Nearly all the products of the field have been improved by cultivation, just the same as these flowers have been improved. Wheat in its native state, as it may still be found in France and Italy along the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean, was a stunted and straggling plant, with a small and inferior seed, but after long years of patient and continued cultivation, it has grown to its present plump and prolific proportions.
All the beautiful fruits which now grow in our orchards were at one time unsightly and undesirable. The apple was small and sour, and unpalatable; but by pruning and grafting and fertilizing, it has grown to be not only beautiful to the eye, but delicious to the taste. The acrid and unwholesome berries, which formerly grew on the mountain ash, have been developed into the sweet and juicy pear. By cultivation, the acrid and bitter sloe has grown into the beautiful plum. The same is also true of the potato, the turnip and the cabbage.
Boys and girls can only be developed into useful men and women by the influence of the week-day and Sunday-school, the Christian home and the Church, by reading and studying the Bible and other good books.
When you are restricted or corrected by your parents, you may oftentimes feel very much irritated and may feel rebellious, and may think that you do not have as many privileges or as much freedom as some of the other boys and girls whom you know. But you must remember that all this is done by your parents for your good, and later on in life you will see the value of it all and be very grateful to your parents for what they have done for you.
When I was a boy, in the little village where I lived they organized a cannon company of six or eight boys, who were to accompany the men who went to other villages to listen to political speeches before elections, and then to march in a torch-light procession. I was at that time a boy about twelve years old. I was asked to join. The boys were all to wear red blouses and red caps, and to my thought just then, nothing in the world was so much to be desired as the torch-light procession and the red blouse and cap, and to be permitted to march behind the drum and the fife, hauling the little cannon after us.
I shall never forget how I cried and how ugly I felt toward my father when he would not let me be one of the cannon boys and wear a red blouse and a red cap. He said that at night I ought to be at home and in bed, and not be exposed to possible bad influences, the danger of catching cold and of other bad results which he could clearly see, but which I, at that time, thought were only imaginary.
When I grew to be a man, I saw that my father was right, and later when at intervals I journeyed back to my boyhood home and visited the cemetery, I frequently placed one elbow on the tomb-stone of my father and the other elbow on the tomb-stone of my mother, and with my face buried in my hands thanked G.o.d that He had given me Christian parents who were wise and judicious enough not to let me have my own way in all things when I was a boy, but who had restricted me and guided me wisely and well.
So, boys and girls, it will be with you when you have grown to the estate of manhood and womanhood. You will be, oh, so thankful again and again that father and mother have oftentimes denied you things which you have most desired to have.
Questions.--Which are the prettier, flowers which are neglected by the roadside, or those which are cultivated in the garden? Are boys and girls like flowers? Which boys and girls are the best, those who are neglected and not taught, or those who are cared for and carefully trained? Is it more pleasant for boys and girls to have their own way in everything, or would they prefer to be taught and trained by their parents? Which kind of flowers are the heathen boys and girls like? Can wild flowers be made more beautiful by care and cultivation? Can the boys and girls in heathen lands be made like Christian boys and girls? What is necessary to effect this change? How can Bibles and missionaries be sent to them? Did the writer of this book want to have his own way when he was a boy? What did he want to be? What kind of a cap and blouse did he want to wear? When he became a man, was he thankful to his father for not allowing him to have his own way at that time?
Will all good boys and girls, when they become men and women, be thankful to their parents for right training?
[Ill.u.s.tration: "The Cannon Boys."]
NUTS.
G.o.d MEANS THAT WE MUST WORK.
SUGGESTION:--The objects used are some nuts of various kinds.
If the parent has not already familiarized himself with the different methods of entertainment in connection with the reading of the object sermon to the children, he would do well to turn to the chapter on "Suggestions to Parents" on page 17 and introduce some one or more of the play ideas which have accomplished so much of pleasure and profit in many homes.
Arrange chairs and "drive to church," let the audience, both real and imaginary be shown to seats, and after the opening service let one of the children in his or her own way present the lessons remembered from the sermon of last Sunday, or recast what was said by the pastor in his morning sermon. After the collection and singing, let the children "drive home" and let refreshments or some one of the Scriptural entertainments previously suggested round out the pleasure and profit of Sunday afternoon.
