ï~~YL
tr
l:
j
y;
i
a,
z
n:                                                 A"
9
t




ï~~I




ï~~


ï~~


ï~~0Â~.




ï~~"
ti




ï~~'      l

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
BY
F. W. P. GREENWOOD, D. D.,
MINISTER OF KING'S CHAPEL, BOSTON.

NEW EDITION.
BOSTON:
AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION.
1868.




ï~~Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the
AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO.,
CAMBRIDGE.




ï~~EDITORIAL NOTE.
Tins little volume, which has been long
out of print, is republished at the request of
the "Ladies' Commission on Sunday-School
""Books."
SMany parents, in search of some helpful,reading for their children, will recognize it
is one of the pleasant instructors of their
_20,jwn early years.
JANUARY 1, 1868.




ï~~


ï~~PREFACE.

THE sermons which are contained in this
little volume were addressed to the children of
my church. As I knew that they were interested in hearing them, I hoped that they
and other children might be interested in reading them; and therefore I have caused them
to be printed. I need not say how highly I
shall be gratified, if they are read with favor
and profit by those for whose use they are
published.
In writing this series of discourses, I endeavored to adapt my style to the age and
capacity of my audience, by making it as simple as it could be made, consistently with a
due degree of solemnity. I resolved also to
dispense with the advantage which might be
derived from the introduction of illustrative




ï~~vi

PREFACE.

stories, as I thought that children were already in possession of abundance of that species
of instruction, and that I would rather trust to
the ideas presented in a plain didactic form, to
fix their attention.
My hope is, that this book may be found an
available addition to the Sunday reading of
children, from about seven to twelve years of
age, in the family, or in the Sunday school.
As I have referred, in the first sermon, to a
Catechism, I have appended it to the volume.
It is selected from other Catechisms, not because it claims superiority, but because it has
been in use in the church to which I minister,
for a term of more than fifty years.
I now humbly ask the blessing of our heavenly Father on this book, and on "little children."
F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
DECzEMBER, 1840.




ï~~CONTENTS.
SERMON I.         PAs
GOD CREATED YOU........... I
SERMON II.
GOD CREATED YOU TO BE GOOD AND HAPPY.. 11
SERMON III.
GOD SEES AND KNOWS YOU...... 24
SERMON IV.
You SHOULD PRAY TO GOD...... 84
SERMON V.
OFFICES AND TITLES OF JESUS CHRIST.... 45
SERMON VI.
INFANCY OF JESUS...........  58
SERMON VII.
CHILDHOOD OF JESUS......... 67
SERMON VIII.
Tn NOTICE TAKEN OF CHILDREN BY JESUS. 79




ï~~Viii           CONTENTS.
SERMON IX.
A NEW-YEAR'S WISH.........    90
SERMON X.
FAULTS OF CHILDREN......... 100
SERMON XI.
A SUMMARY..............  111
A CATECHISM FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN 123




ï~~SERMON I.

---4---
GOD CREATED YOU.
COME, YE CHILDREN, HEARKEN UNTO ME. I WILL TEACH
YOU THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
IF my children will look in their Bibles for
the Thirty-fourth Psalm, and the eleventh verse,
they will find there the words of the text. In
the language of Scripture, I call upon you to
listen to me, while with affectionate concern
for your improvement and happiness, I endeavor to teach you the principles of religion, or,
which is the same thing, the fear of the Lord.
I mean to do this in some sermons, which I
shall write on purpose for you, and which I
shall try to make so plain, that you cannot
help understanding them if you will only listen.
And yet, though I shall try to make them
plain, they will have the same things in them
which I preach to grown-up people.    And
these things are very important. Indeed they
are the most important things which can be
told either to men and women or to children.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

My first sermon will be about the first and
most important thing to be known, which is,
that you, and I, and all people, and all creatures and things, were made by one Being, or
Mind, whom we call God.    You remember
that the first question in your catechism is,
"Can you tell me, child, who made you?"
And the answer is, "God made me, and all
things." The question is a natural one, and
the answer is perfectly true. And how do we
know that it is true? You may say, Because
the Bible tells us so. That is a good reason.
The Bible does tell us so very often. The
first words in the Bible are, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
And afterwards, in that same chapter it is
said, "So God created man."   And in the
fourth commandment it says, "The Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is." There are a great many other
places in which God is spoken of as the
Maker of all things, and the Maker of all
men. And so you would be right in saying
that the Bible tells you, that the answer in
the catechism is true. But there is another
way of showing its truth. Hearken to me,
and I will explain it to you.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

There is our church organ, with its rows
of gilt pipes and its case of carved oak.
Would you not say, that a person who should
look at it, and insist that it was not made at
all, was ignorant, or stupid, or perverse to a
remarkable degree? The work and arrangement which you perceive even on the outside
of it convince you that it was made by art.
And when you hear the fine music which
may be brought out of it, and are shown that
this effect is produced by means of wind,
which is blown through a multitude of pipes
within the case, you are still more convinced
that it was made, and did not come there and
breathe such rich and regular melody by
chance. You know that it must have been
made on purpose to produce music. You see
that it could not make itself; and that it must
have been made by some ingenious workman.
Well; but who made the workman? Did he
come by chance, or make himself? Consider
this matter. Look at any man, or any child.
His eyes, and his mouth, and his whole body
are as regular, and as much like workmanship, as the outside of that organ, and they are
much nicer workmanship. And his voice can




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

produce much more wonderful music than the
organ can; because it can speak of a great
many different things; and I dare say, that
the voice of a good child is sweeter music to
his parents than any they ever heard from
the organ. Then, if you were to inquire of
learned men, who have examined what is in
the inside of the human frame, they would
assure you that the workmanship there is
much superior to the inside of an organ.
They would assure you that even the hand
which builds an organ, or plays upon it after
it is built, is a much more curious instrument
than the organ itself. Its muscles and joints
and nerves and blood-vessels are much more
ingeniously contrived and put together than
the pipes of an organ. Then you see that
men must be made, as well as organs.
But who made men? Can a man make
himself?  No.   Every man knows that he
did not make himself, and could not make
himself.  Indeed, there are very few men
who know how curious and wonderful the
workmanship is which composes the human
body.  How can a man make a machine,
when he is ignorant of the parts which com



ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

pose it, and of the manner in which they are
fitted to each other?  Ask the best physicians, and they will tell you, that though by
long study and examination, they have gained
some knowledge of the human frame, there is
a great deal about it which they do not understand. How, then, can men make a human
frame, or body, when even the most learned
do not know all the parts of it, and all the
motions of it?
If an organ gets out of tune, the man who
made it, or any man who knows how organs
are made, can look into it, and see what pipes
are out of order, and then hlie can go to work
and mend them. And this is because he is
acquainted with every part of the organ, and
can see exactly what he must do to it when it
is out of tune. But it very often happens
that a little child gets out of order, and is very
sick, and pines away, and its father and
mother do not know what is the matter with
it, and they send for the physician, and he
does not know what is the matter, though he
is a good physician, and frequently cures people; and no medicine is of any service to the
child, and at last it grows cold, and dies, and




ï~~6

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

its voice, which used to make such sweet
music for its father and mother, is hushed,
and never sings again on this earth. And so
you see, that they who did not know what
was the matter with it, and could not cure it,
could not have made it.  Who, then, did
make it? It must have been a Maker who
is much wiser than the wisest of men. God
made it; and he made us all.
And not only did God make all men, all
human beings, but he made all things. God
made everything that you behold, and everything that is. Do you not suppose that the
great and mighty sun, which gives light and
heat to the whole world, must have been
made by a Being greater and mightier than
the sun? How calmly and softly the moon
shines down upon you, on a pleasant summer
night, as if it loved to watch over good children, and cover them all around with peace
and moonbeams. Do you not think it must
have been a great and good Being who placed
it in the sky, and gave it all that quiet and
gentle light? Then there is the multitude
of stars, twinkling over your heads like so
many lamps burning up in a grand arch.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

But almost every child knows that they are
not lamps, but vast worlds, larger than the
whole earth, and as large as our sun, which is
more than a million times as large as the
earth. Every star is a sun; and it seems like
a lamp, only because it is so far away from you.
So, when you see the twinkling stars, you
see mighty suns. There they certainly are,
shining gloriously like our own sun, and very
probably giving light and heat to thousands
of worlds, which are full of creatures like our
own earth, but which are so far away that we
cannot see them at all. It must be a very
powerful Being who made all these suns and
worlds. That Being is God.
Now that I am speaking of the stars, I will
tell you what has sometimes happened to me,
when I have been in grief or trouble, and my
heart has felt sad and heavy. If, at such a
time, I have looked at the stars, and considered that they are mighty worlds, and that
they all stand quietly in their places, and do
their duty under the eye of their Maker, I
have thought that the same God who made
them made me too, and that he must be so
wise and good as to know what is best for me,




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

and to take care of me as well as of them.
And after I have thought this so strongly that
the stars almost seemed to speak it into my
heart, I have been comforted, and my sadness
has left me. Perhaps when you are older,
and are in any trouble or sorrow, the stars
may speak comfortably to you, in the same
manner.
But, my children, it is not only these high
and stupendous things which require the hand
of God to make them. Much smaller things,
which we see about us on the earth, could
only be fashioned by the same hand. The
green grass, and the gray moss, and the sweet
and lovely flowers, and the little birds, and
the yet smaller insects are made by God; and
no one else could make them. In all such
things there is something curious for us to
learn, and much besides which is past our
finding out. Do you think that the most ingenious man on earth could make a butterfly?
He might make something to look like a butterfly, but he could not cause it to live and
to feel. No; he could no more make a butterfly than he could make a star. For my
own part, I would as soon undertake to make




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

a magnificent starry world, and hang it up,
millions of miles away in the sky, as to make
a real living butterfly or a beetle or a creeping worm. Therefore, children, you should
be careful never to despise those little things
as some people very unwisely do. It is much
wiser to study and admire them. But if you
should not have time or inclination to study
them, I do hope that you will never be so silly
as to despise them; for you may rest assured,
that what God, in his wisdom, has seen fit to
make, and nothing but his wisdom and power
could make, it does not become you or any
one else to treat with contempt.
My children, hearken unto me a moment
longer, and then I shall finish this sermon.
In explaining to you how you may know that
God made you, and all things, I spoke only
of your bodies, and did not mention your
souls. But if God made your bodies, much
more must he have been the Maker of your
souls, - those souls which think and remember and feel and are listening to me now, -
for those souls are even more wonderfully
made than your bodies, or than the stars of
the sky. Or, if they are not more wonder



ï~~10

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

ful, they are certainly more important to each
one of you. But as I shall have occasion, at
some other time, to speak to you more about
your souls, or that most important part of you
which thinks and understands and acts, I
will only say now, that the soul of every child
is dear to God who made it; and I sincerely
believe, that though God is pleased to see
the sun and moon and stars shining to his
praise, and the grass springing, and the flowers blowing on his own earth, and all creatures enjoying the life which he gave them,
he is more pleased to see the soul of a child
shining with the light of virtue, and growing
up in goodness and usefulness and joy, like a
beautiful and healthy plant.
If I find that you understand this sermon,
and are interested by it, I shall preach to you
some more discourses, which I hope will be
pleasant and instructive. And now let us,
together, ascribe unto Almighty God, our
Creator and heavenly Father, all praise and
glory forever.




ï~~SERMON II.

GOD CREATED YOU TO BE GOOD AND HAPPY.
REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY
YOUTH.
MY children will find the text of this my
second sermon in that book of the Old Testament which is called Ecclesiastes, or the
Preacher, and was written by King Solomon.
That book has been divided into twelve chapters; and the text is a part of the first verse
of the twelfth chapter.
In my first sermon I told you how you
could know that God is your Creator. I shall
go on to tell you how you may remember
your Creator in the days of your childhood and
youth. For certainly, as he is your Creator,
as he made you so wonderfully, and placed
you in this world, and surrounded you with
the other wonderful works of his hand, and
gave you all that you have, you ought to remember him; that is, you ought to think of
him often and seriously, and learn what it




ï~~12

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

is that he wishes you to do, and sincerely resolve and try to do it. Surely it must be
very wrong for any one to forget the great
Being who made him. I hope, my children,
that you never will forget him, but will take
care to remember him, in the days of your
youth, and all the days of your life.
In order that you may learn what it is that
your Creator wishes you to do, you must consider why it was that he made you. He must
have had some purpose in making you; now,
what was that purpose? For what did God
make you? Did hlie not place you in a magnificent and beautiful world, and make it very
pleasant for you to look upon all the grand
and lovely sights which it contains?  Is it
not pleasant to exercise your bodily faculties,
that is, to see, and hear, and to taste the food
which God has provided for you, and to run
about and play? And, is it not pleasant to
exercise your mental faculties, that is, to get
all the knowledge which is suitable to your
age, and to feel that you are growing wiser as
you grow older? And is it not pleasant to
exercise your affections, that is, to love your
friends, and be loved by them, and to be kind




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.      1

13

and grateful and generous? Is not all this
pleasant? Then you may be sure that God
made you to be happy. And though you may
be sometimes sick and in pain, and often unhappy, yet you are sensible that sickness and
unhappiness are not your natural and proper
state and condition, and therefore that you
were not made for the purpose of being sick
and unhappy; but that God's chief design in
making you was that you should be healthy
and happy. But then he did not make you
to be happy at all events, and in any way, but
only on certain conditions, and in one particular way. Let us see what that way is.
If you are ever so healthy, and are surrounded by everything that might make you
comfortable, if at the same time you are in a
violent passion, or have disobeyed and justly
displeased your parents, or have done anything wrong, you are not comfortable, you are
not happy. The sun may shine as brightly
as ever, and the flowers smell as sweetly, and
the birds sing as gayly, and yet, if you are not
good, all this, and much more, will fail to give
you pleasure, and you will be unhappy, even
in the midst of happiness. On the other hand,




ï~~14        SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

if you have been good, and have nothing on
your mind which troubles you, you will enjoy
all pleasant things with a double relish, and
even bear many unpleasant things with patience. You cannot be really happy without
being good; and therefore you may conclude,
that though God made you to be happy, he
made you to find your greatest happiness in
being good.
It needs care to be good, I know; and
sometimes it appears to be easier for children,
and grown people too, to do wrong than to do
right, notwithstanding they would be happy
in doing right, and unhappy in doing wrong.
But this does not prove that you are not
made just as you ought to be, and made to be
good and happy. I will call your attention
once more to the comparison of the organ.
Suppose that a person should go up to it, and,
without any skill or attention, strike about on
the keys, wherever his hands might happen to
fall.  Instead of making music, he would
make most terrible discord: yet it would not
be fair to say, that the organ was built to
make discord, would it? Surely not. It was
built to make music, because, when it is




