There was once a little boy who said that whenever he was going to do
anything wrong he heard two voices speaking to him. Do you know what he
meant? Perhaps this story will help you.
The boy's name was Cecil. Cecil's father had a very beautiful and rare
canary, which had been brought far over the sea as a present to him.
Cecil often helped to feed the canary and give it fresh water, and
sometimes his father would allow him to open the door of the cage, and
the bird would come out and perch on his hand, which delighted Cecil
very much, but he was not allowed to open the door of the cage unless
his father was with him.
One day, however, Cecil came to the cage alone, and while he watched the
canary, a little voice said, "Open the door and take him out; father
will never know". That was a =wrong= voice, and Cecil tried not to
listen. It would have been better if he had gone away from the cage, but
he did not; and the voice came again, "Open the door and let him out".
And another little voice said, "No, don't; your father said you must
not". But Cecil listened to the =wrong= voice; he opened the door
gently, and out flew the pretty bird. First it perched on his finger,
then it flew about the room, and then--Cecil had not noticed that the
window was open--then, before he knew, out of the window flew the
canary, and poor Cecil burst into tears. "Oh! if I had listened to the
=good= voice, the =right= voice, and not opened the door! Father will be
so angry." Then the =bad= voice came again and said, "Don't tell your
father; say you know nothing about it ". But Cecil did not listen this
time; he was too brave a boy to tell his father a lie, and he determined
to tell the truth and be punished, if necessary.
Of course his father was very sorry to lose his beautiful canary, and
more sorry still that his little son had been disobedient, but he was
glad that Cecil told him the truth.
Now do you know the two things that the =wrong= voice told Cecil to do?
It told him (1) Not to obey; (2) Not to tell the truth. I think we have
all heard those two voices, not with our ears, but =within= us. Let us
always listen to the =good= voice--the =right= voice.
(Blackboard Sketch.)
Two voices:--
1st. Good, says, "Obey," "Speak the truth".
2nd. Bad, says, "Disobey," "Tell untruth".
(WHY WE SHOULD OBEY.)