ABRAHAM was brought up in a cave, for the tyrant. Nimrod thirsted for his life. But even in this dark home the light of God was in him. He thought much about his Creator, and asked himself the question, Who could be He?

When he was sixteen years old he went out, and when he, for the first time, saw heaven and earth, he was astonished and rejoiced beyond measure, and asked all things round him, "Who is your. Creator ?"

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The sun rose, and Abraham fell down on his face. This," said he, "is the Creator, for his countenance is glorious."

The sun climbed up the sky, and then descended and set at evening. Then the moon rose, and Abraham said to himself" The light that has gone down was not the God of heaven, perhaps this lesser light, which the army of stars obey, is He." But both moon and stars went down, and Abraham stood alone.

He went to his father and asked him—" Who is the God of heaven and earth ?" and Terah showed him his idols. "I will prove them," said Abraham to himself, and when he was alone he laid the most enticing fruits before them. "If ye be living gods,"

said he, "accept the offering made you." But the idols stood there and did not move.

"Can my father count these for gods?" said the boy. "Well, perhaps I will teach him better." So he took a stick and broke all the idols in pieces but one, then put the stick in that one's hand and ran to his father-"Father," said he, "has your chief god broken all the others?"

But Terah looked fiercely at him and answered"You are mocking me, boy; how could it do so, when I made it with my own hands ?”

"Oh, be not angry, my father," said Abraham, "and let thine ear hear what my mouth speaketh! If you cannot believe that your god could do what I have done with my boy hand, how can he be the god who created me and thee, and the heavens and the earth ?" Terah was silent before the lad's

words.

But the news of the deed soon came to the tyrant Nimrod, and he called Abraham before him and said-" My god shalt thou worship, O boy, or the burning furnace shall be thy reward." For all the wise men had foretold to the King, at Abraham's birth, that he would overthrow the idols, and would put an end to the worship ordered by the king in his kingdom.

"Who is thy god, O King ?" asked the undismayed boy.

"The fire is my god," answered the King; "it is the most mighty of beings."

"The fire,” said the boy, "is quenched by water, water rises up lightly into the cloud, the cloud is

driven away by the winds, but man can stand against the winds: so man is the most mighty of beings."

"And I am the mightiest of men," said King Nimrod. "Worship me, or the glowing furnace shall be thy reward!”

Then the boy lifted up his modest eyes and said, 'I saw the sun rise yesterday in the morning and go down in the evening; command, O King, that, to-day, it rise in the evening and go down in the morning, and then I shall worship thee."

And Abraham was thrown into the furnace.

But the flames of the fire did not harm the lad, for an angel came and held him to his breast, and fanned back the flames from him, and they rose round, white and fragrant as the flowers of the lily. The lad came from the furnace more beautiful than when he went into it, and soon after God appeared to him, and called him from Chaldæa, and gave him the great name of His Friend.

And Abraham was the founder, for all time, of the true worship of the one God who made heaven and earth.

QUESTIONS.-Where does this tradition say Abraham was brought up? How old was he when he first saw heaven and earth? What question was it he always asked himself? What did he first think? What made him change? What did he next think? Why did he change his opinion again? What did Terah say to him? What did Abraham then do and say? What did Nimrod command? What was Abraham's answer? What happened in the furnace? What reward did God give him for his fidelity?

THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR.-Tennyson.

He was full of joke and jest,
But all his merry quips are o'er.
To see him die, across the waste

His son and heir doth ride post-haste,
But he'll be dead before.

Every one for his own.

The night is starry and cold, my friend,

And the New-year blithe and bold, my friend,
Comes up to take his own.

How hard he breathes! over the snow
I heard just now the crowing cock.
The shadows flicker to and fro:

The cricket chirps: the light burns low:
'Tis nearly twelve o'clock.

Shake hands, before you die.

Old year, we'll dearly rue for you:
What is it we can do for you?
Speak out before you die.

His face is growing sharp and thin.
Alack! our friend is gone.

Closo up his eyes: tie up his chin:

Step from the corpse, and let him in

That standeth there alone,

And waiteth at the door.

There's a new foot on the floor, my friend,
And a new face at the door, my friend,
A new face at the door.

DICTATION.-Use the first verse for a dictation lesson.