A Group of Children Just After a Happy Hour Service at Winona Lake, Indiana
These Represent the Children to Whom This Book Is Dedicated

The
BIBLE OBJECT BOOK

A Book of Object Lessons Which Are Different

WRITTEN IN PLAIN ENGLISH AND IN COMMON WORDS

By

Rev. CLARENCE HERBERT WOOLSTON, D. D.

Author of

"SEEING TRUTH," "PENNY OBJECT LESSONS, Nos. 1 and 2,"
"THE GOSPEL OBJECT BOOK," and "THE CURIOSITY BOOK."
Also Originator of the "SEEING TRUTH PACKETS," Containing the
Lessons and Objects Needed

PHILADELPHIA

THE JUDSON PRESS

Copyright, 1926, by
THE JUDSON PRESS

Published August, 1926

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A.

This book is dedicated
to the many Boys and Girls
who have both heard and seen
these visual addresses
at Bethany Hall, Winona Lake, Indiana
and to Mrs. Carrie Besserer
who made these wonderful gatherings possible

For what shall it profit a church if it gain
the whole world and lose its own children

INTRODUCTION

Dr. C. H. Woolston is the one man I know who is most eminently fitted to write a book for children or for the teachers of children. First, because he loves and understands children; for work among children is an affair of the heart. In the second place, through many years he has proved his theories by actual, practical experience and testing. We know that his plans really work.

He is being urged by many of his eminent friends in children's work to give all his time to this great service. He will have a large mission in teaching preachers and teachers how to win children and young people to Christ. For twenty years he has appeared in the great Bible conference at Winona Lake, Ind., and has always been received by adults with great appreciation while the children have hailed him with huge delight.

We must all admit that there is nothing of greater importance among all the problems of the church today. While he has not been able to give all his time to this work he has been most generous and patient in showing others how to use the mechanical and wonder object-lessons in the teaching of children.

In this work he gives the worker something entirely new and off from the beaten path of the regulars, something which would cost months of study and research and literally hundreds of dollars to acquire.

In addition to the wisdom of this and other works he has published and thus given to the world, he will always be glad to help in any of the problems of winning for Jesus the children that may present themselves. His study is an open post-office. Write to him.

And so, for these reasons and many others I am especially glad to commend this newest book of Doctor Woolston. I hope the readers of this book may be able to have him in their churches or in Bible conferences some time. To know him personally is a rare pleasure. He is, in my estimation, the greatest talker to children we have in this country at this present time. His new methods of reaching children and adults through their eyes has given him the highest place among gospel illustrators.

HOMER RODEHEAVER

SUNDAY PARTY, Winona Lake, Ind.

PREFACE

These short addresses are designed to help the busy pastor get a flying start in his effort to fill the minds of his church children with compelling imagery and their eyes with the sweet lessons by Seeing Gospel Truth.

I have made no attempt at phrase-making, nor have I sought to create a literary marvel.

I have used the greatest simplicity of language at my command, in some cases employing the unpolished words of the children themselves. This I have done because many of these chapters have been framed for their eyes and ears, and it has always been my ambition that the children should hear the truth in their own tongue.

Perhaps my words and sentences would not pass the Sanhedrin of the universities, but my ideas are on the run to catch the child before the ever-shortening days of youth have passed, and perhaps sometimes I have run by some of the standards of the school.

When Evangelist D. L. Moody was in London, England, the first time some of the critical divines made sport of the fact that Mr. Moody in pronouncing the word "Jerusalem" did so in two syllables. The secular press also took up the matter and made high glee over it. C. H. Spurgeon, then in all his glory at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in one of his sermons used the following language, "I am glad there is one minister in London who is in such haste to give the gospel to the people that he does not stop to pronounce every syllable."

The King's business requires haste, and this business of gaining the King's children requires double haste. This will explain some of the sentences of this book that may cause you to stop and think why I said them. C. H. Spurgeon has given you my answer.

These talks aim to fill the eye as well as the ear. This is the reason that a line of simple objects is used.

These objects are golden hooks which hang up ideas in the hall of memory to stay "put" evermore.

Some of the chapters are designed for children and adults alike, for there are some adults who, like Peter Pan, refuse to grow up and still "like to see things."

Read over each chapter twice before you attempt to work it out.

Think yourself back to childhood's happy days and "be a child again just for tonight," and then when your ideas are romping about in your head with the zest of youth, tell your lesson and show them "the things."

And may it come to pass that you may turn the Wonderful Eyes and Hearts of the Wonderful Children toward the "Rose of Sharon" as the rose of the garden turns toward the light of the Sun.

This is the prayer of the author to whom God has given the distinguished honor of talking to a million and a half of little folks about Jesus, "who loves the little children of the world."

C. H. WOOLSTON.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[1]

1

JUST A FEW WORDS TO THE CHILDREN

SOME HELPFUL WORDS TO THE
SPEAKER TO CHILDREN

At some time during the service the minister will say, "Now just a few words to the children." He has a big task before him, and if he is strong enough to know how to say these "few words," is he learned enough to know what to say in these "few words"?

Many a great preacher meets his Waterloo here. Will he retire beaten dragging the white flag of surrender after him, and hang low his head because of the conscious defeat, or will he with flying banners put it over in these "few words," and take his place in line with the world's greatest conquerors?

He must remember all children will not prick up their ears and listen hard just because he is a great preacher. Children are great critics. Their criticism takes the form of not listening. They know perfectly the art of withdrawing attention when they are not interested in the "few words," but their minds are not vacant during the unheeded "few words." They are counting the number of people present in the pews directly in front of them. They are watching the inattention of the members of the choir. They are thinking of their games of yesterday, or something they received at Christmastime, or of some book just given them as a birthday gift. They may be whispering or nudging each other, or if [2] they have a bit of pencil with them they may be sketching caricatures of the deacons before them or even of the minister who is addressing them.

The little girl's motherly thought may be straying home to a sick doll, or may be smiling at the funny ways of puppy or kitten that she just happens to remember. The boy may be smiling over some funny situation he saw yesterday at the "movies." They are all very resourceful in themselves to save them from being bored by an address that has lost its way in its pilgrimage from the minister to their pews in which they are seated. The "just a few words" like birds have taken to their wings, and gone over the children's heads to the "land of nowhere." The minister, if he has normal eyes and a common mind, is conscious of the fact he has "missed fire," and wonders what he can do to put it over so it will stay "put"! If he thus thinks, there is large hope for him, because he has not graduated from the learner's bench. Let him be a child again and think as a child. Let him learn how to talk to them and not about them, and then his "just a few words" will become as interesting to their mind as the toys they left behind them. This is worth the effort; even the adults who are only "tall kids" will like the talk better than "the preaching at" in which they have only a feeble interest. Even the "polar bear" deacon will thaw out and catch himself smiling at the "few words" of the preacher that just "talks."

Happy is the man who can interest the child in his "few words" and can also interest the child in its efforts to translate the "few words" into big acts on the inside building of a child's character.

[3]

2

WHEN THE BABY DISCOVERS AMERICA!

SOME IMPORTANT THOUGHTS FOR WORK
AMONG CHILDREN

A Study of the Object as Well as the Subject

Every little cradle is a ship starting on the voyage of life. Little Eyes looks out from its cabin windows and discovers that the land it sees is America. It is not dreaming of lakes sublime or rivers majestic. It is not in fact a discoverer. It is a see-er. It is seeing things, real things, in the land it has just discovered. Its first adventure is the finding of Mother, which means it has discovered perfect love, protection, and tender care. Mother is heaven, her shining eyes are the stars. There is a cry in the night. Mother understands its language and gives her holy ministrations. Watch Mother, she is the teacher God has trained. Listen to her first "few words." Baby does. Mother understands. God give the preacher this understanding. Learn how Mother her first "few words," then "try, try again." Learn your first lesson in the language of a child. It loves picture words. It learns the names of common things first. Things fix themselves in the eyes. Its language is born as it looks. Looks at a cow and calls it "moo cow." A picture word with action in it! It looks at a lamb and coins its own word "Baa-lamb." Teach the children in words full of pictures. They see objects [4] and fix on them certain ideas. Do the same in teaching them in their older days. Clothe objects with ideas, and they will shine like stars in the children's understanding. Words that are dear and familiar to adult church-goers are so by long and sacred associations. Children have no such relation to our "churchly" words.

This does not mean that we are to talk down to them and use "baby" or silly talk. Children know when they are being "talked down to," and resent it. When the preacher arrives to address the children in a "few words," he should be of the same age as the child in his words in order to establish contact. Why not? The Mother talks to the children in words of their age. Let the preacher be like the Mother when he stands to address his words to the little folks. Let him use short words, plain sentences, pictureful words, and objects which the children know, and thus become a child again. Let him see the big world through the eyes of the children, and he will know what stories the children like and do not like, and when he arrives in the pulpit, their eyes will be fastened on him, and they will hear him gladly because he is one of them.

So, as baby discovers America, you discover baby.

[5]

3

A MILLION DOLLAR CIGARET

OBJECTS: A Black Muslin Flag on Which Is Written
Some of the Woes of the Cigaret Habit

Some months ago in Jersey City, N. J., a large warehouse and its contents were destroyed by fire. This was the dreadful blaze known as the Great Triangle Fire which finally destroyed a million dollars worth of property. The deadly cigaret was believed to have been the cause of this disaster. An employee walking about the place tossed or allowed to drop from his hand a lighted cigaret.

A cigar thus dropped goes out at once; a cigaret continues to burn until it burns itself out, and so this cigaret continued to burn and ignited other material, and thus the great fire had its start, and one million dollars worth of property was thus destroyed. That was a Million Dollar Cigaret.

All cigarets are costly. They destroy things much more valuable than personal property or real estate. They destroy health, character, and the chances of good success in life. These things are more valuable than hills of gold. The cigaret is more deadly than natural death, for it produces a living death and at last flings the ruined soul on the bank of the Lost River in the Kingdom of Eternal Darkness.

Sir Christopher Furness has found that cigaret smoking among boys not only causes deterioration of physique, [6] but "tends to develop lounging habits, with the result that the juvenile smoker's work is less conscientiously done, and he is lacking in sprightliness and alertness. Where, as is often the case," Sir Christopher adds, "the boy smokes clandestinely, habits of deceitfulness will probably be formed." Sir George William's experience as an employer has conclusively proved to him that a boy is a far from satisfactory worker if he smokes, and he says:

The effects of smoking, with its tendency to encourage drinking, are to reduce a lad's energy, to lessen his intellectual capacity, and to weaken his moral character.

The fact that every great public school prohibits smoking among its boys, and punishes offenders with a strong hand, is eloquent of the evil effect tobacco has on the young mind. The Leeds School Board some time ago enlisted the services of eminent medical authorities in its battle against the cigaret, and the Plymouth Board circularized the teachers and parents of the children on the subject. A Committee of the Liverpool School Board which investigated the matter declared that "cigaret smoking affects the system generally, and arrests physical development," and it would be possible to quote thousands of such opinions from the educational side.

It goes without saying that the doctor is the strongest enemy of the cigaret for boys. "All the evidence," says Dr. Andrew Wilson, "points to the undermining of a growing lad's physique by indulgence in tobacco," and Doctor Wilson continues:

Add to this the moral effect—that of rendering the already precocious boy still more precocious, and of turning him into an insufferable [7] prig, and you thus condemn the habit from another point of view.

Sir Henry LittleJohn, the veteran medical officer of health for Edinburgh, has used his great influence against the boy smoker on many grounds, and there is much force in his argument that
the practise is fraught with dangers to society at large, owing to the secrecy with which the habit is carried on, the assembling at nights, the tendency to visit ice-cream shops to assuage the heat of the mouth that has been engendered by the filthy practise, and, in addition, we have ultimately that disregard of the proprieties due to the other sex which is introducing in our midst a laxity of morals, which, in the future, must bear fruit.

Magistrate Crane of New York City says:

Ninety-nine out of a hundred boys between ten and seventeen years of age, who come before me charged with crime, have their fingers disfigured by yellow cigaret stains... The poison in the cigaret seems to get into the system of the boy and destroys all moral fiber.

Tobacco interferes with the functions of the eye, of the heart, and of the kidneys. Tobacco smoking interferes with the development of the boy.

Professor McKeever says the cigaret-smoking boys of several schools, the records of which were investigated, were described by his informants by such epithets as sallow, sore-eyed, puny, squeaky-voiced, sickly, short-winded, and extremely nervous.

The greatest danger of the cigaret habit is its insidious nature. The boy does not realize the danger until it is too late to correct it. Hundreds of tombstones today bear silent testimony to this fact.

A chemist took the tobacco used in an average cigaret and soaked it in several teaspoonfuls of water and injected [8] a portion of it under the skin of a cat. The cat almost immediately went into convulsions and died in fifteen minutes. Dogs have been killed with a single drop of nicotine.

Investigation shows that prominent business men positively refuse to engage men for responsible positions who smoke cigarets. The cigaret smoker, sooner or later, proves to be unreliable either physically, mentally, morally, or all three.

In Detroit alone, sixty-nine merchants have agreed not to employ cigaret-users. Chicago firms such as Montgomery Ward & Co., Marshall Field & Co., Morgan & Wright Tire Co., all prohibit cigaret smoking among employees, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, are both opposed to the cigaret.

The manager of one of Ohio's largest mercantile houses, when asked for a job for a boy who smoked cigarets, said:

I'm sorry, but I can't use cigaret smokers. First, they smell bad, and I don't want to put them in contact with the nice young ladies who work here or the nice ladies who trade here. Second, cigarets prevent the development of strong, clear, reliable moral character. They excite the lower passions and dull the sense of right and wrong.

Judge Ben Lindsay of Denver says:

I have been in the Juvenile Court nearly ten years, dealing with thousands of boys who have disgraced themselves and their parents, and I do not know of any one habit which is more responsible for the troubles of these boys than the vile cigaret habit.

Superintendent, Mervine of the Wells Fargo Express Company, issued a letter to all agents of the company, in which he said:

[9] Any one who habitually smokes cigarets, in this climate especially, has something connected with his record or his qualifications that makes him a dangerous person.

Dr. Sims Woodhead, professor of pathology in Cambridge University, says that cigaret smoking, in the case of boys, partially paralyzes the nerve-cells at the base of the brain, and this interferes with the breathing or heart action.

Now produce a flag made of black muslin which you call the Cigaret Flag, on which you have pinned small slips of paper on which you have written some of the short sayings herewith given, Read these lines from the flag and say, "We will now listen to the message of the Cigaret Flag."

If you blow a mouthful of cigaret smoke through a clean white handkerchief, it will leave a dark brown slimy stain. In this carbon deposit are the different poisons which eat on the delicate spongy membrane of the back of the throat like acid on a piece of cloth.

Conclude by warning the boys not to smoke the deadly cigaret, never to begin; and if they have smoked, then first urge them to make the last cigaret the last forever. Tell them that Jesus wants boys with clean lips and pure hearts. The cigaret habit has roots which go deep into the heart. This is what makes the grip of the habit so strong. Jesus said that "Every plant my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up." So this is one of the plants doomed by God. Let him pull it out from your heart by the roots; only thus can it be taken away to stay.

[10]

4

HEALING LEAVES

OBJECTS: A Collection of Eucalyptus Leaves

Secure from a regular drug-store a few dried leaves of the eucalyptus tree which grows in California. Mount them on cardboard or hold them up in a cluster so all the hearers may see them. Then open your Bible and read Revelation 22:2, "and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." This can be used as a text for this lesson.

This great tree is to remind the saved in heaven that there is no sickness there, for the cure of the nations and the ages is under the shade of the leaves of this healing tree. This tree with its healing leaves is to remind us of Jesus. He is the great Tree of Life, "a root out of the dry ground." His leaves of truth have been for the healing of the nations. This collection of leaves which you now hold in your hand has healing power. An oil is extracted direct from these leaves which has great medicinal value.

Secure some of this oil from your regular druggist and ask him as to how it is used by the local doctors.

In Africa the natives do much of their curing by leaves. They believe that all diseases can be cured by leaves, and when a person is ill or bitten by a serpent they hasten to the jungles and secure a healing leaf. This was one of the most primitive means of healing known to men.

[11] There is another great Tree of Knowledge which we call the great Bible. The leaves of this tree have long been healing the nations. Every leaf has a healing word in it. As you say this hold up the Bible with the other hand and read what some of the leaves say. Read John 3:14 and 16. These words on the leaves of the Bible have healed the millions. They have been and are for the healing of the nations also, and thus a countless number have received the eternal Health of Salvation and are now in heaven, well forevermore.

I remember my mother often told me a Civil War story which to my little head was a wonder story. She said that once in this war a soldier's life was spared because the enemy's bullet embedded itself in the leaves of a New Testament he carried in his pocket. So the leaves of the Bible saved his mortal life. Often the smaller birds fly into the leaves of the trees for safety when the larger wild bird seeks their life.

God's word is a mighty fortress and a shelter from the storm. Its leaves of truth cover us and surround us, like a great wall of chariots and armed horsemen, so we are safe forevermore.

If you have a cluster of leaves put a tag on each containing a verse of Scripture which speaks of God's saving power. Pin these leaves with their tags up on some background and explain that there are the leaves from the Tree of the Bible, with sure healing in them for the nations of the world.

[12]

5

WHAT THE BIBLE IS LIKE

OBJECTS: A Lamp, a Mirror, a Bowl, a Glass of Milk,
Bread, a Cup of Honey, a Hammer, a Sword, a Jar
of Seeds

In this chapter we think together as to what the Bible is like, and produce the object referred to.

We confine our thoughts to what the Bible says it is likened unto.

1. The Bible is likened unto a lamp. Here produce an Oriental lamp if possible; if not, use an ordinary house lamp, and quote the following Scripture: Psalm 119:105, 130; Proverbs 6:23.

This is a dark world, it is under the power of darkness. (Col. 1:13.) It is controlled by the "rulers of darkness" (Eph. 6:12). Unless it is enlightened by the Bible lamp it will go to its own place, "the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 1:13). "God so loved the world, that he gave us his Lamp that whosoever should follow the Light, might not perish, but have everlasting life." Like the golden candlestick it shines upon divine things near at hand, and like the pillar of fire it lights up the way through the wilderness journey. All other lamps will go out, but this light shines more and more to the perfect day.

Harken, ye children of men, listen, ye people of all nations, "The entrance of thy word giveth light."

2. A mirror. (2 Corinthians 3:18; James 1:25.)

[13] An ordinary looking-glass can be used here if it is put in an upright position.

It shows me myself just as I really am, not as I think I am, but as I am. (Rom. 3:19.) The human heart shrinks from looking at it for it shows the heart as it really is. And yet, to see one's self as it is revealed in the mirror is the first step in the true way back to God.

A missionary to China once read aloud, to a large audience, Romans 1. One of the Chinamen present said he thought it was very unfair and unkind for the "foreign devil" (as missionaries were there called) to come to find out all their secret sins and write them down in a book, and read them out in that public way. It is a truth that the Bible is a mirror, "Mine to tell me what I am."

3. A laver. (Ephesians 5:26.)

A large silver bowl can be used here and placed in line with the lamp and mirror. The Bible not only shows us our sins as in a mirror, but shows us the way the remedy can be secured. In the old wilderness tabernacle, a laver was provided at the entrance of the tabernacle to give a means of cleansing from the defilement which would oftentimes render the worshiper unfit for God's presence; so a cleansing stream, seen only by the eye of faith, flows through this book. It broke forth from the first promise of the woman's seed (Gen. 3:15) and flowed all the way through the Bible until it broke into the trumpet-song of the redeemed in glory. "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5). As water cleanses by separating the body from the outward stains, so the Word of God applied by the Holy Spirit causes the heart to abhor [14] the defilement of sin which would stain and defile the inward life. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee" (Ps. 119:11); and Jesus said, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3).

4. Milk. (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12,13.)

Here place by the side of the laver a glass or bottle of milk.

This is to teach us that the Bible is so plain and simple that little children can feed on it as they do on milk. Some people declare that the Bible is too profound for children, and that they should seek and read some other simpler book on religion first. But where is the child that can understand human words that does not grasp the stories of many of the Bible records? Noah and the Ark; Daniel in the Lions' Den; The Hebrew Children in the Furnace; the story of the Finding of Moses; Joseph and His Brethren, and the parables and the miracles of Jesus, etc. We are all babes in Christ when first converted, and are exhorted to drink the pure milk of the pure word of God.

5. Bread. (Deuteronomy 8:3; Isaiah 55:10.)

Here secure a few small cakes, and explain the bread of the Bible was not like our loaf of bread, but like our cakes. Place them on a plate and put them in line with the other objects. Here we are taught the Bible is food for the soul. Without it we will all perish.

"I have esteemed thy word more than my necessary food" is the confession of the heart that finds the Bible the real bread for the soul.

The prophet said, "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? harken diligently unto me, [15] and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." This is free bread; it is without money and without price. Come to the gospel Free Market and live.

6. Honey. (Psalm 119:10.)

Place now in line with the other symbols a bottle of honey.

This teaches the truth that the word of God is not only to give us our plain, necessary food, but to provide for us God's sweets. An invitation to help ourselves to heaven's luxuries. The Bible is so full of such delights that David cried out, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth" (Ps. 119:103).

7. Fire. (Jeremiah 20:9; 23:29.)

Pour out into a metal plate a small quantity of alcohol and light it with a match. It will burn for a few minutes, at least long enough to bring home the lesson. Fire breaks out and spreads forth, so if we are saved and have the Bible in our hearts, it will break forth into acts, and the world will behold it. And with burning words on our lips we will speak it forth; messages for the dying world to hear.

8. Hammer. (Jeremiah 23:29.)

Secure a large mallet if possible, for this is the form of a Bible hammer; if not possible use an ordinary one. Place this in line with the other objects. Some people's hearts are harder than stone. It takes a strong effort to break their hearts of iron. This is often discouraging work. The hammer does not always work at the first blow. It hits again and again, and if we who swing the hammer of the word are faithful to the end the [16] rock heart will at last break asunder; God's word never fails.

9. Sword. (Ephesians 6:17.)

Place an ordinary sword on the table with the other objects. The Bible is a sharp sword, and in the hands of a skilful soldier will often, by quick action, bring down the nature that can avoid the hammer wielded by the workman's hand. It was a quick instrument of light on the day of Pentecost. It reached the heart, and a full surrender was made. Sometimes it falls with a quick, mighty stroke upon those who continue to rebel against its divine authority. (Rev. 19:15.)

10. Seed. (Luke 8:11; Isaiah 55:10.)

Secure a jar of any kind of seed, and place in line with the other objects.

The Bible declares we are born again of "incorruptible" seed, "by the word of God" (1 Peter 1:23). It is our task to go forth and sow this seed. "Behold, a sower went forth to sow" should be said of us every day we leave our homes. We should sow beside all waters. We should sow at all times. "In the morning sow thy seed, and at evening withhold not thy hand," for "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps. 126:6).

After you have taught this lesson, cause your audience to repeat with you what the Bible is like.

[17]

6

JUDGING BY APPEARANCES

OBJECTS: A Collection of Paper Drinking-cups

This is a lesson on the folly of judging by appearances or coming to a conclusion from knowing just one side of the truth, which in the language of the people is called "jumping at conclusions."

Secure ten or twelve paper drinking-cups; cut them all except one into two parts, put the top parts into each other, so that they will look like a pile of cups, but the only real cup is the bottom cup. Say: "Here we seem to have a stack of drinking-cups from which to drink when we are thirsty. Here we seem to have enough cups for a party of ten or twelve [according to the number you have] but in reality there is only one cup that is a real cup that will hold water."

Take the half cups out of the pile, and show the children they are mistaken. You only appeared to have a collection of cups. Then teach the danger of judging by appearances; always be sure you are right before you speak and judge. Look into the cup as well as at it before you declare that here there are ten (or more) cups. It is a dangerous thing oftentimes to judge by knowing a half-truth only.

People who jump at conclusions are in the way of making frequent mistakes and often do great mischief. A woman standing in line before the window of a New England savings-bank, waiting her turn to deposit five [18] dollars, saw a man step up and draw out nine hundred dollars. She was not used to the sight of so much money, and, supposing that this meant a heavy drain on the resources of the bank, held on to her five dollars, and not only that, but went and told her friends about it, saying that the bank must be in danger. The news spread, and soon there was a "run" on the bank. Before the panic was over, and scared depositors satisfied that the bank was sound, between ten thousand and twenty thousand dollars had been withdrawn. Better be sure of facts and not judge by appearances. This "supposing" things makes trouble.

Some time ago a young man in looking around among the people at a public gathering, noticed a tall, heavyset, well-built man, and made up his mind that he was the new minister. He went up to a friend and said: "Very strong, good-looking man, isn't he? I am well pleased and satisfied he will make a very good minister." That man replied to his friend, "Why he is no minister, he is the manager of the new theater." It takes more than a fine-looking man to be a minister. He may only look like one, and be only half a cup.

A gentleman noticed a refined-looking stranger seated opposite to him at the table. He had a magnificent forehead and a fine, venerable, bald head. His eyes were shooting off sparks of expression which seemed to be born of the fires of genius. "Ah," thought he, "if he could but speak, what grand words we would hear! What large utterances would fall from his eloquent lips!" Suddenly the gentleman who possessed the venerable head and a great talent for silence spoke and said, "Hand me them dumplings, them's the jockeys for

[19]

me." He was wise only in appearance. He was half a cup. There was nothing of eloquence or talent in him. Things are not what they seem to be.

In 1 Samuel 16:7, the Bible teaches us this lesson: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him." God saw both sides of the man. What he looked like, and what he really was. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7). Learn to see things as God sees them, then you will see aright.

[20]

7

A CHILD FOR SALE

OBJECTS: A Child and a Number of Prepared
Business Cards

Call a little boy to the platform and ask: "What is a child worth? Not long ago in the great city of Philadelphia a little girl was fatally hurt by a trolley-car. The jury awarded a verdict of $5,000 for damages. Five thousand dollars was the legal value of a child. Would you sell your little girl for that figure? Is that what your child is worth? Are children for sale in this world of sin and unbelief? This child is for sale, and the world, the flesh, and the devil bid for him. Who bids first for this child?"

A man then walks up to the platform saying, "A business man makes the first offer." Read the card and say: "Mr. A. Cigaret, representing the Smoke and Brownleaf Co., bids for the child. He offers good fellowship, the thrills of the happy smoker, and the name of a jolly good fellow." This card you have prepared before the service, and placed in the hands of one of your assistants who delivers it to you at your call; after he presents the card he takes his seat. In reply to this bid you say: "This bid is rejected. King Tobacco cannot have this boy with the pure life and happy smile. The bid is rejected for the following reasons.

"It is a deadly poison. 'In a cigaret there are five poisons: the oil of nicotine, the oil in the paper, saltpetre [21] to preserve the tobacco, opium to make it mild, and the oil in the flavoring.'

"It leads to insanity. Dr. Forbes Winslow says, 'Cigaret smoking is one of the chief causes of insanity.'

"It is a crime-maker. A New York City magistrate says: 'Yesterday I had before me thirty-five boy prisoners; thirty-three were confirmed cigaret smokers. Tobacco is the boy's easiest and most direct road to whisky.'

"It is the highway to disease. 'Tobacco is the admitted cause of upward of eighty diseases, including blindness, and cancers of the lower lip and tongue, and is credited with killing twenty thousand in our land every year.'

"It is an agent for death. Dr. J. J. Kellog says: 'I had all the nicotine removed from a cigaret and made a solution of it. I injected half of it into a frog, and the frog died almost instantly. The frog was full grown and average size. A boy smoking twenty cigarets in a day inhales enough poison to kill forty frogs.'

"A cigaret smoker is slain before he is dead. Slain to all the good chances for success in life.

"E. H. Harriman, former head of the Union Pacific R. R. System, says, 'We might as well go to the lunatic asylum for our employees as to hire cigaret smokers.'

"The cigaret is a deadly thing. You are seeking the young child's life. Your bid is therefore rejected."

The next bid is brought to the platform by an assistant who hands you the prepared business card marked: "Mr. Pool-room. I will give a jolly evening for years to come in my game-room. There will be a bunch of happy lads there, full of glee, happy all night long. I [22] will give him the thrill of making money easy. Will preserve him from hard work. Will help him drive away dull care."

You reply: "This bid is rejected for the following reasons:

"The poolroom is the place of the gambler's table. It will teach him to get dishonest money, tainted and yellow with sin. He will meet the depraved, and they will be his companions. He will lose the purity of heart God has given him. It will steal the roses from his cheek and paint his face with the lines of dissipation. It will take him from his father and mother, and some day toss him up against the door of the old homestead a human wreck. You cannot have him, Mr. Pool-room. He shall not walk in the sinners' way. I reject your offer."

Another prepared card is brought to the platform with the words: "His Highness, Lord Ignorance. I bid for this lad, and for him I offer an open mind. Let him do his own thinking, live as he pleases. I will not let him go to school or trouble about knowledge. The less he knows the happier he will be. I will just let him do as he pleases. That will be his religion and education."

Then you reply, saying: "Your bid is also rejected. Your card has on it the stain of the blackness of the Dark Ages. You would make merely an animal of my boy, just feed him and turn him loose like a beast. You would bring down on him all the misery of the Dark Ages. You would cover him in a dense cloud of ignorance. You would starve his mind and feed his body, and so make a monster of him. You would lead him astray, and he would not know the deadly thing you were doing. You would put out the eyes of his mind [23] so they could not see God's way. No, you cannot purchase the soul of this lad for such a price. Back, Lord Ignorance, into the Dark Ages; that is where your castle of sin is built. You are a black dragon of shadows and dwell in the shades of blackness. Your bid is therefore rejected."

You then say, "Who will bid for the soul of this boy?" You can have various cards prepared with the words, Mr. Profanity, Mr. Infidelity, Mr. Highwayman, etc. After you have worked it out according to your liking you say, "I am now open for the last bid." A card is sent up with the words "The Church." The bid reads as follows:

"I, the Church of the Lord Jesus, will now bid for the soul of the boy. I will put him into the ranks of the Sunday-school children. He will be in the army of 'the millions.' He will be taught to sing God's praises, and his lips to speak white words. He will be taught the way of the heavenly life from the Bible, God's book of wonders. He will be taught to stand upright in all life's tasks. God will lift him to a high station of life and give him great success, and at last God will take his soul to heaven through his faith in the Lord Jesus."

You then say: "O Church Militant, I accept your terms of the sale. The boy is yours for this world and for the next."

Before he leaves the platform you present him with a New Testament which you tell him is life's great lantern to guide him to the end. You give him a little cross which, you say, is to remind him of his faith in the Son of God, and last, give him a church conquest flag to remind him that the Christian life is a battle, and he [24] must fight his way onward, as he is a Christian soldier. Shake hands with him and pointing forward say, "Onward, Christian soldier!" Let the organist play this melody as he walks to his seat.

The address each bidder makes for the boy may also be all written out and placed in a sealed envelope and presented to you with the card announcing the bidder's name. You can then break open the contract and read as noted in the body of this chapter.

[25]

8

WEEDS

OBJECTS: A Number of Common Weeds

I was noticing the other day, that, in my garden, after the winter days had passed, the first green things to show their head were the little weeds. They seemed to say to me, "Hello, we are back again for business." And a pretty lively business they are in, surely. We are sorry to see them come, and glad to see them go, but before they do go I want to teach you some important life lessons from them.

They are very like the most of us, so they talk to us as old friends. The first thing I hear them say is, "We grow very fast." They multiply quickly. The red poppy will give fifty thousand seeds. The dandelion (show one if you have it in your collection) will give over two thousand seeds. Weeds stand for evil things and useless things. They seem to be like the sands of the sea in number. So our life is full of weeds very often. We tell one lie, and then another to protect ourselves against the evil of the first lie, and by and by we have told many of them, and the habit of lying has been so formed, that often thousands of lies will be told. So little boys and girls must watch the weeds, for they grow very fast in the heart. Take care of your words. Don't let the lie get mixed up with them.

These are some of the evil weeds we must watch: Envy, bad temper, untruthfulness, selfishness, unkindness—and [26] there are many more. Call all these things weeds, and don't let them get into the garden of the heart.

Then, again, I heard the weeds say: "I will walk into your garden and come up as noiselessly as the beautiful flowers. I will push up my soft harmless little leaves, and do it so gently that I will not disturb your roses." And so evil things creep into our life, and look quite as harmless as the little weed. When they get in, we like them and encourage them, and often will not let them go, because we love them; then at last we cannot let them go if we would. Just a little white lie, just for fun, then a lying life, with everything false.

A whole town were once horrified by the confession of a mere boy that he had killed his playmate. He seemed to have no fear or sorrow because of the act, but his mother said when he was a small child he would catch the flies and pull their wings off, and smile as he noted the suffering of the fly. First it was the wings of a fly, at last it was the murder of a playmate. Weeds are not good things in a garden. They are not good things in the heart, Watch them when they first show their little heads. Close the door at once, they soon turn to poison and death in the soul.

Then again the weeds say to me: "My real name is Determination. I will come in, and you will have a hard time to get rid of me." They are determined to stay. It is no use to pull off their leaves, but pull them up by their roots and cast them into the fire. Just as soon as an evil thought comes into our minds, kill it at once. Cast it out of our thought. Don't talk about it, or it will drive its roots down deep, and will come to stay.

