{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73421/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73421","id":"gutenberg_73421","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73421","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English -- New Testament -- Juvenile literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n[Illustration: SOWING AND REAPING.]\n\n\n\n                            BE NOT AFRAID\n\n\n                               STORIES\n\n                       FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT\n\n\n                                  By\n\n                            CATHARINE SHAW\n\n                              Author of\n\n             \"Cherry's Choice,\" \"Mother's Bible Stories,\"\n                \"Suffer Little Children,\" etc., etc.\n\n\n\n                               LONDON\n                     JOHN F. SHAW (1928) & CO., LTD.\n                        3 PILGRIM STREET, E.C.4\n\nBritish Manufacture\n\n\n\n                              CONTENTS.\n\n     I. The Sermon on the Mount: How to Live I\n\n    II. The Sermon on the Mount: How to Live II\n\n   III. The Sermon on the Mount: How to Pray, and to Look Up\n\n    IV. The Sermon on the Mount: How to Pray, and Enter In\n\n     V. The Last Supper\n\n    VI. Peter Denies His Lord; and the Risen Saviour Forgives\n\n   VII. \"Father's Plan\"\n\n  VIII. Prophecy of the Jews: A Separate People\n\n    IX. \"Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord\"\n\n     X. The Prophecy of a Suffering Messiah\n\n    XI. Sowing and Reaping\n\n   XII. \"There was no Room for Them in the Inn\"\n\n  XIII. After His Resurrection\n\n   XIV. \"Consider the Lilies\"\n\n    XV. A Man Named Matthew\n\n   XVI. Calvary\n\n  XVII. The Good Shepherd, and the Sheep that was Lost\n\n XVIII. The Door of the Sheep\n\n   XIX. \"In My Father's House are Many Mansions\"\n\n    XX. The Parable of the Two Builders\n\n   XXI. The Labourers in the Harvest\n\n  XXII. As a Hen Gathereth Her Chickens\n\n XXIII. The Sower\n\n  XXIV. The Ten Virgins\n\n   XXV. The Good Samaritan\n\n  XXVI. No Wedding Garment\n\n XXVII. Sowing the Tares\n\nXXVIII. The Prodigal Son\n\n  XXIX. The Pharisee and the Publican\n\n   XXX. An Uninvited Guest\n\n  XXXI. The Barren Fig Tree: \"Nothing but Leaves\"\n\n XXXII. The Parable of the Talents\n\nXXXIII. Hid in Three Measures of Meal\n\n\n\n                            BE NOT AFRAID\n\nI. The Sermon on the Mount\n\n   HOW TO LIVE I\n\nBy the Lake of Galilee there is rising ground, situated near several\nvillages on the borders of the lake, where it is believed the Lord\nJesus spoke those wonderful words which are called \"The Sermon on the\nMount.\"\n\nTravellers who have been to this spot tell us that the rising,\nrocky ground, which is called \"The Horns of Hattin,\" would be a\nmost convenient place for any one who was speaking to large numbers\nof people. And it is here, it is thought, our Lord, \"seeing the\nmultitudes\" who had followed Him from the villages beneath the\nmountain, spoke to them of the blessings which they might possess if\nthey kept His words; and explained to them the duties which were laid\nupon those who loved Him, and the blessings in store for them.\n\nIn an earthly school, the children are told of the prizes which will\nbe given for earnest endeavour; and each one on entering the school is\nable to read the list of these rewards, and the conditions which are\nattached to them.\n\nWe all understand more or less of this earthly competition\u2014this great\nendeavour to do our best, to see some result of our hard work, to have\nthe joy of receiving a prize or of earning the approbation of the\nmaster who helps us to the attainment of our ideal.\n\nThis is in an earthly school\u2014now we are going to turn to the heavenly\nside of life.\n\nSo when our Lord Jesus Christ, from that rocky eminence raised above\nthe multitude, spoke to them and said\u2014\n\n   \"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven\u2014\"\n\nIt seems to me that there is hidden in His words a Promise; and also a\nWay made plain, to obtain the Prize.\n\n\n                So the first \"Blessed\" is:\n\n   \"Blessed are the poor in spirit\"; and the promise is: \"For theirs is\nthe Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\n\"The poor in spirit\" does not mean a weak man, but one who knows how\nlikely he is to fail, and therefore does not trust in himself or his\npride, but looks up into God's face, instead of into his own faulty\ndoings.\n\nIn a little country town in the West of England, about a hundred years\nago, there lived a man who was spoken of as \"half-witted.\" He was a\ngeneral favourite; but if, at any time, he was twitted by the boys, or\ngood-humouredly questioned by older people, his invariable answer was\u2014\n\n   \"I'm a poor Sinner, and nothing at all;\n    But Jesus Christ is my All-in-All.\"\n\nWhatever else he had missed, he had learned the blessedness of being\n\"poor in spirit,\" and his reward has been, for many a long day, an\nentrance into \"the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\n\"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose name\nis Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a\ncontrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to\nrevive the heart of the contrite ones.\"\n\n\n              And now comes the Second \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.\"\n\nAh! It is a sad thing to mourn! We know something about that in these\nsorrowful days. To lose the one whom we have loved so tenderly! To lose\nthat which we have prized above any other earthly joy, and to know that\nit can never come back to us here!\n\nAnd yet our Lord says: \"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be\ncomforted.\"\n\nSo the weary, sorrowful heart must turn to Jesus! \"He healeth the\nbroken in heart and bindeth up their wounds.\" \"As one whom his mother\ncomforteth, so will I comfort you.\" In Jesus is infinite comfort, if we\nwill go to Him.\n\n\n                     The Third \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\"\n\n\"Now the man Moses was very meek.\" He was so ready to be taught, and\nto do God's Will, that \"the Lord spoke to him face to face, as a man\nspeaketh unto his friend.\"\n\n\"The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His\nWay,\" we read in the twenty-fifth Psalm, and this was true of Moses;\nand in after years, he was allowed to come down from the glory of\nHeaven to talk with the Lord Jesus before His Crucifixion.\n\nAs to this \"meekness,\" we often find in life that it is not to the\nones who strive and struggle to get their own way that the blessing\ncomes, but to those who in meekness wait patiently for the Lord; for\nHe, Himself, was meek and lowly in heart, and He will give rest to our\nsouls if we learn of Him.\n\n\n                      The Fourth \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they\nshall be filled.\"\n\nIf we turn to Jesus as the Bread of Life, and ask Him to fill us with\nthe Water of Life, we shall find that \"He satisfieth the longing soul,\nand filleth the hungry soul with goodness.\"\n\n\n                      The Fifth \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\"\n\nOh, let us pray for a merciful heart! To be generous to those in fault;\nto be kind to those who wrong us; to cultivate a fellow-feeling for all\nthe suffering there is in the world, and to endeavour to do our little\npart in trying to alleviate it.\n\n\"The Lord God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in\nmercy.\"\n\n\n\nII. The Sermon on the Mount\n\n    HOW TO LIVE II\n\n                     The Sixth \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.\"\n\n\"What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came\nthey? . . .\"\n\n\"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed\ntheir robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore\nare they before the Throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His\nTemple: and He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them . . .\nand God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.\"\n\n\n                    The Seventh \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of\nGod.\"\n\nSt. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: \"Let all bitterness, and\nwrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from\nyou, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted,\nforgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.\nBe ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.\"\n\nIt is only as we strive day by day to remember to be loving and\npeaceful, that we shall attain to the honour of being called a\n\"Peacemaker.\"\n\n\n                    The Eighth \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for\ntheirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nLet us think of the long Roll of Martyrs who have given their lives\nfor Christ's sake! This blessedness can only be known, and the Prize\nobtained, by firm faith in God!\n\nThose who have esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the\ntreasures of the world have already entered into the recompense of the\nreward.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST ADDRESSING THE MULTITUDES.]\n\nThey had seen the promises of God afar off, and were persuaded of them,\nand embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims\non the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they\nseek a country.\n\nAnd this country is a heavenly one, and God is not ashamed to be called\ntheir God, and He has prepared for them a city. Theirs is the Kingdom\nof Heaven!\n\n\n                     The Ninth \"Blessed.\"\n\n   \"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and\nshall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.\"\n\n\"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:\nfor so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.\"\n\nThese troubles of His followers, which Jesus our Lord mentions, are all\nsummed up in the words \"for My sake.\"\n\nAnd here, it seems to me, is a key which will open the prison doors of\nmany a trial.\n\nOur Lord tells us that whosoever will come after Him must take up his\ncross and follow Him.\n\n\"For My sake!\" He says to us so tenderly.\n\n\"Take My yoke upon you,\" He says again.\n\nAnd what was His yoke? It was doing the Heavenly Father's Will. Bearing\nthat heavy, bitter Cross to redeem the world which God loved so much\nthat He gave His Son. Leaving His glory in Heaven for thirty-three\nyears, that He might show us how much the Father loved us, and to\nencourage us to work and bear for His sake.\n\n\"God, for Christ's sake,\" has forgiven us: and if in this world there\ncomes to us reproach of suffering, \"for His sake,\" shall we not meet it\njoyfully and patiently, remembering the words of this last Beatitude,\n\"Great is your reward in Heaven\"?\n\n\nIf there was one man more than another who was persecuted for Christ's\nsake, it was the Apostle Paul. Have you ever read the list of his\nsufferings?\n\n\"In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more\nfrequent, in death oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes\nsave one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice\nI suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in\njourneyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils\nby mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the\ncity, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils\namong false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often,\nin hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.\n\n\"Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me\ndaily, the care of all the Churches.\"\n\nAnd then, in another letter, he says \"I can do all things through\nChrist, Which strengtheneth me.\"\n\nAll things! Then there is not a temptation, or a sorrow, or a\ndisappointment, or a task, that is not included in that \"all things\"\nwhich the strength of Christ will enable us to do, and bear.\n\n\n                     The Last Beatitude.\n\nThe last Beatitude\u2014which means blessed\u2014ends up with the word Rejoice!\n\nThose who follow and serve Jesus Christ here, have the present\npossession of exceeding joy; and as they follow Him, He leads them into\nthe Exceeding Joy of the Great Reward in Heaven!\n\n\n\nIII. The Sermon on the Mount\n\n     HOW TO PRAY, AND TO LOOK UP\n\nOur Blessed Lord had many things to teach those who listened to Him so\neagerly.\n\nYou will find numbers of beautiful and suggestive lessons in the fifth\nto the seventh chapters of Matthew.\n\nBut I have not space to tell you a quarter of them; yet one thing seems\nto stand out before me as so wonderful, and so important, that I must\non no account leave it out.\n\nIt is called:\n\n                        The Lord's Prayer.\n\nOur Lord Jesus explains to us that it is \"after this manner\" that we\nshould pray; and I have known people who have found great blessing and\ngreat help in using this beautiful prayer, slowly and thoughtfully,\neach morning.\n\nIt is of no use just to say the words quickly, and think nothing about\nthem! That is what our Lord calls \"using vain repetitions, as the\nheathen do.\"\n\nBut to pray each separate petition slowly and reverently will surely\nbring you great blessing.\n\n\n   \"Our Father, which art in Heaven.\" Pause to think of His love and His\nmajesty.\n\n   \"Hallowed be Thy Name.\" Ask to be enabled to honour Him all the day.\n\n   \"Thy Kingdom come.\" Ask to be helped to press forward that Kingdom,\nand to be ready for the Lord Jesus to come back.\n\n   \"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.\" Ask that we may do\nthat Will with all our hearts!\n\n   \"Give us this day our daily bread.\" Ask Him to send us our food, and\nto feed us also with heavenly Food: His love, His help, His grace.\n\n   \"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass\nagainst us.\" Ask for pardon for ourselves, and a loving forgiving\nspirit towards other people.\n\n   \"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.\" Ask that\nJesus may be close to us in every trial, and conquer Satan for us, when\nhe tries to make us fall.\n\n   \"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever.\nAmen.\" God is our King, we are His subjects; He has all power, so that\nwe can rely on His help; He has all glory, and will share it with us by\nand by, if we will yield ourselves to Him and obey Him. And this will\nbe for ever and ever!\n\n\nWhen the Lord Jesus had finished telling the disciples about praying,\nHe went on to explain to them some of the beautiful things which they\nwould find around them which would help them to trust in the Heavenly\nFather's love.\n\nHe said to them in words like these:\n\n\"Do not be anxious about what you will have to eat another day\u2014look\nat the birds which fly round you! Are they anxious? They do not sow\nany seed; they do not reap the fields, and gather the grain into\nstorehouses\u2014yet your Father feeds them. Are not you of more value than\nthey are?\n\n\"Do you make yourself grow? Can you make yourself taller? Is it not God\nWho does that for you?\n\n\"Think of\u2014consider\u2014the lilies of the field,\" He says, \"how they grow!\nThey do not work, they do not spin, and yet King Solomon, in all his\nglory, was not dressed like one of these lilies. So, if God clothes\nthem like that, how much more will He give you clothes to wear!\"\n\nThat is how the Lord spoke to those men and women and children who\nlistened to Him on the mountain.\n\n\nI was given a bunch of flowers the other day. I sat down at the table,\nand just thought of all this.\n\nCould I make one of those? Think of the root, and the earth to grow it\nin! Think of the stalk, with its tiny little pipes and channels! Think\nof leaves all alike, and all on that plant getting nourished from the\nroot. Consider the flowers\u2014so white, so exquisitely made; each little\nflower a perfect bell. And then the scent\u2014consider the scent of those\nlilies, which was exactly the same scent fifty years ago, and no other\nflower has exactly the same smell.\n\nI \"considered\" it all, as our Lord had said, and I bowed my head and\nworshipped Him, Who liveth for ever and ever!\n\nSo if at any time a doubt or a faithless fear should enter your heart,\njust get a daisy, or a buttercup, or a blade of grass, and sit down and\nthink Who made it; and trust Him better.\n\nDavid says, in the eighth Psalm, \"When I consider Thy heavens, the work\nof Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what\nis man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou\nvisitest him?\"\n\n\nThen our Lord goes on to say, in words like these: \"Do not be anxious\nabout what you will have to eat or drink, or what you are going to\nwear, for your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these\nthings.\"\n\nI have seen so many instances of God's love and care, both in my own\nlife, and in that of other people!\n\nThere was a bed-ridden woman who was very poor. The district nurse said\nto her one morning, \"My dear, we want a new bed-jacket, I think.\"\n\nAnd the dear old invalid looked up brightly in answer: \"My Heavenly\nFather will send me one, just when He thinks it is the right time,\" she\nsaid confidently.\n\nAnd He did send her, two days after, a beautiful warm jacket!\n\nShe had sought the Kingdom of God first, and He had added to her \"all\nher need.\"\n\n\n\nIV. The Sermon on the Mount\n\n    HOW TO PRAY, AND ENTER IN\n\nHere is a wonderful encouragement and a wonderful promise.\n\nAs our Lord proceeded with the Sermon on that Mount, and as He looked\ninto the anxious, eager faces of the multitude around Him, He revealed\nto them some of the deepest needs of our hearts.\n\nHis words are very simple, and the youngest child can understand a\nlittle about them.\n\n\"Ask,\" He says.\n\n\nIf a father or a mother says, \"Ask me when you next see me,\" the child\nis quite sure he will get his request!\n\nYears ago, when I was quite a little girl, a favourite aunt tried to\nteach us all this lesson. When the grandchildren went to stay at that\ndear country house, they were told that on a Saturday they could ask\ntheir aunt for a \"Saturday penny.\" She wanted to impress upon our minds\nthat God loved us to ask for what He had promised! So as surely as we\nasked, however many there were of us, she gave what she had promised.\n\nAnd, though that is seventy years ago, you see I have not forgotten it!\n\nWell! Our Lord says \"Ask.\" That shows that He knows we have some want\nin our hearts that we hardly are conscious of.\n\nWhat is the need that hides down below everything else? It is\nforgiveness\u2014to be assured that our sins are washed away.\n\nPeople, however, try a number of remedies first.\n\nThey think \"they will turn over a new leaf.\"\n\nThey think they will strive more earnestly to improve.\n\nThey make endless resolutions.\n\nBut all these remedies fall short of the need. They do not go down to\nthe root of the disease.\n\nSuddenly we find the remembrance of some sin flashes into our thoughts\nand makes us miserable; or there is a defilement in our lives which we\ncannot get rid of by any of the means within our reach!\n\nWhat then?\n\nThe words of Jesus Christ on the Mount, given so long ago, but of\nliving power to-day, are\u2014\n\n\"Ask! Ask of God.\" He seems to say, \"Ask, and you shall receive!\" Go to\nGod for forgiveness. Ask Him to wash you clean and white in \"the Blood\nof Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin,\" and then you will be at\npeace, and life will be a different thing to you.