now that is so, but you know no
more. You can't tell why, or how, or what causes produce these
effects--can you?"

"No."

"Well, then, if you are surrounded by all manner of things, living and
dead, and see every day things which you cannot explain, or understand,
why should you be surprised that, as God has not let you know by what
means these effects are produced, that in His written word He should
also keep from you that which for good purposes you are not permitted to
know. Everything here is by God's will, and that must be sufficient for
us. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, I see now what you mean, but I never thought about these things
before. Tell me some more about the Bible."

"Not now. Some day I will give you a history of the Bible, and then you
will understand the nature of the book, and why it was written; but not
at present. Suppose, as we have nothing particular to do, you tell me
all you know about yourself from Jackson, and all that happened while
you lived with him. I have heard only part, and I should like to know
all."

"Very well," replied I. "I will tell you everything, but it will take a
long while."

"We shall have plenty of time to spare, my dear boy, I fear, before we
leave this place; so never mind time--tell me everything."

I commenced my narrative, but I was interrupted.

"Have you never been able to call your own mother to your memory?" said
she.

"I think I can now, since I have seen you; but I could not before. I
now can recollect a person dressed like you, kneeling down and praying
by my side; and I said before, the figure has appeared in my dreams, and
much oftener since you have been here."

"And your father?"

"I have not the slightest remembrance of him, or anybody else except my
mother." I then proceeded, and continued my narrative until it was time
to go to bed; but as I was very circumstantial, and was often
interrupted by questions, I had not told a quarter of what I had to say.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

Mrs Reichardt had promised to give me a history of the Bible; and one
day, when the weather kept us both at home, she thus commenced her
narrative:--

"The Bible is a history of God's doings for the salvation of man. It
commences with the fall of man by disobedience, and ends with the
sacrifice made for his reinstatement. As by one man, Adam, sin came
into the world, so by one man, Jesus Christ, was sin and death overcome.
If you will refer to the