Evil-thought weeds come from everywhere; some from [27] far-off lands, others are carried in our mail, and in our schoolbooks. Some are passing tramps, but they come and take us unawares. Soon evil acts follow naturally and as certainly as day follows night. Fill your mind full of good thoughts, and don't look on evil weeds. Solomon said, "Look not on the wine." This was good advice, for looking upon evil creates the longing for it. Let Jesus come into the mind as well as the heart, and he will cast out the evil thoughts, because he cannot stay with the weeds of sinful thoughts. Let your daily prayer be, "Take away all the ugly weeds from my heart, O Lord, and plant beautiful thought flowers there, that it may be always sweet for thee."

In delivering this address display the weeds in separate bunches. Put them in a number of glasses and put all in a row on the front of the table so all the class may see them.

After the lesson gather them into one bunch and cast them aside (or out of door or window). This is what God does with the thorns and thistles. These are Bible names for weeds.

[28]

9

THE SWORD OF —

OBJECTS: A Small Sword with the Name of "Benaiah"
Written on the Blade

I hold in my hand a small sword. It belongs to a great soldier whose name is mentioned in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel 23. I find his name on this sword. I don't think you have ever pronounced it. If you have, you have forgotten it, yet the soldier whose name is written here was great and brave and full of kindly deeds. It is too bad his name has been forgotten. I will tell you about his deeds, and then, I hope, after I have told you his name you will never forget him.

There once lived a priest in a little country town. Its streets were lined with beautiful palm trees, and its well of water was deep, cool, and sweet. This priest had a son who was so strong and brave that he was greatly beloved by his father. Often when he talked with his father, he said, as many other boys have said, that some day when he was older he wanted to be a soldier. He often looked from the door of his home upon the passing army of soldiers, with their glittering armor and shining spears, and then, sometimes, boylike, he would follow the procession to the city gates and wave his hand to them, as he saw the flying banners disappear in the distance. When he grew up, he was of the same mind, and one day never to be forgotten he said good-by to his [29] father and all his old friends and went a long journey to join the king's army.

His bravery soon made him famous, so much so that he was soon promoted to the position of captain.

Once he was met by two robbers of another nation, who thought they could easily kill him, and so rid their nation of a troublesome and powerful enemy, but they did not find this to be so easy a task, because he was so strong, and his sword was so powerful, and he fought so desperately that he not only made his escape, but left his two persecutors dead by the roadside. He was a good soldier and fought well with his sword of defence.

One winter's day there came a man, in great haste, crying out, "There is a lion prowling about just outside the city gate." All the children were greatly frightened and ran into their houses and shut the door to keep the mad lion from entering their homes to destroy them. It was a cold, long winter, and the lion was hungry. He had been unable to find his food in the wild woods, and had come to the walls of the town in search of food. Wolves and other wild animals do the same thing. All the people were alarmed, so they sent their messenger in haste to the brave soldier with the mighty sword. He was urged by this messenger to make haste and come out and kill this lion before its hunger should drive it to enter into the town and carry off some man or woman, or perhaps some little boy or girl. When the brave man heard this he quickly took his sword and followed the guide to the place where he had seen the lion. Some of the people informed him that it had fallen into a pit and was struggling to get out and roaring with madness. When the brave man saw this, [30] he sprang into the pit with the lion, and after a terrible struggle killed it with his sword. He was so handy with his sword, that I think, just as the lion was about to make a mad rush upon him, he gave him such a mighty sword-thrust that the lion fell back dead into the pit. So we see he was not afraid of man or beast. He knew how to give a fatal sword-thrust that gave him victory at last.

What was his name? Such a brave man should have his name written in letters of iron in the temple of the mighty swordsmen of the world. Just hear me again, and then I will tell you his name.

One day the king, his master, who was now getting old, was in the camp. It was a hot day, and the great king felt thirsty and was eager for a drink of water. The king thought of the clear cold spring of water in his old home town, to which he had often gone on a hot summer day to drink of its cool refreshing water. He had often bathed his hands and face with it. He could even now see its waters dancing in the sunlight before him, But alas, that old home town was in the hands of the enemy. How could he ever get that water to his lips. Half unconsciously he cried out, "Oh that some one would get me a drink from that spring near to the gates of the old home town!" Our brave soldier boy overheard this wish expressed by the king, and so called two of his companions and said to them: "I heard the king say just now, that he longed for a drink from the water of the well near the gate in his old home town, where he was born. The enemy is in possession of that town, and it may cost us our lives, but the king is old, and it would greatly please him. Shall we try?" His [31] friends said, "Yes, we will, and let us start at once." So they started off with quick steps and brave hearts. So quickly did they move that before very long they were in sight of the little town. They could see the soldiers moving about the spring, but, like good soldiers, they secretly drew nearer and nearer without being seen. When the enemy was not looking these brave soldiers slipped down, and before the enemy knew what was happening, they thrust the flask into the waters of the spring and let it fill itself with the good water for the king. A shower of darts from the enemy flew about them, but they made their escape and safely reached their camp and king. Tears filled the eyes of the old king when he saw the flask and remembered the perils his faithful men had passed through. He did not drink of the water. It had cost too much. It was too precious for the lips of man. So he poured it out on the ground, which was the way this ancient people had of giving it to God. So you see our brave swordsman had something more than a strong arm, that would give a sword-thrust with mighty effect; he also had a big strong heart.

He loved the king. He served him with his heart and hand. His name is written on this sword. What was the name of this forgotten hero? I will read it for you, I have it written on this sword. Benaiah was his name. David was the name of the king. The well was just outside the little town of Bethlehem.

Let us speak his name again. Let us all repeat it together, and often, when we think of Bethlehem at Christmastime let us repeat the name of the brave hero, the swordsman of King David, and tell the story of the fight for water just outside the gates of Bethlehem, and [32] then tell the story of the Child Jesus who came to bring us the Water of Life from heaven, for did he not say, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life"?

In delivering this lesson hold the sword in your hand and refer to it whenever you use the name of Benaiah the swordsman.

[33]

10

WHAT CAN TAKE AWAY MY SINS?

OBJECTS: A Number of Lettered Cards

The teaching of this chapter is that faith alone in Christ can save. Prepare a large black card with the words "My Sins" painted upon it. Hold it up before the audience so all can see it, and remark: "My sins are dark and terrible. The Bible tells me they are like a thick cloud. (Isa. 44:22.) Note the first letter of sin is an S, which resembles a serpent in the act of striking its deadly blow. You cannot pronounce the letter S without hissing as a serpent. Sin is a deadly thing. It is poison for the heart and will. Sin is like a monster serpent coiled around our soul, and will at last crush out its life forever. I must get rid of my sins, They will not only ruin my own soul but will smite others also. Some years ago some scientific men made an investigation as to the cause of a contagious disease which had spread over a great city.

"It was discovered that a young man had been stealing goldfish which he put into a little tank in the floor of his room and covered it with boards to hide its secret place until he could sell them to another man.

"Soon after a great contagion sprang up in that vicinity, indeed in that very room, It began with him at first, and he was left crippled and blind and went limping along on crutches, a suffering permanent invalid. The contagion spread to others, and upon examination [34] made by scientific men from Warsaw and Berlin they found out these fish had died in the tank, and were of such a nature as to spread at once a contagion which became of a most malignant type. A scourge overspread the land and carried away tens of thousands of innocent people. Sin acts just like that. Every act of evil deposited in a heart given over to disobedience to God breeds a miasma, the fumes of which go out on the silent air, poisoning the life of others as well as that of the sinner.

"I must get rid of my sins for the sake of the other man as well as my own soul."

"How can this be done? What will take away my sins? Let me show how my sins can be all taken away."

Prepare another card about an inch smaller all around it. Paint on it the word "Working." Shall I work? Shall I do penance? Shall I suffer bodily torture? Will these works obtain my deliverance? Now place this card over the black card "My Sins," and you notice it does not cover my sins. They still are visible. Working cannot save me. The "working"' card is not big enough to do it.

Now prepare a card with the word "Weeping" upon it, making that two inches shorter on all sides, and place it over the "My Sins" card, and you notice it does not cover the black card. It is too short. Weeping will not wipe away my sins. Weeping will not wash out my sins.

[35] After this prepare a card smaller still on which is painted the word "Praying." Place this against the black card "My Sins," and again this card does not cover the "Sin" card. Praying for deliverance from sin is essential, but we must act as well as pray. We realize our lost condition, and hear the voice of God say, "Come unto me." We must do something more than just cry, "Save, Save." We must do. The Prodigal Son would never have left the far country if he had merely cried out in fervent prayer, "I have sinned against thee." But he arose and went. That was his way home. It is our way too.

Prepare now a card only half as large as "My Sins" card, painting on it the word "Feeling." Try now to cover the black "Sin" card with this card and it will not half do its work, Waiting for "feeling" is useless delay. It would never save you if it should come. All the feeling that is needed is to "feel your need of him."

At last prepare a red card about an inch larger all around than the sin card on which you have painted the [36] words "Faith in Christ." Now put this over the black "Sin" card, and you will perceive that it covers completely all your sins. It hides "My Sins" forever more. They are all taken away to stay, and as you say this remove the black "Sin" card and let it fall behind the desk, or cast it back of you, for this is what God does with our sins when he forgives them for Christ's sake. He casts them behind his back. Now lift up the red card, and the black has been taken away—and—taken away to stay. That is what faith in Christ will do. They are rolled away as a thick cloud forever.

[37]

11

WORDS OF ANGER

OBJECTS: A Large White Pasteboard Card with a Heart
in the Center; a Number of Black Pins; a Large Apple

I once heard a story about a little boy whose bad temper troubled him, because when in anger he would speak words that would cut and stick in, So in order that he might know how bad were the bad words he uttered he made a large white heart, and in its center he put a cross. He hung this card in his own room and called it "The Heart of Jesus." Whenever he said an angry word, he would stick in the heart a black pin, just to remind him of the fact that every cross word he said hurt Jesus. This soon brought him to his senses, and the heart with the black pins hurt him so greatly that it was a check to his bad speaking. This teaches us the fact that our sins hurt Jesus. When he was among men he wept over the sinner. Perhaps he does now.

Secure a pasteboard heart about one foot in diameter and pin it up on some background where the audience can see it, then tell the above story, and begin to put the black pins (or other pins) in the heart as you name the bad words the children say. Black pins are preferred as they will show more plainly by reason of the white background. After there are a number of pins in the heart call the attention to the fact that some of those piercing words were spoken about very small, simple things.

[38] There is an old story that tells us about two brothers who were out walking together. One night, one of them looking up to the sky said, "I wish I had a field as large as the night heavens." The other boy also looking up, said, "I wish I had as many oxen as there are stars in the sky." "Well," said the first brother, "How would you feed so many oxen!" The other brother replied, "I would turn them out into your pasture." "What," said the first brother, "would you do that without my permission?" "Yes, whether you would give permission or not." And so they quarreled, and when the quarrel was ended one of them had been slain by the other. It began by playful talk, but ended in tragedy. I think that boy must have filled the heart of Jesus with black pins of temper.

Temper is a blemish, a black spot, and often happy little children that are called "sunshine," can in a moment turn about and show the black spot of temper and spoil all the sunshine. A good mother trying to teach this lesson to her little girl held up before her a beautiful apple and asked her what she thought of it. She said it was perfect and lovely. The mother turned it around, and there on the other side was a large black spot. "Oh, that spoils it all," cried the little girl. Then the mother said to her little girl, "I think that resembles my little daughter," and the little girl knew what it meant. Her temper was her black spot. So every black pin in this heart came out of the black spot in the heart of the one who spoke the angry words. A few days later the beautiful apple lost its glory, the black spot had spread, and the apple soon decayed. This was to teach the little girl that if the sin of temper was [39] not thrown out, and persistently kept out, it would at last destroy the soul.

You can here introduce an apple fair and beautiful with a speck on the other side of it. This will help visualize the truth. Don't think that the black spot of temper will always remain on the hidden side, because it will find its way out sooner or later and will find you at last.

A schoolmaster one day missed several boys from school. He had a shrewd suspicion they were playing truant. In the afternoon the boys came to school and he asked one of them where he had been. The boy replied that his mother had kept him home that morning to mind the baby. "Let me look at your tongue," said the master, and he did so, and it was black. "It is just as I thought. You have spent the morning rambling in the woods, picking blackberries." He examined the tongues of the other boys and found them all black also. Their tongues had told on them. Black tongues of temper always tell out their black words. What shall I do with my angry words? My hot mouth so often shoots off evil words. You cannot slay them; when you think they are buried, they will walk out of their graves and fight again.

Bring your heart to Jesus, because your tongue only says what your heart whispers to it, Ask Jesus to give you daily good thoughts and let them speak out in good words.

Once I read a fairy tale about a good little boy. Every time he spoke there fell from his lips a piece of gold. He grew more beautiful every day, and at last married the daughter of a king. This is only a fairy [40] tale, but it teaches us a real lesson. When we say kind words the angels treasure them in heaven as pure gold.

Now take the pins out from the heart, and cut out a number of blocks of gold paper, and as you recite the good words pin them on the heart of Jesus. Such people are precious in his sight. They are his priceless jewels.

[41]

12

THE COPPER-FACE GIRL

OBJECT: An Old Penny with a Indian Girl's Face on It

We all love to have our names written in important places. When I was in the Tower of London, I found one of the walls so filled with names written there, that it seemed to me to be impossible for any one to write another name. They wanted to be remembered. I think we all do. I want to tell you a true story about a little girl that had her picture engraven upon copper. She did not plan to do this, she gained this publicity unsought, and yet her face was in more homes in this land than any other. Even the homes of the poorest were glad to get it. The rich also rejoiced to look into her sweet face. Now look sharp at your penny, and you will see an Indian face. Look again with both eyes, and let me ask you, Do you see Indian features there? I do not think you do, not even the slightest trace of them, because the girl on the penny was not an Indian at all. Look again, and you will see it is the face of a gracious American girl. This is the story of how this sweet little American girl got her face made over in copper and stamped on an American penny. Her name was Sarah Longacre Keen. She lived in Philadelphia and died there a few years ago. For thirty-five years she was the Secretary of the Philadelphia Branch of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. One day, when she was a child, five or six years [42] old, a delegation of Indians from the Northwest visited Washington. They came to see the sights of the great capital and to hold a pow-wow, with the Great White Chief—the President. After they had spent some time in Washington they visited Philadelphia. While here, among other places they were shown the U.S. Mint. The little girl's father was a master engraver, and connected officially with the great money factory. He was a good, generous man, and invited the Indian delegation to some sort of an entertainment at his house. One of the Chiefs had his attention attracted to the little Miss. He was so pleased by her figure and face and maidenly bearing that in a mood of sportiveness, he took off his head-dress and put it on her head. This did not frighten the little girl and so she stood still for a moment and let the people look at her. Then they all laughed and greatly enjoyed the joke, Some one present had an eye for beauty, and also artistic skill, and he was so struck by the appearance that little Sarah made in her Indian hat that he sketched her on the spot.

The sketch was engraved by her father. Later on when the Government wanted a new face on the new one-cent pieces they chose this engraving, and so little Sarah Keen's features became the best known face in America. This is the story of the Little Copper-face, and this was the way a little Philadelphia girl was remembered.

There is a better way to be remembered than stamping your face upon copper. We could not do this if we wished, but we can all be remembered by God, if we do his will, and try to do our best to serve him. This is the way to engrave our names on his heart. There was once a Bible-woman by the name of Phœbe. We read about [43] her in Romans 16:1. She is there called "Phœbe, our sister." She is mentioned only once in the New Testament. A small matter, you say, to make her remembered forever. She did one simple, little act; yet we are all rich today because she did it. She carried Paul's letter to the Roman church which is now called by that name. A great French writer has said that Phœbe carried the foundation stones of the great temple of Christian doctrine. This was all she did. We never hear anything about her after that act, but think what it has meant for the great Christian church, and think what it means to all Bible readers today! In that letter, more than all others, is God's grace revealed to us.

She worked for Jesus in a humble way, and in such a simple way that all children can follow her example. She just carried things for God. She was God's errand-girl, so her character is engraved on the bronze tablet of Biblical history. Paul says, "I commend unto you Phœbe." God will commend you if you do as Phœbe did.

In delivering this talk hold up the penny as you describe it. This particular penny is a bit rare these days, but the banks will supply them, and some of the older people who have "savings" from other days, will gladly make an exchange for it. If you found it possible, you would make a great impression on the little hearts if you should give each an old penny with the Indian head.

[44]

13

MAKING A CHURCH FLAG

OBJECTS: The Word "Come" Made by Flag Signals

One of the best church flags is the flag of invitation.

Let me tell you how you can make one to hang from your steeple point, and decorate your meeting-room. You can also carry it in your church parade, and hang it over the pulpit when you give your lesson.

It is a set of signal flags which spell out "Come." Here are the flags arranged as a streamer. They can be made of bunting or silk and fastened on a cord in the following order.

These flags say "Come" to the outside world. It is your invitation in the air.

The colors can be made to mean "White—Purity". Here is the church to which you are invited. You will be taught that purity is a gift from God, through Jesus Christ. It is given away in the church at the meeting. Come, and receive it.

The Red stands for the blood of Jesus, which makes black white, and takes away sin.

The Yellow stands for Glory. Yellow is the dominating color in the sunset which shows forth the glory of God. The glory of life is produced by the forgiveness of sin. The glory we can take with us to the City of Glory. The life all-glorious is the life offered by the church. The salvation of the soul makes the soul shine forth like the sun.

[45]

[46]

Note that the last flag of the word "Come" contains the three colors of our flag, the red, white, and blue; so in the church the best citizens are made and stay made. The flag calls you to the ascending life.

These flags are like the bells around the high priest's garments—the bells of invitation. When the Jews heard the clang of those bells in the hem of the high priest's garment they knew it was a call to worship. The bells said, "Come, worship!" The word "come" occurs six hundred and forty-two times in the Bible. It is "Come to the supper"; "Come to the waters"; "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come"; "Come," "Come now"; "Come to Jesus." The call is for all. Hang this signal on the top of the world, the highest mountaintop, it tells the same story to all people, "Come." A minister of the gospel hastening to the train with only a moment to spare, was stopped by a gentleman, who ran after him, and asked him this question, "O, sir, stop a moment, I am anxious about my soul, and I want to know what to do." "Well," said the pastor, "my train is just here, and I can only say turn to Isaiah 53:6. Go in at the first 'all,' and go out at the last 'all.'" "What does he mean," said the stranger. He went to the Bible and read the text: "All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." So he repeated to himself the minister's message "Go in at the first 'all,' come out at the last 'all.'" So he read the text again, "All." "All we like sheep have gone astray." That was the first "all." "Yes, that is where I am to 'go in,' I'll go." He believed it. "Hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." The second [47] "all." "Jesus bore the sins of 'all,' so he bore my sins. That is where I go out, through the last 'all.' I go in as a sinner on the first 'all,' I come out through the last 'all' because my sins were all laid on him"; and in so doing he rejoiced in Christ, his Saviour. That is what the signal "Come" says. Hear it singing, "Come." Listen to the call of the signals which, interpreted by Isaiah 53:6, rings out, "Come in at the first 'all,' go out at the last 'all.'" And so make your church flag, and as you read its meaning, go and tell it to all the people.

[48]

14

AN IMMORTALITY LESSON

OBJECTS: A Collection of Colored Eggs

The Indian, years before he was told by the white missionary that when a man dies he shall live again, believed in the life beyond. When the chieftain was buried they placed his weapons of stone and bronze in the grave with his body, in order that he might pursue his life in the Happy Hunting-grounds. He lived on and was a hunter still.

Our tombstones were first placed on our graves that the departed spirit, if he should return, might find his body and learn also that he had not been forgotten. The egg was used to tell the story in the earliest ages. In fact, the egg has found a place in the earliest traditions. A fable tells us the earth was hatched from a monstrous golden goose egg. Tradition tells us how the egg broke in two, and one-half became the firmament, and the other, half, the earth. This is the way the earliest people explained the making of this old world. To their minds the golden egg seemed to be the prison from which this world was released. Here exhibit a gilded egg. This is the strangest story ever told in which the egg played so important a part, containing the great world which was released as a living chick from the dead egg.

Here in remote history the egg taught that life sprang from the egg prison. The practise of giving eggs to friends is a very old one. It commenced way back with [49] the Persians. It was also a custom among the Egyptians, Jews, and Hindus. When it was first used among Christians it symbolized the resurrection, or life from the tomb. It was always colored red to remind the people of the blood of Christ shed for sinners.

The red egg stood for the blood of Calvary, and the grave in Joseph's Garden. This egg contains a germ of life; under proper conditions the life of the chicken will break the shell and come forth. At this point hold up the red-colored egg. The people of long ago often placed eggs on the graves of their friends which told forth the fact that they believed in immortality. They just thought so. Now we know so, for Jesus said, "I shall be raised the third day." That is the reason that on Easter Day the people rejoice because Christ came up from the grave, and so shall we. This the ancients only thought, but now we know it as a fact. That makes Easter such a glad day.

We call the place where we bury the dead "cemeteries," which means "sleeping-places." It is a beautiful thought to think of the little graves as little cradles where rest the bodies of little children, but only our bodies sleep there, for the soul has gone to the God who made it. So the egg at Eastertime is a symbol of immortality, and we should all be glad we have seen the red egg which stands for the resurrection of Christ because he has told us the story of heaven and how to get there. The origin of the old English word "heaven" is a curious one. It means "to cast up"': so the sky is a place "cast up" or "heaved up" or "heaven" as we speak of it today.

Martin Luther used to tell his children that heaven [50] was a beautiful garden full of merry children in little golden coats gathering apples under the trees and shouting in great glee. Luther was just trying as best he could to describe heaven as a happy place for little boys and girls. Jesus lives, says the broken egg, and because he lives we shall live also, and so we all want to go to heaven at last.

Once upon a time a minister took his son to learn mountain-climbing. Being a stout lad he grew tired and stopped for a little rest. The father went on alone, and when he arrived at the top of the mountain, he found a splendid seat for the boy and marked his name on it, so he might easily find it when he arrived at the top. Then he called down to the boy: "James, my son, come up here. There is a seat up here on the top of the mountain, and your name is written on it."

This gave new strength to the boy, and he rose to his feet once more, and climbed to the top, and at last found his seat with his name upon it. His father had gone on before him and prepared a place for him. So God calls today: "My son, up, up to the top. There is a mansion prepared for you. Your name is graven on the door. Turn this way and keep on climbing, and at last you will find heaven, the top of the universe."

[51]

15

"OFF FOR HAPPY LAND"

OBJECTS: A Piece of Plain Note-paper Containing a
Sentence Written in Invisible Ink

Do you want a free ticket for Happy Land? If you do, stop and listen, and I will tell you how to get one. All the world seem to fix their eyes on the golden country, but the road is so narrow that few there be that find it. All people are pilgrims seeking that fair land, but at the end of their trail they meet the wreckage of the failures of the ages. Harken, and I will tell you how to find the trail that leads to the Land of Happiness. Once upon a time a lad called upon a wise man and asked him if he would direct him to this land of joy. The wise man in reply said to him, "I will not only direct you to the country of smiles but will give you a free ticket that will take you there." He handed him a little slip of paper upon which the lad could see nothing. To him it was a blank. He told the wise man so, but the wise man replied, "Hold the paper close to a lighted lamp so the heat thereof may strike the paper with full force, and then will appear the lines which will answer your question, and this will be your sure passport to your destination." This the lad did. When the heat struck the blank paper, there appeared in distinct letters the sentence, "If you would find the land of happiness become a Christian and then do some good thing for Jesus every day." This the lad tried with all his heart [52] to do, and did do it, and the smiles he planted on the face of the other man, reflected a beautiful light on his own face, and his heart was bounding in joy. This is the secret trail, walk in it.

But all this depends on the fact that your own heart is right with God, and that Jesus has come to live with you. Then every good thing you do is done as unto him, and his "thank you" sets all the joy-bells ringing. That is the Happy Land, and this is the way to find it. A woman came to her pastor one day and said she was very miserable and unhappy, she could not find that contentment of heart which she declared she heard others say they possessed. He told her the secret of being happy in the Lord, and said: "There is a poor old lady living at the foot of the street. Go and see her, and take with you a basket full of good things; give them to her, and you will take away with you a heart filled with joy. The door of her house is the open gate to Happy Land." This was the wise man's secret, "Do some good today for Jesus."

Jesus went about doing good, and in so doing he was revealing the open way to the land of heart happiness.

The French people have a story about a wonderful Happy Land called Colaigne. It is full of men and women always happy. In this land there are no storms of rain or snow. It is never too cold or too hot. There is no lightning or whirlwind, no war, no sickness, no death.

White monks and gray nuns live in a fair abbey built of gems and spices. The ladies are all fair and every month the people all have new clothes. In this wonderful land there is a bubbling fountain. Whoever drinks of its waters never grows old, and if those who are old drink of it they become young and vigorous again, be they ever so old or ugly. Now I suppose all of the little folks are saying they would like to live in that land, but I am sure you would find when you reached there it was not a land of pure happiness. Happiness does not come from having everything done for you. The wise man was speaking the real truth when he gave as his secret message that doing things for others in the name of Jesus was passing through the gates to the City of Real Happiness.

In preparing for this lesson use a piece of plain writing-paper, with a match sharpened to a point write in lemon juice "Be a Christian," and "Do some good thing for Jesus every day." When it is dry it will be invisible. When held up to the heat of a lamp it will become visible so all can read it. In doing this before the class first hold up the paper before them, showing both sides to be blank. At that time tell the story of the wise man and blank paper given to the lad, then hold it before the flame of lamp until the heat has had sufficient time to bring out the writing. Experiment with this while preparing the lesson so you can regulate your talking according to the time it takes to develop the hidden words. There are many other lessons you can give, using invisible ink, that will teach a strong lesson. "What Is in the Heart," can be the title of another lesson. In this case cut out a paper heart, and write the word "Sin" on it. Call the lamp the Holy Spirit, and show that he brings out just what is in the heart.

You can also teach the lesson "The Secrets of the [54] Lord Revealed." Present a piece of paper that seems to be a blank, but it holds a secret hidden from our human eyes. Call the lamp the Word of God. Take the paper to the lamp of God's Word. Through that word he reveals his will to us, so we can read and understand. Lessons will multiply in your mind, as you think it through, which will be of great interest to your listeners.

[55]

16

FORGOTTEN HOLY NAMES

OBJECTS: A Number of Cards Contain the Names of
Forgotten Bible Characters Written on Them

"Lest we forget" sang the old English poet. Well, we do forget oftentimes some of the worthies of the Old Testament. Perhaps we have never heard of them, then this lesson will introduce us to them and help us not to forget them in the days to come.

Write the names of the people that you mention on a visiting-card, and hide these cards somewhere on the pulpit, and say: "I am about to introduce some strangers to you. A few good people that some of us have forgotten." Look behind the pulpit chair and on the floor pick up a visiting-card and say: "Here is a forgotten friend I want to introduce to you. The Dog."

Did I ever hear of him before? Well his name is among the greatest names in the Bible. He lived in a camp of travelers. He was known as The Dog. Some of us would be insulted to be called a dog. Often we speak of people as being "As mean as a dog," but any one who really understands dogs loves them. The dog is the first to greet you and the first to defend you, he is quick to forgive you, and will be faithful to you to the last.

This "dog" was faithful, courageous, and loving. He was made the leader of a small group of people that [56] went forth to discover something about a people who lived beyond the bushes in an enemy's land. They pressed their way under the guidance of "the dog" into the strange land. There they found the rich and fruitful vineyards, grapes, pomegranates and figs so large they did not know how to bring the fruits of the vine back to show the people in the camp. "The Dog" thought it out, and calling his fellow laborers to him, he put a stout stick across their shoulders to which he fastened the precious load. When the people saw "The Dog" returning with this wealth of good things they greeted them with shouts of joy. The friends of "The Dog" said, "These are the fruits of the enemy's country, but we will never be able to conquer the land because the soldiers protecting the land are very many and very strong."

Then the people cried out in despair and said, "Let us get another leader." Then "The Dog" stepped forward, and with a confident look in his face and a determined ring in his voice stretched forth his hand to command silence. There was a great hush among the people, and all was quiet in their ranks. Then "The Dog" said: "The land is splendid and rich and fruitful. God is on our side—we have no need to be afraid of the giants. The Lord is with us, fear them not." At last "The Dog" and his companions marched into the land, and found it flowing with milk and honey. Who was "The Dog"? His name was "Caleb" which is the Hebrew name for dog, and Captain Joshua was his companion. Read the full story if you wish. Its record is found in Numbers 13 and 14.

In closing remark we have giants to fight today— [57] Pride, Anger, Sloth, Untruthfulness—but never forget the words of "The Dog," "The Lord is with us, fear them not."

Here is the story of another forgotten character.

This story can be used for a second address under the title of "Forgotten Names" or it can be used with this lesson also.

You now bring out from under the pulpit, a bundle of old papers which you remark are to be thrown into the waste-basket as worthless, but in the act of throwing them into the basket which you have put on the platform previously you find another visiting-card with another forgotten name upon it, which you now state you have rescued from the papers doomed for the fire. On the card you have written the words "The Mountaineer." This man was born in a wild mountain home. His parents passed away in his early days, and he could never remember them. As he wandered on the hillsides he talked with God, and the hills seemed to speak to him. He grew to manhood and became strong in body, and fleet of foot. He was a magnificent runner, and was so strong he once went forty days without food. The King of the land was a weak man with a wicked wife, and the King hated him because he was so good. One day this weak King and the young man met, and the King hissed out, "You are the man who is bringing ruin upon the land." He answered: "I have not brought ruin upon the land, but you and your father's house have forsaken the commandments of God, and worship idols. I challenge you, therefore, bring all your people to the mountain, bring your idols and their prophets, and let us see who is right." The King agreed [58] to this, and at the appointed time they were all present on the mountain.

The tall Mountaineer, with bronzed face, hair streaming down his shoulders, wearing a rough coat of camel's hair, stepped forward and said: "Why halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if the idols be God, follow them. Let us each build an altar, and put a bullock on it, but put no fire under it; then each of us in turn will call upon his God, and the God that answers by fire let him be God." Then he said to the false prophets, "It is your turn first." The heathen danced around their altar all the morning, and when noon came they were still dancing, but no fire came down. Then the Mountaineer called out to them and said, "Cry a little louder, perhaps your God is asleep or gone on a journey." Maddened by these words, they renewed their shouting, cutting themselves with knives and lancets until their blood splashed on them, but no fire came down. When the time for the evening sacrifice came they ceased their crying, and the Mountaineer called the people to come to him, and he told his men to throw barrels of water over his altar: after this was done, he prayed, and scarcely had he finished his prayer when there came out of the heavens a vivid flash of light which consumed the offering on the altar, and the people fell on their faces, and a great cry went up: "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God." Who was this "Mountaineer"? He was the Tishbite, Elijah. The full story you will find in First Kings 18. This story teaches us the great fact that "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

[59]

17

I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS

OBJECTS: A Block with the Word "My Sins" Painted
on It, Another Block with the Words "Jesus"
Marked on It

This lesson illustrates the truth that our sins were laid on Jesus. He bore them in his own body on the tree. This is the old Bible doctrine that Christ took our place on the cross, and took upon himself the penalty that our sins had brought on our souls. "This is Jesus, King of the Jews," Pilate caused to be written and nailed over the cross. We take down the superscription and in its place put up another which reads, "He died for me," and under this line write our own name. This is how we illustrate this truth. Place in the hollow of your hand the block marked "Sin." Cause the block to be painted black, because sin is a deadly thing. "The wages of sin is death." It is the mark of death. As you hold the sin block in your hand you say: "Sin is now on me. I must bear my own sins." Bunyan was right, according to the Scriptures, when he made Pilgrim carry a burden. It was a heavy load, and Pilgrim exclaimed, "Who shall deliver me?" He felt his sin was on him, and it was a burden too heavy for him to carry. "Who will help?" Send out the S.O.S. call, which being translated in the terms of the gospel means, "Save, oh save!" "Shall we hide it or try to forget it?" Suiting your action to your words you place the [60] block in your pocket, and you think since it is hidden it has been taken away. But the angels saw you hide it. God's great eye is fixed on it. It won't sink out of sight. Sin is a sticky thing. It hangs around.

An old sailor, who in his young days had been a smuggler, and had been in prison for the offense, said: "One day there was a revenue cutter heading straight for us, and we had on board a cargo of tobacco. Well, if we were caught we knew every man of us would go to jail, the ship would be sunk, and the tobacco confiscated. So we pitched the stuff overboard as fast as we could. When this was done, the captain sent up the cabin-boy to report the approach of the cutter. In an instant he was down-stairs again, his face as white as a sheet, and gasping for breath. 'What is it,' said the captain. 'The tobacco is overboard, but it won't sink!' said the boy. Yes, there was the tobacco floating all around the ship, proclaiming our guilt." No, sin won't sink. It won't stay hid. We cannot be separated from our sins in that way.

Take it out of the pocket and say: "The almighty eye of the Great Father can see the contents of our pockets and discover the hiding-place of our sins." Hold the block in the hand and say: "Still the sin is on me. What shall I do to be saved? It will sink me into the darkness of the next world, I shall be lost forever."

A little girl was anxious for the conversion of her dear father. He accompanied her to the revival meeting, but when she asked him to give his heart to Jesus, he said, "Not now, some other day." This caused the little girl to cry herself to sleep that night, and in her sleep she had a dream. This was the dream. She [61] seemed to see a throng of angels coming in through the window, and passing into her father's room. This alarmed her greatly, for she thought they had come after her father, and remembering he had rejected Jesus the night before, she knew he was not ready to go, so she followed them and looked into the room. They all had gathered around her father's bed and had been trying to lift him up in their arms, and having failed she overheard one angel say: "He is too heavy for the angels. We cannot take him to heaven, for his sin is on him, and all the angels in the skies could not lift him." This startled the little girl, so she awoke from her dream. The next day she told her father the dream and said, "The angels said that you 'are too heavy for the angels.'" This thought caused the father to think— "to heavy for the angels"—and this thought brought him to Jesus, and he got rid of the sin on him. This is how he did it. It was the same way that Pilgrim got rid of his burden. He knelt at the foot of the Cross with a broken, penitent heart, and the burden of his sin rolled away.