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

15

played upon properly, it does make music.
It is an instrument of music, and not an instrument of discord, even though it may be easier
to make discord on it than to make music.
Music is pleasant; discord is not pleasant, but
painful. We must believe that all the time
and skill and expense which were devoted to
the building of the organ were devoted to
bring forth what should be pleasant, and not
what should be painful.   The organ may
produce discord, and will produce discord if its
keys are struck ignorantly and improperly.
But not so, if they are touched with knowledge and care. Let the very person who
made such discord with its tones take lessons
in music, and pay attention to them, and
strive to improve himself by practice, and then
he will play on it better and better, committing mistakes, most probably, as he goes on,
but still playing better and better, every day,
till he draws forth music from it which charms
himself and every one else.
It is very much the same with yourselves.
You were made for goodness, virtue, holiness,
which may be called spiritual music, or the
music of the soul. Love, hope, fear, joy,




ï~~16

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

grief, are the musical notes within you. If
your will is suffered to strike those notes, in
a violent and careless and uninstructed manner, discord and sin will very likely be the
consequence. But if you are rightly instructed in your duty, and you pay continual attention to the lessons which you receive, --for if
you do not pay this attention yourselves the
lessons will be of little service to you, - then
your affections will be made to harmonize together more and more, and it will be easy and
delightful to you to produce spiritual music,
that is, to be good, and this music will be very
sweet to the ears of your friends and of listening angels, and of God who made you, and
made you to be good and happy.
You have a great many teachers, to instruct
you in spiritual music. Some of them are
visible; such as your parents and your minister and your schools and your books; and
some of them are invisible, such as experience
and habit and conscience.    But let your
teachers be ever so many, and ever so well
qualified, if you do not attend to their instructions, and do not try to profit by them, you
will never be accomplished in that goodness




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

17

which I call spiritual harmony, but you will
go on making discord through the whole of
your lives. And what sad lives, such lives
of discord will be! I
I have said, that you must remember your
Creator by thinking of him, and trying to
please him; and that the way to please him is
by being good, which is also the way to be
happy yourselves. Now, if it is so very important to be good, it is also important to know
what it is to be good, as exactly as we can.
A few plain rules will point out to you the best
Ways for a child to take in order to be good.
The first rule of goodness for you to observe, is, to love and obey your parents. It is
true that most children do not need to be told
to love their parents, for they cannot help loving them, and it would be strange if they did
not love them. You see every day that your
parents take care of you, and work for you,
and love you, and so you naturally love them.
But then most of you do need to be reminded
how much you owe to your parents, so that
you may love them more thoughtfully, and
show your love to them in a right and proper
manner.




ï~~18        SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
By saying that your love of your parents
should be thoughtful, I mean that you should
think of their kindness and their watchfulness,
so that your mind may be prepared to show
your love on every occasion. You owe to
your parents more than you do to any other
human beings. You hardly know how much
and how often your parents think of you, and
how constantly they are endeavoring to provide for your happiness and safety. They are
always anxious for the comfort of your body
and the improvement of your mind. They
not only toil that you may not want, and
watch that you may not suffer, but they
would rather want themselves than see you
want, and would rather suffer themselves
than see you suffer. Now you should think
of this, and then your love will be thoughtful,
and will be ready to show itself in a proper
manner. And how will it show itself in a
proper manner?    By leading you to obedience. The best way to show your parents
that you love them is to do the things that
they wish you to do, and to do them willingly
and cheerfully. You should obey them, not
because they are stronger than you, and have




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

19

power to oblige you to obey; but because you
love them, and like to show your love by
pleasing them.   And parents are better
pleased by the obedience of their children
than by anything else. Of course I do not
mean that you should do what is wicked, even
in obedience to your parents; because that
would be to disobey God; but I do not believe that you will be exposed to any such
trial; and you may be assured, that as your
parents are wiser than you are, they will
know what is right better than yourselves,
and will only expect you to do what is really
good.
The second rule of goodness is, to speak the
truth always.  There is a most excellent
beauty in truth. No child and no man can
be good, without being honest and true.
When a child is in the habit of speaking what
is false, the beauty of his soul is gone, and
there is no knowing how deformed it may
grow. The ways of falsehood are crooked
and dark and foul and dangerous, and if you
begin to walk in them, you will soon meet
with shame, and soon after with misery. But
the ways of truth are straight and open, and




ï~~20

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

full of sunshine and honor. Shall I tell you
what a child is like who loves the truth, and
always speaks the truth?  He is like a pure
fountain of water, which exactly reflects the
image of every flower which stands near it,
and every bird which flies over it, and which
is so clear that one can look down into it and
see every little pebble at the bottom. But a
child who does not love the truth, nor speak
it, is like a fountain which has been sadly disturbed and mixed with impurities; it is turbid
and muddy, and no one can see into it, and
there is no refreshment in looking at it. I beseech you, my children, to hold fast to the
truth, and never be afraid of speaking it, and
to shun the crooked paths of deception, and to
keep your souls clean and pure, like fountains
of healthy and crystal water, into which the
flowers and the stars and all men love to look.
The third rule of goodness is, to be just and
kind to all persons. To be just to all persons
commonly means to deal with them and behave towards them in precisely such a way as
they have a right to mark out; to give them
everything which is their due, and keep from
them nothing which is theirs. To be kind to




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

21

all persons is to be ready to oblige all persons
as far as you can; and to forgive those who
have injured you; and to feel a sincere desire
for the happiness of all persons. Justice and
kindness ought always to go together; for
justice is but a rough virtue without kindness,
and kindness is but a weak virtue without
justice; and people will despise one who is
not just, and dislike one who is not kind.
You cannot be completely and consistently
kind, unless you are just; and you cannot be
largely and nobly just, unless you are kind.
Imagine yourselves going along in a road,
with Justice and Kindness for your constant
travelling companions and guides.  Justice
always speaks to you plainly, and prevents
your injuring anybody or anything that you
meet in the way, and sees that you pay exactly all the expenses of your journey; and
Kindness softly asks you to pardon those who
may injure you, and now and then urges you,
with a tender smile on her face, to step a little
out of your way to help those who may need
your assistance. And Justice never frowns on
Kindness; and Kindness never interferes with
Justice. I think that if you observe what Jus



ï~~22

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

tice and Kindness both say to you in the journey of life, other people will be glad to walk
with you, and be sorry to part with you; and
that when you get to the end, you will look
back on your course with satisfaction and joy.
I have now explained to you the three rules
of being good: which are, to love and obey
your parents; to speak the truth always; and
to be just and kind to all persons. To be
good, is to obey and please your Creator, who
made you to be good and happy; and to try
to please and obey your Creator is one method of remembering him, and the best way of
showing that you do remember him truly.
Remember your Creator in the days of your
youth, and then it will be easy and delightful
for you to remember and serve him, in the
days of your manhood, and of your old age,
if it should please him to spare your lives.
And, O my children, let me assure you, that
it is but of little consequence how long or
how short a time you are permitted to live on
the earth, if, while you live here, you remember your Creator, and do the things which
please him.
SI will close this sermon by repeating to you




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

23

a hymn, which is on the same subject, that of
remembering our Creator in the days of youth.
If you are not already acquainted with it, you
had better commit it to memory.
"In the soft season of thy youth,
In nature's smiling bloom,
Ere age arrive, and trembling wait
Its summons to the tomb;
"Remember thy Creator, God;
For him thy powers employ;
Make him thy fear, thy love, thy hope,
Thy confidence, thy joy.
"He shall defend and guide thy course
Through life's uncertain sea,
Till thou art landed on the shore
Of blessed eternity.
"Then seek the Lord betimes, and choose
The path of heavenly truth;
The earth affords no lovelier sight
Than a religious youth."




ï~~SERMON III.

GOD SEES AND KNOWS YOU.
TnHE LORD'S THRONE IS IN HEAVEN; HIS EYES BEHOLD,
HIS EYELIDS TRY, THE CHILDREN (F MEN.
THE above words are from the fourth verse
of the Eleventh Psalm. They mean that God
is over all things in his greatness and majesty,
and that from the height of his exalted power,
or throne, he is not only able to see all men,
but to see into their hearts, and examine their
thoughts, and try them, whether they are good
or evil. The wonderful knowledge of God, by
which he beholds all that we do and all that
we think, is a subject which children ought to
consider, and which I will ask them to consider now.
I told you in my last sermon, that you
should remember your Creator in the days of
your youth, and I told you in what manner
you should remember him. I told you that
you must think of him, and try to please him,
and that you could only please him by being




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

25

good. And I told you what it was to be
good. And now I wish to impress upon your
minds the important truth, that God certainly
knows whether you are good or not. Everything which you do to please God will be
noticed by him, if it is ever so little; and if it
is not noticed by any one else, still it is
noticed by your Creator; for he sees all that
you do, and hears all that you say, and is
acquainted with all that you think. He who
made you never loses sight of you; and as
he made your mind as well as your body, he
sees what your mind is doing as well as what
your body is doing.
It may seem surprising to you, that God
should be able to see all the people, the many
millions of people, who live on the earth, and
know all that they are doing, and all their
most secret feelings and thoughts besides.
But you must remember that he made all these
people, and gave them the power to think,
and that he made the world in which they
live, and those worlds without number which
we call the heavenly bodies; and then you
will perceive that it must be very easy for the
Being who did all this to see all his human




ï~~26

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

creatures, and be acquainted with all their
thoughts. You will not be able to comprehend how he knows all men's thoughts, but
you will be satisfied that it is not difficult for
him to know them, because he formed their
minds, and caused them to begin to think,- so
that he must know more about men's minds
than they do themselves. The knowledge of
this truth should make you careful that your
thoughts should be correct as well as your actions, and that you should really be good,
as well as seem to be good. If you wish
to do a bad thing, and cannot do it, or are
afraid to do it, still God knows your wish,
even though you said nothing and did nothing, and he is displeased with you for that
evil wish. And so if you wish to do a good
thing, and are not able to do it, he knows that
you had a good wish in your heart, and loves
you for that good wish. Therefore, if you
desire to please God, you must endeavor to
have good thoughts in your mind and good
purposes in your hearts; for he will surely
know whether they are there or not.
You must consider also that God sees you
and your thoughts at all times, in the night as




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

27

well as in the day. You cannot see without
light, but God can, because he is an allsufficient light to himself. He who made the
sun and the stars, and gave them all their
light, can surely see without those beams
which they have only borrowed from him.
He commanded the sun to shine for our use,
but not for his own. The Maker of the sun
is brighter than the sun; and the darkness is
no darkness to him.
The truth that God is everywhere present,
and that he always sees us, is expressed so
finely by King David, in the One Hundred and
Thirty-ninth Psalm, that I will read parts of it
to you, and have no doubt that, after what I
have said, you will sufficiently understand
them, without further explanation. "0 O Lord,"
he says, "thou hast searched me, and known
me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine
uprising; thou understandest my thought afar
off."  And again he says, "Whither shall
I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in the
place of the dead, behold thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand
shall hold me." Now listen again to what
he says of God's seeing in the darkness.
"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover
me, - even the night shall be light about
me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;
but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
These words which I have repeated to you
have been often turned into English poetry,
and the meaning of them is so grand that it
always makes the poetry good. Perhaps some
of you remember this verse:" Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the sable wings of night,
One glance from thee, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day."
Children! I when you grow older, many of
you will probably read various works, both in
poetry and prose; and you will meet with
passages in them which you will call very
poetical, very sublime, very true, - and so they
may be; but you will never meet with a passage in all your reading, more poetical, more




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

29

sublime, or more true than the portions of the
psalm of David which I have just recited to
you.
It is certain then, that God sees you always,
and knows whether you are good or not. And
just so certainly as he sees that you are good,
that you remember him, and try to please him,
will he love you and make you happy. God
has promised to love those who keep his commandments. I could show you many such
promises in the Bible. And you perceive that
it must be so. When your parents make a
rule or law for your behavior, you know them
to be desirous that you should keep it, and
you know that they will love you if you do
keep it. They would not make a law for you,
if they did not wish you to observe it. God
would not make a law, if he did not wish to
have it observed. If you do as he wishes, and
observe his laws, he will love you, and make
you happy. You will feel that he loves you,
just as you feel that your parents love you
when you obey them. Are you not happy
when you feel that your parents love you?
Just so will you be happy when you feel that
God loves you. God is your heavenly Parent.




ï~~80

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

He will lead you, and protect you, and will
never suffer any real harm to come to those
whom he loves. He will give you sweet sleep
when you are weary. He will give you health
of body and health of mind. He will make
other people love you and do you good. Such
things are what are called temporal blessings;
and God generally gives them to those whom
he loves. But if he should not give you these,
you will learn, that if he loves you, you can be
happy without them. If you should be ill and
unable to sleep, you can think on his love, and
that will soothe you. If you should be in
grief, the thought of his love will calm you.
If you should be poor, you will feel that his
love is riches enough; and if other people
neglect you, you will be comforted by thinking
that God is near you, and will never forget
nor forsake you. In short, you will find more
and more, as you grow older, that if you continue to remember and obey your Creator,
though you will probably have abundance of
temporal blessings from him, his love alone
will be your greatest happiness; and that if
your temporal blessings are taken away, you
will still be happy, because the love of God




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

31

will be left you. You will learn not to depend for all your happiness on things which
may go away, and leave you miserable; but
you will depend on God, who cannot go away
from you, and you will be happy in his love,
which cannot be taken away from you.
Should you ask the question, What shall I
do for God, who is so good to me; who gives
me friends to take care of me, and so many
excellent and beautiful things to see and enjoy, and who gives me his love, which is
better than all? Can I not do something for
him? No; you can do nothing for him in
the way of helping him; because he is allpowerful, and can do everything, and is allwise, and knows how to do all things right.
He does not need your aid in any of his grand
operations in the universe.  You can only
love him, obey him, and be thankful to him.
But by doing this, you can, in a certain sense,
do something for God. By being good yourselves, you are permitted to do something for
God.   Yes, even a little child can, in this
way of considering the subject, do something
for God, because he does what God wishes
him to do.




ï~~32        SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

Let us suppose that one of you, after thinking how kind his earthly father had always
been to him, should feel full of gratitude, and
run and say to him, Father, you are very
kind to me, you are always doing me good, -
what can I do for you? can I not help you in
your business or your profession? His father
would probably say to him, No, my child, you
cannot help me in that way. You are too
young and too weak to be able to do anything
for me in the business which I pursue; but
in another way you can do something for me,
and something which I shall be rejoiced to
have you do. You can obey me; you can
mind what I say to you; you can love your
brothers and sisters, and be kind to them, and
help them, so that I may have a peaceful,
happy family around me, and that will be doing something for me, a great deal for me.
In a way similar to this, you can do something for your Maker. One of the methods
which God has chosen in making his human
children happy, is by so placing them together
in the world, that they may make each other
happy. And when they make each other
happy, by doing real and lasting good to each




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

33

other, they are doing something for God. If
you are kind, and benevolent, and gentle, and
accommodating to those who are around you,
no matter whether they are rich or poor, of
this country or that country, you are doing
something for God, for they are all his children, and he desires to see them all dwelling
peacefully and happily together.
Yes, my children, though God is so powerful, that he does whatever pleases him in
heaven and on earth, and keeps all the stars
in their stations, and guides all the planets in
their mighty courses, and sends the lightnings,
and rules over the minds of men and angels,
yet you, by your virtues, by your simple obedience, can do something for him.  Think
of this; and the thought will encourage and
strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you
from disobedience and sin.
Remember, I say again, that even you can
do something for the mighty Creator. You
can bring him the offerings of your love and
your duty. And if you bring them humbly,
he will graciously accept them, and count
them as of more value than the sacrifices on a
thousand altars.
3




ï~~SERMON IV.

