THE EVENING OF THE BETRAYAL 303 FORTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY. THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION 308 FORTY-NINTH SUNDAY. THE CRUCIFIXION 316 FIFTIETH SUNDAY. THE RESURRECTION 321 FIFTY-FIRST SUNDAY. THE ASCENSION 327 FIFTY-SECOND SUNDAY. THE WAITING TIME 333 THE NEW TESTAMENT STORY IN VERSE 337 [Illustration] First Sunday. _CREATION OF THE WORLD._ FIRST READING. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."--_Gen. 1:1._ IN the Bible we are told God made the earth we live on. Sunday is the earth's birthday, for on the first day of the week the Creation began. The world was one mass--dark, empty, and shapeless--till God made the light by His Word, and saw the light was good. Without light we could not live: even the very trees and flowers would die. When we have been in the dark how glad we are to see light come back, even if it be only one grey line beginning in the sky! This shows how blessed is this gift. It was good, too, that we should have quiet dark night for rest and stillness. The second great change enclosed the earth in an outer ball of air, which we call the sky or firmament. That is the deep blue into which we look up and up. The mist and fog rise up from the earth and make the clouds that take strange shapes, sometimes dark and full of rain to water the earth, sometimes shining white, or pink and golden with morning or evening light. The third great change was, that water filled the deep hollows of the earth, while the hills rose up dry above them, with rivers and streams running down their slopes into the deep seas below. God did not leave the land bare and stony: He clothed it with green fresh plants and herbs, with leaves and flowers, and trees to give us their fruit and wood, and filled even the sea with plants that can live under water. THE EARTH GLADDENED BY THE SUN. Next, God caused the rays of the sun to gladden the earth, and let it see the moon lighted up by the sun, as well as the stars far beyond our firmament. We count the months by the changes in the moon; and our earth's journey around the sun marks our years and seasons. We all rejoice in a bright sunny day, though the sun is too bright and glorious for us to bear to gaze at him; and how lovely the moon looks, either as a young crescent, or a beautiful full moon!