Now take the block of sin, lay it on the larger block painted red and marked "Jesus," and say, "I now by faith lay my sins on Jesus, and they are all taken away, and taken away to stay." "He hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

[62]

18

THE LORD'S PRAYER IN CANDLES

OBJECTS: A Number of Colored Candles

In this chapter the truths of the Lord's Prayer are made to shine forth. This is done by the use of a number of common candles.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet," says the old true Book. We will turn on the light of the Lord's Prayer and let it shine into our hearts so that we may see God's truth.

1. "Our Father." Here introduce a tall white candle. Let this stand for the words "Our Father." Highest and tallest of them all. "The Higher Light." God is light. The Light of the World and the ages. Have this light burning before the meeting opens. Don't light it as a part of the exercise. This light never had a beginning. How dark this world would be if this light should grow dim or go out! But God is Our Father and he has promised he will never leave us alone, and in this prayer we are told to ask him for the things we need. A little chap was busy with his lessons, and they proved so hard for him to study that the tears began to flow down his little cheeks. His father noticed this and came over and sat by his side and helped him through with the hard part of the lesson. The father said, "Now crying did not help you, my son, did it?" The little fellow replied, "No, it did not help me, but it brought to my side some one who did." Prayer brings to our [63] side "Our Father in heaven," and he can and will help us.

2. "Who art in heaven." For this sentence secure a blue candle which reminds us of the blue heavens above us. God is beyond the blue, but by his light is everywhere, and from his throne in heaven is ever watching us. My own dear mother was a little old-fashioned mother, and from her window watched her children play in the backyard. Her watchful eye was ever on us, and if some wild boy of the street jumped over the fence and annoyed us, Mother saw him first, and came down-stairs into the yard, and the bad boy soon disappeared. My little brothers and myself were always glad for mother's watchful eye from the upper window. So our Father looks down from his window in heaven, and we are safe and happy because Father is looking down upon us.

3. "Hallowed be thy name." For this sentence secure a green candle. Green is the most enduring of colors. The cedar and pine are green all the year. Winter and summer it shows forth its green just the same. Green is the everlasting color. The name of God is the name "Everlasting." It will endure forever; so long as this old earth shall stand his name will be spoken, and by human hearts be supremely loved. When this world has passed away in the life of the ages his name will also be the highest and best of all. In this prayer we are taught to reverence this eternal name. This is the only part of the prayer where God seems to be thinking about himself, and asks his followers to protect and revere his name. A little girl, one night, closed her little prayer by saying, "and please, dear God, take good care of [64] yourself." She was thinking of God, so this prayer wants us to think of his name and keep it holy.

4. "Thy kingdom come." These words are represented by a purple candle. Purple is the royal color. The robes of the king are in purple. The decorations of the throne are all in this majestic color. Purple is the kingdom color. May God hasten the coming of the Royal Purple Day. You can help God to answer this prayer by trying to bring in his kingdom. Whenever you help one another, and are kind to each other, whenever you are truthful and faithful to God, whenever you let your light shine, then you are helping God to bring in his kingdom.

5. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This sentence can be represented by a brown candle representing the color of the earth, the brown ground of the world. If so desired, another blue candle may be introduced to represent, as in a former instance, the blue of the heavens. It would be best, if possible, to get a candlestick holding two candles to represent this truth. This should be done so the two blue candles may not be confused one with the other. The truth of God's will being done on earth as perfectly as in heaven is the cardinal truth of this sentence. A little boy who wanted to go out to the park with his mother, noticed it had begun to rain, and soon it was raining very hard. He turned to his mother and said, "Do you suppose God wanted it to rain?" His mother replied, "God knew best, and so sent the rain." The little boy replied, "I think it would be safe to let him have his own way." I think the little fellow was right. God knows best. His will must be done.

[65] 6. "Give us this day our daily bread." Represent these words by a yellow candle, yellow standing for the color of the golden grain from which we make our bread. This is a prayer for physical needs. The Greek word for bread means "food," so this is a prayer for all our temporal needs to sustain this present body, which is the present home of the soul. God wants to feed the world. He likes to give because he loves us. God also gave us the spiritual bread, the bread of life, which is his Son, and so supplies all our spiritual needs. Trust God, live simply, work honestly, and verily thou shalt be fed; so pray daily, "Give us this day our daily bread."

7. "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors." This sentence is represented by a silver candle, which is the color of the coin by which we pay our debts. This is a hard prayer for some of us to say, when we remember how some evil people have hurt us. This prayer tells us to forgive, because that is what God does when people by their wicked deeds hurt him. Put down the number 490, and as you look at it, what do you think it means? It contains a commandment of Jesus. This is just what Jesus means by that figure. It tells us how many times we are to forgive one another. He says we are to forgive seventy times seven. That gives us the figure 490. This prayer teaches us to forgive our enemy four hundred and ninety times, and by that time God will soften the heart of our foe, and he will no longer be an enemy.

8. "Lead us not into temptation." Here we introduce a red candle, red standing for sin, into which temptation, if we yield to it, is sure to lead us. In this prayer we are to pray to be delivered from sin. We must all have some kind of temptation, God had one [66] Son without sin, but he never had a Son without temptation. He says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him." So temptation resisted is blessed. How can we resist temptation? By going to God in prayer. When tempted pray the prayer of Jesus, "Bring us not into temptation," as a revised edition of this prayer puts it. You can resist temptation by keeping on God's side of the fence. An old minister said to a little boy who was trying to serve God, and he a Christian: "When tempted, my boy, kneel down and pray for God's help, but never climb over the fence into the devil's grounds, and then kneel down and pray for God's help. Pray from God's side of the fence." That was good advice. Do not run into temptation, never go on the devil's side of the fence.

9. "But deliver us from evil." The black candle is produced which represents the dark deeds from which we pray that we may be delivered. Black deeds are dead black, because the wages of sin is death. Keep the black out of our life. Evil thoughts are seeds from which black fruits of sin are raised. Think white thoughts, that will make our lives right, and we will not do evil things.

10. "For thine is the kingdom." Produce another double candlestick, holding first a purple candle standing for the words, "Thine is the kingdom," and a white candle representing the great white throne, the seat of God's power, God has power to do all the things we ask of him in this prayer. We have asked the Father Allpowerful to help us. He can, and he will. History tells [67] us of Hudson, the navigator, who was exploring in the arctic regions when his crew mutinied, and they put him and his son, and one or two sailors into a little boat, and left them to drift on the cold northern waters until death came and released them from all their hardships. The boat was found, months later, floating among the icebergs of the frozen Arctic Ocean. The father was in an upright position, as if steering the boat, with his little son between his knees, both frozen to death. You could see, by the tightened hand, how he had grasped the handle of the rudder, and by the terrible stare in his frozen eyes, what a determined man he was, but his face was full of despair and woe. He had not been able to save his son. Our Father has power to save all that come unto him, and power to keep them until the end.

11. "And the glory forever and ever." This sentence is represented by the orange candle. The orange color stands for the glory of God, as it is the dominant color in the glorious sunset from which shines forth the glory of God. The great painters of the Middle Ages represented the flame in the "burning bush" as being orange in color, which in their day was understood to stand for Jehovah. This last sentence is like a great doxology sung at the close of the prayer. It is like a grand organ chanting a loud "Amen." And now here we have the truth of the Lord's Prayer shining. No prayer is so full of divine radium as The Lord's Prayer. It is composed of sixty-six words, but this congress of words contains might and glory that have never before appeared in so many words. These sixty-six words are Holy Chapel Bells which call the world to prayer.

[68]

19

HOW GOD COVERS MY SINS

OBJECTS: Two Large Prepared Cards

How to get rid of our sin! This has been the question of the ages. The answer can be given in a second. "They must be taken away." Jesus, the Sin-bearer, must take them away if they are to be taken away to stay.

When the Standard Oil Company was trying to refine petroleum there was a substance they could not dispose of. It was black and sticky. They could not burn it, it would not burn; it made a mighty stench. They could not run it into the river, because it would kill the fish. So they offered a big reward to any chemist who could solve the problem.

Chemists took it and worked day and night on the problem. One day, a chemist walked into the office of John D. Rockefeller and laid down a pure white substance which we now know as paraffin.

Your heart is like that black substance. You cannot make it white, but Jesus can make is as white as snow. Look and listen. I will show you the good news. Prepare a piece of cardboard twelve inches square, have on it the outline of a heart with a big black dot in the center of it, and write over and under it "My Sins."

Hold this up before the audience as a gospel X-ray photograph of the heart. Sin is an affair of the heart. It is a bad heart condition. The gospel offers the only [69] cure. It comes down from heaven, Jesus brought it with him and gave it to the world.

Prepare also another card of the same size containing the words, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin."

One night Martin Luther had a dream, and he thought he saw himself standing before the judgment-bar. Looking into the open book he saw opposite his name a fearful lot of sins. Some were sins of commission, others sins of omission. Some were deliberate sins, others sins of thoughtlessness.

Satan, standing at his side, said: "Behold your record [Hold up the heart]. There is no hope for you." But just then he saw to his great joy, written above the crimson stain, the words, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." Now place the second card over the first, and the sins have all disappeared, and are under the blood forever. This is the way to take away sin, so it is taken away forever.

In old Scotland, in the lake district, they tell a quaint little story about a lonely little pool of water on the mountainside of Lock Lomond called the Fairy Loch. If you look into it you will see a great many colors on the surface of the water due to the varied nature of the minerals which form the bottom. There is a legend which says that fairies used to dye things from these waters for the people.

One day a shepherd brought a black sheep to the Fairy Loch and asked the fairies to dye it white. This the fairies could not do. They could dye white any color, but not the black. This was an impossibility, so in their despair they threw all their colors into the Loch at [70] one time. This gives the Loch the colorful appearance now. No fairy or any human power can change the black of sin into the white of righteousness.

The pool of life is full of these fancy colors that declare that they have the power to change black to white, but they are only bubbles on the surface. Don't trust them. This is a matter for eternity. God alone can change black into white. The blood of Jesus Christ takes all sin away.

[71]

20

WHAT THE FLAG SIGNALS SAY

OBJECTS: Four Plain Flags of Different Colors

Flags have a language. They talk to men when they are employed as signals. The standard signals of the railroad system send forth most important messages. Let us see what they teach on the Railroad of Life.

Prepare four common bunting or muslin flags, mount them on a plain flagstaff about the size of those used by the flagman at the railroad crossing.

First Flag. A red flag. This signifies danger, and when displayed it means "Stop." As you wave it, ask the little folks what things that cross our path need to be stopped. Help them by naming them first. Profane words should be stopped. The commandment which says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" is a red flag that God waved out from Mount Sinai. Flag profane words which means, "Stop, don't swear."

Rev. Doctor Scudder, the celebrated missionary to India, on his return passage, while standing on the deck of the steamer with his son, heard some one using profane language. "My friend," said the doctor, "this boy, my son, was brought up in a heathen country, but in all his life he never heard a man blaspheme his Maker until now." A man reporting this event said what a shame it was that a heathen had a cleaner lip than a Christian. He was wrong. The true Christian never [72] takes the name of his Maker in vain. He always flags that word. He throws out the red flag of danger.

Stealing needs the red flag also. Boys and girls are often tempted to take that which does not belong to them. It may be a pencil from the school desk next to them. Whatever it may be it is stealing. God flung out the red flag from Mount Sinai when he said, "Thou shalt not steal."

A boy was arrested in Buffalo recently for the theft of a bar of gold from a jewelry firm of New York City. The gold was worth $1,500. When asked why he had taken it, the boy said, "I was tired of working for almost nothing, and thought I could go out West and lay the foundation of a fortune with this."

What a foundation that would have been, a foundation made of a broken commandment of God. There are many people thus building today. They steal from the poor, giving scant measure to the tradesman, and stealing the good name of their companions. This is a bad foundation to build on. Flag the act of stealing.

Second Flag. A yellow flag. This stands for Caution. It means "Go slow, be careful." There are a great many things in life that may be harmless in themselves, but must be handled with care. Fire is a very useful thing. It prepares our food, and gives us comfortable heat for our homes, but we must handle fire with care, lest it break away from us and bring destruction to us all. So there are many acts we must watch, because if we do not heed the Yellow Flag of Caution it will bring great trouble into the world. We should always plant the yellow flag in the center of our amusements. Amusements, when they are pure and good, are right for us all. [73] There is no harm in clean pleasures. God wants us to enjoy them, because we shall have pleasure forevermore in heaven, but here below evil pleasures are so mixed with the good that we must use the yellow flag of caution. Ask the children to name other things in which we must use caution, by reminding them that all doubtful things belong to this class. The yellow flag of caution should always fly over things we are not sure about.

Third Flag. A blue flag. This flag is called the "working flag." When it is displayed on the track, it means the trackmen are working there. Often they are repairing the road, or working on a wreck. The blue flag, therefore, stands for work. God plants this flag in our path every hour. Boys and girls with bright eyes see this flag flying, and start and get busy. There is an office boy in Chicago of whom his employer is justly proud. He likes to tell how he came to take him on. Busy at his desk one morning, he looked up to see a little fellow waiting, cap in hand, to speak to him. He went on with his work and in about three minutes the boy spoke to him. "Excuse me, but I am in a hurry." "Oh, you are, well what are you in a hurry about?" "Got to be in a hurry. Left school day before yesterday to go to work, and haven't struck a job yet. If you don't want me, say so, and I'll look somewhere else. I can't waste any time. The only place where I stay long is where they pay me." "When can you come to work?" asked the surprised merchant. "I'm here now," said the boy, "and I'd have been to work five minutes ago, if you had said so."

This lad saw the blue flag hanging from the window of the merchant's office, and he walked right in and reported [74] for service at once. Over the gateway of the Lord's vineyard this blue flag is flying today. Jesus put it there, and on it is written in letters of gold, "Son, go work today in my vineyard." Let us walk in, and be as anxious to work for God as the lad was for the merchant. If we have an anxious heart and want to work with all our heart, we will see the blue flag flying everywhere. Lift up your eyes, and behold the world waving with blue flags.

Fourth Flag. A green flag. This signifies "Go ahead, road clear." The church flies the green flag. Walk in. It is the gate to the road that has been made clear for you. Walk in. Walk in, the flag is green.

The green flag is waving from the foot of the Cross. All is clear from that point to go. Go straight ahead. Ride over obstacles in the road. Keep going, and you will find God with your pardon all prepared for you and ready for your taking. He will also dispatch a guard of angels to go with you who will bear the green flag. They know the way of God; follow them and the green flag.

At last, my dear reader, when the sunset comes and the day of mortal life is ending, and you are looking out over the sea of eternity, may you see the green flag flying there. Then you will know "All is clear—go ahead."

It may give a good setting to this lesson if you should ask a boy or girl to come to the platform, and hold the flags as you present them one by one. Hold a grand review of the four flags and ask questions as to their meaning. This will help you to plant these flags in the hall of memory of old and young.

[75]

21

THE DEVIL'S GOAT

OBJECTS: A Number of Wooden Blocks and a Piece
of Stove Coal

It is good and proper to have real friends; friends that play straight and stick to the end. Evil companions are Satan's road-agents to hold us up, and rob us of the best we have. It is easy to sin with the crowd.

Sin masses men together until they think they are strong and often declare themselves right because "They all do it." This is a hard lesson to learn, and few there are who learn it early in life. A daughter asked her father's permission one day to visit a gay young friend of the world. Her father said, "I cannot allow it." Then she replied, "Then you must think me uncommonly weak." The father picked up a piece of coal [you do likewise] from the hearth and handed it to his daughter, but she hesitated to accept it. "Take it, my child," said he, "it will not burn you." The daughter obeyed, and the milky whiteness of her hand had instantly gone. The father said, "We must be careful how we handle coal, if it doesn't burn it may blacken."

No boy or girl can spend an hour with an evil companion and be one with them without coming away with a stain inside. If we continue with them, it is a direct route, fast express line, to fall with them. To illustrate this fact, set up the blocks endwise in a straight line a short distance apart. Knock down the first block, [76] and all the others will fall with it. Now raise the last block, and see if they will all rise with it. But no, if once down they must all be raised one by one. How easy it is to fall with a crowd, but when we want to return we must come back one by one. Don't walk in the sinner's way or stand in the way of the transgressor, for together they will all fall into the pit.

Be on your guard. Don't handle the black coal of evil companionship. If it does not burn, it will soil.

One day a minister of the gospel was sitting in the office of a superintendent of a large abattoir, when a large goat came in and rubbed his head against the superintendent, "What is the meaning of that?" asked the minister. He replied, "Large flocks of sheep are often delivered to the slaughter-houses, and in order to get them easily into the place of death, Judas, the goat, is always on hand, and never fails to trot and lead them to the gate which leads to the gangway that takes them to the slaughter."

Beware of the Devil's Goats. They are working overtime. Walk in the narrow path and with the Good Shepherd. He slays the devouring beast seeking to destroy the sheep bearing his name. Don't tramp with sinners; stand alone. Stand alone in God's strength, and you stand forever.

Now take one of the blocks, stand it up endways; put a Bible on each side of it, and you will notice it is too far away from the other blocks to be hurt by them, and so stands securely, and can never be overthrown.

[77]

22

SHINING TRUTH

OBJECTS: An Assortment of Candles Teaching a Number
of Lessons

In this chapter you will find a few brief candle-light lessons which you can use when you wish to give a series of short talks of seven minutes. They can be arranged into one whole sermon if so desired. It is a cluster of shining truth candles, arrange them as you like.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Arrange ten candles in a straight line. Select blue candles, because they are called "Blue Laws," but show that the light is white because it is night, and they have been shedding light for the whole dark world.

The universal laws of the nations are taken from these great legal lights. They are God's lights, because they came from God, and if the world ever extinguishes them the world will be lost in hopeless darkness forever. Produce two yellow candles which stand for the two commandments Christ gave which contain the truth of all the Ten Commandments. This is how the blue laws turn to gold.

THE HIDDEN LIGHT

Produce a candle from a box in the corner. This represents a hidden light which does not shine even "in its own corner." It is a light hidden under a bushel. [78] Many a soul has fine powers to serve the world for Jesus, but they are hidden in the dark box of disuse, and are worthless in the black world. They have buried the talent. Take it out of the box, light it, and place it on top of the box, and say, "Henceforth thou shalt be as a city set on a hill whose business it is just to shine."

THE VANITY FAIR CIRCLE

Arrange a semicircle of a number of highly ornamented candles. Name them Mr. Fine Clothes, Miss Fine Feather, Mrs. Good Opinion, Miss Show Off, etc. This is an exclusive circle, some of the noted 400 giving a little pink tea. Now bring in a plain white candle and say: "After all, this white candle shines forth as brightly as any one of them. It makes no noise, says nothing about itself, but just goes on and shines. It is not the clothes which make the light of life shine the brighter."

EXAMPLE CANDLES

Arrange on a table a long row of unlit candles. Light the first one, the second one from the first, the third, from the second one, and so one until the end of the line. This illustrates the power of a good example. One follows after another.

THE PRODIGAL SON IN CANDLES

This is the dear old story of the Prodigal Son in candles. Produce a solitary candle. This represents the boy at home. Surround it with a number of other candles, calling them the Prodigal's family. He feels he is all alone. He is not happy with parents [79] and brother, so goes out where he may shine. Now move the light to the other end of the table. This you may call the "far country." Here bring a few other lighted candles and put them around the Prodigal light, and call them the gay company he found in the white way of the new land. Now take all the lights away except the Prodigal light, and say: "Now he is poor and alone. His gay companions have taken their departure, they have forsaken him and left him in want and poverty." Move his light to another part of the platform or place it on the floor. He is now down and almost out. He is feeding swine in the field. He is left all alone. No man cares for the swine-tenders. Now bring in a small yellow candle and place this beside him and say, "This represents memory," so he thinks of his Father's home and his Father's bread—enough and to spare, and as he thinks he says he will arise, and go home again. (Here remove the "memory" light.) Place another light in the middle of the table representing the Great Father who comes out to meet him. Now take both the lights back to the old home. At this point bring in a cluster of lights to represent the neighbors and friends who have come to greet him, and rejoice with his Father. "And they began to be merry." Then from another corner produce a candle which represents the elder brother, who would not go in to the banquet because of his dislike for his brother. Now take a light from the Home Cluster representing the Father, take it over to the Elder Brother light, and bring both lights back to the feast. Sing "Brighten the Corner," and drive home the lesson of coming back to the light, to Father and home.

[80]

THE HOT TEMPER CANDLE

This candle represents the angry man, the man with the ungovernable temper. With a good rasp, file off an ounce from the fire end of a poker. The iron filings produced are perfectly combustible, as may be proved by sprinkling them over the flame of a candle. As they descend into the flame they take fire, each particle burning like a star—producing, in fact, miniature fireworks.

The little shower of sparks will greatly impress the small eyes and will not be forgotten. (See Fig. above.)

SHINING THE LONGEST FOR JESUS

An evangelist was talking to a meeting of children. He illustrated his talk by bringing out a row of candles [81] on a board. A very long candle was at one end and a short candle at the other. Between the long and short candles there were candles of various heights. He said by these candles he wanted to represent the Grandfather, the Grandmother, Father and Mother, and boys and girls, and the baby of the family who had never heard of Jesus until a missionary came, whom he represented by a lighted candle, and then they gave their hearts to Jesus, and from that day loved and served him. He then lit all the candles and said, "The whole family are now shining for Jesus." He then asked which candle represented the Grandmother, the Grandfather, and so on. They all thought the tallest candle would represent the oldest of the family, and said that one must stand for Grandfather. The evangelist said "No, that stands for the baby, the youngest member of the family," and then said, "Do any of you know why?" Presently a little fellow piped out, "I know why, he has the chance to shine the longest for Jesus." That was a wonderful answer, and it made a great impression on the audience. It was the heart of the lesson, Thus we find a message in the candle. Hear it. See it.

[82]

23

THE BEATITUDES IN COLORS

OBJECTS: A Number of Colored Ribbons Illustrating
the Truth of Each Beatitude

This is a lesson for older heads. It illustrates the opening verses in the Sermon on the Mount.

Arrange a number of ribbons upon a cross-piece in the following order. If using ribbons is too costly, cut out strips from cheaper goods of the proper color and use them.

1. Gray. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Gray is the color of humility, and the poor in spirit are God's humble ones.

2. Black. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Black is the color of mourning.

3. Violet. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Violet is the color of the meek and lowly.

4. White. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." White stands for righteousness.

5. Red. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Red is the color of love, and mercy is the fruit of love.

6. Gold. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Gold stands for heaven, the golden home of God. It is there that we shall see him.

7. Purple. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they [83] shall be called the children of God." Purple is the royal color. We are children of the King. We bear the family purple mark.

8. Orange. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Orange is the color of the setting sun, and stands for the glory of God. We shall see the glory of God's kingdom in heaven.

9. A cluster of ribbons, or one ribbon with colored stripes on it, represents the stripes of the garments which the Prophets wore who were persecuted. "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

As each color is put in its place, enlarge on the teaching of the Beatitude for which it stands. Fasten a little sleigh-bell on the base of each ribbon so they will jingle as did the bells on the skirt of the high priest. So the truths of the Beatitudes are like golden bells sending forth their message of truth to the world.

[84]

24

THE GOSPEL IN THE FLAG

OBJECTS: One Large Flag and a Number of Small Flags

For patriotic occasions this lesson, I trust, will prove to be of value to you. Too much front space cannot be given our flag. Lawlessness and defiance to our Constitution is everywhere pronounced. Use the flag often, and show that we, as Christians, love our flag because it preaches the gospel as well as America's independence.

Secure a number of little flags, ask the children in the audience to come forward and occupy the front seats, then pass out to them the flags. Let them hold them in their hands as you bring out the gospel lessons from the folds of Old Glory. Notice we have three colors in our flag, red, white, and blue. The Red teaches us that the gospel declares that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. That is the heart of the gospel. God loved the world and gave his Son for the Cross. Every time I look at the red of the flag it makes me think of Calvary. I am glad the red comes first in the flag. It is first in the gospel also.

After this comes the White. This is correct also according to the gospel. The blood makes the heart white as snow. Purity is a great gospel lesson taught by the flag. After this comes the Blue which stands for faithfulness. We say of the boy who stands firm for the right, "He is true blue." This is a mighty gospel truth. Faithfulness is a rare virtue, but the gospel tells [85] us, we must be faithful to the end in order to be saved.

Now note the Stars. They make us think of the star of Bethlehem and the sweet Christmas story. Jesus is the Bright and Morning Star, and he seems to be looking down on us from the star field of the old flag. Then as I look again the stars of the flag seem to say that, "They that be wise shall shine forth as stars." Then I pray that as these forty-eight stars represent our forty-eight States, so may the Star of Bethlehem be the national star of every State in our glorious Union.

Did you ever note the letters U.S. are the last two letters of Jesus?

So may all the other letters of the word Jesus be spelled out in the life of every true American, The J for Justice, the E for Eternity, and S for Salvation. As I look at the flag again I learn the lesson of the strength of organization. The Red, White, and Blue as separate colors stand for themselves alone. Unite them in the flag, and they stand defended by the Army and Navy of the country. Christians often say they can live the Christian life outside the organized body of Christians, called the church, but by so doing they stand alone and for themselves. United in the church, they are backed by the greatest organized power in the world, the church of Jesus.

I notice there are seven red stripes, which means that every day of the week we should be true to our country and to our religion. Note that here the red also comes first. There are six white stripes. Let these stripes stand for the great wars which have been fought with a clean sword, and so we learn that Old Glory is a [86] preacher of righteousness. Long may she teach in the land of the brave and the home of the free.

Have a large flag on the pulpit, and ask all the children with their little flags to come up and stand around it, while all the people sing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name."

This lesson can be used for a regular Sunday-night service for adults as well as for children. It could be used as a national lesson—just what is needed for Flag Day or Independence Day.

[87]

25

WHAT THE LETTERED BLOCKS SAID

OBJECTS: Some Lettered Blocks

Secure the loan of a set of children's lettered blocks such as they use during their play hours on the nursery floor. Spell out the word G-O-O-D.

Find out how many great words you can spell out from the letters on these blocks.

First we find the word G-O-D.

This is a lesson causing us to remember God in all our play. How do you suppose Jesus played? I think he certainly did play, for he was a real child, as we all were once. I think he played as we should play, remembering that God was near to see all we do, and hear all we say.

My dear little mother watched me play in the garden from the window. She never took her eyes from me. In those days sometimes children were stolen, or easily went astray. I can remember that often when a child was lost, an officer would go through the streets of my home city, ringing a bell and crying, "Lost Child—a little boy—five years old—dark hair—blue eyes." He had gone out to play and lost his way coming back. This was the way they had in that day of finding the lost child, and my mother kept her eyes on me when I played so I would not lose my way. God watches us in our play.

Let these blocks spelling "God" be placed on a [88] shelf looking at us as my dear little mother watched me when I played.

Next go to the word "GOOD" and get the word G-O.

That is a fine little word. It says, "Always go when mother calls, go and do what she asks you to do." These two blocks teach us to be obedient to her call, and if you do so good people will call you a Prince. Some time ago the Prince of Wales visited America, and every little boy wished he could be a prince and have a large crowd of people looking at him saying, "Is he not fine?" Well, we can all be princes, that is if we go when mother calls we will be obedient, and to be obedient is to be more than a prince in God's eyes. The obedient "GO" boy should be called little Prince Obedience—for obedience means "GO" when mother calls, and "GO" comes out of "GOOD."

[89]

26

BLOTS TAKEN AWAY

OBJECTS: Two School Copy-books

John Maynard was a scholar in a little old-fashioned red schoolhouse far back in the olden times. He had been a shiftless boy and had drifted along aimlessly and carelessly. He had no desire to learn and did not study. One midwinter day some kind words from his teacher roused him to take a new start, and he became distinctly a different boy and worked hard to make up for his earlier faults. His copy-book lessons had been poor. There was a big blot on the first page. Inky finger-marks appeared on numerous pages. Sometimes he made foolish drawings at the bottom of the page just to make the scholars laugh. His copy-book was full of the marks of a careless scholar. But now he tried to go straight and clean, and no longer made the blots of carelessness. The closing examination came, and to the great joy of his father and mother who were present he passed well and with honor. But he discovered that his copy-books, which he had used during the entire year, were to be displayed on a table for the inspection of the visitors. He saw his mother looking over his books. All the blots and finger-marks of former times seemed to grow like big clouds. He was heartily ashamed of his early books, a mass of blots and bad work, and as he watched his mother looking over these books his heart was sick as he knew she would see them all. What would [90] she say to him? What would she think of him? But to his great surprise he saw the smile of approval on his mother's face, and noticed she had called his father over to look also, and a look of pleasure beamed on his father's face, and they both told John how pleased they were with his fine work. They said nothing of his blots, finger-marks, and careless work. Afterward he discovered that his good teacher had removed all the bad pages from the book, and made the copy-book begin from where he started to do better. His dear teacher was just like God. He had given him another chance and had put the past out of sight forever. So God offers this chance to all who will turn to him. He will take away all the old blots of sin that blacken the past and give us all another chance, and he will make our life's record begin with the new start.

To illustrate this lesson secure two common school copy-books, the first one filled with careless lines and numerous blots. Let the cover be torn in many places to represent careless handling. It is full of marks of imperfection. It is a thing of ugliness to look at. On the front place a red heart, saying: "This is a record of a boy with a red heart of sin, This heart was the big cause of the crooked contents of the book. The boy now becomes a Christian. God takes the old book and gives him another, and a new start."

On the front page of the second copy-book put a white heart, which means "Here begins the new life." This book should have a perfect line at the top of the page you exhibit, and under this a childish handwriting should be placed. It should be a copy, as near as possible like the perfect top line. In this book, while all the [91] lines are not straight or perfect, you can see they have been written by a hand that tried to follow the copy. It is also noted that the farther you look through the book you can note marked improvement in all of the work, So in the new life with the new start we do not always make perfect lines, but we try with all our heart to do so, and the older we grow the more perfect our lines will be. At the last day, the Great Review Day, the grand and awful day at the end of the way, only one book will be opened before the Judge for inspection. It will be the last book, the book of the white heart. The old book of the red heart will not appear, God has forgotten all about it. It has been cast behind his back. It has been sunk into the depths of the sea of forgetfulness. The book has been lost forever. It will never come up as a witness against us. We often sing, "They are all taken away." Another line should be added to this which would read, "They are all taken away to stay." This is according to the Scriptures.

[92]

27

A LOST HEART AND WHERE IT WAS FOUND

OBJECTS: A Child's Bank and a Paper Heart

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

A little girl, daughter of a Western banker, was anxious to bring her father to Jesus, but he always said, when she talked with him on the subject, that he was too busy at the bank and did not have time to think of religion. This troubled the little girl greatly, because she knew her father's soul was in danger if he did not give his heart to Jesus. It seemed to her as if he had given his heart to the bank and not to God.

One night the little girl went to bed with a troubled mind, and in her sleep had this strange dream. She thought her father came down-stairs one morning and said that when he awoke he discovered somewhere that during the night he had lost his heart. He could not feel it beating in his breast, and therefore was sure some power had taken it away from him, and he was without a heart. The little girl thought, in her dream, that she heard all the family laugh at this strange story of Daddy, and they said, "Father must have lost his mind," if he thought he had lost his heart, but he only said, putting his hand upon his breast, "My heart is not here, I have lost it somewhere." The little girl was greatly troubled because she thought it [93] was a sure sign that her father would soon die, because he could not live without a heart. Then in her dream a good angel came to her and said: "Dear little girl, your father is right. He has indeed lost his heart. He loves his gold, he loves it so much that he has given himself to the bank and forgotten God. Now, little girl, you can help your father find his heart again, for I am going to tell you where his heart has gone." The angel said: "On yonder shelf you will see a little iron bank; open it up, and you will find buried beneath the coins of this bank your father's heart." She did as the good angel directed, and there, sure enough, amidst the copper and silver coins, she found her Daddy's heart. She was very glad indeed at this find, and in her great joy she awoke from her dream. The next day she told her father this dream which she had had the previous night. He listened to it thoughtfully and said something about foolish little girls who think out strange things in their sleep, and then he turned toward his bank and spent another day, amidst his banking books. But all day long his thoughts were upon his little girl and her foolish dream, but the more he thought about it the less foolish it seemed to him, and at last he said to himself: "Dear little dreamer, God was talking to you in your sleep and was talking to me also. It is true I have lost my heart. It is buried under the gold of my bank. I have loved my gold more than God, and have given my bank my heart. The Good Book says, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' My treasure is in my bank. There is my heart also." This message from Dreamland caused him to give his heart to God, and he became a Christian, and then he let God keep his heart for him, [94] and so Jesus found the father's heart and kept it for him forevermore.

To illustrate this, secure a small toy iron bank such as children use for the safe keeping of their pennies. Cut out a piece of cardboard the shape of a heart, and put this inside of the little bank, and at the proper time in the story draw it out and show the children that the bank contained the father's heart, covered up with the money. This money stands for the treasure of the people, and there you will find the people's hearts also. You can also paste upon this heart a number of pennies, so that when you take the heart out it will be literally covered with the treasures. What must be done with this heart that it may be separated from the treasures of gold which will separate the heart forever from heaven? It must be brought to Jesus and a new heart will be given in exchange. Although this heart covered with the gold of this world is therefore very attractive to most people, it is as black as night in the sight of God and the angels.

