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THE CLERICAL LIBRARY 
 
 Eight Volumes, Cloth. Each, $1.50. 
 Sent post or express paid on receipt of price 
 SPECIAL Price FOR COMPLETE SETS. 
 
 For Students and the Clergy of all denominations, is 
 meant te furnish them with stimulus and suggestion in 
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 The best thoughts of the best religious writers are 
 here furnished in a condensed form. 
 
 1. Outline Sermons on the Old Testament. This 
 volume, containing {39 outlines of sermons by 46 emi- 
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 634 anecdotes and illustrations, fully indexed by sub- 
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Che Clerical WBidvary. 
 
 OUTLINES OF SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 
 
 WITH 
 
 . NUMEROUS ANECDOTES. 
 
 Hew Pork 
 FE. B. TREAT & COMPANY 
 
 Office of THE TREASURY MAGAZINE 
 
 241-243 West 23d Street 
 
 1993 
 
AUTHORS OF SERMONS. 
 
 a ee 
 
 ALEXANDER ANDREW. 
 WILLIAM ARNOT. 
 
 A. BANNATYNE. 
 
 JAMES BOLTON. 
 ANDREW A. Bonar, D.D. 
 Horatius Bonar, D.D. 
 Marcus D. BUELL. 
 JOHN CAIRNS, D.D. 
 THOMAS CHAMPNESS. 
 M. G. DANA. 
 
 J. OswaLD DykEs, D.D. 
 JOHN EpmonpD, D.D. 
 
 R. F. FISHER. © 
 
 W. H. Gray, D.D. 
 
 T. P. JOHNSTON. 
 
 J. MARSHALL Lane, D.D. 
 J. LuDLow, D.D. 
 THOMAS NICOL, B.D. 
 W. R. NICOLL, M.A. 
 
 T. TEIGNMOUTH SHORE 
 E. SIMON. 
 
 JAMES STALKER, M.A. 
 J. WALKER. 
 
 R. W. WEIR, M.A. 
 JAMES WELLS, M.A. 
 GEORGE WILSON, M.A, 
 J. H. WILson, D.D. 
 
 W. C. WRIGHT. 
 
 J. B. YOUNG 
 
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 I. God,the Creator. Gen.i 31. “ And God saw every 
 thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” 
 
 ONE of our pleasant duties is to lead children to see God 
 in nature, to mix up loving thoughts of Him with all their 
 enjoyments of it. It would be a wretched thing to live in 
 a house which a kind father had built expressly for them, 
 and furnished to their taste, and yet never think of him. 
 And is it not worse to grow up, as so many do, in the 
 midst of God’s wonderful and beautiful works, utterly care- 
 less of the glorious Creator and gracious Giver of them ? 
 “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib:” 
 but we eat and drink from God’s hand daily, and are so 
 engrossed with what the Hand contains, that we forget the 
 Hand itself! 
 
 Now our text will help us to do better. It shows us 
 “every thing,” coming from God, fashioned by God, approved 
 of God ; God’s eye is on it, His heart is in it, His arms are 
 around it; “And God saw every thing that He had made, 
 and, behold, it was very good.” This was how it appeared 
 to Him as it lay fresh before Him six thousand years ago. 
 He had just “finished” it; it was complete; and as He 
 gazed upon it, as her mother does upon her newborn babe, 
 it seemed, and it was, “very good.” It could not be im- 
 proved ; it was perfect. How interesting it is thus to have 
 God’s own report upon it; to be assured that He was 
 satisned and delighted with it 
 
 But now let us ask :— 
 
 Why it was “very good”? 
 
 What was “very good ” ? 
 
 How it was “very good”? 
 
 And then—Is it still “very good”? 
 
 I. Why was it “very good” ? 
 Was it not because it was the offspring of Jujfinite Wis- 
 B 
 
 299883 
 
2 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 dom, and Power, and Love? These would be certain to 
 produce what was “very good ;” for Love would suggest 
 it, Wisdom would contrive it, Power would do it. And 
 there would be no flaw or failure; there could be none. 
 Our rarest inventions, such as the watch or piano, fall short 
 of God’s commonest creatures, such as the fly or the robin 
 redbreast ; because we are finite—our wisdom, power, and 
 love are limited. 
 
 Again: They were “very good,” because they were 
 called and guided into existence by Jesus. This is often 
 plainly told us in the Gospels and Epistles. God com- 
 missioned His own, His only son, to do it. Me was to 
 have the honour of it, for God would put crowns upon His 
 head from the beginning. Therefore, of course, God would 
 rejoice in it, and consider it “very good.” Even to earthly 
 parents, what their children do is doubly sweet. Their 
 rough sketches are more prized than artists’ pictures, and 
 their attempts at sculpture than Grecian statues. 
 
 Then, too, it was “ very good,” because there was uo evil 
 in it. There may have been unsightliness or ugliness, such 
 as we have in toads and slugs ; there may have been poison, 
 such as we have in the berry of the laurel ; there may have 
 been ferocity, such as we have in the tiger or the eagle— 
 we cannot prove that these are faults—but there was no 
 sin. “Every thing” was innocent, untainted by Satan’s 
 touch, fit for God to move about amongst in His holi- 
 ness. 
 
 And it was “ very good,” because it was ke God. It was 
 a reflection, however feeble, of His mind, as a book is of the 
 person who writes it. When in the Great Exhibition there 
 are spread before us the myriads of articles which human 
 ingenuity and skill and industry have devised, could we not 
 judge from them what the designer himself was? Will 
 they not resemble him and “declare” him to be ingenious, 
 and skilful, and industrious? We shall not have him 
 visibly before us; and yet we shall get a glimpse of him 
 from his contributions. 
 
 And so “everything that God made” is a manifestation 
 of God Himself, and it must be “very good.” 
 
 II. We ask, what was “very good” ? 
 
 This we must answer ina shorter way. It was, “every 
 thing which He had made.” And if we say, What was that ? 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 3 
 
 We have but to cause to pass before us the splendid pano- 
 rama which Moses was inspired to describe for our learning. 
 It opens with light dividing the day from the night, so 
 that we might have a time for activity and a time for rest. 
 Then follows the firmament, or heavenly dome, the space 
 between filled with suitable air for us to breathe. Then 
 there was a separation of the sea from the land; the sea 
 for us to sail on, and bathe in, the land for us to tread and 
 cultivate. And immediately the land was carpeted with 
 soft grass, and stocked with shade and fruit trees and 
 vegetables, and ornamented with ferns and flowers. Then 
 the sun was ordered to shine warmly and nourishingly on 
 it, and the moon and the stars to cheer its darkness. These 
 were its fires and candles. Next we have feathered fowl to 
 enliven it with their songs and variegated plumage, and fish. 
 to sport in its streams, and cattle to range its pastures, 
 and wild beasts to inhabit its forests, and insects and 
 reptiles to glitter as gems on it from pole to pole. Lastly, 
 we have man himself, “in the image of God”—erect, 
 shapely, comely, intelligent, speaking man—the king of this 
 noble kingdom, to have dominion over it, and populate it, 
 and replenish it, and subdue it, and use it! 
 
 This is an outline of what was “very good.” You must 
 resolve it into endless details and varieties for yourselves. 
 
 III. How are they “very good”? 
 
 In themselves. If the ocean or the sky, ifa horse or a 
 cow, had never been intended for us, still would they not 
 have been “very good ”—worthy of God’s admiration. 
 
 “Very good” in their purposes. God meant them to be 
 for our service. The vine to bear grapes for us, and the 
 wheat, bread ; the bee to provide us with honey, the sheep 
 with wool, the cat to catch our mice, the dog to watch our 
 property—how “very good ” were these purposes? 
 
 And this being so, how very good they are im their 
 arrangements for it. Suppose the camel had been as un- 
 tractable as the zebra, could we ever have got it to bridge 
 the sandy deserts for us? Or suppose the elephant had 
 been as savage as the leopard, could we ever have got it to 
 toil for us in India? But God arranged for it by implant- 
 ing docility in its huge frame. Or suppose the hen had 
 been as swift and shy as the swallow, could we ever have 
 got her to drop her eggs and sit on them when we desired. 
 
 ¥) 5 ‘ 
 239883 
 
4 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 But God arranged for it, by implanting sociability within 
 her. 
 
 Thas, however you turn it about, “ every thing that God 
 made was very good.” 
 
 IV. And now we enquire, /s every thing “very good” 
 still? 
 
 Here we are ourselves, “made” by God. Here, sur- 
 rounding us, are ten thousand things which He pronounced 
 “very good” ages since. Are they very good now? May 
 not a thing be “very good,” and yet have something very 
 bad mingled with it? A bed of herbs is very good ; but it 
 may be choked with weeds. But, alas! if this is true of our 
 fields and gardens, it is not true of us. There is nothing 
 about us which is very good. Body, soul and spirit have 
 been spoilt by the Fall, which brought the thorns and 
 thistles into our fields and gardens. They have not been 
 spoilt by it, though it troubles them; we have, for we were 
 transgressors. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden 
 fruit, we lost God’s favour, and His frown is marked on us 
 in our infirmities, corruption and decay. We are not “very 
 good” now, but very bad, very weak, and prone to what is 
 wrong, and ignorant of God. 
 
 But now observe that this will not be so always, for God 
 is fetching very “ good things” out of this apparent frustra- 
 tion of His plan. It is related that the best thing which 
 ever happened to a tribe of Arabs was the sudden caving 
 in of their common well, because they then resolved that 
 they would cease to be dependent on such a frail resource, 
 and each family should dig a well of their own. A farmer 
 had his plot of Indian corn trampled on by a herd of 
 bullocks. His neighbours pitied him sorely; but he 
 ploughed it in and resowed it, and had a double crop from 
 the rich manuring which the buried stalks supplied to the 
 soil So God will by-and-by reveal to the universe that 
 what the serpent believed to be incurable damage to His 
 “very good” things, was over-ruled by Him to be indeed 
 “very good” for them. 
 
 And then remember that He zs restoring what 1s now 
 very bad to be “very good.’ Do you doubt this? It is 
 going on hour by hour in those who have embraced the 
 Saviour. In a horticultural, poultry, and agricultural show, 
 you notice how everything is being wrought to a higher 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 5 
 
 pitch of size and elegance. You are astonished as you com- 
 pare the blossoms and flowers of your infancy with the 
 blossoms there? “ Can they be the descendants of these ?” 
 you say. But a grander movement than this is silently 
 going on in some children. The Lord is renewing them 
 into “ His own image.” They have washed their inward 
 robes, and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb. They 
 have received from Him a tender, penitent heart ; and now 
 they are increasing before Him, and under His nurture, in 
 whatever is saintly and celestial. Already that in them is 
 “very good ;” and soon, when they quit this debased and 
 diseased fleshly frame, they will be absolutely “ very good.” 
 There will be no spot or wrinkle in them. And then at 
 the resurrection it will be the same with that debased and 
 diseased earthly frame itself; it will leave its mortality in 
 the grave, and rise to God. Oh, how “very good !” 
 
 Is this your portion and prospect? If not, attend to it 
 forthwith that it may be; for if it is not, you are “ very 
 bad” in God’s sight, and you will be worse and worse, 
 till you are ripe for a final outcasting from His blessed 
 presence. 
 
 Do be persuaded; do turn to Jesus, and beseech Him 
 to gather you into that happy fold which He will never 
 forsake, till of the humblest lamb in it God Himself shall 
 say, “It is very good.” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 II. Abraham’s Trial. Gen. xxii.2. “And He said, Take 
 now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get 
 thee into the land of Mortah ; and offer him there for a burnt 
 offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” 
 
 WE will suppose that we are walking together on Mount 
 Moriah ; of course it is a walk in thought, like as it were in 
 a dream. And, as we doin dreams we must mix things, 
 Times, places, facts, fancies, must be mingled together ; 
 the teaching being, we trust, “truth as it is in Jesus.” We 
 will suppose that we are visiting Mount Moriah some time 
 after the occurrences of which we are told in this chapter, 
 and the heads of this sermon are certain things which we 
 shall suppose to see in our walk up to the mountain’s top. 
 
6 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 I. There is a finger-post at the bottom of the hill, 
 labelled with the name Moriah. Ah! then we are right. 
 That is where we want to go. 
 
 But what can this name Moriah mean? Some learned 
 people say one thing, some another; but you will not be far 
 wrong if you say it means, the seeing of Jehovah ; perhaps 
 His seeing us, perhaps our seeing Him; or rather both in 
 one. The Lord provides, foresees for us, and shows Him- 
 self so that we see Him. He provides by revealing Him- 
 self. There is another finger-post on the top of the hill. 
 It covers the place Jehovah-Jireh—“the Lord will see.” 
 But Moriah is the same name turned round and made short. 
 So the Lord, seeing and shining, showing the road by 
 shining on it, is the beginning and the end of the path. 
 Up the hill Moriah is up to the presence of God. It is 
 the path of faith, “Offer on one of the mountains which I 
 shall tell thee of,’ said God to Abraham; and He told 
 him of it—showed it by showing Himself there. How 
 He showed Himself we shall see. Meanwhile, let us go up 
 this road of faith—it is rough and steep and hard. Ah! 
 Abraham and Isaac found it so. All pilgrims find it so. 
 But fear not; God sees and God shines. The walk of 
 faith is with God and up to God. 
 
 Now we are at the top of the hill, we notice traces of 
 burning. 
 
 II. There isa pile of ashes. Look down at this heap 
 of ashes, and you may see written in it that “God did 
 tempt Abraham,” ze try him. You know that fire 
 scorches, melts and tests things. The Bible therefore often 
 compares trial to fire. It is a very touching figure. For, 
 like fire, trial is keen and sharp; but it does not hurt or 
 destroy everything that is worth keeping. It refines and 
 purifies the silver by consuming the refuse. We read of 
 many fire-trials in the Bible; some of them having literal 
 fire connected with them. When Aaron saw his two sons 
 burned up in their sin before the Lord, his heart was in a 
 furnace of sore anguish. When Job heard tale after tale 
 of dire loss, till at last he was told of the death of all his 
 sons and daughters, it was like as if the lightnings which 
 burned up his flocks had fallen on his own head to scathe 
 him. Christ’s cruel cross was a fire-trial such as never 
 was passed through by any other. Nothing in Christ was 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 7 
 
 condemned—for Satan had nothing in him. The last 
 day will be a great fire-trial—burning up the earth and 
 the works that are therein: and as Paul says in another 
 sense, “ The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort 
 it is.” 
 
 The fire of hell is not said to be trial-fire. They burned 
 refuse only in Tophet. The unquenchable fire is for chaff. 
 Now let us consider Abraham’s fire-trial. “Take now thy 
 son.” “Thy son.” There is the first burning coal, for 
 children are dear,—you would not vex your parents if you 
 knew how dear they hold you. “Thine only son.” There 
 is another coal to the fire. One of two, or of many, had 
 been hard ; but an only son!—that is hard indeed. Then, 
 such a son—thy Isaac; there is more fuel to the fire. 
 Isaac is “laughter ;” and his very name brings back to 
 mind how, after long, long waiting, father and mother 
 rejoiced over their child. No wonder that it should be 
 added “ Whom thou lovest.” 
 
 There is one faggot more: “ Take thy son and offer him.” 
 To slay him! Oh, whata flame burns there! Yet there 
 is something more—something that is like pouring oil in 
 the furnace. This son was the child of promise. He was 
 to be the father of a nation from which Christ was to 
 spring. If he is killed, what becomes of the promise ? 
 
 Do you remember how Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- 
 nego went through a fiery furnace and had not even the 
 smell of fire on them after they came out of it? Soit 
 was with Abraham. His faith kept him from being burned. 
 He said to himself, “God will keep His word. If I must 
 kill Isaac, God will bring him to life again.” So, not to 
 blind them, but in real hope, he said to the young men, 
 “T and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
 again unto you.” 
 
 III. The sacrificial knife. There it lies among the ashes, 
 with stains on it like blood-spots. There has been death 
 here. Was Isaac, then, really slain? No, but there was 
 the offering of one in his stead. So we find an inscription 
 on both sides of this knife. On the one side the word 
 Surrender ; on the other, Substitution. 
 
 Surrender means giving up. Abraham gave up his son 
 at God’s word. It was not the first thing God had asked 
 him to give up. He left his country and his kinsfolk at 
 
8 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 God bidding. But God never asks us to give up any- 
 thing except for something better than what we yield. 
 
 Surrender is a good motto for life. Give up—for the 
 sake of others, for Christ’s sake. You will be like your 
 heavenly Father if you do. 
 
 “For God gave up His Son to die, 
 So gen’rous was His love. 
 
 He did not ask Abraham to do what He was unwilling 
 to do Himself. His own, His only, His beloved Son, He 
 gave for us. 
 
 The other inscription on the knife is Substitution. That 
 is, one instead of another. The ram was offered instead 
 of Isaac. It is hard to see the full meaning. The lesson 
 that God taught Abraham was, Lord, Thy will! And 
 what Moriah taught as a command, Calvary taught as an 
 example. Look down through the years and see, on a 
 little hill there are three crosses. One of them, the middle 
 one, has One hanging on it who is the Lamb of God. 
 That is the meaning of Jehovah-Jireh—‘“ the Lord will pro- 
 vide.” Abraham did not quite understand what he spoke, 
 only he spoke in trust, and was sure to find the reality 
 better than his hope, when he said “The Lord will provide 
 a lamb for a burnt offering.’ He saw and understood 
 afterwards, for Jesus says, “ Your father Abraham greatly 
 desired to see my day, and he has seen it and rejoiced.” 
 
 J. E. 
 
 -TII. Isaac. Gen. xxii. 40. “ And Abraham stretched forth 
 his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” 
 
 THIS beautiful story wants looking into, if we would fully 
 enjoy it and profit by it. It is like the brook in a meadow 
 —pleasant to the eye; but the fish, and the water-cresses, 
 and the polished pebbles in it, have to be searched for. It 
 is not so much a mirror in which you have bright but 
 shadowy reflections, as it is a microscope through which 
 you see wonderful realities, which, but for it, must have 
 remained hidden from us for ever. 
 
 Two persons are mixed up in it; a man and a lad,a 
 father and ason. Now, if you were grown-up people, we 
 should perhaps call your attention chiefiy to the elder 
 of the two—the man, the father; but as you are young 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 9 
 
 yourselves, you will naturally be most interested in the 
 lad, the son. Round him, therefore, let us gather; and 
 God prepare us for the study! 
 
 We will consider him,— 
 
 I. As the beloved child. | 
 
 II. As the pattern of obedience, 
 
 III. As the type of Jesus. 
 
 I. As the beloved child. 
 
 The Scriptures show us many such children. Joseph, 
 the beloved of Jacob; Samuel, the beloved of Hannah; 
 Solomon, the beloved of David. From the earliest ages 
 God has provided that sweetest home and best school for 
 childhood, the fond parental bosom. How dark and piti- 
 able it would be without it! But nurtured in it the little 
 one grows up in sunshine, to shine itself by-and-by. 
 
 Isaac was Abraham’s only child by his wife Sarah, and 
 that was a reason why he was beloved ; but also, he was 
 the child of his old age, given to him in his hundredth 
 year, after he had been waiting for him, and hoping for 
 him, and longing for him for half a century. ‘We dearly 
 prize what cost us sighs,” says the proverb. 
 
 Again, he was the child of promise—of Dzvine promise. 
 In this sense, he was a special gift from God. God sent 
 an angel from heaven to announce his birth, to assure his 
 despairing mother that it should happen, though it would 
 require a miracle. 
 
 Thus they had him in promise long before they had 
 him in their arms. They saw him in the promise long 
 before they kissed him in his cradle. He was beloved 
 of them long before his infant face was there to claim it of 
 them. 
 
 Directly he was in his swaddling clothes, they had a 
 name ready for him. ‘We will call him Isaac,” that is 
 “laughter ;” they were so glad,sohappy. “God has made 
 me laugh,” his mother said. 
 
 How beloved he was of them as he grew up! This 
 appears in the fact that he gave a “great feast” on his 
 weaning day, and that they banished Ishmael from the 
 ‘house because he dared to mock and tease him. Not a 
 hair of his head should be touched, not a tear should trickle 
 down his cheeks, if they could help it. Then it appears 
 afterwards in their care to obtain him a wife. How 
 
Io SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 solemnly Eliezer the steward is summoned, instructed, 
 and charged for that errand. It was as if they were a king 
 and a queen setting about the marriage of the heir-apparent 
 toathrone. Iam sure if some of us had a quarter of the 
 pains taken to find us Rebekahs, we should be too proud 
 to speak to them when they alighted from their camels. 
 
 Thus, then, was Isaac beloved. This was his boyhood’s 
 privilege and joy. May it be yours abundantly ; and may 
 God enable you to value it, improve it, and be properly 
 thankful for it! What a difference there is in bird’s nests ! 
 How soft and warm are some—how hard and cheerless 
 others! Should you not expect robins, and goldfinches, 
 and nightingales, out of the wool, and moss, and feathers ; 
 and from the dry sticks, hawks, magpies, and jackdaws? 
 And so it is. 
 
 II. As the pattern of obedience. 
 
 This was a further cause for his being so beloved, that 
 he was such a dutiful child. He was himself lovely and 
 lovable. You have to ¢vy to love those who are wayward 
 —it goes against the grain to be kind to them ; but those 
 who are good lead you captive. You have to ze yourself 
 to the former ; the latter entwine round you. Positively 
 it is quite difficult to smile (cheap as smiles are) on certain 
 unfledged folk of my acquaintance, it seems so like smiling 
 on toads or rattlesnakes. Isaac was none of these. I 
 doubt not he was all that Abraham and Sarah could have 
 wished him to be. What do we read to the contrary? 
 What single instance have we of his troubling them? 
 Rather, is not the narrative of his conduct here intended 
 as a specimen of his conduct generally? And, now, ob- 
 serve it; it is unparalleled even in the Bible. 
 
 On a certain morning, Abraham abruptly informed him 
 that he was to attend him on a journey, of the length and 
 object of which he was perfectly ignorant. They started 
 early and travelled far. That evening closed upon them, 
 and the morrow evening as well, and still they went for- 
 ward. Presently Abraham pointed out to him a distant 
 range of mountains, those on which the city of Jerusalem 
 now stands or which surround her as ramparts. Then 
 Abraham commanded the escort to remain with the ass 
 where they were, whilst he and Isaac should ascend the hill 
 Moriah to worship God. But, ere they parted with them, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11 
 
 Abraham transferred the load of wood, which he had hewn 
 in Beersheba, from the beast’s back to Isaac’s shoulders. 
 Then, with a flaming torch in his grasp, and a steel blade 
 in his girth, he and Isaac began theascent. As they toiled 
 up Isaac was struck with a sudden thought. Here is the 
 fire, the wood, the knife, but where is the lamb for a burnt 
 offering? How foolish of us—how useless to go on! the 
 principal thing forgotten. So he opened his mind to 
 Abraham—What are we about? What shall we do? 
 Abraham had a knife in his girth, but I fancy that that 
 question of his darling put a knife into his heart. I don’t 
 understand how he managed to answer him without chok- 
 ing or crying out to God! _If he had flung himself on the 
 ground in an agony and bloody sweat, and besought God 
 to excuse him, this would not have surprised us. O Faith! 
 what a triumph thou hadst here! Abraham calmly replied, 
 “God will provede Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” 
 But did he say no more? I doubt it. I have a notion 
 that then and there he described to Isaac the dreadful 
 secret, and persuaded him to yield his freeconsent. Heex- 
 plained to him how God had selected zm for the lamb— 
 how there was no escape from it, but in resisting God— 
 how God assuredly could and would raise him up from the 
 dead if necessary! And Isaac, instead of being indignant 
 or defiant, or breaking away and running, as we should 
 have done, submitted without a murmur, and kept straight 
 on for the fatal spot. 
 
 At any rate, when they were arrived there, he assisted 
 Abraham in building the altar and spreading the faggots ; 
 and then, when Abraham advanced with the cord, he had 
 no remonstrances, no further inquiries, no entreaties to be 
 spared. He surrendered himself as quietly as a kid ora 
 turtle-dove to be pinioned, to be lifted and laid on the 
 altar ; nay, when he watched the drawing of the dagger, 
 when it was unsheathed and up it went to descend the 
 next instant into his quivering flesh, even then there was 
 not a word from him! He was content to die, and in that 
 awful way, if Abraham required itof him. He might have 
 appealed to him, reminded him of his faultless behaviour, 
 begged him not to murder him, argued with him that it 
 must be wrong He might have dared him to touch him, 
 and walked off unscathed ; but odedzence forbade, and he 
 
12 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 preferred death to disobedience! What an example for 
 us! what a practical illustration of that fifth law of the 
 ten which is so apt to be forgotten in modern times, that 
 we occasionally suppose the printers have accidentally 
 dropped it from our Oxford and Cambridge editions ; or 
 is it that we are afflicted with short memories, as the pious 
 labourer hinted to the farmer that 4e evidently had, when 
 he was despatching him with a wagon to the hay-field on 
 Sunday. “Short memory, sir,” he said civilly, scratching 
 his head ; “Isn't it, remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
 holy, sir?” 
 
 There is a nearly idiot girl in a village in America, who 
 may be seen sitting by the hour by a well, to which her 
 since buried mother directed her for drink, and into which 
 she dropped the jug. She can’t be persuaded that she did 
 not grieve her; she can’t forgive herself. 
 
 A band of schoolfellows were tempting a companion to 
 steal his father’s apples. “He won’t be angry ; he won't 
 punish you if you are found out.” “That,” said he, “is 
 just why I can’t doit. He is so kind to me that I should 
 be a brute to displease him.” 
 
 Happy those who have right views of obedience both to 
 God and man, who have resolved to abide by it at what- 
 ever sacrifice, who place it above their own whims and 
 passions. It is a s¢traz¢t road, and it has thorns in it, but 
 it is radiant with the light of God’s countenance, and it 
 ends in His blissful presence. To leap its hedges is to 
 forsake our own mercies. 
 
 III. As the type of Jesus. 
 
 Isaac’s obedience brought him this high honour of being 
 the clearest type of Jesus that can be conceived, The 
 animals which were actually slain in sacrifice were types of 
 Him, but they failed in that they were merely animals. 
 Noah and Job, and a list of men, were types of Him in His 
 character ; but they were not types of His atonement, and 
 it was His atonement which was His glory—His crowning 
 achievement! It was here that Isaac was so peculiarly 
 distinguished. He prefigured that precious act, out of 
 which has sprung such a harvest of blessings to our fallen 
 race, such a harvest of praise to God, that it will occupy 
 eternity to reap it. 
 
 What have we in possession or prospect which relieves 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 13 
 
 us of our load of guilt, which cheers us under bereavement, 
 which robs the grave of its gloom for us, which will absolve 
 us at the judgment seat? The sole solid foundation of 
 that was exhibited as in a picture when Isaac, panting 
 but passive, awaited the sharp stroke which should let out 
 his soul. 
 
 As he had, so Jesus had, no will but His Father’s : as he 
 did, so Jesus walked, steadily though wearily, to His execu- 
 tion ; as Isaac carried the wood, so Jesus carried His cross. 
 But there we stop. Isaac was killed as far as his own and 
 his father’s determination were ‘concerned, but Jesus was 
 killed indeed. Isaac was not killed, because if he had 
 been, he could not have expiated his or our transgressions, 
 for he was himself a transgressor. But Jesus was killed 
 because His sufferings were God’s appointed and accepted 
 atonement for the transgressions of the world. So, though 
 Isaac was a lively type of Him, he was but a type. Jesus 
 is our Isaac—the true “ Laughter” of whosoever embraces 
 Him and clings to Him for salvation. 
 
 The Lord Himself draw you to Him! Will you not 
 visit Calvary at this season, and, in prayerful meditation, 
 revive its memorable scenes? Be a witness of them, be 
 a partaker in them, weep over them. Rest not until you 
 can say.at His pierced feet there, as you cannot say of 
 Isaac—“ He doved me and gave Himself for me!” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 IV. Joseph and his Brethren. Gen. xlv. 2. “And 
 he wept aloud; and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh 
 heard.” 
 
 THIs Scripture in the Old Testament reminds us of another 
 in the New Testament, so like it and yet very different. 
 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises 
 unto God : and the prisoners heard them.” Now we should 
 have imagined that Joseph would have been the person to 
 sing, Paul and Silas the persons to weep; for Joseph was 
 surrounded with every happiness, whilst Paul and Silas 
 were in a dungeon, in the dark, hungry and thirsty, their 
 feet fast in the stocks, their backs torn and bleeding. . 
 
 It is strange that though the two things—weeping and 
 
14 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 singing—seem so opposite to each other, they are often 
 hand in hand; tears never fall faster than when our hearts 
 are bursting with joy. 
 
 It is an awful thing to hear a man weep aloud—generally 
 he has good cause for it; well then, why did Joseph weep 
 aloud? He has sent all his servants out of the room; he 
 is alone with his brethren, and the first thing his servants 
 hear is somebody weeping aloud! It is Joseph’s voice. 
 Not another sound but his convulsive sobs. Can you 
 guess why he thus wept aloud! We shall give six reasons 
 for it. 
 
 I. His pent up feelings. 
 
 When we give way to our feelings directly they affect us 
 we can get through without much trouble; but when we 
 hide and restrain them for a while, they become turbulent ; 
 just as a brook which has been dammed up with sticks and 
 mud, will at last, with a rush and a roar, break the rampart 
 and sweep all before it. 
 
 Now Joseph had been “refraining himself” for months 
 and on several very trying occasions. Is it amy wonder 
 that when all this was at its height, it vented itself in 
 these boisterous emotions ? 
 
 II. There was the sight of Benjamin. 
 
 He was his own dear brother, “my mother’s son,” and 
 for twenty years they had been cruelly separated. Would 
 not the sight of Benjamin help to unnerve Joseph? 
 
 III. There were the thoughts of his father. 
 
 His brethren had been speaking much of Jacob—of the 
 “old man,” of his grey hairs, of how he pined for Joseph. 
 This had stirred Joseph to the depths. 
 
 IV. There was his harsh treatment of his brethren. 
 
 This had been most difficult and yet most necessary. 
 He had recognised them the instant they entered his 
 presence, and as quickly he had determined to punish them 
 for their own welfare. They had steeled themselves to his 
 “anguish when he had besought them ;”’ now he will steel 
 himself to theirs, till they are humbled and contrite. He put 
 them through a rigorous course of discipline. His lessons 
 for them had cut them like knives. He had charged them 
 with meaning treachery, theft, falsehood. They believed 
 him to be a tyrant, and yet his heart yearned towards 
 them. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 1§ 
 
 — 
 
 V. There was Judah’s earnest pleading. 
 
 Study that remonstrance for yourselves. There are not 
 more melting words in the Bible. They would have softened 
 a very stone, and Joseph, no marvel, wept aloud after that 
 intercession. 
 
 VI. There was what he was about to disclose to them. 
 
 Startling news has a fashion of choking our utterance 
 and paralyzing our tongues. Who has not wept aloud when 
 he was about to relate what would be sure to produce 
 weeping aloud? And here Joseph had it on his lips, “I 
 am Joseph! I am he whom ye sold into Egypt! God 
 hath made me lord and ruler throughout Egypt!” Is it 
 surprising that with this disclosure on his lips, Joseph wept 
 aloud ere he could stammer it forth? 
 
 But now arises the question, What do we weep aloud for ? 
 All of us have fountains of tears in us, and various things 
 will set them overflowing. It was a custom with the 
 ancients to have small bottles in which they caught their 
 tears at their friends’ sepulchres, and then these bottles 
 were deposited in the urns which contained their ashes. 
 David says, “ Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle.” What 
 quantities of bottles some people could fill with tears. We 
 will mention four things which we may properly weep 
 aloud for, which we cannot bewail too much. 
 
 1. Our sins. They offend and dishonour God. They 
 defile and wound and destroy our souls. They crucified 
 Jesus. We are indignant with the Jews and Romans for 
 piercing His precious flesh on Calvary; but our sins were 
 what compelled Him to be so tortured, they were the nails 
 which fastened Him there. Oh, weep over your sins, as 
 Peter did over his denial of Jesus. 
 
 2. Our unkindnesses. We do not intend always to injure 
 or distress ; but we say what does it, or we do what does 
 it, and then we treat it lightly, whilst the sensitive sufferer . 
 goes home refusing to be comforted. We wish children 
 would learn and keep in mind these lines, 
 
 “ Evil is wrought from want of thought 
 As well as from want of heart.” 
 
 There is nothing which will so haunt us, when we aire lying 
 at the gates of death, as such unkindnesses. Then we shall 
 bewail them ; but it is better to do so now, when we can 
 
16 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 pick out the thorn both from our own consciences and the 
 wronged one’s side. 
 
 3. Our ingratitudes. Who has nof these to mourn over? 
 Ingratitude to God our Creator and Preserver ; ingratitude 
 to Jesus, who redeemed us by His own shame and agony; 
 ingratitude to the Holy Spirit, who has sought our salva- 
 tion when we have disregarded it ; ingratitude to all those 
 who are over us in the Lord. A young man whom he 
 had rescued from drowning, was reproved by a Christian 
 gentleman for Sabbath desecration; he actually swore at 
 him, and bade him attend to his own business. But that 
 base ingratitude rose up before him wherever he went. It 
 wasted him ; and when sick on his couch, he beckoned his 
 sister to him, and said in broken accents, “I am sinking 
 fast, I have never forgiven myself. If I could have met 
 him, and acknowledged my wickedness it would have re- 
 lieved me. Pray for me.” 
 
 4. Our wasted opportunities. If a girl who had been 
 strolling in the parks or meadows before breakfast, came in 
 laden with bunches of primroses and violets, with cowslips 
 for bracelets, with daisies for brooches, you would not re- 
 prove her, or consider that she had forfeited a splendid 
 chance ; but now if every pebble in her ramble had been a 
 diamond or an amethyst, and yet she came in with nothing 
 but these fading blossoms, would you not exclaim: “Silly 
 girl! you have missed a fortune; you have despised trea- 
 sures.” And what shall we say of ourselves if we occupy 
 ourselves in worldly vanities when God has strewn our path 
 with what should enrich us for Heaven ? 
 
 We might have gathered wisdom, which, “is above riches ;” 
 we might have gained God’s favours; we might have 
 adorned ourselves with virtues and graces ; but we let the 
 whole train glide by us, without seizing on a single gem! 
 Weep for these lost opportunities. Pour your tears at 
 Jesus’ feet, and God will hear your tears and say, “I have 
 blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, for His sake who 
 once wept aloud at Gethsemane for thee.” j 
 
 . B. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 17 
 
 V. Go Forward. Exop. xiv. 15. “And the Lord said 
 unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the 
 children of Israel, that they go forward.” 
 
 “Go forward” This was the order which Moses was told 
 by God to give to the children of Israel, and it was very 
 needful that they should obey it. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 
 was pursuing and was not far behind them. They 
 began to wish they had never left Egypt at all. But 
 although they had lost confidence in God, Moses had not. 
 He was sure that deliverance would come though he did 
 not see how. He prayed to God, and the text gives God’s 
 answer. 
 
 But where could they go forward to? Before them, the 
 mountains were high and threatening; and if they sought 
 to climb them, they would become entangled, and separated 
 from one another, and so become an easy prey for their 
 pursuing foe. If they sought to go to the left hand, they 
 must go into the Red Sea; for the ridge of mountains ran 
 right into it, stretching into the water, and blocking up 
 their path, so that they could not go along the shore. And 
 if they went straight into the sea, it seemed as if they must 
 be drowned. It stretched across for miles. Men could 
 not wade in safety through it, much less could it be crossed 
 by all these families of Israel. Humanly speaking, the 
 way of the sea was the way of death. No doubt, there 
 was an inviting valley on the landward side of that ridge 
 of mountains; but that valley, though a pleasant and 
 a tempting way, was a dangerous route for them to take. 
 It would only lead them back, though by a winding 
 way, to the land of bondage which they had left. It was 
 in these circumstances that God told them to go forward, 
 right into the bed of the Red Sea. They believed God, 
 and they obeyed Him; and what was the result? A 
 strong wind was sent to drive the waters back, and the 
 people went through as if it had been dry land ; but when 
 the Egyptians, who were following them, were in the 
 middle of the sea, the wind ceased, the waters flowed on 
 as they had done before, and when the morning dawned, 
 Moses and the children of Israel were standing safe upon 
 the further shore, and “Pharaoh and his chariots and 
 horsemen were overthrown and covered by the waters-~ 
 
 eF 
 
18 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 there remained not so much as one of them. Thus the 
 Lord saved Israel that day, and Israel saw that great 
 work, and the people believed the Lord and His servant 
 Moses.” 
 
 Good men in former times wrote all these things for our 
 learning ; and this is a kind of parable from which we are 
 called to learn the truth we should believe concerning God, 
 and the duty God requires of man. Those who live only 
 according to their natural and corrupted feelings, without 
 the grace of God, are more truly slaves than these poor 
 Israelites were, for Satan is a harder taskmaster than 
 Pharaoh. Buta greater than Moses has come to deliver 
 us from Satan’s power ; Jesus is our great King, guiding 
 us from the enemy’s country to the heavenly Canaan. 
 
 I. We should believe in Christ, and also obey Him — 
 These children of Israel believed in Moses, and they 
 showed their faith by leaving their homes in Egypt, by 
 going forth towards the wilderness, and by entering the 
 channel of the Red Sea, though its waters seemed ready 
 to devour them. Let us believe in Jesus Christ as the Son 
 of God and the Saviour of sinners; and let us show our 
 faith by our obedience to His heavenly will. Let us leave 
 the land of sin, and follow Him through good and bad 
 report. 
 
 But remember that God will neither have our obedience 
 without faith, nor our faith without obedience. There are 
 some who think they do not need to believe in Christ. 
 They fancy they can themselves do all that is required ; 
 but, indeed, they cannot. They are every day sinning 
 against God ; and if they have no Saviour to believe in, 
 how are they to find mercy to pardon them for the past, 
 and grace to help them for the future? Without believing 
 in Christ, we have no true love to God in our hearts ; and 
 without love, we cannot give Him the obedience of children; 
 and it is this obedience of the heart which our Father 
 wishes, not the outward obedience only of works—it is the 
 obedience of children, and not of slaves. 
 
 There is a sense in which even good works will not 
 please our Father, It is when they have not right motives, 
 - and when we have not first given Him our hearts. Then 
 our best works are but whited sepulchres, which inwardly 
 are full of rottenness and dead men’s bones, Therefore 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 19 
 
 ——— 
 
 it is that, when the sinner asks, “What must I do to be 
 saved?” the answer of God is not, “Do good works,” or 
 even, “Do your duty ;” it is, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ,”—believe so as to love, and then from this fountain 
 of love, let the pure stream of obedience flow forth. But 
 though we must first believe, we must go on to obey. It 
 would not have done for the Israelites to say, “We believe 
 in God and in Moses, and we do not need to go forward, 
 we only need to stand still and see the salvation of the 
 Lord.” We are not meant to stand still, merely saying, 
 “we believe,” until we die. ‘“ Faith without works is dead.” 
 We have spiritual diseases, even the youngest of us. It is 
 not enough for us to say we believe in Jesus Christ, as the 
 Physician who can heal us; we need to prove our faith by 
 going to Him, telling Him how we feel, hearing what He 
 orders, and doing what He prescribes—otherwise our faith 
 will not save us from death. This is what you must do, if 
 you believe in Christ, and hearken to His teaching. Each 
 of you has a garden tokeep. You must not let it be overrun 
 with weeds and thorns and thistles. You must take the 
 good seeds which God provides for you, and sow them in 
 it. There are good plants that you can care for, and good 
 trees that you can prune and watch, that they may bring 
 forth good fruit. Your heart is like a castle, and you 
 can take care to whom you open the door. Keep it shut 
 against the enemies of God, and of Christ, and of your 
 own souls. . Open it to Christ, and to all His servants and 
 friends. And as you have power, so far, over your thoughts, 
 so have you power over the language of your lips, and over 
 the actions of your life. You must not think this is trying 
 to save yourselves. It is because you believe in Christ 
 and love Him that you know what to do, and wish to do 
 what pleases Him. You listen to His voice, and you are 
 able as well as wishful, in believing in Him, to do what is 
 good ; for, in His name, you pray to God for help to keep 
 your garden and your castle as you should, and you get 
 that help in answer to your prayers. At the same time, 
 you daily feel that you cannot keep them rightly, and 
 believing in Christ, you pray for the pardon of all your 
 sins, and hope to be saved from deserved punishment and 
 wrath, through Him. 
 
 II, We are taught here also that we should both warship 
 
20 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 God and work for Him. Moses cried untc the Lord, and 
 it was good for him to pray, but God told him that there 
 was duty as well as devotion to be attended to. He had 
 to stretch his rod over the Red Sea, and to lead the 
 Israelites across. He had work to do as well as worship 
 to engage in, and it must be so with us. 
 
 I have heard of a heathen king who was wounded in 
 battle, and who, in his dying hours, sending for his trusted 
 servant, said to him, “Go, tell the dead I come.” That 
 soldier-servant, without hesitating for a moment, drew his 
 sword and stabbed himself to the heart, that he might go 
 to the dead before his master, and prepare them for his 
 coming. Oh, that we had this spirit of service and of 
 sacrifice for the King of kings! In His dying hour, He 
 also said to us, “Go, tell the dead I come.” He asks us 
 to go to a world dead in trespasses and sins, to tell them 
 of His coming, and to preach to them glad tidings of great 
 joy. Alas! how many of us are content to worship Him, 
 and say, “O King, rule for ever!” without spending and 
 being spent, that His kingdom may come, that His will 
 may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. Remember 
 this, then: As we must not only believe in Christ, but also 
 obey Him; so must we work for God, as well as worship 
 Him in spirit and in truth. 
 
 III. This passage further teaches us, that while we enjoy 
 religious privileges, we should seek to make yearly and daily 
 progress by means of them. 
 
 Like the children of Israel, we have knowledge, and 
 benefits, and hopes, which heathens, who are still in 
 Egyptian darkness, do not possess. To whom much is 
 given, of them the more will be required. Having these 
 privileges, therefore, we should make corresponding pro- 
 gress. Knowing the way, and the truth, and the life, we 
 should go forward, year by year, and day by day. Our 
 hearts should become purer in its thoughts and desires. 
 Our language should become more truthful and loving, our 
 life humbler and holier, our work more directed for God’s 
 glory and man’s good. We should become liker to Christ, 
 and seek to learn more perfectly the language of heaven. 
 In one sense, the work of our salvation is already perfect. 
 Christ’s work for us is complete. In another, it is far from 
 heing perfected as yet, Christ’s work us is only begun. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 21 
 
 — if it is, indeed, begun at all,—and God loves to see His 
 believing children growing in likeness to that Elder Brother 
 who is the very image of Himself. 
 
 If you ask me why you should thus go on towards per- 
 fection, I answer, in the first place—J/¢ zs the will of God. 
 We are to be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is 
 perfect ; and we see, from all that goes on around us and 
 within us, that this perfection is not to be reached by a 
 single effort, or in a single day. The flowers do not get 
 all their beauty at once. Fruit trees show their blossoms 
 first, and then produce their fruits, which ripen slowly day 
 by day. It is good to see the blossoms and promises of 
 youth. It is better to see the fruits of faith. Let piety, 
 and love, and patience, and gentleness, and humility, and 
 truth, and all the graces of the Spirit, grow and ripen day 
 by day. Ministers, and teachers, and parents have been 
 sowing the good seed in your hearts, “that ye may be born 
 again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
 Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” We 
 expect to see the results of our sowing. 
 
 But not only should we go forward in obedience to 
 God’s will! We should also feel that it is needful for our 
 own sakes to obey our heavenly Father. 
 
 For first, it we refuse to go forward it is ruin to our 
 highest interests. If the Israelites had stood still, would 
 they have been safe? Pharaoh would have soon come up 
 to them, and made them his captives. We may lay a 
 flower on the stream, and leave it there untouched. But 
 it does not remain where it was; it is floated away. We 
 may leave a dead body undisturbed, but it becomes more 
 corrupted‘day by day, It does not remain as it was; it 
 becomes loathsome and foul. So we are sailing down the 
 stream of life, though we think we are not moving at all; 
 and our souls are becoming more corrupted year by year, 
 if we allow them to remain just as they are, without 
 spiritual life, and dead in trespasses and, sin., We cannot, 
 therefore, stand still. If we do not go forward, we must 
 be going backward. Even if we could always remain 
 where we are, sin prevents us from being safe. The fire is 
 raging, and is coming nearer and nearer, till it shall destroy 
 us. We are lying on the railway track, and the engine of 
 death is coming nearer every hour. We haye to go on to 
 
22 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Canaan, to be like Christ, and to learn the language of 
 heaven. We have to be God’s servants, and every day 
 to do our Master’s work and will. It is not enough, there- 
 fore, to say that, though we are not learning the heavenly 
 language now, we remember what little of it we have 
 learned ; that, though we are not serving our master now, 
 we are doing nothing against him; that, though we are 
 not going forward to Canaan now, we are not going back- 
 ward to Egypt. Not to go forward is to disobey God, and 
 the wages of our sin is death. 
 
 But, as it is death to disobey ; so, second, /¢ zs fe to go 
 forward. The Israelites went forward through the Red 
 Sea at God’s command, and it was well with them. On 
 the morrow, “they sounded the loud timbrel o’er Egypt's 
 dark sea,” proclaiming “ Jehovah has triumphed, his people 
 are free ;” and though, in their wilderness-wandering, they 
 had not the fleshpots of Egypt, they had special blessings 
 from the God of Israel. They had manna from heaven 
 to eat, and water from the rock to drink. They had the 
 consciousness of God’s presence, the knowledge of His 
 gracious character and of His holy law, the protection 
 of His mighty arm, and the enjoyment, at last, of His 
 heavenly Canaan. And so, it is our life to go forward 
 in the way of believing obedience and persistent service. 
 The pleasures of sin, indeed, we cannot have. The lusts of 
 the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we dare 
 not indulge. But the Christian’s is, after all, the better 
 part. “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having pro- 
 mise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 
 We have the light of Christian knowledge, the blessings of 
 religious faith, the hope of a happy immortality, and the 
 blessedness of holy love. Amid all the inconveniences of 
 our homeward journey, we can look up to our Father, and 
 go forward leaning on our Elder Brother’s arm. Not only 
 can we endure, without harm, the trials of life; we can 
 feel, in our happy. experience, that, because we love God, 
 through faith in Christ, all things work together for our 
 good. We are perfected by suffering; and the storms 
 which threaten to make shipwreck of our faith, only drive 
 us nearer to the haven of eternal rest, where we shall 
 be safe in the arms of Jesus, and perfect ag our Father in 
 heaven is perfect, ; 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ; 23 
 
 Before I conclude, let me give you this one counsel : Do 
 not, as pilgrims of immortality, think lightly of ttle steps. 
 _ These Israelites had to go all their long journey to Canaan 
 one step at a time, and so it is with you. And, alas! you 
 may go a far way from the path of duty, and the path of 
 safety, though you only take one step at a time. We see 
 a lovely flower, and it seems but a little step away from 
 the pathway, and we go to pluck it, and other flowers 
 tempt us, and we go away, step by step, after them also, 
 into the fields of sin; but the end of these things is death. 
 How often do we read of youths, inclined to goodness, who 
 thus take one step in evil after another, until they become 
 monsters of iniquity. I have read of the wicked and cruel 
 Emperor Nero, that in his youth he burst into tears when 
 asked to sign the order for a criminal to die. Yet it was 
 he who, going step by step into and through the fields of 
 sin, and vice, and crime, laughed like a fiend to see the 
 burning of the city, to which, it was said, he himself set 
 fire. He murdered, without feeling any stingings of con- 
 science, his nearest relatives ; he wrapped Christians round 
 with sheets of canvas steeped in oil and covered with pitch, 
 and then lighted them as torches for his garden-grounds 
 and palace-halls. And, as bad persons become wicked 
 step by step, so it needs many little steps to go forward to 
 the love and likeness of Christ. Even Paul had to forget 
 the things behind, and press on to the things before. The 
 youngest of us may make some progress in the Divine life, 
 and the oldest and the best of us have great progress still 
 to make. 
 
 It was told of a painter, that he had “no day without its 
 line.” Every day he added some touches to his picture. 
 So let it be with ours. Thus we shall make it liker and 
 liker to Christ, the perfect Image of the invisible God. 
 
 W. H. G. 
 
 VI. What is it to be to me? Josu. ili. 4. “ Ye 
 have not passed this way heretofore.” 
 
 LIFT up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the fair 
 stars that are shining there. Can you count them? Na 
 But God has counted them, and given all of them names 
 
24 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 of his own, far better than ours. How great must that God 
 be who counts the stars, and gives them all their names. 
 They are very beautiful, especially in the winter nights ; 
 and tell us what a great, wise, good, and holy God it was 
 who made them. “The heavens declare the glory of 
 God.” These stars toil not, and spin not; yet “ Solomon 
 in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” 
 
 A learned man, who thought himself very wise, once 
 wished to puzzle a poor man whom he met going to 
 church, 
 
 “Where are you going ?” he said. 
 
 “To church,” said the poor man. 
 
 “What are you going to do there?” 
 
 “To worship God.” 
 
 “Ts your God a great God, or a little God ?” 
 
 “ He is both.” ; 
 
 “ How can that be?” 
 
 “He is so great as to fill the heavens, and yet so little 
 that He can dwell in my heart.” 
 
 These heavens above us are not dumb. These stars of 
 God have a voice that never ceases to speak to us; and 
 often when I have looked up to them at the close of one 
 year or the beginning of another, they have seemed to 
 “utter speech” more loudly, and to sound through the 
 silent heavens of midnight the name of the great God who 
 made them, and kept them shining so brightly above this 
 little Earth of ours. Every ray that comes from them says, 
 not merely “God is great,” but “God is love ;” for He who 
 created them was none other than the Son of God, as it is 
 written, “ All things were made by Him, and without Him 
 was not any thing made that was made” (John i. 3); and 
 it was He who gave His life for us. 
 
 As Earth is only as a grain of sand in the midst of these 
 innumerable stars, so is that little bit of time that we call 
 life, in the midst of the awful Eternity which surrounds us. 
 What is an atom of dust in comparison of the great moun- 
 tains? and what is a year of our life here in comparison 
 with the ages that are to roll on for ever? 
 
 Yet that little life of ours—even the life of the poorest 
 and the youngest—is precious beyond all precious things, 
 and important beyond all the important things of the great- 
 est cities or kingdoms here; and that which makes it s¢ 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 25 
 
 precious and so important is this, that it must either be full 
 pf joy, or full of sorrow, for ever and for ever. 
 
 Another bit of this ttle but great life of our closes on 
 the thirty-first of December; and another bit of it opens 
 on the first of January. On that closing and that opening 
 scene, these clear stars are looking down; nay more, on 
 that closing and opening scene angels, brighter than these 
 stars, are looking down, though we see them not. For “he 
 gives His angels charge concerning us,” and they never for- 
 get their charge. They are watching this closing year, to 
 see what it has done for us ; and they are earnestly looking 
 into the coming year to see what it is to bring forth, They 
 do not weep; but if they could, oh, how they would weep 
 over the wasted days of the year that has passed away ! 
 Yet, though they do not weep, they can rejoice ; and, oh, 
 how they would rejoice even over one life made happy, one 
 soul saved ! 
 
 The gate of the new year has now opened upon us, 
 and we must all go in, whether we will or not. But the 
 question is, What is that going in to be to us? with whom 
 are we to goin? and whois to walk with us through its 
 months and days? 
 
 The new year will do nothing for us unless we enter on 
 it in the company of the Son of God. Without this, there 
 can be no “ 4appy new year.” At the very entrance of it, 
 Jesus meets us in His love, and, taking hold of our hand, 
 says to each of us, “Wilt thou go with me?” His com- 
 pany would make life happy; his love would sweeten every 
 change, and brighten every hour. 
 
 EB. 
 
 VII. Gideon. Junces vii. 5-7. “So he brought down the 
 people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every 
 one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, 
 him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth 
 down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that 
 lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred 
 men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their 
 knees to drink water, And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the 
 three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the 
 
26 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go 
 every man unto his place.” 
 
 THAT is a strange story. Gideon wasa great leader of the 
 army of Israel ; and the enemies of Israel had gathered to- 
 gether so that when Gideon and his army were on the 
 mountain tops the hosts of the enemy, we are told, were 
 like grasshoppers. Israel had to fight against this great 
 army, and she gathered together about thirty-two thousand 
 men for the purpose. Now I shall explain first, how 
 Gideon was chosen to be a general over this army, and 
 how this army of thirty-two thousand men was gradually 
 reduced to three hundred, and how these three hundred 
 went and fought and defeated the enemy. 
 
 First, the Israelites, who had been worshippers of the one 
 true God, as often happens, when they became happy and 
 prosperous, fell into evil ways, forsook God, and worshipped 
 idols. Now Gideon was living in the house of his parents, 
 and they worshipped idols, and Gideon and all his people 
 were brought up to worship false gods. We read that 
 Gideon built an altar to the Lord, and when he rose up 
 early in the morning the altar of Baal was cast down, be- 
 cause he feared God ; and he also feared his father’s house, 
 and he did it by night and not by day. Gideon, you see, 
 was afraid to do it in the day—he was not a very brave 
 man—still he was a true man. And thus God gave him 
 a very glorious part to play. He was given a curious 
 proof to show he was chosen to lead the army of 
 Israel. There was a fleece of wool put one night in the 
 open, and lo! in the morning this was covered with dew, 
 although all around was dry; and the next night it was 
 the opposite; the fleece was dry though all around was 
 wet. That tells us why God chose Gideon. He was unlike 
 the rest. Gideon was wet with the dew of God's blessing 
 when all around was dry. He was the exceptional man. 
 
 I have found this in the home. One boy or one girl 
 living a better life, striving quite timidly or frightened, 
 like Gideon, to live an unselfish, holy life, the dew of 
 God’s blessing resting upon them. So Gideon, because 
 he would serve the true God, and was unlike the rest, was 
 chosen. 
 
 How were these three hundred men chosen? First, twenty: 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 27 
 
 two thousand fell off because they were not brave enough 
 to go to the battle. All who fight must be determined to 
 fight till the last. The three hundred were chosen in the 
 way I have read. The army came to a stream of water. 
 “Here,” said God, “I will try who are the truemen. A 
 great Many were weary and hot, and they lay down. 
 There was the water running down, so cool and refreshing 
 after the weary march. There were three hundred men who 
 did not lie down, but said, “ We will have no rest until we 
 defeat the enemy.” And so they lapped the water like a 
 dog. They did not lie down; they simply caught a hand- 
 ful of water and went on to the battle. Now you see why 
 God chose these men; they had something to do in God’s 
 name and they would do that thing before anything else. 
 They were men of one great object for the sake of God. 
 You know, boys and girls, when you see people get on in 
 the world you often say, “I should like to be successful like 
 that one.” You do not see all the toil and devotion which 
 they have had todo. You see, afterwards people envied 
 these three hundred men. But Gideon took them with him 
 to the battle because they were men of a single eye, and 
 that eye was fixed upon duty. 
 
 What is the lesson of all this for us? It is, if we do not 
 do well, if we do not seek to do God’s will in, the small 
 things of life, God will not give us the opportunity to do 
 them in the great things. In your home, you say, “ When 
 I am grown up and married, and at the head of the house, 
 then I will try to set a good example.” You will do 
 very much when you are grown up what you do now. 
 The little boy or girl who is selfish and makes the home 
 unhappy will do the same when they are grown up. The 
 selfishness will not leave you, believe me, when you become 
 aman or woman. You think childhood is a gay and 
 happy time. It is, and God desires and loves you to be 
 happy. How many things indeed He has given you so 
 that you may be happy. But oh, God gives you child- 
 hood to prepare you for manhood and womanhood, and if 
 it is thrown away and wasted you will never recover it. 
 There is no limit to God’s mercy, but you can never make 
 up for a wasted, selfish, and sinful childhood. 
 
 Remember, that as the men were chosen for the battle, 
 so the leader was chosen himself, because he was a man 
 
28 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 of some courage in his own home. Home, I may tell 
 you, is the very hardest place in which to show ourselves 
 true and faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Pray God to 
 give you the courage to be true to Him, and then you 
 will be like Gideon, brave in the battle afterwards. Try 
 and live like these three hundred men. There will be all 
 kinds of streams of pleasure to lead you astray; but re- 
 member your purpose in life is to serve God for the sake 
 of Jesus Christ, to fight all the enemies of the soul, and to 
 permit none of these things to lead you away from God. 
 Touch them lightly as these men took the water in their 
 hands. Enjoy them as God has given them. Oh, never 
 lie down by any stream of human pleasure as if it were 
 your resting place. 
 
 Try to begin early to live as soldiers of the cross, try to 
 learn early to be brave as He who died on the cross for 
 you, try and learn in early life those lessons of obedience, 
 self-sacrifice, and love, which will make you good servants 
 and soldiers of Jesus Christ in the great battle of life here- 
 after. 
 
 Perhaps, God may not give you anything great in this 
 life; but you do not know what God has for you here- 
 after. Do not think when you pass away from this life 
 that you pass quite away from activity. God has work 
 enough for his saints to do. Oh, early childhood! I 
 beseech you, cherish it as the time during which God is 
 fitting you by all the experiences of life for the more 
 solemn duties which He will give you soon, and for the 
 more glorious duties of the life which is to come. 
 
 gi oy eS 
 
 VIII. A Ministering Child. 1: Sam. ii. 18. “ Samuel 
 ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen 
 ephod. ” 
 
 HERE you see the child Samuel busy in his early years with 
 that which was to be work of his life. The scene to which 
 you are taken is a place called Shiloh, situated among the 
 hills of Ephraim, not far from the spot where Jacob, when 
 flying from his father’s house, dreamed of the ladder whose 
 top reached to heaven, on which the angels of God ascended 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 29 
 
 and descended, and above which stood the Lord God of 
 Abraham and Isaac. There was the tent which served as 
 the house of God. There lived the old priest Eli, whose 
 two sons, by their bad conduct, made men abhor the offer- 
 ing of the Lord. There, too, was the Samuel of whom it 
 is said that “he ministered before the Lord, being a child, 
 girded with a linen ephod.” 
 
 Ln this verse, there 7s the picture of a life surrendered. 
 
 In this verse, therets a service which ts the sign of a life 
 curvendered. 
 
 In this verse, there ts a separation which is the sign of this 
 6ervzce. 
 
 I. There is first the picture of a life surrendered. 
 
 It was surrendered to God by a pious mother, given by 
 ner as a life for a life. She had asked a life from God ; 
 when the child was born, she called him “the asked one,” 
 Samuel. And because the Lord had given her her petition, 
 she lent or returned him to the Lord. In the hour of her 
 glaaness, when the sweet cares of motherhood were opening 
 upon ner, she solemnly dedicated her firstborn to the Father 
 ot tatuers, And so the child grew up, knowing that the 
 fixed pom of his existence was that, whether he lived or 
 whether he died, he was the Lord’s. I hope that your 
 parents, my dear young friends, have done as Hannah did ; 
 that froin the earliest moment of your history, they gave 
 you, in willing voasent, in earnest prayer, in true act of 
 devotion, to God your Father, Saviour, and Sanctifier. We, 
 who are Christian f.atiers and mothers, should settle it in 
 our hearts that our chilUren are to grow up in the know- 
 ledge that they are not their own, but God’s, 
 
 Happy, happy they whose first years have been infolded 
 in parental piety, who begin their course in this world with 
 a religious atmosphere about thum, taught, as the beginning 
 of all instruction and all discipline, that they are partakers 
 with those whose name they bear, of the one blessed nurture, 
 the nurture of the Lord, heirs with them of the one blessed 
 grace, the grace of the eternal life. Thenk God if you are 
 the children of many prayers. “Whocares Sor mother?” said 
 a boy one day to his sister, who told him tla: mother wished 
 him to leave his play on the sand and come Some. “ My 
 boy,” said a gentleman who overheard the ren.ark, “don’t 
 speak thus. I despised my mother, and took my awn way, 
 
30 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 and broke her heart. But, after her death, oh, what would 
 I have done to be able to call her back! I was miserable 
 until I remembered how she taught me to pray ; and I cast 
 myself on her God, and He has heard me. Oh, how much 
 I owe to my mother and her prayers!” The boy’s eye 
 kindled, and his voice trembled, as he said, “I will never 
 speak lightly of my mother again.” 
 
 It is a very touching picture this picture of Samuel and his 
 mother. Do you not think that she would have liked her 
 darling child beside her? that she must have shed some hot 
 tears when she left the little fellow behind her at Shiloh, and 
 went back to the distant home, and saw the little cot he was 
 never more to sleep in? But she will not recall her gift. 
 She lent him to the Lord. That life at Shiloh is his, not 
 hers. Ah! when fathers and mothers grudge their children 
 for some work of God, refuse to part with them that they 
 may go forth and be Christ’s ministers, let them reflect on 
 Hannah and Elkanah, without a murmur, nay, with holy 
 joy, yielding up their dearest to the ministry of God. Some 
 of you may have read the life of good Bishop Patteson. Do 
 you remember how beautifully the old judge, Patteson’s 
 father, folded his son in his arms, kissed him, and bade him 
 go and preach Christ’s gospel to the heathen, although he 
 felt sure that he would never see him again? 
 
 Well, the life surrendered by the mother is, by his own 
 free will, surrendered by the sonalso. There is no gap, it 
 would seem, between the parents and the self-dedication. 
 Sometimes, alas! there is. Sometimes mother’s and father’s 
 eyes are sealed in death before the one whom they gave 
 really gives himself to God. The child Samuel was 
 always holy to the Lord. No break in his history. The 
 Divine life filled him, and set its seal on him from early 
 youth. 
 
 And yet there was an awakening hour—an hour in which 
 he understood, as he had never done before, who was dealing 
 with him, and what his life-work was to be; an hour in 
 which there came a new earnestness into his character, a 
 new sense of his calling as the servant and prophet of God. 
 That hour is beautifully set before you in the third chapter. 
 It was the Lord’s call to Samuel, the revelation to him of 
 the Word, which he had not yet known. What I feel is 
 this: a child, in early childhood receives of the life that is 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 31 
 
 — 
 
 around, the life of the home, or the influences immediately 
 surrounding ; and when that life or these influences are good, 
 inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, there is often, although 
 not always, a gradual unfolding of the beauties of holiness. 
 But there is needed a moment in which the soul hears God 
 calling to itself, and in which His Word—the Word which 
 it may have been taught—is revealed, is lighted up with 
 meaning, comes home with force ; and the soul sees what 
 before it heard and partly felt, and consciously answers 
 God’s call. That is the great moment in the history. 
 
 Then the picture of our verse is truly fulfilled,—the life 
 is surrendered in sweet trust and willing obedience to the 
 Lord. 
 
 II. But now observe the sign of this surrendered life— 
 Service. “Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a 
 child.” He waited on the old priest, ready to go on his 
 errands and attend to him in any way he wished. Perhaps 
 he had some care of the lamps in the temple. 
 
 “ Being a child.” Sometimes God lays a heavy charge 
 on even children ; “being a child” is zo¢ something which 
 stands in the way of service. You must not say, “Oh, I am 
 only achild; I have nothing to do for God.” There is the 
 ministry of children as well as of grown-up people. In 
 God’s temple there is room for the young no less than for 
 the old. Both the little Samuel and the old priest Eli are 
 there. 
 
 The great word for all service is, “ Before the Lord.” 
 When we live our life every day before the Lord, we are 
 always ministering to him. The most ordinary thing done 
 in his sight is a sacred thing. If you have the feeling of 
 God in your heart, and the fear of God before your eyes, 
 you are ministering when you are at school repeating your 
 lessons, when you are at home learning them, when you are 
 in the house and by the way. That which consecrates all 
 is the direction of the mind. Look up; look to Jesus; 
 carry the thought of Him with you wherever you go; ask 
 His blessing on whatever you do; go only where and do 
 only what you can feel sure He is pleased with and will bless, 
 and you are dwelling in God’s temple as truly as Samuel 
 was, and ministering as truly as he did. Here is a grand 
 text,—“I will walk before the Lord in the land of the 
 living.” 
 
32 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 The secret of ministry is being ready, asking constantly 
 “What wilt Thou have me to do.” Samuel was taught the 
 servant's answer, “ Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.” That 
 is the way for us, to wait and be willing to be anything to 
 do anything that God commands us. 
 
 III. The dress he wears is a sign of his consecration. 
 
 Now the ephod has disappeared, belonging as it did to 
 the old priesthood of Israel, but the truth signified by it 
 will never disappear—that God’s servants must come out 
 and be separate from the world. / 
 IML 
 
 IX. Samuel. 1Sam.iii.7. “ Wow Samuel did not yet know 
 the Lord.” 
 
 WHEN you see a very old man, with white hair and 
 wrinkled face and tottering steps, it is difficult to conceive 
 that he was ever a child. And when you hear an old man 
 of God pray—perhaps it may be your grandfather in your 
 home, or the minister in the pulpit, or some one at the 
 prayer-meeting—it is difficult to think that there was ever 
 a time when he was not a true believer. I have no doubt 
 the children of Ramah, where Samuel used to live, felt the 
 same difficulty. When they saw the grand old man, who 
 had been the judge and the king-maker, moving about the 
 streets, they looked after him with awe; how could they 
 think he had ever been a boy like themselves? When 
 they heard him at a sacrifice praying in his solemn tones, 
 or in a meeting of the people, addressing them as a prophet 
 in the very words of God, how could they think of a time 
 when he did not know the Lord ? 
 
 Yet there was such a time. He was a child once just 
 like you, and he did not know the Lord. But one night 
 God came and revealed Himself to him; and from that 
 time forth Samuel did know the Lord. 
 
 Three things are noticeable about Samuel at the time 
 when he did not yet know the Lord :— 
 
 I. Though he did not know the Lord, he knew about Him. 
 
 He could not help learning a great deal about God, for 
 he had a good father ; and his mother was one of the best 
 women that have ever lived. She prayed a great deal for 
 him ; and when he was born, she composed a beautiful 
 
 a 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 33 
 
 hymn of thanks to God. They both wished their boy to 
 grow up and be a godly man; they prized that far above 
 wealth or station. They wished him to be a priest, and so 
 they brought him to old Eli, and left him with him. He 
 lived in the very house of God, and was a child-priest, 
 in his little white linen ephod lighting and trimming the 
 sacred lamps, and opening the doors of the tabernacle at 
 daybreak. When his mother came year by year to see 
 him, bringing his little coat, she must have spoken about 
 God to him. And old Eli, who loved him as if he had 
 been his own child, and made him his companion, must 
 often have spoken to him on the same subject. He 
 breathed an atmosphere full of religion; he saw the sacri- 
 fices offered and the incense rising every day; and the 
 friends about him were all talking to him of God. If there 
 was one child in all the country who knew far more about 
 God than all the rest, it must have been he. Still, “he 
 did not yet know the Lord.” 
 
 Now, your lot may be very like his. Your father and 
 mother are godly persons. You know they pray earnestly 
 for you every day. They wish above everything else that 
 you should turn out to be a genuine Christian. 
 
 Yet, for all that, perhaps you are like Samuel—you do 
 not yet know the Lord. 
 
 It is one thing to know about a person, and another to 
 know him. Some of you are learning languages, and may 
 be aware that in most languages these two kinds of know- 
 ledge are distinguished by two different words,—in Latin, 
 by cognoscere and novisse; in German, by wissen and 
 kennen ; in French, by savozy and connaitre. The one of 
 these words is used for knowing about a person or a thing, 
 the other for knowing a person. 
 
 But you are all aware of this difference. You know, for 
 instance, about the Queen. Perhaps you could tell her 
 age, and when she came to the throne, what have been the 
 chief events of her reign, and what are the names of her 
 children. You have heard that she is good and noble; 
 and you may admire and love her. But you only know 
 about her. Your knowledge of her is not in the least like 
 your knowledge of your own mother. It is a cold and 
 distant kind of knowledge compared with this You da 
 not only know about your mother; you know her; you 
 
34 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 are acquainted with her. It is because you live in the 
 same house with her; because she speaks to you every 
 day ; you speak to her and confide in her; she belongs to 
 you and you belong to her. It is a close and warm know- 
 edge. It sets your heart on fire. She clasps you close, 
 and says, This is my child. You clasp her close, and say, 
 This is my mother. 
 
 Now, that is just the difference between knowing about 
 God and knowing Him. Merely to know about Him is a 
 cold and far-off thing. You may know about Him, and 
 yet never think of Him except when you are being spoken 
 to about Him, and you may not love Him in the least. 
 But to know Him is to be acquainted with Him. It is to 
 realize Him with you always,—in the daylight and in the 
 dark ; when you are working and playing, and lying awake. 
 It is to speak to Him every day, and confide to Him all 
 your secrets, as you do to your mother. It is to love Him, 
 and to be able to say, He is my God—not only, He is 
 God; but, He is my God. 
 
 Now, my children, do you know the Lord, or do you 
 only know about Him? When Christ’s name is mentioned, 
 does it fall unheeded on your ears, or does it make you 
 thrill with joy and love? When you think of Him, is 
 it as one who lived long ago in Palestine, and is now 
 far away up in heaven; or is it as one you spoke to this 
 morning, and will speak to again to-night, and who is 
 near you every hour? Is He your companion and your 
 friend ? 
 
 II. As long as he did not know the Lord he was exposed 
 to great dangers. 
 
 Although he did not know the Lord, Samuel must have 
 been in every way a child to love. We naturally think of 
 him as a beautiful and noble-looking boy. Dressed in his 
 pure white ephod, and the coat adorned by the loving 
 fingers of his mother, he was fit to move about among the 
 sacred objects of the tabernacle. His heart was still tender, 
 and his mind unspotted by the world; he was sheltered in 
 the holy place from temptation, and had not seen the vile 
 deeds or heard the vile words of bad men. Still, any one, 
 however good and sheltered from temptation, who does 
 not know the Lord, is in danger. There is no safety for 
 us till Christ has become our Friend and Saviour. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 35 
 
 — 
 
 There was one danger close at hand. Eli's sons were 
 very wicked and tempted those unto sin who came to wor- 
 ship. What if Hophni and Phinehas had cast their eyes 
 on Samuel, and being angry to see his soul so white, had 
 laid their black polluted hands on it and made it like their 
 own? Sinners always wish to make others like them- 
 selves, and it is a delight to them to corrupt young souls. 
 
 Samuel was exposed to another danger. His heart 
 would soon have grown hard. It was soft when God came 
 to him; and that was why, as soon as Eli informed him 
 who was calling, he answered God so heartily. 
 
 If you do not know God, you must be becoming a 
 greater sinner every year. That hardens the heart against 
 God. It will make you afraid of coming near Him. 
 
 There was another danger for Samuel as long as he did 
 not know God. God intended him to become a very great 
 man and do a great work in the world. He had gifted 
 him with talents for this, but Samuel’s life would have been 
 lost if he had not learned to know the Lord. 
 
 Perhaps God intends some of you children to be great. 
 It may be; but this is certain, that God intends you all to 
 become true and noble men and women, to do good in 
 your day in whatever sphere you may be placed. 
 
 Now you cannot do so unless you know God. When 
 winter walks forth over the earth his breath brings death 
 everywhere and his icy hand is laid with a deadly chill on 
 the face of the old man in his bed and the baby in its 
 cradle. But when summer goes forth over the world, joy 
 and life spring all around her; where her footsteps fall 
 the flowers spring up, her fingers touch the trees and 
 they smile with blossom and verdure; all the birds on 
 the boughs sing their finest songs to welcome her, and the 
 sivers dance in the bright sunlight with gladness, Will 
 your march through life be like winter’s, chilling and kill- 
 ing ; or like summer's, blessing all about you and gladden- 
 ing their hearts? It depends on whether you know the 
 Lord or not. All the good Samuel did in the world dated 
 from the night when he learned to know Him. 
 
 Ill. Because he didnot know the Lord, he did not recognise 
 God calling him. 
 
 The boy-priest used to lie in the tabernacle all night. 
 He slept alone. Many a one would have been afraid to 
 
36 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 ee 
 
 sleep in that awful place, but Samuel slept soundly und 
 had no fear. 
 
 But one night, when the darkness lay upon ai) the earth 
 outside, when everything in the tabernacle was as still as 
 death, and Samuel lay in the deep sleep of boyhood, a 
 strange loud voice broke the silence in the chamber, and 
 he started up with his own name ringing in his ears— 
 Samuel, Samuel. It was God’s voice; but he did not 
 recognise it, because he did not yet know the Lord. 
 
 My children, you wil never hear a voice like that from 
 heaven breaking tle silence of the night in your bedroom. 
 But God calis tp you just as really as he did to Samuel, 
 though, like him, you may not have recognised the voice. 
 
 He calls to children in many ways. You notice some- 
 times the anxiety of your parents or your teachers about 
 your soul. They speak to you; you know they pray for 
 you; you have been surprised at the strange, yearning 
 look of love in your mother’s eyes sometimes, or the pain 
 shooting over her face when you committed a sin. Who 
 do you think put that love and anxiety there for you? It 
 was God. He put it there because He loves you far more 
 than either father or mother. It is Christ who pleads with 
 you through ‘human lips. But perhaps you never recog- 
 nised that ; you thought it was only man’s call. 
 
 Perhaps death has entered the families of some of you, 
 removing those you loved. That was God calling; but 
 perhaps you did not recognise Him. 
 
 God is calling you. Will you not do as Samuel did? 
 He went back alone to his room, With what awe he must 
 have entered it! How different it was from what it had 
 ever been before! It was full of God. Often he had 
 prayed there before, but God had been far away. Now He 
 . was beside him. Will you do that in your bedroom 
 to-night? You have prayed there often before, but God 
 was far away. But when it is dark, will you try to realize 
 that Christ is just beside you? Will you speak to Him 
 soft and low, telling Him you wish Him to be your Saviour, 
 to be your friend and companion for life; that you wish 
 Him to take your sins away, and to keep your soul safe till 
 it is in heaven with Himself? Samuel’s true life began 
 that night ; perhaps yours will begin to-night. : 
 
 os 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 3? 
 
 X. The Ark of God. 1 Sam.iv. 10, 11. “ And the Philis- 
 tines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man 
 into his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; for there 
 Sell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God 
 was taken.” 
 
 THIS, you see, is an account of a battle which took place 
 many many years ago between the armies of Israel and 
 the forces of the Philistines. And the Israelites were 
 beaten, and the ark of God was taken. This last fact is 
 mentioned as the most terrible thing that could have 
 occurred. You know that if the French or German or 
 English soldiers were beaten they would tell you with 
 shame that so many standards were taken. The ark was 
 to the Israelites what the cross of our Redeemer is to us. 
 It was a representation to them of their country and of 
 their religion; and so when the account is written here 
 of how the armies of the Israelites were beaten, it is all 
 summed up in these words—“ The ark of God was taken.” 
 
