THE CHRISTMAS TREE.
THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES.
BOYS and girls often think that big people have set apart Christmas as a day for gathering around the Christmas tree, as a time for Santa Claus, for the giving of presents and for having a good time generally. This is not the case. I will tell you why we celebrate Christmas, and particularly the significance and meaning of the Christmas tree.
Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, who came into this world to redeem us from sin and everlasting death; and the Christmas tree, laden with its many gifts and suggestive of so much joy and blessing, is a symbol of the Saviour. In order that you may best understand the full meaning of the Christmas tree, I must call your attention to the season of the year when Christmas came. You will remember that last summer, when the sun rose at half-past four in the morning and did not set until half-past seven in the evening, the days were very long, and you could see to go about in the evening until about eight o"clock and after. At Christmas time the sun goes down at half-past four in the afternoon, and does not rise until half-past seven in the morning. So you see that the days are about six hours shorter in December than they are in the latter part of the month of June.
Christmas occurs at that season when the days are shorter and the nights are longer than at any other period of the year. In the Bible darkness represents sin and unbelief and wickedness; and the daytime or light represents truth and righteousness and G.o.dly living. So you will see that the long nights at the Christmas period of the year, and the short days, fitly represent the condition of the world at the time when Jesus, the Son of G.o.d, was born in Bethlehem. At no other time in the world"s history was there so much of moral darkness and sin and wickedness and corruption in the world. Cruelty and crime and wickedness abounded everywhere. If I were to stop and tell you of the condition of society, of the wrong and the iniquity, which abounded everywhere, you would be greatly horrified. It was at such a time as this in the world"s history, when Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, came to this world, that sin might be banished and righteousness might abound. So you see that Christmas occurs at that period of the year when the night and the darkness are the longest of any of the entire year, and it very fittingly represents the condition which existed in the world when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as the Saviour of the world. He came to banish the moral darkness which covered the whole earth.
Not only the time of the year, but also the character of the Christmas tree suggests something. With the long nights comes also the cold winter. The earth is wrapped in snow. The trees, which a few months ago were green and beautiful and in the fall all laden with fruit, are now all naked and bare, and if you were to go out into the orchard or forest you could not tell the difference between a dead tree, and all the others which seem to be dead. Among all the trees you would only find such as the pine, the hemlock, the fir and other varieties, such as are known as evergreen trees, that would be green and give evidence of life.
So you will see again how the Christmas tree fittingly represents Christ, because these evergreens, in the field and in the forest, seem to be the only things that have greenness and life, while all else around them seems to be dead and laid in a shroud of white snow.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Christmas Tree
Copyrighted 1911 by Sylva.n.u.s Stall]
The custom of setting up a tree at Christmas time and loading it with fruit and gifts seems to have originated in Germany, and the thought of these people in introducing this custom centuries ago, was that they might teach their children this very lesson to which I have referred.
Now, I desire to call your attention also to the fruit which is so often hung on the Christmas tree. The Bible tells us that a tree is known by its fruit. If you go into the orchard you could tell the apple tree from the pear tree, and you could tell the plum tree from the peach tree. If you did not know them by their leaves, you would at least know them by their fruit. But when you come to look at this tree you find oranges upon it. Now, this is not an orange tree. You find dolls upon it, but it is not a doll tree. Here are a pair of skates, but it is not a skate tree. Here are some candies, but it is not a candy tree. Neither can it be known by the name of any one of these various things which hang upon the tree. But it is a Christmas tree. And all these various kinds of things are properly hung upon the Christmas tree to represent the fulfillment of that promise that, with His Son Jesus Christ, G.o.d would also give us all things richly to enjoy.
The gifts hung on Christmas trees are usually presents from one person to another--often not only from parents to children, but from teachers to scholars, and from friend to friend. Now, until Christ was born, there were no Christmas presents. There was no Christmas day celebrated.
But the reason we give presents on Christmas day is to remind each other of G.o.d"s Great Gift to man, the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer and Saviour. With Jesus Christ, G.o.d also gave us grace and truth, reconciliation, and pardon and peace and salvation. Man had sinned against G.o.d; was living in open rebellion against G.o.d. Whatever was good, man hated. He loved to do wickedly. He preferred to serve Satan, rather than to serve G.o.d. And Jesus came in order to reconcile men to G.o.d--to get them to turn away from sin, wickedness and Satan, and to accept of G.o.d"s love and pardon and everlasting salvation, and to do that which was right and good and holy.
If you could travel through the countries where they do not know of Christ and do not worship Him, and then travel through Christian countries, where Jesus is loved and honored, you would soon see what a great difference there is between the two. We have railroads, steamboats, and telegraphs, and telephones, and phonographs, and every kind of cloth, and silk, and furs with which to clothe ourselves for greatest comfort, and when we sit down at our tables there is no good thing that is produced in any nation under the sun, that is not available even to those of limited means.