There was once a boy named William. He was in the habit of doing wicked things. Once he told a great lie about his classmate because he was angry at him, and the teacher punished this classmate, believing that what William said was true. At the next recess William noticed that the scholars kept away from him and looked at him as if they were frightened, but he did not think much of this. When he went back to school that afternoon he saw his teacher looking at him very strangely, and when he went home his mother looked at him and burst into tears. William then ran up into his little room to look himself over and stood before the mirror [95] to see if he could determine what was the matter, and there he saw a terrible sight. By some mysterious power he had become so transparent that his heart showed right out from his body through his thick clothing, and it was a dreadfully black one. His coat was black, but it looked quite white compared with the blackness of his heart that was piercing through his coat, and when he saw this he was ashamed to go out, and hung his head whenever he passed any of his classmates, He tried to run into dark corners where people could not see his heart, but he could not find any hiding-place dark enough to hide his black heart. At last with tears in his eyes he ran to his mother and asked what he should do. He confessed to his mother the big lie he told about his classmate. His mother now led him to the mirror when he had finished his sad story. She said: "See, William, now that you have made this confession, your heart is less black than it was before. I think it will become entirely white if you pray to Jesus to forgive you. Tell your classmate and teacher and the scholars how sorry you are." William said to himself, "I will." That night he prayed long and earnestly and when the morning had come he was astonished to see how much lighter his heart had grown. This pleased him very much and he said: "I don't think I will trouble any more about my heart. It is growing so much lighter that I think the last remnant of the blackness will pass away in a day." So he ran off to school very gladly, but his teacher looked at him very strangely, and the classmates all shrank and ran away from him and he said he was ill and must go home. When he got to his room and looked in the mirror he saw his heart with more intense blackness than ever before. [96] So that night he prayed very earnestly to Jesus to take away his black heart. In the morning he ran off to school in great haste. As soon as the school was opened, he arose before all the scholars and told what a dreadful thing he had done and asked their forgiveness. They all forgave him gladly, and at recess everybody was kind to him and played with him, and best of all when he got home and looked in the mirror he found that there was no great black heart showing through. He was a happy boy again, just as he had been before he told the terrible lie. This little story teaches the big lesson that the sinful black heart can only be made right by bringing it to Jesus.

To illustrate this you open the Bible to some great promise of forgiveness of sin, and place the heart on that promise, and close the Bible. So the sinful heart is now taken away. You open the Bible again at another promise of forgiveness of sin, and there take out of it a white heart, which you have put in there previously, and say, "This represents the heart of forgiveness." You place it back in the Bible and close the Bible tight, and say, "My heart have I hid in his word, and it is safe there forever more, and in his keeping it can never be lost again."

[97]

28

"BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER AS A BUSINESS"

OBJECT: An Old-fashioned Candlestick with a Small
Candle in It

Some years ago an old friend of mine put into my hands an ancient candlestick containing a short stump of a candle. It was an old homestead relic. The good lady had used it in her childhood, and her mother had used it in her early days also. It was at least seventy-five years old, and had not been lighted for more than fifty years. It had been stowed away in the old garret and forgotten, until one day it was taken with other common things from its dusty hiding-place, and fell into my hands. At once I lit the stump of candle, and it sent forth its golden light again just as it did fifty years ago. It seemed to say to me, "I will always shine whenever I get the chance." I do not say, as some of you humans of the day, "If you had no better place for me than a dark corner in a garret, if you have forgotten me, and failed to recognize my place in the world, I won't shine for you now." No. "But I will shine for you or anybody that will put the taper to my heart. It is my business to shine. I cannot do anything else."

I have often seen folks unlike this old candle. If they cannot be first in the work they won't help at all. If somebody else is asked to take part, and they are not, they sulk about it, refuse to join in and work. If they [98] are asked to do something that some other person has been asked to do, and refused, they say: "Play second fiddle! I guess not!" The New Testament tells us of a proud man who loved to have the prominent place among them. This is not a Christian spirit. Jesus said, "If any man will be great among you, let him be your servant." Brighten your corner as a business. This is the business of the Christian—to shine. The candle can do nothing more than this. It shines just as it is. It never tries to be an electric light, or to do the work of electricity, but is content to do its own work, and that is the work of a candle, just to shine as a business. The electric light gives ten, fifteen, forty candle-power light. The electric power turns washing machines, runs vacuum cleaners, heats irons, and does all sorts of things at the touch of its finger of power. All the candle can do is to give its small-power light. But notice how cheerful it is in the midst of darkness. It knows it cannot do the task of electricity, so it does not fret itself about it, but just shines and does its best to brighten the little dark corner; that is its business— just to shine. Watch it shine, and you will notice it puts its whole life into the business of shining. Measure it as it shines, and you will discover it grows less and less, and leaves nothing behind it—gives itself, and all of itself into the business of shining. It consumes itself in the process of shining, This is a true light picture of the Christian. Real service requires the giving of the entire self. David Livingstone, the heart of Africa missionary, gave all that he had and consumed all his energies for the good of the Dark Continent. He just let his light shine out until his body burned out, and when

[99]

the natives found him dead kneeling by his bed, they found an old worn-out body burnt out in the business of shining in Africa's dark corner. But his light still shines. The natives as they sit by their evening fire talk in soft tones about the great White Chief. They are watching that White Candle Chief burn in the jungles of their wild land. He being dead yet shineth.

That is the way to shine forever. Burn out here, and you will shine forever in God's kingdom. So we learn that we are not only letting our light shine as a business, but in so doing we light the dark corner lights around the world. This candle I now hold in my hand can light a thousand other candles, and they in turn another thousand, and so on until it could light shining candles girdling the round world. Light is contagious. It easily passes from one candle to another.

One courageous enthusiastic person can fire many others to shine in their dark corners also. If every one of my audience held an unlighted candle in their hands, this one lighted candle would carry the flame to all the candles. This room would be transfigured into a congress of flickering stars. This is the way the kingdom of heaven must come in. One life touches the other life, and they all shine in their corner as their business, which is the King's business also.

But learn the first great essential lesson. This candle, to shine forth in the dark corner as a business, must first be lit itself. It cannot light itself. It cannot say, "Let there be light," for no light can shine forth by a self-command. Some power greater than a candle must touch our dark heart with its taper of flame before we can shine forth. So we must come to the great Light of [100] the World and give ourselves to him, and become his disciples, and he will give us the light which shines in our hearts, and out from our own lives. Then we become "Candles of the Lord," and brighten the corner where we are as a business.

In using this lesson suit your actions to your words. Secure if possible an old-fashioned candlestick with a stump of a candle in it, and say, "This resembles the old candlestick mentioned in the lesson." You can use an ordinary candle for other parts of the lesson referred to in the chapter.

You can close this lesson by asking a group of children to come to the platform and ask them to hold a candlestick with a lighted candle and sing together, "Brighten the Corner Where You Are."

[101]

29

THE POSTAGE-STAMP AS A PREACHER

OBJECTS: A Collection of Foreign and Domestic
Postage-stamps

Hold up a letter with a plain two-cent postage-stamp upon it. "Let me introduce to you the Preacher of the hour! He is clothed in his white robe (the envelope) and is ready to be a preacher to us all."

1. This stamp is more than a common piece of paper. It has on it the stamp of the Government; therein is its value. It has the O.K. of the authorities of Washington. So we must have stamped on our life the image of the Good Father to make us worth anything in this old world. We must bear the mark of our Owner before we can be backed by the kingdom of heaven.

2. If the stamp was made by ourselves it would have no power. The letter bearing the stamp would be returned. So we can do nothing of ourselves. There is no good in us. When I was a little boy I was a stamp-collector, and when we could not find a stamp of the desired nation, there was issued what is called a "facsimile" of the original. It was a "make-believe" stamp. It looked all right in our stamp-book, but it was out of place and worthless on an envelope. It was only a pretender so we must not be contented with appearances only. That is the way hypocrites are made.

3. The stamp in the stamp box is always ready for service, just waiting to start on its journey. It has the [102] mark of approval on it which the Government has given it. It has the sticking power which man has given it, and is just waiting to be called into service. Paul said, "I am now ready" not only to die but to live. He who is ready to die, is best prepared to live. Always ready for service, like a postage-stamp, is to be ready to go anywhere for the Master.

4. The postage-stamp is a good missionary. It will work anywhere. It will go to any part of the homeland or any part of the world, just as it is directed. No dividing-line between home or abroad, It will go to any part of the world. It just goes where it is sent. It is like a pair of bifocal glasses. It can see home needs as well as the far-away needs. It sees both clearly. That is the plan of Jesus, Jerusalem and the uttermost parts —both are alike to him as far as concerns their need of salvation.

5. I remember also that when I was a stamp-collector, I had one page in my book on which I had a stamp from each nation. They were all at peace with each other. It was the first picture of "The League of Nations."

To illustrate the truth, get as many stamps of the various nations as you may be able, and fix them on a large cardboard, and show them to the children, or bring them out of the Bible to show that if they are true to God's Word, they will live together in peace. This is the only "League of Nations" that can stand through the ages.

6. The postage-stamp does what it is told to do. It fulfils its task. When it is placed on the envelope, it takes the letter to the address given. That is its business. That is all that is expected of it. It does not seek [103] to know the contents of the letter, but to deliver the letter to the party named. So it is our business to do just as we are told to do by our Good Father. We are not to pry into his will, or seek to know his unrevealed secrets. Our business is to carry his message. We are to speak where God's Book speaks, We are to be silent where the Book is silent. We should all try to do as well as a postage-stamp.

7. The stamp is a non-combatant. When it is licked it does not hit back. It is a peace-lover. It opens not its mouth. So we should learn that when criticism and hardship come to us, when the road is difficult, and we are discouraged, when the enemy does his worst, and Satan tries to dislodge us, we must just stick like a stamp. When we put the stamp on the envelope, we often give it a blow with our fist. That just makes the stamp stick tighter. So when we are hit by hard experiences we should tighten our grip all the more and just stick.

8. The stamp sticks to its job to the finish. It holds tight to the letter till it gets there. Happy is that boy or girl who continues to the end. A little newsboy by the name of George in the City of Philadelphia, Pa., sold papers in the street for a living. He believed if he stuck to his task he would some day be a great man. One day he stood looking up at the great building in which the paper was published and said, "I will some day own that building, and become the editor of the paper I now sell." He stuck to his task until at last he was owner of the paper and its editor also. His name was George Washington Childs, and the paper was The Public Ledger. He was like the postage-stamp. He [104] stuck fast until he got there. That is the only way to "get there."

9. The postage-stamp never has a complaining word. Sometimes it is put on upside down or very crooked, and struck a great blow by the cancelling-machine in the Post Office, but it never speaks a word of complaint, just stands by its post and waits. If it goes to an address that has been changed, the new address is put on the envelope, and it starts on its journey again. It makes no complaint because of extra work, but starts away on another journey. So we should always "try again" and make another start. Many a man has "made good" by doing this. There is a medical remedy called "606." When the firm was asked why this number was given it, the reply was, "We tried 605 times to find a proper remedy, and failed; but the next time we found just what we were after, and so called it No. 606." Do not be afraid to try over and over. The next time may be the 606th of success. Now when you look at the little red postage-stamp let it preach over and over again to you the lessons I have given you in this chapter. Look again, and you will see on this stamp the face of the great George Washington, who lived out all these lessons in his life, and he is now "stuck fast" to the hearts of his countrymen.

Now, Mr. Postage-stamp, we thank you. You have preached to us a fine sermon this morning.

When you receive a stamped letter from the postman remember the Postage-stamp Preacher. Hear ye him.

[105]

30

CANDLES IN THE PULPIT

OBJECTS: A Number of Candles and a Small Green
Tree Branch

Let us ask the candles to preach to us. These white-robed prophets will now speak. Candle No. 1, come to the desk and be preacher for us now.

In answer to this call a small boy or girl comes up upon the platform bearing a small candle and gives it to you. This, you say, is a little, but mighty preacher. In ancient story we are told of a mansion illuminated by a thousand candles, and in one of the candlesticks there was hidden the owner's will. The heirs searched for the candle with its message of gold. That candle had a message in it. So let us find the hidden truth in this and all the other candle prophets this night.

After lighting it you say, "It is a light bearing God's truth." Place it on the desk, saying, This is a little light, yet if the room was darkened it would lighten the entire room. This little prophet represents the child in the home, church, and world. The Bible says, "A little child shall lead them." That little child is Jesus. He led the wise men in the Temple of old. He is leading all men by the light of his Star to the Cross where sins are taken away. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me." This is the attractive power of a little child. All little children are sweet little lights, "the light of the home," so we all declare, and we are speaking [106] well as we thus say, When this light is extinguished it has led many a soul back to God. This little light stands for the Primary Department of our Sunday school. They come to the school, they listen, and receive. They are there taking in light. They go out, and let it shine out, and many a soul has seen it and been saved. All the little folks look forward and see the light. Be ye little lights and shine in your corner for Jesus.

Our next preacher will be the large candle now brought forth by a larger boy. Place it on the desk, and remove the small candle, extinguish it, and put it out of sight.

This large candle is the pastor in the pulpit, who is a preaching candle. He is to tell the truth about things and to warn the people of dangers and present perils. Sometime the flock does not like his plain talk, and in Bible times they took him from his holy place and cast him out and stoned him to death. At this point have the boy so trained that he will come forward to the desk and try to take the candle out. You will stop him and ask him what he is doing. He will reply: "He talks too plain to us. We don't like it." You tell him, the preacher stands in God's place and is talking for him. Let all the people hear what the prophet has to say to the people. The candle is then placed back on the desk, and the preaching light continues to shine out its message.

"Who next will be our preacher tonight?" This call is responded to by two little girls, one bearing an ornamented candle coming first, the other bringing a plain candle following. As you take the first candle you say: "Beauty and adornment are useless and only pure vanity if just on the surface. People like to show off in [107] religion, that is, they often like to show off their clothes and personal adornment, but you will notice after you have lit this candle that it does not give any more light than this plain candle," which you now take from the little girl standing a little space from you. You light the plain candle, and place them side by side, and by the side of the preacher's candle, and the preacher says, "Both the poor and the rich can shine alike for God, for he is Maker of them both."

Give the call again, "Who will preach for us next?" A child comes forward with a box wrapped in paper, and gives it to you. After you have opened it you produce a fine white candle. What does this mean, Mr. Preaching Candle? The candle answers, "I am a soul which hides his light under a bushel. I have gone out." Light it and place it by your side, that its light may call the people out of the easy pew and comfortable chair to the fortress to fight by light.

Behold! I see another prophet approaching. It is a foreigner. As he comes to the platform he bears the flag of China, and carries a Chinese lantern. He is coming not to preach but to listen. Hold up the lantern close to the preacher candle and say: "China is asking for the true light. What doth the preacher candle say?" And the candle answers: "Hear me, all ye people, Our Master's great commission tells us we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel. China is the largest nation of the world, and so according to the order of the Light of the World, we give China the light." Here light the lantern, and give it back to the child, and bid him Godspeed in his mission of light to his people who sit in darkness.

[108] Give the call again, and six boys and girls come forward with a tall unlit candle in a candlestick. These are six Lay Preachers, Helpers of the Pastor. They do his bidding, and then they are sure to shine. Now light the six candles and let them stand around the desk holding their candles. Spread the children out as far as possible, so there will be no danger of their burning each other. Now the preacher candle says: "I am backed by my church-membership. They stand back of me. They are shining forth the same light that I shine out. This is a pulpit of power."

Here endeth the sermon of the candles in the pulpit. You now take the candles from the children and place them on the desk with the other candles and close by singing "The Light of the World Is Jesus."

[109]

31

A POST-CARD SERMON

OBJECTS: A Collection of Post-cards

If you wish to preach to the little folks and cause them to remember what you have said, try the post-card sermon.

When you announce the sermon for little eyes ask them to come to the front of the church and stand around the pulpit. Then hand to each child a pictorial post-card and make it the subject of your talk to them. Tell them the card now belongs to them, and they can take it home with them to keep. Preach about the picture on the card, calling their attention to every little detail. Drive home some truth as pictured on the card. Ask them to look intently at every point in the picture you are talking about.

This sermon should not be over seven minutes long. Children find it difficult to stand in one place for any length of time. If you seek to hold their attention too long, they will grow tired and their interest will slacken. You must be brief.

There are beautiful post-cards without number and the cost is very trifling. Use historical cards. Take, if you so desire, the card containing the "Liberty Bell," and preach upon the text of the Bell: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land." Describe the bell, give its history in a few words. The seasonal post-cards, Christmas, Spring, Winter, Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, etc., give a [110] new meaning to these days, and tell things the children should know about them.

Use beautiful post-cards. Select some beauty spot in your own country and explain what makes it beautiful and what makes its beauty worth while to us. Use post-cards that have a children's story connected with them, such as "The Lighthouse-keeper's Daughter, Grace Darling," "The Boy Lincoln and His Log-cabin Home," "George Washington and the Cherry Tree." These pictures are running over with simple truth.

Use curious post-cards, such as of the Natural Bridge in Virginia, cave pictures, the gold-fields of Alaska. Tell them of the Natural Bridge as the work of God, and of the other bridge God made, a Bridge from Calvary to heaven, the Bridge of the Cross.

Select foreign post-cards. This will enable you to tell missionary stories about the people who live in those lands. Pictures of idols will help you to cause the children to want to tell the heathen children the story of the true God.

Select religious post-cards. Reproductions of the great works of art can be secured. Di Vinci's "Last Supper" is a good one to select. You can tell about the face of Judas and that of Christ being taken from the same living model. The face of Judas was the disfigured face of Jesus which had become repulsive because of the presence of sin. This is what sin will do for a face.

Select picture-cards of Bethlehem, and tell the story of the town as it now is, and as it was in David's time, and in the time of Jesus. It would be but small trouble to make a course of eight short sermons or more, using post-cards.

[111] Urge the children to put the cards thus received in a little book, and put under each card the date you preached the sermon. If any child who attends regularly is absent mail a card to them the next day, with a short lesson written on the card. Children always like the postman to bring them something by mail. If they are out of town, find their address and send it to them. If they "just did not come," say to them that some Sunday morning if they will call to see you, you will give them the card they missed. It will give you a chance for a pleasant word with them. It often goes a long way with little folks. On the last Sunday of the course bring your full line of cards you have used, and have a short review and ask some questions about each card. This is only another, but a new, way of preaching to the wonder eyes of the wonderful folks we call our children.

[112]

32

MAKING JOY

OBJECTS: Large Cardboards Containing the Word "Joy"

This is a day of making things. The wise man could have said of things as he said of books, "Of the making of many things there is no end."

Did you ever try to make joy? It is a big business. All the world is trying to learn that trade. The world is richer than it has ever been, that is because we have learned to make money. The world is wiser than it has ever been; that is because we have learned to make many books. The world at heart is sadder than it has ever been; that is because it has never learned how to make JOY.

The joy the world knows is like the desert plant. It fastens its root by the side of a little stream, and drinks in the moisture, and spreads out its leaves of life. The stream is dried up at last by the heat of the desert, and the roots loosen their hold on the soil, and the windstorm rolls the plant over the desert like a dead leaf until another piece of wet ground is found. There it fastens for another short season, and again the sun dries up this spring of life, and hurls the root on in the heart of the desert storm, This is repeated over and over again until at last it tosses it out into the piercing rays of the sun a withered dry old root dead at the heart. So men and women are like this dry root. They absorb this pleasure and another until at last, when old age finds [113] them they are like the old dead root east up by the winds of time. Dead in the inside. They never found any joy to which they could anchor. They never knew where to find real joy.

Look and listen—I will tell you where to find it. Secure three large cardboards and paint on them the word "JOY." One letter on each card, stand them up on a background where they can be seen by all present. These letters spell the word "JOY." This is what all the world is after. The first letter stands for Jesus. The middle letter a cipher or "nothing." The last letter stands for You. Nothing between Jesus and you. This is the way to bring real joy to the soul. Most of our sorrows come from disobedience, and that means that something has come between the J and Y that will never spell JOY.

Paint on a black card the letter S which stands for Sin. Hang this card up in the place of O. J.S.Y. will never spell JOY. Sin keeps the joy from passing from J to Y. Only a short time ago thousands watched the eclipse of the sun. There was darkness at the last. In some of the great cities the street lamps were lit because of the darkness all around. It was because something had come between us and the sun. It was the moon. It looked like a great O. It shut off the sunlight for a little season. There was something between. Let nothing come between you and Jesus and you will find "JOY." The O is a cipher which means nothing. Nothing between J (Jesus) and Y (You). That spells JOY. That is the big shop where joy is made.

[114]

33

YE LITTLE OLD FOLKS

OBJECT: A Picture of Verse from an Old Illustrated
Bible Used 100 Years Ago

A century ago there were but few books for children. Preachers never thought of a children's sermon, but here is a page which appeared in a rare old book the children used in that day. It is over a century old. It illustrates Deuteronomy 5:29. From some picture-book cut out figures like these to illustrate this Bible verse. Pin them up on some background which they can see. The journals of the day abound in interesting pictures. Cut them out and try to teach the children the Scriptures by pictures they have often seen. It will interest them greatly as it doubtless did Ye Little Olde Folks. This text is one of many that has some words in it for which you can substitute a picture. In fact, the Bible is a picture-book, not simply in the sense that it tells so many interesting stories about men and women and children, and tells them in such a taking way, but even where it is not telling a story, it uses words and sentences that are pictures, not the less effective because drawn or painted in speech. This text is such a sentence.

[115]

DEUTERONOMY v. 29.

[116]

34

THE CRUCIFIXION IN COLORS

OBJECTS: A Collection of Colored Papers

This is a lesson on the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is taught by small colored papers. Each stage of the crucifixion is illustrated by a color. The paper used is the common glazed paper which can be supplied by any paper store that deals in fancy paper. You can also use little blocks of muslin or any other colored goods. Cut the blocks about 4 x 5-1/2 inches in size; some of the pieces you will notice will be long and narrow. (See Diagram.)

Pin these blocks upon some background so all the listeners may see the work. You will notice by the diagram that when every piece is in its place a perfect cross is formed. Follow the order of the diagram and commence at the foot of the cross. At this place put a brown color. This color stands for the common earth, the ground of Calvary in which the cross was planted. Talk about holy ground if you so desire, but say this is the Most Holy Ground. It was here they placed the cross and crucified Jesus.

The next block is divided into two parts—white and blue. These were the dominant colors of the high priest's garments to whom Jesus was sent the hour of his arrest. Describe now the wild scene—the mad mob all seeking to bring him to trial for death sentence.

The next block is gold—the dominant color in the royal robe of Pilate. It was the color of his scepter and

[117]

[118]

the golden eagle, the symbol of the government of Rome which he represented. Before him Jesus was brought and tried, and ordered to be sent to the cross.

Next put up the purple block. This represents the purple robe the soldier put on Jesus.

The next color is green—the color of the thorns of the bush, which had been twisted into a crown of thorns.

The next color is white—the color of Christ's own robe that the soldiers put on him.

Red is the next color, and it stands for the blood he shed. Black stands for the darkness which was in the land from the sixth to the ninth hour.

Yellow is the next. This stands for the yellowish sponge which was put to his lips.

The next colors, white, red, and purple, were the colors of the veil of the Temple which was rent in twain when Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross. And the last color, silver, stands for the armor of the centurion who, when he saw the Crucified One, proclaimed his belief in the Son of God. You have now built a cross as you talked, and each part of the cross represents some striking step in the tragedy of the Green Hill.

After the color blocks are in their place, ask the children to tell you the story according to the colors. After they have been well drilled let them put the color strips up in their proper place, and tell you the story.

After you are through with this lesson it would be a good plan to paste these colors on a piece of muslin or heavy paper, and hang the diagram up on the wall and often refer to it, and ask the children its meaning. This is a Good Friday subject, and can always be used as a redemption story.

[119]

35

THE GOSPEL BY RIBBONS

OBJECTS: A Number of Colored Ribbons

In this chapter the story of salvation will be told by different colored ribbons. This will be attractive to the eye as the bright colors appear, and the colors will not only teach the truth of the lesson but will fasten the truth in the mind for years to come. Color makes a deep impression on the mind. It is like a foot-print in the clay. It comes to stay as time hardens the mental clay.

Some years ago I was asked by an old friend to be a witness to the transfer of a large tract of land into his possession. The document was drawn up in full legal form, and deposited by the housewife in a secure and secret place. About a year afterward my friend informed me that the document could not be found. The wife had forgotten where she had placed it, and believed it to be lost. I was asked if I could remember anything about it. At first my mind seemed to be a blank, and then I remembered all about it, and this was the how of it. On the day of the transfer I remembered the wife took the document and tied around it a piece of red ribbon. I remembered she put it in a small closet back behind the old-fashioned fireplace. In closing the door a portion of the red ribbon was left exposed on the outside. I noticed that red ribbon in that position which I thought it might direct attention to the document and thus expose it to a thief and so endanger its safety. I [120] remembered the wife arose and opened the door, put the ribbon inside, and I let the matter pass from my mind, and it would have passed out of my mind forever, had it not been that that red ribbon had fastened itself down in my memory. The red ribbon located the lost document. A color is a tack which holds down the truth in the human mind. May the colors of the lesson have the same ministry.

Secure a number of ribbons of the colors about to be mentioned. They can be about one inch wide and each one six inches long. Sew them together at the ends. Place them in a box, and draw out six inches at a time in the following order.

First produce the white, holding it in the hand as if considering it, and say: "Thus was man created—in white. He was placed in the White Garden where all was purity and spotless. But the Tempter entered this White Garden and tempted the white soul to sin, and so man sinned and the black of sin took the place of the white of righteousness." As thus you speak you draw out from the box the black ribbon; as you hold this in your hand, you remark that the black is the sign of death, for "the wages of sin is death."

Now draw out the red ribbon, and say, "The blood of Jesus has now come to take away the black of sin and death." As you say this let the black drop out of sight, and let the red appear. "They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Tell the story of the scarlet rope which was displayed in the window of the house on the wall at Jericho, and how safe was Rahab when the red signal was in her window. How safe are all they who are hiding behind the red [121] line of Salvation by the Blood. Now draw out the white and remark, "Now the Blood has brought back the white state to the heart again, for when we stand clothed in Christ's righteousness we have been restored to the place in God's heart that Adam occupied before the fall."

Now draw out the purple ribbon. This represents the royal standing of the believer. Purple was the color of the king's robe. The saved are children of the King, joint heirs with the Son. It is the family color. All Christians are children of the King of kings.

Now produce the blue ribbon. This represents the standfastness of the believer. He is "true blue" for God—faithful to the end, and to all the family of God in Christ Jesus.

Now produce the gold ribbon. This represents the mansion of gold in heaven. It reminds us of the streets of the White City of God which, we are told, are paved with pure gold. May our eyes look at, last upon its gates of pearl. May our feet walk through the streets of the city, the streets of gold.

Last, produce the green ribbon. This represents everlasting life, having reference to the fixed color of green, the same all the year round. This ribbon is the trail home to God, our everlasting home in heaven.

After this lesson is taught ask two of the children to take hold of the ends, and let the whole span the front of the room. Ask them to tell you the meaning of the colors. Often give them this drill; it will fasten the Bible truth and Bible order in their hearts for years to come.

[122]

36

JOINING THE CHURCH

OBJECTS: Seven Cards with the Letter "I" Printed
on them

This is a lesson showing the importance and value of joining the local church after the heart has been given away to Jesus. There are some people who think that this is an act purely voluntary. Do as you please they think is the thing to do, and so they dismiss the question as settled. The fact is they do not understand the arithmetic of the New Testament.

There 2 and 1 make more than three. Joining the church enables the Christian to count more than one. There is power in organization. I may take a piece of red silk, also a piece of white and blue, and I can shoot them full of holes—no one will object. They stand for nothing. They are simply a piece of personal property. I may do as I please with them all. But, if these three colors are united and made over into a flag, then, the man who shoots them full of holes must answer to the government of the United States, for every soldier and marine is pledged to protect those colors from harm. They are organized into a flag. They mean more than simple strips of colors.

To illustrate this big fact, secure seven large cards and have on each one the figure "1" painted, making it as large as possible. Distribute them to children in various parts of the church, avoid giving two children in one [123] row each a card. The children holding the cards represent the Christian who declared that he can be "just as good a Christian outside the church as in it," and so stays outside of organized relationship. Now ask them to give you the number on their cards, and they all exclaim "Number one." That is all they stand for, "Number one." That really means they stand for themselves and by themselves. They stand for "one," themselves. This is just what "Number One" looks like. They represent nobody, they are independent units, they stand alone: they have but small representative power.

Some years ago when the West was a child, a little boy wandered away from his prairie home, and was lost in the tall grass, and could not be found. His parents and neighbors started on a searching expedition to find him. They all went in different directions, and after a day-long search came back without the child. They could not find him by individual searching. The next day they formed a line each in sight of the other and, like a net, swept the prairie, and within two hours the lad was found and brought home to his sorrowing parents. They failed as individuals—they succeeded as a united body. God knew this first, and so established his church, where unity of action could do more than independent service.

Now ask the children to come to the platform, and stand them in a line holding the figure "one" side by side. Once they stood for one only, now united they stand for one million one hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and eleven. This is the large reason why all Christians should join the church, and thereby multiply [124] many times their value to their Master and his Kingdom.

If you are a Christian make the most of yourself, and you can do this by coming into church relationship with the brotherhood of Christians. A young convert gave as his reason for joining the church the following: "If I was going to Chicago on the Broadway express and had my ticket straight through to my destination, including the comforts of a Pullman car, and then stood outside on the platform all night, standing up and facing the storm, what a miserable man I would prove myself to be, and what a faulty thinker I would also be. But I am going to get all my ticket grants me. I will go inside and take all the pleasure and comfort of the journey. So I am going into the church and take all my salvation has provided for me. I will no longer stand on the platform of the world. I want the best and all of it." He was right. Get all that is coming to you, and get it now. Come inside; you are entitled to a seat.

Years ago a boy, sixteen years old, came into New York City, with a pack on his back containing all his belongings. He was a stranger in a great city. Wandering through the streets one night, he saw a lighted church with open doors, heard sweet singing from within. He entered uninvited except by the open door. He heard the story of Jesus and was saved. At once he offered himself for baptism, and was received into church-membership. There the lad was trained and schooled in righteousness. He became a great man. His name was William Colgate, the founder of the great firm bearing his name. He died worth millions, most of which he gave to his church, and left a name that will never die. [125] His influence permeated the denomination that he honored as the perfume from his shops has permeated the world. The Colgate Perfume Company of which he was the first member, gathered its first sweetness from the Rose of Sharon that he found in the Lord's sweet garden—the church of the First-born.

Before you dismiss the children and send them to their seats, pray that God may deepen the lesson of the hour so it may sink into their hearts, and charge the children to go and govern themselves accordingly.

[126]

37

GOD'S MAIL-BAG

OBJECTS: The Bible and Nine Lettered Cards Spelling
the Word "Salvation"

Hold up the Bible and say: "This is God's Mail-bag; the Holy Bible, filled with holy letters for you. This Mail-bag came from heaven. It contains God's latest wonderful message. I am God's letter-carrier. I have nine special-delivery letters. They are all directed to you. My business is to carry the mail for God. I will now deliver the mail God has addressed to you."

Before the meeting secure nine envelopes, commercial size, and on each draw in large outlines one of the letters in the word Salvation. Before the meeting place these letters in various parts of the Bible. Holding the open Bible in your hand, you say: "I have now opened the Mail-bag from God, and find nine letters for you. The first letter you take from the Bible you find in Genesis, and it is the letter 'S.'" Give this to the child who takes the first place in the line. Explain that the message which you wish them to remember is the message of the Ark. Eight souls were saved in this big ship. All were invited, only those who accepted were saved. All who did accept were safely delivered into the new world. During the voyage they just trusted God. He fed them as he did the widow with her cruse of oil and little portion of meal. The supply was given each day according to their need.

[127] God will take care of you. God will supply all your need. This is the message of "S." It is a lesson in salvation. Now produce the letter "A" from Genesis containing the story of Joseph. Give this to some child who now takes his place next to the child with the letter "S." The message God gives from this story is that Truth wins out at last. Joseph, hated, sold in slavery, because of false accusation cast into prison, but at last elevated to the throne, did not forget the home folks. These are great facts to be remembered because they were steps upward. Because he was true to God, he found his feet at last walking in the golden way of true success. That is the message of the letter "A." This is a story of salvation.

Return to the Mail-bag, and draw out the letter "L" from the book of Daniel. Give that to the child next in line. This is a letter from Daniel, and his message is always dare to stand firm for God. When away from your home as was Daniel, don't be ashamed to let people know that you pray. Daniel prayed before the open window because he was not ashamed to be seen talking to God. He faced the lions as well as the people, and God gave him the victory over both, and his testimony counted one hundred per cent, because he was a real servant of the Most High God, and this is another story of salvation.

Open the Mail-bag again, and produce the letter "V," from the story of the Hebrew Children, asking another child to hold the letter, standing next in line. The message from these three faithful boys is that God's children should stand together like three links in a chain. This gives strength stronger than iron. Good companionship [128] is the need of boys today. Fall in with the right crowd. A minister of the gospel, who was appointed spiritual adviser to a boy about to be executed, asked him one day what was his first step downward, and he replied, "I fell in with the wrong crowd." The Hebrew Children were a crowd made good by God, and they went through the fire before they would bend their knees to the idols of the heathen land. God stands with such a crowd; one and two made four in God's table of numbers. He is always in the midst of them. Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The king saw him and said, "He is like unto the Son of man," and this was the reason. Three boys were fire-proof saints, so the fire did them no hurt.

