^BV 4315 .H38 1920 v. 2 
 Hastings, James, 1852-1922. 
 The children's great texts 
 of the Bible 
 
 V' C^ 
 
THE CHILDREN'S 
 GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE 
 
The CHILDREN'S Great Texts 
 
 Vol. I. GENESIS TO JOSHUA 
 „ II. JUDGES TO JOB 
 ^ III. PSALMS TO ISAL\H 
 „ IV. JEREMIAH TO MATTHEW 
 „ V. MARK TO JOHN 
 „ VL ACTS TO REVELATIONS 
 
THE CHILDREN'S 
 GREAT TEXTS OF THE 
 
 BIBLE 
 
 .EDITED BY 
 
 JAMES HASTINGS, D.D. 
 
 BSITOR OP "thK BXPOSITORY TIMES " " THE DICTIONARY OF THE BI8LC* 
 **THE KKCYCXOP/SDIA OF KELIGIOK AND BTHICS " 
 AND OTHER WORICS 
 
 Volume II 
 
 JUDGES to JOB 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1920 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 God's Suns (Judg. v. 31) . 
 
 Gideon the Brave (Judg. vi. 12) . 
 
 The Fowler's Snare (Judg. viii. 27) 
 
 The King op the Trees (Judg. ix. 8) 
 
 A Swarm op Bees (Judg. xiv. 8) . 
 
 Samson (Judg. xvi. 28) 
 
 Taken by Surprise (Judg. xviii. 7) 
 
 Gleaners (Ruth ii. 7) 
 
 Somebody's Noticing (Ruth ii. 11). 
 
 A Little Coat (1 Sam. ii. 19) 
 
 The Child-Prophet (1 Sam. ii. 26) 
 
 The Right Kind op Ears (1 Sam. ilL 10) 
 
 Inquire Within (1 Sam. xvi. 7) . 
 
 Only a Shepherd Boy (1 Sam. xvi. 11) 
 
 Five Smooth Stones (1 Sara. xvii. 40) 
 
 The Friend op David (1 Sara, xviii. 1) 
 
 Walls (1 Sam. xxv. 16) 
 
 God's Jewel-Case (1 Sara. xxv. 29) 
 
 A Fool's Cap (1 Sam. xxvi. 21 ; 1 Cor. iv. 
 
 Paying Your Debts (2 Sam. ii. 4) . 
 
 God's Dwellinq-Place (2 Sam. vi. 11) 
 
 A Promise and how it was Kept (1 
 
 2 Sam. ix. 7) . 
 Flaying the Man (2 Sam. x. 12) . 
 Absalom (2 Sara. xiv. 25) . 
 Acting Fssiry-Boat (2 Sam. xix. 18) 
 
 10) 
 
 Sam. 
 
 XX. 15 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 14 
 17 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 35 
 40 
 46 
 51 
 56 
 58 
 63 
 68 
 72 
 77 
 82 
 85 
 89 
 95 
 100 
 
 105 
 113 
 119 
 124 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The Greati^ess of Gentleness (2 Sam. xxii. 36) 
 
 Jewels in the Mud (2 Sam. xxii. 43) 
 
 A Morning without Clouds (2 Sam. xxiii. 4) 
 
 A Precious Gift (2 Sam. xxiii. 16) 
 
 A Throne for the King's Mother (1 Kings ii. 19) 
 
 Bay-Dreams (1 Kings iii. 15) 
 
 The Tree of the Lord (1 Kings iv. 33) , 
 
 Narrow Lights (1 Kings vi. 4) 
 
 Rehoboam the Unwise (1 Kings xii. 8) . 
 
 Pretending (1 Kings xiv. 6) 
 
 Trust and Get the Blessing (1 Kings xvii. 15) 
 
 Lame Minds (1 Kings xviii. 21) 
 
 Jjlttle Things (1 Kings xviii. 44) . 
 
 The Letter " I " (1 Kings xix. 10). 
 
 Boasting (1 Kings xx. 11) . 
 
 Busyness and Business (1 Kings xx. 40) . 
 
 Cheating God (1 Kings xxii. 30, 34) 
 
 The Little Word " But " (2 Kings v. 1) , 
 
 Some Great Thing (2 Kings v. 13) 
 
 Seeing the Unseen (2 Kings vi. 17) 
 
 The King's Crown (2 Kings xi. 12) 
 
 Monby-Boxes (2 Kings xii. 9) 
 
 A "Remable" Story (2 Kings xii. 15) . 
 
 God's Gifts and Ours (1 Chron. xxix. 14) 
 
 The Man whom Nobody Missed (2 Chron. xxi. 20) 
 
 The Secret of Strength (2 Chron. xxvii. 6) 
 
 O.H.M.S. (2 Chron. xxx. 6) . 
 
 Two Saints op God (2 Chron. xxxiv. 1, 3) 
 
 Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow (Eyra iii 4) 
 
 Absolutely It (Ezra vi. 23) 
 
 The Colour op Virtue (Ezra ix. 6 ; Jer. vi 16) 
 
 How They Built the Walls (Neh. iv. 9, 17) 
 
 A Good Day (Est. ix. 19, 22) 
 
 A Spider's Web (Job viii. 14) . 
 
 A Lauohing-Stock (Job xii. 4) . • 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Vll 
 
 A Djuven LftAr (Job xiii. 25) 
 
 A Prisoneb in the Stocks (Job xiii. 27) 
 
 A Moth-Eaten Garment (Job xiii. 28) , 
 
 Kemovimg Rocks (Job xviii. 4) . , 
 
 The Topaz (Job xxviii. 19) . . . 
 
 Seals (Job xxxviii. 14) . 
 
 The Treasures op the Snow (Job xxxriii 22) 
 
 Who Sends the Rain ? (Job xxxviii. 28) . 
 
 Pointers (Job xxxviii. 32) . , • 
 
 Sesing the Kino (Job xliu 5) • » ' 
 
 rAss 
 292 
 
 295 
 
 300 
 
 304 
 
 307 
 
 312 
 
 315 
 
 320 
 
 324 
 
 328 
 
THE CHILDREN'S 
 GREAT TEXTS. 
 
 GOD'S SUNS. 
 
 Let them that love him be as the sun when he g^oeth fortii in 
 his might.— Judg;. v. 31. 
 
 Did you ever try to think of what the world would be 
 like without the sun ? As a matter of fact there 
 wouldn't be any world at all, at least not the world as 
 we know it. There would be nothing but a mass of 
 dead matter whirling through space. If it were not 
 for the sun there would be no light, no colour:, no heat, 
 no flowers, no grass, no treee, no animals, no human 
 beings, no life at all on the earth. 
 
 Now our text is a prayer that those who love God 
 may be " as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." 
 I wonder how that could be ? Well it is like this. 
 Those who really and truly love God, love also every- 
 thing that God loves. And love is juet like the sun. 
 Tt fills the earth with life, and light, and warmth and 
 beauty. Without it the world would be a bad place 
 and a sad plaee. Without it the world wouldn't be fit 
 to live in. 
 
2 GOD'S SUNS 
 
 Will you try to remember three things ? " 
 
 1. Love is like the sun because it brings li^ht. And 
 light means gladness and beauty. 
 
 Centuries ago there was built in Florence a wonder- 
 ful palace called the Eiccardi Palace. Part of this 
 palace was set apart as a chapel, and a famous artist 
 was engaged to adorn the walls with beautiful frescoes 
 which, as some of you know, are paintings on plaster. 
 
 Now there was a curious thing about this chapel — it 
 had no windows. The artist was obliged to paint by 
 the dim light of a 1 oup. And for many, many years 
 those who camo to view the chapel could see the 
 wonderful frescoes only by the same insufficient light. 
 They had to strain their eyes to look at them and even 
 then they could see them but imperfectly. 
 
 Then one day a picture was removed from above the 
 altar, and a hole was pierced in the wall behind where 
 it had been. The glorious sunlight streamed in and 
 filled the chapel. It revealed the exquisite frescoes 
 in all their glory, bringing out the marvellous colour- 
 ings and the perfection of line and shadow. 
 
 And, boys and girls, love is just like that, the love 
 of God and man. It fills the earth with joy and 
 beauty. It brings gladness to weary and sad hearts. 
 It shows us beauty in the things we had thought plain, 
 beauty that before was hidden from our eyes. 
 
 2. And then love is like the sun because it brings 
 loamUh. And warmth brings life and comfort. 
 
 You know how it is in the springtime, how the 
 
JUDGES V. 31 3 
 
 little plants that have been lying sleeping under tlie 
 frozen ground begin to stir in their sleep when the sun 
 shines brightly and warmly. You know how it is in 
 the summer — how the flower-buds open their cups in 
 response to the warm kiss of the sun. You know how 
 it is in the autumn — how the grain turns ripe and 
 yellow in the golden sunshine. 
 
 And love is just like that. It thaws the frozen 
 hearts, it softens the hard ones, it makes the sweet 
 flowers of gentleness and kindness to spring up an«l 
 blossom, it ripens and mellows the sterner natures. 
 
 3. And then love is like the sun because it gives 
 power. 
 
 You have all heard of George Stephenson, the man 
 who invented the first railway engine. Well, one day 
 Stephenson was standing with a friend — Dr. Buckland 
 — at the side of a railway when a train came rushing 
 past. Stephenson said, "Now Buckland, I have a 
 question to ask. Can you tell me what power is 
 driving that train ? " "I suppose it is one of your big 
 engines," replied Buckland. "Yes, yes, but what 
 drives the engine ? " said the inventor. Again Buckland 
 answered, "Very likely a driver from Newcastle' 
 Stephenson smiled, " What do you say to the light of 
 the sun doing it ? " he asked. And Buckland replied, 
 " How can that be ? " 
 
 Then Stephenson explained how millions of years 
 ago the plants and trees growing on the earth drank 
 in the rays of the sun, how after they died they were 
 
4 GOD'S SUNS 
 
 chaBged in the course of long ages into coal, how the 
 coal when it burned was just giving out this bottled 
 sunshine which it had drunk in, so that it was in 
 reality the sunshine of long ago that was driving the 
 train along the rails. 
 
 And love is a tremendous power too. It can accom- 
 plish what nothing else can accomplish. 
 
 In a certain school there was a headmaster whom 
 the boys disliked. They thought him hard and severe, 
 and so they made up their minds to annoy him as 
 much as they could. And when boys make up their 
 minds to that you know what they can do I Well, 
 these boys cribbed their exercises, they neglected their 
 studies, they paid as little attention as possible to the 
 master's orders, they never did anything he really 
 wanted, and they strove to do all the things he didn't 
 want. 
 
 But one day a boy was very badly hurt in the 
 playground and some of the others ran to fetch the 
 master. He came immediately and he sent one of the 
 boys off at once to bring the doctor. Then he stooped 
 down and lifted the injured boy in his arms, oh, so 
 tenderly ! And he spoke to him so softly, and bound 
 up his wounds with such firm, gentle fingers that 
 one of the other boys exclaimed, "Why, he loves 
 
 From that day the school was a changed place. The 
 boys had seen their master with new eyes, and now, 
 instead of trying to annoy him, they did their best to 
 please him. They respected him and obeyed his 
 
JUDGES V. 31 5 
 
 instruotione. It was love that had wrou^t iAie 
 miracle. 
 
 Boys and girls, the world needs love more than 
 anything else. It is love that is going to make it anew. 
 It is lore that will do for it what nothing else will do. 
 God is love, and He sent Jesus to live amongst »8 and 
 to die for us just to prove that to us. God is love, and 
 wherever there is love there is a bit of God. God is 
 love, and He wants to shed abroad His love on earth 
 through you and through me. 
 
 Would you like to be God's suns in the world, 
 bringing light and warmth and power to all ? Then 
 you must take your hearts to the great Sun of 
 Kighteousness, the Source of all light and love. You 
 must take them to Him and ask Him to shine inta 
 them. Then, and then only, you will be able to shine 
 for Him. 
 
GIDEON THE BRAVE. 
 
 The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of ▼alour.— Judg. 
 
 m, 12. 
 
 I WONDER how many of you keep a picture gallery of 
 heroes ? I don't mean a real gallery of pictui-ee, but 
 one that exists in your mind. I expect moet of you 
 have such a gallery, and I think I can guess the names 
 of some of the portraits that are hanging there. There 
 are Ealeigh and Drake, Wellington and Nelson, 
 Florence Nightingale and General Grordon, I^rd 
 Eoberts and Kitchener. Lately you have been adding 
 many new pictures — -pictures of the glorious heroes 
 who fought and died in the Great War. 
 
 Now it is a good thing to keep a gallery of brave 
 men and women, because if we look at their portraits 
 often enough we shall perhaps grow a little like them. 
 And I want you to find room among your collection for 
 a hero of the olden times — Gideon, the " mighty man 
 of valour." 
 
 The thing that I like best about Gideon, and the 
 reason why I have chosen him for one of my heroes, is 
 that he was a man who was afraid. That seems a 
 funny thing to say about a hero, doesn't it ? but it is 
 only half the truth. Would you like to know the 
 
JUDGES VI. 12 7 
 
 whole of it ? He was a man who was afraid — and yet 
 went on in spite of his fear. And that was just the 
 reason why he was so brave. For the bravest men or 
 women, the bravest boys or girls, are not those who 
 feel no fear, but those who are afraid and yet make 
 their will conquer their fear. 
 
 When we first meet Gideon he is beating out corn 
 with a stick in the winepress for fear of the Midianites. 
 But to understand that we must go back a little. 
 
 The Israelites had forgotten the God who had 
 brought their fathers safely into the land of Canaan. 
 They had begun to worship the false gods of the 
 Canaanites. So they had lost hold of the great pure 
 faith in Jehovah which had bound them together in 
 many a hard experience and brought them triumphantly 
 through many a stern battle. As a consequence they 
 had become weak and unnerved and cowardly. 
 
 It was then that the Midianites — fierce bands of 
 marauders under their robber chiefs — came up and 
 laid waste the land. When the corn was whitening to 
 the harvest they cut it down, when the grapes were 
 ripening on the vines they carried them away. They 
 carried off sheep and cattle and everything they could 
 lay their hands on. And the terrified Israelites fled 
 before them and took refuge in the dens and caves of 
 the mountains. 
 
 Year after year, for seven years, this happened. 
 Then at last the people of Israel cried to God to 
 deliver them. It seems shabby, doesn't it ? So long 
 
8 GIDEON THE BRAVE 
 
 as they were prosperous they forgot God, but when 
 things began to go wrong they were pleased to 
 remember Him. 
 
 And if God were like most of us He would have let 
 them go their own way. But our Father in heaven is 
 forgiving and merciful and loving. He had allowed 
 the Midianites to come up and harass His people 
 because He knew that these fierce robbers would do 
 the Israelites less harm than they would do to 
 themselves by running away from Him. And when 
 the people cried out to Him like hurt children He 
 hastened to their aid as a mother does to the aid of 
 her hurt child. He sent them as a deliverer Gideon, 
 the ** mighty man of valour." 
 
 So now we understand why Gideon was beating out 
 corn in secret. He had managed to secure a little of 
 his father's crop before the Midianites could steal it. 
 But instead of having it threshed out at the threshing- 
 floor, which was in an exposed place, he was laboriously 
 beating it out in the winepress — a tank or trough 
 hollowed out in the rock where the grapes were trodden. 
 
 It was while he was busy with this duty that the 
 angel of the Lord appeared to him and bade him go 
 and save his people from the Midianites. And it was 
 then that Gideon showed the first sign of fear and 
 hesitation. His family was the least in the tribe and 
 he was the youngest son. How could he save Israel ? 
 Besides, he wanted to be quite sure that the messenger 
 came from Goil, quite sure that it was God who was 
 sending him forth. So he asked the angel to remain 
 
JUDGES VI. 12 9 
 
 just where he was until he should bring him an 
 oflering of food. He went home and got ready a kid 
 and some unleavened cakes. And he brought the flesh 
 in a basket and the soup in a vessel. The angel bade 
 him lay the flesh and unleavened cakes upon the rock 
 and pour out the broth. Then he touched the offering 
 with the end of his staff and fire came out of the rock 
 and consumed it. 
 
 So Gideon was convinced that it was God Himself 
 who had spoken to him in the person of the angel, and 
 he was ready for any service, no matter how dangerous 
 that service might be. 
 
 He had not long to wait. That very night God told 
 him to go and destroy the altar of Baal that his own 
 father had set up, and to erect in its place an altar to 
 Jehovah. Gideon promptly obeyed. He took ten of 
 his servants with him and in the darkness of the night 
 they overthrew the altar of Baal and set up an altar 
 to Jehovah whereon they sacrificed a bullock. 
 
 I sometimes think that Gideon was never so brave 
 as when he dared to destroy the altar of Baal. To 
 throw down the sacred symbols of a people's religion is 
 like thrusting your hand into a wasp's nest. And I 
 have often wondered if these ten men who accom- 
 panied him formed part of the valiant three hundred 
 who later went with him at dead of night to surprise 
 the camp of the Midianites. 
 
 Well, in the morning there was a terrible uproar. 
 Of course the overthrown altar was discovered, and 
 somehow or other it leaked out that Gideon had done 
 
10 GIDEON THE BRAVE 
 
 the deed. The followers of Baal wanted to put him to 
 death immediately, but his life was saved by the shrewd 
 council of his father who argued that if Baal were 
 really a god he himself would take revenge upon the 
 destroyer of his altar. Of course nothing happened, 
 and from being a much miscalled person Gideon 
 became a popular hero. 
 
 It was just then that the Midianites gathered 
 together a huge army, invaded the land of Israel, and 
 encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 
 
 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and 
 he blew a trumpet and gathered together the men of 
 his own clan. Then he sent messengers throughout 
 his tribe — the tribe of Manasseh — and throughout the 
 tribes of Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali; and he 
 gathered together an army of thirty-two thousand 
 men. 
 
 It was then, just when he had got together his 
 army, that Gideon began to be afraid again. This 
 time he wanted to make sure that God would really 
 save Israel by his hand, and again he asked for a sign. 
 
 He had with him a sheepskin — perhaps his sheep- 
 skin cloak. He laid it down on the threshing-floor in 
 the evening and asked that, if God meant to save 
 Israel by him, the fleece might be wet with dew in the 
 morning and all the ground round it dry. And he rose 
 up early in the morning and found it as he had desired. 
 Then he asked that the miracle might be reversed, and 
 that this time the fleece might be dry, and the ground 
 wet. And so it was. 
 
JUDGES VI. 12 11 
 
 Then Gideon went forward bravely to his task. 
 And you remember what a task it was. He had 
 thirty-two thousand men, but the Midianites had four 
 times as many, and yet he was told to reduce his army. 
 First of all he was told to send home all the men who 
 were afraid. And twenty-two thousand deserted him. 
 Then God told him to take the remaining men down to 
 a pool of water at the bottom of the hill and test them 
 there. Those who knelt or lay down to drink were to 
 be sent away, and those who remained alert and on 
 guard, merely tossing a little water to their mouths in 
 passing, were to be kept. Of all the ten thousand only 
 three hundred stood the test. 
 
 I am not going to tell you the story of the faithful 
 three hundred, because it is splendidly related in the 
 seventh chapter of Judges and you can read it for your- 
 selves ; but I want you to notice that before Gideon 
 fell upon the Midianites God gave him a final assurance. 
 He didn't ask for it ; he had made up his mind to go 
 forward whatever happened ; but I think he must still 
 have been feeling a little nervous. And no wonder ! 
 For who would not feel nervous about attacking one 
 hundred and thirty-five thousand men with a feeble 
 band of three hundred ? 
 
 So God told Gideon to take his servant Phurah and 
 creep down into the Midianite camp at dead of night. 
 There he would hear something that would give him 
 confidence and strength. And when the two scouts 
 reached the camp they heard one soldier relating a 
 dream to another. He told how he had dreamt that a 
 
12 GIDEON THE BRAVE 
 
 loaf of barley bread, the coarse fare of the poorest 
 peasants, came tumbling down the hill and fell against 
 the tent. And instead of being stopped by the tent 
 the loaf had knocked the tent over. Then the other 
 soldier replied in terror that the dream meant nothing 
 else than that God had deUvered the whole host of 
 Midian into the hands of Gideon. 
 
 You know how Gideon went back to his three 
 hundred men strengthened by that story, and how he 
 led them on to complete victory, 
 
 One more glimpse we get of Gideon's coumge. It is 
 when, at the end of that day's battle, he and his three 
 hundred men come to the Jordan and cross over " faint, 
 yet pursuing." He had the courage to endure as well 
 as to fight, and these words " faint, yet pursuing " have 
 often been taken as a motto of the Christian life. 
 
 So, boys and girls, don't be discouraged if you some- 
 times feel afraid, only be afraid of giving way to your 
 fears. 
 
 There is a famous story of a great soldier, Lord 
 Napier of Magdala, which might well stand beside that 
 of Gideon. When, as a young subaltern, he was riding 
 into his first action his face was as pale as death. And 
 a burly soldier who rode beside him and had been 
 through many a fight sneered at him. " Why, you're 
 afraid!" said he. "Yes," replied the other, "I'm 
 horribly afraid ; and if you were half as afraid as I 
 am, you'd cut and run ! " Don't you think that was a 
 splendid answer ? 
 
JUDGES VI. 12 13 
 
 And one thing more I want you to remember. God 
 is able to make heroes of cowards. That was the 
 message to Gideon — " The Lord is with thee." Gideon 
 would not have been half the man he was if it had not 
 been for his faith in God. And so he was thought fit 
 to take a place among that great gallery of heroes in 
 the eleventh chapter of Hebrews who through faith 
 " out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in 
 fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." 
 
 We began by speaking of picture galleries, and we 
 shall end by speaking of them. I asked you to find 
 room for the portrait of Gideon. Will you find room 
 for one other ? It is the portrait of Jesus Christ, the 
 greatest Hero who ever lived. If you keep that like- 
 ness always beside you, if you look at it often enough, 
 you will find that, of even the most timid among you, 
 He is able to make a hero like Himself. 
 
THE FOWLER'S SNARE. 
 
 It became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. — Judg. 
 viii. 27. 
 
 Gideon had led the people of Israel in a great battle 
 and led them very successfully. Their enemies had 
 been completely beaten and had fled, leaving a great 
 many dead behind them. The Israelites were so 
 delighted that they begged Gideon to be their king and 
 rule over them, but he refused. But, as a reward for what 
 he had done, he asked them to give him the gold ear- 
 rings which they had taken from their defeated enemies. 
 And he melted down the gold and made it into an ephod, 
 a kind of image. Probably he did not think he was 
 doing any harm, but rather good, in making a religious 
 image. But the end of it all was that the people of 
 Israel took to worshipping this image and " it became a 
 snare unto Gideon, and to his house," a trap that led 
 them into idolatry. 
 
 Snares are often spoken of in the Bible. They were 
 used for catching wild birds and small animals, and are 
 used still. One kind of snare was a net kept open by 
 a stick which sprang out when it was touched and left 
 the bird in the net. Another was a wicker cage, the 
 lid of which was propped open, and fell after the bird 
 
 14 
 
JUDGES VIII. 27 15 
 
 was in. Small birds like sparrows and linnets were 
 caught by spreading sticky stuff, called bird-lime, on 
 the branches of trees. A singing- bird was hung in a 
 cage close by to attract the wild ones. These stuck to 
 the lime and so were easily caught. 
 
 In some parts of the world the soul is thought to be 
 a small creature like a bird, which may leave the body, 
 fly away during sleep, and come back when the owner 
 wakens. So in the islands of the South Sea there are 
 sorcerers who believe they can catch the souL They 
 make snares of strong cord with loops of different sizes 
 to suit the different kinds of souls. There are large 
 loops for fat souls, and small loops for thin souls. 
 These loops are set up near somebody's house, and it is 
 supposed that when the soul leaves the body it may 
 be caught in the snare ; and if it is caught, it will be 
 unable to get back, and its owner will die. 
 
 Now you cannot catch souls, like birds or butterflies, 
 in a net ; yet the soul has its snares and dangers, not 
 made of loops of string, but just as real. If there is 
 anything which the soul loves so much as to prevent 
 it from loving God, that is its snare. It is caught in it 
 like a fluttering bird that cannot soar up to heaven. 
 
 Many people have found money a snare. They 
 cared more for money than for goodness. They gave 
 all their hearts to getting more and more money. They 
 could not bear to part with it even to do good, and at 
 last their better self died, like a bird in a snare, and 
 they became mere misers. 
 
 Many others have found amusement a snare, the 
 
16 THE FOWLER'S SNARE 
 
 kind of amusement, that is, that leads into bad company, 
 and neglect of work, and the beginning of bad habits. 
 
 Then there is the snare of cowardice, the snare that 
 makes us afraid to do right, because people may laugh 
 at us. And there is the snare of the lips, the snare 
 that catches us speaking words that are spiteful, or 
 untrue, or angry, or profane. 
 
 With all these snares around it, how shall the soul 
 escape ? The Book of Psalms often speaks of the snares 
 that are all around us, and the enemies that lie in wait, 
 but this is what the Psalmist says about it — " I will 
 say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress ; my 
 God, in whom I trust. For he shall deliver thee from 
 the snare of the fowler." It is God alone who can 
 save our souls from the net. 
 
A SWARM OF BEES. 
 
 A swarm of bees. — Judg^. xIt. 8. 
 
 Has it ever occurred to you to wonder what animals 
 think about ? Perhaps it never struck you that they 
 thought at all — except possibly about their food and 
 drink. But if you have a pet at home you will know 
 that this is not the case. What is your dog dreaming 
 of as he lies blinking in front of the fire ? Is he going 
 over again that grand chase after a rabbit that he had 
 in the days of his giddy youth ? Is he wondering 
 where you will take him for to-morrow's walk ? What 
 is he thinking of when he puts his two paws on your 
 knees and looks up into your face with his beautiful 
 brown eyes and gives a little whine ? He is trying to 
 tell you something, only it is your ears that are deaf 
 and cannot understand his doggy language. What is 
 your kitten thinking of as she chases a paper ball? 
 She is never still one moment and always seems to be 
 inventing some new way to use her toy. 
 
 We human beings are so very conceited and stupid 
 that we sometimes talk and act as if we were the only 
 creatures who had brains worth mentioning; and we 
 forget that the great God who made us has created 
 many other creatures very wise and very wonderful, 
 and that He loveB and cares for them alL 
 
 23 
 
24 A SWARM OF BEES 
 
 To-day I want to tell you about one of the most 
 marvellous creatures God has made. It is very tiny — 
 less than an inch in length — and yet it has a very 
 wonderful brain. You have seen it hundreds of times 
 buzzing about the gardens in the sunny summer days, 
 and if it has come too near, you have perhaps run 
 away. Of course that is a mistake, because it won't 
 interfere with you unless you interfere with it. Now 
 I wonder if you can guess who this wonderful creature 
 is? Yes, it is just the little common hive-bee; and 
 when you grow older I hope you will all read a book 
 by Maurice Maeterlinck called " The Life of the Bee " ; 
 for it reads just like a fairy tale, and yet it is all true. 
 I shall try to tell you some of the strange things he 
 tells us. 
 
 There are three kinds of hive-bees. First there is 
 the queen-bee who reigns over the hive and lays the 
 eggs that will one day turn into grubs and later into 
 new bees. Then there are the worker-bees who do all 
 the hard work of the hive. Lastly there are the drones 
 who are lazy good-for-nothings and of whom we shall 
 have more to say later. 
 
 At present I want to talk to you about the worker- 
 bees. They are very clever little creatures and teach 
 human beings many useful lessons. 
 
 1. Of course the first thing you think of in con- 
 nection with a bee is its industry. Somehow you can't 
 think of bees without at the same time thinking of 
 " busyness." We speak of " busy bees," and " hives of 
 
JUDGES XIV. 8 25 
 
 industry," aud so on. And when you remember fchat 
 a single bee visits two or three hundred flowers in 
 an hour, and that it must visit several hundreds 
 in order to gather enough nectar to make one drop 
 of honey, I think you will agree that it deservBa its 
 title. 
 
 But did you know that there are a great many trades 
 among the bees, and that each one sticks to its own 
 trade ? First there are the mason bees who make the 
 wax for the comb and fasten it to the roof of the hive. 
 Then there are the sculptor bees who follow the masons 
 and chisel and mould the wax into the correct shape. 
 There are the engineer bees who look after the ventila- 
 tion of the hiva When the summer days are hot, and 
 the wax is likely to melt and become soft, they take 
 up a position near the door of the hive and flap their 
 wings to create a draught. Besides these there are the 
 maids of honour who follow the queen wherever she 
 goes and attend on her, and the nurse bees whose 
 business it is to look after the young grubs and feed 
 them. Most important of all are the sentinel bees 
 who guai-d the door of the hive night and day, and 
 who keep off all enemies and would-be intrudere. So 
 you see a hive is just like a town, buzzing with industry 
 from morning till night. 
 
 2. Then another thing the bees teach us is decmHrtess. 
 They keep a spotless house. There is another class of 
 bee I did not mention when going over bee-trades. 
 Some people call them scavenger bees, but I think a 
 much nicer name for them is housewife bees. When 
 
26 A SWARM OF BEES 
 
 the bees, after swarming, are busy building their new 
 city in the new hive these housewife bees have their 
 own task to perform. While the masons are making 
 the wax and the sculptors are moulding it, the house- 
 wives are attending to the floor of the hive. They 
 sweep the floor, and turn out every little bit of rubbish 
 suoh as sand or dead leaves. And not only when the 
 new home is being built, but all through the summer, 
 they keep it beautifully clean. Sometimes in spite of 
 the care of the sentinels a snail or a mouse gets into 
 the hive. Should this happen the bees will sting it to 
 death. But after they have killed it what are they to 
 do with its body ? If they cannot turn it out they will 
 build a tomb of wax over it and seal it up carefully so 
 that the dead body may not poison the hive. 
 
 3. Once more, the worker-bees can teach us a lesson 
 in unselfishness. They work, not for themselves, but 
 for the good of the hive. A very small quantity of 
 honey serves for their own food, the rest goes to feed 
 the queen, the grubs, and the drones, to make wax, or 
 to be stored up for the winter. In the summer, two- 
 thirds of the bees forsake the hive to make room for 
 the younger generation. They leave behind them a 
 beautiful city of wax filled with treasures of honey and 
 pollen, and they go out to face poverty, for they have 
 nothing until they build themselves a new city and fill 
 it with provisions of honey and pollen. They will 
 willingly die to save the queen's life. They keep their 
 best food for her and should food be scarce they will 
 give up their last drop of honey to her. If there 
 
JUDGES XIV. 8 27 
 
 should be an accident and the hive should collapse, the 
 queen will almost always be found alive underneath 
 the bodies of her dead daughters. 
 
 But there are bees who are in every respect the 
 opposite of the busy worker-bees. These are the dronee 
 or male bees. The drone is a very handsome fellow. 
 He is much bigger than the worker-bee and wears a 
 beautiful velvet suit. In front of his head he carries 
 two feelers or antennae that look like small plumes, 
 and he has twenty-six thousand eyes. 
 
 Now this drone thinks himself a very important 
 fellow, and he goes about the hive knocking down any 
 one who gets in his path and looking scornfully on the 
 busy little workers. But he is really a very con- 
 temptible sort of fellow. He is lazy, untidy, greedy 
 and selfish. He does no work himself and he binders 
 other people in their work. He eats far more than a 
 worker-bee — in fact it takes five or six workers to keep 
 him supplied. He looks out for the nicest corners in 
 the hive and eats the sweetest honey. In the hottest 
 part of the summer days he saunters out for a visit 
 to the flowers, but not that he may gather honey or 
 pollen from them. Oh, dear no, he wants a sun-bath ! 
 When the day grows cooler he saunters back again to 
 gorge himself on honey and go to sleep. 
 
 But when the autumn days come the prudent little 
 worker-bees know that they have no food to spare to 
 keep useless people alive during the long, cold winter. 
 So one day the signal goes round, and the workers 
 
28 A SWARM OF BEES 
 
 either fall upon the drones and sting them to death, or 
 turn them out-of-doors to die of starvation. 
 
 'Now I think there are some boys and girls who are 
 rather like the drones. 
 
 There are the lazy boys and girls who seem to think 
 that other people are here to serve them, and who 
 forget that we are really in this world to help and 
 serre one another. They cannot put away their own 
 slippers, or books, or toys. They cannot fasten their 
 own buttons, untie their own knots, or learn their own 
 lessons. They must always have someone running to 
 tidy up after them or help them out of their difficulties. 
 There are the greedy boys and girls who always look 
 out for the sweetest cake or the biggest plum. And 
 there are the selfish boys and girls who look out for 
 the nicest seat or the cosiest corner, no matter how 
 uncomfortable other people may feel. 
 
 When you are tempted to be lazy, or greedy, or 
 selfish, remember that there is no room for drone boys 
 and girls, that they are just a hindrance and a trouble 
 to others. And remember, too, that onQ of the reasons 
 why Jesus came into the world was to show people 
 liiat the noblest work on earth is just serving one 
 another. 
 
SAMSON. 
 
 Remember me . . . and streng^then me . , . only titis ooce. 
 — Judg. xvi. 28. 
 
 There is a game we used to play when I was about 
 your age — do you play at it still ? I wonder. We 
 used to ask each other questions such as — " Who was 
 the meekest man in the Bible?" — "Moses." "Who 
 was the oldest man ? " — " Methuselah." And we went 
 on to ask questions which had a pun in the answer, 
 such as — "Who was the most timid man?" "Eab- 
 shakeh." Or, "Who was the smallest man?" — to 
 which question some people answered, "Bildad the 
 Shuhite " ; whilst others preferred, " The man who slept 
 in his watch.** But the easiest question, and the one 
 which even the youngest of us never made a mistake 
 with, was — *' Who was the strongest man ? " We all 
 knew the answer to that. 
 
 Yes, Samson was the strongest man in the Bible — ia 
 some ways. He was also the weakest — in other ways. 
 
 Can't you imagine him as a boy performing wonder- 
 ful feats of strength whilst all his boy friends stood 
 round in an admiring circle ? You boys hero-worship 
 a fine athlete. Samson's boy friends must have hero- 
 worshipped him. 
 
30 SAMSON 
 
 Bnt Samson kaew that he had not been given his 
 strength for mere show. He had only to toss back his 
 magnificent locks and he was reminded that Grod had 
 given him his marvellous power for a purpose. For 
 hia long hair meant that he was a Nazirite. A Nazirite 
 was one set apart for God's service, and among certain 
 rules which he had to keep were two — he must never 
 drink wine and he must never cut his hair. These 
 were the outward signs of his relation to God. 
 Samson's mother must often have told him how, before 
 he was born, an angel had foretold his birth, had com- 
 manded that he should be brought up as a Nazirite, 
 and had promised that he should " begin to save Israel " 
 out of the hand of their enemies the Philistines. 
 
 For you must understand that at this time the 
 Israelites had two great enemies — the Ammonites and 
 the Philistines. The Philistines had grown so power- 
 ful that they had practically conquered the part of 
 Canaan which belonged to the tribe of Dan — Samson's 
 triba Worse still, they had conquered the spirit of 
 the people as welL The Israelites had no heart to 
 fight their oppressors. They just allowed themselves 
 to be oppressed. 
 
 But this great jovial happy Samson, whose name 
 just means " Sunny " or " Sun-man," had no intention 
 of sitting down under the oppressors. He felt that 
 God had given him his giant's strength for fighting. 
 So aloae, unbacked even by his own countrymen, he 
 warred against the Philistines. He gave them no 
 peace. He tormented them one way, he tormented 
 
JUDGES XVI. 28 31 
 
 them another. He played what looked like huge 
 practical jokes on them. He caught three hundred 
 foxes, tied torches to their tails, and sent them among 
 the Philistines' com. He let the enemy take him and 
 bind him with new ropes. Then, with one mighty 
 wrench he broke the bonds, leapt free, and, seizing the 
 jaw-bone of an ass, with that strange weapon slew a 
 thousand Philistines. They thought they had got him 
 safely shut up in the town of Gaza, and they planned 
 to trap him at the gates in the morning ; but he rose 
 in the middle of the night and carried those same gates 
 — posts and all — up to the top of a neighbouring hill. 
 
 For twenty years he ruled as judge in Israel and 
 fought God's battles with God's enemies. And he 
 might have reigned other twenty, but, alas ! he began 
 to forget that Gi3d had set him apart for a divine 
 purpose. He forgot so badly that he even made 
 friends with some of the Philistines themselves. And 
 that was the cause of his death. For although he 
 feared no man, Samson feared one thing — a woman's 
 tongue — and a Philistine woman wheedled out of him 
 the secret of his mighty power. He confessed to her 
 in a weak moment that if his hair were cut his strength 
 would disappear. 
 
 You know the rest of the story — how the woman 
 sold the secret to her Philistine friends; how, while 
 poor foolish Samson lay asleep, they cut his seven 
 splendid locks; and how, when he wakened with the 
 cry that the Philistines were " upon him," he found his 
 strength gOBe. 
 
32 SAMSON 
 
 You remember how they put out his eyes, bound 
 him with fetters of brass, and set him to a task fit only 
 for the lowest slaves — grinding corn in his prison- 
 house. 
 
 Poor blind Samson ! Can't you see him toiling there 
 day after day, chafing against the misery of it all, yet 
 powerless to rebel ? Don't you see the Philistines 
 going often to gaze at him and gloat over his help- 
 lessness ? 
 
 But they did not notice one important thing. 
 Samson's hair was groioing. 
 
 There came a day when these same Philistines made 
 a feast in honour of their god, the fish-god Dagon. 
 They held the feast in Dagon's temple, and in the 
 midst of the merry-making some of the crowd suggested 
 that Samson should be brought in to amuse the 
 company. It would be such rare sport, said they, to 
 bait the fettered giant. So they led Samson into the 
 court of the temple and they set him between the two 
 great main pillars of the building, and they mocked 
 him and jeered at him to their hearts' content. But 
 tliey forgot that Samson's hair had grown. 
 
 So it fell that as the poor tortured giant heard the 
 shouts of the people triumphing over him and exalting 
 their false god over his God, the one true God, a rush 
 of feeling swept over him. All in a moment he 
 remembered what he might have done for God had he 
 been true to his best self, and a passionate longing 
 seized him that he might be avenged and that he 
 might prove once, only once more, that Jehovah was 
 
JUDGES XVI. 28 33 
 
 the God of gods. And with the rush of feeling there 
 came also the knowledge that his strength had come 
 back as his locks had grown. So, speaking quietly to 
 the young man who led him, he said, " Guide my hands 
 to the pillars of the temple that I may lean on them." 
 And the lad did so. Then he sent up the prayer 
 which is to-day's text : " Lord God, remember me 
 . . and strengthen me . . . only this once." There- 
 upon he thrust at the pillars with all his might, and 
 the temple of Dagon, with its crowd of worshippers, 
 fell in one awful heap. God had heard His servant's 
 prayer in that last hour of anguish. 
 
 There was once a dear little Highland girl, the 
 daughter of a minister in one of the Western Islands. 
 She noticed that her father always came home tired 
 from the church meetings. "Why is father so un- 
 happy when he has been at a church meeting ? " she 
 asked her mother one night. Eather unwisely, her 
 mother answered, " Mr. Macleod is not always kind to 
 father ; he says things that pain him." What do you 
 think that little girl did ? She went and prayed with 
 all her might that Mr. Macleod would die. Day after 
 day she sent up the petition, " Oh God hear me, just 
 this once ! " 
 
 God did not answer her prayer by killing Mr. 
 Macleod, but I'm sure He answered it in some better 
 way. The story does not tell, but I shouldn't wonder 
 if the end of it were that Mr. Macleod became quite 
 kind and gentle. For though God does not answer the 
 
34 SAMSON I 
 
 foolish prayers we make in ways as foolish as the 
 prayers themselves, He always answers somehow. 
 
 There is one prayer He answers very directly and 
 very speedily, and that is a prayer like Samson's for 
 strength to overcome God's enemies. 
 
 Who are God's enemies ? They are not any one 
 nation or any one people. They are just the enemies 
 who make their home in your heart and mine, and 
 their names are anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, evil- 
 speaking. Against these God will ever lend us His 
 aid. He will help us to crush them more truly th^n 
 Samson crushed the Philistines in that temple of 
 Dagon long ago. 
 
TAKEN BY SURPRISE. 
 
 They dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet 
 and secure. — Judg. xviii. 7 (AV). 
 
 Long, long ago, many hundreds of years before Christ 
 came to the earth, there was a city away up in the 
 north of Canaan called Laish. It was beautifully 
 situated in the midst of a fertile land with plenty of 
 wood and water. The people who lived in Laish were 
 an easy-going, ease-loving sort of people. They had 
 always had plenty to eat without putting themselves 
 to much trouble; and as their neighbours did not 
 bother themselves to harass them, they did not think 
 it necessary to build defences round their town or to 
 arm their men. 
 
 Now at the time of which I speak the Israelites had 
 just taken possession of the land of Canaan, and they 
 had divided it up, giving a certain part to each tribe. 
 There was one tribe — the tribe of Dan — who were not 
 quite pleased with the bit which had fallen to them. 
 It was rather email for their number, and it was far 
 too near their enemies, the fierce Philistines, so that 
 they were constantly in danger of raids from them. 
 
 So the Danites determined that they would look out 
 
 for a nice piece of land for themselves, and for this 
 
 purpose they sent five spies all through the land of 
 
 35 
 
36 TAKEN BY SURPRISE 
 
 Canaan. When the five men came to Laish, they 
 said, " Here is the very thing we want — a beautiful 
 wide, fertile country, and people in it who are careless 
 about their defences, and can be easily conquered." 
 They returned to the people of Dan, and told them all 
 they had seen, and how easily the land could be 
 subdued. And the Danites took six hundred armed 
 men, and went up, and fell upon the city of Laish and 
 captured it, killing the people, and burning the city. 
 
 Now I do not want you to think that the Danites 
 were right in falling upon a defenceless city and 
 slaughtering the inhabitants. That is an act which 
 every right-thinking person nowadays holds in con- 
 tempt. But what I wish you to notice is that the 
 inhabitants of Laish had no right to leave their city 
 undefended. They were living in wild times and 
 should have done something to protect their homes 
 and children. By acting as they did they were just 
 inviting attack. If the Danites had found high walls 
 round the city and armed men inside they would 
 probably never have thought of trying to capture it ; 
 and if they had tried, they would moat likely have 
 been beaten. It was because they were so sure of 
 their own safety that the people of Laish were undone. 
 
 We are fighting a foe much more wily than the 
 Danites and much more cruel. His name is Satan, 
 and he is always storming the city of our heart, for he 
 is anxious to capture it. He is very clever, and he is 
 very busy, and he is always on the look out for the 
 people who are "dwelling careless," so we must guard 
 
JUDGES XVIII. 7 37 
 
 our city well if we do not wish it to fall into the hands 
 of the enemy. 
 
 1. There are two ways that we must guard it. And 
 the first way is to have it well fortified. We must not 
 neglect our defences, and we must see that they are 
 always in good order. It won't do to leave a weak 
 spot anywhere, because the enemy is sure to find it. 
 It was just where the people of Laish thought they 
 were strong that they were really weak. They felt 
 quite secure and that feeling of security brought about 
 their downfall. 
 
 You remember how the city of Quebec was taken. 
 A strong army under the French general Montcalm 
 had held it all summer in spite of the many attempts 
 of the British to capture it. At last General Wolfe 
 thought of a plan. On the north-western side of the 
 city rose some high land called the Heights of 
 Abraham. The only way to these heights was by 
 very steep cliffs. The French thought it would be 
 impossible for any army to attack them on that side, 
 so they left the north-western side of the city un- 
 defended. One dark night, when the people in the 
 city were all asleep, General Wolfe led his men up the 
 steep side of the precipice, and, when morning dawned, 
 there was the British army looking down on the city. 
 A short, fierce battle followed, and in a few hours 
 Quebec was in the hands of the British. 
 
 Don't leave any little corner of your heart-city 
 undefended, for Satan is very clever and he knows 
 
38 TAKEN BY SURPRISE 
 
 exactly where he can most easily get at you. It is 
 often not the places we think weakest that he attacks, 
 because he knows we are hard at work defending 
 these places. No, he has a much more wily way. 
 He makes us think we are specially strong at some 
 point — we are too honourable to tell a lie, too straight 
 to do anything underhand — then along he sneaks and 
 assaults us at the very point on which we were priding 
 ourselves, and down we go. So we must look well to 
 our defences. 
 
 And what are the best defences ? Well, first of all 
 we must build round our city a high wall — the high 
 wall of 'prayer. And then we must arm it with a good 
 conscience which tells us what is right and wrong, and 
 a firm will which helps us to follow the right. Our 
 conscience is a splendid defence if we keep it bright 
 and shining. We can do this by listening to it, but 
 if we do not listen, it becomes dull and rusty, and by 
 and by ceases to be a defence. And our will is a 
 splendid protection if we use it rightly, but if we do 
 not use it in the right way it becomes weak and useless. 
 
 2. I said there were two ways in which we must 
 defend our heart-city. The first way is by fortifica- 
 tions and the second way is by watching. For, however 
 well fortified a city is, if we are not guarding it 
 continually, the enemy may still get the better of us. 
 What would you think of the sentinel who said, " Oh 
 well, there are good thick walls round this city and 
 there are splendid guns to defend it, so I'll just have 
 
JUDGES XVIII. 7 39 
 
 a little snooze " ? Do you know what might happen 
 while he slept? The enemy might scale those high 
 walls and turn the splendid guns on the inhabitants of 
 the city, and reduce the place to ruins. 
 
 So we must ever be watching, watching night and 
 day. It is weary work sometimes, and we grow tired 
 of the conflict. But there is One who never grows 
 tired, One who is always watching; and if we have 
 taken Him into the citadel of our heart He will guard 
 it safely and give us the victory over our Arch-Enemy. 
 
GLEANERS. 
 
 Let me glean . . . and gather after the reapers among the 
 sheaves. — Ruth ii 7. 
 
 There was a wonderful French painter called Millet. 
 When he was a boy he was quite poor, his father being 
 just what we in this country call a " crofter.** When 
 little Jean Millet sat down to dinner, it waa at a very 
 bare, homely table. But what did that matter ? Jean 
 had eyes that saw everything and he had a heart that 
 loved those round about him. He saw old women glean- 
 ing in the harvest fields and he noticed that they looked 
 tired and weary. And he noticed, too, that many field 
 workers were very good and very reverent. When the 
 Angelus, or call for evening prayer, rang out acix>66 the 
 fields Jean watched the men take off their caps and 
 close their eyes as if they prayed, while the women 
 bowed their heads and looked solemn. In course of 
 time, Jean became an artist, and painted a famous 
 picture called " The Angelus." You must have seen a 
 print of it : there are many of them all over the country. 
 He also painted another called " The Gleaners." Those 
 who visit country districts in France, and see the men 
 and women working in the harvest fields, cannot help 
 thinking of those two pictures of Millet's, " The Angelus " 
 
 40 
 
RUTH II. 7 41 
 
 and "The Gleaners." Through them the world has 
 learnt to know and love the French peasantry. 
 
 But, boys and girls, there are pictures that are not 
 painted on canvgbs. There are pictures painted in words- 
 and in the Book of Euth you will find a beautiful word, 
 jjicture of a gleaner. It is finer than Millet's. Millet's 
 work may become old-fashioned ; people may one day 
 speak of liim as belonging to a past age. But the Bible 
 picture of "Euth the Gleaner" will be admired and 
 loved as long as time lasts. 
 
 Gleaners had a real place in the Jewish harvest field. 
 In our country, they would be spoken to sharply, and 
 sent home. But there was an old Hebrew law about 
 gleaning. Listen while I read it. " When ye reap the 
 harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the 
 corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the glean- 
 ing of thy harvest : thou shalt leave them for the poor, 
 and for the stranger. . . . When thou reapest thine 
 harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the fi^ld, 
 thou shalt not go again to fetch it : it shall be for the 
 stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow : that the 
 Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine 
 hands." 
 
 Euth took her place among the poor and the 
 strangers, the widowed and the orphaned in the fields 
 of yellow barley. 
 
 She had to find food for herself and her old mother- 
 in-law, Naomi, and as she had not the money to buy it 
 she went bravely and humbly to gather the stray ears 
 which the reapers left. And Boaz, the master of the 
 
42 GLEANERS 
 
 field, who had heard of Kuth's splendid devotion to her 
 mother-in-law, arranged that Euth's gleanings should 
 be many. He commanded the harvesters to let her 
 glean among the standing sheaves. He even told them 
 to drop intentionally some extra ears of corn where she 
 might pick them up. 
 
 You can picture the scene, can't you? There is a 
 wonderful poem written by Keats to a nightingale, 
 and in it he gives us his idea of that picture. He 
 thinks of Euth as listening to the nightingale whilst she 
 gleans. Here is what he says : 
 
 Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! 
 
 No hungry generations tread thee down ; 
 The voice I hear this passing night was heard 
 
 In ancient days by emperor and clown : 
 Perhaps the self-same song that found a path 
 
 Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, 
 She stood in tears amid the alien com.* 
 
 You see Keats pictured Euth shedding tears of home- 
 sickness at the song of the sweet- throated bird. But I 
 think that if Euth shed tears at all that day they were 
 tears of joy, tears of gratitude and thankfulness. 
 
 "Euth, the Gleaner," is an old time story. But 
 during these September days, I hope many of you may 
 have an opportunity of being in a harvest field. There 
 is no fun like the fun of playing among the " stocks." 
 Long ago, how we used to love to hear the swish of the 
 scythe, and watch the women gathering the corn, and 
 
 * Keats, '* Ode to a Nightingale." 
 
RUTH II. 7 43 
 
 binding the sheaves. You will not, I fear, see a real 
 gleaner like Kuth. The gleaner in the field you visit 
 will probably be just a boy with a big rake. 
 
 Take a good look at that boy. It may be worth your 
 while. Underneath his silence there may be much that 
 is worth copying. If a big person asked a Scottish 
 "rake" how he liked his work, the answer would 
 probably be as curt as " Fine." But the memory of not 
 a few Scottish farm boys has come to be sacred. I 
 knew one who became a great scholar. While he 
 raked silently — for he rarely spoke — his mind was on 
 his " version," and when he dreamed dreams — which he 
 sometimes did — they were of going one day to the 
 University. 
 
