_Obedience and Disobedience._--CHILD'S COMPANION.
1. You have never disobeyed your parents, or your teachers, or any who
have been placed in authority over you, without being uncomfortable and
unhappy! Obedience, in a child, is one of the most necessary qualities;
for it protects him from all the evils of his want of experience, and
gives him the benefit of the experience of others.
2. One fine summer's day, I went to spend an afternoon at a house in
the country, where some young people were enjoying a holiday.
3. They were running cheerfully up and down a meadow, covered over with
yellow crocuses, and other flowers; and I looked on them with delight,
while they gamboled and made posies, as they felt disposed.
"Here sister with sister roamed over the mead,
And brother plucked flow'rets with brother;
And playmates with playmates ran on with such speed
That the one tumbled over the other."
4. Now, they all had been told to keep away from the ditch at the bottom
of the field; but, notwithstanding this injunction, one little urchin,
of the name of Jarvis, seeing a flower in the hedge on the opposite
bank, which he wished to gather, crept nearer and nearer to the ditch.
5. The closer he got to the flower, the more beautiful it appeared to
be, and the stronger the temptation became to pluck it.
6. Now, what right had he to put himself in the way of temptation? The
field, as I said before, was covered over with flowers; and that in the
hedge was no better than the rest, only it was a forbidden flower, and
when anything is forbidden it becomes, on that very account, a greater
temptation to a disobedient heart.
7. Jarvis had gathered a whole handful of flowers before he saw the one
growing in the hedge; but he threw all these away, so much was his mind
set on getting the one which he wanted.
8. Unluckily for him, in getting down the bank, his foot slipped, and
down he rolled into a bed of stinging nettles, at the bottom of the
ditch, which fortunately happened to have in it but little water.
9. Jarvis screamed out with might and main, as he lay on his back; for,
whichever way he turned, his cheeks and his fingers brushed against the
nettles.
[Illustration]
10. His cries soon brought his companions around him; but, as they were
all young, they knew not how to render him assistance, on account of
the stinging nettles, and the depth of the ditch.
11. I ran to the spot, and pulled up Master Jarvis in a pretty pickle,
his jacket and trowsers plastered with mud, and his hands and face
covered with blotches.
12. Here was the fruit of disobedience! And as it was with Jarvis, so
will it be with every one who acts disobediently.
13. Whenever you feel a temptation to disobey God; to disobey his holy
word; to disobey the admonitions of your own conscience; to disobey your
parents, your teachers, or any in authority over you,--be sure that a
punishment awaits you, if you do not resist it.
14. As you are not able to resist it in your own strength, ask God's
assistance for Christ's sake, and it will not be withheld. Now, remember
Jarvis, and the bed of stinging nettles!
15. The Bible tells us very plainly how much God sets his face against
disobedience. "The children of Israel walked forty years in the
wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of
Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord."
16. "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for, because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." Nor
is it disobedience to God that is alone hateful in his sight; for
disobedience to parents is spoken of as an evil thing, too.
17. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his
mother, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and the young
eagles shall eat it."
18. But I cannot bear to think that you are disobedient! I would rather
consider you obedient in all things, and encourage you in holding on
your way, obeying the will of God, and the word of all in authority over
you.
"The Lord rules over sea and land,
And blest indeed are they
Who all his counsels understand,
And his commands obey."
19. I have often been struck with the simplicity with which some
children obey their parents. This tractable disposition is very amiable
in a child.
20. It was no longer ago than last week, that, in crossing a field, I
overtook three children: one, a little girl of about five years old, was
on the foot-path, and, just as I came up, her brother called her to him,
where he was in the field.
21. "No, William," said the little maid; "my mother told me not to go
off the foot-path, and it would be very wicked to disobey my mother."
22. I caught the little creature up in my arms; and having a small neat
book in my pocket, suitable for a child, I gave it to her, and told her
to remember that the reason why I gave it was, that she had been
obedient to her mother.
"Though cares on cares in parent hearts be piled,
Great is that blessing--an obedient child!"
23. Without obedience there can be no order. The man must obey his
master, the maid her mistress, and the scholar his teacher. If you
attend a Sunday-school, whatever class you are in, be obedient to your
instructors, or you will make but little progress. By obedience you will
learn faster, secure the respect of those about you, and set a proper
example to those younger than yourself.
24. If you are in a place of work, be obedient to your employer. Those
make the best masters and mistresses who have been the most obedient
servants; for the discharge of one duty disposes us to perform another.
25. The best way to qualify yourselves to act well when grown up, is to
act well while you are children.