a well formed nut with a hard shell. This nut I have is cracked. I open
it and I notice just inside a thin, brown coating that covers the meat.
I touch this coating to my lips. It is bitter and causes me to pucker my
lips. This is the Creator's blessed provision for the protection of the
nut in its growing stage. The bitter coating keeps insects and pests
away.
On my way to church this morning I looked up and saw a long piece of
yarn flying across the street at a rapid rate. I wondered what could
cause that. Then at the front end of the yarn I saw a bird. The bird
flew to the gable of a big house. There, in a protected corner, she was
making her nest. The yarn was to be woven into her new spring house. So
God gives instinct to birds and all his creatures as a mark of his
loving care.
The most delicate, sensitive portion of your body is the eye. When I
consider how tender and open to harm the eye is I wonder that so many
of us go through life with our eyes unhurt. But God has provided a
sleepless protection for our eyes. There is a guard, always on duty.
Whenever danger comes near, that guard, our eyelid, closes and
effectively wards off impending trouble.
We started with the lowest form of life, an inanimate nut. Now we come
to the highest, the soul of man. For in each one of you there is
something eternal, something akin to God himself. The name we give that
eternal spirit is the soul. For the protection of our soul God gives us
faith, a sense of right and wrong, conscience, the still small voice. He
surrounds us with Christian homes, the Church, helpful fellowship, the
means of grace. All these things are a protection for the soul.
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 6: 28, 29
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither
do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these."
MEMORY HYMN [517]
_"While thee I seek, protecting power."_
YOKES
A Yoke is a help, not a hindrance. Our first thought is that a yoke is
burdensome. A little study reveals to us the great usefulness of the
yoke.
Have you ever seen a yoke of oxen? What heavy, slow-moving creatures
they are! But they are pullers of heavy loads. These loads could not be
drawn by them were they not yoked together.
Now there are different kinds of yokes, that is, there are many ways of
rendering easier the carrying of heavy loads. For example, there is the
Oriental way. First, there is the manner in which one man will carry a
heavy load. He takes a pole, on each end of the pole hangs a rope. Then
he divides his load, fastening half of his load to either rope. He gets
beneath the pole, which is shaped to fit his shoulder, lifts, and off he
trots as easily and jauntily as can be. Sometimes the load is too heavy
for one man. He then summons a companion. They get a longer, heavier
pole, with a much stouter rope. This time they do not divide the load,
rather they keep it together. They fasten the rope securely about it,
and then tie it about the pole. The men stoop, one at each end of the
heavy pole. They stand up straight, the load is lifted from the ground,
only a few inches perhaps, but enough to clear the ground, then, singing
and laughing, keeping perfect time each with the other, they swing down
the street. It is incredible the heavy loads they carry. I could not
believe my eyes when I looked upon some of them.
Jesus perfectly understood the helpfulness and value of the yoke. He
made it most beautiful in that he told his followers that he would help
them, that he would carry his part of the burden, that he would share
with them the other side of the yoke.
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 11: 29-30
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light."
MEMORY HYMN [449]
_"My times are in thy hand."_
GOOD ADVICE
Most of us, men and women as well as girls and boys, do not take kindly
to advice. We very much prefer that people keep their advice to
themselves. There are times, however, when we are compelled to listen to
advice, because of the source. Here is a bit of advice that commands our
attention. It is from the great English novelist, Charles Dickens.
Charles Dickens' youngest boy, Edward, left home when he was sixteen
years of age and went to Australia. His father wrote him a parting
letter, which is worth while for all boys, whether or no they leave
home. In that letter the great Dickens said,
"I put a New Testament among your books for the very same reasons and
with the very same hopes that made me write an easy account of it for
you when you were a little child. Because it is the best book that ever
was or ever will be in the world. And because it teaches you the best
lessons by which any human creature who tries to be truthful and
faithful to duty can possibly be guided. As your brothers have gone
away, one by one, I have written to each such words as I am now writing
to you and have entreated them all to guide themselves by this book,
putting aside the interpretations and inventions of men. Never abandon
the wholesome practice of saying your own private prayers, night and
morning. I have never abandoned it myself, and I know the comfort of
it."
