THE

FIRST ENGLISH READER.

LESSON I.

GOD IS HERE.

GOD made me and sees me at all times. In the dark night and in the day, his eye is on me,

and he hears all that I say.

If I sin, he will not love me. His law is just and good, and I must keep it.

The child who fears God and keeps his law will go in the way of the good, and do as he is told. He will not tell a lie, or take what is not his own.

God who made me, and whose law I must keep, is here. When I go out and when I come in, when I lie down, and when I rise up, at home or at school, God is near me, on my right hand, and on my left. O may I fear to sin, for God is here.

[Let the scholar now be asked to spell and define the following words.]

Made ; night; day; eye; hear; love; law; just; good; child; fear; hand; sin; school; home.

B

I

LESSON II.

I HAVE A SOUL.

HAVE a soul that will not die. It will live when
I am laid in the grave.

It is my soul that thinks, and feels pain when I do wrong.

God who hears and sees me and knows all that I do, will, one day, call me to stand in his sight.

He will judge me, in that great day, for all that I think and feel and wish and do and say.

He will love them that love him, and take them to dwell with him on high.

If we would have peace with God and joy in our own souls, in this world and in the world to come, we must walk in the fear of the Lord and do his will.

The poor brute beasts have no souls; but the child who goes to school and learns to read, has a soul, that will live when all the stars and the sun and the moon have set to rise no more.

[Spell and define.]

Soul; die; grave; think; pain; wrong; stand; take; dwell; peace; joy; world; walk; brute; poor; beasts; sun; moon; stars.

JANE

LESSON III.

JOHN AND JANE.

NE was a good girl and John was a good boy. They went to the same school, and when they knew all the A, B, C's, so that they could tell their names as soon as they saw them, they were taught to read.

They were to take the book in their hands, and to stand up straight; to speak out loud and plain, and to look at the words to be sure and call them by the right name.

John and Jane tried to learn; and as they took pains to do as they were told, they could soon read with great ease. They did not try to see how fast they could read, but how well they could read.

One day John thought he could read so well, that he need not look at each word as he had been told, and so he read his words wrong. Jane read in the same book, and had her bright eyes on the place, and when she saw that he was wrong, she read it right.

Jane did as she was told and read right; John did not do as he was told, and he read the words wrong. Which was the best child, do you think, John or Jane?

[Spell and define.]

Name; taught; read; straight; speak; loud; plain; words; ease; child; wrong; right.

AS soon as John and Jane could read, they were glad to have the BIBLE, which is the best of books, and they did love to read in it, at school and at home.

They had been told that the Bible is the word of God. In this book, he makes known to us what we must do to please him, and they read it to learn what God would have them do.

It taught them that God made the world and all things that are in it. He made the sun to give light by day, and the moon and the stars to give light by night. He made the beasts of the field and the fowl that flies in the air, and the fish that swim in the sea.