the source of the light of the natural world? Does
the sun shine by its own light? Does the moon
shine by its own light, or does it reflect the
light of the sun? What is the source of light
displayed when coal and wood and other substances
are burned? Does all natural light come from the
sun? Who is the source of our spiritual light and
knowledge? Are the Church and Christian people
lights in the world? Do they shine of their own
goodness like the sun, or are they like the moon
in that they reflect the divine light? Does any
person have the power in himself to be good? Where
does this power to be good come from? Does Christ
want us to shine as lights in the world? Are we to
let our lights shine to glorify ourselves, or to
glorify Christ?
[Illustration]
LANTERNS.
THE BEST LIGHT FOR OUR PATH.
SUGGESTIONS:--A lantern of any kind may be used.
If one of the old-fashioned tin lanterns,
perforated with holes through which the light was
to shine, is available it would add greatly to the
curiosity and interest of the children, although
these are now very rare, as they were in use a
half century ago.
After "driving to church", and after preaching by
the children and the reading of the following
sermon on lanterns, a few Japanese lanterns--one
for each of the children--would enable the parents
to form a little torch-light procession (although
no lighted candles need be in the lanterns). After
marching through the different rooms, give the
children a talk upon the conditions existing in
heathen lands like China and Japan, and the
changes which are being wrought through the
introduction of Christianity and the work of the
missionaries.
[Illustration: Old Lantern.]
I DO not believe that there is a boy or girl here to-day who could tell
me what this thing is, that I hold in my hand. It is a lantern, a very
different lantern possibly, from those which any of you have ever seen.
This is the kind of lantern that your grandfather and my grandfather
used many years ago, in the days when they did not have lamps, and gas,
and electric lights, and such things as we enjoy to-day. When I was a
small boy in the country we used to have only candles. Later on in life,
I remember when they first had fluid lamps, and then kerosene oil, and
then gas, and then, as we have it now, electric lights.
In the second congregation to which I ministered, there was an old
gentleman who had one of these lanterns. He lived some distance from the
church, and very dark nights you could always see him coming across the
hill, carrying this strange lantern. After the candle was lighted and
placed inside, the light shone out through these small holes, and if the
wind blew very hard, the light was liable to be blown out.
Now, here is a better lantern. David says of God's Word, "Thy word is a
lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." On a dark night in the
country, you could not go out of doors and move about without running up
against a tree, or the fence, or falling into the ditch, or soon finding
yourself involved in serious difficulties; and on this account people in
the country carry a lantern at night. In the Eastern countries where
Jesus lived, where they did not have gas and electric lamps to light the
streets, when people went out at night they always carried a lantern.
And so David said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path." (Ps. cxix: 105.)
[Illustration: "Coming Across the Hill Carrying this Strange Lantern."]
When people go out of doors into the darkness with a lantern they do not
hold it way up high, but hold it down near their feet, so that they can
see the path, and it enables them to walk with security and safety.
Sometimes there are men who have gone to college, and have learned Latin
and Greek, have studied the sciences and philosophy, and they think they
have learned a very great deal. Perhaps afterwards they have studied
medicine and become physicians, or have read law and become lawyers, and
they think that they are able with all they know to find the true path
of blessing through life. They think they have light enough of
themselves. They do not seem to know that all about them there is a
darkness of great mystery; that sin and death and destruction lurk all
along their way through life, and that their pathway is full of
snares, and pitfalls, and dangers, but they try to walk with the little
light that there is in the human understanding.
There is another class of men who go through college and who may,
perchance, study much, and the more they study the more they come to
realize how little they know, and how much there is beyond them that
they do not understand at all. With the little light of human
understanding they comprehend how very dense and dark are the mysteries
all about them, and so in order that they may walk safely through life,
and come at last to the city of eternal safety, they take God's Word "as
a lamp to their feet." Just the same as a person in the country carries
a lamp in order that he may find his path, so these good people take the
Word of God and they make it the lamp unto their feet, and the light
unto their path.
Boys and girls often look at learned men and women and think that when
they get to be as old and to know as much as these people, that then
they will know everything. But that is a great mistake. The more we know
and the more learned we are, the more we discover that there is still
further beyond us that which we do not understand. No one has ever been
able to tell how the bread and the meat and potatoes and other food
which we eat is made to sustain our life, how it is converted into and
made a part of ourselves. How on our heads these things become, or are
changed into hair, on the ends of our fingers to nails, and how other
parts become flesh, and bone and eyes and ears and teeth. Nobody can
understand how the ground in the garden can be changed by some life
principle into fruit and vegetables and flowers and hundreds of
different things, and yet all this wonderful variety, all growing out of
the very same soil, or ground as we call it.