Now that we are done reading this letter it does not sound like advice
at all, does it. It is all so wholesome and sturdy that we feel like
speaking right out loud, "Thank you, Mr. Dickens, thank you very much."
MEMORY VERSE, _Psalm_ 119: 9
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed
thereto according to thy word."
MEMORY HYMN [205]
_"Lamp of our feet."_
IF I WERE A BOY AGAIN
Chicago University, one of the great schools of America and the world,
received its impetus from the tireless energy and brilliant leadership
of its great President, Dr. Harper. After his death there was found
among his papers a memorandum which read as follows:
"If I were a boy again I would strive to find out from goods books how
good men lived.
"If I were a boy again I would study the Bible even more than I did. I
would make it a mental companion. The Bible is a necessity for every
boy.
"If I were a boy again I would more and more cultivate the company of
those older whose graces of person and mind would help me on in my good
work. I would always seek good company.
"If I were a boy again I would study the life and character of our
Saviour, persistently, that I might become more and more like unto him."
Now President Harper was a great, wise and good man. If he felt that he
would do certain things were he a boy again, surely the rest of us
could improve upon our boyhood years had we the chance.
If I were a boy again I would be more attentive to Church and Sunday
School and the things that were taught me there. If I were a boy again I
would get my day school lessons with greater care. If I were a boy again
I would be more obedient to and more thoughtful of my parents.
Why should I talk like this, for I cannot be a boy again? But you boys
have your boyhood. It is a present reality. Let President Harper teach
you. Be the boy he pictures.
MEMORY VERSE, _Psalm_ 103: 1-5
"Bless the Lord, O my soul ... who satisfieth thy mouth with good
things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."
MEMORY HYMN [678]
_"By cool Siloam's shady rill."_
ONE BY ONE
Here is this great church building. It is a beautiful structure, is it
not? It is so substantial, it has stood here so many years, we take it
so for granted that it seems as though it had always been here. But
there was a day when the ground upon which this building stands was
vacant ground. Then men came with picks and shovels, wagons and plows,
and set to work. They laid the foundations, stone upon stone. Then the
walls rose, stone upon stone. Then the spire, stone upon stone, until
the very peak was reached, for our church is stone from the foundation
to the top of the spire. How were these thousands of stones put in
place? One by one.
Think also of the roof of our church. It is a tile roof. How in the
world did they get all those tiles up on the roof and fitted in place?
Did some man who was very strong stand back and throw a handful of tile
at the roof? No, it was done one by one.
To-day it is snowing outside. Some one has figured that in a square
mile one foot of snow would weigh 65,000 tons. If you should take sleds
and horses, and put a ton of snow on each sled, and arrange the horses
and sleds in a procession, the sleds carrying the snow from that square
mile of territory would reach from Philadelphia to New York, and beyond
New York, straight up the Hudson, almost to Albany. That is only one
square mile, and there are thousands of square miles every winter
covered with snow. How does this snow come? In tiny flakes, one by one.
It is the same with life. God gives us many days, but he sends them one
at a time. He also sends us many duties, but they do not come en masse.
He is good and sends them one by one.
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew 6: 34_
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof."
MEMORY HYMN [419]
_"One more day's work for Jesus."_
COME
There is not a girl or boy here this morning who does not feel within
the desire to do good. The drawing power of good--in other words, the
drawing power of God. He it is who says to you, "Come."
I want to illustrate this by a few things which I have here. The first
is this magnet. And here are some small nails. These tiny nails
represent girls and boys of about eleven or twelve years of age. I apply
the magnet to these nails and I lift up--can you see me--twenty-five or
thirty nails. You see it is a great deal easier to respond to the
drawing power of good, to answer the great "Come," in girlhood and
boyhood.
Now here are some nails that are a little larger. I can lift up only
five or six of these larger nails. They represent young people of
eighteen or nineteen. As one gets older he does not hear as readily, at
least he does not answer, Christ's blessed "Come."