In the heathen countries it is not so. They are still riding in carts drawn by oxen. Without clothing and without comforts, the people in Africa are still groping through the bushes and jungles. And if you go to India and China and j.a.pan you will find that only in so far as they have been brought under the influence of the religion of Jesus Christ, do they have even now the material blessings which come with the Gospel.
But there are other blessings which come to us with the preaching of the Gospel. In heathen countries they have no asylums to care for the orphans, no hospitals for the sick and the distressed and the dying; no inst.i.tutions of charity and of mercy; but few schools, and these only for the rich and the upper cla.s.ses. So you see that these things are among the gifts which G.o.d has given us with His Son Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day.
Then there are also the spiritual blessings and gifts. G.o.d"s grace, communion with G.o.d, and the joy and satisfaction we have in our hearts in knowing that we are the children of G.o.d; that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from sin and death; that we are the heirs of everlasting life, and of everlasting glory. And the Bible promises us that in the world to come we shall enjoy everlasting blessedness, and happiness and joy--that we shall dwell forever with Jesus Christ; that we shall be made kings and queens unto our G.o.d. The Bible tells us, that it has not entered into the heart of man to think or to conceive of the things which G.o.d has in store for those who love Him. If we were to laden this tree with all the richest treasures of the world they could not adequately suggest the great blessings which G.o.d has in store for you and for me.
How fitting, then, that we should be glad and joyous on Christmas day!--that you and I should receive not simply these material gifts, but that we should also accept of Jesus Christ in our hearts and receive His spiritual blessings; and so be adopted into the family of G.o.d, and be permitted to dwell for ever in His presence on high. May G.o.d always bless you in your Christmas joy, and may you be glad not only because you receive the gifts of your parents and friends, but also because G.o.d gives to us all, His Only Begotten and Well Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer and Friend.
QUESTIONS.--What event does Christmas Day commemorate? About what time of the year are the days shortest and the nights longest? What does the darkness of the long nights represent? Was the world in moral darkness when Christ came? Is He the world"s Redeemer? What trees are green in the winter? Whom does the evergreen tree represent?
Why? Where did the custom of having Christmas trees probably originate? What do the things on the Christmas tree represent? Did people give Christmas presents before Christ came? What do our gifts to one another represent? With His Son, has G.o.d given us other things which we are to enjoy?
Where do people enjoy the greatest material comforts and blessings, in Christian or heathen lands? In what lands are the largest spiritual blessings enjoyed?
EASTER SUNDAY.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.
SUGGESTION:--Objects: An egg and a little chick in a cage, or a toy chick, such as are often available at Easter time may be used.
MY LITTLE FRIENDS: Can you tell me what we commemorate on Easter Sunday?
Yes, we commemorate the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
You remember how some weeks ago I showed you a watch-case.[A] You thought it was a watch, but when I opened it it had no works in it, consequently it was only a watch-case. When I placed the works in the case, then it made a complete watch.
So you have also seen the body of a dead person and you have possibly thought that that was the individual, the person whom you had known; but that which you saw was only the body. The soul, the immortal part, had taken its departure and gone back to G.o.d who first placed it in the body. Now, just the same as the works of a watch can keep good time without being in the case, so the soul can exist apart from the body. If you were to take the watch-case and bury it in the ground, that fact would not affect either the existence or the accuracy of the works of the watch in measuring time. So when G.o.d takes the soul out of the body we say that it is a dead body, and it becomes necessary for us to bury it out of our sight.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Women at the Sepulchre.]
On Good Friday we commemorate the death of Christ upon the cross on Calvary. You remember how, after the crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came and took the body of Christ down from the cross and laid it in a new tomb which Joseph had hewn out of rock in his garden.
When this had been done, Pilate remembered how Jesus had said that if He were put to death, after three days He would rise again. Now, Pilate did not believe that Jesus would rise again, but was afraid that His disciples or some friends might come by night and steal away His body and circulate the report that Jesus had risen from the dead; so he placed Roman soldiers around the sepulchre to prevent His disciples from coming near the tomb, or sepulchre where Joseph had laid away the body of Christ. Pilate purposed to prevent the possibility of Christ"s resurrection, but in the fact that he placed the soldiers there he secured for all after ages the most positive proof that Jesus did actually rise from the dead. These soldiers were Roman soldiers, and if they had slept while they were upon guard duty, the penalty would have been death. But when the angel came down from heaven and rolled away the stone, then we are told that these Roman soldiers became as dead men.
It is on Easter Sunday that we commemorate this rising of Christ from the grave or sepulchre. Now, can you tell me why it is that on Easter we have these Easter eggs, such as I hold in my hand? I will tell you why it is. It is because while the outside of this egg is like the outside of a vault or grave, yet inside there is a germ of life. If you take a dozen perfect eggs and place them under a mother hen, and have her set on them for three weeks, at the end of that time out of these eggs which seem to have nothing of life in them, there will come forth little chickens, just such as I hold in my hand, only this one is not alive.