And so as you grow older and become more and more learned you will come
more and more to appreciate how much there is that you can never
understand. There is mystery all about us, and we all need the light of
divine truth, the light of God's Word, the Bible as a light to guide us
through the darkness and the mysteries that are all about us.
If you have ever been in the country upon a dark night and have seen the
railway engine come dashing along, with the great headlight that throws
the rays of light far down along the track enabling the engineer to see
very far ahead of him, you would understand what the Bible purposes to
do for us, when God says that He will make it a lamp unto our feet, and
a light unto our path.
As you grow older, and sorrow and sickness and trials come to you, you
will need God's Word to be a lamp unto your feet. And when at last the
messenger of death shall come and summon you into God's presence, and
you go through "the valley of the shadow of death," you will then need
this lamp for your feet, and you will need the Lord Jesus Christ with
you, that you may lean upon Him and that you may say as David did: "Yea
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." May
God give you this light through the journey of this life, and bring you
to that city of light and life on high.
QUESTIONS.--Why did the people of the East carry
lanterns at night? What did David call the Bible?
Should the lantern be held above the head, or down
near the feet? Which is the best light to our
spiritual pathway, human wisdom or Divine
revelation? Which is the safer light for us to
follow, books which men write, or the book which
God has given us? Can we understand all that we
find in the book of nature? Can we understand all
that we find in the book of revelation? Do they
both have the same author? Is God infinitely
greater than man? Does this explain to you why we
cannot understand all that God has done or said?
Can we put a bushel basket into a quart
measure?--the smaller can not contain the larger.
CANDLES.
HOW TO REFLECT, OBSCURE, OR EXTINGUISH THE LIGHT.
SUGGESTIONS:--A candle, a silver dollar, a
large-necked bottle and a flask-shaped bottle are
the objects used. It will add to the interest of
the children if the parent will show the simple
experiments of placing the bottle over the candle
to illustrate how quickly the light is
extinguished as the oxygen is exhausted. The same
is the result when a light is hid under a bushel.
The flame may also be concealed by the dollar; and
in a darkened room a polished piece of metal or a
small looking-glass will show how the light can be
reflected by money properly used in Christ's
cause.
MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: To-day I have brought some candles in order to
illustrate the text, "Ye are the light of the world." In a previous
sermon I have shown you how all the light in the world is derived from
the sun, and how all the light in the spiritual world is derived from
Jesus Christ. Now, to-day I want to show you that we can extinguish this
light. While we cannot prevent the sun from shining, or put out the
light there is in the sun, yet we can extinguish, or put out the light
of a candle. We can blow out the light, we can turn off the gas, we can
cut off the electrical current, and thus prevent the carbon from burning
and giving light. Just the same as the firemen can extinguish a large
fire that is making a great blaze in the midst of a dark night, so we
can put out these several lights.
Before this candle, which I hold in my hand, can be of any service to me
in giving light, it must first itself be lighted. So it is with every
person who is born into this world. He has no light in himself. Before
ever he can exert any influence for good upon others, or let any
Christian light shine, he must come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive
this light. He must be lighted from above. But now after the candle has
been lighted, suppose that I take this silver dollar which I hold in my
hand, and place it in front of the light, you will see immediately how
it makes it impossible for the light to shine out in front of the
dollar. Those who are sitting down there in front of me cannot see this
light. The light is entirely concealed by the dollar. So some people
allow the love of money to gather around their hearts, until at last
their money is placed between them and the people whom God intends that
they should benefit and bless in this world. Instead of being a help,
their money is only a hindrance to their Christian life. They love their
money so much that they permit the poor to go hungry, the destitute to
be unblessed, and the Church to be without the money necessary to carry
on its work. They allow the heathen to die in their ignorance. Selfishly
grasping their money, they neglect to do that for which God has given
them the means and the money.
[Illustration: Light Obscured by Money.]
I believe that money is a good thing. The Bible says that it is the
_love_ of money, the undue love of it, that is the root of all evil.
Money itself is a blessing and not a curse; therefore I want to show you
how this dollar can be made to help in making this light shine even more
brightly. You will see that if I have this side of the dollar ground off
and polished, so that it is very smooth and bright like a little
looking-glass, and then place it back of the candle, instead of acting
as it did when I placed the dollar between you and the candle, it will
then reflect the light and throw the rays of light out further than they
could otherwise shine. It helps to accomplish for the candle the same
important service which the great reflector does when placed behind the
lamp in the headlight of the railway engine, throwing the light way down
the track in advance of the coming of the train.