 " That is all very fine and fanciful," some boy here 
 may be saying, " but I live in a city tenement, I never 
 see the harvest fields." Let me tell you of a boy 
 gleaner who never saw them either, a boy whose home 
 was in a top flat. His name was Jim. He attended 
 Sunday School, and one day the teacher put a question 
 the answer to which involved the mention of an obscure 
 classical character. To her surprise Jim answered 
 correctly. "How did you come to know that?** she 
 asked. " Please," he said, '* they were taking in ooals 
 to the Academy ; I followed the carts, and gathered up 
 all the loose leaves in the yards and read them at 
 home." Jim was a gleaner, and a good one. 
 
 And there was a little Italian fellow, called Michael. 
 His father was a stone-cutter. The first sounds 
 Michael knew were the ring of a hammer, and the 
 
44 GLEANERS 
 
 working of the chisel in the quarries. He was not 
 a clever scholar. He just kept scribbling everything 
 over with drawings. His father was disappointed and 
 whipped the boy for spoiling the white-washed walls of 
 the house. But whippings did no good. Michael went 
 back to his drawings ; he thought it was worth while 
 suffering pain, so long as he could get on. He had 
 made a great friend — a boy about his own age, who was 
 learning to be an artist, and whose father had plenty 
 of money. His name was Francesco. Every morning 
 Francesco brought to Michael designs borrowed from 
 hie master's studio, and these Michael copied. He 
 made wonderful progress, and in course of time became 
 the great Michael Angelo. But I feel sure that he 
 looked back to those days when he " gleaned " as being 
 very happy days indeed. 
 
 In Lanarkshire there was born into a humble home, 
 a boy who was named David. His father's name was 
 Neil Livingstone. When David was quite little, he 
 used to help his mother in the house. He did not 
 quite like this work, and made it a condition that the 
 house door should be kept shut so that the people 
 passing might not see him working. At ten years of 
 age he was sent to work in a factory. With his first 
 half-crown, he bought an old Latin Grammar. He 
 propped it up on the back of his spinning frame, and as 
 he went backwards and forwards he learnt little bits 
 by heart. That was " gleaning." I daresay you have 
 guessed who that boy was. He became the great 
 missionary, David Livingstone. 
 
RUTH II. 7 45 
 
 Boys and girls, this world is a wonderful harvest 
 field. The little flowers ! Can't we glean their 
 sweetness ? Can't we learn their names ? There are 
 men and women, as well as boys and girls, who glean 
 constantly, and in ever so many different fields. They 
 get to know a great deal, yet they themselves feel that 
 they are but beginning to learn. Gleaning is work that 
 makes one feel very happy. I can imagine how Ruth 
 and Naomi would, at the end of the first day's work, 
 thank God for His goodness. 
 
 When you go back to school you go to glean in a 
 harvest field. Great reapers have been in front of 
 you, and have left many sheaves. You surely will not 
 throw away your splendid opportunities. And lying 
 before you are the sheaves left by those who most of all 
 wanted to know about God and His Son, Jesus Christ. 
 Boys and girls, will you, along with your school work, 
 try every day to glean a little knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ. If you do, you will grow to be men and women 
 who make the world better. 
 
SOMEBODY'S NOTICING. 
 
 It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done* 
 —Ruth ii. II. 
 
 What was it that Kuth had done that had been showed 
 to Boaz ? You remember the story. Elimelech, his wife 
 Naomi, and their two boys had left Bethlehem and gone 
 away into the land of Moab because there was a famine 
 in their own land of Judah. Elimelech died in the 
 foreign country, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, 
 married Orpah and Kuth, women of Moab. After a 
 time Mahlon and Chilion died also, and Naomi, left 
 without husband and children, made up her mind to 
 return to her own land. Orpah and Kuth wished to 
 accompany her, but Orpah was persuaded to turn back. 
 Kuth, however, refused to be parted from the lonely old 
 woman, though following Naomi meant leaving her 
 home and country and friends, and going among a 
 strange people who would neither like her nor under- 
 stand her. It was this story that had come to the ears 
 of Boaz. 
 
 When the two women arrived in Bethlehem it was 
 the beginning of the barley harvest. They were very 
 poor and had no food, so Kuth made up her mind to go 
 and work among the gleaners in the harvest ; for the 
 Jews had a law that the gleanings of the field — the 
 
 46 
 
RUTH II. 11 47 
 
 stray ears that had not been gathered up — should be 
 left for the poor and the stranger. 
 
 I sometimes think Euth was almost braver when she 
 went out to glean that morning than when she decided 
 to leave home and kinsfolk for Naomi's sake. To begin 
 with, she was mixing with the very poorest of the land, 
 and Euth had been brought up in a home of comfort 
 and ease. Then she had hard work to do imder the 
 burning sun ; and, worst of all, she was a foreigner and 
 belonged to a race that were hated and despised by the 
 Israelites. Her skin was dark, and her clothes were 
 strange. The girls who were working in the field would 
 laugh at her, the young men would make fun of her, 
 everybody would stare and pass remarks. 
 
 Now Euth had chanced to choose the field of Boaz, 
 who was a wealthy and much-thought-of man in 
 Bethlehem, and a relation of her late husband. When 
 Boaz came to the field to see how the reapers were 
 getting on, he at once noticed the foreign woman, and 
 asked who she was. When he heard her name he 
 remembered the story that had been told him of Euth's 
 courage and unselfishness and devotion, and he gave 
 orders that she should be respected, and treated with 
 special kindness. Then Euth fell at his feet and asked 
 him why he had been so kind, and he told her the 
 reason — " It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou 
 hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of 
 thine husband : and how thou hast left thy father and 
 thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come 
 unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore." 
 
48 SOMEBODY'S NOTICING 
 
 You know the end of the story — how Boaz married 
 Ruth and how she became the mother of Obed, who 
 was the grandfather of King David. 
 
 I think there are two things we can learn from this 
 story of Ruth ; and the first thing is that the beauty 
 that matters is beauty of character. 
 
 It was Ruth's beautiful character that attracted Boaz, 
 not her beautiful face. I think if Boaz had not heard 
 what she had done, he would have taken no more notice 
 of her. He would probably have given an order that 
 she should be treated civilly, for he was a kind and 
 courteous man, but he would not have singled her out 
 for special kindness, and he would have gone home and 
 forgotten all about her. We cannot all have beautiful 
 faces ; but we can all have beautiful souls. We cannot 
 all be clever, or witty, or gifted; but we can all be 
 faithful, and loving, and unselfish, as Ruth was; and 
 that is of far more value. 
 
 Remember there is an ugliness which spoils beauty. 
 It doesn't matter how pretty you are, if you are not 
 beautiful within your character will soon be written on 
 your face. The haughty look and curling lip of pride, 
 the drooping mouth of discontent, the tight hard lips 
 of selfishness, the scowl of anger — one or other will be 
 seen on your face for anyone to read. 
 
 And remember, too, that there is a beauty which 
 shines through ugliness, which shines through it until 
 it shines all the ugliness away. 
 
 There was a little French girl once who was very 
 
RUTH II. 11 49 
 
 plain-looking. One day her mother said tx) her, " My 
 dear, you are so ugly that no one will ever fall in love 
 with you.** Those words would have made some little 
 girls hard and bitter, but they had quite the opposite 
 effect on the little French girl. From that day she 
 began very hard to think about other people. She was 
 always trying to make somebody happy — the children 
 in the village, the servants in the house, even the very 
 birds that hopped about the garden. By and by she 
 grew up and went out into society. Her goodwill and 
 her unselfishness made her the idol of Paris. Great 
 men and noble women loved her. She became a leader 
 in society, and people forgot her plain looks because 
 they loved her so much. 
 
 And the other thing I want you to notice is the valv£ 
 of a good name. We are told that " A good name is 
 better than precious ointment." Take care of your 
 good name. We never know who is taking notes. 
 Ruth did not think she was doing anything specially 
 virtuous that day she chose Naomi and exile and the 
 God of Israel rather than home and comfort and the 
 gods of Moab. But people had noticed her self- 
 sacrifice, and they talked about it. They had talked 
 about it even when she thought they were despising 
 her, and it had come to the ears of Boaz. 
 
 Now, while it is very foolish always to be wondering 
 what people are thinking of us, it is well to remember 
 that the people who are worth minding value worth. 
 The young men and maidens in the harvest field might 
 laugh at Euth, but Boaz, the brave and courteous, saw 
 
50 SOMEBODY^ NOTICING 
 
 in her all that was noble and best in woman. And 
 even when those around ns do not value or understand 
 us, God sees and knows, and if we are faithful in the 
 work that He gives us to do, that is all that ^really 
 
 matters. 
 
A LITTLE COAT. 
 
 His mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from 
 jear to year.— i Sam. ii. 19 (AV). 
 
 Is there a boy or girl here who does not like to get 
 new clothes ? Every girl is proud of her new dress, of 
 her latest hat, even of her new boots. And I have 
 known a little boy who, when he got a new jacket, 
 asked his mother to allow it to lie on his pillow at 
 night. 
 
 Your sermon this morning is about a boy's coat. 
 And the owner of it was a little fellow named Samuel. 
 He was the son of two plain people called Hannah and 
 and Elkanah, who lived at a place called Kamah. 
 Hannah had prayed to God to send her a son, and had 
 promised that if God granted her request she would 
 give the boy to the Lord's service. And she really 
 meant it. When a wee mite, Samuel was taken to 
 Shiloh, and made a sort of errand boy in the House of 
 the Lord. 
 
 What a quaint little figure he must have been ! He 
 wore a linen robe called an ephod. It was the same as 
 a priest's dress, only, over the ephod, the priests had a 
 rich flowing cloak, which was sometimes very beautiful. 
 It was this upper coat that Hannah took to Samuel 
 every year, and although he lived constantly beside an 
 
 El 
 
52 A LITIXE COAT 
 
 old priest named Eli, and was being taught to think of 
 nothing but religion and God's word, Samuel could not 
 change his nature. He was just a boy like any of you. 
 Wouldn't he be proud of each new coat as it arrived ? 
 And the thought that he was to see his mother would 
 keep him from sleeping for nights before she came. 
 
 It is a beautiful touch in the story of Samuel's life 
 this of his mother making the little ooat that was like 
 the big priest's one. It makes us think of the home 
 at Eaniah, and of the loving hearts there. Hannah 
 could not buy the linen of which the ooat was made. 
 Each Israelite had to grow, on his own farm what he 
 needed for himself and his family, of food, and clothing, 
 and fuel. Doubtless Elkanah sowed and reaped the 
 flax which she span, and wove, and bleached into the 
 linen web, out of which she shaped the Mttle garment 
 she took to Shiloh. And all the time she span and 
 wove and cut and sewed her dreams would be of 
 Samuel's future. Many a wish would she frame, and 
 many a prayer would she utter, that her boy would 
 grow up to serve God and his generation. 
 
 When Samuel grew to be a great man, do you think 
 Hannah would be proud ? I believe, ratbw, she would 
 be Hke the mother of David Livingstone, when at last 
 the world acknowledged him a great man. A neigh- 
 bour visiting her during her last illness said, "You'll 
 be richt proud o' yer son noo, Agnes ? ** to which she 
 gave the unexpected reply, "I'm nae prouder o' him 
 the day than when he put the first half-crown he ever 
 earned into my lap." Hannah, we feel swe, never felt 
 
1 SAMUEL II. 19 5a 
 
 prouder of Samuel than she did when he was the little 
 errand boy in the House of the Lord. 
 
 I wonder if Samuel had a little return gift ready for 
 his mother when she came up each year. He would 
 have no Saturday pennies to spend, but he would have 
 treasures like every other boy that ever lived, I 
 wonder if he offered her one of his treasures to show 
 her how much he loved her for her loving thought 
 of him. Perhaps he just took his mother's love for 
 granted as did the little boy I read of the other day. 
 
 He was a little street urchin, and he asked a lady to 
 give him a job. " I've got three pennies," he said, " but 
 I want to earn a bit more." 
 
 " Yes," said she, " and what are you going to do with 
 your money ? " 
 
 "Well," he replied (it was Christmas time), "I'm 
 going to get some baccy for Dad, an' a tin 'orse for our 
 li'l Bill, an' a sweet-stuff for Gladys." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the lady, " I see — some tobacco for your 
 father, a tin horse for little Bill, and some sweets for 
 Gladys. And what for your mother ? " 
 
 " Oh ! Muvver ! " he exclaimed, " she don't want 
 anythink. Leastways" — and he paused — "she never 
 asks for nufi&n." 
 
 Boys and girls, do you take your mother's love as 
 a matter of course ? Then remember this — there's 
 nothing in the world quite like it. It gives, gives, 
 gives, and asks for nothing. Yes, it asks for nothing, 
 but it craves something all the same. It craves love in 
 return. No gift you can bring your mother will be 
 
54 A LITTLE COAT 
 
 dearer to her than your love. And if that love is the 
 right kind of love it cannot help showing itself in 
 thoughtful deeds and loving words. Your mother will 
 notice these, she will treasure them more than the 
 costliest gifts — though I hope you won't forget the 
 gifts too. 
 
 There is only one love more wonderful and more 
 unselfish than a mother's love. It, too, loves and gives, 
 loves and forgives, again and again. It, too, y<-arns 
 for love in return. What are you going to give God, 
 boys and girls, for all He showers on you ? There is 
 one priceless gift you can give Him — a gift that no 
 money can buy. Will you take all and give nothing ? 
 Or will you give Him the gift He longs for — your heait ? 
 
THE CHILD-PROPHET. 
 
 And the child Samuel g^rew on, and was in favour both with 
 the Lord, and also with men. — i Sam. ii. 26. 
 
 If you look carefully at the text you will see that it 
 tells us three things about Samuel. First it tells us 
 that he grew, next that he was in favour with God, and 
 lastly that he was in favour with men. 
 
 1. "Samuel grew." He was just like other boys and 
 girls. He grew in height. Year by year as Hannah 
 brought him his new coat he would compare it with 
 the old one to see how many inches he had grown. 
 Some years the old one would seem shorter than usual 
 because he had been growing faster. I wonder if he 
 was ever measured against a wall or a door as we 
 sometimes are, and if Eli kept a record of his height. 
 
 And then he grew in strength. Each year he was 
 able to run faster and farther, and to do his work 
 quicker and better. Sometimes, I daresay, he looked 
 at his arms to see how powerful the muscles were 
 getting. He could lift heavier weights and throw 
 farther and straighter than he used to do. 
 
 He grew in wisdom. That doesn't mean that he 
 just grew in knowledge. You may fill your heads with 
 all kinds of knowledge and yet be much less wise than 
 you were to begin with. Samuel learned a lot of things 
 
56 THE CHILD-PROPHET 
 
 from Eli, but he knew how to use what he had learned, 
 and he thought out things for himself and gained in 
 common sense. 
 
 But Samuel grew not only in body and mind, he 
 grew also in lieart and soul. There is no use growing 
 at all if you don't grow the right way. Some people 
 grow big bodies and large minds and little, deformed, 
 ugly souls. They grow backwards instead of forwards, 
 so that their friends say of them : " I wish they were 
 small again. They were much nicer and much better 
 then." 
 
 Samuel might easily have grown backwards instead 
 of forwards. Perhaps we think that, living in the 
 tabernacle with old Eli, he had no temptations and 
 that it was easy for him to be good. But Eli was not 
 the only man in the tabernacle. There were his two 
 wicked sons Hophni and Phiuehas. Samuel must have 
 known something of their evil ways. Perhaps they 
 laughed at him sometimes, and very likely they tried 
 to tempt him to follow in their footsteps. But Samuel 
 kept steadily on his own brave way. Day by day he 
 grew into the great, wise, noble soul who was to rule 
 and guide Israel, and then one night God spoke to him 
 and all Israel knew that Samuel was a prophet. 
 
 2. Samuel was " in favour with God." God loves us 
 all, even when we hurt and spurn Him, but I think He 
 loves in a special kind of way those who love and try 
 to follow Him. It is just as if they were His very, 
 very own, given back to Him to keep for ever. Samuel 
 had been promised to God before he was born, he had 
 
1 SAMUEL II. 26 57 
 
 been brought up very near to God in the tabernacle, 
 and he had grown to love and own Him as his God. 
 
 3. Lastly, Samuel was " in favour with men." That 
 means that he was well liked by his friends and 
 companions. He must have been a good sort, who 
 would do another a kind turn if he could. And he 
 must have been jolly too and full of fun. 
 
 Remember three things. In order to be good you 
 don't need to be ugly or ill-grown. In order to be good 
 you don^t need to be disagreeable. In order to be good 
 you don't need to be unpopular. True, there are times 
 when you must risk your popularity to stick up for the 
 right. But the people who really matter will only 
 admire you the more for it. The right people will 
 always respect real worth. To be in favour with God 
 you don't need to be out of favour with men. 
 
 Many hundreds of years later there was another boy 
 who lived in the same land, of whom almost the same 
 words were spoken. We are told that He " advanced 
 in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and 
 men." Samuel, like all boys, must have had his faults, 
 but this other boy is our Perfect Pattern, for He did 
 no sin ; and if we strive to grow like Jesus then we 
 shall come to a noble stature and to the likenesa of 
 a perfect man. 
 
THE RIGHT KIND OF EARS. 
 
 Speak ; for thy servant beareth.— i Sam. iii. lo. 
 
 The other day I read a story which came all the way 
 from Japan. A missionary was walking along the 
 streets of a Japanese town, and at one corner he came 
 upon a man who had a group of children gathered 
 round him. He was telling them a story. This was 
 the story he told. 
 
 " Once upon a time a little boy went to heaven and 
 when he got there he saw some very queer things lying 
 on a shelf. 'What are these for?' he asked. 'Are 
 they to make soup of ? ' 'Oh no/ was the reply, * these 
 are the ears of the little boys and girls who never paid 
 any attention to what they heard. The good things 
 never got past their ears, and so when they died their 
 ears got to heaven but the rest of their bodies did not.» 
 A little farther on he saw another shelf with more 
 queer things laid on it. Again he asked, * Are these 
 for soup?' *0h no,' was the reply, 'these are the 
 tongues of the little boys and girls who were always 
 telling other people how to be good but were never 
 good themselves, and so when they died their tongues 
 came to heaven but the rest of their bodies did not.' " 
 
 Now of course this is just a fairy story, but like 
 many a fairy story it has a meaning. God has given 
 
 (8 
 
1 SAMUEL III. 10 59 
 
 us hands and feet and ears and eyes and tongues and 
 hearts and minds ; and He means us to use them in 
 the right way. Some people don't use them at all, and 
 some people use them in a wrong way. And so for 
 a few Sundays I want to talk to you about the right 
 way of using those gifts which God has given to us. 
 
 To-day I am going to speak about the right kind of 
 ears. Ears are very important things, are they not? 
 We could not get along very well without them. You 
 will find your text in the First Book of Samuel, the 
 third chapter and the tenth verse — "Speak; for thy 
 servant heareth." 
 
 You all know the story of Samuel. You remember 
 how his mother prayed that if Grod would send her a 
 son she would lend him to the Lord all the days of his 
 life. You recall how she brought him to Eli the priest 
 when he was a little boy of about three years, so that 
 he might serve God in the tabernacle. You remember 
 how Samuel was busy in the tabernacle doing the little 
 odd jobs — running messages for Eli, drawing the 
 curtains which formed the doors, trimming and lighting 
 the lamps — until one night when he was asleep in one 
 of the rooms beside the tabernacle court something 
 great happened — God spoke to him. 
 
 Samuel had the right kind of ears. But what are 
 the right kind of ears? I suppose we have all got 
 ears, and yet they are not always the right kind of ears, 
 because we don't use them in the right way. It was 
 a frequent saying of Christ's — " He that hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear." A great many of the people to 
 
60 THE RIGHT KIND OF EARS 
 
 whom He spoke did not understand Him. It is said 
 of His own parents who had brought Him up — " They 
 understood not the saying which he spake unto them," 
 and sometimes even His disciples, who were so much in 
 His company, did not understand His word. They 
 were not listening in the right way. 
 
 Well, there are four things that the right kind of 
 ears must be. 
 
 1. They must be open ears. Your ears would be no 
 use to you at all if they were deaf, and they would 
 be of very little use if you stuffed them with cotton- 
 wool. 
 
 What is it that deafens people's ears to God's voice ? 
 Very often it is the din of the world. It is so loud in 
 their ears that they don't hear the still, small voice. 
 And sometimes it is cares and worries that shut their 
 ears, and sometimes it is indulgence in sin. I think 
 the ears of children are often more open to God's call 
 than the ears of grown-up people, because they are not 
 deafened by the noise of the world — by its pleasures, 
 and cares, and sins. 
 
 2. The right kind of ears must be understanding ears. 
 Your hearing may be perfect, and yet you may not 
 know what a person is saying, because he is talking in 
 a foreign language. 
 
 We must have ears that understand God's language. 
 And yet it is no foreign tongue in which God speaks 
 to us, but the language of our everyday life. Only 
 we mistake His voice for the voice of other people. 
 
1 SAMUEL III. 10 61 
 
 Even Samuel made this mistake at first. God called 
 to him and he thought the voice was Eli's. And God 
 speaks to us often in the voice of our minister, or our 
 teacher, or our mother. We think it is they who are 
 speaking and it is really God. 
 
 Why, if we only understood, we could hear God 
 speaking to us constantly, for He speaks in so many 
 different ways. When you see any beautiful sight, or 
 hear any beautiful sound that makes you wish to be 
 good, that is God speaking. God made all things 
 beautiful and He speaks to us through them. When 
 you hear or read about brave and noble men and 
 women and feel you would like to resemble them, that 
 is God speaking again. 
 
 3. The right kind of ears must be attentive ears. 
 Your hearing may be perfect and people may be 
 talking in your own language, and yet you may not 
 hear because you are not listening. Mother asks you 
 three or four times to run on an errand for her, but you 
 are so engrossed in your book or your game that you 
 don't hear her. And sometimes we don't hear God's 
 voice, because we don't stop to listen for it. 
 
 4. The right kind of ears must be obedient ears. 
 You may have perfect hearing, you may understand, 
 you may be quite aware of what is going on around 
 you, and yet you may not hear because you do not 
 wish to listen. Samuel learned obedience by doing 
 the unimportant, uninteresting, drudging work in the 
 tabernacle, and when God's call came he was ready for it. 
 
 Let no boy or girl be ashamed to obey. It is only 
 
62 THE RIGHT KIND OF EARS 
 
 those who have learned to obey who know how to 
 command. Baden-Powell tells a story of a man in the 
 Boer war who spoilt a very promising ambuscade by 
 disobeying an order. The men had been forbidden to 
 fire, but one man fired a shot and made the enemy 
 aware of the force which was lying in wait for them. 
 **It would have been different," said Baden-Powell, "if 
 he had learned to obey when he was a boy." 
 
 So the right kind of ears are those that hear God's 
 call and obey it. And I want you to notice in the last 
 place that God calls boys and girls. He called Samuel 
 in the tabernacle, He called David, the shepherd lad. 
 He made use of a little maid in His healing of Naaman, 
 the Syrian. Jesus called the little children to Him 
 when He was here below, and the disciple who lay 
 upon His bosom was the youngest of the twelve. God 
 calls boys and girls. Let us ask Him to give us the 
 right kind of ears so that we may all hear and obey 
 His call.i 
 
 ^ The texts of the other sermons in the series are Exod, xxiii. 9, 
 Ps. xxiv. 4 (2), Ps. xxxiv. 13, Prov. vi. 13, Mai. i. 13, Luke vi. 41, 
 1 Pet. iii. 4, 1 Pet. v. 6. 
 
INQUIRE WITHIN. 
 
 Man looketh on the outward appearance, bat the Lord looketh 
 on the heart. — x Sam. xvi. 7. 
 
 Supposing somebody came to this town to-day and 
 announced that they had been sent to elect, from 
 among Uie boys and girls, a king or queen to reign 
 over a new country, what excitement there would be ! 
 
 If the choice were to be left to the boys and girls 
 themselves, I wonder who would be picked out. 
 Would it be the boy who was biggest and strongest, 
 or best at games, or head of his class ? Would it be the 
 girl who was prettiest, or cleverest, or most popular ? 
 
 But supposing the stranger announced that there 
 was to be an examination of hearts, and that the 
 boy or girl with the best heart was to be selected, I 
 wonder again who would be chosen. Some of those 
 whom we should have put near the top of the list 
 would be away down at the bottom, and some decent 
 sort of boy of whom nobody took much notice, or 
 some plain-looking, awkward, shy, little girl, would be 
 at the very top. 
 
 Now something like this once happened in Bethlehem 
 about a thousand years before Jesus was born there. 
 Only people did not know it was a kiug who was 
 
 63 
 
64 INQUIRE WITHIN • 
 
 being elected ; they probably thought that Samuel was 
 choosing a pupil for his School of Prophets. 
 
 It happened like this. Saul by his pride and dis- 
 obedience had forfeited his right to be king over Israel, 
 and God sent Samuel to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, to 
 choose a new king from amongst his sons. 
 
 So Jesse made his sons pass in order before the 
 prophet. First came Eliab, the eldest. He was a fine, 
 big, strong man, and when Samuel saw him he thought, 
 "This is just the very man to be a king, and to lead 
 the armies of Israel to victory." But God said to 
 Samuel, " Look not on his countenance, or on the height 
 of his stature; because I have rejected him: for the 
 Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the 
 outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
 heart." Then came Abinadab the second son, and 
 Shammah the third. The fourth, and the fifth, and 
 the sixth, and the seventh also passed by ; but always 
 the answer was the same — "Neither hath the Lord 
 chosen this." 
 
 At last David was sent for to the hills where he 
 was tending the sheep. His father had not thought 
 it worth while to summon him : he was just a boy, and 
 did not count. But when he appeared, God said to 
 Samuel, " Arise, anoint him : for this is he." 
 
 You know what a splendid king David afterwards 
 made — a king brave and faithful, the best that Israel 
 ever had. You also know how, later, Eliab showed 
 that he had a petty, jealous nature quite unworthy of 
 a true king. And you remember that it was David, 
 
1 SAMUEL XVI. 7 65 
 
 the shepherd lad, not the strong warrior, Eliab, who 
 fought Goliath. 
 
 I suppose if we had been in Samuel's place that day 
 we should have made the same mistake as he — we 
 should have thought Eliab the best man to fill the 
 position of king. It is so easy to judge by appear- 
 ances, and 80 difficult not to do so. 
 
 Perhaps you have a friend who is clever, or witty, 
 or jolly, and you think he is just first-rate ; but if you 
 could see his heart as God sees it, you might find it 
 very black. And perhaps you have another friend 
 who is rather unattractive. He dosen't shine, and he 
 isn't very good company. For all that, he may be the 
 very best kind of friend, sincere and true — the kind 
 that will stick to you through thick and thin. 
 
 Kemember it is not always the birds with the finest 
 feathers that have the sweetest song. The peacock 
 and the parrot have gorgeous plumage ; but when they 
 really show what they can do in the way of uplifting 
 their voices, the first thing you want to do is to put 
 your fingers in your ears. The blackbird, and the 
 thrush, and the nightingale, and the lark have very 
 plain dull coats ; but when they begin to sing the air is 
 filled with their melody and the world seems a sweeter 
 fairer place. And it isn't always the people who look 
 grandest or greatest who are the truest and best. 
 
 A surly old baron was once travelling in Sweden. 
 Now in some parts of that country where it is 
 very rough and hilly people still travel by stage- 
 
66 INQUIRE WITHIN 
 
 coach, just as they used to do in this country before 
 there were railways and trains. And here and there 
 along the road are inns where their tired horses can be 
 changed for fresh ones so that they can get along faster. 
 
 One day this surly old nobleman arrived at such an 
 inn and immediately demanded fresh horses in a gruff 
 and rude way. The landlord said he was very sorry 
 he had none to give him, and that he would just have 
 to wait till his own horses were rested. 
 
 As he was speaking, a pair of beautiful horses were 
 brought out and hitched to a carriage where sat a little 
 quiet-looking gentleman. The baron was very angry. 
 He asked the landlord what he meant by telling him he 
 had no horses when he had this pair, but the inn- 
 keeper replied that the horses had already been ordered 
 by the gentleman in the carriage. 
 
 Thereupon the baron approached the insignificant 
 little gentleman. " Look here, my man," he said, " give 
 me those horses and I'll pay you well for them." The 
 other replied quietly, but firmly, that he required the 
 horses and that he was just about to start. At this 
 the nobleman began to fume. " Why," he muttered to 
 himself, " this fellow surely cannot know what an 
 important person I am ! " And aloud he said, " Perhaps 
 you don't know who I am ? I am Field-Marshal 
 Baron George Sparre, the last and only one of my 
 race." The other smiled, quite unperturbed. "I am 
 glad of that," said he, " it would be terrible to think 
 there might be more of you." And in another moment 
 he was gone. 
 
1 SAMUEL XVI. 7 67 
 
 When he had disappeared the landlord turned to the 
 churlish nobleman. "That," said he, "was the King 
 of Sweden ! " You can imagine how the baron felt, 
 but it was too late to undo the mistake he had made — 
 the mistake of judging by appearances. 
 
 There is just one thing more I want you to 
 remember. Very often we are judged by our outside. 
 Other people estimate us by our appearance, or our 
 manner, or the things we say and do, but God judges 
 us by our heart. He looks right into it and He sees 
 things that our nearest friends don't see. He knows 
 how hard we tried to be good that time we failed. 
 He knows what it cost us to keep our temper when it 
 was sorely tried. He knows what it meant to be true 
 and straight and unselfish when we were tempted to be 
 the opposite. And He knows, too, the splendid men 
 and women we are able to become if we will let Him 
 take possession of those hearts He can see so well, if 
 we will let Him rule there. 
 
ONLY A SHEPHERD BOY. 
 
 Behold, he keepeth the sheep.— i Sam. xvi. ii. 
 
 That was all they could say about David. He was 
 just the shepherd boy, and not worth the trouble of 
 calling, and yet it was the shepherd boy that God 
 chose to be king over Israel. 
 
 You remember how Samuel was sent to Bethlehem 
 to anoint a king from among Jesse's sons. And you 
 remember how Jesse brought forward his seven elder 
 sons one by one. Fine, big, stalwart men they were, 
 but as each one passed along God whispered to Samuel 
 that this was not the man of His choice. Then Samuel 
 asked Jesse if all his sons were present, and the old 
 man replied that he had still one son, but he had really 
 not thought of summoning him. He was only the 
 herd boy, a mere lad of fifteen, and God could not 
 possibly want him. Yet it was just the shepherd lad 
 that God did want; and when David came He told 
 Samuel to arise and anoint him. 
 
 Now I like that story : and I like this verse because 
 it tells me that the very thing Jesse and his sons 
 thought least of, God thought most of. David was 
 just the keeper of the sheep. His was an occupation 
 that was rather looked down upon and was usually 
 
 68 
 
1 SAMUEL XVI, 11 69 
 
 given to the younger members of the family, yet it 
 was just because he was a keeper of the sheep that 
 God chose him. There is a verse in the Psalms which 
 tells us that God chose David and took him from the 
 sheepfolds to feed His people Israel. Just because he 
 knew how to lead and care for the sheep, he knew how 
 to lead and care for a nation. Jesse and Samuel might 
 have thought that one of the soldier brothers would 
 make a fitter king, but God knew better. 
 
 1. Now will you notice, first, that the humblest worh 
 is worth doing well. — David's friends might look down 
 on his occupation, but he loved his sheep and he did 
 his beet for them. He was a good shepherd and he 
 put his heart and soul into his work. I don't know 
 whether Samuel told him just then that he was to be 
 king, but David knew he had been set aside for some 
 great purpose; yet after he had been anointed, he 
 went quietly back to his sheep and waited till God 
 called him to some other work. 
 
 Now we are sometimes tempted to look down on 
 our work because it is commonplace and dull. When 
 you feel like that will you try to remember that the 
 work you are doing is just God's bit of work for you, 
 and that you can make it something fine by doing 
 it well. 
 
 I read a story once about a prisoner who was 
 imprisoned for life. And in the prison he was given 
 some work to do. His work was to weave a piece of 
 cloth out of a coarse dull thread. There was no change 
 
70 ONLY A SHEPHERD BOY 
 
 in the work and no variety. Day after day he had to 
 weave the same kind of cloth out of the same kind of 
 thread. But one day the jailer came to him and told 
 him that because he had done his work so well he 
 would be allowed in future to weave a rose-coloured 
 thread into the cloth. That made all the difference in 
 the world. After that the prisoner felt he had some- 
 thing to live for. He looked forward to weaving in. 
 the rose-coloured thread. And when the pieces of 
 cloth were finished he often took them up again to 
 look at the bright thread shining out of the dull 
 material. 
 
 I think David had found the rose-coloured thread. 
 Do you know what it was? Out there among the 
 everlasting hills with the twinkling stars shining down 
 on him he had learned to know and to love Grod, and 
 that made all the difference to his work. It was Grod's 
 bit of work for him just then, and he meant to make it 
 something grand and glorious. 
 
 2. Again, will you try to remember that humble work 
 well done prepares us for higher service. — The work you 
 are doing now is making you ready for something 
 bigger ahead, only you must do the little things well 
 or you won't be fit for the big things when they 
 come. 
 
 Sometimes you hear people complaining that they 
 have no luck and that they never had a chanca Did 
 you ever hear the story of how Luck went visiting and 
 how he was received ? Here it ia— 
 
1 SAMUEL XVL 11 71 
 
 Luck tapped upon a cottage door, 
 
 A gentle, quiet tap ; 
 And Laziness, wlio lounged within. 
 
 The cat upon his lap. 
 Stretched out his slippers to the fire 
 
 And gave a sleepy yawn : 
 *• Oh, bother ! let him knock again 1 " 
 
 He said ; but Luck was gone. 
 
 Lack tapped again, more faintly still. 
 
 Upon another door, 
 Where Industry was hard at work 
 
 Mending his cottage floor. 
 The door was opened wide at once ; 
 
 *' Come in ! " the worker cried, 
 And Luck was taken by the hand 
 
 And fairly pulled inside. 
 
 He still is there — a wondrous guest, 
 
 From out whose magic hand 
 Fortune flows fast, but Laziness 
 
 Can never understand 
 How Industry found such a friend ; 
 
 "Luck never came mxj way!" 
 He sighs, and quite forgets the knock 
 
 Upon his door that day.^ 
 
 So you see we must just grind away at the 
 monotonous, commonplace things if we ever want to do 
 anything bigger. If David hadn't been a good shepherd 
 he would never have made a good king. If he hadn't 
 been a good shepherd he would never have been a king 
 at all, for God would not have chosen him. 
 
 * Priecilla Leonard, in A Garland of Verse^ 82, 
 
FIVE SMOOTH STONES. 
 
 He chose him five smooth stones out of the brook. — 
 I Sam. xvii. 40* 
 
 I don't need to tell any of you the story of how David 
 fought and conquered the giant Goliath. I expect you 
 could tell it to me a great deal better than I could 
 tell it to you. It is one of the most splendid stories in 
 the Bible — that tale of how the young shepherd lad 
 from the hills, strong in his confidence in God, over- 
 came the big bully before whom all the mighty 
 warriors of Israel trembled. 
 
 I want to speak to-day about David's weapons — the 
 five smooth stones he chose from the brook. You 
 remember how Saul clothed the boy in his own armour, 
 and how awkward David felt in it. He was un- 
 accustomed to it, and when he found it hampered him 
 he wisely put it off and armed himself with the 
 weapons he could use. 
 
 The Philistines had camped on the side of a mountain 
 and the Israelites on a mountain opposite. Between 
 the two armies lay a valley, and at the bottom of the 
 valley a deep gorge containing the bed of a stream. 
 In crossing the gorge to fight Goliath, David picked up 
 f -'e smooth stones and put them in his shepherd's bag 
 ready for his sling. 
 
 72 
 
1 SAMUEL XVII. 40 73 
 
 Now we have all giants to conquer, and some of 
 them are very big, and very terrifying, and we are 
 sometimes dreadfully afraid they will get the better of 
 us. " Oh," you say, " that is all nonsense. There are 
 no fierce giants stalking about the land now, seeking 
 whom they may slay." Yes, there are still giants; 
 they are every bit as terrible as Goliath ; and there is 
 still a call for Davids to slay them. Would you like 
 to know their names ? Here are a few : Selfishness, 
 Envy, Pride, Temper, Laziness, Untruthfulness. Would 
 you like to know where they dwell ? In the hearts of 
 boys and girls, and men and women. 
 
 And how are we going to conquer those giants? 
 With five smooth stones. The first smooth stone is 
 Humility. And how is humility going to help us to 
 conquer our giants ? Because it teaches us to know 
 our own weakness, and leads us to rely on God's 
 strength. There is a verse in the Book of Proverbs 
 which says that " Pride goeth before destruction, and 
 an haughty spirit before a fall." It is the boy who 
 boasts whom we expect to fail. 
 
 There is a Russian story of an owl who tried to show 
 the way to a blind ass. Now the owl, you know, can 
 see very well in the dark, because its eyes are made for 
 that purpose, but when morning dawns it gets dazzled 
 with the strong light, and hides itself in caves, or 
 barns, or hollow trees. 
 
 Well, this particular owl got on all right as long as it 
 was dark. It perched on the ass's back and directed it 
 safely. But when the sun rose it could no longer see 
 
74 FIVE SMOOTH STONES 
 
 properly and, instead of confessing its helplessness, it 
 pretended still to know the way. It told the ass to 
 turn to the left when it should have turned to the 
 right, and they fell together over a steep precipice. 
 
 We cannot conquer our giants by our own power 
 alone. If we try to do so, we shall sooner or later 
 come to grief like the self-sufficient owl. David knew 
 his weakness as well as his strength. He said to 
 Goliath, " Thou comest to me with a sword, and with 
 a spear, and with a javelin : but I come to thee in the 
 name of the Lord of hosts." 
 
 So the first smooth stone is Humility — the recogni- 
 tion of our own limitations, and the fii-st stone leads to 
 the second — the smooth stone of Faith — reliance on 
 God's help. It was David's faith that made him strong 
 to conquer. He had entire confidence in God. He 
 trusted Him as a little child trusts his father. He 
 knew that God had delivered him from the lion and 
 the bear, and he was certain that He would give him 
 the victory when he was fighting the enemy of God's 
 people. We are fighting God's enemies when we are 
 fighting our sins, and if we trust in Hitn, we are sure 
 to conquer. 
 
 And the second smooth stone — the stone of Faith 
 — leads to the third — the smooth stone of Courage. 
 Faith is the root of courage. It was David's faith that 
 gave him courage to fight Goliath when the strong 
 warriors fled before him. It was faith ihat steadied 
 his arm when he took aim. The heroes of the world 
 have been men of faith. And if we are to conquer our 
 
1 SAMUEL XVII. 40 75 
 
 enemies we shall require courage, the courage that 
 comes from faith. Sometimes our giants will seem so 
 appalling that we shall be tempted to think we cannot 
 slay them. But we must never lose heart. Let us 
 remember how easily Goliath was overcome when faced 
 by a man of courage. 
 
 But there is another smooth stone we must use if we 
 want to conquer — the smooth stone of Prayer. It is 
 Prayer that keeps the stones of Faith and Courage 
 smooth and polished. We are not told that David 
 offered up a prayer before he went to meet Goliath, 
 but I am quite sure he spoke to God in the silence of 
 his heart. Out on the lonely hillside, when he was 
 watching the sheep, David had often communed with 
 God, and he would not have had such splendid faith 
 and courage unless he had lived very near to God in 
 prayer. For prayer is one of God's ways of bringing 
 us near to Him ; and Satan cannot get hold of us when 
 we are close to God. 
 
 So when we feel as if our giants were to get the 
 better of us the very best thing to do is just to send up 
 a little cry to God to help us. He will surely come to 
 our aid. 
 
 And the last smooth stone is Endeavour. We must 
 do our part. We must not sit still and expect God to 
 do everything for us while we do nothing. That would 
 be malting our prayers a mockery. 
 
 Do you remember Wellington's advice to his soldiers ? 
 " Say your prayers, and keep your powder dry." They 
 were right to pray, but their prayers would not be of 
 
76 FIVE SMOOTH STONES 
 
 much use if they neglected the means of victory, if 
 they allowed their powder to get so wet that it would 
 be useless. And a young Commodore in the French 
 navy once gave similar advice to the sailors under him. 
 A terrible storm was raging; the ship was in great 
 peril; the sailors had lost heart, and were relaxing 
 their efibrts at the pump. But the Commodore cheered 
 them, and encouraged them to go on. "All your 
 prayers are good," he said, " but Saint Pump ! He'll 
 save you ! " 
 
 David did not conquer the giant without fighting 
 him, and his skill with the sling helped him. And we 
 cannot expect to conquer our giants unless we fight 
 them, unless we use along with the four smooth stones 
 of Humility, and Faith, and Courage, and Prayer, the 
 fifth stone of Endeavour. 
 
THE FRIEND OF DAVID, 
 
 The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and 
 Jonathan loved him as his own soul. — i Sam. xviii. i. 
 
 I WANT to speak to-day about something which all Iwys 
 and girls possess. Some have a great many, others only 
 a few, others again just one, but that one is a very sp^'cial 
 one. Some are changing them every day, each morning 
 they have a new one. Others have kept theirs for 
 months or years, and they intend, if possible, to keep 
 them all their life. 
 
 Would you like to know what this wonderful and 
 mysterious thing is ? Well, it is just a friend. 
 
 All of you have friends ; some more, some fewer, and 
 very oftkU you hear people telling you how necessary 
 it is to choose the right kind of friend. Yes, that is 
 very important; but there is something just as 
 important, if not more so, and that is how to he the 
 right kind of friend. 
 
 Now in this book there is the story of a friendship 
 which is perhaps the finest in the world. And I should 
 like you to read that story and think a great deal about 
 it, partly because it is very beautiful, but chiefly because 
 it shows us better than any other tale does the kind of 
 friend we should choose and be. It is the story of 
 David and Jonathan. 
 
 77 
 
78 THE FRIEND OF DAVID 
 
 Jonathan met David on the day that the young 
 shepherd slew Goliath. Saul had expressed a desire to 
 talk with the conqueror of the giant and David was 
 brought into his presence. And when the shepherd 
 lad had made an end of speaking, " the soul of Jonathan 
 was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved 
 him as his own soul." They were bound in one for 
 ever and ever. 
 
 Did you ever think how strange it was that Jonathan 
 should fall in love with David just then ? It is true 
 that there was much to admire in the young conqueror. 
 He had done a glorious deed and delivered his country- 
 men out of the hands of the Philistines. He was brave 
 and daring. He w^as good to look upon, and winsome 
 and modest in his manner. 
 
 Yes, but David had just carried off the laurels that 
 might have been Jonathan's. For Jonathan was no 
 coward. A few years before he, with the heh >f only 
 his armour-bearer, had climbed the face of a precipitous 
 rock, fallen upon the garrison of the Philistines, and 
 slain twenty men. We cannot tell why Jonathan did 
 not fight Goliath. Perhaps Saul prevented his going. 
 Samuel the prophet had told Saul that his son would 
 never reign, and Saul may have feared that the prophecy 
 would be fultilled by Goliath's killing Jonathan. 
 
 Whatever the reason, Jonathan did not grudge 
 David the triumph. He rejoiced with him. It made 
 hie heart glad to see that the boy was so brave and 
 chivalrous. His love was too big and generous to find 
 any room for jealousy. 
 
1 SAMUEL XVIII. 1 79 
 
 And it was the same all thronsrb. For it was not 
 long before Jonathan came to know that David was the 
 man whom Grod had chosen to succeed Saul on the 
 throne, that Darid was the man who was to fill the 
 place that was his (Jonathan's) by right. The know- 
 ledge filled Saul with mad envy, but Jonathan never 
 showed anything except pride and gladness in regard 
 to it. David's gain was always Jonathan's loss, and 
 yet Jonathan was ever able to rejoice in that gain. 
 Again and again Jonathan might have got rid of 
 David simply by delivering him into Saul's hands, but 
 he never betrayed his friend. Instead of that he 
 comforted and reassured David, he pleaded with his 
 father for him, be risked his own life to save him. 
 
 Now the queetion is. Can our friendship go the length 
 that Jonathan's did ? Can we be glad when our best 
 frienc^^ school carries off the prize we have worked so 
 hard ^^in ? Can we be glad when he succeeds at the 
 price of our feilure or loss ? Well, it is very, very 
 difficult, but there is just one way we can do it — by 
 putting oureelv^ absolutely in the background- 
 There is a fine story told of the great English 
 painter Turner. At one time Turner was on a committee 
 for arranging about the hanging of pictures which were 
 to be exhibited in London. ^ the last moment, when 
 all the walls were full, a picture by an unknown artist 
 came in. Turner said, " This is a good picture. It 
 must be hung.** But the other members of committee 
 replied, *' That is impossible. There is no room for it.'* 
 
80 THE FRIEND OF DAVID 
 
 Very quietly Turner said, " I will arrange it." And he 
 took down one of his own pictures and hung the new 
 one in its place. 
 
 Don't you think that was a fine thing to do ? And, 
 boys and girls, it is the people who are truly great who 
 can do things like that. Ask God to give you a big, 
 generous, self-forgetting heart. Then, and then only, 
 will you be able to be a friend like Jonathan. 
 
 There are just two other things I should like you to 
 notice about Jonathan's friendship for David. They 
 are the marks of the truest and best friendship wherever 
 you find it. 
 
 And, first, Jonathan was an absolutely loyal friend, 
 absolutely loyal and courageous. When he found out 
 that Saul wanted to take David's life he went and 
 *' spake good of David unto Saul his father." And that 
 was a difficult thing to do. It was difficult because he 
 risked his own life in doing it, and it was difficult 
 because it is always hard to stand alone and plead for 
 some one who is unpopular or out of favour. 
 
 Jonathan was loyal, too, because he stuck to David 
 through thick and thin, through evil fortune and good 
 He was as much David's friend when the latter was a 
 hunted outlaw as when he was in the king's court. He 
 was more his friend, for it was when David was in 
 trouble that Jonathan helped him most. 
 
 And so if you would be like Jonathan, be loyal and 
 faithful to your friends. Defend them when others 
 are running them down. Be even more their friend in 
 the dark days, for they need you more then. 
 
1 SAMUEL XVIII. 1 81 
 
 And the other thing I want you to notice about 
 Jonathan's friendship is that it was always helpful and 
 uplifting. David was never the worse of Jonathan's 
 company, but always the better. Jonathan cheered 
 him when he was in despair ; he lifted him up and put 
 courage and faith into him. 
 
 Charles Kingsley was once asked what was the 
 secret of his beautiful life, and he replied, "I had a 
 friend." 
 
 Wouldn't you like to be a friend like that, a friend 
 that makes the lives of others gladder and better and 
 more beautiful ? Wouldn't you like to be a friend like 
 Jonathan ? 
 
 There is just one Friend in all the world who is a 
 better Friend than Jonathan, and that is Jesus, the 
 Friend of little children. He loves you, not because you 
 are good, or kind, or brave, or loving, but just because 
 you are you. He loves you when you are naughty, 
 He loves you when you are sad, He loves you when you 
 are glad. He loves you and He died for your sake. He 
 loves you and He wants you for His very own. Will 
 you choose Him as your Friend ? Will you give Him 
 your love in exchange for His ? 
 
WALLS. 
 
 They were a wall unto us both by nsght and by day. — 
 I Sam. 2£xv. i6. 
 
 " A WALL unto us." Don't you think that was rather 
 a nice thing to be called ? The shepherds of a very 
 wealthy man c-jlW Nabal had been feeding their 
 flocks i.i a wild, desolate region where they were 
 exposed to danger from savage beasts and wild tribes, 
 and when they returned home one of them told how 
 King David's men had been "a wall* unto them by 
 day and by night. He meant of course that the king's 
 men had protected them continually and enabled them 
 to feed their flocks in safety. 
 
 Now it is a splendid thing to be a wall — to help to 
 keep away harm and hurt from those who are weaker 
 than ourselves. That is what our brave sailors and 
 soldiers do. They are a wall between us and our 
 enemiea. But you can all be wails too. I wonder 
 how? 
 
 1. Well, first, you can be a wall «U home. Perhaps 
 you think that is what father and mother should be — 
 that father is there to fight your battles with the 
 world, and mother to protect and care for you. And 
 that is true. But you can be a wall loo. For what is 
 
 82 
 
1 SAMUEL XXV, 16 83 
 
 it that spoils a home ? It is the little petty squabbles, 
 the little worries and frets ; and those are the things 
 you can help to keep out. 
 
 It takes two to make a quarrel, you know, and if 
 you refuse to quarrel then there will be one less in the 
 house to squabble with. And if you keep a bright 
 face when things go a bit wrong, it will help you to 
 bear your own troubles and it will help others to bear 
 theirs. So don't forget to be a wall at homa 
 
 2. And then you can be a wall at school and among 
 your friends. Is there some boy or girl in your class 
 who for no very good reason is unpopular ? Perhaps 
 they are not so well-dressed as the rest, perhaps they 
 are stupid, or timid, or awkward, or shy, and the others 
 are inclined to make fun of them and to despise them. 
 There are boys and girls like that in every school and 
 you can be a wall to them. You can befriend them 
 and bring out the best that is in them. 
 
 Is there any boy or girl you know who is easily led 
 away ? You can be a wall to them. You can help to 
 keep them straight- Many a boy and girl has gone 
 astray just for the lack of a good friend to steady 
 them. 
 
 3. And then you can be a wall to the weak and the 
 poor and the oppreRsed and the lonely in the vxrrld at 
 large. That is what Jesus was. He helped the weak 
 to be strong, He freed the oppressed, He was a friend 
 to the lonely. And Jesus still calls those who would 
 follow Him to be walls to such as these. If you are 
 strong, and young, and bright He asks you to use your 
 
84 WALLS 
 
 strength, and your youth, and your brightness to help 
 those who are weak, and old, and sad. 
 
 Perhaps you think you can't do much because you 
 are so little. But boys and girls can do a great deal — 
 much more than they often think. The question is — 
 " Do you want to be a helper or a hinderer ? " Because, 
 you know, there are really just two kinds of people in 
 the world — the helpers and the hinderers — the people 
 who build up walls, and the people who pull them 
 down and leave them lying about for others to fall 
 over. 
 
 There have been men and women who have been 
 magnificent, strong walls to the weak and the oppressed 
 — men such as William Wilberforce, who fought for 
 the freedom of the slaves; women such as Elizabeth 
 Fry, who took up the cause of the prisoners, and 
 Florence Nightingale, who cared for the soldiers. They 
 were like the splendid walls of a fortress. We may 
 be just very plain, ordinary people ; but if we cannot 
 hope to be fortress walls perhaps we can be rough 
 stone dykes, and that is better than being stumbling- 
 stones. 
 