Next we have some nails still larger. The magnet will lift up only one
or two of these. They stand for men and women in mature life. Oh, if one
has not responded to Christ's call in childhood or youth, it becomes
increasingly difficult as the years pass. How seldom, how very seldom,
does an aged one answer the divine call and give his heart to the Lord!
Here is a very large nail, and it is rusty. Indeed it is literally
coated with rust. This represents the life that is deep in sin. For long
years this life has been persisting in his evil ways. As the magnet must
be very strong to penetrate the rust and grip the nail, so Christ's call
must be strong and loving to reach the sinful soul. Christ can save
"from the uttermost," but how much better it is to say in early youth,
"I hear thy voice, my Lord. Gladly I come."
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 11: 28
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest."
MEMORY HYMN [462]
_"In heavenly rest abiding."_
LOVE AND LOYALTY
Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a man who had a wife and two
sons. There was a famine in the land where he lived, so he said to his
wife and sons, "We will journey down to another country where the crops
have not failed. There shall we find plenty to eat, and there will we
make our home."
So the family moved to the strange land where they prospered and were
happy. In time the boys grew to young manhood and married young women of
the new land where they dwelt. Then sorrow entered their homes, as
sorrow comes sooner or later to every home. The father and the two sons
died, and the mother and her two daughters-in-law were left alone. The
mother, whose name was Naomi, said, "I am going back to the land where I
lived in former days, back to the people of my girlhood." The young
women said, "We shall go with you also." "No," replied Naomi, "you must
not do that. Go back to your homes, there you shall be cared for, and
may the Lord deal gently with you."
The names of these two daughters-in-law were Ruth and Orpah. It was
Ruth who then spoke up and said in words that are not surpassed in all
the English language:
"Intreat me not to leave thee, Or to return from following after
thee; For whither thou goest I will go; And where thou lodgest I
will lodge; Thy people shall be my people, And thy God my God;
Where thou diest will I die, And there will I be buried; The Lord
do so to me, and even more, If ought but death part thee and me."
Great words are these, words of love and loyalty.
MEMORY VERSE, _Exodus_ 20: 12
"Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
MEMORY HYMN [668]
_"O perfect love, all human thought transcending."_
KUMMOGOKDONATTOOTTAMMOCTITEAONGANNUNNONASH
What do you think of this word? It contains forty-two letters.
What does it mean? What language is it? It means "catechism." It is the
Indian language.
Now for the story. Many years ago, soon after the landing of the first
Pilgrim Fathers in New England, there was a man by the name of John
Eliot, who came to this new and unsettled country of America. He was a
devoted Christian, an earnest, patient, persistent missionary. He lived
for sixty years in Massachusetts, and most of those years were spent
among the redskins who inhabited that section. He loved them, worked
with them, learned their language, reduced it to writing, then
translated for them the Scriptures. He was called, and he is still known
by the name, "Apostle to the Indians." The word at the head of the page
shows what labors he entered into. All this was made possible through
putting into practice his own motto, "Prayer and pains, through faith
in Christ, will do anything."
What good John Eliot did for the Indians some one must have done for the
human race. Who invented the first alphabet? Who conceived the idea of
letters? Who planned out the putting of certain letters together to form
a word, then placing certain words in a string to form a sentence, that
sentence conveying an idea? Who did all this? We do not know. The
blessed work has gone on, until the knowledge of letters is so taken for
granted that we have a saying, "as plain as ABC."
The Bible has almost kept pace with language. There are few languages
to-day into which the Word has not been translated. We shall not rest
until every child of every tongue is able to read God's message of love
and salvation in the language in which he was born.
MEMORY VERSE, _Luke_ 4: 16
"And Jesus came to Nazareth ... and, as his custom was, he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read."