 I want first of all to speak to you about the ark itself. 
 You must not confuse it with the ark which Noah built ; 
 the ark here referred to was quite another thing. First, 
 let me tell you what it looked like. It was a box or chest 
 made of acacia wood—a wood we read of in the Bible—it 
 was the wood of the acacia tree. The box was some six 
 feet long and three feet wide. This ark or chest, for the 
 word in the Hebrew means chest, was covered with inlaid 
 gold, and on either end of it were the cherubim. These 
 were two figures, one at each end, each figure being called 
 a cherub. Cherubim, I may explain, is the plural of 
 cherub. These cherubim were also made of gold. There 
 were four rings, one at each corner of this chest or ark, and 
 through these were poles, and the men whose duty it was 
 to carry the ark carried it through these poles resting upon 
 their shoulders. These were the Levites, who were especi- 
 ally privileged in this respect. 
 
 This ark was placed withinthe Tabernacle. This simply 
 meant a tent. In those days, when people were moving 
 about like the Arabs, they did not live in houses but in 
 tents. Just as you see in the English army rows of tents 
 and a big tent in the centre with the colours of the army 
 standing in the corner ; so with the ark of God, 
 
38 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 This ark was covered with a curtain. So sacred was the 
 ark that though they took it out of the tent to carry before 
 them, it was covered with richly embroidered cloth so that 
 no one could see it. The ark was for the Israelites a type 
 and an emblem of God. We know that God is with us, 
 but we cannot see Him, and so the ark was to them a type 
 of God’s presence. In the ark were three things ; first, the 
 tables on which Moses wrote the law of God, to remind the 
 people always that they were to keep God’s laws ; secondly, 
 a little pot of manna with which they were fed in the wil- 
 derness ; thirdly, there was in it Aaron’s rod which budded. 
 You remember that when the people rebelled against 
 Aaron, his rod blossomed forth. This was to remind the 
 people that they were to obey God. 
 
 So you see that the ark was a sacred thing to the people 
 of Israel. When they came to the River of Jordan, and 
 they distrusted God, the ark went before them and the 
 waters were divided and they passed safely over, and when 
 they came to a fortified city the ark was carried around 
 that city, and after a while the walls of the city fell. Iv 
 was the ark that reminded them of God’s tenderness to 
 men, and so it was a terrible thing to them when it was 
 captured by the Philistines. 
 
 What was the object of the Philistines? They thought, 
 if we can get this ark we shall get the victory over our 
 enemies, as by its aid the Israelites have won their battles. 
 
 The lesson I wish to set before you is, that though 
 a thing may be very good for some it may be very 
 bad for others. This ark helped the Israelites and pre- 
 served them; but when the Philistines got it into their 
 possession it was no good to them, and in the end it got 
 to be such a curse to the Philistines that they very soon 
 got rid of it. This was because God had not given it to 
 them, for they had stolen it from the Israelites. It all 
 turns on that. Are you born rich, of high station, with 
 many friends; or are you born poor, of low estate, and 
 almost as it were alone in the world? It is good whether 
 you are rich or poor, because God has so ordered it. 
 Remember, the ark became a great curse to those who 
 had no right to it. Where God has placed you, whether 
 rich or poor, you are not to be discontented with it. I 
 hear some say: “If I was like so and so I could be of 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 39 
 
 such use!’”’ My little friend, if you do not use the place 
 and opportunity that God has given you, and do not use 
 the blessing which God has bestowed upon you, depend 
 upon it, it does not matter in what rank of life you are, 
 or how rich you are, you are not acting right. God gives 
 wealth and rank, which is much, and He gives poverty. 
 That and nothing else is good for you—what God has 
 given you. 
 
 A great and distinguished man gave a little girl a plant 
 which he had brought from a northern climate, and she 
 was told by this man—he was a great traveller—to put 
 this plant into a particular part of the garden, where the 
 cold wind beat upon it. And the little girl looked upon 
 this plant day after day, and it seemed to her that it was 
 withering up. She went into the conservatory in the heat 
 and there she saw the grand plants blossoming even in the 
 midst of the heat. She hesitated a moment, then went 
 and dug up her little plant and placed it in a pot in the 
 conservatory, and thought that in that warm place her 
 plant would become as glorious as any in that conserva- 
 tory. The next morning she went to look at it and it was 
 dead. The heat had killed it. What made the others 
 blossom, according to God’s law of nature, had killed the 
 plant which only blossomed in the cold. 
 
 And so it is, boys and girls, in your life. If God has 
 put you in a place, preserved by those who love you from 
 all cold blasts, be satisfied; but if He ever places you in 
 His mercy and love where the storm of trial and tempta- 
 tion will beat upon you, it is only there you will blossom. 
 The ark which blest the Israelites to whom God had given 
 it, cursed the Philistines who stole it. Pores: 
 
 XI. “Sendand fetch him.” 1 Sam. xvi. 11. ‘And 
 Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him.” 
 
 MANY years ago, there was a farmhouse in the quiet vil- 
 lage of Bethlehem, in which lived a man called Jesse. He 
 had a large family, and some of his sons were very fine- 
 looking men indeed. One day the quiet of the place was 
 disturbed by the report that the prophet Samuel had come. 
 
40 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 The people did not know what to make of his visit; but 
 though he did not tell them his errand, he managed to 
 make them feel easy. Very soon there was some stir in 
 the old farmhouse. ‘‘I want tosee yoursons.” ‘*Ve 
 well,” said Jesse; for fathers like to show their children, 
 and especially when they are as handsome as many of his 
 sons were. No one of them knew that Samuel was look- 
 ing for the future king; but when the tall and manly 
 figure of Eliab came, the prophet thought, ‘‘ This must be 
 the man. He is fit to be a successor to Saul.” But God 
 said, ‘‘ No.” The fact is, God does not go by outward 
 appearance. He looks lower down. There are some of 
 you very fine-looking fellows; but, ‘‘ Handsome ts that 
 handsome does.’’ You may be big and strong, and only 
 use your strength to bully other boys smaller than your- 
 self. You may bea very pretty girl, and yet your beauty 
 may only be a mask, and your real nature be ugliness 
 itself. Remember, ‘‘ Zhe Lord looketh on the heart.’ What 
 does He seeinyour heart ? Does He seea great tall body, 
 hiding a little cowardly heart? Does He see, behind a 
 lovely face, a vain and deceitful heart? If so, you will 
 not do. You are not yet fit to be one of God's kings 
 or queens. But you may have the heart changed. You 
 may have a beautiful mind given to you, and then it will 
 not matter so much whether you are good-looking or not. 
 
 When the old farmer had sent in his sons one after 
 another, and God had refused them all, Samuel asked, 
 ‘Are here all thy children?” He was told that he had 
 seen them all except the youngest, and that he was in the 
 fields taking careof thesheep. ‘‘ Ah well,” said he, ‘‘ let 
 me look at him. ‘Send and fetch him.’” Send for 
 whom? 
 
 I. A boy neglected. It is plain to be seen that David’s 
 brothers, if not his father, did not care for him as much 
 as he deserved. Perhaps, like another younger brother, 
 he had dreams of a bright future. A lad with such mettle 
 in him as David had, must have felt at times that he 
 would like to be a soldier, or in some place with more 
 life and stir than Bethlehem. But his brothers seem to 
 have sneered at him; and when Jesse sent for his sons, 
 instead of Eliab saying to one of the servants, ‘‘ Here, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 41 
 
 take care of these sheep till David comes back,” he left 
 the boy in the field, just as he did afterwards when he 
 went to war. Though his big body had a heart too small 
 to go and fight the giant, he could sneer at David when 
 he felt that Ze should like to have a try at ridding his 
 country of such a plague. 
 
 Well, and supposing there is some little fellow who is 
 quite overshadowed by his big brothers, or some little girl 
 who is quite forgotten when her elder sisters are playing 
 on the piano before the visitors, don’t let it spoil you, and 
 make you sulky. David did not grow peevish because no 
 one noticed him. He looked cheerful when he came before 
 Samuel. So you must remember that neglect will not 
 make you any worse, for sooner or later your turn will 
 come. When acollection is made in a church, supposing 
 a gentleman should put half a sovereign in the box, and 
 then threepenny pieces, and sixpences, and pennies are put 
 on the top of it, and hide it, so that no one can see it; by- 
 and-by the box will be taken into the vestry, and over- 
 turned upon the table; and some one is sure to see it and 
 say, “Here’s a bit of gold,” and he will put it by itself. 
 And if you are gold, it does not matter how the big penny 
 pieces try to hide you; sooner or later you will be seen, 
 and made a great deal of. 
 
 “Send and fetch him.” Whom? 
 
 Il. A boy minding his work. Yes, he was a picture of 
 Jesus, the Good Shepherd. He stuck to his work, and it 
 was from his lowly duty he was sent for to be anointed 
 King of Israel. It was dangerous work. The other day 
 I saw a beautiful picture of the shepherd lad standing 
 on a dead lion. There was the king of beasts dead on 
 the plain, and a pool of blood under him; and the brave 
 lad was standing on him, as he afterwards stood on 
 Goliath. And all round him the sheep and goats were 
 bleating, and saying in their language, “Oh what a brave 
 shepherd we have!” If David had run away from 
 either the lion or the bear, and left the sheep to be killed 
 by the wild beasts, God would not have chosen him to be 
 a king. Boys! stick to your work! Never mind how 
 difficult it is. Conquering here, you shall fit yourself 
 for other duties. Be brave, and never flinch from your 
 tasks. 
 
42 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 It was, when not dangerous, very tedious work. For a 
 lad so active as David was, the work would be very dull; 
 but it was his duty, so he kept at it. He made the time 
 pass quickly by improving himself in the knowledge of 
 music, and became a very skilful player on the harp. 
 Some of you would have gone to sleep; but David wanted 
 to make a man of himself, and so kept practising on the 
 harp, until it was difficult to say whether he was a better 
 shepherd or musician. After a while, King Saul became 
 very unhappy and low-spirited, and some of his friends 
 advised him to have some one who could cheer him by 
 music; and then David was called for. One of the king’s 
 nobles said, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, 
 that is cunning in playing.” So one day the old farmer 
 found some men who had come with a message from the 
 palace: “The king said, ‘ Sexd me David thy son, which ts 
 with the sheep.” You see they did not think David not 
 fit to come to the palace because he had been taking care 
 of the sheep. It was well known how he had spent his 
 time. He who can kill lions or bears when they come, 
 and fill up his time playing on a harp in the style David 
 did, need not fear that he will suffer in the estimation of 
 the great because he has to mind sheep; for it is true now, 
 as it was in the time of David’s wise son, King Solomon— 
 “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall 
 stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean 
 men.” 
 
 “Send and fetch him.” Whom ? 
 
 III. A boy who feared God. It is very plain to be seen 
 that David was a good lad. It is most likely that while 
 he was keeping sheep he made some of the beautiful 
 psalms, such as the eighth and nineteenth. It will be 
 worth your while to go through the psalms and pick out 
 those you think likely to have been made while he was a 
 shepherd lad. 
 
 Perhaps some lad here is saying, “Ah! I am sorry that 
 I am not brave. I am sure that I should have run away 
 from the lion, and let him eat the kid, and its mother as 
 well.” You don’t know that. If you had been called to it, 
 maybe you would have had courage to fight as David did. 
 In rambling about the world as I have done, by sea and 
 land, I have found that some of the timid and nervous 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 43 
 
 people have, in danger, done better than some of t*2 loud 
 blustering ones. 
 
 Is there some one who would like to have the chance 
 to do something brave? Well, I want you to turn back 
 a lion! “What’s that?” you say; “turn back a lion!” 
 Yes. The next time you are tempted to sin—to tell a lie, 
 or to disobey your mother—you may turn back a lion, 
 for that is what Satan is like—“ As a roaring lon, walketh 
 about, seeking whom he may devour.” “ Resist the devil, and 
 he will fiee.” 
 
 Oh! my young friends, be good. Love that Saviour 
 who died in your place. Do as God tells you to do; and 
 then, though you may have to live in Bethlehem all your 
 life, and never be known outside of your own quiet street, 
 yet God will know all about you, and the day of your 
 coronation will come. Then shall the King greatly desire 
 you, and shall say to his angels,— 
 
 “ Send and fetch him.” 
 
 Let us then do our duty, and thus prepare for future 
 honours. 
 g te os 
 
 XII. Parting Alike. 1 Sam. xxx 24. “As his part is 
 that goeth down to battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth 
 by the stuff: they shall part alike.” 
 
 THIS is a law that was made by David, and was kept till 
 the time this book was written, and it was ordained that 
 the one that went to the battle and the one who tarried 
 by the stuff were to part alike. What does “part alike” 
 mean? It means there was to be a division of what 
 was captured in war, parted alike—divided equally. Now 
 the way it came about was this; David was going down 
 to a battle, and he took 600 men with him, and 200 were 
 left behind. They occupied themselves in guarding the 
 stuff, that is the household things that were left behind. 
 It would be hard if those who went forward and defeated 
 the enemy and took an immense deal of spoil had come 
 back, and those who had been left behind to guard the 
 camp—though equally ready to go forward—had no share 
 
64 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 in the spoil; indeed on one occasion, when no one had 
 been left behind to guard the camp, the enemy had 
 come in and captured the camp, so that the men who were 
 actually victors in one part of the battle had lost their 
 stuff or household things ; and so it was found necessary 
 for some to guard the camp while the others went into 
 battle. It was therefore laid down by David that the 
 share was to be equal between all the men. That is, if a 
 man was doing his duty by guarding the camp, he was 
 to share in the spoils the same as the man who had done 
 its duty by going into action. 
 
 That is what David, a man after God’s own heart, 
 settled, and that is what God settles for us now. 
 
 All who do their duty will have an equal reward from 
 the Captain of our Salvation. Now, boys and girls, that is 
 a lesson to you all. The hundreds of you who come here 
 to listen to me cannot all become famous in this world ; 
 but do not imagine that they only who become famous will 
 share the spoil. The share will be equal to all if you 
 do your duty to God and to man. Though the leader in 
 the great battle gets the glory and honour, he could not 
 win the engagement without the help of all those who 
 take part in the engagement. A great poet—Tennyson— 
 tells of the captain of a ship who had been very cruel 
 to his men, a very unusual thing for the captain of an 
 English ship to be. And the men dare not rise against 
 him in mutiny. They simply waited their time. These 
 men resolved when the day of danger came that they 
 would do nothing for the captain. So one day, when the 
 ships of the enemy came into sight, the men went to their 
 guns but they resolved not to fight. The captain called 
 to the men, but they were silent. The captain was a brave 
 man, but what could he do? Shot after shot of the enemey 
 poured in, and the ship went down. The men sold their 
 captain into shame. They had forgotten the great lesson 
 which we all have to learn. 
 
 The question is not ‘‘ What have I to do?” but “How 
 am I doing it?” It will be nothing but shame if you are 
 not doing your duty well. You may be in the humblest 
 condition of life, but if you do your duty well it will be 
 noble in the sight of God. There was living a short time 
 back, near Charing Cross, a harness-maker. He was in a 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 45 
 
 very humble position in life. He had three sons—one son 
 became a Lord Chief Baron, a second became a Field 
 Marshal in the army, and the third became the Lord Chief 
 Justice of England. One ci them died only the other 
 day. When a man—not unkiidly so—reminded the Field 
 Marshal that his father had been a saddle-maker near 
 Charing Cross, the old soldier replied: “I know he did 
 his work well; I should be ashamed if any one said he did 
 his work badly.” Noble words! It is not what you do, if 
 it be only to tarry by the stuff; if you do your duty you 
 will all share alike in God’s sight. 
 
 I have a word to say to you particularly, little girls. 
 Your true position in life is to tarry by the stuff, to keep 
 to the home. You have a noble duty to do there. The 
 father or mother goes out into the battle of life and 
 becomes a great soldier or preacher of the gospel. You 
 have your own duty to do—to make home the best place 
 where your brothers or, in time, your husbands can be; 
 and your portion in the great share of the spoil of the 
 world will be share and share alike. To you, girls, who 
 tarry by the home, comes an equal share. Some of the 
 greatest in heaven are those women who ministered to 
 the Son of man. 
 
 The best place to learn this is in the life of Jesus 
 Christ. Three and a half years of toil and shame, and then 
 the Cross; but, oh, after that the glory of the Eternal 
 Son of God. Remember His life, His death; think ever 
 of His cross and passion, of His eternal glory ; and pray 
 and strive night after night, day after day, when you rise 
 in the morning and when you lie down at rest, pray that 
 you may do nobly the duty God has given to you to do, 
 Do it in humble trust, not in your own strength, but in the 
 strength of Jesus Christ, who loved you and gave Him- 
 self for you. 
 
 (sii rs) 
 
 XIII. Solomon’s Prayer. 1 Kuincs iii. 7. “Zam but 
 @ litile child.” 
 
 WHO is the little child that says this? It is curious, but 
 it was not a little child at all. Trace the words up, and 
 you find that they came forth from the lips of a full-grown 
 
46 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 man. He spoke them in a dream by night. Follow him 
 next morning, and you will see that he is a king. He 
 wears a crown. Yet here he says “I am but a little 
 child.” What made him say it then ? He had ascended 
 the throne of his father David, who had trained him in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So he was 
 humble, and thoughtful, and distrustful of himself. “I am 
 but a little child.” But his people—Judah and Israel— 
 were many. “They cannot be numbered,” he says; and 
 they are God’s chosen people, and a great people. They 
 required therefore a monarch who should be worthy of 
 such a people. God knew this too, and He intended to 
 furnish Solomon with those very things. 
 
 But He will try him first, and before giving them, will 
 have him ask for them. Accordingly in a vision, as 
 Solomon slept, God said to him, “ Ask what I shall give 
 thee.” Now the uppermost thing in the new king’s mind 
 was a desire for wisdom. So after a short and beautiful 
 preface about his beloved father and God’s faithfulness 
 both to him and himself, he lets the secret of his soul 
 spread its wings and fly heavenward in the cry “I am but 
 a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. Give 
 therefore Thy servant an understanding heart, that I may 
 discern between good and bad.” 
 
 That cry went up (far above the soaring, singing lark) 
 to the ear of God. The answer descended, silently as the 
 rain on a blossom, straight as the dove on Jesus, abundantly 
 as the dew on Gideon's fleece. Solomon from that hour 
 was the wisest man there ever was, or will be. “ Neither 
 after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 
 
 You would be delighted to have such a vision as that, 
 and to have it prove true. But is it not so that God bids 
 us all ask what He shall give to us? “Ask and it shall be 
 given you.” Does He not say to us, “If any lack wisdom 
 let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.” 
 
 I. Remember though you are “but a little child,” God 
 notices you. 
 
 If He notices those who feel themselves to be but little 
 children, He surely notices those who are little children. 
 We see this notice of them very frequently in the Bible, 
 such as Moses, Samuel, the captive Hebrew maid, the mere 
 babes blessed by Jesus. God notices you. He marks all 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 47 
 
 your ways and doings, at home, in the street, at school. 
 The bedridden lad in the garret who said to the city 
 missionary, “I’m left alone from breakfast to supper, but 
 mother locks Jesus in with me when she takes the key, and 
 I have such sweet times in talking to Him and repeating 
 my hymns and texts to Him,” that little lad realized 
 that God noticed him. 
 
 II. We are taught that though you are “but a little 
 child,” He would have you pray. He said to Solomon, 
 “ Ask what I shall give thee,” that is, pray to Me. “They 
 that seek Me early shall find Me.” A little child once 
 wrote a letter to Jesus, directed it to Him and dropped 
 it into the post-office. He had seen his father writing 
 letters to his friends and getting replies from them in 
 the same way, so he determined to use the same plan 
 in addressing Jesus. That was very simple faith in 
 Christ's willingness to be addressed by a little child, and 
 - doubtless it was lovely in His sight. But prayer is the 
 right and certain plan of addressing Him. You may be 
 as confident that He is listening, as if you were kneeling 
 at His feet, or exchanging telegraphic messages with 
 Him. 
 
 III. We are taught that you should ask God for wisdom 
 You may think that it is too glorious a thing to expect 
 God offers it freely to you little children. This is Solomon’s 
 testimony about it, “ Her ways are ways of pleasantness. 
 and all her paths are peace.” Whatever you want, wisdom 
 will supply it ; it will help you to fight against temptation. 
 to subdue a naughty temper, to bear a reproach, to be 
 cheerful under trouble. In short, when God gives an 
 “ understanding heart”’ He gives a new heart. When He 
 gives us wisdom, He gives us His Holy Spirit, and that 
 is better than the fairest face, the costliest dress, the 
 most splendid fortune. 
 
 IV. We are taught here that if you ask for wisdom, 
 God will give it you, and other things too. God does 
 give wisdom to little children who ask for it, and He 
 has given all little children the capacity for it ; and Henow 
 wants to put the pearl into the casket, when they shall 
 open it to Him and ask Him to put it in. Then He will 
 be able to add other things to it without doing you harm. 
 Where the “understanding heart” is viewed and treated 
 
48 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 as the first thing, He can give besides wealth, or friends, or 
 pleasures, or beauty, or all of them together. At any rate 
 that is the gate out of which they issue as blessings, and 
 if we enter at it, we may look for them, or else settle 
 it with ourselves that God withholds them because they 
 would not be blessings to us. 
 
 Will you let Solomon’s prayer for an “understanding 
 heart” be yours? Will you let it be your prayer all 
 through, till your rosy cheeks are exchanged for grey hairs, 
 nay, till the last milestone is passed and the next is your 
 own tombstone. 
 
 If so, we can promise you a childhood of joy, a youth 
 of success, a manhood of influence, an old age of tran- 
 quillity. 
 
 “Get wisdom,” and you have got all this, and eternal 
 “riches and honours” besides. 
 
 J. B 
 
 XIV. The Little Maid. 2 Kings v. 1-27. 
 
 IN former days, when one king ruled in Scotland and 
 another in England, the people near the borders very 
 often fought against each other, even when the two 
 countries were at peace. At one time the English would 
 cross the borders and carry away from Scotland all they 
 could get, and at another time the Scotch would march 
 into England and burn English castles, and drive off 
 English cattle, and bring back English prisoners. 
 Something of the same kind went on between the 
 Israelites and the Syrians, about 2,700 years ago, Once 
 when the Syrians marched into the kingdom of Israel, 
 they carried off among their captives a young girl. The 
 Syrian general saw her, and was so much pleased with 
 her appearance, that he took her home to be a little servant 
 to his wife. Naaman was the name of this general. The 
 Hebrew slave girl soon noticed that there was something 
 wrong with her master. He was captain of the host, a 
 great man with the king, and held in honour by all the 
 people as a mighty man of valour; dut he was a leper. 
 Everybody young and old has some du¢z. We would be 
 happy, du¢ for this. We have some things, du¢ we have 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 49 
 
 not that. Naaman’s du¢ was a very serious one. His 
 seems to have been a case of white leprosy. Little white 
 spots appeared on the face and then covered the whole 
 body, till the leper became as white as snow. These spots 
 grew to the size of a pea or a bean. The nails of the 
 hand and feet became scaly. The teeth began to drop 
 out, and the fingers and toes to drop off. The whole body 
 became a mass of disease, and the poor victim was often 
 thankful when death came to end his misery. The general 
 was not very bad yet. But if he had been in Israel, even 
 as he was, he would not have been allowed to command 
 the army. He would have had to live by himself. Even 
 in Syria he knew he would soon have to retire into private 
 life. The little maid saw and heard something of all this. 
 She knew enough to make her very sorry for her master. 
 So one day she said to her mistress, “I wish very much the 
 general could go to the Hebrew prophet in Samaria, for I 
 am sure He could cure him of his leprosy.” She was @ very 
 good girl, and she aid a great deal of good. 
 
 See what a very good girl she was. Hers was a very 
 hard case. The soldiers had carried her away captive, and 
 Naaman was their general. Manya one in her place would 
 have said, “I hate these Syrian soldiers and everybody 
 connected with them. My master is their captain, and has 
 been the means of killing and making slaves of many of 
 my people. Iam very glad to see him suffering so much, 
 and to see his wife so sorry. I have my revenge.” Even 
 without going so far, she might have fretted and brooded 
 over the past, and taken no interest in her master or mis- 
 tress. But she did not cry and sulk. She was like a little 
 flower plucked from a far-off garden, and taken away to 
 be all alone in a strange place. But, like that flower, she 
 carried a sweet fragrance along with her, and filled her 
 new home with a delightful odour. She was not revenge- 
 ful, but forgiving ; she was not selfish, but thoughtful of 
 others, and thankful for their kindness, She felt for 
 others, and tried to make them happy and to do them 
 
 ood. i 
 ‘i But besides this, the little maiden showed she had not 
 forgotten the religious lessons of her childhood. She 
 had no mother now to tell her about the God of Israel. 
 The people she lived among were worshippers of idols. 
 
50 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 But she remembered what her mother had told her of the 
 True God and of the great works He enabled His servants 
 todo. She had heard of the prophet of the Lord, Elisha, 
 who lived in Samaria, and she believed that he could heal 
 the sick and do great wonders by the power of God. And 
 so she said to her mistress, “I wish my master were with 
 the prophet that is in Samaria, for he could recover him 
 of his leprosy.” Some of you remember about the great 
 woman of Shunem. She made ready a little room for 
 Elisha, and called it “The prophet’s chamber,” so that 
 whenever he passed that way he came and dwelt in it. 
 She was married and, like everybody else, she had a but. 
 She had no family. Afterwards, however, she had a child, 
 and he became a fine boy. One morning he was on the 
 harvest-field with his father looking at the reapers who 
 were busy cutting down the grain. All at once he cried, 
 “My head, my head.” His father told one of the lads to 
 carry him to his mother, and he sat on his mother’s knees 
 tlll noon, and died. Elisha raised this little boy to life 
 again, and said to his mother, “Take up thy son,” which 
 she did very gladly and thankfully, you may be sure. 
 Now the little maid remembered this, and she believed 
 that the man who could do that, could cure her master’s 
 leprosy. 
 
 She told her mistress about Elisha, and soon the king 
 of Syria heard what she had said. And the king of 
 Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel. And Elisha 
 heard of it, and said, “Let Naaman come to me, and he 
 shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Then 
 Naaman went to Samaria, with a grand chariot and fine 
 horses, and a number of servants. I cannot tell you all 
 that happened, but Naaman was cured by going, as the 
 little maid desired. The result was that the God of Israel 
 was made known to the heathen as the Great God to 
 whom all should look for help. Naaman himself said, 
 “ Now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in 
 Israel.” 
 
 Now is this not a good example for boys and girls, 
 and for men and women too? We should all be for- 
 giving and thoughtful of others. We should try to make 
 one another good and happy, and not bad and miserable. 
 And whatever you young people forget when you go 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 51 
 
 ——. 
 
 from home, you should remember what your fathers and 
 mothers, and ministers and Sabbath-school teachers have 
 told ycu about your heavenly Father and Jesus Christ 
 His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, and the way 
 of salvation from sin and misery. You see, too, how 
 much one person can do. This little maid sent a great 
 man to God’s servant, and his leprosy departed. And 
 boys and girls still can be the means of sending persons— 
 who may be very clever and rich and great, but who have 
 a sad spiritual leprosy—to the Son of God, who is a Great 
 Physician, able to save to the uttermost all that come to 
 Him. And remember a boy or girl may do a great deal 
 of evil as well as a great deal of good. Let all of my 
 young friends be like the little maid and try to do good, 
 and every little will help to make the world good and 
 
 happy. 
 
 “ Little drops of water, little grains of sand, 
 Make the mighty ocean, and the solid land ; 
 Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, 
 Make our earth an Eden, like the heaven above.” 
 
 W. H. G. 
 
 XV. Where to Carry our Sins. Ps. xxxii. 7. 
 “ Thou art my hiding-place.” 
 
 You often see your minister look very severe when he 
 speaks about sin. Your Sunday-school teacher tells you 
 about fighting a giant, though it turns out that she means © 
 no real giant, but some habit of wrong-doing. And David, 
 in his thirty-second Psalm, calls what kind of a man very 
 happy or blessed? The rich man? The educated man? 
 The famous man? No; neither of these; but the man 
 who has somehow got rid of his sins. 
 
 Now, you may not know it, but you are all on the 
 side of preacher, teacher, and Psalmist. Your fist was 
 doubled up last week as decidedly as if you really had a 
 giant on hand to fight, and your face was as earnest as 
 David’s must have been when he began this song of his. 
 A boy in school had told a falsehood about you. Tell 
 me, what did your clenched hand and your scowl mean? 
 They meant that just then you keenly felt hatred for one 
 
52 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 
 
 sort of sin. We always despise sin in others when that sin 
 makes us suffer or lose anything. But very often we see 
 that we ourselves have done before now the very things 
 we loathe so in others. Our eyes seek the ground when 
 we straightway remember some falsehood of our own, 
 some bad thought we once harboured ourselves. We 
 become very wretched indeed. Paul tells us, in Romans 
 that we feel then as if our souls lived inside a dead body, 
 and that we could cry out: “Oh! wretched man that I 
 am !” 
 
 I. The remembrance of our sins is grievous tous. They 
 are like a corpse in our charge: where shall we bury it 
 from sight? Poor David shows us in this Psalm that 
 he imagined he could bury them in his own bosom. “I 
 kept silence,” he says. So you have more than once made 
 up your mind, “T’ll say nothing to anybody about my sins, 
 and I'll stop thinking about them myself.’ But, with 
 Israel’s king, you have found that silence is not peace. 
 “My bones,” he writes, “waxed old,” or, literally, rotted. 
 The body of death is not yet buried. His friends may 
 think well enough of him, but God reads his heart with an 
 eye as piercing as the Palestine sun, which, you know, 
 seeks every blade of grass and withers it. “Day and 
 night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is 
 turned into the drought of summer.” It is certain, you 
 see, that we cannot bury our sins where they will cease 
 to trouble us. 
 
 II. The covering of sin. Was not the covering of his 
 ‘sins the very thing that David was rejoicing about as he 
 began his Psalm with “ Blessed is he whose sin is covered ” ? 
 Yes ; but the next verse tells us who it is that covers sin: 
 “Blessed is he to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” 
 It is very joyful news to us that the Lord who buried 
 Moses’s dead body where no one could find it, has under- 
 taken to bury the body of our sins. When the sun comes 
 out after a gloomy rain, on some of these May afternoons, 
 remember that He said: “I have blotted out, as a thick 
 cloud, thy transgressions.” 
 
 III. How the Lord hides sin. David makes haste to 
 tell us how the Lord hides our sins: “I said, I will con- 
 fess my transgressions unto the Lord.” That means that 
 we may make our Heavenly Father our Confidant, and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 53 
 
 with sorrow tell Him the very worst secrets of our hearts. 
 No mother was ever so gentle and gracious with us as He 
 is. We have no sooner cried in bitterness of soul, “God 
 be merciful to me a sinner,” than He bids us “Go in 
 peace.” This is just what the beloved disciple teaches us. 
 “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and 
 the truth is not in us; if we confess our sins, He is faithful 
 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness.” 
 
 A year ago a friend of mine was trying to cross the 
 Simplon Pass into Switzerland. While he was in one of 
 the tunnels near the summit an awful avalanche of snow 
 thundered down the mountain side. It did not harm him, 
 though, because he was hid away inside the rocky tunnel. 
 There are worse things than avalanches hanging above the 
 path each of you must travel before you die: grief, pain, 
 temptation. Where will you hide in the day of trouble ? 
 The ostrich, when chased, buries its eyes in the sand, and 
 thinks itself safe from the hunter because it no longer sees 
 him. Foolish bird! But too many a boy and girl tries to 
 forget sin by turning the mind away from it. Why not 
 learn a lesson from your baby brother? When he hears 
 a strange knock at the door he runs and buries his face in 
 the skirts of his mother, and is safe. Why not, when you 
 feel troubled about your sin, go away to Jesus, with the 
 words of David here: “Thou art my hiding-place ?” 
 
 M. D. B. 
 
 XVI. The fear of the Lord. Ps. xxxiv. 11. “Come, 
 ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the 
 Lord.” 
 
 I WANT to talk to you for a few minutes about why the 
 Bible was written. 
 
 Some of you when going to school in these days carry 
 a parcel or a bag of books, and if I met you on the way 
 and said to you: “ What’s this book for?” I suppose you 
 would be able to answer, “Oh! that is a geography.” 
 “And what is this book written for?” “That is a 
 grammar.” “And what is the use of that one?” 
 “Well, that is an arithmetic.” And so I could go on, 
 
54 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 through all your bag of books, and you would be able 
 to tell me generally why the books were written. One 
 was written to teach arithmetic, another history, and 
 so on. 
 
 Now, I wonder if I asked you for what purpose the 
 Bible was written, what sort of answer I should get. I will 
 tell you what David thought about it. There is a beautiful 
 verse in one of his Psalms which I think specially belongs 
 to children, and it says something about the purpose for 
 which the Bible was written. 
 
 “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach 
 you”—who can finish the verse? “The fear of the 
 Lord.” 
 
 I think, then, that the Bible was written in order to 
 teach us that. David wanted children to listen to him, 
 and there is a great deal in this Old Testament that we 
 have from David, and it seems to me that when he was 
 writing for other people it was to teach them that beautiful 
 fear of the Lord. Now, if you will “hearken unto me” I 
 will try to teach you what this fear is. We must first or 
 all try to find out what it is not. There are some kinds 
 of fear which are not quite like the fear that David talks 
 about. My home was in a very lonely country part, and 
 the nights were very dark, and there are woods not very 
 far away, and I did not like being sent out into the dark. 
 Well, just imagine a boy coming home one night full of 
 fear and trembling, yet not knowing what he was afraid of. 
 The moon was not shining, so he could not be afraid of 
 his own shadow. And coming on along the quiet road 
 he hears a noise with every step he makes, a sound of a 
 horse’s feet or of the sheep rapidly running away as they 
 hear his lonely step. And the fancy keeps returning that 
 he hears an unusual noise, and at length he hears that 
 there really is something coming nearer. 
 
 What shall he do? His courage nearly all deserts him ; 
 he does not exactly know what to do’ Perhaps it would 
 hardly be safe to whistle, nor yet to turn out of the road. 
 So he comes on with fear and trembling until he sees it is 
 some person, very tall and strange-looking, and as he 
 comes nearer he stops, and the man says—what? “Is that 
 you,my boy?” “Ah! yes, father!” What a wonderful 
 relief it was. And that little boy was very full of fear, and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 55 
 
 was specially afraid of that dark object as it came nearer 
 and nearer. 
 
 But was that the sort of fear, was that the fear of the 
 Lord that David wanted to teach the people? No! we 
 learn that sort of fear soon enough—directly we have done 
 wrong—and we learn it without any teaching. Can you 
 tell me of anybody who was afraid of the Lord much in 
 the way I have described? In the Book of Genesis, the 
 very beginning of the book, some one was afraid. “Adam 
 and Eve”—some one says—were afraid. Yes! when they 
 heard the voice of God, when He was walking in the 
 garden in the middle of the day, they went and hid them- 
 selves; but depend upon it that was not the sort of fear 
 that David wanted the children to learn. “The fear of the 
 Lord” was not to be afraid of Him, was it? And now 
 let us try to find out what it was, for it is much more 
 important to know what it is than what it is not; perhaps 
 it is more difficult to find out what it is. When I find a 
 thing difficult I generally like to illustrate it by a story. 
 Now, I know a true story that has something to do with 
 “the fear of the Lord.” 
 
 A little friend of mine, a charming little girl, is the 
 subject of my story. Some of our best stories, I suppose, 
 are not true, but truth is stranger than fiction. This 
 true story is of this little girl She went to stay with her 
 auntie out in the country, and there were a great number 
 of damson trees in her auntie’s garden, full of their purple 
 fruit. Mary was fond of any ripe fruit; she liked to go 
 and pick the fruit off the ground, to shake the lower 
 branches and pick up the fallen apples or damsons, And 
 one day damson pudding came on the table, and little 
 Mary enjoyed it very much until her aunt looked across 
 the table and said, “ Mary dear! what are you doing with 
 the stones?” “Why! swallowing them auntie.” “Oh! 
 but you must not swallow them.” Well, Mary was a 
 curious little girl, so she said, “Why may not I swallow 
 them?” Now her uncle was a funny fellow, and he said, 
 “T will tell you Mary! if you swallow the stones they will 
 grow, and if one grows out of the top of your head it will 
 spoil your best bonnet.” But Mary said, quickly enough, 
 “Oh! then I can easily shake the tree and down will come 
 the damsons.” 
 
56 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 But her aunt said, “Mary! you are too young yet to 
 know why it is wrong for you to swallow the stones, but 
 you are old enough to know that it is wrong to do what 
 aunt tells you not to do; and if you do, it will make God 
 sorry.” Then said the little girl, “I will never do it again 
 if it makes God sorry.” Next day there was some sort of 
 damson again, and Mary was very proud of her new virtue, 
 and so she placed the stones in a nice row round her plate. 
 But very soon auntie was called away from the table, and 
 when she came back all the stones were gone. 
 
 “Where are they?” “I have swallowed them, auntie,” 
 said the little girl, sobbing. “Well, never mind, darling, 
 I will forgive you.” “But” came again through her sobs, 
 “God is sorry.” Then her aunt saw that it was not 
 enough to comfort her, and so she took her away out of 
 that room into another. And they both knelt down and 
 prayed to God a prayer something like this: “ Dear Jesus! 
 please to forgive Mary for doing what her aunt told her 
 not to do, and for making you sorry. Amen.” And then 
 she came out, feeling quite sure that though God had been 
 sorry for her disobedience, He had freely forgiven her. 
 
 And now, ever since I heard that quite true story, I have 
 felt that I knew what the fear of the Lord was, and that 
 it was the fear of making God sorry. It is to be afraid 
 of anything that would grieve Jesus; and I say the Bible 
 is written to teach us that very thing, how not to grieve 
 God and not to make Him sorry. I am afraid this pur- 
 pose is often forgotten, and here I must speak to the elder 
 ones. It is frequently forgotten when we attend our Bible 
 classes from week to week. It is right for us to want 
 to know the facts of the Bible, but are we not often apt 
 to forget this ultimate purpose for which the Bible was 
 written? I think some persons reverence the Bible asa 
 man does a telescope who does not use it. There it is! 
 a beautiful thing, to be kept nicely polished, placed like 
 a handsome book on a nice little table. I say nothing 
 against having a nicely bound volume; I am not sure that 
 I am not pleased when I see it. But let it be for use as 
 well as for ornament. If a man has a telescope, a valuable 
 one, the proper thing is for him to use it in reading the 
 heavens and bring them nearer. 
 
 And so it is with the Bible. It is a telescope by means 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 57 
 
 of which we can get to know these things. I say some- 
 times, too, that it is intended to be used like a time-table, to 
 tell about the starting of trains and the journey. Fancy 
 a man studying Bradshaw’s guide, and going on to the 
 Continent without it; he may easily miss finding some 
 high mountain or finding time to ascend it because he 
 goes without his guide. The Bible is intended to be of 
 spiritual help to us, to assist us to scan the heavens and 
 to help us to learn the fear of the Lord. 
 
 Now, there are reasons given in this thirty-fourth Psalm 
 where David wants the children to learn the fear of the 
 Lord. One is this: “ The angel of the Lord encampeth 
 round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” 
 To have the fear of the Lord is to have angel guardian- 
 ship. 
 
 I need only just remind you of that scene in the Old 
 Testament, where one of the prophets sees his servant 
 greatly alarmed because the Assyrian armies were round 
 the city. But the prophet prayed that God would open 
 the eyes of the young man that he might see the mountain 
 afar off covered with chariots and horsemen. “Far more 
 are they that are with us than they that are against us.” 
 To have that fear of the Lord is to put ourselves under 
 Divine guardianship. “Fear the Lord! Oh ye His saints, 
 for there is no want to them that fear Him.” That is the 
 thing we are to have if we like. We ask for foolish things 
 sometimes; but if we learn to fear the Lord, we shall be 
 anxious to please Him. He will take care that what we 
 really want shall be given to us. 
 
 Then there is another fine saying; “The fear of the 
 Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Depend upon it, we 
 are quite foolish if we have not learned the fear of the 
 Lord, for it is the very alphabet of wisdom. 
 
 I trust the young men will not get the absurd notion 
 that in order to seem manly and wise they must throw off 
 their beloved Sunday school, their attendance there, their 
 reading of the Bible; and yet they must do all this if 
 they would seem wise in the eyes of those whom they 
 would please. 
 
 But, depend upon it, the profoundest wisdom is here, 
 and he only gets enlightened by it who begins with the 
 fear of the Lord, the fear of making God sorry; and I am 
 
58 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 sure this fear will grow in us. If we are only studying 
 Christ we shall get to understand Him better, and what 
 He has done for us. Our hearts will be drawn out towards 
 Him, and we shall very naturally fear to grieve Him; not 
 because of the consequences, but because we never like to 
 grieve those we love; and if we learn to love God and 
 Christ, then we shall soon learn to know what the fear of 
 the Lord is about which I am speaking, and which the 
 Bible was written for the purpose of teaching us. 
 
 May every one of you learn to use this Book wisely, and 
 you will soon learn the sweetness, the happiness of this 
 fear. 
 
 E. S. 
 
 XVII. Summer and its Lessons. Ps. xxiv. 18, 
 “ Thou hast made summer.” 
 
 SUMMER! Is there not a wonderful charm in the word! 
 During the bleak days of winter or spring how often we 
 send our thoughts a little way forward and say to our- 
 selves, It will be summer soon. So through many a long 
 hour the poor sufferer has been cheered, almost fed, by the 
 hope of the warm sunshine and the blue sky of summer. 
 
 I. What does the summer say concerning Him who 
 made us. The power to discover the beautiful and appre- 
 ciate it is a great gift of God. All do not possess it in 
 equal measure; but most of us have it to some extent, 
 and we should cultivate the capacity far more than we do. 
 Is not summer a time for so doing ? 
 
 What do we discern of God, who is the Everlastingly 
 and Infinitely Beautiful, in all the works and glories of the 
 summer ? 
 
 One thing we observe: how much ts done, and yet how 
 simply all zs done. There is a marvellous force and variety 
 of life, so that you never see two things “twins at all 
 points.” How many purposes are served by the same 
 objects! The grass, whose soft green refreshes the eye of 
 man, sustains the life of numberless creatures. The hills 
 both secure the rainfall and protect from the sweep of 
 winds. What ministries are fulfilled by the river and the 
 wood! All are so ordered, so adapted, as to serve and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 59 
 
 assist in the working out of some benevolent aim. And 
 how simple are all the laws and ways by which the great 
 world is made the workman of God! You think of the 
 sunshine which is the blessing of summer. How is the 
 earth gladdened by the sun? The old pagans used to 
 think that the sun swam around the sea during night, that 
 he might be in his proper place in the morning. We know 
 that the earth is made to turn once a day before the sun, 
 now one part and now another thus receiving of his light 
 and warmth. And so with regard to rain: the sun is 
 made to draw water up from the sea and the land, and the 
 vapour makes the cloud, and the cloud makes the rain. 
 And, in this way, all who are wise and observant may 
 learn every hour that the most wonderful thing about the 
 mind of God is the manifoldness, and yet the simplicity, 
 of His wisdom. 
 
 Another thing which strikes us is: how constantly, through 
 all God’s works, we can vead the blessed name—Saviour. 
 Some of you, perhaps, are not too young to have felt that 
 there is a peculiar, I might say, an unspeakable emotion 
 excited by the loveliness of a lovely summer day. It 
 is a luxury merely to exist. Nay, that is not all. When 
 you get away from noise and _ stir,—away beneath the 
 mountain-shadow, or at the river-side, or in some sweet 
 chapel of the great universe-temple, away where the moun- 
 tain and the hill seem to break forth into singing, and all 
 the trees of the field to clap their hands—there are feelings 
 and thoughts awakened which you cannot express. It is 
 the feeling of love, and that is the healing power of summer. 
 We want to get away from town and breathe the fresh air, 
 and live in the health and sweetness of nature. It is the 
 touch of God the Saviour that is felt by the weary, worn- 
 out man. 
 
 Yes; the summer preaches Christ. It preaches Christ 
 both by what it has and by what it has not. It has not 
 the way of happiness. You can be in the midst of all the 
 beauty, and yet be miserable. The sun and the moon 
 cannot tell you whethe: God will forgive ; they cannot 
 give a peace that will keep your heart and mind ; they 
 cannot make you holy; they cannot lead you to glory. 
 The Milky Way is not the way to Heaven. No; you 
 need another Book along with the Book of Nature. When 
 
60 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 the one is in your heart, oh, how glorious in its teaching 
 is the other ! 
 
 Thus it is that all the loveliness spread around us seems 
 to say, “ Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach 
 you the fear of the Lord.” 
 
 II. What does the summer say concerning us for whom 
 it was made! We notice first how silent and how gradual 
 the progress of life is. Is not this suggestive of what 
 is true concerning us all? We move from one stage to 
 another, and we scarcely notice it. As the days pass we 
 are leaving ever so many things behind ; there are uncon- 
 scious influences which are making ever so many things 
 new. 
 
 Why the growth, the ripening, which in summer we 
 see? First, it is because seed was sown at an earlier time. 
 Was it bad seed? You can tell that by the result. Was 
 it good? You cantell that too. Further, even during 
 spr ng you know that in regard to some things a certain 
 protection was necessary. The geraniums, the asters, and 
 so forth, were kept from the cold; they could not be 
 bedded out until the soil was ready, and the agencies which 
 develop life were more powerful. Nay, further stiil, you 
 can tell me that in the bright summer-time it is quite need- 
 ful to be ever and again weeding and hoeing and caring 
 for the plants and the grain. Now, do you understand 
 that what we have thus traced is a parable of you and me? 
 This is your morning, and parent and teacher and minister 
 are sowing the seeds of knowledge and goodness, hoping 
 and praying that God may give the increase. And because 
 you are not yet able to do for yourselves, you are held in 
 the wholesome discipline of home and the gentle restraints 
 of school. The hour is coming when you will be planted 
 out. Oh, how anxiously do those who are interested in 
 you think of that hour! 
 
 Summer, with all its loveliness, seems to say, “ The tzme 
 zs short; watch, and pray, and work.” Already we have 
 passed the longest day. A few weeks and the foliage 
 will begin to shrivel, the glory to depart from the earth. 
 Yes, the time is very short. Cannot some of you feel 
 this, who cast your eye back twelve months, and remember 
 that then there were hands which touched yours that have 
 vanished, and voices which spoke to you that are still? 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 61 
 
 Very short! But we must not cry over water that has 
 been spilt. Gather up your hours, redeeming the time. 
 We can all glorify God; for we can all, in His strength, 
 be dutiful and make others happy. 
 
 J. ML 
 
 XVIII. “ The Joyful Sound.” Ps. Ixxxix. 15. Blessed és 
 the people that know the joyful sound.” 
 
 THERE are two things in this text to be noticed. There 
 is something joyful—the joyful sound; that is the thing 
 spoken about. Then there is the other thing—the people 
 that know it. That is quite a different thing. There may 
 be a joyful sound and I may not hear it. I may have no 
 ears to hear it, or I may shut my ears. 
 
 I. What is this joyful sound? There are many joyful 
 sounds in the world. Music is a very joyful sound, and 
 you are often trying to produce that joyful sound. But 
 there is something sweeter than music—a sound which 
 reaches to the inward ear, to the soul. The sweetest of 
 all sounds to the soul is the love of God in Jesus Christ. 
 Was that known when this eighty-ninth Psalm was written, 
 hundreds of years before Christ came? Yes; because 
 Christ was always going to come, and there were people 
 who knew about it—prophets who taught about it, and 
 priests who offered up sacrifices pointing forward to the 
 Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. 
 
 They did not know so much about it as we may do, but 
 they knew enough to make them happy, and to save them, 
 and take them to heaven. And the children knew too, for 
 parents were told to tell their children. 
 
 Now what are some of the things that make this sound 
 joyful? It is joyrul because it tells us how we are to get 
 our sins forgiven—all sinners,old and young. It is only 
 in one way that our sins can be forgiven—through the 
 blood of Jesus; and if we come to that fountain filled with 
 blood all our sins will be washed away. Will you not 
 know this joyful sound, and take it into your hearts, and 
 receive Jesus ? 
 
 This is a joyful sound because when we receive it we 
 get our hearts made new and clean, What a beautiful 
 
62 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 thing it would be if our hearts were made clean and white 
 as Adam’s was when he was in his innocence; and how 
 much better still if they were made pure, like the heart of 
 the Lord Jesus. That is what Christ does for us—for old 
 and young. Our hearts are far from being so pure and 
 holy and loving as they should be, while we are here; but 
 they are beginning to be so, and they will be so fully in 
 heaven. Take this joyful sound as yours and then your 
 hearts will become pure. 
 
 II. The people that know of this. 
 
 There may be a great deal of happiness we do not enjoy 
 because we do not know about it. If any one left you 
 a sum of money in a will, that would be a joyful sound; 
 but if you did not know about it you would lose the 
 blessing. There is in the Gospel something like this; it 
 is called a Testament. Christ left us this Testament to 
 enjoy, after He died. We publish this to the heathen that _ 
 they may enter into possession of this treasure. If a 
 treasure is left us, we must go and claim it ; we must know 
 of it; we must believe and take it. Receive this precious 
 legacy of eternal life. “Peace I leave with you, my peace 
 I give unto you; that is, to all of you that will take it. 
 God offers pardon and peace to all the world, to whosoever 
 will take it. Come to Jesus now, and then you will know 
 the blessedness of feeling your sins forgiven; you will 
 anticipate your heaven below, and at last you will have 
 perfect blessedness, 
 
 jy. G 
 
 XIX. The Spread Net. Prov.i.17. “ Surely in vain 
 the net ts spread in the sight of any bird.” 
 
 THERE are two opinions as to what this means. Some say 
 that no bird is so foolish as to go into a net which he sees 
 you spread for him. He has a little head and little brain, 
 but not so little wit as to do that. Others think that 
 Solomon means to say that, even if a bird sees you spread 
 the net, he has not wit enough to know what it means, and 
 will hop into it. 
 
 But though we are uncertain what Solomon thought the 
 birds would do, there is no doubt at all as to the lesson he 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 63 
 
 would teach us. He is talking to young people, and means 
 to say that some of them are silly enough to go into the 
 net of sin in order to get a few crumbs of pleasure, even 
 though they ought to see that the devil was spreading it 
 for their destruction. He is saying how easily “ gulled” 
 young people are by temptation. You know we get that 
 word “gull” from the birds which come down from the 
 Arctic regions, and fish in flocks in our harbours and along 
 our coasts, and who, some people think, are easily caught. 
 But that is a mistake; for those who have tried it say that 
 it is rather an insult to the gulls to think that they are so 
 easily gulled as some men fancy they are. 
 
 We sometimes think Satan is so very shrewd that he 
 
 ‘can deceive any human being. But God does not allow 
 him to deceive those who keep their eyes and ears open. 
 The deceit is in ourselves ; for the Bible says, “ The heart 
 is deceitful above all things.” The Bible also says, “The 
 devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
 devour ;” but God makes him roar first, so that everybody 
 can get out of his way. If any of us die through sin, God 
 will write this epitaph for us, “Thou hast destroyed thy- 
 self” (Hosea xiii. 9). He compels Satan to spread his net 
 in our sight. 
 
 We can see him spread it with the eye of Conscience. 
 The smallest children as well as the lowest savages have 
 a conscience which tells them right from wrong. When 
 Stanley, the great traveller, started through Africa, he 
 knew that he would find wild tribes who could not under- 
 stand his language, but he knew that they understood the 
 language of conscience—the same in him and in them. So 
 he ordered his men never to steal from a savage, never to 
 break a promise, however insignificant it was, and never to 
 harm a human being. One day he met the fiercest of the 
 tribes. Expecting that they would attack him as the other 
 tribes had done, he was surprised at their kindness. When 
 he learned to understand a little of their language, he asked 
 why this was. They said, “Because we sent a canoe up 
 the river, with a woman and a boy, and plenty of pro- 
 visions. If you had been bad people, you would have 
 taken that canoe. Then you would have had to fight us; 
 but, see, we have left our spears on one of the islands.” 
 Stanley was right in supposing that the language of con- 
 
64 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 science was universal, and had not been confounded as our 
 tongues were at Babel. So there is not a boy or girl who 
 does not know what is right and what is wrong. All sin 
 is as clearly seen as if you could watch the devil's fingers 
 setting the net. 
 
 Then the Bzd/e tells you what is right and what is wrong. 
 As if a good man who loved the birds should shout and 
 drive them away when they hopped too near the net, the 
 Bible calls out (Prov. iii. 15), “ Avoid it, pass not by it, turn 
 from it, pass away.” God shouts over the net, “ The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die.’ Solomon represents Sin as sit- 
 ting down by the door of a house, and saying, “ Whoso is 
 simple, let him turn in hither. Stolen waters are sweet.” 
 But as policemen stand by the doors of some of the gam- 
 bling dens in our city to warn the thoughtless not to enter, 
 God’s prophet stands by Sin’s door, and says, “The dead 
 are there. Her guests are in the depths of hell.” It is as 
 if the floor were one great trapdoor, which tilted the silly 
 victim down to perdition. 
 
 Then other people's experience of the consequences of sin 
 shows us that it is the devil’s net. If you knew how many 
 are suffering from their evil habits, you would turn from 
 yours as you would from a rattlesnake’s den. They say 
 you cannot catch the birds if you leave the dead bodies of 
 those already caught around the cage. But Satan’s net is 
 surrounded with the piles of his victims. I was once asked 
 to bury a man whose name those who asked me would not 
 tell. He died in a hovel, with such pain of body, such 
 horror of mind! He had held the highest offices in the 
 land ; but sin had so ignominiously slain him that no one 
 wished the world to know it. 
 
 And perhaps some have found out that sin is Satan’s net 
 by their own sad experience. Your bad habit makes you 
 feel so condemned, so mean, so weak, that you have said 
 to yourself, the end of this is destruction. A bird whose 
 leg has been broken in getting out of the net has been 
 known to fly straight into another ; and some young people 
 do the same thing. In hunting deer at night we creep up 
 to them and suddenly flash the light of a dark lantern into 
 their eyes, and, while they stand a moment wondering at 
 its meaning, the fatal buliet pierces the deer’s heart. I 
 have tried to shoot a deer who sprang into the thicket at 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 65 
 
 the first gleam of light. It had no fascination for him, be- 
 cause he had seen it before and been wounded by the 
 bullet. But I have known young men who would stand 
 and be shot again and again by temptation, though it 
 seemed as if Satan had opened the door of heil and flashed 
 its firelight into their very faces. 
 
 Are you the victim of any sinful habit? I doubt if you 
 can deliver yourself. You may be like the fluttering bird 
 who entangles himself the more in the meshes. But Christ 
 came to “proclaim deliverance to the captives, and to set 
 at liberty them that are bruised.” By the power of His 
 cross He destroys the meshes of guilt, and by His Holy 
 Spirit He heals and strengthens the moral purpose which 
 has been weakened by the habit of sin. But if, my young 
 friend, you have not yet entered the net, give Him your 
 faith, and He will answer the prayer which he has taught 
 you: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil. 
 
 | Es 
 
 XX. The Treasure Trove. Prov. ii. 1-15. Jy son 
 if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with 
 thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply 
 thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after know- 
 ledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; tf thou seekest 
 her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ; then 
 shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the know- 
 ledge of God.” 
 
 You will first of all take notice how in this passage God 
 speaks to youas to children. It is God that speaks, though 
 Solomon writes the words: and He says, “Myson.” Here, 
 then, is the word of a Father addressed to you in love; of 
 a Father, moreover, who never makes mistakes, who knows 
 what you really need, whose care of you is constant and 
 tender, and whose light to guide you is of the highest kind. 
 Hearken, therefore, to what God your Father says. 
 Remark this also, that your Father speaks to you one 
 by one. As if each of you were His only child, He says, 
 F 
 
66 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 —~ 
 
 “My son.” Suffer His word to come close to you; hear it 
 as if you were in your closet, and a gentle voice you knew 
 to come from glory were speaking to you. 
 
 In truth, the voice is gentle, for wisdom is no other than 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Notice four things here brought before us. 
 
 I. There is a precious treasure. 
 
 You can tell what it is. It gets three several names in 
 the text, but they all mean the same thing,— wisdom, know- 
 ledge, understanding. You know that wisdom is the oppo- 
 site of folly. Folly chooses show, wisdom takes substance. 
 Folly is all for the present, wisdom takes into view the 
 future. If you took folly into a room where there were 
 glittering gauds of no value lying beside unpolished jewels, 
 it would covet the trifles that shone, and despise the worth 
 that was dull. 
 
 Nearly fifty years ago, there was a long, severe frost in 
 London, and the river Thames was frozen over for weeks. 
 So the people built streets of shops over the icy surface, 
 and there was driving and buying, and all kinds of plea- 
 suring upon the river. But one night, suddenly the thaw 
 set in, and the solid ice heaved and cracked and broke 
 away into pieces, and booths and merchandise were hurled 
 down the flood. Suppose some man had said, it would 
 be far nicer to live in the beautiful ice street, than in the 
 narrow lane where I now stay, and had moved all his fur- 
 niture and all his family into a new dwelling on the river, 
 what would have become of him and his that night? This 
 supposition goes to show how folly takes up with the 
 present merely. Heavenly wisdom, taught of God, says of 
 sinful pleasures, they are not what they seem to be; they 
 are fine coloured fruit, but hollow and corrupt within, and 
 they do not last. Wisdom does not lay up treasure on 
 earth, but in heaven; for it says, I must soon be done with 
 earth, and heaven abides. 
 
 II. The field where the treasure lies. 
 
 The field is the Bible. It was while walking and digging 
 in this field that young Timothy found it. From a child 
 he had known the Holy Scriptures, which were able ta 
 make him wise unto salvation. Sinners need wisdom for 
 salvation ; they need to be taught how to be reconciled 
 and restored to God; and that sort of wisdom is to be 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 67 
 
 found nowhere else. If we should go down to the sea- 
 shore and say, Oh, great salt ocean, canst thou wash my 
 soul clean from the stain of sin? the ocean would reply, 
 no, not with all my waves. But go to the Bible, and you 
 will get knowledge how to get quit of sin, both in the guilt 
 and the power of it. Salvation is revealed in the Bible. 
 Whoever recalls and remembers the words of the Bible, 
 has the treasure in his very heart and mind. 
 
 III. The search after the treasure. 
 
 To find the treasure lying in the Bible you must read it 
 with a purpose, wishing to find wisdom. Gold must be 
 searched for with care, even where its glittering grains mix 
 with the river’s sands; they must be diligently sought out. 
 So any reader who would find wisdom unto salvation in 
 the Bible must be in earnest about it, and think, and search, 
 and compare, and pray. Persevere; seek till you find. 
 The gold digger does not soon get weary; many a disap- 
 pointment love of riches overcomes. Do not say it is hard 
 work to search. For besides that the reward is great, the 
 very search is sweet. A literary man of name is reported 
 to have said, that if God should give him his choice of two 
 things, truth, and the search after truth, he would rather 
 take the last. The quest, with all its toil, is good for us, 
 It is training, it is health. 
 
 IV. The discovery of the treasure. 
 
 The glad thing to know is, that it is sure to be found by 
 searching. It is not every digger that finds store of gold. 
 But seekers after wisdom are sure to find. Then, when it 
 is found, it is a very precious treasure; “ Then thou shalt 
 understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge ot 
 God.” We shall find Wisdom, the Lord Jesus. To find 
 Him is joy and peace. 
 
 If we find wisdom we shall understand the fear of the 
 Lord. It is easy, without search, to know the dread of 
 God. But fear that adores, stands in awe yet rejoices, can 
 only be taught by Jesus. He shows us how God forgives 
 and brings our hearts back to Him in childlike trust. 
 
 Have you found this treasure? If so, ye arerich indeed. 
 See that ye hold fast the treasure ye have gotten. 
 
 Have you not yet found this treasure? Oh, ye are poor 
 and wretched. Away to the field and dig. Read, think, 
 pray. Hear what Jesus says, “ Whoso findeth Me findeth 
 
68 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that 
 sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that 
 hate Me love death.” 
 
 J. E 
 
 XXI. Knowledge and Wisdom. Prov. x. 14. 
 “ Wise men lay up knowledge.” 
 
 THE Bible has a good deal to say about wisdom and about 
 wise people. It is hard to tell exactly what this word 
 “wisdom” means. Great men have often tried to define 
 it, but sometimes their descriptions of it are harder to 
 understand than the word itself. Sometimes it is supposed 
 that folks who know a great deal are always wise; but 
 that is certainly a mistake. A man may have a good deal 
 of knowledge in his head, and yet have but very little 
 wisdom. 
 
 Wisdom tells us what to do with things—how to use 
 them. , 
 
 When people get to be wise, then, they learn how to use 
 things properly. Here in the text we are told what wise 
 men do with knowledge. They do not neglect it, or pass 
 it by as of no account, or forget it; but they lay it up. 
 They store it away as a man does his gold in the safe or 
 bank, as a farmer does his hay in the mow and his grain in 
 the bin, ready for use when it is wanted. 
 
 How are we tolay up knowledge and thereby gain wisdom? 
 
 I. The first rule we must follow is this: Apply the mind 
 to zt. Some of you have found out already that this is hard 
 work. The mind does not usually want to be applied to 
 study. It is like a wild, skittish colt. Did you ever see 
 one running loose in the pasture? It does not know any- 
 thing about pulling a load or carrying a saddle, or being 
 led by a halter or driven with reins. It has to be taught 
 gently and by degrees; maybe it will have to be whipped 
 a little; it must be encouraged, and broken in, and then, 
 by and by, it will apply itself to its work; it will pull at 
 the heavy load until it starts the wagon; it will mind the 
 word of the driver, and go, or back, or stop, just as he 
 wishes. 
 
 Now, the mind is like that wild colt, and needs to be 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 69 
 
 broken in, too. Our minds will never mind unless we make 
 them mind. 
 
 Now, there are many people who grow up with minds 
 which have never been trained. They cannot think easily, 
 or remember well, or study at all. They are not fond of 
 reading, and do not love books. When they were young 
 they did not apply themselves, and now that they are 
 grown up they are too old to learn very much. They miss 
 a vast deal of pleasure, and are not worth nearly so much 
 to themselves or to others as they would be if they had 
 studied hard in childhood and youth. 
 
 You have often seen soldiers marching on parade. They 
 step all together as if they were one man. At the com- 
 mand, their arms are brought all at once down at their 
 sides or placed up on the shoulder. It all looks very nice 
 and easy; but if you would ask them how it was done, 
 you would find that they had to be drilled and disciplined 
 a long time in the armoury and in camp before they 
 learned how to go through with what they call the manual 
 of arms. They had to apply themselves in order to lay up 
 their knowledge of military matters. 
 
 By following this same rule a child can grow up to be 
 master of his mind just as the soldiers and sailors learn to 
 use with ease and skill their hands and arms and limbs, 
 He will learn how to think and reason ; how to get at the 
 truth and find out things; how to use his eyes and ears 
 and voice ; how to observe what is going on in the world 
 about him; how to treasure it all up; and how to enjoy 
 for ever the true, the beautiful, and the good. 
 
 II. The second rule that must be followed in order to 
 lay up knowledge is this: Remember. 
 
 The Wise Man in the Bible—you know who this is, do 
 you ?—says, “ Get wisdom ;” and then he adds to this the 
 counsel, “ Hold fast instruction.” It is not enough to get 
 knowledge, but we must keep it. We dothis by a wonder- 
 ful power which the mind has, called the memory. 
 
 Did you ever try to carry water in a sieve, or colander, 
 or in a straw hat? If you have tried such a foolish under- 
 taking you have failed. You found that all the water 
 quickly ran out. Now some people have memories that 
 are like a sieve. Nearly everything put into them runs 
 out again. 
 
yo SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Yet, hard work as it is, if you keep adding a little every 
 day to your store, you will by and by have saved up 
 abundance of knowledge and wisdom. 
 
 III. The last rule to be heeded in laying up knowledge 
 is: Seek the right kind of knowledge. 
 
 There are many sorts of knowledge. Much of it is worth 
 a good deal. The branches that you study at your school 
 will be of service to you for years tocome. When you go 
 to college, if you wisely use your time and opportunities, 
 you will get knowledge there, and something better than 
 knowledge—command of your mind, control over yourself 
 —which will be a blessing to you throughout life. But, 
 after all, there isa higher knowledge than any you can get 
 in schools. There is a wisdom which you can learn only 
 from God’s Book. St. Paul knew much about everything 
 that men thought good and great in his day. But he says: 
 “«T count all things but loss forthe excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ.”” The Saviour calls this precious know- 
 ledge of Himself and of the way of life ‘‘ the pearl of great 
 price.”” This knowledge will teach you how to control 
 your bad temper, how to fight bad thoughts, how to be 
 useful to others around you, how to do work which you 
 ought to do in life, how to grow up to be strong, good, 
 true, courageous menaud women. Whatever otherknow- 
 ledge you lay up, dear children, besure that you lay up 
 this best of all sorts of knowledge—the knowledge of the 
 Saviour and of eternal life. jbo. 
 
 XXII. The House of Wisdom. Prov. ix. 1-5. 
 ‘* Wisdom hath builded her house, etc.” 
 
 I. THE HousE.—The house is the house of wisdom. In 
 this house is the fear of the Lord, and in every part of 
 it is written, Holiness to the Lord. It is a very strong 
 house; it rests upon seven pillars. Nobody can pull it 
 down. Satan has been trying for six thousand years, but 
 he has not pulled it down yet. And wicked men have 
 been trying to pull it down, but they cannot doit. It 
 won’t come down; let them try to pull it down—they will 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 71 
 not be able. The foundations are sure, very sure and very 
 deep. 
 
 It is a largehouse. It can accommodate millions. Itis 
 a well-built house, like the well-built city in the Book of 
 the Revelation—the New Jerusalem. 
 
 It is this large, strong, beautiful house of wisdom that 
 we ask you to enter. We ask you to enter, for God is 
 here, Christ is here, the Holy Spirit is here; wisdom 
 is here, and life and peace and joy. It is a house full of 
 song and of gladness,—a house in which God delights to 
 dwell. 
 
 II. THE OPEN Door.—It would be of no use to speak 
 to you about the house, though it was large and beautiful 
 and strong, if there was no door, or if the door was not 
 open. It is always open; it is never shut, day nor night. 
 
 Do you remember any one that spoke of Himself as the 
 door? Christ. What did He say? ‘‘I am the door.” 
 Christ was the house and also the door of the house,—that 
 is the wonderful thing; just as He is the Shepherd, the 
 fold, and the door of the fold. 
 
 It is an open door; any onecangoinat anytime. Men 
 shut the doors of their houses and shops at night, but the 
 door of this house is always open, day and night, summer 
 and winter; you can always get in at this open door. 
 
 May anyonegetin? Yes. Insome exhibitions I have 
 seen written up, ‘‘ Children under twelve not admitted.” Is 
 that written up over this door? No. May a child of 
 twelve years old get in—of ten, of five years? Yes. May 
 a little babe getin? Yes; for Jesus has said, ‘‘ Of suchis 
 the kingdom of heaven.”’ It is an open door; you don't 
 require to open it; you can just walk in. It is free tothe 
 young and to the old, to the rich and to the poor. The 
 door has been standing open very long—ever since Adam 
 fell, six thousand years ago. 
 
 And it is large enough toadmit all. Suppose there was 
 a great crowd wanting to get in, could they all get in at 
 once? Oh yes. Suppose all Great Britian,—Scotland, 
 England, and Ireland,—suppose all Europe, all the earth, 
 —America, Asia, Africa,—were wanting to get in, they 
 could all get in, for it is a wide door in one sense, though 
 narrow in another, and it is always open. 
 
72 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Do you need to wait to get in? No. If I wanted to get 
 into one of the Queen’s palaces I should have to go for an 
 order. But you don’t need to go for an order, for a line or 
 certificate, to get into the house of wisdom. You have got 
 an order already. 
 
 If you were invited to visit the Queen, you would have 
 to put on particular clothes; you would not be admitted 
 without. What kind of clothes are you to put on before 
 you go into this house of wisdom? You are to go just as 
 you are. 
 
 Is there anybody standing at the door to hinder you 
 going in? Is therean angel standing there to hinder you ? 
 Or ministers? No; they stand there to help you in. 
 Christian, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, saw a man trying to 
 get in at the gate of a palace, and he had to fight his way 
 in, because Satan would have hindered him. But a sweet 
 voice was heard from the top of the palace, saying, 
 
 “Come in, come in, 
 Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 
 
 This is what I would sing, and what angels sing from the 
 heavenly towers— 
 
 “ Come in, come in, 
 Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 
 
 It is an open gate, for the young and for the old, for the 
 rich and for the poor, for the foolish as well as for the wise ; 
 and no man was ever kept out because the door was not 
 open. Thousands have been kept out because they would 
 not come in, but no man was ever kept out because he 
 could not get in. I was once kept out of Jerusalem. The 
 sun had set and the gate was shut. I knocked, but could 
 not get in. I did not like to have to wander round the 
 walls all night ; robbers might be there, and jackals, and 
 dogs. I took out a piece of silver, and the man inside saw 
 it, and ran and got the key. I should not have got in if I 
 had not paid that piece of silver. Is that the way with this 
 door of the New Jerusalem? No; the angel that keeps 
 the door does not say, You will not get in unless you pay 
 measum of money. He say, “ Glad to see you; come in, 
 come in!” 
 
 Ill. THE FEasTt.—There are a great many feasts 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 73 
 
 spoken of in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in 
 the New. Lot madea feast, Abraham made a feast, and 
 Isaac and Jacob. Feasts were joyful things in those times, 
 and people gathered round the table to be happy together, 
 —not in sin, not to get drunk, but to be happy together. 
 There are one or two special feasts mentioned in the Bible. 
 Our Lord speaks of a marriage feast, and the invitation 
 went out, Come, for all things are ready! And we have 
 the Lord’s Supper. There is still another supper that has 
 not yet come,—the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In this 
 house of wisdom there is a feast, a wonderful feast, some- 
 thing for us to feed upon, something that will satisfy our 
 hunger and quench our thirst—something of which if a man 
 eat he shall never hunger, and of which if a man drink he 
 shall never thirst. 
 
 What is the first mention of food in the Bible? “Of 
 every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.” After 
 that, you find in the Bible a great many things concerning 
 food. Israel ate manna in the desert; there was the shew- 
 bread in the tabernacle; and there is what is called the 
 hidden manna. Jesus says, “I am the bread of God which 
 came down from heaven ; My flesh is bread indeed, and My 
 blood is drink indeed.” I put all these together, and say, 
 Here is God’s feast for the foolish, for the hungry and 
 thirsty. It is a Divine feast. Should not you like to sit 
 down at this heavenly table? This feast is free, free! 
 
 IV. THE Company.—lIt is a curious company that 
 are gathered in this house of wisdom. It is the lame and 
 the halt, and the maimed, and the blind, and the leper. 
 All are sick, foolish, sinful ; but then they are all changed. 
 Once they step across the door of this house of wisdom, 
 everything becomes new; for “if any man be in Christ 
 Jesus, he is a new creature.” He gets a new heart as soon 
 as he comes in,—new clothes, white raiment ; new eyes to 
 see, new ears to hear, new hands to work, new feet to run ; 
 all things are made new. 
 
 The company you find here is a wonderful company. It 
 is a company of sinners, and yet it is a company of saints. 
 If you want to know their character before they come in, 
 you have just to look about you in this wicked world. 
 And then read in the seventh chapter of the Book of 
 Revelation,—“] beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which 
 
74 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and 
 people and tongues, who have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” They were 
 foolish before; they are wise now. They were wicked 
 before; they are holy now. They did not love God 
 before; they love Him now. They loved sin before; they 
 hate sin now. They did not care for Jesus before; they 
 care fo. Him now. They find round about them men like 
 themselves, a strange company of the redeemed, from Abel 
 down to the present day. What a blessed thing to be in 
 the midst of such company as this,—Abel, Enoch, Noah, 
 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, and Paul 
 and John and Peter. That is our company, and will be 
 our company for ever and for ever. What a blessed thing 
 to be in such a house and in such company through all 
 eternity !—the company of God, of Christ, of angels, of 
 saints! And how awful to be shut out from such com- 
 pany! 
 
 V. THE WELCOME.—Is everybody welcome? Yes. Do 
 you remember when the prodigal son came back to his 
 father’s house, what the father did? “When he was yet a 
 great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and 
 ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” That is the 
 sinner’s welcome from God. God wants you to come back, 
 every boy and every girl. But does He know your name? 
 Yes. And if you go to His house, what will you say to 
 Him? The prodigal tells us what to say. “Father, I 
 have sinned.” That is the way to go back. When will you 
 go back? If you go will the angels say, It is too soon ; 
 you must come back to-morrow? No; they will say, 
 
 “ Come in, come in ; 
 Eternal glory thou shalt win.” 
 
 But if you go just as you are, will they say, You cannot be 
 admitted with such a dress? No. Did the father say that 
 to the prodigal son? No. What did he say? “ Bring 
 forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his 
 hand and shoes on his feet.” The prodigal did not need to 
 make the robe, nor to buy it, nor to buy the ring and the 
 shoes, nor the fatted calf. The father provided all these, 
 and gave a father’s welcome to his boy. He was glad to 
 get him back again, 2nd He wants you back, He does 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 75 
 
 not want you to wait till to-morrow. He says to young 
 and old, Come back, with all your sins, and come to-night 
 where all good things are, and you will get of My abun- 
 dance, drink of My wine, and be refreshed with the pure 
 water of the river of life, and feed on that tree of life which 
 is in the midst of the paradise of God. Welcome, welcome! 
 is what God says to you; and if Satan says you are not 
 welcome, tell him he is a liar, for God says you are wel- 
 come. 
 
 Enter this house, to find the joy, the life, the love you 
 cannot find anywhere else, and that God is so willing to 
 give you, to make you happy for ever. Come unto Me, all 
 ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest! Come unto Me, all ye that hunger and thirst, and I 
 will give you meat and drink! Ho, every one that thirst- 
 eth, come to the waters! Behold, now is the accepted 
 time ; behold, now is the day of salvation ! 
 
 H. B. 
 
 XXIII. Bad Company. Prov. xiii.20. “He that walk- 
 eth with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools 
 shall be destroyed.” 
 
 IT is as if the text said: “Don’t, on any account, make 
 companions of the foolish.” If the wzse are such as fear 
 God, the fooltsh must be such as don’t fear God—such 
 as have no fear of God before their eyes,—the ungodly. 
 Look at some of the marks of these: flattery, dishonesty, 
 zdleness, evil-speaking, Sabbath-breaking. 
 