Open the Mail-bag again and produce the letter "A." This you take from Psalms—open to the Twenty-third Psalm. This letter hand to another child and tell the message of the Psalm, God is the Shepherd of his people, and his sheep shall know no want. They shall find green pastures, which signifies fresh pastures. Still water, deep waters, and so an endless supply. Still water runs deep in the Twenty-third Psalm. Paths of righteousness open up before the soul, like the golden sunrise every morning. Evil cannot make afraid, no enemy can destroy. Goodness and mercy, like two faithful shepherd dogs, follow and protect in the rear till the house of the Lord lifts itself above the clouds of time, and the "forever with the Lord" comes at last to all who follow the Good Shepherd. This is the story of salvation from our enemies and the open door to the house of the Lord in heaven.

[129] At the first part of Matthew open again the Bible Mail-bag and take out the letter "T," and ask another child to hold it and take his place in line as before. Let this letter stand for the birth of Jesus, the Angels' glad song, and the sky's "Merry Christmas" to the Shepherd with its glad melody of Jesus now born among men, the Virgin's Son. This is the story of the Glory Song of Salvation.

Open again the Bible Mail-bag at the resurrection and take out the letter "I," asking another child to take his place in line with this letter. This letter delivers the message of the resurrection of Christ. It is God's special-delivery letter that the last and latest news is that Christ is risen from the grave, and orders that all the bells of joy shall be rung and the message declared to all the people. Salvation has been accomplished, and the stone that was rolled away from the grave by an angel's hand, has become the keystone of our faith. This is the story of salvation from the grave.

Now take out the letter "O" from the Bible Mail-bag opened at the book of Acts. This is to proclaim how the gospel works among men, how it turned cities upside down, and multitudes were converted. It proclaims that all must be saved through the name of Jesus. Even the wicked Saul of Tarsus is turned into another man by the gospel's power, and all who will come in truth will also be turned, and by God's grace will stay turned. This is the story of the salvation of the soul. Tell the children that they can never get God's full mail from just one letter from the book. We must seek to get all God has said before we can know his perfect truth.

There is yet one more letter to come to give the full [130] Bible message. Open once more the Mail-bag, and in the book of Revelation you find the last letter from God, and then you produce the letter "N." Ask again some child to come forward and hold this letter standing last in the line. This is the message of the book of Revelation. "Jesus is coming back again," and our prayer should be "Come back, Lord Jesus, the world is on fire, come back quickly."

Now you will note the nine letters from God spell "Salvation." That is the message the Mail-bag contains. This is the message to you and to the world. God's Mail-bag contains nine letters for the "Whosoever Tribe," which means all kindreds and tribes that on the earth do well. These letters can then be pinned up on some background in the form of a cross, teaching the truth that Salvation comes only through the Cross. There is no other way.

[131]

38

TURNING THE PALMS INTO A CROSS

OBJECTS: Strips of Palm-leaves or Strips of Green Paper

Have you ever noticed on the Sunday before Easter that some of the boys and girls wear in their coats a cross made out of strips of palm-leaves? It always seemed strange to me that the palm-leaf of joy should be turned into the cross of tears, but that was just what happened one day in Jerusalem. Jesus was to enter the city as a King. The people were very glad because they thought that he would deliver them from the Roman rule, which was very cruel and hard for them to bear. They were all very much excited at the thought of seeing Jesus, for they had heard so many wonderful things about him. They thought he was coming to do wonderful things for them also, so they flocked around the gates of the city to welcome him when he came. They all sent forth great shouts of welcome, and the children stripped the beautiful big leaves from the palm-tree and made a pathway of them for Jesus, and the children sang and shouted their praises. It was the first junior choir we ever read about in the Bible, a choir of boys and girls praising Jesus.

Secure, if possible, a long green leaf which you can call a palm-leaf, or make one out of green paper, and pin it on the blackboard. Teach them the Hosanna cry which the children used to welcome Jesus. After this is done, say: "But in a few hours a great change [132] came over the people, and they no longer showed their joy, but were silent, then angry.

"He did not cast out the Roman governor. He did not end the wicked rule of the government. They did not understand that his kingdom was to come first into the hearts of men. They could not grasp this truth. They wanted a new law. Jesus had come to give them a new life, and they must patiently wait God's time. So their hearts grew cold, and then they grew angry. They listened to evil men who wanted to get rid of Jesus, and so it came to pass in a few days the crowd rushed into Pilate's hall and cried 'Crucify him,' and went to Calvary, and with hard hearts saw him die."

This is how a palm-leaf was turned into a cross. Here add a shorter piece of leaf and make the cross. Some of us are doing the same thing today. We say with glad words we will follow Jesus. We sing with glad strains "O Happy Day that Fixed My Choice!" We join his holy church and say we will live for him forevermore. Then, soon after this glad hosanna, when Mother asks us to do things we do not want to do we answer back in bad temper and ugly words, and often refuse to obey at all. Sometimes in the game we don't play straight, and often cheat a little in our examples. Then we have stopped our hosannas, and Jesus is sad because he sees us doing wrong and making a cross out of the palm-leaf, for when we act in that sinful way we are crucifying Christ the second time.

Sometimes there are older people who once lived happy Christian lives, worked in the church, gave in their glad testimony, and lived the glad game of the Christian life; they were waving palm-branches, and their life shouted [133] "Hosanna!" Then they grew cold and lost their testimony. They slipped back into the old path of sin. They did not go to God's house any more. They made close friends of the world. Hosannas languished on their tongues, and they lived without God; their palm-branches had been turned into crosses. They had crucified Christ afresh, put him to open shame in the eyes of the world. That is another way in which the palm-leaf is turned into a cross. Keep your palm-leaves for Jesus, always living a consistent life, and never let the world grip you, and your palm-leaf will not turn into a cross, but into a crown.

[134]

39

JESUS CHANGES THINGS

OBJECTS: A Large Prepared Card, a Collection of
Colored Envelopes

To illustrate this lesson secure a piece of cardboard about ten inches square, and place on it in straight rows a number of smaller pieces of cardboard about one inch square. First, place a row of white squares. This represents the white race. The next row make yellow to represent the Chinese race. Next, a row all brown to represent the people of India. Next, a row all red to represent the Indians. The last row, black, representing the African people.

On the other side make the same number of rows, but put them all in gold.

Hold up first the side containing the colored cards, and tell the following story.

A weary missionary fell asleep and had a dream. A messenger had arrived announcing the Master was coming, and to her was given the task of getting all the children ready to receive him. So she arranged them on benches in tiers, putting the little white children first, and nearest to where the Master would stand. Then the little yellow, red, and brown children far back, and on the last row of seats sat the little black children, As you thus describe the mission hall hold up the card and say, "Here is the order in which the children were seated to meet the Master." When she had completed [135] the arrangements she looked at it, and it did not seem quite right. Why should the black children be so far away? Perhaps they ought to be on the front benches. She started to arrange them over again, giving the black children the front place, but when all was in a state of confusion footsteps were heard. It was the Master's tread. He was coming before the children were ready, and she was greatly troubled to think the task entrusted to her had not been accomplished in time. The footsteps drew near, and she was obliged to look up, and lo, as her eyes rested upon the children all shades of color had disappeared and differences vanished! The little children in the Master's presence were all alike. Here reverse the card showing the little cards all in gold. They were all precious in his sight, more precious than gold, for he loves them all alike, all the little children of the world.

To teach the same lesson as to the value of all souls, begin just the same.

Secure a white envelope and put in a silver dollar. Then ask how much is a silver dollar worth in a white envelope, and the reply would be one hundred cents. Take the same dollar and put it into a red envelope, which stands for the Indian race, and the reply would be just the same. Now place it in the yellow envelope, standing for the Chinese race, and still the answer would be the same. Likewise the same reply would greet placing it in the brown envelope. At last put it in a black envelope, asking its value, and the answer of course would be that its worth had not changed. The dollar represents the soul, the colored envelopes the races. The souls of the white, red, brown, yellow, and black are [136] worth just the same to God. Jesus died for all mankind, and his blood was shed to save all the races of the earth, for he loves the nations of the earth. He died to save all souls. They all look alike to him, for Jesus changes things.

[137]

40

THE BUNDLE OF LIFE

OBJECTS: Two Small Bundles Containing a Number of
Articles Described in this Chapter

Text, 1 Samuel 25:29: "But the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God."

Many long years ago David had fled from the angry King Saul who was seeking to kill him. He and a few of his faithful followers had taken refuge at Carmel.

While there the Elect Lady by the name of Abigail brought David and his hungry men "good things to eat." Her gift was 200 loaves, 2 bottles of wine, 5 sheep, 5 measures of parched corn, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs.

What a wonderful housekeeper she must have been, as we note this fine mixture of good things she had; she prepared for David because she was loyal and true. She was also a brave woman as she broke through the enemy's line to find one who was to be her king and help him. She did more than prepare a table for him in the presence of his enemies, for she comforted his soul not a little. She fell down at David's feet and said: "Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah, and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days, and although men be risen up to pursue thee to seek thy soul, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord [138] thy God." Perhaps when she used the word "bundle" she was thinking of the bundle of good things she had brought him, so she comforted her king by her strong words of truth. Why should he fear his enemies? He was safe indeed, because he was wrapped up as in a bundle with his Lord.

Yes, Abigail was right, there is a bundle of life, all of us like pilgrims must carry this "pack" to the end of life's journey.

To illustrate this truth prepare two bundles wrapped up as an ordinary bundle. Place them both on the platform table where they can be seen by all the audience. The first bundle you call the "Sinner's Bundle of Life." It contains the following articles: A small paper serpent; a small bottle; a bag with the bottom left open representing a bag with holes in it; a cardboard heart with a large black spot on it. Around this bundle in place of the common cord place a small piece of chain to hold it together. When you are ready to consider this package hold it up and say, "This is The Sinner's Bundle of Life. Note it is bound together by this chain. This teaches us that the sinner is in bondage to sin. He is a slave and chained to the evil one. He is held captive to all the dark things we shall find in his life's bundle." Now unwrap the bundle and produce first the serpent. This teaches us sin is an ugly thing, a deadly serpent. It crept with the bundle of life far back in the garden of Eden and has been there ever since. Only Jesus can cast it out. Now produce the "bag" with holes in it. Drop in it some coins, and they pass out of the holes in the bottom. This illustrates the truth that the sinner's life is one of constant losses. God gives him great opportunities to do [139] right and be right, but instead of holding on to them and making good, he lets them slip out of his life, and they are lost. He is like the children on the sands by the seashore; they gather up a handful of sand, then open their little fingers and let it slip through and back again to the sands of the sea and their little hands are empty. His gold also on the wings of dissipation and foolishness flies away from him and is lost.

Next take out the small-sized bottle. This we will call the tear bottle; in the Scriptural times the ancients bottled their tears and kept the bottle and its contents as a remembrance of their sorrow. So the sinner has his sorrows also. Outwardly he is gay and happy, but if the door of the heart could be open we would behold a house of mourning. A hopeless sorrow, the saddest of all sadness, because there is no Jesus there to bear his sorrow with him. At last produce the heart with a black stain on it; this is to teach us that down in the depths of life, so long as the heart is wrong, all else is wrong, for "out of the heart are the issues of life." What will the angels do with this bundle if it remains as it is until the last day? They will cast it into the pit of destruction, the place where all evil works must go at last.

Let us now consider "The Christian Bundle."

In preparing this package have placed into it the following articles: A Bible; a cross; a piece of white goods; a card with the words "My Soul" marked on it; a card with the word "God" marked on it. Tie this bundle up with a piece of scarlet tape.

In presenting this bundle say: "You will note it is tied together by a scarlet cord. This teaches us that, as in the days of old when the spies were let down from [140] the windows of the house on the wall in the days of Rahab and thus made their escape, so the scarlet thread of salvation binds us together and holds us to the throne of God, and we are safe indeed. We are kept in the hollow of his hand. This cord is the first thing we note because we must seek Jesus and his salvation first. We must seek first the kingdom, and all else shall be added. Let us see what has been added as we unwrap the bundle and look it over.

"First we find the Bible. When this is taken into our life it becomes a radiant lamp. This book is a flaming torch lighting the way. We will never lose our way if we walk in this light. This Book in life's bundle produces a Bible life. This creates the Master Christian."

Next produce the cross. This stands for the fact that we trust daily in the atoning work of the Cross of Jesus. Now bring out the white goods which stands for Peace. The flag of peace waves from over the door of every Christian heart; peace through the Cross of Christ. Next display the card with the words "My Soul" marked on it. This teaches the idea that all these wonderful qualities are soul deep and therefore will go with you into the other life.

At last produce the card containing the word "God" marked on it. This teaches the fact that if God be in us and with us, wrapped up in us, we are safe for both worlds.

What will the angels do with this bundle? They will carry it through the gates, for the soul is in it, and the soul goes up to God. Now make your personal application and say: "We are all packing up our Bundle of Life; may we all make it The Christian's Bundle.

[141] "Do the first thing first, and do it now. Cling to the scarlet thread. Remember Jesus is standing at the door. He is waiting for you to open wide the heart's door. Let him come in, and he will shut the door after him, and when once he shuts the door, no man can open it. You are safe forever more. You are wrapped up as if in a bundle with God. Do it now.

"So you will note there are two Bundles of Life. Which is yours?"

[142]

41

THE NORTH POLE OF THE BIBLE

OBJECTS: A Pole Painted White Standing Erect on the
Platform with a Scripture Reference on It. Also
a Red-and-White Cardboard Heart.

The North Pole has been discovered at last. This is an achievement which history will record in large headlines.

The names of Nansen, Kane, Amundsen, Scott, and Peary and others are engraven on golden tablets in the World's Hall of Fame. These famous men now wear the crown of achievement. Through fields of ice they plowed, enduring the rigors of the long Arctic winters, suffering the pangs of hunger and loneliness, but with iron wills and nerves of steel they pressed on and won out.

And yet there are ocean depths that never a human eye hath seen; mountain peaks that never yet have been pressed by a human foot; mighty rivers up which no civilized man has ever sailed. Of a truth there remains much land to be possessed.

But harken: the largest and most mighty adventure in this old world of ours is to find the larger North Pole of Creation.

This larger North Pole you will find in the Bible, and all who believe God should be striving to find it.

Here you see standing on the platform before you a white pole. We will call it the North Pole of the Bible. [143] On it you will notice a passage of Scripture which reads, "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). This should be life's greatest endeavor, to love God with the big measure of this text.

This is a gigantic adventure. You are invited to join the expedition.

A man by the name of Thomas Boston, who wrote the "Fourfold State," was much afraid when a boy that the number of God's chosen ones, 144,000 spoken about in Revelation, was already made up, and that his name was not among the number because he had come into the world too late. But no one may despair that his name is not among the number chosen by God to reach the Greater North Pole of the Bible, for all the believing world are asked to seek and find, and all who seek aright shall indeed find.

The reason so few fail to find it is because they don't seek long enough. Did you ever hear the story of the discovery of gold in California? It seems that two men seeking the yellow stuff had gone to California. One man's name is not known in history. Marshall was the name of the other man. One morning after long months of fruitless toil the man of the forgotten name threw down his pick and pan and declared he was through, and said he did not believe that gold could be found in that spot, and he left for his Eastern home. Marshall said he would try again because he believed the yellow stuff was there. Six hours after his companion had left Marshall struck a vein of the finest gold and became rich [144] and famous. Both of these men were brave and strong, only Marshall was brave just six hours longer than his companion, and so won out.

It is the man who can believe the longest and work the hardest that will find the North Pole of the Bible. This is the secret passage to the Greater Pole: Love God, and stick to it until you can do it with all your soul. It is sad to think that not every one will do this. This is why God can't reign in his own world, because of the people's unbelief.

God is yet waiting to show the world what mighty things he can do for us with the man who loves him with his whole heart, and the man who does this has reached the North Pole of the Scriptures. To love God with the whole heart means to love God first and most, and all the time.

To illustrate this thought prepare two hearts made of cardboard. One should be red; this stands for man. The other card should be white; this represents God. Make this heart a little larger than the red heart. Make it of double cardboard and open at the top. Hold up the red heart in the left hand and the white heart in the right hand. Hold both hands far apart, bearing in mind that the red heart stands for man and the white heart for God.

Now say that God calls the red heart to come to him, to repent of sin and forsake all evil ways, and to love him ever afterward with the whole heart. The truth is he asks for your whole heart, which means your full and perfect love. He will hide you in his great heart of love. As you make this remark cause both hearts to approach each other. You will notice that the white [145] heart moves toward the red heart, this is to make clear the fact that God meets us always half way.

The only time God was ever in a hurry was when he ran out to meet the returning Prodigal Son. He is anxious and yet more than anxious to meet half way the soul who will seek him and wants to love him with all his heart. Now let the hearts approach each other and when they meet let the red heart slip into the white one, and say: "God is ready to receive the believer who wishes to be lost in his love. This is perfect love. This is loving the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."

This is finding the North Pole of the Bible.

Now fasten the white heart containing the red heart on the Pole. God will give us large wings of Faith which can endure the long hard flight to the North Pole of the Bible.

There we will find Jesus, this is where he lives, in the perfect love of God. In the Book of Life, which is God's Blue Book of "Who's Who in the Kingdom," you will find written in letters of gold the names of those who had perfect love and so have reached the North Pole of the Bible.

Jesus asks us so to do. "Let's go."

[146]

42

OBJECT-LESSONS FOR SPECIAL DAYS

OBJECTS: A Large Collection of Simple Objects Herein
Described

Holidays, festival seasons, and historical events are always interesting to the little people and may be made of large value to them.

As these days come around, and public attention is thus called to them, you can use these special seasons as an occasion for the presentation of certain important truths suggested by them and to help the children see and feel the real good for which the days stand.

You can thus cause these days to stand for something more than events past. You can make them gleam with truths worth while for the present. Some of these events noted in this chapter vary as to their dates in the several States and countries; this matter you can rearrange to fit your own State. Of course other festival days and special seasons will occur to you, and you can fit them into your schedule of events according to your liking.

Some of the objects are very simple, but they may suggest others to you of greater importance. The Scripture reading for certain of the days will give you an opportunity to line up religious truths also with the event you are noting.

Here is a partial list of some of the special seasons and holidays.

[147]

New Year's Day. January First

The Forward Look Day would be a good name also for this day.

Read Philippians 3:1-14.

Use a blank book with the figures of the New Year on its cover. Explain that the New Year is like a blank book of 365 pages. What shall I write on its pages? Put a verse of Scripture on the top of each page. Live by its teachings and commit to memory each day's verse on its day. That will give you a clean page, not a blank one, but one written all over with God's truth. Each action of yours will be like a quill. It will write down the story of your life.

You may also use a string of beads to illustrate that truth. Secure a piece of strong white thread, and call this the string of time. Place on this string one bead at a time, 365 in all; these beads you call the days of the year. Every seventh bead should be a large and unusual one which we will call the Sabbath Day. If that day is a common day of pleasure put a plain bead as the seventh bead. Instruct them to make every seventh bead the best of all the beads by keeping the day holy; it will be holy unto the Lord.

Snowflake Day. In January

Read as a Scripture lesson Job 37:1-14 or Psalm 147.

This can be used any day in the winter. If there is a large fall of snow on the ground, it can be used at that time with good effect. Cut out a number of small stars and pin them on a background and say: "Once upon a time there was a little boy who had just discovered that [148] every snowflake was like a little star in shape and exclaimed to his Mother as he watched them fall, 'Oh, Mother, it's snowing stars.' Yes, he was right; if every flake could be examined under a large magnifying-glass we would find each flake to be a tiny star. Some people never tire looking at the beautiful flakes falling down over street and field. How wonderful to watch God snow stars. The snowflake is a six-pointed star. That is the shape of the Bible star. Ancient history tells us that on the shield of David there was a six-pointed star. It was called the star of David. It is so called by the Jews at the present time. How beautiful it is to have a White Christmas. The wonderful snow covering the ground with spotless white. How much more wonderful it is to remember that each snowflake is a six-pointed star covering the ground with the stars of David, reminding us that there is born this day, in the City of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

Franklin's Birthday. January 17

The selected Scripture for that day could be Solomon's description of the man of thrift as found described in Proverbs 6:6-11.

Secure a boy's kite, and tell the part it played where Franklin brought down the lightning from the sky to serve man. We also bring down prayer power from above, for by Prayer we bring down God's power to serve us.

McKinley's Birthday. January 29

Read Matthew 5:1-12 wherein Jesus describes the well-balanced man. President McKinley was a man thus [149] put together. Secure a picture of him if possible, and comment on the main features of his life. Like Lincoln and Garfield, he gave his life for the right and God. We may not be called upon to surrender our life as did President McKinley for the cause of humanity, but we can do what God likes just as much—we can live for him and his cause.

Ground-Hog Day. February 2

Tell the old story of how this little animal is believed by some to tell certain things about the weather, so they watch to see him peep out of his little hole in the ground. Pin up some pictures of an animal on a background and tell a few short stories about them.

Missionary Day. February

Show a map of the heathen country and secure some small idols or curios from some missionary headquarters and exhibit them to the children. Tell the audience that though we may smile at these ugly shapes the heathen people revere them and cling to them as their only hope. They will not give them up because we just say they are false gods. They will fight for them and often suffer more for their gods than we will for the true God. A returned missionary told the following story. He was holding special meetings for the children and trying to reach them by teaching them to sing the little Christian songs our mothers taught us. At once the heathen priests opened a children's meeting directly opposite to his place of meeting. The missionary taught the children to sing,

[150]

The heathen priest taught the children to sing by the same tune the words:

So you see we must fight a long battle and endure much for Jesus before we will put the name of Jesus in the place of Buddha in the hearts of the people of the heathen land. Here exhibit a Conquest Flag which stands for warfare. The war is on—but Jesus will conquer. The Conquest Flag tells us this.

Lincoln's Birthday. February 12

Read as the Scripture lesson how God chose Moses to be the Emancipator of the Hebrews, Exodus 3:11-22.

His was a heart trust in God. Read this truth in Psalm 91.

Secure a broken chain to represent the millions made free from the bondage of slavery.

Sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and also "America."

Secure a large picture of Lincoln and have it displayed before the audience as you speak of him as Father Abraham the Liberator. Mention his strong faith in God; this was the big sword with which he fought the big battles of the Union Army.

Boys' Day. Any Day

In some of our great cities they now celebrate what is known as "Boys' Week." The boys run the town for an hour. In Philadelphia, Pa., Hon. W. Freeland Kendrick at this present writing is now our mayor; for one hour he surrendered his office to a bright boy [151] of the town, and all the city was glad to give the boy the first place.

This goes to prove that the boy has his opportunity in this present day, and it is a great opportunity, for it means that the boy can come to his own if he will.

If you have a Boy Scout organization in your church ask one or more of them to come to the platform or to serve on the floor as ushers. Use also the members of the other boy organizations you may have in the church. Have the entire program conducted by bright boys and reserve for yourself only the place of the speaker.

Japan is a children's country. They have lots of holidays which always make children glad. There is something quaint and happy in them. There is a special holiday which they call the "Boys' Festival." On a pole in front of almost every house in Japan there flies a great "paper fish." These are made hollow so that the wind can come in at the opening of the mouth and fill the paper fish with air, and thus the fish seems to swing about in the air with a lifelike wriggle.

Every fish kite in front of the house means that a boy lives in that house. The parents are glad to make that fact known and are proud of it. The paper fish is made after the pattern of the carp, which is a favorite fish in that country. It is a vigorous fish, and no current seems to be too strong for it. It swims against the current, and when it comes to a waterfall it jumps high into the air and falls into the water beyond the falls. They claim that nothing can stop it when it determines to go ahead. Because it is such a wonderful fish they have made it a badge for their boys. They want their boys to be just as steady and courageous. Let all the [152] boys of the wide world learn this lesson. Plow your way throughout the adverse current of life.

Let it be said of every boy, "Nothing can stop him." Come to Jesus; that is the kind of boy he makes, and that boy will make good.

Now you ask me, "Do they forget little girls in Japan?" Never, only they hang a doll on the pole instead of a fish. If you are located near a Japanese bazaar you may be able to get this paper fish. Secure one if possible; it will write the lesson on the eyes and memory of the children.

St. Valentine's Day. February 14

Tell the story of godly men who in ancient times were called saints. Read Psalm 16 as the lesson.

Secure a number of paper hearts and distribute them to some of the older children and ask them to write on the heart some good deed; then collect the hearts, put them on a small tree which you have placed on the platform, and call it the Tree of Good Deeds. Show that each one can make the life like this tree if it is rooted in the heart of Jesus. Secure now a large white heart, and pin it to the root of the tree which stands for the heart of Jesus from which all good comes. If your life is like this tree of Goodness it is greater than any saint who ever lived.

Edison's Birthday. February 11

Secure if possible the picture of this modern miracle man and tell the story of his discoveries. Secure an electric wire, an electric lamp, and a phonograph record. Explain that he was a "light" man, not that he created [153] light, but he knew how to make men see it. So we should all be light-givers. The light is locked up in God's wonderful battery, the Great Bible. We are the wires; if we let God's truth current shine through us the world will see God's light. We are living epistles known and read of all men because they see in us God's light.

Washington's Birthday. February 22

Read as the Bible lesson 1 Samuel 18:5-16.

Secure a toy hatchet and tell the story of the cherry tree. Secure a colonial hat and tell the story of Washington's soldier days. Secure an old colonial flag, that is, thirteen Stars and Bars, and tell the story of our first national struggle.

Longfellow's Birthday. February 27

As the Scripture lesson read Psalm 95.

As an example of poetic beauty, also read Psalm 96; it contains the same strong lines. Secure his picture if possible. Give a short reading from his poetic work. Call attention to the fact that the Bible gave him the master type of the highest class poetry.

Ash Wednesday

Read Matthew 6:16-21, which will give the Bible idea of fasting. Secure a piece of purple goods, which stands for a penitential heart. Every day should be Ash Wednesday; that is, it should be confession day, for every day brings its load of sins, and the thing to do with them is to confess them; this makes every day Ash Wednesday. Write the word "Sin" on a card, and say if we bring our sins to God and confess them he will [154] forgive and cast them behind his back. As you say these words drop behind your back the card with "Sins" marked upon it. This was the way the ancient kings did when they were forgiving the criminal. They tore up the charges and cast the torn parts behind their backs, which meant there was nothing against the offender now. This was the way a little boy made Ash Wednesday out of Christmas. It was a cold and snowy day. The ice was thick in the middle of the streets where the horses were trying to walk, but many of them were falling because of the slippery places. So the little fellow felt "sorry for the poor horses" as he expressed it; he therefore slipped out of the house with a box of ashes, and covered the ice with the ashes; after this the horses would not slip. That was Ash Christmas, The truest Ash Wednesday lasts through every day of the year.

St. Patrick's Day. March 17

St. Patrick was one of the early missionaries to Ireland. He held great revival meetings as did Billy Sunday, and thousands were converted to the true God. Today the shamrock is used as the national leaf. It is said he chose it because it taught the lesson of the Trinity, having its leaf divided into three large blades.

Cut out a large leaf after this fashion and say: St. Patrick was the great preacher of the Trinity, He told them about the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He was an object-teacher.

Holy Week. Week Before Easter

This is sometimes called Passion Week because it has to do with the sufferings of Jesus during his last week. [155] Common objects can be used for each day: Sunday, a palm-leaf, and on each following day select some object mentioned in the Scripture used on that day.

Good Friday

This is Crucifixion Day. The great Day of Atonement.

There were three crosses on the green hill of Calvary that day. There are three crosses now among men. Secure three small crosses. Let the first one be painted black. This is the cross of people who reject Jesus, as did the impenitent thief. The second is a purple cross; this stands for the people who are sorry for their sins and do truly repent with the heart, as did the penitent thief. The other is the red cross, the cross on which Jesus died and shed his precious blood.

Everything depends upon which side of this red cross we take our stand; if on the black side, then we are lost forever; if on the purple side, then we are saved forever. Ask the children to come forward if they will accept Jesus and take their stand by the purple cross. Then it will be Good Friday in their hearts.

Saturday Night

A representation of a spear like the one carried by the Roman guard who stood at the door of the tomb all day. Read Matthew 27:62-66.

Easter Day

Read Matthew 28:1-10; also 1 Corinthians 15:1-20.

Secure a small tree, not an evergreen tree, but a common tree with leaves just commencing to appear on its [156] branches. This is the Easter tree just awakening from the grave of winter. Only a few months ago the winds whistled through its bare branches, and the snow nestled on its limbs in peace. It was to all appearances dead.

But the gentle sun began to shine, and the soft winds began to blow, and the tree life returned again. It was the resurrection day for the tree, and when the green leaves bloomed it was an Easter tree. In ancient times in a great gay cathedral far away on Easter dawn the people assembled to greet the return of Easter Day. The great choirs marched in, singing their glad tones. At the end of the procession the bishop marched, carrying in his hands a great tall candle five feet high and six inches thick. He set it into a stone socket on the top step of the altar. Silence fell upon the great crowd as they worshiped in the dark and waited for the dawn.

The sunshine was just commencing to creep through the cathedral windows and at last the sun's ray had touched the tip of the great candle. The bishop took from his robes a burning-glass lens and held it over the candle wick centering the sun's ray upon it. The wick smoked, then glowed, and burst into flame. The Easter sunrise had lighted the Easter candle. The choirs sang a hymn of joy. The people pressed forward and lit their pieces of tinder from this candle, and as they did so they said, "Christ is risen indeed."

They carried the flickering light to their houses, from which they lit their hearthfires. Soon the kindling caught, the logs began to smoke, the fire began to glow, and over it they cooked their Easter breakfast. Tradition says they never let it go out for one year, until Good Friday came again. May all of us take from this [157] service today a Resurrection Light that will never be extinguished. "Christ is risen today," is an everlasting light. Let us live in this light evermore.

Miracle Day. May

Miracles are everywhere these early May days.

Just watch the new leaves come forth and you will believe in miracles. They seem so feathery that they resemble the wings of the beautiful butterfly. They are as tender as rose petals, and yet they have forced themselves through the tree's armor of wood, and not a single leaf is torn by the struggle. The days of miracles have not gone by, every day is a miracle day when God's May days return.

Remember the story of the miracle of water turning into wine. That was the Master's first miracle. But every time the rain falls on the grape-vines God is turning water into wine. If I can believe in the miracle of the vineyard I can believe in the miracle of Cana. In Cana Jesus did in a second what in the vineyard he does in a season. It was only a question of time. I believe in miracles because I see them every May day and every other day.

Tree Day. Early Springtime

Read Psalm 1.

He shall be like a "tree planted." This is the meaning of Tree Day. The time for the planting of a tree. Show a little acorn and say, There is a miniature tree in this little acorn. Plant it, and therefrom a mighty tree will finally come forth. So little acts bloom forth into forces of strength and glory.

[158] Little good words are acorns. Plant lots of them. Trees help the little birds, for they fly into the branches for safety when pursued by some wild, larger bird.

Trees mean homes for the next generation. They will live in the houses the timbers will give. If possible, secure a young tree and have a service of planting after the meeting is over. Name that tree after the Junior Society of your church.

Forefather's Day. April 18

For this day read Proverbs 22:17-19, which exhorts us not to remove the landmarks of the fathers.

Tell the story of the Pilgrim Fathers. Make up an Indian hat which would stand for the Indians with whom they had to battle when they landed on our shores. Secure an old Bible and say, This old book contained their laws of living. Secure a school rule which you say stands for the exactness of their daily living.

Remember our Revolutionary Forefathers also, and to visualize this idea secure if possible a colonial gun or some old-fashioned piece of furniture, such as was used in those days by those old worthies, secure also if possible a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence and call the names of the mighty men who signed it. Introduce the Forefathers of the past to the children of the present day—it will be a wonderful meeting. Ask the children to stand as you read the names of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Tell them where the original of the famous old document is still carefully preserved, guarded now against the destructive action of the light, and urge them to use [159] their earliest opportunity to see this Declaration for themselves.

Mother's Day. May 10

Read 1 Timothy 5:1-10, and speak of the great need for a holy respect for mothers.

Read Ruth, chapter one, and tell them the story of an old-fashioned mother who was kind and good.

Read Exodus 20:1-12, and tell the little hearers that they are to honor their father and mother.

Read Matthew 15:1-11, and tell over again the duty of honoring the parents which God has given us.

I have used with good results a little card containing some timely words for children. The title of the card is "Mother's Ten Commandments."

MOTHER MINE—C. H. WOOLSTON

[160] Read these lines over slowly and let the children repeat them after you. Urge them to wear a flower in mother's memory. Secure a few extra flowers, and ask some little girl or boy to come forward and deposit the flowers on the table in memory of the "forgotten mother," the mother whose children have forgotten her.

If you so desire, it might be well to place a single flower on the Bible on the pulpit in memory of Mary the mother of Jesus.

Peace Day. May 18

Read for that day as your Scripture lesson Psalm 48, where it is declared that the weapons of war are to be turned into farm tools and that wars are to cease.

Read also Isaiah 2:4, where it is declared that nation shall not lift sword against nation. Prepare a large white flag. This is the flag of peace.

Ask the children to stand around this flag as you tell them the story of the birth of the Prince of Peace who came to give peace on earth and good-will among men.

Memorial Day. May 30

Read as your Bible lesson for that day Psalm 46, announcing the end of war.