\n\n\nThen our Lord goes on to say, \"Seek, and ye shall find.\"\n\nA woman who loses a piece of silver sweeps diligently till she finds\nit! A merchant seeking goodly pearls sells all he possesses to obtain\nPearl of Great Price!\n\n\nAnd then comes the third thought and the third promise.\n\n\"Knock!\" Do not just go to the door of God's storehouse of blessings\nand give a careless knock, and then turn away without even expecting an\nanswer!\n\n\nYou see a boy delivering circulars down your road. He knocks and then\nruns on, and does not trouble himself further.\n\nBut there comes a needy man to one door. He has been told to come at\nany hour on any day, and he knocks.\n\nThere is no immediate answer. Shall he turn away? His need is so great\nthat he knocks again. And still the answer is delayed.\n\n\"He told me to come,\" murmured the man. \"He told me to knock at his\ndoor!\"\n\nSo he goes on knocking; and by and by the master, who is alone in the\nhouse, comes to the door, and with words of welcome, he bids the needy\nman enter.\n\nAnd inside the master's house there is a storehouse of blessings! More\nthan the needy man can ask or think.\n\nAnd the master showers warmth, and love, and food, and riches upon him,\nso that he goes on his way with every want supplied, and with promises\nof an endless supply.\n\nHow to enter in.\n\nThe answer comes back to us, like sweet chimes from afar, in our Lord's\nown words\u2014\n\n\"I am the Door: by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.\"\n\nAnd Jesus shows us what to do and what to avoid, if we want to enter\nthe Kingdom of Heaven.\n\nHe says: \"Enter ye in at the Strait Gate: for wide is the gate, and\nbroad is the way, that leadeth unto destruction, and many there be\nwhich go in thereat because strait is the Gate, and narrow is the way,\nwhich leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it.\"\n\nThe Broad Way, looking so easy and attractive at first, is the way of\nsin, and leads downwards to destruction. The gate is wide open, and so\ntempting.\n\nThe Narrow Way leads upwards, to Everlasting Life.\n\nThe entrance to it is narrow and strait, and the path needs courage and\nperseverance to walk in it bravely; but at the end there are \"pleasures\nfor evermore,\" and no more pain or sorrow or death, but Eternal Life!\nSt. Paul says \"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,\nI have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of\nrighteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at\nthat day.\"\n\nShall we not accept Him Who is Himself the Way? He is the Way, all\nalong the path, let it be smooth or rough. He is the Truth, and will\nnever deceive us. He is the Life, and in Jesus Christ it is reserved in\nHeaven for us.\n\n\n\nV. The Last Supper\n\nThe Jewish Feast of the Passover drew near, and our dear Lord sent two\nof His disciples to prepare for it. He told them they were to go to a\ncertain house in Jerusalem and they would find an upper room furnished;\nand there they were to make ready to eat the Passover, as all other\nJewish men did at this season.\n\nIt will help us very much to understand this last supper of our Lord\nand Saviour if we go back and recall the circumstances of the first\nPassover supper fourteen hundred years before.\n\nWe read in the 12th of Exodus: \"It is a night to be much observed unto\nthe Lord, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that\nnight of the Lord to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their\ngenerations.\"\n\nYou may remember that the children of Jacob had gone from Canaan into\nEgypt to buy food in a time of famine.\n\nThere they found their brother Joseph, whom they had sold as a slave,\nwho now was the greatest lord in Pharaoh's kingdom.\n\nJoseph was very kind to his brothers, and Pharaoh welcomed them and\ntheir father Jacob to stay in the land, and be nourished there.\n\nBut by and by there arose a king who did not remember Joseph, and he\nbegan to put burdens on these Children of Israel the Pharaohs, one\nafter another, making them into slaves, till at last their bondage was\nso cruel that they turned to the Lord their God, and cried to Him to\ndeliver them.\n\nHe raised up Moses; and at length there came a night\u2014that wonderful\nnight\u2014when the whole multitude of the Children of Israel were delivered\nright out of Egypt!\n\nGod told Moses that on this night He was going to send a destroying\nangel through the land of Egypt, and that the firstborn of all the\nEgyptians and of every living thing was to be destroyed, as a great\njudgment.\n\nBut God had provided \"a way of escape\" for the Children of Israel.\n\nHe told them to take a lamb for each of their households, and to kill\nit and roast it and eat it that night in all their houses.\n\nGod told them that when they killed that lamb they were to save its\nblood in a basin, and take a bunch of hyssop and sprinkle that blood\nupon the lintel and on the side-posts of their doors; and He promised\nthat if they did this, He would not allow the destroying angel to come\nnear that house, and they would be perfectly safe. God said, \"When I\nsee the blood I will pass over you.\"\n\nAnd this was why it was called \"The Pass-over.\"\n\n[Illustration: THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.]\n\nSo during that night there was a dreadful cry in the land of Egypt, for\nin every house, where the blood had not been sprinkled, there was one\nlying dead!\n\nThe Egyptians were so terrified that they thrust out the Children\nof Israel\u2014they and all their little ones escaped right out of the\nland of Egypt for ever! And this is why, the night before our Lord\nwas crucified for us\u2014the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the\nworld\u2014He gathered His twelve disciples together, and sat down to eat\nthat Feast with them in the upper room.\n\nJesus told them that, with great desire, He had desired to eat this\nPassover with them. He knew that to-morrow He would die.\n\nAnd as they were eating, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and told them\nthat one of them would betray Him.\n\nClose to His side, leaning on His bosom, was the disciple whom Jesus\nloved; and Peter beckoned to him to ask the Lord who it would be who\nshould betray Him?\n\nSo John, lying on Jesus' breast, whispered, \"Who is it, Lord?\" And\nJesus answered, \"It is he to whom I give a sop when I have dipped it.\"\nAnd he gave the sop to Judas Iscariot.\n\nAnd as they were eating, Jesus \"took bread, and gave thanks, and\nbrake it, and gave unto them saying, 'This is My Body, which is given\nfor you: this do in remembrance of Me.' Likewise also the cup, after\nsupper, saying, 'This cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is\nshed for you.'\"\n\n\nSt. Paul says, \"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let\nus keep the Feast.\"\n\nAnd from that Last Supper before His death, till now, nearly for two\nthousand years, in one unbroken chain, week by week, those who love\nChrist have partaken of this Holy Feast, in remembrance of Him, till He\nshall come back again.\n\n\nThe Holy Supper was over. Judas had left them to go and betray\nhis Master, and was gone out into the darkness. In that wonderful\nconversation, as Jesus talked with them for the last time, He told them\nmany things, which they understood more clearly afterwards. He told\nthem that He would not leave them comfortless, but would come to them;\nHe told them that He was going to prepare a place for all who loved\nHim, in the many mansions of His Father's house.\n\nAll His words were full of glory and comfort.\n\nAnd then they sang a hymn together\u2014Jesus and His disciples\u2014and after\nthat they went into the Mount of Olives, where the Easter Passover moon\nwas shining among the sombre trees; and there it was that Judas found\nHim, and betrayed Him to the multitude.\n\n\n\nVI. Peter Denies His Lord; and the Risen Saviour Forgives\n\nThe time had come at length for our Lord Jesus Christ to go to the\ndeath which He had come to bear for us.\n\nHe had told His disciples that He would be betrayed, and given into the\nhands of the Jews; and that now all the prophecies in the Old Testament\nabout Himself were going to be fulfilled.\n\nThe disciples had listened, but they could not believe that such\ndreadful things would really happen to Him.\n\nOn the very night that He was betrayed by Judas, the Lord told them\nthat all of them would be offended because of Him that night; and would\nforsake Him, but that after He was risen from the grave, He would go\nbefore them into Galilee, where they should see Him again.\n\nThen Peter answered: \"Though all men shall be offended because of Thee,\nyet will I never be offended!\"\n\nJesus said unto him, \"Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before\nthe cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.\"\n\nStill, Peter, confident in himself, and confident in his love for his\nMaster, said that he would rather die with Him than deny Him! And so\nthey all said.\n\nBut Peter had to find out, by bitter experience, that he was weak in\nhimself; for when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss in Gethsemane, and\nwhen the soldiers from the High Priest seized Him and too Him bound to\nJerusalem, all the disciples forsook Him and fled!\n\n[Illustration: PETER DENIES HIS LORD.]\n\nPeter, however, followed Him afar off, right into the High Priest's\npalace; but the servants round the fire in the hall charged him with\nbeing one of the disciples, and their raillery, and the accusations of\na maid, were Satan's wiles to cause Peter, to stumble and fall: and so\nhe denied all knowledge of Jesus, with oaths and curses.\n\nAnd at that moment the cock crew; and Peter remembered what Jesus had\nsaid: and horrified at what he had done, he hurried to the door; and\nas he went, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And he went out and\nwept bitterly.\n\nPoor sorrowful Peter! Ah, no one can fathom what he went through that\nnight, and the next awful day of the Crucifixion: and the two following\ndays, when the Lord's Body lay in the grave, and Peter recalled with\nagony that he had forsaken Him when He needed his love most! We can\nonly picture it to ourselves; but it must have been truly dreadful.\n\n\nAt length came the third day, when Jesus had told the disciples He\nwould rise from the dead.\n\nTheir hearts were so heavy with grief, and so slow to take in what our\nLord had so constantly told them, that they did not expect, when they\nvisited the grave on that third day, to find it empty!\n\nThe women with their loving hearts were the first to reach the spot,\ncarrying sweet spices to anoint their Lord!\n\nThey had expected to find His dearly loved Body lying in the\ngrave\u2014dead. Instead, they found the grave empty and a Vision of Angels!\n\nThey were so frightened that they were hurrying away, but the Angel who\nwas sitting within the empty tomb told them not to be frightened, for\nthough they sought Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified, yet He was not\nthere, for He was risen!\n\nAnd then the Angel gave them this message from God: \"Go tell His\ndisciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee: there\nshall ye see Him, as He said unto you.\"\n\nWhy was that separate message sent to Peter?\n\nOh, the graciousness of the forgiveness of Jesus! Peter had said \"he\nwas not one of them,\" meaning not one of His disciples. And it may be,\nthat if the Angel's message had only been \"Go, tell His disciples,\"\nthat Peter would have been utterly hopeless.\n\nBut the sorrowing man had a message all to himself!\n\nAh, what that must have meant to Peter!\n\n\nAnd we have another sweet assurance of the forgiving love of our God\nand Saviour.\n\nWe read, in the last chapter of Luke, that those two whom Jesus had met\ngoing to Emmaus after His Resurrection, had hurried back to Jerusalem\nto tell the eleven that they had seen the Lord; and were greeted with\nthe joyful news which the other disciples had also heard\u2014that \"the Lord\nwas risen indeed, and had appeared to Simon Peter!\"\n\nWe have no account of what Jesus said to Peter, nor what Peter said to\nJesus.\n\nBut the fact is full of deepest comfort to all of us who so often\ngrieve Him, that, in spite of Peter's sad denial, his risen Lord\nappeared to him, forgave him his sin, and restored him to his place\namong the others.\n\nThenceforward Peter became one of the most faithful of Christ's\ndisciples; and when he preached that wonderful sermon at Pentecost,\na few weeks afterwards, God gave him the honour of bringing three\nthousand souls to love and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was\ndead, but is alive again!\n\n\nMany years afterwards, St. Paul mentions the name of Peter among the\nlist of those who saw the Lord after His Resurrection. He calls him\n\"Cephas;\" but if you turn to the first chapter of St. John's Gospel,\nyou will see that our Lord, when He makes Simon the son of Jonas one of\nHis disciples, calls him Cephas, which means \"a stone,\" or Peter; and I\nhave read that Cephas means \"a piece of Rock,\" and The Rock Itself\u2014is\nChrist!\n\n\n\nVII. \"Father's Plan\"\n\nNow I want you to picture to yourselves an earthly father gathering his\nchildren around him before he took a journey.\n\nHe told them he would only be away a month, and at the end of that time\nit would be holiday time, and they could all prepare for a visit to the\nseaside.\n\nHe bade them get everything packed up; and he said he had engaged a\nhouse at a certain place, and had arranged with an experienced boatman\nto be at their service all day long.\n\nHe had hired a pony carriage for their mother, and everything was all\nready when he should come home.\n\nYou can imagine how delighted the children were, and how they talked of\nnothing else but \"Father's plan\" for the whole month.\n\nBut did all this ever happen?\n\nNo; not one of these \"plans\" came to pass.\n\nThe cloud of war came that summer, and darkened all the bright prospect.\n\nThat visit to the seaside never came off. Instead, their father was\ndetained in a foreign country for months and months; the lodgings were\nshut up, for the coast was in danger; the boatmen had to join the\nNavy; the holidays came, indeed, but an epidemic at the school spoilt\nall plans for many months, and the children had to learn, and so had\nthe dear mother and father, what bitter disappointment means. And yet\nnothing seemed more certain than \"Father's plan.\"\n\n\nBut there is One Whose Throne is above the highest Heavens; and when\nHe plans, there is no mistake; no war can hinder it; no illness nor\nmisfortune can prevent the carrying out of what He purposes.\n\nIn chapter xlvi, of Isaiah we read what God says about this, and it is\na very solemn verse\u2014\n\n\"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none\nelse; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the\nbeginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,\nsaying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure . . . I\nhave purposed it, I will also do it.\"\n\n\nWhen we look into our Bibles, and begin to think about the things\nwhich God has told people beforehand, and which have come to pass,\nwe are amazed to find how many there are, and how wonderful are the\nfulfilments.\n\n\n                    THE PROPHECY IN EDEN.\n\n                   Gen. iii. 15.\u2014Gal. iv. 4.\n\nThe first Prophecy, and with it a great Promise, was given by God in\nthe Garden of Eden.\n\nWhen Adam and Eve were disobedient, and were tempted by Satan to eat\nthe forbidden fruit, God could not let them stay in that beautiful\ngarden any longer, but He told Adam he must go and dig the ground. And\nGod told Satan that he would be like a Serpent always, and eat dust;\nand then God gave this promise to Eve, that her Seed\u2014that meant one\nof her children's children, long after, should bruise the head of the\nSerpent who had deceived her.\n\nAnd this came true four thousand years after!\n\nGod sent His Son; and it was through the death of Jesus on the Cross\nthat He destroyed the power of Satan; for those who turn to Jesus\nChrist for Salvation have Everlasting Life given them.\n\n\n                   PROPHECY OF THE FLOOD.\n\n               Gen. vi. 17.\u20141 Peter iii. 20.\n\nIn the two thousand years after that promise in the Garden of Eden,\nthere came to be a great many people on the earth, but most of them\nwere very wicked, and at last God said that He would destroy the wicked\npeople by a great Flood, in one hundred and twenty years.\n\nBut there was one man who loved God, and his name was Noah.\n\nSo God told Noah He was going to send a Flood, and He instructed him\nto prepare an Ark, so that he and his family should be saved from the\nFlood.\n\nBut though it was such a long time that the Ark was being built, and\nGod was very long-suffering, at last the day came when He told Noah to\ncome into the Ark with his wife and children, and to take two, and in\nsome cases seven pairs, of every living creature into the Ark with him.\n\nThen \"the Lord shut them in\" safely, and the rain began, and never\nceased till even the highest mountains were covered right up.\n\nThus the Word of the Lord, spoken one hundred and twenty years before,\nwas fulfilled.\n\nAt length the rain stopped and the waters began to go down, and at last\nthe Lord told Noah to come out of the Ark. So he and his family and all\nthe living creatures came out; and Noah built an Altar, and the Lord\naccepted his sacrifice.\n\nThen God gave a beautiful Promise and a beautiful Prophecy, and of both\nwe see the constant fulfilment now.\n\nThe Promise was, that He would never send a Flood again: and the\nProphecy was\u2014\"While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and\ncold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not\ncease.\"\n\nAnd then God gave them the Token of His Promise, in putting His rainbow\nin the cloud whenever there is rain and the sun shines at the same time.\n\nGod said He would look upon the rainbow and remember His covenant not\nto send another Flood; and when we turn our eyes to that beautiful\ncoloured arch above us, we can say reverently: \"God is looking on that\nbow too.\"\n\nThe rain reminds us of the Flood; but the sunshine reminds us of God's\nlove: and the rainbow itself reminds us that in that great love He gave\nHis beloved Son. He is our rainbow of Promise.\n\n\n\nVIII. Prophecy of the Jews: A Separate People\n\n      Numb. xxiii. 9.\u2014Rom. ix. 4, 5.\n\nI have heard children say carelessly:\n\n\"Oh, that is only an old Jew!\"\n\nAnd when my children were little, I used to tell them that we should\nlove the Jews, and be kind to them, and pray for them. For they are\nGod's own dear people, and our Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew, when He\ncame to earth and took our human nature.\n\nIt is true that the Jews are scattered all over the world now for their\nunbelief and disobedience; but by and by, God tells us, they will be\ngathered in their sows land, and Jesus will reign over them as King of\nkings, and Lord of lords.\n\nIn Numbers xxiii. 9 we find a prophecy about the Jews. Balaam\nprophesied: \"The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned\namong the nations.\"\n\nGod separated them in various ways to be His own people. He promised\nto go with them; and He also gave them certain laws which they were to\nkeep. They were not permitted to marry outside their own nation; they\nwere only allowed to use certain animals for food, and the animals must\nbe killed in a certain way, so that the blood was poured out. They were\nforbidden to worship idols, or to follow the practices of the nations\nround them.