks, rivers, lakes, and seas; and then He made the grass to grow upon the earth. Besides that He made all sorts of trees and plants that bear flowers with lovely scents; and fruits to eat.

colours and sweet All such things as

rice and tea, and

corn, and vegetables, and many more which grow out of the ground, are called "fruits of the earth," as well as what you would mean by fruit-such as apples and currants and plums.

Next GOD made the sun and the moon ; the sun to give us light by day, and the moon by night. How dull and cold everything

would be if there were no sun! The trees and plants would not live, and we should all be very dreary. But if the sun always shone, it would burn up the earth; so at night there is no sunshine, but we have often the soft, cool moonlight instead. GOD made the beautiful stars too. They are very many, so many that nobody can count them, any more than we can count the sand on the seashore; but of all the stars, surely that one must be best and brightest, by whose light GOD led the wise men to Bethlehem, where our Blessed LORD

JESUS CHRIST lay a little Baby in the

manger,

GOD made all kinds of animals; the tiny insects and fish, great whales, all manner of birds great and small, and all sorts of beasts. He made every one very "good," that is, He gave to each such a shape, and such powers, and such a nature as would make it happiest in itself, and most useful to men. But all this time there were no men to enjoy the sunshine and the moonlight, to eat the fruits, or smell the flowers, to listen to the birds singing, and admire the many beautiful animals around. It pleased God to make man last of all, because he was to be best of all, and the other animals were all meant to be of use to him, and so GOD in His goodness made them all ready before He created, that is, made, man.

ADAM AND EVE'S CREATION AND FALL.

WHEN GOD was going to make the first man who ever lived upon this world of ours, He was pleased to say that He would make him in His own Image and likeness, in that form He would hereafter Himself wear on earth; that He would give to man a living soul. He

had given many gifts to all the other animals, such as beauty and strength, but none of them had that greatest of all gifts, a soul that could know its Maker, and have the hope that it might live with Him for ever. But now GOD

made man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed His own breath into him, and so man received a soul that would never die.

When this man was made, the Bible tells us that God rested; not that He could be tired as we are, but that He had finished the work He was pleased to do. He had been six days. making all these things, and it was on the seventh day that He rested; and that day He called holy-and also the Sabbath-which means, Day of rest. That day is what we now call Saturday; and when CHRIST came into the world, and rose from the dead on the first day, He made that to be the holy day instead of the Sabbath-that is our Sunday, or LORD's Day.

This first man was named by GoD, ADAM, a name which means "the man." GoD put Adam into a very lovely garden called Eden, which was full of every sort of tree and flower, and four rivers ran through it, to make it cool and green. Here Adam was to live, and work in the garden. All the beasts and birds and

But none of them pray with him, nor

fishes were tame and gentle, and came to Adam to be named and fondled; he was not afraid of the great lion or tiger, and not even the most timid little hare was afraid of him. All were happy and peaceful. could talk to Adam, nor understand him when he talked to them about the good FATHER, Who had made them all, and given them that pleasant home to live in. And so, that Adam might be still happier, GoD made a woman, and gave her to Adam to be his companion and wife. Her name was Eve, which means, "the mother of all living.'

What a happy life these two people lived! There was nothing to disturb them, nor make them uneasy; they were never ill nor in want of anything but what they had; they had plenty of pleasant work in the garden and among the animals, and God Himself took care. of them, and sometimes talked with them. He loved them very dearly, as His own children, and let them have everything they wanted. They had free leave to gather all the flowers and fruit in the garden, as much as ever they would, all but the fruit of one tree. This tree GOD forbid them to touch, that He might see by their obedience whether they really loved

Him. He told them that they might eat all the other fruits, but that if they ate this one, they would die. Perhaps at first Adam and Eve thought they should never even care to eat it; they had plenty besides, and why should they wish for it?

But the bad Spirit, whom we call the Devil, who once was a good angel, till he disobeyed GOD and was driven out of His Presence, was sorry to see Adam and Eve so happy, and wished to make them wicked and unhappy like himself. When people have done wrong, they very often try to tempt others to do wrong too; and so the Devil thought he would try and make Adam and Eve disobedient, as he was. GOD allowed him to do so, to prove them. He always helps people to do right, when they ask Him to help them, but He allows the Devil to tempt people that they may feel the need of His help.

So the Devil came into the garden of Eden looking like a serpent; and he went to Eve and asked her if GOD had said they might not eat any of the fruits there? Then Eve told the Devil that she and Adam might eat everything that was in the garden, except the fruit of one tree that stood in the middle of it, and