But they had not been really good, they only pretended, just to please him, and went back to their wicked ways, in spite of all the pains he had taken with them; and his own sons were as bad as the rest. So the punishment was obliged to come. [Illustration: THE BOOK OF THE LAW FOUND.--2 Kings 22:10, 11.] What I wish you to mind to-day is how these people lost their Book of the Law for want of attending to it. If you have not got a Bible of your own, I dare say you soon will have one. And then, pray, do not do like these people of Israel. Do not let it lie by till you forget to look at it, and forget what is in it, and then forget even where it is. If you do, you will grow as bad as these people were, and God will be forced to punish you as He was forced to punish them. QUESTIONS. 1. Who was Josiah? 2. How many kings were there between him and Hezekiah? 3. What sort of kings were they? 4. What kind of person was Josiah? 5. How old was he when he began to reign? 6. What did he have cleaned out? 7. What did they find there? 8. Who gave the Law? 9. What was to happen if it was not kept? 10. How had it been lost? 11. What did Josiah cause the priests to do? 12. Why was he frightened? 13. What did he ask? 15. But why did the people deserve to be punished? 16. What did they do as soon as Josiah was dead? 17. What came of forgetting their Bibles? 18. Ought we to forget our Bibles? 19. If we never read them, can we be good? 20. And if we are not good, what must be done to us? [Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN KING.] Thirty-second Sunday. _JEHOIAKIM'S CRUELTY._ FIRST READING. "I speak unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear."--_Jer. 22:21._ JOSIAH was the last good king. In his time God called Jeremiah, when he was only a young boy about twelve years old, to be His prophet; and all the time Josiah reigned Jeremiah was teaching the people God's will, while Josiah was doing all he could to help them to do right and serve the Lord. But the Jews did not heed either the king or the prophet--they only longed after their idols. Even Josiah's own sons would not be good, after they had been brought up by such a holy father; but no sooner was he killed in battle, than they went back to all the bad ways that he had put an end to. The eldest son, Jehoahaz, only reigned three months. Then God let the king of Egypt take him away; and the Prophet Jeremiah says that it was far sadder for him to go away a captive, and never see his home again, than for good Josiah to be in his grave, loved and wept for by all. For though God had let Josiah die so early, it was in mercy. The people had grown so wicked that they must be punished, and so he was taken away from the evil to come. His next son was king after his brother Jehoahaz.