 I. Beware of FLATTERING friends. I shall try to ex- 
 plain. A companion wishes you to do what is wrong. 
 He knows you would refuse if he were directly to propose 
 it. So he makes great professions of friendship: he is 
 more anxious to be friends with you than with anybody, 
 you are such a fine fellow. Having thus paved the way, 
 he makes his proposal: “Come, join us in this. If it had 
 been a bad thing, you are the last I would have thought 
 of coming to. It will do you no harm.” That is one of 
 the “crooked ways ”—the serpent-like ways, in which some 
 succeed in tempting to sin by ffattery—praising you, and 
 pretending to be your friend. Many fall in this way who 
 
76 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 else would stand firm. There are flatterers among children 
 as well as among men. A companion of such shall be 
 destroyed. 
 
 II. Beware of DISHONEST friends. I mean both plain, 
 downright stealing, and something else. I know some are 
 thieves whom people would little suspect. I warn you of — 
 them. Our prisons have had more than one young thief 
 from schools and churches like those which you attend. 
 Solomon says regarding such: “ My son, if sinners entice 
 thee, consent thou not!” Refuse,—say Mo. But I don't 
 merely refer to the stealing of money, or fruit, or such 
 things. There is a scholar copying from the slate or book 
 of another, or gaining a place in his class by unfairness. 
 That is stealing—that is dishonesty, whatever may be 
 thought of it. Say, “It is wrong ;” say, “God sees!” A 
 companion of such shall be destroyed. 
 
 III. Beware of IDLE friends. Indolence and idleness are 
 little thought of, yet are they very sinful and very hurtful. 
 Some one has said that the devil tempts the busy, but the 
 idle tempt the devil. And— 
 
 “Satan finds some mischief still, 
 For idle hands to do.” 
 
 Now you must have noticed that idlers try to keep other 
 people from working. You see it in our streets,—you see 
 it at school. No good ever comes of an idle scholar ; and 
 he is a dangerous person to have to do with. 
 
 IV. Beware of EVIL-SPEAKING friends. I refer to tale- 
 bearing, which is ever a mean, low, vile thing; but I 
 also refer to all kinds of improper language—low, trifling, 
 wicked words. Like bad books, such words pollute the 
 minds of those who hear them, and leave marks which per- 
 haps will never be wiped out. Those who use low, bad 
 language must have a bad heart; and it is sure, sooner or 
 later, to end in a bad life. Don’t laugh at such, don't go 
 in their way ; put your finger in your ears, and run out of 
 sight. And what shall I say of swearing, which also is too 
 common, even among the young? Flee from the presence 
 of a swearer, be he young or old. It is not manly—it is 
 not gentlemanly ; it is base—devilish—it is the language 
 of hell. A swearing companion must be bad ; a companion 
 of such shall be destroyed. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 77 
 
 V. Beware of SABBATH-BREAKING companions. This 
 is a very common but very grievous sin. I have seen the 
 effects of it but too often and too sadly. It leads to many 
 other sins, and often comes to a sad end. He who would 
 tempt you to break the Savbath is one of your worst 
 enemies. Tell him that God is wiser and more your friend 
 than he, and that God says, ‘‘Remember the sabbath day, 
 to keep it holy.” How many mournful cases show that 
 the companion of Sabbath-breakers shall be destroyed ! 
 
 Such are some of the bad companions against whom we 
 are warned. Why are we to beware of them? Because, 
 as in the other case, we are in danger of growing like them. 
 As in the case of some terrible, infectious diseases, if you 
 go near, it will be a wonder if you do not catch the in- 
 fection. 
 
 Beloved young people! don’t be laughed into what is 
 evil; don’t be threatened into what is wrong. Make a 
 companion of your 4zd/e: you will find it both safe and 
 profitable. Still more, make a companion of Him of 
 whom it tells—/eswus. Whatever other friends you have, 
 make sure of the friendship of Jesus. Take no friends as 
 yours but those who will be friends to Him. And in order 
 to have Christ as your Friend, you must have Him as your 
 Saviour. ‘That is the oxly way. He is willing to be the 
 Friend of the youngest, of the poorest, of the most wicked. 
 He says to-day, “Come.” He says, “I will in no wise cast 
 out.” jE W. 
 
 XXIV. Left to Himself. Prov. xxix. 15. “A child left 
 to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” 
 
 A CHILD left to himself! I daresay, my little friends, you 
 have often pitied a child left to himself. When you have 
 been going through some poor street you have perhaps 
 seen a poor child ragged and forlorn, and cold and hungry. 
 The whole look of the child seems, “I am left to myself.” 
 The cold wind pours through his ragged clothes—a child 
 left to himself. I have seen a very sad sight sometimes ; 
 a little child of eight, nine, or ten years old, who has com- 
 mitted some crime, and has been brought before the judge 
 Such a child, knowing neither how to read or write, has 
 been found to have been left to itself. 
 
78 SEI]MONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 I want to tell you of a sadder thing still It isa very 
 sad sight to see a child so uneducated and left to itself as 
 to suffer in its body. But in that sense none of you are 
 likely to be left to yourselves. You are well cared for, you 
 have warm clothes, and kind friends whom God has given 
 the means to care for you. But there is a sadder thing 
 @nan all that I have just spoken of—it is a child’s soul left 
 to itself—a child who has not heard about Jesus Christ. 
 This is why I speak to you at these services. These services 
 are for you, boys and girls, that you should not be left to 
 yourselves. I want to say a few simple words about com- 
 ing to church in the afternoon. 
 
 Always be here in good time You know very well that 
 if any of you got a message from the Queen you would 
 not be late in attending. You would be in a state of 
 anxiety all the morning in order to make sure that you 
 would be intime. Here is the King of kings waiting for 
 you to learn the lesson which His Holy Spirit teaches. Be 
 in time. 
 
 When you come in, pray to God. Do not look around 
 to see any of your friends, but pray to God. 
 
 And then remember, in the next place, that you do not 
 come to hear the sermon only. You come here, of course, 
 to listen to what I have to teach you—so far as God gives 
 me the power to do so—but first of all to tell God all you 
 need, all about your sins, and to ask God for His dear 
 Son’s sake, Jesus Christ, to save you. Remember the 
 prayers, remember the hymns, these are parts of the ser- 
 vice you come here for as well as the words which God 
 speaks to you through His servants. 
 
 Listen to the sermon as a lesson from God to you. 
 When God makes me speak to you of some fault do not 
 say, “That is for my little friend, or brother or sister.” 
 Ask in your own heart, Am I not the one? And then I 
 tell you of Christ’s great love, of how He died for you 
 when there was not a being in God’s world that cared for 
 you. Put your whole trust in Him, cast yourself upon 
 Him as a drowning man upon a plank. He is your 
 Saviour. All you have to do is to put out your hand 
 and say, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” 
 
 And then one more word about coming here. Come 
 here expecting that God will give you some good. I do 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 79 
 not think you will get much unless you expect it. Come 
 here and say, “I am determined something or other shall 
 be made mine.” If you were starving, and saw a table 
 laden with meat and fruits, you could not be satisfied with 
 simply looking at it. It will not do to look around on 
 others getting God’s blessing; all that is no good except 
 you take it for yourself. Say, all the blessings here are 
 for me; all Christ’s love is for me. It must be all taken 
 for yourself to be any good. God never leaves any man, 
 woman, or child to himself. God sends to some danger, 
 and to others blessings and joy; but it is all for the best. 
 The most awful thing written of any man is written in the 
 Bible. A man had turned to idols, and God said: “ Let 
 him alone.” The most awful thing that can happen to you 
 is not pain or sorrow, but the one awful thing is, “ Let that 
 one alone.” You may thank God even for the pain, even 
 for the trouble or whatever it may be that oppresses you; 
 it shows that God is not leaving you alone, but is deter- 
 mined to have you Himself, through Jesus Christ. As 
 long as you can feel a single sentiment in your heart of 
 pain when you hear of evil, or of joy when you hear of the 
 glad things of Jesus Christ, you may be certain that God 
 is not leaving you alone. In moments of lying awake at 
 night, in times of sorrow, in times of danger, in all these 
 ways God is coming to you, determined not to let you 
 alone. In the cold, it is only when he falls asleep that a 
 man is in danger. 
 
 A strong man coming home at night one cold day after 
 his work, laid down in a lime kiln for warmth, and fell 
 asleep. Next morning his comrades found not the man, 
 but merely the cinder of what had been the man. The 
 man had never felt the fire ; if he had felt it he would have 
 been saved. So long as you feel, there is hope; the only 
 danger is when you become dead to God’s voice. Then 
 we must leave you in God’s hands. Try to make these 
 ' services a blessing to yourselves. Then is the message for 
 you. God says, “Give me thine heart.” Remember who 
 asks for it—Jesus Christ, who came from heaven to earth, 
 and went through the agony and shame and death—He 
 who had no sin Himself, but bore all that to save you, and 
 who rejoices againand again over every one who cometh 
 to Him, for none shall be cast out. “Give me your heart,” 
 
80 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 said God. Can you refuse when you think who asks you ? 
 It is Jesus Christ. 
 T; i Ss. 
 
 XXV. The Good Example of Four Wise 
 Creatures. Prov. xxx. 24. “ There be four things which 
 are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.” 
 
 A MAN called Agur once said, “There be four things 
 which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding 
 wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
 their meat in summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet 
 make they their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no 
 king, yet go they forth all of them by bands ; the spider 
 taketh hold with her hands, and is in king’s palaces.” The 
 wisdom of those creatures is worth thinking about, and 
 worth imitating. We will take them one by one. 
 
 I. “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
 their meat in summer.” As instinct makes certain insects 
 prepare for winter, when they will be certain to suffer if 
 they have no store of food, so experience teaches thinking 
 creatures that they ought also to prepare for the future. 
 Many, unfortunately, are not so wise as these insects, and 
 waste money and time to such an extent that when sick, or 
 
 ‘without work, or in old age, they have to seek that help 
 from others, which, had they been more thrifty, they never 
 would have required. 
 
 There are other ways also in which a like want of wisdom 
 may be shown. For example, the entrance to most pro- 
 fessions is now obtained only after passing strict examina- 
 tions, and failure in these is a certain thing to those who 
 will not carefully prepare beforehand. In the same way, 
 all life is just a series of trials of the results of previous 
 preparations. Men and women are useful only when they 
 have such qualities as honesty, truthfulness, energy, courage, 
 kindliness, good temper, prudence, and some learning. 
 These good things are thoroughly obtained only after long 
 efforts, and they who do not begin early and persevere 
 diligently in seeking them can never be as useful as they 
 might have been. Then when we recall how our good 
 qualities are put to the test here, we cannot but remember 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 81 
 
 that hereafter all shall be judged “ every man according to 
 their works,’ when the results of our lives here will have 
 a tremendous influence on a great future elsewhere—a day 
 when the books will be opened. 
 
 We may thus all desire that which may make us care for 
 our future, as much as instinct makes some insects care 
 for their future. 
 
 Seeing thus how much depends on a preparation for 
 the future, we ought to seek strength to become “ diligent 
 in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” That 
 strength is given to those who acknowledge and serve Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 II. “ The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their 
 houses in the rocks.” There are no conies in our country. 
 The creatures in this country that they most resemble in 
 their habits are our wild rabbits, who, like them, are but a 
 feeble folk, and yet often make their homes among rocks, 
 or in stony places. A feeble creature can make itself 
 strong by thus going where its enemies cannot reach it. 
 Foxes, hares, and rabbits, when driven from a low-lying 
 country, take refuge in the hills and among the rocks. 
 Men hunted by enemies have often had to do the same. 
 Sir William Wallace, King Robert Bruce, the Covenanters, 
 Prince Charles Edward, and many others that you read 
 about in Scottish history and elsewhere, had to do this. 
 As instinct and experience thus prompt all creatures to 
 seek safety in strong places, so all wisdom tells us that we 
 ought to seek safety from troubles and temptations and the 
 fear of God’s anger. As children go to their parents in 
 distress, so we ought all to go to our Father in Heaven, 
 
 ‘who is said to be “ our refuge and strength.” Thinking of 
 this, we may remember what our Lord said about the house 
 built on the rock and the house built on the sand ; and we 
 may remember also how many who have been in trouble 
 about us have been able to say :— 
 
 “ Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee.” 
 
 III. * The Jocusts have no king yet go they forth all of 
 them by bands.” Locusts are large insects that travel 
 together in great companies, and eat up everything in the 
 fields, so that, where they go, no food is left for cattle or 
 
 G 
 
82 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 for sheep, and great distress is caused to all the people 
 who live there. They are to be dreaded, because they go 
 in such numbers. If they were few in number, or if they 
 were scattered over the country—a few here and a few 
 there—they would have little power, To be wise, then, as 
 the locusts, we must learn to work together. What anum- 
 ber of people scattered about, and working without direc- 
 tion, cannot do, the same number working together, under 
 orders, can easily do. It is the long pull, the strong pull, 
 and above all, the pull altogether, that does the work. We 
 must all try, then, not to quarrel with one another ; but to 
 be helpful to one another, to obey orders, and to do our 
 duty well. The one careless, bad-tempered boy or girl in 
 the family, or school, or workshop, is not much ; but his or 
 her badly done work hurts the work and the tempers of 
 others; and the strength of the whole “ band ” is lessened. 
 We, as Christians, are the subjects of the kingdom of 
 heaven, and we ought, therefore, to be as a “band,” not 
 spreading desolation, but peace and happiness. Each one 
 can do a little to help this great good. 
 
 IV. “ Zhe spider taketh hold with her hands, and is 
 in kings’ palaces.” Every boy or girl has heard about 
 Robert Bruce lying down and thinking that he was quite 
 beaten, and then taking such encouragement from the 
 sight of a spider trying again and again to make a web, 
 that he roused himself to new exertions that ended in great 
 success. The spider gives a wonderful example of perse- 
 verance, as all the girls who have to clean rooms know 
 only too well. Sweep as you like, the cobwebs will appear, 
 and that even in “kings’ palaces.” To be wise as the 
 spider we must try, and try, and try again. There are 
 lessons to learn, bad habits to be overcome, bad tempers to 
 be mastered. When you find that these are difficult, think 
 of the spider, and be wise as the spider. 
 
 God has thus given us a good example in these four 
 creatures, and as we ought to know much more than ants, 
 conies, locusts, and spiders, we show ourselves to be both 
 wicked and stupid if we do not learn, like them, to provide 
 for the future, to seek true safety, to work well together 
 and always to persevere. 
 
 R. W. W. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 83 
 
 XXVI. The Words of King Lemuel.—Prov.xxxi.1. 
 “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother 
 taught him.” 
 
 THAT is the beginning of the chapter, and the chapter is 
 full of lessons of wisdom. What I want to speak to you 
 about to-day is, that here is a chapter in the Bible, and the 
 writer commences by saying that King Lemuel learned 
 these words from his mother. What honour is here put 
 upon his mother and upon her teaching! If you ask me 
 who King Lemuel was, I know nothing but his name. If 
 you ask me about the one who taught him these words, I 
 do not know her name, but that she was his mother. 
 
 And so what I want you to learn from it to-day, my 
 young friends, is the immense importance of what you learn 
 while you are young. Here are the words of a mother, 
 taught to her child. A mother is the dearest thing we 
 have. Do you ever think, boys and girls, how a mother 
 looking at the little one coming into the world, wonders 
 what manner of child it will be? A good child is a great 
 blessing and a bad child is an awful thing. And so this 
 mother thought when she looked at her little one, ‘‘ What 
 manner of child shall this be?” and she resolved so far as 
 in her power he should grow up brave and strong and good. 
 It is a little matter whether we become great in the world, 
 but oh, it does matter everything whether we aregood. A 
 good mother! You know David was king of Israel. God 
 had shown him great kindness, but he committed the most 
 terrible sins. He became a murderer among other things, 
 and yet though he had committed an abominable murder, 
 he came back in tears and penitence to God, and he 
 pleaded with God. He prayed God to turn to him again 
 and save him. And what do you think he called himself? 
 “The son of Thy kandmazd.” He pleaded the memory of 
 his mother in prayer to God. And so Lemuel—whoever 
 he was—was weil looked to by his mother as to his 
 character. 
 
 There are two things I want you to remember. They 
 are not simple, these two words—character and reputation. 
 “T would like to be a person of good reputation,” a boy 
 will say. Now, what is the difference between character 
 and reputation? Your reputation is what other people 
 
84 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 think of you. Well, if they think according to what is true, 
 it is of importance for you to havea good reputation. But 
 character means what God sees you to be. That is far 
 more important. Characteris what you are really; repu- 
 tation is what people think about you. And so when we 
 find the mother of Lemuel looking after his character and 
 life, his reputation can take care of itself. Let us be pure, 
 true, faithful, holy in the sight of God, and then we shall 
 be able to say with one of the noblest men who ever lived, 
 St. Paul, ‘‘ With me it is a small matter with any man’s 
 judgment. He that judgeth me is the Lord.”” He did not 
 care about reputation. The mother of Lemuel said to him, 
 ‘« My son be true, be pure, be loving, be faithful to God; 
 and then let the world say what they like about you.” 
 
 Boys and girls, we shall never know till the great day, 
 when all things are made known, what a blessing a mother’s 
 words have been—what an influence the things we have 
 learned when we have been young have had upon us. The 
 things we learn when we are young are infinitely more 
 important than when weare old. ‘‘ Train up achild inthe 
 way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart . 
 from it.’”’ Augustine was a heathen and a man of great 
 intellect and great power to do good or evil. His mother 
 prayed him to be a Christian, and he struggled against 
 sin; and when he was really won to Christ, the mother of 
 Augustine said, ‘‘ | have nothing more now to do on earth. 
 Why should I remain here? I only wished to linger here 
 to see you a Christian. Now God has given me this, I 
 want no more.”” Three days afterward she died. And 
 though perhaps our mothers are not the saints and heroines 
 the mother of Augustine was, still, if we treasure up the 
 words of kindness our mothers give us, they will be of use 
 in the days to come. I want you to know, my young 
 friends, the tremendous importance of the things you learn 
 while you are young; and oh, when you come to be old 
 you will find the things we meet now—the friendships, the 
 love, the lessons, the joys and fears—linger on with a 
 strange power ever after. 
 
 I have been told the story of a pit far away in the coal 
 country. When the miners had penetrated to a certain 
 place they came to what was once an old mine, but owing to 
 an explosion forty years before, it had been given up. And 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 85 
 
 there they found the body of ayoung man. He was quite 
 fresh, with no signs of decay, because when the explosion 
 had taken place,and he had been working there, the explo- 
 sion had so driven the earth that he was covered in in the 
 coal mine; and his body had been preserved there by the 
 strange action of the gas. The body was brought up to 
 the surface, and there stood a wondering crowd of men and 
 women, and this body, forty years buried there, had still 
 the freshness and form of youth. And in the crowd there 
 was one old woman of sixty, who was known to spend her 
 life in doing good, and was called ‘‘ Mother” by every one. 
 She rushed forward with a wild shriek and flung herself on 
 the body, and kissed what had been a corpse for forty 
 years. 
 
 She had grown old; he had remained young though 
 dead. That was the lover of her early days. They were 
 to be married the day after the explosion which had killed 
 many, him among others, and left his body in the mine. 
 
 It seems to me, some old forgotten love of early life, 
 some memories of a loved home, some words of a favourite 
 hymn, some words of a loved text, some words of a loved 
 father, some words of aloved mother—these lie buried for 
 years and years; but they come back some day with all 
 the freshness and all the beauty of their early utterances. 
 Treasure them, boys and girls, and lay them up, so that 
 in the days to come the words of your mother may be your 
 help and strength. die sy 
 
 XXVII. White Garments. Eccizs. ix. 8. ‘‘ Let thy 
 garments be always white.” 
 
 WHITE isa favourite colour with all of us. There is some- 
 thing heavenly about it; and so the Bible describes the 
 redeemed as wearing ‘‘ white robes,” and the throne of 
 judgment as being a ‘‘great white throne.” 
 
 There is nothing prettier for children to wear than white. 
 So we robe our babies in it for their baptism, our brides 
 for their marriage, our May queens for their court on the 
 lawn. 
 
 But there is acertain responsibility about these ‘‘ white 
 
86 SERMONS TO CHILDREN 
 
 garments.” They are easily soiled, and what is more 
 offensive than soiled white ! 
 
 Now Solomon took his figure from this universal love of 
 white garments, and yet the quickness with which they 
 get defiled. A Christian’s conscience and character are 
 his white garments. The conscience is the inner, hidden 
 garment. The character is the outer, visible garment. 
 Sin is what defiles them both. Disobedience, temper, 
 envy, vanity, falsehood, selfishness—these are some of the 
 common spots which appear on them, and it is to put us 
 on our guard against these that our text whispers in our 
 ears, ‘“ Let thy garments be always white.” 
 
 Now none of our garments are white by nature. We 
 are born with sinful hearts. None but the Holy Spirit 
 can make them white, or keep them white afterwards. He 
 makes them white by convincing us of sin, bringing us to 
 Jesus for forgiveness, and implanting a hatred of sin in 
 us. 
 
 The Holy Spirit advises us how to keep our garments 
 white, and promises the grace for it. We have to use both 
 the advice and the grace to keep our garments white. 
 There must be a constant attention to five things. 
 
 I. The Bible. 
 
 The Bible teaches us what is sinful, where it lurks, how 
 to avoid it, and what God thinks of it, how it grieves Him 
 and dishonours them. 
 
 “ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By 
 taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” 
 
 Half the stains on some Christians’ garments can be 
 traced to neglect of the study of the Scriptures. 
 
 II. The Cross—the blood of Jesus. 
 
 Doing our best, sins of infirmity will break out. What 
 are we todo? Look to Jesus. To that fountain opened 
 for sin and uncleanness we must repair daily and hourly. 
 Do not be afraid of His rejecting you because you are 
 children. 
 
 III. Prayer. 
 
 By this you will ask and receive grace from Him to 
 resist evil. If you trust to your own power, Satan will be 
 too strong for you. In the battle you will rely on your 
 own armour, and he will treat you as Goliath of Gath 
 fancied he could treat David. What is your shield that it 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 87 
 
 should parry his stroke, or your hand that it should fence 
 with his ! 
 
 But if, by humble prayer, you draw down on yourself 
 the might of the Mightier than he, then you will be a 
 match for him, and he will flee before you. 
 
 IV. Watchfulness. 
 
 We must keep on the alert always if we desire white 
 garments. No sleeping, no throwing the reins to the horse, 
 no yielding our boat to the tide. 
 
 V. Self-denial. 
 
 This is a hard part of our task, but if we are resolved to 
 gratify self, it will lead us into hundreds of defiling things. 
 “I cannet do this, I ought not, I will not,” are difficult 
 expressions to utter, but they are the secret of garments 
 “always white.” 
 
 “That “always ” is emphatic, it points to ceaseless anxiety 
 and effort. 
 
 Never till death translates us beyond temptation can we 
 consider that our warfare in this matter is accomplished. 
 
 There are four reasons why we should cultivate holiness. 
 
 1. Because it insures peace. 2. Because it insures your 
 being useful. 3. Because it insures your nearness to God. 
 
 _ 4 Because we shall then be prepared for death. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 « 
 
 XXVIII. “Rock of Ages.” Isa. xxvi. 4. “ Trust 
 
 ye in the Lord for ever: for in Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.” 
 MANY young people who know and sing the hymn,— 
 
 “ Rock of Ages, cleft for me,” 
 
 _ would perhaps be at a loss to find out, in the Bible, the 
 _ place where that name of our God and Saviour occurs. 
 
 We are familiar with the words, but are they in the 
 Scriptures ? 
 
 Do you find that name of God anywhere in the Bible ? 
 It describes Him, truly and gloriously, as unchangeable 
 and sure, and at the same time as a refuge and shelter ta 
 which we may run and be safe. It speaks of security for 
 us in Him who, like a great rock, is the same yesterday 
 
88 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 to-day, and for ever. But is it a Bible name for God, our 
 Saviour ? 
 
 “Yes,” says one of our readers, who in reading the word 
 turns his eye at times to the margin as well as the text, 
 “JT have found it! Itis in Isaiah xxvi. 4: ‘ Trust ye im the 
 Lord for ever: forin Fah Fehovah ts the Rock of Ages.’ 
 In God Himself, says the prophet, in God, who alone has 
 the name “Jah” and “ Jehovah,” you find an immovable, 
 unchangeable, safe, secure refuge and shelter and home. 
 
 Toplady, the author of the hymn, was an eminent and 
 devoted minister of Christ, who died about a hundred 
 years ago. On his deathbed he had days of sunshine from 
 the presence of the Lord. He fed upon the Word, and 
 sometimes broke out into utterances of adoration and joy, 
 as if already in the third heaven. This hymn, so well 
 known among us, “ Rock of Ages,” was a favourite one 
 with himself. In publishing it, he described it as “A 
 living and dying prayer for the holiest believer in the 
 world.” 
 
 A beautiful incident in connection with it occurred a 
 year ago. One of the “Jubilee Singers,’ a black student 
 of Fisk University, in America, was on board a steamer 
 that took fire. He had presence of mind to fix life- 
 preservers on himself and his wife; but in the agony of 
 despair, when all on board were trying to save themselves, 
 some one dragged off from his wife the life-preserver, so 
 that she found herself helpless amid the waters. But she 
 clung to her husband, placing her hands firmly on his 
 shoulders as he swam on. After a little, her strength was 
 exhausted. “I can hold on no longer,” was her cry. 
 “Try a little longer,” was her husband’s agonized entreaty ; 
 and then he added, “Let us sing ‘Rock of Ages”” Im- 
 mediately they both began faintly to sing, and their strains 
 fell upon the ears of many around them, while they were 
 thus seeking to comfort each other. One after another of 
 the feeble and nearly exhausted swimmers was noticed 
 raising his head above the waves and joining in the 
 prayer,— 
 
 “ Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee,” etc. 
 Strength seemed to come with the song; and they were 
 able to hold out a little longer, still faintly singing. A 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 89 
 
 boat, a life-boat, was seen approaching, and they did get 
 strength to keep themselves afloat till the crew lifted them 
 on board. And thus Toplady’s hymn helped to save more 
 than one or two from death by sea, as it has often helped 
 to save souls ready to perish. 
 
 But what does that line mean that speaks of the Rock 
 as “cleft,” comparing it to Christ’s “riven” or “ pierced 
 side”? It refers—1. To the smiting of the rock at 
 Rephidim (Ex. xvii. 6), when waters flowed forth like a 
 river for the thirsty people. 2. To Moses being placed by 
 God in a cleft of the rotk (Exod. xxxiii. 21, 22), perhaps 
 just above where the waters gushed forth when the rock 
 was “smitten.” It was there, standing in that cleft, that 
 Moses saw as much of glory as he could bear, and heard 
 God Himself proclaim His glorious perfections. Put these 
 two together—the rock cleft that the water might flow 
 forth, and Moses standing in the cleft—and you have a 
 type or picture of a sinner hid in Christ, who was smitten 
 for us, and from whom flow all the streams of blessing to 
 our souls. 
 
 Tell all men of this Jesus, “the Rock of Ages, cleft for 
 us;” tell sinners young and old, at home and abroad; 
 tell the Jew and the Gentile. But all the time see that 
 your own heart is full of what you tell to others. Indeed, 
 if you yourself are finding a heaven in “the Rock of Ages, 
 cleft for you,” your joy will affect others who see it ; just 
 as the singing of that hymn, to cheer their own souls, drew 
 the attention of so many others ready to sink and perish. 
 
 A. A. B. 
 
 XXIX. The Secret of true Strength. Isa. xxx 7. 
 “ Your strength ts to sit still.” 
 
 WHICH of us does not wish to be strong? Strength is 
 such a fine thing. It brings us fame, it makes us inde- 
 pendent, it is a well-spring of joy in us. We cannot help 
 admiring it in others, we cannot help coveting it for our- 
 selves. 
 
 I. There are many different kinds of strength. 
 
 There is the strength of the crane, which can lift a couple 
 of tons as easily as we could a couple of ounces, There 
 
go SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 is the strength of the engine, which can drag a train fifty 
 times as long and as heavy as itself. There is the strength 
 of gunpowder, which can tear a solid rock to pieces, or 
 throw an immense cannon ball a mile anda half. There 
 is the strength of the elephant, which has to be measured 
 by dozens of horses. There is the strength of giant men, 
 whose fist falls with the weight of a sledge hammer. 
 
 Then there is the strength of countries, such as our own: 
 their power to defend themselves and conquer their enemies. 
 There is the strength to bear up under trouble, to resist 
 temptation, to overcome evil, to do what is good. And 
 lastly, there is the strength which comes of the feeling that 
 we are safe, because we are doing what is right and have 
 God on our side. 
 
 This is the strength spoken of in our text. The Jews 
 wanted to have a sense of security in the midst of foes 
 They sought to get it by forming an alliance with their 
 ancient masters and oppressors, on the banks of the Nile. 
 God was angry at this, and tells them that the strength of 
 Pharaoh shall be their shame, and their trust in the shadow 
 of Egypt their confusion. They may try, but they cannot 
 profit them. “Therefore,” says the prophet, “ have I cried 
 to them, that their strength is to sz¢ stz//.” This leads us 
 to our second point. 
 
 Il. Zhe secret of true strength. 
 
 The key to the armoury or arsenal is a little thing; but 
 it lets you in to the stores with which you could equip an 
 army or a fleet. 
 
 Now a lion's strength lies in Ub shoulders ; a giraffe’s in 
 his legs; an eagle’s in his wings. Samson’s was found to 
 be in his curly locks. A fortress’s is in its walls ; a ship’s 
 in its keel; a nation’s in its wealth, and the number and 
 bravery of her sons. Strength to endure affliction is in a 
 courageous heart; and strength to triumph in the arts 
 and sciences is ina gifted mind. But the strength which 
 we are talking of is where we should never have ex- 
 pected it to be—in sztting still, Is not that curious? You 
 would have thought that it was just the opposite, and that 
 to have it you must be busy and bustling, and running 
 hither and thither, as the ants do to collect their winter 
 stores. You say, suppose the ants should sit still, what 
 would happen to them? or suppose the squirrels should 
 
SERMONS 70 CHILDREN. 91 
 
 sit still when the nuts and acorns are dropping from the 
 trees ; or suppose the bees should sit still when the dande- 
 lions and violets are scenting the hedgerows ; or suppose 
 the birds should sit still when the nest-building month has 
 begun,—would ¢/ey find that it was “their strength” to sit 
 still ? 
 
 But do not let us forget, that, as Solomon says, there is 
 a time for everything. There is a time for activity and a 
 time for sitting still. I shall answer your questions by 
 similar questions. Suppose that the ants ventured to run 
 about when there was an ant-eater ready to lick them up 
 with his tongue. Suppose that the squirrels ventured down 
 on to the ground when the boys were pelting them with 
 stones. Suppose that the bees ventured to fly abroad 
 when the thermometer was below zero. Suppose that the 
 birds ventured to leave their eggs to be hatched by the 
 sun. 
 
 So, you observe, that there is a season when the 
 “strength,” even of ants, and squirrels, and bees, and birds, 
 is to sit still. If they refuse to sit still they expose them- 
 selves, and will perish. And are there not those of our own 
 race whose strength is nearly always to sit still—infants, 
 invalids, prisoners, and the poor slaves! What will they 
 gain by restlessness, resistance, and determination to follow 
 their own inclinations? Would you not “cry to them con- 
 cerning this, Your strength is to sit still?” You, baby, will 
 only hurt yourself scrambling about. You, invalid, will only 
 hinder your recovery by exertion. You, prisoner, will only 
 lengthen your punishment by endeavouring to escape. 
 You, poor slave, will only tighten your chains by striking 
 before deliverance is at hand. 
 
 And now let us transfer this idea to ourselves. May it 
 not often be our strength to sit still? There is weakness 
 in much of our fancied strength. We are as foolish as 
 the ostrich, which thrusts her head into a bush, and then 
 believes that she is safe from her hunters. 
 
 So we fret and wear ourselves out about things which 
 really do not “ profit” us, and which, in the hour of trial, 
 would be a “shame” anda “confusion” tous. Whata 
 deal of looking to creatures there is—bruised reeds at best. 
 What a deal of unnecessary work, and reading, and fidget- 
 ting, and worrying, and chattering thereis. Is it not quite 
 
g2 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 the fashion of the day to live publicly instead of in retire- 
 ment ; noisily instead of peacefully ; as turbid cataracts 
 instead of gentle flowing rivulets? My experience of 
 most modern children is, that they are either overdriving 
 themselves, or being overdriven on hard and dusty race- 
 courses, when, as colts, they should be feeding and training 
 out of sight in green pastures. I pity them. I remember 
 a childhood of “ quietness and confidence,” which has ever 
 since been my strength, and sigh when I notice how the 
 sheltered fold is kicked at, and the youthful graces are 
 sacrificed for an early show and admiration. 
 
 Now will you listen to advice which is not mine, but 
 your Creator’s, Preserver’s, Saviour’s? Will you ponder 
 this heavenly counsel? “ Your strength is to sit still.” 
 
 III. I will mention four ways of sitting still and gather- 
 ing strength. 
 
 (1) In shunning the glare and excitement of the fashion- 
 able world. How this dissipates, exhausts, and enfeebles! 
 It drains you as you drain an orange, till nothing remains 
 but the empty skin. Cultivate modesty, simple tastes, 
 self-discipline, the habit of reflection. Do not be “careful 
 and cumbered ” as Martha was; but listen, and learn, and 
 love, as Mary did. Sit still in the study—in the sweet 
 fields, where nature opens her book to you—in the closet 
 where God draws near to you. 
 
 There is no mistaking those who sit still in these respects, 
 and how they gain strength in so doing. 
 
 (2) Sit still at the feet of your ministers and teachers. 
 Don’t imagine that you are wiser than they, and can be 
 your own pilot. You have scarcely touched the ocean’s 
 brink, whilst they have traversed it in frequent voyages, 
 and seen its rocks and shoals, its tides and storms. They 
 can direct you to lamps by which you can walk in the 
 darkness, and to planks on which you can cross precipices, 
 and woe to those who will not be guided to them. Submit 
 yourselves to them in the fear of God. Do not beridiculed 
 into self-conceit and presumption. The wild asses in our 
 schools and congregations who snuff at the bridles and 
 traces generally end in being strangled by the lasso, Ah! 
 how they mourn at the last, and say, How have I hated 
 instruction and despised reproof. 
 
 (3) Szt still at the cross of Fesus. This is the sitting still 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 93 
 
 which obtains us salvation. The ceasing from striving to 
 restore ourselves to God’s favour by our cwn deeds, by 
 repentances, mortifications, amendments, charities; and 
 the embracing of Christ as our perfect obedience, atone- 
 ment, advocate, Friend. It is the deholding the Lamb of 
 God, and not the earning God’s mercy ; it is the yielding 
 ourselves to Him and His righteousness, and not the 
 struggling to establish a righteousness of our own. 
 
 How blessed a privilege, to fetch our load of sin, our 
 wounds and fetters, our obstinate will, and our depraved 
 atiections, and cast them there before a bleeding Redeemer, 
 and then sit still under His championship for evermore! 
 
 (4) Sit still under God’s providence. Do you not grow 
 calm in danger when your father plants himself between 
 you and it; when he says to you, “ My darling, it shall not 
 harm you.” With your father with you, you will dare the 
 midnight gloom, the churchyard ghosts, the sea’s crested 
 waves, the herd of cattle—you sit still, as it were, under 
 his protection. 
 
 Now God’s providence is a thousand-fold what the ten- 
 derest father’s protection is. For God is omnipotent, and 
 He is aware of whatever there is in the future; and He 
 is infinitely compassionate; and He has said that not a 
 sparrow dies but He permits it. He clothes the lilies, and 
 feeds the ravens, and counts our hairs. He has sketched 
 out our path from the cradle to the grave, and what He 
 has ordered Hecan control. He will be our shield in battle, 
 our watcher in sickness. He will be our pillar of cloud 
 and of fire in the wilderness. Cannot we sit still then 
 under this providence, and silence our murmurings and 
 doubts; and when Satan says to us, Flee or be over- 
 whelmed, reply, I am sitting still under the banner of 
 Jehovah, and you cannot overwhelm me. 
 
 In conclusion : those who do this will nourish and cherish 
 their strength as the flowers do theirs by underground roots 
 and imperceptible dews. Resolve to be docile, attentive, 
 humble, prayerful. Be fond of shining rather as the glow- 
 worm in the lanes, than as a sheet of tin or a bit of broken 
 mirror in the street. 
 
 Collect strength now to use it by-and-by. The Lord 
 Himself was an example in this, when He went down from 
 the Temple to Nazareth, and was subject to His parents 
 
94 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 for twenty years. Could He “sit still” to mature His 
 “strength” for twenty years—He who was God manifest 
 in the flesh—and will you be impatient of sitting still, when 
 your strength is but as a blade of grass compared with His? 
 May He who was your example in this, as in everything, 
 aid your doing what is so difficult for you to do, and you 
 will prove the truth of the old proverb, illustrated by the 
 fable of the hare and the tortoise—/asten slowly. 
 J. B. 
 
 XXX. The Lamb Slain. Isa. liii 7. “He was brought 
 as a lamb to the slaughter.” 
 
 MosT of us have never seen lambs “brought to the 
 slaughter.” We have only seen them on their way to it, 
 with the butchers shouting and the dogs barking. Then 
 the pretty creatures rushed in at the fatal door; and when 
 we saw them again they were hanging dead in the shop 
 window! meanwhile, in that dreadful house they had been 
 tied with cords, the cruel knife had drawn their blood, and 
 they had given up their lives to be food for us. That 
 seems hard, very hard; but it is going on every hour. 
 Hundreds of thousands of lambs are thus “ brought to the 
 slaughter” year by year in England. Now mark what is 
 said in this short text, of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 —‘“ He was brought asa lamb to theslaughter.” It would 
 be solemn if He had died peacefully, as our beloved parents 
 do; but He died violently by the hands of wicked men. 
 We have to think of Him being “crucified and slain,”— 
 “brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” Oh, have you no tears 
 for this scene? And do not say, ‘“‘but it happened more than 
 eighteen hundred years ago 5 I could not help it, and He 
 does not care about it now.” Do you not know that your 
 sins brought | Him to the slaughter; that He was “bearing 
 your stripes” there ; that it is as fresh in His recollection 
 as if it was but yesterday ; ; and that if you are ever to be 
 forgiven, and to get to heaven, it will be by simple faith in 
 what He then and there suffered i your stead ? 
 
 This is salvatton !—Looking up at the Son of God nailed 
 on the cross, bleeding, fainting, thirsting, crying, breath- 
 ing out His soul in that sigh, “It is finished,” and saying 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 95 
 
 “He was brought to that slaughter” for me; “He loved 
 me, and gave Himself for me.” 
 
 But now let us ask and answer some questions. 
 
 I. Who was the “Lamb?” The Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 What the prophet says before and after about Him leaves 
 us in no doubt about this. Read it for yourselves, and say 
 if it is not the Gospel of St. Matthew or St. Luke in a 
 parable. 
 
 But what a Lamb was this! the Lamb of God surely,— 
 God Himself manifest in the flesh. Study His miracles, 
 His teaching, His character, His work, until the apostles 
 and martyrs, until kings, and until the angels themselves 
 appear utterly unworthy to loose His shoe’s latchet. There 
 never was such a wonderful, beautiful, glorious being on 
 earth. The marvel is that all creation did not crowd down 
 here to behold Him, and worship Him, and shout His 
 praise! And yet He here was brought “as a lamb to the 
 slaughter.” 
 
 II. What was the slaughter ? 
 
 Sad as this is, we must not hide it from our eyes. The 
 Bible is full of the minutest details about it; the mock 
 trial, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the spitting and 
 blasphemy ; then the weary walk to Calvary; then the 
 executioners driving in the spikes; then the scoffing, the 
 languishing, the few brief utterances, so expressive of 
 intense pain; then the darkness; then the last loud 
 wail ; then the sudden silence. 
 
 It was a slaughter so brutal that we would not inflict it 
 on a Savage; so shameful, that it was reserved for Roman 
 slaves ; so public, that the sun itself interfered to veil Him, 
 from those rude gazers; so agonizing, that the soldiers 
 themselves wanted to stupefy Him with myrrh and vinegar. 
 
 And not a friend but John and His mother to stand by 
 Him ! the rest were actually rejoicing in His torments, and 
 taunting Him as if He had been a dog. 
 
 The slaughter of the lamb is purest mercy in compar- 
 rison! What mortal terrors would scourge us if it was 
 allotted to us. 
 
 III. What “brought” Him here to this slaughter ? 
 
 You say the malice of the Jews and the order of Pontius 
 Pilate. These, indeed, were the immediate instruments of 
 it,—these were His betrayers and murderers, and nothing 
 
96 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 can lighten their crime. But still He need not have been 
 delivered up to them. He could have escaped from them 
 as easily as an eagle from a flock of sparrows. Did He not 
 say this as they bound Him in the Garden of Gethsemane? 
 But if He had so escaped, how could He have wrought out 
 our redemption? Therefore we must remember that He 
 was bound for this sacrifice by a threefold cord,— 
 
 The will of the Father. 
 
 His own consent. 
 
 Our guilt. 
 
 The will of His Father, who \aid this commandment upon 
 Him,—“ Go, obey and atone for them ; drink up the cup 
 of My wrath for them ; bear their chastisement.” 
 
 His own consent.— Lo, I come to do Thy will, I delight 
 to doit. Thy law is within My heart.” 
 
 Our guilt He was wounded for our transgressions ; He 
 was bruised for our iniqutties. 
 
 Had He broken away from this threefold cord, as He 
 might if He had chosen, He could not have ransomed us 
 from hell. But He was quiet under it as a lamb,—sub- 
 missive as Isaac to Abraham. 
 
 So it was this that “brought” Him to the slaughter. It 
 was the fulfilment of His covenant with God, for nothing 
 could turn Him from that. When He was perfectly free and 
 at liberty, and no one dreamt of His arrest and slaughter, 
 He said “I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how 
 am I straitened till it is accomplished!” We do not, then, 
 excuse the Jews and Pontius Pilate; but we will not forget 
 the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The 
 Jews and Pontius Pilate could not have brought Him to it 
 without Divine permission. 
 
 IV. Why was He brought to the “slaughter ?” 
 
 Ah! why? God had no pleasure in it. He did not 
 deserve it. It was not an accident. It was not for His own 
 advantage. Then why did He, the infinitely Holy, yield 
 Himself toit? There is but asingle reason: it was for His 
 people. They were doomed ; He would endure their doom. 
 They were accursed ; He would expiate theircurse. They 
 were shut out of God’s favour: He would reconcile them 
 to God by surrendering Himself to God’s indignation. 
 Therefore it is said, “He (Jehovah) hath put Him to grief. 
 He hath carried our sorrows. He was smitten of God and 
 afflicted.” 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 97 
 
 That was our punishment; but He said, “Inflict it on 
 Me, and then pardon them for My sake.” 
 
 It was pity for us, it was the resolve to open the door 
 to the many mansions to us, that “brought” Him to the 
 slaughter. 
 
 That accounts for it,—it was paying there the price for 
 His Church; and the price was sweat and pangs and 
 crimson drops that stained the grass of Golgotha. 
 
 In conclusion. How real a thing is Adam’s fall! 
 
 It brought Immanuel to the slaughter. How fearful, 
 hateful, must those offences of ours be which rendered His 
 slaughter necessary! They are as bad as the Jews and 
 Pontius Pilate. 
 
 How easily God can receive us back to His bosom now! 
 The spotless Lamb has been treated as if He was the 
 “blackest of the black ” for us! 
 
 How fervently we should thank Him, and how closely 
 cling to Him! Who has done us a kindness? are we not 
 grateful to him or her? But who was brought as a lamb 
 to the slaughter for us ? 
 
 How we should try to imitate Him. “As alamb”—so 
 meekly, patiently, gently ! so should we conduct ourselves 
 in trouble, whether it be from God or our fellow-creatures. 
 
 Has this precious Lamb won our affections yet? Have 
 we felt His grace, confessed His right to us, and thrown 
 ourselves at His feet! If not, let us lose no time. He is 
 waiting to embrace us. Conceive what it would be to have 
 wilfully neglected Him “who was led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter” for us. He says to us, “Is that othing to you, 
 all ye that pass by?” And what will we reply to Him ? 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XXXII. Gates. Isa. lxii. 10. “Go through, go through the 
 gates.” 
 
 IN riding across the country, especially in the neighbour- 
 hood of noblemen’s estates, there are so many gates to go 
 through, that you carry a whip which is made on purpose 
 to open them ; or, if driving, the people in the carriage 
 take it by turns to jump out and open them, unless little 
 rosy-cheeked boys and girls are at hand to save you the 
 trouble for a halfpenny. In some parts of America the 
 H 
 
98 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 gates or “bars” are so numerous, that to go through on 
 horseback is about as severe a penance as the Pope can 
 order you, yet it is the only road to the doctor’s or the 
 mill. Have you ever noticed the double and treble sets of 
 gates toa prison? You would despair of getting through 
 them without the warder’s key, or a miracle such as we 
 twice read of in the Book of Acts. God sent His angel to 
 unlock them, and at his presence or touch they yielded, 
 and the Apostles went through. 
 
 I remember when a child, a certain day when Queen 
 Adelaide was to come in a chariot and four from Oxford 
 to Windsor. As the scarlet liveries were seen approaching, 
 the turnpikes flew wide—who would have dared stop that 
 company for toll, or anything else? Was it not the royal 
 command, “Go through, go through the gates?” 
 
 Now so in our text; it was a royal command. It was 
 God’s voice to the Jews. For their transgressions they 
 were exiles in Babylon. For forty years their captivity 
 had lasted ; but there was to be an end of it. They were 
 to return to their own beloved land. King Cyrus would 
 issue the decree (Ezra i. 1-3). The brazen gates of the 
 heathen city, so long closed against them, should let them 
 pass out, and they should depart for Zion with song, and 
 everlasting joy upon their heads. This was God’s promise 
 to them. It was about to be fulfilled, and already the 
 prophet cries aloud to them, “Go through, go through the 
 gates!” 
 
 Gates are useful things. They keep out stray animals 
 which might otherwise wander into our fields and gardens, 
 and ravage them as the hippopotami do the rice plantations 
 on the banks of the Upper Nile. They are also useful in 
 keeping in our flocks and herds, so that we can leave them 
 at night without tethering them, as the Indians and Arabs 
 are obliged to do theirs. They are useful, too, as land- 
 marks—they answer the purpose of mile-stones and sign- 
 posts, in reminding us where we are, and how our journey 
 is progressing. Without these breaks in it, we might forget 
 how far and how fast we are travelling. And then they 
 are still further useful as drawing forth our activity; if we 
 are lazy or timid, they will check us. 
 
 In the Bible we have a variety of gates spoken of. There 
 was the gate of Paradise, out of which Adam and Eve 
 
SERMONS T0O;},CHILDREN. 99 
 
 actually had to be driven—through which they were hur- 
 ried, weeping and woful; and then it was guarded by the 
 flaming sword of the cherubim. 
 
 There was the gate of Sodom, out of which Lot and his 
 wife and daughters were urged by their heavenly visitors. 
 Had they not gone through it, they would have been burnt 
 alive ; for hardly were they escaped, when the storm of fire 
 and brimstone burst over that guilty race. 
 
 There were the gates through which God led the Israel- 
 ites from out of the bondage of Pharaoh into the possession 
 of the land flowing with milk and honey. He said to them, 
 “ Go through, go through the gates!” when the gates were 
 the dry bottom of the Red Sea, with the waters piled on 
 the right and the left; and when they were the dry bottom 
 of the river Jordan, with the waters cut off and “piled ina 
 heap” a league above. 
 
 There were the gates of Jerusalem, through which David 
 fled before his wicked son Absalom; through which 
 Stephen was dragged to martyrdom by the mob; through 
 which our Lord walked, bound and surrounded by soldiers, 
 who had just arrested Him in Gethsemane, and through 
 which, a few hours later, he issued bearing His cross to- 
 wards Calvary, and followed by the lamenting women. 
 And there were the beautiful Temple gates, through which 
 the worshippers went in to the altar, the table of shew- 
 bread, the golden candlestick, and the veil which hid the 
 sacred ark. You will think of more, it may be; but now 
 I want to talk about the gates which we ourselves have to 
 go through :— 
 
 There are gates which we cannot help going through. 
 
 There are gates through which we should escape. 
 
 There are gates which we should strive to enter. 
 
 There are gates which shut us in for eternity. 
 
 First, there are two gates which we cannot help going 
 through. I mean we have no choice about it—we have 
 to go through them whether we will or not. Weare not 
 asked if we will, or would rather not ; we go through them 
 as a chrysalis is changed into a butterfly, and as a cater- 
 pillar is changed into a chrysalis. What gates are these? 
 The gate of life and the gate of death. God arranges our 
 going through these gates for us—the how, the when, the 
 where ; and who would not leave it to Him? who would 
 
100 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 have to fix it for themselves? No; we cheerfully and 
 thankfully confide it to infinite wisdom and kindness: 
 they have tenderly brought us through the one; they wil 
 as tenderly bring us through the other. 
 
 Secondly, there are three gates through which we should 
 escape, as Lot and his wife and daughters did through the 
 gate of Sodom. 
 
 The gate of Sodom through which it was possible to 
 escape, was apparently the sole good thing about it. Now, 
 as we are “by nature children of wrath,” we are born into 
 the kingdom of sin and Satan and the world, a kingdom 
 in rebellion against God, a kingdom which hates His holy 
 laws and fights against Him, and would, if it could, be 
 independent of Him. To remain in this kingdom is to 
 remain in corruption and bondage, under God’s frown, 
 under condemnation ! 
 
 We must “go through, go through its gates,” as for our 
 lives ; through the gate which is opened to us out of si, 
 so that we shall not continue in the enjoyment, excuse, 
 and indulgence of it; through the gate which is opened to 
 us out of the power of Satan, so that we shall not for the~ 
 future be his slaves, compelled to do what he bids us, and 
 yet hating ourselves for doing it; through the gate which 
 is to open to_us out of the allurements oy the ‘world, ' so that ~ 
 it shall not bewilder and drug™us” with its sweets, as the 
 poisonous flower does the flies which settle on it. 
 
 Oh, we must “go through, go through these gates,” or 
 perish. 
 
 Thirdly, there are three gates which we should strive to 
 enter. 
 
 Escaped from the kingdom of sin and Satan and the 
 world, whither are we to fly? Is there no other kingdom 
 in which we may find refuge? Indeed, there is; a happy, 
 peaceful, glorious kingdcm ; “the kingdom of God’s dear 
 Son” (Col. i. 13). It is the nursery of the “inheritance 
 of the saints in light.” And the appointed gates into it 
 are repentance, faith, obedience. These have to be gone 
 through, however strait and narrow they may be, how- 
 ever disagreeable to these proud hearts of ours. But if the 
 finest dressed lady in England wishes to get into the Great 
 Exhibition, she will have to go through a small door and 
 a turn-stile; she can’t sail in in her barouche, or be dropped 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 101 
 
 down in it from a balloon; and if the Emperor himself 
 would get into the Mammoth cave in Kentucky, he will 
 have to crouch and crawl in like an Indian, for a hundred 
 yards. 
 
 Repentance is a /ow gate; sorrow for selfishness and 
 coldness towards God, and obstinacy and the angry temper, 
 and the lying lips. But Christ requires it of us. We feel 
 that it is proper and necessary. And when we have gone 
 through that gate, what joy springs of our tears ! 
 
 Faith is a dzfficult gate; to renounce utterly our hope 
 of delivering ourselves from God’s justice, and intrust our 
 case to Him who says, “I will give you rest.” Yes, it is 
 hard to believe that God’s favour is a free gift; that no 
 money or price can obtain it; that it is to be had simply 
 for “His name’s sake.” But without this faith in His 
 finished redemption, we have yet to go through the prin- 
 cipal gate into the kingdom of God. 
 
 Obedience is a paznful gate ; painful to flesh and blood. 
 For they demand to be consulted, and they cannot bear 
 being mortified. But God’s precepts are plain, and written 
 down for us, and “they are not grievous.” Soon we 
 perceive that they are full of gentleness and reward, and 
 intended to promote our welfare. As we form the habit of 
 obedience, its yoke is easy ; and instead of toiling under it 
 as the ox does under his load, we glide through it as a 
 laden sloop glides down the river with a fair wind and 
 tide. 
 
 Shall we not seek to “go through, go through” these 
 blessed “ gates” ? ; 
 
 Lastly, there are two gates which shut us in for Eternity! 
 
 This is an awful thought. Once go through them and 
 we are shut in irrevocably. No skill, no perseverance, no 
 pleading will unfold them! They resemble those iron 
 gates which we have in London. They will let you in, 
 but not out; you may push and rush at them as you will. 
 They let you in as softly as a mother’s arms, they resist 
 your exit as a wall of adamant would. 
 
 There is the gate of Hell. You can go through it with- 
 out trouble. Stop your ears to our warnings, listen to the 
 devil’s whispering, yield to temptations, and you will go 
 through it as readily as a straw goes into a whirlpool, or a 
 feather into a lion’s den. But be sure of this, that having 
 
102 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 gone through it, it closes upon you! You will go through 
 it no more! Your portion and society thenceforth are 
 whatever lies within it. 
 
 But there is the gate of heaven! My young friends, I 
 beseech you, set your faces as flints towards this gate. 
 Jesus is the “way” to it. Embrace Him, and cleave to 
 Him, and without doubt you shall go through it. Within 
 it is Jesus Himself, waiting to receive you. Within it are 
 the precious relatives who died in Jesus, and whose en- 
 treaties that you would meet them were sealed with their 
 parting kiss. Within are the spirits of the just, from Abel 
 to Martha and Mary. Within it are fountains of living 
 waters. Within it are crowns, and harps, and white robes. 
 Within it you are beyond the reach of sighs and suffering 
 and fears. No medicines, no weary watchings, no tolling 
 bells, no separations, no graves there! These are “ with- 
 out” that gate, with “dogs, and sorcerers, and idolators” 
 (Rev. xxii. 15). The pearly gates which exclude these from 
 it for ever, will encircle you for ever in all this bliss. 
 
 Thrice welcome hour which shall bear us the summons, 
 “Go through, go through the gates, into the joy of thy 
 Lord !” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XXXII. The Fading Leaf. Isa. lxiv. 6. “We ail do 
 fade asa leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken 
 us away.” 
 
 You have all been familiar, in the autumn months, with the 
 leaves gradually losing their fresh green, becoming yellow 
 with spots of decay, and at last falling! lying for a little at 
 the foot of the tree, then whirled away, leaving the leafless 
 branches gaunt and bare against the grey sky. 
 
 We are like those leaves, and sin has made us so. The 
 text tells us three things about sin. 
 
 I. Sz as deadly. —It is not, “We shall ‘de as a leaf,” 
 but “we fade.” The fading is a present thing. Of course 
 it is true that on some future day, near or far off, we shall 
 die and be buried; but this is a present thing! “In che 
 day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” When 
 you sin, you are killing yourself; sin is suicide: “He that 
 sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul.” When- 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 103 
 
 ever you commit asin you separate yourself further and 
 further from the Great Fountain of Life. When you sin 
 you wrong God, you wrong your friends,—but you &ddl 
 your own soul. Holiness is life and peace; sin is death. 
 
 II. Szx zs hateful—tThe fading yellow of the leaves did 
 not seem to the prophet to be beautiful, but hateful, hide- 
 ous, so he took them as a type of sin. Now, sin is a thing 
 that mars beauty, just as some loathsome disease might. 
 Perhaps you have seen some one all marked and scarred 
 who was once beautiful, but never can be so again. That 
 is what sin makes of us. Of some sins you can see 
 the outward traces. Temper wrinkles the face, and makes 
 it unlovely. Drunkenness leaves foul and unmistakable 
 marks, But we have very dim eyes, and are apt to deceive 
 ourselves, and often what is loathsome in God’s sight looks 
 well enough in ours. Only remember He is never deceived, 
 and to Him there is just one ugly thing in the world, and 
 that is sin! just one beautiful thing, and that is goodness. 
 
 III. Szz zs strong.—lIt is like the wind which sweeps 
 the leaves away. And we are like the leaves—very weak 
 before the wind. You know how one sin brings another. 
 If you speak an angry word, and a quarrel begins, you 
 go on from bad words to worse, and perhaps say and do 
 things you will repent all your life. You never meant it. 
 No! but your iniquities, like the wind, carried you away ; 
 Peter denied Christ once, then twice, then a third time. 
 He was taken away by his iniquity. You tell one lie, and 
 then another to hide it, and another and another, till you 
 wonder how you could be so base. Sin is strong! and it 
 has, like the wind, taken you away. 
 
 This is a dark picture. But Jesus Christ throws a bright 
 light on it. Hedied for the faded leaves, that they might 
 become green again. And He is the living Vine, and the 
 leaves in that strong tree are safe, however the winds may 
 sweep, Dear children, are you trusting Him! His blood 
 washes away the stain, and His strength keeps us; and if 
 we are in Him, death is not death any more, but the 
 entrance into life. ‘“ There is but a step between me and 
 death,” said an old minister, “and that step is the Lord 
 Jesus Christ.” 
 
 W. RN. 
 
104 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 XXXIII. A Bunch of Grapes. Isa. Ixv. 8. “ Destroy 
 it not ; for a blessing is in it.” 
 
 THIs is said of a bunch of grapes. What a beautiful, yet 
 what a fragile thing it is! How easily it is “destroyed”! 
 For instance, wild animals might destroy it. “Take us the 
 foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines;” or thieves, 
 in clambering over the walls on which they grow, might 
 tear and crush them ; or boys might throw stones at them 
 in pure mischief when they were out of reach. Hence 
 vineyards are fenced in and watched, and traps are set, 
 and trespassers are warned off. It is to prevent their 
 being “ destroyed.” 
 
 And why not destroy them? Because “a blessing” is 
 in them. Frail as they are, there is that in them which 
 should make them precious in our eyes. 
 
 Here we have four lessons taught us by a bunch of 
 grapes. 
 
 I. That great good may be stored in little things. 
 
 II. That God alone puts it into them. 
 
 III. That they should be spared for this though they are 
 little. 
 
 IV. That if it is lacking in them, they will be undone 
 for ever. 
 
 I. We learn from our text that great good may be stored 
 in little things. A bunch of grapes is a little thing, and 
 yet there is a “blessing” in it. Its juice is most cheering. 
 What would people do in hot countries without it? A 
 bee is a little thing, and yet we owe the delicious honey, 
 with its curious honeycomb, to it. An egg is a little 
 thing; but there is meat enough packed up in it to save 
 your life for days. An acorn is a little thing, and yet 
 there lies in it the future giant oak. 
 
 The infant Moses, and the boy Joseph, and the lad 
 David, and the Hebrew maid, were little in comparison 
 with the princes and captains of their age; but what 
 mighty good was stored in them! The Holy Babe, wrapt 
 in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger at Bethlehem, 
 was little; but in Him was the light which lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world. And what a blessing 
 has flowed out of little books, little tracts, little hymns, 
 little prayers, little words of reproof or encouragement 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 108 
 
 spoken in season! A child may be a missionary to the 
 ignorant children in her or his neighbourhood, a ministre 
 to a careless father or mother, a model to sisters or 
 brothers. With a heart given to Jesus, a child is a sun 
 which cannot but shine, a fountain which cannot but send 
 out streams, a flower which cannot but fill the air with 
 sweetness. 
 
 That is the best of blessings. A heart in which Christ 
 reigns, in which His Spirit dwells, which wears His image 
 and is zealous for His kingdom, such a heart is richer than 
 the “cluster with new wine” in it. It has in it the new 
 wine of God’s grace. 
 
 II. God alone puts the blessing into little things. 
 
 We should remember this lest we be proud and self- 
 conceited. 
 
 Does a watch insert its own wheels and chains? Does 
 a piano contrive its own keys and strings? And who but 
 God imparts to the medicinal herbs their virtue to heal 
 our diseases, or to the grain of wheat its power to throw 
 up the tall stalk with the golden ear on it? 
 
 And who but God can break our hard hearts and ex- 
 change them for hearts of flesh—pure and tender and 
 lowly hearts? 
 
 Herein He displays His wisdom. Who but an all-wise 
 God could fill little things, “earthen vessels,’ with the 
 excellent treasure, and glorify Himself out of the mouths 
 of sucklings? We must have large things to work with; 
 God works with coral insects, and drops cf rain, and grains 
 of sand. 
 
 Herein also He displays His omnipotence. He en- 
 shrines a jewel in what is weak and exposed, and yet 
 shields it. The Queen’s regalia in the Tower has to be 
 guarded by iron bars and soldiers. But God entrusts that 
 priceless thing, a soul, to you ; and then, if He so pleases, 
 the invisible angels protect it—it is secure against the 
 “gates of hell.” 
 
 Herein He displays His condescension and compassion. 
 Is it not marvellous that He should deign to use worms 
 of the dust in His service? This is His delight. He 
 passes by the tempest, and waters the fields and gardens 
 with the imperceptible dew. He chooses the humbiest 
 instruments. 
 
» 106 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 And so, though but a child, He will stoop to you and 
 due you with heavenly gifts, as He did Samuel, and 
 Solomon, and Josiah, and Timothy; and cause you to be 
 a fruitful bough, it may be in exceedingly dry places. 
 
 III. Little things are to be spared for this blessing in 
 them. “Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.” We have 
 seen that the blessing in the cluster is the new wine. Not 
 that vile, adulterated stuff, half water, half fire, which can 
 be bought in England; not that “rare old wine,” which 
 people buy at a guinea a bottle, to redden their noses 
 with ; but the new wine as God created it, straight from 
 the berry. Destroy not the cluster for that blessing’s sake. 
 
 Everything, however little, which has a blessing in it 
 should be spared. Therefore we cry out against the 
 wanton destruction of robins’ and linnets’ and larks’ nests. 
 What glad songs for wintry mornings are suddenly 
 quenched when they are torn to pieces. 
 
 The Lord Himself would not even have the broken 
 bread and meat after dinner wasted, because a blessing was 
 in it. “Gather up the fragments,” He said. 
 
 How frequently God has spared offending cities and 
 families because a blessing was in them! He would have 
 spared Sodom itself if there had been but ten righteous 
 in it. 
 
 Are there not plenty of little things which you are apt 
 to despise because they are little? There are your vows 
 and resolutions. You formed them when you were in 
 trouble or under impression. Don’t let them seem trifles 
 to you now. 
 
 There are your habits. These are invaluable—habits 
 of obedience, truthfulness, diligence, self-denial. 
 
 There is your character. Your fair fame once sullied or 
 suspected becomes like a negro’s skin; it is black and you 
 cannot soap and wash it off. 
 
 And there is your interest in the poor heathen. What 
 a blessing there is in that, both for yourself and for them! 
 Destroy it not by coldness or forgetfulness ; but fan it to a 
 brighter flame, until you are aglow with it from head to 
 foot. 
 
 IV. If the blessing is lacking in them, they will be un- 
 done for ever. “ Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it” ; as 
 if it were said, # there were no blessing in it, then it might 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 107 
 
 be destroyed. Who begs mercy for a parcel of ‘nettles, 
 which do nothing but sting? Who begs mercy for wasps 
 and hornets? No; we say there is no blessing in them, 
 let them be swept away. This is pictured forth to us in 
 the withering of the fig-tree by the roadside. It was 
 cursed because it was barren. 
 
 Saul had no blessing in him, Judas had none, and they 
 were destroyed. It was the blessing in them which pre- 
 served Lot and Peter, although they yielded to temptation. 
 
 If there is no blessing in us, we are doomed. The 
 unprofitable servant hid his talent in the napkin; but he 
 could not hide himself from his master’s indignation. God 
 plants us in His heritage, He digs about us, He trains 
 and defends us. If, notwithstanding this culture, we are 
 conscious of no active blessing in us, no gratitude to Him, 
 no desire to do His will, no sorrow that we have grieved 
 Him, no yearnings towards Him who shed His blood for 
 us on Calvary, what can we expect? What can be before 
 us but the axe and the terrible order “Cut it down, why 
 cumbereth it the ground?” 
 
 Implore God for this blessing. Plead for it for Himself, 
 that you may be a noble cluster to His praise. For those 
 around you, that they may partake of your happiness, feel 
 your influence, and thank God for you. And for yourself, 
 that instead of awaiting the wrath of God, you may be 
 assured of His favour, and filled with joy and peace. May 
 we all have such a blessing in us, and then we shall have 
 no fear of the sentence, “ Destroy it.” God Himself will 
 say, as of the new wine in the cluster, “ Destroy it not, 
 for a blessing is in it.” And who shall destroy what He 
 champions ? pe. 
 
 XXXIV. Bad Habits. Jer. xiii. 13. ‘* Accustomed to do 
 evil.” 
 
 I. Bad habits and how they are formed—Some things are 
 natural to us. We never needed to learn them. We are 
 made with them, eg. breathing, moving, crying, eating, 
 drinking. But there are some things which seem as 
 natural as these, which we can as little help doing. Once 
 we could not dothem. They were painful to do at first, 
 
108 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 but by doing them over and over again we got into the 
 way of doing them, and they are now habits. For a habit 
 is just something we have got accustomed to do. We 
 are made up of Aadits. Almost anything may be made a 
 habit if it is just done often enough or long enough. Bad 
 habits are generally most easy to be got at because we 
 have a bad heart to begin with, but some are painful and 
 unpleasant to acquire. Almost all our habits are acquired 
 in youth, and when we become men and women it is hardly 
 possible to get quit of them. The great inducement to 
 what is evil is that it is “just for once.” Doing a thing 
 once does not make a habit. “One swallow does not 
 make a summer,” but it is on the way to it. And doing 
 a thing once makes it easy to do it again and again, till it 
 becomes a habit. 
 
 Take a few specimens of bad habits :— 
 
 (1) In the matter of veading.—Well-trained children know 
 how to discriminate between what is good and bad reading. 
 A book was sent by the author to a friend. The next 
 time they met he asked if he had read it. He replied, 
 “No, it is a bad book.” “How do you know, if you have 
 not read it?” “We do not need to eat all the meat at 
 table to know whether it is good or bad, if we find one bite 
 tainted we order it away.” We should so deal with bad 
 books. Reading sensational novels keeps many from being 
 saved. 
 
 (2) In the matter of speaking —Slang words; coarse and 
 low expressions; vulgarity; half untruths; half oaths ; 
 disrespectful words to parents, teachers, masters, or mis- 
 tresses ; things we think smart or witty ; speaking against, 
 or telling tales about people—all these become habits. 
 Then there is the habit of exaggeration, making every- 
 thing appear greater than it really is, which makes young 
 people grow up liars. 
 
 (3) In the matter of food—We should not live to eat, 
 for that puts us on a level with the beasts. Then there is 
 over indulgence in sweetmeats, and learning to smoke and 
 drink wine and other intoxicating drinks. These are all 
 bad habits. 
 
 (4) Carelessness and slovenliness.—Untidiness in dress, 
 awkwardness in manner at table, etc.; doing things in a 
 wrong or defective way to save trouble and effort ; doing 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 109 
 
 things with the left hand that should be done with the 
 right; want of steadiness in keeping at anything. 
 
 (5) Procrastination.—Putting off till to-morrow what 
 ought to be done to-day. [eing late for school, church, 
 etc. These bad habits have a bearing on higher things, 
 for there is a tendency to put off the soul’s salvation. 
 
 II. Zhe power these habits get over us, and the difficulty 
 of their cure—They hold us in their grasp. You have 
 seen ivy clinging to an old wall; if you try to take it away 
 the wall comes with it. Or you have seen a little boy on 
 a horse; he has such a control over it with the bridle that 
 he can make it go where he likes. These are pictures of 
 our habits. One of our Edinburgh ministers was in Africa, 
 and a little negro boy, who had never seen a white man 
 before, put his fingers to his lips and began to rub his 
 hand, expecting the white to come off. God says if you 
 can make a black man white, or get the spots off a leopard, 
 then you who have been in the habit of doing what is bad 
 may be brought to do what is good. A man was once 
 walking along the shore when his foot was caught in a link 
 of achain. Hecould not pull it out. He called for help, 
 but it was unavailing, and the sea came in and he was 
 drowned. That is what bad habits may do. They hold 
 you fast, and unless there is help from God there will be 
 death at the end. 
 
 Ill. Zhe possibility of their cure.—In order to the cure 
 of bad habits there must be: 
 
 (1) A new heart. 
 
 (2) Earnest prayer. 
 
 (3) Constant watchfulness ; and, 
 
 (4) Resolute and self-denying effort. 
 
 J. H. W. 
 
 XXXV. Pride. Jer. xiii. 15. “ Be not proud.” 
 
 AN old grandfather once quoted this short text at the family 
 breakfast table. All present said that they had never 
 heard it before, and they did not believe that it was in the 
 Bible. He declared that it was, and he gave them a week 
 to find it in, and promised the finder half a sovereign. But 
 at the end of the week nobody claimed the ten shillings. 
 They had ransacked both Testaments in vain, and the 
 
1r0 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 old grandfather had to show it them. And so, many a 
 precious gem lies hid in this vast mine till a light is struck 
 over it, and lo! it glitters. 
 
 These words teach a very complete and very important 
 life lesson to us all. We all of us know what pride is. We 
 feel it in ourselves. We are quick to observe it in others. 
 It is one of those hateful little snakes which crept out of 
 the serpent’s mouth when he said to Eve, “ Eat of the tree, 
 and ye shall be as gods,” and unfortunately Eve let it creep 
 into her heart through her ear, and ever since it has been 
 born in all her posterity. It is exceedingly deceitful, so 
 that it escapes punishment often by passing itself off for 
 what is excellent It changes its colour as the chameleon 
 does—amongst the grass it will be green, in the sun it will 
 be golden, in the flower-bed it will be pink; and yet its 
 true colour is black, for always and everywhere it is sin. 
 The worst charge that we have to bring against it is enmity 
 to God, setting up idols where He alone should reign, and 
 breeding in us envies strifes, malice, things worthy of 
 death. 
 
 Its varieties are endless—let us think of four of the chief. 
 
 I. There is vace pride—pride in our ancestors. It is a 
 blessed thing to have pious parents, it is certainly an honour 
 to have progenitors who have distinguished themselves. 
 But what is there to boast of? Did we help to make them 
 what they were? and are we doing as they did? Is not 
 the recollection of them enough to humble us, because of 
 our shortcomings? As for pride in descent from those who 
 were rich or titled, and yet did not serve God, if we could 
 have a glimpse of them now as they are now, mayhap we 
 should never again refer to them. The Jews were race 
 proud. “We have Abraham to our father.” 
 
 But God heaps contempt on their pride! “God is able of 
 these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” 
 
 II. There is face pride—pride in one’s outward appear- 
 ance. Lovely or manly features are not to be despised. 
 They are said to bea “fortune” in themselves. It is as- 
 tonishing how much favour they obtain, how many bolted 
 doors they open, how much ice they melt. A handsome 
 child will be sure to learn that itis handsome! and then is 
 pride’s opportunity. It feeds and fans the spark till it is a 
 flame, and the flame till it is a consuming fire. And then 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11! 
 
 beauty is no longer beauty—we associate it with mirrors, 
 coxcombry, self-worship, self-conceit, and prefer the plainest 
 countenance which has the ornament of a meek and quiet 
 spirit. You cannot prevent the report of your mirror or 
 the remarks of foolish visitors, but you can prevent these 
 from being nourished and cherished by brooding over them. 
 David was “ruddy and fair” but he reckoned it as nothing 
 compared with right doing. Absalom cared nothing for 
 right-doing, but everything for his long beautiful hair—yet 
 his hair proved to be a halter to hang him! 
 
 Beware, lest some fondly doted on prettiness of yours 
 proves a snare to you. 
 
 III. There is lace pride—pride in your position in 
 society. 
 
 You may live in a fine house, and flatter yourself that 
 you are better than those who live in cottages. You may 
 live in town and flatter yourself that you are better than 
 those who live in the country. You may have talents upon 
 which you gallop into popularity,and you may flatter your- 
 self that you are better than your jogtrot neighbours. 
 
 But do any of these things render you actually better ? 
 that is wiser, holier, nobler? From whom did you receive 
 them? And if you received them “without money and 
 without price” from God, why should you be haughty about 
 them? 
 
 IV. There is grace pride—pride in godliness. 
 
 This is the worst sort of pride, and it is the most subtle 
 and difficult to root out. It is more an evil odour or a 
 poisonous insect which hovers around the buds and blos- 
 soms of our piety than a bud or blossom itself. 
 
 But it cannot be denied that there is such a thing, and 
 that it mingles occasionally with our prayers and praises, 
 our charities, and even with our repentances and tears. We 
 are puffed up! we congratulate ourselves, we weigh our 
 devotions, or services, or emotions in the sanctuary balance, 
 and then, when we ascertain that they are satisfactory, we 
 offer incense to self instead of to God. 
 
 We have to be on our guard here, or grace pride will cor- 
 rupt all our grace, as a drop of vinegar will corrupt a pan 
 of milk, or a spoonful of yeast a trough of dough. Its mere 
 breath upon anything infects it. “Be not proud,” for we 
 have nothing to be proud of. Weare poor, weak, dependent 
 
r12 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 
 
 on 
 
 creatures. If, like the vine, we have ripening clusters on 
 us, it is because the heavenly Husbandman has planted, and 
 trained, and watered us. And if, like the barren fig-tree 
 which our Lord sought fruit on, we have only leaves, then, 
 instead of being proud, we ou:ht to be sitting in sackcloth 
 and ashes. 
 
 “Be not proud” because it is abhorrent to God. 
 
 Do you desire His presence and approval and blessing ? 
 You cannot have it if you indulge pride. “The proud 
 He knoweth afar off.’ ‘God resisteth the proud.” It is 
 so wicked in His sight. Debtors to Him for each beat of 
 their pulses—proud ! 
 
 “ Be not proud ” because it is so unlike Christ. 
 
 He is our model, and where was pride in Him? Hehad 
 none of it. He knew everything, and possessed everything, 
 and could do everything; but He laid all His honours at 
 His Father’s feet ; He chose fishermen for His companions, 
 and welcomed babes to His arms, and condescended to 
 men of low estate. 
 
 He requires that His disciples now be as He was in the 
 world. You cannot be Christlike if you are proud. What! 
 Proud, and yet like Him who bore the bason and towel 
 round that supper chamber! and who yielded Himself to 
 spitting and scourging and crucifixion for guilty sinners! 
 
 “Be not proud,” because it is ruinous. “Pride goeth 
 before destruction.” It is like leprosy, which, though a 
 mere spot at first, at last spreads over the entire body. 
 Pride is a crime as well asa malady. God is angry with 
 it and must punish it; it will bring on us that terrific 
 sentence “ Depart ye cursed.” 
 
 Some children are very proud. He who loves them, 
 and seeks their eternal welfare and who never commands 
 without a purpose, says to them “Be not proud.” Ifstrong 
 in their self-will, they say, ‘‘ Nay, but it is nice, and we will 
 be.” Then let us cry for them, “Father, forgive them.” 
 
 Some children are proud occasionally. They have fits 
 of it, and then they will be again modest and humble. We 
 should watch against those sudden outbreaks. They, too, 
 defile and damage us, as Moses and Hezekiah and Peter 
 ail discovered to their cost. 
 