Read Psalm 47 where the nations are called upon to praise God, and read also Matthew 22:15-22 describing the duty of citizens. Secure a wreath of flowers, place it upon the flag, and tell the audience the story of the brave men who died for their country and their flag. Close by singing the National Hymn. Ask that all [161] the children wear small flags, and have them march around the room singing together the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Flag Day. June 14

Read as your Scripture lesson Psalm 46. After you have read this lesson, ask some of the children to come forward with flags and stand around the reader while he reads Psalms 67 and 72. Tell the story of the making of the flag in Philadelphia by Betsy Ross.

School Closing Day

Read as the Bible lesson Ecclesiastes 12, and urge them in their youthful days to remember God.

Read also Matthew 25:14-30, in which the use of the individual talent is urged.

Tell them that "school-days" are not all over, the real school of life has just begun. The Bible is the greater text-book of the school of life.

Children's Day. June

Let the children conduct this service, all but the address, you may give this yourself or secure another to do it for you.

Draw lessons from the flowers, bring in a bird in its cage, and read Matthew 6:19-34.

Tell the story of the Ark, the biggest bird-cage ever made, and what the Raven and Dove did in the great flood story. After the lesson, if possible let them put the flowers you have been using on the graves of the little children of the church who have died during the past year.

[162]

Independence Day. July 4

This day should always be kept as a religious day. The noise of gunpowder should no longer be heard. It should be a day exalting peace, not commemorating bloodshed, therefore cause the decorations to be white intertwined with the flag. Let the little girls dress in white and the boys wear a white flower or have white bands around their arms.

War love must be crushed for the sake of the best things. The idea that might is power plunged the world into the great World War. The only war the kingdom of heaven knows is war against war and all its evil things. Display the conquest flag, and tell the story how the Cross of Jesus is marching on to save this old world from sin.

Close by telling them that when they forsake all sin and come to Jesus and are saved, they are an assembly of braves and have put their names to the new declaration of independence.

Labor Day. September (First Monday)

For the Scripture lesson for this day read the story of "the laborer being worthy of his hire," as you will find it recorded in Luke 10:1-11. Also the call for laborers for the vineyard, as written in Matthew 20:1-15.

Take a walk into the carpenter-shop of Nazareth and watch Jesus working at his trade at the carpenter's bench. Talk of Jesus as the model Carpenter. Use the carpenter tools as object-lessons: the saw a separator from wrong. A divider of good things, Jesus shared his life with the world as a saw divides the board.

[163] The hammer can be used to show how to fix things in their places so they will stay fixed. Jesus nailed down his commandments as fixed laws by which the world was to be saved.

Show the rule, and talk about the Golden Rule that measures things correctly, and gives a wonderful standard by which we should govern our acts among men.

Display the plane, an instrument to smooth things out and to take off the rough places. Love is that plane, and Jesus always used it to smooth out the hard and ugly places that hate had made in life. So continue to talk about Jesus and his tools. Put up a cardboard sign on the outside of the church containing a message for the laboring man. Let it read, "'God bless the working man' is the prayer of the Children of this Church."

Columbus Day. October 12

Tell the story of Abraham, who, like Columbus, went forth on a wonderful adventure. You will find this recorded in Genesis 12:1-10.

Show the children pictures of ships which sail the deep sea.

Show them a handful of reeds, and explain that Columbus discovered floating in the sea a number of weeds which did not grow in his country and therefore reasoned they must come from an unknown land.

Write on a piece of large white paper the word "AMERICA"; roll it up and hide it, and then during the meeting ask some boy or girl to pretend to be Columbus, and let him go forth to find the new world. If he fails to find the parchment let another child try. Let the fortunate child who does at last find it come back to [164] the platform, and then give him a new name—call him the "Discoverer."

Teach the lesson that all of us are starting out in life to "find things," but the best thing to find is the truth. Place in his hands a Bible and say, This will be your guide to all truth, follow its light, and you will find the Cross which is the door to salvation and to heaven.

Hallowe'en. October 31

Read as the Scripture lesson for this service Romans 1:1-12. It announces the fact that we are all called to be saints. Every good boy and girl made good by being saved is a saint according to the New Testament.

Hallowe'en is the eve before All Saints' Day, and the term means "Holy Evening."

It does not seem much like an holy evening when we remember it is a time of unearthly noises, witches, spirits, ghosts, elfish creatures, etc., the time when fortunes are supposed to be told in many a walnut shell or in a tub with a burning candle. All of this superstition belongs to the realm of frolics.

Display some post-cards with pictures of witches on them and say, "We do not fear these witches because they don't live," but tell them of the true witches, lying, stealing, profanity, falsehood, anger, temper, etc., which are all witches that we should fear for they are real and seek to get into our hearts at all times.

Explain the "new" meaning of the decoration you use for this special season, "the black and orange." Let the black stand for the night of sin, and the orange, the color of the rising sun, for the dawn of the day of truth and the coming of the light. Darken the room, [165] and let a child from the rear with a lighted candle represent the light that God sends into our world of darkness. This is a simple but entertaining pastime.

For the conclusion of the service have a peanut party.

Hallowe'en is the season of nuts of all kinds. So the peanut can be used to the best advantage because it can be easily secured everywhere. Secure a number of peanuts and hide them in all parts of the room, explain this to the children, and at your command let them all start in to find them. The one finding the largest number should be given some simple little prize. Ask them to drop them all in a large bowl, then ask six children to shut their eyes, and reach in one hand and take out a handful, and the one having the number nearest to 25 will receive another simple little prize.

Conclude by having a peanut auction. Prepare a number of parcels containing simple little things such as an apple, a stick of candy, an orange, a bunch of raisins, a lead-pencil, etc. Wrap these articles up in large bundles so the contents cannot be guessed by the shape. Ask some merry-hearted lad to be the auctioneer and sell the package to the highest bidder, payment to be made of course in peanuts, which at last you cast on the floor— asking the children to help themselves. If so desired serve peanut sandwiches as a special refreshment.

Election Day. November (first Tuesday after first Monday)

Read as the Scripture lesson Romans 13. This teaches the lesson that we are to be subject unto authority. Read also Matthew 22:15-22, which gives us a lesson of the "citizen's duty."

[166] Secure if possible a sample ballot. Display it before the children, and explain how the people of proper ages vote. After this, in the place of the names of the candidates and party write such words as Temperance, Good Citizenship, Good Schoolhouses, Full Churches, and Large Sunday Schools, and say we can all vote for all of these. Put down your cross mark under each name. Sing "America," salute the flag, and all say, "God Bless Our Native Land." Let us help to make it God's Great Land.

Armistice Day. November 11

For the Scripture lesson read about the time when wars shall cease, as you will find it mentioned in Psalms 46 and 47, and also in Isaiah 2:1-11, describing the time when nation shall not lift sword against nation.

Talk about the World War and display the flags of all nations. Have a large white flag prepared, and call it Armistice Day, that great day when the guns ceased firing. As you say this ask the children who hold the flags of all nations to come forward and stand around the white flag in a circle. Tell how glad the people were on that day, and describe the noises the children made. But this day did not bring lasting peace among the nations, for there is a whisper about war coming back again, and nations seem to be preparing for that event. The only peace which shall last and endure is the Peace of God—the world can never take that peace away.

Ask a boy to come to the platform holding a large cross in his hand, and as he does this let all the nations kneel around it. The power of the Cross alone will give the nations of the world God's wonderful peace; until [167] then there will be no lasting peace among the peoples of the world.

Thanksgiving Day. November (last Thursday of month)

Read Isaiah 12 as a thanksgiving song, also read 2 Samuel 22:1-18, which contains the same thought. Psalms 92, 100, and 136 are called thanksgiving songs. Ask some boy or girl to read these lessons.

Read Luke 17:11-19, the story of a good thanksgiving example. Read this lesson at the close of the meeting. Display on the table some fruits, also some large vegetables, all showing how good God is in his wonderful gifts at harvest-time.

Tell the story of the early settlers, and why the first Thanksgiving proclamation was made.

Thanksgiving Day is Old Home Day. The separated family come together in one glad reunion, and the young folks go bounding to see grandma and grandpa, and all have a good time.

Now tell the children we will all consider ourselves one big family, and so prepare for a good time. Pass around a number of candles, and when each has received one, ask the children to eat them. The candles are made out of apples; the wick is made of a bit of almond, which on being lit will blaze for a minute. After this suspend a hoop in the doorway and make snowballs of tissue-paper by crushing them into round shapes. Give each scholar four balls, and standing them a given number of feet away, see how many of the balls each can put through the hoop at the first trial. Give the child who can do this a bag of peanuts as a reward.

If you wish an exclusive religious service for that day, [168] secure a small-sized tree and place it on the platform, Distribute small paper hearts, and ask the children to write on them the reason they are thankful, and at the proper time ask them to bring the heart to the platform. After you have read them to the children, pin them on the tree and call the tree the Thanksgiving Tree. It should grow all the year around in everybody's home.

Christmas Eve. December 24

Ask the children to keep their eyes on the door. Turn down the lights of the room until only a dim light is seen. Tell them the Christmas Eve story. Long ago the people had a kind of Christmas fancy that the Child Jesus came to earth again each Christmas Eve and wandered about the streets looking for some one to recognize him and take him into their house.

Through the winter night he tramps on, cold and homeless, so the story goes, peeping in at the windows where evergreen wreaths and warm fires make all who live in that house comfortable and happy. At last some one is sure to see the dim face outside the window, and will fling wide open the door and bid him come in, and give the little stranger loving welcome to all their comforts. Here recite the text Revelation 3:20: "Behold I stand at the door and knock." Open the door of the heart, for the real Christ is there tonight and every other night also. Did you ever notice that the paneling of the door resembles a cross, so it is true of the door of the heart, we must take up his cross in our heart first, and then the door will open wide to let Jesus in. Open the door of the heart to Jesus on Christmas Eve, and that will make every day a Merry Christmas.

[169] It is a good plan to read by candle-light a Christmas story. Place a lighted candle on the table, extinguish all other lights, and say, "Now listen to a Christmas Eve story," and then read Luke's account of the Nativity.

Wish the little folks a Merry Christmas and send them early to their homes.

Christmas Day. December 25

For a good Christmas lesson read the story of the Nativity as recorded in the second chapter of Luke. Read also the story of the Wise-men as written in Matthew 2:1-12.

Secure nine tall candles, and as you light them remark how beautiful the candle-light looks on Christmas night, for this is the happy eve of twinkling lights. Even the stars throb and glow as if trying to smile on little children. You will notice that I have here nine candles, each candle standing for a letter in the word Christmas.

Let us see what each sparkling Christmas light says to us. This first light stands for the lights of the inn, the place where Joseph and Mary went the night Jesus was born. This light made plain the path to the rear of the inn where they found the manger crib that God had prepared for the little Son. It was a humble nest, but it was all the inn-keeper had to offer his guests. They were lights of welcome to Jesus, and so Merry Christmas was born there. He who walks in the light of humility walks in the Christmas light.

The next light represents the light from the camp-fires of the Shepherds, around which they gathered and read the words of the Great Prophet of Israel as to the Coming One, while they watched their flocks [170] by night. These were quiet lamps of patient waiting. They were lamps of faith which made stout their courage as they believed with all the heart. Jesus was coming soon, and so God rewarded their faith, for their fires were not extinguished until he came indeed. We should keep the camp-fires burning while we are waiting for his glorious coming again. Every Christmastime should cause us to be glad because he did come once, and we have his promise he will come again. Never let that lamp of hope die out.

The next light stands for the heavenly light shining in the skies. For a bright light shone about them, "the Light of the World" was about to be born. This light was full of angels who sang by that golden light the story of "peace on earth and good-will toward men."

The next light represents the light of the stable lantern which the shepherds brought with them. They were the lamps of the "seeker," they had heard of the little Saviour, and they went forth to seek him. Always carry the seeker's light with you, for it is the finding light. As Bobby Burns puts it, "They never seek the Lord in vain who seek the Lord aright."

The next light represents the starlight which the Wise-men saw. They followed it, and it brought them to the place where the young child lay. The wisest men of this world are led by heaven's lamp of truth. Holding up a Bible, say, "This is the lamp from Heaven, follow it and you will at last find the Christ on his throne where it is Christmas every day."

The next light represents the lamp of the house where the Wise-men found Jesus and his mother. What a wonderful house that must have been. It was a house [171] glorified because Jesus had once lived there in all of his heavenly beauty. Let Jesus into your house, and it will be full of golden lamps which will make the home all glorious within.

What did those lamps see? They saw the gifts of gold which the Wise-men brought, and it seemed to turn to a shining crown and the babe's voice was the voice of the little King. They shone upon a beautiful urn of frankincense. This is a pure gum from a certain Arabian tree which when burned gives a sweet-smelling smoke. In history it has always been used as a symbol of prayer and praise. This gift meant that all the world was to pray to him and praise him with all their heart. These home lamps saw also a golden cup of myrrh. This is a bitter gum and very precious. It used to be wrapped up with the coverings of those who died. It was to teach us that into the baby's life some day the cross would come, and the winding-sheet with its precious myrrh would prepare his precious body for the grave; so that house was made beautiful by the shadow of the wondrous Cross.

Let the Christmas light come into your heart, and all the people will see in you the beautiful life of peace, contentment, faith, love, and joy.

The next light represents the light which Jesus brings to the dark places of the world. He is a light which shines through the darkness. Here tell the story of heathen countries waiting for the light. He is the Light of the World.

The next light represents the light of his church. Paul Revere saw the lights flashing from the tower of Old North Church of Boston, and on his fleet-footed [172] horse dashed down through the valley spreading the message of alarm to the people of the sleeping homes. Every true church is a light-house. It warns us of the power of sin. It shows us the way of the Cross.

The next light represents the lamp of heaven. Jesus came to open the doors of heaven, where there is eternal light, and to bid us enter and be at rest. When he ascended he left a light in the window for us all, which is his good promise that "Where I am there ye shall be also." These are the Merry Christmas lights. Once, years ago and miles away, there was an ancient castle. It was the home of the silent and absent Prince. It was always dark and gloomy, no light could be seen in its windows day or night. There was an old tradition that some time the Prince would return, and then the lights would appear at every window and the bells would chime out most merrily. Often the quiet villagers would look up at the castle on the hill and wonder if the Prince would ever return, and if their eyes should ever see the long-promised lights. One night the people of the village were startled by the sound of bells, and from every window of the castle beautiful lights were shining. The Prince had returned, and there was great joy among the people. Let us light these nine Christmas lights now, and we shall all have a Merry Christmas, for the long-expected Prince from heaven has come to this old dark castle, the world dwelling in darkness.

Wilson's Birthday. December 28

Read as the special Scripture lesson for the hour Isaiah 11:1-10, which describes the man of peace. Read also Proverbs 3:13-26, which describes the scholar and [173] education. Secure a picture of the late President and dwell on his dreams of peace.

New Year's Eve

It is hardly possible that you will hold a watch-meeting for the juniors, but the following program will make a good order for adults as well as for such children who will attend with them. Secure a number of candles, one for each hour of the service. If the service commences at eight o'clock and continues until midnight, put four lighted candles on the table, one for each hour, and extinguish one at the end of each hour, and you will have one candle left for the last hour. This will be impressive.

At the last moment of the hour extinguish this candle and in total darkness let the old year pass out. At the first minute of the New Year turn on all the lights, arise, and sing, and after the Lord's Prayer, in which they all join, say to the people "A happy New Year to all," and the meeting has ended, and the New Year begun.

As an additional feature for this meeting prepare as large a book as possible with all the pages white and say, This is your book of the New Year. It is a fresh start for you, There will be nothing written on its pages of white except what you write there. Begin tonight and go straight and keep white. Write over the first page, "In the beginning God." That makes the start right, so it will always be white. Write this on the fresh page of every day also, and you will go straight for the whole year.

[174]

43

PUTTING A GOD TO BED

OBJECTS: Three Small Idols

I suppose you have often heard of little girls putting their dollies to bed. Well, here is a story of a full-grown woman by the name of Michal who put her little god to bed.

We read this strange story in the Bible and we will find it written in 1 Samuel 19:13. "And Michal took the image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with the clothes." But who was this Michal who put her god to bed? She was the wife of King David, and you would have thought she had thrown her idols all away long ago, but she did not do this but continued to put one god to bed long after she had become the wife of a king who believed only in the one true and living God. I suppose she often sang with David her husband, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want," and often with her husband had repeated, "God is our Refuge and our Strength," but with all this she nevertheless put her idol to bed and motherlike, she found herself down on her knees placing the bolster under the head of her idol and carefully covering it with clothes just as mother tenderly tucks in her little baby boy for the night.

Well, after all, I guess she was just like the most of us, she openly confessed her belief in the true God, but on the side had a darling idol or two.

[175] Let us examine ourselves and see if we are putting idols to bed also. Secure three images of Buddha. They can easily be purchased in the shops as they are now sold for incense-holders. The first idol we will label "Irreverence." I am afraid that most all of us have this idol in our possession. We pray to God on Sunday, and then the rest of the week we live any old way. Sometimes when we are in church we whisper, talk, and run about during the service, or look about the room during prayertime, and pay but little attention to the minister who is speaking to us for God. We often pay more attention to our earthly friends than we do to God who is our Chief Friend. All this is a display of Irreverence. Do not let us do this, but put this idol out of our life, and worship the true God only. The best way to cultivate reverence is to go to God's house and learn how to worship him. The music, the message, and the holy surroundings of the place of prayer all make it easy for us to be reverent.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said he had a tender little plant in his heart which he called "Reverence," which he needed to water once a week to keep it fresh and fragrant, so he went to church to water that plant; there he came under the showers of blessing which God sends to his people who are reverent and worship him. Reverence grows fast when we go to church. After you have said this, put the idol in an old bag which you have made to hold cast-off things.

The second idol we will label "SELFISHNESS." When we put ourselves first and are self-willed and always want our own way, then we are putting the idol of "selfishness" to bed. This idol is like the white [176] ant of Africa which is a secret destroyer. It feeds on wood.

A man built himself a house on a piece of land that he thought was a safe place, and after it was finished all the people said it was a thing of beauty. But suddenly one day it fell with a great crash. Now look over the wrecked timber, and you will discover that the inside of the timbers had been eaten clean away. This ant is no respecter of things. It eats books, furniture, trunks, chairs, dolls, and toys, or anything.

Selfishness is like this ant. It secretly eats away the heart of love, and we are dead to the appeal of the world for sympathy. No boy or girl can love himself or herself above all others without dying inside. Like the African ant, selfishness destroys from within, it kills the heart.

Bishop Butler, one of the most learned men, said, "Be more afraid of thyself than of the world." Be afraid of the idol of selfishness, it is yourself at your worst. Put it away, not to bed.

A poor little girl in the slums of London one cold snowy night said to her little brother who was shivering with the cold by her side, "Come closer to me, dear little brother, come under my shawl, it will stretch and cover us both." She never knew anything of the idol of selfishness, no one ever does who stretches the shawl for two. Put this idol in the old rag-bag and put it out of sight.

The third idol we will label "Hatred." We worship this idol when we say to another, "I hate you," and then add all sorts of evil words designed to hurt and kill, and so often we seem glad to believe all the evil said [177] about our enemies, and so worship this idol with glad hearts. Often we get some foreign substance in our eye, and we cannot see except with a blurred vision. We do not see things as they really are. Thus "hate" often blurs our sight, and we cannot see straight. "Hate" is a foreign substance in the mind's eye and we cannot see people as they are.

John Hus the Reformer was bound to the stake to be burned to death because of his faith in Jesus. A poor old peasant woman came up with a piece of wood to add to the fire which was to burn the martyr to death, and when it was flung on the pile, she seemed to be happy and contented. John Hus said to her, "Have I ever harmed you or yours that you are so bitter against me?" "Never," she replied, "but you are a heretic, and wood is scarce, and it looks like a hard winter, but I am glad to do my part to rid the world of such an accursed heretic." John Hus reached out his hand and drew the fagot close to his side and said, "With my heart I forgive you," for John was a Christian. She was a heathen putting her idol of "hate" to bed. She was so blind with hate that she did not know a saint when she saw one.

Be like Jesus who loved all men. A brother of mine when he was converted said, "I feel like kissing everybody." He had put the idol of hate in the rag-bag and, like Jesus, loved everybody. Should you not go and do likewise?

If this lesson is given to small children secure a doll's bed, and have the idols all put to bed before the children assemble. Place this bed on the table or any place where it can be seen by all. Take them out of bed one by one, [178] and give the lesson, and then say, "Shall I put them back to bed or in the rag-bag?"

After this tell them we are all to love God and not idols. Tell them the true God never goes to bed, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, but watches over us to see if there is not some good thing he can do for us the next day. His Son looks on and says, "Suffer the little ones to come unto me." Let's go.

[179]

44

HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS FLAG

OBJECTS: A Piece of Blue Bunting or Muslin and a
Yellow Six-pointed Star

Bring back Jesus into Christmas. This should be in our thoughts as we plan a Christmas program for children and young folks for this day. Christmas is Christ's birthday, but it is too often a birthday-party without Christ. We cannot truly celebrate his glad natal day if we crowd him out of the celebration.

I have attended Christmas celebrations where a cantata was rendered full of fairies, Brownies, and Santa Claus, and the name of Christ was not mentioned from start to finish. The cantata could have been given with entire acceptance at an infidel's celebration or in a Hindu temple. Christmas is a merry day, and I would not take one glad note from its music, but do not forget the King. It is his birthday we are celebrating.

To bring back Jesus into Christmas perhaps it will help a little to introduce a Christmas flag, and hang it up in sight of all the people. Before the festivities begin explain the Christmas flag, and by so doing we shall be introducing Jesus and giving him first place on the program.

To make a Christmas flag, secure a piece of sky-blue bunting or muslin, and explain that the blue stands for our faith in Jesus which is as clear as the blue sky above us without a cloud of unbelief in it.

[180] We believe Jesus to be God's only divine Son without a single cloud of doubt. In the center of the plain blue background place a six-pointed golden or yellow star commonly called the Star of David. This is beyond all doubt the Bible star. Jesus was the Bright and Morning Star. Let this star stand for Jesus of the House of David.

The history of the six-pointed star is most interesting. It will be real news to many of the young people. This star now appears on the Jewish flag.

During the recent convention of the Federation of American Zionists in Pittsburgh, the display of the six-pointed star flag was very much in evidence. On a white background two heavy blue stripes are sewn, and between them the Jewish emblem, the double triangle, forming a six-pointed star, and known as the "Shield of David." The Zionist flag, therefore, symbolizes in the white background the priestly nation; the blue stripes stand for loyalty and unity of all Israel, and the "Shield of David" represents the star of faith in the unity of the one true and living God.

Inquiry has often been made as to the origin of the "Shield of David." The common opinion held among the Jews is that it originated with King David, and became the religious emblem of the nation, and was the conspicuous symbol on Solomon's Temple. From that time on it continued the popular sign of the Jews and may be seen at the present time on synagogues, temples, and Jewish institutions. Tell the children where they may see it in their own neighborhood.

The popular belief regarding this emblem, however, finds no historical support. Its origin is shrouded in [181] impenetrable mystery. The Jewish Encyclopedia does not shed very much light on the subject and makes only the following observation:

The Jewish view of God, which permitted no images of him, was and still is opposed to the acceptance of any symbols, and neither the Bible nor the Talmud recognized their existence. It is noteworthy, moreover, that the "Shield of David" is not mentioned in Rabbinical literature. The "Shield of David," therefore, probably did not originate within Rabbinism, the official and dominant Judaism for more than 2,000 years, nevertheless a David's Shield has recently been noted on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in Southern Italy, which may date back as early as the third century of the Common Era. (C. M. Adler in Jewish Quarterly Review, 14, 3.)

The earliest Jewish literature which mentioned it, the Eskol Hakofer of the Karaite Judah Hadassi (middle of the twelfth century), says in chapter 242 some names of angels precede the Mezuzah (a tiny tin case containing a scripture fastened on the side-posts of doors of orthodox Jewish houses): Michael, Gabriel, etc. Tetragrammaton protect thee! And likewise the sign called David's Shield is placed beside the name of each angel. It was therefore at this time a sign on amulets. Later Jewish writers speak of its popularity, but little of its origin.

In using this star you will make a strong appeal to Jewish children and to all Christian children. It will help to keep Christ in Christmas.

After you have finished your address on the Christmas flag teach them the following salute. Tell them to place their hands upon their heart and to fix their eyes on the flag and to say the following words:

[182] "I salute thee, dear old Christmas flag, I will give my love and service to Jesus whose birthday we are celebrating. I believe in his Church and the Holy Bible, and will defend it with all my heart."

Now all stand and sing "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come." Close by using a Christmas march. On a staff carried by a boy place the Star of David. He will lead the march, the children will follow him around the room, representing the Wise-men following the star.

[183]

45

THAT SOCIAL HOUR

OBJECTS: A Series of Stunts and Pastimes

When I ask the young folks to spend a pleasant evening with me at my home, what shall I do to entertain them and give them a pleasant time? This is a vexing question. I do not understand the children at the play-hour. What shall I do?

You are entirely right; plan a play-hour for the children of "the meeting." They have a right to their play. God gave them that right. Help them to use it to the limit. Let them make merry with their friends. It will do more for them than just give them a happy evening; it will give them a blessed memory, for when they are grown up, and look back to their childhood days, then will they remember that their religion was all tangled up with smiles and glee.

In those older days they will not say Christians are "joy-killers" and have outlawed the smile. Write it down in letters which stick. They must have their play-hour, they shall make merry with their friends.

It may help you to build your program by looking over the following simple little stunts and pastimes. A half million children have given them their O. K.

1. Doing Something No One Else Can Do

Announce that you will do something in this room that no other person can possibly do, "I will seat myself [184] where it will be impossible for another person to do so." Now, sit down in another person's lap. Nobody else can sit there while you sit there.

2. Can't See the Candlestick

For this stunt you hold in your hand an ordinary candle in a common candlestick. State that you will put this candle in a place where everybody but one can see it, and that person will not be blindfolded, nor shall he be prevented from examining every part of the room to find it, neither shall the candle be hidden. This is done by placing the candle on his head, taking care that there is no mirror or looking-glass in the room.

3. A Coin Trick

Stand up before the children. Place a coin in each hand, and stretch out both hands as far from each other as possible. Now say, "Without bringing my hands together, I can cause both coins to come into the same hand." This is the way to do it. Place the coin on a table, then turn around and pick it up with the other hand.

4. The Prison Circle

The circle that makes you a prisoner. Draw a circle around a person, placed in the center of the room, so that he will not be able to jump out of it, though his legs be free. This is done with a piece of chalk. Draw the circle around his body.

5. Crawling into a Pint Bottle

How to crawl into a pint bottle. This is a play on words in every sense, so it is played by playing on [185] words. Hold in your hand a little ink bottle, or a pint bottle, and state that you will ask some little boy to crawl into this bottle. Watch every movement, keep your eye upon him. Select some little boy, who has been instructed beforehand, and also rehearsed in private, to come forward and place the pint bottle in the center of the floor. He is told to go out of that room and think how it can be done, and when he is ready to do it, he is to knock on the door. You then open the door, and he crawls into the room on all fours. This is crawling into the pint bottle.

6. Candies Under the Hat

Place three candies on the table about ten inches apart, and cover each with a hat. Announce that you will now place these three candies under one hat without touching but one hat. Look wise and approach the hats with a thoughtful and solemn face, waving your hand over them and muttering some incoherent words like "Hocus-pocus," and then call upon three boys to lift the hats to see if the sweets are yet there; after they have lifted the hats, quietly pick up the three candies, place them in your mouth, and put a hat on your head, and say, "The three candies are now all under one hat, and I touched only one of the three hats." You can add a little variation to this game if you so desire by saying after you have placed the candies under the three hats, "On second thought I will turn my back, and when I do so, I would like some one to rearrange the candies under the hats." You have previously arranged with one of the boys to do this service. He appears to be playing the joke on you by eating the candies himself. When you [186] look under the hats you will find nothing there, but when you turn around, you quietly put one of the hats on his head so the candies are now all under one hat.

7. Will Tell the Date

Ask some one in the room to select a penny and note its date. You will now say, "I am under the charm of King Copero, and I will try to tell you the date. Don't let me see the coin at close range, because I want to tell the date without seeing the coin and cause you to witness King Copero's mystic power. I will now ask you to place it under the corner of the rug, and then stand on it, and King Copero will tell me the date." You now close your eyes and exclaim, "Copero the mystic, come to my thoughts and tell me the date!" Open your eyes, and look around the room for the King, and then place your hand back of your ear and exclaim, "Speak, Copero, tell me the date." You now exclaim, "I hear you, King. You have spoken indeed." Then with great dignity say, "The date is 1925. I did not say I would give you the date on the coin, but would give you 'the date,' and the present date is 1925 or the year in which you play the game." This will produce a smile and provoke genuine jollity.

8. Making a Strong Man Sweat

Here is the way to make a strong person sweat and become tired by carrying a small stick out of the room. This seems impossible, and it causes you to smile as you think it over.

This is the way to do it. Select the strongest and tallest boy or man present, and say that you have a task [187] for him to perform. Place in his hands a thin stick not much thicker than a pipe-stem and about six inches long. Tell him he is to carry it out of the room and lay it down one foot from the other side of the door without sweating or becoming tired. Of course, he not knowing your intention will laugh at this proposition.

As soon as he promises to do this task take the stick and with a knife cut off a little bit so small he can hardly see it; then bid him carry that first. Then give him another piece of the stick, and so until it is all carried out. This would cause him to make about a thousand trips and more before he has carried out the entire stick, and it would take him two weeks working day and night to complete the task. It would surely make him sweat and grow weary. He himself will so conclude. This little stunt seems quite insignificant at first, and that makes the laugh more hearty at the last. This was a stunt quite common in the days of Washington and the Colonial children.

9. The Disappearing Square

Draw a square about two feet square on a large sheet of common paper. Pin it up on the door and say you have the pleasure of presenting to your audience the Wondrous Square which has the marvelous power of disappearing and reappearing right before your very eyes. Then ask the audience to close both eyes and they will note the square has perfectly disappeared. Then ask them to open their eyes, and the square immediately reappears again. This little stunt has been used by over a thousand little friends of mine and has helped them to make "merry with their friends."

[188] It will often help a little to secure a small box of tricks and show them how to do them. Sometimes one of the invited boys may own such a box. Ask him to bring it with him, and show them how to do wonders also.

This can be made a large evening for the teacher personally. Be careful to listen to the children as they speak, observe the laws of their conversation, note down the words they use when they talk to each other, and when you talk to them talk as they talk, observe the same rules of conversation, and use their words when you talk to them in the lesson, then will they hear a lesson in their own tongue. It will be something new for them, and the lesson will be a success, and you will feel well paid for the labors of your social hour.

[189]

46

"THE WORDLESS BOOK"

OBJECTS: A Small Book with Five Colored Pages1

Some years ago in one of the mining-towns of central Pennsylvania, a Christian English miner was noticed going to a secluded spot every noon, and holding in his hand a small red book. He seemed to be reading it, and was deeply interested in its contents.

This caused his fellow workmen no little astonishment as the book was so small that he could easily read it through in a few minutes, yet he continued to keep the book before his eyes each noon for many long months. What could he be doing? Was he reading it or just looking at it?

That was the big question they all had in their minds. At last they determined to find out the truth about the book if possible, so one day they approached him with the question: "What makes that little book so interesting to you? It certainly must contain a most wonderful story to engage your attention for so long a time." The man made a courteous reply by saying: "It is a wordless book, and you are quite correct when you say it must contain a wonderful story, for it does record the most wonderful story the world has ever heard; it is the story of salvation." He then showed them the book. It was a book of colors only, not words, It was the Story of Salvation [190] in Colors. He then explained: "The first page is black; that stands for sin. The second page is red; that stands for the blood of Jesus which covers the black. The third page is white; that stands for righteousness. And the last page is yellow; that stands for heaven with its streets of gold. This is the most wonderful story of the world, because it is the Story of Redemption which never grows old, and I never grow tired of thinking about it and seeing it by colors."

Years ago when I was a child I saw a little book just like that. It was published in London, England. When I first began to use object lessons in talking, I made an enlarged copy of it.

Later I got out an improved edition of this book, using one additional color (green) and have put it on the market. It is called the "American Improved Wordless Book."

With but little difficulty you can make one for your own use. This is the way to do it. Secure an ordinary note-book and cover the two open pages with black paper; this stands for sin. Cover the next two open pages with red paper, which will stand for the blood of Christ. Cover the next two pages with pure white paper without the ruled lines on it; this will stand for righteousness. Cover the next two with green paper; this will represent fruitfulness or good works. Cover the last two open pages with yellow; this will stand for heaven, with its sheets of yellow gold. You may make this book as large as you desire, and when you have finished it hold it up before your hearers and open it at the black pages and say, "The black stands for the sinful heart of man."

[191] Read the following Scripture, "By one man sin entered into the world, so death [black crape] passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12). Quote also John 3:19, "Men love darkness [black] rather than light because their deeds are evil" (black). Romans 6:23 is also a black verse; it reads, "The wages of sin is death" (black). Ezekiel 33:11 is another black verse. It says: "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil [black] ways; for why will ye die?" (Black.)

This is a picture of the heart covered with unforgiven sin, just as Jesus sees it and just as the judgment will show it.