\n\nThey were to keep one a day week holy, and they were to go up to\nJerusalem once a year to keep the Passover.\n\nThese rules kept them separate from all other peoples, and as long as\nthey obeyed God they were abundantly prosperous.\n\nThus the prophecy spoken by Balaam so long ago, about the Jews being a\npeople apart by themselves, is fulfilled to the very letter to-day.\n\n\n             PROPHECY OF DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT.\n\n                Gen. l. 24.\u2014Josh. xxiv. 32.\n\nOnce when God was talking to Abraham, and promising to give the Land\nof Canaan to his children, He told him that they should be strangers\nin a land which was not theirs for four hundred years, and should be\nafflicted by those among whom they dwelt; but \"also the nation whom\nthey shall serve will I judge,\" said God, \"and afterwards shall they\ncome out with great substance.\"\n\nThe Children of Israel, who are now called the Jews, travelled from\nCanaan into Egypt to their brother Joseph, because, of the great\nfamine, and lived in Egypt for four hundred and twenty years.\n\nBut when Joseph came to die, he called his brothers to his side and\nuttered this prophecy: \"I die; and God will surely visit you, and\nbring you out of this land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and\nto Jacob.\" And Joseph took an oath of his brothers, saying: \"God will\nsurely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.\"\n\nSo Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten years, and they embalmed\nand put him in a coffin in Egypt.\n\nBut when the time came for the children of Israel to be delivered from\nEgypt, as they escaped from their cruel task-masters, in all their\nhurry and confusion, Moses remembered to take the bones of Joseph with\nhim; and as the Children of Israel wandered in the Wilderness, they\nbore that coffin with them, till at last they reached the land of\nCanaan which God had promised to give them. Here Joshua, who led the\npeople after Moses' death, buried the bones of Joseph in Shechem, in a\npiece of ground which Jacob had bought before he was carried down into\nEgypt at the time of the famine.\n\nThus the prophecy uttered hundreds of years before was fulfilled to the\nvery letter.\n\n\n                   PROPHECY OF THE CAPTIVITY.\n\n            Jer. xxv. 12.\u2014Dan. i. 1-3.\u2014Ezra i. 1-6.\n\nMany years had passed away, during which the Children of Israel had\nbeen governed by judges, and by the kings of Judah and Israel; but\ngradually the people got slack; they forgot the Lord that brought them\nout of the land of Egypt, and forsook His commandments and fell into\nidolatry and dreadful sin.\n\nAt length God told the Prophet Jeremiah that the sins of the people\nwere so great that He must send Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, to\ncarry them away captives, and that they would serve him for seventy\nyears, while the land of Canaan should be a desolation, and enjoy her\nSabbaths.\n\nWe read in the first chapters of Daniel about this captivity.\n\nMeanwhile God was very pitiful to His people whom He had had to punish,\nand He sent them this message through Jeremiah:\u2014\n\n\"For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at\nBabylon, I will visit you, and perform My good work toward you, in\ncausing you to return to this place.\"\n\nGod told Jeremiah to tell them to build houses and make families\nduring that seventy years; to pray for their enemies, and to ask God\nto send them peace. And God heard their prayers; and when the seventy\nyears were accomplished, He fulfilled the prophecy in a very wonderful\nway, by raising up Cyrus, King of Persia, to send the Jews back to\nrebuild God's Temple at Jerusalem. And Cyrus helped them in every way,\neven giving them back the sacred vessels of the House of God which\nNebuchadnezzar had taken; and by encouraging his people to help the\nJews by giving them silver and gold, and beasts to carry the treasures,\nand all that they needed.\n\nThus God fulfilled His own word, and the people returned at the end of\nthe seventy years.\n\n\n\nIX. \"Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord\"\n\n     Isa. xl. 3.\u2014Matt. iii. 3.\n\nSeven hundred years before our Lord Jesus was born, in Bethlehem, the\nProphet Isaiah foretold that a man would live in the wilderness, and\nwould cry aloud, \"Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the\ndesert a highway for our God! . . . The grass withereth and the flower\nfadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever! . . . O Jerusalem\nthat bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it\nup, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!\" That\nwas the prophecy, and we read the fulfilment in the Gospels of Matthew\nand John.\n\n\"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of\nJud\u00e6a, and saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. For\nthis is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice\nof one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make\nHis paths straight!\"\n\nDo you not think that John the Baptist must have felt greatly honoured\nto know that he was this messenger of the Lord?\n\nHe was the cousin of the Lord Jesus. And before John's birth, an angel\ntold his father, Zacharias, that his name was to be John, and that he\nshould be great in the sight of the Lord, and should preach in the\nspirit and power of Elijah, and make ready a people prepared for the\nLord.\n\nIt was John the Baptist who, you remember, had the great honour of\nbaptizing the Lord Jesus; and it was he who uttered one of the most\nwonderful sentences in the Bible: \"Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh\naway the sin of the world.\"\n\n\n                 PROPHECY OF CHRIST'S BIRTH.\n\n                  Isa. ix. 6.\u2014Matt. ii. 11.\n\n\"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Jud\u00e6a, in the days of Herod\nthe king, behold, there came Wise Men from the east to Jerusalem\"; and\nas they entered the city, their first question astonished everyone.\n\n\"Where is He that is born King of the Jews?\" they asked. \"For we have\nseen His star in the east, and we are come to worship Him.\"\n\nHerod was the king then, placed there by the Romans, and he did not\nlike to hear that there could be another king! He sent at once for the\nscribes, and demanded of them where Christ should be born. So they told\nhim that Micah had prophesied in their Scriptures that Christ should be\nborn in Bethlehem. And Herod was so anxious to make sure of this, that\nhe sent the Wise Men to inquire in Bethlehem, and said he would come to\nworship Him.\n\nAnd the Star moved before the Wise Men till it came and stood over\nwhere the young Child was.\n\nThen the Wise Men saw the Holy Babe, with Mary, His mother; and they\nfell down and worshipped Him, and opened their treasures, and gave Him\nthe precious gifts they had brought from the east.\n\nIn Isaiah vii. 14 the Jews were told that the mother of the Lord should\nbe a virgin; and in Jeremiah xxiii. 5 that He should be of the royal\nhouse of David.\n\nAnd now comes the fulfilment of all these prophecies off seven hundred\nyears before.\n\nHe was born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, David's city.\n\nAlso God said by Micah He was \"to be Ruler in Israel\"; and in Isaiah\nxlix. 6 we have this great and further prophecy which embraces the\nwhole world: \"I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that\nThou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.\"\n\nSo we think of our Lord Jesus Christ as the great Gift which God the\nFather gave to the world.\n\nNo wonder that the angel announced to the shepherds that it was\ntidings of great joy, which should be to all people! No wonder that\nthe multitude of the Heavenly Host came down and joined in the Song of\nPraise, on that night when the glory from Heaven shone round about them\nall, and the earth received the Gift of the only begotten Son of the\nFather.\n\n\n                 PROPHECY OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY.\n\n                   Isa. lxi. 1.\u2014Luke iv. 21.\n\nWhen the Lord Jesus began His ministry on earth He went into the\nsynagogue at Nazareth, and stood up to read. The attendant handed Him\nthe Roll containing the Prophecies of Isaiah; and the Lord found the\nplace, and this is what He read:\u2014\n\n\"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed\nme to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the\nbrokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of\nthe prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of\nthe Lord.\"\n\nAnd Jesus closed the book, and He gave it again to the attendant, and\nsat down. And the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened\non Him.\n\nAnd He began to say unto them \"This day is this Scripture fulfilled in\nyour ears.\"\n\nThe Prophecy in Isaiah was written more than seven hundred years\nbefore! That day it was fulfilled!\n\nThe King of Glory had taken our human nature upon Him, that He might\ntaste death for every man; and His first words as to His mission\nwere, that He would preach the Gospel to the poor, and heal the\nbrokenhearted!\n\nThink how full of mercy His days were! How He gave the widow's only\nson, who was dead, back to her alive; how He healed the Roman soldier's\nservant, who was dear to him; how He touched the lepers and made them\nwell; how He forgave the sins of the palsied man, and healed him; how\nHe forgave Peter and restored him.\n\nNo wonder St. John in his Gospel says: \"If all the things which Jesus\ndid should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself\ncould not contain the books that should be written!\"\n\n\n\nX. The Prophecy of a Suffering Messiah\n\n   Isa. liii. 3-5.\u2014John xix. 5.\n\nThere is a great deal said in the Old Testament about the Reign of\nChrist as King; but though the Jews read these Scriptures every Sabbath\nday, they did not notice that it was written in a number of places that\nbefore He was crowned King He was to suffer and die.\n\nWhy did He die? The reference quoted at the head of this page, written\nby Isaiah so long before, tells us why it was.\n\n\"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our\niniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His\nstripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have\nturned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the\niniquity of us all.\"\n\nJesus Himself said: \"I lay down My life for the sheep . . . No man\ntaketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay\nit down, and I have power to take it again. This Commandment have I\nreceived of My Father.\"\n\nIsaiah tells us \"He was despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows\nand acquainted with grief.\" And when the council of the Jews had judged\nHim, and condemned Him to be worthy of death, they handed Him over to\nPilate, the Roman governor, to execute the cruel death which they could\nnot carry out themselves.\n\nAnd so the soldiers mocked Him and platted that crown of thorns, and\nPilate brought Him out wearing the royal robe that the soldiers had put\nupon Him in mockery. But not satisfied with the cruel death He was to\ndie, Pilate ordered Him to be scourged, all the time protesting that he\nfound no fault in Him.\n\nThus those words in Isaiah liii. 8 were fulfilled: \"He was taken from\nprison and from judgment . . . for He was cut off out of the land of\nthe living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken.\"\n\nAnd then He was taken to the Cross.\n\n\n             PROPHECIES OF THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH.\n\n                   Dan. ix. 26.\u2014Acts ii. 23.\n\nWe read in Daniel that \"The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for\nHimself.\" And Zechariah says: \"And one shall say unto Him, What are\nthese wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I\nwas wounded in the house of My friends.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE THREE CROSSES.]\n\nAs our Blessed Lord hung on that Cross \"He was numbered with the\ntransgressors,\" for two thieves were crucified with Him.\n\nIn the twenty-second Psalm we learn to understand a little of the\nanguish which made Him cry on the Cross: \"My God, My God, why hast Thou\nforsaken Me?\" It was because \"He bore our sins in His own Body on the\ntree.\"\n\n\"He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.\"\n\nBut though all this came upon that beloved Son of God, in order that\nHe might redeem the world, we have, in Isaiah liii. 10, a great and\nbeautiful promise of the Resurrection, and of His afterwards reigning\nin glory as King:\u2014\n\n\"When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His\nseed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall\nprosper in His hand.\"\n\n\"He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.\"\nThis was fulfilled when rich Joseph of Arimath\u00e6a buried Him in\nbeautiful fine linen in his own new grave in that garden near Calvary.\n\n\n                 PROPHECY OF THE RESURRECTION.\n\n                Psalm xvi. 9, 10. Mark xvi. 6.\n\nJesus rose from the dead. It was impossible that the Son of God should\nbe holden of death.\n\n[Illustration HE IS RISEN!]\n\nThe angel came down and rolled away the stone, and then told the\nfrightened women that Jesus was not there, but was risen, \"as He said.\"\n\nAll through the whole of the Bible it is \"As He said.\" As God has\nsaid\u2014so it will surely be.\n\nJesus told the disciples that He would ascend to His Father; and He led\nthem out to Bethany and went up to Heaven in their sight.\n\nHe told them that the Father would send the Holy Spirit down, and that\nthey were to wait for Him.\n\nThey did wait, and at the appointed time the Holy Spirit came, and is\nwith us still, though we cannot see Him; He is our Comforter and Guide.\n\nAll these things are very solemn realities.\n\nWe have been dwelling on some of the Prophecies that have been\nfulfilled. There are numbers more yet to be fulfilled hereafter.\n\n\n             PROPHECIES WHICH ARE NOT YET FULFILLED.\n\n                 2 Peter i. 19.\u2014Matt. xxiv. 14.\n\nThe central one of all is, Jesus Christ is coming again to take His\npeople to be for ever with Him. He says: \"Behold, I come quickly, and\nMy reward is with Me.\"\n\nIn the fiftieth Psalm we have a wonderful Prophecy and the promise:\n\"The mighty God . . . hath spoken . . . Our God shall come, and shall\nnot keep silence. Gather my saints together unto Me, those that have\nmade a covenant with Me by Sacrifice.\"\n\nAnd the last Prophecies in the Bible tell us about Heaven and the\nfuture life.\n\nWe read in Revelation xxi. 1-4 these words\u2014\n\n\"I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first\nearth were passed away.\n\n\"And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying\u2014\n\n\"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,\nand they shall be His people.\n\n\"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be\nno more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any\nmore pain: for the former things are passed away.\"\n\n\n\nXI. Sowing and Reaping\n\nOur Lord Jesus Christ was sitting on Jacob's Well, waiting for the\nreturn of the disciples, who had gone to the nearest village to buy\nfood.\n\nIt was mid-day, and the Syrian sun had been beating down on the wearied\nLord of all the earth.\n\nAt the bottom of the steps, travellers tell us, leading down to\n\"Jacob's Well,\" there is a small excavation or shelter between some\noverhanging stones, and here the dear Lord may have found a little\nshade while He waited.\n\nA woman had come down these steps to draw water, and the Lord had\nspoken of the Living Water which He would give her if she asked\nHim; and then, after they had been talking a little while, she had\nleft Jesus sitting there, and had hurried into the town to tell her\nneighbours that she had found the Messiah\u2014the Christ.\n\nWhile she was gone, the disciples returned and quickly offered food to\ntheir Lord.\n\nBut His reply astonished them. He said: \"I have food to eat that you\ndo not know of. My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to\nfinish His work!\"\n\nWhile they had been away, wearied and hungry as He was, He had brought\na sinful soul to realize her sin, and to find in Him her Saviour!\n\nAnd then He said to them: \"Are there not four months before the\nharvest? But lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are\nwhite already to harvest.\n\n\"He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit to life eternal:\nthat both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.\"\n\nYou may say: \"What does He mean by sowing?\" In the winter you see the\nfields, over which the plough has been pulled by the patient horses,\nand the patient farmer. Then comes the man with a basket of seed, and\nhe puts the grains carefully into the furrows, and covers them over,\nand goes on his way. Have you seen that?\n\nHe is the sower.\n\nThen comes the dew and the rain, the air and the sunshine, and the\nlittle seed grows and grows till, by and by, behold it is Harvest! And\nthe golden grain is gathered into the safe garner!\n\nThis is the work God has given each one of us to do. To sow the Seed of\nthe Word\u2014to tell of the Love of Jesus!\n\nEach one of us? Do you shrink, and say that you cannot\u2014you so young and\nignorant? Or you, perhaps, are too old and feeble to go into the world\nand spread His Word?\n\nThere are many ways of doing it. You can all pray, young or old, for\nthe Seed to be blessed!\n\nThe children can work for the missionaries, and can save some of their\npennies to put into the Missionary Box.\n\nThe old can spare some pennies, too\u2014many or few, according to what they\nhave\u2014and can pray much, and encourage much, by showing ever a sure\nconfidence that God will send the harvest by and by.\n\n\nA few years ago, a sweet story was told me of this Seed-sowing. It was\nabout a little Japanese boy; and he lived in Hakodate, and I have a\nphotograph of him, taken when he was about eighteen.\n\nWhen the Missionaries first heard of him he was a miserable little\ncrippled invalid, for he had no legs, lying in the corner of a hut,\nneglected, dirty, hopeless. Nobody loved him, and he hated everybody.\nHe spent his time in throwing stones at all who came near him, and\nsaying wicked words, which were shocking to hear.\n\nAfter a while these Missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Nettleship, heard of\nthis poor boy, and went to see him. They told him of Jesus our Saviour,\nand how He loved him, and had given His life for him.\n\nBy and by this living Seed sank into the heart of the poor child, and\na change came over him. He ceased to throw stones, he ceased to swear;\nand when the dear Missionaries offered to take care of him, he gladly\nwent to them, and was with them for years. They called him Samuel, and\nhe learnt to read and write, then helped them afterwards in their work.\nHe learnt to play the concertina, and used to lead the hymns in the\nSunday School; and he was full of joy and brightness.\n\nThe kind Missionaries made a loose Japanese robe for him, in which he\ncould move about, and which covered up his poor maimed body. He learned\nto move about, swinging himself on his hands and arms, so that he could\ncross a room quite quickly; and they told me that his face was full of\nHeaven's sunshine.