In the same way, when a Christian has money, you see how he can readily
use it in such a way as to enable him to accomplish a very great and
grand work in the world. The man who has lots of money and has a
consecrated heart, and who is willing to use his money to help him in
his work for Christ, will be able to accomplish very much more than the
man who has no money. He can use his money in such a way that it will
enable him to cast a light in many a dark corner of the earth, to bring
light in many a desolate home, and to cast the rays of his Christian
influence even across the ocean into benighted heathen lands. In this
way his money can be used as I could use this dollar if it were
polished, and thus carry his influence to the ends of the earth and to
the end of time, and become a great blessing to himself and to others
for all eternity.
[Illustration: Money as a Reflector.]
Jesus said, "Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on
a candle-stick that it may give light to all that are in the house."
There are some people who do not like to let their light shine for
Christ. They do not want others to know that they are Christians. They
do not want others to know that they are trying to be good. And so they
seek to conceal their light, to hide it, as Jesus says, "under a
bushel." If you were to light a candle and put it under a bushel, or
under a box, the box would prevent it from shining, and therefore you
would not know that there was any light at all in the room.
But I want to show you, by the aid of this large necked bottle, what is
the effect of our trying to hide our light. I have chosen this bottle
because you can see through it, and observe what is going on inside of
this glass bushel or bottle. The neck being very large, you can readily
see that the light is not absolutely smothered. Now, when I place this
bottle over the light, you will see how very quickly it begins to grow
dim, and then more dim until it dies out altogether. There, you see, it
has gone out already! Just as quickly as it burns out from the air in
the bottle the oxygen which it contains, the light dies, because it has
nothing to feed upon. If I had not placed this bottle over it, it would
have continued to burn.
[Illustration: Light Under a Bushel.]
Just so it is with those who try to hide their light under a bushel.
After the light has been placed there, it gradually grows more faint,
and more faint, and then goes out in darkness. You can never be a
Christian if you are ashamed of Christ. You must be willing to let your
light shine; you must be willing to confess Christ before men; you must
be willing to have other boys and girls know that you are a Christian,
and that you are trying to do right. Then with God's help you will
succeed. But if you try to hide your light under a bushel, you will
never succeed in being a Christian.
Here is another bottle. I am sure that the shape of this bottle will
suggest to you the kind of stuff which is oftentimes sold in this kind
of a flask. Sometimes when young men have given their hearts to Christ,
and young women too for that matter, they go out in company and are
invited to take a drink of wine or a drink of beer, or something else,
and without any purpose or thought of ever becoming a drunkard, often
they soon form the habit of drinking. Soon they have formed a love for
the taste of liquor, and before ever they know it, like hundreds of
thousands of others who have preceded them, they have become fond of
liquor, and are on a fair road to become drunkards. As soon as a young
man starts out in this direction he takes the road that leads down to
death and destruction, and the love of God which he had in his heart
soon dies out. Let me place this bottle over the candle. You will now
see how the candle begins to grow dim, and the light shines more and
more dim, after a very few seconds, you will find that it goes out in
darkness, the same as it did under the other bottle.
[Illustration: A Dangerous Bottle.]
Let me say to you, always carefully avoid the terrible and destructive
influences of drink, of which this bottle is the symbol. If you want to
keep the love of God in your heart you must never, never take the first
step which leads toward the love of liquor, toward intemperance and a
drunkard's grave.
QUESTIONS.--Can an unlighted candle give light?
Can a candle light itself? Who must first give us
the light if we are to be a light to the world?
Can the light of the candle shine through a silver
dollar? If a silver dollar is polished like a
little looking-glass and placed behind the light,
what does it do? Does this suggest how we can use
our money to send the light to the heathen? Under
what kind of a measure does the Bible warn against
hiding our light? When people light a candle, do
they put it under a bushel or on a candlestick? If
it is put under a bushel what is the result? Is
that the result with people who are ashamed to be
known as Christians? Does intoxicating drink often
put out the light of Christian people? How can all
persons avoid the use of liquor? (By never taking
the first glass.)
[Illustration]
A BROKEN CHAIN.
BREAKING THE WHOLE LAW.
SUGGESTION:--A chain of any kind, even a watch
chain, will answer. Children could use paste-board
and cut out ten links to represent the Ten
Commandments. These links could be numbered and
the older children could be asked to repeat the
Ten Commandments in their order.
MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: I have here a chain; it is very strong indeed.
It has ten links in it. You will remember how that, more than three
thousand years ago, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
These Ten Commandments are often called the Decalogue, because there are
ten of them; the Greek word _deka_ means ten.
[Illustration: A Broken Chain.]
Now the Bible tells us that "whosoever will keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James ii:10.)
[Illustration: "Suspended Over the Edge of a Great Rock."]
When a boy, I often wondered how it was that when a person broke one of
the Commandments he was guilty of breaking the whole law. I could not
understand it. Now, I desire to illustrate this truth to you to-day.
