"No Man hath seen God at any time."-John i. 18.

WHY God called by this name. Paris ard Rome. Did any man ever see God? The wind and trees. Did any body ever see pain? Hunger. Love. Eyes put out and ears deaf. A child can think without eyes and ears. The watch in the case. Proof of God. The house. What was it made for? Was it built by chance? The silk-worm. The dead rabbit and birds. The cow and horse seeing a painting. The mind is glad. The body is a house for the soul. The new book. God made things. The rainbow, flowers, and fruits made by God. God seen plainly. When ought a child to think of God? The sincere wish.

CHILDREN have heard a great deal said about God. Our forefathers, a great while ago, used to call him "the Good." We shorten the word a little, and call him GoD; but it means the same thing-good. And they gave him that name because he is so good to men. But I am going to ask these children a question. How do you know there is any God? Have you ever seen him? No; for "no man hath seen God at any time."

Are we sure there are things in the world which we never saw? Yes, a great many. You never saw Paris or Rome, and yet you know there are such places. How do you know? You know, because others have been there and seen them.

Now suppose nobody had ever seen those cities, could you know there were such cities ? N How, then, do you know there is

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any God?

DID ANY BODY EVER SEE GOD? THE WATCH.

Is it because the men who wrote the bible say there is a God? But how did they know? They never saw God. Can we believe there is any thing which nobody ever saw? Yes, & great many things.

Go to the window some cold day. Do you see the trees rocking, and the boughs swinging and bending, and the leaves all flying about? What makes them do so? Can any of you tell? Yes; you all know, it is the wind blowing the trees. But can you see the wind? No; but every body knows there is such a thing as the wind, though we cannot see it.

Did you ever feel sick, so as to take medicine, and be in great pain? Yes, I suppose you all have. But which of these children ever saw the pain? Did you hear it? No. Did you smell it? No. Yet you know there is such a thing as pain, though you cannot see it.

You all know there is such a thing as hunger. How do you know? You never saw it, nor heard it, nor smelt it; but you felt it.

Suppose I should now say, There is no such thing in the world as love. Would it be true? No. But why not? You never saw love. No; but you love your parents, and know by your feelings what love is, though you never saw it.

Suppose one of these children should have both his eyes put out, and be a blind little boy. He could still think. He could sit down and think how his home looked, how his father and mother looked. Suppose he should then lose his hearing, so as to be deaf. He could still think how the voice of his father and mother used to sound, when they spake pleasantly to him. Suppose he were then to lose his taste, so that he could not taste sweet things from sour. He could then sit down, and think how food and fruit used to taste, and how he used to love them. Suppose, next, he were to lose his feeling, so as to be dumb, and cold; he could then think how things used to feel; how an orange felt round, and a book felt flat.

Yes, and if he were to lose eyes, and ears, and taste, and feeling, and smelling, all at once, he could still tell us how things used to be. The sun used to look bright and round, and so did the moon; the rose and the pink used to smell sweetly, the flute to sound pleasantly, the honey to taste sweet, and the ice to feel cold. Ile could think

all about these things.

Now, what is it that thinks? It is the soul-the soul within you. How do you know that a watch-case has any watch in it? Because you hear it tick, and see the pointers move. And just so you know your body has a soul in it, because it thinks, and moves your hand, and your eye, just as the watch within the case moves the pointers. But nobody ever saw the soul. And yet we know we have a soul,

WAS THE HOUSE BUILT BY CHANCE.

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because we see it do things. When you feel happy, the soul makes the face laugh; when the soul feels sad, it shows itself through the face, and perhaps makes the face cry. When you feel wicked, it makes you cross, and speak wicked words, and disobey your parents, and disobey God.

Now, it is in just such ways we know there is a God. Just attend to what I am going to say, and see if I do not make it plain, and prove it all out to you that there is a God, because we see that he does things.

You see this place; you see it is full of things which were planned out, and every thing in it planned for some use. Now look; this pulpit, with its stairs and seat-for what are they designed? Why the seat is for the preacher to sit down, and the stairs so that he can get into it; and this place where I stand, that he may stand up so high as to be seen by all who are here. Those seats, or pews, were made for you to sit in during the sermon, and numbered, so that each family might have their own pew, and know it. Those windows were made to let the light in; those posts to hold up the gallery, so that it might not fall on those who sit under it. Those doors are made to shut the noise and the cold out. Look now, and see if you can find any thing to play with. No; there is nothing. Of course, this house was not made to play in. Try if you can see any thing to sleep on any couch, or bed? No, none. Of course, this house was not made to sleep in. It is all planned to be a place in which to worship God.

Suppose, now, I should tell you this house was never built by anybody. It all grew up by chance, just as it is. The brick for the walls on the outside, and the roof on the top, grew just so, making this great room, with its pews and pulpit, and windows, and stoves, and everything just as it is. It all grew so by chance. Could you believe this? No, you could not believe it. Why, you would say, this house must be built by somebody. True, true; but, tell me, did you ever see the man that made these bricks, and spread these walls? No. Did you see the carpenter who built these pews, and pulpit, and doors, and windows? No. Did you ever see the glass-maker who melted the sand, and made this glass? No. Did you ever see the weaver who wove the stuff that covers the cushions? No. Or the man who hammered out the iron, and made the nails and iron-work? No, no. You never did; and yet you know that all these have lived, because you see what they have done. And this is good proof.