GOD'S JEWEL-CASE. 
 
 Bound in the bundle of life (RVm ••the living") with the 
 Lord thy God. — i Sam. xxv. 29. 
 
 Where do you keep you treasures ? Have you a 
 special " hidey hole " that nobody knows of but your- 
 self ? Have you a box with a real lock and key ? 
 Have you perhaps a cash-box, a miniature copy of the 
 one in father's office ? Or have you a little jewel-case 
 with divisions and a velvet lining, exactly like the one 
 in which mother keeps her brooches and rings ? 
 
 I know you have something. For everybody hais his 
 or her special treasure holder. It may be anything 
 from the foot of an old stocking to a magnificent fire- 
 proof steel safe with the latest chubb lock. But what- 
 ever it may be, you trust it to keep your treasures 
 safe. 
 
 Have you ever seen the kind of bag in which an 
 Oriental ties up his precious belongings ? It is a very 
 primitive safe indeed, for it is just a piece of woven 
 silk, sometimes only a scrap of common yellow cotton. 
 It is gathered up in the form of a bag and then it is 
 carefully whipped round the neck with a length of 
 string. If the owner wishes to make it more secure 
 he puts a seal on the string. That is the Oriental 
 purse or jewel-case. It is not unlike the bag you make 
 
 85 
 
86 GOD'S JEWEL-CASE 
 
 with your handkerchief when you gather wild fruit by 
 the wayside and have no basket in which to carry 
 it home. 
 
 That Eastern bag or bundle is our text this morning. 
 For when Abigail wished that the soul of David might 
 be " bound in the bundle of the living " with the Lord 
 his Grod, she just meant that she wished his life might 
 be in God's safe-keeping, like a precious jewel safely 
 stored. 
 
 Some wise people tell us that there was an ancient 
 belief that the soul could be separated from the body 
 and locked up safely at home while its owner was 
 abroad. Perhaps the Hebrews held this belief and 
 gave their soul into the safe keeping of God. That 
 would explain Abigail's remark when she wished that 
 David's soul might be kept in God's jewel-case. 
 
 Now we don't believe that we can lock up our soul 
 at home when we go out. We know that wherever we 
 go our soul goes with us. And yet we can give our 
 soul to God to keep. That sounds impossible. How 
 can we both carry our soul with us, and give it to God 
 to keep ? Shall I tell you how we can do it ? You 
 know that God is everywhere. Wherever we go, God 
 is there. Well, if God is everywhere we go, and if we 
 carry our soul everywhere we go, it stands to reason 
 that wherever our soul may be God is. And so, if 
 God is where our soul is, He can watch over it, He can 
 take care of it for us. 
 
 An English poet, who wrote many fine verses, which 
 
1 SAMUEL XXV. 29 87 
 
 I hope yon may read one day, wrote at the end of a 
 well-known poem which is often sung as a song : 
 
 I am the master of my fate, 
 I am the captain of my soal. 
 
 He meant that he had thorough command and control 
 
 of his own soul, and so he feared nothing that could 
 
 happen to him. It was a fine idea, but the poem 
 
 would have been still finer and nobler had Henley been 
 
 able to write : 
 
 God is the Master of my fate, 
 God is the Captain of my soul. 
 
 Wise man as he was, he was not so wise as the little 
 child whom a gentleman overtook one dark night as he 
 hurried home through the streets of a great city. The 
 little thing slipped her hand confidingly into his, and 
 when he glanced down at her he was surprised to 
 discover that she was a mite of five whom he knew. 
 
 "Why, child!" he exclaimed, " what are you doing 
 here all by yourself ? Is your father not with you ? " 
 
 " No," she said. 
 
 " But aren't you afraid, dear ? " 
 
 " Afraid ! " she replied. " Oh, no ! You see, God is 
 everywhere, and He takes care of me." 
 
 Yes, God is everywhere, and God will let no harm 
 befall our soul, if — if — and this is so important that it 
 requires three underlinings — if we put our soul in His 
 charge. 
 
 We can refuse to have any captain of our soul but 
 self. We can even choose Satan as its master. We 
 
88 GOD'S JEWEL-CASE 
 
 can, if we like, entrust it to his keeping. The choice 
 is ours. God leaves us free. 
 
 But I'll tell you this. It is only in God's " bundle 
 of the living " that our soul will be safe. 
 
 And I'll tell you this, besides. If our soul is bound 
 up in God's " bundle of the living " it is be \ind up also 
 in God's bundle of eternal life. God will not only 
 watch over our soul here ; He will take it to live with 
 Him forever in a life so wonderful, so happy, that we 
 cannot even imagine how glorious it will be. 
 
A FOOL'S CAP 
 
 I have played the fool.— i Sam. xxvi. 2X« 
 Fools for Christ's sake. — x Cor. iv. lo. 
 
 Long ago, there used to hang in my bedroom prints of 
 two pictures by the famous artist Sir David Wilkie. 
 They were both pictures of a schoolroom, but they were 
 very different pictures. In the first the schoolmaster 
 was present and all the boys were looking exceedingly 
 busy over their tasks. In the second the master was 
 absent and the boys were having a high old time. 
 
 There was one boy who always used to attract my 
 attention — the boy with the fool's cap. He was the 
 dunce of the class and he was sitting in the back- 
 ground wearing a tall cone-shaped paper cap and 
 looking very cross. Nowadays boys are not punished 
 in that way. If they don't know their lessons they 
 get a caning, or are kept after hours, or have so many 
 lines to write. But I'm not sure that the fool's cap 
 wasn't rather a good idea after all; for the boy who 
 won't learn his lessons is a bit of a fool. He is 
 punishing himself more than anybody else and will 
 have to pay for his laziness later. He well deserves 
 to wear the fool's cap. 
 
 But what would you say supposing I told you that 
 we all have to wear the fool's cap ? And yet that is 
 
 89 
 
90 A FOOKS CAP 
 
 true. We can't get away from being fools however 
 hard we try. The question is which kind of fool are 
 we going to be ? 
 
 The Bible has quite a lot to say about fools, but in 
 tlie main there are just two kinds — the unwise fool 
 and the wise fool. The first is the man who lives for 
 himself and who gives up everything for sin and selfish 
 gratification; the second is the man who lives for 
 others and who gives up everything for Christ and 
 righteousness' sake. 
 
 I want to speak to-day about two men in the Bible 
 who owned that they were fools. One of them was a 
 foolish fool, the other was a wise fool. The first man's 
 name was Saul — Saul the first king of Israel. 
 
 Saul began life well. He was a fine man, head and 
 shoulders above all the people. He was clever and 
 brave and chivalrous, and seemed " every inch a king." 
 But he had one big fault — he had no self-control. He 
 allowed pride and self-will and envy to master him, 
 and they led him on to ruin. It was because he lost 
 control of himself that he forfeited his kingship. It 
 was because he allowed the wicked passion of jealousy 
 to master him that he tried to kill David and even his 
 own son Jonathan. And near the end of his life, when 
 he looked back in one of his better moments on the 
 way sin had led him, he cried out in bitter remorse, 
 "Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred 
 exceedingly." 
 
 Sooner or later sin makes fools of us all as it did of 
 
1 SAMUEL XXVI. 21 91 
 
 King Saul. Often it looks very fair and pleasant at 
 first, but that is just a way it has. If we saw it in all 
 its ugliness we should not be so ready to follow it. 
 There is a proverb which says "Sin begins like a 
 spider's web, and ends like a cart-rope.*' It begins by 
 binding us with a tiny thread which a baby could 
 break, but it ends by making slaves of us. 
 
 And so any boy or girl who is allowing bad temper, 
 or love of self, or love of ease, or any other fault to get 
 the better of them is just playing the fool. Anyone 
 who is aUo'7it'^' hi7n^f»Jf to be led away by bad com- 
 panions is juat playing the fool. And when sin has 
 got us to play the fool it sits down and laughs at ns 
 and lets us pay the consequences. 
 
 The other man I want to talk about was also called 
 Saul, though his name was afterwards changed to Paul. 
 But he was a very different kind of man from King 
 Saul. 
 
 Saul of Tarsus began life as a Pharisee. He, too, 
 was a young man of brilliant gifts, and all his friends 
 prophesied great things of him. He was likely to rise 
 to gre^t esteem among the Pharisees and already he 
 was a zealous persecutor of the Christians. But one 
 day, on the road to Damascus, Saul met Jesus of 
 Nazareth, and from that day he became a "fool for 
 Christ's sake." He gave up his brilliant prospects. 
 He gave up his comforts and his home to become a 
 poor travelling missionary. Instead of persecuting he 
 was persecuted. He had to work hard to keep himself. 
 
92 A FOOLS CAP 
 
 Often he was hungry and thirsty, sometimes he was 
 beaten, many times he was mocked at, and in the end 
 he laid down his life for Christ's sake. Again and 
 again his old friends among the Pharisees must have 
 said, " What a fool that young Saul is ! ** 
 
 But I think if you were asked to-day which was the 
 greater fool — Saul of Tarsus, or Paul the Apostle — 
 you would have no hesitation in answering. If Paul 
 had remained a Pharisee we should scarcely have heard 
 of him. As it is, he is known as the greatest Christian 
 missionary. He did the grandest and noblest work 
 that any man can do. He gave up much, but he 
 gained things far more precious — the love and fellow- 
 ship of Christ and a crown everlasting. 
 
 I want to tell you about two men who, like Paul, 
 became ** fools for Christ's sake.** 
 
 The first is Antony Ashley Cooper, Earl of 
 Shaftesbury. When he was a boy of fourteen or 
 fifteen Shaftesbury was so impressed with the miseries 
 of the poor that he resolved to devote his life to the 
 cause of the poor and the friendless. When he grew 
 up he entered Parliament, and from that time till the 
 day of his death he espoused the cause of the oppressed, 
 and especially of the poor children of England. Many 
 a hard battle he fought in Parliament and out of it. 
 Many an unpopular cause he took up. He fought for 
 the ovej-- worked factory hands, for the little children 
 working in the mines, for the poor little boys who 
 were sent up the chimneys to sweep them, and for 
 
1 SAMUEL XXVI. 21 93 
 
 many other oppressed people. He was often bitterly 
 opposed but that did not seem to matter to him ; he 
 just held right on till people came round to his way 
 of thinking. 
 
 But not only did he plead the cause of the poor ; he 
 gave his money and his time and himself to their 
 service. In those days the slums of London were very 
 terrible places, where many dark deeds were done. 
 But Lord Shaftesbury had no fear. He went in and 
 out among the people. He encouraged them and 
 helped them and loved them, until they came to love 
 him in return. They looked upon him as a father and 
 called him "our Earl"; and when he died rich and 
 poor alike mourned for him as for their dearest friend. 
 
 Perhaps some of his friends may have called Lord 
 Shaftesbury a fool to trouble himself about these 
 people, but Britain would have been a great deal worse 
 off and a great deal more miserable to-day if it had not 
 been for his folly. 
 
 The other man I want to speak of is Father Damien. 
 Father Damien was a young Belgian priest who heard 
 of the awful misery that existed among a colony of 
 lepers on the island of Molokai and devoted his life to 
 working among them. When he arrived at the island 
 he found that not only were the lepers suffering from 
 an awful and loathsome disease, but they were living 
 as little better than beasts. The young priest set to 
 work to improve things. ItTot only did he nurse the 
 lepers, but he built them better houses, he gave them 
 a better water-supply, he loved them and he told 
 
94 A FOOL'S CAP 
 
 them of God's love. And so from being little 
 better than criminals the people came to be a self- 
 respecting colony and children of God. 
 
 By and by Father Damien caught the terrible 
 disease, and although he might have been cured by 
 leaving the island, he would not desert the people he 
 had loved and helped, and in the end he died. Some 
 people might say that Father Damien was a fool, and 
 that he could have found good work to do elsewhere. 
 Bub surely he was a very grand kind of fool, the kind 
 we might all wish to becoma 
 
 One word more. When the great European War 
 broke out. Lord Kitchener called for men, and from 
 workshop and ofi&ce and university men came at his 
 call and at the call of duty and righteousness. Many 
 of them gave up brilliant careers or good businovsses ; all 
 of them took their lives in their hands. The world 
 might call them fools. Yes, but they were glorious 
 fools. Many of them laid down their lives that we 
 who were too young or too old or too weak to fight 
 might live. 
 
 Boys and girls what are you going to do with these 
 lives of yours that they have paid for with their lives ? 
 The future of England lies with you, and Christ has 
 need of His soldiers too. Are you just going to " play 
 the fool " and squander your lives away ; or will you, 
 with all the noble soldiers of Jesus Christ, become 
 " fools for Christ's sake " ? 
 
PAYING YOUR DEBTS. 
 
 The men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul. — 
 2 Sam. ii. 4. 
 
 This seems a queer text, doesn't it? Perhaps you 
 wonder what it has to do with you and me. But you 
 see it is only the end of a story, and for the beginning 
 of it we must go back many years — right back to the 
 commencement of King Saul's reign. 
 
 In those days the men of Jabesh-gilead weren't at 
 all brave; in fact they showed themselves rather 
 cowardly and servile. 
 
 Their enemies, the fierce Ammonites, came up and 
 surrounded their city. By and by the people of Jabesh 
 were worn out with the siege and they began to get 
 badly frightened. They were afraid of what would 
 happen to them if they fell into the hands of their 
 enemies, and they sent messengers to the Ammonites, 
 saying, " Make terms with us and we will serve you." 
 
 What do you think the answer was ? " On one 
 condition only will we treat with you — on the condi- 
 tion that we put out the right eye of every one of you 
 and that the disgrace of it be laid to the account of 
 all Israel who have not come to your aid/* 
 
 Somewhere in the hearts of the people of Jabesh- 
 gilead there must have been a spark of courage left. 
 
 85 
 
96 PAYING YOUR DEBTS 
 
 And that cruel reply fanned it into flame. They wera 
 not going to lose their eyes without making a big effort, 
 they were not going to bring disgrace upon all Israel 
 without making a last attempt to remedy matters. 
 They asked for seven days' respite in which they were 
 to be allowed to send messages into all parts of Israel. 
 Then if their fellow-countrymen refused indeed to 
 come to their aid, they would give themselves into the 
 hands of the Ammonites. 
 
 So the messengers went through all the land of Israel, 
 and they came, among other places, to Gibeah, where 
 Saul lived. Saul was not at home when they arrived ; 
 he was out in the fields ploughing, for, as you know, 
 he was a farmer. And when the people of Gibeah 
 received the message, what do you suppose they did ? 
 They sat down and cried just like a lot of babies. 
 They wept and they wailed, they wrung their hands, 
 and they made a most awful noise. 
 
 Well, you know, sitting down and crying about a 
 thing never mended matters and never will. Presently 
 Saul returned from his day's work and when he heard 
 the din he said, "What in all the worid is the row 
 about?" Then somebody told him the story of the 
 men of Jabesh-gilead. And when Saul heard it he 
 grew hot with righteous wrath. He didn't sit down 
 and cry about it. He began to act. 
 
 First he slew a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces. 
 Then he sent the pieces by messengers through all the 
 land of Israel just as the Highlanders of Scotland used 
 to send the fiery cross from hand to hand to gather 
 
2 SAMUEL II. 4 97 
 
 the members of their clans. And with the messengers 
 he sent a message — " Whosoever cometh not forth after 
 Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his 
 oxen." 
 
 The effect was wonderful. In a very short time he 
 had gathered together an army of three hundred and 
 thirty thousand men. They marched upon Jabesh- 
 gilead and fell upon the Ammonites in the early 
 morning, surprising and utterly routing them. 
 
 So the men of Jabesh-gilead were delivered. 
 
 But that LB not all the story. Many years afterwards 
 Saul was defeated in battle by the Philistines. Three 
 of his sons were killed. He himself was sorely wounded, 
 and rather than fall into the hands of the enemy he 
 took his own life. 
 
 The following day the Philistines found the bodies of 
 Saul and of his sons on the battlefield. They stripped 
 the king of his armour and cut off his head. His 
 armour they put in the house of one of their gods, his 
 head in the temple of another, while his body and that 
 of his sons they hung upon the wall of one of their 
 fortified cities — Beth-shan. 
 
 Now Beth-shan was on the opposite side of the 
 Jordan from Jabesh-gilead and distant from it less 
 than twenty miles. And when it came to the ears of 
 the men of Jabesh how the Philistines had insulted 
 their king, all the valiant men among them arose 
 and set out at dead of night to rescue the bodies. 
 It was a hazardous business, but they did not hesitate. 
 
 All night they went, and before dawn they reached 
 
98 PAYING YOUR DEBTO 
 
 the hill on which stood the city. They climbed the 
 steep rock to the wall, rescued the bodies, and carried 
 them back to Jabesh-gilead. There they buried them 
 under a sacred tree. 
 
 So the men of Jabesh paid their debt. They forgot 
 Saul's mistakes, they forgot his faults, they remembered 
 only that he had once helped them when they were 
 in sore straits, and they risked their lives to save his 
 body from disgrace. 
 
 I want to tell you another story, boys and girls. It 
 is a little story that is told in the life of one of the 
 first and best of hospital nurses — Sister Dora — and it 
 happened half a century ago. 
 
 In those days surgeons did not know so well as they 
 do now how to save a badly injured arm or leg. The 
 usual cure was — " Take it off." 
 
 One day a young man was brought into the hospital 
 where Sister Dora was working. His arm had been 
 badly twisted and torn by machinery and the surgeon 
 gave his verdict that, in order to save the patient's life, 
 he must amputate the limb. 
 
 The young man was greatly distressed. It was his 
 right arm and without it he would be very helpless. 
 Sister Dora examined the limb and then she said to 
 the sui-geon, ** I believe I can save this arm if you will 
 let me try." 
 
 The surgeon was very angry, but finally he consented. 
 " But remember it's your arm," he said, " I wash my 
 hands of the case." 
 
2 SAMUEL II. 4 99 
 
 Sister Dora did save the arm, and at hospital the 
 man received the nickname of " Sister's arm." 
 
 Some time later Sister Dora herself fell ill and this 
 same man walked eleven miles to ask for her every 
 Sunday — his only free day. 
 
 He used to pull the bell very hard and when the 
 servant appeared he would anxiously inquire, " How's 
 Sister ? " And always before he went away, he would 
 say, " Tell her that's her arm that rang the bell." 
 
 How many of you can find a connection between 
 these two stories ? It is just this. In both cases they 
 tell of people who remembered and who paid their 
 debt as best they could. Do we ? 
 
 Do we pay our debts to our father and mother, to 
 God ? I think sometimes it isn't that we forget or 
 mean to be ungrateful ; it is just that we don't think. 
 We are so accustomed to the benefits and kindnesses 
 that are showered upon us that we don't realize how 
 big they are or how numerous. 
 
 Will you try to begin to think to-day ? Above aU, 
 will you try to remember that, far more than that man 
 had the right to be called " Sister's arm," you have the 
 right to be called " Jesus' boy " or " Jesus' girl," for He 
 died to save you. Are you ready to acknowledge that ? 
 Are you ready to pay your debt to Him ? 
 
GOD'S DWELLING-PLACE. 
 
 The ark of the Lord remained in the honse of Obed-edom the 
 Gittite three months : and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all 
 his house.— 2 Sam. vi. ii. 
 
 To-day I want to tell you the story of a box or chest — 
 a very wonderful chest indeed. Even to look at it was 
 wonderful, for though it was made of acacia, or what 
 the Bible calls " shittim," wood it was plated all over 
 with gold. On the top of the chest rested a solid slab of 
 gold which had a beautiful name of its own. It was 
 called the Mercy Seat. At each end of this Mercy 
 Seat was a winged figure called a cherubim and between 
 these two figures, when the chest was put in its proper 
 place, there rested a mysterious light. That light was 
 the sign, the token, of the presence of God. Inside the 
 chest were the " tables of stone " which Moses brought 
 down from Mount Sinai, tablets on which were written 
 the ten commandments given to him by God. This 
 chest, or "ark" as the Bible names it, was the most 
 sacxed and cherished possession of the children of 
 Israel, and it was carried from place to place with great 
 care, according as God commanded. 
 
 Several very remarkable things occurred in its 
 history. When the priests bore it to the brink of the 
 
 100 
 
2 SAMUEL VI. 11 101 
 
 river Jordan, the waters were divided before it and they 
 kept divided so long as the ark rested in the river bed. 
 It was carried round the city of Jericho seven days in 
 succession, and on the last day the walls fell flat, and 
 the Israelites entered the city without opposition. 
 
 Tlie ark was afterwards placed in Shiloh, and there a 
 strange adventure befell it. It was taken into the 
 midst of the camp of Israel when they were about 
 to fight with the Philistines. The battle was fought, 
 Israel was beaten, and the ark was taken captive. The 
 Philistines carried it off and set it up in the temple of 
 Dagon, their fish-god. " Now," said they, " by this we 
 proclaim that Jehovah, Israel's God, is the conquered 
 prisoner of our god.'* But the morning showed Dagon 
 lying broken on the threshold. The frightened priests 
 got rid of the ark as quickly as they could. From one 
 PhiHstine city to another it passed, and everywhere its 
 presence was marked by disease and calamity. So at 
 last they huddled it into a cart and left the oxen to 
 draw it whither they would. The animals made 
 straight for the hills of Judaea, and rested in a harvest 
 field of Beth-shemesh. 
 
 The ark was then left for a time at Kirjath-jearim, 
 till David thought of bringing it to Zion. But, awe- 
 struck by the death of Uzzah, who rashly put out his 
 hand to touch it, David ordered it to be carried into the 
 house of a very good man called Obed-edom, where it 
 remained three months. And all the time it was there, 
 a blessing rested with it. There were no idols in Obed- 
 edom's house, and he was not presumptuous like Uzzah. 
 
102 GOD'S DWELLING-PLACE 
 
 He feared and served the God of the ark ; so, instead 
 of being a source of disaster, it was a blessing to him. 
 
 Would you like to know the rest of the story ? After 
 the ark had rested three months in Obed-edom's house 
 it was safely removed to a special tent which King 
 David had erected for it in Zion, that is, Jerusalem. 
 David wanted to build a temple to be a fitting home 
 for the ark, but God asked him to leave that to his 
 successor. And so, when Solomon came to the throne, 
 he erected a magnificent Temple and there the ark was 
 placed in state. What really was the end of it we shall 
 probably never know, but most people suppose that 
 when Jerusalem and its Temple were destroyed by 
 Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, the ark was 
 destroyed too. 
 
 Now I don't want you to think of the sad end of the 
 ark. I want you to think of it as our text speaks of it, 
 resting in the house of Obed-edom. Don't you think 
 Obed-edom must have been very proud, and very awed 
 at the same time, to think that the dwelling-place of 
 the great God of Israel should be in his house ? For 
 Obed-edom, like the Israelites of his day, would believe 
 that God came down and dwelt specially between the 
 outstretched wings of the cherubim. But he would not 
 understand what his countrymen were to learn later, 
 and what you and I know to-day — that God loves to 
 dwell in every house and in every place where He is 
 invited to come. 
 
 That reminds me of a story I read the other day. 
 Some years ago there lived in one of the central states 
 
2 SAMUEL VI. 11 103 
 
 of America a certain farmer who had a wife and two 
 children, a baby boy and a little girl of seven. He was 
 not making a success of his farm, and when the great 
 north-west country was opened up he resolved to move 
 there and begin afresh. So he went off and secured a 
 farm in a very lonely out-of-the-way spot. When he 
 came home and told his little girl what he had done, 
 her first question was, "Is there any church there. 
 Dad ? " (She was fond of church, you see.) Dad said, 
 " No." " Is there any Sunday school there ? " inquired 
 she. Again Dad said, " No." Then, " Is there any God 
 there ? " she asked. And Dad didn't know what to say 
 to that, so he answered nothing. 
 
 When they had moved all the furniture out of the 
 old home and were ready to start for the train, the 
 child was nowhere to be found. They hunted high and 
 low, and at last her mother found her. Do you know 
 where ? In her own little empty room, kneeling in one 
 corner with her face to the wall. She was praying 
 aloud, and this is what she was saying — " Dear God, we 
 are going to North Dakota and there is no Sunday 
 school there, and there is no church there, and there is 
 no God there. Good-bye, dear God, good-bye." 
 
 Poor little lassie ! Her heart was nearly broken 
 because she did not understand that God dwells 
 wherever He is invited to dwell. She did not know 
 that His favourite dwelling-place is the loving heart of 
 just such a little child. 
 
 Perhaps you would like to hear the end of that story. 
 It has a happier ending than the story of the ark. 
 
104 GOD'S DWELLING-PLACE 
 
 When the little gM's mother overheard ttie prayer she 
 knelt down beside the child and asked God to send the 
 Sunday school and the church to their new home, and 
 to go with them Himself. And do you know what 
 happened? Within two months a Sunday school 
 missionary started a Sunday school in that place ; and 
 within five months a little church was opened, and the 
 neighbours for miles round came there to worship God. 
 God, boys and girls, never refuses an invitation to 
 come and stay. And where He comes He blesses as 
 He blessed Obed-edom. Have you ever sent Him an 
 invitation? Have you invited Him to yonr home? 
 Have you asked Him to dweH in yoiir heart? 
 
A PROMISE AND HOW IT 
 WAS KEPT. 
 
 Thou shait not cut ofif thy kindness from my house for ever. — 
 I Sam. XX. 15. 
 
 I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy fcith^s 
 sake.— 2 Sam. ix. 7. 
 
 Once upon a time there were two young men who 
 were fast friends. They loved each other as perhaps 
 no two friends have ever done before or since. One 
 of them was a prince, the other had been a shepherd 
 and a soldier and he was now an outlaw. For the 
 king, the prince's father, did not love him as the prince 
 did. It had come to his knowledge that one day this 
 young shepherd-soldier would sit on the throne, and 
 he was very jealous. He was so jealous that he tried 
 to take the young man's life, and the youth had to flee 
 from him. 
 
 So the time came when the prince and the soldier 
 must part. The prince must stay beside his father, for 
 that was his duty, but the soldier must hide himself 
 among the hills so that the king might not find him. 
 
 The two friends were very, very sad, and very, very 
 sorry ; and because they were so sad and sorry, and 
 because they loved each other so much, they made a vow 
 one with another. The prince knew that some day the 
 
 106 
 
106 A PROMISE AND HOW IT WAS KEPT 
 
 soldier would come to the throne, that he would take 
 the place that was really his. Unlike his father, he 
 was not a bit jealous. He loved his friend so much 
 that he was glad when anything good happened to 
 him. But he made him promise that he would never 
 forget him. And the soldier promised that, whatever 
 happened, he would always show kindness to the 
 prince and to his sons and grandsons who should come 
 after him. So they parted. 
 
 By and by God sent the prince a little son, and the 
 prince gave him a queer long name. He called him 
 Mephibosheth. 
 
 For the first five years of his life little Mephibosheth 
 had a very happy time. He lived in a palace and was 
 very much petted and adored. And he was quite sure 
 that nobody had such a splendid daddy as he. For 
 Mephibosheth loved and admired his father tremend- 
 ously. Who was so brave, or so handsome, or so good ? 
 He liked to see him dressed in his beautiful shining 
 armour and wearing on his face such a brave, stem 
 look : for daddy went a great deal to war in those days. 
 But best of all he loved the quiet evenings when there 
 was no fighting and daddy lifted him on his knees 
 before bedtime and told him stories of the great 
 battles of long ago. 
 
 There was one story he liked specially to hear. It 
 was the tale of how the young shepherd boy who was 
 daddy*s greatest friend fought the big giant who was 
 frightening all the famous warriors of his land. Often 
 and often the prince spoke about this friend. He used 
 
1 SAMUEL XX. 15 107 
 
 to tell how brave he was, and how loving and kind. 
 And sometimes his voice would grow husky, and 
 something that was warm and wet would fall on 
 Mephibosheth's brow. Then the little boy would put 
 up his hand and stroke his father's face and say, " Don't 
 cry, Daddy : I love you too." 
 
 There was one thing that the prince repeated 
 over and over again : " If ever you are in trouble, 
 Mephibosheth, and 1 am away, you must go to this 
 friend. He will help you and be kind to you for he 
 has promised. And he never breaks his promise" 
 
 When Mephibosheth was just five years old there 
 came a very sad morning when daddy came in all 
 dressed in his shining armour and told his little son 
 that he was going away to fight grandfather's enemies. 
 I think he must have known he would never come 
 back, for his face looked so sad, and he kissed 
 Mephibosheth long and tenderly and told him always 
 to be a good boy. 
 
 That evening there was terrible excitement in the 
 palace. Messengers came rushing in bearing very bad 
 news. There had been a great battle and the king's 
 army had been defeated. The king was killed, and the 
 brave prince, and other two of the king's sons. And 
 the enemy were in pursuit. They would soon reach 
 the palace, and they would kill everyone they found 
 there. The women and children must flee for their 
 lives. 
 
 In terror, Mephibosheth's nurse caught him up in 
 her arms, set him on her shoulder, and ran with him 
 
108 A PROMISE AND HOW IT WAS KEPT 
 
 as fast as she could away from the palace. And as she 
 ran she tripped and fell. The boy was daehed violently 
 against some stones, and his feet were injured. Oh 
 how they hurt ! After that he didn't quite know what 
 happened. Somebody picked him up and ran on and 
 on with him, on and on across a river, oo. suid on till 
 they came to a farm among the hills, where a kind 
 farmer oSi^ed to take care of the king's grandson. 
 
 When Mephibosheth came to himself he discovered 
 a very sad thing — he was lame in both his feet ! He 
 would never be able to run and play like other boys : 
 he would always be a helpless cripple. Besides that 
 his dear daddy was dead. He would never see him 
 again. Don't you think he must have been a very 
 sad and sorry little boy that day? 
 
 There was another thing that made him sad. Always 
 his friends kept saying that they must hide him from 
 David. David was the new king who sat on grand- 
 father's throne ; and if David knew there was such a 
 person as Mephibosheth he would want to kill him, 
 they said. For it often happened in those cruel days 
 that the new king put to death all the relatives of the 
 old king. 
 
 Mephibosheth was puzzled. " David ! *' Wasn't that 
 the name of daddy's great friend — the brave shepherd 
 who slew the giant ? And daddy had told him to go 
 to David if he was in trouble. Yet they said David 
 wanted to kill him. It was all very queer. Of course 
 he couldn't go to David now because of his poor lame 
 feet, and nobody would take him. And by and by he 
 
1 SAMUEL XX. 15 109 
 
 began to half believe the things these friends of his 
 grandfather told him. You see he was very little, and 
 daddy was dead, and there was no one to tell him 
 anything better. 
 
 So the years passed until Mephibosheth had grown 
 to be a man and was married and had a little boy of 
 his own. 
 
 Then one evening, away in his palace in Jerusalem, 
 King David sat thinking about the long ago days when 
 he was a young man. He had been very busy fighting 
 the enemiee of his country since he came to the throne, 
 but now the land was at peace and he had time to 
 think. His mind went back to the day when he had 
 fought the giant, to the days when he had lived in 
 King Sauls palace, to the days when he had wandered 
 as an outkw among the hills. And always in his 
 thoughts there was the remembrance of a friend who 
 had been true and unselfish and loyal, a friend who 
 would have laid down his life for him. 
 
 One scene especially came back to his memory. It 
 was a scene in a field where this friend, on the eve of 
 their parting, made him promise a solemn promise — 
 that he would be kind to him and to his children 
 for ever. 
 
 And David cried out with a great longing — " Is there 
 yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may 
 shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake ? " 
 
 Now some of his servants overheard him and they 
 said, " There is here an old servant of Saul called Ziba, 
 He knows something about Saul's descendants." So 
 
110 A PROMISE AND HOW IT WAS KEPT 
 
 David sent for Ziba and when the servant was brought 
 into his presence he repeated his question. 
 
 The old man replied that Jonathan had a son called 
 Mephibosheth who was lame in both his feet and that 
 he was living with a farmer away across the Jordan. 
 Can't you imagine how glad David was when he heard 
 that ? Jonathan had a son still alive, and he had 
 never known ! 
 
 He sent at once to fetch him. And when Mephi- 
 bosheth was brought into the king's presence he threw 
 himself down at his feet and made himself very humble. 
 You see he had been told nearly all his life that David 
 wanted to kill him, and he may have been afraid that 
 David had just sent for him to put him to death. 
 
 But the king raised him up and spoke very kindly 
 to him. He told him not to fear, for he would surely 
 show him kindness for Jonathan his father's sake. He 
 told him also that he would give him all the land that 
 had belonged to his grandfather Saul, and that he 
 would lend him Ziba and his fifteen sons to be his 
 servants. They would till the land for him so that 
 he need never want. Finally he said that always 
 Mephibosheth was to sit at the king's table and take 
 his place among the king's sons. 
 
 Don't you think Mephibosheth must have felt proud 
 and glad that day ? And don't you think that David 
 kept that old, old promise splendidly ? 
 
 Why have I told you this story to-day ? Because I 
 want you, like David, to remember that a promise, a 
 
1 SAMUEL XX. 15 111 
 
 solemn promise, is a sacred thing, and that it ought to 
 be kept. 
 
 There was a little boy once who was asked what the 
 word " promise " meant ; and he replied, " To promise 
 is to keep it in your mind, keep it in your mind, keep 
 it in your mind, till you do it" Don't you think that 
 was a splendid answer ? Sometimes it is years, as it 
 was in David's case, before we can fulfil our promise, 
 but we must " keep it in our mind," until at last we 
 are able to do it. 
 
 Away up in the north of Scotland there is a little 
 footbridge over a mountain stream, and on the central 
 stone of the bridge there is a curious inscription. It 
 consists of just three words — " God and me." Would 
 you like to know the story of that bridge ? 
 
 In the summertime the stream is often a mere 
 trickle of water, but in spring, when the snows melt 
 on the hills, it becomes a raging torrent. Once when 
 this burn was " in spate," as we say in Scotland, a little 
 girl attempted to cross it. She attempted to cross, and 
 she fell in and was in danger of drowning. She prayed 
 to God to help her, and she promised that if He would 
 save her then she would build a bridge over the stream. 
 Well, God did help her and she got safely across to the 
 other side. 
 
 She was just a poor girl, but after a while she went 
 to work. And she never forgot her promise. Little 
 by little she gathered her pennies until before she died 
 she had saved enough to build the bridge. And she 
 put on it that beautiful motto — " God and me." 
 
112 A PROMISE AND HOW IT WAS KEPT 
 
 BoT3 and girls, try always to make promises that are 
 good Mid worthy. And when you haye made them, 
 remember that they are not things to be tossed aside 
 lightly. They are binding and sacred; and we must 
 keep them in our mind, keep them in our mind, keep 
 them in our mind, tiil wefulJU thei^ 
 
PLAYING THE MAN. 
 
 Let US play the mea.— 2 Sam. x. 12. 
 
 JoAB, the OGmmander-in-chief of David's army, found 
 himself in a tight corner. He had been sent by ^Kiag 
 David to lay siege to Rabbah, the capital of Animon. 
 But when he approached Eabbah the Ammonites 
 came out to fight him, and the Syrians, whom tte King 
 of Ammon had hired to help him, closed in behind him. 
 There he wae, shut in between two armies, his retreat 
 cut off in both directions. What was he to do? 
 Well, the only course was to face the situation and 
 make the best of it. He must divide his army in two, 
 and fight both enemies at once. 
 
 The Syrians were the more formidable foe, so he 
 resolved to face them himself ; and for this purpose he 
 chose out the doughtiest of the warriors — men tried in 
 many a fight like Napoleon's " Old Guard." The reec 
 of the army he put under the corumand of Alwsbai his 
 brother, with injunctions that, if the Syrians proved 
 too strong, Abishai was to come to his aid, and if the 
 Ammonites proved too strong, he was to go to 
 Abishai's aid. 
 
 As they parted Joab gave a few last wMds of 
 encouragement — the best that any general oo*ld give 
 
114 PLAYING THE MAN 
 
 to his officers or men on going into action — "Be of 
 good courage, and let us play the men for our people, 
 and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that 
 which seemeth him good." 
 
 We know how the battle ended — how the Syrians 
 did not wait to fight, but turned and lied before the 
 terrible onslaught of these determined warriors ; and 
 how the Ammonites, seeing their allies routed, retired 
 hastily within the walls of their city. 
 
 "Let us play the men." That is surely the best 
 motto any boy can take. If he lives up to it and all 
 that it means he has not lived in vain. If he lives up to 
 it, he is taking his place among the heroes of the world. 
 
 " Let us play the men." What does it mean ? Well 
 it does not mean " let us play at being a man." You 
 can play at being a man when you smoke cigarettes, 
 and speak in a gruff voice, and swagger a cane. But 
 that is not " playing the man." 
 
 No, " playing the man " means something far grander 
 and bigger and more worth while. It means rising to 
 the best that is in us, rising to all we were meant to be 
 when God created man in His image. It means being 
 brave and honourable and self-controlled. 
 
 Playing the man means conquering ourselves, and 
 conquering our circumstances. 
 
 First it means conqueritig ourselves. There is no use 
 blinking the fact that we have all got within us some- 
 thing that can make us less than man, but something 
 that, if grappled with and conquered, can make us more 
 
2 SAMUEL X. 12 115 
 
 than man. We have all got within us a bit of the beast. 
 You can hear the bear growling sometimes, you can 
 see the tiger's claws, you can watch the pig wallowing, 
 and the peacock strutting. 
 
 Now it is the business of all of us to tame and 
 control that beast. And be very sure of this, uiil^ss 
 you are going to control him, he is going to control you. 
 We don't allow wild beasts to roam about our houses 
 and lie down under our tables. We chain them 
 up, and put them in cages. Chain up your wild 
 beasts. 
 
 It is going to be a tough job, but it will make a man 
 of you. You will have a harder task even than Joab 
 had. He had enemies on all sides, but we are not told 
 that he had any deserters or traitors within. Not 
 only have you enemies without, but you have traitors 
 and deserters within. Your courage will some- 
 times play you false, your i^esolution will desert 
 you. But what of that? The true hero is the 
 man who persists though the odds be greatly against 
 him, the man who faces the fight even though he be 
 afraid. 
 
 Do you know the story of Derar, a brave warrior 
 who was one of Mohammed's followers ? In the year 
 633 Mohammed's followers were at war with the 
 Roman Empire, and one day in battle Derar found 
 himself face to face with thirty soldiers — thirty 
 soldiers whom he had to fight alone. Before help could 
 come he had killed or unhorsed seventeen of those 
 thirty men. When he was asked afterwards why he 
 
116 PLAYING THE MAN 
 
 had not run away, he replied, " I was afraid that God 
 would see me turn my back." That is the only thing 
 that a man need fear — that God should see him turn 
 his back. " Be of good courage," then ; let us fight the 
 beast, let us fight for our manhood, " let us play the 
 men." 
 
 Secondly " playing the man " means eonquering cir- 
 cumstcmces. Sometimes you hear people saying that 
 " circumstances '* were too strong for them. Such a 
 statement is generally a whining excuse for moral 
 weakness. There are some things that we cannot alter 
 in this world : we have just to take them as they are 
 and make the best of them. But taking circumstances 
 as they are and making the best of them doesn't mean 
 that the circumstances have got the better of us. It 
 means that we have got the better of the circumstances, 
 and that is a very different thing. 
 
 Let us suppose that an officer is ordered to a lonely 
 outpost on the Indian frontier. There are two ways 
 he could meet the situation. He could make a fuss 
 about it and grumble at his hard luck — I don't say he 
 does, for that is not the sort of thing a soldier does, 
 but he cmtld do it. He could grumble, and do his 
 work with half a heart, and make those around him 
 thoroughly miserable. What would be the conse- 
 quence ? His work would suffer, and the likelihood is 
 that he would be kept at that lonely outpost for some 
 considerable time or be sent to a worse ona On the 
 other hand he could throw his whole heart and soul 
 into the work and determine to make the best of 
 
2 SAMUEL X. 12 117 
 
 things. Promotion to a better billet would probably 
 follow, but in any case the man would gain in self- 
 control and manliness. He would get the better of 
 his circumstances by getting the best out of them. 
 He would " play the man." 
 
 Playing the man means " sticking in." It means 
 facing up to our tasks cheerfully. It means meeting 
 disappointments and disagreeable things without 
 whining. It means persevering when we are like to be 
 beaten. It means grappling with our difficulties tiU 
 we overcome them. It means independence — not 
 following the crowd, if the crowd are wrong. 
 
 You are going to grow up one of these days. Are 
 you going to be men, or are you going to be puppets 
 whom anyone can move if they pull the right string ? 
 You are determining that now. There are some boys 
 who would fight you if you destroyed their cricket bat 
 or broke their best knife, but who would sit down calmly 
 and let another boy destroy what is far more precious 
 — their moral well-being — without lifting a finger to 
 interfere. 
 
 Boys, God wants men. He is badly in need of them 
 in this world. He wants men and He makes men. 
 The best Man who ever lived was also the greatest 
 Hero. He overcame the beast, He suffered poverty 
 and hardship uncomplainingly. He went unflinchingly 
 to a cruel death from which His whole flesh shrank, 
 He bore a burden which bowed Him to the very dust 
 and broke Hjb heart 
 
118 PLAYING THE MAN 
 
 Most of you have got your heroes whom you admire 
 and secretly try to imitate. Don't forget to include 
 in the list the greatest Hero of all ; and if you strive 
 to imitate Him you will also become a hero, or — what 
 is even greater than a hero — a man. 
 
ABSALOM. 
 
 In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom 
 for his beauty : from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his 
 head there was no blemish in him. — 2 Sam. xiv. 25. 
 
 To-day we are going to talk about someone who was 
 a prince — we are none of us that ! Someone who was 
 splendidly and perfectly beautiful, are — any of us 
 that? Someone who had a particularly charming 
 manner — and most of us would be none the worse of 
 that! Someone who was utterly spoiled — of course 
 none of us are that ! Someone who was vainer than 
 a peacock — equally of course none of us are that ! 
 
 Have you guessed the name of this someone who 
 was so like — I beg your pardon, unlike — ourselves? 
 If I give you two more hints, perhaps you will be able 
 to tell me his name. First, he was famous for his 
 beautiful hair ; second, his name began with an " A." 
 Yes. It was Prince Absalom. 
 
 The story of Absalom makes one feel sad, for he 
 could have been such a splendid success, and all he 
 succeeded in being was a miserable failure. You 
 remember he was not only the son of a king, but he 
 was the son of a king's daughter, and he was the 
 heir to the throne of Israfd. He was brave and fear- 
 less too, and his handsome face and winning manners 
 
 119 
 
120 ABSALOM 
 
 made him the idol of the court. To see him was to 
 admire him. 
 
 But Absalom had one great fault, and it was just 
 the fault you would have expected such a young man 
 to have — he was full of conceit. By and by this 
 vanity grew so great that it choked out all his virtues 
 as a strong weed chokes out tender flowers. By and 
 by it, this same vanity, led even to his death. 
 
 Absalom was not altogether to blame for his conceit. 
 His father David was partly responsible. For David 
 had never found fault with the boy. David had 
 petted him and spoiled him and given him everything 
 he wanted, except the one thing he most required — a 
 touch of the birch-rod. 
 
 And so Absalom, this petted child of fortune, this 
 darling of the people, grew up to bring nothing but 
 sorrow to his father's heart. First he slew his own 
 brother. Then he plotted to seize his father's crown. 
 He was not content with being heir to the throne, he 
 wanted to fill it immediately, partly because his vanity 
 told him he would fill it extremely well, partly be- 
 cause his vanity was hurt at his father's having 
 banished him from court for a few years as a 
 punishment for having slain his brother. 
 
 He set about the matter in a very clever and 
 cunning fashion. He flattered the foolish people till 
 he had won them over to his side. Then he seized 
 Jerusalem and his poor old father had to flee from the 
 city with the few who were faithful to him. 
 
 Absalom was very near indeed to the throne that 
 
2 SAMUEL XIV. 25 121 
 
 day he entered Jerusalem, but he lost the throne and 
 his life as well — all because of his vanity. He held 
 a council of his followers as to what his next step 
 should be. One man, named Ahithophel, advised that 
 Absalom should let him and a picked number of men 
 go at once in pursuit of the king, that they might slay 
 him while he was weak and weary with the flight, and 
 before he had time to gather round him sufficient men 
 to oppose his son. But another man, Hushai, who was 
 really David's friend, and who knew Absalom's weak 
 point, advised Absalom to wait till he had gathered 
 together all his admirers and followers in Israel. 
 Hushai told Absalom how magnificent he would look 
 at the head of that great multitude and what a 
 splendid show it would be. And Absalom could not 
 resist such an idea as that. He took Hushai's advice. 
 
 Then, of course, while Absalom was taking time to 
 gather together all these followers, David had time to 
 collect his men, and he also had time to choose the 
 ground where the battle should be. 
 
 It took place in a wooded country and the story 
 says that the wood "devoured more people that day 
 than the sword," for Absalom's men were accustomed 
 to fight in the bare open country, and David's followers 
 knew the woods. Absalom's men got lost and be- 
 wildered among the trees, and they fell down the 
 crevices between the rocks, crevices which were filled 
 with brushwood and shrubs. They were altogether 
 beaten, and Absalom himself fled on one of the royal 
 mules. He fled in haste through a part of the wood, 
 
122 ABSALOM 
 
 and there a terrible thing happened. Perhaps he was 
 looking over his shoulder to see if his pursuers were 
 gaining on him, at any rate he did not notice where he 
 was going, and he caught his head in the branch of an 
 oak. His mule sped from under him, and there he 
 was left hanging between heaven and earth. Some 
 people think that his long hair became entangled in 
 the branches, and that the more he struggled to free 
 himself the more he became imprisoned. 
 
 And as he was hanging there helpless, a certain 
 man, perhaps one of those from whom the prince was 
 fleeing, saw him and ran and told Joab, one of the 
 three generals on David's side. And Joab, although 
 David had given him and his brother generals strict 
 orders to spare Absalom's life, said to himself, " Here's 
 a chance to get rid of a traitor and a troubler of the 
 peace!" And he went to the tree and stabbed 
 Absalom as he hung there. Then ten of his men-at- 
 arms finished the horrible job. They hacked Absalom 
 with their swords, and cast his body into a pit over 
 which they piled a heap of stones. It was adding 
 insult to injury, for that was a burial which the 
 Hebrews thought specially insulting. Everyone who 
 passed that way was supposed to add a stone to the 
 heap. It was as if they cast a stone at the evil-doer 
 himself. 
 
 And perhaps the saddest pait of it all was that no 
 one really mourned for Absalom except the poor old 
 father whom he had tried to kill. Vain people may 
 have followers, they may have plenty who are ready 
 
2 SAMUEL XIV. 25 123 
 
 to toady to them and feed their vanity if they have 
 a high position, but they have no real friends. How 
 can they ? When the heart of a man or woman, boy 
 or girl, is entirely taken up with self how can he or 
 she expect to have a friend ? To have a friend you 
 must have room in your heart for him. 
 
 Now, I think the story of Absalom needs nothing 
 added to it It is a sermon in itself. But I should 
 just like to say this. If, boys and girls, you are ever 
 tempted to be conceited about your person, or your 
 possessions, or your brains, or anything that belongs 
 to you, say to yourself two things. The first is, 
 " Eemember Absalom ! " The second is, " Kemember 
 Christ!" 
 
 Christ also was the Son of a King. And all the 
 Universe was His. Yet He came to earth a humble 
 carpenter. And ever as He walked this earth He 
 said over and over again, both in words and in deeds, 
 that the greatest man is not the man who thinks 
 himself great, but the man who is ready to be servant 
 of all, not the man who is proud and haughty in spirit, 
 but the man who is humble and lowly of heart. 
 
 Absalom or Christ ! — Which will you follow ? 
 Which will you take for your model and your hero ? 
 
ACTING FERRY-BOAT. 
 
 There went over a ferry-boat to bring over the king's house- 
 hold.— 2 Sam. xix. 18. 
 
 Our text this morning is something which is mentioned 
 only once in the Bible — a ferry-boat. This ferry-boat 
 comes into one of the stories about King David. At 
 the time of the story David was an old man and he had 
 just been passing through a very trying experience. His 
 son Absalom had plotted against him. He had tried 
 to get himself made king in his father's stead. The 
 plot had so far succeeded that David had had to flee 
 from Jerusalem with his household and those who were 
 faithful to him. He had crossed the Jordan, and 
 there his men and Absalom's men had fought a fierce 
 battle in which Absalom was slain and his followers 
 were defeated. 
 
 But King David had not hurried back to Jerusalem 
 to punish the rebels. He had waited on the other 
 side of Jordan till his people repented and sent him a 
 message entreating him to return to rule over them. 
 Then it was that, when David reached the river Jordan 
 on his return journey, he found waiting to welcome 
 him the leading men of the tribe of Judah, also a man 
 called Ziba who had been a servant of King Saul. 
 This man had with him his fifteen sons and twenty 
 
 124 
 
2 SAMUEL XIX. 18 125 
 
 servants, and the story says that they went through 
 Jordan — that is, forded the river — to meet the king, 
 and that "there went over" also "a ferry-boat to 
 bring over the king's household " — the women and 
 children who had gone with him into exile. 
 
 Now great scholars who have studied the Hebrew 
 language, in which this story was first written, tell us 
 that they are not quite sure that the word translated 
 "ferry-boat" means a ferry-boat. They say that 
 " ferry-boat " may mean '* ford " and that we should 
 read that Ziba and his fifteen sons and his twenty 
 servants dashed through Jordan in the presence of 
 the king, and kept crossing and recrossing the ford to 
 carry over the king's household. 
 
 But, after all, the change does not make much 
 difference to the story, for, if Ziba and his sons and 
 servants carried over the women and children belonor- 
 ing to the king, what were they but human ferry- 
 boats ? They took passengers safely across the river, 
 and if that is not what a ferry-boat is for, tell me what 
 you think it is for. 
 
 As it happens, I hope the text does refer to human 
 ferry-boats, for that is what I want to ask you to 
 be to-day — human ferry-boats. There are all kinds 
 of ferry-boats, as you know. There are those which 
 are rowed with oars; there are those like a punt 
 which are worked by a pole ; there are those which 
 are pulled across with the aid of an overhead wire; 
 and there are those which have sails. There are also 
 the funny little paddle steamers which ferry you across 
 
126 ACTING FERRY-BOAT 
 
 the larger rivers, and the fine big steam boats which 
 take you over an estuary Hke the Mersey. But 
 nature's ferry-boat, and the earliest ferry-boat known, 
 is just some strong kind pt-rson who carries a weaker 
 or smaller person across a river. 
 