 Some children are bravely struggling with pride to sub- 
 due it; God prosper them! Naturally it is powerful in 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 113 
 
 them, but they perceive its loathsomeness, and are deter- 
 mined that it shall not have the mastery. They are check- 
 ing and starving it. They long to be conformed to Jesus. 
 Such children are to be envied. The kingdom is theirs 
 and they are apparelled for it already. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XXXVI. The Storms of Life. Naunum i. 3. “ Zhe 
 Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and 
 the clouds are the dust of His feet.” 
 
 You know, my young friends, that when our Lord was 
 teaching on earth, He would often point to the things 
 around Him—to the birds, flowers, or flocks—to everything 
 the people could see, and tell them there was some lesson 
 they could learn from them. I suppose when we hear a 
 storm, and think of it at sea, our first thought is, “Why are 
 there such things as storms?” We do not feel it so much 
 in the middle of the city ; but out on the sea, there the 
 storm is a terrible thing, and men may well ask, “Is there 
 anything that a storm can teach us.” 
 
 This is what the storm can tell us, what the prophet 
 told the people hundreds and hundreds years ago—that 
 the Lord has His way in the storm as well as in the peace- 
 ful summer. Storm and tempest fulfil His work. 
 
 What is a storm? There is nothing new in a storm. 
 The winds were there before—but now the winds come 
 sweeping in one way. They can thus destroy noble and 
 mighty vessels, and tear up majestic trees; and all through 
 the Bible a storm is compared to something that happens 
 to us in life, and there is One who is called our Refuge from 
 the storm. What do we mean by a storm in life? Just 
 as all these winds sweeping in one direction cause a storm, 
 so a storm in life is not one little temptation or anxiety, 
 but it is when the troubles come on thick and the difficulties 
 and temptations come on in crowds. Look at Job—one 
 sorrow and then another, then one trial and then another. 
 And then he bowed down to the very earth till the storm 
 had swept over him. That is what we mean by a storm 
 in life. I suppose, boys and girls, you think there is no 
 
 I 
 
114 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 such thing, for you are in safety. In bed this morning you 
 did not think much of danger, for the storm was without 
 and you were within. But the day will come when you 
 will have to go out. You are like a ship that will have to 
 face the tempest. In the dock it is in safety, and for 
 months and months it goes on building, and adding on 
 planks and riveting them together so that the water shall 
 not get between them. And then the machinery and 
 fittings are added, and it all goes on and there is no danger. 
 Then the ship goes out into the harbour, and then upon 
 the water to see whether she is watertight. Only after 
 all that she goes out and is able to defy the tempests and 
 storms. 
 
 And this is the way, my dear little friends, that you are 
 being built up by parents and those who have the care 
 of you, or pastors whom God has sent—all are trying to 
 join your life together and make you strong; but the day 
 must come when you will have to go out and face the 
 storm. 
 
 Oh, that you could remember this—all the loving hands 
 that now surround you must loose their grasp. You leave 
 the nursery, and the whirlwind will try you. Oh, if you 
 think there is little danger of your life being swamped, 
 take care. You have seen a harbour perhaps. Down at 
 Dover, or wherever it may be, there is the harbour—a great 
 arm, as if the land held out its arm and said, “I will direct 
 you.” The small boats even lie there safe, for they are 
 within that mighty arm. 
 
 That is how most of you are now waiting to go on the 
 voyage of life, and there is the strong arm of a father’s or 
 mother’s love carrying you safely across those temptations, 
 but the day must come when you must go alone. 
 
 There are two things that you will need then—you do 
 not need them so much now. First, you must be strong- 
 made, that is, your character must be, as it were, drawn all 
 together—not going one way and then another as chance 
 may direct. You must feel, “Here I am, God has sent me 
 into life as if there were no other, I am not to be drawn to 
 the right or left owing to the choice of others. Soon I 
 must go into the storm and rely upon God.” 
 
 Do not neglect this while your character is being built 
 One ship looks as good as another, but the storm tries 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 115 
 
 them. If you walk across the park this afternoon, the 
 trees all look the same. They all look the same in the 
 sunshine; but when the storm bursts, and rushes through 
 the branches, then you know what branches and trees are 
 sound and what are not. 
 
 So it will be with you when you pass through the storm 
 of life. 
 
 Another thing you must have. Not only are you to be 
 built in devotion and love and grace and truth and purity, 
 but you must have One to steer you on the course. Re- 
 member a ship is no good if it stops still—it must go from 
 one place to another. Your voyage is from this world to 
 Heaven ; and so you must be strong, otherwise any little 
 turning to the right or to the left, any little untruth, 
 any little falseness, any little impurity may be dangerous. 
 Always it should be, “I am making for that point ; and 
 there is One abroad whom I can trust. He knows the 
 way.” 
 
 You know who will steer you. Your Master is Jesus, 
 and the Bible is your guide. 
 
 Remember, many a ship has been well-built, and steered 
 well for a time, and then there came some storm. Some 
 tremendous sorrow comes upon you, and the greatest 
 sorrow that can come upon a father or mother is, that one 
 of their children should grow bad and become a wander- 
 ing sheep. Think always of that; the greatest sorrow 
 that can be brought upon your father or mother, is the 
 sorrow that you can bring upon them. There are great 
 griefs and great trials against which no vessel seems strong 
 enough, but even then there is One who is a refuge against 
 the worst storms of life. 
 
 A ship was coming across the Atlantic, but a terrible 
 storm came on as they neared the English coast. And as 
 day after day passed, and the storm still raged, the captain 
 said, “ All hope is over.” And those on board looked with 
 white and fearful faces at one another, and one man cried, 
 “T see the coast ;” and then there came a wild shout from 
 another, “I see the lifeboat!” And, bounding like a 
 living saviour over the livid waves, came the life-boat, and 
 the crew were rescued and the brave men saved. 
 
 And so in the worst storm of life, when your whole frame 
 and faith seem broken by the tempest, there is the hope of 
 
556 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 rescue by Jesus Christ, who is the same to-day, yesterday 
 and for ever, 
 .T.8& 
 
 XXXVII. The Centurion. Marr. viii. 5-14. 
 
 ON which side of the garden wall, children, would you 
 expect to get the finest fruit—on the inside, where the 
 gardener has carefully tended the fruit, or on the other 
 side, where the seed has accidentally dropped and grown 
 up by itself? On the inside, would not you say? And if 
 yeu found on the other side more order and better fruit 
 than inside, you would be very much astonished. So was 
 Jesus when He found this heathen man with such a 
 beautiful trust and character as He had not met with 
 among His own people—the sons of Abraham. The Old 
 Testament tells us that the people of Israel were set in the 
 earth like a vineyard, of which God took great care, and 
 whom He made as good as He could by sending His own 
 servants to them; but instead of bringing forth fruit, as He 
 might have expected, Jesus found a people full of sin, who 
 would not accept Him, who persecuted Him, and who 
 at last were so angry with Him, that they put Him to 
 death. 
 
 When you go home this afternoon, children, it will do 
 you good if you will try to find out how many heathen 
 people in the New Testament were praised for their faith. 
 This man was a Roman soldier, and you might find 
 how many heathen soldiers were mentioned in the New 
 Testament, as being useful and good men, who were near 
 the Kingdom of Heaven before they got into it. You will 
 find a good deal of instruction in this. This man was a 
 soldier,a Roman soldier—that is a soldier in the Roman 
 army. All that he said to Jesus was suggested to him by 
 his experience as a soldier. Everything in military work 
 depends upon discipline and unquestioning obedience, 
 upon the strict carrying out of orders whether the eye of 
 the commander is upon the soldier or not. He is no use 
 in an army who will only do his duty when he is watched 
 by his superior officer, and who cannot be trusted to carry 
 out his orders when nobody is watching him. This cen- 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. A? 
 
 turion knew this. He knew that the word of authority 
 carried power with it, and brought about what was needed 
 in absence as well as in presence; and so when Jesus said 
 He would go to the centurion’s house and cure the boy, he 
 said, “There is no need for that, for you can give com- 
 mand to disease as I command my men. You need only 
 speak the word, and the disease will obey you.” 
 
 And so it was. Jesus could utter the word, and the word 
 could fulfil itself though He were not there. Do you not see 
 how this centurion, being a soldier, and being accustomed 
 to strict discipline in the army, enabled him to understand 
 the position of Jesus with relation to the unseen world ? 
 He understood Jesus Christ’s control over the forces of 
 nature better than the Jews did; so that our Lord said, 
 “ This man has grasped the proper idea of My place and 
 power better than any Jew whom I have met.” 
 
 Let us, children, try to understand this view of the Roman 
 centurion with regard to Jesus and His power. If our 
 Lord’s word were only effective in His presence it would 
 be a bad thing for us, for we have not His presence. 
 Whatever the emperor of this centurion commanded had 
 to be done, though the emperor himself were far away. 
 Jesus Christ is our Emperor; and though He is far from 
 us—farther than this man’s emperor was—He yet rules 
 upon the earth. The word emperor is taken from im- 
 perator, which is a word of command. It signified the 
 head man over the people. Jesus Christ is Imperator 
 and Commander. The forces of nature are His soldiers, 
 and He sways all hearts. And when we ask Him to bless 
 and pardon us, let us remember that He is our Emperor, 
 and that His word runneth very swiftly, and fulfils itself in 
 Heaven and in earth, 
 
 J. O. D. 
 
 XXXVIII. Hospital Sunday. Mart. ix. 12,13. “JZ 
 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 
 They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” 
 
 Now, I do not know whether it has ever struck you, but 
 it has often perplexed my mind to think what a number 
 of ills and aches and pains and troubles there are in this 
 
118 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 world of ours and amongst our human kind. I daresay a 
 good many of you young people have already, young as 
 you are, had your share of pain and suffering. 
 
 I daresay some of you boys and girls have had measles 
 and whooping-cough, and a lot of those other juvenile 
 ailments; perhaps scarlet fever or small-pox. And I 
 daresay some of the older people here have had their share 
 of rheumatism, and heart disease, and various other weak- 
 nesses to which they tell us our flesh is heir. 
 
 Now, what a blessing it is to think that while there is 
 such an amount of suffering, and so much pain, that comes, 
 somehow or other, to most of us; and comes more or less 
 to all—what a blessing it is that there are so many means 
 of relieving distress and pain and suffering. Why, we 
 have our doctors, trained nurses, dispensaries, infirmaries, 
 hospitals, where the very best skill and kindest nursing 
 that are to be found in the land are at the service of 
 the poor, and those who can provide least for themselves. 
 And I do not know any Sunday that ought more to draw 
 out the sympathy and the kindness of a human heart ora 
 community, than the Sunday when Christians, young and 
 old, are called upon to give their small contribution to the 
 maintenance of those noble hospitals that are doing so 
 much good amongst the poor and suffering in this great 
 city and throughout our land. 
 
 Now, when we think of the very great number of ail- 
 ments that there are, and when we think that by any one or 
 other of these, or by accident, by a broken limb, by a fall or 
 a bruise, any one of us may die, it is enough to make us 
 really afraid to look at that great list, and think that each 
 one which attacks us is taking out a pin of this earthly 
 tabernacle, and helping to bring down to the ground this 
 house of clay in which each one of us lodges and accom- 
 modates an immortal spirit. But then this very spirit 
 itself, that has its lodgment in this tabernacle of clay, of 
 human flesh, is subject to a terrible ailment, an ailment 
 that is universal, that nobody escapes ; the queen on the 
 throne suffers from it, the meanest beggar on the high- 
 way has it; a boy that is playing at school, or a little girl 
 lying on a sick bed at the hospital, all of us here, I in 
 the pulpit and you in the pews, are infected by this terrible 
 disease. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 11g 
 I wonder if one boy or girl here will speak up and teli 
 me the disease in one word. (‘Szw.”) Sin! Of course. 
 That is the disease from which we all suffer, and it is a 
 terrible disease, for in a certain sense there is no cure for it. 
 It is one of the saddest things which I have to see in my 
 visiting at sick beds, to see one of the very worst diseases 
 that can come to a human body, and that is a cancer. For 
 it there is no cure when it gets beyond a certain stage, and 
 the poor sufferer can only suffer more intensely day by 
 day, with the dark and lonesome grave as the only pros- 
 pect of relief. 
 
 Well, but here is sin, born with us, strengthening with 
 our strength, growing with our growth, unless we take the 
 one and only means which is provided to counteract sin. 
 We cannot get rid of it except in a certain way, and unless 
 we adopt that remedy it will bring us at last to death. 
 It is spoken of in Scripture as a leprosy, as a wound, 
 as bruises, as putrefying sores, as death. “You hath he 
 quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins,” says 
 the Apostle Paul. 
 
 Now, I have told you about sin and about everybody in 
 the world having it, whether old or young, strong or weak, 
 active or feeble ; whether we have the flush of life that 
 lightens up so glowingly some of your cheeks, or whether 
 we are pale and worn; it is a disease we all have and one 
 for which there is only one remedy provided in all God’s 
 word, the only remedy against sin. I wonder if, in a word, 
 any of you can give me its Name. (“/esus.”) Yes! 
 That is the only Remedy ; sin is the disease, Jesus is the 
 Remedy. Now, just for a little while I am going to speak 
 about Jesus as the one and only Remedy ; as able to save 
 the very worst cases, that is my second point; and the 
 third one is, He gives His services without money and 
 without price ; and, last of all, He is waiting to save and 
 to heal the children. 
 
 First, then, I am going to speak of Jesus as the one and 
 only Remedy. Now there are a great many symptoms of 
 this terrible disease of sin, and I would like very much to ask 
 you of the names of some of them. Why, the symptoms 
 are legion, they are manifold ; any little boy or girl who is 
 cross and angry, unkind or disobedient to parents, or to 
 brothers and sisters or playmates, is showing the symptoms 
 
120 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 of sin. A boy who swears or uses bad language; a girl 
 who speaks lies ; all who are dishonest, who are in any way 
 regardless of God and the things of God, they are all 
 showing the symptoms of the foul disease of sin. We see 
 the symptoms on the street, in men and women rolling 
 along the worse for drink; in the Police Court, in the 
 crime that comes there, and in the crime that shows itself 
 throughout the world in a thousand ways. 
 
 It is a disease that has its stronghold in the human 
 heart, and all the while is infecting and spreading itself 
 over all the elements of human activity; sin is in many 
 creatures, and there is one remedy against it, whether in 
 the human heart or in its manifestations in the world. 
 Some people think that education will put a stop to it; 
 some other people think that if everybody could be 
 brought to don the “blue ribbon” it would put a stop to 
 it ; some think that if police regulations were strict enough 
 it would put a stop to it. But we know that there is only 
 one way of getting at the root of this disease ; by dealing 
 with it in the heart and conscience, and bringing the per- 
 son who is suffering from it to the Lord Jesus, who can 
 give pardon and cleansing, and a new heart. Jesus is the 
 only One who can take away the heart of stone and give 
 us a heart of flesh ; He alone can cleanse us from the stains 
 of evil that we have contracted all our lives. 
 
 Now, I have spoken to you about Jesus as the only 
 true Remedy for sin; but it is only when we come to trust 
 in Him, and get a new heart and a cleansed life, it enables 
 us to overcome sin. 
 
 But now I want you to remember that Jesus heals and 
 saves in the very worst cases. The most skilful doctor 
 is often quite unable to effect a cure in a person who is 
 suffering from trouble or disease. I once heard a very 
 pretty story from a friend of mine who visited sometimes 
 the hospitals. And there, in one of the beds at the hos- 
 pital, there was a little boy. He had been brought into 
 the city from the country, and his mother had stayed with 
 him some little time in order to accustom him to be alone 
 in that big place amongst strangers. But now she had 
 gone away when my friend visited the hospital. And as 
 he came from bed to bed, he came at last to this little boy, 
 and he went and made inquiries about his circumstances 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 121 
 
 and found he was suffering from a bad leg; and the 
 doctors had given it as their opinion that the leg would 
 have to be taken off, as that was the only chance of 
 saving his life, and perhaps even that might not be success- 
 ful. And so when my friend found out this, he spoke very 
 kindly and tenderly to him; told him of the operation 
 that must be performed some day soon, and bade him keep 
 up a good heart. He said the doctor would be there, and 
 he was a kind man; the nurses too would be there; and 
 you do not need to be afraid or lonely, because very 
 likely it will be the means of saving your life. And when 
 my friend had finished speaking, the little boy says: 
 “Yes! and let Jesus be there too!” Some few days 
 afterwards, when the operation had taken place, he went to 
 see him, and came to the crib where the boy had been, 
 and found it empty. He looked at the nurse, she shook 
 her head. And then he knew well what had happened ; he 
 knew that the little boy had gone home! Jesus had been 
 there, along with the doctors and the nurses, and He had 
 taken the little lamb to His bosom and carried it away 
 to a better country, where the inhabitants shall say no 
 more: “I am sick,” and the people that dwell therein 
 are forgiven their iniquity. Children, what a grand 
 thing it will be for you and me to say when we are laid 
 on the bed of sickness or death, we can count on Jesus 
 being with us, able to keep us, and fold us in His ever- 
 lasting arms and bring us to the blessedness of His own 
 kingdom. 
 
 So you see, when the early doctor’s skill fails, and he 
 can go no further, what a grand thing it is to have the 
 Great Physician to heal all the woes of the immortal 
 spirit, and bring His people to that land where they will be 
 happy in blessedness for ever. 
 
 ‘This is all, perhaps, a long way from the point; but 
 never mind, it may impress some truth on your hearts, and 
 the great truth I want you to realize is this: Jesus is able 
 to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. It 
 does not matter how sinful we have been, if only we come 
 to Him for the forgiveness and grace to make us happy in 
 His presence. 
 
 And then I said, Jesus gave His services for nothing. He 
 gives them without money and without price. Nobody can 
 
122 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 buy His medicine, anybody that wants it can have it for 
 asking. All the wealth of the Indies, all the gold mines 
 in the world, can buy not even a little bit of His grace. 
 It must come to us freely from God; it cannot be got 
 for money. And He gives it without money and without 
 price to every little child that comes into His presence 
 and asks for pardon. The little child will get all his 
 sins forgiven; the little girl that kneels in her room 
 and asks Jesus for a new heart, Jesus will surely give 
 it to her freely and for nothing. 
 
 We cannot purchase these great gifts of Jesus, but we 
 may have them for the taking, and if we take them to 
 our hearts it will make us happy, now and eternally. 
 
 But then I said that Jesus is waiting to heal the chil- 
 dren. Yes! Jesus was ever the children’s Friend. You 
 boys and girls here; your hearts are young now and 
 tender, not yet have they grown hard like the stone 
 pavement outside there. When you are older they will 
 grow harder ; and it is just now, at this time of your life, 
 that you may best learn of Jesus, to love Him and give 
 yourself to Him, to love and serve Him as your best 
 Friend, and then He will make you happy hereafter. 
 Don’t imagine that there will be time for you, or that it 
 will be better for you, to think about all this when you 
 grow up into men and women. You have just as much 
 need to be saved as the grown-up people, and you have 
 just as much need to be made good and pure and true 
 as they have. There is a beautiful hymn which repre- 
 sents the Man at the Gate in the Pilgrim’s Progress, re- 
 ceiving all sorts of people when they come to enter in 
 at the Way of Life. The man says: “I am willing with 
 all my heart,” and a little child comes :-— 
 
 “T am only a little child, dear Lord, 
 And my feet already are stained with sin, 
 But they said He had sent the children word 
 To come to the Gate, and enter in. 
 And the Man at the Gate looked down and smiled, 
 A goodly smile and fair to see ; 
 And spoke as He looked at the trembling child, 
 *T am willing with all my heart,’ said He.” 
 
 Jesus was the Man at the Gate, and He it was who 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 123 
 
 said: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and 
 forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” 
 Will you try, dear children, to remember the things we 
 have spoken about this afternoon? How sin is the deadly 
 ailment that we are all suffering from. How the one and 
 only Remedy is Jesus Christ. How Jesus can save the 
 very worst cases; and can do His willing work just when 
 the doctor's work ends and he can do no more. And 
 Jesus gives the healing without money and without price. 
 And remember this too, your Friend the Lord Jesus is 
 waiting to give His healing touch to the children, to make 
 them happy in His love and His salvation. 
 T. N. 
 
 XXXIX. Onthe Sea. Mart. xiv. 22-36. 
 
 PROBABLY not all of the boys and girls who have heard me 
 read this beautiful section of the Gospel have ever seen the 
 great sea. Certainly few or none of you have sailed upon 
 it ; and it would be a very difficult thing for some of you 
 to imagine or know the beauty and terribleness of the sea. 
 In the Book of Job it is said that God alone dwelleth on 
 the waves of the sea; that is to say, He who made it has 
 all might over its great waters, and even over those un- 
 known depths that are beneath its surface. 
 
 And to us men the sea is a thing we have reason to fear, 
 because it swallows upin its grave so much of the treasures 
 that men possess, its bottom being strewn all over with the 
 riches it has stolen from men. And more because it has 
 stolen many of the precious lives of men. So that all 
 we can do cannot save us from the attacks which the sea 
 makes upon us year after year. But let us learn this lesson, 
 which Jesus certainly wanted to teach His people—that 
 He had power not only over the land but over that great 
 and terrible sea. It is His, and as God, He travels over it. 
 So that if you behold the sea and you fear it, knowing that 
 you cannot battle with the storm, you must try to remem- 
 ber, boys and girls, that there is not a billow of the sea 
 which is not in His hand—in the hand of Him who is 
 your dear Friend and Lord, and to whom you say prayer 
 before you lay your head down on the pillow at night. 
 
124 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 And not one dear precious life will be swept away by the 
 sea unless by the will of Him who walked on the waves. 
 The sea is an emblem to us of care and trouble from which 
 we cannot save ourselves. So that we can learn this 
 lesson from it: that Jesus is master of all great troublous 
 things. 
 
 He has power over the things of nature and of the 
 world, and He uses His power for the good of His friends. 
 And ‘this is wonderful too, that He can make His friends 
 as strong on the sea as Himself; for it seems to me that 
 His making Peter walk over the sea is a more wonderful 
 thing than that He, Himself, who is Lord of the sea, 
 should walk upon it. 
 
 In all our troubles, therefore, let us remember that the 
 secret of safety and deliverance is confidence in Christ; is 
 to have our eyes firmly fixed on His strong face and 
 firm hand. So long as Peter kept his eye on the great 
 calm eye of Jesus, and remembered that His dear Lord 
 had all might over the waters, so long was Peter strong, 
 and so long he was drawing strength from Jesus. The 
 moment he allowed his eyes to drop from Jesus’ eye, and 
 looked at the waves, that moment his soul began to quake 
 within him, and he began to be weak. 
 
 That is the secret of courage and spiritual strength for 
 us. Let it be a lesson for the youngest of us, not to 
 fear, and let it be a lesson for the oldest of us, to trust. 
 May God add His blessing. 
 
 J. O. D. 
 
 XL. Witnessing Children. Marr. xxi 15. “Ze 
 children crying in the temple.” 
 
 THIS is very beautiful. It is one of the most beautiful 
 things noticed concerning the great day of Jesus’ entrance 
 into Jerusalem. You recollect the story: how the Lord 
 sent two of His disciples to the village on the slope of 
 Olivet, charging them to bring the ass and the colt, which 
 they would find at a particular place; how He seated 
 Himself on the ass, and slowly rode towards the holy city, 
 followed by an immense crowd of people; how multitudes 
 on hearing of His approach, streamed out of Jerusalem, and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 125 
 
 met Him, and then turning round preceded Him, strewing 
 His path with their clothes and with branches; how the 
 air was rent with hosannahs which became louder and 
 louder as the procession neared the Temple, glittering with 
 gold and marble. Indeed a wonderful sight, a wonderful 
 hour! All the city is moved. Strangers, of whom theré 
 were then tens of thousands, ask, Who is this? Priests 
 and scribes do not need to ask; they know that it is Jesus 
 of Nazareth; but they’are angry. We can see them, as 
 the cavalcade sweeps past into the courts of Jehovah’s 
 sanctuary, scoffing, scowling, their brows knit, filled partly 
 with fear and partly with fury. But they say nothing 
 until—the children cry. The children are waiting for their 
 King; and as He enters the Temple, they form in rank 
 around Him, shouting in gladsome chorus—a chorus re- 
 newed and ever renewed, as the eyes of some one hitherto 
 blind are touched, and the blind one sees; or the lame, 
 obedient to the Almighty word, starts up to leap and waik. 
 Oh yes! they are sore displeased, these bigoted priests 
 and scribes; and they force their way to Christ, and with 
 ill-concealed sneers, they demand, “ Hearest thou what 
 these say?” 
 
 We are going to linger for a little over the picture of the 
 children crying inthe Temple. Because it is not only 
 affecting, as a feature of Jesus’ triumph; it is the sign of 
 something true in all times. Remember were the chil- 
 dren were. They were in the Temple. They had their 
 place in the house of God. They had a right to be there, 
 as well as their parents, for God’s covenant embraced them 
 too. They had received the seal of that covenant ; and 
 so they had been “planted in the house of the Lord.” 
 Now you, young people, are also in God’s Temple. You 
 are a part of His congregation. God is your Father. 
 Jesus is your Saviour. The Holy Ghost is your Sanctifier. 
 You have not been left outside the place of privilege and 
 blessing. You have been taken inside. The promise to 
 the fathers isa promise to the children also. Therefore 
 we think that you should not be left in the cold; that all 
 the prayers, and the praises, and the teachings in church 
 should not go to the older folk; nor that all the writing 
 in magazines meant for religious instruction should be 
 addressed to those of riper years, 
 
126 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 There are three thoughts suggested by the picture now 
 before us :— 
 
 I. The children see, whilst others are blind. 
 
 II. The children sing, although others are silent. 
 
 Ill. Zhe children receive the blessing which others lose. 
 
 I. They see what priest and scribe, with all their learn- 
 ing, see not—the Son of David. They read in His 
 presence and the wonderful things which He does, the title 
 and the patents of His royalty. No doubt have these 
 sweet children, What prevents the faith of others—pride, 
 seeking honour one of another, the evil heart which is the 
 seat of unbelief—does not hinder their sight. The eye is 
 single, and the whole body is full of light. And so whilst 
 many around are in thick darkness, because of the veil 
 that is over their face, they have found the great secret, 
 “ Hosannah to the Son of David!” 
 
 There is a special fitness between the mind of youth and 
 the truth as it isin Jesus. Some people think that you 
 should not be taken to church, should not be taught to 
 pray, should not be told about God and Jesus and heaven 
 until you are older, and thus are more able to understand 
 these high and holy things. We do not agree with such. 
 We believe that you have a power of seeing these things, 
 of feeling these things in their simple force and reality, 
 which many older persons do not possess. Their souls are 
 heavily freighted with care, “and custom lies upon them 
 with a weight heavy as frost, and deep almost as life.” 
 None, as I take it, can understand Jesus Christ’s heart 
 better than the young. So it was proved in the Temple 
 hundreds of years ago; so it has often been proved since. 
 The child sees the childlike ; and the heart of Christ is the 
 heart of the most childlike. “Learn of me, for I am 
 meek and lowly.” Have you seen Him? Others ask, 
 Who is He? Have you not got your answer ready ?— 
 “Hosannah to the Son of David.” 
 
 II. Then the children sing, although others are silent. 
 There is something, you know, very discouraging in frowns 
 and rebukes ; but frown as the priest and the scribe may, 
 the children will sing. They cannot help it; out the song 
 must burst, the soul is so full of j joy. That day the word 
 about the ‘Church was fulfilled, “A littke child shall head 
 them,” 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 127 
 
 We read of many lands where the men and women are 
 silent, sunk in superstition or indifference. Their hope 
 lies in the school and the teaching their children get there 
 about Christ the Saviour. There are many instances in 
 which the hymns of the children influence their parents 
 for good. So the “crying of the children” is breaking 
 on the silence and even hatred to Christ of the parents. 
 May we not hope that the song of the children will, ere 
 long, overcome the silence of the parents, and that as the 
 voice of many waters the song will sound through the 
 whole world, “‘ Hosannah tothe Son of David.” The word 
 is “cry.” It is the lifting up of the voice with strength ; 
 a bold, full, hearty song, which Christ declared the very 
 perfection of praise. 
 
 There was no shade of selfish feeling in it. The whole 
 heart went out with it. That is the best sort of music! 
 The music of which Luther spoke, when he said that Satan 
 was its bitter enemy! the music which invigorates one’s 
 own soul whilst it inspires the souls of others. Children, 
 it should be the music of our lives. First, it goes straight 
 to Christ. He is the one and the all. And then it goes 
 boldly out for Christ. Let all hear; let all know on whose 
 side we are. 
 
 We have a place in the temple that we may there witness 
 for Him together with all true souls who have washed their 
 robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 O boys, be strong for Jesus! In school, at play, at home, 
 in work, wherever you are, stand up, “cry,” for the true 
 and right. Let your hand always have hold of your sword. 
 the Word of God. Girls, live for Jesus! Blend your cry, 
 the testimony of your sweet gentleness and patience, your 
 readiness to help and comfort and minister to others in 
 Christ’s dear name, with the praise which waits for God in 
 Zion. 
 
 III. The children receive the blessing which others lose. 
 The King’s smile, the assurance that to Him their cry is 
 sweetest praise. “ Hearest thou?” ask the priests. “ Yea,” 
 is the answer: “have ye never read, out of the mouth of 
 babes andsucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” This reply 
 opens up to us Christ’s mind and way towards children. 
 He delights in the children’s songs of praise, and opens 
 wide His arms to them. “Snuffer them to come to Me.” 
 
128 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 There are flowers that last all through the summer and 
 autumn! there are others that bloom and die in May and 
 June. Thus too you find many graves in the cemetery 
 very short, with little stones over them, telling of early 
 deaths. Early deaths are early takings home. And oh, 
 what a welcome, as the golden gates lift their heads, and 
 Jesus receives His own! To be with Christ is far better. 
 
 But the welcome is given whenever you come. The 
 moment you receive Him as your Saviour, He takes you 
 and sets you as a seal on His heart, and rests in His love, 
 and rejoices over you with singing. And a wonderfully 
 blessed thing it is to go through life, with all its changes 
 and trials, and know that it is so; that you can always 
 count on the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother ; 
 that, every day, you can come anew with your sinful heart, 
 and be washed and cleansed anew from sin, and go and 
 serve Him with gladness. I feel that there is no higher 
 honour which Christ can put on any one, that He can give 
 no surer sign of His welcome, than opening the way and 
 opportunity of being useful, and helping us to be useful, 
 with a bright and loving spirit. And such honour is often 
 put on the children. It is scarcely possible to say how 
 very, very useful a truly good and happy child can be. I 
 heard a French pastor, who has done much work for Christ, 
 illustrate this. A little girl had learned to read the Bible. 
 She used to read portions to her mother. “I wish I could 
 read,” said the mother ; “but it is too late to learn!” “No 
 mother,” was the answer: “I will teach you.” And she 
 sat patiently every day and taught her mother. And some 
 of the neighbours, when they heard, wished to be taught 
 too. And soa class of older women gathered around the 
 little girl. ‘There I found her,” said the pastor, “ going 
 over the Primer, all listening to her, and following her ; 
 and then, when the lesson was over, she read them a part 
 of the Bible.” Is not that very fine, the child surrounded 
 by mother and her neighbours, whom she teaches and 
 guides! Christ’s welcome was overflowing from her to 
 them. The rill that had been opened in her own soul was_ 
 in her a well of water springing up to everlasting life. 
 
 Yes, the welcome which the children crying in the 
 Temple receive cannot be pent up in their own bosoms, 
 
 Tt issues from the soul which it blesses in rivers of living 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 129 
 
 water. Christ’s welcome is a light in the eye, a thrill in 
 the voice, a swiftness in the foot that speeds on his errands, 
 a new life and light and power. Well-come is fulfilled in 
 “Well-done, good and faithful servant.” 
 
 J.ML 
 
 XLI. The Waste of Time. Marr. xxvi 8 “ Zo wha: 
 purpose is this waste?” 
 
 WHAT would you think if you were to see a man—who, 
 by working hard day after day, was able to earn a wage 
 of twelve shillings a-week—going down each evening, after 
 he returned from his work, to a neighbouring harbour, and 
 throwing into the sea a shilling of his hard-won money, 
 while his rent was running on unpaid, and his clothes were 
 getting worn-out, and himself was half-starved? What 
 would you think of him thus throwing away a full half of 
 his wages every week—by his folly preparing for himself 
 a prison ora grave? I am sure you would say the man 
 was mad; and most other people would say the same. 
 
 But there are other precious things in the world besides 
 shillings and pounds. There is t2me! You may have 
 heard a saying, “Time is money.” For instance, if you 
 were interrupting at his work a mason who is paid by 
 the hour, or one of the young women in a factory who 
 is paid by the piece, they might say to you, “Time is 
 money; every quarter of an hour that you take up is 
 the loss of so much wage to us.” But I go farther than 
 that, and say, time is more than money, more costly and 
 precious far; money cannot buy it—you cannot tell its 
 value in gold. And God has given to none, young or 
 old, more of this costly article than each needs. He has 
 measured out to each just his needful portion, in which 
 to do his work, and to prepare for eternity. What, 
 then, are we to think of him who should do with his time 
 what we supposed the workman to do with his wages— 
 throw the one-half uselessly away ? 
 
 Now, dear children, have not you been doing this? 
 Let us just look at one of your ordinary days, and see how 
 you spend it. Suppose you rise at eight in the morning, 
 and go to bed at nine o'clock at night, as many of you do: 
 There is a day of thirteen hours for you. What have you 
 
 . ‘4 
 
130 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 made of it? How much have you used aright, and turned 
 to some good purpose? and how much have you Jost? 
 . And if so many as six or seven hours of a day have been 
 wasted, what a loss that comes to in a month or a year! 
 —what a tremendous loss in the course of a lifetime! 
 Surely you will not wonder at me sadly asking the question, 
 “To what purpose is this waste ?” 
 
 The time of youth, above all precious, is most of all 
 wasted; and the waste can never be made up. There is 
 a boy at school—how does he employ his school time? 
 Whenever his master’s back is turned, he is drawing figures 
 on his book or slate, or ¢a/king when he should be dearn- 
 zug; or when a neighbour comes in at night, and his 
 mother’s attention is diverted, his book is laid aside and he 
 slips out to his play, till it is time for bed. And that can 
 never be made up for in all his after-life. When he grows 
 up to be a lad he feels the want of it. He might get ad- 
 vancement in his shop, but he has not education enough. 
 He goes to night-schools, but the difficulty and drudgery 
 of learning then are too much for him. 
 
 There is no time like that of youth for storing the mind 
 with useful knowledge. There is no time like youth for 
 treasuring up what is good in the memory, as I myself can 
 testify. Chapters of the Bible which I learned when a 
 boy, are fresh on the mind as when first I learned them. 
 
 What shall I say of the waste of Sabbath time, given to 
 you by God to prepare for a fast-coming eternity? What 
 shall I say of the excuses of some for neglecting the Bible 
 and prayer? How is it that some, when their mothers 
 would have them daily read a portion of the Holy 
 Scriptures, say they have no time? Why, where the form 
 of prayer is kept up, is it so hurried over by many young 
 people, that you would think they have hardly had time 
 to repeat ten words, before they are up from their knees 
 again? They say they have zo tzme. If we did not waste 
 so much of our time, we might have plenty of it for read- 
 ing God’s word and for prayer. Could you not save a little 
 from your play? Could you not save a little from your 
 sleep? Ihave heard of servants and washer-women, who 
 had to be at work very early, still finding time to worship 
 God. 
 
 By-and-by you will think that I have not dwelt on this 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 131 
 
 too much. Some, ere long, when their time is all but 
 spent, and eternity is close upon them, will bitterly bewail 
 that they did not sooner consider and take warning from 
 this question. 
 
 I have seen boys and girls like yourselves giving them- 
 selves up to Christ, and getting from Him pardon, and 
 peace, and joy of no common kind. How anxious and 
 earnest one and all of us should be! Every day is precious! 
 To-day there is opportunity! Is it to pass unimproved ? 
 are you to continue unblessed ? 
 
 J. H. W. 
 
 XLII. The Blood of Christ. Mart. xxvii. 25. “Ais 
 blood be on us and on our children.” 
 
 ON this day 1850 years ago a strange procession might 
 have been seen passing from out the gates of an Eastern 
 city. As the procession passed by there was an outer 
 crowd looking on merely from curiosity ; some nearer were 
 taking an interest in the scene itself, and above the cries 
 of “ Crucify Him, crucify Him,” might have been heard 
 the sobs of a certain woman. In the centre of that strange 
 procession, surrounded by Roman soldiers, there was a 
 poor man bearingacross. On His head there was a crown 
 composed of thorns, from beneath which the blood was 
 pouring ; in His hand He carried a reed which had been 
 put there in jest; and his face was so shamefully treated 
 that one scarcely likes to mention what it was—for that 
 rude mob had spitten upon him; and but for the purple 
 robe they had in scorn thrown around his shoulders, you 
 would have seen that they were marked with the lash with 
 which He had been beaten. And if some one on the out- 
 skirts of that crowd 1850 years ago had asked who He 
 was, the answer would have been, “A carpenter from 
 Nazareth, whose name is Jesus, the son of Mary,” and that 
 He was going forth to be crucified. But if you ask me to- 
 day who was that, we have to tell you that to-day that brow 
 is crowned above that of any earthly king, for He is the 
 King to-day above all kings. That hand which bore the 
 reed, to-day carries in heaven the sceptre over all the kings 
 of the whole universe. That face which was so shamefully 
 treated, is adored to-day by angels and archangels. He 
 
132 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 sits to-day upon a throne that is high above all kings, and 
 around it there gather in praise and adoration all the hosts 
 of heaven, all the cherubim and seraphim who laud, and 
 millions and millions who have loved and died for Him, 
 whose sins have been washed in the blood that fel) in 
 Jerusalem that day. And from this myriad host there 
 goes up the glad shout, “ Worthy is the Lamb that was 
 slain.” 
 
 Oh, what a difference between that first day and this! 
 And yet it must be always remembered that what put 
 Jesus to death, and what caused these men to use him so, 
 is here even to-day—sin. And wherever sin is, the sin 
 which you think, the sin which you do, the sin which you 
 speak ; whatever is untrue, whatever is false, whatever is 
 cowardly, remember that is sin, and it was sin which 
 crucified Christ. False priests gave Him up to die, 
 cowardly friends forsook Him, weak Pilate was afraid to 
 deliver Him; and wherever, boys and girls, cowardice, 
 weakness, and false friends are, remember that these were 
 the things that crucified Christ. He answered nothing. 
 
 Now I want you to notice one point. There was only 
 one thing that could make Jesus turn round that day, 
 only one thing that moved Him. What was that? One 
 of His own friends said, “I know not the man.” “ Jesus 
 turned and looked.” It must have been a look full of 
 wondrous rebuke and pity. It seemed to say “ You, to 
 whom I have been so good; you, whom I have so loved ; 
 My own friend, deny Me!” On that terrible day remem- 
 ber that this was the only thing that moved Christ. 
 
 That is just what boys and girls and men and women 
 may do to-day. We whom He has loved, we for whom 
 He has died, we who call ourselves by His name as 
 Christians—if we ever act as if we know Him not, He will 
 be pained. Let us not join with those other rebels, who 
 cried, ‘“ His blood be on us and on our children.” 
 
 But how strange that after all, that cry of brutal execra- 
 tion, “ His blood be on us and on our children,’ we may 
 say to-day. And, O fathers and mothers, what better could 
 you say for yourselves and little ones than that ery which 
 1850 years ago Christ heard before His crucifixion, “ His 
 blood be on us and on our children ?” 
 
 TTS 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 133 
 
 XLIII. Lent. Marki. 13. “And He was there in the wilder 
 ness forty days, tempted of Satan ; and was with the wild 
 beasts ; and the angels ministered unto Him. i 
 
 I WISH this afternoon, my young friends, to speak to you 
 about Lent. This consists of forty days which are called the 
 season of Lent. Suppose you were walking down a street, 
 and you saw at the door of a house an avenue of canvas, 
 and the servants and others wearing wedding favours, you 
 would know that there was a wedding; but suppose you 
 saw every one had mourning bands on their hats, and were 
 dressed in black, you would say, “There must be a funeral.” 
 And so you know what the state of the case is, by the dress 
 and general appearance of the people. If they all look 
 happy and joyous, you think it must be a wedding ; but if 
 they look sad and in sorrow, you think it is a funeral. You 
 see there are different kinds of times in life, times of hap- 
 piness and sorrow, and times of gladness and joy. 
 
 And so it is in what we call the Christian Year. There 
 is Easter, when our Blessed Lord rose from the dead; and 
 Christmas, when our Blessed Lord was born; these are 
 times of joy. This is a time of sorrow. This season is 
 called Lent, because of the old word Lentum, meaning 
 Spring. So this is a time of the year when we should think 
 not of the glory of our Saviour’s birth or resurrection, 
 but of the one sad theme. What is that? Sin. There 
 is nothing else need make us really sad, nothing but sin. 
 What is sin ? 
 
 Now sin is any boy or girl or man or woman saying, “I 
 will do just what I like.” That is sin. Yes, boys and girls, 
 all the sorrows, all the misery, all the wretchedness you see 
 around you in life, all comes from people saying, “I will 
 do just what I like.” I think there are boys and girls here 
 who have said that sometimes. Have you said that? It 
 is the root of sin. 
 
 What is a root? It is what you put in the ground, and 
 is perfectly different from the flower which grows up, and 
 you are surprised to think how that flower comes from that 
 root. But it does. When I say sin comes from the boy 
 or girl saying, “I will do just what I like,” you see the 
 flower is not like the root. The thing that grows up is not 
 
134 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 the thing that is in the ground, but it comes from it. 
 What is the harm, you think, in saying, “I will do just 
 what I like”? Because you ought to say, and pray to 
 God to be able to say, “I will try to do what God likes.” 
 What does God like? God likes everything that is pure, 
 everything that is true, everything that is unselfish, every- 
 thing that is right. You do things that are impure, that are 
 untrue, that are selfish, that are not right, instead of trying 
 to do what God likes. That is sin. For you often, very 
 often, and I also—for I often do wrong things—like our 
 own way. What we must strive to do, is what God wants. 
 
 Now Lent is just the time of year when the Church and 
 we clergymen ask you to fight the battle of what is right. 
 You have got an enemy; you must fight him. Your enemy 
 is the devil. Now, whenever you have an evil thought, 
 whenever your father or mother say, “Do this,” and you 
 think you can do better than what they have told you to 
 do, that is the work of the devil. Whenever you doa thing 
 that is not quite right, that is the devil. And so I would 
 ask you for the next few weeks to try and put this enemy, 
 the devil, to flight. Feel that you have got him to fight, 
 that everything that is wrong in you comes from him. 
 How can people fight him? You remember that Oliver 
 Cromwell had a great many enemies in this country, and 
 he always wore armour under his coat. He put on armour 
 to defend himself against his enemies. You have got this 
 enemy, and you must try at this time of the year—for of 
 all times this is the special time of the year set apart for 
 this—to put on your armour against the devil. 
 
 What is this putting on armour? I mean a little more 
 praying, a little more thinking before you do anything, a 
 little more attention at night to God when you say your 
 prayers. I suppose you all say your prayers. I want 
 you to begin to-night to carry it on with a little more 
 earnestness and reality. Do not think of anything else; 
 for half-a-minute or a minute think of yourself and God. 
 Think of anything you have said unkind or disobedient, 
 and think of nothing else for the moment, but say, “O 
 Father, forgive me that for Jesus’ sake, and, O God, give 
 me a little more strength for to-morrow, not to do it again.” 
 That will be quite enough ; do not try to say long prayers, 
 but try to think of your own heart. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 135 
 
 — 
 
 Now, boys and girls, if you will do this during the next 
 four weeks it will do you good. I should like to see every 
 boy and girl not only praying more earnestly, but doing 
 some acts of self-sacrifice. Some little pleasure you are 
 going to have, say “I am going to give up that.” But 
 there is no use in giving up a pleasure except for some 
 purpose ; unless your self-sacrifice is for something good. 
 I do not mean the money you give here for the poor chil- 
 dren, but so as to manage at the end of Lent—that is Good 
 Friday morning—you may say, “I have got so much extra, 
 what shall I do with it?” Now never do anything, whether 
 you are young, or if you live to be a hundred years of age, 
 without asking God. Ask Him to guide you and help 
 you, and He will, for He has promised you. Ask God, 
 then, what He would have you to do. One little boy or 
 girl who has been reading about the heathen children, poor 
 little souls, who have never heard about the Lord Jesus 
 Christ says, “I will send it to a Missionary Society.” 
 Another will say, “I remember the poor ones at the East 
 end of London. I will send it for them.” And that 
 will be a little sacrifice, something more than you are 
 doing during the other days of the year. During the 
 next few weeks every little boy or girl will not have a 
 birthday, but some will, and you are going to have a pre- 
 sent. Well, ask your father or mother to give you the 
 money instead, and say, “I will give that this year to God.” 
 That is what we call sacrifice. This, and everything else, 
 must be done through Jesus Christ. 
 
 This, of course, will not make you a good boy or girl; 
 but give it because you feel the Lord Jesus Christ came 
 down from heaven and died to save you. Say, “For His 
 dear sake, for the sake of Jesus Christ who loved me, and 
 whom I am trying to love, even ever so little, for His dear 
 sake I will give up something.” Give it up to help His 
 Kingdom. 
 
 Now do try and think of these things during this 
 season. The time we commemorate is the time when the 
 Lord fought the devil for forty days. Ask your father, 
 or mother, or friend to help you. And when you go 
 home, teach your brothers and sisters and young friends 
 that Jesus Christ loved them, and died for them ; and try 
 to live that life which He desires us to live, and we shal} 
 
136 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 have the eternal life which He has obtained for us, of joy 
 in heaven. 
 Tt. TS. 
 
 XLIV. Christ in the Storm. Mark iv. 35-41. 
 
 I WOULD like the children to think for a moment why it 
 was that our Lord Jesus was so fearless in the storm. Ido 
 not know whether any of you were ever at sea in a storm ; 
 ‘ but you can easily understand that it is one of those times 
 when the courage of most people turns into terror. The 
 boatmen who were with Jesus, and who were much more 
 accustomed to the water than He, were afraid and stricken 
 with terror. Yet Jesus was perfectly fearless. Not only 
 was He able to speak calmly, but when He was awakened 
 suddenly, with the voice of terror in His ear, He did not 
 lose His composure. He was without fear. 
 
 Now, children, why did Jesus have this fearlessness ? 
 He answers this in the fortieth verse ; “ And He said unto 
 them, Why are ye so fearful, how is it that ye have no 
 faith?” He means that if they had trust in God they 
 would not be so fearful, and that He was not afraid because 
 He trusted in God. Then the next difficulty is, Yes, He 
 was without fear; the storm could not strike terror into His 
 heart because there was no fear for Him, inasmuch as He 
 commanded the sea. But our Lord did not use His power 
 to save Himself only. He did not turn the stones into 
 bread. He did not use His power with the Roman soldiers 
 for His protection. He never did His miracles except by 
 faith and trust in His Father. It was by faith He lived 
 and moved and had His being and did His purposes. 
 
 But, you say, we cannot do wonders like that if we were 
 in astorm. No, that is true; but if we are about our duty, 
 we may be quite sure that God will protect us until our 
 work is done just as much as if we were in the boat with 
 Jesus. All Christians are in the hands of God, and under 
 the protection of God, as these men in the boat were. The 
 fact that Jesus is not with us in body, makes no difference. 
 He is with us still, and He protects us still; only it is for 
 God’s glory if we are to die or suffer; and when that time 
 comes we shall not fear to die if we trust God. We shall 
 not be afraid to meet the storm, even though the storm 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 137 
 
 should wreck our body. Weare in God’s arms. It does 
 not matter whether we die in the sea, or in our beds, for all 
 places are alike really safe to him who is in God’s keeping. 
 That is the true feeling of fearlessness. Our true life is hid 
 with Christ in God. Here or there, awake or asleep, on 
 the battle field or in our bed, living or dying, all is alike if 
 we are hidden with Christ in God, if we are His children, 
 and are always with Him. If we live, we live unto the 
 Lord ; if we die, we die unto the Lord. Living or dying 
 we are the Lord’s. Where is the place for fear? Why 
 are ye so fearful? May God bless the reading of His 
 Word. 
 J. O. D. 
 
 XLV. Evil Spirits. Mark v. 1-20. 
 
 ONLY a few words on this passage for the sake of the boys 
 and girls. You know that Holy Scripture teaches us that 
 there are many persons in the world whom we do not see. 
 Besides men and women, and boys and girls, who are human, 
 there are other persons who are not human. And we call 
 them “ spirits,” by which we mean we do not see them, we 
 do not know when they come, and we do not know when 
 they go away. But we know from God’s word that they 
 are not very far from us. There are good spirits, and they 
 are called angels; and we are told in Scripture that these 
 are sent as messengers from God to warn good people 
 against sin and temptation, in ways we do not know, simply 
 because we do not see. And on the other hand, there are 
 bad spirits, who are called devils, or demons, or fiends. 
 And they, too, are not far from us. They seem to have 
 some power, to be permitted by God to harm us sometimes, 
 and to put bad thoughts and desires into our minds. And 
 this man about whom I have just read, is a terrible example 
 of how these spirits can torment a man. They had made 
 a madman of him—that is, a man out of his mind, who 
 was in utter wretchedness, who could not live among his 
 fellow-men, and who could not be taken because he was, 
 as the Gospel says, like a wild beast. It shows what would 
 become of men if these spirits had their own way—that is, 
 if we had not some one to protect us, and who keeps our 
 minds and bodies safe from every wicked power, 
 
138 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Now the great lesson of this passage is, that our dear 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who was born of Mary for 
 ‘ our salvation, is a strong helper, is stronger than the evil 
 spirits round about us. It is great thing for you and I wha 
 know so little of this unseen part of the world, that if 
 we know that there are spirits trying to do us harm, we also 
 know that there is One who is their Master. If we did not 
 know this we should be afraid of what would happen to us 
 some day. We should be afraid of dying, for we should 
 not know but that we should fall into their power. But it 
 is a comfort to know that there walks upon the earth the 
 dear Lord who was much stronger than a whole regiment, 
 that is what the word “legion” means, for a whole regi- 
 ment was put to flight by the bare word, “go.” They were 
 His creatures, His servants; He could speak and scatter 
 them with a breath. He is our Friend, and uses this power 
 for the good of man. Let us not fear, therefore, let us be 
 strong and brave to resist these evil spirits when they come 
 to us and try to make us bad; whether they come speaking 
 by the lips of bad men, or in whatever form they come, let 
 us not be afraid; but let us remember that our Friend, Jesus, 
 is far stronger than they, and that those who do His will, 
 and act right, are quite safe from all spirits, seen and unseen, 
 in this world and the next. God be praised for this. Now 
 children, let us pray. 
 
 Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, unto Thee and 
 unto Thy Father’s keeping we commit ourselves and all] 
 those we love. Let us be saved from all evil, let no wicked 
 spirits have power to harm us. Deliver us from wicked 
 thoughts. Make us good and strong and pure, free from 
 pain and wickedness, and unkind and impure desires, Oh, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who art King over both this world 
 and the next, the seen and the unseen, be Thou our King 
 and Shield, the Captain of our salvation, and our Great 
 Deliverer. And we beseech Thee, oh, our Lord Jesus 
 Christ that Thou wilt fight against evil thoughts, and evil 
 words in this wicked world of ours, until victory is on Thy 
 side. And let us stand with Thee. We pray Thee, Lord, 
 that Thou wilt make us holy and humble and gentle: 
 may we put our whole trust and confidence in Thee. Do 
 Thou be pleased to give us the spirit of endurance and 
 earnestness Do Thou spread abroad such wonderful 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 139 
 
 trophies of Thy great power that there shall be no room 
 left for mistrust. Keep Thy Holy Church, keeping it from 
 the intrusions of the world’s spirit. Bless the children ; 
 have mercy upon all mankind. Let the children learn Thy 
 love and goodness and power, and become as the children 
 of Jesus Christ our King. Tear down all wickedness, and 
 let the light of the Gospel flood the hearts of all men. 
 Answer us, Lord. Let our cry come unto Thee with power, 
 for Thy Name’s sake. Amen. 
 J. O. D. 
 
 XLVI. The Demoniac of Gadara. Mark vy. 15. 
 “ And they cometo Jesus, and see him that was possessed with 
 the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his 
 right mind: and they were afraid.” 
 
 JESUS spent thirty-three years on earth, and all the while 
 He went about going good. He delighted to do it. He 
 would sacrifice needful rest or food to do it. He would 
 go out of his road to do it. He would do it for the vilest. 
 
 In this chapter we have a memorable example of 
 this. 
 
 He was occupied in teaching and healing the multitude 
 who flocked to Him in Capernaum; but he suddenly 
 wanted to be landed on the other side of the Sea of 
 Galilee. His soul was yearning towards a lost sheep 
 there. So He entered a ship and started. When Jesus 
 left the boat, He walked towards the lost sheep whose 
 rescue and salvation had brought Him over. Where is 
 he? Yelling and with threatening arms behold him ad- 
 vancing to meet Jesus. Whata lost sheep! Utterly lost 
 to any but Jesus, but not to Him. 
 
 I. Lhe misery of the man—He was a notorious charac- 
 ter—a desperate maniac. There was a whole host of 
 fiends in him, so that he had the horrors of hell in his own 
 bosom. Does it astonish you that he was “exceeding 
 fierce,” so that none dared approach him? And was it 
 for such an one that the Son of God undertook this 
 voyage, and was it on his deliverance that He was now 
 bent ? 
 
 And can He recover him out of the grasp of the tyrant ? 
 Yes, verily, and that in the space of a few minutes, © 
 
{40 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 
 
 Il. Zhe majesty of Christ—As soon as the fanatic man 
 caught sight of Jesus he rushed to attack Him. He sup- 
 posed that He was a mere man; but Jesus put forth a 
 secret influence, which awed him, as it did the soldiers in 
 Gethsemane. Instead of springing on Him in a fury, he 
 fell down on the ground and worshipped Him, for Jesus 
 had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of him. 
 
 That command awed him and he cried, “What have I 
 to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God. 
 I adjure Thee by God that Thou torment menot.” At His 
 majestic word the devils obey and withdraw, as a beaten 
 garrison does from a beleaguered castle, crest-fallen, con- 
 quered ; and the man crept up to the feet of his Saviour, 
 received with gratitude the garments which were offered 
 him, and began to speak lovingly and gently as an angel. 
 
 What a display of Christ’s majesty was this! 
 
 Ill. Zhe mischief of the devils—This was shown in their 
 violence when in the man. They turned him into a tiger 
 —the terror of his neighbourhood. But it was further 
 shown in what they did when they had left. They begged 
 permission to go into an immense herd of swine feeding 
 hard by. Jesus suffered them. No sooner were they in 
 their new entertainers, than the whole herd ran down a 
 steep place into the lake and were choked. What became 
 of the devils? It would appear that they scrambled out 
 of the swine and entered into the Gadarenes. The 
 Gadarenes, we are told, assembled round Jesus and “en- 
 treated Him to depart out of their coasts.’ Was not 
 this another instance of their determined mischief? 
 
 In conclusion, devils are abroad in England as in 
 Gadara. If they do not rule us, they have access to us. 
 None of us but have heard their evil whispers. Satan 
 would, if he could, drive you, as he did this poor man, 
 from those who love you, and strip you of the white robes 
 of purity, and make you a curse instead of a blessing. 
 
 Now Jesus promises to aid us against him. Are you 
 putting yourself under His daily protection? Does He 
 hear you morning and evening crying “Deliver us from 
 evil?” Keep close to the Lord Jesus and you will escape 
 all the snares of the Wicked One. 
 
 So, doubtless, as the boat pushed off from Gadara’s 
 shores, the freed captive would say with tears, “I will keep 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ~— 141 
 
 near to Him in all holy conversation, and then I shall be 
 sure that He will keep near to me, till I meet Him in His 
 heavenly kingdom.” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XLVII. Jairus’ Daughter. Mark v. 38-42. 
 
 THIS is very much a story for boys and girls, this story 
 about the little girl of some twelve years of age, this 
 Jewish damsel, who was so wonderfully brought back by 
 our blessed Lord from the state of the dead. If you had 
 been living then it might have been your case. She was 
 the only child of her father and mother, and you can easily 
 understand how deep their grief and distress were when 
 her father hurried from her chamber to seek the help of 
 the strongest he could find, the One who was most likely 
 to save his little girl’s life. But let us pass from this. 
 
 While Jesus was on his way with the father, Jairus, a 
 woman insisted upon being cured of her disease, and while 
 Jesus was yet speaking to her, messengers came to Jairus 
 saying, “Thy daughter is dead; why troublest thou the 
 Master any further.” So they thought it was too late ; 
 they were not aware that no time is too late for the power 
 of Jesus. Then Jesus came unto the poor father and 
 strengthened his hope and said, “ Fear not ; go on trusting, 
 trusting in Me.” Jesus took the charge of the house as 
 soon as he got there, and the charge of the bedchamber 
 too. The house was full of grief and confusion, as houses 
 are apt to be at such seasons. But Jesus took charge of it, 
 and the first thing he did was to make peace. He quieted 
 the house where the women were beating their breasts and 
 crying ; and when he had thus reduced that tumultuous 
 dwelling to peace and order, then He proceeded to do His 
 great and awful work of fighting with death. 
 
 We have seen His power since we began these readings. 
 Do you remember one story we read since we commenced 
 these Sunday morning readings, in which Jesus brought 
 back the dead to life? We have here another, that our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Friend, is Lord of both 
 parts of the world—the part to which we belong, the 
 living; and the part yonder, among the spirits of the 
 departed whom we call dead, where we cannot go just 
 
142 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 now, but where we shall go at death. You have had 
 friends who have passed away and whose bodies are in the 
 cold graveyard. Their spirits are in the unseen world, and 
 we cannot go to them. But there is One, and only One, 
 who has dominion over both worlds. Both worlds are in 
 His hands, one in His right and the other in His left hand, 
 end He binds them both in one because He is Lord of 
 both. He is the Lord of the living, and He is the Lord 
 of the dead. 
 
 And do you notice how the Lord of the living and the 
 dead speaks about dying? He will not have the word 
 “dying” used. He puts it aside; there is no such thing 
 as we call death. ‘Why make this ado and weep?” He 
 asks, “the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” He says this, 
 because dying, to Him, is only a temporary falling asleep 
 to waken again. We think if it is a sleep, it is a long 
 sleep. But then a thousand years are but as a day to the 
 Lord ; and whether the sleep lasts, as did this girl’s, for a 
 few moments or for a thousand years, it is all one to Him 
 to whom a thousand years area day. He calls it a sleep. 
 Try, boys and girls, to think of your departed friends as 
 asleep. Just think of them as does our Lord Jesus; and 
 when you and I have fallen on our long sleep we shall 
 still be in His care who is the Lord of the living and the 
 dead. 
 
 And just remember, that when Jesus allows death to 
 knock at your door, and to come in, it is not because death 
 is stronger than He. It is because He has a good reason 
 for permitting it. He is so completely the Master of 
 death that He makes it His messenger to do His bidding ; 
 and when death comes to our dwelling and takes away 
 one we love, let us bear in mind that death is not Jesus’ 
 enemy but His messenger. He is like an angel ; he takes 
 away our friend in his bosom. He has no power at all 
 over us without Jesus. 
 
 These things take away the sting of death, and the 
 Apostle tells us they take away the fear of death from 
 the good man’s heart. Let all the good boys and girls in 
 my congregation not fear death. Fear very much to dis- 
 please your Saviour, fear very much to live an ungodly 
 life, fear very much to be away from Him who is our 
 friend, and death’s enemy ; but do not fear death, it cannot 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 143 
 
 hurt you. Jesus has conquered death long ago once and 
 for all, and it is now His servant. 
 
 Whether living or dead (or asleep, as Jesus calls it) we 
 are quite safe in the hands and in the gracious care of 
 Him who is Master of death and who loves His people, 
 blessed be His name for ever. 
 
 Tet 5: 
 
 XLVIII. Herodias’ Daughter. Mark vi. 25. “ And 
 she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, 
 saying, I wiil that thou give me, by and by in a charger, the 
 head of John the Baptist.” 
 
 Gop teaches us by bad examples as well as by good ones, 
 The good are like those little tug-boats which guide ships 
 into a harbour, the bad are like black and shattered wrecks 
 on a sand-bar, which say, “keep far away from here.” The 
 Hebrew maid, and Ruth and Rhoda, are shining stars for 
 ever and ever! Herodias’ daughter is a burnt out fire- 
 work ; it was bright for a moment, but now it is ashes! 
 
 And yet the Holy Spirit was ready to do for her what 
 He did for them ; but they chose wisdom’s ways, which are 
 ways of pleasantness and peace, whilst she chose the broad 
 road which ends in destruction. She lived as a butterfly 
 does, for mere pleasure. They were content to toil, as the 
 bees do, to lay up treasure in heaven. 
 
 We learn from Josephus that her name was Salome. Of 
 her early history, however, we know nothing. But we can 
 see that from her infancy she had this great disadvantage— 
 her relations were altogether worldly. Her father, Philip, 
 was a poor degraded creature. Her mother, Herodias, 
 was a very wicked woman, with two husbands,—proud, 
 malicious, a hater of truth and righteousness. Her uncle, 
 in whose palace she and her mother were now at home, 
 was a match for her in everything, perhaps, but in her 
 courage and determination. The Gospels set him before 
 us as an open adulterer—as a coward—afraid of John 
 the Baptist, trying to pacify his conscience by doing 
 many things which John preached, yet willing to please 
 Herodias by shutting John up in prison, and consenting 
 at last to kill him for the sake of keeping a drunken oath 
 
144 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 “He added this above all to all the evils which he had 
 done.” With such friends we should expect that Salome 
 would be no model. She might have been, by grace, the 
 daughter of worldly parents, and in the midst of ungodly 
 companions—she might have worn “white robes and a 
 crown,” but it is generally otherwise. Children follow their 
 families ; if they lead them unto Vanity Fair, into Vanity 
 Fair they go; if they lead them toward the Celestial City, 
 to the Celestial City they turn. 
 
 I. Salome was a shameless girl. 
 
 This appears in her permitting herself to dance her best 
 in the midst of a company of sensual revellers. How could 
 any modest girl have done it? But she liked it, it fell in 
 with her depraved tastes. 
 
 Can a dove be happy ina den of lions? Cultivate re- 
 tirement and purity of mind. They will save you from a 
 thousand snares. Boldness is a ladder which it is easy to 
 climb, but before you think it, it trips you over, and you 
 get a broken bone if not a broken heart. What are beauty, 
 intelligence, accomplishments, without the bloom of inno- 
 cence on them, or the veil of diffidence over them? We 
 have seen them without that bloom, without that veil, and 
 thought of what Solomon says about a “fair jewel in a 
 swine’s snout.” 
 
 II. Salome was unprincipled. 
 
 This usually accompanies shamelessness. With no 
 principle the vessel has no rudder, and so, of course, is the 
 sport of the tides. She may drift amongst pirates, or ice- 
 bergs, or whirlpools. Principle is a settled purpose to do 
 right, because you are clear that it is right. It never 
 changes or yields. It is the compass always pointing north, 
 not the weathercock varying north, south, east, or west, 
 with every wind. 
 
 If Salome had had any principle she would have 
 refused to take advantage of her uncle’s rash vow. He 
 uttered it when flushed with wine, not knowing what he 
 said. But she pocketed her scruples, and hushed her in- 
 ward monitor, and greedy of gain she only said to herself, 
 “What achance! What shall I ask?” 
 
 Children are often tempted to do wrong. The path looks 
 inviting. Soft voices cry, “Come.” You can if you will. 
 It merely requires a shutting your eyes to the truth, to 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 148 
 
 our convictions of duty, to the lessons of your teachers. 
 
 t is a slight thing to leap a hedge, or break a pane of glass, 
 and then the thing coveted is yours. Then you have what 
 you desired—your Sunday afternoon’s truancy, or your 
 playfellows’ cheers, or your employer’s property. But 
 consider, that hedge is of God’s planting there, that pane 
 of glass is God’s putting there! On this side you are 
 prosperous, on that side you are ruined! 
 
 Pray for real, deep-rooted principle. “The still small 
 voice” is what you have to listen to. It will protect you 
 and direct you as an angel would. 
 
 There is a pretty old saying, “ He who snatches shall be 
 covered with scratches.” 
 
 III. Salome was a hardened girl. 
 
 When her mother said, “ Ask for the head of John the 
 Baptist,” she should have cried out with horror, “ Mother, 
 you are mad! That would be murder!” But she did not 
 hesitate for one instant; “she came in straightway with 
 haste unto the king.” She agreed to this conspiracy ; she 
 felt as her mother did about it; she would forego “half 
 the kingdom ” to satiate their revenge. 
 
 Why, her love for her mother alone should have induced 
 her to refuse, to preserve her from such dreadful guilt. 
 But Salome was hardened; she did not fear God or the 
 judgment day ; she had no pity, it had been drowned like 
 a half-fledged bird in the torrent of her passion. 
 
 And she went through with it with the same brutality. 
 The executioner was immediately dispatched to the blessed 
 man’s dungeon, and speedily brought back the precious 
 head, and gave it in a charger to the damsel, and the 
 damsel carried it to her mother. What a burden for a 
 maiden! A pale, livid head! A blood-stained head! - 
 Salome could bear that head, severed at her request, to 
 her mother, as she would a dish of food. 
 
 God deliver us from such hardness, and from everything 
 which produces it ! 
 
 Children must guard against this. We say now, “I 
 never could do what she did.” But we might creep along 
 to it by degrees. The boy who begins by spinning cock- 
 chafers and tormenting cats, gradually gets on to delight 
 in cruelty to his fellows, and at last is a hero in all but his 
 power to cause suffering. 
 
 L 
 
146 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 There was a lad who was strolling through the fields 
 with his sister. They found a nest of rabbits; the sister 
 was charmed with the nest itself, so snug and warm, and 
 lined with down, and with the tiny occupants. But the lad 
 seized them, mimicking their squeaks and their struggles. 
 In vain his sister wept and entreated; he flung them up into 
 the air, and shouted as each fell dead onthe stones. “ Con- 
 found your tears,” he said, “you should hire yourself to an 
 undertaker.” Ten years after, that sister sat weeping again 
 by that lad’s side. He was in chains, sentenced to be hung 
 for shooting a farmer whilst poaching. “Sister,” he said, 
 “do you remember the nest of rabbits, ten years ago, how 
 you prayed and I ridiculed? I verily believe that from 
 that day God forsook me and left me to follow my own 
 inclinations. If I had yielded to your tears then, you and 
 I would not be weeping these bitter tears now.” 
 
 We do not pretend to reckon up all the mischief which 
 is wrought at fashionable balls, or at the gay saloons to 
 which the young men and women of our large cities are 
 allured. But we take this as a specimen of what was 
 brought about in a banqueting hall. The devil played the ~ 
 music at that feast, as he does at too many, and the next 
 morning there was a funeral, a sorrowing band shouldering 
 a headless corpse to the tomb! That is not the only 
 funeral, those are not the only lamentations, which have 
 been begotten of a dance for the praise of men. 
 
 “We may have a “ fiery dart” shot into one at church, or 
 in our closets ; but if we go to balls and saloons we open 
 our bosoms to them, and it will be strange indeed if Satan 
 does not drive them in by the dozen. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XLIX. Refreshment Sunday. Str. Mark viii. 1-8. 
 
 THIs Sunday in Lent is called “Refreshment Sunday.” 
 It occurs in the very middle of Lent, that is the forty days 
 before Easter. It is a kind of pause or halt in the journey. 
 When a traveller passes over a long journey, and after 
 passing over the desert comes toa green spot, that is a 
 place of refreshment. And this is a day of refreshment, 
 and it is called Refreshment Sunday, because there is in the 
 Lesson and the Gospel for the day something about food 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 147 
 
 The Lesson for the day in the Old Testament is about a 
 great famine, and the Gospel for the day is about our Lord 
 feeding the multitude. I want to tell you that story, and 
 help you to understand what it means. 
 
 It was getting to the end of the day, and there was a 
 great crowd around our Lord. Now He had been teaching 
 all the day, and so wise and beautiful were His words that 
 the people remained all day doing nothing but listen to 
 the great Teacher. I sometimes think of boys and girls, 
 and men and women, who get tired if one speaks for a 
 quarter or half-an-hour, and I think what a wonderful 
 Teacher the Master must have been for the people to have 
 listened to Him all the day. 
 
 Now the evening was come, and nearly all the people 
 had travelled from some distance, and the disciples, that is 
 our Lord’s immediate friends, said to Jesus, “ What shall 
 we do with all this great crowd of people? They will 
 starve. It would require a great deal of money, which we 
 have not got, to go to the villages and buy food.” Our 
 Lord said, “Give them something to eat.” The disciples 
 said, “ We cannot ; we have nothing but a little bread and 
 a few fishes. Here are thousands of people—how can we 
 feed them.” I suppose the fishes they had got from the 
 Sea of Galilee, because, as you remember, some of them 
 were fishermen. ‘“ Make them sit down in groups in order,” 
 said our Lord, for He liked order. And St. Mark tells us 
 when they were all sitting down it was a beautiful sight. 
 In the East they wear bright colours. They wear coloured 
 garments on the head and shoulders, and so as they sat 
 down they looked like flowers and plants over the mountain 
 side. Fancy that beautiful sight—the people with their 
 coloured garments, who had been listening to Jesus’s 
 teaching all day. They were weary, but Jesus tells them 
 to sit down. 
 
 What happens? The disciples came to Jesus with the 
 bread, and He broke the loaves and blessed them, and as 
 His disciples took them they multiplied, and all those 
 thousands of people are fed by Jesus with a few loaves and 
 fishes. And when they had eaten enough our Lord says, 
 “Gather up the fragments,” and they gather several 
 basketsful of what was over and above. What a wonderfu. 
 miracle ; what a glorious day for those people. 
 
148 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Now all this teaches us something more than merely 
 that Jesus fed the multitude. You know if you saw a 
 shadow on the ground that there must be something be- 
 hind, or reflecting that shadow. You would be quite sure 
 if you saw the shadow of a horse that there would be a 
 horse, and so on. And so these miracles are shadows. 
 They tell us of something that is behind them ; and the 
 shadow of this miracle is, that just as our Lord fed the 
 bodies of these men, so He can feed our souls. 
 
 First, this miracle teaches us a lesson about waste. 
 They gathered up the fragments that were left. Children, 
 never waste anything. I know some children who are very 
 wasteful, who think that when a pencil is worn down half 
 way it should be thrown aside. If you are careful you will 
 take care of all fragments. You will show in little things 
 what you are in great things. Do not be careless about 
 your books. Do you think that is a strange thing to talk 
 to you about in church. You must remember that our 
 blessed Lord was Himself so careful about these pieces of 
 bread. It was He that was careful. 
 
 Then another lesson is that we are all to make use of 
 what we have. Our Lord could have fed the multitude 
 without these loaves. You have all got certain things 
 which God has given you. Just as Jesus said, “ Bring 
 these loaves and I will make them of use to you,” so 
 He says to you, little boy and girl, “ You have a good 
 memory; you have a taste for learning languages; you 
 have a taste for music.” Whatever you have, Christ says, 
 “ Bring it here to me.” Itseems a small thing to you, but, 
 O boys and girls, if we would bring to Jesus all our things 
 and say, “Lord, bless this and bless me in my lessons 
 to-day,” what a glorious thing it would be. I wonder how 
 often you ask Christ to be with you in your lessons. 
 Everything we do should be brought to Jesus. He loves 
 boys and girls. It is only those who love Christ who can 
 be really happy. You should bring to Christ on your 
 knees every morning your lessons, saying “ Lord Jesus, 
 bless me this day,” and in the evening say, “I thank Thee, 
 O Lord, for having blessed me this day.” If we did this 
 what a joyous and happy life we might live. 
 
 Above all, He will feed your souls. He will feed us 
 with Himself ; with His own self; feed us so that we shall 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 149 
 
 live with Him for ever. Feed us with the words of the 
 Bible; feed us in answer to our prayers, morning and 
 night. Feed us by what He teaches us in church on 
 Sunday; feed us in our public prayers; feed us in the 
 hymns we sing. Feed us afterwards, as we grow old and 
 take the bread and wine, which are the type of the blessed 
 body and the blood which He gave for every one of us on 
 the cross. teed ess 
 
 L. “He took them up in His arms.” Mark x 16. 
 “Fe took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and 
 blessed them.” 
 
 A LITTLE child once said, “ When I am well I like to 
 be carried by my father, but when I am ill I like my 
 mother to carry me.” When asked the reason, he said, 
 “When I am well, my father carries me on his back, and 
 it is great fun ; but when I am ill, my mother carries me 
 in her arms, and it makes me feel well.” That little boy 
 did not know that he was helping to preach the gospel. 
 Jesus was like his good mother. “He took them up in 
 His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.” 
 
 I. The arms of Jesus are “stretched out” arms (Ps. 
 cxxxvi. 12).—This shows that the children are welcome to 
 Jesus; that He is ready to receive them; that He bids 
 them come to Him; that He longs to embrace them. 
 You have seen a mother teaching her baby to walk. She 
 puts her child against a chair, goes back a little, stretches 
 out her arms, and says “Come.” The eye of the little one 
 brightens as he sees the mother’s encouraging smile and 
 the safe landing of the outstretched arms, the little limbs 
 begin to move, the first voyage of life is taken, and its end 
 and reward are the mother’s embrace and the mother’s 
 kiss. I would ask all the children of the Church to make 
 their first venture in life a venture into the outstretched 
 loving arms of Jesus. One of the sweetest songs that any 
 of us can sing is, “ Safe in the arms of Jesus.” 
 
 II. Zhe arms of Jesus are holy arms (Isa. iti. 10).—This 
 means that Jesus is holy, the holy Son of God. But it 
 also means that those who flee to the arms of Jesus are 
 made holy. When a little child was taken away from a 
 wicked, drunken home, with a bad father and mother, and 
 
150 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 placed with other children under the care of a good woman, 
 who was a wise mother to them all, the child said to the 
 matron one day, “I wish my father was here, for I think I 
 would love him good.” This is what Jesus does with all 
 the children that come to his arms. He loves them good. 
 When they are in His arms, bad tempers and sinful 
 thoughts, and pride and untruthfulness, and all inward evil 
 are cast out, and they are made by Him pure in character 
 and useful in life. 
 
