very fittingly illustrate habits. It is a very dangerous thing to form
bad habits. We should be very careful to form good ones, but bad ones
are very dangerous. The boy who remains away from Sunday-school but
once, thinks little of it. The boy who remains away from church, or
stays at home from school, or disobeys his parents, or spends the
evenings on the streets instead of in the house reading good books, or
breaks the Sabbath, or does any one of many things, may think very
little of it at the time; but do you know that when we go on repeating
the same thing over and over again, the habit grows stronger and
stronger until at last we are not able to break loose from that habit?
There are men who think that they can stop smoking. They began with only
an occasional cigarette or a cigar, until the habit grew upon them, and
now possibly they think they are able to stop, but when they undertake
to break off smoking, they find that it is a very difficult task, and
very few smokers who undertake it succeed permanently. The old habit is
likely to overcome them again and again.
So it is with swearing, and with telling falsehoods, and with being
dishonest, and with drinking liquor, and everything else that men and
boys often do. These habits at last become very strong, until they are
not able to break loose from them.
Now, if you take one of these strong habits from which a man is not able
to break loose, and untwist it, you will find that it was made strong by
a repetition of small habits. Habits are made strong by doing the same
thing over and over again. It is just the same as when I take this spool
of thread and wrap it around the feet of a boy. I can wrap it around and
around, and while it would be easy for him to break the thread if it was
wrapped once or twice, or three or four times around his feet; yet after
I have succeeded in placing it ten or twelve, or twenty-five or fifty
times around his feet, he is not able to walk at all.
[Illustration: Hands Bound.]
I could tie his hands by wrapping this small thread around and around,
just a few times. At first it could be broken, but after a little it
becomes so strong that he is not able to break it at all. So it is with
habits. When we do the same things again and again, the habit becomes
stronger and stronger day by day, and year by year, until at last Satan
has the poor victim bound hand and foot, and he is absolutely helpless.
No one is able to come and snap the cords, and set this poor helpless
prisoner free, until God in His grace comes and liberates him from the
evil habits with which he has bound himself, or with which he has
permitted Satan to bind him.
It is very important that in the very beginning of life, we should all
form the habit of doing those things which are right. The doing of the
right may at first afford us but very little pleasure, yet we are to
continue to do right, and after a while it will become pleasant for us
to do right.
[Illustration: Feet Bound.]
At first it may not be very pleasant for a boy to go to school. He
prefers not to exert himself; not to put forth any mental effort. But
after he becomes accustomed to going to school, and to putting forth
mental effort, it becomes more and more natural to him, and finally he
comes to love study. After he has completed his studies in the primary
school, he goes to the intermediate, and to the grammar school, and high
school, and possibly to college, and continues to be a student all his
life.
So it is with going to church; those who begin when they are young and
go regularly, Sunday after Sunday, become regular church attendants all
their lives.
Habits are formed very much like the channel of a river. Gradually, year
after year, the river wears its course deeper and deeper, until finally
through the soft soil and the hard rock, through the pleasant meadow
and the beautiful woodlands, it has worn out for itself a very deep
channel in which it continues to flow to the ocean.
So the mind, by repeated action, marks out its course. Whether the
mental effort or manual work be pleasant or difficult, we become so
accustomed to it, that we go on day by day, and year by year doing the
same thing.
The Bible gives very wise instruction to parents when it says, "Train up
a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it." (Prov. xxii: 6.) It has also been wisely said, "Sow an act and
you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character
and you reap a destiny."
Be careful, boys and girls, what you do, for by doing anything you are
forming a habit. If you do wrong things you will form bad habits, but if
you do right things you will form good habits, which are always the
best.
QUESTIONS.--Are small ropes or strings used to
make big ropes? Can you tie a boy's hands and feet
with thread so that he cannot make himself free?
How are strong habits made? Is it a good thing
that habits are formed in this way? Does this make
it easy to form good habits? Does it also make it
easy to break away at first from a bad habit?
Which is easier, to form a bad habit or to break
away from it? Who tries to bind us with bad
habits? Who alone can break the ropes of habit
with which Satan binds us? What does the Bible say
about training up a child in the way he should go?