YOU SHOULD PRAY TO GOD.
PRAY TO THY FATHER.
CHILDREN, I believe that you like to hear
me speak to you of the excellent things of
religion; and it gives me great pleasure to
teach you what I think will be useful to you.
I ask you to listen to me again.
It was the wise King Solomon who said,
' Remember now thy Creator in the days of
thy youth." It was a greater than Solomon
who said, "Pray to thy Father."  It was
Jesus Christ who spoke those words to his disciples, or scholars, when he was teaching
them how they should pray; as you may find
by turning to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and the sixth verse.  By
"Father," he meant your heavenly Father, or
God; and God is called your Father, because
he made you, and takes care of you, and is
kind to you, and loves you. I have already




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

35

spoken to you about remembering your Creator; I will now speak to you about praying to
your Father.
Praying to your Father is speaking to him,
and asking of him whatever is needful and
good, for yourselves and for others. And it is
right that you should speak to him. It is
right that a child should speak to his father.
Does not a child take pleasure in speaking to
his earthly father, asking him for gifts, and
thanking him for daily kindness? Why then
should you not speak to your heavenly Father,
and ask him for his good and perfect gifts, and
thank him for the loving-kindness which he
shows to you every day and every hour? It
is true that you cannot see your heavenly
Father; but that is no reason why you should
not speak to him. It is not necessary that
you should see him. If he sees you, and
hears you, then you can speak to him, and
ought to speak to him. And does he not hear
you? Certainly he does. I told you in my
last sermon, that God always sees you, and
now I tell you that he always hears you.
Who made your ears, and caused you to hear?
It was God. And "he who made the ear,




ï~~36        SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
shall he not hear?" That is a question which
is asked in the Bible; and every child can
answer, yes; he who could make the ear
must certainly be able to hear. He does hear
all you say, if it is with ever so low a voice,
and in ever so lonely a place. You cannot say
a word that he does not hear. And yet more
than this, you cannot think a thought that he
does not hear; for he knows what it is, and
that is the same as hearing it. He who made
all things is everywhere. He who takes care
of all things, never sleeps. He sees all, hears
all, knows all. So you will perceive that, so
far from its being difficult to make God hear
you, you cannot help his hearing you. He always hears you.
And now I want to ask, whether it is not
proper that your heavenly Father should sometimes hear you speak to him? Is it right that
he should hear you speak to everybody but
him, and hear you think of everything but
him? Shall he be near to you all the time;
shall he be watching over you by day while
you are waking, and by night while you are
sleeping; shall he guard you from danger, and
hold you in life, and surround you with bless



ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

87

ings, and be listening to you all the while, and
yet not hear you say one word to him with
your lips or with your heart? You cannot
suppose this to be right.
There is no doubt that God wishes you to
speak to him, to pray to him. In the Old
Testament and in the New Testament we are
told to pray to God; and all the good persons
whom we read of there did pray to God.
"I cried unto God with my voice," says one
of them, "even unto God with my voice, and
he gave ear unto me." Moses, and Aaron, and
Samuel, " they called upon the Lord, and he
answered them." Our Saviour Jesus Christ
prayed to God, and he has told us to pray to
God, who is his Father and our Father. And
in many other ways we may learn that God
wishes us to pray to him. Have you never,
when you have behaved well, and have been
very happy, had a feeling in your bosom as if
you ought to thank some one, though you
could hardly tell whom? That feeling in
your bosom is a voice from God, which tells
you that you ought to thank him, who is the
author of your happiness. Have you never,
when you have been in sickness or sorrow,




ï~~38

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

had a feeling as if you wanted very much to
lean upon some one who could help you out of
trouble better than any one you knew? That
feeling is a voice from God, which tells you
that you should lean upon him, and ask him to
help you. And when you have done wrong,
have you not felt uneasy and unhappy, as if you
longed to be forgiven, not only by your parents,
but by some one else. That uneasy feeling is
a voice from God, which tells you to ask
forgiveness of him, that he may pardon you.
Children! a great many voices call upon you
to speak to God and pray to him. The good
old men of old times, and the good children
too; and Jesus Christ your Saviour; and the
feelings in your bosom, when you are either
happy or unhappy, all tell you to pray to God
your heavenly Father. You hear these voices,
not with your outward ears, but with your
soul. They make no noise in the air; but
they speak without noise in your heart.
When you hear them, you should attend to
them. They tell you what is true.
But perhaps you may think, that, as you are
children, and not able to speak very well, you
are not able to pray to God. But you are




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

39

able; for it is an easy thing to pray to God, if
you really think of him when you pray. It is
not necessary that you should be nice in your
words when you speak to God, if you are only
sincere and humble and serious. The simplest
and plainest words are the best.   If you
wanted bread of your earthly father, you could
not ask him in a plainer way than by saying,
Give me some bread. Now this is the very
way in which we are taught by our Lord and
Saviour to ask bread of our heavenly Father,
" Give us this day our daily bread."  What
words can be simpler than those? Our Sayiour sets us an example of great simplicity in
prayer. Indeed you can pray without using
any words aloud. The beauty and reality of
prayer is in the feeling rather than in the
words. If you have a feeling in your heart,
which rises up to God, and thanks him, or
asks anything of him, that feeling is a prayer.
If in the morning you say in your heart, "Father, I thank thee that I live to see this
morning," that is a morning prayer. If in the
evening you say in your heart, " Father, keep
me this night," that is an evening prayer. If,
when you are sick, you say in your heart,




ï~~40

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

"Father, make me well "; or when you have
done wrong, you say, " Father, forgive me";
- you have prayed aright, and God hears
those silent prayers. And if you continue the
habit of praying in your heart to God, you
will have more and more thoughts there as
you grow older, which will love to seek God.
They will spring up fast in your hearts, like
sweet flowers in June, and they will fly up to
heaven like birds of paradise.
But though silent thoughts of God are real
prayers, which God hears as distinctly as if
they were uttered aloud in words, yet it is
proper that you should utter words, and pray
with your lips as well as with your heart.
Should you not be very sorry if you could not
speak, and could not hear others speak? Is it
not a great pleasure to talk with your friends?
Certainly. Speech is a noble gift. But who
gave it to you? God. How then can you
use it better than in speaking to God? Speak
to him then. Pray to your Father in words.
Do not speak of everything but of Him who
gave you power to speak. You cannot speak
of anything so great, so glorious as he is. You
cannot speak to any being so good, so kind, so
4




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

41

ready to hear you; as he is. Speak to him,
and pray to him, with the words of your
mouth, and also with the feelings and meditations of your heart. And the words which
you use may either be your own words, or
words which are written for you in books of
prayer. If the words which are written for
you are good, and your mind understands
them, and your heart feels them, then you
really pray with them, and you make them
your own prayer. And if they are words
which your beloved parents, and many other
excellent people used in praying long ago,
they may very well be dear words to you, and
you may very well like to use them.
You must not think that you need not pray
to God, because God gives you a great many
things without your praying for them. It is
true that God will give you food, and clothing,
and health, whether you pray for them or not.
But this only shows that God is good to you,
though you may not do your duty to him.
Your earthly parents would not let you starve,
or go without clothes, even though you should
never ask them to give you food and clothing,
and never thank them for the gifts. But still




ï~~42

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

they are pleased to have you ask them for
what you want and to have you thank them
for what they give you; and it is right for you
to do both. You neglect them, and are rude
to them, if you do not do both. And so if
there are those who do not pray to their
heavenly Father for many things which he yet
gives them, they are neglectful of their best
friend; and if they do not thank him for those
things, they are very ungrateful to their kindest benefactor.
Then again, you may pray for things which
God may not grant to you. But this is not
because he does not hear you, or does not love
you, but because he is much wiser than you
are, and knows that it will be better for you
not to have what you ask for. If any dear
friend, for instance, should be extremely ill; if
your father, or mother, or brother, or sister
should be lying on the bed of sickness, and
seem to be near death, you could hardly help
asking God, with the words of your mouth or
the words of your heart, and most earnestly,
too, that your friend might live. This would
be right. But God might not see fit to grant
your prayer. He would hear you, and love




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

48

you; but in his great wisdom he might know
it to be best that your friend should die.
Now, children, listen to what I am going to
say to you at the end of this sermon on prayer.
The most important things for which you can
ask your heavenly Father, are not bread, or
clothing, or health, or even life in this world.
Goodness is more important; religion is more
important. Innocence, justice, kindness, truth,
and honesty,- these are the most important
things; and not only are they the most important, but God will surely give them to you, if
you sincerely ask him for them. One reason
why so many people are not good, is, that
they do not ask for goodness of God; or if
they ask for it with their lips, do not ask for it
with the strong feelings of their hearts. Pray
to God for goodness, and he will give it to you,
if you pray heartily and sincerely. When you
are about to do wrong, pray to God to keep
you from doing wrong,- say in your heart,
"Father, keep me from doing this wrong," and
you will be kept from doing it. When you
are going to be violently angry, say in your
heart, " Father, save me from being angry,"
and the peace of God will come down into
your bosom like a dove, and the bad fire in




ï~~44

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

your eyes will be quenched, and the hot color
in your cheeks will cool away. When you
feel that there is any danger that a good feeling or a virtuous resolution is going to be
taken out of your heart, say to your heavenly
Father, " Father, let not my virtue be taken
out of my heart," and I firmly believe it will
not be taken, but will remain. And why?
Because God is ready to help his children; and
because the thought of God, which you place
in your heart by speaking to him, is holy
and strong, and will stand in your heart, and
guard your virtues, which are your heart's best
treasures, and will keep them from being
stolen away. The thought of God is the best
thought and the strongest thought that you
can have; and when it really comes into your
heart, all other good thoughts will stay under its
protection, and bad thoughts will be driven out.
You are weak; but the thought of God is
strong, - strong to guard your innocence and
virtue; strong to check your anger and pride
and selfishness; strong to help your weakness,
and console your sorrows. Pray to God, your
Father, that the thought of God may come into
your hearts, and keep and comfort and bless
them.




ï~~SERMON V.

OFFICES AND TITLES OF JESUS CHRIST.
THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU
ALL.
IN my last sermon, I spoke to you, my dear
children, on the subject of praying to your
heavenly Father.   The words of my text
were the words of Christ, who said, "Pray to
thy Father." The words which I have taken
for the text of this sermon were written by
one of his apostles, Paul, in an Epistle, or Letter, to the Christian Romans, sixteenth chapter and twenty-fourth verse. It is a form, in
which he gives them his blessing. He prays
that the grace, or kind favor, of Jesus Christ
may be with all his friends. I likewise pray,
that the same grace may be with you all, my
dear children.
If you love Christ, he will love you, and
his grace will be with you. You can hardly
help loving him, when you know him; because he was so good, so kind, so excellent.
The more you know him, the better you will




ï~~46

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

love him. I wish to help you to know him;
and if I can help you ever so little, I shall be
doing you a great service, and I shall be glad.
I have been telling you of God, and of
your duty to God, and of praying to God.
Now I will tell you of Jesus Christ, who, next
to God, is the most deserving of your reverence and your love.   No being that ever
lived on earth had so much goodness as he
had, or loved mankind so well, or did them so
much good, as he did. And hlie has told us
more of God than any one else ever has; and
he has told us of heaven; and he has told us
what God will do for us if we are good while
we live on earth, and what will become of us
if we are not good. And he was able to tell
us of all these important and wonderful things,
because God greatly loved him, and filled his
mind full of divine knowledge, and filled his
heart full of divine love. He had his wisdom
from God, and his power from God; and his
power was so great, that he did many wonderful works by it, which no man could have
done, unless God had been with him.
Before Jesus Christ came into the world,
the inhabitants of the world were very ig



ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

47

norant, - very ignorant, I mean, of things
which were most important to be known.
They knew how to make abundance of useful
and elegant articles; how  to weave garments; how to build houses, and palaces, and
temples, and monuments; how to carve statues, and paint pictures; and how to write
history and poetry, and many other kinds of
learning. All these they knew very well,
and some of them they knew better than we
do. But they did not know, that is, generally, or with any certainty, who created them,
or why they were created, or how they should
behave in the best manner while they lived,
or whether they should live again after they
were dead. It was not of much consequence,
was it, that they could make splendid temples,
if, instead of the great and good Creator, they
worshipped, in their temples, an image without any sense, or a brute animal? It was not
of much consequence, was it, what they knew,
if they did not know themselves and their own
life and the Being who made them? Jesus
Christ came to teach them this kind of knowledge, which is called spiritual knowledge, because it concerns the spirit or soul of man. He




ï~~48

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

came to teach them, that One God was the
Maker of the whole world and the Father of
all the people in the world.  He came to
teach them how they should live with each
other, and how they should serve and please
their heavenly Father. He came to teach them
that death was not the end of their existence;
that they would surely live again in another
world; and that they would be happy or miserable in that world, according as they had
conducted themselves in this world. After he
had taught these great spiritual truths, and
shown in his own life how men ought to live,
he was killed by wicked enemies, and then
was buried in a tomb. But you know he did
not remain dead and lying in the tomb, but
was raised again to life by the power of God
on the third day after he was crucified; and
then, after he had shown himself to his disciples and many other persons, was taken up
into heaven where he lives with God for ever
and ever. And hlie does not live there alone.
All the souls of good people and good children live with him. If you will love him
and mind what he has said, you will live with
him too.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

49

What I have now told you concerning
Jesus Christ will assist you to understand the
meaning of the names by which he is called in
the Bible. You remember that in the text
of this sermon he is called "our Lord Jesus
Christ." I will explain to you the second of
these names first, because it is properly his
only name, the others being his titles.
Before Jesus was born an angel told his
mother that Jesus should be his name. It
was not an uncommon name; but every name
among the Jews was a Hebrew word, which
had a particular meaning. Jesus is the same
name as Joshua; Jesus being the Greek way
of spelling and pronouncing the Hebrew name
Joshua; just as you find that the same name
may be spelt and pronounced differently in
French and in English. And the meaning of
Joshua, or Jesus, is, He who shall save, or The
Saviour. It was chosen to be the name of
the child of Mary, because he was to save his
people from their sins. Remember, therefore,
that the name Jesus means Saviour. He is
the Saviour of men; because if they will believe in him, and obey him, he will save them
from  their sins.  When people believe in




