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fess our faults." "But," added William, "we have been disobedient, and you know that she always punishes disobedience." "And if she does punish us," said Hannchen, "she always does it in love; besides, how we shall blush for shame, when she kisses us and calls us good children, and we do not deserve it." "You know better than I, dear sister," said William, "let us go and confess our fault." So they went together, and, when they came to their mother, the little girl said, "Dearest mother, we have been very disobedient, do punish us." And then William related all the circumstances. The mother was glad that they had confessed their fault, and forgave them. These dear children, you see, were not kept from confessing their sin, by the sinful wish to appear better than they were.

If then, my dear young friend, you ought not to indulge the wish to appear better than you are, what ought you to wish? Oh! wish to know Jesus (Phil. iii.

10), wish to believe in Jesus (John vi. 29), wish to love Jesus (1 Cor. xvi. 22), wish to be like Jesus (Rom. viii. 29), wish to be in Jesus now (Rom. viii. 1), wish to dwell with Jesus hereafter (John xvii. 24), wish to be enlightened by the Spirit (Eph. i. 18), wish to be taught by the Spirit (John vi. 45), wish to live in the Spirit (Gal. v. 25) wish to be led by the Spirit (Rom. viii. 14), wish to have the Spirit bear witness with your spirit, that you are the children of God (Rom. viii. 16), wish to know God the Father, as your Father (John xvii. 3), wish to be able to say, in trouble and in foy, "Abba, Father," (Rom. viii. 15). Desire these things, and then our earnest prayer for you will be that, which you will find, (Ps. xx. 4.) "Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel."

THE MOTHER OF ZEBEDEE'S
CHILDREN:

Or, the wish to be great.

ALL mothers have wishes for their children. Some wish their children to be very clever; others wish their children to be very rich; others wish their children to rise to a higher station in life, than their own; others wish their children to be admired. Are these good wishes? No. For a child may be very clever, and yet love sin; a child may become very rich, and therefore forget God; a child may get into better society than that, in which his parents have been, and yet know nothing of Jesus; a child may be admired by very many, and yet be

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under God's displeasure. Such wishes, if granted, will not make you happy, my dear child, for they are all for this world. If you wish to be really happy, you must be prepared for another world, prepared to die-prepared to meet God, as it says (Amos iv. 12), "Prepare to meet thy God." It was a far more blessed wish, that the mother of Zebedee's children had for her two sons. She was the wife of a fisherman, and her two sons were fishermen also, as you will see, if you turn to (Matt. iv. 21), where it says, that Jesus "going on from thence, saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets." It is not likely that they were rich; yet their mother did not ask Jesus to make them rich. She wanted something better for them. She believed that Jesus, poor and despised as he seemed to be, was a King. She thought that He would have a glorious kingdom, and her desire was,

that her two sons might have the highest places in His kingdom. So she came to Jesus, bringing her two sons with her; and she said, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom, (Matt. xx. 21). Do you ask, "did James and John wish for the same thing also?" for very often the wishes of mothers and the wishes of children do not agree. Yes, they wished to sit there too. There are some words in the verse which follows that just quoted, which prove this. Jesus asked them a question. He said, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?" What cup, and what baptism did he mean? Turn to (Luke xxii. 42,) and you will see what cup is meant. "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." It is the cup of suffering. A cup may hold something, that tastes very

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