WATCH AND CASE.
THE SOUL AND THE BODY.
SUGGESTION:--A watch and case (preferably a double
case) from which the works can be easily removed
will answer the purpose. Jewelers often have such
old watches that they would be glad to sell for a
trifle, or even to give away. A small old clock
from which the works can be removed would also
answer the same purpose.
Keep up the play idea with the children. Older
persons may weary of repetition, but to children
their play is always new and interesting. After
"driving to church", being shown to seats, and
after some opening services, let one of the
children preach in his or her own language the
truth which most impressed them in last Sunday's
object sermon, or the truth which they remember
from the morning sermon in church, or from any
passage of Scripture which they may prefer. No
better school of oratory was ever formed, even
though the primary purpose is devotional and
religious.
NOW, boys and girls, what is this that I hold in my hand? (Many voices,
"A watch.") I expected that you would say it was a watch. Every boy
knows a watch when he sees it, and every boy desires to have a watch of
his own--one which he can carry in his pocket, and one which will tell
him the time of day whenever he looks at it.
But you cannot be sure, even from appearances, that this is absolutely a
watch. It might be only a watch-case. In order to tell whether it is a
watch, let us open it. After all, it is not a watch. It is only a
watch-case. You would not wish to spend your money when you expect to
get a watch, and on reaching home find that you have been deceived, and
that you had nothing but a watch-case.
[Illustration: Watch-case.]
Now, boys and girls, what is this? (holding up the works of the watch).
"A watch." This time you are right, this is a watch. It is a watch
without a case around it. Now we will put the works into the case, and
then we will have a complete watch. The works and the case together more
properly constitute a watch.
[Illustration: A Watch-case and Works.]
You have, I suppose, been at a funeral, and have seen the body of the
dead man or woman or child lying in the coffin. Unless somebody has told
you differently, you may possibly have thought the person whom you had
known was lying there in the coffin. But this was not the fact. Every
man, woman and child consists of a soul and a body, and when a person
dies the soul returns to God, who gave it. God made our body out of the
dust of the ground, and when the spirit leaves the body, it is a dead
body, and it begins to decay, and soon becomes offensive, and so we bury
the body out of our sight, putting it again in the ground, and finally
it moulders back again to dust.
It is not so, however, with the soul. That is a spirit. When God had
made Adam out of the dust of the ground, He breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now, this soul never
dies. God has created it to live forever and ever, throughout all
eternity. Those who are good and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will be
received at death to dwell forever with the Lord. And those who are
wicked and do not repent of their sins, God will banish forever from His
presence; for sin is hateful in the sight of God, who cannot look upon
it with any degree of allowance.
[Illustration: Case and Works Separated.]
The moment you look upon a body, without being able to tell how, you can
nevertheless quickly distinguish between one who is asleep and one who
is really dead. Even animals can tell a dead body. When a dead horse
lies along the road, it is very difficult to drive a live horse near to
the dead one. The living horse knows at once that the other is dead,
although we do not know how he knows it.
Now, I want to show you that death does not affect the existence of the
soul. I will now lift these works out of the watch case.
I now hold the case in my left hand, and the works in my right hand. As
these works constitute the real watch, so the soul constitutes the real
person, and as these wheels and hands continue to move, and to keep time
regularly even after they have been removed from the case; so the soul,
when God removes it from the body, continues to exist and to be
possessed of all that makes the reasoning, thinking, immortal and
indestructible being of man. I might take this case, which I hold in my
left hand, and bury it in the ground, but the works would not be
affected by this fact, but would continue to run on just the same.
Suppose I were to leave this case buried in the ground until it had all
rusted away. Then suppose that, as a chemist I could gather up all these
particles again and make them anew into a watch case, and then put the
works back into the case which had been restored or made anew; that
would represent the resurrection of the body, and the reuniting of the
soul with the body, which will take place at the resurrection day.