ï~~50

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

Jesus, and obey his commands, and imitate
his example, they are saved from their sins,
because they leave off their sins, and become
good. I pray that the grace of Christ may be
with us all, that we may be saved from our
sins, - our sins that do us so much harm, - our
sins that hurt our souls, - our sins that separate us from God. The greatest danger and
the greatest misfortune is sin. Should we not
thank God, who sent Jesus Christ into an
ignorant and sinful world, that we might be
saved from ignorance and sin?
I will next explain to you the meaning of
the word Christ. Christ is a Greek word, and
means anointed. Perhaps you know, that in
ancient times, it was the custom, when a person was declared to be a king, or prince, to
pour oil upon his head, or anoint him. This
was a ceremony which was used in making him
a king, and a sign that he was a king. God
anointed Jesus to be a king; but he did not
anoint him with oil, but with what was more
precious, with goodness, with holiness, and
with the power of working miracles, such as
causing the blind to see, and raising the dead
to life. This is what the Apostle Peter means,




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

51

when he says, " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power."
His great goodness and his great power
showed that he was a king; not a king to
command armies, and wear splendid clothes,
and live in a fine palace, but a much more glorious king, a spiritual king, that is, a king to
govern the spirits, or souls, of men, and to give
them rules of virtue, and to make them happy.
God anointed Jesus to be such a king; and
therefore he is called Christ, or the anointed.
I hope you will remember this. There are
many grown people who do not know it; but
a child may understand it when it is explained.
Christ is the most common title of our Saviour,
Jesus; and when we say Jesus Christ, we
mean Jesus whom God anointed with goodness, and wisdom, and power, to be the king,
or ruler, of the souls of men.
The other title of Jesus which is used in the
text is Lord. Lord means master, or one who
has authority, whether the authority is greater
or less. God is called Lord, because he is the
Master of all things, and his dominion is over
all. Jesus is called Lord, because he is the
Master of Christians, and has authority over




ï~~52

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

them, and gives them commandments. And
you very well know, that men who have authority and dignity are often called lords.
But when Christians say, "our Lord," they
generally mean Jesus Christ, who is their
Master in an especial manner, and whose teachings and laws they mean to hear and obey.
I wish you now to remember carefully, that
the words "our Lord Jesus Christ," mean our
Master, Jesus, whom God made king, or prince,
of our souls. Jesus is the name, and Lord,
and Christ, are the two titles. And the name
Jesus means a saviour, or one who saves.
There are several other titles by which
Jesus is called in the New Testament, but
those which I have already explained are
enough for your memory at present. And the
reason of my explaining to you those, is, that
when you hear them, you may be able to think
of the important truths which they signify.
Whenever you hear the name of " Jesus,"
think that he came to save men from their
sins, by doing all that was possible to make
them good and holy. Whenever you hear
the title " Christ," think that he was anointed
by his heavenly Father with the spiritual oil




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

53

of perfect goodness and wonderful power, to be
the prince of the souls of men. Whenever
you hear the title " Our Lord," think that the
same Saviour and Prince is your Master and
Teacher, whom you ought to love and reverence and obey, because his lessons are wise,
and his laws are kind, and to obey him is the
same thing as to be happy in your mind and
soul, as long as you live in this world, and forever after in the world to come.
If these are your thoughts when you hear
the name or the titles of Jesus, you will always use them yourselves in a serious and
proper manner, and never in the very improper
and profane manner in which you sometimes
hear them used, I am afraid, by children, and
even by men, who ought to know better.
My children, the names of God, our Father,
and of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, are
holy names, blessed names; and they never
ought to be spoken but in solemnity and love,
by children or by men. Is the name of God
who made you, God who preserves you every
moment, God who can make you die whenever
he pleases, a name to be pronounced by you in
thoughtless sport or in wretched anger? I




ï~~54

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

trust that it never will be. I pray that it never
may be. And is the name of the kind and
holy Jesus, whom God the Father sent to
teach men their duty, and save them from their
sins, and show them the way to heaven, and
who loved men so much that he was willing to
die, and did die, rather than not do everything
to save them, - and who now lives with God
in heaven, and will be our Judge when we
die, - is his name a name to be used rudely or
profanely? Surely not, you will say. I beseech you then, never so to use it. Never be
tempted or provoked so to use it. Let his
grace be with you, to keep you from such a
sin.
Jesus loves little children, and little children
should love him. Though God has exalted
him to be greater than angels, he once was a
little child himself. Yes, he once was a little
child. He has been rocked to sleep, as you
have been, in a mother's arms. He has been
subject, as you now are, to parental authority.
It is very interesting to me, and, I think, it
must be so to you, to learn from the Bible,
that our gracious and wonderful Saviour was
once a little child; and in my next sermons




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.       55
I intend to speak to you concerning the infancy and childhood of Jesus Christ. And I now
pray, that his grace may be with you all, and at
all times; in your childhood, to keep you innocent; in your youth and manhood, to make
you virtuous and holy; and in the hour of
death, to fill your hearts with peace and hope,
and to prepare you for his presence, and the
presence of his Father.




ï~~SERMON VI.

INFANCY      OF JESUS.
AND THE CHILD GREW, AND WAXED STRONG IN SPIRIT,
FILLED WITH WISDOM; AND THE GRACE OF GOD WAS
UPON HIM.
You will find those words, my children, in
the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the
fortieth verse. They tell you how wise and
how good Jesus Christ was when he was
young, and how much he was beloved. They
inform you that, as he grew older, he grew
wiser, that is, that his soul grew as well as
his body.
There is but little said in those histories of
our Saviour, which we call the Gospels, of his
infancy and early life. Only two of the Gospels say anything of that period.   This is
because the after part of his life was more important. But still the short accounts which
we have of his birth and his tender years are
quite interesting. I do not doubt that you
have found them interesting, when you have




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

57

read them, or have heard them read; and
very profitable too, when they have been explained to you by your parents or teachers.
You remember that Jesus was born in a
town called Bethlehem. It is also the town
where his forefather, King David, was born,
and where he lived when he was a boy, and
tended his father's flocks of sheep. Bethlehem is situated a few miles to the south of
Jerusalem, and on the ridge or top of a hill,
looking down on a deep and beautiful valley.
In this valley, where young David used to
watch the sheep of his father Jesse, there
were shepherds "keeping watch over their
flocks by night," when suddenly a glorious
light shone round about them, and angels of
heaven appeared to them, and sang an anthem
of sweet music, and told them that the Saviour
was born in Bethlehem.
Now I wish you to observe, my children,
that the first persons who were told of the
birth of the Saviour were not kings, or generals, or what are called great people, but shepherds, poor shepherds, who never thought or
dreamed that angels would ever speak to them
in this world, or that they would ever be




ï~~58

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

chosen to be the first visitors of the infant
Redeemer. But God saw fit to choose them,
and they were the most proper persons to be
chosen for this purpose. They were humble;
and God always loves the humble, and does
not love the proud.   They were peaceful.
They were peacefully tending their peaceful
flocks; and he whom they were chosen to visit
was peaceful, and came to make the world
peaceful, and was called the Prince of Peace.
And the song which the angels sung in the sky
that night was a song of peace, -peace on
earth and good will toward men. How proper
it was, then, that humble and peaceful shepherds should be first told of the birth of the
infant Jesus, and should be the first to see
him. You may be sure that now, also, God
always prefers those who are humble and
peaceful and good; and that he will tell them
the best things; and that they will be the first
to see Jesus Christ in heaven, just as the
shepherds were the first to see him on earth.
When the angel told the shepherds to go and
see the child Jesus, he gave them a sign by
which they might know him. He told them
that they would find the babe lying in a

ji




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

59

manger, which is the place in a stable from
which cattle eat their food. The shepherds
might have supposed that Jesus was to be
found in some rich chamber, lying in a soft
bed; but the angel told them that he was in a
very different place, - in a manger. This was
so strange, that the sign could not be mistaken.
So they went in haste to the inn at Bethlehem;
and when they came to the part of the inn
which was used as a stable, they found the
child, just as the angels had said. There was
his mother Mary, and Joseph, and there, in a
manger, was the blessed child Jesus. So the
shepherds were certain that this child was the
Saviour; and though it must have seemed a
poor place in which he was lying, yet they
were so glad to have found him, that they
" returned, glorifying and praising God for all
the things that they had heard and seen."
Now this is something else which I want
you to think of, - the place, I mean, where
the infant Saviour was lying. It was a manger. When Joseph and Mary came to lodge
at Bethlehem, there was no room for them in
the best part of the inn; and therefore, as
they were poor, and could not pay for any




ï~~60

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

better lodging, they were obliged to go to that
part where the beasts of burden were kept;
and there Jesus was born, and there his mother
put him in a manger, which was the only
cradle she could find for him. Not one of you
was ever laid in so poor a cradle as this. But
do you suppose that God loved Jesus the less,
because he was lying on straw? No. Well,
then, do you suppose that God loves any child
the less, whose parents may be poor, and who
may be obliged to sleep in a mean cradle or
bed, and wear coarse clothes instead of fine
ones? It is not possible, is it, that God should
think riches of any consequence, when he suffered his well-beloved Son, Jesus, to be born in
poverty, and to be laid in a manger? The
glory of the Lord shone as brightly round
about the shepherds, and the angels of heaven
sung as gladly and sweetly, as if Jesus had
been lying on down and silk and gold, instead
of on straw. Let the manger of the infant
Jesus, then, as it was a sign to the shepherds,
be a sign to you also. Let it be a sign to you
that God loves poor children just as well as
those who are not poor; and that God's angels
watch over the mean cradles of poor children,




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

61

just as carefully as over the handsome and
comfortable cradles of those who are not poor.
And let the manger of Jesus be a sign to you,
never to despise poor children, and never to
look down upon them as if they were beneath
you; for Jesus himself was poor. He was
poor when he was a child; and though he
grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with
God and man, he never grew to be rich. He
was always poor. I say then, let his manger
be a sign to you not to despise the poor, and
not to be proud of any of those things which
money can buy. All that God loves and regards with favor is goodness; and goodness is
something which money cannot buy. Love
and respect goodness wherever you see it,
whether in a poor child or a rich one. If a
child is wicked, avoid him, or reprove him,
whether he is rich or poor. But do not avoid
him, or behave proudly to him, merely because
he is poor. Christ, your Saviour, was poor.
Let his manger be a sign to you of all those
things of which I have told you.
Forty days after Jesus was born, his parents brought him to the temple at Jerusalem,
to present him to the Lord, according to a




ï~~62

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

Jewish custom; and while they were there, a
good old man by the name of Simeon took
the child in his arms, and thanked God, and
said that he was now ready to die in peace,
because he had seen the Saviour of the world.
And an aged prophetess by the name of
Anna, who was there, spoke also to the same
purpose.
After this, some wise men from a country
east of Jerusalem came to Bethlehem, guided
by a star, to see the infant Jesus. And when
they found him, they paid him great reverence,
and offered him costly presents. So you see
that although Jesus was born in poverty, there
were good and wise people who came to visit
him, as well as simple shepherds. Poverty
keeps away proud and showy people, but not
those who are good and wise.
At this time the king of the Jews was a
proud bad man, named Herod.    When he
heard that a child was born who was to be
king of the Jews, he thought that an earthly
king like himself was meant, and therefore he
was afraid that this child might take away his
kingdom from him, and he was resolved to
have him killed. So he charged the wise men




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

63

of the East to let him know when they had
found the child; for he pretended that he
wished to pay him reverence likewise. But
the wise men went back to their own country,
without letting Herod know what he wanted;
and Herod was so angry at being thus disappointed, that he ordered all the little children
of Bethlehem who were under two years of
age to be killed, in order that Jesus might be
slain among them.   O, what weeping, and
wailing, and dreadful misery there was among
the distracted mothers of Bethlehem, on that
dark day when their little innocent children
were torn away from them by the order of
that cruel king, and all killed! How much
sorrow and woe have been caused in the world
by pride and ambition! And yet, after all
this bloodshed, Herod did not gain his point;
for Joseph was warned of the danger in a
dream, and he took the young child Jesus and
his mother, by night, and fled with them into
a country many miles to the south, called
Egypt, where they stayed in safety till Herod
died.
You see by this, that the troubles of our
Saviour began very early; for while he was a




ï~~64

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

tender infant, he was forced to wander from
his native country.  He had enemies who
wished to kill him, even when he was in his
cradle.
But at last Herod died; and then Joseph
took the child Jesus again and Mary his
mother and brought them back to the land of
Israel. They did not stay in Bethlehem; but
went on to the northern part of the Holy
Land, to a city called Nazareth, which was
the city where Joseph and Mary had lived
before. This was a quiet place, situated on
the slope of a hill, with other hills rising up all
around it. Here the holy family rested in
peace; and here the holy child Jesus passed
the time of his childhood, among the green
and silent hills, without being troubled by bad
kings, who had probably now forgotten all
about him. It was a fit spot for such a lovely
flower, such a pure soul to grow in,- it was
so still, so solemn, so beautiful, among those
hills, which rose up about Nazareth, and shut
it out from the world. The history of Luke
tells us no particulars of the growth of the
mind and spirit of Jesus, but he gives us
the simple fact that he constantly improved.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

65

"And the child Jesus grew," hlie says, "and
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and
the grace of God was upon him."  That is,
he used his mind, and meditated and studied,
and read the Scriptures, and thought much of
God and of virtue and of heaven and of
doing good; and therefore his mind grew
strong and full of wisdom, and the love and
favor of his Father, God, were upon him and
all round about him, like the pure light and
air of the hill country where he lived. How
must his mother, as she pressed him to her
heart, have rejoiced in such a child! I How
everybody must have loved him! I
My children, you are not called to the
same wonderful work of suffering and salvation to which Jesus was called. But you are
called to "glory and virtue," to piety and
wisdom, to God and heaven; and that is a
high calling. You are only children; but you
have minds, and you have souls. Jesus was
once a child. Behold him in Nazareth. See
how he grew in wisdom and goodness, and
how the grace of God was upon him. You
can grow in wisdom and goodness; and then
the grace of God will be upon you. God will
5




ï~~66         SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
love you; men will love you; angels will love
you; you will be the best of blessings to your
parents; - and, though I am but preaching to
children, I know that I speak to the heart of
every parent also, when I say, that of all the
blessings which a father or a mother can have,
the greatest blessing is a virtuous child.
From this early period of our Saviour's life,
till he was thirty years old, there is only one
event recorded of him; and this event took
place when hlie was twelve years of age. But
I must relate this to you, and make some remarks upon it, in another sermon.




ï~~SERMON VII.

CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.
AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE, AND IN
FAVOR WITH GOD AND MAN.
MY dear children may remember that I took
some words very similar to these for the text
of my last sermon. I take these words for the
text of the present sermon, from the second
chapter of Luke, fifty-second verse, because I
am going to speak again of the early part of
the life of our Saviour, and because I want
children to bear in mind especially, that when
he was a child, he kept improving in wisdom
and goodness.
There are many children who care much
more about growing larger and taller, than
they do about growing better. I wish that all
children might consider that Jesus increased
in wisdom, as he increased in stature. I wish
that all children would increase every day, as
Jesus did, in favor with God and man. They
will grow fast enough in stature, or size, with



ï~~68

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

out thinking at all about it; and will not grow
any faster, if they think about it ever so much.
But they will not grow in wisdom, without
thinking and taking pains about that; and it is
only their growth in wisdom which will gain
them the favor of God and man.
I have already said, that between the time
of the infancy of Jesus and the time of his
beginning to teach, when he was thirty years
old, we have the account of only one event of
his life, which was at the age of twelve. That
is to say, we have but one account, and a short
one, of the childhood of Jesus. It is recorded
in a few verses at the end of the second chapter
of the Gospel of Luke. But though the story
is short, it is interesting, and contains a great
deal for you to think about. Give me your
attention, and hear how the story begins.
" Now his parents went to Jerusalem, every
year, at the feast of the passover." This is the
first sentence. And why did they go to Jerusalem every year at that time? Because their
ancient law-giver Moses had, a long while ago,
commanded all Jews to do so; and whatever
Moses had commanded was a law to the Jews.
It was the law of Moses, that all the men




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

69

among the Jews should keep the feast of the
passover, and two other great feasts, at the
place which the Lord should choose; and this
place was Jerusalem. The feast of the passover was a time of rejoicing which lasted seven
days, and which put the Jews in mind of the
escape of their forefathers out of the land of
Egypt. So you see that the parents of Jesus
went to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover,
because it was the Jewish law. The law did
not oblige women to go, indeed; but it did not
forbid their going; and therefore they often
went, because it was more pleasant for them
to go with their fathers and brothers, husbands
and sons, than to stay at home alone. How
full the city of Jerusalem must have been at
the time of the great religious feasts; and especially at the feast of the passover, or unleavened bread, which was the greatest of all!
And what crowds of people there must have
been in the roads, from all parts of the country,
travelling to the holy temple!
I suppose that people who lived in the same
town, or the same part of the country, joined
together at these times, and travelled in company. They would take tents with them, if




ï~~70

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

they lived at a distance from Jerusalem, and
provisions, and beasts of burden to carry whatever was necessary. In short, they would form
a caravan; such as those which now travel
from place to place in Eastern countries, about
which you have doubtless read. This is a
more convenient, and a far safer mode of travelling in those countries, than travelling alone.
So many people together can help each other,
and defend each other against robbers. I suppose then, that it was with such a caravan, or
large company of travellers, that the parents
of Jesus went up from Nazareth to Jerusalem,
at the time of the story.
And what was that time? Listen to the next
sentence. "And when he was twelve years
old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom
of the feast."  It was when Jesus was twelve
years old, that he went up with his parents to
the feast of the passover, according to the
Jewish custom. But why did he go particularly at that age?  Because it was at the ago of
twelve that the Jewish children were especially instructed in the ceremonies of the Jewish
religion, and that they began to take part in
the festivals, and to be considered as strictly




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

71

under the Jewish law. According to this custom, therefore, it was, that Jesus went up at
this time to the feast of the passover.
The history goes on to say, that, "when
they had fulfilled the days," - that is, when
they had finished the religious duties of the
seven days of the feast,- " as they returned,
the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem;
and Joseph and his mother knew not of it."
Jesus was so old and so prudent, that his parents permitted him, it is likely, to go about,
without their always going with him; and
when they left Jerusalem, they supposed that
he would know it, and would join himself to
their caravan. So they were not troubled
when they set out, although they did not see
him. They supposed him to be somewhere in
the company of townspeople and friends who
made up the caravan, and so they went on toward Nazareth a whole day's journey. But
when evening came, they began to be surprised that he did not appear; for they supposed that now, as the whole company had
halted for the night, he would come to their
tent. They felt uneasy, and went about anxiously among the tents of their relations and




ï~~72

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

acquaintance, hoping to find him there. "And
when they found him not, they turned back
again to Jerusalem, seeking him." Thus two
days were spent; for as they had travelled a
day's journey from Jerusalem, it took then
another day to get back again. But on the
next day, or, as the account says, " after three
days," they found him.
Do you not think they felt glad when they
found him? Indeed they must have felt very
glad. You have heard, or perhaps you have
known of parents losing their children for a
time; and how grieved and distressed they are
all that time, looking about everywhere, and
fancying all kinds of terrible accidents. And
you know how happy they are at last when
their children are found. Just so must the
parents of Jesus have felt happy, when they
found him at Jerusalem.
You know where they found him. Not
among idle companions, but "in the temple,
sittiig in the midst of the doctors," or teachers
of the Jewish law and religion, "both hearing
them, and asking them questions." He was
so much engaged in learning all he could from
the wise men of his nation, that he had not




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

73

thought of other things; and probably this was
the reason that he had not joined the caravan
of Nazareth, when it departed from Jerusalem.
This scene, of the child Jesus in the temple,
is sometimes called " Christ disputing with the
doctors."  But I think it is improper to call it
so, and gives a wrong idea of his conduct at
that time. The Bible does not say that he
disputed with the doctors, but that he heard
them, and asked them questions. When he
was older, indeed, he did dispute with them,
and found fault with them; but now that he
was a child, he sat modestly among them, and
heard them attentively, and asked them questions, when it was proper to do so. His questions were so wise, and his answers so full of
sense, that "all who heard him were astonished
at his understanding and answers."
His parents were amazed also; and his
mother, though she was so glad to find him,
could not help telling him how much they had
suffered in missing him; and so she said to
him, " Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." Jesus, who knew what an important
work hlie had to do for his Heavenly Father,




ï~~74

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

answered, " Why did ye seek me? Do ye
not know that I must be about my Father's
business? "  We are told that his parents did
not fully understand this answer; which is not
surprising, for they did not understand what he
was going to be.
But now that Jesus knew his parents wished
him to return home with them, hlie was very
willing to go; for hlie was perfectly obedient to
them. "And he went down with them, and
came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them."
My children, I wish you to observe particularly these last words, - he "was subject unto
them."  Jesus was subject to his parents; that
is, he minded all they said, and assisted them
all he could, and obeyed them. Obedience to
parents - as I have told you in a former sermon - is an important duty and an excellent
virtue; and here you have an example of it in
Jesus. Remember that Jesus, when he was
young, obeyed his parents. He no doubt
knew by heart that commandment, which says,
' Honor thy father and thy mother."  And he
not only knew it, but hlie kept it. Will you not
also keep it, my children? Only think how
much you do when you obey your good and




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

75

careful parents. You not only obey them, but
you obey God, by keeping one of his commandments; and you not only do this, but you
follow the example of your Saviour, who, when
he was a child, was subject unto his parents.
And if you are required to work for them, to
work with your hands, never be afraid or
ashamed to work; for Jesus, when he was
young, labored for his parents; and you ought
not to be ashamed to do what he did. His parents were poor. Joseph was a mechanic - a
carpenter. There is no doubt, therefore, that
Jesus, as he was subject to his parents, labored
for them. You do not suppose that his dignity
or his real glory was made less by this labor.
I do not. To me, the sight of the child Jesus,
obedient to his parents and working for them
in that retired village of Nazareth, is as pleasant a sight as that of the same child Jesus conversing with the wisest men in the great city
of Jerusalem. A child obedient to his parents,
and, if necessary and proper, industriously
working for them, is one of the finest sights
which can be seen in this world; - much
finer, I think, than that of a child dressed in
the finest clothes that can be made, and doing




ï~~76

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

nothing. I would rather see a dutiful and industrious boy, any time, than the idle son of a
governor or of a king.
And now, children, you perceive that this
account of the childhood of Jesus, though it is
short, is full of instruction for you. It tells
you, what I hope you will faithfully remember;
that when he was a child, he was so wise that
he could converse with the teachers of Jerusalem, and yet so humble and affectionate, that
he was subject to his poor parents at Nazareth.
After this account, we do not hear anything
more of the history of our Saviour till he was
thirty years of age, when he was baptized by
John, and began to teach publicly, and to work
miracles. But there is no doubt that he was
always as dutiful to his parents as he was in
his childhood, and that he always loved them.
It is true, that while hlie was publicly laboring
for our salvation, he thought more about that
great work of his Father in heaven than
about his family; and it was important that he
should. But this work only lasted a year or
two; and even at that time his love for his
mother was as strong as ever, as I can show to
you by one event. If you will listen to me a




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

77

moment longer, I will tell you what this event
was.
I have just been telling you about the first
time that Jesus went up to the passover at Jerusalem. Well, it was about twenty years
after this, that he went up there for the last
time. The first time, he went up with his
parents and relations, to be instructed in the
law, and to take his youthful part in the ceremonies of the feast, and to eat of the paschal
lamb, which was one of those ceremonies.
The last time, he went up with his disciples, to
complete the law, and, like a lamb himself, to
be bound and slain by his enemies. Joseph,
who was called his father, was now dead, most
probably; for we are told nothing of him.
And we are not told, in so many words, that
his mother went up with him to Jerusalem;
but she was there. Yes, his mother was there.
When he was hanging on that dreadful cross
-and all his disciples but one had left him and
fled - his mother did not leave him - she
stood right under the cross - she and the beloved disciple - while enemies and soldiers
were mocking, and her innocent son was dying.
And he - Jesus - in the midst of his cruel




ï~~78

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

torments, thought of his mother and that disciple. He looked at them. He spoke to them.
He said to his mother, "Woman, behold thy
son "; - and to the disciple, "Behold thy
mother! "  He told the disciple to be like a
son to his mother; to be affectionate to her;
to take care of her. And the disciple obeyed
him. From that hour he took her to his own
home.
Did not this show that Jesus loved his
mother till he died? How beautiful is this
affection! How brightly it joins with all the
heavenly greatness and goodness of his character. Children, I beseech you, by the love
of Christ, and by the beauty of his example, to
love your parents, to obey them, to be subject
unto them. So will you increase in wisdom,
and in favor with God and man.




ï~~SERMON VIII.

THE NOTICE TAKEN OF CHILDREN BY
JESUS.
AND HE TOOK THEM UP IN IIS ARMS, PUT HIS HANDS UPON
THEM, AND BLESSED THEM.
I HAVE already related to children what is
told us in the Sacred History concerning the
infancy and childhood of Jesus Christ. When
he was about thirty years of age, he began his
public ministry, that is, he began to teach
men their duty, and inform them of God and
heaven, and of all that is most important for
men to know; and he began, also, to do wonderful works, such as curing the sick, and
causing blind people to see, and raising the
dead to life, in order that men might believe
that he was really sent from God. He taught
more wisely than any one had ever taught before, because God gave him more wisdom than
he had ever given to any one before. God
also gave him power to perform the wonderful
works which he did; for no man could have
performed such wonderful works, unless God
had been with him to help him.




ï~~80

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

It might easily enough be supposed, that
having such great works to do, and having so
much wisdom and power from God, he would
have no time to attend to little children, or
even to think of them, though he was once a
little child himself. But you know that he
did think of them, and did attend to them.
You have the happiness to know, not only
that Jesus was once a little child, but that
when he became a wise and mighty teacher,
he never forgot little children, but loved them,
and spoke very kindly of them, and treated
them very tenderly. You know that Jesus
took little children into his arms, and blessed
them. This is told you by the Evangelist
Mark, in the words of my text, which you may
find in the tenth chapter of his Gospel, sixteenth verse. You may also read an account
of the same event in the Gospels of Matthew
and Luke.
But as I am going to relate to you all that
Jesus said of children, so far as it is recorded
in the Bible, I shall remind you of an event
which took place a little while before that
which is mentioned in the text. Attend to
me, and I will tell you how and when it was.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

81

Our Lord was travelling through the province of Galilee, in the northern part of the
Holy Land, and was going on towards Jerusalem, to be present at the feast of the passover; and he knew that his enemies would
take him when he arrived there, and put him
to death on the cross. His disciples were
travelling with him. They knew that their
Master was going to a city where he had many
violent enemies, and they had heard him say
more than once, and very solemnly, that he
should be delivered up into the hands of those
enemies, who would kill him. This made them
quite sorrowful; but they could hardly believe
that one so good, so wise, and so powerful as
their Master was, would really be slain; for
they had made up their minds that he would
soon appear as a great king and a conquering
warrior, and they could not imagine how he
could permit himself to be taken and slain.
They supposed there was something in this
which they could not understand, but which
would be made plain by and by. So they
threw off their sorrow as well as they could,
and talked of the splendid kingdom which they
still believed their Master would soon establish




ï~~82

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

in Jerusalem. Presently they began to dispute among themselves, which should be the
greatest in that kingdom, - who should have
the highest offices, and make the most show,
and be treated with the most respect. This
was wrong, - quite wrong, - especially when
we consider what an example of peacefulness
and humility they had before their eyes in
their Master himself. They were good men;
but, like many other men, they had ambition
and pride, and it took them a great while to
get rid of those faults. And they were too apt
to think about honors and riches when they
thought about the kingdom of Christ, or, as it
was also called, the kingdom of heaven; and
it was a long time befbre they fully understood,
that the kingdom of their Master, or the kingdom of heaven, was a spiritual kingdom.
Jesus heard his disciples disputing as they
were walking along, and he knew what they
were disputing about, and he was grieved that
they should show such unamiable and worldly
dispositions; but he said nothing to them at
that time, till they came to Capernaum. This
was a city situated near the shore of the Lake,
or Sea, of Galilee. When they had arrived




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

83

there, and had gone into a house, Jesus asked
them, " What was it that ye disputed among
yourselves by the way?" The disciples saw
that he looked as if he was not well pleased
with them, and they held their peace. Then
Jesus sat down, and called the twelve disciples, and endeavored to make them understand
and feel that the humblest disciple, and not
the proudest, would be the first; and that he
who should do the most good to his fellow
disciples, and wait upon them the most kindly,
would be the greatest among them. " If any
man," said he, "desire to be first, the same
shall be last of all, and servant of all." And
that he might show them yet more plainly
what he meant, he called a child to him who
was in the room,- no doubt a good and
modest little child, who never thought he
should be noticed by such a company of wise
and grave men, - and he set this child in the
midst of them, and took him in his arms, and
told his disciples, that in order to become really
great in his kingdom, they must become like
that little child, that is, as humble and kind
and artless as that little child. There was no
ambition, there was no pride, there was no




ï~~84

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

jealousy in the bosom of that child, who sat so
innocently in the arms of Jesus, and in the
midst of that circle of men; and Jesus taught
them in this manner, that they must drive
away ambition and pride and jealousy from
their own bosoms, before they could be great
in his spiritual kingdom. And he told them
that he should love all those disciples who were
modest and meek and obedient like that child;
and that if any one should despise and hurt
such good and childlike disciples, it would be
"better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck, and that he were drowned in
the depth of the sea."
You perceive by this example, that Jesus, so
far from forgetting children, thought so highly
of them, that he commanded his disciples to
imitate children, in order to obtain his approbation and love. I hope, my dear children,
that you may deserve the notice of your Saviour, by your modesty and simplicity and
kindness, and that when you grow up you will
not lose those good qualities; for whether we
are children, or whether we are of riper age,
it is only those good qualities which will gain
for us his favor, and make us great in his
kingdom.