 III. Zhe arms of Jesus are strong arms (Isa. 1xii. 8).— 
 Some time ago there was a shipwreck on the coast of 
 Africa. There was a little child on board, who was a great 
 favourite with all, and the special pet of a strong sailor. 
 The ship struck on a rock not far from the shore, and was 
 sinking in a fearful storm. The strong sailor rushed into 
 the cabin, took the little child out of its weeping mother’s 
 arms, wrapped his oilskin coat round it, folded it to his 
 bosom, and jumped into the raging sea. All on board 
 perished, and the people on the shore, on rushing down to 
 the sea, saw nothing but a man lying with a bundle in his 
 arms. The man had a wound on his head, and was quite 
 dead. He had been dashed against a stone and killed, 
 but his bundle contained a living child. The child was 
 saved by the strong arms of the sailor, though the sailor 
 lost his own life. Jesus laid down His life to save His 
 children, but He rose again from the dead, and now holds 
 them in arms so strong that they are out of all danger from 
 sin and sinful enemies. 
 
 IV. The arms of Jesus are everlasting arms (Deut. xxxiii. 
 37).—Not long ago I was visiting a dying mother. She 
 was leaving six children, and they were all young. After 
 reading God’s word to her, and speaking to her, and hear- 
 ing from her that she was dying in peace and hope through 
 the grace of Jesus, I asked permission to kneel down and 
 pray with her. She said, “Oh yes, but give me my baby 
 in my arms.” I took her baby from a neighbour who was 
 in the house, and laid it in her arms. I then kneeled down 
 and prayed, and when I was done she kissed her baby and 
 gave it back to me. She died that night, and now that 
 child is left without the comfort of a kind mother’s arms. 
 But the arms of Jesus are not like the weak arms of flesh 
 that fall away in death from the children they embrace, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. I51 
 
 His arms are round His children all through life, and 
 through the raging flood of death, and He keeps them after 
 death happy and blessed in His own eternal home. 
 
 Now the children of the Church must remember that 
 Jesus takes up in His arms wellzng children. If they 
 refuse to come to Him and are not willing to be cared for 
 by Him, He will let them alone. And when left to them- 
 selves they will fall into sin and ruin and be lost. And 
 they must remember that He also wants the children He 
 takes to His arms to ¢vust Him. He knows what is best 
 for them, where they are to live, how long they are to live, 
 and what they are todo. He makes all the chiidren who 
 trust Him good and useful in this life, and happy and 
 blessed in that which is to come. But I think I hear some 
 manly boy saying, “I do not like to be carried ; I want 
 to walk alone.” We like manly boys; but what is manli- 
 ness? The Bible tells us that it is leaning on God, trusting 
 God, receiving grace to do the will of God. To live with- 
 out God, to despise His grace, to refuse His guidance, to 
 flee from His loving arms, is to be unmanly and unsuccess- 
 ful in life. The two great lessons we all need to learn 
 confirm the truth of the text that stands at the head of 
 this page. The first is from the lips of Jesus, “ Without 
 Me ye can do nothing”; the second is from the pen of 
 St. Paul, “I can do all things through Christ, which 
 strengtheneth me.” 
 
 G. W. 
 
 LI. An Easter Message. Mark xvi. 7. “But go your 
 way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into 
 Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.” 
 
 THAT was the mystic statement made by the angel from 
 the empty grave of Christ on the first Easter Day; and 
 what I want you to notice in it is that the only one person 
 mentioned by name is Peter. Peter was one of our Lord’s 
 disciples, so that the message “Go, tell His disciples,” 
 included Peter among the rest. Yet strange to say the 
 message was—“tell His aisciples avd Peter.” But as 
 Peter was one of the disciples, why was his name men- 
 tioned? To-day you know is Easter Day. You know 
 to-day was the day when our blessed Lord rose from the 
 
152 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 dead, and on this day the message was sent, “ Go, tell His 
 disciples and Peter.” 
 
 Why was Peter thus mentioned? It would seem strange 
 if I were, when speaking of my congregation, to say, “Go, 
 tell all the children,” and then mention one by name. 
 There was, however, a special reason for Peter’s name 
 being mentioned. You remember what Peter had done 
 three days before. You remember how Peter went into 
 the hall where Christ was being tried, and where He was 
 sentenced to death, and when a woman said, “ Surely you 
 are one of His friends,” Peter said, like a coward, as he 
 was at the moment, “I know not the man.” And a second 
 time he was asked, as I reminded you last Friday, and he 
 again said he knew not Jesus. You remember a third 
 time, when it became more dangerous to be known as a 
 companion of Jesus, a man said, “I saw youin the garden ;” 
 he was afraid they would know he was the man who had 
 drawn the sword for Christ, and Peter cursed and said 
 he had not known Jesus. You see people are brave for 
 a moment, and then become cowards when they have to 
 suffer. 
 
 And now Christ had risen from the dead how Peter must 
 have felt. What would you have felt if you had done this 
 to your kind friend? Peter had heard of His death and 
 burial, and how He had come up a living Lord, having 
 conquered death. He hated himself. If you had done 
 this to an earthly friend, you would be afraid to meet him. 
 I daresay your friend would say, “I will not have anything 
 more to do with that coward who deserted me in my need.” 
 And Peter must have feared that this would be Christ’s 
 feeling on Easter Day. I daresay Peter must have felt so 
 bitterly sad, so angry with himself, and I suppose the 
 blessed Lord, who is always so full of pity and always so 
 full of mercy to those who treat Him ill—I suppose He 
 thought “If I send a message merely to the disciples, 
 Peter will think I do not include him. Poor fellow! he is 
 almost broken-hearted for his sin, and bad as he has been 
 to me, I cannot becruel to him.” So Jesus at the moment 
 of His resurrection, when He came forth from the grave, 
 remembered that poor sorrowful, sinful man ; and the only 
 name that was mentioned that first Easter Day was the 
 name of the cowardly Peter 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 154 
 
 Now, boys and girls, try to understand that, and get it 
 into your hearts, and learn a lesson from it. You know 
 the day of joy it was. You know that all Jesus had said 
 about His being the one to judge the world was proved 
 true by His rising from the dead. That makes Eastet 
 Day a day of such joy. It is the joy of having a friend 
 who is proved to have been true. Everything He said 
 about Himself, every promise He made to others, is proved 
 to be true because He rose from the dead. You know we 
 have been all cowards. Boys and girls and men and 
 women, brave as we have been in other things, we have 
 been cowards very often about Christ. Wherever there 
 has been any danger about losing some pleasure in follow- 
 ing Christ, we have preferred our pleasure to His will. 
 This is like Peter denying Christ. Yet the most cowardly 
 can draw near to Jesus, because Christ sent that message 
 to Peter, and He sends it to every one who has sinned, and 
 to every one who has sorrowed for sin. 
 
 So that though we may have been cruel to Him, though 
 we have been ungrateful to Him, yet on this Easter morn- 
 ing the message comes from Christ to every one of us, 
 “Go, tell my disciples—above all tell that boy, tell that 
 girl, tell that man or woman, or whoever it may be who 
 has been most cowardly, who has denied me simply 
 because there might be danger—tell them that if they are 
 truly sorry for their sin, and believe that I overcame death 
 and despoiled the power of the grave by My death and 
 resurrection and ascension—tell them that they shall see 
 Me, and that their sins shall be forgiven.” 
 
 That is the glorious message of Easter for every one 
 baptized with the name of Christ, and who earnestly, by 
 prayer, endeavour to live a pure, holy, true, and brave life, 
 in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 T. T.S. 
 
 LII. What shall we do? LUKE iii. 10-15. 
 
 THE words I have specially selected for our text this 
 afternoon are those contained in the question, “ What shall 
 we do?” 
 
 There were three distinct classes of people who asked 
 the same question—What shall we do? The time and 
 
154 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 occasion when this question was asked was when John 
 the Baptist was preaching and baptising in the wilderness 
 about Judea. And the event is recorded by St. Luke. It 
 shows us how John applied his doctrine of repentance to 
 various classes. 
 
 In the first place, let us consider these three classes 
 or orders. We read “And the people asked him.” The 
 “people” are separated from the other classes, and we 
 may infer that the people here referred to were of the rich 
 class, those most able to give, and this class in the Jewish 
 nation was greatly wanting in charity; and this was a 
 generally besetting sin among the rich classes of the Jews, 
 this want of charity. He puts, as it were, his finger upon 
 the black spot in their character immediately. He 
 answered, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to 
 him that hath none; and he that hath meat let him do 
 likewise.” 
 
 Now, dear children, this want of charity among the Jews 
 does not exist amongst us in this district, and is certainly 
 not the case in this church of ours. There have been many 
 instances of want in this district ; but I am thankful to say 
 that there are found here noble and kind friends who have 
 relieved them immediately. And you, dear children, who 
 come to this church Sunday after Sunday, through the 
 kindness of your friends, and perhaps through self-denial on 
 your part, are able to give your little gifts Sunday after 
 Sunday, which in the end amount to a large sum, and 
 provide for six cots for sick children and for poor children. 
 
 Next came the publicans to be baptized, asking “ What 
 shall we do?” These publicans were not what we call 
 publicans in the present day. They were a class of tax- 
 gatherer, generally of a low order; and in collecting the 
 taxes they often cheated the people. You remember the 
 words of Zaccheus—a chief publican—“If I have done 
 any wrong to any man,” he tells our Lord, “I will restore 
 it fourfold.” You see he was conscious of wrong. John 
 answered the publicans, “ Exact no more than that which 
 is appointed you.” Observe he does not tell them to leave 
 their calling, but simply to conquer the great temptation 
 of their calling. He tells them to do their duty. 
 
 A third class came and put the same question. These 
 were soldiers—Roman soldiers—going down to fight the 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDRFN. 15s 
 
 King of Arabia. John first tells them to do violence to no 
 man. They were apt to be violent so as te extort money. 
 And he then tells them not to falsely accuse any man. 
 Soldiers often did this in those days. Again he says 
 “Be content with your wages,” or rather, ‘“ Be satisfied 
 with your allowance.” Be content with your wages! Good 
 advice and especially needed by servants. And again let 
 us carry this spirit of content still further. However we 
 may be placed, whether rich or poor, whether we have 
 much or little, let us be content in our station. There 
 have I know in past times charges been brought against 
 our soldiers of cruel and violent conduct; but, dear chil- 
 dren, if they have one characteristic it is bravery. Again, 
 if there be another characteristic of the British soldier, is it 
 not gentleness, mercy, and lovingkindness? We have had 
 cases lately in Egypt of mercy and lovingkindness on the 
 part of our troops. How can such kindness go without 
 bravery ? 
 
 Such, then, were the three classes of people who came 
 to St. John, asking the question, “ What shall we do?” 
 
 Now, dear children, I want you to ask yourself this ques- 
 tion, “ What shall we do?” There is but one answer to 
 that—Do your duty. Do you remember that the greatest 
 admiral England ever had—Admiral Nelson—just before 
 the battle gave the signal throughout the fleet, “ England 
 expects that every man this day will do his duty.” England 
 did her duty on that day, and the gallant admiral his 
 duty full well. He fell while fighting for his country and 
 his king. Do your duty, dear children, towards God and 
 man. 
 
 Our duty towards God is contained in the first four 
 commandments. Christ said, “Thou shalt love God ; and 
 the second commandment: is like»unto*it, Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbour as thyself.” St. Paul says, “Love is the 
 fulfilling of the law.” Therefore, dear children, in answer 
 to the question, “ What shall we do?” I will give you now 
 three little duties. 
 
 First of all, and this is the greatest, Love God. The 
 second is, Love your parents, or relations, or friends. The 
 third is, Love one another. And whilst doing these duties, 
 consider also, dear children, your besetting sin. There is 
 some sin which clings to us more than any other, and this 
 
le ies TA , 
 v = 
 
 156 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 special sin we call the “besetting” sin. In the case of the 
 rich Jewish people it was a want of charity; in the case 
 of the publican it was extortion; and in the case of the 
 soldiers it was violence and cruel conduct. So that each 
 of us have our besetting sin, and let us try to get rid of it 
 altogether. Let the rich break off from the rich man’s sin, 
 let the poor break off from the poor man’s sin, let the old 
 man give up the sins of age, and let the young man give 
 up the sins of his youth. Dear children, do not have 
 unkind thoughts of one another, do not envy another, and 
 avoid disobedience. You remember the well-known hymn 
 in which these words occur— 
 
 “Let not your angry passions rise,” 
 
 and remember you should be obedient to those who rule 
 you, and be kind and loving to one another. 
 
 Thus, dear children, you will dwell in brotherly love and 
 fulfil the law of Christ ; and if, boys, you are spared through 
 God’s mercy to grow up and to become husbands and 
 fathers and soldiers and statesmen—do your duty. If, girls, 
 you are spared through God’s mercy to grow up to become 
 mothers—be kind and content, loving one another. Thus 
 will you one day, one and all, hear these gracious words 
 spoken to each and every one of you, “ Well done, good 
 and faithful servant, thy duties are done, thy works are 
 ended, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 
 
 J. W. 
 
 LIII. One thing. Luke x 42. “ One thing is needful.” 
 
 OuR subject is the way to heaven, and we shall consider 
 five texts. 
 
 First TEXT—“ Qye “live zs uecd/ius” Let us go to that 
 high hill so often mentioned in God’s word—Mount Olivet. 
 
 ~ We walk up a short way, then turn round, and we see at 
 
 about two miles west that marvellous city, Jerusalem. We 
 climb to the top of the mount, and almost beside us, on 
 the eastern slope of the hill, we seea village. It is Bethany, 
 described by John, and known, doubtless, in heaven, as 
 the town of Lazarus and Martha and Mary. We see the 
 Saviour enter into their house—He often went to lodge 
 with that family after His day’s labour in teaching, preach- 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 157 
 
 ing, and working miracles in the great city on the other 
 side of the hill. Jesus enters the house. Martha, who it 
 is presumed was the elder sister, sets. herself to tidy the 
 room, and attend to the personal comfort of the Divine 
 Visitor. Mary sits at His feet, according to the Eastern 
 custom, as a scholar, lovingly looking to Jesus, and listening 
 to the gracious words of Him who spake as never man 
 spake. To both sisters He said, as He says now to you 
 and me in His Gospel according to Luke, “One thing is 
 needful” —that is, you cannot be really happy unless you 
 be on the way to heaven, through believing on Him, who 
 is the Way, because “He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life ;” and that is heaven begun. 
 
 SECOND TEXT—“ Que thing thou lackest.” Once, while 
 Jesus was passing through a multitude, a young man of | 
 
 pleasing appearance came forward and said to Him, “Good 
 Master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?” 
 To which the answer was given—not to do certain things, 
 and he replied, “ All these things have I kept hitherto, 
 what lack I yet?” But Jesus knew everything about him 
 perfectly, as He knows everything about each of us, and 
 He said to the man, “One thing thou lackest; go, sell 
 whatsoever thou hast and give to»the poor, and come, take 
 up the cross, and follow Me.” The young man wanted the 
 heart to part with what of the world he did not need, and 
 to give it to the poor; and so he parted with Christ at the 
 very door of conversion, turned his back on the way of 
 eternal life, and went away sorrowful—Jesus was sorry too. 
 
 THIRD TEXT—“ Que thing I know, that, whereas I was 
 blind, now I see.” “Jesus was again passing through a \ 
 crowd, and saw a man who had been born blind, when He, | 
 
 the Almighty Physician, spat on the ground, made clay of 
 the spittle, anointed with it the blind man’s eyes, and bade 
 him go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Without hesita- 
 tion he went and washed, and received his eyesight. It 
 was not because the clay was put on the blind man’s eyes, 
 and that they were washed, that sight was got ; but because 
 the man believed in the power of Jesus, and so did as Jesus 
 bade him. The time for such wonders is long past indeed, 
 but Jesus by His Spirit works greater wonders still. He 
 opens the blind eyes of the soul, and that is the greatest 
 miracle of all, And when you undergo this change you 
 
158 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 can say, One thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, 
 now I see. I formerly was fond of sin; I did not care for 
 holiness or the way to heaven, nor did I know the Saviour 
 —my soul was blind. Now, what a change! I see sin to 
 be that which God hates, and I hate it. I see holiness 
 to be beautiful. I love the way to heaven, and I see Jesus 
 
 / to be altogether lovely. 
 
 FOURTH TEXT—“ This_one thing I do, forgetting those 
 things which are behind, I press toward the mark for the 
 
 “» prize.” So said the Apostle Paul—as says every child of 
 
 God. Like Peter, when on the water by Christ’s invitation. 
 He planted his feet as firmly on the top of the waves as if 
 he had been walking on a rock. He was forgetting the 
 fury of the sea and of the winds; he had Christ in full view, 
 and he was drawn to his Divine Master by an invisible 
 cord of belief and love. But the cord slackens ; he listens 
 to the roaring waves, takes his eyes evidently from Christ, 
 and thinks of the helplessness of poor Peter himself, and so 
 begins to sink,—till again, looking to Jesus, he is safe. 
 Let your motto ever be, “ Onwards, upwards, heavenwards, 
 looking (away from ourselves, weak and helpless) unto 
 Jesus.” Then are we without doubt on the way to Heaven. 
 
 - FIFTH TEXT—“ Que thing have [ desived of the Lord.” 
 You say, I trust I have got the one thing needful—Lord, 
 
 I believe, help my unbelief ; hence you say, as the Psalmist 
 did nearly three thousand years ago, and God’s people have 
 done ever since. 
 
 “ One thing I of the Lord desired, 
 And will seek to obtain, . 
 That all days of my life I may 
 
 Within God’s house remain :” 
 
 the meaning of which is beautifully brought out in these 
 words of that grand poet for the young, Isaac Watts :-— 
 
 “Lord, how delightful ’tis to see 
 A whole assembly worship Thee ! 
 At once they sing, at once they pray ; 
 They hear of heaven, they learn the way. 
 I have been there and still would go, 
 is like a little heaven below.” 
 
 R. FF. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 159 
 
 LV. Knocking. Luke xi. 9. “ Knock and it shall be 
 opened unto you.” 
 
 ANY morning, in a great city like London or Edinburgh, 
 there are hundreds of thousands knocks at doors. The 
 ostman knocks with the letters, the milkmaids with the 
 milk, the tradespeople for orders; doctors knock at their 
 patients’ doors, friends at their friend’s. And all these 
 hundreds of thousands of doors will be opened ; some by 
 servants, whose business it is; some by the owners of the 
 houses, who have no servants ; and some by little children, 
 who are very fond of running to see who is there, and what 
 good things may be coming in. And yet I suppose there 
 is not one of these hundreds of thousands of doors which 
 has this written over it, “ Knock, and it ska// be opened 
 unto you.” There are the names on brass plates of the 
 people who live within; and now and then there is “ knock 
 and ring,” and the knocker itself seems to say, “I'll call 
 them for you ;” but there is no “sa// be opened” to be 
 seen there, it is always a venture. Nay, the bolts and bars 
 and locks within are right against the “sa// be opened,” 
 for they are to prevent the opening for at least eight hours 
 out of every twenty-four. And then there are doors— 
 such as trap doors in ancient castles, or vault doors in old 
 cathedrals—which cannot be opened. They are nailed or 
 walled up for ever! The hinges are rust, the handles dust. 
 You might knock at them night and day as hard as a 
 sledge hammer and they would turn a deaf ear to you. 
 
 I. What door is this then on which is inscribed, “ Knock 
 and it shall be opened unto you”? This is our first 
 question. 
 
 What is the “door” here spoken of? I think it means 
 the ear and heart of God our heavenly Father. And as 
 it is through Jesus that we can speak to Him, and as 
 it is through Jesus that His love replies to us, so Jesus 
 is His ear and His heartto us. “Iam the door,” he said. 
 He listens to our sin-defiled prayers and presents them to 
 God; and He is the fountain of grace, from which flow 
 God’s answers of peace. Our petitions go zz to God 
 through Him and return from God to us through Him 
 Does God hear us? It is for Cheist’s sake. I delight ir 
 
160 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 that thought that Jesus is our door in to God, that He 
 is our heavenly Father’s ear and heart to us. In Him 
 God draws near to us, and listens to us. We reach 
 His almighty ear. In Him God looks tenderly upon us, 
 and feels tenderly towards us; we reach His almighty 
 heart. I would not have another door if I could; an 
 angel door, or saint door, a Mary or Joseph door; I am 
 satisfied with my Jesus door. 
 
 What a difference it makes who the door-keeper is, 
 whether it is a rough sentinel with a bayonet, or a feeble 
 infant who cannot move the key, or an angry beadle who 
 growls at your troubling him. I remember in a large 
 French church there were several wooden boxes with 
 small holes in them. Those who came in fell down on 
 their knees at these holes, and began to whisper. Within 
 the box was a Romish priest, to whom they told their sins 
 and secrets, and then.he assured them of God’s forgiveness. 
 They dropped a shilling in through the hole. I felt much 
 more inclined to thrust in a sharp-pointed umbrella. And 
 yet this is the right idea, but it is foolishly and wickedly 
 perverted. It is right to approach God through another 
 that is holier and higher than ourselves; and we are to 
 expect God’s favours through him. But then who is that 
 higher and holier person? Certainly not a mere creature, 
 who is as guilty and needy as ourselves; but Jesus, whom 
 God has appointed for that purpose—who is as divine as 
 He is human—who is as truly one with God as He is one 
 with us—who 
 
 “Knows what strong temptations are, 
 For He has felt the same ;” 
 
 and yet has from eternity been the centre of God’s smiles. 
 They were withdrawn from Him but for a single moment 
 
 in His whole existence. It was when He was expiring on 
 the cross for us. You recollect how He cried out, “My 
 God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” But 
 presently they rested on Him again, and then they rested 
 on Him for us as well as Himself. So now we need not 
 fear to press close to God in Him. “Boldly” is the word 
 which the Apostle chooses for it, “or in full assurance of 
 faith.” For it is a brother door, a mother door. It is not 
 a door of boards, but a door of “bowels of mercies,” It is 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 161 
 
 not a cold, hard, dumb door, but soft, sympathizing, alive. 
 It is our dear Immanuel, the ear and the heart of our God, 
 who Himself said this: “ Knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you.” 
 
 II. What is it to “ 2nock” at it? Isit not topray? Is 
 not this just what Jesus was discoursing about? The 
 lisciples had said to Him, “ Lord, teach us to pray ;” and 
 He was teaching them to pray. He taught them by a 
 model prayer—the Lord’s Prayer. When then a minute 
 afterwards He speaks to them of “ knocking,” they would 
 be sure to understand Him as referring to praying. But 
 you will notice that, before He uses this strong term for 
 it, He has passed on from prayer generally to a particular 
 kind of prayer—earnest prayer. By a simple parable He 
 has shown them the power and certainty of such prayer as 
 that. If you went at midnight to a neighbour and begged 
 three loaves of bread of him—though he would be vexed 
 at being disturbed, and slow to rise from his warm bed, 
 and reluctant to go down to the kitchen; though he would 
 positively refuse to do it at the beginning, nevertheless, if 
 you persisted and entreated (as you would if you were 
 aware of his £zmdness, and if you really wanted the loaves), 
 then because of your “importunity ” you would succeed— 
 your neighbour would open the door. And so, depend 
 upon it, says our Lord, if you thus pray—if you pray from 
 your soul—your heavenly Father will grant you the Holy 
 Spirit. “I say unto you, £zock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you.” 
 
 To knock, then, is to pray fervently. The passengers in 
 a ship may be in the habit of praying ; but when there is 
 peril—when the storm is bellowing, when the masts are 
 falling overboard, when the captain is hopeless—then they 
 meet together in the cabin and £uock at the door of God's 
 omnipotence. A parent may be in the habit of praying 
 for her babe regularly, ere she lies down to sleep; but if 
 she is suddenly summoned to see it gasping in its crib, and 
 fixing its unconscious eyes upon her, she betakes herself to 
 knocking at the door of God’s compassion. Jesus Himself, 
 whilst He was constantly praying, may be said to have 
 added knocking to praying in the garden of Gethsemane. 
 when He thrice repeated His prayer, and with fresh energy 
 each time. The Syro-Phcenician woman in the Gospels 
 
 M 
 
162 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 is a beautiful illustration of this knocking. She could not 
 be daunted. She would not be put off. “Yea, Lord, yet 
 the dogs eat of the crumbs which drop from the master’s 
 table.” That was a loud and vigorous £uock. David, too, 
 as many of his Psalms prove, was wont to knock. Read 
 the 142nd and 143rd as specimens. 
 
 Earnest prayer is the prayer which honours God; 
 which attains its object; which opens the door. That is 
 why your prayers are so fruitless; they lack earnestness. 
 You present yourselves at the door, but you do not knock ; 
 you do not “find,” because you do not “seek.” You walk 
 about in the field where the treasure is, but where is the 
 searching and digging for it? You sail about over the 
 pearls, but where is the stripping and diving for them ? 
 What can you expect from a few dry sentences mumbled 
 at a chair, without the slightest affiance in God, without the 
 feeblest lifting of your desires to God, without the weakest 
 stretching out of your hand to knock? But when you 
 have learned to knock in your prayers—when sorrow or 
 danger compel you to it—then you will be ashamed of 
 these lazinesses. Meanwhile, let us recollect that it is not 
 said, “ Repeat a form of prayer,” or “ Drop by your bedside 
 and bow your head,” but “ Axzock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you.” 
 
 III. What is the opening? Is it not this, that God will 
 be attentive to your prayer? It is a solemn promise of 
 that; not that He will fulfil your prayer—that is another 
 thing—but that it shallreach Him. His wisdom and kind- 
 ness may decide that it had best not be fulfilled, or that 
 the fulfilment had best be delayed. Will you not leave 
 that to His wisdom and kindness? But there must be zo 
 doubt that the prayer is lodged in His ear and heart. If 
 there is doubt about that there is no encouragement. It is 
 a risk, a chance, a “may be,” not a “shall be.” But no, itis 
 a “shall be.” We may be confident of that. It is settled, 
 sealed. God is bound by it. “Knock, and it shall be 
 opened unto you.” That is the important thing, that we 
 shall have an audience. We have but to supplicate and on 
 this we may rely, that those arrows of supplication, though 
 shot from a trembling bow, shall pierce the skies, shall 
 not stop short of God’s throne, and God will gather them 
 up and the message which they bore thither. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 163 
 
 eT 
 
 Try Buckingham Palace door, if that will be opened to 
 your knocking. You would probably be arrested and fined 
 for your presumption. Kings and queens cannot mount 
 this motto on their doors, because it would expose them to 
 endless annoyance and impoverishment. Soon they would 
 have to say, “The door must be fastened, we are worn 
 out;” or “we have no more left.” But not so with God, 
 for He has inexhaustible supplies for us. Though He 
 enriches millions, hour by hour, He is no poorer, it is but 
 a million of thimbles dipped in the ocean, or a million of 
 ants stealing grains of earth from a mountain. My son or 
 daughter says to me, “ Let me have a kiss.” I am pleased 
 and not robbed. A kiss is sweet to them, but it would cost 
 me nothing if I let them have them by myriads. And 
 God has “ good and perfect gifts” to bestow on His sons 
 and daughters, as freely and bountifully. It is His joy to 
 load us with them, and to have us thoroughly happy in the 
 abundance of His pardon, and strength, and peace, and 
 protection. Can we not believe this ? 
 
 When Jesus was here did He not open the door to 
 those who knocked? Who were refused? Who could 
 say, “He would not do it for me?” The leper, vile as 
 he was, did but knock thus, “Lord, if thou wilt,” and 
 the door was opened to him. Blind Bartimeus knocked 
 impatiently, but it was opened to him. Nicodemus and 
 Zaccheus knocked timidly, but it was opened to them. 
 She who wept over His feet at Simon’s feast, and wiped 
 them with her hair, she knocked without a sound, and 
 yet it was opened to her. Those who assembled to pray 
 for Peter’s deliverance from execution, knocked and 
 knocked on till the execution was awfully near; but long 
 before, the door had been opened to them, as they saw 
 when Peter stood before them. Of course it was, for God 
 has said it, and it cannot be altered, “Knock, and it shkal/ 
 be opened unto you.” 
 
 And I trust that you who are now perusing this page 
 can add your testimony to the truth of it. You can say, 
 “Yes, I knocked and it was opened to me, I never knock 
 but it is opened unto me.” 
 
 In conclusion I have two exhortations. 
 
 Knock ferseveringly. Do not be frightened by unbelief, 
 or by Satan’s suggestion that it is useless. He will do 
 
164 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 what he can to dishearten you—but persevere! Would 
 you be driven from a door by a cat mewing, or because it 
 was necessary to repeat the knock? To flesh and blood it 
 is a strange thing to pray where there is nobody visible ; 
 but hete you have what is quite as solid, the pledge of God 
 from the lips of Jesus. that He will open to you. There- 
 fore knock perseveringly. 
 
 Knock modestly. Not with that familiarity which is so 
 shocking, as if God was your equal; as if you could demand 
 what you require! Heis Jehovah, you are a grasshopper 
 before Him. Be careful of your speech, therefore. Lie 
 low ; imitate, not the noisy fellows who spring down from 
 carriages and batter our doors in with their rude violence, 
 but the hungry or thirsty animals—the cow or the sheep— 
 which Z/ead with moans and tears for what they claim 
 of us. 
 
 A lady visitor climbed a flight of stairs to what she 
 conceived to be a forlorn attic. She was prepared to 
 behold squalor, poverty, wretchedness. Fancy her surprise 
 when a nice, neatly dressed boy bade her welcome to a 
 room, the walls of which were covered with capital prints, 
 and the floor with piles of books. The furniture also 
 was sufficient and suitable, and there was a cupboard 
 which had sundry articles of crockery and food init. He 
 told her his story. He was an orphan, and a member of 
 the Shoeblack Brigade. He had obtained, he said, these 
 things by “nocking at the door.’ When his work was 
 slack he applied himself to studying odd bits of newspaper, 
 and as the gentry and merchants resident around cheered 
 him on with pennies, he “guessed” he would knock at 
 their doors and ask for such pictures and books as they did 
 not value, for he was fond of them. They would not let 
 him be rebuffed; they willingly contributed what was 
 nothing to them, but a fortune to him. What he had 
 duplicates of, he sold, and bought furniture, crockery, and 
 food with, and “ what was curious,” he said, clothes nearly 
 always accompanied the presents of pictures and books, so 
 that he was seriously contemplating a rag and bone shop 
 of his own. And it was “knocking at the door” which 
 had done it. 
 
 May we so knock at that celestial door, knock at it so 
 faithfully and frequently, that we may have as goodly a 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 165 
 
 heritage to show for it as this enterprising boy had for his 
 knocking at the doors of oak and pine. 
 Ls 
 
 LV. The Barren Fig-tree. LUuKE xiii. 
 
 Tuts is the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree, and I have 
 read you the other verses because they tell us: why the 
 Lord spake this parable. There was great excitement in 
 Jerusalem. Just before this, people had come from Galilee 
 and stirred up what we should call a rebellion, and Pilate 
 had very properly put them to death ; and when our Lord 
 came—He was from Galilee also—they fancied that He 
 was going to stir up another revolt, and they thought He 
 had a better chance. They told Him that Pilate had 
 slain the others and mingled their blood with the sacrifice 
 upon the altar. Then our Lord told them this parable. 
 He said that a man once had a fig-tree in his garden, and 
 he came year after year—he was evidently a very patient 
 man—and still he found no fruit. Then he said to his 
 vineyard man, “ Behold, these three years I come seeking 
 fruit on this fig-tree and find none; cut it down, why cum- 
 bereth it the ground?” Then the dresser of the vineyard 
 pleaded that the tree might be spared. Give it one more 
 year ; but after that, if it bears not fruit, let it be cut down. 
 
 The first thing this parable teaches is, that the Jews were 
 God’s own people, God’s chosen people, who were to bear 
 fruit among all nations, that by showing other nations how 
 true and devout they were they would be won over to 
 serve God. But they did not do this, and God cut them 
 down. Forty years after these words were spoken the 
 temple was burnt. 
 
 But the lesson I want to tell you about is about 
 yourselves. Weare fig-trees planted in the Lord’s garden ; 
 we have Him coming year after year looking for fruit and 
 finding none, and at last the Master will be compelled 
 to say, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground.” 
 “Cumbereth” means taking the place of others, taking the 
 nourishment from other plants. But the keeper of the 
 vineyard, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, says, “Let 
 it stay another year. I will water it, I will manure the 
 ground, and then if it bears no fruit, cut it down. Now 
 
166 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 the reason I want to speak to you is—You are all little 
 trees planted in the garden of the Lord. He does all He 
 can to make you fruitful trees in the garden; but the time 
 may come when the loving Master Himself will have to 
 say, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground ?” 
 
 Then the keeper of the garden, the Lord Jesus, says 
 “Spare it for another year. Upto this day it has borne 
 no fruit; but spare it one more year.” You have been 
 planted, boys and girls. God has watered your life with 
 His blessings. He has shone upon you the sunshine of 
 His love. He has sent pastors and teachers to dig around 
 your roots, so that all blessings may be yours ; and still 
 the Master of the vineyard comes and finds no fruit. You 
 may have felt things, you may have learnt things ; but the 
 one thing is this—Have you lived better, nobler, truer, 
 purer lives? Have you considered before resting for 
 the night whether you have done one bad thing; have you 
 uttered one disobedient word to your father or mother, 
 have you said one unkind thing to your brother or sister— 
 have you been sorry for so doing before saying, ‘Our 
 Father which art in heaven” ? 
 
 Now, when you kneel down to pray, just think, “Am I 
 bearing any fruit to God? He has spared me while others 
 have been cut down.” He comes to seek fruit to-day, 
 after these months of our teaching and praying together. 
 He seeks fruit in your hearts, the fruits of kindness, meek- 
 ness, purity and love. Oh, does He find any here of whom 
 He will at last, after long and patient waiting, have to say, 
 “Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?” 
 
 Surely the thought of Him coming to this earth and 
 living and dying for us—is not that enough to melt our 
 hearts and make us resolved to lead nobler and more 
 fruitful lives? It is an awful thought, that the Master 
 comes to-day to each of us, seeking fruit. May the great 
 God grant in His great mercy that He may not come te 
 any one of us and find no fruit. 
 
 T.T.S. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 167 
 
 LVI. Excuses. LUuKE xiv 18. “ And they all with one 
 consent began to make excuse.” 
 
 A PARABLE is a short story or history which our blessed 
 Lord used to illustrate or impress upon His hearers some 
 great and precious truth. There are many parables which 
 our blessed Lord delivered, most of which are familiar to 
 you. There is the parable of the Sower, of the Tares and 
 Wheat, of the Sheep and Goats, and many others ; and I 
 want to call your attention to-day for a short time to the 
 parable of the Great Supper. 
 
 Let us consider the occasion when it was delivered and 
 where it was delivered. Christ was in a Pharisee’s house, 
 and it was the Sabbath day; and there came to Him a 
 man suffering from the dropsy. It was the day on which 
 the Pharisees would not have done any act of mercy like 
 this. But our blessed Lord at once heals this man. He 
 then teaches humility, and He then shows who are our 
 best guests. I have gone back thus because this affects 
 the incident. He says, “When thou makest a feast, call 
 the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind”; and then 
 He begins to deliver the parable of the Great Supper. 
 
 He does not begin this parable as usual with the words, 
 “The Kingdom of Heaven.” He was seated among the 
 Pharisees, who rejected the Kingdom of Heaven. He tells 
 them that a certain man—that is, God Himself—made a 
 sreat supper. The great supper was the offer of salvation 
 through the gospel; and servants who were to bid men 
 come into the supper were of old the prophets and apostles, 
 and now ministers, and they said, “ Come, for all things are 
 now ready.” And we find that everybody with one consent 
 began to make excuse. There were three excuses. The 
 first was, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must 
 needs go and see it.” That, children, seems to me a poor 
 excuse. Would not a man see a piece of ground before he 
 bought it? The next said, “I have bought five yoke of 
 oxen, and I must go and prove them.” Now, would a man 
 buy these without first trying them? The third said, “I 
 have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” These 
 three excuses were simply feeble evasions. All these 
 people refused the offer of salvation ; they put the world 
 first of all. 
 
168 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 ———= 
 
 We read then, that when our Lord heard these refusals 
 He was angry. He said, “Go out into the streets and 
 lanes of the city. Bring in here the poor, the maimed, the 
 halt, and the blind ”—that is, bring in the publicans and 
 sinners. You know our blessed Lord said, “ I came not to 
 call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” So our Lord 
 gives this order, to call the poor, the maimed, the halt, and 
 the blind. They accepted the invitation. Then our Lord 
 said, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel 
 them to come in, that My house may be filled. For I say 
 unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall 
 taste of My supper.” It was the Gentiles who accepted 
 the invitation. 
 
 Children, here is a great supper; here is a general 
 invitation, first to the Jews, because they were God’s chosen 
 people ; and, when they refused to receive the gospel, you 
 remember it was preached afterwards to the Gentiles. The 
 Apostle Philip preached to the people of Samaria, and 
 Peter baptized the centurion, and Paul preached to the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Specially would I call your attention to the words, 
 “And they all with one consent began to make excuse.” 
 Now, children, how frequently in this world people make 
 excuses. When some people are asked to do anything 
 they say “I cannot” when they can, or they will say “ Not 
 at this moment, but to-morrow.” They put off a great 
 deal from day to day, and perhaps it is never done. 
 
 Remember, children, if a thing is to be done in your 
 schoolroom, or wherever it is, do it at once—any duty of 
 any kind, any act of love or kindness—do it at once, and 
 do not put it off. Procrastination is the thief of time. 
 What is procrastination? It is the putting off of anything 
 from day to day. Dear children, make no excuses for not 
 doing any good thing. Make no excuses for not coming to 
 church, Make no excuses for not attending God’s house ; 
 but go whenever it is possible to join in the service of 
 prayer and praise. 
 
 One more word and I have finished. The great thing is 
 to do the right thing at the right time. A person may be 
 in sorrow or trouble, and how a word spoken in sympathy 
 in due season goes to the heart of the sufferer. You 
 remember that at the great battle of Waterloo, when the 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 169 
 
 French lines were seen to waver, the commander-in-chief 
 of our army gave his order to the Guards, and in a few 
 moments those lines were broken and dispersed. In the 
 late Egyptian war there was a great march in the night, and 
 our troops burst on the Egyptians at the break of dawn. 
 That was doing the right thing at the right time. Do 
 whatever you do with all your heart and soul and strength, 
 and use the opportunity, take the present time ; and above 
 all, do works of mercy, lovingkindness, and goodness. 
 Never, dear children, make an excuse for deferring them. 
 Never make an excuse as you grow up for doing those 
 things well pleasing to your heavenly Father. And may 
 God support you for many a long day and year to attend 
 His worship and join in His praise. 
 J. W. 
 
 LVII. The Joy over one Penitent. LUKE xv. Io. 
 “‘ There 1s joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
 that repenteth.” 
 
 AFTER the parables of the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin, 
 and before the parable of the Prodigal Son, our Saviour 
 puts these words (Luke xv. 10): “ Likewise, I say unto 
 you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over” 
 —what? Something man calls glorious? battles? the 
 discoveries of science ? the fall of kingdoms? No. “Over 
 one sinner that repenteth.” Man’s great is very small with 
 God ; and nothing on earth is so great as the conversion 
 of a sinner. 
 
 Let us try to understand this joy. Like the joy of the 
 shepherd and of the woman, ¢¢ zs heightened by the loss, the 
 long search, and the many dangers. Elihu Burritt tells that 
 some boys once visited the Natural Bridge of Virginia, 
 The soft limestone rocks there are deeply carved at the 
 bottom with the names of visitors, and one of the boys 
 resolved to carve his name—Jim Voe—above all the rest. 
 He did so, and then found that he could not get down! 
 He tried to reach the top, but soon lost heart. The news 
 spread like wildfire, and hundreds flocked to the spot—his 
 father and. mother among them. After many hairbreadth 
 escapes and hours of fear, he was landed safely on the top. 
 
170 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 — 
 
 And then what a scene of joy! The heavenly ones look 
 down on all the sinner’s dangers, and so are the more filled 
 with joy when the lost is found. 
 
 And joy in heaven over the penitent is u#zversal. The 
 friends and neighbours of the Shepherd in heaven are the 
 saints and the angels, who bear a great good-will to man. 
 As all under the roof joined in the song of the prodigal’s 
 father, so all in heaven share the joy over the penitent. 
 As great grief is solitary, so great joy is social, and grows 
 by the number who share and express it. No grumbling 
 elder brother puts a jarring note into heaven’s song. © 
 
 This joy is also zm the bosom of God, for it is “in the 
 presence of the angels of God.” All the angels look God- 
 wards, and so God only is in their presence. What! the 
 return of a sinner increasing joy in the abodes of ever- 
 lasting joy, in the bosom of the Father? Yes, the text 
 says so. A toy brings joy to a child, but not to a man; 
 common things gladden common men, but not great men ; 
 the joys of the greatest of men are probably beneath the 
 angels, but what must it take to add to the joy of the 
 ever-blessed God? The return of one sinner does it; for 
 all this joy is over one sinner, one outcast, any one, no matter 
 how mean, if he only repents: it is not in honour of a 
 king, or of a genius, who repents. Do not think that you 
 are lost in the crowd, that you would never be missed, 
 that you are just like a leaf falling in the forest, or a drop 
 sinking in the ocean. You greatly err, not knowing the 
 Saviour’s heart, for not one escapes His eye ; He follows 
 you as if there were only one world, and you its only in- 
 habitant. And all in heaven think of you: “ Rejoice with 
 me; for I have found my sheep which was lost” (ver. 6). 
 He needs to say no more, as they all knew perfectly what 
 one sheep He meant, and had eagerly watched His search 
 for it. 
 
 Before we part, let me mention the lessons you should 
 learn here :-— 
 
 I. The value of one lost soul—God counts it worth all 
 thai searching, and the saving of it worth all that joy. 
 “Honour all men,” then. The most worthless being you 
 ever met is worth more than all earth’s gold. Beneath a 
 beggar’s rags lies a jewel more valuable than all that ever 
 flashed on the brow of royalty, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 71 
 
 Il. The sinner’s grand encouragement.—Some gentlemen 
 preach the gospel to the poor in London theatres, and one 
 of them told me that they had to make it a printed rule 
 of their society that no preacher should take his text from 
 the fifteenth chapter of Luke. Every one of them, wish- 
 ing to give great encouragement to great sinners, was 
 somehow drawn to this chapter; and the people smiled as 
 preacher after preacher began by reading the same verses. 
 Here is the very marrow of the gospel. You do not need 
 to make Christ willing. He is as willing to save you as 
 the shepherd was to find his lost sheep, or the woman her 
 lost coin. Your loss is His loss. It is His chosen work, 
 His joy, to find you. Will He deny Himself this great 
 joy? Can He wish you to perish? Why, then, do you 
 stand afar off in doubt and trembling? It is His joy and 
 glory that He “receiveth sinners.” It is as natural for 
 Him to do it as it is for the shepherd to seek his lost 
 sheep. 
 
 Ill. The mark of heavenliness.—It is to sympathize with 
 those who seek the lost, and to rejoice with them when 
 the lost are found. God give you this spirit. 
 
 J. WE. 
 
 LVIII. Why children should come to Jesus. 
 LUKE xvii. 16. “ But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, 
 Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not ; 
 Sor of such is the kingdom of God.” 
 
 THE people who saw Jesus did not all love Him. Many 
 loved Him, and those who were much with Him found 
 Him more wonderful than any person that ever walked 
 the earth. What things He said to them, speaking of 
 heavenly things so simply, a child could understand! 
 
 He talked of the little birds flitting by one day, and His 
 words turned every chirping sparrow into a witness of. 
 God’s care for us all. He talked of the flowers sprinkling 
 the grass near where He sat, and His words made the 
 lowliest of them blossoms of Paradise, silently teaching us 
 all that we may reach beauty and glory by simple trust in 
 the Lord. He spoke of the forgiveness of sins, and made 
 # seem no small thing to ask God to forgive us. At the 
 
172 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 same time Jesus showed God so ready to forgive that 
 He is like a shepherd going after a lost sheep, or a father 
 watching for a returning son. 
 
 While always talking of such serious things, Jesus in 
 some way made children like to be near Him. The picture 
 of the text is not filled out by the image of reluctant chil- 
 dren urged on by their parents. We are right in thinking 
 of some infants carried in their mothers’ arms and stretch- 
 ing out their hands toward the Saviour, while older ones 
 of various ages ran before their parents to come the sooner 
 to Him whose person won their hearts before He spoke 
 and said: “ Suffer the little children to come unto Me.” 
 
 Jesus still calls. He wants the children of this genera. 
 tion to trust Him and obey Him while they are in this 
 world, and to be with Him in the better world, where He 
 has prepared a place for all that love Him. 
 
 I. The children of to-day should come to Jesus decause 
 they need such a Teacher, Saviour, and Friend. 
 
 I remember a company of blind children from an asylum 
 waiting at the door of a church for some one from within 
 to lead them to their place. Parents and teachers can lead 
 a child to the door of a good life, but Jesus only can lead 
 into goodness and heaven. 
 
 Neither child, woman, or man is wise enough, or strong 
 enough, to go through life safely alone. The largest 
 company gathered anywhere in church or Sabbath school 
 is like David’s flock. There came a lion and a bear and 
 took a lamb out of the flock. Who could defend them ? 
 They had no power to help one another against a lion and 
 a bear. Then David, who was the shepherd, ran to their 
 help. He risked his life for that lamb. He met the lion 
 and slew him and the bear also. He brought back the 
 lamb alive and safe. Were not the flock glad? Did they 
 not from that time run to David whenever danger came 
 near? 
 
 The great tempter of souls is like a lion, and no one but 
 Jesus is strong enough to meet him. Let every child, 
 when tempted to do wrong, run unto Jesus, who has met 
 this lion and risked His life for us and gained a great 
 victory. 
 
 Children need Jesus, too, as a Saviour from wicked 
 things they have already done. Some of you boys have 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 173 
 
 been known to swear and to cheat on the playground, and 
 some of the girls have cheated the teacher on examination 
 days, and talked spitefully about one another. You did 
 not suppose the minister knew it. Very likely you would 
 have kept back the word or the deed if you had known 
 that he heard or saw you. Dear child, remember that 
 God has heard every word and seen every act. Will He 
 forgive these sins? Do you forgive and forget it when 
 some one calls you bad names? Do you easily overlook 
 it if some one gets above you or wins a game by cheating? 
 
 How can any one who has done such things take the 
 least comfort in saying “ Our Father, which art in heaven,” 
 until he has first come to Jesus to be forgiven ? 
 
 Without going into particulars about honouring father 
 and mother, speaking the truth, loving others as your- 
 selves, it is enough to say that God knows every wish, 
 thought, and feeling, and sees in children’s hearts many 
 wrong things that are hidden from their parents and 
 teachers. Children should come to Jesus because they 
 need forgiveness, which He alone can give. Every wrong 
 deed, every bad wish, every pang of a troubled conscience 
 is a fresh reason for coming to Jesus. 
 
 II. Another very different reason why children, and little 
 children, should come to Jesus is, that they are not so far 
 from Him as those who have grown old in sin. We may 
 say that every child is born close to heaven’s gate. How 
 innocent and almost angel-like every infant looks when 
 sleeping in its cradle or cooing on its mother’s lap! If a 
 little child will take the hand of Jesus, it seems but a step 
 into holiness and heaven. But every day of sin is a 
 journey away and down from heaven’s gate. Some who 
 are yet children have sinned so much already that it is for 
 them a great way back to a good life. How much farther 
 it will be for any of you if you do not come to Jesus now, 
 but go on sinning another year! 
 
 Children’s consciences are tender. Children’s hearts 
 have fresh affections that turn to Jesus almost as readily 
 as climbing plants in June wind about their proper sup- 
 port. If those plants lie along the ground till August, 
 they can hardly be made to climb at all so late in their 
 life. Childhood is the time for the heart to begin clinging 
 to Jesus. Those that come to Him then will entwine 
 
174 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 themselves closer and closer about Him to the end of 
 life. 
 
 III. Another reason for children coming to Jesus is Ws 
 special love for them. There never was a shepherd boy 
 that did not think more of the lambs than of the sheep. 
 There never was a little girl who did not care more for her 
 kitten than for the full-grown cat. The young animals are 
 always the centre of interest in the farmer’s barn or field. 
 And Jesus has a peculiar love for children. How many 
 miracles He wrought for children! He healed a noble- 
 man’s son witn a word, and cast out an evil spirit from 
 the young daughter of a despised Syro-Phoenician woman. 
 He came down from talking with Moses and Elijah on 
 the Mount of Transfiguration to cure a lunatic boy. He 
 raised from the dead the son of a widow at Nain, and 
 brought back to life the daughter of Jairus. 
 
 He gave also other marks of peculiar love for children. 
 He once set a child in the midst of His disciples, and said 
 to them: “ Except ye be converted and become as little chit- 
 dren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He 
 said of little children that “¢hetr angels do always behold 
 the face of the Father in heaven.” Most beautiful of all is 
 the story of the text. Jesus not only spoke the words, 
 but He took the children in His arms, laid His hands on 
 them and blessed them. 
 
 Some one may ask at what age a child should come to 
 Jesus. The word for little children is used of John the 
 Baptist when He was an infant, and of the daughter of 
 Jairus when she was twelve years old. So Jesus tells us 
 not to forbid or hinder children of any age coming to Him. 
 Josiah began to seek the God of David when eight years 
 old. Timothy is said to have known the Holy Scriptures 
 from infancy. And to-day many of the best Christian 
 people cannot remember when they became Christians. 
 
 Are you five years old? Jesus says you may come to 
 Him. He will not turn you away to wait till you are 
 older. Are you ten years old? You ought to have begun 
 to love Jesus long ago. Are you fifteen, and have not yet 
 given Jesus your heart? How many years you have lived 
 without the happiness you might have had in the love of 
 esus | 
 : Have you not more than once been very much afraid 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 175 
 
 when some stranger was coming to the house, from whom 
 you thought you would rather hide yourself? Did it not 
 sometimes turn out that the stranger was so kind and 
 good and took such pains to give you pleasure, that you 
 lost all fear and made friends with him, and danced with 
 pleasure whenever you heard he was coming again? Do 
 not be afraid of Jesus, but come to Him. He is strong to 
 help you, and He is all kindness and goodness. He loves 
 children with a special love. He will pardon all your sins 
 and give you peace of conscience. He will be your very 
 best friend for ever. 
 W. C. W. 
 
 LIX. The Lost Sinner and the Seeking Saviour. 
 LUKE xix. 10. ‘“ For the Son of Man is come to seek and to 
 save that whith was lost.” 
 
 THE great mirror God makes use of is the Bible It is 
 like a looking-glass in the dark till God’s good Spirit 
 shines on it, and then we see ourselves as we never saw 
 ourselves before. The word “lost” in this text is a truth- 
 ful description of many of you. 
 
 I. A SINNER Lost.—Many of you have seen a little 
 card with three prayers on it: “Lord, show me myself. 
 Lord, show me Thyself. Give me Thy Holy Spirit.” 
 How do you expect to get an answer to the first? It will 
 be by such a text as this, and the prayer is answered when 
 you have discovered that you are a lost sinner. What is 
 involved in being lost ? 
 
 (1) l¢ zs to be without God.—I do not mean that you do 
 not know about God. You all know God made you, and 
 yet many of you have no God, and it would be all one to 
 you if you were told there was no God. You would not 
 feel, speak, or act differently than you now do. It is a sad 
 thing to be an orphan, or to have no friends or no money, 
 but it is far worse to have no God. In the fifteenth chapter 
 of Luke we have a parable about a lost sheep. That is a 
 picture of those who havenoGod. Thereis a God. There 
 is no doubt about that. But is He yours? Can you go 
 out at night when the stars begin to shine, and look up 
 and say, “JZy God?” Would you dare do that? Any 
 boy or girl who has no God is a lost child? 
 
176 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 (2) It ts to be without hope—What a bright and beautiful 
 thing hope is. Hope is like the cork jackets sailors put on 
 when going out in a life-boat. It keeps people’s spirits 
 from sinking, and their hearts from breaking. A boy at 
 the foot of his class does not break his heart about it. He 
 hopes to be up to-morrow. <A young Frenchman is taken 
 away to be a soldier, and he is bright and happy, for, he 
 says, he hopes to be one day a marshal. A child is ill and 
 weak, but smilingly says, ‘“‘ The doctor says I will be better 
 soon, and I hope in a day or two to be well again.” I 
 have seen people very ill who were blithe and cheery and 
 genial. They were dying, but they had a hope, and knew 
 that when their bodies were laid in their graves their souls 
 would be in glory. 
 
 “For hope will sing with courage bold, 
 There’s glory on the morrow.” 
 
 But if when you are ill the doctor comes and examines 
 you, and in answer to your mother’s inquiry, shakes his 
 head, that is enough for you. You say “I am afraid he 
 has no hope.” A lost sinner has no hope. He has no 
 hope of heaven, no hope of being with Jesus, no hope of 
 joining his friends who are “not lost but gone before.” 
 
 (3) lt zs to be in a state of bondage or slavery.— You know 
 what a slave is. You have read about slavery in America. 
 Sometimes we get into a state of bondage, and know it. 
 A boy climbed a ladder and felt his way about in a dark 
 loft, when suddenly there was a click, and his hand was 
 fast in a rat trap. He cried out, and his friends came and 
 found the little captive. Some of us are like that. We 
 do something very bad, and in a moment conscience says, 
 “You are caught; you are a slave.” But sometimes we 
 do not know it. You have seen boys snaring birds on the 
 snow in winter. It is only when they try to get away that 
 they find they are captives. Many of us are like that. 
 We think we are free and can do as we like, but our evil 
 dispositions, our bad tempers, or our bad habits have got 
 a hold of us and we only find it out when we try to get 
 away from them. If any of you would allow me to twist 
 a bit of silk thread round your hands, you would be my 
 prisoner in a few minutes. That would be a picture of 
 some of you who indulge your bad tempers, and give way 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 177 
 
 to untruthfulness, and are prayerless and careless, and 
 associate with bad companions, and are disobedient to 
 your parents. What you could easily have burst asunder 
 at the beginning now holds you like a vice; you area 
 slave. Slaves are lost children. 
 
 (4) It es to be under condemnation.— He that believeth 
 not is condemned.” God says those who have not believed 
 in the Lord Jesus and taken His way of salvation are 
 condemned already. They are lying under sentence and 
 only waiting the executioner. 
 
 (5) Lt zs to be dead.—I met a lady in a cemetery, and she 
 said to me, “I have lost my little daughter.” She meant 
 she was dead. The two words are often used for each 
 other. That is God’s description of a lost sinner. “This 
 my son was dead . . . he was lost.” While you are 
 unsaved you are dead in trespasses and sins. Dead people 
 do not run away from danger. Your parents may have 
 prayed with you, wept over you, pled with you, but all in 
 vain; you are dead. I would God’s Holy Spirit would 
 quicken you, and give you a look into this wonderful 
 mirror, so that you might know what it is to be lost. 
 
 II. THE SEEKING SAVIOUR.—He is here called by a 
 very precious name, the Son of Man. He is God’s Son, 
 but man’s Son as well, loving, sympathising, patient, per- 
 severing, all that is good. He seeks the lost sinner. Some- 
 times it is through a sermon, or a text, or family worship, 
 or some book you are reading quietly, or a companion 
 becoming anxious, or a friend taking ill or dying, or God’s 
 hand laid on yourself. The Lord Jesus, the Good Shep- 
 herd, the children’s Friend, is always seeking lost children, 
 every day in the week and every week in the year, and, 
 what is better, He is always finding lost children. That 
 should be good news to some who have made the great 
 discovery that they are lost. 
 
 III. A SINNER SAVED.—When a lost sinner is saved, he 
 has found a God ; he has a hope for time and for eternity ; 
 he has been pardoned and is no longer under condem- 
 nation ; he has liberty, the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God ; and he has life—* This my son was dead and is alive 
 again.” 
 
 J. H. W. 
 
278 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 LX. Abide with us. Luke xxiv. 29. “But they con. 
 strained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, 
 and the day ts far spent.” 
 
 THIS portion of Scripture records one of the eleven 
 distinct appearances of our Lord after His resurrection. 
 This is only alluded to in one verse by Mark. Let us 
 glance at some of the leading points of this narrative and 
 conclude with one or two lessons which it suggests. 
 
 We read that on the day of the Resurrection, the great 
 Easter Day, two of our Lord’s disciples were going to a 
 little village called Emmaus. The name of, one, Cleopas, 
 is given. Of him we do not know anything more than his 
 name. Some think that the other was Nathanael, others, 
 Peter, and many believe it was Luke. This last view 
 seems most probable because I do not think that that 
 last disciple could be the Apostle, because we are told that 
 on their return they found the eleven Apostles gathered 
 together. Therefore I think it most probable that this 
 disciple was Luke. 
 
 These two were journeying along the road to a little 
 village about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. 
 These two disciples are as it were taking a quiet country 
 walk; they are leaving a place where a great event has 
 just occurred ; and they are full of sorrow. They are 
 speaking doubtless of our Lord’s suffering, crucifixion and 
 death. You know perhaps, my dear children, what a com- 
 fort it is sometimes in times of sorrow or joy to open one’s 
 heart to those whom we love. What a comfort it is, 
 children, when we have a great joy to tell it to others; 
 and what a comfort it is when we have a sorrow. And we 
 are born to sorrow as the sparks fly upward. These two 
 disciples had a great sorrow. They had seen their Lord 
 and Master crucified ; as yet they knew not that He had 
 risen. While they are thus communing together our 
 blessed Lord joins them. They did not know Him, 
 Mark says, “He appeared in another form.” Christ asks 
 them the subject of their conversation and they tell Him, 
 and they wonder at Him, who has been at Jerusalem, where 
 the facts of our Lord’s death were so widely known, that 
 He should ask them what these things were. And when 
 
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 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 179 
 
 they had told Him their sorrow, our blessed Lord shows 
 them that the very things which shook their faith that our 
 Lord was the Messiah were the very things which proved 
 that the Lord was the true Christ. And He began ex- 
 pounding to them, beginning at Moses and the Prophets. 
 Doubtless, children, our Lord began with the first book 
 of the Bible—Genesis—where we have a prophecy how 
 the Seed of the woman should overcome the serpent. 
 And again He spoke of the paschal lamb, which was the 
 type of the great Lamb of God; and then perhaps He 
 spoke of the Good Shepherd and the Lamb that was led 
 to the slaughter. And perhaps He spoke of Himself as 
 the Lord of Righteousness and the Son of Man. You see 
 that our Lord took all His thoughts from the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, because that would impress these people, for they 
 believed the Old Testament and would therefore believe 
 this was the Christ. 
 
 They came to the end of the journey and our Lord 
 made as though He would go further on His way. 
 They begged Him, they constrained—that is, urged—Him 
 to abide with them, for, said they, “It is toward evening 
 and the day is far spent.” And Christ tarried with them, 
 and sat at meat with them, and He took bread and blessed 
 it, and brake it before them. And there was, I think, 
 something significant in the way in which He broke that 
 bread, something perhaps which reminded them of that 
 very great miracle, the feeding of the five thousand ; for 
 we read that as soon as He had done this their eyes 
 were opened, that is, they knew Him. Perhaps they had 
 seen the print of the nails on His hands as He uplifted 
 them to break the bread. Then He vanished out of their 
 sight. 
 
 Such is a short history of the journey of the disciples 
 to Emmaus, and I want to bring home to you to-day, 
 in the few moments left to me, just two lessons for you 
 to think over. 
 
 First of all, I would ‘dwell for a moment upon that 
 expression, “ They constrained Him.” These two disciples 
 pressed our Lord not to go on His journey—they con- 
 strained Him. Our Lord likes to be entreated by His 
 people. He wanted to see perhaps if these disciples were 
 weary of Him. In Old Testament history we read that 
 
180 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Abraham said, “ Pass not away, I pray thee, from my sight ; 
 and we read that Gideon said to the angel, “ Depart not 
 hence, I pray thee.” Now these words, “I pray thee,” 
 show that God loves to be entreated by His people; that 
 those who would have much must ask much. 
 
 Again, notice that we see in our text that our Lord 
 loves to try our faith He made as though He would 
 go further, to see if they would press Him. And they 
 constrained Him. In Old Testament history we see that 
 God dwelt with Jacob when He would not let God go 
 until He blessed him. You remember the Canaanitish 
 mother, who got through the crowd, and it was not until a 
 third time that Christ answered her request. Again, He 
 dealt so with the man at Capernaum; and this proves 
 that Christ loves to be entreated. 
 
 Remember this in your prayers—Christ loves to be 
 entreated, Christ loves to be entreated. Let us not be like 
 the Jewish king of old, who smote three times on the 
 ground and then stopped. Pray, in the words of our text, 
 “ Abide with us.” Does not this remind us of that hymn,— 
 
 ‘ Abide with me, fast falls the eventide, 
 The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.” 
 
 Dear children, may all of you in your young age pray to 
 Christ, “ Abide with me;” and if it pleases God to spare 
 you to grow up, let that still be your prayer; and when 
 you get to old age you can look back and say, “In life as 
 this has been my prayer, may it be also in death—‘O 
 Lord, abide with me.’” 
 
 J. W. 
 
 LXI. Behold the Lamb of God. Joun i. 29. 
 “ Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the 
 world,” : 
 
 IF any of you are expecting to find happiness in the 
 things of a present world, you are mistaken. You will 
 never find happiness till you know the Lamb of God. If 
 you are trying to be happy in any other way, you may try 
 on, but you will be disappointed. There is a story about 
 an Indian nurse who came home with a lady to this 
 country. One morning she looked out of the window, and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 181 
 
 the snow had been falling till it covered all the branches 
 of a tree opposite the window, and she said, “Oh, how 
 beautiful it is!” and then, “Oh, how soft it is! I will 
 take some of this home to my own country, and show this 
 beautiful thing to my friends at Calcutta.” So she gathered 
 some of the branches, and put what she had gathered into 
 her trunk. You smile at this, because you know that it 
 would be all gone before night. Well, that is just like the 
 happiness you expect from the things of this present world. 
 It looks very fine and beautiful, but just wait awhile, and 
 where is it? You will never be happy till you know the 
 Lamb of God. 
 
 And then, if any of you are trying to get the better of 
 your bad temper and sins without having first come to 
 Christ, it will be a total failure. You may resolve, but 
 you will break your resolutions; you may promise, but 
 you will break your promises. The great preacher, Mr. 
 Spurgeon, says he was once reading a book at a window. 
 He saw a fly on the window, and he tried to sweep it 
 away with his hand, but the fly was there still. He made 
 another attempt, did the same thing over again, and the 
 fly was just where it was ; and he then found that the fly 
 was on the other side of the pane. Now, if you try to 
 wipe away sin out of your heart—if you try to get the 
 better of your corruptions in your own strength, without 
 first coming to the Lamb of God—you are trying on the 
 wrong side, it will be an utter failure. You can neither be 
 happy nor holy till you come to the Lamb of God. 
 
 I want to speak to you first of all about the preacher 
 mentioned in the text—this man John; then I want to 
 tell you about the crowds that came to hear him; and then 
 I want to tell you about Azs famous sermon. 
 
 First, about the preacher. His name was John. His 
 father’s name was Zacharias, and his mother’s name 
 Elisabeth,—two of the best people that lived in Judea in 
 those days. In after days he was called John the Baptist, 
 to distinguish him from another John—John the Apostle. 
 How he got that curious name was this: God revealed to 
 him, in a way not mentioned to us, that this was to be his 
 employment when he grew up to a certain age—he was 
 to go and preach, and, along with his preaching, he was 
 to baptize people with water. Well, with this in prospect, 
 
182 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 you can easily understand that he would be trying to get 
 an education that would fit him for that. But he never 
 went to school or college. He was the son of a priest, but 
 he did not go to the Levites to be taught. He was in the 
 deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. The deserts 
 were places where there were no rows of houses. There 
 might be a cottage here and there; but there were miles 
 of pasture ground where the sheep fed, but where there 
 were no villages and no clusters of people. There he 
 lived, going up and down there; and often you would 
 have found him under some shady fig-tree, reading the 
 five books of Moses, the books of the Prophets, and singing 
 the Book of Psalms very likely, and the Song of Solomon. 
 No doubt you would find him singing there with all his 
 heart. He was brought up in the study of God’s word, 
 and under that fig-tree you would find him in prayer. It 
 is told in the history of the Covenanters, that one of the 
 young martyrs, Hugh Mackail, before he became a preacher, 
 expecting terrible days of persecution, used to go to the 
 sheep-farms and live among the shepherds for weeks at 
 a time, praying and reading the word of God, to fit him 
 for the storm that was coming. And so young John the 
 Baptist was fitted for all his difficult work in the way I 
 have told you of. 
 
 In the countries where there are priests, they wear a 
 dress of their own, different from other people. But when 
 John the Baptist came to preach, he wore a garment of 
 camel’s hair,—a very lasting kind of garment, but with no 
 beauty in it, and rather coarse. About his waist he had 
 a girdle. In the East you will see some splendid girdles ; 
 people that have plenty of money make them glitter with 
 silver, and sometimes with gold. John the Baptist was 
 content with a plain girdle of leather. And what about 
 his food? Some of you are far more particular about 
 your food than he was. He made no grumble about poor 
 fare. He gathered locusts, took off their wings, kneaded 
 them into a sort of cake, and ate them. And he gathered 
 wild honey from the places where the bees deposited it,— 
 sometimes in the trunk of a tree, sometimes in the crevice 
 of arock. He was not caring about meat and drink and 
 dress, What took away his anxiety about this? It was 
 this,—he had a consuming desire to glorify God and to 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 183 
 
 win souls to Christ ; and, full of this, he forgot everything 
 else. 
 
 A very extraordinary thing about him was, that though 
 great crowds gathered round him, he never preached in 
 towns. We like to go where there are plenty of people. 
 But John the Baptist went to the pasturing grounds where 
 the shepherds were. He began to preach to the shepherds. 
 He preached to a few at first, and they told others that 
 they had heard an extraordinary young man; and then all 
 the shepherds and their wives and their children came, and 
 a little crowd gathered round him in the desert. And 
 then when the shepherds went to the markets, they told 
 the people in Bethlehem and Hebron and Jerusalem, and 
 more people came to hear him. He never went to Jeru- 
 salem or to any great town, but he stood in the desert and 
 the people came to him. The Holy Spirit was poured 
 upon the people, and they went out of their houses with 
 an extraordinary desire to hear what he was preaching 
 about. 
 
 And another thing about him is this, that there was 
 never a preacher who did so much work in so short a time. 
 Constantly you find something in the Gospels about the 
 Baptist, and yet he only preached six months, and then 
 was cast into prison. But in that six months’ time he had 
 shaken the whole country. When God’s Spirit is poured 
 out, a short time is enough to accomplish a great work. 
 
 Another striking thing is that John was more than a 
 year in prison, and he died a very sudden death. You 
 know the terrible story, how the daughter of Herodias 
 ‘danced and pleased Herod, and what came of her dancing, 
 and how the mother rejoiced over the head of the Baptist 
 because that tongue that reproved her sins was now silent 
 in death. 
 
 But yet Jesus says, that of all the prophets born of 
 woman there never was a greater than John the Baptist. 
 We must learn that it does not greatly matter what kind 
 of death we die—it is the life we live that concerns us. 
 John Newton was once talking to a friend who told him 
 of the death of some one, and another friend said, “How 
 did he die?” “There isa more important question than 
 that,” said Newton ; “ How did he live?” John had very 
 large congregations—all Jerusalem went out to hear him 
 
184 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 There were were simple shepherds and learned Pharisees 
 and Sadducees and Levites, and there were Herod’s 
 soldiers asking him questions. But while there were many 
 hearers, there was just one way of salvation for them all. 
 “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of — 
 the world.” This was John’s sermon. It was always in 
 his mouth now that Christ had come among them. 
 Some say John was a terrible preacher. He did some-— 
 times preach terrible sermons, and every minister that © 
 preaches all God’s truth sometimes preaches terrible 
 sermons. But John’s work was to be a forerunner and 
 to point to Christ; and this sermon, “Behold the Lamb 
 of God!” really describes the strain of John’s preaching. 
 And when he preached such things to the Pharisees, 
 speaking of them as a generation of vipers, it was just in 
 order that he might send them to the Saviour. A lamb 
 is a very gentle creature ; but that is not the real meaning 
 of “The Lamb of God.” A lamb is one thing; the Lamb 
 of God is another. God’s Lamb means the Lamb of God’s 
 sacrifice. For 1500 years among the people of Israel, 
 except a short gap in their history, every morning about 
 nine o'clock, and every afternoon before the sun set, a 
 lamb was slain upon the altar. Only think how many 
 were slain, when twice a day, and on Sabbath a great deal © 
 oftener, a lamb was slain; and at other times I cannot tell 
 how much oftener. All this was to be a picture of Him 
 that was to come,—a picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus 
 Christ, of whom the paschal lamb spoke, of whom Isaiah 
 spoke. With all this before him, John says, “There is the 
 Lamb of God ;” when Christ came in sight, he said to his 
 hearers, “There is the Lamb of God, the real sacrifice for 
 sin; come and behold Him.” Now we point out Christ to 
 you in this way. Here is the true sacrifice for sin, the 
 only sacrifice for sin. God sent Him, and God accepts 
 Him. He taketh away the sin of the world. Now you 
 are not to make the mistake of some people, who say He 
 has taken away the sin of the world. The text does not 
 say that ; it says, He takes it away. Never believe people 
 that tell you that He has taken away the world’s sins. 
 He has not done that. Do not believe people that say He 
 has paid the world’s debt. He has not paid it; but He 
 does pay the debt of all that come to Him. The meaning 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 185 
 
 _ of the “taketh away the sin of the world” is, that it is His 
 
 office and employment to take away sin. Every sinner, 
 young and old, that comes, is sure to find Him ready to 
 take away their sin, for it is His very work. Good Thomas 
 
 Boston says: “He is like the physician in a regiment. 
 
 He does not give physic to all the regiment,—perhaps 
 they are not ill,—but he is the one to do it; he is the one 
 they are to come to if they are sick, and there is no other.” 
 So Jesus is our Physician, our Saviour, whose office it is to 
 take away the sin of the world. Will you come, and, like 
 Abel in early days, lay your hand on this Lamb of God, 
 and look up to the Father and say, “ Accept me in Jesus”? 
 Is it not a fine hymn, that— 
 
 “Gentle, holy Jesus, without a spot or stain, 
 By wicked hands was taken, and crucified and slain. 
 Look, iook, if you can bear it, look at your dying Lord ; 
 Stand near the cross and watch Him,—Behold the Lamb of God! 
 
 “He has become our Surety, and what we could not pay 
 On the cross He paid it for us, on that great and dreadful day. 
 Oh, wonderful redemption ! God’s remedy for sin, 
 The door of heaven is opened, and you may enter in.” 
 
 “Behold the Lamb!” That time mentioned in the thirty- 
 fifth verse, when John the Baptist preached this sermon 
 over again, two of his disciples followed Jesus. One of the 
 two that night got well acquainted with Jesus Christ, and 
 became the man that lay upon Christ’s bosom—John the 
 Apostle. And John the Apostle is so fond of speaking 
 about the Lamb of God, that about thirty times in the 
 Book of the Revelation he speaks of Him by that name; 
 he seems to be never tired of the name by which he first 
 knew Him. 
 
 We have no way but one of escaping from the wrath 
 to come; not a man, woman, or child can enter into 
 heaven but by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. 
 Are you washed? Have you accepted the Lamb of God, 
 who is the Saviour of all sinners ? 
 
 AAB 
 
186 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 LXII. Nathanael. Joun i. 48 “ When thou wast under 
 the fig tree, I saw thee.” 
 
 “EVEN a child is known by his doings.” If children 
 pray we know that they are Christian children. If they 
 do not pray, we know that they are living “without God 
 in the world.” The beating of the pulse is the best and 
 surest sign of life, it settles the matter without a coroner’s 
 inquest ; and so the desire to pray is the best and surest 
 sign that our souls are alive. Those who never pray are 
 like swans which have let their legs be tied and their wings 
 be cut, and then drift helplessly down the river towards 
 the Channel. Still they might be rescued if they would 
 but cry out; but no, they float along, dumb as the fish 
 beneath them, and they will continue to do so till the 
 sharks drag them under and they perish. 
 
 But now, what is it to pray ? for the heathen and Papists 
 pray, after a fashion, and if earnestness and endless re- 
 petitions went for anything, their prayers sometimes would 
 be models, for they will sit repeating them by the hour, 
 and that often with the most affecting lamentations. Our 
 missionaries say that there are few things more touching 
 than to see the Jews praying “at the place of wailing,” 
 before a part of the old wall of Solomon’s Temple in 
 Jerusalem. If vehemence of grief could obtain them a 
 hearing, God would not turn a deaf ear to them. 
 
 It may be that in studying the text we shall get to 
 understand what it is to pray effectually. There we 
 are shown a man named Nathanael, “an Israelite indeed, 
 in whom was no guile,” sheltered from the sun’s heat and 
 from human gaze beneath the spreading foliage of a fig- 
 tree. And what is he doing there? We cannot doubt 
 that he was holding communion with God,—praying over 
 the promises of that Blessed One “of whom Moses and 
 the prophets did write,’—asking God to fulfil them now, 
 and show him “His salvation.” And what happened ? 
 His prayer was granted. His friend Philip was sent to say 
 to him, “we have found Him, He is here with us, Jesus 
 of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael hesitated, 
 for Nazareth was a notoriously wicked city; but [Ihilip 
 persuaded him. They went together to Christ. Christ 
 received him graciously, described his character, reminded 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 187 
 
 him of the fig-tree, assured him of still greater privileges, 
 and made him an Apostle. 
 
 O sacred fig-tree, where in silence seeds were sown 
 which soon produced such a golden sheaf! But let us 
 observe from it :— 
 
 I. That God is present everywhere. 
 
 We are apt to confine him to heaven, or to our churches 
 and chapels. But this is a mistake; His presence fills 
 space. There is not a corner so obscure that the worker 
 of iniquity can hide himself from Him. He is at the side 
 of each little coral insect in the ocean’s bed, to keep it in 
 health and activity ; and of each little sparrow that chirps 
 on our eaves, to feed it and mark its fall. He saw Nathan- 
 ael under the fig-tree as plainly as He would have seen 
 him in the Temple. He saw Adam and Eve when they 
 sought to conceal themselves amongst the trees of Eden. 
 He saw Abraham on the mount, so that, at the exact mo- 
 ment when he was about to dart down the knife and bury 
 it in Isaac’s breast, He stopped him. He saw Hagar in 
 the wilderness when she kissed Ishmael and laid him down 
 to die, and the poor lad moaned aloud in his agony of 
 thirst. Then the Lord opened her eyes and she saw a well 
 of water. He saw Elijah in the lonely cave, and startled 
 him with the question, “What dost thou here Elijah?” 
 He saw Peter asleep in the inner dungeon, and Paul 
 tossing about in the awful darkness and confusion of that 
 tempest in which he was wrecked off the coast of Malta, 
 and visited both of them. That was the groof that He 
 saw them. Whither, then, shall we flee from Him? Echo 
 answers, Whither? By His Spirit He is as truly with us 
 as He is with the glorified saints. A general-in-chief need 
 not be visible with a dozen armies which he directs. By 
 means of telegraph wires connecting his head-quarters 
 with them he is virtually with them, though absent in the 
 flesh. We have thousands of nerves in our bodies, but 
 they so report whatever they feel to the brain, that the 
 brain is in intimate union with the whole frame. But 
 God Himself is really close by us; in Him we live, and 
 move, and have our being. We sleep under His shadow; 
 we eat and drink before Him; we draw our breath out of 
 His hand; our thoughts no less than our acts are naked 
 and open to His sight. 
 