\n\nI used to send him a book every year till his death; and he painted\nseveral beautiful Japanese pictures for me, which I keep as great\ntreasures.\n\nOn one of these, he outlined these words in Japanese: \"When the Chief\nShepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not\naway.\"\n\nJust before his loving friends had to leave Hakodate for a time, dear\nSamuel was taken \"Home!\" after a short but painless illness, so that he\nnever missed the loving care he had had!\n\n\nIt seems to me that this simple story helps us to understand what\n\"sowing\" and \"reaping\" mean.\n\nThe \"Sowing\" was done in that dark and dirty hovel in Japan.\n\nThe full of joy of the \"Reaping\" will come by and by in Heaven; but a\nforetaste of it was surely in the hearts of those dear Missionaries who\ncarried that Living Seed to that poor neglected child, and who saw him\ngrow up into an earnest, devoted Christian!\n\n\n\nXII. \"There was no Room for Them in the Inn\"\n\n      Luke ii. 3-20.\n\nOn the last Sunday before Christmas, a little girl sat at the back of\na Church, holding in her hand a card which had just been given her, on\nwhich was a beautiful picture of a sweet young mother and a tiny babe.\n\nIt was a Children's Service, and the Clergyman was telling them about\nthat card, and describing to them the Christmas story which we all love.\n\nPresently he said: \"Do any of you remember what my sermon was about\nthis time last year?\"\n\nThere was dead silence in the Church, and then the Clergyman saw in the\nvery back, underneath the gallery, a hand raised up suddenly, in token\nthat some one could answer his question.\n\n\"Well, dear, what was it?\" he asked.\n\n[Illustration: THE INFANT JESUS AND HIS MOTHER.]\n\nAnd in the surprised silence a little girl rose to her feet and said in\na clear, distinct voice, which reached every part of the Church:\n\n\"You asked us to pray this little prayer\u2014\n\n  \"'O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,\n    There is room in my heart for Thee!'\"\n\n\"Yes!\" said the Clergyman. \"That was it! And you are a very good little\ngirl to have told us so nicely, and to have remembered it all this\ntime!\"\n\nSo to-day, with this sweet thought in our minds, we can remember that\nthere is a place in the heart of each one of us which we can keep for\nJesus. We can think of His love to us, we can love Him in return, and\nworship Him every day we live.\n\nAnd if we make room for Jesus in our hearts here, we shall find by and\nby He will give us \"a crown of glory that fadeth not away.\"\n\nNow let us think about the picture which all the Children at the\nService are holding in their hands, and looking at so earnestly.\n\nThey could see the Holy Babe and His mother. They could see some men,\nshepherds, bending down and worshipping this Holy Babe; and they see\nthat this is not a beautiful Castle where a King would be born, with\ncurtains, and bright carpet and pretty cradle; but instead it seems\nto be a sort of Cave, cut out of the side of a hill\u2014a stable, with a\nmanger for the food of the cattle, while straw is scattered on the\nground, and there is an Eastern donkey, raising his head in wonder to\nsee a babe lying in his manger!\n\n[Illustration: LYING IN A MANGER.]\n\nHow came those shepherds there? Do shepherds leave their sheep in the\nmiddle of the night to go to a stable more than a mile off to see a\nlittle new-born babe?\n\nAh! but it was something very wonderful that had happened in those dark\nfields at Bethlehem, which made the shepherds go.\n\nThey had been quietly watching their flocks, and perhaps looking out\nanxiously for the dawn, when suddenly, without any warning, an Angel\ncame down to them from heaven, and the Glory of the Lord surrounded\nthem with a great and wondrous light.\n\nThe shepherds were very frightened at first, but the Angel quickly\nreassured them by saying that he had brought very good news, which\nwould be great joy to all people! For a Holy Babe was born in Bethlehem\nthat night, Who had come to this earth to be the Saviour of the World!\n\nThen the Angel told them that they would know his words were true, by\nfinding the little Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a\nmanger.\n\nAnd, suddenly, a multitude of the heavenly host were with the Angel who\nhad been sent first; and they all praised God, and said, \"Glory to God\nin the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.\"\n\nThen the angels all went back to heaven, and the shepherds turned to\neach other in solemn awe, and they said, \"The Lord has made known to us\na wonderful thing\u2014let us go to Bethlehem and see for ourselves what has\ncome to pass.\"\n\nSo they left their flocks and hurried to the town.\n\nAnd there, in a lowly stable, they saw the Holy Babe who was sent to\nMary on the morning of Christmas-day!\n\nMonths before this, the Angel Gabriel had been sent from heaven to tell\nMary that she was to be the most blessed of all women, for the Holy\nChild who was to be given to her was to be called the Son of God.\n\nNow He had come! And she laid Him\u2014the Son of God\u2014in the manger, because\nthere was no room for Him in the Inn.\n\n\nWhy did Jesus come to earth? How could His Heavenly Father spare Him?\nHe was very rich in heaven! But for our sakes He became poor, that we\nmight be rich! That was why He came\u2014for our sakes!\n\nMany years ago, just after a very happy Christmas, one of my little\ngirls came to me and said earnestly, \"I love Jesus, Mother!\"\n\nI clasped her in my arms and said, \"When did you find that out,\ndarling?\"\n\n\"I was looking over my Christmas cards this morning,\" she said, \"and it\nwas this one\u2014and, as I read the words, all at once I knew that He had\ncome to save me!\"\n\nAnd the words were\u2014\n\n\"God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting\nlife.\"\n\n\n\nXIII. After His Resurrection\n\nFor forty days after the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, He\nappeared to His disciples numbers of times.\n\nSt. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of the First of Corinthians,\ngives us a list of the times that Jesus appeared. And the list is\nvery wonderful. He says: \"For I delivered unto you first of all that\nwhich I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to\nthe scriptures: and that He was buried, and that He rose again the\nthird day according to the scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas\n(Peter), then of the twelve: after that, He was seen of about five\nhundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this\npresent, but some are fallen asleep. After that, He was seen of James;\nthen of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also.\"\n\nSt. Paul referred to the time when he had seen Jesus, and He had spoken\nto him on the way to Damascus.\n\n\nThe Lord did not live on this earth in those forty days as He had done\nbefore, but He was \"the same Jesus\" Who had been with them throughout\nHis ministry. The same, and yet different. Now in His blessed hands and\nfeet were the marks of the cruel nails of the cross. In His side was\nthe wound which the soldier's wanton spear had made! And the Lord now\ncame in and out among them with a Presence which was quite different\nfrom what they had known before, for He came to them when doors were\nshut and fastened, and He left them without passing through those\ndoors; He simply vanished out of their sight.\n\n\nThe first evening of that Resurrection Day, when the disciples were\nassembled with closed doors for fear of the Jews, suddenly the Lord\nstood in their midst and said \"Peace be unto you.\" And when He had said\nthis, He showed them His hands and His side.\n\nHow very glad the disciples must have been when they saw that their\nLord was alive!\n\nBut Thomas was not with them when Jesus came that time; and when,\nafterwards, the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he said\nto them: \"Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and\nput my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His\nside, I will not believe!\"\n\nJesus was not present when Thomas said all that, but He knew all about\nit, as you will see.\n\nEight days after, the disciples were again together in that upper room\nwhere they assembled, and Thomas was with them.\n\nThen, though the doors were fast shut, Jesus came again and stood in\nthe midst of them, and again He said \"Peace be unto you.\"\n\nThen He turned at once to Thomas, and said to him: \"Reach hither thy\nfinger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it\ninto My side: and be not faithless, but believing.\n\n\"And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God!\n\n\"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast\nbelieved: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.\"\n\nAnd the Apostle John ends that wonderful account with these words: \"And\nmany other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples,\nwhich are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye\nmight believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that\nbelieving, ye might have life through His Name.\"\n\n\nThe forty days that the Lord was going in and out among His disciples\nwas nearly over. We read in the first chapter of the Acts the account\nof the last talk that the Lord had with them.\n\nHe had been explaining many things to them about the Kingdom of God,\nand telling them that they were to stay in Jerusalem till the Holy\nSpirit was sent down to them, which God the Father had promised when\nJesus went back to Heaven.\n\n[Illustration: AT PENTECOST.]\n\nThe Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and He is here with God's people\nnow. It is He who whispers in our hearts and checks us if we do wrong.\nIt is He who tells us about Jesus, and helps us to understand His\nforgiving love, and all He has done for us by His life and death.\n\nWe should pray earnestly that God would give us more of the Holy\nSpirit's presence and comfort.\n\nThe Lord told them that they were to be His witnesses all over the\nworld, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins were to be preached\nin His Name among all nations.\n\nThen He led them out as far as Bethany, which is just over the brow of\nthe hill called the Mount of Olives.\n\nAnd as they stood together there, He blessed them, and while He blessed\nthem and they were looking at Him He was taken up, and a cloud received\nHim out of their sight.\n\n\"And while they looked stedfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold,\ntwo men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of\nGalilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is\ntaken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have\nseen Him go into heaven.\"\n\n[Illustration: AND WHILE HE BLESSED THEM, HE WAS TAKEN UP . . . OUT OF\nTHEIR SIGHT.]\n\nAnd it is this promise which should cheer us all in these dark days.\nSt. Paul calls it \"that blessed Hope, the glorious appearing of the\ngreat God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!\"\n\nMay we all be ready to welcome Him when He comes!\n\n\n\nXIV. \"Consider the Lilies\"\n\nNazareth is a place of many flowers and of lovely views. From the hills\naround, those who go there can see peeps of the blue Mediterranean;\nand travellers tell us that the fields and hillsides are carpeted with\ncountless flowers.\n\nHere Jesus, our Lord, lived for thirty years. Here He wandered as a\nchild, and grew up as a young man.\n\nWhen at length the time came for Him to fulfil His great Mission, He\ncame down to the cities round the Lake of Galilee.\n\nFor He had come from Heaven to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal\nthe sick and brokenhearted.\n\nBut more than all these things, He had come down from His home in\nHeaven to save sinners!\n\nThis was why Jesus, the Lord of Glory, came to earth.\n\nSo when He came from Nazareth to the busy cities round the Lake, He\nbegan at once to heal the sick people, and to teach them about God and\nthe Kingdom of Heaven.\n\nOne day He told the crowds who listened to Him about the little corn\nseeds growing up, and bearing numbers of seeds which would make the\nharvest by and by.\n\nAnother day He told them all about the lilies of the field, which\nthey could see around them, but which they had never thought of\n\"considering.\"\n\nWhat do you think \"considering\" means?\n\nIt means thinking about something; turning the matter over in our\nminds, till we understand its full meaning.\n\nSo Jesus said, \"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.\"\n\nWho makes them grow? How do they get those delicate roots, those\ngraceful green leaves, those sweet-smelling lovely flowers?\n\nEvery spring we see the daisies and the buttercups, the wild geraniums,\nthe primroses and bluebells, and hundreds of other flowers, which come\nup in the fields and hedges, without our knowing that they were there!\n\nWho kept them all the winter? Who made them bloom out in the spring?\n\nDo you guess the answer? You know the answer; it is God who makes them\ngrow, and come up for our joy.\n\nAnd this wonderful thought helps us to understand the Resurrection; for\nby God's power the bodies of those who love Him, and who are lying in\ntheir graves, will rise to meet Jesus when He comes, and will bloom for\never in the lovely Paradise of God's Home.\n\nBut some people do not believe in the Resurrection: they put away the\nthought, and say they cannot see how it can be! And I am going to tell\nyou a true story of a very curious thing that happened some few years\nago.\n\nA man who lived on the Continent\u2014I do not remember the name of the\ntown\u2014was a great infidel; one who did not believe in God's power, or\nthat there would be a resurrection of the dead by and by.\n\nThis man knew he must die some day, so he bought a grave in a certain\nspot, and he gave orders that when he died he was to be buried in that\ngrave, and that a great stone was to be put over it. This stone was to\nbe \"clamped\" at the corners with strong iron bands and bars, so that\nit could not be moved or taken away; and he ordered that certain words\nwere to be cut on the stone deep and legible.\n\nHe left instructions, and money, to carry out all these plans; so that\nwhen he died there should be no mistake.\n\nAt length he did die, and was buried in that grave. All his\ninstructions were carried out. The great stone was laid over him, bound\nwith iron, and the stonemason cut words in the stone, just as he had\nsaid.\n\nAnd these were the words\u2014so sad, because they were spoken to defy God.\n\n   \"THIS GRAVE IS NOT TO BE OPENED FOR EVER.\"\n\nAnd now comes the sequel to that story.\n\n\nOne day a gentleman came into my husband's office and laid a photograph\ndown on his desk.\n\nHe said he had just returned from the Continent, and had bought this\nphotograph there. And then he told my husband the story that I have\ntold you about the iron-bound grave.\n\nAh! There was the photograph, but it showed the grave all broken to\npieces!\n\nThe iron bars were there, but they were bent and twisted in every\ndirection; and the great stone was all broken to pieces, and lifted\nquite out of its place!\n\nDo you ask how? Was it a miracle?\n\nYes, just the miracle of one of God's little living seeds, which He had\nallowed to be thrown into that grave!\n\nFor a seed-pod of a silver-birch tree had been shovelled in with the\nearth which was used to fill up the infidel's grave when he was buried.\n\nThe seed had taken root in the earth, and had grown and grown in the\ngrave, till at last it became a strong silver-birch tree; and gradually\nthe branches had burst the iron bars, and raised up the stones, and\nthere was the infidel's grave laid open for everyone to see.\n\nA photographer had heard of it and came among the sight-seers, and had\ntaken the wonderful photograph, which my husband saw, and held in his\nown hand!\n\nLet this Resurrection Story remind us of one great truth.\n\nIf we have Jesus for our Saviour, He is the Living Seed in our hearts;\nand when the time of the Resurrection comes for us, we shall rise,\nbecause His Life will be in us: and we shall go to be with Him, in joy,\nfor ever.\n\n\n\nXV. A Man Named Matthew\n\n    Matthew ix. 9.\n\nOne day the Lord Jesus made His way to the lake-side, and near the\nwater's edge He found a crowd of busy people.\n\nSome of them were carrying heavy loads from the boats which were moored\nat the bottom of the steps; others were lifting down baskets of fruit\nor provisions, to put into the boats which were being emptied.\n\nEveryone was busy, for those who brought goods in, or those carrying\ngoods out across the lake, had to pay a toll or tax to the Roman\nGovernors, and the men who collected the tax were on the look-out that\nno one should slip past without paying his toll; often the Publicans,\nas they were called, cheated the poor Jews very much.\n\nSome Jews, who saw what a lot of money was made at this business,\nbecame tax-gatherers themselves, and they were despised and hated by\ntheir countrymen.\n\nAs Jesus neared the lake-side, and looked on the busy, eager crowd, as\nthey thronged the place of Custom, He was looking for a man, a Jewish\nPublican, who was, as He knew, among that crowd.\n\nThen the loving eyes of Jesus fell upon him as he sat writing down the\nmoney and putting it in safety in a bag.\n\nThis was the man Jesus wanted; this was the man who was to do His work,\nand be known as His servant, for nineteen hundred years, Matthew the\nPublican!\n\nWhen Jesus saw him, He said unto him, \"Follow Me!\"\n\nDid Matthew hesitate? Did he look at the precious bag of money by his\nside?\n\nNo! He left all, rose up, and followed Jesus! Matthew heard the\ncall\u2014and he obeyed.\n\nAnd this is the decision that Jesus, our Lord, wants each one of us to\nmake, young and old.\n\nIf we listen to His voice, if we will heed the pleading love in His\neyes, an instant firmness will come to us, and, like Matthew, we shall\n\"rise up, and follow him.\"\n\n\n\nXVI. Calvary\n\n     Luke xxiii. 33.\n\n   \"Where the dear Lord was Crucified,\n    Who died to save us all.\"\n\nA while ago, someone sent to me a most beautiful photograph of the Hill\nof Calvary, which is just outside Jerusalem on the northern side.\n\nThe photograph was so carefully done that you could plainly see why\nthat little hill was called \"The place of a skull,\" for when the sun\nshone in a certain direction the rocks had the appearance of a man's\nskull; and that was why it was called Calvary, which is the Latin for\nskull. And here they crucified the Lord of glory.\n\nWhen we look at the picture of those three crosses, with Jesus, our\nSaviour, in the midst, our hearts seem to stand still, as we remember\nhow He died for us.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow, I am going to tell you a true story, which a nurse told me, about\none of her patients.\n\nOne day she was visiting a man who had been ill for many months; and\nwhen his wife opened the door to her she exclaimed, \"Oh, nurse! he is\nbetter! He has had such a wonderful dream!\"\n\nSo the nurse hastened upstairs, and to her amazement the man's face\nwas quite altered, and, instead of despair and suffering, he looked\ninexpressibly happy.\n\n\"Nurse!\" he said. \"Do you remember saying to me yesterday, 'Prepare to\nmeet thy God'?\n\n\"But while I was thinking, ever so sorrowfully, about those words, I\nseemed to fall asleep; yet what I saw seemed happening before my eyes.\n\n\"I saw the Cross of our Saviour, set up in front of me, and He was\nnailed to that cross with cruel nails. And close to the cross, between\nme and it, I saw a great deep hole\u2014and I found myself moving nearer and\nnearer to that dark pit.