In the beginning God made a beautiful garden and dropped it into the
Pacific Sea. There it rested in sweet repose like a lily fair upon
the bosom of the deep. It was a Garden of Love as peaceful and calm
as a star. Its name was Tahiti, but as the years passed by the worst
features of European civilization were flung into it, and like Eden
of old the serpent came also and destroyed its primeval glory, and
its royal beauty soon faded away forever.
Among the destroying influences introduced was a bottle of mosquitoes
which a sailor out of sheer spite and hateful fun took to the island,
and soon the land was overrun with these disturbing little pests
which, added to other black things of civilization, soon robbed these
islands of their virgin excellence.
The world today is full of its black bottles loaded with destructive
contents. Let us consider some of them.
Secure three dark glass bottles; paint them black if necessary; load
and label them as herewith described.
_Bottle No. 1._ Label this bottle "Liquor." Fill it with strong tea,
which resembles liquor in color. Pour out a little in a glass, and
tell the story of the wreck and ruin this bottle has caused on God's
island called the "World."
This bottle came to us in earth's earliest ages. No one has ever
discovered the date of its first appearance. Back before the Flood
and in the days of Noah we read that wine was wrecking things. First
came the deluge of wine, then the deluge from the great deep. It was
a world-wrecker then, and is in the same business today, and will
continue on in its black business unless the hand of God and the arm
of the law shall shatter it and grind it to powder.
[Illustration: The Bear Is Called the Clown of the Animal Kingdom.
This Baby Bear, Visiting a Children's Meeting in Doctor Woolston's
Church, Was Used to Illustrate the Sin of Stubbornness]
Prohibition has chained the monster of this black bottle, but not
slain it. It still lives and is seeking to break its chains of
bondage and start on its rampage again. There is a popular cry among
men now which demands we shall let the monster loose again. They say,
"Give us light wines and beer." This is a noise from hell. Light
wines and beer would be leaks in the dam that now holds back this
flood of death. Open the leaks, and that will finally wash away the
dam, and let the river of death loose upon the people again. Place
the cork in the bottle and call the cork the Eighteenth Amendment. It
shall never come out. The monster of rum must never come back.
_Bottle No. 2._ Label this bottle "Ignorance."
Pour out from this bottle into a glass a liquid that has been made
black by a few drops of ink, and this you call the "Darkness of
Ignorance," the bottled "night of the Dark Ages." It is as black as
Egyptian darkness.
Centuries ago where the City of London now stands, a tribe of
benighted people lived. When they wished to start on a pilgrimage of
murder and plunder, and did not know which way to go to find the
greatest spoil, they placed a little maiden in a large basket, and
pierced it through with a sword slaying the little one, and they
watched to see through which side of the basket the blood would flow
first. This, they declared, indicated the direction in which they
were to go on their murderous pilgrimage. They had all been drinking
from the black bottle of ignorance. Yes, you say, that might all be
true of heathen tribes. But it would be well to remember also that
the black bottle of ignorance is found with the wiser people of this
day also.
The placing of the horseshoe over the door, the fear of the black cat
which crosses our path at night, the dread of the number 13 and the
day Friday, are all drops from the bottle of ignorance; and so it
appears that civilized people are often influenced by these things.
Our colonial fathers when they spilt salt at the table, threw a pinch
of it over the left shoulder to keep the witches away; so it seems
that often this black bottle of ignorance finds a place on our table
of daily bread. Let us seek knowledge and light always. Learn
something every day, and keep far away from this bottle of dark
ignorance. Remember the mountaintop window of light is to know God
aright, and to love him and keep his commandments. If this we do, the
cup of life will be so full that ignorance will find no place to
dwell in it. The liquid night cannot reign where we all love Jesus
and walk in his light.
The third bottle is labeled "War." Load this bottle with a red liquid
which can be produced by red ink or from regular dye-stuff. This
liquid represents the blood that war has shed. As you pour this out
into the glass say, Modern war is murder made lawful by the nations,
but it is unlawful by the laws of God. War is sin, it is an enemy to
Jesus. He came to give peace on earth and good-will among men. That
was his way among men. "Put up thy sword" is one of the commandments
of the New Testament. It is the word of the Prince of Peace. All the
world questions should be settled by arbitration. "Come let us reason
together" is God's good way to settle questions with the sinner or
the nations. The spirit of this bad black bottle has slain its
countless trillions, and if all the human skulls through which war
bullets have crashed could be assembled in one great Potter's Field
they would cover an acre of Towers of Babel. If all of the bones of
the slain by war could by some magic magnet be thrown together they
would well nigh cover the civilized acres of the world.
Put the stopper into this bottle and say, Paralyzed be the hand that
ever draws out the stopper of the bloody bottle of war.
_Bottle No. 3._ Labeled "Gold." Fill this bottle with a yellow
liquid which resembles the gold color. Pour out into a glass and
remark: The love of this yellow stuff is a universal destroyer. The
worship of this demon will cause a man and woman to do all manner of
evil. They will lie, steal, deceive, and sell their souls for it.
They will offer up the sacrifice of their own lives to possess it.
They will sell out both worlds just to toy with it for a few days.
Gold is evil only when we worship it, that is, think more of it than
we do of God. This is forbidden by the First Commandment. The
Israelites did this when in the wilderness they erected the golden
calf and worshiped it. When we use it aright it is not a black
bottle, but a bottle with glad yellow sunshine. We then call its
contents charity (love). Paul said charity is even greater than faith
and hope. This bottle is not yellow with the sunshine of love, but of
sin, so I will put the cork into this bottle and put it out of sight.
May I put it out of my mind as I have put it out of sight. But here
are two other bottles from which I may and will drink most freely and
live ever more.
Secure two plain glass bottles. Label the first one "WATER," and the
second, "MILK." Lifting up the bottle marked "Water," explain that it
stands for the Water of Life. Lifting up the bottle marked "Milk,"
explain that it will stand for the pure "Word of God." Holding up the
first bottle, pour a little of the contents into a new clean glass
and say: This crystal water stands for the Water of Life or God's
Salvation. Jesus once offered it to the woman of Samaria, and she
drank of it and was saved; she told all her town people of this
water, and hundreds drank from the same bottle to the salvation of
their souls. Lift high the glass and say: This living Water is free
to all; come, and drink, and live. Remember, O ye people, that just
looking at it with admiring eyes will not save you. Drink of it,
partake of it--this alone will give you salvation. A thirsty man does
not have his thirst quenched by admiring the gushing fountain, he
must drink to lose his thirst.
My next and last bottle is labeled "Milk." This stands for the Word
of God, "the pure milk of God's word."
This Bible milk adds daily strength to the soul which will live on
it. It is heaven's prepared food. The Bible by its promises of help
gives us a "tall" lift when we are weak and worn down.
When the ten virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom, the five wise
virgins not only took their lamps with them, but also other vessels
filled with reserve oil to be used in replenishing their lamps when
the oil had burned away. The extra bottle was their life preserver,
for when the midnight cry was heard, from this bottle they refilled
their lamps, and went in to the wedding with the Bridegroom. In our
journey home to God we must take this bottle of heavenly "milk,"
God's word with us. Take a _Milk Verse_ every day--that is, inwardly
digest a promise of God daily. This will give you strength now and
victory in the hour of death.
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