4




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

85

The next time that Jesus took particular
notice of children was on this same journey,
when he had approached nearer to Jerusalem.
He had left the Lake of Galilee, and looked on
its bjeautiful waters for the last time, and had
crossed over the river Jordan which flows out
from that lake, and was travelling through
the towns on its eastern border toward the
great city. Wherever he went the people
would flock about him that they might see
him and hear him, for they believed that he
was a great prophet. When he came to a
certain place, the name of which is not mentioned, a number of young children were
brought to him, that he might lay his hands
upon them and bless them; for their parents
thought that it would do the children good to
have so holy a person as Jesus touch them and
pray for them. And here again, I am sorry
to say, the disciples were in fault. I suppose
they had forgotten, or what is more likely did
not take pains enough to understand, what
their Master had just been saying to them
about little children, and so, as they thought
he might be disturbed by having a crowd of
children around him, and perhaps were a little




ï~~86

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

disturbed and put out of temper themselves,
they spoke sharply to those who brought them
there, and told them probably to take them
away again; which must have caused their
mothers and friends to feel disappointed and
distressed.
But let the mothers be cheerful, and let the
children be glad. Jesus saw all that was done,
and he was wiser and kinder than his disciples.
He heard the disciples speaking so harshly, and
he saw the mothers moving away so mournfully, with their downcast little children in their
hands, and he was very much displeased with
his disciples indeed. And he said to them,
" Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom
of God." Seeing those simple children, who
only came that a holy prophet might speak to
them and bless them, and seeing those angrylooking men by their side, who had been disputing not long before about high places and offices, reminded him with fresh force how much
better the children received or understood his
kingdom than the men did, though they did
not pretend to understand it at all; and so he
again spoke to them of the kind of kingdom




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

87

which he came to set up, and told them that
if they did not receive it as simply and affectionately and gently as those children did, they
could not belong to it, or have any part in it.
" Truly I say unto you," said he, " whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child, hlie shall not enter therein." And after
he had said this, he called the children close
to him, and "took them up in his arms, put his
hands upon them, and blessed them." What
he said when he blessed them, we do not exactly know, for the words of the blessing are
not written in the history. But he no doubt
prayed that his heavenly Father would take
care of them, and keep them in the ways
of virtue and innocence and peace, and
bring them at last to his arms in the heaven
above.
Now, children, does it not make you love
your Saviour, when you know how kind he
was to children, and how much he thought of
them and loved them? Can you not see him,
with the eyes of your mind, looking so mildly,
and so sweetly, and yet solemnly, too, upon
those little children of Judma, when he took
them up in his arms?




ï~~88

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

" Sweet were his words, and kind his look,
When mothers round him pressed; -
Their infants in his arms he took,
And on his bosom blessed."
If he were now on earth, he would take you
in his arms, as he did those " children who
lived by the Jordan," and would bless you.
And if he would love you if he were on earth,
do you not suppose that he does love you, now
that he is in heaven? How can you help
loving such a Saviour?
"Was not our Lord a little child,
Taught by degrees to pray,
By father dear and mother mild
Instructed day by day?
"And loved he not of heaven to talk,
With children in his sight,
To meet them in his daily walk,
And to his arms invite?"
How, then, I repeat, can you help loving such
a Saviour?
And what shall you do, to make yourselves
worthy of his love?  Do exactly the same as
you ought to do to make yourselves worthy of
the love of God, his Father. Be kind, be obedient, be good. And as you grow up, do not
let your goodness go away from you. Keep




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

89

your simplicity, keep your honesty and truth,
keep your gentleness and kindness; keep all
your virtue, and get more and more. Then
you will be- that is, your spirits will be -
always in the spiritual arms of Jesus.
Indeed, when I see an amiable, peaceful
child, who loves and obeys his parents, and is
kind and well disposed to every one,- a child
who speaks the truth, and dislikes contention
and quarrelling, and fears to do that which is
wrong, - I think I see such a child resting in
the arms of Jesus, and blessed by his sacred
words. And if such a child should die,--
though its body would be placed in a coffin,
and buried in the cold ground, I could not
mourn as if that child were forever dead, for
I should believe that its spirit had gone to a
holier and happier land than the land of Judaea,
or any other land below; and that it was resting in the arms of Jesus by the side of a holier river than the river Jordan or any earthly
river. You know the name of the land I
mean,- Heaven. No fighting is there, no envying nor discord. Tears are all wiped away,
and hardships and sorrows are forgotten.
"There every pain and care shall cease,
And perfect love give perfect peace."




ï~~SERMON IX.

A NEW     YEAR'S WISH.
I HAVE NO GREATER JOY THAN TO HEAR THAT MY CHILDREN WALK IN TRUTH.
THE aged Apostle John, who wrote the
epistle or letter from which this text is taken,
which is the fourth verse of the third epistle,
did not mean by the words " my children"
young children, for he was writing to grownup people; but I, in using the same words, do
mean young children, to whom I intend particularly to speak on this first Sunday morning
of the year. The Apostle John was so old
when he wrote this letter, having lived probably almost a hundred years, that he well
might speak of grown-up people as his children; especially if he had taught them a new
and true religion, and had nourished them up
in it. And well might such people look upon
him, with his thin white locks, as their father.
But for my own part I can only address as
children those who are really such; and I can
say, in the words of St. John, that I "have




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

91

no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth."  If you walk in truth, you
will walk happily; and therefore I do not
know how I can wish you a happy new year,
my children, in any better manner, than to
wish that you may this year, and every year
you live, walk in truth.
You have doubtless some idea of my meaning, when I say that I wish you may walk in
truth. But in order that you may have a yet
more clear and more distinct idea of it, I will
express the same wish under four different
forms. I wish that you may love the truth,
learn the truth, speak the truth, and live the
truth.
1. I wish that you may love the truth. Give
your approbation to whatever is candid, honest,
and open. Be always better pleased to see
things as they are, than as they are not. Do
not permit yourselves to be pleased with deceit. Have nothing to do with it, even though
it may seem to be favorable to you. It can
never do you anything but harm in the end.
I cannot ask you to be displeased with
praise, for praise is often honest, and as useful
as it is pleasant; but I can and will ask you




ï~~92        SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

to be displeased with flattery, that is, with
praise which is not honest nor true. In this
sense, love truth more than you love yourselves. Love truth more than you love to
be praised; more than you love ease; more
than you love any earthly advantage. If you
love truth more than any selfish indulgence,
then you will be valuable yourself, and will
feel that you are valuable, and that the love
of the truth has made you valuable, and that
you can afford to go without praise, and without indulgences, because your own truthloving soul is worth more than all those
things. But if you love praise so much that
you will have it at any rate, or love money
or things to eat and drink more than you love
the truth, then you cannot help feeling mean,
because you will feel that you have put your
soul on a level with things which please your
eyes or your palate, and that in fact you value your soul less than you do those things.
A child, or a man eitht r, must feel mean, and
must be mean, when he places so little value
on his own soul. Therefore love the truth
which gives value to the soul, before all those
things which please the senses or gratify self



ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

98

ishness, and the intense love of which degrades the soul.
Love the truth wherever it is to be seen.
Love it in a stranger as well as in a person
whom you know.     Love it and honor it in
one who wears coarse clothes as well as in one
who wears fine clothes. And despise falsehood and deceit just as heartily when it is
dressed in jewels as when it is covered with
rags. Put vanity and fear behind you, come
out of the darkness, and stand up in the daylight, and love truth.
2. I wish that you may learn the truth.
Indeed if you sincerely love the truth, you
will endeavor to learn it, and you will meet
with success to all essential purposes. Most
of the obstacles which hinder people from
learning the truth come from their not loving
truth, or from their loving something else
more than truth. Learn as much truth as
you can, and when you find that you have
learned anything which is not true, throw it
away. Try to get as much truth as possible
by your own exertions; but do not refuse help.
Neither while you are children, nor after you
are grown up, will you be able to learn the




ï~~94

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

needful truth without help. But some are
more able and better fitted to help you than
others. Your parents, are your best human
guides in learning the truth; far better guides,
in general, than those who love you not as
they do; for much truth comes from love.
Follow the guidance of your fathers and mothers, and those whom they choose to be your
instructors, rather than the guidance of strangers or your own passions.
If I should ask you in what book you might
learn the most truth, you would probably all
answer, the Bible; and you would answer
right. The Bible is the book of God, and
God is truth. It is in the Bible that you come
to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, who was
" full of grace and truth," and taught truth,
and died for the truth: for he loved truth
better than life.
Make it your great object to learn what is
true, and not merely what is agreeable or what
seems to suit you. Truth is wisdom, and falsehood is folly; therefore learn wisdom and not
folly. What can be more foolish than to spend
time in learning folly? They who spend their
time in learning to deceive others, - what do




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

95

they do? Why, they waste, their time, and
deceive themselves. How foolish they are I
I beseech you to spend your time in learning
the truth; for then it will be spent wisely and
well.
Seek the aid of your parents and of good
people. Read that good book, the Bible, and
other books which teach virtue; for virtue is
the highest truth. Mind this, particularly, my
children, and remember it, that virtue is the
highest truth. You will often make mistakes
in after life, I suppose, and think you have
found the truth when you have not; but you
may be sure that you learn the highest truth
in learning virtue.
8. I wish that you may speak the truth.
Speak the truth which you have loved, and
which you have learned. Do not be afraid of
speaking it. Be more afraid of speaking a
falsehood than of being punished in consequence
of speaking the truth. Speak the truth on all
occasions when it is proper that you should
speak at all. Get a steady habit of telling the
truth, and then you will have a character for
truth-telling with all who know you; and how
delightful it is to find that you are depended




ï~~96

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

upon, even by your elders, as tellers of the
honest truth, and that you have established a
character which insures respect. A truth-telling child is more to be respected than a man
who does not speak the truth.
Observe too that it is much safer to speak
truth than falsehood. Falsehood may pass undetected a few times, but it must be discovered
at last; and then, O what shame must be endured, as well as punishment! The burning
shame of detected falsehood, ---save yourselves
from it, my young friends, in the only way you
can, which is by always speaking the truth.
Truth will be your friend through life, but
falsehood can serve you but a little while, and
with miserable service too. The Bible says the
same. Hear what it says. "The lip of truth
shall be established forever; but a lying tongue
is but for a moment."  You have heard people
talk of beautiful lips. Perhaps you have heard
some such remark as this: How beautiful
that child's lips are I they are just like coral I
Now I tell you that the most beautiful lips are
the lips which speak the truth, and that they
are worth all the coral which ever grew in the
sea. I never read any praise of coral lips in




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

97

the Bible, but I have read praise of lips which
speak the truth, -and the highest praise which
can be given, even that they are delightful to
God who made them, while false lips, however
bright their color may be, are hateful to him.
Listen again. " Lying lips are abomination to
the Lord; but they that deal truly are his delight." As you value the confidence of man,
your own respect, and the love of your heavenly Father, my children, speak the truth.
4. And, finally, I wish that you may live the
truth. That is, I wish that truth may shine
out through your whole life, and be seen in all
your character and conduct. I certainly wish
that you may always speak the truth, but I do
not care that you should speak much about the
truth; because I have known persons who
were in the habit of talking frequently and
quite in raptures about truth, saying how lovely and excellent it was, and yet who did not
seem to me to speak and act more truly themselves than many others who did not say so
much about it. Do not be affected. Do not
pretend to feel more than you really feel, or to
be more than you are. Be polite, and considerate of other people's feelings, but at the same




ï~~98

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

time be true. Be true to your faith. Do not
say a good thing, and afterwards be afraid to
act it. Do not lend yourselves to help out any
piece of fraud or low cunning. Be fair and
frank in all your dealings and proceedings, but
at the same time gentle and kind; for truth
and charity agree together like loving sisters;
but truth and rudeness do not agree together
at all, but whatever truth does rudeness is sure
to spoil. Be not rude, but be true; kind and
true. Then you will be beloved and respected,
and you will be happy. And if you care about
being thought handsome, the best way and the
only way in your power is to be honest and
true. In your face and form you cannot be
different from what God made you. But deceit and habits of falsehood will so hurt the
handsomest face, that people will think it no
longer handsome; while truth will add beauty
to the most beautiful. The most celebrated of
English poets has said the same thing, in words
so simple that you will understand them at once.
" O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give I"
Bind this sweet ornament about your neck,




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

99

my children, and always wear it, and then you
need not give yourselves any concern about
your beauty; -for you must be beautiful in the
eyes of all who know you.
Now I have given you my New-Year's
wish, and may God grant that it be fulfilled!
It is that you may walk in truth; and it was
explained to you under four divisions or heads,
which I will repeat to you that you may remember them. I wished that you might love
the truth; learn the truth, speak the truth, and
live the truth. Whether we shall meet together on the first Sunday of the next year, I know
not. How long we shall live together in this
world, I know not. No one knows. Children
die, and men die; and we cannot tell who will
be called to their last account in the present
year. But if we walk daily in truth, we have
the sure promise of God, that we shall walk together in the heavenly city, in light and glory,
and live through the heavenly year, which is
immortal and eternal.




ï~~SERMON X.