188 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 This is to be remembered—and when we remember it, 
 shall we not fear the Lord, and rejoice before Him with 
 trembling ? 
 
 II. God especially ene us when we are on our knees. 
 
 This was what He would convince Nathanael of,—that as 
 he was engaged in prayer under the fig-tree, of course He 
 had beheld him. To pray is to seek God’s face; and 
 when will that face be turned beamingly upon us if not 
 then? Mark how He had noticed that new thing in the 
 converted Saul of Tarsus,—‘“ Beho/d he prayeth.” He may 
 seem not to attend to us for a while, as He tried the faith 
 of the Syro-Phoenician woman. There she was, suppli- 
 cating, but He made as though He saw her not; she might 
 as well have been at the feet of a wooden idol. But it 
 was only for a while ; then He looked lovingly at her, and 
 praised her, and bid her have what she would. Daniel 
 was entreating God to tell Him when the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity would end and his nation be restored. How soon 
 he was satisfied that God saw him there! suddenly, ere he 
 had left off pleading, Gabriel stood shining before him 
 straight from God with the wished-for message. 
 
 If we recollect these and other similar instances, they 
 will encourage us in our prayers. We do not speak to 
 ourselves when we pray, or whisper to a God who may be 
 absent, “ pursuing, or on a journey, or must be awakened 
 from his slumbers;” we address ourselves to Him who 
 is certainly bending over us, who certainly is aware of our 
 errand, who certainly will be conscious of our faults if we 
 are hurried, or drowsy, or hypocritical, and who certainly 
 will be conscious of our endeavours, if we resolutely fight 
 against these, and press through to His throne. An 
 African lad was laughed at for his solemnity when he 
 prayed. What did hesay? “I was talking to Him who 
 shed His precious blood for me on the cross! I felt that 
 He was searching me through, and I could not trifle.” 
 
 Ill. We should have a particular spot where we can resort 
 for prayer. 
 
 Nathanael’s was a fig-tree; Jacob’s was an altar, which 
 he set up wherever he journeyed; our Lord’s was either 
 a mountain or the garden of Gethsemane. He withdrew 
 Himself from the multitudes, and retired there as to His 
 closet. Therefore He says to us, “Enter into thy closed, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 189 
 
 and shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in 
 secret.” The thrushes in our fields have a chosen branch 
 on which they continually perch for their morning and 
 evening songs. It is said of Washington that, when en- 
 camped in the woods, he always reserved to himself a 
 thicket where he could have his devotions undisturbed. 
 And Bishop Leighton frequented a grove in a public park 
 in Ireland, and at last it was left entirely to him as if it 
 was his own property. You may have read the story of 
 the “ Path to the Bush;” the beaten track through the 
 forest to the “praying huts” of the native converts, and 
 the faithful girl hinting to her sister that the gvass was 
 growzng in her path to the bush, 
 Ah! have not some of us particular spots hallowed by 
 such associations? They may now be far back in the 
 distance of years, but we don’t forget them. We may be 
 removed from them hundreds of miles, but there they are, 
 green and fresh in memory,—the scented arbour, the quiet 
 lane, the leafy forest, the old ruin, the ship cabin. Secure 
 to yourself a “sanctuary.” It may be difficult to obtain 
 it in a small and busy dwelling, but there must be oppor- 
 tunities despite disadvantages, where the “wzd/” will hit 
 upon the “ way.” The starling will discover a hole for her 
 nest when the nesting season arrives, or will bore it for 
 herself if she can’t; and the timid hare will discover a 
 lair for herself on the barest common, or scratch it for 
 herself if she can’t. 
 
 Lastly, God will honour those who do thus pray to Him. 
 
 Nathanael prayed to Him under the fig-tree. Jesus 
 rewarded him before his fellow-disciples. He put, as it 
 were, a crown of pure gold upon his head. He declared 
 that he should be a witness of His glory in His kingdom. 
 
 The pearl is formed in an oyster at the bottom of the 
 ocean amongst crabs and bleached bones, but its beauty 
 causes it to be dived for and fetched up, and set in a royal 
 diadem. So those who have fellowship with God in soli- 
 tude are adorned and prepared for God’s service, and by- 
 and-by He will call them to it. Esau could not have 
 guessed how it was that his brother conquered him with 
 kindness so easily. Hehad not seen him wrestling with 
 God by the brook the night before. Nehemiah wanted 
 Artaxerxes to grant him a favour; before he commenced 
 
190 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 his request, as he was offering him the wine-cup, he lifted 
 up his heart in prayer to God, and at once the monarch 
 was melted, and he ordered Nehemiah to do whatever 
 he chose. We have a glimpse of Jesus praying at His 
 transfiguration, and it was “as He prayed” that His 
 countenance became radiant with celestial lustre. That 
 penitent who crept into Simon’s banquet-hall to the Lord, 
 and used her tears for a bath and her hair for a towel 
 in her adoration of Him, she did it “under the fig-tree,” 
 saying nothing, nothing said to her; but presently the 
 “honour” was bestowed on her to Simon’s shame, and 
 then followed the “Go in peace, thou art forgiven.” 
 
 A soldier as he was carried wounded from a battle, said 
 so frequently, “Thank God, thank God,” that his com- 
 panions enquired what he meant: he replied, “ Why, be- 
 fore I went into action I prayed that I might do my duty, 
 and not be afraid of death; and God upheld me so that 
 I bore the flag bravely, and I ¢hank Him for it.” Have 
 you never had your prayers turned into comforts in hours 
 of trouble,—into pillows when you were sick, into staffs 
 when you were weary, into manna when you were hungry, 
 into music when you were sad ? 
 
 And it would be singular if it were not so, for prayer is 
 just putting yourself into connection with God’s bounty 
 and tenderness; and then it will be administered to us 
 according to our “several necessities.” If you plant a vine 
 by a southern wall in a rich ground, you expect that it 
 will thrive, for God undertakes the rest,—the nourishing 
 and cherishing it, the supplying it with dew and showers. 
 and what its roots can absorb. 
 
 Now, be cheered on to pray.—Much in prayer, you are as 
 Noah within the ark. The flood may surround you but it 
 shall not harm you, and on it you shall ride triumphantly 
 over all the temptations and trials which beset us here, 
 till it land you in the home in the skies. 
 
 Be warned against neglecting prayer.—You cannot do it 
 and escape; for then you wander about exposed to every 
 fiery dart, you have no armour on yourself, no Divine shield 
 covering you. It will be marvellous if you can continue 
 to “restrain prayer” and not suffer for it, for to pray is a 
 command, and those who do not pray pour contempt upon 
 
 it, and “they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 191 
 
 There is the “ fig-tree” waiting for you; hasten under it, 
 and nothing in heaven will be sweeter to you than that 
 word of the Lord ‘“‘ When thou wast under the fig-tree J 
 saw thee,” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 LXIII. The Pool of Bethesda. Joun v. 1-16. 
 
 I WOULD like to notice just the real facts about this pool. 
 It seems that through some cause at certain, or rather 
 uncertain, periods there was some bubbling up of the 
 waters—probably by some subterranean fissure or escape 
 of gas—and at these times the pool was thought to have 
 power to cure various forms of disease. This belief was 
 very prevalent, and exists to this day. Some of the 
 things in nature, which we consider are brought about by 
 natural causes, such, for instance, as the medical virtues 
 of this water, were accounted for by a messenger from God, 
 an angel, who caused acommotion in the water. There 
 was a marginal note in John which some one thought was 
 in the original, and thus it came to be inserted in our 
 Bible. In the Revised Version you will see these words 
 are left out, because they had got in accidentally. We 
 read in the New Version, “ Now there is in Jerusalem by 
 the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, 
 having five porches. In these lay a multitude of them 
 that were sick, blind, halt, withered.” Then there is a 
 marginal note about the angel of the Lord troubling the 
 water. But these words are struck out of the text, and 
 are only used to explain the belief of the Jews as to the 
 supposed virtues of the pool. 
 
 Well, our Lord was always going about seeking to do 
 good, and it was a natural place for Him to be found here. 
 This man mentioned by John demanded special pity. 
 You know, children, there are to be found in every great 
 town—in London, for instance—people who have not been 
 out of their beds for a great many years more than 
 you have been in the world altogether. These poor in- 
 valids have been sick and confined to their beds for many 
 years. Sometimes these poor people have been kept in 
 
 theis beds, by God's providence, for twenty, thirty, or forty 
 
192 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 years. The man spoken of in the text was not confined 
 to the house, because out of doors the air was warm and 
 balmy, and he could lie on his mat. 
 
 There was something almost touching in the great hope- 
 fulness with which this man year after year lay where he 
 thought some day he could get to the water; and our 
 Lord knew—as He knows the troubles and hopes and 
 fears of all men—the hope deferred which makes the heart 
 sick of that poor man, and had pity on him, and undertook 
 to cure him, if he had confidence to expect a cure. And 
 the words, “Wilt thou be made whole?” uttered by Jesus, 
 seem to suggest to the man that he should look rather 
 to the speaker than to the medicinal waters for help. He 
 was a true angel indeed, though not the angel of the Lord 
 expected by the people to trouble the water. 
 
 But you will observe that the importance of this story, 
 and the reason for which John has told it, is not the cure 
 of the man—for this was not more wonderful than many 
 others Christ did—but to show the hatred it brought 
 against the Lord by the Jewish priests. The complaint 
 brought by the priests against our Saviour was that He 
 had broken the Sabbath; and this led to the persecution 
 against Him, not only in the capital city of Jerusalem, but 
 in the whole province of Judea. This is very important, 
 because it was the beginning of the persecution which 
 culminated in our Lord’s crucifixion. 
 
 And our Lord gives us the true idea of that holy day, 
 for He says it was given for the good of man, to be a 
 benefit to the body and soul of all men—but to their 
 bodies and souls alike ; and whatever benefits the bodies 
 and souls of men is not breaking the Sabbath. The 
 Sabbath is to be kept in spirit, and for the purposes for 
 which it was given. Works simply for personal gain, for 
 the prosecution of our secular business—these are to be 
 done as little as possible. But there are some kinds of 
 work which must go on on the Sabbath—but works of 
 personal gain are to be done as little as possible on that 
 holy day. The-works of charity, works of kindness, works 
 which do good to the bodies and souls of men—these are 
 to be done as much as possible. Instead of complaining 
 and finding fault with them, as these captious and trouble- 
 some Jews did, Jesus teaches us that we are to do them 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 193 
 
 _as much as possible, and never to be weary in good works. 
 May He give us the wisdom and power that we may both 
 know and do them. 
 
 J. O. D. 
 
 LXIV. The Lad andthe Hungry Multitude. Joxun 
 vi.g9. “ There ts a lad here which hath five barley loaves and 
 two fishes, but what are they among so many #” 
 
 As we read over the story of the way Jesus fed the five 
 thousand, we cannot help wondering how this little boy 
 came to be in the great company. Here was a crowd 
 of people who had left their homes and sought out the 
 Saviour that they might hear more of His gracious words. 
 And yet, without much forethought, they had, it seems, 
 brought no lunch or food with them ; so that the question 
 arose, How shall they be fed? Two hundred pennyworth 
 of bread (about six pounds five shillings’ worth), says 
 Philip, one of Christ’s disciples, would not be sufficient. 
 Another disciple, Andrew by name, ventured the rather 
 strange suggestion that there was a lad present who had 
 five loaves of coarse barley bread, such as the poor people 
 in that country used to eat, and two small fishes, probably 
 caught in the lake near by. He evidently thought it was 
 a circumstance hardly worth mentioning, for he immedi- 
 ately adds, “but what are they among so many?” Well, 
 Andrew was wiser than he seemed, for, as the narrative 
 tells us, this little which the lad had, as blest and used by 
 Jesus, was sufficient to feed five thousand people. So, as 
 a matter of fact, it was what this unknown boy had which 
 really furnished the dinner for this hungry multitude. 
 From this little bit of Gospel history we may learn: 
 
 I. The interest a boy can have in Fesus—This lad was 
 undoubtedly desirous of hearing and seeing Christ. He 
 may have heard his parents or acquaintances tell about 
 the wonderful things the Saviour did, and, boy-like, he 
 probably made up his mind that, when an opportunity 
 came, he would go where He was, and look and listen. 
 There was evidently something about Jesus that interested 
 little people. We know that He loved them, and if He 
 loved them He would be apt to talk to them in a way 
 to please and do them good. Children always are quick to 
 
194 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 find out those friendly to them. And wherever Christ 
 preached, He generally had boys and girls present in the 
 congregations that gathered about Him. I think Christ 
 spoke in a way to interest the young. He could tell them 
 how to overcome their faults, and could help them in their 
 efforts to live kind and dutiful lives. It was a great treat 
 for this boy to hear what Christ had to say, and I presume 
 it led him to resolve to try harder than ever to live as 
 Jesus would have him. 
 
 II, Another lesson taught us is the use Jesus can make 
 of even a boy.—No one in this multitude, it seems, except 
 this lad, brought anything to eat. Whether this was a 
 lunch his parents put up for him, or what he brought along 
 with him to sell, we do not know; but we are greatly in- 
 terested in seeing how useful he became. The fact that he 
 had the loaves and fishes is mentioned to Christ by one 
 who seemed almost ashamed afterwards that he said any- 
 thing about it. Jesus, however, did not consider it of no 
 importance. For He called the boy to Him, and then 
 took what he had, and made his few loaves and fishes 
 answer for the wants of all. It must have made the lad 
 feel happy that Christ thus took notice of him, and made 
 use of what he had brought with him. Nor could any one 
 have been more astonished than the boy himself to see 
 how those loaves and fishes lasted. Christ can use chil- 
 dren if they are willing, and sometimes they have been of 
 great service. He can use their gifts, whether they be the 
 pennies which they have earned, or some piece of handi- 
 work they have made. None are too young to serve 
 Jesus, and such have often been employed by Him to 
 accomplish good. 
 
 III. And then we also learn that zt zs always best to keep 
 zn good company.—This boy would have missed a great 
 deal if he had not gone out that day to see Jesus. If he 
 had given himself up to having some fun with his com- 
 rades he would not have been honoured as he was by 
 Christ. There is a time appropriate for everything. And 
 the secret of a happy, useful life is, be careful as to what 
 you get interested in. Boys ought to find that which will 
 benefit them in going to church and Sabbath school. If 
 this boy had told his mates that he was going to hear 
 the wonderful Teacher, whose fame was filling the whole 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 195 
 
 country, they might have ridiculed him and tried to per- 
 suade him to go with them; but by bravely following out 
 his purpose to see and hear for himself, he not only was 
 gratified therein, but was noticed and used by Jesus. I 
 think that proved to be the most noteworthy day in his 
 life. What he heard and what happened to him at this 
 time he could never have forgotten, and it probably in- 
 fluenced him as long as he lived. He may have become 
 a follower of Jesus from that day, and a preacher of the 
 Gospel to others when he grew up to be a man. 
 M. G. D. 
 
 LXV. The Bread of Life. Joun vi. 41-58. 
 
 THE passage is a difficult one for all to understand, and 
 it is especially difficult therefore for children to understand. 
 It was found to be very difficult by those who heard it, 
 and it is not surprising therefore that you have a difficulty 
 in comprehending the meaning of the passage. The Jews 
 who heard it, however, did not have the same difficulty as 
 you. They did not, I think, find much difficulty when our 
 Lord said: “I am Bread, you must feed on Me.” But 
 when He said: “I am the bread which came down from 
 heaven,” they did not understand it. They saw Him a 
 living man before them. They did not know two things 
 about Him which we know. 
 
 And what were the two things they did not know about 
 Him? They did not know He came down from heaven, 
 and was born ina different way from other men. And 
 they did not know that in a few months He was going 
 back to heaven. We know these two things. We know 
 that there was something very peculiar in the way He 
 came into the world, and the way in which He went out 
 of the world. 
 
 We do not, however, so easily understand Jesus saying : 
 “Tam Bread, and you must eat Me;” and the reason is, 
 that the Jews lived in the East, where men talk much 
 more in figures than we do. We speak-in plain matter 
 of fact words, and do not try to convey our meaning in 
 picture words. I have spoken, boys and girls, about 
 picture words, and we must try to understand these in our 
 reading about the Bible. You must try to set the key to 
 
196 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 these picture words. I think you will find the key to this 
 picture about bread in the 57th verse. “He that eateth 
 Me, even he shall live by Me.” Just let us think of this. 
 
 You know all over the world there are animals preying 
 upon one another. The lion springs upon the small 
 animal, the eagle swoops down upon the small bird, and 
 men live upon sheep and oxen to support their own lives. 
 We do this every day. We take the life of the corn and 
 vegetables ; otherwise they would continue to grow and 
 produce other plants. We take the corn and the fruit 
 and destroy them that we may live upon them. 
 
 So you see he that eateth anything lives by it. Our 
 Lord, when He says “You must eat Me,” does He not 
 mean, “You must live by Me”? “You must get a life 
 from Me which you cannot have without Me”? So when 
 our Lord speaks in this picture language it seems to mean 
 that there is some kind of life about us which we cannot 
 have unless we get it from Jesus. The young children I 
 think can tell me what this life is; the life of goodness, 
 the life of love, the pure life, the holy life which we get 
 from Jesus when we get near to Him and trust Him as 
 our loving Saviour, when we take His words and His 
 example and His cross to our hearts, and ask for His spirit 
 to live in us. 
 
 Then we get from Him—what? A holy life. We get 
 to love goodness, and God who is goodness. We get to 
 love purity, and truth, and virtue, and gentleness, and 
 graciousness. We get to possess these things, to be gentle 
 and praying and noble; and all that beautiful and holy 
 life which is the life of Jesus comes into us. And He calis 
 that “eating” Him, dealing with Him, making Him the 
 very support and food of our soul’s life, just as you make 
 the food on your tables your bodies’ support. 
 
 You see it is not so difficult, but it is very precious to 
 know. It is beautiful to think we can get God's life pro- 
 duced in us, in our poor sinful human lives, if we will only 
 take Him in and feed on Him. If we come to feed on 
 Jesus in this way every day we shall come to be like Him 
 May God grant this for His mercy’s sake. 
 
 J. O. D, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 197 
 
 LXVI. The Bread of Life. JoHN vi 51. “Jam the 
 Living bread which came down from heaven.” 
 
 CHRIST is the Living Bread, the Bread of Life, the 
 Bread of God, the Bread which came down from heaven. 
 Keep these words in mind for they contain the whole 
 Gospel, “I am the Bread of Life.” These words from 
 Christ’s own lips have been sounding in our world for 
 eighteen hundred years. This has been God’s message, 
 Christ’s message, the Holy Spirit’s message to our world. 
 
 I. The soul ts hungry—You know what bodily hunger 
 is. But the soul is hungry; it feels a want; it does not 
 know what the want is. We come into the world with an 
 empty heart, a heart without God. We try to get this 
 hunger satisfied, or we try to forget it. 
 
 And what has made us hungry? Is there any hunger in 
 heaven? None. Up yonder there shall be hunger no 
 more. But there is hunger here. Sin has made us hungry. 
 Until we get quit of sin we shall never cease to be hungry. 
 There are many things connected with us that increase the 
 hunger, but that is the main thing. It is sin that has 
 emptied us of God—that makes us cry, “Who will show 
 us any good?”—that makes us go from once place and 
 person to another, saying, “Give me something to eat, for 
 I am hungry, hungry.” There are many who know what 
 this hunger is, but yet they do not know it rightly. They 
 wonder they are not happy. The reason is, God has not 
 filled their hearts. If He had, they would cease to be 
 hungry. 
 
 Il. This world has no food in it—You may go all round 
 the world, and you will get no food for the soul. Is there 
 food for the soul in heaven? Yes; but we are not in 
 heaven. Men, in various ways, try to get their hunger 
 satisfied. Some say, If I had only enough of money, I 
 think my hunger would cease. Others think if they had 
 their fill of pleasure, their hunger would cease. The 
 theatre, dancing, mirth, will that make a man not hungry? 
 No; not one of these; the man is hungry still, for there is 
 nothing here that can fill the soul. The prodigal tried to 
 get quit of his hunger by eating—/usks. Will husks feed 
 us? No. The second thing is—ashes (Isa. xliv. 20). Here 
 is another, something worse than ashes—wixd (Hosea 
 
198 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 xii. 1). That is a strange thing to feed upon. There is 
 another thing still worse than all that. What do you think 
 itis? Weare told about it in Prov. xv. 14: “The mouth 
 of fools feedeth on—/foolishness.” Now, here are four things 
 the Bible says we try to feed our hunger upon. Remember 
 these four things. These are the things men are trying to 
 feed upon, and it won’t do. Their soul is just as empty as 
 ever, for it is a hungry world. Did you not hear, some 
 years ago, about the siege of Paris by the Germans? It 
 was an awiful time. The people were starving; for the 
 German armies were all round about the city, and they 
 could not get food. They fed upon all the animals they 
 could get hold of, for the whole city was hungry. What 
 Paris was in that siege, the world is now. It isa hungry 
 world, and there is nothing to feed upon here. You may 
 go from end to end of the world, north, south, east, and 
 west, and you will find nothing to feed the soul. 
 
 It is not a wrong thing for you to be merry and to play, 
 there is nothing wrong in that. But will that fill your 
 soul? No; you must have something else than that. You 
 must look for something more, something higher and more 
 lasting than that. When you are playing you should say 
 to yourselves, “Well, this is all very nice, but I must have 
 something more.” And when you go home to-night, and 
 think how happy you expect to be through the week, you 
 should say, “ Well, but I must. have something more than 
 that, for that will not last for ever.” 
 
 Ill. God has sent us food —Where has this food come from? 
 From the world? No. From India, China, America, 
 Russia, from the North Pole? No. Where does it come 
 from? Heaven. God has sent us food. He has sent us 
 food because He loved us, pitied us. Did he do this once 
 to the children of Israel? Yes. Where? In the wilder- 
 ness. What did he send them? Manna. When the Lord 
 Jesus Christ was here, great multitudes came to Him, and 
 He fed them—four, five, six thousand. He said, “I have 
 compassion on the multitude, because they continue with 
 me now three days, and have nothing to eat.” What made 
 Christ pity them? They had nothing to eat. He was 
 sorry for them, and accordingly He provided bread for 
 them. He gave them bread to eat just as God had given 
 Israel manna in the desert. And that bread—that manna 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 199 
 
 —came from God; it was God’s gift to a hungry world, 
 God’s gift to the hungry sons of men. It was in love God 
 thus fed them in the day of their hunger, with what they 
 could not get with their own hands, or from their fellow- 
 men. But what God did in the desert, and what the Lord 
 Jesus did for the thousands who followed Him, was just a 
 figure of what God does for us. Hesends down food from 
 heaven ; He sends it down in plenty ; He sends the best 
 food—the finest of the wheat ; and He sends it free, with- 
 out money and without price. 
 
 My dear children, it is God alone that can feed you, that 
 can make you happy, that can fill the void in your hearts. 
 That which feeds a soul must come down from heaven. 
 That which feeds the body grows upon the earth; that 
 which feeds the soul comes down from heaven. And that 
 which comes down to feed the soul must be full of the love 
 of God, the grace of God. 
 
 Can you remember some of the different things that are 
 spoken of food in the Bible? What is the first mention of 
 it? The fruit of the tree of life—that is the first time food 
 is spoken of. Then we have afterwards food spoken of 
 among the children of Israel. There was always bread in 
 the Tabernacle—the shew-bread. It was always there, in 
 the Holy Place ; twelve loaves stood there, and these twelve 
 loaves were just the voice of God saying,—I am feeding 
 you; here is food from heaven for you. Then there is 
 something in the Bible about the hidden manna; we do 
 not know what it is now, but we shall know hereafter. In 
 many ways, God speaks of feeding us, and feeding us with 
 what comes from heaven. He gives angels’ food—better 
 than angels’ food, a feast of fat things, the choice food of 
 heaven. Will you not take what God has provided? Ina 
 hungry world you may have plenty for your souls. For 
 God does not stint you ; He keeps a rich table, a plentiful 
 table. He invites all, and all things are free. 
 
 IV. Christ ts the food God has sent down from heaven.— 
 “Tam the Living Bread which came down from heaven.” 
 “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life.” That text tells us that the bread 
 God sent down from heaven to us here is His only begotten 
 Son,—the Word made flesh, who was born in Bethlehem, 
 
200 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 _— 
 
 lived at Nazareth, died at Golgotha, and rose again. It is 
 this Christ who is the food of men’s souls, so that whoso- 
 ever eateth of Him shall never die, and shall never hunger, 
 —“ My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.” 
 Christ is the food of our souls, the fruit of the tree of life, 
 the manna, the shew-bread, the paschal lamb; He is all 
 these, for in Him we find God. Nothing can fill a soul but 
 God ; and when Christ comes in, God comes in; and in 
 filling us with God, He makes us bright, happy, holy; He 
 fills us with that food. 
 
 And if you want to know about this bread which came 
 down from heaven, read the four Gospels, which just con- 
 tain a description of the Bread of Life. These four Gospels 
 contain a fourfold picture or description of the bread of 
 God. Study these Gospels, and, in studying them, you 
 will know what the bread of life isthe bread of God. 
 You will hear Christ say, “I am the Bread which came 
 down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not 
 die.” 
 
 You will say, How am I to get it ?—Christ is in heaven, 
 and I am upon the earth. God tells us that whoever 
 believes what is written of Christ in these Gospels gets 
 the bread into his soul. It is in receiving what God has 
 written in these Gospels about Christ that we get the 
 bread, and feed upon it. Study, then, these Gospels, that 
 in meditation on them you may have your hunger fed, 
 your soul satisfied—that you may be filled with God. 
 
 Remember, we have nothing to pay. The bread is all 
 free. A little child can eat it as well as a grown-up man. 
 All get it in believing—only in believing. Remember, it 
 is for the chief of sinners, the hungriest of the hungry, 
 the emptiest of the empty, the poorest of the poor. “He 
 that believeth hath everlasting life, shall never come into 
 condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” It is 
 said of the forbidden fruit, “In the day thou eatest thereof 
 thou shalt surely die.” But of this fruit which is not for- 
 bidden, we say, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 surely live. Eat, O friends! eat and be refreshed ; eat and 
 be satisfied. 
 
 Do not think that you have plenty of time before you, 
 and therefore may eat when you like. Days are running 
 fast away; death may be nearer than you think—Christ 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 201 
 
 nearer than you think. The last trump may soon be 
 sounding, and then the bread sent from God is taken away, 
 and we are left without it. Take this bread and live for 
 ever; take Christ and live for ever; take the fulness of the 
 Word made flesh ; take Him now, and in Him be satisfied. 
 
 He contains enough for you! 
 H. B. 
 
 LXVII. The Redeemer’s Tears. Jounxi35. “Jesus 
 wept.” 
 
 You know this text to be the shortest in all the Bible. Is 
 it not the sweetest also? Thousands and thousands have 
 blessed God for these two words. Next to the comfort of 
 knowing that Jesus shed His blood, is that of reading that 
 He shed tears. 
 
 On the day when Jesus rode in lowly guise into Jeru- 
 salem, hailed with Hosannas, we are told that when He 
 came nigh the city, He lifted up His voice and wept over 
 it, saying, “O that thou hadst known, even thou in this 
 thy day, the things that belong to thy peace; but now 
 they are hid from thine eyes.” These were tears of grief 
 and compassion indeed—wept for enemies that would not 
 be friends. A great writer, from that scene has drawn a 
 title to a book he published. Did you ever read Howe’s 
 treatise, called “The Redeemer’s Tears over Lost Souls” ? 
 That is the book to which we refer. 
 
 On two other occasions we are told of Jesus weeping. 
 A few days later than the incident mentioned, down in 
 a garden at the foot of the same hill of Olivet, He wept 
 by night, in that agony of His, which brought the bloody 
 sweat in great drops from His body to the ground. “He 
 offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying 
 and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from 
 death, and was heard in that He feared.” 
 
 The other occasion was that of the text. The scene was 
 near the Mount of Olives too; for the village of Bethany 
 stood on the back of the hill. It is this weeping of Jesus 
 we are now to consider. 
 
 Notice, however, before proceeding, the difference of 
 character in those three weepings of Christ. In Geth- 
 semane, His own anguish, endured indeed for us, wming 
 
202 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 the bitter drops from His eyes. On Olivet, He wept fot 
 foes resolved and doomed to perish. Near the grave of 
 Lazarus, He wept in sympathy with loved friends. Those 
 tears of Jesus speaks to us of four things. They are 
 tears,— 
 
 I. Of pain. Jesus suffers. 
 
 II. Of pity. Jesus sympathises., 
 
 III. In pledge. Jesus shows what all may find Him. 
 
 IV. Of example. Jesus sets an example. 
 
 I. cere are tears of pain—Tears are not always painful. 
 Laughter itself at times runs over in tears. Is there not 
 something touching here—that joy should go to the same 
 fountain as sorrow to draw water? But though this be 
 the case, tears are generally the signs of grief. These 
 tears of Jesus were signs of pain within. 
 
 A great deal of Christ’s sufferings was within. His worst 
 pain was not when they scourged Him, or when the nails 
 went through His hands and flesh, or when He said, “I 
 thirst.” The pain of crucifixion was very dreadful, but 
 He had endured worse anguish than the bodily torture. 
 The worst sufferings of men generally are not what can 
 be seen. Perhaps there are walking the streets in health, 
 or sitting in our worshipping assemblies, without a sign of 
 woe, persons whose bosoms are full of a grief worse than 
 bodily pain. God only knows the bitterness and the 
 burden of stricken hearts. Now, never any one suffered 
 so much as Jesus did in His heart, surrounded as He was 
 with sin and its awful fruits in our earth, Think of the 
 constant burden that must have pressed His heart, seeing 
 with His eyes what surrounded Him! To see the bitter 
 wages of sin, to see the sad workings of sin in unbelief 
 and slowness to learn, to see this both in enemies and 
 friends, bowed down His soul in grief. 
 
 This sorrow was for us. It was part of the burden Jesus 
 bore for us, that we might be relieved. When He wept. 
 as well as when He bled, He was suffering for us. 
 
 II. Pzty—Jesus sympathizes. It is beautiful to see 
 Jesus’ tears mingling themselves with those of the sorrow- 
 ing sisters. He feels that Lazarus was His brother too, 
 and He weeps to think he had been sick to death and now 
 lay in the grave. Jesus must have been fond of Lazarus. 
 You recollect the sisters’ message when their brother was 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. j 203 
 
 ill, “Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” Yes, the Jews 
 were right when they said, “ Behold how He loved him!” 
 Love shed those tears, love for the dead and for the living. 
 O happy family, equally numerous, or less so, or more so, 
 that can put their own names into that verse about the 
 Saviour’s love to the three of Bethany, and read it about 
 themselves ! 
 
 Some children will be ready to say, How should Jesus 
 shed tears of sympathy with Martha and Mary, when He 
 knew very well that Lazarus was to be raised from the 
 dead? You are quite right in thinking that Jesus knew 
 that he would soon recall Lazarus. There is no real 
 difficulty, for all that, in His weeping meanwhile. Sym- 
 pathy throws itself into the feelings of others, and sees as 
 with their eyes. It weeps with the present distress, what- 
 ever issue be foreseen. 
 
 III. A Pledge—tThese tears speak about the future, and 
 show us what Jesus will always be. Everything done by 
 Christ on earth was done for all time. The meaning 
 of His actions were not confined to the persons and the 
 places of the hour. They stand out as parables to teach 
 the world. When Jesus wept with Martha and Mary, His 
 tears promised that all His suffering followers to the end 
 of time should have His pitying regard. They dropt to 
 the earth for you. 
 
 It is true that we must not think now of Jesus shedding 
 tears in heaven. If God wipes away all tears from the 
 eyes of Christ’s people, they cannot remain in the eyes of 
 Christ Himself. Tears belonged to the time of His weak- 
 ness and humiliation. Nevertheless, His heart is as tender 
 and as full of love as ever. You recollect how in the last 
 day, the Judge, who is the Son of man, speaks of the least 
 of His brethren as one with Himself; when they are fed, 
 clothed, visited, He counts all done to Himself. It is be- 
 cause this truth may be read in the tears shed by Jesus at 
 Lazarus’ grave that so many thousands have blessed God 
 for the words of the text. 
 
 IV. A pattern—The Saviour sets us an example. It 
 is a woful thing to have a hard, unpitying heart. Should 
 any of you be already selfish and stony, woe for you in 
 this suffering world ! 
 
 If you do not get your heart warmed and softened by 
 
204 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Jesus’ grace, it will get like flint and steel. There is so 
 much to pity all around us, that if we will have no fellow- 
 feeling with sufferers, the constant refusal to show kind- 
 ness will prey on the soul and eat its marrow up. The 
 tears that are kept in will turn to gall and wormwood 
 within us. Pray for a tender, loving heart in your youth, 
 You will have enough to do to keep even such a heart 
 from having its feelings deadened in the years of after life. 
 
 The teaching of Christ’s tears to us all may be given in 
 Paul’s words, “ Weep with them that weep.” Sympathize 
 with real distress as you find it around you. Then let 
 your sympathy be practical. Let it move your hand as 
 well as stir your heart and fill your eye. Try and take 
 some grains from the great heap of human misery, and 
 add some to the growing pile of human happiness. It is 
 a blessed work; and he who every day dries some tears, 
 is in training for the companionship of angels and of Jesus 
 and of God. 
 
 Whether would you have Jesus weep over you, or with 
 you? Over you, as lost, like doomed Jerusalem ; or with 
 you, as His loved ones in sorrow, like Martha or Mary? 
 You know what should be your choice !—is it your choice? 
 The place for those over whom Christ grieves is a place 
 of “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Why 
 should any of you see it ? 
 
 J. E. 
 
 LXVIII. Christ’s Drawing Power. Joun xii. 32. 
 “And J, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
 unto Me.” 
 
 IF any of us have seen a magnetized tack-hammer, we 
 know that it isa hammer with one end having the property 
 of a loadstone, which takes up the tacks, whilst with the 
 other end they are hammered in. The gospel is something 
 like this hammer. It draws the little tacks, whilst the big 
 nails won’t move. Suppose we were to bring near this 
 magnetized end of the hammer a number of fine needles ; 
 what would be the effect? It would draw them. They 
 would seem as if they had life. They would spring to- 
 wards the end of the hammer, and cling to it just as if 
 they had an affection for it ; just as achild springs towards 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 205 
 
 its mother, and clings upon her neck. What makes this? 
 Ah, there is some mystery here. We can’t explain it. But 
 we can understand the fact for we see it with our eyes. But 
 who are these little needles? They are the little children. 
 And what is it that draws them? It is Jesus. Yes, how 
 sweetly and strongly He drawsthem. But they must come, 
 or be brought near to Him—for, don’t we notice, that if the 
 little needles are not brought near to the hammer, they 
 don’t move towards it? But when we lay them close by, 
 then they move and fasten upon it, as if they could not 
 help clinging to it. Oh, beautiful thought! Parents and 
 Sunday-school teachers, think of it. Bring your little ones 
 near. There is a sweet drawing power in Jesus. By 
 teaching and prayer, bring them and lay them near, and 
 see if they are not drawn as by the cords of love into His 
 arms. But we observe that the big ones are not so easily 
 drawn. While the little ones are clustering, as if all alive, 
 around the centre of attraction, the big ones lie as if dead. 
 They don’t move at all. Even when the hammer is laid 
 upon them, or strikes a hard blow, they scarcely seem to 
 ' move. And if children, whilst they are little, and can 
 come to Jesus much more easily, so to speak, keep at a 
 distance—keep too far off from Jesus to feel His drawing 
 power, when they get big they will be like the big nails, 
 and perhaps they will never be drawn to the bosom of 
 Jesus. How dreadful that would be! 
 
 There is a beautiful passage in the New Testament, 
 _which speaks of Jesus drawing hearts to Him: “ And I, if I 
 be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” Now let us fix 
 that text in our minds, and connect it in our thoughts 
 with the little hammer and the needles. Yes, Jesus was 
 lifted up on the cross by His enemies, in order to render 
 Him ignominious ; that is, that all people might scorn one 
 that was crucified. So ¢hey meant it for evil. But God 
 meant it for good, that He might draw all men unto Him. 
 And He did draw even some of His crucifiers unto Him. 
 The Roman centurion, who ordered the soldiers to drive 
 the nails into His flesh, that hard-hearted Roman gazed on 
 the cross, until he felt his heart melted and moved, and he 
 cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God.” And the 
 dying thief who was crucified with Jesus, a very wicked 
 man, turned his eyes upon our Lord, and felt his heart 
 
205 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 drawn towards Him. “Oh,” said he, “this Jesus is right- 
 eous, but what a sinner J am,” and he looked at that blood 
 oozing from His thorn-clad brow, and streaming from His 
 pierced hands, and he said, “ Surely that blood can wash 
 my sins away.” Then he put up a prayer, “Lord, re- 
 member me.” See how he was drawn. And Jesus did 
 remember him, and took him with Him up to heaven. 
 Have you been drawn to Jesus? Has His dying love 
 like a secret cord drawn you to this precious Saviour? If 
 so, cling to Him now and for ever, and bring other little 
 ones near Him. Perhaps they will be drawn also. If you 
 have not yet come to Him, oh, come now, while so many 
 are flocking to Him, and clustering around His feet, and 
 nestling, as it were, in His very bosom. “Come to Jesus 
 come ow.” ). & 
 
 LXIX. The True Way to Heaven. Joun xiv. 6. 
 “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” 
 
 ROME is one of the oldest and most famous cities of the 
 world, and is now the capital of Italy. There, eighteen 
 hundred years ago, the Emperor Nero reigned. He was a 
 monster of cruelty, who one day set the city on fire, and put 
 the blame of its burning on the innocent Christians. There 
 too, about the same time, the Apostle Paul was a prisoner, 
 with his right hand chained to a Roman soldier: he 
 preached Christ, and died as a martyr. Its ruined Forum 
 and fallen temples tell of the “story of the Czsars” long 
 since gone. But if its old heathen religion is dead for ever, 
 another.religion, little better, has come into its place, and 
 has its leading seat there. Its priests and monks and nuns 
 swarm like bees about the streets. All kinds of “lying 
 wonders” are invented to deceive the people. Let me tell 
 you of one of them which I lately saw on the morning of 
 “Easter Friday.” 
 
 Near the splendid church of St. John de Lateran is 
 the famous Scala Sancta, or Sacred Stair, supposed to be 
 brought from Jerusalem—the same steps down which our 
 Saviour walked from Pilate’s hall of judgment to the hill of 
 Calvary. These steps are twenty-five in number, made of 
 solid marble, and covered with wood to keep them from 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 207 
 
 being worn away by the knees of the climbing pilgrims. 
 Those pilgrims on Easter week come from all parts of the 
 world. They are of different colours and ranks and ages, 
 and I watched them beginning to climb this “holy stair,” 
 slowly creeping up, counting their beads, crossing their 
 faces, and muttering their “Ave Marias” and “ Paternos- 
 ters” as they went. Near the top was a full-sized image 
 of the Saviour, made of wood, crowned with thorns, and 
 wearing the marks of His wounds on His temples, and hands, 
 and side, and feet. Around this “image” of Jesus a group 
 of women were gathered. It was sad to see their pitiful 
 looks and hear their groaning prayers, as they beat their 
 breasts and kissed each wound, from the pierced feet to 
 the thorn-crowned head. Poor people! they were quite in 
 earnest, but they were sadly self-deceived. They thought 
 that for every step they climbed, they received indulgence 
 or pardon for the sins of a year! Therefore, when they 
 reached the top they thought that sins of twenty-five years 
 were blotted out ; so that, taking their average life at fifty, 
 two visits to the Sacred Stair would carry them to the 
 “gates of heaven.” 
 
 I thought of a noble man—namely, Martin Luther—who, 
 three centuries ago, found the light of the gospel on that 
 same stair. Dressed as a monk, with his shaven head and 
 bare knees, he was creeping up those marble steps, hoping 
 thereby to calm his troubled conscience and work his way 
 to heaven, when all at once the voice of God was heard 
 crying in his soul, “ The just shall live by faith.” Obedient 
 to the heavenly voice, he saw his error of trying to earn his 
 title to salvation by his own pains and works; and leaving 
 the city in disgust, he went home to nail his “ Theses” to 
 the church door at Wittenberg, and to kindle the fire of the 
 glorious Reformation. 
 
 Yes, Luther found the true way to heaven, not by climb- 
 ing that Sacred Stair on his naked knees, but by simple 
 faith in Jesus, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the 
 life: no man cometh to the Father, but by Me.” If you 
 would ever enter heaven you must do it by the same way. 
 
 That way zs an ancient way. On it the saints of God 
 have walked in every age,—patriarchs like Abraham, pro- 
 phets like Samuel, judges like Gideon, apostles like Peter, 
 martyrs like Stephen, mothers like Eunice, and children 
 
208 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 like Timothy, who knew from boyhood the Holy Book, 
 and by it became wise unto salvation. 
 
 itis a narrow way ; for “strait is the gate, and narrow 
 : the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that 
 
 nd it.” 
 
 It is a holy way, “the highway of holiness.” Here is 
 God’s password to all who enter it,—“ Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 
 
 It is a dificult way. All its pilgrims, be they old or 
 young, have some cross to carry. Like Bunyan’s pilgrim, 
 they must climb the hill Difficulty, and fight with Apollyon. 
 
 It ts a safe or well-guarded way, for the angels encamp 
 around it; and as the mountains are round about Jerusa- 
 lem, so the Lord Almighty is round about its travellers. 
 
 Finally, z¢ zs a freely open way, free as the sun that 
 shines on the evil and the good; free to all men, without 
 money and without price, whatever the colour of their skin 
 or the land of their birth ; free to the richest, if they only 
 become poor in spirit; free to the poorest, if they only seek 
 to be rich in faith ; free to the wisest, if they only wish to 
 be taught of God! and free to you, dear boys and girls. 
 Only enter it now. You zeed to enter it, for you are not 
 too young to sin, and not too young to die. Death may 
 cut you off very soon, and your bed may soon be the little 
 green grave. Enter it zow, while your hearts are tender ; 
 for the sooner you do so, the earlier and the deeper will 
 be your happiness. Your memory will be filled with fewer 
 regrets when you come to look back on your early years ; 
 and your seed of holiness, that grew so fast on the soil of 
 earth, will bear the richer harvest in the paradise above. 
 
 “When we devote our youth to God, 
 *Tis pleasing in His eyes ; 
 A flower, when offered in the bud, 
 Is no vain sacrifice.” 
 
 A. B. 
 
 LXX. The Cross. Joun xix. 17. “And He bearing 
 His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull.” 
 
 THOSE gracious words of our Lord, “Suffer the little chil- 
 dren to come unto Me,” have been called the “child’s 
 gospel.” And surely it is “gospel,” or “glad tidings,” for 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 209 
 
 the young, that Jesus is willing to receive them, takes 
 pleasure in them, opens His arms to them, will have none 
 hinder them. But the “child’s gospel” is contained in 
 other texts, too. It isin ourtext. It.is “good news” to 
 the child, that the Saviour, “bearing His cross, went forth 
 to Golgotha,” because He did ¢hat for each child; and 
 thus, and thus only, could there be any hope for eternity. 
 Oh, how interesting should it be to watch every step which 
 He took on that dreadful journey! Jewish boys and girls 
 then alive saw it, and perhaps were sorry—perhaps joined 
 in mocking Him; but they did not uxderstand it. They 
 remind us of the birds which went on singing merrily, and 
 the frogs which continued to chirp, when a friend of ours 
 was drowning in a mill-pond. At the last moment his foot 
 felt the bottom and he rescued himself; but he said that 
 what struck him the most strangely and painfully while 
 struggling and crying for help, was the utter carelessness 
 of the various creatures around! So it was with the 
 greater part of those who witnessed the scene before us, 
 as the procession moved along through the streets of Jeru- 
 salem more than eighteen hundred years ago. 
 
 But, you may tell us, that it is so painful to think closely 
 upon Christ’s bitter sufferings. When we love persons we 
 cannot bear to picture them to ourselves in distress ; how 
 could we ever look at the portrait of a mother painted on 
 her dying-bed, or of a brother borne wounded and gasping 
 on a litter from the battle-fleld? No: we have them 
 painted at their happiest times, in comfortable easy chairs 
 by their fire-sides, or leaning on a sunlit balcony. And, of 
 course, it is more agreeable to contemplate the Blessed One 
 in His quiet infant rest in the manger at Bethlehem, or 
 in His dazzling glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, or 
 riding on the favoured ass down the slope of Olivet, with 
 the multitude shouting Hosannas, and strewing His path 
 with branches of palm. But still, are we to turn away 
 from Him now when /or us He is “ bearing His cross” and 
 setting out for “the place of a skull” ?—nay, rather. shall 
 we not walk after Him, “beholding and weeping,” as the 
 pious women did? Now let us ask,— 
 
 I. Why He bore the cross? 
 
 It was a deavy load. Two large pieces of wood, or tvo 
 rough sticks of timber strong enough to sustain a mars 
 
 P 
 
210 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 weight, could not have been light, and He was to bear it 
 for a distance, and to bear it up hill. And it was a ¢errible 
 load. It was the instrument of His torture and death. 
 Bad as our culprits may be, we do not make them drag 
 their own gallows. We mercifully keep it out of their 
 sight till the fatal moment has arrived, and the prison bell 
 begins to toll. 
 
 If, then, it was so heavy and terrible a burden, why was 
 the Lord compelled to carry it? Certainly He could 
 have found others to carry it for Him,—there were His 
 own disciples, there were men who could have been hired 
 to do it, there was not an angel in heaven but would 
 have flown to relieve Him of it. But it seems that the 
 authorities determined that He should do it Himself, in 
 order to add to His grief and shame, if possible. Cruci- 
 fixion was the Roman mode of punishment for condemned 
 slaves. It was the lowest and cruelest mode of punish- 
 ment in the world. And they were accustomed to put the 
 cross on the back of the criminal to signify that he had 
 brought it on himself by his own folly and wickedness ; it 
 said to the bystanders, ‘“‘ He has got on his shoulders the 
 accursed tree which he himself planted.” It was, therefore, 
 a fresh arrow in His heart, a fresh sting to His soul. It 
 was meant to aggravate His grief and trouble in that dark 
 hour. In America the Indians pack their poor wives with 
 whatever they can strap on—skins, kettles, food, babies— 
 till they groan and stagger, but if they complain they will 
 have extra tent poles added. This is a piteous sight, and 
 you would be indignant at it. But what is it compared 
 to that of the gentle Redeemer, trembling from want of 
 nourishment, sick from want of sleep, torn with the savage 
 scourging, yet bearing His cross!—soon, He knew, it was 
 to be stained with His blood—soon, He knew, He would 
 be hanging in torment upon it; but He has to pull it after 
 Him as if He were Barabbas himself! But we must 
 hasten to ask— 
 
 Il. How was tt “ His” cross? 
 
 St. John says “ His” cross. In what sense was it His? 
 There is a proverb which declares that “those who fill 
 their beds with thorns will by-and-by have to lie on them.” ° 
 But of this we are confident, that Jesus was “holy, harm- 
 less, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Pilate’s verdict, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 218 
 
 after repeated examinations, and in the face of His ac- 
 cusers, was, “ There is no fault in Him.” It was not “ His” 
 cross then because He deserved it. He was as innocent 
 as the snow-white lambs which for centuries had been 
 slain as types of Him on the Temple altars. But it was 
 “ His” cross in that He was to be nazled to it. He was 
 really about to be fastened to it. There was to be no 
 escape for Him, as there had been for Isaac, who presently 
 yielded His perilous position on the fagots to the entangled 
 ram. 
 
 It was “His” chosen cross, as He had chosen to offer 
 Himself upon it. It was no surprise to Him—no mistake ; 
 it was His choice, His plan, His determination. The pro- 
 phecies which foretold it were His thoughts about it ages 
 before. He was expecting it as thoroughly as He was 
 expecting His resurrection ; alluding to it He said, “I have 
 a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straztened till 
 it be accomplished.” 
 
 It was “ His” cross, as He must be uplifted on it. You 
 are right in supposing that it was not zecessary for him to 
 consent to it. God used no compulsion. He did not say, 
 “T command you to become obedient to it. I insist on 
 your rescuing that fallen race.” But when Jesus had 
 voluntarily undertaken it, He could not withdraw. Then 
 He was bound to the cross as with cords. Then He 
 had to drink the cup, or rebel against His Father’s will. 
 Nobody is forced to join the crew of a life-boat ; it is left 
 to their taste and courage; they can do it or not as suits 
 them; but if they have joined, then the “must” begins; 
 then they must train, they must report themselves at 
 proper seasons, and when the storm is raging and the 
 vessels are making ashore, and the signal rockets are 
 bursting in the air, then they must be at their post, and 
 brave the cold, the waves, the hurricane! 
 
 This was how the “must” applies to Jesus. Of His 
 infinite compassion He had engaged to ransom us; and 
 when the price to be paid was due, He had to pay it in 
 agonies, and He had no other desire or intention. That 
 “cross” was even dear to Him in this view of it. He 
 would not have had it destroyed, He would not have 
 been delivered from it. The “twelve legions” of celestial 
 guards were waiting His beck, and, it may be, besought 
 
212 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Him to let them interfere; but He said, “For zhzs cause 
 came I to this hour. Let the cross alone, it is Mine! and 
 let Me alone. It is in expiring on it that I shall conquer 
 Satan and win My crown!” 
 
 III. Let us ask whose cross tt properly was. 
 
 Strictly speaking it was not Christ’s, but ours. He had 
 not proceeded far with it before His strength failed ; and 
 the soldiers, perceiving how He was fainting, and impatient 
 to get their wretched task through, laid hands on a certain 
 villager named Simon, who happened to be near them, either 
 gazing curiously, or trying to steal through the crowd into 
 the city on business. They transferred the Lord’s cross 
 to him; and resist as he might, and protest as he might, 
 he had to convey it the rest of the journey to Golgotha. 
 And now the cross was on the proper person—a sinful 
 human being. In that Simon represented us. We ought 
 to have endured its pangs, for we were the transgressors, 
 We merited it—not Christ; He was blameless—we were 
 guilty. He was worthy of a radiant throne, not of a cross. 
 But we had angered God’s justice, and He who would 
 deliver us from the bottomless pit, would have to present 
 Himself a sacrifice in our stead. The cross—anguish of 
 body and spirit (for the cross is the emblem of that)—was 
 our doom, and Jesus here addressed Himself to it. 
 
 Do not forget that it was our cross. He simply took it 
 upon Himself. He allowed God to deal with Him on it as 
 if we were there. He bade Him smite Him, heap stripes 
 on Him, and pour out the scalding vials of vengeance on 
 His head. Thus He was our atonement. God reckoned 
 with Him for us. He saz¢zsfied the law so that it had no 
 demand left. Our iniquities were an insurmountable wall 
 between ourselves and God’s favour; Jesus on the cross 
 broke the wall down to the ground, and opened an effec- 
 tual door through it. As the converted heathen said to 
 the missionary, “ Once I was in a deep valley, with a huge 
 pile of black stones (my crimes) pressing me to the dust. 
 I groaned and writhed, but it was useless. Then you 
 preached Jesus to us, and when His cross touched the pile, 
 it tumbled and dissolved!” 
 
 But now what may we learn from this fact, that Jesus 
 thus encountered our cross for us? 
 
 Do we not learn His exceeding kindness towards us? 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 213 
 
 What instances of parental affection we have had. A 
 merchant was wrecked on the Atlantic, and floated for 
 days on a raft, with his tiny daughter and a dozen grown- 
 up people. They were short of supplies. The biscuits 
 and the water were regularly apportioned, so much apiece, 
 and then it was such a fragment and spoonful that it 
 scarcely filled the mouth. The merchant nobly denied 
 himself his, to give his “Mary” a double portion. They 
 were picked up, but he remained an invalid to his grave 
 —that self-denial cost him his health. This was a beauti- 
 ful example of tenderness ; but it fades into shadow in the 
 light of Jesus “bearing His cross” and ascending to “the 
 place of a skull!” Let us meditate more earnestly and 
 frequently on this practical proof of His “exceeding kind- 
 ness” towards us. 
 
 Again, we learn from it that God is willing to be re- 
 conciled to us. He does not now frown upon poor sinners 
 who seek Him, or threaten them with hell! On the con- 
 trary, He smiles and invites and promises. If we approach 
 Him with Jesus for our mediator, clinging to His skirt, 
 pleading His cross, God has nothing for us but love. Let 
 us reflect upon this. It was at the foot of the cross that 
 Christian, in the “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” suddenly lost what 
 up to that spot so oppressed him. There it is that we are 
 to be rid of what alarms us. Indeed, it isso! Christ on 
 the very cross here mentioned, secured God’s salvation for 
 us, and we have but to apply to God for it through Him. 
 We learn from it that Jesus is to be everything to us! Not 
 merely our cross bearer ; but as He was so entirely that, so 
 is He to be as entirely our guide, our pattern, our teacher, 
 our master, our judge. It is mean just to wse Him for 
 what He did on the cross for you, and then, as it were, 
 refuse Him His claims for your service! He requires that 
 those who visit and embrace His cross for forgiveness, shall 
 visit and embrace it for purification, for advice, for comfort. 
 
 Finally, we learn from it how to bear our trials. 
 
 They are crosses—that is, they afflict us; but, ah! are 
 they as awful as Christ's? And yet He had not a murmur. 
 Patiently He bore His, till He sunk under it! Now ours 
 always have many alleviations; and then He will sym- 
 pathize with us, and succour us, and enable us to bear 
 them cheerfully. An ancient writer says that our crosses 
 
2i4 SERMONS TO CHILDREN 
 
 are composed of hundreds of fragments, while Christ’s was 
 solid. He had to bear His whole as it was! We are 
 laden with ours bit by bit, and we seldom have a second 
 bit added until a former bit has been removed. Thus our 
 cross is nothing to Christ’s. But be it solid or in fragments, 
 we will bear it, humbly following Him who went forth 
 bearing His, which was ours, “to the place of a skull.” 
 J. B. 
 
 LXXI. Saved by a Cry. Acts ii. 21. “ Whosoever shall 
 call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 
 
 ONE summer afternoon a little boy was playing on the 
 bank of the river Clyde, near Glasgow Green. Suddenly 
 falling towards the edge, he rolled into the water. Almost 
 in a moment he sank and disappeared. Then coming up, 
 and stretching out his arms, he cried with all his might, 
 “ Oh, save me!” 
 
 A kind man, near, heard the touching cry; and he at 
 once, and without any apparent hesitation, casting off his 
 coat, plunged into the river, and catching him with his 
 strong arms, bravely brought the boy to the shore. 
 
 It was a generous, noble deed, and that afternoon his 
 was the joy of rescuing a little one from an early, untimely 
 . grave; and I have no doubt that, as good George Herbert 
 used to say, the thought of what he had done that day 
 would be “ sweet music to him at midnight.” 
 
 That little boy was saved by a cry ; for had he not cried, 
 his case might not have been discovered until it was too 
 late. Of course, it was not his cry that actually saved 
 him, yet it was the means of leading to it. It fetched 
 a saviour near; and doesn’t that show how sinners are 
 saved? They are not saved, strictly speaking, by prayer. 
 They are saved by the Lord, in answer to prayer—or, 
 prayer is the cry that brings the Saviour near. 
 
 “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall 
 be saved” (Acts ii. 21). 
 
 I. A cry comes from a sense of danger.—That little boy 
 wouldn’t have cried if he had thought and felt that he was 
 safe. He cried because he was conscious that he was in 
 terrible danger, and that without some deliverance coming 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 215 
 
 to him outside of himself, he would need to perish. Se 
 felt Peter when he was sinking in the waters of the Sea 
 of Galilee. He was going down—down, and he saw 
 that unless the Saviour came to his side and laid His 
 hand upon him, he would perish. 
 
 And isn’t that the very way people feel when they come 
 to see their sins lying on them unforgiven? They feel as 
 if a weight were on them, sinking them down to a lost 
 eternity. For sins bring death. God has said it, and God 
 must keep His word, and so maintain His just and holy 
 character. God could not break His character, even to 
 save a world ; and therefore it was that Jesus had to come 
 and take our place and die, the just for the unjust, that 
 through His obedience unto death God might be able 
 justly as well as graciously to receive and bless us. 
 
 Now, have you seen your sins? and have you felt their 
 sinking power? and have you cried ? 
 
 II. A cry comes from a hope of deliverance.—For why cry, 
 unless you expect that help will come? That little boy 
 cried in the hope that some helping hand would be 
 stretched out to him. And he was not disappointed. 
 Deliverance came. So with David,— 
 
 “This poor man cried, God heard and saved 
 Him from all his distresses.” 
 
 And did not the dying thief on the cross cry to Jesus in 
 the expectation that he would be heard and saved? And 
 was he disappointed? No. And nobody will, who calls 
 on Jesus. 
 
 Ill. How near Jesus ts to all that call on Him.—What a 
 merciful providence it was that such a kind friend was so 
 near that little boy drowning in the Clyde? Yet the Lord 
 is near us all. He is not far from any one of us. 
 
 “ He’s near to all that on Him call, 
 Who call in truth on Him alone.” 
 
 How near to Moses and the children of Israel at the Red 
 Sea! How near to the three Hebrew children in the 
 furnace ; and to Daniel in the lion’s den! And how near 
 to the disciples in the storm! The Lord isa very present 
 help in trouble. 
 
 IV. How simply we may obtain the help we need.—We 
 
216 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 have but in earnest to cry ; we have but to tell Jesus all. 
 our case, and He will hear and help us. 
 
 “For thou hast not forsaken them 
 That truly seek Thy face.” 
 
 Oh, how easy, to us, is God’s gracious plan of saving us! 
 Say,—have you seen your sins, and felt their load! 
 And have you cried for salvation, and received Jesus as 
 your Saviour? “For every one that asketh receiveth, and 
 
 he that seeketh findeth.” 
 A. A. 
 
 LXXII. Ananias and Sapphira. Actsv.2. “And 
 kept back part of the price.” 
 
 THIS story of Ananias and Sapphira is full of sadness. 
 In going over the story let us remember that it is there 
 in the Bible to bring a message for us. 
 
 When a telegraph bell rings, what a difference it makes 
 whether we know that it is the arrival of an important 
 despatch for us, or the mere line signals repeating them- 
 selves! If it is for us, how we watch and listen and drink it 
 in! So let us do with this message from God to us. 
 
 I. What happened to Ananias and Sapphira? 
 
 They suddenly dropped down dead. A few minutes 
 before, they were walking, looking about, nodding to friends. 
 A few minutes after, they were corpses, lying stiff, cold, 
 speechless, their spirits in another world. 
 
 It is a painful thing to die thus, to be smitten without 
 warning? Ananias and Sapphira were cut off in the midst 
 of their iniquity. 
 
 Even when our worst criminals are sentenced to be hung, 
 they have a period of repentance allowed them, and 
 chaplains to exhort them to improve it. But Ananias and 
 Sapphira were tried, found guilty, condemned, executed - 
 in the space of a single breath! At Peter’s word each fell 
 to the earth, dead. Does it not say to us, “Be ye also 
 ready?” We may have the golden thread snapped short 
 and the pitcher broken at the fountain when we least 
 expect it. 
 
 II. When did it happen to them? 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 217 
 
 Were they seized with a mortal disease, such as the 
 plague, which slays men as they sit at their meals? No; 
 none of these arrows were flying around. It was bright 
 and tranquil morn. The doctors would have reported that 
 they had no malady, and the coroner that there were no 
 wounds. The whole affair was miraculous, “it was the 
 finger of God.” It was His direct doing, and it was done 
 asa judgment upon them. The awful power of Jehovah 
 accompanied His word. An invisible shaft pierced them 
 through and through; or a view of the heinousness of their 
 transgression rushed upon them and overwhelmed them. 
 Intense feeling can do that; it has transformed dark hair 
 into white in a night, and strong-minded persons into 
 raving lunatics. Then we should pray God to keep us in 
 peace, to avert fright from us, so to cover us with His wings 
 that we may have no fears ; and that when terrors befall us 
 we may meet them serenely. 
 
 Ill. Why did it happen to them ? 
 
 This is the lesson for us: It happened to them because 
 they told a deliberate lie. They wanted to imitate the 
 noble conduct of Barnabas, who had sold his land and 
 devoted all to the Lord. Ananias sought to have the 
 credit of doing as handsome a thing, so he sold his acres, 
 kept back part of the price (his wife being privy unto it), 
 then brought a “certain part” and presented it to Peter 
 
 as proudly and plausibly as if it had been the whole. God 
 Be culed their hypocrisy to Peter. God Himself said to 
 them, “ Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” Their last 
 utterances were deliberate lies. 
 
 Thus God was glorified and the Church was warned. 
 
 Does it not show to us how God hates lying? Does He 
 not say it is an abomination to Him. Are not liars said to 
 be shut out of heaven. (Rev. xxi.) 
 
 “T scorn to lie,” said Washington to his mother, when a 
 mere child. But there are those, alas, who do not reckon 
 it asa meanness! They have a lie in their throat, as an 
 adder has poison in his fangs, for every trouble. What 
 wrath they are treasuring up for themselves! How they 
 are trifling with their characters ! 
 
 IV. How did it happen to them? 
 
 Through covetousness. They wished for Barnabas’ fame, 
 but they could not surrender all, as Barnabas did. This 
 
 | 
 
218 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 covetousness was the vice of the Jews. It is now, in their 
 unconverted state. 
 
 Ananias and Sapphira had this disease. They would 
 defy God Himself in order to gratify it. Beware of 
 avarice. Guard against miserly propensities. They creep 
 in, and creep on, and creep out most wonderfully. 
 
 Especially in dealing with God let us be careful. If you 
 have consecrated, though it be but a penny, to the mission- 
 ary or any sacred cause, it is Christ’s, not your own. 
 “Thy vows are upon me, O God.” You cannot withdraw 
 it. It will burn your pocket and devour your flesh as doth 
 a canker. 
 
 Where is he or she who ever “kept back a part of the 
 price,” and would not sooner or later have gladly paid it in 
 tears or drops of blood! 
 
 We should be deeply humbled when we reflect upon our 
 triflings with God. Which of us but has trodden in 
 the steps of Ananias and Sapphira, even if we have not 
 followed them to the brink! Can you say, “I have not.” 
 And yet God has spared us! We bow our heads and 
 adore His long-suffering and grace. And shall we not 
 henceforth avoid the appearance of evil and cherish the 
 tender strings which check us in the path of falsehood? 
 Must we have iron hurdles and prickly hedges to restrain us ? 
 
 Let us cleave closer to Him who is Truth itself, and let 
 us cleanse ourselves now from all our secret faults in that 
 precious fountain to which He bids the vilest, and in which 
 they are washed whiter than snow. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 LXXIII. The Ethiopian Eunuch. Acrs viii. 30. 
 “ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” 
 
 I WANT to say a few words to you respecting the conver- 
 sion of a great man, the conversion of a man of Ethiopia, 
 which was brought about by Philip, one of the church 
 _deacons, and who was an evangelist. 
 
 I will explain to you these two words. He was an 
 evangelist because he announced the glad tidings, the 
 tidings of peace. He was also one of the newly appointed 
 order of deacons. We have that order now among the 
 clergy of our Church, for we have the three orders of 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 219 
 
 Bishops, Priest, and Deacons. Philip had been appointed 
 one of the three deacons who was to attend to the wants 
 and instruct the poor. The Apostles on the other hand 
 represent the other order, that of priests ; and we find later 
 on in this book, the Acts of the Apostles, that there was 
 one named James the Less, the brother of our Lord, the 
 first baptized at Jerusalem. As Philip the deacon was 
 preaching, the angel of the Lord said, “Arise, and go 
 toward the south, into the way that goeth down from 
 Jerusalem into Gaza, which is desert.” Now this road is a 
 long and weary road ; notwithstanding this, we find Philip 
 immediately obeyed the command. He arose and went, 
 and on the way he found a man of Ethiopia, a portion of 
 Africa. This Ethiopian was a man of quality and position. 
 He had authority under Candace, who was the Queen of 
 Ethiopia, and who had given him the charge of all her trea- 
 sures, because she placed great confidence and trust in him. 
 Besides that, he was a Jewish proselyte, that is he had been 
 converted to the Jewish religion, and he had come a long 
 distance to Jerusalem to worship. He was now returning, 
 and was sitting in his chariot, reading the 53rd chapter of 
 Isaiah, which speaks of the sufferings and death of Jesus. 
 He read that Christ was to be led to the slaughter without 
 judgment; and then having read this, Philip joined him, 
 and asked, “ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” 
 
 Now notice the simplicity and ignorance of the Ethiopian. 
 He answered, “ How can I, except some man should guide 
 me?” And then he permitted Philip to come up in the 
 chariot. And Philip read these beautiful words, full of the 
 history of Jesus, “ He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, 
 and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth 
 not his mouth.” And then the Ethiopian said, “Of whom 
 speaketh the prophet this? Of himself; or of some other 
 man.” 
 
 Philip instructs him and preaches unto him Jesus the 
 Saviour. Now this seems strange to you, the Ethiopian 
 reading these startling words and then to ask this question ; 
 but remember the Jews believed then, and still believe, that 
 the Messiah is yet to come. They did not believe that our 
 Lord Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah. They still 
 hoped for the time when their kingdom should be restored 
 to them. Hence the striking words of the prophet had 
 
220 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 no effect, and did not bring home the real truth to the 
 Ethiopian. 
 
 Now, dear children, while speaking of this 531d chapter 
 of Isaiah, the thought came to me that whenever we select 
 a few chapters out of that best book, the Bible, this is the 
 best. There is in the Book of Psalms a psalm well known 
 to you, beginning with these words, “The Lord is my 
 Shepherd, I shall not want.” Again, there is another 
 chapter in John, “ Let not your hearts be troubled.” But 
 the 53rd of Isaiah is one which many a mother teaches 
 her children, as well as the 23rd Psalm, and that beautiful 
 chapter of John. That chapter in John I often find has an 
 echo in children’s hearts. 
 
 To return to our history. After Philip had preached to » 
 the Ethiopian, and had told him plainly of whom these 
 words were spoken, they passed on along this dreary road. 
 Presently they came to some water, and the Ethiopian was 
 baptized. You may remember in your catechism two 
 things: ‘Repentance, whereby we forsake sin; and Faith, 
 whereby we stedfastly believe the promises of God.” 
 This Ethiopian was a penitent. He is nowabeliever. He 
 says, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and then 
 he is baptised. 
 
 We are told nothing more in holy Scripture respecting 
 this Ethiopian ; but we hear from tradition that after his 
 return to Ethiopia he became a missionary and went about 
 preaching the gospel of Christ. The evangelist had 
 preached to him and he preached to others. We hear from 
 tradition, also, that this Ethiopian suffered nobly for the 
 Christian faith. Notice, first, here is a man of great mark. 
 He leaves his own country to attend to his religious duties 
 at Jerusalem. This should teach us a lesson, that we 
 should not stay away from church for a trifle. And does 
 it not also teach us that beside public prayer and public 
 devotions, we should not let anything interfere with our 
 private prayer. You see that nothing prevented this 
 Ethiopian from coming a long distance to worship. No 
 trifling pretence, no excuse, prevented this man coming 
 along that dreary road up to Jerusalem to worship. 
 
 Again, let us think of these words, “ Understandest thou 
 what thou readest?” Oh, let us endeavour to understand 
 with our hearts and minds what we read. It may be in 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 221 
 
 reading books for our lessons, but above all in reading the 
 best of books, the Holy Bible, let us understand, and en- 
 deavour to do so with God’s help. 
 
 And, lastly, how are we to understand? We can under- 
 stand by asking those around us, by instruction from our 
 parents. And the best way to do this is to put faith in 
 them; and, dear children, when you grow up, and those 
 who are with you now may be no more, you can look back 
 and there is still a link between you if you now goto an 
 affectionate parent or friend and ask what you do not 
 know. The great thing in reading the Bible is to read it 
 in a prayerful spirit, and whenever we ask for a right under- 
 standing of the Holy Scripture let us also ask for the aid of 
 the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whose teaching is so gentle, who 
 seems to whisper within us and prompt us to do right, and. 
 check us when we do wrong. Oh, let us invoke and call 
 from God the aid of the Holy Spirit that we may under- 
 stand the Holy Scriptures. Let us in reading the Bible at 
 all times utter this prayer, “ O God, send down the light of 
 Thy Holy Spirit to guide me, that I may understand what 
 I read. Open thou my eyes, that I may see the wondrous 
 things of Thy law.” 
 
 J. W. 
 
 LXXIV. Paul’s Sister’s Son. Acts xxiii. 16-24. 
 “And when Pauls sisters son heard of their lying in watt, 
 he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. Then Paul 
 called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this 
 young man unto the chief captain; for he hath a certain thing 
 to tell him,” ete. 
 
 WF all know something about Paul who wrote the Epistles, 
 and who was first called Saul of Tarsus. There is not a 
 more Christian man to be heard of than this Paul. Prob- 
 ably there was not a man on the earth, just before the time 
 of his conversion, who so hated Christ as Paul did. For 
 Paul was a very self-righteous man ; and the idea of getting 
 his debt paid by another and doing nothing himself, he 
 positively hated, and sought to kill those who believed 
 that was the way of salvation. 
 
 Do you know what a Christian is? It is one who has 
 
222 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 found Christ crucified to be all his salvation and all his 
 desire. Have you found this, that Christ is a heaven to 
 the sinner? That is what a Christian finds out; that is 
 what Paul found out on the day of his conversion; and 
 from that day he lived together with Christ. 
 
 This good man had two friends; they were relations, 
 called Junia and Andronicus. There isa memorable thing 
 he says about these two relations of his. He says, “TZhey 
 were in Christ before me.” “They got into the city of 
 refuge before me.” He says that as if he envied them, 
 and as if he would say, “I wish I had gone in as soon 
 as they.” 
 
 Did you ever hear a person who said, I have come to 
 Christ too soon? I never heard any one who said that ; 
 but I have found people saying, “Oh, if I had come 
 sooner, how much I might have done, and how much 
 I might have enjoyed!” Junia and Andronicus came 
 sooner than Paul, and probably by their prayers helped to 
 bring about his conversion. 
 
 There was an old Puritan called Mr. Doolittle. (Though 
 his name was Doolittle he did a great deal—he was a most 
 diligent worker.) He was once preaching to a congrega- 
 tion. A young man came into a seat near the pulpit, and 
 tried to keep near the end of it, so that he might easily 
 get out; but the people closed up, and the young man was 
 fairly jammed in, and could not get away. He sat still 
 when he found he could do no better. Mr. Doolittle was 
 setting forth Christ, and all at once looked up to the 
 gallery to an old man, and said, “ Friend, are you sorry 
 that you came to Christ so many years ago?” The old 
 man rose up and said, “ No, sir, I rejoice that I have known 
 Him so long; and He is always becoming more precious 
 to me.” He turned to another on the left, and said, “ Are 
 you sorry that you came so soon to Jesus?” “No, sir, 
 but I am sorry that I did not come sooner.” Then he 
 looked down on the young man, and said, “ Have you 
 come to Jesus?” The young man did not know what 
 to say. He said again, “ Young man, have you come to 
 Christ?” and got for answer, “No, sir.” “Are you willing 
 to come?” And the young man looked up again, and 
 said, “Yes.” “And when will you come—now?” Having 
 fully gained his attention, he set before him a waiting 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 223 
 
 Christ; and the young man was brought to Christ that 
 night. 
 
 The text is about the nephew of Paul—the son of 
 Paul’s sister. 
 
 First of all, he was a Christian—a Christian lad. 
 
 Second: He was a lad that had much love to his uncle. 
 
 Third: Notice how God made use of him on behalf of 
 his uncle. 
 
 Fourth: Notice what we owe to this young man because 
 of what he did for his uncle. 
 
 Fifth: Observe that he got a reward, and he is going to 
 get more. 
 
 I. I believe e was a Christian lad—My reason for 
 thinking this young man to be a Christian is this: it 
 is quite clear he did not belong to the Jewish party any 
 longer. He was very different from those that lay in wait 
 for Paul’s life. We havea good notion what people are by 
 their companions. The Apostle John says, “Every one 
 that loveth Him that begat loveth them that are begotten 
 of ‘Him.” Every one that loves Christ loves Christ’s 
 family—His brothers, His children. This lad was one of 
 these, and so we infer that he was a Christian ; he took his 
 uncle’s side, and did it at a time that was very, trying. It 
 was at a great risk he took his uncle’s side; and yet his 
 heart was with him, because his uncle was on Christ’s 
 side. 
 
 He must have been a young lad. I don’t think he was 
 twenty—I scarcely think he was sixteen. When the chief 
 captain saw him, what did he do? Just what he would 
 have done with a young lad not grown up. He “took him 
 by the hand”—doesn’t that show him quite a boy ?—and 
 said, “ Well, my lad, what have you come to tell me?” 
 
 Il. He loved his uncle very much—tIt was natural he 
 should. He must have attracted those that were young. 
 He was a man who was very amiable ; and this lad would 
 like his own uncle, and like him for his amiable qualities. 
 And then, grace makes a person have more love to 
 relatives than ever ; the more love to Christ we have, the 
 more love to our friends. You might think, “Oh, if I love 
 Christ very much, there will not be room for my friends.” 
 But it is just the other way; our love to our friends 
 becomes the stronger and more tender Have you read 
 
; 
 224 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. ] 
 
 —_— 
 
 what a child said to her parents when dying: “I do not : 
 know how it is, I always liked you, but since I loved Christ 
 I like you far better.” This young man had much love to” 
 his uncle, and the special way he showed it was this :— 
 
 His uncle was in the castle, the great tower built at the 
 side of the Temple, which they called Fort Antonia ; and 
 you got into it from the Temple by a flight of steps. 
 Paul was a prisoner up in that high tower. He was taken 
 there by the captain; and, when lying there, this nephew 
 of his found out about a conspiracy, for the Jews were 
 talking about it in Jerusalem. He was a lad of a good 
 deal of sense. He does not seem to have told anybody 
 what was in his mind, but just said this to himself, “I will 
 risk my life for my uncle.” So he goes to the castle, and 
 asks to be allowed to speak to his uncle, and told him. 
 
 His uncle hears it very calmly, as he used to do, and 
 then he says, “Well, let us pray about it;” and they 
 prayed about it. Then he says, “ Now, Ill tell you what 
 we will do. When you go out, tell the centurion to speak 
 to me.” 
 