Some years ago there was a great chemist, whose name was Faraday. It
happened one time in his laboratory that one of the students, by
accident, knocked from the table a silver cup, which fell into a vessel
of acid. The acid immediately destroyed or dissolved it, and the silver
all disappeared, the same as sugar dissolves or melts in a tumbler of
water. When Professor Faraday came in and was told what had happened, he
took some chemicals and poured them into the acid in which the silver
had disappeared. As soon as these two chemicals came together, the acid
began to release the silver, and particle by particle the silver settled
at the bottom of the vessel. The acid was then poured off and the silver
was all carefully gathered up and sent to a silversmith, who melted the
silver and made it anew into a silver cup of the same form, design and
beauty. It was the same cup made anew. So, my young friends, our bodies
may dissolve in the grave and entirely disappear, but God is able to
raise them up again. He tells us in the Bible that these bodies which
are buried in corruption shall be raised in incorruption, and that these
mortal bodies shall put on immortality.
I trust that I have illustrated to you how the soul and the body are
separated when we die, and God's Word assures us that they shall be
reunited again in the morning of the resurrection, for all these dead
bodies "shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth." It
matters not whether they were buried in the ground, or in the water,
they shall arise from every sea and from every cemetery, and every grave
in all the world, and shall live anew and forever, either in happiness
with God in heaven, or in misery with Satan in eternal banishment from
God's presence.
QUESTIONS.--What are the principal parts of a
watch? Which part is like the body? Which part is
like the soul? Which is the real watch? Could the
works alone run and keep time without the case?
When does the soul become separated from the body?
Does death affect the existence and life of the
soul? If a watch case were buried and rusted away,
could it be made new again? Does the Bible say our
bodies are also to be raised again from the grave?
What is that raising up of the body called? Will
it make any difference whether a body was buried
in the sea or in the earth? ("The sea shall give
up its dead"). Whose voice shall call the body to
immortality? Will the immortal body ever die?
PEARLS.
ONE OF GREAT PRICE.
SUGGESTION:--A single pearl, or a string of pearls
will serve well for illustration.
[Illustration: String of Pearls.]
MY YOUNG FRIENDS: Here is a whole string of pearls. One time I found a
large pearl in an oyster. I thought it might be valuable, and I took it
to a jeweler, but he soon told me that it was not worth much, because it
was not perfect. It was unusually large, but to be valuable it must be
perfectly round and have no defects. When Jesus was upon the earth He
told of a merchant who went in search of a very valuable pearl, and when
he had found it, he sold all that he had and bought that pearl, in order
that he might have the largest and most valuable jewel in all the world.
[Illustration: Diving for Pearls.]
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, had a pearl that was worth three hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars, and one day she dissolved this costly
pearl, and drank it in a glass of wine to the honor of Mark Antony, one
of the Roman rulers. There are pearls to-day worth two and three
hundred thousand dollars, and possibly more.
The pearl in this parable is the symbol of salvation. Now, salvation has
cost more, and is worth more than all the farms, and houses, and stores,
and wealth of all this nation, and all the nations of all the globe, and
all the created universe about us. It cost the life of the Son of God,
and it is desirable, therefore, that you and I should obtain it, because
of the many blessings it secures to us, both in this world and in the
world to come.
For two thousand years men from all the largest nations of the earth
have gone to the island of Ceylon, seeking pearls. It is a barren and
deserted island, but during the months of February, March and April,
every night at ten o'clock, many boats sail out about ten miles, to the
place where men, with large leaden weights at their feet, dive down
through the water until they come to the banks where the large pearl
oyster has his home. They quickly pick up several of these oysters and
drop them into a basket of network, and in about sixty or seventy
seconds are again drawn up by their companions into the boat.
Men and women could not have pearls if it were not that these men are
willing to risk their lives by diving way down under the water to obtain
them. No one could secure salvation had not Jesus left His throne in
heaven and come down to this wicked world to suffer and die, that He
might make atonement for our sins upon the cross, so that you and I
might not perish but have everlasting life--so that you and I might have
salvation, both here and in heaven.
When I went to the jeweler, he told me that the defects on the pearl
which I had found could not be removed and the rough places polished.
