of you have eaten. It is what boys oftentimes call "Johnny bread." It
looks very much like the long pods which grow on the honey locust trees.
It is sometimes called "Johnny bread," because some people mistakenly
think that this was the kind of locust that John the Baptist ate when he
came in the Wilderness, preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand
and that men should repent. We are told in the Scriptures that he ate
locusts and wild honey. The locusts which he ate were very much like our
grasshoppers, such as are still eaten by very poor people in the East.
[Illustration: Husks.]
In the 15th chapter of the gospel by St. Luke, we have a very beautiful
parable, called the parable of the prodigal son. In connection with the
husk which I hold in my hand, I want to tell you something about this
prodigal son.
In this parable Jesus tells of a very kind father who had two sons, but
the younger son was dissatisfied and discontented. He was a boy very
much like many who live in this country and at this time. He was a boy
who wanted to have his own way. He thought that his father was an "old
fogy." The son wanted gay company and gay clothing. He wanted to travel
and see something of the world; so he asked his father to give him the
money which would come to him at his father's death, in order that he
might go immediately and have his own way, and have a good time, as he
supposed.
His father was very sad, for he had tried to bring up his boy in the
right way. But when he could not prevail upon him, and his son would not
listen to him any longer, but insisted upon having the money, and going
away from home, the father granted his request.
When the money had been counted out, the son gathered it all up, bade
his father and brother and all his friends good-bye, telling them what a
happy time he was going to have, and started out for a far country.
This same desire to see something of the world has induced many boys to
run away from home. Many years ago, when there were numerous ships that
went out on long voyages to catch whales, oftentimes boys who had run
away from home went away to sea with these ships. Now, however, restless
and discontented boys, who have read worthless and deceptive books,
sometimes go to live a wild life on the plains in the West. Sometimes
boys even become tramps. Scores and sometimes hundreds of them can be
met any week by going to the Breakfast Association, in Philadelphia; or
some of the Rescue Homes, in New York, where poor, wandering boys and
tramps are given a free meal on Sunday morning or Sunday evening.
Prodigals now, as in the time when Christ lived, have a very hard time
of it. They start out with high hopes, sometimes with money in their
pockets, with fine clothing and bright anticipations, expecting to have
a good time in the far country which they are seeking. But their
experience is always the same.
When this prodigal came to the far country, for a few weeks, or possibly
a few months, he had plenty of money. He thought his money would always
last. Bad men and women gathered around him, for they all wanted to
enjoy what his money would secure for them. But it didn't take long; his
money was soon spent, and when his money was gone his pretended friends
were gone also. He soon found himself penniless, friendless and
hungered. He had to go out and seek for work. Perhaps he had been too
much indulged at home. He had never learned a trade, and possibly had
never learned to do work of any kind, and so there was nothing for him
to do but to accept the humblest and meanest kind of labor. He was a
Jew, and for a Jew to tend swine or hogs was one of the meanest things
in all the world. And yet he was willing because of his poverty and his
want, to do even this most degrading service. This boy who wanted to be
his own master, now became the most menial of slaves, even to the
tending of swine. He wanted gay company, but he had only pigs for his
companions. He wanted wine and feasting, but now no one even offered him
husks to eat. He left his home to seek happiness, but he found only
misery.
[Illustration: The Disappointed, Hungry Prodigal Tending Swine.]
These husks which I showed you, which some boys call "Johnny bread," are
exactly what this wayward, disappointed, disheartened, hungry boy was
given to feed to the swine which he was hired to tend. He was so
hungry that he would have been glad to eat these husks with the pigs,
but no one gave him any to eat.
When this wayward boy was thus brought down to poverty and hunger in
that far-off country, while he was tending the swine, he began to think.
If he had only stopped to think before he left his home, he would never
have started away. He would surely have known that he was better off at
home than anywhere else. But now that misery and want had come to him,
we are told that "he came to himself." That is, he came to his senses.
It was sentiment which led him from his home. It was sense that brought
him back. The trouble with boys and girls, and with older people too, is
that they do not stop to think. They follow their fancies and
sentiments, and they are led astray in this way.
God wants us to stop and think, and He says, "Come, let us reason
together." God does not ask any unreasonable thing of us. He simply
wants to treat us as thoughtful beings, but we want to follow our own
inclination and our own desire. God treats us very kindly. He gives us
every needed comfort and every daily blessing, and yet oftentimes people
are discontented and dissatisfied with God; they complain and think they
have a hard time of it. Instead of being faithful and true to God, they
turn away from him. They desire to forsake God and serve Satan. They
desire to accept what Satan says, and so turn away from God and all that
is good. But they have the same experience over and over again that this
young man had. He went out with fine clothes and plenty of money, and
with high hopes; but he returned home in rags, without a penny in his
pocket, disappointed, penitent and ashamed.
