it. This is red ink. But I have brought it not to talk to you about ink,
but to talk about something else which is of the same color; namely, of
blood.
[Illustration: Preparing for the Passing Over of the Angel of Death
Copyrighted Sylvanus Stall]
You remember that there were ten plagues in Egypt; the first was the
turning of the rivers into blood, then the bringing up of the frogs from
all the rivers and lakes; and then the turning of the dust into lice;
and then the plague of the flies; and then of the murrain which
destroyed the cattle; and of the boils which came upon all the people;
and of the lightning, and rain, and hail which destroyed man and beast.
Then the locusts came which ate up everything that remained; afterward
the three days of continuous darkness; and after these nine plagues God
had yet in store one great plague which He purposed to bring upon
Pharaoh and his people. After each of these plagues which I have named,
Pharaoh promised that he would let the Children of Israel go, but
instead he hardened his heart and refused to keep his promise. At last
God was going to bring upon him and his people the greatest plague of
all. (Ex. xii: 1-28.)
God told Moses and Aaron to command the Children of Israel that on the
tenth day of the month, each family should select either a lamb or a kid
and shut it up until the fourteenth day, and in the evening of that day
they should kill it. This was to be a male lamb, one year old, and
without spot or blemish. The blood, as it flowed from the neck of the
lamb, was to be caught in a dish, and with a bunch of hyssop the blood
was to be sprinkled upon the door-posts or the door frame, both above
and around the door, so that when the Angel of Death whom God purposed
to send upon that eventful night, when he should pass throughout all the
land of Egypt and see the blood upon the door posts and upon the lintel
over the door he would pass by or "pass-over" these houses of the
Israelites and would not smite their first-born with death; as would be
the case in every other home of the Egyptians throughout all the land.
After the Children of Israel had sprinkled the blood upon the
door-posts, they were to roast the entire lamb, and they were to eat it
with unleavened bread, which was bread baked without yeast, and eat it
also with bitter herbs, while at the same time their long, loose
garments were to be tucked up under their belts which went around their
waists, or as the people in those days would have said, with their loins
girded. They were to have their shoes on their feet, and a cane or staff
in their hand, so as to be all ready to start out upon their journey at
any moment.
At midnight, after these Israelites had eaten this "Passover" meal, and
had also destroyed, by burning, any portions of the lamb which might
remain, the Angel of Death passed through all the land of Egypt and slew
the first-born, the oldest in every house, where there was no blood
sprinkled upon the door-posts.
As soon as the angel had passed by, the people rushed out into the
streets in terror and alarm, for in every home there was one or two or
more persons lying dead. The Egyptians brought out their jewels and gold
and valuables, and offered, not only to let the Israelites retain the
jewels which they had already borrowed, but to give them more if they
would only depart immediately, so that God should bring no further
afflictions upon them. Pharaoh consented to their going, and immediately
the Children of Israel started on their long journey to the Promised
Land.
This eventful night was called, and is to this day called, "the night of
the Passover," and to this day the Jewish people still celebrate the
Feast of the Passover. It occurs in the spring of the year, and
corresponds very closely to our Church festival day, known as Good
Friday, at which time we commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus
Christ upon Calvary.
You will see from what I have said, how the lamb which was chosen was a
figure of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of
the world to take away your sins, and my sins, and the sins of all who
would believe on Him. As this passover lamb was a year old, without spot
and without blemish, so Jesus Christ was perfect, without blemish, He
never committed a sin of any kind; He was but thirty years old when He
was crucified, and consequently was young in years.
As the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts and the lintels of the doors
was the sign by which the Angel of the Lord was to know the homes of the
Israelites, and deliver their first-born from death, so the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and delivers us from eternal
death.
You and I and all mankind must die, but after this death of the body
there comes either everlasting life or spiritual death. Now, when the
spirit leaves the body, or is separated from these bodies, we speak of
the body as being dead. The death of a person is just the same as when
wheat is sown into the ground and is said to die; the life that formerly
was in the seed only springs up into the stalk and grows into a new life
and into a multiplied fruitfulness.
The life of each grain of wheat does not cease to exist, but is simply
separated from the seed or grain which was sown in the ground, and lives
in the new plant and new grain which springs up. So also when the life
or the soul leaves the body, the body is dead, because it is separated
from the soul. In like manner also, if the soul is separated from God,
the Bible speaks of the individual as being spiritually dead, even while
yet living in this world. Now, if because of sin any soul that is
banished forever from God's presence, and is eternally separated from
God in the next world, that eternal separation of the soul from God is
spoken of in the Bible as eternal death.
From this eternal death you and I can only be delivered by the blood of
the Son of God. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. Neither is He a dead,
but a living Savior.
"He ever lives above,
For me to intercede;
His all-redeeming love,
His precious blood to plead;
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace."