 But, you say, how am I to act as a human ferry- 
 boat ? To begin with there is no river near my home, 
 or, if there is, it is too wide and deep to ford, and I am 
 too small to carry anybody across. 
 
 Well, you see, I was talking in parables. I did not 
 mean a real live river ; I meant the rivers which we 
 all have to cross in life, the things that we have to get 
 to the other side of somehow — things that we feel it is 
 impossible for us to get over. They are the difficulties 
 and dangers which we come to sooner or later in 
 the journey of life. It is well for us if, when we 
 do come to them, we meet there a kind human 
 ferry-boat to help us over and land us safely on the 
 other side. 
 
 I think that I don't need to explain the difficulties 
 to you. They begin when we are very small indeed. 
 They begin with things such as grammar we can't 
 understand and sums that won't come out right ; and 
 as we grow older they go on to bigger things such as 
 business worries and household cares. For all of them 
 there is no better aid than the helping hand of a friend, 
 a kind human ferry-boat. 
 
 The dangers are not so easy to describe or so easy to 
 get over as the difficulties. Let us see if a story will 
 help. There is a tale told of a famous Swiss scientist 
 
2 SAMUEL XIX. 18 127 
 
 called Louie Agassiz. When he was a boy he lived on 
 the border of one of the beautiful Swiss lakes, and this 
 lake used to freeze over in winter. Louis had a small 
 brother much younger than himself, and he and his 
 brother set off one day across the frozen lake to meet 
 their father. Their mother was watching the two 
 boys from the window, and to her horror she noticed 
 that they had come to a crack in the ice. It was not 
 wide — only about a foot or so — and the ice on each 
 side of it was quite thick, but the mother was afraid 
 that the little fellow would try to step across, would 
 miss his footing, and plunge into the dark waters 
 beneath. 
 
 But she need not have feared. When the boys 
 reached the crack, what do you think happened ? 
 Louis got down on the ice on his hands and knees. 
 He stretched himself cautiously across the crack, and 
 his little brother walked safely over on a human 
 bridge. 
 
 Children, there are places in life more dangerous 
 than the Jordan river, more dangerous than the ice 
 crack on the Swiss lake. When you see anyone doing 
 what is dishonourable, or mean, or cowardly, or cruel, 
 he is in one of those dangerous places ; and he needs 
 your help even more than if he were merely in diffi- 
 culties. Are you going to turn your back on him, 
 then, and let him drown ? Or are you going to do your 
 very utmost, the very best you know, to get him out 
 of that danger ? Are you going to be content only 
 when you see him safe on the other side ? 
 
128 ACTING FERRY-BOAT 
 
 If you want a good reason why you should act 
 ferry-boat, here it is. Christ went about acting ferry- 
 boat all His days on earth. He was ever helping 
 people out of difficulties, out of dangers. He was ever 
 doing good. 
 
THE GREATNESS OF GENTLENESS. 
 
 Thy gentleness hath made me great.— 2 Sam. xxii. 36. 
 
 Don't you think this is rather a queer text ? You 
 would not have been surprised if David had said, 
 " Thy strength hath made me great " or " Thy power 
 hath made me great " ; but when he says, " Thy gentle- 
 ness hath made me great," you think he must somehow 
 have got hold of things by the wrong end. 
 
 Well, if you look at the first verse of this chapter 
 you will see that David sang this psalm, " in the day 
 that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his 
 enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." He was looking 
 back on the difficult and dangerous times through 
 which he had come ; and he saw that it was God's care 
 for him, the kind and loving way He had led him, that 
 had made him the great man he was. Perhaps when 
 he reached this verse in his song, David remembered 
 the time when he had been a shepherd boy. Perhaps 
 he was thinking of some little tired lamb that he 
 had carried over the rough mountain-path, and he 
 thought, " That is just the way God stooped down to 
 me in my need, and lifted me up, and made me great 
 and strong by His gentleness." 
 
 Now it is a little difficult for us to understand how 
 
130 THE GREATNESS OF GENTLENESS 
 
 great a power gentleness is, so I want you to think 
 about it for a little while to-day. 
 
 1. And we are going first to Mother Nature to see 
 what she has to say about it. What do you think is 
 the most powerful thing in Nature ? Perhaps some of 
 you will say an earthquake. An earthquake is 
 certainly a very powerful thing, but what does it do ? 
 It makes great rents in the earth's surface, it knocks 
 down houses and destroys life. But can it build up 
 the houses it has knocked down, can it give back the 
 life it has destroyed ? Not once. Then lightning 
 seems a very powerful thing, and so it is. But what 
 does it do ? It blasts great trees, but it cannot give 
 them life. And a hurricane is a very strong thing. It 
 tears up plants by the root, it knocks down trees and 
 flies off with our slates and our chimney pots, but it 
 cannot make one tiny wild- flower grow. 
 
 Now do you think it is greater to make things or to 
 destroy them ? Surely it is greater to make them. It 
 is easy to tear a book into shreds, but it is not so easy 
 to write another book. We could all destroy a toy or a 
 doll, but how many of us could make one ? And what 
 is it that makes the flowers grow ? The soft, warm 
 rays of the sun, the gentle rain, the silent help of the 
 soil underground. These are the most powerful things 
 in Nature. 
 
 Perhaps it is because gentle things don't make a noise 
 that we forget how great they are. Few things are greater 
 and quieter than the growing of flowers and of boys and 
 girls, the ripening of corn, or the coming of the dawn. 
 
2 SAMUEL XXII. 36 131 
 
 2. And just as gentleness is the greatest power in 
 Nature, I think it is the greatest power in people 
 too. If a friend flies into a rage with you, you will 
 accomplish more by keeping calm and giving a gentle 
 answer than by flying into a rage too. 
 
 Once upon a time a man arrived in a town with a 
 monkey and a barrel-organ. The monkey wore a little 
 red coat and a little red cap. He sat on the organ 
 while the man played a tune, and afterwards he per- 
 formed some tricks. One day a little dog came rushing 
 out of one of the houses and flew at the monkey, 
 barking and making a terrible noise. The monkey 
 waited till the dog came quite near ; then he took off 
 his little red cap and made him a very polite bow. 
 You should have seen that dog. He was so astonished 
 and so ashamed that he just dropped his tail and 
 sneaked off into the house without uttering another 
 bark. 
 
 You will find that people will do much more for you 
 if you are polite and gentle than if you are rough and 
 rude. " Please " and *' thank you," will always accom- 
 plish much more than grabbing. 
 
 Don't imagine that gentleness is a sign of " softness." 
 It is a sign of strength. We can all be rough and 
 cruel if we like, but it takes a strong, brave man to 
 control a temper, and be kind to little helpless things. 
 
 There is a story told of General Lee who was the 
 leading general on the Southern side in the American 
 Civil War. One morning he was standing with some 
 officers under a tree on a battlefield. A shell burst 
 
132 THE GREATNESS OF GENTLENESS 
 
 near them, and the general said he thought they had 
 better retire as the enemy had evidently got their 
 range. Nobody moved till the commander should 
 move, and the next shell crashed into the top of the 
 tree. Then the officers took their leader's advice and 
 began to retreat; but when they looked round the 
 general was still under the tree. The shell had 
 knocked down a bird's nest and he had stopped to pick 
 it up and put it carefully on one of the lower branches. 
 Although he was a great general he was not ashamed 
 to take care of a little helpless bird. 
 
 3. And now we come back to the place where we 
 began. It is God's gentleness, not the thought of His 
 majesty or power, that makes us great. It is His love 
 that draws us. 
 
 There is a legend of a knight who did not believe in 
 Grod and who was always boasting oi his unbelief and 
 laughing and sneering at those who did believe. One 
 day in a bragging mood he threw down his gauntlet, 
 as knights used to do when they challenged each other 
 to fight. And he said, " If there be a God, I challenge 
 Him to come down and meet me in mortal combat." 
 And while the people waited trembling, expecting to 
 see a lightning flash strike the bold, proud knight to 
 the ground, there came down from heaven a scroll of 
 parchment on which were written these words, " God 
 is love." That message broke down all the knight's 
 pride and unbelief, and he was ever after the humble 
 and loving servant of God. 
 
 God knows how foolish we are, and how far we can 
 
2 SAMUEL XXII. 36 133 
 
 wander, and how much we can hurt ourselves; and 
 He just wants to put His arms round us and wrap us 
 in His love, safe from all harm. He stoops down and 
 takes us — poor, silly children, and He lifts us up and 
 makes us strong, and wise, and tender. His gentleness 
 makes ue great. 
 
JEWELS IN THE MUD. 
 
 The mire of the streets. — 2 Sam. xxii. 43. 
 
 MiEE or mud from the streets ! It doesn't sound as if 
 it were of much value, does it ? Except of course for 
 the delightful business of making aiud pies ! But listen 
 to what a famous writer and artist, called Kuskin, once 
 said about it. He said that if you took an ounce or 
 two of ordinary black slime from the footpath and had 
 it analysed — that is, separated up into the different 
 things of which it is composed — you would find that it 
 was made up of four things — clay, sand, soot, and 
 water. 
 
 Then, said Kuskin, suppose each of these were 
 allowed to gather itself together and get its atoms into 
 closest possible relation, what would happen ? Well, 
 the clay would turn into a fine white earth, which, 
 baked in an oven, would become finest porcelain; or 
 better still, left to itself, it would gradually grow hard 
 and clear and able to gather out of light only the blue 
 rays, and you would find instead of a morsel of clay 
 a lovely blue sapphire. If the sand behaved in much 
 the same fashion it would turn into a rainbow-hued 
 opal. The soot, too, acting on the same principle, but 
 trying even harder to grow hard, would become a 
 
 134 
 
2 SAMUEL XXII. 43 135 
 
 flashing diamond. And the water would form a 
 sparkling dew-drop, or, if crystallized, a glistening star 
 of snow. 
 
 It sounds like magic to think of a sapphire, an opal, 
 a diamond, and a dew-drop all lying concealed in a 
 dirty blob of mud. But it is the best magic, for it is 
 true magic ; and it preaches us a sermon. 
 
 It tells us not only that things may be much better 
 than they seem, but that even in the poorest beggar 
 there may be the soul of a great man. Not so very 
 long ago a very poor-looking man used to sell news- 
 papers and matches at a London street corner. Little 
 did the passers-by think that they were paying their 
 pennies to one of the greatest of poets, Francis 
 Thompson. 
 
 But the mud that most people know best is a very 
 commonplace sort of thing, especially when it comes 
 to be the month of November. They never think of 
 jewels in connection with it. Indeed they often say 
 that they just hate it. It dirties their boots, and it 
 splashes their skirts, and it makes their feet wet and 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 Yet I have known people who thought mud was 
 something to be thankful for. " Tak' me in among the 
 dubs, they're soft and kindly; the hard road hurts 
 me ! " said an old Scotswoman to her daughter who 
 was wheehng her in a bath-chair. 
 
 And there are other people who have found mud 
 extremely useful, in fact they could not well do without 
 it There are towns in many parts of the world in 
 
136 JEWELS IN THE MUD 
 
 which the houses are built almost entirely of mud, and 
 very warm and happy homes they are. At one of her 
 mission stations in Africa, Mary Slessor had not only 
 mud mission buildings, but her own little dwelling- 
 house was an erection of wattle and mud. Much of 
 her furniture too was made from mud ; she had a mud 
 sofa where she rested, and a mud seat near the fireplace, 
 where the person who cooked for her could sit. And 
 who does not know the wonderful little one-roomed 
 houses that we should never see but for the mud? 
 Where would the swallow be without the wherewithal 
 to build them ? 
 
 But mud can be something else than kindly and 
 useful You have heard how the mud of Flanders 
 made our soldier lads suffer. If Kuskin were alive and 
 had walked through one of their trenches I doubt if he 
 would have thought of it as " jingling with jewels," for 
 he hated ugly things. But I read these two lines 
 somewhere just the other day — 
 
 Two women looked through their prison bars; 
 The one saw mud, the other saw stars. 
 
 And it may have been left to the " Tommies " of the 
 Great War to find jewels among the terrible mud of the 
 trenches. 
 
 What sort of jewels came within their reach, do you 
 think ? Not the sapphire, or the opal, or the diamond, 
 but the jewels which are, in the sight of God, of great 
 price. Patience and courage — you can understand 
 how wonderful specimens of these were found in 
 
2 SAMUEL XXII. 43 137 
 
 Flanders. Love was there too — love of home, love of 
 country, love of comrade. 
 
 There are many kinds of sorrow 
 In tiiis world of love and hate. 
 
 But there is no sterner sorrow 
 Than a soldier for his mate. 
 
 What do yon find in the mud ? What do you find 
 in the drab disagreeable duties or the tiresome lessons 
 of every day ? Do you find nothing but a feeling that 
 makes you want to say " Ugh ! " Your fathers and 
 mothers know, and they could tell you, that there is 
 a meaning in having to wade through mud It makes 
 men and women brave and patient and strong. So 
 don't complain and say " Ugh I " too often. Kemember 
 that in the mud there is more than a mere Ghaiioe of 
 finding jewds. 
 
A MORNING WITHOUT CLOUDS. 
 
 A morning without clouds. — 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. 
 
 Our text is taken from the last song that King David 
 wrote. He was looking forward to the time when 
 Jesus would come to reign on the earth, and he said 
 that His rule would be like " a morning without clouds " 
 — Jesus would be like the morning sun lighting up all 
 the sky, and bringing gladness and light where before 
 there was sadness and darkness. 
 
 But I want you to take the words in a different 
 sense this morning — I want you to take them as your 
 very own text ; for life is like a day from sunrise to 
 sunset, and you are in " the morning of life." And the 
 best thing I could wish for you is that it may be " a 
 morning without clouds." 
 
 Have you ever risen early on a fine spring morning 
 in the country ? As the dawn breaks the little birds 
 burst into song. Then the sun rises and floods the 
 world with gladness. The earth is refreshed with her 
 sleep and the air is pure and sweet. There is some- 
 thing abroad that makes you feel as if you could dance 
 and sing with joy. 
 
 The three things that strike you about such a morn- 
 ing are its purity, its beauty, and its gladness. And 
 
 138 
 
2 SAMUEL XXIII. 4 139 
 
 those are just the three things that the morning of life 
 should be — pure, and beautiful, and glad. 
 
 1. First of all, the morning of life should be pure. 
 It is sin that darkens our sky and makes things gloomy. 
 You have sometimes seen a beautiful, bright morning 
 quickly clouded over ; and many a morning of life that 
 has promised brightly has been darkened ere long with 
 the black thunder-clouds of sin. 
 
 Now it is not easy to keep pure, for even in life's 
 morning the clouds of wicked thoughts and evil tempers 
 and bad desires are ready to rise on our horizon. As yet 
 they are tiny little cloudlets, but the only way to keep 
 them from rising up and shadowing our life is to let 
 Jesus, the Sun of Eighteousness, shine into our hearts. 
 He alone can keep those clouds away so that all our 
 day may be bright, and that at evening time there 
 may be light 
 
 God has given you each a life, pure and fresh from 
 Him. Some older people would give all they possess 
 just to be standing where you stand full in the morning 
 sunlight. Oh, boys and girls, realize the value of your 
 gift before it is too late ! Never stoop to anything 
 that is mean, or base, or dishonourable. Ask God 
 always to keep your souls like a pure, fresh, cloudless 
 morning. 
 
 2. Secondly, the morning of life should be heauti/ul. 
 It is said that if you want to see the Alps at their best 
 you must rise at four in the morning. Then the 
 glorious snow-crowned peaks shine out in all their 
 
140 A MORNING WITHOUT CLOUDS 
 
 grandeur, free from the mists that often shroud them 
 later. What makes the morning so beautiful ? It is 
 the light of the sun — the dawn after darkness. 
 
 Our morning of life should be beautiful too, but it 
 will be truly beautiful only if the Sun of Kighteousness 
 shines in our hearts. He will make all the graces 
 grow — the graces of love, and unselfishness, and 
 kindness. 
 
 In a school in one of our great cities there was an 
 annual flower show, at which prizes were awarded. 
 And in the slums of this same great city lived a little 
 cripple girl to whom someone had given a small 
 geranium. Day by day she watched and tended her 
 plant, and day by day the plant grew more beautiful. 
 And when the day of the flower show came, the little 
 cripple's geranium easily carried off the prize. When 
 the judges asked her the secret of its beauty she told 
 them that she had always kept it in the sun's rays, 
 moving it as the sun travelled on. 
 
 It is the sun that gives beauty and strength to the 
 flowers, and it is the Sun of Righteousness who gives 
 beauty and strength to our lives. 
 
 3. Lastly, the " morning of life " should be glad. 
 
 When Robert Louis Stevenson was a small boy he 
 was very delicate. Sometimes he was kept in the 
 house all winter, and many were the weary sleepless 
 nights that he spent longing for the dawn. For the 
 boy had a great horror of the dark, and conjured up 
 all sorts of imaginary terrors. He always looked 
 forward to the time when the carts came in, for he 
 
2 SAMUEL XXIII. 4 141 
 
 knew that when they rattled past the daybreak was 
 not far away, and that in an hour or two the light 
 would stream through the blind. Oh, the gladness of 
 the morning after the long dark night ! 
 
 And childhood is the glad time of life, bright and 
 free from care. Be happy, boys and girls, just as happy 
 as ever you can. But I want to tell you one thing — 
 a very sure thing. Your morning will never be truly 
 happy unless Christ has some part in it. For the same 
 thing makes life glad that makes it pure and beautiful — 
 Jesus Himself, the Sun of Kighteousness, shining in our 
 hearts. 
 
 There is just one thing more I want to say — share 
 your gladness. You have strong bodies and happy 
 homes, but there are other children whose morning is 
 clouded — clouded by sickness, or want, or ignorance. 
 There are suffering children in our hospitals, there are 
 starving children in our slums, there are heathen 
 children in far countries who have never heard of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Now I think the grown-up people should look after 
 the grown-ups who are in trouble, and I think the 
 children should look after the children. And the best 
 way to show our thankfulness for being so happy our- 
 selves is to try to make others happy. Let us give 
 our pennies, and our toys, and our prayers, and our 
 time, to help some of the children whose moming is 
 not " a momLQg without clouds." 
 
A PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 He would not drink thereof, but poured it o«t unto the 
 Lord.— 2 Sam. xxiii. i6. 
 
 Lately we have been hearing a great deal about the 
 various honours which have been given to the brave 
 men who fought for us in the war. We are very 
 proud, aren't we ? if we can say that (mr father or our 
 brother or one of our best friends has got the D.C.M. or 
 the D.S.O. or the M.C. or — highest of all honours — 
 the V.C. 
 
 To-day I want to tell you of three brave warriors of 
 old who had the D.S.O. In the twenty-third chapter 
 of second Samuel you will find two lists of those who 
 were known as King David's " mighty men." Three of 
 them won an honour equal to our V.C. and thirty of 
 them received an honour equal to our D.S.O. The 
 three V.C.s did very gallant deeds, but it is not of 
 them I want to speak to-day. It is of three out of the 
 thirty D.S.O.s I want to talk. 
 
 You will find in four little verses of this chapter the 
 story of one of their finest deeds. They were followers 
 of King David in the troubled days when Saul was 
 still alive and David was leading the life of a hunted 
 man. We are told the names of two — Abishai and 
 
 142 
 
2 SAMUEL XXIII. 16 143 
 
 Benaiah — but the name of the third we do not 
 know. 
 
 At the time of the story David was at his favourite 
 stronghold, Adullam. It was about twelve miles from 
 his old home at Bethlehem. But Bethlehem was now 
 in the hands of the Philistines, Israel's bitter enemies, 
 and the town was filled with a Philistine garrison, 
 whilst around it lay their outposts. David and his 
 men — four hundred or so in number — were not strong 
 enough to rid the town of the enemy but they did their 
 best to worry and harass him by raids. Perhaps it 
 was on his return from a raid on the Philistine hosts 
 that David wished the wish that led to the famous 
 adventure of to-day's sermon. It was high summer. 
 The weather was scorching. The mountain torrents 
 were dried up and water was scarcely to be had. Hot 
 and tired and thirsty, David sighed aloud, " Oh for a 
 drink of water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem ! " 
 
 Perhaps poor David was as much home-sick as 
 thirsty when he longed for that drink. Probably he 
 was remembering the days when he was a shepherd 
 boy watering his sheep from the clear spring by the 
 gate. He thought he saw himself a little lad quaffing 
 long draughts of its cool water, and he sighed as much 
 for the days that had been as for the water itself. 
 
 I don't suppose that David knew he had spoken 
 aloud, but three of his soldiers heard the wish and the 
 sigh. They adored their splendid young leader, and 
 one and all they determined then and there that they 
 would bring him a drink of that water though it should 
 
144 A PRECIOUS GIFT 
 
 cost them their life. So they slipped away quietly, 
 fought through the Philistine lines, filled a water bottle 
 at the well by the gate, and fought their way back 
 again. They arrived at Adullam no doubt spent and 
 wounded, but they had the water safe. Imagine 
 David's astonishment when he saw them and heard 
 what they had done ! 
 
 But David had a stronger feeling than astonishment. 
 Do you know what it was ? It was a feeling that the 
 water which had almost cost those men their lives was 
 sacred. To drink it, he felt, would be as if he were 
 drinking their life-blood. He dared not drink it. It 
 was so costly, so precious, there was but one thing to 
 do with it. There was but one Person worthy of it, 
 and that was God. So David poured it out as an 
 offering to Jehovah. 
 
 I daresay the three men who had risked all to get 
 that draught were a little disappointed when they saw 
 the water sinking into the hot dry sand. But when 
 David explained to them that he offered it to God 
 because it was the finest gift he had ever been given 
 and he felt unworthy of it, when David explained all 
 that, I expect they went out from his presence very 
 silently and thinking hard. 
 
 Boys and girls, David gave to God the most precious 
 thing he had. What sort of gift do we give Him ? 
 Let me tell you two stories of what people give to 
 God. The first is the story of an old man ; the second 
 is the story of a young girl. 
 
2 SAMUEL XXIII. 16 145 
 
 The old man had come to the end of his life and he 
 was making his will and disposing of his possessions. 
 He was a farmer, so he had much in the way of live 
 stock to divide among his sons and daughters. 
 Suddenly he remembered that one of his cows was 
 amissing, so he said, " If that lost cow is found give it 
 to my youngest son, but if it is not found, let it be for 
 God." All he was willing to give to God was what 
 cost him nothing. 
 
 The other story comes from a mission station in 
 Africa. It wag Christmas Day, Christ's birthday, and 
 on that day the natives brought with them to the 
 mission bouse a gift for Christ. They were very, very 
 poor, and their presents were mostly a handful of 
 vegetables, or a little fruit. Those who brought a 
 copper coin were accounted wealthy indeed. 
 
 Among the givers was a girl of sixteen who bad very 
 lately been converted from savagery. She stole forward 
 timidly, and from the folds of her dress she drew out 
 a silver coin of the value of 85 cents. It was a fortune 
 for one in her position, and for a moment the mission- 
 ary hesitated to take it; but to avoid a scene he 
 accepted it without remark. Later he sought out the 
 girl and asked her how she had been able to offer such 
 a princely gift With shining eyes she told him the 
 secret. In order to bring to Jesus a gift worthy of 
 His love for her and worthy of her love to Him, she 
 had gone to a neighbouring planter the previous day 
 and had bound herself to him as a slave for life in 
 return for the silver coin She gave herself and all 
 
146 A PRECIOUS GIIT 
 
 lier life to Christ in that one grand act. It was the 
 mo&t, and she felt it was the least, she could 
 give. 
 
 Boys and girls, what do we give to Christ ? Is it 
 the old man's gift of less than nothing? Is it the 
 slave ^bri'8 gift of our lives and ourselves ? 
 
A THRONE FOR THE KING'S 
 MOTHER. 
 
 And the king* rose up to meet her, and bowed himself oato her, 
 and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set fior the 
 king's mother ; and she sat on his right hand. — i Kln^s uL 19. 
 
 If I were to ask you what you thought the greatest 
 thing about King Solomon I wonder what your answer 
 would be. 
 
 Perhaps some of you would say his wealth and 
 magnificence. We read of his wonderful ivory throne 
 overlaid with gold, of the golden drinking vessels which 
 were used in the palace, of the golden shields of his 
 bodyguard. We learn that ships came fr<Mn strange 
 countries bearing treasure, that kings brought him 
 costly gifts, and that in his reign silver was counted as 
 stones. We are told that he " exceeded all the kings 
 of the earth in riches." 
 
 And yet at the end of his life Solomon found that 
 all his glory was but " vanity of vanities." In gaining 
 his wealth he had lost something much more precious — 
 the love and trust of many of his people ; and he knew 
 that as regarded the best and highest things his life 
 had been a failure. So I think we must admit that 
 Solomon's wealth was not the gieatest or beet thing 
 in his life. 
 
 U7 
 
148 A THRONE FOR THE KING'S MOTHER 
 
 Perhaps others of you say that the greatest thing 
 about King Solomon was his wisdom. And you remind 
 me that he chose above all things " an understanding 
 heart." You tell me how wisely he judged the people 
 and how, when the Queen of Sheba came from far to 
 prove him with hard questions, she went away sajring 
 that not the half had been told her of all his wisdom. 
 
 But although Solomon was a wise judge and was 
 clever at answering riddles he was not always a wise 
 ruler. He gained his magnificence at the price of the 
 people's oppression, and it was largely owing to his 
 misrule that the greater part of the kingdom was 
 taken away from his son Rehoboam. 
 
 Shall I tell you what I think was the greatest thing 
 about King Solomon, the thing I like best to remember 
 about him ? It was his reverence for his mother. 
 
 Right at the beginning of his reign we have a little 
 picture of how he received his mother when she came 
 to him with a petition. Solomon was only about 
 twenty years old at the time. His head might well 
 have been turned by his position. But when the queen 
 mother came into his presence he did not wave her 
 aside with a haughty gesture and tell her to await the 
 king's pleasure. No, he paid her the greatest honour 
 and deference that he knew. He "rose up to meet 
 her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his 
 throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's 
 mother ; and she sat on his right hand." 
 
 I think that must have been one of the proudest 
 moments of Solomon's life, when he rose up in all the 
 
1 KINGS II. 19 149 
 
 glory of his young manhood and his power to welcome 
 his mother, and to give her the seat of honour at his 
 side. 
 
 Something very like this happened in the life of one 
 of the Presidents of the United States. 
 
 His name was James Garfield and he started life as 
 a poor boy in a little log cabin. Bit by bit, by dint of 
 perseverance and hard work, he made his way up, until 
 at last he was elected President of the United States, 
 
 As the day drew near for the inauguration ceremony 
 when he was to be made President, he wrote to his old 
 mother and asked her to accompany him to Washing- 
 ton, the capital city. His mother replied that she 
 would be quite out of place among all the grand people 
 who would take part in the ceremony, and that she 
 would just stay at home and pray for him. But 
 Garfield wrote back, "I'll not go without you!" 
 
 So together they travelled to Washington. They 
 stayed in the same hotel, and when the time came for 
 the ceremony Mrs. Garfield went out leaning on her 
 son's arm and together they entered the carriage that 
 was waiting for them. Together they drove to the 
 Capitol, where the great ceremony was to take place. 
 There they found waiting a great crowd of about a 
 hundred thousand people. On the platform were all 
 the celebrated men from all over the country — judges, 
 and governors, and ministers. 
 
 Together Garfield and his mother mounted the 
 platform. And then he did a beautiful thing. In 
 front of that great sea of faces all turned towards him, 
 
150 A THRONE FOR THE KING^ MOTHER 
 
 he gave his mother the chair, the seat of honour, that 
 had been provided for himself. Then he delivered his 
 inaugural address ; and after he had taken the oath to 
 be faithful to his office, he turned and put his arms 
 round his mother and kissed her. 
 
 These are two pictures of how two great men treated 
 their mother. How are you treating yours? Re- 
 member that the way in which you act towards your 
 mother proves what kind of boy or girl you are. It is 
 one of the very best signs if you are good to her, and 
 one of the very worst if you treat her with contempt. 
 
 Now most of us would scorn to treat our mother 
 with contempt, and yet we often give her a great deal 
 of trouble. We say we love her, and we mean it too, 
 but we are cross and disobedient and disobliging. We 
 forget that the real proof that we love people is that 
 we try to please them. The love that is all words and 
 that costs us nothing isn't of much value. 
 
 I want to give you three reasons why you should be 
 good to your mother. 
 
 1. And the first is "because you will never again vneet 
 anyone like her. You may live till you are a hundred 
 but you will never have a second mother. Nobody 
 will love you again in just the same sort of way. 
 Nobody will have so much patience with your faults. 
 
 My Mother she's so good to mo, 
 Ef I wuz good as I could be, 
 I couldn't be as good — no, sir I 
 Can't any boy be good as 7ier\ 
 
1 KINGS II. 19 151 
 
 She loves me when I'm glad er sad ; 
 She loves me when I'm good er bad ; 
 An', what's the funniest thing, she says. 
 She loves me when she punishes.* 
 
 It is from the love of our mothers that we can have 
 a faint idea of God's love for us. They never stop 
 loving us, and they never stop believing in us, not even 
 when everybody else has given us up as a bad job. 
 The greater number of us would not be half the men 
 and women we are, if it were not for the love, and the 
 care, and the prayers of our mothers. 
 
 2. The second reason why you should be good to 
 your mother is that by so doing you will save yourself 
 tnany hitter regrets. Many a grown man would give all 
 he possesses just to have his mother back again so that 
 he might smooth out the wrinkles he had imprinted on 
 her face and make up to her for all the sorrow he had 
 caused her. You have still got your mother with you. 
 Be good to her and you will live to be thankful for it. 
 Eemember any wrong or unworthy thing you do hurts 
 her more than it hurts anyone else on earth, because 
 she loves you most. 
 
 Here is a story told of another President of the 
 United States — George "Washington. When he was a 
 boy he resolved that he would go to sea as a midship- 
 man. All the arrangements were made, his trunk was 
 even packed and away, and George went to say good-bye 
 to his mother. He found her in tears, and what do 
 you think he did ? He turned to a servant and said, 
 
 * James Whitcomb Riley. 
 
152 A THRONE FOR THE KING'S MOTHER 
 
 " Go and fetch back my trunk. I will not go away and 
 break my mother's heart." His mother was so struck 
 with his decision that she said, " God has promised to 
 bless the children who honour their parents. I believe 
 He will bless you." And He did. 
 
 3. The third reason why you should be good to your 
 mother is that it is one of the best ways to serve your 
 country. Perhaps you think that seems a queer thing 
 to say, but it's like this. All through histoiy it has 
 been seen that the strongest and most prosperous 
 people are those whose children obey the Fifth Com- 
 mandment. If you don't learn early to obey and 
 reverence your parents you won't learn later to obey 
 and reverence authority. And a country where there 
 is no reverence for authority is in a very shaky con- 
 dition. So the very greatest service you can do for 
 your eoimtry at present is to render honour and 
 obedienoe to your parents. 
 
 Just one word more, and it is about One greater than 
 Solomon. Jesus Christ was the Euler not merely of a 
 little Eastern kingdom but of all the earth, and yet almost 
 all that we know of Him for eighteen years — from the 
 time He was twelve till He was thirty — is that He 
 was subject unto His parents. And when He was hang- 
 ing on the cross, He forgot His own agony to give His 
 sorrowing mother into the charge of the disciple He loved 
 
 Jesus Christ was the most tender and chivalrous of 
 sons, and if we want to please and serve Him here 
 below one of the first things we must do is to love, and 
 reverence, and obey our mother. 
 
DAY-DREAMS. 
 
 And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.— i King^ 
 iii. 15. 
 
 Have you ever dreamt dreams ? I expect most of you 
 have. And queer things some of them were ! If you 
 want to find the cause of them you won't have very far 
 to seek. It is often because you have eaten too much 
 of something very nice for supper. And the reason 
 why we sometimes dream such very odd and impossible 
 things ia that when we dream, although part of our 
 brain is awake — the imaginative part — yet the bit that 
 judges and reasons is asleep, and so our imagination 
 really runs away with us. 
 
 But there is a certain amount of sense in our dreams 
 too, for I think you will find that very often you dream 
 of something you have been thinking about or longing 
 for. Perhaps the holidays are near and you are looking 
 forward to a glorious time in the country. You have 
 been thinking about it for days, and drawing pictures 
 in your mind of all the nice things you are going to do. 
 And when you fall asleep at night, you dream that you 
 are helping to pack the boxes, or that you are setting 
 out for the railway station. Sometimes you find 
 yourself in the train and looking out of the carriage 
 window. But the provoking bit of it is that you so 
 
 153 
 
154 DAY-DREAMS 
 
 very rarely get to your destination. Just when you 
 are nearing it something happens and you wake up. 
 
 Now, Solomon once dreamt a dream. But his was a 
 much more marvellous dream than any of ours ; for a 
 wonderful thing happened in it — God spoke to him. 
 You know sometimes in the old days God did speak to 
 people in that way. But what I want you to notice is 
 that Solomon dreamt about the thing that had been 
 most in his thoughts and nearest his heart. He had 
 just come to the throne and he wanted to rule wisely 
 and well. But he was very young and he felt he knew 
 very little about it. And so, when God offered to give 
 him whatever he desired, instead of riches, instead of 
 long life or honour, he chose wisdom to rule. If Gi>d 
 had appeared to him in the daytime and given him the 
 same choice, he would have made the same decision. 
 Solomon's day-dream was to be a good and wise king, 
 and so his night-dream was the same. 
 
 1. I suppose most of you have day-dreams. You 
 dream about what you are going to be and do when 
 you grow up. Now some people fancy that day-dreams 
 are silly things and do more harm than good, but I 
 don't think that and I shall tell you why. If you donH 
 dream great things it is very unlikely you will eve?' do 
 them. It is the people who have dreamt great things 
 who have done them. 
 
 But of course the usefulness of day-dreams depends 
 upon what kind of dreams they are. I remember 
 reading about one man whose dream was to have a 
 
1 KINGS III. 15 155 
 
 tremendously big funeral. And he left instructions in 
 his will that every boy or girl who came to his funeral 
 was to receive a penny. So when he died seven 
 thousand boys and girls came to his funeral and 
 received their pennies ! 
 
 That seems a very senseless sort of dream, doesn't 
 it ? But I'm not sure that some of ours are not just as 
 foolish. However I'm not going to tell you to stop 
 dreaming; only be sure your dreams are worth 
 dreaming. 
 
 2. But our dreams are not going to come true 
 without our working for them. The best dreams are 
 not easily realized. So hesides dreaming we must do. 
 
 There was a boy once called Charles Dickens. When 
 he was quite small he was very poor. But he made up 
 his mind that when he grew up he would buy the 
 beautiful old house of Gadshill near where he lived. 
 By and by he became a famous novelist and he did buy 
 Gadshill. 
 
 There was another boy whose name was Warren 
 Hastings. He belonged to a very old family who had 
 owned a beautiful estate in Worcestershire called 
 Daylesford. But the family had become very poor, and 
 Warren's grandfather had been obliged to sell the 
 estate. One summer day, when Warren was a very 
 small boy, he lay on the banks of a river near 
 Daylesford, and he resolved that some day he would 
 buy back Daylesford. When he grew to be a man he 
 went to India as a clerk, and after many years he rose 
 to be Governor-General of India. And when he came 
 
156 DAY-DREAMS 
 
 home he did buy back Daylesford and he lived there 
 till he died. 
 
 Both these boys realized their dreams, but they 
 worked hard through long years to do it. Are you 
 prepared to work for your dreams ? Are you prepared 
 to take a great deal of trouble to hav« them realized ? 
 If they are good dreams they are worth it. 
 
 3. But sometimes we have to give up o^wr d/reams. 
 Some day we may awake and find they were dreams, 
 and only dreams. 
 
 Sometimes people have to give up their dreams for 
 the sake of others. Do you think they are the poorer 
 for it? No, I think they are all the richer. And I 
 think that some day, somewhere, what they lose will be 
 made up to them. 
 
 The other day I read a sort of parable about a boy 
 whose dream it was to write a great book. But his 
 mother was a poor widow and he had a number of 
 younger brothers and sisters ; so he had to work very 
 hard as a miner to keep them all, and he had no time 
 to realize his dream. 
 
 At last a brother grew old enough to earn, and the 
 boy thought that now he would be able to begin the 
 book. But the brother had just started work when an 
 accident occurred in the mine and he was crippled for 
 life. 
 
 After some years the mother died and the boy, who 
 was now a man, thought that at last he would be free 
 to write his book. But just then a married sister lost 
 her husband. She was very poor, and had four little 
 
1 KINGS III. 15 157 
 
 children to provide for. So the brother took the 
 children home and became a father to them. 
 
 When they were all grown up and he was old and 
 grey, he thought that at last he would have leisure to 
 write his book. But one day when he was walking 
 along a street he saw a child in danger of being run 
 over. He hurried to the rescue, was knocked down and 
 so badly hurt that there was no hope of his recovery. 
 
 When he came to die his great regret was that he 
 had never written his book. But as he lay thinking 
 about it, suddenly an angel appeared bearing a volume 
 in his hand. And the angel said, " Here is thy book. 
 It is a very noble book. Many shall read it and be the 
 better for it" And when the man looked at the 
 volume he saw that the title was "The Story of a 
 Noble Life." It was the record of all the kind things 
 he had done, of all he had given up and borne for the 
 sake of others, and it was a far finer book than any he 
 could have written with pen or pencil. 
 
 So you see that sometimes it is a grander thing to 
 give up your dreams than to realize them. But don't 
 give them up for any unworthy reason, don't let them 
 go too easily. Solomon became a worse man when he 
 gave up his day-dreams, and many men and women 
 have been like him. 
 
 And remember there is one dream we need never give 
 up. It is the dream that we may be good servants of 
 Jesus Christ, and live noble, true, unselfish lives. That 
 is a dream we can all keep, and it is a dream that, God 
 helping us, we can all realize. 
 
THE TREE OF THE LORD. 
 
 The cedar that is in Lebanon. — i Kings iv. 33. 
 
 What is the oldest living thing in the world ? It isn't 
 a human being, although there are plenty centenarians 
 — ^that is, people a hundred years old and over — alive 
 to-day. It isn't a bird, although the crow, the eagle, 
 and the swan are known to live to a hundred. It isn't 
 a land animal, although the tortoise is said to reach 
 the mature age of three hundred and fifty. It isn't a 
 sea animal, although scientists tell us that the whale 
 may arrive at the tremendous total of five hundred 
 years and more. 
 
 No, if you want to see the oldest living thing in the 
 world you have to go to the vegetable kingdom. 
 Among the trees you will find the longest livers known. 
 And of long-lived trees perhaps the longest lived is 
 the cedar. There are cedars 800 years old for 
 certain, and others which are suspected to be nearly 
 2000 years of age. That is to say, they were young 
 trees when Christ came to earth. 
 
 We have cedars in this country, and we think them 
 fine trees, but they are poor specimens compared with 
 the cedar of the text, for the cedars of Lebanon were 
 Boted the world over for size and height and beauty. 
 
 158 
 
1 KINGS IV. 33 159 
 
 Ab perhaps you know, the cedar belongs to the 
 family of conifer or cone-bearing trees. The cedar 
 is a kind of pine. It has long narrow needle-like leaves 
 which grow on the branches in tufts, very much like 
 the tufts of a larch. But the cedar's leaves are dark 
 green, and they do not drop off in winter as our larch 
 needles do. They remain on the tree for about four 
 years and they fall off by degrees, so that the tree is 
 always green. The branches are broad and spreading, 
 and the Bible tells us of the dense shade that they give 
 — only the Bible calls it by a more poetical name, it 
 speaks of the cedar's " shadowing shroud." 
 
 The Bible calls the cedar " the glory of Lebanon," 
 and in Old Testament days very likely the whole of 
 the lower slopes of the Lebanon range were covered 
 with these majestic giants. But to-day the cedars of 
 Lebanon are fewer and farther between. They grow 
 in groves, mostly on the western slopes. Perhaps 
 those who hewed down the cedars for the building of 
 Solomon's temple and palace are responsible. Perhaps 
 the Arabs through the ages have been too anxious for 
 firewood. At any rate the cedars are not so plentiful 
 as they once were. 
 
 The cedar is not only a magnificent tree while it is 
 growing, it is a magnificent tree when it is cut down. 
 Its wood is strong and sound and fine, and it takes a 
 high polish. It resists dry rot and the inroad of insects. 
 There are no little worm-holes, such as you often see in 
 old furniture, to be found in cedar wood. It is fragrant 
 too. The resin in it gives it a delightful smell which 
 
160 THE TREE OF THE LORD 
 
 is health-giving and keeps away moths. That is why 
 furs and woollen articles are packed away in drawers 
 made of cedar wood, or have chips of cedar laid away 
 amongst them. If you want to know what the " smell 
 of Lebanon " is like, take a sniff of the polfeh that is 
 used to saturate an 0- Cedar mop. That is cedar oil. 
 
 Besides being strong and fine and fragrant, cedar 
 wood is lasting. In a certain old Greek temple the 
 cedar beams are said to have lasted 1178 years. And 
 we know in our days that the cedar-wood snake fences 
 which the earliest settlers in Canada put up are in many 
 cases as fresh to-day as the day they were erected. 
 
 The Bible looks upon the cedar as the king of trees, 
 just as we look upon the lion as the king of beasts. It 
 speaks of the cedar as the "tree of the Lord." The 
 Hebrews, when they saw anything in nature specially 
 grand or beautiful, always said, "It is the Lord's." 
 Strangely enough, the cedar of Lebanon's relation, the 
 cedar of the Himalayas, is called by the natives of India 
 the " deodar," that is, the " tree of God,'' 
 
 There is one thing more I want you to notice about 
 the cedar, and it is that the righteous, the good people, 
 are compared to the cedar. The pseilmist who said it 
 was paying good people the highest compliment he 
 could think of when he said they would grow like a 
 cedar in Lebanon. He meant that their characters 
 would be as strong and splendid as those great 
 mountain trees. 
 
 Now, the writer of the Psalm might have said even 
 more than he did about good people being like cedars. 
 
1 KINGS IV. 33 161 
 
 for they are like them in more ways than in having 
 strong characters. They are like them because they 
 are sound all through ; there is no bad wood in their 
 composition. And they are fine as well as strong. 
 Their hearts are gentle and courteous. They are 
 fragrant too. Wherever they go the world is sweeter 
 for their presence. Evil cannot touch them as the 
 worms cannot live in the cedar wood, and they keep 
 others from evil as the cedar wood preserves the fur 
 from moths. Last, but not least, they live not for a 
 thousand years or so, but for ever. The Arabs say of the 
 cedar, " It is immortal" The good man or woman, the 
 true " tree of the Lord," is more truly immortal than 
 any oedar. 
 
NARROW LIGHTS. 
 
 Windows of narrow lights (RV " windows of fixed lattice^ 
 work"). — I King;s vi. 4. 
 
 There seems to be a good deal of doubt as to what 
 these windows were like. In the Authorized Version 
 of the Bible — the version most of you have — it says 
 they were " windows of narrow lights." The Eevised 
 Version says they were " windows of fixed lattice- work," 
 and the margins of both say they were " broad within, 
 and narrow without " — very much like the windows you 
 may have seen in an old castle. Very probably these 
 windows were formed either of lattice-work or of slabs 
 of stone pierced with narrow slits. They were fixed so 
 that they could not open or shut. 
 
 But, whatever their form, one thing seems certain — 
 they let in very little light. Artificial light was used 
 in the Temple and so they perhaps served to let in air 
 rather than light, for of course there was no glass in them. 
 
 At the present day we do not make our windows 
 with narrow lights, we make them large and wide, and 
 a window that does not let in light is not serving the 
 chief purpose for which it was made. 
 
 Now you and I possess two sets of windows each — 
 the windows of the mind and the windows of the heart. 
 And we must see to it that they are broad windows and 
 
 162 
 
1 KINGS VI. 4 163 
 
 not narrow — windows that let in plenty of light, 
 windows that give us broad views of the world and all 
 that it contains. 
 
 1. First there are the windows of the mind. It is 
 through them that we take in impressions, knowledge, 
 ideas. 
 
 Now some people have such narrow openings in 
 their mind that they can take in only one or two ideas. 
 And when they have taken these in they stick to them 
 as though they were the only ideas that existed. So 
 their minds are starved for want of light and they 
 never grow any wiser. 
 
 There are others who think that certain things can 
 be done only in a certain way; and if anybody else 
 does them in a different way they imagine that that 
 person is altogether wrong. 
 
 For instance, you yourselves know how it is at school. 
 A particular teacher has taught you for a year or two 
 and you have grown very fond of her. Then one day 
 she leaves and a new teacher comes. This other has 
 new methods, new ways of doing things, and you don't 
 like it. These methods may be just as good as your 
 old teacher's were, in fact they may be better, but you 
 are not accustomed to them and you rebel. Sometimes 
 you tell the newcomer that Miss So-and-so didn't do 
 this and Miss So-and-so didn't do that. In short you 
 give her a horrid time. 
 
 Now if your new teacher has any sense she will just 
 etick to her own methods and not listen to you, and if you 
 
164 NARROW LIGHTS 
 
 have any sense you will come to see that there is more 
 than one good way of doing a good thing. Of course it 
 is a trjring experience to have all your notions upset and 
 to have to get accustomed to new ways, but it is very good 
 for you too. It is widening the windows of your mind. 
 
 There are other people, again, who think that their 
 opinion is the only right one, and that anyone who 
 thinks differently from them is altogether wrong. 
 
 Did you ever hear the story of the six blind men of 
 Hindostan who went to " see " the elephant in order to 
 find out what it was like ? It is told in a delightful 
 little poem. 
 
 The first blind man stumbled up against the side of 
 the animal, and without examining it any further he 
 called out that the elephant was " very like a wall." 
 
 The second seized the tusk. It seemed round and 
 smooth and sharp so he exclaimed that the elephant 
 was certainly " very like a spear." 
 
 The third grasped the squirming trunk and he 
 maintained that the elephant was " very like a snake." 
 
 The fourth stretched out a hand and felt all round a 
 leg. He averred that the elephant was " very like a tree." 
 
 The fifth chanced to touch the ear and he was con- 
 vinced that the elephant was " very Kke a fan." 
 
 The sixth happened to seize the tail, which swung 
 about in his hand. He declared that the elephant was 
 " very like a rope." 
 
 And so these men of HindostMi 
 Disputed loud and long. 
 Each in his own opinion 
 Exceeding stitf and strong, 
 
1 KINGS VI. 4 165 
 
 Though each was partly in the right. 
 And each was partly wrong. 
 
 And 80, boys and girls, don't imagine that because 
 somebody thinks differently from you they are absolutely 
 wrong and you are absolutely right. Perhaps that is 
 the case, but it is much more likely that you are both 
 partly right and partly wrong, and it may be that you 
 are quite wrong and they are quite right. There is room 
 for many opinions lq the world, and we can all learn 
 something from each other. 
 
 2. And then there are the windows of the heart. It 
 is through them that we take in sympathy and love, it 
 is through them that we get our experience of life, our 
 knowledge of men and women and boys and girls, of 
 their ways and their doings, of their troubles and their 
 pleasures, of their sorrows and their joys. And we 
 must take pains to see that these windows are built 
 wide, for if we don't, then we shall grow narrow and 
 self-centred and unsympathetic. 
 
 Jesus had a great many windows in His heart. He 
 had a window on every side. And they were so wide 
 that they took in everybody. He sympathized with 
 all our joys and sorrows. He made Himself one with 
 us. And if you want to be truly gieat, truly noble, 
 truly helpful, you must have wide windows too. 
 
 3. And, boys and girls, if we don't try to widen our 
 windows the danger is that they will get choked up 
 altogether so that no light at all will enter. 
 
 I wonder how many of you have heard your father 
 speak of a tax which he calls the "inhabited house 
 
166 NARROW LIGHTS 
 
 duty," and I wonder how many of you have noticed 
 old houses with built-up windows. You can see the 
 mark of where a window once was, but now the space 
 has been filled up with bricks or stones. Did you 
 know that these bricked-up windows and the " inhabited 
 house duty " had any connection ? Well they have. 
 
 The history of the windows goes back to the year 
 1697 in the reign of William III. In that year the 
 silver coinage was reminted. Now many of the old 
 coins had been clipped and worn, and in order to pay 
 for the recoining and to make up for the deficiency a 
 tax was put upon windows. Any house that had more 
 than six windows and a rental of more than £5 a year 
 was taxed. Many people were annoyed at the tax, and 
 rather than pay it they built up their windows. If 
 they had two in one room they bricked up one of them. 
 
 The tax was continued till 1851, when it was 
 removed, and a tax on the rental of the house, a tax 
 which we call the " inhabited house duty," was put in 
 its place. It may interest you to know that the wyidow 
 tax still exists in France. 
 
 And boys and girls, it is like that with the windows 
 of our mind, it is like that with the windows of our heart. 
 If we don't keep trying to enlarge them they will become 
 bricked up. The light will cease to penetrate and all our 
 soul will be in darkness. 
 
 Let us ask the great Master Builder to widen our 
 windows. Let us keep them wide by opening our 
 minds to receive all good knowledge and our hearts 
 to understand and to sympathize with those around us. 
 
REHOBOAM THE UNWISE. 
 
 But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had 
 given him, and took counsel with the young men that were 
 grown up with him. — i Kings xii. 8. 
 
 There are some men in the Bible who are like sign- 
 posts placed on a road to show us the right way to go. 
 They lived brave and true lives, and we shall do well 
 if we follow in their footsteps. Such men are Samuel, 
 and Daniel, and Josiah the boy king in the Old 
 Testament, and Stephen in the New. 
 
 There are other men who are like those motor signs 
 which tell us that a certain turning or a certain hill 
 is to be taken with care, or that we are approaching a 
 hidden side road. They are the men who were not 
 altogether good and not altogether bad, the men who 
 made mistakes and committed grave errors, but who 
 afterwards sincerely repented and tried to make up 
 for their faults. I think among these we must count 
 Jacob and David in the Old Testament and the apostle 
 Peter in the New. And they seem to say to us, " Go 
 with caution, and avoid the mistakes we made." 
 