What shall I do to get rid of the black? Look, and I will show you how. Open the next two pages, and they are red; that stands for the blood of Jesus. Now you notice that the black is hidden because it is all under the blood. Read Hebrews 9:22: "Without the shedding of blood [red] there is no remission." Isaiah 53:5-8 tells us: "He was wounded [red] for our transgressions, he was bruised [red] for our iniquities, ...the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity [red] of us all." Also quote 1 John 1:7, "The blood [red] of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin." Make it clear that the only thing that will cover sin so it will stay covered is the blood (red) of Jesus. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps. 32:1).

God's red covering, the blood of Jesus his Son, is the only covering for sin; the Bible has so revealed it. Sometimes we try to cover over our sins with a lie or smooth words, but our sins will not stay covered that way. The Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out," [192] which means, Be sure your sins will find their way out also.

I read in a little old story-book years ago this interesting little tale. Three little brothers had been promised by their father that if they planted a certain number of hills with beans they might go to the circus that afternoon, and see the clown and everything. They began early in the morning and worked with great vigor and zeal to finish their task, but just before they got to the last row they heard the circus band playing and saw the horses and elephants passing by in the great street parade of the greatest show on earth. They were sure they would be too late if they finished that row and planted all the beans their father had given them, so the Tempter said to them: "Dig a hole, put all the beans you have left into it, and fill up the hole and roll a big stone over it, and they will be hidden out of sight. Then go and tell your father you have finished your planting, and he will then give you your circus money, and you will thus see all of the show."

They listened to the Tempter, and did as he told them, and reported to their father their work was done, and the father according to his promise sent them to the circus. Some weeks afterward the father was inspecting his garden, and noticed there was an entire row of bean-hills from which no little green blades had yet made their appearance. The father sent for his sons and called their attention to the fact that in every row but the last one the beans had sprouted; he wanted to know if they could explain to him the failure of the last row. The boys assured the father that the seeds had been planted and if he would wait just a little while longer [193] they would come up like the other seeds. The boys were troubled a lot about it, but they thought their father would never know why the seeds did not come up, because they had been cast into a hole and a great stone had covered them over so no one would ever see them. But one day a week or so after this the father was walking out again in that part of the garden and thought he noticed some little green blades pushing themselves out from beneath the stone; so he rolled away the stone and there in the hole were the little seeds trying to sprout and come up out of the dust.

He called his boys to him and showed them the sight, and they confessed their wrong-doing and promised they would never deceive him again, even to go to the greatest show on earth. So we see how their sins did not stay covered, they found their way out. So it will be with all our sins, they will find us out, and at the day of judgment will find their way out also.

The only thing that will cover sin so that it will not find us out is to put it under the Blood. There it will not find its way out, because forgiven sin is taken away to stay forever.

Open now the next pages, and you will find them pure white. The white stands for righteousness. Read Psalm 51:7: "Whiter than snow." This is the Snow Prayer. Ask the children to repeat it in concert. Read John 13:10: "Clean every whit"; this means all the black has gone, and the all white has come in its place. Only the blood of Jesus can do this. Make no effort to explain this, but quote it as a fact. It is so stated in the Bible and the Bible is true.

Now open the pages showing the green and say: [194] "Green stands for fruitfulness, as it is the green branch which bears the leaf, blossom, and fruit, so should we bear much fruit or as the great Sankey sang in other days, 'When Jesus has found you, tell others the story'; that is what I am doing now, telling you the story and trying to bear fruit." Read Matthew 21:28, "Son, go work today in my vineyard." Read also Galatians 6:10, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men."

Say to the children that as the pine and ivy are green all the year around and never change with the seasons, so should the Christian always be abounding in the work of the Lord. Read Galatians 6:9; "And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."

Now open the last pages and you will note they are both "yellow"; these pages stand for heaven, with its streets of yellow gold. These pages remind us of our eternal home, the home of the soul to which we will all go if we follow the teaching of this book. Quote John 14:2,3: "I go to prepare a place for you... I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also." Read also selections from Revelation 22.

You now say I have finished my story. It is the most wonderful story in the world, because it is the story of salvation. It is a story without words, because it is a story in colors.

Close the book, and ask the children how many colors they saw in the book. Ask them to name the colors in their proper order. Drill them in repeating the colors of the book. Then ask them to give you the meaning of [195] each color, after this fashion: Black for sin, red for blood, white for righteousness, green for fruitfulness, yellow for heaven.

Drill them now in the meaning of the colors. When I am giving this lesson I ask some little fellow to come to the platform, and offering him the book, I say: "Would you like to have this little book as your own?" Of course, he says, "Yes," and as you offer it to him he reaches out his hand to take it, and you explain that this is just the way to receive salvation. You simply "Take it." Conclude by quoting "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and whosoever will let him take."

A private use may be made of this book in the devotional hour. Look at every page and read the Scripture noted, and then meditate in silence.

1The author has prepared such a book. Write to him about it in care of the publishers.

[196]

47

THE HEART OF SEVEN DEVILS

OBJECTS: Cardboard Hearts and a Number of Colored
Cards

Text, Luke 8:2: "Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils."

The heart of this unhappy woman was like a steel-girded prison cell. It had locked in it as prisoners seven devils. Jesus opened the door, and cast them out, and went in himself, and shut the door after him, and when he shuts no man can open. Mary Magdalene was in the hollow of God's hand forever.

Let me tell you how the seven devils got into her heart, and the story of how they were cast out when she met Jesus.

Mary Magdalene was just like the rest of us, for we all have seven devils in our heart, and some have a few more. She was born in sin like all of us. She was not born a sinner; none of us are, for we do not become sinners until we arrive at that age when with a free choice we choose to do evil, then we are sinners.

Mary Magdalene began like a pure stream which starts in the mountain; but as it descends to a lower level polluting streams of water flow into it, and by and by the river is dark with impurities.

The Hudson River has its head in the highlands of the Adirondack mountains, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. It has a good start. It is almost "holy [197] ground." There the trees have grown tall and beautiful for hundreds of years. Beneath the shade of these the baby river rolls out and on. It plunges over the rocks in beautiful cascades and races on to its river bed. Wild beasts wade through its cooling waters, slake their thirst, and at night sleep by the river's side when the high sky hangs out its golden lanterns and smiles at the little baby climbing over the sides of its mountain cradle. And so the river rolls on larger and larger with the benediction of God and nature.

At first the child river is as clear as the air, as polished as the fairest diamond. So Mary Magdalene started life as fair as the mountain stream. She was born on the shore of the blue waters of the Lake of Galilee. She was not born in the slums, nor was she in her early days surrounded by the vicious, she did not spend her childhood in rags and filth. Beyond all doubt she was well born, and belonged to the upper class.

She seems to have inherited wealth which she spent in after years, ministering to the work of the Saviour. She was like a zephyr, pure as the mountain air; she was as free and cheery as the birds of the high hills. Then temptations came, and the polluting streams of sinful rivers flowed into this little mountain stream. At last her beautiful heart became the prison house of seven devils.

To illustrate this lesson prepare a white cardboard heart. Make it a double heart with the top of it left open, so you can put into it seven small cards, representing so many devils.

Call this heart Mary Magdalene, and then as you talk of the polluting streams which flow into it deposit the [198] cards standing for the seven devils into the heart that is clean and white.

Name the devils:

Disobedience. This is the sin that is ready to grip us as soon as we tumble over the side of the cradle of life. She went wrong just by disobeying her parents; at least most little folks do, and I suppose she was just like the rest of us. Once there was a prisoner who sat in his cell awaiting the fast approaching hour of his execution. While he was thus waiting, with a piece of clay he drew on the wall of his cell a picture of the gallows upon which he was soon to die. He made a number of steps which led up to it, and called each step after a sin which he had done that soon would lead him up to his doom on the gallows. The first step he marked was "Disobedience to Parents." That was his first great sin, as he saw it. Now take a small black card on which you have written the word "Disobedience" and put it into the heart. This is the first devil.

The next polluting power which entered the heart we will call "Sinful Dress." In the land where Mary Magdalene was raised the people dressed in gay colors, and wore much and very elaborate jewelry on the ankles, arms, neck, and head; there they placed their bands of gold. They had large opportunity to overdo the dress question, and they did so. The rich owned many changes of raiment, and often like the leaders of fashion today could boast that they could change their costumes hourly if they so desired. She was doubtless very beautiful and charming. Her Oriental garments made her look like a queen in royal splendor. She soon "fell" for this polluting poison called "fashion," and like millions [199] of her present-day sisters her feet got tangled up in her robes of fashion, and she slipped and fell from the pinnacle of purity into the madly burning lake of sin. As you make this remark drop in the heart a pink card on which the words "Sinful Dress" have been written. This is the second devil.

Make it clear to your hearers that carefulness in dress is not wrong, and neatness is not vanity.

Now produce a blue card on which you have marked two large letters "CO.," which stands for "Company."

Soon Mary Magdalene found evil company as did the Prodigal Son and soon she was a common sinner.

Evil company is like evil spirits seeking to pull down to their level the highest and best. As you say this deposit this card into the heart and say, "This is the third devil."

The next devil to enter the heart we will call "Bad Money."

Write down on a yellow card the dollar sign ($), and say that once a minister of the gospel read from his pulpit a request for prayer which was as follows: "Prayers are requested for a young man who has just inherited a fortune."

He certainly did need the prayers of good people, because money can be made a mighty curse unless God is in it. Money is like a skeleton key which unlocks a multitude of sin doors through which we enter to the eternal hurt of our soul. Mary Magdalene found it paid for a season in dollars and cents, but this is tainted money and slips through the fingers, and on wings supplied from the demons themselves flies away to come back no more forever. "His money was his curse," that [200] the people often say when like a devil it has entered and destroyed a human heart. We are now speaking only of the evil use of money. Put the card with the dollar mark on it into the heart and say, This is the fourth devil.

"Temper" is the next devil to enter the sinner's heart. Write this word down on a fiery red card. In anger folks seem to be under control of another power; they do not seem like themselves. There is a strange look in the eye, another expression has seized the features of the face, and they seem for a few moments to be "changed into other men." The reason for all of this transformation is that temper is a devil, and it has taken possession of the heart.

When I was a little boy there were two little brothers who lived on the same street with me. One of them, the older one, had a very bad temper, and when he grew angry he would fling himself upon the ground and kick and scream. All the neighbors noticed this and when they spoke to his mother about it she replied, "Willie is not himself when in temper."

She was speaking the truth, he was possessed by the temper devil. One day this brother was playing with his little brother and in a moment of anger struck him in the face with his clinched fist. When the doctor came he said the little brother would never see again. He would be blind for life. Both brothers lived to be men. The elder brother never had a happy hour afterward. He would often say, "I don't see how I could have done it." This was why he did it; as with Mary Magdalene, the devil had entered his heart. The temper devil had entered the soul and taken full possession. As you say [201] these words put the card into the heart and say "Temper is the fifth devil."

"Unbelief" is the sixth devil. Mary Magdalene had sinned and lost her standing in the synagogue. Her sins were punishable by the laws of Moses with death; she was a doomed sinner, she had left God and was alone. If she had kept the devil of unbelief out of her heart when she was first tempted, she never would have fallen into his black hands. It never pays to leave God. Believe his word. He has spoken, trust him. This will keep the devil out. Many years ago in a New England town there was a minister who preached a carefully prepared sermon on "Casting all your care on him, for he careth for you," and on his way home from church fell into a well and was severely hurt. It was laughing-stock for a common community, and it did seem just a little strange that after he had so carefully prepared his sermon and assured the people that if they put their trust in God he would take care of them, and then an hour afterward he should fall into a well and injure himself. The devil of unbelief whispered in his heart, "God did not keep his word, you are a fool to trust him," but the young preacher resisted the whispering devil and said, "Wait a little while, God will make it plain to me," and God did. He was sent to a hospital in Boston, a town he had never seen but always wanted to visit. While he was there some friends urged him to write the story of "How God cared for a man by casting him into a well."

He was a better writer than a speaker; an essayist, rather than an orator. He wrote his story and told the world how he believed God and did not doubt his promises. [202] He told the story of Joseph who had been cast into a well and came forth to be a prince in Egypt. He thus attracted the attention of the entire city of Boston. He leaped into fame at once. He became one of the most famous writers of America, and for years was the leader of religious thought in all New England.

God took good care of him so he should fall into the well, for that was the first round in the ladder of his great success. Many a man has doubted God and stayed down the well of misfortune and upbraided God, denounced him, and so lived the rest of his days in darkness, and dying went into eternal night. Put this card into the heart and say "Unbelief is the sixth devil."

"Unholy Pleasure" is the seventh and last devil of this black-winged group. Have these words written on a piece of gold paper.

This devil of "Unholy Pleasure" is in full dress and a gentleman of the world. A "regular fellow," so the people of the world declare, but he is a deceiver and destroyer. Seek pure pleasure. Play, but play straight, or the lamps of sin over the pleasure garden of the world will blind your eyes, so you cannot see the evil of sinful pleasures.

This devil will be at the end of the road to make captive your soul forever. Place this card in the heart and say: "Unholy Pleasure is the seventh devil, and now there is a full house of devils. The heart will soon come to the end of the way as it is now full of devils and full of sin." As you say this produce a red heart the same size as the white heart you have been using, and put it in front of the white heart. You can now see sin covers her heart entirely, she is down but not out, [203] because where the "out" begins Jesus stands and waits. He always gives special attention to hard cases, and Jesus found Mary Magdalene just there, and saved her soul by casting out the seven devils and making her clean again. He had forgiven all her transgressions and remembers them against her no more forever.

As you say this, still holding the red heart in front of the white heart, take out all the devils at once if you can, and as you do so take away the red heart also, drop them all on the table together and say, "Please note that when the devils all go out sin goes also [having reference to the red heart], and the heart is now white and clean, and it will so stay, for the devils have gone out to stay out."

This is the story of how seven devils entered the heart of Mary Magdalene, and the glad story of how they were cast out. God will do the same for you, for he is no respecter of persons.

In delivering this address always keep the heart of Mary Magdalene in full view of the audience. Hold it in your left hand if possible, and load the cards with the right hand. Be sure and make the heart large enough to contain the seven cards you put into it. Practise and rehearse.

[204]

48

SHOW YOUR COLORS

OBJECTS: An Eighteenth Amendment Flag; a Church
Flag; a Conquest Flag; an American Flag

Text: Psalm 60:4: "That it may be displayed because of the truth."

This is an expression we often use when we want to be out and out for any cause we wish to represent.

When the World War was on we pinned a small flag on our coats because we were glad we were Americans and wanted to be out and out for our country; we "displayed our colors."

Let us all try to show our colors as good Americans. Produce a flag from an inside pocket and say: "As an American citizen I will now show my colors; our text says, 'That it may be displayed because of the truth.'"

When I was traveling in Europe I always had a little flag in my hotel room. I did not keep it in the bottom of my trunk, nor did I keep it shut up in the closet, but I placed it in a conspicuous place where everybody who came into the room could see it.

I can show my colors also by obeying my country's laws and always speaking well of its President and those in authority. I am not ashamed of them, so I show my colors as an American citizen, I now will place this flag over the pulpit where you can all see it, and place my hand on it and vow I will always show my colors as [205] an American; and lifting up the other hand I say, "So help me God."

From another pocket produce a white piece of bunting with the figures "18" marked on it, and say: "I am a temperance advocate. I believe in the Eighteenth Amendment, and I will support it with all my heart. It is a glorious part of the Constitution of the United States. I will not call it a failure, and thereby cause the wicked to jeer at it. I will not speak slightingly of it, and thereby cause the weak to disrespect it. I believe it came from God and it has come to stay. I am for it with all my soul."

A visitor once came as a stranger to a Southern town on the eve of "a license" or "no-license campaign," and was asked by one of the liquor men which side he was on, He replied: "You just step up to God and ask him which side he is on; step up to the wives and children of the drunkards, and ask them which side they are on; I am on the same side."

He was out and out a defender of the glorious Eighteenth Amendment. Now place this flag over the pulpit next to the Stars and Stripes. At this time produce from another pocket the church flag, which is the white flag with a red cross in its center, and as you display it, say: "I am out and out for the Church of God. I love its walls and its glorious old songs. I live in it and live for it, because I want to do good by my example. I need the church. There is mighty power in 'the assembly.'"

This I say with my lips, and this I say also by my example. Jesus was a church-goer, and I want to be like him. It was his custom to go to the assembly. It [206] was a good custom. The Church is "the meeting-place," not the place where we meet each other only, but where we meet God. It is good to be there. Jesus went there to meet his heavenly Father, for "God is in his holy temple." Heaven bless the meeting-house.

God feels hurt if we do not come to see him, because we are the children of his heart. Let us go to church.

When Mr. Moody was converted he went out every Sunday morning and collected half a dozen boys and brought them into the church, and they sat in the same church pew with him, "He showed his colors." Here wave the church flag and place this flag beside the Eighteenth Amendment flag.

Draw out now from another pocket a missionary flag (the conquest flag) and say, "I believe in spreading the good news of the gospel to all the world." Here is a good story about a missionary potato. A little boy, a son of a rich and prosperous farmer, came home one day from Sunday school very much excited about the stories he had heard about the heathen people who worshiped idols. "Never mind about them, John," said the father, "we have no money to send them, besides we have heathen enough at home."

This did not satisfy John, and he puzzled his curly head with his own plans to help them.

One day he said to his father who seemed to be in a good humor, "Daddy, if you will not give me money to help the heathen will you give me a potato?" "Why certainly, son, I will give you a peck if you like." John said, "No, daddy, only one good one, and give me land enough to plant it in, and all it will produce in four years."

[207] This pleased the father greatly and he promised him he would be glad to do this and he said to himself, "This lad of mine will make a good farmer some day." So John planted his potato, and the first year it rewarded him by producing nine. These he carefully kept for planting, and the second year he had a peck. These became seven and a half bushels the third year, and when the fourth harvest came, lo, the one potato had increased to seventy bushels. When he took them to town he told the store-keeper that he had some missionary potatoes to sell. "That must be a new kind of potato," the store-keeper said, "well, bring them over and if they are all right I'll take 'em." So he sold his potatoes for a good price and gave the money to missions. His father seeing this, concluded he would become a missionary helper also, and gave liberally each year of his money for the cause. So John showed his "missionary colors" and won his father by so doing. Jesus wants us to come out into the open and tell the world the story of his love. "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed [show your colors] because of the truth" (Ps. 60: 4). We are the flags in full view of the people. Let us display our colors.

[208]

49

THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
IN STORY FORM

A MEMORY LESSON

It is of the highest importance that we teach our children the names of the books of the New Testament, and that they shall be able to recite them from memory in their proper order.

This is not an easy task as it requires some memory effort, but it is worth the while and the effort. All children love stories, and instruction by stories is always winsome to them. It is easy on their heads. This method puts life and movement into facts, and the little folks like it much because the story method of learning things turns labor into play.

In this chapter the names of the books of the New Testament have been put together in story form. Cause the children to commit to memory the story and then to recite it in concert frequently during the meeting. After they have learned it well, ask them to think of the story, but repeat out loud the names of the books. By this simple method the books of the New Testament will be nailed down in their memory for years to come. This is the story:

The Books of the New Testament in Story Form

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John determined on Acts of discovery, accompanied by seven brave Romans, [209] started on a pilgrimage to find the Temple of Truth. First and Second Corinthians gave them all two changes of raiment, and, as they were passing out of the city gate, they were met by Galatians and Ephesians who supplied them camels for their journey, and there the two famous sword-makers, Philippians and Colossians, gave them swords and shields for the conflict. As they journeyed on, they met First and Second Thessalonians seated at Jacob's well reading First and Second Timothy. With hearts stirred by the truth, they marched bravely on when they noticed the approach of a lone camel upon which was seated Titus, who was returning from a visit to Philemon, who he announced was keeping the true faith. They then passed through the encampment of the Hebrews, where they found James expounding the gospel to First and Second Peter, who announced to them that the Palace of Truth was at the end of the road leading out of the encampment, and that First, Second, and Third John had been watching for their caravan all night. When they arrived at the Palace of Truth, Jude the door-keeper gave them an open door and told them to enter in peace. As they retired to rest in comfort after their long journey, Revelation stood on guard in the tower, watching the signs of the times.

Ask the children to repeat this story in concert as an opening exercise for their meeting.

This is a New Testament rosary. The beads are the books, the string is the story.

[210]

50

WHAT TEN CORDS COULD NOT DO

OBJECTS: Ten Cords Three Feet Long and a
Double Heart

When the children of Israel were tenting and wandering in the wilderness God called Moses their leader up into the heights of Mount Sinai. He wished to speak to him alone, and so Joshua, who had gone up with him, was left in the lower parts of the mountain to await his return, while Moses went up to the cloud-crowned top of the mountain to be alone, all alone with God. This conference with God continued forty days and nights, and when it was concluded Moses came down from the smoking top bearing two tables of stone, upon which were chiseled the ten laws or, as we say today, the Ten Commandments. In few and short words they were as follows:

1. Thou shalt have no other God before me.

2. Thou shalt not make graven images.

3. Thou shalt not take in vain the holy name of God.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

5. Honor thy parents.

6, Commit no murder.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Tell no falsehoods.

10. Do not covet thy neighbor's things.

[211] These ten commandments instruct us in all the duties of life. Yet we may keep all these laws and not be a Christian. Once when Jesus was here among men a rich young ruler came to him asking what he must do to be saved, Jesus asked him about the Ten Commandments. He replied that he had kept them from his youth up, but when Jesus asked him to sell all and follow him, he then saw that the commandments had not gone through to his heart, for there he had the gold idol which he would not give up even to follow Jesus. He had not kept the first commandment. So we can all learn by this story that he was not a Christian although perhaps he had kept all the commandments, as he thought. They cannot change the heart. The law can never do that.

These Ten Commandments are like ten shining cords which may hold us back from evil-doing, but which can never change our heart and make us Christians.

To illustrate this point of the lesson secure ten strong cords, each of them at least three feet long; hang them over the back of a chair where the audience can see them. Call these ropes the Ten Commandments, and name each rope after one of the commandments. Then tell the following story. The ancient Greeks had a strange fable about the Sirens. These were bewitching little sea-nymphs who sat on a great rock in the sea called Sibylla, and as they sat there they sang such charming and wonderful songs that they lured the sailors to their destruction on the rocks. One day when the charming Ulysses was passing that way with his great ship, Circe warned him of the peril of these dangerous singers, and assured him that many a gallant ship [212] had been lost in these stormy waters. So Ulysses took heed to the word of caution and ordered that the ears of the sailors should be filled with wax. Then he had himself fastened to the mast by many strong cords, so when their ship reached the place where the beguiling sea fairies worked, the sailors could not hear their music, and although Ulysses was enchanted by the music and struggled to break the cords which bound him, he failed to release himself, and so passed the temptation rock in safety and soon the music died away in the distance.

Some days afterward the brave and wise Argonauts were sailing over the same enchanted waters, but they had on the ship with them the famous Orpheus. He was a masterful player on the lyre, and when the ship came near to the dangerous rock he poured forth such heavenly music that the sailors had no ear for the tempting tones of the Sirens' songs, and so passed by in safety. The Sirens, seeing that their spell was broken, leaped into the sea, and their alluring tones were never heard again.

The Ten Commandments were like the ten cords which bound Ulysses to the mast but did not keep his heart from desiring to fly to the sinful song-makers. The cords kept him from sin, but did not take the love of sin from his heart.

The Ten Commandments may keep us from doing and saying wrong things, but they will never take the love of sin away or change our hearts. The two new commandments of Jesus are like the music of Orpheus; they fill our hearts with a holy spell, and we lose all love for the pleasures of sin, because the two new commandments have reached our hearts and made us Christians. [213] To love God with all our heart and our neighbors as ourselves is the full teaching of Christ's two new commandments.

To illustrate this truth, make a double heart out of strong cardboard so it will open by a hinge. Call this the Christian's heart. Mark it on the outside with a cross. As you open the heart let them see the word "God" marked on one side and on the other side the word "Man."

In the heart of every Christian you will find love for God and love for man. This heart will keep us from evil by taking away the call to evil. This the ten cords could not do. The only way to get such a heart is to go to Jesus. He gives new hearts for old. This is the only heart he gives away. If you will take it he will take all your sins away to stay.

[214]

51

OBJECT-LESSONS EXTRAORDINARY

OBJECTS: Pictures of Animals and Living Objects

This chapter is simply a study for the object worker. It is an illustration of how ponderous and unusual objects can be used to teach religious truths. It is a far swing from the smaller and common objects which are available for the regular teacher who employs the eye appeal. Yet it is well to remember that ponderous things talk for God, for it is written that the heavens declare the glory of God, and there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

It is our big business to interpret the language of things in terms the people can understand. Translate the voice of the heavens into English. Some starlit night use the sky as an object-lesson. Gather the children around you and ask them to look up at the sky. Tell them a few things that astronomy has told you, concluding with the story of the Wise-men and the Christmas Star and other Biblical star stories. By so doing you will make the stars a golden path to Jesus and the objects in the heavens will preach of righteousness. If some day you can stand with the children by the side of the sea you can use the ocean as an object-lesson. Tell them stories of the wonders in the deep.

Tell them the tales of sea adventures by the hardy mariners. Talk about the ocean shells and sands at their feet. Conclude by telling them Bible sea stories; how [215] a runaway prophet was cast into the sea during a great storm and what happened to him. Tell them about the storm on the sea of Tiberias, and how Jesus commanded the winds and the waves to obey his word. Tell them about Paul's sea journeys, and the wreck of the prison ship, and how they all escaped to a friendly island. In concluding tell them about the heavenly land where there shall be no more sea, and of the mercy of God which is like the wideness of the sea.

You will note that you have used ponderous object-lessons, the sky and the sea.

Sometime when it is possible use household pets as object-lessons. Tell them how to be kind to animals. Explain to them the habits and needs of the little creatures. Tell them when possible Bible stories in which these animals figure. A bird in a cage, a fish in the bowl, etc., will make most interesting and fascinating object-lessons.

When this is not possible use pictures of the animals you want to talk about. Let me tell you how once upon a time I gave an object-lesson extraordinary by using living wild animals. From childhood I have been a lover of wild beasts. I could sit up all night and read about wild animals, I loved these stories more than I loved my play. As I grew older I made them my special study. In later life it was my good fortune to study them at close range which finally enabled me to go into their cages with them. They became my good friends. They treated me with the greatest consideration. It seemed to them I was their second keeper. Let me tell you about the wild animals that I have met, and whose pictures you will see on the following pages.

[216]

"ATLAS" THE BIG LION

Atlas was four years old and as friendly and gentle as the house dog. Wild animals, like humans, differ as to their dispositions; some are snarling and cross, others are gentle and winsome. Atlas belonged to the latter class.

One evening I invited 1,000 children to come to his winter quarters and see him. In the center of a large room there was a great cage into which the animals were taken one by one for their daily exercise and run about. Into this big cage Atlas was brought, and I went in with him. While we were together in this great cage he was as friendly as any of my little pets. He purred away like the family cat behind the kitchen stove on a snowy day. He would take his meat from my hand, displaying at all times great concern lest he should in any way harm me. I did not use a whip or a gun, simply a little rod to urge him on a bit, but controlled him by tones, persuasive tones to which he made quick response. I told the children to use kind words with animals as well as humans, as these were very winsome powers. A lion of docile disposition was dangerous only when sick, hungry, in temper, or acting in self-defense. When the lion is seeking food he displays great intelligence. The monkey is a mimic, and can only do what it is taught to do, and even this he cannot in turn teach to its offspring, but a lion seems to think out its problems.

A man in Central Africa was once out late in the day and far from home. He saw a lion at some distance from him. The lion saw him and also followed him slowly.

Atlas, the Big Lion—A Docile, Friendly Beast Performing for
the Children

[217]

When the man walked fast, the lion walked fast; when the man stopped, the lion stopped also. The big idea in the lion's head was to follow him all day until dark, and then in the dark spring upon him. This was the way the man outwitted the lion. When he came to a high cliff below which there was a deep hollow in the rock, he climbed down into this cleft where the lion could not see him. Here he fixed a stick on the rocks and put on it his hat and coat so as to make them look like a man, and then hid under the rock to watch results. Soon the lion came creeping slyly along, and seeing the coat and hat he made a sudden spring at them, and falling down on the rocks below, was killed. But you see I was safe in the cage with Atlas, because they took good care of him and he was not hungry.

I concluded by telling the little folks about the story of Daniel who was cast into a den of lions, which is the most remarkable lion story in the world, for in those days they kept the lions in a state of hunger so that they might destroy their victims with haste. Daniel was saved from the hungry beasts because God sent his angel, and they could not open their mouths and had no desire for food. Our God is able to deliver his children.

THE BABY LION

One morning when I went to see my friend Atlas in the winter quarters the friendly keeper said to me, "Doctor, look into the lions' cage, in yonder corner." When I did so, what do you think, children, I saw there? Lying close to its big mother lion I saw a little baby lion fast asleep. The big mother seemed very proud of [218] it, for she looked at me with her big eyes and seemed to say, "This is the most wonderful baby of the lion kingdom." And when the little baby opened his eyes I thought so too. After a few days the little fellow would play on the floor with me. He looked just like a big cat, and often when he went after the ball I sent rolling over the floor, he seemed to be a big cat and had the cat's way when he played.

I took him to my church one day. The first lion who ever went to Sunday school—and as it was an anniversary day with the school I gave an object-talk with the little fellow in my arms. I told the children that this lion, so docile and harmless, had a wild nature, and in a short time when that nature was fully developed it would not be safe for the boys and girls to come near him. The little paw which I held in my hands would soon be so strong and wild that it could bring down in death the strongest man alive. I then permitted a few little girls to come to the platform and hold the little fellow for a few moments, which they did with great glee and will tell their children's children of the day when they held a real living baby lion in their arms. I then told them that we all like lions have an evil nature. While we are young we are like this little lion, gentle and mild, but later on when our wild nature develops we do very wicked things and become sinners. The little lion must always be a lion, there is no power on earth that can change its nature. But although we have an evil nature, Jesus has come to take away the evil within us and make us his gentle, obedient, and loving children. I then told the children how much the mother lion loved her little baby. Mother love is so strong that she is

A Baby Lion, Six Weeks Old, Receiving the Name of the Youngest Baby in the Audience

[219]

most dangerous when she has little cubs of her own; she so greatly fears the stranger will do them harm.

Then I told a baby lion story. A circus was in progress at Woodbury, N.J., one afternoon in May, 1919, when the keeper of a lioness named Lucy and her two cubs entered her cage. He succeeded without difficulty in driving the mother lion into a compartment at the other end of the cage, thus separating her from her cubs. All would doubtless have gone well had he not stopped to fondle the cubs. This aroused the wild anger of the mother, and she sprang with all her might against the separating door, burst it open, and seized the keeper by the neck and killed him instantly. She was transferred into a mad lion when she thought her cubs were in danger. This story shows us how much the mother lion loves her little ones.

About this time the baby lion grew restless and wanted to go home, so when we had named the little cub Norman after the youngest child present that afternoon, we took him back to his mother.

THE BABY LEOPARD LESSON

From the wild animal market one day I borrowed a little baby leopard. He was timid as a baby rabbit. He trembled with fear all the time I held him in my arms. The little folks did not seem to be afraid of him, because he looked just like a big cat, and indeed he was the cat's wild brother. As I held him in my arms I recited Jeremiah 13:23: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." The great lesson this passage [220] of Scripture draws forth from the leopard is that none of us by our own effort can change our hearts and make them over into good hearts. Jesus must do this. The leopard can never change his spots nor can we alone ever change our hearts.

THE LITTLE BEAR STORY

One day when I was thinking out a talk which I was to give to 1,000 children in my Happy Hour Service for them, I learned that a rich man in my city had purchased a little bear for his children to play with. I said to myself here is a new and different object-lesson. At once I called on the owner, and he very gladly sent me the little fellow and his keeper with him. He was a restless little bear and wanted to play all the time. When I took him into the meeting I had placed on the table by his side a tub of water, for it was Teddy's delight to get into the water and set up a great splash, which hugely amused the children. The bear is the clown of the animal kingdom. He is not an imitator like the monkey, but thinks out his own stunts. He has more intelligence by far than the monkey and is more human in his head. They are often quite droll in their fun, they play leap frog, have wrestling-matches, and play bo-peep. This is the reason why they are called the "Clowns of the Animal Kingdom."

This little bear, I said to the children, teaches us how foolish it is to be self-willed and stubborn. He must have his own way. You can punish him with a whip and hit him so hard he cannot for a few minutes stand upon his feet, yet when he does get his strength back

A Baby Leopard, Seven Months Old, Used to Illustrate the Scripture
Reference to the Leopard's Spots

[221]

he will stand up and do the same thing over again. When wounded by the hunter with a deadly shot he seems to be stronger in resisting power than ever. He cannot be taught to give up himself. That is the reason we say "as stubborn as a bear." Sometimes boys and girls have the will of a bear. Be stronger than a bear by giving up when you are in the wrong. So you all see now that ponderous unusual objects can be used for teaching great religious lessons. This is a good chapter to read to the little folks.

[222]

52

A BOTTLE OF MOSQUITOES

OBJECTS: Five Prepared Bottles

In the beginning God made a beautiful garden and dropped it into the Pacific Sea. There it rested in sweet repose like a lily fair upon the bosom of the deep. It was a Garden of Love as peaceful and calm as a star. Its name was Tahiti, but as the years passed by the worst features of European civilization were flung into it, and like Eden of old the serpent came also and destroyed its primeval glory, and its royal beauty soon faded away forever.

Among the destroying influences introduced was a bottle of mosquitoes which a sailor out of sheer spite and hateful fun took to the island, and soon the land was overrun with these disturbing little pests which, added to other black things of civilization, soon robbed these islands of their virgin excellence.