MEMORY HYMN [200]
_"O word of God incarnate."_
WHAT THE TREES SAID TO ME
Across the street from my home is a large and beautiful park. It has
inviting, winding paths, great quantities of flowers and many varieties
of trees. Early one summer day, before most people were up, I strolled
through the park. I thought I was all alone, but suddenly I heard a
voice, "Stand erect. Do not walk with stooping shoulders. Head up,
shoulders back!" Now I confess I was walking, and thinking as I walked,
with shoulders bent and head forward. At once I straightened up and
looked about to see who was speaking. It was the voice of a pine tree,
growing hard by the path, tall and straight as a plumb line. "Thank
you," I said to the pine.
No sooner had I left the pine, and was again deep in thought, when I
heard another voice. "Be courteous, you can never accomplish anything by
scolding, insulting or driving people. Be fair and just. Be like Christ,
a Christian gentleman." Now who in the world is speaking to me? I looked
everywhere and there was not the sign of a person in all the park.
"Here I am," the voice said. I looked and there, right before me, was a
graceful elm tree, smiling and courteously bowing low to me. "I shall
try and heed your word," I said.
Going on my way I was no longer absorbed in thought, for I knew that
other trees would have something to say. Sure enough, "Be steadfast," I
heard. What tree could that be? I should have known at once. The maple,
of course.
Now the white birch beckons. How its face shines in the light of the
early morning! But dark or light I can distinguish it from all its
fellows. Always white of face and clean of life. So I hear it say, "Be
clean."
Turning my steps homeward I said to the kindly trees, "Good-by, and
thank you. I shall never forget this morning's walk."
MEMORY VERSE, _Isaiah_ 61: 3
"To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified."
MEMORY HYMN [745]
_"Into the woods my Master went."_
BANKS
Here is a bank. I have been reading lately about banks. You know that in
Jesus' day they did not have banks such as we have. People took their
treasures and jewels and hid them in a vessel, or dug a hole in the
earth and covered their valuable possessions with dirt. But now one of
the most prominent institutions of any community is the bank.
What does this bank stand for? In the first place it means Strength. It
is made of very heavy, hard material. There is money in this bank. It
does not belong to me, it is the property of our Beginners' Department.
Each Sunday they put their birthday money in here, then at the end of
the year they open it and the contents is given to our Sunday School
Missionary Society. That the money may be kept safe and sound to the end
of the year the bank is made very strong.
In the second place I notice that there is a single opening and that the
opening is made very small. It is meant for small coins, I could not
possibly get a one dollar piece into this opening. No, it is meant for
dimes, nickels and pennies. That is, it stands for Thrift. Each little
child brings his or her amount, small in itself, but when they are all
together there is a considerable sum.
Again, I see that this bank is made in the form of a church. It is
really quite a beautiful building. Here is the steeple, here the steps
and the wide entrance doors, and the windows with genuine cathedral
glass. I think it is splendid to have a bank look like a church, for
after all a church is a sort of bank. It stands for those treasures
which Jesus talked about when he said, "Lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through and steal."
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 6: 21
"For where your treasure is there will your heart be also."
MEMORY HYMN [208]
_"I love thy kingdom, Lord."_
WORK
This morning I want to talk to you about work. "All work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy." We are sorry for girls and boys who are
compelled to work, who have little or no time for play. Now that is one
side. How about the other side? All play and no work makes Jack--what?
There are many words we can use here. I have thought about this a long
time and I have decided that the best word to put in here is useless.
All play and no work makes Jack a useless boy, and of all creatures in
the world who have no place in the scheme of things it is one who is
useless.
Now the men who are useful, we shall find, are the men who, as boys,
worked as well as played. A few days ago I sat at a public dinner next
to one of the best-known men in this city, and a useful man he is. We
were talking about some of the things boys could busy themselves with
and earn a little money. I said, "I carried papers when I was a boy." He
replied, "I carried papers on the streets of New York City when I was a
boy." I do not doubt that if we could have gone to all the men who sat
at that dinner each of the one hundred and fifty would have answered,
"Yes, I worked when I was a boy."
