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GOOD ADVICE

FOR

BOYS AND GIRLS

WORCESTER:

PUBLISHED BY S. A. ROWLAND.

Henry J. Howland, Printer,

WKi

Children, make haste to learn to read, and to understand the meaning of what you read ; love to learn your duty, and to do it; then you will be able to read the Bible, and you will love to read it. There are many things in it which you can understand now, though you are so young.

When you are older and wiser, you will understand it better; and, if you are goodr you will delight in it more and more.

Love your father and mother. They love you very dearly ; and they have taken care of you ever since you were born. They loved you. and took care of you, even when you were iittle, helpless babes, and could

not talk, nor walk about, nor do scarcely any thing but cry, and give a great deal ot trouble.

4 GOOD ADVICE

Who is so kind to you as your parents are? Who takes so much pains to instruct you ? Who taught you almost every thing you know? Who provides food for you, and clothes, and warm beds to sleep on at night? Who is so glad when you are pleased, and so sorry when you are troubled ? When you are sick and in pain, who pities you, and tenderly waits upon you, and nurses you ? Who prays to God to give you health, and strength, and every good thing?

Obey your parents. They know better what is proper for you than you do ; and they wish you to be good, and wise, and happy.

Love your brothers and sisters. Do not tease nor vex them, nor call them names ; and never let your little hands be raised to strike them. If they have any thing which

FOR BOSS AND GIRLS.

you would like to have, do not be angry with them, nor want to get it from them. If you have any thing they like, share it with them.

Your parents grieve when they see you quarrel ; they love you all with dear love ; and they wish you to love one another, and to live in peace and harmony.

GOOD ADVICE

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 7

Do not meddle with what does not be- long to you ; nor ever take other people's things without leave.

Children, never allow yourselves to pluck a flower, or fruit, that grows in your pa- rent's or other people's gardens, unless you are told that you may do so; never without leave, take a pin, or a needle, or a bit of thread, from your Companions. If you steal little things, you will soon learn to steal great things.

Never tell a lie. When you are relating any thing that you have seen or heard, en- deavor to tell it exactly as it was. Do not alter nor invent any part, to make, as you may think, a prettier story. If you have forgotten any part, say that you have for- gotten it. Persons who love the truth, never tell a lie, even in jest.

8 GOOD ADVICE

Consider well before you make a prom- ise. If you say you will do a thing, and you do not do it, you will tell a lie ; and who then will trust or believe you ? No persons are trusted, but those who keep their promises, and who speak the truth.

When you have done a wrong or careless action, do not deny it, even if you are afraid you will be punished for it. If you are sor- ry for what you have done, and endeavor to do so no more, people will very seldom be angry with you. They will love you for speaking the truth ; they will think that they may always believe what you say, since they find you will not tell a he, even to hide a fault, and to prevent yourselves from being punished.

It is very foolish to tell lies ; for, soon or late they are found out ; and it is very mean and wicked. God himself has said. that we must not lie ; that he abhors liars,

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

and that he will punish them. Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for telling lies.

Our parents are very good to us ; but God is better than our parents, and he has done more for us. He gave us our parents, and every thing we have. He is not a

GOOD ADV1CH

man; he is wiser and better than any man ever was or can be.

He has made the sun, moon, and stars ; the earth, the sky, and the water; trees and flowers ; birds, beasts, fishes, and in- sects, and men, women and children.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. II

He has made us more excellent than the beasts; for he has given us souls. It is our sou's that know God, and that he is good, and wise, and powerful. The beasts do not know God, nor the things which he has made ; if we were to tell them, they would not understand us. Our souls learn and know a great many things, which the beasts cannot learn. Our bodies will die like the beasts. When we are laid in the grave, our flesh and our bones will dis* solve and mingle with the earth. But our souls are immortal : they will never die.

God orders every thing. He keeps us alive : and he makes us die when he pleas- es. There is nothing which he cannot do. He sees us wherever we are, by night, as well as by day ; and he knows all that we do, and say, and think. There is nothing which he does not know,

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GOOD ADVICE

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 13

We must love God. Good people love him more than they love any thing, or any person in the world. They never rise in the morning, or lie down at night, without thinking of him, and of the good he has done them. Often in the day, they think of him : and they love to talk, and hear, and read about him.

We must pray to God ; for he is very good, and worthy to be loved ; and desire him to forgive us when we do wrong, to put good thoughts into our minds, and to help us to be better ; and that he will bless us, and our parents, and all our kind friends, and give us every good thing that is proper for us.

We must do to all persons what God re- quires us to do. It is his will that we should not be unkind, even to people who are un- kind to us ; and that we should do to all persons as we wish they would do to us.

14 GOOD ADVICE

The things that God requires of us will make us good and happy. If we do them not, he will be displeased with us, and will punish us. He can punish us in whatever way he pleases. He can take away all our friends, and every thing that he has given us; and after death, he can make us mis- erable forever. But, if we try to be good, and do as he would have us to do, he will help us to be good ; he will bless us ; he will make us feel happy in our minds : and when we die, that is, when our souls leave our bodies, he will take us into heaven where we shall be with him, and know and love him, and praise him better than any body in this world can know, and love, and praise him. Then we shall never grieve any more ; we shall be wiser and happier than any body who lives here can be, or can imagine.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 15

We must love to read the Bible* It is the most, excellent and beautiful of all books. God himself commanded good men to write it. There, we read of the great and good things God has done for us, and for all people ; how just, and wise, and powerful he is; and what we must do to serve and please him. There we read of good men who loved God, and whom he loved and blessed ; of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Joseph, Moses, Samuel, and Da- vid.

There too, we read of Christ, who was so good, and who has done so much for us.

GOOD ADVICE

He never did harm to any body : he never did any thing that was wrong. He was gentle and patient when he was troubled, and when he was ill used, he was kind to all persons, even to those who were unkind to him , and, when wicked men were just going to kill him, he prayed to God to for- give them.

When we have read, or heard about Christ, and who he was, and what great things he has done for us, we must love him, and be thankful to him, and try to be like him.

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