[Illustration: The Returning Prodigal]
But I must not forget to tell you, that when he had journeyed many a
week, toiling wearily over the long road that had separated him from his
father's house, at last he came near his old home. In going away he had
nearly broken his father's heart. With sorrow he was bringing his
aged father down to the grave. But his father still loved his wayward
boy, and expected him home. As he sat watching at the door looking over
the hills, he saw the returning prodigal when he was yet a great way
off. This loving and forgiving father had compassion upon his son, ran
and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and welcomed him back home again.
The wayward boy's heart was all broken up by such kind treatment. He
fell upon his knees at his father's feet and said to his father,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants."
But the father called his servants and commanded them to bring the best
robe and put it upon this boy who had given him so much sorrow; to bring
the ring and put it upon his finger; and then to kill the fatted calf,
so that they might make a great feast, in order that all might be made
very glad, because this his son, who was dead, was alive again, he who
had been lost was found.
So when we come back to God after we have sinned against Him, and are
repentant and sorry for what we have done, in love and great tenderness
He forgives our sins. And like the prodigal, in the time of his sorest
misery, found in his father's heart the greatest mercy, so you and I may
come to God knowing that in the day of our dire distress He is always
willing to love us and to forgive us as His own dear children. Let us be
careful not to sin against Him, and then we shall not have the
humiliation and the sorrow of coming back, like this poor prodigal, when
he returned in rags and poverty to his father's house. Never make the
mistake of going away from your God and then you will not have the
remorse which will bring you back in sorrow and shame.
QUESTIONS.--Who first told the parable of the
prodigal son? Why did the prodigal leave his home?
What did he do with his money? Did his pretended
friends stay by him after his money was gone? In
his poverty what did he do? Did he have enough to
eat? When he was in want and came to himself, of
whom did he think? What did he resolve to do? What
do boys who run away from home generally become?
Are tramps happy? Was the father sad all the time
the boy was away? How did he receive the returning
prodigal? Does God love us even though we do
wrong? Will God forgive us and accept us? Is God
glad when we repent?
After "driving home from church" a series of
tableaux could be arranged: (1) Showing the father
counting out the money to the boy. (2) The boy
bidding good-bye to his father and friends. (3)
Surrounded by flatterers for whom he is spending
his money. (4) In poverty tending swine. (5) In
rags returning home. (6) Being welcomed by his
father.
Or the children may arrange a tent in which the
prodigal is presumed to live on the plains while
tending the swine, which may be represented by a
series of books, toys or any objects; for the
imagination of the children will convert any
object into any other object, person or thing.
[Illustration: The Prodigal's Tent.]
IRON--LOW GRADE AND HIGH GRADE.
CHARACTER AND WORTH.
SUGGESTION:--Objects used: A piece of old iron,
some nails, broken clock and watch springs, and
also a piece of native iron ore, if convenient.
MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I want to show you to-day that there is a great
difference in the value of things, even though they are made of the same
material. In the second chapter of Genesis we are told, "And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground." So, you see that all men and
women are made of the same material, yet men differ greatly, both in
character and works.
[Illustration: Iron Products.]
I have here some iron ore, some old iron, some nails; here are some
clock springs, and here are some springs of watches. This iron ore is as
it is dug from the earth. It is called the native iron, but mixed with
it there is much earth and stone and dross, which must be separated from
it in order to make it pure. This is done by casting the ore, together
with limestone and other materials, into a huge furnace, where the fire
is so intensely hot that all are melted and thus the iron is separated
from the dross, or stone and earth, which is now mixed with the ore.
When the iron is thus separated and molded into large bars, it is worth
from a fraction of a cent to two cents per pound, according to quality
and market price. After it has been cast into great iron bars, and is
known as pig iron, it is afterward bought and melted over again and
molded into the form of stoves and wheels, such as are used in
factories, and a variety of other forms for manufacturing and other
uses.
[Illustration: Nail, Pen and Clock Spring.]
Now, here I have some pieces of iron, such as boys call "old iron." They
often find pieces of this kind of iron, which have been thrown away, and
gather and sell them at a price varying from one-quarter to a cent or
more a pound, according to circumstances. Then it is melted over again
and made into stoves, or whatever the manufacturer may desire. Now, here
are some nails, such as sell at five cents a pound, and here are some
steel pens, which are worth from one to four and five dollars a pound.
Here are some springs, such as are used in the construction of clocks.
These are the springs which make clocks go. When you wind up the clock
you simply tighten this spring, thus storing the power which is
necessary to keep the clock in motion for twenty-four hours, for eight
days, or even a longer period.