I have here an illustration of work. Here are four nuts, a brazil nut,
an almond, a walnut and a pecan. Each morning as you go to school you
pass through the park. There in the park the squirrels are always to be
seen, and to you they seem to be ever at play. There are days, warm
spring days, lovely autumn days, when you do not like to go to school,
and I hear you say, "I wish I could be like these squirrels, playing
around all day long." But the squirrels do not play around all day long.
They are at work, gathering nuts and storing them away for winter use.
If I should give these nuts to the squirrels they would have to work to
open them. All that is good in life comes through work. God wants us to
work as well as play, and play as well as work.
MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 21: 18
"Son, go work to-day in my vineyard."
MEMORY HYMN [422]
_"Work, for the night is coming."_
THE BIG STORE
Many of the girls and boys who read this little book live in or near one
of the great cities where they have huge department stores. I love to
visit a big store. I have spent hours, more likely days, if I should
count up all the time, in Wanamaker's in New York and Philadelphia,
Marshall Field's in Chicago, Hengerer's in Buffalo, and Eaton's in
Toronto. Any season of the year, and almost any hour of the day, these
stores are thronged with people, for people like to go to the big store.
Now I am thinking of another big store, a truly big store, the great big
store of Life. We have to visit at this store whether we want to or not.
It is not a matter of choice but of necessity. Every morning you visit
the big store of Life. Every evening you return home with what you have
bought.
Not only must you visit this store but you must also buy. When you visit
Wanamaker's you do not have to buy unless you choose. In the big store
of Life, however, you have no choice in the matter, you must buy. What
must you buy? Well, you may buy anything you choose. This is the
beautiful thing about the big store of Life--while we are compelled to
buy we are permitted to choose. We must also pay.
"Good morning, John, what would you like to buy this morning."
"I think I'll buy a good geography lesson."
"All right, you can buy that, but you must pay the price."
"What is the price?"
"Study, earnest study. Never leave the preparation until the last minute
or trust to luck."
Yes, it is true, right on through every department in the big store of
Life, you can buy whatsoever you choose, but you must pay the price.
MEMORY VERSE, _Philippians_ 4: 8
"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ... think on these things."
MEMORY HYMN [332]
_"Thou my everlasting portion."_
BREAD
I have here a loaf of bread. This is good-looking bread, is it not? I
can almost hear you say, "Please pass the bread." That is, I hope you
say that. I hope you do not say, "Gimme the bread."
Now every girl and boy here knows what it is to be hungry, I'm sure of
that. And when one is real hungry there is nothing that tastes as good
as bread. Of course there should be some butter, or jam, or peanut
butter spread over the top--my, it makes the mouth water, doesn't it!
We speak of bread as the staff of life because we could not be strong in
body if we did not have bread. We love ice cream and cake, meat and
potatoes, and many other things, but our meal is not properly balanced
unless there is a plate of bread on the table.
Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." I think
this has a twofold meaning. It refers to our physical hunger and our
spiritual needs. All bread comes from the Father above, our Father of
love. Do you remember those beautiful lines,
"Back of the loaf is the snowy flour,
And back of the flour, the mill;
And back of the mill, the seed, and the sun, and the shower,
And the Father's will."
Jesus once spoke of himself as the Bread sent down from above. Our
Father gives us daily bread for our physical needs, and he has also sent
us Christ for our spiritual strength. My dear young people, take him as
your Saviour.
MEMORY VERSE, _John_ 6: 51
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven."
MEMORY HYMN [325]
_"Break thou the bread of life."_
GOD'S MEASURE
Here I have some measures. This is a rule, we call it a folding foot
rule. Here is a square. And here is a tape measure. There are other
measures, quarts and pecks and bushels. Then there are liquid measures,
quarts and gallons and barrels. There are also measures of weight,
ounces, pounds and tons. Now these different measures are the same all
over the United States. A pound of butter in New York is the same as a
pound of butter in California. There are other countries that do not
have measures like ours. France, for example, has the metric system.
Should you go into a dry goods store in Paris you would not ask for a
yard of cloth, but for a meter.