QUESTIONS.--What was the tenth plague? How were
the homes of the Israelites to be marked, so that
the angel of death would pass over them? How old
was the lamb to be that was to be slain? What was
to be done with the body of the lamb? When they
ate it, how were they to be clothed? (So as to be
ready to start immediately upon their journey.)
What did the angel of death do where the door
posts were sprinkled with the blood? What was the
event called? (The Passover.) What people continue
to celebrate the Feast of the Passover today? Of
whom was the slain lamb the symbol? What is Christ
frequently called? From what does the blood of the
Lamb of God save us?
PINE BRANCH.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
SUGGESTION:--The objects used are a green branch
of a tree and a glass of clear water.
DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: Last Sunday I told you about the Feast of the
Passover, how it came to be instituted, and what it signified. To-day I
want to talk to you about the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of the
Passover occurred in the spring, nearly corresponding to our Easter; and
at such times when the Israelites from every quarter of the land came up
to Jerusalem, as was the custom at the three annual feasts, some
provision had to be made for their entertainment.
At the Feast of the Passover all the Jews living in Jerusalem had to
throw open their homes, and entertain under the cover of their own
roofs, all who came to them. They could not decline to receive the
thousands of worshipers who came up to the Feast, but were required to
afford them a place of shelter in their homes. Therefore it was that
before the Feast of the Passover Jesus sent two of His disciples, and
told them to go into the city, and they would find a man bearing a
pitcher of water; they should follow him and ask him to direct them to a
room in his house, where Jesus might eat the Passover with His
disciples. (Matt. xxvi: 17; Mark xiv: 13.)
[Illustration: Building Booths at Feast of Tabernacles.]
At the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred in the fall of the year,
after the harvest and the fruit of the vines and the trees had all been
gathered in, it was very different. At this Feast, when the Israelites
came up to Jerusalem, not only those who came from a distance, but even
those who lived regularly in the city, were required to tent or live in
booths made by simply placing some poles in the ground, with other poles
reaching across the top, so as to form a roof or covering. This roof was
not shingled, but was formed by laying branches of trees upon the sticks
which had been laid across from one pole to the other. (Neh. viii: 14,
15.)
You now see why to-day I have chosen this branch of a tree to show you
in connection with this sermon. I have chosen this to impress upon your
mind the character of the arbors used at the Feast of Tabernacles; the
tops or roofs of which were formed or made of olive, and willow and
pine, myrtle and palm branches. These booths or arbors were to remind
the Children of Israel of the journey of their forefathers through the
desert, when for forty long years they did not live within the walls or
under the roof of any house, but dwelt only in booths.
I am sure that you and I would like to have looked in upon Jerusalem at
the time when one of these Harvest Home festivals was being celebrated.
We would like to have seen the booths on the tops of the houses and
along the side of the hills, outside of the walls of the city, and
sloping down through the valleys and crowding far out into the country
upon the Mount of Olives and beyond. We would like to have seen the
bright faces of the happy throngs of people as they moved in procession
through the streets, waving their palm branches; and to have listened to
the music of the trumpeters of the Temple, as they sounded their
trumpets twice every hour throughout the entire day. I am sure we would
have been delighted to look down upon the festive crowd at night, when,
instead of waving palm branches as they did during the day, they carried
bright flaming torches, amid the clashing of cymbals and the blast of
trumpets.
[Illustration: "He Bore it Aloft as He Ascended the Stairs."]
This Feast lasted for eight days. The first day and the last were
especially sacred. And now I want to call your attention to this second
object which I have; namely, this water, and I want to tell you how it
was related to and used at this Feast of Tabernacles. On the morning of
each day, while the smoke of the morning sacrifice was ascending in
beautiful wreaths in the still air, a priest bearing a large golden
bowl, and followed by a long procession of boys and girls waving palm
branches, descended the side of the hill to the pool of Siloam, which
was in a quiet recess at the foot of Mount Moriah, on the summit of
which the Temple was built. When the priest had filled the golden bowl
with water from this clear pool, he held it above his head and bore it
aloft as he ascended the stairs. As the procession entered the Court of
the Temple, the trumpets sounded, and all the throngs of people gathered
within its walls took up the words of the prophet and sang, "With joy
shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah xii: 3), and
as the priest came to the base of the altar he poured the water from the
golden bowl into a silver basin amid shouts and gladness. Upon the
eighth day, "the last day, that great day of the feast" (John vii: 37),
the joy was greater than upon any of the other days. The priests in glad
procession moved around the altar seven times, singing the Psalms.