The world today is full of its black bottles loaded with destructive contents. Let us consider some of them.

Secure three dark glass bottles; paint them black if necessary; load and label them as herewith described.

Bottle No. 1. Label this bottle "Liquor." Fill it with strong tea, which resembles liquor in color. Pour out a little in a glass, and tell the story of the wreck and ruin this bottle has caused on God's island called the "World."

This bottle came to us in earth's earliest ages. No one

The Bear Is Called the Clown of the Animal Kingdom. This Baby
Bear, Visiting a Children's Meeting in Doctor Woolston's Church,
Was Used to Illustrate the Sin of Stubbornness

[223]

has ever discovered the date of its first appearance. Back before the Flood and in the days of Noah we read that wine was wrecking things. First came the deluge of wine, then the deluge from the great deep. It was a world-wrecker then, and is in the same business today, and will continue on in its black business unless the hand of God and the arm of the law shall shatter it and grind it to powder.

Prohibition has chained the monster of this black bottle, but not slain it. It still lives and is seeking to break its chains of bondage and start on its rampage again. There is a popular cry among men now which demands we shall let the monster loose again. They say, "Give us light wines and beer." This is a noise from hell. Light wines and beer would be leaks in the dam that now holds back this flood of death. Open the leaks, and that will finally wash away the dam, and let the river of death loose upon the people again. Place the cork in the bottle and call the cork the Eighteenth Amendment. It shall never come out. The monster of rum must never come back.

Bottle No. 2. Label this bottle "Ignorance."

Pour out from this bottle into a glass a liquid that has been made black by a few drops of ink, and this you call the "Darkness of Ignorance," the bottled "night of the Dark Ages." It is as black as Egyptian darkness.

Centuries ago where the City of London now stands, a tribe of benighted people lived. When they wished to start on a pilgrimage of murder and plunder, and did not know which way to go to find the greatest spoil, they placed a little maiden in a large basket, and pierced it through with a sword slaying the little one, and they [224] watched to see through which side of the basket the blood would flow first. This, they declared, indicated the direction in which they were to go on their murderous pilgrimage. They had all been drinking from the black bottle of ignorance. Yes, you say, that might all be true of heathen tribes. But it would be well to remember also that the black bottle of ignorance is found with the wiser people of this day also.

The placing of the horseshoe over the door, the fear of the black cat which crosses our path at night, the dread of the number 13 and the day Friday, are all drops from the bottle of ignorance; and so it appears that civilized people are often influenced by these things. Our colonial fathers when they spilt salt at the table, threw a pinch of it over the left shoulder to keep the witches away; so it seems that often this black bottle of ignorance finds a place on our table of daily bread. Let us seek knowledge and light always. Learn something every day, and keep far away from this bottle of dark ignorance. Remember the mountaintop window of light is to know God aright, and to love him and keep his commandments. If this we do, the cup of life will be so full that ignorance will find no place to dwell in it. The liquid night cannot reign where we all love Jesus and walk in his light.

The third bottle is labeled "War." Load this bottle with a red liquid which can be produced by red ink or from regular dye-stuff. This liquid represents the blood that war has shed. As you pour this out into the glass say, Modern war is murder made lawful by the nations, but it is unlawful by the laws of God. War is sin, it is an enemy to Jesus. He came to give peace on [225] earth and good-will among men. That was his way among men. "Put up thy sword" is one of the commandments of the New Testament. It is the word of the Prince of Peace. All the world questions should be settled by arbitration. "Come let us reason together" is God's good way to settle questions with the sinner or the nations. The spirit of this bad black bottle has slain its countless trillions, and if all the human skulls through which war bullets have crashed could be assembled in one great Potter's Field they would cover an acre of Towers of Babel. If all of the bones of the slain by war could by some magic magnet be thrown together they would well nigh cover the civilized acres of the world.

Put the stopper into this bottle and say, Paralyzed be the hand that ever draws out the stopper of the bloody bottle of war.

Bottle No. 3. Labeled "Gold." Fill this bottle with a yellow liquid which resembles the gold color. Pour out into a glass and remark: The love of this yellow stuff is a universal destroyer. The worship of this demon will cause a man and woman to do all manner of evil. They will lie, steal, deceive, and sell their souls for it. They will offer up the sacrifice of their own lives to possess it. They will sell out both worlds just to toy with it for a few days. Gold is evil only when we worship it, that is, think more of it than we do of God. This is forbidden by the First Commandment. The Israelites did this when in the wilderness they erected the golden calf and worshiped it. When we use it aright it is not a black bottle, but a bottle with glad yellow sunshine. We then call its contents [226] charity (love). Paul said charity is even greater than faith and hope. This bottle is not yellow with the sunshine of love, but of sin, so I will put the cork into this bottle and put it out of sight. May I put it out of my mind as I have put it out of sight. But here are two other bottles from which I may and will drink most freely and live ever more.

Secure two plain glass bottles. Label the first one "WATER," and the second, "MILK." Lifting up the bottle marked "Water," explain that it stands for the Water of Life. Lifting up the bottle marked "Milk," explain that it will stand for the pure "Word of God." Holding up the first bottle, pour a little of the contents into a new clean glass and say: This crystal water stands for the Water of Life or God's Salvation. Jesus once offered it to the woman of Samaria, and she drank of it and was saved; she told all her town people of this water, and hundreds drank from the same bottle to the salvation of their souls. Lift high the glass and say: This living Water is free to all; come, and drink, and live. Remember, O ye people, that just looking at it with admiring eyes will not save you. Drink of it, partake of it—this alone will give you salvation. A thirsty man does not have his thirst quenched by admiring the gushing fountain, he must drink to lose his thirst.

My next and last bottle is labeled "Milk." This stands for the Word of God, "the pure milk of God's word."

This Bible milk adds daily strength to the soul which will live on it. It is heaven's prepared food. The Bible by its promises of help gives us a "tall" lift when we are weak and worn down.

[227] When the ten virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom, the five wise virgins not only took their lamps with them, but also other vessels filled with reserve oil to be used in replenishing their lamps when the oil had burned away. The extra bottle was their life preserver, for when the midnight cry was heard, from this bottle they refilled their lamps, and went in to the wedding with the Bridegroom. In our journey home to God we must take this bottle of heavenly "milk," God's word with us. Take a Milk Verse every day—that is, inwardly digest a promise of God daily. This will give you strength now and victory in the hour of death.

[228]

53

A CHRISTMAS TREE IN AUGUST

OBJECTS: A Tree Trimmed with Gifts for the Heathen

A Christmas-tree in August! This thought sounds like a misfit among ideas. A Christmas-tree with its atmosphere of frost, snow, and December dropped down in the summer garden of August seems to be like a rose-bush with its roots planted in the air. But the Christmas-tree that I am thinking about is never a misfit in any month or in any place. Any time is the right time for this good tree. Let me now tell you about the Christmas-tree in August.

It is a foreign-mission tree. In order to send our Christmas gifts to foreign-mission stations so they will be received in time for Christmas, they must be sent months ahead of that date, and therefore often they are collected in August. This will give you ample time to send the gifts to any port in the world. August is the best time to gather the children together also. They are free from school duties, and the weather is quite suitable for open-air services.

Select if possible some open space or a lawn on which there is standing a small tree by itself, This tree should not be over five or six feet high. Drop on its branches a few bunches of cotton to give a snow-and-winter effect.

When the people have assembled around this tree, and after a brief prayer has been offered, state that this will be a missionary service, and that the Scripture lesson [229] will be the closing verses of the last chapter of Matthew containing the Commission. This tree we will call our August Christmas-tree, for we will now trim it with our Christmas gifts for the children of the foreign lands.

Some time previous to this date you have asked all the people to bring their Christmas gifts for foreign ports to this meeting, and to wrap them up in white packages securely tied with strong cord. Now ask a few selected children to tie a Christmas card on every package. These cards can be secured at any of the wholesale shops where pictorial post-cards can be obtained. You then with the aid of the older boys and girls trim the tree with these white gifts.

This Christmas-tree under the hot rays of an August sun is not unlike the real Christmastime tree that many of the little folks in some of the far-away lands will in reality have. For in some of these lands flowers and hot sun rays are with them at Christmastime.

This tree bowed down with white gifts will resemble a January tree after a heavy snow-storm. It is a joy tree, for it will send joy to many people.

You conclude the service by reading the Bible Christmas story and telling the children our gifts will remind the heathen that peace and good-will is for them also as the angels said, "to all men." Then offer a concluding prayer that our gifts may all be safely transported across the seas and that the presents may make our little brothers and sisters very happy. Now ask the children to help you untrim the tree, and as they take the presents down ask them to load them on one or more small sleds as if sending them far away. Select a number of the very small children to take hold of the ropes [230] of the sleds and to be prepared to march when the order is given. Place on the children at the ropes the names of the countries to which these gifts are going, and let them draw the sleds over the lawn while the other children cheer them as they go on their journey.

At last let the children and the sleds disappear behind a cluster of trees at the far end of the lawn where a committee of adults awaits them to receive the gifts and attend to the final shipment to the missionary boards of the Church. When the children come back with the empty sleds announce that just before they go home they can play a "bit." Some days before this event roll up into balls some cotton until they look like snowballs. Let the children gather around the Christmas-tree and play snowball games. Try this little game: Hang up upon the tree a common basket with a handle on it. Give each child a certain number of balls, ask them to stand ten feet away from the basket, and in turn see how many of the little folks can cast into the basket all their balls. Each child continues to cast in the balls until he misses, and then the next one will take his turn. All of the little folks who put all their balls in the basket should be given a small prize which may consist of a few nuts, some fruit, or small candies.

Here is another snowball game: Secure a small hoop and ask some large boy to hold it up as high as possible. Then select five girls and five boys each holding five balls apiece. Ask them to stand six feet away from the hoop and to cast as many balls through the hoop as possible. Each child continues to cast the balls until he misses one, then he is out, and the next child tries out his skill. The object of the game is to see which side [231] will cast through the hoop the larger number of balls. The side which does this is the winning side. These games and others like them which may occur to the mind of the committee of arrangements will give the little folks a merry time. Tell the children that this Christmas-tree in August is the king of trees because it is a giving tree; it is therefore blessed by Jesus because he has said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

[232]

54

THE JUNIOR POST-OFFICE

OBJECTS: A Box in Which the Letters Can Be Deposited

This book has been telling you what to say to children. The Junior Post-office will enable the children to say words to you.

This is the Junior Post-office idea. Have a letterbox placed on the outside of your study door. Have posted up over this box the words "For Junior Mail Only."

Ask the children to write to you and drop their mail in this box, and you will receive it promptly and will gladly answer every letter.

When you receive the letters and answer them, announce from the pulpit that you have letters for the following juniors, and then read out the names and say the letters will be found on the pulpit table and can be secured after the service. Sometimes it will have a larger effect if you send the answer through the regular mail to their homes. Children like to receive letters in the regular way; they regard such letters as highly important.

Announce at your Junior Service that you would be glad if they would write to you about the story or lesson of the evening. Let them tell the story you told in their own words, and you will be richly rewarded with a stock of information which they will thus give to you as to how children listen and oftentimes fail to get your point [233] and don't understand the meaning of the words you use. You will often be surprised to note how well they do hear and how much you have put into their heads and hearts. You will notice the words they use, and how they construct their sentences. You will also get a hint as to the action of their little minds when they are thinking.

All of these things are of the utmost value to the worker with children who has his heart in his task. Sometimes ask them a question and ask for a written answer through the Junior Post-office. For instance, ask them if some good friend should give them a thousand dollars, what would they do with it. You will be amused with the answers you will receive. When this was tried once with a bright group of juniors in a city church, one of the answers was, "I would put it in the bank and save it "; another answer was, "I would buy books of travel," etc. The best answer the pastor said was this one, "I would give it to my parents." Each of these letters was answered personally and good counsel given to the letter writer. At the next meeting all these letters were read out to the children, and they took a vote as to the best answer. Sometimes the letters which come through the Junior Post-office will be little complaints. One wants to know why it is that he is never put on any committee, especially the committee for the annual excursion. Another wants to know why she is never asked to sing a solo at the meeting. Another calls the pastor's attention to a modest and backward boy who is a good reciter, but will never push himself forward. Another little girl inquires if her little brother at home who is too young to come to the meeting, [234] might be made a member of the meeting and get all cards, papers, and other things that are given away.

These questions the children ask are big questions to them. They should be answered with dispatch and dignity. They are windows through which you can look into child life and "see things." Sometimes the letters will tell you of their little sorrows and troubles which to them are as real as your own. Your answer may give them a lift which they will remember all their lives. Often they will write to you about the Bible and its wonderful stories, and in their own language they will discuss these events. Children all believe the Bible unless some older head has been tampering with them. Sometimes this fact will come out in their letters. Your answer can easily set the matter right for all time. They believe in you, and what you say is the "big law" in the case, and that settles it. They will often tell you the story of their little lives which seems to be long and important to them, and by your answer you can tell them of their big friend Jesus, and how he leads all the way to the end.

At times they will want to know what they must do to be a Christian. The answer to this letter should always contain an invitation for them to come and see you personally and talk it over with you. You must, however, fix the time, or many of them will not act quickly. This is the best method to use in bringing children to Jesus. If in the open you ask them, "All of you who want to be saved and live a Christian life, come forward to the platform," after the first two or three respond they will often come forward with a rush. Of course, they do not want to be lost, but many of them have no real thought [235] of what that act means, and so before their names are taken for church-membership they should each be dealt with personally. Just putting the name on a card declaring they desire to be a Christian is entirely insufficient and should never be regarded as final. Each one should be dealt with personally and alone.

After Decision Day or revival season their names should be secured and written to, and an announcement should be made that there are letters in the Junior Post-office for them, which should contain a request for a personal interview with them, at which time you can make plain the way of life. This Junior Post-office method will be a new way of approach to their inner life and will enable you, as their pastor, to give counsel that will linger with them for all time. They will also find that you are their good friend and belong to the company of juniors as well as the congregation of elders.

This, of course, will take the pastor's time. Well, so let it be; it is time well spent. And what if the work is hard at times? It is first-place work and pays the most in the work of the kingdom.

Jesus said to Peter, "Feed my lambs," before he said, "Feed my sheep." He put first things first. Go thou and do likewise.

[236]

55

THE BLACK BAG

OBJECT: A Plain Black Bag

When I was a boy in my early teens I had a Sunday-school teacher who was surely fifty years ahead of her times.

She knew nothing of a teacher-training course or child psychology. She never talked in public on the Art of Teaching a Sunday School Class. She knew but very little of those well-chosen words which the public speaker commands. She knew nothing of the science of public instruction. But she did know boys and was a master of the self-learned art of interesting and instructing a class of early teen-age boys.

We boys noticed that often she would bring with her a black bag and would say to us, "Now boys, give me your attention, and after the lesson I will show you something I have brought with me to the class, and which I have in my little black bag."

This little idea showed her mastery over boys. She aroused their curiosity, and as curiosity is the mother of attention we all listened like regular fellows to what she had to say, and also kept a longing eye on the bag. We were all set to see what strange things she would draw from it when the lesson was over. She was a great teacher and always gave us boys a story form lesson, and it sank in to stay, and often memory brings back the truth she gave us and also the contents of the [237] black bag. We can yet see pouring out of it wonderful truth as from a horn of plenty.

Sometimes it would be some little trinket which had a bit of history connected with it that brought our heads together and opened our eyes in wonder as we looked and listened. The first object I remember she produced from the bag was a little idol from China. She had a sister there who had sent it to her. We had never seen an idol before, and as we passed it around the class for close inspection and listened to her tale of how the heathen worshiped it, it seemed to our boyish minds as fascinating as a fairy tale, and just as wonderful. Sometimes it would be a little flower for each of us that was produced from the black bag. She lived in those days when many of the city homes had a front-yard garden. She had such a garden, and when any of us were ill she brought us a cluster of beautiful flowers. Sometimes the black bag yielded a big apple apiece, and we boys never tasted such apples before, and devoured them as only an always hungry boy can do when he is at his best.

We were always at our best when the black bag produced. Generally the lesson from the black bag had nothing to do with the regular Bible lesson, but was a supplementary lesson. Oftentimes there was no lesson to the object at all, but just a little gift which took its place with the reward cards of that day.

One Saturday morning I met my teacher going to the market. She always stopped me when we met and had a few words with me, and often down in her basket she found a stick of candy among the contents which she always gave me, and which I always received with thanks. Her thoughts were with her boys so constantly [238] that she always had a bit of candy among things in her basket, thinking that perhaps she might meet some of her boys playing in the street as she passed by.

This particular morning she said: "Clarence, tomorrow I will have something new and wonderful in the black bag; tell all the boys to be sure to be present." Then she gave me a stick of candy which had a magic effect on my heels, for they seemed to have wings, as I spent the entire afternoon running around to the homes of the scholars and giving them the great news about the "Black Bag."

Next day we were all in our places and ready for the lesson and also anxiously waiting for the opening of the black bag. When it was opened she gave us a small bag of chestnuts and a picture-card. I have never forgotten the black bag, as you see I am recalling now its history in detail half a century after it opened to us its first simple lesson.

That dear teacher long ago put on her white garments and went to heaven. Her boys, six in number, never forgot their teacher and the black bag. I recall now that two of those boys became ministers of the gospel. Two of them went into the practise of law. One went West, and the other passed on. I am all that is left of the old class. The other boys are with her in heaven, and I often think that perhaps they talk over yet the story of the black bag.

I have such a black bag now, and whenever I use it in teaching I tell them the story of my dear teacher and her black bag. I use it now as a covering for my objects. If the children see the objects before you use them the surprise element is lacking. If they are brought out of [239] a bag as you use them, the children will be curious about what comes next, and will wait and watch as you speak.

The black bag can be easily made as it is a regular bag. Make it about the size of a child's school-bag, and as books of learning come forth from such a bag tell them that they can learn something from your black bag. You may load it with a variety of objects, if you so desire, and let each object teach a lesson. Some of the objects used in the chapters of this book can be made first to appear from the black bag.

[240]

56

HOW FIVE SPADES DUG THROUGH

A CHAPTER TO BE READ FOR THE TRAINING
OF THE OBJECT WORKER

This is an uncommon object-lesson. It is a curio in visual instruction. One summer while traveling in the great Northwest, I dropped into a Salvation Army meeting, and in their War Cry, which I then purchased, I read the following story.

It is a record of the conquest of an uncommon object-lesson upon which God had put his great O.K. by the salvation of a soul. Read it through as another helpful illustration of the ministry of visual instruction in thorny ground. This was the story.

"A friend of mine was once coming on a train when five of the nine in the coach began to play cards; they were evidently sharpers, and before long challenged others to play with them, but all declined, At last they turned to my friend and said:

"We can see by your face that you fully understand the game; come, take a turn."

"I did know the cards once; but it is so long since I played that I forget how to play."

"Nonsense!" they said, "you could win all our money, if you only tried."

"Perhaps that would not be very much," he replied; "anyway, I will not attempt. Five of you are enough for your game; we will look on."

[241] As they still pegged away at him, he said at last:

"Gentlemen, I tell you I cannot play; but there is one thing I can do."

"What is that?" they asked eagerly.

"I can tell fortunes."

"Capital! Will you tell ours?"

"If you wish it; but, I warn you it may not be very flattering."

"What card will you want?"

"The five of spades, please," and it was handed to him with expectation of great sport.

"I shall require one other thing, if you don't mind," he further said.

"What?" they asked a little impatiently.

"A Bible."

They could not produce one.

"No, but you had one once," said the fortune-teller, "and if you had followed its precepts you would not be where you now are. However, I have one," and to their dismay he produced it.

A pistol would hardly have been a more unwelcome object. But the fortune-teller began:

"Gentlemen, you see these two pips at the top of the card? I wish them to represent your two eyes; this one in the middle, your mouth; and these other two, your knees. Now, in Revelation 1:7 I read, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.' The speaker is the Nazarene, once red with blood for sinners like you and me. Your eyes will see him, and you will have to stand before him to be judged. That is the future of your eyes," he continued; "now concerning your mouth and knees, let me read Philippians 2:9-11: [242] 'Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' From this I foretell that: your knees will bow to Jesus, and your tongue that used to say, 'Gentle Jesus' and 'Our Father,' will have to confess that he is Lord of all. Your eyes will see him, and when you see him, your knees will grow weak, and you will fall before his majesty."

They got more than they bargained for; but he gave them some more.

"Gentlemen, that is only the first reading of this card; now for the second, if you please. These five spades represent five actual spades that are already made, and may, ere long, dig the graves of you five sinners, and then your souls will be in the lost world crying in thirst for a drop of water and you will wish you had never been born."

The five card-sharpers were getting more and more fidgety; but it was useless, for they could not get out, as the train would not stop for some time yet.

"Gentlemen," continued the fortune-teller, "you may escape this terrible future, and my fortune not come true, if you will do what I did, and perhaps I was the worst of the six. My eyes saw Jesus upon a cross for me in my stead, bearing my doom, My tongue confessed him as Lord, and my knees bowed to him in lowly submission. If you do this, I can foretell the very reverse of all I have said. I have told your fortunes, as I promised, and if I am right, you ought to cross my palm [243] with a dollar apiece; but I do not wish your five dollars. I will be content if one of you will promise to try the Saviour whose blood cleanseth from all sin."

They would neither pay nor promise; but as the train pulled up at the station they tumbled out as if the carriage had contained a smallpox patient, leaving my friend in possession of the "five of spades."

"Stop," he cried, "here is your card," which he tossed after them.

Recently walking near his home at Shepherd's Bush, London, he was accosted by some one saying,

"Good evening, sir."

"It is a good evening, if all your sins are forgiven," was the rejoinder.

"Yes, and I am glad you are still at it," replied the stranger.

"Still at what?"

"Telling fortunes."

"That is not my line."

"Well, you told mine more than ten years ago."

"I think you are mistaken," said my friend.

"No; any one who has once seen you can never mistake you."

He then recalled the memorable ride.

"Ah! I remember, and you left like a lot of cowards, without paying the fortune-teller."

"I am your payment. Your words came true of three of us; three spades have dug their graves. The other one I saw a few days ago; he is anxious to be saved from the fortune you foretold, and is attending religious meetings. As I parted with him I said, 'Sam, don't forget the five of spades.'"

[244] "And what about yourself?"

"When you saw me, I had been to a sister's. I was right down miserable. Mother had just died. Calling me to her bedside, she had said: 'William, kiss your mother, and I leave you this Scripture: "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him"' (Rev. 1:7). When you quoted those very words, it seemed as if my dear mother rose up and frowned upon the cards. That text followed me. I drank, and drank, and drank again; but continually I heard, 'Every eye shall see him.' At last I went to California, for the gold-diggings. As soon as I landed, having nothing to do, I stopped to hear some singing; the singers formed a little procession, and I followed to a hall, When the young man got up to speak, he gave out as his text, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.' It was more than I could stand; that night I bowed my knees in submission, saw Jesus as my Saviour, and with my tongue confessed him."

He was soon going back to the diggings; but that one interview was good payment for the fortune-teller.

This is the story of five spades which dug their way through a hardened conscience and there found the open door to a closed heart.

It was God's way and therefore wonderfully good.

[245]

57

THE KAISER'S CUP

OBJECTS: A Plush Box and a Plain Wooden Box

In one of the great New York daily newspapers some days ago I read the following announcement:

The Kaiser's Cup which belonged to the winner of a trans-Atlantic yacht race has been sold for the benefit of the Red Cross and was publicly broken into pieces in New York City. It was supposed to be made of solid gold and to be worth five thousand dollars. It was really made of pewter with a thin gold lining and was valued at about forty dollars.

"Things are not always what they seem to be," said one of the wise men of the other century, and the famous Kaiser's Cup is another illustration of the truth of that statement. When I was a child I read in my old blue primer the story of a great dance at which time two children appeared on the floor dressed in gay attire and danced to the great delight of the assembled people, who greatly wondered at the skill of two such small people when suddenly some one rolled an orange across the floor when the two little dancers stopped their fancy dancing and made a mad rush for the orange; they fought for it to such an extent that they tore off their gilded robes, and lo, they were only two little monkeys. It was the story of the Kaiser's Cup dramatized on a ballroom floor. Don't let a bright exterior dazzle your eye, remember the cup may be made of pewter, not gold.

[246] To illustrate this truth, secure two boxes; one should be covered with plush, the other, just a common wooden box. The plush box should be empty, the plain box loaded with beautiful flowers or other valuable things. Have these two boxes on the table in full view of the audience. After you have told the story of the Kaiser's Cup, turn to the two boxes and say: "Look at these two boxes on the table before you; which of them do you think is of the greater value? I think I hear you answer and say, 'The beautiful plush box, it looks just like a box containing jewels.' You open it and find it contains nothing. It is the truth of the Kaiser's Cup in wood. Gold on the outside, pewter on the inside."

Then open the plain wooden box and show it to be full of flowers which you scatter about on the table or distribute among the people, "Things are not what they seem to be" is as true today as when the saying was first uttered. Learn to see things as God sees them; man looketh upon the outward countenance, but God at the heart.

Remember there is coming a time when the Kaiser's Cup will be broken. We call that time the Day of Judgment, the Bible gives it that name. When that day does come, then all that is hidden will be revealed; then our cup of life will be tested by God's word. Will it be pure gold or will it be like the Kaiser's Cup?

A little girl surprised her father by asking him the question, "What is God's address?" The father, wishing to teach his little child a lesson, said, "1421 Grand Avenue." It was the number of their own house he had given. He meant to say to her, "God is living here with us." Both God and the little girl had the same [247] address. The cup of their home was gold inside also. Martin Luther had the same thought in his mind when once a stranger knocked at his door and said, "Who lives here?" Luther replied, "God and Martin Luther." If we can say this of our hearts, "Jesus and I live in the same heart together," we shall be able to stand when the great day comes when evil things will be opened up and broken up.

Remember the Kaiser's Cup.

[248]

58

HOW TO MAKE A RAG MAP

OBJECT: A Map of Palestine Constructed with Pieces
of Rags

Here is another way of teaching children sacred geography.

It is a map of the Holy Land made of pieces of canton flannel cut out into various forms and put together in map form before the class. Secure a piece of black canton flannel or dye it black if it cannot be secured in that color. Mount it on a frame with the rough finished side on the front, giving it a slight tilt backward. Make this background as large as you desire, the larger the better, and make all the figures herein mentioned of the same material and put the rough side of each figure against the background, pressing down the figure and smoothing it out with the hand, and it will stay in its place without the use of pins or tacks. The fact that it stays put develops a great degree of interest in the little folks, and they will watch you with big eyes of curiosity. In building this rag map first cut out a number of strips about one inch wide, and with these make the coast-line.

After this cut out strips of blue representing the water ways and put them in their proper places. After this cut out a number of pointed pieces about five inches to the peak. These will represent the mountains. Put these in their respective places. Now cut out a number of square red pieces about two inches square, [249] and cause these to represent the cities and put them in their proper locations.

After this much of the map is finished drill the children in the location of the rivers, mountains, and cities. Let them put the figures in their proper places and build that part of the map themselves. After this teach them the Bible history of each locality.

Cut out a star in yellow, put this over Bethlehem, and tell them the Christmas story. Put a red cross over Jerusalem, and call it the Crucifixion City, and tell them the story of the Cross. Now make a flat form of a water-pot and place it next to the city of Cana and tell the story of the first miracle.

Next cut out in brown a small ladder and place it next to Bethel. Tell the story of Jacob and his dream.

Cut out a representation of a bottle which you call a "bottle of oil," and place it near to Jericho, and tell the story of the Good Samaritan and how the oil was poured into the wounds of the man who fell among thieves.

Cut out now a representation of a hammer and place it over Nazareth, and tell the story of the Carpentershop and how Jesus worked in it while he was learning his trade. Cut out a side view of an altar and put it on Mount Carmel and tell the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal.

Cut out a representation of a green tree; place that next to Gethsemane and tell the story of the prayers of Jesus under the olive-trees.

Cut out a white representation of a tent and place it by the side of Hebron and tell the story of Abraham and the Visiting Angels.

Now cut out a number of dark green trees, and place [250] them in the Mountains of Lebanon in the far north, and tell them the story of the building of Solomon's Temple, and how they took the timber from these hills to build the Temple.

Cut out a representation of a one-story Oriental house, and place it near to Bethany, and tell the story of the Home of Mary and Martha, the place where Jesus loved to go. After the map is finished take down these pictures, and ask the children to put them back into their proper places and tell the Bible story connected with each.

This method of teaching sacred geography you will find to be very interesting to boys and girls because they are building together. Here is another use to which you can put the rag method.

If you so desire you can make profile or front-view pictures and tell more Bible stories with them. Here is a representation of the Ark and Tower of Babel.

Put the hull part of the ark in place first, then add to the top, and later put on the door and window; this will give a fair representation of the Ark of Noah. The Tower of Babel can be built this way also.

It is possible to draw line pictures on the smooth side of the flannel with the oil crayon which is now found in [251] all the stationery shops at small cost. After the figure has been drawn out cut it into a number of pieces and put them together on the background to add a little variety to this method of teaching. Bring all the rags out of a bag which you call the "Ragged Prophet's Bag." Turn the bag upside down, allowing all the rags you use to fall out on the table top. Have the rags you use all pinned together so they will not mix with the other rags of the bag.

This is how we use rags to teach big ideas. Let's try it.

[252]

59

STATIONS OF SALVATION

OBJECTS: Seven Cards Fully Described in the Chapter

This is a pictorial attempt to make the plan of salvation as plain as day.

The Romanists have what they call "The Stations of the Cross." These are fourteen in number. By these stations the way of the cross and its blessings are made plain to the worshiper. They offer a prayer at each station and pass on. There is no virtue in this devotion unless they pray from the first station to the last.

The sinner in seeking Christ has his stations of salvation also. He must not miss one.

The following stations of salvation can be reproduced on large cardboard and hung up upon the wall in front of the class, and the way of Salvation can be pointed out as each station is read and explained. After this explanation, the prayer of each station should be offered together.

If possible have these stations printed on small cards and given to each hearer to take home, and so make good use of them in daily devotions.

A Roman Catholic girl seeking the true light happened to be present when I was preaching on the stations of salvation and was convicted of her sins and converted to God. She had been trained since childhood to see truth in this way and by these stations she found the pathway of the Cross and the glorious Saviour.

[253] I had lantern slides made of each of these stations and used one of them at a time as a sermon on salvation, and afterward used the seven stations as the conclusion of the sermon when I wanted to make a personal appeal and urge a heart decision for Christ.

These seven stations of salvation can be used for older heads also.

You will note the cross at the top of each station. This is the great theme of all the stations.

You will also observe the heart beneath the cross containing the words "I believe." This signifies that salvation is an affair of the heart, and not an empty form. In discussing each station ask the people to recite the scripture together. After you have explained these scriptures and commented on the subject of the station, ask your people to repeat with you the prayer of the station, and then pass on to the next station.

The following are the stations in their order:

[254]

Station No. 1. Condemnation

Condemnation is the first step. This is an inward sense of sin. We must all feel this, or we shall not be inclined to take the next step.

[255]

Station No. 2. Conviction

Conviction must follow condemnation, or it will avail nothing. To know I am condemned is of itself of little value. It must lead to conviction.

[256]

Station No. 3. Repentance

After conviction repentance must follow—repentance deep enough so that we feel our sins have hurt the heart of God.

[257]

Station No. 4. Redemption

Repentance when it is of the heart is sure to lead to redemption, because no truly repentant heart ever sought the Lord in vain.

[258]

Station No. 5. Confession

A sure sign we have been redeemed is that we will "tell somebody"; not because we must, but because we cannot help it. We must tell the world of it.

[259]

Station No. 6. Submission

If we have received Jesus and openly confessed him we will submit our souls to him. He is our master.

[260]

Station No. 7. Glorification

At the end of the way we will find the golden gates to glory wide open for us, and the angels waiting there all ready to sing the chorus of "Welcome Home."

[261]

60

A SUGGESTIVE PROGRAM

This Program Is Simply a Little Hint as to "What
Next" in the Exercises. This and Any Other Program
Should Be Completed in Not More Than
One Hour.

SUGGESTIVE PROGRAM

1. Call to Order. Three slow bells.
2. Guard enters with the Bible and places it on the desk. (All standing.)
3. Flag-bearers enter with Conquest and United States flags.
4. Salute Conquest Flag. Sing Doxology. (Hand on the heart.)
5. Salute the United States Flag. Sing "America." (Hand over the eyes.)
6. Prayer, concluding with Lord's Prayer.
7. Recite in concert the Twenty-third Psalm.
8. Evening Song.
9. Prayer by Leader.
10. Song of Praise.
11. Elevation of the Scriptures.

Lift up the Bible, and say, "This is God's
Holy Word, the guide of our fathers and the rule
of my life."

[262]

"God's Holy Word, I promise to search. God's Holy Word, I will try to keep."

All repeat the prayer after the leader.

"Day is gone,
Night has come,
Day has gone,
Night has come,
God is near,
God is near,
All is well,
All is well."

[263]

61

A MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER

A MEMORY EXERCISE

MY FIRST PRAYER

When I was a little fellow my mother taught me this simple little prayer:

Daniel Webster remembered this prayer when dying and repeated it with his white lips as his last words. It is with all of us a prayer that we cannot easily forget. It sinks into our childhood mind which is plastic so that ideas stick. It holds its place on the throne of memory even when that throne totters with the weight of years.

Now I want to give you a companion to that prayer as you begin your day, as you older grow:

This is not only a prayer for the nursery, but for the work-shop and the day's task as well.