FAULTS OF CHILDREN.
EVEN A CHILD IS KNOWN BY HIS DOINGS, WHETHER IS
WORK BE PURE, AND WHETHER IT BE RIGHT.
THIs is a wise saying which concerns children; and it may be found in the Book of
Proverbs, twentieth chapter, eleventh verse.
The meaning of it is, that a child, as well as a
man, is to be known or distinguished by his character, his habits, his behavior, his talk; so that
you can tell, young as he is, and brief as his
residence has been in this world, whether his
work, or the amount of what he does, is pure
and right, or whether it is impure and wrong.
Some children are obedient to those whom
they ought to obey, and some are disobedient;
some are disposed to be calm and quiet, and
some to be peevish and fretful; some are
gentle, and some are rude and passionate;
some speak the truth always, and some speak a
great deal of falsehood. Now by all these doings a child is known. He is not so widely
known as a man is, because he does not act on




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

101

so wide a stage as a man does; but still he is
known. He is known by his playmates and
schoolmates, and he is known by many grownup people, the friends and acquaintances of his
family, the neighbors and others. He cannot
help being known. There are many eyes upon
him, which must see what he is doing, how he
conducts himself; and therefore there are many
minds which form an opinion concerning his
work and his conduct.
It is important that you should be aware of
this, my children, and that you should govern
yourselves accordingly. It is important that
you should be aware, that even at your early
time of life people observe you and have their
thoughts and feelings about you. You are
sometimes too apt to imagine that people are
taking notice of your clothes, when in fact they
are not; but you may depend upon it, that
many persons who do not care the least
whether you are dressed in one way or another, cannot fail to mark your behavior, and
are pleased to see you behave well and displeased to see you behave ill. Surely you
desire to give pleasure rather than pain.
Surely you prefer to be thought agreeable




ï~~102

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

rather than disagreeable, and good rather than
bad. You must esteem it more pleasant to
go about with an excellent character among
friends, than with a poor character among
those who dislike you. I take it for granted,
that you would all of you rather be loved than
not be loved. But in order to be loved, you
must attract and deserve love; and in order to
deserve love, you must be virtuous and amiable; and in order to be virtuous and amiable,
you must avoid those faults to which you are
liable, and amend those faults which you may
have already contracted. It is therefore a
friendly act to warn you kindly of your faults;
and this is what I propose to do in the present
sermon.
I am not one of those who think that children
have no faults. I love children. I love the
freshness, the simplicity, the openness of heart,
the tenderness of heart, the comparative innocence, and other fair qualities which are so
generally the characteristics of childhood. But
I remember what children were when I was a
child, and I see what they are now; and I
know that they have faults. Indeed it would
be a wonder if they had not. And if I should




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

108

tell you, my children, that you had no faults,
your own consciences and recollections would
contradict me, and tell you that I was mistaken. If I should say to you, my children, you
are altogether without spot or stain; your
thoughts and feelings are all exactly right; in
order to do what you ought, you have only to
do what you please, and woe to those who
check you and your sweet impulses; you have
no sins, no selfishness, and never would have,
if your elders would only let you alone; you
are, in short, angels upon earth; - if I should
hold this language to you, you might for a moment, perhaps, be pleased with the flattery,
but the next moment you would blush and. hang your heads with uneasy consciousness,
and wonder how I could be either so ignorant,
or so regardless of fact, as to address you in so
strange a manner. It is not improbable that
some of you might call to mind something
which you had done wrong this very day,
which would itself prove my lofty praises to be
empty and worthless. I think so well of you,
that I believe you would prefer honest words
from my mouth to flattery; and it is only
because I love you, and wish you to become




ï~~104

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

better by amending your faults, that I speak
to you concerning them.
I shall speak of a few of the faults which appear to me to be most common to children.
But in doing this, I do not mean to imply that
all of you are chargeable with each of the
faults which I shall name. Some of you will
probably be blameless of one specified fault
and some of another. Your own consciences
must tell you of what you are guilty, and of
what you are not guilty.
1. The first fault which I shall mention is
that of wilfulness. Children are very apt to
be wilful; to set up their own will in opposition to the will of those whose right and whose
duty it is to direct and govern them. To be
sure, it is quite natural that you should prefer
your own will and your own way. But then
your will is often unreasonable, and your way
dangerous; and they who are older and wiser
than you are know, that if you were always to
have your own will and take your own way,
the consequences would be highly injurious
not only to others but to yourselves. If there
is to be order and peace and virtue in a house,
all who live in it cannot have each one his




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

105

separate will and way; for the wills and ways
would clash together and produce endless confusion. There must be government in that
house. The wills of some must occasionally
yield and be given up. Now who ought to
yield, and give up their wills? Should the
old yield to the young, or the young to the
old? Should the parent yield to the child, or
the child to the parent? Certainly the child
should yield? And why? Because the parent has more wisdom than the child can have,
and knows better than the child can, what is
for the child's good.
And remember, too, that it is because your
parents love you, that they sometimes oppose
your will, and refuse to grant your wishes.
It is as unpleasant to them to contradict and
deny you, as it can be to you to be contradicted and denied; but they perform this unpleasant duty, because they love you too well
to let you do what they think would hurt you
at once, or turn out to your injury in the end.
You love liberty, you desire to be free. Very
well. Liberty is good. But so is obedience,
and so is submission. Liberty is not the only
good; and it is not good at all, when it does




ï~~106

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

not mind the limits which are set to it, and
rebels against wisdom and love, which are its
natural and eternal superiors and guides.
Try, my dear children, and try hard, if it
be not easy to you, to bring your wills into
subjection to the wisdom and love of your
parents and instructors. Put forth your true
strength, and try to conquer your own wilfulness. The next time that you feel disposed to
speak rudely to those who nurture you, or take
your own way in opposition to their commands
or wishes, think how much longer they have
lived than you have, and how much more
knowledge they have acquired; think how
they clothe and feed and instruct you; think
how tenderly they love you and watch over
you, and how readily they would risk their
lives for your benefit. Think,-and suffer not
the rude answer to pass the gates of your lips.
Think,- and then cheerfully and gracefully
obey.
2. Another fault to which children are
liable is a propensity to disturb each other or
their elders by teasing them. This propensity
to tease is one branch of the love of mischief,
that wild and gadding vine with the bitter fruit.




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

107

I would not deny to you one moment of sport
in its proper season. But sport is sport, and
pain is pain; and that ought to be no sport to
you which gives unnecessary pain to others.
Who does not know that the peace and enjoyment of a quiet circle may be most seriously
troubled by the annoyances of children, who
persist in annoying, in spite of all entreaty and
rebuke. Who has not marked the unhappiness which children cause to each other at
home and abroad, in the house, and the school,
and the street, by sneering and jeering and
ridiculing each other, by withholding some article of property, by doing some one of the
hundred vexing things which are signified by
the word "teasing."  Be assured that these are
all transgressions of the great law of love. You
do not like to be vexed yourselves, and therefore you ought not to vex others. Some children can better bear to be teased than others,
and it is well that you should learn to bear it,
for it is a rough world you live in. But while
you should endeavor to bear provocation when
it comes, with as calm and strong a spirit as
possible, you should resolve not to give provocation, but to be kind and amiable, and considerate of the feelings of every one.




ï~~108

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

And here I would throw in a word for the
brute creation. Avoid teasing not only your
fellow-beings but the inferior animals.  God
made them, and made them for enjoyment.
See that you imbitter not their lives, their short
lives, which God gave so kindly. Study their
habits, for they are curious and interesting.
Admire their form and structure, for they are
well adapted to their habits and wants. Accept their services, which are many and great.
But do not tease them. Do not make them
wish, if they can wish, that they had never
been born. Show that you deserve your own
superiority of rank, by treating them gently
and humanely.
3. There is a fault, or I should rather call
it a sin, which is to be observed in some children, but from which I hope you are free, for
I cannot think of it without indignation, - I
mean the habit of tyrannizing over inferiors in
age or strength. I believe I state no more
than the bare fact, when I say, that many
have had their days of childhood almost spoiled
for them, by the sufferings of mind and body
which have been inflicted on them by some
little tyrant of the neighborhood. A grievous




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

109

sin is the sin of tyranny, and perhaps as often
to be met with among children as among men.
Sometimes one will tyrannize over many, and
sometimes many will join together to tyrannize
over one. But in all cases, tyranny is a grievous and hateful sin, - it causes so much unhappiness! Even children of the softer sex
are not free from it. Even little girls will
sometimes combine together to treat with rude
and cutting neglect some one of their companions, because they have some foolish prejudice
against her, and thus, if she has any feeling,
make her miserable; and she all the while
may be as good a child, and as worthy of notice
as any of them. Avoid, I beseech you, the
taint of this sin of tyranny. And let those
who are free from it themselves frown upon
it when they see it in others. Discourage it;
talk against it; take the part of those who are
oppressed by it. As far as you are able, permit it not to show its hateful form or exercise
its hateful power.
And here I will stop; not because I have
got through the list of the faults of children,
but because those which I have named belong
to one class or family of faults, and because I




ï~~110       SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
have already said enough for your attention
and your memory. I have spoken to you as
your sincere friend, more desirous to improve
you than to entertain you. It will do you no
harm, but only good, to be reminded seasonably
of your imperfections, and to think and reflect
on them, so that you may be led to amend
them. Go on, my children, from weakness to
strength, and from strength to more strength,
and may the good Spirit of God our Father go
with you and help you.




ï~~SERMON XI.

A SUMMARY.
MY LITTLE CHILDREN, THESE THINGS WRITE I UNTO YOU,
THAT YE SIN NOT.
THESE words are from the First Epistle of
John, second chapter, first verse. They represent, in a brief form, the object of religious
instruction, whether it be addressed to children or to persons in mature life. The purpose of the apostle is the purpose of every
Christian teacher. I have written to you, my
children, and preached to you from first to
last that I might keep you from sin, and help
you to be virtuous and worthy; and not merely that I might entertain you for a few moments at a time, with words that should make
no lasting impression on your minds and hearts.
I have written to you, and spoken to you,
"that ye sin not."
And now that I speak to you once more, it
is my intention to refresh your memory of
what has been formerly said to you, by re



ï~~112

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

peating to you the substance of these discourses, which had for their only design your
improvement in knowledge and goodness and
piety.
1. I taught you in my first discourse that
you were not here in the world by chance,
without a Maker; but that just as certainly as
a rich musical instrument, for instance a church
organ, must have been made, and made by a
being having a mind or intellect, so certainly
must you have been made, and made by a
Being having a mind or intellect. I told you
that as an organ could only be made by some
one who intended to make it, and knew how to
make it, and was acquainted with all its various
parts, so you yourselves could only be made by
some One who intended to make you, and knew
how to make you, and was acquainted with all
the various parts which compose the wonderful frame of your bodies and the still more
wonderful frame of your souls. That One is
God. He made also the earth and the stars
and everything we behold. He is before all
other beings and above them all. He is God
alone. To know him, is to take the first step
in religious knowledge; and you will presently

j




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

118

see how your knowledge of him may keep you
from sin, and help you to be good.
2. In my second discourse I exhorted you
from the words of Solomon, to remember your
Creator in the days of your youth. I set before you the duty of thinking seriously and
frequently of the Almighty Being who made
you. I told you that you should think for
what purpose he made you, and what he
wishes you to do while you live. To remember your Creator is to think of him; and to
think of him properly is to reflect upon his
design and will concerning yourselves. I then
proceeded to show you that God created you
to be happy, and to find happiness in goodness.
These two things cannot be separated. You
cannot be happy in any way you choose, but in
the way only which he chooses, which is the
way of virtue and piety. Although the church
organ may produce discord, yet it was not built
to produce discord, but music and harmony;
and though you may do wrong and commit
sin, yet you were not made to do wrong but to
do right, to be virtuous and to be happy. Thus
you were taught to perceive how the knowledge of God as your Creator tends to preserve
8




ï~~114

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

you from sin. As he made you, so did he
make you to be happy in obeying him; and to
obey him is to be virtuous and holy. The
remainder of this discourse was occupied in
expounding to you three particular rules of
goodness. The first of these rules was, To
love and obey your parents; the second, To
speak the truth always; and the third, To be
just and kind to all persons.
8. As I told you in the first sermon, that
God created you, and in the second, that he
created you to obey his commandments, and to
be happy in this obedience, I explained to you
in the third, that he certainly knew whether
you obeyed him or not, because he is present
everywhere throughout his own universe, and
is perfectly acquainted with everything and
every being that he has made. To him there
is no night, and from his vision there can nothing be hid,- no action, no feeling, no thought.
The thought that God sees you always, will
naturally tend to prevent you from sinning in
his sight; and will also stimulate you to do
good, knowing that he sees you, and seeing,
will love you.
4. My fourth sermon was on the duty of




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

115

praying to God. Praying to him is speaking
to him. You think it right to speak to your
earthly father, to ask him for what you need;
it is right also to speak to your heavenly Father, who is God, to ask him for what you need,
and to thank him for what he has given you.
You can speak to God with your thoughts, as
well as with words, because he hears thoughts
as well as words. It is right that you should
pray to him both with your mind and with
your tongue. He wishes you to pray to him,
and has promised that he will hear you. And
when you pray to him, the most important
gifts which you can ask for, are those virtues
and good dispositions which will make you his
well-beloved children. And when you ask for
them, sincerely and heartily, you will receive
them. You will be assisted to be virtuous, you
will be defended from sin.
5. Those four sermons were on your relations and duties to God. In the fifth discourse,
I spoke to you of his Son, Jesus Christ, who,
next to God our Father, demands our reverence, gratitude, and love. I spoke to you
of the great wisdom and power which Jesus
had from God, and of his great love toward




ï~~116

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

mankind, which led him to live and labor for
their good, and at last to die for them. I then
explained to you the meaning of the name
Jesus, which signifies a Saviour, and was chosen to be his name, because he was to save his
people from their sins. Secondly, I explained
to you the meaning of the name, or title,
Christ, which signifies the anointed, and was
applied to Jesus, because as kings were anointed with oil in testimony of their high office,
so Jesus was spiritually anointed by God to
be a king, or ruler, over the souls of men.
And thirdly, I explained to you the meaning of the word lord, which signifies master, or one who has authority, and is applied
to Jesus to denote that he is the especial Master and Head of all his disciples, or Christians.
The conclusion is, that his teachings and commandments are to be received as the teachings
and commandments of God.
6. I spoke to you in the sixth sermon, of
the infancy of Jesus; for your Saviour was
once a child like yourselves. I spoke to you
of the angels who announced his birth with
sweet songs in the skies, and of the humble
place in which he was born, and of the shep



ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

117

herds who came to see him first, and the wise
men from the East who came to see him afterwards. And then I told you of his being taken by his parents into Egypt, when they were
afraid of the cruel Herod; and of their return,
after the death of Herod, to the village of
Nazareth, in their own country, where the
child Jesus "grew, and waxed strong in spirit,
filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was
upon him."
7. And in the seventh sermon I spoke to
you of the childhood of Jesus. I told you
how his parents took him with them, when he
was twelve years old, to the city of Jerusalem,
at the Feast of the Passover; and how they
missed him when they were on their return to
Nazareth; and how, when they went back to
Jerusalem, they found him in the great temple
there, listening to the learned teachers of religion, and asking them questions, because he
wished already to prepare himself for the work
of his heavenly Father. And then I told you
how he returned with his parents to Nazareth;
and how he "was subject to them" there,
obeying them in all things, and working for
them; and how he "increased in wisdom and




ï~~118

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

stature, and in favor with God and man." In
these accounts you beheld the example which
was set by Jesus, when he was a child, to all
children; an example of studiousness and diligence, of mildness, and docility, and obedience;
an example of qualities and conduct which
gained him the love and favor of God and of
man. And does not such an example speak to
your hearts, and persuade you to imitate it, as
far as you possibly can?
8. Having in the two preceding discourses
related to you the incidents of the infancy and
childhood of Jesus, I told you in the next,
which was the eighth in order, what he said of
children, and how he treated them, when he
had grown up to manhood, and was teaching
the people, and doing his wonderful works. I
told you how, on one occasion, when his disciples had been disputing with one another about
who should be first and greatest among them,
he showed them a little child, and assured them
that they must be humble and simple as that
child was, before they could be really great.
And I told you how, on another occasion,
when a number of little children were brought
to him, that he might lay his hands on them




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

119

and bless them, he kindly took them up in his
arms, and gave them his holy blessing, though
his disciples thought they would trouble him,
and wanted to send them away. I thus showed
you that Jesus always remembered and loved
little children, and that children ought to love
him and obey his precepts.
9. My ninth sermon was a New-Year's
sermon, expressing a New-Year's wish; which
was, that you might " walk in truth."  And
this wish was divided into four parts; the first,
that you might love the truth; the second, that
you might learn the truth; the third, that you
might speak the truth; and the fourth, that
you might live the truth. This is a wish that
may be repeated at any time; and every one
who loves children, and sincerely wishes them
well, may say, in the words of St. John,
which were the text of this sermon, "I have
no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth."
10. Children have faults. It is proper that
they should be told of their faults, in order
that they may amend them. With a view to
your improvement, therefore, I described in
my tenth discourse some of the faults to which