It was at the last Feast of Tabernacles which Jesus attended, that He
stood in the midst of this glad assembly, and beheld their joy as they
remembered how God had supplied their fathers with water in the
wilderness; and how God had given them a land of streams, and rivers,
and wells of water, and it was then when Jesus heard them crying
"Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," that Jesus
stood up in the midst of the Temple and of the people and said, "If any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John vii: 37.) To those of
us who have always lived in the midst of a bountiful supply of fresh,
clear, crystal water, these words are not as impressive as they were to
the people to whom they were then spoken. For their land was surrounded
by deserts, and they lived in the midst of nations whose people often
famished and died, because there was not a sufficient supply of water to
drink.
While we live in a country where there is always an abundant supply of
water to satisfy the thirst of the body, yet spiritually, like these
people at the Feast of Tabernacles we have the same spiritual needs that
they had, and if you and I thirst for the water of life, if we desire
everlasting salvation, if we thirst for the knowledge of sacred things
and desire to do that which is right, Jesus invites you and me to come
to Him, and says to us: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters." (Isa. lv: 1.) "If any man thirst let him come unto me and
drink," (John vii: 37.) "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv:
14.)
QUESTIONS.--At what season of the year was the
Feast of Tabernacles held? How long did it last?
In what did the people live or dwell during the
Feast? Of what were the booths built? Why did they
dwell in booths instead of in their houses at this
time? Of what was all this to remind them? Which
was the great day of the Feast? On this last day
of the Feast what did the high priest bring from
the well? By whom was the priest accompanied? Into
what did he pour the water from the golden bowl?
Of what was this water the symbol? Does every
human being thirst for or desire righteousness?
Did Jesus invite such to come to Him and drink?
Should we always go to Him to satisfy our
spiritual hunger and thirst?
LEAVES.
THE LESSONS WHICH THEY TEACH.
SUGGESTION:--Objects: Some autumn leaves or green
leaves of different varieties.
MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: To-day I picked up these few beautiful leaves,
which during the summer were lifted aloft on the trees and cast their
grateful shadows upon the weary traveler as he journeyed under the
scorching rays of the sun. But with the coming of autumn these leaves
have faded, and the first frost of winter has tinged them with crimson
and glory. I am sure we cannot look upon them without thinking of the
words of the Prophet Isaiah, in the sixty-fourth chapter and sixth
verse, where he says: "We all do fade as a leaf."
[Illustration: Autumn Leaves.]
I desire, however, to use these leaves to teach you not only this
lesson, but also several others which they suggest.
If, during the summer, you go out into a forest and study the leaves,
one of the first things which you will notice will be that the leaves
which grow upon one kind of trees differ from the leaves which grow
upon every other kind of trees. Indeed, if you pick up a leaf from the
ground and examine it carefully you will find that the leaf is largely a
picture of the tree upon which it grew. The shape of the leaf will
correspond very largely with the shape of the tree from which it has
fallen. If you study the leaf more carefully you will discover that the
veins in the leaf will quite closely resemble the shape of the limbs of
the tree. You would not be able to study the different leaves which you
pick up without being impressed with the resemblance in many instances
between the leaf and the tree upon which it grew.
Now, I think that we may learn a very profitable lesson from the leaves
in this respect. I think that you will find, when you are able to study
with a little closeness of observation, that the scholars of different
Sunday-schools are different from each other, at least in some respects.
Those who come from the school where good order is maintained, where
there are consecrated, devoted teachers who give themselves carefully to
the preparation of the lesson, secure the attention of their scholars,
impress the truth deeply upon the minds, and hearts and consciences--you
will find that the scholars of this school become attentive and orderly,
and well behaved, and all the scholars in the school partake of the
influences which are exerted over them from Sunday to Sunday. The
scholars who attend a school where the superintendent does not keep good
order, where the teachers are irregular and disinterested, and where
everything is permitted to go along as by mere chance, these scholars
will partake of the influence of the school, and will individually
become like the school. So you see how important it is that each and
every scholar should be attentive and thoughtful, and give the very
largest amount of help possible to the superintendent and teachers to
render the school orderly, and to encourage the teachers who desire to
devote themselves to the teaching of Bible truth and the impressing of
the spiritual lessons, so that those who are under their influence may
be brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ.
What I have said with reference to the Sunday-school is also true with
reference to the Church. There is an old saying, that "like priest, like
people." When a pastor continues for a long period of years in the same
pulpit, ministering to the same people, if he has their sympathy,
co-operation and assistance the people will become very much like each
other in their spiritual character, and all will become more and more
like the pastor and his teachings. If he is godly, and consecrated, and
upright, his people will become increasingly so. And you will find not
only that each scholar becomes a miniature of the Sunday-school which he
attends, but each Christian becomes a miniature of the congregation of
which he is a member.