 But there is another class who are like the danger 
 
 signals on thin ice. They are the men who were 
 
 foolish and obstinate, who rushed headlong on a mad 
 
 career which led to their own ruin. And they seem 
 
 vn 
 
168 REHOBOAM THE UNWISE 
 
 to say, " Turn aside altogether from this way, for it is 
 fatal for you to walk in it." Among these last is 
 Eehoboam the son of Solomon. 
 
 Kehoboam succeeded to the throne at a very 
 troublous time in the history of Israel. There had 
 always been a good deal of jealousy and ill-feeling 
 between the Northern tribes and the tribe of Judah, 
 and of late years this feeling had increased. Besides 
 this the people were very discontented on account of 
 the heavy burdens that King Solomon had laid upon 
 them. In order to maintain the magnificence of his 
 court he had made many of them work like slaves 
 and had imposed very high taxes on them. 
 
 The leader of the Northern tribes was a strong, 
 ambitious man named Jeroboam to whom the prophet 
 Ahijah had promised five-sixths of the kingdom. On 
 the day that Kehoboam was crowned, Jeroboam came 
 to him with a petition from the people. They begged 
 that the yoke which King Solomon had laid upon them 
 might be lightened, that some of their taxes might be 
 taken away and their work made less hard. And on 
 condition that Eehoboam should comply with their 
 wishes they promised to serve him faithfully. 
 
 Eehoboam seemed rather taken aback at their 
 proposal. It was a new thing for the people to dic- 
 tate terms to the king. He asked for three days in 
 which to think out his answer and his request was 
 granted. 
 
 In the meantime Eehoboam sought advice upon the 
 matter. First he consulted the old men, the experienced 
 
1 KINGS XII. 8 169 
 
 counsellors of his father King Solomon, and fchey 
 advised him to conciliate the people. They told him 
 that if he would consent to the wishes of hie people, 
 give up his own desires, and seek to serve them in this 
 matter, then he would win their allegiance and bind 
 them to him for ever. 
 
 But this kind of advice did not suit King Kehoboam. 
 He had been a spoiled boy all his life. He had been 
 brought up in a luxurious court where nothing had 
 ever been denied him, and he was not prepared to give 
 up his own wishes, or, as he thought, lower his dignity. 
 He turned his back upon his father's sage counsellors 
 and sought the advice of the young men who, like 
 himself, had been brought up in the lap of luxury. 
 And these silly young coxcombs advised him to give 
 an arrogant answer. "Tell the people," they said, 
 " that instead of lightening their yoke you will add to 
 it, that whereas your father chastised them with whips 
 you will chastise them with scorpions." The answer 
 pleased Rehoboam and flattered his foolish prida Was 
 he not an absolute monarch, and could he not do as he 
 liked with his own ? So he rejected the advice of the 
 old men and gave to the people the answer of the 
 young men. 
 
 It was the last straw. Through the camp sounded 
 the cry, " To your tents, Israel ! " And before the 
 night fell Eehoboam found that of all the kingdom his 
 father had ruled over, he was left with the tribe of Jadah 
 only. For Israel departed from Judah that day — never 
 again to be united with it under one king. 
 
170 REHOBOAM THE UNWISE 
 
 Now I wonder why we have raked np this old story 
 to-day. Well, you remember, at the beginning we 
 compared Rehoboam to a danger signal on ice. And 
 what is it he warns us off ? I think it is just the thin 
 ice of taking bad or foolish advice. 
 
 You know we have all to make decisions in life. 
 Sometime or other we have to decide on our career; 
 very often we have to choose between two paths which 
 lead in opposite du-ections: every day we have to 
 make a choice between good and evil ; always we have 
 to choose between serving God and following the 
 desires of our lower nature. It is well when we can 
 have at our side a wise counsellor. 
 
 1. There are two things I want to say to you, and 
 the first is — always he ready to listen to the advice of 
 older and wiser people. — Perhaps you think them 
 cautious and slow-going, but they have lived much 
 longer in the world than you. What you have just 
 read or heard about, they have learned by experience ; 
 and in nine cases out of ten they are right and you are 
 wrong. You can beat them perhaps in energy and 
 enthusiasm, and it is right that it should be so, but 
 they can beat you at every turn in wisdom and 
 knowledge of the world. One of the reasons why you 
 have a father is that he may be there to advise you. 
 
 It is said that Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo 
 because one of his generals was too proud to take the 
 advice of those who were wiser than himself. 
 
 That general's name was Grouchy. He intended 
 taking his troops to Wavre and two other generals 
 
1 KINGS XII. 8 171 
 
 advised him to take them straight to AVaterloo. Their 
 tone was rather dictatorial and Grouchy resented it. 
 He persisted in taking his men to Wavre. And so, at 
 a critical moment in the battle, when Napoleon was 
 counting on his aid, he failed to appear. He was not 
 in time to save the Emperor from final disaster. 
 
 2. And the second thing I want to say is — always he 
 rather suspicious of advice that suits you. — Now please 
 don't run away with the idea that all that is agreeable 
 is wrong. What I mean is that very often when we 
 ask for advice it is because we are hesitating between 
 a path that is difficult but right, and one that is easy 
 but wrong. 
 
 All Scottish boys and girls know the name of Robert 
 Burns and some of the older ones here know that 
 although Burns wrote such marvellous poetry his own 
 life was a sad failure. He had something very fine 
 and noble in his nature, but he yielded to temptation, 
 and so he never became the splendid man he might 
 have been. 
 
 Now at one time Burns felt specially drawn to 
 higher things. He began to feel very dissatisfied with 
 the life he was leading. He began to be afraid of the 
 consequences of that life. And in his heart there was 
 a great longing for God and for the things that are 
 true and right. Unfortunately, the poet consulted an 
 unwise friend who advised him to drown his fears in 
 bowls of wine and forget them in foolish pleasures. It 
 was the easy way, and Burns took the pleasant advice. 
 So he made a wreck of his life and of his better self. 
 
172 REHOBOAM THE UNWISE 
 
 There is one Guide who will never lead us astray, 
 and we can always have His guidance for the asking. 
 It is a good rule through life never to start an under- 
 taking or make any important decision without taking 
 God's advice. And whether our decisions be great or 
 small we can never go far wrong if we keep dose to 
 His aide and listen to His voice. 
 
PRETENDING. 
 
 Why feigaeat Uxoii thyself to be another ?— z Kings xir. 6. 
 
 Thesb words were spoken to a queen who was trying 
 to make herself look like a peasant woman. She was 
 the wife of King Jeroboam. Her little boy was very 
 sick and she had come to see the prophet Ahijah hoping 
 that he would speak some word to make the child well 
 again. 
 
 Now the king knew that the prophet was very dis- 
 pleased with him because he had forsaken the true God 
 for idols, and he thought that if Ahijah knew who the 
 queen was he would refuse to give her a blessing. So 
 he told her to dress herself like a peasant woman and 
 take the prophet a present such as a farmer's wife 
 might bring — bread and cakes, and a jar of honey. 
 
 But Grod whispered in Ahijah's ear that the wife of 
 
 King Jeroboam was coming to visit him in disguise. 
 
 So, although he was blind, the prophet knew the queen 
 
 the moment she crossed the threshold, and he called 
 
 out to her, * Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam ; why 
 
 feignest thou thyself to be another? Why art thou 
 
 pretending to be somebody else ? " I think the queen 
 
 must have felt very frightened when she knew she had 
 
 been found out. 
 
 17t 
 
174 PRETENDING 
 
 I want to speak to you to-day about bad pretending. 
 But what do we mean by bad pretending? Well, 
 there are two or three different kinds of pretending, 
 and they are not all bad. There is the kind we do 
 when we are very small and that is a good kind. 
 Why, it wouldn't be worth while being a boy or girl 
 if we couldn't pretend. Whatever should we do on a 
 wet day if we couldn't be kings, and queens, and fairies, 
 and witches, and animals, and engine-drivers, and motor- 
 men, and cannibals, and explorers, and pirates ? Half 
 the fun in life would be gone if we couldn't dress up 
 and imagine we were somebody else. 
 
 And there is the kind of pretending some of us do 
 when we have got some nasty medicine to swallow or 
 some disagreeable task to perform. We can try to 
 imagine it is something really quite nice and pleasant. 
 That is a brave kind of pretending. 
 
 But there are other kinds of pretending that are not 
 quite so harmless. Some people have tried so hard to 
 ape somebody else that they have forgotten what their 
 real selves are like. And some people have so got into 
 the habit of pretending to be better, or richer, or 
 cleverer than they are that nobody knows which is the 
 real person and which is the pretence. And so I want 
 to say two things to you — first he yowrself and second 
 he what you seem. 
 
 1. Be yourself. — I have known boys who admired a 
 big brother, or uncle, or cousin, or friend so much that 
 they went on imitating him until they really began to 
 look a little like him. Well, so long aa the friend was 
 
1 KINGS XIV. 6 175 
 
 worth imitating I don't know that it was altogether a 
 bad thing. But there is always a danger that we 
 imitate the wrong person, and there is always a danger 
 that we imitate so hard that we lose our own individ- 
 uality, that we cease to be ourselves and just turn out 
 bad copies of somebody else. 
 
 And then sometimes it is the fashion to behave and 
 speak in a particular way and everybody tries to copy 
 that way. 
 
 Once I visited a small town where there were a 
 number of girls just growing up, and there was one 
 thing that struck me about them. Although their 
 faces were different, their actions and their conversation 
 were extraordinarily alike. You could almost be sure 
 that, given the same circumstances, they would behave 
 in exactly the same way. They had only two adjectives. 
 One of them was " beastly," the other was " ripping." 
 And if you asked them a question, or made a remark, 
 you could almost foretell what the answer would be, 
 and almost foresee the particular kind of smile with 
 whieh it would be accompanied. Well, of course, you 
 grew very tired of seeing and hearing the same thing 
 over and over again. I don't know whom these girls 
 were trying to copy, or who and what they were 
 " feigning to be," but they weren't like real, live girls at 
 all ; they were just puppets. 
 
 Now God never meant us to be made all of one 
 pattern. The world would be a very dull place if all 
 the flowers were the same shape and colour, and all 
 the birds sang the same songs. You have a place to 
 
176 PRETENDING 
 
 fill that nobody else can fill and a work to do that 
 nobody else can do, and God wants you to be just 
 yourself. 
 
 2. Be what you seem to he. — In the insect kingdom 
 there are some wonderful insects which look just like 
 a bit of the plant or flower they are resting upon. 
 There are the stick insects whose bodies resemble stems 
 both in shape and in colour, and whose legs look like 
 twigs. Although some of them are over a foot long it 
 is very difficult to see them when they are resting on 
 the branch of a tree or shrub. Away in Ceylon there 
 is an insect called the leaf insect which has made 
 itself look exactly like one of the leaves of the plant 
 on which it rests. It has copied the colour of the leaf 
 and it has even imitated its veins and markings. And 
 there is another insect which in the early stages of its 
 existence has no wings to help it to escape from its 
 enemies. So it drags itself through old spider's webs 
 and covers itself with web and dust until it makes 
 itself look very big and terrifying. When the time 
 comes for it to have wings it brushes off its dirty 
 coat. 
 
 Now all these creatures have some excuse for looking 
 like something else. They are small and feeble, and 
 they wear a disguise to protect them from their 
 enemies. But we have no excuse for seeming what 
 we are not. 
 
 Bo you know the fable of the jackdaw that tried to 
 be a peacock? He thought the peacocks were very 
 fine birds, and he admired their beautiful tails and 
 
1 KINGS XIV. 6 177 
 
 their grand manners. So one day he picked up 
 some of their old feathers that were lying about the 
 yard and stuck them in his own tail. And then he went 
 to call on the peacocks. But the peacocks were not a 
 bit taken in. First they laughed at him, and then 
 they ran at him and plucked out his borrowed feathers. 
 And when he returned to the jackdaws they would 
 have nothing to do with him either, because he had 
 thought himself too grand for them and only fit to be 
 a peacock. So the silly jackdaw learned too late that 
 it is better to be a real jackdaw than an imitation 
 peacock, it ia better to be true and humble than false 
 and grand. 
 
 The people who pretend to be grander than they are 
 are called " snobs.*' But there is something worse even 
 than being a snob, and that is being a hypocrite. And 
 that is the name we give to those who pretend to be 
 better than they are. 
 
 On a hill near Bath there stands a building that 
 looks like a fine castle. But it isn't a castle at all ; it 
 is only a wall built to look like a castle, and the people 
 there call it " Sham Castle." 
 
 You wouldn't like just to be shams, would you, 
 empty shams that are of no use to anybody ? Then be 
 real and true. Scorn all deceitful ways. Be the kind 
 of boy and girl whose word can be relied on, the kind 
 of boy and girl whom everybody can trust. Be upright 
 and downright at all times. Then you will never run 
 the risk of being anything else than what you seem 
 to be. 
 
TRUST AND GET THE 
 BLESSING. 
 
 She went and did according to the saying* oi Elijah : and she, 
 and he, and her house, did eat many days. — x Kings xvii. 15. 
 
 Do you remember the years during the Great War 
 when food was .so scarce that it had to be strictly 
 rationed so that everybody might have a little? Do 
 you remember how mother planned and schemed to 
 make the small meat allowance go as far as possible ? 
 Do you remember how you had only a scrape of butter 
 or margarine on your bread, how your tea hardly tasted 
 of sugar, and how jam on your bread was a rare treat ? 
 
 To-day's story is about a time in the history of Israel 
 when food was ten times as scarce as it was during 
 the war years we remember. But the reason for the 
 scaroenees was not a war, it was a three years' drought 
 — three years of no rain, during which the crops 
 withered for lack of moisture, and the cattle died for 
 lack of food, and the people perished of hunger. 
 
 And the awful thing was that the famine was the 
 people's own fault. God had sent it to them as a 
 punishment for their sins. They had been forgetting 
 God Worse than that, they had been worshipping a 
 false god in His stead. Sad to say their king, Ahab, 
 was largely to blame for this. For he had yielded to 
 
 178 
 
1 KINGS XVII. 15 179 
 
 the wishes of his wicked heathen wife Q\ven Jezebel, 
 had built a temple in Samaria to her favourite god 
 Baal, and had encouraged the foolish people of Israel 
 to worship him. 
 
 So one day God sent his prophet Elijah to warn the 
 king that there would be neither rain nor mist in the 
 land until the day when he, Elijah, said so. And as 
 Elijah prophesied so it came to pass. The prophet 
 himself went and lived for a time in the wilderness 
 beside the brook Cherith, and the ravens, you remember, 
 brought him food night and morning. But at laet, for 
 lack of rain, the brook dried up, and God then told 
 Elijah to go to a certain city called Zarephath. There 
 God promised he would find a widow woman who 
 would feed him and give him a home. 
 
 The prophet was rather surprised at God's conunand ; 
 for Zarephath was a city of Zidon, and the people of 
 Zidon were heathens — in fact Jezebel's father was king 
 of the 21idonians — and to go down to a city where 
 Jezebel might hear of him and seize him was like 
 walking into the jaws of the wolf. But though Elijah 
 was surprised he never dreamt of disobeying. He 
 trusted God and set out on his journey. 
 
 When he arrived at the gate of Zidon there he saw 
 a poor woman gathering sticks. Something told him 
 that this was the widow God had spoken of, so he went 
 up to her and asked her if she would be kind enough 
 to bring him a drink of water. She turned away to 
 fetch a little water for this strange-looking man with 
 the stern face and the camel's-hair mantle of a prophet, 
 
180 TRUST AND GET THE BLESSING 
 
 and as she was going he called after her, " And please 
 bring me a morsel of bread too ! " The woman stopped 
 and looked at him and then she said sadly, "Bread! 
 How can I bring you bread ? I have only a very little 
 meal left in the barrel, just enough to make one baking 
 of bread ; and I have only enough oil left in the cruse 
 to bake it with. These sticks are to make the fire. 
 Then my son and I shall eat our last meal. After 
 that we must starve and die." 
 
 " No," said the prophet. " No. You need not fear 
 that you will die of starvation. Do as you said. Bake 
 your bread and give me some of it. I promise you in 
 the name of my God that neither your barrel of meal 
 nor your cruse of oil shall be empty so long as the 
 famine lasts." 
 
 It was an extraordinary thing to say and I'm sure 
 the woman gazed in amazement at this strange prophet 
 who promised her such wonderful things in the name 
 of the God of Israel Always to have plenty whilst 
 the famine lasted ! It sounded too good to be true. 
 Was she a fool to trust him and give him a share of 
 the last bite of food she possessed? He was an 
 absolute stranger and he was very likely making up a 
 story for his own ends. Could she, dare she, trust 
 him? . . . Yes, she would. 
 
 She went and did exactly what he bad told her to 
 do, and the result was that so long as the famine lasted 
 her barrel of meal was miraculously filled and so was 
 her cruse of oil. 
 
 DcHi't you think that woman's faith in Elijah and 
 
1 KINGS XVII. 15 181 
 
 her obedience to his wishes were splendid ? Don't yon 
 think she deserved the blessing that she got ? Would 
 you have done as she did ? 
 
 Boys and girls, we can still show the same faith as 
 that woman of Zarephath. Elijah's command to her 
 was really God's command. And God's command is 
 the same to-day as it was in the days of that far-off 
 famine. He still says to you and to me, " Trust Me 
 and do My wilL" But some of us won't trust Him. 
 We prefer to trust ourselves and go our own way, and 
 so we miss the blessing. Shall I tell you a story to 
 make this clear? 
 
 Once upon a time there was a certain Mng who 
 wanted to find a servant and friend whom he could 
 trust. He gave out that he wanted a man to do a 
 day's work, and two men applied for the situation. 
 The king engaged them at a fixed wage, and then he 
 told them what he wanted them to do. They were to 
 spend the day drawing water from a well but — and 
 this was the curious thing — they were to pour the 
 bucketfuls into a basket. 
 
 After emptying his bucket once or twice, one of the 
 men pitched it away in a rage crying, " This is a fool's 
 job ! I shall do no more of it I " But the other said, 
 " It is the job the king asked us to do, and it is the job 
 we are being paid for doing. We have no right to 
 stop." So he went on faithfully dipping his bucket 
 into the well and pouring its contents into the basket. 
 
 By and by his eyes caught the glitter of something 
 shining in the mud at the bottom of the well. It was 
 
182 TRUST AND GET THE BLESSING 
 
 a precious diamond ring. " Ah ! " said he, " now I see 
 why the king set us to this task, and why we were 
 told to pour the water into a basket. If the water had 
 brought up the ring before the well was dry, the ring 
 would have been found in the basket." So he took the 
 ring to the king. 
 
 But the king said, " Keep it. You are a man whom 
 I can trust because you obeyed and trusted me when 
 you did not understand my reasons. I see 1 can trust 
 you in greater things." And he gave him a high 
 position. 
 
 Boys and girls, you will find, especially as you grow 
 older, that sometimes it seems difficult to do as God 
 commands, for you don't see the reason behind His 
 command. But never mind that ! Just go on obeying 
 and trusting, and you will find a blessing as surely as 
 did that faithful servant, as surely as did that poor 
 starving widow of Zarephath. 
 
LAME MINDS. 
 
 How loag* halt ye between two opinions? — x Kings xviii. 21. 
 
 1 EXPECT most of you when you were very small, 
 oh, a loTig time ago, played a game called " Oranges or 
 Lemons." You know how two people make an arch 
 with their hands and everyone else passes under the 
 arch until one is caught and asked in a whisper 
 whether he would like to be an " orange " or a " lemon." 
 If he says " orange " he is sent to one side, and if he 
 says "lemon" he is sent to the other. And so the 
 game goes on until everybody has been caught, and 
 then comes a grand tug of war between the " oranges " 
 and the " lemons." 
 
 Now suppose some boy or girl thought they would 
 like to be half an " orange " and half a " lemon " ; and 
 suppose they stood in the middle and pulled one side 
 with the right hand, and the other with the left; 
 wouldn't you think they were rather silly? They 
 wouldn't be doing any good to anybody else, and they 
 wouldn't be doing any good to themselves. 
 
 And yet there are lots of boys and girls, and men 
 
 and women too, who are just like that. They can't 
 
 make up their mind what they will do, or which side 
 
 they will choosa Sometimes they think they would 
 
 16S 
 
184 LAME MINDS 
 
 like one thing, and the next moment they fancy they 
 would like another. They are the people with lame 
 minds. 
 
 These people never make very much progress. They 
 are always hobbling from one foot to the other, so of 
 course they don't get along very fast. They are like 
 the Chinaman who was seen standing at the roadside 
 hacking a piece of log, but never striking it twice in 
 the same place. A passer-by asked him what he was 
 making, and he replied, " Oh, don't know : maybe idol, 
 maybe — bedstead ! " 
 
 Now I want you to consider some of the things 
 we have to decide about. 
 
 1. And the first are the little things of everyday 
 life. When you have sixpence to spend make up your 
 mind what you are going to purchase with it. Of 
 course half the joy of possessing a sixpence is in 
 planning all the things it might buy, and I don't mean 
 you should deprive yourself of that pleasure. But 
 when you have gone into the shop and fixed on some- 
 thing, don't change your mind after the girl has 
 wrapped up your purchase in brown paper and tied a 
 string round it. And if you have to choose between 
 going for a cycle run or playing a game, make up your 
 mind about it and stick to your decision. If you train 
 yourself to be decided about little things now, you won't 
 have so much trouble about the big things later on. 
 
 2. Now let us think about some of those bigger 
 things about which we have to decide. 
 
1 KINGS XVIII. 21 185 
 
 Most of us have to decide sooner or later what 
 we are going to he. Of course when we are quite 
 small we change our minds about that very often. 
 One day we think we shall be an engine-driver, and 
 the next a plasterer, and the next a doctor, and the 
 next a chimney-sweep. And that doesn't really matter 
 much. But when we get into the top classes at school 
 we have to begin to consider the thing seriously. I 
 know a boy who tried five different trades before he 
 finally settled down, and of course he never succeeded 
 in any of them. So if you want to get on you must 
 choose one thing and make up your mind you wiU 
 stick to it and make a success of it. 
 
 3. But there is a bigger choice still than that of 
 choosing a career, and it comes to us every day of our 
 lives — the choice between right and wrong. We have 
 to learn to say "No,'* and to say it quickly and 
 decidedly ; for if we hop about from one foot to the 
 other we are almost siu^e to choose the wrong. 
 
 That lad is bound to reach the top, 
 His progress no rebuffs can stop, 
 
 Who makes his motto ON : 
 Who when besought to turn astray, 
 Just reads his motto backward way. 
 
 And turns his ON to NO : 
 This lad, though poor as some church monse, 
 May some day dwell in his own house, 
 
 And drive his car also. 
 
 4. But the biggest thing of all that we have to deter- 
 mine is on whose side we are going to be — on Christ's or 
 Satan's. It is a question we can't get out of deciding. 
 
186 LAME MINDS 
 
 because if vre are not on one side then we are on the 
 other. Some people think they can be on neither 
 side, or a little on each, or half-way between both. 
 But that is quite a mistaken idea. 
 
 There was a warrior of old who painted GW on one 
 side of his shield and the devil on the other and added 
 below, " I am ready for either." He was trying to serve 
 both, but it can't be done. If you are not on Christ's 
 side, then you are against Him. Which side are you 
 going to take ? 
 
LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 A little cloud.— I Kings xviii. 44 (AV). 
 
 When I was staying in the Highlands one summer I 
 met a man whose property had been badly damaged 
 by a cloud-burst. He lived in a farmhouse near the 
 bottom of a steep hill, many miles from a town. Below 
 the farmhoup,e were a few fields, and beyond the fields 
 flowed a river which some people say is the most 
 beautiful in Scotland. Close beside the farmhouse 
 there was the dried-up rocky bed of a mountain stream 
 which once upon a time must have flowed into the river. 
 
 Now, that particular summer was a very wet and 
 disagreeable one, and many of us, I'm afraid, grumbled 
 a good deal about the weather. One day a cloud burst 
 over the top of the mountain and the rain descended in 
 torrents. It found its way into the old bed of the 
 stream, and rushed down with such terrific force that 
 in less than an hour it had cut a trench in the 
 mountain-skle so deep that you could have hidden the 
 wall of a house in it. It swept on to the fields at the 
 bottom of the hill ruining the crops, and it ended by 
 carrying away one of the bridges that crossed the river. 
 
 We don't very often get such torrents of rain in 
 Scotland, b«t I think it must have been a storm very 
 
 187 
 
188 LITTLE THINGS 
 
 Biuch like this that burst upon Mount Carmel when 
 Elijah sent his servant in such a hurry to tell Ahab to 
 get ready his chariot and hasten back to Jezreel lest the 
 rain should stop him. 
 
 You remember that there had been a famine in the 
 land of Samaria for three years because of the drought, 
 and that Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel 
 to pray for rain. Six times he sent his servant to a 
 peak overlooking the Meditermnean to search for signs 
 of rain, and six times the young man came back saying 
 that the sky was cloudless. But the seventh time he 
 told Elijah that there was a little cloud away to the 
 west, no bigger than a man's hand. Then the prophet 
 sent him running post haste to tell Ahab to get into 
 his chariot and start for home as quickly as possible 
 lest the floods should stop him. Scarcely had the king 
 set out when the sky was covered with inky clouds the 
 wind blew a hurricane, and the rain descended in 
 torrents. And this great storm grew out of a little 
 cloud no bigger than a man's hand. 
 
 I want you to notice that big things nearly always 
 grow out of little things. Big men and women grow 
 out of little boys and girls, big towns grow out of little 
 villages, big trees grow out of little seeds. Sometimes 
 we are apt to think that little things don't matter. But 
 that is a very silly mistake to make. In a way it is 
 really the little things that matter most because they 
 are the beginning and if it weren't for them the big 
 things would never be there. 
 
1 KINGS XVIII. 44 189 
 
 1. And first will you notice that hig had thmgs grow 
 out of little had thiTigs. 
 
 Once upon a time there was a town in America 
 which was built of wood, and in this town was a certain 
 ahed where cows were kept. One night someone left 
 a lighted lamp in the shed, and a cow kicked over the 
 lamp. Very soon the shed was in a blaze, then the 
 next building caught tire, and the next, and the next, 
 until at last the whole town of Chicago was burnt to 
 the ground. If someone had put out the fire when it 
 began nothing worse might have happened than the 
 destruction of a little straw or a board or two ; but as 
 it was a whole town was reduced to ashes. 
 
 It is just like that with the little bad things — the 
 little selfishnesses; the little tempers, the little bits of 
 deceit. If we check them at the beginning they are 
 very easily stopped, but if we let them go on there is 
 no saying where they will end, and soon it may be 
 beyond our power to stop them. 
 
 2. But there is another side to the " little and big 
 things" question, and the other side is the brighter 
 side. It is that hig good things grow out of little good 
 things. 
 
 Awsij in far Japan there is a very beautiful place 
 called Nikko, and leading up to this beautiful place there 
 is a wonderful avenue of cedar trees. The avenue is 
 miles in length and some of the trees in it are thirty 
 feet round and two hundred feet high. It is one of the 
 finest sights in Japan, and people come to see it from 
 
190 LITTLE THINGS 
 
 all parts of the country. Now, how do yon think that 
 wonderful avenue came to be there ? 
 
 Long ago there lived in Nikko a poor man who had 
 lost somebody he loved very much. It was the custom 
 for the rich men of the place to erect beautiful marble 
 monuments in memory of the friends they had lost, but 
 this poor man had no money to buy marble monuments. 
 He thought and thought, and at last he hit upon a plan. 
 He would build a living monument. 
 
 So he set about collecting cedar seeds, and when he 
 tad got together a great many he planted them on 
 either side of the road leading to Nikko. After a time 
 the seeds began to grow. Year after year the young 
 trees grew taller and stronger, and now t^ese cedars 
 are the wonder of the whole place. 
 
 And the little good things are just like those cedars. 
 You never know what they may grow to. A little task 
 well fulfilled, a little kind word spoken, a little kind 
 deed done may have big consequences that we never 
 dream of. So never think that the little good things 
 are of no account. 
 
 And in case you are tempted to lose heart I want to 
 remind you of a little thing that became very great and 
 powerful. When Jesus ascended He left His message 
 in the hands of a very few men. In the first chapter 
 of Acts we read that there were just one hundred and 
 twenty of them — one hundred and twenty men against 
 the whole big world. And yet these men were faithful. 
 They told their friends the things that Jesus had told 
 them, and these friends told their friends. And some 
 
1 KINGS XVIII. 44 191 
 
 of them went far away into strange countries to tell 
 the news to strange people. To-day millions of people 
 have learned to know and to love Jesus, and the time 
 will yet oome when His message will be delivered the 
 wide world over. 
 
 So never despise the little things, for they are the 
 things that count. Make up your minds that you will 
 fight the little bad things and conquer them when they 
 are small. Resolve that you will range yourselves on 
 the side of the little good things that grow up into the 
 things that are strong, and wis©, and noble. 
 
THE LETTER "I." 
 
 I, even I only.— z Kingfs xix. lO. 
 
 What is your favourite letter of the alphabet ? Most 
 of us have a special liking for one letter or another. 
 Some of us like " W " because it is a pretty letter, or 
 **T" because it is an easy letter to write, or "Q" 
 because it is such a curious letter, or " X " because it 
 stands for a kiss. Or we have a special weakness for 
 our own initials whatever they may be. We are so 
 fond of them that we scribble them on every available 
 space and carve them on every possible piece of wood. 
 We even go the length of cutting them out in the 
 turf, or sowing them in cress in the garden. 
 
 Now there's not much harm in all that, so long as 
 we take care not to decorate other people's property 
 with our initials ; and yet there is a hint of danger in 
 being too fond of your owa initials. Shall I tell you 
 why ? Because the boy or girl who is always admiring 
 his or her special initials is really adoring the letter 
 ** I." And to adore the letter " I " is a very dangerous 
 thing indeed. 
 
 Did you ever notice how often some people use the 
 
 letter " I " ? If you just listen and count you will find 
 
 an " I " at the beginning of nearly every sentence they 
 
 Ids 
 
1 KINGS XIX. 10 193 
 
 utter. Once I remember reading the letter of the 
 wife of a very clever and a very famous man. He was, 
 like all great men, very simple-hearted and very 
 humble-minded, but his wife, who was neither clever 
 nor famous, was quite the reverse, and so in the three 
 and a half pages of that short letter how many " I "s 
 do you think she had ? Forty ! That was a record, 
 wasn't it? 
 
 In to-day's story you find a great prophet using the 
 letter " I " oftener than he should. " I, even I only," 
 said he, and he said it twice. Why did Elijah use the 
 letter " I " too often ? He used it too often because 
 he was in despair, and his spirits were as low as they 
 possibly could be. It was the result of the terrible 
 strain he had gone through when he stood alone on 
 Mount Carmel and called upon God to show Himself 
 God before all Israel. 
 
 You remember the st.ry — how God answered 
 Elijah's prayer by sending down fire to consume the 
 sacrifice, and how the eight hundred and fifty priests 
 of Baal were slain as a consequence. You would have 
 expected Elijah to be triumphant, wouldn't you? 
 Yes, but Elijah was an " up and down " sort of man, 
 and instead of being triumphant he got very depressed, 
 and saw things black, and said to God, " What is the 
 use of all that happened on Mount Carmel ? The 
 people of Israel don't really care. They haven't given 
 up worshipping Baal. There is nobody but me left 
 in all Israel to worship Thee." 
 
 Well God told Elijah both by word and by deed that 
 
194 THE LETTER ''I" 
 
 he was talking very foolishly, and He told him that, 
 so far from his being the only person to worship God 
 in all Israel, there were seven thousand others who 
 had never bowed the knee to Baal, seven thousand 
 besides himself true to Jehovah. 
 
 Now why we are too fond of the letter " I " is not 
 usually because we are, like Elijah, in low spirits, so 
 that our self suddenly becomes very important to us. 
 It is usually because we think ourselves very important 
 all the time. We can't look at the world and the 
 people in it because we are continually gazing at our 
 own person, and it is filling up the whole of the 
 picture. 
 
 A certain well-known philosopher told of himself 
 that when he was quite a little child his fath^ noticed 
 that as he was sitting quietly by the fireside he 
 suddenly tittered. "Herbert," said his father, "what 
 are you laughing at ? " "I was thinking," replied 
 Herbert, " how it would have been if there had been 
 nothing besides myself." 
 
 That man began to think of himself and forget 
 others when he was a tiny fellow, and the fault grew 
 till, in his old age, life became a weariness and a 
 misery because he could not think of anybody but 
 himself. That was what too great fondness of the 
 letter " I " did for Herbert Spencer. And it not only 
 destroyed his happiness, it destroyed the value of his 
 work ; for he wrote the story of his own life and it 
 was written also by other people, and when the world 
 
1 KINGS XIX. 10 195 
 
 got to know the conceit and self-importance of the 
 man, they set a much lower value on his books. 
 
 Boys and girls, the next time you are tempted to 
 be selfish, or greedy, or boasting, or important, catch 
 yourself up. Change the '* I " into " they." Then 
 instead of saying " / must come first ! " you will find 
 yourself saying " They must come first ! " instead of 
 " I'm going to have the sugariest cakes ! " " They are 
 going to have the sugariest cakes ! " instead of " I'm 
 somebody and they are nobody ! " " They are some- 
 body and I am nobody." 
 
 And practise what you say. Learn to think of 
 yourself second and other people first. It will be a 
 hard task for some of you, but if you learn it 
 thoroughly it will be the grandest lesson you ever 
 mastered in your life. 
 
 And 111 tell you what wiU help you if you find the 
 learning specially difficult — remembering Jesus Christ, 
 remembering how He said, " Learn of me ; for I am 
 meek and lowly in heart." 
 
 If the Son of God was ready to take the lowest 
 place, surely we should be proud and glad and eager 
 to follow in Hie stepSb 
 
BOASTING. 
 
 Let not hiin that g:irdeth on his armour boast himself as he 
 that putteth it off.— i Kings xz. ii. 
 
 Benhadad, king of Syria, was a big bully. He had 
 invaded Israel with an army of one hundred and 
 thirty thousand men commanded by thirty-two petty 
 princes. Ahab, Icing of Israel, had only a small follow- 
 ing of seven thousand men and he had shut himself up 
 in the city of Samaria. Benhadad laid siege to the 
 city and when he thought it must be in dire straits, 
 he sent bullying messages to Ahab demanding his 
 wives and his children, his silver and his gold. 
 
 At first Ahab was so terrified that he consented. " My 
 lord, king," he replied, '* according to thy saying, I 
 am thine, and aU that I have." But when Benhadad, 
 pleased with this success, demanded more and more, 
 Allah's spirit was roused and he refused to comply. 
 
 The king of Syria was angry and he began to 
 threaten and boast. He sent to Ahab saying that he 
 would pound Samaria to dust and that he had so 
 many men with him that if he gave merely a handful 
 of that dust to each of them there would not be enough 
 to go round. 
 
 It was then that Ahab replied in the words of our 
 text — " Let not him that gii'deth on his armour boast 
 
1 KINGS XX. 11 197 
 
 himself as he that putteth it off." The time to boast, 
 he meant, is when you have won the victory. 
 
 Well, we know how the story ended. The little 
 army of the Israelites fell upon the Syrians at noon 
 when they were not expecting them. A panic ensued, 
 the Syrians fled pell-mell, and Benhadad took hasty 
 flight upon the first I'orse he could seize. Like most 
 bullies he was only a coward at heart 
 
 Ahab'e words have come down to us as a sort of 
 proverb, and although they were spoken by a very 
 foolish king, they are very wise words. " Let not him 
 that girdeth on his armour boast himself as he that 
 putteth it ofi"." That just means — " if you are going to 
 boast wait till you have something to boast about." 
 And the curious thing is that if you wait till then the 
 chances are you will never boast at all. For it isn't 
 the people who have done big things who brag, 1 ut the 
 people who haven't begun to try to do them. 
 
 Now I want to give you two reasons why it is well 
 not to boast, and the first is that hoastingj like pride, 
 geiierally goes before a fall. The boasting people don't 
 see their own weakness, so of course they don't guard 
 against it and when they are attacked down they come 
 at the first blow. It was like that with Benhadad. 
 He was so very sure of victory that he took his ease 
 and sat down to feast and drink at noon. He never 
 dreamt that the enemy would attack him in the heat 
 of the day. And that was just when the enemy came. 
 
 And the second] reason is that hoasting is very oft&n^ 
 
198 BOASTING 
 
 a sign of weakness. The boys and girls who are always 
 talking about what they can do are generally the ones 
 who accomplish nothing. 
 
 Did you ever hear of the rich harper of Tarentum ? 
 Tarentum was a city in ancient Greece, and in that 
 city there dwelt a harper who thought very highly of 
 himself. Now a big competition for harpers was 
 going to take place at a town called Delphos^ and a 
 laurel crown was to be given to the competitor who 
 played best and sang most sweetly. 
 
 The rich harper of Tarentum made up his mind that 
 he would enter the competition. But he thought a 
 laurel crown was a very poor reward for skill in 
 harping, so he resolved that he would go to Delphos 
 crowned already and make a display of his splendour. 
 
 Over his shoulders he threw a cape of cloth of gold, 
 and on his head he placed a golden crown set with 
 emeralds. He took a harp inlaid with jewels. He 
 rode in a fine chariot. And all the people admired him. 
 
 At last he reached the theatre where the competi- 
 tion was to take place, and the time came when the 
 competitors were called upon to play. When the rich 
 man stepped forward all eyes were turned upon him 
 and the people waited breathlessly till he should 
 begin. But when his fingers smote the harp they 
 brought forth nothing but discord, and when he raised 
 his voice to sing it produced the most hideous sound. 
 The people roared with laughter, the judges drove him 
 from the theatre, and he returned to Tarentum with 
 his gold crowu all on one side of his head 
 
1 KINGS XX. 11 199 
 
 You may have noticed that the boys and girls who 
 boast how brave they would be if they met a wild 
 beast are generally the ones who run away if they 
 meet a barking dog. The really brave people always 
 think they have accomplished nothing. It is always 
 the other fellow who has done it. 
 
 We have been talking about foolish boasting, but 
 there is a kind of boasting that is not foolish. You 
 know we all have a battle to fight in this life — a battle 
 against our worst selves, a battle against sin and 
 temptation. And if we go into this fight in our own 
 strength we are sure to be beaten. But if we wear the 
 armour that Christ gives us and put our confidence in 
 Him then we are sure to win. 
 
 Do you remember how Goliath came to meet David 
 blustering and boasting about how he was going to 
 give his flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts 
 of the field ? That was one kind of boasting. And 
 David came boasting too, but not in his own strength. 
 "Thou comest to me/' he said, "with a sword, and 
 with a spear, and with a shield : but I come to thee 
 in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the 
 armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day 
 will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand." 
 
 That is the kind of boasting that stands the test, 
 because it is boasting, not in ourselves, but in One 
 who cannot fail. And if we have this confidence it 
 will last us from the day we put on our armour till the 
 day we put it off to exchange it for a crown of victory. 
 
BUSYNESS AND BUSINESS. 
 
 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. — 
 
 I Kings XX. 40. 
 
 These words are part of a parable which was spoken 
 by a prophet to a king who had disobeyed the commands 
 of God. 
 
 The parable tells of a man who in the midst of a 
 battle had an important prisoner brought to him. He 
 was told that he must guard that prisoner at all 
 costs, and that, if the captive escaped, his own life 
 should be forfeit. 
 
 At first he was most watchful and careful, but by 
 and by he began to weary of his task. The battle was 
 surging past him, men were doing glorious deeds, and 
 here was he condemned to keep guard over a silly old 
 prisoner ! Nothing could very well happen to the 
 prisoner right there in the middle of the camp. He 
 vi^ould go and strike a blow for freedom and for fame. 
 
 So he went. He performed deeds of wonderful 
 
 valour, and covered himself with glory, and when he 
 
 returned — the prisoner was gone ! The most dangerous 
 
 enemy of his country had got away, and disaster 
 
 awaited his people. 
 
 Now will you notice something about this man ? It 
 
 200 
 
1 KINGS XX. 40 201 
 
 dosen't say he was idle when the prisoner escaped, it 
 dosen't aay he was sleeping or playing, it says he was 
 busy. Yes, but he was busy doing something that 
 wasn't his business. It is good to be busy, but it 
 is not good to be busy about the wrong thing, at the 
 wrong time, and in the wrong place. 
 
 I daresay that man thought that the work he chose 
 for himself was much finer and grander than the work 
 he had been set t do, but while he was busy doing 
 the thing he had not been asked to do, he failed in the 
 one thing he had been asked to do. 
 
 I think we can learn two lessons from the story of 
 this soldier who betrayed his trust. 
 
 1. We can be disobedient just as much iu doing 
 what we are Twt told to do as in doing what we are 
 told not to do. 
 
 When a sea-captain sets out on a voyage he gets 
 a list of orders from the owner of his vessel. These 
 orders he must obey implicitly and exactly, no matter 
 what happens. The rule is — "Obey orders, if you 
 break owners." 
 
 Now, once upon a time the owner of a certain vessel 
 sent the captain with a cargo to the East Indies. The 
 captain had orders as to what kind of cargo he was to 
 bring back. But when he reached his destination and 
 had unloaded, he saw that he would make much more 
 money for his master by bringing back a different 
 cargo from the one he had been told to bring. This 
 .'le did, and by so doing he made two thousand pounds 
 
202 BUSYNESS AND BUSINESS 
 
 more money than he would have done had he obeyed 
 orders. 
 
 When he arrived home the owner of the vessel paid 
 him his wages and gave him in addition a handsome 
 present. Then he dismissed him. The captain was 
 astonished, but the owner said, " Sir, I cannot have a 
 man in my service who does not obey orders. This 
 time it turned out well, but next time disobedience 
 might spell ruin." 
 
 One of our poets tells the story of a man whom God 
 sent to a river head for a draught of water. But 
 when the man got there he saw that the water was 
 muddy. He also saw lying by the riverside a beautiful 
 marble cup. And he said to himself, " What can God 
 want with a draught of muddy water? All the rivers 
 on the earth are His. I will take Him this beautiful 
 cup instead. It is a much finer gift" But God had 
 asked for the draught of water, not for the marble cup, 
 and the man's gift was valueless. 
 
 If you are told to do a thing and do something else 
 instead, no amount of fine or generous things you may 
 do will make up for the omission of the thing you 
 ought to have done. Supposing your mother sends 
 you to buy bread for tea or meat for dinner, and on 
 your way you pass a wood where some beautiful wild 
 flowers grow. You think it would be so nice to bring 
 her a bunch of those, so you stop and fill your basket 
 with them and forget all about your message. Do you 
 think any amoimt of fine flowers will make up to her 
 for the dinner you didn't bring her ? 
 
1 KINGS XX. 40 203 
 
 Don't be ashamed to obey, boys and girls. Be one 
 of those whom others can trust to carry out an order 
 exactly. Such people are scarce in the world — much 
 scarcer than you might think — and when we find one 
 of them we prize him highly. 
 
 2. And then I think this story of the unfaithful 
 soldier teaches us that the duty that lies tiearest lis is 
 the test for us to do. If this man had stuck to his post, 
 if he hadn't busied himself about a lot of things he 
 wasn't asked to do, the prisoner would never have 
 got away. 
 
 There are a lot of people like that. They are so 
 busy dreaming about the fine things they will do by 
 and by that they miss the opportunity of doing the 
 little, humble, necessary services that lie close al 
 hand. 
 
 *« To-day," said pretty Dolly, as 
 
 She opened wide her eyes, 
 '*rm going to give my dear mamma 
 
 A beautiful surprise. 
 I hardly know what it will be. 
 
 But I will find a way 
 To do some great and noble thing 
 
 To please mamma to-day. 
 
 <*rm tired of doing little things. 
 
 Why, any one can sweep 
 And dost, or wipe the dishes np^ 
 
 Or watch the baby sleep. 
 It's some big thing I want to do. 
 
 If I could write a book. 
 Or save the house from burning, now 
 
 How pleased mamma would look I" 
 
204 BUSYNESS AND BUSINESS 
 
 So after breakfast Dolly went 
 
 And sat beside the fire, 
 While mother cleared the things away. 
 
 And mended baby's tire ; 
 She wiped the dishes, made the beds, 
 
 And braided Bessy's hair. 
 While Dolly sat and pondered long 
 
 Within her easy chair. 
 
 And so she dreamed and thought and planned 
 
 The busy morning tJaough ; 
 But could not think of anything 
 
 Quite big enough to do ! 
 And when she went to bed at night 
 
 She really wondered why, 
 When mother kissed her kvingly. 
 
 The kiss was half a sigh ! ^ 
 
 Boys and girls, take your heads out of the clouds. 
 It isn't the doing of the far-away, big things that is the 
 finest work for you, it is the doing well of the little 
 things that lie nearest you. If you neglect these 
 little things, however commonplace they may seem, 
 then you have failed in your duty, and no amount of 
 grand deeds will ever take their place. 
 
 If you are not helpful and dutiful and loving to 
 your father and mother, kind and courteous to your 
 brothers and sisters, faithful in your work, then none 
 of the fine, brave things you imagine you are going to 
 do in the world will ever make up. God gives most 
 of us just very commonplace tasks, but He expects 
 us to do them well. We must see to it that we do 
 
 ^ G. M. Cannon. 
 
1 KINGS XX. 40 205 
 
 thoroughly the little bit of work He puts before us, and 
 some day perhaps He will call us to something bigger. 
 
 Just one thing more. The man in the story was too 
 busy to do the thing that mattered most. And there 
 are still some foolish people who are too busy to do 
 the thing that matters most of all — to make room in 
 their lives for God. 
 
 Boys and girls, don't make that mistake. It is the 
 biggest one you could possibly make. Let God into 
 your hearts now, while they are young and fi'ee and 
 generous, and before other interests come in to crowd 
 Him out. He is worthy of your heart's adoration, of 
 your life's service, but He will never force Himself in. 
 Will you open the door of your heart and give Him 
 an entrance? It will never be easier for you to do 
 it than now, and you will never regret ib. 
 
CHEATING GOD. 
 
 And the king; of Israel said, ... I will disguise myself, and 
 go into the battle .... And a certain man drew his bow at a 
 venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the 
 harness.—! Kings xxii. 30, 34. 
 
 Do yon ever play at dressing-up ? Of course you do. 
 It is one of your favourite games. You ^Is love to 
 get hold of some grown-up clothes. You parade up 
 and down in your borrowed finery, tripping over your 
 long skirts, but admiring yourself tremendously all the 
 while. And you boys are not above the game of 
 dressing-up either. When you were very tiny the gift 
 of a soldier's outfit in miniature made you happy for 
 days, especially if the outfit included a sword or a 
 drum. 
 
 What is half the charm of being a boy scout ? Is 
 it not just the wearing of that fascinating scout hat ? 
 And is not half the pleasure of being a girl guide the 
 donning of that smart blue uniform ? 
 
 Dressing-up is a game that never loses ita freshness. 
 And it is a game played not only by boys and girls. It 
 is a game played for our amusement by actors and 
 actresses. It is a game played in grim earnest by the 
 men of our Secret Service Department. To be able by 
 dressiDg-up to disguise themselves and appear as other 
 
1 KINGS XXII. 30, 34 207 
 
 people is absolutely necessary for them. It means the 
 safety of the messages they carry, and it often means 
 the safety of their own lives. 
 
 Our story to-day is the story of a king who dressed 
 up to save his life. But it was not man that he was 
 trying to deceive, it was God. 
 
 His name was Ahab. He was king of the Northern 
 Kingdom of Israel, and a very splendid and mighty 
 monarch he was in some ways. He was a brave 
 warrior and an energetic ruler, and he strove hard to 
 make his nation powerful and famous. He was a great 
 builder too. He built a marvellous palace of ivory — 
 the like of which never before was seen. He built also 
 a beautiful temple. 
 
 And that brings us to the weak point in his 
 character. For, alas ! King Ahab's beautiful temple 
 was not built in honour of God. It was built in honour 
 of the false god Baal. Ahab knew perfectly that God 
 was the one and only true God, and yet he built a 
 temple to Baal because his wife wanted him to do it. 
 She was a heathen princess called Jezebel, and matters 
 stood like this. Ahab ruled Israel, but Jezebel ruled 
 Ahab. And although Ahab knew he was doing wrong, 
 he stifled his conscience and went on doing it 
 
 God gave him chance after chance to change his 
 wicked ways. God sent him Elijah, one of the greatest 
 prophets in Bible history, to warn him to repent. But 
 Ahab deliberately closed his ears to Elijah's messages, 
 and went on sinning and teaching his foolish people to 
 imitate his sins and worship idols too. 
 
208 CHEATING GOD 
 
 It fell on a day that Ahab had a State visit from his 
 neighbour the good king Jehoshaphat, the king of the 
 Southern Kingdom of Judah. King Jehoshaphat's son 
 had married King Ahab's daughter, so the two kings 
 were related by marriage. 
 
 Now, some time previously King Ahab had been at 
 war with Benhadad, the king of Syria. Ahab had 
 beaten Benhadad and Benhadad had solemnly promised, 
 as the price of peace, to return to Israel certain cities 
 which Benhadad's father had seized in an earlier war. 
 But Benhadad had failed to return one city called 
 Ramoth-gilead. So Ahab suggested to Jehoshaphat 
 that, now that they were united by marriage, they 
 might be united in warfare too. He asked Jehoshaphat 
 to be his ally and go with him to fight the king of 
 Syria and regain Kamoth-gilead. Jehoshaphat was 
 quite willing to help, but he said to Ahab that it would 
 be well to inquire of God if He approved, and if their 
 plans would be successful. 
 
 Now Ahab was not sure if God wauld approve of 
 their plans, and he was afraid to hear what God might 
 have to say on the subject, so he gathered together 
 four hundred prophets who, he knew, would prophesy 
 what he desired — a good ending to the war. But he 
 purposely did not send for the one prophet who, he 
 knew, would speak the truth at all costs — a prophet 
 named Micaiah. 
 
 Jehoshaphat somehow was not satisfied with the fair 
 promises of the four hundred who all foretold a great 
 victory. Their words were too fair. So he asked 
 
1 KINGS XXII. 30, 34 209 
 
 Ahab if there were not still another prophet in Israel. 
 *' Yes," said Ahab, " there is. But I hate him, for he 
 prophesies evil about me, not good." But Jehoshaphat 
 pleaded that Micaiah also should be consulted, and so 
 he came before the king. And, as Ahab feared, he 
 told the truth ; and a very unpleasant truth it sounded, 
 for he said that Ahab would be killed, and his army 
 would have to retreat. 
 