NOW, boys and girls, I have here some hickory nuts, walnuts, b.u.t.ternuts, chestnuts, and filberts, or hazel nuts as they are sometimes called, and I want to tell you something that I suppose G.o.d means to teach us by these nuts.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Nuts.]
Many people remember that when Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, G.o.d told them that "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Gen.
iii: 19), and also that G.o.d drove them out of the garden to "till the ground from whence man was taken." (Gen. iii: 23.) On this account some people suppose that if Adam and Eve had not sinned it would never have been necessary for us to work, but that is a mistake. If you turn to the second chapter of Genesis, in the fifteenth verse, you will find that it says, "The Lord G.o.d took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." So you see that Adam was required to work, even before the fall. Of course his work was not as severe as it was after he was driven out of Eden and his labor brought him a richer fruitage.
Now, what do these nuts teach us? I think that most all boys and girls like to eat hickory nuts and b.u.t.ternuts, and chestnuts and filberts, and indeed all kinds of nuts. But did you ever stop to think that G.o.d has made it necessary that we should crack the sh.e.l.l before we can eat the kernel that is inside? G.o.d has purposed to teach us that labor is necessary before we can eat even of that which He gives us, so on the outside of this desired food he places the sh.e.l.l, in some instances hard and difficult to be broken, in order to teach us that labor is necessary before we can eat of His gifts.
Now the same thing is true with regard to the grain that grows in the field. No one ever saw potatoes grow without being planted and cultivated. Rye and oats and wheat do not grow wild. Weeds will grow without being sown or planted, but grain and vegetables not only have to be planted, but have to be taken care of. Possibly you might think that my statement was not wholly correct, because we go out into the orchard and gather apples and pears and peaches, and other kinds of fruit which have no hard sh.e.l.ls on them, and which do not have to be planted in the spring of the year. But do you know that we could not gather this kind of rich fruit from the trees unless trees of these kinds had been cultivated for long centuries, grafted and developed so as to produce the rich fruit which is now placed upon our tables? So you see that even this has cost labor, and if we were to neglect the trees in the orchard, it would only be a few years until they would produce only a very small variety of fruit, and even that would be sour and have an unpleasant taste.
But G.o.d means to teach us this lesson also in another way. Man has found it very necessary to use the different kinds of metals, iron and copper, silver and gold. G.o.d has not laid these metals on top of the ground, but has made it necessary that we should dig down into the earth and secure these metals at the cost of a great deal of labor. The same is also true with regard to the coal and the oil, and all the rich mineral products which G.o.d has blessed us. None of them can be secured without labor.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Apple Tree.]
We are all naturally lazy. I have oftentimes thought that we are all born lazy. Some learn to be industrious with less effort, but all have to be taught to work. G.o.d means that we should work. Have you ever thought that G.o.d could feed us without our labor if He chose to do so?
He could rain down our food from heaven, just the same as He gave manna to the Children of Israel, while they were journeying to the promised land. He could not only feed us, but He could also clothe us from heaven. I am sure that if G.o.d gave us our clothing from heaven, He would not make such foolish fashions as wicked people over in Paris invent, and which all the rest of the world seem to think they have to imitate.
Not only our food and clothing, but G.o.d could also have made it necessary that there should be no preachers. Instead of giving us His Word in the Bible, and then asking us to go into all the world and to preach it to all creatures, He might have used the stars at night, just the same as the printer uses the different kinds of type and prints the letters and words upon the page; so G.o.d could have used the stars in order to write His law upon the heavens in a universal language that would be known by all peoples, and so at night, and even in the daytime, people could look up into the heavens and read G.o.d"s law. Thus it would have been unnecessary ever to have printed Bibles, or to send preachers to preach. The cost of building churches and supporting ministers would thus have been unnecessary, but G.o.d does not do things in that way. Lazy people might desire that things were arranged in this way, but G.o.d has seen fit to make it very different.
But why do you think that G.o.d means that you and I should learn to work?
There are two or three good reasons which I can think of. We are so const.i.tuted that no one can be in good health for any considerable period without physical exertion, and so you see that if we want to be well--and no one can be happy who is not well--it is necessary that we should learn to work. You will always find that lazy people who eat a great deal suffer many physical ailments. They are always complaining, and I think you will always find that they really are sick, but they could be well if they would only go to work as G.o.d meant they should.
Then there is another reason. An idle man is always a dissatisfied man.