\n\n\"Then I knew that I should fall into it, because I was not prepared to\nmeet God; and yet I could not but look on our Saviour's face, for tears\nrolled down it, and I did not like to see Him cry!\n\n\"So I said to someone standing by, 'Why does our Saviour cry?' and he\nsaid, 'Because you will fall into that pit. He is dying to save you,\nbut you will not come to Him to be saved!'\n\n\"And I said, 'Oh dear Saviour, I do not want to make you cry, I will\ncome and be saved! You shall not die in vain for me!'\n\n\"And then, when I looked for the pit, it was quite filled up!\n\n\"And then I began to wake from my dream, for my wife was shaking me by\nthe arm, and she said, 'Smith, Smith, you are singing in your sleep!'\n\n\"So I said, 'What was I singing?'\n\n\"And she answered, 'The hymn that was in the book nurse lent you, \"Wash\nme and I shall be whiter than snow!\"'\n\n\"And so, nurse, I woke up; and I'm saying all the time, 'Wash me in\nthe Blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow!' For He is my\nSaviour now!\"\n\n\n\nXVII. The Good Shepherd, and the Sheep that was Lost\n\nNow you must picture to yourselves an Eastern shepherd sitting among\nhis sheep on the mountains.\n\nHe loves them! He knows every one of them; and in return they know him,\nand love him. They will not follow a stranger, nor come to him if he\ncalls them.\n\nI heard Mr. Moody say years ago that, when he was visiting at a farm in\nAmerica, he asked his friend the farmer if he might go out to see his\nsheep.\n\nHe remembered those words in the tenth of St. John's Gospel: \"And a\nstranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know\nnot the voice of strangers.\"\n\nSo he asked the farmer if he might stand behind a great tree where the\nsheep could not see him, and then he would copy the farmer's familiar\ncall, and he would see if the sheep would come to him.\n\nBut when he gave the call, the sheep looked very frightened, and then\nthey all turned tail, and ran away as far as they could go!\n\nYes\u2014\"they knew not the voice of a stranger!\" But when the farmer, who\nwas their shepherd too, and their master, gave the call, they turned\nback, and came up one by one to his side, expecting him to give them\nthe food they longed for, and the love which day by day he lavished\nupon them.\n\nThis is a picture of the Eastern shepherd. He loves his sheep, as I\ntold you; he calls them by name; he leads them out to green pastures.\n\nIf enemies come, he is ready to give his life to protect them!\n\nIf, in his absence, a hired man has to take care of them, the hireling\nruns away if he hears the roar of the wild beast, or sees a sudden\nstorm coming up!\n\nBut the shepherd thinks first of his sheep. He leads them into a place\nof safety to escape the storm; he defends them against the wild beast\nwith his own hand, and his own life!\n\nJesus is the Good Shepherd\u2014all these good things of which I have told\nyou belong to Him in fullness.\n\nHe calls His own sheep by name! He says to each one of you, however\nyoung you may be, your own, own name!\n\nHe calls you in loving, tender tones. He says, \"Come to Me, and I will\ngive you rest.\" He says to every one who will have Him as his Saviour,\n\"I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine.\"\n\nIn the old days, when there was a High Priest, he had a breastplate on\nwhich was engraved the names of the twelve tribes of the Children of\nIsrael, and we are told in the fifteenth of Exodus that \"they shall be\nupon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord.\"\n\nThis is such a sweet thought: that our names, if we love Him, are on\nthe heart of Jesus, in the glory!\n\nBut there is another story that Jesus tells us about the sheep.\n\nWe have been thinking about the happy flock who are with the shepherd,\nfeeding in green pastures, lying down by still waters, preserved from\nenemies, taken to the safe fold at night.\n\nBut our Lord tells us this story of one, out of the hundred sheep that\nthe Eastern shepherd has, who had wandered away!\n\nPerhaps he had thought there were fairer pastures than those which\nthe shepherd had brought him to? Perhaps he thought that the waters\nin another field were more sparkling than those still ones where the\nshepherd had so gently led them?\n\nWhatever was the reason, one of these sheep wandered away. At first,\nperhaps, only a little way off just behind a rock, or round the other\nside of a wood. But the farther off he went, the easier it became to\nwander away!\n\nAt length came the dark night, and as the shepherd counted his hundred\nsheep into the fold, he found one was lost!\n\nLost? The shepherd would not lose his sheep for anything!\n\nHe left his ninety-nine in the fold, and hurried away into the\nwilderness to find the one which was lost.\n\nThrough the darkness of night; through the tangles and the briars;\nthrough the deep waters of the rushing stream, on he passed; and as he\nwent, he repeated to himself words which seemed to dwell in his very\nheart\u2014\"until I find it\"!\n\nOn he went, weary and worn, till at last in the silence of the deep\nnight he heard a faint cry!\n\nThen the shepherd called, and stood listening for the answer. And again\ncame that faint cry, and the shepherd knew that somewhere near him, in\nthe darkness, his lost sheep was lonely, helpless, and hopeless.\n\nThen the shepherd's arms were stretched out to reach him, caught in the\nbriars at the edge of an awful precipice. He leaned down over the abyss\nand stretched out his hands, and, regardless of the tearing thorns,\nhe grasped his sheep, he disentangled the briars, and lifted it into\nsafety.\n\nBut the sheep was so weary and faint that he could not walk, so the\ntender shepherd put him on to his shoulders, and brought him home\nrejoicing!\n\nAnd then the shepherd called his friends together, saying:\n\n\"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!\"\n\n\nAnd Jesus, our Good Shepherd, says: \"I say unto you, that likewise joy\nshall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth!\"\n\n\n\nXVIII. The Door of the Sheep\n\nThe Lord Jesus calls Himself by many wonderful and tender names in the\nNew Testament. These are some of them.\n\nHe says, \"I am the Bread of Life.\"\n\nHe says, \"I am the Light of the World.\"\n\nHe says, \"I am the Good Shepherd.\"\n\nHe says, \"I am the Door of the Sheep.\"\n\nPerhaps this last name of Jesus is a little difficult for you to\nunderstand; but I am told that those who have visited Palestine have\nseen the shepherd acting as the real door of the sheep!\n\nWhen night comes on, the Eastern shepherd gathers his sheep from the\nmountains where they have been feeding, and he leads them to a safe\nplace, called the fold, where perhaps, shut in by rocks, or by walls,\nor by the sides of some steep hill with the broken rocks around as a\nprotection, he brings them to a spot where they may rest without fear.\n\nThen, having counted them in, and having found that all are there, he\nplaces himself across the doorway, and bids his dear flock lie down,\nbecause while he is there as their door, no harm can come to them.\n\nThis is a little picture of how it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, can\ncall Himself the Door of the Sheep.\n\nI think He wanted His people\u2014His sheep and His lambs\u2014to understand that\nif He is the Door, that is their safety.\n\nIf they have entered by Him; if they have come to Him to be saved, and\nwashed and made His own sheep, then they have entered by the door into\nthe sheepfold, and are safe within it!\n\nJesus says, no man shall pluck them out of His hands.\n\nSatan may try to get in and snatch the sheep or the lambs, but if Jesus\nis their own Shepherd and Saviour, if they are truly His sheep and\nlambs, then they need fear no evil, for He says, \"Because I live, ye\nshall live also.\"\n\n[Illustration: HE LEADS THEM TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.]\n\n   THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP\n\n   Jesus is our Shepherd,\n     Wiping every tear;\n   Folded in His bosom,\n     What have we to fear?\n   Only let us follow\n     Whither He doth lead,\n   To the thirsty desert,\n     Or the dewy mead.\n\n   Jesus is our Shepherd:\n     For the sheep He bled;\n   Every lamb is sprinkled\n     With the blood He shed;\n   Then on each He setteth\n     His own secret sign;\n  \"They that have My Spirit,\n     These,\" saith He, \"are Mine.\"\n\n   Jesus is our Shepherd:\n     Guarded by His arm,\n   Though the wolves may raven,\n     None can do us harm;\n   When we tread death's valley,\n     Dark with fearful gloom,\n   We will fear no evil,\n     Victors o'er the tomb.\n\n\n\nXIX. \"In My Father's House are Many Mansions\"\n\nThe very last evening that our dear Lord was on earth before His death,\nHe and His twelve disciples were gathered together in that upper room\nto eat the Passover.\n\nOn the morrow he was to die! But though He had told the disciples very\noften of His death, they had failed to believe it.\n\nPeter had said \"That be far from Thee, Lord!\" and had, like the other\ndisciples, dismissed the fear from his thoughts.\n\nIt had only been a few days before this Passover night that Mary, the\nsister of Lazarus, had poured the sweet-smelling spikenard ointment on\nour Lord's Head at the supper table; and He, knowing all things that\nwere coming to pass, said she had anointed His Body for His burial. But\nstill, the listening disciples paid no heed.\n\nBut now the last evening had come.\n\nThe Passover supper was over, and Judas had left them and gone out into\nthe darkness. If no one else expected the death of the Lord of Glory,\nJudas knew in his heart that he had sold his Lord for thirty pieces of\nsilver, and that the Jews would surely kill Him!\n\nBut Judas was gone out; and now our Lord turned to the eleven who were\nleft, and began to comfort them, with words of strength and hope.\n\nHe had just told His over-confident disciple, Peter, that before the\ncock should crow in the morning he would thrice deny Him! And all the\ndisciples were full of dismay at such a possibility.\n\nSo our Lord's first words, in His talk with His own, we read in the\n14th of St. John's Gospel; and they come as a wonderful comfort to all\nsorrowing and fainting ones, from that holy hour down to this time\nwhich seems so hard to us! He said these words to His eleven disciples\nand to all who love Him: \"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in\nGod, believe also in Me.\"\n\nAnd then, because of the coming trials which He knew His disciples\nwould have soon to pass through, He gives them the wonderful promise,\nwhich has comforted thousands and thousands of weary hearts since then:\n\"In My Father's House are many Mansions; if it were not so, I would\nhave told you. I go to prepare a place for you.\"\n\nHe seems in these words to say something like this: \"My Father's House\"\nis safely Above, where no storms can touch its security. It is an\nEverlasting abode\u2014one that will not pass away with the ravages of time,\nor the thunders of war. It is an Everlasting Home; and I go to get it\nready for each one of you.\n\nAnd then He points them on to another great thought\u2014\n\nHe says: \"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,\nand receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also!\"\n\nSo He bids us to look forward in the trials and sorrows which will\ncome to all of us, as we pass through life to the Father's Everlasting\nHome\u2014to His being there to get ready that Home for all who love Him\u2014and\nthen He promises to come back and fetch His people, and take them to be\nfor ever with Himself!\n\n\nJohn, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had sat close to his Lord, and\nhad leant on His breast, heard all these heart-cheering words, as Jesus\nuttered them. But little did he know, then, that he would be chosen to\nwrite all these lovely words down in his Gospel; nor that by and by he\nshould be a prisoner for years in the rocky Isle of Patmos, and see\nglorious visions of \"the Father's House, and the many Mansions.\"\n\nThere, in the loneliness and solitude, the glorified Saviour came to\nHis loved disciple and said to him these wonderful words:\n\n   \"I am the First, and the Last, and behold I am alive for Evermore.\"\n\nHe told John that many sorrows and difficulties would beset His\nfollowers, but that those who overcome shall sit down with Him on His\nThrone, even as He had overcome and is seated with His Father on His\nThrone.\n\nBy and by, near the end of these wonderful Revelations, John was\nallowed to have a glimpse into Heaven itself, and he saw a vision of\nthe many mansions which Jesus is preparing for us!\n\nHere are the words\u2014\n\n\"And I John saw the Holy City . . . and I saw no temple therein: for\nthe Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city\nhad no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the\nglory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.\"\n\n\n\"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be\nno more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any\nmore pain: for the former things are passed away.\n\n\"And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'\nAnd He said unto me, 'Write: for these words are true and faithful.'\"\n\n\nMore than six hundred years before these visions to John in Patmos, the\nProphet Isaiah wrote\u2014\n\n\"For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor\nperceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee,\nwhat He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.\"\n\nAnd our Lord Jesus, in the Revelation, says to every one who reads\nthese words\u2014\n\n\"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My Voice, and\nopen the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he\nwith Me.\"\n\nThe entrance to that Everlasting Home is in listening to this loving\nVoice of Jesus Christ now, and by opening the door of our hearts, to\nlet Him in!\n\nJesus says: \"I am the Door; by ME if any man enter in, he shall be\nsaved.\"\n\n[Illustration: MANY MANSIONS.]\n\n\n\nXX. The Parable of the Two Builders\n\nThe Lord Jesus taught the people numbers of lessons about Himself,\nor His Heavenly Father, or about the Kingdom of Heaven, by drawing\nword-pictures: and we can learn the deepest truths that concern\nourselves by reading them and thinking about them.\n\nOne of these that I am very fond of is a picture of two builders, and\nwhat became of the results of their building.\n\nThe first man was a wise man. He looked about him to find a sure and\nsuitable foundation, and he built his house on a firm rock.\n\nBy and by bad weather came, and the rain poured down and the floods\ncame and beat upon the house, but it stood firm, for it was founded\nupon a rock.\n\nOur Lord Himself not only gives us the picture, but He gives us the\nexplanation of this story first of all.\n\nHe says: \"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I\nwill liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and\nthe rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat\nupon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.\n\n\"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,\nshall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the\nsand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew\nand beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.\"\n\n\nHere were two men: they had heard that it was a wise thing to have a\nhouse to live in, and they both decided that they would begin at once\nto build.\n\nThe wise man thought it all over, and considered what ground would be\nsuitable, what foundation would outlive the storms, and he decided it\nmust be upon a rock, which stood high above the rivers, and was strong\nand enduring.\n\nBut the other man was careless. There was, perhaps, a pleasant spot\nnearer to him. The materials with which to build were easily carried to\nthat spot, the sunshine flooded the landscape, and all looked fair and\nbeautiful. So he hastened to build upon the sandy foundation, and soon\nhis house was finished and he took possession.\n\nBut in that country there were frequently sudden violent storms;\nand one day such a storm overtook the two houses. The rain came in\ntorrents, the winds blew, and they beat upon those two houses.\n\nAnd because the foundation was unstable the house upon the sand began\nto slip and shake, and by and by cracked open, and fell to pieces, and\nlay in a ruin beneath the rushing flood.\n\nAnd the house on the rock? Calm amidst the storm it stood firm. The\nrain came, and the wind blew and the floods rose, but it fell not: for\nit was founded upon a rock!\n\nDo you want to know how this story affects our lives?\n\nDo you want to answer that question which perhaps rises up in the\ndepths of your own heart: What am I building up out of my life? And\nwhat foundation am I building upon?\n\nThere is a verse which tells us very distinctly the answer to that\nquestion, if we are asking it in our hearts\u2014\n\n\"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus\nChrist.\"\n\nIf we come to Him, ask Him to take us just as we are\u2014weak, sinful,\nunworthy\u2014He will stretch forth His hand and grasp us, and \"set our feet\nupon a Rock and establish our goings.\"\n\nWhen once we have come to Christ for pardon, our feet are on the Rock:\nand then we can begin to build.\n\nYou ask what is building?\n\nTo do each day what will please Jesus. As He says when He begins this\nstory of the Two Builders: \"To hear these sayings of His and to do\nthem,\" is the sure way of having a building that will last when the\nstorms of life overtake us.\n\nIf you watch the people who bear trouble the best, who are patient in\ntrial, hopeful in adversity, brave in difficulty, triumphant in death,\nyou will find that it is they who have built on the Rock Jesus Christ,\nand have found that there is security and peace there.\n\n\nAnd then about the house on the sand?\n\nOh, what desolation to find that what you thought was all pleasant and\nbright will not last, but the insecure foundation melts away, and the\nhopes founded upon it fall to pieces.\n\nIf you have even a misgiving that you are not on the true Foundation,\ngive up your earthly plans and make a fresh start.\n\nThe Arms of love and mercy are ready to embrace you, and one of those\nwonderful sayings of Jesus is: \"Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no\nwise cast out.\"\n\n\n\"The Foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal: The Lord\nknoweth them that are His.\"\n\n\n\nXXI. The Labourers in the Harvest\n\nIn the Bible we have many vivid pictures in which God would teach us,\nby earthly things, concerning His heavenly things.\n\nThis Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard is one of these pictures.\nWe have the account of it in the 20th chapter of Matthew.\n\nThere was an Eastern householder. He had great estates, and fields and\nvineyards, stretching far up on the hillsides, and kept with great\ncare by his vine-dressers. By and by the grapes were ready for picking\nand the householder went out early in the morning to hire the labourers\nfor his vineyard.\n\nIn those days there was a certain coin which was considered fair pay\nfor a day's wages.\n\nSome of you who read the story in the Bible may say, \"A penny for a\nday's work!\" But this is only because the money then was of such a\ndifferent value from what it is now; and a Roman penny was worth nearly\neight times what our penny is now, and was at that time the usual hire\nfor a day's work.