ï~~120

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

children are liable. I warned you against the
fault of wilfulness, or of setting up your own
will in opposition to the will of those whom it
is your duty to obey. I warned you, secondly,
against the disposition to disturb and tease those
about you by noisy or mischievous behavior.
I warned you, thirdly, against the sin of tyranny; the sin and wickedness of domineering
over, or in any way rendering uncomfortable
and unhappy, those who are younger, or poorer,
or weaker than yourselves. Other faults might
have been mentioned; but I left you to reflect
seriously upon these, and, if you are not prone
to these, to reflect seriously upon the faults
you have, of which your consciences will inform you.
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." You will readily see
that I have addressed these ten discourses to
you, with the purpose of guarding you against
sin, and helping you in the way of goodness
and eternal life. Happy shall I be if I have
interested you in subjects so important to your
welfare now and hereafter. My heart is with
you. My prayers are for you. It is difficult
for you to tell how anxiously and earnestly




ï~~SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

121

many of your elders, all who love you best
and most truly, are regarding your conduct,
and the signs of your moral course. You are
considered not merely as children, but as those
who are soon to be the men and women of society. The old are tottering and passing away;
the middle-aged are growing old; the circle of
time is steadily rolling round; and very soon,
though it may not seem so to you in looking
forward, you will leave your schools, and the
studies and sports of childhood, and take your
part in the business and concerns of the world.
Your dispositions, and qualities, and habits,
your knowledge and your ignorance, will exert
their full influence. Your character will be
part of the character of your country. Is it
a wonder, then, that you are looked upon with
an intense interest? Is it a wonder, that many
eyes are seriously and affectionately watching
you, to discover, if they can, by your position
and progress now, what will be your place and
your path hereafter?  That you are objects of
such regards, cannot make you vain. You will
rather be made humble in view of the love
which yearns toward you, and of the work you
are called upon to perform. I beseech you to




ï~~122

SERMONS TO CHILDREN.

strive with all your might to fulfil the hopes
which are formed of you. Improve the time
which your Creator gave you for the express
purpose of improvement. Store your minds
with true knowledge; and bear this in your
minds especially, my children, that the chief
end of all your studies, an end beyond comparison more important than any other, is, that
you may be made good and useful, - good and
useful. You can easily remember this truth,
for like almost all important truths, it is plain
and simple. Remember it, and act upon it.
Act upon it faithfully and constantly. Then
you will amply repay all that has been paid for
you; then you will fill with joy many expecting
hearts; then your parents and your friends will
bless you; your country will bless you; your
Saviour and your God will look down favorably
upon you, and will take you to themselves in
bliss and glory, when your course on earth is
ended.




ï~~A CATECHISM

FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.
PART I.
Question. Can you tell me, child, who made
you?
Answer. God made me and all things.
Q. For what did God make you?
A. To be good and happy.
Q. What is it to be good?
A. To love and obey my parents, to speak
the truth always, and to be just and kind to all
persons.
Q. Can God know whether you be good or
not?
A. Yes; for though we cannot see God,
yet he sees us, wherever we are, by night as
well as by day.
Q. What will God do for you, if you be
good?
A. He will love me, and make me happy.
Q. Can you do anything for God, who is
so good to you?




ï~~124

A CATECHISM FOR

A. I can only love him, obey him, and be
thankful to him; I can do nothing for him.
Q. Can you speak to God?
A. Yes; he has bid us to pray to him for
everything which is fit for us, and he is always ready to hear us.
Q. In what manner should you pray to
God?
A. Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has given us
a form of prayer, called the Lord's Prayer.
Q. Repeat the Lord's Prayer.
A. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread. And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
against us. And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever
and ever. Amen.
Q. What will God do to those who are not
good?
A. He will punish them.
Q. Is God able to punish those who are not
good?
A. Yes; he who made all things can do all




ï~~THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.  125
things; hlie can take away all our friends, and
everything which he has given us; and he can
make us die, whenever he pleases.
Q. After you die, shall you live again?
A. Yes; God will raise us from the dead,
and if we be good, we shall die no more.
Q. Where shall you live again, if 'you have
been good?
A. If I have been good, I shall go to heaven,
where I shall be very happy forever.
Q. What shall become of the wicked, when
they die?
A. They shall meet with their just punishment.
Q. When you do anything which is wrong,
should you not be afraid that God, who sees
you, will punish you?
A. Yes; but he has promised to forgive us,
if we be sorry for our sins, and endeavor to
sin no more.
Q. Who has told us, that God will forgive
us, if we repent of our sins, and endeavor to
sin no more?
A. Many persons by whom God spake, and
particularly Jesus Christ.
Q. Who was Jesus Christ?




ï~~126

A CATECHISM FOR

A. The well-beloved Son of God, whom the
Father sent to teach men their duty, and to
persuade and encourage them to practise it.
Q. Where do we learn what we know concerning Christ, and what he did, taught, and
suffered for the good of men?
A. In the Bible, which we should diligently
read and study, for our improvement in knowledge and goodness, in order to fit us for heaven.
Q. Is there any form of words in which
Christians express the principal articles of their
belief?
A. Yes; the Apostles' Creed, which was
composed in the first ages of Christianity, is
such a form.
Q. Repeat the Apostles' Creed.
A. I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born
of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius
Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; the
third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right
hand of God, the Father Almighty; from




ï~~THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.  127
thence he shall come to judge the living and
the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the
forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the
body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
PART II.
Q, Does the Bible inform us what God himself is?
A. Yes; it teaches us that he is a being who
had no beginning, and that he will have no
end; that he is almighty, perfectly wise, and
infinitely good; that he is everywhere present;
and that he never changes in his nature or disposition.
Q. What does God require of us, in order
to live and die in his favor?
A. All that God requires of us is comprehended in these two precepts; Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thy
neighbor as thyself.
Q. In what manner must we express our
love to God?




ï~~128

A CATECHISM FOR

A. By a grateful sense of his goodness to
us; by a constant care to do his will; and by
an entire and cheerful submission to all the
dispensations of his providence.
Q. How must we express our love to our
fellow-men?
A. By doing to others, as we should think
it right in them to do to us in the same circumstances.
Q. By what methods must we cherish our
love to God, and increase our confidence in
him?
A. We must frequently consider the benefits
he confers upon us. We must also address
ourselves to him in prayer, thanking him for
the mercies he bestows upon us, confessing our
sins before him, and asking of him whatever
he knows to be needful and good for us.
Q. How shall we bring ourselves into the
best disposition for performing our duty to God
and man?
A. By a proper government of our passions,
according to the dictates of reason and conscience; by living in temperance and chastity;
and never indulging a proud, malicious, or selfish temper.




ï~~THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.  129
Q. What should we do, when persons affront
and injure us?
A. We should not return evil for evil; and
if they repent, we must forgive them, as we
hope that God will forgive us our offences
against him.
Q. In what manner should we treat the inferior animals?
A. We should treat them with tenderness
and humanity; and never torment them or destroy their lives to make ourselves sport; because they are the creatures of God, and
because God has commanded us to be merciful
unto them.
Q. Has God anywhere delivered distinct
directions, concerning the several branches of
our duty to him and to our neighbor?
A. Yes, in the Ten Commandments, which
he delivered to the children of Israel from
Mount Sinai.
Q. Which is the first commandment?
A. Thou shalt have no other gods but me.
Q. Which is the second commandment?
A. Thou shalt not make to thyself any
graven image, nor the likeness of anything
that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath,




ï~~180

A CATECHISM FOR

or in the water under the earth; thou shalt
not bow down to them, nor worship them; for
I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, and
visit the sins of the fathers upon the children,
unto the third and fourth generation of those
who hate me; and show mercy unto thousands
of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Q. Which is the third commandment?
A. Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain.
Q. Which is the fourth commandment?
A. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labor, and do
all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it
thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, and
thy son, and thy daughter; thy man servant,
and thy maid servant; thy cattle, and the
stranger who is within thy gates. For in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh
day, and hallowed it.
Q. Which is the fifth commandment?




ï~~THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.  131
A. Honor thy father and thy mother; that
thy days may be long in the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee.
Q. Which is the sixth commandment?
A. Thou shalt do no murder.
Q. Which is the seventh commandment?
A. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Q. Which is the eighth commandment?
A. Thou shalt not steal.
Q. Which is the ninth commandment?
A. Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor.
Q. Which is the tenth commandment?
A. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife; nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is his.
Q. What are those principles which most
effectually lead to the observance of these, and
all other of God's commandments?
A. A high reverence of God, and a sincere
good-will to our fellow-creatures, joined with a
just regard to our own real interest.
Q. What is the best method we can take to
guard ourselves from all vice and wickedness?
A. By being careful not to indulge sinful




ï~~182

A CATECHISM FOR

thoughts; and by correcting everything which
is amiss in the beginning, before we have become accustomed to it, and have formed a habit which cannot easily be broken; particularly
by avoiding the company of wicked persons,
who would soon make us like themselves; and
by being, in a more especial manner, upon our
guard against those vices, to which our situation
and circumstances make us peculiarly prone.
Q. Is any man able to fulfil all the commands
of God, so as to live entirely without sin?
A. No. Our merciful God and Father knows
that we are not able to do this, and, therefore,
does not expect it from us. He only requires
that we repent of the sins we commit, and endeavor to live better lives for the future.
Q. What should a sense of our frailty and
proneness to sin teach us?
A. Humility and watchfulness, and earnestness in our prayers to God, to enable us to resist temptation, and to strengthen and confirm
our good dispositions.
Q. Did Christ appoint any outward ordinances as means of promoting his religion?
A. He commanded his disciples to go and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name




ï~~THE INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 13388
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost; and he also commanded them to
eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of
him. This rite is called the Lord's Supper.
Q. What is the meaning of baptism?
A. The washing of water in baptism probably represents the purity of heart and life
required from all who become the disciples of
Christ.
Q. What is the nature and use of the Lord's
Supper?
A. By eating bread and drinking wine in
remembrance of Christ, we keep alive the
memory of his death and resurrection; we
acknowledge ourselves to be Christians; we
cherish a grateful sense of the blessings of
the Gospel of Christ; and strengthen our resolutions to live as becomes his disciples.
Q. Had Christ no particular reward on account of what he did and suffered for the good
of men?
A. Because he humbled himself to death,
God has highly exalted him, and made him
head over all things to his Church; and at the
end of the world he will come to judge the living and the dead. For this hope which was




ï~~184

A CATECHISM.

set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame of that ignominious death.
Q. What do the Scriptures say concerning
the day of judgment?
A. That Christ will come in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory, when
every eye shall see him; that he will separate
the wicked from the good; that he will send
the wicked into a place of punishment, and
take the righteous to a place of happiness,
where they shall live forever with himself.
THE END.

Cambridge: Stereotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.




ï~~


ï~~


ï~~.; f~J~7W -




ï~~xl..j a >:'e   u,. rr  A: w.3,.*V




ï~~,IR




ï~~


ï~~l.,NT0 LI  R
fR




ï~~P-, 401 OilS3,
J.y ~>:}                                  IF'<t 'Nt: 49 +' T                   i'Ms1,+TÂ~TJ 1!    -b.v.+!14.Y.bL                    1
a f }-r,      k,' 'Ti {     fkt'  4,y      Ta,_:I             1F           1*vY y,* }   ~.           hs   r,N;         4,,:.,;+yr,.;, rY ^:,  k{ t  a  r  -,  T  t  e.:T  t  fi;:
C   Jit.    3    - I   +' M     f J   ' Y.t'k      t.1' t     v          s, 4r y   "'."    rt <           a   "'  "  t, 'T'     r Z 'w                     r
*trt
7 t,aL.              xr
-'   rf, 4,  '"' "3"'".;  k  1r;l. v      -f   (  y., A v. i  c ".'r"  " " ar'   't.y       *           "   r     y.,                       {
y  a       aY, xt      t t      S   {Y        v  h  *, r      a w   }" ti xl       a       i t   4.1           ". tr4 '                r,,i   r 4 f. 4         y     1         '         0
"       a...,!  n,^    ''i  ">. ''4,"rf. y, 4..  }"  -     1 wÂ~=Y'.{       1    y'+  n    fr,
-,1'%  p." i-,.:Y f,. a' -1-;U.,,-,'  ".1:.H  F  #w, r  i."..:R   -y.wrr  {3'i.,t ';  'v.n  ~ a" '  ' '''F  " "y.,...r'i.     '!'^.' Y1 ^.Y j7  M''{:l. w' t+v;  ~t'y~f,,          (, r!.
t          7      R.      1M       Mi 'r,    p    'V'v                                   " ', ^    f1      'v       Y.                 t..   rfyE.,  FX                     '5jv
"'* A.,.              +"  S',                 xa,. -' " ' d,.;",    " ""s  ^   ':..',{  x   '... k r  '" "  c'-  -Yw f   4..,    'Y^       ".*o                       }.
wt'^ 4%, 1t4.a.'"1' "3';,3:y  ie^.    t+ t"Eg a'.51< sr,(y,i,w  d3",. fw.. +e-  y;,,r,j t{  'T rj '
i ':.,,, t w..,?'t >;y  ""  ' i''rRa. fY;'Y...,,+  '1... ^   'f ''+:  b"  r,   l, _, ft'!,,{. ",..  r 't'i.."ry, R'k, {. r'.d,.   3  '',,,r, ",   ".,5;' ', y Tr. "  x   I?    r
'. ay  y,  }},,   t.Yt,,.,,'s i.  Y"*       w,          yM i                  l' ":      "*     '',N.r a  +,  -"  k{{^t Si+,+ ''r   r  '  "   #7    -:. "r< #. y.    -;34G^J'      3 ',,yy,.7-      k:i Y
rat'  1':.   t Â~ },y.,K wkÂ~s    ':,t,;'             ".     1C:k 1',e;,   "',"r  '1''iy}Se.Q  =..i" +' ' 'h'"'     "'y, "'E  "'            r.,. 't         J1"       i'.ke"
FÂ~
r        Â~  7r                            i^rl              i, r        k f                                      's ai "s,         Y (     f          Y
(p 'M                   Y.W^          },, JM - }.r 7  ro  >,f{                  r                            '     Â~. qty.  ~,,  "..,   " +.'4   k tf.''                  q,  ''fi
4,{ f'."   ^                               - a      Ify' ik."'..TMii    K 1!t"wH                          fl           ^..        '\        I N  '                                        y;.
y.        -..  W,  Y j  rt,  lira..   R                     w"a.                                +  a     r.. ~4                               J"4',''!  _ p, C
-,                           -.                                                                                                                Y   w. f', '. Apr
Y,,
4
P      a
w,,
w
y4y,    Y
1M1 y.
PV k.
n.   t,.
w +                                   {
IVA
it
r
i,
S        k
N. I
y,
i        Y  M1, l,.     "
wh, "'