But it is a very accurate representation of a little chicken a day or two old.
Now, just in this same way if you were to drive through a cemetery and look at a vault, which is the nearest that we have in this country in likeness to the sepulchre in which the body of Christ was laid, you would not suppose for a moment that there would be living people in that vault. While the bodies that are in the vault are dead bodies, yet they have the promise of life, G.o.d will some day raise them up, unite again the soul and the body and give them that everlasting life and resurrection glory which Jesus has promised. And as Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning, so we have the promise that in the final resurrection the bodies of all who have ever lived upon the earth shall hear the voice of the Son of G.o.d and shall come forth; those who have lived Christian lives to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of death and eternal punishment.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Little Chickens Just Out of the Sh.e.l.ls.]
The egg then is the symbol of life, for out of this seemingly lifeless object there comes forth the living chick; so out of the graves and sepulchres there will eventually come forth the bodies of all who have ever died, and these bodies shall become resurrection bodies. These mortals shall put on immortality, and these corruptible bodies shall put on incorruption; and then the souls and the bodies of all shall be reunited, never again to be separated throughout all eternity.
Perhaps during the past few months or years you may have laid away in the grave the body of some dear little brother or sister, or perhaps of a kind father or mother, or some other friend; if so, the spring season of the year will suggest to you the resurrection. The gra.s.s and the flowers which appeared to be dead last fall, and which during the winter have been wrapped in a white shroud of snow, now feel the warm breath of spring, and life and beauty are coming forth out of the sepulchre of the winter.
Soon all the trees will put forth their leaves and then beauteous blossoms and sweet fragrance will tell of the spring time as the resurrection period of the year.
So at Easter time we properly turn to the cemeteries where rest the bodies of our loved ones and know that the long winter of death and decay shall eventually give place to the promised resurrection of life and beauty. On that Easter morn the bodies of our loved ones shall be raised up, the soul and the body shall be reunited, and we shall see them and know them as they are.
Now, just how G.o.d shall gather again all the scattered parts of these bodies that were buried in the sea, or have decayed back to earth in the ground, we do not know. But our ignorance does not change the fact. I do not understand how at first G.o.d created man out of dust of the earth, nor do I know how the bread and meat and food which I eat each day nourish my life and become part of my own body. I do not know how, out of the same handful of earth, either an apple or a flower might grow. I know that it is so, but the how I do not know; nor does my ignorance prevent or hinder G.o.d from accomplishing it. If each day I eat food which by some strange power which G.o.d has placed within me is changed into bones in my body, to hair on my head, to nails on the ends of my fingers, to teeth, and eyes and ears and thus becomes a part of myself, why should I question, or desire to know how G.o.d is able to quicken in the grave the power to make the body to live again. If in the beginning G.o.d only spoke and worlds came into being, I know that when He shall command these bodies to rise from death and the grave they also will hear His voice and obey.
I am sure that no boy nor girl here would want that, on the morning of the resurrection his or her body should refuse to obey G.o.d"s voice when He shall command the dead to come forth from their graves in life and beauty. You will want to obey Him then, but should you not also desire to obey Him now? When G.o.d tells you in the Bible what He wants you to do, are you obedient? Do you do as He commands? If you are disobedient now, then in the morning of the resurrection you might even desire, rather to remain in your grave, so that you should not have to look into the face of Him whom you have disobeyed and offended. If you want to awake on that final Easter morning in the likeness of Jesus and be forever with Him in glory, remember that you must obey G.o.d now as Jesus did when He was upon the earth. If we would be like Jesus in glory, we must strive to be like Him in all that we do, and I trust that you may think of this daily. At all times when you are uncertain what it is your duty to do, ask yourself this question: "If He were in my place, what would Jesus do?" And then act and do as nearly as possible as you think Jesus would do under the same circ.u.mstances.
QUESTIONS.--What does Easter commemorate? Is a dead body actually the person you knew? What has become of the soul? What do we commemorate on Good Friday? Of what are Easter eggs the symbol? What does the sh.e.l.l represent? What does the inside represent? Will the bodies of all who have died be raised some day? Who tells us this? What will G.o.d do with the risen bodies? What will become of the good? What of the wicked? Do we know how G.o.d will gather the scattered parts of the body? Does it make any difference whether we know how or not? Is anyone likely to refuse G.o.d"s summons on the Judgment Day? Do we always obey Him now? When in doubt what question should we ask ourselves?
[Ill.u.s.tration]
FOOTNOTE:
[A] NOTE--Sermon on Watch and Case, see page 125.
CROWNS.
THE CHILDREN OF THE KING.
SUGGESTION:--Objects: A crown of leaves or paper, or of both.
BOYS AND GIRLS: I have to-day two or three crowns, and I want to talk to you about those who are children of the King.