\n\nSo the lord of the vineyard went out early to engage the men to get in\nhis harvest; and when he had agreed with them for a certain sum, he\nsent them into his vineyard.\n\nBy and by, about nine o'clock in the morning, he went out again; and\nseeing others standing idle in the market-place, he said to them: \"Go\nye also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.\"\n\nSo they went their way, and entered the vineyard.\n\nThen came twelve o'clock, and then three o'clock; and still the\nhouseholder wanted more men to labour in his vineyard. As our Lord\nhad said in another place, \"The Harvest truly is plenteous, but the\nlabourers are few.\"\n\nAt length, at the last hour before sundown, the householder went out\nonce more, and found others standing idle, and he said to them: \"Why\nare you standing here idle all the day?\"\n\nAnd they answered him: \"Because no one has hired us.\"\n\nSo the householder said to them: \"Go ye also into the vineyard, and\nwhatsoever is right, that ye shall receive.\"\n\nAnd soon the short Eastern twilight came, and then, as a poet says:\n\"The sun sinks, the stars rush out,\" and the day was over!\n\nThen the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: \"Call the labourers\nand give them their hire, beginning from the last ones even to the\nfirst.\"\n\nSo the last men came, who had worked only one hour, and they were each\ngiven the Roman penny.\n\nBut when the first ones, who were hired early in the morning, were\ngiven their money, they supposed that they should have received more\nfor their long day's work. But they each received the Roman penny.\n\n[Illustration: THEY BEGAN MURMURING AGAINST THE GOOD MAN OF THE HOUSE.]\n\nThen they began murmuring against the good man of the house, saying:\n\"These last have only worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal to\nus, who have borne the burden and heat of the day!\"\n\nBut the lord of the vineyard explained to them that he had given each\nman what he had agreed upon; and that he had done them no wrong; for he\nsaid he had a right to do what he willed with his own money.\n\n\nNow there are several things to learn from this picture story, and as I\ngo along I think you will see them for yourselves.\n\nThe vineyard belongs to the Lord God.\n\nThe vines here represent the people in the world whom the Lord wants to\nstore in His beautiful garner, the Heavenly Home, by and by.\n\nThe labourers are God's own people, whom He calls to bring those\nprecious grapes into the garner.\n\nGod calls each one of us who loves Him to be a labourer in His Kingdom.\n\nTo one, who is perhaps strong and able, He gives work that will last\nhim the whole long day of a long life!\n\nOf another, He asks half a lifetime\u2014of another, a quarter of a\nlifetime; or only one short hour perhaps!\n\nTo each one, when the day is ended, the Lord will give His own reward.\nIf the worker has been faithful in what has been given him to do, the\nLord of the Harvest will say: \"Well done, good and faithful servant,\nenter into the joy of thy Lord.\"\n\nLittle children can work for this Heavenly Lord. They can do little\nkindnesses for Christ's sake; they can try to be like Jesus. They can\nlisten for God's commands like little Samuel, and obey Him when He\nspeaks to them.\n\nThese may be like the one hour servants, but they will get their full\nrewards!\n\nSome of the servants of the Lord of the Harvest have very hard and\ntoilsome work to do. He has given them that to do, and He will surely\ngive them their pay!\n\nWhat is that pay? Not a Roman penny; not any earthly coins or rewards;\nbut they are promised that if they are wise, and turn many to\nrighteousness, they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever!\n\nDoes not this encourage us to do what we can to tell others of the love\nof Jesus Who died on the Cross that we might be saved?\n\nWe can all pray that God will call us to work for Him; and surely, if\nHe does call and we listen to His Voice, He will teach us how to bring\nmany to righteousness, and earn \"the crown of glory that fadeth not\naway!\"\n\n\n\nXXII. As a Hen Gathereth Her Chickens\n\nNot long before our dear Lord Jesus was crucified, He was walking one\nday in the streets of Jerusalem.\n\nHe had been telling the Scribes and Pharisees that they were trusting\nin their own goodness, but were far-off from the Kingdom of God.\n\nHis loving heart was filled with pity for those who would not come to\nHim to be saved.\n\nDo you not remember how He had said, \"Come unto Me, all ye that labour\nand are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!\"\n\nHe longed to have the poor, sorrowful people find joy and rest in Him.\nHad He not said at the very beginning of His teaching that He had come\nto bind up the brokenhearted?\n\nSo on this day as He passed along through the streets, He noticed a hen\nwith her chickens round her. Perhaps He paused to watch them as they\nran hither and thither. Perhaps He heard the hen give a sudden warning\ncry, and watched the little chickens respond to it by running with\noutstretched wings to the shelter of her feathers, beneath which they\nnestled serene and safe from all alarms.\n\nAnd then the tenderness of the heart of Jesus comes out so beautifully!\n\n\"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!\" He exclaims, \"How often would I have gathered\nthy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her\nwings, and ye would not!\"\n\nDo you not know how, sometimes, a mother holds out her arms to a child\nwho has been naughty, but perhaps the child turns away and will not\ncome back to the loving embrace?\n\nHave you not seen how sad that mother's face has looked? \"But ye would\nnot!\" goes to her heart.\n\nAnd that is something like Jesus felt when sinners would not come to\nHim to be forgiven.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was only a very little while after He had said those words about\nthe hen and the chickens, and about \"Ye would not,\" that He wept over\nJerusalem as He came down from the Mount of Olives and came in sight of\nthe beautiful city, and thought of all the sorrow that was coming upon\nit.\n\nAnd as He wept He said, \"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in\nthis thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are\nhid from thine eyes.\"\n\nI think these sorrowful words of our dear Lord should sink into our\nhearts, and we should look up into His face now in the glory, and tell\nHim we will not grieve Him by our want of love!\n\nLet us run from Satan, our great enemy, to His sheltering arms!\n\nLike those little chicks, at sight of danger, let us fly to Him; and He\nwill receive us, and comfort us, and protect us.\n\nGod Himself says in the 91st Psalm: \"He shall cover thee with His\nfeathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.\"\n\nAnd we shall find, whether we are young or old, that whenever we put\nout trust in Jesus, He will surely come to our help!\n\nDo not let Him have to say of us, as He said of those Jews in\nJerusalem, \"But ye would not!\" But let us believe His love, and\njoyfully answer the dear Lord who loved us so\u2014\n\n\"I will trust in the covert of Thy wings!\"\n\n   I heard the Voice of Jesus say,\n  \"Come unto Me and rest;\n   Lay down, thou weary one, lay down\n   Thy head upon My breast!\"\n   I came to Jesus as I was,\n   Weary, and worn and sad;\n   I found in Him a resting-place,\n   And He has made me glad.\n\n   I heard the Voice of Jesus say,\n  \"Behold I freely give\n   The living water, thirsty one,\n   Stoop down, and drink, and live!\"\n   I came to Jesus, and I drank\n   Of that life-giving stream;\n   My thirst was quenched, my soul revived\n   And now I live in Him.\n\n\n\nXXIII. The Sower\n\nOne day when the Lord Jesus was staying near the Sea of Galilee, He\nwent out with His disciples and sat by the side of the lake.\n\nThis lake is called by several names\u2014the Sea of Galilee\u2014the Sea of\nTiberias\u2014the Lake of Gennesaret\u2014and it is one of the most interesting\nplaces which we read of in the Bible.\n\nThe Lord Jesus did many of His Wonderful works round the shores of this\nlake; and He often went across in the fishermen's boats from one side\nto the other.\n\nIt was on this lake that once He walked on the water. That was in the\nmiddle of the night, when the disciples were toiling at their oars and\ncould not get to land because the wind was against them, that Jesus\ncame to them, walking on the top of the waves.\n\nPerhaps you say \"How could He walk on water?\" There is only one answer\nto that: \"Because Jesus is the Son of God!\"\n\nThen it was sailing on this lake, that Jesus was asleep on a pillow in\nthe hinder part of the ship; and the disciples awoke Him because there\nwas a great storm, and they were very frightened and were afraid they\nwould be drowned. So He rose up, and told the wind and the waves to\nstop their raging\u2014saying to them \"Peace! Be still!\"\n\nCould you do that? You shake your head. No, it would be of no use for\nyou to tell the wind to stop blowing, would it? It was because Jesus is\nthe Son of God, that He could do it.\n\nWell, one day, as I said, the Lord Jesus was sitting by the shore of\nthis lake.\n\nThe people who had been cured of their diseases, or who wanted to be\ncured, saw Him going out of the house where He was staying, and they\nfollowed Him down to the lake.\n\nBut as so many came crowding to Him, Jesus asked one of the fishermen\nto let Him sit in his boat, that He might speak to the people from\nthere.\n\nAnd as Jesus looked out on the fields behind the thronging multitude,\nHis eyes rested on a man who was busily sowing the field with seed.\n\nAnd Jesus said to the people \"Look! There is a sower, who is going out\nto sow his seed!\"\n\nAnd then the Lord told them the story of the seeds, and His blessed\nwords were something like this, so that even the little children who\nwere standing by could understand.\n\nThe sower sets out from home, and he carries the seed in a basket, or\nperhaps wrapped up in a corner of his garment; and as he walks along\nthe field, he throws handful after handful on to the ground.\n\nSome seeds fall by the side of the path and the birds who are following\nhim as he walks, and who watch what becomes of every handful he throws,\nfly down and pick up all they can see, and eat it up.\n\nBut the sower passes on, and some of his little seeds fall on stony\nplaces, where there is very little good earth; and when the seeds\nspring up and begin to grow, there is not enough earth for them to\nflourish, or to feed the little plants; and the sun gets hot, and they\nare scorched, and wither away.\n\nBut still the sower goes on sowing. And the next seeds fall among the\nbushes that grow by the path; and the little seeds get choked with the\nbig, thorny bushes, and never grow up to be good plants, or to be of\nany use to anyone!\n\nBut at last the sower comes to a part of the field where the ground is\ngood and soft.\n\nHe throws the handfuls now with joy! He knows there will be a harvest\nby and by! The seed sinks into the good ground, it takes root, and when\nthe time of harvest comes, and the reapers come to gather the beautiful\ncorn, there are heaps of sheaves; for some of these little seeds had\ngrown up to bear a hundred other seeds! And some sixty, and some thirty!\n\nWhen the Lord had done talking to the multitude, the disciples gathered\nround Him and asked Him why He had told them that story of the\nseeds\u2014called a Parable.\n\nThen Jesus explained to them that the seed that He had been talking\nabout was the Word of God.\n\nThose who try to tell other people about God, are like the Sower. And\nthe ground is like our hearts.\n\nThen Satan our great Enemy, like those birds in the Parable, watches\neagerly where the seed falls, and tries to pick it up and carry it\naway! That is the \"seed by the wayside.\"\n\nThen there are \"the stony places.\" That is when the Word of God is\nspoken to us, and our hearts are hard, and there is no deep, soft\nfeeling in them; no love to God. And the little seeds get dry, and\nwither away!\n\nBut, children, if we feel our hearts are hard, let us turn to God\nquickly, and ask Him to send us His Holy Spirit to help us to love Him,\nand to make us grow up to bear fruit; and He will, if we ask Him.\n\nWell, then, besides the two kinds I have told you about, some of the\nlittle seeds fall into ground that has other things growing in it.\n\nWhat are the \"other things\" that grow in our hearts and choke God's\nWord?\n\nThey may be too much pleasure, too much enjoyment, too many toys, love\nof money, love of our own way\u2014heaps of things in our hearts may choke\nGod's good seed, and it may not grow up and bear fruit. Oh, how sad, if\nthis should be so with our hearts! Let us ask God not to let them be\novergrown with \"thorns.\"\n\nBut at last the seed falls on to good ground. The Word of God comes\nto a heart which is ready to receive it. A heart which is longing for\nthe Lord Jesus to live in it. Longing that His seed may grow and bear\nfruit, and that people may know that we love Jesus and want to please\nGod.\n\nCan you think of some of the things which can be called fruit, and show\nthat Jesus is indeed living in your heart?\n\nAre you loving? Do you try to be? Are you pure and good, and\nstraight-forward in all your dealings with your companions?\n\nAre you obedient at home, loving and dutiful?\n\nThink of these things, and if the seed has really taken root in your\nheart, think of what a glorious harvest-time there will be by and by,\nwhen Jesus comes to gather all who have loved Him into the Father's\neternal Harvest-home.\n\n\n\nXXIV. The Ten Virgins\n\nIn the 24th of Matthew and the 44th verse our Lord tells His disciples\nabout His promise to come back again, and He earnestly begged them to\nbe watchful, reminding them that His coming would be very sudden.\n\nHe described how two would be in a field, and how one should be taken\nand the other left behind: and that two should be grinding flour with\nthe mill-stones, and how one would be taken and the other would be left\nbehind.\n\nAnd then our Lord added this warning, \"Watch therefore: for ye know not\nwhat hour your Lord doth come.\"\n\nHe wants all who love Him to be quite ready for Him.\n\nNow you know just what it means to be ready?\n\nA father is perhaps going to take his children for a holiday in the\ncountry, and he says to them, \"Be quite ready, children. I am going out\nto get a cab, and we must start the moment it comes, or we shall lose\nthe train. Keep looking out for me, and be quite ready waiting. I do\nnot want one of you to be left behind!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"LORD, LORD OPEN TO US!\"]\n\nWell, some of the children are very obedient, and they do exactly as\nthey are told.\n\nBut one child thinks to herself, \"There is plenty of time\u2014Father has\nhardly got to the end of the road yet, and I do just want to finish\nthis page of my book! Then I will dress in a hurry!\"\n\nBut the page takes longer than she thought, and while she hastens\nupstairs to dress, the cab drives up, and she is not ready!\n\nThe father looks dreadfully sorry, for the train will not wait; and the\nlittle girl has to be left behind!\n\nThat is why our Lord says in that 24th Chapter, \"Be ye also ready: for\nin such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.\"\n\nSo after Jesus had urged them so earnestly to watch, and to be ready,\nHe told them a story, which will help us all to understand what He\nmeant.\n\n\"Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins who took\ntheir lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom,\" He said.\n\nAnd five of these virgins were wise, and five were foolish. Those that\nwere foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them.\n\nThey wanted to meet the Bridegroom, but they forgot that perhaps He\nmight come when it was dark night, and their lamps would be of no use\nunless there was oil in them.\n\nIt was not that they could not have obtained the oil; oh, no! But they\nwere careless, and did not think.\n\nBut the wise virgins took oil in their pitchers, with their lamps.\n\nSo they all went out to meet the Bridegroom, some with oil, and some\nwithout it.\n\nBut it seemed a long time before the Bridegroom came, and all the\nvirgins fell fast asleep while they waited.\n\nBut at midnight there was a sudden cry! But it was a sound of happy\nvoices! \"Behold the Bridegroom cometh!\" the voices said joyfully.\n\nThen the virgins waked out of their sleep, and they rose up and quickly\ntrimmed their lamps.\n\nBut the foolish virgins found to their dismay that their lamps had gone\nout, and their little pitchers were empty!\n\nSo they ran to the wise virgins, and asked them to give them some of\ntheir oil!\n\nBut the wise virgins shook their heads, for they knew they must not\ngive their oil away, or they would have none left for their own lamps\nto meet the Bridegroom.\n\n\"Go quickly and buy!\" they urged the foolish virgins.\n\nAnd while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and those who were\nready went in with Him to the marriage; and the door was shut.\n\nOh, the terrible sound of those words\u2014the door was shut!\n\nAfterwards the other virgins hurried back; and when they came to that\nclosed door, they called with bitter longing and entreaty, \"Lord, Lord\nopen to us!\"\n\nBut the Bridegroom answered in these sorrowful words which should be a\nwarning to every one of us as we read them, \"Verily I say unto you I\nknow you not.\"\n\nThis story has, as you see, a very sorrowful ending.\n\nAnd the Lord Jesus would not have told it to us unless He had intended\nus to take a great warning from it.\n\nThe Oil spoken of in this Parable is a type or picture to help us to\nunderstand about the Holy Spirit.\n\nFor we must have the Holy Spirit in our hearts if we want to go in with\nJesus to the Marriage supper, in Heaven.\n\nWhen Jesus was baptized in Jordan, John saw the Holy Spirit descending\nlike a dove, and resting upon Him.\n\nPerhaps you ask, \"Could those foolish virgins have had the oil?\" Ah!\nIndeed they might! Evidently they could have bought the oil.\n\nThe Holy Spirit is given to us \"without money and without price,\" for\nour Lord says, \"How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy\nSpirit to them that ask Him.\"\n\nSome years ago we had a young maid who could not understand how she was\nto find Jesus. I told her that if she would pray for the Holy Spirit,\nshe would certainly be shown the way.\n\nIn ten days she came to me with a joyful face. \"I did pray as you told\nme,\" she said, \"and I have come to Jesus, and He is my Saviour.\"\n\n\n\nXXV. The Good Samaritan\n\nThere was once a lonely man, walking in Palestine on the mountainous\nroad between Jerusalem and Jericho.\n\nHe had no one with him, and his heart sank as he recalled the stories\nof the wild men who lived in the caves, and came out to rob unfortunate\ntravellers who passed that way.\n\nThe silence was unbroken, and as he looked from side to side and\nhurried along, he began to hope that he might reach Jericho without\nmishap.\n\nThe road lay between steep hills and mountains, and there were sharp\ncorners and jutting rocks all along the way, which would hide any\nnumber of the robbers who haunted the place.\n\nBut all his fears and all his anxious, watchful glances were of no use.\nSuddenly a band of thieves sprang out of their hiding-place behind him,\nand in a moment they surrounded him, robbed him of all his property,\nand, as he evidently resisted them with all his might, they not only\nrobbed him, but cruelly wounded him, and then made off, leaving him by\nthe roadside, half dead.