Diamonds have to be cut and polished. Many precious and costly jewels
when found look only like rough stones in the field, but the pearl is
perfect when found; nothing can be done to make it more perfect or more
valuable. Just so is the salvation of Jesus perfect; no human wisdom can
improve upon it. The best book that any man ever wrote has been equaled
by what some other man has thought and written. The religion of the
heathen can be greatly improved, but the Bible and the salvation which
it reveals, man has never been able to equal, much less to improve upon.
To-day, as thousands of years ago, pearls are worn as ornaments to the
body, but the salvation which Jesus Christ came to bring is an ornament
to the soul that possesses it.
The pearl is valuable and desirable, because it cannot easily be stolen
away from its owner. When Jesus was upon the earth they did not have
banks, with large iron safes where people could deposit their money and
jewels for safe keeping. There were many robbers then, and people buried
their money and valuables. Often the places where these were concealed
were discovered, and then all that they had was stolen. A pearl is
small, and could therefore easily be hidden in a place of safety. If war
occurred, or for any reason a man and his family had to flee from their
home or their country, they could easily carry even the most valuable
pearls. The owner could hide it in his mouth, or even swallow it if
necessary. If a man had much gold, it was too heavy to carry, and it
could readily be discovered and stolen. But a pearl was not so difficult
to hide and keep.
The Bible tells us that salvation is something that the world cannot
give, and which the world cannot take away. Daniel had this pearl of
great price, and even though the king cast him into the den of lions, he
could not get it away from him. His three companions with those hard
names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, had this pearl of salvation, and
even in the furnace of fire it was not destroyed or taken from them. If
you have this pearl of salvation, you can keep it in spite of all the
wicked people in the world; you can hide it away in your heart, and all
the armies of the world cannot take it away from you. In sickness or in
health it will be yours, and even death itself can not rob you of it. It
will stay with you in this world, and it will be your joy and gladness
in the world to come.
As the merchantman went out seeking the most valuable pearl, so all the
world is to-day seeking for something which will satisfy and render
their owners happy. There are many good things in this world, but none
of them can make any one contented and happy, like the salvation which
Jesus gives when we repent of our sins and in faith accept Him as our
Saviour. Before you get, or even desire any other pearl, I want each of
you to accept of this "Pearl of great price," which is Jesus Christ.
QUESTIONS.--Of what is a pearl the symbol in the
Bible? Are pearls valuable? Is salvation valuable?
Where are pearls principally found? How are they
obtained? Are pearls polished like the diamond?
Why do people wear pearls? Can we lose pearls by
having them stolen? Can we lose salvation? Who
would steal it away? Who can give us the "Pearl of
great price"?
It is well to have the children learn the answers
to many of the leading Bible questions. Try them
in the following:--Who was the first man? Who was
the first woman? Of what did God make Adam and
Eve? Who was the first murderer? Who was the
oldest man? Who built the ark? Who had the coat of
many colors? Who was the strongest man? Who slew
Goliath the giant? With what did David slay
Goliath? Who was the wisest man? Who was cast into
the den of lions? Who went to Heaven in the
chariot of fire without dying? Upon whom did
Elijah's mantle fall? A goodly number of similar
questions are found on pages 25 and 26.
COAL AND WOOD.
JESUS THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT AND WARMTH.
SUGGESTION:--The objects used to-day can be a
piece of wood, a piece of coal, a candle and a
piece of electric light carbon, such as are daily
thrown away in towns where the arc lighting is
used.
DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: When Jesus was upon the earth, He said of Himself,
"I am the light of the world." Now, I desire to-day to illustrate to you
something of the truth which Jesus had in mind when He uttered these
words.
[Illustration: The Sun and Moon.]
We are told in the Bible, that when God created the world, on the fourth
day He created the sun and the moon to give light upon the earth, the
sun to rule over the day, and the moon to rule over the night.