 Naturally Ahab was rather upset at such a terrible 
 prophecy, but he went on with his preparations ; and 
 he and Jehoshaphat went up to Kamoth-gilead. There 
 Ahab did what he thought a clever thing. He dressed 
 up as a common soldier and went into battle disguised 
 instead of wearing his kingly robes. It wasn't that he 
 was a coward. Not a bit of it ! But he thought that 
 if he were dressed as another man than the king of 
 Israel, God would not know him, and the prophecy 
 would not come true. 
 
 Now, as it happened, Benhadad had set apart cer- 
 tain of the mightiest men expressly to look for Ahab. 
 They had orders to seek him out and fight with him 
 only. When these men saw Jehoshaphat in his kingly 
 armour they mistook him for Ahab, and for a time they 
 pursued him; but by and by they found out their 
 mistake and stopped the chase. 
 
 Meantime a common soldier, who had been aiming 
 at nobody in particular, shot an arrow into the crowd 
 on the battlefield, and that arrow sped straight for the 
 disguised king and pierced between the joints of his 
 armour. It pierced so deep that Ahab knew he was 
 
210 CHEATING GOD 
 
 dying. Then he did a brave thing. He got his men 
 to prop him up in his chariot whilst the battle swayed 
 to and fro. But at sunset he died and a cry rose 
 from the hosts of Israel, "Back to your homes and 
 your cities ! " So the people retreated and Micaiah's 
 prophecy was fulfilled. 
 
 Now I think the story of Ahab tells us two things. 
 
 1. The first is that we cannot deceive God, We cannot 
 cheat Him as we can cheat our fellow-men. Whatever 
 we wear, and whatever we may be doing or saying, 
 Grod sees the real us. He knows when we are saying 
 one thing aloud and thinking another secretly. He 
 does not look at what we appear. He looks at what we 
 ara He looks straight into our hearts where our 
 motives and intentions are hidden, and He sees them 
 and not the deed that the outside world sees. And it 
 is the motive or intention that God gives us credit for, 
 not the outward deed. 
 
 Once there was a certain man who dropped half a 
 sovereign instead of a sixpence into the collection bag. 
 He was greatly concerned about it, and actually went 
 the length of trying, after service, to recover it. But 
 the man in charge of the collection rebuked him, and 
 told him that what had been given to God should not 
 be asked back again. " Oh ! well," said the mean man, 
 " I'll get credit for it in heaven." " Will you ? " said 
 the other. " No, you'U get credit only for the sixpence 
 you intended to give." It sounded rather hard, but it 
 was true. You can never cheat God. 
 
1 KINGS XXII. 30, 34 211 
 
 2. The second thing the story of Ahab tells us is that 
 there is no such tking as charuse. Everything is ordered 
 by God. 
 
 When George Washington was a little fellow (this is 
 not the axe story !) he ran out to the garden one spring 
 morning and stood in amazement before a bed of 
 cabbages whose tiny green shoots formed the letters 
 of his own name, "George Washington." 
 
 "Father, father!" he shouted, "do come and see 
 this!" 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked his father. 
 
 "The cabbages are coming up and writing my 
 name!" cried George. 
 
 " Very curious ! " said his father. 
 
 " But who did it ? " asked the boy. 
 
 " I suppose they just grew so," said his father. 
 " Don't you think they came up that way by cbanoe ? " 
 
 " Oh they couldn't ! " said George. " They couldn't 
 possibly grow that way unless someone had made 
 them." 
 
 " Right, my boy," said the father. " I planted these 
 cabbages like that just to show you that nothing grows 
 by chance. There is someone who plans everything." 
 
 No, boys and girls, there is no such thing as chance. 
 There is someone behind everything. Everything is 
 the result of order. And God is behind that order. 
 
THE LITTLE WORD "BUT." 
 
 But he was a leper. — 2 Kings v. i. 
 
 SOMjB little words may mean a great deal. " But " is 
 one of them. Many things have been said about it — 
 '' The little word that spoils the music " ; " The word 
 that has the knack of spoiling things," etc. "But" 
 has a bad character. And indeed it is in this light 
 generally think of it. It drops into speech at every 
 turn ; we seem to have heard it all our lives — " Jack is 
 a fine fellow, but " 
 
 1, It certainly spoilt the music of Naaman's life. 
 "We are told of his greatness — he was a great captain, 
 a favourite of the king, and famous because of the 
 victories he had won. Wealth, titles — Naaman had 
 everything but one to place him among the proudest 
 and happiest of men. 
 
 But what did it matter though he had a great 
 position, much popularity, and the favour of the king, 
 when all the time he was suffering from one of the 
 most loathsome of diseases ? " But he was a leper." 
 That "but" was sufficient to shut out all brightness 
 and hope from his life. 
 
 Naaman must have been a brave man — a " plucky " 
 
 man, as we say sometimes. Think what it must have 
 
 212 
 
2 KINGS V. 1 213 
 
 meant to keep doing his work in spite of such a terrible 
 handicap. Every year the disease would gain a 
 stronger hold on his body. He was like a soldier who 
 carried a golden shield, beautiful to the world, but to 
 the soldier himself picturing something that made him 
 sad whenever he looked at it. 
 
 I once knew a poor little girl who had a '* but " in 
 her life. It was not the want of pretty clothes, nor 
 was it the fact that she sometimes got very small 
 dinners. No one played games with greater spirit 
 than she did : she jumped about the school playground 
 as merrily as any. But at home in the evenings there 
 was often something to make her little heart sad. Her 
 mother looked sorrowful and careworn. Father drank, 
 and when he came in he said very unkind things to 
 everybody. She often cried at such times; but next 
 day she would be as bright as ever. And the " but " 
 in that girl's life helped to make her a woman full of 
 sympathy for those who did wrong. 
 
 Let me tell you of a little boy who lived in a grand 
 house. He had everything about him to make his life 
 happy. If you had seen his room, you would have 
 said, "I wish I had all the toys I see lying about." 
 But you would have felt sorry for the owner of them. 
 He could not rise from his little bed in the corner ; for 
 he took hip joint disease when he was quite a wee 
 fellow. His " but," like that of the little girl, was 
 doing a splendid thing for him ; it was making him a 
 brave soldier. Even if he could not fight, he had 
 become " plucky " like the Syrian captain. Grown-up 
 
214 THE LITTLE WORD "BUT" 
 
 people used to come and sit beside him sometimes, 
 they felt that the sight of that little boy's courage did 
 them good. 
 
 There are " buts," however, that boys and girls are 
 better without. We need to remember these when we 
 say our prayers. " Annie is a clever girl, but so care- 
 less." Carelessness may lead to sin. "Frank is a 
 likeable boy, but you can never quite depend on what 
 he says.** A tendency to untruthfulness means that 
 the boy or girl who has it is on the road to become a 
 deceiver. I like to think of a boy I heard of, who waa 
 very ambitious to get to the top of his class. He was 
 the youngest in the class. His teacher told a friend 
 that one day she asked the boys to spell a somewhat 
 unusual word. One after another they missed it 
 Then it came to Alec's turn. He made his attempt 
 and the teacher said, " Eight ! go up," and feeling very 
 proud he marched to the position he had coveted. 
 Then the teacher said, " I shall write it on the black- 
 board for you all to see." As she wrote. Alec watched. 
 Presently he saw the letters "LE." Without a 
 moment's hesitation he cried, " Oh, I said * E.L'," and 
 down he walked to his old position. His teacher felt 
 proud of him : she knew what it had cost him, and 
 that he would be feeling that it made him look small 
 in the eyes of his classmates. But doing the right 
 thing would in time become easy to Alec, for Grod 
 would help him. 
 
 A true follower of Jesus Christ should have no 
 "but" in his character. Your companions may be 
 
2 KINGS V. 1 215 
 
 ready with their " buts " when they speak of you, but 
 if you ask God to help you to be like Jesus Christ, it is 
 only God's judgment you have to think of. When a 
 great and good man was newly buried, an onlooker 
 said, " Here lies one who never feared the face of man." 
 He had lived as in the presence of God. Boya and 
 girls, remember that. 
 
SOME GREAT THING. 
 
 If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest 
 thou not have done it? — 2 Kings v. 13. 
 
 Here is a man who was told to do a litfele thing and 
 found it more difficult than doing a big one. It seems 
 stupid, doesn't it ? You think it would have been so 
 easy for him to go and bathe in Jordan, and that he 
 would have been glad to do it to be made well again. 
 But it was just because it was so easy that he couldn't 
 do it. 
 
 You see Naaman was a very great man in his 
 own country and much thought of. He had travelled 
 hundreds of miles to see Elisha. He was accompanied 
 by a grand escort and had brought many valuable 
 presents, and he thought the prophet would make a 
 great fuss over him. But Elisha did not even come to 
 see him. He just sent a messenger to tell him to dip 
 seven times in the river Jordan. 
 
 I suppose Naaman fancied Elisha was slighting him 
 or making fun of him, so he was angiy and would not 
 go to the Jordan. If he had been asked to do some- 
 thing big, or difficult, or heroic, he could have done it, 
 but he would not do the little, simple, commonplace 
 thing. Fortunately he thought better of his decision 
 
 216 
 
2 KINGS V. 13 217 
 
 and, on fciie advice of his followers, went and dipped in 
 Jordan and was made whole. 
 
 I wonder if we are ever like Naaman. Ye8, I'm 
 afraid we are sometimes. We like to do the big things, 
 the things that make a nuise and a show, and we think 
 the little, quiet, everyday things are not worth doing. 
 Now that is a foolish and mistaken idea a»d a great 
 many grown-up people have caused thems^ree and 
 others much unhappiness by cherishing it I ^ould 
 like you to start right by never letting it into your 
 head at all, ao I want you to try and remember three 
 facts about little things. 
 
 1. First, remember it is the little things that mcbke up 
 life. — Perhaps you will never be required to do a great 
 thing, a thing that the world will hear about and talk 
 about, but you will be called to do hundreds and 
 thousands of little things, little everyday teusks that 
 nobody sees or applauds, and it is the doing of those 
 trifles, especially the way you do them, that goes to 
 form that wonderful building we call chaj^oter. 
 
 Did you eTer hear how the beautiful cathedral of 
 St. Paul's in London came to be built ? Did you know 
 that it was built of sixpences? That seems queer, 
 doesn't it? Shall I tell you how it happened? 
 
 Long ago, when it was settled that the cathedral was 
 to be built, a tax of sixpence was put on efwjh ton of 
 coal which was brought into the port, and the money 
 that was gained in this way went to pay for the 
 building of the cathedral. Just one little sixpence 
 
218 SOME GREAT THING 
 
 after another, each one of very little value, r ad yet 
 they helped to erect one of the grandest buildings in 
 the world ! Your life may be just as grand and noble 
 as St Paul's Cathedral, and yet it may be built out of 
 small things as the cathedral was. 
 
 2. But, second, sometimes it is the little things that 
 are the big things. — Now what do we mean by that ? 
 Well it is often easier to do a fine, heroic thing once in 
 a while than to do the little commonplace, dull things 
 of everyday life. 
 
 Can 3^ou control your temper ? That may seem a 
 little thing, but it is a big thing. Can you be kind 
 and patient, day after day, when other people are 
 annoying ? Can you learn that wearisome lesson, or 
 toil through that dull task without grumbling ? Can 
 you give up little pleasures now and again for the sake 
 of somebody else and do it with a smile ? 
 
 Do you think there is nothing grand about all that ? 
 There are few things grander ! It isn't easy to be a 
 hero in everyday life when nobody seems to be looking 
 on and there is nobody to applaud. But God is look- 
 ing on and I think one of the surprises we shall get in 
 heaven will be to know what God counts little and 
 what He counts big. 
 
 3. Once more, I want you to remember that it doesn't 
 matter whether things seem big or little, important or 
 unimportant ; if they lie in our path, God has put them 
 there for us to do and it is our business to do them. 
 
2 KINGS V. 13 219 
 
 I was reading a sort of parable the other day about 
 a boy who wanted to do big things and who omitted 
 to do the little thing that lay nearest and that 
 mattered most just then. His dream was to go out 
 into the world and give his life to doing good works 
 among the poor and needy. Well, that was a very 
 good ambition, but he made one mistake, as you shall 
 hear. 
 
 One night as he knelt in prayer asking that the 
 opportunity might be givi^u him to carry out his desires 
 an angel appeared to him, and in his hand was a 
 beautiful amethyst ring. The angel told the boy that 
 his prayers had been answered, that he was to go out 
 into the world to do good works, but that there was a 
 bit of work close at hand that badly needed doing, and 
 when he had finished that he should find the amethyst 
 ring. 
 
 Next morning he told his mother about the angel's 
 visit and that he must go forth that day to begin his 
 life of charity. She gave him her blessing and told 
 him to go. * But," shje added, " there is just one thing 
 I should like you to do before you leave. That 
 stagnant pool in front of the cottage has been smelling 
 very badly lately. It is overpowering the scent of the 
 roses and the honeysuckle, and I am afraid it may 
 breed some plague. I should like you to remove it 
 before you set out." 
 
 The boy replied that he had no time to stay, and 
 that he was sure clearing out the pool would make him 
 feel ilL So he went away without removing it. 
 
220 SOME GREAT THING 
 
 For Many years he travelled up and down the land, 
 and everywhere he went he did good works. Many 
 were helped and blessed by him, and be earned a great 
 name. At last, one day he came again to his mother's 
 village. But he found the cottage in rnine and was 
 told that his mother had died long sinoe. When he 
 asked the neighbours how she died, they replied that 
 she had euocumbed to a plague caused by the cesspool 
 in front of her cottage, and that many more people in 
 ^he villa^ h^d died of the same trouble. The cesspool 
 nad sinoe been covered over, but some people thought 
 it should be removed altogether. 
 
 Then the man remembered his mother's request and 
 he was exceedingly sorry. He set to work that day 
 to remove the pool, and at the bottom he found the 
 wonderful amethyst ring. 
 
 So don*t think that what you d© or don't do 
 doesn't oount. The duty that is neareftt, however 
 commonplaoe and trifling it may seem, ie the most 
 important one for you. If you do it the wcarld will be 
 so much the happier and better ; if yon laii to do it 
 it will be so much the poorer. 
 
 One stitch dropped as the weaver drove 
 
 His needle shuttle to and fro, 
 In and out, beneath, above, 
 
 Till the pattern seemed to bud and grow 
 As if the fairies had helping been ; 
 And the one stitch dropped pulled the n^it stitoh out. 
 And a weak place grew in the fabric sfeoi^; 
 And the perfect pattern was marred for aye 
 By tJto one small stitch that was dropped that day. 
 
2 KINGS V. 13 221 
 
 One email life in God's great plan, 
 
 How fntile it seems as the ages roll. 
 
 Do what it may, or strive how it can, 
 
 To alter the sweep of the infinite whole I 
 
 A single stitch in an endless web ; 
 
 A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb"; 
 
 But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost, 
 
 Or marred where the tangled threads hare crossed ; 
 
 And each life that fails of the true intent, 
 
 M&rs the perfect plan that its Master meant. ^ 
 
 ^ Susan Coolidge. 
 
SEEING THE UNSEEN. 
 
 Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.— 
 2 Kings vi. 17. 
 
 How much do you see ? Do you see half of what is to 
 be seen ? Or all that is to be seen ? Or more than 
 is to be seen ? These are the three kinds of eyesight, 
 and you must have one or other of the three. 
 
 1. Perhaps the greatest number of people in the 
 world have the first kind of eyesight. They see only 
 the half of what is to be seen. They look, for instance, 
 at a flower, but they don't really see it. If you asked 
 them to draw it for you or describe it to you, ten 
 chances to one they would give it seven petals instead 
 of five, and those petals would not be the correct 
 shape. Then they would make it grow on a wrong 
 stem, and the leaves would be smooth instead of hairy. 
 These people had looked but they had not noticed; 
 and noticing is the better half of seeing. 
 
 About the middle of last century there lived a very 
 
 famous Swiss professor called Agassiz. He was a 
 
 great student of Natural History, and among the 
 
 subjects that he studied most closely was the life 
 
 history of the fish. He knew all that there was to 
 
 know about the fishes that live in our day and the 
 
 fishes that lived in the days before man was. 
 
 It is told of him that he used to give a fish to one 
 
 222 
 
2 KINGS VI. 17 223 
 
 of his students and tell him to take it away and study 
 it for a whih. When the student came back Agassiz 
 would ask him what he had seen about the fish. The 
 student would say he had seen this and that, and 
 Agassiz would ask, " What else ? " The student would 
 come at last to the end of what he had seen, but 
 Agassiz would send him back to study the creature 
 again. A second time the student would return and 
 Agassiz would ask what he had seen now, and the 
 student would reply he had noticed this and that 
 besides. And again, when he had come to the end of 
 what he had seen, Agassiz would send him back to 
 look a third time; and so on — till the student was 
 astonished to know how much there was to see in an 
 ordinary fish. " Ah ! " Agassiz would say, " it has 
 been there all the time but you didn't look close 
 enough to discover it." 
 
 2. The second kind of eyesight is the eyesight that 
 sees all that is to be seen. It notices and remembers. 
 It sees an object and it immediately stores up a little 
 picture of that object with every detail complete. It 
 is a very valuable kind of eyesight, and the hopeful 
 thing about it is that if you haven't got it naturally, 
 you can train yourself to have it. 
 
 Have any of you read Kipling's book, Kim ? The 
 story tells how Kim, when a boy, was trained to have 
 the eyesight that notices. He was sent up to Simla 
 and there he was put in charge of an extraordinary 
 man, called Lurgan Sahib, who taught him how to see. 
 Kim and a little native lad were set to play what they 
 
224 SEEING THE UNSEEN 
 
 called " the jewel game." Lurgan Sahib would make 
 a collection of small objects, such as precious stones, 
 and he would give both boys a look at them, and then 
 he would ask them to describe the stones from memory. 
 At first the little Hindu boy always beat Kim at the 
 game. But in the end Kim learned to play the game 
 of noticing so magnificently that when he grew older 
 he was able to do most valuable work for the British 
 Government. 
 
 Boys and girls, train yourselves to notice. The 
 world is rich in exquisite details if only we open our 
 eyes to see them. 
 
 3. But the third kind of eyesight is the most 
 important as it is the most precious. It is the eye- 
 sight of our text — the eyesight that sees the unseen. 
 
 The text is a prayer of the prophet Elisha. At this 
 time EHsha's life was in great danger from the king of 
 Syria, The king of Syria, who was Israel's enemy, 
 had disoovered that the most private plane he made 
 to surprise the Israelites were foiled by Elisha. Not 
 that Elisha spied ! But God allowed him to know all 
 the Syrians* plans, and he told them to the king of 
 Israel So the king of Syria sent a special force to 
 capture the prophet, who was then living in Dothan, a 
 city tweire miles north of Samaria. 
 
 During the darkness of one night the Syrians 
 stealthily and noiselessly surrounded the city, which 
 was built on a mound. There they were discovered 
 in the grey dawn of the morning by Elisha's servant, 
 who rushed in terror to his master, crying, " Alas, my 
 
2 KINGS VI. 17 225 
 
 master ! how shall we do ? " He was sure that thek last 
 hour had oomei But the prophet only smiled quietly. 
 " Fear not," said he, " for they that be with us are more 
 than they that be with them." And then he prayed 
 " Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." 
 
 And the next moment the young man was orying 
 out, not in terror but in amazement, for, round about 
 the city, enc^roling it more closely even thesD. the 
 Syrians, was a host of chariots and horses of fire The 
 Syrians were still there, but the young man saw that 
 something greater than the Syrians lay between them 
 and his master. God Himself had sent His legions to 
 protect and shield His prophet. God had not deserted 
 them. He was with them in the danger. 
 
 Now the eyesight that God gave to that young man 
 is the eyesight I want you to have — the eyesight Uiat 
 sees God and God's love in everything. 
 
 When Jean Francis Millet, the great French artist, 
 was a little fellow, he and his father stood on the cliffs 
 one night to watch the sunset. The wonderful crimson 
 of the sky and the golden glory of the sea made 
 Francois cry out with delight. But his father stood 
 still and bared his head. " My son," said he, " it is God." 
 
 Boys and girls, T want you to see in all the happen- 
 ings of your life, the beautiful things and the glad 
 things — ay, and the perplexing things and the sad 
 things — God Himself — God giving, God guiding, God 
 loving. For if we see God with the eyes of faith liere 
 below, we shall be getting ready to see Him as He is 
 by and by, when He takes us to live with Him for ever. 
 
THE KING'S CROWN. 
 
 Tiseii he brought out the kind's son, and pat the crown 
 upon him.— 2 Kings xi. Z2. 
 
 Did you ever notice how many different kinds of 
 crowns are mentioned in the Bible? There are the 
 king's crown, and the priest's crown, and the victor's 
 cro^ • There is the crown of thorns which Jesus wore. 
 And asides these we read of a " crown of glory," a 
 '' orown of righteousness," and a " crown of life." 
 
 Now you know that a crown is not just a mere 
 meaningless ornament like a necklace or a bracelet. 
 It stands for power, or honour, or victory, or consecra- 
 tion. It is the sign or symbol, as we say, of some- 
 thing else. And so I should like to tell you about 
 some of these crowns — what they stand for, and how 
 we too can wear them. ^ 
 
 I think we shall begin with the king's crown, 
 because it is the one we all know best. The king's 
 crown has had rather a curious history. First of all 
 it was just a band or fillet of silk or linen which was 
 bound round the head and fastened behind. Such a 
 fillet was worn as a badge of royalty by the Persian 
 monarchs. The Greeks called it diadema which just 
 means " something bound round " ; and it is from this 
 
 226 
 
2 KINGS XI. 12 227 
 
 Greek word that our English word " diadem " oomes 
 Sometimes these royal fillets were beautifully 
 embroideied or even studded with jewels, but they 
 must have looked very different from the crowns we 
 know. 
 
 From the Persians the custom of wearing this royal 
 badge spread to other nations, and it was most probably 
 with just such a fillet that the little king in our text 
 was crowned. Some people say that this was also tlie 
 form of the diadems of our own early Saxon kings. 
 
 By and by a band of gold took the place of the band 
 of silk or linen. Then by degrees ornaments were 
 added, and additions were made to this plain band, 
 until at last it grew into the crown as we know it^ 
 
 Now perhaps you may think that all this is quite 
 interesting, but it hasn't got very much to do with 
 you or me. We are not born kings, you say, we are 
 just very plain, ordinary, everyday sort of people, and 
 we shall never have the chance of wearing a crown. 
 
 Well, let me tell you a secret. You are not born a 
 king, but you are born to he a king. That is what God 
 meant you to be, and it depends on yourself whether 
 you will be one or not. Shall I tell you the name of 
 the kingdom over which you are called to rule ? It is 
 the kingdom of Self, and that is a very big and difficult 
 kingdom to control 
 
 Some people are quite content to be slaves instead 
 of kings. They let Self rule them instead of ruling 
 Self. They are like the lion in a story I read the 
 other day that wanted to turn things upside down. 
 
228 THE KING'S CROWN 
 
 loag, long ago there stood at the gate of a walled 
 city a beautiful statue. It was carved in marble and 
 it represented a man and a lion. The man was stand- 
 ing with his foot on the lion to show that he had 
 conquered it. But one day, so the story goes, a real 
 live lion came past that way. He stopped to look at 
 the statue and this is what he growled : " Silly sort of 
 idea that ; but it's just like these humans ! Now if / 
 had oeo*ved that statue, I'd have had the man lying 
 down and the lion with his paw on him." And so I 
 daresay he would ! 
 
 But you see we are not meant to let the lion or any 
 oth^ kind of beast get the better of us, you and I ; we 
 are meant to get the better of them. We are not 
 meant to let our angry passions, or our iselfish wishes, 
 or our bad desires conquer us; we are meant to 
 conquCT them. We are not called to be slaves, we are 
 called to be kings and conquerors. 
 
 But there is one thing we must remember, boys and 
 girls. If we want to be kings and queens, real kings 
 and queens, we must have the kingly heart. 
 
 Once the soldiers of Alexander the Great complained 
 to him that one of his generals, Antipater, did not dress 
 grandly enough. They themselves were decked out in 
 the purple of conquerors, but he was plainly and 
 soberly clad. And what do you think Alexander 
 replied ? " Antipater," he said, " is all purple within." 
 Antipftter wore the royal colour, the colour of the 
 conqueror, on his heart; he had the noble, kingly 
 
2 KINGS XL 12 229 
 
 heart, and that counted for far more than outward 
 show. 
 
 And where can we get this kingly heart ? From 
 the King of kings and from Him alone. On the 
 reverse side of gold and silver articles there used to 
 be stamped a likeness of the head of the reigning 
 sovereign. That showed that duty had been paid to 
 him. Boys and girls, if we want to carry the kingly 
 heart, then we must ask the King of kings to stamp 
 His likeness on us. Then, and only then, shall we be 
 fit to wear the royal crown.^ 
 
 ^ The texts of the other sermons in this senes are £xod. 
 xxxix. 30, John xix. 2, 1 Cor. iz. 26. 
 
MONEY-BOXES. 
 
 Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the 
 lid of it. — 2 King's xii. 9. 
 
 Did you know that a money-box was mentioned in the 
 Bible ? — one with a hole in the lid too ! You will find 
 all about it in the twelfth chapter of the Second Book 
 of Kinga If you look at the ninth verse you will see 
 that " Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole 
 in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right 
 side as one eometh into the house of the Lord : and 
 the priests that kept the doo»r put therein all the 
 money that was brought into the house of the Lord." 
 The chest with the hole in the lid was a kind of 
 collection plate. It stood in the Temple, and the 
 people gave the priests their offerings to put into it. 
 When it was full it was carried away to the palace of 
 the king himself, and the high priest and the king's 
 chancellor opened it there, and counted the offerings in 
 the chest, and tied them up in bags. Then they used 
 the money to pay for repairing and beautifying the 
 Temple, which at that time was sadly in need of 
 repair. 
 
 Now, our text makes us think of money-boxes and 
 
 savings-banks, and I want to talk to yon about them 
 
 S80 
 
2 KINGS XII. 9 231 
 
 for a little while this morning. If you come to think 
 of it there are just three things you can do with your 
 money. 
 
 1. The first thing is — spend it. That is the shortest 
 way to dispose of it. You keep it only long enough to 
 see whether it is a penny or a sixpence, and then you 
 fly along to the nearest shop and buy something with 
 it, and you don't see that penny or that sixpence any 
 more. 
 
 2. The second thing is — save it. You put the penny 
 or the sixpence into your savings-bank. At first sight 
 this does not seem at all a nice way to dispose of your 
 money. In fact you grudge horribly hiding it away 
 in a box, and you drop it very slowly into the hole 
 especially if the box is one that needs to be broken 
 before you can get the money out again. Putting the 
 money in there makes it feel so horribly safe. Yes, 
 but then it is safe, and you look forward to the day 
 when you will see it once more. And as the bank 
 grows heavier you begin to be keener on adding to its 
 store, and you grow rather proud of it, and try to count 
 up how much there is inside. It is quite easy to re- 
 member that one half-crown and those three shillings, 
 but the sixpences are rather difficult, and when you 
 come to the pennies you get dreadfully mixed and give 
 it up. 
 
 At last the glorious day arrives when the box is to be 
 opened. Father or mother does it for you ; and as you 
 watch the coins tumble in a heap on the table, and as 
 you pile them up, each after its kind, till the penny 
 
232 MONEY-BOXES 
 
 pile threatens to topple over, you feel it has been 
 worth denying yourself all those little things you might 
 have bought, for now you will be able to buy some- 
 thing of real value. 
 
 If you haven't got a savings-bank already, start one 
 as soon as you can. It is a grand habit to be able to 
 deny yourself to-day for the sake of to-morrow. Of 
 course I don't ask you to drop in every penny and 
 every sixpence. I don't wish you to grow greedy of 
 money or mean in spending it. That would be ten 
 times worse than spending your money foolishly. 
 
 3. But there is a third thing you can do with your 
 money, and it is better than spending it or saving it. 
 You can put it in God's bank. What! Has God a 
 savings-bank ? Certainly He has. And every penny 
 you give away to others goes straight into it. By 
 giving it away you are not losing it, you are just 
 giving it to God to keep. That sounds wonderful, but 
 it is true. It is a splendid thing to have a savings- 
 bank on the dining-room mantelpiece, but it is far 
 more splendid to have a savings-bank in heaven. The 
 money that we give to others from love or pity, we do 
 not see again on earth, but God treasures it ; and one 
 day, when we go to live with Him, He will tell us how 
 much we have in His savings-bank. And won't we 
 be ashamed, and try to hide our faces, if the sum He 
 mentions is very very small ? 
 
 But we must not run away with the idea that God 
 despises small sums. You see, He counts quite 
 differently from us. Suppose you have only a penny, 
 
2 KINGS XII. 9 233 
 
 and you are looking forward to spending it on some- 
 thing you specially want, and suppose you give it away 
 instead of spending it on yourself — you must not think 
 that God will count that penny a sum too email to 
 notice. Not a bit of it ! He will count it as much as 
 if you had had ten shillings and had given every one 
 of the ten away. You see you gave what you could — 
 your all. 
 
 But it is not only money that God wishes you to 
 put in His bank. He wishes you to put in kind 
 thoughts and loving deeds. All these count a& coin 
 in God's money-box. So if you come out of a sweet- 
 shop with a bag of sweets in your pocket and you see 
 two little boys outside gluing their noses against the 
 pane and choosing what they would buy if only they 
 had a penny, don't forget to give them a good half of 
 your bag of sweets. That will be so much in God's 
 bank. 
 
 Or if mother is looking tired out, and you have half 
 an hour between lessons and bedtime, offer to run her 
 errands or help her somehow. That will be dropping 
 a sixpence in God's bank. You see there are hundreds 
 of ways you can invest in it. 
 
 Let me tell you a story to finish. It is a really true 
 story, and it happened not long ago. 
 
 On the outskirts of a certain great city there lived a 
 little boy called Jimmie. His father was dead, but he 
 had a mother and a small brother named Bobbie and a 
 tiny baby sister. They were all very poor, so poor that 
 
234 MONEY-BOXES 
 
 Jimmie had often no shoes to cover his feet, and very 
 little bread to fill his hungry mouth. By and by things 
 grew worse, for his mother became ill, and could not 
 work any longer. Then, just when things were 
 desperate, something happened. An angel came to 
 the house. At least she looked like an angel to 
 Jimmie. She wore a grey cloak with sleeves like 
 floating wings, and she had a bonnet with a long grey 
 veil, and beneath the bonnet was a face — oh ! so sweet. 
 And she smiled at Jimmie and called him " old man." 
 She asked him if he knew the way to such-and-such a 
 street in the city. Jimmie did. Then she told him 
 that she had come to spend the afternoon with his 
 mother, but that she wished to send a message to a 
 certain house in that street. Would Jimmie take it ? 
 Of course Jimmie would. Then she took a look at 
 Jimmie's bare red feet which he was rubbing one on 
 the other to keep them warm, and she drew sixpence 
 out of her purse, and she said. " It's a long road, and 
 you've no shoes, and there is snow on the ground; 
 here's sixpence for you. Take the car!" 
 
 Jimmie sped off hke an arrow, and mounted the car 
 steps, and paid his threepenny fare like a man ; and 
 wasn't he just proud! When he reached the street, 
 he found the house and delivered the message, and 
 then he started out for home. Now something was 
 worrying Jimmie — and it was that neither Bobbie nor 
 Baby was sharing his treat. He wanted them to have 
 a good time too. Just then he passed in front of one 
 of those shops where cakes and biscuits and toys and 
 
2 KINGS XII. 9 235 
 
 sweets are gloriously mixed in tke window. And 
 suddenly Jimmie knew what he should do. Said he 
 to himself, " I'll run all the way home, and may be it 
 won't hurt 80 awful, and then Bobbie can have that 
 penny whistle, and Baby will get that penny ball, and 
 there'll be a penny over to buy a ha'penny cake for 
 each of them." So he marched into the shop and 
 bought the penny whistle, and the penny ball, and the 
 two ha'penny cakes. And the woman actually put 
 the cakes in a bag, and he stowed away the toys in the 
 only one of his pockets that hadn't holes. Then he ran all 
 the road home, and whenever he stopped to take breath 
 he had a peep into the bag and a peep into his pocket 
 to be sure the things were still there. And when he 
 got home, very hot and breathless, and showed the 
 angel in the bonnet what he had done, and hoped she 
 wouldn't be angry, she only smiled all the sweeter and 
 said " Dear laddie, no." As for Bobbie and Baby ! 
 You should have seen them! That's all! 
 
 Now Jimmie invested that day in God's bank. He 
 invested not only three pennies but a great deal of 
 love. And that is what God wants even more than 
 pennies. 
 
 Boys and girls, make up your mind to-day that, 
 however small, however empty your savings-bank on 
 earth may be, your savings-bank in heaven will, 
 please God, be both large and fulL 
 
A "RELIABLE" STORY. 
 
 "They reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they 
 delivered the money ... for they dealt faitiifully." — 2 Kings 
 xii. 15. 
 
 When your house is going to be papered and painted 
 what happens ? Well, ifirst father pays a visit to the 
 painter and asks him to send a man to look at the 
 rooms and measure the walls. Then you get up great 
 heavy books with patterns of wall paper, and you 
 choose the paper you think most suitable. And father 
 tells the painter the paper you have fixed on, and then 
 the painter sends in what is called an " estimate " — that 
 is, a note saying how much he estimates or figures out 
 that the painting and papering wiU cost. If father 
 thinks the estimate reasonable he orders the work to 
 proceed, and the painters with their pots and their 
 brushes and their ladders arrive on the scene. Some 
 time after they have finished their job the master 
 painter sends in his bill, and father compares it with the 
 estimate which he received before the job was begun. 
 If the bill is larger than the estimate, or if there is what 
 father considers an unreasonable chai'ge, he goes to the 
 painter and speaks about it before he pays the bill. 
 
 That is the way people usually do business nowadays, 
 but oocaeionally you hear someone say. " Oh ! I never ask 
 
 236 
 
2 KINGS XII. 15 237 
 
 So-and-so for an estimate. He is such a decent man I 
 know I can trust him to do it as well and economically 
 as it can bo done. He is thoroughly reliable." You 
 feel that that workman must be well worth employing — 
 don't you ? — if people say such nice things about him. 
 
 Well, the men of to-day's text are all of the reliable 
 order. Those who were arranging for the repair of 
 the Temple trusted them so thoroughly that they 
 handed over to them all the money which had been 
 gathered for the Temple repairs. They told these 
 overseers to lay it out to the best advantage, knowing 
 that the men would act honestly and faithfully, and do 
 with the money the utmost that could be done. There 
 would be no scamped work allowed either. There 
 would be no building with rubble and calling it stone, 
 there would be no cheating with the woodwork — no 
 putting in of inferior or unseasoned wood. Everything 
 would be as perfect as it could be made. 
 
 Boys and girls, it is a fine reputation these men bore. 
 And it is a reputation we can all have if we care. The 
 matter lies entirely in our own hands. Nobody but 
 ourselves can make us reliable. It is our honour alone 
 that can command us here. 
 
 And if there be reasons needed why we should be 
 reliable, here are three. 
 
 1. Only what is reliahle is useful. — The bicycle you ride 
 every day must have a stout frame, and good tyres, and a 
 strong brake. There must be nothing shaky about it. For 
 the bicycle that may break down at any minute is of little 
 value. The tools that snap when you use them, the 
 
238 A "RELIABLE" STORY 
 
 needles that bend or break when you ask them to go 
 through stiff material, are worse than useless. They are 
 a downright nuisance. And it is the same with the men 
 and women, the boys and girls, who cannot be relied on. 
 
 A man who sold fruit and vegetables from a cart in the 
 city streets carried always in the back of the cart a queer- 
 looking little mongrel dog. It was no beauty, looked 
 at from a doggy point of view. Its legs were much too 
 long, its head was too broad, its coat was too rough, and 
 its left ear was sadly torn ; but its master would not 
 have parted with it at any price, "Trusty," said he, 
 " has saved me pounds and pounds. Before I got him 
 I used to lose a great deal of money from people helping 
 themselves to my goods whilst I was bargaining with 
 somebody else. I tried a boy to watch the cart, but he 
 was no use, for he ate the apples and plums himself. 
 Then I got Trusty here. Since then I've had no trouble. 
 I cajOL rely on him. He never fails me." 
 
 2. The second reason is that what is reliable always 
 comes out on top. — EeUable people are like cream on 
 milk. They always rise to the top and they are always 
 in great demand. If it is known that you can be 
 thoroughly trusted you are sure to get on in life. 
 There are always more positions of trust than there are 
 trusty people to fill them ; so the trusty man wins every 
 time. If you are setting out with the idea of being 
 somebody in the world, be clever if you like, but first 
 be reliable. Clever people who are not reliable are like 
 rockets. They go up with a great show, but they don't 
 stay Ions? aloft. They are only poor imitations of a 
 
2 KINGS XII. 15 239 
 
 star. If you want to be a star, if you want to shin* 
 up high with a steady radiance, you must be reliable 
 as well as clever. 
 
 3. The third reason is that to he reliable is the only 
 right way. — It is the only way for the boys and girls 
 who are trying to follow Christ. Those who say they 
 will do a certain thing and do not do it, those who 
 make large promises and never fulfil them, are little 
 better than liars. Those who scamp their work, or 
 fritter away their master's time, are really thieves. 
 They are untrue to the name they bear. 
 
 In the beautiful city of Florence there stands a 
 wonderful cathedral with a lofty dome like St. Paul's. 
 The dome has many gorgeous stained-glass windows, 
 but perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is a 
 tiny iron ring in the casement of one of these windows, 
 for by it the uprightness and downrightness of the 
 whole building is tested year by year. On a certain 
 day in June, at a certain hour of that day, the sun 
 shines through that ring, and its rays fall on a brass 
 star let into the marble pavement beneath. So long as 
 the sun falls exactly on that spot people know that the 
 building is as erect and sound as it was the day it was 
 finished. If the rays failed to fall exactly on that spot 
 then they would know that the cathedral was beginning 
 to be off the straight, that it was in danger of toppling 
 or becoming like the leaning tower of Pisa. 
 
 Boys and girls, our reliableness is just our iron ring. 
 It tests the uprightness of our character. It proves 
 the truth of our love for Christ. 
 
GOD'S GIFTS AND OURS. 
 
 All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given 
 thee.— I Chron. xxix. 14. 
 
 This is a verse of a hymn that was sung at a gift service 
 about a thousand years before Jesus came to earth. 
 
 King David had gathered together all the princes 
 and rulers and great men of the kingdom to ask them 
 for offerings to build a House for God. He himself had 
 given very generously, and when he asked for gifts 
 from the people they brought such splendid presents 
 of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and precious 
 stones that the king's heart was overflowiog with 
 thankfulness. Now you know that when David was 
 very glad, or very sorry, or very sad, he made a song 
 about it. And so, on this occasion, he sang a hymn of 
 thanksgiving to God for all His good gifts. And while 
 he was singing he felt that he couldn't give God any- 
 thing that God hadn't given him already. Eiches, and 
 honour, and strength, and the power to give — all came 
 from Gx)d, and he could only give Him back His own. 
 
 1. Now you have brought God presents to-day, 
 presents that are going to make some of His less 
 fortunate children happy. And those are presents that 
 God loves very much, the presents that will give joy to 
 somebody who is sick, or poor, or lonely, or sad. But 
 
 240 
 
1 CHRONICLES XXIX. 14 241 
 
 I want you to remember that you wouldn't have had 
 these presents to give, that you wouldn't have had any- 
 thing at all, if God hadn't first given it to you, 
 
 God is constantly giving us presents. He gives us 
 life, He gives us health, He gives us our home. He 
 gives us parents, and brothers, and sisters, and friends. 
 He has given us this beautiful world to live in, and the 
 beautiful things in it. He gives us food to eat, and 
 sleep to refresh us. He gives us books to make us 
 wise, and toys to make us glad. He gives us good 
 desires, and kind thoughts, and noble ambitions. Best 
 of all He has given His own Son to live for us and to 
 die for us. So we cannot give God anything that He 
 hasn't given us already. 
 
 2. But don't run away with the idea that God thinks 
 any the less of our gifts because we give Him back His 
 own. 1 wonder how many of you get a Saturday 
 penny. Well, suppose you didn't spend that penny on 
 sweets, and suppose you added a few more Saturday 
 pennies to it and bought your father a present, do you 
 think he would value the present less because be had 
 given you the pennies first of all ? You know that that is 
 absurd. You know that he would treasure that present 
 far above many grander ones, because he would think 
 of the love and the self-denial that it stood for. 
 
 God is far more loving, far more understanding than 
 any earthly father, and He loves to have our little gifts. 
 
 Some years ago a minister was getting married and 
 the members of his congregation subscribed a big 
 sum of money to give him a handsome present. The 
 
242 GOD^S GIFTS AND OURS 
 
 daj before he went away to be married a little child 
 in the congregation came to him and shyly pressed a 
 sticky penny into his hand with the words, "That's 
 your present from me. It's my two Saturdays' money ! " 
 The minister thought more of that penny than of all 
 his grand gifts. He wouldn't have parted with it for 
 a golden sovereign. And I think God feels like that 
 abont our gifts. 
 
 Perhaps it cost you something to bring your present. 
 You had to renounce some little pleasure to buy it, or 
 you gave one of your own treasures. Well, God saw 
 all that, i*nd He loves the gift all the more for it. 
 
 Or perhaps you spent long hours making something. 
 Grod saw all the love that went into your bit of work. 
 He knew how often you pricked your finger, how often 
 you gave up playing to toil at it. He saw the tear you 
 bravely brushed away when everything went wrong. 
 Yes, He saw it all, for God is never too busy to notice 
 the things we call small. 
 
 3. God makes us free to do as we will with His gifts, 
 and some people keep all God's gifts to themselves. 
 Don't be one of these shabby people. You know if 
 somebody has been very kind to you, you feel you 
 would like to do something for them, and that is a right 
 feeling. Well God has done much more for us than 
 the kindest and most loving of friends. Did you ever 
 think about what you could do for Him ? 
 
 You have brought presents to-day and that is good, 
 but there are other gifts God has given you. How are 
 you using them ? 
 
1 CHRONICLES XXIX. 14 243 
 
 Sometimes you hear people talking about their 
 friends, and they say, " So-and-so has a gift for paint- 
 ing," or " a gift for music," or " a gift for writing." Now 
 if you have a gift of that kind it is a great responsibility* 
 because it is a power to make the world either better or 
 worse, and whether you make the world better or 
 worse depends on the way you use your gift. Well, if 
 any one of you has a gift of that kind, remember it is a 
 glorious opportunity, and resolve to use your gift in the 
 service of all that is pure, and noble, and kind. 
 
 But most of us are just very plain, very ordinary, veiy 
 commonplace people, and we are never likely to make a 
 stir in the world. And yet I think we all have a gift of 
 some kind. Perhaps it is a gift for plodding work, perhaps 
 it is a gift for running errands, perhaps it is a gift for 
 dusting a room or cooking a dinner, perhaps it is a gift 
 for being kind, perhaps it is just a gift for cheering some- 
 body with our smile. I don't know what your special 
 gift is, but I know you have it. And I know this too — 
 if you are using that gift to help somebody else, then you 
 are serving God, you are giving Grod back His own. 
 
 And there is one gift we all have, and God wants 
 it above all other gifts. It is the gift of our heart. 
 Perhaps you think it isn't much worth, but God sets 
 tremendous value on it. He prizes it above all other 
 gifts we can bring. Will you give God back this gift ? 
 It is His by right and He gave His own Son to win it. 
 Will you give Him back this gift, or will you keep il 
 to yourself ? 
 
THE MAN WHOM NOBODY 
 MISSED. 
 
 He departed without being desired.— 2 Ckron. xxi. 20. 
 
 I THINK this is the very saddest epitaph that was ever 
 written about any man. If you walk through a 
 cemetery you will see many sad things written on 
 the tombstones. You will see inscriptions that tell 
 you that many many people have lost relatives who 
 were dearly loved; but I don't think you will ever 
 find anything quite so sad as this. Jehoram " departed 
 without being desired." Nobody missed him, nobody 
 was sorry when he died. 
 
 Jehoram was a bad, cruel king. He began his reign 
 by slaying all his brothers. He continued it by leading 
 the people into wicked idolatrous ways. And when 
 he died, he was so little thought of that the people 
 did not even honour him by burying him in the royal 
 tomb. They were glad to get rid of him. "He de- 
 parted without being desired." 
 
 Now I wonder if you ever depart without being desired. 
 I have known boys and girls who made such a stir in a 
 house that older people were glad when they went out. 
 They lost their belongings, they left their toys all over 
 the place, they stamped with their feet, they shouted 
 
 244 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXI. 20 245 
 
 they banged things about; and when they went out 
 Granny heaved a big sigh which said as plainly as sighs 
 can say, ** Thank goodness those children have gone ! " 
 
 And yet if they had gone away altogether, Granny 
 would have missed them sadly. She would have 
 thought the world a very dull place indeed without 
 her boy or girL 
 
 You see it isn't a little rowdiness that really makes 
 people unwelcome. But there are some things that 
 keep people from being missed. Shall I tell you the 
 names of some of them? 
 
 1. Selfishness is one. The really selfish person is 
 seldom missed, the person who is always thinking 
 about his own wants and his own comforts, and who 
 must have these attended to no matter how uncom- 
 fortable other people are made. If you really wish 
 people to miss you the best way is to forget about 
 yourself and think about them. I have met people in 
 this world who weren't beautiful, or clever, or rich, and 
 yet they were very much loved because they were always 
 thinking how happy they could make other people. 
 
 2. JEvil-speaking is another thing that keeps people 
 from " being desired." Have you noticed that, although 
 many people are ready to listen to the tales of a 
 slanderer, very few want to make a friend of him ? 
 When he leaves the room nobody really misses him, 
 and if anyone thinks about him at all, it is only to 
 wonder what nasty thing he is saying about them on 
 the other side of the door. 
 
 If you want to be really loved try to find out the 
 
246 THE MAN WHOM NOBODY MISSED 
 
 best in others and talk about that. The wonderful thing 
 is that people become what you think them. William 
 Wilberforce used to say that he had spent all his life 
 in trying to find good in his fellow-men, and he had 
 been disappointed but twice. Do you know what his 
 secret was ? He always looked for the best and so he 
 found it. 
 
 3. Yet another thing prevents people from being 
 missed, and that thing is cruelty. Jehoram was a 
 cruel, bloodthirsty king, and people were glad when 
 his reign came to an end. 
 
 Once upon a time the great French writer Victor 
 Hugo was telling a story to his grandchildren. The 
 story was about a bad boy who treated his dog so 
 cruelly that the poor doggie died. When the tale was 
 ended there was silence in the room for a minute and 
 then one small grandson asked, " And what happened 
 to the poor dog's wicked master?" "He remained 
 wicked," was the answer, " and he was terribly punished 
 for his cruelty, for nobody loved him." 
 
 Yes, that is the most terrible punishment that could 
 befall anyone — not to be loved. And remember that 
 cruelty begins with little things. It begins with 
 tormenting cats, and thrashing horses and dogs, and 
 pulling the legs off flies. It begins with bullying 
 younger boys, with saying spiteful things about other 
 girls, with laughing at those who are weak, or foolish, 
 or awkward. It begins with little things, but if you 
 let it grow it will turn you into a monster whom 
 everyone will detest. 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXI. 20 247 
 
 Away on a hillside in Eastern Kentucky there is a 
 lonely grave and on the grave there is a roughly hewn 
 stone. If you looked at the inscription on the stone, 
 this is what you would read, "Jane Laler, ded Agus 
 1879. She wuz alius kind to evrybuddie." And in 
 between the lines of that humble, ill-spelt inscription 
 you could read these words — "She departed being 
 greatly desired. A woman whom everybody missed." 
 
THE SECRET OF STRENGTH. 
 
 So Jotham became mig^hty, because he prepared his ways 
 before the Lord his God. — 2 Chron. xxvii. 6 (AV). 
 
 The Books of Kings and Chronicles are bristling with 
 the names of kings. In fact, when we have to get 
 them up for a Sunday school examination, we some- 
 times wish that there weren't so many of them and that 
 they weren't so muddly. There seem to be just about 
 two kinds of them — the ones that were out-and-out 
 bad, and the ones who began well and ended badly 
 But there is a third class, a very small one, of the 
 ones who began well, and went on well, and ended 
 well, and Jotham is one of them. 
 
 We don't know very much about him — his history 
 is summed up in a few verses — but what we do know 
 makes us wish to know more. We are told that he 
 was the son of King Uzziah, that he was twenty-five 
 years old when he began to reign, and that he reigned 
 sixteen years over Judah. We are told also that he 
 was a great builder and that he fought successfully 
 against the Ammonites. And then last of all we are let 
 into the secret of his success — " Jotham became mighty, 
 because he prepared his ways before the Lord." 
 
 Now of course you all know that the prepared person 
 
 248 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXVII. 6 249 
 
 is the strong person. Did you ever wonder why it is 
 that bulbous plants like the snowdrop and the crocus 
 and the daffodil flower so early, and how it is that 
 they are able to grow flowers before they grow leaves ? 
 Most plants have to grow leaves before they grow 
 flowers because it is through the leaves that they take 
 in the food that makes them able to produce flowers. 
 But how are the bulbous plants able to grow flowers 
 first ? It is because they are prepared. Months and 
 months ago, away back in the summertime, they took 
 in nourishment through their leaves and stored it away 
 in their bulbs under the ground, and so when the first 
 spring days came they were ready to burst into flower. 
 
 Now you know that most flowers are dependent on 
 the bees and the butterflies to carry the pollen dust 
 from one blossom to another, and these bulbous plants 
 stand the best chance of being visited by the bees 
 because they are first awake. They are already 
 blossoming while many of the other little flowers are 
 just beginning to stir under the ground. 
 
 And it is the same with us as it is with the flowers. 
 The boys and girls who are prepared have the best 
 chance. The boy who has prepared for his examination 
 has a big pull over the one who has scarcely opened a 
 book. The boy who has practised for the school sports 
 is more likely to win than the one who has taken 
 things easy and not bothered to get ready. You will 
 do your best work and play your best play if you are 
 prepared. 
 
