CHARLES. Shall I now go on, Mamma?

MAMMA. We have not gone half through the chapter, and as there is a great deal to be said concerning the remaining part, and we have perhaps read and talked enough for the present, my dear little boy, I think we had better reserve our farther consideration of this narrative till another day, when I shall have great pleasure in continuing the subject with you.

CONVERSATION SECOND.

CHARLES. Will you like, dear Mamma, that we should now go on with the examination of the sixteenth chapter of Numbers, which records the story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ?

MAMMA. Very much, my dear child. We left off at the conclusion of the nineteenth verse, where it was said that Korah, and all his companions having taken censers, and put fire and incense in them, stood at the door of the tabernacle, and all the congregation, no doubt curious to see what would happen, assembled near to it: or, as it is said that Korah gathered them together, it might be that this ambitious man confidently flattered him

self that they would be witnesses of his triumph over the anointed priest and the ruler appointed by God. Be that as it may, the people could have no doubt when they saw the glory of the Lord, of which we spoke in our last conversation, that God condescended to be Himself the judge between Moses and Aaron and their rebellious brethren.

Now begin to read at the twentieth

verse.

CHARLES.

"And the Lord spake

unto Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from amongst this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh"

MAMMA. Bishop Patrick* paraphrases these few words thus: "O Thou who

* See Page 22.

hast created the souls of all mankind, and who therefore knowest their most secret thoughts and inclinations"

CHARLES. “Shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation ?"

MAMMA. What an amiable and forgiving disposition was evinced by Moses and Aaron, who, instead of giving way to resentment for the injurious treatment they had received, were only anxious to avert the displeasure of God from the congregation.

CHARLES. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up". MAMMA. That is, leave, -stand apart from.

CHARLES. "Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up, and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and

the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's, lest ye be consumed in all their sins."

MAMMA.

As a matter of policy, it is well to have as little as possible to do with wicked persons, as the world generally supposes, and not without reason, that the characters of men must assimilate with those of their associates; and with regard to our immortal souls, it is of the greatest importance to defend ourselves to the utmost against the influence of bad example. It is hardly possible that we should be much in the company of the ungodly, and not be in some degree corrupted. "Can a man touch pitch, and not be defiled?"

CHARLES. "So they gat up from