A boy or girl with nothing to do is sure to be unhappy. If we desire to be happy and contented we must learn to work.
But there is also another reason. Our spiritual well-being also renders it necessary that you and I should have something to do. Work is really one of G.o.d"s greatest blessings, and we are told that those who are idle tempt Satan to tempt them. I do not believe that an idle person can be a good Christian. An idler is of no use either in the world or in the church. G.o.d can make no use of him, and Satan must surely despise him also.
So if you desire to be delivered from sickness and to remain well and strong, if you desire to be contented and happy, if you desire to be good and useful, if you desire to be helpful in the great purpose for which G.o.d has created you and placed you upon this earth, you must learn to work, and the best time to learn to work is when we are young. We are to learn to labor with our hands, with our minds, always remembering that whatsoever we do, we are to do all to the glory of G.o.d.
Now let us all join in singing,
"Work, for the night is coming."
QUESTIONS.--Did G.o.d a.s.sign some work to Adam when he was first created? What was he to do in the Garden? Why does G.o.d place the kernel of nuts inside of a sh.e.l.l? Do vegetables and grain grow without being planted? Will weeds grow without being planted? Why did G.o.d place the metals, and coal and oil down below the surface of the ground?
Are we naturally industrious or lazy? Could G.o.d clothe and feed us without our labor? Why does He not do it? How could G.o.d have printed His law so that it would not be necessary to have Bibles and preachers? Are idle people healthy and contented?
Why not? Whom do idle people tempt? Can an idle person be a good Christian? When is it easiest to learn to work? What should we always remember in our work?
BANKS.
GATHERED AND GUARDED TREASURES.
SUGGESTIONS:--Objects for use: A child"s bank and a metal kettle of any kind to show how people used to place their money in boxes, kettles, etc., and then bury them in the ground.
Use the methods suggested in the preceding sermons. Examine the chapter on "Suggestions to Parents" and introduce new features from Sunday to Sunday. Children like variety.
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: What is this I hold in my hand? (Voices: "Bank, penny bank, money bank.") Yes, you are right, this is a bank, and I suppose many of you, perhaps all of you either now, or at some past time have had such a place to deposit your money.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A Penny Bank.]
In the time of Christ the children did not have little banks like these.
Even the big people did not have banks where they could deposit their money. When they had jewels or money they would place them in a box, or a copper kettle, and bury them in the earth. They would hide them away from other people, and thus seek to secure them for themselves. In that period of the world, there were many thieves and robbers; Palestine was often invaded by hostile armies; there were occasional earthquakes, which destroyed whole cities, and so the people used to bury their money for safe keeping. After burying it, sometimes they were killed in war, or perhaps died suddenly, before they had time to tell anybody where they had concealed their money, and on this account all over that land there were buried treasures, or "hid treasures" as they are called, and to-day if you were to go to Palestine you would see many people digging here and there everywhere to find money or treasures that have been hidden away for long centuries. Even in the time of Job people must have dug for treasures, as they are doing in Palestine to-day, for Job says of the miserable and unhappy, that they often "long for death, and dig for it, more than for hid treasures." (Job iii: 21.)
It is altogether right for you to economize and save your pennies. I hope every boy and girl will have a little bank, but while you are learning to save, you should also learn to give to every good cause, to give in Sunday-school and to give for the support of the Church, for missions, and to give to a.s.sist the aged and the poor, and to contribute something for those who are in poverty and in distress. If you simply learn to save, or h.o.a.rd up money, and do not learn at the same time to give, you will become what people call "a miser," and that word means miserable. Misers are always miserable, not because they do not already have sufficient, but because there is so much more that they desire.
They always wish for more.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Hiding Treasures in the Earth.]
But while you are learning to save money and to gather treasures here upon the earth, you must not forget that the Bible says, that we are to lay up for ourselves "treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." It says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of G.o.d and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." G.o.d means that first of all you and I shall give our hearts to Him, and then afterward, in all our getting, we should constantly remember that we are only stewards of G.o.d--that is, that all the money and everything else we possess in this world belongs to G.o.d. He simply permits us to have it and to use it in His name, and we must honor and reverence Him by giving to help on every good work.
Now, after we have given our hearts to G.o.d, and have become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to lay up our treasures in heaven by living right, by seeking to be good, and by doing good to others. We are to lose no opportunity to do that which will be a blessing to those about us.