 Now I think most boys and girls are quite ready to 
 
250 THE SECRET OF STHENGTH 
 
 take some trouble about those things. If they are 
 going in for an examination they have a good grind at 
 their lessons. If they are going to run in a race, or 
 play in a cricket or hockey match, they practise for 
 weeks beforehand. But I want to ask you a questioD. 
 Are you prepared for life ? You have taken a lot of 
 trouble about these smaller things. Are you taking 
 any trouble about the biggest thing of all ? You are 
 setting out in life and it will not be just a joke or 
 a picnic. It will be a pretty big battle sometimes. 
 How are you equipped for it? The only sure pre- 
 paration is to be prepared before God, to take God as 
 your Friend and Guide as Jotham did, to give Him 
 control of your heart and of your life. 
 
 People have tried setting out in Hfe without God. 
 It can be done ; but do you know what has happened ? 
 Some of them have made shipwreck ; some have become 
 hard and embittered; and the best have never been 
 at their best, because you can never be at your best 
 without God. 
 
 "Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his 
 ways before the Lord his God." We are told of two 
 ways in which Jotham became mighty. First he was 
 a great builder, and second he was a great conqueror. 
 
 Jotham was a great builder. He built a gate for the 
 Temple and a wall on the Temple hill. He built cities 
 in the mountains, and castles and towers in the forests, 
 And if we prepare our ways before the Lord we shall 
 be great builders too. We shall build up a beautiful 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXVII. 6 251 
 
 strong character and a strong wall round it to keep 
 out the enemy. 
 
 Jotham was a great conqueror. He overcame the 
 foes of Judah. And we, too, if we prepare our ways 
 before the Lord shall be great conquerors. We shall 
 conquer the evil that is in ourselves, and we shall help 
 to conquer the eml that is in the world 
 
O.H.M.S. 
 
 The posts went with the letters.— 2 Chroo. xxx. 6. 
 
 And so our good old friend the post is to be found 
 in the Bible! Yes, but I'm afraid you might not 
 recognize him if you met him, for the posts mentioned 
 here didn't wear a navy-blue uniform with red pipings, 
 as our posts do, and they didn't carry letters from 
 house to house. They were couriers or runners chosen 
 from the king's body-guard, and they were employed 
 to carry the king's messages all over the land. 
 
 I wonder how many of you would like to be 
 postmen? How many would like to be king's 
 messengers carrying the king's letters? You can all 
 be that if you wish, and to a much greater King than 
 King George, to a much greater than King Hezekiah, 
 who sent out those posts in our text. Sometimes it is 
 difficult for a boy or a girl to get into King George's 
 postal service, because the vacancies are few, and only 
 a certain number of applicants are chosen. But this 
 King has always plenty of room in His service, and 
 anyone can get in who likes to apply. 
 
 Now there are three things I want to aay about 
 postmen in the service of the Heavenly King. 
 
 1. They must be prompt — ready to obey the King's 
 
 25S 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXX, 6 253 
 
 commands at a moment's notice and to do whatever 
 He asks them to do. 
 
 When Professor Henry Drummond was a very- 
 small boy at Stirling High School the boys decorated 
 and illuminated the school in honour of the marriage 
 of the late King Edward who was then Prince of 
 Wales. They cut out Prince of Wales feathers and 
 suitable mottoes in coloured paper — blue, and pink, 
 and red, and yellow- — and they stuck them on the 
 windows. When night came on they put lighted 
 candles in the windows so that when people passed 
 outside they saw Prince of Wales feathers shining in 
 every window. 
 
 Henry was too small to help, but he was eagerly 
 watching the cutting out and pasting when a big boy 
 came to him and asked him to run down town and 
 buy twopence worth of pink paper. Now Drummond 
 thought it was much more fun watching the others 
 than going on a dull errand, so he refused. "Why 
 won't you go ? " asked the big boy. " Because I don't 
 want to." "But do you know it is 'O.H.M.S. '?" 
 asked the other. " You don't really mean it ! " said 
 Henry, and off he went like a shot. And as he ran 
 down the street he felt, as he afterwards said, about 
 "ten feet high." 
 
 You see it makes all the difference in the world 
 when you are "O.H.M.S." When the King gives a 
 command you obey at once without questioning. And 
 the errands that are bothersome and the duties that 
 are disagreeable seem quite different. If they are 
 
254 O.H.M.S. 
 
 difficult or disagreeable it is all the more honour to 
 us that the King has asked us to do them. 
 
 In ancient Persia the posts were mounted on swift 
 steeds. It was said of these messengers that nothing 
 mortal travelled so fast and that they outstripped the 
 flight of birds. And the messengers of the Great King 
 must be like these ancient Persians — swift to do the 
 King's bidding, ready to go whenever and wherever 
 the King calls them. 
 
 2. The King's postmen must be faithful. King 
 Hezekiah's postmen carried his messages written 
 on parchment, but the Great King writes His message 
 on boys, and girls, and men, and women. His 
 postmen carry the message on themselves. They are 
 the letters as well as the postmen, and by Uieir life 
 and conduct they show the mind and heart of the 
 King. 
 
 Now there are a great many people going about the 
 world who call themselves the King's messengers, and 
 when other people see them they say, "Well, if the 
 King is at all like them we don't want to be His 
 followers!" They are unfaithful postmen and bring 
 disgrace on the King's name. 
 
 In the life of Bishop Bompas, whose work lay in the 
 district of the Mackenzie Eiver away in the cold 
 North-West of Canada, there is a funny story of how 
 some letters got mixed up. 
 
 The mails arrived only twice a year and their 
 arrival was always a great event in the life of the 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXX. 6 255 
 
 Jort In the wintertime they were brought from a long 
 distanoe by Indians with dog-sledges. 
 
 On one occasion the Indian in charge broke through 
 the ice, and man, dogs, and letters all got a thorough 
 soaking. The Indian made for the shore and lit a 
 fire to dry his clothes. Then he looked ruefully 
 at the wet letters. What was to be done with them ? 
 Suddenly a brilliant idea oociHred to him. He took 
 them out of their envelopes and stacked them up 
 round the fire to dry. When they were all nicely 
 toasted he proceeded to replace tiieru. Then he dis- 
 covered to his dismay that he did not know which 
 letter belonged to which envelope. As he was unable 
 to read he could get no clue, ao he just popped any 
 letter into any envelope and jMroceeded on his way. 
 
 By and by he arrived at the fort and delivered up 
 the mail ; and then the fun began. The Bishop opened 
 sedate-looking envelopes addressed to himself and 
 found they contained private documents or love-letters 
 intended for the oflSoers at the fort. And the officers 
 on opening some of their letters discovered solemn 
 epstles intended for the Bishop^ At last the Indian 
 confessed what had happened, matters were cleared up, 
 and evOTybody had a good laugh. 
 
 Now the unfaithful messengers are like letters that 
 have been put into the wrong envelope. When the 
 people to whom they are sent look inside they say, 
 " Why, this isn't the writing of the King at all. It is 
 the writing of selfishness, or pride, or greed. This 
 boy is wearing the King's uniform, the envelope and 
 
256 O.H.M.S. 
 
 the address seem all right, but inside he is a sad dis- 
 appointment and not at all what we expected." 
 
 Don't get into the wrong envelope, boys and girls. 
 Don't pretend to belong to the King and be really 
 serving yourself. Kemember that when you wear the 
 King's uniform you must carry His messages faithfully. 
 
 3. Lastly, if we want to be swift messengers, if we 
 want to be faithful messengers, we must kee'p in touch 
 with the King. We cannot carry His messages unless 
 we are in communication with Him. But He has 
 made a path for us all whereby we may reach Him in 
 a moment, and that path is called the Way of Prayer. 
 If we go to Him frequently by that path we need 
 never fear to prove unfaithful, for He will show us 
 His mind and heart, He will fill us with His spirit, 
 He will guide us in all our ways. 
 
TWO SAINTS OF GOD. 
 
 Josiah was eig^ht years old when he began to reig^. ... In 
 the eigfhth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began 
 to seek after the God of David his father. — 2 Chron. xxxiy. i, 3. 
 
 To-day I want to tell you about two kings. One of 
 them lived about six hundred years before Christ, the 
 other about twelve hundred years after. One of them 
 ruled a little Eastern kingdom, the other a great 
 European country. But although they were separated 
 by eighteen hundred years, although one was a Hebrew 
 and the other a Frenchman, they had many points in 
 common. 
 
 Both had good wise mothers. Both began to reign 
 when they were children. Both gave themselves early 
 to God's service. Both lived upright and true lives. 
 Both ruled wisely and well. 
 
 Now of course you want to know who these kings 
 were. So I shall tell you. 
 
 The first one was called Josiah. You may read all 
 about him in the twenty-second and twenty-third 
 chapters of 2 Kings and the thirty-fourth and thirty- 
 fifth of 2 Chronicles. He was king of Judah for thirty- 
 one years and he began to reign when he was only 
 eight years of age. Just think of being a king at 
 
258 TWO SAINTS OF GOD 
 
 eight years ! Mustn't it have beea a dreadful responsi-* 
 bility ? 
 
 Now Josiah had a bad father. He forsook the God 
 of Israel and worshipped the idols of the heathen. He 
 was so bad that at last his own servants rose up and 
 slew him. But if the little king had a bad father 
 he had one tremendous advantage — he had a good 
 mother. How do we know that? Well, there are 
 two reasons. 
 
 One is that she was called Jedidah. And Jedidah just 
 means " beloved of the Lord." It was the name that 
 the prophet Nathan gave to Solomon when he was a 
 tiny baby. Now in those days a name meant much 
 more than it does to-day. It was not given without 
 reason. And so when we learn that Josiah's mother 
 was called " the beloved of the Lord " we may be 
 pretty sure that she was a very good woman indeed. 
 
 And the other reason is that Jedidah had such a 
 good son. Josiah might have been a bad boy. His 
 father was a bad man, and the chances were pretty 
 equal that he should turn out badly too. But he 
 didn't : he did the very opposite ; and I believe it was 
 largely owing to the love, and the care, and the 
 training, and the influence of his mother. For, boys 
 and girls, more than any other person in the world, 
 your mother has the maldng or the marring of you, 
 and if you have a good mother, then go down on your 
 knees and thank God with all your heart for her. 
 
 But we must return to Josiah. Josiah was eight 
 years old when he began to reign, and the next thing 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXXIV. 1, 3 259 
 
 we are told about him is that in the eighth year of 
 his reiga, while he was still young, when he was about 
 fifteen or sixteen, he began to aeek after the God of 
 David. The seed his mother had been sowing quietly 
 all these years had begun to bear fruit, and of his own 
 accord he sought after God. 
 
 But Josiah did not stop short at seeking after God. 
 He felt that God had something for him to do. His 
 grandfather had built altars to heathen gods and made 
 carved images, and hia father and all the people had 
 worshipped them and forsaken the true God. Josiah 
 set himself to destroy everything that belonged to this 
 heathen worship. And that was a very brave and 
 daring thing to do. He broke down the altars, crushed 
 the images to powder, and overthrew the temples. 
 But he did more than destroy, he built up too. The 
 Temple of God had fallen into a sad state of neglect 
 and he gave orders that it should be repaired. 
 
 Now whilst the workmen weie busy with their 
 repaii-s a wonderful discovery was made. In some 
 corner or cupboard where it had long lain, covered 
 with dust and cobwebs, Hilkiah, the high priest, found 
 a book containing the laws of God. It was the book 
 that we know as Deuteronomy. Hilkiah gave it to 
 Shaphan the scribe, and Shaphan carried it to the 
 king. 
 
 And when the king read the book he was exceed- 
 ingly sad. For he saw how it was foretold in that 
 book that if the Isi'aelites forsook the true God for 
 the gods of the heathen and followed after wrong 
 
260 TWO SAINTS OF GOD 
 
 paths, then their enemies would come and carry them 
 away captive into a strange land. And he was 
 ashamed and sorry too that the nation had done so 
 many wrong things and forgotten God. 
 
 So he gathered the people together into the house 
 of God and he read aloud to them from the book that 
 had been found. Then he took a solemn vow that he 
 would keep the commandments of God with all his 
 heart and with all his soul. And he made the people 
 promise that they would keep them too. 
 
 Josiah died in battle fighting against the king of 
 Egypt and all Judah made a great mourning for him. 
 For he was the best king that ever reigned in Judah 
 and his people loved him dearly. 
 
 The other king I want to tell you about is Louis ix. 
 of France. 
 
 Louis was born at Poissy on St. Mark's Day in the 
 year 1214 — ^just a hundred years before the battle of 
 Bannockburn. He was baptized in the church at 
 Poissy and there the cross was traced on his brow. In 
 after years he spoke of that church as the place where 
 he had received his greatest honour. When he said 
 that, his friends thought he must be making a mistake, 
 and that he meant the great cathedral at Eheims 
 where the crown was placed on his head. But Louis 
 considered that his greatest honour was, not the crown, 
 but the cross that was laid on his brow at Poissy. 
 
 The little prince had a bright sunny nature and he 
 was beloved by everyone, friends and servants alike. 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXXIV. 1, 3 261 
 
 From his childhood he was pitiful and tender to the 
 poor and the sick, and he was always ready to do a 
 kindness to anyone. 
 
 Louis was only twelve years of age when his father 
 died, and as his elder brother had died previously he 
 was now king of France. Until he was twenty-one his 
 mother acted as regent and she ruled wisely and well. 
 For Queen Blanche was a splendid woman. A writer 
 of her day said that she had the courage of a man in 
 the heart of a woman. 
 
 But besides governing well the queen brought up 
 her son wisely. She never forgot that he was called 
 to rule over a great kingdom and it was her aim that 
 he should become worthy of his kingship. He was 
 trained in all the arts and the learning that go towards 
 the making of a good king. No spoiling was allowed 
 in the royal palace and the rod was not spared. But 
 above all the queen taught her son to believe in God 
 and to love and fear Him in his youth. In after years 
 King Louis remembered how his mother had once said 
 that she would rather see him dead than guilty of a 
 single mortal sin. 
 
 And Louis proved worthy of the training. He grew 
 up brave and chivalrous, wise and good. He was a 
 lover of peace and justice, a defender of the oppressed, 
 a succourer of all that were poor and in distress. 
 
 It would take long to tell of all Louis' kind and 
 good deeds. He built hospitals for the sick in several 
 towns, and at Paris he founded an asylum for the 
 blind which still exists. Every day one hundred and 
 
262 TWO SAINTS OF GOD 
 
 twenty poor people were fed in the palace and often 
 the king served them with his own hands. He gave 
 away much money to the needy. When his counsellors 
 objected he replied that he would rather spend his 
 surplus money in that way than in luxury and vain- 
 glory. In those days leprosy was a common disease in 
 France. It had been brought back by the Crusaders 
 from the Holy Land Now the lepers were kept apart 
 in isolated houses, but Louis was not afraid to approach 
 them, and with his own hands he fed them and attended 
 to them. 
 
 If you want to learn of Louis' valour you must read 
 of the brave deeds he did in Egypt during the Seventh 
 Crusade. The Crusade was a failure, but Louis dis- 
 tinguished himself by his courage and his considera- 
 tion for others. 
 
 Louis died in Tunis in 1270 on his way to the 
 Eighth Crusade. When he was dying he sent for his 
 eldest son and gave him wise counsels about the 
 governing of the people. He told him always to be 
 tender and compassionate to the poor, not to tax the 
 people unduly, to deal justly and rightly with rich and 
 poor alike, and to see that the magistrates and judges 
 governed well Above all, he counselled him to make 
 himself beloved of his people. 
 
 So died Louis the Good, afterwards called Saint 
 Louis. And all the country mourned him, for all loved 
 him from the richest noble to the humblest serf. 
 
 Why have I told you these stories ? It is because I 
 
2 CHRONICLES XXXIV. 1, 3 263 
 
 want you to know how good and noble a man may 
 become, to realize that it is never too early to begin to 
 serve God. King Josiah began at sixteen, and 1 think 
 King Louis began at twelve, when he received his 
 knighthood on the day before he was crowned. All 
 alone and all night he watched his armour in the 
 Cathedral at Kheims and he lifted his heart in prayer 
 that God would accept his service and make him a 
 worthy knight. 
 
 And, boys and girls, you can never begin better than 
 by serving G^d in your youth. Many of the great 
 saints of the world began to serve Him early. Do you 
 know that you have a glorious privilege — the privilege 
 of giving your fresh young lives, all unspoiled, to God ? 
 Grown-up people can't do that. Many of them can 
 give only a few poor tattered remnants, and God is 
 willing to accept even that. But you have the joy and 
 privilege of giving all, and that gift is a sacrifice very 
 precious in the sight of the King of kings. 
 
YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, 
 TO-MORROW. 
 
 The matter of the day in his day. — Ezra iii. 4 (AVm). 
 
 The text is taken from an account of the keeping of 
 the Feast of Tabernacles after the Jews had returned 
 from Babylon. 
 
 The Feast of Tabernacles, which was held in the 
 month of October, was one of the great Jewish festivals. 
 It was their harvest thanksgiving, and celebrated the 
 ingathering of the year's corn and wine and oil. It 
 was a time of great joy, and to express their joy the 
 Jews gave presents to each other, much as we do at 
 Christmas. 
 
 The feast lasted for eight days and on each day 
 sacrifices were offered up — sacrifices of rams and lambs 
 and bullocks. Now there was a curious thing about 
 these sacrifices. They varied each day. On the first 
 day thirteen bullocks were offered, on the second twelve, 
 on the third eleven, and so on. Each day a bullock 
 fewer was offered until on the seventh day seven were 
 sacrificed. On the eighth there was a change. One 
 bullock only was offered up, along with one ram, seven 
 lambs and a goat. 
 
 Now this little bit of a verse which we have chosen 
 
EZRA III. 4 265 
 
 to-day refers to these sacrifices. Each day differed as 
 you have seen, and these old priests kept to the laws 
 and rules that had been laid down. They didn't offer 
 up Monday's sacrifice on Tuesday, or Wednesday's on 
 Thursday. They offered their burnt offerings as the 
 duty of each day required, or, as the margin puts it, 
 ** the matter of the day in his day." 
 
 I think it would be a good thing if we chose these 
 words as one of our mottoes. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington was once asked by someone 
 how he was able to write his remarkable dispatches in 
 the midst of all the pressure of war. Do you know 
 what he replied ? — " My rule has always been to do 
 the business of the day in the day." If we would 
 attend to the matter of each day in its day, some of us 
 would be much happier and more comfortable people. 
 If we could just stick to the work of each day in its 
 day and put our whole mind into that, we should avoid 
 a great deal of worry and the loss of much energy. 
 
 Now there are three things which it is good to 
 remember. 
 
 1. DonH bother about yesterday to-day. — Nobody wants 
 you to, nobody asks you to. If you have made mistakes, 
 well, it just can't be helped. I daresay you are sorry 
 about it. But the best way to be sorry is to try with 
 all your might to do better to-day. 
 
 2. Don't bother about to-morrow to-day. — If you look 
 after to-day, to-morrow wiU look after itself. So don't 
 keep worrying about all the dreadful things that are 
 
266 YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, TO-MORROW 
 
 going to happen — about the tooth that is going to be 
 pulled, and the examination that is going to be held. 
 And don't keep dreaming so much about the wonderful 
 things you are going to do some day that you let slip 
 the golden opportunities of to-day. The boys and girls 
 who do nothing but dream about what they will do 
 some day often grow up into the men and women who 
 do nothing but regret what they might do if they had 
 their chances over again. 
 
 He used to dream of things he'd do 
 When grown to be a man, ' 
 
 Beguilmg boyhood's years away 
 With many an idle plan. 
 
 And now, when grown to be a maa* 
 
 He knows no greater joy 
 Than dreaming of the things he'd do 
 
 If he were still a boy.^ 
 
 3. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to- 
 day. — There are lots of people who are never ready 
 to-morrow because they wasted time and opportunity 
 to-day. There are plenty of people who lose their 
 chances to-morrow because they didn't do their duty 
 to-day. 
 
 If you ever visit the north-east of Scotland you must 
 go to see the fine old Castle of Dunnottar, which stands 
 on a cliff two miles south of Stonehaven, the county 
 town of Kincardineshire. Dunnottar Castle formerly 
 bdlonged to the Keiths who were Earls-Marischal of 
 ^ Thomas Nunan, in A Garland of Verse, 81. 
 
EZRA III. 4 267 
 
 Scotland and had charge of the Scottish regalia. There 
 are many thrilling stories connected with the history 
 of that old keep, but it is not of those I want to tell 
 you to-day. 
 
 About a mile inland from the castle lies the old 
 churchyard of Dunnottar where the Earls-Marischal 
 were formerly buried. In the days of Sir Walter Scott 
 the family vault in the burial ground was fast falling 
 into decay. At that time the castle and its domains 
 belonged to one Keith of Kavelstone, who was a relative 
 of Scott. 
 
 Now Mr. Keith conceived that it was his duty to 
 repair the vault and he accordingly took estimates for 
 that purpose. It was reported that £10 would be 
 required to put the building in order. Mr. Keith 
 offered £5 and his offer was refused. Two years later 
 he regretted his decision and offered the full sum. But 
 meantime wind and rain had been doing their work 
 and the answer came back that £20 would now scarcely 
 suffice. The result was that, as Sir Walter Scott says, 
 Mr. Keith " hummed and ha'd " for three more years 
 and then offered £20. The breaches had widened and 
 the reply was that now £50 would be required. One 
 other year Mr. Keith delayed, and then sent a cheque 
 for £50. It was returned by post immediately with 
 the information that the Earl-Marischal's aisle had 
 fallen the preceding week ! 
 
 Boys and girls, that story speaks for itself, but 
 remember that there are golden opportunities passing 
 by you every day — opportunities not only of growing 
 
268 YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, TO-MORROW 
 
 wiser and better, but of doing little kindnesses to those 
 around you. 
 
 One other story I want to tell you. Once an Indian 
 native told a missionary that he believed in Jesus and 
 meant to give Him his love some day. A native helper 
 who was standing by said to him, " If you and I were 
 walking through a jungle and came face to face with a 
 tiger, and I put myself in front of you and cried, ' Run, 
 brother, for your life,' would you love me ? " " Yes, 
 surely." " When ? some day ? " The native saw the 
 point. He said, " I will give myself to Him now and 
 you shall baptize me to-morrow." 
 
 That is all, boys and girls. I'm not going to preach 
 a sermon, but I want you to preach it to yourselves. 
 
ABSOLUTELY IT. 
 
 Let it be done exactly. — Ezra vii. 23. 
 
 The other day I watched a girl sewing. Eound her 
 neck she had hung an inch- tape, and every now and 
 then she stopped sewing, took her inch-tape, and 
 measured a fold in her cloth. Then she ran her 
 needle and thread along the fold. She was making 
 tucks, you see, and to make tucks that will look 
 nice when you wear them you have to be most 
 particular. If you haven't got exactly the same 
 distance between each tuck, or if you haven't got 
 exactly the same depth of tuck, the consequences will 
 be rather peculiar. The tucks will look Uke the waves 
 of the sea. One will be dipping down to meet another, 
 and a third will be rising up to touch its neighbour. 
 The set of tucks and the whole garment will be 
 spoiled if the measurements are not exact. 
 
 Inch-tapes are only for girls, the boys will say. 
 But, boys, what about a foot-rule ? That's just a 
 masculine inch-tape. You use it, and you know that 
 it would be almost impossible for you to do any 
 carpentry, or handy jobs that require measurement, 
 without the aid of a foot-rule. If you haven't one of 
 your own you know how you envy the workman who 
 
 260 
 
270 ABSOLUTELY IT 
 
 comes to the house and whips out a foot-rule from 
 that capacious back-pocket of his. It positively makes 
 your fingers itch to see him open out that rule and 
 snap it together again in a professional style. 
 
 Inch-tapes and foot-rules, plumb-lines and spirit- 
 levels — they are all invaluable, for they help us to 
 turn out correct and exact work. Guess-work may be 
 clever, but it is risky and dishonest. 
 
 Now the world may be divided into those who use 
 inch-tapes and foot-rules, and those who don't. The 
 first will have only what is "absolutely it" and the 
 second are content with a " near enough." You hear 
 some people say such and such is " near enough " or 
 "What's half an inch here or there?" or "A penny 
 more or less doesn't matter." But that's where they 
 are wrong. "Near enough" is not near enough. It 
 might as well be miles away. 
 
 There are two reasons that such people usually give 
 why " near enough " will do, and I want to show you 
 that both are false. 
 
 1. The first reason they give is that " near enough " 
 is easier than " absolutely it." It may seem easier at 
 the moment not to measure your tuck, but it saves you 
 unpicking it and sewing it over again. It may seem 
 easier not to add up your column of pence twice, but 
 it will be less easy to recount the whole sum — pounds, 
 shillings, and pence. It may be easier to go on 
 building a wall and adding brick to brick without 
 constantly stopping to use your plumb-line to see that 
 
EZRA VII. 23 271 
 
 it is straight up and down, but it is much more 
 troublesome to have to pull down the wall and rebuild 
 it because it is leaning over by the time you reach the 
 top. Exactness is a saving, not a waste, of time, and 
 the " absolutely its " are always first in the end. 
 
 2. The second reason which the " near enoughs " 
 give is that it really doesn't matter. Doesn't it ? Care- 
 lessness always matters. It is dangerous for yourself, 
 and it is dangerous for other people. 
 
 A workman who was making a saddle put in a 
 piece of inferior work, but he thought it would pass 
 and did not trouble to make it right. That saddle 
 was ridden in the Zulu war by the Prince Imperial. 
 During a battle the prince was surrounded by the wild 
 tribesmen and had to fight for dear life. He had a 
 good horse under him, his friends were coming to his 
 rescue, and it was merely a case of holding on till they 
 arrived, but suddenly his saddle gave way and he was 
 thrown to the ground. In a moment the Zulus were 
 upon him and he was wounded to death. The heir to 
 the throne of ^France lost his life because a careless 
 saddler thought " near enough " would do in making a 
 saddle. 
 
 Here is another story. Some years ago the United 
 States of America were passing a bill about the articles 
 that should be admitted into the country free of duty. 
 Amongst the goods named were fruit-plants, with a 
 hyphe^- between " fruit " and " plants." That meant 
 that any growing fruit-plants for transplanting might 
 come in without paying duty. The clerk who was 
 
272 ABSOLUTELY IT 
 
 copying the bill missed out the hyphen and stuck in 
 a comma instead, making the words read "fruit, 
 plants," etc. What do you think happened ? For a 
 whole year, until Congress could remedy the blunder, 
 all oranges, lemons, bananas, grapes, and other foreign 
 fruits came in duty free, and the American Government 
 lost about half a million pounds sterling. That was a 
 pretty costly comma, wasn't it ? 
 
 Boys and girls, don't believe the "near enoughs." 
 They are wrong every time. Make up your mind to- 
 day that you will be an " absolutely it " — for your own 
 sake, because it is the only honest way; for other 
 people's sake, because it is the only safe way ; most of 
 all for Christ's sake, because it is His waj. 
 
THE COLOUR OF VIRTUE. 
 
 I am ashamed and blush. — Ezra ix. 6. 
 Neither could they blush. — Jer. vi. 15. 
 
 Did you ever hear the story of how the Virginian 
 creeper got its blush ? The story is only a legend, but 
 it is very beautiful and worth repeating. It tells that 
 when the plants and flowers were first created they 
 were all green ; but God sent down to earth one of His 
 angels, and told him to give each flower a colour of its 
 own. So the angel flew busily over the earth, and each 
 flower he touched turned some lovely hue. He gave 
 the crocus its gold, and the violet its purple, and the 
 rose its red, and the poppy its scarlet, the forget-me- 
 not its blu^ and the snowdrop its white. He was a 
 very busy angel, I assure you, as he flew over hill and 
 dale and wood and field, painting all the flowers he saw. 
 But alas ! he missed a very small creeper lying 
 hidden in the shadow of a great wall. It felt dread- 
 fully sad to think that the angel had passed it over, 
 and for a little while it lay on the ground and wept. 
 But after a time it cheered up and said to itself, " Well, 
 though I may not be beautiful I can always be useful. 
 I'll set to work and cover this great bare w^ll." So it 
 climbed and spread, and climbed and spread, till the 
 wall had a magnificent covering of green. 
 
274 THE COLOUR OF VIRTUE 
 
 In autumn the angel returned to earth to see how 
 his flowers were looking, and, as he flew, his eye lit 
 upon this wonderful green thing spreading all over the 
 wall. Though it had no colour but green it looked so 
 glad and busy that the angel stopped to admire it and 
 praise it for all it had so bravely done. And when the 
 angel spoke, the Virginian creeper felt so pleased to 
 think that what it had done was good in the angel's 
 sight that it blushed a glorious crimson. And 
 when autumn comes and flowers decay, the Virginian 
 creeper still blushes crimson, remembering how the 
 angel praised it long ugo. 
 
 That is a pretty legend, isn't it? "Yes," I hear 
 some of you sigh, " but I'd rather the Virginian creeper 
 blushed than me. It's so horribly awkward. I just 
 can't keep from blushing, and the more I want not 
 to do it the more I do it I'm so ashamed of myself 
 sometimes;" 
 
 Boys and girls, you should never be ashamed of blush- 
 ing. What you should be ashamed of is not being able 
 to blush. A blush is a really good thing, and it is only 
 right that your rosy cheeks should sometimes grow a 
 few shades rosier. Why! we blush for pleasure, we 
 blush because of praise, we blush with honest indigna- 
 tion, and I hope we blush for shame or guilt. 
 
 Of course I know there's a sort of blush that really 
 is most annoying — the unnecessary blush. It is the 
 blush that you feel when you walk into a room or a 
 public building, and you are certain that every eye is 
 
EZRA IX. 6 275 
 
 upon you. It is the blush that comes when you and 
 a few others are accused of some fault, and you, who 
 are not guilty, and know nothing about it, flush a 
 brilliant scarlet. Well that blu£ comes from shyness 
 or self-consciousness ; and the cure for it is just to 
 forget yourself. A hundred chances to one nobody is 
 thinking of you or taking special notice of you. At 
 such times try hard to think of some other thing or 
 some other person, and you will be astonished how that 
 will help to keep the blush away. 
 
 So much for the unnecessary blush ! But there are 
 times when a blush is necessary, and if we don't blush 
 then we are in a sad case indeed. 
 
 You will notice we have two texts to-day, and the 
 first says, " I am ashamed and blush." That was the 
 prophet Ezra speaking to God. Why was he blushing ? 
 He was blushing because he loved the people of Israel 
 80 much that he was ashamed of their faults. The 
 second text is from the prophet Jeremiah. He also 
 loved the people of Israel, but what grieved him was 
 that they were so hardened in their sins that they 
 couldn't even blush for them. 
 
 Boys and girls, it is a dangerous thing if we can't 
 blush. It means that we are no longer ashamed, that 
 we no longer feel guilty when we do wrong, that we 
 have grown absolutely brazen. 
 
 •* Courage, my boy ! " said Diogenes of old, when he 
 saw a youth flushing. " That is the colour of virtue." 
 Diogenes was a Greek philosopher, and he must have 
 known the explanation which the Greeks gave of 
 
276 THE COLOUR OF VIRTUE 
 
 shame. The Greeks said that Jupiter was so sorry for 
 the miseries that men brought on themselves by their 
 sins that he sent Mercury to implant in their hearts 
 justice and shame, that these two virtues might save 
 the world from ruin. 
 
 We are wiser than the wise old Greeks, for we know 
 that it was God who implanted in man's heart the 
 senses both of shame and of justice ; but the Greeks 
 were quite right in their idea that justice and shame 
 help men to be good. If we are ashamed to do wrong 
 deeds, if we are ashamed to listen to evil words and 
 horrid stories, if we are ashamed of meanness, or 
 covetousness, or untruthfulness, if we can blush for all 
 these things, and blush also the hot blush of anger at 
 wrong done to others, then there is some hope for us. 
 People will think none the less of us for such blushes ; 
 and God, who sees the faintest tinge of red, will rejoice 
 that His child can fly the flag of virtue. 
 
HOW THEY BUILT THE WALLS. 
 
 We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch ag^ainst 
 them day ahd night.— Neh. iv. 9. 
 
 Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and 
 with the other held his weapon. — Neh. iv. 17. 
 
 To-day I want to carry you all away with me back 
 across the centuries till we reach a time more than four 
 hundred years before Jesus came into the world. And 
 I want to take you far across land and sea till we stand 
 outside old Jerusalem. Will you all please put on a 
 magic wishing-cap and think yourselves there ? 
 
 We are going to take a night ride round the city 
 with a man called Nehemiah, and we are going to see 
 aU that he sees. The moon is shining brightly and 
 everything shows up almost as well as in the daylight. 
 It shines down on the beautiful Temple of God within 
 the city, but it shines, too, on ruined walls and gates 
 destroyed by fire. We try to enter by one gate but 
 there is no room for our mules to pass. The gateway 
 is choked with stones and rubbish. So we ride on, and 
 we begin to feel very sad as we look at all this ruin 
 and desolation. We ask what it means, and this is the 
 story we are told. 
 
 About a hundred and fifty years ago Nebuchadrezzar, 
 king of Babylon, laid siege to this beautiful city of 
 Jerusalem. He broke down the walls, destroyed the 
 
 277 
 
278 HOW THEY BUILT THE WALLS 
 
 Temple, and carried away many of the Jews captive 
 into Babylon. But after many years the king of Persia 
 defeated and conquered the king of Babylon, and this 
 new king allowed the Jews to return to their own 
 country and rebuild the Temple of their God. 
 
 But although the Temple has been rebuilt the walls 
 still lie in ruins, and no city in these days is safe unless 
 it is surrounded by a high strong wall. 
 
 So Nehemiah has come to Jerusalem to help the Jews 
 to raise their wall again, and as he rides round the city 
 he is planning how he will set them all to work to build it. 
 
 Now we are going to let a few weeks pass and we 
 are going back to look at the city. The wall has been 
 built to half its height and everywhere men are busy 
 carrying burdens or getting the stones fixed in their 
 places. Suddenly a report comes in that the enemies 
 of the Jews are plotting to destroy the wall. These 
 men do not want a fortified Jerusalem and they have 
 tried to do all they can to stop the work. 
 
 But Nehemiah is ready for them. He does three 
 things to thwart their plans. First he prays to God. 
 But although he knows that God will help him he does 
 not neglect to do his part. So next he sets a watch 
 day and night. And lastly he arms every man. Those 
 who are bearing burdens on their heads or backs 
 and so have one hand free carry a javelin; and the 
 masons who require both hands for their work have a 
 sword fastened to their side. In the meantime the main 
 work goes on from day to day. Stone rises on stone 
 until at last the wall is finished and Jerusalem is safe. 
 
NEHEMIAH IV. 9, 17 279 
 
 I wonder if you can guess why I have chosen this 
 old-time story to-day. It is because we have all within 
 us — you and I and everyone else — a beautiful temple 
 of God. That temple is the temple of the soul and we 
 must build a high, strong protecting wall round it — 
 the wall of character. We have to build that wall 
 stone by stone, and inch by inch. Sometimes we put in 
 a good habit, sometimes an unselfish act. Sometimes 
 we add a kind word and sometimes a loving look. But 
 whatever they are, if they are good stones, they all help 
 to build a beautiful strong wall to protect God's temple. 
 
 Now we all have an Enemy who wants to knock 
 down our wall and spoil the temple of our soul, and 
 like Nehemiah we must defend ourselves against him 
 in three ways. 
 
 First we must pray to God. He alone is stronger 
 than the Enemy and it is only with God's help that 
 we can gain the victory over him, so we are never really 
 safe unless we keep near to God in prayer. 
 
 But besides praying to God we must do our part. 
 We must not ask God to help us and take no trouble 
 to keep the Enemy away. So next we must set a watch 
 day and night. The Enemy is very cunning and you 
 may be sure he will try to get into our fortress at the 
 side where we are not watching. 
 
 Do you remember the story in ^sop's Fables about 
 the deer with the blind eye ? This deer fed on the 
 grass between a wood and the sea, and she always kept 
 her blind eye to the sea and her good eye towards the 
 wood where the hunters and the dogs were. But one 
 
280 HOW THEY BUILT THE WALLS 
 
 day a hunter noticed this ; so he got a little boat and 
 put out a bit from the shore and shot the deer from 
 the side where she could not see. And as the deer lay 
 dying she lamented that she had been quite safe from the 
 side where she looked for danger, and that the danger 
 had come from the side where she was not expecting it. 
 
 Our Enemy is just like that. He is much too 
 cunning to try to pierce our walls at the point where 
 we are watching. He goes round till he finds the 
 place where we think we are quite secure. So the only 
 safe way is to watch at all sides and at all times. 
 
 But if, in spite of all our precautions, the Enemy 
 does get a footing inside our fortress we must have our 
 weapons ready to drive him out again. So in the third 
 place we must wear our armour constantly. And the 
 best weapons are a strong determination and a firm 
 faith in God. 
 
 Just one word more. Kemember that the Jews who 
 raised the walls went on building all the time. They 
 prayed, and they watched, and they had their weapons 
 ready, but above all they huilt. Their enemies would 
 have been quite content if they had stopped the work* 
 and our Enemy desires above all things that we should 
 stop our work of character-building. So we must keep 
 at it, however hard and monotonous it seems at times, 
 however much we blunder, however weary we feel. 
 And remember that if we are in earnest, God will put 
 right all our mistakes, and keep our temples safe for 
 His Holy City, the New Jerusalem above. 
 
A GOOD DAY. 
 
 A day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of 
 sending portions one to another, . . . and gifts to the poor.— 
 Est. ix. 19, 22. 
 
 What do you call a good day? I wonder. Do you 
 ever say to yourself as you snuggle under the blankets 
 at night, "Well this has been a good day anyway." 
 I think I could guess what has made your day a 
 good day. More than likely it has been a day when 
 delightful things have happened to you. Perhaps you 
 have got a present of something you have been longing 
 for; perhaps you have been treated to a circus or a 
 menagerie; perhaps you have made a fine score at 
 cricket ; perhaps you have won a prize that you have 
 worked hard to get ; perhaps — but there's no need to 
 add more, there are hundreds of jolly things in the 
 world that may have made it a good day for you. 
 
 Why was it a good day for the people in our text ? 
 I can tell you. It was a good day because God had 
 delivered them out of terrible danger, and made them 
 victorious over their enemies. If things had gone as 
 they had been planned not one of these people would 
 have been alive on that good day. They would all 
 have been dead on the day before; for that was the 
 danger they had escaped — the danger of losing their lives. 
 
 281 
 
282 A GOOD DAY 
 
 They were Jews — these people — but not Jews living 
 in their own land; they were living in the land of 
 Persia. The king of that land had listened to evil 
 tales which were not true, and had been persuaded by 
 a man called Haman, who hated the Jews, that they 
 were a wicked troublesome lot and that the sooner the 
 king got rid of them all the better. The king, un- 
 fortunately, was rather a foolish man who gave orders 
 first and thought afterwards, so he immediately ordered 
 that all the Jews should be put to death on a certain 
 day. It was a large order ; and a terrible one too. 
 
 But there was one who determined that if she could 
 help it that order should not be carried out. She was 
 a Jewess, and her name was Esther, and she was also 
 the king's wife. He was very fond of her, but he was 
 such a great king that even she dared not approach 
 him until he sent for her. If she went to him without 
 being sent for she risked her life. But Esther thought 
 only of her people and that made her brave, so she 
 went to the king and she showed him how wicked and 
 false Haman's stories had been, and the king repented 
 of the order he had given, and was so angry with 
 Haman that he condemned him to death. 
 
 But the difficulty in Persia was that once a law had 
 been made it could never be unmade. If the king had 
 once said, " Kill the Jews," he couldn't say, " Do not 
 kill the Jews." However the king hit upon a plan. 
 He issued an order that all the Jews should be allowed 
 to defend themselves when attacked ; and when the 
 dreaded day arrived the Jews were ready ; and instead 
 
 J 
 
ESTHER IX. 19, 22 283 
 
 of being slain, they slew their enemies. Then the day- 
 after they rested and feasted and were glad. They 
 made that day a good day, a day of rejoicing, and of 
 sending presents to one another, and of giving presents 
 to the poor. That is how it was a good ^ay for the 
 Jews. 
 
 And it is still a good day for the Jews in every land, 
 for in memory of that great deliverance t' e Jews keep 
 what they call the feast of Purim. It is a sort of 
 Jewish Christmas day, for alas ! the Jews do not keep 
 Christmas day as we do. 
 
 Now I think we might copy these old Jews in their 
 idea of a good day. You see God first made it a good 
 day for them, and then they made it a good day for 
 others. When God gives us a good day, why should 
 we not pass on some of the goodness to others ? Let 
 us give away seme of the joy that comes our way. 
 Let us share our happiness. Instead of making us less 
 happy it will make us even happier. 
 
 Boys and girls, it is like this. God gives us every- 
 thing, and we can't show our gratitude to Him in the 
 same way as we can show it to other people. We can't 
 give God something in return. Of course we can give 
 Him our love, and He wants that most of all, but I am 
 speaking rather of some real thing, some token, and we 
 can't give that to God. No, but we can give it to 
 somebody else who needs it, and that is what God 
 wishes us to do. Giving it to that somebody, we are 
 really giving it to Him. There are plenty of " some- 
 bodies " who have got neither happy homes, nor jolly 
 
284 A GOOD DAY 
 
 presents, nor nice food, nor warm clothing. God loves 
 us to remember these "somebodies" when the good 
 day comes our way. 
 
 I think God would be very pleased if we were all 
 like the little girl I read of the other day. She and 
 her brothers and sisters were promised a monthly 
 allowance of pocket-money. She was a very tiny tot, 
 80 her allowance was to be only a halfpenny a month. 
 But a halfpenny seemed a huge sum to the little maid, 
 and she was so overjoyed that she got it changed at 
 once for two farthings. Then she ran through to her 
 father's study and said, "Daddy, I'm very rich now, 
 and I'm going to allow you a farthing a month ; and 
 here is your December farthing ! " 
 
 If God gives us the halfpennies, let us try to give 
 away the farthings. If He gives us a good and happy 
 day, let us try to make it a good and happy day for 
 others. If we do that we shall find that it is not only 
 a good but, what is better, a perfect day. 
 
A SPIDER'S WEB. 
 
 Whose trust is a spider's web. — Job viii. 14. 
 
 You have all seen a spider's web, and some of you may 
 have stopped for a minute to admire the arrangement 
 of it. You noticed the long strong lines which run 
 from the centre to the circumference, and the short 
 lines which are woven across them at equal distances, 
 making a perfect pattern. From the centre of the web 
 runs a trap line up to the hiding-place of the spider 
 which is in some little crevice or under a leaf. The 
 slightest touch of the web sends a quiver along the 
 threads and up this line, and the spider comes rushing 
 down to see what has happened. 
 
 The web is made so as to take the smallest amount 
 of time and silk. It is so fine that it can scarcely be 
 seen, yet strong enough to stand the struggles of the 
 insect caught in it. It is close enough to catch tiny 
 flies, yet open enough to let the wind blow through it, 
 and so it avoids the strain that would break down 
 anything more solid. It blows with the breeze. You 
 have sometimes seen in damp weather the bushes 
 covered with gossamer threads which seem to appear 
 suddenly from nowhere. These are woven by spiders 
 too. 
 
286 A SPIDER'S WEB 
 
 Some kinds of spiders when they are young and light 
 are bold airmen. The little spider spins a long t' read, 
 lets the wind catch it, and immediately rises in the air 
 to a great height, an "". sails away in his balloon. It is 
 not a dirigible, however ; he can't steer it, and he must 
 just go with the wind. In this way spiders travel long 
 distances, and even cross wide arms of the sea. 
 
 There have been fables and superstitions about 
 spiders. You will still hear many people say that a 
 spider is " lucky " and that to kill it is " unlucky," but 
 good housekeepers do not pay much attention to tliat 
 when they find one weaving its web in their house. 
 
 The Greeks had a story about the spider. They said 
 there was once a girl called Arachne. She lived with 
 her father, who was famous for the purple dye which 
 he made. Arachne was wonderfully clever at spinning 
 and weaving. Her parents were proud of her, and her 
 fame spread through the whole of Greece. Great 
 people came to see her at her work, and paid high 
 prices for her tapestry. As a result, I am sorry to say, 
 her head was turned, and she became very vain and 
 boasted that no one could make tapestry like her — not 
 even the goddess Athene. 
 
 Now the goddess Athene was the patroness of all 
 that kind of work, and when she heard this she was 
 much annoyed and came, disguised as an old woman, 
 to Arachne's house. She found her busy at her work, 
 and heard her boast that not even Athene could do 
 better. The disguised goddess warned Arachne not to 
 
JOB Vm. 14 287 
 
 compare herself to Athene, but the girl would not 
 listen. She merely boasted all the more and challenged 
 Athene to come and try a contest with her. Then 
 Athene took her own form, and they both set to work. 
 The goddess wove pictures showing the fate of those 
 mortals who had dared to oppose themselves to gods, and 
 Arachne wove pictures showing the foolish things the 
 gods had done (for the gods of Greece were just like 
 men — very powerful but no better). 
 
 When they had finished their work, even Athene had 
 to admit that Arachne had won. Her work was 
 faultless. Then the goddess in a fit of anger tore it 
 in pieces, and struck the girl on the head with the 
 shuttle. When Arachne saw that she had brought 
 Athene's anger upon her, and that her web was 
 destroyed, she tried to hang herself, but Athene 
 prevented her, and said henceforth she and all her race 
 should hang by a rope and spin for ever. And at once 
 Arachne changed into a spider, and there she and her 
 race hang by threads and spin and spin to this day. 
 And that, said the old Greeks, was the punishment for 
 pride and presumption. 
 
 Let me tell you another spider story. In the early 
 days of Christianity, there was a very good man called 
 Felix of Nola. He was persecuted for his religion, 
 and had to flee for his life. He went to a lonely 
 uninhabited place, full of rocks. There were caves 
 in the rocks, and Nola hid himself in one of them. 
 While he was lying there he saw a spider weaving its 
 
288 A SPIDER'S WEB 
 
 web across the opening of the cave. He lay and 
 watched it spinning thread after thread and fixing each 
 in its proper place, at exactly the right distance, till 
 the mouth of the cave was covered with them. 
 Presently he heard men's voices, and he gave himself 
 up for lost, for he knew they were seeking him. They 
 came to the mouth of the cave, and there they stopped. 
 When they saw the opening covered with a spider's 
 web, they said " No one has passed in here, or the web 
 would be broken," and they went on to look elsewhere. 
 Nola escaped, and when he spoke of it afterwards he 
 used to say, " Where God is, a spider's web is as a wall ; 
 where He is not, a wall is but as a spider's web." In the 
 text at the head of this sermon the trust of the wicked 
 is said to be like a spider's web — they have nothing 
 strong to depend on ; but for those who love God even 
 a spider's web can be a protection. Nothing is too 
 humble for Him to use for His purposes, not even the 
 tiny spider. 
 
 Now, if you come upon one spinning in a dark corner, 
 or in a rose-bush, remember these two things — not to 
 be vain and boastful about the gifts you possess, and 
 not to think you are so tiny and insignificant that God 
 can make no use of you. Let the spider teach you 
 these two things, and I think it will be " lucky " for you 
 that you have met him. 
 
A LAUGHING-STOCK. 
 
 A laughingf-stock to his neighbour. — Job xii. 4. 
 
 Hands up those who like to be laughed at ! Ah ! I 
 thought so ! Not a hand to be seen. Hands up those 
 who like to laugh at others ! What ! Still not a 
 hand ? Well I'm glad of that. It shows that even 
 if you do laugh at others you are ashamed of it. For 
 the last time, hands up those who can laugh at them- 
 selves ! I hope there are lots of hands up this time, 
 for a laugh at oneself is a very wholesome laugh 
 indeed, and does one heaps of good. 
 
 1. Now there is no harm in laughing at people if 
 you mean and do it in the right way. No one is the 
 worse of a little good-humoured teasing. There is 
 usually plenty of chaff between brothers and sisters, 
 and also between schoolmates ; and so long as it is 
 good-humoured chaff it is both amusing and useful. 
 It rubs off the corners, it is excellent practice in 
 keeping one's temj)er, and it is death to humbug. It 
 helps to make boys manly, and it prevents girls from 
 putting on little airs. If you make fun in the right 
 way it does good. 
 
 2. But the moment teasing means tears it is time to 
 stop. And the moment teasing means badgering or 
 bullying it is more than time to stop. The fun is all 
 
290 A LAUGHING-STOCK 
 
 gone, and only cruelty remains. There is a laugh that 
 does good, but there is also a laugh that stings like a 
 whip-lash. It makes sport of weakness, it makes fun 
 of deformity, it mocks at holy things. 
 
 Have you ever heard of the laughing jackass ? It is 
 a bird that travellers in the Australian bush know 
 welL It is an unimportant-looking bird of the king- 
 fisher type, with a long beak; but the remarkable 
 thing about it is its power of mimicking a human 
 laugh. It can do it better than any parrot. It has 
 an aggravating way, too, of appearing on the scene 
 when anything goes wrong. Has the wagon broken 
 down? Have the traces snapped? There, perched 
 on the branch of a tree, is sure to be found a jackass con- 
 vulsed with laughter. His " Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! " and his " He ! 
 He ! He ! " mock and taunt the unfortunate traveller. 
 
 The jackass laughs because he is an ass and knows 
 no better, but boys and girls or grown-up people who 
 mock at trouble or sorrow or infirmity have no such 
 excuse — unless of course they are content to rank with 
 the jackass as asses. 
 
 Making a mock of others is the lowest form of 
 amusement. It is not playing the game; for the 
 person of whom a laughing-stock is made as a rule 
 cannot help his peculiarity. Why jeer at a cripple ? 
 It is God's kindness that has made your limbs straight 
 and supple. Why imitate a boy with a stammer? 
 Thank God, rather, that He has enabled you to speak 
 distinctly. Why scoff at a girl whose dress is shabby 
 or whose accent is not so fine as yours ? It is not her 
 
JOB XII. 4 291 
 
 fault. She is none the less a girl because of that, and 
 the chances are that she is twice as much a woman 
 as the girl who sneers at her. Shame on you for 
 these things ! Such mockery is beneath contempt. 
 
 It is told of a famous old clergyman of a northern 
 town that, as he walked down the street, he saw a 
 crowd gathered round something. He went up to the 
 crowd and found that the something was one of his 
 own church members helplessly drunk. The crowd 
 was jeering and laughing at him, and one man in 
 especial was loud in his sneers at such conduct on the 
 part of a church member. The clergyman walked up 
 to this man and with flashing eye said, " Sir, many 
 walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you 
 — not laughingy Sir, not laughing but weeping^ weeping 
 — that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ." 
 The old clergyman was right. Tears, not laughter, 
 should have greeted such a sight. 
 