But the leaves teach us another lesson. The great trees which you see in
the forest are the result of the united efforts and labors of the
leaves. Each leaf is gifted with individual power, and together they all
drink in the influence of the sunlight and the showers, and unitedly
they build up the great oaks and elms and poplars, and all the trees of
the fields and forest. The coal, which is now dug from the mines, was
once a great tropical growth of forest trees which were afterwards
buried by some great convulsion in nature, and now when we dig up the
coal and burn it in our stoves we are simply releasing the buried
sunshine which was accumulated and stored up by the individual leaves of
the great forests of centuries ago.
As we look upon the leaves of the trees I think we must be impressed
with the fact, that each one labors in his own appointed place. There is
no conflict, there is no crowding of one, thinking to exalt himself
above the others. There are no little parties of leaves joining
together and trying to crowd themselves to the top of the tree, but each
and all work faithfully and zealously in the place which God has
appointed them.
[Illustration: The Budding of the New Leaf.]
They are not only faithful workers, but they are unselfish workers. No
leaf can have the joy which belongs to another, or the glory of all the
leaves. Each leaf has the reward of doing a little, and when its work is
done it must drop to the ground and perish in the dust. The work which
it has done and the tree which it has helped to build will be its
monument and reward. If each leaf gives its life faithfully for the
building up of the tree, no leaf can fall to the ground or be shaken
from its place by the autumn wind and perish in despair.
If you will go into the forest at the autumn period of the year, or go
into the orchard and examine where the leaves are about to drop off, you
will find that at the base of the stem of each leaf, already there
appears the budding of the leaf which is to be unfolded next spring, and
even though the leaf withers and falls to the ground, leaving the barren
limb alone to battle with the winter storms, yet there is the promise
and the evidence that when the gentle breath of spring shall come and
break open the icy sepulchres of the winter, these little buds will feel
the genial warmth and unfold their green beauty in a radiant springtime
of beautiful foliage. So one generation of men may die and pass away, to
have their work continued and completed by those who are to come after
them.
But these leaves also teach us of our mortality. For, as Isaiah says,
"We all do fade as a leaf." We are all very apt to forget that we must
die. And so each year, when the summer is over and the fruit is
gathered, the leaves begin to wither, and the early frost tinges the
forests of the closing year, like the sun oftentimes makes the clouds
all crimson and glory at the close of the day. These things should teach
us that as advancing years come, we also must fade and die. God spreads
out before us this great panorama along the valleys and on the hillsides
each autumn to teach us that as the leaves perish, so we must also fade
and droop and die.
But there is one great encouragement, and that is, that although the
leaves fall, the tree stands. The leaf perishes, but the tree abides,
and year after year, sometimes for centuries, it goes on increasing in
stature and in strength, abiding as the giant of the forest. So also,
when at last each of us must die, that which we have built shall abide,
and what we have received from others and to which we have added our
efforts and our labors, others shall receive from us, and they also
shall carry on the work in which we have been engaged. So each
generation receives and carries on the work of those who have gone
before. As the poet has well said,
"Like leaves on trees, the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now withered on the ground;
Another race the following age supplies;
They fall successive, and successive rise;
So generations in their course decay
So perish these when those have passed away."
The tree stands a monument of strength and beauty at the grave of all
the dead leaves which lie buried at its feet. So what each boy and girl,
each man and woman, shall have accomplished of good or evil, will remain
after they have perished and passed away, to tell of their lives, and
God will note the result. He who says that not even a sparrow can fall
to the ground without His notice, and who tells us that the very hairs
of our heads are all numbered, He will note our deeds, and He will be
our reward.
If I were speaking now to older people I might call attention to the
fact that the autumn leaves are more beautiful than the summer leaves.
And so boys and girls, it seems to me, and it has always thus seemed to
me, that there is something more beautiful in manhood and womanhood,
during the later years of life, than during the earlier years. Always
honor and respect the aged whose heads are gray, whose features are
venerable and whose characters are Christ-like.
QUESTIONS.--Are the leaves alike on all trees? In
what ways are the leaves like the tree on which
they grew? Are Sunday-school scholars much like
the school that they attend? Are grown people
greatly influenced by the pastor who preaches to
them, and the people with whom they are
associated? Of what are great trees the result?
How do leaves accomplish this? When a leaf drops
from the tree, what has already started? What do
fading and dropping leaves represent? Does the
tree abide when the leaves fall? When we die do
the great influences which we have helped forward
remain to bless the world? Who still notes our
deeds when we pass away? Which are more beautiful,
summer or autumn leaves? What periods of life are
they like?
THE TURTLE.
MEN LIKE AND YET UNLIKE THE ANIMALS.
SUGGESTION:--While it is not at all necessary to
present any special objects, it will add to the
interest if the parent has a turtle shell or even
the shells of oysters, clams or abalone, which are
somewhat the same in principle, the outside cover
of the animal constituting both its home and
defence, although differing from the turtle in
other respects.