I suppose you all know that the earth is round, and that while the sun
is shining on our side of the earth, and making it day here, on the
other side of the earth it is night and is all dark. Now, I want to tell
you that the sun is the source of all light upon the earth. The sun
shines and dispels the darkness, and makes it light. And do you know
that the moon does not shine by its own light, but it simply throws back
again, as we say, reflects, the light of the sun, just the same as when
a boy takes a small piece or looking-glass and throws the light across
the street? There is no light in the looking-glass itself, but it simply
takes the rays of light which fall upon it from the sun and bends them,
or turns them, so that the boy can throw the rays of light across the
street, or upon anything that he desires that is in range of him. So the
light of the sun falls upon the moon, and is turned again or reflected
back upon the earth. God has so placed the moon in the heavens that it
reflects the light of the sun upon those portions of the earth which are
in darkness. Or, in other words, as He says in the Bible, the moon has
been "made to rule the night." So you see that even the moon does not
shine by its own light.
Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. All the good there is in the
world, all the righteousness, all that is holy and pure, come from Jesus
Christ. The Church is also a source of purity, of holiness, of religion,
and of Christianity. But the church does not shine of itself. It does
not have these influences within itself. All its light is derived from
the Sun of Righteousness. All influences which tend for goodness and
holiness and purity are derived from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
source of all that is good, and only in so far as the Church reflects
the life of Jesus, and the truth which is revealed in His Word, and in
the teachings of Jesus, does it become the source of saving power in
the world.
[Illustration: Candle, Coal and Wood.]
Now, here I have a piece of coal, and a piece of wood, and a candle, and
a piece of carbon from an electric light. You might ask me whether the
light that comes from the coal when it burns, or the wood when it burns,
and the candle when it is lighted, and the electric light when it
illuminates the street so brightly, whether they are not shining by
their own light? No; they are not shining by their own light. All the
light that there is in the wood, or in the coal, or in the candle, or in
anything else that makes a light at all, derives its source and origin
from the sun. The light that comes from the burning of this wood is
simply the releasing of the light that has been accumulated from the
rays of light shining from the sun upon the tree while it was growing,
year after year, in the field or forest. And now, when it is burning, it
simply releases or throws out that light which it received from the sun,
and which was stored up in the wood of the tree while it was growing.
This coal is simply a portion of a tree which grew many, many hundreds
or thousands of years ago, and which, in some great convulsion of
nature, was buried deep under the surface of the earth in what we now
call coal mines. The coal has undergone some chemical changes, but,
nevertheless, all the light there is in the coal is simply that buried
sunshine, which was stored up centuries and centuries ago, in the form
of vegetables and trees. Now, when it burns in the grate or in the
furnace it simply releases that heat and warmth and light, which was
stored up in these trees many, many centuries ago. It is simply buried
sunshine which God has stored up for our use. The same is true of the
light of the candle; if it were not for the light of the sun there would
be no light giving power in any oil or tallow, or in this carbon, which
is used in the electric light; they all derive their light from the sun
itself.
Just so it is with all the truth and righteousness there is in the
world. When you see a man who is good and Christlike, it is not because
that man has the power in himself to be good, but it is because he has
received that power from the Lord Jesus Christ. The light of the Sun of
Righteousness has shone into that man's heart, and the light that goes
out through his daily conduct and character, is only the light of the
Son of God shining out through that man.
All objects which live in the sunlight drink in this light-giving power,
and all people who live daily in the light of the Sun of Righteousness
will partake of His nature and of His character, and then live that
nature and character in their own daily lives. In this way they do as
Jesus commanded, let their lights so shine, that others seeing their
good work, glorify their Father which is in heaven.
You should be careful to note that Jesus does not say that we ourselves
are to shine so that others may glorify us. No, not at all. Many people
try to shine or to attract the attention of others to themselves, but
that is not what Jesus said or meant, but rather the reverse. Neither
are we to attempt to shine, or to attempt to attract the glory or honor
to ourselves. Let not yourself so shine, but let your _light_ so shine
that others seeing your good works may glorify--not you, but your Father
which is in heaven. We must let Jesus Christ shine in and through us.
Whenever you see men or women, or girls or boys who are living beautiful
Christian lives, it is not they that light up the moral darkness that is
in the world, it is Jesus Christ who lives in them and shines through
them, that makes them good and holy, and consequently a source of light
and blessing to all about them.