 Boys and girls, the next time you are tempted to 
 make a mock of anyone stop and think, " There, but 
 for the grace of God, goes myself." That thought 
 should take away all desire to hurt with ridicule 
 another human being, especially if you try to imagine 
 what it would be like to be in that other's place. How 
 would you care to be made fun of ? Would you enjoy 
 it? Your heart tells you that you would hate it. 
 Listen to your heart, then. It will not lead you wrong ; 
 for in its voice you have heard the voice of Christ 
 pleading with you to be merciful and to spare one who 
 16 also one of God's children. 
 
A DRIVEN LEAF. 
 
 A leaf driven to and fro. — Job xiii. 25 (AV). 
 
 If you take a country walk just now, or go down any 
 road where there are trees, you will find my text. It 
 may wear a crimson dress, or a brown one, or a gold, but 
 it will be there sure enough along with many others 
 of its kind. 
 
 Have you guessed the text, I wonder. It is "a 
 leaf driven to and fro." You will find it in the 
 Book of Job, but I'm not going to tell you the 
 chapter or the verse because I want you to look 
 for it. 
 
 I was watching some of those leaves the other day 
 and they gave me a message to take to you. Would 
 you like to know what they said ? 
 
 1. Well, first they said, "Tell the boys and girls 
 to he glad" 
 
 They were such jolly little fellows and they seemed 
 to have so very little to make them happy. I wondered 
 if they never felt dull. But they answered, " Not in 
 the least 1 We've had a gay old time all summer up 
 in the sunshine and the breeze, and this is rather a bit 
 of a come-down, but what's the use of fretting? 
 There's a nice gust blowing, so we're off for a scamper." 
 
 S92 
 
JOB XIII. 25 293 
 
 And away they went rollicking and frolicking, dancing 
 and prancing down the path. 
 
 And so the leaves driven to and fro say to you, 
 " Be glad.'* If you cut your finger, or break your toy, 
 cheer up ! The world isn't coming to an end because 
 of that. Keep a bright face when things go a bit 
 wrong. That's the plucky thing to do. It isn't always 
 the people with the fewest troubles who smile the 
 most. 
 
 2. But next the leaves driven to and fro said to me, 
 ** Tell the boys and girls to have a purpose. Just look 
 at us. We are at the mercy of every wind that blows. 
 Sometimes we are scuttled away in one direction, then 
 we are whisked away in another, and next minute we 
 are whirled round and round in a circle. We have no 
 stability of our own, and so we are influenced by the 
 first breeze that comes along." 
 
 And they added, " We are just a picture of the people 
 who have no purpose in life, the people who are easily 
 led astray. They are very lovable often, but they 
 have no high aim of their own, and so they just do 
 exactly what those around them are doing. They are 
 influenced by whatever wind is blowing. If it is a 
 good wind they are good, but if it is a bad wind they 
 are bad. So tell the boys and girls to have a purpose." 
 
 3. And lastly they said, " Tell the boys and girls that 
 God has a purpose for them. God has a purpose for us 
 if we will lie still and rest. He will make us into a 
 warm blanket to cover the seeds and the plants from 
 the winter cold. He will send the rain and the snow 
 
294 A DRIVEN LEAF 
 
 and the worms to work on us and to turn us into 
 food for the plants; and we shall be built up into 
 some beautiful flower, or some fresh green leaf next 
 summer. 
 
 "And God has work for the boys and girls too if 
 they will lie still and rest. If they will come to rest 
 in Jesus, if they will make up their minds to be His 
 disciples and let Him do with them as He will, then 
 He has a glorious work for them to do. He can use 
 even them to make the world a better and a happier 
 place, to make His kingdom of love come on earth." 
 
A PRISONER IN THE STOCKS. 
 
 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks. — Job ziii. 27. 
 
 If you had lived a hundred years ago you would have 
 been better able to appreciate this text. The punish- 
 ment of the stocks has quite gone out of fashion, but 
 if you had lived then you might often have seen a man 
 sitting on a bench on the village green with his ankles 
 and perhaps his wrists thrust through a wooden board 
 in front of him. And possibly a crowd of little village 
 boys would be standing round jeering at him. 
 
 If you had asked anybody why that man was sitting 
 there, they would have told you that he had been 
 found guilty of some small offence — such as trespassing 
 or disturbing the peace — and that he had been put in 
 the stocks for a few hours as a punishment. Away 
 in the New England States they even put people in 
 the stocks for Sabbath-breaking. I fancy they would 
 require a large supply of stocks nowadays if that 
 law still held good ! 
 
 Now I don't think tfie stocks could have been at 
 all a comfortable form of punishment. I think you 
 and I would have much preferred being put into 
 prison for a day and being kept on bread and water. 
 There you were set, with the boards firmly fixed down 
 
 S96 
 
296 A PRISONER IN THE STOCKS 
 
 on your ankles and wrists, and there you were obliged 
 to sit for hours with your arms and legs held in one 
 position until it pleased the powers that were to let 
 you out. You must have felt very stiff and sore before 
 you were released. 
 
 In our text Job says that God has put his feet in 
 the stocks. What does he mean by that ? Well, I 
 think he just means that God has hedged him in on 
 every side, that God has fixed him down in a certain 
 position and that he can't move out of it. He can't 
 alter his life, he can't alter his circumstances. He 
 must just submit to God's way for him. 
 
 Now don't you think we are often placed very much 
 as Job was ? Our feet are put in the stocks. 
 
 At home we are often prevented from doing the 
 things we want to do, and we don't at all like it. We 
 want to go out on a certain day, and we have a bit of 
 a cold and the rain is pouring in torrents, and mother 
 says, " No, you must stay at home," and we feel very 
 cross. Or we are reading a book that we know we 
 ought not to be reading, and father comes and takes 
 it from us, and we are very angry. Or mother forbids 
 us to make friends with certain boys and girls, and 
 we feel very annoyed. Father and mother put our 
 feet in the stocks. 
 
 At school it is just the same. We have to conform 
 to certain rules, we have to prepare our lessons — 
 unless we wish to be left hopelessly behind — and 
 sometimes it is all very irritating. The schoolmaster 
 puts our feet in the stocks. 
 
JOB XIII. 27 297 
 
 And often the same thing holds good in life. We 
 want to go out into the big world and fight our way, 
 we want to do grand things and exciting things, and 
 we are compelled to stay at home. We have brains ; 
 we want to go to the university or enter a profession, 
 and we have to help father in his workshop to make 
 money to buy bread and butter for the younger ones. 
 We are clever, or artistic, or musical, and mother 
 needs us at home to sweep and dust and wash the 
 dishes. Or perhaps we are just fixed where we are 
 by poverty, or ill-health, or a sick relative. God is 
 putting our feet in the stocks. It is very hard to bear, 
 and we are inclined to rebel. 
 
 'Now if your feet are in the stocks (and I think 
 everybody's are in one way or another), will you try 
 to remember this ? When we are restricted like that 
 it is always for one of two reasons, and both of them 
 are good. 
 
 1. Sometimes our feet are put in the stocks to keep 
 us out of danger. 
 
 When the present King of Spain was six years old 
 he had a birthday, just like every little boy or girl; 
 but as he was an only child and a very important 
 person besides, he received a great many presents. 
 Among the presents were dozens and dozens of boxes 
 of beautiful sweets. Everybody seemed to be trying 
 to outvie everybody else in the grandeur of those 
 confections. 
 
 When the king saw them he wanted them all at 
 
298 A PRISONER IN THE STOCKS 
 
 once. His mother said, " No," but she gave in to him 
 so far. He was allowed to have one sweet out of 
 each box. The rest were put past to be given away. 
 The king began his feast, but before he had got half 
 round the boxes he turned very sick and ill. For 
 days he lay between life and death, rand it was only 
 the good nursing he received that brought him round 
 again. 
 
 The colouring matter that made some of the sweets 
 look so gay and pretty was slightly poisonous. If the 
 Queen Mother had been wiser and had restricted her 
 son to half a dozen sweets, all might have been well, 
 but in the mistaken kindness of her heart she had 
 allowed him a large number, and the result was nearly 
 fatal. 
 
 Now when father and mother forbid you to do 
 things you want to do, when they take away dangerous 
 books from you, or keep you from bad companions, 
 they are really removing poisoned sweets out of your 
 reach. Some day you will realize what they have 
 done for you and will thank them, although just at 
 present you may find their restraint very hard to 
 bear. 
 
 And God is just like father and mother. When He 
 puts our feet in the stocks it is always for our good. 
 He often puts them there to keep us back from the 
 things that would hurt us. We may not be able to 
 see it now, but some day we shall know and imder- 
 stand, and we shall thank Him for His wisdom and 
 loving-kindness. 
 
JOB XIII. 27 299 
 
 A famous minister tells the story of a little boy who 
 wanted to go out one afternoon. The rain was falling 
 fast and his governess suggested that they should pray 
 for the rain to stop, but the little fellow asked, " Do 
 you suppose God wants it to rain ? " " Yes," replied 
 his governess. " Then," said the small boy, " I think 
 it would be safer to let Him have His own way." 
 
 Yes, it is always safer to let God have His own way. 
 He is far wiser than we are, and far more loving, and 
 He will never send us anything that is not for our 
 good. 
 
 2. Sometimes our feet are put in the stocks to make 
 tcs stronger and better and more useful. 
 
 A South African minister tells us about a wonderful 
 vine he saw growing out there. Never had he seen 
 such a luxuriant vine. It spread far and wide and 
 climbed over everything within its reach, hut — it had 
 no fruit. Do you know the reason ? It had not been 
 pruned. It had been allowed to grow just as it liked, 
 and it had grown all to leaves and tendrils. 
 
 And when father and mother restrain us and 
 restrict us, when God puts our feet in the stocks, it is 
 often to make us better, and purer, and stronger. 
 
 Don't rebel then, boys and girls, when things don't 
 go just as you want them. Take it sensibly, take it 
 sweetly, and you will become strong, and brave, and 
 pure. 
 
A MOTH-EATEN GARMENT. 
 
 A garment that is moth-eaten. —Job xiii. 28. 
 
 I WANT you to take a good look at what I have brought 
 you to-day. It is a cashmere shawl belonging to an 
 old lady who is a friend of mine, and she very kindly 
 lent it to me as a text for you. 
 
 If you looked at the shawl from a distance you 
 might imagine it was very beautiful, but if you came 
 a little closer you would see that it is all riddled 
 with small holes, just as if a great many bullets had 
 gone through it. I hope some of you can see the holes 
 from where you are sitting. 
 
 Now I wonder who made these holes in the shawl ? 
 Well, my friend forgot to put any camphor in the 
 drawer where she laid away her best shawl, and by 
 and by along came Mrs. Moth looking for a nice, soft, 
 warm place to lay her eggs. When she found the 
 shawl she exclaimed, " Why, here's the very thing ! " 
 and she lost no time in setting to work. 
 
 Shortly after, out of each egg popped a little grub, 
 and as he came out to the world he said to himself, 
 " I'm really most awfully hungry. I must have some- 
 thing to eat." So he at once proceeded to eat the thing 
 nearest to him, which happened to be his particular 
 
 300 
 
JOB XIII. 28 301 
 
 corner of the shawl. And that is how the holes came 
 in the cashmere. 
 
 Now I think that our characters are a little like this 
 moth-eaten shawl. They were meant to be beautiful 
 and useful, but some destructive moths have eaten into 
 them and spoiled them. I wonder what the names of 
 these moths are ? I think they are bad habits, and 
 unkind feelings, and wicked thoughts. 
 
 1. There are two ways in which these moths spoil 
 our character — first they spoil its beauty, and second 
 they spoil its usefulness. 
 
 (1) They spoil its beauty. If you came a little 
 nearer you would see how the moths have spoiled the 
 beauty of this shawl. It is made of a lovely, soft, fine 
 wool and must have been very nice to look at once 
 upon a time, but now nobody would wish to wear it as 
 an ornament. It is altogether spoiled. And it is just 
 like that with bad habits. They make ugly holes in 
 our character. You often meet people who would have 
 been very noble and grand and beautiful if they had 
 not allowed a wicked temper, or an unkind feeling, or 
 a bad habit to get the better of them. 
 
 (2) And besides spoiling the beauty of our character, 
 these wicked little moths spoil its usefulness. A 
 garment that is badly moth-eaten is of no use. It is 
 quite rotten and tears when we pull it. 
 
 Now I think we should all like to be of use to some- 
 body in the world, but if we let those wicked little 
 moths eat into our nature I'm afraid we won't be able 
 
302 A MOTH-EATEN GARMENT 
 
 to do much good. They will weaken our character 
 until nobody will be able to rely on us. 
 
 2. Shall I give you two recipes to help to keep away 
 the moths ? 
 
 (1) First, he busy. You know it is when clothes are 
 laid away idle that the moths come to them. I read 
 a poem the other day about a lady who owned a very 
 beautiful garment. It was so beautiful that she 
 thought it was too fine to wear, so she laid it away 
 carefully in a drawer. Guests came to the house but 
 she received them in sober raiment. The poor and the 
 orphaned came and she gave them pity, but she never 
 cheered them with a sight of the beautiful garment. 
 It lay wrapped up in a napkin in the dark drawer, its 
 beauty all hidden. And then a feast-day came and 
 she took out the garment meaning to wear it. But 
 when she shook out its wonderful folds she found that 
 the moths had been busy with it, and that its beauty and 
 its usefulness were gone for ever. And the writer of 
 the poem ends with these two lines — 
 
 Into the folded robe alone 
 The moth with its blighting steals. 
 
 One of the best ways of keeping good is to do good. 
 If you are busy helping and serving others and making 
 use of the talents God has given you, why then, you 
 have very little time to harbour wicked thoughts or 
 grow bad habits. The boys and girls that Satan loves 
 to get hold of are those who have no aim in life and 
 
JOB XIII. 28 303 
 
 Uyo much time on their hands. He usually finds them 
 an easy prey. So the first recipe is — " Be busy." 
 
 (2) And the second is — " Use plenty of camphor." If 
 you keep plenty of camphor among your garments the 
 moths will be afraid to come near them. And what 
 camphor shall we use to keep the moths of bad habits 
 away from our characters ? The camphor of prayer. 
 God will never refuse to help us if we ask Him, and 
 when we have this remedy at hand we should all use it. 
 
 3. But I'm afraid that in spite of all our efforts 
 there will still be a few moth-holes in the garments of 
 our characters, for all of us began to let the moths have 
 their way before we could even walk or talk. What 
 are we to do then ? Are we to go through life with 
 our beauty and our usefulness always a bit spoilt ? 
 Sometimes when you have made a big tear in your 
 coat or your frock, mother darns the rent so carefully 
 that you can scarcely see it, but even mother isn't 
 clever enough to get rid of the holes in the moth-eaten 
 garment. 
 
 But Jesus can mend the holes in the moth-eaten 
 garments of our characters. He, and He alone, can do 
 it because He alone has lived the perfect life, and He 
 has suffered and died to make us good. He can take 
 away all the ugliness out of our lives and put our 
 mistakes right, and He can present us at last faultless 
 before His Father's throne with exceeding joy. 
 
REMOVING ROCKS. 
 
 Shall the rock be removed out of its place ? — Job xviii. 4. 
 
 At first sight the answer to this question seems to be 
 " No." A rock is such a great strong thing ; how can 
 we move it out of its place ? 
 
 Those of you who have built castles on the seashore 
 know that sometimes your spade strikes on something 
 that looks like a big stone. Perhaps it is just a big 
 stone. You dig round about it till you have loosened 
 it, and then, with a strong heave, out it comes. But 
 sometimes the farther you dig the bigger the stone 
 grows, and at last you come to the conclusion that it 
 isn't a stone at all but a rock firmly rooted in the 
 ground. So you give up trying to move it out of its 
 place. You alter the shape of your castle to suit 
 the rock, or you build it in another place. And if 
 anyone asked you then, " Shall the rock be removed 
 out of its place ? " you would answer, " No, we have to 
 move out of our place to suit the rock." 
 
 But there is another answer to that question, 
 '* Shall the rock be removed out of its place ? " " Yes." 
 "How?" 
 
 Well sometimes a big earthquake moves rocks out 
 of their place and flings them about as if they were 
 
 304 
 
JOB XVIII. 4 305 
 
 pebbles, but that is not a very usual way. And some- 
 times men blast away huge boulders with gunpowder, 
 but that is an artificial way. There is yet another 
 way in which rocks are removed out of their place — a 
 very quiet and gentle way, but the most common way 
 of all. It is the way of Jack Frost and Mother Eain. 
 
 The rain falls on the rocks, and it carries with it 
 certain acids that eat into them and very, very slowly 
 destroy them. Then Jack Frost comes along and 
 finds the moisture in the crevices. Now he is rather 
 an important fellow and requires a lot of room for 
 himself, so when he freezes up the moisture he pushes 
 and pushes to get elbow-room. This goes on year 
 after year while the cracks in the rock grow wider and 
 longer. At last a big boulder can hold on no longer. 
 One day, after a severe frost, the thaw comes. There 
 is a roar and a crash and the big boulder lies in pieces 
 at the bottom of the cliff. The rock has been removed 
 out of its place. 
 
 Now sometimes God puts rocks in our way through 
 life to try what kind of men and women, what kind 
 of boys and girls we are. These rocks are difficulties 
 and hardships, and the way in which we meet them 
 determines the kind of people we are. 
 
 Some people sit down in front of their rocks and 
 never try to get past them at all. They moan that 
 the rocks are far too strong for them and that they 
 couldn't ever possibly move them out of their place, 
 so what would be the use of trying. These are the 
 cowardly people. 
 
306 REMOVING ROCKS 
 
 And some people walk right round their rocks so 
 as to avoid them altogether. They leave others to 
 struggle with them while they choose an easier way. 
 And so they never grow any wiser or stronger, for the 
 rocks were put there to make noble men and women 
 of them. These are the lazy and selfish people. 
 
 But there are others who, like the frost and the rain, 
 keep pegging away at their rocks. Bit by bit they get 
 the better of them until they have entirely disappeared. 
 Yet the strength and the firmness of them have entered 
 into the character of those who have conquered them. 
 These are the brave and patient people. 
 
 Now you have all got rocks in your way, great or 
 small. I don't know what they are, but you know. 
 Perhaps your special rock is a difficult lesson, perhaps 
 it is a bad temper, perhaps it is a bit of hard work. 
 That does not make much difference. The big question 
 is, "Shall the rock be removed out of its place?" 
 **Yes or no?" And the way in which you answer 
 that question will show what kind of boy or girl you 
 are going to ba 
 
THE TOPAZ. 
 
 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it. — Job zxviii. 19. 
 
 November is often a dull gloomy month, but it brings 
 us a cheerful sunny stone — the topaz. The topaz got its 
 name in a curious way. " Topaz " comes from a Greek 
 word meaning "to seek." The stone was first found 
 in a certain island in the Eed Sea which was often 
 surrounded by fog. And because the sailors had to 
 seek long for the island ere they found it, they called 
 the gem " topaz." 
 
 How many of you know a topaz ? Well, as there are 
 three different stones called " topaz " you will be excused 
 if you don't recognize one when you meet it. The true 
 topaz is a stone which comes to us chiefly from Brazil, 
 and it is usually golden or yellow or honey-coloured. 
 But it is found also without any colour at all, clear and 
 limpid, and then it is so like the diamond that it is 
 very difficult for ordinary people to tell the difference. 
 These colourless topazes have been nicknamed " slave's 
 diamonds," but there is a prettier name than that for 
 them. Brazilians call them ^'pingas d'agoa*' and the 
 French "gouttes d'eau" both names meaning "drops of 
 water." 
 
 The second stone known as " topaz ** is our old friend 
 
 807 
 
308 THE TOPAZ 
 
 the corundum, only it is yellow corundum, not red 
 corundum like the ruby, or blue corundum like the 
 sapphire. This yellow corundum is called the Oriental 
 topaz. 
 
 The third stone known as " topaz " is one we are 
 all very familiar with, for it is nothing more or less 
 than the stone which is set in kilt brooches and other 
 Highland jewellery — the cairngorm or Scotch topaz. I 
 expect a good many of the girls here will have a piece 
 of jewellery set with a Scotch topaz, and if any of the 
 boys have a plaid to their kilt they will be very proud 
 of the cairngorm which fastens it on the shoulder. 
 
 Now, to return to the first or real topaz. There are 
 several remarkable things about it. To begin with, it 
 is three and a half times heavier than water. Then if 
 you heat it, or rub it, it becomes electric like amber. 
 If you heat it slowly to a red heat (having first packed 
 it in lime magnesia or asbestos) and cool it equally 
 slowly, you will find that your yellow topaz has turned 
 pink. That is how pink topazes are made, for the 
 natural stone is never that shade. Then though the 
 topaz is a hard stone, which cuts and polishes beauti- 
 fully, strange to say it is very brittle, and if you let it 
 fall you may pick it up in two. 
 
 The topaz was supposed in olden times to bring its 
 wearer beauty, wisdom, and long life. It was also 
 believed to quench thirst. Perhaps that was because 
 the colourless topazes are so like drops of pure water. 
 
 There is a story of a thirst-quenching Indian topaz 
 who99 owner was a Hindu magician or necromancer. 
 
JOB XXVIII. 19 309 
 
 One of the Indian Eajahs or princes, who was fighting 
 a neighbouring prince, asked the magician to help him 
 to win a battle. The battle took place, but alas ! the 
 magician's help was vain, for the Eajah was beaten and 
 the necromancer himself wounded to death. As he lay 
 dying on the battlefield he heard near him the groans 
 of a poor wounded soldier who was crying out for a 
 drop of water to quench his burning thirst. With a 
 last ejSbrt of strength the necromancer threw his 
 precious jewel to the soldier, telling him to lay it on 
 his heart. No sooner had the man done so than his 
 thirst vanished and his wound healed. 
 
 Well, that is only a tale. But I have told it you 
 because I think its message and that of the topaz are 
 one — "Be sympathetic." What is sympathy? The 
 dictionary tells us that it is "feeling with" others. 
 There used to be an old conundrum — I expect it is 
 still alive — " Why is sympathy like blind man's buff?" 
 "Because it's a fellow feeling for a fellow creature." 
 Now I want to ask you, "Why is sympathy like a 
 topaz ? " And I shall give you three reasons. 
 
 1. It is cheering. — ihe topaz is a cheerful stone. 
 Did you ever notice that yellow is a cheerful colour ? 
 It is. It " makes a sunshine in a shady place." If you 
 have a yellow paper on a dull north room, that room 
 will look as if the sun were streaming into it. So 
 sympathy warms and cheers. 
 
 2. It is electric. — It is something that goes out from 
 you to someone else, or comes from someone else to you. 
 You can't catch hold of it and say, " This is sympathy," 
 
310 THE TOPAZ 
 
 but it is like a wave of electricity, you feel it. It 
 makes you tingle with pleasure. It attracts you like 
 a magnet. 
 
 3. It is fragile. — It is a delicate sort of thing. You 
 can't bounce in on somebody and blurt out, " Now I'm 
 going to be sympathetic. I'm going to say so-and-so 
 and I'm going to do so-and-so." You must go about it 
 in a more delicate way than that. Often sympathy 
 can't be put into words. A look or a touch is enough. 
 
 A famous preacher tells that when he was a boy 
 there lived in the next house a man who was a hope- 
 less drunkard. The boy's father was very anxious that 
 the man should be cured and he tried all in his power 
 to help him. But the poor man found it impossible to 
 resist turning into a public-house when he passed its 
 open doors, and saw its flaring lights, and smelt its smell 
 of whisky. At last, after trying and failing again and 
 again, he said to the boy's father, " I think if I could 
 hold someone's hand I might manage it." The little 
 chap heard this and was keen to help, so he offered 
 himself for the job. Day after day he went and slipped 
 his hand into that of the man and guided him safely 
 past the danger spots. He didn't say anything. All 
 he did was just to give a friendly grip ; but it was the 
 finest kind of sympathy, and it worked the man's cure. 
 
 Now a word of warning ! Don't keep your sympathy 
 for people who are sad or in trouble. Spare some of it 
 for those who are specially happy or joyful. The Bible 
 says, " Kejoice with them that rejoice ; weep with them 
 
JOB XXVIII. 19 311 
 
 that weep." And you will notice that it puts the 
 " rejoicing with them that rejoice " before the " weeping 
 with them that weep." Perhaps that is because most 
 people find it easier to be sorry for others' woes than to be 
 glad at others' joys. I don't know why that should be, 
 unless it is that there's a little bit of jealousy at the 
 bottom of our hearts, and that little bit of jealousy 
 comes up to the top when we hear of anyone who has 
 had any special good fortune. 
 
 Boys and girls, if you are ever bothered with that 
 mean little feeling give it no mercy, kill it right away. 
 Do the sympathetic thing and the fine thing. Rejoice 
 in your friend's joy. Here's the message of the topaz 
 in other words, "Halve your friends' sorrows, and 
 double their joys." 
 
SEALS. 
 
 Clay under the seal.— Job xxxviii. 14. 
 
 Have you ever played at making seals ? It is a 
 fascinating game. All you require is a lighted candle, 
 a stick of sealing-wax, a piece of paper, and the loan of 
 a die or a signet ring from father or mother. Hold the 
 sealing-wax in the candle-flame until it is soft enough 
 to drop on the paper. When you have dropped the 
 spot of wax take your die or signet and stamp it 
 quickly, evenly, and firmly in the hot wax. Keep it 
 there for a minute, then raise it gently, and you will 
 find that the motto or crest or initials on your die will 
 be imprinted on the wax. You may not make a very 
 neat job the first time you try it, or even the third 
 time, or the thirtieth — the wax may look black and 
 smoked, the impression may be faint at one part, or the 
 drop of wax may not have been the right shape, and a 
 piece of the seal may be awanting. It is all a case of 
 practice, and practice makes perfection. Go on trying 
 if mother does not object to your using a lighted candle, 
 and father does not grudge the wax. 
 
 If they do, I'll tell you of an easier, cheaper, and 
 safer way to make seals ; it requires neither wax nor 
 candle nor paper — only the die or signet and your own 
 
 312 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 14 813 
 
 willing hand. Press the die for a short time on the back of 
 your hand. When you raise it you will find the device 
 stamped perfectly on your flesh. Of course it will fade 
 in a few minutes, but, since it costs nothing, you can do 
 it over and over again, till you grow tired of the game. 
 
 Most of the seals we are accustomed to see are made 
 of wax, but seals have been and still are made of other 
 materials — of metal, for instance. In the Middle Ages 
 the Popes used to attach leaden seals called bullae 
 (from the Latin word bulla meaning a circular orna- 
 ment) to their decrees, and that is how we read in 
 history books of Papal " bulls." 
 
 Sometimes, but rarely, the seals were made of gold. 
 When a Pope wanted to confer a title on a monarch 
 he sealed the document with a golden seal. When one 
 of the Popes gave King Henry the Eighth the title of 
 "Defender of the Faith," he sealed the paper with a 
 golden seal ; and you can see that very seal to-day if 
 you look for it in the British Museum. 
 
 But the kind of seal of which our text speaks is much 
 older than that given to Henry the Eighth. It is a 
 seal made of neither metal nor wax, for the material on 
 which it is stamped is clay. It was the kind of seal 
 used by the Babylonians and Assyrians thousands of 
 years ago. They took the moist clay and they stamped 
 it with the die, and then they baked it hard in the 
 oven or in the sun. There still exist some of these 
 ancient clay seals with the marks where the string or 
 strip of leather was fastened to them. And you may 
 
314 SEALS 
 
 see too the very dies or stamps, or matrices, as they are 
 called, which made the impression. These early dies 
 were not shaped like ours ; they were often round like 
 a roller, and as they rolled over the soft clay they left 
 a figured impression behind. 
 
 Boys and girls, I think we are rather like that piece 
 of clay. When we come into the world we are like the 
 smooth soft mass without any marks on it, but as life 
 rolls on it leaves, as the roller leaves on the clay, a 
 lasting impression on us. But though we may be like 
 the clay in some ways we are unlike it in this — that 
 we can choose the kind of impression or pattern that 
 will be stamped on us. We can say whether it will be 
 a good and beautiful impression that we shall bear, or 
 whether it will be one both distorted and ugly. It all 
 depends on who holds the die. If we go to Christ and 
 say to Him, " Here is my life all before me, help me to 
 make it good and beautiful ; help me to make the very 
 best of it ; help me to stamp it truly and well " — if we 
 say that to Christ, He will take the die into His own 
 hand, and He will stamp our Hfe for us. 
 
 And what do you think the impression will be? 
 Why, it will be just a portrait of Himself. In olden 
 days kings had on their royal seals their own portraits, 
 and when they stamped anything with the royal seal 
 everyone knew it belonged to the king for they saw 
 his image there. So with Christ's seal Others looking 
 on us and seeing the impression on our clay will say, 
 " They too belong to Christ" 
 
THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW. 
 
 Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow ? — Job xxxviii. 22, 
 
 To-day I want you to come with me into a wonderful 
 treasure-house and we shall walk round and look at the 
 treasures. It is the treasure-house of the snow. 
 Perhaps you never thought very much about the 
 treasures of the snow. You may have thought more of 
 its pleasures, of the snow-balls and snow men you could 
 make, and the sledge rides you could take. But its 
 treasure** are well worth looking at too. 
 
 1. The first treasure we shall look at is its heauty. 
 
 You go to sleep one night in a bleak, dingy world 
 and you wake up next morning to find that the earth 
 has put on its beautiful white winter dress. Last night 
 the brown earth lay cold and bare, a few dead flowers 
 drooped their withered heads, and the tall trees shivered 
 as they waved their leafless arms. But to-day all is 
 transformed : — 
 
 The snow had begun in the gloaming. 
 
 And busily all the night 
 Had been heaping field and highway 
 
 With a silence deep and white. 
 
 Every pine and fir and hemlock 
 
 Wore ermine too dear for an earl, 
 ai6 
 
316 THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW 
 
 And the poorest twig on the elm-tree 
 Was ridged inch deep with pearl.* 
 
 And not only are the earth and trees and flowers 
 changed, but the ugly walls and houses which man 
 has built have got their share of the beautiful white 
 dress. 
 
 Then have you ever tried to look at a snowflake 
 through a microscope ? If you have you will have seen 
 something very wonderful and beautiful, for each 
 snowflake is made up of numbers of little crystals that 
 take the form of six-pointed stars. Sometimes, when 
 the flakes are very tiny, each one is a single star, but 
 more frequently the little stars join together to make 
 a flake. Nor are these crystals all alike. More than a 
 thousand different varieties have been noticed. Some 
 are quite plain like the spokes of a wheel, but in others 
 the rays of the star are formed of the finest lacework. 
 Each little snow crystal is like a perfect little flower 
 which God has sent down from His sky-garden. 
 
 Now I wonder if you ever thought about the trouble 
 God takes to make things beautiful. He need not 
 have made the snowflakes so lovely. It would have 
 been enough if He had made them useful. But He 
 could not make them otherwise, just because He is 
 God, and God is love ; He could not have made them 
 otherwise, because He wanted to give us joy. Every- 
 thing that God makes is beautiful. He made the 
 flowers, and the trees, and the grass, the moon and the 
 stars, the blue sea, and the everlasting hills. It is 
 * J. Russell Lowell, The First Snowfall. 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 22 317 
 
 man who spoils things and makes them ugly. He digs 
 up the beautiful green fields and plants ugly towns on 
 them, or runs railways through the middle of them, or 
 covers them with heaps of coal refuse. 
 
 God meant our souls to be beautiful too, but we have 
 allowed sin to spoil them. Yet they can still be made 
 beautiful if we will give them back into His keeping to 
 mould them. 
 
 2. The next treasure I want you to look at is the 
 warmth of the snow. 
 
 Perhaps you think it is a funny thing to call the 
 snow warm. You could have understood if I had 
 called it cold, because you know how your fingers tingle 
 when you try to make snow-balls. Nevertheless the 
 snow forms a warm blanket for the earth. In the 
 Psalms there is a verse that says, "He giveth snow 
 like wool." And snow is just like wool because it 
 prevents heat from escaping. When it falls on the 
 earth it helps to keep in the heat that the earth has 
 absorbed during the summer-time. 
 
 Scientists who have made experiments have found 
 out that under two feet of snow the temperature is 
 forty degrees warmer than above it, and in cold 
 climates farmers depend on the snow to keep the hard 
 frosts off their sown crops. Underneath the snow 
 beautiful flowers have been found growing that would 
 have perished in much milder climates if exposed to 
 the air, and up in the Alps some of the loveliest flowers 
 grow on the edge of the snow-fielda 
 
318 THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW 
 
 Little snowflakes falling lightly, 
 Little snowflakes falling whitely, 
 Cover up the sleeping flowers, 
 Keep them warm through winter hoars. 
 
 Do you know 
 
 "Why the snow 
 Is hurrying through the garden so? 
 
 Just to spread 
 
 A nice soft bed 
 For the sleepy flowers' head, 
 
 To cuddle up the baby ferns, and smooth the lily's sheet, 
 And tuck a warm white blanket down around the roses' feet. 
 
 I wonder what the flowers think when the snow 
 comes on the top of them ? Perhaps they think it is 
 very hard to be shut away from the light. But if the 
 snow didn't come they would never blossom next 
 spring. And I think it is just like that with the hard 
 things we have to endure. It is the difficulties we 
 overcome and the hardships we bear that make the 
 sweetest and fairest flowers blossom in our characters. 
 
 3. Another of the treasures of the snow is its poioer. 
 
 If you watch it coming down so gently and softly 
 you may think it is one of the weak things of the 
 world, and if you weigh a snowflake on a pair of scales 
 it will not even make the scales tremble. Yet a 
 snowstorm can stop trains, block roads, break telegraph 
 wires, interrupt labour. And up in the mountains 
 avalanches of snow can destroy villages, tear great 
 rocks from their foundations, change the face of a 
 mountain-side. 
 
 Now sometimes we are tempted to think we can't 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 22 319 
 
 be of very much use and can't do very much good in 
 the world. We are so weak and small, and the world 
 is such a very big place, and we are tempted to give 
 up trying. But remember it is each little snowflake 
 doing its own part that makes for strength, each one 
 falling in its own place without ceasing. And if the 
 tiny snowflakes that weigh next to nothing can be so 
 powerful, surely we can be of very great value if we 
 put our weight on the right side. 
 
 4. One more treasure I want you to look at. It is* 
 the purity of the snow. 
 
 Newly fallen snow is the whitest thing in the world. 
 If you take out your handkerchief on a snowy day you 
 know how grey and grimy it looks. But when the 
 snow falls on a city steeet it does not stay white long. 
 Soon it gets covered with soot, or mixed with mud and 
 turned into slush, and then we get rid of it as quickly 
 as we can by carting it away. 
 
 Now you remember we noticed that sin spoiled our 
 beauty. Well, there is another thing it does — it soils 
 our whiteness. We are not long in ttie world before 
 it begins to lay its ugly marks upon us. And those 
 marks will never come off unless we ask God to wash 
 them clean. 
 
 God can melt tiie dirty snow in our city streets. He 
 can lift it up into the clouds and turn it again into 
 beautiful white snow. And He can lift us up too and 
 wash away all our stains and make us "whiter than 
 snow." 
 
WHO SENDS THE RAIN? 
 
 Hath the rain a father? — Job xxxviii. 28. 
 
 The words of the text sound as if they were a bit out 
 of a fairy tale. Where but in a fairy tale does one 
 hear of such a thing as the rain having a father ? You 
 say to yourselves that if every verse in this wonderful 
 Book of Job were like this one you would read it 
 straight through without stopping. 
 
 As most of you know, the Book of Job was written 
 by an Oriental — that is a person belonging to a country 
 far away to the east — and eastern people have ways of 
 thinking very different from ours. Even the ancient 
 Greeks, who were not Orientals, had a way of putting 
 everything under charge of some god. The air, the 
 winds, and the waters were peopled with spiritual 
 beings, and everything in the natural world was under 
 their control. Iris was the goddess who brought the 
 beautiful rainbow out of the dark clouds and formed 
 with it a bridge between earth and heaven. Aurora 
 was the goddess by whose power the dawn crimsoned 
 the east and ushered in each new day. 
 
 Your text is an example of the same thing. Instead 
 of asking, " Who made the rain t " the writer has put 
 down, " Hath the rain a father ? " 
 
 320 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 28 321 
 
 Little boys and girls are like these people in a 
 certain way. Before they go to school for the first 
 time, they think of nearly everything about them as 
 being alive. The wind is something that is very 
 strong and is often cruel. The moon is a face that 
 keeps laughing all the time. The huge guardian 
 trees of the wood are hoary old men, older than 
 any grandfather. Jack Frost is a funny little man 
 who on cold mornings draws lovely pictures on the 
 windows. 
 
 But school soon drives away all those ideas. There 
 you learn things about nature. You are very soon able 
 to say, " I know where the rain comes from. It comes 
 from the clouds, and the clouds come from the sea ; it 
 is the sun that raises the vapours from the sea to form 
 the clouds, and these clouds are driven by the winds 
 and attracted by the mountains, and so reach places 
 where they are to send down showers upon the ground. 
 It is all very true, and as I said interesting also ; but 
 the more you study the more you want to put the 
 question, " Who superintends everything ? Who really 
 does send the rain ? " 
 
 Not that you like it ! We in this dim and cloudy 
 country have rather a prejudice against rain. Once a 
 boy had been promised a visit to a farm. He could 
 hardly sleep for joy the night before the promised visit. 
 He thought of all he would see there. There was the 
 stable, and the big horse on which he would get a ride. 
 There were hens and ducks. There was the ploughman 
 who might take him a drive in his cart, and allow him 
 
322 WHO SENDS THE RAIN? 
 
 to hold the reins. But when the morning came, the 
 rain was lashing on the windows. Even before he got 
 up he knew that there was no chance of going to the 
 farm that day, so he cried, and complained that his 
 holiday had been spoilt by the nasty rain. But at the 
 very farm which the little fellow was to visit, his uncle, 
 when he rose and saw the rain falling, rubbed his 
 hands, and was as jolly as his young nephew had been 
 the evening before. His land wanted rain, and if it 
 had delayed coming what was growing in the fields 
 would have been ruined. 
 
 Even when the rain cheats you of a trip to the 
 country don't forget that it may be a great blessing 
 to the farmer. A traveller with his guide was 
 on one occasion passing over the range of Carmel 
 when rain began to fall in torrents. The guide 
 threw a large Arab cloak over the traveller, say- 
 ing, "May God preserve you, while He is blessing 
 the fields." 
 
 There is a great English writer who speaks of the 
 cloud that brings the rain as " The Angel of the Sea." 
 That is a beautiful thought; but this verse gives us 
 one that is even finer. It is that the God who sends 
 the soft gentle rain, as well as the great dashing 
 rains, is your Father and mine. He takes care of 
 UB, and will never really le<i anything hurt us. His 
 plan for all of us must in the end be kind, for 
 He is too wise to make mistakes and too loving to 
 do anything that is against the real good of His 
 creatures. 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 28 323 
 
 Soft comes the April rain to bud and flower 
 And tender grass:— the shrinking violet 
 
 Unharmed receives the gently falling shower. 
 And scarce her petals by its gift are wet: 
 
 The blue-bell, peeping from the trellised bower, 
 Holds up her tiny goblet to the sky, 
 
 Till on its rim a dainty pearl is set, 
 
 Such as the Indies cannot give nor buy : — 
 
 Hid in the fragrant blossom sits the bee, 
 
 Secure ; the oriole forgets his melody. 
 
 And trails his scarlet wings, his ebon bill 
 Uplifting gratefully ; and as I look, the hill 
 
 Is bathed in sunlight; ceased the gentle rain, 
 
 And bird and bee take up their song again. ^ 
 
 * Robert F. Roden, in A Garkund of Verse, 158. 
 
POINTERS. 
 
 The Bear with her train. — Job xxxviii. 32. 
 
 We all know a pointer when we see it, don't we ? It 
 is a long slender piece of wood which our teachers use 
 to show us places on the map, or point out words or 
 figures on the blackboard. Yes, but the school pointer 
 is only one kind of pointer, and any of you who think 
 a moment will be able to tell me of many more. There 
 are, for instance, the signposts at the cross-roads with 
 their long outstretched arms pointing to the different 
 roads ; there is the pointed hand with the sticking-out 
 first finger which shows the way to any special place 
 or object; there is the weathercock on the steeple 
 which points in the direction from which the wind 
 blows ; there are the hands of the clock which point to 
 the hours and the minutes ; and last, but not least, 
 there is the magnetic needle of the compass which 
 always points to the north. 
 
 Well, the pointers of which we are going to speak 
 this morning are older than any of these pointers. 
 The chances are that they are older than the world 
 itself. For thousands, perhaps millions, of years they 
 have pointed steadily to the same object, and for 
 thousands of years to come they will point to it still. 
 
 324 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 32 325 
 
 They are such important pointers that they each 
 have a name. These names sound rather queer, but 
 here they are, and this is how you spell them ! 
 D-u-b-h-e, Dubhe ; and M-e-r-a-k, Merak. Have you 
 guessed them yet ? Though you may not know them 
 by their names you know them well by sight. You 
 must have noticed them many times shining up in the 
 sky, for they are the two stars in the blade of the 
 " Plough " which always point to the Pole Star. They 
 are the compass of the sky. 
 
 You know what the " Plough " is like. It is a cluster 
 of seven stars. Three of them form the handle of the 
 plough, and four form the blade. The two which form 
 the front part of the blade farthest away from the 
 handle are our friends with the strange names. 
 
 Now the " Plough " is part of a constellation or cluster 
 of stars known as the " Great Bear." The three handle 
 stars are the Bear's tail, and the four blade stars are 
 part of the Bear's body. You may have seen pictures 
 of the various groups of stars showing the people and 
 animals they were supposed to resemble. From these 
 they received their names. As far as we know it was 
 the Chaldeans, five thousand years ago, who first named 
 and studied the stars. At any rate by the time of Job 
 this particular cluster was known as the " Bear," and 
 when our text speaks of God guiding " the Bear with 
 her train " it just means that God guides the stars that 
 form that constellation — the train being the tail stars. 
 
 Different nations have given the "Great Bear'* 
 different names, according to the pictures they fancied 
 
326 POINTERS 
 
 it formed. The Greeks called it " a chariot " ; and the 
 ancient Gauls named it " Arthur's Chariot " ; whilst 
 our own forefathers spoke of it as the " Churrs Wain " 
 — that is to say, the peasant's waggon, now corrupted 
 into " Charles' Wain." The Americans call it the 
 " Dipper," because they think that the part we know as 
 the " Plough " is shaped like a ladle — and so it is. 
 
 But the " Great Bear " is not the only bear. There 
 is a " Little Bear " as well ; and the bright star in the 
 very tip of the " Little Bear's " tail is to the sailor or 
 the traveller the most important star in all the sky, 
 for it shines always in the north, and from it they can 
 find their way. Indeed, before the compass was in- 
 vented the stars were all that men had to guide them. 
 By studying the map of the sky they found their way 
 on the map of the world. 
 
 We have got rather far away from our friends 
 Dubhe and Merak, but now we are coming back to 
 them. The marvellous thing about them is that though 
 the " Great Bear " changes its place and circles round 
 the Pole Star, these pointers, no matter where they 
 may be, always point straight to the Pole Star. Other 
 stars and other constellations may come and go, but if 
 the sky is clear and the stars are shining, there you 
 will see the North Star and its faithful pointers. 
 
 Now, I wonder how you would like to be a pointer 
 star ? It sounds a far-away sort of business, doesn't 
 it ? and a cold one too on a frosty winter night ! But 
 there is no need for you to climb up into the sky in 
 order to be a pointer. You can be a pointer here od 
 
JOB XXXVIII. 32 327 
 
 earth ; and you can point to a star more splendid than 
 any that ever shone in the heavens. You can point to 
 the Star of all the worlds, Christ Himself. 
 
 You remember that when Christ came a beautiful 
 star appeared and stood over the inn at Bethlehem ; 
 but the Baby that lay in the manger was greater than 
 the star that shone over Him. He was the Star of 
 stars, the Star that was to bring peace and hope and 
 love into this dark world. And we older people and 
 you boys and girls can be pointers to that Star. With 
 God's help we can always keep true and faithful to 
 Christ. We can live and love and work and pray, so 
 that looking at us the world will say, " There is one 
 who points us to Christ." 
 
SEEING THE KING. 
 
 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; 
 But now mine eye seeth thee. — Job xlii. 5. 
 
 Once upon a time there lived in a far-away land a 
 poor man who had one little son. The boy's mother 
 was dead, and as he had no brothers or sisters to play 
 with he was often very lonely. 
 
 Not very far from where the boy lived was the 
 palace of the great King. But although his sovereign 
 lived so near the boy had never seen him ; for this 
 King had the power to make himself invisible, and it 
 was only those whose eyes had been touched with a 
 certain eye-salve who could behold him. 
 
 Now the boy's father worked for the King and he 
 went twice every day to the palace. In the morning 
 he went to get orders for the day's work. In the 
 evening he gave an account of all that he had done, 
 and received the royal pardon for the mistakes he had 
 made. 
 
 The boy always looked forward to the hour when his 
 father came home at night. For then the man took 
 him on his knee and told him stories about the King, 
 and of how great, and wise, and kind, and good he was. 
 And he told him, too, about the beautiful palace and how 
 
 S88 
 
JOB XLII. 5 329 
 
 some day, when his work was done, he was going to 
 live there with the King always, and never be hungry, 
 or cold, or tired any more. 
 
 Sometimes the boy asked why his father worked for 
 the King, and the father always answered, " Because I 
 love him and he loves me and has done so much for 
 me. Although I am only a poor man he calls me his 
 friend, and it is always the King's friends who work for 
 him. First they are his friends and then they are his 
 servants — not because they have to be, but because 
 they want to be." The boy used often to puzzle over 
 that answer, but his father always said, " Some day 
 you will understand." 
 
 Now the more his father talked about the King, the 
 more the boy wished to see him. It was all very well 
 hearing about him, but how much better it would be 
 to see him for himself ! But his clothes were very old 
 and shabby and he was afraid to enter the royal 
 presence in rags. 
 
 One night his father had been talking to him as 
 usual and at last he could contain himself no longer. 
 " Oh, Father," he said, " I wish I could see the Kins." 
 And his father replied, "Then you shall see him." 
 The boy could scarcely believe his ears. "May I 
 really and truly go and see him?" he asked. "Are 
 you sure he would really wish to see me ? " " Why, of 
 course," replied the father, " do you not know that the 
 King has issued an invitation for anybody to come to 
 him who wants to come ? " " Then why doesn't every- 
 body go ? " asked the boy. « Ah," said his father, " that 
 
330 SEEING THE KING 
 
 is because some people are so foolish as not to luaiit 
 to go." 
 
 The boy felt very happy that at last he was really 
 and truly going to see the King, but suddenly he 
 remembered his shabby clothes. " Oh, Father," he said, 
 " I can't go in these rags and I have no money to buy 
 new ones. I'm afraid I can't see the King after all." 
 But his father answered, "Don't you know that he 
 would rather have you come just as you are ? " " And 
 when shall we start?" asked the boy. "May we go 
 to-morrow morning ? " But his father replied, " No, we 
 shall start to-night. It is never too soon to go to the 
 King." 
 
 So they set out for the palace in the darkness and 
 at last they reached the gates. The father gave the 
 password to the sentry and immediately the gates were 
 opened and they found themselves in a large courtyard. 
 Crossing this they reached the palace and the father 
 led his son through some corridors till they came to 
 the King's presence chamber. The door was shut, but 
 the man knocked and immediately a kind voice said, 
 " Come in." They entered at once and the little boy 
 felt very excited and rather shy. 
 
 But when he got inside he was much astonished. 
 The room was beautiful, far more beautiful than he 
 had ever imagined, but to all appearance it was empty. 
 At one end stood the throne, but apparently it was 
 vacant. Then he remembered the eye-salve, and just 
 at that moment his father spoke. " I have brought 
 thee mine only son, oh gracious King. He desired to 
 
JOB XLII. 5 331 
 
 see thee and to know thee." And the kind Toice 
 replied, oh, so gently, "Welcome, little boy, I have 
 been waiting for you, and I am glad you have 
 come so soon. They call me 'the Friend of little 
 children.' Would you like me to be your friend ? " 
 
 And the little boy fell on his knees before the 
 throne and said, "Indeed, oh great King, it is too 
 much to ask, but if thou wilt be my friend, then I shall 
 be thy servant all my days, even as my father is." 
 Then the King replied, " Little boy I am your friend. 
 Put your hand in mine." 
 
 So the boy put out his hand although he could not 
 see the King and immediately he felt it grasped by a 
 hand that was kind and strong. Then his eyes were 
 touched and something that was darkening their vieion 
 fell away, and he saw the King in his beauty. 
 
 The boy bowed his face to the ground but the King 
 lifted him up. He set him on his knee, and put his 
 kind arms round him. And he told him how much he 
 had loved him and longed for him to come to him, and 
 how, now that he had once found his way, he must 
 return very often until the day arrived when he should 
 come to live with him for ever. Then he set him 
 down very gently and bade him " Good night," and the 
 father and son set out on their homeward way. 
 
 But the presence of the King seemed to go with 
 them, and all the way something was singing in the 
 boy's heart. And at last he said, " Oh, Father, you 
 didn't tell me half of how good and great and loving 
 he was. It is far, far better to know the King than 
 
332 SEEING THE KING 
 
 just to hear about him. And now he is going to be 
 my friend too ! " 
 
 Boys and girls, there is a great King who wants to 
 be your Friend. Yoa have heard about Him often from 
 your father and mother, from your minister or your 
 teacher. But there is something far better than hear- 
 ing about Him and that is seeing Him and knowing 
 Him for yourself. There is no comparison between 
 the two. 
 
 Do you know Him like that ? It is never too soon 
 to begin to know the Friend of little children and He 
 invites everybody to come to Him. How can you 
 make Him your Friend ? Just by putting your hand 
 in His. Then He will anoint your eyes with the eye- 
 salve of faith and love, and you will see Him in His 
 beauty. And He will lead you safely through life's 
 joys and sorrows and temptations till at last He brings 
 you to dweU with Him for ever where you will behold 
 Him face to face. 
 
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