Suppose that I were suspended over the edge of a great rock by this
chain. If the chain should break, I would be plunged headlong, hundreds
of feet down a very great embankment, upon rocks at the bottom of the
chasm, and lose my life. You will readily see that it would not be
necessary to break every link in this chain before I would begin to
fall. In order to break this chain, it is only necessary to break a
single link. The moment one link breaks, the entire continuity of the
chain is broken.
I think you will see that it is just the same way with the law of God.
If you break one of these Commandments, you have broken the law. If you
fail to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," or if you disobey
your parents, and thus break the Commandment which says, "honor thy
father and thy mother," or any other of the Commandments--if you break a
single one, you have broken the entire chain of the Ten Commandments.
Now, there are a great many laws in this land of ours. There are laws
against murder, and there are laws against stealing, and there are laws
against getting drunk, and thousands of other laws. If a man simply
steals and should be caught in the act and brought before the judge, he
would be convicted of the crime and be sent to prison. It is not
necessary that a man should be a murderer and a thief and a robber, and
should be guilty of breaking all the laws of this land, before he is
cast in prison. It is simply enough that he should have violated one
law. By breaking only one law he becomes a criminal, and therefore he is
cast into prison. The man who has committed but one murder has his
entire liberty taken from him. The man who has been caught in the act of
stealing but a single time is adjudged a thief, and all his liberty is
taken from him.
So I think you will see that, in order to become a criminal, it is not
necessary that we should break all the laws of the land, but if we break
a single law we become criminals. So it is with the law of God; if we
break only one of the Ten Commandments we are criminals before God, we
are guilty of all.
Now the laws which men make in this and every other country are human
laws. They are not absolutely perfect. They are changed and improved
from time to time. But the Psalmist tells us, and we all know it to be
true, that "The law of the Lord is perfect," and God requires us to keep
His law. He says, "My son forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my
commandments; for length of days and long life and peace, shall they add
to thee." (Prov. iii:1.) If you and I are faithful in the keeping of
God's law, then we can say like David, "I shall not be ashamed when I
have respect unto all of thy commandments." (Psalm cxix:6.)
Now, if I take this chain, and attempt to break it, I find that God has
not given me sufficient strength. Samson could have snapped it in a
moment, but I am not strong enough. God has given to some men much more
strength than to others.
If I were to pull very hard on this chain so as to break it, where do
you suppose it would break first? Why the weakest link in the entire
chain would be the first to break. No chain is stronger than its weakest
link. So it is with you and with me, our greatest goodness is no greater
than our greatest weakness. When men want to think how good they are,
they think of the best things they have ever done. But the fact is that
no man is better than the worst things he has ever done. A man who has
committed murder is a murderer. He might have done hundreds of good
things, but the law does not estimate him by the best things he has
done. The law estimates that man by the worst thing he has done, and by
that worst thing he is judged and condemned. And so it is with you and
me before God. The worst things which we have ever done will be the
things which will condemn us in the sight of the Judge of all the world.
While I am not able to break this metal chain, yet God has made it
possible for every person to break the chain of the moral law. God has
given human freedom to all men; He has told us what we should do, but
He has left us free to obey or to disobey.
Now, when we examine into the requirements of the Ten Commandments, we
find that everybody has violated some one or more of them at some time.
There is not a man or woman or child any where who is not guilty of
having broken God's law. And when I turn to the Scriptures, I find in
Galatians the third chapter, 10th verse, that God says, "Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them." I see then by God's Word that we are all sinners,
that we are all guilty before God, because we have violated His law, and
next Sunday I will tell you what is to be done in view of the fact that
we are all guilty before God.
QUESTIONS.--What are the different parts of a
chain called? How many links must be broken in
order to break the chain? What did God give to
Moses on Mount Sinai? How many commandments are
there? Who makes the laws for the nation, the
state and the city? Are laws perfect which are
made by men? Do human laws change? Is God's law
perfect? Do moral laws ever change? Was there ever
a time or a place where it was right to lie, or
steal or murder? Will there ever be such a time or
place? How many murders must a man commit before
he is a murderer? How often must he steal before
he is a thief? Are men put into prison for
breaking a single law? Is the entirety of God's
law violated if we break only one commandment?
[Illustration]
LOOKING-GLASS.
SEEING OURSELVES IN GOD'S LAW.
SUGGESTION:--The object used is a looking-glass of
any desired size.
MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: In my sermon last Sunday, I showed you that God
had made the law perfect, but that none of us has perfectly kept the
law, that we have all broken the law, and God has said, "Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them." (Gal. iii:10.)
If the law is perfect, and no one has ever kept it perfectly, but all
have broken the law in some one way or another, and on that account all
are guilty before God, you may ask, what is the purpose of the law? Why
did God make the law? Now, I desire to explain that to you to-day.