The Son said to his Father, I will come: I will do all that you desire me to do. It is my delight to obey you. So the Son promised that he would die for Adam and Eve, and for their children. How kind it was of the Father to spare his dear Son, whom he loved so very much! How kind it was of the Son to leave his throne of light, his bright angels, and his dear Father, and to take a body and to die! You know that we are some of Adam’s children’s children. It was for us that Jesus came to die. We are wicked, and we should go to hell, if Jesus had not promised to die for us. We ought to love the Father and the Son, because they had pity on us. Let us praise God with the angels, and say,— “We thank thee, O Father, for thy tender love, in giving up thine only Son. “We thank thee, O Son, for thy tender love, in coming down to bleed and die.” The Father waited a long while before he sent his Son down to be a man. All the time the Son waited in heaven he thought of what he promised to do; but he would not go and be a man till his Father pleased to send him. Adam has sinn’d: and on the ground Shall thorns and thistles grow; His body lies in dust; his soul— Ah! whither shall it go? Shall one who dared to disobey, With God forever dwell? When angels sinn’d God did not spare, But cast them down to hell. Yet long before the world was made Our God contrived a plan, By which his sinful soul to save, And pardon guilty man. The Father said his Son should die, The Son replied, “I will: A feeble body I will take; This body men shall kill.” Father, how great thy love to man, To send thy Son from high! How great thy love, O glorious Son, To come, and bleed, and die! LESSON XII. THE VIRGIN MARY. LUKE, i. 26-55. GOD told Adam and Eve that he would send his Son down some day to die for them. But Adam and Eve did not love God; for they were grown wicked. Could God make them good? Yes; he could: for there is the Holy Spirit in heaven, and the Holy Spirit could come into them and make them good. You know, my little children, we are wicked, and God can make us good with his Holy Spirit. If God puts his Holy Spirit in us, we shall not go to hell, and live with Satan. I hope you will ask God to give you his Holy Spirit. Say to God, O give me thy Holy Spirit, to make me good! Adam had a great many children and grandchildren, and they had more children; at last the world was full of people—more people than you could count. After Adam and Eve had been dead a long while, and when the world was full of people, God said to his Son, Now, my beloved Son, go down into the world. But God chose that his Son should be a little baby at first—because everybody is a little baby at first.