\n\nSad indeed was his plight, lying there in the glaring sunshine, aching\nwith pain and consumed with thirst. \"Would no one come to help him?\" he\nsadly thought.\n\nYes\u2014he heard footsteps coming down the stony path, and as they drew\nnearer and nearer, his hope began to revive. Surely some kind man would\ntake pity on him!\n\nAnd then the steps came close to him, and at last, as he lifted his\nweary eyes, he saw one of the Jewish priests standing for an instant,\narrested by the sad sight, but, when the priest saw him, he passed by\non the other side of the road, and went away.\n\nSo the lonely man lay there, still suffering and uncared for.\n\nPresently another step was heard, and another man, a Jewish Levite,\ncame along the road, and, catching sight of the wounded man, he came\nover and looked at him; but he, too, passed by on the other side.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut at length there was a traveller who was making the same journey,\nand he saw the poor man lying there dying; and when he saw him, he had\ncompassion on him. A great pity filled his heart. He could not bear to\nsee him wounded and suffering.\n\nSo he quickly went to his side and bound up his wounds, putting on them\nthe only salves he had with him, oil and wine, which would both soothe\nand heal the sores; and then he lifted him on to his own donkey, and\nwalking by his side and doing everything he could for the poor man, he\nbrought him at length to an Inn, where he made him as comfortable as\never he could, and stayed with him all night.\n\nYou can picture to yourself this kind traveller sitting quietly by the\nsuffering stranger, and cheering him with kind words, and bidding him\nhope for better times, when he should be well again.\n\nAt length the morning came, and the traveller was obliged to proceed\non his journey. So he called the Master of the Inn and gave him some\nmoney, and told him to take care of the stranger, and promised to repay\nthe Innkeeper, when he returned, whatever he had spent in caring for\nthe sick man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNov when the Lord Jesus told this story to the lawyer who had been\nquestioning him, He turned to him and asked him, \"Which do you think\nwas a neighbour to this man that fell among the thieves?\"\n\nSo the lawyer answered him, \"The one who shewed mercy on him!\"\n\nAnd Jesus said to him words like this, \"Then you go and do the same.\"\n\nAnd now, I think, our Lord Jesus, who looks down from heaven at all\nthat is happening here, says to each one of us, as we pass on our\njourney through this world\u2014\"Go thou, and do like that kind Samaritan.\"\n\nAnd perhaps you say to yourself: \"How can I? I do not see any wounded\nmen that want help\u2014I am only a boy, and nobody needs my care! I am\nonly a girl, and I have lessons and work to do, and I have not got any\nneighbours, such as that story speaks of\u2014people who want my help\u2014I am\nonly a little girl!\"\n\nYes, that is natural for you to say to yourself, but just stop for a\nmoment and think.\n\nYou have a brother who is a Scout! Is not he always looking out for\nopportunities to help others? Cannot you be a \"Scout\" for Jesus our\nKing? Cannot you, whether you are boy or girl, do at least one kindness\na day?\n\nThat invalid sister drops her ball of wool! Cannot you stop as you are\nracing out to play, to pick it up, and give her a sweet smile of cheer\ninto the bargain?\n\nThat schoolfellow has a headache and cannot get his sums right. Could\nyou not bend over him for a moment or two, and help him find out the\nmistake, and set him free to come out and play?\n\nOh, do not say in your heart, \"He is nothing to me, I cannot help his\ntroubles!\" Do not be like the Priest and the Levite. Cheer up everyone\nyou come across, and if you do this for Jesus your King, believe me,\nyour life will be full of sunshine and joy.\n\nDo one kind deed every day, and you will end in being, in very truth,\nlike the Good Samaritan whom Jesus praised.\n\n\n\nXXVI. No Wedding Garment\n\nOur Lord told the people who listened to Him many wonderful stories, or\nparables, which were meant to sink deep into their hearts, to warn them\nlest they should sin, or to encourage them to be good.\n\nHe often told them stories about \"the Kingdom of Heaven,\" for He\nwanted all who heard Him to enter into that Kingdom, and to share its\neverlasting joy.\n\nThe parable I am going to tell you to-day is one in which the Kingdom\nof Heaven was likened to a certain great King who made a marriage feast\nfor his son.\n\nHe invited a great many guests, and when all was ready, he sent his\nservants to call them all to the wedding.\n\nBut the guests who were invited were so busy about their own affairs\nthat they did not trouble to come to the King's house!\n\nThen the King sent some more servants, with the message that everything\nwas prepared for the feast, and to bid the guests to come to the\nmarriage.\n\nBut they made light of the invitation! One went to his farm, and\nanother to his business; and the rest treated the King's messengers\nvery badly, and even killed some of them.\n\nThen the King was very angry, and sent his armies against the men who\nhad murdered his messengers.\n\nThen the King said to his servants, \"The wedding is ready, but those\nwho were invited were not worthy: go instead into the highways, and bid\nall that you can find to come to the marriage.\"\n\nSo the servants went out, and gathered all they could find, and brought\nthem to the King's Palace, both bad and good. And this time there were\nplenty of people who came to accept the invitation.\n\nThen the King came in to see the guests, and his eyes fell on one of\nthem who had not on a wedding garment.\n\nI think it is plain from the story, as our Lord told it, that this man\nmight have had a wedding garment if he had chosen to do so.\n\nDoubtless the servants had beautiful clean garments ready in another\nroom, which the King had provided for every guest to put on.\n\nBut this one guest had no wedding garment!\n\nThen the King said to him: \"Friend, how did you come in to the banquet\nwithout having a wedding garment?\"\n\nBut the man was speechless; he had no answer to make; he had no excuse\nto offer. Perhaps he thought his own clothes were good enough for any\nwedding feast! Perhaps he had been angry with the servants for offering\nhim the King's garment!\n\nWe are not told\u2014we only know that unless he had that garment which had\nbeen provided, he could not taste of the King's feast.\n\nThe King ordered him to be sent away; and, in the dark night outside,\nhow earnestly he must have wished that he had not been so proud, or so\ncareless; and how he must have wept when he realized all he had missed.\n\nI think that the Lord Jesus told this story as a solemn warning against\nsome things which prevent people from entering the \"Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nThese things are just as likely to prevent people now, as they were in\nthe time that our Lord gave this parable to the multitude.\n\nThe chief danger is carelessness.\n\nPeople say:\n\n\"Oh, I haven't time!\"\n\n\"Oh, I can't take the trouble to be religious, I do very well as I am.\"\n\nThey think it is all very well to be invited to the Wedding-feast in\nthe Kingdom of Heaven, but they have other things to do; and they\nesteem the servants of the King, who bring the message, as very\ntroublesome persons, who had better mind their own business!\n\nThose are some of the people who miss getting into the Kingdom of\nHeaven.\n\n[Illustration: THE KING ORDERED HIM TO BE SENT AWAY.]\n\n\n\nXXVII. Sowing the Tares\n\nWhen the Lord Jesus was on earth, He taught many of His most wonderful\nlessons by means of Story-pictures, or Parables.\n\nPerhaps you are older than some of your school-fellows, and the little\nones gather round you and say \"Tell us a story!\"\n\nDon't they love stories? And don't you love stories?\n\nSo did the people to whom our Lord spoke. He often put a word-picture\nbefore their eyes, and it sank into their hearts, and they remembered\nit ever after.\n\nI am going to tell you about one of these Parables which our Lord told\nto the listening multitudes.\n\nThis one was about \"The Kingdom of Heaven.\" This is the word picture\nwhich he put before their eyes.\n\nHe said that the Kingdom of Heaven was like a man who had a field, and\nwho sowed it with good seed.\n\nBut at night, under cover of the darkness, while men were asleep, there\ncame an enemy into this field.\n\nHe carried a basket in his hands, and as he went up and down the field,\nhe looked stealthily round him to make sure that no one was aware of\nhis presence. And then he took handful after handful of seed from his\nbasket and scattered it all over the field. Then he crept away in the\ndarkness.\n\n[Illustration: SOWING THE TARES.]\n\nWhy did he do it, do you think?\n\nIt was because he hated the owner of the field, and wished to destroy\nhis beautiful harvest.\n\nBy and by the seeds began to grow, and the little blades came up green\nall over the field. Then the servants of the master of the field,\nlooking closely at the crop, saw that some of the blades were of good\nwheat, but some looked like tares, which were of no use to anyone and\nonly injured the wheat. So they hastened to the owner of the field, and\nthey said, \"Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field; how have the\ntares got there?\"\n\nAnd the owner said, \"An enemy has done this.\"\n\nThen the servants asked if they might root up the tares at once.\n\nI have read that when the little plants are young, the blades of\nthe wheat and the blades of the tares are so much alike that it is\ndifficult to tell them apart.\n\nSo the master of the field answered, \"No; you had better not try to\npull up the tares, lest you should pull up the wheat with them. Let\nthem both grow together until the harvest; and in time of harvest I\nwill say to the reapers, 'Gather together the tares first, and bind\nthem in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.'\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis is a story, as I said, of \"The Kingdom of Heaven.\" And it is\nimportant to all of us, because we all live in that Kingdom. Our hearts\nought to be God's throne here, we ought to be growing up as His Good\nSeed, to be gathered into His eternal Home when the Harvest comes!\n\nYou may not always live in England\u2014you may go to Canada, or Australia,\nor France, or Germany!\n\nBut in this Kingdom of Heaven you may always abide, till the\nHarvest-day comes; and happy for you if you do!\n\nGod's Kingdom is a place where His Good Seed grows.\n\nPerhaps your Mother or your Teacher tells you of Jesus our Saviour, and\nof His love, and you long to be able to serve Him. You would like to be\nkind and loving to those round you; you are sorry when you do wrong,\nyou are happy when you do right. That is the Good Seed taking root and\ngrowing in your heart!\n\nBut at other times you feel differently.\n\nYou are not so happy; you do not wish to do good things so much; you\neven find yourself wanting to do wrong things! You find it hard to be\nloving; you want so much to do something you have been forbidden to\ndo; you are sure no one will see you if you do wrong, and you say to\nyourself, \"After all, it is such a little thing,\" or \"It is only this\nonce!\"\n\nAh! Those are the tares sown in your heart!\n\n\"How did they get there?\" the servants asked the Master.\n\nAnd He answered, \"An enemy has done this.\"\n\nSatan is our enemy. It is true we cannot see him, but he is near us all\nthe same.\n\nLike the enemy in the Parable, he creeps out when men are asleep\u2014when\nyou are off your guard\u2014when you have forgotten to watch and to pray;\nand it is he who whispers to you that:\n\n\"No one will see.\"\n\n\"That it is such a little thing.\"\n\n\"That it is so hard to obey!\"\n\nAh! What must the little Christian boy do when he finds tares in the\nfield of his heart? What must the little Christian girl do when she\nfinds tares in God's Kingdom in her heart?\n\nI think the best thing to do is to look up to Jesus instantly, and ask\nHim to conquer the great enemy for you. Say the Holy name Jesus softly\nto yourself, or out loud if you are alone, Satan, our great enemy, will\nrun away, you will surely find.\n\nHe was named JESUS (which means Victory).\n\n\"For He shall save His people from their sins.\"\n\n\n\nXXVIII. The Prodigal Son\n\nThere was a man who had two sons. He loved them both very much, and did\neverything he could to make them happy.\n\nBut the younger son was restless, and got tired of being quietly at\nhome. He had heard something about the world outside, and he thought it\nmust be a very fine place by all accounts.\n\nSo one day he asked his father to divide what he had to leave to him\nand his brother, so that he might do as he liked with his share of it.\n\nNot many days after, the younger son took his journey into a far\ncountry, and as he had no one there to guide him, and as he did not\nheed the advice of his dear father, he began to waste his money and get\ninto evil ways.\n\nVery soon he had spent all his father had given him, and had nothing\nleft in his purse.\n\nUp to this time he had thought he could do very well without his\nfather, but now he began to be in want. It was so hard to be hungry, to\nfind his clothes get ragged, and for his companions to forsake him. And\nit made him sad and afraid when he remembered that he had no house to\nsleep in, and no friends near.\n\nBy and by a farmer took pity on him, and hired him to go and feed his\npigs; and he was so hungry that he could almost have eaten the pigs'\nfood. But no one gave him anything.\n\nAt last as he sat dejectedly watching the pigs, he came to himself! He\nbegan to remember his dear home and his father's love. He no longer\nprided himself on what he could do, and what he could buy. He saw his\nbehaviour in its true light. He told himself that he had been very\nnaughty and very disobedient, and he began to be sorry.\n\nAnd when he came to himself he said, \"How many of my father's hired\nservants have bread enough and to spare, and I, his son, am dying of\nhunger! I will arise and go to my father, and tell him I have sinned,\nand ask him to make me one of his servants.\"\n\nSo he got up to go to his father.\n\nHis father had been very sad all the time his boy had been away. His\nheart had ached terribly, though his son had never thought of that.\n\nEvery day he looked out for his lost one, and watched for him along the\nroads and over the mountains till it grew too dark to see.\n\nBut one day, when the son was yet a great way off, his father saw him\ncoming! Then the dear father ran to meet him, and fell on his neck and\nkissed him.\n\nAnd the son said, \"Father, I have sinned before Heaven and in thy\nsight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son\u2014\"\n\nBut he could not get any further than that in what he meant to say! For\nhis father's arms were round him, and his father's voice was saying in\nthe old familiar tones, \"Bring hither the best robe, and put it on him!\nAnd put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring here the\nfatted calf and let us make a feast; for this my son was dead, and is\nalive again; he was lost, and is found!\"\n\nChildren, we have here a picture of the way our loving Heavenly Father\nwelcomes back those who have wandered from Him.\n\nHis heart is full of love; He grieves that we want to take our own way,\nand go far-off from Him.\n\nBut if we are sorry, and come back to His loving arms, we shall find\nthat they will open to receive us; He will put the best robe upon us,\nand He will prepare a feast for us; and there shall be joy in the\npresence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting!\n\nDo you want to know what the \"best robe\" means?\n\nIt is the Robe of Christ's righteousness. For Christ's sake, who has\nshed His precious blood to make us clean and white, we can be dressed\nin that perfect robe; and then we shall be fit to join in the feast and\nthe rejoicings, which are coming by and by in heaven.\n\n\n\nXXIX. The Pharisee and the Publican\n\nTwo men were wending their way towards God's Temple at Jerusalem,\na Pharisee and a Publican.\n\nThere, on a hill, stood the beautiful building with its white marble\npillars glistening in the sun; and as they walked along the hot roads\ntowards God's House, their thoughts were very different.\n\nThey knew that God's Holy Presence was in that Temple to which they\nwere going, and one of them thought with awe that he would soon be in\nthe place where he would meet with God.\n\nThe other man was thinking entirely about himself, and nothing at all\nabout God.\n\nSo they ascended the many steps leading up into the Temple, and at last\nstood within the Sacred House.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd then the Pharisee thought of how he understood all about God's law,\nand how he did not need anyone to teach him what was written in the\nScriptures.\n\nBut he did not know two things which would have made him a different\nman\u2014he did not know his own heart, and he did not know God's heart.\n\nHe did not know that his own heart was full of pride and love of self;\nhe did not know that God's heart was full of pity and tender love\ntowards sinful men who came to Him to be forgiven.\n\nSo the Pharisee began to pray. And when the Lord Jesus told us this\nstory about him, He said \"he stood and prayed thus with himself.\"\n\nBut he began his prayer like this:\u2014\n\n\"God! I thank thee that I am not like other men! I am not one who\nexacts more than I should from others; I am not unjust or impure; or\neven like this Publican. I fast twice in every week, and I give tithes\nof everything I have.\"\n\nThen the Pharisee, having finished his prayer, went down once more to\nhis home.\n\nHe had not seen the vision of God! He had not come near to Him, nor\nwaited to receive the answer to his words. He did not even know what he\nhad missed!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd the other man who went up to pray was the Publican.\n\nHe was a collector of the Roman taxes; and because of the frequent\ncheating of these publicans, they were hated by the Jews.\n\nIt was a calling which gave great opportunities for dishonesty, and\nwhen some of the Jews, for the sake of gain, engaged in it, they were\ndespised and called traitors.\n\nSo this Publican, whom our Lord Jesus told about in this story, was\nevidently a Jew, as he among other Jews \"went up into the Temple to\npray.\"\n\nAnd when he entered God's House, there stood the Pharisee praying; but\nthe Publican, standing afar off, not full of his own good deeds, but\nfeeling ashamed of his own sinfulness, would not even lift up his eyes\nto Heaven, but smote his breast saying:\n\n  \"God be merciful to me, a sinner!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd our Lord turned to those who were listening to Him and said, \"I\ntell you, this Publican went down to his house justified, rather than\nthe other.\"\n\nDo you wonder what it is to be justified? Should we not all like, when\nwe have been naughty, or have done wrong, to know that we may go down,\nlike the Publican did to his house, justified?\n\nIt means, I think, for a person to realise that some one greater and\nricher than himself has undertaken to set him free from his debt.\n\nIt means that we have come to God and told Him that we are very sorry\nwe have been naughty, and have asked Him to have mercy upon us, and to\nforgive us for Jesus' sake.