 You may be sure that this young man risked a great 
 deal for Paul. For what would these forty men not do to 
 him when they found out that Paul had escaped through 
 him? What did you ever risk for the love of Christ and 
 His people? Have you risked the favour of anybody ? 
 Can you bear being laughed at? Can you bear a joke 
 against you for being a Christian ? 
 
 III. How God used him.—Paul told him to call one of 
 the centurions. The centurion came, and Paul said to him, 
 “Will you take this young friend of mine to the captain, 
 and say that he has got a certain thing to tell him?” 
 Paul was always favoured by those about him. He wasa 
 kindly man, everybody liked him. When he was on board 
 ship going to Rome, why, he seemed to have command of 
 the ship ; they all felt his influence. The centurion obeyed 
 him, and took the young man to the captain. God has 
 extraordinary ways of delivering His people when in 
 danger, but sometimes very simple ways. John Knox, in 
 that house of his still standing near the Canongate, was 
 just on the point of being killed by a wicked man firing 
 a pistol through the window ; but before the pistol was 
 Gred, God put it into the heart of John Knox to rise from 
 
2ERMONS TO CHILDREN. 225 
 
 his seat and go to another part of the room to get a book. 
 The shot came at that moment, and John Knox was saved 
 in that simple way. Perhaps you may have heard how 
 God saved a Puritan prisoner in England when a justice of 
 the peace was determined to send him to prison. A little 
 child began to play with the prisoner. He was a kindly 
 man, and he soon gained the confidence of the child. He 
 was kept some twenty minutes in the hall, till the little 
 girl and he became great friends ; and when the justice, 
 who was the little girl’s own father, was going to send him 
 to prison, she said, “ You shall not send him to prison. If 
 you send him to prison,” she said, “I will kill myself—I 
 will drown myself.” She was a little girl, but a great 
 favourite ; and her father at last said, “ Well, I will set him 
 free for your sake.” See what God can do! 
 
 Even so He used this nephew to get Paul out of this 
 great danger; and it was very simply done. “You have 
 something to tell me?” said the chief captain; “come 
 away and we will speak of it alone.” He was pleased with 
 the young man, finding him to be a modest young man. 
 He must also have been a youth who was very ¢ruthful ; 
 for these reasons: His uncle at once believed what he 
 said ; and whenever the captain heard the story, he acted 
 upon it. 
 
 You see what it is to have a character for honesty, for 
 truthfulness; and it is possible to have a noble character 
 when young. 
 
 The captain acted on the young man’s information ; 
 and orders out his troops—two centurions, two hundred 
 soldiers, two hundred spearmen, and seventy horsemen 
 with them ; and Paul in the midst, surrounded by so many 
 guards, is just as safe, you may say, as ifa band of angels 
 were around him. God called out the soldiers of the 
 governor on his behalf, and they marched with him to 
 Czsarea. What an awful disappointment to these forty 
 wicked fellows! The snare is broken, Paul has escaped— 
 and all through this young man. 
 
 Young people, God can use you. Perhaps he has 
 a use for you now, if you will just put yourself in His 
 
 nd. 
 
 IV. What we owe him—He saved his uncle's life at 
 this time. If Paul’s life had not been saved, we should not 
 
226 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 —— 
 have had some of the rich letters in our Bible, such as the 
 Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. We 
 should have lost some of the sweet texts we so delight in. 
 You would have lost that text—“Children, obey your 
 parents in the Lord, for this is right. This is the first 
 commandment with promise.” Paul would have children © 
 as well as grown-up people attended to. And if Paul’s 
 life had not been saved at this time, we should not have 
 had his letters to Timothy, and we should not have heard 
 of him “ knowing the Scriptures from a child;” and we 
 should not have heard of Timothy’s mother and grand- 
 mother teaching him. We are indebted to that young 
 man for all these precious things, in a certain way ; for 
 he was the instrument in God’s hands of saving his 
 uncle’s life. 
 
 V. Last of all, about his reward—When you do service 
 for God, it is not good to think a great deal about the 
 reward. When you do kind things to one another, it 
 should not be because you expect some advantage. Christ 
 said, “When you give a great supper, do not make it for 
 those who can recompense you; but for the poor, the halt, 
 and the maimed, for they cannot recompense you.” This 
 is best of all—to do kind things to people that cannot 
 recompense you. “You will be recompensed in the 
 resurrection of the just.” This young man had not the 
 least idea of a reward; but he has had already a great 
 reward—he has got his story in the Bible. 
 
 But besides, there is a great reward waiting for him ; for 
 Christ has said that if you give even a cup of cold water 
 to a disciple, you shall in no wise lose your reward. He 
 describes the giving of it in the 25th chapter of Matthew, 
 where He says that He regards what is done to His people 
 as done to Himself, and will say to them, “Come, ye 
 blessed.” 
 
 See how God rewards those that do kind things to His 
 - people! If you love Christ, you will love His people, and 
 try to do kind things to them. Are you trying? If you 
 are, God will open a way to you. Do you know any sick 
 person? You could perhaps sing a hymn to that person, 
 or speak a kind word, or drop in for five or ten minutes 
 with just a kind look. Are your parents Christ’s people ? 
 You should be ten times kinder to them than ever before, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 227 
 
 for Christ’s sake. In every way try to get the rewarc 
 Christ gives. 
 
 But are you one of Christ’s children? Oh, it will be 
 dreadful if you are not found in Christ! for you know 
 about Him ; and that if you come to-night, you will bea 
 saved sinner. And why will you not come? 
 
 There was a man out at the gold diggings who had a 
 large piece of land, and it was said there was gold there. 
 He tried to find the gold, but at last gave it up, and the 
 land was sold to others. 
 
 Soon a report went abroad that large nuggets had been 
 found, and every day they were finding more. When the 
 man who had parted with the land heard of it, he gnashed 
 his teeth, and went out of his mind with rage at himself 
 for his folly. Even so, Christ says there are people who 
 will “gnash their teeth,’ when they see Abraham and 
 Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom, and the prophets, and 
 they themselves shut out ! 
 
 Paul, when warned of the conspiracy against him, at 
 once took the way of escape from it. There is a far more 
 terrible conspiracy against you; for Satan and his hosts 
 are all bent on yourruin. Why not escape at once, for all 
 things are ready? 
 
 A. A. B. 
 
 LXXV. TheAccount. Rom. xiv.12. “ Zvery one of us 
 shall give account of himself to God.” 
 
 WHAT is the account? “Of ourselves.” I need scarcely 
 explain what this means. There is a boy who left his 
 home in the morning to go to school. At dinner-time 
 he does not appear, and in the afternoon at five o’clock, 
 there is still no word of him. And when his mother 
 goes to make inquiry she finds he has not been at school 
 all day. She becomes anxious about him, afraid lest 
 he should have met with some accident, or have been 
 led away by other wicked boys; or, it may be, even have 
 run off to sea to be a sailor; and the neighbours are all 
 astir, and they are fancying the worst, till at length, when 
 it is just about time for going to bed, the runaway appears, 
 wet, and cold, and dirty, and tired, and hungry. The first 
 
228 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 thing his mother says to him is, “ Johnnie, where have you 
 been? what has come over you? what have you been 
 doing ? Give an account of yourself?’ You all know what 
 she means when she says that. 
 
 And there is another boy, who has gone to be apprentice 
 toa grocer. His master is as kind to him as any master 
 can be, for he is an orphan, and behaves to him like a 
 father, and so he is grieved to learn that his young ap- 
 prentice is going far wrong. He is taking his master’s 
 money, and putting away his goods, and wasting his time 
 whenever his back is turned, and taking up with bad com- 
 pany, and learning to drink and to smoke, and going to 
 the theatre, where Satan likes young people to go, because 
 there they learn so much that is evil, and get so quickly 
 ready for doing his work on earth and going to be with 
 him in hell. Well, there is nothing for it but he must turn 
 him away in disgrace; and so he takes him into his little 
 room, and sits down right opposite to him, and looking 
 him full in the face he says, “ What is this you have been 
 doing? what account have you to give of yourself?” You 
 know what he means when he says that. 
 
 Well, just so is the day coming when God shall require 
 account from His truant, wayward, disobedient children, 
 His unfaithful, ungrateful servants. Few people think of 
 that, whether children or men and women. They go on 
 in their sin, and enjoy themselves the best way they can, 
 and disobey God, and forget God, and serve the devil, as 
 if they had nothing else to do, as if nothing else were ex- 
 pected of them, as if there were no account to be rendered. 
 Solomon seeing them in his day, just as now, living as if 
 they were mere butterflies, as if they had no precious souls 
 to be saved or lost, and no heaven or hell to look forward 
 to, and no God to answer to, puts in the solemn warning, 
 “ But know thou, that for all these things God will bring 
 thee into judgment.” 
 
 Yes, dear children, hear what God’s word says, “It is 
 appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
 ment!” Have you ever thought of this “judgment,” in 
 which we shall have to give account of ourselves? It is 
 an account of ourselves we have to give, not of other people, 
 not of our neighbours, not of this or the other boy or girl, 
 but each of himself and herself; and that is the most 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 229 
 
 difficult account of all, the hardest, that which people like 
 worst. It is an easy thing to give an account of others, 
 we are all ready enough to do that, whether young or old 
 —we can tell what this one and the other one has done. 
 But to give account of one's self/ and to have no way of 
 getting away from it! that is the difficulty. 
 
 It is a dreadful thing to think of /¢vzmg with such a load 
 of sin to account for; it is a more dreadful thing to think 
 of dying with it. How can you be happy in such a case— 
 how can you live happily, committing sin every day—sin 
 still unforgiven? How can you expect to die happily, 
 while this text stands written in the Bible, “Every one of 
 us shall give account of himself to God.” Can you lay 
 down this book as you took it up—careless? Can you go 
 to rest this night again, unpardoned ? What if you should 
 never awake? Will you not go straightway and offer up 
 the prayer, “ Lord, have mercy upon me, and take away 
 my sins, for Jesus’ sake”? You know there are some 
 substances that take out marks made by ink: nothing in 
 all the world but one can take out the marks of sin. Who 
 can tell me what itis? THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. “The 
 blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanseth us from all sin.” 
 The dying time is coming, will you not get ready for it? 
 will you not be like that young Hindu, just about to die, 
 saying, “Sing, brother, sing”? “What shall I sing?” 
 “Sing of salvation through the blood of Jesus. Sing, 
 thanks be to Him who giveth us the victory through the 
 blood of Jesus ;” and then he sinks back and dies. 
 
 J. H. W. 
 
 LXXVI. Living Epistles. 2 Cor. iii. 2,3. “Ye are 
 our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 
 Sorasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of 
 Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the 
 Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy 
 tables of the heart.” 
 
 AN epistle is a letter. The true Christians at Corinth 
 served as letters to recommend both Paul the servant 
 and Christ the Lord. The neighbours whether Jews or 
 
te 
 
 30 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 heathens, learned from the holy life of the converts that 
 the minister who taught them was true, and that the 
 Saviour in whom they believed was Divine. The Apostle 
 starts with the thought that the Corinthian disciples were a 
 certificate in favour of himself as a minister, but he soon 
 glides from that thought into a greater thing ; he goes on 
 to speak of the Corinthian disciples as being like written 
 letters, in which all men may read of Christ. 
 
 It is of this second and greater thing that we propose to 
 speak. Our subject is: Christians are epistles of Christ. 
 The text tells five things about this kind of letter :— 
 
 I. Zhe Paper, or the material on which the marks are 
 made. Many different substances have been employed in 
 successive ages of the world to receive and retain written 
 words, but one feature is common to them all: in their 
 natural state they are not fit to be used as writing materials ; 
 they require a process of preparation. The reeds, and 
 leaves, and skins which were used as writing materials by 
 the ancients, all needed a process of preparation; and 
 therein they are like the living epistles of Jesus Christ, who 
 must be renewed in the spirit of their minds ere they show 
 forth the Redeemer’s likeness in their life. But the prepara- 
 tion of modern materials for writing, although it was not 
 directly before the Apostle’s mind, contains in fact more’ 
 points of likeness to the renewing and sanctifying of be- 
 lievers than any of the ancient arts. 
 
 Although the text does not directly refer to paper—a 
 substance invented long after it was written—there is a 
 remarkable likeness between the method of its manu- 
 facture and the work of the Spirit on a disciple’s heart and 
 life in preparing them to be epistles of Christ. “ Filthy 
 rags” are the raw material of the manufacture. These 
 are with great care and labour broken very small, and 
 washed very clean; they are then cast into a new form, 
 and brought out pure and beautiful, ready to get a new 
 meaning impressed on their smooth, bright breast. Paper 
 from rags is, in an obvious and important sense, “a new 
 creature.” 
 
 Such a process of breaking down and building up again 
 takes places every time that the writing material is pre- 
 pared for an epistle of Christ. You might as well try 
 to write with pen and ink upon the rubbish<from which 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 231 
 
 paper is marufactured, as expect legible evidence for the 
 truth of the gospel in the life and spirit of one who has 
 not gotten “a clean heart ”—who has not been born again. 
 
 Christ does not find on earth any pure ; He makes them. 
 Those that stand around the throne in white clothing 
 were gathered from the mire. They were once darkness, 
 though they are now light in the Lord. Let no one 
 think that he can be taken to heaven because he is good; 
 but let no one think Christ will not receive him because he 
 is evil. Him that cometh, Christ will in no wise cast out. 
 “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” 
 
 Not on tables of stone, like those on which the Law was 
 graven, but on tables of flesh must the mind and likeness 
 of Christ be written. Give the Lord your heart. He 
 desires that His own name and holiness should be written 
 there. Surrender it to Him, that He may blot out its 
 stains, and mark it for His own. 
 
 Il. Zhe Writing, or the mind and meaning which is 
 fixed on the prepared page. It is not Christianity printed 
 in the creed, but Christ written in the heart. The mind of 
 Christ is so graven in the heart that His likeness shines 
 through in the life. 
 
 It is well understood that a person’s character may be 
 best learned from his letters. These seem to be windows 
 in his breast through which you may see his nature. How 
 eagerly the public read the letters of a great man, if they 
 are printed after his death! People expect to know 
 better by these than by any other means what the man 
 really was. 
 
 As our Redeemer left no monument of Himself in brass 
 or marble, so He left no letters written by His own hand. 
 He did not write his mind on tables of stone or on sheets 
 of parchment. Even Rome, with all her rage for relics, 
 does not pretend to show the Saviour’s handwriting. Yet 
 He has not left Himself without a witness. He has left 
 “epistles of Christ.” True disciples, whether young or 
 old, when He desires to let the world know Himself, He 
 points to you! The world judges of Christianity chiefly 
 from the life of Christians. 
 
 Ill. Zhe Writer. The letter is written by the Spirit 
 of the living God. Some writings and paintings look well 
 enough for a while, but are easily rubbed off by rough 
 
232 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 usage, or grow faint with age. Only fast colours are truly 
 valuable. 
 
 How shall we get a writing or a likeness made durable 
 on the human heart? One thing we know, many beautiful 
 things in book and lip, which people admire for a day, 
 are blotted out soon. Lessons that human hands lay on 
 are not able to stand the world’s rough usage. 
 
 No writing on a human soul is certainly durable except 
 that which the Spirit of God lays on. It is when the truth 
 from the Bible is pressed into the soul by the Holy Spirit 
 that any one becomes a new creature. Old things pass 
 away, and henceforth the Christian bears about upon his 
 character the likeness of Christ. 
 
 IV. The Pen. In writing the new name and new 
 nature on the tables of the heart, the Holy Spirit employs 
 some instrument. It is expressly said in the text that 
 Paul and the young evangelist who assisted him had a 
 hand in the work. The terms, “ministered by us,” show 
 the place of man in the work of conversion and purifying. 
 It is not a high place that the minister stands in, but it is 
 the right place, and he cannot be dispensed with. 
 ¢ In photography it is the sun that makes the portrait. 
 
 / There is no drawing of the outline by a human hand, and 
 ' no shading of the figure according to rules of the painter’s 
 _art. The person stands up in the light, and the light lays 
 _ his image on the glass, Yet in this work there is room for 
 the ministry of man. Without the ministry of man the 
 | work could not in any case be done. A human hand pre- 
 | pares the plate for securing the picture, and adjusts the 
 | instrument for throwing the light at the proper moment on 
 \.the prepared surface. Although in the real work of making 
 the picture the artist has no hand at all—although he has 
 nothing more to do in the end than stand still, as Israel 
 did at the Red Sea, and see the work done by the sun—his 
 place is important and necessary. 
 
 A similar place under the ministry of the Spirit is given 
 to the ministry of men. God does not send angels to make 
 the gospel known. We learn it from men of flesh and 
 blood like ourselves. Cornelius and his house will be 
 saved, but Peter must go from Joppa to Czsarea and open 
 up to them the way of salvation. Nor does he confine 
 Himself to any class of instruments or any age. “ Minister- 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 233 
 
 ing children” are often used to bring the word home in 
 power, where older ministers are not admitted. A child 
 forgiven through the blood of Christ, and loving the Lord 
 that bought him, may be employed, like a little vessel, to 
 convey the water of life to another child whose heart is 
 like the dry ground. 
 
 V. The Readers. They are a great number, and of 
 various kinds. The words have a very wide range, for it is 
 said that these letters are “known and read of all men.” 
 The meaning is, that the writing is not a letter sealed 
 or locked up in a desk, but exposed daily to public view. 
 These epistles walk about upon the streets, and mingle 
 with the crowds in the market-place. Every one who likes 
 may read them: they are open to all. Some who look on 
 the letters are enemies, and someare friends. If an enemy 
 see Christ truly represented in a Christian, he may be 
 turned thereby from darkness to light ; but if he see false- 
 hood and envy and anger and worldliness in one who is 
 called a Christian, he will probably be more hardened in 
 his unbelief. Those who already know and love the truth 
 are glad when they read it clearly written in a neighbour’s 
 life—are grieved when they see a false image of the Lord 
 held up to the eyes of men. Christians, old and young, 
 seeing that you are epistles of Christ open to public gaze, 
 read by friend and foe, what manner of persons ought you 
 to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? 
 
 Take some lessons from this subject :— 
 
 (1) Every one’s life is an open letter. Some are epistles 
 of Christ, some are epistles of vanity, of covetousness, of 
 selfishness. The spirit that reigns within is more or less 
 visible outwardly in the life. 
 
 (2) Some letters are forgeries. Some lives are forgeries 
 too. They give out that they are epistles of Christ, while 
 they are not. 
 
 (3) The letter should be clearly written, and so easily 
 read. 
 
 We shall not be of much use in a blinded world until the 
 mind of Christ shall have been so substantially embossed 
 upon our whole life that in the various jostlings of the 
 world those who shut their eyes to the doctrine of the 
 gospel shall be compelled to feel, as they press against us, 
 what it is to be a Christian W. A. 
 
234 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 LXXVII. A Gift. 2 Cor. viii.5. “ Zhey first gave their own- 
 selves to the Lord.” 
 
 IT happened thus. One day a man came to the place 
 where these people lived. He was not a handsome man, 
 He was not arich man. He was not a man of rank or of 
 style. Hecame there only to preach. He told them that 
 he had dreamt, and in his dream had seen one pointing to 
 that very place, and crying, “Come over and help us.” 
 And so he had come, and all the help he could offer was 
 —to preach. But oh, he did preach. A Chinese Christian 
 once said, “ We want men of hot hearts to come and speak 
 to us of the love of Christ.” The hot heart was in the 
 preaching of that man. Well, then, the people listened. 
 Some sneered, “Oh, he is mad.” Others exclaimed, “ Oh, 
 he is a fanatic; we have no time for such new-fangled 
 doctrine.” But others thought and felt. They made three 
 grand discoveries. A Roman Catholic once sat down to 
 read the Bible. He was interested, and he said to his wife, 
 “Let us read a part every night.” They did so for about 
 a week, when the man stopped. ‘“ Wife, if this book is 
 true, we are wrong.” Two or three evenings passed. 
 Again the man stopped. “ Wife, if this book is true, we 
 are lost.” Now deeply anxious, he continued to read. 
 And by-and-by again he stopped ; but his face was lighted 
 up with a new joy. “Wife, if this book is true, we are 
 saved.” The Macedonians, hearing the preacher with the 
 hot heart, said to themselves, first, “We are wrong ;” next, 
 “We are lost;” and then, “ But we are saved.” And as 
 they looked to the Saviour whom he set before them, they 
 gave themselves to the Lord. 
 
 I. You are to give your ownselves—Does that mean that 
 I am to say my prayers, and read the Bible, and go to 
 church, and do what is kind and good? Certainly ; but 
 you may do all this with your ownself not given. There 
 is something more. When you give your own to another, 
 this is an action with knowledge, with heart, and once for 
 all. Keep this in mind, and you will see what it is to give 
 yourselves to Jesus. 
 
 It is the present of a thoughtful mind. You remember 
 the line in the hymn, “Pll pause before J further run, and 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 235 
 
 | give myself to God.” Let every girl or boy pause, think 
 
 decide. Your parents gave you to God when they pre- 
 
 _ sented you at baptism. The name of the Father, Son, 
 _and Holy Ghost has been named upon you. You are 
 
 under solemn covenant to be the Lord’s. But you are 
 not giving your ownself, unless calmly, earnestly, you 
 give your Amen, knowing that you do so, and what your 
 
 _ doing so means. Have you thus consented to take Jesus 
 
 Christ to be your Master, and to be guided in all — 
 by Him? 
 
 It is the present of a loving heart. That is no right oift 
 which does not come from the heart. What is sought is 
 your heart. There is a desk not far from me which has a 
 secret drawer. The only thing needed is to find the spring. 
 When you touch it, the drawer flies open. So it is with 
 us. The secret drawer in our ownselves is the heart, and 
 the spring of the heart is love. Whoever can touch that 
 has the way to the drawer. Get any one’s love, and you 
 get that one’s self. A poor Indian, listening to the story 
 of Christ’s love, was moved. The spring was touched. 
 “Massa,” he cried, “I give Jesus my gun.” Then he 
 thought of something more. “ Massa, my dog.” Some- 
 thing more still. “And here my buffalo skin.” “Oh, but 
 Jesus does not want these,” said the missionary. “Then 
 I will give myself.” Love is never content until it says 
 to the loved, “ Here am I.” The present of a trinket, of 
 even the costliest article, will not suffice. Personal de- 
 votion, personal service—“ Here am I”—that must be. 
 Who of you has that for Christ ?—your ownself given to 
 the Lord. 
 
 Then follows the present of this self once for all. Is it 
 not a shabby thing, when you intend to give a present, to 
 be thinking how much you will need to give, and how 
 much you may keep for yourself? Is it not a shabby 
 thing ‘also, when you have once given, to be asking or 
 
 _seeking back again? There is nothing of that if the gift 
 
 comes from love, Now, let me remind you of a Bible- 
 picture of true self-giving ; let me remind you of what was 
 done by the priest in the old time to one who was to be 
 cleansed. The priest took some of the blood of the tres- 
 pass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear, and on 
 the thumb of the right hand, and on the great toe of the 
 
236 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 EO 
 
 right foot. What was that to teach? The right hand or 
 foot, you know, is the strongest: all his strength was to © 
 
 be given. The ear is the organ of knowledge: all his 
 power of receiving is to be given. Hand and foot are the 
 ways of serving: all his capacity of serving, of working, of 
 being of use is to be given. You have seen a crystal glass 
 with a light in the middle. The light shines through every 
 
 part of the glass. Well, when love to Christ is in the 
 
 middle of the heart, its light shines through eye, ear, 
 hands, lips, body, soul, spirit, saying to all, “ Whatsoever 
 He saith to you, do it.” “Yea, let Him take all,” is the 
 cry. 
 ve “Take myself, and I will be, 
 Ever, only, all for Thee.” 
 
 Il. The reason why you should give yourselves—When 
 any one gives a present there is some reason for it. What 
 is the reason for this gift? There are many reasons, but 
 we shall only mention three: 
 
 (1) To give your ownselves to the Lord is right. God 
 has a right to what He has made. Jesus the Redeemer 
 has a right to His purchase. The Holy Spirit has a right 
 to make your hearts His dwelling-place. 
 
 (2) It is for your good and happiness. You give your- 
 self, and in so doing you have God himself. This is your 
 happiness ; it satisfies all your longings; it gives you an 
 object to live for, which ennobles all your energy. “How 
 sweet it is,’ said one who had given himself to the Lord in 
 the gloom of the prison, “to hear the bird in the bosom 
 sing!” So every boy and girl may have this singing bird, 
 this fount of music and joy in the soul, if they first give 
 themselves to the Lord. 
 
 (3) It is for the world’s good and happiness. So it was 
 with these Macedonians. No sooner had they made them- 
 selves over to Christ than they felt joined by a new love 
 and desire to those for whom He died. They were poor, 
 but in their poverty their liberality abounded. Christ 
 needs such Christians now. This world would be a whole- 
 somer and happier world if there were more of the love 
 and unselfishness and free-souled giving which flows from 
 the first gift—“ their ownselves to the Lord.” 
 
 UML 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 237 
 
 i.XXXVIII. God’s Unspeakable Gift. 2 Cor. ix. 15, 
 “* Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” 
 
 WHO does not likea “gift”? It may not be worth much, 
 it may be far inferior to what we have every day of our 
 lives, but there is something so pleasant about it—as in 
 a garden, a single bright-winged butterfly attracts and 
 entrances us more than the flowers do, however varied 
 and beautiful they may be. Is it not because the flowers 
 are our own, we are familiar with them ; but the butterfly 
 is a surprise, and we feel flattered by his free-will visit 
 to us. 
 
 Who does not remember the toy presents of our child- 
 hood—the dolls, the Noah’s ark, the hobby-horse ; and then 
 the more solid present of our boy or girlhood—the charm- 
 ing books, and the live animals entrusted to our care? and 
 even when we are grown up we are not above them. No 
 Christmas turkey eats so sweetly as that which arrives 
 with a card and compliments; and no cloak and hood so 
 become “baby” as those which a kind friend smuggled 
 into the house in a band-box. The custom of making 
 presents is as old as the Bible. We read of them in 
 Genesis. Jacob, for instance, was remarkable for them. 
 We read of his gift of a coat of many colours to Joseph; 
 his gift of sheep and cattle to his brother Esau ; his gift 
 of “a little honey, spices, and almonds” to the ruler 
 of Egypt. Araunah’s kingly gift to his monarch is 
 another Scripture example; so is the wise men’s gift to 
 the infant Jesus, and Mary’s precious ointment poured on 
 His head. 
 
 Now New Year is the season for gifts. The shop win- 
 dows crammed full of them tell us that,—our own recollec- 
 tions tell us the same, and so do our feelings. Who, at such 
 atime, does not wish to send presents to those we love? 
 ‘Let us then think awhile of God’s “unspeakable gift ” 
 to us. 
 
 I. Notice the Giver of the gift. 
 
 St. Paul says that this is God: “ Thanks be unto God for 
 Hits unspeakable gift.” Directly you have a gift you en- 
 quire, who sent zt ?—-for a deal depends upon that—whethe1 
 it comes from a friend or an enemy, from a poor person ax 
 
238 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 -arich person. You would not expect much from those 
 who are struggling for a living—it is almost painful to 
 have them bring you of their poverty; but if the queen 
 gives anything, it is taken for granted that it will be 
 splendid—a gold watch, or a diamond pin, or a pearl 
 bracelet. If she condescended to enter a cottage, people 
 would be sure to look on the chair for a five-pound note or 
 a pile of sovereigns. We should say, “She is so liberal, so 
 noble, and so wealthy, she drops presents as an engine does 
 sparks, wherever she goes.” 
 
 Now God has “ every good and perfect gift ” in His hand ; 
 they are but the crumbs which fall from His table. He has 
 been giving from the foundation of the world, and yet He is 
 not in the least impoverished. How can a Creator be! A 
 Being who by a word can turn water into wine, and multi- 
 ply a baker’s loaf into bread for thousands of hungry 
 mouths! And He is as willing to give as He is able. It 
 is His delight to load us with benefits. No mother is 
 happier in kissing her darlings, decking them with her 
 own furs on a cold morning, and seeing them leap for joy 
 around her, than is our heavenly Father in dropping 
 blessings on us, and crowning us with His tender mercies. 
 And yet He is so infinite, and we so feeble; He is so holy, 
 and we are so sinful. The Psalmist turned from con- 
 sidering the moon and the stars, to cry, “ Lord, what is 
 man, that Thou art mindful of him!” How well may we 
 turn from considering God’s unspeakable gift, and join in 
 that cry! 
 
 But so it is. God zs mindful of us—the glorious God ; 
 and the unspeakable gift is actually zs present to us. 
 
 II. Notice the gift itself. 
 
 It is Jesus, the meek and lowly Jesus of the Gospels ; 
 and everything else such as forgiveness, grace, eternal life 
 in Him. 
 
 A white carrier dove alighted upon a prisoner’s floor ; the 
 prisoner said, “It is merely a pigeon ;” and he threw it a 
 crust, and then went on with his work. By-and-by he tried 
 to drive it away. At length he was struck with its tame- 
 ness, and catching it up, he found tied beneath its wing a 
 letter, promising him aid in escaping, and enclosing a latch- 
 key and a sum of money. The dove had been thrown in 
 from the street on this errand. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 239 
 
 Now, similarly, Jesus is nought to us until we receive 
 Him into our bosoms as our own ;—then, with and in Him, 
 we have whatever is needful to deliver us from Satan, and 
 insure us God’s immediate and everlasting favour! God 
 intends that He shall fetch us back to more than Adam 
 lost in Eden; that He shall be our “ righteousness ” and 
 our “strength.” Jesus is yours and mine, if we open our 
 hearts toHim. “ Unto us achzld zs given,” said the prophet 
 Isaiah. The angel re-echoed that when he said to the 
 shepherds, “ Unio you zs born this day in the city of David 
 a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’ The Apostle is 
 sending it on here to us, when he says, “Thanks be unto 
 God for His unspeakable gz/¢” to us,—Jesus. 
 
 It was the gift of a Redeemer, without whose death we 
 must have perished. 
 
 It was the gift of a Teacher, without whose instruction we 
 must have wandered on in ignorance, 
 
 It was the gift of a Brother, without whose sympathy we 
 must have fainted at the prospect of duty and trial. 
 
 But this anticipates our third point. 
 
 III. Notice the greatness of the gift. 
 
 He could have given us myriads of things which would 
 have excited our astonishment, but they could not have 
 helped us. What could a planet or a comet have done for 
 us, though they were to be called after us, and obey our 
 orders? But He chose for us what was superior to the 
 whole universe ; just what we required, but what we could 
 not have dared to hope for—He gave us His dearest, His 
 best, His co-equal ! 
 
 It was indeed an “unspeakable” gift, for it was so amaz- 
 ing ! It was next to Jehovah, and it was Jehovah. It was 
 the Owner of the flock giving Himself to rescue the flock 
 from the snow-drift or the precipice. It was the Almighty 
 giving Himself for His creatures. The cherubim and 
 seraphim must have hidden their faces in dismay as they - 
 saw Him carrying His cross to Calvary! they had been 
 wont to worship Him, to fly like lightning at His com- 
 mand. 
 
 It was “unspeakable,” because he is so surpassingly 
 lovely. He was lovely in His character, in His speech, in 
 His actions, in His devotion to God and us. What guilt 
 was there in Him? was He not without blemish; the 
 
 ” 
 
240 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 express image of God? What love shot out of Him and 
 hovered around Him! how His garments smelt of myrrh, 
 aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces ! 
 
 It was “ unspeakable,” because it was for such vile objects. 
 We were so mean and undeserving. How you would 
 admire a princess who walked miles in a burning desert to 
 relieve a company of lepers, or who sold herself into slavery 
 to be of use to a plantation of miserable negroes! But 
 Jesus did more than this for us, who were worms in com- 
 parison with Himself. 
 
 It is “unspeakable,” because it does such vast things 
 Jor us. Without it we were certainly doomed to hell; 
 without it, it would have been impossible for God to 
 pardon us. 
 
 It rids us of our burdens; it sheds peace abroad in our 
 consciences; it unfolds to us the smile of God; it is our 
 key to the grave; it is our title to mansions in the skies. 
 When ages upon ages of joy unspeakable have gone by, we 
 shall owe every moment of it to God’s “ unspeakable gift.” 
 Then,— 
 
 IV. Notice the gratitude which becomes us. 
 
 A bedridden Esquimaux said to a missionary, “When 
 you begin to read to me about Jesus, sir, 1 am as hard asa 
 block of ice ; when you finish and go away, I am melted 
 into water.” “The story of Jesus,” said an African, “is my 
 hymn, my prayer, my Bible. I weep over it when I can't 
 sing about it ; and I sing over it when I can’t weep about 
 it. This is true, that I thank God for it from the soul of 
 my foot to the top of my head.” 
 
 And what are we about? Where is our harp? Can we 
 not thank God for it with ous lips? Ought we not to try 
 to praise Him for it when we wake and ere we sleep, as 
 well as in our churches and chapels? Closet melodies 
 should be as frequent as closet petitions. Have Watts, and 
 Wesley, and Cowper written their exquisite verses for 
 private use in vain? Do they never rise to God from our 
 lips ? 
 
 or we not thank him with our sfzrz¢s 2 When there is 
 no music outwardly, there may be music within. Pious 
 affection may be kindled by recollection, and glow and 
 burn as a fire; and God can make‘its secret blaze “under 
 the fig-tree.” 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 241 
 
 Lastly, can we not thank him by our conduct ; by walk- 
 ing before Him so blamelessly and wisely that we may 
 testify to others how faithful His promises are, how easy 
 His yoke, how real and powerful His presence with those 
 who have accepted His unspeakable gift. Endeavour to 
 “adorn” your Christian profession; and then, assuredly, 
 you will be thanking Him for it. 
 
 But 4ave you accepted this unspeakable gift yet? Sup- 
 pose I met a royal messenger returning from your door with 
 an ornament which an empress might be proud to wear, and 
 saying : “This is a gift from Her Majesty to that young lady 
 who bears Her Majesty’s name, but I cannot obtain admis- 
 sion ; I have knocked till I am tired ; this is the fifth or 
 sixth attempt at intervals. She evidently listens ; but she 
 is too careless or engaged to attend. Once she glanced at 
 it from behind the curtains ; and once she unfastened the 
 lock, and was just slipping the bolt, but her pet dog 
 barked, or her parrot whistled, and she sauntered back to 
 them ; so I fear I must report it to Her Majesty, and she 
 will change her purpose regarding it.” What should I say 
 to that messenger for you? How could I excuse you and 
 plead for you? But beware, lest you are doing that very 
 thing to God’s messengers who are commissioned to urge 
 upon you His unspeakable gift. 
 
 Is that to be trifled with? Is that to be declined till it 
 suit your convenience? Oh, by the awful consequences of 
 missing it, I beseech you to claim and clasp it as your own 
 this moment ! 
 
 J. B. 
 
 LXXIX. Sowing. Gat. vi. 7. “ Whatsoever a@ man 
 soweth, that shall he also reap.” 
 
 Just as the early months of the year are the sowing-time 
 of the gardener and farmer, on which the flowers and the 
 vegetables of the summer and the crops of the harvest will 
 depend, so the early years of your life are your sowing-time, 
 which will go far to determine what the harvest of your 
 later years and of your eternity shall be (Gal. vi. 7). 
 
 I can fancy some mischievous boy scattering vegetable 
 seeds—peas, or beans, or lettuce seeds—over the flower- 
 beds in spring ; or flower seeds—Indian cress, or wallflower, 
 
 R 
 
242 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 — 
 
 or candytuft, or marigolds—over the vegetable-beds. The 
 gardener would call out to him, “Stop, boy; do you know 
 what you are doing? You are sowg. It is not as if 
 you were scattering clay, or stones, or bits of wood. These 
 seeds will grow; they will spring up again; and what a 
 sight the garden will be!” 
 
 Now your life is just like that. It may seem mere 
 amusement to some. You may scarcely think what you 
 are doing. But it is as really sowing as in the case I have 
 supposed. 
 
 I. The sowers—who are they? We are ad/ sowers, 
 every one of us. In the other sowing, it is the farmer or 
 the gardener; but in the sense in which we are now looking 
 at it, everybody is a sower. Every one who “ves, sows. 
 You areasower. You are sowing. Your life is a planting 
 of seeds, good or bad, which must all, sooner or later, bear 
 fruit after their kind. I wish I could get you to believe 
 and remember, “I am @ sower/ my life is a sowing!” 
 
 II. The seed—what is it? Of course, if we are sowers, 
 there must be seed which we sow. There can be no real 
 sowing without seed. I have seen infant scholars going 
 through the different trades, imitating the workmen in 
 each. I have heard them singing, “This is the way we 
 sow the corn,” suiting the action to the word. But it was 
 not real sowing, for there was no seed. It was mere imita- 
 tion. It was playing at sowing. But ours is a veal sowing, 
 for there is veal seed. And if youask, “ What is the seed ?” 
 I answer, Everything that we do. My actions are all seeds, 
 which I am planting in the field of my 4/z, in the garden 
 of my fe, My work, my play, my lessons at home and at 
 school, during the week or on the Lord’s day, my reading, 
 my amusements—each is @ seed which I am sowing, for 
 this life and for the life to come. And when it comes to 
 an end, your life will be like a field, every part of which is 
 sown with seed. 
 
 Have you ever thought of this? Nothing you do is 
 done with. You may have forgotten it. But it is no more 
 done with than the seed that is buried in the ground, and 
 will spring up by-and-by. “ Whatsoever a man soweth,” 
 is just the same as saying, “ whatsoever a man does.” 
 
 III. The character or kind of the sowing—what is it? 
 All the sowing must be one of two kinds. There is endless 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 242 
 
 variety of seed. If you were to take a seedsman’s cata- 
 logue, you would find an almost endless list of seeds and 
 roots. And so there is no limit to the number and variety 
 of actions which we do. But they may all be divided into 
 two classes. The one is “sowing éo the flesh; ” the other 
 is “sowing Zo the Spirit.” Instead of calling them good or 
 éad—instead of calling us good or bad sowers, God’s Word 
 divides us thus: “he that soweth Zo hzs flesh,” and “ he that 
 soweth ¢o the Spirit.” 
 
 “Sowing to the flesh” is just doing what is pleasing to 
 ourselves, following our own likings, gratifying our own in- 
 clinations, walking in the way of our own heart. “ Sowing 
 to the Spirit” is doing, or seeking to do, what is pleasing 
 to God, having regard to His will, His law, His glory. Let 
 us take anything we have done during the past year, any- 
 thing we are about to do now, and ask ourselves, Is Z/zs 
 sowing “to the flesh” or “to the Spirit?” 
 
 That question may be asked concerning everything we 
 do, and may be answered. As we are always sowing one 
 way or another, so it is always either Zo the jlesh or to the 
 Spirit. Which ts 7+? Everything you ever did was the 
 one or the other. You will find the works of the flesh and 
 the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. v. 19-23. Where 
 there is still the old heart, where there is no true love to 
 God, where Jesus is still kept out of the heart, all we do 
 is a “sowing to the flesh,” When the heart has been 
 surrendered to Him, the “sowing to the Spirit” begins. 
 
 What is your sowing to be? 
 J. Ww. 
 
 LXXX. Children of Light. Epu v. 8 “ Walk as 
 children of light.” 
 
 THE word “walk” here is not used in the ordinary sense 
 of taking a walk. The word used to mean in old English 
 a man’s manner or habit of life. And so St. Paul says to 
 all the children of Christ, “ Let your life be worthy of the 
 One whose name you bear. Walk as children of light.” 
 Now what is meant by “children of light”? It means 
 children who have the same nature as the children of God. 
 Children of darkness are those who are dark and bad in 
 
244 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 their hearts ; children of the light are those who have the 
 very nature of light. 
 
 Now there are three things in the making of light, three 
 things which ought to be what we call the characteristics 
 of the children of light. The light dispels darkness, and 
 always brings joy and hope and opportunity of work, 
 and always shines for the sake of others. Now there are, 
 children, three things in which you are to show your- 
 selves as children of light. All living ching s love light. 
 You know how the birds rejoice and sing when the light 
 appears; and some love the light so that you will see 
 them waiting on the side of the mountain where the sun 
 rises and in the evening they will gather on the side of the 
 mountain where the sun sets, and men have seen these 
 birds pass from one bough to another in the tree as the sun 
 sinks down, so as to retain the light of the sun as long as 
 possible. And so all living things love light; but the light 
 we are to love and walk in as children of it, is not the sun 
 that can set, but the Sun of Righteousness that can never go 
 down on any distant horizon. The light you are to walk 
 in is, remember, children, pureness, unselfishness, truth, 
 love, the light that comes from the very heart of God 
 Himself. 
 
 This light dispels darkness. You cannot have darkness 
 and light together. You know that in the world. You 
 know that, when you open the shutter of the dark room, 
 and the light streams in, the darkness must go. It is just 
 so with the light we have from God. My dear friends, 
 these two things cannot be together,—selfishness and _un- 
 selfishness, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, purit 
 and impurity ;~these things cannot be together. ’ Whete 
 the light of the one comes, then the darkness of the other 
 must disappear. You must give up all darkness when 
 once the light of God’s love and mercy streams into your 
 life and dispels darkness. 
 
 Have you ever watched in the sick room and heard the 
 sick lips say, “Is it nearly light? How long will it be 
 before morning ?” If so, you would know the value of the 
 light. It brings with it joy to those who can work, and op- 
 portunity for labour. When the sun begins to rise, man 
 goeth forth to his work, and the city streets, which had 
 been so silent, get alive, and the country becomes alive 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 245 
 
 with the song of living birds. And so it will be when this 
 
 very light of God shines into your heart. It will bring you 
 
 the joy of knowing that you are walking in the light of 
 
 God’s countenance. And then remember the uses of the, 
 ( light. First, the light must dispel the darkness; the light | 
 | must bring jo y and activity ; and the third point is, , that the | 
 
 light ERO for its own sake. Do you think that the 
 candle burns for its own sake? It is alight to give light, 
 not to keep light. And the sun. Do you think the sun 
 shines for its own sake? Was not the sun given to give 
 light on the earth? And so it will be with this light. 
 When this gets into your heart you will reflect light, like 
 the stars and the moon reflect the light from the sun. We 
 shall reflect in our lives, for the sake of others, the light of 
 God’s righteousness ; and when you have this light in your 
 hearts then let it shine from your hearts in deeds of tender- 
 ness and mercy and love, to make glad and joyous the 
 lives of others. And so St. Paul said to his children, and 
 we say, “ Walk as children of light.” 
 
 We are told of a figure of a king with a harp in his hand. 
 He loved the harp so dearly, for every morning when the 
 sun shone upon it its strings gave forth wondrous music. 
 Your hearts are like that, and as the Sun of Righteousness 
 shines upon them they ought to make music for God’s sake. 
 The day shall come when all the hearts of men will be as 
 harps. The knowledge of the love of God shall cover the 
 earth even as the waters cover the sea, and there shall 
 spring from every human heart a song of gratitude for 
 Christ’s sacrifice, and endless joy and abundant praise. 
 
 O children, you are not children of darkness but children 
 of the light. You have been purchased with an awful price, 
 the blood of Christ. Let the light drive away darkness 
 from your souls. Let it bring joy and work with it in your 
 lives, and let the light shine upon others so that men may 
 see it in your works, and so that they may glorify your 
 Father who is in Heaven. Amen. Pet Wa tse 
 
 LXXXI. Obedient Children. Epu.viir. “ Children, 
 obey your parents in the Lord, for this ts right.” 
 
 I WAS ministering one day at a sick-bed. The sick person 
 was an old man, weary and worn out with the toil of a 
 
246 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 long life. I read to him the story of Enoch walking with 
 God, and Cowper’s hymn, “Oh, for a closer walk with 
 God!” When I had finished, the old man said in tones 
 of Christian penitence, “ Minister, I wish my life had been 
 like that hymn.” I thought the old man’s words were a 
 beautiful description of obedience. An obedient child 
 may be called a child whose whole life is like a hymn of 
 praise to the glory of God. 
 
 I. Obedient children are the children who obey the voice of 
 the Lord.—To obey means to hear, to listen, to attend to. 
 But there must be something to hear, something to listen 
 to, something to attend to. What is that something? It 
 is the voice of the Lord through which He makes known 
 to us His will. I knew a mother who was giving her boy 
 an advice as he was leaving her home in the country to 
 begin life in a great city. She gave him words of warning, 
 words of instruction, words of loving cheer ; but she sum- 
 med up her parting words with this wise counsel—* And 
 remember, John, always to serve the Lord, and you will 
 best serve yourself, and your master, and your father, and 
 me.” This is the great rule of the life of Christ’s obedient 
 children. They speak the truth, for that is the will of God. 
 They are honest, for that isthe will of God. They are kind 
 to one another, for that is the will of God. They honour 
 their father and mother, for that is the will of God. They 
 are diligent in any work they are called to do, for that is 
 the will of God. What is not the will of God they dare 
 not do. When they are doing the will of God they are 
 doing all that man can require of them. 
 
 II. Obedient children are the children who obey the Lord 
 because they love Him.—A gentleman once met a little girl 
 carrying a big baby boy on her back on a hot summer day 
 along a dusty country road. Her face was glowing with 
 heat, and streamlets of perspiration were running down it, ~ 
 and her hair was flowing in the summer wind. The gentle- 
 man was struck with the romping fresh child, but thought 
 she was overburdened. He stopped her and asked if the 
 baby was not too heavy. She looked up through a mist 
 of golden hair and a wave of smiles and said: “Oh, he is 
 not the least heavy, he is ma brither.” Love was the spring 
 that made her burden light, her duty well done ; and love 
 is the secret of the obedience of all Christ’s children. The 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 247 
 
 obedience that is born of fear is hard, heartless duty, not 
 good for ourselves and not glorifying to God. The obe- 
 dience that springs from love is free, happy service, the 
 service of children, not the service of slaves. God wants 
 all that we do for Him to proceed out of the love of the 
 heart that He has made clean and glad by His grace. 
 What we do for Him depends greatly on how we do it. 
 He thinks more of a mite that unselfish love gives than of 
 a million that is given from selfish fear. 
 
 III. Obedient children are the children who obey the 
 Lord in all things.—Children are sometimes tempted to 
 think of God only on Sundays or at times when engaged 
 in religious services—that He is to be obeyed in worship. 
 But He is to be obeyed in work, and in all the work that 
 His children are called to undertake. There is a story told 
 of a very small congregation in America. It consisted of 
 only twelve persons, but they all agreed to do something 
 in the service of God. They had a meeting to arrange 
 plans and appoint ‘‘to every one his work.” They began 
 at the oldest and came down the list of members to the 
 youngest. Some agreed to teach the young, some to visit 
 the poor, some to conduct “little prayer meetings,” some 
 to circulate tracts. This was all good, useful work. The 
 youngest member was a servant girl. She was asked 
 what she would undertake. She was very shy and felt 
 herself very helpless, but she modestly answered, “I will 
 try and serve God in the trifles of my common life.” It 
 is said that the old minister, on hearing this, replied, 
 “Brethren, the youngest member will beat us all.” That 
 “youngest member” certainly teaches usalla lesson. To 
 serve God in the “trifles of our common life” is the duty 
 and the privilege of God’s obedient children. We are 
 called upon to be living epistles of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and on every side of our life there must be written in 
 Christian deeds the gospel we have believed. 
 
 IV. Obedient children are the children who find in 
 obedience its own reward.—lIt is not wise always to be 
 
 asking, “What wages am I to get for serving God?” I 
 
 remember sitting beside an aged minister who had lived a 
 long useful life. He spoke of the many things that God had 
 done for him, of his own deep peace and the joy of a happy 
 trust ; and he spoke of heaven, He was going there with 
 
248 SERMINS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 clear bright hope. But he said a thing about heaven that 
 made my young heart wonder. “I do not think of heaven 
 as a place where God will reward me for what I have done 
 for Him, but as a place where I will praise Him for what 
 He has done for me.” Surely this is the right view of 
 looking at the rewards of obedience. Everything we do 
 for God should be regarded as an oblation of praise for 
 what He has done for us. At the end of the page we come 
 back to the truth with which it opened—an obedient child | 
 is a child whose whole life is like a beautiful hymn om 
 
 praise to the glory of God ; and the reward of obedience 
 is in being made by grace and truth like a Christian =i 
 We are called upon to keep the commandments of the 
 
 Lord,—His grace in Jesus is given for this great end, and 
 the Scriptures tell us that “in keeping of them there i is 
 
 G. W. q f 
 
 great reward,” 
 
 LXXXII. The Children’s Book: Epuvi.17. “ 
 word of God.” 
 
 EVERY New Year's Day is like a milestone on our journey 
 towards eternity. On one side of the milestone we ca 
 read the number of the miles we have already passed. 
 But can we read on the other side how many miles are_ 
 still before us? No, we do not know whether many years 
 or only a few days will bring us to the end of our earthl 
 pilgrimage. But if we love God, we may read this inscrip- 
 tion on the other side: “ Surely goodness and mercy shall 
 follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in they 
 house of the Lord for ever.’ 
 
 On looking over the past, resting at a new milestone, r 
 have beside me one good and faithful companion, who has” 
 been with me since my early childhood. He has been a 
 wise counsellor, an unerring guide, a patient and wonder- 
 ful teacher of things earthly and heavenly, a loving com- x 
 forter,—in short, everything that you could desire in a ~ 
 friend. His voice was sometimes very solemn and grave, 
 but so earnest and affectionate that I could not forget his. 
 words ; and, because they were truth and love, I had to 
 return to him and acknowledge my sin and folly, and ask 
 
| SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 249 
 
 | him to continue to guide me, though it was by rebuke. 
 
 | This friend understood all my thoughts, and, what is more 
 
 wonderful, he understands that hidden and mysterious 
 thing the heart, out of which the thoughts come. He led 
 
 _ me to the fountain of life, of peace, and of love ; he showed 
 me how God forgives sin and renews the sinner’s heart; 
 he spoke to me of God’s wonderful works and acts in the 
 
 past, and of His great purposes in the future. And in all 
 this he always spoke of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the 
 Saviour and Shepherd, who died for the flock, and lives 
 now to bless them. 
 
 Now, when I was achild, he spoke to me as a child. 
 He told me beautiful, wonderful, and touching stories, 
 which I can never forget. I fancy even now that I hear 
 his voice as I heard it then, when he told me of the crea- 
 tion of heaven and earth; of man, made in the image of 
 God ; of the garden of Eden; of righteous Abel, the first 
 shepherd and martyr ; of Noah, how he feared and trusted 
 God, and built the ark. I think I still see the rainbow as 
 I saw it in my mind when he first told me that God set it 
 in the clouds, to assure us of his mercy ; and that I still 
 see the stars, as he told me God showed them to Abra- 
 ham, and promised him to be the father of many nations. 
 And so many other stories—of Joseph, of Moses, of David, 
 of Daniel ; and in all these stories the first and chief and 
 last was always God. 
 
 And as I grew older, this friend appeared to me to grow 
 greater, wiser, more wonderful ; and I am still a little child 
 before him, and he teaches, corrects, and guides me. 
 
 Now you know that this friend is the Bible. I like 
 to look at the books which I read as a child. But the 
 Bible is the only book that grows with us ; and, when we 
 come to die, we still feel as little children and disciples 
 and learners. The Bible is indeed, as the word itself tells 
 us, the Book. There is none like it. It is given to us of 
 God, to lead us to God. It is written by the inspiration 
 of the Holy Ghost, the good, loving, and infinite Spirit. 
 It reveals to us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour 
 of sinners, the heir of all things. It tells us how to glorify 
 God, and to enjoy Him for ever. It tells us the wonderful 
 history of creation and of the fall. It tells us the wonder- 
 ful history of God’s ancient people. It tells us the most 
 
250 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 wonderful history of all times,—the life, death, resurrection ~ 
 and ascension of Jesus Christ. It tells us what will be 
 the end of all things, when Jesus will return, and God will t 
 make new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth \ 
 righteousness. This book is given to us of God, because 
 He loves us, and it is to make us wise unto salvation, ya 
 faith, which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 I. God intends and wishes children to read His word. 
 God never forgets the little ones. When He brought the 4 
 Jews out of Egypt, He especially remembered the little — 
 ones. When He instituted the festivals, He remembered ~ 
 the children, and foresaw that they would ask questions © 
 as to the meaning of the ceremonies, and commanded the ~ 
 parents to instruct them. When He gave the five books ~ 
 of Moses, He commanded the fathers to read them to and © 
 with the children, and to speak to them about His great — 
 and merciful works. God wishes children to know, love © 
 and serve Him. Think of Samuel, and how God spoke to © 
 him. Think of Josiah. “ Josiah was eight years old when 
 he began to reign, and he did that which was right in the — 
 sight of the Lord.” Fancy a little boy, only eight years 
 old, being raised to the throne. He was one of the greatest 
 reformers that ever lived, and from his tender childhood 
 he loved God. Think of Timothy, who knew the Scrip- 
 tures from a child ; and when his great teacher and friend, 
 the Apostle Paul, was about to leave him, he wrote to him 
 not to be afraid of false teachers and perilous times, but to 
 cleave to the word of God, which he had known from the 
 days of his childhood. 
 
 II. God has therefore caused the Bible to be written 
 inasimple and attractive way. There are no stories so 
 beautiful, so wonderful, so interesting, as the Bible stories. 
 There is no book in which we find such grand and touch- 
 ing poetry, such terse and deep sayings. Here is some- 
 thing for every one—the soldier, who likes to read of 
 battles ; the sailor, who likes to read of storms and ship- 
 wrecks ; the lover of nature, who likes descriptions of 
 scenery and of the glories of creation; the philosopher, 
 who likes to study the anatomy of the human heart; the 
 sorrowful, the weak, the sick, the aged, the dying, all find 
 here food for their minds, and comfort for their souls. 
 
 God repeats in the Bible what is important, that we may 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 253 
 
 anderstand it clearly, that we may not forget it. He very 
 often repeats and sums up what He has said before. So 
 the ten commandments are summed up into two; and 
 many short and simple verses contain a great many pages 
 of the Bible condensed. John iii. 16 Luther calls “the 
 Bible in miniature.” Then the types and parables are like 
 pictures and models—striking, attractive, compact, easily 
 remembered, and yet very deep. 
 
 III. The Bible is a deep book, and we never can ex- 
 haust it. But if we know Fesus as our Saviour, we know 
 the sum and substance of the Bible. I was one day in 
 Carlsruhe, the capital of Baden. The duke has a palace 
 there, and all the streets in the city lead to this palace. 
 The city is built like a fan: wherever you are, if you go 
 on a little you come to the palace. It is thus in the 
 Bible: all prophets and apostles testify of Jesus, that He 
 is the only Saviour and Lord. 
 
 IV. Lastly, the Bible is the children’s book. Only 
 children can understand and profit by it. Except we be- 
 come like little children, we cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God. When we are humble, when we feel that we are 
 very ignorant, that our hearts are very sinful, that we are 
 very unworthy, that we are very weak, then God the Holy 
 Ghost teaches us out of His own book, and makes us very 
 happy in Jesus. 
 
 A.S. 
 
 LXXXIII. Lights. Pum ii. 15, 16. “Shine as lights in 
 the world ; holding forth the word of life.” 
 
 MANY of you will remember what is written in “ Pilgrim’s 
 Progress” about the shining ones ; how, when Christian 
 -and Hopeful drew near to the great deep river of Death, 
 they met two men, whose raiment shone like gold, and 
 whose faces shone as thé light; and how the same two 
 shining ones waited for the pilgrims when they came out 
 of the river, to lead them into the city. You may have 
 thought when reading this that it was only a picture of 
 angels, and had nothing to do with you. It has a great 
 deal to do with every one, whether old or young, who 
 confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. Does not the text 
 
252 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 say that you are all to be shining ones? Well, let us try © 
 to gather some portion of the truth which St. Paul would © 
 teach us, by answering three questions, beginning with 
 three short words which you can all keep in your minds— 
 Where? What? How? 
 
 I. Where are the lights to shine? “In the world,” is the 
 reply. Our blessed Saviour, when He was about to leave 
 the world, would not pray that His beloved disciples 
 might be taken away with Him out of it; all He asked 
 was that they might be kept from everything which would 
 dim the brightness of His glory inthem. He sent them 
 into the world that they might shine. Now, think—What 
 kind of place is it into which you send or in which you 
 set a light? Is it not a place either dark or dangerous? 
 This world, in which it is Christ's will that we should live 
 and move, is full of darkness and full of danger ; therefore 
 you and I are to shine. 
 
 The world is a dark place. Very lately you got all sorts 
 of presents, and cards, and kind greetings, the expression 
 in which was, “A merry Christmas!” Why do you 
 associate Christmas with great joy? Is it not because, in 
 the words of Isaiah, “the people that walked in darkness 
 have seen a great light”? My dear young readers, the 
 best mirth that you can put into this weary world of ours 
 is of the same kind—a shining in darkness. Yes, darkness! 
 When you pass through the streets in the day-time, you 
 see here and there iron posts supporting lamps. Zhen you 
 don’t feel the good of these lamps. But by-and-by, as 
 night approaches, you are grateful to the lamplighter ; you 
 understand the use of the lamps he has lighted. That is 
 the very use we are to be in this world. It lies in darkness 
 because it lies in wickedness. You may have seen what is 
 called a missionary map, with a great many black spaces 
 in it—these black spaces marking out the countries and 
 islands which the light of the gospel has not yet reached. 
 How thick the darkness sometimes is! When Narayan 
 Sheshadri was in this country, I heard him say—“I was 
 brought up to believe that I myself was a god on earth; 
 that all men, women, and children ought to worship me.” 
 This, because he belonged to a particular caste! And you 
 know what frightful superstitions and horrid cruelties pre- 
 vail in Africa and China—in a great, far too great, part of 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 253 
 
 the world—among the hundreds of millions of heathens. 
 Is that all the darkness? Alas! there are spaces as black 
 as those on the map in Christian countries,—ay, close to 
 your own happy homes. Wherever Christ is not known, 
 loved, obeyed, there is the shadow of death. And every 
 one whom I address should be like the lights which God 
 created to divide the day from the night; shining as a light 
 whose very presence marks out separation from sin—“a 
 light in the world.” 
 
 If I add, the world is full of danger, as well as darkness, 
 you will see an additional need for the light. Some of you 
 may have sailed in the lovely Firth of Clyde, or out of the 
 harbour of Leith, going north or south. Don’t you recollect 
 noticing, here and there along the coast-line, revolving 
 lights? These lights are all marked in the captain’s chart. 
 _ He knows, as he looks at one—“ There is a bad reef there ; 
 I must keep clear of it.” And so, as to every one, it isa 
 warning or a guide. I cannot resist telling a story about a 
 lighthouse keeper: it is so often told that you may have 
 heard it, but I must risk the repetition. One day the light 
 would not revolve. What did the keeper do? He ran to 
 the right position, and with his hand kept revolving the 
 light until he was utterly wearied ; then he called another 
 man: and thus, all night long, the light was kept in 
 motion. Afterwards a friend spoke to him about his 
 anxiety. “Why, sir,’ he answered, “there might be a 
 hundred seamen looking out from the storm to catcha 
 gleam of this light. If it don’t move, it may be mistaken 
 for another; and in their uncertainty they may lose the 
 channel and be wrecked.” My young friends, there are 
 dangers very many; rocks and quicksands, some so sunken 
 that they are not discovered until the soul’s peace and 
 health are destroyed on them. And each of you should 
 feel as that lighthouse keeper felt—‘‘ There may be some 
 looking out from the darkness, and if they don’t see a true 
 light in me, or if by what I say and do they are turned away 
 from God and lose the right channel, they may be wrecked, 
 and the fault will be mine.” Be sure of it, each boy or girl 
 is, to some other boy or girl, a light. You have two hands: 
 use the one to keep back from the danger, from what is 
 bad and ugly; use the other to point and help to what 
 is good and right. Some years ago a young man went up 
 
254 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 ot 
 
 from Aberdeen to London. He was taken into the employ- 
 ment of an eminent publisher. One afternoon Mr. Irving 
 came into the shop. He noticed the youth ; and on being 
 told that he came from Scotland, went kindly to him, and 
 said: “Young man, you have come to a very wicked 
 place,’—that was the hand holding back ; “ but,” he added 
 solemnly, “the grace of God is in it,’—that was the hand 
 bidding onward. The young fellow never forgot the words ; 
 amidst the dangers of the great capital, the memory of 
 that saying was as a light to him. God help you and me 
 to be such lights in this world, so full of darkness and so 
 full of danger. 
 
 II. But it is time to think, not merely of where the light 
 is to shine, but also of what the light is. And I will tell 
 you something about the phrase “lights,” as it is used 
 by the Apostle, which at once explains this. The phrase 
 means /uminarzes ; it is the same phrase as in Genesis i. 
 14, “ Let there be “gh¢s in the firmament of heaven:” so 
 that you see the Christian is to be like one of those stars 
 that “come twinkling one by one from out the azure sky.” 
 A hymn, with which no doubt you are familiar, thus gives 
 the thought :— 
 
 “Make me thy child—a child of God, 
 Washed in my Saviour’s precious blood : 
 And my whole heart, from sin set free, 
 A little vessel full of thee. 
 
 “ A star of early dawn, and bright, 
 Shining within thy sacred light ; 
 A beam of grace to all around ; 
 A little spot of hallowed ground.” 
 
 There are two things which I would like you to remember 
 about these luminaries. 
 
 They are reflecting lights. I referred you to the first 
 chapter of Genesis, which speaks of the creation of all 
 things, Well, if you read that chapter, you will find that 
 on the first day God created light, and on the fourth day 
 He made lights. People used to cry, “ How strange! 
 How could there be light without light bodies?” Science 
 has confirmed the word of the Bible. And the account in 
 Genesis is true of another creation,—“If any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature.” Christ is the Light. Whosc 
 
 a 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 255 
 
 is in Christ is a light only because he received the Light. 
 Until Christ comes into and dwells in the heart, the heart 
 is dark. When you go out at night and look up to the 
 moon and stars, you exclaim, How glorious! Yes; but 
 the glory is not in the moon—it is a dark body, with no 
 light except what.it gets from the sun. Jesus Christ is to 
 us what the sun is to the moon. It is He who is and who 
 gives light, and all our shining can be only the sending 
 beyond us of the beam which has come from Himself. It 
 is when our heart really opens to Jesus; when “the old, 
 old story of Jesus and His love” ceases to be a mere story 
 and becomes a living truth in us; when we are turned 
 right toward the Saviour, feeling ourselves poor lost 
 sinners, but knowing and seeing in Him a perfect Saviour 
 and a perfect salvation, and we give ourselves as we are 
 to Him as He is, it is zien that the light is received, and 
 all things become new in their interest, and claim, and 
 blessing, as, having received, we walk thenceforth reflecting 
 the light of the Lord. Blessed then—may it be fulfilled 
 in you! 
 
 Now, this further as to the thenceforth. The lights are a 
 growing, increasing kind of light. They shine “ more and 
 more unto the perfect day.” Long centuries ago there was 
 a glorious temple in Jerusalem, and in that temple there 
 was a fire, as to which the charge given to the priests was, 
 “You are to keep it always burning ; it is never to go out.” 
 Now, the light which Christ gives is to be always burning 
 and shining, Sunday and Monday, at home and from home, 
 in health and in sickness, at play and in church, all times 
 and all ways giving forth something of Jesus’ spirit, and be- 
 coming more and more brilliant the longer it shines. There- 
 fore, if we would be lights in the world, we must be getting 
 always new and fresh supplies of light from Jesus. And we 
 shall get if we obey Him with our whole heart, and trust 
 Him fully, and pray to Him, and read His Holy Word. He 
 will give us then His Holy Spirit to dwell in us,—to be, as 
 it were, a new anointing, a new light of life every morning, 
 making us better and truer and wiser the longer we live. 
 
 III. One point remains,—How the light is to shine. 
 We often speak of persons shining. Such and such a boy, 
 we say, shone at school; or such and such a one shines in 
 society. That is not the way of the shining to which we 
 
356 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 are called. That kind of shining is often false and ruinous, 
 One evening I saw the harbour light kindled at St. 
 Andrews. “What a mercy that light is!” I thought 
 “Ah!” said the gentleman with whom I was walking, 
 “sometimes it betrays. The seaman mistakes it for the 
 light at the mouth of the Tay, makes for it, and finds out, 
 at a terrible cost, his mistake.” All shining which springs 
 from mere ambition, or love of gaiety, or love of the world, — 
 or selfishness, betrays. And there are many such betrayers, 
 many such antichrists in the world. May you be delivered © 
 from them ! ; 
 In the first clause of the sixteenth verse, you find the - 
 manner of the Christian shining. “Holding forth the word 
 of life.’ We are so to let this candle shine out, so to hold ~ 
 forth what we are taught in the blessed word of God, in™ 
 our lives, in our talk and walk, in our conduct towards 
 those whom we may meet, in what we are and do, that they - 
 may see a light of heaven in us, and glorify our Pa 
 which is in heaven. 
 This is how you are to shine. And, remember, you ave 
 to shine. What is God’s mind about the stars? He lights 
 them for us and for His world. What doyoudo? And 
 we have light in Christ not that we may live nursing a_ 
 solitary goodness, but that we may let light go out from — 
 us. Would that we were all taught of God to hold forth — 
 the Word of Life to the perishing around us. 
 J.ML 
 
 LXXXIV. Giants. 1 Tim. vira. “Fight the good fight 
 of faith.” ? 
 
 “T WISH that I had a ‘sword of sharpness’ and ‘shoes of © 
 swiftness, and could go about killing off big ugly giants © 
 like that Jack in my book. I like my giant-killer book 
 better than the stories of good boys that get ill and die. 
 I would like to live and do something. The giants were 
 horrid, putting men and women in their dungeons, and 
 devouring up children. Blunderbore and Cormoran were 
 the worst. It isa good thing that they were stupid and 
 greedy, and ate too much, and went to sleep often. Jack — 
 was splendid; so clever and never afraid, and everybody — 
 
 said, 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 257 
 
 ‘This is the valiant Cornishman, 
 That slew the giant Cormoran.’ 
 But that was long ago, and there are no giants nowadays.” 
 
 Are there not, my boy? Indeed there are ; all, I suspect, 
 that ever there were. There are a great many horrid, cruel 
 giants that do sore mischief to men, women, and children, 
 and you will not require to travel to Wales or to Cornwall 
 to find them. They are everywhere about. You may find 
 and fight them, if you choose. In fact I may tell you that 
 you will be obliged to fight them. You cannot get out of 
 it. If you do not conquer them, they will be sure to con- 
 quer you. One way or other it is certain to be. Either 
 you must get the upper hand or ¢/ey will. There are some 
 that are especially cruel to children. 
 
 I. One is called BADTEMPER. When he gets hold of 
 any boy he puts him under enchantment. He alters his face 
 so that he would not know himself in the glass; knits his 
 brows, makes his eyes glare, changes his voice into a bear’s 
 gruff growl or a wolf’s howl, makes him feel like to strike 
 every one and break everything round about, turns all the 
 wholesome blood in his body into vinegar and gall, puts 
 toad’s venom on his lips, and tortures him until he feels 
 himself the most miserable little wretch existing. 
 
 That is a very bad giant indeed, and a very hard one to 
 get the better of. He comes to life again and again, when 
 you think he is finished. But you must by all means be 
 sure to conquer him if you hope to have any happiness in 
 this world. 
 
 II. Another is a wicked, two-faced giant, called FALSE- 
 HOOD. The boy who, unfortunately, falls into his power, 
 loses immediately the proper use of his tongue. ‘Two little 
 words in particular he grows unable to say. They are 
 quite short words, one has only two letters and the other 
 three; one is “yes,” and the other “no.” But the poor 
 fellow is no longer able to say these at the proper time, and 
 in the right place. He says “yes” when it should be 
 “no,” and “no” when it should be “yes.” His tongue 
 stammers and hesitates, and tells things all wrong, and up- 
 side down, and not as they really are. His description is 
 blurred and twisted, like a bad photograph. No onecan 
 trust his story. His cheeks grow red and hot and uncom- 
 fortable, and he is in such a flutter of fear that he zs afraid 
 
 s 
 
258 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 even of his own father and mother. 1 am very sorry for © 
 the boy who gets into the clutches of this giant. It is a ~ 
 kind of madness,.and he may not get out of it all his life. 
 
 III. Then there is DISOBEDIENCE. But by this time I 
 daresay you have found me out, and know what I mean. 
 The giants you have to fight with are all kinds of sins and 
 evils. So, without making a giant of it, disobedience is 
 another of the things you must strive against. Remember © 
 that everybody has to obey, and is happiest when obeying. — 
 Your father has to obey; the Queen even. Perhaps you ~ 
 imagine that when you are older you will then do as you j 
 like. Not at all, nobody can do that. The soldier obeys his q 
 officer, the sailor his captain. In all the offices and shops © 
 somebody gives the orders, and the rest obey. On the rail- © 
 way everybody, all the guards and porters, look to the time- 
 . table and obey it. If all of them did as they pleased, sent © 
 the trains and stopped them anywhere and at any time, © 
 such collisions and accidents would be! Therefore, do © 
 not be stiffnecked and rebellious. Obey your parents, and © 
 when older obey your conscience and your God; otherwise — 
 there will be confusion and terrible accidents. 
 
 IV. Then there is SELFISHNESS. Strive against it, think 
 of others, be kind and helpful. It does not matter how 
 young and little you are. You can always do something 
 in that way. A mouse, you know, once did a good turn to 
 a lion. You can watch baby, or run an errand upstairs to 
 spare old, tired limbs. Opposite the house where I once 
 lived stood the cottage of a poor widow, with a few flowers 
 outside, that were all her delight. The woman took ill, and 
 lay long in bed, Many people showed her kindness. From 
 my window I could see the doctor go in at the door, and 
 kind ladies who brought comforts both for body and mind. 
 But there was one who showed her a very real, unobtrusive 
 piece of kindness. It was a little neighbour girl. She did 
 not call to inquire, nor go in at the door, nor make herself 
 seen in any way. But she came bringing her watering-pot 
 and watered the poor woman’s flowers, that would certainly 
 have died in the hot summer sun. This she continued to 
 do every day, till their owner was better again. The very 
 first day the widow was able, she came tottering out to see 
 her pets, and there they were, all alive and well. I wonder 
 if she ever knew who kept them alive! I do not know. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 259 
 
 But I saw the little girl do this, and remembered it, 
 And I know God saw it and remembered it, and has 
 written it in His great Book. Every kind thing you do is 
 certainly written there. 
 
 I could tell you of some more—giants shall we call them 
 
 again? But these are the worst that you will probably 
 
 meet, and if you get the better of these, you are not likely 
 to have much trouble with any others. Old people encoun- 
 ter a few others. For instance, I saw a man the other day 
 knocked about and abused by Giant INTEMPERANCE in a 
 way to make you shudder. He tossed him from one side 
 of the way to the other, bemired him, tore him, disfigured 
 him, and at last threw him before the wheels of a car and 
 ended him. I know a giant called MAMMON who keeps a 
 great many poor slaves, chained neck and heel, grubbing 
 all their life Jong in his dirty mines, till, with the constant 
 glitter of gold and silver, the unhappy creatures lose the 
 power of their eyesight for anything else in this world. 
 But there is no need to say anything of such in the mean- 
 time, and when you have slain those I have mentioned, 
 you will have grown so skilful in the business that you will 
 polish them off quite easily when you come to meet 
 them. 
 
 I hope that all your life you will be a brave fighter 
 against every kind of wrong and evil, both for your own 
 sake and for everybody’s, and will help to make the world, 
 and this part of it we live in, a safer and better and happier 
 place for us all. There is a great deal to do. Oh, the 
 groans and miseries of men, women and children! Some 
 houses are only gzanuts’ dungeons, where the inmates lie in 
 darkness and squalor and horrid cruelty. Help to get 
 everybody out, if you can, into the sunshine. Some are 
 doing the best they can. I hope you will do better than 
 any, and perhaps some day people may say of you, 
 
 This is the valiant British man, 
 That strives for goodness all he can.” 
 
 T. P. J. 
 
260 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 eee 
 
 LXXXV. The Word of God. 2 Tm. iii. 16. “Ad 
 Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and ts profitable fer 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction tn righteous- — 
 ness.” 
 
 OUR subject is the Word of God, and we shall consider 
 some of its titles. 
 
 I. God’s Word is “a hammer.” 
 
 See that block of whinstone, and now see that little 
 instrument lying on it—a hammer. Yonder skilful work- 
 man can with it break that block into pieces, which can 
 then be applied to any purpose that he may think them 
 fit for. 
 
 When our first parents were created their hearts were 
 soft, and therefore easily impressed by Divine things, and 
 their affections were pure and warm, but when sin entered 
 and took possession, the heart became as hard as the 
 hardest stone and the affections became like ice. And so 
 they naturally continue to be. When, however, the Word 
 of God is duly applied to the hardest heart, it breaks it 
 into shivers, after which it is formed anew like Christ. 
 This is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit 
 saith the Lord.” 
 
 II. “The Sword of the Spirit.” 
 
 Each one, young and old, who has come to the Lord’s 
 side has been enlisted to be a soldier of the cross. A 
 soldier must have on his armour when placed before the 
 enemy ; so, to be of use, we must have on our armour con- 
 stantly, for the enemies—the devil, sinful thoughts and 
 desires—are always in our way. We have five pieces of 
 armour—the helmet, the coat of mail, girdle or belt, 
 sandals, and, over all, “the shield of faith.” These are 
 all for defence. We have only one for attack—the Sword 
 of the Spirit, the Word of God. 
 
 See Jesus, thrice tempted in the wilderness by Satan, 
 and each time smiting him with His sword, and thereby 
 completely vanquishing and silencing the great enemy of 
 souls. . The three strokes of the sword were taken by Jesus 
 from that wonderful book Deuteronomy. 
 
 The Bible is a “¢two-edged sword.’ The edges are the 
 Law and the Gospel. The Law wounds but cannot heal. 
 
: 
 
 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 261 
 
 The Gospel, be it in the Old Testament or the New, 
 wounds, and, when applied by the grace of God, can heal. 
 
 III. The Word of God “a Lamp.” 
 
 How we are cheered by light when it causes the dark- 
 ness to pass away and shows us all around. Buta lamp, 
 though made of the finest gold, filled with the purest oil, 
 and having the best of wicks, would be of no use to us 
 in our hand in a dark place unless a flame were applied 
 to it. The Bible is the darkest and most mysterious book 
 in the world if it is not lighted for us by the Holy Spirit, 
 but when thus illuminated it is infinitely the brightest 
 book, and shows us clearly the way through this dark 
 world of sin and sorrow to our Father’s habitation in glory, 
 where there shall be no darkness, but where the Lord shall 
 be our everlasting light. 
 