And it is in just such ways that we know there is a God; for he made the clay, which had only to be altered in its shape, and it becomes pews and scats. He made the iron, which has only to have its shape altered by melting. The sand which he made has only to

THE DEAD RABBIT AND BIRDS.

be melted and it becomes glass. He made the little worm which spun the silk, or the sheep that gave the wool of which this cushion was made. And he made the light to shine through those windows, and your eyes to see it after it comes in; and your ears to hear voices and sounds. He made that mind of yours, so that it can understand what I say; and your memory, so that you can lay it up, and keep it, and talk it over after you go home.

I once saw a painting of a dead rabbit and some large birds They looked just as if they were a real rabbit and real birds; and a little dog coming in, jumped up to catch them in his mouth, thinking they were real. Now could any one doubt that a painter had been there who made the picture? No. Nor could any one doubt that there is a God who made the rabbit and the birds.

A painter once painted a large sheaf of corn for a baker's sign; a cow came up and mistook it for a real sheaf, and tried to eat it. And another painter painted a horse, which looked so natural that another horse came up and neighed to it, thinking it was a real horse. Suppose you had seen these pictures, and nobody near them, would you not at once say, somebody must have made these pictures? Yes; and when you see the wheat in the field, and the horse in the street, you know that somebody made them, and that somebody is God.

Why do you love to hear a new and curious story? Is the ear pleased? No; the ear feels no pleasure. Why do you love to see something that is new, and curious, and strange? Is your eye made glad? No; the eye knows nothing about it; but your mind feels glad. When you hear a pleasant story, or sweet music, and when you see a new sight, the mind is glad. But how came that curious mind within you? Did it come there by chance? No; no more than this house came here by chance. The body is the house; the soul lives in it; and God has made the car to let sounds into the soul; and the eye, so that light may go in as through a window: and the tongue, so that the soul may speak out, and tell its feelings; and the feet, to carry it about any where; and the hands, to be servants, and do any thing the soul wants done. And then the body needs food, and God has made the fire to cook the food, and the teeth to eat it. It needs drink, and so he has made water, and the cow to give milk. It gets sick, and so he has made medicines to cure it. It needs clothes, and so he has made the cotton grow out of the ground, the leather on the ox, the wool on the back of the sheep, and the worm to spin the silk. It needs tools, and so he has made the iron and lead, the silver and the gold, and the wood. It needs to be warm, and so he has made and hung up the sun, like a great fire, to pour down his light and heat. The world is full of what God has done. Can you not see his doings everywhere?

t

WHO MADE THE BOOK?

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You see this little book in my hand. It is full of leaves, and maps, and printing. It is a Testament. Here are the chapters and verses all marked out plainly and correctly. Every word and every letter is right. Now, you never saw the man who made this paper, nor the man who put up these types, nor the man who pressed the paper on the types so exactly, nor the man who bound it all up in this bright-coloured leather; and yet you know that such men were alive a short time since. You never will see these men, and yet you know they now are, or once were, alive.

Just so you know that God lives. For he made the cotton which is here altered into paper; he made the oil and the wood, which are burned to make this ink; he made the skin of the sheep, which is dressed and coloured, and is here used for binding the book.

God knew you would love to see the light, and so he made the Isun and the moon. He knew you would love to see beautiful things, and so he painted the rainbow in the clouds, and spread the green grass over the ground, and pencilled the flowers, and planted the trees, and made apples to hang on one tree, and plums on another, and grapes on the vine. He knew you would love to hear sweet sounds, and so he gave your parents a pleasant voice, and filled the air with little birds whose great business is to sing. He knew you would want houses and fires, and so he made the wood, and the clay for the bricks. He knew you would have reason, and yet not enough to lead you to heaven, and so he made the bible. He knew you would have wicked hearts, and so he hath given you the sab bath, and the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, to make you good. He knew you would want to live for ever, and so he has made heaven, where you may live for ever, and never, die, if you trust in Christ and are good and holy.

Who does not see that the world is full of the things that God has done? I am sure I can no more doubt it, than I can doubt that little boy to have eyes, when I see them both open and looking at me. I am sure I have no doubt that these children have souls, though I never saw their souls; for I can see their eyes, and hands, and limbs, moved by their souls.

And now, dear children, you see it all proved out to you, that there is a great and glorious Being around you, always doing you good, whose name is God. Yes.

"There is an unseen power around,

Existing in the silent air;

Where treadeth man, where space is found,
Unheard, unknown, that power is there.

"When sinks the pious christian's soul,
And scenes of horror daunt his eye,
He hears it whispered through the air,
A power of mercy still is nigh.