\n\nWhen we have done that, we may, indeed, like the Publican, go away\n\"justified.\"\n\nPerhaps some boy gets into trouble at school, and owes something to\nanother boy, which he has no means of paying.\n\nSo the boy who owes the money goes to his father. He knows he has done\nwrong, but he tells his father all about it, and asks him to help him.\nAnd the loving father sees to it all for him, and pays the debt.\n\nThe school-fellows know nothing about this, but they have heard about\nthe debt, and they whisper to each other, and jeer when the boy comes\nnear.\n\nBut to their surprise, he raises his head now! \"My father has paid,\" he\nsays, with shining eyes.\n\nI think that is being \"justified.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd it seems to me that that was how the Publican felt, when he had\ntold God he was a sinner, and had asked for His mercy.\n\nHe went home happy, and forgiven!\n\n[Illustration: GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME, A SINNER!]\n\nHere is a comforting promise for us all\u2014\n\n\"This is a faithful saying . . . that Christ Jesus came into the world\nto save sinners!\"\n\n\n\nXXX. An Uninvited Guest\n\nOne day the Lord Jesus was invited to dinner by a rich man whose name\nwas Simon.\n\nPerhaps this rich man asked Jesus to dinner because he wished to see\nHim do some miracle\u2014something wonderful which no one else could do; or\nhe may have imagined that people would think more of himself if he had\nJesus for a guest; at any rate, by what we read afterwards, I am afraid\nSimon the Pharisee did not invite Jesus because he loved Him.\n\nBut there was somebody present at that feast who did love Jesus, but\nshe was not invited.\n\nIn Eastern lands the houses are not shut up like our houses, but\nbecause it is so warm, the dining-rooms are often open to the air\non one or two sides, or people take their meals in the cool shady\ncourtyards.\n\nWhen a great man makes a feast, people hear of it, and come round the\nhouse to look at what is going on.\n\nIn the city there lived a poor sinful and sorrowful woman who had\nlearned to love the Lord Jesus: perhaps she had heard Him say these\nloving words, \"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,\nand I will give you rest.\"\n\nWhen this sorrowful woman heard that Jesus was gone to dinner at the\nPharisee's house, she brought a little box made of alabaster, which was\nfilled with some very sweet-smelling ointment, and she made her way\ninto the open dining-hall, and when she saw where the Lord was sitting\nor reclining, as the custom was, on a sort of couch to the table, she\ncame up, and stood behind Him!\n\nAnd as she stood there and thought of all His love and compassion, she\nbegan to weep, and her tears fell down over His feet as He reclined at\nthe table.\n\nThen she wiped His feet with her hair, and anointed them with the sweet\nointment.\n\nBut the Pharisee who had invited the Lord Jesus looked on with anger.\nHe thought if Jesus were a great teacher, He would not have allowed a\nwoman from the city to come and wash His feet with her tears.\n\nBut Jesus knows all our hearts, and He could see that the poor woman\nloved Him so much that she would go away and try never to grieve Him\nany more.\n\nBy and by He turned to Simon, and told him to look at this woman and\ncompare her love with his.\n\nJesus said words something like this: \"Simon, I was tired and dusty\nwith my journey when I came in, and you did not give me water to bathe\nmy feet, but she has washed my feet with tears; you did not offer me a\nkiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet; you did not anoint\nmy head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with precious ointment.\nShe has loved me very much, because I have forgiven her very much.\"\n\nAnd turning to the woman, Jesus said to her, \"Thy sins are\nforgiven; . . . go in peace.\"\n\nOh, the joy of hearing Jesus say those words!\n\nAnd we may have that joy too, if we come to Him with humble loving\nheart, and tell Him that we are sorry.\n\nHe never turns anyone away who comes to Him; so, dear little children,\nlet us trust His loving heart, and though we know we are very unworthy,\ndo not let us stay away for that, for Jesus longs that we may be\nforgiven, and so be able to go away \"in peace.\"\n\n\n\nXXXI. The Barren Fig Tree\n\n      \"Nothing but Leaves\"\n\nI have seen a picture of a fig tree, and I want to describe it to you,\nthat we may understand a little about one of our Lord's Parables.\n\nThere are a great many Parables in the New Testament: they are\nword-pictures to teach us God's great lessons.\n\nAt school your teacher has a large blackboard, and sometimes she\nsketches an object, and explains it to you, does she not?\n\nOne day she drew a cracked cup, the crack of which grew wider under\nher clever fingers, and she turned round and said to her class, \"Is\nthis cup of any use?\" And there were plenty of \"No's\" from all over the\nroom; but one child ventured \"Perhaps it could be mended!\"\n\nAnd then the teacher gave a bright look, and she said, \"Yes, Charlie,\nyou are right! And so are the others with their 'No's' all over the\nroom. For unless the cup is mended, it is of no use. The cup is a\npicture of our characters! If there is a flaw in them, a crack that\ngets wider and wider, then the cup is of no use, is it?\"\n\n\"It might be thrown away!\" ventured another child.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the teacher; \"but, if it could be mended\u2014as Charlie\nsaid\u2014then it could be used again. So what must we do, Charlie?\"\n\nShe turned her face to the little boy, and a smile came over his\nfeatures as he answered, \"There's a china-mender comes down our road\nevery week\u2014he could do it!\"\n\nAnd the teacher smiled back. Did Charlie know that he had touched on a\ngreat truth? So she went on\u2014\n\n\"Yes, we must 'have faith in God.' We must take our cracked cups, and\nour faulty characters, to the Great Mender, Jesus our Saviour, and ask\nHim to make us useful, serviceable little Christians!\"\n\nSo now, I am going to make an imaginary blackboard and show you a\nbranch of a fig tree!\n\nLook at that fig growing out of the stalk; it is large, and oblong, and\nplump, and it is firmly fixed to the big branch.\n\nAnd then, above and below it are little sprouting leaves, some just\ncome out, some not yet burst from their little buds; and soon the\nfruit, which is already ripe, will be covered up by the leaves, as they\ngrow larger and larger.\n\nBut suppose, when you lift the leaves, there is no fruit?\n\nThen you come to the conclusion that the tree must be a barren tree,\nand you turn away sorry and disappointed.\n\n[Illustration: THE BARREN FIG TREE.]\n\nAnd this is a little word-picture of the barren fig tree, about which\nour Lord gives us a Parable.\n\nHe was coming from Bethany, and it says He hungered. Perhaps the Lord\nJesus had been up all night praying to His Father.\n\nSo, as He came near to the fig tree, He saw it was full of leaves;\nbut when He got close to it, He found there were no figs under the\nleaves\u2014it was barren.\n\nAnd as He turned away He said, in the disciples' hearing, \"Let no fruit\ngrow on thee henceforward for ever.\"\n\nOh, how sad He was to have to say that!\n\nAnd presently the fig tree withered away.\n\nJust before this, the Lord came down the side of the Mount of Olives,\nand in turning a corner of the steep path a sight of the beautiful city\nof Jerusalem burst upon their view. It says in the Gospel of Luke\u2014\n\n\"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it,\nsaying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the\nthings which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine\neyes.\"\n\nJesus wept for all the sorrow that was coming on the beloved city, and\nbecause the Jews would not have Him as their Saviour.\n\nThis was indeed like the fig tree, which had leaves, but no fruit.\n\nThe Jews ought to have known from their own Scriptures of the Old\nTestament, which they read every Sabbath, that on this very day it was\nforetold in the Book of Nehemiah, and also in Daniel and Zechariah,\nthat the Messiah was to enter Jerusalem as King, meek and lowly, and\nriding on an ass's colt.\n\nThey were proud of their knowledge, and of their possession of God's\nTemple, and His Scriptures; but they had not fruit under the leaves of\ntheir pride and unbelief. They had even been plotting to kill Him. They\nhad rejected Him in their hearts, and in a few days' time they were\ngoing to crucify Him!\n\nThe next day Jesus and His disciples passed by that fig tree again, and\nit had begun to wither and dry up; and the disciples said, \"How soon is\nthe fig tree withered!\"\n\nAnd the answer of our Lord must have astonished them. \"Have faith in\nGod!\" He said.\n\nNow, like the teacher with the blackboard, I want to gather up the\nlesson I have learned from this story\u2014\n\nDo not let our dear Lord, Who died for us, come and look into our\nhearts and find no fruit, but only leaves!\n\nHow He must long to have us all we should be!\n\nDo not let us be like the cracked and useless cup! But let us go to the\ngreat Healer and Mender and Cleanser of our poor characters, and ask\nHim to make us what He would like to see us.\n\nThe only way to get \"mended\" and to bear fruit instead of only leaves,\nis to go to Him Who died on the Cross to save us, and to find in Him\nforgiveness, strength, and peace.\n\n\n\nXXXII. The Parable of the Talents\n\n\"What is a Talent?\" perhaps some one asks.\n\nA Talent in our Lord's time was a piece of money of great value, of\nabout \u00a3342, and in the story which Jesus told the disciples, a Talent\nwas described as something precious which was given to the servants of\na great lord, to trade with, while he was on a long journey.\n\nTo one servant this lord gave ten Talents to trade with; to another,\nfive; to another, two; according to their several ability; and to\nanother, one.\n\nAnd what do you think the servant who had only one did with his Talent?\nHe went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money!\n\nThen the lord of those servants took his journey.\n\nAt length the time came for his return, and he called his servants and\nreckoned with them.\n\nThe one who had traded with ten Talents brought ten Talents more to his\nlord; and the man with five brought five more; and the man with two\nbrought two more. And the lord was very pleased with these faithful\nservants, and said, \"Well done!\" to each of them, and gave them great\nrewards.\n\nBut at last there came the man who had only received one Talent; and as\nhe spread the one Talent out before him, he said, \"I knew that you were\na hard master, so I was afraid, and went and hid your Talent in the\nearth. Lo! Then, you have what is yours!\"\n\nAnd the great lord was very grieved and angry with that wicked and idle\nservant, and he took the Talent from him and gave it to the one who had\nten; and the faithless servant was cast out, and in the darkness he\nwept despairingly that he could never enter, as the others did, \"into\nthe joy of their lord.\"\n\n\nAnd now I am going to tell you a true story to try and explain to you\nthe meaning of these Talents in our present-day life.\n\nI told you that to us, the Talent that Jesus spoke of is not money, but\nsomething more precious still, which we are given by God to trade with.\n\n\"Trade with?\" you ask. Yes\u2014that is the idea.\n\nIf we are God's servants, if we have taken Jesus Christ as our own\nBlessed Saviour, God expects us to try to get others to trust Him too,\nand so to multiply the Talents which He has given into our charge.\n\nYou will understand this a little better when you have read the true\nstory I am going to tell you.\n\n\nThere was a lady taking a Journey a few years ago, and she had to pass\nthrough London and go to another terminus on her way.\n\nShe had one of God's \"Talents\" in her heart. She knew that Jesus Christ\nwas a great and precious Saviour; and before she started on her journey\nshe prayed:\n\n\"Make me a blessing to somebody as I travel!\"\n\nWell, by the time she had reached London, she was tired, and when she\ngot to the other terminus, as she went along the platform she saw a man\nsitting in a carriage alone. But she passed on; she thought she was too\ntired to speak to that man.\n\nSo she hid her Lord's money!\n\nBut her heart smote her; and after a moment she got out, and entered\nthe carriage where the man, who appeared to be a foreman in some works,\nsat in the farthest corner.\n\nThey were soon off, and though she felt very nervous, she moved nearer\nto him, and made a remark on the beautiful sunset!\n\nHe seemed surprised.\n\nAnd when, further, she said, \"How it reminded her of God's love.\"\n\nHe answered: \"Oh, I do not think of those things! I leave that to my\nwife and daughters! I and my sons read different things from that! We\ndo very well with our lives, and leave them to theirs!\"\n\nThe lady hardly knew what to answer. She felt she was not \"up\" in all\nthese unbelieving questions of the day.\n\nBut then she bethought herself: \"I wish I could think of some word\nof God that would suit his case! For the Word of God is living and\npowerful.\"\n\nAnd like a flash, she remembered the parable of the Pharisee and the\nPublican, and she said, \"Did you ever hear this?\" And found herself\nable to repeat it to him word for word:\n\n\"Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the\nother a Publican.\n\n\"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee\nthat I am not as other men are . . .\n\n\"And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his\neyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful\nto me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified\nrather than the other.\"\n\n[Illustration: HE SPREAD THE ONE TALENT OUT BEFORE HIM.]\n\nAs the lady finished that parable, which God had so wonderfully helped\nher to repeat, the train began to slow down at the next station. The\nman gathered up his things, came to her side and shook her hand warmly.\n\n\"Thank you very much,\" he said earnestly, \"for what you have said!\"\n\nAnd then he jumped out, and the train took the lady on to her\ndestination.\n\n\nAll of us are given Talents, according to our several abilities.\n\nWhatever it is\u2014let each one of us do what we can to tell others of\nGod's love in giving us a Saviour; and if we do, surely\u2014yes, surely\u2014God\nwill say to us, \"Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the\njoy of your Lord!\"\n\n\n\nXXXIII. Hid in Three Measures of Meal\n\nOne day the Lord Jesus gave a very short Parable to His disciples of\nonly one verse, but He would not have told it to us, if He had not\nintended us to learn a lesson from it.\n\nI will copy the verse for you, because it is so very short, and then I\nwill explain it afterwards.\n\n[Illustration: THE LEAVEN IN THE MEAL.]\n\n\"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid\nin three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.\"\n\nLeaven is what we now call yeast.\n\nIn the dictionary, leaven, or yeast, is described as something \"which\npervades a mass, and changes its nature.\"\n\nAnd so we will think of it in that light, and try to draw out from it\nsomething which may help us every day.\n\nIf the Kingdom of Heaven is hidden in our hearts, then it ought to\npervade our whole lives.\n\nI have seen an untidy woman, and an untidy home, perfectly transformed\nby the love of God, and her desire to please Him.\n\n\nA year or two ago, I knew a woman who had become rather fond of drink.\nAll at once she found that if she wanted to enter into \"the Kingdom of\nHeaven,\" that temptation must be left off. So she told the Lord Jesus\nall about it, and then she left it off in the strength which He gave\nher; and she said to me: \"I have never taken any since!\"\n\nSo she found, like many others whom I have known, that when \"the\nKingdom of Heaven\" takes possession of our hearts, our whole nature\nbecomes changed, and we try to live to God's glory!\n\n\nIn the same chapter in Matthew, the thirteenth, that has in it the\nParable about the leaven, our Lord gives us another picture of \"the\nKingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nHe describes a man who was digging in a field; who came by chance upon\na great treasure.\n\nThe man hastily covered up the ground, and went to the owner of the\nfield, and asked him to let him buy the whole field.\n\nThe price was very high, but the man thought of the treasure, and he\ndid not hesitate. He went back, and sold all that he had, and came and\nbought the field. He did not grudge it, for the treasure was worth\neverything he possessed!\n\n\nThen our Lord tells us of another man.\n\nHe was a merchant; and he travelled to far-off countries seeking\nbeautiful pearls.\n\nAt length he came across the most beautiful pearl he had ever seen\u2014it\nwas of great price.\n\nThis man did not hesitate either. He saw the value of that pearl, and\nhe sold everything he had and bought it!\n\nIn the twenty-fifth of Matthew, Jesus gives us another Parable, and it\nis about His coming back; and I am sure you will like to hear that one,\nfor you have perhaps seen pictures of those Ten Virgins who went out to\nmeet the Bridegroom, with little lamps in their hands?\n\nFive of these Virgins were wise, and five were foolish. Why was it that\nsome were wise and some not?\n\nPerhaps you have a brother who has cycled into the country, and comes\nhome later than you expected, and tired-out?\n\n\"Yes,\" he says, \"I have had to walk my machine for half-a-dozen\nmiles\u2014my lamp went out, and there was not a shop to be seen!\"\n\nYes, that was it; he had not taken oil to fill his lamp.\n\nSo the foolish Virgins took their lamps, but took no oil with them; but\nthe wise took oil in their vessels, with their lamps.\n\nThe Bridegroom seemed long in coming, and they all fell asleep while\nthey waited.\n\nAnd at midnight there was a cry made: \"Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Go\nye out to meet Him!\"\n\nThen all the Virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish\nsaid to the wise: \"Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone\nout.\"\n\nBut the wise answered that they must not do that, lest there should not\nbe enough for them both; instead they advised the foolish Virgins to go\nand buy for themselves.\n\nAnd while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came, and those who were\nready went in with Him to the marriage; and the door was shut.\n\nAfterwards, when the other Virgins came back, they asked that the door\nmight be opened; but the Bridegroom answered that He did not know them.\n\nI am sure you will feel sad when you think that the foolish Virgins\ncould not share in the Marriage Supper.\n\nI think this is told us to warn us to ask God to give us His Holy\nSpirit in our hearts, which, like the oil in the little lamps, will\nshow us the way, and keep us brightly shining for Him!\n\nOur Lord Jesus Christ is the Heavenly Bridegroom in this Parable.\n\nWhen He was on earth, He told His disciples over and over again to\nwatch most earnestly for Him to come back.\n\nHe warned all of us who love Him, to be ready to open to Him if he\nknocks; to guard against being so bound up in the pleasures of life\nthat the day of His return should take any of us by surprise.\n\n\nJesus ends this Parable with these words\u2014\n\n  \"Watch therefore: for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein\nthe Son of man cometh.\"","title":"Be not afraid : $b Stories from the New Testament","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":28897}