Now here are some springs, such as are used in watches. These springs
are worth, according to their size and quality, from twenty to fifty or
sixty dollars a pound. Here also are some little screws, such as are
used in the construction of watches, and which are worth even a hundred
dollars a pound.
While these different articles are all made of the same material, you
see there is a great difference in their value. One is not worth a
single cent a pound, and another may be worth one hundred dollars a
pound. Now this difference in value is due to two things. One is,
difference in quality, and the other is the use which is made of the
article into which the iron is manufactured.
[Illustration: Watch Spring and Screws.]
I suppose, if these different pieces of metal could think, and had the
power of speech, this piece of old iron would complain to the other
pieces which are of more value, and say to the watch spring, "I am just
as good as you are, we were both dug from the same ore bank. I remember
the time when we were both cast into the hot fire and melted in the
furnace; after that I was taken to the foundry, and made into a stove,
and after a few years of use I was rejected and cast into the alley. I
have had to lie about in the mud and in the cold and snow, and men have
passed me by and scorned me as though I were of no value. But I want you
to understand, Mr. Clockspring and Mr. Watchspring, that I am just as
good as you are, and there is no reason why I should be cast out into
the mud and cold, while you are placed in a gold case and carried in a
gentleman's pocket."
The nail also would cry out, and say that he was just as good as the
little screws which are used in the watch, and would complain against
being driven violently into a board, where it is compelled, year after
year, to hold a board on to the side of a building; to have putty placed
over its head, and then paint over the top of that, so that nobody could
even so much as see where it was, or know what it was doing.
Now, the old iron, and the nail, and the others have no right to
complain. There is a vast difference of quality, and there is also a
difference of work.
The higher grades and better qualities of metals are secured by refining
processes. Again and again the metal is cast in the fire and melted.
Sometimes it is beaten on the anvil into such shapes and forms as will
render the metal of greater service, and consequently of more value.
Suppose this metal had feeling, and the power to express its wish. Do
you not see how it would cry out against being cast into the fire, and
being beaten with great hammers upon the anvil? I am sure the fire, the
hammers, and the anvil bring no sense of pleasure to the metal while
being refined and being beaten into such forms as render it of greatest
value.
Just so, in some senses at least, are all boys and girls alike. If they
were all permitted to grow up in neglect, without being governed by
thoughtful parents, without being educated and refined, without being
sent to school and required to attend church, without being taught at
home and being instructed in the Catechism and in the Bible, and without
being shown their duty to God and their fellow men, they would all be
pretty much alike. It is the difference in the influences that are made
to refine some boys that causes them to differ so much from others who
are about them. The boy who has only been taught to pick stones, or
sweep the streets, or dig ditches, may cry out against the boy who is
gentlemanly, and obliging, and obedient, and truthful, and reliable, and
who has a position of great responsibility in a bank, or in the office
of some man who occupies a very responsible position; yet oftentimes,
and quite universally, there is a very great difference in the merit and
value of these two boys. One has been disciplined and governed and
controlled, educated and taught, while the other has likely been
neglected, and consequently has not learned the importance of these
things.
God designs to refine all of us, and therefore He desires that all
should be taught to study, should learn to read and write, should learn
all they can from the schools, should be taught to work, should be
taught to expect trials and self-denials, and should be led to expect
sickness and disappointments, and all these things by which God designs
to make us better from year to year. But, just the same as the iron
would cry out against being cast into the fire and being beaten upon the
anvil, so do boys and girls, and men and women also, cry out against the
providences by which God is refining them and making them better for
this world and fitting them for the world to come.
If we desire to be of largest service in this world, and to occupy a
place of honor in the world to come, we must expect that God will deal
with us, as He has told us in the ninth verse of the thirteenth chapter
of Zechariah, in which He says, "I will refine them as silver is
refined, and will try them as gold is tried." And in the book of Malachi
He says that He, that is God, is "like a refiner's fire, and like
fullers' soap, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and
purge them as gold and silver."
When the gold and the silver is cast into the crucible to be purified,
the fire is made very hot, and the metal is left in the crucible until
the man who is refining it and who sits looking into the crucible can
see his own image reflected in the metal. So we are cast into the fires
of affliction, and God looks down upon us; but when we become like Him,
so that God sees His own self reflected in our character, and in our
disposition, and in our temper, then we shall have been refined as God
desires, and He will then be ready to receive us into His own home on
high.
QUESTIONS.--Can you name different things made
from iron? Is a horse shoe as valuable as a watch
spring? What makes the difference in their value?
How are iron and steel refined, or made more
valuable? Are unrefined and untaught boys and
girls all quite alike? What makes them become
different? Do some boys and girls become more
useful and valuable in the world than others? What
causes the difference? Would the iron cry out
against being refined? Do boys and girls object to
being taught and disciplined? How does the Bible
say that God refines us? Can the refiner see his
image in the melted metal? Does God want to see
His own image reflected in us?