 IV. The Bible “a Looking-glass or Mirror.” 
 
 When first we look into the Word of God we see our 
 own character, and read that we are poor and miserable, 
 and wretched and blind, and naked of holiness, and stand 
 in need of all things. We also see, as if in the background 
 of the past, men and women whose lives are recorded 
 therein. We admire much in them, but they are not per- 
 fect. There is One, however, completely holy and loving, 
 and altogether loveable. This is the Son of God, who 
 casts a lustre over all. 
 
 We see His marvellous goodness to us in the marks of 
 the nails and spear in His hands, His feet, and His side, 
 and we are filled with gratitude and love to Him, and 
 desire earnestly to be like Him; and so we commune with 
 Him in His Word, this mirror, and grow liker and liker 
 unto Him, even though only seeing Him as through a 
 glass, dimly, until we become perfected in Him, and then 
 see Him in glory as He is. 
 
 The hammer and sword, to be effectual, must be applied 
 by the infinitely wise and Almighty Spirit, and He alone 
 can light up the lamp and the mirror. 
 
 Jesus, the Friend of little children, tells us our heavenly 
 Father “will give the Holy Spirit to them (whosoever 
 they are) that ask Him.” 
 
 There are millions on millions of little children, whose 
 souls are as valuable as ours, groping their way through 
 this dark world towards eternity, who have never seen 
 
262 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 a ee 
 even the outside of a Bible. What a cheerless desert this — 
 world would be to us without the “Word.” Let us | 
 earnestly seek that it may be soon brought within the ~ 
 reach of the whole human family, so that each may have 
 it in his power to say, like you and me, 
 
 “ Holy Bible, book Divine ! 
 Precious treasure ! thou art mine.” ~ 
 
 R. F. F. 
 
 LXXXVI. Faithful Children. Titusi.6. “faithful 
 children.” 
 
 THE island of Crete, now called Candia, once had a hun- 
 dred churches. They all began through the ministry of 
 Paul and Titus. No doubt Paul, in his memorable voyage 
 to Rome, looked toward ‘‘ The Fair Havens” and “ Lasea” 
 (Acts xxvii. 8), with prayer that the people there might be 
 saved ; and in after years a great harvest was reaped in 
 that island. 
 
 May we not trace the spread of the truth in that island, 
 in some large measure, to the “fazthful children” of the 
 believers ? Believing households were seed-corn all over 
 Crete. And if so in Crete, an island famed for lying and 
 gluttony, why may that not be in our own island too? 
 Let us think a little on these “ children.” 
 
 1. There were families where the children were “ faithful.” 
 
 Whole families of saved children! How blessed! and © 
 how cheering! And that, too, in such an island as Crete. 
 And this word “ fazthful” means two things. 1. Full of 
 faith. The young souls were led by the Holy Spirit to 
 receive Christ, and become believers. Yes, they became 
 followers of “faithful Abraham.” They accepted the 
 “faithful saying,” that “Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners.” For young people need the same Saviour 
 as old sinners do; they must look to the same Brazen Ser- 
 pent to be healed ; they must slake their thirst at the same, 
 Fountain of living water. 2. Truthful, or full of fidelity. 
 That is, they were children who spoke the truth, and were 
 true in their actions ; not deceitful, like other Cretian chil- 
 dren. They were like the “little maid” who was servant 
 to Naaman’s wife—so truthful that her mistress could trust. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 263 
 
 every word she spoke. Dear young people, whoever knows 
 Christ, who is “the Truth,” will certainly seek to be like 
 Him. 
 
 Il. We might have expected to find such families. 
 
 We ought to expect to find as many young souls saved 
 as old ones; and it is the duty and privilege of young 
 people to seek and find Christ in their very childhood. 
 Do you not remember the children in the Temple crying, 
 “Hosanna”? and how Jesus spoke on that occasion to 
 those who wondered at it and thought it folly? Jesus said, 
 “Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and 
 sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matt. xxi. 16). 
 Dear young people, think upon these words of Jesus, how 
 they tell us that we should expect early conversions ; and 
 think, at the same time, of the families in the island of 
 Crete, where there were so many instances of this early 
 conversion. There is a Saviour for you to-day ; will you 
 come to-day ? 
 
 And your parents surely should rejoice in this fact about 
 the children of Crete. Your teachers, too, even when they 
 know that the scholars of their classes are living in streets 
 or houses where all around them is drunkenness, and 
 dishonesty, and evil. The children of Crete were “lilies 
 - among thorns ;” for there were gluttony and lying on every 
 side of them. And so, also, let us pray for and expect the 
 conversion of the young in heathen lands; for they are 
 not situated in circumstances worse than the children of 
 Crete. God’s gospel, the good news about the life, death, 
 and resurrection of His Son, is the Spirit’s mighty instru- 
 ment in changing old and young. 
 
 Children of believing parents, are you “faithful”? You 
 of all others are surely privileged, having your parents’ 
 prayers, your parents’ example, your parents’ counsels, and 
 the Divine offer made to you in baptism, “I will be your 
 God ”—your parents’ God, to be a God to their seed after 
 them (Gen. xvii. 7). What if the children of heathen 
 parents rise up against you in the judgment! 
 
 AA. B 
 
264 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 — 
 
 LXXXVI. Outofthe Depths. Titus iii 3-7. ‘ For 
 
 we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, 
 
 ’ 
 } 
 ' 
 ¥ 
 ' 
 a 
 
 serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, 
 
 hateful, and hating one another, etc.” 
 
 WE have seen a great continental river after it had flowed | 
 
 for many miles within a comparatively narrow bed, burst- 
 ing suddenly into the dimensions of an inland sea. At 
 the lower end of that expanse it again became a stream 
 confined within its banks; and at another stage became 
 another sea. The St. Lawrence, in North America, is the 
 grandest example of this in the world. 
 
 The Scriptures, especially in these Epistles of Paul, 
 resemble such a river. In some parts its bed is narrow, 
 and you can easily see from bank to bank; but in such a 
 portion as our text the current breaks at once through 
 
 and spreads into an ocean where we can neither feel a 
 
 bottom nor see a shore. Here, in a few lines, lie all the 
 loss of man, and all the salvation of God. This portion 
 of Scripture, although a connected whole, is made up of 
 three distinct parts. 
 
 The first (verse 3) reveals our low estate. 
 
 The second (verse 4-6) explains how the fallen are 
 raised. 
 
 The third (verse 7) points to the high place on which 
 
 the saved stand. 
 
 It is a Pilgrim’s Progress from the city of Destruction — 
 
 to the city of the living God. 
 I. The low condition in which the fallen lie. “For we 
 
 ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, — 
 
 serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and 
 
 envy, hateful, and hating one another.” What a sea of — 
 
 wickedness! It cannot rest. “Who are these and whence 
 came they?” Listen to one who has been rescued and 
 he will tell what the imprisonment was. He who in this 
 verse describes the condition of the sinful, is now among 
 the saved. It is only after he has been delivered that he 
 can or will bear true witness regarding the bondage in 
 which he was held. This missionary, Paul, after his 
 own deliverance, was ever ready to tell of his unconverted 
 state. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 265 
 
 The characteristic marks of the lost estate constitute a 
 connected series. 
 
 (1) “ Foolish,” that is, thoughtless or heedless. 
 
 An infant or an idiot may be on the bank of some 
 yawning gulf, and yet be entirely unconscious of danger. 
 He laughs, but you shudder. You know his danger; he 
 does not know it himself. This represents one feature 
 of an unrenewed, unpardoned sinner’s case. Although sin 
 lies on him, and wrath before him, he eats, drinks, and is 
 merry. 
 
 (2) “ Disobedience,” implying that the warning voice has 
 come and has been neglected. This is His commandment, 
 “That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus 
 Christ, and love one another.” This commandment every 
 prodigal disobeys every day and all the day long, until 
 he arise and go to his Father. 
 
 (3) “ Deceived.” 
 
 This speaks of those who have lost their way and are 
 wandering. 
 
 It is the distinguishing character of the evil heart of 
 unbelief that it departs from the living God. Deceived 
 by the corrupt bent of his own heart, the person who does 
 not come near to God in the Mediator, is always going 
 further off by a law of his being. 
 
 (4) “ Serving divers lusts and pleasures.” 
 
 He is a slave too, although he does not think so. Lust 
 or pleasure needs only to say “Go, and he goeth,” “Come, 
 and he cometh.” None walk at liberty except those whom 
 the Son of God has made free, and guides by His Spirit. 
 
 (5) “Living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one 
 another.” 
 
 It is a dreadful picture; and the last lines are the 
 darkest. Slaves far from home and serving the stranger, 
 might have their distress greatly mitigated by a gentle 
 heart within each bosom, and mutual love in common 
 sorrow; but these slaves of sin are neither contented in 
 their own minds, nor at peace with each other. Such is 
 the low condition of the unrenewed and unforgiven. 
 
 II. How God raises up His own from the depths. 
 
 God is our helper. Ah, how guilty, suspicious human 
 hearts misinterpret the mind of God! Marks of His 
 fatherly tenderness are scattered everywhere in heaven 
 
266 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 —_——. 
 
 and earth. That was a true estimate of our heavenly 
 Father’s character, which was formed and expressed by a 
 godly woman in ancient times—“If the Lord had been 
 pleased to kill us, He would not have showed us all these 
 things” (Judges xiii. 23). Bravely spoken, Hebrew matron; 
 thy happy hopeful word rebukes our dark suspiciousness. 
 We must look unto Jesus if we would measure the depth 
 of God’s philanthropy. His love to men was embodied 
 in the “unspeakable gift.” 
 
 The act of saving us from our state of sin is an act 
 of pure mercy. It is in no measure of the nature of a 
 bargain ; it is wholly a gift. This may seem to somea 
 narrow point ; but it isa turning point, and to take the 
 wrong side of this narrow point is to miss God’s salvation. 
 
 III. The high place on which the redeemed stand. 
 “That being justified by His grace, we should be made 
 heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” 
 
 Not possessors yet, but heirs. What is implied in 
 “eternal life” we cannot fully understand. Eye hath not 
 seen nor ear heard it all. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that godless young 
 people enjoy this world well, and that godly young people 
 renounce the happiness of this world to make sure of the 
 next. In the nature of the case, they can best enjoy 
 whatever good is going in the present life, who expect a 
 better when this is done. I love my home on earth: but 
 if I have no other home in prospect the dread of one day 
 losing my all keeps me in terror. 
 
 If I am the heir of an eternal life, I enjoy all the good 
 which the present life contains, and when its sorrows come, 
 my weary spirit is soothed by the certainty that they will 
 soon be over. 
 
 In these verses, then, we are led near the mouth of a 
 horrible pit; the veil is drawn aside and we look down 
 on that seething sea of wickedness. But as you gaze and 
 grieve, a light from heaven, above the brightness of the 
 sun, attracts your notice. It is the philanthropy—the 
 man-love of God our Saviour. Silently but resistlessly 
 the Light of the World draws some, draws many out of the 
 deep and lifts them upwards to Himself. Purified in the 
 process, they soar away like clouds, and cluster round 
 heayen’s gate, waiting for the time when an abundant 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 267 
 
 entrance will be administered to them into the joy of 
 their Lord. 
 
 What of those who are still in the pit? To them the 
 invitation comes: Come out of her My people. “Now is 
 the day of salvation.” 
 
 This portion of Scripture is a religious tract, and it is 
 
 _ one of the narrative series. A sinner saved tells the story 
 
 : 
 
 CCT, 
 
 _ of his own redemption, that the saved may glorify the 
 
 Lord that bought them, and that the unsaved also may 
 arise and, on the footprints of that returned prodigal, 
 return to his Father and their Father, to his God and 
 
 their God. 
 W. A. 
 
 LXXXVIII. Roots of Bitterness. Hep. xii. 15. “Zook 
 ing diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God: lest any 
 root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be 
 defiled.” 
 
 HERE is a whole parable in a single verse. The apostles 
 had learned from their Lord to employ pictures in order to 
 make their lessons more striking and memorable. Their 
 pictures were taken sometimes from the history of human 
 life, sometimes from the habits of animals, and sometimes 
 from the growth of flowers and trees. The lesson which 
 this verse teaches is found growing in the ground. Under 
 
 _ the likeness of a root, this text teaches us something about 
 
 the nature, the source, the effects, and the cure of sin. 
 I. The nature of sin. 
 (1) It isa root. In many points sin is like a root. The 
 
 _ root is always below ground; it is never seen. So often is 
 
 it with sin. There are times when no evil word can be 
 
 heard from the lips, and no wicked act can be seen in the 
 
 life, and yet the person may be very sinful all the while. 
 
 _ As the stalks grow up at one season of the year, and dis- 
 
 appear at another, while the root which bears them remains 
 alive at all seasons under the ground, so the sinful words 
 and deeds may break out into great strength at one time, 
 and at another time cease, while the root of sinfulness 
 grows still strong in the heart, and is ready to bear its fruit 
 
Ee 
 
 268 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 whenever an opportunity is offered. Again, the root is © 
 always growing as long as it is left living. It is in its 
 nature not to stand still, but to be alwaysincreasing. Such 
 
 also is sin in the heart ; the longer it remains the stronger _ 
 it grows. If the sinful desires that grow in your heart this” 
 year be not crushed and killed, it will be more difficult and 
 more painful to-kill them next year. | 
 
 In yet another point you may observe a likeness between 
 sin and a root; while it is easy to destroy the flower and 
 fruit, and even the branches of any hurtful plant, it may 
 be next to impossible to tear the root completely from — 
 the ground. A farmer is often sorely disappointed after he 
 has cut over the weeds, and even tried to pull out the roots, 
 to see the old enemy growing up as strong and thick as 
 ever on the spot. 
 
 Ah, parents have often found, after wicked actions have 
 been checked by chastening, that the evil disposition has 
 been left lurking in secret, and has burst into wickedness 
 again whenever it found an opening ! | 
 
 (2) The root is bitter. Everything depends on the nature 
 and kind of the root that grows in the soil. Good and 
 evil trees may grow beside each other in the same field. 
 The fruit follows the root ; no matter how rich the ground, 
 how abundant the rain, how bright the sunshine, if the 
 root be a “root of bitterness,” bitter also will be the fruit. 
 
 Thus sin growing in the heart turns all the powers of our 
 nature into evil. The understanding mind and the glowing” 
 affections, the nimble feet and the cunning hand—all are 
 turned into poison by the corrupt desire that nestles desta . 
 in the soul like a root underground. 
 
 Saul of Tarsus possessed learning and eloquence andl 
 energy, and a fiery, unfainting heart ; but the bitter root 
 was in the man, and it turned all into fruits of wickedness. 
 All his varied powers were employed in hunting and_ 
 murdering the innocent disciples of Jesus. But when the 
 bitter root was turned out of him on the way to Damascus, 
 by the flash of Christ’s redeeming love, and the plant of a_ 
 renewed nature left living in its stead, all his powers were 
 forthwith exerted in serving God and saving men. 
 
 II. The source of sin. 
 
 We do not at present speak of the first tempter and the 
 first temptation. Our business is with ourselves and with 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 269 
 
 the awful truth—that the roots of bitterness are not planted 
 by other people, but spring up within ourselves. In the 
 text we do not read, “Lest any root of bitterness be 
 brought in,” but, “ Lest any root of bitterness springing up 
 trouble you.” When we see a stream rushing downward 
 to the sea, we sometimes ask, “Where is its source?” 
 Thus, when a sinful life is flowing like a stream, and any 
 one asks whence it comes, Jesus leads up to the sinner’s 
 own heart, and bids us see it “springing up” there. “ Out 
 of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,” etc. (Matt. 
 Xv. 19). 
 
 Every child should first watch his own heart, where sin 
 springs up of itself; and next be careful of the company 
 he keeps, lest he learn from others wicked words and ways 
 in addition to his own. 
 
 III. The effects of sin. 
 
 We do not now trace out all the poisonous fruits which 
 the bitter roots of sin bear in time and eternity ; we speak 
 only of the two named in the text, “trouble and defile- 
 ment.” 
 
 (1) Sin troubles you. It troubles the world, a nation, 
 a Church, a family, a single person. Observe, although 
 the bitter root springing up often disturbs the peace of a 
 country and rends asunder a Church, the root never springs 
 from the ground between two persons or two companies ; 
 it always springs in the persons themselves. The troubler 
 is within us; and if he were not allowed to dwell within 
 us, he never could contrive to disturb the peace between us 
 and our neighbours, 
 
 The root of bitterness that grows strongest in one child 
 is selfishness; in another, anger; in another, falsehood ; in 
 another, disobedience to parents. They are alike in that 
 all have sharp prickles, and these pierce the flesh of all 
 who come within their reach. 
 
 The stings of conscience in time and the wrath of God 
 in eternity are the fully ripened fruits which these roots of 
 bitterness bear. “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth 
 death.” 
 
 (2) Sin defiles others. If a careless farmer permit 
 thistles to grow and ripen and run to seed on his own field, 
 he injures thereby the field of his neighbour. Many grown 
 men, and not a few children, take the name of God in vain 
 
27 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 and utter profane language. These sounds from foul lips 
 fly through the air, like thistle seeds on the wind, and 
 falling on the ears of the young deeply defile their hearts. 
 Beware! Let no word or act proceed from you that would 
 corrupt another. Each of us is our brother's keeper ; and 
 if by our sins we defile his soul, God will require his blood 
 at our hands. 
 
 IV. The cure of sin. 
 
 It appears from our text that two things go to the cure 
 of sin—our. diligence and God’s grace. “ Looking dili- 
 gently, lest any man fail of the grace of God.” This does 
 not mean that we owe our salvation partly to ourselves and 
 partly to God. No; Christ is all our salvation ; He alone 
 has finished the work, and it is His free gift to poor sinners. 
 But it is also true, that God expects us to watch and pray, 
 and strive for the salvation ; our diligent look cannot work 
 our salvation; but we are told to look diligently lest we 
 should miss this precious salvation, which has been com- 
 pleted by Christ, and is offered free to all. — 
 
 The grace of God means His undeserved goodness to 
 sinners, His free gift. If Christ dwell in your hearts by 
 faith, sin will not be allowed to dwell along with Him ; but 
 on the other hand, if He is kept out, all sorts of evil 
 thoughts and habits will live and thrive within. 
 
 W. A. 
 
 LXXXIX. Resisting the Devil. Jamesiv. 7. “Resist 
 the devil and he will flee from you.” 
 
 ONE day standing by the brink of a stream, we watched a 
 little water-rat at play. How frolicsome it was !—now nib- 
 bling the grass, now rolling itself over and over like a ball. 
 Who would have guessed that there was a blood-thirsty eye 
 following it everywhere? But so it was. All of a sudden, 
 out leapt a weasel from its ambush. The next moment 
 it had its teeth in its throat. We were too late to save it. 
 Though the weasel skulked off from us, the poor little 
 water-rat had just strength enough to crawl to its hole and 
 then it heaved a sigh and died. 
 
 And who that sees a child running about so happy, so 
 free, so light of heart, would imagine that there was a mur- 
 derous being hovering near it, laying snares for it, bent on its 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 271 
 
 destruction? Yetsoitis. “Youradversary the devil goeth 
 about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 
 Never does he appear so hateful as when he endeavours, as 
 he always does, to ruin those whom the very brutes refuse 
 to harm. A wolf found a child in a forest, and’ nursed it, 
 and fought for it ; but Satan plots how he may destroy the 
 loveliest and tenderest. 
 
 Do you not feel him at work? 
 
 1. Whispering evil thoughts, as he did to Eve in Para- 
 dise, and to our Lord in the wilderness. There they are 
 before you know it, and without your leave. 
 
 2. Stirring up naughty desires and passions in you. 
 The heart is naturally sinful, and Satan can somehow make 
 it show its love of sin, as bubbles rise to the surface of a 
 bowl, as snakes creep out of the rocks. 
 
 3. Alluring you by outward pleasures or wicked ex- 
 amples. He says, “ Here’s a sweet thing ; you may have it, 
 you must have it. Never mind if it is a little bit bad.” 
 
 Thus he tempts you. Each of you is a city besieged by 
 him. This being so, what a word of comfort is this from 
 God: “ Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 
 
 I. The charge to resist him—not to attack him—that 
 might be to expose yourselves unnecessarily to danger. 
 Do not be careless about him—that is madness; but resist 
 him. Do not be afraid of him or yield an inch to him, but 
 resist him. 
 
 But how? (1) By stopping your ears and shutting your 
 eyes. Ear-gate and Eye-gate are the chief entrances to the 
 town of Mansoul. The fall came of Eve’s listening and 
 looking, and half our falls come of the same. 
 
 Lately we saw a robin on a pathway, fascinated by the 
 calls and charms of a robinina cage. Close by was a man 
 holding the string. Now that robin’s peril lay in its looking 
 and listening. If it would but turn and fly away out of 
 sight and sound it would be delivered ; but it listened and 
 looked and then it hopped into the cage and was captured. 
 Don’t dally or parley with Satan; but resist him by shutting 
 your eyes and ears to temptation. 
 
 (2) By silencing your heart. Ifa temptation gets in 
 at Ear-gate or Eye-gate, it rouses our hearts, and they 
 begin to crave and clamour like a pack of hounds when 
 the huntsman holds the fox in the air above their heads 
 
272 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 “They will devour him,” yousay. No; he fetches out his 
 whip and shouts to them, “Down, dogs—be quiet,’ and 
 they are as still as stones. So we must silence our hearts 
 when they cry out for what is wrong. We must say “get 
 thee behind me, Satan.” 
 
 (3) By lifting our shield. ‘“ The shield of faith, wherewith 
 ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked 
 one.” Faith is a covering thing. It comforts and en- 
 courages. A drummer-boy used to wander about fear- 
 lessly in front of Sebastopol picking up bullets and cannon 
 balls. When asked how he dared to do such a thing, he 
 replied, “ Yonder, hidden in that trench, are fifty rifles, 
 ready to shoot the first Russian who attempts to touch me.” 
 It was his faith which filled him with fearlessness. And if 
 we remember, “Thou God seest me,” we shall not fear. 
 Satan will perceive that we “abide under the shadow of 
 the Almighty.” If our faith fail not, he will be foiled. 
 
 (4) By drawing our sword. “The sword of the spirit, 
 which is the word of God.” Satan cannot stand before 
 cuts and thrusts from this weapon. Jesus plied it when 
 they fought together. We may not understand ow it is, 
 but so it is, that a verse of the Bible is to Satan what a 
 brandishing of a sword in our faces is to us. 
 
 (5) By falling on our knees. You think that is a queer 
 way to fight. Ifa soldier went on his knees in battle there 
 would not be much chance for him. But it is different in 
 this warfare. Prayer fetches Omnipotence to our succour. 
 Just lift up your heart in prayer when “oppressed of the 
 devil,” and you will receive heavenly aid, help from the 
 sanctuary. There was a little girl who got the name in 
 her family of the “silent sister.” When she was worried, 
 or when she saw any one in distress, she had a way of 
 sitting perfectly still, as if lost in thought for a minute or 
 so; then a smile would steal over her face and she was as 
 cheerful as anybody. She had formed the habit of “look- 
 ing to Jesus,” casting her care upon Him, begging Him to 
 undertake for her. She resisted Satan by prayer. These 
 are some of the recipes for resisting the devil. They are of 
 God’s own providing, and He expects that children, no less 
 than grown-up people, will avail themselves of them. Chil- 
 dren have to eat and drink for themselves, or they will die; 
 and run away from danger, or they will be hurt ; and chil- 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 273 
 
 dren must resist the devil for themselves, or he will lead 
 them captive at his will. A sailor lad was floating apout 
 in the Polar seas. He was in a small boat with nothing 
 but an ice-hammer to defend himself with. The bears 
 came swimming towards him, roaring and gnashing their 
 teeth, but as fast as they set their paws on the gunwale, he 
 struck them with his hammer; and so defied them till his 
 companions rejoined him. Now if he had said, “I am 
 only a lad, I cannot be expected to beat off these bears by 
 myself,” what would become of him? But he did what 
 he could, and God did all the rest for him. 
 
 II. The promise that he shall flee. “He shall flee from 
 you.” 
 
 A tiger would not flee if a child resisted him—a robber 
 would not—but Satan is stronger than either, the most 
 powerful of creatures, and yet, if resisted, he shall flee from 
 you! Jesus has overcome Satan. He has bruised his 
 head. If we confront him in Christ’s name and strength, 
 he will quail before us. In Christ’s presence Satan is an 
 utter coward. He may and he will repeat his assaults, but 
 every time it will be with fainter hope of success, while our 
 former victories will bear us to a firmer resistance. A child 
 who repels the “God of this world” is a hero indeed ! 
 Jesus says of him, “ Well done.” 
 
 Are you resisting the devil ? If not, be sure he is master- 
 ing you. He only wants you to be submissive, and he will 
 bind you with silken cords. 
 
 “You can snap them when you please!” Mark this— 
 they will grow tougher and harder and stouter every month 
 you wear them, till at last they will get to be iron manacles 
 im which, bound hand and foot, you will be his helpless 
 captive. 
 
 You have no time to lose. It is not even now too late 
 to resist him, if you do it relying on the grace of Jesus. 
 Oh, if he did but know it, the most wretched prisoner in his 
 innermost dungeon might escape if he would! Nothing is 
 too hard for the Lord. 
 
 J. B. 
 
274 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 XC. Precious Blood. 1 Per.i.1g. “ The precious blood 
 of Christ.” 
 
 DuRING the days of Holy Week we commemorate our 
 Lord’s agony, and on Good Friday our Lord’s death. 
 And so I should like to say something to you about this 
 very solemn week, when our thoughts should be about 
 the precious blood of Christ with which we have been 
 redeemed. 
 
 I. About the blood of Christ. Of course you know 
 what blood means in itself; and we hear of a great deal 
 of bloodshed throughout the Old Testament and the New. 
 When the Israelites were to go out of slavery in Egypt 
 they were to kill alamb, and the blood of that lamb on the 
 door was a sign for the angel to pass by. You remember 
 the sacrifices that used to be offered to God, and you re- 
 member in the New Testament how our Lord’s blood was 
 shed on the cross, and St. Peter says: ‘““We have been 
 redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.” Like a red 
 thread ina skein so this crimson blood runs through the 
 history of the Old and New Testament. You are not to 
 think that the blood of an animal or the blood of Christ as 
 man is anything in itself—the reason of its value is, the 
 blood is the life. It was our Lord’s life that He gave for 
 us. In the Old Testament they were told not to taste the 
 blood of the animal, because the blood was the life. You 
 are not to think only of the blood, but the pouring out of 
 that blood meant the giving up of His life. If you poured 
 out your blood through a wound it would mean your life. 
 He gave His life for us to save us. If you were perishing 
 in the waves, and a man jumped into the sea to save you, 
 and died in so doing, he would give his life and not merely 
 give an example. Christ left an example, but by the 
 shedding of His blood for us are we saved. 
 
 II. Now Peter says the blood of our Lord Jesus is 
 precious—‘ The precious blood of Christ.” Boys and girls, 
 if you were to live till you were eighty years of age I could 
 not teach you more than this, that you are saved from 
 sin, and made pure and holy for ever. I could not teach 
 you more than there is in those few words—“ The precious 
 blood of Christ.” You will learn more and more, as you 
 grow up, how precious beyond all price, beyond all you 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 275 
 
 can think of in any way, how precious that blood is, Oh! 
 if you learn that lesson you will have learned much; 
 if you have not learnt that lesson you will have learned 
 nothing. If you are to know everything about astronomy 
 —of the history of the great kings and men who ever lived, 
 and thought, and died—all about everything that is around 
 you, the earth, and the trees, and the skies, everything that 
 man can speak about—even if you learn all that and do 
 not know that the blood of Jesus Christ is precious, you 
 have learned nothing—nothing that can help you in the 
 hour of death and the solemn day of judgment. So, boys 
 and girls, try to learn how precious the blood of Jesus 
 Christ is, 
 
 What makes it precious? There are some things whose 
 value is in themselves. A beautiful landscape as you 
 see it—you cannot purchase it. The simple beauty of the 
 evening with the stars dying out one by one; when you 
 gaze on it you are lost in awe. And so with the glories of 
 the sea. All these things have values in themselves and 
 you cannot buy them. Again, some things have great 
 value because they are rare, because there is not much of 
 them. You know, boys and girls, that gold would not be 
 of more value than lead if it was as abundant as lead. So 
 it is with the value of diamonds. Thus you see some things 
 are of great value and precious because they are rare. And 
 some things are of great value at different times. You 
 know that a sovereign is of more value sometimes than at 
 other times. One hundred pounds were, years back, of 
 much greater value than they are now. You see things 
 are precious and valuable in themselves because of their 
 rarity and because of what they can buy. 
 
 Now think of the precious blood of Christ—the life of 
 Christ. How beautiful, how precious. Think of the beauty 
 of that tender life He lived on earth and the beauty of the 
 eternal life He has lived from the beginning. Think of 
 the purity and love of Christ’s life. Think of how rare it 
 is. Not one other life in the universe is like the life of the 
 Sonof God. And, boys and girls, think of what was dought 
 by it, of the immortal souls of millions and millions of 
 men, of how ten thousand times more precious must be the 
 precious blood of Christ—precious because of the beauty 
 and holiness of its life—precious because it is the only life 
 
276 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 of its kind in the universe—precious because it has pur- 
 chased the immortal souls of men. 
 
 You know who used these words—St. Peter. He knew 
 how precious it was. You remember how he denied Christ, 
 and said, “I know not the man,” when he was afraid that 
 being a friend of Jesus might get him into trouble. But 
 he was forgiven by Jesus, and he counted the blood of 
 Christ precious because it had saved him, 
 
 Now, what does Christ want you to do for all this? 
 What does He want in return for giving His precious life 
 for you? Think of what Jesus went through. Soldiers 
 spat upon Him, and beat Him, and reviled Him, blind- 
 folded His eyes, and then striking Him, said: “Can 
 you tell who did that?” What have you given Christ in 
 return for this? What He wants is that you give Him 
 your trust and love and the joy of His salvation. I can 
 tell you, boys and girls, when your father or mother give 
 you something, whatever it may be, their true joy is in 
 seeing you take it thankfully; and that is Christ’s real 
 joy, as we are told in the Bible. The Bible says, “He 
 shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” Do 
 not you, boys and girls, like to satisfy Christ? It is the 
 greatest joy of His life when He sees us, who have denied 
 Him and revolted against Him, accept His salvation ; and 
 it is the greatest sign of His love that we are thus enabled 
 to give Him joy and satisfaction. 
 
 I read not long ago about a ship that was coming to this 
 country, from another distant land, and there was a lady 
 missionary on board who had been living and working 
 among the heathen. One girl, a pale and delicate girl, she 
 had converted, was with her. A great storm arose and the 
 captain told the passengers the ship could not hold out. 
 They got out a boat and in this was the lady and the little 
 heathen girl. There they were in this boat days with only 
 a few biscuits to eat. They were maddened with hunger 
 and thirst, and there seemed no hope for them; and this 
 lady, nearly worn to death by the cold and wet and hunger, 
 could not sit upright. She found herself leaning on the 
 fraii girl beside her. She tried not to press too heavily on 
 the girl, and as she fell into a kind of swoon she heard the 
 poor girl whisper to her, “Oh, if you love me lean on me.” 
 The lady swooned away and did not awake till she found 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 277 
 
 herself on board a vessel which had rescued them; but 
 there seemed to be a voice from heaven saying in tendet 
 accents, “If you love Me, lean on Me.” 
 
 This is the voice of Christ. We shall be rocked on the 
 wild sea of life and sin. No help for any one of us with 
 the waves of sin dashing over us in the frail bark of life. 
 Oh, children, above the storm, hear the words of your 
 Saviour: “If you love Me, lean on Me.” That is what He 
 wants to say. And I can tell you that of all the millions 
 and millions through the ages who have heard that tender 
 voice, and have leant upon Him, not one has He ever failed 
 —not one. Ta he Se 
 
 XCI. The Adversary. 1 Pet.v.8 ‘Your adversary 
 the devil, asa roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he 
 may devour.” 
 
 In Dr. Moffat’s “Missionary Labours and Scenes in 
 Africa,” there is a story about a lion lying in wait for a 
 man. The man had gone to a pool of water, and then 
 had lain down on a sloping rock to watch for any stray 
 antelope that might come to drink; but while so doing he 
 fell fast asleep. The heat of the sun reflected from the 
 rock awoke him; but, when he would have risen from his 
 position, he saw a large lion within little more than a yard 
 of his feet, with its eyes glaring in his face! After a few 
 moments he made a motion toward his gun, which he had 
 laid down whilst he slept ; but the lion no sooner saw him 
 move than it gave a tremendous roar. Again, after an 
 interval, he made the attempt, when again the lion started 
 up as if enraged at his daring to seek a weapon of defence. 
 The sun’s rays soon made the rock like a heated plate 
 of iron. At length the day closed. The night passed on, 
 and yet every hour the lion was on the watch. The sun 
 rose, the rock was soon as hot as yesterday, only by this 
 time his feet had become past feeling, roasted by the 
 intensity of the heat. About noon, the lion rose up and 
 walked leisurely to the pool of water, eyeing the man all 
 the while, so that when he once more stretched his hand 
 toward his gun, the lion, enraged, made as if he would 
 spring upon him. This day passed over, and another 
 night also. But in the forenoon of the following day the 
 
278 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 lion again walked down to the water, and while there was 
 arrested by a noise from another quarter, which caused 
 him suddenly to plunge into the bushes and disappear. 
 It was only now that the unhappy man was able to make 
 his escape, worn out and barely half alive. 
 
 It is thus that Satan watches souls; and if he sees one 
 anxious to escape, oh, how he springs forward in his rage! 
 His frightful roar has terrified many a soul that had nearly 
 put its hand on the shield of faith, “If you become 
 Christ’s,” he says, “you must make up your mind to lose 
 everything.” In India, how he eyes every movement 
 of those who have been made to feel the heat of wrath, 
 and would fain escape. What uproar he excites! how 
 incessant are his assaults day and night! Until the Lord 
 interpose, arresting this mighty foe, the awakened soul is 
 kept miserable, by fightings without and fears within ; but 
 the Lord does come in the hour of need, by His Spirit, 
 and it may be by His messengers too. Let us often pray, 
 “Arise and disappoint the foe, and cast him down, O 
 Lord” (Ps. xvii. 13). 
 
 A godly woman was one Sabbath afternoon returning 
 home from church. Her way was up the slope of a steep 
 hill, passing the ruins of a shepherd’s cottage. It was a 
 fine summer day, and she was slowly moving on, meditat- 
 ing on the word and ways of God, when her attention was 
 directed to a hawk flying swiftly round and round the old 
 hut. She wondered why the hawk should be thus circling 
 the hut, but soon she noticed that he was in close pursuit 
 of a little bird, which sought to escape by making for the 
 broken window of the ruin. The little bird, however, in 
 its alarm and confusion could not make out the window, 
 but flew past it again and again. But now, as the good 
 woman who observed the scene drew near, the hawk’s eye 
 rested on her; his pursuit was not so keen as before—and 
 while he abated his chase, the little bird got presence of 
 mind to dart in at the broken window, and escape. The 
 good woman found it fluttering and breathless, though in 
 a few minutes it was able to fly off, unhurt, to its nest. 
 She said she thought of a poor soul awakened, anxious to 
 enter into rest, and always looking towards Christ in whom 
 the sinner is saved ; but always prevented coming into the 
 cleft of the Rock by Satan hotly pursuing, raising up 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 279 
 
 ‘opposition, suggesting difficulties, and presenting wrong 
 
 views of the Saviour. But at length, in a time of love, 
 
 esus draws near; perhaps by sending some one like © 
 
 Philip (Acts viii. 20). Satan flees, and the soul finds the 
 entrance. 
 
 Is this your case? Has it ever been yourcase? Iam sure 
 if you have ever felt thus, you will pity others. You will 
 have an intense desire to send to others such messengers 
 of peace as Philip, who was sent to the Ethiopian eunuch ; 
 you will pray that such may be sent to souls at home, and 
 to souls in heathen lands, and to any among the Jews who 
 may be moaning, “Thou huntest me as a fierce lion” (Job 
 x. 16); or as Jeremiah, “Mine enemies chased me sore, 
 like a bird” (Lam. iii. 52); but who might soon sing, if 
 you sent them the knowledge of the Saviour, “ Our soul is 
 escaped as a bird” (Ps. cxxiv. 7); ay, as the bird that, 
 ‘dipped in the blood of its fellow, was let loose in the open 
 field—emblematic of a soul bathed in the blood of Him 
 who was our fellow, and whose death is our life (Lev. 
 xiv. 7). 
 
 A. A. B. 
 
 XCII. The Shining Word. 2 Per.iiig. “We 
 _ have alsoa more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do well 
 that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, 
 
 _ until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” 
 
 Now I must ask you to pay particular attention to these 
 three words, Night, Lamp, Day, as our talk will be about 
 them. 
 
 I. Night. The light shines in a dark place. The world 
 isin night. Three things make it dark: 1. Ignorance; 
 2. Sin; 3. Sorrow. 
 
 Are there parts of the world where people are ignorant 
 of God? Yes. What do they make instead? Idols. 
 They worship gods made by themselves. You could take 
 one, and carry it about with you; yet the heathen bow 
 down to these bits of wood and stone. Do you remember 
 what Isaiah, in his 44th chapter, says about the silliness of 
 worshipping a god made by man? He describes a man 
 going away into the forest, and hewing down a tree with 
 his hatchet, and then making an idol out of it; then 
 
 i 
 
 : 
 
280 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 taking the chips, and putting them into the fire, and roast: 
 ing his dinner at it. Yet he goes and worships a bit of 
 the tree, part of which he burnt in the fire. You remems 
 ber the story of a woman in India, with her young huss 
 band, who had ordered an idol from the carpenter for theif 
 new house. Well, the carpenter was rather a long time in” 
 getting it ready; and whilst they were wondering and 
 wearying for it, a missionary came and read a part of that 
 chapter, and the young wife said to herself, “ That is a very 
 curious bit of reading to bein that book; it must bea 
 very wise book. Our carpenter is just doing the very 
 thing that book says. I think we might do without his 
 idol.” And so, by and by, they had their eyes open, and 
 they came to worship the true God. i 
 But we may be in darkness here, although we may know 
 what the Bible is saying to us about God ; and that brings 
 me to the second thing—Sin. Although T say God mad e 
 me, and He is almighty, holy, good, and a great many 
 things of that sort, yet if I sin, it is dark down in my 
 heart. Sorrow, too, makes hearts dark. Suppose some 
 time at night an angel should come down to London, and 
 say to you: “Come, and I will show you what houses have” 
 dark hearts in them. What houses there are where the 
 people do not know God—where they are all distressed 
 with their sins—where they have death, and sorrow, and 
 affliction.” Do you think there would bea great many 
 houses that would be bright? Not a great many; for 
 make the houses dark where there is ignorance—make the 
 houses dark where there is sin and where there is much 
 sorrow, and there would be comparatively few left. It is 
 the night season with us all—it is the night time. hi 
 II, Lamp. But, secondly, what do we have to give us a 
 little light at night, that helps to cheer and drive away the 
 darkness? We have the stars, but they are not always 
 visible ; and sometimes we have the moon, but not all round” 
 the month. Now, suppose we had neither the stars nor 
 moon to shine for us, what would we have to help us a little f 
 We might have a lamp. Well, that is what the text says 
 we have in dark places. What is the lamp that burns dows 
 here in the dark night to guide our steps? The Bible: 
 Prove that from Psalm cxix. 105—“ Thy Word is a lamp 
 unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Well, then, that i ig 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 281 
 
 the lamp. Prove from the same psalm that young people 
 should take very good heed to this lamp—unto its shining 
 —gth verse— Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his 
 way, by taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” 
 Did you ever try to go out in a dark night with a lantern? 
 You require to take care how it shines; you might have a 
 lantern and confuse yourself with it. You must hold it so 
 that the light will fall in front of you, You see a coach- 
 man driving a carriage on a dark night—does he sit in the 
 light? No; the lamps are so placed that they throw their 
 light on the road before him, so that he can see if he is 
 going all right while he sits away back in the dark. Then 
 _ suppose a man had a lamp inadark house. He says: “I 
 have got a lamp,” there it is; but he never lights the lamp; 
 do you think it would help him much? No. Then he 
 puts a wick into the lamp, but doesn’t put any oil; will 
 that help him? No, it would not. Then he puts a little 
 oil; wouldn't that give him alight? It would bea very 
 poor light ; but when he puts in more oil the light will get 
 brighter, and he says, “See what a nice lamp I have got.” 
 Well, suppose this man, having got the nice bright lamp, 
 was to go and put a bushel over it, and cover it up, would 
 it give much light then? No. Who is it that speaks 
 about that? Jesus Christ. “No man having lighted a 
 candle putteth it under a bushel, but sets it on a stand to 
 give light to all that are in the house.” So that is the way 
 in which we must take heed. We must keep the lamp 
 well trimmed. What is the lamp that shines all through 
 time? It is the Bible; and to take heed to it is to read it, 
 and to think of what it says to us, and to act according to 
 it, “taking heed to our way according to Thy Word’— 
 that is doing what the Bible tells us. If a person does 
 what the Bible tells him, will he fall into the ditch in the 
 darkness? No; but if you don’t mind your Bible lamp, 
 you will be going on one day, thinking you are doing very 
 nicely and safely, and you will fall into the ditch because 
 you didn’t take heed. 
 
 III. Day. Is this Bible-lamp to burn all through the 
 night of Time? It is. God will not take it away all through 
 the night of Time. But will it burn after the day comes? 
 It will not be needed then. I don’t know what God will do 
 with His Bible then—I don’t suppose it will live in ¢izs form 
 
282 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 —made of paper, and printed with ink, and bound with 
 leather ; but the light that is in the Bible will be in heaven, — 
 for what is the light that is in the Bible? It is the Holy | 
 Spirit, or, you may say, it is Jesus Christ revealed there © 
 by the Spirit. Now prove that Jesus Christ is the light” 
 of heaven from Rev. xxi. 23: “And the city had no need 
 of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the 
 glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
 thereof.” Well, that is the day—the coming of Christ. 
 Who is the daystar in that verse? Jesus Christ. What | 
 is the daystar? The sun must be the daystar, Hence 
 we have in our hymn— 
 
 “ Christ, whose glory fills the skies, 
 Christ, the true, the only Light, 
 Sun of Righteousness, arise, 
 Triumph o’er the shades of night; 
 Dayspring from on high, be near ; 
 Daystar, in our hearts appear” ! 
 
 Christ Jesus, who is to come and shine over the world — 
 in the Resurrection. Suppose now, when wicked men are — 
 raised up, and Jesus Christ is in the heavens, coming with — 
 great glory all round about Him, will it be clear day to — 
 them do you think? No, it will not ; they will be terribly © 
 afraid of the glory. Suppose a man were to go to heaven, ~ 
 and go in without the daystar of Christ in his heart, would 
 it be a bright and happy place to him? No, it would 
 not; because he has no eye to see its light. He has not — 
 the love of Jesus Christ in his heart, and so it is all dark © 
 with him. Suppose I had an image of wood in the centre 
 of the hall, and I was to say to it: “Do you see much — 
 just now?” and there was no answer. I say: “Oh no, it 
 is dark to that image, bring me a light, and throw it upon © 
 the eyes of the image; would it see then?” No, it would 
 not. You see, then, you must not only have a light, but 
 you must have the heart to receive the light, and so it says: 
 “The day star shall arise in your heart.” Well, that will — 
 be in heaven, when Christ comes to those that will have 
 Him, and He will shine in their hearts, and when He 
 shines in their hearts all will be glory, and they will not 
 need any sun nor moon. 
 J). E. 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 283 
 
 XCIII. Drinking of the same Well. 1 Jonni. 7. 
 “ The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 
 
 OF all the thousands of bullets that have been discharged 
 during a battle, or during the course of a siege, perhaps 
 not one could be pointed to as having brought more than 
 one foe to the ground. Long ago an arrow was sent from 
 the bow of a skilful archer into the right eye of Philip, 
 king of Macedon; but that same arrow never did a like 
 service again. Very different, however, is the case in 
 spiritual warfare, and with weapons drawn from the 
 armoury of God. The same text of Scripture that has 
 wounded one, has often wounded many besides. Like an 
 arrow feathered that it may fly the better, the truth of God 
 is expressed in memorable words ; and perhaps each such 
 memorable text has, in every age, done work for God in 
 the case of hundreds of souls. 
 
 We wish you to feel that the same word of God that 
 has been blessed to you may be blessed to others, that so 
 you may eagerly seek to make known the truth at home 
 and abroad. We wish also to impress upon you, that if 
 you are still a stranger to the truth in its power—still a 
 heathen, with salvation within your reach—you, even you, 
 may find it where it has been found by other souls. 
 
 We could mention some six or eight cases that occur 
 to us at this moment, in which that one verse, 1 John i. 7, 
 has been blessed to bring in amazing light and joy to sin- 
 burdened souls. Thirsty soul, stay at this well—“ The 
 blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 
 It is the water in that well, not anything in you, that is to 
 remove your burning thirst. It is the truth in that text— 
 the truth that God’s own Son poured out His life to 
 remove from us the sentence, “Thou shalt die”—it is that 
 which He has done, and not anything in our own character 
 or life, that is God’s reason for putting away sin from any 
 of us sinners. And He is never weary in applying Christ’s 
 blood, never unwilling. Never does He upbraid us for the ° 
 past ; never does He delay when we come. 
 
 We could mention at this moment not a few cases, from 
 the Ethiopian eunuch downward, where the reading of 
 Isaiah liii. has been water of life to the thirsty. They were 
 led truly to drink in the truth that God provided the 
 
284 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 Lamb for the sacrifice; and that it is the living and dying 
 of this Lamb of God, and not any suffering, self-denial, 
 sorrow, obedience of ours, that is taken by the Father as 
 atonement. Drink of this well, and having drunk yourself, 
 tell it to Jew and Gentile, tell it to great and small, tell 
 it to the whole creation. 
 
 The poet Cowper, when first led to see the black cloud 
 of. his sins, was guided by the Holy Spirit into peace and 
 joy by one day reading the words of Romans iii. 24, 25, 
 “ Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemp- 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be 
 a propitiation through faith in His blood.” He saw, as he 
 sat musing on the words, how God waits not for merit in 
 us, but advances to us from motives of love that spring 
 up in His own bosom ; and how he meets what the law 
 demands, by the offering of His own Son—an offering 
 which is held forth for the acceptance of every sinner that 
 has a heart to understand. 
 
 It was of this same well, only at another side of it, 
 that Colonel Gardiner drank, when, after his awakening, 
 he had for weeks gone on in gloom, imagining that God’s 
 justice must insist on the damnation of such an enormous 
 sinner as he saw himself to be. About the end of October, 
 -1719, he read the words: “Whom God hath set forth! to 
 be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare 
 His righteousness for the remission of sins, . . . that 
 He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth 
 in Jesus” (Rom. iii. 25,26). Here he saw the riches of 
 redeeming grace and love in such a manner as even 
 swallowed up (as he expressed it) his whole heart in love; 
 so that, for seven years after he had thus drunk of this 
 well, he enjoyed a heaven upon earth, from the time of his 
 waking in the morning till evening closed his eyes. 
 
 The same Holy Spirit, the Guide into the truth, liveth 
 still. May He lead thee to these wells of salvation, and 
 bring thee up from them in the spirit of Isaiah xii. 4, 5: 
 “And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord! cia 
 Sing unto the Lord; for He hath done excellent things: 
 this be known in all the earth.” 
 
 AAB 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 285 
 
 XCIV. The Love of God. 1 Joun iv. 8. “He that 
 loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God ts love.” 
 
 THE first half of the Christian year was given to us to 
 show what God has done for us, and the second for us to 
 learn to serve God. We cannot have the second half 
 without the first. There must come first God’s love to us 
 and then our love to God. There must come first all that 
 our Lord Jesus Christ did for us, before we can do any- 
 thing for Him. That is what our Church means by put- 
 ting first all the great love and sacrifice of Christ for us, 
 that afterwards we may be able—how could we do other- 
 wise ?—to give ourselves as a sacrifice acceptable and 
 well-pleasing unto God. That is part of the Gospel I have 
 read to-day. It is all about love; because we must start 
 by first knowing that Christ loves us, and then loving 
 Christ in return. It is all love. We are told that love is 
 the root of all true obedience before God. And then we 
 are told in the Gospel the story of the rich man and 
 Lazarus, to show how awful a thing it is to neglect our 
 duty towards God. We are told two things: that all work 
 must spring from love, and then we are told of the awful 
 danger of neglecting to do our duty towards God and our 
 neighbour. 
 
 Love must be the root of all true work. Suppose you 
 are doing anything for your father or mother: if you do 
 it through love it is a joy to your father or mother. I tell 
 you, boys and girls, your parents would rather have it done 
 badly if it was done through love, than to have the most 
 perfect conduct if it does not spring from love. In this 
 life all true work for those who love us must be done in 
 love to them. So it is and in a much higher sense in our 
 love to Jesus Christ. Our love for Christ must spring 
 from thinking of His great love for us in dying for us. 
 
 There may be a certain amount of kindness to animals, 
 and to our fellow-creatures. Boys and girls are naturally 
 fond of dogs, and cats, and pets, and they think it is a 
 religious thing to be kind to animals. And you who have 
 good homes see poor children in rags, and you think what 
 aterrible thing it is, and you help them. This may be 
 done, and without love to Jesus Christ. Here is one little 
 child who is doing her duty every day, because she prays 
 
286 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 to God morning and evening for strength to doit. And 
 there is another little child who is doing the same thing, 
 and yet not with the same motive. It is just the differ- 
 ence between two flowers. You have got a rose, and it 
 has no root, and there is a rose growing upon the tree, and 
 the latter has roots, and the sap and the life come up into 
 it, and there are the little buds that surround it. That is 
 just the difference between two kinds of work; the things 
 we do because we are united to Jesus Christ, these are the 
 flowers that will continue to blossom for ever, and will be 
 full of fragrance when we are gathered into the garden 
 of the Lord. The others are only cut flowers after all, and 
 the day will come when they will utterly die. All true 
 earnest work for God must be done for love to Jesus Christ. 
 
 This love is like a stream that rises in some far distant 
 place and flows down the valley, and on its banks flowers 
 blossom and wild plants are growing into beauty because 
 they are watered by the stream. So all things will be 
 beautiful and joyous that are watered by the stream of 
 love that flows from the heart of God Himself. 
 
 Then as to the awful danger of neglecting this, It is not 
 “not doing any particular harm” will save you. The rich 
 man was not a murderer, the rich man was not a thief, the 
 rich man was not a drunkard. We are only t ld what he 
 did zot do. He did not do his duty to his poor neighbour, 
 and to God. You know the awful ending. In torment 
 he lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus afar off. And take 
 care, boys and girls, take care of those sins we call “sins 
 of omission.” The sins of self-satisfaction, of pride, of 
 feeling “I am everything, other people are nothing.” We 
 are all members of one family, the family of which the 
 Lord Jesus Christ is the elder brother; and the day will 
 come, boys and girls, when you who are rich and pros- 
 perous in this life will be just as the beggar in the streets, 
 and—though God forbid—if you will do nothing for the 
 sake of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself upon the cross to 
 save you from your sins, you may be infinitely beneath the 
 poorest little one who has felt in his rags the love of God 
 and Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Remember, you are not one little atom by yourself; we 
 are all members of the family of the kingdom of God. 
 
 A friend wrote me, a short time ago, of an incident that 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 287 
 
 happened in Germany. The Emperor, a great hero, a 
 grand man, a great soldier, and a great king, is eighty-six 
 years of age, yet still leads his soldiers to battle, and 
 governs his people. And this great emperor while pass- 
 ing through a village a short time ago entered the village 
 school. The boys and girls did not know who the kind 
 old gentleman was. And he asked what lessons they were 
 doing, and he was told Natural Science. That is, you 
 know, about the various kingdoms to which everything 
 belongs. There is the animal kingdom, and the mineral 
 kingdom, and the vegetable kingdom. And he asked the 
 question, pointing to the stones outside the door, “ What 
 kingdom do those belong to?” And they said, “The 
 mineral kingdom.” Then he pointed to the tree they 
 could see through the window, and asked to what king- 
 dom that belonged. And they answered, rightly, to the 
 vegetable kingdom. And then he said—to give them an 
 example of the animal kingdom—“to what kingdom do I 
 belong?” Most of them said, “to the animal kingdom,” 
 for man is an animal. But one tiny child replied, “to 
 the kingdom of God.” 
 
 And the old man bowed his imperial head, and laid his 
 hand on the little child, and said: “Thank you, my little 
 child, for that.” It touched him to remember that he, 
 master of a hundred legions, the emperor of thousands 
 of people, should be reminded by that little humble child 
 that after all he was a member of the kingdom of God. 
 So every one of us is. 
 
 T. T.S. 
 
 XCV. Idolatry. 1 Joun v.21. “Lite children keep 
 yourselves from idols.” 
 
 AN idol is a heathen god. In the second commandment 
 it is called a “graven image.” The figure of Dagon, which 
 fell upon its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord ; 
 the golden calf, which Aaron cast for the Israelites ; the 
 statues of Jupiter and Diana, which the Greeks worshipped ; 
 and those of Vishnu, Buddha, and Juggernaut, which are 
 to be found in India and China now—all these belong 
 to the abominable family of idols) Men bow down te 
 them and serve them. 
 
288 SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 
 
 These idols are :— 
 
 Ist. The works of human handicraft. 
 
 2nd. They are foolish. 
 
 3rd. They are helpless. 
 
 4th. They are hideous. 
 
 5th. They are hurtful. 
 
 And so the poor heathen sink deeper and deeper in de- 
 gradation, darkness, cruelty and sin. Pity them and seek 
 to send them the Bible, and pray for the time when they 
 shall fling their idols to the moles and to the bats, and 
 worship the alone true God. 
 
 But now you may say, “What have we English boys 
 and girls to do with idols? There are none around us.” 
 Thank God that it is so. Thank God that ages ago the 
 last idol vanished out of Britain. Thank God that your 
 parents never taught you to bend your knees tothem. And 
 yet here in the text you are told to keep yourselves from 
 idols. The Apostle wrote these words to Christians, not to 
 heathens. By “little children” he means the young and inex- 
 perienced; those who are setting out on the heavenly way, or 
 who are naturally weak and simple. But still what are the 
 “idols” which they are to keep themselves from? If an idol 
 is a thing which draws the heathen away from the living 
 God, may not anything which does this be named an idol ? 
 
 It is possible for “little children” to make such “ idols ” 
 of certain things, as that they shall quite estrange them 
 from God, who deserves their best thoughts and affections 
 and services; whoclaims the bloom and dew of their days. 
 
 I. Idol self. 
 
 This love of self is born in us, and, if not early checked, 
 will be our master. It tempts you to falsehood, to unkind- 
 ness, to greediness, to pride, for it feeds upon these. You 
 must gratify it at whatever cost, and then it often demands 
 more than you can obtain for it. Self is a dreadful idol. 
 Beware of it. 
 
 II. Idol dress. 
 
 We like bright colours and nice attire; but there is dan- 
 ger on the other side—danger of thinking more of the 
 “outward adorning” than of those hidden ornaments of © 
 neatness and quietness, which are so priceless in God’s 
 esteem. You may forget the pearl, in anxiety about its 
 setting. Fashion is a perilous boat for you to venture 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 289 
 
 in, and before you are aware it may wreck you amongst 
 sharks. 
 
 III. Idol food. 
 
 It cannot be denied that “little children” may be so 
 fond of nice things,so fond of the dainty things of the 
 table, that they are their idols. They dream of them, and 
 clamour after them, and are angry when they cannot have 
 them. The wholesome things are despised because they 
 are plain. They are ever on the watch for the opening of 
 cupboards, the uncovering of jars, the approach of eating 
 shops. We hope you can say “ That is not my idol.” 
 
 IV. Idol pleasure. 
 
 Do not little children encourage the passion for exciting 
 amusements till they are miserable without them, though 
 sO many innocent recreations remain to them? They 
 must have the fruit of the forbidden tree. It is as if a bee 
 should be sighing in the middle of a clover and cowslip 
 meadow, because he missed a dandelion here and there! 
 We have known children whose Sundays were a “ weart- 
 ness” to them, and their studies a positive punishment. 
 That should not beso. Their pleasures were their idols. 
 Now you are exhorted to keep yourselves from them. 
 
 (1) You can implore from above daily assistance against 
 them. If they are too heavy for you to move, beg God to 
 aid you, and in His almighty strength you can lift the 
 sturdiest and cast it out of the bosom, if not at once, yet 
 by degrees. 
 
 (2) Be vigilant against them. Search yourself to dis- 
 cover if they are within you. Faithfully say to yourself, 
 “Am I the temple of this or that idol?” 
 
 If you are heedless they will creep in. 
 
 (3) Be self-denying. This is a capital cure for these 
 idols. It may be hard to flesh and blood to do it ; but it 
 is a bit which we must thrust into our own mouths for our 
 own advantage! Without it, we shall be as those who 
 ride wilful horses, which won’t stop or turn, and which pitch 
 them over directly they touch them with whip or spur. If 
 you can “deny yourself” you have the secret of victory 
 over these idols. 
 
 (4) Yield your heart to God. You have not two hearts; 
 therefore if God has your heart, these idols cannot have it. 
 
 Endeavour to occupy it for God, to present it to God 
 
 U 
 
2g0 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 continually, to view it as consecrated to God. Implore 
 the Saviour to dwell in it by His Holy Spirit, and with 
 Him reigning there all “idols” will be banished—you shall 
 be kept from them, though you are but a “little child.” 
 
 J. B. 
 
 XCVI. Heaven. Rev. vii. 1-17. 
 
 OuR subject is Heaven. When a person is going to visit 
 a far-off country, he is generally very much interested in 
 that country, and consults maps and guide-books, so that 
 he may know something about it. We all hope to spend 
 an eternity in heaven, so it is well to know something about 
 it. The glories of heaven are many. We will consider 
 four of these glories :— 
 
 I. In heaven there 1s work without weariness.—God made 
 man for work, and we never can be truly happy without 
 it. It is a great mistake to suppose that they are happiest 
 who never need to work unless they choose, and who never 
 choose to work. Employments and enjoyments go to- 
 gether. If you work with a will, you will have great plea- 
 sure in work. There are no idlers in heaven. In Eden 
 there were no idlers. “Therefore are they before the 
 throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His 
 temple” (ver. 15). They have abundance of work. They 
 work not at their own will. It is said that they serve God. 
 There is a great difference between work and service. The 
 will of God is law tothem. They do what God commands, 
 and they do it with their whole heart. There will be 
 plenty of work serving God, and no one will be weary. 
 They are like servants standing before the throne of their 
 sovereign, ready to do all that he commands. They are 
 to be ready to do the work of God; and a large part of 
 that work is worship, and the special part of worship is 
 praise. The church is like a little heaven, for in heaven, 
 they love worship. 
 
 A woman went to her minister for a certificate. She 
 was going to America, and had to leave some of her family 
 behind her, but she said that she regretted most of all that 
 she had to leave the church. She had something of the 
 spirit of heaven. A young man got a fine situation in the 
 country with a large salary, yet he said that he did not 
 want to leave the church were he had first worshipped God 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 291 
 
 from the heart. All work on earth makes us weak and 
 weary. Honest work, heartily done, gives pleasure, but 
 weariness soon spoils that pleasure. In heaven they have 
 no weariness. They serve as angels. Life is kept in the 
 body by means of some muscles in the heart, through 
 which the blood flows to all parts of the body. Men would 
 die if they stopped for a single minute. These muscles go 
 on working day and night, yet they have no weariness, 
 Our bodies in heaven will be like these muscles, so that we 
 shall work day and night without weariness. 
 
 II. Lx heaven there ts joy without sorrow.—You may have 
 joy in this world. If you have health and common sense, 
 and, above all, the grace of God, life will be to you a source 
 of joy. The gospel is a joyous message, and the Christian 
 life is a joyous life. It is not the religion of Jesus, but the 
 want of it, that makes people sad. If you have not some 
 drops of sorrow in every cup of joy, you will be the first 
 child of Adam in such a condition. The sorrow is sent to 
 remind us that our souls must rise above earth, and seek 
 joys without sorrow. Health is a joy, but sickness comes. 
 Food is a great blessing, but with many the wolf comes to 
 the door. A happy home isa blessing, but all homes have 
 their own dark shadows. Youth is a great blessing, but 
 old age comes. It is not so in heaven. All these joys 
 are there without sorrow. “They shall hunger no more, 
 neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, 
 nor any heat” (ver. 16). In the East, sunstroke often 
 brings sickness and death. Some people call this world 
 a “vale of tears.” This world is like a valley with a river 
 flowing through it filled with tears. Look at the last part 
 of the 17th verse: “And God shall wipe away all tears 
 from their eyes.” There shall be no tears there. Those 
 who have had many sorrows on earth, so that they go into 
 heaven almost with wet cheeks, will be comforted by God, 
 for He will wipe away their tears with His own hand, and 
 turn their sorrow into joy. 
 
 A gentleman was praised for his missionary work. He 
 rose up and said that he only wished to get from man 
 what he hoped to get from God: “Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 
 This is a joy which children may have. It is not a joy of 
 the body, nor of the mind, but a joy of the heart and soul, 
 
292 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 coming from love. People must become as children before 
 they can enter heaven, so these joys are for children. 
 
 III. Ln heaven there is safety without danger.—Jesus is 
 called the Saviour because He saves us, or makes us safe 
 The chief blessing which Jesus brings is salvation. Salva- 
 tion is a Latin word meaning safety. There is always 
 danger on earth. There are many passages in the Bible 
 warning even the best about their danger. Those who 
 wrote the Bible seem to have had a loving fear. The path 
 of life is full of snares, and even the best may fall. Dur- 
 ing last year 631 partridges have been picked up on the 
 South-Western railway, killed by flying against the tele- 
 graph wires. Who would think of danger to little birds 
 from the telegraph wires! All of us are in danger. There 
 is hope of every sinner so long as he is out of hell, and 
 there is fear of every saint so long as he is out of heaven. 
 
 You have heard about the Welsh colliers, who were ten 
 days ina mine, buried without food and without water. 
 Men at the peril of their lives bravely rescued them. 
 Crowds of people went to the colliery during these ten 
 days. When the news came that the colliers had been 
 reached, and when the first collier was brought up, there 
 was a death-like pause, and then the crowd shouted with 
 joy, because the men saw their comrades saved. But their 
 joy was soon checked when they were told that these poor 
 men were so weak that they were still in great danger. 
 They were safe wzth danger. The mighty multitude in 
 heaven is safe zwzthout danger ; they have everlasting safety 
 without any danger. “And (they) cried with a loud voice, 
 saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb” (ver. 10). There they sing songs in 
 praise of salvation. They sing of salvation in its fullest 
 sense. They all join in taking up the hymn, and saying, 
 in the 12th verse, “ Amen.” 
 
 IV. ln heaven they have rest without end—The Book of 
 Revelation is a book which tells us a great deal about 
 heaven. When the Apostle was writing to the poor Chris- 
 tians, he comforted them by saying, “There remaineth a 
 rest for the children of God.” He was addressing those 
 whose lives were a sore battle. Read the 17th verse. 
 What a beautiful picture of rest! You have all heard of 
 a book called Richard Baxter’s “ Sainte’ Everlasting Rest.” 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 203 
 
 Baxter was in ill-health, so he did not often get a good 
 night’s rest, but he knew of a better kind of rest. This 
 does not contradict the statement about work. Almost all 
 the enjoyments you have are just work. Holiday rest is 
 just loved work. A poet says, “ The want of occupation is 
 not rest.” 
 
 What a beautiful home heaven is !—work without weari- 
 ness, joy without sorrow, safety without danger, rest 
 without end! What boy or girl would not wish to dwell 
 there? Homes on earth will be taken from us. A little 
 girl cried when she was told that her father’s house was to 
 be taken down. She was told that her father had gota 
 new house, but she asked if it might not be pulled down 
 too. They answered her that it might. Then she said 
 they would go and live in a boat on the sea. She saw that 
 
 .that would not do, and then she said, “ We must all die and 
 flit to heaven. Every home on earth will be pulled down.” 
 
 This chapter begins by describing an earthquake. Hum- 
 boldt travelled far to know what an earthquake was. When 
 he was in South America, an earthquake visited the place 
 where he was staying. Ina moment he said that all his 
 feelings of safety were gone. Houses were falling, trees 
 moving, the very mountains were reeling ; and when he 
 went to the harbour, the sea had fled, and the ships were 
 on the dry ground. Every refuge failed him; but when 
 he looked up, the heavens were calm and unmoved. That 
 is just John’s picture of the end of the world. Those who 
 live to see the end of the world must look up like the 
 German philosopher. If they have faith in Christ, they 
 will look up to heaven. Some will be shut out of heaven. 
 You must be heavenly here if you would go there. Think 
 about heaven. Many hate the thought of leaving this 
 earth, so God has told us about heaven that we may love 
 to go there. 
 
 A lady whose father died said she had never been able 
 to consent to her father going away, until one day she was 
 reading in the Bible about heaven, and she exclaimed, 
 “Oh, what a blessed place!” She could not wish her 
 father back when she thought of the joys of heaven. John 
 Bunyan tells about Christian and Hopeful going through 
 the river. The king’s messengers came for them, and it 
 seemed as if all the hosts of heaven came to meet 
 
294 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 them. Then they opened the gate, and he got a glimpse 
 of the city,“ which when I saw,I wished myself among 
 them.” Open the eyes of your soul, and the thought of 
 heaven will not make you feel strange. 
 
 “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What 
 are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence 
 came they ?” (ver. 13). The elder was astonished to see 
 so many men of a sinful race there. A gentleman once 
 heard Mr. Arnot preaching in the open air. He said that 
 he used a beautiful illustration. It was a fine summer 
 evening. There was a thunder-cloud right above them. 
 He looked up to the cloud, and said, “ What are these 
 which are arrayed in white robes?” The sides of a thun- 
 der-cloud are often lined with silver. He explained that 
 the water which formed that cloud was drawn from the 
 most filthy pools, as well as from the beautiful rivers, by, 
 the heat of the sun. So the Sun of Righteousness shines 
 on all, and they are drawn up and made heavenly in heart. 
 “They have washed their robes, and made them white in 
 the blood of the Lamb.” J. W. 
 
 XCVII. Whosoever will. Rev. xxii. 17. “ Whoso- 
 ever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” 
 
 HAVE you anything to pay ?—nothing. There is a story 
 of a gentleman that got into a railway carriage. Another 
 gentleman came in after him, and his friend on the platform 
 said, “Are you insured?” He answered, “Yes.” The 
 gentleman who was first in the carriage—a Christian man 
 —-said to his fellow-passenger, after he was seated, “ How 
 long are you insured for?” “For a year,” he replied. 
 “Only for a year!” said the other; “I am insured for ever.” 
 “But that must be very expensive!” “Oh, no! I am 
 insured for ever, and it cost me nothing, and will cost you 
 nothing. My insurance cost God His own Son, but it cost 
 me nothing.” 
 
 It cost much to dig the well of salvation; but it is dug— 
 dug deep—and it will cost you nothing to drink. _Remem- 
 ber that this is the last invitation in the Bible. You have 
 a great many invitations in the Bible, but this is the last. 
 God has never spoken from heaven since this last chapter 
 
SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 295 
 
 of the Bible was written. It is the last message He has 
 sent, and a very loving message it is. 
 
 God wants you to be holy and happy, and for this pur- 
 pose He gives you the water of life. And when He said 
 these words, did He mean you? Yes, He meant you— 
 everybody. It is long since these words were spoken— 
 more than eighteen hundred years—but He means those 
 that live in this present age just as much as those living 
 in the time when the words were spoken. “ Whosoever 
 will, let him take the water of life freely.” 
 
 There is a well for the world—think of that—so deep 
 that itcan never be dried up. And itis an old well; people 
 have been drinking of that well for six thousand years, and 
 it is not dry yet. It isa clear well,—beautiful water, and 
 cold, so as torefresh the weary, flowing up, and flowing ever. 
 Its waters are for you. From beginning to end this Bible 
 tells us of the well of living water,—free love in Christ 
 Jesus, free pardon and everlasting life to the sons of men. 
 
 “Water of life.’ What does that mean? It means water 
 that gives life. The water of life is something that man 
 cannot give. It is that which God has given,—that which 
 God has sent us in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ ; so 
 that he who has Christ has the living water, the water that 
 gives life to the soul. 
 
 This water of life is that which God has provided for 
 making you holy and happy. This well is full of the love 
 of God, the peace of God ; he who has it has the love of 
 God, the peace of God. God has sent His message of love 
 in Christ Jesus, His message of peace in Christ Jesus: “ God 
 so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but 
 have everlasting life.” 
 
 You all want to be happy. This is the thirst which is 
 in your soul. When you are playing, that shows that you 
 want to be happy. When you are going about from day 
 to day with your companions, or when you are in the house, 
 you want to be happy. But you don’t know how. You 
 go to every other well but the one that will make you 
 happy. Now God says, You want to be happy, and I will 
 tell you how tohave your soul filled with happiness : here 
 is the well of the water of life for you. If a man drink of 
 this, he will live for ver: for when a man gets this great 
 
296 SERMONS TO CHILDREN. 
 
 peace and love of God into his heart, he is holy and happy 
 for ever. 
 
 The next thing to notice is that word “freely.” How 
 much have we to pay!—Nothing at all. In our country 
 water is cheap. But in the East it is dearer. If you were 
 in Alexandria or Cairo, you would see a man with a great 
 skin over his shoulder, crying, “ Water for a para!”—about 
 a farthing. But when we go for this water, we get it for 
 nothing. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters, and he that hath no money.” Freely, freely, freely ; 
 he that hath no money—nothing to pay! That is God’s 
 message about this living water. Do you pay anything for 
 sunshine ?—No, nothing. How much do the crows pay for 
 their dinner every day ? How much do the lilies pay for 
 their whiteness >—Nothing. So all we get from God is 
 free. And He says, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill 
 it.” Thus He feeds the ravens, paints the lilies and says, 
 “Open thy mouth wide, and I will pour the water of life 
 into it freely.” 
 
 “Jesus the water of life will give 
 Freely, freely, freely.” 
 
 Notice the word “take,” in the next place, Just take it, 
 God doesn’t say, Now, come and wait for it, and after you 
 have waited a week, a month, or a year, then you are at 
 liberty to take it. No; He says, Take it just there. God 
 doesn’t keep us waiting for pardon, If we haven't it now, 
 it is because we don’t take it. He does not keep us wait- 
 ing for life. If we haven’t it now, it is because we don’t 
 take it. When Christ was here, He fed the multitudes, 
 sometimes five thousand, sometimes seven thousand. How 
 did He get the bread? He made it. Did He make them 
 pay anything ?—-No. What had they to do ?—Just to take 
 it, that was all. Did Hedo soon the spot?—Yes. He 
 gave, they took. Now the whole thing in regard to the 
 water of life, pardon, peace, salvation, is just this,—God 
 gives, we take; that is all. 
 
 And this message is sent to everybody. “Whosoever will, 
 let him take of the water of life freely.” H. B. 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Abide with us, 178. 
 Abraham’s Trial, 5. 
 Account, The, 227. 
 Adversary, The, 277. 
 Ananias and Sapphira, 216. 
 Ark of God, The, 37. 
 
 Bad Company, 75. 
 
 Bad Habits, 107. 
 
 Bethesda, The Pool of, 191. 
 Bread, The Living, 197. 
 Bread of Life, The, 195. 
 
 Centurion, The, 116. 
 Children’s Book, The, 248. 
 Children, Faithful, 262. 
 Children of Light, 243. 
 Children, Obedient, 245. 
 Christ in the Storm, 136. 
 Christ, The Blood of, 131. 
 Christ’s Drawing Power, 204. 
 Cross, The, 208. 
 
 Demoniac of Gadara, The, 139. 
 
 Devil, Resisting the, 270. 
 
 Ethiopian Eunuch, The, 218. 
 Evil Spirits, 137. 
 Excuses, 167. 
 
 Fear of the Lord, The, 53. 
 Fig-tree, The Barren, 165. 
 
 Gates, 97. 
 
 Giants, 256. 
 
 Gideon, 25. 
 
 Gift, A, 234. 
 
 Gift, God’s Unspeakable, 237. 
 Go Forward, 17. 
 
 God, the Creator, 1. 
 
 God, The Love of, 284. 
 
 Good Example of Four Wise 
 Creatures, The, 80. 
 
 Grapes, A Bunch of, 104. 
 
 “ He took them up in His Arms,” 
 149. 
 Heaven, 290. 
 
 » The True Way to, 206. 
 Herodias’s Daughter, 143. 
 Hospital Sunday, 117. 
 
 House of Wisdom, The, 7o. 
 
 Idolatry, 287. 
 Isaac, 8. 
 
 Jairus’ Daughter, 141. 
 Joseph and his Brethren, 13. 
 Joy over one Penitent, 169. 
 Joyful Sound, The, 61. 
 
 Knocking, 159. 
 Knowledge and Wisdom, 68. 
 
 Loaf and the Hungry Multitude, 
 The, 193. 
 
 Lamb Slain, The, 94. 
 
 Lamb of God, Behold the, 180. 
 
 Leaf, The Fading, 102. 
 
 Left to Himself, 77. 
 
 Lent, 133. 
 
 Lemuel, The Words of King, 83. 
 
 Lights, 251. 
 
 Living Epistles, 229. 
 
 Lost Sinner and the Seeking 
 Saviour, The, 175. 
 
 Maid, The Little, 48. 
 Ministering Child, A, 28. 
 Message, An Easter, 151. 
 
 x 
 
298 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Nathanael, 186. 
 Net, The Spread, 62. 
 
 One Thing, 156. 
 Out of the Depths, 264. 
 
 Parting Alike, 43. 
 Paul’s Sister’s Son, 221. 
 Precious Blood, 273. 
 
 Pride, 109. 
 
 Refreshment Sunday, 146, 
 Rock of Ages, 87. 
 Roots of Bitterness, 267. 
 
 Samuel, 32. 
 
 Saved by a Cry, 214. 
 
 Sea, On the, 123. 
 
 “Send and fetch him,” 39. 
 Solomon’s Prayer, 45. 
 
 Sowing, 241. 
 
 Storms of Life, The, 113. 
 Strength, The Secret of True, 89 
 Summer and its Lessons, 58. 
 
 Tears, The Redeemer’s, 201. 
 Time, The Waste of, 129. 
 Treasure Trove, The, 65. 
 
 Well, Drinking of the Same, 282. 
 
 Witnessing Children, 124. 
 
 What is it to be to Me? 23. 
 
 What shall we do? 153. 
 
 Where to carry our sins, 51 
 
 White Garments, 85. 
 
 Whosoever Will, 294. 
 
 Why Children should Come to 
 Jesus, 171. 
 
 Word of God, The, 260. 
 
 Word, The Shining, 279. 
 
GENESIS, 
 
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