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LESSON 15.

Sloth and Idleness.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction. By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through. As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding, and shall have poverty enough. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule; but the slothful shall be under tribute. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing:

but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be rewarded.

LESSON 16.

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Modesty.

I will, therefore, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but, which becometh women professing godliness, with good works. Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine; that the aged women be in behaviour as becometh holiness; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home. Ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear; whose adorning, let it not be that out- & ward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Who can find a virtuous woman: for her price is far above rubies. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that

feareth the Lord she shall be praised. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Put all filthy communications out of your mouth. Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, having the understanding darkened: who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

LESSON 17.

Repentance.

Thus saith the Lord, For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God; and not that he should return from his ways and live? As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Cast away 'from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit. For I am merciful saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord. Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and

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merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Therefore, now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God. I say unto you, that, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost-to call sinners to repentance.

LESSON 18.

Creation of the World.

FIRST PART-HEAVENS AND EARTH.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night: and God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and

God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed; and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

LESSON 19.

Creation of the World.

SECOND PART-MAN AND BEAST.

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth

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