[Illustration: "Joseph in the Pit."]
A POCKET RULE.
HOW GOD MEASURES MEN.
SUGGESTION:--Objects: A yard-stick, pocket-rule,
tape-measure and any measure or scales convenient.
Use the measures and scales for measuring the
height and weight of the different children, and
explain to them that if they continue to grow,
they will eventually become full grown men and
women. So God measures them to-day in moral
things, and if they will learn what God requires
and be obedient to their parents, they will
increase in moral stature as well.
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I am sure you will be able to tell me what these
are which I hold in my hand. This you would call a yard-stick; the
other, because it folds, you would call a pocket-rule, and here is
another, which you would call a tape-measure.
[Illustration: Yard-Stick, Pocket-Rule and Tape-Measure.]
Now, if I were going to measure any of you, to tell how tall you are, I
would use one or the other of these rules; as each is divided into even
inches, I could use any of these three I should prefer. I would say one
boy is four feet two inches, another four feet nine inches and another
five feet four inches, and so on according to the height of each person.
We speak of this kind of measure as feet and inches. When it is used in
measuring cloth, or other goods in a store, we speak of it as yards and
parts of a yard. Then there are also other forms of measures, dry
measure--quarts, pecks, bushels; and liquid measure--quarts, gallons and
barrels. There is also a standard of weight--ounces, pounds and tons.
[Illustration: Farmer's Measures.]
It is necessary to have standards of weights and measures. This is
absolutely necessary, or we could not tell in purchasing cloth or
lumber, in buying sugar or molasses, or other things, whether we are
getting the right quantity, or whether we are not getting the right
quantity. So, everywhere you go in the United States we have the same
size or standard of weights and measures, and the Government appoints
men in each city to go about and examine whether the scales which the
storekeeper uses for weighing sugar, and the measures which he uses when
he sells vinegar and molasses--whether these are perfectly accurate, as
the law requires.
[Illustration: Scales and Measure.]
But, if you look on the other side of this tape-measure, there is a
different standard of measure. This, on the reverse side, is the metric
system, used in France and many other countries. If you were to go into
a store in France and wanted to purchase cloth, you would not ask for a
yard, you would ask for a metre of cloth, which instead of thirty-six
inches, which makes our yard, would be a little over thirty-nine inches;
so the standard of measures and values varies in different countries.
There is a slight difference in the length of the English yard and the
American yard. In this country we also speak of dollars and cents. In
England they have the penny, shilling, pound or sovereign. And so in
different countries there are different pieces of money, having a great
variety of values.
I have spoken of these things simply to call your attention to the fact
that God has a standard of measure, and a standard of value, as well as
men. When the Government enlists soldiers into the army every man is
measured, and he must be of a given height; if he is not as tall as the
requirement, then he is rejected. When Napoleon chose his body-guard the
men all had to be exceedingly tall.
God also has His standard of measure. He does not measure us according
to the height of our body, but according to our moral character. He
measures us to see whether we are good or bad. God's standard of the
measure of our moral character is found in the Bible. You will find it,
both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament
we have the Ten Commandments, in which we are required to worship God,
and to worship nothing else; to keep the Sabbath day holy; to honor our
parents; and various other requirements. In the New Testament we have a
great many principles for moral government which Jesus announced when He
was upon the earth.
We have all broken some one or more of the Ten Commandments and the
precepts which Jesus left for us to follow. If you desire to see how
you should live, if you would keep the law perfectly, you will have to
look at the life of Jesus Christ. He was the only perfect man who ever
lived. He came to this world to set a perfect example for men to
imitate. Just the same as you copy after the lines correctly written at
the top of your writing book, so you and I are to copy after the life
and character of Jesus Christ.
The moral law is a perfect law; the Psalmist says, "the law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul." I showed you how in France they have a
different standard of measure from that which we have in the United
States, but with the moral law the standard is the same everywhere and
at all times. It is wrong to lie or steal in America, and it is equally
wrong to lie or steal in France, or in Africa, or in India, or on the
islands of the sea, or anywhere in all of the universe. If it is wicked
now to swear, or to commit murder it always was wicked. It was just as
wicked three thousand years ago as it is to-day, and it never will be
right to take the name of God in vain, or to destroy human life. God has
but one standard of morality for all people and for all time.
What God requires of the young in order that they may be pure and holy,
He requires also of grown-up people. If it is wrong for the preacher and
the Sunday-school superintendent to go to the theatre, or to do anything
else, it is equally wrong for every member of the church and for every
member of the Sunday-school. Before God we must all be measured by the
same standard of morality.